May 27, 2017

Man accused of stabbing 2 on Oregon train posted white supremacist views on Facebook

Source: Washington Post

Two men were stabbed to death Friday on a light-rail train in Portland, Ore., after they tried to intervene when another passenger began “ranting and raving” and shouting anti-Muslim hate speech at two young women, police said.

According to witnesses, a white male passenger riding an eastbound MAX train early Friday afternoon began yelling what “would best be characterized as hate speech toward a variety of ethnicities and religions,” police said. Some of the slurs were directed at two female passengers, one of whom was wearing a hijab, according to police.

“This suspect was on the train and he was yelling and ranting and raving a lot of different things, including what we characterized at hate speech or biased language,” Portland police spokesman Pete Simpson said at a news conference Friday evening.

At least two men tried to calm the ranting passenger down, but “they were attacked viciously by the suspect” when they did, Simpson said.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/05/27/man-fatally-stabs-2-on-portland-ore-train-after-they-interrupted-his-anti-muslim-rants-police-say/?utm_term=.dd617a82120d

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Waiting for deplorables to condemn this radical Christian terrorism.

ETA: Dude's name is literally Jeremy Joseph Christian!

May 22, 2017

White House Moves to Block Ethics Inquiry Into Ex-Lobbyists on Payroll

Source: New York Times

The Trump administration, in a significant escalation of its clash with the government's top ethics watchdog, has moved to block an effort to disclose the names of former lobbyists who have been granted waivers to work in the White House or federal agencies.

The latest conflict came in recent days when the White House, in a highly unusual move, sent a letter to Walter M. Shaub Jr., the head of the Office of Government Ethics, asking him to withdraw a request he had sent to every federal agency for copies of the waivers. In the letter, the administration challenged his legal authority to demand the information.

Dozens of former lobbyists and industry lawyers are working in the Trump administration, which has hired them at a much higher rate than the previous administration. Keeping the waivers confidential would make it impossible to know whether any such officials are violating federal ethics rules or have been given a pass to ignore them.

Mr. Schaub, who is in the final year of a five-year term after being appointed by President Barack Obama, said he had no intention of backing down. "It is an extraordinary thing," Mr. Shaub said of the White House request. "I have never seen anything like it."

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/us/politics/trump-white-house-government-ethics-lobbyists.html

May 10, 2017

Trump 'screamed' at national security adviser H.R. McMaster over comments to South Korea: Report

Source: Washington Examiner

National security adviser H.R. McMaster and President Trump clash in front of White House staff and the relationship between the two appears to be strained, according to a Bloomberg report. (snip)

However, multiple sources to the outlet said Trump was livid after reading McMaster called South Korean officials to say Trump's statement that the American ally would have to pay for a missile defense system wasn't official policy. The report said Trump "screamed" at McMaster on the phone for undermining him.

Trump has also complained about McMaster "undermining my policy" in front of his advisers and has decreased the amount of face time he's giving to McMaster.

It appears Trump is suffering from "buyer's remorse" over picking McMaster and even spoke to former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton about become McMaster's deputy. The idea was eventually scuttled.

Read more: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-screamed-at-national-security-adviser-hr-mcmaster-over-comments-to-south-korea-report/article/2622437

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So McMaster decided extortion was not good policy, and suffered accordingly.

May 10, 2017

FBI agents in tears as news of Comey's firing spread

Source: Politico

The news of FBI director James Comey’s firing struck like a thunderclap at field offices around the country, where agents heard first from TV or the internet that their boss had been dismissed by President Donald J. Trump.

“I’m literally in tears right now. That’s all I have to say,” said a longtime special agent who’s known and worked with Comey for years, who first heard the news on the car radio.

By Tuesday evening, the shock that initially spread throughout the ranks of current and former FBI officials was mixed with a growing sense of anger among the many Comey loyalists in the bureau, and demands for answers as to why the director had been fired – and why now.

“We just have no idea why this happened. No idea,” said one recently retired top FBI official who worked closely with Comey on multiple high-profile investigations. “No one knew this was coming. Everyone is just shocked that this happened.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/09/omey-firing-fbi-tears-238190?lo=ap_b2