American Politics Thread: Orange is the new POTUS (Archive)

[Senator Clay Davis]

^^Pretty sure that's his tax plan from the election, nothing new. Like the wall was gonna cost $8 billion in his election plan, but in real life will cost nearly 3 times as much. So we'll see what ultimately looks like. Probably the same as the Bush tax cuts.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

Better to just build a moat and fill with hungry alligators.

or better yet, stock the border with Enforcement Droid 209's

30 years and I now I finally find out what ED stands for...

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

^^Pretty sure that's his tax plan from the election, nothing new. Like the wall was gonna cost $8 billion in his election plan, but in real life will cost nearly 3 times as much. So we'll see what ultimately looks like. Probably the same as the Bush tax cuts.

Yeah that's been his tax plan since 2015:

http://www.businessinsider.com/donal...n-i-win-2015-9

[Flash Walken]

The last thing I read about his tax proposal was something like 8-12 trillion added to the deficit on top of the ~10 trillion projected to be added by 2022 with current laws.

There was some concern that these deficits were predicated upon interest rates staying low and a sizeable cut to government operating expenses and that a corresponding increase in interest rates would exaggerate those figures.

[direwolf]

Associated Press reporting that Trump is considering a new order on immigration since his other one is tied up in court.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...ion/ar-AAmO8kF

Trump tells reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to Florida that he's confident he'll win his court battle.

But he says, "we also have a lot of other options, including just filing a brand new order."

He adds: "We need speed for reasons of security. So it could very well be that we do that."

Trump says a new order would likely change "very little" from the first and says he'll likely act next Monday or Tuesday.

He adds of his decision: "I'd like to surprise you."

Good grief.

[Looch City]

It's just February. Can you believe that? Could he possibly survive to see the end of the year?

[KelVarnsen]

Originally Posted by Iggy City

It's just February. Can you believe that? Could we possibly survive to see the end of the year?

Fixed.

[direwolf]

Looks like the Russia thing is back in the spotlight.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/10/politi...ate/index.html

For the first time, US investigators say they have corroborated some of the communications detailed in a 35-page dossier compiled by a former British intelligence agent, multiple current and former US law enforcement and intelligence officials tell CNN.

The corroboration, based on intercepted communications, has given US intelligence and law enforcement "greater confidence" in the credibility of some aspects of the dossier as they continue to actively investigate its contents, these sources say.
Reached for comment this afternoon, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said, "We continue to be disgusted by CNN's fake news reporting."

Spicer later called back and said, "This is more fake news. It is about time CNN focused on the success the President has had bringing back jobs, protecting the nation, and strengthening relationships with Japan and other nations. The President won the election because of his vision and message for the nation."

Spokespeople for the FBI, Department of Justice, CIA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment.
US intelligence officials emphasize the conversations were solely between foreign nationals, including those in or tied to the Russian government, intercepted during routine intelligence gathering.

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by direwolf

Associated Press reporting that Trump is considering a new order on immigration since his other one is tied up in court.

Good grief.

Bannon really does have him amped up to the max with the paranoid xenophobia

[Minnie]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

fixed, to accommodate, yuge yungry yorange gators

Trumpagators. They're real.

[FlameOn]

US intelligence assets have corroborated some content of the Trump Russian dossier. Communications between Trump and intercepted foreign Russia assets are confirmed to have occurred but the content and which details that were confirmed due to the classified nature of the intelligence programs.

Washington (CNN)For the first time, US investigators say they have corroborated some of the communications detailed in a 35-page dossier compiled by a former British intelligence agent, multiple current and former US law enforcement and intelligence officials tell CNN. As CNN first reported, then-President-elect Donald Trump and President Barack Obama were briefed on the existence of the dossier prior to Trump's inauguration.

