U.S. Politics, Elections & Culture issues

[Karposh]

I don’t think the Clinton-Obama camp can wrap their heads around the possibility that they may well have lost the election due to a bunch of bored but vey business-minded kids from an obscure little Balkan town that no one’s ever heard of before. Of course, it had to be a big, bad and sinister Russia behind it all. Just this morning, while watching the news, I heard Barack Obama accusing and even threatening Putin that there’s going to be “serious consequences” for the Russian interference in the US elections, to which Putin replied “Show me the proof otherwise just shut up about it – We had nothing to do with the fake news”

On a side note, there have been instant repercussions with steps being undertaken to censor so called “fake news”. Now the question being asked is – who decides what fake news is and what the truth is?

[vicsinad]

President Donald Trump & U.S. Elections

After watching the first Trump administration White House Press Briefing, I have a continued terrible feeling in my gut for the course of the country and the world. The attacks on the media -- and the outright lies -- remind me of Putin and Gruevski.It starts with something simple like this, lying about the inauguration crowd size, and then it'll spiral out of control (I've posted the article below).

What course do you think the world is headed on? How will Trump administration shape Macedonia, the Balkans and the world order in general? What will happen to the states?


White House press secretary attacks media for accurately reporting inauguration crowds

"This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period," Spicer said, contradicting all available data.

Aerial photos have indicated that former president Barack Obama's first inauguration attracted a much larger crowd. Nielsen ratings show that Obama also had a bigger television audience.

Spicer said, without any evidence, that some photos were "intentionally framed" to downplay Trump's crowd.

He also expressed objections to specific Twitter posts from journalists. And he said, "we're going to hold the press accountable," partly by reaching the public through social networking sites.

His statement included several specific misstatements of fact in addition to the overarching one.

"This is the first time in our nation's history that floor coverings have been used to protect the grass on the Mall," Spicer said, claiming that this "had the effect of highlighting areas people were not standing whereas in years past the grass eliminated this visual."

In fact, coverings were used for Obama's second inauguration in 2013.

"This was also the first time that fencing and magnetometers went as far back on the Mall, preventing hundreds of thousands of people from being able to access the Mall as quickly as they had in inaugurations past," Spicer said.

In fact, a United States Secret Service spokesperson told CNN, no magnetometers were used on the Mall.

And Spicer said, "We know that 420,000 people used the D.C, Metro public transit yesterday, which actually compares to 317,000 for president Obama's last inaugural."

Spicer's number for ridership on Friday was actually low -- the correct number, according to Metro itself, was 570,557. But there were actually 782,000 trips taken for Obama's second inaugural in 2013.

Spicer, at times almost yelling while reading a prepared statement, took no questions. CNNMoney called his cell phone a few minutes later; he did not answer.

Some longtime White House correspondents were stunned by the tirade.

Glenn Thrush of The New York Times wrote on Twitter, "Jaw meet floor."

"I've run out of adjectives," wrote Chuck Todd, the moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press."

Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post said Spicer's assertion about "what you guys should be writing" was "chilling."

Reactions were overwhelmingly negative, and not just from journalists.

Ari Fleischer, who had the same job as Spicer during the George W. Bush administration, tweeted, "This is called a statement you're told to make by the President. And you know the President is watching."

And Brian Fallon, who was in line to become press secretary if Hillary Clinton had won, wrote, "Sean Spicer lacks the guts or integrity to refuse orders to go out and lie. He is a failure in this job on his first full day."

Conservative commentator Bill Kristol said "it is embarrassing, as an American, to watch this briefing by Sean Spicer from the podium at the White House. Not the RNC. The White House."

The White House alerted the press corps to Spicer's statement more than an hour ahead of time.

The CNN television network made a choice not to broadcast the Spicer statement live. Instead, the statement was monitored and then reported on after the fact.

Former Democratic congressman Steve Israel, who recently joined CNN as a commentator, said, "This isn't a petty attack on the press. It's a calculated attempt to delegitimize any questioning of @realDonaldTrump by a free press."

Spicer's statement came two hours after Trump spoke at CIA headquarters and described his "running war with the media." Trump spent several minutes of that speech complaining about news coverage.

In his remarks, Spicer suggested Trump would bypass traditional media outlets he believes are unfairly reporting on his presidency.

"The American people deserve better, and so long as he serves as the messenger for this incredible movement, he will take his message directly to the American people, where his focus will always be," Spicer said.

Spicer was joined in the Brady Press Briefing Room by members of his new White House press and communications staff, who are still moving into their offices and learning the way around the West Wing.

He tellingly led off his short statement with his tirade against the media, leaving announcements about phone calls with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, and announcing that Trump would meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May, to the end.

During those announcements, Spicer incorrectly referred to Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto as "prime minister."

http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/21/media/sean-spicer-press-secretary-statement/index.html

[Phoenix]

Relax Vic...surely it is inconceivable that Trump could be more hawkish than Clinton, the Bush clan or Obama when it comes to creating wars all over the planet...I'm ready to give Trump a chance...I think it will be a great insight into the real power of an American president and the checks and balances built into the American political/constitutional system...

I'm tipping 'business as usual'...

[DraganOfStip]

What course do you think the world is headed on? How will Trump administration shape Macedonia, the Balkans and the world order in general? What will happen to the states?

IMO,Americans themselves will be most affected by Trump. There will be no change in the US foreign policy.
Every US president has just been continuing the foreign policy of his predecessor throughout history (protecting US interests and imposing US influence wherever they can), regardless whether he was a democrat or a republican.
So the biggest impact will be felt in the US, because this bozo has proven to be...well, unpredictable to say the least.
Let's wait and see.

[vicsinad]

Relax Vic...surely it is inconceivable that Trump could be more hawkish than Clinton, the Bush clan or Obama when it comes to creating wars all over the planet...

It is conceivable based on his remarks. He wants to significantly increase the size of the US military; he told the CIA that "maybe we'll get another chance" at Iraqi oil; and he wants to wipe "radical Islamic terrorism" off the face of the planet. I don't see how he can accomplish the latter without trampling all over the world.

Regarding the Balkans: I think his policy might be to lay off the region and focus on what he sees are more threatening matters. He will probably show less enthusiasm for Albanians than previous administrations, and probably more enthusiasm for Serbs and/or Greeks, if he does decide to insert US in Balkan issues. It depends on how much influence Trump is willing to cede to Putin in the region.

[vicsinad]

In addition to the several executive orders Trump has already signed -- such as the immediate building of a wall on the border with Mexico -- he is soon expected to drastically withdraw US support for many international organizations, including the UN.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/us/politics/united-nations-trump-administration.html?_r=0

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is preparing executive orders that would clear the way to drastically reduce the United States’ role in the United Nations and other international organizations, as well as begin a process to review and potentially abrogate certain forms of multilateral treaties, officials said.

The first of the two draft orders, titled “Auditing and Reducing U.S. Funding of International Organizations” and obtained by The New York Times, calls for terminating funding for any United Nations agency or other international body that meets any one of several criteria.

Those criteria include organizations that give full membership to the Palestinian Authority or Palestine Liberation Organization, or support programs that fund abortion or any activity that circumvents sanctions against Iran or North Korea. The draft order also calls for terminating funding for any organization that “is controlled or substantially influenced by any state that sponsors terrorism” or is blamed for the persecution of marginalized groups or any other systematic violation of human rights.

The order calls for then enacting “at least a 40 percent overall decrease” in remaining United States funding toward international organizations.



The order establishes a committee to recommend where those funding cuts should be made. It asks the committee to look specifically at United States funding for peacekeeping operations; the International Criminal Court; development aid to countries that “oppose important United States policies”; and the United Nations Population Fund, which oversees maternal and reproductive health programs.

If President Trump signs the order and its provisions are carried out, the cuts could severely curtail the work of United Nations agencies, which rely on billions of dollars in annual United States contributions for missions that include caring for refugees.

The second executive order, “Moratorium on New Multilateral Treaties,” calls for a review of all current and pending treaties with more than one other nation. It asks for recommendations on which negotiations or treaties the United States should leave.

The order says this review applies only to multilateral treaties that are not “directly related to national security, extradition or international trade,” but it is unclear what falls outside these restrictions.


