Trump: Taliban deal close, US troops to drop to 8,600

The Associated Press         DEB RIECHMANN
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday the U.S. plans to withdraw more than 5,000 American troops from Afghanistan and then will determine further drawdowns in the longest war in American history.

Trump's comment comes as a U.S. envoy is in his ninth round of talks with the Taliban to find a resolution to the nearly 18-year-old war. The president said the U.S. was "getting close" to making a deal, but that the outcome is uncertain.

"Who knows if it's going to happen," Trump told Fox News Radio's "The Brian Kilmeade Show."

Trump did not offer a timeline for withdrawing troops. The Pentagon has been developing plans to withdraw as many as half of the 14,000 U.S. troops still there, but the Taliban want all U.S. and NATO forces withdrawn.

"We're going down to 8,600 (troops) and then we'll make a determination from there," Trump said Thursday, adding that the U.S. is going to have a "high intelligence" presence in Afghanistan going forward.

Trump has called Afghanistan — where the Taliban harbored members of the al-Qaida network responsible for 9/11 — the "Harvard University of terror."

If terror groups ever attacked America from Afghanistan again, "we will come back with a force like they've never seen before," Trump said. But he added: "I don't see that happening."

Al-Qaida insurgents used Afghanistan as a base from which to plan the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the United States. A month later, U.S. troops invaded Afghanistan, where they have remained ever since, making it the longest war in American history. More than 2,400 American service members have died in the conflict.

The top U.S. military officer said Wednesday it's too early to talk about a full American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Pentagon reporters that any U.S. deal with the Taliban will be based on security conditions on the ground and that Afghan forces aren't yet able to secure the country without help from allied forces.

"I'm not using the withdraw word right now," Dunford said. "It's our judgment that the Afghans need support to deal with the level of violence" in the country today.

Afghanistan's government expects that U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad will soon update officials in Kabul on the progress of peace talks with the Taliban.

A Taliban spokesman also has said that they're close to a final agreement. But even as the talks go on, there are persistent attacks by the Taliban across Afghanistan, and an affiliate of the Islamic State group has taken root in the country and is expanding its base.

Even if Khalilzad is able to close a deal, it will remain for the Afghan government to negotiate its own peace agreement with the Taliban. Part of those talks will be determining a role for the Taliban in governing a country that it ruled before U.S. forces invaded in October 2001.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Trump wants to end "endless wars" while ensuring the United States is protected, which means getting adequate guarantees that Afghan territory will never again be used as a launching pad for attacks on the United States or its allies.

"In a place like Afghanistan, that translates into ensuring that ... we do everything we can to reduce the risk that terrorism will emanate from that space," Pompeo said Thursday on Hugh Hewitt's national radio show. "I am confident that we can do just that."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a key Trump supporter, and retired Gen. Jack Keane, a former Army vice chief of staff, urged caution.

"The United States cannot contract out the American people's security to the Taliban who, in exchange for a U.S. withdrawal, simply 'promise' to guarantee that al-Qaida and ISIS (in Afghanistan) are denied haven," they wrote in an op-ed Wednesday in The Washington Post.

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 Graham and Keane said they fear a U.S. withdrawal will not end the war and could start a new civil war as Afghan forces feel betrayed and abandoned and the Afghan government is severely undermined and weakened.

"The United States should never outsource its national security to anyone, especially the Taliban," they cautioned. "We cannot rely on the Taliban for security; we have lost too many soldiers at Taliban hands for that. The Afghan war must end on our terms, not the Taliban's."

Moreover, they said U.S. national security interests require that any deal the United States signs with the Taliban should allow for a "meaningful U.S. counterterrorism capability, coupled with a robust intelligence apparatus" to deal with threats from terror groups.
Stay tune : As The Stomach Turns

