Orange Duce

[a fan]

Although it's not the intention of the author, this is case in point as to why I keep telling Trump supporters like Youth Athletics that these Trump appointed judges are going to screw TrumpFans, and screw them hard....

Beginning in the latter half of the Obama administration, Federalist Society gatherings grew increasingly fixated on diminishing the power of federal agencies to regulate businesses and the public — an agenda that would severely weaken seminal laws such as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.


.....It’s impossible to exaggerate the importance of this issue. Countless federal laws, from the Clean Air Act to the Affordable Care Act, lay out a broad federal policy and delegate to an agency the power to implement the details of that policy. Under Kavanaugh’s approach, many of these laws are unconstitutional, as are numerous existing regulations governing polluters, health providers, and employers.

In what world will this help poor & middle class, uneducated TrumpFans?

Rich, coastal libs can handle these rulings with a shrug. Flyover Americans? Not so much.

Pity. Sadness. Fear. That's what I feel for these Americans....who are cheerfully doing this to themselves.


https://www.vox.com/2019/11/26/20981758 ... gundy-paul

[old salt]

Heil Trump.

The cancellation of the TRBs for Gallagher's 3 SEAL Team 7 officer was not ordered by Trump.
It is the SecDef & Acting SecNav, using their prerogatives, to tie up loose ends (aka Irish pennants),
from a failed, ill considered, prosecution.

[MDlaxfan76]

Heil Trump.

The cancellation of the TRBs for Gallagher's 3 SEAL Team 7 officer was not ordered by Trump.
It is the SecDef & Acting SecNav, using their prerogatives, to tie up loose ends (aka Irish pennants),
from a failed, ill considered, prosecution.

Yup, heil Trump.
"Acting SecNav"

[runrussellrun]

Heil Trump.

The cancellation of the TRBs for Gallagher's 3 SEAL Team 7 officer was not ordered by Trump.
It is the SecDef & Acting SecNav, using their prerogatives, to tie up loose ends (aka Irish pennants),
from a failed, ill considered, prosecution.

Such an incredibly racist thing to say. Said as much in Parris, as a convict. Not joking.

(WHy not English, German or Mexican pennants )

[Brooklyn]

The Trump regime:

[Brooklyn]

Glorious Leader:





https://i2.wp.com/www.dailycartoonist.c ... tantis.jpg
https://cdn.creators.com/204/267572/267572_image.jpg

[a fan]

Great minds think alike. Read & learn something.

Already read it. Laughed out loud. Pettiness wrapped in erudition.

Partisan nonsense that demonstrates how far gone VDH is with little D's and R's. He is physically incapable of criticizing anyone with a R by his name....while any time Obama comes up? Like you, the reckless and thoughtless barbs flow like a river.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/11/ ... ervention/

The Trump Doctrine: Deterrence without Intervention?
By VICTOR DAVIS HANSON

November 5, 2019

Any writing teacher worth their salt will tell you that any headline that ends with a question mark is immediately answered with the word "no".

Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign sought to overturn 75 years of bipartisan foreign policy orthodoxy, especially as it applied to the Middle East.

Here we go...off to the races with the myth that Trump has drastically changed course of the USS Foreign Policy. Nope.

From 1946 to 1989, the Cold War logic was to use both surrogates and U.S. expeditionary forces to stop the spread of Communist insurrections and coups — without confronting the nuclear-armed USSR directly unless it became a matter of perceived Western survival, as it did with the Berlin airlift and the Cuban missile crises.

You mean like sending troops to Saudi Arabia, tanks to Poland, and money and arms to Ukraine?

Trump is following the same MO we've used for 50+ years.

That logic led to major conflicts like Vietnam and Korea, limited wars in the Middle East and Balkans, interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean, and occasional nation-building in conquered lands. Tens of thousands of Americans died, trillions of dollars were spent, and the Soviet Union and most of its satellites vanished. “We won the Cold War” was more or less true.

