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Are they going to make Mexico pay for that large waste of concrete too?

I am happy that the rhetoric on both sides has de-escalated, and I give both sides credit for that to an extent. It is a good outcome. But Trump really did not do a great job in the negotiations. It may be that that is irrelevant because of other factors however - NK may feel it is time for them to normalize relations now that with nuclear weapons they are secure, China seems to be leaning on them more and more, and South Korea has a leader who is more interested in peace than posturing. So the time might be right in any case. I hope so. If Trump ends up being awarded the credit for that, I can live with it, but I think awarding him the credit would be dumb. But he already got to be president of the United States, so we're way past dumb already.

 Disciple of Fate wrote:
Are they going to make Mexico pay for that large waste of concrete too?

Who knows with Trump.

No doubt Trump will be celebrating this, but I doubt he'd know anything about the game, even if he were hit in the nuts with a soccer ball.

I shall continue this discussion on the world cup thread.

Everyone agrees that the war between North and South Korea should be ended, the military forces on both sides should be reduced to a sensible level, and it also is important to denuclearise NK to uphold the principle of anti-proliferation (because nukes are very dangerous.)

No-one is against Trump trying to achieve this as an aim. The issues people have raised are these:

1. It's stupid for Trump to attempt an anti-nuke deal with NK while simultaneously repudiating a working anti-nuke deal with Iran.

2. The results of the summit don't get us any nearer to such a deal.

3. In order to achieve this ineffective result Trump made several important giveaways without getting anything in return. I won't bother listing them again.

This does not mean that a deal is impossible, and we all hope it could be done, but what else will Trump have to give away to do it?

Honestly if I was Iran, I would be cranking up the nuclear program again. Weapons grade. As much as they can afford to sink in to it. Apparently that is the only way to get this president to the table to negotiate and he is bad at it, so free loot basically. No guarantee he will not win another term and who knows, the person after him might be another Trump or Trumplike President.

They could definitely use this situation to their advantage.

Anyone remember This?

The Wall Street Journal - Jan 2018 wrote:Around the same time, Mr. Trump had an idea about how to counter the nuclear threat posed by North Korea, which he got after speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin : If the U.S. stopped joint military exercises with the South Koreans, it could help moderate Kim Jong Un’s behavior. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis used an approach that aides say can work: “He says, ‘Your instincts are absolutely correct,’ and then gets him [the president] to do the exact opposite of what his instincts say,” said one person close to the White House. Mr. Trump dropped the idea, although he has ordered aides to give the exercises a low profile, eliminating press releases and briefings about them.

That said, I don't think halting exercises in pursuit of a lasting settlement in a bad thing, but the way it was done sounds all sorts of slapdash.

Also

Donald Trump's Twitter wrote:Just landed - a long trip, but everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office. There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea. Meeting with Kim Jong Un was an interesting and very positive experience. North Korea has great potential for the future!

President Donald Trump, through his Twitter account which has been declared by the White House to be official Presidential statements, has declared that North Korea is no longer a nuclear threat.

I guess we'll see how that bears out.

Edit: on a side note, can anyone imagine the apoplexy that would occur had Obama made such a statement (particularly the "interesting and positive" part)? Especially among the many lauding Trump currently? Not that I want to poopoo the peace process here, just observing the reactions.

I don't know what is more scary, that Trump actually believes that, or he doesn't but says it anyway to appeal to his base.

Hatling the exercises would be potentially a good thing if it was done in exchange for a meaningful concession by NK.

Instead it sounded like Trump was obsessed with saving money. He twice mentioned the cost of the exercises. Most people understand that armed forces are money sinks at the best of times, and they need training to become and stay effective, and this costs more money. But, si vis pacem, para bellum.

Secondly it was very wrong to make that decision and inform the world before having consulted with US regional allies.

All that being said, perhaps Kim will actually respond positively. While his family and regime have a long history of getting into talks and agreements and then reneging on whatever was promised, Kim himself does not yet. Maybe he will be different. (If he can trust Trump...)

Trump can't complain about exercises costing money while also making the US defense budget climb to new heights because in his opinion the army was a mess, its called having your cake and eating it too. Of course they cost money, but so much of the infrastructure in SK is already being paid for that actually cancelling them will be a drop in the ocean on the budget.

Trump is a disorganised mess who won't put in the work needed to master a brief.

Teump can blame Canada for invading the USA in 1812, when it was the USA who invaded Canada (or rather British North America since Canada didn't exist then) and use this as an excuse for strategic tariffs to overturn the balance of trade deficit between the USA and Canada when in fact the USA exports more to Canada than it imports from Canada.

He doesn't have much idea what is going on, and simply doesn't care anyway. The same attitude applies to his treatment of every issue that drifts into his rather hazy attention span. He just says stuff that he thinks will appeal to his base.

It doesn't matter as long as the Trumpist party are happy to applaud the colour of the sky changing on a daily basis.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-cooperate-attorneys-leave-case/story?id=55861988&cid=social_twitter_abcn

Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen likely to cooperate as his attorneys leave case, sources say

My familiarity with the US legal system depends on films liek Twelve Angry Men and Legally Blonde, so I don't understand the implications of this development.

From my viewpoint it might appear that Cohen's law firm (that is to say, who are representing him) have dropped the case because after lokoing at the documents they have realised he is clearly guilty and they don't have any chance of a successful defence. This may be completely wrong on several points, of course.

Are your lawyers allowed to dump you under such circumstance if it was actually true?

In the US lawyers have the right to a motion to be relieved of counsel. The defendant can appeal this, and try to force the lawyer(s) to stay on, but would you really want that?

