Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

It's High Crimes and Misdemeanours Time! Trump thread no. 95

979 replies

Roussette · 23/07/2019 08:05

I thought it was about time I started a thread so here it is! Mueller time tomorrow...

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/21/mueller-report-trump-nadler-impeachment

OP posts:
Thread gallery
26
Roussette · 30/07/2019 18:03

An amusing Stephen Colbert...

www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-news/stephen-colbert-trump-racist-rant-god-bless-america-parody-865094/

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 30/07/2019 20:11

I'm not reading between the lines...............Grin

lionheart · 30/07/2019 22:27

Classic.

Smile
lionheart · 31/07/2019 01:27

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/30/us-immigration-family-separations-aclu-children-court-filing

'The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said more than 900 children have been separated from their families at the border since a judge ordered last year that the practice be sharply curtailed.

The group said in a court filing Tuesday in San Diego that 911 children had been separated from their families since the court order. They include 678 whose parents faced allegations of criminal conduct. Other reasons include alleged gang affiliation, unfitness or child safety concerns, “unverified familial relationship”, or parent illness.'

TheClaws · 31/07/2019 01:37

North Korea fires off more projectiles.

www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/30/north-korea-unidentified-projectiles-fired-south-korea

TheClaws · 31/07/2019 01:44

I’ve read the key issue with appointing Ratcliffe at the DNI is that Trump ignored written protocol. The position - at least the Acting Director - should have gone directly to Susan Gordon, who has more than 30 years experience and not to a Trump toady with little knowledge of the role.

lionheart · 31/07/2019 02:03

Debate night.

AcrossthePond55 · 31/07/2019 14:22

I finally had to switch off the debate. So much talking over each other and the moderators. And too many 'haven't got a chance'-ers still left to clog things up.

What's frustrating to me is that all the loud disagreeing is playing right into the GOP hands. Giving them ammo + 'divide and conquer'.

Lweji · 31/07/2019 15:01

About the debate:

It's High Crimes and Misdemeanours Time!  Trump thread no. 95
cozietoesie · 31/07/2019 15:16

Only temporarily, Across.

AcrossthePond55 · 31/07/2019 15:23

It's a true statement, Lweji.

I guess the thing is that there are two main 'issues' for us Dems 2020. There's defeating Scrotus (#1 IMHO) and there's what do we (as Dems) want to get accomplished. So you have the problem of candidates wanting to get their platform across as 'the best', but they also know that they don't want to be seen as 'squabbling'. Because squabbling turns off the voters. This was one of the factors that got Scrotus nominated. There was so much back-biting and dissension amongst the plethora of GOP candidates (who ignored Scrotus because they didn't take his candidacy seriously) that the rank and file GOP voters couldn't pick the one they wanted because the candidates were too busy insulting each other's platforms that no one's platform was clear. Except Scrotus' anti-'them' and "I'll give you ALL the monies!" bullshit. And so he gathered in the extreme right lunatic fringe as well as some of the more 'moderate' voters because no other candidate was a 'clear cut' choice.

We simply cannot afford to have a situation like that. Plus each candidate needs to make it VERY clear that they will 100% support the party's nominee no matter what. And the only candidate I clearly heard that from last night was Warren. They were all about 'defeat Scrotus' but she was the one that stressed that no matter who was nominated, the rest of them (candidates) need to get behind that person and work with them hard to get them elected.

If Bernie had done that in 2016, the outcome may have been very different. Hillary's main problem (IMHO) is that she's lost the 'common touch'. She had it when Bill was running and as 1st Lady, but she's lost it after her years in the 'Seats of Power'. Bernie could (and should) have provided that for her or at least advised her on getting back in touch with her roots; people in the Mid West. Instead he refused to support her (at first) and bruited about the idea of running as an Independent.

Lweji · 31/07/2019 15:30

Fully agree. They need a positive campaign in many aspects, including policies and how they treat each other.

cozietoesie · 31/07/2019 15:36

Eg - how they go forward into the 22nd century.

Lweji · 31/07/2019 15:37

I think you mean survive, the way it's going....Wink

Jillyhilly · 31/07/2019 15:44

That debate was pitiful. I know they’re speaking to the democrat base at the moment, but what in what universe is taking away peoples’ health insurance, decriminalising illegal immigration and giving away free healthcare to undocumented workers going to win over moderates and independents?

I thought the most sense was talked by a couple of the guys who seem to get no coverage - John Delaney and Tim
Ryan, who talked about the fact that Medicare doesn’t cover the cost of healthcare and that the party needs to address real problems experienced by working class people who haven’t had a proper raise in years. Why the hell will they care about free healthcare for undocumented workers?

AcrossthePond55 · 31/07/2019 15:48

I do have a question for our UK posters. I don't want to derail this into a pro- or anti-NHS. I'm just looking for some 'facts'.

