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You've been Trumped!

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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Tue 10 Jul , 2018 1:15 pm
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http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/39 ... e-payments
Quote:
The Trump administration's abrupt suspension of billions of dollars in payments to ObamaCare insurers has prompted new warnings of rising premiums as health companies scramble to adjust.

...The flurry of activity is the result of a surprise announcement Saturday by the administration that it had suspended $10.4 billion in funding that is supposed to be paid to insurers to help them provide coverage to particularly sick and costly enrollees.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/39618 ... cting-no-2
Quote:
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ... announced Monday that [Director] Mulvaney had appointed Brian Johnson to be the agency’s acting deputy director. Johnson had previously served as the CFPB’s principal policy director. He had been hired by Mulvaney last year to rein in and rebrand the controversial regulator.

...Johnson was a top aide to Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Hensarling led House Republican efforts to investigate the CFPB, gut the agency’s powers and impose congressional oversight over the regulator designed to be independent from lawmakers’ whims.

Mulvaney also hired Kirsten Sutton Mork, another former Hensarling aide, to be his chief of staff at the CFPB.


http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3962 ... boggles-my
Quote:
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Monday decried a "lack of information" from the Trump administration on how it plans to reunite migrant families that had been separated at the U.S.-Mexico border.

"If they got a process, they're not revealing the process to me," Johnson, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, told CNN. "These are human beings."

"I'm just not getting the answers I would have thought they should have on the tips of their fingers," he continued. "It boggles my mind. I just would assume that the connection in all these things are tracked — and that the reunification would have been a relatively simple matter."

http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... -be-detain
Quote:
A federal judge on Monday rejected the Trump administration's request to change a legal settlement in order to detain migrant children with their parents for longer periods of time as officials struggle to reunite families separated at the border.

U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee in California dismissed as “tortured” the White House's arguments on the decades-old Flores consent from 1997, which declared that children in immigration detention cannot be held for more than 20 days.

"Defendants seek to light a match to the Flores Agreement and ask this Court to upend the parties’ agreement by judicial fiat," Gee, an appointee of former President Obama, wrote in the ruling. "It is apparent that Defendants’ Application is a cynical attempt...to shift responsibility to the Judiciary for over 20 years of Congressional inaction and ill-considered Executive action that have led to the current stalemate."


http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... pid-people
Quote:
President Trump dismissed some of his own aides during a phone call earlier this year with Russian President Vladimir Putin as "stupid people," The New York Times reported Monday.

The Times, citing a source with direct knowledge of Trump's phone call in March, reported that the Russian president lamented that some White House officials tried to stop the conversation from even happening.

“Those are stupid people; you shouldn’t listen to them,” Trump responded, according to the Times.

The comment came in the same call in which Trump congratulated Putin on his reelection, despite warnings from his national security advisers not to do so after international observers said the Russian election was full of evidence of fraud and intimidation.

The Atlantic discusses Brett Kavanaugh, Trump's next Supreme Court nominee:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... ck/564629/





EDIT to add:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... y-standoff
Quote:
President Trump on Tuesday pardoned a pair of Oregon ranchers whose arson conviction became a focus for opponents of federal government land ownership.

Dwight Hammond, 76, and his son Steven, 49, were convicted in 2012 and sent to prison on arson charges.
I guess law-and-order doesn't apply to right wing criminals. Trump is handing out pardons like candy when he thinks it will please his supporters.


The Hill story says the Hammonds had a series of fires on their own property that spread to federal land. But that doesn't seem to be true, according to reports from an Oregon source.

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/ ... 6844952260
Quote:
Inside the Hammonds' arson case at the center of the Oregon occupation
Quote:
Prosecutors alleged in the indictment the Hammond family set fire to the rangeland after complaining the BLM was taking too long to complete required environmental studies before conducting controlled burn operations.

"The Hammonds also have ignited uncontrolled fires under cover of naturally occurring dry lightning storms which occur on the western slopes of the Steens Mountain in late summers," then-United States Attorney Dwight C. Holton wrote in the indictment. "For more than twenty years, Hammond family members have been responsible for multiple fires in the Steens Mountain area."

...Supporters of the two men maintain the Hammonds started fires to destroy invasive species and protect their property by removing wildfire fuels, and that flames spread to public lands inadvertently. But witnesses in the trial told a different story. The jury heard from three witnesses who were hunting in 2001 when they saw the Hammonds shoot over their heads to illegally slaughter a herd of deer, according to court documents. A short time later, the hunters testified, they had to abandon their camp because of a fire burning in the area.

A teenage relative of the Hammonds also testified during the trial that Steven Hammond gave him a box of matches and told him to drop lit matches on the ground to "light up the whole county on fire," Williams wrote.
The Hammonds didn't care whether their fires could have killed firefighters, either, as long as their own crops were saved.
Quote:
The second arson in 2006 came as firefighting crews were battling lightning-started wildfires on BLM land. A burn ban and red flag warning was in effect in the area at the time.

"Despite the burn ban, and knowing that firefighters were in the area, Steven Hammond set fires at night without notifying anyone," Williams wrote. "He did so to save his winter feed. After seeing the fires, the firefighters moved to a safer location."
Other information about the Hammonds - they made lots of death threats because they could no longer use a wildlife refuge for their cattle:
https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/ind ... efore.html
Quote:
Years before the arson fires that sent two Oregon ranchers to federal prison -- sparking an armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge -- federal officials reported several death threats from the men.

...Dwight Hammond Jr., now 73, and his son, Steven, now 46, wound up arrested by U.S. Fish and Wildlife officers after trying to stop federal workers inside Malheur from fencing off a canal they'd been using to water their cows.

...Earl Kisler, the special agent who arrested the Hammonds in 1994, ... said the dispute over the fence grew so heated that he and his partner agent were called from Wilsonville to Harney County to serve as a "small protection detail." "There had been so many threats against refuge people," he said. "They were trying to finish the boundary fence, and Dwight Hammond had vowed he wasn't going to let that happen." An article published by High Country News in 1994 said officials at the Malheur refuge had amassed a "thick" file detailing death threats against refuge managers -- in 1986, 1988 and 1991.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... ome-to-our
Quote:
President Trump on Tuesday responded to his administration missing a court-ordered deadline to reunite separated immigrant families by saying people shouldn’t “come to our country illegally.”

