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babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
July 13, 2019
The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
7/12/2019
At His Nutzoid Summit, Trump Admits He Stares at Twitter Instead of Working
Yesterday, Donald Trump, who I occasionally feel nauseated remembering is still the president of the United States, hosted what was billed as a Social Media Summit at the White House. What really happened is that Trump invited a range of conservative idiots, inveterate assholes, festering fucknuts, conspiracy crazies, and Charlie Kirk to sit around and tell Trump how awesome he is while he reciprocated and then whined about them being censored. It was like when you go visit your grandpa and he's invited all his old racist friends over. Actually, it wasn't "like that." It pretty much was that, with the added bonus of villainous walrus Sebastian Gorka going apeshit on reporters.
Honestly, if intelligence could create energy, the vortex from the absence of it would have swallowed the Rose Garden.
In his completely insane remarks after the summit, where, one presumes, Trump walked around with his dick out and asked each of them to yank, telling them, "One of you is getting a special surprise" as circus music played and a shirtless Mick Mulvaney cackled in the corner as he pinched his nipples bloody, Trump completely missed the point of the "free" part of "free speech," saying, "Free speech is not when you see something good, and then you purposely write bad. To me, that’s very dangerous speech, and you become angry at it. But that’s not free speech." Freedom, to Trump, means free to agree with him.
snip//
Then he revealed that he tweets just because he likes to see his shit on TV. Trump slurred, "I said watch, I’m going to do this. And I said, 'We recognize the Golan Heights as being part of Israel.' It was a big thing. I go, watch this: boom! I press it, and within two seconds: 'We have breaking news.' John Roberts of Fox was over. He said, 'We have breaking news. Please, break it up.' Doesn’t matter what they’re talking about, John does it. He breaks it up." Beyond obviously not understanding what the word "breaking" means in "breaking news," that's some scary shit right there. It's some fin de siecle megalomaniacal fuckery, like a cruel, inbred king executing a servant because he can.
So Trump, again, ostensibly the leader of the free world, says that he wastes his days thinking of tweets to fuck with the flow of the news cycle and watches to see how much people love him. Add to that his daily viewing of Fox and Friends and whatever fucking nonsense One America has on, and, really, except when he's in front of the cameras telling us shit like "You know, there’s a word called 'communism,'" except when he's glad-handing dictators and right-wing crazies and congressional fellaters, he's not doing a goddamn thing at his job.
It's pathetic. It's pathetic that he cares so much about his shitty tweets. And it's pathetic that I'm fucking relieved that he's so lazy and incompetent.
The Rude Pundit: At His Nutzoid Summit, Trump Admits He Stares at Twitter Instead of Working
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2019/07/at-his-nutzoid-summit-trump-admits-he.htmlThe Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
7/12/2019
At His Nutzoid Summit, Trump Admits He Stares at Twitter Instead of Working
Yesterday, Donald Trump, who I occasionally feel nauseated remembering is still the president of the United States, hosted what was billed as a Social Media Summit at the White House. What really happened is that Trump invited a range of conservative idiots, inveterate assholes, festering fucknuts, conspiracy crazies, and Charlie Kirk to sit around and tell Trump how awesome he is while he reciprocated and then whined about them being censored. It was like when you go visit your grandpa and he's invited all his old racist friends over. Actually, it wasn't "like that." It pretty much was that, with the added bonus of villainous walrus Sebastian Gorka going apeshit on reporters.
Honestly, if intelligence could create energy, the vortex from the absence of it would have swallowed the Rose Garden.
