Topic: what surprised you today...

[goldshirt*9]

Posh Ice, the in thing

[smokester]

Posh Ice, the in thing

Even the staff had had an upgrade (uniforms that is).

I quite like Malcolm Walker as he seems to have always repaid his staff for the loyalty and endeavours.  I remember this gesture a few years ago (not the HMRC decision) that impressed me:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/10090633/Iceland-boss-baulks-at-2.5m-Disney-tax-bill.html

[8ullfrog]

Got my hands on an in contract verizon tablet, both microsd cards worked fine.

I am bless'ed hating my phone right now.

[goldshirt*9]

The amount of anti Trump protests in the UK over his visit

[6pairsofshoes]

Living in America with that maniac in the White House is like being in a bad car accident in slow motion.  You have no idea when it's going to end or how bad it's going to get before it's over.

[goldshirt*9]

he was democratically voted in.
what surprises me more is the fact a politician who ran for office has actually actioned his promises  has caused more protests than the majority who don't 

Anyway off the subject of politics.
Today I was surprised I made it out of bed as I ripped all my muscles in the lower right hand side of my back yesterday at work.
Had a heated argument with HR manager at work who said, as I had seen the training video it was my fault.
Mmmmmmmmm this riled me and I stated that we had no risk assessment folder in the area no weights of parts we have to life, no lifting tackle,parts arrive on wrong trolley wheels/in wrong boxes.
But what got me going the most was he statement that "this happens on a regular basis in the area I work in"
So my retort was simple "Why hasn't the management then actioned a full risk assessment and acted accordingly"

I was then asked to leave the top office.
He came to see me later and apologised as he could see that all I had stated was correct and that a Manager had lied to him stating" he had fully done risk assessments and made available in the work area)

I even (thank you my work mate) had to get a lift home as I was on my bike.
I now await the chaos that will ensue at the back to work interview and the Riddor that will follow ,especially as i cannot even put my socks on so doubtful I will go to work for a while 

sorry about the long "get it off my chest post"

[smokester]

he was democratically voted in.
what surprises me more is the fact a politician who ran for office has actually actioned his promises  has caused more protests than the majority who don't 

Anyway off the subject of politics.
Today I was surprised I made it out of bed as I ripped all my muscles in the lower right hand side of my back yesterday at work.
Had a heated argument with HR manager at work who said, as I had seen the training video it was my fault.
Mmmmmmmmm this riled me and I stated that we had no risk assessment folder in the area no weights of parts we have to life, no lifting tackle,parts arrive on wrong trolley wheels/in wrong boxes.
But what got me going the most was he statement that "this happens on a regular basis in the area I work in"
So my retort was simple "Why hasn't the management then actioned a full risk assessment and acted accordingly"

I was then asked to leave the top office.
He came to see me later and apologised as he could see that all I had stated was correct and that a Manager had lied to him stating" he had fully done risk assessments and made available in the work area)

I even (thank you my work mate) had to get a lift home as I was on my bike.
I now await the chaos that will ensue at the back to work interview and the Riddor that will follow ,especially as i cannot even put my socks on so doubtful I will go to work for a while 

sorry about the long "get it off my chest post"

I've had a couple of bad accidents at work lately, but all I can do is shout at the labourer and tell him to tidy the place up;.

I could sue myself, of course. A friend of mine actually did that. He was awarded £80,000 from his own company.

[goldshirt*9]

I could sue myself, of course. A friend of mine actually did that. He was awarded £80,000 from his own company.

I am Shocked.
Worse today as going into spasms at awkward moments, like going down the stairs.
Cannot see doctor till 3.30 today.

[8ullfrog]

Got told I'm eligible for medi-cal. Not if I have it or not, but that I'm eligible.

God I hate everyhing.

[6pairsofshoes]

he was democratically voted in.

The "demos" voted overwhelmingly for his opponent.  An arcane law that was intended to mollify slaveowners resulted in his obtaining the position despite the 3 million Americans who expressed a preference for Hillary Clinton who threw the popular plebescite in her favor.

His obliviousness to that fact, to the many Americans who didn't vote for him, and his disregard for the fact that the position of President is not like Emperor or CEO of a private corporation, is more likely than not, going to result in his removal from office when the GOP dominated legislature determines that he has outlived his usefulness.  He is an international embarrassment and I'm ashamed to have to explain that I didn't vote for him to my friends abroad.

