35 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

check your post. the quote is headed as "AF" instead of "Biffen"

Ah, yes, I see that you mean. That's the trouble with writing while sober, you'll agree, not a desirable state...

5 hours ago, Wrecker45 said:

I believe he is going to fix climate change. Cut the funding for researchers reliant on it and problem gone.

Head in sand then. No data no problem. Why don't you try that with ISIS then? 

5 hours ago, Wrecker45 said:

I never said the Marxists are responsible for all the economic problems in America or the TPP agreement, just said they are stupid.

As for draining the swamp it is about getting rid of people who mainly fall into one of the two categories below

1) the ones who are making decisions to feather their own nest

2) the ones who are hellbent on disrupting and breaking the existing system 

Excuse the Oz examples I don't know enough about the American leaches.

A good example from number 1 is Julia Gillard who was sacked from the law firm she was a partner at for her role in setting up a slush fund for the illegal purchase of her then boyfriends house and who was later found by a Royal Commission to have acted improperly. Then she goes into Parliament becomes PM and donates $292m of Australia tax payer funded money to the Global Partnership for Education. Which after retiring from parliament she she goes on to chair the Global Partnership for Education. 

A good example from number 2 is in Victoria we have Marxists like Roz Ward who are somehow propelled into positions where they can implement "safe school programs" that have nothing to do with safe schools or educational outcomes and are all about bringing down the system. When I cheer Trump for draining the swamp it is about getting the Roz Ward's of the world out of Washington and taking the stench with them.

 

Re the farcical Dyson Heydon Royal commission. How many millions were wasted on that one, Wrecker, just to get Bill Shorten in the box.  Have there been any prosecutions coming out the $50 million investigation? 

I don't believe they laid a glove on Julia as Imremember it. Plenty of accusations of course and the head prosecutor saying she suspiciously had an answer for everything, she just knew too much but no invoices for work done 20 years ago! Very suspicious and of course we would all fail the same invoice test. 

And as for the Global Partnership, I don't know much about it but if you are going to line up Julia can you also line up the conga line of former energy ministers of both parties who work for the mining industry and numerous other former ministers who have taken top jobs in the respective industry they once regulated. 

12 minutes ago, Earl Hood said:

Re the farcical Dyson Heydon Royal commission. How many millions were wasted on that one, Wrecker, just to get Bill Shorten in the box.  Have there been any prosecutions coming out the $50 million investigation? 

I don't believe they laid a glove on Julia as Imremember it. Plenty of accusations of course and the head prosecutor saying she suspiciously had an answer for everything, she just knew too much but no invoices for work done 20 years ago! Very suspicious and of course we would all fail the same invoice test. 

And as for the Global Partnership, I don't know much about it but if you are going to line up Julia can you also line up the conga line of former energy ministers of both parties who work for the mining industry and numerous other former ministers who have taken top jobs in the respective industry they once regulated. 

I agree with you almost 100%, however, the Julia stuff WAS on the nose. The gal was no saint. She certainly had form about the poor Palestinians. 

10 hours ago, Earl Hood said:

Head in sand then. No data no problem. Why don't you try that with ISIS then? 

Because ISIS is a real problem.

12 hours ago, Earl Hood said:

Re the farcical Dyson Heydon Royal commission. How many millions were wasted on that one, Wrecker, just to get Bill Shorten in the box.  Have there been any prosecutions coming out the $50 million investigation? 

I don't believe they laid a glove on Julia as Imremember it. Plenty of accusations of course and the head prosecutor saying she suspiciously had an answer for everything, she just knew too much but no invoices for work done 20 years ago! Very suspicious and of course we would all fail the same invoice test. 

And as for the Global Partnership, I don't know much about it but if you are going to line up Julia can you also line up the conga line of former energy ministers of both parties who work for the mining industry and numerous other former ministers who have taken top jobs in the respective industry they once regulated. 

There has been a prosecution coming from the Royal Commission and there are other ongoing investigations. 

I can't blame Gillard for having no invoices for work done 20 years ago. That is fair and reasonable but setting up a trust fund in a name almost identical to the AWU for her then boyfriend to purchase the house they both lived in stinks. Donating $292m of Australian Tax Payer money to a body she goes on to chair as soon as she leaves parliament stinks. These are the type of people Trump needs to drain the swamp of.

On your last point we finally agree on something and this is exactly what Trump is advocating. Let's drain the swamp.

 

 

1 hour ago, Wrecker45 said:

There has been a prosecution coming from the Royal Commission and there are other ongoing investigations. 

