17 days since the National Day of Patriotic Devotion
Wow, this is getting old:
“Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election. Sorry, people want border security and extreme vetting.” Donald Trump, via Twitter, 4:01 am, 6 February 2017
If a news organization doesn’t support the Trump administration, it’s fake and not worth your time. That’s what I’m getting from this tweet. Only news that supports Trump is real news.
You know where else the news works like that? I’ll give you a hint: We used to make fun of them because their two biggest newspapers were named “Truth” and “News.”
“I call my own shots, largely based on an accumulation of data, and everyone knows it. Some FAKE NEWS media, in order to marginalize, lies!” Donald Trump, via Twitter, 4:07am, 6 February 2017
“LIES! FAKE NEWS! LIES!” This is a broken record and it just keeps skipping the groove …
“The failing @nytimes writes total fiction concerning me. They have gotten it wrong for two years, and now are making up stories & sources!” Donald Trump, via Twitter, 8:32 am, 6 February 2017
According to Trump, the press has to prove what they say, while Trump can make whatever baseless claims he likes.
“Speaking at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., Trump [accused the news media of refusing to report on terrorist attacks], saying: “It’s gotten to a point where it’s not even being reported,” he told a group of senior commanders. “And in many cases, the very, very dishonest press doesn’t want to report it.” The president implied that media organizations have an ulterior motive to bury coverage of such attacks. “They have their reasons, and you understand that,” he said. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said there are “several instances” of what the president described when asked by reporters aboard Air Force One, but he did not cite specific examples.” The Hill, 6 February 2017
This is truly remarkable. Terrorist attacks are reported in the news virtually every week. It’s not possible Trump is unaware of this, so why would he make an official statement in front of military personnel claiming the press is suppressing information?
Here’s another source on the same story:
“Speaking to the U.S. Central Command on Monday, President Trump went off his prepared remarks to make a truly stunning claim: The media was intentionally covering up reports of terrorist attacks. “You’ve seen what happened in Paris, and Nice. All over Europe, it’s happening,” he said to the assembled military leaders. “It’s gotten to a point where it’s not even being reported. And in many cases the very, very dishonest press doesn’t want to report it. They have their reasons, and you understand that.” With his comments on Monday, Trump implied that the media is complicit in making terrorists successful. It’s part of a recent pattern of suggesting that others are standing in the way of his terrorism-fighting efforts, which includes disparaging a federal judge who halted his immigration executive order.” The Washington Post 6 February 2017
The press naturally wanted to know specifically which terrorist attacks they didn’t cover, so the White House hurriedly threw together a list.
“The White House on Monday night released a list of 78 terrorist attacks in response to an assertion earlier in the day by President Trump that the “very dishonest press” often doesn’t report on them. The list, which includes domestic and overseas incidents, starts in September 2014. It includes some very heavily covered news events, including last year’s attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando and the series of attacks in Paris in 2015.” The Washington Post, 6 February 2017
It’s anybody’s guess where they got that list, but if they’d sat down at a terminal and Googled any of the names, they would have found plenty of reports from multiple media outlets.
Maggie Astor, a copy editor at The New York Times, began tweeting links to press coverage of every attack on the White House’s list.
Meanwhile, Sean Spicer called into question the authenticity of the protest movement that has risen in response to the Trump administration’s policies, without presenting a shred of evidence to support his claims:
Brian Kilmeade: “Do you sense that instead of being an organic disruption, do you sense that there’s an organized pushback and people are being paid to protest?”
Spicer: “Oh, absolutely. I mean, protesting has become a profession now. They have every right to do that, don’t get me wrong, but I think that we need to call it what it is. It’s not these organic uprisings that we’ve seen through the last several decades. The Tea Party was a very organic movement. This has become a very paid, ‘astroturf’ type movement.” Mediaite, 6 February 2017
Well, so long as we’re on the subject of Trump’s closest advisors talking about fake shit:
“Kellyanne Conway thinks she took too much flak for citing a nonexistent “Bowling Green massacre” to justify President Trump’s travel ban. She said she simply meant to say “Bowling Green terrorists,” and she later said, “I misspoke one word.” Except now she doesn’t appear to have misspoken at all; she seems to have believed that the Bowling Green massacre was a real thing.” The Washington Post 6 February 2017
Moving from the ridiculous to the even more ridiculous:
“The Kremlin wants Fox News to apologize for a comment journalist Bill O’Reilly made about Russian President Vladimir Putin during an interview Sunday with U.S. President Donald Trump. O’Reilly called Putin “a killer” after Trump said he respected the Russian leader.” Voice of America, 6 February 2017
If there’s the slightest possibility I’ll get to see Bill O’Reilly apologize for slandering Vladimir Putin, I’ll park myself in front of a television set at the corner bar and wait as long as it takes to see it happen.
