Cleveland Sports Forum

This past week, some damaging reports from CNN hit a bump in the road, but, if trump can get away with all his lies, I believe CNN will recover from their mistake.

WE CAN'T LOSE SIGHT OF THE FACT THAT TRUMP IS STILL EVIL.

Russia is eating this shit up. Putin has taken a page from trump's handbook and now HE is leveling assaults against our free press . Dangerous! Very Dangerous road ahead! We need the continued efforts of a free press or we become no better than Russia, Mexico, and Venezuela.

Ten journalists were murdered in Mexico in 2016. The country is riddled by corruption and organized crime, making reporting extremely dangerous.

In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, semi-despots tightly control what kinds of journalism citizens can access. In the Asia-Pacific, the issue is prison time for journalists, as well as dictatorships that create information “black holes.” Things are even getting worse in Europe, a longtime leader on these issues.

North Korea, Eritrea and Turkmenistan — total autocracies all — ranked as the worst press offenders. In North Korea, for example, “even listening to a foreign radio broadcast can lead to a spell in a concentration camp.” Syria, the world's deadliest country for journalists, ranks just a bit higher, at 177. China and Vietnam also rank near the bottom, since they jail more reporters than any other country.

Turkey is in a “downward spiral.” The country has fallen 56 places in the past 12 years. After a coup attempt this summer, the country's leaders imposed a state of emergency that has allowed authorities to shutter dozens of media outlets. More than 100 journalists are detained without trial.

We are facing a turning point in US political history. Voters can make a difference!

We have lost credibility at home and abroad. With a gutted State Department, we've lost our negotiating powers. We can no longer be trusted by our allies due to the fact that this president is filled with mindless decisions executed with minimal knowledge and potentially catastrophic results.

Mueller should continue his investigations and must not be bullied. In the end, the truth will come out.

trumps decision to move our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem has, knowingly, by the president, the white house, and the republican party, sparked widespread violence. People have died because of this decision. "Trump ‘warned of consequences’ of moving embassy to Jerusalem".

Mr Abbas’s spokesman said the Palestinian leader, who met Mr Trump in Washington DC in May, warned the US president of the “dangerous consequences such a decision would have to the peace process and to the peace, security and stability of the region and of the world.” Turkey also warned Washington that the issue was a “red line” for Muslim countries.

I'm not a lawyer, but I ask if this was a criminal act !?!?!? By words or action, if I sparked an act of violence that resulted in injuries and deaths, would I not be arrested and charged accordingly?

Nikki Haley continues to defend the president's decisions on the move. Haley another Huckabee??

To her credit, Nikki Haley agrees with the majority on all the accusers including the accusers of the president!

EU tells Netanyahu it rejects Trump's Jerusalem move

BRUSSELS/CAIRO (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took his case to Europe to ask allies to join the United States in recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but met a firm rebuff from EU foreign ministers who saw the move as a blow against the peace process.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, took his own case to Egypt on Monday and was expected to fly to Turkey for a meeting of Muslim countries this week, cementing support from leaders who say the U.S. move was a dire error.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKBN1E50KO

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Buoyed by mayoral votes, Venezuela socialists eye presidency race

CARACAS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Maduro has set his sights on Venezuela’s 2018 presidential election after the ruling Socialist Party dominated mayoral polls with the help of a partial boycott by a divided opposition.

Enjoying a political breather after a year of ferocious domestic protests and damaging foreign sanctions, the 55-year-old successor to Hugo Chavez said the government had won at least 90 percent of the 335 mayorships in Sunday’s election.

Latest official results gave him 21 of 23 state capitals as well as Caracas’ main district, with full results due later on Monday. The landslide win for the socialists was no surprise, given three of the biggest opposition parties did not field candidates.......

“Let’s get ready for 2018!” he told cheering supporters in a Caracas square shortly before midnight on Sunday, next to a statue of Venezuela’s independence hero Simon Bolivar........

