What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[FunkMonk]

So that $110 billion arms deal to the Saudis the administration trumpeted a week ago?

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/markaz/2017/06/05/the-110-billion-arms-deal-to-saudi-arabia-is-fake-news/

I've spoken to contacts in the defense business and on the Hill, and all of them say the same thing: There is no $110 billion deal. Instead, there are a bunch of letters of interest or intent, but not contracts. Many are offers that the defense industry thinks the Saudis will be interested in someday. So far nothing has been notified to the Senate for review. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the arms sales wing of the Pentagon, calls them "intended sales." None of the deals identified so far are new, all began in the Obama administration.

An example is a proposal for sale of four frigates (called multi-mission surface combatant vessels) to the Royal Saudi navy. This proposal was first reported by the State Department in 2015. No contract has followed. The type of frigate is a derivative of a vessel that the U.S. Navy uses but the derivative doesn't actually exist yet. Another piece is the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense system (THAAD) which was recently deployed in South Korea. The Saudis have expressed interest in the system for several years but no contracts have been finalized. Obama approved the sale in principle at a summit at Camp David in 2015. Also on the wish list are 150 Black Hawk helicopters. Again, this is old news repackaged. What the Saudis and the administration did is put together a notional package of the Saudi wish list of possible deals and portray that as a deal. Even then the numbers don't add up. It's fake news.

Moreover, it's unlikely that the Saudis could pay for a $110 billion deal any longer, due to low oil prices and the two-plus years old war in Yemen. President Obama sold the kingdom $112 billion in weapons over eight years, most of which was a single, huge deal in 2012 negotiated by then-Secretary of Defense Bob Gates. To get that deal through Congressional approval, Gates also negotiated a deal with Israel to compensate the Israelis and preserve their qualitative edge over their Arab neighbors. With the fall in oil prices, the Saudis have struggled to meet their payments since.

You will know the Trump deal is real when Israel begins to ask for a package to keep the Israeli Defense Forces' qualitative edge preserved. What is coming soon is a billion-dollars deal for more munitions for the war in Yemen. The Royal Saudi Air Force needs more munitions to continue the air bombardment of the Arab world's poorest country.

[derspiess]

Website called The Intercept (never heard of it before - apparently funded by a eBay billionaire, has previously posted a lot of Snowden material) is posting excepts from an NSA report detailing Russian (GRU specifically) attempts to phish data and plant malware in voting device manufacturers, and in turn, local electoral officials in the days leading up to the US election.

https://theintercept.com/2017/06/05/top-secret-nsa-report-details-russian-hacking-effort-days-before-2016-election/

Seemingly to confirm the story, an NSA contractor is arrested in connection with this leak:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/the-feds-arrest-a-alleged-leaker/529248/

Surprised no one commented on this.  Here's some pretty hard confirmation the Russians tried to effect the election results.

Her name is Reality Winner?  Seriously??

[Valmy]

The kids born during the reality TV boom of the late 90s are coming of age. 

[CountDeMoney]

So that $110 billion arms deal to the Saudis the administration trumpeted a week ago?

It was reported the very next day by several outlets that this was, just like the Ford, Boeing and Lockheed bullshit before it, repackaged news of coopted Obama Administration efforts.

The man takes something, spray paints it gold, throws his name on it, and resells it.  Nothing new.


Oh, and you have explaining to do, Mister Stats.  50,000 new jobs in coal?  ORLY

[Barrister]

So that $110 billion arms deal to the Saudis the administration trumpeted a week ago?

It was reported the very next day by several outlets that this was, just like the Ford, Boeing and Lockheed bullshit before it, repackaged news of coopted Obama Administration efforts.

The man takes something, spray paints it gold, throws his name on it, and resells it.  Nothing new.


Oh, and you have explaining to do, Mister Stats.  50,000 new jobs in coal?  ORLY

Apparently it's 47,000 new jobs (so almost 50) in coal (and mining, in a whisper), with 40,000 of those new jobs coming in oil.

[Valmy]

Wait 40,000 of the 50,000 coal jobs come in oil? 

[CountDeMoney]

It earned 4 Pinnochios in any case.  STOP USING BLS FOR PARTISAN POLITICS

[Barrister]

Wait 40,000 of the 50,000 coal jobs come in oil? 

Yup.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/06/06/pruitts-claim-that-almost-50000-jobs-have-been-gained-in-coal/?utm_term=.b46f3f3fefdd

[Valmy]

Well natural gas has been pummeling coal so more jobs in the oil sector would be a bad thing for coal.

[FunkMonk]

The Bureau's job is to report accurate, objective data that is relevant to its data users and the American people.

How those data users choose to interpret that data is up to them.

[CountDeMoney]

The Bureau's job is to report accurate, objective data that is relevant to its data users and the American people.

How those data users choose to interpret that data is up to them.

Just what I'd expect from a member of the Trump Administration.

[FunkMonk]

[Tonitrus]

We all know Funk is part of the Shallow State.

[Jacob]

We all know Funk is part of the Shallow State.

[Valmy]

We all know Funk is part of the Shallow State.

I love that.