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Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 3:57 pm
by Max Peck
El Guapo wrote:Do we have a re-roll available? That would be great.
If you roll a 1 then in four years you get a re-roll. If that one is also a 1 then you will never ever get another roll. And that second roll will be with a die supplied by Trump Casinos. :twisted:

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 3:59 pm
by El Guapo
Alefroth wrote:
Rip wrote: Trump is coming.
On who?
I found this funnier than I probably should have. :D

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 4:07 pm
by Captain Caveman
YellowKing wrote:
tgb wrote:I'll believe the polls Nov. 9. There's still the possibility of a Brexit (or Tom Bradley)-like finish.
The Brexit polls were still showing a tight finish, and many were still within the margin of error. It's considered shocking in that the majority of the polls were showing a victory for Remainers, but it was WAY closer than this race is showing.

The main reason for the Brexit switcheroo was that young voters didn't show up at the polls. I'd hope that in this country, by now, pollsters realize that young voters never show up and take that into consideration.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 4:28 pm
by Holman
Here's a lovely example of how Trumpian ignorance directly threatens Democracy.

tl;dr:

Trump paints a stark picture of what he calls Democratic poll manipulation based on what an allied Twitter warrior found in a WikiLeaks Podesta dump email.

The problem? The email talks about "oversampling," which the Twitter warrior thinks means misrepresenting results. But in fact oversampling is a method used in a party's internal polling (which is what the email is about) to gather more data about a specific group, essentially of way of conducting a poll within a poll.

Trump took this tweet and (presumably without consulting anyone who knows polling) ran straight to his adoring legions, offering it as "proof" that the public polls are skewed in order to depress Republican hopes and turnout. No doubt it is already gospel on their side, and no clarification of definitions will unsay it.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 5:04 pm
by Alefroth
El Guapo wrote:
Alefroth wrote:
Rip wrote: Trump is coming.
On who?
I found this funnier than I probably should have. :D
I'm sorry. Should it be whom? :)

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 6:00 pm
by El Guapo
Black Jeopardy from this Saturday's SNL is great (playing off including Tom Hanks as a Trump voter).

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 6:02 pm
by Max Peck
Alefroth wrote:
El Guapo wrote:
Alefroth wrote:
Rip wrote: Trump is coming.
On who?
I found this funnier than I probably should have. :D
I'm sorry. Should it be whom? :)
Nah, it should be what.
Enlarge Image

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 6:26 pm
by tgb
El Guapo wrote:Black Jeopardy from this Saturday's SNL is great (playing off including Tom Hanks as a Trump voter).
That was pretty funny.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 7:23 pm
by Isgrimnur
I love it when people curate the funny bits of SNL for me.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 8:20 pm
by tgb
Not to mention the finny ones.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 8:59 pm
by Unagi
Max Peck wrote:
Alefroth wrote:
El Guapo wrote:
Alefroth wrote:
Rip wrote: Trump is coming.
On who?
I found this funnier than I probably should have. :D
I'm sorry. Should it be whom? :)
Nah, it should be what.
Enlarge Image
OK, seriously. Those hands have been altered - RIGHT?
\
edit:
actually. Don't answer - I want to pretend it's his tiny little hands for a little while longer.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 10:10 pm
by Max Peck
Nate Silver discusses Why Our Model Is More Bullish Than Others On Trump
As I wrote last week, Hillary Clinton is probably going to become the next president. But there’s an awful lot of room to debate what “probably” means.

FiveThirtyEight’s polls-only model puts Clinton’s chances at 85 percent, while our polls-plus model has her at 83 percent. Those odds have been pretty steady over the past week or two, although if you squint you can see the race tightening just the slightest bit, with Clinton’s popular vote lead at 6.2 percentage points as compared to 7.1 points a week earlier. Still, she wouldn’t seem to have a lot to complain about.

Other statistical models are yet more confident in Clinton, however, variously putting her chances at 92 percent to 99 percent. Maybe that doesn’t seem like a big difference, since people (wrongly) tend to perceive odds above 80 percent as sure things. But flip those numbers around, and instead of Clinton’s chances, consider Donald Trump’s. The New York Times’s Upshot model gives Trump an 8 percent chance of winning the election. Our models say a Trump presidency is about twice a likely as The Upshot does, putting his chances at 15 percent (polls-only) and 17 percent (polls-plus). And our models think Trump is about four times as likely to win the presidency as the Huffington Post Pollster model, which puts his chances at 4 percent.

So let me explain why our forecast is a bit more conservative than some of the others you might be seeing — and why you shouldn’t give up if you’re a Trump supporter, or assume you have it in the bag if you’re voting for Clinton. We’ve touched on each of these points before, but it’s nice to have them in one place. I’ll also show you what probability our model would give to Trump and Clinton if we changed some of these assumptions.

