Wednesday Open Thread

Posted on January 25, 2017 by rikyrah

It’s HUMP DAY in America, folks!

This entry was posted in Human Rights, Media and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

99 Responses to Wednesday Open Thread

  1. eliihass says:
    January 25, 2017 at 7:22 pm

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C27GXhIUUAA4AAM.jpg

    Joss Whedon
    Joss Whedon – Verified account ‏@joss

    Hey, keep your eyes on this fucking prize too. He’s a Voldemort in training, & unlike the Pekingese he married under, can play the long game ..

    Reply
  2. eliihass says:
    January 25, 2017 at 7:14 pm

    ‘…Team Trump believes in the power of image. The new ****** believes that a single photograph, re-tweeted ad nauseam, can form the basis of a narrative. He believes the actors in his White House drama should look the part, whether patriotic or powerful. Fashion is costuming.

    In a striking case of character assassination by tailoring, Sean Spicer, the ***88t’s freshly appointed press secretary, stepped to the podium over the weekend for a briefing that disappointed the president, The Washington Post later reported. He was wearing a gray pinstriped suit jacket that looked as though it had been hurriedly borrowed from a man twice his size. The sleeves were sloppy; the collar didn’t fit; the fabric looked cheap. The tie was poorly knotted. The shirt collar was so snug that his neck overflowed its boundaries. Spicer’s attire was not just a tad ill-fitting. It was distracting and sloppy. It epitomized the cliché style of the used-car salesman. Spicer’s clothes wholly undercut a message that was already riddled with falsehoods.

    All that had changed by Monday afternoon. When Spicer returned to the press briefing room for a televised news conference, he was wearing a dark suit that fit. Not perfectly, but better. The tie was neat. He even had a white handkerchief tucked into his breast pocket. It was a visual do-over, one that suggested he was better prepared, more focused, more dignified. By Tuesday, Spicer seemed to have found his sartorial groove.

    The White House has been busy with optics over these past few days. The ***I** still does not button his suit jacket and still wears his ties too long, but in recent days he has added a pocket square to his wardrobe — a nonessential flourish that gives his appearance more polish.

    Even Stephen K. Bannon, sworn in as counselor to the president, seems to have publicly parted ways with his button-downs, polo shirts and field jackets. He is kitted up in a suit and tie — an Establishment look for the former executive chairman of Breitbart News, where white nationalist views flourished on his watch.

    Meanwhile, senior aide Kellyanne Conway has been using her high visibility to underscore patriotism of the loud, chanting variety: USA! USA! USA! As she routinely steps in front of cameras to defend, interpret and parse the ********t’s statements for the public, her fashion choices stand in lieu of having an American flag unfurl behind her.

    For the Friday swearing-in, she chose a red, white and blue Gucci coat — a self-promotional victory lap in the guise of irrepressible patriotism. Indeed, Conway chose to wear an Italian brand on a day when the man she helped elect president was exhorting “Buy American. Hire American.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2017/01/25/the-trump-white-house-has-a-knack-for-costuming-dont-let-it-distract-you/?tid=pm_lifestyle_pop&utm_term=.0c7d6ec01610

    Reply
  3. SouthernGirl2 says:
    January 25, 2017 at 7:14 pm

    My daughter came over to cook for me. Spaghetti, green beans w/bacon, corn and garlic toast. Dr Pepper. Makes me happy.

    Reply
  5. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 6:53 pm

    JBL20010

    Let’s see, so far we’ve got:

    1. Threatened military occupation of a major U.S. city (Chicago)
    2. Official censorship of public scientists and intellectuals (USDA gag rule, Mexico city rule)
    3. Overt hostility toward the free press
    4. A coordinated focus on the big lie strategy by White House officials (“Alternative facts”)
    5. Stoking of resentment against imagined slights (inauguration size, vote fraud, etc.)
    6. Major merger of corporate and State power (Exxon, Goldman Sachs, Amway at the highest levels of govt.)
    7. A personality cult around an authoritarian leader who promises to right all wrongs
    8. Official hostility toward racial, ethnic, and religious minorities

    How much more will it take for the cowardly media to call it what it is: Fascism.

    Reply
  9. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 6:01 pm

    US is no longer a full democracy, EIU warns

    The U.S. has been demoted from a full democracy to a flawed democracy for the first time, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

    Every year, the firm’s Democracy Index provides a snapshot of global democracy by scoring countries on five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. Nations are then classified under four types of governments: full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime and authoritarian regime.

    America’s score fell to 7.98 last year from 8.05 in 2015, below the 8.00 threshold for a full democracy, the EIU announced in a report on Wednesday. That put the world’s largest economy on the same footing as Italy, a country known for its fractious politics.

    Reply
  12. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 5:40 pm

    Remember this Oprah/MTM moment?

    https://youtu.be/CERxvqEGrxE

    Reply
  13. eliihass says:
    January 25, 2017 at 5:37 pm

    “…This West Wing is a tough neighborhood. Even AFTER Sean Spicer’s successful get-back-on-the-horse presser yesterday, I’m told that a top White House official was discussing his possible replacement. On Day 4! With 1,457 to go in this term.

    A senior aide texted me at bedtime: “Back on track. Upper hand. Offense and action.” Indeed, the team was feeling better after the reboot briefing by Spicer, plus a better-focused performance by POTUS. And the staff saw it as a home run when AFL-CIO boss Richard Trumka praised Trump’s move to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, with a statement headlined: “TPP Withdrawal Good First Step Toward Building Trade Policies that Benefit Working People.”

    But inside, the finger-pointing and blame-casting continued. Unfortunately for Spicer, Trump is obsessed with his press secretary’s performance art. Our Jonathan Swan hears that Trump hasn’t been impressed with how Spicer dresses, once asking an aide: “Doesn’t the guy own a dark suit?” Spicer looked a lot sharper yesterday than he did on Saturday — in a dark, bankerly suit.

    Maggie Haberman tweeted that at Spicer’s Saturday presser, Trump “wanted him to be in command/project strength. He did neither. … [H]e wanted Spicer to be a derivative of himself -Trump almost always takes q’s & slices it with humor.”

    https://www.axios.com/axios-am-2211163642.html

    Reply
  14. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 5:29 pm

    Another thing about MTM, she was part of a Power Couple before it became a thing. She wouldn’t have accomplished what she did without Grant Tinker having her back – professionally and personally.

    RIP, MTM

    Reply
  15. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 5:26 pm

    I remember on the Dick Van Dyke show, the episode where they explained to the son how his middle name wound up being ROSEBUD.

    LOL

    RIP MTM

    Reply
  16. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 5:23 pm

    Robby Mook ‏@RobbyMook 1h1 hour ago
    To set record straight: I never committed to speeches w Corey & didn’t agree to posts on “teaming up”. It was done w/o my knowledge/consent.

    Robby Mook ‏@RobbyMook 1h1 hour ago
    After seeing the posting in Buzzfeed, I called the firm and asked them to take the site down and correct the record w the reporter.

    Robby Mook ‏@RobbyMook 1h1 hour ago
    I had no appointments booked through this firm and am no longer affiliated with them.

    Reply
  19. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 5:16 pm

    RIP MTM.

    She caught lightening in a bottle TWICE in her career.

    When you look at the talent on both of her shows, amazing.

    Also appreciated all the philanthropic work she did on behalf of diabetes. Before her, nobody in the spotlight had talked about it.

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      January 25, 2017 at 6:48 pm

      May she Rest In Peace..

      I used to be quite a fan and would often find myself binge-watching reruns of the Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore Shows ..loved Rhoda’s mum especially and particularly enjoyed the episodes she came on..

      In 2008/2009 Mary Tyler Moore gave an interview and I was so horrified to find that she wasn’t just a right-winger, but quite a vicious and very anti-Obama right-winger. She was so vicious and more than a tad racist…she said she was very upset that McCain and the republicans hadn’t reached out to her …that she would have been willing to get on the campaign trail…

      It automatically soured me on all things her..and I never really quite looked at her or the reruns of her shows the same again…but it also helped reset and drastically lower my opinions and expectations not only of people I only marginally ‘know’ from scripted shows on t.v and the movies, but also made me realize that there is no such thing as a good, decent open-minded and well-intentioned Republican…there’s a particular mindset – and always something not quite kosher that drives folks to that party…no matter how much they insist it’s simply about ‘fiscal responsibility’ …you dig a little big deeper, and voila..

