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The Trump presidency

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On Media Matters Potential DHS Hire Jon Feere Promoted Anti-Immigrant White Nationalist Website
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The Washington Post reported that Feere “is in line to join the Trump administration in an immigration-related position at the Department of Homeland Security, according to two former U.S. officials informed of transition changes by department personnel.” The paper noted that Feere is a “prominent advocate of ending U.S. birthright citizenship” and has worked as a legal policy analyst for the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).

CIS is an anti-immigrant group founded by John Tanton, a white nationalist who has claimed that “a European-American majority” is required to maintain American culture. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has heavily criticized the nativist group for releasing shoddy research and pushing misinformation about immigrants.

Feere wrote on Twitter that the “reality is that many pro-illegal immigration people simply hate Americans and believe that foreigners are superior in every way.”
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Another Bannonite critter.
 
On Mediaite Trump Administration Hires WND Columnist Who Accused Obama, Clinton of White Genocide
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Ellis wasn’t speaking metaphorically. “If you believe, as do the leftists, that America has more than it deserves and Americans are racists, the global redistribution of our wealth and the death (literally) of white working people is a desired outcome, a feature not a bug,” he continued.

But according to a Wednesday report from ProPublica, Ellis was hired in January to work as special assistant to the Secretary of Labor. “Nothing I can tell you,” he told them when asked what his exact role would be.
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It's really subtle but if you read it carefully you might be worried there's a dog whistle there.
 
On Politico Growing signs of trouble for Trump’s border wall
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But Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, suggested that the wall process isn’t that far along.

“I don’t think we’ve settled, yet, on the actual construction,” he told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday. “You can do steel. You could do concrete. You can do a combination of concrete and steel. You can supplement it with different types of technologies and so forth.”

And in some areas, he added, “border control’s actually telling us that they like the one you can see through.”

McConnell said he’s in favor of securing the border but seemed to agree that there is support for a border fence in some areas. “There are some places along the border where that’s probably not the best way to secure the border,” he said.

For his part, Spicer framed Trump’s devotion to making good on his campaign promises as part of his appeal.

“I think one of the things that the American people, regardless of where they stand across the aisle, appreciate about this president is he’s a man that has kept his word,” he said. “He made commitments to them, and he’s fulfilling them to make the country better.”
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Senior Republicans sceptical, no sign of the Mexicans paying, but hey folks caught crossing illegally down 40% anyway. Maybe the gringos having put a cabeza de mierda in the Oval Office is a budget-priced substitute for anything concrete.
 
On Rudaw Kurdish healer: Trump is possessed; I can cure him by beating soles of his feet
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“Trump is possessed and I need to beat him on the soles of his feet to get the jinni out of his body,” Mala Ali told Rudaw in an interview. “He has lost his mind and oversteps his boundaries all the time. He needs help. Unless he is cured he will continue to act like he does now.”

He predicts meanwhile that Trump will not finish his first term as president and that “he will either go insane or be killed. He has become a creature that attacks everyone.”

Mala Ali who claims to have been endowed with the power to heal any disease under the sun says that he can and has indeed offered to cure Jalal Talabani, Iraq’s former president and head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) who suffered a brain stroke in 2012.
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Well it's worth a try.
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Mala Ali believes that Iraq and Syria are occupied by evil spirits and many Iraqi officials are possessed by them.

“I keep saying it but no one is listening to me. A huge number of jinnis have come to Iraq’s sky. Even Lucifer himself is among them and I’ve heard this from the spirits themselves. Jinnis have occupied all of Iraq and Syria and the situation could only get worse," Mala Ali said.

“Most Iraqi MPs and ministers are possessed and they have come to me and I have thrashed them. They mostly come after work hours so no one sees them. They are all possessed that is why they can’t agree on anything.”

Even leaders of the communist party have come to realize his powers and seek his help, says Mala Ali.

“Even the communist party has now realized that I have a heavenly force behind me and their leaders come to me for help,” he revealed. “A senior leader of the communist party had been married for twenty years and they couldn’t have a child. I treated them and within two months they conceived. They named their boy Ali.”
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Somebody tell Bannon! Is it too late to add a jinnis clause to the Muslim Ban.
 
