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Donald Trump and the Fellowship of the Alternative Facts (Part 14)


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"Trump and his advisers can’t keep quiet — and it’s becoming a real problem". Maybe they will talk themselves out of jobs.

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In blocking the administration’s second attempt at a travel ban from terror-prone countries, a federal judge in Hawaii laid the blame squarely on President Trump and his advisers, who had suggested the policy was aimed at barring Muslims.

A different politician might have expressed disappointment and moved on. But Trump, taking the stage barely an hour later at a rally Wednesday night in Nashville, let loose on the “terrible ruling” — and doubled down on the sentiments that got the policy into trouble in the first place.

“The order blocked was a ­watered-down version of the first order,” Trump thundered, adding later: “Let me tell you something. I think we ought to go back to the first one and go all the way.”

The episode was just one of numerous examples of Trump and his advisers pushing incendiary language and unfounded claims, even in the face of opposition from federal judges and top lawmakers of both parties.

...

 

 

Not really about Agent Orange himself, but related to government: "Suspicious cell activity suggests monitoring of US officials"

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With ongoing discussions of foreign hacking and wiretapping come new concerns over an unusually high amount of suspicious cellphone activity in the nation’s capital.

A telecom security company, ESD America, which has been hired by the U.S. government, says the suspicious activity likely indicates a foreign nation is monitoring the smartphones of American officials.

The unspecified activity was noticed around cellphone towers in parts of the capital, including near the White House.

A source at the company said the activity suggests someone — most likely a foreign nation — is monitoring specific individuals or their devices.

The Department of Homeland Security confirms the company was hired in January as part of a 90-day pilot program, but did not address details of the suspicious activity, or who might be behind it.

The issues were first reported in the Washington Free Beacon and confirmed by CBS News.

Lovely.

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So, I'm up early and get the paper.  Yes, I'm old, we still get a newspaper delivered to our house.  Next: I live in Texas.  Here's today's headline from the Austin American Statesman: Trump asks $4.1B for border wall  Yeah, that would be 4.1 billion dollars.  In the meantime, Texas border residents in the Valley (southernmost area of Texas) are being offered paltry amounts for their property where the fence will go through; otherwise, they'll be faced with eminent domain.  Down in the Valley the land is flat, the Rio Grande wanders a bit, but a border wall gets built in a straight line.  To be more succinct, people are being screwed, big time, losing productive fields and parts of their backyards (literally). 

Lower down on the front page is another headline in large bold font: Mexicans no longer flock to San Marcos.  IH 35 is an interstate highway that runs from Laredo (Hi, Jinger!) to Chicago and goes through San Antonio (Hi, Dougie!), San Marcos, Austin, Waco, Dallas/Ft. Worth.  San Marcos is a small city with a state university and, just outside of town, a giant outlet mall.  

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For years, the outlet malls in San Marcos have bustled with Mexican tourists looking for deals. Mexican license plates dotted the parking lot, and it was common to see people piling out of tour buses to do their shopping. 

Not anymore.  Mexicans are no longer flocking to the US for vacation.  February local sales tax revenues for San Marcos are down 9%, or around $200,000.  Let's project out for a year -- that could potentially be $2,400,000 in lost local sales tax revenues.  Texas has no state income tax, but relies on sales tax to fund itself, so this also reflects a loss of state income when you factor in lost state sales tax. This is the tip of the damn iceberg.  I can pretty much promise you that people living in Chicago who make an annual Christmas pilgrimage to visit family still in Mexico are not making that trip, and not spending travel money in the US on their way.  

Then, a few pages in, I find the article referenced by @GreyhoundFan upthread: 

More Russia: "Trump adviser Flynn paid by multiple Russia-related entities, new records show". 

While people are slapping themselves on the back about how great Trump/Republicans are, we're all going to find out what the old saying, "Penny wise, pound foolish" is all about. 

