Predisent Donald J. Skroob: Episode IX: Pray for Toledo

[6souls]

So Trump may have possibly leaked classified info on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...93371973255170

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/0...t-trumps-tweet
https://twitter.com/Marco_Langbroek/...09039872475136

An amateur satellite tracker from the Netherlands has identified the one used to take this photo.

The image almost certainly came from a satellite known as USA 224, according to Marco Langbroek, a satellite-tracker based in the Netherlands. The satellite was launched by the National Reconnaissance Office in 2011. Almost everything about it remains highly classified, but Langbroek says that based on its size and orbit, most observers believe USA 224 is one of America's multibillion-dollar KH-11 reconnaissance satellites.

"It's basically a very large telescope, not unlike the Hubble Space Telescope," Langbroek says. "But instead of looking up to the stars, it looks down to the earth's surface and makes very detailed images."

A small community of amateur satellite trackers was far more interested in the picture than the words. These individuals use backyard telescopes to watch satellites whizzing across the sky, and they know where most of them are—even classified ones like USA 224. "They're super bright in the sky and are easy to find," says Michael Thompson, a graduate student in astrodynamics at Purdue University who spots satellites in his spare time. Once a satellite is seen, it's relatively easy to work out exactly where it will be at any point in future. "Using math to calculate an orbit is really easy," he says.

Langbroek went further still. He was able to reconstruct the picture taken by USA 224 by matching the obliqueness of the circular launch pad in the image tweeted by Trump. His calculation showed that the photo was taken from the vantage of USA 224. Langbroek and another online researcher, Christiaan Triebert, also used shadows cast by towers around the launch pad as sun dials—allowing them to verify the time at which the photo was taken.

Both techniques suggest the pictures were snapped by USA 224, which flew near the site at 2:14 PM local time. "The match was perfect, basically," Langbroek says.

[Dantrag]

Trump in a new conference told people that the storm was going to hit Alabama.

[6souls]

[Fiye]

https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status...17178636800000

A Trump adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said weeks ago that the president, whose own approval ratings have stayed upside down, needs voters to feel negatively not just about his opponents but about longstanding institutions > https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...99355248205826

Seems like a bold strategy.

[archibaldcrane]

I'm just laughing trying to imagine Trump earnestly saying "longstanding institutions"

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Yabby]

Not sure if posted here, but it's nice to have some good stuff somewhere.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/21/u...ent-loans.html

President Trump signed a measure on Wednesday that seeks to remove the bureaucratic barriers for permanently disabled veterans to qualify for student loan forgiveness, which he said would save 25,000 wounded warriors an average of $30,000.

[kuronosan]

Not sure if posted here, but it's nice to have some good stuff somewhere.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/21/u...ent-loans.html

I'm actually okay with this, but most veterans don't have the problem of student loan forgiveness compared to the general population on account of the GI Bill. Military peeps correct me if I'm wrong.

[AoE]

I joined the military after I took out student loans but generally most kids join young before they do it so generally not an issue unless they try going to a really expensive school that can't be fully covered.

[6souls]

US factory activity unexpectedly slowed last month for the first time in 3 years — and Trump's trade war was the main culprit.
https://www.insider.com/ism-manufact...ade-war-2019-9

Corporations lack confidence in the market due to the Trade War.

[Cail]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...a86_story.html

Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper agreed Tuesday to free up $3.6 billion from the Pentagon budget for President Trump’s border wall by effectively defunding 127 military construction projects using emergency authorities.


Esper determined that the use of the military construction funds was necessary to support American forces deployed to the southern border with Mexico under the national emergency that Trump declared in mid-February. The formal determination allows Trump, under an obscure statute in the federal code overseeing the military, to tap the funds appropriated for other purposes without sign-off from Congress. 


The Pentagon declined to disclose which projects would be defunded. Chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Rath Hoffman said the list would be made available later this week after the Defense Department notifies lawmakers with affected projects in their districts and foreign embassies with affected projects in their countries.

[6souls]

That's a lot of paint.

[Tokitoki]

foreign embassies with affected projects in their countries.

I'm sure they'll be psyched.

[synistar]

"We're going to build a wall and the US military is going to pay for it" doesn't have the same impact as the campaign trail version.

[Yabby]

By doing so, they are showing they can cut military spending right? Because that is what it looks like to me.

[TsingTao]

"If those socialist, anti American Democrats in congress would just hand over tens of billions to fund this wall we could finally get a bill to send to Mexico. They would totally pay for it, promise. Besides, think of all the families we wouldn't have to separate if there were only a wall!"

- Stable Genius

[Tokitoki]

You could see it that way, but if they're actually taking the funding from projects, that may need to be cancelled completely, is the trade off worth it?

What was being constructed that they are no longer moving forward with? Is it being cancelled completely, or just amended? etc.

[TsingTao]

By doing so, they are showing they can cut military spending right? Because that is what it looks like to me.

I expect just the opposite. Next round of funding will include a $50b increase to make up for the shortfall cause by re-appropriating these funds, plus more to further increase border security (national security issue after all). Plus we should heavily militarize our border patrol folks, it's not fair that they don't have armored assault vehicles to jump out of all cool like.

[Jaybar]

Any infrastructure work that is under construction that will now be on hold will likely deteriorate or fall into a state of disrepair that would end up costing the US more than the initial project. Let's not forget inflation, labor, and material cost increases due to any long-term delay.

[6souls]

https://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-doc...170050594.html

The FBI is treating any group protesting the the U.S.'s immigration policy at the border as an extremist group.

[6souls]

Trump in a new conference told people that the storm was going to hit Alabama.

Trump took a sharpie to a hurricane projection map in an attempt for it to fit his Alabama narrative.