The Official "Making America Great Again" Thread

[Ibanez]

The good news is that if there is something to this I don't think this admin will be adept enough to sidestep it or spin it away. Trump would be impeached

This is a guy that has so much to hide he won't even submit his taxes...

I'm actually surprised someone with the IRS hasn't leaked any of them.

[BDKJMU]

"..Ford: 700 Jobs to Start
As January began, Ford Motor Company went public to tell Donald Trump that they are ready to deal with the new administration and also noted that at least 700 new jobs were on the table with more to come as the year rolls onward.

SAP SE: 400 Jobs
German business-software maker SAP SE is adding nearly 400 jobs to its Pittsburgh and suburban Philadelphia facilities, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Amazon.com: 100,000 Jobs
Amazon is eyeing a huge expansion starting this year and recently announced it intended to add up to 100,000 workers to its retail staff in new facilities across the nation.

Many of these jobs will be in brand new fulfillment centers the online giant plans to begin building this year.

Lockheed Martin: 1,800 Jobs
Aeronautics leader Lockheed Martin told President-elect Trump that it intends to hire over 1,800 new workers in the coming months.

Indeed, Lockheed feels that its expansion will bring even more jobs indirectly. CEO Marillyn Hewson said of the new jobs, “when you think about the supply chain across 45 states in the U.S., it’s going to be thousands and thousands of jobs.”

GM: 1,500 Jobs and $1 Billion Investment
General Motors said this month that it is looking to re-invest in factories in the U.S.A. and will add some 1,500 or more jobs to its roster of workers. The plans will include a one-billion-dollar plan to build new manufacturing lines in the U.S.

Bayer AG: $8 Billion Investment
The Trump transition team is touting a commitment by German-based Bayer AG pharmaceutical company to invest an additional $8 billion in the U.S.A. in research and development in cooperation with Monsanto AG.

The announcement came on the heels of a “very productive meeting” between the Trump team and Bayer CEO Werner Baumann and Monsanto chief Hugh Grant.

Walmart: 10,000 Retail Jobs, 24,000 Construction Jobs
Retail giant Walmart is eyeing an expansion plan to build new stores that will eventually amount to some 10,000 new jobs in outlets across the country. But it will also mean up to 24,000 jobs for construction workers needed to build the new stores.

Walmart intends to build at least 59 new stores in fiscal year 2017, according to a statement by the company.

LKQ: 150 Jobs and New HQ in Tennessee
Publicly traded automotive company LKQ Corp is establishing a new headquarters in the Nashville, Tennessee, area. It is a sign that the company feels that the automotive industry in the U.S. is on track to grow in the age of Trump.

There are others, of course, and more are sure to follow as Donald J. Trump takes the oath of office to become our 45th President on January 20."
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government ... ation-day/

[Skjellyfetti]

The FBI and five other law enforcement and intelligence agencies have collaborated for months in an investigation into Russian attempts to influence the November election, including whether money from the Kremlin covertly aided President-elect Donald Trump, two people familiar with the matter said.

The agencies involved in the inquiry are the FBI, the CIA, the National Security Agency, the Justice Department, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and representatives of the director of national intelligence, the sources said.

Investigators are examining how money may have moved from the Kremlin to covertly help Trump win, the two sources said. One of the allegations involves whether a system for routinely paying thousands of Russian-American pensioners may have been used to pay some email hackers in the United States or to supply money to intermediaries who would then pay the hackers, the two sources said.

The informal, inter-agency working group began to explore possible Russian interference last spring, long before the FBI received information from a former British spy hired to develop politically damaging and unverified research about Trump, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the inquiry.

On Jan. 6, the director of national intelligence released a declassified report that concluded Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered an influence campaign to “undermine faith in the U.S. democratic process,” damage Hillary Clinton’s election prospects and bolster Trump’s. The campaign included the hacking of top Democrats’ emails and fake news distributed by Russian sources.

The working group is scrutinizing the activities of a few Americans who were affiliated with Trump’s campaign or his business empire and of multiple individuals from Russia and other former Soviet nations who had similar connections, the sources said.

U.S. intelligence agencies not only have been unanimous in blaming Russia for the hacking of Democrats’ computers but also have concluded that the leaking and dissemination of thousands of emails of top Democrats, some of which caused headaches for the Clinton campaign, were done to help Trump win.

The BBC reported that the FBI had obtained a warrant on Oct. 15 from the highly secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court allowing investigators access to bank records and other documents about potential payments and money transfers related to Russia. One of McClatchy’s sources confirmed the report.

Susan Hennessey, a former attorney for the National Security Agency who is now a fellow at the Brookings Institution, said she had no knowledge that a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant had been issued. However, she stressed that such warrants are issued only if investigators can demonstrate “probable cause” that a crime has been committed and the information in Steele’s dossier couldn’t have met that test.

