I don't get how Trump and the GOP say the Democrats need to be willing to negotiate. They are offering $1.6 Billion in additional funding. But Trump is acting like Veruca Salt, and stomping his feet, saying he wants $5.7 Billion, and he wants it now. That's not how negotiations work. You want $5.7, they offer $1.6, you come down to say $4.6, they come back at $2.3, you come back with $4 and permanent residence status for Dreamers, they come back with $3 and permanent resident status, then you meet at $3.5 and permanent resident status. You don't just keep acting like a child throwing a temper tantrum and demanding the $5.7, and if you don't get it, the other side is the one's being unreasonable.

The "Pro-life" party, that loves the death penalty and war, so not really pro-life at all, is now holding millions of Americans (800k, plus their families, plus the millions of people who depend on those services) hostage in an act of economic terrorism, until the other side fully caves into their demands. They are the ones not willing to negotiate, but are doing some 1984 level doublespeak, and blaming it all on the Democrats. And the Fox News types are eating it up, which is probably why Trump thinks he's winning. "Just look. Steve says I'm doing good and that all real Americans support me."

They need to pass a law, that Congress, their aids and staff, the President, their aids and staff, the White House aids and staff... all don't get paid on any shutdown. If they've already given up their salary (I love how Trump followers commend Trump for giving up his salary, while ignoring he makes more a year off the Secret Service than he would in years of salary) then they have to reimburse that salary they would have made in that time. Congress and the President may not take back pay, and it takes a 60% vote to authorize the aids and staff back pay, but only if all other Federal workers also get their back pay first in a separate and prior authorization.

I'm thinking he's wanting to negotiate a name change.
*quality trick

No, they aren't compelling in the least, they're obvious disingenuous propaganda, lies, and misdirection not worth debunking.....but you asked so here's your comments.....

First....
"catch and release" refers to a practice of releasing an immigrant to the community while he or she awaits hearings in immigration court, as an alternative to holding them in immigration detention.The migrants whom U.S. immigration enforcement agencies have allowed to remain in the community pending immigrant hearings have been those deemed low risk, such as children, families, and those seeking asylum.

There is no "hard-and-fast definition" of the phrase, which is pejorative. Rather, the phrase refers to a "collection of policies, court precedents, executive actions and federal statutes spanning more than 20 years, cobbled together throughout Democratic and Republican administrations."-Wiki

So he starts by lying about what catch and release is and who started the policies.

....Can send the asylum seeker to the interior until they've been adjudicated, which can be forever......
No, it can't be forever, and Trump/Republicans are doing all they can to extend the wait times. Obama did it to unaccompanied minors, he didn't separate families. Another lie. Funding immigration courts would solve it all, end separation and get everyone processed in a reasonable, legal timeframe....perhaps why Trump took that off the table.

Really, a Faux news talking head wants to deride someone's English.....Try Trump, he can't put a rational English sentence together.....ever.

Trump destroyed Daesh? I think Syria and Russia might disagree, as well as Daesh, which is still in existence.

Yes, the N Korea summit was a loss for us and a win for them. We gave massive concessions and granted them official recognition, and got vague unsecured promises to negotiate in the future in return.


You claim to not be a Trumpophile, but it's blatantly obvious that's a lie. Your bias is so thick and blinding perhaps you can't see through it.

No comments? Seriously? How do you explain this away? Is the self proclaimed master negotiator really just an uneducated macho malicious wannabe dictator?

He is not clinically stupid and seems to have a limited set of social skills but he appears to be totally oblivious. He has the words (also a limited set), but he does not know things.

Which sane first world person could possibly consider the man in this video to be a viable community leader?

The only rational explanation I can come up with is that god has a sense of humour. Something is not right.

Jesus, Bob, you can't be that dumb....you....just...can't. You repeat debunked conspiracy theories on a video about mentally challenged republican conspiracy theorists?! Why not go on to complain about the illegal alien voters and the fish people infiltrating the intelligence communities too?

Spy-a person who secretly collects and reports information on the activities, movements, and plans of an enemy or competitor.
Informant-a person who shares information.

The details gathered from informants were given to Republicans last week, and they left the meeting supporting the Muller investigation, a turn around from before the meeting, but all those republicans must now be liberal Trump haters just lying, right? *facepalm

Plenty of Trump/Russia related information is already public, just not undeniable proof of pure DJT collusion.....yet. (There is enough to prove he is either involved or a brain dead slug of a leader, as only a brain dead slug could possibly not notice every person on the campaign talking and doing business with Russia) Hide and wait.
The Clinton/Whitewater investigation lasted 5+ years and found nothing improper in the deal, you can start whining again in 4 years that it's taking too long to prove his crimes, but absolutely not before.
No one (except the Russians) spied on Trump, but we absolutely should have considering the international ties every person in his campaign had with our enemies that they consistently lied about/hid.
Stop lying, and stop repeating orange Kanye's obvious lies. Asking his people questions is, in no way whatsoever, spying or embedding spies....just didn't happen.
The Fed's DID spy on Clinton, and found no crimes. Odd you aren't outraged by that clear spying on a candidate.....oh wait, you are outraged that they didn't go farther with her.

