The Trump Presidency – 2016

[Thomkal]

Harry Reid receiving treatment for pancreatic cancer - POLITICO

[NobodyHere]

The biggest scandal yet of this Presidency:

Donald Trump Forgot Melania in Mother's Day Post

[Edward64]

I read on BBC that current count is 55 killed and 2,700 wounded.

TBH, I don't feel alot of sympathy for the Palestinians in Gaza who were doing the protests.

I reserve the right to change my opinion if it comes out that IDF was taking pot shots at a peaceful demonstration. The IDF has my benefit of doubt here.

In pictures: Deadliest day in Gaza since 2014

Dozens of Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces during clashes at the Gaza border on Monday, and hundreds have been injured, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. It’s the deadliest day there since the 2014 war.

Palestinian officials accused Israel of committing a “horrific massacre” and called on the international community to intervene. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his military’s actions, tweeting that “every country has the duty to defend its borders.” Israel’s military said protesters threw Molotov cocktails, stones and burned tires at Israeli soldiers positioned along the fence.

Protests had been called to mark Monday’s unveiling of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem. The Embassy’s controversial move from Tel Aviv — and President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel — has been praised by many Israelis. But it has also angered Palestinians, who hope to claim part of the city as their future capital.

[Edward64]

I hope this means we can bring home all the troops and leave that god forsaken country.

We broke it, we paid for it, the shop keeper is still pissed at us, we know the shop keeper won't ever be happy with us, time to leave and spend our efforts elsewhere around the region.

We don't need their oil anymore.

(Oh, let's accommodate any friendly Iraqi soldiers/translators etc. that fought with us and want to leave also).

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-i...-idUSKCN1IE091

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a long-time adversary of the United States, has all but won Iraq’s parliamentary election, the electoral commission said, in a surprise turn of fortune for the Shi’ite leader.

In the first election since Islamic State was defeated in the country, Iran-backed Shi’ite militia chief Hadi al-Amiri’s bloc was in second place, while Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, once seen as the front-runner, trailed in third.

The preliminary results were based on a count of more than 91 percent of the votes cast in 16 of Iraq’s 18 provinces.

[BBT]

Interesting article on why rural areas are more predominately to side with conservatives and relating it to the reduction of local journalism.

https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/5/9...erts-explained

At its worst, the divide between the national news and local realities creates an environment in which baldly false rumors flourish and true information is disregarded because it doesn’t square with what rural media consumers can see in front of their eyes. I wouldn’t argue that the divide makes racist rumormongering possible, but it does destroy a necessary counterbalance to those rumors.

Local media can place news from the national sphere in local contexts — sure, unemployment is down everywhere, but people are still struggling here, for instance. It can tell stories about local immigrant communities, or LGBTQ residents, or any number of other people affected by Trump’s policies, making them seem less like far-off citizens of a parallel universe. That creates a necessary bridge between worlds.

[BBT]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I hope this means we can bring home all the troops and leave that god forsaken country.

We broke it, we paid for it, the shop keeper is still pissed at us, we know the shop keeper won't ever be happy with us, time to leave and spend our efforts elsewhere around the region.

We don't need their oil anymore.

(Oh, let's accommodate any friendly Iraqi soldiers/translators etc. that fought with us and want to leave also).

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-i...-idUSKCN1IE091

We won't leave with the current administration in office. With an Iranian conflict on the horizon, we'll need a staging base for ground troops if necessary. Kuwait requires us to cross over Iraq, Qatar is across the sea, Afghanistan requires us to go through the mountains among other things, and we're not really friends with Turkey anymore. Iraq offers the most strategic position if anything occurs.

God...I hope it doesn't come to that.

[JPhillips]

We've all grown accustomed to it, but let's not forget how fucked up it is that the official reps of the U.S. to the embassy opening were the President's daughter and son-in-law.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

We've all grown accustomed to it, but let's not forget how fucked up it is that the official reps of the U.S. to the embassy opening were the President's daughter and son-in-law.

...perfectly suitable to represent the United States Unamerica. (unquestionably what she said)

[bronconick]

N Korea cancels talks with South Korea and warns US - BBC News


Guess Trump won't get his Nobel Prize after all.

[Edward64]

Nice while it lasted.

My guess is crazy kid is bluffing.

[PilotMan]

Clearly, this is as much a complete failure of Trump as it was his success when it was totally going to happen.

[Thomkal]

Judge rejects Manafort's motion to dismiss charges:



http://thehill.com/regulation/court-...-probe-charges

[stevew]

So in the last week we've moved an embassy for no real reason and caused turmoil and gotten nothing in return for it, tweeted about making chinese phone maker ZTE great again, and had a summit fall through with a pissant 3rd world country full of psychos?

#MAGA

[Thomkal]

Just to be fair to the President here, the summit is not cancelled (yet). A meeting with South Korea was cancelled.