“If, in fact, law enforcement has obtained a FISA warrant, that is an indication that additional evidence exists outside of the dossier,” she said.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politic ... 31799.html

[93henfan]

God bless Russia. We would have been two days away from a Hillary Clinton presidency.

[Ivytalk]

God bless Russia. We would have been two days away from a Hillary Clinton presidency.

Maybe they are our allies after all!

[YoUDeeMan]

God bless Russia. We would have been two days away from a Hillary Clinton presidency.

Maybe they are our allies after all!

Indeed.

[YoUDeeMan]

The FBI and five other law enforcement and intelligence agencies have collaborated for months in an investigation into Russian attempts to influence the November election, including whether money from the Kremlin covertly aided President-elect Donald Trump, two people familiar with the matter said.

The agencies involved in the inquiry are the FBI, the CIA, the National Security Agency, the Justice Department, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and representatives of the director of national intelligence, the sources said.

Investigators are examining how money may have moved from the Kremlin to covertly help Trump win, the two sources said. One of the allegations involves whether a system for routinely paying thousands of Russian-American pensioners may have been used to pay some email hackers in the United States or to supply money to intermediaries who would then pay the hackers, the two sources said.

The informal, inter-agency working group began to explore possible Russian interference last spring, long before the FBI received information from a former British spy hired to develop politically damaging and unverified research about Trump, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the inquiry.

On Jan. 6, the director of national intelligence released a declassified report that concluded Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered an influence campaign to “undermine faith in the U.S. democratic process,” damage Hillary Clinton’s election prospects and bolster Trump’s. The campaign included the hacking of top Democrats’ emails and fake news distributed by Russian sources.

The working group is scrutinizing the activities of a few Americans who were affiliated with Trump’s campaign or his business empire and of multiple individuals from Russia and other former Soviet nations who had similar connections, the sources said.

U.S. intelligence agencies not only have been unanimous in blaming Russia for the hacking of Democrats’ computers but also have concluded that the leaking and dissemination of thousands of emails of top Democrats, some of which caused headaches for the Clinton campaign, were done to help Trump win.

The BBC reported that the FBI had obtained a warrant on Oct. 15 from the highly secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court allowing investigators access to bank records and other documents about potential payments and money transfers related to Russia. One of McClatchy’s sources confirmed the report.

Susan Hennessey, a former attorney for the National Security Agency who is now a fellow at the Brookings Institution, said she had no knowledge that a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant had been issued. However, she stressed that such warrants are issued only if investigators can demonstrate “probable cause” that a crime has been committed and the information in Steele’s dossier couldn’t have met that test.

“If, in fact, law enforcement has obtained a FISA warrant, that is an indication that additional evidence exists outside of the dossier,” she said.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politic ... 31799.html

All of this huff and puff...and the answer is...so what?

Russia wanted Trump more than Hillary. And they might have spent some money and paid some hackers to reveal the truth about Hillary and her allies getting the DNC, a supposedly neutral taxpayer funded entity, to swing the election her way.

Pay to Play Hillary was Trump's opponent. They, themselves, set up an operation where foreign governments gave large sums of money in order to get access.

Did anyone die?

Uh...not from the Russians.

Did the Russians pay some goons to kill opposition leaders? Did the Russians pay some mob to rampage through U.S. villages and threaten people's lives that didn't agree with them?

No.

So money may have been used to influence an election. Shocker! Our American purity in election politics has been tarnished because only our elected officials can meddle with our elections.





Seriously, though...this should be a case study in mental illness. The Russians may have revealed the truth about the DNC trying to fix our own elections for Hillary...and instead of being upset about that fact, that our own people, and the press corps, tried desperately to interfere with our free elections, the press is trying to get people to be upset about the possible source of the truth.

This is laughable to anyone who has a brain.

[kalm]

Carrier deal not as great as Trump first announced. But hey, since UT does $6.8 billion in government contracts, mostly with the pentagon, and the fiscal conservatives are about to increase the Pentagon's budget, maybe they can hire a few of them back.

That enabled Trump to sweep into Indianapolis on December 1 as a job-saving hero. He announced before a packed house of employees and news media that more than 1,100 jobs would stay in the Carrier plant.

But the numbers Trump announced don’t add up. When James and other union leaders met with the company right before Trump went on stage, they were told 730 union jobs would be saved at the Indianapolis plant―nearly 400 less than Trump announced. Trump was apparently including 350 engineering and administrative employees, but they were never leaving. That meant 550 workers would lose their jobs in Indianapolis as well as 738 workers at Huntington, which would shut down entirely.

That made James angry. He was one of the workers selected to appear before Trump as the news media broadcast the event live, but was in no mood to meet with the president-elect or shake his hand.