Venezuela’s 30 million people are enduring one of the worst economic meltdowns in recent Latin American history. Millions are skipping meals, missing medicines, and lining up for hours at shops during acute shortages and crippling inflation.....

Opposition parties said Sunday’s vote was full of irregularities and meaningless, and reiterated demands for changes to the electoral system for the 2018 vote.

“What we saw yesterday was an electoral farce that in no way represents the will of the people,” said Popular Will party leader Juan Andres Mejia, citing abuse of state resources and coercion of government employees to vote.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vene ... SKBN1E4044

FILE - French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during the COP23 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, Nov. 15, 2017.

PARIS —

Emmanuel Macron plans to award multi-year grants for several U.S.-based scientists to relocate to France, his office said on Monday on the eve of a climate summit hosted by the president to raise finances to counter global warming.

Macron unveiled the "Make our Planet Great Again" grants after President Donald Trump in June said he was pulling the United States out of an international accord to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that was brokered in Paris in 2015.

Macron repeatedly tried to persuade the U.S. leader to reverse his decision. In a statement, the Elysee Palace said 13 of the initial 18 grants would be awarded to scientists based in the United States. Macron will make a detailed announcement later on Monday evening......

https://www.voanews.com/a/france-awards ... 59386.html

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[ So it came to pass that 71 years ago today, 88 Nazi scientists arrived in the United States and were promptly put to work for Uncle Sam - A different kind of war to save the earth for our next generation ????? ]

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Arnold Schwarzenegger slams Trump for pulling U.S. out of Paris climate accord

Arnold Schwarzenegger is arguing that U.S. President Donald Trump’s rejection of the Paris climate accord doesn’t matter, because companies, scientists and other governments can “pick up the slack” to reduce global emissions.

The Hollywood star and former California governor took a spin on a Parisian electric bike Monday as part of events leading up to an international climate summit Tuesday hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Schwarzenegger said “Donald Trump pulled Donald Trump out of the Paris agreement,” but many in the private sector, cities and state governments, engineers and universities remain committed to fighting climate change.

A prominent environmental campaigner, Schwarzenegger acknowledged that many people “don’t understand what global warming or climate change really means,” and urged environmental activists to focus on efforts to fight pollution instead because of its health risks.

THE VIDEO

https://youtu.be/sSul45GFNaE

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A new report from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory predicts a link between sea ice melting in the Arctic and drier conditions in California over the next several decades.

Warming Arctic, Drier Regions, and Wildfires: Is There a Link?

LOS ANGELES —
Many scientists believe the Arctic, one of the fastest-changing places on the planet, could drive change in other parts of the world, including wildfire-ravaged Southern California.

In a recent NASA mission called Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG), climate scientist Josh Willis embarked on a journey to study ice in Greenland and surrounding oceans and how much oceans are eating away at the ice around the edges of the ice sheet. The data collected included the ocean’s temperature and salinity, and the shape and depth of the sea floor.

“The shape of the sea floor determines how much the warm water can reach in and touch the glaciers,” said Willis, who works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles.

https://www.voanews.com/a/warming-arcti ... 56435.html

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FILE - President Donald Trump speaks about tax reform at the St. Charles Convention Center in St. Charles, Mo., Nov. 29, 2017.

Top EU Economic Powers Warn US About Tax Plans

BRUSSELS —

The European Union's top five economies are warning the United States that its massive tax overhaul could violate some of its international obligations and risks having "a major distortive impact" on trade.

In a letter to U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, the finance ministers of Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Spain wrote they had "significant concerns" about three tax initiatives in particular.........

They specifically targeted the so-called Base Erosion and Anti-abuse Tax (or BEAT) Senate bill. This measure aims to combat what is called base erosion and profit shifting, the practice by some multinationals to avoid tax by exploiting mismatches in countries' tax rules to artificially report their profits in countries with low or no taxes......

The EU's 28 finance ministers had already expressed concern about the U.S. plans during a meeting last week, but now its five biggest economies have gone ahead with their own warning.

https://www.voanews.com/a/top-eu-econom ... 59419.html

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In a poll just done of 14,000 large and small manufacturer CEO's, over 94% were optimistic about the economy now. That is 30 points higher than before Trump was elected. And the highest number since NAM started taking the poll 20 years ago.

If tax reform passes 1/3 of the CEO's said they will now increase spending, 58% would expand their business, and 54% said they would be hiring new workers. And at better pay.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/11/manufac ... eform.html

I noticed on social media Obama and some of his kool aid drinking followers are trying to act like it was Obama's policies that were now improving the economy. That is the dumbest thing I ever heard. He was in office 8 years, you would have seen this long before now. Reagan passed Tax Reform in '81, to be phased in unfortunately. By 83-84 the economy was booming. Would have been quicker if not for the phasing in of cuts. I guess Obama's special plan takes 9 years to bear fruit. What nonsense.

We had lost 5 million manufacturing jobs since 2000 before Trump elected.

In January many CEO's and company big wigs met with Trump, and following the meetings announced they were bringing manufacturing back to America. Liberal news does not mention this fact when they are crediting Obama. But we all remember it well.

Ford motor company had been planning on building a 1.6 billion dollar plant in Mexico. Trump brought it up many times during campaign. But after the Big 3 automaker CEO's met with Trump in January Ford's CEO announced they were cancelling the Mexico plant and would instead invest 700 million dollars in expanding a plant in Flat Rock, MI that would add 700 good paying manufacturing jobs to that community.

Not to be outdone, Hyundai then announced that they would invest another 3.1 billion in their U.S. plants. ... GM announced they would invest an extra 1 billion in U.S. manufacturing next year resulting in at least 1,500 new or retained jobs. 450 of those jobs were being moved from Mexico to Michigan. And Toyota made a separate announcement that its factory in Princeton, Ind., will add 400 jobs under a $600 million investment.

Another company that Trump mentioned a lot during the campaign was Carrier air conditioners. Who can forget the February '16 video of the company telling 1,400 Indiana workers that they were losing their jobs. They were being outsourced to Mexico. Right after the election Trump announced he reached a deal with Carrier keeping 1,000 of those jobs in Indiana.

Let us not forget the big meeting Trump had with Lockheed Martin big wigs in January. Trump complained about the price of their jets. After the meeting the CEO announced that not only were they going to drop the price of F-35 jets to the U.S. government but they were going to hire an additional 1,800 workers at their Texas plant.

Bayer representatives met with Trump in January, after meeting they announced they were bringing manufacturing back to America with 9,000 new manufacturing jobs and 3,000 new high tech jobs for a new plant. They have also set aside 16 billion for agricultural research for next 6 years, and announced they would spend half of that here in U.S.

In recent years IBM has sent thousands of jobs out of America to cheaper places such as India, and in May of 2016 they announced even more "massive layoffs". But in December of '16 their CEO, Ginni Rometty, announced they were going to invest 1 billion back in the USA and create at least 25,000 new jobs in U.S. What changed between May and December? Oh yeah, Trump was elected.

After Trump was elected Wal-Mart announced they would hire 10,000 new retail employees. In addition, the company estimates that the construction or remodeling of stores, distribution centers and other facilities will support a further 24,000 construction-related jobs.

Sprint announced in December '16 that they were going to hire another 5,000 U.S. workers. Funny timing, right after election.

This all happened because of Trump. Period.

Waiting for Congress, Mnuchin Makes 2nd Emergency Debt Move

WASHINGTON —

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Monday he is making a second emergency move to keep the government from going above the debt limit while awaiting congressional action to raise the threshold.

In a letter to congressional leaders, Mnuchin said he will not be able to fully invest in a large civil service retirement and disability fund. Skipped investments will be restored once the debt limit has been raised, he said.

In September, Congress agreed to suspend the debt limit, allowing the government to borrow as much as it needed. But that suspension ended Friday.

The government said the debt subject to limit stood at $20.46 trillion on Friday. Mnuchin has said he will employ various "extraordinary measures" to buy time until Congress raises the limit.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated in a recent report that Mnuchin has enough maneuvering room to stay under the limit until late March or early April.

If Congress has not acted before Mnuchin has exhausted his bookkeeping maneuvers, the government would be unable to borrow the money it needs to meet its day-to-day obligations, including sending out Social Security and other benefit checks and making interest payments on the national debt.

In August 2011, a standoff between Congress and the Obama administration over raising the borrowing limit came down to the wire and prompted the Standard & Poor's credit rating agency to impose the first-ever downgrade of the government's credit rating.

Raising the debt limit is a separate issue from the need for Congress to pass a spending bill to cover government operations. A failure to pass a spending bill triggers a partial government shutdown but does not carry the potential catastrophic market disruptions that a failure to raise the debt limit poses.

In his new letter, Mnuchin said, "I respectfully urge Congress to protect the full faith and credit of the United States by acting to increase the statutory debt limit as soon as possible."

https://www.voanews.com/a/waiting-for-c ... 59486.html

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Muslim leaders call on world to recognize East Jerusalem as Palestinian capital

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Muslim leaders on Wednesday condemned U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and called on the world to respond by recognizing East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who hosted the summit of more than 50 Muslim countries in Istanbul, said the U.S. move meant Washington had forfeited its role as broker in efforts to end Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“From now on, it is out of the question for a biased United States to be a mediator between Israel and Palestine, that period is over,” Erdogan said at the end of the meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation member states.

“We need to discuss who will be a mediator from now on. This needs to be tackled in the U.N. too,” Erdogan said............

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKBN1E70KM

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Two Reuters journalists arrested in Myanmar, face official secrets charges

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar’s government said on Wednesday that police had arrested two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo. The reporters had been working on stories about a military crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority in Rahkine State that has caused almost 650,000 people to flee to neighboring Bangladesh.

The Ministry of Information said in a statement on its Facebook page that the journalists and two policemen face charges under the British colonial-era Official Secrets Act. The 1923 law carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.

The reporters “illegally acquired information with the intention to share it with foreign media,” said the statement, which was accompanied by a photo of the pair in handcuffs..............

“Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been reporting on events of global importance in Myanmar, and we learned today that they have been arrested in connection with their work,” said Stephen J. Adler, president and editor-in-chief of Reuters.

“We are outraged by this blatant attack on press freedom. We call for authorities to release them immediately,” he said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myan ... SKBN1E71CO

US demands release of Reuters reporters detained in Myanmar

(CNN)The US embassy in Yangon expressed concern Wednesday over the "highly irregular" arrest of two Reuters journalists in the Myanmar capital.

The journalists -- identified by Reuters as Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo -- were arrested Tuesday evening "after they were invited to meet with police officials," the embassy said.

"For a democracy to succeed, journalists need to be able to do their jobs freely. We urge the government to explain these arrests and allow immediate access to the journalists," an embassy statement said.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/13/asia/reut ... index.html

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North Korea's Kim Jong Un fetes rocket scientists, promises more weapons

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un vowed to develop more nuclear weapons on Tuesday while personally decorating scientists and officials who contributed to the development of Pyongyang’s most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-15...........

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nort ... SKBN1E703Q

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WASHINGTON—Americans ramped up their spending in stores and online in November, which included Black Friday and Cyber Monday, key sales days for retailers.

Spending at stores, online-shopping websites and restaurants rose 0.8% in November from the prior month, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected a 0.3% increase in November. Retail sales increased 5.8% from November 2016.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-retail ... 1513258509

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The economic outlook was also bolstered by other data on Thursday that showed the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits dropping to near a 44-1/2-year low last week.

The Fed offered a rosy assessment of the economy in its latest policy statement on Wednesday, describing activity as "rising at a solid rate." The U.S. central bank raised borrowing costs for a third time this year and forecast three rate increases for 2018.

The Commerce Department said retail sales rose 0.8 percent last month, with households buying a range of goods even as they cut back on purchases of motor vehicles. Data for October was revised to show sales gaining 0.5 percent instead of the previously reported 0.2 percent increase.

Retail sales accelerated 5.8 percent on an annual basis. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales increasing only 0.3 percent in November.

The dollar <.DXY> rose against a basket of currencies after the release of the data, while prices for U.S. Treasuries fell. U.S. stocks were trading higher.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-retail-sal ... 24544.html

The media has turned in to nothing short of the propaganda arm of the democratic party.

Maybe if Trump were doing much of anything good worth reporting he would get better press. Or if he didn't constantly double down on lies and misrepresentations that cannot be left unaddressed without permitting false, "alternative facts" to mislead the public . . . . But an extreme liar of a president must be met with a corresponding response that seeks to correct the record and call out his lies.

Look, we get it Hillbilly. To use your own metaphor, it is clear that you have drunk the Trump "kool aid." And you apparently have done so lock, stock and barrel, because you are so excited about his claims about single-handedly saving the economy with a bunch of promises from businesses that may or may not actually happen (if they get the massive tax cuts they want from Trump). No use trying to talk all the relevant facts and other national and world concerns with you because you are focused singularly what supports your view that Trump is the economy's [bully] "boss."

Well, even on the economy, your facts are taken out of context:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact ... 6464bb308e

As to the other stuff, continue ignoring or poo-pooing the wealth and great majority of data and facts that powerfully contradict so very much of what Trump claims. Back him (and the Russians) in the Russian effort to undermine democracy with fake facts. Nearly two thirds of the country is no longer fooled. But you go ahead and stick with what makes you feel good about supporting an awful person and president and his lackey, party-over-country Republican enablers. I don't think it fixes what is wrong with politics to latch onto the worst-of-the-worst politicians as new the standard bearer for the United States. Trump is a disaster and an embarrassment to the country. Period.

But what do I know? I am moderately liberal, so I must not be a "real" American.

thought i'd VERY quickly skim through this folder. I have certain very pronounced political opinions but the Tribe Forum is where I go for baseball to get away from the reality of life. Glad to see that multiple sides are represented here. I have no comments to add, other than the TRUE FACT that the Rule 5 draft was held today and Jordan Milbrath was picked from Tribe farm system. Now I'm gone, rarely to return.

Craig Caplan‏ Verified account @CraigCaplan
53-43: Senate confirms former TX Solicitor General James Ho as 5th Circuit Court judge & President Trump's 12th US Court of Appeals nominee to be approved by the Senate, a record for a president in his first year.

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"For every one new regulation, we have eliminated 22." - Trump today

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Epic first year.

Have to admit that the Republican's unethical obstruction of judicial nominations during the last year's of O'Bama's administration have resulted in a great court-packing opportunity for them now. Of course, that is among the many things that make their complaints that Democrats are not supporting them now so hypocritical. But, in the long run, I think the Republicans will pay a price for their bad faith over the past ten years.

Of course, with such partisan judicial choices on the courts for years, I am sure they will feel like the unfair advantage they have gained is worth it.

No wonder so few people like the Republican party in particular or Congress in general. With Trump in office, the Republicans in federal government are a self-fulfilling prophecy about what currently ails federal governance.

By the way, national media is finally catching up to Breitbart in their reporting of doctored sea levels on Indian Ocean. Here is the story at Fox News ...

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2017/12/ ... finds.html

(Don't hold your breath to see the story on a liberal outlet, but consider yourself very well informed any way)

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A new study by Australian researchers says that data on how sea levels are rising, relied upon by the United Nations, was adjusted upward in “arbitrary” ways.

The researchers examined sea level measurements in three locations around the Indian Ocean dating back to the 1800s and found that the raw sea level measurements showed no clear rise in sea levels.

Their study was published in the journal Earth Systems and Environment, and it calls into question adjusted official data showing steadily rising sea levels – which most scientists say is caused by manmade global warming. The adjustments are done by the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL), which is funded by the United Kingdom government.

The top graph in the following image shows the unadjusted sea level data in Mumbai, India, where each color represents a different set of measurements at the same location. The bottom graph shows the adjusted data: ...

The study’s authors say this is evidence that the adjustments are biased.

“The adjustments are always in the direction of increasing the alarm,” one of the study authors, Clifford Ollier, told Fox News. Ollier is a geologist and honorary research fellow at the University of Western Australia.

“If the raw data show no alarming rise, and you want to create an alarm, you have to alter the raw data,” he said.

Donald Trump says it’s okay for him to lie since “people agree with me.”

T r u m p ’ s L i e s

By DAVID LEONHARDT and STUART A. THOMPSON UPDATED December 14, 2017

Many Americans have become accustomed to President Trump’s lies. But as regular as they have become, the country should not allow itself to become numb to them. So we have catalogued nearly every outright lie he has told publicly since taking the oath of office. Updated: The president is still lying, so we've added to this list, taking it through Nov. 11, and provided links to the facts in each case.

THE LIES - LINKS TO THE TRUTH

JAN. 21 “I wasn't a fan of Iraq. I didn't want to go into Iraq.” (He was for an invasion before he was against it.)

JAN. 21 “A reporter for Time magazine — and I have been on their cover 14 or 15 times. I think we have the all-time record in the history of Time magazine.” (Trump was on the cover 11 times and Nixon appeared 55 times.)

JAN. 23 “Between 3 million and 5 million illegal votes caused me to lose the popular vote.” (There's no evidence of illegal voting.)

JAN. 25 “Now, the audience was the biggest ever. But this crowd was massive. Look how far back it goes. This crowd was massive.” (Official aerial photos show Obama's 2009 inauguration was much more heavily attended.)

JAN. 25 “Take a look at the Pew reports (which show voter fraud.)” (The report never mentioned voter fraud.)

JAN. 25 “You had millions of people that now aren't insured anymore.” (The real number is less than 1 million, according to the Urban Institute.)

JAN. 25 “So, look, when President Obama was there two weeks ago making a speech, very nice speech. Two people were shot and killed during his speech. You can't have that.” (There were no gun homicide victims in Chicago that day.)

JAN. 26 “We've taken in tens of thousands of people. We know nothing about them. They can say they vet them. They didn't vet them. They have no papers. How can you vet somebody when you don't know anything about them and you have no papers? How do you vet them? You can't.” (Vetting lasts up to two years.)

JAN. 26 “I cut off hundreds of millions of dollars off one particular plane, hundreds of millions of dollars in a short period of time. It wasn't like I spent, like, weeks, hours, less than hours, and many, many hundreds of millions of dollars. And the plane's going to be better.” (Most of the cuts were already planned.)

JAN. 28 “The coverage about me in the @nytimes and the @washingtonpost has been so false and angry that the Times actually apologized to its dwindling subscribers and readers.” (It never apologized.)

JAN. 29 “The Cuban-Americans, I got 84 percent of that vote.” (There is no support for this.)

JAN. 30 “Only 109 people out of 325,000 were detained and held for questioning. Big problems at airports were caused by Delta computer outage.” (At least 746 people were detained and processed, and the Delta outage happened two days later.)

FEBRUARY THRU DECEMBER FOLLOWS:


https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/201 ... -lies.html

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The total now stands at 1,628 claims in 298 days, or an average of 5.5 claims a day. That puts the president on track to reach 1,999 claims by the end of his first year in office,