Author Topic: The Trump Presidency  (Read 399017 times)

Offline gillianren

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #195 on: March 29, 2017, 11:19:34 AM »
Glad to hear that, and still angry for people who aren't that lucky.
"This sounds like a job for Bipolar Bear . . . but I just can't seem to get out of bed!"

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Offline twik

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #196 on: March 29, 2017, 11:37:48 AM »
Glad to hear that, and still angry for people who aren't that lucky.

The Toronto School Board isn't going to send any more school trips to the U.S. until things are settled. They're worried what would happen if one student was stopped at the border, and wasn't allowed to go with the others.

Offline gillianren

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #197 on: March 29, 2017, 05:40:44 PM »
Which is a legitimate worry.
"This sounds like a job for Bipolar Bear . . . but I just can't seem to get out of bed!"

"Conspiracy theories are an irresistible labour-saving device in the face of complexity."  --Henry Louis Gates

Offline Glom

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #198 on: March 29, 2017, 07:33:39 PM »
I have an observation even more shocking than the shocks I saw over the wing if the 757 I was on between PHL and MCO.

I have narrowed the time period of Frontierland to between 1877 and 1890 due to a flag displayed over a refreshment stand which has 38 stars. But what is more shocking than shocks is that the pattern of stars is a rectangular grid of 5 rows and 8 columns where on the second and fourth row it is the left most stars which are missing, not the right, as most history pages seem to suggest.

I think Frontierland might be fake and Brer Rabbit was never kidnapped by Brer Fox. How did he escape anyway?

Offline gillianren

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #199 on: March 30, 2017, 09:25:01 AM »
Born and bred in a briar patch!
"This sounds like a job for Bipolar Bear . . . but I just can't seem to get out of bed!"

"Conspiracy theories are an irresistible labour-saving device in the face of complexity."  --Henry Louis Gates

Offline Glom

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #200 on: March 31, 2017, 09:30:27 PM »
Speaking of strange American things, is it a done thing to pay the principle of the bill on card and leave cash for the tip?

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Offline Peter B

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #201 on: April 01, 2017, 05:24:49 AM »
Cutting these programs isn't helping the budget given the incredible increase the administration wants to give defense spending.  Or even just the cost of supporting the First Lady in her residence in New York.  I agree that it's best for their kid if he stays in his school at least through the end of the school year; continuity is good for a kid.  But if tough sacrifices are being made, maybe start there?

To which the likely response would be...

"If the honourable Senator from Washington is asking whether I'm a patriot for my country...if the honourable Senator is asking whether I care about the safety of the people of this country...then I'm proud to say, 'Guilty as charged'. The honourable Senator from Washington may not care about protecting this land of ours, but I and my colleagues do!"

In other words, as soon as you talk about trading off any social welfare program against a military program the response will be to challenge your patriotism regardless of how wasteful or pointless it is, and remain silent about the social welfare program regardless of how beneficial it is.

Seriously, these sorts of speeches and sound-bites just about write themselves (more's the pity).
« Last Edit: April 01, 2017, 05:37:39 AM by Peter B »

Offline gillianren

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #202 on: April 01, 2017, 12:04:32 PM »
Speaking of strange American things, is it a done thing to pay the principle of the bill on card and leave cash for the tip?

There's usually a tip line on credit card receipts.  However, if you pay cash for the tip, your server is guaranteed to get the tip that day; it's my understanding that this isn't always true with credit cards, depending on the restaurant.  (I've never worked somewhere you could accept tips--the rule at the Burger King where I did my food service was that you couldn't.)  If the management is really unpleasant, they might never get a credit card tip at all.
"This sounds like a job for Bipolar Bear . . . but I just can't seem to get out of bed!"

"Conspiracy theories are an irresistible labour-saving device in the face of complexity."  --Henry Louis Gates

Offline Glom

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #203 on: April 01, 2017, 03:58:24 PM »
So basically I did good.

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Offline Dalhousie

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #204 on: April 01, 2017, 06:57:31 PM »
Cutting these programs isn't helping the budget given the incredible increase the administration wants to give defense spending.  Or even just the cost of supporting the First Lady in her residence in New York.  I agree that it's best for their kid if he stays in his school at least through the end of the school year; continuity is good for a kid.  But if tough sacrifices are being made, maybe start there?

To which the likely response would be...

"If the honourable Senator from Washington is asking whether I'm a patriot for my country...if the honourable Senator is asking whether I care about the safety of the people of this country...then I'm proud to say, 'Guilty as charged'. The honourable Senator from Washington may not care about protecting this land of ours, but I and my colleagues do!"

In other words, as soon as you talk about trading off any social welfare program against a military program the response will be to challenge your patriotism regardless of how wasteful or pointless it is, and remain silent about the social welfare program regardless of how beneficial it is.

Seriously, these sorts of speeches and sound-bites just about write themselves (more's the pity).

