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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#236301: Mar 23rd 2018 at 10:47:43 AM

[up][up]He's signed it. I'm also seeing a headline on CNN on tv that Trump said he would never sign a spending bill like that again.

Here's hoping he isn't wrong, if you catch my drift.

edited 23rd Mar '18 10:49:10 AM by sgamer82

TheRoguePenguin Since: Jul, 2009
#236302: Mar 23rd 2018 at 10:55:25 AM

A list of things the bill is spending money on.

    GOP Congress rebuffs Trump and goes on a spending spree 
AGRICULTURE

USDA and the FDA would get $23.3 billion in discretionary funding, despite the White House’s calls for billions in cuts.

And Food for Peace, a food aid program that Trump wanted to eliminate, would get extra money, totaling $1.7 billion.

ARTS

Funding for the National Endowment for the Arts — which Trump’s budget would have cut — increases to $152.8 million. The National Gallery of Art gets $165.9 million, while the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts receives $40.5 million, both far above Trump’s request.

EDUCATION

The measure doesn’t include a single dollar for the private school vouchers that Education Secretary Betsy De Vos has made a key part of her tenure.

De Vos’ budget also proposed eliminating a $1.1 billion program for after-school programs. The omnibus not only rejected zeroing out the programs, but boosted them by $20 million to $1.2 billion.

The Trump budget also called for cutting the Federal Work-Study program in half — the omnibus instead gave it a $140 million boost.

The bill would block key parts of the Education Department’s effort to overhaul how it collects federal student loans.

It also boosts the funding for the Office of Civil Rights, which is in charge of investigating discrimination in schools. Appropriators said the money should be used for additional staff. The Trump administration has worked to shrink the office, which advocates complained was already understaffed.

ENVIRONMENT

The budget for the Environmental Protection Agency — which the White House sought to slash by one-third — escapes unscathed.

HEALTH

The National Institutes of Health, instead of seeing its budget shrink by $5.8 billion, will get a $3 billion increase — which lawmakers say is the largest ever.

Funding for the health department’s Title X grants program — called “America’s family planning program” — remains stable despite Trump’s proposal to eliminate it. (The administration is shifting the program’s to emphasize so-called natural family planning rather than traditional contraception.)

The Trump administration's proposed a 95 percent cut to the Office of National Drug Control Policy was rejected in the omnibus.

Congress keeps funding flat for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT office. Trump had proposed to slice its budget from $60 million to $38 million.

The White House in February proposed to cut the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health — CDC’s office dedicated to workplace health — by 41 percent and fold it into the National Institutes of Health. Congressional appropriators, meanwhile, trimmed the office’s $338 million budget by $3 million, or a less than 1 percent cut.

HOUSING

Community Development Block Grants would get a 10 increase funding increase in the omnibus. The Trump administration proposed to completely zero out its budget.

IMMIGRATION

The spending bill contains no major investment for a border wall with Mexico. There’s also no crackdown on so-called sanctuary cities that harbor undocumented immigrants.

TRANSPORTATION

Instead of eliminating a key grant program for transportation projects, the omnibus triples the funding to $1.5 billion.

The bill appropriates $2.6 billion for Capital Investment Grants for transit, which Trump’s budget wanted to wind down.

Trump wanted to cut the law enforcement reimbursement program for airports. The omnibus includes funding for that, too.

TL;DR version: Congress pretty much ignored his budget entirely.

edited 23rd Mar '18 11:03:27 AM by TheRoguePenguin

Julep Since: Jul, 2010
#236303: Mar 23rd 2018 at 11:01:40 AM

So, basically, Trump is making the GOP look sane in comparison.

Is this presidency a gigantic plot?

edited 23rd Mar '18 11:01:53 AM by Julep

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#236304: Mar 23rd 2018 at 11:04:36 AM

[up] That would require Trump to be willing to make himself look like an idiot to boost others.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Larkmarn Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Hello, I love you
#236305: Mar 23rd 2018 at 11:05:16 AM

Yeah, looking at reports on the bill it's... actually seeming pretty good. No wall funding, no giving money to Betsy De Vos, the main people complaining about it on the right were Sen. Paul and others that thought it did too much for the environment, and the left opposition is those that wish it helped the DREA Mers (though hopefully they won't keep yapping about that when they realize that they're hurting the DREA Mers and the party by clinging to that rhetoric).

Tobias, when you say "what consequences has Trump faced?!?" it's this kind of thing. Yes, it's not big and glitzy but this is a loss for him, one that wouldn't be possible if he didn't keep undermining himself. Now hopefully we'll still see some more exciting progress (and it's incredibly infuriating that A: he's still in power and B: he and his cronies are making millions of dollars off it), but it's not nothing.

Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#236306: Mar 23rd 2018 at 11:15:15 AM

[up]Well said.

And I've found an article that is rather apropos Republicans aren't sticking up for Trump's immigration agenda.

