What stupid shit has Trump done today?

[Tankus]

Trump lawyer Giuliani got paid to lobby Romanian president
The former New York mayor’s letter goes against the State Department stance on corruption in Bucharest.
https://www.politico.eu/article/rud...omanian-anti-corruption-drive-klaus-iohannis/

when yer gotta grift ,yer gotta grift !!

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Trump continues war with Big Tech

View attachment 145498

Ever notice that when Trump, Bannon, Miller, and company talk about other people, they're usually criticizing them for things they are neck deep in? Narcissist? Arrogant? Sociopaths? Even "evil"? They need a serious look in the mirror.

 

[Don Troooomp]

RT is the Russian state's mouthpiece.

‘Vital’ US moles in the Kremlin go missing! – by Stephen Cohen ‘Vital’ US moles in the Kremlin go missing! – by Stephen Cohen

It's worth a read up on what the Kremlin is saying if you want to understand their agent's (Agent orange?) stupid shit.

 

[little_legs]

Yes, that's in the article I posted. But it pretty well stopped in 2009. The Trump administration ramped it back up without regard to the legal precedent.

There were investigations of fraud in naturalisation under Obama, and Bush, and Clinton, etc. But now the scale is rising.

Ditto detentions by ICE of undocumented migrants.

I hope you can see a difference here.

The difference here is that it's only making the news and is being scrutinized because it's Trump. In case of Obama, whose admin had a chance to come out strongly and say that this birtherism bullshit needed to stop, the state settled the cases and moved on with detention & deportations.

The least we can do is afford Trump admin their run at this. Sure, it will ruin a couple of hundred or thousand lives before some judge steps in and rules against them, but this is America.

 

[petee]

The difference here is that it's only making the news and is being scrutinized because it's Trump. In case of Obama, whose admin had a chance to come out strongly and say that this birtherism bullshit needed to stop, the state settled the cases and moved on with detention & deportations.

The least we can do is afford Trump admin their run at this. Sure, it will ruin a couple of hundred or thousand lives before some judge steps in and rules against them, but this is America.

 

[CRI]

The difference here is that it's only making the news and is being scrutinized because it's Trump. In case of Obama, whose admin had a chance to come out strongly and say that this birtherism bullshit needed to stop, the state settled the cases and moved on with detention & deportations.

The least we can do is afford Trump admin their run at this. Sure, it will ruin a couple of hundred or thousand lives before some judge steps in and rules against them, but this is America.

Sorry mate, I won't give the Trump administration a pass for anything. If you can't see how the ideology and scale of its brutality differ from the previous administration, I can't help you.

 

[a_chap]

Looks like Trump's gone fully loco now.

Again.

Trump in feud with Watergate reporter

 

[scifisam]

The Obama administration did the exact same thing, they only stopped doing it when they got sued by the ACLU. There is a decent piece in WaPo about it.

I can't read the WaPo piece (paywall), but what I read somewhere else earlier didn't say what you're claiming. It said that, in the 1990s, it was discovered that some midwives really had been issuing fake birth certificates, so some people were prosecuted. Not many people were prosecuted and it was conducted like a normal criminal case, with presumption of innocence and the citizen concerned allowed to live freely while the investigation goes on.

Now it's different - all the births registered by those midwives are considered suspect, the defendants are presumed guilty and asked to provide evidence rather than the other way round, and they're taken to deportation facilities before any decision has even been made.

"It was the same under Obama" isn't actually true. Again.

 

[CRI]

I can't read the WaPo piece (paywall), but what I read somewhere else earlier didn't say what you're claiming. It said that, in the 1990s, it was discovered that some midwives really had been issuing fake birth certificates, so some people were prosecuted. Not many people were prosecuted and it was conducted like a normal criminal case, with presumption of innocence and the citizen concerned allowed to live freely while the investigation goes on.

Now it's different - all the births registered by those midwives are considered suspect, the defendants are presumed guilty and asked to provide evidence rather than the other way round, and they're taken to deportation facilities before any decision has even been made.

"It was the same under Obama" isn't actually true. Again.

Yes, this was what the WaPo article said. (If you use Firefox containers, you can create several containers, and get your allocation of free articles for each of them.)

There's also another non-paywalled piece about the story here.