Such preemptory American interventions still continued over the next 30 years of the post–Cold War “new world order.” Now the threat was not Russian nukes but confronting new enemies such as radical Islam and a rogue’s gallery of petty but troublesome nuts, freaks, and dictators — Granada’s Hudson Austin, an unhinged Moammar Qaddafi of Libya, Hezbollah’s terrorists in Lebanon, Nicaraguan Communist Daniel Ortega, Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega, the gang leader Mohamed Aidid of Somalia, the former Serbian thug Slobodan Milosevic, Mullah Omar of the Taliban, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, arch terrorist Osama bin Laden, the macabre al-Qaeda and ISIS, and on and on.

These put-downs, some successful and some not so much, were apparently viewed by the post–Cold War establishment as our versions of the late Roman Republic and Empire policies of mowing the lawn, with an occasional weeding out of regional nationalists and insurrectionists ... The theory was that occasionally knocking flat a charismatic brute discouraged all others like him from trying to emulate his revolt and upend the international order. Having one or two legions always on the move often meant that most others could stay in their barracks. And it kept the peace, or so the U.S., like Rome, more or less believed.

But the problem with American policy after the Cold War and the end of the Soviet nuclear threat was that the U.S. was not really comfortable as an imperial global watchdog

Not comfortable? We've been at war since 1951....with little or no pause, with Troops all over the world, and with an ever growing military budget. We are MORE than comfortable with this state of affairs. How many guys like you lost their *hit when Obama pulled out of Iraq? Or Trump feigned a Syrian withdrawal? Not only are we comfortable----guys like you lose their *hit if you even MENTION pulling back our our cop to the world routine.

At home, in a consistent pattern, the most vociferous advocates of preemptory war usually claimed prescient brilliance, as when the American military rapidly dislodged the Taliban and Saddam Hussein.

Left out that we bankrolled both the Taliban and Saddam. Did VDH forget? Or is he unable to say bad things about Reagan and his little R?

Into this dilemma charged Donald Trump, who tried to square the old circle by boasting that he would “bomb the s*** out of ISIS” (and he mostly did that). Yet he also pledged to avoid optional wars in the Middle East — given that they did not pencil out to the Manhattan developer as a cost-benefit profit for America.

He left out that this was Obama's exact policy. I wonder why?

Trump started well enough. He backed down the provocative North Koreans and Iranians with tougher sanctions

What nonsense. Flat out lie from a PhD. Trump did no such thing to either nation. One still has nukes and a photo op with a US President, and the other has fired up their nuclear program again. He did reinstate sanctions on Iran....but he didn't "back them down". Not even close.

while refusing to use kinetic force to reply to their rather pathetic provocations.

Just like Obama. When Obama did it, he was pegged as weak by VDH's kind. And now that Trump does it? Oh, well, of course this is a masterstroke of brilliance that we haven't seen since---according to polls----Lincoln. This is a juvenile and petty assessment.

He ratcheted up sanctions against Russia and armed Putin’s enemies without committing to defend any of the old republics of the Soviet Union.

Really? Trump didn't commit to defending Poland? VDH is out to lunch here.

He increased the defense budget and boomed the economy

Nope. Mitch McConnell did that. VDH needs to take a civics class, too. You can save him a seat.

but did not use such newly acquired power other than against ISIS.

So now that's the only time we've use military force since Trump arrived? Yet another lie from VDH.

Rarely has such an empowered military relied so much on economic sanctions.

Again, nope. Obama used sanctions. So did Bush. And when Obama did it, what was old salt's response? Yep, that's right-----you made fun, and said it was pointless. And yet when Trump does it? Praise, and out comes the sales pitch that it's part of some Trumpian Grand Plan, that doesn't exist.

North Korea is squeezed by toughed-up sanctions. They can conduct missile tests, threaten, and cajole, but ultimately their people will be eating grass if they don’t wish to deal. And if they do launch a missile toward the U.S., they are convinced that Trump will launch a lot more against them.

Just like Obama. The difference? Obama was scorned by you and VDH for this...and Trump gets praise. It's just laughable.

Iran wants a confrontation before the election to undermine the Trump Electoral College base of support.

If they wanted that, they do just that. Another misstatement of what's happening so that VDH can praise Trump for keeping his powder dry. And yet if Obama does the same exact thing? Oh, well, that's just horrible.

So there is a sort of Obama doctrine that grew in part out of Obama's campaign promises , outlining a new “principled realism.” The net result is not to nation-build, preempt, or worry much about changing fetid countries to look like us

Fixed it for you and VDH. Odd, you didn't like this when Obama did it. But it's full thumbs up when Trump and his little R does it. Neat-o.

but to disproportionately respond when attacked or threatened, and in a manner that causes real damage, without the insertion of U.S. ground troops, in the fashion of the past 75 years.

Made up whole cloth. Where did Trump respond disproportionally? VDH have a cite for that?

Nope. He just made it up out of thin air. Trump hit a airstrip. That's it. In three years.

He can't mean the ISIS attacks, because we "inserted US ground troops" there.

There are three ways of losing deterrence. One is to bluster, boast, and threaten and then do little — as with Barack Obama’s bombast about red lines in Syria.

You mean like with N Korea? Where Trump insisted Kim remove all nukes....and then not only do nothing about it....but call S Korean leaders and signal to Kim that he might pull US Forces out of S Korea? Like that?

"Oh, that's different", right? Right. What a joke.

A second is to reach out and appease a thug who has no intention of seeing outreach as anything other than laxity to be exploited.

Again, like Trump did with Kim. And Putin, for that matter.

But of course, VDH can only criticize Obama. Because duh.

The Obama administration’s Russian reset combined the worst elements of this strategy: alternately courting and lecturing Putin, while doing nothing as he invaded former republics and returned to the Middle East.

Odd. VDH left out Obama's sanctions...sanctions that he just praised ten seconds ago when Trump used them.

A third way of losing deterrence is to get bogged down in a quagmire that encourages other would-be terrorists, revolutionaries, and psychopaths to try instigating more of the same.

Like Syria. Whoops. VDH "forgot" that Trump is bogged down there, and can't leave.

There is one final paradox related to the dilemma of maintaining deterrence without invading hostile countries. Trump apparently believes that a booming economy, a well-funded muscular military, and plenty of U.S.-produced oil and gas give America enormous power and a range of choices that recent presidents lacked.

....and whose fault is that? Obama could have had all three of these things if McConnell had simply put the same three spending bills on Obama's desk that he handed to Trump.

He didn't do that...and instead, put America at risk while playing the "Republicans are frugal game". Where is VDH's criticism of McConnell? Where is yours?

(crickets)

the paradox is to maintain critical deterrence against American enemies to prevent a war, but without Pavlovian interventions, and without being baited into optional military action that is antithetical to the national mood that got Obama elected

Fixed it for you. Of course, when Obama did this exact thing-----you were all over him.

But it's super cool now.

Neat trick.

[a fan]

was that supposed to be 20 criticisms of Trump?

He can't do it.

Three years of Trump, and old salt can't manage to criticize any of his erratic and unpredictable foreign policies.

While at the same time-----Obama was apparently the worst POTUS we've ever had.

[old salt]

was that supposed to be 20 criticisms of Trump?

He can't do it.

Three years of Trump, and old salt can't manage to criticize any of his erratic and unpredictable foreign policies.

While at the same time-----Obama was apparently the worst POTUS we've ever had.

How many times do I have to tell you -- I disagreed with his announcement that he was pulling our forces out of Syria, both times.
Fortunately, both times he relented & just shifted them out of tripwire duty.
His foreign policies are significantly different than Obama's.
I did not agree with Obama's, I do agree with Trump's.
I've told you why, in detail, multiple times.
Not that hard to understand, you're just too stubborn to accept it.
I feel better about our foreign policy & national security posture now, than I have at anytime since the Cold War.
Trump is reflecting the collective will of the public. The Chain of Command & "interagency process" are carrying it out,
...sometimes reluctantly & with dissenters forced out. You can't argue with the results.

