neil999
Player Valuation: £80m
the snowflakes are now an iceberg...or something
Current Affairs Donald Trump POS: Judgement cometh and that right soon
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the snowflakes are now an iceberg...or something
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/30/opini...his-morning-as-an-alternative-fact/index.html
(CNN)I woke up this morning as an Alternative Fact.
In justifying the appointment of Steve Bannon, the president's chief strategist, to the National Security Council, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer cited my role in the Obama White House as a precedent. Spicer said press secretary Robert Gibbs and I attended classified National Security Council meetings "all the time."
That is simply not true.
As a senior adviser to President Obama in 2009, I had the opportunity to witness the fateful deliberations of his National Security Council Principals committee over the strategy the U.S would pursue in the war with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
I was not a member of the committee. I did not speak or participate. I sat on the sidelines as a silent observer with Gibbs because we would be called upon to publicly discuss the president's decision on that critical matter and the process by which he arrived at it.
We knew our presence chagrined some of the principals but, acting on the president's instructions, we were there to gain a thorough understanding of what would be one of the most important judgments he would make as commander-in-chief.
Our access also came with limits. We were barred from some of the most sensitive meetings on the Afghanistan-Pakistan policy review so as not to inhibit discussions.
Beyond that, Gibbs and I did not attend regular meetings of the NSC Principals committee or their deputies nor were we invited to weekly meetings on terrorist threats.
We did not attend the president's regular meetings with the Secretary of Defense and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff nor with the Secretary of State.
We did not sit in on the president's daily intelligence briefing.
Our expertise was in politics and communications, not national security and foreign policy and our attendance, much less participation, in these meetings would have been inappropriate.
Where aides were needed, the National Security Adviser and Chief of Staff filled the role.
In elevating Bannon to sit with the Secretaries of Defense and State and other key national security figures on the NSC principals committee, President Trump has blazed new ground. Bannon will exercise authority no political adviser has had before. He will be a full participant, not an observer, in national security deliberations.
Under the president's announced structure, Bannon has eclipsed the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence on the National Security Council.
Indeed, Bannon already has emerged as the president's most trusted adviser on global affairs, an area in which Trump has little expertise.
It was Bannon who guided the drafting of Trump's controversial immigration order. According to reports, the Secretary of Defense and director of Homeland Security were not consulted; the State Department was caught unawares.
The order, which has roiled the world, reflected not only Trump's campaign pledge for "extreme vetting" but the white nationalist, anti-immigrant bent of Breitbart News, the organization Bannon led before joining Trump's campaign team.
Trump's warmth to right-wing populist movements in Europe and hostility to trade and global institutions are wholly consistent with the worldview of Bannon's Breitbart, which recently opened bureaus in France and Germany in advance of elections there.
Ten days in, this much is clear: Steve Bannon is playing a role in national security and foreign policy for which there is no precedent.
And for better or worse, he already is making an impact.
Scary stuff imo. This Bannon guy is dangerous
(CNN)I woke up this morning as an Alternative Fact.
In justifying the appointment of Steve Bannon, the president's chief strategist, to the National Security Council, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer cited my role in the Obama White House as a precedent. Spicer said press secretary Robert Gibbs and I attended classified National Security Council meetings "all the time."
That is simply not true.
As a senior adviser to President Obama in 2009, I had the opportunity to witness the fateful deliberations of his National Security Council Principals committee over the strategy the U.S would pursue in the war with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
I was not a member of the committee. I did not speak or participate. I sat on the sidelines as a silent observer with Gibbs because we would be called upon to publicly discuss the president's decision on that critical matter and the process by which he arrived at it.
We knew our presence chagrined some of the principals but, acting on the president's instructions, we were there to gain a thorough understanding of what would be one of the most important judgments he would make as commander-in-chief.
Our access also came with limits. We were barred from some of the most sensitive meetings on the Afghanistan-Pakistan policy review so as not to inhibit discussions.
Beyond that, Gibbs and I did not attend regular meetings of the NSC Principals committee or their deputies nor were we invited to weekly meetings on terrorist threats.
