Did anything recently happen to the US by the hands of Iran we aren't aware of?
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
'A DRAMATIC EFFECT': Clinton plan would reportedly hike taxes by $1.3T
Hillary Clinton comes up $2.2 trillion short in paying for her policy agenda, despite hiking taxes by $1.3 trillion, according to a new analysis of the Democratic nominee’s campaign platform.
Did anything recently happen to the US by the hands of Iran we aren't aware of?
If you took the time to actually read my posts you would have your answer.
Yes, Iran is arresting more Americans and holding them hostage.
Among the Americans currently being held are an energy executive named Siamak Namazi and his 80-year old father, Baqer, according to U.S. and Iranian officials. Iran’s judiciary spokesman last month confirmed Tehran had arrested the third American, believed to be a San Diego resident named Reza “Robin” Shahini.
Friends and family of the Namazis believe the Iranians are seeking to increase their leverage to force another prisoner exchange or cash payment in the final six months of the Obama administration. Mr. Kerry and other U.S. officials have been raising their case with Iranian diplomats, U.S. officials say. http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-sent-cash-to-iran-as-americans-were-freed-1470181874
One thing Hillary said a week ago was that you can bait Trump with a tweet... If he doesn't get over that need to respond to everything negative thats said about him, he'll fail.
And when he does respond, he can't be seen to do it in a fashion that makes him look petty and small.
I'm not sure he's capable, but if he is, he stands a chance to win a debate or two and perhaps win the election.
Myself, I don't see him changing...
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
Taj Mahal contractors still waiting for Trump’s payments
The contractor who provided the onion domes for the Taj Mahal casino had to eat $2 million in losses. The contractor who supplied the Carrara marble from Italy ended up filing for personal bankruptcy. The contractor who put in the bathroom partitions had to lay off his brother.
A quarter of a century has passed since Donald Trump refused to pay in full 253 contractors who help build his Taj in Atlantic City. But for many of them, it could have happened yesterday.
“We got next to nothing,” says Michael MacLeod, whose 40-person studio made the giant elephant statues at the casino’s entrance. “I took a big hit.”
After the Taj opened in April 1990, the self-anointed “King of Debt” owed $70 million to contractors employing thousands who built the domes and minarets, put up the glass and drywall, laid the pipes and installed everything from chandeliers to bathroom fixtures. A year later, when the casino collapsed into bankruptcy, those owed the most got only 33 cents in cash for each dollar owed, with promises of another 50 cents later. It took years to get the rest, assuming the companies survived long enough to collect.
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks and Trump attorney Alan Garten did not respond to a list of questions about the candidate’s Taj dealings.
Marty Rosenberg, former vice president of Atlantic Plate Glass, says the way Trump handled the contractors shows the candidate is shrewd and clever, but Trump won’t get his vote.
“If ethics or morality has nothing to do with business,” Rosenberg says, “he’s a very good businessman.”
For the contractors, the first signs of trouble came in February 1990. Regular checks for work completed stopped arriving in the mail.
Rosenberg, who was owed $1.1 million for installing floor-to-ceiling curtain walls of glass, picked up the phone in his Atlantic City office and called one of Trump’s men overseeing construction.
“I’ll check it out, Marty, and call you right back,” the man said. A day later, he got his answer: The money’s coming in two weeks.
The check never came.
Five hundred miles away, in Ashtabula, Ohio, Robert Morrison of the Molded Fiber Glass Co. was pressing his workers to finish the domes, minarets and other faux Moorish ornaments in time for an April 2 opening — and worrying about who was going to pay for it all. An invoice sent weeks earlier for $1.4 million still hadn’t been paid.
Many contractors didn’t know what to think. Trump said he needed to complete audits first to make sure they weren’t overcharging; he denied he was in financial trouble. “I have a tremendous amount of cash,” he told the Washington Post that March. Desperate for money to pay workers and suppliers, some contractors became easy targets for a new Trump offer: Agree to less than they billed, and he’d pay the lower amounts immediately.
One of the hardest hit was marble supplier John Millar, who was owed $3.9 million.
As he was walking into a meeting with contractors to share strategies, landscaper Herman Caucci asked him what he planned to do: Stick it out, or take cash at a discount?
“I don’t know, Herman, I need the money,” Caucci recalls Millar responding before the March 1990 meeting. “We could lose everything.”
