The suzerain Trump

[L'Emmerdeur]

We live in interesting times. This is not particularly to my liking.

Speaking of interesting times, apparently there is already some fallout from the infamous dossier: "US intel sources warn Israel against sharing secrets with Trump administration"

Donald Trump’s upcoming inauguration as the next president of the United States is causing Israeli intelligence officials to lose sleep as well. Discussions held in closed forums recently raised fears of a leakage of Israeli intelligence top-classified information, clandestine modus oprandi and sources, which have been exposed to the American intelligence community over the past 15 years, to Russia – and from there to Iran.

The cause of concern are the suspicions of unreported ties between the president-elect or his associates and the Kremlin, whose agents are also associated with intelligence officials in Tehran.

These fears, which began upon Trump’s election, grew stronger following a meeting held recently between Israeli and American intelligence officials (the date of the meeting is not mentioned to protect the sources of the report). During the meeting, according to the Israelis who participated in it, their American colleagues voiced despair over Trump’s election, as he often lashes out at the American intelligence community. . . .

The Americans implied that their Israeli colleagues should “be careful” as of January 20, Trump’s inauguration date, when transferring intelligence information to the White House and to the National Security Council (NSC), which is subject to the president. According to the Israelis who were present in the meeting, the Americans recommended that until it is made clear that Trump is not inappropriately connected to Russia and is not being extorted – Israel should avoid revealing sensitive sources to administration officials for fear the information would reach the Iranians.

[Tero]

This just in! Trump to ban Wikipedia as fake news. In a first step, all Government computers will have Wilipedia blocked.

Wikipedia. Wilipedia is just the chapter on Bill Clinton.

[pErvinalia]

[L'Emmerdeur]

One of "the best people": "Trump aide Monica Crowley plagiarized thousands of words in Ph.D. dissertation"

Conservative commentator Monica Crowley, who is slated to serve in a top national security communications role in Donald Trump's presidential administration, plagiarized thousands of words of her 2000 dissertation for her Columbia University Ph.D., a CNN KFile review has found.

On Monday, Politico reported that it found more than a dozen examples of plagiarism in Crowley's Ph.D. dissertation. CNN's KFile has found nearly 40 lengthy instances of Crowley lifting paragraphs from numerous sources, including several scholarly texts, the Associated Press, and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
The revelation comes on the heels of another CNN KFile investigation, which found more than 50 instances of plagiarism in Crowley's 2012 book, "What The (Bleep) Just Happened." On Tuesday, the book's publisher, HarperCollins, announced that it would stop selling the book until "the author has the opportunity to source and revise the material."

Crowley's first plagiarism scandal came in 1999, the year before she submitted her dissertation. After The New York Times reported a reader found that a column she wrote in the Wall Street Journal strongly resembled a 1988 article in the neoconservative magazine Commentary, a Journal editor said that the paper would not have published her piece if it had known of the parallels. Crowley denied the charge but acknowledged that the language is similar.

[. . .]

Trump has tapped Crowley, a syndicated radio host, columnist, author, and longtime Fox News contributor to be his senior director of strategic communications for the National Security Council.

The Trump transition team's statement announcing Crowley's selection hailed her reputation as a scholar.

[pErvinalia]

Trump has a thing for plagiarisers, it seems.

Pretty much sums up the intellectual depth of his whole campaign and likely coming administration.

[Scot Dutchy]

During the press conference Trump showed files which he claimed proved he was busy separating his business and presidential work.

They were blank.

Donald Trump press conference: Folders 'containing his business plan' appear to be blank

[Animavore]

Donald Trump Will Be A Disaster For Autistic People

Donald Trump has never been a fan of disabled people. He's got an obsession with the appearance of being "weak" or "crazy," was hyperfocused on the idea that Hillary Clinton had some kind of neurological disorder like epilepsy, which he clearly viewed as a sort of human failing, and infamously mocked reporter Serge Kovaleski. But of all of the groups out there whom Donald Trump disdains, whom his policies will endanger profoundly, autistic people stand to suffer the most.

