Saturday, March 3, 2018
Every Friday the Wall Street Journal has something called "Houses of Worship" aka "Houses of Stupidity".
This Wall Street Journal article is about the Orthodox Jewish. These are the extremists. They have a lot in common with Muslim scum. For example evolution makes them cry. Also they share the Muslim terrorist requirement to force women to cover their hair because the God/Allah fantasy requires this bullshit. Another thing they share with terrorists is a fear of pork steaks. They don't like pigs and pig farmers. The stupid, it burns.
Virtually every Jew I have met is a normal person, aka atheist. These extremists are a minority.
Here is the weekly religious stupidity from the Wall Street Journal:
Modesty on Instagram Is a Tough Balance. Orthodox Jewish women trade fashion tips and photos online. Is it kosher?
By Batsheva Neuer March 1, 2018 17 COMMENTS
Orthodox Jewish fashion blogging may sound like an oxymoron. Yet the unlikely social-media phenomenon has taken off, particularly on Instagram. Today the best known modesty bloggers have thousands of followers and shape how countless Jewish women dress across the world. But is it all kosher?
Orthodox women face a host of sartorial challenges thanks to prohibitive rabbinical dress-code guidelines. When in public, they must cover their shoulders and knees at all times. Married women are required to cloak their hair. Modesty fashion bloggers claim to offer less-restrictive solutions to the challenges presented by such rules. Layering solves the no-shoulders precept. Luscious, celebrity-like wigs have the hair covering covered, while trendy maxi-skirts screen the knees.
These blogs aren’t only about working around rules: Some even infuse their platform with biblical teachings and spiritual growth maxims. It isn’t unusual for a blogger to publish a petition for prayer, followed by a runway image of the newest Burberry dress.
“Being in the fashion industry, you are surrounded with all kinds of trends and styles. So you have to be strong and put a barrier in between the not-so-modest trends,” Rachelle Yadegar, an Orthodox modesty blogger in Los Angeles, told me in January. “I would love to just throw on a pair of light-wash denim jeans and a slouchy T. But I don’t.”
Although the bloggers ostensibly try to advance principles of modesty, it isn’t always clear whether their material is consistent with the spirit of Jewish law. Chavie Lieber, an Orthodox Jew and reporter at the fashion site Racked, is skeptical. “The subculture of modest fashion bloggers who hawk luxury merchandise while idealizing something as personal as the laws of tzniut”—Hebrew for modesty—“has always been confusing to me,” she said. “The entire emphasis seems to be on the exterior without considering what else modesty means.”
From a traditional Jewish perspective, the notion of modesty extends to both sexes, and far beyond the technicalities of skin exposure. Micah the prophet established the principle that God requires of mankind to hatzneh lechet, or walk humbly before the Lord. Moses is lauded in biblical texts as the humblest man on earth.
“The challenge is to be attractive without being attracting,” according to Rabbi Efrem Goldberg, who runs an Orthodox congregation in Boca Raton, Fla. “Dressing provocatively through tightness, style or suggestion, even if covering all the right places, violates not only the spirit of the laws of modesty, but the letter of the law as well.”
One modesty blogger—who boasts more than 30,000 Instagram followers—often posts photos with shoes or bags that likely cost more than some of her followers’ monthly rent. The same fashionista in August 2017 shared a picture of herself wearing a diamond-encrusted Cartier watch while kneading challah dough, the weekly Jewish ritual meant to invoke Kabbalistic charm. Another blogger, who colors her posts with more-religious messaging, once shared a photo of herself at a medieval rabbi’s gravesite.
But even skeptics like Ms. Lieber sympathize with Orthodox women who feel uninspired by their clothing: “If the idea is to be a muse for the Jewish community, then power to them. There’s definitely a need for that in the fashion community.” It’s the overt materialism that “just doesn’t align with Jewish values.”
“Our mission is to engage the mundane and elevate it, to embrace the physical and transform it into spiritual opportunity and experience,” said Rabbi Goldberg. “If approached in this way, ‘modest fashion’ is not an oxymoron, but rather an attempt to appreciate the aesthetic of fashion, an expression of the beauty of God’s world.”
Halakha, Hebrew for Jewish law, directly translates as “walking.” The name serves as a reminder that Judaism isn’t merely a legal code but an all-encompassing lifestyle. While Judaism doesn’t mandate austerity or self-abnegation, its focus—at least according to the rabbis—ultimately is on the depth of the soul. If Halakha is to be met, modesty blogging might require more soul-searching and fewer brand names.
Virtually every Jew I have met is a normal person, aka atheist. These extremists are a minority.
Here is the weekly religious stupidity from the Wall Street Journal:
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| Backstage during an event in Jerusalem dubbed "Modest Fashion Day," the first of its kind in Israel, whereby designers showed off their clothing creations aimed at Orthodox Jewish women. |
By Batsheva Neuer March 1, 2018 17 COMMENTS
Orthodox Jewish fashion blogging may sound like an oxymoron. Yet the unlikely social-media phenomenon has taken off, particularly on Instagram. Today the best known modesty bloggers have thousands of followers and shape how countless Jewish women dress across the world. But is it all kosher?
Orthodox women face a host of sartorial challenges thanks to prohibitive rabbinical dress-code guidelines. When in public, they must cover their shoulders and knees at all times. Married women are required to cloak their hair. Modesty fashion bloggers claim to offer less-restrictive solutions to the challenges presented by such rules. Layering solves the no-shoulders precept. Luscious, celebrity-like wigs have the hair covering covered, while trendy maxi-skirts screen the knees.
These blogs aren’t only about working around rules: Some even infuse their platform with biblical teachings and spiritual growth maxims. It isn’t unusual for a blogger to publish a petition for prayer, followed by a runway image of the newest Burberry dress.
“Being in the fashion industry, you are surrounded with all kinds of trends and styles. So you have to be strong and put a barrier in between the not-so-modest trends,” Rachelle Yadegar, an Orthodox modesty blogger in Los Angeles, told me in January. “I would love to just throw on a pair of light-wash denim jeans and a slouchy T. But I don’t.”
Although the bloggers ostensibly try to advance principles of modesty, it isn’t always clear whether their material is consistent with the spirit of Jewish law. Chavie Lieber, an Orthodox Jew and reporter at the fashion site Racked, is skeptical. “The subculture of modest fashion bloggers who hawk luxury merchandise while idealizing something as personal as the laws of tzniut”—Hebrew for modesty—“has always been confusing to me,” she said. “The entire emphasis seems to be on the exterior without considering what else modesty means.”
From a traditional Jewish perspective, the notion of modesty extends to both sexes, and far beyond the technicalities of skin exposure. Micah the prophet established the principle that God requires of mankind to hatzneh lechet, or walk humbly before the Lord. Moses is lauded in biblical texts as the humblest man on earth.
“The challenge is to be attractive without being attracting,” according to Rabbi Efrem Goldberg, who runs an Orthodox congregation in Boca Raton, Fla. “Dressing provocatively through tightness, style or suggestion, even if covering all the right places, violates not only the spirit of the laws of modesty, but the letter of the law as well.”
