The Trump Presidency 13: The (James) Baker's Dozen

[Darat]

The bottom line will be who signs the cheques.

 

[Delphic Oracle]

So, a little problem with the U.S. economy right now...

From: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/14/us-retail-sales-drop-in-december.html
U.S. retail sales recorded their biggest drop in more than nine years in December as receipts fell across the board, suggesting a sharp slowdown in economic activity at the end of 2018.

They initially predicted this might affect the stock market, but other news (such as the spending bill) might have counteracted the drop in sales.

Still, its not a good sign for the economy, considering how everyone was supposed to have all this extra money after the Republican tax cuts.

Yeah, I felt that quite directly. Season was average-ish for the first two weekends after Thanksgiving and then just coasted along to Christmas. Especially once the market stumbled, everyone got tight fisted. We had to drive clearance down to 80% off and still had decorations and impulse buy stuff until the middle of January.

 

[thaiboxerken]

Can a foreign government do that?

Sadly, I think a majority of Republicans are asking that question, both elected Republicans and Republican voters.

 

[BobTheCoward]

I really hope el chapo gets his conviction vacated. The prosecution had members of the cartel as prosecution witnesses testify that they smuggled drugs across ports of entry. The government's position is that they know that is a lie. The prosecutors engaged in a massive breach of ethics.

 

[dudalb]

Trump finally signed the budget bill;that ends the 2019 Shutdown crisis...at least until Sep.30th....

Almost every political expert around advocates going to a 2 year budget just to cut down on this nonsense, but that makes too much sense for the congress to approve it....

 

[Ladewig]

Trump Tweets

“After The Flight 93 Election, The Vote That Saved America - And What We Still Have To Lose,” by very talented Michael Anton, is a terrific read. Check it out!

Can we pass a law that says no president can recommend a book unless he has read it?

Chuckleheaded attention whore.

 

[Darat]

Derail about military aircraft moved. Keep to the topic of this thread.

Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic  Posted By: Darat

 

[quadraginta]

It isn't.

This is ALL about OPTICS. NOTHING MORE.

At least one person agrees with you...

"Trump's stupidest voters"?

Boy, that would be a tough thing to rate on a scale.

It would probably make a great TV contest show, though, with viewers calling in to vote their favorites, and celebrity judges mugging it up on a panel.

You might think that nobody would ever volunteer to be a contestent, but you would be underestimating the apparently deep-seated desire of many people to be humiliated in public. Just watch a episode or two of Judge Judy (if you can stand that much).

With an expenses paid trip to L.A. they'd be pounding on the doors.

 

[quadraginta]

The New York Times says the courts are unlikely to overrule the President on what counts as an emergency, since that is substituting their judgment for his.

I can't find the article in which I read that. It seems to have fallen off the home page. A similar analysis appears in this Post article. Referring to the watered down Muslim ban that passed Supreme Court oversight, they write:

The ruling stressed the “deference” owed the president, particularly in matters involving immigration and claims of national security. Congress “entrusted” the president by statute with the authority to determine when the “entry of aliens would be detrimental” to the national interest, the majority said.​

I don't think the issue is going to be what constitutes an emergency or the President's right to decide that. Although such things could become elements of legal manuvuers.

What is going to be the core dispute is whether or not the President, having made such a declaration, can go on to use it as a means to access money (which has already been allocated by Congress explicitly for other purposes) for purposes which Congress has already explicitly denied him money for.

This is a fundamental dispute and attack on the intent of the Constitution and the allocation of powers between the several branches of government.

 

[dudalb]

"Trump's stupidest voters"?

Boy, that would be a tough thing to rate on a scale.

It would probably make a great TV contest show, though, with viewers calling in to vote their favorites, and celebrity judges mugging it up on a panel.

You might think that nobody would ever volunteer to be a contestent, but you would be underestimating the apparently deep-seated desire of many people to be humiliated in public. Just watch a episode or two of Judge Judy (if you can stand that much).

With an expenses paid trip to L.A. they'd be pounding on the doors.

Well Donald and Coulter don't love each other any more.Trump is now giving her the cold shoulder, claiming "I don't know her".
Absolute BS of course, but a sure sign that Trump and Coulter are now at odds.

 

[Ladewig]

Well Donald and Coulter don't love each other any more.Trump is now giving her the cold shoulder, claiming "I don't know her".
Absolute BS of course, but a sure sign that Trump and Coulter are now at odds.

Once President Trump pushes someone out of the circle of trust, does he ever invite them back in?

 

[The Great Zaganza]

Once President Trump pushes someone out of the circle of trust, does he ever invite them back in?

Yes, if it suits him.

 

[acbytesla]

I don't think the issue is going to be what constitutes an emergency or the President's right to decide that. Although such things could become elements of legal manuvuers.

