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Post by DocDirk on Jan 18, 2019 16:59:56 GMT -5
Ironically, I'm scratching my head over what Trump has accomplished. Not what he's claiming to have accomplished, but tangible achievements. He passed a tax cut, which will serve to both benefit the wealthy more than anyone else and explode an already massive federal deficit. He's renegotiated some bilateral trade agreements. It remains to be seen whether they will benefit the U.S. and whether they will possibly box in China. And....hmmm....let's see..... www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/trumps-list-289-accomplishments-in-just-20-months-relentless-promise-keepingHere, you can read the list for yourself. Hard to imagine a president delivering on his promises more than Trump has. He is brash, and an ass, but he gets the job done. I am all for a guy who sticks to his promises and delivers. I'm not going to bury my head in the sand and pretend that nothing he does can be construed as a positive, but none of those items have a source to mark them as credible, and some of them are just dumb. It listed the potential creation of the Space Force as an accomplishment. Come on now...
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Post by Lark11 on Jan 19, 2019 0:50:57 GMT -5
So, basically, the tax cut. Didn't read all of that did you? Make your head swim with all the propaganda you had stuck in there already? Obama's list was not that large in 8 years in the White House. There's a goodly amount of irony in accusing me of being a believer in propaganda while citing to an article from the Washington Examiner. The Examiner is a heavily conservative publication. And, in addition to its conservative leanings, it's one of questionable journalistic integrity. They recently ran an article about "prayer rugs" at the border, which the Washington Post took to the woodshed. Here's a blurb about the "prayer rug" story, which is just as absurd and fantastical as it sounds: But, of course, the Examiner couldn't publish this masterwork of fear-mongering and propaganda without omitting context and proceeding without any sources or evidence: So, obviously, the Washington Examiner is highly objective and a real bastion of journalistic integrity...or not. Moving on to the Trump article: One of the main quoted sources for the article is from John McLaughlin, who was Trump's 2016 Campaign Pollster, and another is a former Bush speechwriter, Marc Thiessen. Seems like an unbiased and objective group; not propaganda-like at all! As for the claims themselves, (as mentioned by DocDirk) they lack sourcing and context. Some of them are proposals, not achievements, and some of them are ridiculous. I'm not going to spend the time to go through the list and provide context for all the claims. But, I will say that, as a general principle, Presidents get too much credit when the economy is strong and too much blame when the economy is weak. Trump managed to a pass a tax cut, but the extent to which he deserves credit for the economy is dubious. The economy, in terms of both job growth and unemployment, was strong under Obama and has continued to be strong under Trump. The trend line has continued uninterrupted from Obama to Trump. Here's a Forbes story from October about the economy and the claims of the Trump administration: And, regarding GDP growth, here's the Washington Post: Long story short, Trump hasn't done anything overly impressive with the economy. He passed a tax cut that will give the economy a short-term jolt and enrich his businesses, while also further exploding the deficit. As for some of the other claims, let's take a quick look at some of them: What exactly has Trump done to drive down the poverty rates for African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans? In his two years in office, do you really think he has done anything that would cause that drop? Donald Trump, friend of minorities??? In what way is "proposing infrastructure plan" an "accomplishment"? By definition, proposals aren't accomplishments. And, here, is "launching a national public awareness campaign" an accomplishment??? Accomplishment??? Seriously, it was an accomplishment to dispatch the National Guard to the border to make sure a migrant caravan of women and children didn't attack the country??? So, it's an "accomplishment" to "Ok" farm-aid that's only necessary because of his trade war with China??? Seriously, what did Trump do in his first year in office (aka: when his administration couldn't even figure out how to turn the lights on in the White House) to drive down violent crime??? This exercise is largely pointless, because Trumpers are going to believe whatever they want. But, there's a quote from a book on tyranny that I read recently which is worth keeping in mind: "You submit to tyranny when you renounce the difference between what you want to hear and what is actually the case. This renunciation of reality can feel natural and pleasant, but the result is your demise as an individual--and thus the collapse of any political system that depends on individualism."
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Post by schellis on Jan 20, 2019 21:37:54 GMT -5
Honestly that is the case with most when it comes to supporting republican or democrat. The side you favor is doing great the side you don’t is flat out horrible.