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It was left to James and USW Local 1999 President Chuck Jones to dash the hopes of many workers. “We had to explain to workers that number was wrong. The workers were shocked that the number of jobs saved were lower than they thought. A lot said, ‘That’s fucked up.’”

Jones was more pointed, telling the media the president-elect “lied his ass off” about the jobs saved. That earned him Trump’s wrath, leading to threats pouring in such as, “You better keep your eye on your kids” and “We’re coming for you.” Jones says, “It really pissed me off he misled people their jobs might be saved. He didn’t want to get up and tell people part of the plant is going to stay and part of the plant is going to Mexico.”

One of the cards sent to Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworkers Local 1999, after Trump attacked him. Jones had told the media Trump "lied his ass off" for saying more than 1,100 jobs would be saved at the Carrier plant in Indianapolis when the actual total was 730. Another 550 workers are being fired.
One of the cards sent to Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworkers Local 1999, after Trump attacked him. Jones had told the media Trump “lied his ass off” for saying more than 1,100 jobs would be saved at the Carrier plant in Indianapolis when the actual total was 730. Another 550 workers are being fired.
At the Local 1999 hall, wolfing down a cheeseburger and fries for lunch as he conducts media interviews, Jones says he is “grateful for the 730 jobs Trump did save.” But he points out this was a one-off deal. Jones says because Carrier’s parent company, United Technologies, does $6.7 billion in federal business, mainly for the Pentagon, “Trump had a helluva bargaining chip with the military contracts.”

Jones and others attribute the move to “corporate greed.” He says, “It’s all about money. Carrier is a very profitable company. Because they can pay the Mexican workers $3 an hour to enhance their profitability, they will do it.” UT earned $7.6 billion in 2015, has squirreled away $29 billion offshore, and is buying back $16 billion in stock to boost its share price.

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/more-t ... ve-to-say/

[kalm]

Boy, Trump picked a real winner in this DeVos chick. And her brother who is advising Trump on defense is a real peach, too...

The billionaire philanthropist whom Donald Trump has tapped to lead the Education Department once compared her work in education reform to a biblical battleground where she wants to "advance God's Kingdom."

Trump’s pick, Betsy DeVos, a national leader of the school choice movement, has pursued that work in large part by spending millions to promote the use of taxpayer dollars on private and religious schools.

Story Continued Below


Her comments came during a 2001 meeting of “The Gathering,” an annual conference of some of the country’s wealthiest Christians. DeVos and her husband, Dick, were interviewed a year after voters rejected a Michigan ballot initiative to change the state’s constitution to allow public money to be spent on private and religious schools, which the DeVoses had backed.

In the interview, an audio recording, which was obtained by POLITICO, the couple is candid about how their Christian faith drives their efforts to reform American education.

School choice, they say, leads to “greater Kingdom gain.” The two also lament that public schools have “displaced” the Church as the center of communities, and they cite school choice as a way to reverse that troubling trend.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/b ... ion-232150

[Ibanez]

Boy, Trump picked a real winner in this DeVos chick. And her brother who is advising Trump on defense is a real peach, too...

The billionaire philanthropist whom Donald Trump has tapped to lead the Education Department once compared her work in education reform to a biblical battleground where she wants to "advance God's Kingdom."

Trump’s pick, Betsy DeVos, a national leader of the school choice movement, has pursued that work in large part by spending millions to promote the use of taxpayer dollars on private and religious schools.

Story Continued Below


Her comments came during a 2001 meeting of “The Gathering,” an annual conference of some of the country’s wealthiest Christians. DeVos and her husband, Dick, were interviewed a year after voters rejected a Michigan ballot initiative to change the state’s constitution to allow public money to be spent on private and religious schools, which the DeVoses had backed.

In the interview, an audio recording, which was obtained by POLITICO, the couple is candid about how their Christian faith drives their efforts to reform American education.

School choice, they say, leads to “greater Kingdom gain.” The two also lament that public schools have “displaced” the Church as the center of communities, and they cite school choice as a way to reverse that troubling trend.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/b ... ion-232150

She shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a position of power. DeVos is a poor nominee. She shouldn't be confirmed. Nor should Sessions.

[GannonFan]

Boy, Trump picked a real winner in this DeVos chick. And her brother who is advising Trump on defense is a real peach, too...

The billionaire philanthropist whom Donald Trump has tapped to lead the Education Department once compared her work in education reform to a biblical battleground where she wants to "advance God's Kingdom."

Trump’s pick, Betsy DeVos, a national leader of the school choice movement, has pursued that work in large part by spending millions to promote the use of taxpayer dollars on private and religious schools.

