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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
The issue with the wall is that it's not a four or eight year project. Even if only for practical reasons, he can't really rush a geological survey of the suggested area. That shit takes time if you want to get even the most basic, corner cutting information on what needs to be done. And once someone new is in, they'd abandon the project, most likely.
I like how some of his supporters cite the Great Wall of China as a good case study, apparently ignorant of the fact that it bankrupted a few dynasties.
Oh, and it didn't keep the nomads out either...
And regarding Trump's apparent shift towards a standard Republican position on foreign policy: if that's true than the rest of the world can breathe a sigh of relief, especially if he backs of on trade to. Things will still be awful domestically, but at least the global economy is mostly secure (or not worse off) and the short term continuity of the human race is mostly assured....
edited 9th Apr '17 9:38:50 AM by Rationalinsanity
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.Living at home is like having to deal another voice inside your head. You know, the one that keeps telling you you're going to die and to be afraid of everything&everyone and that everything will turn out for the worst. Case in point, just when I heard that Trump's supposedly taking a more standard stance and that we might be able to breath easier for a while, (nevermind the possible impending shutdown that will make it so much harder for Trump to do just about anything; a mixed blessing if there ever was one,) my Dad caught me looking at the front page of the paper with Trump and said, 'Looking at the horror section?' And then he just went from there. I know I shouldn't let him get to me, but I've got the feeling he's going to be saying the same sort of thing until the whole Syria debacle blows over, and I wouldn't be lying if I said he didn't make me a tad more disturbed than I otherwise would have been.
edited 9th Apr '17 10:27:11 AM by kkhohoho
Ugh, try living with a dad who thinks Trump's bullshit proves he has "guts".
It is immensely disturbing seeing a man I grew up respecting (sort of) drinking the Trump flavor-aid.
Though in retrospect a lot of his views are kind of libertarian (I can't stand libertarians).
edited 9th Apr '17 10:31:18 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprisedI got out of the house at 20, but I feel for you guys. My mom swallows everything she can get from FOX News and has been celebrating the GOP's absolute mandate for the last four months. She's entirely convinced that Trump is the holy Messiah here to fix America.
I avoid talking about politics with my dad's half of the family because they're all in Kansas and were also proud Republicans back in the Bush era who thought he was just the best President ever, so I don't really want to know who they voted for.
I'm ign'ant white trash from a long, proud line of ign'ant white trash.
edited 9th Apr '17 10:55:56 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.My family is okay. My hometown on the other hand...let me put it this way—when my dad got hired at the local high school he asked what the ethnic make up of the town was like. The principal paused, then said, "well, we had some Dutch after the war."
The same principal subsequently went on to reminisce to my dad about how, in his day, they used to drive their pick ups into a nearby town made up of mostly Irish immigrants so that they could whack Catholics with brooms. If you fell out of the pick up you were left behind with a mob of angry Catholics.
So yeah. Not the most enlightened place, my hometown.
Since we're talking about family members' politics anyways...
The old lady was formerly a lifelong Republican until they started going full retard with the rise of the Tea Party, and became even less of a Republican once Der Trumpenfuhrer got the nomination, though that still hasn't stopped her from going on about FUCKING WHITEWATER and LOCK HER UP and all that shit. On the other hand, pretty much the rest of that side of the family is die-hard Racist Orange supporters, so, yeah.
The old man, on the other hand, while nominally a conservative back when they still had a Mask of Sanity, doesn't particularly seem to give a fuck one way or another, and doesn't see the present trajectory of the Republican party as anything to worry about - sure, he's an immigrant, but he's one of the good immigrants who came here legally and is a contributing member of society and doesn't make a big deal about discrimination, so he's got nothing to worry about, right? The rest of his side of the family (also all immigrants) all seem to be some flavor of Randroid "I'm getting mine/I've got mine, fuck anyone and everyone who has a different last name" type of person.
And I'm still stuck in this fucking nuthouse playing caretaker for the old lady and for my non-functional handicapped sister, since I didn't do the smart thing and RUN LIKE HELL the second I turned 18.
So yeah, I'm holding on to the slim hope that there was a mix up in the maternity ward or something.
edited 9th Apr '17 11:48:35 AM by Reflextion
Someone did tell me life was going to be this way.I got a CNN news alert about 7 hours ago reporting that the US ambassador to the UN had called regime change in Syria "inevitable".
So far the current theory is that the ambassador to the UN is compelatly out of the loop right? Or could she have become Trump's foreign policy mouthpiece?
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranSo, looks like one of Trump's National Security advisors was appointed ambassador to Singapore.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.![]()
Based on what I've observed, Trump has no foreign policy to speak of. He'll act to protect his ego, but Tillerson and Haley don't really speak for a unified administration. Even the WH can contradict itself day by day. So, we're still in the grand game of roulette.
We need a law making it illegal to mislead the public on health issues.
Good luck with that. We still haven't even been able to force election ads to live up to the same standards of truth and accuracy as beer commercials.
As long as we're talking parents, mine are/were both staunchly left. My father was a self-described political junkie who followed politics very closely. He was a big fan of Joe Biden in particular, and he cried when Obama gave his acceptance speech in 2008 because he was so proud of our country and so glad he got to live to see the day. If there was one silver lining to his death last July, it's that he didn't have to see us go from Obama to Trump.
My mother isn't as politically informed as dad was, which is why she's leaned into the Berniecrats. I don't bother arguing much with her, given that she never changes her mind about anything and at least we're nominally on the same side, but she does really make me miss dad's more informed perspective.
While I know who you're talking about (what others here have called "unicorn brigade", "berniebros" and "herbal tea party" among other terms), I'd prefer refraining from calling them "alt-left", seeing as the right (alt, far and otherwise) is currently trying to pin that term on anyone who's left wing as an attempt to hide behind the "both sides" bullshit. And, unlike alt-right, which is self imposed, nobody calls themselves "alt-left".
And yeah, the talking point is stupid.
1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KVThe only way that talking point is true, so far as I know, is that her campaign ads were more anti-Trump than policy, at least compared to other campaigns (25% vs 40-45 standard
). Hillary actually had solid ideas, otherwise.
edited 9th Apr '17 12:51:10 PM by TheRoguePenguin

Kevin Hassett, an American Economist who is staunchly pro-Free Trade and pro-Immigration, has been nominated by Trump to chair the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA).
Trump appears to be going full-blown Neoconservative. That's much better then the Nationalist-Populist he ran as. I wonder if that means that he's going to abandon the Wall he wants to build?