Trump's First 100 Days

[oncemoreuntothejimbreech]

(04-13-2017, 01:02 PM)Rotobeast Wrote: Trump uncovered the truth and plans on exposing "The Agenda".


https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.queerty.com/8-reasons-why-easter-is-the-gayest-holiday-of-them-all-20140420/amp

Queerty?

Tyrone don't like. Tyrone don't like very much.

[Belsnickel]

(04-13-2017, 01:16 PM)Rotobeast Wrote: Not confirmed, but use of surplus phosgene was also reported.

"Phosgene-filled grenades used during the 1942 Battle of Kerch by Nazi Germany allegedly injured at least 10,000 Soviet soldiers."

(04-12-2017, 11:20 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: You might want to recheck your research on this. Sevastopol, Odessa, and Kerch are three examples of Wehrmacht use of chemical weapons. It wasn't widely used, even though it was being manufactured by the Nazis, and that is attributed to Hitler's likely experiences with it in WWI, but there were times it was used. Also, Zyklon B was not the only agent used for exterminations.

I know, I know, you were talking specific agents. I just couldn't help it.

[Rotobeast]

(04-13-2017, 04:13 PM)Belsnickel Wrote:

I know, I know, you were talking specific agents. I just couldn't help it.

To be honest, I almost quoted that to give you credit.

[GMDino]

http://time.com/4740499/white-house-visitor-logs-public-record-trump/

Quote:The White House Will Keep Its Visitor Logs Secret
Zeke J Miller
Apr 14, 2017

[/url][url=http://time.com/4740499/white-house-visitor-logs-public-record-trump/#]

The Trump Administration will not disclose logs of those who visit the White House complex, breaking with his predecessor, the White House announced Friday.


The decision, after nearly three months of speculation about the fate of the records, marks a dramatic shift from the Obama Administration’s voluntary disclosure of more than 6 million records during his presidency. The U.S. Secret Service maintains the logs, formally known as the Workers and Visitors Entry System, for the purpose of determining who can access to the 18-acre complex.

White House communications director Michael Dubke said the decision to reverse the Obama-era policy was due to “the grave national security risks and privacy concerns of the hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.” Instead, the Trump Administration is relying on a federal court ruling that most of the logs are “presidential records” and are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

Three White House officials said they expect criticism of the new policy, but believe it is necessary to preserve the ability of the president to seek advice from whomever he wants, “with some discretion.” They requested anonymity to discuss the policy before a formal announcement.


Under the Trump Administration’s directive, logs of those entering the White House complex will be kept secret until at least five years after Trump leaves office—at which point they will first be eligible to be requested by the public, press and scholars. The White House did not say who would maintain custody of the records during his time in office.

Trump officials are quick to point out that the Obama Administration fought in federal court to preserve the right to redact and withhold records, successfully appealing a lower court ruling requiring their release to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. But seeking to live up to Obama’s promise to run “the most transparent administration in history,” his Administration voluntarily disclosed the logs.

But those logs were incomplete—often obviously so. The Obama-era process allowed the White House Counsel’s office to unilaterally redact records of those visiting the complex for any reason. The Obama Administration, for instance, took a wide-ranging view of what were considered personal events hosted by the Obamas, leaving off celebrity sightings and meetings with top donors. It also maintained the right to leave off those brought in for sensitive meetings, like interviews for federal judicial nominations. Obama-era officials took other steps to circumvent the logs, scheduling meetings with lobbyists and others at nearby coffee shops.

Trump White House officials are now arguing that the Obama records presented an incomplete picture of who interacted with the Administration. “It did create more of a façade of transparency rather than complete transparency,” said one White House official.

“The ability to scrub them was sort of institutionalized,” another official said, noting that the clearance form for visitors to the complex includes a check box allowing requesters to flag a record for later shielding it from public release.

The 2013 opinion was in a case filed by watchdog groups, including the conservative Freedom Watch, which argued that the WAVES records could be released since they were created and maintained by the Secret Service — and thus not exempt from FOIA. Earlier this month, liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, filed suit in the Southern District of New York against the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the Secret Service, for access to the logs on the same grounds. White House officials said they expect that court to reach the same conclusion as the D.C. circuit, but suggested it would seek to litigate to preserve its ability to keep the records secret if necessary.

Last month congressional Democrats introduced the “Making Access Records Available to Lead American Government Openness Act," or MAR-A-LAGO Act, which would require Trump to disclose visitors at places where he “regularly conducts official business” within 90 days.
The Secret Service does not maintain WAVES records, or any logs of those who visit the club owned by the president at Palm Beach.

