Former President Donald Trump

[Paulination]

That's an interesting point of view.
Personally, I am at a loss to name anything that he has actually accomplished.

I guess maybe he has already set some kind of record for the greatest number of delusional statements by a Chief Executive; so I suppose that's an accomplishment of sorts.

Immigration:

suspended the Syrian refugee program
Limited entry for those from the six most terror prone countries until vetting process is set (facing legal challenges)
Cutting federal funds from sanctuary cities
Moving forward the wall by implementing a bidding process

Regulation:
mandated that for every one new regulation implemented, two had to be removed
Instructed agencies to streamline regulations and permitting for domestic manufacturers

Ethics:
barring executive officials from lobbying for 5 years after office

Energy:
Got keystone pipeline back on track

Trade:
killed the TTP trade deal
Started re-negotiations of NAFTA

Obamacare: Been in the news recently so enough said. Not sure the republican plan will work (I know it won't as it stands)

Ofcouse it goes without saying that most of this was done through EO but thats how you get the ball rolling. EO it until you can put in legislation to make it permanent.

[john*thomas]

So we're faced with the prospect of a Supreme Court adjudicating us back into the Dark Ages, and it's Obama's fault?

Well, at least we know who to blame for this predicament...

If President Obama had been the person Candidate Obama said he would be, there would be no President Trump.

I supported 95% of what Candidate Obama said. I supported maybe 10% of what President Obama actually did.

[Upset]

If President Obama had been the person Candidate Obama said he would be, there would be no President Trump.

I supported 95% of what Candidate Obama said. I supported maybe 10% of what President Obama actually did.

I know a number of "progressives" who sat out the election because HRC "wasn't Bernie" or because of her "super-predators" comment etc. Hope those folks enjoy going back to an America without gay marriage or legal abortions.

[john*thomas]

I know a number of "progressives" who sat out the election because HRC "wasn't Bernie" or because of her "super-predators" comment etc. Hope those folks enjoy going back to an America without gay marriage or legal abortions.

It isn't going to happen. This kind of stuff doesn't work. I want a leader that will #1 get us out of the wars. Hillary argued us into two, argued for others and failed miserably at the ones she got us involved in. I will under no circumstance vote for someone like this.

I didn't sit the election out. I voted Stein. Right now I'm hoping Tulsi Gabbard runs in 2020.

If Obama had ended the wars and not got us into new ones, there is no Benghazi. If he had prosecuted the bankers and stopped the huge bail outs for Wall Street at the expense of the poor, Detroit and Philly doesn't desert Hillary.

[Upset]

It isn't going to happen. This kind of stuff doesn't work. I want a leader that will #1 get us out of the wars. Hillary argued us into two, argued for others and failed miserably at the ones she got us involved in. I will under no circumstance vote for someone like this.

I didn't sit the election out. I voted Stein. Right now I'm hoping Tulsi Gabbard runs in 2020.

If Obama had ended the wars and not got us into new ones, there is no Benghazi. If he had prosecuted the bankers and stopped the huge bail outs for Wall Street at the expense of the poor, Detroit and Philly doesn't desert Hillary.

Trump is demonstrably much worse than Clinton for the country, and if he's able to put even one Justice on the Court, which he obviously will, Roe v. Wade and Obergfell are certainly in play.

Regarding Stein, voting for someone who has no chance of winning IS sitting it out, IMO.

[JimC]

Some of the people who support Trump are the very ones who want to make America Great again--re White again. That is why they say Obama failed. He was black. It wouldn't have mattered what good he did. I say some, because not all think this way. But I happen to know those who do.

A lot of people don't recognize that the "great America" they want to return to wasn't so great for a lot of people. And there again, some people might think it would be great if we returned to a time when women couldn't vote; in fact nobody could who wasn't white, 25 years of age and a property owner.

Personally, I think America was a lot greater before the trade unions messed up the employer-employee relationship and useless govt agencies started doing crazy stuff to try to "protect the environment" - like that matters. Environmental changes come slowly - we'll all be dead and gone before the planet can't support life; what the heck do we have to worry about?

