Jim Acosta Says Voters Are Too Stupid to Grasp Trump ‘Act’

CNN Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta told Variety magazine that many people don't realize President Trump's attacks on the press are "an act," in an interview published Tuesday. Acosta added that attacks on the press could inspire violence against reporters. 

Acosta and Sarah Huckabee Sanders have heated exchanges on an almost-daily basis during the White House press briefings. 

Acosta said, "The problem is that people around the country don’t know it’s an act. They’re not in on the act, and they take what he [Trump] says very seriously, and they take attacks from [former White House press secretary] Sean Spicer and Sarah Sanders and what they do to us on a daily basis very seriously." Acosta went on to say, "They don’t have all their faculties in some cases. Their elevator might not hit all floors. My concern is that a journalist is going to be hurt one of these days," Acosta said. Basically, insulting all Americans who voted for President Trump. 

This ties into the United States, Reporters Without Borders, Inc. (known commonly as RSF North America). They claim to be an organization that carries out missions to protect and defend journalists working both internationally and in the United States. RSF North America says seeks to raise awareness and involve Americans in preserving freedom of information at home and abroad. 

In the 2018 Reporters Without Borders freedom of the press index, they ranked the United States as 45th worldwide in press freedom this year, slipping two spots from last year's ranking. Since President Trump was elected in 2016, the U.S. has dropped from 41st to 45th in Reporters Without Borders' rankings. However, the U.S. ranked as low as 47th in 2011 during the Obama administration. The top 5 countries in the 2018 report are Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Finland and Switzerland. In last place (#180) is North Korea.

Report: James Comey Adds Former Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald To His Legal Team

Former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who has prosecuted high-profile cases taking on terrorists, mobsters, drug dealers and political corruption, is representing former FBI Director James Comey. Fitzgerald confirmed that he “has been part of Mr. Comey’s legal team since May 2017.” Daniel Richman, a Columbia Law School professor, and David Kelley, a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, are also on Comey’s legal team, according to a Comey associate.

Comey and Fitzgerald have been close friends for more than three decades, going back to their time working together in the Southern District of New York’s U.S. Attorney’s Office starting in the late 1980s, and knew each other even before then. Fitzgerald is the godfather of one of Comey’s children. In a joint interview in 2008 about their tight bond, Comey described Fitzgerald as a “close friend.” 

Fitzgerald was nominated as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois in 2001. He held the post until stepping down in 2012. Fitzgerald currently works in private practice at the firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. 

The news of Comey adding Fitzgerald to his legal team adds an additional twist to President Trump’s recent decision to pardon Scooter Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, for his role in the Valerie Plame affair. Comey, then the deputy attorney general, was the man who authorized the special counsel’s investigation into “the alleged unauthorized disclosure of a CIA employee’s identity” in late 2003, the case that eventually led to Libby’s conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice. His choice for special counsel, the prosecutor who got the guilty verdict on Libby, was none other than Fitzgerald.

White House Doctor Refuses to Pull out as Trump's Nominee for Veterans Job

President Donald Trump's physician Ronny Jackson will push ahead as the nominee to lead the Veterans Affairs department after allegations about his conduct stalled his Senate hearing for the job, a White House official said on Tuesday. 

Trump left open the possibility during a news conference that Jackson would withdraw from a political process the president described as "too ugly and too disgusting." But Jackson met with Trump late in the day, and afterward a White House official said the doctor would "certainly not be railroaded by a bitter ex-colleague."

There have been various allegations that have come about Dr. Ronny Jackson’s conduct that have stalled his Senate hearing for the job as leader of the Veteran’s Affair department. Ronny Jackson had been set to have his confirmation hearing on the job on Wednesday, but it was postponed indefinitely as senators from both parties said they wanted to look into concerns that had come to light about the Navy rear admiral. The White House provided copies of Jackson’s performance reviews with handwritten notes of effusive praise from Barack Obama and President Trump and said the FBI had given him a clean background investigation. 

