DB|Man Without Grace Meets Party Without Conscience
Just one week into the Trump presidency, Republicans have already shown they are unwilling to stand up to the worst of his instincts. Donald Trump is off to quite a start. He sits atop a globally despised kakistocracy whose first 24 hours included historic opposition marches around the country (and indeed around the world) and top White House flaks beclowning themselves and eviscerating their credibility with shouted lies and the absurdity of “alternative facts.” Trump is an erratic figure – seemingly fragile, consumed by his own unpopularity and desperate to somehow exceed Barack Obama in public acclaim. If Trump is a man without grace, his daily outrages would not be possible were he not surrounded by men and women without honor. Republican lawmakers fret behind closed doors about the devastating impact of ripping away tens of millions of Americans’ healthcare, yet in public they grin along and say nothing; or duck their constituents and head for cover out the back door. Thank You!
Totalitarianism in the age of Trump: lessons from Hannah Arendt | US news
In the scramble to make sense of the post-inauguration world, Amazon has been forced to restock a few key titles: Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four hit No 1 at the end of last week, after Trump’s adviser Kellyanne Conway used the phrase “alternative facts” in place of “some bullshit I just made up”. But the surprise hit – being long, complex and demanding or, as the online magazine Jezebel described it, “extremely metal” – is Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism, first published in 1951. Commentators have been referencing the work since Donald Trump’s election in November but rarely has this spurred so many people to actually buy a copy. In it, the political theorist (she always explicitly rejected the term “philosopher”) details the trajectory: “antisemitism (not merely hatred of Jews), imperialism (not merely conquest), totalitarianism (not merely dictatorship)” are considered in their interrelation. Two points come out of that.
Snopes|No Evidence Trump Told People Magazine Republicans Are the "Dumbest Group of Voters"
Claim: Donald Trump said in 1998 that he would one day run as a Republican because they are the "dumbest group of voters." Origin:The above-reproduced image and quote attributed to Donald Trump began appearing in our inbox in mid-October 2015. The format is easily recognizable as one wherein questionable or offensive words are attributed to the individual pictured, and in this case image claims that Donald Trump made the following statement in a 1998 interview with People magazine: If I were to run, I'd run as a Republican. They're the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. Despite People's comprehensive online content archive, we found no interview or profile on Donald Trump in 1998 (or any other time) that quoted his saying anything that even vaguely resembled the words in this meme. Trump's political endeavors (or the absence of them) did rate some space on the magazine's pages, though. I'm a registered Republican. Mr.
Google's Eric Schmidt: Trump Administration Will Do "Evil Things" - BuzzFeed News
Trump campaign promise tracker - Washington Post
The Inevitability Of Impeachment | The Huffington Post
Outline|Trump appears to be muzzling scientists just like Canada did
A North American nation elected a leader known for hostility to science and affection for the domestic oil industry. After the new administration took power, government scientists stopped speaking freely to the press. Questions had to be sent by email and routed through central approval. Scientists were told not to talk about hot-button issues including climate, oil, forestry, and other environmental concerns. That’s what happened in Canada after Prime Minister Stephen Harper was elected in 2006. According to an internal email sent Monday and obtained by BuzzFeed News, the Agricultural Research Service, which is responsible for about half of the agency’s $2.5 billion research and development budget, is shutting itself off from the public. There is little doubt that this muzzling is in line with the wishes of the Trump administration. Some foresaw that Trump might try to muzzle scientists. In Canada, muzzling was followed by government funding cuts and thousands of scientist layoffs.
Etats-Unis : les défenseurs des droits civiques remportent une bataille contre le décret anti-immigration de Donald Trump
Une des dispositions du décret interdisant l’entrée de ressortissants de sept pays aux Etats-Unis a été suspendue par la justice, après avoir suscité des manifestations dans les aéroports. LE MONDE | • Mis à jour le | Par Corine Lesnes (San Francisco, correspondante) Vingt-quatre heures après avoir signé son décret sur les étrangers, Donald Trump a été confronté aux deux contre-pouvoirs qui risquent de mettre sa présidence à l’épreuve : la justice et la rue. Saisie par les associations de défense des droits civiques, une juge fédérale a suspendu, samedi 28 janvier, une partie de l’application du texte « Protéger la nation contre l’entrée de terroristes étrangers aux Etats-Unis » qui interdit aux ressortissants de sept pays musulmans d’entrer sur le territoire américain. Dans la soirée, Ann Donnelly a décidé d’un sursis d’urgence qui interdit momentanément l’expulsion des personnes arrivées dans des aéroports américains avec un visa valide et les autorise à entrer dans le pays.
How Trump’s White House Could Mess With Government Data
Numbers and data are a backbone of modern life. We cite them buzzily at bars and soberly to bosses so often that “studies show” might as well be given its own entry in the dictionary. Much of what we cite comes from government data — weather patterns, the population or average income of a city, even honeybee activity — collected across innumerable departments, agencies and centers, then made public. Now, watchdogs are worried that a Donald Trump administration could erode the quality of government data collection and systems. Transparency advocates have raised the possibility that a Trump administration could simply remove data sets. More Politics Certain steps being taken by the president-elect’s transition team have raised alarm bells for some who worry that Trump’s glibness with the truth could take root in a more institutional form. The same guardrails protect the Energy Information Administration findings the Trump transition team was questioning.
