In December, 1988, the month before NAFTA took effect, our negative trade balance (goods) with Mexico was a mere $49 million. Last month it was 7 billion, i.e. 130 times as high.
Like Trump done said, it was a complete rip-off. Mexico has just gotten more and more uppity and demanding the whole time. Time for a BIGTIME beatdown, eh?
0 Replies
layman
-3
Tue 23 Jan, 2018 10:51 pm
@roger,
"Negotiate" is just a euphemism in this case, eh, Rog?
Like Don Corleone, Trump will make them an offer they can't refuse. He will have a gun to their head, and either their signature or their (economic) brain will be on that paper before they leave, see?
Truth be told, I'd kinda like to see them refuse to sign, know what I'm sayin?
America First, Baby!
0 Replies
Below viewing threshold (view)
oralloy
-5
Tue 23 Jan, 2018 11:06 pm
@glitterbag,
glitterbag wrote:
If I have to pay for that Rube Goldberg of a wall, why is it Trumps wall?
Because he's the President.
glitterbag wrote:
I thought you guys believed that Mexico would pay. Changed your mind?
Me??? I've never given a moment's thought to who will pay for the wall.
0 Replies
wmwcjr
0
Tue 23 Jan, 2018 11:21 pm
‘Don’t ever preach to me again!’: Ex-GOP chair tells evangelicals who still support Trump to ‘shut the hell up!’
'We Won't Let Him Sleep': DACA Supporters Protest Outside Schumer's Brooklyn Home
A Facebook page advertising an "Our Lives Are On The Line, Chuck" demonstration invited protesters to congregate at Schumer's apartment building along New York City's Prospect Park.
The protesters reportedly met at nearby Grand Army Plaza and marched southward to his home.
"If Chuck won't let us dream, we won't let him sleep," they chanted, according to video captured by a man at the scene.
Ya done been played, yet again, eh, Chuckie?
0 Replies
Setanta
4
Wed 24 Jan, 2018 12:01 am
@Baldimo,
Don't try any cry baby sh*t. You didn't even understand the point of my post. It doesn't matter how many illegals there are now, or were in 1986. The point is that that border wall is a joke, and an unnecessary drain on the treasury. There's millions to be made by the coyotes, and billions to be made by the drug lords. They'll find a way under, over or through the wall, you can count on it.
I'm not surprised that you didn't understand that.
In Texas, you are legally allowed to blow away anyone trying to break into your house. I see no reason why that same principle shouldn't be applied at the border. Texans would be happy to volunteer for vigilante border patrol, I'm sure. They would set up machine gun nests every 50 yards or so, ya know?
I see no reason why that same principle shouldn't be applied at the border.
Because the illegal entry of non-nationals into the United States is a misdemeanor according to the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Yeah, so? So is trespassin, even burglary if ya don't take a whole lot of ****, anyway. That don't mean ya can't smoke they sorry ass in Texas.
Quote:
In other words, Texans are allowed to use force in self-defense before retreating as long as they are not intruding on private property. Under the law, a person's use of deadly force will be presumed reasonable if someone enters, or attempts to enter, that person’s occupied home, vehicle or workplace "unlawfully and with force."
Of course, that aint the onliest excuse for smokin somebody who tries to take your ****, eh, Walt?
Quote:
On Christmas Eve in 2009, Ezekiel Gilbert paid an escort he found on Craigslist $150 for what he thought would be sex. Instead, according to the San Antonio Express-News, 23-year-old Lenora Frago left his apartment after about 20 minutes without consummating the act. Gilbert, now 30, followed her to a car with a gun and shot her in the neck through the passenger-side window. Frago became paralyzed, and died about seven months later. Gilbert admitted to shooting her but contended that he did not intend to kill.
Gilbert was tried for murder. Last Wednesday, a Texas jury ruled that his actions were legal. That’s because Texas penal code contains an unusual provision that grants citizens the right to use deadly force to prevent someone “who is fleeing immediately after committing burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, or theft during the nighttime from escaping with the property.”
In 2010, the law protected a Houston taco-truck owner who shot a man for stealing a tip jar containing $20.12. Also in Houston, a store clerk recently killed a man for shoplifting a twelve-pack of beer, and in 2008 a man from Laredo was acquitted for killing a 13-year-old boy who broke into his trailer looking for snacks and soda.
Texas law also justifies killing to protect others’ property. In 2007, a man told 14 times by a 911 operator to remain inside during a robbery gunned down two thieves fleeing from his neighbor’s house. (“There’s no property worth shooting somebody over, OK?” the operator said on the call. The shooter’s response: “The law has been changed….Here it goes, buddy! You hear the shotgun clickin’ and I’m goin’!”) He was acquitted the next year.
