All entries by this author

Hit the play button

Nov 9th, 2018 10:22 am | By

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They were surprised by the criticism

Nov 9th, 2018 9:29 am | By

Good 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

This afternoon outside the White House:

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It is a profoundly dangerous moment

Nov 8th, 2018 12:29 pm | By

There 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

James 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

Surprise 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

So, 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

So many replies come to mind…

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She behaves in a way not characteristic of White House aides

Nov 8th, 2018 8:27 am | By

Was Jim Acosta set up?

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

Dutch 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?

Mr 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

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The heated exchange

Nov 7th, 2018 5:45 pm | By

The Post story seems so quaint and archaic now, written before the White House banned Jim Acosta.

President 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

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Now they’re shutting down the news media

Nov 7th, 2018 5:19 pm | By

Ugh. Now Trump’s people have banned Jim Acosta from the White House.

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A criminal subject president appointing his own prosecutor

Nov 7th, 2018 4:43 pm | By

Fred Wertheimer and Norm Eisen on Trump’s latest move:

After 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

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This is extremely dangerous territory

Nov 7th, 2018 4:28 pm | By

My congressional representative has issued a statement on Trump’s move to obstruct the Mueller investigation:

SEATTLE, 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

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Is the coup approaching?

Nov 7th, 2018 4:06 pm | By

Also scary.

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

CNBC reports:

President 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.

Whitaker 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

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Thanks and so long

Nov 7th, 2018 12:16 pm | By

Bam, Sessions is out.

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

Originally 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

Another highlight from the Trump Meltdown press conference.

Bad hair day.… Read the rest



Yew shud be aschamed

Nov 7th, 2018 10:39 am | By

Aren’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