Trump's coming at them from all sides. First, there's his coy dabbling with antivaccine generalissimos like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and the Vaxxed crowd. Kennedy met with Trump and claimed that Trump had invited Junior to head up a "vaccine safety and scientific integrity" commission of some kind. It would certainly be richly ironic to have avowed antivaccine irrationalist Kennedy head up a commission on anything having to do with public health. The Trump team almost immediately equivocated about Kennedy's statements, basically categorizing them as the equivalent of a nice chat. Currently, Kennedy is reported to be saying that he will be heading up such a commission while the Trump camp has no more comment.

But that chat, according to Trump's team, was about autism, not vaccines, and about "forming a commission on Autism [sic]." Add that to Trump's brash and reckless pre-election assertions about vaccines and autism, one of the few public health issues he attends to at all, and you've got the makings for an all-out destruction of the edifices that support the autistic population. Trump's negative attention never bodes anything good and almost invariably means he intends to lay waste to the target.

...

If Donald Trump has his way, autistic people will become increasingly stigmatized, again, by a 20-year-old damaging, fraudulent sleight-of-hand that has haunted many of them for their entire lives. If Donald Trump has his way, the rights of autistic people to a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment could slip through their fingers just as they will be allowed to slip through our nation's educational cracks. If Donald Trump has his way, autistic people will lose health care and coverage, access to treatment and therapies, and some of them will die.

And make no mistake. My focus is on autism and has been for a long time. But if it can happen to autistic people because of their disabilities, it can happen to you because the odds are high that you or someone you love will be disabled in your lifetime. So if Donald Trump is coming for autistics, don't look away. He's coming for you or someone you love, too.

Full; http://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillin ... 67a442201b

[Scot Dutchy]

They are the lucky ones.

[Animavore]

This is some good news. Over 500 companies worth over 3 trillion have written an letter to Trump telling him and his administration to cop-on to themselves with regard their climate denial stance. A lot of companies now are starting to learn that climate change is bad for business and will only get worse.

http://www.newstalk.com/Major-corporati ... nge-denial

“We want the US economy to be energy efficient and powered by low-carbon energy,” reads the statement. “Cost-effective and innovative solutions can help us achieve these objectives.”

“Failure to build a low-carbon economy puts American prosperity at risk, but the right action now will create jobs and boost US competitiveness.

“We pledge to do our part, in our own operations and beyond, to realize the Paris Agreement’s commitment of a global economy that limits global temperature rise to well below 2°C.”

The group said that US implementation of the Paris Agreement will “enable and encourage businesses and investors to turn the billions of dollars in existing low-carbon investments into the trillions of dollars the world needs to bring clean energy and prosperity to all.”

“We support leaders around the world as they seek to implement the Paris Agreement and leverage this historic opportunity to tackle climate change,” they said.

Seriously, Trump. Cop-on to yourself.

[Tero]

Ryan losing his Ayn Rand libertarian edge. He thinks Goverment should be involved in healthcare!

"We're working on this as fast as possible," he said, adding that the GOP will act "definitely within these first 100 days" of Trump's presidency.
Ryan's comments align the speaker with President-elect Donald Trump, who said at a news conference Wednesday that repealing and replacing Obamacare should happen "essentially simultaneously." Some Republicans on Capitol Hill have urged more caution, however, as the party tries to find consensus on a plan to replace the law that has insured millions of people.
At the outset of the town hall, Ryan didn't say that the government has an obligation to insure every American.
"I clearly think there's a role for the government in health care, no doubt about it," the Wisconsin Republican said.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/12/politics/ ... index.html

[L'Emmerdeur]

In another thread, instead of responding to my on-topic post, Forty Two has up till now ignored it, and chooses instead to respond to an unrelated aside; deflecting, for whatever reason. I'm not going to help him derail the other thread, so will respond here.

