Trump

[ZedLeg]

US median income converts to about £5k pa less than UK, I’d be surprised if people are comfortable on that.

[V8Granite]

From the ones I know they have far less holiday and rights. There is a much bigger fire and hire culture over there.

One person I know who went on secondment to Chicago on my left as he didn’t want his eldest boy to be in the US education system. He seemed to be doing pretty good apart from that.

Dave!

[Beany]

Yes I read that.

Interestingly for this forum, their view of transport costs are amusing. Apparently the US squanders their wealth because they use cars more often. Well I tell you what - maybe that's because they don't want to sit on the fucking bus or overcrowded trains!

That's not squandering wealth but a better standard of living!

They use their own transport more often than public transport because they don't have a choice - US urban planning is entirely built around the car, and almost nothing else. It's can't have much to do with with shit buses or overcrowded trains when outside of major cities, they don't really actually have them.



Adam Something is a bit of a lefty, but I regularly discuss this sort of stuff with working class/service industry/generally not highly paid professional Americans in a few Discords I'm in as the 'token brit' and outside of people who live more or less in major cities like New York and Chicago etc, the rest of them wish to fuck they had a bus that went into town every half hour, rather than having to dump several hundred bucks a month out of their already paltry pay checks into a car that they literally can't work without.

[DeskJockey]

My, admittedly limited, experience of the US accords with Beany's description.

I visited a friend who lived in the outskirts of Raleigh years ago, and despite being able to see the signs for the retail park/supermarkets from where he lived the only way there was to drive about half a mile the wrong way to get to a U turn, then three quarters of a mile the other way to shop, then drive back. There was no safe way to walk the quarter mile to the shops or cross the six lanes of traffic.

It was the same in Texas, New Mexico, and Nevada.

Edit: and public transport meant getting a lift with a neighbour.

[Swervin_Mervin]

My, admittedly limited, experience of the US accords with Beany's description.

I visited a friend who lived in the outskirts of Raleigh years ago, and despite being able to see the signs for the retail park/supermarkets from where he lived the only way there was to drive about half a mile the wrong way to get to a U turn, then three quarters of a mile the other way to shop, then drive back. There was no safe way to walk the quarter mile to the shops or cross the six lanes of traffic.

It was the same in Texas, New Mexico, and Nevada.

Edit: and public transport meant getting a lift with a neighbour.

Yep. We've family in SC and it's shite to get around. They even drive from one end of the parking lot to the other to get to different stores as it;s simply not setup to do anything else safely.

Only place I've used the bus was in Chattanooga and it was a far better experience than over here - clean, frequent and pleasant drivers (well, maybe a bit racist).

[Mito Man]

This gives me flashbacks to Dubai. I wanted to go to a restaurant and it was right opposite the road. Shaik Zayed Road. I set down the road looking for a pedestrian crossing. It took over a mile before I reached an underground subway crossing! Then a mile walk back to the restaurant. Then repeat this to get back to the hotel!

[V8Granite]

This gives me flashbacks to Dubai. I wanted to go to a restaurant and it was right opposite the road. Shaik Zayed Road. I set down the road looking for a pedestrian crossing. It took over a mile before I reached an underground subway crossing! Then a mile walk back to the restaurant. Then repeat this to get back to the hotel!

That’s like crossing the M1 though

Unless you mean the service road, which you just cross as it’s only little.

Dave!

[Gavster]

American public transport is a pile of shite compared to any major European city. Ironically, the American inward-looking approach to the world also means that a lot of American actively do not want public transport either.

Even in NYC which has a big subway network that comprehensively reaches a lot of town, you can commonly end up waiting 10+ minutes for a train from Manhattan to Brooklyn. Most Londoners have a nervous breakdown if the tube is more than 3 minutes away.

LA is a whole other kettle of fish. They've made huge attempts to create public transport networks in a city designed for cars and it simply doesn't work due to the scale of the city. I was staying with a friend in Venice and wanted to get to Central, so decided to get the bus. My friend said "Oh, my sister did that once, I think she got there okay" . The multiple buses took just shy of 2 hours to get there and that included one major argument on the bus between a crackhead and a black woman.

I met an urban town planner in LA, he was a cool guy who had worked on planning LA's public transport infrastructure. He said one of the major problems is that LA is hugely territorial. Every part of LA represents a different culture, ethnicity, religion etc and a lot of those groups actively DO NOT want 'outsiders' having easy access to their neighbourhood. He said one of the biggest problems with bringing public transport into the city is the fact that people do not want it in the first place.

