monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Yeah, right . . . wanna buy a bridge?

Don't talk to me Baldimo. I've had no respect for you since the night you talked about "n*gger music" to a newly joined member who happened to have been black. You then attempted to defend yourself by saying you're not white. Your eventual rationale was that Italians are not white.

I've got zero respect for you, and no interest in anything you have to say.

US kills 150 ISIS fighters in Syria airstrike during government shutdown

The Pentagon says it killed 150 ISIS fighters in an airstrike in eastern Syria, while the U.S. federal government was shut down Saturday.

The airstrike took in one of the last remaining pockets of ISIS control along the Euphrates River near the border between Syria and Iraq, according to a statement from U.S. Central Command, responsible for American forces in the Middle East.

While ISIS has lost 98 percent of its territory, the remaining 2 percent held by the terror group includes an area around the Syrian city of Al-Shaafah, where the strike took place. Top U.S. military officials believe the head of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is hiding in the area.

The target for the American aircraft was an ISIS headquarters with a “heavy concentration” of ISIS fighters, who were preparing to leave the area, according to the statement.

Given the recent revelations about FBI texts, I would love to see the comments of those who have reliably mocked the notion of a "Deep State"

Supreme Court Pumps The Accelerator On DACA Appeal

The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to accelerate the Trump administration’s appeal of a lower court order requiring the government to continue administering the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

The justices ordered DACA supporters to file a brief defending the lower court judgement by Feb. 2, a swift timetable compared to other cases.

Judge William Alsup’s Jan. 9 ruling prompted the government’s appeal to the high court. Alsup concluded DACA’s termination was based on an error of law, making the action “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, [and] otherwise not in accordance with law.”

In a remarkable procedural move, the Department of Justice declined to follow normal course by appealing to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and brought the case straight to the justices.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told the White House this week that he has retracted his offer to provide funds for the Mexico border wall well above the $1.6 billion that President Trump originally requested, Politico reported Tuesday. Sources say “Trump will simply not get a better deal than that on his signature campaign promise.” Last Friday, Schumer originally offered the border-wall funds while meeting with Trump, hoping to get “a broader deal to help DREAMers.” Since the government shutdown, a Democratic aide said that Trump has “missed an opportunity to get the wall.”

Wall will be built, and Mexico will pay (even if indirectly)

President Trump has promised to build the wall and he’ll make Mexico pay for it. The Democrats called the idea crazy. President Trump understands something that Congressional Democrats don’t. In fact, President Trump has found a better way to make Mexico pay by making concessions in the North American Free Trade Agreement. In the process, that will help create thousands of jobs across America.

“They can pay for it indirectly, through NAFTA,” Trump said. “I’m going to take a small percentage of that money and it’s going toward the wall.

Guess what? Mexico’s paying. And that’s not just smart, it’s brilliant. Under NAFTA, America has a $55 billion trade deficit with Mexico. The cost for the border wall? A projected $18 billion. So Trump only needs to renegotiate a one-third reduction in the trade deficit to effectively force Mexico to pay for the wall.

Talks on renegotiating NAFTA have already begun. And President Trump is aiming to show that he’s still Master of the Deal. And when he re-balances trade with Mexico, Trump will end up keeping two vital campaign promises. America will have a border wall and Mexico will pay for it. That’s genius.

Quote:

Wall will be built, and Mexico will pay (even if indirectly)
So Trump only needs to renegotiate a one-third reduction in the trade deficit to effectively force Mexico to pay for the wall.

Somehow, "renegotiate" does not elicit the same feelings as "make them pay". It sounds more like he's going to ask them to pay.