Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Santti]

Looks like the military parade will be happening this Veteran's Day, but will not contain any tanks to not damage the roads.

Can't believe we're spending money on something so useless.

He's actually getting his military parade? How appalling.

[Antiganon]

Looks like the military parade will be happening this Veteran's Day, but will not contain any tanks to not damage the roads.

Can't believe we're spending money on something so useless.

There is normally a Veteran's Day Parade, and this year is the 100th anniversary of the end of World War 1, so if done right, it could be a tasteful and not-entirely-unwarranted use of resources.

If done wrong, its a huge wasteful expenditure that immediately draws parallels between Trump and a whole host of brutal dictators who use military parades as propaganda.

[Kiri]

There is normally a Veteran's Day Parade, and this year is the 100th anniversary of the end of World War 1, so if done right, it could be a tasteful and not-entirely-unwarranted use of resources.

If done wrong, its a huge wasteful expenditure that immediately draws parallels between Trump and a whole host of brutal dictators who use military parades as propaganda.

So, the latter.

[Felya]

There is normally a Veteran's Day Parade, and this year is the 100th anniversary of the end of World War 1, so if done right, it could be a tasteful and not-entirely-unwarranted use of resources.

If done wrong, its a huge wasteful expenditure that immediately draws parallels between Trump and a whole host of brutal dictators who use military parades as propaganda.

Does anyone celebrate anything about WW1? Because unlike WW2, this wasn’t really a war that is easy to see who the aggressors were. The victory is further tainted by the results being the complete opposite of their intent. I do not remember anyone celebrating WW1... it’s mostly glossed over in Russia, due to 1917... US doesn’t really talk about it either, since parties conspired with Mexico to push US into a war it had no business in. It was the last war that can be summed up by a royal dick measuring contest. The best part of the victory in WW1, is how much power monarchies lost. The worst part, is that victory in WW1 is what gave birth to the greatest success of both Communism and Fascism.

[BrerBear]

I mean he is going to speak in that parade. And we know he is mentally incapable of not making everything about himself.

It will be a great moment to remind the world of Trump's multiple bone spur deferments and his "Personal Vietnam" of avoiding STDs.

[akris15]

Looks like the military parade will be happening this Veteran's Day, but will not contain any tanks to not damage the roads.

Can't believe we're spending money on something so useless.

The Active Military/Veterans I work with are already laughing at the personnel who have to get dragged into this fiasco. The way military personnel treat Veteran's day might as well be Thanksgiving/Christmas all on the same day. Think about it all day restaurants and business are giving away free food/specials/spa treatments to veterans and I kid you not people at work have it mapped out a week or so ahead of time to get the most bang out the free buck for that day. I mean more power to them they deserve it. Still I feel sorry for those getting roped into this mess considering its, you know, November in DC...

[Paranoid Android]

President Trump announces his 2020 slogan will be "Keep America Great!" https://t.co/9Gna8Yu5t3 https://t.co/aD760GVtWG

His political opponent's slogan should be: Make America Great Again.

[cubby]

It will be a great moment to remind the world of Trump's multiple bone spur deferments and his "Personal Vietnam" of avoiding STDs.

He didn't really say that about STD's did he?

- - - Updated - - -

The Active Military/Veterans I work with are already laughing at the personnel who have to get dragged into this fiasco. The way military personnel treat Veteran's day might as well be Thanksgiving/Christmas all on the same day. Think about it all day restaurants and business are giving away free food/specials/spa treatments to veterans and I kid you not people at work have it mapped out a week or so ahead of time to get the most bang out the free buck for that day. I mean more power to them they deserve it. Still I feel sorry for those getting roped into this mess considering its, you know, November in DC...

Wow - that is pretty cool how they set up their day - kudos to them.

What a fucking deplorable shitshow the Cheeto Administration has become. It gets worse each and every day.

[Travis B]

He didn't really say that about STD's did he?

http://money.cnn.com/2016/10/14/medi...tds/index.html

[cubby]

http://money.cnn.com/2016/10/14/medi...tds/index.html

Hloy. Fucking. Shit. Class with a capital K.

#deplorable45

[Warning]

His political opponent's slogan should be: Make America Great Again.

Somehow when I read that "Keep America Great" slogan I pictured a sign covered in grime hanging at a slightly titled angle in a wasteland city scorched by nuclear fire.

[Vankrys]

His political opponent's slogan should be: Make America Great Again.

I suggest "Make America Anything But Trump Again"

[Dontrike]

His political opponent's slogan should be: Make America Great Again.

So glad he's working on something that's 20 months from now rather than doing any actual work now. Maybe this year he'll get less than one things accomplished to show just how much he means it.

[cubby]

Somehow when I read that "Keep America Great" slogan I pictured a sign covered in grime hanging at a slightly titled angle in a wasteland city scorched by nuclear fire.

That's about how I see it too. That or Season 4 of The Handmaid's Tale.

[Mormolyce]

Hloy. Fucking. Shit. Class with a capital K.

#deplorable45

“People want me to (run for president) all the time ... I don’t like it,” he said on CNBC’s Hardball.

“Can you imagine how controversial I’d be? You think about him (President Clinton) and the women. How about me with the women? Can you imagine?”

http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/...c346d16baf62f6

I mean, he DID warn you.

