Looks like Italy is having its own moment.

I've never been a racist in any way and unlike yours my forefathers were the victims of some of the worst kind of racism and genocide that history has ever known... the Irish.

I wont say any more on this since enough feathers and sensitivities have been ruffled. I thought threads were open to different opinions but it seems not. Ill leave you to your rants against Trump. I didn't vote for him but he was elected. Accept it and move on. Whinging wont get anyone anywhere.

If you don't like Trump then take a plane back to jolly old England and whinge away about Brexit

Just look at the Constitution and the safeguards it guarantees.

The check against misuse of the military lies with the military...their obligation under their code to disobey an illegal order. As far as starting a war..the lines are pretty hazey. The Constitution is just a document.

A soldier of course has the right to disobey an order when he knows that the order is illegal. In the US military the soldier would be arrested and charged with disobeying an order. A hearing would follow as a preliminary to a court martial if it was thought that a court martial was necessary. If it was an illegal order and proved to be so the soldier would be fully exonerated.

The military as you know is always under the jurisdiction of a civilian appointed by the President who in turn is sworn to protect the Constitution so the system is about as sound as it gets.

Any idea that there would be a mutiny of some sort is just Hollywood fantasy

I am not suggesting a mutiny in the violent sense..but the Joint Chiefs and other line officers could rightfully stand up and refuse to follow unlawful orders. Some have already said they would do so in reference to some of Trumps "illegal" suggestions during his campaign.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

I repeat that the Constitution is just a piece of paper...locked in a hermetically sealed museum case..unable to run down to 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue and slap the President for being a bad boy.

It requires people with integrity to protect what it stands for. Republucans have demonstrated no such will. Instead they have violated that document in areas of religious freedom *(if you are not Christian) falsely interpretated it to fight against rational gun legislation, bent it to the breaking point on voting rights as well as shitting on the intent of the 1st ammendment by backing 'citizens united' to give control of our democracy to corporations

The people who I believe to, for the most part, posses the integrity to stand up are those who know the horror of war first hand and bear the burden of sending men and women to die in battle. I think their resistance to military extremism by the President would be significant. Historically they have in the past, out of the public eye, stood up and disuaded a President from making such a mistake. On other occasions they have tried and failed...Iraq being the most recent.

The more current line officers are not the war loving cigar chomping egotistical ilk of those that relished in the opportunity to go to war in Vietnam.

I agree with what you've said. Trump's problem is that although far from being stupid... nevertheless
he has no experience in politics and none in world affairs. We can only hope that his team and especially whoever he nominates for Secretary of State will offer wise counsel. He would also be well aware that getting the US involved in a major war with some country like Iran would be the kiss of death to a second term. The American people are weary of foreign wars already as it is. I think as time goes by and the burden of the Presidency takes it's toll on him that he'll mellow out very considerably. I wish him a successful Presidency simply because if he screws up then we are all screwed.

As a Democrat of long standing I can't help feeling bitter over the way Hillary conducted her campaign and accepting the nomination knowing that she carried a trail of baggage over the E-mails and Benghazi. I knew already that Trump would do his best to destroy her with that and he did. it also saddens me that the Democrat party has lost sight of the party it always traditionally was.. the party of the American worker and organized labour.

Unfortunately Nancy Pelosi has managed to cling to power. I was hoping for new blood and a return to traditional values

Actually some people are unaware. In my case comments I made some posts back about Mexicans being hard working are ones that routinely I had made with Mexicans made to each other without the slightest idea they would be offensive to anyone, I was unaware that a non-Mexican would find offensive or indicative of pejorative patronizing behavior. Fortunately most Hispanics(if not all) I know don't take things the same way. And neither do I get offended if they say Anglo Saxons are lazier in their experience.

Outdated a good observation though, and I wasn't aware the comment I made would be taken in such a way, and perhaps from not having more conversations on threads like these over the years I wasn't conversant with what is permitted or accepted in general discourse. Just like going to a new country, one has to learn what is accepted discourse and what isn't.

It''s the world we live in. No matter what you say even if what was said was never intended to be offensive, someone is bound to take umbrage and even push it to the boundaries of being offensive and insulting.

In my case I was more or less told to shut up and labeled a racist We have unofficially appointed censors amongst us

You have to admit is quite funny.

Nobody is censoring you, quit being such a baby. I didn't start crying when you threw your insults at me.

Nobody can stop you, nor would they want to. It's actually very informative and I personally like to know who I'm talking to. As I said much earlier in this thread, if you choose to use certain language, people will make assumptions about you. I guess you thought I was making that up.

I've been a member here for over a decade. I've talked to people from all over the world but primarily from the UK. A few years ago, I forget the exact context, another long time poster made a comment about not wishing to be referred to as European. She was adamant. She self-identified as British and/or English. I had never heard this before and it had certainly never occurred to me that somebody would take offense at the term. To an American, "European" sounds kind of flash. I certainly never said European in a negative way so how could anybody think that I meant it in a negative way?

Long story - short. I didn't argue with her. I didn't try to fight for my own right to call her European. I didn't dream up a million scenarios where it was okay to call British people European. I didn't belittle her, ridicule her, or try to wear her down. At the time, I formed my own personal opinion, which has changed somewhat over time, but I kept it to myself. I was actually grateful to know that this was even a thing.

It's a matter of being sensitive to the feelings of others. I'm sure I'll get insulted for saying that but seriously, IDGAF.

Trump today tweeted that he wants to cancel the Boeing contract for the new Presidential planes (which aren't due to be delivered until 2023) because they cost too much (he quotes $4B - a number that seems to be pulled out of thin air)

I fully expect that in a few days/weeks etc, we'll see Trump tweet again that he renegotiated the deal with Boeing to $2.6B, and just saved the country $1.4B!

Just ignore the fact that when the planes are delivered that the final cost will be well over $2.6B

Welcome to post-trust politics!

Assumptions are what create problems on a discussion forum. I don't know anything about you nor you about me. We're just individuals who transmit electronic messages to each other thousands of miles apart.

Assumptions are what create divides and social problems in the sense that a group or an individual are assumed to be something they're not because of their race, color or culture.

In my case I only make assumptions based on actually seeing or meeting with someone and becoming familiar with that person and even then I could very well be wrong.

It's just basic common sense really

They should give him one of those F-104 Starfighters, let him fly over to China in that.