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Read the rules in the OP before posting, please.In order to ensure that this thread continues to meet TL standards and follows the proper guidelines, we will be enforcing the rules in the OP more strictly. Be sure to give them a re-read to refresh your memory! The vast majority of you are contributing in a healthy way, keep it up! NOTE: When providing a source, explain why you feel it is relevant and what purpose it adds to the discussion if it's not obvious. Also take note that unsubstantiated tweets/posts meant only to rekindle old arguments can result in a mod action. |
On February 08 2017 19:49 GreenHorizons wrote:I don't even know where things land on the Trumpian scale any more... Show nested quote +Washington (CNN)The US military is looking to lease space in Trump Tower.
"In order to meet official mission requirements, the Department of Defense is working through appropriate channels and in accordance with all applicable legal requirements in order to acquire a limited amount of leased space in Trump Tower," Lt. Col. JB Brindle, a Defense Department spokesman, told CNN. "The space is necessary for the personnel and equipment who will support the POTUS at his residence in the building."
Military support for a president, including the military staff assigned to keeping the "nuclear football" nearby, requires close proximity to the commander in chief, which is why the Pentagon needs to rent a more expensive space closer to the penthouse where Trump resides when he's in New York. sourcePretty sure Trump (and more accurately his wife) living in Trump Tower is going to cost tax payers more than all the travel (which I'm sure Trump will do plenty of) that Obama did. Though I suspect Republicans don't raise the same stink about it. Let alone the idea that some of it could end up directly in his pocket as profit.
I have to say, in terms of monetizing the presidency, Trump is doing an excellent job. Just so far he has:
1. Doubled the membership fee for Mar a Lago, due to the exclusivity of promises for hobnobbing with the POTUS
2. Melania intends to sell a whole host of "First Lady" accessories
3. Leasing space in his own buildings to the government.
#MAGA
In particular, this latest bit surprises me that the budgetary oversight committee (or whoever audits the president's expenses) will stand for this. The US taxpayer already pays for a home for the POTUS, it's called the White House. If the president is not satisfied, and wants to have a second home, I don't see any reason why he shouldn't be allowed to, but on his own costs. Why should the tax payer have to pony up the costs for a second home?
And yes, I know it's not technically the costs for a second home, it's the costs of securing that second home. But to me that's essentially the same thing. The White House is great, because it comes with all the security baked in.
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On February 08 2017 20:01 Acrofales wrote:Show nested quote +On February 08 2017 19:49 GreenHorizons wrote:I don't even know where things land on the Trumpian scale any more... Washington (CNN)The US military is looking to lease space in Trump Tower.
"In order to meet official mission requirements, the Department of Defense is working through appropriate channels and in accordance with all applicable legal requirements in order to acquire a limited amount of leased space in Trump Tower," Lt. Col. JB Brindle, a Defense Department spokesman, told CNN. "The space is necessary for the personnel and equipment who will support the POTUS at his residence in the building."
Military support for a president, including the military staff assigned to keeping the "nuclear football" nearby, requires close proximity to the commander in chief, which is why the Pentagon needs to rent a more expensive space closer to the penthouse where Trump resides when he's in New York. sourcePretty sure Trump (and more accurately his wife) living in Trump Tower is going to cost tax payers more than all the travel (which I'm sure Trump will do plenty of) that Obama did. Though I suspect Republicans don't raise the same stink about it. Let alone the idea that some of it could end up directly in his pocket as profit. I have to say, in terms of monetizing the presidency, Trump is doing an excellent job. Just so far he has: 1. Doubled the membership fee for Mar a Lago, due to the exclusivity of promises for hobnobbing with the POTUS 2. Melania intends to sell a whole host of "First Lady" accessories 3. Leasing space in his own buildings to the government. #MAGA In particular, this latest bit surprises me that the budgetary oversight committee (or whoever audits the president's expenses) will stand for this. The US taxpayer already pays for a home for the POTUS, it's called the White House. If the president is not satisfied, and wants to have a second home, I don't see any reason why he shouldn't be allowed to, but on his own costs. Why should the tax payer have to pony up the costs for a second home? And yes, I know it's not technically the costs for a second home, it's the costs of securing that second home. But to me that's essentially the same thing. The White House is great, because it comes with all the security baked in.
I would be fine with (minor) costs to boost security at a home away from the White House but to charge rent on a building Trump still owns is just retarded.
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Drug companies could be forgiven if they're confused about whether President Donald Trump thinks the government should get involved in negotiating the price of prescription drugs for Medicare patients.
Just a few days before Trump was sworn in he said the pharmaceutical industry was "getting away with murder" in the way it prices medicine, and he promised to take the industry on. It was a promise he'd made repeatedly on the campaign trail.
"We're the largest buyer of drugs in the world and yet we don't bid properly," he said in a news conference in early January. "We're going to start bidding and we're going to save billions of dollars over a period of time."
But last week, Trump appeared to walk that vow back when he met with the leaders of several giant pharmaceutical companies at the White House.
"I'll oppose anything that makes it harder for smaller, younger companies to take the risk of bringing a product to a vibrantly competitive market," he said, sitting around a table in the Roosevelt Room, flanked by leaders of five large drugmakers. "That includes price fixing by the biggest dog in the market – Medicare — which is what's happening."
So on Tuesday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer cleared up the confusion, for now at least.
