The US Presidency 2019

[The Bread Guy]

See rest of article here:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/03/politics/trump-cabinet-meeting-afghanistan-soviet-union/index.html

All in line with the latest proposed narrative ...

... (In November 2018), Russian lawmakers took another big step ... by approving a draft resolution that seeks to justify the Soviet Union’s war in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. The formal vote on the measure — proposed jointly by lawmakers from the United Russia and Communist parties — will be held before the 30th anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops on Feb. 15. Hailing the decision, Communist lawmaker Nikolai Kharitonov called it a victory for “historical truth.”

The real historical truth — without quotation marks — was made public with the partial declassification of Soviet archives after 1991. The decision to invade Afghanistan was taken by the Politburo in December 1979; the measure was euphemistically titled “On the situation in ‘A.’ ” The first contingent of the USSR’s 40th Army crossed the Amu Darya River into Afghanistan on Dec. 25. Two days later, the Afghan dictator Hafizullah Amin – whose request for assistance served as the pretext for the invasion — was murdered by Soviet special forces in Tajbeg Palace.

(...)

“I am proud of that exile in Gorky, it was an award for me,” (Andrei) Sakharov said at the session of the Congress of People’s Deputies — the Soviet Union’s first semi-freely elected parliament — in June 1989. “The war in Afghanistan was a criminal gamble.” In December of that year, the Congress of People’s Deputies passed a resolution of “moral and political condemnation” of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It was signed by Mikhail Gorbachev, in his capacity as chairman of the Supreme Soviet, on December 24.

It is that statement that Russia’s legislature, the Duma, is now preparing to declare null and void. The draft resolution holds that the 1989 condemnation went against “historical justice,” and that Soviet military action in Afghanistan was conducted “in full accordance with the norms of international law.” ...

 

[FJAG]

Add to that the following article (incidentally Glavin has a touch with turning a phrase):

The terrifying depths of Donald Trump’s ignorance, in a single quote
The president’s recent claim that the Soviets were ‘right’ to invade Afghanistan is worse than idiotic—it’s downright frightening
by Terry Glavin Jan 3, 2019

It’s been two years since a reality-television mogul, billionaire real estate grifter and sleazy beauty-pageant impresario who somehow ended up on the Republican ticket in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, failed to win the popular vote but fluked his way into the White House anyhow by means of an antique back-door anomaly peculiar to the American political system known as the Electoral College.

We’re now at the half-way mark of Donald Trump’s term in the White House, and the relentless hum of his casual imbecilities, obscenities, banalities and outright fabrications has become so routine to the world’s daily dread that it is now just background noise in the ever-louder bedlam of America’s dystopian, freak-show political culture.

And yet, now and again, just when you think the president has scraped his fingers raw in the muck at the bottom of stupidity’s deep barrel, the man somehow manages to out-beclown himself. Such was the case this week, in a ramble of fatuous illiteracy that should drive home the point, to all of us, that the Office of the President of the United States of America is currently occupied by a genuinely dangerous maniac.

At a press briefing at the end of a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Trump sat at a long table with a huge faux Game of Thrones television-series poster, featuring an image of himself taking up the whole thing, splayed out on the table in front of him.

In the course of contradicting himself—or maybe not, it’s hard to say—on the matter of if and when he intends to withdraw U.S. troops from the 79-member anti-ISIS coalition (“Syria was lost long ago … we’re talking about sand and death”), Trump muttered something about Iranian forces in Syria being at liberty to do as they please. “They can do what they want there, frankly,” he said. Unsurprisingly, upon hearing the news of what certainly sounded like an abrupt and dramatic shift in U.S. policy, Israeli officials were reported to be in shock.

But then the subject turned to Afghanistan, and Trump’s fervent wish to withdraw American troops from the 39-nation military coalition there—down from 59 nations, at its height—which is currently battling a resurgent Taliban that has been emboldened by American dithering generally, and specifically by Trump’s oft-repeated intent to get shut of Afghanistan and walk away from the place altogether.

