this is the politic thread,,,


MOST of what we saw here during Obamas presidency was people bitchin and complaining

what you DIDNT see was 'he is our President so just support him'

Well now everyone is excited because trump is using unconventional methods whether right or wrong he is the holder of the presidency

If you don't like trump being in office and he screws up let's put the blame or the credit where it goes

The world can thank all the corrupt self serving politicians that have been in office that did not protect and serve the country the ones that took the oath of service and basically spit in the face of the voters

All those corrupt office holders did everything they could to advance their bank accounts and the bank accounts of those that bought and paid for their very souls

The "people" got fed up and wanted a change from the same old politics but the "people" are starting to find out it just may be to late ..... trump has those that bought all those corrupt politicians scared too

Now all of them are seeing the possibility of their agenda being endangered

Now this has created even more of the same old govt only worse ... congress is causing a stalling of the govt to run properly because an outsider got the job of president

This refusal of congress to do there job is what is putting the democratic republic of the United States in danger

When congress does not govern properly and blocks basic functions of govt to progress properly the presidency may just dismiss congress and declare a national emergency thus involving martial law

Get your stores built up & stored away where no one knows where you hid them because homeland has the law to confiscate your stores because they want too

I would also suggest calling your representatives & senators and tell them too start doing their job

Most of this broadening of corruption became easier when the states gave up their control of the Senate and permitted the changing of the constitution and permitted senators to be elected by the people in stead of being appointed by each state's statehouse

ciretom




I realize that Civil Forfeiture has been around for a long time. But when Trmp states (jokingly or not) that he should ruin a Senator's career because the Senator, among others, believes in returning assetts if there is no conviction of a crime ... that's sad.







Transparency in government is one thing ... holding meetings of that nature in public is another.




FarFarRight



American politics / economy affect Canada a great deal. I am also married to an American so what happens here affects her and her family. Also my maternal grandfather was an American / Canadian citizen.

side note: Just your state.... 459,700 jobs in Texas depend on Canada–U.S. trade and investment. Total Canada–Texas goods trade: $41.3 billion.

Texas’ top goods imports from Canada

Crude petroleum: $2.6 billion
Aircraft: $1.2 billion
Plastics & plastic articles: $1.0 billion
Engines & turbines: $829 million
Fuel oil: $786 million


Texas’ top goods exports to Canada

Crude petroleum: $5.1 billion
Fuel oil: $2.8 billion
Plastics & plastic articles: $2.0 billion
Organic chemicals: $1.2 billion
Optical, medical & precision instruments: $1.0 billion


http://www.can-am.gc.ca/business-affaires/fact_sheets-fiches_documentaires/tx.aspx?lang=eng





I am neither Pro-Trump or Anti-Trump. I simply read, observe and as an individual form an opinion. I believe these political forum posts are full of those ... personal opinions.



You haven't been reading these forums for very long have you.

..............................................................



Despite what I read, despite what the opinions of others are and even my own opinions I do hope that Trump succeeds in MAGA. A strong American economy just makes for a strong economy world wide.

I'm sure with that old hide, properly tanned, would make a find pair of shoes.

For starters I would like to point out that there is much more to our government than the presidency.

And for those that are worried as MsHarmony already explained, we do have checks and balances (although as years progress they are considered less and less).

Trump does have qualities to bring to the table that can help our country. He has negotiating skills that involve more than just rolling over and bending to the will of every other country in existence. I used to think he had an eye for talent, but I am left wondering about some of his cabinet choices (although he hit a home run with General Mattis). "The wall" is a foolish notion, and a complete waste of time and energy. He is working with businesses to get them back here, so that is definitely a plus. His biggest weakness is his ego. You poke at him, and he gets defensive. The media knows this and is playing him like a fool. I personally have not seen them be nearly this harsh or critical of anyone in office. This will be his downfall, and may, in turn, be our country's downfall. There are a lot of good ideas I read from his 100 day promise, but only time will tell if he holds true to them.

So I guess we wait and see.

I agree his downfall is his ego,,,

he struck at everyone out the gate, ESPECIALLY media, and he doesn't seem capable of taking what he dishes out

Watching his speach right now.

I don't blame you, it's like talking to a sign post, the only differance is a sign post offers useful information.

Finally addressing the FDA.

yea, but you could have saved $500 dollars with Greico.

im also watching the President speak, so far " great", but I notice how the demoncrats are reacting. Like heartless adolescents unwilling to show support for causes like lower medicine prices, improving education, strengtion America, insurance choices,. How shameless can they get. I guess if Trump was saying give up your guns, abort your baby's, and March with the LGBT group. Then they would be standing and clapping like crazy.

Sure looked like some sulking to me. Wonder why?

Never cared for McCain and he seemed in good spirits.

And this joker Gov. Steve Beshear's Response.

Yeah, I agree. I didn't like it when the Republicans played that game either, back when they were the minority in Congress.

Too bad both major parties have a habit of that kind of stuff.

By the way, you have a lot of spelling errors. Might want to work on your spellcheck a bit.

