On 1/17/17, Carl Jarvis <carjar82@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Finally! The mask is dropped. The fake smiles and looks of
understanding and sympathy have been replaced by the real face of
Greed. With smirks and sneers and smug simpering, our new "Leader"
heads for his new job, the job of destroying what is left of America's
Working Class and any hope of a brighter future. At least in the
coming months, Americans will come to clearly understand what they
brought upon themselves. But nonetheless, the real villain is not the
misguided voters, it is the deliberate liars that have worked so long
and tirelessly to keep their power. Like their Dealers in Death, such
as the weapons makers and the tobacco peddlers, and the polluters of
land, water and air, they lie and cheat in order to reach their goal
of total control.
If we can't set Corporate Capitalism aside, and remove the yoke of the
Oligarchy from our necks, we will be ground into dust.
Carl Jarvis
On 1/16/17, M Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Trump's Plan to Neuter the White House Press Corps, and Neuter Our
Democracy
Published on
Monday, January 16, 2017
by
RobertReich.org
Trump's Plan to Neuter the White House Press Corps, and Neuter Our
Democracy
by
Robert Reich
According to three senior officials on the transition team, the incoming
Trump administration is considering evicting the White House press corps
from the press room inside the White House and moving them - and news
conferences - to a conference center or to the Old Executive Office
Building. (Photo: WhiteHouse.gov)
Tyrants don't allow open questioning, and they hate the free press. They
want total control.
That's why, according to three senior officials on the transition team,
the
incoming Trump administration is considering evicting the White House
press
corps from the press room inside the White House and moving them - and
news
conferences - to a conference center or to the Old Executive Office
Building.
"The danger of evicting the press from the White House and putting press
conferences into a large auditorium: Trump won't be called on his lies,
and
the White House press corps will lose the leverage they have by being
together in one rather small room." This may sound like a small logistic
matter. It's not. The White House "press room" contains work stations and
broadcast booths, and the briefing area for presidential news
conferences.
Reporters have had workspace at the White House since Teddy Roosevelt was
president, in 1901.
But we're in a new era, the reign of King Trump.
Sean Spicer, Trump's press secretary, acknowledges "there has been some
discussion about how" to move the press out of the White House. Spicer
says
it's because the new administration would like a larger room to allow
more
members of the press to attend press conferences.
Rubbish. It's because a larger room would allow the administration to
fill
seats with "alt-right" fringe journalists, rightwing social media, Trump
supporters and paid staffers. They'd be there to ask the questions Trump
wants to answer, and to jeer at reporters who ask critical questions and
applaud Trump's answers.
The move would allow Trump to play the crowd.
That's exactly what happened at Trump's so-called "news conference" on
January 11 - the first he's held in six months.
It wasn't really a press conference at all, and shouldn't have been
characterized as one. It was a fake news conference that took place in a
large auditorium.
In the audience were paid staffers who jeered and snickered when
reporters
asked critical questions, and cheered every time Trump delivered one of
his
campaign zingers. It could easily have been one of his rallies.
In this carnival atmosphere it was easy for Trump to refuse to answer
questions from reporters who have run stories he doesn't like, and from
news
outlets that have criticized him.
He slammed CNN for dispensing "fake news," called Buzzfeed "a pile of
garbage," and sarcastically called the BBC "another beauty." The audience
loved it.
Just as he did in his rallies, Trump continued calling the press
"dishonest"
- part of his ongoing effort to discredit the press and to reduce public
confidence in it.
And he repeatedly lied. But the media in attendance weren't allowed to
follow up or to question him on his lies.
For example, Trump wrongly stated that "the Democratic National Committee
was totally open to be hacked. They did a very poor job. . And they tried
to
hack the Republican National Committee, and they were unable to break
through."
Baloney. FBI Director James B. Comey said there was evidence that
Republican
National Committee computers were also targeted. The critical difference,
according to Comey, was that none of the information obtained from the
RNC
was leaked. Also, according to Comey, the Russians "got far deeper and
wider
into the [DNC] than the RNC," adding that "similar techniques were used
in
both cases."
Trump further asserted at his fake news conference that "I have no deals
that could happen in Russia, because we've stayed away. And I have no
loans
with Russia."
Wrong again. Trump repeatedly sought deals in Russia. In a 2008 speech,
Donald Trump Jr. said "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate
cross-section of a lot of our assets," and "we see a lot of money pouring
in
from Russia."
Trump's statements at his fake news conference were, and are, big lies.
They
influence public understanding and opinion about two critically important
issues: Did the Russians help Trump win the election, and, if so, why
might
they have done so?
At the very least, they should have been followed up with questions from
the
White House press corps. That would have happened at a real news
conference
in the White House press room, holding 45 correspondents from major media
outlets who are assigned full-time to report on the president.
Which is the danger of evicting the press from the White House and
putting
press conferences into a large auditorium: Trump won't be called on his
lies, and the White House press corps will lose the leverage they have by
being together in one rather small room.
