US General Election 2016

{{Well if Hitchhikers is right about Presidents then Trump will be an outstanding one! Best since Zaphod at distracting attention from those actually running the place! }}}

Perry regrets saying he wanted to abolish the Dept. of Energy (the post he is now nominated to lead). I don't have much respect for the man, but I give him high props for having the spine to admit he acted like a moron.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/rick-perry-i-regret-recommending-eliminating-the-department-of-energy-154318372.html

I'm 25(!) tomorrow so it isn't all bad news...

Happy almost birthday, Malick!

halfwise wrote:Perry regrets saying he wanted to abolish the Dept. of Energy (the post he is now nominated to lead).  I don't have much respect for the man, but I give him high props for having the spine to admit he acted like a moron.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/rick-perry-i-regret-recommending-eliminating-the-department-of-energy-154318372.html

The most famous moment of Perry's political career was him admitting he messed up.

Today's the big day!

If I can get home in time I'll be watching the inauguration too - damn snow is making that less and less likely, however, no pilots in their right mind would land in this weather

I am sitting opposite an American right now... she isn't very happy.

{{Well Bungo, in all sincerity I hope you enjoy the day.

Watching the inauguration- wide shorts seems a bit sparse of folk compared to previous- maybe its just the angles dunno.
Also Americans and God- so funny!
Loved when Trump put God as the no1 reason America will be safe- what was He on a day off on Sept 11th? Maybe He got confused by the shouts of 'God is great' from the bad guys!
Or maybe God, an unproven, almost certainly non-existant non-communicative superbeing that the bad guys also think is on their side, maybe, just maybe should not be no1 choice for your countries defence after all!!


ps has anyone ever sung the US national anthem in a normal singing voice? Is warbling and wavering a necessary part or something? }}}

Re: National Anthem

I'd prefer the vibrato to excessive liberties taken with tempo, and an over embellished melody.

{{I don't think Ive ever heard it sung without embellishment of some sort!- wailing warblers being my least favourite }}}

Jackie Evancho has an angelic voice. I like it much more than if it were done by a pop star.

It is weird to hear Trump talk about religious stuff because it wasn't at the forefront of his campaign as it usually is in a Republican candidate. I think it's mostly expected of any president.

bungobaggins wrote:Today's the big day!

I'm flattered my you remembered my birthday

Lancebloke wrote:I am sitting opposite an American right now... she isn't very happy.

I've been out all day so I haven't seen or read any of the reactions, though several of the OAP's in the pub were arguing about whether it was more worrying or embarrassing that Trump had got elected....the irony being they had probably voted for Brexit...

The crowd from Obama's inauguration vs Trumps:

Seems like groups employing the black bloc strategy have taken advantage of the inauguration protests. Car and shop windows being smashed in DC amid clashes with police.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/20/us/politics/inauguration-protests.html?_r=0

For reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_bloc

NB in light of this it behooves me to acknowledge that James O'Keefe's video posted on the previous page was at least partially correct (though no stink bomb attacks seem to have occurred at the Deploraball last night).

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/inauguration-2017/anti-trump-protesters-pepper-sprayed-eve-inauguration-outside-deploraball-d-n709321

Others, like the pro-marijuana legalization group DCMJ advocated on their own behalf. Marijuana use is legal in Washington, and DCMJ handed out thousands of marijuana cigarettes, or joints, for free to show support for legalization.

More than 10,000 people had gathered Friday morning in DuPont Circle, in a line stretching five blocks long, to pick up their weed, said DCMJ co-founder Nikolas Schiller. They planned to march toward the National Mall and light up at exactly 4 minutes and 20 seconds into Trump's inaugural address — a nod to the number "420" which is code for marijuana/getting high.

"I got my joint and it's wonderful," Justice Shakur, who drove from Baltimore, told NBC News, adding that "you can be a Trump supporter and still like marijuana."

there was one guy with a wellington boot lodged on his head like a wizards hat. cool.

looks like they did.

So one of Trumps first actions was to discard the Waters of the US act.  This prohibits pollution in streams rivers and lakes, with focus on preventing resulting pollution into coastal waters.  

He also did away with climate change regulation, but at least we saw that coming.  But this is a guy who said he cared about clean water and air who is now saying pollution is not only okay, but making it okay is a first day priority.  What's wrong with these people?

Edit: I should clarify that Trump did away with Obama's clarification of the Act, not the act itself.  The original was restricted to regulation of navigable waters.  Obama's clarification (against congressional opposition) was that streams etc that fed into these waters were also subject to national regulation; else there was no way to control the pollution.  It was intended to allow the national government to step in where it seemed state and local government had failed.

Do you have a credible citation on this Halfy? If it's what I suspect, it's very significant to the cranberry industry. We're growing our crops in wetlands by definition (cranberries are a wetland indicator species) and we've been being threatened for the last couple years with federal permitting that could have put all but large corporate farmers out of the game. I'm all for clean water regulations, but.....

I misread - he only plans to do it, hasn't done it yet. I understand the concerns of little guys not being able to fight regulation bigger corporations can, Dave. Makes it clear why Trump wants to do this, but I think the scale of application of regulation should be addressed, not the ability to address problems in the first place. Trump need only tell his regulators to take more account of damage to those being regulated.

This is what's being referred to:

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/epa-waterways-wetlands-rule-118319

Some more background on the legal aspects:

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/315339-us-supreme-courts-waters-of-the-us-gift-to-the-trump

Here's what I mesread as he has already done it:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trumps-white-house-vows-to-kill-obamas-climate-action-plan-193903240.html