[William A. Baurle]

Charlie, why doesn't Brian's question merit comment? I for one find the question a very good one.

[Andrew Mandelbaum]

And Iran says it will close its borders to US citizens.

In competition for the most heartless political move of the week I see May has agreed to help Turkey murder more Kurds and dissidents with a new arms deal.

[Charlie Southerland]

William, it's a pretty simple thing to answer if one does just a little bit of thinking. I'm not disparaging you when I say that. So please don't take offense.

Trump has been a businessman his whole life. He has employees in all the nations Brian mentions. Wouldn't it stand to reason that if there was trouble in those countries Trump would be the first to know? Now that he's president, it doesn't change the facts on the ground.

I, for one, find it impossible for Trump to separate business from government. Is that a bad thing? It remains to be seen.

[Nigel Mace]

You are absolutely right, Andrew. May's supine, indeed grovelling, obeisance before Trump and Erdogan - especially her point blank refusal, today in Ankara, to criticise Trump's refugee ban, touched a new low for a 'British' PM.

[Andrew Mandelbaum]

Originally Posted by Charlie Southerland

William, it's a pretty simple thing to answer if one does just a little bit of thinking. I'm not disparaging you when I say that. So please don't take offense.

Trump has been a businessman his whole life. He has employees in all the nations Brian mentions. Wouldn't it stand to reason that if there was trouble in those countries Trump would be the first to know? Now that he's president, it doesn't change the facts on the ground.

I, for one, find it impossible for Trump to separate business from government. Is that a bad thing? It remains to be seen.

This just gets better and better. Yes, Charlie. When the Wahhabists in Saudi send out a terror hit they check in with all the American linked business men in Riyadh. As they do before they perform all of their violations of human rights. Egypt as well. And the violent crushing of dissent, the collusion with Isis, and the war on the Kurds carried out by Erdogan, totally run across the desk of Trump before hand. Cause he is like an expert on the bigly geopolitics in, you know, those cities over there.

Just stop. Please. Stop.

[Andrew Mandelbaum]

Reports that Donald Trump just signed a new Executive Order removing the Director of National Intelligence & Joint Chiefs of Staff from the National Security Council. Not a good sign.

Looking for more confirmation on that.

[Julie Steiner]

A little bright news:
Today (Saturday) a federal judge halted deportations of those detained on entry to U.S. airports due to Trump's executive order. (The halt is only for a week, but still.)

Hooray for checks and balances.

If you want to join a protest of Trump's anti-Muslim executive order, this link may help you find one near you.

Some of today's (Saturday's) protests, such as the one at San Diego International Airport, will be continuing tomorrow (Sunday). I'll be there.

[B. N. Faraj]

[Julie Steiner says: B. J., could you please repost this to the "News of the Day, Part 2" thread on the Drills & Amusements board? We're not supposed to post our own poems in General Talk threads, but it would be very welcome over there. Thanks!]

[Siham Karami]

Thank you, Julie, for that.

Andrew M, thank you for this post. I have no time or ability to read the whole thread, being in a state of depression and fear after reading your opening post from the Rather list. It seems he's shutting down the US as we know it and setting up a police state. I'm feeling nauseous literally. I feel like I may no longer have a home in the sense I had it before. I'm afraid of being harassed. I never even mention my religion here because of what it is wrongly associated with, and I fear being suddenly ostracized. Now with Trump in power, our business is in trouble because we do business overseas companies that somehow this may affect something. I'm in a state of terror really, terrorized by what my country has become, by the assaults on the first amendment, by the feeling of being encroached and invaded by Trump and his minions. It is irrational I'm sure but I keep feeling sick all day and even avoided this thread out of fear of hearing more news. What you and other poets are doing now is so encouraging, as are the marches and protests. But him suddenly charging protesters, journalists, and lawyers with felony riot charges is itself terrifying. The terror an fear of my own government which I voted against and now refuses to represent anyone but white supremacists apparently, all this is making me and others like me feel violated and terrorized and harassed in a very basic and gut way.

Thanks for your patience.
Siham

[Andrew Frisardi]

Originally Posted by Andrew Mandelbaum

Reports that Donald Trump just signed a new Executive Order removing the Director of National Intelligence & Joint Chiefs of Staff from the National Security Council. Not a good sign.

Looking for more confirmation on that.

Trump has given Bannon a National Security role, which I bet was in the plans all along. Here's a snippet from that article. I've added bold font to the red-flag scary bits:

Counseling Trump in the effort will be Stephen K. Bannon, the White House chief strategist whose influence inside the administration is expanding far beyond politics. In a separate presidential memo, Trump reorganized the National Security Council to, along with other changes, give Bannon a regular seat on the principals committee — the meetings of the most senior national security officials, including the secretaries of defense and state.

That memo also states that the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will sit on the principals committee only when the issues to be discussed pertain to their “responsibilities and expertise.” In the previous two administrations, both were included as regular attendees.

The White House thinks the changes will make the NSC more adaptive to modern threats. Trump said the changes would bring “a lot of efficiency and, I think, a lot of additional safety.”

The changes affirm the ascent of Bannon, the former executive chairman of Breitbart, a conservative website that is popular with white nationalists, who has emerged as Trump’s political consigliere and the keeper of the president’s populist flame.

Bannon has already been playing a major role in directing Trump’s foreign policy, administration officials say, and joined the president in the Oval Office on Saturday for his calls with Putin and several other world leaders.