"...right to use deadly force to prevent someone “who is fleeing immediately after committing burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, or theft during the nighttime from escaping with the property.”
The skank-ass ho took his money under false pretenses. That's "theft." She tried to get away, at night. He was entitled to stop her with lethal force in order to get his property (his money) back, see?
Open an shut case, right there.
He didn't have to **** around riflin through her purse to get the cash, neither. He was entitled to take all she had, to learn her a lesson, so he took the whole purse. And a diamond ring she had on her finger.
Of course, that aint the onliest excuse for smokin somebody who tries to take your ****, eh, Walt?
Certainly not: I live in a country where this has been practised until 1990: roughly 350 persons were killed at our borders by border troops. (The attempt to cross the border without official permission was a minor criminal offence under section 213 of the GDR Criminal Code. The offence could be aggravated by the use of “dangerous means or methods”,)
You may recall that just a few months back some guy shot up a church in Texas. A couple of neighbors chased his ass down and blew him away after his car went off the road. They weren't charged with nuthin. Justice, ya know?
The cops couldn't do that, because they are agents of the State and it would be unconstitutional. But the constitution don't govern individual citizens, just States and State actors.
Like I done said, they just need some vigilantes down at the border, that's all.
They could even induce Mexicans to cross the border by sayin something like "Hey, Paco, ya wanna Taco?" Then they could rightly claim that he was tryin to steal their taco, because they never said he could have it. They just asked him if he wanted it, that's all.
0 Replies
layman
-3
Wed 24 Jan, 2018 01:04 am
Some good news and some bad news regarding Schumer.
The cops finally came and broke up the mob of illegal aliens who surrounded his house. That's the bad news.
The good news is that now they're all gunna be deported!
0 Replies
izzythepush
2
Wed 24 Jan, 2018 02:04 am
Opinion piece on Stephen Miller
Stephen Miller: How much influence does he have on Trump?
The president turns to an array of people inside and outside the White House for advice. But the most prominent - and perhaps influential - is Stephen Miller.
During the middle of the weekend shutdown, one of the sticking points preventing an agreement was what Congress should do about "dreamers" - immigrants brought illegally to the US by their parents as children.
Miller, a senior policy adviser, didn't want the president to give up ground, according to Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.
"As long as Stephen Miller is in charge of negotiating immigration, we are going nowhere," Graham said. "He's been an outlier for years."
Later, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders pushed back. Miller supports the president's agenda, she explained, not his own.
So how much sway does Miller have over Trump? He and other advisers work with the president on drafts of speeches - it's a set-up common to previous administrations.
But until now, all of the US presidents had previously held elected or appointed offices or served in the military. Trump, a businessman, does not have the same grasp of policy, says Matthew Dallek, the author of a book about Ronald Reagan.
So Trump turns to Miller for help.
The 32-year-old transforms the president's ideas into policy speeches and, says Central Connecticut State University's Jay Bergman, makes them accessible "to the layman".
He also knows his audience.
"Miller understands Trump's base from a rhetorical standpoint and also a policy standpoint," says Matt Mackowiak, a Republican consultant and chair of the Travis County Republicans in Texas. "That's what makes him so effective for some and dangerous for others."
Here are four ways Miller has helped to sway the president.
1. Championing the leader
Trump surprised people with his darkly-toned inauguration address and its reference to "American carnage". The speech was written by Stephen Bannon, the president's former chief strategist, Miller and others.
For some watching, this portrait of America was simply Trump telling the truth about a country that had lost its way. But his critics saw it differently.
The apocalyptic vision is typical of authoritarian leaders, says New York University's Ruth Ben-Ghiat, the author of a book about Mussolini. The basic idea is society has become decayed and corroded and needs to be purified.
With Bannon gone, Miller now has more power in the White House as the remaining hardliner on immigration and nationalism. He's reinforced his position by championing the president.
Miller said on television last year that the president's decisions "will not be questioned" and has also described Trump as "the most gifted politician of our time".
Methodology: Miller enhances the president's self-image - "leader glorification", says Ben-Ghiat, underscoring a core message - "He's your saviour."
2. Securing borders
Miller wrote new lines about the case of Kathryn Steinle, a woman killed by an undocumented Mexican immigrant, for the president to give at a Florida rally in December.
An administration official explained that Miller tried out these lines at the rally in order to see what resonated with the friendly crowd.
"He said he didn't know it was a gun," Trump said, referring to the defence lawyer's claim that the 2015 shooting was an accident, adding the US was facing drugs and gangs "pouring into our country".
Trump followed up that reference by mentioning "we have begun the process of building a wall at the border". The crowd roared.