..."Well, I have a solution. Tell people not to come to our country illegally. That's the solution. Don't come to our country illegally. Come like other people do. Come legally,” Trump told reporters.
So the president of the US says it's OK to ignore a court order and OK to treat people vilely because they crossed the border illegally. Good to know.
This particular issue has nothing to do with legal vs illegal immigration- this is about treating people decently, as human beings, and not traumatizing 3-year-olds or taking away breast-feeding infants in hopes of deterring illegal immigration.


Not all Republicans like Kavanaugh:
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/39625 ... rveillance
Quote:
Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) on Monday called President Trump Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh a “disappointing pick,” ripping the judge’s past rulings on surveillance issues.

The congressman cited a 2015 opinion written by Kavanaugh while serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, that found “the Government’s metadata collection program is entirely consistent with the Fourth Amendment.”

...He also included a quote from Kavanaugh’s opinion in the case, stating “that critical national security need outweighs the impact on privacy occasioned by this program.”

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Tue 10 Jul , 2018 8:19 pm
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And yet more news:


The Trump administration is refusing to give 25% of the children under 5 back to their parents:
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/39 ... th-parents
Quote:
According to Justice Department attorneys, a total of 75 of the 102 children in custody of the Department of Health and Human Services are eligible for reunification.

The administration has previously reunited four of the children, and DOJ attorneys said they expect to reunify 34 more by Tuesday’s deadline. Another 16 children will be reunified shortly, once the parents have been verified, federal officials said.

Federal officials said some parents were not eligible to be reunited with children either because they haven’t been verified, they have criminal records, or have otherwise been deemed unfit.

A federal judge had previously ordered the government to return all children age 4 and younger to their parents by Tuesday.

More details:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ed-tuesday
Quote:
The Department of Health and Human Services provided the following details in a conference call with the press Tuesday:

4 have been reunited with their families
34 will be reunited by end of day Tuesday after their parents cleared criminal background and DNA checks
16 others will be reunited soon, possibly Tuesday, pending test results to establish parentage
1 child is eligible for reunification but the government is still looking into the results of the parent’s criminal background check
16 aren’t eligible because their parents either had serious criminal histories, didn’t pass the DNA tests or vetting uncovered evidence that the children could be at risk of abuse or exposed to disease
10 can’t be reunited yet because their parents are in custody
1 child’s parents can’t be found
20 children are eligible to be reunited with their families, but their parents have either already been deported or have been released and are still being screened
Quote:
The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the suit, said Tuesday the government hasn’t attempted to contact some of the parents who were deported without their children.
Call me cynical, but I can't help wondering how many of the serious criminal histories involved assaulting someone who was trying to take away their child.


http://thehill.com/regulation/healthcar ... -on-family
Quote:
A federal judge on Tuesday told the Trump administration to adhere to the deadline for reuniting children separated from their parents under the "zero tolerance" policy, even as officials have said they'll be unable to meet it.
...“These are firm deadlines; they are not aspirational goals,” Sabraw said. “I would like the process to continue as expeditiously as it has been with paramount focus on the children’s welfare.”

Sabraw reportedly urged the government to ease up on the scrutiny applied to parents of separated children, compared to the usual amount applied to extended relatives who apply to look after unaccompanied minors who cross the border illegally.

http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch ... -detainees
Quote:
A jail in California will cut ties with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), ending a contract to house immigrant detainees in its facility. Contra Costa County Sheriff David Livingston announced the move on Tuesday following months of protests, according to the Associated Press.

...Contra Costa’s decision comes after the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors voted to end its contract with ICE, according to the Chronicle. A Texas county also ended a similar agreement last month.


Trump is escalating his trade war yet again:
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/39639 ... ting-china
Quote:
The Trump administration on Tuesday announced a package of tariffs targeting Chinese exports valued roughly at $200 billion.

A senior administration official called the package about equal to China's total export value with the United States, CNBC reported.
And Switzerland has joined the growing number of countries that filed complaints against the US with the World Trade Organization.



http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... imate-rule
Quote:
The Trump administration is taking a big step forward in its effort to replace the Obama administration’s climate change rule for power plants with a more industry-friendly alternative.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that on Monday it sent a proposed rule to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. The OMB review, an internal process that checks for compliance with various laws and administration priorities, is the final step before the rule can be released publicly and made available for public comment.

The EPA hasn’t revealed the contents of the proposal.

[but]...Sources familiar with the EPA’s deliberations say the agency wants to write a regulation that focuses almost exclusively on making coal-fired power plants more efficient. That would result in minimal reductions in carbon emissions, and environmentalists say emissions could in turn increase since coal plants would be cheaper to operate.


http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... overturned
Quote:
Vice President Pence said Tuesday that he would like to see Roe v. Wade overturned, but denied that Judge Brett Kavanaugh was nominated to the Supreme Court to achieve that goal.

And for once, the Senate actually stood up to Trump. It's symbolic only, but still a refreshing change.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... o-as-trump
Quote:
Lawmakers on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted in favor of a motion supporting NATO, as President Trump continues to criticize the alliance ahead of his summit in Europe.

...The 97-2 vote in the Senate comes as Trump heads to Brussels. He will also travel to the United Kingdom and meet one-on-one with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki during his trip.

Last edited by aninkling on Wed 11 Jul , 2018 12:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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Jude
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Tue 10 Jul , 2018 11:37 pm
Aspiring to heresy
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Real-life Professor Snape calls Trump's Supreme Court pick 'Lord Voldemort'
Quote:
'It was not meant to be a compliment,' said environmental law professor Bill Snape

_________________

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Melkor and Ungoliant in need of some relationship counselling.


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Wed 11 Jul , 2018 1:18 pm
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Not too surprising - we were always going to get someone like that under GOP rule. Trump has been picking his judges from a list put out by a very conservative organization. Considering it's Trump's nominee, I take a little satisfaction in that Kavanaugh is not extremist enough for some right wingers. Personally, I'd only allow centrist judges for an important position like the Supreme Court, but that's not how things seem to work in the U.S.


After the new round of Trump's tariffs
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/inter ... completely
Quote:
China’s foreign ministry said the Trump administration’s actions were “typical bullying” and promised retaliatory action against the U.S., according to the wire service. It’s unclear what that action could include.