Immigration:

suspended the Syrian refugee program
Limited entry for those from the six most terror prone countries until vetting process is set (facing legal challenges)
Cutting federal funds from sanctuary cities
Moving forward the wall by implementing a bidding process

Regulation:
mandated that for every one new regulation implemented, two had to be removed
Instructed agencies to streamline regulations and permitting for domestic manufacturers

Ethics:
barring executive officials from lobbying for 5 years after office

Energy:
Got keystone pipeline back on track

Trade:
killed the TTP trade deal
Started re-negotiations of NAFTA

Obamacare: Been in the news recently so enough said. Not sure the republican plan will work (I know it won't as it stands)

Ofcouse it goes without saying that most of this was done through EO but thats how you get the ball rolling. EO it until you can put in legislation to make it permanent.

Thanks for that, but naturally; I won't agree that all of those things are good and desirable; or even accomplished yet in the sense that they're done and working and having the desired effect. I'll comment a bit more once I've had time to look at this in a little more detail.
Off the top of my head - he was obviously wise not to include the Saudis on his list - no danger there; most of their trouble makers died in the States on 9-11
anyway. And of course, the Afghans have never been a source of worry.

Trump promoting ethics? Seriously? Do as I say, not as I do?

The pipeline - is that the one to be constructed with all-American steel? I wonder how that is coming together.

The Wall, The Wall; I guess the Mexicans have resigned themselves to paying for that thing once it gets built.
Before it's all said and done, the Mexicans might decide that they're better off with that wall. It won't really keep out anyone who's determined to get here but maybe it will help contain some of the craziness brewing in the States and prevent it from spilling over onto their side.

If President Obama had been the person Candidate Obama said he would be, there would be no President Trump.

I supported 95% of what Candidate Obama said. I supported maybe 10% of what President Obama actually did.

Oddly, as a Conservative; I opposed Obama at every turn from the get go. I'm still not a supporter or an advocate, but I've come to think that he didn't do too badly. I'd certainly rather have four more years of him than what we're stuck with now.

I'm sure that many Trump supporters are really eager to be able to point to something positive about Trump. Something besides the daily news of his lies, allegations of ethical misconduct and bizarre, delusional statements. And obviously, it's difficult for them to find such news that can be supported by facts or evidence. Wait; I said difficult; that might give some false hope to some of his supporters - I should have said that it's pretty much bloody freaking impossible to find anything positive to say about the guy unless you believe his lies, discount the allegations of ethical misconduct and accept his delusions as credible; sort of like those equally credible claims about the moon landing being fake and the many reports of Mothman sightings by people who have never been technically adjudged insane.

Well, that's all for now - the buzzer on my microwave just went off; I need to see how the pictures turned out

[john*thomas]

Trump is demonstrably much worse than Clinton for the country, and if he's able to put even one Justice on the Court, which he obviously will, Roe v. Wade and Obergfell are certainly in play.

Regarding Stein, voting for someone who has no chance of winning IS sitting it out, IMO.

He may put two or three. As an aside overturning RvW doesn't ban abortions. It would simply leave it up to the states.

I'm done voting for the lesser evil. The lesser evil is still evil.

[john*thomas]

Oddly, as a Conservative; I opposed Obama at every turn from the get go. I'm still not a supporter or an advocate, but I've come to think that he didn't do too badly. I'd certainly rather have four more years of him than what we're stuck with now.

This pretty much enforces what I've been saying.

I'm sure that many Trump supporters are really eager to be able to point to something positive about Trump. Something besides the daily news of his lies, allegations of ethical misconduct and bizarre, delusional statements. And obviously, it's difficult for them to find such news that can be supported by facts or evidence. Wait; I said difficult; that might give some false hope to some of his supporters - I should have said that it's pretty much bloody freaking impossible to find anything positive to say about the guy unless you believe his lies, discount the allegations of ethical misconduct and accept his delusions as credible; sort of like those equally credible claims about the moon landing being fake and the many reports of Mothman sightings by people who have never been technically adjudged insane.

Well, that's all for now - the buzzer on my microwave just went off; I need to see how the pictures turned out

There have been no Mothman sightings in a long time.

[duchessmary]

Trump would be much better off (as those newly appointed by him), by engaging brain before opening mouth.
I thought the whole deal of your microwave spying on you was a joke...sadly it wasn't. *cringes*

[john*thomas]

Trump would be much better off (as those newly appointed by him), by engaging brain before opening mouth.
I thought the whole deal of your microwave spying on you was a joke...sadly it wasn't. *cringes*

We are more upset at Trump being clumsy in the way he points out how we are all being spied on than being spied on. Of course, he is going to continue it.

