Trump Bans Everyone!

Ashton said it, Kerry Washington said it, Charles Schumer said it ... in fact Schumer perhaps the best - the statue of Liberty has tears running down her cheeks ...

Julia Louis-Dreyfus also said it well when she told anyone listening that her "father fled religious persecution in Nazi- occupied France. I'm an American patriot, and I love this country. Because I love this country, I am horrified by its blemishes and this immigrant ban is a blemish and it's un-American."

I am sure scores more.

Kerry Washington told us that actors are activists.

Well, maybe ...

According to retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Barbero, who headed the military's Joint IED Defeat Organization ..."How did a person who we detained in Iraq -- linked to an IED attack, we had his fingerprints in our government system -- how did he walk into America in 2009?"  

the State Department stopped processing Iraq refugees for six months in 2011, federal officials told ABC News – even for many who had heroically helped U.S. forces as interpreters and intelligence assets. One Iraqi who had aided American troops was assassinated before his refugee application could be processed, because of the immigration delays, two U.S. officials said.

And according to ABC News, the process was deeply flawed.  The Obama administration stopped allowing Iraqi refugees into this country for six months.

The Obama administration drew up a list of several nations the US would place under extra vetting ... this list is what Trump used to stop individuals from coming into the US.  UNTIL a more stict vetting program was in place.  One that would take from 90-120 days, after which ... as Ashton said, they can be part of his America.

This is a temporary halt.  Short-term.  Not long.  Short.  Limited.

After which, they may resume their travels into the US, with a more strict policy of monitoring attached to all future visitors.  As it should be.

In several countries of the world, or should I correct that and say many countries, we must give up our passports at the hotel when we check in.  This would limit our ability to travel and would make it easier to verify our locations.  I wonder why they do it, beyond just to keep our passports safe.  It can't be the charges ... they have the credit card.

We have the right to enact a policy that monitors and checks incoming people.

Ask Jimmy Carter.  He did it to Iranians.

And ask the Court, after Jimmy Carter did it.  The President has the final say on such issues, and it will stand.

Creating white groups on campus "alienates minorities" - WIsconsin

Students: Chancellor failed minorities on pro-white agitator

Associated Press
1:51 p.m Friday, Jan. 27, 2017  
 

MADISON, Wis.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison chancellor's response to a student trying to set up a pro-white group on campus further alienates minorities as they struggle for a better campus experience, student leaders said Friday.

The student's effort to set up a campus chapter of the American Freedom Party — whose platform includes "prioritizing white supremacy values," according to its Facebook page — has raised questions about how the university should respond and comes as the white nationalist movement as a whole has been emboldened by Donald Trump's presidency.

Student government representatives urged Chancellor Rebecca Blank in a letter to denounce the AFP as racist. They said her statement Thursday saying that expressing objectionable viewpoints isn't illegal was weak.

"Chancellor Blank's statement is a testament to how administrators outwardly show a lack of verbal and systemic support for students of color or minority identities," the letter from Associated Students of Madison Chair Carmen Goséy, ASM Representative Brooke Evans and Student Activity Center Governing Board Chair Katrina Morrison said.

Blank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Adding to the students' concerns is that the man who's recruiting for the AFP chapter, Daniel Dropik, served almost five years in federal prison for racially charged arsons against churches in Milwaukee and Michigan. Dropik, 33, says frustration over the university's efforts to improve the experiences of minority students led him to start a local AFP chapter.

Blank said in her statement that the university is monitoring the group for threats but that expressing hateful viewpoints is legal and within campus policies. She added that she would ask regents to revisit the University of Wisconsin System's policy of not considering criminal records in the admission process.

Goséy, Evans and Morrison wrote that Blank is focusing on admissions policy rather than acknowledging the threat Dropik poses.

Doctoral student Walter Parrish III, who's studying higher education leadership and policy, said Blank's response failed to address minorities' discomfort given Dropik's criminal history. Parrish said Blank's response suggests the university doesn't have a plan in place to protect minority students.