Meanwhile, back in reality:
“Dozens of top tech companies – including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter – have filed a joint legal brief arguing against President Donald Trump’s travel ban. It charged that the ban “inflicts significant harm on American business, innovation, and growth as a result,” according to a copy of the document published by US media outlets.” AFP News Service, 6 February 2017
“Apple, Google and more than 90 other companies are pushing back in court against President Donald Trump’s temporary travel ban, calling it unconstitutional, un-American and bad for the economy. The companies filed briefs Sunday to back lawsuits from Washington state and Minnesota fighting Trump’s travel ban. The ban keeps refugees and travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.” The Washington Post 6 February 2017
Huh. Big businesses don’t like the restrictions Trump has placed on immigration and can present an argument against it based in actual fact. This ought to be very sobering to politicians who consider themselves friends of business. Will they grow a spine and say something to Trump?
“Former secretaries of state John F. Kerry and Madeleine Albright, along with Leon Panetta and other former top national security officials, entered the fray over President Trump’s travel ban early Monday with an unusual declaration stating that it “undermines” national security and will “endanger U.S. troops in the field.” The six-page joint declaration was addressed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in support of the temporary order blocking implementation of Trump’s ban on entry for travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Others signing the declaration … were John E. McLaughlin, deputy director of the CIA from 2000 to 2004 and acting director in 2004; Lisa O. Monaco, former assistant to Obama for homeland security and counterterrorism; Michael Morell, a career CIA official who has served as deputy director and acting director; former homeland security secretary Janet Napolitano; and Susan E. Rice, Obama’s ambassador to the U.N. and national security adviser.” The Washington Post 6 February 2017
Well how about that? Now if only the ones currently infesting the capitol building would say something.
“In a case currently before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers for the states of Washington and Minnesota cite previous court holdings on religious discrimination that it is “‘the duty of the courts to distinguish a sham secular purpose from a sincere one … Here, the sham of a secular purpose is exposed by both the language of the order and defendants’ expressions of anti-Muslim intent,” the lawyers wrote. Constitutional scholars agree that those statements made by Trump and his surrogates could be used in proceedings. “Those statements are definitely relevant, because there’s a longstanding doctrine that there can be laws or executive orders that on their face don’t discriminative on the basis of race or religion but that is their motive — and if that is their motive, they can be struck down,” said Ilya Somin, a George Mason University law professor. CNN, 6 February 2017
And other governments aren’t all that thrilled with Trump, either:
“The date and details of President Trump’s state visit to the U.K. are still to be penciled in. But following an extraordinary intervention Monday evening, it now seems unlikely that he will be extended the honor of addressing both houses of British Parliament. Citing “racism” and “sexism,” the speaker of the House of Commons told lawmakers Monday that he was “strongly opposed” to the president addressing both houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall.” The Washington Post, 6 February 2017
And then, there’s this:
“A Massachusetts college has created a refugee scholarship in response to President Donald Trump’s order on immigration and refugees and is calling on other colleges to do the same. Wheaton College President Dennis Hanno says the scholarship announced Jan. 31 is meant to show that the college in Norton embraces its foreign-born community.” Western Mass News, 6 February 2017
Bring me your tired, your poor …
“Inside Terminal 4 at Kennedy International Airport in New York, a 6-year-old boy sprinted across the arrivals hall to embrace a family friend who had finally made it back to the United States after being marooned for a week in his home country, Sudan. With the door open again for travelers and refugees who had been excluded by President Trump’s order on immigration, the race to reach the United States accelerated on Sunday among waves of people fearing the opportunity might be fleeting.” The New York Times, 6 February 2017
Finally, a little comedy relief:
“[T]he devastating “Saturday Night Live” caricature of Spicer that aired over the weekend – in which a belligerent Spicer was spoofed by a gum-chomping, super soaker-wielding Melissa McCarthy in drag – did not go over well internally at a White House where looks matter … it was Spicer’s portrayal by a woman that was most problematic in the president’s eyes … “Trump doesn’t like his people to look weak,” added a top Trump donor. Politico, 6 February 2017
This Is Drivel 