What is going to be the core dispute is whether or not the President, having made such a declaration, can go on to use it as a means to access money (which has already been allocated by Congress explicitly for other purposes) for purposes which Congress has already explicitly denied him money for.

This is a fundamental dispute and attack on the intent of the Constitution and the allocation of powers between the several branches of government.

Exactly. The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse. This is going way beyond the powers given to the President. Trump can call this an emergency all he wants, but it clearly isn't. I'm looking forward to reading the legal arguments.

 

[thaiboxerken]

Well Donald and Coulter don't love each other any more.Trump is now giving her the cold shoulder, claiming "I don't know her".
Absolute BS of course, but a sure sign that Trump and Coulter are now at odds.

She's just a coffee server now.

 

[newyorkguy]

I found an image I posted here about a year-and-a-half ago (note the date of her tweet) when Coulter first bailed on the man she once "worshiped," but I still don't recall what the issue was with Coulter. A falling out between two conniving attention whores. In other news, scientists proclaim water to be wet.

.

 

[newyorkguy]

...With an expenses paid trip to L.A. they'd be pounding on the doors.

Pounding on the door? This gal will be knocking it down!

.

 

[Foolmewunz]

Trump's speech, mentioning military funds, proves that we give them too much. Cut military budget 20% and they won't hurt much. Unless they have to reduce headcount. Which also is not bad. Give the ones that want a 4 year stint in military that and then move on. The funds to get education afterward should never be cut.

Well, that's what the folks at Defense and in the halls of the Pentagon will have to worry about. If the DoD rolls over for Trump's wet dream, then next season's funding initiatives are going to be prefaced with a lot of discussion about there being so much over-calculated for Defense that they had five billion in spare change lying around that they donated to The Trump Wall and Re-Election Fund.

The current bill for keeping funding going has a proviso on almost every line that the money can't be used for any purposes other than as outlined in the Act. They'll do this next year, too.

 

[Trebuchet]

Pounding on the door? This gal will be knocking it down!



.

He'll make her sign an NDA first.

 

[smartcooky]

Listening to Neal Katyal last night talking about the statute that allows the President to declare a national emergency.

He says that the statute was brought in with the idea in mind that the President could declare a state of national emergency in the event that such urgent action was required at a time when the Congress was, for some reason, unable to meet to debate or declare it. The inference from this is that the intent of this law is to allow POTUS to act quickly when time is of the essence, and very fact of this rules out the reasons for Trump declaring it - he has had two years to get funding for his wall; two years in which Republicans had control of both houses. If his imagined crisis at the southern border was a real thing, then declaring a national emergency ought to have been his very first step, not his last resort.

The law as it stands says Katyal, allows for a great deal of trust in the president that he/she will not abuse that power, and once Trump has abused this power, it means that Congress will never again be able to trust a President of the United States.

It may be that this intent will now need to be codified in law, to limit the powers of POTUS to declare a national emergency only to those times when neither house of Congress is able to meet.

 

[Aridas]

Still, its not a good sign for the economy, considering how everyone was supposed to have all this extra money after the Republican tax cuts.

"Everyone." If by everyone you mean incredibly profitable businesses. Like Amazon. $11.2 Billion in profits. $0.00 in taxes. $129 million tax rebate. Amazon's got a -1% federal tax rate, in other words. What's yours in comparison?

Of note, before the Republican Tax Scam, their actual tax rate was at 11.4%, apparently.

In other news... Trump Judicial Nominees Are Refusing to Endorse Brown v. Board of Education. At least a third of the ones asked the question, which apparently translates into at least 10 of them. For reference, Brown v. Board of Education is the case that led to the unanimous 1954 ruling that abolished school segregation. This question has been a very, very soft ball for many years now.

In slightly tangential news to that, Too Close to Trump? FOX News Won’t Run Ad for Oscar-Nominated Anti-Nazi Documentary

A documentary about Nazis in America in 1939 has been nominated for an Oscar in the Documentary Short category.. It's called "A Night at the Garden," and tells the story of a rally in New York City by supporters of fascism. It's a revealing, albeit disturbing, moment of truth from America's past. And it's something that all Americans should be aware of. To that end, the producers sought to run an ad for the film (video below) on fox News, but ran into an obstacle. According to the Hollywood Reporter

"Fox News has rejected a national advertising buy for a 30-second spot that warns viewers about the potential dangers of American fascism after an ad sales representative said network leadership deemed it inappropriate, The Hollywood Reporter has learned." "The spot doubles as a promotion of this year's Oscar-nominated documentary short A Night at the Garden, which recounts a 1939 Nazi rally in New York City, and a warning — 'It Can Happen Here' - to Hannity's largely conservative viewers about the potential dangers of President Donald Trump's brand of populism."

More specifically, the rejection apparently came directly on orders from their CEO.