Trump mocked India—a highly-valued friend of Afghanistan and contributor of $3 billion in infrastructure and community-development funding—with a weird reference to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “constantly telling me he built a library in Afghanistan.” Officials in Modi’s office say nobody knows what the hell Trump was talking about. Then Trump complained that Pakistan—a duplicitous enemy of Afghan sovereignty and a notoriously persistent haven-provider and incubator of Taliban terrorism—isn’t making a sufficient military commitment to Afghanistan. Which made absolutely no sense.

But then Trump went right off the deep end with a disquisition on the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and his remarks betrayed a perilous, gawping ignorance of the very reason why Afghanistan became such a lawless hellhole in the first place—which is how it came to pass that al-Qaeda found sanctuary there with the deranged Pakistani subsidiary that came to be called the Taliban, which is how al-Qaeda managed to plan and organize the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001—which is the very reason the American troops that Trump keeps saying he wants to bring home are still there at all.

“Russia used to be the Soviet Union. Afghanistan made it Russia, because they went bankrupt fighting in Afghanistan,” Trump began. “The reason Russia was in Afghanistan was because terrorists were going into Russia. They were right to be there. The problem is, it was a tough fight. And literally they went bankrupt; they went into being called Russia again, as opposed to the Soviet Union. You know, a lot of these places you’re reading about now are no longer part of Russia, because of Afghanistan.”

. . .

See rest of article here: https://www.macleans.ca/news/world/the-terrifying-depths-of-donald-trumps-ignorance-in-a-single-quote/

:cheers:

 

[Remius]

Given all this wall talk, I hadn't considered that Texans might not actually want a wall, at least not on their properties...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/texas-landowners-prepare-for-wall-fight-trump-to-visit-border-1.4972686

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/state/texas/article152402734.html

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/texas/article/Texas-border-communities-cringe-as-Trump-sounds-13518898.php



Given the sanctity of individual property rights in the US and Texas in particular I can see this as yet another obstacle to the POTUS' plan.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

On the other hand, a number of ranchers, a few weeks ago, invited the feds onto their land that runs next to the border property. They're tired of watching groups wander through their property and sniffing around the homestead.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

On the other hand, a number of ranchers, a few weeks ago, invited the feds onto their land that runs next to the border property. They're tired of watching groups wander through their property and sniffing around the homestead.

On a radio station this morning, that is usually against anything Mr. Trump, they were discussing how it does seem the farther you live away from 'the wall", the more outraged you are about "the wall".

 

[mariomike]

For reference to the discussion, regarding proximity to Mexico,

QUOTE

Pew Research Center

March 8, 2017

In Republicans’ views of a border wall, proximity to Mexico matters

Republicans overwhelmingly favor the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. But Republicans who live closer to the border are less likely to support the wall than are those who live farther away.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/03/08/in-republicans-views-of-a-border-wall-proximity-to-mexico-matters/

END QUOTE

 

[Fishbone Jones]

From involved farmers
https://www.agweb.com/article/arizona-ranchers-share-experience-with-border-security/

Arizona Ranchers Share Experience with Border Security

   

Note: The original version of this story ran online and in Drovers magazine during March 2018. The story has been updated to reflect recent debate on funding for a border wall.



The U.S. border with Mexico spans 1,954 miles, and ranchers are on the front lines for most of it.

For the past few decades, border enforcement and security has increased to halt illegal immigration and drug smuggling. In 1989, construction on the first major border fence began in San Diego, stretching 46 miles east.

President George W. Bush signed the Secure Fence Act of 2006 on Oct. 26, 2006, adding nearly 700 miles of fencing structures and more enforcement officials.

More recently President Donald Trump campaigned on a platform of border security, much of it hinging on building a wall. From the start of his presidency, funding for a border wall has been under scrutiny. The debate finally reached its boiling point on Dec. 21, 2018, when Trump opted out of signing a bill that would fund the government because it lacked $5.7 billion to pay for a border wall.

During the standoff between Trump and Congress that has seen the government enter its second longest shutdown, the debate has only intensified.

During his first primetime address from the Oval Office on Jan. 15, President Trump shared stories of how illegal immigration and drug smuggling have impacted the lives of American citizens.