      I did feel sorry for her years later when her much younger doctor husband was trying to have her forcibly moved to some assisted facility…and she wanted to stay in her home..

      Reply
  20. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 4:56 pm

    RIP
    Mary Tyler Moore

    Reply
  21. Ametia says:
    January 25, 2017 at 4:06 pm

    While Trump is moving fast to do exactly what he said he’d do during his campaign, executing those orders will be more complicated:

    •On the border wall: Texans say it just won’t be that easy
    http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/23/politics/border-series-texas/index.html

    •On sanctuary cities: Courts say funding can’t be used to “coerce” states

    http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/25/politics/sanctuary-cities-explained/index.html

    •On waterboarding: “We are not bringing back torture,” Sen. John McCain responded

    http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/25/politics/john-mccain-trump-torture/index.html

    Reply
  22. Ametia says:
    January 25, 2017 at 4:01 pm

    How the Media Needs to Respond to Trump Now | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann | GQ

    The media response to Trump? Refuse to be used for live propaganda. Show him only on tape, factchecked

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxd61lQJyPU&list=PL0hKMB1-xkc-XWNf9VL-LxVYysdHpjyMF&index=1

    IT’S TOO EASY. CAN’T MAKE $$$$ if the media covers the TRUTH about this POS

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      January 25, 2017 at 5:43 pm

      Yeah..poor, poor, innocent damsel in distress Melania… who just accidentally stumbled into a marriage as the 3rd wife of a man 5 years older than her own father…a man whose reputation as an a**hole was well-known…

      Reply
  24. Ametia says:
    January 25, 2017 at 3:21 pm
    Reply
  25. sunshine616 says:
    January 25, 2017 at 3:09 pm

    Where are the democrats? Why are they rolling over and acquiescing? Did the Donald eat their nuts for breakfast the day of the inauguration? Disgusted with these self obsessed politicians! The disappearing act is noted and will forever be emblazoned in my thoughts. Those that stood by and watched our civil liberties be trampled for the sake of self advancement, will see their day.

    Reply
    • yahtzeebutterfly says:
      January 25, 2017 at 2:49 pm

      chilling

      Reply
    • sunshine616 says:
      January 25, 2017 at 3:09 pm

      We should probably test that out on some people with traitorous ties to other countries, eh??

      Reply
    • eliihass says:
      January 25, 2017 at 8:52 pm

      ‘Mad dog’ Mattis already seems to have fallen out of favor…he seems to be placing Pompeo over Mattis…he’s mentioning them today as if Pompeo rates higher than Mattis… familiarity does breed contempt…he’s back running around on the torture is good bandwagon that Mattis isn’t part of..

      Something is up ..

      Reply
    • Ametia says:
      January 25, 2017 at 3:44 pm

      Mar-a-Lago Membership Fee Doubles to $200K

      Mar-a-Lago Club, the Trump Organization’s Palm Beach resort, doubled its membership fee to $200,000 following Donald Trump’s presidential election, according to those close to the resort. The increase took effect Jan. 1, but the club says it had been considering a membership fee increase for some time. Donald Trump has referred to the resort as the “Winter White House” in recent tweets and has visited twice since his election—once for Thanksgiving and once for Christmas. Since 2012, the initiation fee had been $100,000, a discounted rate due to the effects of the Bernie Madoff scandal. In addition to the initial fee, members of Mar-a-Lago pay $14,000 a year in annual dues.

      http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2017/01/25/mar-a-lago-membership-fee-doubles-200k-donald-trump-president.html?via=desktop&source=copyurl

      Reply
  30. SouthernGirl2 says:
    January 25, 2017 at 2:12 pm

    Lets start with your impeachment, #illegitimate man acting as president.

    https://twitter.com/Newsweek/status/824346801838977024

    Reply
  32. SouthernGirl2 says:
    January 25, 2017 at 12:11 pm

    Democrats, we’re watching you & your resistance to Trump. The #WomensMarch was about resistance. We want you to #Resist #Block #Obstruct

    watchingyou

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      January 25, 2017 at 3:50 pm

      Drump is signing checks his AZZ CAN’T CASH. Those executive orders are smoke & mirrors for his rabid base.
      Those billionaires and other racists minions in his pack are using him to get what they want. It’s mutual, until he is no longer useful to them.