Reuters noted that significantly less than $200 billion of U.S. goods are exported to China, which means the country could have to turn to creative measures in order to retaliate.
Given the following (published after one of Trump's earlier China tariffs), Trump is playing with fire:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKCN1HB34M
Quote:
It took China just 11 hours to retaliate against the United States for proposing tariffs on some 1,300 Chinese products, but Chinese officials are holding back on taking aim at their largest American import: government debt.

...China held around $1.17 trillion of Treasuries as of the end of January, making it the largest of America's foreign creditors and the No. 2 overall owner of U.S. government bonds after the Federal Reserve. Any move by China to chop its Treasury portfolio could inflict significant harm on U.S. finances and global investors, driving bond yields higher and making it more costly to finance the federal government.


http://thehill.com/latino/396433-nyc-ma ... -illegally
Quote:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reportedly accused New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

...The allegation appears to stem from a visit de Blasio made with about 20 other mayors to the Texas border on June 21, which was the day after President Trump signed an executive order to stop the practice of separating families at the southern border.

De Blasio went to a holding facility for migrant children but had been denied entry, according to the AP. The news service reports that de Blasio and his security outfit, run by the New York Police Department, then went to Mexico before crossing into the U.S. to try and get a view of the facility.

The letter alleges that a border patrol agent witnessed a group on the Rio Grande River flood plain south of the Tornillo, Texas, port of entry, taking pictures of a facility. The agent then asked them if they had been authorized to view the facility from that location.
At least they didn't get thrown in an ICE jail for 2 weeks like that poor French jogger.



http://www.spiegel.de/international/wor ... 17098.html
Quote:
NATO Prepares for a Trumper Tantrum

NATO is preparing for a contentious summit this month, primarily due to the posturing by U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of the meeting. He has made it clear that he is unhappy - and Berlin is target number one.
http://thehill.com/policy/international ... eline-deal
Quote:
President Trump slammed Germany early Wednesday over a gas pipeline deal with Russia, claiming the agreement has made America's ally "captive to Russia" and urging the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to assess the situation.
This, by Trump, who clearly considers Putin a friend, likes talking with him at every opportunity, and is planning to meet with him without any advisers or record-keeping at their summit.




After all the circus and pain inflicted by the Trump administration, they finally seem to have been forced into a reasonable option by the judicial system:
http://thehill.com/latino/396420-trump- ... e-monitors
Quote:
The Trump administration is planning to release some migrant families into the United States equipped with ankle monitors after several court orders restricted the government's ability to hold thousands of migrant families detained at the southern U.S. border.

The New York Times reports that the administration will effectively return to the "catch and release" policy which President Trump himself has condemned in the past, as federal officials struggle to find detention facilities for the thousands of migrant adults awaiting trial for illegal entry, as well as their children.

Last edited by aninkling on Wed 11 Jul , 2018 1:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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Frelga
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Wed 11 Jul , 2018 1:27 pm
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I was worried that the Chinese would turn to Treasuries to get back at the US. That could be devastating, and I don't know if there is any downside for China.

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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Wed 11 Jul , 2018 1:43 pm
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I have been, too.


Unfortunately, there's one more story this morning that looks like very bad news:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... to-appoint
Quote:
President Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order aimed at tightening his administration’s control over regulatory judges.

The order allows agency heads to directly hire Administrative Law Judges, the officials who rule on legal issues related to government regulations.

Previously, appointments had to go through the Office of Personnel Management, but the Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that the judges should be considered “inferior officers” rather than regular employees, which will allow agency heads that are political appointees to make hires.



Edit to add:
http://www.france24.com/en/20180707-us- ... 0-campaign
Quote:
Donald Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) campaign is, in part at least, to be "Made in China", where flags supporting the US president’s 2020 re-election campaign would be cobbled together on a Chinese assembly line. The deal was confirmed by the owner of the Chinese factory Li Jiang during an interview with US radio station NPR on July 3. The revelations couldn’t have come at a worse time for Trump who’s just launched a trade war with Beijing in order to protect US jobs against the threat of cheap Chinese labour.

...By choosing to buy flags from China, Trump appears to have followed in the footsteps of other trading partners before him, except his numerous public and vociferous speeches rejecting Chinese imports have signaled a tangible detour away from his key electoral slogan to “Buy American, hire American".
Fits in well with his ranting about preserving US jobs, then hiring foreign workers instead for his Mar0A-Lago golf course.


He's also making loads of friends for the US at the NATO meeting. Among other things:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... nding-goal
Quote:
President Trump demanded on Wednesday that NATO members immediately increase their defense spending to meet a 10-year goal [2% of GDP] years ahead of the alliance's stated deadline.

...Trump has repeatedly railed against NATO allies' slow efforts to meet that goal. As he attended the NATO summit in Brussels on Wednesday, he demanded that alliance members spend at least 4 percent of their GDP on defense — a goal that not even the United States currently meets.

A number of NATO members have increased their defense spending, and several are set to meet the 2024 goal.
I read somewhere that our embarrassment of a president couldn't even start his remarks to world leaders without his usual gratuitous dig at "the fake media."

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Thu 12 Jul , 2018 1:25 pm
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NATO, defense spending, and Trump's version of reality:

http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... p-spending
Quote:
President Trump on Thursday said the U.S. remains committed to the NATO alliance after a summit in which he said allies bowed to his demands to increase defense spending.

...The president had thrown the summit into crisis mode by scolding allies for not spending enough money on defense and reportedly raising doubts about whether the U.S. would withdraw from the transatlantic alliance it helped create.

...“Yesterday, I let them know that I was extremely unhappy,” Trump said. “Now I'm very happy. We have a very strong NATO, much stronger than two days ago.” He said that is because European nations agreed to boost their spending on defense.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ato-update
Quote:
Macron and Merkel Play Down Trump’s Spending Claims: NATO Update
http://thehill.com/homenews/morning-rep ... ing-report
Quote:
Trump’s insults and demands renewed global tensions and left Washington scrambling to reaffirm long-held commitments.

