Lynna is your curator. I don’t think this thread will run dry for a long time.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Lynna is your curator. I don’t think this thread will run dry for a long time.
Seattle judge blocks Trump immigration order
Constitutional crisis on the way? Will the CBP, viewing itself as an arm of the executive branch, submit to the orders of the judiciary? Will the enforcement tools of the judiciary serve those orders, or see that they’re carried out? I’m about fifty fifty on the chances, myself – I could see the CBP refusing the judges’ orders, and I could see them finally caving too. Don’t know which way it will go.
Thanks Lynna and other contributors for the great work you do on what is basically my main political starting point for daily surfing.
I see so many people talking impeachment and removal from office, as if that’s really a plausible scenario. It’s delusional.
There will be no impeachment. The GOP house and Senate have a guy in place who will appoint crazies to the SC, and rubber stamp any cockamamie or murderous legislation they can dream up. It’s a dream scenario for them, why would they ever change it?
CaitieCat @2
I feel like we are doing our part of fight back. We don’t the lies slip past us unchallenged. We don’t let the injustices continue without protest. We may be a small cog in the resistance, but we’re there.
mircroraptor @1, the Trump administration announced that it will appeal the ruling by the federal judge in Seattle. In the meantime, 60,000 to 100,000 people have had their visas revoked (the number varies depending on the source providing the estimate). The problem is huge.
Reposting from the previous chapter of this thread.
A government lawyer revealed that 100,000 visa were revoked because of Trump’s Muslim ban. That is considerably more that the 109 people that Sean Spicer claimed were “inconvenienced.”
NBC News also covered the large number of revoked visas.
In other news, Rachel Maddow interviewed Colin Kahl this evening. I’ll post a link for that as soon as I have one. Kahl is the guy who was in the room on January 6th when a general proposal for expanded activity in Yemen was discussed during the Obama administration. Kahl is the guy who called out the falsehoods the Trump administration is pushing about the botched raid in Yemen.
From the previous chapter of this thread: Sean Spicer claimed that the Yemen raid was planned and approved under Obama’s watch. It was not.
Salon link
The following in from the New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/world/middleeast/yemen-raid-trump.html
Here is White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s response to the federal judge’s ruling in Seattle (see comment 1).
Shortly after he distributed this statement via email, Spicer emailed a corrected version. The correction? He deleted “outrageous” from the first sentence.
Spicer’s argument seems to be that the President can do anything he wants to do.
Followup to comment 1.
The judge that halted the travel ban nationwide is a Bush appointee, and a Republican. Judge James Robart was appointed by George Bush in 2003.
In other news, a group of people in New York City held a fake vigil for victims of the Bowling Green massacre, the massacre that never happened.
Link
Many people on social media pointed out that Kellyanne Conway routinely massacres the truth.
From the previous chapter of this thread, more background on Kellyanne Conway’s lie about the Bowling Green supposed massacre:
Steve Benen commented on Kellyanne Conway’s lie (emphasis mine):
Read more: http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2016/11/05/discuss-moments-of-political-madness-6/#ixzz4XgYoNhlw
Trump = Rabban
Pence = Feyd-Rautha
who is the Worm?
chigau — Bannon?
I
fuuckiing hatedislike the top-pic.If you’re changing the thread name…
robro
oh … bugger
Meanwhile, in saner parts of the world…
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/02/04/the-swedish-government-just-trolled-trump-with-this-all-female-photo/
From CNN :
Still doesn’t help with permanent employees. At my park, last fall, we had five people transfer to other agencies and other parks. Two in my office. My office lost 25% of our staff. And we have no idea when we’ll be able to hire replacements. And, if the hiring freeze continues long enough, the job slot, and the funding for that slot, disappears.
*waves*
I won’t be around much for a few more days, but I wanted to pop in to thank everyone for keeping up with and reporting on events and sharing insights. (And thank you Marc Abian for your extraordinarily nice message on the previous thread.)
The Red Cross Ball tonight at Mar-a-Lago is evidently still a go, despite a planned protest and the moral hideousness of the venue. People are actually saying that the event will raise money that can help people affected by Trump’s ban. The irony is that if the Red Cross were to take a stand and reschedule it elsewhere they would probably raise more money in donations and also earn goodwill going forward. Of course, their historical record on migration is…spotty.
In related news, more than a thousand doctors and medical professionals have signed an open letter to Cleveland Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove over his participation in Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum and the CC’s planned fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago on the 25th (called, I kid you not, “Reflections of Versailles: A Night in the Hall of Mirrors”). I linked in the previous thread to an article about Suha Abushamma, a resident at the Cleveland Clinic who was coerced into leaving the US minutes before the first stay was granted last weekend. Here’s a link to the open letter.
I think that the cover of Der Spiegel wins this round:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/03/trump-beheads-the-statue-of-liberty-in-striking-magazine-cover-illustration/?utm_term=.5ff936e76cc5
More and more European countries are selling themselves to make sure that, while America is first, they want to make sure they’ll be second. (Best are Swiss and German ones, the guy sounds just like Trump.)
http://bgr.com/2017/02/03/donald-trump-viral-welcome-video-meme/
The most recent news about Vladimir Kara-Murza seems to be from yesterday, when he was in critical condition. I was struck by this video.
More about the work of the fachosphère on behalf of Vichyette Putin puppet Marine Le Pen.
There’s a protest against the Muslim ban ongoing in London, and a protest scheduled to begin at I think noon in DC.
I found even better:
http://www.everysecondcounts.eu/
Ay.
Is political madness the same as governing madness?
Belgian Bar Boycotts American Products Because of Blustering Buffoon (From WaPo) — no, not the actual headline, but it should be.
Follow-up PSAs:
“The Nervous Civil Servant’s Guide to Defying an Illegal Order”
“How easy is it to securely leak information to some of America’s top news organizations? This easy”
Re Bowling Green: it’s worse than even Kellyanne is letting on. I understand that someone there traded in a milking cow for a Singer sewing machine.
Also, while we’re talking about forgotten massacres, when will the government ever get to the bottom of the Alice’s restaurant massacree?
“Trust Records Show Trump Is Still Closely Tied to His Empire”:
Nordstrom dropped Ivanka Trump’s line – a success for Grab Your Wallet.
Good news:
I’m amazed at how little attention has been paid to the real terrorist plot by Radical Christian Extremists to bomb a mosque and apartment complex in Kansas a few months ago.
Speaking of massacres…
Trump is tweeting again:
“When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security – big trouble!”
“Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it’s death & destruction!”
“The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!”
Note: “ban,” “so-called judge,” autocratic gesturing
Lynna, OM @9
I saw the same video that he did. They used poison gas spread by planes to make the soldiers fall down, then they put a Chinese nuke in the vaults to irradiate all the gold. The plot was foiled, literally in the last seven seconds, by an MI6 agent.
“State Dept. reverses visa revocations, allows banned travelers to enter U.S.”
John Prine, Arlo Guthrie, now Bond? Starting to sound like my iPod.
“Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it’s death & destruction!”
Like for example certain people from Saudi-Arabia, UAE or Egypt. You know, countries where terrorists have come from.
More people have died from falling out of bed in the US than from attacks from people from countries on Trump’s ban list.
More concerning is his tweet about the “so-called” judge and his decision. I’m always surprised when, with any judge’s decision in the US, it is always added who appointed them, as if it mattered. I never hear this in any other country.
Rachel Maddow interviewed former national security adviser to Vice President Biden, Colin Kahl.
Kahl confirmed that the Trump administration is distorting history “in an attempt to shift the blame for a disastrous military raid onto the Obama administration.” The video is 6:12 minutes long.
This is a followup to comment 6.
Barbara Morrill had some fun with Trump’s claim that, “Professional anarchists, thugs and paid protesters are proving the point of the millions of people who voted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Morrill’s article is topped by a photo a child holding a toy, wearing a pink hat, and raising one soft little fist. The photo is captioned “Los Angeles thug.”
More at the link, including anarchists holding thugs (parents holding children and babies).
Frank Vyan Walton did us all a service when he took the time to debunk the Heritage Foundation’s “8 reasons to repeal Obamacare.” Trump and his minions depend on Heritage, so it’s good to see this disinformation debunked.
Excerpt below:
Much more at the link.
Republicans are now claiming that it will take “moral fortitude and courage” to kill Social Security.
Well. I’ve seen rightwingers redefine words and phrases before, but that takes the cake.
Washington Post link
Ah, yes, more money for bombs and guns … less money for the disabled, the poor and the elderly. Moral fortitude.
On my way home from the latest anti-Trump demo in Edinburgh (about 1,000 people, against the ban, organised in a few days by a previously not-politically-active American Jewish young woman), I saw copies in a bookshop. First UK printing ever, apparently.
The NRA has the entire Dumpster swamp in their pocket. The swamp just negated Obama’s Gun Regulatory clause which excludes ‘mentally unstable’ [euphemism] from purchasing guns.
No matter how deranged one may be, buying a gun is easy as pi.
While a starving 5 yr old child refugee was denied entry by being a “potential threat”.
double edged sword:
most deaths in US are from toddlers wielding guns purchased by “responsible” adults.
so, okay, threats come at all ages, so exclude the 5 y.o. yet let the insane buy weapons?
Gun fondlers always say “shooter was insane, and most owners are responsible”….
ugh… overwhelmed by contradictions.
*sigh*
re @37 SS:
They always present SS upside down. SS is presented as a “drain on the budget”, when it is usually used to enhance the budget, by borrowing huge amounts of money from it and refusing to repay it. We here all know, SS is funded by the recipients from their paychecks during their employment years as a guaranteed retirement fund. Government funds are never used. Through mortality rates far more people are working and contributing to it than are retired and drawing from it. The feds, seeing the stockpile asked if it could make a temporary loan from it to make emergency payments. Never got paid back and now being claimed as a deficit enhancer.
*sigh*
Kellyanne Conway’s advise to the press:
Respect is earned.
Questioning Trump and his spokespeople is not a sign of disrespect.
Pot meet kettle regarding the mob mentality and mob violence.
slithey tove @40, thanks for that analysis. I agree. It’s enough to make you head/desk yourself bloody.
Our “oh, FFS!” moment for today is Stuart Taylor being interviewed on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” show:
Media Matters link
“Squadrons of sex bureaucrats” … WTF?
Poor people don’t need/deserve? internet connections according to Trump-appointed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai.
Pai is reducing the federal government’s participation in subsidies for low-income Americans in the “Lifeline” program, a telecommunications program that offered a federal subsidy of $9.25 per month for qualifying households seeking assistance in acquiring internet access.
Quoted text is from the Washington Post.
Previous, Obama-era chairman, Tom Wheeler had made the point that, “Internet access has become a pre-requisite for full participation in our economy and our society.”
Fox News and other rightwing media outlets derided the program from the start, short-handing it as “Obamaphones.” The associated rightwing conspiracy theory is that President Obama handed out free phones as a way to buy votes, and as a way to “enslave the poor.”
Oddly enough, both Medicare and Social Security don’t cost the government anything.
They are self supporting paygo programs.
The taxpayers get money out of these programs. That they paid into these programs!!!
The last time the GOP tried to kill Medicare was 2005.
A whole lot of them got voted out of office in 2006 because of it.
It doesn’t take moral fortitude and courage to kill Social Security.
It takes greed, theft, and a callous disregard for the people that live in the USA and pay taxes to make our government.
This is a followup to rorschach @33 and SC @29.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer responded to Trump’s tweet attacking Judge Robart:
An excerpt from Judge Robart’s written order:
Lynna, OM @ # 42 – Pls note Nate’s note on the agenda of the newly appointed higher-education “reform” commission head:
Trump’s pick for Deputy Director of the CIA is raising some eyebrows.
Gina Haspel oversaw interrogations that included “enhanced techniques” like waterboarding and other harsh or illegal methods.
Link
Wonkette’s coverage of Trump’s Muslim ban is excellent.
From the Washington Post:
That’s right, Trump and his minions needed to figure out what the hell was going on in their own cabal.
And, yes, sometimes public pressure and protest work … or sort of work until Trump tweets again.
Trump banned the issuance of his own executive orders, for the time being.
Trump blathered all over Twitter in order to insult and to threaten Iran. Trump’s lackey, General Flynn used the White House briefing to air his insults and threats. Nobody really knew what the heck they were going to do, but the Trump administration did issue some new sanctions against Iran; sanctions that were, for the most part, petty and ineffective, sanctions for which they did not secure the backing of the U.N. and our allies.
What happened next? Today, Iran carried out additional missile tests as planned.
The quoted text is from Bloomberg.
Also, Iran is threatening to issue its own sanctions, “against a number of American individuals and companies that have played a role in generating and supporting extremist terrorist groups in the region or have helped in the killing and suppression of defenseless people in the region.”
Well. This does not look like it is going to end well.
An excerpt from Virginia’s complaint against Trump’s Muslim ban:
https://www.scribd.com/document/338348209/Virginia-complaint
#28,
Indeed, I for one hadn’t heard about that. However, I am wondering what you based your claim that they were “Radical Christian Extremists” on? The link (unless I missed it) does not identify the group as such. Is it just because the delusions-of-grandeur name of their group is “Crusaders”, or do you know more about these nuts? Because they could be garden variety racists who simply chose the name “Crusaders” purely for its anti-Islam significance without being radical Christians.
#30,
Brilliant!
have we elected a vidiot for president?
uncle frogy
#40 “Never got paid back and now being claimed as a deficit enhancer” That’s Trump’s MO, he’s never seen an entity that would lend him money as anything but a sucker.
Bill Buckner, #51:
It’s not so surprising that a local news site wouldn’t do that, is it? I mean, what does the lack of that kind of description in their reporting really tell you?
As SC remarked, there’s not even been much reporting about it of any kind. That’s partly because Christians, as the dominant religious group in our culture, are given so much latitude to do all sorts of shit, while not being held responsible or even recognized as a source of the problem.
Well, lots of things are possible, but I think that’s unlikely. They’re not likely to be atheists or members of a non-Christian religion in the first place, demographically speaking. That’s leaving aside anything we may know about bombing suspects or religious disputes or whatever else; and it’s simply to say that if you throw a rock in any direction here, you’re more likely to hit a Christian than a non-Christian, because they’re a much larger chunk of the population.
Also, if a group of atheists or members of a non-Christian religion were planning to bomb a bunch of Muslims, they probably wouldn’t seriously refer to themselves as “Crusaders.” (It’s worth pointing out that the historical Crusaders weren’t just on the warpath against Islam, but anybody else who might have got in their way.) If they were non-Christians who were aware at all of its significance, they’d smell some very strong hints of Christian imperialism and evangelism in it, which would presumably seem inappropriate to them. I mean, suppose they were all Buddhists or whatever…. Why would they be inclined toward a blatantly Christian name like that, as opposed to something that actually makes sense within their own religious or cultural traditions? Buddhists don’t go around murdering people for baby Jesus or planting crosses everywhere like they were flags; they do other kinds of terrible shit for other terrible reasons.