Logs for the Office of Management and Budget, the Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of the United States Trade
Representative, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy remain subject to FOIA requests, officials said, but will not be unilaterally disclosed.

White House officials said the Administration is ending the contract for Open.gov, the Obama-era site that hosted the visitor records along with staff financial disclosures, salaries, and appointments. An official said it would save $70,000 through 2020 and that the removed disclosures, salaries and appointments would be integrated into WhiteHouse.gov in the coming months.

[oncemoreuntothejimbreech]

Trump hosted his first Easter Egg Roll yesterday.

The Easter Bunny is the fast track to Welfare and Medicaid. If we just give the Easter Eggs to kids instead of teaching them to go out and earn their Easter Eggs we're raising another generation of self-entitled brats with their hand out.

#MAGA

[Rotobeast]

(04-17-2017, 12:33 PM)oncemoreuntothejimbreech Wrote: Trump hosted his first Easter Egg Roll yesterday.

The Easter Bunny is the fast track to Welfare and Medicaid. If we just give the Easter Eggs to kids instead of teaching them to go out and earn their Easter Eggs we're raising another generation of self-entitled brats with their hand out.

#MAGA

Perhaps the children should have negotiated their own deals, on acquiring the eggs ?
They could then back out of paying the agreed amount and threaten defamation suits, should the supplier make complaints.

[oncemoreuntothejimbreech]

(04-17-2017, 01:12 PM)Rotobeast Wrote: Perhaps the children should have negotiated their own deals, on acquiring the eggs ?
They could then back out of paying the agreed amount and threaten defamation suits, should the supplier make complaints.

Probably better to purchase an intermediary company to purchase the eggs then have the company file bankruptcy.

[Rotobeast]

(04-17-2017, 02:01 PM)oncemoreuntothejimbreech Wrote: Probably better to purchase an intermediary company to purchase the eggs then have the company file bankruptcy.

I bow to your supremacy !

[GMDino]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/04/18/trumps-old-tweets-are-quickly-becoming-a-minefield-of-hypocrisy/?utm_term=.0833f0fc4c6f

Quote:Trump’s old tweets are becoming a minefield of hypocrisy



President Trump speaks at a reception for senators and their spouses in the East Room of the White House on March 28. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Over the last two weeks, President Trump has attacked Syria without congressional approval, ratcheted up the use of force in Afghanistan with a huge bomb, and moved to reverse the Obama administration's policy of releasing White House visitor logs.

Each of these actions runs completely counter to the views and values once espoused by Trump on Twitter. And they join an amazingly long — and growing — list of old Trump tweets that have become eerily applicable to Trump's own presidency in ways that scream “hypocrisy.”

[VIDEO: Trump's policy flip-flops grow]

Below is a list of events in Trump's presidency and campaign, along with the old tweets that turned out to be rather unfortunate.

Full list of all the flips and flops at the link.  It's a beautiful thing.  Really great.

[GMDino]

Donald Trump is in Wisconsin and just forgot Paul Ryan's name. He called him Ron. Twice.

— Jason Karsh (@jkarsh) April 18, 2017

[BmorePat87]

Does Trump know which Kim is which in North Korea?

On Fox he said

Quote:They've been talking with this gentleman for a long time. You read Clinton's book, he said, 'Oh, we made such a great peace deal,' and it was a joke. You look at different things over the years, with President Obama, everybody's been outplayed, they've all been outplayed by this gentleman.

Clinton dealt with both Kim Il-sung (before his death in 1994) and Kim Jong-il. Under Obama, it was Kim Jong-il (before his death in 2011) and now Kim Jong-un. Who is "this gentleman"? The current one hasn't been in power for "a long time" and never dealt with Clinton.

[Dill]

(04-19-2017, 07:59 AM)BmorePat87 Wrote: Does Trump know which Kim is which in North Korea?

On Fox he said


Clinton dealt with both Kim Il-sung (before his death in 1994) and Kim Jong-il. Under Obama, it was Kim Jong-il (before his death in 2011) and now Kim Jong-un. Who is "this gentleman"? The current one hasn't been in power for "a long time" and never dealt with Clinton.

Could be those guys look pretty much the same to Trump.  And having the same family name doesn't help.

But I am sure that Xi went over this with him when they had their half hour together. Trump just misspoke.

Any idea when the "Armada" will arrive to the Sea of Japan?  Trump will fix this problem and then on to Iran!

