7 hours ago, Biffen said:

Earl ,you do realise that Lebanon was 80% Christian in the 1920s?

Is this less of a problem for you or do you conveniently just let these things go by without mention?

It is now 85% Muslim.

You tied in a whole lot of extraneous info to your point about Palestine after that.

Do you suggest we bring them all over here to make up for their dispossession ?

Can you provide some solution to the problem of do you just want to run down Israel?

I don't understand the groovy hatred of decent civilisation in deference to terrorist states?

The Aboriginal issue does not need to be combined with he rock throwing bombers.

Hi Biff

how did we bring Lebanon into this? I am talking West Bank and the Gaza Strip and the people on the receiving end of Isreali settlements and the restriction of power and water for those same people trapped in Palestine. Reduce their living conditions toward abject poverty and filth and then deride them as less than human. Have we seen this before in Europe? 

Can we forget Muslims and get back to the thread's theme, President Gump! Let's concentrate on him or Steve Bannon if you like. 

13 minutes ago, Earl Hood said:

Hi Biff

how did we bring Lebanon into this? I am talking West Bank and the Gaza Strip and the people on the receiving end of Isreali settlements and the restriction of power and water for those same people trapped in Palestine. Reduce their living conditions toward abject poverty and filth and then deride them as less than human. Have we seen this before in Europe? 

Can we forget Muslims and get back to the thread's theme, President Gump! Let's concentrate on him or Steve Bannon if you like. 

Lebanon is drowning in its own garbage as well.Perhaps when theyhave choked the whole country with rubbish they'll move on somewhere else,like here and ruin that.

Oh yeah,Saturday night live- the last time it was funny was in about 1985.

Steve Bannon knows his onions.

Give them a few months and you might see a cleaner swamp.

Edited February 6, 20178 yr by Biffen

22 minutes ago, Biffen said:

Oh yeah,Saturday night live- the last time it was funny was in about 1985.

Lighten up Biff ... it's just a bit of fun. 

Trump is fair game.  In fact, he'd be loving all the attention, good or bad.  If all these different satirists weren't sending him up he'd be annoyed.  He welcomes it, it fuels him.

He thrives on it and it ends up galvanising his own support base.  It hasn't harmed him at all.

58 minutes ago, Biffen said:

Lebanon is drowning in its own garbage as well.Perhaps when theyhave choked the whole country with rubbish they'll move on somewhere else,like here and ruin that.

Oh yeah,Saturday night live- the last time it was funny was in about 1985.

Steve Bannon knows his onions.

Give them a few months and you might see a cleaner swamp.

Biff 

interesting comment you make. How exactly do you drain or cleanse the swamp? Trump talks about it a lot but what does he mean? Is he removing senators, congressmen, lobbyists from industry, protesters or the public servants who just follow the orders of their political masters? Who exactly is going to be drained? 

And I fear Steve Bannon is as deluded as George Dubblya's Neocon's with their flawed vision of implanting a democratic haven state in Iraq, to be a model for the rest of the Middle East. Steve has his sights on Iran as a state that needs to be dealt with. Why exactly does he want to side with Saudi Arabia's Royal Family versus Iran in their battle over the smoking ruins of the Middle East? 

22 hours ago, Biffen said:

Donald has done a corporate filing for bankruptcy many times but if you knew about investment in skyscrapers it's often many parties not paying up that leads to the bankruptcy.

So far he is pulling back US spending with his rhetoric alone.The wall is an expense ,not a waste.Stopping migrants is a cost saver.

AF- you must run a country like a business whether Lesbians don't get free workshops, migrants don't get entry, Transitioning students get nothing for a sex change or whatever other frivolity the worker cannot finance.

Why? 

The Right talks about The Welfare State and people leaching off hand outs etc. Trump is a person, despite all the money that was handed to him by his own father, who lived off government grants. He was in the right place at the right time.

NYC was crumbling and the State of NY had to allow him to buy up random lots of land as the banks would no longer lend to the State. He was a leach and made his personal fortune (money that wasn't purely his father's) by sneaking in and being granted the biggest tax break in NY's history.

And how do you propose he stimulates the US economy? 

