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You've been Trumped!

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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Wed 03 Jan , 2018 5:29 pm
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Wow, just had to share this, too:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... ous-report
Quote:
According to a new book seen by the Guardian, [Steve] Bannon said the meeting that occurred during the 2016 presidential race was "treasonous" and "unpatriotic."

...After news of the meeting surfaced last year, Bannon reportedly said: “The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower in the conference room on the 25th floor — with no lawyers. They didn’t have any lawyers." “Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad shit, and I happen to think it’s all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately," Bannon said, according to the book.

The quotes were chronicled in the book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," which is scheduled to be released next week.
I can't wait to see how the pro-Trump forces are going to spin this. And also this:

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... ns-russian
Quote:
According to MSNBC, which tweeted an excerpt from Michael Wolff's upcoming book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," Bannon said that it was likely Donald Trump Jr. took lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and others up to then-candidate his father's office during the meeting.

“The chance that Don. Jr did not walk these Jumos up to his father’s office on the 26th floor is zero," the excerpt reads.


Also, more news on the Bears Ears National Monument, in an opinion piece by the co-chairs of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition.
http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-envir ... bears-ears
Quote:
Last month, President Trump issued a proclamation claiming to drastically reduce, and otherwise weaken, the Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah. Our tribes, along with the other tribes of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, immediately sued the president, arguing that the proclamation was void because his actions were beyond the president’s authority. The Utah delegation seems to understand that our lawsuit against President Trump has the weight of the law on its side, and thus stands a high likelihood of success. That would leave President Obama’s visionary proclamation creating the Bears Ears National Monument fully intact.

Hence the introduction by Congressman Curtis of the Shash Jaa National Monument and Indian Creek National Monument Act, which would dismantle the Obama monument. If passed, the Curtis bill would leave just 15 percent of the land in monument status and would eviscerate the important collaborative government-to-government management role for tribes recognized and honored in the Obama proclamation.

...In characteristic Utah congressional fashion, Congressman Curtis developed this “pro-tribal” bill without ever consulting with our tribes, or any of the tribes of the five tribes coalition.

_________________

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: Wed 03 Jan , 2018 8:38 pm
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What what what what what? I thought Bannon was a Trump supporter? :scratch:

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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Thu 04 Jan , 2018 12:51 am
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You should read Trump's response. NPR read it in its entirety tonight, it was so extraordinary. Not a tweet, but at least several paragraphs. In a nutshell, and if I remember it correctly, it boils down to "Bannon? I hardly knew him. Besides, he became insane after he was dismissed from the White House. Oh, and he's the guy who supported that loser, Roy Moore."


btw, Kobach's "voter fraud" commission is officially gone. Good riddance to that nonsense:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... commission
Quote:
President Trump on Wednesday dissolved a controversial commission that was set up to investigate his unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud during the 2016 election. The order brought an abrupt end to a highly touted commission that Trump created last May.

The White House said Trump decided to disband the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity because several states failed to hand over voter information.

_________________

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: Thu 04 Jan , 2018 5:39 am
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Here's a nice overview of the clusterfuck that was the voter fraud commission, by Jessica Huseman of ProPublica.

https://twitter.com/JessicaHuseman/stat ... 1603950592

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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Thu 04 Jan , 2018 2:28 pm
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Yeah, the White House blaming it on the states refusing to cooperate was a whitewash. The last I heard, several of the Democrats on the commission had filed complaints (lawsuits?) because they were being shut out of the decisions being made.


Also, Trump and Co.'s attempts to discredit the author of the book with the explosive revelations seems likely to backfire.
http://thehill.com/homenews/media/36737 ... als-report
Quote:
The author of an explosive new book on the Trump White House reportedly has tapes of some of his interviews with officials. Axios reported that author Michael Wolff recorded interviews with individuals including former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon and former White House deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh.
The officials in some cases thought they were conducting off-the-record interviews, according to Axios.
What Katie Walsh said seems particularly damning. Her portion sounds much like what the GOP senator (Flake?) said, when he called the current White House an adult daycare attempting to control an ignorant and impulsive Trump.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html

http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... presidency


Naturally, Trump's response is to try to intimidate people with his lawyers - which has always been his response in the past - and to restrict people from recording any independent evidence from their White House visits.
Quote:
President Trump's lawyers on Wednesday also reportedly sent a cease-and-desist letter to Bannon, ordering him to refrain from making "disparaging" statements about Trump and his family.

