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Donald Trump 2019


Francisco 2.0

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1 hour ago, Texas666 said:

Starving Hispanics and cutting off millions in health care. What a vengeful LIAR! 

FUCK ALL YOU RACIST "Christian" FRAUDS!

Well, maybe it's not quite that bad, but the level of hypocrisy shown by a lot of so called good Christians is indeed breathtaking.

I don't think many of them care at all about the teachings of Jesus.

They are the modern-day equivalent of the Pharisees: they are political christians, not religious christians. 

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Trump is baffling to me sometimes with right now essentially trying to make health care a huge issue for 2020.  He just got basically positive news from the Mueller report and the economic numbers right now are historically good ranges for being re-elected, but he wants to turn his focus towards ACA so quickly.  The more 2020 talks about health care I believe the worse for him.   

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2 minutes ago, UTDD said:

Trump is baffling to me sometimes with right now essentially trying to make health care a huge issue for 2020.  He just got basically positive news from the Mueller report and the economic numbers right now are historically good ranges for being re-elected, but he wants to turn his focus towards ACA so quickly.  The more 2020 talks about health care I believe the worse for him.   

It's almost like he's an idiot who doesn't understand how shit works. 

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Max Boot's switch from Neocon to Liberal is complete, but I've been impressed with his foreign relations work since being forced to read "The Savage Wars for Peace" in a US Foreign Policy class in college.

Spoiler

Trump just made a huge mistake in the Middle East
 
Israeli tourists view the Syrian side of the border at Ben Tal next to the Israeli-Syrian border in the Golan Heights on Friday. (Atef Safadi/EPA-EFE/REX)

By Max Boot
Columnist
March 22
President Trump’s announcement that “it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights” — which stops just short of actually doing so — is being received as yet another example of, as the New York Times wrote, his “willingness to flout diplomatic orthodoxy and shake up a debate over the Middle East that has changed little since the 1970s.” That’s true, but it greatly understates the significance of his action. Trump is subverting one of the most fundamental pillars of the post-1945 world order: the principle that no nation can change international boundaries by force.

Territorial integrity was listed as both the first and second war aims agreed to by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the 1941 Atlantic Charter: “First, their countries seek no aggrandizement, territorial or other; second, they desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned.” It was then enshrined in Article 2 of the 1945 United Nations Charter: “All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.”

The United States insisted on territorial integrity, because it did not want to see a repeat of the 1930s when Japanese aggression against China, Italian aggression against Abyssinia, and German aggression against Austria and Czechoslovakia presaged the coming of World War II. Acting on this principle, the United States never recognized Russian sovereignty over the Baltic states or, today, over Crimea. U.S. troops fought to prevent South Korea, South Vietnam and Kuwait from being swallowed by aggressors. The United States was even willing to risk nuclear Armageddon to prevent the conquest of tiny West Berlin.

ADVERTISING

The sacred principle of territorial integrity lies at the heart of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, adopted with U.S. and Israeli support in 1967 after Israel fought the Six-Day War to preempt Arab aggression. This resolution called for “Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict,” but by omitting “the” in front of “territories,” it left vague which land was to be evacuated. The resolution went on to call for “acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.”

By accepting this resolution, the Arab states and eventually the Palestinian Authority de facto agreed to Israel’s right to exist. The exact contours of its borders were to be left to an agreement between the parties. This led to Egyptian and Jordanian recognition of the Jewish state, and to lengthy negotiations with the Palestinians over the West Bank and Gaza Strip and with the Syrians over the Golan Heights. No “final status” agreement was ever reached with the Palestinians, and no agreement at all with the Syrians, but 242 served as the basis of all peace talks since 1967.

Now Trump has killed 242 just as surely as he has killed all standards of presidential decorum. And to what end? No one has been contesting Israeli control over the Golan Heights. Trump is stirring up a controversy where none existed and thereby handing a present to Hezbollah and Bashar al-Assad by allowing them to posture as the resistance to Israeli occupation rather than be recognized as what they are — the butchers of their fellow Muslims.


Trump took this momentous step as a pre-election present to his pal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who shares with him many of the same campaign donors (e.g., Sheldon Adelson), the same political supporters (U.S. evangelical Christians), the same disdain for the rule of law (Netanyahu is on the verge of being indicted), and the same affection for right-wing extremists (Netanyahu has made common cause with far-right parties in Israeli politics and with the far-right leaders of Central Europe).

Perhaps just as important from Trump’s perspective is Netanyahu’s willingness to flatter him with Pence-esque fervor. As a result, Trump is giving the Israeli leader a valuable gift that any normal president would have held back in return for substantial Israeli concessions on settlements.

Trump claims his decision on the Golan Heights is just like his decision last year to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem — a move I supported. But he is wrong. The embassy move had been endorsed by Congress and promised by president after president, because West Jerusalem has been a part of the Israeli state since Day One. No previous president promised to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and indeed President Ronald Reagan supported a 1981 U.N. Security Council resolution calling the annexation “null and void,” because all previous presidents had adhered to the principle of territorial integrity.


No longer. With this typically thoughtless and impetuous act, Trump is opening a Pandora’s box where states are allowed to change international borders by force. He is making not just Netanyahu but also Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping very happy.