Story Continued Below


Her comments came during a 2001 meeting of “The Gathering,” an annual conference of some of the country’s wealthiest Christians. DeVos and her husband, Dick, were interviewed a year after voters rejected a Michigan ballot initiative to change the state’s constitution to allow public money to be spent on private and religious schools, which the DeVoses had backed.

In the interview, an audio recording, which was obtained by POLITICO, the couple is candid about how their Christian faith drives their efforts to reform American education.

School choice, they say, leads to “greater Kingdom gain.” The two also lament that public schools have “displaced” the Church as the center of communities, and they cite school choice as a way to reverse that troubling trend.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/b ... ion-232150

She shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a position of power. DeVos is a poor nominee. She shouldn't be confirmed. Nor should Sessions.

I don't care as much about Sessions, but DeVos is just a whacko of a different order. I understand the Dept of Ed really does little when it comes to education, but I'd still like her not to be anywhere near it.

[93henfan]

Boy, Trump picked a real winner in this DeVos

DeVos is a poor nominee. She shouldn't be confirmed.

I have it on good authority that she is able to whip it good.

[kalm]

DeVos is a poor nominee. She shouldn't be confirmed.

I have it on good authority that she is able to whip it good.

[Ibanez]

DeVos is a poor nominee. She shouldn't be confirmed.

I have it on good authority that she is able to whip it good.

Yeah, but what if a problem doesn't come along??

[93henfan]

I have it on good authority that she is able to whip it good.

Yeah, but what if a problem doesn't come along??

Well then the cream hasn't set out too long.

[CAA Flagship]

Yeah, but what if a problem doesn't come along??

Well then the cream hasn't set out too long.

You will never live this down.

[Ibanez]

22 hours, 43 minutes and 14 seconds to go!

[93henfan]

Well then the cream hasn't set out too long.

You will never live this down.

No one gets away, my friend.

[93henfan]

Back to serious posting...

I'm watching CNN cover the Steven Mnuchin hearing and, during a break, Wolf and panel are discussing unemployment.

Low and behold, just as Trump is about to take office, CNN suddenly admits that the 4.7% unemployment number is completely meaningless. Now, again just a day before Trump takes over, CNN acknowledges that underemployment is over 10% and almost 1/3 of Americans aren't part of the workforce.

How convenient! Now unemployment is a problem again.

CNN is awesome.

[CAA Flagship]

Back to serious posting...

I'm watching CNN cover the Steven Mnuchin hearing and, during a break, Wolf and panel are discussing unemployment.

Low and behold, just as Trump is about to take office, CNN suddenly admits that the 4.7% unemployment number is completely meaningless. Now, again just a day before Trump takes over, CNN acknowledges that underemployment is over 10% and almost 1/3 of Americans aren't part of the workforce.

How convenient! Now unemployment is a problem again.

CNN is awesome.

A little earlier, there was a panel with Wolf that were all saying reasonable things. I did a

[Ibanez]

Back to serious posting...

I'm watching CNN cover the Steven Mnuchin hearing and, during a break, Wolf and panel are discussing unemployment.

Low and behold, just as Trump is about to take office, CNN suddenly admits that the 4.7% unemployment number is completely meaningless. Now, again just a day before Trump takes over, CNN acknowledges that underemployment is over 10% and almost 1/3 of Americans aren't part of the workforce.

How convenient! Now unemployment is a problem again.

CNN is awesome.

Yesterday they had a graphic showing Medical Marijuana was legal in SC, then the same graphic on their website said it wasn't legal. It's finally been corrected.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/18/politics/ ... index.html

[93henfan]

Mnuchin is swatting these Democrats off his shoulder like a champ. Dude is killing it. He's obviously a very, very smart guy.

I just wish he didn't have the little tick where he stretches his neck and purses his lips. WTF? STOP THAT!

He may be an Aspy. I'm familiar with this sort of shit.

[CAA Flagship]

Mnuchin is swatting these Democrats off his shoulder like a champ. Dude is killing it. He's obviously a very, very smart guy.

I just wish he didn't have the little tick where he stretches his neck and purses his lips. WTF? STOP THAT!

He may be an Aspy. I'm familiar with this sort of shit.

The blonde behind his right shoulder.

[Skjellyfetti]

Mnuchin is swatting these Democrats off his shoulder like a champ. Dude is killing it. He's obviously a very, very smart guy.

I just wish he didn't have the little tick where he stretches his neck and purses his lips. WTF? STOP THAT!

He may be an Aspy. I'm familiar with this sort of shit.

The blonde behind his right shoulder.

Clearly FSB

[Ibanez]

Btw, i'm loving the hypocrisy of the left right now. They had no problem with Geithner running the Treasury after he failed to pay SS and Medicare taxes but they are concerned over Mulvaney running OMB after failing to pay takes on a household employee.