Trump Thread

[Montmorency]

I always strive to present high-quality auto-satire:

Trump ordered 15,000 new border and immigration officers — but got thousands of vacancies instead

Two years after President Trump signed orders to hire 15,000 new border agents and immigration officers, the administration has spent tens of millions of dollars in the effort — but has thousands more vacancies than when it began.

In a sign of the difficulties, Customs and Border Protection allocated $60.7 million to Accenture Federal Services, a management consulting firm, as part of a $297-million contract to recruit, vet and hire 7,500 border officers over five years, but the company has produced only 33 new hires so far.

The president’s promised hiring surge steadily lost ground even as he publicly hammered away at the need for stiffer border security, warned of a looming migrant invasion and shut down parts of the government for five weeks over his demands for $5.7 billion from Congress for a border wall.

The Border Patrol gained a total of 120 agents in 2018, the first net gain in five years.

@Pannonian You have nothing on the US when it comes to shady government consulting contracts.

Officials could not “provide complete data to support the operational need or deployment strategies for the additional 15,000 additional agents and officers they were directed to hire,” the inspector general’s office wrote.

hee

[Shaka_Khan]

He could hire people who ironically want to immigrate to America, kind of like when the newly immigrated Irish were recruited for the Civil War.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

He could hire people who ironically want to immigrate to America, kind of like when the newly immigrated Irish were recruited for the Civil War.

The Irish brigade used the cry 'Faugh A Ballagh' in part because some of its members didn't have enough English to use instead. They were taken from the boat to a train depot, given the blue coat and shipped to war.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

The essence is racism which is cozily cloaked in a "personal freedoms" mantra.

It's one of the reasons I refuse to call the white supremacists who make up the backbone of Trumps coalition Nazis. Calling them Nazis takes the blame off of America. Nazi is something you can use to hand wave America homegrown white supremacy.

Good stance on the naming issue.

I am endlessly flabbergasted at how many Americans cling to white supremacy -- to racist concepts in general. They simply don't compute on anything resembling a rational level. And I am not setting a particularly high bar for rationality here. Ardent smokers who smoke despite the warnings figuring they can "get away with it for a few years then quit" are on steadier ground than racists with their misbeliefs. Saddening.

[CrossLOPER]

Good stance on the naming issue.

I am endlessly flabbergasted at how many Americans cling to white supremacy -- to racist concepts in general. They simply don't compute on anything resembling a rational level. And I am not setting a particularly high bar for rationality here. Ardent smokers who smoke despite the warnings figuring they can "get away with it for a few years then quit" are on steadier ground than racists with their misbeliefs. Saddening.

I like how they deny their racism now, and simply state "facts". That's my favorite.

[Montmorency]

dates

[CrossLOPER]

dates

I don't know what the strategy is called, but it exists, and it involves ignoring these hilarious lapses in memory. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would say that the recent push for marijuana legality was part of a plot to destroy the public's short term memory capacity so that propagandists don't have to try as hard.

[Montmorency]

I don't know what the strategy is called, but it exists, and it involves ignoring these hilarious lapses in memory. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would say that the recent push for marijuana legality was part of a plot to destroy the public's short term memory capacity so that propagandists don't have to try as hard.

It's a cheat code called "Repeat a lie often enough..."

Even better if it's a recurring event, like the Dow Jones oscillating, a brown person killing someone, the weather being cold.

[Montmorency]

"Execute the baby" is my core sense of humor.

[CrossLOPER]

US President Donald Trump will declare a national emergency to fund his planned border wall with Mexico, the White House says.

He is to sign a border security bill to avert a government shutdown - but also act to bypass Congress and use military funds for the wall, a statement said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47247726

I look forward to how this short-sighted political strategy will work out once a Democratic president with leanings towards gun-control and climate change aversion will take power.

[Montmorency]

So just to recap off the top of my head:

A year ago, Democrats were offering Trump wall funding (more than he was asking for recently) in exchange for backing off DACA.

In December, Democrats were offering $1.6 billion for general border security. Trump accepted, but backtracked and triggered shutdown when Fox News et al. got het up.

One month of shutdown and 3 weeks intermission later, Trump gets $1.3 billion (see above post) for border security, while backing himself into making an openly despotic declaration of emergency that will almost certainly be shattered in court.


Trump is like, an impossibly bad negotiator. He might literally be worse than Total War AI. Like game AI, he has no sense of strategy or even mammalian reciprocity.

[Kagemusha]

I hope this is the start of the end for the Trump presidency.

[Montmorency]

Trump: " I could do the wall over a longer period of time - I didn't need to do this [declare an emergency] - but I'd rather do it much faster. And I don't have to do it for the election; I've already done a lot of wall for the election 2020. And the only reason we're up here talking about this is because of the election, because they want to try and win an election which it looks like they're not going to be able to do."