Court documents suggest he got about 30 cents on the dollar over the next year. Millar is deceased. His family wouldn’t comment.
The stress was also building at Hastings Pavement, a company supplying paving stones.
Mario Paone, president of Hastings, rarely lost his temper. But he had received only $100,000 of the $1.3 million he had billed Trump.
He exploded one day just as his son, Philip Paone, then 24, walked up to his office door.
“I want my money!” Philip recalls his father screaming into the phone to Trump. “Pay me my money!”
Documents filed with regulators suggest Trump gave Paone about a third of what he was owed over the next year.
Trump managed to open the Boardwalk casino on April 2, 1990, and continued to dismiss rumors that he was in financial trouble, but the truth soon came out.
Over his protests, regulators unsealed a devastating report in August written by Trump’s own accountants that showed he had been burning through cash in his personal accounts so fast in the spring that he would have had nothing by end of the year if he didn’t take drastic action. The next year, the Trump Taj filed for bankruptcy.
When the casino emerged from Chapter 11, Trump got a contract to manage it. Others caught up in the Taj turmoil didn’t fare as well.
Marble man Millar had to lay off workers, shut down his business Avalon Commercial, close many of his retail stores and borrow from friends to make ends meet, according to court documents and Millar’s lawyers and former employees. In 1996, he filed for personal bankruptcy.
Morrison’s Molded Fiber Glass joined with 47 others in a negotiated settlement with Trump for cash equal to 33 cents of each dollar owed, plus 50 cents in convertible bonds, according to a book by Morrison published in 1994. Strapped for money, some contractors sold the bonds immediately, getting a fraction of what they were worth at maturity.
Morrison wrote off $2 million of the $3 million Trump owed him, according to his book. The company refused to comment.
MacLeod, the elephant sculptor, says his anger has faded.
Giving a slide presentation of his work to an architectural firm two days after Trump swept the New York Republican primary in April, he slipped in two photos — one showing one of the elephants, the other showing Trump’s name on the casino marquee in red lights.
“This guy never paid me,” MacLeod deadpanned. Everyone laughed.
(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
One thing Hillary said a week ago was that you can bait Trump with a tweet... If he doesn't get over that need to respond to everything negative thats said about him, he'll fail.
And when he does respond, he can't be seen to do it in a fashion that makes him look petty and small.
I'm not sure he's capable, but if he is, he stands a chance to win a debate or two and perhaps win the election.
Myself, I don't see him changing...
I agree. This man is way to egotistical and immature for the responsibility of the nation. Sure looks like he cannot step up and become a legitimate candidate.
I think it's real disgusting that people are going after Melania"s immigration past. This is almost as bad as that birther movement crap.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
Donald Trump Vows To Crack Down On Pornography (Yes, Really!)
The same guy who graced a Playboy cover and said, “If you need Viagra, you’re probably with the wrong girl.”
Chris D’Angelo Associate Editor, HuffPost Hawaii 08/02/2016 06:54 am E
Donald Trump, who appeared on the cover of Playboy magazine and whose misogynistic comments might only be outnumbered by his racist remarks, has pledged to crack down on pornography if elected president.
Anti-pornography group Enough is Enough praised Trump’s “leadership” in an announcement Monday, after the Republican presidential nominee signed The Children’s Internet Safety Presidential Pledge.
By doing so, Trump has promised not only to fight child pornography and sex trafficking, but “give serious consideration to appointing a Presidential Commission to examine the harmful public health impact of Internet pornography on youth, families and the American culture,” the nonprofit group said.
“Making the Internet safer for children and families is a critical step in making America safe again,” said Donna Rice Hughes, president and CEO of Enough is Enough in a statement, echoing one of Trump’s favorite campaign slogans.
Ironically, the announcement came as The New York Post featured on its cover ― not once, but twice ― risqué 1995 photographs reportedly showing Trump’s wife, Melania, in the nude.
While the pledge Trump signed on July 16 mainly pushes for protecting children from sexual exploitation online, the group behind it has been clear about its opposition to pornography of all kinds. Enough is Enough says on its website that it’s “dedicated to continue raising public awareness about the dangers of Internet pornography” and in favor of “a society free from sexual exploitation,” among other things.
The group claims to have also sent the pledge to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who it said supports the document’s goals but declined to sign the declaration because of a campaign policy against adding her name to pledges. Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson did not respond, the group said.