One modesty blogger—who boasts more than 30,000 Instagram followers—often posts photos with shoes or bags that likely cost more than some of her followers’ monthly rent. The same fashionista in August 2017 shared a picture of herself wearing a diamond-encrusted Cartier watch while kneading challah dough, the weekly Jewish ritual meant to invoke Kabbalistic charm. Another blogger, who colors her posts with more-religious messaging, once shared a photo of herself at a medieval rabbi’s gravesite.
But even skeptics like Ms. Lieber sympathize with Orthodox women who feel uninspired by their clothing: “If the idea is to be a muse for the Jewish community, then power to them. There’s definitely a need for that in the fashion community.” It’s the overt materialism that “just doesn’t align with Jewish values.”
“Our mission is to engage the mundane and elevate it, to embrace the physical and transform it into spiritual opportunity and experience,” said Rabbi Goldberg. “If approached in this way, ‘modest fashion’ is not an oxymoron, but rather an attempt to appreciate the aesthetic of fashion, an expression of the beauty of God’s world.”
Halakha, Hebrew for Jewish law, directly translates as “walking.” The name serves as a reminder that Judaism isn’t merely a legal code but an all-encompassing lifestyle. While Judaism doesn’t mandate austerity or self-abnegation, its focus—at least according to the rabbis—ultimately is on the depth of the soul. If Halakha is to be met, modesty blogging might require more soul-searching and fewer brand names.
If you think a magic god fairy is real or might be real you are a fucktard. You have no brain.
Definition of righteous: acting in accord with divine or moral law, free from guilt or sin
Definition of sin: an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law. "a sin in the eyes of God"
Two words normal people never use: righteous and sin
When I see the words "righteous" or "sin" I know the person is god-soaked fucktard. The stupid, it burns.
Definition of sin: an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law. "a sin in the eyes of God"
Two words normal people never use: righteous and sin
When I see the words "righteous" or "sin" I know the person is god-soaked fucktard. The stupid, it burns.
I answered a question about the Christian scum who infest Idiot America.
Is it true that fun dies with fundies?
Evolution makes fundies cry.
Fundies are unable to mind their own fucking business because they're stupid assholes.
Fundies are gullible. They believe any bullshit that makes them feel good.
Fundies are cowards. Reality makes them cry. That's why they think a magical-2nd-life is real. It's not real. It's impossible not to mention childish and ridiculous. Fundie cowards believe in it anyway.
Fundies are equal to Muslim terrorists, equally insane, equally afraid of reality.
Evolution makes fundies cry.
Fundies are unable to mind their own fucking business because they're stupid assholes.
Fundies are gullible. They believe any bullshit that makes them feel good.
Fundies are cowards. Reality makes them cry. That's why they think a magical-2nd-life is real. It's not real. It's impossible not to mention childish and ridiculous. Fundie cowards believe in it anyway.
Fundies are equal to Muslim terrorists, equally insane, equally afraid of reality.
Friday, March 2, 2018
Trump is insane. He has to be thrown out the window. I wrote this at the Wall Street Journal:
‘Trade Wars Are Good,’ Trump Tweets
Trump is acting like a child while destroying his own country.
Enough is enough. Trump is obviously insane and he needs to be impeached.
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Someone else wrote "We have a lunatic in the White House."
Trump is acting like a child while destroying his own country.
Enough is enough. Trump is obviously insane and he needs to be impeached.
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Someone else wrote "We have a lunatic in the White House."
Fucktard Trump said "trade wars are good". What a stupid fucking asshole. This is the president of the fucking United States and this asshole is acting like a child while destroying his own country. What a stupid fucking retard.
BBC News - Trump steel tariffs: European Union gears up for trade war
European Union officials have said they will respond "firmly" if US President Donald Trump presses ahead with his plan for steep global duties on metals.
EU trade chiefs are considering slapping 25% tariffs on around $3.5bn (£2.5bn) of imports from the US, Reuters news agency reports.
World Trade Organization Director General Roberto Azevedo said: "A trade war is in no one's interests."
The rhetoric ramped up as Mr Trump tweeted that "trade wars are good".
International condemnation has greeted the US president's Thursday announcement that he plans to impose a 25% tariff on steel imports and 10% on aluminium next week.
European Union officials have said they will respond "firmly" if US President Donald Trump presses ahead with his plan for steep global duties on metals.
EU trade chiefs are considering slapping 25% tariffs on around $3.5bn (£2.5bn) of imports from the US, Reuters news agency reports.
World Trade Organization Director General Roberto Azevedo said: "A trade war is in no one's interests."
The rhetoric ramped up as Mr Trump tweeted that "trade wars are good".
International condemnation has greeted the US president's Thursday announcement that he plans to impose a 25% tariff on steel imports and 10% on aluminium next week.
Wikipedia: "More than 50 specimens of Tyrannosaurus rex have been identified, some of which are nearly complete skeletons. Soft tissue and proteins have been reported in at least one of these specimens. The abundance of fossil material has allowed significant research into many aspects of its biology, including its life history and biomechanics. The feeding habits, physiology and potential speed of Tyrannosaurus rex are a few subjects of debate."
Nice teeth. This monster could eat a human head with one bite. As everyone knows the dinosaurs went extinct about 66 million years ago (except one branch of dinosaurs, the ancestors of birds).
In Idiot America there are millions of idiots who think T. rex and human apes lived together about 6,000 years ago. I'm not making this up. Our American idiots are the most idiotic idiots in the world. They belong to the Jeebus Death Cult.
Wikipedia - Tyrannosaurus
When Christian fucktards call magical creationism "intelligent design" it's still magic and it's still bullshit, not to mention childish, moronic, and totally wrong.
In Idiot America there are millions of evolution deniers. They prefer magical creationism. Some of these morons for Jeebus use the code words "intelligent design" which everyone knows is magical creationism. These Jeebus assholes know it's dishonest to call magic "design" but they don't care because they're stupid fucking assholes.
America's anti-science assholes have their favorite professional assholes. They especially like an anti-science asshole who works for an anti-science Christian creationist organization called the Discovery Institute. Biologists call it Crackpot Central. The asshole they like is Stephen Meyer. They often invoke Meyer's moronic anti-science book to justify their love for magical creationism.
Meyer is extremely stupid and very dishonest. He is a typical professional Christian asshole.
Of course this retard for Jeebus is one of the loons in the Encyclopedia of American Loons.
Idiot America's most idiotic state, Texas, hired Stephen Fucktard Meyer to review Texas science curriculum standards. In other words the Texas Board of Education hired a science denier to review science curriculums. The extreme stupid, it burns.
This is a copy and paste job from the Encyclopedia of American Loons. It's about Meyer's dishonesty and his extreme stupidity. He is one of the most important crackpots at Crackpot Central.
Stephen C. Meyer is a philosopher and one of the hotshots of the Discovery Institute. And like some philosophers and all Discovery Institute people, he likes to make grand claims about scientific fields about which he must be counted as an illiterate. Meyer helped found the Center for Science and Culture (CSC) of the Discovery Institute (DI), which is the major hive for the ID creationist movement. Meyer is currently vice president and a senior fellow at CSC, and a director of the Access Research Network. He has been described as “the person who brought ID (intelligent design) to DI (Discovery Institute)”, he contributed to the second edition of Dean Kenyon’s “Of Pandas and People”, wrote (with Ralph Seelke) the ID textbook “Explore Evolution”, was appointed by the Texas Board of Education to be on the committee reviewing Texas’s science curriculum standards, is the primary link to DI sponsor and Taliban theocrat loon Howard Ahmanson, and was partly responsible for the Wedge Strategy, as well as an active speaker and debate panelist.
