Idiocracy

[Bender]

If there's anything even approaching a silver lining in the last few months, I'd wager that a lot of average people have learned a lot more about the mechanisms of the American government.

They'll be able to tell their kids about them after they've ceased to exist.

We can't be too judgy here in Canada.  We've got our own liars up here, saying whatever it takes to get into office.

The extent of which this is happening in the US is bordering on the surreal. I don't think we have to worry about Trudeau's aides telling people very publicly to boycott Nordstrom's because his wife's goods were dropped. We've seen a lot of borderline impeachable offenses to an extent that I've never seen in North America. When you're dealing with such a precedent I don't see how we can't be voices of reason. I don't think that makes us judgmental, just engaged.

Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Tapatalk

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Oh god he's tweeting in all caps now.

 

[Kin]

Seriously. Saying that we can't judge Trump because some Canadian politicians lie is like saying you can't judge Jeffrey Dahmer because you have bad table manners.

 

[bustaheims]

Oh god he's tweeting in all caps now.

He's not going to last through the spring at this rate.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/Rosie

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

[tweet]829938806891556864[/tweet]

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

Prime Minister Abe of Japan:

[tweet]830121323603042304[/tweet]

 

[OrangeBlack]

An interesting article in attempting to explain the Trump victory, Clinton vs Trump supporters, and the why and wherefore as it stands:

For many Americans, Hillary Clinton personified the corruption and self-dealing of the elites. But Trump?s election wasn?t just a rejection of Clinton, it was a rejection of politics as usual. If the media and political establishment see Trump?s first couple of weeks in office as a whirlwind of chaos and incompetence, his supporters see an outsider taking on a sclerotic system that needs to be dismantled. That?s precisely what many Americans thought they were doing eight years ago, when they put a freshman senator from Illinois in the White House. Obama promised a new way of governing ? he would be a ?post-partisan? president, he would ?fundamentally transform? the country, he would look out for the middle class. In the throes of the great recession, that resonated. Something was clearly wrong with our political system and the American people wanted someone to fix it.

After all, the Tea Party didn?t begin as a reaction against Obama?s presidency but that of George W Bush. As far as most Americans were concerned, the financial crisis was brought on by the excesses of Wall Street bankers and the incompetency of our political leaders....Americans who felt the system was rigged against them and they wanted But change didn?t come.

What they got was more of the same. Obama offered a series of massive government programmes, from an $830bn financial stimulus, to the Affordable Care Act, to Dodd-Frank, none of which did much to assuage the economic anxieties of the middle class. Americans watched as the federal government bailed out the banks, then the auto industry and then passed healthcare reform that transferred billions of taxpayer dollars to major health insurance companies. Meanwhile, premiums went up, economic recovery remained sluggish and millions dropped out of the workforce and turned to food stamps and welfare programmes just to get by.

Part of Obama?s appeal was that he promised to end the unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, restore America?s standing in the international community and pursue multilateral agreements that would bring stability. Instead, Americans watched Isis step into the vacuum created by the US withdrawal from Iraq in 2011. They watched the Syrian civil war trigger a migrant crisis in Europe that many Americans now view as a cautionary tale. At home, Isis-inspired terrorist attacks took their toll, as they did in Europe. And all the while Obama?s White House insisted that everything was going well.

Amid all this, along came Trump. Here was a rough character, a boisterous celebrity billionaire with an axe to grind. He had palpable disdain for both political parties, which he said had failed the American people. He showed contempt for political correctness that was strangling public debate over contentious issues such as terrorism. He struck many of the same populist notes, both in his campaign and in his recent inaugural address, that Senator Bernie Sanders did among his young socialist acolytes, sometimes word for word.