"As a black student on campus, I'm wondering what does this mean? Who is to say something extreme won't happen?" Parrish said.

AFP national chair William Johnson said in a phone interview that Dropik told him Friday morning that the backlash against his recruiting efforts has been overwhelming and that he fears for his safety.

"On college campuses, there is a great deal of pushback whenever someone wants to a start a pro-white group," Johnson said.

Johnson said he knows of at least one college AFP chapter that operates "under the radar," but he wouldn't say where and wouldn't say whether there were more colleges with chapters. He said Trump's presidency makes recruiting efforts easier.

"When people hear you're a nationalist, they used to say, 'Oh, you're like Mussolini?' Now they say, 'Oh, you're like Donald Trump,'" he said.

Trump's disavowal in late November of white supremacists who have cheered his election hasn't quieted concerns about the movement's impact on the White House. His strongest denunciation has not come voluntarily, only when asked, and he occasionally trafficked in retweets of racist social media posts during his campaign.

In their letter, the student government leaders also took Blank to task for not strongly denouncing a man who wore a costume of former President Barack Obama with a noose around his neck to a football game in November. University officials made the man remove the noose but allowed him to stay at the game.

Blank said the noose was unacceptable but that the university must resist the urge to censor political dissent.

The students want Blank to participate in a cultural competency program so she can create policies that directly address racism on campus. A group of students are planning a march to protest Dropik's group Tuesday.

Obama v Trump on Press Freedom

Why It'll Be Hard for Trump to Surpass Obama's Record of Chilling Press Freedom

 

‘Folks like Rush Limbaugh, some commentators on Fox News, that hot house ... has been harmful to the country’

Many in the mainstream media are reacting with righteous indignation over comments from a senior Trump adviser suggesting the administration views the traditional media as an opponent. But if we're to take these apostles of press freedom seriously, they should first explain why the Trump Administration is worse than the Obama Administration.

 After all, the Obama Administration literally tried imprisoning an uncooperative journalist, monitored journalists' every digital move, and "hammered" at least one challenging reporter with IRS audits.

Let's rewind the tape.

The Obama Administration began with lofty promises of being "the most transparent administration in history." Instead it ended up setting a record, by the Associated Press's count, for denying the most Freedom of Information Act requests.

As the administration's popularity began tumbling early into its first year, the Obama White House declared war on Fox News. The White director of communications, Anita Dunn, warned they would henceforth treat Fox News "like an opponent," insisting, "we don’t need to pretend that this is the way that legitimate news organizations behave."

The Obama administration made good on that threat. Soon thereafter, the administration sought to deny Fox News' participation in executive branch news-making events -- which only failed after other networks admirably refused to participate if Fox News were excluded.

As you'll see in the montage above, President Obama blamed Fox News and talk radio for virtually every problem his administration encountered, warning in his waning days that these "domestic propagandists" were far more damaging to America than any interference from hostile powers like Russia.

When Fox News's State Department correspondent, James Rosen, reported accurate information about North Korea leaked by a member of the Obama State Department, Eric Holder ordered his movements to be tracked, his phone records seized, and went "judge shopping" until he found one willing to grant such a warrant without telling Rosen himself. Holder even told Google to not notify Rosen that the government was monitoring his email.

"To treat a reporter as a criminal for doing his job — seeking out information the government doesn’t want made public — deprives Americans of the First Amendment freedom on which all other constitutional rights are based," the Washington Post wrote at the time.

And it wasn't just Fox News. The New York Times's James Risen was targeted for almost the entirety of Obama's two terms. His crime? Reporting accurate information the Obama Administration didn't want reported. "Along the way, we found out that the government had spied on virtually every aspect of James Risen’s digital life from phone calls, to emails, to credit card statements, bank records and more," the Freedom of the Press Foundation reported. After the Supreme Court rejected Risen's appeal of an earlier order mandating he testify about the source of information he reported, Risen faced jail time.

