President Trump: Making America Great Again...

[Uncle Ted]

I think the dems are rolling over and playing dead now... What a bunch of wimps:

Budget talks progress, as Senate Dems drop Dreamer demand

Senate Democrats are willing to drop their demand that relief for Dreamers be tied to any long-term budget agreement — a potential boost for spending talks, but one that could face opposition from their House counterparts.


The shift comes in response to the deal struck between Senate leaders Monday to reopen the government and begin debate on an immigration bill next month. Meanwhile, budget negotiators are expressing optimism that a two-year agreement to lift stiff caps on defense and domestic spending is increasingly within reach.
[...]

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...366992?cid=apn

I guess Chuck won't be sleeping...

Embedded Tweet

[BlueK]

"Trade has made America great"

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/econo...a-negotiations

"Agreements like NAFTA and membership in organizations like the World Trade Organization help to establish agreed upon rules of trade. Businesses can be fairly certain about the tariff rates and regulations they will encounter. When disagreements occur, there is an established process for resolving differences. By reducing discretion, international agreements reduce policy uncertainty. Without the fear of new restrictions on trade, international commerce can expand, making all parties better off.

Economic studies confirm that trade agreements significantly expand international trade and investment. Countries that join the WTO and regional trade agreements experience growth in trade, lower prices and increased product variety, making consumers better off.

The Trump administration has a rather dim view of the benefits produced from expanding international trade and investment. It views the persistent U.S. trade deficit as the result of bad trade deals, rather than the simple fact that we choose to consume more than we produce.

The trade balance is not a measure of the benefits from international trade. For that we can rely on the positive association between trade and household income. The president and his advisers should consider that the typical American's real income is about $7,000 higher as a result of trade liberalization than it would otherwise be.

The administration has pursued tax and regulatory reform in an effort to increase capital formation and economic growth. Meanwhile, its – and much of the public's – apparent distaste for international trade agreements seems very likely to create enough uncertainty to lower international investment in the United States, acting as a drag on the economy and slowing growth."

...........
Probably the most certain way for Trump to lose his base is if the economy suddenly tanks. Ironically, the more he's able to implement his isolationist trade tendencies that he and his true believer base are in favor of, the more likely this happens.

[Uncle Ted]

I think the dems and GOP'ers are still on different planets when it comes to DACA and the dreamers (cleaning up the mess that Obama left). On one hand Ted Cruz says no path to citizenship for dreamers... they already have citizenship in some other country:

Cruz: No path to citizenship for Dreamers

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Thursday rejected the idea of giving young immigrants in the country illegally a path to citizenship, one day after President Trump said he was open to the idea.

“I do not believe we should be granting a path to citizenship to anybody here illegally,” Cruz told reporters, according to Bloomberg. “Doing so is inconsistent with the promises we made to the men and women who elected us.”

“For some reason that to me is utterly inexplicable, we see Republicans falling all over themselves to gallop to the left of [former President] Obama in a way that is contrary to the promises made to the voters who elected us,” he added.
[...]

http://thehill.com/latino/370771-cru...p-for-dreamers

On the other hand, Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to give them all free tuition:

Cuomo wants to let Dreamers go to college for free

Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to give another break to immigrant Dreamers by extending free public college tuition to students who were brought into the United States illegally as kids.
[...]

https://nypost.com/2018/01/24/cuomo-...lege-for-free/

It seems the problem is solved... we just give the 800,000+ dreamers one-way bus tickets to New York for their free college tuition. Thanks NY!

[frank ryan]

Speaking of snowflakes:

Donald Trump tells Theresa May he won't visit the UK unless she bans protests

Donald Trump is refusing to visit the UK unless Theresa May can ensure that he is not met with protests.

Bloomberg revealed that Trump complained in a phone call to May about the "negative coverage" he has received in the British press.

May told the US president that that was how the UK media operated and she could do little to change it.

Trump went on to say that he would not visit the UK unless there were guarantees that he would not be met with protests.

Advisers who had been listening to the phone call are reported to have been "astonished" at the demands.

The pair are due to meet for bilateral talks at the World Economic Forum in Davos today (25 January).

Trump's complaints and demands are the latest indicator of the increasingly fractious "special" relationship between the UK and US after Trump pulled out of a visit to Britain.

