It has not even been a month since Donald Trump took over as President of the most powerful nation on the planet. And so much has happened since then. What I do not understand is how people have been focusing on allegations when so much that can be proven has happened.
Okay, I do understand this. But by focusing on allegations, it allows Trump and his supporters to deflect from real issues.
Issues like dealing with a missile launch by North Korea in full view of others eating in the restaurant he was in at the time. (@ 2 minutes)
Or the way he has contradicted himself on his relationship with Putin. (@0.44 minutes)
Or the way the crowd watching the inauguration was the biggest ever, despite no numbers being collected... (@2.10 minutes)
And last of all, the way the Federal hiring freeze has hurt veterans.
No doubt there will be other times that real facts are present to indicate just how much of a nightmare Trump is. And I am sure that they will be seen soon. Sadly.
On Twitter recently I had a recent discussion about what Labour stood for.
Now one of the things of the leadership challenge by Owen Smith last year was that it allowed the message of Jeremy Corbyn to be shared properly. In order to win the election he had to share his vision on how Great Britain can be even greater and he won it by a bigger margin than before. So I thought it would be easy to find what Labour stands for under Corbyn. But it was not and I had to see his campaign page to see his vision. So for those who want to know what Labour stands for, continue reading.
There is of course the question of how these things will be paid for, which sounds bad, but you have to remember that debt has increased due to austerity.
My Mum has kindly come up for half term which has meant that my wife and I were able to go out to a birthday party last night. And we danced and danced and did I mention that we danced last night? On the way to get my mother, while I was at work, my son, when playing Pokémon, dropped the iPhone of my wife, into a puddle. Luckily he survived, as did the iPhone. My Mum had brought up the kids a magnetic dart board which they were eager to play on, but I did not have the time to look at it. I have to admit, when I heard that she had brought a dart board, I thought it was one with proper darts, and the images of darts in the head of my kids came to mind, but I should have had more faith in my mother. After all, she brought up me and my two brothers, essentially by herself and we are intact still!
So this morning, we got things ready for lunch, and before lunch my mother and the kids went for a walk to the shops. I keep trying to get them to exercise and while normally we would ride our bikes, I felt it was important to spend time with my mother. Later today, we got to play darts, and though there was a slight argument doing so, things improved. And we got to watch The Voice again.
A blonde stormed up to the front desk of the library and said, "I have a complaint!"
"Yes, ma'am?"
"I borrowed a book last week and it was horrible!"
"What was wrong with it?" asked the librarian.
"It had way too many characters and there was no plot whatsoever!"
The librarian nodded and said, "Ahh. You must be the person who took our phone book."
It has been interesting since my last week. On Wednesday, on the way to school I had arguments with both kids but my son had the more interesting one. This resulted in me being in a very bad mood and I had decided to ensure he learned his lesson when he got home. But on picking him up, later in the day, he showed that he had learned so much on the way home, that I told him I would suspend his punishment until the next day depending on his behaviour. And I have to say, he was brilliant for the rest of the day until he had to go to bed, and even then he was not that bad.
Today has been interesting. In the morning after waking up, I started to watch Divergent. For some reason, my daughter, who I offered to get her watch it, decided that she would rather be alone! But later her and her brother came in and we had a great morning in bed together, all four of us and it was a very memorable time.
Later, she went on a bike ride with me. She was not too keen on this at first, but later appeared to enjoy the thrill of riding a bike again. My son on the other hand decided that he did not want to do this. Now, my aim of getting them on their bikes is so that they get some exercise and become fitter. She states that this has helped her with PE at school, and he, like his sister has improved when it comes to throwing, catching and hitting balls from when we practised during the summer holidays. He went out, then decided to cycle slowly, and then got even worse, not being able to cycle along a path. There were tears and tantrums with him throwing down his bike at one point. And in the end, I lost me temper. But one of the good things about his punishment is that our toilet is cleaner!
Later on, it was lunch with friends and a few episodes of Modern Family. But despite what is probably my worst lunch ever, it was a really good day.
It was the real ale festival in Colchester today. Held at the Arts Centre by Camra there was beer and lots of it. My wife took me into town, but we arrived at the wrong time as it was very full. The kids left with my wife but then loads did as well and there was more room later. Next year I will need to arrive sooner...
Torture has been in the news recently, but Trump has stated that it will not go ahead in the US. There have been loads of arguments for it. I have to say, that a terrorist who has murdered children deserves torture, but I have several concerns. One is the effect torture has on those interrogating suspects. The next is that one mans terrorist is a freedom fighter to another. An example of this were the French Resistance in World War Two who were considered terrorists by the Germans and Vichy France. And if torture against terrorists is okay, then the Nazi's were okay to torture them along with the members of resistance groups across occupied Europe. Another example of this are the volunteers who are fighting in Syria against Unislamic State. They are considered, by both Russia and Syria, to be terrorists.
But the last is the risk of torturing innocents. So my first question to those who back torture is this. Would you agree to be tortured for a week along with nine other terrorists to save the lives of others? Would you agree to have your child, or another loved one tortured knowing they were innocent, along with nine terrorists, so that the lives of others would be saved? Because when it comes to suspects, they are just that. Suspects. And we know that we have tortured the innocent before.
The next refers to the volunteers who I mentioned before, fighting against Unislamic State. Is it right for Russia and Syria to torture them if they are captured?