None of the newly learned information relates to the salacious allegations in the dossier. Rather it relates to conversations between foreign nationals. The dossier details about a dozen conversations between senior Russian officials and other Russian individuals. Sources would not confirm which specific conversations were intercepted or the content of those discussions due to the classified nature of US intelligence collection programs.
But the intercepts do confirm that some of the conversations described in the dossier took place between the same individuals on the same days and from the same locations as detailed in the dossier, according to the officials. CNN has not confirmed whether any content relates to then-candidate Trump.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/10/politi...ate/index.html

[Senator Clay Davis]

This new Russia stuff must be really bad, because they are trying to distract with Putin might give Snowden to the US as a "gift".

U.S. intelligence has collected information that Russia is considering turning over Edward Snowden as a "gift" to President Donald Trump — who has called the NSA leaker a "spy" and a "traitor" who deserves to be executed.

That's according to a senior U.S. official who has analyzed a series of highly sensitive intelligence reports detailing Russian deliberations and who says a Snowden handover is one of various ploys to "curry favor" with Trump. A second source in the intelligence community confirms the intelligence about the Russian conversations and notes it has been gathered since the inauguration.

Snowden's ACLU lawyer, Ben Wizner, told NBC News they are unaware of any plans that would send him back to the United States.

"Team Snowden has received no such signals and has no new reason for concern," Wizner said.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/10/russi...-nbc-news.html

[Drak]

Did somebody mention alligators?

http://fox4beaumont.com/news/offbeat...nts-02-09-2017

A Hanahan resident came across a gator in his neighborhood this week and while seeing the animal in that area isn't unusual, the reptile's color was.
Instead of the normal green-ish brown color that gators normally sport, this 4-5 foot guy was a shocking shade of orange.
It's not a shockingly beautiful orange, like from a Lowcountry sunset but more of a marshmallow-like Circus Peanut orange.

Trump didn't drain the swamp. He lives in it.

EDIT: Never mind, Minnie beat me to it.

[photon]

Interesting article on the New START treaty that Trump reportedly didn't know what was when Putin discussed it, and probably why Trump thinks it's a bad deal.

This part is a little horrifying, imagine if it was Trump that had to have the self control?

Actually you know what, I now officially WANT Trump to be a Russian puppet, then he won't mistake some miscommunication or errant rocket launch as a nuclear strike and retaliate too soon.

Graham, a board member at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, said another reason to engage Putin on New START is that too often one side believed the other was preparing to launch a nuke at the other and it ended up being a false alarm. Here’s an example: he recalled a time in 1995 when an aide handed former President Boris Yeltsin a briefcase with a screen inside that displayed a warning that a missile was launched from the Norwegian Sea.

Under the screen was Russia’s “nuclear football,” the system that allowed Yeltsin to launch attacks around the world with 4,700 nuclear warheads at the ready. After monitoring the missile for four minutes, it ended up being a weather rocket launched to study the aurora borealis.

“(Yeltsin) came within two minutes of launching all of his missiles against the United States, which would have completely destroyed us,” Graham said. “We wouldn’t exist today had Yeltsin not thought better of it at the last minute without additional evidence. The fewer of those weapons we have on alert, the less at risk we are.”

There are hundreds of such incidents in which human error, a computer glitch, miscommunication or some other mistake almost lead to one side thinking the other was going to attack.

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/don...ucl-1792198491

[woob]

Hopefully not posted already: Is Obama's official White House photographer trolling Donald Trump?

Every day is throwback Thursday for the former chief photographer for Barack Obama in the White House, who appears to be attempting to troll Donald Trump on Instagram.

Since he created his personal @petesouza account on 21 January, Pete Souza has attracted 800,000 followers on the back of his intimate images taken behind the scenes of the Obama presidency.

The snaps he has selected, and the moments at which he has chosen to post them, have been interpreted by observant Instagrammers as throwing subtle shade at the new president.

For instance, late last month, after Trump signed an executive order banning entry to the US from seven majority-Muslim countries, Souza shared an image of Obama talking to a Muslim refugee in Kuala Lumpur.

Regardless of the intention, great photos in his Instagram.

Also from the article:

His previous Instagram posts as chief photographer have been archived to the @petesouza44 account, maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration along with all other digital records of Obama’s time in office

Link to @petersouza44 Instagram.

[sureLoss]

A top aide to Flynn was denied security clearance by the CIA:

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/0...e-trump-234923

Mike Flynn’s already tense relationships with others in the Trump administration and the intelligence community are growing more fraught after reports that the National Security Adviser breached diplomatic protocols in his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States.

On Friday, one of Flynn’s closest deputies on the National Security Council, senior director for Africa Robin Townley, was informed that the Central Intelligence Agency had rejected his request for an elite security clearance required for service on the NSC, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation.

That forced Townley, a former Marine intelligence officer who had long maintained a top secret-level security clearance, out of his NSC post, explained the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters.

One of the sources said that the rejection was approved by Trump’s CIA director Mike Pompeo and that it infuriated Flynn and his allies.

Both sources said that the CIA did not offer much explanation for why Townley’s request for so-called “Sensitive Compartmented Information” clearance was rejected. But the sources said that Flynn and his allies believe it was motivated by Townley’s skepticism of the intelligence community’s techniques — sentiments shared by Flynn.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by photon

Interesting article on the New START treaty that Trump reportedly didn't know what was when Putin discussed it, and probably why Trump thinks it's a bad deal.

This part is a little horrifying, imagine if it was Trump that had to have the self control?

Actually you know what, I now officially WANT Trump to be a Russian puppet, then he won't mistake some miscommunication or errant rocket launch as a nuclear strike and retaliate too soon.

Graham, a board member at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, said another reason to engage Putin on New START is that too often one side believed the other was preparing to launch a nuke at the other and it ended up being a false alarm. Here’s an example: he recalled a time in 1995 when an aide handed former President Boris Yeltsin a briefcase with a screen inside that displayed a warning that a missile was launched from the Norwegian Sea.

Under the screen was Russia’s “nuclear football,” the system that allowed Yeltsin to launch attacks around the world with 4,700 nuclear warheads at the ready. After monitoring the missile for four minutes, it ended up being a weather rocket launched to study the aurora borealis.

“(Yeltsin) came within two minutes of launching all of his missiles against the United States, which would have completely destroyed us,” Graham said. “We wouldn’t exist today had Yeltsin not thought better of it at the last minute without additional evidence. The fewer of those weapons we have on alert, the less at risk we are.”

There are hundreds of such incidents in which human error, a computer glitch, miscommunication or some other mistake almost lead to one side thinking the other was going to attack.

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/don...ucl-1792198491

I agree that it is terrifying. I guess the old Sting song "Russians" has flipped and now we all hope the Donald loves his children too.

I suppose he has illustrated that he probably does and will avoid flippantly blowing up the world.

[FlamesAddiction]

Man, I remember when Trump won, I figured that he would be a puppet for the party, but it turns out he is a puppet of the fools within arm's length. I never thought it would be this bad. It's not even a laughing matter anymore. The guy is so unstable.

I am really starting to think this is really going to end badly. Especially after the botched Yemen attack. Trying his damnedest to ban Muslims and kills a bunch on Muslim kids in the same week. Those Nazi references that seemed ridiculous are seeming plausible now. I think there would be a coup before it got that bad. It's situations like this that spark coups. Eventually someone will need to step in and say enough of this.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Man, I remember when Trump won, I figured that he would be a puppet for the party, but it turns out he is a puppet of the fools within arm's length.

I thought this article was interesting for that reason (regarding Trump talking to Texas sheriffs about asset forfeiture). It's kinda stunning how easily he can be convinced to take a certain side and assume that it's the only remotely legitimate perspective.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer...comfiting.html

And then you recall how he was going to meet with drug companies and demand that the federal government have the right to negotiate prices, and then came out of that meeting having done a total 180 on that issue.

[DuffMan]

Looks like the Hispanic purge is on.