(http://projects.thestar.com/donald-trump-fact-check/)
"Looking more & more like the Trump Campaign for President was illegally being spied upon (surveillance) for the political gain of Crooked Hillary Clinton and the DNC."
in fact: There is still no evidence of this. And the surveillance Trump was complaining about on this day, of Carter Page, only began after Page left the campaign.
"Congratulations to @JudicialWatch and @TomFitton on being successful in getting the Carter Page FISA documents. As usual they are ridiculously heavily redacted but confirm with little doubt that the Department of 'Justice' and FBI misled the courts."
in fact: The documents do not show that the Department of Justice and the FBI misled the courts in seeking a warrant to surveil a former Trump adviser, Carter Page. In fact, the newly released documents proved that a Republican memo about the documents was misleading when it accused the Department of Justice and FBI of misleading the courts. As the New York Times reported: "The Republican memo issued in February said the FBI had failed to 'disclose or reference the role of the DNC, Clinton campaign or any party/campaign in funding Steele's efforts, even though the political origins of the Steele dossier were then known to senior DOJ and FBI officials.' But Democrats at the time contended that the court had been told that the research had politically motivated origins. The application contains a page-length explanation that does alert the court that the person who commissioned Mr. Steele's research was "likely looking for information to discredit" Mr. Trump's campaign. It goes on to explain why, notwithstanding Mr. Steele's 'reason for conducting the research,' the FBI believed it was credible. Republicans had also faulted the application for not explicitly identifying Mrs. Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee by name. But that criticism ignored the fact that law enforcement officials were following a general policy not to name Americans, even referring to Mr. Trump only as 'Candidate #1' in renewal applications despite noting that he was now the president-elect and then the president. David Kris, an expert on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act who served in the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, dismissed the notion that the intelligence court judges had been misled. 'Now we can see that the footnote disclosing Steele's possible bias takes up more than a full page in the applications, so there is literally no way the FISA Court could have missed it,' he wrote on the blog Lawfare."
"The Rigged Witch Hunt, headed by the 13 Angry Democrats (and now 4 more have been added, one who worked directly for Obama W.H.), seems intent on damaging the Republican Party's chances in the November Election."
in fact: By "rigged witch hunt," Trump means special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into his campaign's relationship with Russia. The investigation is being run by a Republican, Mueller himself. Though Mueller has indeed filled his team with Democrats, it is false to say the investigation is "headed" by these Democrats.
Trump has repeated this claim 2 times
"Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer's office (early in the morning) - almost unheard of. Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client - totally unheard of & perhaps illegal."
in fact: The government executed a search warrant at Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's office in April; it did not "break in." We'll continue let this claim go as a matter of rhetorical license, but the second part of Trump's tweet is flat-out incorrect: it was not illegal for Cohen to tape phone calls with Trump. Under New York state law, only one party to the conversation must consent for the recording to be legal.
"Now, we then go to a news conference. I mean I had these -- some of these fools from the media saying, 'Why didn't you stand there, look him in the face, walk over to him, and start shouting at him?'"
in fact: Unless we're missing something -- we'll remove this item from the list if someone shows us we were indeed missing something -- Trump's critics in the media did not demand he walk over to Putin and shout in his face; some of them merely said Trump should have professionally denounced Putin from his own spot at the press conference. According to a Wall Street Journal report, it was Trump's own aides who wanted Trump to get up in Putin's "face." The Journal reported: "In preparatory meetings, Mr. Trump and his aides discussed using the indictment to forcefully make the case. The plan was for Mr. Trump to invoke the indictment both in private meetings and in the public news conference afterward, a White House official said. The idea, the official said, was to 'shove it in Putin's face and look strong doing it,' depicting it as hard evidence of Russian crimes against America's electoral process."
"With Mexico, $120 billion (trade deficit). Mexico. Who would think Mexico? Mexico's making a fortune."
in fact: The U.S. trade deficit with Mexico was $69 billion in 2017, $71 billion in 2017 when counting goods alone. Trump has usually claimed that the deficit with Mexico is $100 billion; this was the first time he exaggerated all the way to $120 billion.
"China: with China, $507 billion a year in deficits." And: "We're down 500. Now some people would say $375 billion. I'm not talking about million. I'm not talking about pennies. I'm talking about -- we're down $375 billion, but other estimates could say $507, it doesn't matter. So it's in between there, or it's there." And: "And it's very interesting because I actually asked them the question, 'So we're down 507 -- recently -- we're down $507 billion in trade deficits. How did it happen?' And they told me, 'Nobody ever complained. Nobody ever talked to us.'" (Trump has repeated this claim 34 times)
in fact: The U.S. has never once had a $500 billion trade deficit with China, according to U.S. government data. The deficit was $337 billion in 2017, $375 billion if you only count trade in goods. There are no estimates by which it "could say" $507 billion.
"You know last year, and for years, we have been losing $150 billion with the EU nations, with the European Union..." And: "With the EU $151 billion..." (Trump has repeated this claim 46 times)
in fact: The U.S. had a $102 billion trade deficit with the European Union in 2017. The $150 billion figure -- $151 billion, to be precise -- counts only trade in goods and excludes trade in services. Trump, as usual, did not say he was excluding services.
(From https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/politics/Trump-Phony-Sources-Vets-Border-Stats-483841531.html)
TRUMP, on a possible summit with North Korea: "The Failing @nytimes quotes 'a senior White House official,' who doesn't exist, as saying 'even if the meeting were reinstated, holding it on June 12 would be impossible, given the lack of time and the amount of planning needed.' WRONG AGAIN! Use real people, not phony sources." — tweet Saturday.
THE FACTS: Actually, the source does exist. The White House official addressed a group of reporters as part of a background briefing arranged by the White House press office. . . While Trump has criticized the use of unidentified sources and labeled information related by anonymous officials "fake news," his White House regularly arranges briefings with officials who demand anonymity before relaying information. An Associated Press reporter in attendance at last week's briefing questioned why it was not on the record — meaning that the official's name could be used. The official said Trump had been talking publicly that day and so the briefing was intended to provide "background context."
TRUMP: "This whole Russia Probe is Rigged. Just an excuse as to why the Dems and Crooked Hillary lost the Election and States that haven't been lost in decades. 13 Angry Democrats, and all Dems if you include the people who worked for Obama for 8 years. #SPYGATE & CONFLICTS OF INTEREST!" — tweet Saturday.
THE FACTS: Trump's suggestion that the investigations into Russia meddling are "phony" and have yielded nothing is incorrect. So far, four Trump associates have been charged in Mueller's investigation, of whom three have pleaded guilty to lying to the authorities. Among them are Michael Flynn, former White House national security adviser, and Rick Gates, a former Trump campaign aide. Overall, 19 people, including 13 Russians, have been charged. (in response to additional Tweets) He refers to Mueller's team as "13 angry Democrats," but Mueller is a Republican and some others on his team owe their jobs largely to Republican presidents. Mueller did not work for President Barack Obama for eight years, as Trump states, but was FBI chief for less than six years under Obama, leaving in September 2013. He was nominated to be FBI director by Republican President George W. Bush in 2001.
TRUMP: "We've done a lot of work on the wall. We're doing a lot of work on security, generally speaking, security and border — border security. The border's down over 40 percent, and don't forget, we have a great economy, probably the best economy the country's ever had. So people come across, but we're going to get the rest." — interview broadcast Thursday with "Fox & Friends."
THE FACTS: Illegal crossings actually are up 20 percent since he became president, according to the yardstick he uses to measure them — the number of Border Patrol arrests. There is no precise measure of illegal crossings because some people don't get caught. The Trump administration uses arrests as the best gauge of whether crossings are going up or down. The Obama administration did likewise.
TRUMP: "This week, we passed a new landmark legislation to give more choice and better care to our great veterans. We're going to take care of our veterans. We're doing a great job with them. We are taking care, finally after decades, we're taking care of our veterans." — speech Friday.
THE FACTS: Congress passed a wide-ranging plan last week to expand private care for veterans as an alternative to the Veterans Affairs health system, but it'll take at least a year to implement and its actual scope in expanding choice to veterans will depend on the next VA secretary, who has yet to be confirmed. A successful expansion of private care will also depend on an overhaul of electronic health records at VA to allow for a seamless sharing of records with private physicians. That overhaul will take at least 10 years to be fully complete. The legislation would also expand a VA caregivers program to cover families of veterans of all eras, not just the families of veterans who were seriously injured in the line of duty since Sept. 11, 2001. Implementation of that program won't begin until after the VA secretary can provide assurances to Congress that the department's IT systems can handle a surge in new applicants. A phased rollout of benefits won't be fully finished until more than two years afterward.