Jackson, 50, is an Iraq war veteran trained in emergency medicine who raised his profile in January in a long and glowing news conference about Trump's health after his first presidential medical exam.

Petition to Fire Fresno State Professor Attracts Signatures

The outrage over the incendiary comments made by a California professor about Barbara Bush immediately after the former first lady's death has generated tens of thousands of signatures for an online petition calling for the educator's removal. 

The petition on Change.org calls for the "immediate termination" of California State University, Fresno English professor Randa Jarrar "for racism and inflammatory comments" about Bush. Jarrar sent a tweet calling Bush an "amazing racist" who "raised a war criminal" on the day Bush died. In another tweet that same night, she said, "I'm happy the witch is dead." 

She also tweeted that she was glad "George W. Bush is probably really sad right now." 

In response to Twitter users calling for her to be fired, Jarrar said, "Sweetie I work as a tenured professor. I make 100K a year doing that. I will never be fired." 

In a note to the "campus community" on Tuesday, University President Joseph Castro said that Randa Jarrar's comments about the late first lady were "insensitive, inappropriate and an embarrassment to the university," but "are protected free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution." 

Castro added that Jarrar would remain on leave through the spring semester, "which she had previously requested before this incident." 

In his letter, Castro wrote that the university's action "is an issue of free speech and not related to [Jarrar's] job or tenure." 

"Our duty as Americans and as educators is to promote a free exchange of diverse views, even if we disagree with them," Castro wrote near the end of his letter. "At Fresno State, we encourage opinions and ideas to be expressed in a manner that informs, enlightens and educates without being disparaging of others." 

In an email to New York magazine Tuesday, Jarrar said that she "absolutely" stood by her comments about the Bushes. "The Bush family — including Barbara Bush — supported policies that harmed and destroyed the lives of millions," she wrote, adding "I am not the only person who has stated the belief that Barbara Bush was a racist. But women of color routinely have their tone policed, their justified anger painted as hatred, and their criticism of injustice framed as racism toward white people." 

There is a petition on change.org calling for the termination of Jarrar’s employment at Fresno State. Change.org is a petition website operated by for-profit Change.org, Inc., an American certified B corporationwhich claims to have over 100 million users and hosts sponsored campaigns for organizations. The petition says that Randa Jarrar should be removed from Fresno State University for Racist comments.

Millennials Blame Boomers for Ruining Their Lives

In a poll conducted by Survey Monkey and Axios, it was revealed that 51% of millennials think that baby boomers made things worse for this generation and a lot of boomers agree. 

The poll found that 51% of millennials (18-34-year-olds) blame boomers (51-69-year-olds) for making things worse for their generation. 13% said boomers had improved things. 

Baby boomers were split on the issue, 30% said politics created by their generation had made things worse, 32% said they have made things better, and 34% said that they had done neither. 

The survey also revealed that millennials are much less confident in their fiscal responsibility than their elders. 56% of millennials said they are “extremely” or “very” responsible in how they manage their money, compared to 80% of those 70 years old and up.

Premium Member Video Submission

Michael Riley, COLUMBUS, IN: Bill, Mike Riley here. Columbus, Indiana. I just finished reading the article entitled ‘Trump’s Shadow Chief’ from the Washington Post and I just burst out laughing, even when I read the title. But I was reading down through there how Sean Hannity and the President talk. And I was wondering how in the world they would know this. And then I got the article, ill quote the article “according to people familiar with the conversations”. Well, fake news at its finest. Your take Bill?

Mail Time!

• I have friends with whom I can't speak about politics at all. It's threatening friendships because when it is known that I'm a traditional conservative I suffer insults. 

• Bill, many thanks for the laughs I enjoyed watching clips from Animal House and The Producers. It is disheartening to realize that this satirical humor is no longer possible since are now a country divided by factions. What happened to that old adage, "United we stand, divided we fall"? 

• Bill, I find it very interesting that you said no book store would carry “Killing the SS” with a swastika on the cover, yet “Hitler's Last Days,” a children's book, has one front and center. What say you?

Word of the Day: Troglodyte