When asked during his daily news briefing whether the president is in favor of having Medicare negotiate lower prices for prescription medicine, Spicer said, "He's for it, yes. Absolutely."
Spicer went on to say that the U.S. should be doing what other countries do — bring the government's purchasing power to bear to get a better deal on medicine prices.
"So his commitment is to make sure that he does what he can," Spicer said, "and, I think rather successfully, use his skills as a businessman to drive them down."
Current U.S. law prohibits Medicare officials from interfering in the negotiations between drugmakers and the insurance companies that administer Medicare's prescription drug plans.
Source
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On February 08 2017 20:11 Gorsameth wrote:Show nested quote +On February 08 2017 20:01 Acrofales wrote:On February 08 2017 19:49 GreenHorizons wrote:I don't even know where things land on the Trumpian scale any more... Washington (CNN)The US military is looking to lease space in Trump Tower.
"In order to meet official mission requirements, the Department of Defense is working through appropriate channels and in accordance with all applicable legal requirements in order to acquire a limited amount of leased space in Trump Tower," Lt. Col. JB Brindle, a Defense Department spokesman, told CNN. "The space is necessary for the personnel and equipment who will support the POTUS at his residence in the building."
Military support for a president, including the military staff assigned to keeping the "nuclear football" nearby, requires close proximity to the commander in chief, which is why the Pentagon needs to rent a more expensive space closer to the penthouse where Trump resides when he's in New York. sourcePretty sure Trump (and more accurately his wife) living in Trump Tower is going to cost tax payers more than all the travel (which I'm sure Trump will do plenty of) that Obama did. Though I suspect Republicans don't raise the same stink about it. Let alone the idea that some of it could end up directly in his pocket as profit. I have to say, in terms of monetizing the presidency, Trump is doing an excellent job. Just so far he has: 1. Doubled the membership fee for Mar a Lago, due to the exclusivity of promises for hobnobbing with the POTUS 2. Melania intends to sell a whole host of "First Lady" accessories 3. Leasing space in his own buildings to the government. #MAGA In particular, this latest bit surprises me that the budgetary oversight committee (or whoever audits the president's expenses) will stand for this. The US taxpayer already pays for a home for the POTUS, it's called the White House. If the president is not satisfied, and wants to have a second home, I don't see any reason why he shouldn't be allowed to, but on his own costs. Why should the tax payer have to pony up the costs for a second home? And yes, I know it's not technically the costs for a second home, it's the costs of securing that second home. But to me that's essentially the same thing. The White House is great, because it comes with all the security baked in. I would be fine with (minor) costs to boost security at a home away from the White House but to charge rent on a building Trump still owns is just retarded.
i mean it's the smart thing to do. just an extension of not paying taxes. i'd end this with /s but it's also painfully true. all the old republicans bitch and moan about paying for welfare. but let's pay trump hand over fist pls.
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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump was confused about the dollar: Was it a strong one that’s good for the economy? Or a weak one?
So he made a call ― except not to any of the business leaders Trump brought into his administration or even to an old friend from his days in real estate. Instead, he called his national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, according to two sources familiar with Flynn’s accounts of the incident.
Flynn has a long record in counterintelligence but not in macroeconomics. And he told Trump he didn’t know, that it wasn’t his area of expertise, that, perhaps, Trump should ask an economist instead.
Trump was not thrilled with that response ― but that may have been a function of the time of day. Trump had placed the call at 3 a.m., according to one of Flynn’s retellings ― although neither the White House nor Flynn’s office responded to requests for confirmation about that detail.
For Americans who based their impression of Trump on the competent and decisive tycoon he portrayed on his “Apprentice” TV reality shows, the portrait from these and many other tidbits emerging from his administration may seem a shock: an impulsive, sometimes petty chief executive more concerned with the adulation of the nation than the details of his own policies ― and quick to assign blame when things do not go his way.
Unsurprisingly, Trump’s volatile behavior has created an environment ripe for leaks from his executive agencies and even within his White House. And while leaks typically involve staffers sabotaging each other to improve their own standing or trying to scuttle policy ideas they find genuinely problematic, Trump’s 2-week-old administration has a third category: leaks from White House and agency officials alarmed by the president’s conduct.
“I’ve been in this town for 26 years. I have never seen anything like this,” said Eliot Cohen, a senior State Department official under President George W. Bush and a member of his National Security Council. “I genuinely do not think this is a mentally healthy president.” this is a mentally healthy president.
There is the matter of Trump’s briefing materials, for example. The commander in chief doesn’t like to read long memos, a White House aide who asked to remain unnamed told The Huffington Post. So preferably they must be no more than a single page. They must have bullet points but not more than nine per page.
Small things can provide him great joy or generate intense irritation. Trump told The New York Times that he’s fascinated with the phone system inside the White House. At the same time, he’s registered a complaint about the hand towels aboard Air Force One, the White House aide said, because they are not soft enough.
He’s been particularly obsessed with the performance of his aides on cable television. Past presidents typically didn’t make time to watch their press secretary’s daily briefings with reporters, but Trump appears to have made it part of his routine. “Saturday Night Live’s” weekly skewering of his administration is similarly on his must-watch list ― with his reaction ranging from unamused to seething.
Information about Trump’s personal interactions and the inner workings of his administration has come to HuffPost from individuals in executive agencies and in the White House itself. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs.
