The suzerain Trump

[Brian Peacock]

I don't think the US will be at war with China in 5-10 years if Trumpists are still in charge - I think it will be an inward looking, self-comsuming global political irrelevance. The huge US military budget is enrirely dependent on massive borrowing and the domestic economy dependent on cheap labour and huge susidies: those debts can only be serviced by the US's active participation in a functional global economy, the operating conditions of which Trumpists cannot singlehandedly define, let alone control (although this is clearly their earnest desire).

[Svartalf]

My youngest son Nick is doing a Master's degree this year, and is trying to do one semester of it at a US university. Not sure how the whole Trump visa thing will affect this plan...

He's Ozzy, it shouldn't bother him unless he arrives in the US wearing a kaffiah...

EDIT then again, I wasn't aware that Frump had flamd turnbull on the phone at the timme I wrote the above, now all calls are off.

[Tyrannical]

My youngest son Nick is doing a Master's degree this year, and is trying to do one semester of it at a US university. Not sure how the whole Trump visa thing will affect this plan...

I could request a Trump "friend of Pauline Hanson" visa waiver. Let me go tweet that request for you know........

[Scot Dutchy]

This the man that really worries me:

Steve Bannon: The unelected 'alt-right' figurehead running the White House

Mr Bannon is moving quickly to turn his ideas into policy, helping direct the Trump administration's biggest decisions

In November 2015, Stephen K. Bannon — then the executive chairman of Breitbart News — was hosting a satellite radio show. His guest was Montana Representative Ryan Zinke, who opposed President Obama’s plan to resettle some Syrian refugees in the United States.

“We need to put a stop on refugees until we can vet,” Mr Zinke said.

Mr Bannon cut him off. “Why even let ’em in?” he asked.

Mr Bannon said that vetting refugees from Muslim-majority countries would cost money and time. “Can’t that money be used in the United States?” he said. “Should we just take a pause and a hiatus for a number of years on any influx from that area of the world?”

In the years before Mr Bannon grabbed the world’s attention as President Trump’s chief White House strategist, he was developing and articulating a fiery populist vision for remaking the United States and its role in the world.

More...

This man is really dangerous because he is not stupid like Trump.

[Svartalf]

They all worry me, not just bannon, though his appointment as top level adviser is proof that the prez is completely off his rocker... believing more in conspiration stuff than in serious info, and will not listen to reasonable voices... but the worst is still frump itself, though his son in law is not to be trusted either and pence is a religious fanatic whose replacing frump (say, in case of an impeachment) is to be more feared than desired.

[Animavore]

To think America once fought Nazis. No wonder I'm reading articles like this -

I leave the US with a heavy heart and complete disgust. I am ashamed of the country I once served

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/201701 ... nce-served

[Forty Two]

Unless you're a child refugee from Syria, in which all vetting is suspended, indefinitely, and you're just banned.

Temporarily, until a vetting system is set up. 120 days for refugees.

US citizens also commit crimes, and sometimes even acts of terror. Surely these people should be banned from the US too?

Is that what other western industrialized countries do? They don't vet their incoming immigrants and don't take steps to remove criminal immigrants?

I oppose Trump's executive order as unwise, but I don't overblow it. The protests against it are out of all proportion, IMO. Reasonable minds can differ. If I were Trump, I would have given some time before implementation, at least so that people who are en route don't have the rules changed on them. It was unwise, but Trump likes to do things this way. You know why? Because he's "setting the bar" -- he's saying, "here, I can bar them all -- so come up with some alternative I like, so that we can relax the system from my new starting point..." -- i.e., he wants to negotiate on his side from the strongest position possible. He's not going to come hat-in-hand to Congress or to the BCIS and ICE and say "please can we come up with a stronger vetting system." He's putting people at attention and waking them up from their slumber - to force them to move and move fast on this. He doesn't want to fuck around with months of meetings and discussions and proposals, and political maneuvering. He just made the choice very clear: I'll ban them all if we don't come up with a workable, effective vetting system.

[Tero]

Trump accuses Australia's prime minister of trying to send US the 'next Boston bombers' in 'worst deal ever'

These Australians, They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. They are terrorists. And some, I assume, are good people.

