And Trump today attacked another black reporter, Abby Phillip: “What a stupid question that is,” he says to her.pic.twitter.com/tqcw3NgFtt
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) November 9, 2018
All entries by this author
Hit the play button
Nov 9th, 2018 10:22 am | By Ophelia BensonThey were surprised by the criticism
Nov 9th, 2018 9:29 am | By Ophelia BensonGood grief, they’re surprised.
There is a growing sense of concern inside the White House over the negative reaction to Matthew Whitaker being tapped as acting attorney general after Jeff Sessions’ abrupt firing.
Whitaker, who was Sessions’ chief of staff, has faced criticism since Wednesday afternoon’s announcement for his previous comments on special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Several senior officials told CNN they were surprised by the criticism, and believe it could potentially jeopardize Whitaker’s chances of remaining in the post if it continues to dominate headlines.
How can they possibly be surprised??
Just for a start, Whitaker is a complete nobody. To go on, the normal thing would be to make the Deputy AG the acting AG. To … Read the rest
In installing a hack to obstruct the Mueller investigation
Nov 8th, 2018 4:59 pm | By Ophelia BensonThis afternoon outside the White House:
.@RepRaskin at the #ProtectMueller protest in front of the White House:
“Whitaker is not just professionally unqualified to be Attorney General. He’s constitutionally unqualified to be Attorney General.” #WhitakerMustRecuse pic.twitter.com/wgXRx8JOXo
— Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) November 8, 2018
Public Citizen president Robert Weissman: "In this country, it is the people who rule, not the autocrat who rules. And we will defend our democracy. Congress will act when we make them act, and we will make them act." #ProtectMueller pic.twitter.com/wXaR1JBGJG
— Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) November 8, 2018
… Read the rest.@waltshaub: “Sessions was a terrible Attorney General, but he did one thing right: He recused himself from the investigation. Trump didn’t like that, so he fired him. Nixon
It is a profoundly dangerous moment
Nov 8th, 2018 12:29 pm | By Ophelia BensonThere are conflicting streams of thought, or maybe I just mean of talk, about whether or not Trump can get away with kneecapping the Mueller investigation right in plain sight. Some people – including lawyers – are saying he can’t, he can’t, he can’t, and others are saying like hell he can’t. Jeffrey Toobin was exasperatedly emphatic voicing the latter on CNN last night. Others are emphatic that he can’t, but they seem to mean just morally speaking, not that it’s literally impossible. It seems to be the case that Trump can get away with it if nobody stops him, and that it’s not at all clear that anyone can stop him. It’s hard to get clarity about it because … Read the rest
When you say some things that some people don’t like
Nov 8th, 2018 11:19 am | By Ophelia BensonJames Kirkup wrote about the Jenni Murray denunciation yesterday:
Here we go again. Perhaps there should be a template for journalists writing about transgender issues and the treatment of women with the “wrong” opinions. The template would look something like this:
A small group of noisy, angry people, many of them male, have demanded that [Insert woman’s name] not be allowed to speak/ appear/ have a job/ do anything because [woman] once said things the small group of people didn’t like or agree with.
Really, we could use it for so many cases and so many women: Germaine Greer, Julie Bindel, Janice Turner, Posy Parker, Linda Bellos…
…me…
And a great many more, and the ranks keep growing all the … Read the rest
No intention
Nov 8th, 2018 10:35 am | By Ophelia BensonSurprise surprise surprise, Whitaker has no intention of recusing himself. Well no shit; that’s why he got the job, so obviously he’s not going to do the thing he was promoted to not do. Normally the job should have gone to Rosenstein, and Whitaker wouldn’t have been in the line at all, but Don wants a loyal stooge and Whitaker is his boy.
Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker has no intention of recusing himself from overseeing the special counsel probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to people close to him who added they do not believe he would approve any subpoena of President Trump as part of that investigation.
Also according to everything we know about … Read the rest
Compliant women in history and society
Nov 8th, 2018 9:39 am | By Ophelia BensonSo, that Oxford SU LGBTQ statement complaining about Jenni Murray did its work: she has cancelled her appearance at the Oxford event. Well done, students: another woman silenced.
