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Policy and Politics - what do you think?
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Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Policy and Politics - what do you think?
F.B.I. Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working on Behalf of Russia By Adam Goldman, Michael S. Schmidt and Nicholas Fandos Jan. 11, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/us/politics/fbi-trump-russia-inquiry.html?emc=edit_th_190112&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=875445760112 Agents and senior F.B.I. officials had grown suspicious of Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia during the 2016 campaign but held off on opening an investigation into him in part because they were uncertain how to proceed with an inquiry of such sensitivity and magnitude. But the president’s activities before and after Mr. Comey’s firing in May 2017, particularly two instances in which Mr. Trump tied the Comey dismissal to the Russia investigation, helped prompt the counterintelligence aspect of the inquiry. Here are 18 reasons Trump could be a Russian asset Max Boot Columnist January 13, 2019 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/here-are-18-reasons-why-trump-could-be-a-russian-asset/2019/01/13/45b1b250-174f-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html?utm_term=.eeb1aaa20bc6 — Trump has a long financial history with Russia. "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets," said Donald Jr. in 2008. "We don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia," boasted Eric Trump in 2014. — The Russians interfered in the 2016 U.S. election to help elect Trump president. — Trump encouraged the Russians to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails on July 27, 2016 — There were, according to the Moscow Project, “101 contacts between Trump’s team and Russia linked operatives,” and “the Trump team tried to cover up every single one of them.” — The Trump campaign was full of individuals with suspiciously close links to Moscow, such as Carter Page, George Papadopoulos, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates and Michael Flynn. — Manafort, who ran the Trump campaign for free and was heavily in debt to a Russian oligarch, now admits to offering his Russian business partner with links to Russian intelligence, polling data that could have been used to target the Russian social media campaign on behalf of Trump. — Trump associate Roger Stone, who was in contact with Russian conduit WikiLeaks, reportedly knew in advance that the Russians had hacked Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s emails. — Once in office, Trump fired Comey to stop the investigation of the “Russia thing” — and then bragged about having done so to the Russian ambassador and foreign minister while also sharing with them top-secret information. — Trump has refused to consistently acknowledge that Russia interfered in the U.S. election or mobilize a government-wide effort to stop future interference. — Trump attacks and undermines the Justice Department and the FBI (“a cancer in our country”) — two institutions that stand on the front lines of combating Russian espionage. —Trump attacks and undermines the European Union and NATO — he has suggested that France should leave the E.U. and that the United States should leave NATO — Trump supports populist, pro-Russian leaders in Europe, such as Viktor Orban in Hungary and Marine Le Pen in France, just as the Russians do. — Trump has praised Putin (“a strong leader”) while trashing leaders of allied nations. — Trump was utterly supine in his meetings with Putin, principally in Hamburg and Helsinki. Even more suspicious, according to a Post article on Saturday, Trump “has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal details of his conversations with . . . Putin. — Trump defends the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and repeats other pro-Russian talking points. — Trump is pulling U.S. troops out of Syria, handing that country to Russia and its ally Iran. — Trump has effectively done nothing in response to the Russian attack on Ukrainian ships in international waters, thereby encouraging greater Russian aggression. — Trump is sowing chaos in the government, most recently with a record-breaking partial government shutdown. The Threat in the White House By Susan E. Rice, former national security adviser https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/23/opinion/trump-mattis-syria-afghanistan.html Nothing illustrates this dangerous dysfunction more starkly than President Trump’s reckless, unilateral decisions to announce the sudden withdrawal of all 2,000 United States troops from Syria and to remove 7,000 from Afghanistan. These decisions went against the advice of the president’s top advisers, blindsided our allies and Congress, and delivered early Christmas presents to our adversaries from Russia and Iran to Hezbollah and the Taliban. Cutting and running from Syria benefits only militants, Turkey, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, Russia and Iran. We are abandoning our Kurdish partners, leaving them vulnerable to Turkey’s offensive, after they did the hard work of undermining the Islamic State. Mr. Trump himself has dealt the death blow to effective policymaking. The president couldn’t care less about facts, intelligence, military analysis or the national interest. He refuses to take seriously the views of his advisers, announces decisions on impulse and disregards the consequences of his actions. In abandoning the role of a responsible commander in chief, Mr. Trump today does more to undermine American national security than any foreign adversary. Yet no Republican in Congress is willing to do more than bleat or tweet concerns. Mattis' departure will leave the administration all but devoid of wise, principled leadership and the guts to check a president who consistently places politics and self-interest above national security. Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Policy and Politics - what do you think?
