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aninkling
Post subject: Re: Election
Posted: Fri 17 Feb , 2017 4:04 pm
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Not to mention the Soviet news style when they occupied Eastern Europe. If the official news said there was nothing to the rumor that "XYZ" is happening, people knew that something was being hidden about XYZ.

Something possibly even more startling than we've heard so far.http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... o-round-up
Quote:
The White House on Friday strongly denied an Associated Press report that the Trump administration is considering a plan to mobilize National Guard troops to arrest immigrants living illegally in the U.S.
...
“That is 100% not true. It is false. It is irresponsible to be saying this.”

Spicer said he could not categorically say the idea was never discussed by the administration.

“I don’t know what could potentially be out there, but I know that there is no effort to do what is potentially suggested,” he said.

The AP, citing a draft memo, earlier Friday reported the White House is considering mobilizing as many as 100,000 National Guard troops in an anti-illegal immigration effort.

Spicer said the draft memo AP referenced was “not a White House document.”
btw, a judge has ruled that Pruitt's state administration must release the emails they've refused to release for 2 years.http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... ees-emails
Probably too late to delay or affect his confirmation, given most Republicans' refusal to listen. And EPA employees are asking the Senate not to confirm Pruitt.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... p-epa-pick
Quote:
In an unusual show of opposition for federal employees, Environmental Protection Agency workers have been calling their senators to urge them to reject President Trump’s pick to lead their agency, The New York Times reported Thursday.

_________________

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: Election
Posted: Fri 17 Feb , 2017 11:07 pm
A green apple painted red
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aninkling wrote:
Not to mention the Soviet news style when they occupied Eastern Europe. If the official news said there was nothing to the rumor that "XYZ" is happening, people knew that something was being hidden about XYZ.
Exactly!

And now his (possibly since deleted) tweet called several major news outlets "enemies of the American people." For someone who grew up in the Soviet times that's not a dog whistle, it's an air raid siren.

For those lucky people who are not familiar with the reference, "enemies of the people" was the designation of the victims of Stalin's "purges."

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aninkling
Post subject: Re: Election
Posted: Sun 19 Feb , 2017 3:26 pm
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Frelga, the Democrats and the press have already seized on that comment, and I've even seen a subject line on The Hill saying that McCain is worried abut Trump, for this reason. Even a Fox news anchor has now criticized Trump and said something nice about the CNN reporter Trump has been needling. Which I suspect might be the start of a turning point, when even Fox can't stomach Trump any longer. And apparently CNN abruptly ended a segment when they were talking about the cost to the public of Trump flying to his golf club in Florida every weekend, and the guest kept trying to call it "fake news."

I think the big difference here is that America has had a functioning democracy for a long time, and Trump is gradually alienating everyone (besides his hard core supporters among the public) - including the intelligence community and the military. I see him heading for the shortest presidency on record, if he doesn't start acting less like a dictator and more like a president soon. He's trying to run the executive branch like one of his companies, where his word is probably law.

Though I wouldn't be surprised if Bannon didn't have delusions of grandeur and dreams of manipulating Trump into promoting a US that the "alt right" wants. But the right wing supremacist types are not nearly as powerful or mainstream as they think they are. As evidence, look to the what happened when they took over a federal wildlife refuge last year. They were clearly expecting dissatisfied supporters to flock to them, and practically no one did.

This is interesting:
http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... sia-uproar
Quote:
FBI Director James B. Comey met with lawmakers from the Senate Intelligence Committee behind closed doors on Friday, amid an uproar over alleged contacts between members of President Trump’s campaign and Russian officials.

Committee members and Comey spent nearly three hours Friday afternoon in a secure room in the Senate basement used for classified briefings, known as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF).

Lawmakers tersely refused to comment upon exiting the meeting, declining even to confirm that Comey met with them.
The New York Times broke the story about ties between Trump's campaign and Russian officials, and in my experience, they usually check their sources pretty well.