In 1999, Meyer (with David DeWolf and Mark DeForrest) designed a legal strategy for introducing intelligent design into public schools in the book “Intelligent Design in Public School Science Curriculum.” (I mean, the point of ID is to get creationism and religion into the schools, not to do science). He is perhaps most famous for trying to realize the strategy through helping to introduce ID to the Dover Area School District (more extensively here), and for his ridiculous 2009 book “Signature in the Cell” (which a probably drunk/dementia suffering Thomas Nagel actually praised, flaunting his own ignorance of science). PZ Myers was offered a review copy by Meyer’s assistant Janet Oberembt, but never received it. The book actually makes twelve “predictions” for ID (although they are not predictions in the ordinary scientific sense because they are not derived from any concrete theory, and they all concern testing the theory of evolution, not ID). He also offers a “theory”. The theory is unrelated to the predictions. He derives no predictions from his theory. He offers nothing resembling a coherent justification either, so the book didn’t receive much positive feedback from actual scientists. He has offered some appeals to authority, however (“Thomas Jefferson wasn’t a Darwinist”).
In March 2002 he announced the “teach the controversy” strategy aimed at promoting the false idea that the theory of evolution is controversial within scientific circles, following a presentation to the Ohio State Board of Education. Since Meyer knows this is false, he was lying, but dishonesty isn’t exactly a surprising trait in ID advocates. The presentation included a bibliography of 44 peer-reviewed scientific articles that were said to raise significant challenges to key tenets of what was referred to as "”Darwinian evolution”. When NCSE contacted the authors, none of the authors who responded (the authors of thirty-four of the papers) thought that their research provided evidence against evolution. Meyer also publicly claimed that the “Santorum Amendment” was part of the Education Bill, and therefore that the State of Ohio was required to teach alternative theories to evolution as part of its biology curriculum. Which is demonstrably false, but tells you a lot about the DI creationists.
Of course, he thinks there is active persecution of the purportedly fast-growing number of scientists rejecting evolution in Academia (probably because he cannot find any). He was interviewed about those claims in Expelled.
Diagnosis: One of the staunchest, most influential, most dishonest anti-science advocates in the world. Crackpot and complete hack.
America's anti-science assholes have their favorite professional assholes. They especially like an anti-science asshole who works for an anti-science Christian creationist organization called the Discovery Institute. Biologists call it Crackpot Central. The asshole they like is Stephen Meyer. They often invoke Meyer's moronic anti-science book to justify their love for magical creationism.
Meyer is extremely stupid and very dishonest. He is a typical professional Christian asshole.
Of course this retard for Jeebus is one of the loons in the Encyclopedia of American Loons.
Idiot America's most idiotic state, Texas, hired Stephen Fucktard Meyer to review Texas science curriculum standards. In other words the Texas Board of Education hired a science denier to review science curriculums. The extreme stupid, it burns.
This is a copy and paste job from the Encyclopedia of American Loons. It's about Meyer's dishonesty and his extreme stupidity. He is one of the most important crackpots at Crackpot Central.
Stephen C. Meyer is a philosopher and one of the hotshots of the Discovery Institute. And like some philosophers and all Discovery Institute people, he likes to make grand claims about scientific fields about which he must be counted as an illiterate. Meyer helped found the Center for Science and Culture (CSC) of the Discovery Institute (DI), which is the major hive for the ID creationist movement. Meyer is currently vice president and a senior fellow at CSC, and a director of the Access Research Network. He has been described as “the person who brought ID (intelligent design) to DI (Discovery Institute)”, he contributed to the second edition of Dean Kenyon’s “Of Pandas and People”, wrote (with Ralph Seelke) the ID textbook “Explore Evolution”, was appointed by the Texas Board of Education to be on the committee reviewing Texas’s science curriculum standards, is the primary link to DI sponsor and Taliban theocrat loon Howard Ahmanson, and was partly responsible for the Wedge Strategy, as well as an active speaker and debate panelist.
In 1999, Meyer (with David DeWolf and Mark DeForrest) designed a legal strategy for introducing intelligent design into public schools in the book “Intelligent Design in Public School Science Curriculum.” (I mean, the point of ID is to get creationism and religion into the schools, not to do science). He is perhaps most famous for trying to realize the strategy through helping to introduce ID to the Dover Area School District (more extensively here), and for his ridiculous 2009 book “Signature in the Cell” (which a probably drunk/dementia suffering Thomas Nagel actually praised, flaunting his own ignorance of science). PZ Myers was offered a review copy by Meyer’s assistant Janet Oberembt, but never received it. The book actually makes twelve “predictions” for ID (although they are not predictions in the ordinary scientific sense because they are not derived from any concrete theory, and they all concern testing the theory of evolution, not ID). He also offers a “theory”. The theory is unrelated to the predictions. He derives no predictions from his theory. He offers nothing resembling a coherent justification either, so the book didn’t receive much positive feedback from actual scientists. He has offered some appeals to authority, however (“Thomas Jefferson wasn’t a Darwinist”).
In March 2002 he announced the “teach the controversy” strategy aimed at promoting the false idea that the theory of evolution is controversial within scientific circles, following a presentation to the Ohio State Board of Education. Since Meyer knows this is false, he was lying, but dishonesty isn’t exactly a surprising trait in ID advocates. The presentation included a bibliography of 44 peer-reviewed scientific articles that were said to raise significant challenges to key tenets of what was referred to as "”Darwinian evolution”. When NCSE contacted the authors, none of the authors who responded (the authors of thirty-four of the papers) thought that their research provided evidence against evolution. Meyer also publicly claimed that the “Santorum Amendment” was part of the Education Bill, and therefore that the State of Ohio was required to teach alternative theories to evolution as part of its biology curriculum. Which is demonstrably false, but tells you a lot about the DI creationists.
Of course, he thinks there is active persecution of the purportedly fast-growing number of scientists rejecting evolution in Academia (probably because he cannot find any). He was interviewed about those claims in Expelled.
Diagnosis: One of the staunchest, most influential, most dishonest anti-science advocates in the world. Crackpot and complete hack.
Very accurate definition of Christian fundamentalist from the Urban Dictionary.
A person, usually heavily right-winged christian, who tries to force his religion and ideas down other people's throats. Impossible to argue with, because they always use the bible as proof that they are right. Try to censor everything. When anyone tries to stop them, they claim they are being oppressed, and the "opressor" is a liberal activist who is against people of faith. Takes the bible waaaaay too literally. Laughs whenever they are beaten in a debate, stating cockily, "Well, I win 'cause you're going to hell."
Syria is a disaster. Lots of genocide and war crimes. I don't see any end to it and things could get much worse. A Wikipedia article about the genocide and a Wall Street Journal about Syria, United States, Russia, Iran, Turkey, Israel, and the Islamic State terrorists, everyone trying to kill everyone else.
