The Festering Darkness That is Steve Bannon

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Re: The Festering Darkness That is Steve Bannon

Postby stillrobertpaulsen » Mon Feb 13, 2017 5:17 pm

Keeping up with the whole "Two Steves" partnership that 8bitagent mentioned, I thought this might be the best place to write about senior White House advisor Stephen Miller and his 'performance' this weekend:

Trump powers 'will not be questioned' on immigration, senior official says

Policy adviser Stephen Miller: ‘Judiciary has taken far too much power’
White House open to new order after block of travel ban by courts

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Stephen Miller waits to go on the air in the White House briefing room in Washington on Sunday. Photograph: Joshua Roberts/Reuters

Molly Redden
Sunday February 12, 2017

A senior White House adviser on Sunday denounced federal judges who have stood in the way of Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban, warning that “the whole world will soon see” that the president’s executive powers “will not be questioned”.

“We have a judiciary that has taken far too much power and become in many cases a supreme branch of government,” said Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to Trump on immigration issues, appearing on the CBS program Face the Nation.

“Our opponents, the media and the whole world will soon see as we begin to take further actions, that the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned.”

At the same time, Miller signaled that the White House is contemplating a new, narrower executive order to impose its travel ban on refugees and travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries, after a federal appeals panel seemed to suggest that a revised ban could pass legal scrutiny. The original order is temporarily blocked in federal court.

Trump floated the possibility of a separate order on Friday, in a conversation with reporters aboard Air Force One. “We have a lot of other options, including just filing a brand-new order,” he said.

“The bottom line is is that we are pursuing every single possible action to keep our country safe from terrorism,” Miller said, appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press.

On Fox News Sunday, he also appeared to question the courts’ powers to check the presidency, arguing that a 1952 law gives a president broad authority over immigration policy. “We do not have judicial supremacy in this country. We have three co-equal branches of government.”

Miller did not clarify whether the White House would take its case before the supreme court or test new legal tactics in the lower courts. Many observers expect the White House to seek the emergency intervention of the supreme court.

Miller also denied that any part of the executive order originated with Steve Bannon, saying Trump’s controversial chief strategist “has no role whatsoever in drafting executive orders”. Bannon was reportedly involved in the chaotic rollout of the ban and partly responsible for the decision to bar green card holders from entering the US. A full day after the order was signed, the secretary of homeland security appeared to clear green card holders for entry.
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The executive order Trump signed on 27 January prohibited any citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the US for 90 days, barred all refugees for 120 days, and blocked Syrian refugees from entering the country indefinitely.

Its muddled rollout caused chaos across the nation. Travelers were detained at airports under dubious circumstances, while foreign nationals scrapped plans to visit family or take work trips abroad out of fear they would be barred from re-entry. Worldwide, thousands of individuals who were poised to travel to the US to begin new lives saw their futures put on hold.

A federal district judge in Seattle, James Robart, blocked the major parts of the ban on 3 February, in a ruling that permitted thousands to enter the country. On Thursday, three judges from the ninth circuit court of appeals in San Francisco upheld Robart’s ruling. The panel said the Trump administration had presented “no evidence” that citizens of any of the seven countries concerned had carried out a terrorist attack in the US.

The ninth circuit also rejected the White House argument that the president has “unreviewable authority” to enact immigration policy, amounting to a blank check to restrict travelers from a vast swath of north Africa and the Middle East.

“Rather than present evidence to explain the need for the executive order, the government has taken the position that we must not review its decision at all,” the panel wrote.

“The public has a powerful interest in national security and in the ability of an elected president to enact policies,” the judges continued, but “the public also has an interest in free flow of travel, in avoiding separation of families, and in freedom from discrimination.”

But the ruling seemed to contain an acknowledgement that the administration could defend a narrower ban.

In oral arguments, justice department attorneys argued that the ninth circuit should at least uphold the ban for individuals who have previously been admitted to the US. The ninth circuit declined to do so, saying “it is not our role to try, in effect, to rewrite the executive order” but adding that “the political branches are far better equipped to make appropriate distinctions”.

That line has been interpreted as a tacit admission that Trump has the power to block a smaller group of foreign nationals from entry.

On Fox News Sunday, Miller forcefully defended the ban by citing terrorist attacks committed on US soil “from 9/11 to San Bernardino to Chattanooga”. None of those attacks were executed by foreign nationals from the seven countries targeted by Trump’s ban.

The attackers of 11 September 2001 were citizens of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon. The husband and wife who carried out a shooting in San Bernardino in 2015 were an American and a visa holder from Pakistan. The gunman in Chattanooga the same year was a naturalized American citizen, born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents.

