Replies to post #265397 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[StephanieVanbryce]

Fact Check: Trump Blasts ‘Fake News’
and Repeats Inaccurate Claims at CPAC

By LINDA QIUFEB. 24, 2017

President Trump’s speech on Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference followed a familiar pattern: Blast
the news media as “dishonest,” repeat a string of falsehoods, and wrap up by promising to change the status quo.

If you need his lies broken down for you .. go here. I don't
need that so I'm not going to post the lies that we are all too
familiar with ... ;) go here for those
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/us/politics/fact-check-trump-blasts-fake-news-and-repeats-inaccurate-claims-at-cpac.html?ref=politics

the sad thing is that 'he' could never in a million years read this article .. you saw him! I saw him .. looking at that paper, standing like a scarecrow, reading it 'WORD by WORD' .. not sentence, not paragraph .. etc.. he simply is not capable of that ... .he needs to be institutionalized .. where people can do everything for him and he will be safe from the mackerels .. ;) gawd .. what a mess you made this time stupid people . .1st you were anti-intellectual, that was bad enough ..but honestly I NEVER dreamed you would become PRO DUMB and fight for and vote for Being DUMB! . .but you did it ..

[BOREALIS]

Retired U.S. Navy admiral calls Trump's media comments 'greatest threat to democracy in my lifetime'

By Jen Hayden
Thursday Feb 23, 2017 · 11:23 AM CST


University of Texas Chancellor William H. McRaven

The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!
� Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017

University of Texas System Chancellor William H. McRaven, a retired U.S. Navy four-star admiral, had a strong reaction to the Donald Trump’s tweet calling the media the enemy of the people and he shared it with a crowd at the University of Texas Thursday night.
From the Austin American-Statesman:
http://www.mystatesman.com/news/chancellor-mcraven-calls-trump-media-comment-threat-democracy/xXL3oWA7PBA4q7nCkcCCRJ/

UT System Chancellor Bill McRaven on Tuesday night said President Trump’s recent description of the media as “the enemy of the American people” must be challenged and “this sentiment may be the greatest threat to democracy in my lifetime.”

He said the media is more important than ever:

He made the comment during the inaugural event of the Communication and Leadership Speaker Series at UT’s Belo Center for New Media. McRaven, who has served as chancellor for two years, is also a UT journalism alumnus. During his lecture, McRaven said the country needs journalists now more than ever before and they must continue to hold others accountable.

McRaven has a strong background in national security and advising two former presidents. He was runner-up for Time magazine’s Person of the Year in 2011:
https://www.utsystem.edu/chancellor/biography

Prior to becoming chancellor, McRaven was the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command during which time he led a force of 69,000 men and women and was responsible for conducting counter-terrorism operations worldwide. McRaven also is a recognized national authority on U.S. foreign policy and has advised presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and other U.S. leaders on defense issues. And his book, “Spec Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare: Theory and Practice,” published in several languages, is considered a fundamental text on special operations strategy.

McRaven’s military legacy goes beyond strategy and warfare. As commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, McRaven spearheaded the creation of the Preservation of the Force & Family initiative to ensure the mental, spiritual and physical well-being of those who serve, as well as their families. His wife, Georgeann, has dedicated much of her career to playing a leadership role with military families and wounded warriors.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/02/23/1636930/-Retired-U-S-Navy-Admiral-calls-Trump-s-media-comments-greatest-threat-to-democracy-in-my-lifetime

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William H. McRaven Biography

University of Texas System Chancellor William H. McRaven, a retired U.S. Navy four-star admiral, leads one of the nation’s largest and most respected systems of higher education. As the chief executive officer of the UT System, Chancellor McRaven oversees 14 institutions that educate 221,000 students and employ 20,000 faculty and more than 80,000 health care professionals, researchers and staff.

Since he became chancellor in January 2015, Chancellor McRaven has recommitted the UT System and its institutions to improving the lives of Texans and people all over the world through education, research and health care.

McRaven’s ambitious vision for the UT System includes nine “Quantum Leaps,” that address many of the most significant challenges of our time, including building the nation’s next generation of leaders through core education in leadership and ethics; leading a brain health revolution by accelerating discoveries and treatments for neurological diseases; elevating higher education’s role in national security; driving unprecedented levels of collaboration between higher and K-12 education; and increasing student access and success.

Prior to becoming chancellor, McRaven was the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command during which time he led a force of 69,000 men and women and was responsible for conducting counter-terrorism operations worldwide. McRaven also is a recognized national authority on U.S. foreign policy and has advised presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and other U.S. leaders on defense issues. And his book, “Spec Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare: Theory and Practice,” published in several languages, is considered a fundamental text on special operations strategy.

McRaven’s military legacy goes beyond strategy and warfare. As commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, McRaven spearheaded the creation of the Preservation of the Force & Family initiative to ensure the mental, spiritual and physical well-being of those who serve, as well as their families. His wife, Georgeann, has dedicated much of her career to playing a leadership role with military families and wounded warriors.

McRaven has been recognized for his leadership numerous times by national and international publications and organizations. In 2011, he was the first runner-up for Time magazine’s Person of the Year and was named Texan of the Year by the Dallas Morning News. In 2012, Foreign Policy magazine named McRaven one of the nation’s Top 10 Foreign Policy Experts and one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. In 2014, Politico magazine named McRaven one of the Politico 50, citing his leadership as instrumental in cutting though Washington bureaucracy.

He also has received the Republic of France’s Legion d’Honneur, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association’s National Award and the National Intelligence Award.

More recently, in 2015, the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum selected McRaven to receive the Intrepid Freedom Award for his distinguished service in promoting and defending the values of democracy. Also in 2015, he was presented with the Distinguished Service Award from the FBI Agents Association, which represents more than 13,000 active and retired FBI Special Agents. In 2016, McRaven was named the recipient of the Ambassador Richard M. Helms Award by the Central Intelligence Agency Officers Memorial Foundation.

Born in North Carolina, the son of an Air Force colonel, McRaven spent most of his childhood in San Antonio where he graduated from Roosevelt High School.

McRaven graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 1977 with a degree in journalism and received his master’s degree from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey in 1991. In 2012, the Texas Exes honored McRaven with a Distinguished Alumnus Award.

He met his wife, Georgeann, while they were students at UT Austin, and they have three grown children.

Education

Master’s Degree – Naval Post Graduate School, Monterey, Ca. 1991
Developed a military theory for why special operations succeed against seemingly overwhelming odds. Graduate thesis based on this theory was subsequently published by Random House in 1995 under the title, SPEC OPS. SPEC OPS continues to be one of the most widely read books on special operations in the military.

Bachelor’s Degree – The University of Texas at Austin 1977
Journalism

Significant Awards
Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum's Intrepid Freedom Award (2015)

FBI Agents Association Distinguished Service Award (2015)

2012 University of Texas Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient

The National Defense University’s American Patriot Award

The Republic of France’s Legion d’Honneur

Business Executives for National Security’s Eisenhower Award

Union League of Philadelphia’s Lincoln Award

USO’s Man of the Year for 2013

Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs’ Distinguished Service Award

Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Society’s Donovan Award

Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association’s National Award

The National Intelligence Award

Policy Expertise
An acknowledged expert on U.S. defense policy. Foreign Policy Magazine’s Top 10 Experts on National Security

Worked on the National Security Council Staff 2001-2003 as the Director of Strategy and Policy, Office of Combatting Terrorism

Served as primary author of the President’s first National Strategy for Combatting Terrorism

Drafted and was the primary author of the National Security Presidential Directive-12 (U.S. Hostage Policy)

Drafted the counter-terrorism policy for President George W. Bush’s National Security Strategy

Provided advice to the following U.S. leaders on defense issues: U.S. President, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, Secretary of Homeland Security, Attorney General, Director of the FBI, Director of the CIA, Director of National Intelligence, Director of Defense Intelligence, Director of the DEA, and Administrator of USAID

Advised foreign Heads of State in Afghanistan (Karzai), Iraq (Maliki), Jordan (King Abdullah), and Yemen (President Salah) on U.S. counter-terrorism policy

Worked extensively with leaders on Capitol Hill, specifically with the House and Senate Armed Services Committees and the House Appropriations Committee (Defense) to shape policy issues regarding educational initiatives for Special Operations Forces men and women, health and welfare of special operations families, and operational employment of U.S. Special Operations Forces around the world

Established the NATO Special Operations Headquarters which brought together Special Operations Forces personnel from 22 countries to help develop and refine allied counter-terrorism policies and operations

Met with hundreds of Congressional Delegations and Staff Delegations to discuss U.S. defense policy in Iraq, Afghanistan, North Africa, East Africa, and the Levant

Major Lectures and Speaking Engagements
McRaven has lectured and given speeches all around the world. Most recently his 2014 University of Texas at Austin Commencement Address received great acclaim and has been viewed more than 3.5 million times on YouTube

Served as a guest speaker at Harvard, Yale, Colombia and Georgetown universities

Lectured at the Naval Academy, West Point, the Army War College, the Naval War College and the Air Force War College

Led dozens of workshops and conferences focused on terrorism, piracy, criminal networks, human smuggling and poverty

Led senior-level forums on Africa, South America, Asia-Pacific, Southwest Asia and the Middle East

Major Publications

Author of the book SPEC OPs, which has sold over 60,000 copies and has been published in several languages

Contributing author for the book The Force of Choice from the Canadian War College

https://www.utsystem.edu/chancellor/biography

[StephanieVanbryce]

‘Greatest threat to democracy’: Commander of bin Laden raid slams Trump’s anti-media sentiment

By Kristine Guerra February 23 at 10:47 PM

VIDEO: Go-- Watch & Listen to William H. McRaven, a retired four-star admiral and former Navy SEAL, called President Trump’s denunciation of the media as “the enemy of the American people” the “greatest threat to democracy” he’s seen in his lifetime during a speech at UT-Austin's Moody College of Communication. (The University of Texas at Austin)
[ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2017/02/23/greatest-threat-to-democracy-commander-of-bin-laden-raid-slams-trumps-anti-media-sentiment/?tid=pm_world_pop&utm_term=.0bc9dd176ed9 ]

William H. McRaven, a retired four-star admiral and former Navy SEAL, slammed President Trump’s characterization of the media as “the enemy of the American people,” calling that sentiment the “greatest threat to democracy” he’s ever seen.

That’s coming from a man who’s seen major threats to democracy.

McRaven, who was commander of the secretive Joint Special Operations Command, organized and oversaw the highly risky operation that killed Osama bin Laden almost six years ago. The admiral from Texas had tapped a special unit of Navy SEALs to carry out the May 2011 raid on the elusive terrorist’s hideout, a high-walled compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, The Washington Post’s Craig Whitlock reported shortly after bin Laden’s death.

McRaven left the military in 2014 after nearly four decades and later became chancellor of the University of Texas System. The UT-Austin alumnus, who has a bachelor’s degree in journalism, addressed a crowd at the university’s Moody College of Communication on Tuesday.

“We must challenge this statement and this sentiment that the news media is the enemy of the American people,” McRaven said, according to the Daily Texan. “This sentiment may be the greatest threat to democracy in my lifetime.”

“To be a good leader, you have to be a good communicator,” he added. “As a leader, you have to communicate your intent every chance you get, and if you fail to do that, you will pay the consequences.”

McRaven’s remarks come amid Twitter attacks on the media by the president, who has denounced as “FAKE NEWS” several negative stories about his administration. In a widely shared tweet Friday, Trump called the media, naming the New York Times, NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN, “the enemy of the American People!”

In another tweet the same day, Trump quoted conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, who praised the president’s news conference the day before during which he confronted the media.

“One of the most effective press conferences I’ve ever seen!” says Rush Limbaugh. Many agree. Yet FAKE MEDIA calls it differently! Dishonest,” Trump tweeted.

Trump repeatedly blasted the media in a combative, more-than-an-hour-long news conference last Thursday, repeating descriptions of the press as dishonest and fake.

He berated a Jewish reporter for asking a question about bomb threats to dozens of Jewish community centers and for expressing concerns that Trump had yet to address anti-Semitic attacks. The president took the question as a personal affront, saying he was not anti-Semitic, even though the reporter never made such an accusation.

At the news conference, the president also criticized the intelligence community, asserted that his young administration is running smoothly and said that he’d “inherited a mess.”

Trump has lashed out at the media a couple more times on Twitter over the past few days.

McRaven is not the only retired military man who has criticized the president’s remarks.

In an interview Saturday on NBC News, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz), a vocal Trump critic, said such criticism of the media is “how dictators get started.”

“In other words, a consolidation of power,” McCain told “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd from Munich. “When you look at history, the first thing that dictators do is shut down the press. And I’m not saying that President Trump is trying to be a dictator. I’m just saying we need to learn the lessons of history.”

McCain was specifically responding to Trump’s condemnation of the news media as the enemy of the people. Such phrases are “more typically used by leaders to refer to hostile foreign governments or subversive organizations” and “echoed the language of autocrats who seek minimize dissent,” the New York Times wrote.

This is not the only time McRaven has spoken out since leaving the military.

In a seething column published last year in the Tampa Tribune, he blasted Congress, specifically the Senate, for a “disturbing trend in how politicians abuse and denigrate military leadership, particularly the officer corps, to advance their political agendas.”

[Fox News anchor Chris Wallace warns viewers: Trump crossed the line in latest attack on media]

McRaven was particularly angry at the Senate’s treatment of Rear Adm. Brian L. Losey, who was forced to retire after several Democratic and Republican senators pressured the Navy to hold him accountable for retaliating against multiple whistleblowers, The Post’s Whitlock wrote in 2016.

O.K. ..if interested it goes on to explain in depth all about the senates abuse of Rear Adm. Losey.... yes, long and there are many excellent embedded links right from the 1st paragraph..
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2017/02/23/greatest-threat-to-democracy-commander-of-bin-laden-raid-slams-trumps-anti-media-sentiment/?tid=pm_world_pop&utm_term=.0e73dbcca850