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| Doctors tend to victims injured in an airstrike that killed several members of one family at their home in Otaybah, Eastern Ghouta, on Feb. 25, 2018. |
The casualties of the Syrian Civil War have been great; UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura stated in April 2016 that 400,000 people had died in the conflict.[3] In December 2016, 450,000 Syrians were estimated to have been killed; 4.8 million Syrians fled Syria (becoming refugees), 6.3 million were internally displaced within Syria, and 13.5 million required humanitarian assistance.[4] The war has been marked by "devastation and extreme suffering among civilians"[4] and international aid groups "have long denounced the indiscriminate brutality" that has characterized the conflict.[5] In March 2017, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 465,000 people had died in the conflict, of which 96,000 civilians, and an additional 145,000 civilians were missing.[6][7] The SOHR attributed 83,500 civilian deaths to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and its allies, including Russia; 7,000 to Syrian rebels and allied forces; 3,700 to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL); 920 to the U.S.-led coalition; and 500 to Turkey.[6][7]
According to various human rights organizations and the United Nations, human rights violations have been committed by both the government and the rebels,[8] with the "vast majority of the abuses having been committed by the Syrian government".[9][10][11][12] The U.N. commission investigating human rights abuses in Syria confirms at least 9 intentional mass killings in the period 2012 to mid-July 2013, identifying the perpetrator as Syrian government and its supporters in eight cases, and the opposition in one.[13][14] The United Nations has since conducted several further studies.
The Assad regime has been blamed for using chemical weapons (chlorine gas) against civilians and conducted torture and extrajudicial killings. Assad has also been accused of "Indiscriminate and disproportionate aerial bombardment and shelling" which "led to mass civilian casualties and spread terror."[2] War crimes reported being committed by the Free Syrian Army and other rebel groups include recruiting child soldiers, shelling civilian-populated areas, taking hostages and murdering members of religious minorities, and use of poison gas. A May 2013 the UN confirmed that rebel groups in the war had used the nerve agent sarin gas as a weapon against the Syrian government.[8][15]
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Wall Street Journal - In Syria, Foreign Powers’ Scramble for Influence Intensifies. Diverging strategic and commercial interests among countries and their proxies could lead to a wider regional conflict.
32 COMMENTS
BEIRUT—The demise of Islamic State is intensifying a scramble among foreign powers in Syria, raising the risk that diverging strategic and commercial interests could lead to a wider regional war.
In the past month, a U.S. airstrike in the eastern part of the countrykilled an unknown number of Russian military contractors; Israel hit Iranian military installations deep inside Syria; while Turkey waged a campaign against Kurdish militias in the north.
The volatile situation is a result of how the fight against Islamic State was conducted, with players seizing territory, arming proxies and aggravating long-existing ethnic and political divisions. The result: a series of flashpoints where clashes could erupt among major powersand spill over Syria’s borders.
“No one wants that war, but everyone is ready for it and expects it,” said Emile Hokayem, a Syria expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
Russia has emerged as a dominant force, after intervening to turn the tide in the multisided conflict in favor of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Yet even Russian President Vladimir Putin, who in December declared victory but has kept his country deeply involved, has limited control.
With the backing of Russia and Iran, Mr. Assad has largely prevailed against rebels trying to oust him, relying on ferocious violence to recapture territory and cornering his remaining opponents in pockets like Eastern Ghouta on the outskirts of Damascus and in the northwestern province of Idlib.
Other hot spots are in the north, where Turkey is trying to drive back Syrian Kurdish militants, and the east, where the U.S. is fighting the last significant pocket of Islamic State fighters. In the south, Israel could be drawn into the conflict by responding to the increased presence of forces loyal to Iran.
Earlier this month, U.S. forces launched air strikes and an artillery bombardment when fighters, including Russian military contractors, moved to occupy a gas field near the eastern town of Deir Ezzour. U.S. officials said about 100 people were killed.
Moscow played down the incident, with Russia’s foreign ministry acknowledging a handful of deaths. Russia was likely seeking to avoid escalating tensions, wrote Pavel K. Baev, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, last week.
Russia and the U.S. have also come close to clashing in the air. Since October, Russian planes have breached the U.S.-controlled eastern side of the Euphrates River half a dozen times a day, said Lt. Col. Earl Brown, Central Command spokesman.
On Dec. 13, U.S. F-22 Raptors intercepted two Russian Sukhoi SU-25s and for 40 minutes fired flares and used an emergency channel to get the Russians to depart the U.S.-controlled airspace. At one point, American and Russian planes nearly collided.
“It’s become increasingly tough for our pilots to discern whether Russian pilots’ actions are deliberate or if these are just honest mistakes,” Lt. Col. Brown said. “The coalition’s greatest concern is that we could shoot down a Russian aircraft because its actions are seen as a threat to our air or ground forces.” The U.S. hasn’t downed a Russian aircraft in more than 60 years and doing so would greatly risk retaliation.
Iran, the other staunch ally of the Assad regime, has consolidated what it calls a “front of resistance” against Israel and the U.S. This month, Israel made its deepest foray into the war when it shot down an Iranian drone over the Golan Heights and went on to bomb a series of Iranian and Syrian installations deep into Syria. An Israeli jet was shot down by antiaircraft missiles during one of the raids.
Israel’s bombardments likely required consent from Russia, which controls the airspace and sat back as the Israeli jets took off and hit their targets. A subsequent wave of Israeli jets was suddenly called off, most likely after Russia decided to intervene, said Amos Yadlin, a former head of military intelligence in Israel.
“I think the Russians wanted to de-escalate,” said Mr. Yadlin, who heads the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies. “It’s in their interests to keep stability in Syria as much as possible.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed the leader held a call with Mr. Putin but declined to comment on whether Moscow had intervened.
Some degree of instability can work in Russia’s interest—in that Russia’s rivals weaken each other, but as long as survival of the Assad regime isn’t threatened.
When Turkish planes and ground troops in January began pummeling the Kurdish enclave of Afrin to drive out the Kurdish YPG militia, they did so with silent consent from Russia, which controls the airspace in the northwest. Turkey’s foreign minister said Turkish officials who visited Moscow before the offensive were there to get Russian permission for the maneuvers.
“Russia wants to be the one calibrating what happens on the battlefield,” the analyst Mr. Hokayem said. “The Russians know they cannot coerce everyone. Their goal is that others will weaken each other, and Russia will become more influential in shaping the country afterwards.”
The fighting also benefits Russia because it strains relations between Ankara and the U.S., which fought alongside Syrian Kurds against Islamic State. Turkey threatens to continue eastward from Afrin to Manbij where U.S. Special Forces are based.
The Trump administration has signaled an open-ended U.S. presence in Syria, but it is reluctant to get deeper into direct fighting or mediating the conflict. That disengagement in Syria heightens the risk of a regional war, Mr. Hokayem said. Rival powers need to communicate to diffuse potential clashes but don’t have an obvious channel, absent U.S. mediation.
“Everyone is hoping that the Russians will pick up this role, but we don’t know if they are able or willing to do so,” he said.
—Benoit Faucon and Dov Lieber contributed to this article.
Write to Sune Engel Rasmussen at sune.rasmussen@wsj.com
Appeared in the March 1, 2018, print edition as 'Foreign Powers in Syria Jockey for Clout.'
This was a ridiculous question which I didn't answer. Instead I wrote something about it.
"It's inevitable that the chickens will one day be our masters & rule the Earth. When that happens will the Christians worship a chicken god?"
An interesting scientific fact: One branch of dinosaurs did not go extinct 66 million years ago because of their small size. This branch of dinosaurs are the ancestors of today's numerous bird species. Birds are dinosaurs.