Witchy's opinion ;
Well, Putin doesn't like those American troops that close to him, or his ally Iran. So, he told Trump to get rid of them. 
Who does pulling out of the Iran Deal help? Russia who can now sell ALL the nuclear stuff they want to their military ally Iran.The Republican invaded Afghanistan, remember
There should not be any of the US troops. Let Ilhan Omar, AOC and Rashida Tlaib patrol Afghanistan.  I'm sure Trump will keep his promise. Just like he did with the border wall, the denuclearization of North Korea, his new and better healthcare plan, and settling the trade feud with China! Winning!!  everything with this guy is "real soon" or "many people have said" or "many people agree with me." for ONCE i would like a reporter to ask, "WHAT PEOPLE?" He seems not to want to mention names. Maybe it's the voices' in his head.
Sadly the lives of 2,400 men and women in the Middle East conflicts were those that could have been avoided.  The politicians who ran that war as well as the real war in Vietnam should have learned a lesson.  There we sometimes lost 2,400 or more in a week.  Let the Generals decide what we need to end any inevitable wars in the future.  Leave the media and politicians out of it.  I dont believe any word he says, but I do believe that he wants to used the allocated $ to the troops to use it in the construction of the Wall Mexico was supposed to py for. Besides who believes him anyways?? He is fishing for votes and before 2020 he will lie and lie about proyects etc..
Fox News anchor Shepard Smith on Wednesday called out Donald Trump's false claims about the southern U.S.-Mexico border wall and Puerto Rico after the president lashed out at the network.
During a segment on Shepard Smith Reporting on Wednesday afternoon, the Fox News host fact-checked Trump's recent claims about Puerto Rico. "President Trump is calling the island one of the most corrupt places on earth. He added [on Twitter] that 'by the way, I'm the best thing that's ever happened to Puerto Rico.' Those are opinions as opposed to facts," he said.
Smith went on to declare that Trump also "repeated his false claims" about the $92 billion aid that Puerto Rico has received, citing a tweet the president posted yesterday.
Nuff said..............HeHe

Trump promised a major tax cut if he and GOP wins in 2020

Geobeats           Aug 24th 2019 

President Trump has promised a “major middle income Tax Cut” if he and Republicans win in 2020. 

“‘Face It, You Probably Got A Tax Cut!’ This was a New York Times headline, and it is very true,” Trump tweeted Saturday. “If Republicans take back the House, and keep the Senate and Presidency, one of our first acts will be to approve a major middle income Tax Cut! Democrats only want to raise your taxes!” 

Trump was apparently referring to a Times report from April which says most Americans probably had their taxes reduced by the GOP-led tax overhaul even though a poll at the time found that many did not believe the changes impacted them. 

The president’s endorsement of the Times’ piece is notable given his frequent criticisms of the outlet.

Days ago, he tweeted: “The New York Times will be out of business soon after I leave office, hopefully in 6 years. They have Zero credibility and are losing a fortune, even now, especially after their massive unfunded liability. I’m fairly certain they’ll endorse me just to keep it all going!”
Stay tune: As The Stomach Turns    

What going on Witchy  :
We won't be FOOLED AGAIN,  Trump!! On 10/27/18 JUST BEFORE THE MID-TERMS, you promised a tax cut of 10% for "MIDDLE AMERICA".  IT NEVER HAPPENED!  Just like "Lock her up", "Mexico will pay", and "Health care, day one, so easy and cheaper than you have right now".  We've seen this MOVIE and it is a LIE.  Your lie did NOT HELP YOU ***BUY***  the Mid-terms and it WILL NOT HELP YOU BUY THE ELECTION, either.
This country can not afford another tax cut...we're in too much debt...we need to pay our debts.  Healthcare  bill ?  jobs  bill ?  coal  jobs ? jobs  for  West  Virginnia ?  jobs  for  Ohio ?  jobs  for  Michigan ?  jobs  for  Kentucky ?  imigration  bill ?  infrastructure  bill ?  treaty  with  North  Korea ?  Iran  deal ?  10 %  raise  for  our  military  personnel ?  10 %  tax  cut  for  our  Middle  Class ?  background  checks  for  firearms ?  
ALL   GOOD  REASONS   NOT   TO   VOTE   FOR   TRUMP
Everyone  is  still waiting for the 10% tax cut he promised right before the 2018 election.  Also waiting for the 10% he promised the military (retired military here).  Those of us who care know what his last tax cut did; my children, your children and your children's children will be paying for that one.   And for those of us who do care, the only way he can pay for a tax cut is to cut Social Security and Medicare and possibly shut down some agencies that he thinks aren't necessary; like EPA and or NOAA.  Not for one minute would I believe him on this one.   He knows he hasn't grown his base since 2016, he knows he has a very real chance of losing in 2020.   What he doesn't know is he can't fulfill his promises from 2016; what makes him think he can in 2020 or beyond?  Americans who are registered to vote, for goodness sake, vote him out in 2020 along with McConnell, Graham and any other Republican or Democrat who isn't doing their job.He is getting Desperate now, so he lies some more.   Which seems almost impossible, considering the amount he lies regularly.  His promises to the American people are about as reliable as all threetimes of his wedding vows. He doesn’t care about promises. He never has and he never will. 