In TDB Top Trump Ally Met With Putin’s Deputy in Moscow
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Which raises the question: Why was the NRA meeting with Putin’s deputy in the first place?

The NRA had previously objected to the parts of the U.S. sanctions regime that blocked Russian-made guns from import into the United States. But curiously, David Keene, the former NRA president and current board member who was on the Moscow trip, insisted the meeting with the high-ranking member of the Kremlin government had nothing whatsoever to do with geopolitics.

“Rogozin is chairman of the Russian Shooting Federation and his Board hosted a tour of Federation HQ for us while we were there,” Keene told The Daily Beast. “It was non-political. There were at least 30 in attendance and our interaction consisted of thanking him and his Board for the tour.”

Rogozin tweeted photos of the meetings, writing that they discussed a forthcoming rifle competition in Russia.

But Rogozin is no ordinary Russian official, and his title extends far beyond being merely the chairman of a shooting club. His portfolio as deputy prime minister of Russia includes the defense industry. One issue where Rogozin seems particularly interested is cyberwarfare, which he has heralded for its “first strike” capability. And he’s well-known in Russia for being a radical—often taking a harder line than Putin himself.

Rogozin was the leader of the ultra-right party called Rodina, or Motherland, and famously believes in the restoration of the Russian Empire, including what he calls “Russian America” (i.e., Alaska).

To wrestle control of the party, he turned its course from a party that was occasionally in opposition to Putin to a strictly pro-Putin party. In 2005 Rogozin and his party miscalculated Putin’s anti-immigrant mood and got kicked out of the parliament for a chauvinistic promotion video that said: “Let’s Clean the Garbage!” featuring Central Asian workers eating a watermelon and spitting on the ground.

Still, Rogozin stayed loyal to Putin and soon was appointed Russian ambassador to NATO at the time of the Russia-Georgia War—his main responsibility at the time was to prevent Ukraine and Georgia from joining NATO. Today his Motherland party is back in the parliament, trying to unite right-wing movements in Europe.
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My bold, easy mistake to make and certainly classy enough for Breitbart.

Darn, now the Trumpski's NRA chums are league with the Russkis.
 
On Politico Trump’s Dictator Chic
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If all of this sounds excessive, even fantastical, remember, these homes don’t exist to express personal collecting passions or evolved tastes. (“If a reason to invade Iraq was wanted,” the American political satirist P.J. O’Rourke once wrote, describing Hussein’s chandeliers, “felony interior decorating would have done.”) Dictators can’t understand why anyone would go for the genially scaled-back charm of Western Old Money houses in Cambridge, England, or Cambridge, Massachusetts. Why have old when you can have new, matte when you can have shiny, small when you can have huge? There is no subtlety or understatement, let alone irony.

The whole point is that dictators’ homes aren’t for one’s family, friends or private self; they’re not a refuge from the world or the job. Dictators’ homes, in fact, are the job—a place to do business, harangue people and settle scores, all while one’s entourage stays nearby. They are an architectural and artistic means of establishing the power of the occupants, of intimidating and impressing any visitor.
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I've often thought Trump's fondness for the Russians may be just because he shares so much of the typical petro-state oligarch's vulgarian aesthetic.
 
Supine said:
It was only a matter of time for NRA cnuts to get murky
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"get murky"?

I wondered ever since Obama used to pipe up about firearms how come the NRA was never bought in as a means to control American gunnery. I mean... why were they never made a part of US gun law, you have to be registered by the NRA to own a gun sort of thing. Not that I care, Americans can buy and shoot guns all day long if they want- just not in other peoples countries (I only add that because armed Americans have turned up in Syria now, this time with artillery).

But if people had a problem with it- surely the NRA would be the obvious bureaucracy to control it all with. You'd think the NRA would jump at the opportunity to be made official manager of the gun-people.
 
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camouflage said:
"get murky"?

I wondered ever since Obama used to pipe up about firearms how come the NRA was never bought in as a means to control American gunnery. I mean... why were they never made a part of US gun law, you have to be registered by the NRA to own a gun sort of thing. Not that I care, Americans can buy and shoot guns all day long if they want- just not in other peoples countries (I only add that because armed Americans have turned up in Syria now, this time with artillery).