[NobodyHere]

The recent SCOTUS ruling on Sport gambling may be bad news for Trump's war on sanctuary cities

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...etting-n874281

"The court ruled definitively that the federal government can't force states to enforce federal law. In the immigration context, this means it can't require state or local officials to cooperate with federal immigration authorities," said Ilya Shapiro, a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by stevew

So in the last week we've moved an embassy for no real reason and caused turmoil and gotten nothing in return for it, tweeted about making chinese phone maker ZTE great again, and had a summit fall through with a pissant 3rd world country full of psychos?

#MAGA

and not even bothering to alleviate those effects, doing it on May 14th. Yeah, Israel loves that date, but fact of the matter is that the same date for Palestinians has a totally different meaning. But why care about that ?

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

The recent SCOTUS ruling on Sport gambling may be bad news for Trump's war on sanctuary cities

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...etting-n874281

Doesn't the context of the law matter, though? The courts have ruled sports gambling is a matter for the states, which makes sense to me.

Immigration matters fall under much more of a federal issue than state by state. I could see the Supreme Court backing that the states must acquiesce to federal statutes in immigration matters, especially if it relates to national security (the feds would certainly frame it that way).

But I'm just armchair quarterbacking legal crap here. Someone familiar with precedent and how this all works will no doubt come along with a better understanding.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by whomario

and not even bothering to alleviate those effects, doing it on May 14th. Yeah, Israel loves that date, but fact of the matter is that the same date for Palestinians has a totally different meaning. But why care about that ?

To be fair, it's the embassy to Israel, not to Palestine. It makes sense that a move like that would be taken more with the Israeli perspective instead of the Palestinian one.

Of course, it is completely insensitive to not consider both sides, which is entirely consistent with this asshat administration.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Doesn't the context of the law matter, though? The courts have ruled sports gambling is a matter for the states, which makes sense to me.

Immigration matters fall under much more of a federal issue than state by state. I could see the Supreme Court backing that the states must acquiesce to federal statutes in immigration matters, especially if it relates to national security (the feds would certainly frame it that way).

But I'm just armchair quarterbacking legal crap here. Someone familiar with precedent and how this all works will no doubt come along with a better understanding.

They didn't rule that sports gambling is a matter for the states (It clearly constitutes interstate commerce, so that would be a bizarre ruling). They said that the government can't give orders to state legislatures. In fact, they point out that the PASPA law in question didn't make sports gambling a federal crime. It prevented states from legalizing sports gambling.

Nothing in the decision says the federal government couldn't ban sports gambling nationwide. But if they did do that, then they would be responsible for punishing the violators and would not be able to order the states to do that for them.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

They didn't rule that sports gambling is a matter for the states (It clearly constitutes interstate commerce, so that would be a bizarre ruling). They said that the government can't give orders to state legislatures. In fact, they point out that the PASPA law in question didn't make sports gambling a federal crime. It prevented states from legalizing sports gambling.

Nothing in the decision says the federal government couldn't ban sports gambling nationwide. But if they did do that, then they would be responsible for punishing the violators and would not be able to order the states to do that for them.

Has to be a huge win for legal marijuana too.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by whomario

and not even bothering to alleviate those effects, doing it on May 14th. Yeah, Israel loves that date, but fact of the matter is that the same date for Palestinians has a totally different meaning. But why care about that ?

Because it's an intractable conflict where both sides deny the others right to exist, so why not align ourselves with the side that is more educated, more aligned with our values, and likes us more?

Things might seem more pleasant if people like Netanyahu & Trump weren't in charge on this side, but idk why we are supposed to pretend Abbas & the Palestinian side are any more reasonable just because they're less powerful.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

Because it's an intractable conflict where both sides deny the others right to exist, so why not align ourselves with the side that is more educated, more aligned with our values, and likes us more?
.

And you cant do that while showing a little bit of restraint and open the embassy on a random day in April or June instead of basically choosing the date most guatanteed to result in a violent event ?

[Ryche]

The Trump Organization getting a 500 million dollar loan from China seems problematic, especially after his actions for ZTE

https://www.stridentconservative.com...zte-sanctions/

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by whomario

And you cant do that while showing a little bit of restraint and open the embassy on a random day in April or June instead of basically choosing the date most guatanteed to result in a violent event ?

There would be protests whenever the embassy was opened, and there would be protests on May 14 regardless if the embassy opened or not. So why not show support for the side you actually like?

The PA doesn't support the right of the Israeli state to exist. (I say the PA, not Palestinians, because I think the average people are being used as pawns.) Abbas gave that crazy speech a couple weeks ago blaming the Jews for their persecution in Europe and simultaneously claiming the creation of Israel was some colonialist scheme by anti-Jewish Europeans. They have a strategy to win PR with people who feel sorry for them because they're losing even if they're not a sincere participant in potential peace talks, they'll invent slights even if they're not real, so why bother walking on eggshells around them? I just wish the European half of the west would stop pretending they're a side interested in a real solution. (And in the unlikely event that ever happens I'll turn on the orthodox Jewish zealots!)