Also Trump: "And in the bill, by the way, they didn’t even fight us on most of the stuff—ports of entry—we have so much money, we don’t know what to do with it. I don’t know what to do with all the money they’re giving us."

Just locker-room talk.

[Kagemusha]

To me is it just ridiculous that the head of state of the most powerful country in the world declares state of national emergency because he did not get what he wanted....

[Beskar]

To me is it just ridiculous that the head of state of the most powerful country in the world declares state of national emergency because he did not get what he wanted....

That a head of state declared a national emergency because it wants to build a wall to a neighbouring country it supposed to be on good terms with.

[Montmorency]

Trump according to fired Deputy Director of FBI Andrew McCabe:

Then Trump brought up Venezuela: “That’s the country we should be going to war with,” Trump said, according to McCabe’s recounting. “They have all that oil and they’re right on our back door.”

"kek"

[Tuuvi]

And yet somehow Maduro is evil and bad for not wanting to accept US "aid", and ordinary Venezuelans are just begging for US troops to invade their country and restore democracy, like the Iraqis were back in 2003.

[Husar]

Just want to leave this here:

[Seamus Fermanagh]

And yet somehow Maduro is evil and bad for not wanting to accept US "aid", and ordinary Venezuelans are just begging for US troops to invade their country and restore democracy, like the Iraqis were back in 2003.

The petro-socialism of Chavez and Maduro has been only modestly better for the people of Venezuela than the preceding Kleptocracy.


They need a mixed economy and a middle class that is somewhat accessible and not closeted off in walled communities looking down over the fields of cardboard and tin homes.


They need a government that encourages foreign investment -- and I mean investment to build, not investments that are vampiric -- along with genuine efforts provide a business framework that encourages their 1% to invest in Venezuela rather than US stock portfolios and Cayman Island money markets.


They need a military that plays by "posse comitatus" rules and which does not intervene in internal politics.


The old government was horrid, the current regime is pretty bad, and their economy is tanking.

On the other hand, I am not seeing anything in the opposition that makes me think they'll stabilize as a moderate republic and successfully tackle their problems....pity.

[Tuuvi]

The petro-socialism of Chavez and Maduro has been only modestly better for the people of Venezuela than the preceding Kleptocracy.


They need a mixed economy and a middle class that is somewhat accessible and not closeted off in walled communities looking down over the fields of cardboard and tin homes.


They need a government that encourages foreign investment -- and I mean investment to build, not investments that are vampiric -- along with genuine efforts provide a business framework that encourages their 1% to invest in Venezuela rather than US stock portfolios and Cayman Island money markets.


They need a military that plays by "posse comitatus" rules and which does not intervene in internal politics.


The old government was horrid, the current regime is pretty bad, and their economy is tanking.

On the other hand, I am not seeing anything in the opposition that makes me think they'll stabilize as a moderate republic and successfully tackle their problems....pity.

I'm not in support of the Maduro government, I was just making a sarcastic remark about the way the media has been drumming up support for US intervention in Venezuela. I think the Venezuelan government has legitimate reasons for being suspicious of US aid shipments and the US military should just leave Venezuela alone.

[Husar]

I'm not in support of the Maduro government, I was just making a sarcastic remark about the way the media has been drumming up support for US intervention in Venezuela. I think the Venezuelan government has legitimate reasons for being suspicious of US aid shipments and the US military should just leave Venezuela alone.

Well, it's really hard wioth the intervention stuff. First people tell you to stay out and then, when there is a bloody civil war, they will tell you that you can't just watch and do nothing (bad things happen because good people do nothing) and then you intervene and then they blame you for atrocities and for having chosen the wrong side and for collateral damage, imperialism, etc.

To some extent I would say stay out though, let them sort it out themselves. But then you always have the global competitors who then go in, help one side and gain an ally for their scheming in your backyard. I mean as bad as the USA are in that sense, I don't think much better of Russia or China. Competition is a terrible thing in that sense.

On the bright side, once competition has killed us off through global warming, the planet will be more peaceful again.

[Gilrandir]

On the bright side, once competition has killed us off through global warming, the planet will be more peaceful again.

peaceful, rather pieceful.

[Tuuvi]

Well, it's really hard wioth the intervention stuff. First people tell you to stay out and then, when there is a bloody civil war, they will tell you that you can't just watch and do nothing (bad things happen because good people do nothing) and then you intervene and then they blame you for atrocities and for having chosen the wrong side and for collateral damage, imperialism, etc.

To some extent I would say stay out though, let them sort it out themselves. But then you always have the global competitors who then go in, help one side and gain an ally for their scheming in your backyard. I mean as bad as the USA are in that sense, I don't think much better of Russia or China. Competition is a terrible thing in that sense.

On the bright side, once competition has killed us off through global warming, the planet will be more peaceful again.