[cindyt]

Not all of us are worried about being spied on, because not all of us are doing anything wrong. Of course, I know what the principle of the matter is. But a clumsy mouth means a clumsy mind, as far as I'm concerned. It's not like he's done it once or twice, but continuously.

[john*thomas]

Not all of us are worried about being spied on, because not all of us are doing anything wrong. Of course, I know what the principle of the matter is. But a clumsy mouth means a clumsy mind, as far as I'm concerned. It's not like he's done it once or twice, but continuously.

He's a moron but if we don't learn from the reasons he won, it only continue's going downhill.

[pkstracy]

You mean the pipeline that is going through Native Lands, destroying burial grounds, ignoring the water rights that the tribe was given, ? The pipeline that if it does break can destroying the water of many people....?

[john*thomas]

You mean the pipeline that is going through Native Lands, destroying burial grounds, ignoring the water rights that the tribe was given, ? The pipeline that if it does break can destroying the water of many people....?

I have a friend that I met in kindergarten. Around 50 years ago. He spent weeks at the protest. I sent him money to help out on his living expenses. This is one reason he turned on the (D) party. He voted Stein like I did.

The pipeline was approved under the Obama administration.

[cindyt]

I have a friend that I met in kindergarten. Around 50 years ago. He spent weeks at the protest. I sent him money to help out on his living expenses. This is one reason he turned on the (D) party. He voted Stein like I did.

The pipeline was approved under the Obama administration.

IIRC, it also stopped during the Obama admin and Trump started it up again.

[john*thomas]

IIRC, it also stopped during the Obama admin and Trump started it up again.

First, I am not defending Trump. Of course it's going to get finished under Trump but the Obama administration never should have approved it to start with. It stopped because of the weather. Obama put on a little show towards the end but that is all it was.

[cindyt]

Don't care who does or doesn't support Trump. None of my business. About the pipe: I just know what I remember.

[Paulination]

You mean the pipeline that is going through Native Lands, destroying burial grounds, ignoring the water rights that the tribe was given, ? The pipeline that if it does break can destroying the water of many people....?

Andrew Jackson, the founder and patron saint of the modern democratic party orchestrated the theft of indian land and then sold it to white settlers but now liberals are concerned about burial grounds and native land. Where was that in the 1800's? I mean why stop there? Should we not build anything in the american south west because we took it from Mexico?

[cindyt]

This is 2017, not 1830. Times change, Pauli. We now believe every adult, including female and black person, has the same rights as white males. That wasn't always so, but that doesn't mean we are hypocrites.

[john*thomas]

Andrew Jackson, the founder and patron saint of the modern democratic party orchestrated the theft of indian land and then sold it to white settlers but now liberals are concerned about burial grounds and native land. Where was that in the 1800's? I mean why stop there? Should we not build anything in the american south west because we took it from Mexico?

Nobody today is responsible for what someone did long before they were born.

[hisandhearse]

This is 2017, not 1830. Times change, Pauli. We now believe every adult, including female and black person, has the same rights as white males. That wasn't always so, but that doesn't mean we are hypocrites.

Nobody today is responsible for what someone did long before they were born.

You BOTH make excellent points.

[cindyt]

Nobody today is responsible for what someone did long before they were born.

Exactly. That's why I didn't google what the other parties were up to back then.

You BOTH make excellent points.

Thank you. It's just common sense.

[Upset]

Breaking News: In the wake of the 2nd travel ban being struck down by the courts, Trump has issued a new executive order which just says "WHATEVER!!!"

[Paulination]

Exactly. That's why I didn't google what the other parties were up to back then.

Thank you. It's just common sense.

You guys have missed my point, I'll put that on me since I was the one making it. If one is to be intellectually honest, they can't pick and choose where to place their moral and political values. My mentioning the 1800's was not to set precedence, but to point out that present indignation towards a past event is narrowly targeting one cause here, one cause there depending on the actual underlying political agenda, in this case the environment. The environment is not as tear jerking as stepping on the indians so the democrats go there instead. The people screaming the loudest aren't even the Indians. The two tribes involved are the Panka and the Ho-Chunk that collectively have approximately 13,700 members. I would think that any one of them that is under the age of 40 really doesn't think to much about this as they are probably as distracted with their cell phones as everyone else seems to be.

Movements like this remind me of Black Lives Matter (bare with me here). You only here from them when a black person is killed by a white person. You never hear about black on black (even though that is much more common) because it is harder to insert emotion into that. Obviously based on this alone apparently not all black lives matter but you would never hear one of them describe it that way. Food for thought.

