Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Blur4stuff]

Many boomers absolutely do not want to accept responsibility. Many don't want to even acknowledge that anything is wrong. They would rather just pretend it's either all fake or blown out of proportion so they don't have to feel guilty about decades of ruining the planet and not giving a shit.

Obviously this doesn't apply to all of them. But, I think republicans get 2/3 of their vote so that's basically what we're looking at. And, of course, some dem boomers are right there with them. Biden's support comes from there.

[Felya]

Good question. We have heard a lot of things recently, haven't we? Firing someone for leaking kind of suggests they're true.

That’s exactly what I am implying... if it’s a lie, how could they know she said it? I can make shit up about Trump... he wouldn’t know who I am... wait a minute...

Many boomers absolutely do not want to accept responsibility.

Let’s not just rail on baby boomers... also focus on the good they brought:

[Wyrt]

So, apparently Trump's new lion logo for his campaign is taking from VDARE, a white nationalist group.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/7...tic-vigilantes

Can we call Trump a white nationalist yet? Or do we need to wait for him to get even more explicit?

[Breccia]

Can we call Trump a white nationalist yet?

I have to say, I love the defense of the video maker.

For those asking me about lions.

I googled "trump logo png." It returned several images, which I recreated.

GOOGLE. TAGGED. THAT. LION. AS. MAGA.

If it's something else, it occurs to me the REAL question is: Why is GOOGLE associating white supremacist metadata with Trump/MAGA?

First of all, um, because Trump is a white supremacist?

Second of all, looks like he stole other people's copyrighted work. Arrest him!

Third of all, remember to check your sources. "This image came up? I will use it as my own without consequence."

Fourth of all,

The logo has been printed on t-shirts, phone cases, bumper-stickers and notebooks since 2016, when Lion Guard formed in response to protests at Trump campaign events. Much like “Bikers for Trump,” Lion Guard sees themselves as an “informal civilian group dedicated to the safety and security of #Trump supporters by exposing far-Left rioters,” according to their website. Their motto — “Better to be a lion for a day, than a lamb for eternity” — is a direct reference to a famous radio broadcast by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Trump, quoting a Twitter user called “ilduce2016,” also shared a similar version of that quote in Feb. 2016.

This is not the first time Trump has retweeted something that turned out to be a white supremacist message. If it mattered to him that he was caught doing this, he'd have hired better help by now to proofread his work. It clearly doesn't bother Trump in any way that he's spreading white supremacist messages, which means that even if it is completely accidental, it still reflects very poorly of him.

Of course, the exact category of Trump's vileness isn't really the point. Anyone who takes children from their parents and locks them in a dog crate, indefinitely, until they die doesn't deserve the dignity of being told which group of evil they belong to.

[Wyrt]

I have to say, I love the defense of the video maker.



First of all, um, because Trump is a white supremacist?

Second of all, looks like he stole other people's copyrighted work. Arrest him!

Third of all, remember to check your sources. "This image came up? I will use it as my own without consequence."

Fourth of all,



This is not the first time Trump has retweeted something that turned out to be a white supremacist message. If it mattered to him that he was caught doing this, he'd have hired better help by now to proofread his work. It clearly doesn't bother Trump in any way that he's spreading white supremacist messages, which means that even if it is completely accidental, it still reflects very poorly of him.

Of course, the exact category of Trump's vileness isn't really the point. Anyone who takes children from their parents and locks them in a dog crate, indefinitely, until they die doesn't deserve the dignity of being told which group of evil they belong to.

Maybe it's because there's an overlap between Trumpkins and people who support VDARE?

Where's that guy with the "Nazis are like cats, if they like you it's because you're feeding them" signature? This seems like a fitting place for that quote.

[Breccia]

So let's talk about Midwest farmers.

They're cornholed.

We've seen on these forums (and elsewhere) that Trump put himself at an interesting place: having to decide between farmers and oil. Well, he's made his decision. By granting a large number of exceptions to the "you need ethanol in your fuel" rules, Trump has transferred about $10 billion in wealth from farmers to the oil industry.