...On this trip, Trump demanded the entire European alliance meet 10-year goals – now. "The U.S. is paying for Europe’s protection, then loses billions on Trade. Must pay 2% of GDP IMMEDIATELY, not by 2025." – Trump tweeted. NATO members agreed in 2014 to move toward committing at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on their sovereign defense capabilities by 2024.

...Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is accompanying Trump on the trip, said little at the president’s side, but attempted to clean up afterward.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter ... nited-sta/
Quote:
Trump falsely claims NATO countries owe United States money for defense spending

Among the lockstep opinions from various news sources, a novel opinion on NATO contributions published at The Atlantic:
https://www.theatlantic.com/internation ... nt/564911/
Quote:
The Democrats, the Post, and the Times are wrong: America’s NATO partners don’t need to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense, let alone 4 percent. And the fact that some of America’s most prominent progressive politicians and journalists think they should underscores just how detached liberal foreign policy has become from the values liberals supposedly prize.

For starters, the 2-percent figure is arbitrary. It doesn’t measure how much a country actually contributes to the common defense. As The Washington Post has noted, Greece meets the 2-percent threshold because it spends a lot of money on military pensions and on weapons systems aimed at deterring its fellow NATO member, Turkey—neither of which makes America and Europe safer. Rachel Rizzo, an expert on trans-Atlantic security at the Center for New American Security, told me Germany could reach the 2-percent threshold by giving everyone in its Ministry of Defense a raise. That wouldn’t do much to enhance security either.

But the larger problem with demanding that America’s NATO partners spend 2 percent—or 4 percent—on defense is that it assumes Europe’s biggest threats are military.


Speaking of Americans being fed blatant lies by the Trump administration... (at least this one is good for a laugh):
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... ny-because
Quote:
Trump at a NATO summit breakfast on Wednesday said that Germany is “captive to Russia” over a gas pipeline deal. "If you look at it, Germany is a captive of Russia because they supply," the president said. "They got rid of their coal plants. They got rid of their nuclear. They're getting so much of the oil and gas from Russia. I think it's something that NATO has to look at. I think it's very inappropriate."

Video from the breakfast shows Kelly and other senior officials appearing to react to the comment. Kelly pursed his lips and looked away from the president.

...White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders offered an explanation for Kelly’s reaction to the Post.

“[Kelly] was displeased because he was expecting a full breakfast and there were only pastries and cheese,” Huckabee Sanders said.



http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... -in-the-uk
Quote:
President Trump on Thursday downplayed expected protests during his visit to the United Kingdom, saying he believes its citizens “like me a lot.”
So, can you guys please keep him? Take Pence, too, if you can.


A tongue-in-cheek response from an American expatriate to the US ambassador's travel warning about the anti-Trump protests.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/sho ... -americans
Quote:
Americans! Here’s how to blend in with the Brits for Trump’s visit
Quote:
In advance of Donald Trump’s visit to the UK this weekend – and the protests scheduled to coincide – the US embassy in London has taken the unprecedented step of warning Americans to “keep a low profile” and “exercise caution in the vicinity of large gatherings that may become violent”. As an American who has lived in the UK for nearly 30 years, I feel qualified to offer my countrymen some tips on how to blend in when visiting the UK
Quote:
If you do fear for your safety at any point, immediately seek out the company of fellow Americans. If you are in London at the weekend, you’ll find most of us at the protests. Just follow the giant baby Trump blimp.
As far as Trump's ambassador's warning about keeping a low profile, I just can't see why UK protestors against Trump would become violent against Americans who are not Trump. I think they can tell the difference.




Edit to add - the Trump administration is only giving 50% of the children under 5 back:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... ifications
Quote:
The Trump administration on Thursday said it has reunited with their parents all eligible children under five years old. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, 57 children out of 103 in HHS custody were reunified with parents, completing the effort two days after a court-mandated deadline.

The agency said that 46 other children were not eligible for reunification under court guidelines.
This seems utter nonsense to me, unless there's evidence that the parent is abusive toward the child or a custody battle where two parents' claims have to be sorted out. Some of these kids were "not eligible" simply because the parent couldn't be proven to be the biological parent with DNA tests (have these people heard of adoption?) or because the Trump administration vaguely claims the parent has a criminal background. That would probably disqualify someone from a foster parent program, but how does it disqualify you from getting your own child back?


Edit 2: The ACLU summary suggests the Trump administration might not be off the hook yet by concluding it's done:
https://www.aclu.org/blog/immigrants-ri ... -need-know
Quote:
[The government] is also stalling by insisting on sticking to status quo agency procedures in the face of extraordinarily unique circumstances. Ordinarily, the Office of Refugee Resettlement would conduct a background check, perform a home visit, and fingerprint the people to whom it was releasing a child. That’s because the agency is dealing with kids who came to the United States unaccompanied by a parent..... The government has also argued that it needs to administer DNA tests to every parent and child, which will cause unnecessary delays in reunification and raises serious privacy concerns.

The judge made clear on Tuesday that business as usual is not acceptable, that parents are not “applying” for permission to get their children, but rather that the government has an “affirmative obligation” to reunite. Unless the parent is unfit or presents a danger to the child, the child needs to be reunified with the parent.

We asked the court to restrict the government’s use of DNA testing to limited cases where parentage cannot be verified in another way, meaning that there is no other reliable documentary, testimonial, or other evidence of parentage....The judge agreed, finding that DNA tests should only be performed when there is a genuine reason to doubt parentage or when the government has a legitimate concern that it will not otherwise meet the deadline to reunify.
Quote:
On July 6, in a brazen attempt to shrink the number of children the government is obligated to reunite, the Justice Department attorney argued that parents whose children had been taken away but who had already been deported should not fall into the class of people affected by the lawsuit.

Lee Gelernt, the ACLU attorney arguing the family separation class action, pushed back... The judge agreed, making it clear that deported parents are a part of the class and the government has the obligation to reunite them with their children.

However, the judge did stress that if the government does identify some children who technically fall outside the class, it should still “try to reunite, because that’s the spirit of the injunctive relief and what everyone is trying to do.”

Last edited by aninkling on Thu 12 Jul , 2018 2:19 pm, edited 5 times in total.

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Jude
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Thu 12 Jul , 2018 1:46 pm
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Regarding Trump's claim that Germany is owned by Russia, this is too priceless not to share: a news anchor tries to keep a straight face when reporting this, and fails:



Edit: actually, I don't think the subtitles are accurate. We need Silwen in here...