Hughes said the issue offers an opportunity for all parties to unite for the sake of protecting children.
“Over the last two decades America’s children have paid an unnecessarily steep price for the lax enforcement of federal obscenity laws,” she said in a statement. “Obscenity is not protected under the First Amendment, and the failure to enforce the law is harming children across the nation and around the world.”
And if Trump is elected president, Hughes is “confident” he’ll follow through on the commitments outlined in the group’s pledge, she told the Washington Examiner.
The real estate businessman’s newfound stance against pornography suddenly has him in agreement with the GOP on the issue.
The party adopted its official platform this month, which identifies porn ― not guns ― as a national public health crisis. “Pornography, with its harmful effects, especially on children, has become a public health crisis that is destroying the lives of millions,” it states.
However, many of the former reality TV personality’s supporters are bewildered as to why the Republican Party is focusing on porn, as the above video shows.
Trump has come a long way in his views to suddenly prioritize doing away with “destructive” pornography. “I’ve always said, ‘If you need Viagra, you’re probably with the wrong girl,’” he told Playboy in 2004. He proudly showed that magazine off at a rally days before signing the declaration.
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims ― 1.6 billion members of an entire religion ― from entering the U.S.
And now he wants to control the internet. I'm not crazy about porn online and think it's way to easy to access, but I also don't want internet freedom messed with.
The funniest part about it is the people waving signs and cheering because they aren't even really listening to what she is saying... they just know that when her voice hits a certain crescendo, they are supposed to cheer. She could be talking about dish soap but if her voice hit that crescendo, they would all wave signs and cheer.
Was that at the rally in NC she had not long ago? (I'm thinking not because of all the guys in football jerseys behind her with Buffet sitting there) That's a big story down here, she said she wanted to have a rally at a factory.. so the factory workers were given the day off and told not to come to work, Hillary imported her own people to fill the factory floor and act like workers, so they could cheer their little hearts out... while some of the factory workers protested outside.. <smdh>
First of all, if he can do anything to make it harder for kids to get to it without infringing on the rights of adults, good.
Second.. Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims ― 1.6 billion members of an entire religion ― from entering the U.S.
WTF does that have to do with anything? That's just one of the many reasons I can't stand the Huffington Post.
This is almost as bad as that birther movement crap.
Disagree, Swish. It's every bit as bad.
I really more folks had higher standards.
I agree Clem, if we the people would stop reposting it, retweeting it, clicking on it, and arguing about it... maybe it would stop. But good luck getting people to do that.
I think hannity is forgetting that every time Trump says something stupid, those guys have to get in front of the media and play damage control. He's really acting as if Trump isn't responsible for his own mouth:
Hannity to GOP leaders: ‘I’m getting a little sick and tired of all of you’
Fox News host Sean Hannity says Republican leaders will be to blame if Donald Trump loses the presidential election.
The conservative pundit told listeners of his talk radio show on Wednesday that he was “sick and tired” of House Speaker Paul Ryan, Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and others who condemned Trump’s controversial criticism of the parents of a slain Muslim American soldier.
“If in 96 days Trump loses this election, I am pointing the finger directly at people like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham and John McCain,” Hannity said. “I have watched these Republicans be more harsh toward Donald Trump than they’ve ever been in standing up to Barack Obama and his radical agenda.
“They did nothing, nothing — all these phony votes to repeal and replace Obamacare, show votes so they can go back and keep their power and get reelected,” Hannity continued. “Sorry, you created Donald Trump, all of you. Because of your ineffectiveness, because of your weakness, your spinelessness, your lack of vision, your inability to fight Obama.”
He added: “I’m getting a little sick and tired of all of you. I am, honestly, I am tempted to just say I don’t support any of you people ever.”
Hannity: The Trump campaign must stay focused
Sean discusses what the strategy of the Republican nominee should be with former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani on 'Hannity' Hannity said he’s “particularly annoyed” with Ryan, whom Trump refused to endorse this week. The Fox host endorsed Trump in June and has been one of his most consistent defenders in the conservative media.
“It seems Paul Ryan and some of these other establishment Republican types have taken to the idea that they are going to be true to what it means to be a Republican,” Hannity said. “I don’t think there’s anything about Trump’s agenda that isn’t conservative except maybe with the issue of trade.”