The issue is that we can’t meet in the middle where the majority of people want to be.
Nobody is saying boot the immigrants. Just want it legal. And if you tax the rich they’ll just jump prices to get it back.
All I want is a fair wage to be able to support myself and girlfriend and to not have the country over ran by people who tax the systems that are in place while offering nothing
Honestly if you have a skill and speak English welcome.
I do think trump is trying to get there. He’s a blowhard that I’ve learned to ignore but I’m hoping his actions will get there
Rather have him then someone I feel was a good talker that really did nothing. Which is how I feel about most politicians
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Post by DocDirk on Jan 21, 2019 9:19:42 GMT -5
Honestly that is the case with most when it comes to supporting republican or democrat. The side you favor is doing great the side you don’t is flat out horrible. The issue is that we can’t meet in the middle where the majority of people want to be. Nobody is saying boot the immigrants. Just want it legal. And if you tax the rich they’ll just jump prices to get it back. All I want is a fair wage to be able to support myself and girlfriend and to not have the country over ran by people who tax the systems that are in place while offering nothing Honestly if you have a skill and speak English welcome. I do think trump is trying to get there. He’s a blowhard that I’ve learned to ignore but I’m hoping his actions will get there Rather have him then someone I feel was a good talker that really did nothing. Which is how I feel about most politicians Everything you said is pretty legit overall. It's why I supported Kasich (despite some serious warts,) because he was the only one not ranting and raving about how bad the Dems were on stage during the debates. But of course that doesn't play up to the media and get views. Re: taxes, the rich didn't decrease prices substantially when they received their tax break. The ultimate theory of capitalism is supply vs demand. If we really believe in that, then we shouldn't fear them raising prices if we raise taxes. Rich people still got money back when the tax rates were higher, they just didn't have 50 luxury cars. To me, asking to return to that seems reasonable to make sure our (unsustainable) debt starts shrinking. If the rich don't like it then F 'em, we outnumber them! Democracy man!
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Post by schellis on Jan 21, 2019 9:29:10 GMT -5
Honestly that is the case with most when it comes to supporting republican or democrat. The side you favor is doing great the side you don’t is flat out horrible. The issue is that we can’t meet in the middle where the majority of people want to be. Nobody is saying boot the immigrants. Just want it legal. And if you tax the rich they’ll just jump prices to get it back. All I want is a fair wage to be able to support myself and girlfriend and to not have the country over ran by people who tax the systems that are in place while offering nothing Honestly if you have a skill and speak English welcome. I do think trump is trying to get there. He’s a blowhard that I’ve learned to ignore but I’m hoping his actions will get there Rather have him then someone I feel was a good talker that really did nothing. Which is how I feel about most politicians Everything you said is pretty legit overall. It's why I supported Kasich (despite some serious warts,) because he was the only one not ranting and raving about how bad the Dems were on stage during the debates. But of course that doesn't play up to the media and get views. Re: taxes, the rich didn't decrease prices substantially when they received their tax break. The ultimate theory of capitalism is supply vs demand. If we really believe in that, then we shouldn't fear them raising prices if we raise taxes. Rich people still got money back when the tax rates were higher, they just didn't have 50 luxury cars. To me, asking to return to that seems reasonable to make sure our (unsustainable) debt starts shrinking. If the rich don't like it then F 'em, we outnumber them! Democracy man! If the rich didn't get the tax breaks and massive tax write offs as well we might actually pay back some of the dept. I"m also not a fan of this country giving out billions to other countries when we can't even take care of the citizens that are here.