And Trump seems to be firing anyone who has ever dared to criticize him - even in the past.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... rump-op-ed
http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... ump-report

I'll be very curious if the Eastern European model for news is accurate here. :)
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/32023 ... l-withdraw
Quote:
The White House on Saturday blasted a report that President Trump’s pick to be Navy Secretary is likely to withdraw from consideration.

“Those people would be wrong. Just spoke with him and he is 100% commited to being the next SECNAV pending Senate confirm,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer tweeted.
First Howard, now Bilden?

_________________

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: Election
Posted: Tue 21 Feb , 2017 3:54 pm
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Ah, the irony...
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... -from-cpac
Quote:
Far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos will not be allowed to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

The decision comes while Yiannopoulos is roiled in controversy over a video in which he is appears to defend pedophilia. The video clip was posted on YouTube in January 2016, but gained new traction on social media after a conservative blog shared it Sunday.
It's apparently reprehensible for college students to protest this guy (leaving aside the open question of who the violent activists were, who invaded a student protest at UCB), but perfectly OK for conservatives to disinvite him. :)

It's a pity he's getting so much attention. He reminds me of the kind of child who runs around provoking and taunting others, then runs to the teacher for protection when they fight back. Unlike most, he doesn't seem to have grown out of it.



The Republicans seem to be trying to defund Planned Parenthood at the same time they're thinking about removing contraception from the required services in healthcare plans and also restricting access to abortions. http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/32 ... ol-mandate
Quote:
The requirement that insurance companies cover contraception at no cost is believed to be on the chopping block now that Tom Price has taken over the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Who are these idiots, putting ideology above logic? Most of us can and did pay for our contraceptives for many years, but women living in poverty need someplace to get them, and Planned Parenthood has served this function. So, let's see - we'll restrict access to contraceptives for the poor, and simultaneously restrict access to safe abortions .... and let's see how that improves the lives of women and children in the inner cities, which Trump mentioned in his inauguration speech.

_________________

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: Election
Posted: Tue 21 Feb , 2017 5:10 pm
Aspiring to heresy
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There must be some mistake - No one has more respect for women than Trump! No one!

Or so he claims...

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aninkling
Post subject: Re: Election
Posted: Tue 21 Feb , 2017 6:19 pm
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Indeed.

btw, partisan politics has just become even weirder in the U.S.
http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch ... iversities
Quote:
A senior Iowa state senator wants to require state universities and colleges to consider a job candidate’s political affiliation during the hiring process, in order to create more partisan balance among faculty.

The senator, Mark Chelgren (R), filed legislation over the weekend that would require Iowa’s state board of regents to consider a potential faculty member’s party during the hiring process. If a school’s faculty tilts toward one of the two major parties by more than a 10 percentage-point margin, the school would be prohibited from hiring any more members of that party.
Quote:
In an interview with the Des Moines Register, Chelgren said students “should be able to go to their professors, ask opinions, and they should know publicly whether that professor is a Republican or Democrat or no party affiliation, and therefore they can expect their answers to be given in as honest a way as possible.”

A similar measure died in North Carolina’s state legislature on Monday. That version would have required senior professors within the University of North Carolina system to reflect the ideological balance of Tar Heel voters.
Because, of course, it's completely impossible for two reasonable people to discuss classwork without bringing their political party affiliations into it.

_________________

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: Election
Posted: Wed 22 Feb , 2017 3:29 pm
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It was refreshing to see news about some people with principles today, among all the partisan politics.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/32057 ... t-protests
Quote:
Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) on Tuesday pushed back against President Trump’s claim that “liberal activists” are organizing agitated protests in GOP districts throughout the United States.

“They are our fellow Americans with legitimate concerns. We need to stop acting so fragile. I'm proud to defend liberty and the Constitution,” Amash wrote on Twitter in response to Trump's tweet.
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/ ... e-silenced
Quote:
The FEC commissioner who asked President Trump to produce proof of his voter fraud claims on Tuesday said she will not be silenced by a watchdog’s attempt to investigate her for the request.