[BBT]

Not really a surprise; got to fill, I mean drain that swamp

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/13/b...mid=tw-nytimes

Members of a special team at the Education Department that had been investigating widespread abuses by for-profit colleges have been marginalized, reassigned or instructed to focus on other matters, according to current and former employees.

The unwinding of the team has effectively killed investigations into possibly fraudulent activities at several large for-profit colleges where top hires of Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, had previously worked.

During the final months of the Obama administration, the team had expanded to include a dozen or so lawyers and investigators who were looking into advertising, recruitment practices and job placement claims at several institutions, including DeVry Education Group.

The investigation into DeVry ground to a halt early last year. Later, in the summer, Ms. DeVos named Julian Schmoke, a former dean at DeVry, as the team’s new supervisor.

Now only three employees work on the team, and their mission has been scaled back to focus on processing student loan forgiveness applications and looking at smaller compliance cases, said the current and former employees, including former members of the team, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation from the department.

In addition to DeVry, now known as Adtalem Global Education, investigations into Bridgepoint Education and Career Education Corporation, which also operate large for-profit colleges, went dark.

Former employees of those institutions now work for Ms. DeVos as well, including Robert S. Eitel, her senior counselor, and Diane Auer Jones, a senior adviser on postsecondary education. Last month, Congress confirmed the appointment of a lawyer who provided consulting services to Career Education, Carlos G. Muñiz, as the department’s general counsel.

[Thomkal]

Senate Judiciary Committee releases transcripts of now infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians:


https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/16/polit...pts/index.html

[QuikSand]

(rather, the transcripts of their various hearings and interviews regarding said meeting)

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

(rather, the transcripts of their various hearings and interviews regarding said meeting)

Yep, sorry for the vagueness.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Has to be a huge win for legal marijuana too.

Not quite. It simply means the feds can't compel states to arrest people for marijuana offenses. But it doesn't stop the feds from enforcing their own marijuana laws.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

Not quite. It simply means the feds can't compel states to arrest people for marijuana offenses. But it doesn't stop the feds from enforcing their own marijuana laws.

Which, I think, greatly strengthens the case for local law enforcement being forced to act on behalf of Customs and Border Patrol.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Which, I think, greatly strengthens the case for local law enforcement being forced to act on behalf of Customs and Border Patrol.

How so? That's literally the opposite of what I just said.

[ISiddiqui]

I think he was attempting to say it strengthens the case for local law enforcement being forced against their wishes to act for Customs and Border Patrol to have a case against the feds.

[molson]

That's an issue with gun control too. The federal government can't force state governments to enforce federal gun control regulations, including background checks - which is one of the reasons we have the federal database system, which isn't always super complete and accurate. And many states have proactive constitutional and statutory provisions preventing the state officials from enforcing or participating in assisting the feds in carrying out any gun control regulations.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

How so? That's literally the opposite of what I just said.

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

I think he was attempting to say it strengthens the case for local law enforcement being forced against their wishes to act for Customs and Border Patrol to have a case against the feds.

Yes, should have said, strengthens the case for local enforcement not being forced to support C&BP.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by molson

That's an issue with gun control too. The federal government can't force state governments to enforce federal gun control regulations, including background checks - which is one of the reasons we have the federal database system, which isn't always super complete and accurate. And many states have proactive constitutional and statutory provisions preventing the state officials from enforcing or participating in assisting the feds in carrying out any gun control regulations.

Doesn't this also weaken national civil rights arguments about equal protection. If a state wants to say that it's legal to discriminate, then they could go against federal laws saying otherwise?

[molson]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Doesn't this also weaken national civil rights arguments about equal protection. If a state wants to say that it's legal to discriminate, then they could go against federal laws saying otherwise?

States don't have to enforce federal statutes or assist the federal government in so doing, but their actions ARE restricted by the federal constitution (most of it anyway).

Edit: And something like federal civil rights legislation can regulate what private entities and state and local government and their employees can and can't do because the U.S. legislature can constitutionally regulate "interstate commerce". But even there, the federal government could not force state and local government officials to ENFORCE the federal civil rights laws, even though they do have to abide by it.

[whomario]

54 things Donald Trump Jr. couldn’t ‘recall’ or ‘remember’ in his testimony - The Washington Post

Early onset dementia is no small thing, hope he gets the care he needs.

[Thomkal]

Not a good day for the Trumps.


-donald Jr's transcripts revealed he could not recall things related to the Trump Tower meeting 103 times and that includes the owner of a blocked phone that he called during the meeting.



