Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: The next four years

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  • Rich Lock, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    You do you, Donald, but why should anyone sign shit with the United States when, in the end, one party isn't coming to the table in good faith and the end result isn't worth the paper it's written on?

    Excellent advice. Which hasn't stopped a number of prominent UK politicians tripping over one another in their efforts to reach Washington in order to show that a public school education gives one a particular insight into 'special relationships', and fully equips them to provide the best rimjob he's ever had.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • WH, in reply to william blake,

    I saw a penguin like that once. I don't think it likes us.

    Just don't say you weren't warned.

    Since Nov 2006 • 797 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    What a difference an hour makes ...
    I was intrigued to hear at 6am on Morning report that a raft of senior managers had 'resigned- en masse from the US equivalent of Foreign Affairs - then at 7am they were described as being 'dumped' by Trump...
    - which is true I wonder?

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Fen Tex, in reply to John Farrell,

    As time goes by I am depressed to see many people do think they are. While I groan at every utterance of "Leader of the free world" quite a few people do seem to see the world in terms of a U.S led alliance they are citizens of.

    And it seems to me in their minds it is a Anglo-Saxon alliance that has moral right to lead.

    Christchurch • Since Oct 2014 • 18 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    which is true I wonder?

    It is safe to assume whatever Chump says is a lie - eg: we mutually cancelled the meeting.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • mark taslov, in reply to Fen Tex,

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Fen Tex,

    As time goes by I am depressed to see many people do think they are. While I groan at every utterance of "Leader of the free world" quite a few people do seem to see the world in terms of a U.S led alliance they are citizens of.

    And it seems to me in their minds it is a Anglo-Saxon alliance that has moral right to lead.

    Remember that Newshub poll on NZers' 2016 presidential preferences? NZ Firsters' large-ish support for Trump is a given, but that poll didn't mention ACT or the Conservatives, who I suspect would have been right up there.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Kumara Republic,

    that poll didn't mention ACT or the Conservatives

    May simply not have had any supporters in the sample.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Is Trump a Dalek emissary?
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/88883781/chivalry-or-a-fear-of-stairs-why-donald-trump-held-hands-with-british-pm-theresa-may

    I suspect Theresa May put up with his hand clutching just so she knew where his hands were...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Nothing's going to happen...
    Who knew that we had Seinfeld to blame for the ascension of Steve Bannon and his orange sock puppet...

    Bannon, 62, is a former Navy officer and Goldman Sachs banker who made a fortune after he acquired a share of the royalties from a fledgling TV show called Seinfeld.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/89003450/There-is-a-major-war-brewing-Seed-of-populist-agenda-visible-in-Steve-Bannons-past

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    A new map of Hell...
    Wired has a great link to an interactive visual of the Trump universe and its multitudinous connections:
    https://www.wired.com/2017/01/kim-albrecht-trump-data-viz

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Katharine Moody, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    Interesting link, thanks. This quote in particular:

    While others saw the world rebounding from the financial crisis of 2008, Bannon just saw it becoming more divided by class.

    The elites that had caused the crisis - or, at least, failed to stop it - were now rising higher. Everyone else was being left behind.

    "The middle class, the working men and women in the world... are just tired of being dictated to by what we call the party of Davos," Bannon said in a 2014 speech to a conference at the Vatican in a recording obtained by BuzzFeed.

    The party of Davos :-) - he's not far wrong on that one.

    Wellington • Since Sep 2014 • 798 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    More information about the power of Cambridge Analytics
    https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/how-our-likes-helped-trump-win

    I hope the left can out data them somehow.

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to ,

    Attachment

    Laurel be damned...
    Excuse me, is that fasces on your shoulder?

    introducing Nazism as analogy, isn’t just being a dick on the internet anymore

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Alfie,

    I have to confess to being a little Trumped-out, like most people here I’m sure. While there’s something compulsive about watching a former empire being demolished in such a public manner, otherwise interesting stories can get lost in the maelstrom of Trump’s daily outbursts. Here’s a couple which stood out for me.

    We’ve heard the stories of Trump stiffing contractors but we assumed he’d more or less stop that when he got the top job. But nope. The electrical contractors who worked “nonstop” to get Trump’s new Washington hotel ready for a televised campaign stop in September are still owed over two million dollars. The Trump organisation has offered them a third of that amount. Leopard… spots…

    Here’s an excellent piece from Google engineer Yonatan Zunger asking if the muslim ban is effectively a trial run for a coup.

    A couple of interesting images to follow.

    Dunedin • Since May 2014 • 1440 posts Report Reply

  • Alfie,

    Attachment

    The Guardian's Martin Rowson on Trump's meeting with May.

    Dunedin • Since May 2014 • 1440 posts Report Reply

  • Alfie,

    Attachment

    And a nice spoof on Trump and his rich white friends signing away women’s rights.

    I'm glad I'm not American.

    Dunedin • Since May 2014 • 1440 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie, in reply to ,

    ...the US economy crumble to the point its citizens resort to grubbing for worms.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to ,

    combined harvesting...

    Grass roots, fighting the American dream.

    Ride on!
    Brother!
    Ride on!

    We are the porina merica...
    oh yeah!

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • mark taslov, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    Trump used Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’

    Hiding in plain sight as it were. It’s not entirely surprising that the families might have taken umbrage at the establishment defiling the omertà, preferring to install their own button man: the Don.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • andin, in reply to ,

    don’t really know the clear definition of left,

    It seems that definition depends on one's pov and where you come from.
    Some seem to regard a lefty as anyone who wont let you kill at will, but thats an extreme. There certainly is a spectrum when it comes to how the left is defined in the US

    make Trump supporters look stupid

    They can do that all on their own ;)) I give 'em the .|..

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Hilary Stace,

    I hope the left can out data them somehow.

    Requires lots of money.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock, in reply to Alfie,

    Here’s an excellent piece from Google engineer Yonatan Zunger asking if the muslim ban is effectively a trial run for a coup.

    He's not the only one thinking along those lines.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    A coup? I do not believe American democracy to be that weak. For all it's faults, it has stood for hundreds of years, riding through far greater challenges than a childish playboy making a mockery of it. Comparisons with the rise of fascism in the 1930s are very premature. These people are not nearly as organized or powerful as the Nazis, nor is America anywhere near as angry as the German people were during that time, nor is ANY country actually belligerent towards them. They have not been vanquished in war and crushed under decades of sanctions. Everything that's happened to them, they did to themselves.

    Of course it's concerning that the most powerful job in the world is held by a muppet. But it's not the first time it's happened. I think in many ways it is the very impossibility of a coup that has led to a president full of braggadocio. Some proportion of the population really wants the kind of change a fascist might be able to bring, but they won't get that, they'll get someone going through the motions of strongman leadership and accomplishing very little because ultimately it's not a country that will tolerate fascists.

    I don't really see how we can help Americans sort this out. Nor do I even think we should. Nations are already dealing with Trump's random silliness in ways that make sense to them and that's as far as we really need to go. The Trump supporters are just going to have to learn the hard way that no one is going to build their wall for them, and their economy is far more reliant on trade and immigration than they realize, and that you can't strong arm the whole world. No way is the USA that powerful. The world will simply turn away from it.

    Which ironically will probably be good for the world, but not America. But what will be good for America is the exercise of it's checks and balances, eventually. Maybe they'll even add some new ones.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

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