The Trump administration is also going to start barring White House employees and guests from using their personal cellphones at work, press secretary Sarah Sanders said early Thursday.
His lawyers are also trying to stop publication of the book:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html
Quote:
The legal notice — addressed to author Michael Wolff and the president of the book’s publisher — said Trump’s lawyers were pursuing possible charges including libel in connection with the forthcoming book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.”

The letter by Beverly Hills-based attorney Charles J. Harder demanded the publisher, Henry Holt and Co., “immediately cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination of the book” or excerpts and summaries of its contents. The lawyers also seek a full copy of the book as part of their investigation.
Quote:
Trump spent much of the day raging about the book to top aides, officials and advisers said, and Sanders described the president as “furious” and “disgusted.” As he fumed, some aides were still frantically searching for a copy of the book, and even senior aides such as Hicks had not seen it by the afternoon, officials said.

“He’s out of control,” one person with knowledge of Trump’s comments said. ... Trump also blasted others in the White House for talking to Wolff, who was frequently spotted wandering the West Wing with no escort or ensconced in Bannon’s office, especially during the early months of the administration.

Wolff said Trump was aware of the project and allowed others to participate. An excerpt of the book, published online in New York magazine, said the author conducted more than 200 interviews “over a period of 18 months with the president, most members of his senior staff, and many people to whom they in turn spoke.”


Seriously, how can even the GOP stomach Trump at this point? Are we really living in a banana republic now?



And The Atlantic warns that war may be on the horizon, if Trump continues as president:
https://www.theatlantic.com/internation ... ea/549599/
Quote:
There are sounds, for those who can hear them, of the preliminary and muffled drumbeats of war.
Quote:
As we can see from the irritable id that manifests itself in his tweets, Trump believes that he has been an exceptionally successful president, who deserves credit for the absence of deaths from plane crashes, a soaring stock market, and a tax cut rammed through on a completely partisan basis by a Republican majority that has thirsted for little else for decades. Those who made fun of his claims that he is smarter than his generals and that there is no need for a fully staffed State Department because he is around, or mocked his boasts that his nuclear button is bigger and better than Kim Jung Un’s, should stifle their chuckles. This is serious. The president feels vindicated, smart, and self-confident beyond the outlandish egotism of his campaign days in 2016.

This is serious first and foremost because the North Korean threat is serious...

https://www.theatlantic.com/internation ... et/549551/
Quote:
The Terrifying Truth of Trump's 'Nuclear Button' Tweet
Trump's language is crude, but the theory behind it has been the same throughout the atomic age.

Last edited by aninkling on Thu 04 Jan , 2018 3:21 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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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Thu 04 Jan , 2018 3:09 pm
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There are also increasing questions about Trump's mental fitness to be president:

From The Atlantic:
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/arch ... ne/548759/
Quote:
Is Something Neurologically Wrong With Donald Trump?

It is best not to diagnose the president from afar, which is why the federal government needs a system to evaluate him up close.
And The Hill:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... lth-report
Quote:
More than a dozen lawmakers last month met with a Yale University psychiatry professor for two days to discuss President Trump’s fitness for office, Politico reported Wednesday. Dr. Bandy X. Lee reportedly met with the group of lawmakers on Dec. 5 and Dec. 6 and warned them the president is “going to unravel.” All of the lawmakers in attendance were Democrats, except for one Republican senator.

“We feel that the rush of tweeting is an indication of his falling apart under stress. Trump is going to get worse and will become uncontainable with the pressures of the presidency,” Lee told Politico.

_________________

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 04 Jan , 2018 6:36 pm
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http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... e-drilling
Quote:
The Trump administration is proposing to greatly expand the areas available for offshore oil and natural gas drilling, including off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts.