Source
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On February 08 2017 22:25 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:Show nested quote +WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump was confused about the dollar: Was it a strong one that’s good for the economy? Or a weak one?
So he made a call ― except not to any of the business leaders Trump brought into his administration or even to an old friend from his days in real estate. Instead, he called his national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, according to two sources familiar with Flynn’s accounts of the incident.
Flynn has a long record in counterintelligence but not in macroeconomics. And he told Trump he didn’t know, that it wasn’t his area of expertise, that, perhaps, Trump should ask an economist instead.
Trump was not thrilled with that response ― but that may have been a function of the time of day. Trump had placed the call at 3 a.m., according to one of Flynn’s retellings ― although neither the White House nor Flynn’s office responded to requests for confirmation about that detail.
For Americans who based their impression of Trump on the competent and decisive tycoon he portrayed on his “Apprentice” TV reality shows, the portrait from these and many other tidbits emerging from his administration may seem a shock: an impulsive, sometimes petty chief executive more concerned with the adulation of the nation than the details of his own policies ― and quick to assign blame when things do not go his way.
Unsurprisingly, Trump’s volatile behavior has created an environment ripe for leaks from his executive agencies and even within his White House. And while leaks typically involve staffers sabotaging each other to improve their own standing or trying to scuttle policy ideas they find genuinely problematic, Trump’s 2-week-old administration has a third category: leaks from White House and agency officials alarmed by the president’s conduct.
“I’ve been in this town for 26 years. I have never seen anything like this,” said Eliot Cohen, a senior State Department official under President George W. Bush and a member of his National Security Council. “I genuinely do not think this is a mentally healthy president.” this is a mentally healthy president.
There is the matter of Trump’s briefing materials, for example. The commander in chief doesn’t like to read long memos, a White House aide who asked to remain unnamed told The Huffington Post. So preferably they must be no more than a single page. They must have bullet points but not more than nine per page.
Small things can provide him great joy or generate intense irritation. Trump told The New York Times that he’s fascinated with the phone system inside the White House. At the same time, he’s registered a complaint about the hand towels aboard Air Force One, the White House aide said, because they are not soft enough.
He’s been particularly obsessed with the performance of his aides on cable television. Past presidents typically didn’t make time to watch their press secretary’s daily briefings with reporters, but Trump appears to have made it part of his routine. “Saturday Night Live’s” weekly skewering of his administration is similarly on his must-watch list ― with his reaction ranging from unamused to seething.
Information about Trump’s personal interactions and the inner workings of his administration has come to HuffPost from individuals in executive agencies and in the White House itself. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs. Source
However much I think Trump is an incompetent shmuck, is this kind of gutter journalism beneficial to anybody? The Flynn story is still mildly journalistic in nature. The rest of this story is straight from the yellow pages. People are finally bored with the Kardashians, so we're moving on to badgering Trump instead?
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On February 08 2017 22:40 Acrofales wrote:Show nested quote +On February 08 2017 22:25 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump was confused about the dollar: Was it a strong one that’s good for the economy? Or a weak one?
So he made a call ― except not to any of the business leaders Trump brought into his administration or even to an old friend from his days in real estate. Instead, he called his national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, according to two sources familiar with Flynn’s accounts of the incident.
Flynn has a long record in counterintelligence but not in macroeconomics. And he told Trump he didn’t know, that it wasn’t his area of expertise, that, perhaps, Trump should ask an economist instead.
Trump was not thrilled with that response ― but that may have been a function of the time of day. Trump had placed the call at 3 a.m., according to one of Flynn’s retellings ― although neither the White House nor Flynn’s office responded to requests for confirmation about that detail.
For Americans who based their impression of Trump on the competent and decisive tycoon he portrayed on his “Apprentice” TV reality shows, the portrait from these and many other tidbits emerging from his administration may seem a shock: an impulsive, sometimes petty chief executive more concerned with the adulation of the nation than the details of his own policies ― and quick to assign blame when things do not go his way.
Unsurprisingly, Trump’s volatile behavior has created an environment ripe for leaks from his executive agencies and even within his White House. And while leaks typically involve staffers sabotaging each other to improve their own standing or trying to scuttle policy ideas they find genuinely problematic, Trump’s 2-week-old administration has a third category: leaks from White House and agency officials alarmed by the president’s conduct.
“I’ve been in this town for 26 years. I have never seen anything like this,” said Eliot Cohen, a senior State Department official under President George W. Bush and a member of his National Security Council. “I genuinely do not think this is a mentally healthy president.” this is a mentally healthy president.
There is the matter of Trump’s briefing materials, for example. The commander in chief doesn’t like to read long memos, a White House aide who asked to remain unnamed told The Huffington Post. So preferably they must be no more than a single page. They must have bullet points but not more than nine per page.
Small things can provide him great joy or generate intense irritation. Trump told The New York Times that he’s fascinated with the phone system inside the White House. At the same time, he’s registered a complaint about the hand towels aboard Air Force One, the White House aide said, because they are not soft enough.
He’s been particularly obsessed with the performance of his aides on cable television. Past presidents typically didn’t make time to watch their press secretary’s daily briefings with reporters, but Trump appears to have made it part of his routine. “Saturday Night Live’s” weekly skewering of his administration is similarly on his must-watch list ― with his reaction ranging from unamused to seething.
