This shapes up to be the worst year ever…first we are off to a spiffing start with the attacks in Cologne. Then we get a long list of terror attacks (currently Munich is under lock down, I hope the number of victims stays low). Then we get the UK shooting itself in the foot because its population is too stupid to use google before casting a vote. Turkey is pulling what looks like a Reichskristallnacht or a Nacht der Langen Messer. In the US black people and the police are shooting each other. And on top of all this we have to deal with this idiot. Are the Republicans serious? This has to be a joke, right?
Can’t we rewind and start the year anew? Being just a little bit nicer to each other? Please?
It is….but apparently going amok is now “en vogue”. I partly blame the media, because they give those people exactly the attention they want. And isn’t it sad that I am kind of relieved that it was “just” a young man going amok and not another planned terror attack with a number of participants?
I sincerely doubt he’ll win, but the mere fact that so much of my country would stand behind this loser is depressing.
I also never would have thought that Boris Johnson of all people would be considered fit to be the foreign minister for the UK, but apparently the world has gone crazy.
Not since John Bolton was made US ambassador to the UN has there been such a blatant “Fuck you” of an appointment.
I wish I could see it as some sort of statement….but to me it looks like it is the result of a deal behind the scenes. Because it is apparently more important to do some politicking for power than putting someone in this position who did not insult more or less every country and half of the politicians out there….
I never expected Trump to get this far. Everyone I’ve talked to is absolutely horrified by him. (Then again, I’m not from the U.S.) The fact that so many people are supporting the man just blows my mind. I’m with Swanpride; 2016 just needs to be over already.
I work at Petco, and I was ringing up a customer wearing a shirt that said “Vote Trump Bitches.” And I’m like… “just don’t bring up politics and you’ll be fine. Enjoy that you’re taking his money.” Finally, after scanning all his cheap-ass cat food, (because he couldn’t be bothered to buy his cats any decent food), I asked him if he wanted to make a donation towards pet cancer research (we have fundraisers every few months), and he responded with “Ha ha! No! Where can I donate to get the cancer out of Congress? Or to put Hillary in jail?” And I just…. *sigh* I wish I was Canadian.
The first few nights were entertainingly bad. There was utterly appalling stuff set to vigorous applause, but the menace was undercut by the sheer incompetence on display. Seriously guys, how do you even come up with “My Little Pony” as a justification for plagiarism? Or missed the fact that Cruz gave you all the warning in the world before he shanked you in the front? Or had Pence talking about holding tight to alliances right after Trump intimated that he would dump NATO’s Article V? Or or or…you get the idea.
Then the last night they finally got everything more or less working and the result was pure Mussolini. The only thing it’s missing are the Brownshirts, or the SA, or the ultranationalist football hooligans or other paramilitary nutters (whose activities will inevitably bolster the candidate’s claim about it being a dangerous world, blithely overlooking that their own supporters are making it so). It may have been the most terrifying political moment in America since the Civil War.
Land of the free, home of the 36 flag poles. Either a man is American and has 36 flag poles, or he has no flag poles at all. Make America 36 flag poles again.
I FUCKING QUIT! I am a conservative, but these people are jokes. and the alternative is no better. We have incompetents, idiots and crooks on the ballot.
Darn. It’s a fifty fifty shot, but Hillary’s lies are well documented. Trump is nowhere near as bad an egg. Whom do I trust to not stab me in the back? The woman who we have proof lied under oath, did her best to subvert the securities of her office with her own server, has people with information die under continually under mysterious circumstances, or the guy who has had 7 businesses file bankruptcy out of hundreds, made himself billions, flew American troops home at great expense to himself, wants to remove our country from international deals that are hurting the American economy, and wants to put Americans back to work(a place to I like to call a nice Hell).
Just remember, Hillary has been taking millions, I repeat, millions from foreign governments in exchange for favors, favors like allowing Russia to have control over 20% of our Uranium reserves. Hoping Trump doesn’t sell us out like that because I know Hillary will.