Two things are unique about Ttump over any other president in my lifetime.
1) no other president has ever said “Believe me” as much;
2) no other president has told as many lies - that are PROVEN, not subject to “interpretation “ lies - just during their time in office.
He's desperate to win. If he doesn't, he knows he'll be facing charges; Mueller outright said so. If he does, the statute of limitations will save him. But I have hope that enough of his supporters have already seen enough of his horror show. My brother-in-law did, and he was one of those sheep-like followers, spouting all Trump's nonsense one-liners. Now he admits the guy is an embarrassment.

That's all  folks  for now........HeHe

Trump's response to climate change at G-7: More drilling

Yahoo News             KADIA TUBMAN
President Trump called himself “an environmentalist” while boasting about American oil and gas production at the G-7 summit in France on Monday. His answer came in response to a question about whether he believes in the reality of climate change, which he has previously described as a hoax.

He didn’t answer the question.

“In a nutshell, I want the cleanest water on earth. I want the cleanest air on earth,” Trump said at the end of a press conference before leaving the stage. “I’m an environmentalist. A lot of people don’t understand that. I’ve done more environmental impact statements ... than anybody that’s ever been president or vice president or anything even close to president.”

Environmental impact statements are required for most large development projects, such as building golf courses.
The United States does not have the cleanest air and water on earth. The president frequently makes this claim, which conflates traditional measures of pollution with greenhouse gas emissions, the cause of global warming.

“I feel that the United States has tremendous wealth, the wealth is under its feet. I’ve made that wealth come alive,” he said. “I’m not gonna lose that wealth on dreams, on windmills, which frankly aren’t working too well.”

Trump boasted about opening up the previously untouched Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling after decades of political controversy.

With over half of the world’s new oil and gas pipelines located in North America, more drilling could “deliver a major blow to efforts to slow climate change,” according to Global Energy Monitor.

“I think I know more about the environment than most people,” said Trump, who in 2017 announced the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement to globally reduce greenhouse gas emissions and was the only world leader who did not appear at the G-7 meeting on climate change over the weekend.

Last year, the world’s leading climate scientists released a report for the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, warning that globally, humans have until 2030 to cut carbon pollution and avoid the damaging effects of global warming like rising water levels and devastating storms.

Meanwhile, Trump has suggested that “we nuke” hurricanes headed toward the U.S.

“I want clear air. I want clean water. I want a wealthy country. I want a spectacular country with jobs, with pensions, with so many things,” Trump said.

But, he continued, “at the same time, it’s very important to me we have to maintain this incredible place that we’ve all built. We’ve become a much richer country. And that’s a good thing, not a bad thing, because that great wealth allows us to take care of people. We can take care of people that we couldn’t have taken care in the past.

“We can’t let that great wealth be taken away,” Trump added.
Stay tune : As The Stomach Turns

Lets see what's on Witchy mine:

At least we are changing our ways, it may be slow, but if everyone did something to help, it would accumulate.  I don't see why this is a Rep or Dem thing.  You can laugh all you want, but YOU are the problem, for not trying. Trump  is a genius:
1) he decided against wind power because the wind doesn't always blow
2) he decided against solar power because its dark at night

North Korea, Iran, Brazil and all South America, China and RUSSIA - all in turmoil per Trump.   Everything was better and quieter before 2016,  what else do you need to know to VOTE this Lunatic out of office and his Family and his Administration. WHAT??????
What Trump doesn't understand is that there is a large number of people who are smarter than he is.  He thinks that what little he knows is all there is to know, and considers himself a genius because he knows all that he thinks there is to know.  He doesn't understand complicated ideas and explanations, he's not interested in them, therefore, since they are outside his own knowledge, they must be fake.  This is a really dangerous president for America to have.
SMILE   HeHe

Donald Trump 'Is' the immigration problem he rants about

 

Earlier this week, the government conducted raids on agricultural processing facilities in Mississippi, arresting hundreds of undocumented workers. What you didn’t see, however, was the owners of those plants being led out in handcuffs, despite the fact that they almost certainly knew whom they were employing.

