The Former Trump Presidency Thread

[GreenGoo]

Even if he was the best president in the world, this constantly tweeting what he's been up to would drive me crazy. Of course I don't follow anyone on twitter and the idea of getting a notification that someone took a dump and told the world about it is beyond the pale for me, so I'm probably not the tweet audience.

[wonderpug]

Of course I don't follow anyone on twitter and the idea of getting a notification that someone took a dump and told the world about it is beyond the pale for me, so I'm probably not the tweet audience.

You haven't truly lived until you've managed to get your bowel movements in sync with Scott Bakula's.

[tjg_marantz]

So Whitefish was awarded the Puerto Rico contract...

Obviously, you start a Twitter argument with the mayor of San Yuan...

https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/922667591839166464

We’ve got 44 linemen rebuilding power lines in your city & 40 more men just arrived. Do you want us to send them back or keep working?

[LawBeefaroni]

Obviously taking advantage of the disaatee. No different than the thugs selling water for $30 a bottle down there. Soulless profiteers.

There's a reason that used to be a shoot-on-sight offense.

[Skinypupy]

I've worked enough federal contracts to state - with absolute confidence - that contract is absolute horseshit. There's no way they award a $300MM contract without either an open bid, sole source justification, or full vetting process without some serious shenanigans being afoot.

I'm guessing there's a ton of other vendors who are in the process of disputing it as we speak.

[Unagi]

Of course I don't follow anyone on twitter and the idea of getting a notification that someone took a dump and told the world about it is beyond the pale for me, so I'm probably not the tweet audience.

You haven't truly lived until you've managed to get your bowel movements in sync with Scott Bakula's.

Oh boy.

[Remus West]

One of the things that has been really bothering me lately is the Republican line that "He is the President of the United States and it is in every American's interest to see this President be successful" or something along those lines. Here is the thing though. This President is out to ruin everything I hold dear. He has trampled on ideals of equality and acceptance. He has placed people in positions to destroy the environment and public education. He is doing everything he can to destroy healthcare and reenact tax cuts similar to what Reagan did (only much worse) that caused a bad recession. So, no, it is not in my interest to see him succeed. It is in my interest to see him fall flat on his face and fail at everything he is trying to do because all he does is create harm. So fuck the next person that tells me it is in my interest to see him succeed. Fuck them and him.

[Zaxxon]

There's also the fact that, you know, that line was absolutely not a thing from the GOP for the prior 8 years.

[Octavious]

I say FU to Frelinghuysen who voted yes on a budget that would decimate NJ. What a hot mess. It was so quiet for 8 years and every other day is a god damn disaster waiting to happen. Honestly I say screw it. Pass horrible tax "cuts" and lets watch NJ crumble. Even then they won't admit Trump is a horrible human being and a terrible pick to lead anything.

[Unagi]

If, for example, one was a passenger in an airplane.... It's normally the case where it's in every passenger's interest to see that the pilot is successful... But when you know the plane is being driven by a person who intends to fly it into a skyscraper, you may need to see to it that the pilot isn't successful.

[Octavious]

Lets roll!

[malchior]

I say FU to Frelinghuysen who voted yes on a budget that would decimate NJ. What a hot mess. It was so quiet for 8 years and every other day is a god damn disaster waiting to happen. Honestly I say screw it. Pass horrible tax "cuts" and lets watch NJ crumble. Even then they won't admit Trump is a horrible human being and a terrible pick to lead anything.

Lord Frelinghuysen doesn't give a damn about his constituents serfs' mild suffering - they merely live to farm his fields and run his many factories.

[YellowKing]

I finally determined the source of my constant angst, and it's not Trump being president per se. It's the fact that I want to shout "This guy is destroying America and is a horrible human being! And he proves that day after day! And you stupid fucking idiots who voted him into office are too fucking stupid or too fucking oblivious to care!"

But I can't, because they are my friends, family, and co-workers.