[Rotobeast]

(04-19-2017, 07:59 AM)BmorePat87 Wrote: Does Trump know which Kim is which in North Korea?

On Fox he said


Clinton dealt with both Kim Il-sung (before his death in 1994) and Kim Jong-il. Under Obama, it was Kim Jong-il (before his death in 2011) and now Kim Jong-un. Who is "this gentleman"? The current one hasn't been in power for "a long time" and never dealt with Clinton.

He's affording them the fairytale of their divinity, in that they are all spiritually connected in mind and soul.


Sent from my SM-S820L using Tapatalk

[GMDino]

(04-19-2017, 07:59 AM)BmorePat87 Wrote: Does Trump know which Kim is which in North Korea?

On Fox he said


Clinton dealt with both Kim Il-sung (before his death in 1994) and Kim Jong-il. Under Obama, it was Kim Jong-il (before his death in 2011) and now Kim Jong-un. Who is "this gentleman"? The current one hasn't been in power for "a long time" and never dealt with Clinton.

He called Paul Ryan "Ron"....twice.

Unless this is like "bigly" = "big league" and "Ron" = "Ryan" now.

[Belsnickel]

Get ready to have your mind blown, because here come some kudos to Trump. He managed to negotiate for the release of an Egyptian-American charity worker who had been imprisoned for three years in Egypt. I saw the story on the WaPo app, and will share a link tomorrow if someone doesn't beat me to it. It may seem like a small victory, but to the one released and to their family, it means the world.

http://wapo.st/2p1etjx

[GMDino]

(04-21-2017, 12:04 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: Get ready to have your mind blown, because here come some kudos to Trump. He managed to negotiate for the release of an Egyptian-American charity worker who had been imprisoned for three years in Egypt. I saw the story on the WaPo app, and will share a link tomorrow if someone doesn't beat me to it. It may seem like a small victory, but to the one released and to his family, it means the world.

http://wapo.st/2p1etjx

Good for them and their family.

I'll save any criticism for another time.

[Belsnickel]

(04-21-2017, 08:52 AM)GMDino Wrote: Good for them and their family.

I'll save any criticism for another time.

I don't think it is in poor taste to be critical, but at least it happened. I only hope that Trump does not get too comfy with the Egyptian leader, but massaging the ego of a world leader is definitely a valid way of negotiating. Whether Trump continues to cozy up to him or not, the results that we have just seen are good.

[GMDino]

(04-21-2017, 09:15 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: I don't think it is in poor taste to be critical, but at least it happened. I only hope that Trump does not get too comfy with the Egyptian leader, but massaging the ego of a world leader is definitely a valid way of negotiating. Whether Trump continues to cozy up to him or not, the results that we have just seen are good.

Which is something I worry about with Trump.  "He says nice things about me" was his logic for saddling up with Putin.

But you hit the nail on the head...he did a little sucking up and I just hope it wasn't be he really believed it.

[GMDino]

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/20/trump-cybersecurity-hackers-237385

Quote:Trump blows his deadline on anti-hacking plan
He pledged in January to quickly develop a program for countering hackers, but no one seems to know who's in charge of developing it or where it is.




Since his inauguration, President Donald Trump’s issued a few tweets and promises to get to the bottom of Russian hacking. | AP Photo



President-elect Donald Trump was very clear: “I will appoint a team to give me a plan within 90 days of taking office,” he said in January, after getting a U.S. intelligence assessment of Russian interference in last year’s elections and promising to address cybersecurity.

Thursday, Trump hits his 90-day mark. There is no team, there is no plan, and there is no clear answer from the White House on who would even be working on what.

It’s the latest deadline Trump’s set and missed — from the press conference he said his wife would hold last fall to answer questions about her original immigration process to the plan to defeat ISIS that he’d said would come within his first 30 days in office.

Since his inauguration, Trump’s issued a few tweets and promises to get to the bottom of Russian hacking — and accusations of surveillance of Americans, himself included, by the Obama administration.

Meanwhile, more contacts between Trump aides and Russian officials have surfaced — including some omitted from sworn testimony and official forms — and the committee chairman overseeing the inquiry being run by the House got so entangled with the Trump administration that he had to step aside.

Trump did start early with an event on cybersecurity, convening a meeting on Jan. 31 in the Roosevelt Room featuring Rudy Giuliani, who’s leading a group tasked with building private sector partnerships on cybersecurity. “We must protect federal networks and data. We operate these networks on behalf of the American people and they are very important,”
Trump said in his remarks then, not addressing a coinciding executive order that was announced to be signed that day but that was abruptly pulled without explanation.


