Today's News (2020/2/26)
Feb. 26th, 2020 02:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdTHE FIRST LINK IS TO AN IMPORTANT THREAD - GO TO THE LINK AND READ IT.
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Greg Sargent
twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS
https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1232696007965790209
In the face of a threat like coronavirus, we count on public officials for neutral, unpoliticized information. But Trump has corrupted everything with his use of government to validate lies and his nonstop war on neutrality. That's combustible. New piece:
Let's try to appreciate how deeply insane this is.
There is a big public health threat looming. But Trump is raging over the *market reaction* to it. And he's persuaded himself that warnings about this public threat from *his own officials* are to blame.
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As the virus spreads, Trump rages over the markets. That’s alarming.
By Greg Sargent
Feb. 26, 2020 at 7:31 a.m. PST
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/26/virus-spreads-trump-rages-over-markets-thats-alarming/
President Trump wants you to know he’s in absolute command of the government’s response to the rapidly spreading coronavirus. Returning from India, he tweeted that he’s set to get briefed on the situation by health officials, who are “doing a great job.”
As it happens, most indications are that officials at the Centers for Disease Control are indeed treating the coronavirus as a pressing public emergency.
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FBI arrests ‘violent extremists’ after threatening posters sent to minorities, journalists in Seattle area
Feb. 26, 2020 at 9:20 am Updated Feb. 26, 2020 at 10:25 am
By Mike Carter
Seattle Times staff reporter
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/fbi-arrests-violent-extremists-after-threatening-posters-sent-to-minorities-journalists-in-seattle-area/
The FBI has arrested at least two people described by the agency as “violent extremists,” believed to have ties to the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, after an investigation that included threats mailed to Western Washington journalists and racial and religious minorities.
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Trump Says Sotomayor, Ginsburg Should Recuse Themselves From Cases Involving Him
February 25, 2020
NPR
https://www.npr.org/2020/02/25/809178462/trump-says-sotomayor-ginsburg-should-recuse-themselves-from-cases-involving-him
President Trump criticized remarks by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg as "inappropriate" and said the Supreme Court justices should recuse themselves from cases involving the president.
"I just don't know how they cannot recuse themselves for anything Trump or Trump related," Trump said Tuesday in a wide-ranging news conference in New Delhi.
"What Justice Sotomayor said yesterday was highly inappropriate," Trump added. "She's trying to shame people with perhaps a different view into voting her way."
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White House hires Trump loyalist college senior to top post
By Kristen Holmes and Paul LeBlanc, CNN
Updated 0330 GMT (1130 HKT) February 26, 2020
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/25/politics/white-house-trump-loyalist-college-senior/index.html
Washington (CNN)- The White House has hired a college senior to a top post in the Presidential Personnel Office amid a sweeping effort to carry out President Donald Trump's desire for a staff of loyalists, a source familiar with the hire tells CNN.
James Bacon will work for Trump's new personnel chief, John McEntee, who recently took over as director of the Presidential Personnel Office after a stint as Trump's body man. Bacon, 23, attends George Washington University, according to Politico, which first reported his hire.
The move is likely just the beginning of the Trump loyalists McEntee will continue to hire, the source said.
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Bloomberg called Warren 'scary' and vowed to 'defend the banks' in closed-door 2016 event
By Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck, CNN
Updated 4:34 PM ET, Mon February 24, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/24/politics/kfile-bloomberg-called-warren-scary-and-defended-banks/
(CNN)Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg said at a private event in 2016 that his presidential campaign platform would have been to "defend the banks" and also labeled the progressive movement and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, now a rival for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, as "scary."
When asked his views on the rise of the far right in Europe, Bloomberg warned about the rise of progressive politicians in the US, citing Warren -- though not Sanders.
"The left is arising. The progressive movement is just as scary," he says. "Elizabeth Warren on one side. And whoever you want to pick on the Republicans on the right side?"
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The anti-Greta: A conservative think tank takes on the global phenomenon
How a group allied with the Trump administration is paying a German teen to question established climate science.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/02/23/meet-anti-greta-young-youtuber-campaigning-against-climate-alarmism/
By Desmond Butler and Juliet Eilperin
Feb. 23, 2020 at 4:53 p.m. PST
For climate skeptics, it’s hard to compete with the youthful appeal of global phenomenon Greta Thunberg. But one U.S. think tank hopes it’s found an answer: the anti-Greta.
Naomi Seibt is a 19-year-old German who, like Greta, is blond, eloquent and European. But Naomi denounces “climate alarmism,” calls climate consciousness “a despicably anti-human ideology,” and has even deployed Greta’s now famous “How dare you?” line to take on the mainstream German media.
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Exclusive: Trump's "Deep State" hit list
Jonathan Swan
https://www.axios.com/trump-memos-deep-state-white-house-ce5be95f-2418-433d-b036-2bf41c9700c3.html
The Trump White House and its allies, over the past 18 months, assembled detailed lists of disloyal government officials to oust — and trusted pro-Trump people to replace them — according to more than a dozen sources familiar with the effort who spoke to Axios.
Driving the news: By the time President Trump instructed his 29-year-old former body man and new head of presidential personnel to rid his government of anti-Trump officials, he'd gathered reams of material to support his suspicions.
