Trump II

[Alan Klein]

Europeans are supporting the effort.

Even my small country (17 million inhabitants) has been joining for years and is still joining in multiple missions. We stopped our Syrian mission with F-16 air-recon and strikes in July 2016 to be succeeded by the Belgian airforce.

Current (as per this moment) international operations by Dutch military are taking place in Mali (Minusma), Irak (military trainers), Afghanistan (Resolute Support), Somalia (Atalanta, VPD, EUTMS), South-Sudan (Unmiss), Bahrein (CMF), Baltic States (BAP), Lithuania (eFP), Gaza Strip (EU BAM and USSC), Israël, Syria (UNDOF), Kosovo - EULEX, Libanon, Syria en Israël (UNTSO), United Arab Emirates (FSE Mirage), Libia (EUBAM), Mali (EUTM and UNMAS), Uganda (ACOTA).

In addition, we provide Humanitarian aid to various countries.

So stop whining that the USA has to do it all alone.

Cheers,
Bart

I was wrong in my observations.  I apologize.  Thanks for your support. 

[Alan Klein]

Kraft owns the NE Patriots.  It's Woody Johnson who has been nominated.

Oops.  I'm not much of a football fan.  Got the teams mixed up.  Does Woody Johnson play golf  too?

[kers]

I know this thread is about Trump, but what about Mike Pence...

For it is well possible he will be in charge sooner or later.
A man know to be a supporter of 'gay conversion therapy'...

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

A photojournalist friend told me that, about twenty years ago, when news organizations were still trying to preserve a modicum of integrity, his photographs of protests would be rejected if someone would even be looking directly into camera, in fear that it would be seen as staged, or, worse, that the subject acted for the camera.

That's a noble principle, but do not think for one moment that in the Middle East and under other dictatorial regimes, demonstrations are not staged. People get paid to attend (driven in with government hired busses), and are handed picket signs and huge pictures of their 'beloved leaders', and flags from countries they have never visited themselves for burning.

Cheers,
Bart

[mecrox]

I agree with a lot of what you said.   But the immediate concern is Islamist terrorism and their bombs going off around the world.   Hopefully the incentive for terror will fade when ISIS is destroyed.   What other choice is there?  Also,  the Saudis and Other allies there will take over the role of checking Iran's influence since Iraq has become a quasi Shia state since America's unfortunate decision to take out Saddam who we used to check the Iranians before.  But i agree that the middle East is a cesspool that we would be better off staying out of,  if we could.

Yup, and with the ISIS ie Sunni attack today on the Shia heartland in Iran they are back at it already. The only lesson is that whichever side you back will soon hate you even worse than the side you don't. Hope the USA tones down the pro-Sunni and Saudi rhetoric and so far as possible keeps a low profile. Talk softly and carry a big stick. All the main players there have a vested interest in the chaos continuing, unfortunately. If it did not, the money tree would not shed nearly so many dollars and they'd have to answer some searching questions about their own legitimacy.

[Otto Phocus]

You notice you haven't seen any Iranian speedboats making runs at American ships since Obama retired. That's not a coincidence. 

Actually that is the very definition of a coincidence.  Two incidents occurring where a causality relationship as not been demonstrated is called a coincidence.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Watergate 'pales' compared with Trump-Russia probe: Clapper
http://www.reuters.com/video/2017/06/07/watergate-pales-compared-with-trump-russ?videoId=371827392&videoChannel=1003

"ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) The Watergate scandal "pales" in comparison to events in Washington surrounding U.S. President Donald Trump and alleged links between his campaign and Russia, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said on Wednesday (June 7). The break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate Hotel in Washington in 1972, and subsequent cover-up, brought down former Republican U.S. President Richard Nixon in 1974. Clapper's comments, made while speaking to reporters in Canberra, Australia's capital, comes before a highly anticipated testimony by sacked FBI director James Comey before the Senate intelligence committee on Thursday (June 8). The committee is examining whether Trump's campaign colluded with Russian officials to interfere in the U.S. presidential election. Trump in May removed Comey as director of FBI, despite a U.S. Justice Department probe into contacts between presidential aides and Russia, raising the spectre of political interference in the investigation. Trump has called the probe a "witch hunt" and said there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia. Clapper said he will be an interested observer for any "smoking gun" evidence."

This one day before the interviewing of James Comey ...

Cheers,
Bart

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

And also one day before his hearing James Comey says this:

Ex-FBI head Comey says Trump pressured him on Russia probe
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-idUSKBN18Y0BJ

"Former FBI director James Comey accused U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday of trying to get him to water down the bureau's investigation into Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Trump asked Comey to drop an investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn as part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into whether Moscow meddled in the election, according to testimony from Comey posted on the Senate Intelligence Committee's website.

Comey said Trump told him at a dinner on Jan. 27, a week after the president took office, that: "I need loyalty. I expect loyalty."

Comey, who Trump fired last month, is to deliver his testimony in person at a much-anticipated hearing at the intelligence committee on Thursday.

