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The 2018 Trump Presidency thread

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You're deluding yourself if you think trump is winning over America. Sure, he isn't universally reviled either. But he's hardly beloved.
 
america will love trump in his jail cell. it's increasingly obvious that's where the treasonous scumbag will end up

captain h said:
Needle vending machines, Chinese meth, and all 22,000+ miles of mainland coastline ... yeah I don't know why you'd call it a shit hole. Enlighten me? How is Australia worse than America, according to you?

Don't we have the worse problem with poverty and gun violence?
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i grew up in a really isolated city. have a look at Perth on the map, if you don't know how far it is from everything - it's the one urban centre on the whole west half of the continent.
i hated that, growing up there. you couldn't catch a ride out of town - it's like 4 days' drive to the next capital city.

and australia can be pretty fucking backwards - especially if you live in the sticks ...which is pretty much everywhere outside of a dozen cities.
melbourne's a rockin' town, but there are lots of places in australia i wouldn't want to live. besides a few hippie country towns, most of australia would not suit my needs.
when you say "australia", it really depends on where. same for the US too, obviously - but there are probably 20 towns that i would love to live for a while, but in australia i don't think i would really want to live in any other city here (except maybe hobart...for a while).

i've always had complicated feelings about living in australia, but i love where i'm living at the moment. i'd take my current digs over anywhere in america.

most of australia is basically uninhabited - the city i grew up in, you couldn't really drive to another city - it'd take more than 2 days, i think.
road trips here are nothing like in the states - you drive for hours, probably even days, without seeing a town with a general store.
it's crazy - mostly deserts and arid wastelands.

just trying to give you some context, because you can't really compare australia and america without considering the mny variables, because there are loyts of reasons that some people would be attracted to - or turned-off about a town.
there's not the massive wealth of opportunities that the USA presents - much of the country is uninhabited, but the population increases happening in the big australian cities is creating a bit of strain - there is homelessness and poverty, but not on the scale you see in american cities.

so, i live in melbourne, which i love. gauging a city is complicated, and depends largely on what you're into, and melbourne's got a fucking incredible music scene, great food, and brilliant public transport where i live (we have trams, but great bus and train network in my neighbourhood too).
the homeless population has incerased a lot in recent years, which i'm sure is related to the government making things harder for people receiving benefits (disability and aged pensioners).
when you lose your job - which happens to the best of us sometimes - it can help to get on the dole, but it's not enough for most people to live off. you can pay rent - the dole is about $1300 a month i think.
so how many people are homeless?

Melbourne homelessness count finds 392 rough sleepers in CBD and inner suburbs


recent stats say that melbourne has 4.8 million people - which accounts for19.05% of australia's population.
i don't know how they count homeless people, but even if the article is way off and there are 500 or 600 people, that's comparatively low for a city of nearly 5 million. i don't know what comparable sized cities' homeless rates are?


weed is illegal, drugs are expensive - chinese meth, lots of good mdma at the moment - and i don't think fentalogue dope has taken over yet - australia dope is by most accounts often pretty good - and mostly from burma, apparently. having a heroin habit in australia is pretty much financially ruinous(way more than for american) - so people either have to be very rich, very productive full time criminals, or have a pretty rough time, i guess.
drugs cost a fucking fortune here though, for the most part.
i've been getting some killer weed lately, different strains each week or two - but no concentrates outside of circles of people that make it for themselves and their friends. bought (crap home made) hash oil once in 20 years of being a stoner - no major shatter market here yet :(

i've spent time in the states, and have family there etc - LA is my sister's favourite city (she's lived in more than i can count) but i'm happy where i am right now - the community where i am is special - and it's a really progressive and politically radical area.
the only greens party (who are prettty left - probably comparable to the US equivalent, but they play a more of an active role in australia's senate) federal member of parliament represents inner city melbourne - in many ways, i'm at home here.

i do like knowing that guns are pretty rare here. we have crazy folk, but it's pretty rare for them to have guns.
and if you don't have insurance, some ambulances can be expensive (a few hundred bucks in some states, more than $1000 in others, while in other states, getting an ambulance for emergencies is free) - but if you have to go to hospital, it doresn't cost anything.

i spent 3 weeks in various wards once, and it didn't cost me anything. no bill.
likewise for a drug treatment place i went to. i had free counselling for 3+ years - in patient detox for a week, and support (and drugs) through an out-patient detox ii did there, to get off benzos - free.

i have a uni degree which i graduated over 10 years ago, and i still haven't paid it, and don't care if i do or don't.

there are a bunch of other things too, but yeah - government services in australia do make life here different in some ways to the states.
i've definitely benefited from it at various times - it's not perfect, but if you can to pay the rent and live real cheap, it can be a life-saver. from my lived experience, socialism has a lot of benefits; not just for me, but all of us.
the less dire poverty and destitute people there are in a town, the better the standard of living - and vibe tends to be in my experience.
 
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It must suck being a 4 day adventure to the nearest next city, I can imagine. Perhaps high speed rail would make the rest of Australia more accessible for Perth?