Information about Trump’s personal interactions and the inner workings of his administration has come to HuffPost from individuals in executive agencies and in the White House itself. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs. Source However much I think Trump is an incompetent shmuck, is this kind of gutter journalism beneficial to anybody? The Flynn story is still mildly journalistic in nature. The rest of this story is straight from the yellow pages. People are finally bored with the Kardashians, so we're moving on to badgering Trump instead?
Yeah this isn't the Kardashian's this is the most powerful man in the free world who doesn't know anything about economics, even though he is a supposedly brilliant businessman, and whose attention span can't be bothered to read more than one page/9 bullet points.
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On February 08 2017 16:33 Danglars wrote:+ Show Spoiler [long response and weird misquote] +On February 08 2017 15:50 ChristianS wrote:Show nested quote +On February 08 2017 15:17 Danglars wrote:On February 08 2017 14:29 Aquanim wrote:On February 08 2017 14:22 Danglars wrote:On February 08 2017 13:51 ZerOCoolSC2 wrote:
Danglars, I'll take that as a statement towards me and make a brief reply. I go to school where it's probably 60% Muslim. One of the people I'm really close to is Muslim. I would give my life for that guy. What I'm saying is that rhetoric is enough for some people. Have you watched how galvanized the populace is with the stuff Trump says? Why can't it go the other way and drive them to radicalize? Some people but not your friends? Have you asked them how likely they are to radicalize now that Trump's the president and dishing out immigration executive orders? I mean you're saying these things semi-seriously and expecting to be taken seriously. Or is all this islamophobic junk for the religion on the next planet over with coincidental naming? Farcical, absolutely farcical. And still mainstream Islamophobia that would give Trump a run for his money. Given that very few of the people in the United States who follow the religion of Islam are radicalised in any case, the argument you're making here is unsound. @Danglars: Do you think that legislation/executive orders/etc introduced by the United States which is intended to restrict the ability of Muslim people to do things is going to make any Muslims more sympathetic to the United States? Terrorism affects us all, baby. Like you said, they don't get radicalized at home (well, unless you're talking second generation immigrants). Botched role-out affecting green card holders, probably not, but feeling more safe from terror, oh yeah. "intended to restrict the ability of Muslim people to do things." Is this word salad executive orders or something? I feel like you're rehearsing the next Sean Spicer SNL skit. Show nested quote +On February 08 2017 11:18 ZerOCoolSC2 wrote:
Wouldn't the plaintiffs be able to use the fact that it actually is a Muslim ban and is only being worded differently in the media because of the backlash? The wording was done carefully for this very reason, it would be harder to overturn. Being that Obama only slowed down and didn't halt completely remains the key difference. If he had included Saudia Arabia or Pakistan or UAE it would be different I suppose. But it does nothing to try and sugarcoat it. It's a Muslim Ban and if it is granted, it will radicalize a lot of people. Never mind national distinctions, it's a Muslim Ban and if it is granted, it will radicalize a lot of people. Now just admire that in its contextual beauty. All the country restrictions are just a show, so let's skip on down to accusing the other side of disingenuously pretending it's about hotbeds of terrorism, and claim widespread radicalization to a lot of people. How stupid do you take people? I've heard double talk about Muslims vs terrorists out of "the Left" for years, and now you're supposed to Nevermind about having never felt like you're arguing disingenuously. You've been around for this debate enough times to know the party lines - conservatives argue for targeting Muslims with extra scrutiny to fight Islamic terrorism, liberals say that targeting Muslims reinforces the "US vs. Islam" narrative that spurs radicalization in the first place. For someone to make the latter argument and you to respond with apparent shock and horror ("its insulting and any thinking person should be insulted")... well let's just say I know you're not that dense. Hey, if you know exactly how I should or ought to argue "you know the party lines ... so regurgitate them on command", why don't you just do it in my absence then? I'll give you another try, and let's backtrack. On February 08 2017 11:18 ZerOCoolSC2 wrote:
Wouldn't the plaintiffs be able to use the fact that it actually is a Muslim ban and is only being worded differently in the media because of the backlash? The wording was done carefully for this very reason, it would be harder to overturn. Being that Obama only slowed down and didn't halt completely remains the key difference. If he had included Saudia Arabia or Pakistan or UAE it would be different I suppose. But it does nothing to try and sugarcoat it. It's a Muslim Ban and if it is granted, it will radicalize a lot of people. So, the country ban was all a front. Sinister. Let's take a hop skip and a jump to arrive at: Since it's a sham, then it's a badly hidden sham at that. And Muslims would immediately recognize that and a "lot of people" would be radicalized. How stupid do you take people for? It is and should be shocking. I've seen the two-step that goes Muslims and terrorism just happen to get mixed up, there's no connection and then wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am everybody's one Trump gesticulation from the ISIS recruiting station. It's insulting, you can listen to cLutZ also reminding people this has been and is the rhetoric. So pardon me but how do you not get whiplash going from this policy is Islamophobic to this the religion of peace is now cranky in a homicidal way. And if this is all tame to you, maybe you'll join in and say national origins is a "sugarcoat," and it will definitely "radicalize a lot of people." I mean, maybe this is a little more passe to your ears because you've been around it a wee bit more, but I have absolutely no idea.
I see no contradiction between saying that Islam isn't even the primary reason people commit terrorist acts, and thinking that if people perceive the US as at war with their religion, they're more likely to buy the "it's us or them" argument. Terrorists usually believe thst some central part of their identity is under attack and on the verge of being annihilated. They manage to see their action as self-defense, which is how they're able to override the instinct of self-preservation.