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Frelga
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Thu 12 Jul , 2018 7:16 pm
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Quote:
The eternal return. The Soviet humor magazine Krokodil from the 1960s showing the US wringing it's NATO partners for more money for the American military industrial complex. https://t.co/fffEHx9Q90
https://twitter.com/seansrussiablog/sta ... 9045793794

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Silwen
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Thu 12 Jul , 2018 9:59 pm
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Jude, this is not about Trump, but the old skill of egg scratching, which in German translates the same way as ball scratching, which is why she is laughing. :whistle:

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Jude
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Thu 12 Jul , 2018 10:45 pm
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I knew it! The first time I watched, I only looked at the subtitles, but the second time (after I had already posted it) I listened to her talking.

I apologize for osgiliating the discussion. I blame Stephen Colbert :whistle:

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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Fri 13 Jul , 2018 1:04 pm
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Well, it's not an unreasonable assumption, that people are laughing at Trump. His trip to Europe so far looks like an unmitigated disaster, between haranguing US allies at NATO, skipping NATO meetings, arriving late at others and derailing their original purpose to insist that everyone meet their 2% goals immediately rather than by 2024 as agreed, suddenly springing a new 4% figure on everyone out of nowhere, then declaring victory at the end while everyone else says they agreed to nothing but the goals they'd originally agreed to in 2014, under Obama. And now he's been behaving like the world's worst houseguest during his UK visit.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... s-uk-trade
Quote:
President Trump on Thursday said United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May’s “soft” Brexit plan would “kill” any future trade deal between the U.S. and U.K.

“If they do a deal like that, we would be dealing with the European Union instead of dealing with the U.K., so it will probably kill the deal,” Trump said in a wide-ranging interview with the conservative British newspaper paper, The Sun, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, a close ally of the president's. Murdoch also controls Fox News Network, the president's favorite TV channel.

In an exclusive interview with the outlet, Trump also lambasted May's Brexit proposals and claimed she ignored his advice on negotiations.

“I would have done it much differently,” Trump said of May's Brexit plan. “I actually told Theresa May how to do it, but she didn’t listen to me.”
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... e-minister
Quote:
President Trump says United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson would make a "great prime minister" in an interview published Thursday, a shocking remark that comes as Trump visits the U.K. and current Prime Minister Theresa May

... Trump also said that Johnson "obviously likes" him and that he has "a lot of respect" for the former London mayor, who resigned as foreign secretary this week amid deep-seated differences with May over her strategy for the U.K.'s exit from the European Union.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... rrible-job
Quote:
President Trump ripped into London Mayor Sadiq Khan in a new interview for his handling of terrorism in the city, saying Khan was doing a “terrible job.”

...“I think allowing millions and millions of people to come into Europe is very, very sad,” the president said. “I look at cities in Europe, and I can be specific if you’d like. You have a mayor who has done a terrible job in London. He has done a terrible job.”

“Take a look at the terrorism that is taking place. Look at what is going on in London. I think he has done a very bad job on terrorism,” Trump continued.“I think he has done a bad job on crime, if you look, all of the horrible things going on there, with all of the crime that is being brought in.”
Note that he said this while staying in London, where large numbers of police have assembled to keep order amid both anti-Trump protests and a simultaneous pro-Trump/ free Tommy Robinson march by extremist Nazi types. The UK government has gone to great lengths to insulate Trump from the anti-Trump protests, too, hosting him mostly at sites where he can't hear or see the protesters, and putting up a huge temporary wall around the embassy to protect him.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/h ... 44016.html
Quote:
Police have imposed tight restrictions on protests in support of Donald Trump and jailed far-right leader Tommy Robinson, in an effort to prevent “serious disorder” in London.

Organisers of a march in support of the US president plan to merge with a demonstration in support of the EDL founder on Saturday, a day after a huge rally opposing Mr Trump’s visit to Britain.
btw, I suspect that what the US ambassador should have warned Americans about was the pro-Trump/ Tommy Robinson march, and not the anti-Trump protests/ planned mooning/ Trump baby balloon:
Quote:
Scotland Yard said it was imposing restrictions “in order to prevent serious disorder and disruption to Londoners” following violence seen at a previous Free Tommy Robinson protest last month.

His supporters threw metal barriers, bottles and other objects at police officers, injuring five of them. Nine people were arrested.Some pro-Robinson protesters were seen performing Nazi salutes, while others stormed and vandalised a sightseeing bus.

UK leaders respond to Trump's blatant rudeness:
http://thehill.com/policy/international ... -teach-him
Quote:
Labour Party foreign affairs spokeswoman Emily Thornberry appeared on ITV's Good Morning Britain Friday, according to The Associated Press, and slammed Trump's remarks to British newspaper The Sun as evidence of poor parenting. "She is his host. What did his mother teach him? This is not the way you behave,” she said, adding that it was “extraordinarily rude of Donald Trump to behave like this.”

In a statement posted to Twitter, the Labour Party's leader Jeremy Corbyn added that Trump's policies were "dangerous and inhumane."
http://thehill.com/policy/international ... ng-uk-trip
Quote:
Politicians on both side of the British political spectrum condemned Trump's remarks following the interview with The Sun, with some leveling charges of racism against the U.S. president.

And Trump ignores reporters while pretending he didn't just act like a total ass:
http://thehill.com/policy/international ... ipping-her
Quote:
President Trump claimed Friday that his relationship with British Prime Minister Theresa May remained "strong" after giving an interview to a British newspaper criticizing his counterpart's plan for leaving the European Union.

The president ignored shouted questions from reporters upon arriving at May's Chequers estate Friday for another round of discussions with the British leader, but remarked during a part of their meeting open to reporters that the relationship remained strong.
I think I can make a safe prediction that Trump will now proceed to meet with Vladimir Putin in an atmosphere of total amity.



Meanwhile, the Pentagon does damage control after Trump's NATO mess:
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/39683 ... rip-report
Quote:
Pentagon officials have spent the hours since President Trump departed NATO headquarters in Brussels reassuring U.S. allies of America's commitment to the NATO alliance after the president suggested that the U.S.'s military commitment was up for discussion.