[a fan]

How many times do I have to tell you -- I disagreed with his announcement that he was pulling our forces out of Syria, both times.
Fortunately, both times he relented & just shifted them out of tripwire duty.

Yes. So now this means that in 3 years, you still can't come up with one thing Trump has done wrong overseas.

It's a Xmas Miracle!

His foreign policies are significantly different than Obama's.

To not get into unwanted wars, while still maintaining forces in every single country Obama had troops in? And using drones---heavily---instead of human American troops to conduct war because American media doesn't care about civilian or drone casualties?

Where's the difference?

I did not agree with Obama's, I do agree with Trump's.

I've told you why, in detail, multiple times.
Not that hard to understand, you're just too stubborn to accept it.

Yes. And the answer is: when Obama lectures or is condescending, it's horrible.

And when Trump does it, it's awesome.

When Obama follows the "will of the people", and pulls us out of Iraq---the main plank of his first election campaign---it's horrible.

When Trump follows the "will of the people" (whatever you think that means), it's awesome. Even when he doesn't actually follow the will of the people. Moving more troops into Saudi Arabia in response to Yemen? The people want that, do they?

You don't get to play this hypocritical game, and not get called out for it.

Come on, man----how much grief would you have given me if I had told you I was livid Trump was pulling us out of Syria? You would have rightfully let me have it for hypocrisy. And you'd be right.

I feel better about our foreign policy & national security posture now, than I have at anytime since the Cold War.

Good for you. Part of the reason is, guys like you understandably hate rules of engagement. You want to do whatever you want to do when you're in a combat zone. I don't blame you even a little for holding that position. But there is always a long term price to be paid for that.

Prediction: if Trump gets reelected, you'll tell us over 4 years that Trump hasn't made one single, solitary foreign policy mistake.

If a D wins, everything will be horrible and on fire.

Trump is reflecting the collective will of the public.

The Chain of Command & "interagency process" are carrying it out,
...sometimes reluctantly & with dissenters forced out. You can't argue with the results.

Yes, yes I can argue with the results. Outside of Iran getting back to working on getting a nuke (spin that for us as better), the results are the same, or worse, militarily.

We're still in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and have increased our position...and vulnerability... in Saudi Arabia. And we still..as always..."can't leave" any of these nations.

The ME, as is par for the course, is still an unstable *hitshow. You don't care because you're glass-half-fulling the situation now that Trump is in charge.

And that doesn't even get into the mess that is Trump's tweeted Trade policies....which, of course, directly affects our security.

My issue with you isn't that you're telling us that Trump is GENERALLY doing what you like. That part is cool. No problems there....aside from saying, you're reaaaaaallly reaching when you argue Trump is taking us in a new direction as a nation.

Where I---and others-----take issue, and frankly laugh----is your utter inability to list Trump's mistakes overseas. He's made dozens, just like all of his predecessors. You're acting like he wears a cape and can do no wrong. It's silly.

And when you can't criticize the guy on anything? It makes your evaluations pointless-----because no matter what Trump does, it's awesome. It's like talking to Bandito or DocB, except you can name the weapons we use, and find Syria on a map. BS opinions in a pretty box.

I'm bummed. I was looking forward to how you handled Trump's asshattery. Instead? He can do no wrong. Oh well.

[Trinity]

He’s no longer welcome in Alabama. Football is not his forte.

[old salt]

afan :
Where's the difference?

I stated them & posted a lengthy VDH article explaining them.
You just don't want to hear them.
Ask the Iranians, Syrians or ISIS if things are different with Trump.
You are not looking if you do not see the difference in our situation in Syria, Iraq, the Persian Gulf states & Afghanistan.

If you want a serious discussion, take it to the thread where I moved the VDH article.
If you prefer to continue denying the obvious & talking your tedious (R) vs (D) smack,
don't waste any more of my time & tell it to the hand.

[Typical Lax Dad]

How many times do I have to tell you -- I disagreed with his announcement that he was pulling our forces out of Syria, both times.
Fortunately, both times he relented & just shifted them out of tripwire duty.