After an outcry, Holder finally backed down.

The Associated Press experienced similar surveillance. For two months, the Department of Justice tracked 20 AP reporters' calls, ostensibly over their reporting into a Libyan terrorist's failed plot. Why was reporting on a failed plot so threatening? The AP said it was because the administration wanted to announce the news itself.

Obama himself was notorious for granting interviews with journalists whom he knew would treat him gently -- like Steve Kroft. When Obama accidentally exposed himself to a mildly challenging interview with a local reporter in Saint Louis, that reporter was later "hammered" with IRS audits.
With the Obama Administration, the message to the media was always clear: Report negatively about us, and we'll use the powers at our disposal to make you suffer consequences.

If those journalists currently complaining about the Trump Administration found no such fault with the Obama Administration, perhaps it's because they were all too willing to toe the line.

Popish

Pope Francis should stick to matters concerning faith, on that, he is infallible.  On all else, I wouldn't mind going to a psychic.

If he is concerned about Hitler, he should pay great attention to several African countries whose leaders run their countries along similar lifelong lines.  He could watch China, but that would require a backbone, which he lacks.  He believes allowing the Chinese government control is better than no Catholicism.  He could watch Russia, where the good Christian attitude is partial to violent behavior for anything bordering on what Russians would consider to be deviant.  I would argue that a Catholicism compromised by the political powers - Islam, tyrants, dictators, thugs, totalitarian ... only makes Catholicism an accessory to the evil they perpetrate.

He could check in with Argentina, collapsing faster than a balloon losing air.   He could check in with Brazil - a state of crime and death, of poverty and corruption rivaling the worst on earth.  He could check in on Venezuela - the murder capital of the world.  He could check in with Mexico - where the police, federales, army, and crime syndicates are one and the same - led by the politicians who happen to be paid for by the crime syndicates.

He has a lot to worry about.

Perhaps he could focus on the invasion of Europe by Islam, and the intolerance Islamic countries have toward Christianity,  He could check in on his own Italy - where the population declines but for the immigrants - mostly Islamic.

He has bigger worries he should focus on, 24/7, then making political comments directed toward the right in France and Trump in the US.

There are REAL issues he needs to attend to.  Or he could go back to being infallible by sticking to what he does - being Pope and leading the Catholic world with his insight on the faith.  And stay out of all else.  You have infallibility on faith ... NOTHING else.  And faith is the Bible, the Word of God ... not politics.

This is not the 13th century Francis.

More on Trump and the Lies

STUFF:  I have a life - both personal and professional - a career, and issues - I have all the same issues everyone has - car, leaks in garage and patio from all the rain, things to be repaired (a Samsung TV), stuff to grade, going to work, driving to and from and back again and work at home, kids, cat ... a life that cannot wait for protesting and whining, so I choose the grown-up path.

Almost everything said about Trump is a lie, or highly exaggerated.  Every time I read something I want to post, but can't due to the above listed STUFF.

I don't have the luxury of being a special snowflake and crying or feeling sad or scared.  I have responsibilities and they don't take time off for snowflake updates.

However, I am going to try, but there is sooooo much.  It will take time.  Almost EVERY article, column or news story is full of ... well, if not outright lies, then partial truths mixed with mischaracterized statements about generalizations of statements someone else attributed to Trump or simply vast simplification that is little more than slander or libel.

But I will try.

Over the top!

What to say/write about Trump.  I don't know.  I am very disappointed he was the choice and became president, BUT I prefer him over the alternative.  Just to make clear I would never have chosen him, do not like him, do not believe he is the best possible ... but he is leagues above the alternative.

So he has invoked God a dozen times in last few days and in last 18 months hasn't invoked Him that many ... so what?  Obama didn't put his hand over his heart when he was campaigning whenever pledge was said nor during national anthem ... and he didn't want a flag pin.  That took some work on someones part to get him to use it.  His church attendance was probably as good as Trumps.  Don't whine about Trump and God ... not when you never ever gave a sigh let alone critique of Obama.