The thing is that 90% of politicians are corrupt. Hillary is invested in the status quo, and so while she won’t make anything better, we can at least trust her to act in her own self-interest and not make things much worse. Trump, on the other hand, is insane, incompetent, and running his campaign on the platform of ruling up hatred and making dumb people with guns angry. Much as I hate to invoke Godwin’s Law, we’ve seen someone rise to power this way before, and the results WERE NOT PRETTY.
Repeating a claim doesn’t make it true. The world uranium market is hardly running any scarcities, and while HRC has her weaknesses, there’s really no question that she’d put the US’s interests above Russia’s, and that she doesn’t openly aspirations to become a dictator.
These are normally the kind of things that would be taken as a given. Not in this election. Besides, if you’re talking “shady ties to the Putin regime”, you’re comparing a former Secretary of State with a history of multilateralism against a businessman who has openly expressed support for Putin’s crackdowns on the opposition, and with all kinds of shady business ties:
In other words: assuming the /worst/ case scenario for Clinton, i.e., she’s as corrupt as Red Team paints her, and assuming the /best/ case for Trump, i.e., his wildly unconstitutional near-fascist preferences are restrained by US institutions, we’re still talking Warren G. Harding or Rutherford Hayes against Silvio Berlusconi. (If those preferences /aren’t/ restrained and he successfully end runs the institutions, then we’re talking Putin, Chavez, or Erdogan.)
Only one of those wouldn’t aim to gut the generally liberal institutions. It’s an obvious vote.
I would like to take a step back, if you don’t mind. The original question was as a Democrat is it bad that I’m supporting Trump and my answer was yes. And, I stand by that answer. However, if the question was as a Republican is it bad that I’m supporting Trump, I’d say no. I can think of several legitimate (non-conspiracy theory) reasons for a Republican to support Trump. I would, however, also offer up some equally legitimate reasons not to support him that I’d ask you to consider – none of which would be that Trump is a sociopath, though he is a sociopath. If the tables were reversed and Trump was the Democratic nominee and, say, Dick Cheney was the Republican nominee, I honestly don’t know how I’d vote. I feel for Republicans because they have a hard decision in front of them that I wouldn’t want to have to make.
Now, as a Democrat, I can think of no legitimate reason not to vote for Clinton. I don’t really understand what you mean by stab you in the back. I’m not sure what you envision her doing. Even if you take it as fact that Clinton is opportunistic and out for personal gain, her lifetime goal is to be President so as President I don’t know what personal motive she’d be selling you out for. But all of these ideas about corruption and lying really aren’t that relevant. If you are a Democrat and believe in Democratic policies, Clinton will focus on enacting those policies. She served in the Senate for 9 years and has a voting record that you can review as a good indication of what policies she will support as president.
The time, money and effort that elected officials pour into hearings, reports, investigations, etc to discredit their opposition is how they distract the public from the bills they are passing or blocking. The first rule to winning people who don’t agree with you is disqualifying the opposition. So while the American public spends all their time fighting about emails and fascism, lobbyists and the powerful work on actually getting their agendas passed. This is not conjecture – I know this is how it works. And both sides do this, political idiocy is nonpartisan in this country. But, political vendetta as policy is bad for the American people and is ruining our democracy. It is time that people stop getting caught up in this circus and 30 second TV ads, and get informed on the policies that affect their everyday lives.
I recommend that you read them both and ask yourself if you’re not really just a Republican that needs to change your registration. And, if that’s the case, more power to you, and you supporting Trump makes sense. But, if you agree with the Democratic platform, yet still support Trump, I would say you’re donating your vote to the lobbyists and big party donors who will use it to enact policies against your ideals. If Trump wins (barring any big flips in which party controls Congress), Obamacare will be repealed, restrictions will be put on a woman’s right to choose (sorry Catholic Irish blog), the minimum wage will remain constant and regressive tax policies will be enacted. This as a DEMOCRAT is what you’d be voting for.
Now, I don’t want it to seem like I completely don’t care about corruption in politics. I do. But, I would argue that corruption is not increasing – ever read about Kennedy’s election? Now, that’s some corruption! And, that after the millions of man hours put into investigating the Clintons with no actionable findings, they are actually probably some of the least corrupt politicians. Remember, one of their biggest opponents – Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is is jail for financial fraud and is a child molester. But, if this is something people are worried about, I’d recommend they get involved in local elections and down ballot races because this is where the future crop of candidates are coming from and the places where you will have the most impact.
Sorry this is long, and preachy, and a lot of other annoying adjectives…I just needed to say it. Don’t give your vote away…vote for Trump if you must but know why you’re doing it and what you’re getting.
Eh, Trump’s not actually super bad. Better than Hilary. When one candidate’s a known criminal, and one’s only /probably/ a criminal, it’s not that hard to decide who to vote for.
Alright 1, what crime do you think she’s committed? 2. Is it worse than running a fraudulent university designed to swindle people out of thousands of dollars? 3. Is it worse than threatening to bring back torture, discriminate on the basis of religion or commit war crimes? Because I doubt it. I do.
I think I’m done with this blog. I came here to enjoy your opinion of Disney movies, and other fun entertainment. Now it’s becoming more filled with stuff that I really can’t enjoy. First it was that Felida movie. Then I tried to understand your countries political history and support that there are tough times around the world. I took a break and come back to Felix, and now this. I feel that this is no longer any fun. I did enjoy your work and you are a very talented writer.
I will leave my own opinion on my countries politics. I’m from the USA, and we always have and always will have horrible people in government. Absolute power corrupts absolutely and that kind of power corrupts those with the best intentions.
unshavedmouse 
Fun fact: one of my friends, a staunch Republican, won’t have anything to do with this guy… 😓
Plenty republicans feel the same way.
This shapes up to be the worst year ever…first we are off to a spiffing start with the attacks in Cologne. Then we get a long list of terror attacks (currently Munich is under lock down, I hope the number of victims stays low). Then we get the UK shooting itself in the foot because its population is too stupid to use google before casting a vote. Turkey is pulling what looks like a Reichskristallnacht or a Nacht der Langen Messer. In the US black people and the police are shooting each other. And on top of all this we have to deal with this idiot. Are the Republicans serious? This has to be a joke, right?
Can’t we rewind and start the year anew? Being just a little bit nicer to each other? Please?
Agreed. This year can suck it.
So sad about Munich… I always thought it was a peaceful city.
It is….but apparently going amok is now “en vogue”. I partly blame the media, because they give those people exactly the attention they want. And isn’t it sad that I am kind of relieved that it was “just” a young man going amok and not another planned terror attack with a number of participants?
I sincerely doubt he’ll win, but the mere fact that so much of my country would stand behind this loser is depressing.
I also never would have thought that Boris Johnson of all people would be considered fit to be the foreign minister for the UK, but apparently the world has gone crazy.
Not since John Bolton was made US ambassador to the UN has there been such a blatant “Fuck you” of an appointment.
I wish I could see it as some sort of statement….but to me it looks like it is the result of a deal behind the scenes. Because it is apparently more important to do some politicking for power than putting someone in this position who did not insult more or less every country and half of the politicians out there….
I never expected Trump to get this far. Everyone I’ve talked to is absolutely horrified by him. (Then again, I’m not from the U.S.) The fact that so many people are supporting the man just blows my mind. I’m with Swanpride; 2016 just needs to be over already.
I work at Petco, and I was ringing up a customer wearing a shirt that said “Vote Trump Bitches.” And I’m like… “just don’t bring up politics and you’ll be fine. Enjoy that you’re taking his money.” Finally, after scanning all his cheap-ass cat food, (because he couldn’t be bothered to buy his cats any decent food), I asked him if he wanted to make a donation towards pet cancer research (we have fundraisers every few months), and he responded with “Ha ha! No! Where can I donate to get the cancer out of Congress? Or to put Hillary in jail?” And I just…. *sigh* I wish I was Canadian.
What anime are those screenshots from?
(Random aside, is it grammatically correct to use “are” there, or should it be “is”?)
It depends on whether you’re talking about multiple anime, or just one.
It’s from the Animatrix. It’s the scene where the humans decide to blot out the sun.
The first few nights were entertainingly bad. There was utterly appalling stuff set to vigorous applause, but the menace was undercut by the sheer incompetence on display. Seriously guys, how do you even come up with “My Little Pony” as a justification for plagiarism? Or missed the fact that Cruz gave you all the warning in the world before he shanked you in the front? Or had Pence talking about holding tight to alliances right after Trump intimated that he would dump NATO’s Article V? Or or or…you get the idea.
Then the last night they finally got everything more or less working and the result was pure Mussolini. The only thing it’s missing are the Brownshirts, or the SA, or the ultranationalist football hooligans or other paramilitary nutters (whose activities will inevitably bolster the candidate’s claim about it being a dangerous world, blithely overlooking that their own supporters are making it so). It may have been the most terrifying political moment in America since the Civil War.
Naw, I still think 1968 was worse.
Land of the free, home of the 36 flag poles. Either a man is American and has 36 flag poles, or he has no flag poles at all. Make America 36 flag poles again.
I FUCKING QUIT! I am a conservative, but these people are jokes. and the alternative is no better. We have incompetents, idiots and crooks on the ballot.
Is it a bad thing that I’m a registered Democrat and support Trump?
Yes
Darn. It’s a fifty fifty shot, but Hillary’s lies are well documented. Trump is nowhere near as bad an egg. Whom do I trust to not stab me in the back? The woman who we have proof lied under oath, did her best to subvert the securities of her office with her own server, has people with information die under continually under mysterious circumstances, or the guy who has had 7 businesses file bankruptcy out of hundreds, made himself billions, flew American troops home at great expense to himself, wants to remove our country from international deals that are hurting the American economy, and wants to put Americans back to work(a place to I like to call a nice Hell).
Just remember, Hillary has been taking millions, I repeat, millions from foreign governments in exchange for favors, favors like allowing Russia to have control over 20% of our Uranium reserves. Hoping Trump doesn’t sell us out like that because I know Hillary will.
The thing is that 90% of politicians are corrupt. Hillary is invested in the status quo, and so while she won’t make anything better, we can at least trust her to act in her own self-interest and not make things much worse. Trump, on the other hand, is insane, incompetent, and running his campaign on the platform of ruling up hatred and making dumb people with guns angry. Much as I hate to invoke Godwin’s Law, we’ve seen someone rise to power this way before, and the results WERE NOT PRETTY.
Repeating a claim doesn’t make it true. The world uranium market is hardly running any scarcities, and while HRC has her weaknesses, there’s really no question that she’d put the US’s interests above Russia’s, and that she doesn’t openly aspirations to become a dictator.
These are normally the kind of things that would be taken as a given. Not in this election. Besides, if you’re talking “shady ties to the Putin regime”, you’re comparing a former Secretary of State with a history of multilateralism against a businessman who has openly expressed support for Putin’s crackdowns on the opposition, and with all kinds of shady business ties:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-putin-yes-it-s-really-a-thing
In other words: assuming the /worst/ case scenario for Clinton, i.e., she’s as corrupt as Red Team paints her, and assuming the /best/ case for Trump, i.e., his wildly unconstitutional near-fascist preferences are restrained by US institutions, we’re still talking Warren G. Harding or Rutherford Hayes against Silvio Berlusconi. (If those preferences /aren’t/ restrained and he successfully end runs the institutions, then we’re talking Putin, Chavez, or Erdogan.)
Only one of those wouldn’t aim to gut the generally liberal institutions. It’s an obvious vote.
I would like to take a step back, if you don’t mind. The original question was as a Democrat is it bad that I’m supporting Trump and my answer was yes. And, I stand by that answer. However, if the question was as a Republican is it bad that I’m supporting Trump, I’d say no. I can think of several legitimate (non-conspiracy theory) reasons for a Republican to support Trump. I would, however, also offer up some equally legitimate reasons not to support him that I’d ask you to consider – none of which would be that Trump is a sociopath, though he is a sociopath. If the tables were reversed and Trump was the Democratic nominee and, say, Dick Cheney was the Republican nominee, I honestly don’t know how I’d vote. I feel for Republicans because they have a hard decision in front of them that I wouldn’t want to have to make.