BBC Radio 4 host Dame Jenni Murray has pulled out of an Oxford University talk amid a backlash over comments she made about transgender people.
The Woman’s Hour presenter was invited to speak at an event called Powerful British Women in History and Society.
But the student union’s LGBTQ Campaign said she had made “transphobic comments” in a 2017 newspaper article.
The Oxford University History Society subsequently said she had cancelled her appearance “for personal reasons”.
Probably the personal reason of not wanting to deal with entitled little shits telling her … Read the rest
Most upsetting
Nov 8th, 2018 8:51 am | By Ophelia BensonSo many replies come to mind…
Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane. Half of the articles in Annals of Internal Medicine are pushing for gun control. Most upsetting, however, the medical community seems to have consulted NO ONE but themselves. https://t.co/oCR3uiLtS7
— NRA (@NRA) November 7, 2018
She behaves in a way not characteristic of White House aides
Nov 8th, 2018 8:27 am | By Ophelia BensonWas Jim Acosta set up?
It wouldn’t surprise me if the entire episode with the young woman grabbing the mic from @Acosta were a set-up to put this all into motion.
She wasn’t there, she appears once Acosta begins, she watches Trump for a signal, then she behaves in a way not characteristic of WH aides.
— Leah McElrath (@leahmcelrath) November 8, 2018
If you look at the video the whole thing seems very odd – she jumps up and charges at Acosta, which surely can’t be normal procedure at a press conference. It’s hard to say, because Trump holds so few of them, but it certainly comes across as weird. And why have a woman do that? Ahhh – … Read the rest
One little digit
Nov 8th, 2018 8:20 am | By Ophelia BensonDutch guy wants to be trans 49.
Emile Ratelband, 69, wants to shift his birthday from 11 March 1949 to 11 March 1969, comparing the change to identifying as being transgender.
“We live in a time when you can change your name and change your gender. Why can’t I decide my own age?” he said.
Is it satire or does he really mean it?
… Read the restMr Ratelband argues he feels discriminated against because of his age, and that it was affecting his employment chances and his success rate on the dating app, Tinder.
“When I’m 69, I am limited. If I’m 49, then I can buy a new house, drive a different car. I can take up more work,” he
The heated exchange
Nov 7th, 2018 5:45 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Post story seems so quaint and archaic now, written before the White House banned Jim Acosta.
… Read the restPresident Trump lashed out at journalists during an afternoon press briefing, calling some of them “hostile,” instructing them to sit down and telling a CNN reporter, “You are a rude, terrible person.”
The heated exchange occurred Wednesday when CNN reporter Jim Acosta continued to question Trump after the president dismissed him during a news conference about the 2018 midterm elections. Acosta had brought up the Central American migrant caravan, asking the president why he characterized it as “an invasion.”
“I think you should let me run the country, you run CNN and if you did it well, your ratings would be much
Now they’re shutting down the news media
Nov 7th, 2018 5:19 pm | By Ophelia BensonUgh. Now Trump’s people have banned Jim Acosta from the White House.
I’ve just been denied entrance to the WH. Secret Service just informed me I cannot enter the WH grounds for my 8pm hit
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 8, 2018
The US Secret Service just asked for my credential to enter the WH. As I told the officer, I don’t blame him. I know he’s just doing his job. (Sorry this video is not rightside up) pic.twitter.com/juQeuj3B9R
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 8, 2018
This is a lie. https://t.co/FastFfWych
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 8, 2018
… Read the restThe WH is now denying @Acosta access to the WH grounds do his job. This is incredibly concerning. https://t.co/lnZICQIGim
— Yamiche Alcindor
A criminal subject president appointing his own prosecutor
Nov 7th, 2018 4:43 pm | By Ophelia BensonFred Wertheimer and Norm Eisen on Trump’s latest move:
… Read the restAfter requesting and receiving Mr. Sessions’s resignation on Wednesday, President Trump wasted no time in naming Matthew Whitaker, Mr. Sessions’s chief of staff, as acting attorney general, and shifted the oversight role from Mr. Rosenstein back to the attorney general’s office and its new acting head.