 

 

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A glimmer of hope that the insane budget set forth by the tangerine toddler might not take effect: "How an Obama-era law could help Democrats block Trump’s budget"

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President Trump proposed an ambitious budget Thursday morning, calling for severe cuts across most of the federal government and a major increase in military spending. It would be hard to design a plan Democrats are more primed to hate, but -- though the last election left them nearly powerless in Congress -- budget experts say they can probably stop Trump from making the budget blueprint a reality.

And they'll get a bit of help from an Obama-era law to do it.

Democrats have already made their opposition plain: "President Trump has shown that he does not value the future of our children and working families," Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the minority leader in the House, said Thursday. The budget, she said, "fails to recognize that the health of America, the strength of America, does not just depend on our military."

Ordinarily, Pelosi and her Democratic colleagues would have little say over the federal budget. Republicans control both the House and the Senate, and Congress typically begins putting together the government's budget through a process known as reconciliation, which prevents the party in the minority from throwing up a filibuster in the Senate.

There's where the past will come back to bite Trump's effort: In 2011, Congress and former President Obama enacted a strict set of federal spending limits -- the "sequester," as it is called.

As part of the deal, which put limits on both military and domestic spending, any proposal going beyond those caps must overcome a potential filibuster in the Senate.

Trump's budget, and it's $54 billion in new defense spending, meets that criteria. "The president has said he’s going to undo the military sequester," Trump's budget chief, Mick Mulvaney, told reporters on a conference call Wednesday. "This budget does that."

With 46 seats, not counting the two independent senators who typically join their caucus, Democrats have more than enough to mount a filibuster. Trump would need their cooperation to enact the budget.

Yet Trump is unlikely to find Democratic senators who would support his budget, which would eviscerate public agencies outside of the military.

...

Apart from the sequester, there is another reason Republicans might not be able to enact Trump's budget this year: Repealing Obamacare could take months.

Republicans are relying on reconciliation to repeal Obamacare without confronting a Democratic filibuster in the Senate. To use reconciliation to instead begin work on a budget, Republican lawmakers would have to start over, scrapping the progress they have made so far on dismantling Obamacare.

Some Republican lawmakers, however, have objected to the legislation that their party has advanced to repeal Obama's reform, and many observers expect the GOP debate over health care to continue through the summer. By then, the start of the federal government's fiscal year for budgeting purposes in October will be approaching, leaving lawmakers little time to put a new budget in place.

...

What is more likely, Hoagland predicted, is that Congress will keep things simple by maintaining the current levels of funding for federal agencies, passing what is known as a continuing resolution.

That does not mean that Trump's budget is irrelevant, however. For the first time, the president has had to show how he would deliver on some of the promises he made during the campaign, noted Bill Gale, who served as an economist in President George H.W. Bush's White House.

"The president’s budget proposal matters because it’s a statement of the administration’s priorities and goals," Gale said. "People can look at those numbers and look at their implications and understand more specifically what he is proposing."

For instance, in order to dedicate funds to the wall along the border and to augment the Pentagon's budget, Trump proposes compromising on his other goals. He would make less money available for some infrastructure projects and limit counterterrorism grants for local law enforcement.

The budget, Gale said, "doesn't allow people to hide behind the rhetoric."

Boy, I hope that piece of crap budget can be nixed.

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Boy, I hope that piece of crap budget can be nixed.

I do and I don't.

I do, because of the suffering and distress it would inflict upon the most vulnerable in society.

I don't, because I'd like the Trumpettes to realise what they voted for - and they would, on the whole, be amongst the most affected.

So let's pray to Rufus and the FSM that Faux news grows a pair, and actually explains to their audience what this budget would do to them, personally.

And I also believe in the Tooth Fairy.

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The Leader of the Free World meets the Parasitic Presidunce.

From Politico's article:
 

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Angela Merkel, whether she wants the job or not, is the West’s last, best hope.

When President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel finally get together on Friday, the leaders of the West’s two most powerful countries are sure to come off more like an odd couple than two close allies chewing over plans for some joint enterprise. And for good reason. Merkel and Trump are not only polar opposites as people, but they share little in terms of international outlook. [...]