“But let there be no doubt: It is absolutely within my official duties as a federal election official to comment publicly on any aspect of the integrity federal elections in the United States,” Ellen Weintraub said in a statement. “I will not be silenced.”

Weintraub earlier this month called on Trump to produce evidence of his claim of mass voter fraud, specifically in New Hampshire, which she said was “an extraordinarily serious and specific charge.” ...

Cause of Action, a 501(c)(3) which promotes government accountability, requested on Tuesday that the FEC Inspector General launch an investigation into Weintraub to see if she violated ethics regulations by calling on Trump to provide evidence of his claims.
If anyone is interested in the full transcript of Trump's speech at his rally in Florida, here it is:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/natio ... cIKndWB0M/
Besides some of the obvious lies, half-truths and nonsense - like immigrants not being vetted before Trump took office - it's an interesting insight on how Trump thinks. I found it disturbing, with all the ranting about the media, Democrats, judges and global elites (encouraging hatred while claiming to promote unity), the emphasis on Americans "winning" again, overblown claims about his supposed accomplishments, etc.
Not to mention the supporter Trump invited on stage.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... dboard-cut
Quote:
The man who President Trump brought up on stage during his Saturday rally said he salutes a cardboard cutout of the president every day.

_________________

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: Election
Posted: Thu 23 Feb , 2017 1:02 pm
Aspiring to heresy
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A bit of light relief to temporarily cheer you up:

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LalaithUrwen
Post subject: Re: Election
Posted: Thu 23 Feb , 2017 2:20 pm
The Grey Amaretto as Supermega-awesome Proud Heretic Girl
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:LMAO:

And thank you for keeping us up to date, inky. I appreciate it, though I don't often post about it.

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aninkling
Post subject: Re: Election
Posted: Fri 24 Feb , 2017 2:58 pm
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Thanks, Lali. :) It's pretty subjective, what I post - so much going on ....

There were a couple of things that caught my eye today.

It seems Trump wants a new nuclear arms race. I guess 7,000 nuclear warheads aren't enough for him.
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/32089 ... f-the-pack
Quote:
President Trump said Thursday he wants to build up the U.S. nuclear arsenal so that it is at the “top of the pack.”
...Trump also claimed the U.S. has “fallen behind on nuclear weapon capacity,” according to Reuters.

Trump previously called in a December tweet for the U.S. to “greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.”
...
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday that Trump was “very clear” that the U.S. cannot “yield its supremacy to anybody.”
....
In the Reuters interview, Trump slammed the New START Treaty with Russia that caps the number
of nuclear warheads the U.S. and Russia can deploy, calling it “a one-sided deal.”

More interesting news on the Russia angle.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... -on-trumps
Quote:
The FBI rejected a recent request by the White House to dispute media reports that Trump campaign officials had regular contacts with Russian intelligence officials before the election, CNN has reported.

The revelation comes days after White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said during a weekend television interview that senior intelligence officials assured him that there were not significant contacts between Trump advisers and Russian agents.
And the CS Monitor had an analysis of Trump's new push to remove people who are in the U.S. illegally.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2 ... t-it-video
Quote:
The administration's decision to expand the use of 'expedited removal' is within the bounds of the law. But legal experts say it opens the door to violations of due process, a right courts have ascribed even to undocumented immigrants.
I heard an interview with an immigration judge on NPR last night. She talked about the huge backlog of cases. Also mentioned that Trump's executive order banning any new hiring will prevent them from even hiring new judges.

It looks like there are already some ugly consequences to the removals.
http://thehill.com/latino/ice-immigrati ... m-hospital
Quote:
An undocumented immigrant diagnosed with a brain tumor while in Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody was returned to a detention center from a Texas hospital, her lawyers said.
...
Sara told Zuniga she was given a CD with her medical records at the hospital and instructed by doctors not to turn them over to ICE. The CD was taken from Sara upon her return to the detention center, Zuniga said.

