Trump

[prophet:marginal]

So, are there still Senate seats as yet undeclared?

Looks like some of the votes were very close.

[OFT]

Fake votes

[sendô]

Trump is a genius, words I never thought I would type.

I think you are right Pinks, I've never seen someone so consistently manipulate the press like he does. He constantly sets the tone for what they're going to report, and does it whilst continually baiting them and slagging them off.

It'd be funny if it wasn't for the position he is in.

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

If the USA press had any gumption, they'd boycott his next press call after his latest attack on them.

[prophet:marginal]

If the USA press had any gumption, they'd boycott his next press call after his latest attack on them.

Moths to flames, imho.

[Hawaiian hammer]

If the USA press had any gumption, they'd boycott his next press call after his latest attack on them.

Whatever you think of him, Trump is newsworthy. The press only care about ratings for revenue. What Trump says most of the time is of no real importance to them apart from ratings.

[IronworksDave]

If the USA press had any gumption, they'd boycott his next press call after his latest attack on them.

Only the anti-Trump would boycott leaving a completely biased press corps ... Trump would love that

[bitter-iron-ny]

So, are there still Senate seats as yet undeclared?

Looks like some of the votes were very close.

Florida is headed for a manual recount. Every ballot examined by hand. Not just for the Senate race but for Governor and Lieutenant Governor. Each one has to be done separately, so three distinct examinations of the ballots. Fun.

Mississippi is headed for a runoff since no candidate got 50%. But that's an ultra red state so eventual outcome not in doubt.

Arizona has not been declared but the Democrat has increased her lead to 32,000+ votes, out of over 2.1 million votes cast. That was my upset pick for the Dems as the mountain states are trending blue and Sinema is an attractive candidate. (Yes I would. In a minute.)

[Francoisvander or else]

Rather than declare a National Emergency to free up additional funds following the wild fires he is now threatening to cut California's budget citing poor forest management. In the Brexit thread people are talking about a European Army which with Trump in charge of the White House seems entirely reasonable, imagine the strings attached her if we had to rely on him

[Etonhammer]

If we funded our own Armed Forces properly then we wouldn't need to rely so heavily on the US.

POTUS is spot on when it comes to NATO, too many countries have been short changing their commitment.

As for the EU Army. Didn't Nick Clegg and all the ardent EUrophiles say that was definitely, definitely never going to happen??

A 'dangerous fantasy' IIRC

[Samba]

If space aliens ever land in America & say, 'take us to your leader', don't.
It won't end well..

[DasNutNock]

As for the EU Army. Didn't Nick Clegg and all the ardent EUrophiles say that was definitely, definitely never going to happen??

A 'dangerous fantasy' IIRC

Yes, Knight of the Realm, Sir Nick Clegg, was clear on the matter. A European army would never happen, and anyone who said otherwise was a dangerous fantasist.

[bitter-iron-ny]

Rather than declare a National Emergency to free up additional funds following the wild fires he is now threatening to cut California's budget citing poor forest management. In the Brexit thread people are talking about a European Army which with Trump in charge of the White House seems entirely reasonable, imagine the strings attached her if we had to rely on him

Aside from being totally insensitive, Trump's assertion is borderline idiotic. They're wild fires, not forest fires. Much of the damage is being done in areas that are not impacted by any kind of forest management.

[WCpete]

He also has no clue what forest management is. He thinks it means logging. Cut down the trees and there's no fuel to burn. That isn't what "forest management" is. Fire doesn't burn healthy trees to the ground. It burns and spreads in the underbrush for the most part. It's the dry underbrush, bushes, grasses, tree canopies and man made structures that burn to the ground, not the core of the trees themselves. Keep the forest floors clear of 'fuel' and the fires don't spread quickly, and place fire breaks in strategic places. That's forest management. In the case of the Mailibu fires, there is no forest. It's underbrush and buildings. Forest management has nothing to do with the fires. Up North, it's possible the fires started on Federal land, but most of what has burned thus far hasn't been Federally controlled forests.

California has had 8 years of terrible drought. The state is a giant pile of kindling. Anytime there are any sustained winds the threat of catastrophic fire events is very high. Since it doesn't rain here anymore, these events are just going to get worse and worse. 2 or 3 times a year now we have to wear respirators outdoors here in SF. It's become the norm. It sucks. Last year my wife was staying in one of the hotels that got burned to the ground in Santa Rosa. These videos you see of people driving through a virtual hell of firestorms; she had to do that to escape.

None of this is to the point though. The don wants to open Federal lands to energy development. He wants to log, drill, mine, whatever he can do make some $$. His comments on withholding Fed funds for relief to victims is a way to push that agenda. No matter that he has pushed cutting the budgets for Federal Land Management significantly since he's taken office. There weren't enough people employed to manage Fed lands before he took office. There are a lot less now. It should also be noted that the victims of the Butte County fire are almost entirely Trump voters. I suspect that may have had a little bit to do with why he's backed off from his threats.

Climate patterns are changing. Ocean currents and temps are changing. Essentially that means that California's fire season is year round now, rather than just when the Santa Ana & Diablo are blowing. All the forest management in the world isn't going to stop that.

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

He's just piqued they vote Democrat.

[WCpete]

In Malibu, yes. In Paradise, no. Those are his people.

[claretandblue82]

Surprised no one has mentioned this. Maybe he didn't want it to ruin his bizarre hair!

https://abcnews.go.com/US/trumps-rain-c ... d=59119504" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[IronworksDave]

He also has no clue what forest management is. He thinks it means logging. Cut down the trees and there's no fuel to burn.

The truth about these fires will be far more simple, and predictable, than you can imagine ...

It will come down to miss-management but it will be miss-management of dead and fallen trees in the vicinity of power cables, a problem identified back in 2014 but deemed non urgent ...

It will be Pacific Gas & Electric or Edison who will get the blame, rightly so, as it will have been their equipment that started these fires ...

But the real problem lies with the State of California who have been repeatedly warned that catastrophic fires were not an if, but a when, if preventative action wasn't taken ...

No action was taken and now people have died because of that ... the law suits will be stratospheric

All across the state power lines which are supposed to have 20m 'clear zones' and zero overhanging trees, in fact haven't been checked let alone cleared in a decade or more ...

At the moment I'm guessing most of this but I'm 99% sure this will be proven to be true ...

Whilst Trump got all his facts wrong and blamed the wrong department ... he was right in that the State of California's failure to oversee the enforcement of fire prevention will be the root cause ...

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

.......................................

Arizona has not been declared but the Democrat has increased her lead to 32,000+ votes, out of over 2.1 million votes cast. That was my upset pick for the Dems as the mountain states are trending blue and Sinema is an attractive candidate. (Yes I would. In a minute.)

Now confirmed

[DasNutNock]

Crikey - that Sinema's a right sort, eh.

Why are our MPs always such f*cking grotters?