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[Neonivek]

it sounds like he just wants to invite people who will listen to him, not people to actually report on things.

Well... You want people to listen to you in general.

I think you might have mind flubbed this line or I don't understand what you mean by what is written.

I THINK what you are trying to say is: "He wants to invite people who are sympathetic to him, not people who will actually report things in an unbiased way"

[Puzzlemaker]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/23/politics/white-house-marijuana-donald-trump-pot/
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/23/politics/doj-walks-back-guidance-discouraging-use-of-private-prisons/index.html

HUM

[martinuzz]

I guess Trum'p's cokedealing friends can't make enough money on illegal pot anymore, and want their street trade back.
(The more I observe Trump's paranoid aggressive personality, the more I'm convinced he must have snorted a lot of coke to become such an asshole.)

[smjjames]

So Trump is banning certain news agencies from his press conferences now.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/24/media/cnn-blocked-white-house-gaggle/index.html

Politico article

Lets see if they keep doing that. The Trump admin can't seem to help stepping in it almost every single day.

[misko27]

That's interesting. If that represents a policy decision (as opposed to just an aide making their own call; who knows with this administration?) then it's a serious escalation of his war with the Media. CNN, NY Times, LA Times (the LA times? That's not exactly big-fish), and Buzzfeed (? ? ?), with the Associated Press and Time Magazine boycotting as a result. It's not the formal Q-and-A they were excluded from, but it could be a testing of the waters. Or it could be just an arbitrary decision by his aides, or a spur-of-the-moment thing. Notably, Spicer stated that it was not about their politics, but about "giving more broad representation". Given that Spicer lies, we can safely ignore the possibility that he is being completely honest; but it does mean the Adminstration is downplaying it, and shying away from characterizing it as a direct attack on those outlets. Whether that is an attempt to keep it quiet, make it more palatable, or whether that means its the act of a lower-level people and not the Administration, is unclear to me, but it's an interesting choice.

I wonder how the media responds. I wonder if Trump responds, and whether he'll downplay it or own it. I wonder if it's just a one-off thing, or if it'll keep happening. Interesting...

[smjjames]

Buzzfeed did leak that whole dossier thing, so that's a reason right there. Not sure what beef they'd have with the LA Times, other than the fact that it's in California.

[palsch]

It sounds to me more like they selected certain groups to include than which groups to exclude.

This is where things get technical.

The White House lets all credentialed organisations in the press corps send a representative into press briefings. Some of these are privileged to get reserved seats (usually the first few rows) while others have to stand or rush for the handful of unreserved (if there are any).

There is also a smaller press pool; a subset of the credentialed organisations that rotates through the credentialed organisations. Generally they cover events where there isn't room or enough interest for the full press corps to attend. The transcripts and photos taken by the pool are released to the entire credentialed press corps.

The White House Press Secretary traditionally holds small informal gaggles with the pool to pass information while off the record. This usually means things like schedules, but sometimes for background information about events or activities that don't deserve a spot in the briefing. Some have been treated as semi-formal events, with full transcripts released to the press corps after the gaggle.

It looks like they are playing this event off as a gaggle where a few additional people were invited. As opposed to a press conference where people were shut out. The fact that it replaced a full conference to the whole corps belies that somewhat, but that is what the defence is likely to be.

Of course it does mean another day of stories about the press, which could be an effective distraction from the FBI/Russia stories, the guy who shot two Indian engineers, the cannabis crackdown, the private prison announcement... any number of things.

[smjjames]

In the article, Spicer's intent was to allow Trumps speech to get attention (which is what they normally do when the president makes a big speech or has a meeting with a foriegn leader), but he went and shot himself in the foot.

[Folly]

"It's sort of like being on an airplane. You want to root for the pilot."

Yeah...except Trump isn't America's pilot. He's more like the head stewardess. The air is way too cold, the seats are grimy, the food sucks, the bathrooms are all out-of-order, service takes forever to respond, and the quality of the experience sucks in general. We don't want the plane to crash, we just want the level of service to drop below whatever threshold it needs to so that the airline will finally step in and replace Trump with someone competent.

[martinuzz]

"It's sort of like being on an airplane. You want to root for the pilot."

Yeah...except Trump isn't America's pilot. He's more like the head stewardess. The air is way too cold, the seats are grimy, the food sucks, the bathrooms are all out-of-order, service takes forever to respond, and the quality of the experience sucks in general. We don't want the plane to crash, we just want the level of service to drop below whatever threshold it needs to so that the airline will finally step in and replace Trump with someone competent.

Hey don't complain. The plane's got frigging golden showers.

[smjjames]

"It's sort of like being on an airplane. You want to root for the pilot."

Yeah...except Trump isn't America's pilot. He's more like the head stewardess. The air is way too cold, the seats are grimy, the food sucks, the bathrooms are all out-of-order, service takes forever to respond, and the quality of the experience sucks in general. We don't want the plane to crash, we just want the level of service to drop below whatever threshold it needs to so that the airline will finally step in and replace Trump with someone competent.

Hey don't complain. The plane's got frigging golden showers.

Depends on whether you mean it as an euphenism for something else or not, heheh

[palsch]

Pruitt appears to have lied during his confirmation hearings.

The Oklahoma Attorney General’s office confirms former Attorney General Scott Pruitt used a private email for state business. ...
...
...the revelation is in direct conflict with Pruitt’s written and oral testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works committee during the confirmation process. Pruitt, who is now the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency told lawmakers he never used private email for state business.

Senator Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, asked Pruitt directly, “Have you ever conducted business using your personal email accounts, nonofficial Oklahoma Attorney General email accounts, text messages, instant messenger, voicemails, or any other medium?”

