Heartland

What I fail to understand,as an Englishman who's seen a lot of rubbish politics over the last 49 years,is why,If Obama was so good for eight years did FIFTY FIVE MILLION people vote for a twit like Trump? It's all very well everyone pushing the "Oh Jeezum Crow the whole world is f**ked" button now but it strikes me that those 55 million probably thought it was already pretty f**ked.

Apparently, John Lewis summed up the whole thing in 2 minutes

Who is John Lewis?
Sorry for my ignorance

iesus wrote:Who is John Lewis?
Sorry for my ignorance

It's a department store

Pista wrote:Apparently, John Lewis summed up the whole thing in 2 minutes

Those ads had me in tears...which I guess is pretty indicative of my current mental state!

I'm watching that and an endless stream of cat and baby goat videos.

EmmaPeelWannaBe wrote:I'm watching that and an endless stream of cat and baby goat videos.

Then you might like photo No.3 on this link, the Irish version of the John Lewis ad

http://www.dailyedge.ie/jokes-about-the ... book_short

EmmaPeelWannaBe wrote:I'm watching that and an endless stream of cat and baby goat videos.

mmmmm cat and baby goat- makes a change from fucking turkey.

Now here's a good idea for future ceremonies!

adarkadaptedi wrote:

Pista wrote:Apparently, John Lewis summed up the whole thing in 2 minutes

Those ads had me in tears...which I guess is pretty indicative of my current mental state!

Then you might like Kevin the carrot as well https://youtu.be/aCZrWFrRgbQ

adarkadaptedi wrote:Mark - NO. Please keep your hard-earned cash; I won't accept it.

To be fair I was volunteering everyone else too

Anyhoo. Back to the sane political discussion.

Day 1 of Trump's America

markfiend wrote:Day 1 of Trump's America

It's always been like this over here, though, simmering under the surface–except now, these bottom-feeders have been given permission. I'm really glad that I live where I do, because my neighbors would probably crucify anyone who behaved like that. I only hope that they don't think that DH and I voted for the orange menace!

Scrolling down on that page: looks like I'll be covering everything I own with safety pins...

I'm going to step out of the closet here. I would be the last person to defend Trump against anything - shit, if you told me that he'd burned the Reichstag I'd probably be out there calling for his arrest.

But...do you think we can stop blaming him for people being a$$holes? They were a$$holes on Monday, they were a$$holes before Trump decided to run, they were a$$holes 8 years ago when Obama was elected. Some people, well, they're just a$$holes.

Now, I'd agree that they probably think that Trump's election gives them carte blanche to be a$$holes. But the rule of law still stands - hate speech is still a crime, assault is still illegal. Some people are a$$holes, and there are legal remedies. The police will start arrest people for doing it (as vociferously or not as they did before), the courts will still sentence people for doing it.

Passions are running high, and tempers are frayed - we've just come out of the most divisive 18-month election campaign I can remember, where both sides have been intent on driving wedges between social and ethnic groups. On the one hand we've got "grab 'em by the pu$$y, build a wall," and on the other we've got "baskets of deplorables". I'm not at all surprised that violence and conflict has been stirred up and is starting to escalate. But this is no different from the situation before the election. People being a$$holes is no more Trump's fault (although I wish it was) than it is Hillary's - these divisions have been festering for years. Trump's election has merely popped the zit. If he doesn't do something to heal the rifts, well in 4 years you can kick him out. But I'd rather have it out in the open than swept under the rug. We've spent the last 8 years persuading ourselves that, despite all evidence to the contrary, the US is a "post-racial" society. It isn't.

I don't condone violence, bigotry, racism, or hatred - not by anyone. But let's put the blame where it belongs - on the a$$holes.

Yeah I guess you're right, a$$holes just gonna a$$.

And lest we forget, there are a$$holes on both sides of the rift. The people in Portland, for example, whose belief in democracy is so unshakeable that they think that assaulting the police and smashing shop windows is the way to demonstrate that they don't like what happens when democracy is practiced. Where were these a$$holes on Tuesday, or last week, last month, last year? Were they expending their energy on getting the vote out, campaigning for politicians who might actually be offering something other than "the foreigners are to blame" or "I'm not him"? Doubtful. Odds are that they were thinking, "We can sit around in our white privilege in the sure and certain knowledge that there's no way she can lose. We don't have to do anything. After all, we don't have to do anything for democracy to work - no, it simply happens magically."

If nothing else this whole mess is a wake-up call - you want to have all the benefits of living in a democracy, you'd better be prepared to put on your boots and make democracy work. Rights and duties, kids - you want the one you'd better face up to the other.

the KKK are holding a rally to celebrate Trump's victory.
how can you not want to cry at that?

The EU has finally stopped TTIP talks... so far, Trump has been good for us.

Looks like the orange eejit is now thinking of keeping some parts of Obamacare including the provision for people with pre-existing conditions http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 12621.html

ribbons69 wrote:What I fail to understand,as an Englishman who's seen a lot of rubbish politics over the last 49 years,is why,If Obama was so good for eight years did FIFTY FIVE MILLION people vote for a twit like Trump? It's all very well everyone pushing the "Oh Jeezum Crow the whole world is f**ked" button now but it strikes me that those 55 million probably thought it was already pretty f**ked.

Trump told the voters that he would do two things, and for vast swathes of America, this was all that was needed, because vast swathes of America have been ignored by both Republicans and Democrats for decades:

1. Bring back blue-collar manufacturing jobs
2. Bring back American troops from useless overseas adventures.

That's how he was able to peel off voters from HRC (see the map below of counties that voted for Trump which had previously voted for Obama): https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics ... -counties/

nowayjose wrote:The EU has finally stopped TTIP talks... so far, Trump has been good for us.

Lucky you. Just as the cockwombles on these forsaken islands have voted us out of the EU....

Steve Bannon. Bloody hell.

markfiend wrote:Steve Bannon. Bloody hell.

's good, innit? Apparently Cap'n Tango has also requested security clearance for son-in-law Jared Kushner so that he can attend security briefings, presumably so that he can get a heads up if someone's about to bomb one of pa-in-law's hotels. What a knob.

I think that sultan2075 might want to rethink "I don't think he's a racist" after Trump has appointed a literal white-supremacist.

Also, appointing a climate-change denier (Myron Ebell) to head up the EPA sends some deeply troubling messages.

And quite frankly I'm astonished that anyone thinks that the US's foreign adventures are likely to be reined in by Trump.