Politics

SpaceNut · 2018-12-24 15:46:46

I would build more ports of entry alone the border in other areas to create a greater ability to process as its already been shown walls are not the only answer but people are to slow the onsloat of people going across with some turning themselves in as soon as they do see bcp while others chose to not do it.

Current politcal power balance in the senate:

115th Congress
The 115th United States Congress runs from January 3, 2017, to January 3, 2019.
In the Senate, Total Members = 100; Republicans = 51, Democrats = 47, Independents = 2.
In the Lower House, Total = 435, Republicans = 236, Democrats = 197, Vacant = 2

with this the change come the 3rd of jan. 2019

116th Congress
The 116th United States Congress runs from January 3, 2019, to January 3, 2021.
The Republicans have gained two seats in the senate compared to the last Congress. The 116th Congress has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats, and two independents.
But Democrats have gained majority in the (Lower) House of Representatives after November 2018 elections.
For the Lower House, Total = 435, R = 199, D = 235, Vacant = 1.

A count of 60 is needed to pass a bill to the president from the senate...

SpaceNut · 2018-12-25 17:38:49

The US-led combined joint task force fighting ISIS announced Tuesday that it continued airstrikes and coordinated attacks in Syria, days after President Donald Trump's decision to begin the withdrawal of US troops in the country which is what we did in the past to haunt us but its also why we can not believe a word that comes out of his mouth.

Operation Inherent Resolve continued supporting its partner forces with "precision air strikes and coordinated fires to make further progress" against ISIS in Syria, in coordinated attacks, launched from December 16-22, "severely degraded" the terrorist group's logistics facilities and staging areas and "removed several hundred ISIS fighters from the battlefield."

The airstrikes also targeted ISIS financial centers in eastern Syria, delivering a "significant blow" to its ability to finance terrorist activities, in which "ISIS presents a very real threat to the long-term stability in this region and our mission remains the same, the enduring defeat of ISIS," UK Maj. Gen. Christopher Ghika, the deputy commander of Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, comes after Trump's declaration last week that ISIS has been defeated and his announcement that the US would begin the "full" and "rapid" withdrawal of its roughly 2,000 troops in Syria. Trump's decision led in part to the resignation of his Defense Secretary James Mattis and his top diplomat for the global coalition to counter ISIS.

SpaceNut · 2018-12-26 12:34:10

So Trump says ISSI is defeated then what was this ISIS claims deadly bombing in Iraq

Three people were killed and 13 others wounded when a car bomb exploded in an outdoor market in the city of Tal Afar in northwestern Iraq on Tuesday.

SpaceNut · 2018-12-26 12:39:30

This is a good delay but not if we pull out before its done... Afghanistan postpones presidential election but the Taliban must be on board for the election to be successful...

Election observers watch the counting of ballots during parliamentary elections at a polling station in Kabul, Afghanistan,
The election, scheduled for April, will be postponed for several months to allow time to fix technical problems that surfaced during October's parliamentary elections.

SpaceNut · 2018-12-29 11:22:50

Should have posted this here instead:

SpaceNut wrote:

The tax cut that was not one has come to grips with many as they ready to do the taxes for the year. Trump's tax cut one year later: What happened?
Long article that shows the false promises...

This morning I hear that Trump used his pen again to deny Federal workers a raise for 2019... striking out again since he did not get a wall....thinking that bullying is the answer....

SpaceNut · 2018-12-30 10:21:23

For those that would like to know what Federal employees get paid.... President, Vice Pesident ect....Here is the executive order and more

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversig … of-pay.pdf

kbd512 · 2018-12-30 13:54:59

SpaceNut,

President Trump donates his salary to government agencies, apart from the one dollar that Federal Law mandates he take to be considered a paid employee.

SpaceNut · 2018-12-30 19:54:23

Yes I remember his 2016 presidential campaign, Republican candidate Donald Trump, a billionaire real estate developer, vowed that if elected he would forgo the $400,000 annual presidential salary.

In the first quarter of 2017, for example, President Trump donated $78,333 (his $100,000 salary for that quarter, after taxes) to the Department of the Interior, specifically for the National Park Service’s maintenance of an historic Civil War site.