When Trump Voters Say They “Suffered For 8 Years Under Obama,” Here’s The Perfect Response By Natalie Dickinson, February 22, 2017 http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/02/22/trump-voters-say-suffered-8-years-obama-heres-perfect-response/ During the Presidential Campaign back in 2008, the campaign was halted because of the “historic crisis in our financial system.” Wall Street bailout negotiations intervened in the election process. The very sobering reality was that there likely could be a Depression and the world financial markets could collapse. The United States was losing 800,000 jobs a month and was poised to lose at least 10 million jobs the first year once the new President took office. We were in an economic freefall. So let us recall that ALL of America was suffering terribly at the beginning of Obama’s Presidency. But I wanted to look back over the last 8 years and ask you a few questions. Since much of the rhetoric before Obama was elected was that he would impose Sharia Law, Take Away Your Guns, Create Death Panels, Destroy the Economy, Impose Socialism and, since you will agree that NONE of this came to pass, I was wondering: Why have you suffered so? So let me ask: When Obama took office, the Dow was 6,626. Now it is 19,875. Has this caused your suffering? We had 82 straight months of private sector job growth – the longest streak in the history of the United States. Has this caused your suffering? Especially considering where the economy was when he took over, an amazing 11.3 million new jobs were created under President Obama (far more than President Bush). Has this caused your suffering? Obama has taken Unemployment from 10% down to 4.7%. Has this caused your suffering? Homelessness among US Veterans has dropped by half. Has this caused your suffering? Obama shut down the US secret overseas prisons. Has this caused your suffering? President Obama has created a policy for the families of fallen soldiers to have their travel paid for to be there when remains are flown home. Has this caused your suffering? We landed a rover on Mars. Has this caused your suffering? He passed the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Has this caused your suffering? Gays and Lesbians can now marry and enjoy the benefits they had been deprived of. Has this caused your suffering? Uninsured adults has decreased to below 10%: 90% of adults are insured – an increase of 20 Million Adults. Has this caused your suffering? People are now covered for pre-existing conditions. Has this caused your suffering? Insurance Premiums increased an average of $4,677 from 2002-2008, an increase of 58% under Bush. The growth of these insurance premiums has gone up $4,145 – a slower rate of increase. Has this caused your suffering? Obama added Billions of dollars to mental health care for our Veterans. Has this caused your suffering? Consumer confidence has gone from 37.7 to 98.1 during Obama’s tenure. Has this caused your suffering? He passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Has this caused your suffering? His bi-annual Nuclear Summit convinced 16 countries to give up and destroy all their loose nuclear material so it could not be stolen. Has this caused your suffering? He saved the US Auto industry. American cars sold at the beginning of his term were 10.4M and upon his exit 17.5M. Has this caused your suffering? The deficit as a percentage of the GDP has gone from 9.8% to 3.2%. Has this caused your suffering? The deficit itself was cut by $800 Billion Dollars. Has this caused your suffering? Obama preserved the middle class tax cuts. Has this caused your suffering? Obama banned solitary confinement for juveniles in federal prisons. Has this caused your suffering? He signed Credit Card reform so that rates could not be raised without you being notified. Has this caused your suffering? He outlawed Government contractors from discriminating against LGBT persons. Has this caused your suffering? He doubled Pell Grants. Has this caused your suffering? Abortion is down. Has this caused your suffering? Violent crime is down. Has this caused your suffering? He overturned the scientific ban on stem cell research. Has this caused your suffering? He protected Net Neutrality. Has this caused your suffering? Obamacare has extended the life of the Medicare insurance trust fund (will be solvent until 2030). Has this caused your suffering? President Obama repealed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Has this caused your suffering? He banned torture. Has this caused your suffering? He negotiated with Syria to give up its chemical weapons and