All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!

[Tami]

Former US military adviser David Kilcullen says there would be no Isis without Iraq invasion

“There would be no Isis if we had not invaded Iraq,” a former military advisor to the US has said while warning that al-Qaeda is also on the rise once more.

David Kilcullen, who was once reprimanded by Condoleezza Rice for calling the Iraq War “f****** stupid”, was seconded to the US Department of Defence in 2004 and fulfilled various roles for the American government and Nato for the next six years.

Formerly a Lieutenant Colonel in the Australian Army, he became America’s “Chief Strategist in the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism” to formulate counter-insurgency strategies in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and South East Asia.

[Spike-X]

agreed completely

why do we (as a society) not take sexual assault seriously and victim blame first?

Because we, as a society, don't have a lot of respect for women who are anything other than wives and mothers.

[Spike-X]

CBP, like ICE out of control

U.S. Agents Detain Afghan Family With Visas At LAX, Hold Them For Days

I'm really struggling to see how this is making America great again.

[mojotastic]

It's Time to Take Sexism Seriously as a Political Force



Not many dare say it, but it is something that should be addressed and taken seriously.

Question how would that have worked? if the Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa with support of the left leaning government such as the members of Unasur, Venezuela, Bolivia and Russia at the time of 2010, supported Assange cause and didnt want to let him go from the embassy.

Also he was going going to be extradited back to Sweden until he decided to walk to the Ecuador embassy.

Link in Spanish, use translator
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis...y_acoso_sexual

Also have in mind that the reason why Correa protected Assange was because he wanted to fix his image since he is known to attack the press in his country.

[Tami]

FBI investigating data breach involving state voters

ATLANTA - The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating an alleged data breach at the Center for Election Systems at Kennesaw State University.

Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Aaron Diamant reports the state voter data kept by the Center for Election Systems was compromised. Sources tell Diamant the hack happened Wednesday night.

The Georgia Secretary of State uses the Center for Election Systems at Kennesaw State to facilitate elections in all Georgia counties and maintain voting machines.

Diamant confirmed the Governor's office asked the GBI to contact the FBI after learned of the scope of the problem.

"Obviously this is a big incident that affects a lot of people in the state of Georgia," cyber-secutiry consultant Tony UcedaVelez said. "There could be numerous types of threat motives that are in play."

Sources said the breach happened Wednesday night and the hacker made off with millions of voter records.

"Compromised information means that criminals are leveraging that information in order to make more tactical ploys for compromising identities, for compromising our financial status," UcedaVelez said.

Kennesaw State released the following statement: “Kennesaw State officials are working with federal law enforcement officials to determine whether and to what extent a data breach may have occurred involving records maintained by the Center for Election Systems. Because this involved a pending criminal investigation Kennesaw State will have no further comment on this matter and any inquiries should be addressed to the U.S. Attorney’s Office."

"This matter is deeply concerning, but I am confident the FBI working with KSU will track down the perpetrator," Kemp said in a written statement.

What it ultimately means, too soon to tell.

[Tami]

Did Trump libel Obama?

President Trump may have put himself in legal trouble when he accused former President Obama of wiretapping his phones. Ari Melber breaks it down on The Point’s NORMAL or NOT segment.

[wjowski]

It's Time to Take Sexism Seriously as a Political Force



Not many dare say it, but it is something that should be addressed and taken seriously.

I've said it before and I'll say it a thousand times more; anyone who's ever thought of Assange as anything but a narcissistic jackass is a fool. Even before all this nonsense with Trump and Russia Wikileaks has been guilty of doing shit like exposing the personal (including financial) info of private citizens, outing homosexuals, and generally putting people in danger.

[Malvolio]

Because we, as a society, don't have a lot of respect for women who are anything other than wives and mothers.

We don't even do that much. We give lip service to respect for wives and mothers, but look at how Michelle Obama was treated when she just tried to make school lunches a little bit healthier for children.

[jeanvaljean]

Knives are out for Reince

It appears to me that Reince was behind the only things that went right for Trump, like his SCOTUS nominee rollout and his address to Congress. How much of a cult mentality is needed to blame the chaos on the most experienced guy they have, and not Bannon, Miller etc?

[jeanvaljean]

Has WBE profiled the Republican former mayor of Stockton, CA, Anthony Silva?

[QUOTE][/On August 4, 2016 Silva was arrested for providing alcohol to underage boys and recording them playing strip poker.[10] Silva remains President and Chief Executive Officer for the Stockton Kids Club, formerly known as the Boys & Girls Club of Stockton, a position he has held for six years. The Club lost its official charter, which resulted in the name change, due to Silva's financial negligence.[11] His official biography on the city's website states that "Mayor Silva has a passion for helping youth and, as a result, he sits on many local non-profit Board of Directors..."[11]

On March 5, 2017 Silva was arrested at San Francisco International Airport. He is charged with grand theft, embezzlement, profiteering, misappropriation of public funds and money laundering related to his running of a local non-profit kids' club.[12]
QUOTE]

[Gray Lensman]

It appears to me that Reince was behind the only things that went right for Trump, like his SCOTUS nominee rollout and his address to Congress. How much of a cult mentality is needed to blame the chaos on the most experienced guy they have, and not Bannon, Miller etc?

Enough of a cult mentality to make me break out my bwa ha ha scan.

Trump trying to shift blame to one of the few competent people he actually has?

Attachment 46254

[worstblogever]

Has WBE profiled the Republican former mayor of Stockton, CA, Anthony Silva?

He's bad, but I don't go as low as mayors.

[worstblogever]

On this date in both 2015, as well as 2016, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Tom Kirby, of the Georgia House of Representatives, who supports the drug testing of welfare recipients, legalizing firearms in bars, and the unconstitutional idea to put monuments of the Ten Commandments in government buildings… and that’s not even the crazy part. That would be Kirby’s sponsorship of HB 287, a bill to prevent experimentation with human embryos and animal tissue. While no one anywhere was thinking about conducting such a study, but Kirby specified a scenario where human/jellyfish hybrid embyros might be created that would “glow in the dark”.

Since we last checked in on Tom Kirby a year ago, he has made his legislative profile even more frustrating to us, supporting both a bill to allow the concealed carry of firearms on college campuses, HB 859, as well as HB 757, a bill to allow officials to deny marriage licenses to same sex couples if they have "faith-based" objections.

Tom Kirby easily survived a primary challenge from fellow Republican Jonathon Melton in the 2016 elections. He was unopposed by Democrats in his highly conservative district in the general election, meaning he can crusade against bioluminescent fetuses for another two years.

[jeanvaljean]

He's bad, but I don't go as low as mayors.

Ha ha... somebody just changed his Wikipedia entry from "Republican Party" to "Democrat Party" since I posted the link here. Wondering if it was one of our local trolls who did it.

[Gray Lensman]

He's bad, but I don't go as low as mayors.

Does that have the potential to change if they are the mayor of a major city? The mayor of NYC is responsible for more people than the governors of a lot of entire states, for example.