Not this again.
Join me in Florida this Saturday at 5pm for a rally at the Orlando-Melbourne International Airport!
Tickets: https://t.co/9jDy1tYkgE pic.twitter.com/GDhO6GGxwt— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017
He’s selling tickets
Feb 15th, 2017 3:58 pm | By Ophelia BensonVery, very unfair
Feb 15th, 2017 12:40 pm | By Ophelia BensonTrump is getting confused about his own story.
… Read the restPresident Trump criticized the intelligence community and the media Wednesday for the news reports that ultimately led to national security adviser Michael Flynn’s resignation Monday night, less than four weeks into his White House tenure.
“I think he’s been treated very, very unfairly by the media — as I call it, the ‘fake media,’ in many cases — and I think it’s really a sad thing that he was treated so badly,” Trump said at a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I think in addition to that, from intelligence, papers are being leaked, things are being leaked.”
Trump added that the leaks were a “criminal action, criminal act.”
A cloud over the White House
Feb 15th, 2017 11:20 am | By Ophelia BensonAfter Trump’s extended Twitter-diatribe, he took a break by meeting with Netanyahu and holding a joint press conference with him. He didn’t insult his guest by talking about issues important to Israel the whole time though.
… Read the restPresident Trump lashed out at the nation’s intelligence agencies again on Wednesday, saying that his former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, was brought down by illegal leaks to the news media, on a day of new disclosures about the Trump camp’s dealings with Russia during and after the presidential campaign.
“From intelligence, papers are being leaked, things are being leaked,” Mr. Trump said at a White House news conference with Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel. “It’s a criminal action, criminal
Will he make it to five weeks?
Feb 15th, 2017 10:27 am | By Ophelia BensonIt appears that people in the Intelligence Community are getting increasingly anxious about Trump, so they’re talking to the Post and the Times more. The Post did a big late in the day drop on Monday, so yesterday it was the Times’s turn. CNN and MSNBC stayed up all night to discuss it.
Trump people talked to Russian intelligence officials during the campaign.
The IC people who talked to the Times declined to give important details, like which Trump people and what they talked about.
Trump of course is melting down, as conspicuously as possible.
… Read the restThe fake news media is going crazy with their conspiracy theories and blind hatred. @MSNBC & @CNN are unwatchable. @foxandfriends is great!
— Donald
When you’re the host
Feb 14th, 2017 5:39 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe hostility is a little too obvious with this one:
… Read the restA bill advancing in Oklahoma would require a woman to get the written consent of the fetus’s father before obtaining an abortion.
The bill, which passed out of a House committee Tuesday, would also require a woman “to provide, in writing, the identity of the father of the fetus to the physician who is to perform or induce the abortion,” according to the bill’s language. “If the person identified as the father of the fetus challenges the fact that he is the father, such individual may demand that a paternity test be performed.”
The bill’s author, Rep. Justin Humphrey (R), could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The solution is to look hard in the other direction
Feb 14th, 2017 4:54 pm | By Ophelia BensonOh, well, we can all relax, because everything’s fine. The people who know least about it say so, so what more do you want?!
Those silly excitable people who pay attention think it’s a massive dangerous clusterfuck, but that’s only because they pay attention. Paying attention is so elitist and coastal and wrong. Everybody should pay no attention and then we could all drink beer and watch football and be happy!
… Read the restIn record time, the 45th president has set off global outrage with a ban on travelers from Muslim-majority countries, fired his acting attorney general for refusing to defend the ban and watched as federal courts swiftly moved to block the policy, calling it an unconstitutional use of executive
Disobey
Feb 14th, 2017 4:22 pm | By Ophelia BensonMy Stealthy Freedom on Facebook:
… Read the restFirst one is a picture for Trump where we (Swedish government) show that women are equal and important. Despite this picture, we also do not hesitate to show to the Iranian leader, with the second picture, that men are more equal and more important! We demonstrate that by not showing any opposition to the law of compulsory veil when visiting Iran.
