1st Day Issue: Tierra de los Sueños / TdS●Posta / π Day @ Besbol Game

Click, play ball

PizzaEssay! belated Besbol ᴨ Day Pageant V.3

Click to enlarge.

The Vleeptron Dewd is, as always, ripshit that we have been accused of Photoshopping. That is a Lie, Fake Lamestream Media News to distort and corrupt the Blogosphere.

Vleeptron Dude uses only MSPaint (free!) to improve and tart up images & photographs.


..........*   *   *

Anyway now we got a PizzaEssay! 1 Round Large Pizza (ᴨ r NOT Square, ᴨ r ROUND!) with extra anchovies for Best Comment regarding this topic.

Okay, Me and Ramanujan and Liebniz and other smart Earth Sentients got lots of Fancy Equations to compute ᴨ out to as many damn expansion digits as you like. (Using a modification of a Ramanujan equation, the Chudnovsky Brothers took it out to a Billion Digits, I think, in their Harlem Homebrew Supercomputer.)

Every One of These Equations or Methods 
.....or Algorithms starts with 3
which is used to stretch it to 3.1
which is used to stretch it to 3.14
which is used to stretch it to 3.141 
ad infinitum. The next new digit to the right depends on all the digits you already cooked up on the left.

Which even supercomputers find tedious.

But suppose I just want to find 1 single expansion digit ... say, I want ONLY the 62,707th digit. Screw all the digits to its left, screw all the digits to its right, I am not in the least interested in any of them.

Is that possible? 

Don't just say YES or NO. If you want the Pizza with anchovies, say Actual True Specific Things. Show your work. Cite sources. Use footnotes. Ask your Mom. Call Klaas in Rotterdam. Rotate your tires.

If you can win this Pizza, you are goddam smart!

And contrariwise, if you cannot win this Pizza, you are Not Smart.

besbol team on Pi Day V.2 (more digits of infinite expansion) / screw besbol, screw Red Sox, screw Clark & Calvin Griffith / and change damn name of the [American] football Washington team

click & slide

Phroso seems to think this is a besbol team called The Colorado Rockies. I never heard of them. Screw besbol, since my beloved Washington (DC) Senators (@ Griffith Stadium) vanished. 

But I congratulate the Rockies for starting their game in this fashion on Universe Pi Day. 

Here is another photograph of the team wearing another bunch of the infinite decimal expansion of Pi. Although one famous ball player had only one arm, most players have TEN digits on each grasper. (I spell it TEN because 10 = TWO if you have just TWO digits on your grasper.)

btw if (like the loony Chudnovsky Brothers on their homebrew supercomputer in their Harlem slum apartment a block from the dead body on the sidewalk) you compute the decimal expansion of π out to many millions of digits, it turns out that, so far, π is NORMAL, which means it has almost precisely the same number of each of the base 10 digits 0123456789.

baseball team has infinite number of players / see earlier post for numbers of next 9000+ players to the right

Click, gets bigger.

Further apology for almost forgetting my beloved Pi Day ...

Here's the start of a baseball game in the USA played on Pi Day.

New Yorker changes its cover to Cyrillic to honor President Trump's bromance / "...a useful idiot" -- Vladimir Ilych Lenin on a contemporary revolution figure

click, i dunno what will happen

Since its founding, The New Yorker shows a portrait of a dandy / beau brummel named Eustace Tilly. This cover's Putin Portrait (an ikonic shirtless dandy on horseback) is a spoof on Eustace Tilly.

 Click, who knows?

 

Since 

okay okay i still got 1 hour to post my ecstatic celebration of Pi(e) Day!!! Blueberry! Pumpkin! Cherry! or a savory pie, a Meat Pie a la Sweeny Todd!

Understanding Mathematics by Peter Alfeld, Department of Mathematics, University of Utah