During the dinner, the president asked him if he wanted to stay on as FBI director, Comey said. The former FBI head said he became concerned that Trump was trying to create "some sort of patronage relationship." "

Cheers,
Bart

[Schewe]

Wow...just wow!

James Comey's Opening Statement on Trump, Annotated

The prepared and submitted opening statement by Jim Comey is pretty damning...more will come out Thursday under questioning in front of the Intelligence Committee. Maybe Trump will lash out and attack, but in a "he said he said" war who's gonna believe a pathalogical liar?

Maybe Trump did tape the meetings...I wonder if Trump burned them? (If they ever existed)

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trumps-approval-rating-better-bill-clintons-first-term-621853

[Schewe]

That report came out yesterday before the you know what hit the fan today...pretty sure Comey's testimony prolly won't help Donny's rating. Don't ya think?

BTW, how's that infrastructure initiative Trump was working on this week being received?

What infrastructure initiative?

[Robert Roaldi]

Only slightly off-topic is this podcast of a guy who wrote Fake News for profit: Fake News King.

It's both a funny and sad story. They find him by tracking down a story about Hilary and the FBI and a murder, which turns out to be completely made up.

My favourite bit is when they state that it almost a complete waste of time to debunk the stories because no matter what you do, people will believe them. I guess it's like those crop circles, which some people still think are unexplained.

It's a bit less than 30 minutes in length.

[Robert Roaldi]

Another interesting podcast about a reporter embedded with Iraqi forces fighting ISIS in Mosul: http://www.npr.org/2017/03/14/520057038/a-front-line-view-of-isis-at-war-theyre-not-backing-down

There were a few interesting comments in it, but they all point to a multi-layered complex problem, so naturally they won't be heeded. According to the reports, some of Trump's statements have been used in ISIS propaganda. Trump and others seem to think that randomly dropping bombs accomplishes something other than to help recruit more ISIS fighters. I'd love to hear a military analysis of the effectiveness of those cruise missile and MOAB bombings. Did it cause anything other than laughter?

At one point in this discussion, someone claimed that it was Obama who created the mess in Iraq, when it was Bush who got the USA into that one. That's where fake news leads, you see, you can't even remember last decade's history correctly.

[Schewe]

Things that make you go hummmmm.

Bars are opening early on Thursday so people can drink Russian vodka while watching ex-FBI Director Comey testify

If you want to have a drink while watching former FBI director James Comey testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, you're in luck.

Bars in Washington, DC, San Francisco, and Houston, Texas, are opening early on Thursday to screen Comey's testimony, which is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. EST.

"Come on... you know you want to watch the drama unfold this Thursday," Shaw's Tavern, which will be serving $5 Stoli vodka and "FBI" sandwiches, wrote on Facebook. "Grab your friends, grab a drink and let's COVFEFE!"

I'll take a Scotch on the rocks...

[Schewe]

Typical...sure would hate to work for this guy...

Staff Found Out About Trump's FBI Director Pick Via Twitter

Some members of Donald Trump's administration didn't know the president was picking a new FBI director until they saw his tweet, The Daily Beast reports.

Trump announced Christopher Wray as James Comey's replacement early Wednesday morning, and one senior administration official told the Daily Beast that White House press secretary Sean Spicer and Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders were not informed of the president's decision.

"Of course not," said the official.

"We woke up to this," another official said. "[Everyone in the White House] should all be used to this by now ... This is how [Trump] operates."

So, I guess we can quit listening to Kellyanne Conway?

KELLYANNE CONWAY SAYS MEDIA SHOULD STOP COVERING DONALD TRUMP’S TWEETS

Or to Sebastian Gorka?

Donald Trump’s Advisers: Don’t Take His Tweets So Seriously

Meanwhile maybe Spicy does know something?

TRUMP’S TWEETS ARE ‘OFFICIAL STATEMENTS,’ SEAN SPICER SAYS, COMPLETELY CONTRADICTING WHITE HOUSE AIDES

Oh, wait...Trump actually did something by announcing Christopher Wray as James Comey's replacement as head of the FBI. Hum, wonder who the heck he is?

Who is Christopher Wray?

(CNN)In nominating Christopher Wray to be the next FBI chief, President Donald Trump immediately thrust a low-profile white collar defense lawyer into the public spotlight.

Wray's credentials are classic establishment: a Yale Law School graduate and executive editor of the law review, law clerk to a conservative federal judge, longtime federal prosecutor for decades and top official in the Justice Department under President George W. Bush.

He currently works at King & Spalding as a litigation partner, specializing in the defense of individuals and corporations in white-collar criminal cases -- and even represented New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie during the "Bridgegate" investigation into lane closures at the George Washington Bridge.

Well, there ya go, a classic swamp pedigree. Represented Chris Christie...yep, that fits.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... the you know what hit the fan today...

From sizzle to fizzle?

[Schewe]

From sizzle to fizzle?

Looking forward till tomorrow?

Looking forward to the Presidential Twitter live tweeting?

I'm still trying to figure out what Trump meant when he said to Comey
“Because I have been very loyal to you, very loyal; we had that thing you know.”

Wonder what "that thing" was...really kinda creepy...and I'm not the only one:

'I literally wanted to rinse myself off,' ex-FBI agent says of Comey statement

(CNN)When James Comey released seven pages of written testimony on Wednesday, many in Washington -- and beyond -- went searching for precedent, analysis or context. James Gagliano was looking for a shower.

"I read this and I literally wanted to rinse myself off afterwards," said the former FBI agent. "I felt completely disgusted."

[Schewe]

Back to serious stuff...

Column: Donald Trump is a profoundly incompetent president

What do the directors of the Transportation Security Administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI have in common?

Easy question, you may think: They are all important law enforcement officials with roles in combating terrorism. But at the moment, they have nothing in common. Why? Because they don't exist.

The jobs, you see, are vacant. Each has to be filled by presidential appointment, and Donald Trump has felt no urgency in filling them. Only this week did he even offer names for the TSA and FBI.

That is not his only lapse when it comes to protecting Americans from danger. In January, 47 U.S. attorneys resigned, and in March, he fired the remaining 46 federal prosecutors. So far, the president has yet to submit a nomination for any of the vacancies.

The people who voted for Trump knew they would be getting a disrupter, a critic of business-as-usual and an enemy of political correctness. Many also realized they were electing a bully and a braggart. But they may not have known what they were getting above all else: an incompetent.

--snip--

Trump's incompetence is self-perpetuating. A clueless executive is forced to rely on aides who are mediocre — or worse — because better people are repelled. Vacant jobs and poor staff work, aggravated by bad management, lead to more failure, which makes it even harder to attract strong hires — and easier for opponents to get their way.

Expect more of the same. Trump came to office uninformed, unprepared and oblivious to his shortcomings, with no capacity to recognize or overcome them. He is in way over his head, and not waving but drowning.

[Schewe]

For those people who are under the impression that Trump and his administration have a clue how to make America Great again, it's not looking too good.



The Potemkin Policies of Donald Trump

The simplest summary of White House economic policy to date is four words long: There is no policy.

It’s “Infrastructure Week” at the White House. Theoretically.

On Monday, the administration announced a plan to spend $200 billion on infrastructure and overhaul U.S. air traffic control. There was a high-profile signing in the East Wing before dozens of cheering lawmakers and industry titans. It was supposed to be the beginning of a weeklong push to fix America’s roads, bridges, and airports.

But in the next two days, Trump spent more energy burning metaphorical bridges than trying to build literal ones. He could have stayed on message for several hours, gathered Democrats and Republicans to discuss a bipartisan agreement, and announced a timeframe. Instead he quickly turned his attention to Twitter to accuse media companies of “Fake News” while undermining an alliance with Qatar based on what may be, fittingly, a fake news story.

It’s a microcosm of this administration’s approach to public policy. A high-profile announcement, coupled with an ambitious promise, subsumed by an unrelated, self-inflicted public-relations crisis, followed by … nothing.

The secret of the Trump infrastructure plan is: There is no infrastructure plan. Just like there is no White House tax plan. Just like there was no White House health care plan. More than 120 days into Trump’s term in a unified Republican government, Trump’s policy accomplishments have been more in the subtraction category (e.g., stripping away environmental regulations) than addition. The president has signed no major legislation and left significant portions of federal agencies unstaffed, as U.S. courts have blocked what would be his most significant policy achievement, the legally dubious immigration ban.

The simplest summary of White House economic policy to date is four words long: There is no policy.

Trump is great at promising stuff...often in just two weeks...

In Trump’s White House, Everything’s Coming in ‘Two Weeks’

President Donald Trump has a plan. It’ll be ready in two weeks.

From overhauling the tax code to releasing an infrastructure package to making decisions on Nafta and the Paris climate agreement, Trump has a common refrain: A big announcement is coming in just “two weeks.” It rarely does.

On Feb. 9, Trump boasted that his administration was “way ahead of schedule” on a tax overhaul.

“We’re going to be announcing something I would say over the next two or three weeks that will be phenomenal in terms of tax and developing our aviation infrastructure,” Trump said while meeting with airline executives.

Eleven weeks elapsed before the White House released a one-page outline of the tax plan.

In an April 29 interview on “CBS This Morning” Trump said of his promised $1 trillion infrastructure construction program: “We’ve got the plan largely completed and we’ll be filing over the next two or three weeks -- maybe sooner,” Trump said.

No legislation has been filed. The White House has yet to outline the plan, beyond broad principles described in Trump’s proposed budget.

[Schewe]

http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trumps-approval-rating-better-bill-clintons-first-term-621853

Then this happened...

Poll: Trump's approval rating dips to 34%

Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump's approval rating is at 34%, a new Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday finds, a slight dip from the last time the university surveyed the President's popularity.

Fifty-seven percent of surveyed voters said they do not approve of the job the President is doing in office. When Quinnipiac University polled Trump's popularity in mid-May, 37% approved compared to 55% who disapproved.

Wednesday's survey marks a new low for Trump's approval rating in Quinnipiac's polling -- his previous low was 35% in an April 4 edition of the poll.

So, I think that means Trump beat Clinton again...

:~)