In the first major step toward the administration’s promised expansion of offshore drilling, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said nearly all of the nation’s outer continental shelf is being considered for drilling, including areas off the coasts of Maine, California, Florida and Alaska.
Don't forget that Trump recently removed some of the new safety restrictions on oil drilling rigs (put in place after the oil spill disaster in the Gulf) and is considering removing the rest.


Edit: More details on the bipartisan opposition to this plan in most states that would be affected:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/ene ... -s-waters/
It includes this interesting, but unsurprising, piece of information:
Quote:
Two weeks ago, the Interior Department suspended a study conducted by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine on the safety of offshore oil and gas drilling platforms.

_________________

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: Thu 04 Jan , 2018 8:24 pm
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Possibly the best correction ever, from Politico.

‘Bannon was shot on the South Lawn and run over by a tank’
Quote:
CORRECTION: An earlier version of the story misidentified the fictional character name Bannon uses to refer to Jared Kushner as Frodo, a “Lord of the Rings” reference, rather than Fredo, a reference to “The Godfather.”

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Jude
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Fri 05 Jan , 2018 12:30 pm
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Hey, remember when Roy Moore toted his Jewish attorney as proof that he wasn't a bigot?

It turns out that his Jewish attorney campaigned for and voted for Doug Jones. :D

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Dave_LF
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Fri 05 Jan , 2018 1:14 pm
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And that he's a Christian.

Edit: Our articles are actually about two different lawyers. Apparently there was confusion about which one she meant, but she's now confirmed it was the second (from my article).


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Dave_LF
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Fri 05 Jan , 2018 2:43 pm
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Jude wrote:
What what what what what? I thought Bannon was a Trump supporter? :scratch:
Here's the answer: he's preparing to be president himself.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/steve-ban ... f?ref=home
Good luck, dude.


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: You've been Trumped!
Posted: Fri 05 Jan , 2018 2:46 pm
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I wonder if the Moores still consider their Jewish lawyer a friend. ;) Though chances are good that he was always a "friend" as in "we're nice to each other when we happen to meet."


Not too surprisingly, Trump's attempts to intimidate the publishers of "Fire and Fury" have backfired badly.
http://thehill.com/homenews/media/36748 ... igh-demand
Quote:
CNN reports Henry Holt & Company, the publisher of journalist Michael Wolff’s book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” is allowing several retailers to begin selling the book on Friday, four days earlier than its original publication date.
I've read that, after Trump's responses, the book jumped from something like #4,000 to #1. Good way to make a bestseller.



More from the behind the scenes in the White House, not from Wolff's book:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... himself-in
Quote:
President Trump ordered White House counsel Don McGahn to stop Attorney General Jeff Sessions from recusing himself in the investigation into potential ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia, according to a new report. The New York Times reports that after Trump’s directive, McGahn attempted to convince Sessions not to recuse himself from the investigation, according to two sources.

...The Times also reports that Trump intended to send a letter to former FBI Director James Comey describing the Russia investigation as “fabricated and politically motivated,” but he was stopped by aides.

More attempted interference with the Russia investigations?
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/36756 ... est-report
Quote:
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray met with House Speaker Paul Ryan this week to request that Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee narrow the scope of a document request, according to a Politico report.

A number of members of Congress are not happy with Sessions' decision that the federal government will abruptly reverse course on marijuana.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... juana-move
Quote:
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is facing a barrage of criticism from both parties for ending a policythat gave states the flexibility to allow sales of recreational marijuana.

Republicans, primarily from states that have legalized marijuana, joined Democrats in slamming the decision and vowing to take action to pressure Sessions to reverse course.

...Republican lawmakers say the fight isn’t about marijuana but states' rights, which they argue the Trump administration is violating with Thursday’s decision.
From the sound of it, this policy seems like an utter mess. It will now be up to individual federal attorneys whether or not to prosecute marijuana cases, so no one knows what's going to happen.

Also, it appears that Sessions lied in his confirmation hearings:
Quote:
Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) took to the Senate floor to assert that Sessions had told him before his confirmation as attorney general that he didn’t plan to try to reverse his state’s policies legalizing marijuana.




And on the lighter side, comedians are campaigning to get a fake media award from Trump:
http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in ... st-corrupt
Quote:
Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” is launching a print advertising campaign for President Trump to consider the show for his “Dishonest & Corrupt Media Awards.”

