The United States(!) of A

@sG

"Unless a single payment is above $14,000, parties and donors aren't obligated to disclose the source. But that nature of federated party structures means entities can hide annual pledges of much more.

A party with branches in each state and territory could theoretically receive up to $112,000 from one entity and not have to declare it."

Legalised corruption in plain sight. It's like brown paper bags without the bag.
Reducing this to a $1000 with real-time reporting would certainly be a step in the right direction.

I think politicians refer to it as 'transparency'.
They like the idea but think the concept shouldn't apply to them.

As for the US, I'd imagine for their political circus they would deal in wheelie bins instead of paper bags, especially since transparency ain't part of their vocabulary.

EDIT: Since it's a new page I better put the link I am talking about -
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-01/scott-morrison-biggest-donor-dona...

Stu and Blowins’ exchange this morning came to mind reading this article that contends that Biden will struggle to reconcile new geostrategic realities in the post-Trump age with his limited political capital. It’s simply not a black or white situation. I’d contend that the greatest enduring foreign policy impact for the US from the previous administration has not been on the calculations / actions of real or potential adversaries, rather the understandable lack of faith in the US from its partners, allies and those it seeks to influence. That is at odds with the popular narrative of Trump supporters - that his hard-nosed approach to ‘like-minded’ countries and conciliatory measures to those who seek a rebalance of power was successful in reinstating America’s standing in the world. I’ve acknowledged previously that Biden’s FP record is patchy and likely to be challenged. The hangover from Trump’s abject failure in this department won’t make his lot any easier.

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2021-01-29/trump-g...

from a purely self interest point of view I hope the USA stays the main bully in the playground for a while yet.

And that goes to the crux of the fallacy for Trump’s cheer squad. The previous 4 years have done little to ‘contain’ China, whether you’re looking at it economically, militarily or through effective alliance building. If nothing else the sense of American unreliability has forced a rethink on the ante-Trump world order. Just not in America’s favour.

"US under Trump dropped record amounts of bombs on Afghanistan, Syria and supported proxy war in Yemen.
Same old military industrial complex.

I doubt Biden will re-engage in the ME."

Sorry Freeride but the above is untrue. Trump actually ordered American troops out of Syria and was directly disobeyed and lied to by military who said they had withdrawn when they hadn't. Obama set the record for bombs dropped and drone strikes ordered. Obama also started the proxy war in Yemen. And finally, Biden has ordered a column of military vehicles to enter Syria from Iraq, which was confirmed to have occurred from on the ground sources. Also, on the day of Biden's inauguration a large attack was perpetrated by IS in Iraq, and Biden made a statement about maintaining a presence there to head off further attacks.

Why was IS so inactive while Trump was leader in comparison to Obama?

I shouldn't be required to say this but I will in the hope it means what I've said can be taken seriously, I am not a Trump supporter. That being said, it's undeniable that the DNC and it's Presidents have presided over the commencement of the vast majority of armed conflicts during the modern period of American Imperialism.

Don't give these fuckers a free pass just because they seem better than the last one. Biden is a future war criminal just like the rest of them.

at least trump had the balls to say look at china

the democrats are/were weak as piss, their mouthpiece at cnn is still making excuses, which is mind blowingly unfuckingbelievable considering recent happenings

and what cylinders said re. ME, ...biden, ...barely a day in office and straight back in there...

'Why was IS so inactive while Trump was leader in comparison to Obama?'

I think it's all rather obvious actually ...we just don't talk about it... it's kinda frowned upon and forbidden... like a lot of things...

I get it Cylinders, I have had to make the ‘I am not a Trump supporter” disclosure at least half a dozen times. I have literally been called a NAZI on this forum plus the usual word twisting and assumptions that come with the territory of going against the accepted themes. Still, I’m here, there are some good moments on this forum! politics is famous for starting arguments...

Yes I've run into a few of the misanthropic weirdos on this forum who seem to think this will all be a refreshing start to a new Pax Americana.

We could play logical fallacy bingo up in here on a good day.

Nuance, unfortunately, has gone the way of the dodo, and so to it seems has any feeling of responsibility for people to take charge of their own education.

Harris is descended from Jamaican slave and plantation owners which should present an entertaining conundrum for those people trying to simultaneously celebrate her as the first Black/Female/Indian Vice President and definitely not the first or last Vice President Descended from Slave Owners, whilst looking past her atrocious and destructive legal career which was spent disproportionately incarcerating African Americans.

Biden has been a straight out racist multiple times on record, but I guess people are assuming that because he has dementia he's forgotten how much disdain he had for minorities in the past. Biden's diverse selection of leaders in his Presidency does nothing to advance the position of minorities as the only way for these people to make it these positions is to be "model minorities" who fail consistently to challenge the status quo. People care far too much about how things make them feel, and in the process they freely give away the chance to demand real change in an effort to protect those feelings.

I will say why IS was less active under Trump, it's because IS is funded by those who want to destabilise the Middle East. Trump either drew down or attempted to draw down troop number across all fronts in the Middle East. As soon as he was out, business was booming again (sorry about the pun but I couldn't not make it).

But, I also agree with you Freeride that the US must remain the big dog, or else we are fucked down here on our little island. We have far too much resource and land. Unfortunately the war began a long time ago, it's just hard to see because our enemy uses subversive tactics and enjoys a continuity of policy that means they can operate on longer cycles than we can. The setup has been decades in the making and continues today.

Nice work, Biden forgetting his past racism had me laughing. And the Kamala bit, awesome, she was a cruel prosecutor, I have posted links of her boasting about prosecuting parents for their truant children here before, and the Tulsi Gabbard epic primaries rip, where she told us how Kamala had withheld evidence that would’ve proven a man on death row innocent. Funny how Tulsi got the DNC silent treatment after that... sort of... not really.

Keep them coming

"And the Kamala bit, awesome, she was a cruel prosecutor". Correction Sickaz, its 'he was a cruel prosecutor". Just like big Mike Obama the Baphomet.

@Blowin "Tell me , I Focus were you able to see Trump objectively ? Are you able even now that his actions are historical fact and not hysterical predictions ? Do you see the shades of grey ?"

Best objective description of Trump I have seen is Trump is the US unmasked.

I wont be making excuses for Trump or running the binary argument Trump good because Hilary would been worse or Biden is a dog or, well you get the idea.

Looking at policy his record was poor if you were middle class or lower, tax breaks mainly went to higher income or business,

Minimum wage remained at $7.50 (peek buying power of the US minimum wage was in 1968 BTW) with jobs taking tip $2 something very much the US unmasked.

Jobs was touted as one of his great achievements unfortunately came from massive unfunded stimulus ($1.6 trillion tax breaks) and low interest environment both unsustainable in the long run.

Interesting the MAGA was a period of more than double the current tax rates in the US.

Much is made about China again the middle and lower income earners paid for the tariffs and under Trump manufacturing jobs continue to fall and goods from China continue to rise. It was hardly a problem for China all agreed action was required, few if any thought tariffs were the answer.

Trump was a real estate huckster, bankrupt who put others on the hook for his debts, reality TV star, self confessed sexual assaulter/ molester of women, pays off porn stars to keep quite, hell he was perfect to be leader of the free world.

Then there his behaviour regarding the election before, during and after his part regarding the assault of the capitol building.

Would very much like to hear what you see as Trumps achievements

Ah the QAnon predictions are rolling out now, eh Stortenism!

Yesterday the bankrupt US corpo line.

Now the Michelle Obama is a man shite.

Hey, isn't Joe Biden wearing an ankle monitor!

Believe what you want, but just don't ever call other people sheeple, OK?

No idea Stunet, i'm not really that onto the qanon stuff, but sounds like you've done your homework.

Show me where i've ever written the word sheeple? Funnily I reckon I could point out 10's of times you've called someone out for being a 'conspiracy theorist' or q anoner or whatever. You're the one who's quick to throw around labels.

Ans anyway back to the topic at hand. Big Mike. Go on show me the proof he's a woman other than the dresses he wears.. That you calling out surface thinkers in an earlier thread..

And while we're at it my earlier question about these 10.0km deep earthquakes. No feedback!? Deaf ears? A genuine science question, related to a trusted data set. Right down your alley? I get a sense you don't like saying you don't know, but I did ask swellnet team direct. So any response would go a long way in customer service satisfaction.

Responding to a question on earthquakes "would go a long way in customer service satisfaction"?

Eh?

Keeping in mind that Swellnet staff don't read every single forum post that gets published - sometimes we're not actually in the office (as was the case for me yesterday, and is the case for Craig today). And when we are, we've usually got a shit-tonne of work to do.

But hey! 

I'll cancel this morning's meetings and will investigate these earthquakes for you. Even though they're better answered by a geologist, seismologist, or failing that, a qualified YouTuber. 

Rightio, and I'll spend the next few hours investigating Michelle Obama's gender.

Ivan and Melvin Trump demand an inspection too Stu.

OK, did a quick search - global earthquakes over last 7 days, greater than 2.5. 

292 in total. 
58 were recorded at a depth of 10km.

Of these 58, a quick scan suggests only a handful were in the USA. Most were in remote countries that perhaps don't have the same kind of monitoring equipment that western countries do, so maybe the epicenter triangulations were approximated. But, that's just a guess.

What does this have to do with tunnels? I have no idea. Probably nothing to do with 5G, or Covid-19 either. Though I'm sure Pete Evans will interview Craig Kelly on the topic in his next podcast.

I can't see many Trump achievements either, but would be interested to hear from those sympathetic how they see his policy legacy.

NPS = 10

What is NPS? Why/how does it equal ten?

You run a SaaS business, you should know NPS... Net Promoter Score. Get across it..

Righto. A compliment, then. Thanks!

However, if getting a good NPS requires the employment (paid, or otherwise) of a "Customer Experience Manager", then I'll politely decline the invitation. 

naughty bernie... wearing those male privelage mittens...

https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2021/02/01/san-francisco-chronicle-b...

seriously, if you're going after bernie, you're a messed up cat in one way or another...

(which incidently, includes half of the democrat party)

Yeah Ben, these forums and your responses have no bearing on my customer experience with Swellnet. It's hands down a 10 with the forecasting and summaries!! The important bits:) In the absense of a formal Ux program you have nailed it anyways. My comment was about customer satisfaction and earthquake data was a stir but genuinely was interested in your views.

I didn’t like Trump but I reckon there were a couple points of his foreign policy which might have been for the better... although it is hard to know until a few years down the track with these policies what the outcomes actually are.

Firstly Syria, Obama drew a line in the sand and said no more poison gas bombing, sure enough they did it again and Obama did nothing. Assad then did it again when Trump was in and he sent the missiles in and there was no more poison gas.

And China, hard to know where the trade war will finish up but there was an imbalance and he did take steps to address it.

Careful shorto, there are some people, like M Obama, that you are not allowed to poke fun at, or criticise, on here. In my experience with M Obama I was called a misogynist and a racist by the moral authorities when I said some of her comments (Trump voters =evil) were not in keeping with a move towards unity. You might want to reign it in, or the good, virtuous folks will need to deride you and call you bad names, again.

Not sure how you cope with the condescension and name calling...? I get hurt feelings.
https://m.

Deep breathe....

No Sickaz, I understand your need to contort every answer into a Trump vs whoever culture war - reminds me of someone else? - but here's a word for the wise: the 'Mike Obama' movement isn't poking fun at Michelle Obama, it's bottom of the barrel slander from QAnon and the deadshit followers that subscribe to it. 

Spruik shit like that and you may as well send up a flare advertising your inability to think.

What about those that 'spruik', or protect and enable this type of 'shit':

https://www.swellnet.com/forums/politico/307178?page=63

'BTW. i saw a women at the market in Dandenong the other day with a burqua or maybe it was a Niqab it was kind of in-between couldn't see her face though, i was waiting for my missus so did a bit of people watching with her, to be honest she didn't look oppressed like the full black robe ones I've seen in Indonesia that look like servants of the men, actually looked the opposite in this case she had her little middle eastern guy following her around and from the body language she looked like she was wearing the pants so to speak.

It was quite crowded and was thinking maybe i will accidentally go bump into her and say sorry etc and see if she will interact with me and see the reaction of her husband, but by that time my missus had finished.'

Or this, obviously, absolutely false, totally incorrect, comprehensively proven wrong, ignorant, racist, no idea, uneducated sweetness, from your obviously enabled and protected double down dude mmmmaaayyyteee...

https://www.swellnet.com/forums/wax/500849?page=12

'Systemic racism does not exist in Australia.

Unless you are claiming a conspiracy theory which states there is a cabal of like minded individuals who operate at the highest levels of government, business and community who convene in secret to discuss their plans to subjugate and oppress minorities.

Is this the case ?'

Of course, and as the experts highlight, rightly so it was called out, but guess what...? Hey, anyone 'seen' Viclocal or blinder lately... again, the experts say it best!!!

'Those who have raised issues felt they paid a high price for speaking out'

'While reference was made to claims of racism across the AFL more generally, Collingwood's history with racism was described as "distinct and egregious", with the club's leadership, "particularly its board", needing to drive structural change.

It described a culture of "individuals, if not quite being bigger than the Club, then at least having an unhealthy degree of influence over Club culture".'

'There is a gap between what Collingwood Football Club says it stands for and what it does'

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-01/collingwood-is-guilty-of-systemic...

I wonder what they'd think about people's wives being smarmily, slimily targeted, by hidden chickenshits, and labelled as 'Asian sluts' etc? Because for some its protected. The dream team's defence, after they deleted their attacking my wife shit, because others called it out, was that they had no idea about, and as far as they knew, I'd procured an 'under age', 'money grabbing', 'draw dropping slut'' as a mail order bride, because as far as they knew, I'd 'never even been to the Philippines'. Yet, like the above 'systematic racism' bullshit, they just are enabled to lie their guts out again. Here they are, corresponding about that very subject, my having lived in the Philippines, and how I met my wife, after sleezily, gutlessly trying the angle on again, even leaving their, a bit slow on the uptake, side kick, young andrewm wondering, WTF are you on about,?? start from the bottom up, and the scenario quickly becomes clear. Unless you are particularly slow on the uptake, and have ignored and enabled all the past slurs on my wife.

https://www.swellnet.com/news/surfpolitik/2017/08/17/tropical-plunder

Nah mate, old news.

Been through it, I've explained, you've responded.

Anyway, since then you've injected your wife into a thread a number of times, all of them without any prompting from others.

So maybe when you stop doing that I'll be more inclined to act..?

Double down, smarmy, deflecting bullshit, again. I left it alone for ages, stop smarmily bullshitting.

Am I dealing with Jekyll or Hyde tonight?

Why are you bringing it up again despite no further transgressions since the convo late last year?

Because you did nothing except deflect. I'm dealing with the Dandenong enabler, Dr...

Mate, I apologised that it happened on this site, and you accepted.

Jekyll talk to Hyde or vice versa...

Where did I accept?

Dr Do little?

@MB,

Just went back searching through thread after thread, and found what's bordering on hundreds of references from yourself about your wife, and not a single one from anyone else.

You're right that you didn't accept my apology, but nor did you reject it, just went rambling on about something else that had little bearing on the topic.

In truth, it was a political apology - I was trying to smooth out something that I both wasn't involved in and didn't witness. I read no offending posts and you couldn't show any to me, you still can't, so increasingly I'm thinking this is just more of your emotional sexagenarian histrionics: you blow off some steam, readers get entertained, I waste my time dealing with rubbish.

So on second thoughts, you can stick the apology up your arse. I'm not wasting anymore time trying to placate you.

From now on just post whatever you want and I'll moderate at will.

@Stu

Just for the record i did make one sly remark a few weeks back about Herc marrying a mail order bride, it was more aimed at his character than hers.

It was late and Zen being the good guy he is said Indo thats a low bow you are better than that please delete it, and i did delete it.

Herc must have seen it though and went on about it the next day, which was pretty funny, him putting on this big guilt trip about me being this bad guy and him this good guy taking some moral high ground, i mean god the abuse he has spat out here to me and others is literally page and pages of insults and baiting and just the same crap over and over..

Anyway from memory the next morning once i knew he has seen it i thought i had reposted it, so i thought it was still up?...maybe not, it wasn't anything more than calling him a dirty old man really though, although admittedly im sure she(his wife) wouldn't feel good if she saw it no one wants to be a mail order bride.

But one thing for sure i certainly did not say anything about "Asian sluts" or say anything else negative about her, I actually said something a along the lines of, im sure she is a nice lady and feel sorry for her that she has to put up with such a putrid man. (or something to those words)

Anyway i have no idea, why this is being spoken about here, its not even in a half relevant thread?

It's pretty clear Herc is pretty butt hurt about me challenging him in the past though, maybe he has had a few drinks tonight and he gets all fired up or something, who knows, but he sure is a broken record and obviously his aim is to try to antagonise me.

And as we all know it gets super old very quick and same crap every time, and the stuff he regurgitates i dont care about either way, its more annoying being trolled more than anything, especially as its not like ive even had a conversation with him recently, so bit surprisingly to see this crap mentioned.

Personally im just happy to try to ignore Hercs comments on here whether they are aimed at me or just basic conversation, i just have no interest in communicating with him on any level.

Ha ha....i know Blowin feels exactly the same way :P

@stu,

Deep breath...

Check the post, I didn’t “spruik any of that shit”. I was goofing off with Shorten who is not a Qanon Nut-job, he is trolling your judgemental, bias ridden self with sophistication and humour. Neither of us think that Michelle Obama is a man or Mike or whatever, we are making fun of the freaks who believe it and the ridiculousness. You got triggered so I guess you need to loosen up or something. Do some yoga.

Maybe that should be your nickname, ‘Triggered’.... fits.

If you think we are perpetuating Qanon BS or spreading It you are wrong. We are laughing at it for what it is - ridiculous BS. It’s pretty simple really. Qanon is base, I haven’t even been on it before, but I agree FFS. Your condescension towards some of us as though we are ignorant bigots is poorly directed, direct it at the mirror. I think that it is you who keeps making an error of judgement here. A Bigot is, after all, “a person who is intolerant towards those holding different opinions” (Oxford Dictionary)... Kinda like you. You have been intolerant towards many people holding different opinions on here.

I, on the other hand, just defend myself if someone is wrong when they criticise me. I say my opinion, sure, but I am not intolerant towards others... Like you. So you are a bigot and I’m not! Agreed? Excellent.

You are so quick to get prickly. I guess that’s the ‘Nettle’ in you. It would be great if you could leave off the educational tone that you talk to me with though, not saying I’m a genius, far from it, you might be smarter than me, but to think that such a bitter, patronising, presumptuous, superiority complex bully is going to tell me what’s what... no. Sorry but you don’t qualify to tell me F all.

Ever wonder if your consistent labelling of anyone who says anything that doesn’t fit your enlightened mould as a Qanon conspiracy nut makes you look like a blinkered one trick pony stu? Perhaps you should.

How do you know so much about the content of Qanon anyway? (If it’s a fetish it’s ok to admit it, safe space and all that). You are PROBABLY the only person here to have been on that website to know so much about it. No one gives a F about that rubbish. The only thing it’s good for is taking the P out of

Drop the disguises, mate.

Stu - do you think that Sickaz is me ?

I am not Blowin, I don’t even agree with blowin 100%, I respect him though, from what I know about him. Good on you blowin, speak your mind. Not sure where blowin lives but I am in the SW, if that helps, and I am just about to go to bed. Harvest season. Nighty night

Ask facto where I live

He was trying to track me down, you know NAZi hunt...

Dentist tomorrow

OK, thanks for the heads up, ID.

It sounds like it became a self-fulfilling prophecy because his accusations date back seven years.

Duh, gee I wonder why? .post .com!!! Go the pies!!!

I read 80% of everything on here, and I happened to be there when ID made his comment. How I saw it is that MB insulted ID somewhere about 100-150 times, before ID made his return of serve. If this were a playground, and it’s pretty close to it, then i personally think ID was warranted in punching back.

MB you are the heckler in the stands here, and ID is holding his spear back to you