“To those who refuse to compromise in the name of border security, I would ask: Imagine if it was your child, your husband, or your wife whose


More at link.

 

[brihard]

On a separate tack (not to divert the conversation, sorry- there just tends to be much happening concurrently with this presidency), Cohen has agreed to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform committee in February. Hold on to your butts... This will get ugly from both ends of the political spectrum.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cohen-congress-testimony-date-1.4973622

 

[kkwd]

On a separate tack (not to divert the conversation, sorry- there just tends to be much happening concurrently with this presidency), Cohen has agreed to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform committee in February. Hold on to your butts... This will get ugly from both ends of the political spectrum.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cohen-congress-testimony-date-1.4973622

The committee has it's own YouTube channel. It seems to be filled with reports from MSNBC.
https://www.youtube.com/user/OversightDems/videos
One video is titled "We Must Act on Trump Russia Ties"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-fzCbrxukU
I really trust these people to get to the truth, really I do. By the way, that video is directly linked from the official committee site.
https://oversight.house.gov/
Yes, the republicans have a committee page as well with a scattering of news reports. But the majority is committee hearings videos.
https://www.youtube.com/user/oversightandreform/videos

 

[Infanteer]

Conrad Black is always worth the read - not because he is always right, but because he is a good writer and raises things worth considering.

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/conrad-black-americas-resurgence-is-reshaping-the-world

I've bulletized his points:

• the economy of the United States is astoundingly strong: full employment, an expanding work force, negligible inflation and about three per cent economic growth.  And it is a broad economic recovery, not based on service industries as in the United Kingdom (where London handles most of Europe’s financial industry, while most of British industry has fled), and not based largely on the fluctuating resources markets as has often been Canada’s experience.
• In the eight years of president Obama, the United States lost 219,000 manufacturing jobs; in the two years of Trump, the country has added 477,000 manufacturing jobs.
• It is clear that China is feeling the heat of American tariffs. The United States will not be the world’s premier chump anymore....The most enthusiastic support the United States is receiving in its trade stance with China is from China’s neighbours, from India to Japan. Of course China is the world’s second-greatest power and must be treated with respect, but that does not mean the shameless grovelling of Trump’s predecessors, paying court to Beijing like lackeys kowtowing to the emperors of the Middle Kingdom.
• Foreigners then supplied 10 per cent of America’s oil, a figure that rose to 60 per cent under president Obama, and no one has done anything about it, until the past two years, when oil production has been sharply increased and reliance on oil imports has been sharply cut, on its inexorable way to zero.

Any criticism of the Trump Administration has to address the points raised by Mr Black.  What is also worth considering is how much is directly due to the administration's policies, and how much is due to trends over the last decade.

 

[Journeyman]

Conrad Black is always worth the read

Agree. 

In this instance, he's guilty of the same sin as some level, in only looking at one aspect of governance;  for some, it's Trump's behaviour, for Black it's only economics (except for a 1-2 paragraph sidebar on EU bureaucracy. 

I would like to hear his views on the aspect that he dismisses in his second paragraph: "A casual sampler of the Canadian, and even the American, media, might think that the United States was so far along in its decline that the entire process of government and normal public discourse had broken down in that country."

 

[Infanteer]

In this instance, he's guilty of the same sin as some level, in only looking at one aspect of governance;  for some, it's Trump's behaviour, for Black it's only economics (except for a 1-2 paragraph sidebar on EU bureaucracy.

Although this should be the case, we know it's not and Black might be looking at really counts.  "It's the economy, stupid!" worked for Bill Clinton for a reason, despite the fact that his behaviour was also poor.

 

[Journeyman]

Although this should be the case, we know it's not and Black might be looking at really counts.  "It's the economy, stupid!" worked for Bill Clinton for a reason, despite the fact that his behaviour was also poor.

Really counts to who?  Sadly, I suspect that the electorate may be more influenced by late night talk-show hosts and Fox and Friends than by any sort of rational argument.
    :dunno:

 

[Infanteer]

Really counts to who?

Counts to the voters who are willing to hold their noses at personal conduct if a strong economy is evident.  Add them to "the base" and there is a strong potential for second term in 2020, if history is a guide, and if the Ocasio-Cortez/Rashida Tlaib wing of the Democratic Party pushes them further to the identity politics left....

