Thread for obviously newsworthy stuff

[Kidlicious]

There is a big difference between private citizens calling for a boycott of certain shows or brands and administration officials doing so
(like Trump and Sarah Huckabee constantly doing)

To say it with an example:
I am sure that you remember the baker who successfully fought befoe court, that he has the freedom not to bake a wedding cake for same sex couples.

Well, restaurant owners have the same freedom to refuse to serve Trumpist administration officials.

Likewise private people have the freedom to call for a boycott of advertiser who, by buying commercials during these shows, support shows in which the hosts show dehumanizing behavior (for example by claiming that the victims of mass shootings are method actors)

Again, as I said, there is a big difference between private people doing this and the administration doing it (just like, for example, the 1st amendment doesn't extend to private businesses ... a private owner of a web forum, for example, can limit your "1st amendment rights" as his heart desires).
If the administration (and its officials) tries to blacklist businesses and people (like the Trump administration constantly does), I am sure it is more in the realm of illegal, than if private citizens do.
(you, conservatives, can do so as well ... and I guess you are only complaining, because conservative attempts at blacklisting are less successful than the liberal ones (just look at the constant Propaganda tweets Donnie creates against the NYT and CNN ... but actually, they are better off than before the Trump administration ))

They never called for boycotts. If you are going to lie why not make it short? Do you think you can fool people by your fluff?

[JohnT]

Talk to the hand!

[Kidlicious]

Nike is a tenant of the President. Maybe their rent is going to increase.

[Kidlicious]

Talk to the hand!

I know how much you must hate police, and white people.

[Giancarlo]

Nike will see increasing profits in the long run, like how NFL ticket sales have gone up. Right wingers, like kidiot, have no money and never got their coal mining jobs back.

[Broken_Erika]

Bob Woodward's latest book.

A Bob Woodward expose book has been a rite of passage for presidential administrations since the storied investigative reporter first made a name for himself by breaking Richard Nixon's Watergate scandal. Now it's Donald Trump's turn under the microscope.

The picture revealed - of an administration having a "nervous breakdown of executive power" - is unflattering in the extreme.
"I can stop this. I'll just take the paper off his desk." - Gary Cohn


Woodward describes several instances where Trump administration officials - chief economic adviser Gary Cohn and White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter, in particular - removed documents from the president's desk to keep Mr Trump from signing them.

It was all part of a larger effort to insulate the administration, and the nation, from what they saw as Mr Trump's more dangerous impulses. Documents that would have allowed the president to withdraw the nation from the North American Free Trade Agreement and a trade deal with South Korea were hidden - and the US has since committed to renegotiating the pacts.


Cohn, a Wall Street veteran, tried to tamp down Trump’s strident nationalism regarding trade. According to Woodward, Cohn “stole a letter off Trump’s desk” that the president was intending to sign to formally withdraw the United States from a trade agreement with South Korea. Cohn later told an associate that he removed the letter to protect national security and that Trump did not notice that it was missing.

...
On 27 January, according to Woodward, the president's personal attorney John Dowd staged a mock interview session with the president to demonstrate what he feared would be the disastrous results if Mr Trump were to sit down with Robert Mueller's special counsel team investigating possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

It didn't go well, as the president grew increasingly frustrated with the intensity of the questioning, at one point angrily calling the investigation "a goddamn hoax".

Dowd would go on to meet with Mr Mueller and reportedly tell him that he couldn't agree to the interview because he didn't want to let the president "look like an idiot" and embarrass the nation on the world stage.

When it later appeared that the president had changed his mind and was going to testify after all, Dowd resigned.

..... "Let's [expletive] kill him. Let's go in." - Donald Trump

One of the sources of considerable consternation for the president's staff, per Woodward, was what they viewed as his dangerous impulses on foreign policy.

After the US believed the Syrian government had launched another chemical attack in April 2017, Mr Trump told Defence Secretary James Mattis to assassinate President Bashar Assad.

"Let's kill the [expletive] lot of them," the president reportedly said.

Mr Mattis acknowledged Mr Trump's request then, after the conversation, told an aide he wouldn't do "any of that".

Woodward says administration officials were also concerned when the president asked for plans for a pre-emptive military strike on North Korea during the height of his feud with Kim Jong-un.
..... "We're in Crazytown. I don't even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I've ever had." - John Kelly

Woodward paints a picture of a White House staff constantly beaten down and belittled by a temperamental president.

When White House economic adviser Cohn tried to resign after the president offered sympathetic comments about white nationalists who engaged in a violent August 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Mr Trump accused him of "treason". Cohn, according to Woodward, views the president as a "professional liar".

Mr Trump also told Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross he didn't trust him. "I don't want you doing any more negotiations," the president reportedly said. "You're past your prime."

He compared his first chief of staff, Reince Priebus, to a rat. "He just scurries around."

As for Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who the president has publicly berated, privately he was even more disparaging.

"This guy is mentally retarded," Mr Trump reportedly told staff secretary Porter. "He's this dumb Southerner. He couldn't even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama".
.....

Chief of Staff Kelly repeatedly calls Mr Trump an "idiot" and said that "it's pointless to try to convince him of anything". Defence Secretary Mattis told an aide that the president has the foreign policy understanding of a "fifth- or sixth-grader" (an 11 or 12-year-old).

Mr Kelly's predecessor, Reince Priebus, describes the presidential bedroom suite as "the devil's workshop", where Mr Trump fires off intemperate tweets early in the morning and on weekends.
... "Nobody told me about it, and I would've loved to have spoken to you. You know I'm very open to you. I think you've always been fair." - Donald Trump


In a pre-emptive strike against what is sure to be a furious White House pushback against the book, the Washington Post released an audio recording and transcript of a call the president made to Woodward in early August. In it, the president claims he was never contacted for an interview or informed of Woodward's soon-to-be-published work - an assertion the reporter successfully rebuts.

Mr Trump makes several attempts to steer conversation toward his foreign policy achievements and economic record as president.

"Nobody's ever done a better job than I'm doing as president," he says. "That I can tell you."

Woodward says through his interviews he "gained a lot of insight and documentation" - and that his book would be a "tough look at the world and your administration and you."

"I assume that means it's going to be a negative book," the president replies.

Woodward concludes the call by saying "I believe in our country, and because you're our president, I wish you good luck".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-45415151

[Giancarlo]

John Kelly... Worst job he has ever had? Well he knew what he was getting into... And now his resume has a **** stain on it. None of these fools will be employable after this administration is removed from power.

[Aeson]

I'm grateful there are people in the White House who take papers off of Trump's desk before he can sign them. True heroes!

[Broken_Erika]

John Kelly... Worst job he has ever had? Well he knew what he was getting into... And now his resume has a **** stain on it. None of these fools will be employable after this administration is removed from power.

He won't resign because he considers it to be his patriotic duty to protect trump, the WH and America from Trumps worst impulses, or something along those lines. Unfortunately he can only do so much....considering that Trump is like a 2-year old with ADHD on a sugar rush.

[JohnT]

I know how much you must hate police, and white people.

I know you are, but what am I?

[Kidlicious]

At least this one didn't sell out.

[Giancarlo]

Osama Bin Laden? Oh the one the previous actual President took care of...

Thank you Barack Obama!!!!

[Broken_Erika]

Stupid People are Funny

[Kidlicious]

Egyptian media is reporting that McCain was the "real Godfather of the Muslim Brotherhood."

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180903-egyptian-media-john-mccain-is-real-supreme-guide-of-the-muslim-brotherhood/

[Kidlicious]

Just do it, or you're fired!