(from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gop-tax-overhaul-fact-checking-lopsided-political-arguments/)
". . . The tax cuts are not nearly as lopsided as many Democrats are portraying them. Almost all of the middle class would initially pay less in taxes. . . For the next eight years, the vast majority of middle-class taxpayers — those earning between $49,000 and $86,000 — will receive a tax cut, albeit a small one. In 2018, nine-tenths of the middle class will get a cut, according to the Tax Policy Center. In 2025, 87 percent will. The tax cut won't be very big: just $930 next year for the middle one-fifth of taxpayers, the center's analysis concludes. For those paid twice a month, that's about $40 a paycheck. . . . Schumer and other Democrats are basing their assertions on the fact that nearly all personal tax cuts expire after 2025, which would result in a slight tax increase for about two-thirds of the middle class by 2027. The top 1 percent would still get a cut that year. . . Only in 2027 do the wealthiest taxpayers get 83 percent of the benefit, as Schumer says. In 2018, roughly 21 percent of the tax cut's benefits go to the richest 1 percent, a much smaller figure, though still a disproportionate share. Just 11 percent will go to the middle one-fifth. . ."
. . . Symone Sanders (of CNN) to fellow CNN political commentator and President Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord regarding his comment "Think of President Trump as the Martin Luther King of healthcare" . . .
(http://thehill.com/homenews/media/328616-cnns-jeffrey-lord-think-of-trump-as-martin-luther-king-of-healthcare?amp)
"Jeffrey, you do understand that Dr. King was marching for civil rights because people that looked like me were being beaten," she said. "Dogs were being sicced on them. Basic human rights were being withheld from these people merely because the color of their skin. . .So let's not equate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize winner, to the vagina-grabbing President Donald Trump."
OHO's
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(and, if
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My latest solo release, '2014' of original, instrumental piano music, can be downloaded digitally at:
(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
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It would appear that this once well-intentioned and possibly practical organization has strayed far from its original intent and has become a proponent of arms manufacturering much to the detriment of the society it was founded to serve.
Army and Navy Journal editor William Conant Church and General George Wood Wingate chartered the NRA in New York state in 1871. Its first president was Civil War General Ambrose Burnside, who had
worked as a Rhode Island gunsmith, and Wingate was the original
secretary of the organization.
Union Army records for the Civil War indicate that its troops fired about 1,000 rifle shots for each Confederate soldier hit, causing General Burnside to lament his recruits: "Out of ten soldiers who are perfect in drill and the manual of arms, only one knows the purpose of the sights on his gun or can hit the broad side of a barn." The generals attributed this to the use of volley tactics, devised for earlier, less accurate smoothbore muskets. After observing European marksmanship training, General Wingate was convinced that U.S. forces were in need of better training.
Recognizing a need for better training, Wingate traveled to Europe and observed European armies' marksmanship training programs. With plans provided by Wingate, the New York Legislature funded the construction of a modern range at Creedmore, Long Island, for long-range shooting competitions. Wingate then wrote a marksmanship manual.
The publicity generated by a long-range shooting match to determine an Anglo-American championship in 1874 helped to
establish breech-loading firearms (manufactured by match sponsors Remington Arms and Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company) as suitable for military marksmanship
training, and promoted the NRA to national prominence.
The organization has since metamorphosed into a highly financed and politically powerful group of extremists who value profits of gun sales (under the guise of protecting the U.S. Constitution) over that of human life and stop at nothing to ensure our spineless representatives are well compensated to be on board.
Witness below. . .
(from NBCNews.com)
". . . "Expanding background checks, at gun shows or elsewhere, will not reduce violent crime or keep our kids safe in their schools," top NRA lobbyist Chris Cox wrote in a letter sent to senators Wednesday night. "Given the importance of these issues, votes on all anti-gun amendments or proposals will be considered in NRA's future candidate evaluations. "The NRA rates lawmakers based on how they vote on the group's priorities. The letter grades are highly influential and carry particular weight in rural states with a strong gun culture. . . ."
I promptly wrote to my representatives in Congress and pleaded (paraphrasing), '. . . I wonder how your NRA evaluations look. I hope they look very BAD. . . '
(thanks to source Wikipedia.com)
What
do YOU think?
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html
My latest release, Black & White Then Back,
can be downloaded digitally at:
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