And so passes our generation's Jimmy Carter, and now it is time for our generation's Ronald Reagan. America has been through many hardships and as always, we find ways to pick up the pieces and continue to live life the best we can.

 

From this moment onward, I will not blame Obama, Clinton, or any other Democrat Official (appointed or elected) for any future failures America experiences. Unlike the Obama Administration, Democrat Congressmen, and other Democrat activists + voters, who chose to blame the Bush Administration for years anytime something went wrong or failed. It is time to put past previous misgivings and setbacks, so that we can strengthen ourselves and live the American dream. The book The Great Gatsby, while a work of fiction, makes it prominently clear we cannot hold onto the past if we choose to live in the present. Reality eventually catches up to us, dragging us out of euphoric nostalgia back into harsh life.
 

We are at the dawn of a new tomorrow. So I ask my fellow Americans, on both sides of the political aisle to set aside preconceived notions and actions that are detrimental toward fixing the wrongs our Country has endured. We can still respect one another's differences, but it is time to help heal this country and put it back on the road to prosperity. Let us give our new President a chance before we lambast and ridicule his future.

 

We have a lot of work ahead of us and times will still be hard. But as of today, for me, and a lot of other Americans, the light at the end of the tunnel just got a little brighter.

 

Lead our America well, President Trump.

 

And before anyone asks, I would still be saying this exact same thing if Hillary Clinton had won the November Election. My heart is for bettering America, not tearing it down.

 

For those who want to watch the Inauguration but do not have TV, WhiteHouseGov will be covering the event for free.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/live/inauguration-45th-president-united-states

indeed! thanks for the reply.

 

as you can probably imagine, I don't agree with what you are saying there with my current political mindset, but I do see where you're coming from in some sense. What I am having a harder time figuring out is why you do not care about material conflicts around the world? I understand that DT won fairly and squarely (although his own rhetoric leading up, and even on, election day painted a v different picture than the one he portrays now), but that doesn't serve to negate the fact that certainly what's more importantly than him winning the presidency is what he will actually be doing these next 4 years!

 

If he has large business ties and large debt holdings with institutions around the world (which would be detailed in his tax returns; his 108-pg financial disclosure which has no mention of his debtors) , which he most certainly does based off the returns we have been able to get a hold of - why would he be incentivized to impose to financial restrictions or sanctions? Looking at Russia, he is known to be indebted to Russian oligarchs (banks deem him too risky to lend to). The talk concerning some of the first orders of business: lifting Russian sanctions.

 

As an American, I don't want to be super friendly to a country or an individual who makes his political prisoners "disappear," starves his constituents, institutes draconian civil rights (e.g. killing of political enemies, limiting free speech), or anything else for that matter. Many of my conservative friends are quick to point out Iran as a counterpoint. Well, shit, I don't like nukes. Does anyone other than Donald? Russia already has them, and Iran was in the process of developing them. I have a problem with Iran aiding Hamas or Hezbollah, and financing terrorism, as it does. I accept that. But I also don't want nukes. Nukes=end of times. We didn't make a deal to just make a deal. There are bright line steps that the administration had to take, backed by other superpowers such as France and Germany, to institute rules and procedures to decommission their nuclear arsenal. If anything, it would PREVENT nuclear arms from more easily getting into the hands of terrorists. We are LIMITING access to nukes. It hurts to hear R's (like Tom Cotton) conflating the issue by lumping in true aspects or Iran (like financing terrorism) and then linking it to world destruction and increased nuclear proliferation. That is simply a lie. The inability to hold two mutually exclusive thoughts in ones' head seems hard for many R's. Nuance and balance are out, and imho, that's what it takes to govern.

 

All of this goes to the fact that Donald not divesting/putting in a blind trust his self-described BILLIONS in assets, he puts the country in grave danger by putting the interest of the country on or below that of his business priorities. I don't often want him to follow through lol, but I wish he would see the light on this one.

Hey YB... sorry for the delay, I had a dinner engagement.

 

I see you have fear that Trump is a nefarious dude, and he only wants to be President to inflate his bank accounts. There were many that spread around an "Access Hollywood" hot mic event from 11 years ago where the Donald expressed his desire to grab women where only celebrities dare tread. There are many who believe that David Duke expressing his support for Donald Trump must mean that Trump is a covert member of the evil KKK. There are many who believe that the Russians hacked the DNC to help Trump get elected. That's cool... but it only got Hillary Clinton 232 electoral votes. She needed 270.