The show purchased a full-page advertisement in The New York Times today in the style of an Academy Awards “For Your Consideration” campaign.
I think Colbert has asked for consideration, too. :)

_________________

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 05 Jan , 2018 9:30 pm
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Surprisingly, this New York Times article doesn't seem to be behind a login. It's worth a read - it's the original source of the information about Trump and Sessions in the Hill article (for instance, Trump thinking that the attorney general's job is to protect him):
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/us/p ... v=top-news
Also this:
Quote:
Mr. Mueller has also substantiated claims that Mr. Comey made in a series of memos describing troubling interactions with the president before he was fired in May.

The special counsel has received handwritten notes from Mr. Trump’s former chief of staff, Reince Priebus, showing that Mr. Trump talked to Mr. Priebus about how he had called Mr. Comey to urge him to say publicly that he was not under investigation.
Anyone else remember Trump trying to threaten Comey by claiming he had tapes of their conversations, implying that Comey is a liar?

And this:
Quote:
four days before Mr. Comey was fired, one of Mr. Sessions’s aides asked a congressional staff member whether he had damaging information about Mr. Comey, part of an apparent effort to undermine the F.B.I. director.
Not a surprise that Mueller is also said to be investigating the false statement Trump and Co. came up with on Air Force One, to try to whitewash Trump Jr's meeting with the Russian law.


More good stuff.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... -years-ago
Quote:
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) boasted this week about removing from its contaminated Superfund list sites whose cleanups were actually completed years ago.

An Associated Press analysis found that all seven of the sites that were partially or fully removed in 2017 were cleaned up before EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt took over the agency last year. But Pruitt sought to link the deletions to his work to expedite Superfund cleanups and prioritize the program.
I guess the AP just made it to Trump's "fake news award" short list of recipients by exposing this lie.

_________________

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: Sat 06 Jan , 2018 8:32 pm
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IMO, this is a very good assessment of our current problem. It's not just Trump, but the willingness of some opportunists to protect him.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... do/549875/
Quote:
In 2016, there were voters who genuinely, in good faith, believed that Donald Trump was a capable business leader, moderate on social issues, who cared about the troubles of working class white America—and would do something to help. There may well still be some people who believe this—but nowhere near enough to sustain a presidency.

What sustains Trump now is the support of people who know what he is, but back him anyway. Republican political elites who know him for what he is, but who back him because they believe they can control and use him; conservative media elites who sense what he is, but who delight in the cultural wars he provokes; rank-and-file conservatives who care more about their grievances and hatreds than the governance of the country.

After the Trump pardon of Sheriff Arpaio for obstruction of justice, a popular conservative blogger tweeted this justification of the president’s shocking attack on the rule of law: “The main reason for President Trump to pardon Sheriff Joe was fuck you, leftists. The new rules, bitches.”

However crazy Trump may be, in one way he is indeed the “very stable genius” he claims to be: Trump understands how to mobilize hatred and resentment to his own advantage and profit.
I've always thought this might be the major reason many GOP in Congress are sticking with Trump:
Quote:
It may not be the newsiest—arguably it is the least newsy—but the most important moment in Wolff’s book are words attributed at second or third-hand to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at the time of Donald Trump’s election. “He will sign anything we put in front of him.”

_________________

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: Sun 07 Jan , 2018 6:14 pm
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https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/01/05/ni ... ef-agency/
Quote:
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, started her diplomatic career as a champion for Palestinian refugees, visiting refugee camps and assuring her U.N. colleagues that she would protect the nearly $300 million in U.S. funding each year that provides schooling for half a million Palestinian children.

Today, she is championing the White House drive to sever the Palestinians most vital economic lifeline unless they participate in U.S.-mediated peace talks. [worth noting that they withdrew from peace talks after Trump decided to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capitol, after working closely on this plan with Netanyahu- according to Israeli news - but not telling the Palestinian leadership until the very last minute], The reversal reflects White House resentment over the Palestinians’ decision to put forward resolutions before the U.N. Security Council and General Assembly denouncing President Donald Trump for his Dec. 6 decision to move the U.S. Embassy to the disputed capital of Jerusalem.

