President Donald Trump

**RPETER65** · 13-02-2017, 12:16 PM

Originally Posted by SKkin

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

the Naval Base in Bahrain

Originally Posted by SKkin

or any genuine vital national interests

That's right, a naval base in Bahrain is not a genuine vital national interest for We the people. However, it might be for the MIC profiteers...

Or maybe the American citizens stationed there.

**cyrille** · 13-02-2017, 12:20 PM

Originally Posted by CSFFan

he tweeted about the crowds of supporters lining his motorcade

Doubtless the vehicles had the capacity.

**Topper** · 13-02-2017, 12:28 PM

Originally Posted by cyrille

Doubtless the vehicles had the capacity.

I wonder who pays his phone bill when tweeting....

**Storekeeper** · 13-02-2017, 12:32 PM

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com...s-trump-score/

Tracking Congress In The Age Of Trump

An updating tally of how often every member of the House and the Senate votes with or against the president.

Check out the link.

**bsnub** · 13-02-2017, 12:35 PM

^ Way to early for that link yet.

**Topper** · 13-02-2017, 12:38 PM

Originally Posted by bsnub

^ Way to early for that link yet.

I agree. Let's see how things go when funding for the wall comes up.

**bsnub** · 13-02-2017, 12:57 PM

^ Seems repealing Obamacare/ACA is already starting to cause an uproar. Many Drumpf supporters seemed to think the health care they had through the ACA was something other than Obamacare.

A shit storm is a brewing over that.

**Storekeeper** · 13-02-2017, 01:16 PM

Originally Posted by bsnub

Seems repealing Obamacare/ACA is already starting to cause an uproar.

Possibly a repeat post:

**raycarey** · 13-02-2017, 01:17 PM

Originally Posted by Slick

There is not an article, link, spin, story that anyone can produce to convince me that there isn't a very serious problem with illegal immigration.

as far as i can see no one is trying to convince you of anything. i can't imagine why you would think someone is trying to convince you of something...... i hate to break it to you, but no one cares what you think.

Originally Posted by Slick

conservatives are racist gerrymanderers.

while it's true that not all conservatives are racist....but nearly all racists in the US would identify as political conservatives.

**harrybarracuda** · 13-02-2017, 01:18 PM

Originally Posted by bsnub

^ Seems repealing Obamacare/ACA is already starting to cause an uproar. Many Drumpf supporters seemed to think the health care they had through the ACA was something other than Obamacare.

A shit storm is a brewing over that.

Thick as shit and now they are starting to realise they fucked up. Poor little trumpkins.

A sizable minority of Americans don’t understand that Obamacare is just another name for the Affordable Care Act.

This finding, from a poll by Morning Consult, illustrates the extent of public confusion over a health law that President Trump and Republicans in Congress hope to repeal.

In the survey, 35 percent of respondents said either they thought Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act were different policies (17 percent) or didn’t know if they were the same or different (18 percent). This confusion was more pronounced among people 18 to 29 and those who earn less than $50,000 — two groups that could be significantly affected by repeal.

**Topper** · 13-02-2017, 01:26 PM

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Thick as shit and now they are starting to realise they fucked up.

What really makes it great....trump doesn't even realize how big a fuck up his campaign promise was.

**Cold Pizza** · 13-02-2017, 02:14 PM

Originally Posted by Storekeeper

George F. Will writes a twice-weekly column on politics and domestic and foreign affairs. He began his column with The Post in 1974, and he received the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1977.

I have NEVER understood why someone with the (lack of) intellect and shallowness of George Will ever ended up writing and talking on these national periodicals and TV shows.

**Topper** · 13-02-2017, 02:17 PM

Originally Posted by Cold Pizza

I have NEVER understood why someone with the (lack of) intellect and shallowness of George Will ever ended up writing and talking on these national periodicals and TV shows.

Yet we have a president who believes in fairies? It's the American way!

**harrybarracuda** · 13-02-2017, 02:26 PM

A New Jersey congressman says a rarely invoked 1924 law could be used to examine President Donald Trump's tax returns for possible conflicts of interest and Constitutional violations.

Rep. Bill Pascrell, a Democrat who serves on the Ways and Means Committee, has asked the committee’s chairman, Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, to order the Treasury Department to provide tax returns to the committee. Brady's office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

After privately examining returns — Pascrell is seeking 10 years' worth — the committee could decide to share them with the full House, which would in effect make them public. The 1924 law gives congressional committees that set tax policy the power to examine tax returns. It was used in 1974 when Congress looked at President Richard Nixon's returns, and in 2014 when the Ways and Means Committee released confidential tax information as part of its investigation into the Internal Revenue Service's handling of applications for nonprofit status.