 

There are many that don't believe any of that, and even though all that stuff was out there to scare people into voting for Hillary, Donald Trump still scored 306. More electoral votes than any Republican since Ronald Reagan. Not enough voters cared about the scare campaign to usher the criminal Clintons back into the White House.

 

Donald Trump is now the President of the US, and there is no law requiring the President of the US to divest his property, place his property in a blind trust, hand his property over to his kids, or anything to avoid a conflict of interest... because it's not possible for the President of the US to have a conflict of interest... by law... period. Any case brought into a court will be thrown out, because it will have no merit. You will need more evidence than just fear, for any of that to stick.

 

No candidate for President is required to release tax returns. They have only been doing it because they think it will get them more votes. The chances that Trump will release them now are zero... he has already won. By your logic, if Trump owns a dog, he must get rid of it because it's naturally gonna bite someone. Things don't work that way... and some of us were honestly relieved that there is still a man in Hollywood that wants to grab women!

Meh so far we have seen the TPP killed and we have this guy:

 

 

 

I might have concerns with some of the appointments he has/wants but for just a couple days he is off to a pretty amazing start in my book
 

The thing about Russia is that the West should have been MUCH harder in reacting to Ukraine and Syria. It wasn't, and Putin played us. He won, it's over. We might not like it, but it's a done deal. Might as well move past it, drop the sanctions and restore the working relationship.

 

Meanwhile, we in Europe should get our heads out of our asses and realize the world is becoming a more dangerous place and take military spending serioulsy again. We have been neglecting it for half a century, and I completely understand that the US doesn't want to foot the bill anymore

Okay this is rich... and will be so fun to watch what happens.

 

We have been outsourcing our jobs to Mexico.

Mexico has been exporting their unemployed to the US.

Mexican migrants send $25 Billion US dollars to Mexico per year.

80% of Mexican trade comes to the US... and they want to play tough with Trump...

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mexico-says-ready-quit-talks-us-necessary-174502231.html

 

I may have to stock up on Tacate, because Donald Trump will eat these guys for lunch.

 

The thing about Russia is that the West should have been MUCH harder in reacting to Ukraine and Syria. It wasn't, and Putin played us. He won, it's over. We might not like it, but it's a done deal. Might as well move past it, drop the sanctions and restore the working relationship.

Meanwhile, we in Europe should get our heads out of our asses and realize the world is becoming a more dangerous place and take military spending serioulsy again. We have been neglecting it for half a century, and I completely understand that the US doesn't want to foot the bill anymore

I agree with you. Obama has scapegoated Russia to blame them for Hillary losing, and attempt to delegitimize Trump. The DNC got punked. Everyone knew they were rigging the election for Hillary Clinton, but the Wikileaks proved it. So after she loses... not before, when it happened... but after she loses, Obama sanctions Russia, and kicks out their diplomats. For what? To make Trump look bad when he has to clean up the mess. If we are going to take out ISIS, we have to work with the Russians, or we'll be killing each other in the process... and that won't turn out too good for anyone.

Thanks for chiming in my friend from Belgium. Glad to know you follow, but it doesn't matter who owns Trump's business, and he will never release his tax returns. It won't get him more votes if he did, and OMG!, he already won. The only people who care is the opposition party, and they only want to dig up and create controversy. Sorry... we won't help them do that.

 

Well it is usually a big "NO-NO!" when a democratic elected leader of a nation gets on the buttons to enrich himself, this usually ends into despotic tendencies. Case in point the 2 pipelines he just unfroze, he has assets in both pipelines building coorperations. And while I personally aint a fan of oil pipelines in general, these 2 don't really sway me either way anyway, him getting $$ indirectly does feel like unsavoury things happended.

 

 

Anyway, I would like to run a question by you all. Which "side" do you feel is most unified? The "right" or the "left"? To me the "right" seems more uniform just on the basis of a stronger black/white mentality then found on the "left" (not that either side hasn't extreme's or nuances). This is cause while the Republicans basically had 8y to finetune a single reaction, is it the "right" true nature or rather good choreography that will fall apart when the tune has been played?