Assumption No. 1: The high number of undecided and third-party voters indicates greater uncertainty.
[...]
Assumption No. 2: The FiveThirtyEight model is calibrated based on general elections since 1972.
[...]
Assumption No. 3: The FiveThirtyEight model uses a t-distribution with “fat tails,” which gives a greater likelihood of rare events.
[...]
Assumption No. 4: State outcomes are highly correlated with one another, so polling errors in one state are likely to be replicated in other, similar states.
[...]
As we say frequently, the greater uncertainty in the FiveThirtyEight forecast cuts both ways. So while we show a greater likelihood of a Trump win than most other models, we’d also assign a greater possibility to a Clinton landslide, in which she wins the election by double digits. But while the campaign is almost over, the suspense isn’t quite done.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 10:43 pm
by Max Peck
It'll be interesting to see if this gains any traction in the next few days.

Exclusive investigation: Donald Trump faces foreign donor fundraising scandal
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is facing a fundraising scandal after a Telegraph investigation exposed how key supporters were prepared to accept illicit donations from foreign backers.

Senior figures involved with the Great America PAC, one of the leading "independent" groups organising television advertisements and grassroots support for the Republican nominee, sought to channel $2 million from a Chinese donor into the campaign to elect the billionaire despite laws prohibiting donations from foreigners.

In return, undercover reporters purporting to represent the fictitious donor were assured that he would obtain “influence” if Mr Trump made it to the White House.

Last week Eric Beach, the PAC’s co-chairman, confirmed to the reporters at an event in Las Vegas that their client's support would be "remembered" if Mr Trump became president.
It seems to involve a PAC rather than the campaign itself, but that doesn't mean it might not knock a few undecideds off the fence if it gets coverage.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 10:58 pm
by Defiant
Hasn't the Trump campaign already, several times, sought donations from foreign non-citizens? For example

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 11:20 pm
by Default
Trump pockets $17 million insurance payment for non-existant Mar-a-Lago hurricane damage.

In other news, he was always late on his insurance payments.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 12:34 am
by Max Peck
Defiant wrote:Hasn't the Trump campaign already, several times, sought donations from foreign non-citizens? For example
Those appeared to be glitchy email lists rather than deliberate malfeasance. This seems to be a case where the co-chairman of the PAC was explicitly soliciting a large foreign donation in return for future favours if Trump wins.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 5:13 am
by malchior
Went to dinner with some former work colleagues last night - smart guys in all - but everyone but myself was claiming to be pulling for Drumpf. Not a big deal in NJ but the talk was 100% Supreme Court and Hillary is corrupt. They seem to think his ability to do damage will be limited which I probed a little; I didn't get a sense that they really collectively had a good foundation for that belief. When I asked what was the worry around with the Supreme Court it was ... about how she'd pick 2 or 3 justices. Her court picks would be Obama, Eric Holder, and Loretta Lynch. When I said but you have no idea who Drumpf would nominate...they nodded and acknowledged it. And one was like yeah - it could be Dennis Rodman, Andre the Giant, and a player to be named better but it'd still be better than Clinton choices. In effect Drumpf wouldn't nominate people who'd abolish the 2nd amendment, create a national healthcare system, blah blah. Interesting to see how the propaganda washes the sense away from ordinarily reasonable guys. I mean complaining about 2nd amendment rights in NJ, amirite? :)

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 8:20 am
by YellowKing
I'm not sure if you guys are familiar with it, but there is a social media platform called NextDoor which is essentially like Facebook for your neighborhood. It's really great for selling stuff, discussing the HOA, finding lost pets, etc. However, its primary value is the entertaining drama when a bunch of neighbors start bickering about something.

The latest kerfluffle occurred when some woman posted an anti-Clinton diatribe and about how if you wanted to elect a LIAR and a TRAITOR then vote for Hillary, and it was time to bring GOD back to our NATION. This provoked a shit storm of epic proportions as both sides jumped in, along with cooler heads who kept pointing out that the guidelines of the site explicitly prohibit political messages.

It does show me, however, that a LOT of Trump support is fueled out of religious fanaticism. There is an idea, carefully cultivated by the evangelical movement, that Republicans = God and Democrats = Satan/War on Christianity, and those battle lines aren't going to change no matter how many pussies are grabbed. Short of Trump sprouting horns and a pitchfork, these people are never going to believe anything that goes against their delusion.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 8:56 am
by Default
I am mom-sitting this week and one of her friends visited.

