Posts by bohm

491

What is your opinion of the news media?

by minimus in

to me they have an agenda and they really don't care about professional journalism.

most are untrustworthy and that's a shame.

bohm

Simon: Well, I disagree with you on Afghanistan because at the time this was where Bin Laden was located and Al Queda had it's headquartered. They even got a choice: Hand over Bin Laden or face the consequences. They choose the consequences.

I must admit I didn't study the Libya conflict closely, so I am not very familiar with the story. From what I know, the story is about how weapons for Libyan rebels made it to Syria?

Can we agree that getting rid of Ghadaffi was a good thing?

Re. ISIS, no, I support vetting of refugees and very harsh punishment for western sympathizers who travel to Syria. I think per default a person who travel to Syria understands he will participate in warcrimes and crimes against humanity and his prison sentence should reflect that.

As I understand the situation, there is little evidence ISIS is sending terrorists to the west to perform acts of terror, because ISIS is still focused on the Kaliphat (I might be wrong). If you got evidence to the contrary I would be interested in seeing it. (I did my reading on ISIS 6 months - 1 year ago and things might have changed).

491

What is your opinion of the news media?

by minimus in

to me they have an agenda and they really don't care about professional journalism.

most are untrustworthy and that's a shame.

bohm

Simon:

Re. the travel thing with Trump.

A problem with the media is IMO that they run in news cycles where a few stories are "selected" and then dominate. Usually, these are "easy" stories that are quick to explain and relate to & does not require sending journalists to expensive places: "Trump promised not to go on vacation, is now on his third vacation" is one such story; you got pictures of Trump playing golf, Obama playing golf and every random pundit is an expert.

These "holiday" stories WAS a feature of the Obama presidency in his first term, I can remember that and you can find them if you google... Trump has a ton of angry tweets about it where he promises not to play golf if he is president. Bush, for his part, also got flack because he happened to be more often on "holiday" than Clinton or something

I don't know if there is a media study somewhere comparing how many such stories there was to Bush, Obama and Trump (it is likely too early), but IMO it is just what we can expect. Trump made it a bit harder for himself because his "holiday" stories also contain the angle he promised not to play golf (and here he is...), where he playes golf (at his own private club, thereby earning himself money), that he (so far) has a relatively high-security budget bc of Melania and the many travels and his son rammed up a 90'000 hotel bill on a promotional tour for a Trump hotel. <--- each of these add extra spice and give a pundit something extra to talk about.

I don't know if we can agree on these conclusions:

Every president has some "he travels too much" stories

+ Trumps stories have extra glitter (Extra cost, Eric Trumps promotional tour, on private resort earning Trump org. money, promised not to play golf)

= Trump will get more stories than usual.

IMO this is actually good news for Trump since these travel stories are going to be forgotten in 3 months.

491

What is your opinion of the news media?

by minimus in

to me they have an agenda and they really don't care about professional journalism.

most are untrustworthy and that's a shame.

bohm

Simon: That is a critique of Obama that I can agree with.

It is kind of difficult. After 9/11 Afghanistan had to go, but then Iraq also got invaded. I happen to think that a very good case could be made for invading Iraq in 2003 (not involving WMDs), but the instability showed just how unpredictable the removal of a cruel regime could be.

Then came the Arab Spring, Libya collapses, Syria is not looking good and using WMDs in the battlefield and what do you do?

Looking at what happened, harsher action against ISIS early on would IMO have been a good idea (though ISIS was still fairly fringe at the beginning of the conflict), but from what I can read Pentagon did not have a clear idea about what would happen if you supported some given faction in the conflict (rebels or Assad).

491

What is your opinion of the news media?

by minimus in

to me they have an agenda and they really don't care about professional journalism.

most are untrustworthy and that's a shame.

bohm

The point is that many on the left (but not you) cannot see that their beliefs need improving and may be part of the problem. They aren't too good at self-awareness and self-criticism. ... the left ... The left ...

If you accept that I don't believe those things, can't you stop boxing me in with the deep end of "the left" which does? Some on the crazy spectrum of "the right" are nazis, but if I started making those kinds of generalizations about you as a member of "the right" that wouldn't be productive or nice.

Answer me this: if it was Obama's and NATO's aim to stop Putin annexing Crimea, they failed. Y/N?

I don't understand the question. You are asking if the first round of sanctions (begun early march) failed to stop the Russian annexation (begun February and planned long before that)?

Since you haven't bothered to read about the sanctions, according to the sources I have read they have brought Russian economy on its knees. That provides real leverage over Putin because many powerful people understand that with Putin gone that will free up a lot of money, and all things considered a weak economy is bound to make life more difficult for Putin.

But let me just understand your position:

You believe that when, say, Russia takes a part of Ukraine and continue aggression for two years the best move is no consequences?

When he attack EU countries infrastructure, no consequences?

when he tries to assassinate a head of state of an EU country, no consequences?

If you believe there should be consequences, what should they be? a harshly worded UN resolution?