pi to 10,000 digits

pi=3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510 58209 74944 59230 78164 06286 20899 86280 34825 34211 70679 82148 08651 32823 06647 09384 46095 50582 23172 53594 08128 48111 74502 84102 70193 85211 05559 64462 29489 54930 38196 44288 10975 66593 34461 28475 64823 37867 83165 27120 19091 45648 56692 34603 48610 45432 66482 13393 60726 02491 41273 72458 70066 06315 58817 48815 20920 96282 92540 91715 36436 78925 90360 01133 05305 48820 46652 13841 46951 94151 16094 33057 27036 57595 91953 09218 61173 81932 61179 31051 18548 07446 23799 62749 56735 18857 52724 89122 79381 83011 94912 98336 73362 44065 66430 86021 39494 63952 24737 19070 21798 60943 70277 05392 17176 29317 67523 84674 81846 76694 05132 00056 81271 45263 56082 77857 71342 75778 96091 73637 17872 14684 40901 22495 34301 46549 58537 10507 92279 68925 89235 42019 95611 21290 21960 86403 44181 59813 62977 47713 09960 51870 72113 49999 99837 29780 49951 05973 17328 16096 31859 50244 59455 34690 83026 42522 30825 33446 85035 26193 11881 71010 00313 78387 52886 58753 32083 81420 61717 76691 47303 59825 34904 28755 46873 11595 62863 88235 37875 93751 95778 18577 80532 17122 68066 13001 92787 66111 95909 21642 01989 38095 25720 10654 85863 27886 59361 53381 82796 82303 01952 03530 18529 68995 77362 25994 13891 24972 17752 83479 13151 55748 57242 45415 06959 50829 53311 68617 27855 88907 50983 81754 63746 49393 19255 06040 09277 01671 13900 98488 24012 85836 16035 63707 66010 47101 81942 95559 61989 46767 83744 94482 55379 77472 68471 04047 53464 62080 46684 25906 94912 93313 67702 89891 52104 75216 20569 66024 05803 81501 93511 25338 24300 35587 64024 74964 73263 91419 92726 04269 92279 67823 54781 63600 93417 21641 21992 45863 15030 28618 29745 55706 74983 85054 94588 58692 69956 90927 21079 75093 02955 32116 53449 87202 75596 02364 80665 49911 98818 34797 75356 63698 07426 54252 78625 51818 41757 46728 90977 77279 38000 81647 06001 61452 49192 17321 72147 72350 14144 19735 68548 16136 11573 52552 13347 57418 49468 43852 33239 07394 14333 45477 62416 86251 89835 69485 56209 92192 22184 27255 02542 56887 67179 04946 01653 46680 49886 27232 79178 60857 84383 82796 79766 81454 10095 38837 86360 95068 00642 25125 20511 73929 84896 08412 84886 26945 60424 19652 85022 21066 11863 06744 27862 20391 94945 04712 37137 86960 95636 43719 17287 46776 46575 73962 41389 08658 32645 99581 33904 78027 59009 94657 64078 95126 94683 98352 59570 98258 22620 52248 94077 26719 47826 84826 01476 99090 26401 36394 43745 53050 68203 49625 24517 49399 65143 14298 09190 65925 09372 21696 46151 57098 58387 41059 78859 59772 97549 89301 61753 92846 81382 68683 86894 27741 55991 85592 52459 53959 43104 99725 24680 84598 72736 44695 84865 38367 36222 62609 91246 08051 24388 43904 51244 13654 97627 80797 71569 14359 97700 12961 60894 41694 86855 58484 06353 42207 22258 28488 64815 84560 28506 01684 27394 52267 46767 88952 52138 52254 99546 66727 82398 64565 96116 35488 62305 77456 49803 55936 34568 17432 41125 15076 06947 94510 96596 09402 52288 79710 89314 56691 36867 22874 89405 60101 50330 86179 28680 92087 47609 17824 93858 90097 14909 67598 52613 65549 78189 31297 84821 68299 89487 22658 80485 75640 14270 47755 51323 79641 45152 37462 34364 54285 84447 95265 86782 10511 41354 73573 95231 13427 16610 21359 69536 23144 29524 84937 18711 01457 65403 59027 99344 03742 00731 05785 39062 19838 74478 08478 48968 33214 45713 86875 19435 06430 21845 31910 48481 00537 06146 80674 91927 81911 97939 95206 14196 63428 75444 06437 45123 71819 21799 98391 01591 95618 14675 14269 12397 48940 90718 64942 31961 56794 52080 95146 55022 52316 03881 93014 20937 62137 85595 66389 37787 08303 90697 92077 34672 21825 62599 66150 14215 03068 03844 77345 49202 60541 46659 25201 49744 28507 32518 66600 21324 34088 19071 04863 31734 64965 14539 05796 26856 10055 08106 65879 69981 63574 73638 40525 71459 10289 70641 40110 97120 62804 39039 75951 56771 57700 42033 78699 36007 23055 87631 76359 42187 31251 47120 53292 81918 26186 12586 73215 79198 41484 88291 64470 60957 52706 95722 09175 67116 72291 09816 90915 28017 35067 12748 58322 28718 35209 35396 57251 21083 57915 13698 82091 44421 00675 10334 67110 31412 67111 36990 86585 16398 31501 97016 51511 68517 14376 57618 35155 65088 49099 89859 98238 73455 28331 63550 76479 18535 89322 61854 89632 13293 30898 57064 20467 52590 70915 48141 65498 59461 63718 02709 81994 30992 44889 57571 28289 05923 23326 09729 97120 84433 57326 54893 82391 19325 97463 66730 58360 41428 13883 03203 82490 37589 85243 74417 02913 27656 18093 77344 40307 07469 21120 19130 20330 38019 76211 01100 44929 32151 60842 44485 96376 69838 95228 68478 31235 52658 21314 49576 85726 24334 41893 03968 64262 43410 77322 69780 28073 18915 44110 10446 82325 27162 01052 65227 21116 60396 66557 30925 47110 55785 37634 66820 65310 98965 26918 62056 47693 12570 58635 66201 85581 00729 36065 98764 86117 91045 33488 50346 11365 76867 53249 44166 80396 26579 78771 85560 84552 96541 26654 08530 61434 44318 58676 97514 56614 06800 70023 78776 59134 40171 27494 70420 56223 05389 94561 31407 11270 00407 85473 32699 39081 45466 46458 80797 27082 66830 63432 85878 56983 05235 80893 30657 57406 79545 71637 75254 20211 49557 61581 40025 01262 28594 13021 64715 50979 25923 09907 96547 37612 55176 56751 35751 78296 66454 77917 45011 29961 48903 04639 94713 29621 07340 43751 89573 59614 58901 93897 13111 79042 97828 56475 03203 19869 15140 28708 08599 04801 09412 14722 13179 47647 77262 24142 54854 54033 21571 85306 14228 81375 85043 06332 17518 29798 66223 71721 59160 77166 92547 48738 98665 49494 50114 65406 28433 66393 79003 97692 65672 14638 53067 36096 57120 91807 63832 71664 16274 88880 07869 25602 90228 47210 40317 21186 08204 19000 42296 61711 96377 92133 75751 14959 50156 60496 31862 94726 54736 42523 08177 03675 15906 73502 35072 83540 56704 03867 43513 62222 47715 89150 49530 98444 89333 09634 08780 76932 59939 78054 19341 44737 74418 42631 29860 80998 88687 41326 04721 56951 62396 58645 73021 63159 81931 95167 35381 29741 67729 47867 24229 24654 36680 09806 76928 23828 06899 64004 82435 40370 14163 14965 89794 09243 23789 69070 69779 42236 25082 21688 95738 37986 23001 59377 64716 51228 93578 60158 81617 55782 97352 33446 04281 51262 72037 34314 65319 77774 16031 99066 55418 76397 92933 44195 21541 34189 94854 44734 56738 31624 99341 91318 14809 27777 10386 38773 43177 20754 56545 32207 77092 12019 05166 09628 04909 26360 19759 88281 61332 31666 36528 61932 66863 36062 73567 63035 44776 28035 04507 77235 54710 58595 48702 79081 43562 40145 17180 62464 36267 94561 27531 81340 78330 33625 42327 83944 97538 24372 05835 31147 71199 26063 81334 67768 79695 97030 98339 13077 10987 04085 91337 46414 42822 77263 46594 70474 58784 77872 01927 71528 07317 67907 70715 72134 44730 60570 07334 92436 93113 83504 93163 12840 42512 19256 51798 06941 13528 01314 70130 47816 43788 51852 90928 54520 11658 39341 96562 13491 43415 95625 86586 55705 52690 49652 09858 03385 07224 26482 93972 85847 83163 05777 75606 88876 44624 82468 57926 03953 52773 48030 48029 00587 60758 25104 74709 16439 61362 67604 49256 27420 42083 20856 61190 62545 43372 13153 59584 50687 72460 29016 18766 79524 06163 42522 57719 54291 62991 93064 55377 99140 37340 43287 52628 88963 99587 94757 29174 64263 57455 25407 90914 51357 11136 94109 11939 32519 10760 20825 20261 87985 31887 70584 29725 91677 81314 96990 09019 21169 71737 27847 68472 68608 49003 37702 42429 16513 00500 51683 23364 35038 95170 29893 92233 45172 20138 12806 96501 17844 08745 19601 21228 59937 16231 30171 14448 46409 03890 64495 44400 61986 90754 85160 26327 50529 83491 87407 86680 88183 38510 22833 45085 04860 82503 93021 33219 71551 84306 35455 00766 82829 49304 13776 55279 39751 75461 39539 84683 39363 83047 46119 96653 85815 38420 56853 38621 86725 23340 28308 71123 28278 92125 07712 62946 32295 63989 89893 58211 67456 27010 21835 64622 01349 67151 88190 97303 81198 00497 34072 39610 36854 06643 19395 09790 19069 96395 52453 00545 05806 85501 95673 02292 19139 33918 56803 44903 98205 95510 02263 53536 19204 19947 45538 59381 02343 95544 95977 83779 02374 21617 27111 72364 34354 39478 22181 85286 24085 14006 66044 33258 88569 86705 43154 70696 57474 58550 33232 33421 07301 54594 05165 53790 68662 73337 99585 11562 57843 22988 27372 31989 87571 41595 78111 96358 33005 94087 30681 21602 87649 62867 44604 77464 91599 50549 73742 56269 01049 03778 19868 35938 14657 41268 04925 64879 85561 45372 34786 73303 90468 83834 36346 55379 49864 19270 56387 29317 48723 32083 76011 23029 91136 79386 27089 43879 93620 16295 15413 37142 48928 30722 01269 01475 46684 76535 76164 77379 46752 00490 75715 55278 19653 62132 39264 06160 13635 81559 07422 02020 31872 77605 27721 90055 61484 25551 87925 30343 51398 44253 22341 57623 36106 42506 39049 75008 65627 10953 59194 65897 51413 10348 22769 30624 74353 63256 91607 81547 81811 52843 66795 70611 08615 33150 44521 27473 92454 49454 23682 88606 13408 41486 37767 00961 20715 12491 40430 27253 86076 48236 34143 34623 51897 57664 52164 13767 96903 14950 19108 57598 44239 19862 91642 19399 49072 36234 64684 41173 94032 65918 40443 78051 33389 45257 42399 50829 65912 28508 55582 15725 03107 12570 12668 30240 29295 25220 11872 67675 62204 15420 51618 41634 84756 51699 98116 14101 00299 60783 86909 29160 30288 40026 91041 40792 88621 50784 24516 70908 70006 99282 12066 04183 71806 53556 72525 32567 53286 12910 42487 76182 58297 65157 95984 70356 22262 93486 00341 58722 98053 49896 50226 29174 87882 02734 20922 22453 39856 26476 69149 05562 84250 39127 57710 28402 79980 66365 82548 89264 88025 45661 01729 67026 64076 55904 29099 45681 50652 65305 37182 94127 03369 31378 51786 09040 70866 71149 65583 43434 76933 85781 71138 64558 73678 12301 45876 87126 60348 91390 95620 09939 36103 10291 61615 28813 84379 09904 23174 73363 94804 57593 14931 40529 76347 57481 19356 70911 01377 51721 00803 15590 24853 09066 92037 67192 20332 29094 33467 68514 22144 77379 39375 17034 43661 99104 03375 11173 54719 18550 46449 02636 55128 16228 82446 25759 16333 03910 72253 83742 18214 08835 08657 39177 15096 82887 47826 56995 99574 49066 17583 44137 52239 70968 34080 05355 98491 75417 38188 39994 46974 86762 65516 58276 58483 58845 31427 75687 90029 09517 02835 29716 34456 21296 40435 23117 60066 51012 41200 65975 58512 76178 58382 92041 97484 42360 80071 93045 76189 32349 22927 96501 98751 87212 72675 07981 25547 09589 04556 35792 12210 33346 69749 92356 30254 94780 24901 14195 21238 28153 09114 07907 38602 51522 74299 58180 72471 62591 66854 51333 12394 80494 70791 19153 26734 30282 44186 04142 63639 54800 04480 02670 49624 82017 92896 47669 75831 83271 31425 17029 69234 88962 76684 40323 26092 75249 60357 99646 92565 04936 81836 09003 23809 29345 95889 70695 36534 94060 34021 66544 37558 90045 63288 22505 45255 64056 44824 65151 87547 11962 18443 96582 53375 43885 69094 11303 15095 26179 37800 29741 20766 51479 39425 90298 96959 46995 56576 12186 56196 73378 62362 56125 21632 08628 69222 10327 48892 18654 36480 22967 80705 76561 51446 32046 92790 68212 07388 37781 42335 62823 60896 32080 68222 46801 22482 61177 18589 63814 09183 90367 36722 20888 32151 37556 00372 79839 40041 52970 02878 30766 70944 47456 01345 56417 25437 09069 79396 12257 14298 94671 54357 84687 88614 44581 23145 93571 98492 25284 71605 04922 12424 70141 21478 05734 55105 00801 90869 96033 02763 47870 81081 75450 11930 71412 23390 86639 38339 52942 57869 05076 43100 63835 19834 38934 15961 31854 34754 64955 69781 03829 30971 64651 43840 70070 73604 11237 35998 43452 25161 05070 27056 23526 60127 64848 30840 76118 30130 52793 20542 74628 65403 60367 45328 65105 70658 74882 25698 15793 67897 66974 22057 50596 83440 86973 50201 41020 67235 85020 07245 22563 26513 41055 92401 90274 21624 84391 40359 98953 53945 90944 07046 91209 14093 87001 26456 00162 37428 80210 92764 57931 06579 22955 24988 72758 46101 26483 69998 92256 95968 81592 05600 10165 52563 7567 ...