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Post by crashdavissports on Jan 21, 2019 12:39:04 GMT -5
Didn't read all of that did you? Make your head swim with all the propaganda you had stuck in there already? Obama's list was not that large in 8 years in the White House. There's a goodly amount of irony in accusing me of being a believer in propaganda while citing to an article from the Washington Examiner. The Examiner is a heavily conservative publication. And, in addition to its conservative leanings, it's one of questionable journalistic integrity. They recently ran an article about "prayer rugs" at the border, which the Washington Post took to the woodshed. Here's a blurb about the "prayer rug" story, which is just as absurd and fantastical as it sounds: But, of course, the Examiner couldn't publish this masterwork of fear-mongering and propaganda without omitting context and proceeding without any sources or evidence: So, obviously, the Washington Examiner is highly objective and a real bastion of journalistic integrity...or not. Moving on to the Trump article: One of the main quoted sources for the article is from John McLaughlin, who was Trump's 2016 Campaign Pollster, and another is a former Bush speechwriter, Marc Thiessen. Seems like an unbiased and objective group; not propaganda-like at all! As for the claims themselves, (as mentioned by DocDirk) they lack sourcing and context. Some of them are proposals, not achievements, and some of them are ridiculous. I'm not going to spend the time to go through the list and provide context for all the claims. But, I will say that, as a general principle, Presidents get too much credit when the economy is strong and too much blame when the economy is weak. Trump managed to a pass a tax cut, but the extent to which he deserves credit for the economy is dubious. The economy, in terms of both job growth and unemployment, was strong under Obama and has continued to be strong under Trump. The trend line has continued uninterrupted from Obama to Trump. Here's a Forbes story from October about the economy and the claims of the Trump administration: And, regarding GDP growth, here's the Washington Post: Long story short, Trump hasn't done anything overly impressive with the economy. He passed a tax cut that will give the economy a short-term jolt and enrich his businesses, while also further exploding the deficit. As for some of the other claims, let's take a quick look at some of them: What exactly has Trump done to drive down the poverty rates for African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans? In his two years in office, do you really think he has done anything that would cause that drop? Donald Trump, friend of minorities??? In what way is "proposing infrastructure plan" an "accomplishment"? By definition, proposals aren't accomplishments. And, here, is "launching a national public awareness campaign" an accomplishment??? Accomplishment??? Seriously, it was an accomplishment to dispatch the National Guard to the border to make sure a migrant caravan of women and children didn't attack the country??? So, it's an "accomplishment" to "Ok" farm-aid that's only necessary because of his trade war with China??? Seriously, what did Trump do in his first year in office (aka: when his administration couldn't even figure out how to turn the lights on in the White House) to drive down violent crime??? This exercise is largely pointless, because Trumpers are going to believe whatever they want. But, there's a quote from a book on tyranny that I read recently which is worth keeping in mind: "You submit to tyranny when you renounce the difference between what you want to hear and what is actually the case. This renunciation of reality can feel natural and pleasant, but the result is your demise as an individual--and thus the collapse of any political system that depends on individualism." I will be honest, I spent the last hour and half writing this massive wall of text supporting my claims. I admit, some of it made me sound like an bad person, even though I had good intentions with most of it. I will sum it up like this, not one single president is going to be able to solve every issue. What he has done so far has been incredible even if only 150 of those 289 are true accomplishments, unless you want to group accomplishments into categories then there is considerably less. It does go to show that he is trying to improve this country in several areas and he has taken notice and action in most. Will it all work? I doubt it. Is he a friend of the poor or minority? On the outside, maybe not. However, when my father wanted to teach me a lesson, sometimes honesty and tough love is what is needed, not an enabler. Sometimes feelings need to be hurt for that person to re-evaluate their situation. Yes, some people are just a victim of their circumstances, and those folks need to be given help who seek it and honestly want to improve their value as a human being in this country. Prescription drugs and advanced education costs is what needs to be solved in this country next. We are using more of our own oil and fuel more than ever before and made the Saudi oil industry almost defunct. You see the price of gas lately? $1.87 here in my town. Been around there for well over a month also. Saudi help support terrorists that seek to hurt our country. Trump is brash, he is arrogant, he can be quite a cry baby when people say negative things about him, I am not supporting his personality as a National leader, but I do applaud that he is willing to still try and uphold all of his election promises that he made. He was not just a politician and said what ever needed to be said to get into office and then sit back on his laurels like Obama did. He is trying to make a difference. You obviously do not agree, but I know that the liberal slanted news outlets are just as ridiculous as the conservative based news outlets. To each his own, but as it sits right now, I would not have an issue at all re-voting for Trump when that time comes. Hopefully this tariff issue on China does make them decide to offset their costs by decreasing our debt with their country. Then a little bit of money being reduced from our debt will make the liberals stop belly aching so much about that part of Trumps tenure as president.