Conservatives are getting fed up because they can't admit they elected a consummate con man who has destroyed our international standings, our ability to negotiate, the budget, the debt, and civility, and having it shoved in your face makes you mad. You're fed up because he does at least one unpresidential thing daily and it's reported/tweeted.

After >8 years of insane (Kenyan Muslim), ridiculous (pizza gate), non stop (still going on) Obama bashing, you must be incredibly embarrassed that your team can't take 1/4 of what they dish out. Sad little snowflakes.

Beware going to the polls unless you want to be turned gay....and heads up, mail in ballots are impregnated with a virus that turns you into a Muslim.

Bob, you really need to learn that right wing media lies to you.

You mean a "personal deal" just like the one Trump's working towards in Korea? (until this renigging on a nuclear deal that is, those negotiations just got more difficult by far)

No, I suppose not, because Trump isn't working with the authority of the UN or any other countries, or congress, he's doing it on his own.

What do you mean...because....The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 (H.R. 1191, Pub.L 114–17 is a bill that was passed by the US Congress in May 2015, giving Congress the right to review any agreement reached in the P5+1 talks with Iran aiming to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Some light reading for you....
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/oct/19/nikki-haley/haley-wrongly-says-congress-had-no-input-iran-nucl/

http://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2015/sep/11/congress-votes-deal

Please look into your baseless claims before repeating them, your reputation needs a boost.

This looks like a game of high-stakes chicken. There are a set of international collision regulations (COLREGS) that every cadet all over the world has to learn by heart to gain a certificate of competency.

Sometimes these rules are inaccurately reduced to "right of way" rules. In fact, the rules oblige actions on all ships in a potential collision situation: one will be the "stand-on vessel", and the other will be the "give-way vessel": obliged to make an early and obvious maneuver to avoid the collision, in a prescribed direction (generally turn to starboard). The ships involved can instead get on the radio and negotiate a different plan, but absent that, these are the rules.

One rule governs overtaking, where the vessel being overtaken is the "stand-on vessel" and the vessel overtaking is the "give-way vessel". Another governs crossing, where in a crossing path situation the vessel which has the other ship to port (on the left, looking forward) is the "stand-on vessel" and the other is the "give-way vessel".

So in the situation we see in the video, the ship in which we are standing is clearly to port of the other vessel and so would be the "give-way" vessel. It should have made a slight starboard turn much much much earlier to pass behind the other vessel.

Except what if the other vessel overtook this ship and passed in front? This happens sometimes, where a vessel in a hurry and in the "give-way" position decides to make an early change to put it in the "stand-on" position and force the other ship to move. This is what's known internationally as a "dick move" and probably criminal.

Unless we have the full radar track for both ships we can't know who was at fault. Since they thankfully didn't collide, the MAIB won't have to figure this out and send anyone to jail.

I doubt that. ;-)

Except for territory they hold, I agree, Palestinian suffering is their only influence, and that's not much.

I agree, because we back them, Israel does as it pleases. I do think the 'arab world' has legitimate complaints beyond Palestinian suffering, like constantly expanding borders and expulsion from historical holy sites.

I see no chance for a single state (where non Jews are sub-citizens with no vote or power) or an Israeli designed two state (where only barren desert is Palestinian with all water and access controlled by Israel, shut off at any hint of complaint).

The Palestinians do want a two state solution, just not one where any land worth having is Israel and the leftovers are Palestine.

Israel gains nothing from negotiating when they can get what they want, like recognition of another land grab (Jerusalem) without negotiating. That's why this move is horrendous, it gives them incentives to not negotiate and just act unilaterally.

I don't think propaganda is that important to them that they actually prefer their allies suffering to reasonable resolutions, but I don't think that any reasonable resolutions are being offered or even discussed. Given that, what's the option? Outright war? With us backing Israel, that's a no go.

I think, if given a solution that didn't give everything to Israel, the Palestinians would jump at it (maybe not Hamas, but the people). Being offered second class citizenship after having all their land and possessions taken is not workable, and it's what they seem to get.

If N Korea sells Iran a nuke, I hope we can we go back to negotiations instead of genocidal one sided dictations.

I think I see things more jadedly than you do.

