General Chat

are you serious, Ann??

Of course you do ............... so do we in Canada

The one difference is that your BBC and our CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp) do maintain impartiality, balancing one pro- speaker with an anti- one

The independent stations do show their partiality, and will even declare for one candidate over others ........ even the print media does that.


at least, CBC does and BBC USED to do :-D


The US has no nationally supported radio and TV station ............ your BBC has license fees, our CBC gets funding from the Federal Government.

CNN and Fox news are hardly impartial - CNN for Hillary and Fox for Trump - we don't do that over here do we?

'The world is watching in baffled astonishment as the 2016 United States presidential election campaign, one of the most divisive in American history, draws to its conclusion. Not only has it brought to the surface deep fissures in American society, it has opened them wider.

The United States constitution, a masterpiece of political ingenuity that has held conflicting forces in balance for more than two centuries, is undergoing one of its severest trials.

The principle of the “separation of powers” at its heart, which sets up mutual checks on power between executive, legislature and judiciary, will have to be robust enough to withstand an unprecedented threat to democracy and the rule of law. Its greatest challenge yet may be to tame President Donald Trump in the White House. At which it may fail.

Neither of the possible outcomes will let America off the rack. A victory for Donald Trump would herald an era of populist demagoguery that could run out of control with incalculable consequences. His defeat by Hillary Clinton could unleash even darker forces in opposition to her. The campaign could almost have been designed to disprove Winston Churchill’s famous dictum, “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others.”

*(An excerpt from last week's Tablet magazine.)

DT will be stomping and waving --if he loses.

fix ,,,,,,,, its a fix,,,,,,,,,,he will demand an FBI,Interpol,Scotland Yard and High Sheffiff investigation........ :-D :-D :-D.

Interestingly, the voting in the US is the LEAST reliable for avoiding rigging , fraud, etc than in any other democratic country!!

An election is under the control of the individual State ....... there is no Federal Elections Officer setting out the rules, hiring people, etc etc

Canada is similar to the US and to Australia in that we are a federation of provinces with a federal government and provincial legislatures.

Many responsibilities in all 3 are federal, but others are provincial or state (eg, education, health, welfare).

BUT in Canada, and I think Australia, a Federal Election is under the control of a Federal Elections Officer, while provincial elections are under the control of a provincial Elections Officer. Control on elections day and in the voting stations are not much different between a federal or a provincial election

Not so in the US.

This means that regulations can differ between states, and to be honest, fraud CAN occur.

Stuffing of ballot boxes has happened in the past. The "hanging chads" in Florida in the Gore/Bush election was a result of some counties using a different machine

Sheila, we were in San Fran when the Gore-Bush election took place.

Almost unbelievably (and early) it was announced that Gore had won.

It wasn't long before that decision was rescinded. When Florida declared for Bush it was not unexpected. It took ages to declare a winner and cries of fixed were not unusual.

It is often the case in America where there is a lack of hard historical facts, the missing details are filled in by myth.

Goodness Me does it need all our news people out in America ?.who will be footing the Bill licence Holders .hurry up & get it sorted please :-\

seems to me Trump's main campaign strategy was to make allegations and fire shots at Hillary

I don't like either of them

Sylvia - when you see it listed like that...it's scarey.

I was in USA around the time when GW Bush got in for the second time. In a solid Democrat area, discussions were pretty heated then, I can only imagine what it's like now!

I can hear the bawling now.

Rigged,

:-D :-D :-D.

A painful Laurel or Hardy choice for the American electorate.

It appears to me that Trump has operated a negative campaign while Clinton's is positive.

If it should happen that Trump gets in (heaven forbid), is he really stupid enough to believe that Canada and Mexico will pay for the erection of boundary walls?

I am surprised at the restraint Clinton has shown - to her credit. She has not pushed Trump's tax situation and, although she may have figures to hand (I would have if I were in her position so I believe she will have that information), she has not asked how many immigrants are employed in Trump's various enterprises.

She has also responded to Trump's allegations in a more statesmanlike manner. I would not trust Trump's finger on the trigger at all; he is too quick to rise and hates losing face.

He is also one of those don't-do-as-I-do, do-as-I-say people. He may have sorted out his finances in a manner to avoid tax but it does not look good in a presidential candidate.

While neither is perfect, I believe that HC is the better prospect for the USA and its allies.

Sylvia - Thank you :-D

He's as fake as his orange tan.

Having had my dinner, here is a synopsis of HC's policies

They will be very much the same, yet with differences, to Obama's, They do have the same ideologies.


-- strengthening existing policies on crime, including tightening gun laws so there are complete background checks before any gun can be sold, and keeping guns out of the hands of abusers, criminals and mentally; focus on violent crime; strengthen trust between community and police. 43 different items

-- improve access to education, improve access to early education, reduce or remove costs of post-secondary education; increase access to hugh-quality child care. 32 items

-- environment challenges, such as improving Clean Power, solar energy; conservation of lands and wild life; fight international wild life trafficking. 20 items

-- improvements to family life, such as improve access to head Start and early childhood education, guarantee up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave. 6 items

-- foreign policy .......... strengthen alliances, never allow Iran to have nuclear weapons, invest in partnerships with other countries, improve aid to US veterans and their families. 8 items

-- changes in government and governance. 10 changes

-- health care improvements ............. including:- invest $2 billion a year in Alzheimer's and related diseases and improvement in services to Alzheimer patients and carers; improve Obama Care (correct name Affordable Care Act); lower costs of medical care and prescription drugs. A total of 32 improvements.

-- Jobs and economy ....... encourage development and improvement of businesses, provide tax relief, raise minimum wage, eform the Tax Code so wealthiest people pay their fair share, improve public transportation, expand and preserve Social Security. Total of 51 different proposals

-- Immigration ........ comprehensive immigration reform legislation leading to full and equal citizenship; continue Obama's lead; close pivate immigration detention centres. 7 proposals

-- Other ........ support LGBT youth and adults in the US and around the world; support for Americans with disabilities; drive down costs of drugs; remove barriers to sustainable home ownership. 29 proposals

-- Science and technology .......... 100% of Americans to have access to high speed affordable broadband by 2020; invest in sc ience and technology research; promote cyber security in the US and overseas




and well done if you ploughed your way through that lot!!

DT's "policies" have not really been announced as such, but this is what he wants from his speeches ............

-- wall at the Mexican border, and make them pay for it

-- wall at the Canadian border, and make them pay for it

-- ban all Muslims (and other foreigners) from entering the US as either visitors or immigrants until they can be proved not to be "nasties"

-- widen the 2nd Amendment (ie right to carry guns) ...... everyone who wants to have a gun should be able to have one and carry it wherever they want to. He included cutting out all gun-free zones ...... which includes schools, military bases etc

-- immediately round up and deport all undocumented illegal immigrants .......... mainly Mexican, and make them go to the back of the queue for legal admittance

-- appoint new judges to the Supreme Court and immediately re-open Wade vs Roe (the right of a woman to have an abortion) .......... unfortunately there is only 1 vacancy on the Court vs 8 still with terms. He has 20 judges ready picked .... not clear if he is going to fire those 8 judges, and appoint all 20 ............ both illegal actions :-)

-- immediately cancel Obama's Medical Care program (intended to help those who cannot afford private medical insurance)

-- ban outsourcing to other countries, and force industry to return to the US, so ending unemployment

-- cut taxes, especially for the wealthy. He has suggested cutting $10 trillion in tax revenue, adding it to the national debt, over the next 10 years

-- end the 14th Amendment which grants citizenship to children born in the US. That applies even if both parents wre illegal immigrants

-- get rid of ISIS 'cos he knows better than the military. Bomb all the oilfields and thus take away their financial support.

-- The nuclear weaponry should be employed

-- not so far a policy, but he's continually claimed that the voting process is rigged and illegal. That will apply of course if he loses ........... but if he wins, will he want to change the system?



There's more ........ and he's flipped back and forth constantly over the last 2-3 years on all of them .......................... but I just give up!

What are his policies? The only ones which make the UK 'sound bites' are

- build a wall at the Mexican border (and make them pay for it)
- ban all Muslims from entering the USA.

Come to that, what are HC's?

Life's too short to go looking, especially as we have no influence on the outcome.

The only consolation if DT wins is that he will be unable to do many of the things that he wants to do.

The President cannot act alone, almost any action has to be passed by Congress and the Senate before they are enacted. His only way is to issue a Presidential Executive Order ........... but even that can be overruled by Congress

The current Senate and Congress both have a Republican majority, which has been Obama's problem in getting many of his hopes into law. Half of the Senate and Congress are up for re-election this time, and the Republicans are running scared that there will be a kick-down effect from DT in which voters turn against them and vote Democrat or any other candidate or don't vote at all.

If that happens, then DT will be in the same position as Obama.

Even if there is still a Republican majority, he has massive fences to mend in order to get other Republicans to work with him, and many of them do not agree with his suggested policies or his actions. I don't think there has ever been a candidate who has less support from elected members of his/her own party!

DT has got to get them all back on his side.

well hope they realise they will have proven groper back in the house by way of Mr C,!!who will know doubt live off their taxes.?

or DT will want a neon top of the WH--*Trumps Home *,,,,just as his name is,,,,,,an old fart. :-)