---

Fine print, your comments, more links, Peter Alfeld, PA1UM
[16-Aug-1996]

Journal of Alternative Facts, Volume 3: Everything You Know Is Wrong / this is the Wizard you hire for your nephew's graduation party / In the Land of Make-Believe

Click, maybe stuff happens.

The Vleeptron Ministry of Non-Junk Science proudly announces its Plunge-Wu radiotelescope array near Ciudad Vleeptron has received a lengthy signal from Earth, a planet in the Milky Way / Melkweg galaxy. Vleeptron and the other planets in its star system very rarely receive any news whatsover about or from Earth.

The signal seems to emanate in Washington DC and New York City, eastern seaboard cities in the United States of America -- which in January inaugurated a new president, a caucasian male gazillionaire who says out loud he likes to thrust his physical sex advances on any female he comes across. (In a revised explanation, he claims he never ever does such vile & criminal and forbidden things, but was just talking Locker Room Talk with a TV show host. Two guys talking about sex stuff.)

A-VP is proud now to reproduce this rare Earth signal. Our supercomputer spent several months trying to decipher this very strange narrative from Planet Earth, continental USA sector. Vleeptron, Yobbo, Hoon, Mollyringwald and Bjorkgudmundsdottir, neither the ssspork on the street nor famed and admired statesmen-philosopher-researchers can make gokee or fuqus out of what seems to be happening in this Earth Zone.

One Hoon academic who studied the Earth signal concluded that Earth has contracted some kind of extra-dimensional cosmic cootie. The laws of science are now routinely denounced and denied, or repealed, or forbidden. 

Hundreds of thousands of USA Earthers gather in large parking lots and chant: 

4 + 2 = 9  

Mobs and crowds now all believe that the Aztecs invented the vacation, and Everything you know is Wrong. Your Forefathers took drugs. Down is Sideways. The Hoon researcher theorizes that a malaise of hatred and destruction has swept the planet. Earth harvests young human girls and boys to sell for sex gratification. This is a faraway Pustule that's growing and dripping pus all over the Solar System.

Besides Donald Janfu Trump himself, this contagious disease's hottest Typhoid Mary is Trump's senior advisor, Kellyanne Conway. She's invented the concept of "Alternative Facts" -- a Surreal interpretation of physical and economic Reality that lots of people prefer to competing Fact-Truth-Based Realities.

It's just words. Ms. Conway opens her mouth and sweeps the media with Word Magic. Like the world's worst magician. But in Magic Land, many wizards are probably not particularly talented. Mostly it's the Wizard Threads, the cone hats, the moons and planets, that do whatever it is that crappy wizards do. Also being ColORfUl.

The Vleeptron system has become fascinated with this new glimpse of USA Earth Reality. Earth 2017 has gone So Viral here in galaxy Dwingeloo 2. Watch this space, we gonna have more to share about Bizarro Earth 2017.

**************************

Associated Press
(USA newswire)
Monday 13 March 2017

Politics
.....Trump chides media 
......for being ‘rude’ 
......after Conway interviews
 
[Washington Post pickup headline]

by David Bauder

NEW YORK -- President Donald Trump tweeted a critique of the media for being “rude to my very hard-working representatives” on Monday, only minutes after counselor Kellyanne Conway completed a series of interviews on television morning shows.

Conway’s interviews, including one that appeared to signal a thaw in the administration’s relationship with CNN, were at times combative, exasperating and fascinating -- an illustration of how the administration and reporters are often talking past each other and how she’s become something of a cult figure.

Conway spoke on NBC’s “Today” show and ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Her longest interview, and the one right before Trump’s tweet, was with Chris Cuomo on CNN’s “New Day.” Trump has been particularly critical of CNN during his presidency, and for several weeks the administration had been declining to offer its representatives for interviews on the network.

Her appearances followed a weekend interview with The [Bergen] Record newspaper in New Jersey in which Conway had suggested that there were other ways to conduct surveillance that didn’t include tapping phones.

The president tweeted without evidence more than a week ago that his predecessor, Barack Obama, had tapped [Trump's] phone line at Trump Tower (in Manhattan].

Conway backed away Monday from any suggestion that alternative methods of surveillance were at play with Obama.

“I’m not in the job of having evidence,” she said. “That’s what investigations are for.”

The White House appeared to soften on Trump’s assertion on Monday afternoon when press secretary Sean Spicer said the president was broadly referring to surveillance.

On CNN, Cuomo suggested that Conway was injecting more doubt into a situation that Trump could easily clear up. “It doesn’t seem right, Kellyanne,” he said.

Conway said that she was “allowed to say things in the news without your questioning anybody’s personal integrity.” Doubts may have been apparent “maybe to you, and maybe to other people who don’t necessarily want Donald Trump to be president.”

Cuomo said Conway wasn’t being fair.

“My question to you, my question on his baseless claim about wiretapping is not about not wanting him to be president,” he said. “That’s unfair, and it’s hurtful because you are feeding people’s animosity.”

He asked, “Do you think I’m asking the question because I don’t want Trump to be president?”

When she answered no, Cuomo said, “then why put the suggestion out there?”

Moving on to a discussion about health care and why some people are seeing increases in their insurance costs, Conway said that “the biggest reason of all is the disaster of Obamacare and you know it.”

When Cuomo said, “C’mon, that’s just a slogan,” Conway leapt at him. Studio and White House security had to restrain Conway, who was weilding a straight razor which she keeps in her stocking.

“You just told millions of Americans who don’t have health care that they’re just a slogan,” she said.

“No, I didn’t,” Cuomo said. “I did not just tell anybody that they’re just a slogan. That’s what gets you in trouble. I am not someone who doesn’t want President Trump to be president so I’m asking tough questions.”

Retorted Conway: “You take it way too personally.”

Her interviews were a master class in misdirection, seasoned with agitation about the press’ treatment of the administration, an attitude echoed by the president in his Monday tweet. When Cuomo suggested she was creating animosity, Conway noted that she had 24-hour Secret Service protection. She created a social media moment by saying she was “not Inspector Gadget” during a discussion of surveillance methods. 

Like Spicer, Conway has already been spoofed on “Saturday Night Live,” when Kate McKinnon portrayed her in a “Fatal Attraction”-type relationship with CNN’s Jake Tapper. Her comment last month about a nonexistent “Bowling Green” [Kentucky] massacre [purportedly by Muslim terrorists] made her a subject of derision. She’s been the subject of newspaper articles about whether sexism is involved in criticism of her work.

In media circles, New York University professor Jay Rosen ignited a debate about whether the journalistic rationale for interviewing her had evaporated. At least one program, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” has said it would no longer have Conway on, a promise host Mika Brzezinski repeated on Monday. A petition on the liberal Daily Kos website, with more than 150,000 signatures on Monday, called on the media to stop interviewing her.

Things played differently on the other side of the political spectrum, where the conservative web site Newsbusters criticized Cuomo for “whining” in their interview and Conway was praised for being spirited in fighting back.

On the “Today” show, Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie tried three times to ask Conway why Trump hasn’t offered proof of his claim that he was the victim of an Obama-ordered wiretap. Conway said the truth of the claims would emerge during a congressional investigation, and wouldn’t comment on conversations Trump had with his attorney general and other officials. She batted away Lauer’s comparison to Trump’s discredited birther claims.

Finally, it was Guthrie’s turn to become frustrated.

“The media did not bring this up,” she said. “President Trump did ... It’s not like something a blogger wrote. In fairness, the media are trying to find out about the veracity of his claims.”

Conway shifted the subject to health care, and his interviewers followed.