In his completely insane remarks after the summit, where, one presumes, Trump walked around with his dick out and asked each of them to yank, telling them, "One of you is getting a special surprise" as circus music played and a shirtless Mick Mulvaney cackled in the corner as he pinched his nipples bloody, Trump completely missed the point of the "free" part of "free speech," saying, "Free speech is not when you see something good, and then you purposely write bad. To me, that’s very dangerous speech, and you become angry at it. But that’s not free speech." Freedom, to Trump, means free to agree with him.
snip//
Then he revealed that he tweets just because he likes to see his shit on TV. Trump slurred, "I said watch, I’m going to do this. And I said, 'We recognize the Golan Heights as being part of Israel.' It was a big thing. I go, watch this: boom! I press it, and within two seconds: 'We have breaking news.' John Roberts of Fox was over. He said, 'We have breaking news. Please, break it up.' Doesn’t matter what they’re talking about, John does it. He breaks it up." Beyond obviously not understanding what the word "breaking" means in "breaking news," that's some scary shit right there. It's some fin de siecle megalomaniacal fuckery, like a cruel, inbred king executing a servant because he can.
So Trump, again, ostensibly the leader of the free world, says that he wastes his days thinking of tweets to fuck with the flow of the news cycle and watches to see how much people love him. Add to that his daily viewing of Fox and Friends and whatever fucking nonsense One America has on, and, really, except when he's in front of the cameras telling us shit like "You know, there’s a word called 'communism,'" except when he's glad-handing dictators and right-wing crazies and congressional fellaters, he's not doing a goddamn thing at his job.
It's pathetic. It's pathetic that he cares so much about his shitty tweets. And it's pathetic that I'm fucking relieved that he's so lazy and incompetent.
July 13, 2019
https://www.thedailybeast.com/cannabis-plants-found-growing-in-front-of-vermont-statehouse?ref=home
GREEN THUMB
Cannabis Plants Found Growing in Front of Vermont Statehouse
Julia Arciga
Published 07.12.19 5:26PM ET
Vermont Capitol Police
Cannabis Plants Found Growing in Front of Vermont Statehouse
https://www.thedailybeast.com/cannabis-plants-found-growing-in-front-of-vermont-statehouse?ref=home
GREEN THUMB
Cannabis Plants Found Growing in Front of Vermont Statehouse
Julia Arciga
Published 07.12.19 5:26PM ET
Vermont Capitol Police
At least 34 cannabis plants were discovered growing in the flower beds of the Vermont Statehouse this week, according to police. A visitor is said to have alerted authorities to the plants, which were growing in the beds lining the walkway that leads to the statehouse in Montpelier. Capitol Police Chief Matthew Romei said police found 34 of the plants, which could either be hemp or marijuana, and state workers may have found even more elsewhere. While hemp could be grown as a cash crop in the state, marijuana is illegal to grow in public. But Romei said he does not think a criminal case will be opened unless “someone comes down and claims” the plants. Similar discoveries were made in years past, but this is the first instance in two years. “This was a humorous thing to come back to off from vacation,” Romei said.
July 13, 2019
The long, growing list of somebodies that Trump used to know
Jeffrey Epstein, E. Jean Carroll, and the many other people Donald Trump wants you to forget he knows.
Adam Peck
Jul 13, 2019, 8:00 am
snip//
Trump’s conveniently foggy memory of his relationship with Epstein fits a pattern — it is the latest instance of him furiously, sloppily trying to rip a card from a Rolodex he spent decades meticulously building.
Last month it was E Jean Carroll, an advice columnist for Elle Magazine. Carroll published an excerpt from her upcoming memoir in which she credibly alleges that Donald Trump raped her in the mid-1990s in a dressing room at Manhattan retailer Bergdorf Goodman. Multiple people corroborated the details of her story.
This time, Donald Trump denied even knowing Carroll, a specious claim to begin with given the proximity of both to New York’s bourgeoisie before the turn of the century, but one that was rendered entirely farcical after photographs of the two talking to one another surfaced mere minutes after his denial.
He has played this game time and again, stretching back decades. When white supremacist Ann Coulter soured on Donald Trump’s ineptitude at securing funding for his southern border vanity wall, Trump responded to her criticism by telling reporters “I don’t know her.” She has introduced him on stage at several campaign rallies. When the notion of Russian influence on the 2016 presidential campaign was just starting to bubble up shortly before the general election, Trump told reporters in Florida “I never met Putin, I don’t know who Putin is.” He said the opposite in 2015. And 2014. And 2013. When former campaign advisor George Papadopolous found himself ensnared in Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s dealings with Russian operatives, Trump told reporters “I don’t know him.” The two had been photographed together in a meeting. The photo was shared by Donald Trump on Twitter. Even Paul Manafort — who managed Donald Trump’s presidential campaign — was subjected to disavowal once the indictments began to rain down.
Nobody has a perfect memory, of course (though, claiming your own campaign manager “has nothing to do with our campaign” is a hard sell). Then again, Donald Trump does not deserve the benefit of the doubt, at least not according to one reliable source — Donald Trump.
“You’ve stated that you have one of the best memories in the world,” said a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in a lawsuit brought against Donald Trump over his Trump University grift.
“I don’t know. Did I use that expression?,” asked an incredulous Trump.
“‘One of the best in the world’ is what the reporter quoted you as saying,” the lawyer replied.
“I don’t remember saying that,” was his final response.
The long, growing list of somebodies that Trump used to know
https://thinkprogress.org/the-long-growing-list-of-somebodies-that-trump-used-to-know/The long, growing list of somebodies that Trump used to know
Jeffrey Epstein, E. Jean Carroll, and the many other people Donald Trump wants you to forget he knows.
Adam Peck
Jul 13, 2019, 8:00 am
snip//
Trump’s conveniently foggy memory of his relationship with Epstein fits a pattern — it is the latest instance of him furiously, sloppily trying to rip a card from a Rolodex he spent decades meticulously building.
Last month it was E Jean Carroll, an advice columnist for Elle Magazine. Carroll published an excerpt from her upcoming memoir in which she credibly alleges that Donald Trump raped her in the mid-1990s in a dressing room at Manhattan retailer Bergdorf Goodman. Multiple people corroborated the details of her story.
This time, Donald Trump denied even knowing Carroll, a specious claim to begin with given the proximity of both to New York’s bourgeoisie before the turn of the century, but one that was rendered entirely farcical after photographs of the two talking to one another surfaced mere minutes after his denial.
He has played this game time and again, stretching back decades. When white supremacist Ann Coulter soured on Donald Trump’s ineptitude at securing funding for his southern border vanity wall, Trump responded to her criticism by telling reporters “I don’t know her.” She has introduced him on stage at several campaign rallies. When the notion of Russian influence on the 2016 presidential campaign was just starting to bubble up shortly before the general election, Trump told reporters in Florida “I never met Putin, I don’t know who Putin is.” He said the opposite in 2015. And 2014. And 2013. When former campaign advisor George Papadopolous found himself ensnared in Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s dealings with Russian operatives, Trump told reporters “I don’t know him.” The two had been photographed together in a meeting. The photo was shared by Donald Trump on Twitter. Even Paul Manafort — who managed Donald Trump’s presidential campaign — was subjected to disavowal once the indictments began to rain down.
Nobody has a perfect memory, of course (though, claiming your own campaign manager “has nothing to do with our campaign” is a hard sell). Then again, Donald Trump does not deserve the benefit of the doubt, at least not according to one reliable source — Donald Trump.
“You’ve stated that you have one of the best memories in the world,” said a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in a lawsuit brought against Donald Trump over his Trump University grift.
“I don’t know. Did I use that expression?,” asked an incredulous Trump.
“‘One of the best in the world’ is what the reporter quoted you as saying,” the lawyer replied.
“I don’t remember saying that,” was his final response.
July 12, 2019
Michelle Obama calls on teachers to help students register to vote
By John Bowden - 07/12/19 01:19 PM EDT
Michelle Obama is urging teachers in a new public service announcement to help their students register to vote as part of her new nonpartisan voter registration effort.
In a video released Thursday, the former first lady said that the current generation of students would be active in shaping "the course of our communities and our country."
more...
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/452824-michelle-obama-calls-on-teachers-to-help-their-students?fbclid=IwAR1g3GMXukIVWQMCfosFSYsA0kDy2_VFuDT7HbDPoV7h0G8Bdhb8MbO57Yg#.XSjqYN9Wbfo.facebook
Michelle Obama calls on teachers to help students register to vote
Michelle Obama calls on teachers to help students register to vote
By John Bowden - 07/12/19 01:19 PM EDT
Michelle Obama is urging teachers in a new public service announcement to help their students register to vote as part of her new nonpartisan voter registration effort.