The loss of these markets has taken a devastating toll on rural families facing one of the toughest years on record. Ethanol consumption fell for the first time in 20 years, commodity markets are depressed, and many biofuel plants, including several in Iowa, have already slowed or halted production

The Republican Governor of Iowa

They screwed us when they issued 31 waivers compared to less than 10 waivers in all the Obama years. What's bad isn't the waiver. It's that it's being granted to people who really aren't (experiencing) hardship

-- Grassley, R-Iowa

That’s our own country stabbing us in the back. That’s the president going, the oil companies need to make more than the American farmer. ... That was just, ‘I like the oil company better or I’m friends with the oil company more than I’m friends with the farmer.’

-- a random Iowa farmer

The Farmers are going to be so happy when they see what we are doing for Ethanol. It will be a giant package, get ready! At the same time I was able to save the small refineries from certain closing. Great for all!

-- Trump, literally yesterday

Trump did not specify which refineries he stopped from closing, but as the articles above mention, the correct number is fifteen of them shut down because they had nothing to do.

The biofuel hit might have been survivable, except that Trump already screwed farmers with his trade war. Ethanol is a place to dump corn you can't sell or eat, and now, even if isn't a good option.

If this topic feels familiar, it should. We've brought it up before. Trump didn't issue 85 exceptions overnight. Also, if you remember 2016 at all, Trump went to Iowa and told them Obama and Clinton hated ethanol in fuels, but he loved it.

Another promise broken. But what else is new?

[Skroe]

So, apparently Trump's new lion logo for his campaign is taking from VDARE, a white nationalist group.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/7...tic-vigilantes

Can we call Trump a white nationalist yet? Or do we need to wait for him to get even more explicit?

These pieces of crap, lol.

Every day there is this shit President with his shit team giving a shout out to the shittiest people there are.

The *joke* is they still think they're pulling one over on us. They just need to come out and say it already.

- - - Updated - - -

So let's talk about Midwest farmers.

They're cornholed.

We've seen on these forums (and elsewhere) that Trump put himself at an interesting place: having to decide between farmers and oil. Well, he's made his decision. By granting a large number of exceptions to the "you need ethanol in your fuel" rules, Trump has transferred about $10 billion in wealth from farmers to the oil industry.


The Republican Governor of Iowa


-- Grassley, R-Iowa


-- a random Iowa farmer


-- Trump, literally yesterday

Trump did not specify which refineries he stopped from closing, but as the articles above mention, the correct number is fifteen of them shut down because they had nothing to do.

The biofuel hit might have been survivable, except that Trump already screwed farmers with his trade war. Ethanol is a place to dump corn you can't sell or eat, and now, even if isn't a good option.

If this topic feels familiar, it should. We've brought it up before. Trump didn't issue 85 exceptions overnight. Also, if you remember 2016 at all, Trump went to Iowa and told them Obama and Clinton hated ethanol in fuels, but he loved it.

Another promise broken. But what else is new?

My response?

"Eh, fuck 'em".

*changes channel*.

[Felya]

My response?

"Eh, fuck 'em".

*changes channel*.

The problem, outside the stated, is you don’t have to change the channel. Media was giving more coverage to covafefe, than the plight of farmers. It’s not sensational enough to need to change the channel.

[Breccia]

"Eh, fuck 'em".

Insufficient.

I am fully aware that many Trump voters seem to be incurable, ready to vote against their own self-interest even if it means voting for the person who directly did them harm, on purpose.

Bear in mind, a lot of them are pretending. But as this article shows, a fair number of others are being used as demonstration models of their own actions leading to negative consequences. Iowa corn farmers can be salvaged, the way things are going. It will take a coordinated Democratic appeal to them, not one based on promises (they've been burned) but on history. "Obama kept the biofuel mandate all 8 years, and gave under 10 exceptions," they can say, "and Clinton had your Iowa AgSec in her campaign team. We've already been there for you. And we're ready to be again. Plus you know full well, if you elect (Biden? Sanders? Warren? I mean fill in the blank here) we're going to end the trade wars like instantly. We've been incredibly vocal on the subject, and you can see that from our votes. You know we're going to do this. Why would you turn that down?"