The administration’s failure to cite any attacks perpetrated by citizens of the countries affected by Trump’s ban was central to the ninth circuit’s ruling.

“The government has pointed to no evidence that any alien from any of the countries named in the order has perpetrated a terrorist attack in the United States,” the judges wrote.

Speaking on Meet the Press, Miller claimed that 72 individuals from the seven countries covered by the ban “have been implicated in terroristic activity in the United States”. He cited a new analysis released on Saturday by an anti-immigration thinktank, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).

But the individuals on the CIS list, which appeared to have incomplete details, do not fit the description most Americans call up when they think of a terrorist. Only a handful of individuals on the list plotted a specific act of violence on US soil, and one did so at the urging of undercover FBI agents.

The most serious crime committed by a majority of those listed is providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. More frequently, their crimes consisted of counterfeiting, making false statements to federal officials, or conspiracy to violate drug laws. Such crimes are generally punishable by light sentences. Two dozen received probation, fines, time served or less than a year in prison.

CIS identified nearly half of the individuals on its list as US citizens or legal permanent residents, meaning they would not be prevented from entering the country by Trump’s ban.


This fascist belongs in a Paul Verhoeven film, not in any government.
"Huey Long once said, “Fascism will come to America in the name of anti-fascism.” I'm afraid, based on my own experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of national security."
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Re: The Festering Darkness That is Steve Bannon

Postby 82_28 » Mon Feb 13, 2017 5:22 pm

Yeah I watched that "cat" and he was deffo following a script and not doing a good job of it. Either that or it's the old adage of never trust somebody with darting eyes.
Last edited by 82_28 on Mon Feb 13, 2017 9:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Festering Darkness That is Steve Bannon

Postby seemslikeadream » Mon Feb 13, 2017 5:31 pm

ImageImage
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: The Festering Darkness That is Steve Bannon

Postby Elvis » Tue Feb 14, 2017 2:01 am

Image

Is Miller flashing a gang sign? Masonic message? Semaphore?
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Re: The Festering Darkness That is Steve Bannon

Postby seemslikeadream » Tue Feb 14, 2017 2:03 am

"Michael Flynn did not resign. He was taken on a bus to New Hampshire so he could vote illegally."

Image
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: The Festering Darkness That is Steve Bannon

Postby Iamwhomiam » Tue Feb 14, 2017 5:22 pm

I never before had seen anything produced by the MSNBC show Morning Joe, which is repulsive in its representation of entertainment news today. Anyway, I caught this that was posted on another blog I read.




Edited to add, I have no idea who any of these people are.
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Re: The Festering Darkness That is Steve Bannon

Postby seemslikeadream » Tue Feb 14, 2017 5:34 pm

did you know that the blonde is Mika Brzezinski daughter of Zbigniew Brzezinski, we the viewing public call the show Morning Blow (Joe Scarbough) and the Meat Puppet (the blonde)

I like watching the enemy..they get my blood moving so early in the morning I need less caffeine
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: The Festering Darkness That is Steve Bannon

Postby Iamwhomiam » Tue Feb 14, 2017 5:52 pm

Well, isn't she charming, but in a different way than her dad's.

Thanks for the dope on the show's shmoes.
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Re: The Festering Darkness That is Steve Bannon

Postby brekin » Tue Feb 14, 2017 6:29 pm

Elvis » Tue Feb 14, 2017 1:01 am wrote:Image

Is Miller flashing a gang sign? Masonic message? Semaphore?


Jesus, the guy looks and acts like the guy from The Conformist.

Image
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conformist_(film)
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Re: The Festering Darkness That is Steve Bannon

Postby stillrobertpaulsen » Tue Feb 14, 2017 8:04 pm

This is who I was reminded of:

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Trump’s adviser bears an eerie resemblance to Joseph Goebbels — and Twitter is having a field day
Zach Cartwright | February 13, 2017

Stephen Miller, one of Trump’s most senior policy advisers and top spokespeople, looks an awful lot like Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

Miller appeared on all of the major Sunday morning news programs this week, like CBS’ Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, and ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos. In his appearances, in which Miller was interviewed from the White House, he made outlandish statements like repeating the widely debunked claim that people were bused into swing states to vote illegally in the 2016 presidential election, and ominously remarking that President Trump’s power to create immigration policy “will not be questioned.”

After his appearances, Twitter users put photos of Miller side-by-side with Joseph Goebbels, who was #2 in Nazi Germany behind Adolf Hitler, and noted that the two look remarkably similar.

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I'm not saying that Stephen Miller bears an eerie resemblance to Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels except oops OK here you go.
8:11 AM - 12 Feb 2017

Stephen Miller is what you'd get if Joseph Goebbels and Pee Wee Herman fucked and made a baby, then never once gave it a hug. #Resist
8:24 AM - 12 Feb 2017

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Trump’s adviser bears an eerie resemblance to Joseph Goebbels — and Twitter is having a field day
Zach Cartwright | February 13, 2017
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Stephen Miller, one of Trump’s most senior policy advisers and top spokespeople, looks an awful lot like Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

Miller appeared on all of the major Sunday morning news programs this week, like CBS’ Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, and ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos. In his appearances, in which Miller was interviewed from the White House, he made outlandish statements like repeating the widely debunked claim that people were bused into swing states to vote illegally in the 2016 presidential election, and ominously remarking that President Trump’s power to create immigration policy “will not be questioned.”

After his appearances, Twitter users put photos of Miller side-by-side with Joseph Goebbels, who was #2 in Nazi Germany behind Adolf Hitler, and noted that the two look remarkably similar.

In addition to looking like Goebbels, Miller has long espoused bigoted viewpoints that make him sound similar to the Reich propaganda minister, who said in 1936 that “subhumans exist in every people as a leavening agent.”

Univision interviewed Miller’s former high school classmates, who corroborated claims that Miller was prejudiced against Hispanics, writing at age 16 that “When I entered Santa Monica High School in ninth grade, I noticed a number of students lacked basic English skills. There are usually very few, if any, Hispanic students in my honors classes, despite the large number of Hispanic students that attend our school.”

Miller also once attended a high school club meeting for African American and Latino students, and proceeded to hurl insults at his fellow students. Oscar de la Torre, a member of the local school board, told Univision that Miller “wanted to sabotage” the meeting.

“He confronted everyone, denying that racism existed. He said that was a thing of the past,” de la Torre said.

Even though most adolescents can develop different political views later in life, Miller only moved further to the right, becoming increasingly racist and nationalistic. When he was a student at Duke University, Miller befriended Nazi shitlord Richard Spencer — who once advocated for “peaceful ethnic cleansing” and insists America should be for whites only — and helped him organize an event for white nationalist Peter Brimelow to speak on campus.

“It’s funny no one’s picked up on the Stephen Miller connection,” Spencer told Mother Jones. “I knew him very well when I was at Duke. But I am kind of glad no one’s talked about this because I don’t want to harm Trump.”

In addition to being one of President Trump’s top surrogates to speak on behalf of his administration on national TV, Miller also helped write Trump’s controversial executive order banning immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries. Ironically, Miller is the son of “penniless” immigrants from Belarus, according to Haaretz.
"Huey Long once said, “Fascism will come to America in the name of anti-fascism.” I'm afraid, based on my own experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of national security."
-Jim Garrison 1967
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Re: The Festering Darkness That is Steve Bannon

Postby seemslikeadream » Wed Feb 15, 2017 2:44 pm

IMMIGRATION
Why Stephen Miller Comes Off as a Dick
Trump's messenger is like all the most unlikable know-it-alls you've ever met all rolled up into one.
By Kali Holloway / AlterNet February 14, 2017


Stephen Miller is reportedly a college buddy of neo-Nazi punching bag Richard Spencer. He’s also Donald Trump’s senior adviser, and was recently drafted as a new White House spokesperson. For his new role, Miller took a tour of the Sunday morning news shows, each appearance showing off an ability to lie matched only by the other members of the Trump team. If you caught any of those appearances, you may have noticed a few Miller trademark gestures. Empty, reptilian eyes scanning left to right over cue cards. A pouty mouth delivering each insane untruth. And a voice that sounds like every hyper-unlikable, pompous, joyless, self-important authority-on-everything you’ve ever met. Or as Katie McDonough of Fusion puts it, “he has the voice of someone who is a dick.”

If you haven’t had a chance to hear Miller speak—raising his voice just so every time he thinks his lies about judicial powers are particularly impressive—check out the video below. Notice what McDonough might refer to as his “dickish bluster.”



Like many of us, McDonough noticed a certain familiarity in Miller’s tone. (“Watching Miller, a stranger, I was struck by the familiarity of his dick voice,” she writes. “I know this dick, I thought.”) In an effort to understand why Miller sounds uncannily like so many other arrogant adult dicks, McDonough called up John West, a speech coach at New York Speech Coaching. He had a few thoughts on the universal dickishness of Miller’s speaking voice.

“Stephen Miller likes to use a lower register,” West indicates. “So, number one, the pitch he’s going for is at the bottom, even a little bit below, where he can comfortably speak. He’s also clenching his tongue a little bit while he speaks. This is a common, however unconscious, tactic by men to sound more masculine and authoritative. It’s just to suggest that extra bit of, Here’s what I have to say and welcome to it.”

