Iznogoud

Two more nails in the Trump coffin. The most recent is the revelation that the FBI suspected Trump of collusion with the Russians months ago and that his buddies at FOX seemed to have turned on him. https://www.thewrap.com/fox-news-legal-analyst-says-trump-campaign-appears-to-have-colluded-with-russia-video/ The second is the growing unrest in the US cause by the Trump shutdown. The most recent polls have shown that most Americans believe Trump is responsible for the shutdown by a ratio of almost 2 to 1. Due to the shutdown major airports are beginning to close down large sections of their concourses, while farmers and many other US businesses cannot get federal inspectors to approve their products resulting in lost revenue. As time goes on the situation is only going to get worse as the effects of the shutdown continue to spread. There are already widespread protests across the US and there are clear indications that many members of the GOP are getting cold feet. Trump is his own worst enemy, but he is too egotistical and stupid to realize it.

I think you are overlooking the fact that leaving Trump in office is crippling the GOP. It is now clearly the party of Trump and the midterms showed that Trump and his policies were clearly rejected. The best thing for the GOP would be to get rid of Trump before he drags the rest of the party down with him.

Two of them went GOP in the midterms although that might not be the case in 2020.

Here is an interesting challenge. Pretend a foreigner has just asked what the difference is between a Canadian and an American and list 10 things that you would use to describe the difference. Try it without accessing the rest of the internet.

You do a lot of badmouthing of liberals or do you mean Liberals? In any case it detracts from your posts as there is no evidence for any of the various charges you have made against them. If you actually want to debate climate do so without all the unnecessary and quite inaccurate slamming of a particular ideology. Political leaning have nothing to with climate change.

I think you might actually want to check out where all of the Loyalists went. Most did come to Canada, but many went to other parts of the empire. Fleeing death threats was important, but so was staying British. And that British attitude persisted through the War Of 1812 and the aversion to many things considered American, such as democracy. One of the interesting historical questions is "How did Canada avoid becoming part of the United States?" and that positive attitude toward Britain is one of the answers.

I expected you are referring to the United Empire Loyalists as Americans. If so you are correct, however, keep in mind that they came to Canada because they wanted to remain British. As for the Civil War the historical record shows that more Canadians volunteered to fight for the North Than the South.

I think you will find I know a good deal more than someone who only knows how to troll. I note that you were not able to make an intelligent reply to anything in my OP. I am guessing that is because you can't.

Actually I have a fairly decent all-over background in history. My personal library once numbered over 700 books dealing with history and archeology and I had several subscriptions to magazines such as Archeology, Military History, Equinox, and National Geographic among others. Currently my home page opens on a history site so I get a new historical article every day. I am not claiming that I am an over all expert in all areas of history, but I do know more than most and I have been studying US history and politics for decades.

Feel free to address the issue. All nations have things that are wrong with them and the United States is no exception. I have now outlined a number of factors in that country that are causing it severe problems right now. The fact that they have had these problems in the past and that they have not been corrected simply proves my point; so thanks for agreeing with me.

I think you might actually want to read a history of the US Civil War before commenting further. There may have been a civil war without the dispute over slavery, but that is a matter for conjecture rather than fact. Most historians agree that slavery was the burning issue that most divided North and South. And you have completely missed the point of the thread. Nowhere in my post do I claim that the US is not still a great nation. The post is about what is wrong with the US; not its current international status. As usual you are straying off topic by tossing in red herrings like the US Civil War and whether or not the US is still a great military power. Those comments have nothing to do with the thread. Try to stay on topic.

What is Wrong With the United States Part 2 As I stated in my original post there would be a series of comments regarding problems in the United States. The first dealt with the dysfunctional nature of the legislative branch now I wish As I stated in my original post there would be a series of comments regarding problems in the United States. The first dealt with the dysfunctional nature of the legislative branch now I wish to talk about the judicial branch and its associated agencies. The first problem most non-Americans would notice about the US judicial system is the fact that judges are often openly connected with one or the other of the major parties. This seems to be pretty much unique in the world. I doubt that any Canadian could name the political leanings of any member of Canada's Supreme Court. Not only are the political leanings of most judges known, but many Americans expect them to act on those political leanings which essentially means that most judges are not the impartial arbiters of justice that they are expected to be. This can lead to situations in which court decisions can strongly influenced by political bias. A second problem is the election of officials connected with the dispensation of justice. Once again the United States is unique in actually having most of its lower court judges and many of its prosecutors and other officials elected. This creates several problems, the most obvious being that it turns officials who are supposed to dispense justice into politicians. As politicians, judges and other officials like district attorneys and even sheriffs, are responsible to the electorate and are required to run for office just like any other politician. One result of this is that they become beholden to those who donate most heavily to their election campaigns as well as to the electorate. Judges and district attorneys usually run on their record or on promises to get tough on crime. This get-tough policy is usually illustrated by the number of criminals they have arrested, incarcerated, and convicted. Unfortunately, the concept of justice and appropriate sentencing often goes by the board, leading to lengthy sentences for seemingly minor crimes. These lengthy sentences lead to still another problem; that of a large prison population. Currently the United States has more people behind bars than any other nation in the world. In fact it has as many people incarcerated as China and Russia combined despite having only a quarter of those countries combined populations. In addition, the emphasis in many US prisons is on incarceration rather than rehabilitation. In general the American public seems to support the idea of locking criminals up for as long as possible. This leads to massive spending on prisons which pulls funds away from more useful spending. And finally, punishment in a number of states often continues even after a prison sentence is served by denying ex-convicts the right to vote. In recent years steps have been taken to amend this custom, but several states still cling to it.