As for “Radical” and “Extremists,” those just come with the territory of bomb plots in my book. So even if your flavor of Christianity (or whatever it may be) is mild in theological terms or in some other sense, I’m not going to consider that a reason to be shy about labels like radical, extremist, and so forth.
More evidence of incompetence at the most basic levels: A memo released from the White House today listed two Secretaries of Defense, James Mattis and John Kelly. It’s Mattis who is Secretary of Defense. Kelly is Secretary of Homeland Security.
The same document mentions Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull as “President of Australia.”
We can add these recent mistakes to the memo they released last month that misspelled the name of British Prime Minister Theresa May several times.
Doofuses and dunderheads.
Matt Taibbi discussed Trump’s recent meeting with a bunch of Wall Street CEOs. The meeting included discussions of financial regulations. After the meeting, Trump ordered a review of the Dodd-Frank Act, and of the fiduciary rule that requires investment advisors to put the interests of their clients first.
Trump continues to reveal his delusions about immigration issues, and his animus toward Judge Robart:
Keep it up, Trump. As Matthew Miller said,
Miller is a Partner at Vianovo in Washington D.C. He describes himself as a “Recovering flack from DOJ, DSCC, and too many campaigns to count.”
Judge Robart is an interesting case. Known as a conservative judge, and praised by the likes of Orrin Hatch during his confirmation hearings, he’s considered a tough sentencing judge in criminal matters, yet during a hearing on reforms at the Seattle Police Department, he said:
“According to FBI statistics, police shootings resulting in death involve 41 percent black people, despite being only 20 percent of the population living in those cities. Forty-one percent of the casualties, 20 percent of the population: Black lives matter.”
A rather remarkable statement from a stalwart conservative judge.
Not a huge fan of NDGT, but he does make a very valid point here that I don’t think has crossed the minds of many red staters. So maybe there’s a reason the red states are suffering economically and it’s not cuz Obama or mexicans or the chinese are stealing their jobs?
Besides tax codes that benefit the wealthy and punish the poor, and racist immigration policies, Trumputin threatens to cripple the US economy by abolishing science from the halls of government. Wonderful.
Thanks, cr, for responding above. I think also I originally read the reports in the NYT and WaPo, which note that they were militia members and linked to the Sovereign Citizen movement. It’s all in the same soup as the Christian Identity movement. I don’t know what documents they saw, but WaPo said they sought to “use the ‘bloodbath’ to ignite a religious war.” And yes, “the Crusaders.” (This background is also interesting.)
* Worthwhile to note – according to the affidavit in the case, they talked about attacking churches that helped refugees.
Tweet o’ the day.
A Chicago Suburban Rethug Congresscritter is hiding from his constituents….
Tries to blame it on the media, rather than his own politics. As if we hadn’t heard that one before from the liar in chief.
“Trump brushes off description of Putin as a ‘killer’: ‘Our country’s so innocent?'”
Trump better hope none of his opponents are murdered, or his Putin comments and his “I could kill someone on 5th Avenue” remark during the election may come back to haunt him.
Lynna, OM @ #35 — Any scuttlebutt on the “anarchists” that have violently disrupted peaceful demonstrations against several Milo Yiannopoulus’s speaking engagements, causing the events to be canceled? As a result, poor Milo and the Trumpsters get to fulminate about freeze peach and threaten to pull Federal funding for the offending institutions…because it’s the institution’s fault, of course. Interesting that TweeterDumb is tweeting about “professional anarchists”…non sequitur of the day?…and “paid protesters.” Could TweeterDumb be projecting again? Robert Reich says he saw the Black Bloc styled protesters in Berkeley and that they were not students…he doesn’t say how he knows that. He’s is suspicious. I recognize this is close to irrational conspiracy theory, but it wouldn’t be the first false flag operation in the history of the American politics.
I don’t really see how they can say that the cancelling of the speech has anything to do with free speech or the abridging there of as he is not restricted from speaking they just judged that it was too disruptive to allow the speech to be given on the campus grounds.
May be I am missing some thing essential here.
uncle frogy
http://my.xfinity.com/articles/news-national/20170205/US–Trump.Travel.Ban-Lawsuit/
The the crybaby continue to cry that he can’t play dictator.
I wish I’d known that I could be an anarchist professionally. :(
It’s certainly possible that some protesters, even students, were violent. It happens. But I also strongly suspect paid thugs or agents provocateurs. (Incidentally, there’s a book by Uri Eisenzweig, Fictions de l’anarchisme, which isn’t great, but as I recall provides a pretty detailed and useful history of the tactics European police/security forces used against the anarchist movement at the turn of the twentieth century. The US has a long history of similar programs, even long before COINTELPRO.)
I just like to say that bowling isn’t very green. It uses a lot of plastics and other oil products.
He’s actually trying to compete with the Superbowl for ratings, his ego knows no bounds. He needs people to be talking about him and not football. Most politicians are happy to let the masses have their opiate, not him.
oh, there’s plenty he’s getting away with.
I think he’s playing the role of fascist dictator ala Mussolini quite well.
just wait until he gets his death squads rolling.
what? you think I’m joking?
the longer you all wait to physically oust this clown, and ALL of his supporters in congress, the worse it’s gonna get. mark my words.
you simply do not have time to wait for a new vote. blockade trump tower. stop him from having access to the white house. do the same to congress.
this shit has to stop, now.
Ichthyic – that’s called a coup d’état. It’s not going to happen. We have to concentrate on real, legal opposition. This weekend has brought good news on that front.
re uncle frogy wrote @68
seems to fit right into their usual contradictory attitudes.
They’ll complain mightily about protesters abusing free speech and that it should rightfully be stopped, yet when a private venue refuses to allow them to speak, they complain freeze peach is being violated against the law allowing freeze peach.
Totally misunderstanding that the 1st amendment limits which laws the government can make, not the actions of the people.
*sigh*
?
I don’t know about the “Black Bloc” protestors in Berkeley. If they were paid, then some serious investigative journalism needs to be done.
I do know that the rightwing claim that protestors are being paid to protest Trump’s policies is laughable.
For example, Tennessee State Senator Paul Bailey was certain the protesters were being paid. He was so sure that he posted this:
Questioned about his questionable claim, Bailey said this:
WKRN link
Are you laughing yet?
Here is a high-quality debunking of Bailey’s claims from the Nashville Scene:
Nashville Scene link. Video also available at the link.
If you translate that into English, it means, “Something I just made up.”
During the anti-Vietnam war days, the GOP was always blaming outside agitators.
Trump told a lie in reference to military purchases. Trump credited himself for savings on the F-35 fighter program.
Senator Jack Reed debunked that lie:
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/03/trumps-claims-of-saving-millions-on-f-35-fighter-untrue-says-armed-services-committee-dem.html
Early today (Sunday, February 5) a federal appeals court denied a request for an immediate reinstatement of Trump’s recent immigration/Muslim ban. At some point, you almost have to feel sorry for Justice Department lawyers who have to file such appeals. The language in the appeal sounds dictatorial, Trumpian.
Talking Points Memo link
Another one of Trump’s lies has been debunked. This time the lie was debunked by Kuwait.
Link
It’s not entirely clear, but it is possible the 2017 vintage false Kuwait ban story originated with Sputnik, the Russian news agency. “Russia” is not necessarily a coincidence there, and in any case, the Sputnik agency is known to be quite unreliable.
Ode to a pig (or too much time on my hands)
What’s that I hear?
Carnage!
What do I see?
A process laid waste.
Slashing blindly thru our common ethos.
Trashing the good, sincere and renowned.
Our mothers, our sisters, beliefs and war heroes.
Stomping principle, reputation and truth to ground.
What’s that I hear?
Carnage!
We see it across our land.
Death by guns.
Death by cars.
Death by drugs.
Death from hate and wars.
Death from disease.
Death from pollution.
Death from ignorance and want.
Death has no sound.
Dying does.
Wounded; Injured; Sick; Hungry.
Crying in despair.
Do you hear?
Yes he does!
Stop the Muslim, they’re the foe
Give no freedom, lay them low!
Even though they are no threat?
Kill them quickly, because I know.
What’s that I hear?
A boastful solution with a bigly sound.
I can fix it! Where do I sign?
See; that was easy, meant to confound.
See me, see my wall.
Keep the bad dudes at bay
See me, see my name
High on towers across the land.
See me, hear my boast
ISIS; no problem, they’re toast
See me, see my fame.
What’s that I hear?
Bluster and rattling sword
His words are profound
Friends and enemy, threats point toward.
What’s that I hear?
We have been loosed from bad regulation!
Forget Wall Street abuses and deadly pollution.
We have been saved from threats to our nation!
Though threats are unfounded, we found a solution.
“I picked a great judge, my base is quite happy.”
Tho with Scalia, their lives were still crappy.
What’s that I hear?
Quibbling press; -so corrupt.
Steve; go tell them
Shut the fuck up!
What’s that I hear, it makes no sound?
A tweet storm, yes, clever and sharp.
Pay it no mind, it’s just as effective
As long dead Nero plucking his harp.
Don’t worry folks, it’s just his style.
Bombast, insult, a grown-up crybaby
His words can inspire or set you to screaming
Just like his trust, piles of steaming.
If the smoke ever clears, what’s been achieved?
Can’t ask the question, lest he be peaved.
If the smoke ever clears, and we check the list
We hope what’s destroyed, will not be missed.
What’s that I hear?
At the end
Could it be so perverse?
The story of Scrooge, run in reverse.
Forgive me if it’s already been posted, but the PPP poll from a few days ago is something:
sc,
Only if you’re admitted to the Anarchist Guild. And they’re very picky about who they admit–mostly just legacy cases.
Oh, oh no.
As Josh Marshall pointed out, this is “the kind of thing you would expect to hear from Russian propaganda sources, a hostile Poland menacing its neighbors to the east.”
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/deeply-disturbing–2
This is a followup to comments 45, 48, 58, 59 and 79.
Trump is still carrying on a one-sided Twitter war against Judge Robart.
Today, Sunday, Trump tweeted:
WTF? So now it is the judge’s fault if “something happens” that involves an immigrant? Also, “people are pouring in” is obviously misleading hyperbole.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SC,
Apologies for the lack of capitalization in my 84.
Good thing. I was furious. :)
(Again, sorry if this has already been posted.)
“USDA abruptly purges animal welfare information from its website”:
On that note, back to Kitten Bowl IV.
Trump is still convinced that millions voted illegally in the election. He says he wants Pence to lead an investigation into the issue.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/02/05/trump-says-pence-will-head-investigation-into-voting-irregularities-despite-lack-of-evidence-of-fraud/?utm_term=.d41fe60b8e6b
Meanwhile Mitch McConnell won’t be authorising money for Trump’s fishing expedition, making me wonder if he’s worried what it might find.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/05/politics/mitch-mcconnell-voter-fraud-states-trump/
SC @ #70 & Lynna @#79 — The speculation isn’t so much about paid provocateurs, although that’s a possibility, as much as Breitbart fellow travelers who create trouble to get the events canceled. “Forced to cancel because of protesters” has more press appeal than “Milo speaks” to a largely empty hall.
Here’s Reich’s assessment of what Milo, Breitbart, and Trump are up to: A Yinnopoulos, Bannon, Trump Plot to Control American Universities?
I could definitely see that being what they’re up to.
LOL – tweet o’ the day.
And on the Fake News front (from Gideon Resnick at The Daily Beast)
At 12:25 p.m. on February 2, President Trump posted a story on his official Facebook page which contended that Kuwait issued a visa ban for five Muslim-majority countries.
Trump’s post, which is still up as of Sunday morning, read: “Smart!
‘Kuwait issues its own Trump-esque visa ban for five Muslim-majority countries | Al Bawaba,’” citing the source of the information.
It has some 250,000 likes,over 68,000 shares, and was picked up by Breitbart and Infowars. But there’s one problem: Kuwait denies that anything of this sort ever took place.
The foreign ministry of the Middle Eastern country “categorically denies these claims and affirms that these reported nationalities … have big communities in Kuwait and enjoy full rights,” according to a Sunday morning report in Reuters.
The story shared by Trump had alleged that “Syrians, Iraqis, Iranians, Pakistanis and Afghans will not be able to obtain visit, tourism or trade Kuwaiti visas with the news coming one day after the US slapped its own restrictions on seven Muslim-majority countries.” The story in the Jordanian news outlet Al Bawaba did not have an official statement or order from the Kuwaiti government—nor from any of the countries it said were facing a ban.
It then went from Trump’s mouth to his most fervent online support base’s ears.
etc etc
And this is how Alternate Facts get spread in the right wing Conspirasphere and become part of the Alternate Reality
oops.. I see this has already been mentioned above.
Appeals-court filing by Madeleine Albright, Michael Hayden, John Kerry and other former officials to Trump ban.
This looks like a case for Donald Trump, populist trustbuster.
In other populist news, the Red Cross Ball:
Nearly 100 companies file a friend of the court brief against Trump’s executive order on immigration.
Wikileaks is now moving on to Macron. (See here for some new background.) Could French voters really be looking at what’s happening in the US and thinking “It would be great if things could be more like that here”? Watching A French Village and feeling nostalgic? Thinking Putin’s Oppression, Nationalism, Cronyism would make a good replacement for Liberty, Equality, Solidarity?
Since I know many of you don’t sports well, a brief summary of the political tone of the some of the superbowl commercials: http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2017/02/super_bowl_2017_commercials_10_best.html
and a bonus, Lady Gaga’s subtle political statement / superbowl halftime performance goes right over the heads of the media and most Americans:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/02/06/if-you-thought-lady-gagas-halftime-show-was-apolitical-consider-the-origin-of-this-land-is-your-land/?utm_term=.6ae4808c2aab
Apparently the answer is “yes”.
Funny enough, you don’t need to dig deep to find shit about Marine lePen…
You have got to be kidding me.
When Trump signed an Executive Order that added Steve Bannon to the National Security Council, he didn’t know what he was doing. Nope, not in the usual way of not knowing the consequences or not understanding the implications … not in that way. Trump literally did not know that the EO added Bannon to the National Security Council.
Incompetent? Incurious? Stupid?
NY Times link
More from the same article:
This is a followup to comments 8, 9, 24, 57, and 71.
Kellyanne Conway claimed that her use of “massacre” in the phrase “Bowling Green massacre” was an “honest mistake,” that she had meant to say “terrorist.” Very convenient, since there was no Bowling Green massacre. It never happened.