      Reply
  35. SouthernGirl2 says:
    January 25, 2017 at 11:34 am

    A monster from hell has been unleashed on America

    https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/824304647783481344

    Reply
  38. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 11:27 am

    Blue states are in for a world of pain

    By Catherine Rampell Opinion writer January 23

    If blue states think they’re going to be shielded from the coming Trump tsunami, they’re sorely mistaken.

    Much has been written about how the unified Republican front in Washington is going to betray the working-class whites of deep-red Trump country. The coming Obamacare repeal, fewer worker protections and additional fraying of the safety net will inflict enormous pain.

    Blue states might appear to be relatively insulated from much of this turmoil, since they’ve already locked in many of the progressive policies Republicans aim to roll back at the federal level.
    ………………………………………

    Second, Medicaid block grants.

    On Sunday, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway reaffirmed her boss’s — and his chosen health secretary’s — commitment to restructuring Medicaid so that states receive flat, lump-sum payments, called “block grants.” This would replace today’s system, in which states and feds share costs for eligible Medicaid enrollees, whose numbers can rise and fall with changes in the economy.

    This idea has long been popular among Republicans — partly because it shunts the burden of figuring out where and how to curb spending onto the states.

    But transitioning to block grants is trickier than it sounds. How do you decide how big each state’s initial lump-sum payment should be? How will it change over time?

    One option is to permanently freeze payments at current levels, perhaps indexing them to inflation. But this locks into place huge discrepancies between states and doesn’t provide much flexibility as relative economic conditions change. Today, federal Medicaid spending per low-income state resident varies dramatically across the country, from a low of $1,051 in Nevada to more than 11 times that in the District, according to calculations from the Urban Institute’s John Holahan and Matthew Buettgens.

    Which is why one other likely alternative — and one that might appeal to many Republican legislators — would be pegging the size of a state’s lump sum to its per-capita income. The higher-income the state is, the less money it gets.

    As economists Jeffrey Clemens and Benedic Ippolito explained recently, this formula “would result in a seismic redistribution of federal spending.”

    Among the biggest winners would be lower-cost-of-living red states; among the biggest losers, high-cost-of-living blue states. Texas, for example, would gain about $8 billion in federal Medicaid funding relative to what it receives today. New York and California would each lose more than $15 billion annually.

    With fewer federal funds coming in, these states would be forced to cut health benefits for the poor, siphon off money from other programs, raise taxes or some combination of all these things.

    Reply
  40. Ametia says:
    January 25, 2017 at 11:25 am

    She’s GONE. SOUL HAS LEFT THE BODY. Look at those eyes. She knows that she and Sean Spicer have gone completely ROGUE & have sold their souls to the DEVIL.

    souless-untitled
    Kellyanne Conway watches Sean Spicer speak to the press. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

    Reply
  43. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 11:15 am

    Matthew Yglesias ‏@mattyglesias 3h3 hours ago
    More
    It’s weird how with the GOP poised to pass a bunch of giant tax cuts all the well-funded debt-scolding groups seem to have disappeared.

    Reply
  45. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 11:06 am

    Trump Threatens to Send The Feds Into Chicago
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    January 25, 2017 10:32 AM

    ……………..

    Of course we don’t know what he means when he threatens to “send in the feds.” But if it was in reference to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives or the FBI – they’re already there in big numbers. It’s hard to escape the possibility that he means something much more sinister.

    With so much on his plate right now, why would Trump zero in on the problem of gun violence in Chicago? There are several possibilities.

    Apparently he was watching Bill O’Reilly talk about it on Fox News last night
    Yesterday Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel chided Trump for focusing on inaugural crowd size instead of things like jobs and education
    A certain former president calls Chicago home and is planning to build his presidential center in that city

    There is also the possibility that Trump sees Chicago as a place to broadcast what he means by promising to be a “law and order president.” Given that the Civil Rights Division of DOJ just released their findings that the Chicago Police Department “engages in a pattern or practice of using force, including deadly force, in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution,” it is important to note what the White House has said publicly about their plans.

    A Trump Administration will empower our law enforcement officers to do their jobs and keep our streets free of crime and violence. The Trump Administration will be a law and order administration. President Trump will honor our men and women in uniform and will support their mission of protecting the public. The dangerous anti-police atmosphere in America is wrong. The Trump Administration will end it.

    Frankly, I don’t see anything to suggest that Trump’s approach would be different from what he described in the full-page ad he took out in the heat of the arrest of the Central Park Five.

    Reply
  46. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 11:01 am

    Trump Doesn’t Get the Source of His Illegitimacy

    by BooMan
    Tue Jan 24th, 2017 at 11:33:37 AM EST

    I have something to say about this, but it’s probably not what you expect:

    ………………………..

    On one level, I can fully understand why Donald Trump and his political team do not want his presidency to be hampered from the outset with the stench of illegitimacy. For a variety of reasons, it’s very difficult to govern if your right to lead is not respected. As a result, it makes a lot of sense to push back at narratives that undermine his legitimacy. For example, when he says that he would have or at least could have done better in the popular vote if he had designed his campaign to win it rather than to win the Electoral College, he is correct. He won the only contest that matters, and he deserves recognition for prevailing according to the rules of that contest.

    It’s obviously not correct to argue that he actually won the popular vote or was somehow cheated out of winning it. That only bolsters his legitimacy with people who are already giving his presidency legitimacy, and with gullible fools. Perhaps it is important to sustain their support, and maybe that’s his real motive here. But you can’t sell that lie to a room of people who are only there because they’re pros at winning elections. They are too sophisticated to buy your nonsense, and they are either insulted or begin to question your sanity.

    Having badly lost the popular vote is a stain on his victory, as is the low turnout at his inauguration and the massive global protests that broke out the next day. His terrible approval numbers are also a concern. But his real legitimacy problems are coming from his connections to Russia and the way that the FBI intervened in the election.

    If he were truly and sanely interested in preserving his legitimacy he would not do seemingly everything possible to bolster the impression that the Russians have something on him and that he is doing their bidding. He would not have made a man suspected of being a conduit to the Russians his National Security Advisor. He would not have named a man to serve as Secretary of State who had once been awarded a Friend of Russia award. He would not act as Vladimir Putin’s defense attorney at every opportunity, especially when he is critical of nearly every other prominent politician on Earth. He wouldn’t nakedly signal his intention to lift Russian sanctions without getting anything related to the sanctions in return. He would not adopt a posture consistent with Putin’s desire to undermine the European Union, nor go out of his way to criticize NATO and our Far Eastern allies. He wouldn’t call Angela Merkel’s policies “catastrophic.”

    He can’t go back and undo his hiring of Paul Manafort or his connections to Carter Page, but he can stop acting as if the United States is now located behind the Iron Curtain. Yet, he refuses to stop.

    It’s true that this posture only undermines his legitimacy with a relatively small subset of Americans, but those Americans include the members of Congress, the entire Intelligence Community, our military leadership, our State Department, and the media. In other words, he’s not seen as legitimate by the Establishment. That dissent is part of his appeal and explains his political success, but he’s not just a candidate anymore. If he cares about his legitimacy, he ought to see that it’s most badly undermined at the moment by his policies towards Russia and the lingering concerns about their role in getting him elected.

    Instead, he wants to fight the media about crowd sizes and he goes to the CIA and disrespects their dead. He treats the truth in a way that is guaranteed to undermine his standing with authors and reporters and professors who will write about his presidency and create his legacy for posterity.

    Fighting about the audience for his inauguration in light of all these other bigger blows to his legitimacy is a fool’s errand.

    Reply
  48. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 10:55 am

    Found this at BJ about the real threat to our federal lands:

    ………………….

    But the real target is the hundreds of millions of acres of public
    rangeland administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). This is
    the return of the Sagebrush Rebellion from the Reagan era. The very real
    threat is that BLM land will be given away to states or put up for
    auction (at a fraction of its value) to corporations and foreign
    investors. The states don’t want them because they can’t afford to
    manage them (especially the massive cost of fire suppression), so in
    turn will sell them off.

    The irony is that the Bundy boys and their fellow welfare ranchers
    will be pushed off all these rangelands or forced to pay grazing fees
    much much higher than the federally subsidized rate. And their militia
    buddies who want access to western hunting grounds and playgrounds will
    likewise be excluded.

    If the push to give away the BLM lands succeeds, they will be coming for the national forests next.