[Forty Two]

What is a 90 day ban going to achieve?

It's to stop incoming persons until a new review/vetting system is put in place.

Is shame ban is violate 1st & 14th Amendment, no?

Unlikely, as the executive order applies only to 7 out of about 30 Muslim majority countries, never mentions the word Muslim, and applies based on nationality, not religion. Making distinctions based on nationality is at the heart of immigration law the world over. The 14th Amendment is not applicable to the federal government, as it prevents State (as in the 50 states) action. The federal government's obligation toward equal protection arises out of the 5th amendment due process clause. See Bolling v Sharpe (US Supreme Court 1954).

Banning immigration or entry of nationals from one country but not another has never been held to be a violation of the Constitution. There is no right for foreign nationals to enter the country, or to be allowed to enter under the same terms as every other country. There is no country in the world, in fact, that treats arrivals from all countries the same.

[Animavore]

Trump threatens funding cut if UC Berkeley 'does not allow free speech'

http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... allow-free

What a cunt. He has no business interfering.

[Animavore]

Meanwhile in Texas.

Cypress Ranch High School students in hot water after Hitler pose in senior pictures.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/cypre ... r-pictures

More evidence of Nazi empowerment since they have their guys in charge.

[Animavore]

President Trump has two words of advice for Mitch McConnell when it comes to confirming Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch: "Go nuclear."

Trump was referring to the so-called nuclear option, whereby the Senate leader would change the chamber's rules to prevent Democrats from filibustering the nominee.

The president told reporters at the start of a White House meeting with conservative activists who support the nomination that Gorsuch "will be a great justice." He said it would be "very dishonest" for Senate Democrats, who previously backed Gorsuch when he was nominated to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals, to oppose him now for the Supreme Court.

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/01/512872512 ... t=20170201

[Brian Peacock]

Unless you're a child refugee from Syria, in which all vetting is suspended, indefinitely, and you're just banned.

Temporarily, until a vetting system is set up. 120 days for refugees.

The order make clear that Syria is a special case (you've even noted this yourself) beyond the scope of the USRAP review, that all Syrian refugee programs are suspended, and that under Section 5.c the prez will decide if and when any program starts and on what terms. The order foes not day they will start up in 120 days time but only as and when the prez says so.

The question remains, if the order is intended to protect American lives how does admitting Syrian refugee children undermine that principle or actually put American lives at risk?

US citizens also commit crimes, and sometimes even acts of terror. Surely these people should be banned from the US too?

Is that what other western industrialized countries do? They don't vet their incoming immigrants and don't take steps to remove criminal immigrants?

I oppose Trump's executive order as unwise, but I don't overblow it. The protests against it are out of all proportion, IMO. Reasonable minds can differ. If I were Trump, I would have given some time before implementation, at least so that people who are en route don't have the rules changed on them. It was unwise, but Trump likes to do things this way. You know why? Because he's "setting the bar" -- he's saying, "here, I can bar them all -- so come up with some alternative I like, so that we can relax the system from my new starting point..." -- i.e., he wants to negotiate on his side from the strongest position possible. He's not going to come hat-in-hand to Congress or to the BCIS and ICE and say "please can we come up with a stronger vetting system." He's putting people at attention and waking them up from their slumber - to force them to move and move fast on this. He doesn't want to fuck around with months of meetings and discussions and proposals, and political maneuvering. He just made the choice very clear: I'll ban them all if we don't come up with a workable, effective vetting system.

Gish gallop all you want but neither you nor Trump can cite evidence to support banning entry from these countries without simply assuming malignant ill intent on behalf of all Muslims.

As to the gallop itself,
I've recently asked you questions about what you consider the proper bounds of protest (as yet unaddressed) but I'm wondering now how protesting something you say you disagree with then becomes the product of an unreasonable mind. Please elaborate.

[Animavore]

Donald Trump: 'I will totally destroy the Johnson amendment' and allow religious groups to endorse political candidates.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 59421.html

Wow!

[Animavore]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 59421.html