Elliot Abrams, Trump's envoy to Venezuela, used humanitarian aid shipments as a cover to ship weapons to the Contras back in the 80's, so it wouldn't be surprising if the US is again trying to smuggle weapons to the opposition in Venezuela. Aside from the army there's also armed citizen militias loyal to Maduro in Venezuela, so it seems the US's actions risk starting a civil war.

Also, Venezuela accepted $9 million in aid from the UN back in November, so it's not as if Maduro is intentionally denying aid to his people. I think the US aid shipments are either an attempt to smuggle weapons to the opposition, or the US guessed in advance that Maduro wouldn't accept the aid after what Abrams did in Nicaragua and the aid shipments are just a ploy to make Maduro look bad.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Elliot Abrams, Trump's envoy to Venezuela, used humanitarian aid shipments as a cover to ship weapons to the Contras back in the 80's, so it wouldn't be surprising if the US is again trying to smuggle weapons to the opposition in Venezuela. Aside from the army there's also armed citizen militias loyal to Maduro in Venezuela, so it seems the US's actions risk starting a civil war.

Also, Venezuela accepted $9 million in aid from the UN back in November, so it's not as if Maduro is intentionally denying aid to his people. I think the US aid shipments are either an attempt to smuggle weapons to the opposition, or the US guessed in advance that Maduro wouldn't accept the aid after what Abrams did in Nicaragua and the aid shipments are just a ploy to make Maduro look bad.

Embarrassing Maduro would, I suspect, be very much in tune with US hopes for Venezuela. I suspect you may well be correct about the 'offer aid which we are certain will be refused' ploy. As to shipping in weapons, we don't have any former OSS types in the administration as did Reagan. Without Casey, the Iran Contra thing just wouldn't have happened. Still, I cannot rule it our entirely.

As to starting a Civil War, I am not certain that it has not already begun.

[a completely inoffensive name]

Meanwhile domestically, Congressional Republicans are pushing for a system of government where the president has total control over the treasury...as long as he is Republican.

Our system of government is hanging on the edge. Mitch McConnell might be the worst thing to happen to American democracy.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Meanwhile domestically, Congressional Republicans are pushing for a system of government where the president has total control over the treasury...as long as he is Republican.

Our system of government is hanging on the edge. Mitch McConnell might be the worst thing to happen to American democracy.

He has not covered the Majority Leader position in glory.

[Strike For The South]

You can oppose Maduro while also opposing US intervention.

Cohens testimony is confirming a lot of what we thought we knew. Gruby hands on cruel, stupid people. I'm sure the administration will hand wave all of this but I can't imagine who would believe them at this point.

[Tuuvi]

Life in “Mueller Time”: The Politics of Waiting and the Spectacle of Investigation

For almost two years now, faithful Democrats have waited for special counsel Robert Mueller to file his report about collusion between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russian attempts to interfere in the US election, not to mention Trump’s involvement in obstruction of justice. Whenever Trump’s activity provokes them or a subterranean rumbling within the Justice Department emboldens them, the faithful take to the streets and social media with hand-held cardboard signs and internet memes to proclaim that Mueller Time is close at hand. Yet even if the Mueller investigation concludes with Trump’s impeachment, the spectacle of the investigation has served to immobilize millions who have a stake in systemic social change, ensuring that what comes next in the United States will be politics as usual—not liberation.

[Montmorency]

I pretty confident there will be no final report any time soon, considering the huge amount of legal activity emanating from the special counsel just recently. Similar pronouncements have suffused the media like 10 times over the past year - actually, as far back as September 2017 IIRC. And every time, the sourcing seems to have been either Trump admin officials or Trump's own legal counsels. It's bad enough for a professional organization to play along with the notion that a client's defense, legally obligated as they are to speak in their defense, counts as a valid source into the workings of the investigations into their client - but to make the same mistake over and over? Is our media learning? Unless a report claims that the Special Counsel office itself has offered a date, don't pay attention.

As to the substance of the article, bureaucracy and direct action both have roles to play, functions that each cannot replicate from the other and therefore complementary.

[Montmorency]

Trump escalates his removal-worthy rhetoric again:

1.

The Democrats in Congress yesterday were vicious and totally showed their cards for everyone to see. When the Republicans had the Majority they never acted with such hatred and scorn! The Dems are trying to win an election in 2020 that they know they cannot legitimately win!

2.

“You know, the left plays a tougher game, it’s very funny," Trump said in the interview with Breitbart published on Wednesday. "I actually think that the people on the right are tougher, but they don’t play it tougher."

"I can tell you I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump – I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad," Trump said.

'My opponents are illegitimate, and I am willing to leverage my influence over the police and armed forces to hinder them', said not-Maduro.


Meanwhile in New Zealand, a team of Anglo Breivik wannabees slaughtered 50 Muslims, citing Trump as "a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose".