Interesting week Aug 12 2016

[Admin]

If you wonder where Trump gets his nonsense from, have a look around Infowars, a website full of absolutely fantastic conspiracy theories by an assembly of nutcases and sensationalists. Here a couple of examples:

It’s not unreasonable to believe that Hillary Clinton is behind the deaths of three insiders with damning evidence on her campaign:

Roger Stone Breaks Down Hillary's Kill Count » Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!

Donald Trump is calling for your help to ensure this election isn’t rigged for Hillary. Volunteer to be a Trump Election Observer here.

Donald Trump Is Asking You To Help Him Fight A Rigged Election » Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!

Here’s how Goldman Sachs and the UN are using a wave of Islamic migrants to destroy the sovereignty of Western nations.

Shocker: UN Admits Migrant Crisis Plan To Overthrow West » Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!

I doubt whether they themselves actually believe in any of these, it looks more like a business venture (they sell dubious medical products as well). But you get young and impressionable people, and before you know you get comments like:

gary riken • an hour ago

fucking hang the clintons...............they deserve it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Perhaps Trump is one of these impressionable, which would explain his hint of 'second amendment people taking matters in their own hand' if Hillary wins the election and has the temerity of appointing a few Supreme Court Justices.

[Martin K]

You could perhaps make this into a separate thread with all the nonsense from these sites, just an idea..

[Admin]

Actually, that isn't a bad idea, thanks Martin.

[Admin]

After the liberal media, it's now the turn of liberal universities

Writing at Salon last year, Sean McElwee and Robbie Hiltonsmith analyzed a Grapevine study from Illinois State University and found “when Republicans take over governor’s mansions they reduce spending on higher education by $0.23 per $1,000 in personal income (a measure of the state’s total tax base). Each 1 percent increase in the number of Republicans in the legislature leads to a $0.05 decrease.” As Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia told U.S. News & World Report, “Most GOP elected officials believe that universities are hotbeds of Democratic support—and the voting patterns in most college precincts support this.”

The Republican War on Public Universities | New Republic

Some more conservatives with oddball ideas:

On Friday, Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) appointed a largely unknown lawyer named Daniel Kelly to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Indeed, Kelly’s primary qualification appears to be his allegiance to a species of conservatism that largely died out in the Roosevelt administration. Much of the coverage of this appointment has focused on an odd quote where Kelly compares affirmative action to slavery.

Scott Walker Just Put An Insane Person On His State's Supreme Court | ThinkProgress

His response to first lady Michelle Obama’s convention speech in which she said “I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves” seals the case against him. In an effort to set her straight, O’Reilly informed his Fox News audience that “slaves that worked there were well fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government, which stopped hiring slave labor in 1802.”

Bill O’Reilly’s response to Michelle Obama’s speech was immoral. Stop going on his show. - The Washington Post

[Admin]

First phone hacking, now a groping director..

But I was referring to the British phone hacking scandal earlier this decade that engulfed Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper division; shut down The News of the World, his London tabloid; forced Mr. Murdoch and his son James to testify before Parliament; sent people to jail; and shook the rest of Mr. Murdoch’s giant global media company to its foundations.

The Murdoch empire survived the hacking affair, but only after a painful corporate restructuring that was devised to transform Mr. Murdoch’s pirate ship into a more orderly frigate — or rather, two of them, since the company divided in 2013. (Now there’s 21st Century Fox, for television and movies, and News Corporation, for print.)

Yet here we are again. The sexual harassment case at Fox News Channel, a division of 21st Century Fox, is eerily similar terrain. And, as such, it raises important questions about just how far the corporate transformation that followed the hacking situation truly went.
The answer will depend on how the Murdochs and their corporate hierarchy handle it from here.

Fox News Turmoil Recalls News Corp. Phone Hacking Scandal - The New York Times

[Admin]

Fairly incredible she has to do this, but I guess everything is fair game these days:

The person picked to be Hillary Clinton's sparring partner in her upcoming debate prep sessions is expected to confront her about the death of Vincent Foster, label her a rapist's enabler, and invoke the personally painful memories of Monica Lewinsky and Gennifer Flowers.

Clinton preps for Trump’s Lewinsky attack - POLITICO

As if there isn't already enough..

Whether the controversies surrounding her are real or dreamed up by Republicans, Hillary Clinton is generally blessed with good enemies. They can be counted on to invent ghoulish conspiracy theories (Vince Foster, Benghazi) out of nothing, or to identify a legitimate impropriety (her email practices as secretary of state) and react so out of proportion (suggesting, for instance, that the squeaky-clean conservative FBI director, James Comey, is covering up her crimes) that the story becomes about their outlandishness, rather than her conduct.

Hillary Must Fight the GOP’s “Lock Her Up” Fantasy | New Republic