Hannity said he’s also frustrated that the conversation among GOP leaders on Capitol Hill has been focused on Trump and not on his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. (Ryan made the same point on Thursday but placed some of that blame on Trump for igniting various national political firestorms.)
“So Trump fires back, because he’s sick and tired of these idiots,” he said. “We just had a Democratic convention where you had the single most leftist socialist platform ever written in American history. I don’t hear a peep out of any of these people about it.”
Hannity added: “We’re 96 days away. We’re 96 days away, and this election is completely winnable.”
Megyn Kelly Stunned and Amused when Donald Trump Brings Up Past Controversies, Including One With Her
With his campaign mired in controversy, Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump made a curious decision at a Daytona Beach rally on Wednesday. He decided to recount several controversies from months earlier. His claim that “thousands” of New Jersey Muslims celebrated 9/11, his perceived mockery of New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski and his comment about Megyn Kelly having “blood coming out of her wherever” were amongst the items brought up. On her show, The Kelly File, the aforementioned FOX News anchor was clearly amazed Trump would rehash these stories. “What is he doing relitigating every controversy from the primary season?” she asked Ben Domenech, publisher of The Federalist and attorney and Trump supporter David Wohl. On Wednesday night, Hannity’s Fox News colleague, Megyn Kelly, criticized Trump for failing to stay on message during a speech in which he brought up several old dustups, including the infamous one involving her.
“What is he doing relitigating every controversy from the primary season?” an exasperated Kelly said on her primetime Fox News show.
Hannity also offered the Trump campaign some unsolicited advice.
“There needs to be extreme message discipline,” he said on his own Fox News show. “There can be no more unforced errors.”
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
Are you saying if people ignore things, it magically goes away?
I thought we had this discussion already.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
“There needs to be extreme message discipline,” he said on his own Fox News show. “There can be no more unforced errors.”
If Trump can do this, he wins going away. If he decides that he has to respond to everything off the cuff, he loses.
He who controls the message wins. If Trump stays on the economy, trade, and terrorism, he wins. If he gets distracted, chasing rabbits all day long, and offending people along the way, Hillary wins easily.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
I think it's real disgusting that people are going after Melania"s immigration past. This is almost as bad as that birther movement crap.
I don't think she's fair game either, but apparently there is a little more to this than meets the eye.
Melania's nude pics from 1995 show up when Trump is in trouble and rumors that Trump released them to distract from his gaffes.
Early on the Trumps tell the story that Melania immigrated legally as Trump blast illegal immigration and vows to send them back and build a wall.
Melania talks about having to fly back and get her visa stamped every few months. Now here's the problem, an H-1B visa is good for three years and is the only visa that permits you to be employed or to work here. If she had one of those she would have never needed to fly back to get it stamped...
The other types of visas prohibit working. If she had one of those and worked anyway, that is visa fraud. Committing visa fraud prior to getting her green card in 2001 would bring into question the validity of her green card and subsequent citizenship status as they would be considered gained by fraudulent means.
The irony is that Trump himself could be and most likely is living with an illegal immigrant, who by committing visa fraud would also be a criminal AND by his own policy platform 'must be sent back'!
Additionally, Trump is also on the record saying he would end the H-1B program during a Trump Administration and force companies to hire Americans for those jobs... smh.
LOL! OMG! You can't make this stuff up!
And the sad part (for Melania because she doesn't deserve to be drug through the coals) is that this will probably trigger an investigation and she could be in very real trouble if she had the wrong visa back then. BUT to avoid the issue, all they have to do is prove she had an H-1B visa in 1995.
So, this story might have teeth and might be another huge embarrassment to Trump and the GOP, not to mention any ramifications to Melania.
Standing before am adoring crowd in Omaha on Monday, Hillary Rodham Clinton read from her teleprompter and shouted:
“I’m telling you right now, we’re going to write fairer rules for the middle class, and we are going to raise taxes on the middle class.”
The Democratic presidential nominee did not correct that statement, nor had her campaign, at this writing. Clinton’s official website claims that she wants to offer “tax relief to working families,” although it says nothing about tax cuts for Americans who are single, childless, or both.
As of now, Clinton is on record as advocating tax hikes on America’s middle class.
There is never a good time to raise taxes on the middle class, but now is especially bad. America’s economy is growing at just 1 percent for the first half of 2016.
