Random Political Thoughts

[Otherside]

Thats my point. Lots of bases in europe are from the cold war era.....cold war is over. America should focus on itself, not on NATO. Your graph shows most of europe doesnt even meet their agreed to 2%.....but we have to pay for them. SAD!

I dont have health insurance. I work two jobs 30 hours each both part time.... no benefits because each is part time. Last time I went to a hospital was a 14 hour wait just to see a nurse....it costs over $2000 just to call an ambulance..i work so hard but cant afford that. THATS NOT EVEN COST OF TREATMENT....JUST THE AMBULANCE RIDE! If I ever get badly hurt i will just die....never be able to afford any kind of major treatment.

You're making no sense here. On one hand, you're complaining about the lack of defense in Europe. On the other hand, you're going on about the cold war and how the cold war era is over, and so the defenses are no longer needed.

Yes, the graph shows that only five countries - including the US - are paying there fair share. I don't dispute that.

Countries have military bases abroad. That has little to with what the Soviet Union did a couple of decades ago. America is not the only country to have military bases abroad. It's hardly unique in that respect, and hardly gets the title of "Defender of the World" or even "Defender of Europe" simply for sticking a few military bases on the continent.

Personally, I'm fine with America deciding it wants to focus on itself. I'm not alone in that opinion right now. As Cuchcullan said, nobody will stop Trump if he decides to isolate himself. The majority of world leaders do not think much of him, and will not stop him. They are already not interested in renegotiating Paris with him, as he seems to want. They will not beg America to stick around.

You've made it quite clear who you support politically, and that's fine. But it's been quite clear for a long time - even pre-election - what his intentions were regarding healthcare, and they were not involving benevolent, cheap (or even free), universal healthcare coverage. If that's what you wanted, then it's not Trump that you should be supporting. Regardless, I'm not sure what this has to do with this anyway, or why you're even trying to start a "who has it worse".

And no, money that the US could be using is not funding state-sponsored healthcare in Europe.

[Lunaire]

We wouldn't be stretched to breaking point if we stayed out of other countries. We should be defending ourselves not europe?

I don't see the US army in Europe defending it at all? If anything they only use Europe for their air force bases. Without the use of such bases they would be stuck. Invading other countries was their own idea. Nobody put them up to it. Trust me many an innocent civilian life has been lost in these countries. Heck even have friendly fire. Killing your own troops. Problem in Iraq was simple. Pick a leader. Leave him there until you don't want him in power any more. Then move in to get rid of him. Put somebody new in power. Is more about greed. Natural resources. Oil to be precise. You started the whole mess off. So you are not defending Europe, you are only making things worse for Europe when they run to help you out.

To clarify your position which I've put in bold -- are you proposing that the United States should place a non-democratically-elected government in charge of Iraq?

If so, what would this kind of government setup look like? And how would the United States remove them from power without maintaining a presence there and disrupting local stability?

[Cuchculan]

To clarify your position which I've put in bold -- are you proposing that the United States should place a non-democratically-elected government in charge of Iraq?

If so, what would this kind of government setup look like? And how would the United States remove them from power without maintaining a presence there and disrupting local stability?

Have they not done that in the past? Supported groups to overthrow a certain leader. Then arm the newer group. Then have the same weapons used against them years later. When they want a change of leader yet again. Afghanistan is one example of this. Lot of the weapons used against the US were US weapons. Plus old soviet weapons. Same with Iraq. They are fractions to take on the person in power. Why? They simply want that person out of power. Hence we have dictators in these countries most of the time. Not elected people. Elections never worked in those countries. People simply didn't vote. Because they were told not to. By warlords and the likes. Democratic governments never worked in these countries. Person in power picks who they want in their government. If you happen to get in and they don't want you in, you would simply vanish. Choices, choices. Put somebody in power or let someone take over power who might be a real monster?

[Lunaire]

Have they not done that in the past? Supported groups to overthrow a certain leader. Then arm the newer group. Then have the same weapons used against them years later. When they want a change of leader yet again. Afghanistan is one example of this. Lot of the weapons used against the US were US weapons. Plus old soviet weapons. Same with Iraq. They are fractions to take on the person in power. Why? They simply want that person out of power. Hence we have dictators in these countries most of the time. Not elected people. Elections never worked in those countries. People simply didn't vote. Because they were told not to. By warlords and the likes. Democratic governments never worked in these countries. Person in power picks who they want in their government. If you happen to get in and they don't want you in, you would simply vanish. Choices, choices. Put somebody in power or let someone take over power who might be a real monster?

Thanks for clarifying your position. I'm not going to state an opinion on the matter and will try to remain as a neutral participant in this thread, though I will be chiming in if I feel that something needs to be clarified or to present material that I feel may be be beneficial to the discussion.

An example of material you may find useful is this list of United States supported authoritarian regimes from Wikipedia:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List..._United_States

[Cuchculan]

My whole thing is what goes on is not official. In Syria you have those against Assad. They have been armed and trained. By who? On paper you will read maybe Turkey as an answer. You won't read Israel. Who were given the weapons by the US. If Assad had not got the backing of Putin he would be long since gone. So the US can't been seen to be taken any official action. There is always a way around this. We go back to Afghanistan again for a second. Russia invaded their country. Who armed those fighting against Russia? The US. It was never on the books. These are the many weapons that were used against them many years later. You will never have a working government in Afghanistan. Too many different ethnic groups. Same with Iraq. One group might hate the other group. Case of who is better than the other? They all might be bad. Might have one that has the backing of the US of other Countries too. They get him into power and he tries to form a government that never works. Then you have ISIS blowing the place up to disrupt everything the West is trying to do. I am talking about in Iraq here. Killing innocent locals. They see them as having sold out to the West.

Let us exchange links. Go to 1981 on this page. Regan was in power back then. This is what I am on about. Only this was out in the open. Back one leader and then change your mind and what that leader out of power. So back another group to overthrow the original one you helped take power. Because he refused to play ball. This still happens. I am not making this up. Just stating fact.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_ac...s_in_Nicaragua

Not picking on the US either. I simply felt the poster who wanted the US left alone for reasons that made no sense was posting pure nonsense. If you have not read the earlier posts they are worth reading. Like the rest of the world is doing wrong. Except the US. Worry not. Is just an exchange of views. Nothing else. We can agree to disagree.

[CloudMaker]

So my boss was literally crying when Trump won.
She said Trump sexually assaulted women...............and I said Clinton did the same, and has actually been convicted and paid for his assaults. Paula Jones. etc.................for the record.

And Hitlery helped Saudi Arabia where they routinely throw homosexuals off of buildings and treat women as animals and she has taken bribes as Secretary of State!
She didn't want to hear it.

Pay for play ................that's a cute word for TREASON..... Orwell would be proud!

I don't know how to get through to these idiots.
I really don't. NAFTA and the TPP has been literal genocide on working class American Citizens.

I pray "lock her up" is a mandate and not a campaign slogan.

[Cuchculan]

There is a great documentary on you tube about the Clintons. In it we hear of the people who went against them. Of those people so many have died. Now I can't say they have anything to do with all these deaths. Let us just say it is a higher death rate than normal for people who tried to block the most powerful couple in the US. Most powerful at that time. The deaths happened in different ways. Some were ruled as suicide. Others as accidents. Others have question marks hanging over them. Might all just be conspiracy theory heaven. That a film crew went out of their way to track a lot of dead people back to the Clintons. They certainly all connections in a negative way. I am sure if you visit you tube the video will be easy to find. Makes for interesting viewing if nothing else.

Here is a quick 10 minute video about all the murders. And other deaths. This is the quick version.

[InvisibleGuy]

I watched the documentary. I remember the Clinton administration very well, I remember hearing about all these people dying from plane crashes and suicides. Personally, I don't even have a political party anymore, I'm embarrassed by both. I couldn't even bring myself to vote in the 2016 election. Trump both disgusts and embarrasses me. I think some of those deaths in the video were probably accidental but not all. There are just way too many in number and there are too many ironies for them to have all been accidental. There are people who believe this country isn't capable or would never engage in the kind of corrupt, illegal activities other countries engage in, and while I don't get into conspiracy theories, I think if you believe this country doesn't do those kinds of things then you're incredibly naive.

[Cuchculan]

One or two deaths you can say ' [BEEP] happens '. Might be nothing at all. Once it begins to reach double figures it begins to make you wonder. Can all these deaths just be accidents and suicides? As I said, it makes for good viewing. Kind of reminds me of the TV show ' The House of Cards '. In that show the President was willing to have people killed who got in his way. Make it look like they done it to themselves or it was just an accident. i am nearly sure the Underwoods are based around the Clintons. In a loose sort of way. Do what you have to do to make things go away.

[Otherside]

Do you know, I think we're more doomed than I thought we would be on Thursday after voting.

- No party has a majority. The previous ruling conservative party lost a large number of seats, plus a majority.

- The Conservative party wants to ally with a Northern Irish party - the DUP - to get a majority and form a government. Ignoring the honestly awful views of the DUP, allying with them may just be illegal, and undermine the entire Irish peace process/Good Friday Agreement (in which the UK gov are guarantors. So why the hell do they think allying with unionists is a grand idea?!)

- It is also now incredibly hypocritical that the dear PM decided to call her biggest opposition - Corbyn - a "terrorist. sympathiser" - given that she's considering allying with DUP. And who are the DUP associated with? A terrorist group called Ulster Resistance.

- Also, this is not "Strong and Stable" We haven't had Stable since Brexit. We have had u-turn after u-turn, and now a general election that has kicked any stability into the gutter. Your campaign was a shambles, and it was as though you decided you'd see if you could win by announcing every single policy that would anger the public (reallow fox hunting when only 5% support that? Really? Or that dementia tax? Or that whole debacle with "let's scrap human rights?"). As you said, "The people have spoken".

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

[Cuchculan]

Just add in the names UDA, UVF, and a few other splinter groups along with that. They hate the Irish. We don't exactly like them either. The worst bombing ever carried out happened in Dublin and was done by those terrorists. They always say they have nothing got to do with them. But that is who votes for them. It will be a disaster for peace in the North of Ireland. The DUP will use it a major victory. In order to power share they will want something in return. That something will favour them in the North over the Catholics.


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[sunrise]

Trump's cabinet meeting. Whisky Tango Foxtrot.

[Cuchculan]

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[CloudMaker]

Maga ftw

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017...ooked-hillary/

[CloudMaker]

I love President Trump, I'm not going to lie. I would have Loved President Bernie Sanders. But the DNC decided that all of us were to stupid to vote and put the Clintons up again.
Trump; is the best hope we have.
I hate the Democrats..
I Love Trump. I hope he stays in office and pisses off everyone.
He's the [BEEP] in the punchbowl.

MAGA