Donald Trump

[stylofone]

Today I caught part of a radio program talking about the effect of privatisation on things like prisons, hospitals, airports, energy. It is pretty much all bad. In the case of hospitals, they talk about higher mortality. Privatisation kills. The UK water and sewerage debacle, with rivers turning to shit, was an example where re-nationalising is the best option.

It was mostly Australian focused. The examples were drawn from a various periods, but they were over several decades. It can take time to ruin society this way.

Trump's assault on the public sector is happening in fast motion. Environmental protections, public safety, regulators and watchdogs, legal oversight, anti-corruption measures, just off the top of my head. There are countless areas in the firing line. Aviation safety is caught up in it.

Then there's the broader, unofficial impact - the assaults, the threats, the online harrassment, the racism, sexism and other hate.

Some of it is already happening, some of it will take weeks or months, some of it will take years, but it's going to be bad.

[stevebrooks]

Californication is coming, they are going to fuck the US. The popular opinion poll on California seceding from the US and becoming separate country is now running at 60% for after Trump threatening to withhold aid money to the state. I mean if California is paying Federal taxes to the US government, and the US government unilaterally decides to stop providing any of it back to California for emergencies, infrastructure etc what have they got to lose? The Federal Government is essentially providing them with no services for the money they are paying.

https://www.news.com.au/world/north-ame ... 1e198f1b78

[nibble]

The international company (European based) I work for donated to the presidential inauguration (first time ever). After the announcement there was a huge backlash from employees. So many were upset. Even the company "code of business ethics" clearly states it is forbidden to donate to any political organisation (even though this was indirectly). The leadership team simply stated that U.S was critical to the business and had considered the repercussions. Something is seriously broken if a company that usually holds itself to high ethical standards feels it necessary to wear knee pads and kiss the ring of DJT. Time will tell if they will regret their decision.

I guess George Carlin was right in saying "Business cannot afford to be ethical". Fucking sucks.

[stevebrooks]

He has gone mad, it's clear when you read this gibberish!

https://imgur.com/gallery/wat-Zi8WfKv

[pipbarber]

He has gone mad, it's clear when you read this gibberish!

'Gone' mad? That's generous, Steve. Not sure i can recall a moment when he wasn't already there.

[stevebrooks]

He has gone mad, it's clear when you read this gibberish!

https://imgur.com/gallery/wat-Zi8WfKv

Some posters in that thread stated they weren't sure it was a genuine quote.......but when you see stuff like that and then have to say you can't tell whether or not it's actually a genuine quote, well that says something by itself!

[stevebrooks]

More Jan 6 rioters, another dead, killed in a shootout while being served legal papers. A second imprisoned in Canada for...wait for it....illegally entering the country, a literal illegal immigrant.

[pipbarber]

Personally, my view of it is that Trump is absolutely an atheist. He's never at any point demonstrated any religious sentiment at all ever, except for political purposes. He's America's first atheist president, i'd argue.

He has officially gone bonkers. On the surface it looks like Jerusalem Syndrome. Anyone who has followed his career can clearly see he has an insidious God complex of some sort. Next he'll be telling us Yaweh came to him in a dream and told him Greenland belongs to America.

I have to say America does have compelling arguments for trying to claim that huge country. Technically China has no real claim to Taiwan as they have never owned it. Their claim is based on proximity. Similarly Greenland is far closer to the America's than Denmark. Let's face it. The Vikings stole plenty of land back when they discovered Greenland.

Personally, my view of it is that Trump is absolutely an atheist. He's never at any point demonstrated any religious sentiment at all ever, except for political purposes. He's America's first atheist president, i'd argue.

Ah...Taiwan was a Chinese province from the 1650s and remained so until it was annexed by Japan and then taken over by the fleeing Chiang Kai-shek after the revolution, as far as i know...so i'm not sure you can say China has never 'owned' Taiwan as it had, for 3 centuries, been a province, a part of China...for three hundred years. Not that i'm trying to defend China's desire to annex Taiwan, they want to remain independent and so they should. But...well...Chiang Kai-shek was a bit of a cunt so...it's complicated.

As for Greenland, i saw a Danish politician on the floor of their parliament last week claim Greenland has been connected to Denmark for 800 years. Honestly, i know very little about what goes on in Greenland but i do know that the US has absolutely no justifiable claim to it. Think of it as a trophy that Trump wants, it's also full of resources that need to be left in the ground, as far as i'm concerned.

[pipbarber]

So using Denmark's logic you could argue that Taiwan is rightfully owned by the Dutch East India Company or the Netherlands seeing as that entity went bankrupt.



Denmark has been gradually handing over control to Greenlanders for some time now. They already have self autonomy to a great extent. There are about 57,000 of them. If Trump offered to pay 1 trillion dollars for Greenland and that was divided among the citizenry it would come to about tap tap tap... tippety tap..
over $17.5 million per person. I think they'd consider that offer.

No, the situation is obviously different. Denmark has had a continual connection to Greenland. Your simile is ridiculous.

However, Taiwan's first nations people are certainly left out of the geopolitical discussions, and it would be good to hear more of their views. I suspect being annexed by China is probably not a goal of theirs but i don't really know, just guessing there.

In theory. You'd have to go through the Danish parliament first, and before that you'd need Greenland to be on your side, demanding it be sold, which, as you point out, may be tempting for the population of Greenland but what would be Denmark's pay off? Another 5 or 6 trillian for Danish people? In any case, Greenlanders would of course be complete fools to surrender the land on the promise of money from a man who has been sued 30,000 times for...not paying his bills.

[pipbarber]

A continual connection as much as it can from an ocean away. Look at a map and you can see Greenland is clearly part of the America's. Denmark trying to defend Greenland from America would be like America trying to defend Taiwan from China if it came to down to brute military force. Except Denmark is a lot weaker and doesn't have nukes. NATO does but I doubt they would want to get involved.

Yes it would be good if Greenlanders had a say but many of them are from Denmark so even if there was a vote Trump would likely lose. From what I've seen Greenlanders don't want either type of subjugation.

Good point about the reliability of Trump to pay up. He's also gone bankrupt a few times. Glad he isn't in charge of Australia.

Proximity has no legal basis for annexation. Greenland is a Nato territory. The ramifications of the US invading a Nato territory are next to impossible to predict, imo, but i'd suggest they wouldn't be good for anyone.