… Read the restTrump this morning escalated his attack on the free press: “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!” he tweeted.
Even if most Americans understand that a President of the United States calling the media the “enemy of the American people!” is unprecedented, delusional and dangerous, there will be some percentage of Americans who are becoming persuaded by his ever more strident attacks.
The result is to undermine the independence of the press in our society — making Trump the arbiter of truth in our society.
Last night, the Republican Party and Trump’s campaign websites posted a 25-question “Mainstream
All entries by this author
The result is to undermine the independence of the press
Feb 17th, 2017 5:40 pm | By Ophelia BensonRush Limbaugh said
Feb 17th, 2017 4:15 pm | By Ophelia BensonToday in TrumpOnTwitter.
Thank you for all of the nice statements on the Press Conference yesterday. Rush Limbaugh said one of greatest ever. Fake media not happy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017
Oh well if Rush Limbaugh said so.
Since then he’s been busy with stuff like that Rally at the Orlando airport. But then a couple of hours ago he went Full Fascist.
The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017
The press is the enemy of the people, according to him. Once again he’s inciting hatred and, … Read the rest
More toxic mercury pollution please
Feb 17th, 2017 3:35 pm | By Ophelia BensonWell then they should have the decency to rename it the Environmental Destruction Agency.
Scott Pruitt, who as Oklahoma’s attorney general spent years suing the Environmental Protection Agency over its efforts to regulate various forms of pollution, was confirmed Friday as the agency’s next administrator.
Pruitt cleared the Senate by a vote of 52-46, winning support from two Democrats, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. Only one Republican, Susan Collins of Maine, voted against him, saying he had “fundamentally different” views than she about the EPA’s role.
She probably thinks the P stands for protection, while he thinks it stands for…passivity? Poisoning? Polluting?
… Read the restPruitt has sued the EPA more than a dozen times during
$81 million a year
Feb 17th, 2017 11:49 am | By Ophelia BensonTrump has gotten rid of that pesky rule that said coal companies couldn’t dump all their waste products into streams. Another victory for filthy water! The People, in all their glorious peoplehood, love filthy water; they thrive on it. It’s only coastal elites who look down on it from their spotless mansions in the sky.
President Donald Trump signed legislation repealing a regulation meant to protect streams from the effects of coal mining.
The congressional resolution killing the so-called Stream Protection Rule, which was issued in the waning days of the Obama administration, follows similar action by Trump overturning an anti-corruption rule that would have required oil companies to disclose payments to foreign governments.
We must protect corporations’ rights to … Read the rest
Unfounded
Feb 17th, 2017 11:14 am | By Ophelia BensonThe Toronto Globe and Mail has been doing a huge investigation into law enforcement’s handling of sexual-assault cases.
… Read the restNational policing data, compiled and reviewed by The Globe as part of its 20-month investigation, reveal that one of every five sexual-assault allegations in Canada is dismissed as baseless and thus unfounded. The result is a national unfounded rate of 19.39 per cent – nearly twice as high as it is for physical assault (10.84 per cent), and dramatically higher than that of other types of crime.
True unfounded cases, which arise from malicious or mistaken reports, are rare. Between 2 per cent and 8 per cent of complaints are false reports, according to research from North America, the United Kingdom
Are they friends of yours?
Feb 17th, 2017 10:34 am | By Ophelia BensonOne of the worst bits of that “press conference” that was really just a therapy session for Donnie was when April Ryan asked him if he planned to collaborate with the Congressional Black Caucus.
Ryan asked Trump if he would include the CBC in discussions about his agenda for addressing urban policy. The CBC, for those unaware, is the Congressional Black Caucus, a group of African American legislators that is often a leading voice on the Hill for issues dealing with the black community. Trump appeared briefly to be unaware of what the initials stood for, and so Ryan asked more pointedly.
I didn’t recognize the initials either, partly because “the CBC” is also short for the Canadian Broadcasting … Read the rest
Pricey
Feb 16th, 2017 6:09 pm | By Ophelia BensonTrump’s eagerness to get away from the White House is going to cost us all hundreds of millions of dollars – hundreds of millions that could have gone to more urgent things than Trump’s ability to spend a lot of time at his Florida golf club.
… Read the restOn Friday, President Trump and his entourage will jet for the third straight weekend to a working getaway at his oceanfront Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla.
On Saturday, Trump’s sons Eric and Don Jr., with their Secret Service details in tow, will be nearly 8,000 miles away in the United Arab Emirates, attending the grand opening of a Trump-brand golf resort in the “Beverly Hills of Dubai.”