Yes. So now this means that in 3 years, you still can't come up with one thing Trump has done wrong overseas.

It's a Xmas Miracle!

His foreign policies are significantly different than Obama's.

To not get into unwanted wars, while still maintaining forces in every single country Obama had troops in? And using drones---heavily---instead of human American troops to conduct war because American media doesn't care about civilian or drone casualties?

Where's the difference?

I did not agree with Obama's, I do agree with Trump's.

I've told you why, in detail, multiple times.
Not that hard to understand, you're just too stubborn to accept it.

Yes. And the answer is: when Obama lectures or is condescending, it's horrible.

And when Trump does it, it's awesome.

When Obama follows the "will of the people", and pulls us out of Iraq---the main plank of his first election campaign---it's horrible.

When Trump follows the "will of the people" (whatever you think that means), it's awesome. Even when he doesn't actually follow the will of the people. Moving more troops into Saudi Arabia in response to Yemen? The people want that, do they?

You don't get to play this hypocritical game, and not get called out for it.

Come on, man----how much grief would you have given me if I had told you I was livid Trump was pulling us out of Syria? You would have rightfully let me have it for hypocrisy. And you'd be right.

I feel better about our foreign policy & national security posture now, than I have at anytime since the Cold War.

Good for you. Part of the reason is, guys like you understandably hate rules of engagement. You want to do whatever you want to do when you're in a combat zone. I don't blame you even a little for holding that position. But there is always a long term price to be paid for that.

Prediction: if Trump gets reelected, you'll tell us over 4 years that Trump hasn't made one single, solitary foreign policy mistake.

If a D wins, everything will be horrible and on fire.

Trump is reflecting the collective will of the public.

The Chain of Command & "interagency process" are carrying it out,
...sometimes reluctantly & with dissenters forced out. You can't argue with the results.

Yes, yes I can argue with the results. Outside of Iran getting back to working on getting a nuke (spin that for us as better), the results are the same, or worse, militarily.

We're still in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and have increased our position...and vulnerability... in Saudi Arabia. And we still..as always..."can't leave" any of these nations.

The ME, as is par for the course, is still an unstable *hitshow. You don't care because you're glass-half-fulling the situation now that Trump is in charge.

And that doesn't even get into the mess that is Trump's tweeted Trade policies....which, of course, directly affects our security.

My issue with you isn't that you're telling us that Trump is GENERALLY doing what you like. That part is cool. No problems there....aside from saying, you're reaaaaaallly reaching when you argue Trump is taking us in a new direction as a nation.

Where I---and others-----take issue, and frankly laugh----is your utter inability to list Trump's mistakes overseas. He's made dozens, just like all of his predecessors. You're acting like he wears a cape and can do no wrong. It's silly.

And when you can't criticize the guy on anything? It makes your evaluations pointless-----because no matter what Trump does, it's awesome. It's like talking to Bandito or DocB, except you can name the weapons we use, and find Syria on a map. BS opinions in a pretty box.

I'm bummed. I was looking forward to how you handled Trump's asshattery. Instead? He can do no wrong. Oh well.

Old Salt is like the young kid being interviewed: so son tell me your weakness...”Sir, I always try to be perfect. That’s my weakness.”

[old salt]

Old Salt is like the young kid being interviewed: so son tell me your weakness...”Sir, I always try to be perfect. That’s my weakness.”

So says tOhio sewer rat.

[Typical Lax Dad]

Old Salt is like the young kid being interviewed: so son tell me your weakness...”Sir, I always try to be perfect. That’s my weakness.”

So says tOhio sewer rat.

O-H-I-O

[Trinity]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/lisa-page ... ime-at-all

Lisa Page goes public. Trump faking her orgasm on a rally stage was her last straw. I can see why he polls ahead of Lincoln in the gop.