For example, the Paris climate agreement or other environmental treaties deal with trade issues but could potentially fall under this order.

An explanatory statement that accompanies the draft order mentions two United Nations treaties for review: the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Taken together, the orders suggest that Mr. Trump intends to pursue his campaign promises of withdrawing the United States from international organizations. He has expressed heavy skepticism of multilateral agreements such as the Paris climate agreement and of the United Nations.

The draft orders, which are only a few pages each, leave several unanswered questions. For example, it is unclear whether they call for cutting 40 percent of United States contributions to each international agency separately, or to the overall federal funding budget.

The United States provides about a quarter of all funding to United Nations peacekeeping operations, of which there are more than a dozen, in Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. At least one of these, the operation in southern Lebanon, directly serves Israeli interests by protecting the country’s northern border, though the draft order characterizes the funding cuts as serving Israeli interests.

[Philosopher]

Trump pulled out of TPP, which was laudable; Hillary would not have done that.

It appears thus far Trump is more interested in America and Americans than the international liberal order. He is a populist president.

Your issues with him Vic are generally political; you have strong disagreements with his political and environmental policies, but his views on Macedonia is most appropriate in this forum.

Trump has Greek friends, and Greeks in his administration. I would be surprised if he supported Macedonia.

Does he have a position on the Balkans?

[vicsinad]

Trump pulled out of TPP, which was laudable; Hillary would not have done that.

It appears thus far Trump is more interested in America and Americans than the international liberal order. He is a populist president.

Your issues with him Vic are generally political; you have strong disagreements with his political and environmental policies, but his views on Macedonia is most appropriate in this forum.

Trump has Greek friends, and Greeks in his administration. I would be surprised if he supported Macedonia.

Does he have a position on the Balkans?

The TPP was already dead, killed by the liberals in Congress.

Anyway, I purposely started this topic to keep track of Trump's administration and how it relates to the world and then the Balkans where it's possible.

I think that he has no stated policies on the Balkans is telling enough -- that he's not interested in the region and will pull out. I'm curious to know other peoples' thinking on how/if: a) that policy will affect Macedonia relating to her neighbors; and b) how Trump's general attitude to world organizations and the international order will impact Macedonia.

[vicsinad]

Stoking up fear rhetoric or are their concerns legitimate?

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2017-01-27/doomsday-clock-ticks-closest-to-midnight-in-64-years-due-to-climate-change-nuclear-fears/1647104

Doomsday Clock ticks closest to midnight in 64 years due to climate change, nuclear fears

Atomic scientists reset their symbolic Doomsday Clock to its closest time to midnight in 64 years, saying the world is closer to catastrophe due to threats such as nuclear weapons, climate change and Donald Trump's election as US President.

Scientists have reset their symbolic Doomsday Clock to its closest time to midnight in 64 years, saying the world is closer to catastrophe due to threats such as nuclear weapons, climate change and Donald Trump's election as US President.

The timepiece, devised by the Chicago-based Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and displayed on its website, is widely viewed as an indicator of the world's vulnerability to disaster.

Its hands were moved to two minutes and 30 seconds to midnight, from three minutes.

"The Doomsday Clock is closer to midnight than it's ever been in the lifetime of almost everyone in this room," Lawrence Krauss, the bulletin's chair, told a news conference in Washington.

The clock was last set this close to midnight in 1953, marking the start of the nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Thursday's reset was the first since 2015.

Professor Krauss, a theoretical physicist, said Mr Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin carried a large share of the blame for the heightened threat.

The bulletin cited nuclear volatility, especially as the United States and Russia seek to modernise their atomic arsenals and remain at odds in war-torn countries such as Syria and Ukraine.

Mr Trump has suggested South Korea and Japan could acquire nuclear weapons to compete with North Korea, which has conducted nuclear tests.

Mr Trump has also raised doubts about the future of a multilateral nuclear pact with Iran.

Chinese aid to Pakistan in the nuclear weapons field, as well as the expansion of India and Pakistan's nuclear arsenals, were also worrisome, the bulletin said in a statement.

