Stephanie Leary

Writer and WordPress consultant

  • Books
    • Content Strategy for WordPress (2015)
    • WordPress for Web Developers (2013)
    • Beginning WordPress 3 (2010)
  • Blog
    • Fascism Watch (2016-17)
    • Content Modeling for WordPress series
    • WordPress Hidden Gems series
  • Work
    • Portfolio
    • Services
    • WordPress Plugins
    • WordPress Themes
    • Presentations and Interviews
    • on GitHub →
  • About
    • Press Kit
  • Contact
    • Mailing List

Fascism Watch, January 11

January 11, 2017 Stephanie Leary Leave a Comment

Putin: Excellent. We have him where we want him. Now we play the waiting ga—

BuzzFeed: LEEEEROY JENKINS

— Cuffy (@CuffyMeh) January 11, 2017

Trump

BBC News says there’s audio and video of Trump’s Russian misadventures, and more than one source.

Based on the dossier released yesterday, “James Comey’s intervention in the election last October — controversial at the time — looks completely indefensible now.”

Lots going on in Trump’s press conference. First off, he had it packed with staff applauding him. Not normal. Every two-part question let him dodge the more uncomfortable half.

Then he ranted about Buzzfeed’s “fake news,” said they would “suffer the consequences,” immediately compared and conflated CNN with Buzzfeed, and refused to answer a CNN reporter’s question. (CNN’s statement afterward.)

Worth repeating that one of the reporters on that CNN post Trump claimed was "fake news" was Carl Bernstein, who helped break Watergate. https://t.co/kOgRy1izyL

— Eric Ravenscraft (@LordRavenscraft) January 11, 2017

After the press conference, Sean Spicer told the reporter in question that he’d be thrown out if he continued to “harass” Trump.

Who would do the throwing out? Not a Secret Service job. So I suppose it would be Trump’s own personally paid bodyguard? https://t.co/tAScYLXozU

— David Frum (@davidfrum) January 11, 2017

For context, here’s Trump Organization lawyer Michael Cohen threatening the Daily Beast last year for reporting Ivana Trump’s claim that her then-husband raped her in a rage. (Trigger warning: the article discusses her claims in graphic detail.)

I will come after your Daily Beast and everybody else that you possibly know,” Cohen said. “So I’m warning you, tread very fucking lightly, because what I’m going to do to you is going to be fucking disgusting. You understand me?”

“You write a story that has Mr. Trump’s name in it, with the word ‘rape,’ and I’m going to mess your life up… for as long as you’re on this frickin’ planet… you’re going to have judgments against you, so much money, you’ll never know how to get out from underneath it,” he added.

Trump said today that he had no relationship with Russia. In this interview four years ago, he said, “I do have a relationship [with Putin], and I can tell you he’s very interested in what we’re doing here today.”

Trump admitted during the press conference that Russia interfered in the election. He said the RNC wasn’t hacked by Russia though they tried. It was.

Trump’s lawyers were just awarded Russia Law Firm of the Year.

Trump says he’s going to donate the profits from foreign governments’ hotel stays to the US Treasury. If you’re familiar with Hollywood accounting practices, you know how that’s going to work.

Trump’s plan to resolve his conflicts of interest does nothing of the sort. The Director of the Office of Government Ethics gave an extraordinary statement saying that Trump’s plans to avoid conflicts of interest did not even come close to meeting the standard.

Elizabeth Warren has introduced a bill that would require the President of the United States to sell his or her assets before taking office.

Peter Thiel is still using some batshit logic to support Trump, in case you were wondering.

When I remark that President Obama had eight years without any ethical shadiness, Mr. Thiel flips it, noting: “But there’s a point where no corruption can be a bad thing. It can mean that things are too boring.”

Transition Team & Cabinet Appointees

We need some subheadings up in here…

Jeff Sessions, day 2

Sen. Cory Booker: “The arc of the universe does not just curve toward justice; we must bend it.”

Rep. John Lewis: “We need someone as AG who’s going to look out for all of us. Not just for some of us.”

NAACP President Cornell Brooks: “The NAACP firmly believes that Senator Sessions is unfit to serve as attorney general.”

