The Trump Presidency – 2016

[QuikSand]

Withholding tables have not yet been revised. The earliest estimate was for them to be released in February. Taxes are not taken out magically, the feds send out information to employers for guidance.

[henry296]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Withholding tables have not yet been revised. The earliest estimate was for them to be released in February. Taxes are not taken out magically, the feds send out information to employers for guidance.

Thanks. I hadn't seen that the withholding tables weren't updated.

[Thomkal]

Well you know you've made an enemy of Donald Trump when he gives you a nickname...

Trump jabs 'Sneaky Dianne Feinstein' for releasing Fusion GPS transcript - POLITICO

[BishopMVP]

Sneaky Dianne just doesn't have any pizzazz. Though I disagree with this list - Low Energy Jeb is clearly his best imo.

[Drake]

Deceitful Dianne or Dimwit Dianne would have been better.

[Butter]

He only knows about 12 adjectives, so let's not go crazy.

[cuervo72]

Dirty

[digamma]

Nasty

[stevew]

Ding Dong

[Toddzilla]

Jackan

[Drake]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

Jackan

Winner

[PilotMan]

Bannon is now persona non grata and has seen his power and influence drop like a rock since Alabama and Moore. Now, it's Trump, who continues to only rely on his position as his means of power. He's completely losing the policy and political war. Not even to D's. He's losing it by continuously burning every bridge behind him and choosing to go to war with everyone. He can't put a coherent policy together, because he has no idea how all the pieces fit together. He's completely ignorant and can barely formulate differentiating words to his frontal cortex.

He like a mouse in a maze.

The Market will falter if he goes to a trade war. He's working on losing his best supporters and alienating his remaining supporters who won't kill for him. He's well on his way to being a lame duck and irrelevant by the end of year 2.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Bannon is now persona non grata and has seen his power and influence drop like a rock since Alabama and Moore. Now, it's Trump, who continues to only rely on his position as his means of power. He's completely losing the policy and political war. Not even to D's. He's losing it by continuously burning every bridge behind him and choosing to go to war with everyone. He can't put a coherent policy together, because he has no idea how all the pieces fit together. He's completely ignorant and can barely formulate differentiating words to his frontal cortex.

He like a mouse in a maze.

The Market will falter if he goes to a trade war. He's working on losing his best supporters and alienating his remaining supporters who won't kill for him. He's well on his way to being a lame duck and irrelevant by the end of year 2.

Not sure if you can say he's losing the policy war after that tax reform scam got passed. Also despite "burning bridges" he still gets people like Lindsey Graham to fawn all over him.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Not sure if you can say he's losing the policy war after that tax reform scam got passed. Also despite "burning bridges" he still gets people like Lindsey Graham to fawn all over him.

I'd call having control of senate, house, and the Presidency and only passing one major policy in the first year a loss. I'm pretty sure both parties expected Republicans to be able to get more done.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Atocep

I'd call having control of senate, house, and the Presidency and only passing one major policy in the first year a loss. I'm pretty sure both parties expected Republicans to be able to get more done.

Don't overlook the judiciary. McConnell's bottling-up of Obama's judicial picks until a Republican could fill those vacancies and elimination of the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees has been a win for Republicans with much longer-term ramifications for conservative ideology than whether or not ACA got repealed.

[panerd]

Big Trump supporter, some thought he had big aspirations (and a chance) to be president one day. Not sure this would have been more than "just another scumbag politician" years ago but in this new era may have sank a rising star before he even rose.

Blackmail alleged as Governor Greitens admits to extramarital af - KMOV.com

[JPhillips]

If the allegation that he tied her up, blindfolded her, took a picture and tried to blackmail her is true, it certainly should end his career.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

If the allegation that he tied her up, blindfolded her, took a picture and tried to blackmail her is true, it certainly should end his career.

No doubt. It is odd that he is the one blackmailing her and not the other way around. Seems to be a missing part of the story. But he again is the typical "family values" dirtbag. Don't know why people vote for people on this criteria but I guess he was elected governor so what do I know?

[digamma]

Really enjoyed his book The Heart and the Fist. Hadn't agreed with him politically, but still had hope/thought that he was a decent guy.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by digamma

Really enjoyed his book The Heart and the Fist. Hadn't agreed with him politically, but still had hope/thought that he was a decent guy.

Yeah I liked how he dealt with the civil unrest in St. Louis last year and was able to avoid the city burning by being pretty involved on both sides ahead of time and during the events. As a teacher he is a terrible governor for public education but that comes with territory working in Missouri. An affair probably won't hurt your career just look at Bill Clinton/Donald Trump etc but when you try to make it your persona it certainly isn't going to help.

