The Trump Presidency - how I stopped worrying and learned to love the Hair

The connection between Le Pen, Trump and the french election is an interesting one though. Le Pen spend the better part of a decade getting her Party away from the Ultra Nationalist Image that it had when her father ran it. And she did that quite well. When stuff went downhill for her in the public's opinion was when she started praising Donald Trump earlier this year. That alienated a lot of republicans (the french conservative party) that otherwise maybe would have considered voting for her in round two after their candidate failed.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4193520/Marine-Le-Pen-pays-glowing-tribute-Donald-Trump.html
But praising Trump raised a lot of red flags for a lot of French people ... and I think it's the same in germany and other european countries. Since Trump is in office the rightwinged nationalist movements in Europe have been losing ground.
Just this weekend the german version of the Front National, the AfD fell short in a federal state election in germany. They were expected to come in at over 10% after their successes all over the in country in 2016, but they only reached 5,9. Instead the voters turned out for the conservative CDU.

I think Trump together with Brexit, as examples of how bad it could go, has taken quite a bit of momentum out of the earlier general movement towards the right in Europe.
 
I find it really interesting how you can have brexit, trump, and a wave of ultra-conservative (or whatever else you want to call it) support throughout Europe....and we come up with reasons for it and try to explain it.

But

Some Muslim majority nation votes in one of their first elections in ages and people lose their shit when they go ultra conservative.
 
Maybe it's the fact that Europe has not been warring within itself since 1945 and the muslim nations haven't gone a year in peace since. Conservative usually means "more of the same" and that is not good.

In other news, several members of the EPA advisory board have had their 3 year terms "not renewed" as the Trump administration looks to have more advisers coming from Industry rather than Academia. Meaning, more lobbyists from firms polluting the environment, policing themselves, instead of scientists telling the real story.


Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has effectively fired more than half of an advisory board tasked with making sure the science conducted and evaluated at the agency meets rigorous standards.

Greenwire is reporting that the 12 dismissed advisers ? academic experts in various fields of environmental science and policy ? were nearing the end of a three-year term, and were told Friday their positions would not be renewed for a second term.


Which came as big surprise.


?Today I was Trumped,? Robert Richardson, an environmental economist at Michigan State University, tweeted, after learning of his dismissal.

When asked by reporters to explain the dismissal, EPA spokesperson J.P. Freire said the EPA wanted to make ?a clean break with the last administration?s approach? and ?expand the pool of applicants.? These advisers ?were appointed for three-year terms,? he told Greenwire. ?They're not guaranteed a second three-year term."

By expanding the applicant pool, Freire likely means opening up the advisory board to more members of industry (it?s mostly been filled with people from academia).


?We want to ensure fair consideration of all the nominees,? he told Vox, noting that people who have previously served on the panel are not outright excluded from the process.

source: https://www.vox.com/energy-and-envi...0/trump-administration-dismissed-epa-advisers

That's not worrying at all, considering the US is the second largest polluter on the Earth, with the main polluter, China, already steering heavily towards renewables.
 
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There are several links in the article I did not add, including a link to the Last Week Tonight video.


FCC Claims DDOS Attacks Following 'Last Week Tonight' Segment

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said it suffered distributed-denial of service (DDoS) attacks following the Last Week Tonight segment on net neutrality. Yet the Fight for the Future advocacy group said it's "extremely skeptical" about the commission's claim it was attacked.

This marks the second time that HBO's show, which is hosted by John Oliver, rallied its viewers around net neutrality. The first time was in June 2014, and Oliver's segment inspired so many comments on the FCC's site that it knocked it offline. Now, following the announcement that FCC chairman Ajit Pai wants to roll back Obama administration regulations of internet service providers, Oliver told viewers to oppose the decision again.

The FCC said in April that it plans to stop regulating ISPs under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. This would make it harder for the FCC to prevent ISPs from, say, prioritizing their own services over competitive offerings. Doing so would give those services an unfair advantage over their competitors, and it would also open up the possibility of ISPs charging you higher fees based on the websites and services you want to use.

Pai said in a speech--a transcript of which you can find on the FCC website--that Title II regulations have caused ISPs to slow their investments in U.S. infrastructure. Materials published by the FCC entitled Internet Regulations: Myths vs Facts and Restoring Internet Freedom For All Americans claimed that rolling back these regulations would lead to renewed investments, better internet access, and the creation of new jobs.

Oliver's segment argued several of these points. He then explained how viewers could comment on the proposal and revealed that Last Week Tonight purchased "gofccyourself.com" and redirected it to the final step of the multi-part process. The segment worked: The FCC's website once again crashed because so many people rushed to comment on it. Or, as the commission said, because it inspired someone to DDoS the site.