And then there is this:

Bank of America freezing accounts of customers suspected of not being US citizens

Saeed Moshfegh woke up earlier this month to discover the strangest thing: though he had plenty of money in his Bank of America account, he couldn’t access it. An Iranian getting his Ph.D in physics at the University of Miami, Moshfegh used the account for everyday transactions. All he had to do to maintain the account was show proof of legal residency every six months.

That Thursday, Moshfegh went to his local branch near South Miami. He was told that the documentation he had provided could not be accepted. Bank officials insisted he produce a different form, according to Moshfegh. The bank was wrong, he maintains, because the form he had supplied was the correct one based on his current status as a student nearing graduation.

“This bank doesn’t know how the immigration system works, so they didn’t accept my document,” said Moshfegh, 36. Locked out of his account, Moshfegh couldn’t pay his rent, which was due that week. Credit card payments were suddenly rejected.

His case isn’t unique. In recent months, Bank of America has been accused of freezing or threatening to freeze customers’ accounts after asking about their legal status in the U.S.. In July, the Washington Post reported that multiple customers had been locked out of their accounts after Bank of America questioned whether the account holders were U.S. citizens or dual citizens.

All of which brings to mind . . .

 

[CRI]

I'm sure this will go down well. Cue GOP candidates facepalming and disgruntled civil servants leaking like so many colanders.

Trump cancels scheduled pay raises for most federal employees

 

[little_legs]

I can't read the WaPo piece (paywall), but what I read somewhere else earlier didn't say what you're claiming. It said that, in the 1990s, it was discovered that some midwives really had been issuing fake birth certificates, so some people were prosecuted. Not many people were prosecuted and it was conducted like a normal criminal case, with presumption of innocence and the citizen concerned allowed to live freely while the investigation goes on.

The government alleges that from the 1950s through the 1990s, some midwives and physicians along the Texas-Mexico border provided U.S. birth certificates to babies who were actually born in Mexico. In a series of federal court cases in the 1990s, several birth attendants admitted to providing fraudulent documents.

Based on those suspicions, the State Department began during Barack Obama’s administration to deny passports to people who were delivered by midwives in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley. The use of midwives is a long-standing tradition in the region, in part because of the cost of hospital care.

The same midwives who provided fraudulent birth certificates also delivered thousands of babies legally in the United States. It has proved nearly impossible to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate documents, all of them officially issued by the state of Texas decades ago.

A 2009 government settlement in a case litigated by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) seemed like it had mostly put an end to the passport denials. Attorneys reported that the number of denials declined during the rest of the Obama administration, and the government settled promptly when people filed complaints after being denied passports.

“We’re seeing these kind of cases skyrocketing,” said Jennifer Correro, an attorney in Houston who is defending dozens of people who have been denied passports.

In its statement, the State Department said that applicants “who have birth certificates filed by a midwife or other birth attendant suspected of having engaged in fraudulent activities, as well as applicants who have both a U.S. and foreign birth certificate, are asked to provide additional documentation establishing they were born in the United States.”

“Individuals who are unable to demonstrate that they were born in the United States are denied issuance of a passport,” the statement said.

When Juan, the former soldier, received a letter from the State Department telling him it wasn’t convinced that he was a U.S. citizen, it requested a range of obscure documents — evidence of his mother’s prenatal care, his baptismal certificate, rental agreements from when he was a baby.

The State Department says that even though it may deny someone a passport, that does not necessarily mean that the individual will be deported. But it leaves them in a legal limbo, with one arm of the U.S. government claiming they are not Americans and the prospect that immigration agents could follow up on their case.

Lawyers along the border say that it isn’t just those delivered by midwives who are being denied.

Babies delivered by Jorge Treviño, one of the regions most well-known gynecologists, are also being denied. When he died in 2015, the McAllen Monitor wrote in his obituary that Treviño had delivered 15,000 babies.

It’s unclear why babies delivered by Treviño are being targeted, and the State Department did not comment on individual birth attendants. Diez, the attorney, said the government has an affidavit from an unnamed Mexican doctor who said that Treviño’s office provided at least one fraudulent birth certificate for a child born in Mexico.

Now it's different - all the births registered by those midwives are considered suspect, the defendants are presumed guilty and asked to provide evidence rather than the other way round, and they're taken to deportation facilities before any decision has even been made.

"It was the same under Obama" isn't actually true. Again.

