I love this. I can just hear them back at home complaining about the guy who sounded like he was speaking a different language, and they got lost again, and then the room was so small, and they didn't even have any bacon at breakfast. Last time they ever travel overseas.

It's why canadians tourists have a badge on their backpack if they're young or tell you they're canadian within 60 seconds if they don't.
They know how it works.

I definitely saw my share of MAGA hats at the Fringe in 2017. They looked like every negative stereotype of America merged into one person. They were, likely by no coincidence, always alone when I saw them.

That's the idea - we don't want his sort here.

Thanks for the insight Dr. Deplorable.

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My daughter is in France now (actually UK for a few days, but France all semester) and everyone has been totally cool about her American-ness. People have asked about stuff and been interested, but mostly, if not entirely, cool.

Because she's not going full Trumpkin, which is what this line of chat is about.

Yeah. I was just saying she doesn't need to pretend to be Canadian or anything.

If she's lost in London and I ask you for directions I'll expect them to be non-duff.

Tell her to remember it's pronounced Lester Square, not Lie-sester Square, same as Tucson isn't pronounced Tuck-sun, and she'll be fine.

She and others really dont need to worry. People in London are generally pretty nice.

and the ones that aren't are more likely to support trump anyway.

No I disagree, the Northerners are right that people in London are generally selfish and rude ****s to each other, though somewhat better with helping foreigners.

There's an unfriendlyness in that people will ignore you completely unless you force the interaction. That's what Notherners (and others) notice.

Even that's not what it used to be.

ime the people most likely to be rude to tourists from the US are snotty young backpackers. Adults tend to be civil no matter which country you're in (except, of course, Parisians).

People were rude to me the one day I was in Paris in 1993, but my daughter loves it and wants to live there.

They probably mistook you for an Englishman. You should've stressed your American-ness and raved about Jerry Lewis: if you'd also thrown in a soupcon of French they'd have wined and dined you.

Everyone falls in love with Paris at first when they're young, but the novelty of centralised planning wears off after a while and the appearance and feel of the centre starts to feel very constricting and lacking in diversity. I hope she's gone/going to Montmartre and eating the merguez there.

The French are just different to everybody else. Have you been reading about the protests?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46254566
They dont mess about. Just block all the roads. Would be heartwarming if they weren't protesting an environmental tax on fuel (plus a lot of injuries and a death)

I never got a chance to be insulted by Parisians. Three years of HS French wasted.

Nothing to write home about, chez. The UK had its own version of this protest a decade ago, under the beady eye of a Mr Haddock if I recall; aren't such protests really just right wing and anti-tax?

I donr recall 100,000's of protesters blocking roads all across the country (for 2 days so far I think)

Shame about the cause but they dont mess about

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100% correct. Even many Trump haters don't seem to understand just how stupid and ignorant he is. And that he's never had any curiosity about anything other than his own immediate gratification and self-aggrandizement. He is functionally illiterate, meaning he can read words at an elementary level but generally cant extract meaning from them. He wouldn't be able to read or comprehend, say, one of DVaut's posts.

Don't be fooled by the old clips of him at a younger age. The difference between now and then is just cognitive decline; he's lived a life of doing nothing complex or mentally challenging. He was just as full of sh*t in his 40's as he is now. Confidence goes a long way with the masses and those with NPD speak authoritatively and with confidence. They believe and act as if they're the smartest person in the rooms at tall times. He still thinks he's the smartest man around ("I know more about ISIS than the military commanders.")

This is what an existential threat to the GOP looks like. If I owned a house that was the GOP I would sell it tomorrow cause the future looks bleak. Turnout for 18-19 was up in this midterm, but it will be up more in 2020, and more olds will have "aged out" of the electorate.



2010 GOP "wave" was 64% of Obama's 2008 vote. 1994 "wave" was 82%.

In 2018 Dems got 96% of Trump's 2016 vote.

Edit: I mean you can gerrymader all you want or add a BS citizenship question to the census, and that sucks. But while an extra layer of sandbags may offer protection from a serious storm, it will not keep out a major flood.

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The optimism is probably right, but the confidence is out of place when the 1 in 5 shot or whatever of things getting worse is so very awful.