And at home, his GOP lapdogs conduct a ridiculously biased questioning of FBI agents who sent messages opposing Trump on work emails during the 2016 presidential campaign - agents who were already cleared by an Inspector General investigation, which said they didn't let their personal bias influence their work (a pity the GOP doesn't have this sort of zeal for investigating Trump and company's far more serious issues):

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/39681 ... -fbi-agent
Quote:
Peter Strzok on Thursday faced a fierce public grilling from House Republicans who view the controversial FBI counterintelligence agent as the key to exposing what they say was systemic bias by top government officials against Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The joint hearing before the House Judiciary and House Oversight and Government Reform committees ran close to 10 hours, with Republicans unleashing on Strzok in what was, from the beginning, a rancorous, partisan cage match.

This meeting, which involved Nunes and Gowdy, among others, has to be seen to be believed. But Fox wants to use it as a way of hiding Congressional hearings from the public. Probably because Strzok calmly called out some of the GOP for their behavior and made them look bad.
http://thehill.com/homenews/media/39683 ... e-a-public
Quote:
Fox News host Dana Perino on Thursday night called for congressional hearings to be taken off-camera following a wild hearing with FBI agent Peter Strzok earlier in the day.

Perino slammed Democrats for an "outrageous" suggestion Strzok deserved a Purple Heart and scolded Republicans for "overboard" questions that "felt like a public lynching" during Strzok's testimony to the House Judiciary and House Oversight and Government Reform committees.


And in other news:
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/ ... extremists
Quote:
President Trump’s decision to pardon two Oregon ranchers convicted of setting malicious blazes on public lands has raised concerns among federal employees and experts on domestic terrorism that the move will give cover to extremist anti-government groups across Western states.

...In posts on Facebook, Ammon and Lisa Bundy praised Trump’s pardons. “God has been so good to us, He has given us the advantage. May He continue to bless us as we strive to love and serve Him and our neighbors. Dwight and Steven Hammond are coming home!!!” Ammon Bundy wrote on Facebook. [The Bundys took over the Malheur wildlife refuge and held off the government with guns for a while]

...Ryan Bundy, who’s now running for governor of Nevada as an independent, did not respond to an email requesting comment. The White House did not respond to requests for comment either.

...Several GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill cheered the decision to release the Hammonds. In a statement, Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.) — who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge for body-slamming a reporter — called the decision “a win for property rights and our way of life.”

...Agencies like the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Interior Department have thousands of employees in Western states, many of whom say they feel endangered when in the field; a 2017 survey by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility found 49 percent of BLM employees said they and their colleagues have faced threats to their safety over resource management issues.
From what I've read, there are western "militia" groups in some areas who absolutely hate the Bureau of Land Management and its employees for regulating what people can do on public land. The freed Hammonds sound similar with their attacks on wildlife refuge employees and contempt for BLM processes for starting controlled burns.


http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... s-after-he
Quote:
Trump Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Thursday admitted to "inadvertent errors" in selling his stock holdings and said he is now selling them, 18 months after the billionaire first pledged to do so.

“I have made inadvertent errors in completing the divestitures required by my ethics agreement," Ross said in a Thursday statement after receiving a letter from the Office of Government Ethics (OGE).

http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... t-children
Quote:
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) asked a federal court on Thursday to require the Trump administration to hand over information about the detained migrant children under the age of 5 who have not yet been reunited with their parents.

The ACLU said in a court filing that they “have no independent verification that these 58 parents have in fact been reunited with their children” and that they “have not yet received any specific information about most of the 23 individuals” who the government claim are ineligible for reunification.
I would feel much more comfortable, too, if it wasn't the Trump administration alone deciding who is "unfit" to receive their children back. They have a vested interest in this, both in demonstrating that they were "right" in having taken some of the children ("see, the parents were unfit") and in using the process as an additional deterrent to parents from coming to the US outside formal legal channels.




EDIT: No link yet, but I'm sure this will soon be everywhere:
The Dept of Justice just indicted 12 Russians for hacking the DNC and trying to hack state computers in the 2016 election.

Once in a while, I wonder whether they also hacked the Republican National Committee and, if so, who they gave those files to. I wouldn't be surprised if there were dirty dealings by both the DNC and RNC. And it seems like any unpublished dirt on the RNC would make great blackmail material.


btw, if anyone goes looking for the Peter Strzok questioning, make sure you get the right one - in full, it's 9 or 10 hours. Pro-Trump partisans have already put at least one biased, misleading clip from it on YouTube. And the pro-Trump propaganda machine seems to be under orders to promote it.


And for anyone wants to see how much the UK loves Trump, BuzzFeed has pictures of some signs carried by protesters.https://www.buzzfeed.com/laurasilver/th ... sts-across My favorite may be "Anyone can be president. But should they be?" Apparently there was also a Trump dalek at one of the protests.


Edit to clarify a comment on the Russian hacking of the DNC.

Last edited by aninkling on Sat 14 Jul , 2018 4:36 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Fri 13 Jul , 2018 6:40 pm
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Here's the indictment:
http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity ... e-officers

This could get interesting:
Quote:
On or about August 15, 2016, the Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, received a request for stolen documents from a candidate for the U.S. Congress. The Conspirators responded using the Guccifer 2.0 persona and sent the candidate stolen documents related to the candidate's opponent."/quote]
Quote:
On or about August 22, 2016, the Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, transferred approximately 2.5 gigabytes of data stolen from the DCCC to a then-registered state lobbyist and online source of political news. The stolen data included donor records and personal identifying information for more than 2,000 Democratic donors."
Quote:
On or about August 15, 2016, the Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, wrote to a person who was in regular contact with senior members of the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump, "thank u for writing back...do u find anyt[h]ing interesting in the docs i posted?" On or about August 17, 2016, the Conspirators added, "please tell me if i can help u anyhow...it would be a great pleasure to me".

And in case anyone's interested, The Guardian currently has live coverage of the protests:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/bl ... re-pm-live
The latest is that hundreds of protesters are waiting to "welcome" Trump to Scotland and
Quote:
Two Bloomberg journalists are reporting that Donald Trump has done an interview with the former Daily Mirror editor, Piers Morgan. We’ll bring you any updates on that as and when we have them.