-the Senate Judiciary committee both Republicans and Democrats say Russia influenced the 2016 election and sought to help Trump win.


-same committee said Russia used the NRA as a backdoor to influence Trump.


-Trump finally had to admit in the federal disclosure forms required by law that he did indeed know of the Stormy Daniels payment to Michael Cohen

[Thomkal]

So not one Tweet today apologizing for lying to the American people all this time about the Michael Cohen/Stormy Daniels "hush money" payment? Shocking!

[miami_fan]

Apologies are for the weak!

[Thomkal]

Interesting development in the Manafort case:


http://thehill.com/homenews/administ...e-with-mueller

[BBT]

I would think that the greatest witch hunt in American history happened in Salem. Kind of where the term “witch hunt” came from.

[PilotMan]

How many times can I read a trump story and thing, "fucking hell, are you serious?"

Such as...Trump tells North Korea's Kim to denuclearise or risk overthrow | North Korea News | Al Jazeera

After Sarah Sanders says that they aren't using the Lybia model on NK this

US president says North Korea's Kim Jong-un could suffer same fate as Libya's Muammar Gaddafi over nuclear weapons.

It's a complete game of constant doublespeak.

[BBT]

Our recent foreign policy is being heavily influenced by John Bolton. That's not a good thing.

[BBT]

Another great move by the great dealmaker:

China buys record amount of Russian soybeans after canceling US orders over Trump threats
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefi...-on-us-imports

China has cancelled multiple U.S. shipments in recent weeks ahead of tariffs, including a 62,690-ton purchase on April 19, Bloomberg reported earlier this month.

China included soybeans on a list of tariffs on U.S. products last month totaling $50 billion, a direct response to the Trump administration's announcement of $150 billion of tariffs against Chinese imports.

China is the second-largest market for U.S. agricultural exports.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

How many times can I read a trump story and thing, "fucking hell, are you serious?"

Such as...Trump tells North Korea's Kim to denuclearise or risk overthrow | North Korea News | Al Jazeera

After Sarah Sanders says that they aren't using the Lybia model on NK this

US president says North Korea's Kim Jong-un could suffer same fate as Libya's Muammar Gaddafi over nuclear weapons.

It's a complete game of constant doublespeak.

A tweet for everything.

As bad as Qaddafi was---what comes next in Libya will be worse---just watch.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2011

[NobodyHere]

Sounds like an odd individual

Gunman shot at Trump hotel was stripper, porn actor and big Melania fan

[PilotMan]

This article is just gold.

Bill Gates describes interesting encounters with Trump
By James Masters, CNN
Updated 2 hours ago May 18, 2018
(CNN) - Bill Gates made some eyebrow-raising claims about President Donald Trump on Thursday, saying he doesn't know the difference between two sexually transmitted diseases and that it was "scary" how much Trump knew about Gates' daughter's appearance.
Taking audience questions about his interactions with Trump at a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation meeting, the former Microsoft honcho said he first met Trump in December 2016. He told the audience that Trump had previously come across his daughter, Jennifer, at a horse show in Florida.
"And then about 20 minutes later he flew in on a helicopter to the same place," Gates said, according to video of the event broadcast by MSNBC late Thursday. "So clearly he had been driven away but he wanted to make a grand entrance in a helicopter.
"Anyway, so when I first talked to him, it was actually kind of scary how much he knew about my daughter's appearance. Melinda (Gates' wife) didn't like that too well."
Gates also said he discussed science with Trump on two separate occasions, where he says the President questioned him on the difference between HIV and HPV.
HPV stands for human papillomavirus and is defined by the US National Institutes of Health as "a group of related viruses" which is sexually transmitted and can cause some types of virus, warts and cancer. HIV -- human immunodeficiency virus -- is a sexually-transmitted disease which breaks down the immune system and can lead to AIDS.
"In both of those two meetings, he asked me if vaccines weren't a bad thing because he was considering a commission to look into ill-effects of vaccines and somebody -- I think it was Robert Kennedy Jr. -- was advising him that vaccines were causing bad things. And I said no, that's a dead end, that would be a bad thing, don't do that.
"Both times he wanted to know if there was a difference between HIV and HPV so I was able to explain that those are rarely confused with each other," Gates said.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
© 2018 Cable News Network, Inc
A Time Warner Company
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

[Thomkal]

Trump's crusade against Amazon continues:


Trump personally pushed postmaster general to double rates on Amazon, other firms - The Washington Post

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Trump's crusade against Amazon continues:


Trump personally pushed postmaster general to double rates on Amazon, other firms - The Washington Post

That's shit despots do. Russia and Turkey would freeze assets and take property from people who owned media outlets that would say negative stuff about leaders.

Not sure how someone gets that far being that thin-skinned.