Question: If you were going to drive from Perth to another major city would you need to tank up your car AND get extra containers of gas in the trunk? Or are there enough gas stations along the way?

america will love trump in his jail cell. it's increasingly obvious that's where the treasonous scumbag will end up
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qft
 
embryo923 said:
I am fucking LOVING Trump and living in America hasn't been sweeter since I was a teenager. This is really an amazing time to be alive. He is not taking any shit from anyone, especially the corrupt Establishment Propaganda media and the Democrats and Republicans in the Deep State (Let's just be real, Deep State is just a euphemism for the bigger picture, the Military Industrial Complex). He is going to be remembered like JFK, hopefully with a better end result, but man he is on fire and some people in the minority might be upset and offended, but I can tell you it's pretty clear that here in the US that Americans love this man, even in Blue states like New York and New Jersey, Wisconsin, etc....he is winning everyone over. He should most likely win in 2020.
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Are you being for real? Trump compared to JFK? You Trump people boggle my mind. It's not the minority who are offended... literally everyone I know is offended, even Republicans. I'm on vacation right now and our next door neighbor at the lake house, who has always voted Republican, is talking mad shit. You're deluded, man. JFK was controversial but eloquent, he supported civil rights which was the main reason he was controversial, because there were a bunch of racists who were pissed. He got killed for it, too.

Do you mean to tell me that you watch this guy speak and are inspired by it? That he makes you feel confident? Because I watch footage of him speaking and all I think is that I'm watching a half-senile old man spewing bullshit and bigotry and terrible foreign policy that lowers everyone else's opinion of us.
 
Also, yeah man, every time I hear you guys talk about drug prices, I about shit my pants. I realize your dollars are different from ours, shit costs ore and you make more, but it's really crazy.
 
Xorkoth said:
I'm on vacation right now and our next door neighbor at the lake house, who has always voted Republican, is talking mad shit.
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Hmm vacation? Lake house? Be careful or you might be labelled a liberal elite =D

But seriously I feel like Trump has some form of dementia

Edit: This is the face of the Deep State
bigstock-Father-and-son-fishing-outdoor-500px-make-memories.png
 
Xorkoth said:
Are you being for real? Trump compared to JFK? You Trump people boggle my mind. It's not the minority who are offended... literally everyone I know is offended, even Republicans. I'm on vacation right now and our next door neighbor at the lake house, who has always voted Republican, is talking mad shit. You're deluded, man. JFK was controversial but eloquent, he supported civil rights which was the main reason he was controversial, because there were a bunch of racists who were pissed. He got killed for it, too.

Do you mean to tell me that you watch this guy speak and are inspired by it? That he makes you feel confident? Because I watch footage of him speaking and all I think is that I'm watching a half-senile old man spewing bullshit and bigotry and terrible foreign policy that lowers everyone else's opinion of us.
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In fairness, I know you don't understand it, and I don't either really. But, everyone you know really doesn't mean much. I'm sure a lot of people exist where everyone they know loves trump.

Don't get me wrong here, trump supporters boggle my mind. All I'm saying is that "everyone we know" can be very deceptive.
 
Trump failed on most of his major promises. The travel ban worked, but the border wall isn't going to happen, ISIS hasn't fallen, we haven't helped much in Syria in fact we're probably making things worse by not getting more involved, detaining all the illegal immigrants obviously backfired, "LOCK HER UP" quickly became "we're not going to prosecute Hillary Clinton" almost on day 1, "US factories re-opening!" turned into Harley Davidson moves factories out of US... and so on.

You'd have to be a big fan of the travel ban in order to see Trump as a big success.
 
I love how he villainized the Dems for the last shut down. “They are putting immigrants over citizens” yet he has no problem with another shut down if he doesn’t get his damn wall. Such a fucking brat.
 
FlawedByDesign said:
I love how he villainized the Dems for the last shut down. “They are putting immigrants over citizens” yet he has no problem with another shut down if he doesn’t get his damn wall. Such a fucking brat.
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Not wanting to defend trump, cause well, I hate him. But that is a little more forgivable. You expect presidents to take whatever legal measures are required to accomplish whatever they were voted in for. And, stupid as it may be, he was voted in pretty heavily promoting his wall.

You're right though, he is a brat. He's an angry spoiled toddler who throws tantrums whenever things don't go his way.
 
First off, don't categorize me as liberal or right winged because I am neither.
While on one hand I really dislike the notion of competitive markets in health care, I also see the ways that the free health care in Australia is abused. I know an individual who's a hopeless hypochondriac and goes in to the doctor or ER sometimes nearly daily. Endless expensive tests are done and he is on government wages. The focus should be made towards addressing the mental health issues he has but since Healthcare is free, it just goes on endlessly.
I would imagine if he were to live here he'd have to choose real fast - get a job or else.
Disability for mental health issues are not easy to get here, nor should they be.
Our mental health care system is very much I trouble but at least we aren't a haven for people who just abuse the system.
While I truly despise the way Trump conducts himself, I agree with the notion of working and making your own way.
 
JessFR said:
Not wanting to defend trump, cause well, I hate him. But that is a little more forgivable. You expect presidents to take whatever legal measures are required to accomplish whatever they were voted in for. And, stupid as it may be, he was voted in pretty heavily promoting his wall.