Now, as a Democrat, I can think of no legitimate reason not to vote for Clinton. I don’t really understand what you mean by stab you in the back. I’m not sure what you envision her doing. Even if you take it as fact that Clinton is opportunistic and out for personal gain, her lifetime goal is to be President so as President I don’t know what personal motive she’d be selling you out for. But all of these ideas about corruption and lying really aren’t that relevant. If you are a Democrat and believe in Democratic policies, Clinton will focus on enacting those policies. She served in the Senate for 9 years and has a voting record that you can review as a good indication of what policies she will support as president.
The time, money and effort that elected officials pour into hearings, reports, investigations, etc to discredit their opposition is how they distract the public from the bills they are passing or blocking. The first rule to winning people who don’t agree with you is disqualifying the opposition. So while the American public spends all their time fighting about emails and fascism, lobbyists and the powerful work on actually getting their agendas passed. This is not conjecture – I know this is how it works. And both sides do this, political idiocy is nonpartisan in this country. But, political vendetta as policy is bad for the American people and is ruining our democracy. It is time that people stop getting caught up in this circus and 30 second TV ads, and get informed on the policies that affect their everyday lives.
This is the Republican platform: https://www.gop.com/the-2016-republican-party-platform/
This is the Democratic platform: https://www.demconvention.com/platform/
I recommend that you read them both and ask yourself if you’re not really just a Republican that needs to change your registration. And, if that’s the case, more power to you, and you supporting Trump makes sense. But, if you agree with the Democratic platform, yet still support Trump, I would say you’re donating your vote to the lobbyists and big party donors who will use it to enact policies against your ideals. If Trump wins (barring any big flips in which party controls Congress), Obamacare will be repealed, restrictions will be put on a woman’s right to choose (sorry Catholic Irish blog), the minimum wage will remain constant and regressive tax policies will be enacted. This as a DEMOCRAT is what you’d be voting for.
Now, I don’t want it to seem like I completely don’t care about corruption in politics. I do. But, I would argue that corruption is not increasing – ever read about Kennedy’s election? Now, that’s some corruption! And, that after the millions of man hours put into investigating the Clintons with no actionable findings, they are actually probably some of the least corrupt politicians. Remember, one of their biggest opponents – Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is is jail for financial fraud and is a child molester. But, if this is something people are worried about, I’d recommend they get involved in local elections and down ballot races because this is where the future crop of candidates are coming from and the places where you will have the most impact.
Sorry this is long, and preachy, and a lot of other annoying adjectives…I just needed to say it. Don’t give your vote away…vote for Trump if you must but know why you’re doing it and what you’re getting.
Eh, Trump’s not actually super bad. Better than Hilary. When one candidate’s a known criminal, and one’s only /probably/ a criminal, it’s not that hard to decide who to vote for.
Alright 1, what crime do you think she’s committed? 2. Is it worse than running a fraudulent university designed to swindle people out of thousands of dollars? 3. Is it worse than threatening to bring back torture, discriminate on the basis of religion or commit war crimes? Because I doubt it. I do.
I’d like to apologize on behalf of my country for letting the Trumpery get this far out of control.
I blame you Gram.
I think I’m done with this blog. I came here to enjoy your opinion of Disney movies, and other fun entertainment. Now it’s becoming more filled with stuff that I really can’t enjoy. First it was that Felida movie. Then I tried to understand your countries political history and support that there are tough times around the world. I took a break and come back to Felix, and now this. I feel that this is no longer any fun. I did enjoy your work and you are a very talented writer.
I will leave my own opinion on my countries politics. I’m from the USA, and we always have and always will have horrible people in government. Absolute power corrupts absolutely and that kind of power corrupts those with the best intentions.
Sorry to hear that Beaches. Hope you’ll come back for the Zootropolis review at least.