monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

@blatham,

blatham wrote:

Quote:
Pence is as great a danger to the world as Trump, without the insane tweets.

My guess, edgar, is that Pence would be less dangerous in terms of international affairs and engagement. He's a creature of the Koch universe which is quite different from how Bannon hopes the US acts internationally. But nationally, yes, I think Pence is more dangerous than Trump.

I was thinking nationally. I dread the consequences of Trump leading the military for four years.

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http://theduran.com/this-us-congressman-wants-war-with-russia-but-backs-off-when-asked-about-launching-a-first-strike-nuclear-attack/

de moKKKer-Rats appear to hate Putin mainly because of the extreme contrast (50+ IQ poionts) he providied the world with versus their most recent US president; that makes all of them look like criminals and fools.

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When you are all about making money, you are all about making money. And if you are also an ideological radical, things can go hairy really big and really fast.

Quote:

Betsy DeVos is under fire for an apparent conflict of interest. The education secretary announced last week that she’s reversing Obama-era limits on fees that Americans pay for defaulting on federal student loans. As Bloomberg reported on Monday, the move is raising eyebrows because it stands to benefit the father of a key DeVos advisor—an aide who just happened to resign from the Education Department a day after this change was announced.
“The reversal is almost certain to hand United Student Aid Funds Inc., the nation’s largest guaranty agency, a victory in its two-year legal battle against her department,” Bloomberg’s Shahien Nasiripour explained. “The fees could translate into an additional $15 million in annual revenue for the company, filings in a related lawsuit suggest. Until Jan. 1, United Student Aid Funds was led by Bill Hansen, who served as Deputy Secretary of Education under President George W. Bush. His son, Taylor Hansen, a former for-profit college lobbyist, was until three days ago one of the few DeVos advisers with professional experience in higher education.”

New Republic
And if you also think that public education exists in order to murder Jesus, then things get really, really weird.

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@McGentrix,

Quote:

What they want is for government to do their job and move out of the way so they can make themselves rich.

I understand that. And I should have worded it differently to say that "they are sure Trump's policies will make them rich." But they're just kidding themselves if they think there's an open door to wealth and success for every individual if only the government weren't holding them back.

Quote:

They don't want or need someone else to do that for them.

They say they don't want hand-outs. But targeted tax cuts and repeal of particular regulations are basically hand-outs as well. Allowing companies to pollute the air and water because it would cost them money to clean up their act is a hand-out. Deregulating workplace safety, for instance, is a hand-out, merely shifting the responsibility from the private sector to society as a whole, as permanently-injured workers have to rely on disability checks. Republican hand-outs merely switch the benefits from individuals to corporations and delay a true assessment of costs to society..

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In case you might want to dip in

Quote:

National Review in the Wilderness
The magazine was famously "Against Trump." Now it's anti-anti-Trump—and increasingly pro-Trump. What does it stand for now? Its editors explain.

NRO
For many years, I used to visit NRO every day to see what those boys and girls were up to. About six months before the election, I stopped visiting. The place had become utterly incoherent because of Trump. That became true of the Weekly Standard as well, though later, as their fight to stop Trump became a losing proposition.

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@hightor,

hightor wrote:

Quote:
What they want is for government to do their job and move out of the way so they can make themselves rich.

I understand that. And I should have worded it differently to say that "they are sure Trump's policies will make them rich." But they're just kidding themselves if they think there's an open door to wealth and success for every individual if only the government weren't holding them back.

Quote:
They don't want or need someone else to do that for them.

They say they don't want hand-outs. But targeted tax cuts and repeal of particular regulations are basically hand-outs as well. Allowing companies to pollute the air and water because it would cost them money to clean up their act is a hand-out. Deregulating workplace safety, for instance, is a hand-out, merely shifting the responsibility from the private sector to society as a whole, as permanently-injured workers have to rely on disability checks. Republican hand-outs merely switch the benefits from individuals to corporations and delay a true assessment of costs to society..

