Sweet

@cubsfan this is from the BBC, check out the output from the organisation that supposedly has no institutional bias https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct6vps hope you can open the link.

Great post John.

There are many reasons why he supports Israel. But economics alone isn’t compelling to me in light of the much deeper relationship the US has with other countries which don’t garner nearly as much support. Good grief. My point is that he ties to Israel but none to Ukraine. This has nothing to do with Israel - Palestine.

Sure, but ultimately that’s just a base of operation. The US is far more dependent on China economically and they are competitors / adversaries.

Pretty much. Economic ties with Israel are not that big or important. His wife is married to a Jew, and he has a personal animus against Ukraine dating back to Hunter Biden. Plus as Spek says Trump doesn’t like ‘losers’. I would generally be for most of Trumps policies but his views on Ukraine out of kilter with Americas historic support for democracies.

Correct policy. Disability benefits are handed to to way to many people. Compassion has been weaponised against people and we pay out for all sorts of ludicrous nonsense. Reform’s policies would have centre right 30 years ago so the idea that they are ‘far-right’ is woke lefty nonsense.

The UK is reportedly going to tax homes over 2 million, a so-called ‘Manson tax’, and slap on a levy on bank profits. So yeh, becoming more uninvestable - and the chancellor can’t figure out why

No doubt some of what you are saying is true about Europe, but some of the Putin stuff is true as well. There has been quite a lot of misinformation about the extent of Western medalling and very little said of Russian medalling. Part of the problem is that Russia is not really a super power anymore, something Putin cannot accept. Ukraine don’t want to live under their thumb, can’t blame them really.

Exactly. I don’t Ukraine hasn’t ever wanted anything other than co-existence. If Biden and his team didn’t forewarn and help Ukraine they would have probably lost very early on.

Everything you are saying I agree with. However what will this be, peace treaty 3? You have to understand that the Ukrainians have good reason to not trust Putin. The most worrying element that I’ve heard is the requirement of Ukraine to limit its army size. Why on earth would Ukraine agree to that?

I agree that is likely. Russia is losing a lot too. The problem with the proposed deal - so far as I can tell - is that there is no guarantee that Russia won’t just restart the war in a couple of years when it is on a much stronger footing. So the idea that we are saving lives might not be true either. Saving lives right now, potentially losing much more later. If Ukraine wants to keep fighting then I think European should provide every ask for material that they want, even if the US stops.

1. Ukraine hasn’t been subjugated 2. I hope it hasn’t changed and I hope Ukraine is still free.

You can make those kinds of platitudes for just about war in history. I’d love it to end tomorrow, but Ukraine just can’t be a sitting duck for round 3.

Entering illegally the first time is treated as a misdemeanour (still a crime), entering again AFTER you are deported is a felony (serious crime). edit - your comment reads as if you were deported and entered again illegally - ‘my experience’ lol

Entering the US illegally is a crime. Overstaying your visa is civil. @John Hjorth

You wrote the following just hours previous. I don’t really see how you can complain.

I can't immediately tell if you are understand my post or not. Immigration is a major thing, faith, law and order, attitudes to markets, speech, and of course trans. Genuinely don't think any of those things have improved in my lifetime. I really don't think Obama or Romney could fix it, they're too soft, too easily cowed by the press and elites. It would be better if it wasn't Trump but its who you have.

I agree with your intentions but I disagree with your theory. I don't think that force that has been used, you differ, and that's ok, I don't want to dwell on it. More fundamentally, I agree that institution are important but I disagree on the weight you give them. Democracy is ultimately downstream of culture, and the erosion of culture, of common values is the biggest threat to democracy. If you don't have a people that believe in core values then to keep that country together you basically need a strongman of sorts or the place collapses. When the people do have shared values then the population largely governs its own behaviour and you can decide by ballot the rest. There is a natural order to democracy and a process by which it occurs. First you need a side with values amenable to democracy to win and for that culture to dominate the hearts and minds of the people, you need to have a population that buys into the laws so you can have order, and then you can start thinking about democracy and the institutions. So from my point of view, if you want to keep your democracy and institutions you have to first win the culture. And by win I mean the other sides loses.

I’m not American (say this a lot, if only to make clear that’s it’s not really any of business), but as an outsider I can see just a decay in culture and attitudes. With regard to government overreach which didn’t start with Trump, race relations, attitude to law enforcement and the border. If you check which side has drifted from a consensus that so long worked for America then it’s very clearly the political left. We see it in Europe too.

I don't agree with you at all on Ukraine, but overall this is a pretty good reply. Sometimes you have to rip out what is rotten to preserve what is good.

The sole dissenter in the House had this to say: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/18/politics/clay-higgins-against-epstein-files-release

It’s the guy you quoted that’s the issue rather than anything you said. Bessent said something that doesn’t seem supported by evidence, and the person you linked claimed Bessent said something he did not.

Whataboutism is a perfectly legitimate form of argument.

Pretty sure that European beef used to cost a decent amount more than comparable US beef. This seems to have changed recently and now European beef is cheaper… don’t get how.

Shrug. Epstein hating Trump’s gut isn’t the slam dunk some people think it is. And Megan Kelly’s description - so what - she qualified and clarified multiple times. What is this supposed to show? John Olivier struggles with the whole male and female thing, he’s immediately disbarred in my view from being an authority on just about anything when he can’t even get the most obvious ones correct without parroting his chosen sides propaganda.