[IanF]

I think Ethan Hunt worked for public transport in LA

Don’t ever use public transport in the US! Even homeless people quite often have a car (and live in it), so the people on public transport tend to have issues that prevent them having a licence. I’ve use public transport twice in LA, both times were terrifying. I hate NY metro, but it’s a good way to get to Long Island/Brooklyn; so long as you don’t mind chatting to hookers and meth heads obviously!

I once fell asleep on the way out to Long Island, woke up with no idea where I was and no phone battery, I was more afraid than I’ve been in Lagos, Nigeria, South Africa, India combined!. I’ve paid for cars ever since…

[DeskJockey]

There's hope yet...

https://x.com/JoJoFromJerz/status/18067 ... CgEsg&s=19

[Beany]

No point being coherent in front your adoring fans, you need to be coherent on the debate floor. (by american floating voter standards at least)

Anyway, this is worth setting three quarter an hour aside for - it's a left leaning podcast but they're
A: Tired of Bidens shit
B: Won't pretend that Trump isn't good on stage

Fair and Balanced (tm)



One of their interesting thoughts is that the DNC haven't officially chosen their nominee yet. And it's unusual for a debate to be so early. They might have been using this to push him out and put in....someone who doesn't fall to pieces and become incoherent on a regular basis.

Trump is also incoherent a lot of the time if you listen to what he's saying, but he doesn't sound incoherent. He just talks obviously disprovable bollocks (like doctors killing newborn babies)

I'd strongly recommend Some More News to anyone, because they have a left leaning perspective but they're not rampant idealogues (like Adam Something from earlier) - they know the (US) left can be fucking idiotic. Like having Biden up for president again....

[GG.]

Pretty hilarious that the democrats tried removing Trump for essentially being unfit for office. Biden is clinically unfit for office - no argument!

Sorry everyone - I pressed the big red button thinking it was the emergency assitance cord...

Surely there should be an upper age limit of 75 and we could dispense with them both

[Beany]

Pretty hilarious that the democrats tried removing Trump for essentially being unfit for office. Biden is clinically unfit for office - no argument!

Sorry everyone - I pressed the big red button thinking it was the emergency assitance cord...

Surely there should be an upper age limit of 75 and we could dispense with them both

Despite me being - again, I reiterate - a bleeding heart lefty - I fucking clink your glass.

They are both utterly feckless and need taking away to care homes and their presence collectively makes everything worse.

[duncs500]

I only saw the Biden bit where he was talking gibberish, it was a car crash. FFS.

For balance, one of trump's claims was that democrats kill babies. Literally. He thinks that abortions are routinely carried out after birth.

He's a fucking idiot and if you support him you're a fucking idiot and if you voted for him you're a fucking idiot. Hows that for balance.

The biggest mistake I made was thinking Americans are like us because they speak the same language, they're really not. At least half of them are fucking idiots.

To be clear, I'm saying "FFS" because I'm worried that Biden being shit is giving Trump a chance. The idea of Trump getting re-elected is clearly terrifying.

[Beany]

To be Fair and Balanced (tm) I don't think you're alone in that position.

[Mito Man]

What's worse, mentally unfit or morally unfit
Also both having access to nuclear weapons

[Beany]

What's worse, mentally unfit or morally unfit
Also both having access to nuclear weapons

It's like Alien Vs Predator

Whoever wins, we lose.

And yes, I do mean 'we' because much as though people prefer not to admit the whole "when america sneezes, the whole world catches a cold" etc out of a sense of national pride.....it's fucking true.

Ignore global politics at your peril.

[Mito Man]

Is this the actual democrat party?! Not a parody?!

[Sundayjumper]

"This was not a debate. It was Trump using a technique that actually has a formal name, the Gish gallop, although I suspect he comes by it naturally. It's a rhetorical technique in which someone throws out a fast string of lies, non-sequiturs, and specious arguments, so many that it is impossible to fact-check or rebut them in the amount of time it took to say them. Trying to figure out how to respond makes the opponent look confused, because they don't know where to start grappling with the flood that has just hit them.
It is a form of gaslighting, and it is especially effective on someone with a stutter, as Biden has. It is similar to what Trump did to Biden during a debate in 2020. In that case, though, the lack of muting on the mics left Biden simply saying: "Will you shut up, man?" a comment that resonated with the audience. Giving Biden the enforced space to answer by killing the mic of the person not speaking tonight actually made the technique more effective."
~Heather Cox Richardson

[Mito Man]

What