[cindyt]

First, it was the Lakota Sioux at their Standing Rock Res.

Second, it was stopped earlier because the government decided to reroute it.

[Upset]

Trump a few minutes ago in the joint address with Merkel: "We are a very strong company... country..."

Yep, best President since Reagan. Where do I go to get a leatherbound collection of his speeches?

[JimC]

Trump a few minutes ago in the joint address with Merkel: "We are a very strong company... country..."

Yep, best President since Reagan. Where do I go to get a leatherbound collection of his speeches?

I'm surprised that the leader of the free world would take the time for such a pointless and useless meeting.

It's a little like the Pope taking the time to meet with a lying, phony, local TV preacher who spends all his air time talking about a religion that he just made up while hawking condos he's selling in the best neighborhoods of Heaven.

I really don't get it but I guess she had her reasons.

[hisandhearse]

I've just been pondering "What's with all these rallies for Trump?"
He's already won the presidency (Uh-hem) What is there to rally for?
Just wondering??

[JimC]

I've just been pondering "What's with all these rallies for Trump?"
He's already won the presidency (Uh-hem) What is there to rally for?
Just wondering??

Well it sure as hell ain't common decency or common sense.

As an outsider looking in, I think it's two things:

1) They want to offer the lying, scheming media types a "positive" counterpoint to all of the negative stuff in the news about their crazy boy.
Maybe that will distract them from their goal of destroying the country through reporting negative (but mostly true) stuff about our first Fringe President.
You know - that might be an apt name. I don't consider Trump a conservative or a liberal or anything in between. He's just in it for himself. So instead of "Republican Party" or "Democratic Party" - neither of which should have claimed him had one of them not been Whoring for Victory
- he represents the Fringe Party. They make up their beliefs on the fly depending upon audience and change their morals and convictions like most people change their underwear; if they happen to wear any.

2) Some of them need something to feel good about. Something that reinforces (for some) their fading perception that they did the right thing by supporting bombast over substance and putting this lunatic into the White House.

On a different matter - I saw a report the other day about Fringe Boy's unsubstantiated allegations that he had been wire tapped and spied upon.
What might have made him think such a thing?

Why, things that he saw in the media.
The same media that are the enemy of the American people; the same media that he so completely distrusts.
They made him think and say that he had been wire-tapped.

I guess that on some significant level of insanity that rather proves his point - he saw their info, he believed their info, he acted on their info; and it was apparently completely wrong.

That makes him right of course in the sense that pretty much anything you choose to think or believe is right - it can't be anything but right - when your faculties attain a certain, advanced state of detachment from reason and reality.

From the report:

In his first interview since his unsubstantiated claim that he was wiretapped by former President Obama, President Trump said the sources of information behind his tweets were primarily news reports.

"Well, I've been reading about things," Trump said in an interview with Fox News' Tucker Carlson that aired Wednesday night.
[SIZE=3][SIZE=3]　
[/SIZE][/SIZE]"I said, wait a minute, there's a lot of wiretapping being talked about," Trump said. "I've been seeing a lot of things."

I don't doubt that he's been seeing a lot of things. I suspect that he is also hearing a lot of things. "Voices" come out of nowhere within his head and tell him things - like he's being wire-tapped by Obama and that the Mexicans are going to pay to build a wall just because Trump wants them too; or at least wanted his followers to think that he really thought that.

And if the excerpts above aren't bat-shit crazy enough for you, he continued and he delivered nothing less than what I would expect from the guy:

Asked why he wouldn’t just approach the intelligence agencies to verify whether his claim is true, Trump said he didn’t “want to do anything that's going to violate any strength of an agency.”

Trump repeated some of the clarifying comments made by his press secretary Sean Spicer, saying his tweets about wiretaps were “in quotes” and thus meant surveillance in a broader sense.

“And don't forget, when I say wiretapping, those words were in quotes,” Trump said. “That really covers, because wiretapping is pretty old fashioned stuff. But that really covers surveillance and many other things. And nobody ever talks about the fact that it was in quotes, but that's a very important thing.”
But only two of the four tweets by the president related to wiretapping included the phrase in quotes.

Sounds pretty reasonable to me.
At least it does compared to some of the especially special nonsensical stuff that he says and tweets.

I have got to remember to start putting everything in quotes.
That "really covers" and can make whatever you say mean whatever you want it to - perpetually.