So no, it's not a uniquely Muslim problem, like it is if you believe it's as simple as Islam --> Jihad --> terrorism. White people are usually terrorists on racial grounds - the white race is under attack - but other common grounds also apply, such as defense of their religious beliefs (e.g. Christians killing abortion doctors) or defense of their national sovereignty (e.g. the IRA).
That said, the Middle East has a disproportionate number of people that reach that point, partly because a huge number of people their see their national sovereignty threatened by Israel, or see the West as a direct threat to their religion. Terrorist organizations try to sell people on the idea that to be a good Muslim they must go to war with the West because we're trying to wipe out their religion and way of life. If we start implementing anti-Muslim policies and say it's part of our War on Terror, then yeah, it's gonna make it a lot easier to argue its really a War on Islam we're fighting. That makes people believe a core part of their identity is under attack by Americans who want to annihilate it.
Oh, but sorry, I guess I'm not a "thinking person" or some bullshit because I think the EO might make the terrorism problem worse, not better.
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On February 08 2017 22:48 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
even though he is a supposedly brilliant businessman,
6 bankruptcies mind you! supposedly is there for a reason
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On February 08 2017 22:48 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:Show nested quote +On February 08 2017 22:40 Acrofales wrote:On February 08 2017 22:25 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump was confused about the dollar: Was it a strong one that’s good for the economy? Or a weak one?
So he made a call ― except not to any of the business leaders Trump brought into his administration or even to an old friend from his days in real estate. Instead, he called his national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, according to two sources familiar with Flynn’s accounts of the incident.
Flynn has a long record in counterintelligence but not in macroeconomics. And he told Trump he didn’t know, that it wasn’t his area of expertise, that, perhaps, Trump should ask an economist instead.
Trump was not thrilled with that response ― but that may have been a function of the time of day. Trump had placed the call at 3 a.m., according to one of Flynn’s retellings ― although neither the White House nor Flynn’s office responded to requests for confirmation about that detail.
For Americans who based their impression of Trump on the competent and decisive tycoon he portrayed on his “Apprentice” TV reality shows, the portrait from these and many other tidbits emerging from his administration may seem a shock: an impulsive, sometimes petty chief executive more concerned with the adulation of the nation than the details of his own policies ― and quick to assign blame when things do not go his way.
Unsurprisingly, Trump’s volatile behavior has created an environment ripe for leaks from his executive agencies and even within his White House. And while leaks typically involve staffers sabotaging each other to improve their own standing or trying to scuttle policy ideas they find genuinely problematic, Trump’s 2-week-old administration has a third category: leaks from White House and agency officials alarmed by the president’s conduct.
“I’ve been in this town for 26 years. I have never seen anything like this,” said Eliot Cohen, a senior State Department official under President George W. Bush and a member of his National Security Council. “I genuinely do not think this is a mentally healthy president.” this is a mentally healthy president.
There is the matter of Trump’s briefing materials, for example. The commander in chief doesn’t like to read long memos, a White House aide who asked to remain unnamed told The Huffington Post. So preferably they must be no more than a single page. They must have bullet points but not more than nine per page.
Small things can provide him great joy or generate intense irritation. Trump told The New York Times that he’s fascinated with the phone system inside the White House. At the same time, he’s registered a complaint about the hand towels aboard Air Force One, the White House aide said, because they are not soft enough.
He’s been particularly obsessed with the performance of his aides on cable television. Past presidents typically didn’t make time to watch their press secretary’s daily briefings with reporters, but Trump appears to have made it part of his routine. “Saturday Night Live’s” weekly skewering of his administration is similarly on his must-watch list ― with his reaction ranging from unamused to seething.
Information about Trump’s personal interactions and the inner workings of his administration has come to HuffPost from individuals in executive agencies and in the White House itself. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs. Source However much I think Trump is an incompetent shmuck, is this kind of gutter journalism beneficial to anybody? The Flynn story is still mildly journalistic in nature. The rest of this story is straight from the yellow pages. People are finally bored with the Kardashians, so we're moving on to badgering Trump instead? Yeah this isn't the Kardashian's this is the most powerful man in the free world who doesn't know anything about economics, even though he is a supposedly brilliant businessman, and whose attention span can't be bothered to read more than one page/9 bullet points.
Those must be what he's reading from in those meetings they kept showing. It looks like he just took one into the meeting and read it aloud with his typical lines mixed in. I think many on the right have a hard time reconciling the idea that Trump might not be a billionaire president because of his intellect, but despite it. It doesn't fit well in the meritocratic image of America many on both sides have painted.
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On February 08 2017 22:48 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:Show nested quote +On February 08 2017 22:40 Acrofales wrote:On February 08 2017 22:25 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump was confused about the dollar: Was it a strong one that’s good for the economy? Or a weak one?
So he made a call ― except not to any of the business leaders Trump brought into his administration or even to an old friend from his days in real estate. Instead, he called his national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, according to two sources familiar with Flynn’s accounts of the incident.
Flynn has a long record in counterintelligence but not in macroeconomics. And he told Trump he didn’t know, that it wasn’t his area of expertise, that, perhaps, Trump should ask an economist instead.