Chickens are dinosaurs. I eat dinosaur thighs every day.
Reality is a wonderful thing because it's interesting. I can't imagine anything more boring than the moronic god fairy fantasy.
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Somebody did answer the dumb question and it was excellent:
"It's inevitable that the chickens will one day be our masters & rule the Earth. When that happens will the Christians worship a chicken god?"
As long as the chicken rose from the dead after three days it shouldn't be an issue. Better make sure it was really dead, though, since taking off their heads doesn't always do the trick. Come to think of it, based on the "Mike the chicken" story, there may be more cause to worship chickens than many think.
An interesting scientific fact: One branch of dinosaurs did not go extinct 66 million years ago because of their small size. This branch of dinosaurs are the ancestors of today's numerous bird species. Birds are dinosaurs.
Chickens are dinosaurs. I eat dinosaur thighs every day.
Reality is a wonderful thing because it's interesting. I can't imagine anything more boring than the moronic god fairy fantasy.
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Somebody did answer the dumb question and it was excellent:
"It's inevitable that the chickens will one day be our masters & rule the Earth. When that happens will the Christians worship a chicken god?"
As long as the chicken rose from the dead after three days it shouldn't be an issue. Better make sure it was really dead, though, since taking off their heads doesn't always do the trick. Come to think of it, based on the "Mike the chicken" story, there may be more cause to worship chickens than many think.
Cha-ching! For every dollar I spend I get two cents back. Once every 2 months I transfer the cash to my checking account. It's usually about $40.00. That's about $240 a year for doing nothing. This is one of the advantages of having an excellent credit rating.
Thursday, March 1, 2018
"Does God rejoice when someone ends up in hell?"
"Does God rejoice when someone ends up in hell?"
It would be more accurate to say Christian terrorists rejoice when they think a normal person goes to their ridiculous magical hell.
Of course everyone who isn't insane knows it's impossible to torture a dead person because they're fucking dead.
There is no magical heaven. There is no magical hell. This is a basic fact of reality.
Bible thumpers and Muslim terrorists are afraid of reality. They're feeble-minded cowards.
It would be more accurate to say Christian terrorists rejoice when they think a normal person goes to their ridiculous magical hell.
Of course everyone who isn't insane knows it's impossible to torture a dead person because they're fucking dead.
There is no magical heaven. There is no magical hell. This is a basic fact of reality.
Bible thumpers and Muslim terrorists are afraid of reality. They're feeble-minded cowards.
President Fucktard Trump wants a trade war. What a stupid fucking asshole.
BBC News:
"President Donald Trump is to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminium imports next week, hitting producers like Canada and China."
"The news is likely to provoke an angry reaction from China, and analysts have expressed fears of the prospect of new trade wars."
Wall Street Journal:
President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose stiff tariffs on steel and aluminum imports sparked worries of a global trade war. The bigger worry: the potential for retaliatory measures by other countries that could imperil U.S. exports and jobs. But who really hurts from the tariffs? Probably not China.
"President Donald Trump is to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminium imports next week, hitting producers like Canada and China."
"The news is likely to provoke an angry reaction from China, and analysts have expressed fears of the prospect of new trade wars."
Wall Street Journal:
President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose stiff tariffs on steel and aluminum imports sparked worries of a global trade war. The bigger worry: the potential for retaliatory measures by other countries that could imperil U.S. exports and jobs. But who really hurts from the tariffs? Probably not China.
House Finch
In most cases, adult males' heads, necks and shoulders are reddish. This color sometimes extends to the belly and down the back, between the wings. Male coloration varies in intensity with the seasons and is derived from the berries and fruits in its diet.
Their song is a rapid, cheery warble or a variety of chirps.
Somebody said something wrong on the internet. I fixed the problem.
"Atheists: Do you assume that if life can created it in a lab it disproves God? Would that not just prove that it does take intelligence to create life?"
The 1st simple living cells got a foothold on Earth 4 billion years ago. It was a natural process. If research shows how the natural process worked that's a good thing. It definitely does not mean god-did-it. Only uneducated morons buy the god-did-it bullshit.
Science hard, hurts brain.
God easy, no think.
The 1st simple living cells got a foothold on Earth 4 billion years ago. It was a natural process. If research shows how the natural process worked that's a good thing. It definitely does not mean god-did-it. Only uneducated morons buy the god-did-it bullshit.
Science hard, hurts brain.
God easy, no think.
The Church of Christ was the 1st Jeebus cult therefore it is the one true Jeebus religion. That sounds reasonable but there are some problems.
The Church of Christ is the one true religion according to the Church of Christ.
The idea is the Church of Christ was the 1st Church therefore every other Christian cult invented after the Church of Christ is wrong.
This is all in the Bible and the Bible is always right because the Bible says the Bible is always right.
Also the Bible is the Word of God because the Bible says the Bible is the Word of God.
Does anyone see the problem here?
Everything you always wanted to know about the Church of Fucking Christ is at the Church of Christ.
Why do billions of people believe in bullshit? I think it's a stupidity problem. Extreme stupidity. Batshit Crazy stupidity.
The idea is the Church of Christ was the 1st Church therefore every other Christian cult invented after the Church of Christ is wrong.
This is all in the Bible and the Bible is always right because the Bible says the Bible is always right.
Also the Bible is the Word of God because the Bible says the Bible is the Word of God.
Does anyone see the problem here?
Everything you always wanted to know about the Church of Fucking Christ is at the Church of Christ.
Why do billions of people believe in bullshit? I think it's a stupidity problem. Extreme stupidity. Batshit Crazy stupidity.
I answered this question: "What is a Fundamentalist Christian compared to just a Christian?"
"What is a Fundamentalist Christian compared to just a Christian?"
The fundies are a bit more batshit crazy than the other insane Christians.
Someone else wrote this: A significantly bigger idiot, compared to just a garden variety or "run-of-the-mill" idiot.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Imagine the stupidity required to believe the dead decomposing Magic Jeebus Man magically became a zombie?
The fundies are a bit more batshit crazy than the other insane Christians.
Someone else wrote this: A significantly bigger idiot, compared to just a garden variety or "run-of-the-mill" idiot.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Imagine the stupidity required to believe the dead decomposing Magic Jeebus Man magically became a zombie?
Here is another reason, as if another reason was required, to never let Muslims enter America. Never. No exceptions. If you're a Muslim fucktard stay out of my country you stupid worthless piece of crap.
Christians are morons not to mention insane but they don't whip people for gambling. Only Muslim fucktards do that. Then of course there are the daily suicide bombings, the requirement that women wear a black tent, and thousands of other idiotic violent things Muslim assholes do every day.
I never gamble but if other people want to do that I'm OK with it. I just mind my own business. Muslims can't mind their own business because they're stupid fucking assholes.
There are no moderate Muslims because there is nothing moderate about being a stupid fucking asshole. Muslims lost their right to live on this planet a long time ago. Muslims are scum.
A quote from an ex-Muslim: "The only way to reform Islam is get rid of Islam."
Do we need this bullshit in America? I don't think so. "Separately on Tuesday, an unmarried Muslim man and woman received more than 20 lashes each for the offense of being intimate together."
The "moderate Muslims" love to watch these atrocities: "The province’s Shariah courts are imposing hundreds of whippings a year."
Wall Street Journal - Indonesian Christians Flogged in Rare Shariah Punishment for Non-Muslims. The pair were publicly whipped for gambling as the country shifts toward a more politicized brand of Islam.
By Ben Otto and Anita Rachman
Updated Feb. 28, 2018 12:51 p.m. ET 188 COMMENTS
JAKARTA—Two Indonesian Christians were publicly whipped for gambling, a rare case of non-Muslims being punished here under Islamic law, as the country shifts toward a more politicized brand of the religion associated with the Middle East.
The man and woman are residents of Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra island, a province that has imposed strict Shariah law. They were whipped at least six times each on Tuesday by a robed man wearing a mask and wielding a rattan cane. Hundreds of onlookers jeered them as the punishment was carried out on a stage next to a mosque in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.
Indonesia, the world’s most-populous Muslim-majority country, has long been known for its more moderate form of the religion. It has laws protecting the rights of Christians and other groups, a robust democracy and an open economy attracting investors including Toyota Motor Co. to Samsung Electronics Co. The capital Jakarta has restaurants with female staff in skimpy outfits.
But hard-line Islamic groups have been using the country’s democratic system to promote an Islamic agenda, building support among citizens with charity work and public preaching.
![]()
Last year, hard-liners succeeded in a campaign to imprison the Christian governor of Jakarta for blasphemy. Lawmakers are now negotiating a revision of the criminal code, including provisions pushed by Islamic parties that would imprison gay people or unmarried cohabiting heterosexuals.
Aceh is the only province in Indonesia governed by Shariah law, under a measure of autonomy allowed to settle a separatist conflict in the country of 250 million people.
Some 98% of Aceh’s five million people are Muslims. They can face flogging for offenses including drinking alcohol, adultery, gay sex, gambling or having romantic relationships before marriage. The province’s Shariah courts are imposing hundreds of whippings a year.
The minority in Aceh who aren’t Muslims have a choice of being punished under either the civil code or Shariah. Some choose flogging to avoid lengthy prison terms. In January, a Christian was sentenced to 36 lashes for selling alcohol.
The two Christians flogged on Tuesday were punished for playing a game at a children’s entertainment complex in a way authorities say amounted to gambling, said Yusnardi, head of Banda Aceh’s Shariah police force, which enforces laws rooted in Islamic faith. A Muslim man also involved in the case received at least 19 strokes. Details on what the game entailed weren’t immediately clear. Gambling is illegal across the whole country.
Separately on Tuesday, an unmarried Muslim man and woman received more than 20 lashes each for the offense of being intimate together.
The sentences brought swift condemnation from human-rights groups. “Corporal punishment is torture under the United Nations Convention against Torture, which Indonesia has ratified,” said Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch.
Indonesia has long struggled with a minority of extremists. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, terrorists affiliated with al Qaeda killed hundreds of people in bombings—and the country has been on the lookout for possible returnees among the Indonesians who joined Islamic State in the Middle East.
Prominent groups of the country’s bombing survivors declined this week to participate in meetings orchestrated by officials to allow reformed terrorist convicts to make formal, face-to-face apologies to victims.
Write to Ben Otto at ben.otto@wsj.com
I never gamble but if other people want to do that I'm OK with it. I just mind my own business. Muslims can't mind their own business because they're stupid fucking assholes.
There are no moderate Muslims because there is nothing moderate about being a stupid fucking asshole. Muslims lost their right to live on this planet a long time ago. Muslims are scum.
A quote from an ex-Muslim: "The only way to reform Islam is get rid of Islam."
Do we need this bullshit in America? I don't think so. "Separately on Tuesday, an unmarried Muslim man and woman received more than 20 lashes each for the offense of being intimate together."
The "moderate Muslims" love to watch these atrocities: "The province’s Shariah courts are imposing hundreds of whippings a year."
 |
| Crowds watched as an Indonesian Christian was flogged Tuesday in a public square in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. |
Wall Street Journal - Indonesian Christians Flogged in Rare Shariah Punishment for Non-Muslims. The pair were publicly whipped for gambling as the country shifts toward a more politicized brand of Islam.
Updated Feb. 28, 2018 12:51 p.m. ET 188 COMMENTS
JAKARTA—Two Indonesian Christians were publicly whipped for gambling, a rare case of non-Muslims being punished here under Islamic law, as the country shifts toward a more politicized brand of the religion associated with the Middle East.
The man and woman are residents of Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra island, a province that has imposed strict Shariah law. They were whipped at least six times each on Tuesday by a robed man wearing a mask and wielding a rattan cane. Hundreds of onlookers jeered them as the punishment was carried out on a stage next to a mosque in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.
Indonesia, the world’s most-populous Muslim-majority country, has long been known for its more moderate form of the religion. It has laws protecting the rights of Christians and other groups, a robust democracy and an open economy attracting investors including Toyota Motor Co. to Samsung Electronics Co. The capital Jakarta has restaurants with female staff in skimpy outfits.
But hard-line Islamic groups have been using the country’s democratic system to promote an Islamic agenda, building support among citizens with charity work and public preaching.
Hard-Line Muslim Groups Make Inroads in Indonesia
Hard-line Islamic groups are challenging Indonesia’s tradition of religious tolerance and secular law. Video: Warangkana Chomchuen/WSJ. Photo: Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images
Aceh is the only province in Indonesia governed by Shariah law, under a measure of autonomy allowed to settle a separatist conflict in the country of 250 million people.
Some 98% of Aceh’s five million people are Muslims. They can face flogging for offenses including drinking alcohol, adultery, gay sex, gambling or having romantic relationships before marriage. The province’s Shariah courts are imposing hundreds of whippings a year.
The minority in Aceh who aren’t Muslims have a choice of being punished under either the civil code or Shariah. Some choose flogging to avoid lengthy prison terms. In January, a Christian was sentenced to 36 lashes for selling alcohol.
The two Christians flogged on Tuesday were punished for playing a game at a children’s entertainment complex in a way authorities say amounted to gambling, said Yusnardi, head of Banda Aceh’s Shariah police force, which enforces laws rooted in Islamic faith. A Muslim man also involved in the case received at least 19 strokes. Details on what the game entailed weren’t immediately clear. Gambling is illegal across the whole country.
Separately on Tuesday, an unmarried Muslim man and woman received more than 20 lashes each for the offense of being intimate together.
The sentences brought swift condemnation from human-rights groups. “Corporal punishment is torture under the United Nations Convention against Torture, which Indonesia has ratified,” said Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch.
Indonesia has long struggled with a minority of extremists. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, terrorists affiliated with al Qaeda killed hundreds of people in bombings—and the country has been on the lookout for possible returnees among the Indonesians who joined Islamic State in the Middle East.
Prominent groups of the country’s bombing survivors declined this week to participate in meetings orchestrated by officials to allow reformed terrorist convicts to make formal, face-to-face apologies to victims.
Write to Ben Otto at ben.otto@wsj.com
I can read only 5 New York Times articles a month for free. I made a mistake when I started reading this thing. I didn't want to waste my 5 chances to read stuff for free. Here it is, more Trump bullshit.
Trump Calls Sessions’s Handling of Surveillance Abuse Allegations ‘Disgraceful’
By PETER BAKER and KATIE BENNER FEB. 28, 2018
WASHINGTON — The long-simmering friction between President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions erupted into an extraordinary public face-off on Wednesday as the investigation into Russia’s election interference roiled the administration and raised new questions about the independence of law enforcement agencies.