Minister .@AnneLinde #Swedish female politician should confirm that.
We at My Stealthy Freedom believe that the female government officials should have also condemned an equally unfair situation in Iran. We would like to reiterate that we are not asking them to come and save Iranian women. We are merely asking them to stand
The bumbling
Feb 14th, 2017 11:34 am | By Ophelia BensonWhen Donald Trump ran for the White House, he insisted that his lack of experience in politics and his complete disdain for the details (or even the broad strokes) of policy were not only not a problem, they were a key reason why he’d be such a terrific president. The system needed to be shaken up, and it couldn’t be done by someone locked inside it.
This is inane. If you don’t like the way your mechanic is keeping your car running, you hire a better mechanic…
You don’t hire a pastry chef or a lawyer or a journalist. Incompetence and ignorance and lack of qualifications do not automatically combine into the ideal person to improve … Read the rest
We don’t need plumbers
Feb 14th, 2017 10:46 am | By Ophelia BensonThe view from across the pond:
Republican John McCain, chairman of the Senate armed services committee, said Mr Flynn’s resignation was a “troubling indication of the dysfunction of the current national security apparatus” and raises questions about Mr Trump’s intentions towards Russia.
Senator Roy Blunt, a Republican member of the Senate intelligence committee, called for an investigation into any alleged connections between Mr Trump and Russian officials.
Texas Senator John Cornyn, the second-ranked Senate Republican leader, echoed calls for an investigation into Mr Flynn’s ties to Russia.
Meanwhile, US House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes told reporters on Tuesday he wants to investigate the leaks that led to Mr Flynn’s resignation.
McCain, Blunt, and Cornyn have it right; Nunes … Read the rest
Flynn acted alone, and I’m Marie of Rumania
Feb 14th, 2017 10:20 am | By Ophelia BensonAnd then there’s the whole Bigger Picture question.
The Trumpies are (of course) presenting this as shock-horror, this one guy lied to us. Please. He did what he was told, and then they pushed him onto his sword. The really surprising part is their bumbling – their failure to realize the Russian ambassador’s phone is bugged.
Ryan Lizza calls the Flynn/administration story self-serving and dubious, and reminds us of the chronology.
… Read the restAlmost immediately after Obama made his sanctions announcement, on December 29th, expelling thirty-five Russian diplomats and closing down two Russian compounds, the Russian government made clear that Putin would retaliate in kind.
“We, of course, cannot leave unanswered the insults of the kind, reciprocity is the law of
Lying Flynn keeps on lying
Feb 14th, 2017 9:35 am | By Ophelia BensonThe Times account of Flynn’s belated expulsion.
Michael T. Flynn, the national security adviser, resigned on Monday night after it was revealed that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and other top White House officials about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States.
Mr. Flynn, who served in the job for less than a month, said he had given “incomplete information” regarding a telephone call he had with the ambassador in late December about American sanctions against Russia, weeks before President Trump’s inauguration.
Please. He lied. He didn’t “mislead”; he didn’t give “incomplete information”; he lied.
… Read the rest“I am tendering my resignation, honored to have served our nation and the American people in such a distinguished
The real story
Feb 14th, 2017 8:39 am | By Ophelia BensonDonnie admits what a fuckup it was and unreservedly apologizes and promises to do better.
The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? Will these leaks be happening as I deal on N.Korea etc?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2017
The plot curdles
Feb 13th, 2017 6:09 pm | By Ophelia BensonWell this could get interesting. The Washington Post about 45 minutes ago:
… Read the restThe acting attorney general informed the Trump White House late last month that she believed Michael Flynn had misled senior administration officials about the nature of his communications with the Russian ambassador to the United States, and warned that the national security adviser was potentially vulnerable to Russian blackmail, current and former U.S. officials said.
