To think that the USA is a dictatorship now?

[spoonbillstretford]

Trump appears to have ultimate power. Who can challenge him? Who controls him? Presidents should not be dictating what drug companies charge for medicines on a whim, or indeed any other goods, at the drop of a hat. He says jump and the US says "How High?" What on earth have you done to yourselves and the world to let this evil, thick, orange toddler clown represent you? What the hell were you thinking?

It absolutely is my opinion that Starner is an incompetent cretin and I stick by that!!

I agree with this though.

Oh what abject nonsense.

How was that managed? And by who?

People die due how bad the NHS treats people. The NHS is killing us. People die due to wait times and the such bad care we receive.

Sentencing guidelines only changed a few months ago. Before that the guidelines did say to give ethnic minorities lesser sentences

Idk about the protestor.

US Gun laws allow people to defend themselves from criminals and robbers. In the UK you are taught not to resist, in the USA you're taught "aim for center mass and shoot". You're allowed to defend yourself and your property.

The empire was a net force for good and was basically FDI. Just because people want to come here doesn't mean we should let them.

Jesus, I thought people with views like this were a myth. What a sheltered life I’ve led.

The Puritans? They left Europe because they weren't allowed to force their extremist views on other people.

People from western Africa? They arrived in chains.

Irish people? They were escaping a famine, that's true. Were they any more free? There was a lot of discrimination against Irish people in the US back then.

Brilliant debunking of the argument 🙄

Sorry, I didn’t realise debunking an argument was compulsory.

The recent DC takeover is apparently illegal but his supporters don’t care about the law when it comes to him.

I don’t think it’s a dictatorship but this level of illegality and dodgy dealings in the ruling party of an alleged developed country is disturbing.

But then I remember the USA, comparatively speaking is a relatively new democracy (it’s been a proper democracy for about 60 years) so this kind of thing does not surprise me.

Sentencing guidelines only changed a few months ago. Before that the guidelines did say to give ethnic minorities lesser sentences

This is a lie. The guidelines named many factors that may be taken into consideration of which ethnicity (alongside factors gender, wealth, education) was one.

Ethnic minorities do not receive lesser sentences in the UK. As the data available on sentencing disparities makes quite clear.

The NHS is not “killing people”. Yes it does have waiting lists. But that is the downside of a system that ensures healthcare to all (all countries with universal healthcare has the same issue).

Without universal healthcare these people likely would have no access to healthcare and I am not sure how that is better.

Although you cannot expect sense from people who think “the empire was a net force for good”. This is what happens when people are not taught their history.

US gun laws are for US people to worry about but across the board US murder rates are far higher than our own.

This post is proof you have zero idea how juries are selected.
🤣🤣🤣

I always found it funny the USA categorised itself that way when many Americans had ancestors who were trafficked there against their will!

The only serious black mark against the NHS was its poor record on keeping people alive.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jun/17/nhs-health

The quality of care we receive sucks, that's why I'm with BUPA.

I've read many economic studies that suggest a positive correlation between the duration and intensity of colonial rule and current income levels in former colonies.

US gun laws are about freedom and giving people the ability to defend yourself. Gun law repeals simply don't work in the US due to the culture. All it would do is mean people wouldn't be able to defend themselves.

Is that why wholesale vegetable prices are up 38.9%?

He's very good at lining his own pockets, and those of the other billionaires. No use at helping ordinary people though.

“I've read many economic studies that suggest a positive correlation between the duration and intensity of colonial rule and current income levels in former colonies.”

Sure you have. (It’s amazing how Britons will laud the choice to leave the EU as they don’t want foreign rule but will champion British foreign rule and other nations and never stop to question why so few talk about colonialism in glowing terms)

(Although as always, correlation and causation are wildly different things.)

Incidentally the quote you posted undermines your NHS point (and I say that as somebody not particularly wedded to the NHS model and who has my own healthcare.)

We may have a useless idiot for a PM, but at least we don't have a rapist paedophile who allowed a mob to storm the Capitol and is crashing the economy.