[BYU 14]

So obviously now making a play for Trump's support on the heels of announcing he would run for office by digging this back up. He is such an embarrassment to this state.

Arpaio: Congress should examine presidential birth certificates

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

If the allegation that he tied her up, blindfolded her, took a picture and tried to blackmail her is true, it certainly should end his career.

I would say it should be the end of his freedom for several years.

[JPhillips]

I don't know if MO has any revenge porn laws or if this would be under any blackmail law, but even if it isn't criminal it should be easy enough to say it's disqualifying for elected office.

[NobodyHere]

Unless the whole tying up and taking nude pictures was consensual, this wouldn't fall under revenge porn.

[JPhillips]

It sounds like to some degree it was and proving that it became non-consensual would be extremely difficult.

But if there's a legal case to be made against the guy, I'm all for it. It became abusive and predatory behavior even if the initial act was consensual.

[NobodyHere]

Speaking of Revenge Porn:

Top U.S. Government Computers Linked to Revenge Porn Site

Originally Posted by article

The data shows Anon-IB users connecting from U.S. Senate, Navy, and other government computers, including the Executive Office of the President, even as senators push for a bill that would further combat the practice, and after the military’s own recent revenge porn crisis.

I think we now know what Trump is doing during his "Executive Time"

[Thomkal]

So Walmart made a big deal about raising minimum wage to $11/hour and giving bonuses to certain employees. Strangely enough they didn't make a big deal about how they were also closing a bunch of their Sam's Clubs...in fact they didn't tell their employees or communities until they showed up for work and found the door locked and chained. They are going to convert a few into e-commerce warehouses so they can better compete against Amazon.

[JPhillips]

“We make a good deal on NAFTA, and, say, I’m going to take a small percentage of that money and it’s going toward the wall. Guess what? Mexico’s paying.”

That's not how any of this works.

[QuikSand]

"shithole" countries... have at it

[digamma]

And need immigrants from Norway! I honestly thought it was an Onion article.

[cartman]

After he had just met with the PM of Norway. Imagine that.

[PilotMan]

Wow..

Yet again, wow.

How is US standing and respect in the world on the rise again?

PS

And if you wanted to you could totally make a racial argument there.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Wow..

Yet again, wow.

How is US standing and respect in the world on the rise again?

It's fine, nothing to worry about!

Donald Trump's new ambassador to Netherlands struggles to defend claim Muslims 'burned' Dutch politicians | The Independent

Peter Hoekstra, the newly minted US ambassador to the Netherlands, held his first conference with the Dutch media at his new residence in the Hague on Wednesday.

It did not go well.

Dutch journalists peppered Hoekstra, who became Donald Trump's ambassador after serving 18 years as a Republican congressman from Michigan, with questions on unsubstantiated claims he made in 2015 about the chaos the “Islamic movement” had brought to the Netherlands.

“There are cars being burned, there are politicians that are being burned,” he had said at a conference hosted by a conservative group. “And yes, there are no-go zones in the Netherlands.”

The comments have widely been described as inaccurate, and reflect certain conspiracies about sharia law that crop up in some circles of the far-right in the West. When pressed by the Dutch reporters, Hoekstra declined to retract the comments or give specific examples to back them up.

In fact, after saying that he would be “revisiting the issue,” he simply refused to answer the question at all.

But the reporters were not done with the line of questioning yet. Instead of moving on, another reporter would simply ask a variation on the question again.

“Everybody there had one question: that crazy statement you made, are you going to withdraw it?” said Roel Geeraedts, a political reporter at the Dutch television station RTL Nieuws in a phone interview about the event. “We were not getting answers, so we all kept asking it.”

Geeraedts published a segment with video of the remarkable exchange on social media.

After at least one person had asked the question, Geeraedts followed up to ask Hoekstra about a John Adams quote - Adams was the United States' first ambassador to Holland - that was mounted right behind the ambassador. Hoekstra said he had read the quote, which expresses Adams' hope that only “honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.”

“If you're truly an honest and wise man, could you please take back the remark about burned politicians or name the politician that was burned in the Netherlands?” Geeraedts asked.

An uncomfortable silence followed the question.

“Thank you,” Hoekstra said, before trying to call on someone else over the clamour of the reporters in the room.

“Excuse me, I asked you a question,” Geeraedts said.

Another journalist jumped in.

“Mr. Ambassador, can you mention any example of a Dutch politician who was burned in recent years?”

Again, silence, as Hoekstra stared around the room.