-----
Greg Sargent
twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS
https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1232696007965790209
In the face of a threat like coronavirus, we count on public officials for neutral, unpoliticized information. But Trump has corrupted everything with his use of government to validate lies and his nonstop war on neutrality. That's combustible. New piece:
Let's try to appreciate how deeply insane this is.
There is a big public health threat looming. But Trump is raging over the *market reaction* to it. And he's persuaded himself that warnings about this public threat from *his own officials* are to blame.
-----
As the virus spreads, Trump rages over the markets. That’s alarming.
By Greg Sargent
Feb. 26, 2020 at 7:31 a.m. PST
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/26/virus-spreads-trump-rages-over-markets-thats-alarming/
President Trump wants you to know he’s in absolute command of the government’s response to the rapidly spreading coronavirus. Returning from India, he tweeted that he’s set to get briefed on the situation by health officials, who are “doing a great job.”
As it happens, most indications are that officials at the Centers for Disease Control are indeed treating the coronavirus as a pressing public emergency.
-----
FBI arrests ‘violent extremists’ after threatening posters sent to minorities, journalists in Seattle area
Feb. 26, 2020 at 9:20 am Updated Feb. 26, 2020 at 10:25 am
By Mike Carter
Seattle Times staff reporter
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/fbi-arrests-violent-extremists-after-threatening-posters-sent-to-minorities-journalists-in-seattle-area/
The FBI has arrested at least two people described by the agency as “violent extremists,” believed to have ties to the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, after an investigation that included threats mailed to Western Washington journalists and racial and religious minorities.
-----
Trump Says Sotomayor, Ginsburg Should Recuse Themselves From Cases Involving Him
February 25, 2020
NPR
https://www.npr.org/2020/02/25/809178462/trump-says-sotomayor-ginsburg-should-recuse-themselves-from-cases-involving-him
President Trump criticized remarks by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg as "inappropriate" and said the Supreme Court justices should recuse themselves from cases involving the president.
"I just don't know how they cannot recuse themselves for anything Trump or Trump related," Trump said Tuesday in a wide-ranging news conference in New Delhi.
"What Justice Sotomayor said yesterday was highly inappropriate," Trump added. "She's trying to shame people with perhaps a different view into voting her way."
-----
White House hires Trump loyalist college senior to top post
By Kristen Holmes and Paul LeBlanc, CNN
Updated 0330 GMT (1130 HKT) February 26, 2020
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/25/politics/white-house-trump-loyalist-college-senior/index.html
Washington (CNN)- The White House has hired a college senior to a top post in the Presidential Personnel Office amid a sweeping effort to carry out President Donald Trump's desire for a staff of loyalists, a source familiar with the hire tells CNN.
James Bacon will work for Trump's new personnel chief, John McEntee, who recently took over as director of the Presidential Personnel Office after a stint as Trump's body man. Bacon, 23, attends George Washington University, according to Politico, which first reported his hire.
The move is likely just the beginning of the Trump loyalists McEntee will continue to hire, the source said.
-----
Bloomberg called Warren 'scary' and vowed to 'defend the banks' in closed-door 2016 event
By Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck, CNN
Updated 4:34 PM ET, Mon February 24, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/24/politics/kfile-bloomberg-called-warren-scary-and-defended-banks/
(CNN)Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg said at a private event in 2016 that his presidential campaign platform would have been to "defend the banks" and also labeled the progressive movement and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, now a rival for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, as "scary."
When asked his views on the rise of the far right in Europe, Bloomberg warned about the rise of progressive politicians in the US, citing Warren -- though not Sanders.
"The left is arising. The progressive movement is just as scary," he says. "Elizabeth Warren on one side. And whoever you want to pick on the Republicans on the right side?"
-----
The anti-Greta: A conservative think tank takes on the global phenomenon
How a group allied with the Trump administration is paying a German teen to question established climate science.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/02/23/meet-anti-greta-young-youtuber-campaigning-against-climate-alarmism/
By Desmond Butler and Juliet Eilperin
Feb. 23, 2020 at 4:53 p.m. PST
For climate skeptics, it’s hard to compete with the youthful appeal of global phenomenon Greta Thunberg. But one U.S. think tank hopes it’s found an answer: the anti-Greta.
Naomi Seibt is a 19-year-old German who, like Greta, is blond, eloquent and European. But Naomi denounces “climate alarmism,” calls climate consciousness “a despicably anti-human ideology,” and has even deployed Greta’s now famous “How dare you?” line to take on the mainstream German media.
-----
Exclusive: Trump's "Deep State" hit list
Jonathan Swan
https://www.axios.com/trump-memos-deep-state-white-house-ce5be95f-2418-433d-b036-2bf41c9700c3.html
The Trump White House and its allies, over the past 18 months, assembled detailed lists of disloyal government officials to oust — and trusted pro-Trump people to replace them — according to more than a dozen sources familiar with the effort who spoke to Axios.
Driving the news: By the time President Trump instructed his 29-year-old former body man and new head of presidential personnel to rid his government of anti-Trump officials, he'd gathered reams of material to support his suspicions.