And Trump seems to think that he can just dump everyone they deport in Mexico, no matter where they originally came from. So does that mean other countries can take anyone who went there illegally from Latin America, put them on a plane to the U.S., and say "well, we sent you back to the Americas..." ? Needless to say, the Mexican president is calling foul on this plan.


Plus, Trump wants to fight bureaucracy by... creating more bureaucracy. Specifically, "watchdog" units to make sure that all agencies follow his orders.
http://thehill.com/regulation/321039-tr ... egulations
Quote:
President Trump signed an executive order Friday requiring federal agencies to appoint regulatory watchdogs that will chew away at their rulemaking authority.

The regulatory watchdogs will be tasked with enforcing Trump’s agenda.
...
Trump’s agency heads will appoint regulatory reform officers to ensure the agencies are following the president’s orders, including his executive order that directs agencies to repeal two regulations for every one regulation created.

Trump’s new order also creates regulatory task forces responsible for repealing old regulations at each agency.
And more blacklisting of legitimate media sources from the the White House:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... r-briefing
Quote:
The White House blocked a number of news outlets from covering spokesman Sean Spicer’s question-and-answer session on Friday afternoon.
...
Among the outlets not permitted to cover the gaggle were news organizations that President Trump has singled out for criticism, including CNN.

The New York Times, The Hill, Politico, BuzzFeed, the Daily Mail, BBC, the Los Angeles Times and the New York Daily News were among the other news organizations not permitted to attend.

_________________

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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yovargas
Post subject: Re: Election
Posted: Sun 26 Feb , 2017 2:52 pm
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Quote:
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday that Trump was “very clear” that the U.S. cannot “yield its [nuclear] supremacy to anybody.”
Odd that we cannot yield nuclear supremacy but yielding supremacy on things like, oh, I dunno, education and health care is kinda okay.


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: Election
Posted: Mon 27 Feb , 2017 2:16 pm
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But, of course. Might makes right, doesn't it? Trump's proposed budget seems a pretty obvious indication of his priorities -i.e., never mind diplomacy, the environment and human health, let's just have the biggest military. http://thehill.com/policy/finance/32128 ... ng-reports
Quote:
President Trump is expected to demand major cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of State to fund boosts to military spending in his first budget, according to multiple reports.
No wonder the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved the doomsday clock closer to midnight when Trump started making his priorities clear.


Bet we won't hear anything about the following revelations in Trump's tweets. (about the supposed attacks "last night" by immigrants in Sweden). ;)
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2017/022 ... -in-Sweden
Quote:
On a Thursday segment of Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor," host Bill O'Reilly directed a debate over crime and immigration in Sweden. On one side of the issue was a Swedish newspaper reporter Anne-Sofie Naslund, who argued against the notion that immigration was making her country dangerous. On the other side was a man named Nils Bildt, who was identified onscreen and verbally as a "Swedish defense and national security advisor."
...

Mr. Bildt argued that immigration had led to considerable social problems in Sweden, and said that the country's liberal leanings meant that people who shared his opinion on the subject were being "viewed as outsiders."

Swedish officials in the Swedish Defense Ministry and Foreign Office said that they had never heard of Bildt, ...

According to Dagens Nyheter, Nils Bildt was born Nils Tolling, who emigrated to the US in 1994 and changed his name in the early 2000s.

Bildt is apparently a founding member of Modus World LLC, a consulting firm based in Washington, Brussels, and Tokyo, according to the Washington Post. ...
...
"He is in not in any way a known quantity in Sweden and has never been part of the Swedish debate," he said. "He has not lived in Sweden for a very long time and no one within the Swedish security community (which is not a very big pond) seems to know him."
Update:
Well, it looks like the Eastern European way of dealing with Soviet-controlled official news works quite well with the Trump administration. Bilden has withdrawn, with excuses about financial entanglements.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... raw-report

Oh, and Democratic governors are also not welcome at Trump's White House press conferences.
http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch ... conference
Quote:
After the event, Republican governors, including Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin and Oklahoma's Mary Fallin, met reporters outside the White House. No Democrats were present.