The message, delivered by Sally Q. Yates and a senior career national security official to the White House counsel, was prompted by concerns that Flynn, when asked about his calls and texts with the Russian diplomat, had told Vice President-elect Mike Pence and others that he had not discussed the Obama administration
President Caddyshack
Feb 13th, 2017 4:31 pm | By Ophelia BensonCommentary on the open-air situation room:
… Read the rest“Now you’ve got some pretty good pictures — the prime minister of Japan, and the president.”
That’s President Trump, crashing a wedding party at his Mar-a-Lago club on Saturday night, immediately after holding a news conference with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan to address North Korea’s firing of a missile, which flew 310 miles before dropping into the Sea of Japan. The news conference took place after Mr. Trump held a meeting with Mr. Abe and their entourages out in the open in the club dining terrace, examining documents and talking on a commercial cellphone as guests drifted by and took photos, servers reached over the papers to deposit the entree, and
The open-air situation room
Feb 13th, 2017 4:02 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Chicago Tribune on Trump’s idiotic recklessness:
… Read the restRichard DeAgazio was already seated for dinner, on the Mar-A-Lago Club’s terrace, when President Trump entered with the Prime Minister of Japan on Saturday night. The crowd – mostly paying members of Trump’s private oceanfront club in Palm Beach, Fla. – stood to applaud. The president’s party sat about six tables away.
Then, DeAgazio – a retired investor who joined Mar-A-Lago three months ago – got a text from a friend. North Korea had just test-fired a ballistic missile, which it claimed could carry a nuclear warhead. DeAgazio looked over at the president’s table.
“That’s when I saw things changing, you know,” DeAgazio recalled in a telephone interview with the Washington Post
Trump likes showing off his new gig
Feb 13th, 2017 3:41 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Times has more on Trump’s dinner with Abe and a few hundred of his closest friends.
… Read the restPresident Trump and his top aides coordinated their response to North Korea’s missile test on Saturday night in full view of diners at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida — a remarkable, public display of presidential activity that is almost always conducted in highly secure settings.
The scene — of aides huddled over their computers and the president on his cellphone at his club’s terrace — was captured by a club member dining not far away and published in pictures on his Facebook account. The images also show Mr. Trump conferring with his guest at the resort, Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime
Loose lips star on Facebook
Feb 13th, 2017 11:47 am | By Ophelia BensonThe Times also notices the whole “talking about national security in a public place surrounded by people eating their highpriced dinners” issue.
… Read the restBy the looks of his Facebook feed, Richard DeAgazio is a big fan of President Trump’s. Witness his Facebook feed on anti-immigrant protests in Italy, courtesy of the Russian propaganda network RT, the photo of Bill Clinton with a woman that he spuriously identifies as the former president’s new girlfriend, and a caricature of Barack Obama in a sombrero.
But Mr. DeAgazio did the current president no favors with his fanboy posts from Mar-a-Lago this weekend in a public dining room as the prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, and the president of the United States scrambled to
Speak directly into the mic please
Feb 13th, 2017 10:44 am | By Ophelia BensonHoly shit. Trump was at din-dins with Abe at a public restaurant at Mar-a-fucking-Lago when they were told about North Korea’s latest missile-throw, and they discussed it right then and there. In public!
… Read the restSunday night, CNN reported details of the moment that Trump, joined by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, learned about a missile launch in North Korea. Trump and Abe were enjoying dinner at Trump’s exclusive Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida at the time, but, CNN reported, began to discuss the details of this international incident right there at their table.
“As Mar-a-Lago’s wealthy members looked on from their tables, and with a keyboard player crooning in the background,” CNN’s Kevin Liptak reported, “Trump and Abe’s evening meal quickly
What about them, Mr Pussygrabber?
Feb 13th, 2017 10:21 am | By Ophelia BensonBefore he put his nasty hands all over Trudeau, Donnie from Queens told us what they would be chatting about.
Today I will meet with Canadian PM Trudeau and a group of leading business women to discuss women in the workforce. https://t.co/bFAHPRXHdP
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 13, 2017
Can you imagine? Talking about women in the workforce with the guy who bragged about being able to grab women by the pussy because he’s a star? Can you imagine?… Read the rest
