monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

I love how Trump shut down the CNN fake news reporter Jim Acosta - AWESOME!!

Re Trump's plan to take profits generated at his hotels when foreign governments and their agents stay there (which doesn't even address corporate entities and lobbyists) and give them to to some government fund, two important points raised:

First, will he then count these as losses and gain tax benefits?

Second, and this is the important one:

Quote:

Ryan Lizza ‏@RyanLizza 19m19 minutes ago
He just created a clear mechanism for foreign entities to curry favor with him

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President-elect Donald Trump says he expects to nominate new Supreme Court justice within two weeks of inauguration.

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@maporsche,

The hockey stick lives !

There's one born every minute.

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Trump refused to answer the question whether anyone in his campaign had contact with Russia or intermediaries during the campaign.

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@blatham,

I've learnt a lot of freedom of the press during the last hour.

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Quote:

Spencer Ackerman ‏@attackerman 9m9 minutes ago
Priebus, Sunday: Trump "not denying that entities in Russia were behind this particular hacking campaign"

Trump today: "It could be others"

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@Frugal1,

Quote:

I love how Trump shut down the CNN fake news reporter Jim Acosta - AWESOME!!

http://www.mediaite.com/online/you-are-fake-news-trump-and-cnns-jim-acosta-get-into-shouting-match-at-presser/

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@Walter Hinteler,

Quote:

I've learnt a lot of freedom of the press during the last hour.

I'm sure. But of course, it is the role of American and it's greatest leader in the history of mankind to bequeath such wisdom on you old europers. And everyone else, too.

You need to write a thank you letter, Herr Snarker

But let me add, you point to something of critical importance with this guy (and the conservative movement as well):

This is a post-fact, post-policy, post-honesty period in the US. Attacking media is the key means of getting to this point. It is one of the instititutions which MUST be dismantled or discredited preceding the rise of authoritarian rule.

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@maporsche,

Nice, useful graph. Is it from WhatButWait?

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@georgeob1,

The "hokey stick" thing is actually true, as far as we can know.

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@Olivier5,

Olivier5 wrote:

Nice, useful graph. Is it from WhatButWait?

www.xkcd.com

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@Olivier5,

No, it's a fabrication - it's fake.

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@Frugal1,

No, it's not. Climate has always changed but the rate of change is massively accelerating, due to the massive acceleration of human production of CO2.

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Quote:

Inside Trump’s financial ties to Russia and his unusual flattery of Vladimir Putin

LINK

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@Olivier5,

Quote:

Re: Frugal1 (Post 6341229)
No, it's not. Climate has always changed but the rate of change is massively accelerating, due to the massive acceleration of human production of CO2.

People have always died so the Black Plague is just a normal sorta thing.

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@Olivier5,

No, it really is a fraud that weak & gullible people latch on to.

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The liberal media have tried all of their tricks to smear Trump, and they have failed.
They attack without any supporting evidence, and Trump chews them up & spits them out - it's awesome!

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@blatham,

blatham wrote:

Quote:
Republicans want to fight climate change, but fossil-fuel bullies won’t let them

...Climate change became partisan in 2010, shortly after the five Republican-appointed justices of the Supreme Court upended a century of law and precedent to issue the Citizens United decision, which rejected limits on corporate spending on political campaigns. The timing is not a coincidence.

Big-business interests, particularly the fossil-fuel industry, led the charge. That industry’s annual U.S. subsidy is $700 billion, according to the International Monetary Fund. With stakes that high, the incentive to protect the subsidy and the amount that the fossil-fuel industry can afford to spend on political influence are enormous, so the restraints of campaign finance and disclosure rules were particularly galling.

The justices allowed the fossil-fuel industry to roll heavy artillery out onto the political field, not just its previous musketry. Industry operatives brag about putting hundreds of millions of dollars into each federal election cycle, though undisclosed “dark money” and identity-laundering pass-throughs make this increasingly hard to track. Most recklessly, the five justices missed the point — or didn’t care — that anyone who is allowed to spend unlimited political money necessarily can threaten to spend unlimited political money. This atmosphere has quashed any Republican effort on climate change, silenced serious climate debate in Congress and ended progress, as desired and directed by the fossil-fuel industry...
LINK

I have to think that Whitehouse's description of these dynamics is pretty accurate. There certainly are true believers of the climate denial variety but the majority of GOP politicos surely must grasp the reality of global warming and climate change. Still, the ethics here are abominable. To place your partisan desire to hold high office or keep your party in power as a value greater than protecting your nation's citizens humans worldwide from disaster - that's their choice?

The dilemma of "dark money" plagues our politics, our economy, and our environment. It has for a very long time.

Corporations and other business entities are artificial beings. They are born with a stroke of a pen and have no conscience. They are not real persons, but have been granted the rights of real persons. In fact, they have been granted greater rights and they are in control. Is resistance futile?

Bernie Sanders' campaign has given us a glimmer of hope. Perhaps we can dismantle the "dark money" control of our government and our welfare and, ultimately, our survival. Maybe not.

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@Debra Law,

Yup

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