In many ways, the 2016 election wasn?t just a referendum on Obama?s eight years in the White House, it was a rejection of the entire political system that gave us Iraq, the financial crisis, a botched healthcare law and shocking income inequality during a slow economic recovery. From Akron to Alaska, millions of Americans had simply lost confidence in their leaders and the institutions that were supposed to serve them. In their desperation, they turned to a man who had no regard for the elites ? and no use for them

...populism of this kind can be dangerous and unpredictable, But it doesn?t arise from nowhere. Only a corrupt political establishment could have provoked a political revolt of this scale. Instead of blaming Trump?s rise on racism or xenophobia, blame it on those who never saw this coming and still don?t understand why so many Americans would rather have Donald Trump in the White House than suffer the rule of their elites.

Full article:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/05/trump-not-fascist-champion-for-forgotten-millions

Great article.  Many Americans see Hilary Clinton as a corrupt, elite, evil woman that would do anything to enrich herself & Bill.  Politically, Clinton would have been more of the same. As well, as mentioned in the article....many Americans tired of years of political correctness being shoved down their throats, most often by the perceived elites in power.  Trumps style & rhetoric were a breath of fresh air to many of those people.  All in all, to many....the left now represents an authoritarian elitist culture that only represents NYC, & the left coast.  Bernie seemed to be an exception to that rule.  Seems like a role reversal of sorts for the parties.  However, I would argue that Trump himself is almost like a 3rd party.  He got in under the Republican umbrella; however, he is different from the GOP in many ways.  Still, he's going to have to throw Ryan & the GOP a bone often to be able to be effective in office.

 

[Kin]

Great article.  Many Americans see Hilary Clinton as a corrupt, elite, evil woman that would do anything to enrich herself & Bill.

So many Americans saw Hillary Clinton as someone who would do unethical things to enrich herself and her family and so instead turned to someone who regularly cheated small business people, duped people with outright cons like Trump University and stuck his name on all manner of terrible products. Someone who, in the office of the Presidency, refuses to put his assets in a blind trust, disclose his financial conflicts and tweets criticisms at private companies for cutting business ties with his family members.

No, yeah, that makes tons of sense.

 

[Andy007]

You know what I don't get? The notion that being ignorant, bigoted, spiteful and insulting is somehow a justified counter-balance to political correctness.

 

[Kin]

I don't even know what political correctness means as a broad term. People seem to just blame any criticism of their lousy behaviour on "political correctness".

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

I don't even know what political correctness means as a broad term. People seem to just blame any criticism of their lousy behaviour on "political correctness".

Very true.

 

[mr grieves]

Great article.  Many Americans see Hilary Clinton as a corrupt, elite, evil woman that would do anything to enrich herself & Bill.  Politically, Clinton would have been more of the same. As well, as mentioned in the article....many Americans tired of years of political correctness being shoved down their throats, most often by the perceived elites in power.  Trumps style & rhetoric were a breath of fresh air to many of those people.  All in all, to many....the left now represents an authoritarian elitist culture that only represents NYC, & the left coast.  Bernie seemed to be an exception to that rule.  Seems like a role reversal of sorts for the parties.  However, I would argue that Trump himself is almost like a 3rd party.  He got in under the Republican umbrella; however, he is different from the GOP in many ways.  Still, he's going to have to throw Ryan & the GOP a bone often to be able to be effective in office.

I don't know. I guess his anti-business positions on immigration set him apart from most Republicans (tho the Pat Buchanans of the world have long been there), but he let the Heritage Foundation select his cabinet appointees, installing the most extreme sort of GOP orthodoxy to preside over education, health care, the treasury, the environment, and so on. That's so many bones tossed to Ryan & c. that I'd begin to wonder whether the qualities that make him seem independent aren't just flashy gilding covering a pretty typical Republican. -- But I sort of agree that the "style and rhetoric" have demonstrated themselves sufficiently appealing to enough voters that Democrats really oughta move on to another line of attack...

Great article.  Many Americans see Hilary Clinton as a corrupt, elite, evil woman that would do anything to enrich herself & Bill.

