Donald Trump for President..

Also it was not a one way transfer. Australia was going to take Central Americans fleeing violence.

 

Damned by faint praise.

If you keep trying to hit everything with a sledgehammer, you're going to hit something which needed hitting. There are undoubtedly things he's going to do right.

One of the few things I see him heading in the right direction is to start to try to find visa overstayers.

I thought so initially myself. But after the first few weeks of Trump, I think that a person with at least some experience of how to get things done in the political system would be a good thing. And presumably, having been a state governor, he would know how to ask for and take advice from other people. I'm sure that I would disagree with many of his viewpoints. An evangelical Catholic is a very rare breed, a viewpoint which I suspect I wouldn't have a lot of commonality. But at least he wouldn't be driving a bulldozer through the political system.

 

I've been watching Anderson Cooper (balanced coverage in my opinion though I know they don't like Trump), and Fareed Zakaria. I watched Hannity the other night. What a ranting, rude person he is, yelling over the top of his guest because they were (politely) anti-Trump. I've never seen such behaviour on anything I've watched on CNN.

The other thing I've noticed whenever I've switched to Fox is the musical interludes. If I want to watch that crap I'll watch a music show. I cannot stand it. It's like watching Today or Sunrise. Lightweight rubbish with some ranting lunatic (Hannity) in the middle.

And, honestly, this is all going to the dogs. I really do believe something big is going to happen. The lunatics are running the asylum.

 

Actually, I don't place much by this.

They examined his account, which appears to be normal procedure for any client coming under increased public scrutiny. Nothing has been found at this stage.

Of more importance in my view, but receiving less scrutiny, are increasing attempts to deport immigrants, not all illegal. There are people now being deported who have records for things like working with a bad social security (from people who were not allowed social security) or driving without a licence (for people who were not allowed a licence). It's gone beyond people with records for which we would call a true criminal record.

There is a large group of young people who were allowed deferred action because they came into the US as young people and who fill certain conditions. There's talk that these people will be losing their exempt status.

There's the gag placed on any government scientific organisation from releasing any information publicly without vetting from the White House.

There's reports coming out now that some people entering the US must unlock their mobile phones for immigration officials- even US born citizens (with foreign names).

At the same time, while protecting its citizens from the terrorist threat, the requirement for people not to have a mental illness when buying arms is being lifted. Go figure.

 

As expected, in general, one side of the news is saying that Trump did a marvellous job in his press conference, and the other says that it was a rant.

Shep Smith though, from Fox News, doesn't back the Fox viewpoint
Fox News' Shep Smith to Trump: You owe the American people answers

 

Not sure who's already seen this, but here is Charlie Pickering's version of "America First"...

 

Actually there will possibly be some direct affect on my wife or myself shortly. We will be in transit through the United States after visiting the Middle East. We're not visiting any of the currently banned countries, but that list of countries could change. A Mexican born wife with Middle East visits...

She has a lot of worries about what will happen to her family in Mexico. The collapse of the peso is already affecting their business. There's talk of many millions being deported, many of whom don't even speak the language of their ancestral country with any fluency.

I have lived in the US so I have a particular interest. A lot of things happening cause me pain for a country I've known well. There's threats on a free press. There's been surges in incidents against non Americans, especially brown skinned ones. Millions of people who have lived a good and productive life in the US will be deported- ultimately, I believe, to the detriment of the US. Are there really enough unemployed white Americans willing to harvest the crops, clean the hotel rooms, and to do the otherwise undesirable jobs- for low pay? The US has grown on the back of cheap labour.

Our own economy is strongly connected to that of the US. We export $US22B to them annually. And now trade treaties are to be torn up. This will have some effect on us.

His phone call with our prime minister shows the complete lack of regard that Trump has for Australia, and is a sign that we should be seeking stronger ties with other countries, to avoid catching the cold when the US sneezes.

 

With a fair amount in international shares, as well as the reasons Lizzie and Geoff have outlined, this is very important to me and to Australia.

We're not going to have a heart attack over it though, so relax.