[El Guapo]

I say FU to Frelinghuysen who voted yes on a budget that would decimate NJ. What a hot mess. It was so quiet for 8 years and every other day is a god damn disaster waiting to happen. Honestly I say screw it. Pass horrible tax "cuts" and lets watch NJ crumble. Even then they won't admit Trump is a horrible human being and a terrible pick to lead anything.

It's just completely bizarre to see these statements by Republicans along the lines of "we're going to be in trouble if we don't pass some major legislation!" Yeah, the clear answer to your party being massively unpopular is to pass a massively unpopular tax bill - that should do the trick.

[Octavious]

I already see people defending it by saying it's the Democrats fault that our property taxes are so high. Honestly in this day and age everything can be spun. You don't even need proof! It's awesome.

[El Guapo]

For what it's worth this is still just budget resolution stuff, so not the ultimate bill itself. That it passed so narrowly (I think by 4 votes?) is an indication of how on the razor's edge this whole enterprise is. Ryan himself indicated that he SALT deduction elimination probably would not be in the bill as is now.

So odds are that the SALT deduction will be preserved in at least some form. But you never know with the batshit GOP these days.

[Octavious]

I finally determined the source of my constant angst, and it's not Trump being president per se. It's the fact that I want to shout "This guy is destroying America and is a horrible human being! And he proves that day after day! And you stupid fucking idiots who voted him into office are too fucking stupid or too fucking oblivious to care!"

But I can't, because they are my friends, family, and co-workers.

If they remove property tax deductions NJ will collapse as the housing market will instantly die. And I just don't care anymore. Actually I hope it's a gigantic mess so that maybe we never let someone like this in ever again. BUT since Bush almost killed the entire country and we're trying stuff even MORE extreme I'm losing hope that it will matter. On the plus side, aside from killing the NJ housing market it shouldn't have much of an impact on me. My father who I'm sure loves Trump will be 100% royally f'd by this. His taxes have to be like 17K a year.

[malchior]

I looked it up. He is at 13K which is similar to me. So...about a $5K hit. Maybe less since his income as a retiree is probably a bit lower. Either way it'd hurt.

[Isgrimnur]

https://twitter.com/nxthompson/status/9 ... 5297197056

Washingtonian

[Captain Caveman]

He’s pathological, and apparently has been for decades.

[Moliere]

Carolin has written the most factually accurate letter to the editor in the magazine's 50 years. It's tremendous. Just tremendous. And, a letter to the editor is when you write to the editor, using words. Lots of words. Big words. Tremendous stuff. You should have seen the editorial staff. They gave me, errr, Carolin a standing ovation when it arrived at their office. Tremendous.

[Isgrimnur]

I have not read it, but here is the Baumgold article.

[Punisher]

I'm a smart guy, but....
I'm a pretty intelligent dude, but...

That's a different thing altogether. That's not actually a declaration of intelligence. That's just a clever lead-in to calling something stupid or unclear.

If you've actually met someone that is actually intelligent, that said "I'm a very intelligent person" (hard stop), I'd be surprised.

Very intelligent people don't have to tell people they are very intelligent, because it's obvious. You only have to tell people when it's not obvious. And when it's not obvious, it's because you aren't actually a very intelligent person. You only think you are, and are incredibly self-conscious about others not noticing.

This is very true.. we intelligent people don't need to boast out loud.. All of our boasting is internally.

[Skinypupy]

Back to the Whitefish contract in Puerto Rico for a sec. Yeah, this isn't sketchy at all.

Whitefish contract states, "In no event shall [government bodies] have the right to audit or review the cost and profit elements." Wow.

This is completely opposite from every government contract I've ever received. Most of those require the vendor to have cost justification and a risk management plan in place before a contract can ever be issued.

And $80/day for food? That's even higher than the most expensive GSA M&I (meals & incidentals) per diem rate (New York)

[Holman]

I've seen that there's also some sort of provision preventing the PR government from suing or taking other action if the company fails to meet deadlines.

