Home · News · News Apr 2017 · Apr 17 2017
Monday April 17, 2017

White House's secrecy about visitor logs will obscure Trump's conflicts of interest
ThinkProgress | Aaron Rupar | 04/14/17

Concealing the swamp instead of draining it.

"White House communications director Michael Dubke said the decision to reverse the Obama-era policy was due to 'the grave national security risks and privacy concerns of the hundreds of thousands of visitors annually,'" Time reported on Friday. "Instead, the Trump Administration is relying on a federal court ruling that most of the logs are 'presidential records' and are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act."

Logs will be kept secret until at least five years after Trump leaves office. The Washington Post reports that since the inauguration, "the page where the visitor logs had been publicly available has gone dark, and Trump administration officials said Friday that they will no longer maintain it, a move that the White House said would save taxpayers $70,000 by 2020." $70,000 is a mere fraction of the $3-plus million each of Trump's Mar-a-Lago trips costs taxpayers. ... Read more

Think Progress - Resist

China fears North Korea-US conflict 'at any moment'
BBC | author | 04/14/17

China has warned that "conflict could break out at any moment" as tension over North Korea increases. Foreign Minister Wang Yi said if war occurred there could be no winner.

Mr Wang's comments come as the US voices increasing concern at North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and deploys a Navy carrier group off the Korean peninsula. ... Read more
US - North Korea War "At Any Moment" | TYT | 04/15/17 | 14:37

Trump Creating Middle-East "Terrorism Factory" | TYT | 04/15/17 | 6:59

Poll: Trump woes take toll on GOP
Politico | Steven Shepard | 04/17/17

Trump's approval rating, according to a new Pew Research Center survey released Monday, is 39 percent -- precisely the same as two months ago. The percentage of Americans who disapprove of Trump is virtually unchanged: 54 percent, compared to 56 percent in February. Forty-four percent of Americans disapprove of Trump very strongly, according to the poll conducted April 5-11, more than the 30 percent who approve very strongly.

The most profound shifts in the Pew survey are in Americans' perceptions of the GOP beyond Trump. Just 40 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party, down from 47 percent in January, prior to Trump's inauguration. Read more

SNL Hits the Nerve of How Casually the Mar-a-Lago President Takes His Job

Why Do Cooks Love the Instant Pot? I Bought One to Find Out
NYTimes | Melissa Clark | older

People have fallen in love with their Instant Pots. They may like their blenders, cherish their slow cookers and need their food processors.

But the Instant Pot -- a device that combines an electric pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker and yogurt maker in one handy unit -- sends even mild-mannered cooks into fits of passion.

You find the "L" word over and over in the 15,000 or so product reviews on Amazon. And if you click over to Instant Pot's Facebook community page, you'll find more than 360,000 members sharing their undying affection alongside their recipes for chili. (A typical post: "I'm having an affair. My husband said he wished he would have never given me the Instant Pot for Christmas.") ... Read more

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, April 17 [11:25]
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, April 17 (FULL) | 59:02
Note: on the full 59:02 video look for small white circles on the Progressbar they denote the different news stories. You can move the pointer on the Progressbar to jump to each story, and around the video.
  1. Headlines
  2. Advocates Urge Trump to De-escalate with North Korea, Not Ratchet Up Threats & Military Aggression
  3. Legal Chaos in Arkansas as Judges Halt State Plan to Carry Out Unprecedented Spate of Executions
  4. Is Turkey Becoming a Dictatorship?: Erdogan Claims Victory in Vote to Give President Sweeping Powers
Victoria Herrmann of the Arctic Institute explains -> Trump Administration Is Removing Climate Change Research from Government Websites | TRNN | 04/16/17 | 12:08
Trump Wall To Have Toxic Moat? | TYT | 04/16/17 | 7:43
Trump Lied About Everything On The Campaign Trail... | TYT | 04/16/17 | 4:37
John Pilger on nuclear war, Russia | RT | 04/16/17 | 27:46
CrossTalk: War and rumors of war -- Syria and North Korea. Russia-US relations at rock bottom. | RT | 04/17/17 | 24:26
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
Donald Trump North Korea Brinkmanship A Huge Risk | MSNBC Rachel Maddow | 04/15/17 | 6:22
President Donald Trump Tweeting His Way To WWIII | MSNBC AM Joy | 04/17/17 | 11:06
Steve Bannon Hastens His Own Demise | MSNBC Morning Joe | 04/17/17 | 9:34
Why New White House Visitor Log Policy Is 'Ethically Challenged' | MSNBC Morning Joe | 04/17/17 | 5:36
Marine Le Pen's More 'Subtle, Dangerous' Message | MSNBC Morning Joe | 04/17/17 | 5:15
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
The presidential election in France could determine the political future of Europe. | John Oliver | 04/16/17 | 18:08
Mother Of All Bombs | John Oliver | 04/16/17 | 3:19
Donald Trump Cold Open | SNL | 04/16/17 | 5:56

04.17.2017. 12:49



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