“This is the Netherlands, you have to answer questions,” another reporter said.

Sherry Keneson-Hall, an embassy counselor who was helping run the news conference, pushed back, asserting that Hoekstra was answering the questions.

At least one more journalist fired the question off. Reporters had asked the question at least five times.

“We were all astonished that he didn't want to take back the comment. It was simply untrue, so why not take it back?” said Geeraedts. “It was awkward, to be honest.”

Hoekstra has been in hot water in the Netherlands for the remarks since he was first confronted by a Dutch journalist, Wouter Zwart, in December. Hoekstra falsely claimed to Zwart that he had never made the remarks and called them “fake news.” Moments later, he denied that he had called them fake news.

Video of the bizarre exchange, juxtaposed with his “no-go zone” remarks, went viral, and the episode drew a slew of critical headlines in the United States and the Netherlands.

Hoekstra's silence when faced with reporters' questions on Wednesday drew a similar response.

“Embarrassing performance from controversial ambassador,” read a web headline at De Telegraaf, one of the country's largest newspapers. “Ambassador Hoekstra lost his way again in The Hague,” read another. “Very uncomfortable meeting between ambassador and journalists,” went RTL Nieuws.

Hoekstra pointed to the public regrets he had made for the exchange with Zwart on Wednesday. But he did not clarify whether the apology was meant to include the no-go zone comments when asked on Wednesday. At one point, he seemed to indicate that he was most concerned about the interview, not the statements.

“It is not about my personal views anymore. This is about the views on the policies of the United States of America as directed by this administration,” he said. “One interview is not going to have an impact. The other thing I just want to reinforce, this relationship has been maintained by countless people over the last 400 years, this is not about me.”

A CNN report published this week documented multiple times Hoekstra had referred to “no-go zones,” in European cities during appearances on conservative media, including talk radio, and a print op-ed, and unearthed other instances where he had given fuel to conspiracy theories about Muslims.

He speculated that some 10-15 percent of the Muslim community in the world - 270 million people - were radical Islamist militants and appeared to imply that Huma Abedin had “egregious” ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, a claim that The Washington Post's fact-checker Glenn Kessler, and other publications, have determined as “bogus.” On another far-right show, Hoekstra said he had considered the possibly that President Barack Obama might be intentionally aiding the rise of Muslim extremists.

The State Department did not return a request for comment.

Geeraedts said he believed that Hoekstra's behaviour confirmed some suspicions the Dutch have about the Trump administration.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

It's fine, nothing to worry about!

Donald Trump's new ambassador to Netherlands struggles to defend claim Muslims 'burned' Dutch politicians | The Independent

This is the defining quote in that whole mess.

Geeraedts said he believed that Hoekstra's behaviour confirmed some suspicions the Dutch have about the Trump administration.

Oh goody. Go us!

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by panerd

No doubt. It is odd that he is the one blackmailing her and not the other way around. Seems to be a missing part of the story. But he again is the typical "family values" dirtbag. Don't know why people vote for people on this criteria but I guess he was elected governor so what do I know?

Well it makes sense if he didn't want the story to come out. Basically "if you blab about our affair I'll post your nudes online". Seems like a legit way to scare her into doing what he wants.

I don't know much about the guy but these ads have been running constantly on TV in Illinois and he's in it. They just pulled them after this incident.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

"shithole" countries... have at it

I wouldn't have put it that way but I do agree with overall vision of getting more of the foreign bright-and-brightest and "rich" into the country vs less able.

Assuming security concerns are addressed, err on the side of taking more graduate degree students and other well educated.

Yes, there is an inherent bias with this approach and I do understand there is a need to bring families together (and other exceptions) but I really don't see a need for 50K annual lottery winners.

[CarterNMA]

ICE Director on 7-Eleven Raids Targeting Illegal Workers: 'It's One of Many to Come'

Pastor Niedrumpfer's Lament (Never Again)

First they came for 7-Eleven, and I did not speak out—
Because I did not work at 7-Eleven.

Then they came for Subway, and I did not speak out—
Because I did not work at Subway.

Then they came for the dry cleaners, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a dry cleaner.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

"shithole" countries... have at it

Outrage at Trump is really just outrage that he says the quiet part out loud. Was there a person alive who didn't think that this was motivating the current immigration policy? But he says it, so we all have to run to the fainting couch.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

This is the defining quote in that whole mess.



Oh goody. Go us!

Overall, this behavior is exactly in line with the image of Trump's administration here: create or endorse fake news and do not admit to being at fault when confronted with facts.