Afterwards Miller walked up the steps of Air Force One and spoke to colleagues about the speech. He was pleased, said one of them, with the crowd's reaction.
Methodology: Miller comes up with language for the president, testing lines on a supportive, local audience before using them in a speech for a national audience.
In this case, he encouraged the president to renew his call for the wall, a popular motif among his supporters.
3. Attacking the media
Miller supports the president by amplifying his critique of the press.
In January, Miller appeared on CNN, accusing the network of "spectacularly embarrassing false reporting" in a fiery exchange with Jake Tapper.
Miller refused to answer his questions, the presenter claimed, because there was only "one viewer that you care about right now".
The interview ended abruptly. Shortly afterwards, Trump tweeted Tapper had been "destroyed" in the interview.
Methodology: Miller turns up the volume of the president's criticism and encourages him to act more aggressively towards the media.
4. Promoting America First
Miller helped shape the president's policy towards Europe by deleting material in a speech about Nato - against the wishes of other White House advisers.
An advocate of national sovereignty who supported Brexit, (and has hung out with Nigel Farage), Miller cut lines in the speech expressing commitment to Article Five, a promise to help other nations in the face of military aggression, according to individuals who are close to Miller.
Article Five is a core tenet of the almost 70-year-old mutual defence pact.
Trump mentioned Article Five, but he didn't give it the endorsement that some of his advisers had wished.
Afterwards reporters gathered around a table with White House officials in a back room at Nato headquarters in Brussels and asked if the US commitment to the alliance was wavering - while Miller paced around the room, looking annoyed at the questions.
Methodology: By removing material from the speech, Miller helped to nudge the president into showing publicly - and in a new way - his ambivalence about Nato.
The rise of Miller
grew up in Santa Monica, California, a liberal enclave, and his parents were Democrats
expressed right-wing views and a passion for guns while in high school,
wrote a conservative column at Duke University, North Carolina
worked for then-Senator Jeff Sessions, and he became close to Steve Bannon, who was then head of Breitbart News
joined the Trump campaign in Jan 2016, travelling with the candidate and being the warm-up act at rallies
0 Replies
izzythepush
2
Wed 24 Jan, 2018 02:24 am
Quote:
British men are among a group of international volunteers preparing to fight against Turkish-led forces in north-west Syria, the BBC understands.
They have joined the Kurdish militia, the YPG, in its offensive on the Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin.
Among the volunteers is a 24-year-old British-Chinese fighter from Manchester, known as Huang Lei.
Lei, who originally travelled to Syria in 2015 to battle against IS, told the BBC it was his "duty" to fight.
The YPG has released a video showing an international group of volunteers who previously fought in Syria against so-called Islamic State.
Lei has told the BBC that there are two other Britons with him among the group, although they have chosen to remain anonymous.
In the video, an American says: "We're all ready to go and fight in Afrin, against the invading force of Turkey.
"We've been training for a significant amount of time. We are prepared, and we have been supplied by the YPG to fight against the Turkish terrorists."
"We were fighting against ISIS in Syria and suddenly we heard that Turkey is attacking Afrin and bombing the city," he says.
"We want to go there to help people defend the city and protect the people."
This marks a significant shift in the involvement of international fighters in the Syrian war.
With the IS threat diminished, for some volunteers their mission has changed.
"Defending Afrin is our duty," says Lei, who was a student studying international politics at the University of Manchester when he travelled to Syria in 2015.
'My motivation'
Turkey views the YPG as terrorists and has launched a new offensive to drive Kurdish fighters out of Afrin.
Lei says there is now a group of around 20 international volunteers who will go to defend the city, including Britons from Manchester, London and Leeds, and others from France, Germany, Spain and the US.
He says: "For me personally, the kindness and comradeship the Kurdish people have shown is my motivation to stand against Turkey".
The British Foreign Office has repeatedly warned people not to get involved in fighting abroad, so signs of changing motivations from western anti-IS fighters may prompt fresh concern.
Michael Stephens, a Middle East analyst from the Royal United Services Institute, said: "Previously their actions had aligned completely with the goals of coalition partners.
"Now these volunteers are taking on a sovereign country and a NATO ally and this brings up certain legal considerations."
Lei accepts he may face consequences if he comes back to Britain.
"I really hope I can return, but I don't want to come back and get arrested," he says.
"I am here to fight against terrorists. I don't want to come back home and become a terrorist."
Lei has survived battles against IS, but a fight against the Turkish military may place him in even greater danger.
The Turkish army have been shelling Afrin, killing civilians as well as YPG fighters.
Does he fears this prospect?
"Of course I am afraid of death," he says. "But, on a basic level, so is every human fighting in the YPG."