I can't speak for all farmers, but the ones I've personally talked to (dozens) and from what I've seen in the news, farmers are conservative in many ways. This isn't so much about homosexuals or health care or whatever, but it is almost about goddam steam. Farming is about predictability. It's not every profession where you have to know six months out what you'll be able to sell, so you can plant the right seeds. Trump has already proven that he will not tolerate predictability. He's already proven he can, and will, ruin everything on a whim. They know this. That's not enough. They need reminding that other people, namely Democrats in this example but honestly pretty much anyone, provides structure, calm, and open markets. There are tons of bills D and R have put forward to help farmers over the years, but at this time, the Democrats can demonstrate more of that due to Obama being in charge 8 of the last 10 years and Democrats sign spending bills.

This is possible. Let's flip Iowa. Let's do this:



- - - Updated - - -

Judges continue to declare Trump's "drill anywhere" policies illegal. Not only were the 171 drilling spots in Colorado declared illegal because Trump didn't do the mandatory research on the effects those wells would have, but, an Alaskan judge also banned all drilling in the Arctic. Well, more precisely, Obama used a 1953 law to
a) ban the US from selling that land to drillers, and
b) adding "no backsies" at the end so Trump couldn't overturn it. Important, because he did this in Dec 2016.
Trump challenged it, and of course, is currently failing. Apparently "no backsies" is stronger than I thought it would be in a federal courtroom.

While the decision is already challenged to a higher court, and while drilling can continue until the final verdict, the US will have trouble selling land/drilling rights to people who know the sites might be illegal by the time they're done building.

And just to drive the point home:

As a result, the previous three withdrawals issued on January 27, 2015 and December 20, 2016 will remain in full force and effect unless and until revoked by Congress

-- the judge's decision

And don't expect that to happen anytime soon.

The Colorado decision, and another verdict last week ("No, you can't build a road through a wildlife refuge without doing the research first") add to the list of Trump's flat-out disregard for laws and rules he didn't write. But I don't know how many times he can get these kinds of failures before he figures out that he'd have better luck just following the goddam rules. But you know what they say about people who try the same thing over and over, and expect different results.

- - - Updated - - -

Speaking of abject failures:

1) The US Chamber of Commerce splits with Trump, asking Congress to work directly with California to come up with auto emissions standards that everyone can live with.

There is a growing consensus that the current standards, which require steep annual mileage
improvements through model year 2025, are not reasonably achievable and must be significantly
revised. It is also clear that the administration’s proposal to hold standards flat beginning in
model year 2020 is insufficient—continued progress on fuel economy and emissions reductions
can be achieved without undue harm to the economy, and predictable year-over-year efficiency
improvements are key to enabling the U.S. to maintain environmental and manufacturing
leadership. The Chamber supports robust efforts to continue such fuel economy gains,
recognizing that they must proceed at a more modest pace due to factors in the changing

We've seen automakers saying this for a while. This is a big step in that direction.

2) Foreign investment, especially American investment, in the Chinese bond market is growing. In particular, China has seen 30% growth in this market since Trump took office -- something the DOW can't say. US investment is now at $565 billion. Meanwhile, in the same time frame, China basically stopped investing in the US, dropping from $46.5 billion in 2016 to $5.4 billion in 2018[/url]. While the US's investment in China is a small amount of the US's money, the overall growth of foreign investments in China is still proportionately large, and it's not just us moving there.

3) This press release, signed by two major Nebraska corn-growing associations (yes, there are multiple Nebraska corn-growing associations, if you'd been to Nebraska you'd understand), is titled Nebraska corn farmers outraged by Trump’s broken promises. So it's not just Iowa today.

President Trump’s administration continues to erode the RFS by granting 31 unjustified refinery waivers, destroying demand for corn and ultimately choosing to bail out the oil industry rather than helping American farmers. Corn farmers are already suffering from ongoing trade disputes, uncertain weather and continued low prices.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this,” said David Bruntz, chairman of the Nebraska Corn Board and farmer from Friend. “All we’re getting is lip service. At one moment, we think President Trump is on our side, and then the refinery waivers come through. It’s truly a slap in the face. Farmers are hurting and it just keeps getting worse.”