The contrast in substance is [...] stark. From the Eurozone meltdown to the refugee surge, Merkel has been through multiple crises. She has no illusions about Vladimir Putin and the spy-ridden Kremlin team running Russia, and places a high value on quiet diplomacy, free trade, international law and the institutions of the European Union.

Trump is untested, unable or unwilling to criticize Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine, determined to judge U.S. foreign policies by the trade balance involved or the extent to which the costs of U.S. military deployments are reimbursed, and happy to talk up the possibility of other EU countries following Britain out the door. [...]

While Merkel has resisted the label of defender of Western values, the fact is she was the only leader prepared to play a form of hardball with the new president. By saying that Germany would work with America based on shared values (the rule of law, tolerance and equal rights), she became the de facto leader of those determined to defend those values. And this was done at the same time British Prime Minister Theresa May was rushing off to Washington to be the first European leader to meet with Trump. [...]

The cruel irony of Trump’s election is that for many decades it was the United States that was seen as a moral leader. During the Cold War, Soviet dissidents looked to the United States. And after communism fell, it was the United States that led international actions to protect victims of repression or hardship. Whether it was the Kurds in northern Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, or the spending on medicine to treat millions suffering from HIV in Africa, the United States was the country expected to act.

Not recently. After “leading from behind”—way behind—during the six years of civil war in Syria, Washington was seen as abdicating its traditional role. So the mantle of leadership was empty until Merkel stepped in to help hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing war and chaos. Trump not only rejects the idea that the United States should act to prevent tragedies like Syria but also that it should help care for the millions of refugees fleeing the conflict. Trump and Merkel thus represent the two poles of the debate about refugees and responsibility in 2017. [...]

Who would have thought that Angela Merkel would be named as 'Leader of the Free World'?

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http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/17/14957550/trump-immigration-enda-kenny

Caligula's face looks like he sucked on a lemon. It's great when he gets a public shafting.

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Standing just feet away from President Donald Trump, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny on Thursday bashed the basic foundation of anti-immigrant views that carried Trump to the presidency.

In his remarks, Kenny launched into a lengthy monologue about St. Patrick, whom the White House proceedings were honoring.

 

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@fraurosena

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And this was done at the same time British Prime Minister Theresa May was rushing off to Washington to be the first European leader to meet with Trump. [...]

Sometimes I'm ashamed of my British passport.

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4 minutes ago, AnywhereButHere said:

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/17/14957550/trump-immigration-enda-kenny

Caligula's face looks like he sucked on a lemon. It's great when he gets a public shafting.

 

That is genius level trolling. :pb_lol:

Probably flew right over the tangerine toddler's head...

3 minutes ago, sawasdee said:

@fraurosena

Sometimes I'm ashamed of my British passport.

Allthough I understand the sentiment, you really shouldn't be ashamed. You didn't put her in office, and she certainly doesn't represent your values. That much is very apparent from your posts here on FJ. :kitty-wink:

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29 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

That is genius level trolling. :pb_lol:

Probably flew right over the tangerine toddler's head...

Allthough I understand the sentiment, you really shouldn't be ashamed. You didn't put her in office, and she certainly doesn't represent your values. That much is very apparent from your posts here on FJ. :kitty-wink:

Germans were also targeted by anti-immigrant sentiment.  For example we had the probably unconstitutional Babel Proclamation here in Iowa which forbade use of foreign languages in public, over the phone, in schools, (both public and private), in conversations in public areas, at all meetings, and in all religious services.

And now we have descendants of the same Irish and German immigrants who really ought to know better engaging in the same behavior that others engaged in against their ancestors.  Facepalm.  Goddamn facepalm in fact.

42 minutes ago, AnywhereButHere said:

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/17/14957550/trump-immigration-enda-kenny

Caligula's face looks like he sucked on a lemon. It's great when he gets a public shafting.

