Story #1

 

http://www.statepress.com/2012/03/12/senate-judiciary-committee-endorses-controversial-contraceptive-bill/

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 6-2 Monday to endorse a controversial bill that would allow Arizona employers the right to deny health insurance coverage for contraceptives based on religious objections.

 

Arizona House Bill 2625, authored by Majority Whip Debbie Lesko, R-Glendale, would permit employers to ask their employees for proof of medical prescription if they seek contraceptives for non-reproductive purposes, such as hormone control or acne treatment.

 

“I believe we live in America. We don’t live in the  Soviet Union,” Lesko said. “So, government should not be telling the organizations or mom and pop employers to do something against their moral beliefs.”

 

Lesko said this bill responds to a contraceptive mandate in the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law March 2010.

 

“My whole legislation is about our First Amendment rights and freedom of religion,” Lesko said. “All my bill does is that an employer can opt out of the mandate if they have any religious objections.”

 

Story#2

 

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/rick-santorum-wants-ban-hardcore-pornography-222833811.html

Rick Santorum wants to put an end to the distribution of pornography in the United States.

 

"America is suffering a pandemic of harm from pornography," Santorum's official website reads. "Pornography is toxic to marriages and relationships. It contributes to misogyny and violence against women. It is a contributing factor to prostitution and sex trafficking."

 

The former Pennsylvania senator states that, "as a parent, I am concerned about the widespread distribution of illegal obscene pornography and its profound effects on our culture."

 

Santorum criticized the Obama administration for turning "a blind eye ... to the scourge of pornography" and for refusing to enforce obscenity laws.

 

"If elected President, I will appoint an Attorney General who will do so," Santorum writes. "While the Obama Department of Justice seems to favor pornographers over children and families, that will change under a Santorum Administration."

1 hour ago, Mason89 said:

I’m not upset and I’m quite happy to have a differing viewpoint when it comes to the nonce in chief. I just find it fascinating that he could get elected twice knowing what we know. 
Anyway, won’t be long now 

Likewise. You seem a bit overly obsessed with trump, he’s here until Jan 2029, hang in there!

1 hour ago, OrlandoDon said:

I’m not here to pick fights with you, or anyone. Commented before I dont get on this thread much now for this exact reason. You get some real touchy subjects, things get heated, some people clearly care more than others. I live here in the US, have for 30 yrs, and am a US citizen now. I am more than grateful for the life this country has allowed me to live, and the opportunities presented to me. 
I see things quite differently to  comments some of you make, so do speak up. I don’t dislike anybody, you have your opinion. This week I’m a racist, even though on red tv today they made the positive comment about us having more Scottish players, I’ve been a crazy right winger before. I’m not the voice of trump, the republicans, or anyone, just giving you an opinion. Same as you all do, we’re all entitled to that. But some of you here get quite upset for differing viewpoints, hence I tend to avoid this thread now. To each their own, we all love the dons and that’s a beautiful thing…..despite the regular shit like today!

Fair play to you Orlando and also to Mason- forums are about different viewpoints- and while there are clearly different views on this subject, OD has tried to give a view what he is living and breathing in the states right now- the issues that are affecting him and how it affects his standard of living. What we see here- and depending on network in the states - may be completely different to what particular demographic in the states sees. This country is the same where a particular narrative can be forced through by the media providing it.

For what it’s worth, I cannot believe the best 2 candidates in the USA were Trump and Biden / Harris at the last election, but we have no bragging rights for the dross of elected officials in this country. 
I do believe though that Trump is the most unhinged leader of the “free world” that has been seen in my lifetime on this planet

17 minutes ago, OrlandoDon said:

Likewise. You seem a bit overly obsessed with trump, he’s here until Jan 2029, hang in there!

He’ll not see out the year. 

4 minutes ago, 2stars said:

Fair play to you Orlando and also to Mason- forums are about different viewpoints- and while there are clearly different views on this subject, OD has tried to give a view what he is living and breathing in the states right now- the issues that are affecting him and how it affects his standard of living. What we see here- and depending on network in the states - may be completely different to what particular demographic in the states sees. This country is the same where a particular narrative can be forced through by the media providing it.

For what it’s worth, I cannot believe the best 2 candidates in the USA were Trump and Biden / Harris at the last election, but we have no bragging rights for the dross of elected officials in this country. 
I do believe though that Trump is the most unhinged leader of the “free world” that has been seen in my lifetime on this planet

Yeah we’ve elected some utterly shameful characters over here. I can’t think of any that would’ve been elected after mocking a disabled journalist or claiming to fancy his own daughter though. Americans must like that stuff 

1 hour ago, OrlandoDon said:

Likewise. You seem a bit overly obsessed with trump, he’s here until Jan 2029, hang in there!