It doesn't have to be "all or none" with business regulations. Some regulations have a stranglehold on American business that limits it's global competitiveness. There are some very unreasonable safety regulations that seriously hinder worker productivity. A visit from OSHA should not be just a reason to open the check book. It should be instructional and actually useful. There are limitations that arbitrarily hinder business startups and small business growth.

You will find very few actual business people that do not understand the reasons for many of the government regulations. But when you need a full time employee whose sole function is dealing with federal and state regulations there are too many.

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@McGentrix,

Quote:

Then you are saying that if the FBI comes out at the end of their investigation and says they have found no evidence of any collusion between the White House or the Trump campaign and Russia that you will not actually believe it?

If they're intention is, as you seem to believe, to "shut up all the anti-Trumpers" then yes, their conclusion would seem suspect.

Which is why I asked :

Quote:

For christ's sake, if they were investigating Hillary Clinton in order to shut up her critics for political reasons you would accept their findings?

If the investigation seems fair, if it's allowed to continue without influence from the White House, and if respected legal analysts and politicians close to the investigation assure us that it was an honest and thorough attempt to get at the truth, of course I will accept the findings. Personally I find it difficult to believe that Trump's people would be so stupid as to make deals with the Russian propaganda machine so I'm prepared for an innocent explanation which puts the matter to rest. However, don't you wonder why all those contacts were made, at those particular times? What business does a presidential campaign committee have dealing with an adversary on the international stage? This was months before they won — I'm not referencing the Logan Act here.

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@hightor,

Regardless of intention, yesterday Comey stated that they had no evidence that would back up Trump's tweets regarding Obama "wiretapping" Trump Tower.

The news was very newsy about that. I think Blatham may have even posted something about that.

Now, regardless of intention, if Comey were to come and say that they had no evidence that would back up any claim that the Trump campaign or White House colluded with the Russians to alter the campaign, would that be the end of it?

I will give my honest assessment and say that no, it would not. I expect this to be an albatross the left attempts to hang on Trump for another 7 years. I mean people to this day think the Supreme Court stole the election from Al Gore when W was elected.

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@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

It's also a bit rich when Trump has just cut the overseas aid budget. I doubt very much "charitable" Americans will make up the shortfall.

I also think McGentrix is being deliberately obtuse.

AMERICA FIRST BABY

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@MontereyJack,

MontereyJack wrote:

Trump has now cracked the 40. Zpercent approval barrier and is stiil headed down. Gallup 37 percent. A drop of 7 ppoints in two months. The country at large is rejecting him and his destructive agenda.

Wow...Does that mean he's no longer the President??

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Quote:

David Frum‏Verified account @davidfrum 2h2 hours ago
David Frum Retweeted The Associated Press
Has Fox ever before disciplined an on-air personality for saying something untrue? This feels seismic, a confirmation of grave trouble

Quote:
The Associated Press‏Verified account @AP
Fox News Channel pulls analyst Andrew Napolitano from air after it wasn't able to substantiate UK spying commentary.

I'm not he's got it right but Frum is much closer to this stuff than I am so I have to consider he might be on to something.

And it raises an interesting set of questions. If/when the consensus tilts that Trump is proving destructive to movement conservative goals or that he is seriously threatening the majority in the House, then what is Fox going to do?

Presently, though the Koch crowd did NOT want Trump to win, they are looking to get most of what they want at the federal level via Pence, Ryan and Sessions particularly. But these guys play a much longer game. If the Russia (or some other) problem(s) gets really critical, then everything gets very messy for everyone. A consensus to rid themselves of Trump will not be easy to achieve (the base being the key factor) but if it looks to be the lesser problem, then that's where the effort and money will go.

And in that case, what the hell does Fox do? They'll do what Murdoch tells Shine to do but what's that going to look like?

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@McGentrix,

When adverse to Trump, the cheese-eaters readily embrace any and all complaints by the fake new media. No one should even question them. Trump is absurd when he suggests their sources should be revealed, and all, ya know?

But when many MSN outlets, including left-wing ones, citing "reliable inside sources"say that warrants were secured to secretly bug Trump Towers, they can't be believed now, eh, Gent?

Trump didn't "lie," he simply took the multiple news reports as accurate and commented on them.

