What has Trump done now?

[facthunter]

Look up the accepted Meaning of Matriarchy.   Nev

[rgmwa]

Pete Hegseth has just made it over the line to become Secretary of Defense after Vance cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate.

Should be interesting to see how that works out.

[facthunter]

By one vote. I'd say NOT WELL.  Look out, World. Nev

[old man emu]

2 hours ago, facthunter said:

Look up the accepted Meaning of Matriarchy.   Nev

I did use the word very loosely.

 

Before Trump's Order, the USA was a patriarchy, a society in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it, whereas a matriarchy is a social system is which women have more power in the community than men. I was trying to say that Trump had made all men females through a definition that did not correspond with the scientific definition that identifies the sexes, and since those men would not be likely to give up power, you would have a matriarchy.

 

 

[octave]

Trump is either evil or exceedingly stupid. 

 

 

 

[Marty_d]

29 minutes ago, octave said:

Trump is either evil or exceedingly stupid. 

 

 

 

"Both" is not out of the question.

[Marty_d]

Wonder why he'll release the JFK assassination files, the Martin Luther King files, but not the Epstein files?

Wouldn't be because he's taken a flight or two on the Lolita Express himself, would it?

[octave]

Probably for this reason

 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/01/trump-jeffrey-epstein-tapes

[red750]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14323293/trump-denmark-pm-call-greenland-military-threat.html?ito=social-facebook

 

 

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14320917/Mexico-Gulf-America-changed-UK-Britain-maps.html?ito=social-facebook

[rgmwa]

8 minutes ago, red750 said:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14320917/Mexico-Gulf-America-changed-UK-Britain-maps.html?ito=social-facebook

Won't be long before the Cubans announce that it's now called the Gulf of Cuba on all their maps.

 

[red750]

https://www.wownews.info/uncategorized/these-passports-are-now-restricted-in-the-us-after-donald-trump-signs-new-gender-executive-order/

[red750]

This will be interesting.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14322293/ufo-whistleblowers-alien-life-cover-age-disclosure.html?ito=social-facebook

[rgmwa]

That will be another load of rubbish. That fighter plane footage supposedly showing a UFO turns out to be an artifact of the gun camera imaging system. There's a explanation on the net somewhere.

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

On 24/01/2025 at 11:29 AM, facthunter said:

  JUST tell ME the Country you would RATHER be living in.  Nev

That's another one that's morphed into a cliché. Some Americans invited me to move to the US and I had to explain that I'm getting too old to move anywhere at all, and that I'm fifth generation, 1819 was the start of my ancestors here when there was no political parties, so I don't identify with modern day shenanigans, all that will pass given time. My political disposition is an overall outlook, studying the past, trying to fathom the present, and perceiving the future. Accordingly, I have often written letters to politicians to gauge their attitudes and mental stability on a number of different issues. Their answers gave me enough insight to make a tentative judgement on the precariousness of Australia's future in the long term if the current philosophical trend of arguing in Parliament makes for a better democracy. Some people say that it does. I'm not so sure going forward. Arguing (two party system) is actually setting a bad example in this day and age. My opinion is that the future won't stand for it.

 

One conclusion I've come to is that Australia needs a complete overhaul of politics, integrating or overlapping of all the sub-ideologies, while retaining our main Aussie culture and characteristic Aussie spirit of work ethic that we've always had, but fast losing. Not to mention our fascination with all things foreign. We find it almost impossible, for various reason, to imagine we can do anything, or make anything for ourselves. Can you name the two US corporations, whose combined worth is nearly three times Australia's total GDP?  ............................ Apple and Microsoft ........... just two US private entities. While it would be a stretch for us to expect to have large firms like that, we hardly even try to make a simple widget.

 

Another: We need in my opinion, to have a non-political president, or a head or state removed from the workings of Parliament, and has the power to keep Australia on track, and on the straight and narrow, and generally encourage politicians and citizens to be Australian first and leave old foreign gripes behind where they first started festering, usually on the other side of the world somewhere, far removed from Australia.

 

With all that in mind, we need to draft up a new constitution, one that is more for the people rather than the politicians, which is how it is, still now, given it was conceived by subjects under British rule, and authoritarianism was slyly built into it .... "Democracy must be made safe for the World", English lords thought. In our case, Australia. The thinking was the opposite to President Wilson's, who some years later said: "The World must be made safe for democracy".

 

Can you tell the difference? I reckon neither is reassuring, and that's why the Electoral College in the US is able to disregard a popular vote and basically place the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence before all else. In the case of the Presidential contest just gone, they've decided that Donald Trump was the most suitable person to be President, with all his faults, to keep the United States on an even keel, and most importantly, to protect the States from undue foreign influence detrimental to their law and order on all fronts, and also any attempt to de-unify the States, these are what Trump is resisting, and if it wasn't him doing the resisting, it would be someone else finding themselves with that inevitable task in the near future, either that, or massive riots in the streets causing chaos and demands for strict adherence to the basic interpretation of laws, instead of interpreting laws based on emotion and feelings. We all have different emotions and feelings, but a law is a law, for everyone, that's the purpose of a law. Law isn't confetti, sprinkling a handful on this person, then sprinkling two handfuls on another person.