So many Americans saw Hillary Clinton as someone who would do unethical things to enrich herself and her family and so instead turned to someone who regularly cheated small business people, duped people with outright cons like Trump University and stuck his name on all manner of terrible products. Someone who, in the office of the Presidency, refuses to put his assets in a blind trust, disclose his financial conflicts and tweets criticisms at private companies for cutting business ties with his family members.

No, yeah, that makes tons of sense.

Several journalists who covered his supporters observed that many knew that he was a conman but were taking a chance on his being their conman.   

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

An interesting article in attempting to explain the Trump victory, Clinton vs Trump supporters, and the why and wherefore as it stands:

For many Americans, Hillary Clinton personified the corruption and self-dealing of the elites. But Trump?s election wasn?t just a rejection of Clinton, it was a rejection of politics as usual. If the media and political establishment see Trump?s first couple of weeks in office as a whirlwind of chaos and incompetence, his supporters see an outsider taking on a sclerotic system that needs to be dismantled. That?s precisely what many Americans thought they were doing eight years ago, when they put a freshman senator from Illinois in the White House. Obama promised a new way of governing ? he would be a ?post-partisan? president, he would ?fundamentally transform? the country, he would look out for the middle class. In the throes of the great recession, that resonated. Something was clearly wrong with our political system and the American people wanted someone to fix it.

After all, the Tea Party didn?t begin as a reaction against Obama?s presidency but that of George W Bush. As far as most Americans were concerned, the financial crisis was brought on by the excesses of Wall Street bankers and the incompetency of our political leaders....Americans who felt the system was rigged against them and they wanted But change didn?t come.

What they got was more of the same. Obama offered a series of massive government programmes, from an $830bn financial stimulus, to the Affordable Care Act, to Dodd-Frank, none of which did much to assuage the economic anxieties of the middle class. Americans watched as the federal government bailed out the banks, then the auto industry and then passed healthcare reform that transferred billions of taxpayer dollars to major health insurance companies. Meanwhile, premiums went up, economic recovery remained sluggish and millions dropped out of the workforce and turned to food stamps and welfare programmes just to get by.

Part of Obama?s appeal was that he promised to end the unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, restore America?s standing in the international community and pursue multilateral agreements that would bring stability. Instead, Americans watched Isis step into the vacuum created by the US withdrawal from Iraq in 2011. They watched the Syrian civil war trigger a migrant crisis in Europe that many Americans now view as a cautionary tale. At home, Isis-inspired terrorist attacks took their toll, as they did in Europe. And all the while Obama?s White House insisted that everything was going well.

Amid all this, along came Trump. Here was a rough character, a boisterous celebrity billionaire with an axe to grind. He had palpable disdain for both political parties, which he said had failed the American people. He showed contempt for political correctness that was strangling public debate over contentious issues such as terrorism. He struck many of the same populist notes, both in his campaign and in his recent inaugural address, that Senator Bernie Sanders did among his young socialist acolytes, sometimes word for word.

In many ways, the 2016 election wasn?t just a referendum on Obama?s eight years in the White House, it was a rejection of the entire political system that gave us Iraq, the financial crisis, a botched healthcare law and shocking income inequality during a slow economic recovery. From Akron to Alaska, millions of Americans had simply lost confidence in their leaders and the institutions that were supposed to serve them. In their desperation, they turned to a man who had no regard for the elites ? and no use for them

...populism of this kind can be dangerous and unpredictable, But it doesn?t arise from nowhere. Only a corrupt political establishment could have provoked a political revolt of this scale. Instead of blaming Trump?s rise on racism or xenophobia, blame it on those who never saw this coming and still don?t understand why so many Americans would rather have Donald Trump in the White House than suffer the rule of their elites.

