kpete

kpete's Journal

February 24, 2017

I'M WITH HER!

https://twitter.com/TheDemocrats/status/835176372444217344

February 24, 2017

Nordstrom beats earnings expectations, says angry Trump tweets had no effect on business

https://twitter.com/Forbes/status/835176473073971200
https://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2017/02/23/nordstrom-earnings-beat-expectations-sending-stock-for-after-hours-climb/#1dca63596ee4

February 24, 2017

The big news is not the FBI leaks. Its whats in the leaks.

The big news is not the FBI leaks. It’s what’s in the leaks.

..........

By making the conversation all about leaks — rather than the veracity of the information that the leaks contain — Trump is turning the conversation more in his favor. He knows his base thinks the media is terrible and therefore anyone who willingly co-operates with them — leakers — must be even worse.

But here's the thing: While plenty of leaks are frivolous attempts by junior staffers to puff themselves up, there are some that are a necessary part of democracy. Leaking out information that exposes wrongdoing is often a courageous act of citizenship. To put a blanket over all leaks as bad is to oversimplify.

And, again, the most important thing in these leaks is to ascertain whether the information is true, not hunt down the leakers. Trump's tweets this morning seem to confirm that the CNN report is right, meaning that Priebus clearly broke the rules. That Trump doesn't get that suggests a deep tone-deafness — whether purposeful or not.

More:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/24/trumps-call-to-investigate-leaks-shows-he-is-totally-missing-the-point/

February 24, 2017

As Trump finishes at CPAC, WaPo Executive Editor releases statement standing by nine-source story

Washington Post: Our story wasn't fake, it led to Trump ousting Flynn

MORE:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/321009-washington-post-editor-stands-by-flynn-story-amid-trumps-fake-news

February 24, 2017

Charles Pierce nails it, Again: "These clowns tried to turn the FBI into the Plumbers"

Reince Priebus Needs to Leave Trump's White House. Today.
He made the FBI mess even messier, and he can't clean it up.

................

First of all, Priebus has to go. Today. Even if there's nothing illegal in what happened—and even, as seems completely implausible, the request was made out of simple anger at inaccurate reporting instead of abject terror that accurate reporting was getting too close to where the borscht got made last year—Priebus is revealed as a guy who should not be allowed to spread butter with anything sharper than his thumb, let alone run the staff of any White House, including Camp Runamuck. This is, or ought to be, a career-ender.

THIS IS, OR OUGHT TO BE, A CAREER-ENDER.

Second, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III shouldn't be allowed within an area code of any investigation of the contacts between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. (I suspect there might be several of these.) He's hopelessly compromised.

Third, come on, man. You don't go this far out on a limb because you're pissed about fake stories. Not even this White House is that stupid. You take this kind of long chance because you believe that there's something out there that's worse than being found to be using the FBI to ratfck the New York Times. That's why old RN said this to Harry Robbins Haldeman on June 23, 1972:

"That the way to handle this now is for us to have (CIA director] Walters call (FBI director] Pat Gray and just say, "Stay the hell out of this…this is ah, business here we don't want you to go any further on it." That's not an unusual development…"

In our current parallel situation, the FBI is the CIA and the New York Times is the FBI, and that's the only thing that may keep this from being an actual obstruction of justice. But, as I said, that's a very limited way to measure the magnitude of this story. This is plainly a White House that has no compunction about asking the federal law enforcement apparatus to run its errands, and to operate as barroom bouncers on call whenever the jefe feels inconvenienced. At least Nixon hired his own investigators when he got pissed at newspaper leaks. These clowns tried to turn the FBI into the Plumbers. It's going to get really crowded in DC parking garages pretty soon.

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a53406/reince-priebus-fbi/

February 24, 2017

Merriam-Webster is trolling the Trump administration. Again.

https://twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/834806087371071491

Lookups for feminism spiked on February 23, 2017, following an appearance at the annual CPAC conference by Kellyanne Conway, who both called for equal pay for women and said that she didn’t identify herself as a feminist:

It's difficult for me to call myself a feminist in the classic sense because it seems to be very anti-male and it certainly is very pro-abortion, in this context.

........

Conway then offered her own definition of feminism:

There's an individual feminism, if you will, that you make your own choices...I look at myself as a product of my choices, not a victim of my circumstances. That's really to me what conservative feminism, if you will, is all about.

Merriam-Webster:

Feminism is defined as both "the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities" and "organized activity in support of women's rights and interests." It entered the language in 1895, at a time when efforts for women's political equality were becoming organized and widespread in England and the United States.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/news-trend-watch/conway-its-difficult-for-me-to-call-myself-a-feminist-20170223

February 24, 2017