The president had been billed to open the new US embassy in London in February but cancelled the trip citing his displeasure at its "off location" in south London.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/donald-trum...otests-1656638

[Moliere]

Speaking of snowflakes:

Donald Trump tells Theresa May he won't visit the UK unless she bans protests



http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/donald-trum...otests-1656638

Seems like a semi-inaccurate headline.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Eddie]

I'm sure this is going to taken the wrong way, and there's a chance I don't completely understand the issues involved...but with that in mind, I'm on board with Trump's dumping Obama's DACA solution. I like that he did away with the executive order and gave a deadline for it to sunset.

I don't want those folks deported by any means. If we're talking about those following the guidelines of kids who were brought here before they were 16 who have a diploma or are in school and have no criminal charges, etc. (I don't want to hear about the exceptions - I'm speaking in generalities here) - then I have no problem with them staying!

What I do think is fair to ask for is for Congress to deal with the issue and come up with some meaningful immigration law rather than having the executive branch rule by fiat. So I support ending Obama's executive order and putting the onus on Congress to act. I'm sorry that this adds to the stress and concern of those here under DACA status. I'm not sorry for any stress or concern that it is causing Congress by asking them to act.

[Uncle Ted]

Speaking of snowflakes:

Donald Trump tells Theresa May he won't visit the UK unless she bans protests



http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/donald-trum...otests-1656638

Yeah, what a wimp... I like when Bush Sr visited the dumb Brits (or was it the Queen's other subjects in Australia?) and gave them the "victory" sign:




Drumpf should do the same!

[Commando]

I'm sure this is going to taken the wrong way, and there's a chance I don't completely understand the issues involved...but with that in mind, I'm on board with Trump's dumping Obama's DACA solution. I like that he did away with the executive order and gave a deadline for it to sunset.

I don't want those folks deported by any means. If we're talking about those following the guidelines of kids who were brought here before they were 16 who have a diploma or are in school and have no criminal charges, etc. (I don't want to hear about the exceptions - I'm speaking in generalities here) - then I have no problem with them staying!

What I do think is fair to ask for is for Congress to deal with the issue and come up with some meaningful immigration law rather than having the executive branch rule by fiat. So I support ending Obama's executive order and putting the onus on Congress to act. I'm sorry that this adds to the stress and concern of those here under DACA status. I'm not sorry for any stress or concern that it is causing Congress by asking them to act.

Trump did more than end DACA-- he ended Obama's prioritization of immigration enforcement. Under Obama, DHS had a 6-tier mandate for priority enforcement. At the top you had felons, recent entries, gang members, and so forth on down the line to people with the most time in the U.S. with no criminal contacts-- where most DACA kids would land.

Because of that, our obscenely backlogged immigration courts are now being choked with innocent kids, parents, grandmothers, etc who never committed a crime in their life. DHS prosecutors' policy re: DACA kids who are still under DACA is to obtain a removal order from an immigration judge so that the second their DACA expires they can be picked up and deported. Fantastic.

Where before prosecutors would stipulate to administrative closure of most sympathetic cases of a person in removal proceedings, they now stipulate to NOTHING. Now is the time of Trump's great power on the Earth and you see things like little girls with CP being pulled over in ambulances and detained by ICE/CBP, whereas 14 months ago that would have been quite unthinkable. So Trump's guise of 'ending Obama's unconstitutional DACA' is really just a cover up for being an utter piece of shit. He could have ended DACA and kept humane enforcement priorities, but he didn't. So it's not so much the sentiment that DACA needs a permanent, legislative solution that adds to the stress and concern of people under DACA; it's more having ICE out knocking doors checking papers like the 2018 American Gestapo. (yes, this is happening right in front of me). So when you hear Trump talk about how he loves the kids and the kids have nothing to worry about you can rest assured that he's full of shit.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...rgency-surgery

[Uncle Ted]

Trump did more than end DACA-- he ended Obama's prioritization of immigration enforcement. Under Obama, DHS had a 6-tier mandate for priority enforcement. At the top you had felons, recent entries, gang members, and so forth on down the line to people with the most time in the U.S. with no criminal contacts-- where most DACA kids would land.

Because of that, our obscenely backlogged immigration courts are now being choked with innocent kids, parents, grandmothers, etc who never committed a crime in their life. DHS prosecutors' policy re: DACA kids who are still under DACA is to obtain a removal order from an immigration judge so that the second their DACA expires they can be picked up and deported. Fantastic.