Obama’s recovery is the worst since 1949, according to The Wall Street Journal. Today’s barely measurable expansion is the weakest in 67 years.
Real median household incomes have slipped under Obama, from $54,925 when he first was inaugurated to $53,657 in 2014. The latest Census Bureau data confirm this 2.3 percent slide.
This situation is so dire that life expectancy has fallen among white women, from 81.2 years to 81.1, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Starved for hope, some white females have surrendered to alcohol, drugs, and suicide.
Clinton has said she would not boost taxes on anyone earning less than $250,000. But when ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos asked her last December, “Is that a rock-solid promise?” Clinton balked. “Well,” she said, “it certainly is my goal.”
Indeed, Clinton has proposed or embraced several new middle-class taxes: •Clinton has favored a 25 percent national sales tax on guns since 1993. •Asked in Des Moines, Iowa on January 11 if she would veto a payroll tax hike on every American, Clinton replied: “No, no.” •Clinton told Philadelphia voters in April, “I’m very supportive of the mayor’s proposal to tax soda to get universal preschool for kids.” •Clinton also is open to a tax on carbon dioxide, which would boost price tags across the economy and hammer employment prospects for those looking for work and hoping to keep their jobs.
“Right now we’ve not proposed a carbon tax,” Clinton campaign chief John Podesta told journalists last week. “But if Congress wants to come forward with one, we’ll take a look at it.”
Meanwhile, Democratic vice-presidential nominee Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia wanted to take things even further. As governor, Kaine advocated a tax hike on those who aspired to the middle class. He sought to increase his state’s bottom tax rate from 5.75 percent to 6.75 percent. This would have socked families with annual incomes as low as $17,000.
Clinton-Kaine’s support for middle-class tax hikes would resemble such tax increases under Obama.
Obama told a joint session of Congress in February 2009, “If your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime.”
Obama’s promise proved to be yet another lie.
“There are seven tax increases in Obamacare that are in violation of his pledge,” recalls John Kartch of Americans for Tax Reform. These include “the individual mandate non-compliance tax; an income tax hike on those with high medical bills; tax hikes on flexible spending accounts and health savings accounts; and even a 10 percent ‘indoor tanning tax.’”
Also, when Obama hiked cigarette taxes in April 2009, an Associated Press story declared: “Obama Tax Pledge Up in Smoke.”
Bottom line: Democrats love tax revenue more than they love middle-class voters.
Fittingly, as she roared between two TelePrompTer screens on Monday, Clinton hopes to “raise taxes on the middle class.”
This is horrible news for all Americans. Nonetheless, Hillary Clinton deserves great credit for being uncharacteristically transparent about her plans to squeeze the U.S. middle class — good and hard.
There's a part of me that truly feels sorry for this woman.
I don't think she could ever have foreseen a set of circumstances like this happening in her life. Born into a middle-class family from the Soviet Bloc, she managed to find a Sugar Daddy, a posh apartment in Manhattan, a huge monthly expense account, and a jet-set lifestyle that must have seemed like a dream come true. A Jackie Collins novel brought to life.
Now, she finds herself speaking at the RNC convention, watched by millions, and subjected to the same level of scrutiny that attends anyone in that sphere of the Public Arena.
I'll bet she was much happier back in the days when her man was simply defaulting on loans, bilking building contractors out of their honestly-earned money, and taking hapless pikers to the cleaners with dubious steak, water, wine, and real estate ventures.
And to think... for her, ALL of this could have been easily avoided, if her man gave even one moment's worth of forethought about the ramifications of his decision to run for a public office he that was clearly out of his depth to assume.
Donald veered from 'his lane' onto the fast lane of the Autobahn... and now, his entire family is along for the ride. It's not fair- but Chelsea Clinton, Jenna/Barb Bush, Sasha and Malia Obama and their moms are all tied to the choices that their patriarchs made. Same is true for Melania Trump.
I hope she doesn't drown under the tsunami that's washing over her. She didn't deserve this, BUT- she was an adult, when she agreed to:
"For better, for worse- 'til death do you part."
Yeah... "Death- or 'divorce.'
________________
How all of this plays out remains to be seen.... but, given the 'tabloid nature' of Trump's entire life, I'm almost certain that there will be more than one exposé written about Melania's time in the spotlight, after her husband's foray into International Politics has concluded.