Along with undermining the RFS, the U.S. has made little progress in trade. A new deal between the U.S., Mexico and Canada still has not been reached and tensions continue to escalate between the U.S. and China.

“Many of our corn farmers have stood with Trump for a long time, but that may soon change” said Dan Nerud, president of the Nebraska Corn Growers Association and farmer from Dorchester. “Trump needs to uphold the law and his commitment to our nation’s corn farmers by making the RFS whole and bringing trade agreements to the finish line.”

4) A new poll, which WaPo pointed to me with the headline "Trump's worst 2020 poll yet", shows Trump losing against all current realistic Democratic challengers by 23 points or more. By contrast, he lost women in 2016 by 11 points. In fact, Quinnipac has yet to release a poll where Trump's approval rate among women is above 36%. While there is a "Women for Trump" movement -- I've cited them before, one of them said Trump was second only to Mother Theresa -- the have a daunting task, considering 2016 had Trump admit the "grab them by the pussy" comment and pretend to apologize, and now it's 3 years later. They've been mentioning things like "he created jobs for women" which, to be clear, no he didn't, he created jobs in general and women filled them. The poll also says this, which I will quote because I'm a vindictive asshole:

As trade tensions with China dominate the headlines, confidence in the economy is slipping. The number of people who think the economy is getting worse rose by double digits since June. And roughly 4 in 10 voters blame the President's policies, saying they are hurting the economy, the highest level since Trump took office

5) Federal authorities seized 30 kilograms of fentanyl, 30 kilograms of heroin, $700 thousand, five kilograms of cocaine, 24 guns and 35 suspects in a Virginia raid.

"What's wrong with that?"

Nothing. It's the biggest drug bust Virginia had in 15 years. That shit kills people, I'm glad it's off the streets.

6) Trump took to twitter, because of course he did, to attack his own Fed chair Powell because the euro is dropping. Also:

If the Fed would cut, we would have one of the biggest Stock Market increases in a long time. Badly run and weak companies are smartly blaming these small Tariffs instead of themselves for bad management...and who can really blame them for doing that? Excuses!

That's some blame-shifting, right there. "it's not the tariffs, but companies blame the tariffs to hide the blame from themselves!" is what I would say, if I knew the businesses were right. Also, um, did Trump just add "Excuses!" to make himself more of a hypocrite when blaming his own Fed for ruining the stock market, which the Fed doesn't control?

Trump has tweeted 7 times today, 4 about Comey and 3 about Powell. None were about Florida.

Now, I'm no expert, but I think the Fed can't do anything about the Euro directly. I don't think the Fed can buy a bunch of Euros to raise the price, not that we have the loose money to do so even if we could. Please correct me if I'm wrong, I am really not that sure. But I believe Trump is asking for the Fed to lower rates (again) to worsen the US dollar to keep it competitive.

This seems like a horrible idea.

For one, the Fed weakening the dollar would be proof the Fed thinks the US economy is in bad shape. Granted, I've personally posted dozens of qualified, professional experts who agree, but it seems counterproductive for Trump to agree to that assessment.

For two, intentionally weakening your own currency during a global recession or slowdown seems like it would enhance that issue. Simply put, if Trump can just weaken the dollar because he feels like it, other countries could do the same, the comparison stays the same proportion, and everyone loses.

For three, while a lower dollar would make exports cheaper and imports more expensive, closing the trade gap, the trade gap is $891 billion dollars and that's not just a record, but 10.8% higher in 2018 than 2017. Trump's policies are fighting his other policies.

For three again, US imports of goods and services were at a record high level in 2018, at $3.1 trillion. If consumers had to spend, just to make a number up, 10% more for that, that's $310 billion just flat-out gone from the economy with nothing new to show for it. So unless the bonus money from imports -- tough to do in a trade war -- instantly enters the market, which job creation doesn't do, that's 1.4% of our GDP spent to get nothing. 2020 GDP is already predicted to raise 1.8%, this would decimate that. Again, 10% is just a quick hypothetical.