I have to hand it to the guy though in one sense - he's consistent.

Here's a link to the whole story:

https://gma.yahoo.com/president-trum...pstories.html#

[duchessmary]

*cringes and gags*

[hisandhearse]

Well it sure as hell ain't common decency or common sense.

As an outsider looking in, I think it's two things:

1) They want to offer the lying, scheming media types a "positive" counterpoint to all of the negative stuff in the news about their crazy boy.
Maybe that will distract them from their goal of destroying the country through reporting negative (but mostly true) stuff about our first Fringe President.
You know - that might be an apt name. I don't consider Trump a conservative or a liberal or anything in between. He's just in it for himself. So instead of "Republican Party" or "Democratic Party" - neither of which should have claimed him had one of them not been Whoring for Victory
- he represents the Fringe Party. They make up their beliefs on the fly depending upon audience and change their morals and convictions like most people change their underwear; if they happen to wear any.

2) Some of them need something to feel good about. Something that reinforces (for some) their fading perception that they did the right thing by supporting bombast over substance and putting this lunatic into the White House.

On a different matter - I saw a report the other day about Fringe Boy's unsubstantiated allegations that he had been wire tapped and spied upon.
What might have made him think such a thing?

Why, things that he saw in the media.
The same media that are the enemy of the American people; the same media that he so completely distrusts.
They made him think and say that he had been wire-tapped.

I guess that on some significant level of insanity that rather proves his point - he saw their info, he believed their info, he acted on their info; and it was apparently completely wrong.

That makes him right of course in the sense that pretty much anything you choose to think or believe is right - it can't be anything but right - when your faculties attain a certain, advanced state of detachment from reason and reality.

From the report:

In his first interview since his unsubstantiated claim that he was wiretapped by former President Obama, President Trump said the sources of information behind his tweets were primarily news reports.

"Well, I've been reading about things," Trump said in an interview with Fox News' Tucker Carlson that aired Wednesday night.
[SIZE=3][SIZE=3]　
[/SIZE][/SIZE]"I said, wait a minute, there's a lot of wiretapping being talked about," Trump said. "I've been seeing a lot of things."

I don't doubt that he's been seeing a lot of things. I suspect that he is also hearing a lot of things. "Voices" come out of nowhere within his head and tell him things - like he's being wire-tapped by Obama and that the Mexicans are going to pay to build a wall just because Trump wants them too; or at least wanted his followers to think that he really thought that.

And if the excerpts above aren't bat-shit crazy enough for you, he continued and he delivered nothing less than what I would expect from the guy:

Asked why he wouldn’t just approach the intelligence agencies to verify whether his claim is true, Trump said he didn’t “want to do anything that's going to violate any strength of an agency.”

Trump repeated some of the clarifying comments made by his press secretary Sean Spicer, saying his tweets about wiretaps were “in quotes” and thus meant surveillance in a broader sense.

“And don't forget, when I say wiretapping, those words were in quotes,” Trump said. “That really covers, because wiretapping is pretty old fashioned stuff. But that really covers surveillance and many other things. And nobody ever talks about the fact that it was in quotes, but that's a very important thing.”
But only two of the four tweets by the president related to wiretapping included the phrase in quotes.

Sounds pretty reasonable to me.
At least it does compared to some of the especially special nonsensical stuff that he says and tweets.

I have got to remember to start putting everything in quotes.
That "really covers" and can make whatever you say mean whatever you want it to - perpetually.

I have to hand it to the guy though in one sense - he's consistent.

Here's a link to the whole story:

https://gma.yahoo.com/president-trum...pstories.html#

Hi Jim,
I agree with everything you just posted-
A friend of my cousin is a Trump cheerleader and gets involved in these rallies~ However, when my cousin asked "why" the rallies?
The answer was literally BLANK [que crickets] The part that nauseates me as much as the Trump shenanigans is: Go fund me accounts set up for this rally mishegas!



Duchess, Cringe & Gag is about right, Not a DT supporter here.

[JimC]

Hi Jim,
I agree with everything you just posted-
A friend of my cousin is a Trump cheerleader and gets involved in these rallies~ However, when my cousin asked "why" the rallies?
The answer was literally BLANK [que crickets] The part that nauseates me as much as the Trump shenanigans is: Go fund me accounts set up for this rally mishegas!

Duchess, Cringe & Gag is about right, Not a DT supporter here.

Yeah - I know that blank stare.
It's the same one I used to get when I asked people what he had done that made him worthy of support.

