What has Trump done now?

[old man emu]

5 hours ago, Grumpy Old Nasho said:

Need I say any more?

Nup.

You've clearly displayed your ability to carry a grudge for 50+ years. Time to lay your burden down.

[Marty_d]

Remarkably apt

 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/07/donald-trump-america-mafia-state

 

Should put the frighteners on any thinking person.

Of course there will always be the occasional Donald supporter who be like

[facthunter]

Donald calls people who serve and have served ,"SUCKERS and LOSERS" How can  THAT just be brushed aside?  Nev

[octave]

12 minutes ago, facthunter said:

How can  THAT just be brushed aside?

His sycophantic fans will ignore anything in order not to criticise the dear leader.  Trump knows this.

 

 

 

[facthunter]

The Entire World must Know HE's a  DANGEROUS Nutcase with Illusions of Grandeur living in his own World.   IF any thing good comes from this CRAZY, Unrepresentative mob of Misfits. PURE LUCK would have to be the MAJOR Part of the Outcome. Nev

[old man emu]

He deserves the title of "King of Con-fusion".

 

If you stand back and look at what his Administration has/could do to the global economy and his threats of warlike actions, you'd have to compare what you see with the criteria that are used to define terrorist organisations.

[facthunter]

It's TRUMPS WORLD NOW, according to J D Vance. Most of the World didn't get to VOTE on THAT one. The concept of "One Person ONE  Vote" is dead in America thanks to the Brainless Republican Party which spawned the AMERICAN MAFIA . Nev

[old man emu]

If Trump calls Zelenskyy a dictator because Z has not called for elections, does that also mean that, according to Trump, Albanese is a dictator, too. After all, both Z and Albo have held off calling for elections while their country deals with serious emergencies.

[facthunter]

Albanese has not gone beyond the Normal  Election time and has no ability to do so.  WE still abide by the rules HERE.   What would it matter if Trump called Albo anything? IF his past Performances are any gauge he'd be wrong about "anything" outside of the USA, as well as a LOT inside it?.   Nev

[old man emu]

I wasn't taking a shot at Albo. I just wanted to make a smartarsed shot at Trump. My source for Albo saying that it was not the right moment to commence an election campaign was a press conference he gave dealing mainly with the cyclone emergency. His comments about the election were in response to a red herring question from some dumb journo. You could take a guess at which media outlet the journo worked for.

 

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's Sunday Telegraph to read its reports on how the three levels of government are handling the emergency. Not that I purchase that rag myself. My Mum gets it just for the horse racing reports. As far as I can concerned the Sunday Telegraph is such garbage that even the tea leaves object to being wrapped in it.

[Jerry_Atrick]

3 hours ago, facthunter said:

The concept of "One Person ONE  Vote" is dead in America thanks to the Brainless Republican Party which spawned the AMERICAN MAFIA

And thanks to the hordes of brainless US voters that voted and continue to support them 

[facthunter]

Slightly More than 50%. Nev

[rgmwa]

6 minutes ago, facthunter said:

Slightly More than 50%. Nev

… of those who bothered to vote, so more like only 30% of the eligible voters. 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Yes.. (sort of more like 33%, but that's splitting hairs).. but that alone can't be used to say the election results would have been changed had those who hadn't vote were required to vote (or at least get their name marked off a voters' roll). It would be interesting to see the stats of which party they have (if any) registered with to get a guage... Of course, just being registered with a party (or whatever the process is in the US) does not mean one will vote for them, either.

 

What are the reasons why people don't vote in an optional system? According to this, https://post.parliament.uk/election-turnout-why-do-some-people-not-vote/, here are the main reasons:

• Demographic factors: Younger people, lower socio-economic class (but I would lump this in piolitical disengagement - they are the ones least looked after by pollies, so why bother?), health, ethnicity
• Logistics - accessibility, voter id (newly introduced by the conservatives to dissuade younger voters - getting a licence or passport isn't important for these folks)

 

With the probably exception of younger people, it would be hard to generalise which way they would vote. Ihave rarely voted in UK elections since the conservatives got in because all sides were populated with chaff, not wheat; and I didn't want my vote to endorse anyone. It was probably under the political disengagement heading, which is not accurate - it was an intentional decision not to endorse anyone. I long for the day when the whole electorate reject the lot of the pollies to send a signla they need to do better on all sides.

 

Given the reasons though, let's assume many are disengaged; i.e. they don't care enought to cast their vote (without numbers, it is only a hypothesis). But lets face it, if people were engaged, they would do their best to overcome the other barriers. Then let's assume, in order to improve voter turnout in the US, they introduced compulsory voting.. How would those that didn't vote, vote? Well, it's hard to say of course, but intuitively, the evidence would suggest it would probably make no difference to their normal voting behaviour. For example, evidence suggests that when an election is contentious in optional voting jurisdictions, voter turnout is higher because there is effectively a call to arms. For example, the Brexit referendum turnout was 72.2%, the last election turnout was 69.7%, but the average since 2001 is about 65%,

 

Given Trump has already had a term and the damage done in that term was known, one would expect if the non-voters were enegrised enough not to have a repeat, they would have come out in force. However, the turnout appears to be 63.9%, which is below the 2020 turnout of 66.6%, Therefore,despite Harris, not as many could be bothered to vote as last time.