 

 

Well it is usually a big "NO-NO!" when a democratic elected leader of a nation gets on the buttons to enrich himself, this usually ends into despotic tendencies. Case in point the 2 pipelines he just unfroze, he has assets in both pipelines building coorperations. And while I personally aint a fan of oil pipelines in general, these 2 don't really sway me either way anyway, him getting $$ indirectly does feel like unsavoury things happended.     Anyway, I would like to run a question by you all. Which "side" do you feel is most unified? The "right" or the "left"? To me the "right" seems more uniform just on the basis of a stronger black/white mentality then found on the "left" (not that either side hasn't extreme's or nuances). This is cause while the Republicans basically had 8y to finetune a single reaction, is it the "right" true nature or rather good choreography that will fall apart when the tune has been played?

We elected a billionaire businessman that has never held an elected office... I don't believe that has ever happened before. We have had extremely wealthy Presidents before... Washington owned about half of Virginia, FDR was filthy rich, Kennedy was born into a fortune from bootlegging... We didn't force Washington to close his distilleries, make Roosevelt divest his assets, or drive the Kennedy's into bankruptcy to satisfy Republican concerns that he's too damn rich... and no President has been prevented from doing great things for the country because they would make some money off the deal. Hell, everyone in Congress can legally use inside information to guide their own stock purchases, and no one can do anything about it. Best to just move on from this issue because it's never going anywhere in court.

 

There are many Conservatives that are not on board with a lot of what Trump wants to do. Wait until he tries to get that trillion dollar infrastructure plan going... he's gonna have to go to Democrats to help him get that through. Just like all Republicans are elected to repeal ObamaCare... they were also all elected to reduce the debt. Paul Ryan has never been a fan of the Trump Train, but since he actually won the election, he can't stop smiling. He actually has a President that will sign the bills they work so hard to create. So, I do believe the Republicans are more unified, and the Supreme Court pick will further unify them. They will know they have the right man in office.

 

I always said that Donald Trump may not be the President we want... but he is the President we need.

I think you're quite right in that the "right" is more uniform than the left, but it's not becuase the left in general sees more nuance (even though it is true that I think more on the left consider nuance, as opposed to the right where it's lost on nearly everybody).

 

It's because the right still rallies around a few specific issues (move jobs back to America, kill ISIS, etc.), and this serves as a lowest common denominator. Now on the left, you see that they've been playing nothing but identity politics. They've been catering to the gay community, the trans community, the Muslim community, the feminists, etc, etc, etc... but this inevitably leads to fractures. This was aggravated by the messages that encouraged people to proudly identify themselves by one SINGLE identity and use glasses of that identity to look at everything else (if you're gay, think like a gay, if you're a Muslim, think like a Muslim, etc.). In this reading however, there is no lowest common denominator, no positive message to really unify people (only the hatred of Trump).

 

If the left is to come back, they will have to move away from identity politics, as it's not only toxic for a myriad of reasons, but also a losing strategy.

 

My thoughts anyway...

Well Lys, I would add that because he is a businessman with no prior governing/diplomatic skills, he can fall harder into the trap to do some self-profeteering. Not saying politicians are all clean angels, but the mindset from the start usually differs greatly.

 

 

Well the left mostly keeps away from those "lowest common denominator" precisly cause that has the tendency to lose any nuance. Any grouping loses "taken by heart" when they try to unify with "taken by word". It is a constant struggle to walk the line of "letter of the law" vs "spirit of the law". Both sides walk the line and both fall to either side depending on the issue, which is good as just being on 1 side makes for either an awfull rigid society or a libertarian "free-for-all" deal.

Just heard PM Theresa May speak in Philadelphia... Where the hell have they been hiding her? She is amazing!

 

Looks like Mexico will be getting hit with an import tax, probably 20%, to pay for the wall. Nieto should just hand Trump a 20 billion dollar check and call it even... it would be easier on them. At every turn, detractors have claimed Trump cannot do something, just to see him doing it. He says we'll get sick of winning... after 4 days of winning, I'm not sick of it yet.

Think May was hiding herself, don't think she liked being made PM, let alone under which circumstances. She be on of those "politicians" I mentioned before, a real one!

Think May was hiding herself, don't think she liked being made PM, let alone under which circumstances. She be on of those "politicians" I mentioned before, a real one!