In a video released Thursday, the former first lady said that the current generation of students would be active in shaping "the course of our communities and our country."
"Last year I launched When We All Vote, a nonpartisan get-out-the-vote effort to help make sure everyone makes their voice heard loud and clear," Obama said.
"In November, our country saw historic voter turnout, and that's progress we should celebrate," she continued, before calling that number still "far too low."
"Only 1 in 3 of our youngest voters cast a ballot. That means two-thirds of these young people aren't showing up," Obama said. "It's up to us to flip that script, to show young people how crucial their voices are."
"In November, our country saw historic voter turnout, and that's progress we should celebrate," she continued, before calling that number still "far too low."
"Only 1 in 3 of our youngest voters cast a ballot. That means two-thirds of these young people aren't showing up," Obama said. "It's up to us to flip that script, to show young people how crucial their voices are."
more...
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/452824-michelle-obama-calls-on-teachers-to-help-their-students?fbclid=IwAR1g3GMXukIVWQMCfosFSYsA0kDy2_VFuDT7HbDPoV7h0G8Bdhb8MbO57Yg#.XSjqYN9Wbfo.facebook
July 12, 2019
July 12, 2019 12:19PM ET
Border Patrol Agents’ Commemorative Coin Declares: ‘Keep the Caravans Coming’
The coin mocks care for migrant kids, includes an image of a parade of migrants crossing the border
By Dara Lind, ProPublica
This story was originally published by ProPublica.
An unofficial commemorative coin has been circulating among Border Patrol agents at the U.S./Mexico border, mocking the task of caring for migrant children and other duties that have fallen to agents as families cross into the U.S.
On the front, the coin declares “KEEP THE CARAVANS COMING” under an image of a massive parade of people carrying a Honduran flag — a caricature of the “caravan” from last fall, which started in Honduras and attracted thousands of people as it moved north. (While the caravan included many women and children, the only visible figures on the coin appear to be adult men.)
The coin’s reverse side features the Border Patrol logo and three illustrations: a Border Patrol agent bottle-feeding an infant; an agent fingerprinting a teen boy wearing a backwards baseball cap; and a U.S. Border Patrol van. The text along the edge reads “FEEDING ** PROCESSING ** HOSPITAL ** TRANSPORT.”
The coin appears to poke fun at the fact that many border agents are no longer out patrolling and instead are now caring for and processing migrants — including families and children.
Government officials told ProPublica the coin was not approved or paid for by the government, unlike official “challenge coins” that go through an agency approval process. One Customs and Border Protection official, who was not authorized to give his name, characterized the coin as “something that somebody’s doing on their free time” — comparing it to woodworking. “A lot of the agents have little hobbies on the side, they build little wooden figures that they have at their homes,” the official said.
more...
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/border-patrol-agents-coin-mocking-migrants-caravans-858266/
Border Patrol Agents' Commemorative Coin Declares: 'Keep the Caravans Coming'
July 12, 2019 12:19PM ET
Border Patrol Agents’ Commemorative Coin Declares: ‘Keep the Caravans Coming’
The coin mocks care for migrant kids, includes an image of a parade of migrants crossing the border
By Dara Lind, ProPublica
This story was originally published by ProPublica.
An unofficial commemorative coin has been circulating among Border Patrol agents at the U.S./Mexico border, mocking the task of caring for migrant children and other duties that have fallen to agents as families cross into the U.S.
On the front, the coin declares “KEEP THE CARAVANS COMING” under an image of a massive parade of people carrying a Honduran flag — a caricature of the “caravan” from last fall, which started in Honduras and attracted thousands of people as it moved north. (While the caravan included many women and children, the only visible figures on the coin appear to be adult men.)