And that's precisely why Trump wants to evict the press from the White
House.
A senior official admitted the move was a reaction to hostile press
coverage. The view at the highest reaches of the incoming administration
is
that the press is the enemy. "They are the opposition party," said the
senior official. "I want 'em out of the building. We are taking back the
press room."
The incoming Trump administration is intent on neutering the White House
press corps. If it happens it will be another step toward neutering our
democracy.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike
3.0
License.
Robert Reich
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Trump's Plan to Neuter the White House Press Corps, and Neuter Our
Democracy
Published on
Monday, January 16, 2017
by
RobertReich.org
Trump's Plan to Neuter the White House Press Corps, and Neuter Our
Democracy
by
Robert Reich
. 36 Comments
.
. According to three senior officials on the transition team, the
incoming Trump administration is considering evicting the White House
press
corps from the press room inside the White House and moving them - and
news
conferences - to a conference center or to the Old Executive Office
Building. (Photo: WhiteHouse.gov)
. Tyrants don't allow open questioning, and they hate the free press.
They want total control.
. That's why, according to three senior officials on the transition
team, the incoming Trump administration is considering evicting the White
House press corps from the press room inside the White House and moving
them
- and news conferences - to a conference center or to the Old Executive
Office Building.
. "The danger of evicting the press from the White House and putting
press conferences into a large auditorium: Trump won't be called on his
lies, and the White House press corps will lose the leverage they have by
being together in one rather small room." This may sound like a small
logistic matter. It's not. The White House "press room" contains work
stations and broadcast booths, and the briefing area for presidential
news
conferences. Reporters have had workspace at the White House since Teddy
Roosevelt was president, in 1901.
. But we're in a new era, the reign of King Trump.
Sean Spicer, Trump's press secretary, acknowledges "there has been some
discussion about how" to move the press out of the White House. Spicer
says
it's because the new administration would like a larger room to allow
more
members of the press to attend press conferences.
Rubbish. It's because a larger room would allow the administration to
fill
seats with "alt-right" fringe journalists, rightwing social media, Trump
supporters and paid staffers. They'd be there to ask the questions Trump
wants to answer, and to jeer at reporters who ask critical questions and
applaud Trump's answers.
The move would allow Trump to play the crowd.
That's exactly what happened at Trump's so-called "news conference" on
January 11 - the first he's held in six months.
It wasn't really a press conference at all, and shouldn't have been
characterized as one. It was a fake news conference that took place in a
large auditorium.
In the audience were paid staffers who jeered and snickered when
reporters
asked critical questions, and cheered every time Trump delivered one of
his
campaign zingers. It could easily have been one of his rallies.
In this carnival atmosphere it was easy for Trump to refuse to answer
questions from reporters who have run stories he doesn't like, and from
news
outlets that have criticized him.
He slammed CNN for dispensing "fake news," called Buzzfeed "a pile of
garbage," and sarcastically called the BBC "another beauty." The audience
loved it.
Just as he did in his rallies, Trump continued calling the press
"dishonest"
- part of his ongoing effort to discredit the press and to reduce public
confidence in it.
And he repeatedly lied. But the media in attendance weren't allowed to
follow up or to question him on his lies.
For example, Trump wrongly stated that "the Democratic National Committee
was totally open to be hacked. They did a very poor job. . And they tried
to
hack the Republican National Committee, and they were unable to break
through."
Baloney. FBI Director James B. Comey said there was evidence that
Republican
National Committee computers were also targeted. The critical difference,
according to Comey, was that none of the information obtained from the
RNC
was leaked. Also, according to Comey, the Russians "got far deeper and
wider
into the [DNC] than the RNC," adding that "similar techniques were used
in
both cases."
Trump further asserted at his fake news conference that "I have no deals
that could happen in Russia, because we've stayed away. And I have no
loans
with Russia."
Wrong again. Trump repeatedly sought deals in Russia. In a 2008 speech,
Donald Trump Jr. said "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate
cross-section of a lot of our assets," and "we see a lot of money pouring
in
from Russia."
Trump's statements at his fake news conference were, and are, big lies.
They
influence public understanding and opinion about two critically important
issues: Did the Russians help Trump win the election, and, if so, why
might
they have done so?
At the very least, they should have been followed up with questions from
the
White House press corps. That would have happened at a real news
conference
in the White House press room, holding 45 correspondents from major media
outlets who are assigned full-time to report on the president.
Which is the danger of evicting the press from the White House and
putting
press conferences into a large auditorium: Trump won't be called on his
lies, and the White House press corps will lose the leverage they have by
being together in one rather small room.
And that's precisely why Trump wants to evict the press from the White
House.
A senior official admitted the move was a reaction to hostile press
coverage. The view at the highest reaches of the incoming administration
is
that the press is the enemy. "They are the opposition party," said the
senior official. "I want 'em out of the building. We are taking back the
press room."
The incoming Trump administration is intent on neutering the White House
press corps. If it happens it will be another step toward neutering our
democracy.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike
3.0
License.