Blank stare - then, "Why, he's a billionaire!", was often the answer.

Now it occurs to me that because of some of my posts in this thread and in others that people might get the "misimpression" that I'm not a Trump supporter.

Yeah - they might "mistakenly" get that "misimpression"; and boy would they be "wrong".

[Maxster]

IIRC, it also stopped during the Obama admin and Trump started it up again.

Obama stopped it, just before completion, due to political pressure, after it had been approved. It was a political football that he was more than happy to hand off to his successor.

[Upset]

And the healthcare bill is pulled to spare the administration the embarrassment of losing the vote.

Wonder who Trump will blame for this. Pretty sure I know who he WON'T blame.

[JimC]

And the healthcare bill is pulled to spare the administration the embarrassment of losing the vote.

Wonder who Trump will blame for this. Pretty sure I know who he WON'T blame.

No need to blame anybody.

It passed.

It passed with unanimous support.

It was the mostly widely supported and most highly esteemed document in the history of the world.
Greater even than the Magna Carta, or the script for Cannonball Run.

Trump pulled it at the last minute for reasons unknown but we're pretty sure it had something to do with healthcare for Russians and cryptids.

[Upset]

No need to blame anybody.

It passed.

It passed with unanimous support.

It was the mostly widely supported and most highly esteemed document in the history of the world.
Greater even than the Magna Carta, or the script for Cannonball Run.

Trump pulled it at the last minute for reasons unknown but we're pretty sure it had something to do with healthcare for Russians and cryptids.

LOL

I was right about who isn't to blame:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/24/politi...ame/index.html

[Paulination]

No need to blame anybody.

It passed.

It passed with unanimous support.

It was the mostly widely supported and most highly esteemed document in the history of the world.
Greater even than the Magna Carta, or the script for Cannonball Run.

Trump pulled it at the last minute for reasons unknown but we're pretty sure it had something to do with healthcare for Russians and cryptids.

I'm glad it was pulled. It was thoroughly flawed and poorly written. They need to take some time on this and really consult industry insiders not political hacks oblivious to how the health industry actually works. Obamacare had very similar issues but passed anyways because the democrats had the balls to do it. Not a good thing.

[pkstracy]

You guys have missed my point, I'll put that on me since I was the one making it. If one is to be intellectually honest, they can't pick and choose where to place their moral and political values. My mentioning the 1800's was not to set precedence, but to point out that present indignation towards a past event is narrowly targeting one cause here, one cause there depending on the actual underlying political agenda, in this case the environment. The environment is not as tear jerking as stepping on the indians so the democrats go there instead. The people screaming the loudest aren't even the Indians. The two tribes involved are the Panka and the Ho-Chunk that collectively have approximately 13,700 members. I would think that any one of them that is under the age of 40 really doesn't think to much about this as they are probably as distracted with their cell phones as everyone else seems to be.

Movements like this remind me of Black Lives Matter (bare with me here). You only here from them when a black person is killed by a white person. You never hear about black on black (even though that is much more common) because it is harder to insert emotion into that. Obviously based on this alone apparently not all black lives matter but you would never hear one of them describe it that way. Food for thought.

I am Native, and it's the Lakota Sioux at Standing rock, and it's not a movement, it's people protecting the land that was given to them in a treaty signed a long time ago, it's protecting the water, to keep it clean for future generations. This fight has been going on for a very long time, it's not something new, something that sprang up over night.

[JimC]

I wonder how even today the govt can just ignore treaties that were signed generations ago.

I'm going to have to read about that - if you can't honor your agreements and keep your promises throughout the years then whatever you say today is worthless.

[JimC]

I don't think anyone would argue against trying to find ways to put coal miners back to work.

I've been unemployed, I've been "under-employed" and I have worked jobs outside of my industry at a fraction of my normal pay just to have a job.
All of those scenarios are "devastating" on many levels to the individuals affected, to their families and to their communities and their industries as a whole; and the effects of that are not self-contained - they extend into all aspects of society and the economy too.

I've recently been reading about the psychological\philosophical concept of "mattering" - unemployment is a good example of mattering denied; Google it if you have time and the inclination - it's interesting stuff.

So I applaud the fact that Trump wants to create jobs and get these folks back to work.

But is trying to revive the coal industry the right way to do it from a technological and environmental point of view?

