https://www.thenation.com/article/sean-spicer-has-embarrassed-himself-badly/
John Nichols from the Nation Magazine
https://www.thenation.com/article/sean-spicer-has-embarrassed-himself-badly/
John Nichols from the Nation Magazine
The Young Turks Podcast – July 21, 2017. Listen to the Young Turk folks talk about Yemen, Sean Spicer and Films. Well worth a listen.
I have never seen such a poor excuse for a program. I’m so glad she’s gone.
https://theintercept.com/podcasts/
The Intercept has a great podcast on (scum of the earth) Eric Prince. There is also an interview with Tavis Smiley on the real Martin Luther King, Jr.
“We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.” Louis Brandeis
Once again, Mika Brzezinski is hiding behind a jeremiad about sexism to excuse her dismal performance as a journalist.
When I turned on Morning Joe yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the dreadful Joe Scarborough had the day off. This usually means that we can have three hours of relatively interesting discussion free from the self-congratulatory bombast meted out every morning by the primary host. But, what ensued was three hours of Mika Brzezinski demonstrating that she desperately needs Joe Scarborough in more ways than I can count.
Brzezinski rarely contributes anything meaningful to the daily discussion. She looks on lovingly as Joe rants, and does what I think of as “editorial face making.” Rather than do the research that would make her comments meaningful, she hides behind being bullied by Scarborough. This woman who prides herself on being a role model for young women, engages in the worst type of female stereotypical behavior. She sits meekly by and makes faces while Joe rants. She does not engage him in debate, nor does she confront him or contradict him. She, like the rest of the panel, allows herself to be bullied every morning.
But what yesterday demonstrated so well is the fact that she is, evidently, incapable of doing anything else. This morning Scarborough went through a little rant about how Mika was being unfairly accused of being “emotional” for her embarrassing performance the day before. The point (which both of them rarely get) is not that she was overly emotional, but that she was nothing else. I do not turn into a morning news discussion program to see someone emote. I turn in for rational discussion and some evidence of intelligent thinking. Wringing of hands and staring soulfully into the camera is not intelligent discussion.
What she and Joe don’t get is that nobody cares about their personal feelings. Remember this is the program where the two hosts appeared in front of a fire in their pajamas to do the news during the holidays. Pajamas? Really? Do they really think they are so cute that we give a damn about seeing them cozy up to each other in their pajamas? Are they mad? They talk about Mika’s chickens for God’s sake. Message to Morning Joe: WE DON’T CARE.
But, as usual, this morning, they are talking about…wait for it…themselves.
Mon Mar. 6, 2017 10:51 AM EST
|As citizens unhappy about the Trump administration look to build on the momentum of the historic Women’s March with additional public expressions of outrage, Republicans across the country are quietly introducing legislation aimed at limiting and even criminalizing peaceful demonstrations.
According to a recent count from the American Civil Liberties Union [1], at least 17 states have proposed such anti-protest bills, many of which include language ostensibly aimed at improving measures such as public safety. But upon closer analysis, these bills all appear to share the intended goal of suppressing First Amendment rights by making peaceful dissent a crime with the threat of jail time and hefty fines.
Look no further than Minnesota for a prime example. Republican lawmakers there are advancing legislation [2] to punish protesters who block highways and airport access. While the bill’s proponents insist it will protect highway safety, critics argue that the measure instead overwhelmingly targets people participating in demonstrations by saddling them with steep fines, all while having hardly any effect on furthering roadway safety.
The legislative move to suppress protests comes amid angry town halls [3] that have erupted across the country, where thousands of constituents have railed against Republican lawmakers for their reluctance to speak out against the Trump administration, their ill-conceived plans to dismantle Obamacare, and more. Trump notably accused former president Barack Obama of being “behind” [4] the ongoing protests.
Betsy DeVos (estimated family net worth: 5.6 billion)
Steve Mnuchin (500 million)
RexTillerson (325 million)
“Trump has also scoured the executive ranks of the banking giant Goldman Sachs for many of his senior advisers, includingGary Cohn as his top economic adviser and Dina Powell as a special adviser on economic initiatives.”
Source: The Nation Magazine March 13, 2017
I’m sorry, I know that we are expected to fall all over ourselves praising Melania Trump because she managed to utter a few public words, but a chill went up my spine when she said: “As you may know by now, when you attack him [Trump] he will punch back 10 times harder.” Is it me or is there something deeply creepy about that choice of words given Trump’s history with women? Maybe it’s just having lived through the O.J. Simpson trial, but I felt a definite shudder when those words came out of Melania Trump’s mouth.
And, it hasn’t escaped my attention that there seems to be no personal relationship between the two of them. They are completely uncomfortable together and as physically awkward around each other as two feral cats needing a nap. They act like they’ve never been in the same room with each other, much less the same bed.
But, be that as it may…MSNBC anchor Tom Brokaw is predicting the demise of the Trump campaign tonight. I’ll believe it when I see it.
The polls will be closing in Wisconsin in about an hour.
Stories that are attracting my attention: