I think I have house envy… take a look at the bookshelf house!
“By singling out citizens from these countries for exclusion, Trump’s order may well actually increase the risk of terrorism”
The Washington Post: Trump’s revised travel ban is still cruel and still unconstitutional.
“Today, Donald Trump issued a revised executive order barring entry into the US by citizens of six Muslim-majority nations. The new order replaces an old one that was repeatedly rejected by the courts. The new order is less bad than the old one in some crucial respects. But it is still indefensibly cruel, and still unconstitutional for many of the same reasons as the original.
[…]
Despite those improvements, the order still inflicts cruel harm on refugees and others, while creating little if any security benefit.”
““This will be investigated, […] It will all come out. I will be proven right.“ “
Washington Post: Inside Trump’s fury: The president rages at leaks, setbacks and accusations.
(The same article is also available at the Independent.)
“Then, a few hours after Trump had publicly defended his attorney general and said he should not recuse himself from the Russia probe, Sessions called a news conference to announce just that — amounting to a public rebuke of the president.
Back at the White House on Friday morning, Trump summoned his senior aides into the Oval Office, where he simmered with rage, according to several White House officials. He upbraided them over Sessions’s decision to recuse himself, believing that Sessions had succumbed to pressure from the media and other critics instead of fighting with the full defenses of the White House.
In a huff, Trump departed for Mar-a-Lago, taking with him from his inner circle only his daughter and Kushner, who is a White House senior adviser. His top two aides, Chief of Staff ÂReince Priebus and Bannon, stayed behind in Washington. “
Bare Trees and Mistletoe
Today’s weather meant no good photos from my Sunday walk, so here’s one from last Sunday instead.
Trees with mistletoe growing in them, fish ponds, near the Rhine.
“Mr. Trump’s mood was said to be volatile even before he departed for his weekend in Florida…”
The New York Times: Trump, Offering No Evidence, Says Obama Tapped His Phones. By Michael D. Shear and Michael S. Schmidt, March 4, 2017.
“It would have been difficult for federal agents, working within the law, to obtain a wiretap order to target Mr. Trump’s phone conversations. It would have meant that the Justice Department had gathered sufficient evidence to convince a federal judge that there was probable cause to believe Mr. Trump had committed a serious crime or was an agent of a foreign power, depending on whether it was a criminal investigation or a foreign intelligence one.
Former officials pointed to longstanding laws and procedures intended to ensure that presidents cannot wiretap a rival for political purposes.
“A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice,“ said Kevin Lewis, a spokesman for Mr. Obama. “As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen.“
Mr. Trump asserted just the opposite in a series of five Twitter messages beginning just minutes before sunrise in Florida, where the president is spending the weekend.
[…]
Ben Rhodes, a former top national security aide to Mr. Obama, said in a Twitter message directed at Mr. Trump on Saturday that “no president can order a wiretap“ and added, “Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you.“ “