For four, if you look at 1990 to 2019, the average total GDP growth was 2.7% overall but 2.3% with a weak dollar. Trump already has worse than 2.3% right now, and weakening the dollar could easily cut those results down yet again. Which is predicted to happen anyhow.

For five, weakening the dollar promotes inflation and lowered consumer consumption, but no long-term benefits on trade.

For six, tied to inflation, a strong dollar keeps interest rates low. Weakening the dollar could lead to higher rates, 100% undoing the Fed's assumed change anyhow.

And finally, Trump can't order the Fed to do this.

For more on the subject, this Forbes article The Weak Dollar Caused the Great Recession was published in 2012 and therefore is not Fake News being unfair to Trump.

- - - Updated - - -

Trump admin decides the babies of US armed forces born overseas aren’t automatically US citizens.

Okay, so we've seen how this topic turned out to be mostly Trump's administration making a minor change, completely fucking up the press release, and doing damage control to reverse the understandable first reading "Trump wants to deport the children of American military". It was far more about their inability to actually present the information, then them being hating the military. The fact that the public just assumed Trump had done something vile, based purely on his proven track record of words and actions, made it even funnier when the administration had to backtrack and defend. "No really, it's not about deporting American diplomats' kids, let me explain!"

I mean, that alone says something, I think.

But the numbers are in. Trump's admin blew the release of a rule change, being called all sorts of nasty names and having to retreat and explain, for how many, exactly?

Officials said Thursday the measure is expected to affect between 20 and 25 individuals per year.

Wow.

Two dozen people. Tops.

So all that self-inflicted drama and bad PR was about --

We are very concerned about how this new policy may affect our LGBTQ service members looking to adopt or use surrogates, sperm or egg donors or IVF.

Our nation's modern military families deserve better than this, and the last thing they should have to worry about is going through extra hoops in order to ensure their children are U.S. citizens. We continue to urge Congress to look into this new policy and hold this administration accountable.

-- Peter Perkowski, legal and policy director at Modern Military Association of America

Well shit, it's not over.

Because of its rollout process, the policy could face legal action if it is found to diminish rights citizens had before, rather than just reinterpreting existing rules.

The policy was issued as a memo, the simpler and faster process to emit policies, rather than a rule subject to public notice and comments.

It's still unclear whether any child of a U.S. citizen will be entirely unable to acquire citizenship because of the rule, rather than just being pushed from derivation to naturalization.

[kaelleria]

Didn't I post about the VDARE thing 2 pages ago? Yep, I did

Anyways... Something has the markets spooked...
Could it be consumer confidence dropping to 2012 levels? Could it be that data is indicating that the next round of tariffs might be enough to push out consumers? Or could it be Trump opening his big fat mouth?
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/30/us-c...019-final.html

[Breccia]

Trump has tweeted 7 times today, 4 about Comey and 3 about Powell. None were about Florida.

Well, looks like I missed something. My bad.

Apparently, Trump also tweeted about GM. Specifically, calling out their plant closures and layoffs (that happened under Trump) and asking them to move back to the US (China just announced 25% tariffs on US made cars, which is $2 billion/43% of GM's business).

China is the world's largest auto market. Trump is insisting that GM cripple their own business, then feigns outrage when they do it anyhow.

Trump won Michigan by 11 thousand votes. GM employs way more than that.

[Paranoid Android]

Aides concede Trump misled the country and the markets about phone calls with China this weekend.

So what’s more sobering? That he misled or that the markets bought it? https://t.co/vxmrNczBUn

https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/statu...415103491?s=19

Another day, another scandal.

This is a typical Trump story where he tried to lie and con his way out of a situation.

So when the market was scrambling, if you recall Trump made claims he was in talk with China. False.

Oh, many claim this is market manipulation. Yes, we know this was Trump's intention.

[Dontrike]

https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/statu...415103491?s=19

Another day, another scandal.

This is a typical Trump story where he tried to lie and con his way out of a situation.

So when the market was scrambling, if you recall Trump made claims he was in talk with China. False.

Oh, many claim this is market manipulation. Yes, we know this was Trump's intention.

I don't know why anyone believed him.