Also, it might be a simple case of having run out of cash, and thus unable to pay said lawyers

Doubtful, he would be stuck with a public defender. Also, if its close enough to trial, the judge can simply force the private lawyer to stick around in order to ensure a fair trial.

Wow, so they do not have a duty to defend?

Whenever I hear the words Public Defender, I'm always reminded of Rick Moranis in Ghostbusters.

He wasn't a Public Defender, though. He was even more useless, because at least a Public Defender would be qualified in criminal law, unlike Louis Tully.

 Da Boss wrote:
Wow, so they do not have a duty to defend?

Private lawyers, no. If you can't find a lawyer, or can't afford one, the state will assign one to you as a public defender.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
He wasn't a Public Defender, though. He was even more useless, because at least a Public Defender would be qualified in criminal law, unlike Louis Tully.

In my experience of Jury duty, half the battle is turning up on time. You get 50% credit from the judge just for standing there on time

 Inquisitor Lord Bane wrote:

 Da Boss wrote:
Wow, so they do not have a duty to defend?

Private lawyers, no. If you can't find a lawyer, or can't afford one, the state will assign one to you as a public defender.

Ah okay that makes sense thank you.

 Da Boss wrote:

 Inquisitor Lord Bane wrote:

 Da Boss wrote:
Wow, so they do not have a duty to defend?

Private lawyers, no. If you can't find a lawyer, or can't afford one, the state will assign one to you as a public defender.

Ah okay that makes sense thank you.

Only problem is that PDs are so overstretched that they often spend 20 minutes with clients before their trial, John Oliver did an entire piece on it

Tuesday's scattered primaries seem to bolster the fact that Trump channeled the republican base better than any other Republican. The winners were pretty much Trumpers, and the losers were not. That is just a quick take on it.

In addition, on the Democratic side, the ladies seem to keep winning primaries.

 Easy E wrote:
Tuesday's scattered primaries seem to bolster the fact that Trump channeled the republican base better than any other Republican. The winners were pretty much Trumpers, and the losers were not. That is just a quick take on it.

In addition, on the Democratic side, the ladies seem to keep winning primaries.

I remember reading somewhere that the Dems have flipped their 43rd district/seat

 Disciple of Fate wrote:
Poor Abe, he spend so much time trying to convince Trump of Japanese concerns and then Trump just threw Abe under the bus. Well at least all those kidnapped Japanese are the real winners here...

Well, the people who already got kidnapped not so much. But as long as Trump and Kim keep up this good relations thing, there certainly won't be any more kidnappings.
Even if Trump did not get any hard, written-down concessions from North Korea (although with North Korea, a written concession doesn't have to mean anything), the détente between two nuclear powers who just months ago were threatening to destroy one another definitely brings a lot of benefit. A cordial relation with North Korea is so much better than being on the brink of war. If the cessation of joint US-South Korea exercises in Korea is the price for that, then I say that is a price well paid. It is not like the US or South Korea will stop cooperating or anything, and it massively reduces tensions. It is a good concession to make I think. It also shows to the world and North Korea that the US is willing to make compromises and work towards peace. Diplomatically, that is highly valuable as it shifts the onus to North Korea to make compromises as well. This could very well open up the way to a lasting peace, and if not, North Korea is to blame (barring the US doing anything stupid of course) and loses its last shreds of diplomatic credibility. That would mean no more deals in the future, and I am not sure North Korea could handle that.

My view of the Trump/Kim meeting is that Trump gave his fans a desperately needed 'win'. We see it in this thread, posters who have been silent for months after chowder-headed scandal after scandal kept piling up, suddenly coming out of the woodwork and claiming victory and progress despite actual evidence to the contrary.

What did the US gain from sitting down with Kim? The PotUS got to look competent and statesman-like, when in reality he is anything but.

 feeder wrote:
My view of the Trump/Kim meeting is that Trump gave his fans a desperately needed 'win'.

Indeed, transparently so. Lets just hope something actually concrete comes of it at some point.

We see it in this thread, posters who have been silent for months after chowder-headed scandal after scandal kept piling up, suddenly coming out of the woodwork and claiming victory and progress despite actual evidence to the contrary.

Funny how that seems to work

 Easy E wrote:
Tuesday's scattered primaries seem to bolster the fact that Trump channeled the republican base better than any other Republican. The winners were pretty much Trumpers, and the losers were not. That is just a quick take on it.

Well, that's what happens when you spend a decade using a media empire and various online associates to radicalize the base. The cesspool's starting to boil over and the conservative elites in Washington that used to be able to use the base's fears and anger are now being forced out because of it. Trump's election was basically proof that you can say or do basically anything, as long as it falls in with what Fox and Breitbart feed to the base. Just look at Neoconfederate Corey Stewart in Virginia, or Moore's campaign in Alabama.

And that's only been further fueled by the Republican's inability to do anything in the past year and a half other than failing to repeal the ACA and passing a massive tax cut for the rich. Remember Conor Lamb's election in PA - when the GOP realized that their tax cut message wasn't working, they fell back on "Be scared of brown people!" which is the Trumpian candidate's bread and butter.

So, AT&T, a content distributor, gets to buy Time Warner, a content creator. It's expected that Comcast, a content distributor, will announce a better-than-Disney offer to buy Fox, a content creator.
And Net Neutrality officially died this week.
Hmmm...

I thought Trump looked like a preening fool.

Trump gave away several important concessions, while annoying allies UK, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Canada by his sloppy, rude behaviour.

Trump gained zero from Kim.

The USA gained a possible in with Kim, but that could have been done without all the give-aways. Hopefully it will turn into something good.

You're right that Trumpists saw it as a win, but it has come to be obvious that if Trump sicked up on the Queen at a televised state dinner, somehow it would be seen a big win by Trumpists.