Summations Only

Yes, I saw Stephen Miller interviewed by Chris Wallace on Fox News. He mostly didn't answer the questions, just spoke to his own talking points. When asked about the court suspending enforcement of Trump's refugee ban because of a constitutional challenge he went off on a tirade, claiming the court was trying to usurp the president's authority to act on immigration issues when the nation's security is at stake, as if that were ever an issue the state of Washington raised in its suit.--Percy

I don't think there's anything in the regulation that would prevent a broker from discussing with you the pros and cons of a risky but potentially very profitable investment. It's intended to rein in brokers whose primary goal is to maximize their commissions (some products carry higher commissions than others) rather than your profits. For example, a broker sells you Annuity X instead of Annuity Y, not because Annuity X is better for your particular financial situation but because it pays him a higher commission than Annuity Y.Here's an excellent article that describes the rule's intention and the objections pretty well: Robo-advisers shrug off U.S. fiduciary rule hubbubHere is the text of the rule from the Federal Register: Definition of the Term Fiduciary; Conflict of Interest Rule-Retirement Investment Advice--Percy

Again let me apologize for moderating my own thread. I'll continue using what is hopefully a light hand.This thread is for rational and reasonable discussion of the Trump presidency that is rooted in fact. Anything else is off-topic. Thanks.--Percy

This isn't a thread for trashing Trump. It's for rational fact-based discussion of the Trump presidency.--Percy

I've been watching for about a half hour, it's surreal, this is live coverage, I don't know how much is left: Trump Press Conference.--Percy

Headlines from the Trump news conference:

• CNN: An amazing moment in history: Donald Trump's press conference
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• Washington Post: Donald Trump delivers a series of raw and personal attacks on the media in a news conference for the ages
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• New York Times: Trump Defends Record and Hits Media
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• Fox News: Trump blasts ‘out of control’ media, defends agenda at heated press conference
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• CNNMoney: Trump attacks media in lengthy, combative press conference

The headlines say it all, there's no need to read the articles. As one of the headlines says, this was a presidential press conference for the ages, one like none before. I watched a great deal of it. Trump rarely answered questions, diverging constantly to either deflect criticism or defend his administration in vague and hyperbolic terms. I wish I could comment on the specifics of his comments, but Trump provided no specifics. In a turn of phrase reminiscent of Nixon's "I'm not a crook," Trump did say, "I'm really not a bad person."The press conference makes starkly clear what was already obvious from this administration's short time in office and from the campaign, that Trump is ill-informed, ill-advised and ill-prepared to govern.--Percy

The New York Times listed Trump falsehoods from today's press conference: Trump Calls Press ‘Dishonest,’ Then Utters Falsehoods of His Own. Here they are:

• "It was the biggest Electoral College win since Ronald Reagan."
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  Since the Reagan landslide of 1980, Trump's victory was the 2nd smallest. The smallest was Bush in 2000.
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• "That circuit is in chaos and that circuit is frankly in turmoil."
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  Trump was talking about the Ninth Circuit that upheld a temporary restraining order on his immigration ban, and he went on to describe their reversal rate as 80%. That's highly misleading because while the number is correct it's not in context. Only a tiny, tiny percentage of this court's rulings are reviewed by the Supreme Court. Of those 80% are reversed, but that's only a little more than the average of 70% across all the circuit courts. The Supreme Court tends to accept for review those cases that have a likelihood of being reversed. There's little point in reviewing a case just to confirm the lower court ruling.
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• "Our administration inherited many problems across government and across the economy. To be honest, I inherited a mess."
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  Neither the government or the economy was in a mess when Trump took office. One could argue that now that Trump is in office that the government is in a mess, but the economy continues to roll along.
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• "But a new Rasmussen poll just came out just a very short while ago, and it has our approval rating at 55 percent and going up."
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  This poll, which I'd never heard of until today, is an outlier. Trump's approval rating averaged across a number of polls is around 45%, the lowest of any modern president at this stage of his presidency.

--Percy

This is the best reaction I've seen yet to Trump's appalling Thursday press conference: Donald Trump Will Leave You Numb. Some excerpts:

quote:

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Almost every day of his administration so far contains sufficient grandiosity and delusion to be the end of a normal president’s productive relationship with Congress and support from all but the most stubbornly blind voters.

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And if you rewind to his campaign, you see the same pattern, with each rally, interview and debate packing in more petulance and vulgarity than an adult in a civilized society is supposed to get away with.
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He forces you to process and react to so many different outrages at such a dizzying velocity that no one of them has the staying power that it ought to or gets the scrutiny it deserves.

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...hurling insults, flinging lies, marinating in self-pity, luxuriating in self-love...

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...utterly fictitious claim that he’d done better in the Electoral College than any president since Ronald Reagan.
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It’s the appall-and-anesthetize political strategy.

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--Percy

Here's a transcript of Thursday's Trump press conference: Trump Press Conference 2/16/2017: Transcript. If you have a claim about Trump's performance that you'd like to challenge please refer to it. I would describe the press conference generally as unprecedentedly appalling in the history of presidential press conferences going back to Nixon. Here are some choice quotes supporting that characterization:

quote:

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...much of the media doesn't get it. They actually get it, but they don't write it.
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...many of our nation's reporters and folks will not tell you the truth...
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The press has become so dishonest...
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...the press honestly is out of control. The level of dishonesty is out of control.
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I guess it was the biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan.
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This administration is running like a fine- tuned machine,...
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In fact, we had to go quicker than we thought because of the bad decision we received from a circuit [the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals] that has been overturned at a record number. I have heard 80 percent, I find that hard to believe, that is just a number I heard, that they are overturned 80 percent of the time. I think that circuit is -- that circuit is in chaos and that circuit is frankly in turmoil.
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And, you know, you can talk all you want about Russia, which was all a, you know, fake news, fabricated deal, to try and make up for the loss of the Democrats and the press plays right into it.
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The failing New York Times...
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Russia is fake news.
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Wall Street Journal did a story today that was almost as disgraceful as the failing New York Time's story, yesterday.
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I've never seen more dishonest media than frankly, the political media.
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...the leaks are real...the news is fake...
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Tomorrow, they will say, "Donald Trump rants and raves at the press." I'm not ranting and raving. I'm just telling you. You know, you're dishonest people. But -- but I'm not ranting and raving. I love this. I'm having a good time doing it.

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There's much more, but that's enough of Trump, in his own words, demonstrating why his press conference was appalling.Here's one comment I loved from the press conference. I agree that there's too much lobbying. Unfortunately this doesn't apply to congress:

quote:

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To drain the swamp of corruption in Washington, D.C., I've started by imposing a five-year lobbying ban on White House officials and a lifetime ban on lobbying for a foreign government.

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--Percy

There's nothing wrong with that. I find his style and openness refreshing, but what he actually says is deplorable.This is the leader of the free world calling the press dishonest and liars and reporters of fake news. This is an unprecedented attack on a free press, not to mention untrue. If you have any good examples (the MLK bust report was retracted with an apology in a very short time) of the press making up news or lying, let us know. Perfection isn't one of the qualities we're looking for, but he keeps repeating this mistake about the electoral college, as well as a number of other mistakes. Besides being error-prone he's egomaniacal, misogynistic and incredibly thin-skinned. He has the wrong temperament and experience for the job of president, already demonstrated by his many missteps and miscues, all accomplished in less than a month. Instead of reaching out to unify the country he's encouraging divisiveness. Instead of enjoying an early-in-his-term honeymoon month he's putting on a horror show. But I don't hate him. I just don't think he has the necessary qualities to be president. He's a wheeler-dealer with a heaping portion of the shyster about him ("It'll be fabulous, the best ever!"). I made my position clear earlier in this thread when I said that a big problem with our political system is the value of political influence. One of the symptoms is rampant lobbying, fed by the revolving door of government where legislators and other government employees serve time in Washington then roll back into town as lobbyists.--Percy

