Day 959

matt · September 5, 2019, 9:31pm

1/ The Pentagon will divert funding from military construction projects in 23 states, three territories, and 19 countries to pay for Trump's border wall. Among the projects being defunded to pay for Trump's border wall, include nine schools for military children on bases in the U.S. and abroad, a daycare center at Joint Base Andrews, Hurricane Maria recovery projects at military installations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, construction projects in Europe designed to help allies deter Russia. In total, $3.6 billion will be taken from 127 projects to fund 11 border barrier projects in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. (New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters)

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/09/05/day-959/

Keaton_James · September 6, 2019, 8:21am

As Trump once again usurps our rule of law, who is one of the prime beneficiaries? Putin, of course. It’s almost as if Trump is Putin’s marionette.

Trump trashes the EU, Putin benefits. Trump bashes NATO, Putin benefits. Trump ignites a trade war with China, Putin benefits.

And now Trump is yanking $771 million in military spending that was dedicated to protecting Europe from Russia. Putin is surely smiling once more.

The Pentagon will defer spending $771 million meant to shore up Europe’s defensive posture against Russia to fund President Donald Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border barrier.

The announcement is sure to jar European allies, where NATO members have nervously watched the president’s on-again, off-again commitment to the alliance. And it could deal a blow to the narrative among allies that Trump’s boisterous rhetoric should be taken with a grain of salt, given that money has kept flowing from Washington despite trans-Atlantic disagreements.

Half of the $3.6 billion for the border wall would come from dozens of U.S. military construction projects, and the other half would come from projects in Europe and the Pacific. In Europe, there were roughly 40 projects, including training facilities for special forces in Estonia and aviation infrastructure in Germany, Hungary and Slovakia.
…
On Thursday, Trump’s political opponents highlighted how the move follows his recent decisions to hold up $250 million in military aid to Ukraine and to abruptly cancel his trip to Poland …
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he found it “galling and appalling” that Trump had secured multiple wins for an “American foe,” Russian President Vladimir Putin, in just two weeks.

“President Trump is, yet again, putting Vladimir Putin before the security of the American people and our allies,” Schumer said. “Cutting the funding used to reinforce our trusted European allies against Russian aggression in order to advance the president’s politically motivated vanity project — that he promised Mexico would pay for — is outrageous, wrong and weakens our national security. Congress will not stand for the president usurping our exclusive power of the purse.” …

The remainder of the article describes the projects that are being cancelled.

Keaton_James · September 6, 2019, 8:41am

Will he ever let this go? Why can’t he just admit he was using outdated data and move on? I’ve always discounted talk about the possibility that Trump is developing dementia, but now I’m really beginning to wonder.

Fox News senior White House correspondent John Roberts had just finished his 3 p.m. live shot on Thursday when President Donald Trump beckoned him into the Oval Office.

The President had one argument to make, according to an internal Fox email Roberts sent about the meeting provided to CNN.

"He stressed to me that forecasts for Dorian last week had Alabama in the warning cone," Roberts wrote. “He insisted that it is unfair to say Alabama was never threatened by the storm.”

Roberts’ analysis of the meeting was that the President was "just looking for acknowledgment that he was not wrong for saying that at some point, Alabama was at risk – even if the situation had changed by the time he issued the tweet" on Sunday morning, in which he said the state “will most likely be hit.” The President also provided Roberts with graphics to make his points.
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“Just as I said, Alabama was originally projected to be hit. The Fake News denies it!” Trump tweeted on Thursday, along with graphics from the National Weather Service from last week – days before his tweet – showing Alabama had a small chance of experiencing some effects from Dorian. By the time Trump tweeted, those forecasts had changed.

A White House aide familiar with the Oval Office meeting with Roberts said that Trump also voiced his displeasure about Fox News anchor Shepard Smith’s skeptical reporting about the Alabama map.

"The President summoned Roberts “to hit back at Shepard Smith,” the White House aide said.

Roberts claimed in his email that he pointed out to the President that by the time of his tweet warning Alabama and other states of the storm – 10:51 am ET on Sunday – Dorian’s projected trajectory had moved much farther east and was no longer including any part of Alabama.

So Trump buttonholes a respected meteorologist and doesn’t ask him a single question about how Americans will be faring as Dorian grinds its way up the East coat. Instead, he leans on the guy to support his lies. Has Trump no shame? No compassion for the victims of this devastating storm?

Windthin · September 6, 2019, 1:18pm

Son of Afghan resistance hero criticizes ‘secretive’ U.S. Taliban deal

Windthin · September 6, 2019, 2:10pm

A six-post thread on why Trump’s inability to let go of “sharpiegate” and his Alabama blunder not only says everything about who he is, but also his followers:

Families’ concerns about health & safety issues in their privatized military housing are widespread, according to a new Army IG report that reveals systemic problems with the companies’ responses to families, and with the Army’s oversight of the projects.

The inspectors found that the deals between the Army and the privatized housing companies present “unique challenges” to the Army — in particular, the deals favor the corporations.

They also uncovered a 2013 Army policy that specifically prohibited health and welfare inspections of privatized housing — because of budget cuts that resulted in fewer housing personnel.

Windthin · September 6, 2019, 2:26pm

The Jobs Report is out. It’s not looking good.

Pet_Proletariat · September 6, 2019, 4:07pm

What I said was accurate!’: Trump stays fixated on his Alabama error as hurricane pounds the Carolinas

https://beta.washingtonpost.com/politics/what-i-said-was-accurate-trump-stays-fixated-on-his-alabama-error-as-hurricane-pounds-the-carolinas/2019/09/05/32597606-cfe7-11e9-8c1c-7c8ee785b855_story.html#click=https://t.co/0JUfNEPVwx

It was Trump who used a black Sharpie to mark up an official National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration map, which he displayed during an Oval Office briefing on Wednesday, according to a White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

“No one else writes like that on a map with a black Sharpie,” the official said of the map, which added Alabama into the hurricane’s potential pathway inside the loop of the marker.

I figured but it’s nice to have confirmation.

Windthin · September 6, 2019, 8:42pm

The August jobs report shows how badly Trump has let down the people he promised to help

The mining and coal sector, whose beleaguered voters played a pivotal role in Trump’s 2016 electoral victory, lost 2,000 jobs. And even the triumphs aren’t really triumphs when you dig into the numbers

matt · September 22, 2019, 5:58am

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Windthin · September 29, 2020, 12:41am

FFS.

Trump forced NOAA to support HIS version of things with Alabama.

NOAA resides within the Department of Commerce, run by Wilbur Ross, who lied and tried to get a racist, political gerrymandering question onto the 2020 Census.

There is no Senate-confirmed head of NOAA because Trump nominated yet another unqualified, scandal-plagued crony against the advice of Dr. Jane Lubchenco, a former administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

That nominee, Barry Lee Myers, the Former CEO of AccuWeather, was plagued with scandal and eventually failed to be approved. Like so many departments under Trump, NOAA only has an acting head, Neil Jacobs, and has not had a confirmed head since 2017.

Dan Sobien, president of the NWS Employees Union, stated in a tweet Friday evening that “The hard-working employees of the NWS had nothing to do with the utterly disgusting and disingenuous tweet sent out by NOAA management tonight.”

Meteorologists and other experts have lambasted Trump for focusing on his Alabama coverup instead of the real danger Dorian still presents to the eastern seaboard or the horrific damage dealt to the Bahamas.