Chindie Posted February 24, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted February 24, 2017 Trump's speech earlier was stunning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 (edited) Who's have thought the Trump administration couldn't be trusted? The war on the media just turned up a notch. CNN, the BBC, and a few other 'fake news' outlets weren't permitted in to a press briefing, whereas Breitbart were allowed in. http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/24/media/cnn-blocked-white-house-gaggle/index.html Quote White House blocks news organizations from press briefing by Dylan Byers, Sara Murray and Kevin Liptak @CNNMoneyFebruary 24, 2017: 4:26 PM ET CNN & others blocked from White House media briefing CNN and other news outlets were blocked on Friday from attending an off-camera White House press briefing that other reporters were hand-picked to attend, raising alarm among media organizations and First Amendment watchdogs. The decision struck veteran White House journalists as unprecedented in the modern era, and escalated tensions in the already fraught relationship between the Trump administration and the press. The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Politico and BuzzFeed were also among those excluded from the meeting, which was held in White House press secretary Sean Spicer's office. The meeting, which is known as a gaggle, was held in lieu of the daily televised Q-and-A session in the White House briefing room. When reporters from these news organizations tried to enter Spicer's office for the gaggle, they were told they could not attend because they were not on the list of attendees. In a brief statement defending the move, administration spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the White House "had the pool there so everyone would be represented and get an update from us today." The White House press pool usually includes representatives from one television outlet, one radio outlet and one print outlet, as well as reporters from a few wire services. In this case, four of the five major television networks -- NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox News -- were invited and attended the meeting, while only CNN was blocked. And while The New York Times was kept out, conservative media organizations Breitbart News, The Washington Times and One America News Network were also allowed in. "This is an unacceptable development by the Trump White House," CNN said in a statement. Apparently this is how they retaliate when you report facts they don't like. We'll keep reporting regardless." New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet wrote, "Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties. We strongly protest the exclusion of The New York Times and the other news organizations. Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national interest." The White House press office had informed reporters earlier that the traditional, on-camera press briefing would be replaced by a gaggle in Spicer's office, reporters in attendance said. Asked about the move by the White House Correspondents Association, the White House said it would take the press pool and invite others as well. The WHCA protested that decision on the grounds that it would unfairly exclude certain news organizations, the reporters said. The White House did not budge, and when reporters arrived at Spicer's office, White House communications officials only allowed in reporters from specific media outlets. CNN reporters attempted to access the gaggle when it began at about 1:45 p.m. ET. As they walked with a large group of fellow journalists from the White House briefing room toward Spicer's office, an administration official turned them around, informing them CNN wasn't on the list of attendees. Reporters from The Associated Press, Time magazine and USA Today decided in the moment to boycott the briefing because of how it was handled. Asked during the gaggle whether CNN and The New York Times were blocked because the administration was unhappy with their reporting, Spicer responded: "We had it as pool, and then we expanded it, and we added some folks to come cover it. It was my decision to expand the pool." Several news outlets spoke out against the White House's decision. "The Wall Street Journal strongly objects to the White House's decision to bar certain media outlets from today's gaggle," a Journal spokesman said. "Had we known at the time, we would not have participated and we will not participate in such closed briefings in the future." "Selectively excluding news organizations from White House briefings is misguided and our expectation is that this action will not be repeated," said Politico editor-in-chief John Harris. "While we strongly object to the White House's apparent attempt to punish news outlets whose coverage it does not like, we won't let these latest antics distract us from continuing to cover this administration fairly and aggressively," said BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith. The Associated Press said it "believes the public should have as much access to the president as possible." The White House Correspondents Association also protested the move. "The WHCA board is protesting strongly against how today's gaggle is being handled by the White House," it said in a statement. "We encourage the organizations that were allowed in to share the material with others in the press corps who were not. The board will be discussing this further with White House staff." Related: Trump rips media, repeats 'enemy of the people' line Hours earlier, at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington, President Trump mocked and disparaged the news media. He said that much of the press represents "the enemy of the people." "They are the enemy of the people because they have no sources," Trump said. "They just make them up when there are none." He also said reporters "shouldn't be allowed" to use unnamed sources. Edited February 24, 2017 by Davkaus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterms Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 1 hour ago, StefanAVFC said: Blocked various major news organisations from the WH press briefing today. Didn't happen. Fake Noos! Bad! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 'Politico . . . were also among those excluded from the meeting' Probably a bad idea to ban the news source that everyone on Capitol Hill consumes above all others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterms Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 6 hours ago, Keyblade said: I know hate crimes have always occured, but I can't remember something like what happened in Kansas yesterday where a guy just walks in and opens fire on people yelling 'get out of my country' or what happened in Quebec last month. People have been shouted down for saying that Trump will embolden the crazies. Why does it always take tragedies to get people to wake up (assuming they will)? Each one will be explained away as the work of one lone individual with mental health issues. There will be no connection drawn, at least in the mainstream media, between tbe batshit crazy racist shite spouted by the orangeman, and real deaths. Although the connection is there for all to see. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villaphan04 Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 one of my friends is currently at CPAC. His family posted something about him seeing Trump live for the first time and one of the comments was "Tell him to top off that experience by going outside n throat punch a snowflake!!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 I was thinking to myself earlier that it's been an awfully quiet couple of days from Donnie. Then he goes ahead and does this . Never a dull moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villakram Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 CNN might actually have to do some real journalism now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAuthority Posted February 25, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted February 25, 2017 Following on from @Davkaus 's post here is what Spicer said in the briefing where CNN, WP, NYTimes and more were barred. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 On the flipside, Buzzfeed were banned, so Donald isn't all mental. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted February 25, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted February 25, 2017 3 minutes ago, Xela said: On the flipside, Buzzfeed were banned, so Donald isn't all mental. And The Daily Mail! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itdoesntmatterwhatthissay Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 Ooooh; he used the word 'inaccurate' rather than fake. Maybe they're learning something about the political game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momo Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 What's going on? Quote US border agents ask Muhammad Ali's son: 'Are you a Muslim?' Boxing legend’s 44-year-old son detained and questioned about religion after flying back to US from Jamaica, lawyer says Emma Graham-Harrison Saturday 25 February 2017 17.19 GMT Last modified on Saturday 25 February 2017 17.34 GMT Border agents detained and questioned the son of the boxing legend Muhammad Ali about his religion when he flew back to the US this month, a family lawyer said. “Where did you get your name from? Are you a Muslim?” they asked the 44-year-old Muhammad Ali Jr, who was born in Philadelphia and is a US citizen. When Ali confirmed to immigration officials at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood international airport in Florida that he was a Muslim, they began questioning him about where he was born, family friend and lawyer Chris Mancini told the Courier-Journal newspaper. The questioning lasted for about two hours. Ali had been at a black history month event in Jamaica with his mother, Khalilah Camacho-Ali. She was allowed to enter the country after producing a photo of herself with her famous ex-husband, who died last year, but her son had nothing to prove his link to the boxer. Australian children's author Mem Fox detained by US border control: 'I sobbed like a baby' Read more The 7 February incident was the first time the family had been detained or questioned in this way, despite regular international travel, Mancini said. They consider it religious profiling linked to President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to bring in a “Muslim ban” and his now-suspended executive order banning citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US. “To the Ali family, it’s crystal clear that this is directly linked to Mr Trump’s efforts to ban Muslims from the United States,” Mancini said, adding that they were trying to find out how many others faced similar questioning, and were contemplating filing a federal lawsuit. “Imagine walking into an airport and being asked about your religion,” Mancini told the paper. “This is classic customs profiling.” Ali’s is the latest in a string of complaints about US immigration controls after the inauguration of Trump. The former prime minister of Norway was held for nearly an hour at Washington Dulles airport earlier this month and questioned over a visit to Iran three years ago, which he had made to speak at a human rights conference. Meanwhile, the best-selling Australian children’s book author Mem Fox has suggested she might never return to the US after she was detained and insulted by border control agents at Los Angeles international airport. The 70-year-old said she was left “sobbing like a baby” after two hours of questioning while on her way to a conference. A British Muslim schoolteacher travelling to New York last week as a member of a school party from south Wales was denied entry to the US. The foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, had previously claimed the US government had committed to allowing all UK passport holders to enter the country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 He's skipping the WH correspondents dinner. He really is the thinnest skinned individual alive. After campaigning on a ticket of political-correctness gone mad, no less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 This is one of my favourite headlines in memory. I love it. Declaring war on the press when you're a whiny, thin-skinned moron isn't going to go well. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-muslim-ban-travel-ban-intelligence-homeland-security-terrorism-threat-us-iran-somalia-a7599126.html Quote Donald Trump rejects intelligence report on travel ban because it doesn't say what he wants it to Donald Trump reportedly rejected an intelligence report on his “Muslim ban” because it did not corroborate his claim that it improved national security. Compiled by the Department of Homeland Security, the report said that banning all citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries was ineffective way of stopping terrorists coming to the US because “country of citizenship is unlikely to be a reliable indicator of potential terrorist activity.” Mr Trump has vowed to introduce a revised version of his highly controversial ban which was blocked by the courts earlier this month. He has insisted it was a security measure not a religious ban. But the report from his own intelligence staff, seen by The Wall Street Journal, makes this claim harder to justify. The White House dismissed its findings as politically motivated and poorly researched. “The intelligence community is combining resources to put together a comprehensive report using all available sources which is driven by data and intelligence and not politics", said Spokesman Michael Short. “The president asked for an intelligence assessment. This is not the intelligence assessment the president asked for,” an senior administration official added. The DHS report was prepared in response to a White House request for intelligence on the terror threat posed by people coming from the seven countries affected by the ban – Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Yemen, Libya and Iran. It found that in the past six years, foreign-born US residents who were “inspired” to participate in terror acts had come from 26 different countries. Only Iraq and Somalia are among the top ten origin countries for foreign-born individuals engaged in terrorism in US. There have been no successful terror attacks perpetrated by citizens of any country on the list on US soil since 9/11. The report also found over half of the 82 people, “primarily” based in the US who had been killed while engaging in acts of terrorism of have been convicted on terror charges were born in America. READ MORE Trump's deportation plan for immigrants could cost 'half a trillion' Current and former officials with direct knowledge of it told The WSJ that it was compiled on short notice but used information that analysts routinely collect to form counter-terrorism policies and was shared with other agencies. Gillian M. Christensen, DHS’ acting press secretary, attempted to downplay the controversy saying the dispute with the White House was over quality as it was just a “commentary” based on publicly available sources. She said: “It is clear on its face that it is an incomplete product that fails to find evidence of terrorism by simply refusing to look at all the available evidence. “Any suggestion by opponents of the president’s policies that senior intelligence officials would politicise this process or a report’s final conclusions is absurd and not factually accurate. The dispute with this product was over sources and quality, not politics”. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villakram Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 and the DNC go ahead and elect Tom Perez... learned nothing and seems their strategy is to point fingers at Trump for the next 4yrs. Inept is too nice a description. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 (edited) 6 minutes ago, villakram said: and the DNC go ahead and elect Tom Perez... learned nothing and seems their strategy is to point fingers at Trump for the next 4yrs. Inept is too nice a description. I'm sure your omission of Ellison being appointed to the newly created position of deputy-chair was accidental Edited February 25, 2017 by StefanAVFC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villakram Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 13 minutes ago, StefanAVFC said: I'm sure your omission of Ellison being appointed to the newly created position of deputy-chair was accidental Quasi meaningless... it's the same old DNC people who have thrown away things over the past 10 yrs who are in charge. He'll be sidelined in the exact same way the Hillary sidelined Bernie as soon as she possibly could. A real 3rd party is needed. The DNC is a corrupt power first machine... no more than a different colored t-shirt in comparison to the RNC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 I find the argument "all parties are the same", to be pretty laughable both in Britain, and in the United States. To echo that sentiment when one of the two major parties has Donald Trump as the president is so absurd that I struggle to believe it could be said with any degree of seriousness. The Democrats have their problems. I'm completely uninspired by Cruz. But the republicans have sold what little soul they have, to elect a bigotted, lying, hypocritical, thin-skinned narcisist. They're both pretty shit, but one party is clearly ahead in the "who has the biggest word removed at the helm" competition; 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villakram Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 8 hours ago, Davkaus said: I find the argument "all parties are the same", to be pretty laughable both in Britain, and in the United States. To echo that sentiment when one of the two major parties has Donald Trump as the president is so absurd that I struggle to believe it could be said with any degree of seriousness. The Democrats have their problems. I'm completely uninspired by Cruz. But the republicans have sold what little soul they have, to elect a bigotted, lying, hypocritical, thin-skinned narcisist. They're both pretty shit, but one party is clearly ahead in the "who has the biggest word removed at the helm" competition; Errr... the republicans didn't elect Trump. The voters that they have polluted over the past X years did. The republican leadership tried pretty much every trick in the book to get rid of Trump, with no success. Are you suggesting that because one guy is allegedly an amalgamation of Hitler/Stalin/Gacy/Bundy/Sherwood/Kissenger/Cheney that the other side get a free pass? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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