I donât buy Independent group newspapers. I click on their articles sometimes as they have some good columnists but they also have some terrible columnists and the overall editorial line of their papers is laughably populist right.
But then so are you.
Itâs utterly moronic and is actually hilarious. The US is still one of the very best countries in the world to live in. It is a country with a strong democracy and yes, despite the jokes, a solid free country. The GOP have been responsible for much of that.
Calling them âextremely dangerousâ because some of them are in favour of funerals for aborted babies whilst lauding the likes of the Castro regime, you are bonkers sometimes. You can criticise them alright, but calling them âextremely dangerousâ. FFS.
@anon98850436âs volatility is what makes him such a box office poster.
If he was a political constituency, heâd be Dun Laoighaire.
Thatâs told me.
Im sorry my timetable for replying doesnât suit you but with various commitments mid week and the childer most nights and week ends I do struggle to keep up.
It doesnât stop me having a pop at anything I deem worth having a pop atâŚthis will continue.
Fair enough, but you have to roll with the punches. Heâs the epitome of @bandage 's one armed waiter.
Donât ever change, but expect it back.
âLaughably populist rightâ. There is very little genuine right wing press in Ireland, that reflects the country overall. The Indo would I imagine bask in any negative healthcare story, just like their near stablemates in Newstalk do. Housing crisis, the health service, water charges, strikes - this countryâs press is just riddled with stories demanding more intervention by the state. Fiscal conservatism does not exist in Ireland.
The US Republican party is responsible for the following:
They alone created the conditions for the current chaos in the Middle East to spread by going to war in Iraq.
Their record on environmental matters is an utter disgrace.
Their record in terms of managing the economy is dreadful.
They are utterly beholden to Wall Street - thatâs not to say the Democrats arenât either but the Republicans are utterly shameless about it and are beholden to a greater degree.
They have gutted organised labour.
Their fiscal policies are directly responsible for the vast inequality of income that exists in the US.
Their healthcare and education policies are farcical.
They are hysterical and intransigent beyond belief and have been since at least the late 90s when they tried to impeach Bill Clinton.
They harbour the religious right, Tea Party movement, the birther conspiracists and the alt-right crazies, who have now taken control of the party.
They spread thinly veiled racism and xenophobia and have done since at least the 1960s and the Civil Rights Act, and never more visibly than now.
Now, if you donât consider all that, or even any of that, to be dangerous, I canât help you.
Not as dangerous as dropping nukes on people (Truman), or Agent Orange and Napalm (Johnson).
You think your âengagementâ with Sidney shows intelligence?
Go back to the stock markets shoe shine boy and go tin foil a steakâŚ
But I wouldnât have supported any of those things and have serious problems with the Democrats, itâs just that the Republicans are far worse.
Itâs kind of like going back to the Civil War and saying the Republicans were the party who abolished slavery and the Democrats the ones who supported it.
Itâs true, but has absolutely no relevance in the modern day, as itâs the Republicans who are by far the more dangerous and extreme party now and still harbour that sort of residual white supremacist sentiment - thatâs been the case for decades, which is why the South became Republican from the 60s on.
Whatâs genuinely right-wing press?
The Indo is genuinely right-wing in its editorial line.
Right-wing press by its nature tends to be, populist, individualistic, appeal to base instincts, victim-blaming crap.
One only has to look at the British press to see that, where the vast majority of the right-wing press is tabloid fodder, the Daily Telegraph is semi-tabloid in nature, publishing climate change-denying nonsense, and even the Times indulges in whitewashing stories like the Hillsborough verdict. Itâs a Murdoch paper, remember.
And yet in your post above hark back to the 1960s and Civil Rights. Labane mentions Agent Orange and Napalm under LBJ from the same era and it has âno relevance in the modern dayâ.
The Civil Rights Act is the central event in defining the future direction of US politics and redrawing the split among party lines, it continues to have huge relevance to this day.
Agent Orange and napalm donât.
Historically speaking, neither Democrats or Republicans have had a monopoly on war crimes in other countries.
But recent Republican administrations (going back to Nixon) have in the main been utterly disastrous on foreign policy, recent Democrat administrations less so.
Trumpâs appointments show all the hallmarks of continuing that trend and then some.
Incorrect. Populism in Ireland is moaning about the health service, itâs moaning about water charges, itâs moaning about Denis OâBrien, the bankers, property developersâŚ
Fianna FĂĄil have been the most successful party in Irish politics because they know what sells to the electorate. And that is goodies for all. Itâs paying off Unions to get them to shut up, itâs raising the Old Age pension, itâs raising the dole. âAusterityâ by itâs very nature is a word that implies a temporary retrenchment in Government spending. Irish government spending was out of control in the 2000s but that is the condition most want to ultimately get back to in Ireland.
People are absolutely right to moan about the health service, bankers and property developers, and the parties that were in cahoots with the latter two.
My view on water charges is different to most of the left but I can 100% understand why people protested against it and they were perfectly within their rights to do so, as well as that, it was symbolic of a wider and wholly justified dissatisfaction with peopleâs overall lot in this society.
The bankers, property developers and the Fianna Fail policies that were designed for their benefit are what drove Ireland into the hands of the IMF, not public sector pay.
There is a very significant and growing strain of right-wing populism in Ireland that you are a classic example of. Blame unions and public sector workers for everything, vilify the unemployed, invoke fake patriotism while bending over for big business sweetheart deals on tax, import the moronic tactics from the US of railing against the wholly imagined bogey of âpolitical correctnessâ, celebrate Trump by claiming that he stood up for âthe little peopleâ while knowing full well that his politics, and yours, stands for screwing ordinary people at every opportunity.
Michael OâLeary is your spiritual King and the cliche is your constant companion.
Itâs a fundamentally pro-stupid, anti-intellectual worldview.
Incorrect. Look at government spending from 2007 to 2009. It was obvious the housing bubble was ending and about to burst in 2006 in the US and no later than mid 2007 in Ireland. The morons in FF, instead of cutting spending to match (greatly) reduced revenues, did the opposite and thought they could spend their way out of any subsequent recession. Govt spending ramped up in Ireland through the end of 2009, even as the world economy imploded. Thatâs what drove Ireland into the hands of the IMF. If the government has demonstrated restraint and were at least working towards a somewhat sensible budget, they could have argued Irelandâs case, especially with the ECB.
Continuing to spend like drunken sailors is what left Ireland with no leg to stand on with the IMF/ECB. As Brian said, âwe all partiedâ, but the clowns didnât have the sense to stop before getting legless.
Shit, I missed you posting about this.
I thought your first postings were post bubble.
So thatâs what happened. Bank debt had nothing to do with itâŚ
Suck a dick