Robert Hutton (@RobDotHutton)

Breaking from Air Force One, the most terrifying six words in the English language: "Trump did interview with Piers Morgan".
Sky news also has coverage from Trafalgar Square, which is filled with protesters:
https://news.sky.com/story/live-go-home ... t-11435778
It sounds like quite a circus, and not just taking place in London.


Edit to add:
http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... out-report
Quote:
Jennifer Arangio, a senior director in the [National Security Council (NSC)] who worked with global groups, was escorted off White House premises and told that she was no longer needed in the administration, according to Politico.

...A former White House official told the outlet that Arangio is “fiercely loyal” to President Trump, but that she clashed with White House aide Stephen Miller."She has fought to correct misleading information about refugees and migrants provided to the president by Miller and the DPC," the former White House official said.

The publication also reported that two other top NSC officials, Joel Rayburn and Michael Bell, left the group’s Middle East sector this week.
Bolton has said he wants to reshape the NSC and there have been other departures.

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Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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Jude
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Fri 13 Jul , 2018 10:26 pm
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It's hard to pick my favourite of the protest signs, but this one is a major contender:

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Frelga
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Fri 13 Jul , 2018 11:57 pm
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Well, there's this one.
[ attachment ]
IMG_20180713_165640.jpg (89.65 KiB) Viewed 2739 times

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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Sat 14 Jul , 2018 3:28 pm
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Unbelievable news today (or at least it would be with any president other than Trump):
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... ti-islamic
Quote:
President Trump’s ambassador for international religious freedom Sam Brownback raised the treatment of a jailed English anti-Muslim activist during a meeting with Britain’s ambassador to the U.S., Reuters reported Friday.

Brownback brought up the case of an activist known as Tommy Robinson during a June meeting with U.K. ambassador Sir Kim Darroch, pressuring the country to treat Robinson with more sympathy, according to the outlet's sources.

He reportedly said that if Britain did not do so, the Trump administration may publicly criticize the case. Robinson’s supporters are concerned that he may be attacked by other prisoners.
So now we're sympathetic toward Nazi sympathizers who organize violent anti-Muslim rallies. Oh, goody.


And in sharp contrast:
http://thehill.com/latino/396991-immigr ... der-ending
Quote:
A man who was referred for prosecution for illegally entering the U.S. is alleging that he was separated from his daughter after President Trump ended his administration's policy of separating families at the border.

The nonprofit Texas Civil Rights Project wrote in a letter to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Friday that the man, Mario Perez-Domingo, and his daughter were apprehended by border agents in Texas on or about July 5.

The letters states that Perez-Domingo, who is from Guatemala, told the organization a few days later that “an agent separated his two-year-old daughter from him despite his pleas that she was his daughter, and even having a copy of her birth certificate.”

I also like a sign that said something like "I'm so angry I can't even come up with a clever slogan." I read that, far from avoiding the large protests, a number of Americans on vacation or studying in the UK joined them.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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Jude
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Sat 14 Jul , 2018 4:31 pm
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From the Scotland protests:

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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Mon 16 Jul , 2018 2:15 pm
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http://thehill.com/policy/international ... e-us-after
Quote:
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Monday said that Europe could no longer fully rely on the U.S. following President Trump’s comments about the European Union.

“We can no longer completely rely on the White House,” Maas told a German newspaper, according to Reuters. “To maintain our partnership with the USA we must readjust it,” he said. “The first clear consequence can only be that we need to align ourselves even more closely in Europe.”

In a Sunday interview, Trump told CBS News’ Jeff Glor that the EU was one of his biggest global “foes” due to their policies on trade.

But that's apparently OK - Dear Leader has a new best buddy, Vladimir Putin:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... l-tensions
Quote:
President Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for more than two hours in a one-on-one setting Monday in Helsinki, hours after blaming the United States for the bad relationship between the two countries.... “I think we will end up having an extraordinary relationship,” Trump said. “I really think the world wants to see us get along.”

Only interpreters were in attendance during the one-on-one meeting.

...Trump had tongues wagging ahead of the summit with his criticism on Twitter of past American governments, which he blamed for the poor U.S.-Russia relationship. Trump also pointed to the investigation of Russia's involvement in the 2016 presidential election, blaming the "rigged witch hunt" for the poor ties with Russia.
This is lunacy.


btw, Trump's talking points sound too close to the Russian propaganda for my comfort:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... -summit-ap
Quote:
Several Russian media outlets defended President Trump ahead of his Monday summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, according to the Associated Press.

A number of Russian outlets on Monday morning framed Trump as an embattled hero fending off domestic distractions including special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and disloyal GOP lawmakers, the AP reported.

Pro-Kremlin Russian media outlets have attacked Mueller's investigation as "mythical work for the Kremlin" and wrote it off as implausible, the AP reported.

Several Russian media figures also praised Trump for his claim on Sunday that the European Union is a “foe” of the U.S.

http://thehill.com/policy/international ... aks-report
Quote:
President Trump was reportedly wary of including a note-taker in his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday because of a concern that details would be leaked.

The Wall Street Journal reported that as Trump prepared for a private meeting in Finland with Putin, which is expected to last about 90 minutes.
Don't forget that the leak from a previous meeting was that Trump boasted about a classified Israeli source/spy to Putin. Had it not leaked, we wouldn't know that our president is dangerously loose with such information. This time, we'll never know what he and Putin said to each other.



http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity ... s-position
Quote:
Senior FBI official Jeffrey Tricoli has left his position overseeing a government task force that's been looking into Russian interference in U.S. elections, according to the Wall Street Journal. Tricoli, who had been at the FBI for 18 years, reportedly left last month to take a job with Charles Schwab Corp.

His departure raises questions about how the government plans to address the issue of election meddling, particularly with the midterm elections less than four months away.

...The task force's responsibilities include coordinating activities between the FBI and state, federal and private organizations, according to the Journal. However, sources told the Journal that the group has not made much progress.


If anyone has the stomach for it, here's Trump and Putin's news conference:
http://thehill.com/video/administration ... h-vladimir

I don't, but I expect it will be a show of what good friends Trump is with Putin. As he is with Kim Jong Un, who recently sent Trump a "nice letter" and is in his good graces, unlike our former allies in Canada, Australia and the EU.