Jared Leopold, a spokesman for the Democratic Governors Association, said that Democratic governors who tried to meet reporters at the "Pebble Beach" media area outside the White House were sent elsewhere....

Two White House spokespeople did not respond to a request for comment.

By tradition, the White House audience — set up by the National Governors Association, which emphasizes its bipartisan credentials — is an inclusive affair. Republicans were routinely invited to speak after meeting with then-President Obama, and Democrats were given the microphone after sitting down with then-President George W. Bush.
And, not surprisingly, EPA shenanigans under Pruitt.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... up-funding
Quote:
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has extended by four months the process of writing a regulation to ensure certain mining companies can pay their cleanup costs....

The rule would set standards for how hard-rock mining companies must demonstrate their ability to pay for cleanups, whether through financial bonds or other means, particularly if they go bankrupt.
...
The rule is opposed strongly by Republicans and the mining industry, who say it would unnecessarily increase costs. Citing the $171 million estimated cost to businesses from the rule, new EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said the new comment period would increase input from affected businesses.

....Congress called for the rule in 1980.
Pruitt's bias is showing... (bolded comment)

_________________

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: Election
Posted: Tue 28 Feb , 2017 2:51 pm
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This could have serious consequences for the economy and trade:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/02/27/tr ... ng-tactic/
Quote:
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is mulling plans to circumvent the World Trade Organization. Incoming administration officials asked the U.S. Trade Representative’s office to find ways to bypass WTO rules on dispute resolution to levy unilateral U.S. sanctions against other countries such as China, sources tell the Financial Times.
...
Such a move, particularly by the world’s most powerful economy, could trigger a chain reaction of retaliations and dismantle the global rules-based trade system the WTO oversees, experts say. “It could get us into some new and scary world of international economics we haven’t seen before,” Lester told Foreign Policy.
Also an analysis of Trump's proposed increase for military spending and his unusual demand for the State Dept to come up with a plan for cuts within 48 hours:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/02/27/tr ... tate-dept/
Quote:
President Donald Trump stunned U.S. diplomats and many security experts on Monday as he pledged what he called a “historic increase” of $54 billion in military spending to be offset by cuts to the State Department and other federal agencies....

Federal agencies typically soften the hard edges of a president’s budget request, but the magnitude of Trump’s proposed cuts and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s lack of staff and experience could create an interagency mismatch. “It’s challenging because Tillerson doesn’t have a lot of his people in place,” said Yeo, noting the absence of a deputy secretary of state. “What number will he settle on? Is he going to comply? I’ve never seen anything where you get 48 hours to respond.”
From the article, here's what the US currently spends on foreign aid and the military
Quote:
Since 2009, the Kaiser Family Foundation has polled Americans about how much of the federal budget goes to foreign aid. Though the correct answer is less than 1 percent — a figure that includes military aid to Israel and Egypt — the average respondent thinks it is about 25 percent.

The U.S. currently spends about $600 billion per year on defense, far more than any country in the world, while spending about $50 billion every year on foreign assistance and the State Department.(The proposed increase in defense spending is almost as much as Russia’s entire defense budget.)

_________________

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: Election
Posted: Sat 04 Mar , 2017 4:12 pm
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The weird tweets with no apparent basis in fact are back. I didn't think the "new," more presidential Trump would last long.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... -a-wiretap
Quote:
A former policy adviser to President Obama is firing back at President Trump's claim that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower, saying it didn't happen — at least not under Obama's orders.

"No President can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you," Ben Rhodes tweeted Satruday morning.

... “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” Trump wrote on Twitter early Saturday.

“Is it legal for a sitting President to be "wire tapping" a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!” he added in subsequent tweets. “I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!”
Or does this mean that we're about to find out more evidence for ties between Trump's campaign and Russia, and Trump is trying to sway his supporters?


