nigel99

Sadly I don’t think Trump will ever see jail, although he should. I think he will be pardoned or some other mechanism for the USA to avoid the embarrassment of having to an ex president in jail. I’ve been reading the Mueller report and one of the footnotes/references caught my eye ‘Section II ... The Presidents Criminal Activity...’ I realise it was a cross reference, but it did not say potential or possible...

So it is established fact that the Russians interfered with the US electoral process. Nobody really knows how much influence they had in the outcome. My question is this, how much influence does Russia have today in the USA? It would be interesting to see analysis, as I am sure they didn't simply pack up their computers, shut up shop and declare 'Mission Accomplished'

Funny I was just reflecting on this last night. How can you expect someone who is clearly lying or has a very poor memory to run a country?

I’ve noticed over the past week Trump has started using the word ‘republican’ a lot. I’m trying to figure the psychology of it. He usually self promotes at the expense of all else and it is like he is trying to reinforce that he is part of the ‘group’ and a team player. Its clever and manipulative and I can’t figure out the motive/agenda. Any ideas?

It is interesting reading the actual report and not news spin. There is insufficient evidence for criminal charges on collusion BUT that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Members of the Trump campaign deleted messages, used messaging platforms that were encrypted and the messages ‘expired’ (I guess Trump and Putin were snap chatting!!) As an outsider what blows my mind is the level of partisanship in the USA. The Republicans are more concerned with defending Trump than the USA.

But Hillary once shook hands with a Russian!!! Where is the outrage from the left on that?

But Hillary once shook hands with a Russian!!! Where is the outrage from the left on that?

Yoink, totally agree with you. If your protest vote comes home to roost, you’ve got to own the consequences.

Jerry, i don’t think that is fair. I was in California during the 2016 election and can confidently say that the guys in the office ‘were scared of, disliked, hated Hillary’ and they voted for Trump out of protest, not cause they liked him. Much like Brexit, they got a shock when Trump one, they were not exactly thrilled with the outcome

So let’s get this straight. Mueller indicts how many of Trumps team and yet Mueller is ‘an angry democrat’ Witch hunt etc.... But for the Democrat indicted he’s correct? So many people in politics are slim balls I’m not surprised someone else got caught. At the end of the day crooks come in all shapes and sizes. But my question for you is this, if you’re prepared to accept one indictment from the investigation why can’t you accept the others?

I’ve never liked Wikileaks. Breaking the law to correct ‘wrongs’ brings to mind the old saying ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’. So I am supportive of Julian standing trial. That said, I think governments should be held to account

How anybody can have respect for Trump is beyond me. He’s on record praising Wikileaks and now suddenly ‘it’s not his thing’?

Well if you manage to declare bankruptcy then the debt is gone So just keep spending! It’s win win

How was he fibbing?

You’re flogging a dead horse. In the future when fox and friends turn on Trump that is when his story will change, until then it’s a lost cause

Jesus, you’re so blind Trump could have a Russian passport and you’d claim it was innocent. Its pretty clear that members of Trumps inner circle worked with Russia

At the time I heard someone say ‘of course we know Iraq has WMD we still have the receipts’ As others pointed out it was an ‘active’ program that was wrong

At risk of major thread drift I recall the papers saying how Iraq could deploy WMD in 45 mins and implying that they were a threat to the UK. I honestly thought the whole dodgy dossier debate came after (Dr Kelly?) died

Interesting perspective and not something I’ve ever looked into. As a side and loosely related note I remember back home (UK) when the Iraq war was being discussed the Gov made the dossier publicly available. It was really interesting to observe what the media said (WMD an imminent threat), what the government chose to correct them on (not much), and how it differed from the facts in the dossier. It made me really question ‘listening’ to the news media and not going to the source of information to form my views. And that was the BBC, which is miles ahead of US media in terms of balance. Has society become too complicated? Genuine question and not constrained to the USA

Hi Jerry my point is that fundamentalist beliefs and extremism is to blame. Arguing over the particular flavour is pointless. Look at the reponces to my post, other than Bigun there is a fair amount of shifting that one type of extremist is ‘worse’ than a posters particular flavour. My father has always been fascinated with the concept of ‘belief’, and I really think it is at the heart of it.

My sister likes Trump and while we don’t talk often she sent me a link on how the shooter was ‘like the left wing environmentalists’ Honestly I think ‘fundamentalists’ are the problem, any belief taken to extreme is an issue, atheist, Muslim, Christian, right or left wing.

Not sure what the answer is regarding democracy. Australia has compulsory voting but seems pretty broken, UK which is home to me isn’t any better, Zimbabwe where I was born is a joke. But honestly the level of blindness I see both here and with US friends is amazing.

Honestly I look at the childish behaviour and broken two party system in the USA and I think the US is little more than a banana republic with nukes. The way the vast majority of Americans are unable to think beyond my party good, other party bad is sickening. It’s on both sides and it looks like a nation of sheep.

Honestly it is ridiculous to suggest it is somehow China’s problem. The USA (and most of the West) choose to buy cheap products that are made overseas and large corporations exploit the cheap labour for shareholders gain. Apple - made in China, nearly all our computers etc are made in China. Forget tariffs and punishing others, buy local and only support local businesses. Be prepared to pay more for the same products, even if they are not higher quality. As a side note I do have an issue with companies taking manufacturing offshore to increase profits and finding ways to avoid paying taxes, but that is a whole other discussion

I have really mixed feelings about illegal immigration. There are really three main groups of migrant that I can think of. 1) Legal migrants 2) Refugees 3) illegal immigrants I realise that a refugee escaping violence and instability is likely to use the same or similar methods to an illegal immigrant and so it can get very blurry. But over all I think a tough stance on illegal immigrants is warranted. Yes it sucks that the birth lottery put you on the wrong side of a border and no opportunity doesn’t exist for many and yes they desperately want a better life. I believe migrants generally make excellent workers and I also don’t believe migrants come looking for handouts. So while I struggle with the human element and empathy and compassion, at some point the rule of law needs to be upheld. I’m not sure about other countries, but something I like about the USA is the Green card lottery which I believe is free. It gives something like 50 000 people a year a chance to live in the USA, it is weighted towards 3rd world countries.