In July 2017, President Trump donated his second-quarter salary to a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) camp for children, overseen by the Education Department.

The third-quarter salary to the Department of Health and Human Services for a public awareness campaign about opioid addiction.

With the last of his 2017 salary went towards an infrastructure grant program overseen by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

In May 2018 President Trump donated one-fourth of his $400,000-per-year salary to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Trump donates second-quarter salary to SBA administrator Linda McMahon accepted the check for $100,000 at a White House press briefing Oct. 3, 2018.

Wow seems like there 2018 there is a bit of delay for donating it....

There are some that are tracking the cost of the trump property visits that are paid to his businesses for Mar-a-lago "winter white house "..... It's not just a question of travel time, but of ethics and cost efficiency, according to watchdog groups and ethics experts. Which seems to be a big scam as he is laughing to the bank....

170413-mar-a-lago-mn-1720_325465a73dbc2dcd2b3b591832d6bc22.fit-760w.JPG

The president's trips can cost taxpayers millions of dollars because of the use of Air Force One and the expenses of the Secret Service, the Air Force, local sheriff's departments, the Coast Guard and other agencies.

Donald Trump's visits to his South Florida estate since he was elected president have cost the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department $1.5 million in overtime costs. Local governments are also in line to be reimbursed by the feds for the costs of Trump’s 2017-18 visits, which cost $3.3 million between November and early February.

Nearly $20 million has been spent for extra Coast Guard patrols to protect President Donald Trump during 16 visits to his Mar-a-Lago resort in South Florida since he took office.

Washington Post and Politico analyses have estimated to cost taxpayers on average between $1 million and $3 million per trip.

As of Dec. 26, Trump had spent 39 days at Mar-a-Lago in 2017. Trump took his 17th trip to the property.
With estimates that we have paid $63 million for Trump's jaunts to Mar-A-Lago since he's taken office.
With other charges for an estimate $75 million it cost for Melania and Barron to stay in New York.
Trump visited his golf clubs more than 150 times in his first official year in office.

SpaceNut · 2018-12-31 19:08:58

Shutdown in 10th day draws to a close with Federal workers are suing the US government over the shutdown protesting the requirement that employees who are considered "essential" must report to work without pay, a major federal workers' union announced Monday.

An estimated 420,000 employees fall into the category of being essential, many of them working for the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department, focused on public safety. "Requiring them to work without pay is nothing short of inhumane."
The second group of federal employees fall in Veterans Affairs and the Defense Department which already had enough money to carry them through next fall. While nine departments and dozens of agencies have been shuttered. That triggered an automatic furlough of some 380,000 employees, according to estimates released by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The union sued the government after the 2013 shutdown, arguing that Fair Labor Standards Act requires that all employees are paid on time for their services. Last year, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims concluded that employees were entitled to twice their back pay because of the violation.

I actually was labled essential in that one and worked about a week before the call to return was given of which those that stayed home were paid for obeying the closer call as if they had worked....

If Trump thinks that they will save any money, it was found that it cost more to cause a shutdown then if there had been none....

SpaceNut · 2019-01-02 18:04:53

Many of the national parks are becoming a safety and health hazard to any one that ventures into them. Currently many have only a skeltal crew to just make some sort of decor to them even though they will eventually close for good.

Another area of concern is the contractor personel that are not working and will not get any back pay like the federal side could once it is open once more.

And yet he is digging in his heals of stupidity saying if he gives in he will look bad to his constituents....

Sooner or later if you fall into the unpaid and no job category for being a constituent then most likely the voice he thinks he is hearing is going to change there tune.

This is also having impacts in other ways as well... Partial government shutdown has big impact on Maryland's economy for those that work for the NSA, NASA, a lot of federal areas departments...current budget situation, all IRS offices are closed.

SpaceNut · 2019-01-05 20:27:55

The partial government shutdown began on December 22 2018 and is now in its 3rd week of the shutdown is now starting to be seen by others...What's closed during the partial government shutdown?

Nine out of 15 federal departments are closed, as well as dozens of agencies.

More than 420,000 federal employees are working without pay, including agents from the FBI, ATF, DEA and CBP, as well as staff from the State Department, Coast Guard, IRS and Department of Homeland Security.
Another 380,000 workers have been furloughed from departments including NASA, the State Department, the National Park Service, the Forest Service, the Transportation Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the IRS.
The Smithsonian museums and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., shut their doors on January 2.
The National Zoo has closed, although animals are still being cared for by zoo workers.
Many national parks have also closed, but several remain open during the shutdown, albeit without services. Sanitary conditions have rapidly deteriorated at many of the nation's parks, with restroom toilets overflowing and trash piling up.
At Yellowstone, private companies that offer tours have been performing some maintenance, enabling them to continue operating throughout the winter,
The IRS has mostly stopped working (only 12 percent of its staff are working -- without pay), and those who are working are mostly focused on security and technology, not on taxpayers' refunds. The IRS is not issuing refunds, updating tax forms or answering phone help lines during the shutdown, according to its shutdown plans.
Immigration courts have closed, forcing judges to indefinitely postpone hearings scheduled months in advance. There is already a backlog of over 800,000 cases.
E-Verify, the government immigration system and database employers use to check and confirm that employees are eligible to work in the United States, is out of service during the shutdow

Which with real ID should put much of the illegals out of business but thats not happening as we have already seen with the E-verify...

Other areas of impact Millions could face severe cuts to food stamps due to government shutdown

Medically ill on SSI are now in the crosshairs as well..Cystic Fibrosis is a terminal for most
22-year-old with deadly disease loses disability insurance

SpaceNut · 2019-01-06 13:46:25

Another has said enough is enough with the Trump leadership or lack there in as Pentagon chief of staff announces resignation.

The Department of Defense chief of staff Rear Admiral Kevin Sweeney said in a statement that 'the time is right to return to the private sector'.

GW Johnson · 2019-01-07 09:51:14

I already told you in post 1375 above what is the prudent thing to do about the border. That's not to say fences here and there aren't appropriate, because they are. But the majority of the southern border needs no fence. It needs border guards not occupied chasing guest workers and refugees, so they can chase the smugglers more effectively.

That answer is not only correct in technical and economic senses, it is so brain-dead simple that it cannot be politicized and misused. Which pisses off the ideologues. So they will not listen.

Kinda tells you what's wrong with our politics today, don't it?

GW

RobertDyck · 2019-01-09 03:58:48

46957523_2241195892580990_5146153350764429312_n.jpg?_nc_cat=1&_nc_ht=scontent.fymq3-1.fna&oh=d343e02229480306272ae380307cb125&oe=5CC9FD7D

SpaceNut · 2019-01-12 16:30:24

The claims that the president can declare a state of emergency yes it is possible but on the border to get his wall seems to be full of hot air as its been 2 years to which the border has been containing and doing its job with its current level of wall but more people stretched out across it would not hurt.

The shutdown for the public is raising some security questions as those working with out pay are calling in sick for the roughly 800,0000 federal employees and for the contractors that another group not going to work is 400,000 which will not be paid for the time off...

Many other had some funds but they are running out and one area is the National parks where the Joshua Trees have been cut while closed and burnt, trash piling up creating sanitary issues as well for nearly all of the parks.

Rememebr when I gave the example that most americans did not evenhave a 1,000 set asside for the unexpected well its not just the poor....

See How the Effects of the Government Shutdown Are Piling Up timeline for when money ran out..

Trump is under the impression that landlords, grocery stores, child care, fuel delivery and more will be willing to take IOU's just be cause you are a federal employee....

The moral on the border will take a hit as well when Shutdown puts ICE at risk of running out of money to pay contractors

Manaford while in Trumps inner circle for his presidential campaign turned over detailed polling data to Russian

Putins meeting notes were taken from the people to keep any written records from being said to call Trump a foriegn asset of Russia

SpaceNut · 2019-01-13 21:25:36

TSA screeners bonus for work during the holiday travel season. Seeking to ease the pain of airport security agents working through the partial government shutdown, the Transportation Security Administration is compensating those on duty the day after the lapse in funding and awarding $500 bonuses for work during the holiday travel season.

Its not much but it may help a little for those calling in so as to be able to go to work....

SpaceNut · 2019-01-14 20:24:16

It did not take long before complacency stood up as Passenger gets gun through screening in Atlanta airport onto Delta flight

The security breach came on Jan. 3, two weeks into the government shutdown during which TSA agents have been required to work but have not been paid.

So what or whom will be the next to show....

SpaceNut · 2019-01-15 16:13:45

Finally some effort to rid the US of the white National, Racism superiority garbage and they need not stop with this one Steven Arnold King is an American politician serving as a U.S. Representative from Iowa and member of the Republican Party
Do not stop there as both parties have them and its time to correct the nations ethics towards race.

,

Terraformer · 2019-01-16 03:52:33

How is saying "Western Civilisation" an example of racism?

This is why it's important when quoting to make sure you don't miss the nuance of speech.

GW Johnson · 2019-01-16 11:32:35

Terraformer, what you're seeing is a typical, out-of-context, abbreviated quote in a sound bite-short "news" report. This particular Rep has a long history of saying (and doing) racist things. The recent quote is just the nail-in-the-coffin to finally and belatedly do something about him.

The kind of in-depth reporting where you get the full truth is just not something you get off most TV news in the US, and certainly not off social media, or that Fox (Faux) "News" idiocy. Or talk radio. You get it from a real paper newspaper in your hands, and from such oddballs as PBS NewsHour.

I don't honestly know which papers and sources are real, trustable news in the UK. Maybe you do.

I do see you Brits now have your hands full with the Brexit mess. Looks like, near as I can tell, the deal the EU is willing to offer is unacceptable to Parliament. With the EU dug in and the date close by, it would appear (to me at least) that a new referendum is in order. Because the chaos of a departure with no deal would be really, really bad for your economy. But I see no movement in that direction.

GW

Last edited by GW Johnson (2019-01-16 11:32:48)

Terraformer · 2019-01-16 15:48:53

GW,

We've had a referendum. Would you like to redo every single election, because the people who lost didn't like the result? Okay, they tried that in 2016. What precedent does that set?

Better yet, how about the United States joins the EU? Since it's doing so terrible outside it. Hey, Canada is obviously incapable on standing on it's own, they certainly need to avoid the massive damage they're doing by staying outside.

That was more than just an abbreviated quote. That's straight up malicious slander.

Of course, if you read actual news rather than propaganda, you'd know these things. Maybe you should do that.

SpaceNut · 2019-01-16 18:53:24

Join the EU...they called it NATO...

Sure it sounded like a good Idea at the time to form a united Europe but with that there really was not much thought for how culture would be effected, how communications language would change....how the currency would need to be different and maybe not so stable....
As the US is struggling with its identity as well since we are not forcing culture to change here when we do get so many immigrants.
We are just farther down a simular road as the world is growing to othr nations that they are not from....

elderflower · 2019-01-17 06:51:42

There is a problem in the European Union that is equally applicable to the United States of America. States in the Eurozone are not able to adjust, or allow markets to adjust, the value of their currency. The result is that states with economic and financial problems (eg Greece, Italy,) can only regularise their affairs by severe cutting back, resulting in social deprivation and upheaval. Same goes for the US rustbelt states stuck with an overvalued dollar- from their point of view.

SpaceNut · 2019-01-18 19:55:53

Another casualty of the shutdown is Clinton Tech Says Hillary’s Private Email System Was ‘Attacked’ Forcing Server Shutdown

Clinton’s campaign spokesperson emphasized that Clinton’s use of a private email was not unique (Secretary of State Powell also used private email), a scathing audit of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton‘s email usage (along with the email use of Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and others) was released. Investigators with the State Department Inspector General’s Office found that Clinton likely violated federal record keeping rules when she maintained the private server at her New York home. However, buried in the 83-page audit report may be an even more significant new piece of information. A tech advisor servicing the Clinton private email system reportedly notified Clinton’s staff that someone was trying and then had possibly “attacked” her server. In the report, Clinton also complained about receiving suspicious emails. Auditors found that she may have violated procedure by not notifying the proper security personnel about the emails.

SpaceNut · 2019-01-24 21:11:11

Sort still shaking my head on this Officials rejected Jared Kushner for top secret security clearance, but were overruled at least 30 cases in which Kline overruled career security experts and approved a top secret clearance for incoming Trump officials despite unfavorable information.

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