rgmwa

Would be worth having your kidney function checked. HBP can seriously damage them over time and 200/100 is extremely high even if it was just on the day.

He's a throwback to an archaic imperialist world view. He, Putin and Xi Jinping are all on the same page and understand each other perfectly well. I suspect that many leaders of countries that have been long-time allies of the US also recognise who he is and what he's up to but don't want to publicly say what they really think until the reality can't be denied any longer. They also don't want to get him off-side because he will attack at the drop of a hat. In my opinion he's a thoroughly nasty, impulsive and vindictive character with no redeeming features or moral values. In his first administration there were enough people able to throw sand in the gears to stop his worst instincts. Not so now. He has draped himself in the Royal Purple Robes with the connivance of the Supreme Court, dared anyone to stop him, and surrounded himself with enablers and sycophants. His Achilles heel is his basic ignorance and incompetence combined with his arrogance and highly inflated opinion of himself. That may yet see him come to grief before long. We can only hope.

Yes, alien invaders of occupied lands. Trump would deport them.

No they wouldn’t. He sees himself as a king. They were trying to get away from one.

Trump once said “real power is fear”. That’s how he’s governing now, by using threats and intimidation to try to get what he wants.irrespective of the law or the Constitution. He’s often described as transactional but in reality he’s an extortionist.

Not content with getting rid of all the Inspector's General and other bodies that could hold him to account, he is now using the Justice Department to go after law firms he doesn't like. This is an extract from a NYT article: President Trump broadened his campaign of retaliation against lawyers he dislikes with a new memorandum that threatens to use government power to punish any law firms that, in his view, unfairly challenge his administration. The memorandum directs the heads of the Justice and Homeland Security Departments to “seek sanctions against attorneys and law firms who engage in frivolous, unreasonable and vexatious litigation against the United States” or in matters that come before federal agencies. The memo, titled “Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court,” complains that lawyers have long engaged in unethical conduct in opposing him, or opposing deportations. The memo also suggests that the Trump administration will make disciplinary referrals against lawyers who pursue cases without merit “particularly in cases that implicate national security, homeland security, public safety, or election integrity.” Mr. Trump also used the announcement to attack one particular lawyer by name, Marc Elias. Mr. Elias previously worked at Perkins Coie, and has long represented Democrats. Mr. Trump blames Mr. Elias, among others, for a dossier of unsubstantiated allegations about his links to Russia that was investigated by the F.B.I. in 2016 and 2017. “President Trump’s goal is clear. He wants lawyers and law firms to capitulate and cower until there is no one left to oppose his administration in court,” Mr. Elias said in a written statement. He added, “There will be no negotiation with this White House about the clients we represent or the lawsuits we bring on their behalf.” At the rate Trump and his cronies are dismantling the rule of law in the US, his attacks on the world economy, backflip on NATO, sabotaging the US public service, repression of science, environmental and medical research, attacks on universities, plus his aggression against former allies and meddling in various conflicts, it's hard to see how this has any good outcome for anyone. He will end up as the incompetent dictator of a corrupt and dysfunctional banana republic run by billionaires. So much for the concept of MAGA.

He also said they might sell a less capable version to certain allies but “toned down about ten percent” because “someday they might not be allies”. Whatever they come up with it will likely take twice as long as expected to iron out the bugs, perform below expectations, and cost twice as much as their current estimates. Besides, it’s a Boeing so that’s probably not a good sign.

Trump has announced that Boeing will build their new 6th generation fighter. I wonder if the fact they are calling it an F47 had anything to do with it?

https://www.wcax.com/video/2025/03/18/white-house-press-secretary-responds-french-lawmaker-who-wants-us-return-statue-liberty/

Sounds like something Jacqui Lambie would say.

That's why locking into a decades long, hugely expensive contract apparently based on the assumption that there won't be any significant changes in undersea warfare technology or geopolitical alliances is so shortsighted. If we want manned replacements for the Collins Class submarines there are more cost-effective options that could be delivered sooner.

I think that Trump's sellout of Ukraine is a low and cowardly act for a US president and I doubt that he is remotely capable of this kind of strategic analysis, but at the same time this military analyst makes some valid points. https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2025/03/17/a_moral_and_strategically_sound_strategy_in_ukraine_1097971.html

So GON, you're saying you wouldn't necessarily know if you were being inhumanely treated, and would need somebody to tell you? That's a bit concerning. That's very noble of you GON, but how are you going to make Australia great again? And if you're not sure it ever was, how will you know if you've succeeded?

What, you mean by falling over ourselves to try and keep Australia in their good books? Still, good to hear you at least admit that `some' criticism of the US is justified, although that's an understatement if you ask me. As for Trump being there to help build trust in the US again, he sure has a strange way of going about it when what he's doing is destroying any trust his former allies may have had in the integrity of the US. How do you expect the most blatantly untrustworthy individual in the White House to build trust in the country? Trump is smashing the car alright. Hopefully one day someone else may be able to repair what's left of it, but it will need a complete rebuild starting with a pile of scrap metal.

What imagined problems are you trying to solve with your elite surveillance squad? That team isn’t led by someone called Musk, is it?

No he doesn’t. He thinks allies are just freeloaders and ripoff merchants. He is not interested in alliances.

My brother in law is a retired cray fisherman. He used to fish out of King Island and around Tas. His deckie went overboard once. Couldn’t swim and was going down but the brother in law just managed to grab him and haul him back on board. Lucky guy.

Lots of professional fishermen can’t swim.

Wasn't the French sub a nuclear design that we asked them to change to DE at great expense? I can see the sense in having long range nuclear subs but spending all that money on the AUKUS deal with all the risks of non-delivery and unpredictable future warfare needs seems like a bad risk. We should just go back cap in hand and buy the French nuclear subs. We would probably be up and running much faster.

Don't bother with part two on my account. I've seen enough already.

... especially when you have to admit you were wrong.

No he isn't. Where did you hear that nonsense? He's simply said that a ceasefire sounds like a good idea, but it would only be on his terms.

Far from making America great again, Trump is doing the exact opposite through his lawless mismanagement and sheer stupidity. He has said that tariff wars are good and easy to win but his erratic approach has created financial anxiety in the US and around the workd. The US stock market is already down 10% and will probably drop further. The cost of living will soon go up. He is trashing the justice system and going after his many enemies. He has upended the country’s security agencies and made the US more vulnerable. He has sided with Russia against Ukraine and Europe. Government employees are losing their jobs all across the country, which will have significant knock-on effects in their communities. His approval ratings are dropping steadily and most of the country thinks it’s heading in the wrong direction. He is the most ignorant US president in history when it comes to his general knowledge. Trump watches the markets and his approval ratings very closely so he won’t like the current trend. On the other hand he can never admit that he was wrong about tariffs or any of his other decisions, so he’s going to paint himself into a corner very quickly. His MAGA base may finally realise that he isn’t the genius he said he was. Who knows how he’ll react then. The US will become the country Trump said it has been for years.

No, Trump is a malevolent, but incompetent narcissist, with a great need to maintain maximum fealty from his fellow Americans. There you are, GON. I've corrected your typos.

A political science academic in the US said recently about Trump’s attitude to former allies that, “Trump is so obsessed with the problem of free riders that he forgets that it was in America’s interest to drive the bus”. Sums the current tariff and slash and burn debacle up pretty well.