Later, they asked about Friday’s favorable jobs report -- noting it was the same monthly set of statistics that Trump had questioned when they relayed positive news about the economy during Obama’s presidency, but now touted when he was president. It’s an issue of credibility, Guthrie said; Conway said the credibility is in the jobs created.

“In fairness, that doesn’t answer the question,” Guthrie said.

Conway responded that, “I’m talking about the numbers that do matter to the American public right now.”

Copyright (c) 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 

- 30 -

20 Comments [on Washington Post pickup]

USA political snapshot from Texas / TX legislature to ban masturbating / $100 fine per wank

The Hill
USA politics daily
Sunday 12 March 2017

Texas state representative
proposes fines for masturbation
by Reid Wilson

A Texas state representative has introduced legislation that would fine men for masturbating and require them to undergo counseling before obtaining a prescription for Viagra, in an effort to highlight anti-abortion laws that place restrictions on women.

The legislation introduced by state Rep. Jessica Farrar (D) would impose a $100 civil penalty for "masturbatory emissions" that take place outside of a woman's vagina or a hospital. Each incident would
be "considered an act against an unborn child, and failing to preserve the sanctity of life," the bill reads.

Farrar’s measure – which she dubbed “satirical” -- would allow doctors to refuse to conduct vasectomies, write prescriptions for Viagra or perform a colonoscopy if those actions violate the doctor's personal, moral or religious beliefs. Patients would be required to wait 24 hours before a procedure is performed, and doctors would be made to read a state-printed booklet, "A Man's Right To Know," to the patient.

Doctors would also be required to perform a "medically-unnecessary digital rectal exam" and an MRI before performing vasectomies or colonoscopies or before prescribing Viagra.

In a post on Facebook, Farrar said the measure is meant to highlight laws already on the books that impact women's health.

"Although HB 4260 is satirical, there is nothing funny about current health care restrictions for women and the very real legislation that is proposed every legislative session," Farrar wrote on Facebook.

"Women are not laughing at state-imposed regulations and obstacles that interfere with their ability to legally access safe healthcare, and subject them to fake science and medically unnecessary procedures."

Texas's Republican-dominated legislature has passed several measures intended to reduce the number of abortion providers and the number of abortions performed in recent years, part of a nationwide trend of conservative-backed measures passed since the Republican wave of 2010.

In 2011, Texas legislators passed a law that required women seeking an abortion to undergo a sonogram and listen to a description of the fetus before the procedure was performed. The law required the state to publish a booklet, "A Woman's Right To Know," which describes those rules.

- 30 -

===============
reader comments
===============
 Samian • 7 hours ago

As a fellow Texas Democrat, I so am donating money to this woman's campaign.

    Avatar
    PDS The Christian View Samian • 6 hours ago

    We taught our daughters Joy & Amber to refrain from Godless self gratification by NEVER allowing them to close their doors & telling them we had cameras everywhere in the house.

    They've learnt to obey the Lord & his image Donald Jesus Trump
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    ilovedonuts PDS The Christian View • 6 hours ago

    You grab your daughters by the püssy?
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    PDS The Christian View ilovedonuts • 6 hours ago

    Such a vulgar Godless Trump hater. No, I just sleep next to my 2 daughters because we've been doing so since they were little. They're in there 30s now but they're still my kids
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    lanimilbus PDS The Christian View • 6 hours ago

    Yeah, that sounds healthy.
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ilovedonuts PDS The Christian View • 6 hours ago

Is a Drumpfkin calling me vulgar? You realize those were your president's words, right? Idiot.

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    Ofeliamjohnston ilovedonuts • 2 hours ago

    Google is paying 97$ per hour! Work for few hours and have longer with friends & family! !mj73d:
    On tuesday I got a great new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $8752 this last four weeks.. Its the most-financialy rewarding I've had.. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it
    !mj73d:
    ➽➽
    ➽➽;➽➽ http://GoogleFinancialJobsCash73TopMarketing\GetPay$97\Hour...

    ★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★:::::!mj73d:....,.....
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Jay1978 ilovedonuts • 3 hours ago

Umm, I think you're sort of the idiot for not immediately seeing this as satire.

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Iamnotfooled PDS The Christian View • 34 minutes ago

I hope this is satire. If not-----You need meds. And so do they by now.

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becauseofjunk PDS The Christian View • 5 hours ago

So, you are basically saying...
you subscribe to the thought that all women, as being the incarnation of the original sin, since Adam of his own free will took a bite of the apple, thus anything even remotely related to homo sapian sexuality is the woman's responsibility in entirity (even though Rape isn't about Sex but you probably do not agree with that, just blame the victim each and every time.) Because Adam was weak, mislead, etc. etc. etc. I'm surprised you do not have a justification that although they arose from Adam's Rib they are actually Satan's spawn to fit your narrative. It must really hurt your feelings when they see the Rib and want to stick it right back in again just to make a point.

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Clay Coleman PDS The Christian View • 4 hours ago

Post a link to your church, or how about a facebook site with your face and information.
You have the power of Christ in your corner, so nothing to fear.

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Truth PDS The Christian View • 5 hours ago

You sound like a child molester. No wonder you voted for President Pssygrabber.

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    NorthernSky Truth • 4 hours ago

    It's a parody account.
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    Jay1978 NorthernSky • 3 hours ago

    God, the fact they didn't see this is sad. Now I know that the liberals are as dumb as Trump supporters and that there is absolutely no place for rational, moderates in this country. Breaks my heart a little.
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1sadmomma NorthernSky • 3 hours ago

The sad thing is, it's believable that a Trump supporter would believe the things that s/he posts.

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JamesPiekko1 Samian • 7 hours ago

i am surprised that people will admit that in this day and age, you know they can track you down and now that obama isn't in charge, you will be in jail.

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    Bansi Jones JamesPiekko1 • 6 hours ago

    Track us down for what James?
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    JamesPiekko1 Bansi Jones • 6 hours ago

    being liberals.
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    red25 JamesPiekko1 • 5 hours ago

    You're trying too hard
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Dave JamesPiekko1 • 4 hours ago

Don't worry. Trump will have to imprison Ivanka first for being a liberal Democrat. His wife probably won't like that. That will, no doubt, put the kibosh on the entire Jail-a-Liberal program.

James, have you thought this through?

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fred call JamesPiekko1 • 5 hours ago

The lady is a Democrat....he legislation introduced by state Rep. Jessica Farrar (D)

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UR_FREINDLY_NEIGHBORHOOD_TROLL Samian • 7 hours ago

"a fellow Texas Democrat" Lol, how surprising,

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fred call Samian • 5 hours ago

Would you donate to my 'Save the Mules and Goats and Sheep From Democrats' philanthropic cause?

