dunroaming

The snivelling coward (that's Trump if anyone had any doubt) get's Pence the make the statement condemning the white supremacists.  Wonder what Bannon thinks of the neo Nazi scum in Charlottesville?  No doubt high fiving them good ol' boys and sending them Trump's fondest wishes. 

1 minute ago, rijb said:

Every country has to deal with hate and ignorance in their own back yard.  However, the world prefers to focus on America's dirty laundry.

Well in this thread certainly because that is what the thread is about.  Yes just about every country have their extremist groups and most are dismissed by the masses as just nutjobs.  But in the USA at the moment the country is badly divided and with Trumps volatile outbursts it is having a crisis of huge proportions.  Therefore all eyes are on the POTUS and what lunacy he continues to bring to the country.

Trump can't come out and condemn the white supremacists because as many have said they make up a considerable proportion of his voter base, especially now so many people have seen the light over this moronic POTUS.  But these American citizens were there before Trump and will be there long after he has gone.  They are part of the cancer  in the USA and there will always be a hard core of them.  They are motivated by hate and ignorance with an unwillingness to lift their heads out of the sand.  You cannot educate these people but you can pity them.  They do know they do.....But simply cannot control their vitriol.

23 hours ago, scorecard said:

Bring on total police reform please, start today!

Unfortunately it will never happen (well not in our lifetime anyway).  Money is the great god in Thailand and everything else falls well short of it.  You could also argue that "face", power and sex are high on the agenda and they are to some extent.  However in Thailand money can buy you all those things and so remains a clear winner every time.  Law and order is way down the list and there is no incentive to change that.

2 hours ago, seancbk said:

In the mid 80's when I went to a posh boarding school in the UK, we used to clash from time to time with the kids from the local comprehensive.  

The excuse was school pride, but really it was rich kids versus poor kids.  

Well when I went to my (boys) grammar school we used to clash with the (girls) Grammar school next door.  Our clashing took place in the local woods and very enjoyable it was too.

It's laughable that Trump thinks he can bully China.  The man is such a moron and an embarrassment to the American people!

Trump is like a man who has taken the Viagra, got an erection and needs to stick his missile into something, anything will do before the drug wears off!

20 minutes ago, TKDfella said:

Yep, you're right. But where I lived rival gangs were many and would use all sorts of self made weapons (large nails flattened by railway locomotives and sharpened were a favourite). But the difference there was they didn't run away from each other and it was usually blood everywhere.

True.  I guess the bravado in Thailand is not as bullish as it was back in the west.  The mods and rockers thing was as much about socialising as fighting though.  Weekends in Brighton enjoying the sun, sea and nights in A&E.

Maybe this is because the Chinese have slapped him down over NK.  

8 minutes ago, TKDfella said:

Well, I think it's an image of big cities anywhere. In my day it was the Krays, Richardsons and many other less organized gangs doing much the same thing. No doubt any Americans here could testify to their big cities. I would agree though that there seems to more of a 'cowardice' type of student rage here and a genuine confrontation would be avoided.

I grew up in the same city as you by the sound of it but I don't think the image is the same as the Krays or Charlie Richardson.  They ran organised crime whereas this is youths rampaging more akin to football hooligans or in my day mods versus rockers!  Happens everywhere and always has, even in the small towns.  However the swords are a bit over the top!

23 hours ago, webfact said:

Police are waiting for the foreigner to recover before attempting to get to the truth of the matter.

Clearly the police don't believe a word of what the taxi driver has to say.

Latest report says that the motorbike involved was taken to the local hospital and is recovering.  The police will be questioning it as it is the only reliable witness that they have.  I am sure we all wish the motorbike (name withheld) a speedy recovery.

1 hour ago, PeCeDe said:

Hope you're right, one of many benefits would certainly be the pound taking an immediate jump northwards, and to me in my little world that's what I'm looking for.

You and millions of others!

11 minutes ago, PeCeDe said:

Not sure that Brits who voted for Brexit deliberately decided to cut off their nose, but of course that is what they did.

I don't blame anyone for voting for Brexit, I know a few who did it for the reasons you state.  My gripe is that now it is obvious that it was a mistake and they voted based on the lies that they were told, why can they not just accept it was folly and call to have either another vote with hindsight, or join all of us calling for Brexit to be scrapped.