The coin’s reverse side features the Border Patrol logo and three illustrations: a Border Patrol agent bottle-feeding an infant; an agent fingerprinting a teen boy wearing a backwards baseball cap; and a U.S. Border Patrol van. The text along the edge reads “FEEDING ** PROCESSING ** HOSPITAL ** TRANSPORT.”
The coin appears to poke fun at the fact that many border agents are no longer out patrolling and instead are now caring for and processing migrants — including families and children.
Government officials told ProPublica the coin was not approved or paid for by the government, unlike official “challenge coins” that go through an agency approval process. One Customs and Border Protection official, who was not authorized to give his name, characterized the coin as “something that somebody’s doing on their free time” — comparing it to woodworking. “A lot of the agents have little hobbies on the side, they build little wooden figures that they have at their homes,” the official said.
more...
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/border-patrol-agents-coin-mocking-migrants-caravans-858266/
July 12, 2019
NRA financial records subpoenaed
The attorney general for Washington, DC has issued subpoenas for the National Rifle Association and its charitable foundation. The gun rights organization is in the sights of nonprofit regulators, and under fire separately for connections to convicted Russian military intelligence agent Maria Butina -- not to mention the NRA's own internal power struggles, interpersonal petty drama, and financial ruin.
https://twitter.com/FenitN/status/1149719894868598787
more...
https://boingboing.net/2019/07/12/nra-financial-records-subpoena.html
NRA financial records subpoenaed
NRA financial records subpoenaed
The attorney general for Washington, DC has issued subpoenas for the National Rifle Association and its charitable foundation. The gun rights organization is in the sights of nonprofit regulators, and under fire separately for connections to convicted Russian military intelligence agent Maria Butina -- not to mention the NRA's own internal power struggles, interpersonal petty drama, and financial ruin.
https://twitter.com/FenitN/status/1149719894868598787
more...
https://boingboing.net/2019/07/12/nra-financial-records-subpoena.html
July 12, 2019
California secretary of state: Trump not ruling out immigration arrests during Census events
California's elections chief told ThinkProgress the Census officials gave no guarantees that undocumented immigrants would not be arrested at events that promote participation in the 2020 Census.
Danielle McLean
Jul 11, 2019, 5:06 pm
California’s secretary of state claims the U.S. Census Bureau has not received any guarantees that immigration officials would not target undocumented immigrants at events that promote participation in the 2020 Census.
Alex Padilla, who is also the state’s chief elections official, told ThinkProgress he asked whether the Trump administration would target undocumented immigrants at such government-sponsored events during a June 4 meeting with Albert Fontenot, associate director of the bureau’s Decennial Census Programs.
According to Padilla, Fontenot told him that the bureau “had asked” but had not received any assurances. Padilla has since reached back out to the Census Bureau for answers in writing but has still not received a response.
The Constitution requires the government to count all people living in the United States every 10 years — a survey that affects how congressional and legislative district maps are drawn and how billions of dollars in federal funds are divided.
But the Trump administration has been actively trying to discourage immigrant families and people of color from participating in the count, allegedly so that Republicans can gain an edge during the 2021 redistricting process.
more...
https://thinkprogress.org/california-secretary-of-state-alex-padilla-trump-not-ruling-out-immigration-arrests-during-census-events-ac08c116cacd/
California secretary of state: Trump not ruling out immigration arrests during Census events
California secretary of state: Trump not ruling out immigration arrests during Census events
California's elections chief told ThinkProgress the Census officials gave no guarantees that undocumented immigrants would not be arrested at events that promote participation in the 2020 Census.
Danielle McLean
Jul 11, 2019, 5:06 pm
California’s secretary of state claims the U.S. Census Bureau has not received any guarantees that immigration officials would not target undocumented immigrants at events that promote participation in the 2020 Census.
Alex Padilla, who is also the state’s chief elections official, told ThinkProgress he asked whether the Trump administration would target undocumented immigrants at such government-sponsored events during a June 4 meeting with Albert Fontenot, associate director of the bureau’s Decennial Census Programs.