Here's what I see of the situation. On a nation state level, nobody cares about the Palestinians. The Palestinians only influence on the chess board is their suffering. All of their 'allies' like Syria, Egypt and Iran don't care about the Palestinians for anything more than making sure that they suffer, the greater and the more public that suffering the better propaganda it makes. Israel and it's allies only care about the Palestinians in so far as that same suffering makes them look bad and sways public opinion as well. The threat from the Palestinians is a police and humanitarian matter, not a military one.

So everybody with boots on the ground doesn't care about the Palestinians. The Israeli side will take what they want as long as public opinion isn't too onerous on it. The Arab nations will actively arm, encite and push the Palestinians from peace to violence at ever turn because it ensures they serve their 'purpose' of public suffering better.

I count exactly zero hope for a two state solution reached between Palestinian and Israeli's as equals. A future of the region where the Palestinian people are afforded a better future either in a province of Israel, or their own state created under terms dictated to it by Israel I see as at least an existent possibility. I honestly believe seeking something more is simply not a possibility because NOBODY wants it. The Israeli's don't, the Palestinians allies don't, even the Palestinians themselves don't.

You seem to think maybe the parties can be made to change their minds on that, but it runs contrary to their self interests.

Israel gains nothing by backing down and negotiating as equals for a two state solution.

Palestine's 'allies' actually lose out greatly in any resolution to the status quo because it currently ties down Israel and makes for great propaganda. They'd lose that and gain nothing in return but less suffering for the Palestinians whom they don't care about.

Palestinians themselves might be persuaded to change their minds, but the only ones swaying their public opinion are their 'allies' with a vested interested in making sure they continue to fight forever for all of Palestine and not settle for two states. Additionally, for all intents and purposes their opinions don't matter anyways because they lack the power to make a meaningful difference.

None of the above is my opinion on how I would like things to be, nor how I think they should be, but rather how I see it actually looking. Nation state actions can usually be stripped down to narrow self interest and naught else. The exceptions are failures of the state representation, like say a dictator choosing their personal interest over a national one, or a buffoon blundering off into idiotic random actions...

Perhaps it was, perhaps it wasn't, but now it's unequivocal that we aren't working for peace, we are working for Israel, and finding a solution that's acceptable is exponentially harder, especially since no one trusts us to keep our word anymore and we can't mediate.

This gave Israel their biggest wish (besides all Palestinians just evaporating) and offered the Palestinians nothing but a nice "Fuck you", stay off our holy land. For that concession, we got nothing, zip, nada. Great mediating...give one side what they want, then pretend mediation doesn't work. What a negotiator, the best ever. Fuck.

Can anyone honestly tell me that in their wildest dreams this somehow advances the peace process? That's like Miss America thinking she won't be oogled while changing by the pageant owner in her dressing room level naivete.

Politico has a long piece on Boehner. It includes this little gem:

On Sunday, July 17, it appeared they had a deal. Boehner and Virginia Representative Eric Cantor—whom the speaker had reluctantly brought into the negotiations, knowing the majority leader’s distrust of Obama could poison the talks—worked out some final details that morning at the White House. When the president returned from church, Boehner says, he invited them both into the Oval Office and shook their hands. Some fine-tuning remained, but in Boehner’s mind the so-called grand bargain was done. The framework included reforms to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security; $1.2 trillion in cuts to discretionary spending; and $800 billion in new revenue. “I was one happy son of a bitch,” Boehner tells me.

The next 48 hours changed everything. On Tuesday morning, the so-called Gang of Six—three senators from each party who had been discussing their own sweeping fiscal agreement—announced a briefing for their colleagues at the Capitol. They unveiled a separate framework, totally unaware of what Obama and Boehner had agreed to. This deal included significantly more revenue. Chambliss, by then a senator, was one of the GOP Gang members and had no idea—because Boehner had been negotiating with the president in private—that their announcement would kill the speaker’s deal with the White House. Obama saw that Republican senators were endorsing a deal that included far more revenue, and knew there was no way he could sell the grand bargain to his liberal base. When he came back with a counteroffer, seeking a higher revenue number, it validated Cantor’s warnings about not trusting the president. And by that point Boehner’s members had heard enough about the grand bargain to know they didn’t like it—with the $800 billion revenue figure, much less something higher.

So the deal fell apart, and the two sides peddled their competing versions of events: Boehner’s team said the White House moved the goal posts, while Obama’s allies said the speaker couldn’t sell his own members on the deal.

Ugh. Unpopular opinion incoming....

Trump is no genius, but he's smart enough to have learned how to talk dumb. He's trained himself to speak using simple language. How he speaks, and how he crafts the public's perception of himself is no accident. This has worked to his advantage both in appeal to those... less educated than himself, and in negotiations, when opponents might underestimate him, as all his opponents did during the last election.

/unpopular opinion.

Now to be clear, I don't like Trump. Just stating what I see. He isn't stupid.

Also see this vid:

https://videosift.com/video/How-Trump-Uses-Words