From across the wide Atlantic its seems that the White House administration of Donald J Trump is stumbling from one duplicitous crisis to another. Or at least, such events would be characterised as crises if making patently false and untrue statements were seen as signs of incompetence. Or of people unfit to govern. The latest series of “alternative facts” to have emerged from the bloviator’s team were issued by presidential counsellor Kellyanne Conway during an interview with MSNBC host Chris Matthews. In reply to a series of questions the former election campaign manager and pollster made two untrue allegations within the space of twenty seconds. First, she claimed that former president Barack Obama had banned Iraqi refugees from entering the United States for six months in 2011. This is a lie. Second, and more significantly, she invented a fictional terror attack committed by Iraqi refugees that never happened. Conway complained that the so-called “Bowling Green Massacre” went unreported by the press. Unreported, of course, because it never occurred.
It seems that US politics has entered a world of Orwellian (or Breitbart) rhetoric, where to claim that something is true is to make it true. Call it the Benghazi or Birther strategy 2.0.
AN SIONNACH FIONN 
I have been to Bowling Green, KY. Little more than a bus stop, hard place to riot in.
LikeLike
Obama did ban Iraqi refugees in 2011. So you are wrong,Seamy. Kellyanne Conway probably misspoke. From listening to her i think she is brilliant and articulate. She has humiliated fake news outlets like CNN,MSNBC and BBC many times. Also she is the first female head of a winning (or any i believe) presidential campaign. But do you hear the fake news MSM give her any credit for that? The same media that talked endlessly about the corrupt half dead war mongering lunatic Hillary breaking glass ceilings. Trump has been doing great past 2 weeks. Iranians and Saudis are afraid of him. He had a successful raid against islamonazis in Yemen and he has taken down Mexico. Instead of splitting hairs why not talk about the daily lies spread in the media about Trump? Or about the sickening fascist gang that attacked Milo Yiannopolous and his supporters because they want to suppress free speech. In closing,stop being such a misogynist,Seamy☺
LikeLike
Yes Obama did indeed ban iraqi refugees. Btw is it true Obama deported more illegal immigrants than any other president?
P.s I have yet to see these so called protesters get angry about his veiled threats towards Iran. I guess they wouldn’t mind another war but would prefer their own man/woman to be the decision maker? Pathetic stuff altogether.
LikeLike
Vox:
” [In May 2011] …the Obama administration initiated a new review of all roughly 57,000 Iraqis refugees who had been recently admitted into the United States.
According to congressional testimony given in September 2011 by then–Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, all of these admitted refugees were “revetted against all of the DHS databases, all of the NCTC [National Counter Terrorism Center] databases and the Department of Defense’s biometric databases.” Going forward, Napolitano explained, new Iraqi refugees who wanted to enter the United States would be subjected to the same scrutiny.
Getting all of this in place was extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the rate of Iraqi refugee entry into the United States slowed dramatically for the six months it took to finish the review.
This made life hell for a lot of Iraqis who wished to flee to the United States, especially the many translators who had worked with the US military and feared that they or their families would be targeted by militants. Beginning in 2006, Congress passed specific legislation designed to make it easier for Iraqi and Afghan individuals who worked with the US military in their countries to enter the United States. Obama’s review slowed their flight to safety.
The review also had some serious implementation problems. At least 1,000 Iraqis who were affected by the review were only informed after they had bought plane tickets to America.
But — and this is the crucial bit — it was not a ban on Iraqi refugees entering the United States. Not even a little bit.”
LikeLike
Jimmy Carter banned Iranians in 1980.
LikeLike
Why Trump’s Muslim ban isn’t like Jimmy Carter’s actions on Iranians.
LikeLike
I seem to have asked you a question regarding the attack on Milo Yiannopolous at Berkeley. I appreciate your acceptance of free speech on your blog,Seamy but i would love for you to address what happened to Milo. Thanks
LikeLike
Well, I’ve made my views on free speech pretty clear before, so they would include giving an airing to the poseur provocations of Milo Yiannopoulos. I’ve garnered considerable criticism for that position from a few diehard ultra-leftists, and a LOT of emails along the lines of “I’ll never read your blog again!“. Not to mention accusations of being a far right stooge.
On Yiannopoulos note this from the WaPo: “Did Yiannopoulos secretly send more than 100 thugs to Berkeley to break up his own speech?“.
LikeLike
The fact you have lost followers should show you how much the left have fallen in recent years. The left have abandoned every cause they used to champion. And no Milo isn’t a poseur but certainly a provocateur. I like him. The fact the left have no argument for his views says a lot about the left.
Your claim Milo was behind it is weak FAKE NEWS. It is well known who is behind. Yvette Felarca and By Any Means Necessary. So that is a fail on your part.
LikeLike
Oh gawd,Seamy you are adorable. I love how the link you provided only mentioned one person who came up with a conspiracy theory with no proof. Robert Reich will probably be sued by Milo. Wapo themselves don’t believe the theory. Hilarious. I love the way Milo occupies space rent free in your and others heads. He has a wonderful career ahead of him.
LikeLike
It’s still hard to believe this is actually happening.
LikeLike
Isn’t it great? America is back and becoming safe for its citizens. War with Russia and Assad has been averted. Economy is improving after 8 year malaise. Great times.
LikeLike
Séamas, any idea why all my comments seem to be getting thrown to the moderation queue as of late?
LikeLike
Change of names and using WordPress vs. Tumblr is confusing the hell out of the Commenting system. I have approved both now so should be ok. Hopefully! 😉
LikeLike
Thanks! 🙂
LikeLike