EDIT:

The President of the United States just sided with Vladimir Putin over the conclusions of US intelligence agencies and ignored the indictments against Russians for interfering in the 2016 elections. This seems to have been too much for even some Fox hosts and Republicans in Congress to swallow.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... esser-with
Quote:
President Trump on Monday downplayed Moscow's interference in the 2016 presidential election and criticized the special counsel investigation — all while standing alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin at a press conference following their meeting in Helsinki.

In an extraordinary scene broadcast live to a worldwide audience, Trump refused when asked to condemn Russia’s meddling in the election and complained instead that the allegations have created doubts about the legitimacy of his win over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

“He just said it’s not Russia,” repeating Putin’s denials of involvement in the U.S. election. “I will say this, I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
Any fool would realize that 12 Russians don't conduct an intelligence operation without the agreement and knowledge of Putin.


http://thehill.com/homenews/media/39722 ... conference
Quote:
CNN, NBC, Fox personalities slam Trump over performance at Putin press conference
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... e-an-asset
Quote:
Former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele said President Trump sounded like an “asset” standing next to his “handler” during a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/39723 ... t-our-ally
Quote:
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Monday said there's "no question" Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election after President Trump refused to blame Moscow during a press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"There is no question that Russia interfered in our election and continues attempts to undermine democracy here and around the world," Ryan said in a statement. "That is not just the finding of the American intelligence community but also the House Committee on Intelligence. The president must appreciate that Russia is not our ally.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... -any-honor
Quote:
A former top aide to U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman on Monday told the U.S. envoy to "resign if you have any honor."


Also from the first link:
Quote:
Putin insisted Russia “has never interfered and is not going to interfere into internal American affairs.” He offered to conduct a joint investigation into the 12 accused officers, but in an unusual way.

The Russian leader said his own authorities could question the officers with U.S. officials present under a 1999 joint legal assistance agreement. But he said Russia would expect U.S. cooperation in the Kremlin’s probe of Bill Browder, an American-born U.K. investor who is behind a U.S. law targeting Russian officials accused of human-rights violations.

Such an arrangement is unlikely to be acceptable to American law enforcement, but Trump called it “interesting.”
Background on the Magnitsky Act, the law referenced above:
https://www.theatlantic.com/internation ... in/535044/
Quote:
Let’s get something straight: The Magnitsky Act is not, nor has it ever been, about adoptions.
The Magnitsky Act, rather, is about money. It freezes certain Russian officials’ access to the stashes they were keeping in Western banks and real estate and bans their entry to the United States. The reason Russian (and now, American) officials keep talking about adoption in the same breath is because of how the Russian side retaliated to the Magnitsky Act in 2012, namely by banning American adoptions of Russian children. The Russians vowed they were punishing Americans who violated the human rights of Russians, after an adopted Russian toddler died of heat stroke in a Virginia family’s car. But the only Americans the bill directly targeted were the ones involved in putting the Magnitsky Act together.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 75766.html
Quote:
The detention and release of anti-corruption campaigner Bill Browder in Spain has again cast an unfavourable spotlight on Russia.

Police in Madrid picked up Mr Browder on a warrant issued by Russia before setting him free on the advice of Interpol's secretary general Jurgen Stock in Lyon, France.

The former investment fund boss, born in Chicago but of British nationality, believes he was detained by order of the Kremlin on false tax evasion accusations as revenge for his work with US Congress to pass the Magnitsky Act.



And in a surprise move, the FCC doesn't green light the merger between Sinclair media (the pro-Trump media outlet that has been quietly buying up local TV stations) and Tribune media:
http://thehill.com/policy/technology/39 ... une-merger
Quote:
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai said Monday that he has "serious concerns" about the proposed merger between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Tribune Media, a surprising move that could likely kill the controversial $3.9 billion deal.

In a statement, Pai questioned the company's plans to get the deal approved by selling off some television stations and said he would propose sending the deal to be reviewed by an administrative law judge.

"The evidence we’ve received suggests that certain station divestitures that have been proposed to the FCC would allow Sinclair to control those stations in practice, even if not in name, in violation of the law," Pai said.

_________________

Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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Frelga
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Mon 16 Jul , 2018 7:23 pm
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Location: Out on the banks
 
Quote:
A number of Russian outlets on Monday morning framed Trump as an embattled hero fending off domestic distractions including special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and disloyal GOP lawmakers, the AP reported.
This is the line I have always expected from the Russian state media (which is basically all of it) - that Trump is a good leader and ally, treated unfairly because of his wise, friendly actions toward Russia. Instead, the one time I caught RT, around the Kim visit, their tone on Trump was not just critical but contemptuous and rife with warnings to heed Russian interests.

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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Mon 16 Jul , 2018 8:16 pm
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Posts: 2048
Joined: Fri 10 Aug , 2012 4:42 pm
 
Weird, though, to have Russian media now backing the U.S. president and echoing him in calling the Mueller investigation a witch hunt. I expect Putin told them to be nice to Trump - I'm sure he know how to manipulate Trump's ego. They'll be back to contemptuous soon, now that they've gotten what they want.


More Russia news today. This could get interesting:
http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... filtrating
Quote:
A Russian woman living in D.C. has been charged for conspiring to work for the Russian government by establishing relationships and infiltrating organizations that have influence in U.S. politics, the Justice Department announced Monday.

Federal authorities on Sunday arrested Maria Butina, a 29-year-old Russian citizen, and charged her “with conspiracy to act as an agent of the Russian Federation within the United States without prior notification to the Attorney General,” according to a DOJ press release.

...Earlier this year, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee claimed that they have obtained documents that suggest Russia used the National Rifle Association (NRA) “to secretly fund Mr. Trump’s campaign.” Butina was named in the panel's preliminary findings.

http://thehill.com/policy/international ... haved-like
Quote:
Former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves laced into President Trump on Monday for apparently waving off the warnings of his own intelligence community that Russia meddled in the 2016 election, saying that he "would have been impeached in a day" if he had done the same.
Perhaps the members of the Estonian government treasure their democracy over their parties.


And see the following story if anyone wants to help bring the Trump baby balloon to the U.S. I think Australia has dibs on it during Trump's next visit, but in the meantime citizens in several U.S. states have expressed an interest:
http://thehill.com/homenews/397156-trum ... new-jersey

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Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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