WTF Community

Day 259

General Discussion
#1

Updated 10/5/2017 5:55 AM PDT

1/ Rex Tillerson, James Mattis, and Steven Mnuchin have a "suicide pact," where all three cabinet secretaries will leave in the event that Trump fires one of them. Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that Tillerson, Mattis, as well as Chief of Staff John Kelly “help separate the country from chaos" – meaning Trump. He added that "I hope they stay because they're valuable to the national security of our nation." Yesterday, Tillerson refuted reports that he’d been persuaded to stay on in his role over the summer by Mike Pence. He did not, however, address questions about whether he had called Trump a "fucking moron" or not. (BuzzFeed News / Politico)

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2017/10/05/day-259/
#2

The latest in hateful policies from Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III & the Trump administration:

Current Mood:
anger

2 Likes
#4

:ru: CNN Exclusive: Mueller’s team met with Russia dossier author, Christopher Steele

CNN has horrible timing - literally a minute after I got today’s newsletter, I got this as a breaking news notification! :woman_facepalming:t3: :woman_facepalming:t3: :woman_facepalming:t3:

1 Like
#6

@matt “The details about a “suicide pact” have not been confirmed by other, reputable news outlets.”

Hmm. Obviously multiple sourcing is always better, but I can’t recall seeing this kind of ed-note when you’ve linked to exclusive reports from, say, WaPo or NYT even better other outlets have confirmed with their own sources. I’d personally consider BuzzFeed a reputable mainstream source. Their news division hires high quality reporters (some of them are friends/former colleagues of mine, so I’m a bit biased, but that’s how I know these people are quality!) who do actual journalism work.

Double or triple sourcing is always better, of course, just tossing out my two cents that I think of BuzzFeed as just as trustworthy when it comes to journalism as any other mainstream outlet. :slight_smile: Just caught my eye because I can’t remember seeing an editor’s note like that before.

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#7

Other countries (one of our closest allies at that) have taken to Twitter to school Trump on the Iran​ deal. :point_down:t3:

#8

Example:
This 5-part BuzzFeed report from June investigated a possible cover-up of a Russian assassination on British soil of a man involved with the $230 million Russian Treasury tax fraud/money-laundering scheme.

(That man fled the criminal operation after he learned Sergei Magnitsky, who revealed the tax fraud, was arrested and later killed in a Moscow prison. That sparked Russian sanctions by the U.S., and the Canadian Parliament’s lower house just passed their version of the Magnitsky Act yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump, Jr. in Trump Tower last summer was the same attorney representing one of the companies that allegedly helped launder some of the money.)

5 Likes
#10

BuzzFeed News suffers from its name and association with the rest of the brand. I agree that Ben Smith and BF News are great. I included it because I trust them, but the story is thin with little additional detail and no third-party confirmation, which left more than a handful of people calling bullshit on it. I agree – it could be bullshit.

2 Likes
#11
#3

Well, I was going to mention how that article about the donors clamming up is the clearest example of how money corrupts politics, and how I’ve never seen it so naked that they only care about donors, not voters.

Then mouseam’s news. And that gif is perfect.

Edit: doubly perfect if you believe the theory that the protagonist of Inside Out might be non-binary, since her inner emotions are mixed genders, where everyone else only has one.

2 Likes
#9

In a weird turn of events…

#5

This is a great summary and comparison of what allegations were contained in the Steele Dossier and how those details line up (or not) with actual events.