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Interesting piece, albeit three months old, that points out that the US economy may noy be as rosy as some people think.

Robert Reich: The truth about the Trump economy

The trade wars are about to take a toll on ordinary workers.

Robert Reich
October 20, 2018 6:00PM (UTC)

I keep hearing that although Trump is a scoundrel or worse, at least he’s presiding over a great economy.

As White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow recently put it, “The single biggest story this year is an economic boom that is durable and lasting.”

Really? Look closely at the living standards of most Americans, and you get a very different picture.

Yes, the stock market has boomed since Trump became president. But it’s looking increasingly wobbly as Trump’s trade wars take a toll.

Over 80 percent of the stock market is owned by the richest 10 percent of Americans anyway, so most Americans never got much out of Trump’s market boom to begin with.

The trade wars are about to take a toll on ordinary workers. Trump’s steel tariffs have cost Ford $1 billion so far, for example, forcing the automaker to plan mass layoffs.

What about economic growth? Data from the Commerce Department shows the economy at full speed, 4.2 percent growth for the second quarter.

But very little of that growth is trickling down to average Americans. Adjusted for inflation, hourly wages aren’t much higher now than they were forty years ago.

Trump slashed taxes on the wealthy and promised everyone else a $4,000 wage boost. But the boost never happened. That’s a big reason why Republicans aren’t campaigning on their tax cut, which is just about their only legislative accomplishment.

Trump and congressional Republicans refuse to raise the minimum wage, stuck at $7.25 an hour. Trump’s Labor Department is also repealing a rule that increased the number of workers entitled to time-and-a-half for overtime.

Yes, unemployment is down to 3.7 percent. But jobs are less secure than ever. Contract workers – who aren’t eligible for family or medical leave, unemployment insurance, the minimum wage, or worker’s compensation – are now doing one out of every five jobs in America.

Trump’s Labor Department has invited more companies to reclassify employees as contract workers. Its new rule undoes the California Supreme Court’s recent decision requiring that most workers be presumed employees unless proven otherwise. (Given California’s size, that decision had nationwide effect.)

Meanwhile, housing costs are skyrocketing, with Americans now paying a third or more of their paychecks in rent or mortgages.

Trump’s response? Drastic cuts in low-income housing. His Secretary of Housing and Urban Development also wants to triple the rent paid by poor households in subsidized housing.

Healthcare costs continues to rise faster than inflation. Trump’s response? Undermine the Affordable Care Act. Over the past two years, some 4 million people have lost healthcare coverage, according to a survey by the Commonwealth Fund.

Pharmaceutical costs are also out of control. Trump’s response? Allow the biggest pharmacist, CVS, to merge with the one of the biggest health insurers, Aetna — creating a behemoth with the power to raise prices even further.

The cost of college continues to soar. Trump’s response? Make it easier for for-profit colleges to defraud students. His Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, is eliminating regulations that had required for-profit colleges to prove they provide gainful employment to the students they enroll.

Commuting to and from work is becoming harder, as roads and bridges become more congested, and subways and trains older and less reliable. Trump’s response? Nothing. Although he promised to spend $1.5 trillion to repair America’s crumbling infrastructure, his $1.5 trillion tax cut for big corporations and the wealthy used up the money.

Climate change is undermining the standard of living of ordinary Americans, as more are hit with floods, mudslides, tornados, draughts, and wildfires. Even those who have so far avoided direct hits will be paying more for insurance – or having a harder time getting it. People living on flood plains, or in trailers, or without home insurance, are paying the highest price.

Trump’s response? Allow more carbon into the atmosphere and make climate change even worse.

Too often, discussions about “the economy” focus on overall statistics about growth, the stock market, and unemployment.

But most Americans don’t live in that economy. They live in a personal economy that has more to do with wages, job security, commutes to and from work, and the costs of housing, healthcare, drugs, education, and home insurance.

These are the things that hit closest home. They comprise the typical American’s standard of living.

Instead of an “economic boom,” most Americans are experiencing declines in all these dimensions of their lives.