Pruitt (?) starts dismantling EPA programs:
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... es-program
Quote:
A document from the National Association of Clean Air Agencies says the White House is considering a 97 percent reduction in Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funding for Great Lakes restoration. The program — currently a $300 million account — would receive only $10 million under the proposed budget, Michigan Live reported Friday.
But hey, we're supposed to get lots of shiny new weapons to make up for it.


Only two Republicans willing to break with the party so far on Trump's taxes, but still:
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/32216 ... ax-returns
Quote:
Two House Republicans endorsed a Democratic effort on Friday calling on the House and Senate committees with oversight of the Internal Revenue Service to request copies of President Trump’s tax returns....

Trump broke with four decades of precedent by refusing to release his tax returns after becoming the GOP presidential nominee. He cited an ongoing IRS audit, though the agency has said taxpayers are free to release their information at any time.

Like healthcare, foreign policy and defeating ISIS are, alas for Trump, "complicated."
https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/03/tr ... terrorism/
Quote:
Trump’s Promises to Defeat ISIS ‘Quickly’ Run Into Syria Buzzsaw
The agonizing decision whether to arm the Kurds to beat ISIS, or defer to Turkey’s sensibilities, is Trump’s first big test.

Some questions and information about Sebastian Gorka, from someone who was national security advisor to former vice president Biden. Including whether Gorka actually has a Top Security clearance, which could raise some questions about the information he's disseminating during his media appearances.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/03/th ... clearance/
Quote:
There has been a lot written lately about Sebastian Gorka. The former national security editor at Breitbart is currently deputy assistant to President Donald Trump and a member of Stephen Bannon’s internal White House “think tank,” the Strategic Initiatives Group (SIG).

And this opinion piece seemed pretty appropriate, right now. Not just because of Trump, though he certainly seems a symptom of it, and his style of governing seems to reflect it. The piece does paint all Trump supporters with a broad brush, and implies that Clinton supporters are somehow better, which I don't like. But he does have some things to say about the dumbing down of political discourse.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/02/22/th ... ate-trump/
Quote:
The Shallow State
Forget the conspiracy theories. Something much more dangerous is seeking to gut our government and change the character of our society.


The “deep state” is the flavor of the month for conspiracy theorists, the “black helicopters” of 2017. The idea of career intelligence and military officers and bureaucrats marshaling the institutional power they have spent decades mastering to advance their goals regardless of the whims or wants of elected public officials or the people at large is irresistible, Tom Clancy stuff.
...
But I’ve seen what there is of a deep state, and let me tell you, based on very nearly 25 years living and working in Washington, it is not the dark fantasy of highly competent government workers that worries me.

No, what worries me is something new, more real, and much more dangerous: the shallow state.
...
The shallow state... is unsettling because not only are the signs of it ever more visible but because its influence is clearly growing. It is made scarier still because it not only actively eschews experience, knowledge, relationships, insight, craft, special skills, tradition, and shared values but because it celebrates its ignorance of and disdain for those things. ... To many of them, knowledge is not a useful tool but a cunning barrier elites have created to keep power from the average man and woman. The same is true for experience, skills, and know-how. These things require time and work and study and often challenge our systems of belief. Truth is hard; shallowness is easy.

...It is convenient to blame Trump and write this off as a flaw in his character and that of his acolytes and enablers. But, honestly, you don’t get a reality TV show president with no experience and no interest in big ideas or even in boning up on basic knowledge (like the nature of the nuclear triad — after all, it has only three legs) without a public that is comfortable with that … or actively seeks it.
btw, I think foreignpolicy.com has a limit on the number of articles you can read before logging in. So you might need to be selective and/or read some of them later, if you can't access 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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aninkling
Post subject: Re: Election
Posted: Mon 06 Mar , 2017 6:46 pm
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Trump's new travel ban has been released:
http://thehill.com/policy/transportatio ... travel-ban
Quote:
The new ban prohibits travelers from Sudan, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen from entering the U.S. for 90 days. Iraq has been removed from the list, which is perhaps the biggest policy shift from the original order.