As ethics experts, we believe Mr. Whitaker should recuse himself from the investigation. If we have ever seen an appearance of impropriety in our decades of experience, this is it: a criminal subject president appointing his own prosecutor — one who has evidently prejudged aspects of the investigation and mused about how it can be hampered.
No prosecutor — or indeed governmental official of
This is extremely dangerous territory
Nov 7th, 2018 4:28 pm | By Ophelia BensonMy congressional representative has issued a statement on Trump’s move to obstruct the Mueller investigation:
… Read the restSEATTLE, WA – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, member of the House Judiciary Committee, released the following statement regarding the firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions:
“This was no simple resignation: President Donald Trump fired Jeff Sessions the day after an election in which his party lost control of the House. This is extremely dangerous territory, placing our nation in the throes of a potential constitutional crisis. We must do everything we can to protect the Special Counsel’s investigation, and to ensure that this president does not obstruct justice.
“The president has made it clear for months now that he considered Attorney General Sessions and Deputy
Is the coup approaching?
Nov 7th, 2018 4:06 pm | By Ophelia BensonAlso scary.
Trump is saying that if the House of Representatives, the lower House of a co-equal branch of government executes its’ Article 1. Constitutional duty to exercise oversight over the Executive Branch that he will bring Govt. to a standstill and launch retributional investigations
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) November 7, 2018
It is the most illiberal statement ever seen on Television by an American President. It is a direct assault on the Founders vision of a Republic where Absolute power is constrained by a system of checks and balances. Trumps bullying, distemper and dishonesty are on full display
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) November 7, 2018
https://twitter.com/tribelaw/status/1060312689262632960
https://twitter.com/tribelaw/status/1060315495105216512
https://twitter.com/tribelaw/status/1060317946847862784… Read the rest
Teetering
Nov 7th, 2018 3:48 pm | By Ophelia BensonPresident Donald Trump’s new acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, will oversee special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.
“The Acting Attorney General is in charge of all matters under the purview of the Department of Justice,” a spokeswoman for the department said Wednesday when asked if Whitaker would oversee Mueller’s investigation.
Which is kind of…how shall I say…shady, because Whitaker hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate.
… Read the restWhitaker argued in an August 2017 op-ed for CNN that Mueller’s investigation is “dangerously close to crossing” the so-called red line not to look into the Trump family’s finances.
“It does not take a lawyer or even a former federal prosecutor like myself
Thanks and so long
Nov 7th, 2018 12:16 pm | By Ophelia BensonBam, Sessions is out.
….We thank Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his service, and wish him well! A permanent replacement will be nominated at a later date.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2018
Can the coup be far behind?
Scary times.… Read the rest
Guest post: In the middle of red America
Nov 7th, 2018 11:49 am | By Ophelia BensonOriginally a comment by iknklast on Don’t worry, be happy.
In my state, the voters voted for Medicaid expansion – yay! But…these same voters voted to retain all of the Republican incumbents who loathe Medicaid expansion with a visceral hatred that springs partially out of their hatred of taxes and partially out of their hatred for the poor. So will we actually gain the expansion voted for? Not if our governor (who just got reelected in spite of the fact that he is vile) has anything to say about it.
Don’t try to tell me Republican voters are voting how they are because they want a better life and believe the Democrats won’t bring that to them because the … Read the rest
That’s a racist question
Nov 7th, 2018 11:25 am | By Ophelia BensonAnother highlight from the Trump Meltdown press conference.
President Trump to @Yamiche: "That's a racist question." pic.twitter.com/4bgrMjQFZk
— CSPAN (@cspan) November 7, 2018
Bad hair day.… Read the rest
Yew shud be aschamed
Nov 7th, 2018 10:39 am | By Ophelia BensonAren’t we cranky today.
https://twitter.com/waltshaub/status/1060223898501824513
There’s nothing quite like the irony of watching Donald Trump shaking his finger at Jim Acosta while saying “You are a rude, terrible person” while Acosta is in fact being perfectly polite.… Read the rest
