The Trump Presidency – 2016

[Edward64]

A win for Trump. It may well change to a loss but, for now, definitely a good thing for the US.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/29/polit...ing/index.html

After a week-long "reduction in violence," the US and Taliban have signed a historic agreement Saturday, which would set into motion the drawdown of US troops from Afghanistan and potentially pave the way to ending America's longest-fought war.

The agreement was signed in Doha, Qatar, by US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad -- the chief US negotiator in the talks with the Taliban -- and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar -- the Taliban's chief negotiator. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo witnessed the signing.
Speaking at the ceremony, Pompeo said the US "will closely watch the Taliban's compliance with their commitments, and calibrate the pace of our withdrawal to their actions."

"This is how (we) will ensure that Afghanistan never again serves for international terrorists," Pompeo said.

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper was in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday for a joint declaration ceremony with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

According to Afghanistan's national security adviser Hamdullah Mohib, the joint US-NATO-Afghan declaration includes an 18-month withdrawal of foreign troops.

"But it is conditional on the agreement between the Taliban and the United States. If those conditions are not met, this date will also change," he said.

[QuikSand]

The text of the “peace deal” is much closer to being “an agreement on how to work toward a peace deal,” but we can still expect the media silos to rapidly toe their respective lines.

[JPhillips]

Trump seems desperate to make a deal, so I expect he'll be pretty forgiving as the deadline for full withdrawal gets closer. He's clearly naive if he thinks the Taliban are going to start killing terrorists for us.

But it's reignited the Trump/Bolton feud, and I can't get enough of that.

[RainMaker]

We should cut a deal and get out. War is lost. Saving face while Americans die in vain is silly.

[Thomkal]

A Federal judge has ruled that Ken Cuccinelli's appointment as acting head of US Citizenship and Immigration Services was in violation of the Federal Vacancies and Reform Act and all policies put in place by him are now void as a result:


Federal judge rules Ken Cuccinelli unlawfully ran immigration agency

[JPhillips]

The Taliban have broken the truce already.

That went well.

[bronconick]

Originally Posted by Edward64

A win for Trump. It may well change to a loss but, for now, definitely a good thing for the US.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/29/polit...ing/index.html

3 days

#BREAKING Taliban ends partial truce, to resume Afghan 'operations': spokesman pic.twitter.com/tRA6gZBAVK

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 2, 2020

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by bronconick

3 days

Searched for it but didn't see anything yet on MSM. I'll wait to read about it in case twitter is premature or fake news.

[JPhillips]

It’s just shocking that no one is willing to refuse to praise Trump during virus updates. You’d think someone would stand up for their own dignity.

[kingfc22]

Thank you great leader...

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Searched for it but didn't see anything yet on MSM. I'll wait to read about it in case twitter is premature or fake news.

Afghanistan: bomb attack kills three as Taliban ends partial truce | World news | The Guardian

We should get out anyway. They already won.

[Mike Lowe]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

"We're ordering a lot of supplies. We're ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn't be ordering unless it was something like this. But we're ordering a lot of different elements of medical." -- Trump on the coronavirus pic.twitter.com/id6YLzbmRE

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 28, 2020

Elements of Medical. New band name.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

We should get out anyway

I don't disagree.

I do wonder WTF is going on with the 5,000 prisoners that were supposed to be released. I can easily believe US making that commitment without firm Afghan government agreement though.

[JPhillips]

While I think we should have gotten out of Afghanistan years ago, Trump doing a phone call with one of the founders of the Taliban is not a good look.

[kingfc22]

Looking forward to the Burisma investigation being announced tomorrow by Barr.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by kingfc22

Looking forward to the Burisma investigation being announced tomorrow by Barr.

Did you miss that Ron Johnson started yesterday?

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by kingfc22

Looking forward to the Burisma investigation being announced tomorrow by Barr.

The whole thing was horribly corrupt, but Hunter technically didn't break any laws. And the public seems numb to corruption and sort of just accepting of it at this point. So who knows if it has any impact.

I'm also sure they'll be digging up Rosemont Capital too.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

The whole thing was horribly corrupt, but Hunter technically didn't break any laws. And the public seems numb to corruption and sort of just accepting of it at this point. So who knows if it has any impact.