One of the things that's heavy under discussion is State run health care (like the NHS) vs 'Public Option' (you can keep your own private insurance or take a Govt subsidized plan). I know in the UK there's the NHS and there is a 'private' system. How does that work? Two totally separate systems or do they work together? Do doctors see both NHS and private patients? Does the NHS pay for part of private care then private insurance picks up the rest? If not, does private insurance pay 100%? How expensive is 'good' private insurance? And I assume having private insurance doesn't allow you to 'opt out' of paying NHS contributions?

Sorry for the derail, but this is going to be a big decision for lots of us in the coming election as far as who to support. Some want to completely abolish private health insurance and have a State run system as the ONLY system of care and others want to keep it as an option whilst also having a state system.

The only 'socialized' system I've been under was when I was a Forces wife back in the '70s and we used military care facilities. Taught me the meaning of 'hurry up and wait' and about not really having a great deal of choice in providers or treatment. AND about having to travel a good distance for care It's made me a little leery of not having a choice between a US NHS and using a private system.

Lweji · 31/07/2019 16:31

A summary of the debate, coincidently (or not) about health care:

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/31/democrats-intense-health-care-debate-paraphrased/

I have experience of the UK and Portugal.
Both have a system of public hospitals within their NHS (or equivalent), which is quite extensive. Some hospitals allow or have private wings (which is how DS was born in the same hospital as all the recent princes(es) but not quite Grin). In Portugal, there are also private hospitals or clinics, which are getting bigger and more numerous.
In the UK there is a system of Surgeries, which are run independently but provide NHS services.
In Portugal, there are public and private medical centres, separately.

PS - Good choice of colours by Warren (see photo)

It's High Crimes and Misdemeanours Time!  Trump thread no. 95
AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 31/07/2019 16:38

My life, Across, that's a can of worms!

Doctors do work both for the NHS and privately; the surgeon who did my most recent exploratory heart procedure/operation does one day a week for the NHS hospital where I had it done on the NHS, and the rest of the time in a private clinic. The eye-surgeon who did my laser surgery works at the Moorfields Private Wing or whatever it is called as well as for the Moorfields NHS hospital.

I don't know the answers to all your questions, but that's one of them.

(Dentistry and opticians are private, because Thatcher took them out of the NHS, though a few dentists have a few NHS patients; if you are on benefits there are various concessions and free things, but again, I don't know about those because I am not on benefits. It still costs a fair bit to have bad teeth and eyes, she said bitterly.)

If I break my leg tomorrow, I can call an ambulance, be taken to the nearest appropriate hospital, and be treated, free. Ditto a heart attack or any other emergency treatment. Non-emergency takes longer: if my thyroid packs up, I see the doctor free but may have to wait a few days or even a couple of weeks for an appointment, and although treatment costs me nothing I have to see specialists at the hospital and that can take many months because they are horrifically overworked. I do have to pay a prescription charge for medication from the pharmacy, until I am over retirement age or if I were a child, or pregnant, or had one of about ten conditions which mean your prescriptions are exempted from payment.

I think the NHS is still the largest employer in Europe. It certainly used to be. And it is known that it could use 110% of the total national income and still have things it needed more money for.

Lweji · 31/07/2019 16:57

There's also the issue of payments.

In the UK, doctor appointments are free within the NHS. In Portugal, we pay a small charge, from which the poorest (and specific groups) are exempt.

Medicine on NHS prescription in the UK is paid the same regardless of the true cost, but (if it hasn't changed) people can pay in advance for a number of prescriptions for a certain time period, effectively capping the cost of prescriptions if you have a long term illness or condition. Some groups and lower incomes have free prescriptions.
In Portugal, we have a discount on prescriptions, but the cost may well be prohibitive for some people.

Jillyhilly · 31/07/2019 17:16

But, AcrossThePond, whether or not it seems like an interesting idea, surely there is no way in a million years that moderate voters will go for an entirely state-run healthcare system? How on Earth would it be implemented? The impracticality of such a proposal is mind-boggling. I cannot see how promising massive, radical change along these lines will encourage a wavering voter over to the Democrats.

To me last night it seemed as if the moderate candidates (Delaney, Ryan) were making it very clear to the party that these huge, grandiose plans will not work, that these plans are not the way to beat Trump and that they will lose if they pursue them.

lionheart · 31/07/2019 17:36

Some US -UK perspectives:

www.businessinsider.com/an-american-uses-britain-nhs-2015-1?r=US&IR=T

www.independent.co.uk/voices/healthcare-uk-usa-systems-nhs-insurance-differences-donald-trump-a8195761.html

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42950587

'If you look at all healthcare spending, including treatment funded privately by individuals, the US spent 17.2% of its GDP on healthcare in 2016, compared with 9.7% in the UK.'

lionheart · 31/07/2019 17:53

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-republican-congressman-retires-mike-conaway-2020-election-gop-a9029126.html

'A fifth Republican congressman appears set to quit the party in the space of two weeks amid ongoing tension over Donald Trump’s presidency.

Representative Mike Conaway will not seek re-election to his Texas seat in 2020, the Politico website reported. He has not confirmed his decision or reason for retiring but he is set to make a statement to the media. '

Swipe left for the next trending thread