Mr. Trump excoriated Mr. Sessions for not ordering his own investigation into the handling of the Russia inquiry during its early months, calling his attorney general “DISGRACEFUL” in a lacerating Twitter post. Mr. Sessions, who has absorbed blows from the White House since last year mostly in silence, responded with a rare statement defending his “integrity and honor.”
The back-and-forth, unthinkable in previous administrations, came during a week of unrest at the White House. As the president railed about the special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation, his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, was stripped of his top-secret security clearance. One of Mr. Trump’s closest aides, Hope Hicks, announced that she will step down as communications director. And Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman was back in court pleading not guilty to new charges.
The schism between Mr. Trump and his attorney general has become a persistent subplot of his administration, an almost Shakespearean rift between a president and one of his earliest and strongest supporters. Mr. Sessions was the first senator to back Mr. Trump’s candidacy but has fallen out of favor because the president wanted an attorney general who would protect him and investigate his political enemies.
The two rarely speak except in formal meetings, and both sides describe the relationship as broken. In between the president’s tweet and Mr. Sessions’s response on Wednesday, the two stood awkwardly yards apart at a Capitol memorial service honoring the Rev. Billy Graham. Mr. Trump later fumed in the Oval Office about Mr. Sessions’s statement, according to advisers, once again leaving the attorney general’s fate in question.
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3 of the comments:
"By the time the Trump - Sessions schism reaches the dead end the charges of obstructing justice against Trump will appear more convincing..."
"Trump is so bad that he makes Sessions seem like a thoughtful, sympathetic public servant. Without Trump, I could never see Sessions this..."
"President Trump has no respect for the A.G. because he has no respect for the law. All Trump respects is loyalty, on a one-way street."
But the president’s options are constrained, advisers said, because he recognizes that he would have a difficult time winning Senate confirmation for a replacement. Mr. Sessions served there for 20 years, and his former colleagues have bristled at Mr. Trump’s attacks. Any dismissal of Mr. Sessions would be taken by Democrats and even some Republicans as an effort to seize control of the Russia investigation and could trigger a bipartisan backlash.
The exchange on Wednesday began when the president lashed out at Mr. Sessions for seeming to suggest that the Justice Department’s inspector general would look into Republican charges of misconduct in the opening stage of the Russia investigation rather than opening his own examination.
“Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. “Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!”
Republicans have accused Justice Department and F.B.I. officials of abusing their powers while President Barack Obama was still in office by using information from a dossier prepared by a former British spy paid by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign to justify surveillance of a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page. Officials did not fully inform the court that issues warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, of the origin of the information, Republicans complained. Democrats have called that a distortion and distraction.
The inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, was appointed by Mr. Obama in 2012, but previously worked for the Justice Department under Republican and Democratic presidents. He has already been investigating how James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director until Mr. Trump fired him last spring, handled the inquiry into Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.
Mr. Sessions seemed to take umbrage at the president’s latest message. “We have initiated the appropriate process that will ensure complaints against this department will be fully and fairly acted upon if necessary,” he said in his statement.
“As long as I am the attorney general,” he added, “I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor, and this department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and Constitution.”
Mr. Sessions’s response, polite but pointed, was all the more striking because he had largely kept quiet after previous attacks by the president. Mr. Trump has never forgiven Mr. Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, a decision that helped lead to the appointment of Mr. Mueller. Mr. Trump has publicly called Mr. Sessions “weak” and said he would not have appointed him had he known Mr. Sessions would step aside.
His latest eruption was prompted by Mr. Sessions’s comment on Tuesday that if a FISA surveillance warrant was wrongfully obtained, the matter would be “investigated” by the department’s inspector general. His comment was interpreted as confirmation that the inspector general had opened a second official inquiry on top of the Comey review.
But Mr. Sessions only meant to reiterate what he said after a memo drafted by House Republicans was released alleging abuse of the FISA process. At the time, Mr. Sessions said he would “forward to appropriate D.O.J. components all information I receive from Congress regarding this.”
The nuance was lost on Mr. Trump, who among other things did not seem to understand that an attorney general cannot order an inspector general to investigate anything, only refer information.
“The president’s tweet reveals that he really doesn’t understand how the government works and how the Justice Department works,” said Michael Bromwich, a former department inspector general.
He added that the inspector general’s office has a reputation for professionalism. “It’s incredibly demoralizing to have the chief executive of the government not only not understand and appreciate what you do, but attack what you do on a constant basis,” Mr. Bromwich said.
Inspectors general at cabinet agencies are kept separate to preserve their independence. Paul Light, a New York University professor and specialist on the offices, recalled that President Ronald Reagan fired all of the inspectors general but was forced by Congress to rehire some of them. “They have protections in statutes against arbitrary dismissal,” he said.
After Mr. Trump’s tweet, Mr. Horowitz, the inspector general, received support from Republicans, including Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that confirmed him.
“I have complete confidence in him and hope he is given the time, the resources and the independence to complete his work,” said Representative Trey Gowdy, Republican of South Carolina and the chairman of the House Oversight Committee.
Several Republicans expressed dismay at the president’s continued campaign against Mr. Sessions. “It’s kind of mind-boggling that he would call out his own attorney general,” former Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah said on Fox News.
Representative Peter T. King of New York, also on Fox, expressed sympathy with Mr. Trump’s desire for a second investigation run by Mr. Sessions, but added that the president should not berate him. “Jeff Sessions is loyal to the president and he’s one of the first to support him, and he’s often in very difficult positions and I think he’s trying to reconcile as best as he can,” he said.
Michael W. McConnell, a former appellate judge now at Stanford Law School, said a president has every right to direct his attorney general.
“What raises eyebrows is the form and tone of the tweet, which appears to be a commentary on the attorney general’s decisions rather than an exercise of presidential supervisory authority,” he said. “Mr. Trump is the president. If he wants something done differently, he should order that it be done differently, with serious reflection, through proper channels and in the proper form.”
Jamil Jaffer, a law professor at George Mason University and former associate White House counsel under President George W. Bush, said social media was not the best way to direct action by an attorney general. “The president has a lot of tools that are a lot more effective than putting the A.G. on blast on Twitter,” he said.
But Mr. Trump got support from other quarters. Representative Lee Zeldin of New York and a dozen other Republicans sent a letter to Mr. Sessions on Wednesday urging him to appoint a special counsel to investigate the handling of Mrs. Clinton’s case and the FISA warrant targeting Mr. Page.813COMMENTS
The Rev. Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University, suggested that Mr. Sessions had never really supported Mr. Trump in the first place.
“@USAGSessions must be part of the Bush/Romney/McCain Republican Establishment,” he wrote on Twitter. “He probably supported @realDonaldTrump early in campaign to hide who he really is. Or he could just be a coward.”
Eileen Sullivan, Michael Schmidt and Nicholas Fandos contributed reporting.
Follow Peter Baker and Katie Benner on Twitter: @peterbakernyt @ktbenner.
A version of this article appears in print on March 1, 2018, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Trump Tears Into Sessions Over Russia Investigation.
By PETER BAKER and KATIE BENNER FEB. 28, 2018
WASHINGTON — The long-simmering friction between President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions erupted into an extraordinary public face-off on Wednesday as the investigation into Russia’s election interference roiled the administration and raised new questions about the independence of law enforcement agencies.