 

I would contend if forced to vote, they would vote along their normal lines, or with their hip pocket, which probbaly means the voter results would probably more or less align with the vote of the 63.9% who voted in the absence of specific demographics. Note, that younger people today are veering right, and ethnic groups who are humaitarian or economic refugees are unlikely to vote for a "socialst" government, because they often flee countries purporting to be socialist countries, but are nothing more than autocratic communist countries (remind me what the USSR stands for?).

 

All that to say, it was still the brainless voters we have to thank for instilling the brainless republicans.

 

 

[old man emu]

32 minutes ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

voter id (newly introduced by the conservatives to dissuade younger voters - getting a licence or passport isn't important for these folks)

Isn't it good that in Australia all one has to do is lodge an enrolment form and your name goes on the electoral roll forever? All you have to do is update your residential address if you move, or if you change your name. I really think that Australia has the best electoral procedures to allow a person to exercise the right to vote.

[red750]

I wonder what the outcome would have been had the Democrat nominee been Pete Buttergeig.

 

Given the discriminatory proclivities of many Americans, some. on their principles would not vote for a coloured or a female contender. That stood to the disadvantage of Kamala on both counts.

 

I am also still seeing references, in FB comments, to Tampon Tim.

[pmccarthy]

I would rather have Trump than Albo, but it is not an easy choice.

[rgmwa]

Trump's latest comments about the war:

“I’m finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine. And they don’t have the cards,” Trump said. “In terms of getting a final settlement, it may be easier dealing with Russia.”

Asked whether the Russian leader was taking advantage of the pause in US intelligence sharing and military aid to Ukraine, Trump replied: “I actually think he is doing what anybody else would do.”

Trump knows he is facilitating Russia's latest missile and drone attacks by stopping the munitions and turning off Ukraine's electronic warfare support, and then blandly agrees that Putin is taking advantage of the situation to bomb the country even more `like anyone else would'. He is supposed to be in NATO but is literally helping Putin to attack Ukraine. He knows Ukraine is in a weak position `because they don't have the cards'. He then has the gall to say he wants the killing to stop. The depravity of this guy is appalling. 

[Jerry_Atrick]

34 minutes ago, pmccarthy said:

I would rather have Trump than Albo, but it is not an easy choice.

Surely you're not serious? Just look at the latest headlines; threat of nuclear war with Iran; still wanting to take Greenland which way he can; harassing  allies and cosying to the enemy that, wait, bombed the shit out of Ukraine when just given the opportunity and had for the first time since the war started, caused a coordinated Eurpean counties planes to scrambl, and a China becoming even more emboldened and their navy lapping Australia.. 

 

Need I mention him firing experience military leaders and replacing them with conspiracy theorists?

 

I recall you saying the safety and security of your grandchildren is of paramount importance. A month in, how is their future safety and security looking?

 

I have made it clear that Albo is no leader, but he is also no destroyer, and given his ability and runs on the board for a more balanced role wresting back China's growing reach in our region making it safer for your grandchildren, while steering the economy well through choppy waters, I'd take him over Chump any day... for the sake of the safety and security of your grandchildren

 

 

Edited yesterday at 11:15 AM by Jerry_Atrick

[Jerry_Atrick]

Oh yeah, and dog forbid it be found your granddaughters speak up against Chump. Headlines in reputable papers are reporting that critics are self-muzzling..

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

11 hours ago, facthunter said:

Donald calls people who serve and have served ,"SUCKERS and LOSERS" How can  THAT just be brushed aside?  Nev

I won't be brushing it aside, because it's true, for conscripts, we were absolutely suckers and losers, 100%. One of my main goals in life after discharge was to advise as many young guys as possible not to obey any order to comply with any military conscription, ever. And I did advise, and the word spread with other conscripts also advising young blokes. Patriotism is now dead in Australia. The fed govt is now recruiting foreigners to fill vacancies in the military, but it's costing millions of dollars as an incentive. Us conscripts got nothing, a big fat zero. So trump was quite correct, we were suckers and losers.

[Jerry_Atrick]

You were neither.. It was a legal requirement or your would go to prison and be pilloried by society.. The Vietnam conscripts couldn't win either way.

 

Though, admittedly, the pilloryong did in the end help shift the public perception of the war and notably how our boys were being treated. But an swful lot to ask a young man to take such responsibility to rearguard the action, given life in prison wasn't the best for anyone who objected.

[onetrack]

Australian National Service conscripts who served in australia are recognised today by the DVA as Veterans, if they served more than 1 days service in the Australian Regular Army - and they are entitled to a range of Veteran benefits. I'd suggest to GON he seek out assistance from either his local RSL, or any of the Veterans or Nasho's support groups.

 

A wise old Aunty told me once, that as you age, you can get BETTER, or get BITTER. It's important to get BETTER with age. She lived a long and happy and productive life, until she died at age 94.

 

https://nashofairgo.com.au/nasho-information-page/

 

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

58 minutes ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

You were neither

Yes we were. All of us should have resisted it from the very start. We were too young and naive to understand the consequences of a failing to fight against it.

 

Four predatory animals dragging away a resistant conscript.

[Jerry_Atrick]

51 minutes ago, Grumpy Old Nasho said:

We were too young and naive to understand

Bingo.. That is why you weren't a loser nor a sucker - how could anyone young and naive in the conext be either?

 

You were explouted - that is something very different.

Edited yesterday at 02:39 PM by Jerry_Atrick