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Quote:

US conservative political commentator Tomi Lahren has reportedly been suspended from her talk show after saying she holds pro-choice views on abortion.

The 24-year-old pundit hosts "Tomi" on the conservative US network TheBlaze.

She rose to prominence during the 2016 US election for her provocative and energetic online political monologues.

Ms Lahren has faced a huge online backlash since speaking on ABC's "The View" last week.

Ms Lahren said: "I'm someone that is for limited government, so I can't sit here and be a hypocrite and say I'm for limited government, but I think that the government should decide what women do with their bodies.

"Stay out of my guns, and you can stay out of my body as well."

Anti-abortion views are seen as fundamental to the US Republican Party platform and conservative political views in the US.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39338408

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@glitterbag,

glitterbag wrote:

FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Admiral Rodgers are answering questions from the House Intelligence Committee as I write:

NSA Director: No evidence U.K. involved in any wiretap; wiretap allegation clearly frustrates key ally; Claims we wiretaped Trump campaign outrageous

FBI Director: Confirms investigating Russian Election Meddling; Probe into election meddling began in July; investigating possible links between Trump associates and Russia; Yes, Russia is adversary of the US; No President could order a wiretap;

At 13:15 EST the hearing continues

DNI head Clapper lies to Congress.

Former CIA and FBI head John Brennan lies to and illegally spies on Congress.

Former CIA head Richard Helms convicted of lying to Congress.

Former CIA head Michael Hayden list to Congress.

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How smart is this

Quote:

Anne-Marie Slaughter‏Verified account @SlaughterAM 35m35 minutes ago
.@armychiefstaff on the state dept budget: 'at end of day if you dont have soft power skills everyone will unite against you'

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@McGentrix,

Quote:

Now, regardless of intention, if Comey were to come and say that they had no evidence that would back up any claim that the Trump campaign or White House colluded with the Russians to alter the campaign, would that be the end of it?

I think it's a little bit different from the Bush-Gore thing, which was really unprecedented. There were so many things going on and the partisan breakdown of the opinion was really kind of damning. And it's true, no matter what Comey says, there will be people who will reject it. Let's say he does find evidence of collusion, but it can't be traced to Trump himself. Will Manafort, Flynn, and Page be seen as innocent people by Trump supporters, taken down by the Obama-friendly FBI? Or will they just admit that some unsavory things were done in their candidate's name?

If Comey says there's no evidence, then there's not much more wind in the sails of this particular scandal-in-the-making, although there will surely be controversy. Personally, I'll be satisfied if they can just clear up what the contacts were for. If they were only trying to communicate willingness to lift sanctions or open up communication channels, well that would seem fishy, but maybe not illegal — I don't know. It would, however, be very difficult to prove that hacking the DNC was discussed so I'm ready for that "drive by, nothing here" conclusion.

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@giujohn,

Quote:

DNI head Clapper lies to Congress.

Former CIA and FBI head John Brennan lies to and illegally spies on Congress.

Former CIA head Richard Helms convicted of lying to Congress.

Former CIA head Michael Hayden list to Congress.

Except that doesn't mean they're lying in this case. We won't know the truth of their statements until we have the results of the investigation.

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@MontereyJack,

MontereyJack wrote:

it seems ro have escaped your notice that trump LOST by almost three million votes.

Wow... Does that mean Trump is not President anymore??

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The kinds of stuff going through the noggins of people staying at "Whispering Pines Retreat for the Hugely Troubled"

Quote:

People close to the president say Mr. Trump’s Twitter torrent had less to do with fact, strategy or tactic than a sense of persecution bordering on faith: He simply believes that he was bugged in some way, by someone, and that evidence will soon appear to back him up.

NYT

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@hightor,

Since they are totally unwilling, as well as unable, to comprehend why they lost the elections, and accept their own responsibility for the loss, the Democrats need a scapegoat to blame it all on, to wit: Russia. They will NEVER let go of that delusion.

These are the same cheese-eaters who went crazy about Trump because (in their misguided minds) he wouldn't accept the election results and claimed the whole thing was "rigged," eh? He was destroying democracy itself, to hear them tell it.

Go figure.

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