But if people had a problem with it- surely the NRA would be the obvious bureaucracy to control it all with. You'd think the NRA would jump at the opportunity to be made official manager of the gun-people.
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You probably realise that'd be like PETA getting into selling mink coats. Registering firearms is something the NRA consistently campaigns against.

Gun registration is also at the heart of many conspiracy theories about the evil intentions of Big Gubmint. Once guns are registered the government will come and unman you into an impotent disarmed state. If you ain't got your guns you can't rise up and overthrow the tyrannical state like The Founders. So freedom dies screaming at the hands of the Feds/Deep State/UN Black Helicopters/Satan and all his impish witches. And that inevitably leads to White Genocide. As everybody knows the Holocaust only happened because them socialistic Nazis registered guns. That is if you haven't yet been radicalised to the point of denying that The Holocaust happened or got to the tertiary stage of thinking Hitler had good intentions but really didn't go far enough.
 
CrabbedOne said:
You probably realise that'd be like PETA getting into selling mink coats. Registering firearms is something the NRA consistently campaigns against.

Gun registration is also at the heart of many conspiracy theories about the evil intentions of Big Gubmint. Once guns are registered the government will come and unman you into an impotent disarmed state. If you ain't got your guns you can't rise up and overthrow the tyrannical state like The Founders. So freedom dies screaming at the hands of the Feds/Deep State/UN Black Helicopters/Satan and all his impish witches. And that inevitably leads to White Genocide. As everybody knows the Holocaust only happened because them socialistic Nazis registered guns. That is if you haven't yet been radicalised to the point of denying that The Holocaust happened or got to the tertiary stage of thinking Hitler had good intentions but really didn't go far enough.
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:D

Ok, well explained, a convincing glimpse inside of the mind of right-wing gun-wanking America.
 
On TNI Why Is Trump Abandoning the Foreign Policy that Brought Him Victory?
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Trump’s signature policy initiative, rapprochement with Russia, appears dead in the water. Unfortunately, the president’s strange personal enthusiasm for Vladimir Putin undercut his desire to accommodate a great power which has no fundamental, irresolvable conflicts with the America. Contrary to neocon history, Russia and America have often cooperated in the past. Moreover, President Trump’s attempt to improve relations faces strong ideological opposition from neoconservatives determined to have a new enemy and partisan resistance from liberal Democrats committed to undermining the new administration.

President Trump also appears to have no appointees who share his commitment on this issue. At least Trump’s first National Security Adviser, Mike Flynn, wanted better relations with Russia, amid other, more dubious beliefs, but now the president seems alone. In fact, Secretary Tillerson sounded like he was representing the Obama administration when he demanded Moscow’s withdrawal from Crimea, a policy nonstarter. Ambassador-designate Huntsman’s views are unclear, but he will be constrained by the State Department bureaucracy, which is at best unimaginative and at worst actively obstructionist.
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The Blob appears to have got Trumpski back in neocon harness rather quickly despite the Bannonite chorus around him praising Putin's stout "traditionalism" i.e. slightly bonkers tendency to Russian Orthodox culture wars. If he'd wanted a restart with Russia the twit needed to be more subtle about and not appear to be about to give away the farm in some weird bromance with Putin. I doubt his supporters much care provided they get their tax cuts and minorities get properly victimised as promised.
 
camouflage said:
"get murky"?

I wondered ever since Obama used to pipe up about firearms how come the NRA was never bought in as a means to control American gunnery. I mean... why were they never made :thumbs:a part of US gun law, you have to be registered by the NRA to own a gun sort of thing. Not that I care, Americans can buy and shoot guns all day long if they want- just not in other peoples countries (I only add that because armed Americans have turned up in Syria now, this time with artillery).

But if people had a problem with it- surely the NRA would be the obvious bureaucracy to control it all with. You'd think the NRA would jump at the opportunity to be made official manager of the gun-people.
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What an excellent idea, give the NRA the leading role in gun ownership ( not control, at the mo;)) then let them defend their policies, the next time there is a mass shooting:thumbs:
 
coley said:
What an excellent idea, give the NRA the leading role in gun ownership ( not control, at the mo;)) then let them defend their policies, the next time there is a mass shooting:thumbs:
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They've got that one sorted: those are all Deep State Black Flag ops designed to disarm white Americans.
 