Both of those resolutions passed overwhelmingly, reflecting widespread international opposition to the White House decision and personally embarrassing the president.

...The president, she said, considers the two U.N. votes a personal affront.


A couple of articles on Trump's Pakistan threats and the consequences. Needless to say, having a president who tries to make foreign policy decisions without a deep understanding of each situation, plus a good deal of input from experts, is probably not going to work out well. (Note to Trump: calling yourself a "very stable genius" simply for having won the election, and "like, really smart" in response to the Wolff book, accompanied by the mandatory concurrent dig at "Crooked Hillary," does not actually convince any intelligent person that you're smart. Quite the contrary, in fact.)
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/01/03/pa ... ver-trump/
Quote:
On Jan. 1, President Donald Trump offered his maiden tweet of 2018: The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!

...Even as the tweet continued to titillate Trump enthusiasts in India and at home, however, the responsible members of Trump’s government were strategizing how to roll it back. Later that same day, a White House National Security Council spokesperson explained what, specifically, to expect: “The United States does not plan to spend the $255 million in FY 2016 foreign military financing for Pakistan at this time.” This is not the sweeping cutoff that Trump implied in his braggadocios tweet.

In fact, there is little that is, or ever will be, new in Trump’s Pakistan policy. That’s true for two simple reasons: the logistics of staying the course in Afghanistan and the night terrors triggered by imagining how terrifying Pakistan could be without American money.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/03/pakista ... -rant.html
Quote:
Just 24 hours after President Donald Trump took aim at Pakistan on Twitter, the South Asian nation already appears to be cozying up to the world's second-largest economy.

A day after the U.S. leader slammed Islamabad for harboring terrorists in a New Year's Day tweet, Pakistan's central bank announced that it will be replacing the dollar with the yuan for bilateral trade and investment with Beijing.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... olicy-tool
Quote:
The Trump administration moved on Thursday to suspend security assistance to Pakistan, signaling a new attempt to pressure Islamabad to crack down on terrorist networks operating in the country.

The announcement, which came at a State Department press briefing, made good on a threat leveled by Trump earlier this week.

...Trump followed up on the tweet with another on Tuesday threatening assistance to Palestinians unless they agreed to restart negotiations with Israel — an endeavor the Palestinians had abandoned after Trump broke with precedent in December and said that the U.S. would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

...What’s abnormal [about the Trump administration] is the sort of bullying and overt threats — particularly threats that are often not carried through,” said James Dobbins, a former State Department official who most recently served as the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan under the Obama administration. “It’s kind of a playground approach, as opposed to a paring knife.” Experts and former officials say that such high-profile threats are unlikely to change a foreign government’s behavior.



http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... picked-for
Quote:
A former National Parks Service official who improperly helped the owner of the Washington Redskins cut down more than 130 trees near his Potomac, Md. estate in 2004 will assume the deputy director post at the agency.

_________________

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: Mon 08 Jan , 2018 2:14 pm
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http://thehill.com/policy/defense/36787 ... les-report
Quote:
President Trump will reportedly unveil a new proposal that asks U.S. diplomats and military attachés to provide additional support to increase American arms sales.

...A senior official in the Trump administration [said] ...“We want to see those guys, the commercial and military attachés, unfettered to be salesmen for this stuff, to be promoters,” the official said.


http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... ing-tv-and
Quote:
Trump’s day is now starting around 11 a.m. and he is also holding far fewer meetings during his workday, Axios reported after viewing copies of Trump’s private schedule.

The first part of Trump’s day is known as “Executive Time.” According to the schedule, it takes place in the Oval Office, but officials told Axios it actually takes place in the White House residence and consists of Trump watching TV and tweeting. Trump reportedly arrives in the Oval Office for his intelligence briefing at 11 a.m., his first meeting of the day. He also returns to the residence by 6 p.m.

...[spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders disputed this, saying] The President is one of the hardest workers I've ever seen and puts in long hours and long days nearly every day of the week all year long. It has been noted by reporters many times that they wish he would slow down because they sometimes have trouble keeping up with him”
Needless to say, she provides no evidence. The article notes that President George Bush usually arrived in the Oval Office before 7 am, and President Obama between 9 and 10am, after his workout.

_________________

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: Mon 08 Jan , 2018 2:34 pm
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Something that seems to be getting very little mention (if any) from most US news sources:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/wor ... 82426.html
Quote:
The U.S. believes Russia is secretly developing nuclear-capable, medium-range missiles in violation of the INF Treaty. Washington has now upped the pressure on NATO to formulate a response - and a new arms race could be the result.
One notable quote from the article:
Quote:
Should NATO prove unable to agree on a course of action including possible punitive measures, the United States, Mattis threatened, would push ahead on its own. "What it would mean for the U.S. to go it alone under a White House led by Donald Trump is something nobody wants to think about," said one NATO diplomat.
Those who don't realize what's going on, or why, can nonetheless be manipulated by those with vested interests:
Quote:
The American Enterprise Institute, a neoconservative think tank, has already demanded that the U.S. government intensify its "public diplomacy." It is important to highlight "Russian exercises, threats and violations of the INF Treat," the institute argues, in order to "generate the political and public support" necessary to support rearmament with cruise missiles.
IMO, this is something that should be discussed and debated openly in the U.S., in all its aspects - not hidden from view while neocons run campaigns to influence people.

_________________

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 09 Jan , 2018 3:05 pm
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To me, this sounds like more reckless "playground diplomacy" behavior from the Trump administration. Escalation of a tense situation seems likely:
http://thehill.com/policy/international ... inst-north
Quote:
U.S. officials have reportedly talked about the potential to conduct a targeted strike against sites in North Korea in a "bloody nose" strategy. The Wall Street Journal reported that the strategy involves launching a targeted strike at a North Korean facility in response to a nuclear or missile test.


http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... own-making
Quote:
President Obama's former ambassador to the United Nations said Tuesday that the majority of the problems the Trump administration is facing abroad has been brought on by the administration itself.

..."The fact that the rest of the world is moving on, China's trying to forge a free trade agreement where we didn't, [and] create a huge regional trade bloc that would be a threat to our interests. The fact that the Europeans have basically said to us, 'you want to walk away from the Iran deal but the Iranian government is keeping to the Iran deal so we're sticking with it,' " Power added.

"These are a real problem of ability when we face threats not of our own making," she explained. "Most of the crises this administration has faced are of their own making."



Guess what's the biggest sticking point in congressional budget negotiations? Trump's wall, which practically everyone else thinks is stupid.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/36801 ... down-fight



Regulators refuse the scam where coal-fired and nuclear power plants would have gotten higher payments (at consumer expense, of course). And, predictably, Trump's well-off lackeys attack the decision.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... nistration
Quote:
President Trump’s former campaign manager slammed a five-member federal board — four of whom Trump nominated — as part of the “deep state” for rejecting Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s plan to boost coal and nuclear power.

The Tuesday morning tweet came from Corey Lewandowski the day after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) unanimously killed Perry’s plan to require higher electricity payments to coal and nuclear plants.


More very questionable behavior by Zinke and Trump:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... nistration
Quote:
President Trump's Interior Department has implemented a new policy that asks staff awarding federal grants to ensure the awards "promote the priorities" of the administration, according to a Dec. 28 memo obtained by the Washington Post. The decision appears to be an attempt to exert further control for the Trump administration over federal funding of grants to academics and non-profits.

The Post reports that Scott J. Cameron, Interior's principal deputy assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, has instructed other officials at Interior to submit most grants for approval by one of his aides. This includes "any award of at least $50,000 to 'a non-profit organization that can legally engage in advocacy' or 'to an institution of higher eduction.'"

...The approval process, according to the Post, is unprecedented in the department. David Hayes, an Interior Department deputy secretary for former presidents Clinton and Obama told the Post that the directive could, in some cases, be in violation of federal law.
Note that this isn't even priorities for the government in general, including Congress - just what Trump and Zinke want. And the priorities - listed in the article - are vague garbage that could be interpreted any way Cameron wants. Although "utilizing our natural resources" is pretty clearly "promoting oil and gas drilling, mining and logging" Probably "getting more profits out of our national parks," too.