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Post by DocDirk on Jan 21, 2019 13:49:53 GMT -5
Everything you said is pretty legit overall. It's why I supported Kasich (despite some serious warts,) because he was the only one not ranting and raving about how bad the Dems were on stage during the debates. But of course that doesn't play up to the media and get views. Re: taxes, the rich didn't decrease prices substantially when they received their tax break. The ultimate theory of capitalism is supply vs demand. If we really believe in that, then we shouldn't fear them raising prices if we raise taxes. Rich people still got money back when the tax rates were higher, they just didn't have 50 luxury cars. To me, asking to return to that seems reasonable to make sure our (unsustainable) debt starts shrinking. If the rich don't like it then F 'em, we outnumber them! Democracy man! If the rich didn't get the tax breaks and massive tax write offs as well we might actually pay back some of the dept. I"m also not a fan of this country giving out billions to other countries when we can't even take care of the citizens that are here. You're very right. I can see how a secure world improves security here. But people hear that "T" word and lose their minds, not realizing they're playing right into the hands of those with the cash.
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Post by DocDirk on Jan 21, 2019 13:56:59 GMT -5
There's a goodly amount of irony in accusing me of being a believer in propaganda while citing to an article from the Washington Examiner. The Examiner is a heavily conservative publication. And, in addition to its conservative leanings, it's one of questionable journalistic integrity. They recently ran an article about "prayer rugs" at the border, which the Washington Post took to the woodshed. Here's a blurb about the "prayer rug" story, which is just as absurd and fantastical as it sounds: But, of course, the Examiner couldn't publish this masterwork of fear-mongering and propaganda without omitting context and proceeding without any sources or evidence: So, obviously, the Washington Examiner is highly objective and a real bastion of journalistic integrity...or not. Moving on to the Trump article: One of the main quoted sources for the article is from John McLaughlin, who was Trump's 2016 Campaign Pollster, and another is a former Bush speechwriter, Marc Thiessen. Seems like an unbiased and objective group; not propaganda-like at all! As for the claims themselves, (as mentioned by DocDirk) they lack sourcing and context. Some of them are proposals, not achievements, and some of them are ridiculous. I'm not going to spend the time to go through the list and provide context for all the claims. But, I will say that, as a general principle, Presidents get too much credit when the economy is strong and too much blame when the economy is weak. Trump managed to a pass a tax cut, but the extent to which he deserves credit for the economy is dubious. The economy, in terms of both job growth and unemployment, was strong under Obama and has continued to be strong under Trump. The trend line has continued uninterrupted from Obama to Trump. Here's a Forbes story from October about the economy and the claims of the Trump administration: And, regarding GDP growth, here's the Washington Post: Long story short, Trump hasn't done anything overly impressive with the economy. He passed a tax cut that will give the economy a short-term jolt and enrich his businesses, while also further exploding the deficit. As for some of the other claims, let's take a quick look at some of them: What exactly has Trump done to drive down the poverty rates for African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans? In his two years in office, do you really think he has done anything that would cause that drop? Donald Trump, friend of minorities??? In what way is "proposing infrastructure plan" an "accomplishment"? By definition, proposals aren't accomplishments. And, here, is "launching a national public awareness campaign" an accomplishment??? Accomplishment??? Seriously, it was an accomplishment to dispatch the National Guard to the border to make sure a migrant caravan of women and children didn't attack the country??? So, it's an "accomplishment" to "Ok" farm-aid that's only necessary because of his trade war with China??? Seriously, what did Trump do in his first year in office (aka: when his administration couldn't even figure out how to turn the lights on in the White House) to drive down violent crime??? This exercise is largely pointless, because Trumpers are going to believe whatever they want. But, there's a quote from a book on tyranny that I read recently which is worth keeping in mind: "You submit to tyranny when you renounce the difference between what you want to hear and what is actually the case. This renunciation of reality can feel natural and pleasant, but the result is your demise as an individual--and thus the collapse of any political system that depends on individualism." I will be honest, I spent the last hour and half writing this massive wall of text supporting my claims. I admit, some of it made me sound like an bad person, even though I had good intentions with most of it. I will sum it up like this, not one