Quote:
The ban explicitly exempts legal permanent residents; people who are dual-citizens of another country not contained in the ban; foreign nationals traveling for diplomatic purposes; and those who already have a valid visa to come to the U.S.
Quote:
Another major shift in the new order is that it removes the indefinite restrictions on Syrian refugees. Instead, the policy halts all refugee admissions to the U.S. for four months.
Quote:
The new order has a much longer list of who might qualify for a waiver to the policy.
It says that waivers may be provided on a case-by-case basis if “denying entry during the suspension period would cause undue hardship, and that his or her entry would not pose a threat to national security and would be in the national interest.”

_________________

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: Election
Posted: Mon 06 Mar , 2017 9:42 pm
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This could be very worrisome:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... -questions
Quote:
Gold Star father and outspoken Donald Trump critic Khizr Khan on Monday cancelled a planned speech in Canada as questions about the circumstances swirled.

Ramsay Talks, the organization planning to host Khan Tuesday for his scheduled speech in Toronto, issued the following statement to CTV News, which first reported the story.

“Late Sunday evening Khizr Khan, an American citizen for over 30 years, was notified that his travel privileges are being reviewed....

“Mr. Khan offered his sincere apologies to all those who made plans to attend on March 7th. He said: ‘This turn of events is not just of deep concern to me but to all my fellow Americans who cherish our freedom to travel abroad. I have not been given any reason as to why. I am grateful for your support and look forward to visiting Toronto in the near future.’”



Some other news:
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... deral-land
Quote:
The chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee is asking budget writers to set aside $50 million to account for the costs to transfer federal land to state or local governments. . .

Bishop and other Republicans have been working on numerous fronts to reduce the federal estate.

In January, the House passed an internal rule to make it easier, from a budgeting standpoint, to offload federal land. Under that rule, lawmakers can no longer raise formal objections if legislation does not properly account for the future income that the government would have gotten from transferred land.

_________________

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: Election
Posted: Tue 07 Mar , 2017 2:52 pm
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Just FYI:
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2017/0306/ ... regulation
Quote:
TSA pat-downs are getting more intense under new nationwide regulation

Those subjected to pat-downs at US airports might find the new method invasive, officials say. But they have not disclosed how, exactly, the procedure will change.
For what it's worth, DH had one of the "old" U.S. pat-downs after going through a scanner (the non-radioactive kind, which I believe is all that's left) and he definitely felt violated by the agent feeling his genitals, whereas a pat-down in Europe didn't bother him in the least. So I have no idea what "more invasive" means.

Don't ask me how these new pat-downs are supposed to find the "record number" of firearms in carry-on luggage, because the TSA's mindset baffles me. And in case they hadn't noticed, the metal detectors they got rid of detect guns quite well on people.


Edit: rumor among frequent flyers is that the more intimate patdown involves rubbing:
Quote:
This time, in addition to the normal pat-down procedure, the officer interlocked his hands and then rubbed my genitals, first vertically, moving horizontally, and then horizontally, moving vertically.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/checkpoi ... downs.html
-------

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/20 ... m-children
Quote:
March 4, 2017 —As the Department of Homeland Security steps up immigration law enforcement and announces its plans to solicit bids for constructing a border wall, it is also revisiting another suggestion intended to discourage migrants from making the journey: Separating parents and children when they are apprehended at the border.

On Friday, a senior DHS official confirmed to CNN that the proposal was under consideration. Adults would be taken to detention centers while they awaited a decision on their cases. Children, meanwhile, would be allowed into the US and either sent to stay with relatives or placed in state custody.
If these detention centers are unfit for children, why the hell are we confining anyone in them when their only crime is to have crossed the border illegally?


Trump's trying to make a "deal" with Planned Parenthood:
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/32 ... change-for
Quote:
Planned Parenthood rejected an offer from President Trump that would allow the organization to keep its federal funding if it stopped providing abortions.