Watched the speech. Have to agree that the Democrats looked like disgruntled adolescents. However I also noted some things that Trump got wrong ..... or do they count as 'alt-facts'?

****Trump addresses joint session of Congress****


1.... Fact check: Trump on cutting costs from F-35 program

“We’ve saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by bringing down the price of the fantastic new F-35 jet fighter, and will be saving billions more dollars on contracts all across our government.”

THE FACT CHECKER | Trump once again takes credit for the lowered cost of the F-35 program, but the Pentagon had announced cost reductions of roughly $600 million before Trump began meeting with Lockheed Martin’s chief executive. Sometimes Trump says he saved $600 million, other times $700 million.


2.... Fact Check: Bans on Lobbying

“We have begun to drain the swamp of government corruption by imposing a 5-year ban on lobbying by Executive Branch Officials – and a lifetime ban on becoming lobbyists for a foreign government.”

THE FACT CHECKER | Trump did sign an order that he said would result in a lifetime ban on administration officials lobbying for foreign governments. But his five-year ban on lobbying is less than advertised. Trump has originally promised to extend the ban to congressional officials, but he did not. Moreover, the five-year ban applies only to lobbying one’s former agency — not becoming a lobbyist. Moreover, Trump actually weakened some of the language from similar bans under Obama and George W. Bush, and reduced the level of transparency.


3.... Fact check: Trump claim on murders by unauthorized immigrants

“Jamiel’s 17-year-old son was viciously murdered by an illegal immigrant gang member, who had just been released from prison. Jamiel Shaw Jr. was an incredible young man, with unlimited potential who was getting ready to go to college where he would have excelled as a great quarterback. But he never got the chance. His father, who is in the audience tonight, has become a good friend of mine.”

THE FACT CHECKER | Trump likes to use anecdotes as evidence for associating violent crimes with illegal immigration, telling stories of victims of homicide by undocumented immigrants. He brought family members of those killed by illegal immigrants as his guest to tonight’s speech. He often talks about the death of Jamiel Shaw Jr., a 17-year-old football star who was killed in 2008 by a gang member who was in the country illegally.

Clearly, stories like this exist. But the vast majority of unauthorized immigrants do not fit Trump’s description of aggravated felons, whose crimes include murder. U.S. Sentencing Commission data shows homicides are a small percentage of the crimes committed by noncitizens, whether they are in the United States illegally or not.

The Congressional Research Service found that the vast majority of unauthorized immigrants do not fit in the category of aggravated felons, whose crimes include murder, drug trafficking or illegal trafficking of firearms.


4.... Fact Check: $6 trillion spent in the “Middle East’


“America has spent approximately six trillion dollars in the Middle East, all this while our infrastructure at home is crumbling. With this six trillion dollars we could have rebuilt our country –- twice.”

THE FACT CHECKER | Here’s his $6 trillion figure! The president uses it in a particular misleading way, as the $6 trillion-figure adds in estimates of future spending, such as interest on the debt and veterans care for the next three decades. Yet Trump says that this money (not yet spent) could have rebuilt the U.S. economy.

As we noted earlier, the wars in Iraq (in the Middle East) and Afghanistan (in South Asia) together cost about $1.6 trillion from 2001 to 2014.


5.... Fact check: Trump claim on violent crime

“The murder rate in 2015 experienced its largest single-year increase in nearly half a century. In Chicago, more than 4,000 people were shot last year alone — and the murder rate so far this year has been even higher. This is not acceptable in our society.”

THE FACT CHECKER | In 2015, there was the biggest percentage jump in a single year since 1970-1971, or 45 years ago. In 2016, there was an uptick in the homicide rate in the 30 largest cities. One outlier city — Chicago — was responsible for 43.7 percent of the total increase in homicide rates in 2016. But overall, violent crime is on a decades-long decline, since the height of the crack cocaine epidemic in the early 1990s.

Crime trends can randomly fluctuate year to year. Many factors affect such rates, including the weather. This is why criminologists do not make generalizations about crime trends based on short-term comparisons of rates, such as annual or monthly changes. They consider the data over much longer periods of time — at least 10 to 15 years — to make conclusions about trends.


as well as:
FBI: US Homicide Rate at 51-Year Low


6.... Fact Check: Ninety-four million Americans are out of the labor force

“Ninety-four million Americans are out of the labor force.”

THE FACT CHECKER | This is an absurd Four-Pinocchio claim, based on a real number. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, relying on a monthly survey known as the Current Population Survey (CPS), shows that, as of January 2016, 94.4 million Americans 16 years and older were “not in labor force.”

How is this number developed? Well, there is a civilian noninstitutional population of 254.1 million people, and 159.7 million are in the labor force. The difference yields the 94.4 million figure.

But the unemployment rate is only 4.8 percent because just 7.6 million people actively are looking for a job and cannot find one. They are considered part of the overall labor force. In other words, you have to be seeking a job to be counted in the labor force.