According to Padilla, Fontenot told him that the bureau “had asked” but had not received any assurances. Padilla has since reached back out to the Census Bureau for answers in writing but has still not received a response.
“I never would have expected that I would have to ask the question because I don’t put anything past Trump to intimidate or scare people away from participating in the Census,” Padilla said.
“So I asked the question and sure enough they had thought about it and they inquired and they have not received any guarantees or assurances,” he added.
“So I asked the question and sure enough they had thought about it and they inquired and they have not received any guarantees or assurances,” he added.
The Constitution requires the government to count all people living in the United States every 10 years — a survey that affects how congressional and legislative district maps are drawn and how billions of dollars in federal funds are divided.
But the Trump administration has been actively trying to discourage immigrant families and people of color from participating in the count, allegedly so that Republicans can gain an edge during the 2021 redistricting process.
more...
https://thinkprogress.org/california-secretary-of-state-alex-padilla-trump-not-ruling-out-immigration-arrests-during-census-events-ac08c116cacd/
July 12, 2019
Posted on Thu, Jul 11th, 2019 by Sean Colarossi
The Fear Is The Point: Rachel Maddow Exposes The Reason Behind Trump’s ICE Raids
Rachel Maddow said on Thursday that Donald Trump’s planned ICE raids across the country, which are set to begin this weekend, are just a stunt meant to scare immigrants and rile up his base ahead of 2020.
https://twitter.com/politicususa/status/1149492543278555136
Maddow said:
Trump is trying to rile up his base ahead of 2020 – and real lives will be impacted as a result
The thing about running a campaign based solely on minority resentment and fear is that you have to keep increasing the dosage.
more...
https://www.politicususa.com/2019/07/11/fear-maddow-trump-ice-raids.html
The Fear Is The Point: Rachel Maddow Exposes The Reason Behind Trump's ICE Raids
Posted on Thu, Jul 11th, 2019 by Sean Colarossi
The Fear Is The Point: Rachel Maddow Exposes The Reason Behind Trump’s ICE Raids
Rachel Maddow said on Thursday that Donald Trump’s planned ICE raids across the country, which are set to begin this weekend, are just a stunt meant to scare immigrants and rile up his base ahead of 2020.
“The White House has obviously been trying to stoke as much fear and confusion as possible,” the MSNBC host said. “Part of their MO here seems to be that … the more pain and fear you can instill in immigrant communities, somehow that redounds to the White House’s benefit.”
https://twitter.com/politicususa/status/1149492543278555136
Maddow said:
There’s obviously real concern over what might be about to happen. The White House has obviously been trying to stoke as much fear and confusion as possible. Part of their MO here seems to be that the worse you treat immigrants, the more you demonstrate cruelty toward immigrant communities, the more you try to terrify people, the better that is for the country somehow. The more pain and fear you can instill in immigrant communities, somehow that redounds to the White House’s benefit. That seems to be their calculus.
Trump is trying to rile up his base ahead of 2020 – and real lives will be impacted as a result
The thing about running a campaign based solely on minority resentment and fear is that you have to keep increasing the dosage.
more...
https://www.politicususa.com/2019/07/11/fear-maddow-trump-ice-raids.html
July 12, 2019
the national interest 6:19 P.M.
President Trump Says Only Trump Supporters Deserve Free Speech
By Jonathan Chait
President Trump held a confab at the White House Thursday to promote his Orwellian notion of “free speech” online. It confirmed yet again the president’s implacable hostility to basic liberal freedoms.
Trump has repeatedly accused Facebook, Google, and Twitter of carrying out a secret agenda against him and his supporters, by hiding the president’s tweets and covertly banning his supporters. Trump presented his position as a defense of free speech against some secretive form of censorship, and warned, “I’m directing my administration to explore all regulatory and legislative solutions to protect free speech and the free speech rights of all Americans.”
snip//
But it turns out Trump cannot even defend this position, either. At the very same forum, he dismissed the free-speech rights of independent media. “To me free speech is not when you see something good and then you purposely write bad,” he insisted. “To me that’s very dangerous speech, and you become angry at it. But that’s not free speech.”