Frankly I think this is because they see all the signs pointing towards a Blue Wave and really don't want to make things worse for themselves by supporting Trump's idiotic and rather unpopular policies.

"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#236307: Mar 23rd 2018 at 11:48:09 AM

Trump wants to pass/veto bills on a line by line basis (which has already been ruled unconstitutional).

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-congress-spending-bill/h_a91448b541ab0a93120e9bf83306aa64

Can't see the GOP letting that fly, regardless.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#236308: Mar 23rd 2018 at 11:52:44 AM

[up]Someone take the Confederate Constitution away from him, he seems to be confused.

"You can reply to this Message!"
RainehDaze Figure of Hourai from Scotland (Ten years in the joint) Relationship Status: Serial head-patter
Figure of Hourai
#236309: Mar 23rd 2018 at 11:53:03 AM

He's also trying to convince people that it's Democrats that don't want to help with DACA. I don't think anyone's going to believe him.

Avatar Source
BlueNinja0 The Mod with the Migraine from Taking a left at Albuquerque Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
The Mod with the Migraine
#236310: Mar 23rd 2018 at 12:04:07 PM

Wait seriously? Do you have a link? I don't necessarily disbelieve you but I'm just shocked.
In the article I quoted, it mentions stuff he was doing while VP, like supporting tax discounts to states who built more prisons.
It's immensely disheartening that I had to read the article to remind myself which school shooting this was. There have been so many.
It's from the next one, right?
officials said Mr. Trump has hesitated, in part because of his negative reaction to Mr. Bolton’s walrus-style mustache.
Was shaving it off a condition of his employment?
So when will Trump use the words right wing terrorism?
About an epoch after he lands in the lowest circle of Hell?note 
Somehow being young, white, male, and using the internet in the early 2000s makes someone a hatred-filled nazi?
Someone is improperly drawing their Venn Diagram.
while I may occasionally, hyperbolically, call 'eat the rich,' I haven't actually gone out and decided to cannibalize rich people.
... No time like the present?
Trump wants to pass/veto bills on a line by line basis (which has already been ruled unconstitutional).
Haven't all modern Presidents wanted to do that, though?

So on my news feed, right after an article about how we're all doomed because "no one is left to restrain Trump," was a link to an Onion article, "Man's rapid rise through corporate structure shows how rapid turnover is." All I could think was, those two articles were made for each other.

Also in the news, the exercises between the US and South Korea may be cut short if Trump actually meets with Kim. Can't be playing war games when we might have actual war ... Full article text 

The annual Foal Eagle military exercises in South Korea could be cut short to avoid coinciding with the tentative summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the end of May.

In a cryptic joint statement Monday, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo said the massive joint exercises, which usually begin March 1 and run for two months, would begin April 1. The statement gave no end date for the exercises, and it is unclear whether U.S. aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines would participate as they have in previous war games.

However, South Korean media, citing military spokesmen, reported Wednesday that Foal Eagle will be limited to four weeks and conclude at the end of April.

The separate Key Resolve joint exercises, a command-and-control simulation, will also conclude before the end of April, the reports said.

"The Foal Eagle combined field training exercise will be staged for a month throughout April, while the Key Resolve command post exercise lasts two weeks from mid-April," a South Korean military spokesman said, according to the Chosun Ilbo newspaper.

On Tuesday, a Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Christopher Logan, told media outlets that Foal Eagle and Key Resolve would be of the "same scale, scope and duration as previous years."

Foal Eagle has been held annually for decades. In the 1990s and early 2000s, the exercises would sometimes run for a month or as short as a week but, in recent years, they have increased in scope as tensions rose on the peninsula. Foal Eagle now usually starts on March 1 and continues to April 30.

Last year, 3,600 U.S. troops were deployed to South Korea to join troops based there for Foal Eagle 2017, which ran from March 1 through April 30. A total of 11,500 U.S. troops participated with more than 290,000 South Korean forces in the joint exercises, according to the Pentagon.

In January, Mattis and Song agreed that Foal Eagle would be postponed from its usual start date of March 1 so as not to coincide with the Winter Olympics and Paralympics, in which North Korean teams participated.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in seized on the diplomatic opening the Olympics presented to send emissaries to Pyongyang to meet with Kim, resulting in the stunning announcement earlier this month that Trump had agreed to a summit in what would be the first meeting by a sitting U.S. president with a North Korean leader.

Chung Eui-yong, South Korea's national security adviser who led the talks with Kim in Pyongyang, said at the White House on March 8 that Kim "understands that the routine joint military exercises between the Republic of Korea and the United States must continue."