Here's what the FCC said in a press release:


Beginning on Sunday night at midnight, our analysis reveals that the FCC was subject to multiple distributed denial-of-service attacks(DDos) [sic]. These were deliberate attempts by external actors to bombard the FCC?s comment system with a high amount of traffic to our commercial cloud host. These actors were not attempting to file comments themselves; rather they made it difficult for legitimate commenters to access and file with the FCC. While the comment system remained up and running the entire time, these DDoS events tied up the servers and prevented them from responding to people attempting to submit comments. We have worked with our commercial partners to address this situation and will continue to monitor developments going forward.


Fight for the Future said in a statement that the FCC's claims are extremely unlikely. The digital rights group said two possible scenarios could explain the FCC's claim: that the commission is "being intentionally misleading" so it can "let [itself] off the hook for essentially silencing large numbers of people" by not having a stable enough website, or that someone actually conducted a DDoS attack on the commission's site.

The group called on the FCC to release logs to independent security experts or media outlets to investigate the claims of an attack. It later said in an email to Tom's Hardware:

We have now read that the FCC is claiming this also happened in 2014 during the last John Oliver segment about the issue, and we are even more skeptical. Why was this not widely publicized at the time when there was widespread media coverage that the FCC's site had buckled under the weight of massive numbers of comments generated by Oliver and the net neutrality activists behind BattleForTheNet.com?

Either way, it's clear that many people oppose the FCC's plan to roll back open internet protections. Can all of that be pinned on Last Week Tonight and its host? Was the FCC targeted by DDoS attacks? And how much do the answers to those questions matter, apart from their distraction from the bigger issue?
 
Somehow the whole of Europe manages to maintain net neutrality and good service, yet in the US you have to whore your connection out to ISPs for it to be "competitive" and "create jobs". Doesn't sound like lobbying is behind it at all.
 
This country is led by ad revenue and lobbying, how do you think things will go with a system like that?
 
Ask Australia.


Just seen on the BBC news:

FBI director Comey sacked by Trump

"Today, President Donald J Trump informed FBI Director James Comey that he has been terminated and removed from office," said a White House statement.

The surprise move comes after Mr Comey acknowledged giving inaccurate information about Hillary Clinton's emails to Congress last week.

Mrs Clinton has blamed Mr Comey for her election defeat to Donald Trump.
 
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Ask Australia.


Just seen on the BBC news:

FBI director Comey sacked by Trump

A Redditor put it best:

Trump fired the man who was investigating his campaign's possible ties to Russian interference in the election at the recommendation of the AG WHO FUCKING RECUSED HIMSELF FROM THAT INVESTIGATION I FUCKING CANNOT.

Nothing surprises me anymore. Fuck this bullshit. You can never convince me that Russia didn't help fuck this election up.
 
Good, the man is a hack. Do you really want someone who thinks it's okay to break the law, so long as there is no obvious intent to break the law, even though the law doesn't require intent, investigating Trump's alleged connections to Russia?

Good riddance.
 
Trump's firing of Comey...
To quote Richard from Fast & Loud: "That's a win-win-win!"

1. Gets rid of the possibility that Comey could pull another stunt like he did by damning Hillary with faint - no wait! - NO praise.
2. Gives Trump's team a new flag to wave: "We stand for justice, no matter who Comey's investigation hurt!"
3. Trump's rubber-stamp administration gets to pick the new head of the FBI - and you can bet it won't be someone likely to be critical of Russian hair-stroking...

Or, as I said to my better half earlier today: "I think we're in for the messiest four years in history!"

SL
 
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Good, the man is a hack. Do you really want someone who thinks it's okay to break the law, so long as there is no obvious intent to break the law, even though the law doesn't require intent, investigating Trump's alleged connections to Russia?

Good riddance.

Don't get me wrong, he's a fucking shit stain.

But he should not have been brought on in the first fucking place if the reasoning behind his dismissal is even remotely true.

Why pretend that everything is hunky dory until now?

Something stinks about this whole thing.
 
Don't get me wrong, he's a fucking shit stain.

But he should not have been brought on in the first fucking place if the reasoning behind his dismissal is even remotely true.

Why pretend that everything is hunky dory until now?

Something stinks about this whole thing.

Everything stinks in DC. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
 
Do you really want someone who thinks it's okay to break the law, so long as there is no obvious intent to break the law, even though the law doesn't require intent, investigating Trump's alleged connections to Russia?

So do you support a special prosecutor?
 
Good, the man is a hack. Do you really want someone who thinks it's okay to break the law, so long as there is no obvious intent to break the law, even though the law doesn't require intent, investigating Trump's alleged connections to Russia?

Good riddance.

I agree that Comey should have been dismissed...a long time ago (but can you imagine the shitstorm had Obama fired him back in November? ;))

However, the timing of his firing is raising some serious questions.

Monday:
KENNEDY: Mr. Clapper, does Mr. Putin have any assets in the United States?

CLAPPER: I don't know the answer to the question.

KENNEDY: Who would know that?

CLAPPER: Well, some component in the intelligence community might know it or the FBI, but I don't know.

KENNEDY: Do you know if any of Mr. Putin's friends might have assets in the United States that are being held for Mr. Putin?

CLAPPER: That's a possibility, yes.

KENNEDY: Who would know that? Same person?

CLAPPER: I'm sorry?

KENNEDY: Who would know that? Same person?

CLAPPER: I would guess the FBI.
(and the rest of the hearing continued in the same tone pointing to the FBI as the agency who would be able to provide answers)

Tuesday: Trump fires FBI Director Comey.

Sure, that is not definitive proof of anything, but it smells fishy as hell.
 
Hollywood perhaps.
I try not think about Hollywood. Or California, for that matter. :p

So do you support a special prosecutor?
The same one used against Hillary Clinton? ;)

I agree that Comey should have been dismissed...a long time ago (but can you imagine the shitstorm had Obama fired him back in November? ;))

However, the timing of his firing is raising some serious questions.

Monday:

(and the rest of the hearing continued in the same tone pointing to the FBI as the agency who would be able to provide answers)

Tuesday: Trump fires FBI Director Comey.

Sure, that is not definitive proof of anything, but it smells fishy as hell.
It sounds like there was no good time to fire Comey, but thankfully that didn't stop them from doing what needed to be done.

Besides, according to the letter Comey received, there is no FBI investigation into Trump.

james-comey_letter.jpg


Even I find that a bit odd.
 
It sounds like there was no good time to fire Comey, but thankfully that didn't stop them from doing what needed to be done.

Besides, according to the letter Comey received, there is no FBI investigation into Trump.

james-comey_letter.jpg


Even I find that a bit odd.

Sure, there was no good time, but Trump seems to have picked the worst possible time.

Also, his wording of his letter is not just odd, it attempts at self-vindication, that is clearly a lie.

From March 20:
?I?ve been authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that the FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election,? Comey said in testimony before the House Intelligence Committee. ?That includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia?s efforts.?
 
We should break this down into a couple of Questions:

  • Should Comey have been fired for his handling of the E-mail investigation?
  • Was Comey actually fired for that or for another reason?
  • Would Comey still be in Office under President Clinton at this time and what would your reaction be in this scenario?

The answers to questions 1 and 3 will likely depend on your political views and Question Number 2 will just produce a speculation either way.

Thing is - none of this matters (for now) and only question Nr2 is relevant to start with. You can chase your tail all day long trying to figure this out, dig into your partisan trench and throw angry words at each other. But at this time there is not sufficient information to answer that very important question Number 2.

There are two things that do matter.
First is the question about who will be the next FBI director. Obama chose someone considered non-partisan. A bush-era republican who gained the trust of democrats over time. Does not matter what you think about Comey, but picking someone like that was the right way to go IMHO. What will Trump do? Who knows ...
Which brings us to the second thing that matters here and that is that this is another instance that shows that this President (and his administration) cannot be trusted. Nothing he says is reliable. Not to his voters, not to his party, not to his international allies and least of all - to his opponents. He either lies or changes his mind all the time - either way we are here presented with another thing to add to the long list of instances where statements by the president (or/and his administration) are directly contradicted by other statements or actions.

This creates Instability and instability is no way to run a country. This is not good for business. This is not good for keeping peace inside the country or in the world. Or to Trump-lingo this: Bad!
 
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The same one used against Hillary Clinton? ;)

Is the inability to answer a question without dodging a requirement to join the conservatives or just a personal failing?

First is the question about who will be the next FBI director. Obama chose someone considered non-partisan. A bush-era republican who gained the trust of democrats over time. Does not matter what you think about Comey, but picking someone like that was the right way to go IMHO. What will Trump do? Who knows ...

We know exactly what he'll do based on all his previous appointments. He will either:

A. Pick a loyalist.
B. Not appoint anyone at all.

I'd normally lean A, but in this case I'm split on which choice he'll make depending on if he believes leaving the FBI without a director will stall the Russia investigation.

Speaking of...

CNN said:
Federal prosecutors have issued grand jury subpoenas to associates of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn seeking business records, as part of the ongoing probe of Russian meddling in last year's election, according to people familiar with the matter. CNN learned of the subpoenas hours before President Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey.

The subpoenas represent the first sign of a significant escalation of activity in the FBI's broader investigation begun last July into possible ties between Trump campaign associates and Russia.

And that's why Flynn wasn't given immunity.
 
I was listening to NPR's Up First and they pointed out, this is the third person fired that was investigating the Trump campaign in some way.

It seems to me that if Trump is trying to put out the fire before he gets burned, he is making a lot of smoke that is drawing attention to it.
 
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