Summations Only

I got a good belly laugh over this issue today. I listened to Trump telling us why Dodd-Frank was a bad idea. He said that he had friends who could not get loans and that Dodd-Frank was part of the rationale. Of course, the number one person in this country who cannot get US banks to loan him any money is Donald Trump. But that's primarily because you'd have to be irresponsible to lend Trump money after he brags about stiffing his creditors.Edited by NoNukes, : No reason given.

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(CNN)President Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of the Army, Vincent Viola, is withdrawing, citing business ties.

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"Mr. Viola has informed President Trump that he will be unable to accept his nomination to serve as secretary of the Army as the challenges of separating Mr. Viola from the organizations that he has built over the last thirty-five years have proven insurmountable," a statement from Viola's team said.

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Clearly a man of at least some principles. In short, a great foil for the Donald, who was his boss to be, and who is even more thoroughly entangled, and who refuses to even provide financial information that could be vetted. Edited by NoNukes, : Put wrong branch of service in title. Go Navy!!!

I don't want to speak for marc9000, but yes this is exactly what large blocks of folks say is the reason they voted for Trump. The most often repeated reason I've heard for folks liking Trump is that he is "un-PC", and that he speaks his mind without filters. What you consider to be reckless, and harmful speech, and the fact that it rubs both our friends and allies the wrong way is exactly the behavior that many folks like.The base, by and large, sees little wrong with Trump at this point. Even though is job performance so far is rated low, most Republicans think he's doing a bang-up job. A small, yet persistent portion of his audience believes Trump over what is reported by any media including Fox.

I submit that examples to the contrary can readily be found, with some of them being close at hand. At least some of them, yes.

Perhaps that is the idea. Obamacare fails under the weight of Trump's meddling (executive order telling government folks to drag their feet on implementing it) and then gets replaced by next to nothing.

Actually, it is not Obama's political influence that draws large speaking fees, it is instead his prestige, charisma, etc. Ex-presidents generally don't have much political power.

It appears that General Michael Flynn may have lied to the media and to Vice President Pence when he claimed not to have discussed removing sanction with Russia during his phone calls to Russia prior to Trump taking office.

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As CNN reported last month, US counterintelligence agents monitoring Kislyak discovered that Flynn had been in contact with the ambassador. But Trump's people strongly rejected suggestions that Flynn promised Russia that Trump would lift the sanctions then-President Obama was about to impose after US intelligence concluded that Russia interfered in the US election. If Flynn had such discussions, that could amount to a violation of the Logan Act against interference in foreign diplomacy by non-government officials, although prosecutions over violations of that act have never happened.

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Flynn and others claimed the phone calls dealt only with arrangements for a call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last month Pence went on CBS's Face the Nation and repeated that story

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It turns out that those phone calls were monitored and transcribed. Federal officials are saying that Flynn did discuss lifting the sanctions during those calls. Pence will surely want to back off from his previous statements, but who else will want distance between themselves and Flynn?These kinds of questions are going to make it very difficult for Trump to push the idea of normalizing relations with Russia. Will Trump throw the general under the bus?Edited by NoNukes, : No reason given.

Whatever you want to call it, you have yet to indicate why such a situation is unfortunate. You don't think that politics, even after the time in office ends, should lead to financial fortune, but you cannot say why.Again, why should anyone, other than the folks who pay them, care what Obama's speaking fees are?

Your statement is based on a bad reading of the rule. Having a fiduciary duty does not mean that the financial advisor cannot give you risky financial device. Such a duty instead requires that your advisor cannot indulge in self-dealing advice designed to profit the advisor rather than you. For example, CEOs have a fiduciary duty to their stockholders, but that duty does not prevent them from taking on risks that might bankrupt the company. The CEO's fiduciary responsibility would prevent him from taking short positions on his own company will attempting to cause losses that would enhance his own pocket at the expense of the stockholders.The real difficulty with the rule is not that it prevents the advisor from taking risks if he has been instructed to do so, but that there is some cost with policing behavior under the rule, with said costs primarily being placed on the advisors. At a minimum, the advisor would have to provide reviewable documentation of the basis for his/her decisions along with documentation of the advisors own financial positions.