Chung also said that Kim had agreed to halt nuclear and missile tests leading up to the talks with Trump. The White House said the talks will focus on the "denuclearization" of the peninsula.

edited 23rd Mar '18 12:07:34 PM by BlueNinja0

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#236311: Mar 23rd 2018 at 12:09:29 PM

Man, if I was a South Korean (or even in the country) I'd be scared shitless that Trump/the US would sell the place up the river in exchange for Kim giving up his nukes. No US presence means that the North might be tempted to use their conventional forces to conquer the place.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Julep Since: Jul, 2010
#236312: Mar 23rd 2018 at 12:10:25 PM

That would require Trump to be willing to make himself look like an idiot to boost others.

Why would it? If the plan requires a scapegoat, it's even better when you find one that believes itself to be the mastermind.

Kaiseror Since: Jul, 2016
#236313: Mar 23rd 2018 at 12:13:52 PM

[up][up] In terms of conventional forces South Korea still has the edge over North Korea.

ElSquibbonator Since: Oct, 2014
#236314: Mar 23rd 2018 at 12:16:16 PM

One of my friends on a forum I'm a member of is from South Korea. How scared should I be for his safety? I've tried contacting him, but he hasn't replied.

RainehDaze Figure of Hourai from Scotland (Ten years in the joint) Relationship Status: Serial head-patter
Figure of Hourai
#236315: Mar 23rd 2018 at 12:19:44 PM

Not very. The US military isn't stupid and North Korea doesn't have a death wish.

Avatar Source
BlueNinja0 The Mod with the Migraine from Taking a left at Albuquerque Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
The Mod with the Migraine
#236316: Mar 23rd 2018 at 12:19:54 PM

[up]x3 Important note: there are US forces stationed permanently in South Korea. All US forces are not leaving the country just because these exercises are wrapping up early. Depending on the specifics of the exercises, extra units brought in for them will probably leave the area ... and go as far away as Japan.

Then again, one of the exercises is supposed to be an evacuation off a beach while under fire ...

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#236317: Mar 23rd 2018 at 12:24:53 PM

I was operating under the assumption that any de-nuking deal would involve a major drawback of the US presence in the South.

Now, such a deal is highly unlikely, but the specter is there. A more likely bad outcome is Trump simply getting fed up and launching an attack, or getting too aggressive and causing the KPA to panic.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#236318: Mar 23rd 2018 at 12:30:29 PM

As an addendum to math72d9 said, consider that "whiteness" as a racial category was largely created for pretty racist reasons. It was constructed largely as a tool to foster a sense of solidarity between european immigrants to help, thusly solidifying the colonial hierarchy the european powers were creating, with europeans at the top and native populations, african slaves and other "non-whites" at the bottom. In Europe proper there has historically been plenty of xenophobia and racism between different european groups, which is the why the far-right's pan-european white solidarity narrative comes across as an obvious, racist lie.

This is also why it's considered extremely dodgy for people to go about trying to celebrate "white" culture, but celebrating your spanish heritage, or italian heritage, or irish heritage, or german heritage is perfectly fine.

edited 23rd Mar '18 12:46:30 PM by Draghinazzo

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#236319: Mar 23rd 2018 at 12:31:06 PM

Something I came across I thought folks might find amusing:

PornHub greets bloggers after YouTube gun ban introduced

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43500714?SThisFB

YouTube has banned videos that show people how to manufacture or modify guns and their accessories. It had already banned videos linked to the sale of guns and accessories. Many firearms enthusiasts noticed that some of their videos had been removed from the video-sharing website and some had their channels suspended. Prominent gun video-bloggers said the move was an erosion of US citizens' rights, and some said they would move their content to PornHub instead.

edited 23rd Mar '18 12:31:18 PM by sgamer82

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#236320: Mar 23rd 2018 at 12:32:07 PM

I apologize in advance

edited 23rd Mar '18 12:32:58 PM by megaeliz

ElSquibbonator Since: Oct, 2014
#236321: Mar 23rd 2018 at 12:32:23 PM

I still think that's ignoring a lot of the signs. Trump clearly chose a man as pugnacious and pro-military as Bolton for a reason, and it's not even as though this is an isolated case. He's filling his entire Cabinet with people who aren't opposed to the idea of, well, getting involved in a land war in Asia.

Wariolander Since: Nov, 2017
#236322: Mar 23rd 2018 at 12:34:25 PM

[up]x4 Italians and Irish were not considered White and were treated the same way Latinos and Muslims are for a long time in the US.

edited 23rd Mar '18 12:34:48 PM by Wariolander

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#236323: Mar 23rd 2018 at 12:35:08 PM

[up][up]Weren't you the same poster who brought up Infowars of all things as evidence that we'd be getting into a war with North Korea by today?

edited 23rd Mar '18 12:35:59 PM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#236324: Mar 23rd 2018 at 12:36:10 PM

[up][up]Yes, until it was necessary for them to be "white" to protect what being "white" meant. That was the point being made.

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#236325: Mar 23rd 2018 at 12:36:35 PM

538 did a bit on this actully, they explained how Trump is bringing in new people based not on policy (where he’s very changeable) but on loyalty to him and a willingness to kiss his ass.[1]

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran

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