From what I have learned since her speech, she was not in favor of the Brexit, but I guess she is now. I have never heard her speak until today, me being over here. I was very impressed.

 

I have also heard that an import border tax on just Mexico is something that may not happen. Something about having to tax all imports, or no imports. So it's probably going to be like a 5% tax on imports, a tax on money going across the border into Mexico, a tax on visas... a bunch of things combined. I don't know, I'm not an economist, but this wall is going up.

so federal funds for building a $12-15B wall but let's stop the investigation and the funding to rectify the Flint water crisis?

Just heard PM Theresa May speak in Philadelphia... Where the hell have they been hiding her? She is amazing!

 

Looks like Mexico will be getting hit with an import tax, probably 20%, to pay for the wall. Nieto should just hand Trump a 20 billion dollar check and call it even... it would be easier on them. At every turn, detractors have claimed Trump cannot do something, just to see him doing it. He says we'll get sick of winning... after 4 days of winning, I'm not sick of it yet.

 

I mean, if you wanna keep her feel free. We've got some great clowns ready to take over from her.

 

 

I mean, if you wanna keep her feel free. We've got some great clowns ready to take over from her.

She has her hands full right now as Prime Minister of the UK, but Hillary's free... can we give her to you?

 

so federal funds for building a $12-15B wall but let's stop the investigation and the funding to rectify the Flint water crisis?

What does the Flint water crisis have to do with border security? It's a local problem, and I'm sure Michigan has the Flint issue under control. Do you live there? If you live in Flint Michigan, you are having to deal with it. I live in Las Vegas Nevada, not a border state, but we are flooded with illegals and the drugs... the problem of our southern border is everywhere.

Money is money is money. If you spend money there, you can't spend money there. So they are incredibly related. I do not live there, but that has nothing to do with it. It has everything to do with the fact that they've been living without clean drinking water since April 2014, so I don't think it's "under control." How would you like to use hundreds of water bottles just to take a bath? 

 

Shit is not good there, and now we're spending upwards of $20B on a border fence when 

1) illegal immigration is at an all-time low

2) illegal immigrants crime rates are the lowest they've been in history

3) the only thing that has bolstered the US population has been immigration. the birth rate per couple is ~1.8, to sustain the population you need an average of 2.1. By enforcing a border wall, you drive down immigration, lessen the amount of available money to the government (via taxes) and that's available in the system, tariffs go up, commodities and basic good prices go up, inflation takes hold. In a period of stagnating wages, higher inflation is like insanely not good.

 

those are truths. individuals that hang on to the boogie man of the illegal immigrant holding the american people down have really go to check themselves. They have had impacts, but the rhetoric of Trump does not match up with what's going on in reality. 

 

Oh, if you took a small sample of middle-to-lower income class illegal immigrant families (who still contribute taxes and money into the economy), they probably paid more taxes than Trump over a given period.

I have a short list of personal heroes, and Winston Churchill, in my opinion, is one of the greatest men who ever lived. I have been asked several times in my life if I had a chance to have a conversation with anyone, living or dead, who would it be? Churchill would be one I would strongly think about. If it wasn't for Winston Churchill, and all my brave British cousins... we would have lost World War II. There are some of us here in the USA that still know the truth, and we will not allow it to be forgotten.

 

There is a new series on Netflix called "The Crown"... John Lithgow as Winston, during his final years in public life... it's amazing... and I am waiting patiently for the release of Christopher Nolan's next film entitled "Dunkirk". It's high time we see this story, and maybe we can remember, just for a couple hours, what real men do when all you have left is hope.

Wow really? I hear Church was widely unpopular with the exception of his leadership during the war. He was kind of a dick. 

Funny story about illegal immigrants. I used to have a coworker who last year was found to be an illegal immigrant. Worked about 12 years in the company, made about $45k a year, and pretended not to speak a word of English so anytime he screwed up he had an easy way out. Well one day he took stupid pills and got himself arrested for drunk driving. Slapped with a big fine, it was his first offense so he didnt have any jail time, and he came back to work about a month later. Well several weeks go by and someone in law enforcement noticed his background just wasn't right. So they launched an investigation against him. Turns out he had been using some dead guy's social security number for over a decade, and he would likely still be here if he didnt acquire a criminal record. Immigration showed up at my job and said they wanted information on the guy, and they eventually caught up with him. Last I heard he was sitting in prison waiting to get deported to whatever country from the southern hemisphere he was originally from. When my coworkers asked his Spanish speaking work friends what happened to him. Their exact response was 'who are you talking about?' 'I don't know who that is'. So quite a few people knew he was breaking the law, but no one ever turned him in. I bet his story would have made national news if he had killed someone when he got that DWI.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauna_Kea_Observatories#Opposition_and_protests

The thirty meter telescope should be built. The whole protest seems to be about "sacred land" even though there are already telescopes on the mountain. 