The climate change outlook was somewhat less dismal, "but only somewhat."

While nations had taken actions to combat climate change, the bulletin noted, there appeared to be little appetite for additional cuts to carbon dioxide emissions.

It said the Trump administration nominees raised the possibility the government will be "openly hostile to progress toward even the most modest efforts to avert catastrophic climate disruption."

The world also faces cyber threats, the bulletin said. US intelligence agencies' conclusion that Russia intervened in the presidential election to help Mr Trump raised the possibility of similar attacks on other democracies, it said.

The bulletin was founded by scientists who helped develop the United States' first atomic weapons. Its Science and Security Board decides on the clock's hands in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes Nobel laureates.

[Gocka]

The guy is either a complete but job or a genius.

He shows classic symptoms of a clinical narcissist, his vocabulary is less sophisticated than a 10 year old, make that a 5 year old. He seems at odds with his own cabinet let alone his opposition.

Or he has perfected the art of distraction and will preform the largest heist in human history right in front of everyone's eyes. While everyone is busy focusing on his idiotic comments, he keeps signing executive orders that don't get nearly as much attention as they should. Lets face it, he used this tactic to get elected so if it keeps working why change?

I don't trust the giant carrot either way, but I'm also hesitant to write him off as a moron just yet. Although it would be hilarious if he is just a narcissistic spoiled rich kid who is in way over his head, I feel like I've seen hat movie already.

Macedonia is dead, regardless of Trump. Its been dead for a long time, and baring some miracle, I don't think the country will make it long term.

[vicsinad]

Trump not happy with Australian PM Turnbull.

It should have been one of the most congenial calls for the new commander in chief — a conversation with the leader of Australia, one of America’s staunchest allies, at the end of a triumphant week.

Instead, President Trump blasted Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over a refu*gee agreement and boasted about the magnitude of his electoral college win, according to senior U.S. officials briefed on the Saturday exchange. Then, 25 minutes into what was expected to be an hour-long call, Trump abruptly ended it.

At one point, Trump informed Turnbull that he had spoken with four other world leaders that day — including Russian President Vladi*mir Putin — and that “this was the worst call by far.”

Trump’s behavior suggests that he is capable of subjecting world leaders, including close allies, to a version of the vitriol he frequently employs against political adversaries and news organizations in speeches and on Twitter.

“This is the worst deal ever,” Trump fumed as Turnbull attempted to confirm that the United States would honor its pledge to take in 1,250 refugees from an Australian detention center.

Trump, who one day earlier had signed an executive order temporarily barring the admission of refugees, complained that he was “going to get killed” politically and accused Australia of seeking to export the “next Boston bombers.”

Trump returned to the topic late Wednesday night, writing in a message on Twitter: “Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!”

[Here’s what the ‘dumb deal’ on refugees with Australia actually says]

U.S. officials said that Trump has behaved similarly in conversations with leaders of other countries, including Mexico. But his treatment of Turnbull was particularly striking because of the tight bond between the United States and Australia — countries that share intelligence, support one another diplomatically and have fought together in wars including in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The characterizations provide insight into Trump’s temperament and approach to the diplomatic requirements of his job as the nation’s chief executive, a role in which he continues to employ both the uncompromising negotiating tactics he honed as a real estate developer and the bombastic style he exhibited as a reality television personality.

The depictions of Trump’s calls are also at odds with sanitized White House accounts. The official readout of his conversation with Turnbull, for example, said that the two had “emphasized the enduring strength and closeness of the U.S.-Australia relationship that is critical for peace, stability, and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and globally.”

A White House spokesman declined to comment. A senior administration official acknowledged that the conversation with Turnbull had been hostile and charged, but emphasized that most of Trump’s calls with foreign leaders — including the heads of Japan, Germany, France and Russia — have been productive and pleasant.

Trump also vented anger and touted his political accomplishments in a tense conversation with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, officials said. The two have sparred for months over Trump’s vow to force Mexico to pay for construction of a border wall between the two countries, a conflict that prompted Peña *Nieto to cancel a planned meeting with Trump.