Trump said during the campaign he would not release his returns because he was being audited. After the inauguration, adviser Kellyanne Conway said he would not release them because the public did not care.

Pascrell said what happened in the election does not matter.

“This isn’t for the Democrats or the Republicans, and it’s not to embarrass anybody," he said. "This is to make sure the American people know the facts, and if there are conflicts, they need to be resolved.”

Asked if he thought he would succeed, Pascrell said he believes many Republicans in the House and Senate "are absolutely intimidated by this president."

But on a different issue, the top Republican and Democrat on a key committee asked a top ethics regulator on Thursday to investigate whether Conway, a senior aide to Trump, violated ethics rules when she said in a television interview that people should buy the president's daughter's clothing line.

Pascrell said he did not believe Trump has turned over control of his companies to his children, and even if he did, Pascrell agreed with ethics officials who oversee the executive branch that that is not sufficient to avoid conflicts.

Pascrell also said he believes Trump is violating the “emoluments clause” of the Constitution, which bars federal officials from receiving gifts or other things of value from foreign governments. He raised that issue in a Feb. 1 letter to Brady.

We know that state-owned enterprises in China and the United Arab Emirates are involved in his businesses, and that his business ties stretch to India, Turkey and the Philippines and beyond,” Pascrell wrote. “Russia, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan may also have ties to his businesses.”

Pascrell said foreign governments are paying rents, licensing fees, and issuing permits for Trump Organization projects, all of which could be used to influence the president.The letter asked Brady to reply by Wednesday.

“If I get a ‘no’ answer on this, I’ll be very honest with you: If these guys think I’m walking away from this, they’re absolutely nuts," Pascrell said. "The calls we’re getting, the calls other congressmen are getting, it’s unbelievable, we never expected this.”

Members of Congress are not required to release their tax returns, but must file financial disclosure forms, similar to one Trump had to file when he ran for president, outlining sources of income and the value of certain assets.

Pascrell, who is in his 11th term in the House, does not regularly release his own tax returns. In January 2012, when he was running in a competitive Democratic primary, he released his 2010 return after learning his opponent had also done so.

It showed Pascrell, now 80, had $267,518 in income in 2010, including his congressional salary and New Jersey pension from service as a state legislator, mayor and Paterson employee. He and his wife paid $57,740 in federal taxes, or an effective tax rate of 22 percent.

Congressman: Rarely used law could make Trump tax returns public

**Humbert** · 13-02-2017, 02:47 PM

Hey, maybe he's a distant cousin of RPETER?

‘No challenge is to great’: Trump’s official inauguration portrait features an obvious typo

?No challenge is to great?: Trump?s official inauguration portrait features an obvious typo

**Humbert** · 13-02-2017, 03:55 PM

Originally Posted by Slick

the pew research link is speculation

If you don't like the research in that link try the research in this link. Or maybe you just think Pew is one of the 'enemies'.

**Topper** · 13-02-2017, 04:08 PM

Originally Posted by Humbert

‘No challenge is to great’: Trump’s official inauguration portrait features an obvious typo

You wonder at what point his staff is fucking with him...

**redhaze** · 13-02-2017, 04:25 PM

Some of these things have gotta be purely designed as distractions. Even some of the bigger stuff. While everyone was in arms about a virtually doomed to fail immigration ban, these guy were busy basically gutting Wall Street regulations

**Topper** · 13-02-2017, 04:58 PM

Originally Posted by redhaze

these guy were busy basically gutting Wall Street regulations

No, trump signed an EO suggesting change. Change hasn't happened yet.

**tomcat** · 13-02-2017, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by redhaze

these guy were busy basically gutting Wall Street regulations

...fully reported by Bloomberg and CNBC...no big public outcry, I suspect, because of arcane terminology used and few references to the real estate crash of '08...just us humongous banks goin' 'bout our business...you evangelicals keep prayin' for good times...

**SKkin** · 13-02-2017, 05:07 PM

Originally Posted by tomcat

arcane terminology used

Dud-Frank?

**tomcat** · 13-02-2017, 05:32 PM

^yep: not all luddites are as up on financial chicanery as you, eso...most folks' understanding of banking is the nearest ATM and the mortgage repayment...everything else is handled by the Goldman gods...

**Humbert** · 13-02-2017, 08:15 PM

Ignorance Is Strength

Paul Krugman

When I travel to Asia, I’m fairly often met at the airport by someone holding a sign reading “Mr. Paul.” Why? In much of Asia, names are given family first, personal second — at home, the prime minister of Japan is referred to as Abe Shinzo. And the mistake is completely forgivable when it’s made by a taxi driver picking up a professor.

It’s not so forgivable, however, if the president of the United States makes the same mistake when welcoming the leader of one of our most important economic and security partners. But there it was: Donald Trump referring to Mr. Abe as, yes, Prime Minister Shinzo.