they were destroyed. Has this caused your suffering? Solar and Wind Power are at an all time high. Has this caused your suffering? High School Graduation rates hit 83% – an all time high. Has this caused your suffering? Corporate profits are up by 144%. Has this caused your suffering? He normalized relations with Cuba. Has this caused your suffering? Reliance on foreign oil is at a 40 year low. Has this caused your suffering? US Exports are up 28%. Has this caused your suffering? He appointed the most diverse cabinet ever. Has this caused your suffering? He reduced the number of troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Has this caused your suffering? Yes, he killed Osama Bin Laden and retrieved all the documents in his possession for analysis. Perhaps THIS caused your suffering? From an objective standpoint it would appear that the last eight years have seen some great progress and we were saved from a financial collapse. Things are not perfect. Things can always be better. We are on much better footing now than we were in 2008. From FaceBook, by Ben Mallicote To those of you who voted for the Bellicose Bully: You voted for T rump because Clinton was going to be in Wall Street's pocket. T rump wants to repeal Dodd-Frank and eliminate the Fiduciary Rule, letting Wall Street return to its pre-2008 ways. You voted for T rump because of Clinton's emails. The T rump administration is running its own private email server. You voted for T rump because you thought the Clinton Foundation was "pay for play." T rump has refused to wall off his businesses from his administration, and personally profits from payments from foreign governments. You voted for T rump because of Clinton's role in Benghazi. T rump ordered the Yemen raid without adequate intel, and tweeted about "FAKE NEWS" while Americans died as a result of his carelessness. You voted for T rump because Clinton didn't care about "the little guy." T rump's cabinet is full of billionaires, and he took away your health insurance so he could give them a multi-million-dollar tax break. You voted for T rump because he was going to build a wall and Mexico was going to pay for it. American consumers will pay for the wall via import tariffs. You voted for T rump because Clinton was going to get us into a war. T rump has provoked our enemies, alienated our allies, and given ISIS a decade's worth of recruiting material. You voted for T rump because Clinton didn't have the stamina to do the job. T rump hung up on the Australian Prime Minister during a 5pm phone call because "it was at the end of a long day and he was tired and fatigue was setting in." You voted for T rump because foreign leaders wouldn't "respect" Clinton. Foreign leaders, both friendly and hostile, are openly mocking T rump. You voted for T rump because Clinton lies and "he tells it like it is." T rump and his administration lie with a regularity and brazenness, even in the face of graphic evidence, that can only be described as shocking, or pathological. Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Use the Electoral College safety switch as it was intended ... Twice in the last five presidential elections, the candidate with fewer popular votes has been designated because he had more Electoral votes. Twice in 16 years, the Republican candidate usurped the Will of the Majority who voted for the Democratic candidate. The Bush mis-election led us to being attacked on 9/11 due to lack of response from credible warnings. It led us into the Iraq quagmire which has become a big boost to extremist terrorism. And the Bush administration's policies of letting financial institutions regulate themselves as they saw fit caused the worst recession since the great depression. On December 19, the Electoral College will vote to elect the most unprepared, corrupt, untruthful, intemperate candidate in our entire history, a candidate who appears to be a misogynistic, racist, mentally unstable narcissist. The very idea of a Trump presidency makes George W. Bush look good by comparison. Hillary Clinton wins the popular vote but loses the election, for the second time
Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Policy and Politics - what do you think?
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AuthorWith over seven decades of experience - feeling the hopes and disappointments of policies, seeing the idealism and disgust of politics - some of the things Bruce Joffe has learned in life may be wisdom, others may be delusion. ... You decide. Categories - select the topics that interest you
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