The United States(!) of A


In fairness @andymac, that skit by Jimmy Rees was pretty much spot on and nailed all the finer details of what has been happening, using comedy as the platform. I think it all helps.
Definitely no laughing matter though, agree.


agree, but it's bill burr style dismay that may keep our humour in tact as we rebuild society.


AlfredWallace wrote:Confusion wrote:basesix wrote:we are usefully complex now in Aus, with the uptick of people with residential status being born in asian countries, well overtaking western.. a lot of asian countries have that romance with Aus that the UK used to, where it is some civilised land to the south where they have rellies and have visited on holiday and had a nice time.
Your right , amazing how happy they all are despite their predicament though.
?si=wPHDnbU8xjBym3xiIn general, people who live in those predicaments you’ve described, are generally happy with the things they do have and not unhappy about the things they don’t have.
They live a simple life with a smile on their faces.Converse to their society, we are often very grumpy, tired, unhappy and stressed about all the things (consumption) we do, have and want. A much more complex existence.
I know the one I prefer. AW
I know I spent some time there, and their friendliness is part of their culture, amazing that 200 families living under the bridge all knew each other.
Although having said that’s only a very small part of the Philippines ,
Most of it is beautiful islands and beaches and mountains, still poor but catching enough fish and bananas etc .
Hey Joe !


southernraw wrote:In fairness @andymac, that skit by Jimmy Rees was pretty much spot on and nailed all the finer details of what has been happening, using comedy as the platform. I think it all helps.
Definitely no laughing matter though, agree.
Don't get me wrong, yep take the piss out of the orange blimp.
But don't write him off as a fool.
Reckon the US constitution being very tested here.
The Khalil case is ridiculous, but no one has stepped in to stop it.
Peaceful protest, freedom of speech etc etc.
Maybe Trump should organise for Muslims to maybe wear a badge, or something. A Star, na thst doesn'twork, or better maybe a crescent moon. Might not be too far off.


wish there was a @gsco type on here, who was to the right, but went on about the pillars..


andy-mac wrote:southernraw wrote:In fairness @andymac, that skit by Jimmy Rees was pretty much spot on and nailed all the finer details of what has been happening, using comedy as the platform. I think it all helps.
Definitely no laughing matter though, agree.Don't get me wrong, yep take the piss out of the orange blimp.
But don't write him off as a fool.
Reckon the US constitution being very tested here.
The Khalil case is ridiculous, but no one has stepped in to stop it.
Peaceful protest, freedom of speech etc etc.Maybe Trump should organise for Muslims to maybe wear a badge, or something. A Star, na thst doesn'twork, or better maybe a crescent moon. Might not be too far off.
There are legal challenges claiming that Khalils arrest and deportation is unconstitutional and illegal,
which could go all the way to the Supreme Court.
Who knows then?


southernraw wrote:Cheers for that one @andymac.
Just on those protests last night, i watched for about an hour and the estimate was about 10,000 people....a significant number. I wondered how the media would portray it, if they'd even give it any coverage at all. Well, got up this morning, scoured a few MSM websites, including the bloody New York Times. And nothing Not even a mention that i could find. Keep in mind they had shut down Broadway and Wall Street to allow the protesters to march.
Was chatting to my friend in Boston a few days ago, and she and her friends believes the media is being manipulated to stop American people from seeing anything that discredits Trump/musk.
These are wacky times.
Yes @ SR I think the right wing media has been manipulated for a while and the
mainstream media normalises Trump like he is your average, normal president.
Same in Australia.
That is why Trump won the election, because of 24/7 lies and misinformation on Fox ,X twitter , Rogan and a whole lot of others .
That’s why independent media is so important to keep pushing out the truth.
Where did the protesters get their information?


Hypothetical attack on the free press by trump
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/15/trump-media-attacks


Didn't hear about this 2 days ago. Fascism, babay!
"The Trump administration has pulled $400m (£310m) of federal funding from Columbia University, saying it failed to fight antisemitism on campus...
Trump has threatened to pull funding from schools and universities that allow "illegal protests"."


andy-mac wrote:southernraw wrote:In fairness @andymac, that skit by Jimmy Rees was pretty much spot on and nailed all the finer details of what has been happening, using comedy as the platform. I think it all helps.
Definitely no laughing matter though, agree.Don't get me wrong, yep take the piss out of the orange blimp.
But don't write him off as a fool.
Reckon the US constitution being very tested here.
The Khalil case is ridiculous, but no one has stepped in to stop it.
Peaceful protest, freedom of speech etc etc.Maybe Trump should organise for Muslims to maybe wear a badge, or something. A Star, na thst doesn'twork, or better maybe a crescent moon. Might not be too far off.
I've maintained all along that he's a smart prick @andymac.
That's the biggest problem. See above post.
Farken hell just went through the nightmare of uploading a uni assignment and then thinking i'd lost the word document. One of the most stressful hours of my life!! haha. Found it! All good.


Confusion wrote:southernraw wrote:Cheers for that one @andymac.
Just on those protests last night, i watched for about an hour and the estimate was about 10,000 people....a significant number. I wondered how the media would portray it, if they'd even give it any coverage at all. Well, got up this morning, scoured a few MSM websites, including the bloody New York Times. And nothing Not even a mention that i could find. Keep in mind they had shut down Broadway and Wall Street to allow the protesters to march.
Was chatting to my friend in Boston a few days ago, and she and her friends believes the media is being manipulated to stop American people from seeing anything that discredits Trump/musk.
These are wacky times.Yes @ SR I think the right wing media has been manipulated for a while and the
mainstream media normalises Trump like he is your average, normal president.
Same in Australia.
That is why Trump won the election, because of 24/7 lies and misinformation on Fox ,X twitter , Rogan and a whole lot of others .
That’s why independent media is so important to keep pushing out the truth.
Where did the protesters get their information?
Agreed mate.


Anyone believe that Trump winning the election had something to do with the democrat’s performance over the last term ? If things were going so well , you would think they would have been a sure thing . I don’t believe Trump won because of the media, in fact the media on a whole didn’t like Trump or do him any favours . For the record, as I’ve said before , I thought Kamala would win because the feeling I got was anybody but Trump . Seems the American public wanted change , so how bad had things become ? Be nice to read from one of the seppo’s that post here on their personal experience on how Trump got in .


Supafreak wrote:Anyone believe that Trump winning the election had something to do with the democrat’s performance over the last term ? If things were going so well , you would think they would have been a sure thing . I don’t believe Trump won because of the media, in fact the media on a whole didn’t like Trump or do him any favours . For the record, as I’ve said before , I thought Kamala would win because the feeling I got was anybody but Trump . Seems the American public wanted change , so how bad had things become ? Be nice to read from one of the seppo’s that post here on their personal experience on how Trump got in .
We went through a once in a generation inflation during that term. A lot of people never experienced any inflation. Don’t underestimate the discontent that came from that.


southernraw wrote:andy-mac wrote:southernraw wrote:In fairness @andymac, that skit by Jimmy Rees was pretty much spot on and nailed all the finer details of what has been happening, using comedy as the platform. I think it all helps.
Definitely no laughing matter though, agree.Don't get me wrong, yep take the piss out of the orange blimp.
But don't write him off as a fool.
Reckon the US constitution being very tested here.
The Khalil case is ridiculous, but no one has stepped in to stop it.
Peaceful protest, freedom of speech etc etc.Maybe Trump should organise for Muslims to maybe wear a badge, or something. A Star, na thst doesn'twork, or better maybe a crescent moon. Might not be too far off.
I've maintained all along that he's a smart prick @andymac.
That's the biggest problem. See above post.
Farken hell just went through the nightmare of uploading a uni assignment and then thinking i'd lost the word document. One of the most stressful hours of my life!! haha. Found it! All good.
I lost a whole essay once back in 90's a day before due.
Had to rewrite the whole farkin thing over night from notes...
Hope ya nailed the assignment!


Exactly, not a good situation


Supafreak wrote:Anyone believe that Trump winning the election had something to do with the democrat’s performance over the last term ? If things were going so well , you would think they would have been a sure thing . I don’t believe Trump won because of the media, in fact the media on a whole didn’t like Trump or do him any favours . For the record, as I’ve said before , I thought Kamala would win because the feeling I got was anybody but Trump . Seems the American public wanted change , so how bad had things become ? Be nice to read from one of the seppo’s that post here on their personal experience on how Trump got in .
Yep sleepy Joe was hopeless or at least appeared that way.
Even if he was doing a good job the visuals and image was shocking.
The Republicans took big advantage of that. By time Kamala took over , too late.
I didnt think the dems deserved the win, and thought Trump would be pretty bad, but he has gone way off the scale that I was expecting.
Reckon the whole thing will implode within 4 years...




flollo wrote:https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHL5slpJoo1/?igsh=MXU5aG8wbjNkOXY1
Wasn't it John Maynard Keynes who said we are all dead in the long run....


"Why you doing it this way man? Why you doing it this way, you causing caos".


Supafreak wrote:Anyone believe that Trump winning the election had something to do with the democrat’s performance over the last term ? If things were going so well , you would think they would have been a sure thing . I don’t believe Trump won because of the media, in fact the media on a whole didn’t like Trump or do him any favours . For the record, as I’ve said before , I thought Kamala would win because the feeling I got was anybody but Trump . Seems the American public wanted change , so how bad had things become ? Be nice to read from one of the seppo’s that post here on their personal experience on how Trump got in .
Trumps election campaign was abysmal,
His rallies were half empty, with people walking out, Trump refusing to do the traditional 60 minutes interview with Harris ,
he turned one into a 40 minute dance around.
Trump was rambling , incoherent in interviews and rallies. who still thought Biden was his opponent,
In contrast Harrises campaign rallies were packed and full of cheers and she easily won the debate.
So why did Trump win ,?
Maybe because everyone was watching Fox News and Joe Rogan And X where an alternative reality was being broadcast.


So in other words, nothing to do with the Democrats performance and how Americans were traveling in life as a result ? If only they had tuned into msnbc .


Supafreak wrote:So in other words, nothing to do with the Democrats performance and how Americans were traveling in life as a result ? If only they had tuned into msnbc .
Maybe some who would normally vote Democrats didn't turn up to vote due to Biden's handling of Gaza....
I know it disgusted some....


Supafreak wrote:So in other words, nothing to do with the Democrats performance and how Americans were traveling in life as a result ? If only they had tuned into msnbc .
When you actually look at the stats , the Dems we’re doing quite well
Biden left Trump an economy that the rest of the world envied , record stock market, expected GDP growth of 3 percent for the first quarter,
But I guess the dems didn’t do so well on the eating of the cats and dogs,
And the unfair transgender volleyball player or players
And other news like that ,that really mattered .


So Trump won because of X , Joe Rogan & Fox news , gotcha . I


Supafreak wrote:So Trump won because of X , Joe Rogan & Fox news , gotcha . I
Good !


Confusion wrote:Supafreak wrote:So Trump won because of X , Joe Rogan & Fox news , gotcha . I
Good !
So tell me jeffy , does the rest of the world also envy the debt the US has ?


Fox News sued by Domminion for repeated lying and defamation


Now now you two, time to stop.


Supafreak wrote:Confusion wrote:Supafreak wrote:So Trump won because of X , Joe Rogan & Fox news , gotcha . I
Good !
So tell me jeffy , does the rest of the world also envy the debt the US has ?
Did the debt change much under Trump or Biden ?
I’ll have to press the search button a few times before I can keep arguing.


It has kept increasing, that’s the elephant in the room that needs addressing .


So does the world envy the US debt ?


Why do you interpret this as arguing ? You believe all was well under Biden and that if it wasn’t for the media , then Trump wouldn’t have got in . I don’t believe that to be the case . You also believe Kamala ran a better campaign . I don’t think she was up to the task , thrown in the deep end , not very democratically either.


Supafreak wrote:Why do you interpret this as arguing ? You believe all was well under Biden and that if it wasn’t for the media , then Trump wouldn’t have got in . I don’t believe that to be the case .
This is definitely not the case. It’s hard to take anyone thinking like this seriously.


Yeah i think we're well past the point of who voted for him and why.
He's there now, and shit's getting real. That should be the focus.


flollo wrote:Supafreak wrote:Why do you interpret this as arguing ? You believe all was well under Biden and that if it wasn’t for the media , then Trump wouldn’t have got in . I don’t believe that to be the case .
This is definitely not the case. It’s hard to take anyone thinking like this seriously.
Its hard to take anyone seriously who was rooting for Trump all the way because he is good with the economy, despite his 7 bankruptcies,
And really thinks he’s done a better job so far,
That is Fox propaganda 101


btw he's now announced Venezuala are at war with the US and enacted the illegal aliens act for the 4th time in US history, giving him free reign to boot out any Venezuelan citizens. Didn't even register as news because so much other shit is going on.


southernraw wrote:Yeah i think we're well past the point of who voted for him and why.
He's there now, and shit's getting real. That should be the focus.
Yes you’re right
Now all @&@ have to do is decide whether they want a democracy or autocracy for the US .
Obviously they think Trumps dictatorship would be more financially advantageous than Harrises democracy????


I made a point last night about what happens if there's blowback from the republican party and how he'd deal with it....i think it's pretty predictable how he'd deal with that. Probably criminalize that somehow too. I noted that's what scares me. Because the moment he is at odds with his own party and pushes them aside, is the moment that imaginary line is crossed from posturing to straight out dictatorship, and then who knows what comes next. World's in trouble here.


southernraw wrote:btw he's now announced Venezuala are at war with the US and enacted the illegal aliens act for the 4th time in US history, giving him free reign to boot out any Venezuelan citizens. Didn't even register as news because so much other shit is going on.
The courts have blocked that too. His goons must know the illegality of a lot of his orders but intend to fight the courts if blocked.


southernraw wrote:Yeah i think we're well past the point of who voted for him and why.
He's there now, and shit's getting real. That should be the focus.
Agreed, I actually didn’t bring the subject up . I did disagree with what was being stated as the reason for Trump getting in . I’m also all for independent media, Australia has some good journalism in that area . MTN not so much .


Thanks @seeds and good to hear. Geez the courts must be run off their feet....especially not they're short of judges.


Supafreak wrote:southernraw wrote:Yeah i think we're well past the point of who voted for him and why.
He's there now, and shit's getting real. That should be the focus.Agreed, I actually didn’t bring the subject up . I did disagree with what was being stated as the reason for Trump getting in . I’m also all for independent media, Australia has some good journalism in that area . MTN not so much .
Always respect your opinions Supa and i know exactly where you stand on it..which is same as me. You've made it clear over and over.


@SR , I thought you would be watching the comp . Personally I find it hard to sit through a heat , I’m more a highlights bloke , don’t know how SS does it .


Haven't even bothered flicking it on yet. Like FR said in his wrap, a whole day of nobody getting eliminated in average surf. Now get to watch the ERs in even averager surf. Might try in a sec. The fact i was watching a rally in NYC last night instead of the comp is telling in the state of comp surfing at the moment. haha.


So if the media had nothing to do with Trump’s win , how come they’re still not reporting about the large New York demonstrations and Trump’s illegal war declaration with Venezuela ?


Media are shit scared i reckon.
Just thinking bigger picture here, but....if Trumps daily 'misdemeanours' are purely a diversion tactic, what's his end game? What's he really in this for? Any ideas?
I get the feeling all this outrageous stuff on the daily is just throwing shit at the fan so it splatters everywhere, gets everyone confused and in a frenzy, and shifts attention away from the Trump administrations bigger plan. It's only 6weeks into a '4 year' deal.
So whats he really up to? What's been quietly going on behind the scenes that no ones really talking about? I don't believe for a second his cunning, ruthless mind, coupled with his billionaire mates don't have a bigger picture at play here.


andy-mac wrote:Supafreak wrote:So in other words, nothing to do with the Democrats performance and how Americans were traveling in life as a result ? If only they had tuned into msnbc .
Maybe some who would normally vote Democrats didn't turn up to vote due to Biden's handling of Gaza....
I know it disgusted some....
I doubt it affected the result in any significant way, but many on the left (not liberal, though maybe), didn't vote for this reason, and left wing (not liberal) commentators/internet talking heads who have huge issues with the Democrats already, spoke at length about their disgust with Biden's handling of Gaza and the Democrats not holding Israel to account, and that was one reason they wouldn't be voting for Kamala, if they weren't already.
I was listening to veteran of the US Army Special Operations Command and anti-imperialist Greg Stoker a lot leading up to the election. To me, it sounded like he was cutting of his nose to spite his face by saying don't vote blue, cos not taking into account project 2025 and all the other shit he comes with, Trump was always gonna be worse for Palestinians. However, who am I to argue? He's smarter than I am.
If anyone's interested, here's a podcast with Greg from a couple of days ago where he talks about Mahmoud Khalil, the difference between leftists and liberals, Trump's globalist agenda, Syria, and other guff. Sharp guy.
&ab_channel=DeepShallowDivePodcast

southernraw wrote:Thanks @seeds and good to hear. Geez the courts must be run off their feet....especially not they're short of judges.
All the money saved with DOGE will be spent on legal cases. Ha


I’m leaning towards it has a big influence.
As in Australia the right wing media (and social media) is relentless with their untruths. If this is all you’re exposed to you’d be outraged with the left if your brain cells don’t quite gel.
It lost Shorten the unlosable election in my opinion.
People whose brain cells don’t quite gel are taken for a ride daily and they don’t question anything.
If you can claim ‘they’re eating the dogs etc etc’, as one example, and become the POTUS you must have some help.


andy-mac wrote:southernraw wrote:Thanks @seeds and good to hear. Geez the courts must be run off their feet....especially not they're short of judges.
All the money saved with DOGE will be spent on legal cases. Ha
haha. Indeed!!
Septic Tanks are going to Septic Tank