* By keeping Ford in the country? So there are jobs there, but what happens when Ford hike the price of their vehicles to cover having to pay American labor costs? Americans then have to pay more for American made vehicles. Something the ever widening underclass can ill afford.

* What happens if he goes to war? The economy always takes a hit during a war, but the private sector booms with private contracts dealt out to military contractors. So maybe. Hardly going to help Middle America who are looking to him for answers though.

* Building a wall? Jobs. Pffh. They don't need a wall. The border security on the southern border is close to impregnable. 

He actually doesn't have any solutions to any problems. He just plays on peoples fears and outside of the wall, banning Muslims and forcing Ford to stay, he actually has no plan for the future of the US. Not for its economy anyway.

As for draining the swamp? He continues to put GOP and corporate cronies in top positions of power. He knows he can't drain the swamp, nor does he want to. He just used it to get into power. See video above in post #36.

Edited February 6, 20178 yr by A F

Player haters.

Ive no objection to SNL or the ranting and raving about the Donald.

It's only a show in the end.

Unless you are in Iran where it looks like you may be next cab off the rank for a smashing.I don't entirely agree with it but there is only so much hijacking,death threats,hostage taking and "death to America" marching the Donald can take I suppose.

The last single term presidents were Jimmy Carter and George Bush senior.

Almost certain that Donald will join this team simply because of the third of the Americans who did not vote in the last election there will be enough that come out to vote for anyone but Trump. Frankly I cannot see him standing in 2020.

If you follow this through the Republican leaders will be trying to distance themselves from Trump in time for the mid term elections due in November 2018.

Unfortunately the Donald can do a lot of damage in the meantime but at least he ain't going to be around for long.

Of course what replaces him is a fascinating question.

The next biggie is the French elections with Marie Le Pen and the National Front. First round is on April 23 with the second round due two weeks later on 7 June.

Edited February 8, 20178 yr by Diamond_Jim
spelling

On 2/6/2017 at 2:32 PM, A F said:

 By keeping Ford in the country? So there are jobs there ...

Trump had nothing to do with Ford's plans, and they'll still be building cars in Mexico. No jobs were gained, and none were going to be lost (deal with unions).

2 hours ago, bing181 said:

Trump had nothing to do with Ford's plans, and they'll still be building cars in Mexico. No jobs were gained, and none were going to be lost (deal with unions).

Yep, the only difference now will be that Trump will impose a levy on the imports from Mexico and the poor who he has promised to help will be paying more as a result. Way to make America great again...not.

It is the greatest Con of the modern world...

and it is all going to plan

Don't worry.  We shall overcomb. 

2 hours ago, hardtack said:

They're not trying to "fix" the system that made them billionaires. Capitalism works just fine. They're draining the swamp of anti-capitalists that are desperate to break the system.

The socialist and cultural Marxists are a special kind of stupid.

48 minutes ago, Wrecker45 said:

They're not trying to "fix" the system that made them billionaires. Capitalism works just fine. They're draining the swamp of anti-capitalists that are desperate to break the system.

The socialist and cultural Marxists are a special kind of stupid.

I believe the Third Way can work, but not neoliberalism. Unfortunately, the Third Way has unintentionally ushered in the rise of the Hard Right though, so it's not perfect.

And Trump attacked the financial elites multiple times and you know it. He spent months telling everyone that Clinton spoke at a Goldman Sachs function and now he's hired someone from Goldman Sachs to be his economic advisor. #headinthesand

Edited February 9, 20178 yr by A F

Sarah Palin as ambassador to Canada perhaps:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/08/sarah-palin-touted-as-us-ambassador-to-canada

Some of the comments on the possibility:

The comments prompted Canadians to muse about the qualifications being sought in the position. “This is entirely because Sarah Palin can see Canada from Alaska, isn’t it?” read one tweet, while another said: “Just cus @SarahPalinUSA ‘probably’ knows the difference between a moose & a beaver shouldn’t make her a Canadian ambassador option.”

Many of those who spoke out online rejected the idea. “Palin as ambassador is an insult. To any country.” Another added, “Dear Mr. Trump: Rather than appoint Sarah Palin as ambassador to Canada, please bomb us. Signed, all intelligent life in Canada.”

