Pope Francis warns against rise of populist leaders ‘like Hitler’ as Donald Trump sworn in as President

‘In times of crisis, we lack judgement’

The following article by Samuel Osborne was posted on The Independent website January 22, 2017:

He made the comments to Spanish newspaper El Pais as Donald Trump was being sworn in as the 45th President of the United States.

During the interview, the pontiff condemned the use of walls and barbed wire to keep out foreigners, but said it was too early to judge Mr Trump, saying: “I think we must wait and see.”

When asked if he worries about the rise of populism in the United States and Europe, he said people should not repeat the same mistakes as in the 1930s, when they turned to “saviours” to resolve economic and political crises only to end up at war.  Continue reading “Pope Francis warns against rise of populist leaders ‘like Hitler’ as Donald Trump sworn in as President”

90,000-plus march in St. Paul with message for Trump

The following article by Erin Golden and Aimee Blanchette was posted on the StarTribune website January 21, 2017:

Close to 100,000 protesters swept across the state Capitol grounds on Saturday in what was likely Minnesota’s largest-ever demonstration of political dissent.

The turnout was the state’s contribution to an emphatic nationwide day of protest aimed at protecting civil rights in the new era that began with the new Trump administration on Friday. Continue reading “90,000-plus march in St. Paul with message for Trump”

Women’s marches: More than one million protesters vow to resist President Trump

The following article by Perry Stein, Steve Hendrix and Abigail Hauslohner was posted on the Washington Post website January 22, 2017:

More than 1 million people gathered in Washington and in cities around the country and the world Saturday to mount a roaring rejoinder to the inauguration of President Trump. What started as a Facebook post by a Hawaii retiree became an unprecedented international rebuke of a new president that packed cities large and small — from London to Los Angeles, Paris to Park City, Utah, Miami to Melbourne, Australia.

The organizers of the Women’s March on Washington, who originally sought a permit for a gathering of 200,000, said Saturday that as many as half a million people participated. On Sunday, Metro officials announced that Saturday was the second-busiest day in the Washington subway system’s history, with 1,001,613 trips. (By contrast, on Trump’s Inauguration Day, the system recorded 570,557 trips.) Continue reading “Women’s marches: More than one million protesters vow to resist President Trump”

Trump And His Press Secretary Flagrantly Lied On Their First Full Day In Office. That Matters.

Thankfully, some reporters are calling them out on it.

The following article by Nick Baumann and Michael Calderone was posted on the Huffington Post website January 21, 2017:

On Saturday, President Donald Trump’s first full day in office, he gave a speech at CIA headquarters in which he lied about the size of the crowd at his inauguration and falsely claimed that he had never feuded with the U.S. intelligence community. Hours later, his press secretary emerged from the West Wing, lied about the size of the inaugural crowd and took no questions. Continue reading “Trump And His Press Secretary Flagrantly Lied On Their First Full Day In Office. That Matters.”

Trump takes to Twitter to weigh in on Women’s March, TV ratings for inauguration

The following article by John Wagner was posted on the Washington Post website January 22, 2017:

President Trump weighed in for the first time on the massive protests against his presidency that took place in Washington and around the globe, stating sarcastically on Twitter on Sunday morning that he was “under the impression that we just had an election!”

His tweet came in response to more than one million people gathering Saturday for the Women’s March on Washington and at other rallies in the United States and abroad, meant as a rejoinder to his inauguration the day before. Trump and his aides remained silent about the protests on Saturday. Continue reading “Trump takes to Twitter to weigh in on Women’s March, TV ratings for inauguration”

Sean Spicer held a press conference. He didn’t take questions. Or tell the whole truth.

The following article by Chris Cillizza was posted on the Washington Post website January 21, 2017:

White House press secretary Sean Spicer held a press briefing Saturday night.  Except not really.  Spicer delivered a statement blasting the media for allegedly underestimating the size of the crowds for President Trump’s inaugural ceremony.  He took no questions.  The full text of Spicer’s statement is below. Using Genius, I annotated it. You can too! Sign up for Genius and annotate alongside me! To see an annotation, click or tap the highlighted part of the transcript.

Good evening.  Thank you guys for coming.  I know our first official press briefing is going to be on Monday, but I wanted to give you a few updates on the President’s activities.  But before I get to the news of the day, I think I’d like to discuss a little bit of the coverage of the last 24 hours. Continue reading “Sean Spicer held a press conference. He didn’t take questions. Or tell the whole truth.”

Trump, in CIA visit, attacks media for coverage of his inaugural crowds

The following article by Philip Rucker, John Wagner and Greg Miller was posted on the Washington Post website January 21, 2017:

On his first full day in office, President Trump visited the Central Intelligence Agency’s headquarters to express his gratitude for the intelligence community, which he had repeatedly railed against and recently likened to Nazis.

What Trump delivered Saturday was a campaign-style, stream-of-consciousness airing of grievances — at the Senate for delaying confirmation of his nominees; at critics for questioning whether he is smart and vigorous; and at journalists, whom he called “the most dishonest human beings on earth” and accused of lying about the size of his inauguration crowd. Continue reading “Trump, in CIA visit, attacks media for coverage of his inaugural crowds”

Donald Trump’s Inauguration Marks the Beginning of the Era of Fear

The following piece by Nina Burleigh was posted on the Newsweek website January 20, 2017:

JOSHUA ROBERTS/REUTERS

As the sun rose over Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington on Friday, everything was in place for Donald Trump’s inauguration except the people. Hundreds of cement bomb-blockers were in place; camo-clad soldiers patrolled street corners along with D.C. police in riot gear; roads were closed; traffic crawled; choppers buzzed; and black-clad snipers took up positions on rooftops. Trump had wanted tanks and missile launchers to roll down Pennsylvania Avenue ahead of him, but the U.S. military would only give him some fighter jet flyovers.

The people would arrive later, after they lined up as meekly as cattle at a Texas feedlot and were herded through narrow security gates to be prodded and searched. Continue reading “Donald Trump’s Inauguration Marks the Beginning of the Era of Fear”

White House website touts Melania Trump’s modeling and jewelry line

The following article by Kelsey Snell was posted on the Washington Post website January 20, 2017:

This post has been updated.

Photo: Daily Beast

Visitors to the newly revamped White House website get more than a simple rundown of first lady Melania Trump’s charitable works and interests — they also get a list of her magazine cover appearances and details on her jewelry line at QVC.

Her biography starts with traditional details, such as her date of birth in her native country of Slovenia and information about her background as a model. That’s when the brief backgrounder takes a promotional turn. The website includes a lengthy list of brands that hired her as a model and several of the magazines in which she appeared, including the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Continue reading “White House website touts Melania Trump’s modeling and jewelry line”