[Breccia]

This is a typical Trump story where he tried to lie and con his way out of a situation.

Trump's history of intentionally overvaluing and overselling his own brand is on display here. Whether or not Trump knows he's lying isn't even a feature. He's been doing it for decades to either get investors, or keep investors, often just before he goes bankrupt.

Then, y'all elected him. Guess what? He kept doing it.

Of course, it's not just him, it's his entire team. Navarro went on CNN to say that Trump could have the DOW break 30,000 -- no I did not typo, thirty thousand -- if the Fed and Congress did everything Trump said without question. Which is what I would say, if I needed an excuse for why my policies weren't working, and I was forced to defend my record. "DOW hasn't moved since Jan 2018? Uh...it was Obama, Democrats, solar flares, and people throwing saronite bombs at the edge of the arena!"

But to answer the tweet's question, at some point, it's your fault for allowing yourself to be fooled. As the saying goes, "Fool me once, shame on...shame on you...if you get fooled, you can't get fooled again." By buying into the stock market for no other reason than Trump's assertions without evidence, at some point, you're the one to blame. Trump lies all the time about everything. People who see that, but believe him anyhow, get no sympathy.

[kaelleria]

I feel like this is a good time to point out again that the DHS Secretary, FEMA administrator and deputy FEMA administrator are all acting and have not been Senate confirmed...

Nothing like a category 4 storm to be your first test on the job!

[Breccia]

FOX News, possibly begging for Trump to re-hire them, has a front page story about "Impeachment Fever" while CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, TIME and USA Today all have the hurricane on the front page. (Reuters and Newsweek are talking about China/Hong Kong)

But FOX did drop more Epstein info: New Mexico moves to seize 10,000 acres of Epstein property.

"It's mostly a paperwork issue," NM authorities didn't say but I'm pretending they did, "on the lease forms, when asked 'Will you use this property to rape children?' he checked the box for 'No.' It's not a common mistake, but we have to nullify all his leases until this matter is dealt with."

Here's what they really said:

Having fully reviewed the referral from the State Land Commissioner in connection with my office’s investigation into criminal conduct related to Jeffrey Epstein in New Mexico, I am issuing a determination that the State Land Commissioner should immediately retake State trust lands and cancel leases that were improperly given to him. The original leases to Epstein appear to have no beneficial use justification to the State, but rather appear to simply have been taken by him to increase privacy and the landmass surrounding his estate. This sweetheart deal must be canceled and reassigned to a New Mexico ranching family

Also:

The leases date back to 1993 and were officially granted to Epstein’s holding company, Cypress Inc., in 1997. But Cypress indicated the property would be used for livestock grazing, and since the ranch wasn’t used for that purpose, the NMSLO says Epstein’s company is in violation.

According to a New York Times report in the wake of his death, Epstein intended to use the $17 million New Mexico property to impregnate scores of females, in a quest to “seed the human race with his DNA.” While registries have been set up to try and determine if he did indeed procreate, no evidence of any Epstein offspring has been discovered.

Nonetheless, Epstein started spending more and more time at the stately New Mexico abode after his 2008 conviction -- perhaps an easy choice given that it was the only state where he was not required to register as a sex offender.

What the hell, New Mexico?

[Thekri]

I feel like this is a good time to point out again that the DHS Secretary, FEMA administrator and deputy FEMA administrator are all acting and have not been Senate confirmed...

Nothing like a category 4 storm to be your first test on the job!

You forgot the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Trump appointed a CEO from a civilian company instead of a scientist last year, and he still hasn't been confirmed. However he did get wrapped up in a federal investigation that that found him liable for cultivating an atmosphere of "Rampant, pervasive and severe sexual harassment" at his previous company. So the odds of him ever getting confirmed aren't great, since he has been on hold for 10 months now. Trump hasn't nominated anyone else though.

[Breccia]

I feel like this is a good time to point out again that the DHS Secretary, FEMA administrator and deputy FEMA administrator are all acting and have not been Senate confirmed

Sigh...