An interesting coincidence: "Donald Trump’s Legal Team Won a ‘Russia Law Firm of The Year’ Award"

The lawyer at Trump's press conference yesterday who laid out the non-divestiture, "trust me, we won't talk about business," and "oh, it would be too big a sacrifice for him to actually divest" plan is a partner in the firm mentioned above--Morgan Lewis & Bokius.

Given how bad a businessman Trump is, it shouldn't matter, should it? The guy bankrupted a casino! He has zero business acumen and would have done better if he just put money in the bank, sat home and watched TV and watched his interest grow. The notion this "buffoon" would be able to piece together a national policy that benefits his businesses is absurd! He's too stupid for that. The guy is a complete idiot!

But, he has to comply with the law. There is no doubt that if there is an illegal conflict of interest while he is in office, that the Democrats, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, the Washington Post, the New York Times, etc., will let us know all about it, and all the members of the legal academia will have no problem writing lengthy opinions on why a business interest or property holding does or does not constitute a conflict. Other than degree, these issues are not new. Other Presidents have been very wealthy and owned significant business interests. The Kennedys have always been rich and had vast business enterprises for nearly 100 years. Nobody was hand-wringing about Ted Kennedy when he ran, and nobody was worried about the Emoluments Clause when Kennedy was President -- well, at least not more than with any President. The President can't receive an emolument from a foreign power. Great. That term has Constitutional meaning and should be enforced. If he breaks it, then fine. He should be prosecuted.

If you folks are right, and the steps being taken by the President Elect are bogus and inconsequential, then he's going to be prosecuted. That should be your greatest wish -- it's a gift to you. You hate him. If he can't even manage to structure things so he doesn't break the law or Constitution, then with all the enemies he's created -- Cruz, Kasich, the entire Bush family, John McCain, Paul Ryan, and ever, single Democrat -- plus, the fact that he is a well-known buffoon, idiot, moron, blowhard, lousy businessman, non-politician, with no experience, and no ability to build a coalition of any kind due to his massive ego, how hard will it be to get him impeached?

I pointed out that the legal firm employed by Trump to create his bogus response to conflict of interest issues is apparently highly regarded in Russia. Your response has nothing to do with that observation.

The way that the laws relating to the presidency are structured, Trump could ignore the precedent set by pretty much all of his predecessors going back at least to Lyndon Johnson. He is essentially correct when he says that the president "can't have a conflict of interest," from a purely legalistic view. If he wants to continue to profit from his business interests, and even do so in a way that would be absolutely illegal for any other governmental official except for the vice president, he can legally do so. I think that he will. Would that be OK with you, Forty Two?

[Brian Peacock]

If it's not against the law then he wouldn't be doing anything wrong, because the defined the bounds of all moral and ethical argument - so some would say.

Would he be within the law to pass a legislation giving property developers tax exemptions?

[Svartalf]

Since Kelo vs New London, everything is possible, even giving private property developers access to eminent domain expropriations...

[L'Emmerdeur]

If it's not against the law then he wouldn't be doing anything wrong, because the defined the bounds of all moral and ethical argument - so some would say.

Would he be within the law to pass a legislation giving property developers tax exemptions?

It appears that part of his infrastructure plan does exactly that. "Trump Infrastructure Plan Busted For Being A Tax Cut Scam That Won’t Create Jobs"

Democrats should not be fooled. In typical Republican fashion, Trump is trying to pass off a tax cut plan as a jobs bill. Trump’s tax cuts don’t require contractors to qualify for the savings by beginning new infrastructure. The tax cuts are going to be pocketed by construction investors, like Donald Trump for example, for investing in projects that may have nothing to do with infrastructure or the common good.

[Tero]

Just 4 in 10 people polled by Gallup say they approve of the way Trump is handling his transition — a stand-in for presidential approval in this odd three-month interregnum. Those are the lowest marks ever measured by Gallup for an incoming president.