It's a symptom of Lost Empire Syndrome.

In his first term the economy was great and thriving until COVID. He expanded the EITC, cut corporate taxes and the economy grew and US employment was at a record low. Wages grew as well. He had successful foreign policy by defeating ISIS and he negotiated peace in the middle east with the Abraham accords.

I mean colonial rule introduced elements like legal frameworks, property rights, and administrative structures that facilitated economic development after independence.

The British invested in the railway network in India for example.

Having said that, there are very important hallmarks of hard dictatorships that are NOT seen at this stage such as imprisonment of political opponents or political assassinations.

We have seen political assasinations. Melissa Hortman and her husband were murdered in Minnesota and John Hoffman and his wife were wounded too. It might not have been the administration directly, but their rhetoric has certainly emboldened people.

As for political arrests, when permanent residents with no criminal record were being sent straight on a plane to CECOT, it seemed a logical next step for citizens to be next - if only citizens have due process then no one has due process because it is only through due process that you can establish if someone does indeed hold citizenship. Luckily after a hard fight Kilmar Ábrego García was returned home but had his case not been won I wouldn't put it past the administration to use the same tactics against opponents.

Don't be ridiculous.

I thought of them yes, and it is a terrifying example of how radicalised ideas can cause real life harm, but I was referring to state-mandated killings (Putin style).
Agree on the camps, that is a huge and bright red flag as to how quickly the rule of law is undermined and human rights trampled on.
I was very specifically referring to political opponents. That day may not be far but i don't think it has come yet.

Read your history books and take a look at countries with actual dictators.

There are a lot of evil people in this world, including some evil heads of state. Have yet to see a single "evil" thing Trump has done.

Also, he absolutely has a ton of pushback in the USA, not just from all branches of the government, but especially from most media sources. Probably the ones you watch!

Sure, right now the senate and the house are republicans, too...but the people voted for this, and in no way does that make Trump a dictator or the US an authoritarian government. That's not how the country's political system works.

You sound incredibly out of touch with reality. For example, a US president could never just cancel an election.

Your paranoia is extreme. There is really no use in even bothering to write this post, because you don't want to educate yourself, you just want to be hysterical.

It's that Free Speech thing that Americans venerate but which us Brits have apparently lost due to the Starmer jackboot😅 we can't criticise Trump on here as you all have noticed.

1. The fact that you think there no form of legal frameworks, property rights or administrative structures is a failure of your education. Clearly they would not be identical to the systems in Britain but that does not mean they did not exist.

2. Yes the British built railways in India but they did not do that out of the kindness of their hearts or for the benefit of Indian people (all the better for the transport of and export of India’s natural resources.)

As for economic development (is this a positive or negative correlation?)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/EconomyofIndia

From the beginning of the 19th century, the British East India Company's gradual expansion and consolidation of power brought a major change in taxation and agricultural policies, which tended to promote commercialisation of agriculture with a focus on trade, resulting in decreased production of food crops, mass impoverishment and destitution of farmers, and in the short term, led to numerous famines.[134] The economic policies of the British Raj caused a severe decline in the handicrafts and handloom sectors, due to reduced demand and dipping employment.[135]After the removal of international restrictions by the Charter of 1813, Indian trade expanded substantially with steady growth.[136] The result was a significant transfer of capital from India to Britain, which, due to the colonial policies of the British, led to a massive drain of revenue rather than any systematic effort at modernisation of the domestic economy.[137] The economy of the Indian subcontinent was the largest in the world for most of recorded history up until the onset of colonialism in early 19th century.[133][138][139]

Under British rule, India's share of the world economy declined from 24.4% in 1700 down to 4.2% in 1950. India's GDP (PPP) per capita was stagnant during the Mughal Empire and began to decline prior to the onset of British rule.[138]India's share of global industrial output declined from 25% in 1750 down to 2% in 1900.[120] At the same time, Britain's share of the world economy rose from 2.9% in 1700 up to 9% in 1870.