Interesting effects on Obamacare, after Trump cancelled cost-sharing reduction subsidies and slashed funding for Obamacare marketing:
http://thehill.com/regulation/healthcar ... e-insurers
Quote:
The ObamaCare doomsday scenario that many Republicans and Democrats predicted for 2018 is unlikely to come to pass, with insurers having adapted to the uncertainty that marked President Trump’s first year in office.

Insurers who decided to stick with ObamaCare after a tumultuous 2017 are likely to have a relatively profitable year, analysts and experts predict, for reasons including higher-than-expected enrollment.
Quote:
Insurers adapted to changes, raising premiums to make up for the expected loss of the payments. And because ObamaCare’s subsidies are designed to increase with premiums, the federal government actually ended up spending more on subsidies for canceling the payments.

_________________

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 09 Jan , 2018 8:46 pm
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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/09/sen-dia ... imony.html
Quote:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., on Tuesday released the full transcript from Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson's testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

"The innuendo and misinformation circulating about the transcript are part of a deeply troubling effort to undermine the investigation into potential collusion and obstruction of justice," Feinstein said in a statement. "The only way to set the record straight is to make the transcript public."
Full transcript available at the link.



A Trump biographer reviews "Fire and Fury"
http://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/05/opini ... index.html
Quote:
In "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," author Michael Wolff offers a caricature of the President as "an idiot surrounded by clowns," as one unnamed source puts it. It's an incomplete and unsatisfying sketch. But consider that his subject, Donald Trump, has described himself as a character in a comic book and Wolff's work can be regarded as truer than the President would have us believe.

...As a private citizen, Trump developed this squid-ink method so that he could sell himself like a human product. In falsely claiming that various starlets pursued him for dates, or the British royals were eying Trump real estate, he played a game with reality.In a super-salesman, this habit was amusing. In a president, it is both frightening and dangerous. But while the distortion obscures Trump, it doesn't make him invisible and Wolff has spotted the outlines of his target.

_________________

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: Wed 10 Jan , 2018 1:40 pm
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Yesterday morning, this was a prominent article at The Hill:
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... ces-in-fla
Quote:
The Trump administration’s expansive offshore drilling proposal could boost Florida Sen. Bill Nelson (D) in his upcoming reelection fight. Nelson is running for his fourth term in the swing state. His most likely rival is Gov. Rick Scott (R), though Scott hasn’t declared his candidacy.

President Trump won the state in 2016 by a little more than 1 percentage point, suggesting Nelson could face a tough reelection. But Trump’s proposal to open nearly all of the United States’s coasts for potential drilling hands Nelson an opportunity to highlight his decades of efforts to fight drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, adjacent to Florida’s coast.

By the evening, this story had been posted:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... lling-plan
Quote:
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Tuesday that he won’t allow offshore drilling in waters near Florida through 2024. The decision came after Zinke met with Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) in Tallahassee earlier in the day to discuss the governor's objections. It was day after Zinke proposed opening nearly all of the nation’s coasts to drilling.

“....As a result of discussion with Gov. Scott's [sic] and his leadership, I am removing Florida from consideration for any new oil and gas platforms.”

...The governors of nearly all states along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts have joined Scott in calling for their shores to be removed from Zinke’s plan, but Zinke has not ruled any other area out at this stage in the process.

“Virginia’s governor (and governor-elect) have made this same request, but we have not received the same commitment,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) tweeted Tuesday, referring to incumbent Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) and incoming Gov. Ralph Northam (D). “Wonder why…”
The implications of corruption to favor a Republican candidate are obvious.

And, of course, there's Mar-A-Lago to consider.


Edit: This is an op-ed piece from The Philadelphia Inquirer from a few months ago (a reputable major newspaper, though of course, op-eds are just that) - it details a number of questionable practices by Zinke and others in the Trump administration:
http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists ... 71005.html
Quote:
With epic corruption in D.C., the fish stinks from the head
More details on some of Zinke's flights and political meetings, from The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investig ... story.html

(Edited again to correct a quote that ended up in the wrong spot). btw, Will Bunch also has an editorial on all the Oprah-for-president fuss that is IMO spot-on.

_________________

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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