As our legal director @DavidColeACLU pointed out, attorney general nominee Sessions would have a hard time being hired as a Senate intern. pic.twitter.com/G0cmKmqN5t

— ACLU National (@ACLU) January 11, 2017

Rex Tillerson

Trump pick #RexTillerson on #Russia: We aren’t likely to be friends.

Here he's literally receiving Russia Order of Friendship from Putin. pic.twitter.com/14WIIo6dns

— Rep. Jim McGovern (@RepMcGovern) January 11, 2017

On climate change: “I don’t see it as an imminent national security threat but perhaps others do.” Like maybe the Department of Defense? And John Kerry, on Monday?

Tillerson contradicted Trump’s positions on climate change.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) asked Tillerson about reporting from the Los Angeles Times and Inside Climate News that Exxon Mobil had internally acknowledged climate science while publicly waging a campaign to undermine it. Tillerson demurred. “Since I’m no longer CEO of Exxon Mobil, I can’t speak on their behalf,” he said. “You’ll have to ask them.” Asked if he was refusing to answer or simply lacked the knowledge to do so, Tillerson quipped, “A little of both.”

Exxon Mobil was ordered today to hand over documents related to a state investigation into whether it misled the public about the impact of fossil fuels on the climate.

Tillerson may have lied under oath when he said, “To my knowledge, Exxon never directly lobbied against sanctions.”

Tillerson refused to blame Putin for the murders of his political opponents, saying, “These things happen.” He also refused to condemn the Philippine president’s murderous war on drugs, despite being grilled on it by Marco Rubio, of all people.

“I’m not familiar with that program,” he said about NSEERS.

Others

James Mattis canceled his hearing with the House Armed Services Committee scheduled for Thursday. House Representatives are not happy.

Unlike other nominees, Mattis needs a waiver approved by both the House and Senate before he can proceed to a confirmation vote.

Following the cancellation news, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Democrats in his chamber may oppose the waiver if Mattis doesn’t testify before their lawmakers to answer questions about his views on civilian control of the military.

Pudzer (labor secretary nominee) had his confirmation postponed to next month. Apparently his ex-wife once appeared on Oprah (?) in disguise (???) as a victim of domestic violence.

“Dina H. Powell, who runs many of Goldman Sachs’s philanthropic initiatives, will soon leave the company for a new role as adviser in the Trump White House” working with both Kushner and Ivanka Trump (who supposedly will have no official role).

Politics fascism watch

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Fascism Watch

The Fascism Watch is a daily(ish) news roundup. View all the previous Fascism Watch posts »

Latest WordPress Book

Content Strategy for WordPress

A short book for content strategists and managers on implementing a complete content strategy in WordPress: evaluation, analysis, content modeling, editing and workflows, and long-term planning and maintenance.

Read the sample chapter

Kindle Nook iBooks Kobo Smashwords

WordPress for Web Developers

WordPress for Web Developers (9781430258667)

This is a book for professional web designers and developers who already know HTML and CSS, and want to learn to build sites with WordPress. The book begins with a detailed tour of the administration screens and settings, then digs into server-side topics like performance and security. The second half of the book is devoted to development: learning to build WordPress themes and plugins.

This is the second, much-revised and updated edition of Beginning WordPress 3, with a more accurate title. Everything’s been updated for WordPress 3.6.

WordPress for Web Developers is out now. See what's inside...

The best WordPress features you’ve never noticed

  • WordPress Hidden Gems: Screen Options
  • WordPress Hidden Gems: Bulk Edit
  • WordPress Hidden Gems: Private Status
  • WordPress Hidden Gems: Dashboard Feed Readers
  • WordPress Hidden Gems: Options.php

Content Modeling for WordPress series

  • Content modeling for WordPress, part 1: analyze content
  • Content modeling for WordPress, part 2: functional and organizational requirements
  • Content modeling for WordPress, part 3: a sample content model

This is an excerpt from Content Strategy for WordPress.My latest books are Content Strategy for WordPress (2015) and WordPress for Web Developers (2013). Sign up to be notified when I have a new book for you.

Copyright © 2021 Stephanie Leary