Now we learn that her claim of a “mistake,” indicating a slip of the tongue is also a lie. She has been using the Bowling Green massacre as a go-to lie for some time.
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a8674035/kellyanne-conway-bowling-green-massacre-repeat/
That’s right, Cosmpolitan has taken up the banner of resistance.
Conway got just about everything wrong in her repetition of her “mistake.” The two guys in question did not travel back to the Middle East after they arrived in the USA.
President Obama did not ban Iraqi refugees, but he did require that thousands of them be re screened and he temporarily extended and strengthened the visa application process.
Yes, the guys in Bowling Green were bad dudes trying to send weapons to terrorists, but that doesn’t change the fact that Kellyanne Conway lied repeatedly.
That’s Admiral Michael Mullen writing in a New York Times op-ed. Mullen was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George W. Bush in 2007. He was re-nominated to the position by President Barack Obama in 2009. He served on the National Security Council. Not only did he say Steve Bannon should not be on the principal’s committee, he also said that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the National Intelligence Director should be on that committee as permanent members.
From a segment on AM Joy, Trump’s insecurities are discussed.
Excerpt:
The video is 2:35 long, and the first part includes the “Der Spiegel” cover in which Trump is seen decapitating Lady Liberty, and moves on to Howard Stern talking about what Trump actually thinks about the elites and the media (he craves their love and attention).
The VoteVets organization has had it with Trump’s failure to act like legitimate president. They are taking action, in part by producing ads that call Trump out.
VoteVets link
Trump confirms his view of reality: if he says it, it is true:
No. Reality doesn’t work that way. Facts don’t work that way. Trump can make up all kinds of folderol and some people will believe him. Still doesn’t make it true.
O’Reilly finally managed to get Trump to back down, but just a tiny bit. As was noted up-thread, Trump is still having Pence head an investigation into voter fraud.
There may well be problems with voter registration in the USA:
– in some states, registering to vote is too difficult
– we do not have a standardized, nationwide system
– some states are slower than others to update records (hence the “dead people” on the roles who did not vote, and the people registered in more than one state but who voted in only one state)
There is no evidence that dead people voted. Many of Trump’s White House aides are registered in more than one state, but that does not prove they voted more than once. There’s no evidence to support Trump’s claim that people “voted in two states.”
Trump’s brain is in bizarre working mode.
I doubt that Trump will drop his idea that 3 million “illegals” voted for Clinton in the long run. His concession to O’Reilly will be temporary.
OMFG. Sean Spicer said that nationwide protests against Trump are comprised of paid protestors.
Link
FreedomWorks, supported by various rightwing billionaires, did pay Tea Party organizers and speakers, etc.
“President Trump is now speculating that the media is covering up terrorist attacks”:
Gallup polling is consistent with PPP polling (cited @ #83).
From the Women’s March organizers: GENERAL STRIKE: A DAY WITHOUT A WOMAN
Date TBA.
Trump and his minions have still not figured out how to repeal and replace Obamacare, so they are doing what they can to weaken it, and to make Obamacare look bad.
One of their first moves is to charge old people more for insurance. A lot of older people voted for Trump, so I guess they’re going to like this, right?
Trump Administration May Use Executive Authority To Tweak Obamacare’s Rules
Look at number 1 again, that’s the ploy to charge elders more for insurance. To me, the difference between paying $300 per month for insurance and paying $349 per month for insurance is significant. My income puts me in the lower middle class. $50 is a lot of money, especially if it has to be paid out every month.
This is a followup to comment 105.
Yet another instance of Kellyanne Conway lying about Bowling Green has been found. In January, she called the non-event an “attack” instead of a “massacre.” Still wrong.
Link
Conway is now trying to slip out of the lies she told by saying, “The terrorists were in Bowling Green and their attack occurred in Iraq.”
In direct response to Cosmopolitan, she said, “Frankly they were terrorists in Bowling Green but their massacre took place in Iraq. At least this got clear-thinking people to focus on what did happen in Bowling Green.”
Yeah, that’s right, yay for Kellyanne Conway who drew attention to two arrests that took place in 2011. (/sarcasm) And, yeah, Kellyanne, mainstream media did cover the arrests. You do not need to call attention to the arrests now.
There was no “massacre” in Bowling Green, as you said, Kellyanne, and then tried to deny having said. There was also no “attack.” Two doofus were caught trying to ship arms to the Middle East. They did not succeed. They are now in a federal penitentiary.
President Obama’s administration took appropriate action. His actions are not equivalent to Trump banning immigration from seven Muslim-majority counties for no fucking logical reason.
Republican legislators in Arizona have proposed a very bad idea: they want to fine charities a thousand dollars per day for helping refugees:
Arizona Daily Sun link
Some of the pushback:
If one of the only benefits of climate change is that people can no longer live in AZ and that asshole of a state gets broken up and it’s population disbursed to cooler climates, I say it’s worth it.
@ 117
And what state do you live in? I’ll wager that I can find plenty wrong with it.
@118 – clearly I was being facetious, but AZ and their champion Joe Arpaio certainly love to lead the charge when it comes to civil rights violations and treating immigrants, minorities and women like shit. This is undeniable.
My home state (NY), OTH, which of course has plenty wrong with it, at the very least has a governor, attorney general as well as several mayors and county executives who have defied Trump at every opportunity. So while you can engage in a battle of false equivalency if you wish, at the moment, I am rather proud of my state and the stance of it’s elected officials in the wake of the Trumputin tyrant’s ascendance to power.
@ 119
False equivalency? As far as I’m concerned, being proud of the state you happen to live in is equivalent to those who are proud that they happen to live in America. Separate states are irrelevant, there is nothing false about that, and nothing to be proud of either. State lines won’t absolve anyone from whatever is to come.
The Brits are showing off:
“7 dead in Isle of Wight bowling green massacre” http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2017/02/05/7-dead-in-isle-of-wight-bowling-green-massacre/
“13,000 people hanged in secret at Syrian prison, Amnesty says “:
SC @122, and Russia is backing Assad.
In other news, Trump decided to lie during his remarks at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa yesterday. He said:
Oddly, Trump started the lie with a reference to 9/11, Boston, Orlando, and San Bernardino. All of those attacks were covered extensively in the media. There was no cover-up.
Now that Trump has spouted such a blatant lie in public, his White House team is attempting to clean up the mess. First, they changed “not even being reported” to “under reported,” and then they issued a list of underreported terrorist attacks.
Sean Spicer issued a the list of 78 incidents.
– attacks that received 24/7 coverage for days from a wide variety of media are on the list
– attacks that are not examples of terrorism are on the list
– incidents that resulted in zero casualties are on the list
– spelling errors abound, including misspellings of the following words: attacker, San Bernardino, and Denmark
– domestic attacks perpetrated by shoots in Colorado and Charleston were not on the list
– attacks that caused mass casualties in sub-Saharan Africa were not on the list.
On the bright side, the Bowling Green Massacre was not on the list.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-claims-media-don-t-cover-terrorist-attacks-archives-say-n717651
Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was poisoned for the second time, is in a coma. He’s 35.
This is a followup to comment 85.
Rachel Maddow noticed that strange reference to Belarus. Her segment analyzes the connection between the totally false Russian propaganda and General Flynn (and other National Security advisors in the White House). Her discussion was excellent.
Russian propaganda from Sputnik is pushing the false narrative that Poland is preparing to invade Belarus. White House officials have made inquires about this fake news. They are asking the intelligence community to investigate. Nope. Poland is not invading Belarus.
Russia is concerned about Belarus letting in some short-term visitors without a visa requirement, and Russia wants to push Belarus back into Russia’s arms. Let us hug you and control you, Belarus. Putin wants to hug you. Also, Putin wants to threaten your oil and gas supply (and perhaps your food supplies).
Do General Flynn and other rightwing doofuses advising Trump want to help Putin threaten and cajole Belarus?
The video is 16:06 long.
“Melania Trump reveals plan to leverage presidency to ink ‘multi-million dollar’ endorsement deals”:
SC @124, and Putin is demanding an apology from Bill O’Reilly for calling him a “killer.”
In other news, Betsy Devos has been confirmed as Secretary of Education. She is an unqualified, ignorant, religion-centered doofus, but she is also a billionaire. V.P. Pence had to cast a tie-breaking vote to get her confirmed in the Senate. That’s a first for a cabinet nominee.
SC @126, she is thinking like her husband.
In other news, one Republican congressman went out of his way to reveal his dunderheadedness by explaining the difference between white and Islamic terrorists.
Link
The Trump administration fielded a few more minions to defend thin-skinned Trump from criticism:
Link
The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah made the point that Steve Bannon is the real president of the U.S.
I didn’t like the focus on appearance in this segment (Bannon’s skin condition), but the jokes about “the great manipulator,” and Trump’s defensiveness (“I call my own shots!”) were good.
Bullshit. The Kansas plotters, Roof, the shooter in Canada, the man who murdered Jo Cox, and many, many more are linked to the white supremacist, Islamophobic movement.
Fuck you, Duffy, and the party you rode in on.
I’m not sure if anyone has linked to the Der Spiegel editorial – “Europe Must Defend Itself Against A Dangerous President” – yet, so just in case.
There’s no low too low for the Trumpublican Party.
Followup to comment 6.
Sean Spicer described the raid in Yemen as “successful” on all levels, while also saying that it is hard to use the word “success” to describe a raid in which a Navy Seal died. Then Spicer continued to describe the “successful” raid.
Now we are finding out that a guy who was targeted for death or capture, Qassim al-Rimi, escaped (or, perhaps the guy was not at that location). That guy is now taunting Trump via videos posted online.
Link
Stephen Colbert is a Bowling Green Massacre Truther. Video available at the link.
Excerpt:
Theater of the Absurd.
SC @131, I agree. Those white supremacist killers were obviously linked to a movement.
In other news, Trump’s stupidity is good news for China:
CNBC link
Sheriff tells Trump a lawmaker is pushing legislation he doesn’t want
Trump: “Want to give his name? We’ll destroy his career.”
(laughter)
Schadenfreude moment: Trump’s pre-Super Bowl interview ratings were lower than President Obama’s pre-Super Bowl interview ratings in 2009.
Trump’s interview drew an audience of 12.2 million viewers, and for Obama’s interview 21.9 million viewers tuned in.
In 2016, Obama’s interview drew 14.9 million; in 2015, 15.4 million; in 2014, 18 million … and, to repeat, there’s the 21.9 million in 2009. The 2009 interview is the apples-to-apples comparison.
SC @137, Trump actually loves being a bully.
In other news, people in the West Wing are really upset that Sean Spicer was lampooned by a woman. Not that he was lampooned, but that it was a woman that portrayed him. That makes me laugh … darkly.
Link
I didn’t think Melissa McCarthy looked weak.
New video from Hillary Clinton.
Excerpt:
Thank you, Senator Al Franken. Your efforts failed, but thank you for fighting the good fight:
Students make swastikas in classroom, teacher punished for disciplining them. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/01/27/ethical-dilemmas-trump-era/efPRjK8AOx1YZq8TlC9qFJ/story.html#comments
microraptor @142. Sounds like we are dangerously close to normalizing swastikas.
In other news, here is some background on Trump’s pick for Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, former governor of Georgia:
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06022017/sonny-perdue-georgia-usda-agriculture-secretary-national-forest-service-climate-change
Yes, I think Republicans would like it if Russia had even more opportunities to hack an election in the U.S.
Link
Sean Spicer lied during the White House Briefing … again. CNN corrected one of Spicer’s lies.
Link
Another liar for the Trump administration, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, claimed there was “no chaos” at U.S. airports after Trump’s travel ban.
Link
No, I don’t think I will be taking your word for it.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, took to Twitter to thank Donald Trump for revealing the true perfidy of the USA. Actually, Trump has only revealed the ignorance and authoritarianism of himself and his minions, but Iran will profit from that.
Kahamenei’s tweets:
Wonkette discussed a new bill signed by Putin today. The bill allows Russians to beat their wives once a year.
Dr. Jill Stein blames Betsy DeVos’ confirmation on… Democrats. You know, the ones who all voted against her.
Kreator,
I blame Frederick Douglas. No… wait. Hitler.
Kreator @149:
Is Jill a real liberal or does she just pretend to be one so she has more opportunities to backstab them?
Jill Steins embarasing defense of the alt- medicine bullshit has irrepairably damaged the green part’s credibility. As a former supporter of hers this is the main reason why I switched to Clinton. Honestly, what has she ever accomplished? Other than making teh greenparty a laughing stock. I am honestly curious. Maybe there is something redemable in her past or something, but as of right now she is all talk and no action. Nothing of actual use anyways. Her bringing up wifi brain developement either shows me that she is too fucking stupid to lead the green party, or she cares more about catering to her voter base than to make a viable progressive party. But of course when Hillary panders to voters its a bad thing…
I don’t consider the Greens a serious political party. They are in a position where they need to do some advertising during the elections to make their platform and candidates known. I know they prefer “purity” in fundraising and operate on a shoestring, but it doesn’t cost that much (bulk mail) for a card to all the households saying “We are the Greens, this is ten of our positions on the issues, and these are candidates on the ballot in your area”. Repeat weekly, but change the issues being addressed. Then, I might begin to consider them as a serious party. But if I don’t know they are even running a candidate in my congressional district until I see the ballot, it is too late at the point to even consider them.
Donald Trump is exciting a group he wants to do away with. ISIS. They see a chance of reviving their fortunes, as Trump fails to see that he is actually doing what they want with his rhetoric, making it Islam vs. Xianity.
Both Obama and Clinton were aware of that overt trap, and avoided it.
Donald Trump, tool of ISIS. Of course, he would fail to see the irony, and change his rhetoric.
Jill Stein and Betsy DeVos have something in common, support for alt-medicine.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/20/business/dealbook/betsy-devos-neurocore.html
*PSA*
Trump has made a big deal about the violence in Chicago. MSNBS’s Chris Hayes will be holding a Town Hall meeting from Chicago, Thursday night at 8 pm ET on MSNBC. The mayor and governor are united in it is OK to send in Federal Marshalls, FBI, or ATF agents, but no National Guard is acceptable.
*/PSA*
Oh, Kellyanne, Kellyanne. This is taking “focus on the positive” a step too far.
Kellyanne Conway was interview by CNN’s Jake Tapper. She came up with a new defense of Trump.
One of Kellyanne’s previous tactics was to tell us to focus less on what Trump says, and to “look at what’s in his heart.”
None of this deflection is going to work. We have a president who thinks of facts as his enemies. Trump can’t govern in any reasonable way.
Trump is lying about the murder rate in the U.S.A. … again. He did that repeatedly during the campaign, and now he has refreshed the lie.
Steve Benen says there is a reason Trump continues to lie about the murder rate.
Trump is still dissing judges. Also, I don’t think he understands how “respect” works.
Link
Trump was speaking today at a meeting that included members of the Major County Sheriffs’ Association and Major Cities Chiefs Association .
The judges would earn Trump’s “respect” if they ruled in his favor.
Since Mitch McConnell silenced Elizabeth Warren on the floor of the Senate, several Democrats have read Coretta Scott King’s letter into the record, or have quoted extensively from that letter as part of their effort to show that Jeff Sessions is not fit to be Attorney General.
Link
I think that Bernie Sanders has also read the letter on the Senate Floor. This could go on for some time.
Mitch McConnell succeeded in drawing attention to Coretta Scott King’s letter.
So, yeah, Nordstrom dropped Ivanka Trump’s label because the merchandise was not selling well.
Trump had something to say about that:
About those “78 underreported terrorists attacks”
Belgian newspaper editor responds with an open letter Dear Mr. President, your list of 78 ‘not covered’ attacks is ‘fake news’ (Dutch intro, Letter in English)
Trump is facing even more lawsuits over an executive order. This time it is not the immigration ban, the lawsuit is to block the executive order that requires federal agencies to repeal two regulations for every new one they enact.
Link
I know it is not possible, but I wish we could file an all-purpose lawsuit against stupidity in Trump’s executive orders.
Trump isn’t the only one with a problem overstepping his bounds. When the democrat squeaked out a victory in the North Carolina gubernatorial race, the rethug controlled legislature decided to limit his powers. A 3-judge put that law on hold.
Ah, rethugs, ever stop to think you overstepped your limited authority, and created an unconstitutional law? Grow up. You don’t always win, and shouldn’t with your attitude.
Nerd @164, thanks for that update. At least we have a temporary halt to unconstitutional actions by Republican legislators in North Carolina.
In other news, Vox is struggling when it comes to setting editorial guidelines for what to call Trump’s Muslim ban:
Link
This argument over semantics highlights how truly confusing the executive order is, and how the Trump administration does not know what it is doing. Nobody can figure this stuff out. The executive order is garbage that pretends to be an extreme vetting order.
Steve Bell’s If… the Dalek solution to Trump’s fear of stairs (cartoon). Steve Bell is the Grauniad’s main editorial cartoonist. I should point out there is no evidence hair furor trum-prat is afraid of stairs, but it does make an amusing meme.
Oh, my. Leaked info from the White House bolsters the rumor that Trump, confused about which was better for the economy, a strong dollar or a weak dollar, called Mike Flynn at 3 a.m. to ask for advice. Flynn did not know the answer.
Poltiico’s Michael Crowley joked that we’ve gone from worrying about President Trump fielding a scary 3 a.m. phone call to considering a president placing a scary 3 a.m. phone call.
Yeah, Trump should have known the answer, and failing that, he should have known that Flynn was not the right man to coach him on monetary policy.
Steve Benen discussed the alarmingly leaky White House:
Another resource: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/02/trumps-staff-sure-seems-eager-tell-world-hes-imbecile
Trump has been president for, what, twenty days? He has already lost us an ally in the fight against extremists. Yemen is not happy.
NY Times link
Trump and his deluded minions continue to insist that the raid in Yemen was a “success.”
Followup to comment 160.
What Mitch McConnell said about silencing Elizabeth Warren:
What Hillary Clinton said:
Lynna @ 168
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/02/08/yemen-reportedly-withdraws-permission-to-allow-us-ground-missions.html
Yemeni authorities are disputing that.
Trump held a meeting to discuss healthcare for veterans … but he didn’t invite any veterans.
http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/trump-va-listening-session-no-advocates
Speaking of Yeman, today (8-Feb), Yemen: UN and partners appeal for $2.1 bln to provide life-saving assistance to 12 million people in 2017:
Also Yemen famine feared as starving children fight for lives in hospital (trigger warning: very disturbing pictures of starving children): “Civil war has created ‘very severe needs’, the UN warns, while a blockade aimed at hurting Houthi rebels has made the situation worse” (Oct-2016).
On January 28, Trump called French President Francois Hollande. We now have a few details that illustrate how badly that call went:
Politico link
And here is the spin on that conversation, from a statement released by the White House:
me @172: Yeman → Yemen.
erikthebassist@170, Citing faux is always iffy, independent confirmation from a reliable source is strongly advised!
Followup to SC @26, and to comment 161.
Sean Spicer weighed in on the Nordstrom kerfuffle today during his daily press briefing at the White House.
Nordstrom was attacking the president’s policies! Really? Trump and Sean Spicer think that? Aiyiyiyi.
Satire fails me. I don’t even know what to say. Holy crap.
Thanks for the input up-thread regarding the statement (or not) from Yemen. I think I’ll wait to see what develops. We’ll probably get a clearer picture of what did and what did not happen soon.
In other news, a meeting Trump held with Intel CEO Brian Krzanich turned into a product announcement.
Talking Points Memo link
https://thinkprogress.org/to-resist-you-must-persist-f7cde8461ed2#.fxyio235p
This page on the Think Progress site offers a white T-shirt with black lettering that reads:
Funds go to the Trump Investigative Fund.
Writing for The New Yorker, Alexandra Schwartz, captured the importance of Melissa McCarhty’s impersonation of Sean Spicer:
The entire article is worth reading.
blf @174 – It’s widely reported elsewhere, NYT, Chicago Tribune to name a couple. That just happened to be the first link in my Google News feed. I didn’t really pay attention when I copy pasted it. I’m at work and was in a hurry. I agree that anything Faux news says should be taken with a grain of salt but the words did apparently originate from the Yemeni Foreign Minister.
Re Intel’s 10 nm @176: A “fab” is not a product per se, but a chip factory. On the other hand, 10 nm scale chips are the leading edge of commercial production, although Intel is not the only fabricator at that scale (my memory says Sumsung is also). More to the point, the jobs in or immediately associated with fabs are not, for the most part, the sort a redundant coal miner or steelworker or farmer or so on would necessarily easily fit into, and the fabs themselves are highly automated.
And $7bn factories do not spring up overnight. The new fab would have been in the planning and design stages for years, not to mention a technical process known as “qualification”. Hair furor trum-prat is claiming credit for something that was decided-on and invested-in years ago.
There is also a considerable amount of engineering and science in both the fabs and the chips the fabs produce. This is often collaborative with both universities and other companies, and is not restricted / confined to the States. All of that is something it seems hair furor and his dalekocracy simply do not comprehend.
About a year ago (April-2016) there was a snarking in the Grauniad, Donald Trump has the manner of an arrogant televangelist suspected of murder by Columbo, with some classic zingers like “Trump seems to have the emotional range of a Power Rangers villain and the social skills of a teenage Minotaur. He looks like a pumpkin having a nervous breakdown, talks like the words are being fired out of his mouth by a tennis ball launcher and has the general manner of an arrogant televangelist suspected of murder by Columbo. His approach to public speaking? ‘If in doubt, switch to your internal monologue.’ His core demographic? Possibly men whose holiday destinations would significantly overlap with a list of missing women. […]”
The author of that snark has a new one, Donald Trump: a man so obnoxious that karma may see him reincarnated as himself:
blf @180:
Right. I was thinking along the same lines. Trump is trying to take credit for, or at least to associate himself with, corporate expansion that did not depend on him. I still think it was kind of strange for Trump to invite the Intel CEO to make his announcement in the White House.
In other strange announcements, Sean Spicer said:
Proposed Trump executive order would allow US firms to sell ‘conflict minerals’:
I assume the dalekocracy’s Exterminate! Order to reinstate slavery is now being drafted. Not having to pay workers would end the ; that is, costs would lower so — in this bogus form of economics — profits would increase.
blf @181, very funny. But I think the author gives Trump too much credit. Trump could not think ahead far enough to reserve the army “for suppressing the domestic population.” … but now that someone else has suggested it ….
In other news, McConnell is desperately lying:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/08/us/politics/mitch-mcconnell-donald-trump-republicans.html
Has anybody come up with what is meant by “extreme vetting”, and how it differs from the present process, and how the real terrorists would be tripped up and acknowledge they want to blow up the USA? Inquiring minds want to know.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-1133177.html
Nerd @185, the Trump administration has not defined “extreme vetting,” not completely anyway.
Trump talked at one time about an ideological test designed to refuse entry to anyone who does not share “American values.” At one point, Trump said that the people he wants to allow in have to “love us.”
Trump has not been clear about whether “extreme vetting” would be applied to all visitors, or to would-be-immigrants, or to refugees. We don’t know.
blf @180, that factory expansion was announced by INTEL in 2011. It was on hold for a bit thanks to weak demand in the personal computer market.
I think it is likely that Brian Krzanich saw an opportunity to manipulate Trump into arranging for the updated announcement in the White House Oval office. Good PR move.
I don’t think there is much of anything new, different, or too interesting in this (but I could easily be wrong), Trump lashes out again at judges over travel ban and calls hearing , except for this one tidbit:
Also:
Lynna #187, so I’m not the only on confused by Trump’s vague idea. I suspect he is also confused, as he has no idea of the present vetting.
Nerd, here’s a followup to 187.
NBC News link
Nerd @190, yes. Trump is the original source of confusion. He said “extreme vetting” and then repeated “extreme” with extreme emphasis twice. Why? He liked the sound of it.
I wonder if she even knows where Canada is? Sarah Palin touted as US ambassador to Canada? You betcha!
There’s some hilarious tweets quoted, such as “Just cus @SarahPalinUSA ‘probably’ knows the difference between a moose & a beaver shouldn’t make her a Canadian ambassador option.” And “Dear Mr Trump: Rather than appoint Sarah Palin as ambassador to Canada, please bomb us. Signed, all intelligent life in Canada.”
The article concludes with some a snarking, eh:
Il Douch-ay’s attacks on the judicial branch drew criticism from an unexpected source:
How long till Trump calls Gorsuch a traitor?
Gary Younge, writing in the Grauniad, Trump fears terrorists, but more Americans are shot dead by toddlers:
Hmm…Sounds like a terrorist would create a false account to make them look innocent, and get admitted. Especially if they say they love Trump (ISIS does, so it’s not a lie). Do these folks trying to do the “extreme vetting” really have their act together? Sounds like they flailing around in the dark, not knowing what they are doing. Nothing but more theater that doesn’t quite do what they want.
Lynna @178:
Can you imagine Trump’s reaction if Rosie O’Donnell played him on TV?
Nerd@196, I would like to hope anyone who hands over their passphrase(s) would then, as soon as possible, change them. But if you are stooopid enough to hand it over in the first place…
Other flaws (in addition to “fake” account(s)): New mobile phone & SIM with no history; Posts aren’t in English; Passphrases contain characters not typical in English (e.g., ç and many others); Two-factor authentication; Simply delete the account as soon as possible afterwards; and so on — some of these simply slow down any spying, others mislead…
I’m inclined to think the superdoopergeniuses involved don’t even know what they are trying to accomplish or how to determine if it has been accomplished. Not to mention if there is even any point to whatever it is they want to accomplish.
The Senate has confirmed Jefferson Davis Beauregard Grand Wizard Sessions as Attorney General.
The Yemen raid is tragic, even more so because it increasingly looks like it was approved for ego/propaganda purposes and because they’re lying about it.
Sessions has been confirmed as AG.
A white supremacist bonehead in GA is under arrest/investigation after apparently self-poisoning with ricin.
Trump’s tweet about Nordstrom was retweeted from the official POTUS account. (Incidentally, TJX told stores to take down any signs advertising Ivanka Trump junk, which they’ll evidently continue to stock. Since this is, like, the definition of half-assed, I’m going to continue boycotting their stores.)
I’m giving this tweet o’ the day, because I think I posted about it months ago but had forgotten about it. Just a disgusting human being.
You gotta like Pennsylvania state Sen. Daylin Leach, who linked to Trump’s bombast about “destroying the career” of a Texas state senator who introduced legislation to curb civil asset forfeiture, and then posted on both Facebook and Twitter, “Hey! I oppose civil asset forfeiture too. Why don’t you come after me you fascist, loofa-faced shit-gibbon!!”
I’ll believe Gorsuch’s comments about Trump’s attempts to delegitimize the judiciary when he removes himself from consideration. The writing has been on the wall – about Trump’s corruption, relationship to/with Putin, dishonesty, incompetence, ignorance, irrationality, instability, destructiveness, authoritarianism, lawlessness, and general repulsiveness – for far too long for Gorsuch to remain the nominee and retain any credibility.
microraptor @197, some people have suggested that the entire top-level Trump team, and Trump himself of course, should be played by females on Saturday Night Live. I think it’s a good idea. For balance, someone suggested that Bill Hader play Melania Trump.
What a Maroon @199, not only do we get Jefferson Davis Beauregard Sessions as Attorney General, but as Rachel Maddow pointed out, Sessions gets to bring along his favorite racist and anti-gay buddy, Charles (Chuck) Cooper. As is Maddow’s won’t, she gives us about eight minutes of relevant history before bringing us up to date with Sessions and Cooper.
For the Reagan administration, Cooper defended Bob Jones University’s ban against interracial dating (the 1982 lawsuit involved tax exemptions granted by the IRS). Reagan used people in the Justice Department to defend an exemption Reagan gave to Bob Jones University so that the university could continue to ban interracial dating while also receiving a tax exemption. “A band of young zealots in the [Justice] department pressed for the legal switch to give Bob Jones its tax exemption,” Anthony Lewis wrote in The New York Times. This is where, at the 8:58-minute mark in the Maddow video that we meet one of the young zealots, Charles Cooper.
Cooper was later promoted to Assistant Attorney General. He was the point man for a Justice Department ruling that allowed employers to fire AIDS victims. Cooper later defended California’s same-sex marriage ban before the Supreme Court. Cooper has an impressive [cough] record of losing cases he defends before the Supreme Court.
And now, Jeff Sessions gets a little gift from Trump: Chuck Cooper is about to be named as solicitor general of the United States. Sessions wanted Cooper for the job of main litigator for the Department of Justice. Cooper is reportedly one of Jeff Session’s best friends, an “old buddy from Alabama.”
Maddow continues her segment by weaving together the various racist, misogynistic, anti-gay threads that show up in the Trump administration’s choices, and in the ways that Republicans in the Senate are backing up all of these choices. Shutting up Elizabeth Warren is included. Maddow concludes that all of the Republicans involved “do not give a flying, freaking, fruitcake, ficus, fjord —we do not give and F’s about being totally, unreconstructed on race!”
I agree with SC @202. Gorsuch said something true behind closed doors, quietly. He is not out there publicly and in front of cameras condemning Trump’s attacks on the judiciary (and on some judges in particular). Chuck Schumer said that he thinks Gorsuch is being too meek.
In comment 203, “As is Maddow’s won’t” should be “As is Maddow’s wont.” I curse autocorrect.
More reference material on the Sessions-like, odious doofus, Charles Cooper:
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a52952/charles-cooper-solicitor-general/
blf #193-
Yes, it certainly does look like the Herr Furor is intent on punishing us, preemptively, for the trade disputes that will inevitably arise when he and his minions turn their attention to NAFTA. (Given how keen he is to preemptively punish “the mooslems”, and his own so-called judges, that attention may be years in coming…) But I’m sure she is well aware of where Canada is – it’s all that empty space on the other side of Wrangell.
“the”
Trump tweets out of his ass again, this time about comments made by his SCOTUS nominee.
The quote was confirmed by Blumenthal, and representatives of Gorsuch, making the quote well evidenced. Where is Trump getting his evidence from? His farts?
Nerd @207, during the campaign Trump referred to his list of potential Supreme Court judges as “my judges.” He used the same phrase during campaign rallies when he made promises at rallies. “My judges.” That tells you what he expects.
In other news, Matt Yglesias, writing for Vox, pointed out that Trump seems to be encouraging the kind of financial risk-taking that endangered our economy in 2007-2008.
Kellyanne Conway appeared on Fox & Friends this morning. During the interview, she told viewers to buy products from Ivanka Trump’s clothing line:
The law says:
https://twitter.com/ChrisLu44/status/829689186949148674
Conway blatantly broke the law.
Trump lost a case in South Carolina. He is going to have to pay for environmental cleanup of toxic waste on one of his properties. The taxpayers of South Carolina are not going to pay for it.
Rachel Maddow covered the story. Near the end of the segment, Maddow emphatically pointed out that Trump’s lawyer lied to her face in an earlier interview about the company in South Carolina, including a lie about the toxic cleanup. Don’t lie to Rachel. She will catch you and she will expose the lie.
Il Douche-ay is attacking McCain again, this time for calling the attack in Yemen a failure (later downgraded to not a success):
Trump keeps encouraging us to Get Smart! Perhaps he should have the Cone of Silence installed in the Oval Office.
Trump signed three more executive orders today. No details were provided to the press, not yet anyway. Sounds like the usual blather from Trump. I guess we’ll find out how bad the consequences will be later.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-signs-executive-orders-justice-department
The horror of Trump’s executive order mandating more deportations has begun.
Link
The Hague Conventions make it clear that plundering a country’s natural resources is a war crime. Destroying or seizing an enemy’s property is prohibited. The Geneva Conventions state that “pillage is prohibited.”
Donald Trump doesn’t care. During a meeting with airline industry bigwigs today, Trump endorsed the commission of war crimes … again.
Think Progress link
BTW, the USA is a signatory to both the Hague and Geneva Conventions.
What a Maroon @211, Trump thinks that “doesn’t know how to win anymore” is the ultimate insult. McCain still has an ethical core and Trump has none.
Sean Spicer indirectly dissed McCain, and directly criticized everyone who noted that the raid in Yemen was not a total success. Spicer even called for McCain to apologize.
An excerpt from McCain’s reply:
Many years ago when I was imprisoned in North Vietnam there was an attempt to rescue the POWs. Unfortunately, the prison had been evacuated but the brave men who took—risked their lives in an effort to rescue us prisoners of war were genuine American heroes,” McCain said. “Because the mission failed did not in any way diminish their courage and willingness to help their fellow Americans who were held captive. Mr. Spicer should know that story.
Isn’t being married to an American citizen an automatic green card and quick path to citizenship? We are starting to see the real horror of our situation, our worst fears since the election and inauguration, become reality.
Between Lynna’s 212 and 213 alone it is clear that we are now living in a dictatorial police state.
How on earth are you going to “Stop violence against police officers”? These things are already illegal, already carry with them severe penalties. The only way is to turn the police in to the military. Place them in tanks, arm them with fully automatic weapons, have them travel in groups. Are we headed for APC’s driving down our streets instead of cruisers being a regular thing? That’s the only way I can reasonably imagine ending violence against police “as of today”.
We don’t fucking need MORE law enforcement, we need LESS. We already have too many of our citizens in jail for non-violent offenses.
What “Criminal Cartel” is he talking about?
Samantha Bee reviewed the latest news. Scroll down for video.
An excellent segment.
“A sentient bag of hairspray fumes was put in charge of education.”
“First, after briefly banning Kellyanne Conway for being a flaxen-haired fountain of lies, CNN let her back through the gates, straight into Jake Tapper’s cage. And they haven’t fed him this week.”
India Thusi wrote an opinion piece for The Hill, “Trump’s presidency places democracy in the crosshairs.”
Excerpts:
Sort of a followup to erik’s comment 216.
“The Mysterious Disappearance of the Biggest Scandal in Washington: Whatever happened to the Trump-Russia story? “:
This is a well-written account that places personal tragedy in an historical context, and which condemns Trump’s executive order banning anyone from seven countries from entering the U.S.
I’m an Iraqi who risked my life for America. Trump’s visa ban puts my family in grave danger.
Excerpt:
I recommend reading the entire article. The author was kidnapped and tortured for working with Americans in Iraq. He escaped when U.S. soldiers conducted a raid. He now lives in the U.S. His extended family remains in extreme danger in Iraq. Here in the U.S., Zakariya Al Sagheer is worried about ominous changes.
Zakariya Al Sagheer’s nephew, who is just a child has already been abducted once. He was returned to his family, but the threat is real and imminent.
I think the tone and approach of this Independent article about the latest EOs are good. (I do wish the press would make clear that Trump is doing the public signings well before the text of the orders is released.)
KellyAnne Conwayward’s ‘alternative facts’ strongly recommend buying Ivanka’s clothing line to stick it to Nordstrom. Spicey Ant is also claiming boycotting Ivanka’s clothes is a direct attack on POTUS.
and he likes to call everyone else “snowflakes” and “whiners”. He needs to look in the mirror for a snowflake and whiner.
Telling the country to buy a particular product is what he is required to leave behind when occupying the office of presidency.
It was also Drumph himself pitching sales of Ivanka products, not just his mouthpeezes: Conwayward and Spicey.
Calling the Ethics office to lodge complaint reroutes calls to “number dialed must be preceeded by 9” total BS. I’ll bet Trump has forced the phones to be routed to this robomessage to thwart complaints.
LOL.
two more cities, in addition to Seattle, have withdrawn their budget funds from WellsFargo to tell WF to stop supporting DAPL.
———————————————–
Dear Wells Fargo,
……….#NoDAP
signed,
………everyone outside of Trump.
———————————————–
SC @221, that’s a good article. I will add that during his acceptance speech after the swearing-in ceremony, Jeff Sessions repeated Trump’s lies about the increases in violent crime. So those two doofuses are on the same page. I’m not surprised that Trump combined the swearing-in ceremony with “law and order” executive orders. The birth of the police state (as was noted up-thread).
Wonkette thinks it’s possible that Ivanka Trump is just bad at fashion.
Other companies have also dropped the made-in-China line (SC @223):
Nordstrom
Neiman Marcus
Home Shopping Network
ShopStyle
Wonkette provides photos and fashion analysis to make their point.
Katy Tur just asked Maxine Waters if we should expect to see a stalemate in congress for the next four years, and Waters answered “I don’t think so, because he’s not going to be there for four years,” that Trump is leading himself into impeachment and “it’s not going to last very long.” She called him outrageous and ridiculous, and referred a few times to the relationship with Putin.
Oh, no. Trump edges us closer to the danger of nuclear proliferation and/or war.
Link
Rukmini Callimachi is reporting from Mosul, where the liberation fight is going well (of course, there’s still time for Trump to fuck it up).
SC @229, the Obama administration deserves credit for that fight in Mosul, and for a lot of the limitations on the spread of ISIS. Yes, Trump might fuck it up. We can only hope that he doesn’t put his attention on Mosul until after the fight is won. (Then he can take credit.)
In other news, can you imagine how fast the Republican-dominated House Oversight Committee would have jumped on Hillary Clinton if she had defended her daughter’s business, had criticized Nordstroms, and had allowed her top aides to suggest that people do business with her daughter?
And in other, other news, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office put out a statement estimating that the number of calls per day from citizens to Capitol Hill has reached around 1.5 million.
More anti-Muslim, prejudiced rhetoric from Trump’s National Security Council: Michael Anton, a staffer who was appointed by Trump, wrote some really stupid stuff under a pseudonym.
HuffPo link.
The Trump administration must not vet any of these people. Or, perhaps they do vet them and they like what they see?
SC @219, Neither Trump nor Republicans in general are talking about the assessment of US intelligence agencies that Russian intelligence backed a campaign to interfere in an election in the USA. I think they aren’t talking about it because that story is full of the kinds of facts they fear the most.
That Putin-backed interference is really the best route to discrediting Trump and some of his minions.
Republicans and Trump have buried the story. This makes me wonder what kind of pressure they have brought to bear in order to get US intelligence agencies to slow-walk and/or bury the investigation. Can they strip funds and personnel from the investigation? Can they insist that other priorities are addressed?
Who is giddy with happiness over the confirmation of Jeff Sessions as Attorney General? White Nationalists.
David Duke: “Thank God After 8 Horrible Years Of Black Radical Marxists We Finally Have An AG Who Will Defend Decent American People – Rather Than Thugs.”
Paul Ray Ramsey: “Great News! Hopefully, He Can Start Targeting Domestic Terrorist Groups Such As #BlackLivesMatter.”
Hunter Wallace celebrated by posting a photo of Jeff Sessions in a Confederate army uniform: “Congratulation, Attorney General Jeff Sessions.”
VDare: “Fight Of Jeff Sessions To Turn GOP Into A National Conservative Party Has Been Going On A Long Time. Now, Victory.”
Tim Treadstone: “Congrats To The Honorable Jeff Sessions For Officially Becoming Our New Attorney General! He Will Truly Make Our Country Great!” Tim Treadstone, a member of the “alt right” white nationalist movement who goes by the moniker “Baked Alaska,” celebrated on Twitter.
Daily Stormer: “Honestly, I didn’t even expect this to all come together so beautifully. It’s like we’re going to get absolutely everything we wanted. […]
Of course, I was thinking of Sessions for either Secretary of State or Defense, but I think Trump is making a point by putting an aggressive anti-Black racist in as AG. It’s a corrective measure, after Obama turned the Justice Department into the Black Panthers. [The Daily Stormer, 11/18/16]
Reaction to Kellyanne Conway’s violation of ethics rules apparently broke the Office of Government Ethics website.
Strange that a supposed white power moron like Treadstone would call himself Baked Alaska. Baked Alaska the ice cream dish is often brownish on the outside, and often has chocolate in the filling. He’s kind of implying that he might be part African American, isn’t he?
Regarding Lynna’s post at 214 Trump talking about himself in the third person in public can’t be a good sign.
“Secrecy surrounds White House cybersecurity staff shakeup”:
Once again Spicer is losing his shit in front of the press corps and one again he’s trying to deflect by pointing out things BO did. (This is a common theme with republicans BTW. Never accept responsibility, always deflect and project and always point out that you aren’t the only one behaving badly.)
It’s emotionally immature to point to the other kids that are doing the same thing when called out for bad behavior.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/sean-spicer-fights-with-media-during-press-briefing-234858
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals just ruled against Trump. This leaves the temporary stay against Trump’s travel ban in place. Appeals court upholds restraining order on Trump’s Muslim ban
Trump will probably appeal. This may end up in the Supreme Court.
Followup to comment 238.
The ruling was not on the merits of ban itself, but rather a decision to continue blocking the ban while the executive order itself is under review.
tim @235, I associate “Baked Alaska” with an Alaskan smoking pot. May have said too much.
Text of the 9th Circuit decision.
Another way to look at the ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is that those three judges refused to reinstate Trump’s ban on travelers from seven countries. They left U.S. District Judge James Robart’s temporary restraining order in place.
Not surprised by the Circuit Court of Appeals ruling. If The Trump is smart, he would use the ruling the to put out a new EO that is properly done, with due consideration. But he isn’t smart. So I expect it is either his way or the highway, and he may be shown the highway….And a terrible temper tantrum will result.
More ugly far rightwing crap shows up:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/college-republicans-sorry-hitler-valentines-card
The group posted an apology on Facebook, and also stated that they do not condone anti-Semitism.
Excuse my *snicker*.
Nerd @243, yes, I too am expecting a childish tantrum. We’ll see.
I was listening to some rightwingers discuss how they thought Trump’s ban would be upheld when the decision came through. Schadenfreude moment.
Excerpts from what the three-judge panel wrote:
The decision was unanimous.
Reading your quote, I can see the argument that SCOTUS will look at in detail. Arrogance (you cannot review my decision) could kill the administrations arguments with SCOTUS, who who likely feel the need to remind Trump he is subject to constitutional constraints. I would be leery to appeal such a ruling, if another alternative is available to me. IMHO.
Trump responds via tweet: “SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!”
Tweet o’ the day.
I love this Supreme Court quote from page 17: “‘[N]ational defense’ cannot be deemed an end in itself, justifying any exercise of legislative power designed to promote such a goal…. It would indeed be ironic if, in the name of national defense, we would sanction the subversion of one of those liberties . . . which makes the defense of the Nation worthwhile.”
Chris Hayes Town Hall episode on MSNBC about the crime situation in Chicago is delayed until tomorrow at 7 pm CT, due to the 9th appellate court decision. Tune in to see the real problems, not Trump’s delusional thinking.
Chris Matthews is such a pinhead.
Chris Matthews is a troll, only TV instead of online.
Hillary Clinton responds in a tweet: “3-0.”
Every time I watch Chris Matthews, I want a roll of duct tape….
Memed already.
(And a fucking comma splice. Grr.)
Nice.
(Someone links in the responses to this background article about Lauren Naturale.)
Chris Matthews is becoming more of a pinhead as he ages. He should retire while even part of his reputation is at stake. Matthews is almost unwatchable.
In other news, Charles (Chuck) Cooper has withdrawn. He is no longer being considered for the position of Solicitor General. One has to wonder if Rachel Maddow’s thorough reveal of Cooper’s odious past caused the Trump administration to ask him to withdraw. (See comments 203 and 205.)
SC @257, I loved this one:
I know – that one’s still making me giggle.
Some more slapping down in the decision (Trump travel ban hits major setback after judges uphold temporary restraining order):
Translation: Hair furor and the dalekocracy lies.
And the lying can be used as evidence:
Holy shit – this Chaffetz town hall.
That whole buzzfeed article had me guffawing. Is it time for the snowflakes to start picking at the scab that trump is a weak minded idiot? More so than rail against his racism and narcissism? That does seem to make the rethuglicans raw and tends to get them to show their true nature.
We won’t affect them by pointing out the racism, but we get their attention when we imply their leader and their ideology is weak and feeble, which he and it is.
I was thinking about this earlier. I think, if we want to really get through to the average Trump voter, we should concentrate our talking points on what a weak position it is to live in fear of the the terrorist bogey man, and the mexican job stealing rapist. Put the message out there that we are smart enough to realize we take a larger risk getting into our cars everyday and driving to work than we do by allowing a few hundred thousand refugees, among whom maybe a few hundred or a few thousand turn out to be criminals or terrorists, and that we, as a fair and just society, can deal with that, because the alternative is turning them away and watching while they die.
We need to keep hammering home the message that if you are getting put out of work by a migrant that doesn’t speak the local language, then maybe you haven’t prepared yourself well enough for the world and maybe your struggles are your own god damned fault and not the mexicans’.
It’s the equivalent of Peter Singer’s analogy of watching someone drown in a pool because you don’t want to get your expensive leather shoes wet. It’s a weak minded ideology. It’s fear of the wrong things and a desire to blame everybody else but themselves for their problems, which is ironically, a very recent claim to fame of conservatives; “Personal Responsibility”
I guess personal responsibility only applies when it’s somebody else that’s struggling to survive.
Thanks SC, I’m watching live. This is glorious!
Little girl with the ponytail has more courage in her pinky than Chaffetz does in his whole fucking body.
Your feed died on me SC, but this one is working:
https://www.facebook.com/saltlaketribune/videos/10155016652039399/
QFFT
Ooh! Ooh! Rachel Maddow just showed a photo of the Indivisible group in Morris, MN, And I think PZ was there — beardy guy near the middle. I was watching on the laptop, so it was a very small picture. I am proud of Morris (where I knocked on doors for Gene McCarthy when I was 12). Rock on!
@269, I guess we’ll have to wait for the clip to post to youtube.
Heh.
Wow – just saw this on Rachel Maddow: “A number of officials cited in a report from The Washington Post contend that despite the denials from President Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn, that he did in fact discuss U.S. sanctions against Russia with the country’s ambassador before Trump took office.”
I didn’t see this part of the town hall, but it captures the theme of the evening, including the end when he ducked behind the curtain.
Utah – who knew?
My sister’s family is mormon. She has three kids and 8 grandchildren. They all hate Trump. This isn’t a coincidence. They’d love Pence though.
Not that everyone from Utah is Mormon, or republican, that crowd in genuinely liberal and pissed off, I’m just addressing the idea that you shouldn’t expect to see this from Utah, because Mormons. LDS is not behind this asshat.
That was what surprised me most – the support for Planned Parenthood, rejection of patriarchy, defense of aboriginal lands, etc. And just the boldness of the borderline-Rabelaisian confrontation with authority. (I’ll note once more that Chaffetz has been a member of two minority religions and should know better than to cave as he has.)
And now..: “President[*] Donald Trump in his first phone call with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping since taking office reaffirmed the U.S.’s long-standing support for the ‘One China’ policy.”
Dang, I was watching Rachael Maddow and appear to have dozed off for half an hour. Well, I woke up at 4 am this morning.
You know, I’m getting new hope for my country.
Hang in there, Nerd. A poem for you.
‘K.
Update to #272:
@282 – I think this only has legs if they were actually in touch prior to the lection. Anything after 11/9 could be considered normal outreach, although reaching out to the Russians before you’ve reached out to Europe is a catastrophically poor maneuver.
*election, although the lack of an E does reflect my ability to speak atm.
It could be a violation of the Logan Act.
Marine Le Pen – evil kook.
Hilarious Breitbart interview with Angry Spice.
Their commitment to lawlessness is staggering.
SC @272, this new revelation about Flynn’s conversations with the Russians will revive the outrage about the entire Trump-Russia connection. Flynn was not the only one who lied about discussing sanctions with the Russians before Trump became president. Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer and others told the same lie.
Summary from the Washington Post:
SC @288, I’m sure you saw Rachel Maddow present the results of the new PPP poll which showed that 51% of Trump voters think he should be able to ignore (or somehow do away with) court rulings with which he disagrees. Lawless is right.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/poll-shows-worldview-gap-between-trump-voters-americans-broadly-874065475695
Followup to comment 289.
Vice President Mike Pence said during an interview on January 15 that Flynn “did not discuss anything having to do with the United States’ decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia.”
https://twitter.com/Rubin_Josh/status/829901787125669888
And there’s this from The New York Times:
About that wall that Trump wants to build on the southern border: it’s going to cost more, a lot more, than Trump claimed.
Link
Trump insists on revealing, via Twitter, that he does not understand the laws relevant to his immigration executive order:
Trump’s tweet shows that he read (or had someone read to him), and misunderstood, a blog post from the editor-in-chief of Lawfare, Benjamin Wittes. Wittes made it clear that he supports the court’s decision. He did add that it was “a pretty big omission” to leave out the statute granting the President broad authority to limit immigration. However, that mention does not add up to the conclusion Trump assumed. It did not add up to a “disgraceful decision.”
https://www.lawfareblog.com/how-read-and-how-not-read-todays-9th-circuit-opinion
“Cummings: ‘Grave doubts’ about Flynn’s honesty”:
You’ll be shocked, I’m sure, to learn that the passage was highlighted on Morning Joe minutes before Trump tweeted about it.
Correction to comment 293.
Trump didn’t read the Lawfare post. He listened to a report on Morning Joe that was essentially a hack job, that was misleading journalism. That’s why Trump didn’t get to the point of the Lawfare post, which was “The Ninth Circuit is correct to leave the TRO in place.”
Trump also missed out on the part where the blog post characterized his executive order in unflattering terms: “[…] “the incompetent malevolence with which this order was promulgated.”
“Incompetent malevolence” is an excellent description for the actions of Trump and his minions.
Ha. SC @295, I see we both doubted that Trump had actually read anything. We confirm that Trump is a man of very shallow mind.
Morning Joe at 8:03.
The Republican Party has joined Trump in dissing the judicial system:
WTF?
What about that pesky Constitution, Grand Old Party of rightwing dunderheads?
This is great.
Watch the weekly roundup from Think Progress of the lies the Trump administration told during this past week.
Think Progress puts together a video of the lies once a week. It’s a lot to fit into one 5:38-minute video, 19 lies this time. Short debunking of each lie is included.
SC @300, Republicans everywhere are running from protestors.
In other news, this is a followup to comment 144. After the Republican critters in the House voted to eliminate the Election Assistance Commission, more people are pushing back.
Link
erikthebassist – Josh Marshall also thinks the focus should be on possible pre-election communications. (I think all of it is important.)
This is a followup to comments 272, 282, 289, 291, and 294.
There is no doubt that Flynn lied, and there is no doubt that he discussed sanctions with Russian officials. This excerpt is from the Washington Post report:
From journalist David Corn of Mother Jones:
Will we finally see Flynn’s dismissal?
Update to comment 304: Representative Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, and a member of the House Intelligence Committee, has called for Flynn’s dismissal.
Rightwing responses to the court decision not to reinstate Trump’s Muslim ban:
Fox’s Sean Hannity: Sadly The Democrats And Unaccountable Judges Are Willing To Gamble With The Lives Of The American People. This Will Not Stand. This is all part of the alt radical lefts plan to undermine @POTUS @realDonaldTrump. “Judge shopping”
American Spectator’s Matthew Vadum: The Ninth Circuit hates America. These vile politicians in black robes should be impeached and removed. They are pro-terrorist activists.
“Alt-Right” Figure Mike Cernovich: Today’s ruling is unlawful, has no baisis in the Constitution, and is pure judicial activism.
Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro: JUDICIAL TYRANNY: 5 Biggest Legal Stupidities In The Ninth Circuit’s Decision To Stop Trump’s Executive Order
Fox’s Greg Gutfeld: My Sense: The Court Chose Their Emotional Need For Popularity Over Your Real Security. Ban = Mean; Rejecting Ban = Cool. judge ruling ignores security; indulges media/academia/enternainment troika. theylll be played by damon and affleck in miniseries.
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough: I’ve read the Ninth’s decision. They’re lucky they won’t have to read Justice Scalia’s reversal of their opinion. It would be brutal.
Okay, then. That’s the kind of thinking we are fighting against. It’s scary.
Seth Meyers called out Kellyanne Conway for hawking Ivanka Trump’s products. Meyers also mocked Trump for his incompetence in several areas, including a lack of attention to daily intelligence briefings, threatening legislators in Texas (“We’ll destroy his career.”), attacks on the free press (murder rate lies from Trump) etc.
Scroll down for the video. 10:38 minutes. Excerpt below:
Lynna: “Okay, then. That’s the kind of thinking we are fighting against. It’s scary.”
Calling it “thinking” is rather charitable. I’ve had hiccups with more thought behind them.
Tom Price was confirmed as Health and Human Services Secretary. Wonkette covered the import of this confirmation well:
a_ray @308, you’re right. It’s more of a refusal-to-think syndrome.
In other news, Bashar al-Assad is now on the “fake news” bandwagon. He said that the Amnesty International Torture Report was “fake news.” That’s a Trumpian approach.
Rosie O’Donnell changed her Twitter profile picture to show herself as a Steve Bannon impersonator. Looks good. She could do that well.
https://twitter.com/Rosie
Public Policy Polling results.
Trump, his agenda, and his team are not doing well.
Lynna,
I’ve seen interviews of Assad, and the scary thing is that I almost think he believes the crap he is spewing. He’s approaching Nixon-praying-with-Kissinger levels of crazy.
Donald Trump did not wear his translation earpiece while the Prime Minister of Japan was speaking at the White House today. Trump nodded along as if he understood. Maybe he knows all the best Japanese words?
a_ray @313, I think people like Assad and Trump lie to themselves first. They convince themselves that they are telling the truth. You are right. They believe the crap they spew.
In other news, Trump announced that he is planning to take more action “with regards to security” while the appeal on his immigration ban is working its way through the courts. He also spewed a bunch of receptive crap about how urgently his actions are needed because we are all in imminent danger. He believes that he is in imminent danger. Link
Republicans demonstrated their cynicism and their inner need to help banks at the expense of bank customers.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/matthewzeitlin/republicans-are-moving-to-scrap-rules-on-overdraft-charges
The CRA, or Congressional Review Act, provides a way for simple majorities in both houses of Congress to eliminate a recently-finalized regulation (finalized less than 60 legislative days ago). A lot of Obama’s relatively recent regulations will be reversed using the CRA.
From Paul Krugman:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/opinion/when-the-fire-comes.html
More rightwingers are urging Trump to defy court orders. Here is an excerpt from a rant by Pat Buchanan:
The quote text is from WorldNetDaily, to which I do not link.
I did. I’m paying special attention to the rapidly rising percentage that want to see Trump impeached – from 35% to 40% (as I cited above @ #83) to 46% in just a few weeks. (There’s now an even split 46%/46% pro and against impeachment as Maddow noted.) 46%!
Oh, FFS. Trump is still obsessed with delusional voter fraud theories. He is deranged in some way.
Politico link
“US investigators corroborate some aspects of the Russia dossier”:
A “senior White House official” is now saying they won’t take the travel ban case to the Supreme Court.
Eliot Engel, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is calling for Flynn to be fired.
Followup to comment 320.
About that awkward silence, (even from supporters), when Trump brings up his voter fraud theories, Steve Benen put it this way:
Chris Hayes on “All In” is the one who called Trump’s assertions “deranged.”
I’m confused as to why Wolf Blitzer isn’t talking about the new revelations CNN reported online about the Steele memos.
LOL.
SC @323, I think Wolf Blitzer is sometimes slow off the mark. And sometimes I think he waits for a journalist who is more adept at summarizing the importance of a new finding to do the hard work, and then he uses that.
I think the main point is that confidence in the reliability of the dossier has increased.
Response from the White House:
Hahahaha. That’s a sure sign that the news hits a sore spot in the Trump administration, hits a weak spot and makes them nervous.
Oh, boy …. yet more trouble for Republicans and their efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.
Link
Jeffrey Stein, a Newsweek reporter, is suing government agencies “demanding to know the process used to vet and approve 15 of Trump’s picks” for security clearances.
This is a followup to comment 320.
In that same meeting, trump called Senator Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas” again.
In other news: SC @319, yes, those numbers for against impeachment of Trump are, to use a trumpism, very important, very very important.
In that same poll, some questions related to Black History Month were asked.
Link
This was about an hour ago:
“Trump to pool on Flynn reports: ‘I don’t know about that. I haven’t seen it. What report is that? I haven’t seen that. I’ll look into that'”
China is trolling Trump on Twitter:
In a phone call with #XiJinping, #Trump agreed to honor #oneChinapolicy, though he had publicly challenged it. What has changed his mind?
Blackmailing didn’t work
China’s unyielding stance
Pressure from within U.S.
Ivanka and Arabella
Well done, Republicans.
This reporting is…interesting.
“Federal agents conduct sweeping immigration enforcement raids in at least 6 states”:
Lynna @ 311:
That’s actually a photoshop of Rosie’s face on Spicer’s body. There are some larger pictures of it available and it’s easier to see the change in skin tone on them.
Lynna @ 326:
Hey, Moda’s my health insurance company! Cool!
And is there an Aryan history month? Looks the “alt right” has a point. /sarc
Claire McCaskill is asking Comey for a briefing on the Flynn-Kremlin communications.
This is useful: list of Democrats calling for a Flynn investigation
Chris Hayes if finally getting his town hall event in Chicago about their troubles like number of murders on MSNBC.
Right hand does not know what the left hand is doing:
Link
Maggie Haberman: “Really hard to overstate level of misery radiating from several members of White House staff over last few days.”
.
TrumPutin is deleting tweets.
I’m pretty sure that’s illegal now that he’s POTUS, even if it’s his personal twitter account, which he shouldn’t be tweeting from anyways. He doesn’t yet grasp that he’s actually president and therefor has rules he’s supposed to follow, but yeah, go ahead and lock up Hillary for doing something that every SOS did before her.
follow up to 342: The punishment for violating the Presidential Records Act of 1978:
Above quote from the Forbes article I linked in 342.
LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP!
Seeing something totally unacceptable. Ads promoting Gorsuch for SCOTUS. If you must advertise for him, he is, like Trump the con man, unacceptable. Period, end of story.
Nerd of Redhead @344:
Who the hell is actually advertising something like that?
I don’t know, and I presume some RWA PAC. But they were on MSNBC. Very disturbing.