Who are the 94 million not in the labor force? The BLS has data for the year 2015. It turns out that 93 percent do not want a job at all. The picture that emerges from a study of the data shows that the 95 million consists mostly of people who are retired, students, stay-at-home parents or disabled.

Trump is doing a real disservice in citing this 94 million figure and suggesting it means these people are looking for work.


7.... To argue for stricter vetting of immigrants, Trump invokes attacks carried out by U.S. citizens

The male San Bernardino shooter was born in Illinois; his wife, with whom he carried out the attack, was born in Pakistan. (The FBI said the male gunman had been plotting attacks for years before he met her.) The Boston Marathon bombers were brothers born in Russia and Kyrgyzstan. Neither country was mentioned in Trump’s original ban, nor are they expected to be on the revised version. (The younger of the brothers, who was sentenced to death for the bombing, was a naturalized U.S. citizen.) None of the Sept. 11 hijackers who attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001 were from countries on the ban list. (Most were from Saudi Arabia, while the rest were from Egypt, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates.)

Trump’s comments about most people convicted of terrorism and terrorism-related offenses since 9/11 — rather than people who actually carried out attacks — could be true, but the Department of Homeland Security, analyzing his travel ban, recently noted a data point that stands in contrast to it.

Since the beginning of the Syrian conflict in March 2011, the report said, more than half of the 82 people who died in the pursuit of or were convicted of any terrorism-related offense inspired by a foreign terrorist organization, slightly more than half were native-born U.S. citizens.

ince 2001, every deadly jihadist attack inside the United States was carried out by a U.S. citizen or legal resident, according to data collected by New America, a Washington-based nonprofit group. “Far from being foreign infiltrators, the large majority of jihadist terrorists in the United States have been American citizens or legal residents,” the group said in a report on its findings.


8.... Fact check: Trump exaggerates the impacts of illegal immigration


“By finally enforcing our immigration laws we will raise wages, help the unemployed, save billions and billions of dollars and make our communities safer for everyone.”

THE FACT CHECKER | Trump exaggerates the impact of illegal immigration on crime, taxpayer money and jobs.

Extensive research shows noncitizens are not more prone to criminality than U.S.-born citizens. The vast majority of unauthorized immigrants are not criminal aliens or aggravated felons.

Trump appears to reference the cost of illegal immigration from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which supports lower levels of legal and illegal immigration. According to the group, the annual cost of illegal immigration at the federal, state and local level were about $113 billion as of 2013.

But this calculation makes assumptions that are not necessarily tied to illegal immigration, like enrollment in limited English proficiency classes. The enrollment number doesn’t tell you anything about the actual citizenship status of students (i.e., they could be native-born children of undocumented immigrants, raised in a non-English-speaking home).


9.... Fact Check: ‘Trillions’ spent overseas

“We’ve spent trillions of dollars overseas, while our infrastructure at home has so badly crumbled.”

THE FACT CHECKER: Trump often incorrectly claims that the United States spent $6 trillion on the wars in the Middle East (while including Afghanistan) but here he plays it safe. The wars in Iraq (in the Middle East) and Afghanistan (in South Asia) together cost about $1.6 trillion from 2001 to 2014. His $6 trillion-figure adds in estimates of future spending, such as interest on the debt and veterans care for the next three decades.

Former president Barack Obama often pleaded with the GOP-led Congress to pass a major infrastructure bill but never received much support. We will see if Trump has any more success.


10....Trump vows “clean air and clean water” as EPA cuts loom

Trump’s vow “to promote clean air and clear water” Tuesday evening drew howls from environmental advocates, who noted that only hours earlier he had signed an executive order aimed at unraveling an Obama-era regulation known as the Clean Water Rule.

His comments came amid reports that the Trump administration wants to make significant cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, rolling back numerous regulations of recent years and shrinking the agency’s overall role. The agency’s newly confirmed administrator, Scott Pruitt, repeatedly sued the EPA in recent years, arguing that it had overreached its legal authority.

On the campaign trail last year, Trump made clear his disdain for the agency. “We are going to get rid of it in almost every form,” he said. “We’re going to have little tidbits left. But we’re going to take a tremendous amount out.”


Above from Washington Post




More at: Trump Check-Fact-checking and context for President Donald Trump's address to Congress


Insofar as calling on the widow of the S.E.A.L. ... I await the reaction of the dead man's father. The father who already stated he "did not want Trump to hide behind his son's body" but wanted an investigation in the how / why. As to the "valuable intell collected" .. the military has already stated that there was no intell of value gathered.

I think Trump needs his staff to do better research for him. Using figures that can be easily disproved just isn't a good idea.

You can't possibly believe all of that

To be fair, the media has been harsh. I believe his striking out is the result of being bombarded. He needs to develop skin think enough to rival military armor. Even then, there are many, many, powerful people who want to see him fail. They are playing him hard, and he is jumping to their tune. The unfortunate thing is the media is losing credibility as they are attacking EVERYTHING he, his family, or any of his associates are doing. So if he actually does something deserving of legitimate concern it will be hard to filter through all the noise.