In The New Yorker EXPOSED: DONALD TRUMP’S SHAM POPULISM
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Part of what is going on is that Trump needs a quick legislative success. He is keenly aware that, by this stage in his Presidency, Obama had signed a number of important bills, including a big stimulus package. Trump also badly needs to change the subject from Russia. It might sound crazy to suggest that a President would embrace a bill that could do him great harm in the long term just for a few days’ respite, but these are crazy times. If nothing else, the political furor surrounding the House G.O.P. proposal has eclipsed the headlines about Trump claiming that Obama wiretapped him. For much of this week, Trump has ducked out of sight, letting Ryan and his bill take the spotlight.

That’s not the only way the Russian story may have played into this. As the pressure grows for a proper independent probe of Trump’s ties to Moscow, he must retain the support of the G.O.P. leadership, which has the power to block such an investigation. It has long been clear that the relationship between the Republican Party and Trump is based on a quid pro quo, at least tacitly: in return for dismissing concerns about his authoritarianism, self-dealing, and Russophilia, the Party gets to enact some of the soak-the-poor policies it has long been promoting. For a time, it seemed like Trump was the senior partner in this arrangement. But now Republicans like Ryan have more leverage, and Trump has more of an incentive to go along with them.
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Trumpcare is now being sold as a quick route to the usual upper decile tax cuts that are actually pretty popular with GOP voters.

It wasn't a core issue for him but Trump made plainly unrealistic promises on healthcare during the campaign but the main thing was Obamacare was the work of a very bad man and had to be repealed. The current measure will take about 15 million Americans out of cover but that's 5 million less than the expansion caused by the hated Obama's bill. It was portrayed by Republicans as a malign attack on the elderly's Medicaid favouring mooching blacks and even called reparations for slavery. The ACA is badly flawed, complex and does little to control costs which are rising as the US population ages. The new bill is far more regressive but keeps several ideologically distasteful ACA features and is facing opposition from the right. It's crafted to avoid the need for a super majority in the Senate and is being rushed through.

Trump's own inclination seems to be to avoid the tiresome complexities, sit back, do nothing and blame healthcare failures on Obama. But as this snip points out the great deal maker has artlessly got himself in an over the barrel position. There may be nothing really damaging in Russia-gate but by hastily accusing his bête noire of bugging Trump Tower he's made an enquiry a near certainty. As he reluctantly backs away from Russia matters he's made politically toxic by fawning over Putin he needs the party establishment to make the enquiry short and shallow. He is also slowly realising he needs the party establishment he ran against to get much done at all.
 
On War Is Boring ‘Super-Fuzed’ Warheads on U.S. Navy Subs Risk Sparking an Accidental Nuclear War
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Much of the report is given over to technical descriptions, but the gist of the story is this — the W76–1 naval warhead is now three times as lethal as before, and this massive expansion of kill capability makes it look like the United States is preparing for a decapitating nuclear attack.

Now obviously the United States is not actually planning to do this, nor can it be confident an all-out assault would “succeed.” But technologically, a preemptive strike on Russia now appears feasible — and that’s what matters.
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Well that's a nice legacy Obama left the slowly going mental Trump regime.
 
On Econfix Trump and the German current account surplus
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The German Problem

In order for German industry to remain competitive employers and trade unions agreed to restrain wage growth – this led to a weakening of the euro. To overcome this imbalances in economies wages should be increasing in Germany as it is a stronger economy and weakening in the poorer countries like Greece and Spain. This means that the latter has a competitive advantage and should attract investment.

Also a ageing population tend not to be big spenders and with the current demographics in Germany, firms are looking abroad to sell their products instead of at home. Ultimately this leads to excess savings which is capital sent abroad

With a current account surplus of 9% GDP the only way this can be reduced is with extreme measures such as:
– Lowering VAT (value-added tax) – Increasing wages – Government to increase its spending and run budget deficits

However the surplus is a sign of German’s export prowess and as one German politician said ‘America needs to make better cars”. Only when the German savings are turned into cash will surpluses turn into deficits.
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For all the GOP's deficit hawkery the Americans like the British have a high spending debt addicted economy that makes relatively few things apart from often parasitic services the rest of the world wants. The smug Krauts are the dominant European power who unsuprisingly have fixed the European game to suit them but they make high value lusted after products and are tight fisted old gits sitting on the profits. Highly taxed German employers reinvest in plant, training and higher productivity while US CEOs about to get yet another tax brake inflate their incomes and spaff it away on Trumpian status symbols. If Trump's bubble creating pro-cyclic policies work he'll make the already very high dollar even stronger making US exports globally less attractive.

