US Politics Thread 2016-2020

[Catfish]

Unfortunately this.. something has the power to start wars. Unbelievable.

I think the US needs a caliber president like Theodore Roosevelt right now.
This stroke-stricken Trump, along with his entire family, is finally expropriated ...
But well - the Trump's are actually only debt ... big debts.

[August]

Originally Posted by Bleiente

I think the US needs a caliber president like Theodore Roosevelt right now.
This stroke-stricken Trump, along with his entire family, is finally expropriated ...
But well - the Trump's are actually only debt ... big debts.

What?

[vienna]

He may be referring to the huge (or "Yuuuuge!!") debts Trump has accrued; he can no longer get loans from any of the major US banks due to four bankruptcies and his history of underpaying or just not paying back debts; as a result, he had to go overseas to find financing and just about the only major bank that is willing to do business with Trump is Deutsche Bank, but even that arrangement is troublesome for Trump; DB has been riddled with charges of money laundering, insider trading and all other manner of financial ill-doing and illegal doings; DB has been fined numerous times, often for very large amounts and is still the subject of several ongoing probes in various countries; months before Trump was elected, there were several news reports in financial and non-financial press outlets about Trump's DB loans rumored to have been either underwritten or vouched for by at least one Russian oligarch connected to Putin; the Russian/DB/Trump connection has also become a part of Mueller investigations...

Again, please note: the reports of Trump's problems and, particularly, possible Russian connections were reported shortly after he announced his candidacy and as a result of increased scrutiny his announcement precipitated...

Way back when I started working in accounting, I learned of a phrase used to describe certain bank clients who were often deemed risks; the phases is "Paper Rich, Pocket Poor"; it was used to describe clients who had the appearance of wealth and prosperity, but, due to very high debt, and if their debts were to be suddenly called in, would be actually hard put to raise actual cash; There are many who believe Trump's claimed wealth, already shown to be less than claimed by himself, may be even more substantially smaller...









<O>

[Bilge_Rat]

so, more and more evidence that Comey is lying when he said he never told Congress that Flynn was unlikely to be charged. Is anyone surprised?

Earlier this month, the House Intelligence Committee revealed that then-FBI director James Comey told lawmakers in March 2017 that bureau agents who questioned then-national security adviser Michael Flynn saw no signs that Flynn was lying.

Now, the Senate Judiciary Committee has revealed that Comey told them the same thing, at the same time. In a letter to the Department of Justice and the FBI, committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley wrote, "Director Comey specifically told us during that briefing that the FBI agents who interviewed Lt. General Michael Flynn, 'saw nothing that led them to believe [he was] lying.' Our own committee's staff's notes indicate that Mr. Comey said the 'agents saw no change in his demeanor or tone that would say he was being untruthful.'" The Flynn interview took place on January 24, 2017, four days into the Trump administration.

Grassley's letter went farther than the House report to say that Comey "led us to believe…that the Justice Department was unlikely to prosecute [Flynn] for false statements made in that interview."Comey's comments left lawmakers surprised when, in late November 2017, after special counsel Robert Mueller had taken over the Russia investigation, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

The House interview was transcribed, and the House committee's report quoted Comey verbatim. The Senate interview was not transcribed, but Grassley referred to "notes taken by a career, non-partisan law enforcement officer who was present."

Comey's statements to the committee, Grassley noted, are "contrary to his public statements during his current book tour denying any memory of those comments." Indeed, during publicity interviews for his book, A Higher Loyalty, Comey has been asked several times whether he told lawmakers that the FBI agents who interviewed Flynn did not believe Flynn had lied.


"No," Comey told Fox News' Bret Baier. "I don't know what — maybe someone misunderstood something I said. I didn't believe that and didn't say that."

"Not true," Comey told NBC's Chuck Todd.

"I don't know where that's coming from," Comey told ABC's George Stephanopoulos. "That — unless I'm — I said something that people misunderstood, I don't remember even intending to say that. So, my recollection is I never said that to anybody."

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/n...dnt-be-charged

[Rockstar]

Again, please note: the reports of ̶T̶r̶u̶m̶p̶'̶s̶ Obama's problems and, particularly, possible ̶R̶u̶s̶s̶i̶a̶n̶ terrorist connections to Bill Ayers were reported shortly after he announced his candidacy and as a result of increased scrutiny his announcement precipitated...

And in the end the sun still rose in the east and set in the west, the Constitution survived, martial law wasn't imposed nor did he grow horns and usher in the apocalypse.

Seems in politics nothing but the names ever change.

[Mr Quatro]

Originally Posted by Bilge_Rat

so, more and more evidence that Comey is lying when he said



https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/n...dnt-be-charged

Good find Bilge_Rat

Sorry we can't pay you

[August]

Conrad Black makes some great points as usual:

Those who oppose Trump generally do not understand how desperate and disgusted almost half of Americans are at the most inept twenty-year streak of presidential misgovernment in American history that preceded the 2016 election.