Microraptor, a quick search showed both ads for and against Gorsuch
For
Against
Unseemly both ways.
Personally, it Gorsuch can’t distinguish between a real person, and the pseudo fictional person that is a corporation, he is automatically disqualified from consideration for SCOTUS. You may have other criteria, one way or the other.
Oh, and the ads in my links weren’t the one I saw on MSNBC tonight.
Okay, next question: precisely what purpose is served by advertising Gorsuch?
This came to me this morning. Can we start calling Trump’s reign the Tang dynasty?
Rachel Maddow reported on this last night: ICE lied to the public and CA officials about its raids this week.
Regarding Linda Sarsour, I haven’t followed the claims and counterclaims (I’ve found that in these situations the allegations typically turn out to be bullshit or at least grossly misleading and partial), but I’ve seen her on TV for a while now and she’s always seemed to be associated with and speaking for progressive causes (including the Women’s March). It’s simply a fact that what sharia means to different people and groups varies widely, and that there are multiple aspects of sharia law, so just connecting the term to a person offers little in the way of useful information about them. Many attacks on progressives in my experience seem to boil down to the fact that they’re Muslims, and therefore somehow linked to the most rightwing Muslims. But just as I wouldn’t say that the woman speaking at my link @ #279 is responsible for Bryan Fischer because she’s a Christian, I see no reason to consider Linda Sarsour or Keith Ellison suspect because of their religion.* I get the sense that people think progressive Muslims can’t really exist. The article is very short on information about Sarsour’s specific beliefs. It suggests that she’s “an apologist for hard Islamist ideas” and “a religiously conservative veiled Muslim woman, embracing a fundamentalist worldview requiring women to ‘modestly’ cover themselves.” I’ve seen no evidence in support of those claims and much evidence to the contrary. Even if she has some views that I disagree with – and I assume she does – that wouldn’t disqualify her from a leadership position in the movement. But I’ve yet to see any engagement with her actual views, and if she’s not interested in being interrogated about her beliefs I think that’s understandable – I’ll continue to base my view of what she stands for on her statements, actions, and associations.
* (Well, particularly suspect. I regard religious faith as inherently reactionary.)
+1 on SC’s 352. krsone, your post boils down to “but SHARI’AH” shouted over and over. Personally, I don’t care if she wears a full-on Afghani burqa, if she’s a feminist then she stands up for the right of women to choose, just as I do. That she chooses hijab doesn’t make her a bad feminist any more than my wearing makeup sometimes does me.
Besides, at this point I’d stand up beside any Muslim, because dividing us along those lines serves only the tangeriney Mussolini and his friends. So no, I’ll not be judging Ms Sansour based on one comment; I’ll mind her behaviour (so far, impeccable) and where she stands (with us progressives, as yet).
“CIA freezes out top Flynn aide”:
Keith Olbermann on what mass deportations would entail.
CBS News is also reporting that the Steele memos are “gaining credibility with law enforcement.”
“FEC commissioner asks Trump for voter fraud evidence”:
It’s certainly possible that Flynn outright lied to Pence, but we shouldn’t forget that Pence himself is a practiced and shameless liar and was throughout the campaign. He lied and lied and lied during the VP debate (the news shows chose to focus on Kaine interrupting him rather than the mendacity on display), and he didn’t stop lying after the election or inauguration.
Trump is saying he has “full confidence” in Flynn.
“Justice Department Takes A Step Back From Effort To Protect Transgender People Under Existing Law”:
Lynna – Can we get krsone muted in this thread? I don’t want his trolling to ruin what I view as an awesome one stop shop and central repository for all of the crap this administration has been up to.
A thread about what happens to people picked up and deported. Nogales is one of the saddest places I’ve ever been.
Aha, watched the full ad for Gorsuch on MSNBC. Put out by the Judicial Crisis Network. JCN is funded by the Wellspring Committee, which was founded by the Koch brothers. Nothing but pure partisan politics.
Ah, found a report on the ad.
Washington Examiner article.
Here’s the mission statement of the Women’s March:
As Sarsour was an organizer of the March, which also excluded groups opposed to reproductive rights, I’m assuming she supports those principles. Muslim women and LGBT people face a very complex situation, and can make mistakes just like all of us can in a struggle on multiple fronts. I would rather work with people who try to recognize and address intersecting lines of oppression and experience than those who marginalize or ignore some lines of oppression and experience to focus on others.
This flew under the radar… Internment Camps
Our worst fears are coming true.
Sales of Ivanka Trump merchandise were down 32% at Nordstrom over the past FY, despite general sales being up.
Jason Chaffetz is now claiming that the people at his town hall the other night were paid protesters:
Jon Favreau tweeted: “He needs to show evidence that this is true, or apologize” to his constituents.
erik @361
I feel your pain. I’ll alert PZ about krsone, but I don’t see a violation of the commenting rules … so far.
krsone obviously has a single-issue obsession, a tendency to create false-equivalence scenarios from thin evidence, and is working hard to turn us all into krsone clones.
SC @352, CaitieCat @353, and SC @366 provided great rebuttals and/or appeals to reason.
My advice for now is that erik, and others who don’t wish to engage, should ignore krsone. Skip those krsone comments if that suits you best. We’ll keep a close watch on this.
I don’t know if this crowd estimate is accurate, but large Moral March in Raleigh, NC, today.
Lynna @ 369 – Thanks for the response. I feel that’s fair. I just don’t want to see this particular thread be derailed because so far it has become such a useful repository.
I saw the ad that Nerd and others referenced up-thread. The ad that aired on MSNBC made use of a former Obama-administration employee to say that there’s nothing scary about Gorsuch. That ad tells me that Republicans are worried about his confirmation, that the Koch brothers have too much money to throw around (and maybe that Gorsuch is one thing they can support in the Trump swamp), and that the Supreme Court nomination is of paramount importance to the Koch brothers’ agenda.
SC @ 368, I am so disappointed in Chaffetz. I know he is a doofus, and I’ve been appalled by many of his past actions, but I thought that a strong showing of disagreement from his own constituents would give him pause, would make him think.
So the mormon news source, Deseret News, published a story in which Chaffetz says all those protestors were paid!? For shame, Chaffetz. BTW, online organization for attendance at a Town Hall meeting, or for a protest, is not evidence the protestors were paid. A lot of those protestors were probably mormons.
From the comments below the Deseret article:
McKay Coppins on the Chaffetz town hall:
This, from the article I linked to above, stood out:
He provides no qualifications to this, so evidently regardless of whether there’s cause to go after Trump he won’t act. That’s an open refusal to do his job and in violation of the constitutional oath he took.
“Congress has a responsibility to engage with constituents”:
Commentary regarding Trump backing down and performing an about-face on China:
https://www.chinafile.com/conversation/did-xi-just-outmaneuver-trump
Follow up to 374:
Apparently the Whiter Than Ever House is giving the same cold shoulder to certain senators as well.
SC @373, thanks for that additional info. Coppins has it right, in my opinion.
I too noticed that Chaffetz told everyone that, no, he is not going to do his oversight job when it comes to Trump.
Chaffetz’s belief that his constituents would not protest like that shows that he is completely out of touch with a significant number of his constituents. Get out of the bubble, Chaffetz.
Bernie Sanders made this statement on CNN:
Let’s check in with our President and see if he slept well and woke up cured of all the sound and fury signifying nothing in his head. Nope.
The “WT” is a reference to a dubious story in the Washington Times.
And there’s this:
https://twitter.com/JenniferJJacobs/status/830432228664602624
Yeah, “death panels” not working these days. (And his response to his constituents’ anger is sickening.)
I read years and years ago, and always believed, that they have to fight like hell, with every lie in their arsenal, to keep any decent system of public healthcare from being implemented, because they know that once people have it they’ll want to keep it and have the experience to see through the lies.
Followup to comments 342 and 343.
Just in case you ever need it, here is a site that archives Trump’s deleted tweets:
https://deadbird.site/realdonaldtrump
Also from McKay Coppins:
“Funny thing: the SLC Republican Party blasted out an email ahead of Chaffetz town hall urging “the REAL Utah majority” to show up.”
“So, basically both the Repub Party and progressive groups tried to get people to the #ChaffetzTownhall. One side succeeded, the other failed.”
Yeah, “death panels“. More like directives for care for terminal patients, which will include all of us at some point in time. It should be talked about.
Oh, FFS. Milk is the new, creamy symbol of white racial purity in Donald Trump’s America.
SC @380, and Nerd @383, that Republican dunderhead called his audience “children” for disagreeing with him. That’s the trumpian tactic of mocking those that disagree with you by labeling them as “children,” “weak,” etc.
BTW, we have recently seen some children who are obviously braver and more intelligent than some elected Republicans. (SC @266)
I really liked the way that audience did not let the speaker get away with the lie about “death panels.” A doctor in the audience explained that “death panels” is misleading.
This is interesting:
http://www.sltrib.com/home/4928444-155/more-companies-pull-out-of-outdoor
Years ago, when I was promoting adventure travel books I had written, I attended the Outdoor Retailer show. That show was a really big deal for anyone marketing products to outdoor enthusiasts. It is a big deal when major corporations, like Patagonia, drop out.
I think Chaffetz and other elected officials miscalculated badly when they decided to promote policies that would result in more extractive industry use on public lands, and even in selling off public lands.
In the past several days,
– total retreat from tough talk on China
– publicly thanked Japan for hosting US military after blustering during the campaign about how they should be paying
– EU official says they’ll honor Iran deal after all after months of promising to withdraw
– shifting and unclear policy on Israel/Palestine
– tragically disastrous raid in Yemen
– unprecedented number of leaks about the chaos and incompetence of the administration and how Trump isn’t remotely up to the job, reviving discussion of the 25th Amendment
– daughter’s stuff pulled from shelves at Nordstrom after huge decline in sales, and other stores as well
– SNL mockery struck a chord
– top aide broke the law on live television
– National Security Advisor caught in a stupid lie about possible criminal activity involving an adversarial government; investigations continue as more information surfaces
– National Security Advisor’s deputy denied security clearance and removed from NSC
– aspects of Steele memos confirmed; dossier gaining credibility among law enforcement
– well behind schedule on filling cabinet and other important positions
– executive orders shown to be poorly constructed
– hilariously bad and rapidly declining poll numbers
– protests growing
– more loony claims about mass voter fraud called out by officials
– more ignorant whining on Twitter
– smacked down unanimously by appeals court on immigration ban; more tough talk before a decision has even been made
Not exactly screaming tough, consistent, effective leadership, is it?
Mitch McConnell ducked protesters in the airport in KY, only to have a couple hundred reading Coretta Scott King’s letter outside his home.
SC – Thank you so much for that summary. Can I repost that to FB with attribution? I only have like 67 friends lol. It’s my small circle of RL friends.
It gives me a lot of optimism. I don’t think even Pence can now survive what’s coming.
“Trump U.K. Visit Delayed to Avoid Parliament Talk, Guardian Says”
At the rate things are going, this visit might not happen.
Sure!
SC @387, excellent summary. Thanks.
Evidence of bad management. It’s called “bad management,” Mr. Orange Dumpster.
Two short videos revealing the state of affairs in the US:
Iowa Republicans work to destroy kids’ dreams for a good life as teachers by doing away with collective bargaining, then try to blow smoke up their asses.
Canadian mounties help Syrian refugees cross the border in the dead of winter to flee the fucking United States. (The first response says it all: “Déchirant. Honte sur les États-Unis. Ce n’est pas le pays que je connais.”)
Tweet o’ the day.
Ha! This is quite funny. I hope Trump sees that a Dominican newspaper used a photo of Alec Baldwin imitating Trump instead of the Orange Dumpster himself to illustrate an article it published on Friday.
Link
Reporters in Salt Lake City, (and others), are not letting Jason Chaffetz get away with claiming that the protestors at his town hall meeting were paid.
From Eric Bradner: I was there and interviewed many members of the audience. None I spoke with were paid, and all I met were from Utah.
From McKay Coppins: FWIW I spoke to around a dozen people for this story. All from Utah, most from his district.
[…]Utah state Rep. Marie Poulson (D-Cottonwood Heights) represents the area around the high school where the town hall was held. She told the Deseret News she believes almost all the protesters were local. […]
https://thinkprogress.org/chaffetz-paid-protesters-town-hall-9f97e1f16d62#.xfo6r8lsd
Nope. Maajid Nawaz is almost as phoney as Walid Shoebat. His sole interest is the greater prosperity and glory of Maajid Nawaz. He was at one time a member of an extreme (although not provenly terrorist) Islamist group, Hizb ut-Tahrir. He now snuggles up to the Islamophobic right, including not only Sam Harris and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, but American neocon outfits such as the Koch brothers affiliated “Gen Next”, with which his Quilliam Foundation’s US offshoot shared an office (I don’t know if it still does), and Douglas Murray of the Henry Jackson Society, himself a chum of Pamela Geller and Richard Spencer.
Further to #397,
Amusingly, in 2013 Nawaz was out-scammed by the British fascist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, aka “Tommy Robinson”, one-time leader of the English Defence League. Nawaz’s Quillian Foundation apparently paid Robinson £2000 for the right to announce his abandonment of the EDL (which Robinson intended anyway, not because – as he pretended – he’d repented of his racist views, but because it was falling apart). Robinson has now joined Pegida, which has the same ideology.
MSNBC throughout the day has presented pro- and anti-reproductive rights protests as “dueling rallies,” but the commentary from reporters on the scene, pictures of the rallies, and statements from Planned Parenthood representatives all lead to the conclusion that pro-PP rallies are far larger. If that’s the case, objective journalism means reporting that fact. In any case, providing information about the relative size of the protests would be helpful.
Trump and his minions make lies seem true by repeating them.
WIRED link
If I were a local who attended/spoke, I would be furious, not just because it’s an offensive accusation but because it means he was just pretending to respect their concerns and really doesn’t give a shit about them.
SC@390,
In a way it will be a pity if Trump’s state visit doesn’t happen – it would guarantee large demonstrations – possibly the biggest since the Iraq War, or even exceeding them* – and force the entire UK establishment to align themselves with or against Trump, who is massively disliked and despised here, even among much of the right. But if it fails to happen, that would itself be a considerable defeat for the May government.
The article you link to also notes that there’s going to be a motion of no confidence – tabled by a Tory MP, James Dudderidge – in the House of Commons speaker, John Bercow, who has said he would veto an address to Parliament by Trump. This is unprecedented AFAIK. Bercow himself started out as a very right-wing Tory, but appears to have mellowed. Most of the Opposition parties will support Bercow – it will be interesting to see how the Tories split.
*Although timing it in August or early September could also be a way of limiting their size – students will be away from college, many people will be away on holiday.
Another illusory truth, made plausible by frequent repetition: that Hitler spelled his first name “Adolph” ;-)
SC @399, I noticed that too. Not good.
For example, about 500 anti-reproductive rights protestors showed up in St. Paul Minnesota. The pro-reproductive rights (and pro Planned Parenthood) protestors numbered about 5,000. In other words, pro-reproductive rights outnumbered anti-reproductive rights by a factor of 10.
I guess we’ll have to report the news ourselves.
Oh, I was thinking it might not happen because he might not still be in office by then. (Which I know is wildly optimistic, but things do seem to be picking up steam.)
Hee.
Good for Yale:
So vile.
I agree with Xeni Jardin here: “Just a feeling, but I believe when the truth unfolds about this man, it will be immeasurably more horrifying than you can imagine right now…..”
By the way, Alec Baldwin is hosting SNL tonight.
Greensboro, GA. Be still my heart.
North Korea has fired a ballistic missile into the ocean.
Yes. The stories – some of which were fairly implausible even if they’d been the only tale told – concerning the number of calls, timing of calls, subjects discussed, and so on changed constantly and conflicted.
For the record, while I think Joy Reid is a treasure, I thought her segment this morning with Malcolm Nance and Naveed Jamali talking about Edward Snowden was awful. The gleeful speculation that he would be in a Supermax prison was ghoulish. The idea that he was a spy who didn’t know he was a spy was absurd. The lack of concern that he could be handed over to fucking Trump – I’ve read Nance’s book, and know what he thinks of Trump and his entourage – was disgusting. The total failure of all involved to appreciate Snowden’s motives, methods, accomplishments, and courage was breathtaking. The whole tone of the segment was beneath my expectations for the show. Very disappointing.
SC, you may have to add the North Korean missile to your list @387 since Trump made a big deal out of saying that North Korea wouldn’t fire a ballistic missile while he is president.
Trump just did a photo op. Someone asked about the North Korean test and he just pretended the question hadn’t been asked.
Any missile that goes downrange, even a hundred miles is a ballistic missile. SpaceX (well, SpaceX has recovered a few boosters), ESA, and UAL launch ballistic missiles all the time. Data is need as to the range of flight, and once orbit can be achieved, the payload can be dropped anywhere under the orbit.
SC @415, maybe he didn’t have time to watch TV to find out what he thinks about the North Korean missile test.
Matt Yglesias is cracking me up.
Trump thinks the media has “abused” Ivanka.
Doofus.
I want to take a shower now. This family.
Alexandra Petri explains it all.
Though she overlooked the fact that in the alternate universe vaccines cause autism.
Evidently the Trump Administration isn’t going to back transexaul rights.
A running list from New York: “All the Terrifying Things That Donald Trump Did Lately”
I’m having to stock up on adjectives for Republican politicians.
White House senior policy advisor Stephen Miller went on all the Sunday morning shows to repeat quite a few Trump administration lies.
On NBC’s Meet the Press, Miller said,
On ABC’s This Week, Miller said,
OMFG, Kris Kobach as a reliable reference? Also, “This morning on this show is not the venue for me to lay out all the evidence” translates to “There is no evidence.”
As Esme Cribb of Talking Points Memo noted:
As George Stephanopoulos pointed out: “Just for the record, you have provided absolutely no evidence.”
On Fox News Sunday, Miller said,
That was in reference to the executive order barring visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States.
SC @424, here are a few adjectives for Republicans, adjectives (and nouns) I think have been under-used:
craven
vain
villainous
canker-blossom
lout
poisonous
lily-livered
brazen
spineless
gutless
brutish
mendacious
foul
dishonorable
I’m sure I can come up with a few more later.
Melissa McCarthy returned to Saturday Night Live to reprise her impersonation of Sean Spicer.
Excerpt:
List of terrorist attacks:
Kate McKinnon appeared as Jeff Sessions. In a different sketch, McKinnon also reprised her role as Kellyanne Conway. I think she could present a devastating Stephen Miller as well. I hope she does.
Slate Link
Josh Marshall posted a timeline of events that illuminate National Security Advisor Michael Flynn’s association with Trump and with Russian interference in the 2016 election. Marshall said the timeline is a work in progress.
I’ll summarize part of the timeline. Visit the link for the full details.
Marshall’s caveat: “Of course, a timeline can create the impression of causation where none exists. It’s important to keep that in mind. Still, it’s helpful to get a lot of information in one place organized in time. It helps us bound what events can possibly be causally related as well as how they may or may not be related.”
How is Betsy Devos doing as head of the Department of Education? Perhaps we can judge from this:
Link
Trump plays his mendacious card:
Mark Cuban backed Hillary Clinton, and he publicly questioned Trump’s claims of personal wealth.
Cuban tweeted in response:
This is a followup to comment 425.
One thing Stephen Miller did not say is that Trump has confidence in Michael Flynn:
Link
Yeah, right. Is the first indication that Trump is going to give Flynn the boot in an attempt to save himself?
Looks like the White House Correspondents Dinner will have all the star power of Trump’s inauguration.
Nancy Pelosi’s “Statement on Reports of New Confirmations of Trump-Russia Dossier”:
Various people, from Maxine Waters to Rick Wilson, have indicated on TV recently that they know Republican legislators who are extremely concerned about Trump and headed towards putting their foot down in the not-too-distant future. They seem pretty confident about this, although we’ve yet to see any public indications of a major shift.
“Villainous” is the one most often coming to mind these days. I hear about another despicable act and find myself – like I’m in a movie, locked in a cabin while the bad guys go off to carry out their nefarious scheme – saying “You won’t get away with this!”
There’s a Jewish resistance protest being planned for March 26th in DC when Trump attends AIPAC’s annual convention.
Excerpt from an on-air statement by CNN’s Dan Pfeiffer:
Excerpt from a statement made by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on “Face the Nation” with CBS’ John Dickerson:
LOL.
This is a followup to comment 430.
A further response from Mark Cuban: “[…] isn’t it better for all of us that he [Trump] is tweeting rather than trying to govern?”
In other news: more support for Trump, this time from Hezbollah, an group the U.S. has designated as a foreign terrorist organization:
http://bigstory.ap.org/13159a09a1af43f0818ae7d091178a64
The GOP celebrated the birthday of Abraham Lincoln by attributing a quote to Lincoln that cannot be attributed to Lincoln.
The earliest use of that quote appears in an advertisement for a book published in 1947 (book by Edward J. Stieglitz).
Whoops. Comment 438 repeats a subject SC brought up in comment 436.
Conclusion from both comments: Accuracy is not a virtue the GOP possesses.
In other news, there are more signs of infighting within the Trump administration:
Link
Schumer:
I agree with this. I’ve heard several people say that the appeals court ruling provided them a “road map” for how to fix it, but I read the decision and I’m not seeing it. The judges pointed to the extended evidence from the public record alone that it was targeted at Muslims and that the regime didn’t provide any rationale, classified or unclassified, for the countries or groups selected. It’s plain that the countries were chosen to try to exploit an earlier and completely different Obama policy to give a racial/religious ban the veneer of legality. They can’t go back in time and produce evidence of a specific threat that didn’t exist. Obviously if there was good intelligence about a specific threat they would have supplied it to the courts already. Any tweaked version will have the same origins,* and things could only get worse for them if they went into discovery (Giuliani and others deposed under oath, earlier drafts and related communications produced, lack of a security rationale and thus their lies about its existence exposed,…). I’m not a lawyer, but I don’t see how any version of this EO would succeed legally.
* The 2015 campaign statement calling for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on” is still up on his site.
Joy Reid and Maxine Waters discuss Sean Spicer and Donald Trump on AM Joy.
“State G.O.P. Leaders Move Swiftly as Party Bickers in Congress”:
* …a bundle of Koch loot, and the ALEC policy plant…
Stephen Miller, precocious assclam.
Town Hall Project – they provide information about upcoming town halls, office hours, etc.
Tweet o’ the day. (See also: Central America.)
SC @443, holy fuck! Nightmarish. Miller was always thus, eh? I see that, like many rightwingers in training, he covers all the bases, including cluelessness about Hispanics, arrogance about himself and white men in general, anti-gay ignorance, and on and on.
SC @445, there are already some who did not survive Trump, including the Navy Seal that died in Yemen.
In other news, 51% of Trump voters believe the “Bowling Green Massacre” was real.
Followup to comments 425 and 431. (And sort of a followup to SC’s 443.)
Trump liked the Stephen Miller show:
One of the many outrageous things Miller said was:
Followup to comments 320, 357 (SC), and 425.
The Hill link
Trump’s approval ratings dropped again.
Link
That’s a new low. Trump began his presidency with a 45% approval rating, which was already low. Now he is even more unpopular.
One place Trump is popular, is with militant Islamics, since he stupidly plays to their “us vs. them” attitudes.
ISIS and now Hezbollah are overjoyed at his “leadership”.
This is all building to a crescendo and I fear the result. It can only go one of two ways I think. Either the GOP pulls it’s head out and dismantles this administration from the top down and rebuilds it, or we’re looking at a dictatorial regime where freedom of press is dead and dissenters will be killed or interned.
Which of course, could lead to a civil war.
This is unfucking believable:
http://gizmodo.com/border-agent-demands-nasa-scientist-unlock-phone-before-1792275942
Sorry I’m too fuming after reading that to href it.
This story is crazy. This can’t continue.
lol SC… great minds huh?
Ha! Funny that we saw it at the same time.
Steve Rosenberg at the BBC: “Slight change in Russian TV coverage of Trump. Still no criticism, but more mocking. Mentions SNL sketches & awkward handshake with Japan PM”
Heh. (Background above @ #258.)
Beyond disturbing: “Turmoil at the National Security Council, From the Top Down”
SC @455 (and erikthebassist), this is a part of that story that really raised red flags for me:
Interesting video of Mike Flynn on MSNBC.
From SC’s link in comment 460:
Incompetence at all levels.
Lynna – Do you think he was singled out because of his name or because of his job?
Perfect.
If you saw Rachel Maddow the other night, she started the show by talking about the hole growing in a spillway in Oroville, CA. The dam is rapidly failing, and they’ve ordered an emergency evacuation. This is live coverage.
The dam is rapidly failing
Not the whole dam, but the emergency spillway.
Protests in Romania.
Sending water down the damaged spillway to reduce pressure seems to be helping.
This is unconscionable and history will regard you as monsters:
Re, the Oroville dam. From my parsing of the situation, the emergency spillway was developing a big gully near the top that had the potential to undermine a large bit of the dirt on the hill into the Feather River in big mudslide. The regular spillway hole is getting bigger, but isn’t likely to result in a mudslide. The water level in the lake was going down, and would soon be below the level to run into the emergency spillway, reducing the chance of a catastrophic mudslide. The lake level needs to be reduced to fix both spillways. Rain is on tap on and off for next week. They really aren’t out of the flood potential for a bit.
None of this is remotely acceptable. Not remotely acceptable.
“When a Pillar of the Fourth Estate Rests on a Trump-Murdoch Axis”:
So these are (alleged to be) pictures of Trump in the minutes and hours after North Korea’s missile test, taken by random people at Mar-a-Lago.
A study in contrasts.
Bernie Sanders: “We are in a pivotal moment in American history. We have a president who is delusional. He is a pathological liar.”
Steve Benen: “The White House’s Michael Flynn problem reaches a tipping point”
Of course they are.
Dear Justin Trudeau and the people of Canada,
I’d like to apologize in advance for this disrespectful buffoon.
“Congressman: Rarely used law could make Trump tax returns public”:
“Trump ran a campaign based on intelligence security. That’s not how he’s governing.”
SC, I refuse to pay $10 a month for a single newspaper*. Any chance you can copy pasta the important bits from your 480?
* I would pay a more reasonable fee. It’s digital. They could afford to make it lower, a few bucks a month maybe.
This is the DeAgazio photo in the WaPo article I just linked to, in case it doesn’t show up for anyone else.
ericthebassist,
In short: Il Douchebag was discussing the NKorea missile launch with Abe at dinner in Mar-a-lago in front of everyone, while waiters and bussers were milling about doing their jobs. Because there were no electric lights in the room, aides were illuminating the documents they were reading with their cell phone flashlights.
Such is the state of security in the current regime.
(I pay for the dead tree version of the WaPo, so I get digital access included.)
And I’m not sure if we should be horrified that the US Government is being run by such rank amateurs, or grateful that our gold-plated Mussolini is so incompetent.
Everything’s fine.
eric @464
My guess is his name caused the initial focus. But after they found out he was a a natural-born US citizen, and that he was also enrolled in Global Entry, why did they persist? And why did they demand to search his smart phone? He had not visited any of the seven countries on Trump’s no-no list.
This just looks like immigration officers run amuck. I’ve heard other reports that claim reactionary/autocratic forces within federal agencies now feel emboldened to do whatever the fuck they like, thinking they can get away with it because … Trump.
SC @476, I notice that if there is pushback against Flynn from within the Trump administration it is more about the fact that he lied to his colleagues (apparently), and it is not about the fact that he was discussing the Obama sanctions against Russia with the Russian ambassador.
Thanks, What a Maroon. More detail:
Another photo.
This is a followup to comment 385, and to SC’s earlier mention of the girl in the pink dress.
The video shows ten-year-old Hannah Bradshaw asking Jason Chaffetz a question at the Salt Lake City townhall. She asked:
The video also shows Chaffetz giving an evasive answer, for which the audience boos him.
Scroll down to watch the video on Think Progress.
Chaffetz also said some stupid stuff and not just some vague stuff. For example, he said that Democrats support “solar farms” that are “destroying wildlife.” Data shows that coal is the biggest killer of wildlife in the energy-production industry.
Salty Current @469:
Wow, it’s almost like that’s exactly what some liberals were predicting would happen if Trump got elected.
“How Trump can be held accountable for violating the Constitution, even if Congress doesn’t care”:
Chaffetz has more important things to do, like undermining democracy in the nation’s capital.
Because small government.
Not to mention states’ rights.
Oh, that’s right, DC isn’t a state. No rights for you!
LOL.
@ #492
One problem with all the machinations to ensnare Trump in the Emoluments Clause, is that Congress can negate them by simply passing legislation allowing his business interests. The wording of the Clause itself prohibits payments “without the consent of Congress.” Exceptions have been made in the past and it would be easy for this Republican Congress to make an exception for Trump, which they would undoubtedly do if it became necessary.
From the Washington Post:
Just what we don’t need. Some Republicans want to defund organizations that monitor and prevent nuclear-weapons test.
Daily Beast link
More on the Republican effort to defund the commission that monitor’s the planet for atomic tests (following up on comment 499):