Trump isn’t solely responsible. Some of these trends predated his presidency. But he hasn’t done anything to reverse them.

If anything, he’s made them far worse.

Robert Reich

Robert B. Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. He served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, for which Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He has written 15 books, including the best sellers "Aftershock", "The Work of Nations," and"Beyond Outrage," and, his most recent, "The Common Good." He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, chairman of Common Cause, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the award-winning documentary, "Inequality For All." He's also co-creator of the Netflix original documentary "Saving Capitalism."

Article Link

 

[Journeyman]

Counts to the voters who are willing to hold their noses at personal conduct if a strong economy is evident.  Add them to "the base" and there is a strong potential for second term in 2020, if history is a guide, and if the Ocasio-Cortez/Rashida Tlaib wing of the Democratic Party pushes them further to the identity politics left....

Again, I agree. 

Recently, in both US and Canadian politics though, there appears to be a growing trend of 'moderate centrists' shrugging in despair at the choices of political 'leadership' offered and not bothering to vote, rather than holding noses.    :dunno:

As for Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and their ilk, it's like the Dems have consciously decided that "oh look, the electorate are  all mindless knuckle-draggers;  let's go out-ignorant Trump!"  :brickwall:


EDIT:  Going to be even more  preachy here (with an added touch of Godwin    )

The overwhelming evidence (yes, even if you're capable of nothing more in-depth than Fox headlines) demonstrates consistently that Trump is an abysmal human being.  Pick a perspective:  his treatment of anyone not white, Anglo, male;  his compulsive lying;  his constant bullying and abusive rhetoric....and his official policies based on any of these.  Such behaviours we would  should  find unacceptable in a child,  yet Trump's "base" (however defined) sees as praiseworthy, while others are seeking to justify turning a blind eye to them.

Either Trump's Presidency, writ large, is morally bankrupt, intellectually vacuous, and damaging to international stability... or meh  the economy's better.  Yes, Hitler got a grip on the post-Weimar Republic economy (I warned you, I was going there).  Would anyone argue "well sure, he's an abhorrent human being, but look at our GDP!" *

What I'm arguing is that ethical beliefs should not be negotiable. 


* No, I'm not saying that Trump is Hitler!!
(And I'm not arguing where Trump would go, given ol' Adolph's unrestrained powers  :Tin-Foil-Hat:  )

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

  Pick a perspective:  his treatment of anyone not white, Anglo, male; 

You are the guy who always wants proof.......lets see it.

 

[Remius]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_views_of_Donald_Trump

It's Wikipedia so you'll need to verify the sources but this is a list similar to what the NY times published (sorry has a pay wall) and others.  Too many actually.

Of note though is Trump's judicial law reforms that removed the 3 strikes you are out laws.  Those laws disproportionately affected the black community and is seen by all sides as a triumph for minorities.  So maybe he isn't a racist per se but says racist things?  :dunno:

A lot of polls seem to indicate that the black community sees him as a racist or at least enabling racism.

 

[Journeyman]

You are the guy who always wants proof.......lets see it.

Sometimes the blatantly obvious is....well, blatantly obvious, but here's a step in the right direction for you...

Treatment of anyone not white: Google Charlottesville, Elizabeth Warren, "African countries/shitholes"

Anglo: Google Puerto Rico, Latino immigrants

Male: Google "grab pussy," Trump sexism tracker

Compulsive lying: Google NRDC Trump Lies,  Factcheck.org/Donald Trump

Bullying and abusive rhetoric:  Seriously?  Pick any day Trump tweets.


Enjoy 

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Wow.....slim pickin's.  I meant real evidence,...you know like committing a racist act, or even saying something racist.  REAL racism, not just what you wish racism to be.

And PLEASE, you've never called some country a 'shithole"???  Some are.....and some are worse then that.  Maybe some of us like a leader who tells it like it is.  And I'm certainly not saying he's most of those things you said, heck I wouldn't buy him a beer, but there's a whole lot of bullshit getting spewed from all over.  One thing I do know, for someone as famous as he was, there were almost ZERO stain of racism, in fact quite the opposite, until he became the leader of a national party.