So you are telling me that there would have been a civil war even without slavery? I like your historical revisionism. And the thread is not about Trump - I simply used that link as it provided information on why the US government gets so little done. And as for where all that money is going - have you looked at the percent that goes to defence? It is hardly surprising that the US now lags behind so many other nations in infrastructure.

Did you read all of the article? Very little of it is about Trump and a great deal of it is about why the US government gets so little done. And the Civil War was hardly about government. Perhaps you should read up on a little cultural practice called slavery.

I am not quoting today's headlines. The lack of action by the US government has long been recognized as a problem. Historic dysfunction in American politics defines Trump presidency https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/369820-historic-dysfunction-in-american-politics-defines-trump-presidency

I am afraid I must disagree. The founding fathers never intended for it to be almost impossible to pass meaningful legislation, which is what the current situation amounts to. The US desperately needs strong legislative action in a number of areas, many of which I will address later, but currently nothing is being done.

This is a fairly broad topic given all of the problems that have manifested in the so-called "World's Greatest Democracy," so I will start off with just one; the failure of the American political system to work the way it is supposed to. There is a lot of history behind this, but let us once again limit the topic to how the present system works or doesn't work. First of all, American politics is fouled by money at all levels to an extent unknown in any other democracy. Political candidates are funded so heavily that the political process is completely distorted. There are laws limiting political donations, but those with the money found a way around such restrictions long ago, essentially creating a situation in which it is very difficult for someone without this funding to mount a successful election campaign. This creates a situation in which successful candidates are beholden to those who fund them most heavily; ignoring the desires of ordinary voters. Second, deliberate efforts have been made at all levels to disenfranchise voters resulting in elections where numerous citizens are robbed of their right to vote. This situation has been made even worse by gerrymandering which results in election results that do not actually reflect the actual number of votes. As a result many elections result in a party electing far more or far fewer candidates than they deserve. Third, the outmoded Electoral College does not work the way it was intended. The United States is the only democratic nation in which in a one-on-one race the candidate getting the most votes does not always win. This has occurred twice in the last sixteen years resulting in the election of one of the worst presidents in US history in 2000 and probably the most inept in 2016. Fourth, due to the difficulty in creating a viable third party in the US voters are pretty much restricted to voting Republican or Democrat. This has resulted in the two parties becoming more a more alike in order to appeal to the broadest spectrum of voters. This also results in both parties being right of centre by the standards of the rest of the world. As an example the leftist Barack Obama was actually not much different in his political outlook than Conservative leader Stephen Harper. Fifth, the political situation at the federal level has pretty much resulted in political deadlock. Even when one party controls the presidency, the House, and the Senate amazingly little actually gets done. Part of the reason for this is once again the influence of money. Members of congress have learned that the longer they delay legislation intended to please any party the more likely the highly sought after political donations will come in. Still another reason is the complicated nature of the congressional system. The numerous checks and balances intended to ensure that American democracy is preserved slow the the process of legislation to a crawl. Legislation can be slowed or completely blocked by the House, the Senate, or the President. As a result tedious and time-consuming negotiations take place in order for any legislation to be passed into law. It sounds very democratic, but it frequently results in political paralysis. More to come later - and yes, I know that some of these problems exist in Canada and other nations, but try to stay on topic.

Here is how bad it has become for Trump. Before his address to the nation a British betting site took bets on how many lies his speech would contain. Bookmakers taking bets on number of falsehoods Trump makes in speech https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/bookmakers-taking-bets-on-number-of-falsehoods-trump-makes-in-speech-1568753/

Don't you just hate it when the news agencies you hate dare to report the facts?

Sneer all you want. Trump is going down. You are going to have to find another charlatan to idolize.

I understand your point of view. Every story that tells the truth about something Trump has done is seen as lies or distortion. Sadly I cannot help you there. You are just going to have to accept the fact that you are supporting a loser. Chuckle Chuckle.

Do you actually watch the CBC News? I have never seen Trump attacked or any other world leader for that matter. I suspect that simply reporting what Trump does is an attack from your point of view. The sad thing is that Trump is wrong so often and acts so stupidly it is very difficult to report anything positive about him. And exactly what is the CBC supposed to do about vile dictators like Kim and MBS? It is a news organization, not a police force. And you never heard of Rosa Parks? Well, she would hardly be part of any Canadian history course so your ignorance is excusable. And since she was an American she would be unlikely to be reported as a hero.

Wait and see. I have little doubt that this awful president is going to be utterly humiliated and his followers are going to end up feeling like fools. BTW I don't have to prove anything, the special counsel and multiple other legal officials are going to do that. So far you have rejected all evidence from multiple sources including some of the most respected news agencies in the world. I thought Rolling Stone might put it on a level you could understand, but I guess I was wrong.

The bias seems entirely on your side. Quite frankly I would be quite happy if Trump started behaving like a real president instead of a giant crybaby, but I don't think that is going to happen. It should be quite clear by now that the job of president is quite beyond him. As for collusion, there appears to be plenty - at least by many of his close associates. However, it is difficult to take down someone that is beyond the law without massive amounts of evidence. I think you are going to be quite dismayed at the evidence against Trump that is going to come out in the next year or so, provided you can stop being a Trump fanboy long enough to actually accept it. Just for your edification the following article makes a list of Trump's various crimes and misdemeanors as well as his ugly policy decisions. I don't expect you to believe it, as you appear to be beyond understanding where Trump is concerned, but if you bother to read it you will see where he is going to be investigated. Trump’s Alleged Crimes Are Just the Tip of His Legacy https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-alleged-crimes-771181/ As for Russia, Trump appears to be up to his eyebrows in Russian contacts. A Brief History of Michael Cohen’s Criminal Ties https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/a-brief-history-of-michael-cohens-criminal-ties-628875/

I think the numbers speak for themselves. If you actually think Obama stopped three or four times as many so be it, but unless you come up with something better then I am standing by them.