monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

For instance, how about the truth: "he is making a valid point, and falsely accusing your intellectual betters of stupidity won't change that".

Source says FISA rebuttal memo loaded with sensitive details

The Democratic rebuttal to a highly publicized GOP memo alleging government surveillance abuse is filled with sensitive details, a source told Fox News – claiming this was done intentionally to pressure the White House to either block the memo’s release or significantly redact it.

The source who spoke to Fox News has read the Democrats’ rebuttal memo, and said it is filled with information on sources and methods taken from original documents.

The release followed vocal objections from Democrats that the [Republican] memo’s release could hurt national security.

While the source described this as a way to put the White House in a difficult spot, Schiff maintained publicly that he wants to make sure the White House "does not redact our memo for political purposes." A Schiff aide referred Fox News back to those comments when asked about the claim that the memo intentionally contained sources and methods.

Trump Evangelical Adviser Says You Don’t Need the Flu Shot Because of Jesus

In the midst of a particularly deadly flu season, an evangelical Trump adviser released a video claiming that you don’t need a flu shot … because Jesus already gave us one.

an interesting take when you consider #45's habit of calling others stupid

Merriam-Webster
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3h3 hours ago
📈'Treason' is still our top lookup and still not a synonym for 'disrespect.'

GOP Rep: Dems May Not Be Treasonous, But They’re ‘Un-American,’ ‘Don’t Love Our Country’

CNN) — A visit to the White House has been a tradition for teams fresh off a Super Bowl victory. But several Philadelphia Eagles players, basking in the glow of their history-making Super Bowl win, say they plan to skip the event.

Many players in the NFL have been critical of President Trump's comments on race relations and athletes taking a knee during the national anthem.

Here are the Eagles players who have said they will not be going to the White House:

Malcolm Jenkins: The Eagles safety, who raised his fist during the National Anthem this past season, leads the Player's Coalition, a group of NFL players negotiating with the league to address the concerns of those who protest. On Monday, he told CNN, "Nah, I personally do not anticipate attending."

Torrey Smith: Even before the Eagles won the Super Bowl, the wide receiver had already made it clear that he wouldn't visit the White House, citing his opposition to Trump. "They call it the anthem protest. We're not protesting the anthem," said Smith, who also raised his fist on the field to express solidarity with the "Black Lives Matter" movement.

"It's a protest during the anthem. I understand why people are mad, or may be offended when someone takes a knee. My father, when he dies, is going to be buried with an American flag draped around his casket, being that he served in the Army."

Chris Long: Chris Long skipped the White House visit last year when he played for last year's champs, the New England Patriots. He won't be going this year either. "No, I'm not going to the White House. Are you kidding me?" he said during an interview on Pardon My Take Podcast last Sunday.

Last year, Long released a video online explaining his decision: "When my son grows up -- and I believe the legacy of our president is going to be what it is -- I don't want him to say, 'Hey dad, why'd you go when you knew the right thing was to not go.'"

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who has emerged in recent weeks as one of President Donald Trump's most vocal critics, fired back after Trump called Democrats "treasonous" for not applauding him during his State of the Union address.

"We don't live in a dictatorship or monarchy. I swore an oath - in the military and in the Senate - to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, not to mindlessly cater to the whims of Cadet Bone Spurs and clap when he demands I clap," Duckworth wrote in a tweet, using a nickname she had given Trump, who had said in previous interviews that he was granted medical deferment during the Vietnam War after he was diagnosed with bone spurs in his feet.

Duckworth, D-Ill., who lost both legs in 2004 while serving in Iraq as an Army helicopter pilot, then shared this quote from Theodore Roosevelt, from an opinion piece the former president wrote during World War I: "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."

Duckworth has been highly critical of Trump, particularly on issues involving military and national security.

In a Senate-floor speech last month, Duckworth called Trump a "five-deferment draft dodger" who had no business accusing Democrats - like herself - of not caring for the military.

"Does he even know that there are service members who are in harm's way right now, watching him, looking for their commander in chief to show leadership, rather than to try to deflect blame?" Duckworth said.

The speech was prompted by a tweet in which Trump accused Democrats of "holding our Military hostage over their desire to have unchecked illegal immigration." It's one of many partisan attacks Trump launched to blame Democrats for a congressional budget stalemate that had led to a partial federal government shutdown.

The junior senator also accused Trump of trying to bait North Korea into a war by escalating his rhetoric against Kim Jong Un.

"I have a message for 'Cadet Bone Spurs,' " Duckworth said. "If you cared about our military, you'd stop baiting Kim Jong Un into a war that could put 85,000 American troops, and millions of innocent civilians, in danger."

During a speech about tax cuts Monday, Trump veered off script and accused Democrats of treason, a crime punishable by death, for not applauding even as he touted positive unemployment numbers during his State of the Union address

"Even on positive news like that, really positive news like that, they were like death and un-American," Trump told a crowd in Blue Ash, Ohio. "Somebody said 'treasonous.' I mean, yeah, I guess, why not? Shall we call that treason? Why not? I mean, they certainly didn't seem to love our country very much."

Responding to criticisms Tuesday, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told NBC News that Trump was speaking "tongue in cheek" and was simply saying that all Americans, regardless of party, should celebrate positive news.

(...)

Two and three decades ago, Mr. Trump spoke to David Letterman and Rona Barrett in the quietly composed phrasing we expect of public figures expressing serious thoughts. So why does the same man now toss off word salad?

Because he can.

The younger Mr. Trump, albeit as self-obsessed as now, was not yet a rock star, and he had a businessman's normal inclination to present himself in as polished a manner as possible in public settings. Especially as someone who grew up in the 1950s, when old-school standards of oratory were still part of the warp and woof of American linguistic culture, Mr. Trump instinctually talked "up" when the cameras were rolling. To him, cloaking his speech in its Sunday best would have been part of, as it were, being a gentleman.

However, for him this would always have been more stunt than essence. Since he is someone who neither reads nor reflects, his linguistic comfort zone has always been the unadorned.

At a certain point, Mr. Trump became the man who felt – and was comfortable saying publicly – that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and retain his supporters' allegiance. Someone with that mind-set, especially a sybaritic person unaccustomed to sustained effort, has no impetus to speak in a way unnatural to him in public.

Mr. Trump is equally unmoved by any sense that to speak as a president is a kind of kabuki or performance art, in which one doesn’t so much talk as signal. He has learned that he can just show up and run his mouth, and he’ll be adored regardless.

Some suppose Mr. Trump started talking down deliberately in order to portray folksiness. But this imputes to him a sociological sensitivity, a reflective, outwardly focused theory of mind, that he shows no evidence of otherwise. More likely, Mr. Trump has simply taken the path of least resistance.

Note, for example, another difference between the younger Mr. Trump and today's: comfort. In those old interviews he is a more buttoned-up person, obviously somewhat wary of the eyes upon him. Now, he revels in the attention as if he's the paterfamilias at the head of a Thanksgiving dinner table. The articulate Mr. Trump of yore was wearing a linguistic tuxedo; today's swivel-tongued Mr. Trump is in a linguistic track suit.

The difference between the younger man talking in sentences and the older one talking in vocal ejaculations is evidence not of decline but authenticity – he has settled into his normal. Late in life an artless man has learned that he could leave his linguistic fly unzipped and life would go on. It may not be pretty, but it isn't a sign that his pants are going to fall down.