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>>>The Steve Bannon things also raises a few question. His statements in the past are concerning.
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>You may be right- but in view of all the bias, I need to see and verify actual quotations now before I'll buy into a MSM target-du-jour. Do you have examples? Most of the anti-Bannon essays I see misattribute words of other authors to him. I particularly liked the accusation of anti-Semitism based on a tongue-in-cheek article written by a Jew. Even Zionist organizations came out and said he's being smeared.

In remarks to a 2014 conference at the Vatican, Bannon warned his Christian audience, “We’re at the very beginning stages of a very brutal and bloody conflict.”

“We are in an outright war against jihadists, Islam, Islamic fascism,” Bannon continued. He likewise condemned “the immense secularization of the West” and the increasing secularism among millennials.

Bannon stressed that “the people in this room, and the people in the Church” must “bind together and really form what I feel is an aspect of the Church militant, to really be able to not just stand with our beliefs but to fight for our beliefs against this new barbarity that’s starting that will literally eradicate everything that we’ve been bequeathed over the last 2,000 and 2,500 years.”

Tie that in with trump revoking limitations on religious groups funding political parties and the Christian rights expertise at raising money and its a toxic mix.


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>>>I'm not impressed by the prospect for the UK being a trade deal with a leader who has juts binned several trade deals that didn't suit him.
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>You mean the TPP that was not yet ratified by anybody except Japan? FWIW, the current NZ government was a very strong proponent of that deal despite noisy local protest, mostly by the left wing, about ceding of sovereignty to overseas corporations. FWIW, they did have a point on that one. So the irony is that Trump ought to be a hero to those concerned about the TPP... who instead join the vilification game. The big risk now is whether China can wangle a place for itself in a Trans-Pacific deal (it wasn't part of the original TPP) leaving the US outside a TPP at least triple the size of the EU.

Also NAFTA

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>>>Also they now seem to be warming up to conflict with Iran. Who should I support? The country ruled by an unstable leader backed by an extreme religious partisan group with a heavily militarised police force and an enormous prison population or Iran. ;-)
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>Quoting Hadith 624: "Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or he is oppressed." The Prophet was asked: "It is right to help him if he is oppressed, but how should we help him if he is an oppressor?" He replied: "By preventing him from oppressing others." Seems to me we ought to decide who our "brother is" and how we can convert noisy protest and bonfires, into actual deeds. Positive engagement by Theresa May seems more sensible than petitions to ban Trump from the UK or overblown criticism by the London mayor on the same day as he welcomes representatives of nations with longstanding real-life bans of Israeli citizens. People seem more interested in slinging off and burning bridges than looking for ways to actually make a difference.

There's a huge amount of noise coming out now about America First. Being "leader of the free world" was very different to USA first and you can tag along if you like.

Just reading about the ex Norwegian PM being detained at Dallas airport for extra questioning as he had an Iranian visa in his passport. While juts an incident its indicative of a new atmosphere.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/former-norway-pm-says-he-was-grilled-at-dulles-over-2014-iran-visit_us_589422d6e4b09bd304baac8f