Mr. Abe did not, as far as we know, respond by calling his host President Donald.

Trivial? Well, it would be if it were an isolated instance. But it isn’t. What we’ve seen instead over the past three weeks is an awesome display of raw ignorance on every front. Worse, there’s no hint that either the White House or its allies in Congress see this as a problem. They appear to believe that expertise, or even basic familiarity with a subject, is for wimps; ignorance is strength.

We see this on legal matters: In a widely quoted analysis, the legal expert Benjamin Wittes described the infamous executive order on refugees as “malevolence tempered by incompetence,” and noted that the order reads “as if it was not reviewed by competent counsel at all” — which is a good way to lose in court.

It might be difficult to recruit leading economists to the Council of Economic Advisors if Trump tells them his top priority is bringing...

The media is on to this phony too.Scott Pelley started last Monday's broadcast with this:" Today President Trump told a U.S. military...

We see it on national security matters, where the president continues to rely on a chief adviser who, suspicious closeness to the Kremlin aside, appears to get his strategic information from right-wing conspiracy theorists.

We see it on education, where the hearings for Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, revealed her to be completely ignorant about even the most elementary issues.

We see it on diplomacy. How hard is it to ask someone from the State Department to make sure that the White House gets foreign leaders’ names right? Too hard, apparently: Before the Abe flub, the official agenda for the state visit by Theresa May, the British prime minister, repeatedly misspelled her name.

And on economics — well, there’s nobody home. The Council of Economic Advisers, which is supposed to provide technical expertise, has been demoted from cabinet rank, but that hardly matters, since nobody has been nominated to serve. Remember all that talk about a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan? If you do, please remind the White House, which hasn’t offered even a ghost of a concrete proposal.

But let me not be too hard on the Tweeter-in-chief: disdain for expertise is general in his party. For example, the most influential Republican economists aren’t serious academics with a conservative bent, of whom there are many; they’re known hacks who literally can’t get a number right.

Or consider the current G.O.P. panic over health care. Many in the party seem shocked to learn that repealing any major part of Obamacare will cause tens of millions to lose insurance. Anyone who studied the issue could have told them years ago how the pieces of health reform fit together, and why. In fact, many of us did, repeatedly. But competent analysis wasn’t wanted.

And that is, of course, the point. Competent lawyers might tell you that your Muslim ban is unconstitutional; competent scientists that climate change is real; competent economists that tax cuts don’t pay for themselves; competent voting experts that there weren’t millions of illegal ballots; competent diplomats that the Iran deal makes sense, and Putin is not your friend. So competence must be excluded.

At this point, someone is bound to say, “If they’re so dumb, how come they won?” Part of the answer is that disdain for experts — sorry, “so-called” experts — resonates with an important part of the electorate. Bigotry wasn’t the only dark force at work in the election; so was anti-intellectualism, hostility toward “elites” who claim that opinions should be based on careful study and thought.

Also, campaigning is very different from governing. This is especially true when the news media spend far more time obsessing over your opponent’s pseudo-scandals than they do on all actual policy issues combined.

But now things have gotten real, and all indications are that the people in charge have no idea what they’re doing, on any front.

In some ways this cluelessness may be a good thing: malevolence may indeed be tempered by incompetence. It’s not just the court defeat over immigration; Republican ignorance has turned what was supposed to be a blitzkrieg against Obamacare into a quagmire, to the great benefit of millions. And Mr. Trump’s imploding job approval might help slow the march to autocracy.

But meanwhile, who’s in charge? Crises happen, and we have an intellectual vacuum at the top. Be afraid, be very afraid.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/13/o...smtyp=cur&_r=0

**buriramboy** · 13-02-2017, 08:21 PM

Who'd have thought the left are now pessimists while the right are now the optimists, stock markets riding high and no new wars so still all good.....

**Cold Pizza** · 13-02-2017, 09:45 PM

Originally Posted by Humbert

Ignorance Is Strength

Paul Krugman

When I travel to Asia, I’m fairly often met at the airport by someone holding a sign reading “Mr. Paul.” Why? In much of Asia, names are given family first, personal second — at home, the prime minister of Japan is referred to as Abe Shinzo. And the mistake is completely forgivable when it’s made by a taxi driver picking up a professor.

It’s not so forgivable, however, if the president of the United States makes the same mistake when welcoming the leader of one of our most important economic and security partners. But there it was: Donald Trump referring to Mr. Abe as, yes, Prime Minister Shinzo.

Mr. Abe did not, as far as we know, respond by calling his host President Donald.

Humby,

You're really reaching.

You're oh so.....shallow.

Nice top hat. Square.

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