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Seattle Rain • 7 hours ago

Gosh, I bet a lot of those Texas Republicans would go broke.

I love that woman's sense of humor and irony.

[lots more comments ...]

Dept of Alternative Facts & Fake News / Trump goes on anti-Obama Twitter tantrum, facts to follow / watch this space

Click to enlarge.

Reuters
UK newswire
Saturday 4 March 2017

Trump claims Obama wiretapped him
during campaign; Obama refutes it

by David Shepardson

WASHINGTON DC -- U.S. President Donald Trump accused predecessor Barack Obama on Saturday of wiretapping him during the late stages of the 2016 election campaign, but offered no evidence for an allegation which an Obama spokesman said was "simply false."

Trump made the accusation in a series of early morning tweets just weeks into his administration and amid rising scrutiny of his campaign's ties to Russia.

"How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!"

Trump wrote in one tweet.

"I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!"

The remarkable tussle between the current and former presidents just 45 days since the handover of power is the latest twist in a controversy over ties between Trump associates and Russia that has dogged the early days of his presidency.

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded last year that Russia hacked and leaked Democratic emails during the election campaign as part of an effort to tilt the vote in Trump's favor. The Kremlin has denied the allegations.

Trump has accused officials in Obama's administration of trying to discredit him with questions about Russia contacts.

Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said it had been a "cardinal rule" of the Obama administration that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice.

"Neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false," Lewis said in a statement.

The statement did not address the possibility that a wiretap of the Trump campaign could have been ordered by Justice Department officials.

Trump said the alleged wiretapping took place in his Trump Tower office and apartment building in New York, but there was "nothing found." The White House did not respond to a request to elaborate on Trump's accusations.

AIDES CAUGHT BY SURPRISE

Trump was spending the weekend at his Florida seaside resort, Mar-a-Lago. He was scheduled to meet with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly before a dinner with officials also including adviser Steve Bannon and White House Counsel Don McGahn, the White House said.

Amid a political storm, Sessions on Thursday announced he would stay out of any probe into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election after it emerged he met last year with Russia's ambassador, although he maintained he did nothing wrong by failing to disclose the meeting.

A Trump spokeswoman said the president spent part of Saturday "having meetings, making phone calls and hitting balls" at his golf course in West Palm Beach.

His supporters, meanwhile, staged small rallies in at least 28 of the country's 50 states, most of which passed off peacefully. But there were clashes in the famously left-leaning city of Berkeley, California, where protesters from both sides hit each other over the head with wooden sticks.

Trump's tweets caught his aides by surprise, with one saying it was unclear what the president was referring to.

Members of Congress said Trump's accusations require investigation or explanation.

Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican, described the allegations as serious and said the public deserved more information. He said in a statement it was possible that Trump had been illegally tapped, but, if so, the president should explain what sort of tap it was and how he knew about it.

U.S. Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called Trump's assertion a "spectacularly reckless allegation".

"If there is something bad or sick going on, it is the willingness of the nation's chief executive to make the most outlandish and destructive claims without providing a scintilla of evidence to support them," Schiff said in a statement.

Former Obama adviser Ben Rhodes strongly denied Trump's allegations: "No president can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you," Rhodes wrote on Twitter.

RUSSIA SANCTIONS

Trump's administration has come under pressure from Federal Bureau of Investigation and congressional investigations into contacts between some members of his campaign team and Russian officials during his campaign.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he had no knowledge of any wiretapping but was "very worried" about the suggestion Obama had acted illegally and would also be concerned "if in fact the Obama administration was able to obtain a warrant lawfully about Trump campaign activity."

Several other Republicans again urged an investigation into a series of intelligence-related leaks.

Obama imposed sanctions on Russia and ordered Russian diplomats to leave the United States in December over the country's involvement in hacking political parties in the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election.

Under U.S. law, a federal court would have to have found probable cause that the target of the surveillance is an "agent of a foreign power" in order to approve a warrant authorizing electronic surveillance of Trump Tower.

Several conservative news outlets and commentators have made allegations in recent days about Trump being wiretapped during the campaign, without offering any evidence.

Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned in February after revelations that he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office.

Flynn had promised Vice President Mike Pence he had not discussed U.S. sanctions with the Russians, but transcripts of intercepted communications, described by U.S. officials, showed that the subject had come up in conversations between him and the Russian ambassador.

(Additional reporting by Melissa Fares in West Palm Beach, Florida, Richard Cowan and Steve Holland in Washington and Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Writing by Nick Tattersall and Richard Cowan; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Mary Milliken)
 - 30 -

$million ticket around the Moon includes puking, peeing, frying, bloating, freak-outs, maybe Death

Cliquez fiche pour le plus grande.

Frame from "Le Voyage dans la Lune," 1902 silent film by Georges Méliès. Méliès' wife hand-colored some prints frame by frame. (Color movie film had not yet been introduced.)

Agence France Presse
(newswire France)
Wednesday 1 March 2017

Moon tourists risk 
rough ride, experts say

by Laurence COUSTAL, Mariëtte Le Roux

Annoyances on the journey could include unexpected claustrophobic freak-outs, and a disturbed sleep cycle which will translate into heavy jetlag back on home soil

Paris (AFP) -- Non-stop vomiting, a puffy face and the constant need to pee: Volunteers for a week-long loop around the Moon may be in for a rough ride even if all goes to plan.

In the week that SpaceX announced it would launch two tourists to skirt Earth's satellite in 2018, experts agreed the health effects would chiefly be minor and short-lived.

These are the stakes:

* Feeling green

"Like every single astronaut who goes into space, they're going to get ... very bad motion sickness," Daniel Grant of the Centre for Altitude Space and Extreme Environment Medicine in London, told AFP.

This is because the balance sensors in the inner ear which tell us which way is up and down, get all confused in zero gravity.

Some astronauts get over it within hours, while others need days -- clearly a problem for a trip lasting only a week.

In bad news for selfie enthusiasts, another symptom is a puffy face (and thinner legs) as body fluids, pulled downward by gravity on Earth, spreading out and upward in the weightless environment.

This can also lead to profuse urination -- tricky in an environment where everything, including liquids, float.

Bones and muscles will change too, say the experts, although a week is probably too short to cause lasting weakness.

Other annoyances on the journey could include unexpected claustrophobic freak-outs, and a disturbed sleep cycle which will translate into heavy jetlag back on home soil.