Whether there's any validity to the immigration claims now being leveled at Melania Trump's legal status as an American citizen, I'm certain that she never signed on for this... and that domestic life in Donald's house is anything but 'business as usual,' right about now.
At the very least, Barack Hussein Obama has always had a woman- ONE woman- who has always had his back.
As a husband of 33 years, I can tell you: My Wife is the 'calcium in my spine.'
Does Donald have that in Melania?
Only time will tell.
And now that he's signed on to assume The Most Important Role on Planet Earth, his wife is also in The Game, whether she chose to be or not.
America's role on the planet is simply too important to ever entrust it to a carnival barker, and his pinup wife of a (3rd) bride.
This man's candidacy is The Ultimate Farce that will shock America to its senses... and THAT is the only thing I can thank him for. It's too bad that his (3rd) wife will be part of the story that History records for all of time.
She didn't deserve this. And neither does My Beloved Country.
Published on Aug 4, 2016 Donald Trump gives a detailed description of a video that doesn't exist during his rally speech in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Donald Trump has doubled down on a controversial claim from a day earlier that his own campaign had quickly admitted was a mistake.
He cited video footage during a rally Thursday in Portland, Maine, which he said showed $400 million in cash being offloaded in Iran on January 17.
The money was a payment from the Obama administration, made at the same time Tehran's mullahs released a group of hostages as part of a prisoner swap.
On Wednesday Trump's campaign quickly walked back his claim in a Daytona Beach, Florida rally about professional-quality video that Iranians had released to embarrass the U.S., admitting he had only seen 'b-roll' – archival footage – that showed the Americans emerging from a different aircraft in Geneva Switzerland.
But in Maine, Trump again insisted that the video he had described was real. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
'A tape was made, right? You saw that, with the plane coming in. Nice plane. And the airplane coming in. And the money coming off, I guess, right?' Trump asked a capacity crowd in a Portland theater.
'That was given to us – has to be – by the Iranians. And you know why the tape was given to us? They want to embarrass our country. And they want to embarrass our president. Because we have a president who's incompetent. They want to embarrass – they want to embarrass our president.'
'I mean, who would ever think that they would be taking all of this money off of the plane, and then providing us with the tape?' the Republican presidential nominee asked.
'It's only for one reason, and it's very, very sad.'
On Wednesday, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks pointed DailyMail.com to a YouTube video of a morning broadcast from the Fox News Channel, saying the network's 'b-roll' is what her boss had watched earlier in the day.
That video, stamped 'January 17' – the day of the prisoner transfer – shows American nationals emerging from a plane in Geneva following their release from Iranian custody.
Contrary to Trump's claim, it was neither shot in Iran nor produced by Iranians.
Negotiators familiar with the deal had said they were not aware of any footage like Trump had described after his explosive claim about the payoff video.
I think the author of that article is being a jerk, just like many reporters are w/Trump. Stirring up crap.
However, Clinton's tax plan is scary. Have any of you checked out her views on the Exit tax yet? That tax would actually hurt the middle class and the economy more than anything suggested in the article.
yea, his foreign policy stances is gonna do him in, especially in the debates.
"russia is not in Ukraine" "I seen the video"
and those are just the super recent ones. the list goes on.
right now he has to bring straight fire in the debates when the foreign policy issues come out.
unfortunately for him, Benghazi won't stick since the GOP committee's kept clearing Hillary. so he's gonna have to use the rhetoric from 2002 or whatever when she voted for the war.
the problem is so many other politicians voted for it because the entire country was emotional, and we wanted blood. So that's not gonna stick so much.
He can use Syria. that's a hot button issue.
I guess my thing is that Hillary's foreign policy isn't anything close to good. However, nothing has given me any indication that Trump is capable of effectively using those tools against her.
He really needs to be focused on these debates. cause right now, him and his campaign staff are doing media appearances and keep making everything worse.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
During a 33-year career at the Central Intelligence Agency, I served presidents of both parties — three Republicans and three Democrats. I was at President George W. Bush’s side when we were attacked on Sept. 11; as deputy director of the agency, I was with President Obama when we killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.
I am neither a registered Democrat nor a registered Republican. In my 40 years of voting, I have pulled the lever for candidates of both parties. As a government official, I have always been silent about my preference for president.
