We've Been Played Like a Fiddle

In the announcement of the indictment of 13 Russians for various crimes relating to their efforts to meddle in our election, it was revealed that Russia's "strategic goal" was to sow discord in America and to undermine the confidence in our electoral process.

They succeeded.

Russia has its own greater strategic goals, and an America that is paralyzed into inaction helps them advance their goals.

Now it is our time to fight back. How?, you ask ...

- By not hating each other,
- By being respectful of each other,
- By remembering that we are all Americans, and we are all in this together,
- And, as one unified nation, being determined that we will not let them succeed any longer.

If we don't, they win.

Seth

 

On this, I'm ok with people calling me naive. I'm not sold, by any stretch of the imagination, that Russia meddled in our elections. This country has always been in one conflict or another with itself. The Russia (mccarthy-like) angle makes me roll my eyes. hard.

 

How does that help them advance their goals exactly?

Is there something we would have done differently if they hadn't done what they did?

Be specific.

 

I know, its like they think we've always been this one unified force with no dissent on any issue.

Is laughable when you think about it.

 

The real problem here is that dems have been LOSING ELECTIONS SINCE 2010 and are now at levels of power not seen SINCE 1929. Dems are determined to win back their losses at any cost.

And the media has been in bed with dems in recovering their losses. This means dems are not backing down no matter what. Unbelievably, that is one of the many reasons dems have been losing elections. After their first major election loss, or even after the Clinton loss, dems should have taken some self-examination of why they keep losing elections. It never happened, not in any meaningful way that is.

Steve

 

The crazy thing is they did for like 2 seconds. They acknowledged that they ran a fundamentally flawed candidate and then they suddenly forgot why they lost ! They lost the rust belt and all we get to hear about why is because Russians. Ha!

 

Political discord within a country can sap it's will and destroy it's ability to interfere in foreign affairs.

Demographically, economically, and in terms of natural resource access the United States is a gargantuan. The Russians, and every wise enemy of the United States, understands that if we're to be defeated, it'll be the destruction of dilution of "American" as an identity, or the loss of an "American sense" of the world. Confuse the general populace as to what's actually going on in the world, and every significant foreign venture will find powerful domestic enemies.

I don't think the Russians accomplished much of note, and I think that they're doomed to failure. But the OP is right in that they did mange to sow significant discord within the United States, playing the left as much as the right.

 

My patriotism is gone. My love of country is gone. My love of the American people is gone. I would be glad to disband the US tomorrow.

It wasn't the Russians. Trump got elected. I didn't think that was possible in this country. The country I knew and loved would never elect trump. The country is already lost when you are willing to elect scum like that.

America died a year ago last November. Ever since, just the sight of a flag makes me feel ill.

 

Simple...just leave

And head to Venezuela, Brazil, Spain, Romania, or one of any other recent failures of Socialism.

 

What I have witnessed with trump and his supporters over the last two years has been absolutely horrific! Half the country is fanatical. I don't recognize the place anymore.

Rush and all of the hate radio nuts, Hannity and Fox noise, later the infowars. Bannon and Breitbart, those are the people who destroyed the country. They have been brainwashing the rw for decades now.

 

I'm not leaving my home. I just want the rest of you out of my life.

I don't want some dipsht redneck like Sessions ever having anything to say about my life again. If the red states want a fascist, white-only theocracy, let em have it. Just end the madness. But I'm not giving up my home to a bunch of nuts.

 

I'm sorry you feel that way.

The American people are my country. Everyone who has worked hard, sacrificed, defended it, died for it - they are my country.

When I look at that flag, I think of them. Not Obama, not Hillary, not Trump. Reagan articulated it well ...

"We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are not heroes, they just don't know where to look. You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond. You meet heroes across a counter, and they're on both sides of that counter. There are entrepreneurs with faith in themselves and faith in an idea who create new jobs, new wealth and opportunity. They're individuals and families whose taxes support the government and whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and education. Their patriotism is quiet, but deep. Their values sustain our national life.

Now, I have used the words "they" and "their" in speaking of these heroes. I could say "you" and "your," because I'm addressing the heroes of whom I speak—you, the citizens of this blessed land ... "

Seth

 

It would also mean that Obama won.

Both Russia and Obama had the same agenda, divide America.

Turn America into FUBAR ( "****ed Up Beyond All Recognition")

 

I think we can think of global issues that concern both the U.S. and the Russians. (Syria, Ukraine, North Korea come to mind.) Now if half of the American Congress and half of its people will automatically and reflexively oppose any action the sitting president takes, regardless of the facts, regardless of its necessity, the Russians can expect to pretty much do what they want because America is paralyzed.

