This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.
President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP
Sean Spicer Twitter @PressSec
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †
Attorney General Jeff Sessions sat down for an interview with Judge Jeanine Pirro to provide an update on the latest DOJ focus on border security and a crack-down on violent gangs like MS13.
The issue we historically held with Mick ‘Cantalopes’ Mulvaney, was his direct association with Speaker Ryan when it comes to tax/budget plans. Thankfully, so far, Mulvaney has outperformed expectations and our fears have not been seen in Trump policy. We are cautiously optimistic.
One AP article disingenuously previously reported the White House was moving away from the initial campaign tax reform proposal. That outline was pure gas-lighting. The central issue of tax plan disparity centers around import tax tariffs and various alternative proposals.
House Speaker Paul Ryan is all-in with his “Border Adjustment Tax”, it is part of his larger ‘Better Way’ tax agenda. Apparently, according to The Hill, Mulvaney is not in alignment with Ryan. Good. The bottom line is Ryan’s plan is Tom Donohue’s plan. Ryan’s “Better Way” is the construct of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
President Trump is not in line with the complex Border Adjustment Tax nonsense. We’ll have to wait and see how this shakes out in the weeks ahead.
An interesting concept of a border wall developed by an engineer and submitted by construction builder James Flanagan.
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The Concept sounds really interesting. Although no mention of our killer sharks with lasers proposal, but, oh well, those enhancements can always come later.
The LA Times is providing an update to the ground assessment from the use of the 10+ ton MOAB bomb dropped in Afghanistan. The number of ISIS killed rises to 94.
“The bomb’s reverberations wave frightened me so badly. I have witnessed thousands of battles, but no bomb scared me like this one did.” ~ Hanifullah (62-year-old Shodal Resident)
Afghans describe how the MOAB destroyed the ISIS camp and may have killed 100 fighters. 36 ISIS are confirmed dead. pic.twitter.com/ojAZgOWfBL
— Kevin W. (@kwilli1046) April 14, 2017
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Via LA Times – Afghan officials said Saturday that 94 militants were killed in a massive U.S. bomb blast targeting Islamic State’s regional affiliate, nearly three times as many as was reported a day earlier. (more…)
Perhaps it’s because the complexity is difficult to distill; maybe it’s because some just can’t give President Trump any credit; or perhaps it’s because the scope is too challenging to comprehend against the constant belittlement meme du jour. Regardless of reason, President Trump is fundamentally realigning international geo-political alliances and almost no-one is connecting the dots.
President Trump obviously held a long-ball strategy with the Chinese; he’s described the approach in his books and lived the approach in his business life:
At the outset, position yourself at the furthest oppositional point when it costs you nothing; then leverage inward toward your opponent as they expend their resources to meet your stance.
Almost no-one is noting the scope of what President Trump has accomplished simply by positioning himself at the furthest extreme from the best interests of China, and then working his leverage back toward dual-interests as the Chinese expend capital to meet the point of mutual benefit.
President Trump has expended nothing other than his sheer will, and yet he has leveraged gains that are jaw-droppingly consequential.
♦ What’s the goal of identifying China as a currency manipulator? To stop China from manipulating currency, right? Well, arm-chair opposition says President Trump has reversed his position simply by ‘not doing something’. However, that opposition doesn’t seem to acknowledge the end-goal of the labeling has been achieved without expending an effort. The doing is unnecessary when merely the threat of the doing changes the behavior of the doer.
In two days, April 6th and April 7th, President Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. What actions has President Trump taken, other than ‘not’ doing something, and what actions has President Xi Jinping taken? (more…)
This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.
President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP
Sean Spicer Twitter @PressSec
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †
Microsoft tries to thread the needle of transparency by telling its consuming audience as much about governmental collection of data as possible. Toward that end Microsoft releases a biannual transparency report.
Within the latest transparency release Microsoft reports in the first half of 2016 they received a massive increase in FISA orders; primarily from U.S. governmental agencies.
• “For the latest Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) data reported, Microsoft received 1,000-1,499 FISA orders seeking content disclosures affecting 12,000-12,499 accounts, compared to the 0-499 FISA orders seeking disclosure of content impacting 17,500-17,999 accounts reported for the previous period.
We received 0-499 National Security Letters in the latest reporting period, which remains unchanged from the previous period.” (link)
Why would there be such a significant spike in FISA orders during the first six months of 2016?