The truth is subjective to you? Lies are subjective? The long and short of seems to be that no, you have no examples of the press lying about Trump. Trump, thick-skinned? Who are you kidding? He's the most vain and sensitive and conceited person in the public eye that I can remember. His victory was the best, and if you say otherwise you're just sad. His inauguration was the biggest, and if you doubt it then he'll start an investigation. His refugee ban was his presidential right, and if you rule against him then you're a "so-called judge" or a "court in turmoil." If Saturday Night Live makes a parody of him then they're just sad and not funny anymore. If a newspaper says negative things about him then they're failing. He can't stand people criticizing him or standing up to him. You're really pretending you don't know about the traditional honeymoon period when the opponents and the press let bygones be bygones and everyone gets behind the new administration for a while? Trump could have had one, but within one day of his inauguration he'd already lit into the press, calling fake news descriptions of the crowds as smaller than those at Obama's. I believe Trump incapable of governing. The already demonstrated incompetence, inexperience and Twitterfied impulsiveness and immaturity makes it obvious.--PercyEdited by Percy, : Grammar.

Yes, precisely. You seem to think whether the news media has reported something true is subjective. You seem to be having trouble coming up with any examples of the news media lying, while I can reel off a number of examples of Trump lying. Then you don't know the definition of thin-skinned. Look it up. Okay, you haven't read the thread, let me explain again. Trump is a conservative, we fully expect he is going to pursue conservative policies, and that's fine. But we also expect him to pursue those policies competently while not telling transparent lies, alienating and terrifying our allies, cozying up to our enemies, signing poorly thought out and vetted executive orders, throwing immigration into disarray, threatening the environment, throwing little temper tantrums with the press, and so forth. The Democrats have very little chance of taking over the Senate in 2018 because there are only 8 Republican seats up for reelection and 25 Democratic seats. The chances are even less in the House because Republicans currently hold a 248-192 advantage.--Percy

I notice you're still not answering the question. What lies has the media told about Trump? What "fake news" have they concocted? Looking down your list at The 10 Biggest Media Lies About Donald Trump, I don't see a single one that I've read anywhere. The news outlets Trump seems to hate most are the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN. Just provide links to their articles (not editorial opinion pieces) where they're telling lies about Trump. And not about picayune stuff or mistakes that were corrected. We're talking about persistent blatant lying and/or fabrication, the kind of thing that would justify Trump calling the media "the enemy of the American people."--Percy

The British Parliament is today discussing whether Trump should be barred from making a state visit to the United Kingdom. Large protests are planned all around Britain. (Thousands of protesters are going to pressure MPs to block Trump from visiting Britain) The official petition states, "Donald Trump's well documented misogyny and vulgarity disqualifies him from being received by Her Majesty the Queen or the Prince of Wales." (Prevent Donald Trump from making a State Visit to the United Kingdom)On the same day Vice President Mike Pence, Trump's representative to the European Council meeting in Brussels, was met with open skepticism after his attempts to reassure European leaders that Trump wouldn't abandon the long-established partnership with Europe.Trump supporters have to wake up and smell the, well, not roses. Trump stinks, and the whole world knows it. Leaders and citizens across the globe are dismayed and concerned about what has happened to the US government. Turn it around in your mind and think about it: if Obama or Clinton had done and said the things Trump has done and said you'd be criticizing him in just the way we are. Discard your partisanship and join those who merely want what is best for the country. Make it known that even though you still want conservative policies aggressively pursued that it should be done responsibly and competently and in ways that don't make us a world-wide embarrassment and the object of global ridicule.--Percy

This thread is about the Trump presidency, so if you can quote Trump talking about the press's supposed past sins then go for it, but I watched or read the transcript of Trump's entire press conference and he didn't mention anything you did. It was all about recent news reports about him. Those are headlines from Trump's presidential announcement where he said this about Mexican immigrants: The headlines are accurate in the way headlines from all points of the political spectrum are.I've never heard of Brooke Baldwin, but the Valley Patriot excerpt makes plainly exaggerated claims and misspelled Brooke's name. If you have video of Brooke saying it then I would conclude that she was wrong, but the only video I could find is http://mediamatters.org/...cause-theyre-emotional/210316here, and it has her saying: And here's another video where Brooke also doesn't say what your Valley Patriot quote claimed.You still haven't been able to provide any examples of persistent lies and dishonesty from the mainstream liberal press about Donald Trump.--Percy