That is good news for President Trump, because if we lived in a country where the people who hire undocumented workers faced a serious threat of prosecution, he’d be in big trouble.

 The Post’s Joshua Partlow and David A. Fahrenthold report:

 

For nearly two decades, the Trump Organization has relied on a roving crew of Latin American employees to build fountains and waterfalls, sidewalks and rock walls at the company’s winery and its golf courses from New York to Florida.

Other employees at Trump clubs were so impressed by the laborers — who did strenuous work with heavy stone — that they nicknamed them “Los Picapiedras,” Spanish for “the Flintstones.”

For years, their ranks have included workers who entered the United States illegally, according to two former members of the crew. Another employee, still with the company, said that remains true today.

President Trump “doesn’t want undocumented people in the country,” said one worker, Jorge Castro, a 55-year-old immigrant from Ecuador without legal status who left the company in April after nine years. “But at his properties, he still has them.”

 

Partlow and Fahrenthold have identified at least eight Trump properties that employed undocumented workers, and interviewed dozens of them. As one said, “If you’re a good worker, papers don’t matter.”

And it’s not like this is some kind of anomaly. Trump has been employing undocumented workers for his entire career. Some of the people who built Trump Tower four decades ago later sued him, recounting “nightmare memories of backbreaking 12-hour shifts and of being cheated with 200 other undocumented Polish immigrants out of meager wages and fringe benefits.” According to this investigation, his modeling agency, Trump Model Management, brought in foreign models without working papers, instructed them to lie to customs officials about what they were doing in the United States, and kept them in squalid conditions while withholding most of their pay.

 

And there’s one other contradiction: At Mar-a-Lago, Trump hires foreign cooks, wait staff and housekeepers, claiming he can’t find Americans who’ll do the work. At least that is legal. But the basic fact remains: Trump tells his  supporters that undocumented immigrants represent an “invasion” of murderous outsiders who must be stopped at all costs, yet once they get here he hires them to work for him. Which of course means that he’s part of the reason that they come in the first place.

It’s a bit strange that Democrats don’t talk about this more often, especially given that a big part of the reason Trump got elected in 2016 was his argument that the American system is “rigged” against the interests of ordinary people. It was a powerful argument because it was true. Millions of voters who felt at the mercy of corporations and a government they believe didn’t care about them but instead functioned for the benefit of the wealthy and powerful nodded along in agreement when Trump said it.

The best counter-argument Democrats could offer isn’t that Trump is wrong and the system isn’t rigged, because it plainly is. The best counter-argument is that Trump himself is the one doing the rigging, cutting taxes for the wealthy and slashing regulations for corporations while he dodges his own taxes and employs undocumented workers.

ICE Raids Arrest and Handcuff 680 People in Mississippi

"Government please show some heart, let my parent be free with everybody else please…" she said through sobs. "…My dad didn't do nothing. He's not a criminal.


The operation is largest of its kind in at least a decade and comes after mass shooting suspect ranted about ‘Hispanic invasion’.

 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents swept through seven work sites in six cities across Mississippi on Wednesday, arresting approximately 680 people the agency said were undocumented immigrants in what officials said is the largest single-state workplace enforcement action in U.S. history.

The raids targeted agricultural processing plants, part of a year-long investigation into illegal employment of immigrants in the state, officials said. They did not say how many individuals they were targeting in the operations, nor what proportion of those taken into custody were what ICE calls “collateral” arrests — those who were swept up along with those ICE was seeking.

ICE acting director Matthew Albence said at a news conference in Jackson, Miss., that some of those arrested will be prosecuted for crimes, others will be swiftly deported, and some will be released pending immigration court hearings. Albence said the raids were part of normal ICE operations that seek to enforce U.S. immigration laws.
 

The Trump administration has been openly stepping up pressure on the nearly 11 million immigrants believed to be in the United States illegally, threatening mass arrests of families who have arrived recently as part of an effort to deter migrants from coming to the country. The administration also has sought to turn away asylum seekers — forcing some to await their court hearings in Mexico — and now plans to deport some Central Americans to Guatemala to seek asylum there instead as part of an international agreement.