You're right though, he is a brat. He's an angry spoiled toddler who throws tantrums whenever things don't go his way.
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Yeah but it in May he was acting like it was totally unforgivable that the Democrats wouldn?t budge and that ?millions of government workers and military families will suffer in the name of immigration?. Acted like it was something that even a ruthless POS like himself would never consider. Now it will probably be one of his go-to threats when he doesn?t get his way. What bothers me most is that this monumental level of hypocrisy will be completely lost on his ?patriotic? base. Let the government workers and military families suffer as long as it’s in the name of xenophobia.
 
JackiePeyton said:
First off, don't categorize me as liberal or right winged because I am neither.
While on one hand I really dislike the notion of competitive markets in health care, I also see the ways that the free health care in Australia is abused. I know an individual who's a hopeless hypochondriac and goes in to the doctor or ER sometimes nearly daily. Endless expensive tests are done and he is on government wages. The focus should be made towards addressing the mental health issues he has but since Healthcare is free, it just goes on endlessly.
I would imagine if he were to live here he'd have to choose real fast - get a job or else.
Disability for mental health issues are not easy to get here, nor should they be.
Our mental health care system is very much I trouble but at least we aren't a haven for people who just abuse the system.
While I truly despise the way Trump conducts himself, I agree with the notion of working and making your own way.
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While I'm sure people game the health care system, how common is it? I honestly don't know.

But I agree that mental health services are sorely lacking in Australia at least. Cannot speak for elsewhere.
 
JackiePeyton said:
First off, don't categorize me as liberal or right winged because I am neither.
While on one hand I really dislike the notion of competitive markets in health care, I also see the ways that the free health care in Australia is abused. I know an individual who's a hopeless hypochondriac and goes in to the doctor or ER sometimes nearly daily. Endless expensive tests are done and he is on government wages. The focus should be made towards addressing the mental health issues he has but since Healthcare is free, it just goes on endlessly.
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This person you speak of is in australia? How do you mean they're abusing the system?

There are lots of things that put pressure on health systems - but i'd kind of prefer to know that one person is inappropriately using excessive medical resources, than knowing that countless people opt not to seek medical attention or treatment because they can't afford it.
I think most aussies leave the worrying about how medical reaources are used to the people in charge of budgeting that sort of stuff - and the staff on the wards.

My girl is a nurse and she started out in the emergency department. Sure, they sometimes had people in who overstayed their welcome, who show up to emergency instead of just going to see their local GP, or people who are brought in by police or whatever - but the staff that work in those places are pretty tough, and pretty pragmatic. If someone needs to go, you know the triage nurse will make it happen.

I dunno - for me, providing healthcare for anyone who needs it should transcend any monetary concerns.
I mean, it's not like governments can't afford to fund healthcare - most developed nations do.

To me there is something brutal about expecting people to be "working and making [their] own way", because people that are chronically sick don't tend to have much capacity to work and earn money.
Medical treatment is so fundamental that i'm really quite troubled by the idea that you should only be entitled to medical treatment if you have the financial resources to pay for it.
Maybe that's from growing up in a country where it is the norm - but it seems like a better system to me.

Which is not to say what we have is perfect - far from it; we have a two-tiered health system, where "public" (govt funded) hospitals have more beds per room, longer waiting lists and less choice of specialists (or whatever) - whereas people with "private cover" (health insurance) can opt for the swankier hospitals with private rooms and whatever else - but i'm happy to go with the public options, because for the most part (with some notable exceptions) seems adequate for my needs.

The idea of living in the USA and having this constant threat hanging over me - of knowing that if i get sick or have an accident it'll cost me kinda freaks me out. When my sister's husband (who is american) was in his early 20s, and he once broke his leg and needed surgery - and to pay for it, he had to spend a few months living in his van.
I guess he found a way to make that work, but not everyone is so resilient - and not everyone has a car to live in :|

I wonder how many homeless americans ended up on the streets partly (or wholly?) because of massive medical bills they incurred, through no fault of their own?

I also think that if we pay taxes our whole lives, we should get something back for it. Sure - infastructure like roads and clean drinking water are pretty great, even if we take them for granted - but i don't feel sore about paying taxes, because i know they go into more than just employing people to enforce silly laws (like drug laws) or pay for the secret service to protect some trashy family, or pay for the military to blow up people i've never even met :)

I like that over here you can go to the hospital and there's never any talk of a bill at the end.

I remember the first time i went to emergency to get them to check out a wound, and when they took my details and stuff - then later discharged me - i was looking around like "what? That's it??" - i felt surprised that you just go in and get treated then leave, or whatever. Free of charge.
It felt like i was skipping out on a restaurant before paying, or something a but they just said "uh...yeah - that's it!"
It's a beautiful thing, and something i will always fight hard to protect in australia. I can live with people "taking advantage" of free healthcare too, because people have all sorts of reasons for being overly cautious - even obsessive - about their health, but the costs of such things are pretty insignificant in the scheme of things, and probably balance out with the people who refuse to ever seek medical attention for anything ever (ie most men i know)
 
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