This is one of those statements that would be shocking if made by any normal president but is almost banal with Trump. He barely disguises his admiration for dictators and their freedom to murder journalists who displease them. While his own powers of suppression are far weaker, Trump is happy to use government authority to punish independent media (like CNN and the Washington Post, whose owners he has punished with unfavorable regulatory actions) and even individuals. (Trump has boasted that he personally enforced the NFL blacklist of Colin Kaepernick for the offense of kneeling during the national anthem.)
Trump’s invocation of “free speech” is consistent: His entire goal is to promote supportive views and suppress hostile ones. And the willingness of virtually the entire conservative movement to support or tolerate his cynical conscription of free speech to intimidate the media reveals how little it, too, cares about freedom.
President Trump Says Only Trump Supporters Deserve Free Speech
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/07/trump-free-speech-twitter-google-facebook-authoritarianism.html?utm_source=fb&utm_campaign=nym&utm_medium=s1&fbclid=IwAR1jhurr28ne1gz0YboUNcR80sX84agSNy9C7DXPjrG2VEXq3Zqfn0H84zEthe national interest 6:19 P.M.
President Trump Says Only Trump Supporters Deserve Free Speech
By Jonathan Chait
President Trump held a confab at the White House Thursday to promote his Orwellian notion of “free speech” online. It confirmed yet again the president’s implacable hostility to basic liberal freedoms.
Trump has repeatedly accused Facebook, Google, and Twitter of carrying out a secret agenda against him and his supporters, by hiding the president’s tweets and covertly banning his supporters. Trump presented his position as a defense of free speech against some secretive form of censorship, and warned, “I’m directing my administration to explore all regulatory and legislative solutions to protect free speech and the free speech rights of all Americans.”
snip//
But it turns out Trump cannot even defend this position, either. At the very same forum, he dismissed the free-speech rights of independent media. “To me free speech is not when you see something good and then you purposely write bad,” he insisted. “To me that’s very dangerous speech, and you become angry at it. But that’s not free speech.”
This is one of those statements that would be shocking if made by any normal president but is almost banal with Trump. He barely disguises his admiration for dictators and their freedom to murder journalists who displease them. While his own powers of suppression are far weaker, Trump is happy to use government authority to punish independent media (like CNN and the Washington Post, whose owners he has punished with unfavorable regulatory actions) and even individuals. (Trump has boasted that he personally enforced the NFL blacklist of Colin Kaepernick for the offense of kneeling during the national anthem.)
Trump’s invocation of “free speech” is consistent: His entire goal is to promote supportive views and suppress hostile ones. And the willingness of virtually the entire conservative movement to support or tolerate his cynical conscription of free speech to intimidate the media reveals how little it, too, cares about freedom.
July 12, 2019
Obama Sends Heartwarming Letter to Prisoner He Freed Who Turned Her Life Around
He's such a decent man. in such stark contrast to what we're enduring. And major props to Danielle Metz!
https://www.thedailybeast.com/danielle-metz-obama-sends-heartwarming-letter-to-prisoner-he-freed-who-turned-her-life-around?ref=home
‘SO PROUD OF YOU’
Obama Sends Heartwarming Letter to Prisoner He Freed Who Turned Her Life Around
Jamie Ross
Updated 07.12.19 5:31AM ET /
Published 07.12.19 4:47AM ET
Barack Obama has sent a heartwarming letter to a former prisoner he freed, telling her how proud he is of her for turning her life around and graduating college. Obama granted Danielle Metz clemency in 2016—she was arrested in 1993 for drug offenses related to her husband’s cocaine-trafficking ring and was sentenced to three life sentences at the age of 26. After Obama commuted her sentence, she enrolled in Southern University in New Orleans and became a college freshman at the age of 50. She’s now graduated and made the dean’s list, and the man who changed her life is clearly delighted. “I am so proud of you, and am confident that your example will have a positive impact for others who are looking for a second chance,” Obama wrote to Metz in a letter seen by USA Today. “Tell your children I say hello, and know that I’m rooting for all of you.”
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