[LandM]

How many folks actually feel bad for the Lisa Page's wow is me - she placed herself in that situation and she controlled many levers - how anyone could possibly think there would be no backlash is beyond the pale. And let's break out the intimation factor and soon the misogynists, racists and homophobic cra$.....pathetic, Tough to feel sorry for her and her meek and mild wow is me. Finally the author saying Strozk is HAWT - that is just too much. How many other affairs has he had? If you have had one there is usually a case to be made that there were others along the way. You guys bust on Trump for his infidelities yet feel bad for these two - incredible.

MD, personally going around saying Heil Trump is juvenile. Not sure how you get your jollies from that. That IMHO is not an adult conversation and certainly does not demand an adult response.

TLD - as much as everyone hates OSU not sure who was worse with MI. At PSU on Sat there was allot of people hoping for the OSU victory. Hopefully it is OSU and LSU in finals. We look to be heading to the Orange Bowl with hopefully our starting QB back.

[MDlaxfan76]

How many folks actually feel bad for the Lisa Page's wow is me - she placed herself in that situation and she controlled many levers - how anyone could possibly think there would be no backlash is beyond the pale. And let's break out the intimation factor and soon the misogynists, racists and homophobic cra$.....pathetic, Tough to feel sorry for her and her meek and mild wow is me. Finally the author saying Strozk is HAWT - that is just too much. How many other affairs has he had? If you have had one there is usually a case to be made that there were others along the way. You guys bust on Trump for his infidelities yet feel bad for these two - incredible.

MD, personally going around saying Heil Trump is juvenile. Not sure how you get your jollies from that. That IMHO is not an adult conversation and certainly does not demand an adult response.

TLD - as much as everyone hates OSU not sure who was worse with MI. At PSU on Sat there was allot of people hoping for the OSU victory. Hopefully it is OSU and LSU in finals. We look to be heading to the Orange Bowl with hopefully our starting QB back.

good lord, LandM, do you actually read the article as complaining that the affair was outed?
Or is it that she's been smeared as someone who acted in a biased way in her professional capacity?
Being used as an 'excuse' for the Trump campaign being nailed for welcoming Russian interference and for obstructing the investigation of that interference and relationship with Trump et al. You really ok with your POTUS mimicking an orgasm in front of a campaign crowd?

And you actually think that the critique of Trump is for "infidelities"??? Yes, they are gross, and yes, it's immensely hypocritical for supposedly moralistic "Christians" to give him a pass for such, but this is NOT what is the issue with Trump. There are more than 15 women who have accused him of assault or rape. Not "infidelities".

You are free to think that "Heil Trump" is juvenile. That's your privilege.
But the way I see it, that's what you guys are doing when you deny the reality of Trump's corruption and corrupting influence on those around him, including now the entire USA.

As John Boehner said, "There is no more Republican Party, there is only the Trump Party."

[LandM]

MD,
I could care less about the affair being outed. I have seen many an affair in the business world - that is between you and your spouse, I shake my head over it but I learned after the first one best to stay out of it......unfortunately weasel Aventtia who many out hear cheered him on, exposed that. But I do care that a bunch of long-serving bureaucrats can make determinations without due process. The FBI works in secret and can do anything they want with limited oversight - that is what I worry about. For her to wallow in sorry is crazy, she initiated it now live with it. Why you and others cannot see that and opine on it in the same fashion you have with Trump is beyond reason. The hate Trump factor is only going to get you so far.

As far as Trump, there are many things I loath about him NOR did I VOTE for him nor will I this time but he is unconventional and many of you out here are unwilling to accept that. This country will get through this but going around talking about sucking and Heil is just adding coal to the fire. You are just helping the guy gain another victory.

Best

[youthathletics]

As John Boehner said, "There is no more Republican Party, there is only the Trump Party."

John Boehner is right and he is partly to blame.

But ask yourself why? If you are indeed a republican as you say, you must then subscribe to the loooooong standing argument that the right just keeps taking it on the chin from the left, that the right has no spine, does not fight back, is too classy to get dirty with the left, so on and so forth. Trump comes along and immediately levels the playing the field.....he knows their political game tactics, hell....he is one, he just one-upped them. Now, all of a sudden the republican party is gone...ha!, it's just that the 2nd guy that swings gets caught.