Gone after the midterms. 

On 28/01/2026 at 00:00, OrlandoDon said:

I don’t see myself as that out there or abnormal, just someone who wants a normal, safe, and affordable life. I’ve seen this country change in 30 years, and someone is finally doing something about it. i’m ready for the abuse, but I relate to jack nicholson in ‘a few good men.’ There’s no easy way of making the change this country needs. But I do believe doing nothing is worse. 
I’ll add, none of you know me besides random posts, and what I mean may not be what you hear.

your comment about the UK being less reliant on the US is spot on and exactly what trump has said. Countries need to do more for themselves, the US can’t afford to fund so many other situations any more. Other countries and leaders need to step up for their own good, much like the US is doing for themselves. I don’t think that makes you a bad place/country/person.

when was last in Scotland, 2015, I went to Edinburgh for 2 days where I spent 4 years at college. I rarely heard a Scottish accent. All English and Eastern European. It was not the Edinburgh I lived in from 1990-1994. I don’t think this makes me a racist or whatever, I love my country and culture. It’s just changing and becoming a different place/culture. Not sure it’s better, but certainly different. I think this country is trying to save the culture from slipping further away.

I suppose it would be a boring world if our moral compasses all pointed in the same direction.

9 hours ago, 2stars said:

Fair play to you Orlando and also to Mason- forums are about different viewpoints- and while there are clearly different views on this subject, OD has tried to give a view what he is living and breathing in the states right now- the issues that are affecting him and how it affects his standard of living. What we see here- and depending on network in the states - may be completely different to what particular demographic in the states sees. This country is the same where a particular narrative can be forced through by the media providing it.

For what it’s worth, I cannot believe the best 2 candidates in the USA were Trump and Biden / Harris at the last election, but we have no bragging rights for the dross of elected officials in this country. 
I do believe though that Trump is the most unhinged leader of the “free world” that has been seen in my lifetime on this planet

I think he is unhinged, yes.

But he has a ...... cunning/instinct that is seeing him survive.

His main thought is always for himself, in terms of the grift, it's the narcissistic way. 'What's good for me is good for everyone'.

The money he's making,  and the scale of the corruption in so doing, is astounding.

His greatest triumph is getting sufficient Americans to buy into the concept that he has a strategy beyond 'more power and money for me'.

His performative cruelty is simply to play to his fanbase.

I guess enough right-wing (is there any other kind?) Americans, beyond the slavering MAGA extremists, are happy enough to justify/overlook his antics if they get a few crumbs dropping off the table in their direction.

 

10 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

Likewise. You seem a bit overly obsessed with trump, he’s here until Jan 2029, hang in there!

I think if -

1) His obviously failing health holds up; and

2) He manages to stop/cheat-in the mid-terms;

then he is.

How much damage he does between now and then is the scary part.

 

 

12 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

There’s no point. I don’t care like you do. Like the anti trump syndrome people here, it’s always his fault and there’s no point in arguing/debating, it always comes back to trump is to blame. It’s cold in Florida today, I’m sure someone somewhere is blaming trump for chem trails and weather modification.
I’ve said many times, trump isn’t blameless, trump isn’t innocent etc, I try to be subjective. but that’s not good enough for you, you’ve made that clear a few times. None of us ultimately know, but some, maybe you, I don’t know, think they do more than others.

this wasn’t even about trump, it was the Epstein files and I made the comment that others are involved and guilty, gates and Clinton who I referenced. Debating trump, just like listening to him, is beyond exhausting.

Oh, I don't think anyone would ever say 'Trump is to blame'.

The States, like the UK, has suffered for generations under right-wing, short-termist, free market socio-economic models.

These models need poverty to function.

Generation on generation poverty leads to a sizable disenfranchised percentage of the population. 

Because society is so completely under right-wing control,  they can misdirect elsewhere. 

They're hardly going to say 'yeah our policies have fucked you up but deal with it cos enough of us are doing OK'.

They need a distraction. Immigration, 'woke'  minorities....all fair game.

This creates the environment for self-serving grifters to attain power.

It's happening all over and the genie's too far out of the bottle to stop it.

In the States,  factor in the obsession with their particular non-Christian version of Christianity.......

I just find it fascinating that a country that completely lost its shit over a suit that Obama wore, seem to be cool with child sex trafficking 

The mental gymnastics from the right is staggering. Biden mumbles a bit? 24hr news for days. Trump continually talks absolute bollocks? Cool. Biden son may have used his position to make cash? A disgrace. Team Trump grifting from the White House? Cool. Another school shooting? Thoughts and prayers. Trump says hand in your guns? Govern me harder daddy 

If they lived in Scotland, they’d be Huns. Guaranteed. 

That's something that's always intrigued me about the States.

From the outside looking in, it appears very bottom line motivated. 

Now you can say that's the same all over, to an extent it is.

In the UK, plenty of those who have done OK in the Thatcherite and post-Thatcherite landscape have been 'fuck you jack' at the things happening elsewhere. 

And in the UK we've elected some obnoxious, educationally sub-normal, wrong-uns.

But, over here I think even the majority of the Daily Mail crowd would've drawn the line at Trump's performative nastiness and certainly the noncing. 

A more minor example can be found in the sporting world, Duane Chambers and Julian Eddleman.

Both banned for PEDs, both came back to their sport.

Chambers routinely booed and something of a pariah,  Edelman went on to be Superbowl MVP with little comment.

 

Did Trump really shite himself in the oval office? 🤣

1 hour ago, InversneckieDob said:

Did Trump really shite himself in the oval office? 🤣

He’s got previous. The testimony of Sacha Reilly could shed some light on as to why. 
 

It could all be pish of course but I always tend to believe the victims and at this stage, you can’t rule anything out 

I reckon this Senate result in Texas will see therapist Trump up the ante in terms of trying to stop/fix the mid-terms.

24 minutes ago, InversneckieDob said:

I reckon this Senate result in Texas will see therapist Trump up the ante in terms of trying to stop/fix the mid-terms.

It's not Trump, as such, the Republicans are experts at fixing the vote. They began as soon as they won the last election, and are still using the same tactics as 2000. They raided offices in Georgia recently on the premise of "investigating the 2020 election", getting all the voter records handed over. What follows is the purge. They've shorn districts of mail boxes for postal votes, under the nonsense pretense that those are being fixed too. The Democrats are way behind on this, and there's only one or two swing states that need to be targeted. 

In the last day, he’s threatening to sue the American people for 10 billion because it was leaked by his own IRS that he paid $750 in tax, closing the Kennedy centre because every artist has told him to poke it & refusing to play there and is threatening to sue Trevor Noah for calling him a nonce* 

 

* spoiler alert - he won’t. It’s the one thing he never takes legal action over. Can’t imagine why 

Thank you for your attention to these matters. MAGA! 

Again, this single thing alone would normally be enough to remove him from his job. We already know he’s a racist but there was a time when it was frowned upon for a president to be so open about it. 
 

see also - theft, embezzlement, child rape, breaking the constitution, weaponising the DOJ, murdering your own citizens, hiding top secret documents in your bog, destroying the White House, shiting yourself in public etc etc 
 

 

7 hours ago, Kowalski said:

On 31/01/2026 at 21:41, OrlandoDon said:

Likewise. You seem a bit overly obsessed with trump, he’s here until Jan 2029, hang in there!

At what stage would you say 'he's gone too far, this is a terrible mistake'?

23 hours ago, Kowalski said:

I honestly thought it was fake, surely not even Trump could stoop that low and be THAT stupid.

Of course, nothing to see here. Just a bit of light hearted fun.

Must be great being a black person in America and now know exactly, what the most powerful person in the country thinks of you.

It's really not going to end well.

 

 

Edited February 7Feb 7 by TheDonbytheDee

The gimp has declared the emissions aren't a risk to the public and has revoked the "great green scam"

 

1 hour ago, TheDonbytheDee said:

The gimp has declared the emissions aren't a risk to the public and has revoked the "great green scam"

 

He wasn’t looking well at all when announcing this. A bit droopy round the face and his hand was caked in makeup 

He better croak it live on tv. I think he owes us that much 🙂

1 hour ago, Mason89 said:

He wasn’t looking well at all when announcing this. A bit droopy round the face and his hand was caked in makeup 

He better croak it live on tv. I think he owes us that much 🙂

I would fucking love this 

Quite enjoy this guys take on things 

 

To put a positive spin on the basket case it actually is, it's great news the dollar is so weak. I need to go to Denver for work next week and it's $1.35 to the £1. Best I have had in years. 

Keep it up.