 

Although President Trump telegraphed the family raids several times, they have not gone forward in full force. But ICE has continued operations that it says primarily target immigrants with criminal convictions as well as those who have been deemed deportable in U.S. courts. The Mississippi raids were a stark reminder that the administration is continuing to press on immigration, with some of its largest enforcement efforts to date.

“The arrests today were the result of a year-long criminal investigation, and the arrests and warrants executed today were just another step in that investigation,” Albence said Wednesday.

ICE Homeland Security Investigations conducted the operation in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi. ICE said such enforcement efforts are focused both on those who are seeking to work unlawfully in the United States and the employers who knowingly hire them.

“To those who use illegal aliens for a competitive advantage or to make a quick buck, we have something to say to you: If we find you have violated federal criminal law, we are coming for you,” said Mike Hurst, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi. But he declined to comment on whether anyone other than the immigrant workers would be charged as a result of the operation, which he said is ongoing.

Alabama-based Peco Farms Inc. confirmed in a statement that ICE raided three of its poultry processing plants in Mississippi, and the company said it is cooperating fully with federal authorities.

ICE routinely declines to provide details about individuals in its custody, but the number of those without known criminal histories out of those arrested in recent operations suggests a substantial proportion of “collaterals” during such raids.

A July analysis of ICE data by the American Immigration Council shows that ICE has cast a wider net in its arrest raids under the Trump administration than previously “in its search for individuals who may be deportable from the United States.”

Department of Homeland Security officials, emphasizing the severity of a mass influx of migrants at the Mexican border, have said repeatedly in recent months that ICE detention facilities are at capacity, forcing a backlog of detained immigrants at Border Patrol stations that are ill-equipped to hold people for long periods of time. A July report by the DHS Office of the Inspector General described ICE detention centers as “operating at or above capacity.”

“During the week of our visits, ICE had approximately 54,000 beds occupied nationwide, but was only funded for 42,000 beds,” the OIG report said. “In our discussions with ICE field management about this situation, they explained that their capacity to find additional bed space is strained.”

Handcuffed female workers are escorted into a bus in Morton, Miss., for transportation to a processing center following the raid. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP)

 

Congress in June approved a $4.6 billion emergency border aid package, and nearly $209 million was designated for ICE.

Speaking before a House Oversight Committee hearing in late July, Albence said the border crisis continues to strain resources, and he asked for more funding, saying that ICE capacity limits mean there is still a massive backlog in Border Patrol stations.“ICE is currently detaining over 53,000 single adults, and there are approximately 8,000 single adults in CBP custody awaiting processing or transfer to ICE,” Albence told members of Congress. 

Two plant workers are arrested and handcuffed

 

The raids in Mississippi came just days after a gunman killed 22 people in El Paso after reportedly driving across Texas with the intention of attacking immigrants near the U.S. border, an event that has struck fear into many Hispanic residents across the country. Coupled with Trump supporters chanting about sending minorities back to their countries and the president’s own references to an immigrant “invasion,” immigrant communities from coast to coast have been put on edge.

Those detained had been taken to a Mississippi National Guard hangar for questioning.

Forrest, Mississippi where one of the ICE raids happened, children of those who were arrested are left alone in the streets crying for help. Strangers and neighbors are taking them to a local gym to be put up for the night.

More images as volunteers try to feed the kids donated food and drinks for dinner tonight. But most children are still devastated and crying for their parents and can’t eat.

Officials said the Mississippi operation, which they said involved the mobilization of nearly 650 federal agents from across the country, was the result of a long-standing investigation that had no ties to current events. Albence said the shooting in El Paso was “horrific,” but he said the raid operation had been planned long beforehand, “and we intended to carry it out.”

A reporter at the news conference pointed out that the poultry farms seemed likely to have been employing illegal labor for years and asked: “Why now? . . . Do you feel like you’re being directed by President Trump to do this?”
“I feel like I’ve been directed to enforce the law,” Hurst responded.



Obama and Others on mass murder and Trump

Former President Barack Obama released a pointed statement condemning "language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders" that "normalizes racist sentiments." The statement, which did not directly name President Donald Trump, follows two mass shootings in the US in the span of 13 hours -- one of which involved a white supremacist suspect.



 

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley talks to reporters about President Trump’s planned Wednesday visit, saying she was “disappointed” with his Monday remarks and that “his rhetoric has been painful for many in our community.”