Where before prosecutors would stipulate to administrative closure of most sympathetic cases of a person in removal proceedings, they now stipulate to NOTHING. Now is the time of Trump's great power on the Earth and you see things like little girls with CP being pulled over in ambulances and detained by ICE/CBP, whereas 14 months ago that would have been quite unthinkable. So Trump's guise of 'ending Obama's unconstitutional DACA' is really just a cover up for being an utter piece of shit. He could have ended DACA and kept humane enforcement priorities, but he didn't. So it's not so much the sentiment that DACA needs a permanent, legislative solution that adds to the stress and concern of people under DACA; it's more having ICE out knocking doors checking papers like the 2018 American Gestapo. (yes, this is happening right in front of me). So when you hear Trump talk about how he loves the kids and the kids have nothing to worry about you can rest assured that he's full of shit.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...rgency-surgery

I thought Drumpf killed Obama's executive order and replaced it with a new prioritization (aka. "extreme vetting"): https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/co...on-priorities/

As for Obama's DACA or "Dreamers" executive order Obama was pretty clear it was temporary... Drumpf gave congress a reason to get off their collective *sses and act. That's something that Obama should have done.

Now, let's be clear -- this is not amnesty, this is not immunity. This is not a path to citizenship. It's not a permanent fix. This is a temporary stopgap measure that lets us focus our resources wisely while giving a degree of relief and hope to talented, driven, patriotic young people.

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov...nt-immigration

It short it was a stopgap for the DREAM act. The DREAM act wasn't a direct path to citizenship either. It was conditional on a lot of things:

That’s what gave rise to the DREAM Act. It says that if your parents brought you here as a child, if you’ve been here for five years, and you’re willing to go to college or serve in our military, you can one day earn your citizenship.

There are other conditions as well. see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DREAM_Act

So if the DREAM act had past and if a dreamer kid doesn't go to college or serve in the military do they then deport him/her? Fortunately those New Yorkers are going to give them free college (talk about buying votes) so they don't have to serve in the military.

[BlueK]

This is lovely.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.f4b55e0050f0

[BigPiney]

This is lovely.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.f4b55e0050f0

yeah, they should totally have air conditioning and pina coladas waiting for them.

[Uncle Ted]

This is lovely.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.f4b55e0050f0

Yeah, don't they know it takes 500-1000 years for a plastic bottle to biodegrade? They should recycle them!

[Commando]

I thought Drumpf killed Obama's executive order and replaced it with a new prioritization (aka. "extreme vetting"):

Those are two issues that are very unrelated. The Muslim Ban has nothing to do with DACA I am talking about Trump's ICE's enforcement priorities.


And as far as DACA/the DREAM Act no- you don't have to go to college. Just graduate high school, get a GED, or be IN high school or signed up to take the GED. And FYI there are various stages of lawful status -- it isn't that you're either undocumented OR a U.S. citizen.

[BlueK]

And FYI there are various stages of lawful status -- it isn't that you're either undocumented OR a U.S. citizen.

This is one of the most annoying things many Americans are ignorant about.

[Eddie]

Trump did more than end DACA-- he ended Obama's prioritization of immigration enforcement. Under Obama, DHS had a 6-tier mandate for priority enforcement. At the top you had felons, recent entries, gang members, and so forth on down the line to people with the most time in the U.S. with no criminal contacts-- where most DACA kids would land.

Because of that, our obscenely backlogged immigration courts are now being choked with innocent kids, parents, grandmothers, etc who never committed a crime in their life. DHS prosecutors' policy re: DACA kids who are still under DACA is to obtain a removal order from an immigration judge so that the second their DACA expires they can be picked up and deported. Fantastic.

Where before prosecutors would stipulate to administrative closure of most sympathetic cases of a person in removal proceedings, they now stipulate to NOTHING. Now is the time of Trump's great power on the Earth and you see things like little girls with CP being pulled over in ambulances and detained by ICE/CBP, whereas 14 months ago that would have been quite unthinkable. So Trump's guise of 'ending Obama's unconstitutional DACA' is really just a cover up for being an utter piece of shit. He could have ended DACA and kept humane enforcement priorities, but he didn't. So it's not so much the sentiment that DACA needs a permanent, legislative solution that adds to the stress and concern of people under DACA; it's more having ICE out knocking doors checking papers like the 2018 American Gestapo. (yes, this is happening right in front of me). So when you hear Trump talk about how he loves the kids and the kids have nothing to worry about you can rest assured that he's full of shit.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...rgency-surgery

Thanks for the added insights. Gives me more to think about. Obviously they are happy to publicize the DACA piece and their desire to fix a temporary stop-gap. Unfortunately they do a good job of Jedi-mind-tricking everyone with a nothing-to-see-here wave of the hand with relation to the rest of it.