    Reply
  49. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 10:48 am

    Donald Trump Is Becoming an Authoritarian Leader Before Our Very Eyes
    The administration’s many lies this weekend should frighten all Americans.
    By Jeet Heer
    January 23, 2017

    The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is expert at estimating crowd sizes. When trying to figure out whether a protest in some foreign hotspot could turn into a revolution, the CIA uses satellite imagery to get a sense of how many people are protesting. So it was particularly brazen of Donald Trump, while addressing the agency for the first time as president, to lie about the size of Friday’s inauguration crowd.

    “We had a massive field of people,” Trump told a crowd of about 400 CIA employees at the agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia, on Saturday. “You saw them. Packed. I get up this morning, I turn on one of the networks, and they show an empty field. I say, wait a minute, I made a speech. I looked out, the field was—it looked like a million, million and a half people. They showed a field where there were practically nobody standing there. And they said, Donald Trump did not draw well.” Crowd scientists estimate that there were around 160,000 people at Trump’s inauguration in the hour before his speech.

    In a bizarre press briefing later on Saturday, Trump Press Secretary Sean Spicer ranted against the media and claimed, not just falsely but nonsensically, that Trump enjoyed “the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period—both in person and around the globe. These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration are shameful and wrong.” In fact, the record is still held by Barack Obama for his 2008 inauguration, which drew an estimated 1.8 million.

    And on Sunday’s Meet the Press, when asked to explain why Spicer “uttered a falsehood,” senior adviser Kellyanne Conway told Chuck Todd, “Don’t be so overly dramatic about it, Chuck. You’re saying it’s a falsehood…Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts to that.”

    …………………

    That column appears to have been completed before the weekend’s events, though; it makes no mention of Trump’s speech or Spicer’s briefing, which ought to change the calculus on the merits of press alarmism. The new administration’s bewildering boasts and outright lies are what make it so frightening, as they’re early signs of what many of us in the media have warned about for months: Authoritarianism.

    The purpose of the Trump administration’s lies is not necessarily to deceive, but to separate the believers from the disbelievers—for the purpose of rewarding the former and punishing the latter. As chess champion Garry Kasparov, an expert in authoritarianism as an outspoken opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, tweeted on Saturday:

    ………………

    In an already hyper-partisan political landscape, the Trump administration can blatantly lie, knowing that his base trusts him more than the “dishonest media.” And that’s exactly what Trump did in his CIA speech, which was rife with deceptions and examples of a narcissistic will to reshape the truth. While telling a story about a Time magazine reporter who wrongly reported that Trump removed the Martin Luther King, Jr. bust from the Oval Office (a mistake that was quickly corrected, but which the Trump staff continues to harp on), the president went on a tangent about Time.

    “I have been on their cover, like, 14 or 15 times,” he said. “I think we have the all-time record in the history of Time magazine. Like, if Tom Brady is on the cover, it’s one time, because he won the Super Bowl or something, right? I’ve been on it for 15 times this year. I don’t think that’s a record…that can ever be broken. Do you agree with that? What do you think?” (The all-time record is held by Richard Nixon, who appeared on 55 Time covers.)

    Reply
  50. Ametia says:
    January 25, 2017 at 10:45 am

    Trump should order an INVESTIGATION of his INCOME TAXES & INTERNATION BUSINESS DEALINGS-

    And his cabinet picks, ALSO TOO!

    Reply
  51. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 10:43 am

    From the Financial Times;

    If the Trump administration now destroys American credibility, it will have handed the Russian and Chinese governments a victory of historic proportions. The cold war was a battle not just about economics or military strength, but also about the truth. The Soviet Union collapsed, in the end, partly because it was too obvious that it was a regime based on lies.

    Reply
  52. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 10:36 am

    Russia Arrests Top Kaspersky Hacking Investigator for Treason
    Today 9:44am

    Under mysterious circumstances, Russia has arrested Ruslan Stoyanov, head of computer incidents investigations unit at the huge cybersecurity firm at Kaspersky. He’s been charged with treason.

    It seems that Stoyanov was arrested alongside Sergei Mikhailov, deputy head of the information security department of the FSB in December, but the circumstances are unclear as Russia refuses to provide any information on the case. In fact, according to Forbes, the case will be tried under Russian criminal code article 275, which will lead to a “secret military tribunal.”