I can't blame Gillard for having no invoices for work done 20 years ago. That is fair and reasonable but setting up a trust fund in a name almost identical to the AWU for her then boyfriend to purchase the house they both lived in stinks. Donating $292m of Australian Tax Payer money to a body she goes on to chair as soon as she leaves parliament stinks. These are the type of people Trump needs to drain the swamp of.

On your last point we finally agree on something and this is exactly what Trump is advocating. Let's drain the swamp.

 

 

Agreed, that's disgusting.

Also agree on draining the swamp, as you previously defined it.

Problem is that I don't think Trump is really filling appointments with people who aren't 'feathering their own nests'. Most appointments I have read about seem conflicted, and his own lack of disclosure on conflicts of interest indicate to me that he's just there for his own personal gain and that of his billionaire mates.

 

6 hours ago, Wrecker45 said:

Because ISIS is a real problem.

 No climate change down here!

1 hour ago, Choke said:

Agreed, that's disgusting.

Also agree on draining the swamp, as you previously defined it.

Problem is that I don't think Trump is really filling appointments with people who aren't 'feathering their own nests'. Most appointments I have read about seem conflicted, and his own lack of disclosure on conflicts of interest indicate to me that he's just there for his own personal gain and that of his billionaire mates.

 

American politics is a swamp - just different animals are now occupying the swamp - a swamp is a swamp...

58 minutes ago, Earl Hood said:

 No climate change down here!

The irony is the global warming establishment have stopped using the reliable sattelite data and have begun getting a cross section of data from unreliable sources to validate their theory. The head in the sand above is a good example of climate alarmism and unreliable data. Bit of sand from the mouth might prove some local warming. Lets use it.

On 2/12/2017 at 5:27 PM, Ethan Tremblay said:

Things could always be worse, imagine if Kevin Rudd led a country. 

Just never.forget.the.hair.dryer. 

Things couldn't be much worse than an Abbott or Turnbull led country. Look at the independent data from the OECD.

 

16 hours ago, A F said:

Things couldn't be much worse than an Abbott or Turnbull led country. Look at the independent data from the OECD.

 

AF can you give me some kind of trigger warning before you post stuff like that in the future. I am dumber for having watched it.

Of course the Paris based left leaning OECD will rank Labor Governments as better economic managers than Liberal. 

The OECD supports bigger Government. The more bloated the bureaucracy the better you will rank.

one down.

National Security Adviser - Mike Flynn has resigned. Not unusual to lose staff - but 25 days in, to lose a new appointee for "inadvertently briefing the President and Vice President with incomplete information" - is not a good look. 

3 minutes ago, nutbean said:

one down.

National Security Adviser - Mike Flynn has resigned. Not unusual to lose staff - but 25 days in, to lose a new appointee for "inadvertently briefing the President and Vice President with incomplete information" - is not a good look. 

It's disastrous. Unfortunately, the boy who cried wolf media wont be able to point the attention to it that it deserves.

I think what it does is point to is a disregard for any semblance of "certain rules apply". ( or probably more to the point - due to the intense scrutiny on everything that Trump ( and his appointees) say and do, these guys are just getting caught).

Kellyanne Conway got herself in a pickle by spruiking Ivanka Trumps clothing line. I saw the interview and it was so innocuous and was hardly an "informercial", What it was is plain dumb. 

My gut feeling is Trump will come undone in exactly the same way and I am tipping that it will be through his inability to disconnect his business interests from the Presidency.

Edited February 14, 20178 yr by nutbean

38 minutes ago, nutbean said:

My gut feeling is Trump will come undone in exactly the same way and I am tipping that it will be through his inability to disconnect his business interests from the Presidency.

His Muslim ban already, and in the worst possible way, showed that inability. He didn't ban countries that he has business dealings with, despite their involvement in the worst terror attacks on US soil. 

6 hours ago, Wrecker45 said:

It's disastrous.

Yes indeed, the Flynn debacle is certainly disastrous.  The question is though ...

"What did the President know and when did he know it?"

If the powers that be can trace any collusion that Trump had with Flynn re the 'conversations' with Russia, then we could be headed for a possible impeachment.   The hard part for Trump (who is forever claiming that he knows more than everybody about everything under the sun) will be him saying that he knew nothing about this.  

Your elected leader - the one you emphatically said was going to be an "absolute train-wreck" (if he assumed the Presidency) is quickly finding out that any words that he has ever uttered can and will be used against him.  The 'Muslim ban' and the resultant fiasco is one such example and there will be others. 

Anyway, here's Bill Maher's opening monologue from Saturday's 'Real Time' ...

 

Edited February 14, 20178 yr by Macca

Popular vote ?

Trump won 33 of 50 states.  Clinton 17.

It's not Trump's fault that California is full of deranged regressives.