I'll paraphrase then: this isn't some new evil strategy Trump administration has come up with, singling him out as if his predecessors didn't engage in similar activities is hypocritical.

 

[scifisam]

I'll paraphrase then: this isn't some new evil strategy Trump administration has come up with, singling him out as if his predecessors didn't engage in similar activities is hypocritical.

But claiming that it was the same under Obama is a lie. It's not a paraphrasing at all. It was very briefly somewhat similar.

 

[little_legs]

But claiming that it was the same under Obama is a lie. It's not a paraphrasing at all. It was very briefly somewhat similar.

I mean I stated earlier until his administration got sued, but if you want to exonerate his or the previous administrations, go for it.

 

[little_legs]

It’s interesting how suddenly what Trump is doing is seen as an outrage. And how quickly what his predecessors did is excused, or seen as less criminal or less outrageous. What exactly did people expect from someone who ran on a racist anti immigration ticket? That he would suddenly maintain a decorum? What exactly did people expect from a president who operates within a system that has allowed presidents for generations to act like authoritarian rulers and elected officials like they are not accountable to the electorate.

 

[Treacle Toes]

What exactly did people expect from someone who ran on a racist anti immigration ticket? That he would suddenly maintain a decorum? .

Yeah, what did you expect you big sillys. Don't be so silly. What did you expect?

 

[Don Troooomp]

It’s interesting how suddenly what Trump is doing is seen as an outrage. And how quickly what his predecessors did is excused, or .

None of the presidents before him have done anything like work with the Russians.
Yes, Bush (both of the fuckers) were crap, but Trump is far more dangerous.
It's true the world order is pretty messed up but Trump is risking way more pain and misery with his actions.

 

[hipipol]

Seems they are off from the WTO
Trump threatens to pull US out of WTO
Suspect he thinks with his bullying, picked off one at time methods re NAFTA rewrite will help protect the US from the global trade chaos he craves. Its hard to tell but I think the blizzard of nonsense is intensifying.
On the MAGA tip, it seems he not only hates immigrants, but is keen to kill off his support base
Black lung disease on the rise: 5 questions answered
What kind of Genius did he claim he was??

 

[TomUS]

Looks like Trump's gone fully loco now.

Again.

Trump in feud with Watergate reporter

The orange authoritarian doesn't much care for investigative journalists, especially one who helped bring down tricky Dicky.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

None of the presidents before him have done anything like work with the Russians.

Yes, they have. At least once, and possibly twice:

Nixon:

When a Candidate Conspired With a Foreign Power to Win An Election

Reagan:

Reagan's "October Surprise" conspiracy was real, spymaster Duane Clarridge hints

The Nixon thing is pretty well settled history. I tend to believe the Reagan one, but admit that it has far less evidence to support the theory.

 

[Don Troooomp]

I just cannot state strongly enough how totally dishonest much of the Media is. Truth doesn’t matter to them, they only have their hatred & agenda. This includes fake books, which come out about me all the time, always anonymous sources, and are pure fiction. Enemy of the People!

My grammar is pretty rough, but even I know you should use a comma, not a full stop before you sign a letter - the last part should read ...

... and are pure fiction, Enemy of the People!

 

[CRI]

Long but good Twitter thread, especially for the dipshits who keep saying, "relax, it's not like it's Nazi Germany or anything."

Thread by @alexandraerin: "A while back, I tweeted that in case anyone isn't clear, we are well past the "first they came for" point. This is a big story and I'm not s […]"

 

[CRI]

WTF?

The federal personnel files of Democrat Abigail Spanberger, who is running against Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.), were released to the public.

Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic candidate challenging Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.), filled out the SF86 while applying for positions at the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the enforcement arm of the U.S. Postal Service, and at the CIA. She worked for a time at the postal agency while waiting for her CIA clearance. Then she served as a covert CIA case officer overseas for eight years.

According to the CLF, America Rising obtained Ms. Spanberger’s SF86 with a July 9 Freedom of Information Act request to the National Archives, which gave the request to the Postal Service. A document the CLF posted on its website shows the Postal Service released the entire personnel file of Ms. Spanberger — including the sensitive SF86 — on July 30. Oddly, however, it lacks any mention of FOIA.