No longer. On Nov. 8, I will vote for Hillary Clinton. Between now and then, I will do everything I can to ensure that she is elected as our 45th president. Two strongly held beliefs have brought me to this decision. First, Mrs. Clinton is highly qualified to be commander in chief. I trust she will deliver on the most important duty of a president — keeping our nation safe. Second, Donald J. Trump is not only unqualified for the job, but he may well pose a threat to our national security.
I spent four years working with Mrs. Clinton when she was secretary of state, most often in the White House Situation Room. In these critically important meetings, I found her to be prepared, detail-oriented, thoughtful, inquisitive and willing to change her mind if presented with a compelling argument.
I also saw the secretary’s commitment to our nation’s security; her belief that America is an exceptional nation that must lead in the world for the country to remain secure and prosperous; her understanding that diplomacy can be effective only if the country is perceived as willing and able to use force if necessary; and, most important, her capacity to make the most difficult decision of all — whether to put young American women and men in harm’s way.
Mrs. Clinton was an early advocate of the raid that brought Bin Laden to justice, in opposition to some of her most important colleagues on the National Security Council. During the early debates about how we should respond to the Syrian civil war, she was a strong proponent of a more aggressive approach, one that might have prevented the Islamic State from gaining a foothold in Syria.
I never saw her bring politics into the Situation Room. In fact, I saw the opposite. When some wanted to delay the Bin Laden raid by one day because the White House Correspondents Dinner might be disrupted, she said, “Screw the White House Correspondents Dinner.”
In sharp contrast to Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump has no experience on national security. Even more important, the character traits he has exhibited during the primary season suggest he would be a poor, even dangerous, commander in chief.
These traits include his obvious need for self-aggrandizement, his overreaction to perceived slights, his tendency to make decisions based on intuition, his refusal to change his views based on new information, his routine carelessness with the facts, his unwillingness to listen to others and his lack of respect for the rule of law.
The dangers that flow from Mr. Trump’s character are not just risks that would emerge if he became president. It is already damaging our national security.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was a career intelligence officer, trained to identify vulnerabilities in an individual and to exploit them. That is exactly what he did early in the primaries. Mr. Putin played upon Mr. Trump’s vulnerabilities by complimenting him. He responded just as Mr. Putin had calculated.
Mr. Putin is a great leader, Mr. Trump says, ignoring that he has killed and jailed journalists and political opponents, has invaded two of his neighbors and is driving his economy to ruin. Mr. Trump has also taken policy positions consistent with Russian, not American, interests — endorsing Russian espionage against the United States, supporting Russia’s annexation of Crimea and giving a green light to a possible Russian invasion of the Baltic States.
In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation.
Mr. Trump has also undermined security with his call for barring Muslims from entering the country. This position, which so clearly contradicts the foundational values of our nation, plays into the hands of the jihadist narrative that our fight against terrorism is a war between religions.
In fact, many Muslim Americans play critical roles in protecting our country, including the man, whom I cannot identify, who ran the C.I.A.’s Counterterrorism Center for nearly a decade and who I believe is most responsible for keeping America safe since the Sept. 11 attacks.
My training as an intelligence officer taught me to call it as I see it. This is what I did for the C.I.A. This is what I am doing now. Our nation will be much safer with Hillary Clinton as president.
Michael J. Morell was the acting director and deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2010 to 2013.
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTOpinion), and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.
Trump unveils 12-person economic policy team, includes John Paulson
Donald Trump unveiled Friday a 12-person economic team that will help to guide his sometimes inconsistent policy statements.
Members include Steve Roth, Harold Hamm, Howard Lorber, Steven Mnuchin, Tom Barrack, Stephen M. Calk, John Paulson, Andy Beal, Steve Feinberg, David Malpass, Peter Navarro, Stephen Moore and Dan DiMicco.
The campaign's policy team will be led by national director of policy Stephen Miller and deputy director Dan Kowolski.
"I am pleased that we have such a formidable group of experienced and talented individuals that will work with me to implement real solutions for the economic issues facing our country," Trump said in a statement.
The announcement comes ahead of Trump's planned economic policy speech in Detroit on Monday. Trump is slated to detail personal and corporate tax cuts as well as energy and health care policy changes aimed to boost American economic growth.
![[Linked Image from s2.excoboard.com]](http://s2.excoboard.com/forums/25521/user/302752/484538.gif)