Trump was not thrilled with that response ― but that may have been a function of the time of day. Trump had placed the call at 3 a.m., according to one of Flynn’s retellings ― although neither the White House nor Flynn’s office responded to requests for confirmation about that detail.
For Americans who based their impression of Trump on the competent and decisive tycoon he portrayed on his “Apprentice” TV reality shows, the portrait from these and many other tidbits emerging from his administration may seem a shock: an impulsive, sometimes petty chief executive more concerned with the adulation of the nation than the details of his own policies ― and quick to assign blame when things do not go his way.
Unsurprisingly, Trump’s volatile behavior has created an environment ripe for leaks from his executive agencies and even within his White House. And while leaks typically involve staffers sabotaging each other to improve their own standing or trying to scuttle policy ideas they find genuinely problematic, Trump’s 2-week-old administration has a third category: leaks from White House and agency officials alarmed by the president’s conduct.
“I’ve been in this town for 26 years. I have never seen anything like this,” said Eliot Cohen, a senior State Department official under President George W. Bush and a member of his National Security Council. “I genuinely do not think this is a mentally healthy president.” this is a mentally healthy president.
There is the matter of Trump’s briefing materials, for example. The commander in chief doesn’t like to read long memos, a White House aide who asked to remain unnamed told The Huffington Post. So preferably they must be no more than a single page. They must have bullet points but not more than nine per page.
Small things can provide him great joy or generate intense irritation. Trump told The New York Times that he’s fascinated with the phone system inside the White House. At the same time, he’s registered a complaint about the hand towels aboard Air Force One, the White House aide said, because they are not soft enough.
He’s been particularly obsessed with the performance of his aides on cable television. Past presidents typically didn’t make time to watch their press secretary’s daily briefings with reporters, but Trump appears to have made it part of his routine. “Saturday Night Live’s” weekly skewering of his administration is similarly on his must-watch list ― with his reaction ranging from unamused to seething.
Information about Trump’s personal interactions and the inner workings of his administration has come to HuffPost from individuals in executive agencies and in the White House itself. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs. Source However much I think Trump is an incompetent shmuck, is this kind of gutter journalism beneficial to anybody? The Flynn story is still mildly journalistic in nature. The rest of this story is straight from the yellow pages. People are finally bored with the Kardashians, so we're moving on to badgering Trump instead? Yeah this isn't the Kardashian's this is the most powerful man in the free world who doesn't know anything about economics, even though he is a supposedly brilliant businessman, and whose attention span can't be bothered to read more than one page/9 bullet points.
So write about his disastrously awful policy decisions, and how utterly incompetent his cabinet picks are. But this is gossip. It's not even properly substantiated.
And yes, as I said, his alleged phone call to Flynn to ask him about a (complex) economics question, is a valid journalistic concern, because it addresses one of his supposed strengths on which he was elected (although clearly business accumen and a grasp of macroeconomics are not actually at all related). But people gossiping about how Trump spends his evenings (watching TV) or prefers to get his memos seems ridiculous.
I guess my point is that if you don't want a reality TV star to be your president, maybe stop treating the presidency like a reality TV show?
Although I do still hope he has to go out on national TV and prove he can read, because that would be hilarious.
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Cayman Islands24199 Posts
trump has a predilection for scam tier predatory businesses. his building on wall street is famous for renting to scammers just so they can get a legit seeming address.
the devos pick, immediate assault on fiduciary duty rule for pensioners only furthers a long trend. get ready for some heady days in the world of multi-level marketing and such scams.
i suppose it is a good thing that the likely victims are trump supporters, lul
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On February 08 2017 23:04 Acrofales wrote:Show nested quote +On February 08 2017 22:48 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:On February 08 2017 22:40 Acrofales wrote:On February 08 2017 22:25 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump was confused about the dollar: Was it a strong one that’s good for the economy? Or a weak one?
So he made a call ― except not to any of the business leaders Trump brought into his administration or even to an old friend from his days in real estate. Instead, he called his national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, according to two sources familiar with Flynn’s accounts of the incident.
Flynn has a long record in counterintelligence but not in macroeconomics. And he told Trump he didn’t know, that it wasn’t his area of expertise, that, perhaps, Trump should ask an economist instead.
Trump was not thrilled with that response ― but that may have been a function of the time of day. Trump had placed the call at 3 a.m., according to one of Flynn’s retellings ― although neither the White House nor Flynn’s office responded to requests for confirmation about that detail.
For Americans who based their impression of Trump on the competent and decisive tycoon he portrayed on his “Apprentice” TV reality shows, the portrait from these and many other tidbits emerging from his administration may seem a shock: an impulsive, sometimes petty chief executive more concerned with the adulation of the nation than the details of his own policies ― and quick to assign blame when things do not go his way.
Unsurprisingly, Trump’s volatile behavior has created an environment ripe for leaks from his executive agencies and even within his White House. And while leaks typically involve staffers sabotaging each other to improve their own standing or trying to scuttle policy ideas they find genuinely problematic, Trump’s 2-week-old administration has a third category: leaks from White House and agency officials alarmed by the president’s conduct.
“I’ve been in this town for 26 years. I have never seen anything like this,” said Eliot Cohen, a senior State Department official under President George W. Bush and a member of his National Security Council. “I genuinely do not think this is a mentally healthy president.” this is a mentally healthy president.
There is the matter of Trump’s briefing materials, for example. The commander in chief doesn’t like to read long memos, a White House aide who asked to remain unnamed told The Huffington Post. So preferably they must be no more than a single page. They must have bullet points but not more than nine per page.
Small things can provide him great joy or generate intense irritation. Trump told The New York Times that he’s fascinated with the phone system inside the White House. At the same time, he’s registered a complaint about the hand towels aboard Air Force One, the White House aide said, because they are not soft enough.
He’s been particularly obsessed with the performance of his aides on cable television. Past presidents typically didn’t make time to watch their press secretary’s daily briefings with reporters, but Trump appears to have made it part of his routine. “Saturday Night Live’s” weekly skewering of his administration is similarly on his must-watch list ― with his reaction ranging from unamused to seething.
Information about Trump’s personal interactions and the inner workings of his administration has come to HuffPost from individuals in executive agencies and in the White House itself. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs. Source However much I think Trump is an incompetent shmuck, is this kind of gutter journalism beneficial to anybody? The Flynn story is still mildly journalistic in nature. The rest of this story is straight from the yellow pages. People are finally bored with the Kardashians, so we're moving on to badgering Trump instead? Yeah this isn't the Kardashian's this is the most powerful man in the free world who doesn't know anything about economics, even though he is a supposedly brilliant businessman, and whose attention span can't be bothered to read more than one page/9 bullet points. So write about his disastrously awful policy decisions, and how utterly incompetent his cabinet picks are. But this is gossip. It's not even properly substantiated. And yes, as I said, his alleged phone call to Flynn to ask him about a (complex) economics question, is a valid journalistic concern, because it addresses one of his supposed strengths on which he was elected (although clearly business accumen and a grasp of macroeconomics are not actually at all related). But people gossiping about how Trump spends his evenings (watching TV) or prefers to get his memos seems ridiculous. I guess my point is that if you don't want a reality TV star to be your president, maybe stop treating the presidency like a reality TV show? Although I do still hope he has to go out on national TV and prove he can read, because that would be hilarious.
forgive me for reading into this but you missed the parts about having an oddly leaky ship. do you not think this is worth publishing? are statements from officials not 'properly substantiated?'
i guess i have to continue to disagree with you though. reporting that your president reportedly doesn't care to inform himself before making decisions is gravely troubling. i fully concede this is rumor for now. but it's something, at least to me, so disturbing it bears publishing, if for no other reason to have someone squash the rumor with some substance.
i do fully agree, not that my agreement should mean anything but i like to share, criticizing a man for watching tv in his free time is fucking stupid.
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On February 08 2017 23:04 Acrofales wrote:Show nested quote +On February 08 2017 22:48 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:On February 08 2017 22:40 Acrofales wrote:On February 08 2017 22:25 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump was confused about the dollar: Was it a strong one that’s good for the economy? Or a weak one?
So he made a call ― except not to any of the business leaders Trump brought into his administration or even to an old friend from his days in real estate. Instead, he called his national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, according to two sources familiar with Flynn’s accounts of the incident.
Flynn has a long record in counterintelligence but not in macroeconomics. And he told Trump he didn’t know, that it wasn’t his area of expertise, that, perhaps, Trump should ask an economist instead.
Trump was not thrilled with that response ― but that may have been a function of the time of day. Trump had placed the call at 3 a.m., according to one of Flynn’s retellings ― although neither the White House nor Flynn’s office responded to requests for confirmation about that detail.
For Americans who based their impression of Trump on the competent and decisive tycoon he portrayed on his “Apprentice” TV reality shows, the portrait from these and many other tidbits emerging from his administration may seem a shock: an impulsive, sometimes petty chief executive more concerned with the adulation of the nation than the details of his own policies ― and quick to assign blame when things do not go his way.
Unsurprisingly, Trump’s volatile behavior has created an environment ripe for leaks from his executive agencies and even within his White House. And while leaks typically involve staffers sabotaging each other to improve their own standing or trying to scuttle policy ideas they find genuinely problematic, Trump’s 2-week-old administration has a third category: leaks from White House and agency officials alarmed by the president’s conduct.
“I’ve been in this town for 26 years. I have never seen anything like this,” said Eliot Cohen, a senior State Department official under President George W. Bush and a member of his National Security Council. “I genuinely do not think this is a mentally healthy president.” this is a mentally healthy president.
There is the matter of Trump’s briefing materials, for example. The commander in chief doesn’t like to read long memos, a White House aide who asked to remain unnamed told The Huffington Post. So preferably they must be no more than a single page. They must have bullet points but not more than nine per page.
Small things can provide him great joy or generate intense irritation. Trump told The New York Times that he’s fascinated with the phone system inside the White House. At the same time, he’s registered a complaint about the hand towels aboard Air Force One, the White House aide said, because they are not soft enough.
He’s been particularly obsessed with the performance of his aides on cable television. Past presidents typically didn’t make time to watch their press secretary’s daily briefings with reporters, but Trump appears to have made it part of his routine. “Saturday Night Live’s” weekly skewering of his administration is similarly on his must-watch list ― with his reaction ranging from unamused to seething.