She was visibly angered when I told her my Christian convictions would not allow me to vote Republican. :roll: :lol:

What is amusing is the mental gymnastics that people will go to explaining why they will vote for someone who is manifestly poison to everything they believe in.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 9:26 am
by Grifman
Holman wrote:Here's a lovely example of how Trumpian ignorance directly threatens Democracy.

tl;dr:

Trump paints a stark picture of what he calls Democratic poll manipulation based on what an allied Twitter warrior found in a WikiLeaks Podesta dump email.

The problem? The email talks about "oversampling," which the Twitter warrior thinks means misrepresenting results. But in fact oversampling is a method used in a party's internal polling (which is what the email is about) to gather more data about a specific group, essentially of way of conducting a poll within a poll.

Trump took this tweet and (presumably without consulting anyone who knows polling) ran straight to his adoring legions, offering it as "proof" that the public polls are skewed in order to depress Republican hopes and turnout. No doubt it is already gospel on their side, and no clarification of definitions will unsay it.
It's not just Trump. All of the "idiot right" websites that show up on my friend's Facebook feeds are saying this, and of course they are sharing them as evidence of rigging the polls.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 9:29 am
by Grifman
Default wrote:What is amusing is the mental gymnastics that people will go to explaining why they will vote for someone who is manifestly poison to everything they believe in.
You see that every time Ben Carson goes on TV. At heart, he's a decent man (if oftentimes ignorant or confused about things outside of his specialty), but watching him contort while trying to defend Trump is very sad.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 9:32 am
by raydude
One of my cousin's on Facebook got riled up over the news story about the Pentagon wanting 10,000 soldiers to pay back enlistment bonuses that they apparently didn't qualify for at the time they signed up 10 years ago. He's pointing to it as evidence that Obama (and by extension Democrats) is a failure and so he's going to vote for Trump.

When I pointed out that it's the Pentagon's fault, not the President's, he brought up how Obama could essentially "wave a magic wand" (my shorthand for his belief in the President's powers) and give the Iranians 400 million dollars but apparently can't do the same for these veterans.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 9:38 am
by Defiant
raydude wrote:Obama could essentially "wave a magic wand" (my shorthand for his belief in the President's powers)
It's not shorthand, it's the famous executive wand, as depicted here:

Enlarge Image

It allows him to rush production at half cost.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 9:53 am
by Isgrimnur
Facebook makes you hate your friends and family. NextDoor makes you hate your neighbors. I'm glad I opted out of the daily digest e-mails. And doubly glad the only HOA for my neighborhood is Voluntary. Otherwise, the bitching about my yard would be nonstop.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 11:08 am
by Kraken
Isgrimnur wrote:Facebook makes you hate your friends and family. NextDoor makes you hate your neighbors. I'm glad I opted out of the daily digest e-mails. And doubly glad the only HOA for my neighborhood is Voluntary. Otherwise, the bitching about my yard would be nonstop.
Hah. Wife persuaded me to join NextDoor so I get a steady trickle of emails in my junk account, which I delete once a week or so. It has some value when you're looking for contractor recommendations or a lost pet. Haven't seen any discussions of anything substantive, political or otherwise, and that's fine with me. New Englanders tend to MYOB.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 11:41 am
by Rip
raydude wrote:One of my cousin's on Facebook got riled up over the news story about the Pentagon wanting 10,000 soldiers to pay back enlistment bonuses that they apparently didn't qualify for at the time they signed up 10 years ago. He's pointing to it as evidence that Obama (and by extension Democrats) is a failure and so he's going to vote for Trump.

When I pointed out that it's the Pentagon's fault, not the President's, he brought up how Obama could essentially "wave a magic wand" (my shorthand for his belief in the President's powers) and give the Iranians 400 million dollars but apparently can't do the same for these veterans.
He isn't wrong, and it was a lot more than $400M.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 11:46 am
by Chaz
So far, I've only used Nextdoor to get recommendations about a new HVAC company. I got names, but haven't called any yet, so the jury's still out.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 12:52 pm
by hepcat
Rip wrote: He isn't wrong, and it was a lot more than $400M.
That's one way of looking at it. It's wrong, but it's certainly one way.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 12:54 pm
by hepcat
Defiant wrote:
raydude wrote:Obama could essentially "wave a magic wand" (my shorthand for his belief in the President's powers)
It's not shorthand, it's the famous executive wand, as depicted here:

Enlarge Image

It allows him to rush production at half cost.
Ha ha...one of his slaves photo bombed him.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 1:13 pm
by Rip
hepcat wrote:
Rip wrote: He isn't wrong, and it was a lot more than $400M.
That's one way of looking at it. It's wrong, but it's certainly one way.
It was $1.7B and semantics aside either the money was going to be paid or the hostages would not have been released, no matter what hoops one jumps to in order to try and separate the two.
The release of Americans, which included The Washington Post’s Jason Rezaian who was being held on bogus espionage charges, occurred on January 16-17 of this year. When news of the $400 million (now $1.7 billion) hit the wires, the Obama White House tried to shrug it off, saying that this payment had already been announced, and that the United States doesn’t pay ransom for hostages. That narrative lasted all of two weeks before more information was released on the exchange. The State Department added that it was a coincidence, not a ransom. Then, the coincidence, non-ransom became a leverage payment. Finally, State admitted that the money was handed only after the release of our citizens, which is the textbook definition of ransom. Prior to the exchange, the Department of Justice warned State that Iran would view this transfer as a ransom payment, which they have.

Now, with the revelations that we paid Iran $1.7 billion, and not the $400 million as originally reported, no wonder why the Obama administration initially blocked congressional inquires into our...ransom payment.
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/ ... t-n2214764

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 1:36 pm
by hepcat
Rip wrote:
hepcat wrote:
Rip wrote: He isn't wrong, and it was a lot more than $400M.
That's one way of looking at it. It's wrong, but it's certainly one way.
It was $1.7B and semantics aside
It's only an issue of simply semantics to those with an agenda. Like the conservative sites you frequently link to (or the white supremacy sites, which you've done on occasion). My link was to Fortune.com. Not exactly a left leaning institution.

Let's sum this up, shall we?

It wasn't a ransom. Period.

Benghazi wasn't a government conspiracy, nor was it the fault of one individual. Period.

There is no evidence of wide spread voter fraud. Period

Peddle your conspiracy theories on sites where they might believe you.

...like Townhall.com.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 3:08 pm
by Rip
hepcat wrote:
Rip wrote:
hepcat wrote:
Rip wrote: He isn't wrong, and it was a lot more than $400M.
That's one way of looking at it. It's wrong, but it's certainly one way.
It was $1.7B and semantics aside
It's only an issue of simply semantics to those with an agenda. Like the conservative sites you frequently link to (or the white supremacy sites, which you've done on occasion). My link was to Fortune.com. Not exactly a left leaning institution.

Let's sum this up, shall we?

It wasn't a ransom. Period.

Benghazi wasn't a government conspiracy, nor was it the fault of one individual. Period.

There is no evidence of wide spread voter fraud. Period

Peddle your conspiracy theories on sites where they might believe you.

...like Townhall.com.
It was a transfer of wealth required before the hostages would be released. In my book that is a ransom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CdBAKfyR7M

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 3:15 pm
by Grifman
Rip wrote:It was a transfer of wealth required before the hostages would be released. In my book that is a ransom.
You're missing the point. We were going to have to pay the $1.7 billion dollars anyway as a settlement of outstanding claims. That was going to happen, either now or later. So we paid Iran what we legally owed them - and got those hostage out as a bonus.

Given the Iran nuke deal, and given the fact that we owed Iran the money, would you have rather we paid the $1.7 billion and NOT have gotten the hostages out? Because that's what you are saying right now.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 3:16 pm
by Isgrimnur
It's easy to stand on principle when it's not you or yours languishing in a foreign prison cell.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 3:16 pm
by hepcat
Rip wrote:
It was a transfer of wealth required before the hostages would be released. In my book that is a ransom.
I said "Period".

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 3:21 pm
by El Guapo
Forget it, hepcat - it's Riptown.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 3:23 pm
by hepcat
El Guapo wrote:Forget it, hepcat - it's Riptown.
I know...I know.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:13 pm
by Kurth
Kraken wrote:
Isgrimnur wrote:Facebook makes you hate your friends and family. NextDoor makes you hate your neighbors. I'm glad I opted out of the daily digest e-mails. And doubly glad the only HOA for my neighborhood is Voluntary. Otherwise, the bitching about my yard would be nonstop.
Hah. Wife persuaded me to join NextDoor so I get a steady trickle of emails in my junk account, which I delete once a week or so. It has some value when you're looking for contractor recommendations or a lost pet. Haven't seen any discussions of anything substantive, political or otherwise, and that's fine with me. New Englanders tend to MYOB.
Same here. I regret being so persuadable.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:49 pm
by Combustible Lemur
hepcat wrote:
Rip wrote:
It was a transfer of wealth required before the hostages would be released. In my book that is a ransom.
I said "Period".
You forget that Rip uses the Negan book of diplomacy. Give me your shit or I kill you.

Re: The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 5:06 pm
by Defiant
hepcat wrote: I said "Period".
To be fair, this is a Donald Trump thread. Using "Period" to indicate the end of a discussion might not be the first definition of that word that people think of. :ninja: