A number of posts in this thread recently have referred to actions by Trump that appeal to his base - like stoking up the controversy about football players kneeling during the national anthem. This comment piece ties that in to the fact that Trump is increasingly popular with Republicans - his current 87% approval rating with his own party is higher than any previous president except GW Bush in the aftermath of 9/11 - and seems to have a strategy of increasing partisan divisions in order to solidify support from his followers.
I don't think promoting division is healthy for the country in any event, but we'll see in due course how successful that strategy is in the mid-term elections (I must admit I'm surprised how successful it's seemed to be recently though).
America was never the melting pot many claimed or thought it to be. Even in the large cities where you would think that "melting" would have happened you wound up with mini-neighborhoods populated primarily by one ethnicity or another (colloquially referred to as x-town where x is the ethnicity or nation of origin), not an even distribution throughout.
Trying to say that compared to Canada, it is. Up here we have our Greek Town, Little Italy, Little Portugal, The Village, Reggae lane in little Jamaica and so on. Maybe I can put it another way, There is less 'friction' between people and their ethnicity here. More of an understanding.
Of course we have our bigots and racists but for the most part we are pretty chill. Could be the weed. ( I think they put it in the Tim's coffee) *Put's tin foil hat on*
If you visit America and are from another country you definitely notice the lack of general respect for each other here.
In Holland and other countries I've noticed people would "good morning" you as you walk down the street. In America you try that shite and you're likely to get shot. Well probably not but there's just a deep suspicion there. The thoughts you have are "What's this guy want? Money? What's he selling?"
If you visit America and are from another country you definitely notice the lack of general respect for each other here.
In Holland and other countries I've noticed people would "good morning" you as you walk down the street. In America you try that shite and you're likely to get shot. Well probably not but there's just a deep suspicion there. The thoughts you have are "What's this guy want? Money? What's he selling?"
You have been walking around the wrong cities, then. There are plenty of places here where people greet each other with empty little pleasantries like "good morning". I maintain that humans beings are like cats, though--we simply do not like each other very much. I find that people who don't pretend to like you are more truthful. Besides, if I don't know you and you don't know me then your day is not going to be ruined if I am not sunshine and rainbows.
Truthfully, though, I dislike those sorts of pleasantries. My job requires me to answer phone calls over the course of the day and one thing I can't stand is when the other party tries to engage in small talk--I hate small talk. In fact, I don't--they tell me what's wrong and then I fix it for them without all the senseless babble.
If you visit America and are from another country you definitely notice the lack of general respect for each other here.
In Holland and other countries I've noticed people would "good morning" you as you walk down the street. In America you try that shite and you're likely to get shot. Well probably not but there's just a deep suspicion there. The thoughts you have are "What's this guy want? Money? What's he selling?"
You have been walking around the wrong cities, then. There are plenty of places here where people greet each other with empty little pleasantries like "good morning". I maintain that humans beings are like cats, though--we simply do not like each other very much. I find that people who don't pretend to like you are more truthful. Besides, if I don't know you and you don't know me then your day is not going to be ruined if I am not sunshine and rainbows.
Truthfully, though, I dislike those sorts of pleasantries. My job requires me to answer phone calls over the course of the day and one thing I can't stand is when the other party tries to engage in small talk--I hate small talk. In fact, I don't--they tell me what's wrong and then I fix it for them without all the senseless babble.
You have been walking around the wrong cities, then. There are plenty of places here where people greet each other with empty little pleasantries like "good morning". I maintain that humans beings are like cats, though--we simply do not like each other very much. I find that people who don't pretend to like you are more truthful. Besides, if I don't know you and you don't know me then your day is not going to be ruined if I am not sunshine and rainbows.
Truthfully, though, I dislike those sorts of pleasantries. My job requires me to answer phone calls over the course of the day and one thing I can't stand is when the other party tries to engage in small talk--I hate small talk. In fact, I don't--they tell me what's wrong and then I fix it for them without all the senseless babble.
I know what you mean, I'm the same way, because I'm also American. It's American to see others as an inconvenience to me.
I've traveled extensively internationally. And lived in various other countries, that's not universal. A simple hello is not always an inconvenience. And it's not everywhere in the US but in a lot of places it really is seen that way.
Allegedly the entire gang (Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, U.K. and E.U.) are going to gang up on Trump about his tariffs and protectionism policies on the first day.
They are calling it the G6+1 meeting since everyone is on the same page but one player. Organizations are worried though that the tariff talks will hamper other things the meeting was suppose to raise support for like Clean oceans and Education for Girls in developing countries.
Trump’s team has literally called it a G1+6 meeting which kinda plays in the us against the world theme Trump is attempting to wage.
It goes all weekend so expect some angry tweets by Monday on how the world is being disrespectful to America (Read criticizing Trump in a place he has no where to hide) and a suggestion that maybe America should forms new G7 with Russia, China, Philippines, Brazil, India and Israel.
I have literally left a Subway restaurant before because there were officers in line in front of me.
I can't imagine being so full of hate for people I know nothing about based on assigning responsibility to them for things other members of their group did. Were someone to do the same thing to another group, say, leaving a Subway because you saw some muslims and don't like terrorism, we would almost certainly flag it immeditately as prejudice and bigotry and condemn it in the harshest possible terms as a character flaw.
I have literally left a Subway restaurant before because there were officers in line in front of me.
If you are black, it does make sense. Sad.
Cops are killing people for the crime of "existing while black" way too often. Then they turn around and claim "uh we thought he had a gun! " Like how the cops shot a black dude through his garage door, silly him opening the door while black, he must have been thinking Oh sh... right before he was shot to death by the police. Then his family was awarded by a jury $4 for the funeral, loss of income, and pain and suffering. Injustice much.
There's reason to be distrustful there since this keeps happening repeatedly over and over again just like the last time it happened before, you know?
And that's what the whole taking a knee protest is about - highlighting racial injustice and police brutality in America.
The former chief of police for the Dallas Police Department (not Ms. Hall, the guy who was chief before her--I forget his name) asked people--specifically black people--to apply to become police officers. The idea was that they would be deployed in their home neighborhoods because they would know the neighborhood and the people in it, thus helping to repair the rift between the two groups. No one took him up on his offer.
I have literally left a Subway restaurant before because there were officers in line in front of me.
I can't imagine being so full of hate for people I know nothing about based on assigning responsibility to them for things other members of their group did. Were someone to do the same thing to another group, say, leaving a Subway because you saw some muslims and don't like terrorism, we would almost certainly flag it immeditately as prejudice and bigotry and condemn it in the harshest possible terms as a character flaw.
Horseshit. I've had a series of personal encounters with cops in my relatively protected status as white person that I found so out of line I simply have chosen in certain situations to completely remove myself from the vicinity of law enforcement because of this. On two separate occasions, I was basically asked saw why I was in my own property (going through items in the back seat of my car and moving into an apartment after midnight) where I was questioned as to what my activities were. For having the temerity to exert my right to rummage through my own back seat for in a vehicle I owned. One of them occurred in a parking spot I paid for a town home on private property a cop would have no business patrolling in the first place.
And for the record, a police officer is a profession, not a race or a religion. A profession that has proven time after time after time the past few years to unworthy of blind trust, or even cursory trust. Though I will concede the point that many Americans WORSHIP police officers as if the profession were a religion.
The former chief of police for the Dallas Police Department (not Ms. Hall, the guy who was chief before her--I forget his name) asked people--specifically black people--to apply to become police officers. The idea was that they would be deployed in their home neighborhoods because they would know the neighborhood and the people in it, thus helping to repair the rift between the two groups. No one took him up on his offer.
Sounds a lot like the apache scouts program. Too much distrust, apparently, at this point.
I have literally left a Subway restaurant before because there were officers in line in front of me.
I can't imagine being so full of hate for people I know nothing about based on assigning responsibility to them for things other members of their group did. Were someone to do the same thing to another group, say, leaving a Subway because you saw some muslims and don't like terrorism, we would almost certainly flag it immeditately as prejudice and bigotry and condemn it in the harshest possible terms as a character flaw.
Horseshit. I've had a series of personal encounters with cops in my relatively protected status as white person that I found so out of line I simply have chosen in certain situations to completely remove myself from the vicinity of law enforcement because of this. On two separate occasions, I was basically asked saw why I was in my own property (going through items in the back seat of my car and moving into an apartment after midnight) where I was questioned as to what my activities were. For having the temerity to exert my right to rummage through my own back seat for in a vehicle I owned. One of them occurred in a parking spot I paid for a town home on private property a cop would have no business patrolling in the first place.
And for the record, a police officer is a profession, not a race or a religion. A profession that has proven time after time after time the past few years to unworthy of blind trust, or even cursory trust. Though I will concede the point that many Americans WORSHIP police officers as if the profession were a religion.
Did the cop know it was your car when he drove by?
What if it was a person breaking into a car and the police just shrugged and walked/drived by? Is he really preventing crime then?
It's like a Catch-22 here for the cop. He either gets shit on for not preventing a robbery from the owner of the vehicle or he gets shit on by the owner of the car because the cop had the audacity to ask a question regarding his or her activity.
A simple question of, "what are you doing in the back seat of this parked car after midnight?" is an OK question to ask a person when your job is protect the neighbourhood. Asking for identification and ownership of the vehicle is also acceptable IMO.
To be fair, not entering a restaurant because there are cops inside doesn't actually cause any harm to the cops. Avoidance might be unnecessary, but it's hardly persecution if no one actually got hurt.
If somebody left a restaurant because they saw me, I wouldn't think they had a good reason to do so, but I would not "condemn" them as an immoral bigot just because they walked in one direction instead of another.
If they hurt me or were rude to me, then I'd have something to complain about.
"An undocumented immigrant is facing deportation after he was arrested while delivering pizza to a military base in New York City, his wife says" BBC news
First illegal immigrants are living in fear, now legal migrants waiting on their green card application have reason to be fearful. I hope they see their mistake, but it puts into question the general attitude of people hearing a foreign accent or seeing how people look and jumping straight to wanting to arrest them. I think Trump as president is giving people a sense of "permission" to act like him. A similar thing happened in UK after the Brexit vote...a lot of people (previously silent) started to shout at people to "go back to their own country", thinking the government was now on their side.
I've noticed one person in my life get nervous when a particular kind of person was nearby. My response was to poke gentle fun at them, not to "condemn it in the harshest terms as a character flaw."
Incidentally, accusing other forumites of having certain character flaws is against the Site Rules.
To be fair, not entering a restaurant because there are cops inside doesn't actually cause any harm to the cops. Avoidance might be unnecessary, but it's hardly persecution if no one actually got hurt.
If somebody left a restaurant because they saw me, I wouldn't think they had a good reason to do so, but I would not "condemn" them as an immoral bigot just because they walked in one direction instead of another.
If they hurt me or were rude to me, then I'd have something to complain about.
I'd sum it up by saying I feel like I have an absolute right to excuse myself from any location where one of the people who is there can, on a whim, exert absolute control over me, especially if that person has a weapon. Do I do it all the time?? No. I would venture to guess that this incident (which only took place in my head) took place when the citizens of Ferguson were essentially put under martial law a few years ago. I was fairly pissed those entire two weeks in general. I have always had a problem with unwarranted authority (or authority that hasn't earned my respect), and this is simply an outgrowth of that feeling. I view cops as the ultimate authority that have nearly unbridled power, if not legally, then certainly in reality. I honestly view being around them in some circumstances as a risk I don't need to take. Beyond that, the walking out is part of me being passive-aggressive rather than aggressive. I would never take the risk involved with actually yelling or berating a cop. Walking out that day was a private protest in my own mind.
Now here is the ironic part. The newspaper pulled this Obit, but in doing so, made it viral. If they left it as is, no one outside of Minnesota would probably have seen it and the siblings still get the last laugh.
~
Also hilariously, on a phone call to Trudeau, Trump supported the evidence that Canada was a national security risk because we burnt down the White House in the war of 1812. Canada wasn't a country then, just a small British Territory protecting itself from a U.S. invoked war.
Can the G7 meeting happen already, I already bought popcorn.
Now here is the ironic part. The newspaper pulled this Obit, but in doing so, made it viral. If they left it as is, no one outside of Minnesota would probably have seen it and the siblings still get the last laugh.
~
Also hilariously, on a phone call to Trudeau, Trump supported the evidence that Canada was a national security risk because we burnt down the White House in the war of 1812. Canada wasn't a country then, just a small British Territory protecting itself from a U.S. invoked war.
Can the G7 meeting happen already, I already bought popcorn.
There need to be more honest obituaries like this one. I am reminded of a documentary (that should be on Youtube) called "Just Melvin" which documents the systematic sexual abuse a man perpetrated on his children and step-children over decades. At his burial, eventually the bullshit the preacher is spilling gets cut through by his daughters just flat-out telling everyone what he was (daughters whose lives he completely destroyed).
Of all the outrageous things Trump has said or done, saying a line, possibly meant as a joke, about the war of 1812, is completely innocuous.
What's much more meaningful and foolish are the tarrifs which have left many of our traditional allies, even in this uncertain world, feeling like they have no choice but to respond with tarrifs of their own.
The middle class and poor will as usual feel the brunt of these price hikes. The inevitable result of these rising costs is that they will be passed on to consumers.
Businesses and the mega wealthy billionaires are doing just fine because their taxes bills were halved by the Republican trickle down tax scam but your $40 tax "windfall" is likely gone already from rising gas prices. Get ready for more pain as businesses pass on the costs of these tarrifs to YOU.
Why are these tarrifs happening? A whim of the geriatric President who watches way too much right wing media.
It goes all weekend so expect some angry tweets by Monday on how the world is being disrespectful to America (Read criticizing Trump in a place he has no where to hide) and a suggestion that maybe America should forms new G7 with Russia, China, Philippines, Brazil, India and Israel.
Possible. Keep in mind you list all four of the BRIC countries in there, relatively powerful near first-world-developed economies.
Now here is the ironic part. The newspaper pulled this Obit, but in doing so, made it viral. If they left it as is, no one outside of Minnesota would probably have seen it and the siblings still get the last laugh.
~
Also hilariously, on a phone call to Trudeau, Trump supported the evidence that Canada was a national security risk because we burnt down the White House in the war of 1812. Canada wasn't a country then, just a small British Territory protecting itself from a U.S. invoked war.
Can the G7 meeting happen already, I already bought popcorn.
There need to be more honest obituaries like this one. I am reminded of a documentary (that should be on Youtube) called "Just Melvin" which documents the systematic sexual abuse a man perpetrated on his children and step-children over decades. At his burial, eventually the bullshit the preacher is spilling gets cut through by his daughters just flat-out telling everyone what he was (daughters whose lives he completely destroyed).
For the first time today, Trump did something worthwhile in office. Alice Johnson, a non-violent, first-time offender, 63-year old woman serving a life sentence on drug charges, was granted clemency. However, 90% of the credit here has to go to......Kim Kardashian, who quite clearly manipulated Trump's love of celebrity and publicity to get herself a White House meeting and make the case for this woman to be freed. I do find it odd that people like Dinesh D'Souza and Arpaio were flat-out pardoned and this woman only had her sentence commuted, but in this particular case, that is nitpicking. It took 18 months, but the man did one thing right. Trump is literally running the country like a reality show, Kardashian, as much a master of that domain as Trump, saw this, played to Trump's ego, and got something worthwhile done. HOW the pardon came about is fundamentally ridiculous, but that hardly matters in the final result.
In other important news, the GOP had a very specific strategy in play the last few months to flood the California jungle primaries with so many candidates that it would cause (by the nature of how these primaries work) Democrats to be frozen out of certain actual Congressional races in November. It doesn't appear to have worked in a single case, and more interestingly, it seems Democratic voters were WELL aware of the GOP scheme to divide and conquer and did not allow it to take place. All feasible seats are going to be contested.
Sean Hannity, because he's Trump's bed time phone call buddy, and Sebastian Gorka, because he's foreign guy with Nazi views on Fox News, have left for Singapore for the North Korea meeting.
Is this real life? Methinks it's a sick joke. State TV propaganda is on scene people. What a joke.
If you visit America and are from another country you definitely notice the lack of general respect for each other here.
In Holland and other countries I've noticed people would "good morning" you as you walk down the street. In America you try that shite and you're likely to get shot. Well probably not but there's just a deep suspicion there. The thoughts you have are "What's this guy want? Money? What's he selling?"
You have been walking around the wrong cities, then. There are plenty of places here where people greet each other with empty little pleasantries like "good morning". I maintain that humans beings are like cats, though--we simply do not like each other very much. I find that people who don't pretend to like you are more truthful. Besides, if I don't know you and you don't know me then your day is not going to be ruined if I am not sunshine and rainbows.
Truthfully, though, I dislike those sorts of pleasantries. My job requires me to answer phone calls over the course of the day and one thing I can't stand is when the other party tries to engage in small talk--I hate small talk. In fact, I don't--they tell me what's wrong and then I fix it for them without all the senseless babble.
YMMV, I've worked several customer service jobs (retail, fast food, etc.) and some days you would think I was a therapist. I don't know what it is about me, but apparently strangers feel REALLY comfortable telling me all their problems. I've consoled people who had had family members murdered the night before, arbitrated for customers who had the police randomely decide to question them for 2 hours when visiting my store, tried to give advice to people who had just gotten out of abusive relationships and their child has started to emulate the abuser's acions, etc. Its crazy how much people will open up show any kindness or respect at all.
If you visit America and are from another country you definitely notice the lack of general respect for each other here.
In Holland and other countries I've noticed people would "good morning" you as you walk down the street. In America you try that shite and you're likely to get shot. Well probably not but there's just a deep suspicion there. The thoughts you have are "What's this guy want? Money? What's he selling?"
You have been walking around the wrong cities, then. There are plenty of places here where people greet each other with empty little pleasantries like "good morning". I maintain that humans beings are like cats, though--we simply do not like each other very much. I find that people who don't pretend to like you are more truthful. Besides, if I don't know you and you don't know me then your day is not going to be ruined if I am not sunshine and rainbows.
Truthfully, though, I dislike those sorts of pleasantries. My job requires me to answer phone calls over the course of the day and one thing I can't stand is when the other party tries to engage in small talk--I hate small talk. In fact, I don't--they tell me what's wrong and then I fix it for them without all the senseless babble.
YMMV, I've worked several customer service jobs (retail, fast food, etc.) and some days you would think I was a therapist. I don't know what it is about me, but apparently strangers feel REALLY comfortable telling me all their problems. I've consoled people who had had family members murdered the night before, arbitrated for customers who had the police randomely decide to question them for 2 hours when visiting my store, tried to give advice to people who had just gotten out of abusive relationships and their child has started to emulate the abuser's acions, etc. Its crazy how much people will open up show any kindness or respect at all.
Truck drivers are absolutely insufferable in this regard. I have become a master over the years of PRETENDING to listen to people talk, and all it actually requires is saying "huh" or "really" every 30 seconds or so. People get so caught up in their own diatribe they don't even notice you are clearly not even paying attention. That said, I'm practically a misanthrope, or at least 85% of one. A significant other, family and a small circle of friends is all I can tolerate.
Comments
I don't think promoting division is healthy for the country in any event, but we'll see in due course how successful that strategy is in the mid-term elections (I must admit I'm surprised how successful it's seemed to be recently though).
Of course we have our bigots and racists but for the most part we are pretty chill. Could be the weed.
( I think they put it in the Tim's coffee) *Put's tin foil hat on*
In Holland and other countries I've noticed people would "good morning" you as you walk down the street. In America you try that shite and you're likely to get shot. Well probably not but there's just a deep suspicion there. The thoughts you have are "What's this guy want? Money? What's he selling?"
Truthfully, though, I dislike those sorts of pleasantries. My job requires me to answer phone calls over the course of the day and one thing I can't stand is when the other party tries to engage in small talk--I hate small talk. In fact, I don't--they tell me what's wrong and then I fix it for them without all the senseless babble.
I've traveled extensively internationally. And lived in various other countries, that's not universal. A simple hello is not always an inconvenience. And it's not everywhere in the US but in a lot of places it really is seen that way.
Allegedly the entire gang (Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, U.K. and E.U.) are going to gang up on Trump about his tariffs and protectionism policies on the first day.
They are calling it the G6+1 meeting since everyone is on the same page but one player. Organizations are worried though that the tariff talks will hamper other things the meeting was suppose to raise support for like Clean oceans and Education for Girls in developing countries.
Trump’s team has literally called it a G1+6 meeting which kinda plays in the us against the world theme Trump is attempting to wage.
It goes all weekend so expect some angry tweets by Monday on how the world is being disrespectful to America (Read criticizing Trump in a place he has no where to hide) and a suggestion that maybe America should forms new G7 with Russia, China, Philippines, Brazil, India and Israel.
Cops are killing people for the crime of "existing while black" way too often. Then they turn around and claim "uh we thought he had a gun! " Like how the cops shot a black dude through his garage door, silly him opening the door while black, he must have been thinking Oh sh... right before he was shot to death by the police. Then his family was awarded by a jury $4 for the funeral, loss of income, and pain and suffering. Injustice much.
There's reason to be distrustful there since this keeps happening repeatedly over and over again just like the last time it happened before, you know?
And that's what the whole taking a knee protest is about - highlighting racial injustice and police brutality in America.
And for the record, a police officer is a profession, not a race or a religion. A profession that has proven time after time after time the past few years to unworthy of blind trust, or even cursory trust. Though I will concede the point that many Americans WORSHIP police officers as if the profession were a religion.
What if it was a person breaking into a car and the police just shrugged and walked/drived by? Is he really preventing crime then?
It's like a Catch-22 here for the cop. He either gets shit on for not preventing a robbery from the owner of the vehicle or he gets shit on by the owner of the car because the cop had the audacity to ask a question regarding his or her activity.
A simple question of, "what are you doing in the back seat of this parked car after midnight?" is an OK question to ask a person when your job is protect the neighbourhood. Asking for identification and ownership of the vehicle is also acceptable IMO.
If somebody left a restaurant because they saw me, I wouldn't think they had a good reason to do so, but I would not "condemn" them as an immoral bigot just because they walked in one direction instead of another.
If they hurt me or were rude to me, then I'd have something to complain about.
First illegal immigrants are living in fear, now legal migrants waiting on their green card application have reason to be fearful. I hope they see their mistake, but it puts into question the general attitude of people hearing a foreign accent or seeing how people look and jumping straight to wanting to arrest them. I think Trump as president is giving people a sense of "permission" to act like him. A similar thing happened in UK after the Brexit vote...a lot of people (previously silent) started to shout at people to "go back to their own country", thinking the government was now on their side.
Incidentally, accusing other forumites of having certain character flaws is against the Site Rules.
Now here is the ironic part. The newspaper pulled this Obit, but in doing so, made it viral. If they left it as is, no one outside of Minnesota would probably have seen it and the siblings still get the last laugh.
~
Also hilariously, on a phone call to Trudeau, Trump supported the evidence that Canada was a national security risk because we burnt down the White House in the war of 1812. Canada wasn't a country then, just a small British Territory protecting itself from a U.S. invoked war.
Can the G7 meeting happen already, I already bought popcorn.
As for Canada and Trump, it's time to start wondering how far we are from this:
What's much more meaningful and foolish are the tarrifs which have left many of our traditional allies, even in this uncertain world, feeling like they have no choice but to respond with tarrifs of their own.
The middle class and poor will as usual feel the brunt of these price hikes. The inevitable result of these rising costs is that they will be passed on to consumers.
Businesses and the mega wealthy billionaires are doing just fine because their taxes bills were halved by the Republican trickle down tax scam but your $40 tax "windfall" is likely gone already from rising gas prices. Get ready for more pain as businesses pass on the costs of these tarrifs to YOU.
Why are these tarrifs happening? A whim of the geriatric President who watches way too much right wing media.
In other important news, the GOP had a very specific strategy in play the last few months to flood the California jungle primaries with so many candidates that it would cause (by the nature of how these primaries work) Democrats to be frozen out of certain actual Congressional races in November. It doesn't appear to have worked in a single case, and more interestingly, it seems Democratic voters were WELL aware of the GOP scheme to divide and conquer and did not allow it to take place. All feasible seats are going to be contested.
Is this real life? Methinks it's a sick joke. State TV propaganda is on scene people. What a joke.
http://thehill.com/policy/international/391011-gorka-hannity-and-i-are-going-to-singapore-for-trump-kim-summit