* Radiation risk

A potentially graver, but less likely, peril is elevated cancer risk from exposure to radiation outside Earth's protective magnetosphere.

Spaceships have built-in protection against radiation, which is hundreds of times higher than on Earth. Radiation doses for a short trip like this one would be low, "but that does not mean there is no risk at all," said Thomas Berger, a radiation biology expert at the German DLR space agency.

It grows with so-called solar particle events -- massive ejections of protons from the Sun which can deliver highly concentrated doses of radiation.

These events, which can last two days, are unpredictable but rare.

A major eruption was registered in 1972, between two Apollo missions to the Moon. None has occurred while humans were in space.

If it does, spacecraft have "storm shelters."

But if humans were somehow to get caught in the blast, high exposure could cause radiation sickness leaving the travellers too ill to control their vessel.

In an extreme case, they could die.

* Technical problems

The main danger to space tourists, observers agree, is spacecraft failure.

"In my view, the biggest risks are technical failure on blastoff, during the voyage, or on reentry into Earth's atmosphere," said Martin Giard of France's National Institute for Earth Sciences and Astronomy.

"There is an overall risk of an accident ... something going wrong," added John Logdsdon, former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University [Washington DC].

But he stressed "the technology is even better now than 45 years ago," when we last sent humans into deep space.

* Unknowns

Up to now, said Grant, only extremely healthy people, "basically perfect humans," have been sent to space after months of training and health checks.

"With space tourism, you're going to start seeing some unhealthy people getting sent into space. If they need to be on medication or they have illnesses in the background, we don't know how they react in space because we've never seen that before."

For most, the payoff far outweighs the risks.

"There are of course, a lot of risks," said Berger. It doesn't mean you have to scare people. But it is always necessary to inform everybody about possible risks, and this starts with the risk of sitting on a rocket." 

- 30 -

from the holy Bashtet chronicles: Elmer Elevator the Maine Coon Cat

click to enlarge, good luck

last president to flee White House visits newest president for a little chat

Click, maybe gets bigger.

2 commemoratives / top by old army pal who lives in USA state shaped like palm of right mitten / diphthong v ligature

Copyright (c) 2017 by Ron Bizer

All Rights Reserved

Creative Commons (CC) 2017 by Robert Merkin 

Pass it around, please credit moi.

Click on either stamp to enlarge.

I always thought combined letters like ae and oe were diphthongs. For the 2nd time in the current millennnium, I was wrong. These squished-together vowel pairs are called ligatures.

 

PizzaQ! What do they call their act? (5 slices endives + shallots)

click, gets larger, sorry

V2.0 / Lamestream Media ignores massacres by Muslims in America / zero Christians & Swedenborgians killed

Click, probably gets bigger.

New England Public Radio
Friday 3 February 2017

Lamestream Media ignores 

horrible terrorist massacre 

in Bowling Green, Kentucky 

by Bill Chappell

Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, is under fire after making the false claim that Bowling Green, Kentucky, was the scene of a massacre carried out by Iraqis. Conway made the claim in an MSNBC interview that aired Thursday night, in which she argued in favor of President Trump's immigration and refugee ban.

historical marker by Roy Clendaniel, Abingdon, Maryland USA

Click to enlarge.

In trying to make her case, Conway also accused the media of not covering a massacre on U.S. soil that was perpetrated by terrorists posing as refugees. Friday morning, Conway suggested in a tweet that the claim had been an honest mistake.

The city of Bowling Green says it appreciates the clarification, with Mayor Bruce Wilkeson stating, "I understand during a live interview how one can misspeak."

In the interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Conway defended Trump's order to freeze the flow of travelers and refugees from seven majority-Muslim countries. The travel ban, Conway said, is "narrowly proscribed, and also temporary," and is aimed at making America safer.

The senior member of Trump's staff, who is credited with introducing the concept of "alternative facts" to America's discourse, then said:

"I bet, there was very little coverage -- I bet it's brand new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized -- and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre. I mean, most people don't know that because it didn't get covered."

In this case, as a growing number of people are pointing out, most people don't know that purported "new information" because it describes something that did not transpire.

======================================Natasha Rothwell Verified Twitter account
?@natasharothwell

Saddened and sickened by Frederick Douglass'
silence surrounding the Bowling Green Massacre.
======================================
Jim Osborne ?@ozzy4873 Feb 2

I was a student at BGSU when the Bowling Green 
Massacre didn't happen.
I'll never be able to not forget what I didn't see that day.
==========================================
 
Conway's claim is being ridiculed on Twitter and elsewhere, with fake tributes emerging to honor the nonexistent tragic event. Some of them invoke the hashtag #JeSuisBowlingGreen, playing off of expressions of empathy over actual terrorist attacks that transpired in recent history.

The remarks also briefly set off confusion over whether Conway was referring to Bowling Green, Kentucky (home of Western Kentucky University) or Bowling Green, Ohio (home of Bowling Green State University), some 400 miles away.

Friday morning, the White House adviser tweeted that she was referring to the town in Kentucky, along with a link to an article about Iraqis arrested on terrorism charges in 2011.
 

Trump's Immigration Freeze Omits Those Linked To Deadly Attacks In U.S.

We'll note that no Iraqi has carried out a deadly attack in the U.S. since the U.S.-led invasion of their country in 2003, though many Iraqis were involved in the insurgency that killed American troops. And as NPR's Greg Myre has reported, Trump's list of nations whose citizens are barred from entering the U.S. "doesn't include any countries from which radicalized Muslims have actually killed Americans in the U.S. since Sept. 11, 2001."

As criticism poured forth Friday morning, Conway said in a tweet, "Honest mistakes abound."

That statement highlights a dilemma in today's America: When public officials become known for promoting inaccuracies -- and fake news is blamed for misinforming people -- the task of distinguishing honest mistakes from calculated misstatements becomes more complex.

This morning, Conway also complained that an NBC reporter had contacted her about a separate story -- but hadn't asked her to clarify her remarks about Bowling Green.

"Not cool, not journalism," she wrote. In another tweet that soon followed, she wrote, "Honest mistakes abound."

Setting aside Conway's claim of a massacre, the more widely accepted version of a known refugee-related national security event in Kentucky goes something like this: Two Iraqi men who entered the U.S. as refugees and lived in Bowling Green were arrested in 2011 and charged with supporting a terrorist group.

Despite acquiring Stinger missiles, guns and explosives that they believed to be real, neither Waad Alwan nor Mohanad Hammadi planned an attack in Kentucky; instead, they tried to send the weapons and money to al-Qaida in Iraq. And rather than being radicalized in the U.S., both men admitted to being involved in IED attacks on U.S. vehicles in Iraq.