These decades of fruitless war, bone-cracking recession, humanitarian disasters, collapsing alliances, oceanic deficits, and the erosion of economic growth and private sector industrial investment to a third or a quarter of levels under Ronald Reagan, could rattle any American’s patriotic self-confidence.

Trump is a throwback to Reagan in that he rejects the chic defeatism of the establishment; and despite all the media and Democratic Party and Never-Trump calumny of him, his political program is essentially conventional, moderate, conservative wisdom lifted in large part from the policy recommendations of thoroughly respectable conservative think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation. Trump speaks to Americans fearful of decline. He wants, as his slogan says, to make America great again.
To those unaffected by the decline of America, that decline was invisible; to those who were affected by it, it is a challenge and a constant fear for their own welfare and national pride.

The Democrats have had no policy for some years except to denigrate their opponents, and try to bribe and anesthetize a comatose lumpenproletariat addicted to state benefit. Their nomination of Hillary Clinton showed that they did not realize how many Americans rejected this vision of America.

http://nationalpost.com/opinion/conr...-like-no-other

[Hawk66]

recession, decline, collapsing alliances, lol....what has the author of this article smoked ? Are the economic statistics of the last 20 years also 'fake news' ?
The alliances are currently collapsing, due to Trump. (to be fair, the Europeans play their part here also...)

To only move Trump into the direction of Regan is rediculous at the best. Has the author of this genius article read the diaries of Reagan or a biographie of the same? Ronald Regan was the total opposite of Trump in almost every aspect.

When does this 'he is not part of the establishment' nonsense stop? He is part of the establishment...not politics but in the property business...and applying the same principles now in his new job....fire and forget deals....that might work in his former business and for guided missiles....but does not work in his new role.

Does anybody think here that after the great deal maker is gone, the average U.S. citizen will be more prosperous than at the start of this presidency ?

Read the book 'The second machine age' by two MIT folks. They provide no easy solution but explain very well why a lot of people in the west have an worsening economic situation although there is economical growth and provide ideas for discussion to improve the situation. Lowering taxes is not part of it. Not increasing the investments, especially in education and transformation of the whole 'professional life-cycle' of a citizen also not.

Only stubbornly go for ideas of the 80s will also not help...continue this course and the next years will be lost and wasted.

[vienna]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

And in the end the sun still rose in the east and set in the west, the Constitution survived, martial law wasn't imposed nor did he grow horns and usher in the apocalypse.

Seems in politics nothing but the names ever change.

Ah, yes, the same old tired fall back: if you can't argue sensibly for Trump or sensibly defend his actions or the actions of those he has employed or those with whom he surrounds himself, drag out a non-sequitur "What about Obama/Clinton/[Fill in any old DEM here]" to deflect and distract rather than actually address or answer the topic at hand. Weak, very, very weak...


As far as Trump being a deal maker, I think four bankruptcies, over 4,000 breach of contract lawsuits brought against him by contractors, big and small, and his long history of trying to work cons speaks volumes about his abilities as a "deal maker" and businessman, not to mention his failure as a human being. The Trumpers have bought into a con and rather than get their Pampers in a bunch, they should wake up to the fact they've been conned...

Oh, and Trump's 'bible' book The Art Of The Deal? Aside from a preface, he didn't write a single word of the book; the guy who ghost-wrote it for Trump has publicly acknowledged, despite several attempts during the writing of the book to engage and involve Trump in the project, Trump expressed no interest at all in the book-writing process; the ghoster said he wasn't even aware of Trump having actually read the finished book before Trump wrote the preface. This means the much vaunted Trump mastery is actually the mastery of a ghost-writer, yet another addition to the long list of Trump phoniness I guess anything over 280 characters is beyond Donny's attention span or interest...









<O>

[Bilge_Rat]

Originally Posted by August

Conrad Black makes some great points as usual:



http://nationalpost.com/opinion/conr...-like-no-other

great find, thanks for posting.

[Catfish]

I just thought I read an article of the Stuermer praising Adolf Hitler
😂

[vienna]

Well, the National Post is a very conservative news source and wears its leanings on its sleeves, so the tone is understandable; taken in that context: meh...










<O>

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by vienna

Ah, yes, the same old tired fall back: if you can't argue sensibly for Trump or sensibly defend his actions or the actions of those he has employed or those with whom he surrounds himself, drag out a non-sequitur "What about Obama/Clinton/[Fill in any old DEM here]" to deflect and distract rather than actually address or answer the topic at hand. Weak, very, very weak...




<O>

There ya go again arguing over things I never said. I wasn't arguing for or against Trump or anyone for that matter. Just demonstrating in my own way how I've heard the same words you present about Trump when Obama was in office. I just happen to see it as the same ol' song and dance, same music, same moves, just a different dancer. Its so old and boring. And after all the media hype, hysteria, accusations and finger pointing are over. Nothing ever really changed.

[u crank]

Originally Posted by vienna

Well, the National Post is a very conservative news source and wears its leanings on its sleeves, so the tone is understandable; taken in that context: meh...

The National post was founded by Conrad Black in 1998.

Media Bias/Fact Check rates it at just right of center.

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/national-post/