Trump's attempt to deflect is straight out of the "L. Ron Hubbard" [1] playbook:Trump knew of DOJ probe into Flynn and Russia for weeks, Pence only days | CNN Politics

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But the President and some House Republicans pushed back, trying to focus attention on the source of disclosures about Flynn's contacts with Russia that appear to have emerged from intelligence surveillance of the Russian Embassy.

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"The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? Will these leaks be happening as I deal on N.Korea etc.?"

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[1]"NEVER agree to an investigation of Scientology. ONLY agree to an investigation of the attackers." L. Ron Hubbard.

Nobody really knows who burned the library. There are several possibilities only one of which matches the group you seem to be absolutely sure is guilty. One of the possible groups includes an accidental burning by Roman soldiers which would fit the answer that your Puerto Rican acquaintance hates.Library of Alexandria - Wikipedia

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Ancient and modern sources identify four possible occasions for the partial or complete destruction of the Library of Alexandria: Julius Caesar's fire during his civil war in 48 BC; the attack of Aurelian in AD 270 — 275; the decree of Coptic Pope Theophilus of Alexandria in 391 AD; and the Muslim conquest of Egypt in (or after) AD 642.

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As regard to how Greeks are viewed in the black community, your conclusion is equally full of shite. Yes, there are some anti-semitic black folks, cannot argue with that, but is that really some major thing in the black community? Absolutely not. Some whites are anti-semitic. Can we conclude that the white community hates Jews?About two or three sentences of this rant are actually on topic. The rest is your usual.

I was traveling between job sites this afternoon and I listened to much of the press conference while in my car. Between Trump's lies, and his use of unfettered superlatives while talking about himself and his administration, I found the entire press conference difficult to fathom.I would sincerely like to hear from the more conservative posters about what I missed and what they perceived differently that I did. I understand that conservatives would find Trump's calling out of the media more believable that I. What else?Trump's explanation of the resignation of Flynn was a complete joke.

This is exactly what I expected. Despite the fact that Trump's approval ratings are in the toilet. Every poll I have seen suggests that 90% of Trump voters feel the opposite of the way that I and most posters here feel about Trump's performance to date.At least part of that is because what I view as Trump successes are largely things I am not in favor of, for example getting those pipeline projects going again and putting holes in the ACA. It may well be that Trump's decision that the IRS is not going to check to see if folks are supposed to pay the penalty for not having insurance will kill the ACA off.Another part is that folks in favor of keeping all Muslim's out of the country probably share Trump's view regarding the courts putting his orders on hold.Finally, what many folks saw as a bumbling fool putting on a press conference probably looked to some folks like a non-politician doing his best to stand up to media folks that they already disbelieve.From that CNN article quoted by ThinAirDesign:

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According to the latest CNN poll, 90% of Republicans approve of the way Trump has handled the presidency thus far. Often left out of the media narrative are the reasons why Republicans feel this way. GOP voters look to the President and see a litany of accomplishments: a soaring stock market, withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, elimination of job-killing regulations, expedited permit approval, a hiring freeze on nonessential federal workers and a task force for reducing violent crime, among others. All this in just three weeks.

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HUD official fired for criticizing Trump | CNN PoliticsRepublican consultant Shermichael Singleton was fired for an op-ed he wrote before the election that criticized.

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Donald Trump portrays our inner cities is as if they are the ailments of American society and should be exterminated and swiftly removed," Singleton wrote in the op-ed. "He never mentions the many hardworking, good and honest people who are simply trying the best they can to achieve their share of the American dream.

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Of course, there is no legal principle that says that you cannot fire someone for their political opinion or party affiliation. Nonetheless, some stuff sure seems petty.

At least some of the complaints about Trump are surely due to one side, say the left, disagreeing with Trump policies, even though other parts deal with Trump acting like an idiot regardless of what his policies are. I put the lies and clear falsehoods in Trump's rant at the press during his press conference in the latter category.I have yet to see any of you righties take a stab at explaining Trump in any way that does not involve stupid conspiracy theories or juvenile attacks on Trump's critics. Perhaps you can change that impression?