West suggests that Miller’s cadence—which is more a sort of superior-sounding monotone—is another turn-off. He explains why Miller brings to mind the dude you had classes with in high school or college who everyone mostly wished would stop talking. Not the cool, interesting nerd, who was an inventive misfit waiting to blossom, but more like the unsympathetic know-it-all who repelled everyone with his smugness, arrogance and almost frightening dearth of charm.

“In the case of this particular gentleman, we have a situation where large swaths will feel that this is not a guy I would enjoy spending time with,” West says, making the understatement of the century. “It feels like he’s talking down to me, it feels like he’s being overly pedantic, and indeed, condescending. What he does though is, speaking of that guy in college we all rolled our eyes at, when you don’t have perhaps content on your side—without being overtly political here—what one has to do then is compensate for that. And that’s a keyword I’d like to highlight with you: What we don’t like about that, if we can remove ourselves from the political content for a moment, is generally the fact that it seems like this person is trying to compensate. We see a person who is trying too hard. That’s not an attractive quality, when we see someone pushing and trying too hard.”

In other words, “asshole voice”—another term McDonough helpfully offers—is not partisan. Though in this case, keep in mind that Miller spent his teen years harassing Latinos, African Americans and Asians, wrote columns while he was a student at Duke that were so racist his colleagues in Jeff Sessions' Senate office were stunned, and helped Steve Bannon write the unconstitutional Muslim ban. All of which makes him seem not just deeply unlikable, but ideologically dangerous and a threat to democracy. Also, he cuts people off a lot, as West notes.

“The... thing an asshole does is interrupt, in general. Any time we interrupt, we are already scoring asshole points. The best thing we can do to try to mitigate is to do it respectfully and appropriately. Then, the flatlining, or monotonous speech, which is closer to what Miller does.”

“The more balanced we are, the less of an asshole we are."
http://www.alternet.org/immigration/why ... -comes-dck
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: The Festering Darkness That is Steve Bannon

Postby stillrobertpaulsen » Wed Feb 15, 2017 7:59 pm

Back to Bannon - this is rich; now he's pissed at Breitbart. Apparently he had to join the Trump admin to discover that Breitbart peddles Fake News!

Steve Bannon 'livid' with Breitbart over Priebus report
by Dylan Byers and Dana Bash @CNNMoney February 15, 2017: 5:10 PM ET

Steve Bannon is "livid" with Breitbart News.

Bannon, who was executive chairman of Breitbart before becoming Donald Trump's chief strategist, slammed the right-wing website on Wednesday for a report suggesting that White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus might lose his job.

"Not upset - livid," is how Bannon described his feelings about the article to CNN. "The story is totally untrue. Reince is doing a great job. I couldn't ask any more from a partner."

Breitbart's story alleged that Priebus might be pushed out of the White House due to the forced resignation of Trump's National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn. It cited "multiple sources close to President Trump."

When asked if he had spoken with Breitbart prior to the story's publication, Bannon said he had "totally cut ties" and hadn't talked to them since leaving the organization last August. (He was however interviewed by the site's "Breitbart News Daily" radio program late last year.)

Trump's White House has been plagued by reports of infighting and looming terminations almost since the president took office. Several reports alleged that Bannon and Priebus were at odds with one another -- an assertion both men have repeatedly shot down.

Any tension between Bannon and Breitbart would be notable given the role Bannon played in shaping Breitbart's coverage while serving as its executive chairman.

A Breitbart spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"Huey Long once said, “Fascism will come to America in the name of anti-fascism.” I'm afraid, based on my own experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of national security."
-Jim Garrison 1967
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Re: The Festering Darkness That is Steve Bannon

Postby RocketMan » Fri Feb 17, 2017 4:36 am

The Onion:

Steve Bannon’s Inflamed Liver Pulsing Visibly Through Shirt During Strategy Meeting

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Re: The Festering Darkness That is Steve Bannon

Postby Heaven Swan » Fri Feb 17, 2017 8:49 am

RocketMan » Fri Feb 17, 2017 4:36 am wrote:The Onion:

Steve Bannon’s Inflamed Liver Pulsing Visibly Through Shirt During Strategy Meeting

Image



Is that an unaltered photo?
In most photos and films Stevie boy's nose is red--a sign of alcoholism or heavy drinking.
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Re: The Festering Darkness That is Steve Bannon

Postby seemslikeadream » Fri Feb 17, 2017 8:56 am

Stevie boy's nose is red--a sign of alcoholism or heavy drinking.


and years of denying that he got away with beating his now ex-wife by bulling her into leaving town so she could not show up for the court appearance

the same crime that got a trumpty dumbty nominee pulled the other day
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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