The US Hamster Wheel

[Alisoncc]

Ben as a resident of Michigan, I would be interested in your views on Trumps budget that cuts all the funds previously earmarked for cleaning up the Great Lakes.

The Great Lakes region could lose $300 million in annual federal funding under a budget proposal released Thursday by the White House that would impose drastic cuts to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a promise made by President Donald Trump during his campaign, and eliminate financial support to restore portions of the largest body of freshwater on Earth.

Started in 2010 under former President Barack Obama, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has given $2.2 billion to eight states along the Great Lakes, a project that has led to improved water quality and pollution control and a bustle of waterfront development. It has also begun the process of ebbing the trove of invasive species that have offset the ecological balance of the Great Lakes.

Those issues have cost states from New York to Minnesota billions of dollars, local officials say. Trump’s proposal calls for a 31 percent reduction to the EPA, including eliminating $300 million in annual funding for the GLRI program.

The interconnected lakes of Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario weave across the U.S.-Canadian border. Combined, the lakes represent 95 percent of fresh surface water in the U.S. An estimated 40 million people rely on the Great Lakes for drinking water, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Joel Brammeier, president and CEO of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, said that some of the same industries that helped make the U.S. an economic force — such as the production of steel, paper, chemicals and automobiles — also left behind a trail of environmental destruction, befouling the Great Lakes and the communities surrounding them. Once job creators, many of those industries abandoned Rust Belt cities and towns as they fled from competition or for cheaper labor overseas.

[Cacophonix]

Your last paragraph is more polite than I'm used to from you, but since you state you would be pleased if I committed suicide, and at the same time suggest that I'm the one who is deluded gives me that warm feeling of victory. Go Trump!

No the implication of what I said is that you should go and please yourself. With respect to Trump you have which in itself is a form of suicide so in one sense you have that sharp, metallic taste of Kool-Aid in your mouth already or perhaps it is that heavy metal laden Detroit and Flint water again. With Trump in charge you will never know!

Am I am being too polite? I must correct that fault immediately!

Caco

[Boac]

Mercifully, the Trumpet has been relatively quiet with his Twats during his nine-day foreign trip. Has he suddenly started listening to advice? Is there hope?

He must be looking forward (!) to returning to his golf course after sorting out world peace in the ME, Israel/Palestine - and the Catholic Church, of course.

Look at the face - obviously as impressed as we all are What ON EARTH has happened to the womens' hair?

[Cacophonix]

Look at the face - obviously as impressed as we all are What ON EARTH has happened to the womens' hair?

All very American Gothic with Trump playing the role of the village idiot!



Grant Wood eat your heart out.

PS - I suspect the bloke with the pitchfork also looks a little like BenThere if not the the pope!

Caco

[Boac]

You can almost see the ballon from the mouth of the guy bottom right in the painting behind

"For GOD'S sake, Franky - GET RID OF HIM!"

[Mrs Ex-Ascot]

You can almost see the ballon from the mouth of the guy bottom right in the painting behind

"For GOD'S sake, Franky - GET RID OF HIM!"

Thanks for making me almost spill my beer laughing!

[Cacophonix]

The lummox continues to make a fool of the USA and himself.

Even before President Trump signed the guest book at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum during his visit Sunday, his administration had faced accusations that it was insensitive to the memory of the 6 million Jews murdered by Nazi Germany.

Instead of putting those accusations to rest, the visit to the museum during the president’s one-day visit to Israel threatened to aggravate them: Before arriving, he had faced criticism that the Yad Vashem portion of the trip was slotted for just 15 minutes.

The president ultimately spent a little longer — half an hour — and spoke about “a systematic attempt to eliminate the Jewish people” during a ceremony that included the museum leadership and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But Trump’s tweet-like message in Yad Vashem’s guest book has sparked a new round of controversy.

“It is a great honor to be here with all of my friends,’’ he wrote. “So amazing and will NEVER FORGET!”

Many critics found that the words rang adolescent

http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast ... story.html

Wow, what a COOL holocaust memorial. FFS!

Caco

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I note the Trump ladies chose to wear headdress for the Pope but not for the Saudi King.

[Cacophonix]

As if we really needed any more reminders as to how inept the Trump administration really is!

American officials have been criticised for leaking the identity of the Manchester bomber before British police officially named him.
Salman Abedi was identified in media reports that attributed “US officials” as the source even as their British counterparts remained tight-lipped.

The disclosures renewed concerns over leaks from Donald Trump’s administration two weeks after the US president revealed classified information, apparently from Israel, to Russia’s foreign minister in a White House meeting. Critics warn that US allies may be less willing to share intelligence in the future.

Although UK journalists had Abedi’s name, the UK government and Greater Manchester police declined to confirm it more than two hours after it appeared in the US press. Earlier in the day, the government indicated it might not release the name at all on Tuesday because the investigation was continuing.

On Monday night, a correspondent for America’s ABC network tweeted: “Leading theory is Manchester was a suicide bomber, US senior law enforcement official briefed on the investigation tells @ABC.”

On Tuesday, CBS and NBC were quick to name the suspect believed to have blown himself up following an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena as 22-year-old Salman Abedi. The Reuters news agency, an international organisation with headquarters in London, also published the name, citing “three US officials”, before British police made it public.