Information about Trump’s personal interactions and the inner workings of his administration has come to HuffPost from individuals in executive agencies and in the White House itself. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs. Source However much I think Trump is an incompetent shmuck, is this kind of gutter journalism beneficial to anybody? The Flynn story is still mildly journalistic in nature. The rest of this story is straight from the yellow pages. People are finally bored with the Kardashians, so we're moving on to badgering Trump instead? Yeah this isn't the Kardashian's this is the most powerful man in the free world who doesn't know anything about economics, even though he is a supposedly brilliant businessman, and whose attention span can't be bothered to read more than one page/9 bullet points. So write about his disastrously awful policy decisions, and how utterly incompetent his cabinet picks are. But this is gossip. It's not even properly substantiated. And yes, as I said, his alleged phone call to Flynn to ask him about a (complex) economics question, is a valid journalistic concern, because it addresses one of his supposed strengths on which he was elected (although clearly business accumen and a grasp of macroeconomics are not actually at all related). But people gossiping about how Trump spends his evenings (watching TV) or prefers to get his memos seems ridiculous. I guess my point is that if you don't want a reality TV star to be your president, maybe stop treating the presidency like a reality TV show? Although I do still hope he has to go out on national TV and prove he can read, because that would be hilarious.
I don't think the story is about Trump not knowing the macroeconomics of the effects of a weak vs strong dollar. The answer isn't really clear-cut - strong dollar is worse for US exporters, better for US consumers and tourists, worse for anyone outside the US holding dollar-denominated debt (latin american countries?). What's better for the economy? Not sure. Who cares about the economics though, wouldn't a strong dollar give Trump macho-man image points that appeal to his 'murica base, because... strong?
Being a businessman does not imply that one is good with economics, unless you run a financial services or banking business. What you do find is a lot of businessmen who find economists to be twits who have no understanding of the real world. Might explain why Trump thinks he doesn't need a Council of Economics Advisors.
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Cayman Islands24199 Posts
it's just hilarious incompetence that's all. but yes, not an outlier in the context of his history on this stuff
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On February 08 2017 20:12 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:Show nested quote +Drug companies could be forgiven if they're confused about whether President Donald Trump thinks the government should get involved in negotiating the price of prescription drugs for Medicare patients.
Just a few days before Trump was sworn in he said the pharmaceutical industry was "getting away with murder" in the way it prices medicine, and he promised to take the industry on. It was a promise he'd made repeatedly on the campaign trail.
"We're the largest buyer of drugs in the world and yet we don't bid properly," he said in a news conference in early January. "We're going to start bidding and we're going to save billions of dollars over a period of time."
But last week, Trump appeared to walk that vow back when he met with the leaders of several giant pharmaceutical companies at the White House.
"I'll oppose anything that makes it harder for smaller, younger companies to take the risk of bringing a product to a vibrantly competitive market," he said, sitting around a table in the Roosevelt Room, flanked by leaders of five large drugmakers. "That includes price fixing by the biggest dog in the market – Medicare — which is what's happening."
So on Tuesday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer cleared up the confusion, for now at least.
When asked during his daily news briefing whether the president is in favor of having Medicare negotiate lower prices for prescription medicine, Spicer said, "He's for it, yes. Absolutely."
Spicer went on to say that the U.S. should be doing what other countries do — bring the government's purchasing power to bear to get a better deal on medicine prices.
"So his commitment is to make sure that he does what he can," Spicer said, "and, I think rather successfully, use his skills as a businessman to drive them down."
Current U.S. law prohibits Medicare officials from interfering in the negotiations between drugmakers and the insurance companies that administer Medicare's prescription drug plans. Source
I wonder if Sean Spicer can also tell us what the hell Trump thinks Medicare price-fixing means, then, because it's definitely only happening when Medicare says they'll pay specific prices for procedures with insurers or Part B meds.
Then again, like a lot of people in the administration, the man makes up terrorist attacks, so it's hard to believe him here.
Then again (again), with every single pollster I'm aware of showing trends of sliding approval with no bumps up (even Rasmussen) the flailing about to find out what people wanted to hear isn't terribly surprising.
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Joe Scarborough had an interesting break with round table discussions on Sessions being a bigot:
“My dear friend from Alabama, my buddy from Alabama. Oh, Jeff Sessions, my good friend,” Scarborough mimicked senators who spoke against Sessions during his confirmation hearings. “And then suddenly he’s appointed attorney general and he’s a bigot? How could he ever be attorney general, he’s a bigot. Despite the fact they’ve worked with him for all these years, and they’ve eaten with him every day, and they’ve co-sponsored legislation with him every day.” (Relevant video at link)
They'd better wrap up the vitriol and wait for substance, or more Americans will realize it isn't the person they're talking about, only the capital (R) in front of their name.
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President Trump on Wednesday went after a panel of federal judges weighing whether a court order blocking his travel ban should be lifted.
...
"I don't want to call a court biased, so I won't call it biased," the president said at a gathering of the Major Cities Chiefs Association in Washington. "Courts seem to be so political and it would be so great for our justice system if they could read a statement and do what's right."
...
"They were talking about things that just had nothing to do this," he said of the judges.
"But I have to be honest that if these judges wanted to, in my opinion, help the court in terms of respect for the court, they do what they should be doing," he added. "It's so sad."
The Hill
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Well, Trump certainly has the predilection for being a dictator, if not the opportunity and capability. And let's hope it stays that way.
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"But I have to be honest that if these judges wanted to, in my opinion, help the court in terms of respect for the court, they do what they should be doing," he added. "It's so sad."
Can someone Trumpsplain to me what this means?
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EPT
