Trump, the man with a dream of a Wall

[Tero]

Sessions plans police state. Bag of pot at home? We will take your house
Sessions greenlights police to seize cash, property from people suspected of crimes but not charged
“The goal here is to empower our police and prosecutors with this important tool that can be used to combat crime, particularly drug abuse,” Rosenstein said at a news briefing. “This is going to enable us to work with local police and our prosecutors to make sure that when assets are lawfully seized that they’re not returned to criminals when there’s a valid basis for them to be forfeited.”
WP

[pErvinalia]

Why not just go full on Duterte? Extra-judicial killings. After all, Trump is a fan of Duterte.

[Brian Peacock]

Those with nothing to hide have nothing worth stealing.

[mistermack]

Sessions plans police state. Bag of pot at home? We will take your house
Sessions greenlights police to seize cash, property from people suspected of crimes but not charged
“The goal here is to empower our police and prosecutors with this important tool that can be used to combat crime, particularly drug abuse,” Rosenstein said at a news briefing. “This is going to enable us to work with local police and our prosecutors to make sure that when assets are lawfully seized that they’re not returned to criminals when there’s a valid basis for them to be forfeited.”
WP

This could be a good law, applied to billionaires. The police could suspect them of fraud, money laundering and tax evasion, and confiscate their assets, unless they could account for every penny.
Let's start with Donald Trump. I'm sure he's clean, and can prove it.

[Tero]

Trump is playing games. There is no fair or unfair trade agreement. It is only a list of things to trade or things to exclude.
Trump signals he may drop tariffs if a 'fair' NAFTA agreement is signed
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/05/trump-s ... igned.html

[Brian Peacock]

It's cowboy economics. He's doing the political equivalent of Jack Palance in Shane.

[Tero]

He has, or someone for him, finally come out to state some conditions:
”Mr. Trump has repeatedly said he would pull the U.S. out of Nafta if the partner countries don’t agree on a new version with mechanisms designed to balance trade in the bloc. The Trump administration is seeking to update the original labor provisions with stronger rules aimed at lifting the salaries of Mexican manufacturing workers, whom many U.S. officials blame for taking American factory jobs.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-link ... 1520255435

But there is no mechanism to force balance of trade.

[L'Emmerdeur]

He's president, so why can't he adorn his golf courses with the presidential seal? Why?

'Trump Organization Ordered Presidential Seal Tee Markers for Golf Courses'

The Trump Organization reportedly placed an order for tee markers carrying the presidential seal that were to be displayed on golf courses owned by President Donald Trump, possibly running afoul of federal law.

ProPublica and WNYC reported on Monday that Eagle Sign and Design, a metalworking and sign-making company based in New Albany, Indiana, received an order to manufacture "dozens of round, 12-inch replicas of the presidential seal to be placed next to the tee boxes at Trump golf course holes."

...

Ethics experts have interpreted federal law to prohibit the commercial use of the presidential seal, and while past presidents have sometimes had objects like golf balls, M&Ms and fine china made with the seal, those instances were strictly for personal use.

Section 18 of the U.S. code says that "whoever … knowingly manufactures, reproduces, sells, or purchases for resale, either separately or appended to any article manufactured or sold, any likeness" of the presidential seal for non-official government use "shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both."

[JimC]

Lock him up!

[Brian Peacock]

Ah, but those courses are for his 'strictly personal use' - when he's there, which he is often.

[Scot Dutchy]

Those courses will be renamed the 'Presidential Golf Course of ......'.

[Scot Dutchy]

Is he starting to run scared?

Trump threatens to sack more White House staff while trying to play down reports of 'chaos'

President attempts to defend himself from reports of possible high-profile departures

[Tero]

Economic advisor resigns due to planned trade war
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/ ... ser-442675

[Seabass]

Bloody fucking hell. This is what happens when the party of creationists and racists picks your head of state.

Trump Confuses North and South Korea

Saturday night, in the middle of a comic speech at the Gridiron Club, President Trump wandered into a completely serious riff about North Korea. “It was headed for disaster and now we’re talking,” he announced. “They, by the way, called up a couple of days ago; they said, ‘We would like to talk,’” Trump said. “And I said, ‘So would we, but you have to denuke.’”

The claim that Trump had spoken with North Korea confounded foreign policy observers. “It was not clear whether Trump was describing a direct conversation or messages sent through diplomatic channels,” reported the Washington Post.

The answer turns out to be: neither. Trump was describing a conversation with South Korea. An official from the National Security Council tells Yonhap News Agency, a South Korean publication, that Trump “was referring to his March 1 phone call with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.” So Trump was close, geographically, but instead of describing a breakthrough exchange with the totalitarian enemy that is developing nukes and threatening to kill us, he was describing the democratic ally that has no nukes and is trying not to be killed.

Trump was right that it was a Korea, but he had the wrong one. There are so many Koreas these days, it is hard to keep track.

[pErvinalia]

No one knows more about the Koreas than Donald Trump. Believe me.