[Kiri]

So glad he's working on something that's 20 months from now rather than doing any actual work now. Maybe this year he'll get less than one things accomplished to show just how much he means it.

That's the beautiful thing about lying to make people believe the world is much worse than it is. If you make up 'the great American carnage', you can fix it in a day, too. Just like unemployment numbers didn't really change at all, but since he stopped calling them fake, his people believe that he has worked hard to get them that low. His devotees believe that he is constantly putting in actual work, because they do no longer have a frame of reference for the work 'actual'.

[cubby]

http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/...c346d16baf62f6

I mean, he DID warn you.

Jesus. I guess he did. And the deplorables still voted for him. Fun stuff.

[Edge-]

https://apnews.com/714791d91d7944e49a284a51fab65b85

US sets new record for censoring, withholding gov’t files

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government censored, withheld or said it couldn’t find records sought by citizens, journalists and others more often last year than at any point in the past decade, according to an Associated Press analysis of new data.

The calculations cover eight months under President Donald Trump, the first hints about how his administration complies with the Freedom of Information Act.

The surge of people who sought records but ended up empty-handed was driven by the government saying more than ever it could not find a single page of requested files and asserting in other cases that it would be illegal under U.S. laws to release the information.

People who asked for records under the Freedom of Information Act received censored files or nothing in 78 percent of 823,222 requests, a record over the past decade. When it provided no records, the government said it could find no information related to the request in a little over half those cases.

It turned over everything requested in roughly one of every five FOIA requests, according to the AP analysis.

Records requests can take months — even years — to get fulfilled. Even then, the government censored documents in nearly two-thirds of cases when it turned over anything.

The federal government also spent $40.6 million last year in legal fees defending its decisions to withhold federal files, also a record. That included the time when a U.S. judge ruled against the AP and other news organizations asking for details about who and how much the FBI paid to unlock the iPhone used by a gunman in a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. When the government loses in court, it sometimes must pay the winner’s attorney’s fees. For example, the New York Times was awarded $51,910 from the CIA in May in a fight over records about chemical weapons in Iraq.

It was impossible, based on the government’s own accounting, to determine whether researchers, journalists and others asked for records that did not actually exist or whether federal employees did not search hard enough before giving up. The government said it found nothing 180,924 times, an 18 percent increase over the previous year.

“Federal agencies are failing to take advantage of modern technology to store, locate and produce records in response to FOIA requests, and the public is losing out as a result,” said Adam A. Marshall, the Knight Foundation litigation attorney at the Washington-based Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

He said citizens and others should try to precisely describe how they want filings cabinets, hard drives or email accounts searched, but “you shouldn’t have to be an expert in records management just to submit a FOIA.”

In other cases, the times the government said it would be illegal under other U.S. laws to release requested information nearly doubled to 63,749. Those laws include broad prohibitions against revealing details about U.S. intelligence activities or foreign governments, trade secrets, individual banking or tax records and more.

Many of those requests probably involved files related to the U.S. investigation into how Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election or the related grand jury investigations or about Trump’s personal or business tax returns, said Kel McClanahan, a Washington lawyer who frequently sues the U.S. government for records. “How many people do you think asked for Trump’s tax returns?” he asked.

A disturbing trend continued: In more than one-in-three cases, the government reversed itself when challenged and acknowledged that it had improperly tried to withhold pages. But people filed such appeals only 14,713 times, or about 4.3 percent of cases in which the government said it found records but held back some or all of the material.

The Trump administration, in a new report last week, noted that it received a record number of information requests last year. It said many agencies reduced their backlogs of overdue requests.

The administration also said it was directing federal agencies to improve the number of requests they process and do some more quickly.

Performance under the records law by the Trump administration has been a source of curiosity, since Trump has eschewed some of the common conventions of transparency. For example, the president has declined to release his personal tax returns or logs of official visitors to the White House, and ethics waivers granted to many of Trump’s political appointees do not include details about their former or current corporate clients.

But Trump is personally more accessible to reporters asking questions than President Barack Obama, and he released as many details about his medical records as previous presidents.

The Freedom of Information Act figures, released Friday, cover the actions of 116 departments and agencies during the fiscal 2017, which ended Sept. 30. The highest number of requests went to the departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Defense, Health and Human Services, and Agriculture, along with the National Archives and Records Administration and Veterans Administration.

The administration released its figures ahead of Sunshine Week, when news organizations promote open government and freedom of information.

Under the records law, citizens and foreigners can compel the U.S. government to turn over copies of federal records for no or little cost. Anyone who seeks information through the law is generally supposed to get it unless disclosure would hurt national security, violate personal privacy, or expose business secrets or confidential decision-making in certain areas.

So the flow of information is going about as well as everything else in this administration.

[Felya]

Jesus. I guess he did. And the deplorables still voted for him. Fun stuff.

He also called the Clinton economy greatest ever, saying it might even be better than Reagan. Called Paula Jones a liar and said Clinton should have denied everything and then pleaded the 5th... all in that one interview...

[Celista]

http://thehill.com/policy/national-s...ollusion-found

Welp, sadly this is going how I thought it would.