We did not attend the president's regular meetings with the Secretary of Defense and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff nor with the Secretary of State.
We did not sit in on the president's daily intelligence briefing.
Our expertise was in politics and communications, not national security and foreign policy and our attendance, much less participation, in these meetings would have been inappropriate.
Where aides were needed, the National Security Adviser and Chief of Staff filled the role.
In elevating Bannon to sit with the Secretaries of Defense and State and other key national security figures on the NSC principals committee, President Trump has blazed new ground. Bannon will exercise authority no political adviser has had before. He will be a full participant, not an observer, in national security deliberations.
Under the president's announced structure, Bannon has eclipsed the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence on the National Security Council.
Indeed, Bannon already has emerged as the president's most trusted adviser on global affairs, an area in which Trump has little expertise.
It was Bannon who guided the drafting of Trump's controversial immigration order. According to reports, the Secretary of Defense and director of Homeland Security were not consulted; the State Department was caught unawares.
The order, which has roiled the world, reflected not only Trump's campaign pledge for "extreme vetting" but the white nationalist, anti-immigrant bent of Breitbart News, the organization Bannon led before joining Trump's campaign team.
Trump's warmth to right-wing populist movements in Europe and hostility to trade and global institutions are wholly consistent with the worldview of Bannon's Breitbart, which recently opened bureaus in France and Germany in advance of elections there.
Ten days in, this much is clear: Steve Bannon is playing a role in national security and foreign policy for which there is no precedent.
And for better or worse, he already is making an impact.
Scary stuff imo. This Bannon guy is dangerous
Why are they called snowflakes?
Because they are each and every one special and unique to all the world. They are also prone to melt down at almost any opportunity.
Not hating, just answering a question. It's how the term came to fruition in the current context.
Ta mate seen it a couple of times wonderd what it meant..
neil999
Player Valuation: £80m
its such a rubbish insult..
Gwladysstreetlad
Player Valuation: £50m
It's just a ridiculous generalisation of a group of people. Much like the silly deplorables nametag was. If everyone would cut out the stupid name calling and simply recognised that 99% of people just want what's best for their country but see thing's differently about how to make it better then the world would be a much better place.
Agree with all that, except the bit that only now have the politics become poisonous, think we crossed that rubicorn a while ago unfortunately. The statement from the government was particularly petulant as well.
Hard to tell, there are certainly factions within the administration (the VP in particular) that would have wanted that rollback. However Trump has never seemed ideologically bothered by the issue one way or another.
Been pure poison since ~2009 when Republicans vowed to block everything.
neil999
Player Valuation: £80m
see also remoaners and brexiteers...
Gwladysstreetlad
Player Valuation: £50m
And the worst thing about all this in interfighting and sniping is that it plays right into the hands of the 1% who couldn't care less about the country itself or either side of the argument but loves to divide and conquer by playing one side off against the other.
peteblue
Welcome back Wayne
from the guardian......
The firing of acting attorney general Sally Yates is one of doubtless many crisis points that will show us just how robust American democracy really is, argues Mary Dejevsky.
"While it exposes some of the weakness of the US system, it also highlights some of its strengths. There are real constraints on presidential power; a US president cannot rule by decree.
But each president is free to test those limits. And the people, by choosing to protest or acquiesce, have a role, too. Trump is forcing the United States to define itself; to decide anew what is acceptable and what not. That feels dangerous. But it also feels exhilarating, and it is not necessarily a bad thing."
The firing of acting attorney general Sally Yates is one of doubtless many crisis points that will show us just how robust American democracy really is, argues Mary Dejevsky.
"While it exposes some of the weakness of the US system, it also highlights some of its strengths. There are real constraints on presidential power; a US president cannot rule by decree.
But each president is free to test those limits. And the people, by choosing to protest or acquiesce, have a role, too. Trump is forcing the United States to define itself; to decide anew what is acceptable and what not. That feels dangerous. But it also feels exhilarating, and it is not necessarily a bad thing."
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