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen abruptly resigned Sunday, as the president continues to fume over continued illegal border crossings. CBS News first reported Nielsen's impending departure, which Mr. Trump confirmed in a tweet after a 5 p.m. meeting with Nielsen at the White House.
-- April 9, 2019

Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, announced his resignation Wednesday, ending his tenure after responding to some of the worst storms and wildfires to hit the United States in modern history but also coming under scrutiny for his use of official vehicles.
-- Feb 13, 2019

I had a hard time finding when Trump's previous NOAA director resigned. Turns out, he never had one. Barry Myers was nominated in Oct 2017, and is who @Thekri is talking about. The nomination was returned Jan 2018 and resubmitted by Trump 5 days later. It was returned to Trump again Jan 2019, and resubmitted 5 days later. Myers owns AccuWeather, which provides services for a price that NOAA provides to taxpayers. He has promised to divest, which I will believe from a Trump employee as much as I would believe Trump himself, aka not even a little bit.

Myers’ divestment of his AccuWeather interests may seem complete for now, but nothing would keep his family from welcoming him back. The terms of his stock sale also have raised eyebrows. According to his financial disclosure form, he sold his shares back to AccuWeather for $15.9 million on Jan. 1.

But since he earlier had declared the value of those shares to be more than $50 million, Shaub has observed, the circumstances “raise the possibility of a sham transaction.” There’s no evidence on the record that Myers would be prevented from repurchasing the shares at the same price after his public service has ended.

NOAA’s advocates are fearful that as NOAA administrator, Myers would pursue the policies that he advocated as a private businessman — working from the inside to achieve what he couldn’t do from the outside.

“Myers has built his business by taking NOAA data paid for by the taxpayers and turning it into products that AccuWeather sells,” observes Andrew Rosenberg, a former NOAA scientist and manager who is now director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “There’s nothing wrong with that, but he’s also pushed for the idea that the government shouldn’t compete with private business.”

Myers, as mentioned already, has a science degree in the highly relevant field of he doesn't have a science degree, he's a lawyer. This fits in line with Trump, of course, a failed businessman and television game show host running the world's largest economy.

[Thekri]

I had a hard time finding when Trump's previous NOAA director resigned. Turns out, he never had one. Barry Myers was nominated in Oct 2017, and is who @Thekri is talking about. The nomination was returned Jan 2018 and resubmitted by Trump 5 days later. It was returned to Trump again Jan 2019, and resubmitted 5 days later. Myers owns AccuWeather, which provides services for a price that NOAA provides to taxpayers. He has promised to divest, which I will believe from a Trump employee as much as I would believe Trump himself, aka not even a little bit.



Myers, as mentioned already, has a science degree in the highly relevant field of he doesn't have a science degree, he's a lawyer. This fits in line with Trump, of course, a failed businessman and television game show host running the world's largest economy.

I somehow completely missed the year in that, I thought he had been stalled for 10 months. In fact he was nominated 22 months ago, and there has been no movement since January 2018. Aside from the federal investigation into all the sexual harassment at his old company of course.

So yeah, NOAA has had no permanent leadership since January 20, 2017, the day Trump took office. There have been three separate interim administrators, all of whom had other important jobs at the same time, and none of whom have been named Barry Myers.

I am sure it will be fine, it isn't like anything catastrophic has been happening in the oceans. /s

[Breccia]

The House and Senate are coming back to town. What does the GOP want to do? Hurricane aid, farm aid, something about Afghanistan or China perhaps?

Nope. They want to talk about Comey.

In light of the great costs to our country stemming from Comey’s reckless conduct, we respectfully

Wait, you know what? Fuck that story. The report that was just released once again said Trump's own DoJ didn't prosecute because it wasn't warranted. And Comey didn't cost a thing, Mueller was appointed because Trump fired Comey, and Mueller made money. That entire narrative is bullshit and I'm changing topics.

Trump has done so much for coal that Democratic Senator Manchin now beats coal exec incumbent Gov. Justice by 10 points in a recent local poll.

"If Senator Manchin were to enter the governor’s race and be the Democratic nominee, there’s no question he has historically strong support in the state. And generally his positions on issues resonate with West Virginia voters,” Research America President Rex Repass told MetroNews.

Looks like someone's getting a new Overseer.