It has been a problem for many years with NK having thousands of missiles aimed at SK.  To take out all the immediate threats to South Korea is pretty much impossible.  This goes back way beyond Obama or even Bush.  Now we have the N word and the insanity of Trump to match the insanity of Kim.  Given all of that the only answer is diplomacy as ineffective as it appears to be.  Always has been because war isn't an option.

Maybe the Chinese could intervene more effectively but I suspect they are enjoying the two clowns embarrassing themselves and getting their respective knickers in a twist.  Makes the Chinese look like grown-ups while the children squabble.

9 hours ago, webfact said:

"If the U.S. and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so," it said.

Yes that is the key sentence here as Churchill says.  China quietly confirming that they run the show in East Asia.

9 minutes ago, jackh said:

China is wise to take this position. Now time to sit back and see what happens. Perhaps Kim Dim Sim will meet with an unexpected accident soon.

Perhaps Don the moron Trump will meet with an accident too.  Only then can sanity return.

We are not dealing with rational sane people here.  Trump's latest statement saying the US are locked and loaded lives little room for more stupid threats.  Locked and loaded must be just about the final position before firing. Maybe the next tweet will just say "aim".

What I find quite surprising are the Brits who post on TV that live in Thailand or visit regularly and still voted for Brexit.  It was common knowledge the pound would take a hit and could drop further after we leave and that affects their pensions or incomes if that comes from the UK. What is the up side for them who live abroad as immigrants?  Nobody expects the ordinary bloke in the street to understand all the intricacies of how economics work but some things are as obvious as the nose on their faces.  It seems however they prefer to cut off their noses to spite their face. 

2 minutes ago, PeCeDe said:

 

Wish you were right, but don't forget May is holding on by the skin of her teeth, courtesy of some rather skittish Northern Irelanders, and I do believe Corbyn is a dark closet Brexiteer. Have to say there's an evil side of me hoping for Corbyn to come into power and try to spend everyone else's money, thus increasing my small stipend, but of course forex will soon take care of that. At this point anyway, I see still Brexit happening, and Corbyn has sworn up and down there won't be a second Brexit vote, as has May. We all know they're both respected politicians, and therefore should be believed.

The situation is bleak and a change of leadership is desperately needed.  Problem then is who? 

Trump continues making his ludicrous threats and Kim counters.  Fortunately Mattis is saying that a diplomatic result is the way to go and they are making progress albeit with difficulty.  You have to wonder if the two leaders were just put in straight jackets and gagged in their own respective lunatic asylums then this could be sorted by the "relatively sane" negotiators from both sides.

Not sure I completely agree about the education bit.  Everyone was lied to, especially by the leave campaigners.  It was easier for them to do so because they could just make it up whereas the remain camp could only try to justify staying in and we knew what that entailed.  Therefore their arguments were based on warnings of what would "probably" happen if we left the EU and that now, in hindsight, turns out to be well founded.

However the EU was flawed and peoples frustration with it was understandable.  What wasn't made clear, again by the Brexit boys, was a balanced expectation of the consequences.  So we are where we are and there is no chance of going through Brexit without serious damage that will take many years to recover from.  

Question is at what point (and before it is too late), do we say "OK this isn't going to work, lets scrap Brexit and work within the EU to bring about the much needed changes".  That is what a proper government would do but with this shower it is unlikely to happen. 

According to many of the posters on TV I never had a daddy at all 

4 minutes ago, Grouse said:

The knuckle draggers neither care about nor understand the huge benefits of being able to live, work, play and retire anywhere in the EU. Pointless debate. Pie and chips with a pint of lager on the Costa Brava is exotic for them ?

Agreed but will they pay the higher costs after Brexit?  Maybe they will choose Scarborough instead.  Better pies anyway!

2 minutes ago, Bangyo1948 said:

Well you don't pay to go to the hospital in Denmark and I am sure no one will be charged anywhere in the EU if they have the European Health Insurance card

Whilst the UK are in the EU, Brits are covered in other EU countries, however after Brexit we are not.

9 hours ago, landslide said:

Trump stooped to the fat boy's level with the "Fire and Fury" comment.  A much simpler and to the point response would be that if the DPRK should attempt a nuclear missile launch against the USA or its allies, Kim Jong Un and the DPRK will cease to exist.

I think that has always been the line and the same for NK who have said they would retaliate IF attacked by the US.  So in fact everyone is on the same page and we can all go back to playing cards and drinking our coffee.