Know what? When it comes to illegal immigrants, I'll say this. I'm absolutely opposed to illegal immigration, but realistically... I come from a farming community. I've worked on said farms and without them, we'd all starve. They literally farm our food and make it affordable. 

 

 

How would you like to use hundreds of water bottles just to take a bath? 

I would move... but that's just me I guess. It is a Michigan problem. In an effort to save money, they switched their water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Big mistake. I have heard that the problem has been eliminated, but they still recommend filtering the water. Glad to know you don't live there... I can't imagine wanting to, but at least you guys can keep pointing at it for a talking point.

 

Regarding the illegals... You can believe anything you want, but I don't believe a word of that. Since when has "bolstering our population" been something we need to do? There is another election in 2018. Maybe you guys can flip enough seats to change the tide, but until then I think we'll do things our way for a while and see what happens.

 

 

Wow really? I hear Church was widely unpopular with the exception of his leadership during the war. He was kind of a dick.

He was a Conservative... lots of people think we are all dicks.  

How does Trump intends to pay for all the infrastructure development while giving massive tax cuts to the rich?

 

Fed gonna print? given it's the same swamp there still. 

How does Trump intends to pay for all the infrastructure development while giving massive tax cuts to the rich?

 

Fed gonna print? given it's the same swamp there still. 

OMG! The corporate tax rate is 35% + up to 12% State and Local... That's about 50% higher than even Cyber Nations allows, and higher than anywhere on the real planet. If you really want to hurt the rich and take their money... lower the corporate tax rate, force them to stay in the USA, and force them to the table to negotiate Union scale wages to their workers. Wow... massive tax cuts to the rich. I think we'll take the jobs and the salaries, and Democrats can keep their "tax cuts to the rich" bumper sticker.

 

The idea is to get more people back in the workforce, making more money, paying more taxes. Paying for that infrastructure is what Republicans in Congress will have a problem with, but it still needs to get done. At least we now have a President that knows that there is more than one way to cook a steak.

 

Think May was hiding herself, don't think she liked being made PM, let alone under which circumstances. She be on of those "politicians" I mentioned before, a real one!

From what I have learned since her speech, she was not in favor of the Brexit, but I guess she is now. I have never heard her speak until today, me being over here. I was very impressed.

 

.

Well her party (the conservatives) were split on the subject, she indeed leaned to the Remain camp, afterwards advocated the "soft" Brexit. Then she got PM and coupled with several "hard" Brexit ministers she had to alter the tune.

 

Still a good politician without hearing her once, she actually went out and did what the country desired.

.

I have also heard that an import border tax on just Mexico is something that may not happen. Something about having to tax all imports, or no imports. So it's probably going to be like a 5% tax on imports, a tax on money going across the border into Mexico, a tax on visas... a bunch of things combined. I don't know, I'm not an economist, but this wall is going up.

. 

Wonder what it would do on inflation.

 

As for taxing money going across the border, enjoy losing global reserve currence status.

 

 

 

lol speaking about high taxes, if your POTUS can get himself +15y of 0 taxes, I highly doubt your Fortune 500 company's pay the full 35%... Your smaller businesses with under 50 workers, thats another matter.

"As for taxing money going across the border, enjoy losing global reserve currence status."

 

Serious question though: If the dollar were to lose its global reserve currency status, what would be the "new" global reserve currency? The Euro? The Yuan? to be honest, I can't realistically think of any.

bitcoins offcourse!

 

Well it would happen gradually anyway, but if you put a tax on global $$ exchange, people will look for other means of stashing their wealth. I'd guess a more diversification will be used of both monetary (euro, yuan, yen?, ...) and raw materials (gold, precious metals, oil?). Know the IMF is already using the yuan in one of its "reserve currency" handles.