The CLF should have known better than to weaponize confidential personnel records used in national security vetting. The process of collecting, maintaining and disclosing information on the forms is protected by the Privacy Act; the document simply should not have been made public. It is inexplicable that the Postal Service granted such a FOIA request;

Those who fill out the SF86 are assured on its second page that “the information will be protected from unauthorized disclosure.” In the case of Ms. Spanberger, this pledge was grossly violated.

 

[scifisam]

I mean I stated earlier until his administration got sued, but if you want to exonerate his or the previous administrations, go for it.

"Exonerate his or the previous administrations," as if they were the same thing.

It was stopped a few months after Obama took office. It takes time for court proceedings to take place. I wouldn't assign any President blame or claim for anything that got started before they took office - January, in reality, rather than November - and that goes for any President. But if you want to assign such blame and claim, then you could say that these deportations were actually stopped within the first few months of Obama's administration.

But now it's restarted with much more strength behind it despite the previous ruling. It's not the same thing. Don't pretend it is.

It reminds me a lot of the Windrush-era deportees so we can't be complacent in the UK either.

 

[little_legs]

Yeah, what did you expect you big sillys. Don't be so silly. What did you expect?

Maybe I should have prefaced that my post wasn't directed at anyone in particular, and that it was not meant to mock or offend anyone. I expected HRC to win.

 

[little_legs]

"Exonerate his or the previous administrations," as if they were the same thing.

It was stopped a few months after Obama took office. It takes time for court proceedings to take place. I wouldn't assign any President blame or claim for anything that got started before they took office - January, in reality, rather than November - and that goes for any President. But if you want to assign such blame and claim, then you could say that these deportations were actually stopped within the first few months of Obama's administration.

I stand corrected. The original complaint (Castellano vs Rice) was made in February of 2008, so Obama didn't start the practice, and in fact it was ended shortly after he took office. So it was wrong of me to say that it was a case of the Obama admin continuing the practice until they were forced to stop. I accept that what I said is not true.

But now it's restarted with much more strength behind it despite the previous ruling.

No kidding.

It's not the same thing. Don't pretend it is.

I am not pretending. The Trump admin is claiming that the birth certificates are fraudulent. If this survives the courts and doesn't get struck down quickly, it'll ruin lives of a couple of thousand people.

 

[Don Troooomp]

The good news is, he realises he can't have them killed - ISIS? No, the Canadian government.

Donald Trump confirms Star story on his secret bombshell remarks about Canada | The Star

 

[scifisam]

I stand corrected. The original complaint (Castellano vs Rice) was made in February of 2008, so Obama didn't start the practice, and in fact it was ended shortly after he took office. So it was wrong of me to say that it was a case of the Obama admin continuing the practice until they were forced to stop. I accept that what I said is not true.

No kidding.

I am not pretending. The Trump admin is claiming that the birth certificates are fraudulent. If this survives the courts and doesn't get struck down quickly, it'll ruin lives of a couple of thousand people.

Kudos to you. I've admitted that I'm wrong sometimes, but possibly not as often as I should. We all do it, and these days it's getting harder and harder to be "right."

I honestly don't understand this stuff at a sort of visceral level, though. I mean, I can understand prosecuting the midwives and some of the parents because they actually committed fraud, but the children, even if they're adults now - how can they be held guilty and punished for it? If your parent registers your birth fraudulently what on earth are you supposed to do about it? Get a time machine?

 

[a_chap]

That's a more e

The good news is, he realises he can't have them killed - ISIS? No, the Canadian government.

Donald Trump confirms Star story on his secret bombshell remarks about Canada | The Star

Good grief.

I started reading that Toronto Star article and, by about half-way through, I assumed it was a parody site so unbelievable were Trump's comments...

 

[Yossarian]

"Just more dishonest reporting in which journalists accurately reported things that I said."

 

[Don Troooomp]

Proof, like real proof, there was foreign cash involved in Trump's shit

Lobbyist Sam Patten Pleads Guilty to Steering Foreign Funds to Trump Inaugural

WASHINGTON — An American lobbyist on Friday admitted brokering access to President Trump’s inauguration for a pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch in a scheme that highlighted the rush by foreign interests to influence the new administration.

As part of a plea agreement under which he pledged to cooperate with federal prosecutors, the lobbyist, Sam Patten, pleaded guilty to failing to register as a foreign agent for a Russia-aligned Ukrainian political party, and to helping the Ukrainian oligarch who had funded that party illegally purchase four tickets to Mr. Trump’s inauguration.