single president is going to be able to solve every issue. What he has done so far has been incredible even if only 150 of those 289 are true accomplishments, unless you want to group accomplishments into categories then there is considerably less. It does go to show that he is trying to improve this country in several areas and he has taken notice and action in most. Will it all work? I doubt it. Is he a friend of the poor or minority? On the outside, maybe not. However, when my father wanted to teach me a lesson, sometimes honesty and tough love is what is needed, not an enabler. Sometimes feelings need to be hurt for that person to re-evaluate their situation. Yes, some people are just a victim of their circumstances, and those folks need to be given help who seek it and honestly want to improve their value as a human being in this country. Prescription drugs and advanced education costs is what needs to be solved in this country next. We are using more of our own oil and fuel more than ever before and made the Saudi oil industry almost defunct. You see the price of gas lately? $1.87 here in my town. Been around there for well over a month also. Saudi help support terrorists that seek to hurt our country. Trump is brash, he is arrogant, he can be quite a cry baby when people say negative things about him, I am not supporting his personality as a National leader, but I do applaud that he is willing to still try and uphold all of his election promises that he made. He was not just a politician and said what ever needed to be said to get into office and then sit back on his laurels like Obama did. He is trying to make a difference. You obviously do not agree, but I know that the liberal slanted news outlets are just as ridiculous as the conservative based news outlets. To each his own, but as it sits right now, I would not have an issue at all re-voting for Trump when that time comes. Hopefully this tariff issue on China does make them decide to offset their costs by decreasing our debt with their country. Then a little bit of money being reduced from our debt will make the liberals stop belly aching so much about that part of Trumps tenure as president. Much of a response to what you just typed would be differences in political and social theory, which we can all agree is worth debate but ultimately in many cases is for naught. Safety nets are important, as is individual accountability and responsibility. We struggle to agree frequently on where that line should be drawn, and that's fair as long as we aren't too busy arguing for 30 years about abortion to figure out where to try to draw that line. I will say that Trump said he was going to repeal and replace the ACA as one of his main objectives. He hasn't done anything to improve the situation for people other than remove the individual mandate (the ACA was short-sighted in that it hurt a lot of lower middle class folks that make too much for Medicaid but don't make enough to support their astronomical deductibles anyway.) Pushing toward single payer should be something EVERYBODY should look into more, rather than just screaming communism. Understand how much cheaper our overall health care would be without supporting bloated insurance companies. This would help reduce prescription costs. Also, he (or more accurately DeVos?) has made advanced education cost worse. Private student loans' interest rates went up over 2% within the first year of DT's presidency. We can EASILY do better. But it's hard to do better while significantly reducing revenue (taxes.)
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Post by armo21 on Mar 27, 2019 16:07:48 GMT -5
I find it easy. Just spent 8 years with one of the worst running the show. Under trump I'll pay less taxes and might actually see a cost of living raise for the foe first time in a half decade. American needs to put Americans first and stop panderingbto the rest of the world. I honestly don't understand how anyone who isn't (A) white, and (B) a millionaire could believe that Trump is acting in their best interests. He just passed a Tax Cut that largely benefits the rich and corporations. That Tax Cut will explode the deficit. Once the deficit explodes, the inevitable call from Trump and Republicans will be to slash government spending, which will undoubtedly be that spending which benefits the poor and middle class. It would be nice if the voters would start to recognize this *while* it's happening, rather than wait 10 years into the future to look back with the benefit of hindsight to see just how screwed over they were. You called it 2plus years ago....this president and the republicans representing the ultra rich are f...ing everyone else in this country. The new budget just put forward slashes everything (Medicaid, Medicare, education, even the special Olympics) but we will get our "Wall" when is this country going to wake up? Foreign Policy, Domestic Policy, Environmental Policy, Corruption and people still think he is Putting America First....this guy is a grifter, a con man and 40% of the country is behind him. Truly, remarkable times we are living in.
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Post by Lark11 on Apr 1, 2019 22:40:52 GMT -5
Trump doesn't even understand what ObamaCare is....how is that even possible???
