Obama has been photographed repeatedly

[vienna]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

So you would have gotton your facts together before you opened your mouth and said you were going to do something? Hmmmm, Guess the president should have got his facts straight before he said he was gonna close GITMO then. Since he wasnt able to follow through with his promise it seems to me he is the who failed.

Congress made no such promise.



"No new taxes"

I can't wait to see your reaction when Trump, who has shot his mouth off far more times than any other President in history (wonder if he'll lay claim to that particular "No. 1") runs into the buzz saw that is Congress and some of his promises and boasts start to fall apart. Considering not all of the GOP members of Congress are "yuge" fans of his, it can be expected there will be a goodly degree of push back; this has been seen in the very active and tough participation of GOP committee members in the grilling of Trump's Cabinet appointees. Add to this the next mid-term election is in November 2018 and all 435 House seats and 33 of the 50 Senate seats will be open for reelection; the usual time frame for the incumbents to actively start their reelection campaigns is about a full year, or more, before the election, that means they'll have at best another ten months before they are going to have to have something in the way of productive progress to show their constituents. If Trump manages to somehow 'screw the pooch' on the issues facing Americans in their everyday lives, the GOP Congressional members may well pay the price; also, if Trump continues his ongoing alienation of major portions of the electorate, there may be many more voter who will see the Old Party as not so Grand. Those massive demonstrations across the US the day after Trump's inauguration were more than just extremely large gatherings of people: they were also extremely large gatherings of voters who, at this point, are not inclined to vote GOP and will be even less so if the GOP backs a very possible Trump 'losing hand'. The size f the protest in DC was stunning; what was even more stunning was the overwhelming size of supportive demonstrations and marches in other cities across the US on the same day; here in Los Angeles, the city officials and law enforcement had expected and made plans for a crowd of about twenty-five to thirty thousand people; what they got was a crowd of between 700,000 to 750,000 protesters; most demonstrations held here in Los Angeles in the past have had difficulty in even breaking the 10,000 to 15,000 mark, even on a Saturday; I do know local elected officials, of both parties, are taking a long look at where they now want to fall on issues involving Trump. You see, a demonstration is more than just a large group of people expressing their current opinions; they are also a large group of voters expressing their current opinions, and when a politician sees not just a large group of voters, but actually a massive group of voters, they become, themselves, less inclined to risk their political futures by back unpopular policies and unpopular leaders; some might continue to support Trump and his madness, but they run a very high risk of not having a seat when Congress assembles after November 2018. There is a very high probability, particularly in the House, a goodly number of GOP incumbents will try to, in some way, distance themselves from the Trump circus. Another factor: much has been said by Far-Right pundits and commentators of the perceived 'disarray' of the DEMs and the Left after last November's election, but there is a real problem brewing for the GOP in that Trump is now causing the factions of the DEMs and Left to coalesce, unify, and organize in a manner I haven't seen since the days of Nixon and that can be a potent force in the coming midterm elections; if the DEMs and Left can sway a large number of Independents, like myself, it will be a very hard row to hoe for the GOP...



<O>

[Jimbuna]

Did Trump seriously believe Mexico could be made to pay for the wall he wants erecting?

Mexico: We will not pay for Trump border wall

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38753826

[vienna]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Did Trump seriously believe Mexico could be made to pay for the wall he wants erecting?



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38753826

No, you don't get the whole idea: you see, first Trump is going to have the wall built using US taxpayer money that he will divert from other expenditures, if he can get Congress to agree to such a massive diversion of funds, at the risk of their own political futures, and, after the wall is built, at taxpayer expense and the loss of other government services , which we the taxpayers will more than willingly and wholeheartedly support since, after all, it is a Trump idea, then by some means which Trump hasn't really thought of (or given much thought to, at all), the Mexican government will be cowed by the size of the Mighty Orange One's majestic tiny shaking fists and humbly open their coffers to repay our nation and everything will be peachy keen...

So goes the fairy tale and the possibility of a happily ever after is very, very slim...

At least at the postmortem of this sorry affair we here in the US can paraphrase your Bard: "For Trump is an honorable man..."...



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[Catfish]

As i heard the Mexicans are now heavily investing in tunnel digging.

[Rockstar]

You know what they say, don't make promises you cant keep. Because it will eventually come around and bite ya in your hind quarters

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by Catfish

As i heard the Mexicans are now heavily investing in tunnel digging.

Great Again! Probably buying the equipment from us. lol

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by Oberon

Honestly? Close it, it's too famous to be particularly useful any more, and its closure would bring a good bit of positive publicity amongst my presumed voter base (in this case Democrat). If the need arose for another GITMO, I'm sure there are plenty of places that one can be made on the quiet.
Heck, you could probably make a nice super-max prison on one of the Bering islands or somewhere in Alaska where you could put the GITMO detainees if congress hadn't blocked that.
GITMO is like Groom Lake research facility, too famous to be useful any more.
Plus the whole imprisonment without trial thing, really slippery slope to leave open there. Too easy to be abused, far too easy.