I hope you feel better soon.  Having wrenched muscles in one's back is no fun.

[goldshirt*9]

The "demos" voted overwhelmingly for his opponent.  An arcane law that was intended to mollify slaveowners resulted in his obtaining the position despite the 3 million Americans who expressed a preference for Hillary Clinton who threw the popular plebescite in her favor.

His obliviousness to that fact, to the many Americans who didn't vote for him, and his disregard for the fact that the position of President is not like Emperor or CEO of a private corporation, is more likely than not, going to result in his removal from office when the GOP dominated legislature determines that he has outlived his usefulness.  He is an international embarrassment and I'm ashamed to have to explain that I didn't vote for him to my friends abroad.

I hope you feel better soon.  Having wrenched muscles in one's back is no fun.

We also have a voting system that people complain about when they lose,He was voted in
though, interesting about the slaveowners.
He  wants to run the country as he runs his business, hard successful ish and has actioned his promisses
thank you, its a killer.It's the helplessness I feel in not being able to do nothing in the house or garden.I nomally tinker around when I have time so i'm biting at the bit to do anything,Even resorted to watching Jeremy Kyle on the tv ONCE

[6pairsofshoes]

Well, the bit of the demos that voted did.

Democracy really doesn't work, to be honest, and someone that is determined (let's call this type of person a "politician") can subvert it to their own ends regardless of safeguards. However you decide it works, someone can figure out a way around it.

Fundamentally my issue with it has always been if 51% of the population want to victimise/ kill/ enslave the other 49%, then it is democratic for them so to do. Democracy can be really unpleasant for the loser.

... although, as Churchill said, all other forms of government are worse.

Sadly, I agree with you about democracy, which can be mob rule in its worst forms.  What is weird about the US is the systematic way the Legislative body has subverted the drawing of legislative districts so that,while the majority of the voting populace is Democratic, the other party manages to gain the majority in both houses.  A key decision is before the Supreme Court that may end this practice.

Trump, again, seems to not understand that being the executive of a company that you set up and run is not the same thing as being an elected public official.  Governance is hard work and complex in that you must constantly work to push through your agenda in a matrix of power relationships that have little to no resemblance to the structures in the private sector.  I think he has no experience, is at a loss, and is essentially working as a puppet of those who are more experienced and practiced at such machinations.  Restricting people's access to health care is hardly the work of a conservative or libertarian.  It's the agency of a man who holds women to be second rate citizens.  Restricting freedom of speech and the press is not conservative, or libertarian, it's the action of someone who is uncomfortable with criticism.  And the absurd, throw the baby out with the bathwater approach to restrictions on immigration, was done in such a haphazard half assed way, that it's basically been gutted through multiple injunctions and legal challenges.  With Trump, it's truly Amateur Hour in the White House.  If only this were like the Apprentice and we could say, "You're Fired," when we had our noses full of his incompetence.

I'm in a resisting while waiting for the inevitable state, based on the old "give em enough rope," philosophy.  My husband and I have bets on how long it will be before he manages to be impeached.

[6pairsofshoes]

You won't be able to impeach him if he disbands the Judiciary.

I don't think that the bulk of the US citizenry has quite come to terms with the power that you have given your President if he has the will to use it. e.g. His remarks about the judge that had the cheek to stand up to him - "so-called judge" indeed - have the power to discredit that judge, and when he turns his twitter feed onto something, it gets torched, because ...

.. lest ye forget, he still has millions of supporters that love what he is doing.

(Thought experiment: What would you do if he actually did throw Hilary into jail? It is about the only election promise that he hasn't yet followed through on)

PS - sometimes I miss folk like GW for conversations of this nature.

I've been royally pissed off that he did not follow through on his promise to throw Hillary in jail.  Why?  Because it was BS from the start and I wanted him exposed for what he is, a liar, a bully and a cheat.  I also expect that we'll all be enjoying a nice ice skating party in hell before he releases his tax returns.

Re the gerrymandering of electoral districts, this process was explained well in the linked article in the Washington Post.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/03/01/this-is-the-best-explanation-of-gerrymandering-you-will-ever-see/?postshare=7231485622571895&tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.632e17e73e56

[6pairsofshoes]

The trouble is that someone noticed (lets call him "The Founding Fathers", as a non-emotive neutral name for him) the potential existence of the tyranny of the majority (51% wants, 51% gets) and decided to try to ensure that this couldn't easily occur. He was as guilty of gerrymandering as any of his successors..

A lot of smaht folks came along after him, and co-opted variations of his ideas to ensure that their opponents couldn't easily win, but if used correctly it more nearly ensures fairness. In the text that you linked you don't really need the exotic example at the end, the initial two divisions illustrate the point exactly - if "fairness" is your aim, then "fairness" is pretty achievable, but you need to know who is red and who is blue, and where they live - that whole infographic fails when you don't KNOW the split.

The fact is that there is no "fair" way of representing a diverse group of people, so all pretence of "fairness" is discarded, and instead we choose representatives, and they lie, cheat, wheedle, steal, connive and confuse in order to get their own way because they must win

If we are charitable (let's not deal with the possibility of self-serving "politicians", as they just muddy the water - let's assume that they are all selfless altruists), we could say that each of them want to win because they truly believe that they are the best hope for humanity, and thus any means of getting them into power is fair, as the result of them winning is that humanity is "saved™" (or if - heaven forfend - they lose, then the world is doomed to eternal hellfire and ashes). The trouble is that some - if not all - of them are mistaken, and the ends don't justify the means. This is a hard pill to swallow, and to be honest I don't ever recall a single politician that understood this. The nearest I have seen is people that failed because they couldn't quite wrangle the last ounce of power from the system, and they were finally defeated by the intransigent (and by definition "wrong") opposition.

Gerrymandering is just one of the tools used by these self-believing folk to ensure that the world has the chance to be saved by them.

Interestingly I think that your current President seems to honestly believe that he knows the makeup of the country - on the one hand there are people that like him, understand him, and believe in him (good guys), and on the other hand there are crooks, illegals, democrats, the liberal media and other folk that don't have the best interests of the country at heart (bad guys). He apparently sees it as his duty to root out and expel/ imprison/ ridicule/ destroy everyone in the second category. This is as near a perfect example of the tyranny of the majority as one could hope to see, and I honestly think that he will do everything in his power to trample anyone that he sees as being a bad guy.

Incidentally I don't think that he is "controlled" in the same way the previous Republican President was.

There is no question in my mind that you are correct in your assessment of Trump's fervent belief in his rectitude and the "vast majority" that wants him to "drain the swamp" etc.  The problem lies in two areas:  one, in the delusions of grandeur of a con-man whose very success lies in his belief in his own overinflated successes and abilities, two, in the fact that he really seems to be bored and uninterested in the actual business of horsetrading that real governance actually requires.  Instead, he has surrounded himself with people who are either sycophantic spin doctors or those with such a radically right agenda that he feels he can turn over the tedious aspects of his job (drafting Executive orders, dealing with members of the legislative branch, etc.) to those reliable others.  I suspect he ran his real estate empire and its related subsidiaries in the same way.

I have never believed him to be either original or especially successful as a real estate developer (and the history of this field is one area of my own professional interest, so I've long known and followed his activities in this area).  I don't see much original in his Presidential agenda or actions either.  I read policy positions offered on his website when he was running, and while I was somewhat cheered by reading his plans to revamp America's crumbling infrastructure, it, like much GOP agenda, depended for funding, not on tax revenues, but on a trickle down based economy where of course all the enlightened capitalists in  our country would create masses of jobs and products, goods and services to enable a boom that would result in new monies trickling down to the masses.

I've heard this song and dance a million times and have seen it come crashing down around our ears more times than I can count.  It's sad when I long for the days when Republicans saw the virtue of projects like building a national highway system and those who benefitted the most from the system were expected to give back a reasonable portion of their gains to keep it going.  Now it's like we've devolved into a Hobbesian state of nature.  It kind of reminds me of lines of people waiting for the bus in Athens, when I was traveling in Greece.  I was amazed as I saw big strong men shoving little old ladies aside so they could get on first.  That's the America I live in under Donald Trump, and it makes me sad to no end.

[smokester]

Sorry 6. I've edited your posts as trying to imagine what christ had said in-between was just too much for me. I had to visit the recycle bin and root around in the old banana skins and used teabags to locate christ's comments - which I have now added to your posts to be able to read the exchange which is quite worthwhile in my opinion.