That appears to have led to some confusion about responsibility for the anti-hacking plan in the White House. The National Security Council would normally be involved in creating such a report. But on Wednesday, a NSC spokesperson told POLITICO that he was unaware if the NSC was in charge of compiling it, or if that responsibility fell to Giuliani — or if the report exists.

Giuliani is continuing his work talking to the private sector, but a spokesperson for the former New York City mayor confirmed that he is not involved in any 90-day report.

The White House spokesperson wouldn’t directly address why the deadline was missed.

“The president has appointed a diverse set of executives with both government and private sector expertise who are currently are working to deliver an initial cybersecurity plan through a joint effort between the National Security Council and the Office of American Innovation,” said Trump deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters, referring to the office run by Trump’s son-in-law and top aide Jared Kushner.

Trump made the deadline promise repeatedly. A week after the initial statement, he tweeted on Jan. 13, “My people will have a full report on hacking within 90 days!”

Given the issues at play, cyber security experts worry that missing this particular set deadline could have significant consequences and speaks to deeper concerns about the White House not grappling with clear threats.

“It would set an unfortunate precedent to miss the president’s first important cyber-related deadline,” said Michael Sulmeyer, director of the Harvard Belfer Center’s Cyber Security Project and former director of Cyber Policy Plans and Operations at the Defense Department.

“Ever the critic on the campaign trail, Trump and his cyber team now have the responsibility to keep the country safe from cyberattacks,” Sulmeyer said. “Given so much attention on North Korea this past week, and that North Korea conducted one of the most serious cyberattacks against the United States, we should expect the new administration to be on the case.”


This isn’t the first time Trump has promised more information about intelligence that never materialized. Speaking to reporters pressuring him for answers on New Year’s Eve, the then-president-elect said he knew “things that other people don’t know” that he’d reveal “on Tuesday or Wednesday.”

He didn’t.

Trump said Tuesday a tax reform plan would plan would be ready “very soon,” but Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said a previously-stated goal of an August roll-out was unrealistic.

And then there are Trump’s tax returns, which he repeatedly said he would release after the completion of an audit. The White House acknowledged recently that Trump might never release his tax returns as promised.

Officials on the Hill say they haven’t seen any sign of the promised cybersecurity report, either.

A spokesman for Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said “I don’t have anything on the record at this time.” A spokesperson for ranking member Mark Warner (D-Va.) declined comment.

“We have little visibility into what they might be working on,” said a Democratic staffer for a committee with jurisdiction, when asked about any familiarity with the report.

Missing the announced deadline demonstrates “a lackadaisical approach to what intelligence officials have routinely said is our biggest national security threat,” said Ned Price, who was a spokesman for the National Security Council in the Obama
White House and worked for the CIA during George W. Bush’s presidency. “It speaks to the level of priority that this administration apparently has attached to cybersecurity, which apparently isn’t much — that is in stark contrast to the way the Obama administration addressed this issue over eight years, and especially during the last stretch.”

While the 90-day plan languishes, that vanished executive order on cybersecurity has been making progress. The National Security Council’s cyber directorate is finalizing a multipronged executive order, which experts see as the administration’s chance to declare its cyber agenda. The latest leaked draft, from early February, directs agency heads to use the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s cyber risk management framework to manage their technology assets.


The framework lays out best practices for assessing which computer systems are most important and most vulnerable, and it recommends ways to better protect them. The draft executive order directs the Office of Management and Budget to provide risk assessments of every agency, although sources said that provision could be changed, as it overlaps with existing requirements under the Federal Information Security Management Act.

The leaked draft also includes a provision focusing on the security of critical infrastructure sectors like the energy grid, in addition to sections on the Pentagon’s cyber capabilities and the need for a national cyber-deterrence strategy.

“There was certainly a desire, particularly during the campaign, to do a top-to-bottom review of where things stand. My sense is that will probably be how the executive order is sold, regardless of whether that is exactly how it was conceived or not,” said R. David Edelman, former cyber official at the NSC and the National Economic Council during the Obama administration.

Price said that from his experience, if there isn’t significant work underway toward producing a report and plan, the White House could be at least another 90 days away from finishing one.

“This is not a simple issue,” Price said. “If the clock really is at zero, we shouldn’t expect a well-produced report any time soon.”

For being the perfect outsider / non-politician he sure talks out his arse a lot.

Shame more people didn't notice before the election...or be able to admit it.

[BmorePat87]

One more week tomorrow until this thread has to be closed.