Read more:

 

Edited by SimonBolivar
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14 minutes ago, UTDD said:

Trump is baffling to me sometimes with right now essentially trying to make health care a huge issue for 2020.  He just got basically positive news from the Mueller report and the economic numbers right now are historically good ranges for being re-elected, but he wants to turn his focus towards ACA so quickly.  The more 2020 talks about health care I believe the worse for him.   

It's not that baffling. He has 2 goals while President. Enrich himself and undo anything with Obama's name on it. He doesn't give a single fuck about healthcare generally, and cares even less about Americans who may be hurt by his nonsense.  He is going to undo Obamacare because it's Obamacare. 

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1 hour ago, UTDD said:

Trump is baffling to me sometimes with right now essentially trying to make health care a huge issue for 2020.  He just got basically positive news from the Mueller report and the economic numbers right now are historically good ranges for being re-elected, but he wants to turn his focus towards ACA so quickly.  The more 2020 talks about health care I believe the worse for him.   

it is strange. can you imagine being the lawyers that would have to explain his reversal on the pre-existing conditions bit, among other things.

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1 hour ago, FondrenRoad said:

It's not that baffling. He has 2 goals while President. Enrich himself and undo anything with Obama's name on it. He doesn't give a single fuck about healthcare generally, and cares even less about Americans who may be hurt by his nonsense.  He is going to undo Obamacare because it's Obamacare. 

I still think it's baffling because of the timing especially and he could easily still accomplish these two goals and also maximize his re-election chances (which I assume is a very personal enrichment goal w/ opening up more future money/oppty, etc.) with different strategic planning/action.

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1 hour ago, FondrenRoad said:

It's not that baffling. He has 2 goals while President. Enrich himself and undo anything with Obama's name on it. He doesn't give a single fuck about healthcare generally, and cares even less about Americans who may be hurt by his nonsense.  He is going to undo Obamacare because it's Obamacare. 

Exactly. If people just called it the ACA, it would be way down Trump's list of things he gives a shit about. 

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A family friend has an awesome daughter with Down syndrome.  She recently won the Special Olympics Nationals in gymnastics.  I have learned a crap ton about special education and Special Olympics through her.  

Translation:  Fuck Betsy DeVos, and Fuck Donald Trump.

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13 minutes ago, Hank Kingsley said:

The proposal to cut Special Olympics funding will be rejected. But the fact they are even attempting it is just plain evil. 

 

 

cut Medicare , cut Special Olympics, jack up the fucking military by $50 billion 

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4 minutes ago, NowThis said:

cut Medicare , cut Special Olympics, jack up the fucking military by $50 billion 

Forgot social security and medicaid and replace cuts to education for the wall. 

Edited by Mdhorn
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2 minutes ago, Mdhorn said:

Forgot social security and medicaid and replace cuts to education for the wall. 

Weren't they cutting cancer research too.  Because I know what's killed a lot of my loved ones, and it's brown people coming in from the border, not cancer!

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5 minutes ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

Very R of you.  This policy is bad because it takes away from the government support that goes to me.

The government provides my cousin meager support, at best. My sentiment was mostly based on the social setting these events provide. Many of these kids don’t get out much. 

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1 hour ago, Chrispy said:

The government provides my cousin meager support, at best. My sentiment was mostly based on the social setting these events provide. Many of these kids don’t get out much. 

Well then maybe you should sell one of your private planes and help your cousin out. Or at least give him a joy ride.

Oh yeah. I forgot. You’re being full of shit as always. 

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I hate these things that come up every cycle about the things that the big bad administration is cutting from the budget.  Because that's not the story. What's happening is actually even worse.

They know this "Ermahgerd they're taking away funds from Special Olympics" will blow up.  Then they'll offer the other side that they'll put the funds back into S.O., but only if the other side agrees to fund some insidious and horrible thing. When the other side pushes back, then they'll claim it is in fact the other side who hates special needs kids, and they'll bludgeon them in public about this.

Eventually, quietly, Special Olympics will get its funding. After the public has moved on to next week's topic of outrage. And whatever compromise is agreed that refunds Special Olympics, will quietly make its way into the actual final budget, with none of the fanfare and outrage.

Less despicable administrations used to play this game with things like public broadcasting funding or arts funding, etc.

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Remember when a couple of people said Trump really hurt himself over the McCain comments?   In only a few days since, we have the end of the Mueller investigation, and now a big move from Trump to strike down Obamacare in its entirety, and the news cycle has completely reset. 

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3 minutes ago, Mojo Hand said:

Remember when a couple of people said Trump really hurt himself over the McCain comments?   In only a few days since, we have the end of the Mueller investigation, and now a big move from Trump to strike down Obamacare in its entirety, and the news cycle has completely reset. 

It’s the Trump strategy to flood the outrage information zone so no one knows what to focus on.  It has a paralyzing and exhausting effect on his opposition.   

/dictator’s playbook 

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38 minutes ago, JimmyJames said:

Well then maybe you should sell one of your private planes and help your cousin out. Or at least give him a joy ride.

Oh yeah. I forgot. You’re being full of shit as always. 

You’re always so unnecessarily hostile. Money really isn’t the issue here, as I was more concerned about the need for social events.

Also, one needs to be very careful about gifts when the recipient is on SSI because the threshold is fairly low. I once inquired about a more reliable vehicle for his group home and was told it may hurt their funding. So that was that. 

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