Pete Hoekstra's endorsement of fake news sound like they're taken from the same approach as Rick Santorum on the Netherlands. So, I figured it would be interesting to google on their shared history. Turns out they were the USA's equivalent of Iraq's Minister of information in the weapons of mass destruction stories. I'm shocked.

Edit: Maybe not quite the "Iraq's Minister of information", but apparently Hoekstra and Santorum together made comments on the existence of "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq. It's easy to blow it out of proportion and basically do exactly what these politicians did.

[Shkspr]

I just hope it doesn't take us another two years before we get around to kicking out the fucking Irish. Those ginger ghouls have had it too easy for too long.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I wouldn't have put it that way but I do agree with overall vision of getting more of the foreign bright-and-brightest and "rich" into the country vs less able.

Assuming security concerns are addressed, err on the side of taking more graduate degree students and other well educated.

Yes, there is an inherent bias with this approach and I do understand there is a need to bring families together (and other exceptions) but I really don't see a need for 50K annual lottery winners.

Here's the thing Edward. The vision proposed by Trump isn't the one your referencing. Strictly speaking someone who is bring and brightest, can certainly come from one of the countries referenced. One does not beget the other.

He's very straightforwardly saying "why would we want anyone from one of those shithole countries." Anyone. It's culture war. It's you aren't on the same level as me. If I let you, you should honor me or something. It's Trump all the way. His need to feel like he's the Dear Leader in the US and that his power simply stems from his position as the man with the last word. He uses that as his leverage in nearly all situations.

Like I was saying yesterday. He's going to eventually run into the limits of that strategy in politics if the R's get pummeled this fall. He only understands that method of leadership, and uses it to justify his ignorance in most other things. It's the way he's run his show, and his business. He's not complicated. He's just a bully, who lives that bully life. It's also why he is liked by those who feel the bully pulpit of the position is underused in world policy. It's why they overlook all the other shit.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Outrage at Trump is really just outrage that he says the quiet part out loud. Was there a person alive who didn't think that this was motivating the current immigration policy? But he says it, so we all have to run to the fainting couch.

It's tough to have good relations with countries you refer to as shitholes.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I wouldn't have put it that way but I do agree with overall vision of getting more of the foreign bright-and-brightest and "rich" into the country vs less able.

Assuming security concerns are addressed, err on the side of taking more graduate degree students and other well educated.

Yes, there is an inherent bias with this approach and I do understand there is a need to bring families together (and other exceptions) but I really don't see a need for 50K annual lottery winners.

Immigrants from Africa have higher rates of bachelor degrees than Americans (41% to 33%). Nigeria for instance gets graduate degrees at over twice what white Americans do (26% to 11%).

It's a myth that we're taking in "lottery winners" who live off the teet of the government from many of these countries.

I guess they can be referred to as shitholes but the people who come from those shitholes are outperforming Americans who were born with an inherent advantage.

[Drake]

Just saw this commercial. This is a real thing.



Reference:
Trumpy Bear has people so confused | The Kansas City Star

[Thomkal]

wow...just wow.

[NobodyHere]

The Swamp has to be drained by now right?

Education Dept. awards debt collection contract to company with ties to DeVos

[AlexB]

Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for “peanuts,” only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018

Only a couple of factual issues here:

• The deal was done announced by GWB a month before Obama came into power
• GWB stressed that the cost would be covered by the sale of the old site
• It’s closer to Westminster than the old site

That’s disregarding that the $1.2bn budget is being questioned, and the old site had 1000 people working a building designed for 800...

It’s clearly got nothing to do with the fact he would see massive protests against him. No, nothing to do with that at all.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

"shithole" countries... have at it

OK. Here's a thread for ya.

This is my dad. He grew up dirt poor in the 20s and 30s. As he entered adulthood, he went to work, first as a Pullman porter. Then, after the Japanese attacked us, he was drafted into the Army. He saw combat against the Nazis, 1/ pic.twitter.com/uxoTOjErqE

— Ben Lewis (@benelou) January 12, 2018

[CrimsonFox]

Letterman has a new show on netflix and it's starting out pretty great.

Had obama on it and he takes a walk across the bridge in Selma with Congressman John Lewis who did so in protest

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

OK. Here's a thread for ya.

This is my dad. He grew up dirt poor in the 20s and 30s. As he entered adulthood, he went to work, first as a Pullman porter. Then, after the Japanese attacked us, he was drafted into the Army. He saw combat against the Nazis, 1/ pic.twitter.com/uxoTOjErqE

— Ben Lewis (@benelou) January 12, 2018

wow hell of a history, ben <3