[Smoove_B]

My contract experience with government is (mostly) small and nothing related to disaster level work, but yeah, the contract stuff I've seen reported seems quite strange. I don't doubt there are provisions that allow for additional flexibility during an emergency, but this contract does seem extra sketchy.

[Max Peck]

White House distances itself from Puerto Rico power contract

The White House has distanced itself from a $300m (£227m) contract awarded to a tiny Montana firm to help reconstruct Puerto Rico's power grid.

The statement came as President Donald Trump met his Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who knows the chief executive of the company, Whitefish Energy.

Federal authorities have expressed "significant concerns" about the deal, and are reviewing the contract.

Some 75% of Puerto Ricans have no power five weeks after Hurricane Maria.

White House spokesman Raj Shah said on Friday: "Our understanding is the decision to give a contract to Whitefish Energy was made exclusively by Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (Prepa).

"The White House is not aware of any federal involvement in the selection."

The US interior secretary - who has acknowledged knowing Whitefish's chief executive, but denies any involvement in the deal - met the president at the White House on Friday.

Prepa, the US territory's main utility, asserted that federal authorities had reviewed the deal.

But the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) denied that on Thursday night.

Among other clauses, the contract states that "Prepa hereby represents and warrants that Fema has reviewed and approved of this Contract".

It also says Fema "confirmed this Contract is in an acceptable form to qualify for funding from Fema or other US Governmental agencies".

In an email to reporters on Thursday night, Fema said "any language in any contract between Prepa and Whitefish that states Fema approved that contract is inaccurate".

Fema also said it "has significant concerns with how Prepa procured this contract and has not confirmed whether the contract prices are reasonable".

[Sepiche]

That deal has Zinke's fingerprints all over it. They may have pressured Prepa to make the deal to give them some plausible deniability, but come on.

I guess turning the swamp into a lake gets rid of the swamp as surely as draining it does.

[Chaz]

I wonder how many options PREPA was given to select between. If they only got one option, then sure, they selected Whitefish. This whole thing reeks.

[Isgrimnur]

I wonder how many options PREPA was given to select between. If they only got one option, then sure, they selected Whitefish. This whole thing reeks.

And the corrupt folks swim away with the greenbacks, lox, stockpond, and barracuda.

[Sepiche]

Nothing says "I'm Guilty" like moving the goalposts:

"Any attempts by the dishonest media or political operatives to tie me to awarding or influencing any contract involving Whitefish are completely baseless," he said. "Only in elitist Washington, D.C., would being from a small town be considered a crime."

We're not accusing you of being from a small town you dumb fuck! We're accusing you of corruption because you just happen to be from the same small town Whitefish is headquartered in, are friends with the CEO, who previously employed Zinke's son, and gave many thousands of dollars to the Trump campaign.

[Pyperkub]

I wonder how many options PREPA was given to select between. If they only got one option, then sure, they selected Whitefish. This whole thing reeks.

And the corrupt folks swim away with the greenbacks, lox, stockpond, and barracuda.

And they'll also get a tax cut (unlike many of us).

[Holman]

Reports are that this was a no-bid contract.

I know very little about contracts and bidding. I assume (in my naivete) that a no-bid contract means that the company was simply picked out for its superior expertise and offered the opportunity to do the work. Is that so? If it is, who picked Whitefish?

[GreenGoo]

No bid contracts are not based on merit, although the company picked should at a minimum show that they are capable of the work. Often times they are companies that have already done work for the government successfully.

But no, no bid contracts are not based on superior expertise or anything like that. Speed is often a factor. Value of the contract can be a factor (low value contracts may bypass the competitive process in certain situations).

Certainly speed is a definite factor in getting the power back up. Contract value is way beyond anything that should be single sourced, I believe.

It seems pretty clear that this was graft. No legitimate company puts language in their contracts like "no government review is allowed" and no competent government procurement officer would sign such a contract.

This is corruption, almost certainly. Now prove it. Good luck with that.