2 hours ago, Wrecker45 said:

They're not trying to "fix" the system that made them billionaires. Capitalism works just fine. They're draining the swamp of anti-capitalists that are desperate to break the system.

The socialist and cultural Marxists are a special kind of stupid.

Do you really believe Trump is going to fix anything? He's just topping the swamp up with a whole new kind of stupid.

3 hours ago, Wrecker45 said:

They're not trying to "fix" the system that made them billionaires. Capitalism works just fine. They're draining the swamp of anti-capitalists that are desperate to break the system.

The socialist and cultural Marxists are a special kind of stupid.

So let me get this straight, the Marxists are responsible for all the economic problems in America that Trump has identified as a problem. That is globalisation, the trend that sends jobs off shore to Mexico or China that leaves mid America destitute.  Nothing to do with capitalists there of course? He is going to stop that!

He is going to end global free trade agreements and look at bi-lateral trade agreements between individual countries that advantage the US. That will work because there are plenty of client states like Australia and sycophantic leaders like John Howard who will gladly sign up to any US free trade agreement (2007) only to be taken to the cleaners. 

The Marxists have been big players in agreements like the TPP then? 

So the Donald is going to drain from the swamp in Washington! As I have asked before how does he do it? 

So it is Public servants who just follow orders, elected senators, congressmen, the rent seeking industry lobbyists, who infest the place?  Who is going to be drained, is it the Democrats you deem to be anti-capitalists? If so you are advocating a dictatorship then? 

Can we start dealing in some facts rather than Trumpisms! 

I'm a Marxist and have always been one.

Groucho,not Karl.

6 hours ago, iv'a worn smith said:

Don't worry.  We shall overcomb. 

Blind stupidity one would wish.

7 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

It is the greatest Con of the modern world...

and it is all going to plan

I disagree entirely .

My barber in Albert Park is.

On 2/5/2017 at 10:02 PM, Earl Hood said:

Grape I respect your views.

However this is my personal view

I see little difference between the German ghettos of the 1930's and modern day Palestine, as created by the modern day State of Isreal. The world pays lip service to a two state solution while Isreal builds new settlements on Palestinian territory, as well as building walls, controlling access to power and clean water and numerous other goods. When you commandeer another people's land for your own people it usually means genocide, a la our actions with our indigenous Australians in the past two hundred years as the Brittish Empire commanderred Terra Nullius. 

And of course the Isrealites have the Old Testament to back their case for ownership going back a 2000 years. Those Palestinian interlopers who took over in 66 AD have no rights. Johnny come lately's! 

You are so right. The biggest irony is that according to Koestler and Schlomo Sand,  the Palestinians are the remnants of the Jews who didn't go to Spain and other parts of the Middle east, that in fact, the Ashkenazi Jews are actually descended from the Khazars, a Turkic people who converted to Judaism in the 9th Century. Genghis and his hordes wiped them out, they went north, into Russia and Poland, i.E. became the Ashkenazi Jews. 

On 2/7/2017 at 7:41 PM, Biffen said:

Player haters.

Ive no objection to SNL or the ranting and raving about the Donald.

It's only a show in the end.

Unless you are in Iran where it looks like you may be next cab off the rank for a smashing.I don't entirely agree with it but there is only so much hijacking,death threats,hostage taking and "death to America" marching the Donald can take I suppose.

jaysus you talk excrement, Mr Biff. You are a bogan and a  hater. A fear merchant, a bigot who stoops to the lowest craven denominator. 

In other words, sir, you have been totally BRAINWASHED.

A pity because at some stage your brain cells were curable.

1 hour ago, Biffen said:

I'm a Marxist and have always been one.

Groucho,not Karl.

I wish you were Harpo, totally silent.

28 minutes ago, dieter said:

I wish you were Harpo, totally silent.

 Mental jousting with you is like popping bubble wrap.

Totally futile and ultimately pointless.

Edited February 9, 20178 yr by Biffen

46 minutes ago, dieter said:

jaysus you talk excrement, Mr Biff. You are a bogan and a  hater. A fear merchant, a bigot who stoops to the lowest craven denominator. 

In other words, sir, you have been totally BRAINWASHED.

A pity because at some stage your brain cells were curable.

I cannot deny the Bogan bit,