I'm also sure they'll be digging up Rosemont Capital too.

I'm guessing this is because the public believes that this sort of thing goes on in business and politics more frequently than not. Take a look at the way the first family does things. It's hard to believe that of all the corrupt things in the world, that go on between private citizens and foreign countries that this is the primary threat/topic that the Senate would be tracking down to root out. I mean, it's more than just opportunistic politics.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

I'm guessing this is because the public believes that this sort of thing goes on in business and politics more frequently than not. Take a look at the way the first family does things. It's hard to believe that of all the corrupt things in the world, that go on between private citizens and foreign countries that this is the primary threat/topic that the Senate would be tracking down to root out. I mean, it's more than just opportunistic politics.

Maybe. I'm just surprised whenever I see a story about Trump giving something to China a day after his daughter secures some patents and no one cares. Either we don't care as a country or we're so beaten down by it that we just assume it is part of life.

Republicans will go hard after him, but I don't think it's going to to sway any votes. Forces Democrats to give up the high ground on corruption, but like I said, that probably doesn't even matter anymore.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Maybe. I'm just surprised whenever I see a story about Trump giving something to China a day after his daughter secures some patents and no one cares. Either we don't care as a country or we're so beaten down by it that we just assume it is part of life.

Republicans will go hard after him, but I don't think it's going to to sway any votes. Forces Democrats to give up the high ground on corruption, but like I said, that probably doesn't even matter anymore.

I may be jaded, but I don't think it's going to matter at all, and I find it hard to give the R's any sort of high, moral ground on the issue.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Maybe. I'm just surprised whenever I see a story about Trump giving something to China a day after his daughter secures some patents and no one cares. Either we don't care as a country or we're so beaten down by it that we just assume it is part of life.

Republicans will go hard after him, but I don't think it's going to to sway any votes. Forces Democrats to give up the high ground on corruption, but like I said, that probably doesn't even matter anymore.

The GOP has taken so much power by letting the Dems take the moral high ground I don't think anyone cares anymore. We need a couple "normal" presidencies and a GOP rebrand to reset and get back to anyone really giving a shit about corruption.

[JPhillips]

Sure is a shame the Dems aren't allowed to investigate anything anymore.

Holy crap. Three years ago Kushner's stake in Cadre was worth $5 million. He just sold it for $25-50 million after it benefitted from Opportunity Zone tax breaks that Kushner pushed for. https://t.co/5CErHUhfap

— Mark Elliott (@markmobility) March 3, 2020

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Atocep

We need a couple "normal" presidencies and a GOP rebrand to reset and get back to anyone really giving a shit about corruption.

And "normal" starts with Biden ...

[RainMaker]

It was fun while it lasted. I know why they did it and all, but there is so much money entrenched in these wars that it just becomes impossible to get out.

US launches airstrike against Taliban after partial truce crumbles https://t.co/kAse12j8Ak pic.twitter.com/mGoTgF62lR

— The Hill (@thehill) March 4, 2020

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Sure is a shame the Dems aren't allowed to investigate anything anymore.

Dems so upset with kids grifting off the Presidency they're going to nominate someone who's kid grifted off the Presidency.

[Thomkal]

A federal judge has questioned how Barr handled the revealing of the Mueller Report and has ordered the DOJ to give him a totally un
redacted copy of the report by March 30 so he can go over it and decide what can be released to the public


https://thehill.com/regulation/court...mueller-report

[Thomkal]

Remember Aaron Schock, former Congressman from Illinois who resigned over a funds scandal in 2015? There were rumors he was gay at the time too. He finally admitted it today saying family and religious pressure kept him from revealing it. He voted against every measure that would have helped LGBT people and said he was following the lead of the leader of the Republican party at the time John McCain and that both Hilary Clinton and Obama were of the same thought at the time.



Then didn't apologize for the harm he caused with his positions.


Ex-U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock comes out as gay - News - Journal Star - Peoria, IL

[JPhillips]

Watching a room full of "Christians" applaud when Trump says you can't turn the other cheek, is really jarring.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Watching a room full of "Christians" applaud when Trump says you can't turn the other cheek, is really jarring.