Edited February 14, 20178 yr by ProDee

3 hours ago, ProDee said:

Popular vote ?

Trump won 33 of 50 states.  Clinton 17.

It's not Trump's fault that California is full of deranged regressives.

So it is his fault that the Southern states are full of slave farmers? A lot more people in California and New York. The Electoral College is ridiculous. Even Trump himself wanted it gone at the last election. 

11 hours ago, ProDee said:

Popular vote ?

Trump won 33 of 50 states.  Clinton 17.

It's not Trump's fault that California is full of deranged regressives.

I'll address the first two words. I have never understood the argument  "but Clinton won the popular vote" . What does it matter ? The bottom line is the system is not based on a popular vote. In 1998 Labor won the popular vote in the Australian election but lost. 

9 hours ago, A F said:

So it is his fault that the Southern states are full of slave farmers? A lot more people in California and New York. The Electoral College is ridiculous. Even Trump himself wanted it gone at the last election. 

You lefties will have to stop those tears, although I'd be lying if I didn't admit they gave me immense satisfaction.

Slavery ?

That's a laugh.  It was the Democrats who kicked and screamed and opposed Lincoln all the way.  The Democrats are the party that wanted to retain slavery.

And no, the electoral college vote is a very good system.  Do some research before mouthing off.

Edited February 14, 20178 yr by ProDee

As much as I'd hate to agree with old Ben up there, he's right, the electoral college is a good system (or at least it achieves one vital aim).

Without it, the Democrats win pretty much every election because the bulk of the US population reside in California and the North Eastern blue states. It's where most of the wealth is generated too. Without the collage, the rural communities get screwed - which I believe was a central issue in this last election.

There are a lot of visuals around that show the heavily slanted population distribution in the US. I find this one is the most illustrative:

 

 

 

 

This one is just as important, showing where the US generates its wealth:

 

 

 

 

 

The wealth in the USA is extremely concentrated.

The electoral college prevents these areas from running roughshod over the needs of those who live in the other areas.

 

I suppose it's ironic that in the case of the last election, the college allowed for the election of a billionaire from one of those centres (New York) claiming he represented the 'working class' rural communities.

 

And just while I'm on graphics, this one is pretty interesting too (brought to my attention when a mate linked me a John Oliver clip - whatever you think of him, the stat here is pretty staggering):

http://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/

 

Adding those figures up, 69% of what Trump says is a lie (this excludes the 'half true' figure of 14%).

This is flat out dangerous. You can't make policies based on lies. Actually, maybe you can. But you shouldn't.

 

 

Also, just for the lols:

:

 

(I know, out of context etc, I just think it's a funny gif)

 

 

Edited February 14, 20178 yr by Choke

Why on earth are you lot still discussing the result and how that result came about?

*News flash*

Trump won and the Democrats & Hillary lost.  The Republicans have a large majority in one house & a slim majority in the senate. 

From Nov 11 the discussion needed to be about Trumps performance & his team's performance.  

And the thread is desigmed that way ... although the 'Gump' reference should be changed. 

 

56 minutes ago, Macca said:

Why on earth are you lot still discussing the result and how that result came about?

*News flash*

Trump won and the Democrats & Hillary lost.  The Republicans have a large majority in one house & a slim majority in the senate. 

From Nov 11 the discussion needed to be about Trumps performance & his team's performance.  

And the thread is desigmed that way ... although the 'Gump' reference should be changed. 

 

Ah, yes he's still'performing'. He's tweeting, shaking hands like a sumo wrestler, still telling one preposterous lie after the other, appointing even more war-mongers and fringe lunatics that Obama ever did, and, almost unbelievably, taking his audience further to the brink of catastrophe than any human being before him save perhaps Churchill and Hitler.

Enjoy the performance, Big Macca. The rest of us are doing poo in our pantaloons.

Edited February 14, 20178 yr by dieter

3 minutes ago, dieter said:

Ah, yes he's still'performing'. He's tweeting, shaking hands like a sumo wrestler, still telling one preposterous lie after the other, appointing even more war-mongers and fringe lunatics that Obama ever did, and, almost unbelievably, taking his audience further to the brink of catastrophe than any human being before him save perhaps Churchill and Hitler.

Enjoy the performance, Big Macca. The rest of us are doing poo in our pantaloons.

Ha ha! 

I'm not exactly enjoying the performance by Trump if that's what you think ... on the contrary, I'd rather read some appraisals on how people think he's faring. 

I totally acknowledge that he won but it's not like winning a contest in sport or such-like.  As soon as one side wins in politics there is a job to be done ... almost immediately. 

Hillary is finished and the democrats are background noise (for now anyway)