The Trump administration’s apparent indiscretion seems likely to cause consternation in London and could raise questions about future cooperation in the long term.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/201 ... -name-leak

Caco

[Boac]

Fox - does this pandering mean the Trumpet is about to sign a major arms deal with the Vatican, perhaps?

Whoops - must have been done already as he is off the Brussels now to buy Juncker a drink.

I think we can look forward to his sliminess here soon in the UK if I recall correctly. Anyone got a spare suicide belt he could use?

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I am very inexperienced in US political signaling. I await enlightenment.

[Alisoncc]

As if we really needed any more reminders as to how inept the Trump administration really is!

American officials have been criticised for leaking the identity of the Manchester bomber before British police officially named him.
Salman Abedi was identified in media reports that attributed “US officials” as the source even as their British counterparts remained tight-lipped.

The disclosures renewed concerns over leaks from Donald Trump’s administration two weeks after the US president revealed classified information, apparently from Israel, to Russia’s foreign minister in a White House meeting. Critics warn that US allies may be less willing to share intelligence in the future.

Just read the same on the Beeb news website. How long before the US "intelligence" network gets permanently denied access to intel gathered by the rest of the world. A truly sorry state of affairs from a country trying to be great again. They won't become great again this way.

The Manning/Wikileaks saga seems to be an endemic issue and continuing.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Since we know there is considerable opposition to Trump within the existing administration, it would be hard to guess whether a Trump supporter or antagonist leaked this information, wouldn't it?
Cui bono would seem to indicate it was a Trump antagonist who released this. Unless of course Trump's supporters within the administration really ARE all idiots.
The name would presumably have been released to all US intelligence agencies for routine checks, so the list of potential leakers is probably quite large, which is an essential factor for hiding the leaker.
One would also have to wonder who would be briefing ABC, and why they would release the name when the UK didn't.
ABC isn't exactly known for supporting Trump.

[Cacophonix]

Well when the Grand Naartjie seems to feel it is OK to compromise intelligence sources, why should any of his minions in the administration feel any different whether they be idiots or simply deluded fools.

A man in charge of his administration would know how to keep known antagonists away from such info. In truth the whole administration is out of control and governance and the direction comes from the top.

Caco

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

He's been in four months. I doubt he knows who even a small percentage of the antagonists are yet, much less be able to restrict access to info that needs a lot of routine checks.
I would agree the administration is out of control. I'm interested to see what he does about it.

Proceedings of the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
The NSA was way out of order under Obama, who attempted to stuff in a memo saying so on the last day of proceedings last year. The Court granted itself an extension until end January (after Trump took office) to properly investigate. The extent of NSA lawbreaking in surveillance on US citizens is extensive but still not fully known.
https://www.scribd.com/document/3492610 ... from_embed

So, whilst the administration is out of control, this is not a new thing.

http://circa.com/politics/barack-obamas ... -americans

The American Civil Liberties Union said the newly disclosed violations are some of the most serious to ever be documented and strongly call into question the U.S. intelligence community’s ability to police itself and safeguard American’s privacy as guaranteed by the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protections against unlawful search and seizure.

“I think what this emphasizes is the shocking lack of oversight of these programs,” said Neema Singh Guliani, the ACLU’s legislative counsel in Washington.

and remember, all this happened under Obama, and the ACLU hates Trump.

[Bob]

So?, is there something they should be liking?, I'm **** if I can find anything

[Woody]

2+2= 4 trillion

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40023720

[BenThere]

They won't become great again this way.

Maybe not, but it's the only hope we have, Alison.

As regards the Great Lakes. Today, the Great Lakes have been cleansed. When I was young, my family had a cottage on Lake Huron, in the Thumb of Michigan, near the town of Caseville. In the late 1950's and early 1960's I could take our small boat out on the lake and catch a hundred perch in an hour or two. Later, in 1970's, pollution and other effects reduced the catch to a few, and it took all day. Then a movement started to clean up the lake, which was good. Now, the clarity of the lake is the best I've ever seen it. The fish are thriving, Salmon, Muske, Walleye, Perch, Whitefish, Bass - all are jumping in abundance.

Cleaning the lakes simply involved eliminating the effluents discharged by industrial enterprises who had been dumping their detritus for a century. When they were forced to stop, the lakes cleansed themselves. I can't say for certain, but I don't think any industrial waste flows into any Great Lake, at least not legally. The anti-effluent laws are state laws, as they should be.

Should the Trump administration achieve the multi-trillion $ reductions at the expense of federal (corrupt) allocations to Great Lake cleansing, I'm still on board with it, as the lakes are clean now, and those billions of spending under threat today are poorly spent.

[Alisoncc]

Thank for your reply BenT. Do have memories of visiting a business colleague in the Chicago area in the mid '70's. He described the waterways as open sewers with the associated smells. Not aware of the extent to which they have already been cleaned up.

Alison

[Alisoncc]

Representative Adam Schiff of California, the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, told reporters he understood the concern about US leaks possibly harming the UK police operation.

"If we gave up information that has interfered in any way with their investigation because it tipped off people in Britain — perhaps associates of this person that we identified as the bomber — then that's a real problem and they have every right to be furious," he said.

He said, however, that even if US intelligence sources shared vital information with the media, it was unlikely to affect the strong intelligence sharing relationship between the US and Britain.

Don't know what planet this idiot is from. UK Police and MI5 trying to track down the bombers network, and the US broadcasting their progress.

Jesus wept!!