Oh but Obama didn't invoke God all the time ... which is exactly why you are offended.  Not that Obama never attended church, but that Trump invokes God.  Pretty clear actually, to anyone who tries to be objective.

So ... Trump has said things (I do not disagree he has said them), but given the generalizations of him that are categorically false, I have to take a position and say - what Trump said, has almost entirely been taken out of context, but what his detractors have said about him, are pretty obvious - lies.

Liars all.  And you all believe it.  That's the saddest part.  And you create a cause out of lies.  And lots of women join that cause - one built on lies and hate.

The biggest revelation of the last few weeks is just how unqualified so many people are to do very much.

You think Trump is a threat to democracy ... just watch the protestors.  Mindless twats who would sign up for a fascist as long as that fascist was in the Democratic party and or supported a women's right to have an abortion.

We are closer to a dictatorship than you are aware, but it comes from those protesting Trump, not those who support him.

Take some time and think on it.  Maybe a day, maybe it will take your brain forever to figure it out.

Obama's FIRST Phone Call and His last!

On January 20, 2009, Obama became president.  Within an hour, he was on the phone to the Palestinian president.  His first phone call as president.

On January 19, 2017, just hours from stepping into private life, he spoke with Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany.  The White House depicted it as a private call, between friends ...

I think there is A LOT more to this story.  Not that it is relevant now that Obama has gone away, but it is still a story ...

Angela Merkel stated publicly that Obama could not be trusted (as per an interview she gave to der Spiegel).  She could not and did not trust him.

Yet, they characterize her and Obama as besties less than two years later!!

I think not.  Me thinks there is more to this, but we won't know for some time.

Sundance HACKED! OMG!

Sundance Film Festival was hacked.  

The Russians did it!

The WaPo and Cybersecurity

The Washington Post writer Mike DeBonis had a very interesting article on Trump and cyber security.  The problem was, it wasn't ... If the WaPo was in a hole during the election, why are you digging a deeper hole?  Do you believe by digging a deeper hole it will seem like you're not in a hole?  That if you repeat something enough it will be a fact??

Fact:  IT IS NOT conclusive that the Russians government hacked anything.  There is absolutely NO consensus on this statement.  0.  None.  Nope.  Nada.  And for Democrats to rally around this, shows just how political they have made our national security.  They are less interested in security and more interested in politics.  Sad.  They cannot be trusted with anything more than the keys to the local animal control office.  Even that is too political. 

Fact:  Someone hacked into the DNC.  Wikileaks says it was NOT a Russian.  The person who gave them the information may have actually been a Democrat.

Fact:  What other hacking has occurred, maybe have been done by a Russian, but trying to connect a hacker to Putin .... is a step you should be very careful of.  Do I think Putin a thoughtful and respectful man ... no.  He has ordered the assassination of a number of people or been involved in their murders.  But he is not a hacker.

So, the WaPo political piece starts off ....


"President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly questioned whether critical computer networks can ever be protected from intruders, alarming cybersecurity experts who say his comments could upend more than a decade of national cybersecurity policy and put both government and private data at risk."


Nope.  Nada.  Not at all.

If I was president, I would provide a couple hundred million more for cyber security/hacking/spying, from my own private secret presidential account on top of everything else the cyber spying department already get.  I would support an increase in their budget of 10%, and hire anyone from anonymous and for that matter any other computer criminals in prison, to teach our intel people how to be the best.

But, I would also question whether critical computer networks can ever be protected from intruders ... AND I WOULD NOT BE UPENDING DECADES OF NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY AT ALL!

Wanker

Why?  Because it's true.  They can't.  For all the money we have spent, they can't ensure.  That's a FACT!

The writing and journalistic ability of at least three writers at the WaPo ... are no better than a college newspaper 'journalist'.  In fact, the student journalist has an excuse.