What are your thoughts on President Trump's alleged disastrous phone call with Australian PM Turnbull?
What I think about the phone call is…On a personal level, it made Trump sound like a petulant little kid. Or unhinged, which I guess he may be. Or like a shopkeeper haggling with a supplier because he doesn't like the price of potatoes this week. Was it a dumb deal? Not for Australia - so don't blame us. No one forced the US to make it!In terms of diplomacy, why is the White House leaking like this in a way that embarrasses a trusted ally? Publicly criticising a trusted ally like Australia - now that's dumb! Really dumb. And it looks sloppy. And then tweeting about it? Poor form and not professional. I guess Gen Mattis and more level headed adults can clean up his mess and apologise to Australia later on.Strategically, also stupid. Australia has stood shoulder to shoulder with the US in every war since The Great War. We may be militarily small but we're a respected democracy in an important strategic position in the Asia-Pacific. We have always had America’s back, even when there was not much direct benefit to us. Maybe it's time for us to reassess that? Maybe we should start charging for Pine Gap? If there is conflict with China over the SCS, maybe we need to work out which side we're on…. Strategically, it looks like part of a concerted plan which involves abusing and annoying trusted allies (in Europe, Mexico, and now Australia) and cosying up to a dangerous, expansionist kleptocracy (Russia). That’s stupid. But maybe it's not a concerted plan at all, maybe Trump is just a bit cray-cray.Finally, I think most Australians who take an interest in global affairs, realise that Trump is something of an aberration. We realise that America, at its best, and for all it's faults and foibles and occasional missteps, is the only global hegemon worth having. It's a shame that at the moment America is far from being ‘at its best’. Hopefully, our little alliance which has lasted a hundred years, will see happier days again. But Trump’s behaviour will have not a few Australians right now thinking ‘wait a second, what exactly is in this for us?’ the next time we get the call to support some military escapade in some far off land.Now, what I think about Australia’s shameful immigration policy is another issue entirely.
Does Huddle House conduct criminal background checks on job applicants?
Probably not
Why do passengers fall backward when the bus stops suddenly?
Continuing from Sagar’s answer: I notice that you asked why passengers fall *backwards* when the bus stops, rather than forwards. As Sagar has outlined, when the bus brakes, the feet slow down with the bus but the rest of the passenger tries to carry on, resulting in a tendency to fall forward. But, when the bus stops suddenly, that force is taken away very quickly, and if the passenger isn’t ready for that, they will fall backwards.To expand slightly: it’s the change in force that causes the falling, not the force itself. In this way, going from braking to stationary causes the same falling-backwards effect as going from stationary to accelerating. Conversely, a change from both accelerating-to-constant and constant-to-braking causes passengers to fall forwards.
What are some slang terms used among police officers?
The most derogatory terms for the bad guys and citizens who are just pains in the rectum:A.H. = Adam Henry (A-dam H-enry) If you don’t get it…..sometimes you will hear it as “Jack Hole”…..now what starts with an “A” that ends with HOLE ?RICHARD CRANIUM= What starts with a “D” and is a nickname for Richard ? What is the non-medical layman’s term for the Cranium ? Do these clues HEAD you in the right direction ?
How do you feel about the possibility that the resulting report of the Mueller probe might not be made public?
Much of it won’t be made public because it involves the activities of the ‘national security state’ with surveillance of private citizens and political candidates. Of course Eric Snowden told you all about it already but most of you weren’t listening or reading. Both Mueller and Comey are from deep within that web of the national security state. What Mueller will be asked for are probably two things—one, evidence for charges of impeachment and two, for criminal indictments after impeachment and removal from office. I myself don’t think either are going to occur, but if they do, not for anything to do with the Russians. Rather, the usual stuff—lying under oath, obstruction of justice (what they tried to get Clinton for, remember?).By way of edit. If you really want to go down the mistress path. The most strongly analogous case would then be Sen. Edwards. His campaign basically put his mistress on the payroll and reported properly—so no criminal indictments from that. Then later they tried to get Edwards on it, and no convictions stemming from that.