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Post by Lark11 on Apr 1, 2019 22:41:44 GMT -5
I honestly don't understand how anyone who isn't (A) white, and (B) a millionaire could believe that Trump is acting in their best interests. He just passed a Tax Cut that largely benefits the rich and corporations. That Tax Cut will explode the deficit. Once the deficit explodes, the inevitable call from Trump and Republicans will be to slash government spending, which will undoubtedly be that spending which benefits the poor and middle class. It would be nice if the voters would start to recognize this *while* it's happening, rather than wait 10 years into the future to look back with the benefit of hindsight to see just how screwed over they were. You called it 2plus years ago....this president and the republicans representing the ultra rich are f...ing everyone else in this country. The new budget just put forward slashes everything (Medicaid, Medicare, education, even the special Olympics) but we will get our "Wall" when is this country going to wake up? Foreign Policy, Domestic Policy, Environmental Policy, Corruption and people still think he is Putting America First....this guy is a grifter, a con man and 40% of the country is behind him. Truly, remarkable times we are living in. Hey, as they say, even a blind squirrel....
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Post by Lark11 on Oct 26, 2019 0:18:22 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/10/22/world/middleeast/ap-syria-us-withdrawal.html?searchResultPosition=4'America Is Running Away': Syrian Withdrawal Turns ChaoticBy The Associated Press Oct. 22, 2019 BEIRUT — The crowd hurled potatoes that thudded on the sides of the hulking U.S. armored vehicles. "What happened to Americans?" one man shouted in English up at the sole U.S. soldier visible on the back of a vehicle. The soldier stared silently straight ahead, away from the show of fury. It was yet another indignity in a U.S. withdrawal that has been carried out over the past two weeks with more haste and violence than expected — and which may now be partially reversed. The turmoil was only in part because President Donald Trump's Oct. 13 order to leave was so abrupt. It also seemed there had been little U.S. preparation for how to deal with a subsequent invasion by Turkey, though Ankara had been threatening it for months. And when it did strike, Turkey hit more widely across northeastern Syria than anticipated and was startlingly aggressive, seemingly trying to shove U.S. soldiers out of its way. Turkish artillery fire and Turkish-backed fighters came dangerously close to three American positions, U.S. and Kurdish officials said. On Monday, a U.S. convoy was passing down an avenue in the Kurdish-dominated city of Qamishli, apparently on the way out of Syria, when it caught the brunt of residents' anger and frustration at the American military that was once their closest ally and was now abandoning them. "Like rats, America is running away," one man shouted in Arabic at the vehicles, shown in a video put out by the Kurdish news agency.
One armored vehicle, its American flag flying on the back, reversed down the street and popped onto the sidewalk, apparently searching for a way around the angry men stomping toward it, jabbing their fingers in the air and shouting insults. The withdrawal, Trump says, aims to get American troops out of the Mideast and "endless wars," but decisionmakers have stumbled repeatedly over how much really to pull out. Some U.S. forces are still in eastern Syria, helping Kurdish fighters protect oil fields. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Monday he was discussing keeping them there. He also said the withdrawing troops will deploy in neighboring Iraq to fight the Islamic State group. But on Tuesday, Iraq's military said the troops did not have permission to stay in Iraq. Trump surprised even his own military on the ground when he agreed to remove U.S. soldiers working with Kurdish-led forces near the border in an Oct. 6 phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Three days later, Turkey launched its offensive with heavy bombardment along the frontier. For the American troops, it had not been clear how far the Turkish offensive would go, but they were promised they were out of harm's way. The assault was expected to target a block of territory in the center of the border where the U.S. and Turkey had been trying to work out a compromise "safe zone" arrangement. Senior Pentagon officials said repeatedly that there was frequent communication with the Turks to avoid accidents on the ground and in the air. But one U.S. official with knowledge of the ground said Turkey's actions were unilateral and potentially "dangerous to coalition forces and civilians." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters. It quickly became clear Turkey was more aggressive than expected. Two days into the offensive, just after 9 p.m. Turkish artillery fired near a well-identified U.S. observation point on a hill outside of the town of Kobani, 70 kilometers (44 miles) west of that zone. The Turkish military said it was responding to Kurdish fire coming from a position about a kilometer (0.6 miles) away from the post. It said it took precautions before firing to prevent harm to the Americans and ceased fire upon "receiving information" from the U.S military. But the U.S. official cast doubt on that, saying the American post would have seen Kurdish fire and gone on alert. Kobani was a scene of the first major battle to drive out IS in 2014, making it a symbol of U.S.