It's the boiling frog. 2+2=5, now. All of it.

[albionmoonlight]

Report: Russian Election Trolling Is Becoming Subtler, Tougher To Detect : NPR

[JPhillips]

Mick Mulvaney canned and Mark Meadows named new Chief.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Mick Mulvaney canned and Mark Meadows named new Chief.

Good thing he saw the writing on the wall and decided not to run for re-election.

[Edward64]

Looks like another purge happening in Saudi Arabia and MBS further consolidating power.

I don't really care much what happens in their internal, extended family power struggles. We are frenemies with them now, it'll continue for a while, and the US will continue to do what is needed regardless of who is at the head of the snake ... but their importance will continue to decrease (go Elon and like).

[RainMaker]

A reminder that Saudi Arabia was one of the biggest sources of funding for Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and the Taliban. They continue to help finance them. They are our friends.

[Edward64]

Sweet, flooding the market and a nice price war. I do hope the domestic shale oil producers survive though.

Subscribe to read | Financial Times

Saudi Arabia has launched an aggressive oil price war targeting its biggest rivals after Russia refused to join production cuts with Opec, in a move that threatens to swamp the crude market with supplies just as the coronavirus outbreak hits demand.

Saudi Arabia will raise production and offer its crude at deep discounts to win new customers next month, according to two people familiar with the country’s oil policy, which risks sending prices tumbling further. Oil prices had already dropped by a third since January to near $45 a barrel.

The kingdom plans to pump more than 10m barrels a day next month while announcing unprecedented discounts of almost 20 per cent in key markets, in an apparent attempt to punish Russia, while squeezing the US shale industry and other higher cost producers.
:
:
The fall in oil prices risks new turmoil in the kingdom, as MBS’s plan to modernise the economy relies at least in part on higher energy revenues to fund the transformation.

Shares in Saudi Aramco, the state oil company, dropped almost 9 per cent on Sunday, falling below its December stock market listing price. The broader Saudi stock market sank more than 8 per cent.

[JPhillips]

Why do so many Trump adjacent folks think bragging about how little sleep he gets makes him look better?

[NobodyHere]

It makes him look vigorous and a hard worker. If you believe it.

[RainMaker]

Oil futures down to $30. Going to be a bloodbath Monday.

[Thomkal]

Ted Cruz says he shook hands with the person who has come down with the virus at CPAC. Says he will self-quarantine

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Ted Cruz says he shook hands with the person who has come down with the virus at CPAC. Says he will self-quarantine

If only he self quarantined 20 years ago

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Oil futures down to $30. Going to be a bloodbath Monday.

Futures currently down 1,000+

Currently Dow at 25,864. High was about 29,500 so 20% bear market is 23,600 ... so about another 2,300 to go.

Coronavirus news is only going to get worse before getting better, so my guess is we'll get the 20% bear market.

[JPhillips]

Trump retweeted a Q meme apparently.

[JPhillips]

dola

Japan economy contracted by 7% in Q1.

30 year Treasury dropped below 1% yield. Crazy.

[PilotMan]

This is a hoax driven by the media to make you afraid! {sorry my FB feed is full of this}



Still though, no answer for how the (Amercian) media is so powerful that foreign countries are basing all their decisions off of them.



Of course, a friend told me tonight; "It's JUST A COLD!!"

[cartman]

so I wonder if Edward considers the stock market drop of 1900 points a loss for Trump

[Galaril]

Wow they halted trading.

[Lathum]

I have now lost over 100K in the last week.

The rational side of me knows I am in this for the long haul, but that is tough to look at.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Galaril

Wow they halted trading.

That shouldn't induce panic or anything...

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by Kodos

That shouldn't induce panic or anything...

Yeah no kidding. I am wondering when was the last time the stock market “circuit breaker” was flipped to temporarily halt trading?

[lungs]

Originally Posted by cartman

so I wonder if Edward considers the stock market drop of 1900 points a loss for Trump

DJIA just passed 24000, big win for Trump!

[lungs]

Dola

I guess you could say this is good timing for me personally as I’m about to be eligible for my company’s 401K. Though it doesn’t change the fact that I’m starting at 37 and had my retirement savings wiped out entirely the past few years.