Meanwhile, New York police will keep
So he’s a bit of a Nazi, so what
Feb 16th, 2017 5:32 pm | By Ophelia BensonA Trump goon bullshits Evan Davis on Newsnight.
“I’m sad to say that you and your colleagues have fallen into this trap of fake news,” the goon says.
Sebastian Gorka, his name is. He’s been news himself lately.
… Read the restDonald Trump’s Deputy Assistant has angrily denied being anti-Semitic after he was spotted wearing a military medal associated with Hungarian Nazi sympathisers.
Sebastian Gorka, who is of Hungarian descent but was born and raised in the UK, was pictured wearing the controversial badge at an inaugural ball for Mr Trump and several other events.
According to the LobeLog blog, the medal was given to Mr Gorka’s father by the group Vitezi Rend – meaning Order of Heroes – that consisted
Yes it’s a tu quoque, sue me
Feb 16th, 2017 4:48 pm | By Ophelia BensonOne thing that stood out in that horrifying “press conference” was his whines about the “hatred” at CNN.
… Read the restIt’s very important to me and especially in this position. It’s very important. I don’t mind bad stories. I can handle a bad story better than anybody as long as it’s true and, you know, over a course of time, I’ll make mistakes and you’ll write badly and I’m OK with that. But I’m not OK when it is fake. I mean, I watch CNN, it’s so much anger and hatred and just the hatred.
…
And I’ll tell you what else I see. I see tone. You know the word “tone.” The tone is such
A stunning moment
Feb 16th, 2017 1:50 pm | By Ophelia BensonCNN found the press conference startling – which is perhaps to be expected, given how much of it was about or rather aimed at CNN.
President Donald Trump launched an extraordinary denunciation Thursday of his critics and media reports that his White House is in chaos, complaining he inherited a “mess” and slamming stories that his campaign was constantly in contact with Russia as “fake news.”
It will immediately go down as a stunning moment in modern American political history, as presidents have rarely betrayed such a sense of anger and grievance so graphically or so early in their administrations.
And they have never done it in such a flailing, barking, self-interrupting way. They have never looked like such redfaced … Read the rest
The leaks are real but the news is fake
Feb 16th, 2017 12:28 pm | By Ophelia BensonI just watched the last 40 minutes or so of Trump’s press conference. It was unbelievable. He’s always worse than it’s possible to imagine ahead of time. He’s incoherent – spasmodic – irascible – ignorant – boastful – truculent – prickly – vain – hyperbolic – absurd – mendacious of course – unctuous – clueless – childish –
I don’t see how anyone can watch him in action without wondering how in hell he managed to get the job he has and why we can’t kick him out right this second.
The Post has a transcript with annotations by Aaron Blake.
… Read the restWe have had great conversations with the United Kingdom, and meetings. Israel, Mexico, Japan, China and Canada, really,
Andrew Jackson presiding
Feb 16th, 2017 9:53 am | By Ophelia BensonToday in Donnie Disgusting:
Venezuela should allow Leopoldo Lopez, a political prisoner & husband of @liliantintori (just met w/ @marcorubio) out of prison immediately. pic.twitter.com/bt8Xhdo7al
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017
So now we do diplomacy on Twitter, is that it? And what’s with the thumb? And why is he telling us this? And does he think he can do the whole thing one person at a time? Is this really what he thinks the job is – dispensing miraculous interventions to individual people by broadcasting their cases on Twitter?
… Read the restStock market hits new high with longest winning streak in decades. Great level of confidence and optimism – even before tax plan rollout!
— Donald J.
Persistence through obstacles, little lady
Feb 15th, 2017 4:42 pm | By Ophelia BensonTrump-light.
I recognize women hear such things. Others hear different things meant to suppress, etc. Success depends on persistence through obstacles. pic.twitter.com/LTtVCo53y8
— Michael Shermer (@michaelshermer) February 9, 2017
“Success depends on persistence through obstacles.” Well duh – success depends on persisting through for instance the obstacle of wanting to sit still and eat gelato instead of doing some sort of work. Obviously “success” depends on effort, which is what that fatuous banality boils down to. But does that mean some people should get lots of extra obstacles, so that they have to work much harder to persist through obstacles? No it fucking does not, and it’s only smug gits who aren’t subject to extra obstacles of that kind who … Read the rest
He’s selling tickets
Feb 15th, 2017 3:58 pm | By Ophelia BensonNot 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
Very, 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