The shiny wanker Panzers are pouring into protectionist China with its artificially low currency at ever greater rates and well off Americans will probably still buy their beloved Beemers on easy credit even if Trump whacks a tariff on then. Meanwhile not many frugal Swabian housewives will be taking out a shameful loan to buy a spongy Buick SUV. Germans are re-investors, savers and efficient (not hard) workers for deep historical reasons. Americans work damned hard to pay the interest on often crippling debts while they continue to buy all sorts of crap they don't need. Guess which one is always going to have a trade deficit with the other.
 
On The Hill Experts say Trump's military budget can't pay for buildup he wants
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But there’s also debate about whether the larger $640 billion proposed by defense hawks in Congress is necessary, with some experts saying the "readiness crisis" that number is meant to address may be exaggerated.

"The amount of defense funding you need should be determined by strategy and what you want the military to be able to do,” said Todd Harrison, director of defense budget analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The Trump administration has not given us a clear defense strategy, so it's difficult to judge [whether $603 billion is enough] if you don’t know what the defense strategy is."

The Trump administration said this week that it will propose a $603 billion base defense budget, $54 billion above current budget caps.
The administration has not elaborated on what specifically that will fund. But Trump has talked since the campaign of a massive military buildup.
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This is silly as Trump having campaigned on an odd mix of boastful belligerence and strategic reticence really has no idea what he'd want a huge military for it just must be huge because The Donald will Make America Great Again and that must mean lots of war toys and troops that can salute the Great Leader on the balcony as they sweep past like in some scene out of Patton.

The $603 billion that Trump is talking up as huge is also not that big a DoD budget by historical standards actually a fairly modest bounce that he can barely get away with calling signifiant following a pretty war prone Dem administration that spent pretty heavily on defence.
defense-budget-chart_large.PNG

Defence hawks are wanting an even more porky $640 billion. Of course Trump wants his damn silly border wall which means he has to find ~$25 billion from various places.
 
On The Hill Bush ethics lawyer on Trump-Russia ties: 'KGB agents running around the West Wing'
Richard Painter, President George W. Bush's former ethics lawyer, said late Friday he has major concerns over the Trump administration's ties to Russia.

In an interview with CNN's Don Lemon, Painter spoke about reports that former national security advisor Flynn was working for foreign agents while also working for the American government.

“It makes no sense to run a government this way,” Painter said. "This is a completely chaotic situation, and then Gen. Flynn lied about his contacts with the Russians, lied to the vice president, and we’ve had the attorney general in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee say he did not contact the Russians when he had contacts with the Russians."

“People are not being honest about their foreign contacts, and talk about this ‘deep state theory’ as if there are somehow Obama moles in the government under the Trump administration,” Painter continued.

“It’s the KGB agents running around the West Wing or the national security council."
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There are not KGB agents running around the West Wing. It's called the FSB these days.
 
On Bloomberg Trump Said to Weigh Political Risks of Firing CFPB's Cordray
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At a closed-door discussion with community bankers Thursday, Trump said that firing the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would probably spur a political backlash, according to people who attended the White House meeting. And while the president didn’t reveal any plans he has for the agency or its director, Richard Cordray, he acknowledged that there are risks in revamping a regulator set up to protect consumers from abusive lending, the people said.

Cordray has been under attack from Republicans ever since Barack Obama installed him as the CFPB’s first director in a 2012 recess appoint. GOP lawmakers argue he has too much power, pursues investigations outside his jurisdiction and has imposed unreasonable fines on financial firms.

But Democrats, including Wall Street critic Elizabeth Warren, a senator from Massachusetts, have aggressively defended Cordray and vowed to fight any efforts to dismantle the agency, arguing that doing so would be a gift to bankers at the expense of consumers.
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Looking too swampy even for Trump.
 
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