 

We need to make big changes in Australia IMO, and where and when I can, I put forth my suggestions and ideas, for Australia only, and I need to be in Australia to help out. Bring on the Republic, with a non-political President and much less squabbling from politicians - be fair dinkum Aussies.

 

Edited Saturday at 05:56 PM by Grumpy Old Nasho

[Marty_d]

The electoral college system is one of the worst parts of US democracy.

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

Perhaps you don't fully understand why it exists.

[nomadpete]

3 hours ago, Grumpy Old Nasho said:

That's another one that's morphed into a cliché.

Thanks, Grumpy.

There is a lot in that post!

 

I'll only address your first sentence.

 

Nev asked a simple question - "JUST tell ME the Country you would RATHER be living in.  Nev"

 

I am not greatly travelled so my opinion is coloured by new reports (and we all agree on the value of them).

 

However, even allowing for all the shortcomings of our country, my answer is:

 

I can't think of a better place. Sure there is stuff that should change for the betterment of everyone. BUT...

Our rule of law works mostly ok. I am safe from persecution. I eat well, have a comfortable place to live, have reasonable health care.

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

59 minutes ago, nomadpete said:

I'll only address your first sentence.

 

Nev asked a simple question - "JUST tell ME the Country you would RATHER be living in.  Nev"

Nev changed the subject from politics to which country I'd rather reside in. Myself and others I know have been asked that question often, so often I now consider it as a generic cliche.

 

Australia is bigger than any political party, and anything a government gives to it's citizens, it can also take away from it's citizens. Always think in terms of "temporary". Where would you yourself go if there was a complete collapse of the economy and the relative stable society disintegrated? I'd stay right here because I have bush and survival skills, I'd still be happy. When I was a kid, many times mum could only rustle up a boiled egg or a banana for an evening meal, I never forgot that and none of us complained. It's not political parties, their ideologies, their socialism or capitalism that keeps me in Australia, it's the island we live on that keeps me here, and taking an interest in it, which includes an interest in the history of the Aboriginal population, multiculturalism aside.

Edited Saturday at 10:19 PM by Grumpy Old Nasho

[facthunter]

Is asking where a better place than HERE is, is POLITICS. it's YOU reframing the question. We all want to go BUSH and get away from it all  MATE. Eventually we'd be making nothing here, and wouldn't have Bridges ,Roads, Airports, Supermarkets and  Hospitals etc All the things we take for granted that cost money.. I keep asking myself THAT question also when I stray too far from REALITY.  Nev

[old man emu]

6 minutes ago, facthunter said:

Eventually we'd be making nothing here,

If you go to Western Sydney in the vicinity of the new airport, you'll see what we are really great in making in Australia - warehouses for imported goods.

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

Oops, I should have clicked on "Agree" OME

 

Nev, don't take anything for granted.

[facthunter]

GON .You sure wouldn't know ME from a Bar of soap, and that  advice confirms it. Sydney is now a place you can't afford and would not want either, getting worse. One of the World's BEST Harbours surrounded by what? Congested roads with tolls and Parking stations which cost people about 120$+/day to get to and from work. Will soon have continuous aircraft noise overhead and that's progress. Nev

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

All I said was "don't take anything for granted". That can fit into a multitude of contexts.

[facthunter]

You've always had my attention and I try to answer questions if asked of me..  Nev

[onetrack]

Our democratic system is subtly warped by the formation of political parties, which means politicians, who are elected by their constituents, end up representing and voting in decisions that benefit their political party, rather than their constituents desires and needs. 

In America, politicians are controlled by corporations, who wield their enormous political clout, via their incredible wealth, to make decisions that constantly benefit corporations and senior executives and CEO's, instead of the general population.

 

There are inadequate taxes on the rich, who scream blue murder any time increased taxes on the rich are imposed. These people also utilise vast amounts of manipulation of tax laws to ensure they pay even less tax than envisioned by the lawmakers. These people were called "robber barons" in the old days, they still exist, albeit in a different and more cunning form.

 

The gigantic corporations such as Google and Microsoft and Apple should be broken up, because they're wealthier than half the worlds countries, and wield unbelievable political and economic power.

America has Anti-Trust and Monopoly laws, but they've been ignored, watered down, and manipulated by these gigantic corporations, that have global tentacles.

 

The American politicians of the early 20th century, who saw huge monopolies forming from the oil and railroad industries, were acutely aware of the power and control they could acquire, which usurped the power of even U.S. Presidents - so they introduced the Anti-Trust and Monopoly laws to try and rein them in.

 

Those laws were used on General Motors in 1967 to break up GM's ever-increasing tentacles, making GM divest itself of companies it had bought up to monopolise certain areas of manufacturing.

However, since that time, a new breed of corporate leader and new teachings in business skills have seen the rise of illegal, unethical and outright immoral conduct amongst corporations - all the while they claim to teach "corporate ethics". What a joke.

 

So, to summarise, to improve outcomes in wealth distribution and to improve the average persons lot;

 

1. Make politicians responsible to their voters, not their party.

2. Place tight limits on political spending and advertising (note how much Clive Palmer spent on political advertising to gain votes - it worked for him).

3. Make all political donations public, and limit the amounts.

4. Increase taxes on the extremely wealthy and make their "innovative" accounting and tax-minimisation methods illegal.

5. Limit the size of corporations so they cannot have more wealth than Govts, whereby they can control the Govts accordingly.