Keep the military base though, be daft to close that.

Prisoners are a problem, some countries dont want them back others will take them but the prison fears for his life and doesnt want to go. Bring them here and its endless litigation, lawyers making money off it demanding to know about things the government doesnt want to tell, it would be one helluva circus. We could covertly drop them off in the Chicago they'd blend right in

Im not even sure the military base needs to stay. I was there in the early 80's and it was a very very busy Feet Training Group. Ships, people were every where, families, golf courses, post exchange, bowling ally, the famous cattle car. Went back in late nineties and the place looked desolate, hardly the hustle and bustle base it once was. Just a place to drop off illegal immigrants until they could be repatriated to Haiti.

Personally I could care less about that place. Other than it being used in the national interest as leverage for a future deal with Cuba I see little use for it.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

Prisoners are a problem, some countries dont want them back others will take them but the prison fears for his life and doesnt want to go. Bring them here and its endless litigation, lawyers making money off it demanding to know about things the government doesnt want to tell, it would be one helluva circus. We could covertly drop them off in the Chicago they'd blend right in

Im not even sure the military base needs to stay. I was there in the early 80's and it was a very very busy Feet Training Group. Ships, people were every where, families, golf courses, post exchange, bowling ally, the famous cattle car. Went back in late nineties and the place looked desolate, hardly the hustle and bustle base it once was. Just a place to drop off illegal immigrants until they could be repatriated to Haiti.

Personally I could care less about that place. Other than it being used in the national interest as leverage for a future deal with Cuba I see little use for it.

That is a similar problem with deportation, you send them back, and the country sends them straight back again, usually without a passport. That and staffing difficulties are some of the reasons deportation centers are nearly always full, and perfect grounds for extremist breeding.

Real Catch-22, no good answer to it.

You've got a fair point on the military base, although the trouble with closing them is not knowing if you'd need it again in the future, but it would be a good little bit of publicity to either hand it back or exchange it with Cuba for something. Dunno if it's something a Republican president could do unless it was a Nixon to China sort of affair, but Democrats would probably love it. Not sure it'd go down so well in Florida though, depends on what sort of leverage you got out of it I guess.

But yeah, honestly...I'm in favour of drone warfare, but on the proviso that it's super-accurate, low yield weaponry dealing with targets on an individual basis. One shot, one kill. Zero collateral. That's the anti-insurgent warfare that the west should be working towards, IMHO. Of course, the big weak point there is intel, which brings us into a very current topic of conversation, 'enhanced interrogation techniques' aka torture.
I can see why it would be a tempting route to take, but I don't think the negative publicity and political fallout are worth it, not when you can get almost as much intel through ELINT and global allied networks.
At the very least, if you're going to reinstitute torture then don't brag about it on primetime television, that's just stupid.

[eddie]

Seem's like Trump's inner circle is starting to work towards a stroke. Steve Bannon is losing it, has said the media should just shut up! The Democratic Party is not the problem, its the media,lol Sure glad it isn't the policies of Trump that is getting everyone to stop and pause every time he opens his mouth, its that darn media catching him screwing up that's causing all the problems.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politi...L9O?li=BBnbcA1

[Oberon]

25th Amendment - Section Four anyone?

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by Oberon

25th Amendment - Section Four anyone?

It would be tough to get the 2/3 vote from both houses on this and then the President could just submit another declaration and the 21 day process can endless repeat itself.

Impeachment is still the only legal way to involuntarily remove a president.

Being stupid, egotistical, narcissistic, or incompetent are not grounds for impeachment and a good thing else we would be going through presidents like potato chips.

[eddie]

Originally Posted by Platapus

It would be tough to get the 2/3 vote from both houses on this and then the President could just submit another declaration and the 21 day process can endless repeat itself.

Impeachment is still the only legal way to involuntarily remove a president.

Being stupid, egotistical, narcissistic, or incompetent are not grounds for impeachment and a good thing else we would be going through presidents like potato chips.

[vienna]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

Great Again! Probably buying the equipment from us. lol

More likely than not, buy them from China ;or, maybe, Japan or some other country. China must be salivating right now over the prospect filling the void to be created when the Trump plans go into effect and China has the opportunity of increased trade with Mexico and greater market share for their products, not to mention extending Chinese influence to the very doorstep of the USA...



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[vienna]

Originally Posted by Platapus

...Being stupid, egotistical, narcissistic, or incompetent are not grounds for impeachment and a good thing else we would be going through presidents like potato chips.

The main difference is the vast majority of Americans really, really like potato chips...



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[August]

Originally Posted by Oberon

25th Amendment - Section Four anyone?

If they want to make it a real civil war I guess.