[Max Peck]

The First FBI Crime Report Issued Under Trump Is Missing A Ton Of Info

Every year, the FBI releases a report that is considered the gold standard for tracking crime statistics in the United States: the Crime in the United States report, a collection of crime statistics gathered from over 18,000 law-enforcement agencies in cities around the country. But according to an analysis by FiveThirtyEight, the 2016 Crime in the United States report — the first released under President Trump’s administration — contains close to 70 percent fewer data tables than the 2015 version did, a removal that could affect analysts’ understanding of crime trends in the country. The removal comes after consecutive years in which violent crime rose nationally, and it limits access to high-quality crime data that could help inform solutions.

Published under the auspices of the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, the Crime in the United States report contains national data on homicides, violent crimes, arrests, clearances and police employment that has been collected since the 1960s. The UCR’s report is an invaluable resource for researchers who track national crime trends and is a rich reference database for journalists and members of the general public who are interested in official crime statistics. Among the data missing from the 2016 report is information on arrests, the circumstances of homicides (such as the relationships between victims and perpetrators), and the only national estimate of annual gang murders.

These removals mean that there is less data available concerning a perennial focus of Trump and his attorney general, Jeff Sessions: violent crime. Trump and Sessions have frequently talked about MS-13, a gang with Salvadoran roots, as a looming problem in the country. MS-13 has been cited in 37 Department of Justice press releases and speeches in 2017, compared to only nine mentions in 2016 and five in 2015. Sessions gave a speech on the organization last month, while Trump gave a speech on Long Island in July, saying the gang had “transformed peaceful parks and beautiful quiet neighborhoods into bloodstained killing fields. They’re animals.” Trump also frequently refers to gun violence in Chicago, and at the beginning of his presidency, he established a Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office, which aims to study and promote awareness of crimes committed by immigrants who entered the country illegally.

Although the removal of the tables makes it more difficult to get information on one of the White House’s most prominent causes, it also seems like part of a trend in the Trump administration: the suppression of government data and an unwillingness to share information with the press and public. About two weeks after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, the FEMA website stopped displaying key metrics relating to island residents’ access to drinkable water and electricity. The data was later restored. The early days of the Trump administration were marked by reports that federal agency employees had been instructed not to talk to the press and to restrict social media postings.

[Carpet_pissr]

How very Venezuelan.

[Rip]

Woody Harrelson's Dinner Date With Trump

[Isgrimnur]

CNN

When President Trump chatted with Fox Business Network's Lou Dobbs at the White House on Wednesday, Trump bragged about coming up with "some pretty good names for people," and then he took credit for coining the term "fake news."

"I've really started this whole 'fake news' thing," he said. "Now they've turned it around and then, now they're calling, you know, stories put out -- by Facebook -- fake. And they're fake."
...
BuzzFeed journalist Craig Silverman, an expert on misinformation, was using the term "fake news" way back in 2014. And I started showing examples on CNN's "Reliable Sources" in 2016. Other journalists also raised the alarm about the proliferation of hoaxes in the run-up to Election Day.

A Google search turns up much older references. The Virginian-Pilot newspaper actually had a headline with the words "fake news" in 1902. The story described concerns in Norfolk, Virginia about "exaggerated and untruthful reports." TV Guide put the term on its cover in 1992 -- "Fake News: A Special Report," it said -- for a story about "video news releases" produced by P.R. firms.

But Silverman popularized the term "fake news" to apply to made-up stories that are designed to deceive you, stories that are typically spread virally via Facebook and other social networks. Anonymous writers invent the stories either to profit from the clicks or to spread propaganda.

Trump did not latch onto the term until a month after Election Day. His first tweet with the words was on December 10, 2016. He really embraced it in early January, shortly before his inauguration, and attempted to redefine the term.

[Skinypupy]

A good examination of why Kris Kobach is such a massive threat to the voting rights of minorities...along with being just a colossal douchecanoe in general.

[Holman]

link

The opening commentary on Fox News (not a rabid pundit like Hannity, but the news program itself) just called for Hillary Clinton to be jailed.

They're going to go full authoritarian on this, aren't they?