 

Yeah I always like it when Herr Orange gets his ass handed to him and it shows on his face.

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For anyone even remotely intrigued by the Russian Connection/ intelligence gathering, it looks like Monday is going to be an exceedingly interesting day of revelations!

 

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1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

That is genius level trolling. :pb_lol:

Probably flew right over the tangerine toddler's head...

Sadly, he was probably just thinking of his pending trip to Mar-a-Lago and hoping that he could get out earlier.

 

Sigh, this won't end well: "White House endorses plan to remove 30,000 FAA workers from federal payroll". Outsourcing government functions always ends up costing more and often has service impact.

 

"The repulsive worldview of Trump and Bannon, perfectly captured in one poll"

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A new CNN poll out this morning tests one of the fundamental tenets of the Trump and Bannon worldview in a very illuminating way. It finds that large majorities reject the basic idea that undocumented immigrants who have been in this country for a long time — and have not committed serious crimes — should nonetheless be subject to removal.

It’s the latest sign of a larger trend that goes like this: Little by little, the narrative that President Trump and his top adviser, Stephen K. Bannon, have been telling about what is happening in this country is getting translated into concrete policy specifics. And Americans are recoiling from the results.

The CNN poll tries to pin down public sentiment about Trump’s expanded deportation efforts. It finds that 58 percent of Americans worry that those efforts “will go too far and result in deportation of people who haven’t committed serious crimes,” while only 40 percent worry that those efforts “won’t go far enough and dangerous criminals will remain.”

The poll also finds that a whopping 90 percent favor allowing those who have been working here “for a number of years,” know English, and are willing to pay back taxes to stay and eventually apply for citizenship. Only nine percent want them deported. And 60 percent say the government should prioritize legalizing those working here illegally over deporting them.

...

 

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Ugh. What a blatantly rude little tangerine toddler he's being! 

 

 

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This is terrifying. I feel like out government isn't even ours anymore, it now belongs to Russia: 

 

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5 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Ugh. What a blatantly rude little tangerine toddler he's being! 

 

 

Could've been worse.  Could've been an awkward shoulder rub involved like there was that one time with Shrub.

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7 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Ugh. What a blatantly rude little tangerine toddler he's being! 

 

 

It would have been amusing to see because if he tried his usual weird handshake where he tries to pull the other person's arm off, Angela would probably stand her ground and pull his arm off instead.

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1 minute ago, 47of74 said:

Could've been worse.  Could've been an awkward shoulder rub involved like there was that one time with Shrub.

It's sooooo much better than that handholding with Teresa May... 

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Yet another TT deficiency - manners!

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Just now, GreyhoundFan said:

It would have been amusing to see because if he tried his usual weird handshake where he tries to pull the other person's arm off, Angela would probably stand her ground and pull his arm off instead.

She did stand her ground when she first got out of her car. He didn't dare do the pull-shake, although he did put his hand condescendingly on her shoulder though.. 

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He's probably still pissed off that some media outlets are calling her the Leader of the Free World......

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2 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

It's sooooo much better than that handholding with Teresa May... 

Ya mean like this?

ewwwwwwwwww.png

 

Excuse me now while I go hurl.

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1 minute ago, sawasdee said:

He's probably still pissed off that some media outlets are calling her the Leader of the Free World......

As the old saying goes: the truth hurts...

 

A couple of good ones from George Takei:

george_takei10.JPG

state_dept.JPG

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I still cringe at the infantilising of a fellow national leader - can't stand her, but she is the PM of the UK.

2 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

Ya mean like this?

ewwwwwwwwww.png

 

Excuse me now while I go hurl.

 

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Just now, 47of74 said:

Ya mean like this?

ewwwwwwwwww.png

 

Excuse me now while I go hurl.

:brainbleach: 

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Oh FSM! He's now trying tweetodiplomacy with both North Korea AND China! Someone PLEASE take that phone away from those little fingers.....

 

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