If this was their strategic goal as the indictments say, I would say they have done well.

And I wouldn't be surprised if these 13 Russians and their activities are only the tip of the iceberg.

 

IMHO, I don't think Obama was anywhere near as deliberative and diabolical as the Russians. Obama reminds me of a guy who knows how to play a fair game of checkers. But the Russians remind me of the chess masters. I think they are patient. I think their goals are progressive; that is, one little thing at a time, leading to the next thing. I think their deception is sort of layered by other deceptions. This is a country led by a professional spy, after all. That country plays its "A" game, and I think we have fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.

 

I'd normally like to extend an olive tree branch to fellow Americans. It had become increasingly obvious to me however, that the noise coming out of Washington and other Americans played right into Putin's hands. And it appears, that they will continue to do so indefinitely. So how can I extend my olive branch to those who at this point openly support chaos, if it means getting to Trump? Even if it means validating Putin's propaganda about our country?

To me, it's harder than ever before to extend them an olive branch and not break my oath to the country which is to support the legitimately elected President.

 

~~~~
Then you might find that shutting yourself in, destroying your computer, TV, radio and boarding up your house might help. Perhaps you might even go as far as lining your windows with aluminum foil and placing No trespass signs around your home. All that might help.

 

*pat pat pat*

 

On the geopolitical chessboard Vladimir Putin is a chess master while Obama played checkers.

But Barack Obama is a community organizer who was a student of Alinkyism.

What do community organizers do ?

They agitate, cause trouble and divide society, that's what community organizers do.

Obama is a damn good community organizer, a lot better than Al Sharpton.

By 2012 under Obama, America hadn't been so divided since 1860.

It was Obama's game plan and Obama is proud of what he achieved as being the nations community organizer for eight years.

America is becoming a shithole country just like Afghanistan. Left wing activist have gone Taliban tearing down war memorials.

 

Disagreement on issues, when you think about it, is what a democratic system is all about, isn't it? The very fact that we vote on things, whether the vote is taken by the people or their representatives, implies that we don't all agree. This is not true in countries with no freedom. There either is no vote, or the votes are a sham for appearances only ... like when the legislative body of North Korea or Saddam Hussein's Iraq votes unanimously in favor of every government action.

So the fact that we can disagree is something that should be celebrated.

But, at the same time, we travel down a dark road when we disagree out of personal hatred, rather than on principle. When personal avarice guides us, we're lost, and traveling down a path to failure.

I think the words in this indictment are like a warning sign, letting us know that there is a cliff ahead, we are being deceived, and we are traveling the wrong way.

I think Americans would do well to heed that warning sign.

And I think we ought to tell this foreign country who led us onto this path to f-ck off.

Nobody has to agree with anybody on anything. But the olive branch you speak of can be disagreeing in a spirit of respect.

We are all Americans. We are all in this together. Together we sink or swim. F-ck the Russians!

We need to open our eyes and not let them win!

 

Lets not forget China.

Ever read the Cox Report ? -> https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf

It's believed that 10% of the Chinese immigrants who have migrated to America are Chi-Com sleeper cells.

America back in 1965 opened the gates wide open for every Jose, Wong, Abdullah and Vladimir to come to America.

 

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

People forget what a relatively young country this is and how fragile democracy is. Never a perfect place but at least it used to be people striving for progress in all areas and on all issues. The useful idiots and the greedy soulless pigs are willing to throw it all away and allow a foreign adversary dictator to turn "the grand experiment" into just another Oligarchy or Kleptocracy or whatever the ****. Really disgusting.

 

I wonder how many people posting here will disappear when the "Russian entities" get fleshed out? There are some here that their anti-America rants for which it stood I can't believe they actually grew up here.

 

I perfectly agree with this. On the principle of politics(IE: Whether or how much to fund social security, etc.) I'm more than willing to cross the aisle. I'm willing to debate guns in America, and striking a balance between security and freedom. What I cannot be compelled to do, without good cause is to undermine the POTUS. I feel like that lets Putin win.

If the POTUS undermines himself, that ends up being an entirely different issue. Basically, I can easily disagree with POTUS. But I'm not going to sabotage him. If Trump succeeds, America succeeds. If he fails, we fail.

And I do agree, I don't want Russians or anyone else trying to influence us. Some might say "Then we should stay out of other people's elections." And my response to them is: I can't control the pentagon.