At the time, national security experts said the case revealed "an alarming gap in the screening process" for refugees, as NPR's Carrie Johnson reported.

"U.S. Homeland Security officials say the Alwan case exposed gaps in the screening process at the start of the Obama administration," Johnson reported in 2011 (when they were arrested, both men had been in the U.S. for around two years). "Nowadays, they say, applicants undergo a lot more scrutiny, and their names are run through more terrorist watch lists and other intelligence databases."

In 2013, Alwan and Hammadi were sentenced to lengthy prison sentences -- a life term for Hammadi and a 40-year term for Alwan.

"Both defendants were closely monitored by federal law enforcement authorities in the months leading up to their arrests," the Justice Department said. "Neither was charged with plotting attacks within the United States."

As for Conway's claim that President Obama declared "a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program," a look at the events of 2011 shows that after the terrorism arrests, the administration slowed down but did not halt the process.

The White House was criticized that summer for what The New Yorker called an "excruciatingly slow" process of approving Iraqis' visas. At the end of the year, the State Department said it had admitted more than 9,300 Iraqis -- half the number of the previous year. Part of that slowdown was blamed on tighter security screenings that began at the start of 2011.

- 30 -

 

das Dekapitatal

Click to enlarge maybe.

der Spiegel = the Mirror

In Reuters news article:

The artist who designed the cover, Edel Rodriguez, a Cuban who came to the United States in 1980 as a political refugee, told The Washington Post: "It's a beheading of democracy, a beheading of a sacred symbol."

The New Colossus

by Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
MOTHER OF EXILES. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
 

Ciudad Vleeptron Alternative Facts & Fake News / a publication of Agence-Vleeptron Presse Media Group

Click, maybe gets bigger.

新年快樂 / Year of Fire Rooster begins today!

Click to enlarge.

Asian Lunar New Year 2017 is the Year of the Fire Rooster. It begins on Friday 23 January. A transliteration of the traditional greeting: Gong Hee Fot Choy!

Postalö Vleeptron / 1st Day Issue: TRUMP / "America Needs This Clown" / 45 pepes

Click stamp, maybe gets bigger.

(cc) 2017 Robert Merkin
Take it down, pass it around, please acknowledge creator. Thanks.
Leave a Comment. Rotate your tires. 

a new world of Alternative Facts / a new administration of Pants On Fire

Bloomberg News Service

(U.S. wire)

21 January 2017

Trump Aide Says Press Secretary Used ‘Alternative Facts’

by Justin Sink, Margaret Talev and Toluse Olorunnipa

 

• Spicer falsely claims largest-ever inauguration audience
• Photographs, data from subway contradict Trump claims

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer makes a statement to members of the media at the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on Jan. 21, 2017.
Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images

A top adviser to President Donald Trump said Sunday that his press secretary, Sean Spicer, had offered “alternative facts” in a statement the day before from the White House briefing room in which he contested reports on the size of Trump’s inauguration audience.

“Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts,” Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

Her remark drew a riposte from the program’s host, Chuck Todd. “Look, alternative facts are not facts. They’re falsehoods.”

Conway’s characterization of Spicer’s statement exacerbated a growing rift between Trump’s White House and the news organizations that cover it, less than two days into his administration. On Saturday, his first full day in office, Trump and Spicer both made easily disproved claims, adding fuel to his opponents’ charges that the president is a habitual liar.

CIA Speech

During a speech at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, Trump accused the media -- whom he termed “among the most dishonest human beings on Earth” -- of inventing a “feud” between him and the U.S. intelligence community. In fact, Trump has fought a running public battle with intelligence community leaders for months over their conclusion that the Russian government intervened in the presidential campaign, going so far as to suggest that the CIA was the source of leaks against him.

“One last shot at me,” Trump said about the intelligence community 11 Janunary on Twitter, where he has over 21,000,000 followers. “Are we living in Nazi Germany?”

In the same appearance at the Central Intelligence Agency, Trump mused that “a million or a million and a half” people had attended his inauguration.

There is no official crowd count for the event, but photographs from the same vantage point at about the same time of day clearly show that attendance was significantly less than at Barack Obama’s first inauguration in 2009, when city officials said that 1.8 million people gathered on the National Mall. The Washington subway system said that it had fewer riders by 11 a.m. Friday than at the same time on the day of Obama’s second, smaller inauguration in 2013.

Photographs and data from the subway system, Metro, also indicate that Saturday’s Women’s March on Washington, a protest against Trump, outdrew the inauguration. Over 1 million people rode Metro on Saturday, transit authority CEO Paul Wiedefeld said in a letter to employees. It was the second-busiest day in the system’s history, after Obama’s 2009 inauguration, he said. Total ridership on Friday was 570,557, which would not rank among the system’s highest ridership days.

Spicer Statement

Late in the afternoon on Saturday, Spicer took to the podium in the White House briefing room for the first time to say that Trump’s inauguration audience was the largest ever “both in person and around the globe.”

Using misleading subway ridership numbers, Spicer claimed that more people rode Metro on the day of Trump’s inauguration than during Obama’s second inauguration. Spicer compared ridership numbers at 11 a.m. for Obama’s 2013 inauguration with full-day numbers for Trump’s event, which would include many more people on return trips.

Full-day ridership for Obama’s first inauguration was a record 1.5 million. Metro ridership on an average weekday in 2016 was about 639,000.

 

Television coverage of Trump’s inauguration reached an average of 30.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media figures reported Saturday by The Hollywood Reporter. By comparison, almost 38 million people watched Obama’s first swearing-in ceremony in 2009, and 41.8 million viewers for Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural, according to data reported by Nielsen. The ratings for Trump don’t account for the increase in alternative methods of watching, such as streaming on mobile devices. Spicer took no questions from reporters on Saturday and didn’t specify how many people the White House believes attended the inauguration.

“This is called a statement you’re told to make by the president,” former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said on Twitter after Spicer’s remarks. “And you know the president is watching.”

After Conway’s remarks, Merriam-Webster weighed in on Twitter, posting a definition of the word “fact” and a link to its website. “Lookups for ‘fact’ spiked after Kellyanne Conway described false statements as ‘alternative facts’,” the dictionary publisher said. 

White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said that media coverage indicating higher turnout at the Women’s March in Washington and at previous inaugurations compare to Trump’s inauguration amounted to attacks on the president’s political legitimacy.

“There’s an obsession by the media to delegitimize this president, and we are not going to sit around and let it happen,” Priebus said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We’re going to fight back tooth and nail every day, and twice on Sunday.”

- 30 -