The responses to that sort of chest thumping idiocy also write themselves, but I will resist, as it is not my country (something I am very grateful for)

Offline JayUtah

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #205 on: April 01, 2017, 09:36:39 PM »
So basically I did good.

Yes.  Cash tips are further appreciated because there's no paper trail to remind you to report it as income for tax purposes.  If you get what I mean.
"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams

Offline Peter B

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #206 on: April 01, 2017, 11:18:24 PM »
Cutting these programs isn't helping the budget given the incredible increase the administration wants to give defense spending.  Or even just the cost of supporting the First Lady in her residence in New York.  I agree that it's best for their kid if he stays in his school at least through the end of the school year; continuity is good for a kid.  But if tough sacrifices are being made, maybe start there?

To which the likely response would be...

"If the honourable Senator from Washington is asking whether I'm a patriot for my country...if the honourable Senator is asking whether I care about the safety of the people of this country...then I'm proud to say, 'Guilty as charged'. The honourable Senator from Washington may not care about protecting this land of ours, but I and my colleagues do!"

In other words, as soon as you talk about trading off any social welfare program against a military program the response will be to challenge your patriotism regardless of how wasteful or pointless it is, and remain silent about the social welfare program regardless of how beneficial it is.

Seriously, these sorts of speeches and sound-bites just about write themselves (more's the pity).

The responses to that sort of chest thumping idiocy also write themselves, but I will resist, as it is not my country (something I am very grateful for)

Oh, it's not my country either, but there aren't many Australians who can resist poking fun at Americans...sometimes in deadly seriousness.

In a way it's an indictment of Australian politics too, that I was doing only a small amount of paraphrasing of things I'm sure I've heard Australian politicians say.

And on that point, it has to be said that the popularity of Australian politicians with the Australian public has rarely been lower.

For example, we've recently had the Fair Work Commission (a government agency which oversees industrial relations) recommend cuts to pay rates for weekend work for people in the hospitality sector, a move applauded by the (politically conservative) government as boosting the economy. And then a couple of weeks later the government announced its intention to cut company tax rates to boost the economy. So apparently giving people more money is bad for the economy when it's given to low-paid people, but good when it's given to rich people.

Then there's the robo-debt welfare problem, in which an automated data-matching system is sending letters out to people claiming that they're inappropriately claiming benefits (often erroneously), while politicians are living high on the hog inappropriately claiming travel and accommodation benefits (often erroneously). The hypocrisy is frustrating.

Then there's been the business of power cuts. South Australia now generates about 30% of its electricity needs from renewables like solar and wind, but when a couple of tornadoes blew down transmission lines which led to a statewide blackout that was blamed on the renewables. Meanwhile, the current PM, who has previously endorsed the idea of a carbon emissions trading scheme is now sitting back while his ministers tout the benefits of building new coal-fired power station, and himself touting a multi-billion dollar expansion of the Snowy Mountains hydro scheme having recently lectured us on the importance of cutting government spending to reduce the deficit. *

To add to the problem, several states have privatised their electricity networks, with a number of power stations now being owned by foreign companies. Over the last few years several of these foreign-owned coal-fired power stations have been closed down, noticeably reducing the amount of electricity generated in the country, and there are now serious warnings of electricity shortages and blackouts as early as next summer. Naturally, manufacturers who rely on electricity to make things aren't thrilled, and both energy operators and political parties of all stripes are preferring to spend their time blaming each other rather than do anything about it.

So in the context of possible blackouts next summer, I'm going to be accelerating my plans to have some solar PV panels, a battery system, and a solar hot water system installed.

* Meanwhile, the skepticism about global warming coming from engineers, geologists and certain lobby groups is disturbing, even as the Great Barrier Reef experiences more frequent and serious bleaching events.

Offline Dalhousie

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #207 on: April 02, 2017, 04:27:17 AM »
* Meanwhile, the skepticism about global warming coming from engineers, geologists and certain lobby groups is disturbing, even as the Great Barrier Reef experiences more frequent and serious bleaching events.

Don't entirely discount the scepticism of geologists.  They know more about climate change than most scientists and the limits of mathematical modeling of complex environmental systems..  Many of them provide important corrections to some of the more silly things said about climate change.  But that's another topic.

Offline Glom

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #208 on: April 02, 2017, 12:24:50 PM »
Shocking pollution in Trumpistan. The Swiss Family Treehouse had a neat system for extracting water from a stream using a water wheel and delivering it to the kitchen, but the kitchen discharges its grey water back into the stream upstream of the extraction.

Offline LionKing

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #209 on: April 07, 2017, 03:27:19 AM »
I should say that although I am against Trump, I am happy with what he did , bombing the Syrian airport. This is not enough, however. This Syrian tragedy should be stopped once for all. The seen of the kids suffocating from the gas is so heartbreaking  :'(  the hits on the Assad regime should be more painful.
“When you go through a hard period,
When everything seems to oppose you,
... When you feel you cannot even bear one more minute,
NEVER GIVE UP!
Because it is the time and place that the course will divert!”
 Rumi