-Kurdish cooperation against the militants. Capturing Kobani would have made it possible for Turkey to link up its territories it holds to the west with newly captured areas to the east. The Pentagon confirmed the incident and said it warned Turkey to avoid actions that could cause defensive reaction. No troops were injured but the Americans left the outpost. "They (the Turks) created the effect they wanted. We moved out of there tonight," the official told the AP in a text message at the time. Two days later, Trump ordered all troops out of Syria. Esper told CBS Face the Nation, "In the last 24 hours we learned that they (the Turks) likely intend to expand their attack further south than originally planned and to the west." At the same time, the Kurds announced they had worked out a deal with Russia for the Syrian government's military to deploy in border areas to protect them against the Turkish offensive. For a brief moment the U.S. troops seemed to stall. They waited in the flashpoint town of Manbij and strategic Kobani until Syrian forces backed by Russia arrived. It was a clear move to put the brakes on the Turkish expansion. Then, Turkish-backed Syrian militias got too close. They deployed on a major highway, erecting checkpoints and intercepting vehicles, including one carrying a Kurdish politician, whom the fighters killed in a widely circulated video. Moving fast in armored vehicles provided by Turkey, the fighters advanced toward Ein Issa, a town near the highway that was the administrative center for the Kurdish forces and where the U.S. had a significant presence. The U.S. official said their approach meant American troops there couldn't move freely or keep lines of communication with their Kurdish partners. "The situation on the ground is deteriorating rapidly," the official said. An hour later, the official confirmed the U.S. troops pulled out of one U.S. base. Then came another dramatic brush with the Turkish forces. Some U.S. troops had begun leaving Lafarge, a deserted cement factory that housed a large coalition and Kurdish fighters base, about 50 kilometers (35 miles) south of Kobani, according to an official from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces official and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor.
Word got around, prompting Turkish-backed fighters to advance toward the site. The American official told the AP that the fighters "came very close" to the base and "put U.S. forces on the ground directly at risk."The Americans sent aircraft flying overhead in a "show of force" and contacted the Turkish military to protest, the U.S. official said. The U.S. troops then left Lafarge. The Syrian Kurdish fighters clashed with the approaching Turkish-backed fighters but were vulnerable because of its desert location so they retreated, the SDF official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss details of the conflict. The next day, an American warplane hit a section of Lafarge believed to include an ammunition depot to destroy supplies and prevent them from falling into others' hands. The coalition explained the strike as a routine measure. But the SDF official was livid. "The Americans had fled before the confrontation," he said.
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Post by crashdavissports on Oct 28, 2019 12:15:07 GMT -5
Yep. Pretty bad president. Syria and Turkey are now finalizing a peace deal, and the leader of ISIS and his second in command are dead.
People can say what they want, but the results are evident.
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searay
Bid McPhee
Posts: 1,122
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Post by searay on Nov 3, 2019 13:46:42 GMT -5
Trump doesn't even understand what ObamaCare is....how is that even possible??? By Obamacare, I'm sure he's referring to plans you get on the gov't marketplace website and in that respect, what he says is true. Those plans suck.
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searay
Bid McPhee
Posts: 1,122
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Post by searay on Nov 3, 2019 13:50:53 GMT -5
Yep. Pretty bad president. Syria and Turkey are now finalizing a peace deal, and the leader of ISIS and his second in command are dead. People can say what they want, but the results are evident. You'd think pulling our troops out of Middle Eastern countries would be one thing liberals could agree with Trump on. Trump has shown a tremendous amount of intestinal fortitude to go ahead with this despite heat coming from both parties. This is one area where he is draining the swamp and I for one am pleased that he's willing to take this heat. Next I want him to get our troops out of Afghanistan. Where's Code Pink supporting him here? You'd think at least they'd support this action
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