Full article:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/05/trump-not-fascist-champion-for-forgotten-millions

Great article.  Many Americans see Hilary Clinton as a corrupt, elite, evil woman that would do anything to enrich herself & Bill.  Politically, Clinton would have been more of the same. As well, as mentioned in the article....many Americans tired of years of political correctness being shoved down their throats, most often by the perceived elites in power.  Trumps style & rhetoric were a breath of fresh air to many of those people.  All in all, to many....the left now represents an authoritarian elitist culture that only represents NYC, & the left coast.  Bernie seemed to be an exception to that rule.  Seems like a role reversal of sorts for the parties.  However, I would argue that Trump himself is almost like a 3rd party.  He got in under the Republican umbrella; however, he is different from the GOP in many ways.  Still, he's going to have to throw Ryan & the GOP a bone often to be able to be effective in office.

Think of the U.S. like the Philadelphia Flyers.  They've had some outstanding years long ago, they've had some good and very good years since, and they've had some mediocre to bad years since, too.  They're presently neither great nor terrible.  The fans want to Make the Flyers Great Again #MFGA.  The present GM is retiring and they've got two choices for the new GM:  1) a hockey man who's been in NHL team management throughout most of his working life, and 2) a local wealthy businessman who's been a Flyers fan for years.

The hockey man is competent, and has been involved in both well-regarded and questionable drafts, trades and signings with moderately successful teams over the years, but he has a wealth of experience to understand how to run a hockey team at least competently.  Not everybody likes him, some people really don't like him or even hate him for a variety of reasons, both legitimate and proposterous, but he unquestionably has the experience to be an NHL GM.

The local wealthy businessman however, despite being a huge Flyers fan, on even cursory inspection clearly doesn't know much about hockey in general and how to run a hockey team in particular.  He proposes trades that any reasonable hockey fan would scoff at as ridiculous, he clearly doesn't understand how the salary cap works, he flouts tampering rules, he knows virtually nothing about the draft, and he's antagonistic toward other GMs and to the league office.  Further to that, he's repeatedly conducted illegal business practices, and he treats anybody who doesn't give him unreserved deference with contempt.  But he's a good salesman and he promises he's going to make the Flyers great again because he's been so successful in business.

Who do you want running the Flyers?

 

[rdowdall]

The local wealthy businessman however, despite being a huge Flyers fan, on even cursory inspection clearly doesn't know much about hockey in general and how to run a hockey team in particular.  He proposes trades that any reasonable hockey fan would scoff at as ridiculous, he clearly doesn't understand how the salary cap works, he flouts tampering rules, he knows virtually nothing about the draft, and he's antagonistic toward other GMs and to the league office.  Further to that, he's repeatedly conducted illegal business practices, and he treats anybody who doesn't give him unreserved deference with contempt.  But he's a good salesman and he promises he's going to make the Flyers great again because he's been so successful in business.

Brian Burke wants to run the Flyers?

 

[Kin]

Several journalists who covered his supporters observed that many knew that he was a conman but were taking a chance on his being their conman. 

 

[hockeyfan1]

Donald J. Trump  @realDonaldTrump
Wonderful meeting with Canadian PM @JustinTrudeau and a group of leading CEO's & business women from Canadaand the United States

 

[hockeyfan1]

Ivanka Trump  @IvankaTrump
A great discussion with two world leaders about the importance of women having a seat at the table! 

 

[hockeyfan1]

Prime Minister Trudeau's meeting with President Trump: joint news conference...

[youtube]NK5Gm_nvzzA[/youtube]


Full Story:
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/trudeau-trump

 

[hockeyfan1]

Canada welcomes you Silicon Valley...

The war between Trump and Silicon Valley is set to escalate. Bloomberg reported that another executive order, still being drafted, will overhaul the entire work-visa program on which Silicon Valley relies. Here, too, is an opportunity for Canada. If the Americans don?t want the highly skilled mobile people of the world, we do.

Canada has always defined itself with and against America. In the age of Trump, we are defining ourselves by our openness in a world closing off. Trudeau has explicitly defined Canada as a post-national country ? the ideal place for the globalized tech sector to flourish. So if you want to live in a stable, liberal economy, open to immigrants and unafraid of otherness, start packing. Bring a warm coat.

More:
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-marche-canada-trump-opportunity-20170214-story.html