    Reply
  53. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 10:34 am

    From Texas Democratics:

    Breaking: Imperial Gov. Greg Abbott Attacks Will of Texas Voters

    Austin, TX — This morning, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in an interview with Fox News, “said he and other lawmakers will seek new laws to remove Texas sheriffs from office if they do not fully cooperate with federal immigration officials over the handling of individuals who are thought to be undocumented immigrants.” Abbott said, “We will remove her from office.” [Austin American-Statesman, January 25, 2017]

    Texas Democratic Party Deputy Executive Director Manny Garcia issued the following statement:

    “No one made Greg Abbott the emperor of Texas. He cannot overturn the will of Texas voters.

    “The very core of our representative democracy is the fact that citizens elect office holders who best represent their values. The vote and self-governance are sacred in America and in Texas. Whether Trump Republicans like it or not, that is the way American democracy works.

    “Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is launching a new assault on the will of Texans. Texas Democrats will fight to protect the vote, defend Texas families against cheap political tricks, and focus on the issues that really matter most – giving everyday Texans a fair shot to get ahead.”

    Reply
  54. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 10:32 am

    You think that this is an accidental tweet from the DOD?

    I think not.

    https://twitter.com/DeptofDefense/status/824240417885429760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

    Reply
  56. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 10:30 am

    Trump administration tells EPA to cut climate page from website: sources
    Wed Jan 25, 2017 | 4:30am EST

    U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to remove the climate change page from its website, two agency employees told Reuters, the latest move by the newly minted leadership to erase ex-President Barack Obama’s climate change initiatives.

    The employees were notified by EPA officials on Tuesday that the administration had instructed EPA’s communications team to remove the website’s climate change page, which contains links to scientific global warming research, as well as detailed data on emissions. The page could go down as early as Wednesday, the sources said.

    “If the website goes dark, years of work we have done on climate change will disappear,” one of the EPA staffers told Reuters, who added some employees were scrambling to save some of the information housed on the website, or convince the Trump administration to preserve parts of it.

    The sources asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

    A Trump administration official did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Reply
  59. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 10:26 am

    Trump dogged by insecurity over popular vote, media coverage
    Jan 25, 2017

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump holds the most powerful office in the world. But he’s dogged by insecurity over his loss of the popular vote in the election and a persistent frustration that the legitimacy of his presidency is being challenged by Democrats and the media, aides and associates say.

    Trump’s fixation has been a drag on the momentum of his opening days in office, with his exaggerations about inauguration crowds and false assertions about illegal balloting intruding on advisers’ plans to launch his presidency with a flurry of actions on the economy. His spokesman Sean Spicer has twice stepped into the fray himself, including on Tuesday, when he doubled down on Trump’s false claim that he lost the popular vote because 3 million to 5 million people living in the U.S. illegally cast ballots.
    […]
    Less than one week into the administration, Spicer has twice been sent to the White House briefing room to reiterate his boss’ message. Trump is said to have approved of Spicer’s angry tirade against the media on Saturday, which included false statements about the inaugural crowds. But the president, who is intensely focused on optics, was said to be critical of Spicer’s on-camera image.

    By Monday, Spicer was donning a darker suit and his lectern in the briefing room had been lowered somewhat.

    Underscoring Trump’s habit of stoking rivalries among his staff, he has told people he wants his counselor Kellyanne Conway to be on television more. He cheered her use of the phrase “alternative facts” in a recent interview as a way to counteract what he believes is the media’s inherent bias.

    Those around Trump are trying to get the cable news consumer-in-chief to be near a television less often, according to one person who has spoken with him.

    Reply
  69. SouthernGirl2 says:
    January 25, 2017 at 9:42 am

    The country can’t take 4 years of lies, conspiracy theories and bigotry and hate masquerading as national security. Impeach this monster!

    Reply
  70. rikyrah says:
    January 25, 2017 at 9:36 am

    Good ,Everyone😐😐😐

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      January 25, 2017 at 5:36 pm

      He gets his ideas from tv shows…

      Kellyanne Conway when asked why she went on tv interviews to express her opposition to Mitt Romney as SoS pick instead of having a private conversation with the buffooon, said that that is the only way to reach her boss who is a voracious tv watcher…

      Reply
  75. Ametia says:
    January 25, 2017 at 7:57 am

    Good Morning, Everyone.

    Reply

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