Even in conversations marred by hostile exchanges, Trump manages to work in references to his election accomplishments. U.S. officials said that he used his calls with Turnbull and Peña Nieto to mention his election win or the size of the crowd at his inauguration.

[In fight with Trump, Mexico has plenty of ways to punch back]

One official said that it may be Trump’s way of “speaking about the mandate he has and why he has the backing for decisions he makes.” But Trump is also notoriously thin-skinned and has used platforms including social-media accounts, meetings with lawmakers and even a speech at CIA headquarters to depict his victory as an achievement of historic proportions, rather than a narrow outcome in which his opponent, Hillary Clinton, won the popular vote.


The friction with Turnbull reflected Trump’s anger over being bound by an agreement reached by the Obama administration to accept refugees from Australian detention sites even while Trump was issuing an executive order suspending such arrivals from elsewhere in the world.

The issue centers on a population of about 2,500 people who sought asylum in Australia but were diverted to facilities off that country’s coast at Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. Deplorable conditions at those sites prompted intervention from the United Nations and a pledge from the United States to accept about half of those refugees, provided they passed U.S. security screening.

[After years of hosting a notorious refugee camp for Australia, Papua New Guinea says: Enough.]

Many of the refugees came from Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Somalia, countries listed in Trump’s order temporarily barring their citizens from entry to the United States. A special provision in the Trump order allows for exceptions to honor “a pre*existing international agreement,” a line that was inserted to cover the Australia deal.

But U.S. officials said that Trump continued to fume about the arrangement even after signing the order in a ceremony at the Pentagon.

“I don’t want these people,” Trump said. He repeatedly misstated the number of refugees called for in the agreement as 2,000 rather than 1,250, and told Turnbull that it was “my intention” to honor the agreement, a phrase designed to leave the U.S. president wiggle room to back out of the deal in the future, according to a senior U.S. official.

Before Trump tweeted about the agreement Wednesday night, the U.S. Embassy in Canberra had assured Australian reporters that the new administration intended to take the refugees.

“President Trump’s decision to honour the refugee agreement has not changed,” an embassy spokesman had told the reporters, according to an official in the Sydney consulate. “This was just reconfirmed to the State Department from the White House and on to this embassy at 1315 Canberra time.”


The time the embassy said it was informed the deal was going ahead was 9:15 p.m. in Washington, one hour and 40 minutes before Trump suggested in a tweet that it might not go ahead.

During the phone conversation Saturday, Turnbull told Trump that to honor the agreement, the United States would not have to accept all of the refugees but only to allow each through the normal vetting procedures. At that, Trump vowed to subject each refu*gee to “extreme vetting,” the senior U.S. official said.

Trump was also skeptical because he did not see a specific advantage the United States would gain by honoring the deal, officials said.

Trump’s position appears to reflect the transactional view he takes of relationships, even when it comes to diplomatic ties with long-standing allies. Australian troops have fought alongside U.S. forces for decades, and the country maintains close cooperation with Washington on trade and economic issues.

Australia is seen as such a trusted ally that it is one of only four countries that the United States includes in the “Five Eyes” arrangement for cooperation on espionage matters. Members share extensively what their intelligence services gather and generally refrain from spying on one another.

There also is a significant amount of tourism between the two countries.

Trump made the call to Turnbull about 5 p.m. Saturday from his desk in the Oval Office, where he was joined by chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, national security adviser Michael Flynn and White House press secretary Sean Spicer.

At one point, Turnbull suggested that the two leaders move on from their impasse over refugees to discuss the conflict in Syria and other pressing foreign issues. But Trump demurred and ended the call, making it far shorter than his conversations with Shinzo Abe of Japan, Angela Merkel of Germany, François Hollande of France or Putin.

“These conversations are conducted candidly, frankly, privately,” Turnbull said at a news conference Thursday in Australia. “If you see reports of them, I’m not going to add to them.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/no-gday-mate-on-call-with-australian-pm-trump-badgers-and-brags/2017/02/01/88a3bfb0-e8bf-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html?utm_term=.531a55d7473a

[vicsinad]

War of words between Iran and US over missile testing:

Iran promised to "vigorously" continue its missile activity Thursday and would not bow to threats from the United States.

Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader, dismissed the "extremism" of President Donald Trump, who declared Iran was "on notice" after it test-fired a ballistic missile on Sunday.

The tensions between the two countries have been simmering since the election of Trump, a harsh critic of the nuclear deal with lran that was brokered by the Obama administration.

On Wednesday, US National Security Advisor Michael Flynn said Sunday's test was a "provocative" breach of a UN Security Council resolution. Trump tweeted Thursday: "Iran has been formally PUT ON NOTICE" and should have been "thankful" for the "terrible deal".

Velayati dismissed the President's "baseless ranting" and said that even Americans were not satisfied with "Trump's extremism", according to Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency.

Trump has been a longtime critic of the Iran accord. The deal, struck with five members of the UN Security Council and Germany in 2015, put stringent limits on Iran's nuclear program. It allowed sanctions to be eased and business with Iran to recommence.
Speaking Wednesday, Flynn did not say whether the US would take action beyond a verbal warning. Three senior administration officials, speaking on background, said that they were still in the early stages of determining what action the US should take in response.

"We are considering a whole range of options. We're in a deliberative process," one of the officials said.

Iran's Foreign Ministry insisted Tuesday that Sunday's missile test was "solely for defensive purposes," and not a violation of the UN Security Council resolution which bars Iran from testing "ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/02/middleeast/iran-trump-inexperienced-missile-test-warning/index.html

[Gocka]

I don't watch TV shows anymore, I just turn on the news, grab my popcorn and enjoy. In a single word, its surreal.

[vicsinad]

What's worse: the media or Trump? King Trump decides. Dictator Trump learning from Grujo and Putin on how to deal with the press:

http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/white-house-blocks-cnn-new-york-times-press-briefing-1201995894/

White House Blocks CNN, NY Times, Politico, LA Times, Others From Press Briefing

Several major news outlets found themselves blocked from attending a Friday White House press briefing with Sean Spicer, the Press Secretary, the latest sign of worsening relations between the Trump administration and the media attempting to cover it.

The New York Times, CNN, the Los Angeles Times and Politico were among the news organizations prevented from attending, according to posts by reporters from those outlets on Twitter, as were several foreign news organizations. The Associated Press and Time declined to take part. The White House was said to have invited press organizations to the event.

The three major broadcast networks – CBS, ABC, and NBC – were invited to the briefing, as were several news outlets that play to a conservative readership, such as Breitbart, The Washington Times and One America News Network.

The blocked access was disclosed just hours after President Trump railed against “dishonest” media and use of anonymous sources in stories about his term in the office. “It doesn’t represent the people, it never will represent the people and we’re going to do something about it,” he warned while speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday. Media outlets including CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post have provided a key check on some of the actions the Trump White House has tried to take in recent weeks, posting stories that have revealed infighting among staffers and raised suspicions about General Michael Flynn, the President’s former National Security Adviser who stepped down in the wake of a report he had discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia in a late December conversation with that country’s ambassador to the United States, despite previously denying it.

The maneuver threatens to cut off some of the nation’s most prominent and esteemed news organizations from a daily event that has for years been seen as ingrained in the White House press beat as mustard is on a turkey sandwich. It also puts a metaphorical barrier between a “gaggle” that allows for the dissemination of information by the President of the United States to the world and the public that elected him to the office.

The White House Correspondents Association protested the development. “We encourage the organizations that were allowed in to share the material with others in the press corps who were not,: the organization said. “The board will be discussing this further with White House staff.”

Trump’s campaign often banned particular reporters or individual news outlets whose coverage displeased from attending campaign events. But Trump is now President, not a candidate for the office, and cordoning off the White House briefing from particular outlets is a move that is bound to raise questions about why the administration is cutting off press access. Keeping select outlets out of the briefing moves directly in contrast to remarks Spicer made to Politico in December, before he took on the Press Secretary role. Asked if the Trump White House would prohibit certain reporters or outlets from covering the President, Spicer responded “absolutely not.”

In a statement, CNN called the move “unacceptable” and added: “Apparently, this is how they retaliate when you report facts they don’t like.”

[sydney]

The "international community" needs to condemn this. Oh, wait...