* Erik’s Editorial: Donald Trump bans migrants from 6 countries (too Muslim), Erik Heels bans Fox News (too conservative) and The Young Turks (too liberal), Why Trump needs pets (2017-03-08)

Day 48 of Donald Trump, the 45th and worst President of the United States.

By Erik J. Heels

First published 3/8/2017; FailedPols.com; publisher: GiantPeople.

Pudge the cat.

Muslim Ban 2.0

On 03/06/17, Donald Trump issued (minus the photo op and speech) his Muslim ban 2.0 as Executive Order 13780 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_executive_actions_by_Donald_Trump). What puzzles me about most of Trump’s executive orders is that it is easy to figure out who is HARMED by the order (those from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen), but it is very difficult to figure out who BENEFITS from the order. Racists? White supremacists? The alt-right? All of the above? You tell me.

In any event, Hawaii has already sued, seeing a temporary restraining order (TRO) before the executive order goes into effect on 03/16/17 (http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/07/politics/hawaii-travel-ban-lawsuit/).

Erik Heels seeks to moderate the Failed Pols project

It is extraordinarily difficult to get principled content on political issues. Since I started the Failed Pols project (https://www.failblog.com/), I have been consuming a lot of news from many sources in a multitude of formats.

But one day after Trump’s latest “travel ban,” I felt compelled to block (i.e. unsubscribe from) both Fox News (https://www.youtube.com/user/FoxNewsChannel) and The Young Turks (https://www.youtube.com/user/TheYoungTurks) for being too far right and left, respectively. Fox News and The Young Turks are guilty of the same sin (albeit on different ends of the political spectrum), namely sensationalizing and trivializing the news for ratings.

It should come as no surprise that Fox News focuses on entertainment instead of substance, since it is part of the Fox Entertainment Group (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_News). But the real problem with Fox is that is has no real competition on the right. So Fox News focuses on short pithy segments designed for the short-attention-span market. Notably, there are no hour-long news programs on Fox. (NB both the BBC Newshour and the PBS NewsHour on the left.)

And The Young Turks does the same thing from the left.

So in an attempt to keep the coverage – shall we say – fair and balanced, I’ll be cutting out two of the most extreme viewpoints.

Why Trump Needs Pets

Trump strikes me as a mean-spirited individual. One who appears to have lied, cheated, and stolen his way to the top (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_affairs_of_Donald_Trump).

So when I was thinking about the caring people that I know, it occurred to me that most (if not all) of them have pets. And it turns out that the former Presidents of the United States in the top quartile had, on average, 10 pets (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_pets). In fact, all but one former POTUS (Polk) have owned pets.

So maybe that’s why Trump lacks compassion for human beings.

* GOP doubts Trump’s wiretapping claims, FBI asks DOJ to refute wiretapping claims, Trump signs second travel ban (2017-03-07)

Liberal & Uncategorized

Conservative

1. Republicans leery of Trump wiretapping claims (2017-03-05)

411,874 views

CNN – “Republican Congressional members express skepticism on latest political talk shows about Trump’s claims that President Obama wiretapped his phone in Trump Tower prior to the election.”

1. Conway on Trump’s wiretapping claims: Double standard on anonymous sources (2017-03-06)

164,956 views

Fox Business – “Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump, on claims he was wiretapped by the Obama administration..”

2. FBI asked DOJ to refute wiretapping claim (2017-03-05)

340,823 views

CNN – “The FBI asked the Justice Department on Saturday to refute President Donald Trump’s assertion that President Barack Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump’s phones last year, two sources with knowledge of the situation told CNN.”

2. Fmr. FBI asst. director on wiretap claims: I warned Trump (2017-03-06)

11,938 views

Fox Business – “Former FBI assistant director James Kallstrom on FBI director reportedly telling the Department of Justice to refute Trump.”

3. Trump Trots Out Muslim Ban 2.0 (2017-03-06)

94,722 views

The Young Turks – “Now with fewer Muslims! Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, breaks it down.”

3. Will Trump’s new travel order pass the test of the courts? (2017-03-06)

1,123 views

Fox Business – “Wall Street Journal U.S. News Editor Glenn Hall on President Trump’s revised executive order on immigration.”