“I use only my official OAG [Office of the Attorney General] email address and government issued phone to conduct official business,” Pruitt replied.

I think there is wiggle room here, but if the report is entirely accurate then that would be bad.

[smjjames]

Pruitt appears to have lied during his confirmation hearings.

The Oklahoma Attorney General’s office confirms former Attorney General Scott Pruitt used a private email for state business. ...
...
...the revelation is in direct conflict with Pruitt’s written and oral testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works committee during the confirmation process. Pruitt, who is now the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency told lawmakers he never used private email for state business.

Senator Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, asked Pruitt directly, “Have you ever conducted business using your personal email accounts, nonofficial Oklahoma Attorney General email accounts, text messages, instant messenger, voicemails, or any other medium?”

“I use only my official OAG [Office of the Attorney General] email address and government issued phone to conduct official business,” Pruitt replied.

I think there is wiggle room here, but if the report is entirely accurate then that would be bad.

I don't think Congress is able to directly remove a cabinet member, but they can certainly put a heck of a lot of pressure on them.

Anyways, some transcripts from the press pool that was there.

If it's accurate, it seems to be that the deputy FBI director came to the WH, which doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to me.

[Loud Whispers]

But you have to remember what we're talking about. It's a really big fucking wall. It's 2000 miles of wall to build, maintain, and defend, forever. Every extra foot taller or sensor necessary to make sure it actually does what it is supposed to do is a lot more cost. And as of right now no one has any idea where the money to build it should come from, and legally it has to come from somewhere due to sequestration imposing rules on Congress's spending.

Considering the cost it takes to both the Mexican and American government to deal with illegal gun running, people smuggling and drug trafficking with all the attendant material and lives lost to the crime that fuels - if it works, well worth it, if security lapses in the airports and coast that's a wasted opportunity whilst the wall served its purpose. The article I linked points out how a complete wall is unnecessary where sensors and logistics are concerned - same way that the Great Wall of China did not need to be complete where deserts were concerned.

So that's where the skepticism comes from. I mean sure, I could imagine a great-big wall that just keeps everyone out, but is it cost-effective? The wall already has got the cost part down, but to be effective it needs even more cost, which means it needs to be even more worthwhile for what we're paying for it.

Means all traffic day and night passing through must pass through US checkpoints, which means as long as the human element remains uncorrupted the system pays for itself. By that point the loops to close would be all the shit mentioned before, that and whatever drug runners are wealthy enough to afford German engineers willing to risk their lives trying to bypass the walls with tunnels, holes or raids. Helps make them more predictable. The problem is Trump hasn't issued concrete plans so we can't judge in advance the estimated efficacy of his wall. Will it be a 20ft wall high concrete wall with sensors and patrols, or a fence guarded by Bob. Will it cover the border or only the most important parts. How much will it cost. How much will its upkeep cost. Where *precisely* will the money come from. We don't know, because he has worse than transparency, he has platitudes and soundbites. Then there is the issue of who will build it and how they will build it. America has plenty of engineers, civil and military, in addition to access to foreign contractors who could all do a pretty awesome job, whilst also taking into consideration that some parts of the border will not be possible to build on. Meantime best we can do is larp about Trump assuming heaven's mandate and directing the tranquil bureaucracy's forces into pressing all the serfs into a great wall that would be 1/10th the size of the GWOC but 10 feet higher.

I can see why people are frustrated by Trump's style of politics, it involves placing too much trust in a man whose sole foundation for trust is that he hates the establishment for roasting him at a dinner party. Meme candidates rule the world lel, he runs the Kingdom of America too much like an absolute Monarchy

Well current law bars anarchists, communists, totalitarians, and advocates of assassination, government overthrow by force, destruction of property, and sabotage, in addition to a general rule mandating that you must be 'attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same.' I'm not sure how it's applied (I've not had to go through immigration myself), but the precedent is certainly there.

I mean, how exactly do you determine that someone supports the supremacy of Islamic jurisprudence in all aspects of life? Search their phones and social media? Give them a questionnaire? Loads of Americans would be opposed to such practices, as they have already been introduced in limited forms at airports under Trump's pseudo Muslim ban

Well... You want people to listen to you in general.
I think you might have mind flubbed this line or I don't understand what you mean by what is written.
I THINK what you are trying to say is: "He wants to invite people who are sympathetic to him, not people who will actually report things in an unbiased way"

That seems right
Problem is, how many media outlets give a shit about trying to report things in an unbiased way? They've all got hands in the cookie jar and don't even give a shit about pretending their unbiased and aren't pursuing their own agenda on behalf of their masters. It leads to this rather frustrating thing where large sections of the right and left define their beliefs entirely in opposing whatever the other side holds to be virtuous, instead of sticking to their principles, it leads to the loss of truth against agendas (ffs look at Europe) with all losing faith in a media they have no choice but to distrust. Honestly I think it's for the best that the likes of CNN and Buzzfeed are bankrupted and broken down, then the next left wing President can work about destroying the likes of Fox and Breitbart, just keep going about this process until the likes of Reuters and BBC News sets the model standard for reporting. Otherwise, it's all just shit
Pure shit
With no escape

[palsch]

Another story about Gorka, this time his ties to a far-right, anti-Semitic Hungarian political party.

But an investigation by the Forward into Gorka’s activities from 2002 to 2007, while he was active in Hungarian politics and journalism, found that he had close ties then to Hungarian far-right circles, and has in the past chosen to work with openly racist and anti-Semitic groups and public figures.

Gorka’s involvement with the far right includes co-founding a political party with former prominent members of Jobbik, a political party with a well-known history of anti-Semitism; repeatedly publishing articles in a newspaper known for its anti-Semitic and racist content; and attending events with some of Hungary’s most notorious extreme-right figures.