Technology and industries change and come and go. That's progress. Nobody is going to even imagine, let alone suggest, that inner-city motor vehicle usage should be restricted in order to revive the horse-drawn carriage building industry or work horse breeding farms.

Nobody is going to suggest - not yet, anyway - that we should eliminate emission controls on vehicles so that Ford and GM can be more competitive and offer us lower priced cars.

And naturally, we all know that video killed the radio star; should something be done about that?

So I'm just thinking about it and wonder what some of you guys think.

Putting people back to work is badly needed; but should the focus be on putting them back to work in the coal industry, or should the effort be directed toward a directional shift in employment opportunities?

Help those states\areas attract other industries and opportunities maybe?

My state is doing a pretty good job of attracting tech and manufacturing - Nissan and Toyota have opened huge plants here, an international tire manufacturer is building now, aerospace industries and helicopter\aircraft plants are here, global shipping, all sorts of stuff and the relevant supporting industries.

There are also no doubt "service industry" opportunities that can be courted that don't require the kind of massive financial investment and years to build physical infrastructure of manufacturing options.

So is putting the coal miners back to work in the coal mines the best long term solution?

Even if that is the short term answer; there has to be a long term contingency.

[JimC]

I thought he would start some crap with North Korea first - I guess Syria gave him a better opportunity.

Hey; since he's so worried about human rights in Syria; maybe he could bring some of the chemical attack victims over here as an humanitarian gesture - offer them medical treatment and asylum.

Oh, snap! They're from Syria!

Just because nobody else will legitimize his Muslim travel ban doesn't mean that he can't abide by it. I guess he'll just have to continue demonstrating his concern for human rights and the plight of Syrians through humanitarian missile attacks.

[Upset]

Here's the reason for this, provided by Orange Julius Caesar himself:

[Missa310]

here's the reason for this, provided by orange julius caesar himself:

ding, ding, ding....we have a winner!!

[Dangitbawb]

I thought he would start some crap with North Korea first - I guess Syria gave him a better opportunity.

I've a bad feeling that he's just getting started with N. Korea. http://www.latimes.com/politics/wash...htmlstory.html

[cindyt]

I've a bad feeling some country will drop a little nuclear preemptive on us.

[john*thomas]

I've a bad feeling some country will drop a little nuclear preemptive on us.

As long as the target is Trump....

[cindyt]

As long as the target is Trump....

That would be too easy. It would give me so much more pleasure if his supporters kicked his tailend to the curb. Plus, I don't want to melt with him. Ew.

[JimC]

I've been thinking about that Syria situation.

I almost have the impression that if civilians had been killed through "conventional means" - bombing and mortar fire and what not rather than chemical weapons; a lot of this outrage just wouldn't be getting discussed.

As for North Korea, yeah; he's (Trump) going to start big trouble.

I figure in his meeting with Xi Jinping there was a conversation that went something like this:

Xi says: Hands off North Korea unless you want trouble - we'll keep that guy in check.
Trump hears: Do whatever you like in North Korea, we don't care.

Xi says: It would be foolish to abandon the One China policy.
Trump hears: Why don't you make Taiwan your 51st state? That would be a grand idea.
One China? You Americans are so damned serious - can't you tell when we're just joking around - we're known for our sense of humor after all.

I guess I'm old fashioned - I think force should be used when you have to prevail - not when you want to give a "warning" as I've heard his Syria attack called; especially since it seems to have had a minimal effect on that base. It was operational to some extent just hours after the attack.

To run around attacking other countries that do not pose an immediate or existential threat to your own seems rather terroristic to me; but despots and wannabe despots often seem to behave that way.

[Paulination]

As for North Korea, yeah; he's (Trump) going to start big trouble.

Trump's stance on North Korea is absolutely necessary. Kim Jong Un is certifiable and aching to get an ICBM for which he can put a nuclear warhead. Every launch he tests goes a little further out to sea. If we don't preemptively intervene with his nuclear aspirations we will forever become his bitch in our desire to avoid nuclear war. He doesn't think like you do, his moral compass is forever pointed south. He has had his uncle killed, his brother killed etc... He executes people with anti aircraft cannons which reduce the bodies to mush.

[john*thomas]

Trump's stance on North Korea is absolutely necessary. Kim Jong Un is certifiable and aching to get an ICBM for which he can put a nuclear warhead. Every launch he tests goes a little further out to sea.

I know everyone is entitled to their own opinions but this isn't true. Every launch has been a failure.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/21/asia/n...-missile-test/