491

What is your opinion of the news media?

by minimus in

to me they have an agenda and they really don't care about professional journalism.

most are untrustworthy and that's a shame.

bohm

Simon:

But it's obviously biased when they didn't do this for Obama. Same for vacations - is the coverage factual or meant to give an impression of someone's not doing their job?

CNN report on cost of Obamas inauguation

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/16/news/economy/inauguration_costs/

Washington times complain about expensive vacation:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/dec/15/obama-heads-to-hawaii-for-the-holidays/

BTW, I don't think the security cost is the big deal (well, except it is kind of funny Trump was constantly complaining about Obamas holidays and now here he is...), what is more important is that Trump is using his presidency to bring extra money into his private club.

What I think they should do is to put a bullet point from the President's daily brief at each hole on the golf course. I am sure many would then draw a sigh of relief every time he was headed to Mar a Lago ;-).

491

What is your opinion of the news media?

by minimus in

to me they have an agenda and they really don't care about professional journalism.

most are untrustworthy and that's a shame.

bohm

ATJ: Well said. I think the first thing is to recognizing how Trump uses "fake news" as a catch-all phrase to refer to Media as a class of untrustworthy individuals.. this is not a healthy sign.

The second thing, which is the one I think is really important, is the "enemy of the people" rhetoric. This is a chekist slogan and I suspect it originates with Bannon who knows his history. The language, it's implication and the historical context is in my opinion very important and why I (and many other republicans) object so strongly to it, for instance, McCain. I would strongly recommend anyone who hasn't to listen to the last 10 minute of his campaign speech. I am nearly certain Bannon wrote that based on its themes which is exactly about classes of people standing up and overthrow of existing structures.

What is (slightly) humorous is that what Trump objects to is that the media is saying things about him he think are mean, like pointing out his falsehoods, misstatements and how many people attended his inauguration. In other words, Trump wishes the media to be nicer... such that the presidency can be a ....safer...space... where he is free of criticism he feels is unfair.

L-O-L.

491

What is your opinion of the news media?

by minimus in

to me they have an agenda and they really don't care about professional journalism.

most are untrustworthy and that's a shame.

bohm

I, despite being of the right, have no problem condemning the right's wrongdoings, e.g. racism.

Isn't it nice how I never insinuated that you might like racism?

Since you don't want to extend that courtesy to me here goes:

I condemn those who normalize Islamism or believe the values expressed in Islam such as Sharia can be compared to western liberal democracy. I think that thinking is wrong and dangerous.

I have written this again and again the past weeks. Do you recognize I hold these beliefs? Will you stop assuming I can't condemn wrong thinking regardless of which ideological box the people who express it belongs to?

491

What is your opinion of the news media?

by minimus in

to me they have an agenda and they really don't care about professional journalism.

most are untrustworthy and that's a shame.

bohm

LUHE: ...neither is Putin "pissing"....

It is pointless to have a discussion about any of this if it is conducted over an analogy about a man who is peeing.

I am not SIRI. What resources have you read about the effect of the 2014 sanctions on Russia?

PPS - and still a refusal to address the left's hypocrisy when it condemns Putin for his treatment of gays, whilst it cosies up to an ideology that treats gays much, much worse.

I did answer that. I don't "cozy up" with any ideology that treats gays badly, I condemn it in the harshest terms. If you wish to claim that I do, show me the evidence of where I do this. This evidence, by the way, can't be you labeling me in a box with other people and use their beliefs, based on your labeling, to say my opinion has to be the same as theirs. That would be plainly illogical as I hope you recognize.

What you are doing here is one thing: You seek moral low ground:

"Oh Putin-backed thugs shot down a civilian airplane with Russian equipment? that's bad but whatabout..."

491

What is your opinion of the news media?

by minimus in

to me they have an agenda and they really don't care about professional journalism.

most are untrustworthy and that's a shame.

bohm

PS - again, it is to be noted that you still refuse to address the left's hypocrisy when it condemns Putin's treatment of gays whilst it cosies up to an ideology that treats gays much, much worse.

I condemn any such ideology. It is you who are asking why it would not be better to cozy up with Putin rather than maintaining sanctions (as conservatives and liberals agree is the right thing to do).

I have a feeling where this is going, the moral low ground: But look at Saudi Arabia! "the left" is saying nothing!

Please surprise me and don't seek the moral low ground. I am not "the left" but a person with my own ideas.

491

What is your opinion of the news media?

by minimus in

to me they have an agenda and they really don't care about professional journalism.

most are untrustworthy and that's a shame.

bohm

LUHE -- Yes, Russia violates human rights, inside and outside Russia. The information is publically available.

The "pissing outside the tent" rhetoric is easy but Russia is not a man.

Russia is currently inferring in democratic systems over Europe. You think the response should be to "work with Russia"? What on earth does that even mean, clear airspace in Syria such that Russia can easier bomb civilians? Recognize Crimea and signal that the US will recognize Donbass as soon as it is 'liberated' which it will if the Ukraine army is defeated?