Mr. Trump excoriated Mr. Sessions for not ordering his own investigation into the handling of the Russia inquiry during its early months, calling his attorney general “DISGRACEFUL” in a lacerating Twitter post. Mr. Sessions, who has absorbed blows from the White House since last year mostly in silence, responded with a rare statement defending his “integrity and honor.”
The back-and-forth, unthinkable in previous administrations, came during a week of unrest at the White House. As the president railed about the special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation, his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, was stripped of his top-secret security clearance. One of Mr. Trump’s closest aides, Hope Hicks, announced that she will step down as communications director. And Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman was back in court pleading not guilty to new charges.
The schism between Mr. Trump and his attorney general has become a persistent subplot of his administration, an almost Shakespearean rift between a president and one of his earliest and strongest supporters. Mr. Sessions was the first senator to back Mr. Trump’s candidacy but has fallen out of favor because the president wanted an attorney general who would protect him and investigate his political enemies.
The two rarely speak except in formal meetings, and both sides describe the relationship as broken. In between the president’s tweet and Mr. Sessions’s response on Wednesday, the two stood awkwardly yards apart at a Capitol memorial service honoring the Rev. Billy Graham. Mr. Trump later fumed in the Oval Office about Mr. Sessions’s statement, according to advisers, once again leaving the attorney general’s fate in question.
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Hope Hicks to Leave Post as White House Communications Director FEB 28
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White House Seeks to Move On From Abuse Scandal. But What Did It Learn? FEB. 19, 2018
3 of the comments:
"By the time the Trump - Sessions schism reaches the dead end the charges of obstructing justice against Trump will appear more convincing..."
"Trump is so bad that he makes Sessions seem like a thoughtful, sympathetic public servant. Without Trump, I could never see Sessions this..."
"President Trump has no respect for the A.G. because he has no respect for the law. All Trump respects is loyalty, on a one-way street."
But the president’s options are constrained, advisers said, because he recognizes that he would have a difficult time winning Senate confirmation for a replacement. Mr. Sessions served there for 20 years, and his former colleagues have bristled at Mr. Trump’s attacks. Any dismissal of Mr. Sessions would be taken by Democrats and even some Republicans as an effort to seize control of the Russia investigation and could trigger a bipartisan backlash.
The exchange on Wednesday began when the president lashed out at Mr. Sessions for seeming to suggest that the Justice Department’s inspector general would look into Republican charges of misconduct in the opening stage of the Russia investigation rather than opening his own examination.
“Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. “Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!”
Republicans have accused Justice Department and F.B.I. officials of abusing their powers while President Barack Obama was still in office by using information from a dossier prepared by a former British spy paid by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign to justify surveillance of a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page. Officials did not fully inform the court that issues warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, of the origin of the information, Republicans complained. Democrats have called that a distortion and distraction.
The inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, was appointed by Mr. Obama in 2012, but previously worked for the Justice Department under Republican and Democratic presidents. He has already been investigating how James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director until Mr. Trump fired him last spring, handled the inquiry into Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.
Mr. Sessions seemed to take umbrage at the president’s latest message. “We have initiated the appropriate process that will ensure complaints against this department will be fully and fairly acted upon if necessary,” he said in his statement.
“As long as I am the attorney general,” he added, “I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor, and this department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and Constitution.”
Mr. Sessions’s response, polite but pointed, was all the more striking because he had largely kept quiet after previous attacks by the president. Mr. Trump has never forgiven Mr. Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, a decision that helped lead to the appointment of Mr. Mueller. Mr. Trump has publicly called Mr. Sessions “weak” and said he would not have appointed him had he known Mr. Sessions would step aside.
His latest eruption was prompted by Mr. Sessions’s comment on Tuesday that if a FISA surveillance warrant was wrongfully obtained, the matter would be “investigated” by the department’s inspector general. His comment was interpreted as confirmation that the inspector general had opened a second official inquiry on top of the Comey review.
But Mr. Sessions only meant to reiterate what he said after a memo drafted by House Republicans was released alleging abuse of the FISA process. At the time, Mr. Sessions said he would “forward to appropriate D.O.J. components all information I receive from Congress regarding this.”
The nuance was lost on Mr. Trump, who among other things did not seem to understand that an attorney general cannot order an inspector general to investigate anything, only refer information.
“The president’s tweet reveals that he really doesn’t understand how the government works and how the Justice Department works,” said Michael Bromwich, a former department inspector general.
He added that the inspector general’s office has a reputation for professionalism. “It’s incredibly demoralizing to have the chief executive of the government not only not understand and appreciate what you do, but attack what you do on a constant basis,” Mr. Bromwich said.
Inspectors general at cabinet agencies are kept separate to preserve their independence. Paul Light, a New York University professor and specialist on the offices, recalled that President Ronald Reagan fired all of the inspectors general but was forced by Congress to rehire some of them. “They have protections in statutes against arbitrary dismissal,” he said.
After Mr. Trump’s tweet, Mr. Horowitz, the inspector general, received support from Republicans, including Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that confirmed him.
“I have complete confidence in him and hope he is given the time, the resources and the independence to complete his work,” said Representative Trey Gowdy, Republican of South Carolina and the chairman of the House Oversight Committee.
Several Republicans expressed dismay at the president’s continued campaign against Mr. Sessions. “It’s kind of mind-boggling that he would call out his own attorney general,” former Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah said on Fox News.
Representative Peter T. King of New York, also on Fox, expressed sympathy with Mr. Trump’s desire for a second investigation run by Mr. Sessions, but added that the president should not berate him. “Jeff Sessions is loyal to the president and he’s one of the first to support him, and he’s often in very difficult positions and I think he’s trying to reconcile as best as he can,” he said.
Michael W. McConnell, a former appellate judge now at Stanford Law School, said a president has every right to direct his attorney general.
“What raises eyebrows is the form and tone of the tweet, which appears to be a commentary on the attorney general’s decisions rather than an exercise of presidential supervisory authority,” he said. “Mr. Trump is the president. If he wants something done differently, he should order that it be done differently, with serious reflection, through proper channels and in the proper form.”
Jamil Jaffer, a law professor at George Mason University and former associate White House counsel under President George W. Bush, said social media was not the best way to direct action by an attorney general. “The president has a lot of tools that are a lot more effective than putting the A.G. on blast on Twitter,” he said.
But Mr. Trump got support from other quarters. Representative Lee Zeldin of New York and a dozen other Republicans sent a letter to Mr. Sessions on Wednesday urging him to appoint a special counsel to investigate the handling of Mrs. Clinton’s case and the FISA warrant targeting Mr. Page.813COMMENTS
The Rev. Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University, suggested that Mr. Sessions had never really supported Mr. Trump in the first place.
“@USAGSessions must be part of the Bush/Romney/McCain Republican Establishment,” he wrote on Twitter. “He probably supported @realDonaldTrump early in campaign to hide who he really is. Or he could just be a coward.”
Eileen Sullivan, Michael Schmidt and Nicholas Fandos contributed reporting.
Follow Peter Baker and Katie Benner on Twitter: @peterbakernyt @ktbenner.
A version of this article appears in print on March 1, 2018, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Trump Tears Into Sessions Over Russia Investigation.
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