Planned Parenthood, which receives $500 million in government funding annually for providing women's health services, turned down the offer even as Republicans move closer to defunding the organization.
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/32 ... parenthood
Quote:
The ObamaCare repeal bill unveiled by the House Monday includes language that would defund Planned Parenthood for a year.
...

Defunding Planned Parenthood has long been a goal of Republicans because it provides abortions, even though they are already legally prohibited from using federal funds for the procedure.

http://thehill.com/policy/transportatio ... ver-safety
Quote:
A Department of Transportation (DOT) study did not find that an Obama-era proposal to change the hours-of-service rule for truckers improves driver safety and health, according to the agency’s inspector general...

Former President Obama’s proposed change — which was briefly enacted in 2013 but later suspended — would have modified the 34-hour “restart” period for truckers. .... The regulation would have effectively limited truck drivers to 70 hours of driving a week.

But lawmakers quickly stepped in and required the DOT to first study whether the update is beneficial to drivers before it can take effect.
...
Safety groups have blasted Congress for putting the rule on hold and accused lawmakers of bending to the powerful trucking industry, which has vigorously opposed the proposal for years.

The American Trucking Associations (ATA) applauded the long-awaited report on Monday and said it was “pleased” by the results.
... “We knew from the beginning that these Obama administration restrictions provided no benefit to safety, and in light of the DOT’s findings — corroborated by the DOT Inspector General — it is good for our industry and for the motoring public that they will be done away with permanently as specified by language ATA led the charge on, including in the most recently passed continuing resolution.”

_________________

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: Election
Posted: Wed 08 Mar , 2017 3:16 pm
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It looks like Trump has finally acknowledged that he can't force Mexico to pay for his cherished wall. So his team wants to reduce disaster relief and the Coast Guard, which actually have purposes other than symbolic. (and the TSA, which I personally wouldn't consider much of a loss, except that it will probably result in even longer security lines at airports.)

http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... ty-to-fund
Quote:
The Trump administration is reportedly considering cutting funding to the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and other agencies to find money for the president's proposed border wall and immigration enforcement plans.

The Washington Post reported that a draft plan, created by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), would also cut the budget of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... trademarks
Quote:
China has granted preliminary approval to 38 new Trump-related trademarks, as President Trump's family works to develop a series of branded products in the country, including hotel chains, escort services and insurance.
... The new trademarks are considered by some to be a conflict of interest, especially as three of the trademarks were specifically made under the president's name.

Hong Kong intellectual-property officials told AP the trademarks were approved unusually quickly.
Not that it seems surprising his business connections are profiting from his position. I'm surprised no one has raised any ethics questions about all the weekends he moves the White House to his $200,000/ membership golf club, which doubled its fees once he became president.

Last edited by aninkling on Wed 08 Mar , 2017 3:32 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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Jude
Post subject: Re: Election
Posted: Wed 08 Mar , 2017 3:30 pm
Aspiring to heresy
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I wonder how this will affect his credibility with the people who voted for him?

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Melkor and Ungoliant in need of some relationship counselling.


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: Election
Posted: Wed 08 Mar , 2017 3:41 pm
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I assume the more extreme ones are being distracted by "deep state" conspiracy theories. One friend's father and brother are Trump supporters and she says they're full of outrage over stories they see on "far right" Internet sites.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... dems-media
Quote:
There has been a steady drumbeat in conservative circles warning that Obama-administration holdovers and “deep state” actors have been abusing the powers of the government to spy on and illegally leak information about Trump and his top lieutenants...

Pro-Trump commentators such as Mark Levin and Fox News’s Sean Hannity — and even some conservative “Never Trump” publications, including the National Review and Weekly Standard — are increasingly slinging the deep-state allegations against the mainstream media outlets that have for months reported on wide-ranging investigations into Trump’s ties to Russia.
Presumably his moderate supporters are somewhat worried about his activities. I doubt they wanted the Coast Guard (which has always been the underfunded agency in the military branch) and FEMA cut.

_________________

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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