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Trump Administration Kills Open.Gov, Will Not Release White House Visitor Logs (techdirt.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Techdirt: It will never be said that the Trump presidency began with a presumption of openness. His pre-election refusal to release his tax returns set a bit of precedent in that regard. The immediate post-election muffling of government agency social media accounts made the administration's opacity goals um clearer. So, in an unsurprising move, the Trump administration will be doing the opposite of the Obama administration. The American public will no longer have the privilege of keeping tabs on White House visitors. TIME reports: "The Trump Administration will not disclose logs of those who visit the White House complex, breaking with his predecessor, the White House announced Friday. White House communications director Michael Dubke said the decision to reverse the Obama-era policy was due to 'the grave national security risks and privacy concerns of the hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.' Instead, the Trump Administration is relying on a federal court ruling that most of the logs are 'presidential records' and are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act." So, to further distance himself from the people he serves (and the people who elected him), Trump and his administration have shut down the transparency portal put in place by the previous Commander-in-Chief: "White House officials said the Administration is ending the contract for Open.gov, the Obama-era site that hosted the visitor records along with staff financial disclosures, salaries, and appointments. An official said it would save $70,000 through 2020 and that the removed disclosures, salaries and appointments would be integrated into WhiteHouse.gov in the coming months."
Did anyone feel it was ever "open" ?
I'd rather save money then have the illusion of transparency.
I know Trump wants all the coal jobs back - but I'd think it would be hard to get back in the mines, with all these dead canaries piled up everywhere.
I'd call these warning signs of horrors to come - but the man has always been the living symbol of arrogance and greed, and if anyone didn't expect exactly the raw ineptitude and pride in that ineptitude that we're getting, I'd be amazed.
Republicans claim that Government can't solve any problems, and then make it their solemn job to prove that at every opportunity, and Trump is the latest in growing line of leaders exemplifying that determined inability to provide basic governance while wasting endless amounts of resources.
If you didn't steal the nomination from Bernie, we would be at peace with the world.
You democrats suck!
"Mr. Trump’s policy is a return to the one followed by presidents who preceded Mr. Obama." (NYT). No mention of that in the summary.
Trump will release full visitor logs five years after the current term ends.
Obama just decided to keep many records secret
Isn't Trump's mere delay instead of outright refusal much better?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
He campaigned on destroying conventions and upending norms. Whether he does so for the purported values of "making America great again" really, or exclusively for personal corporate profit, or for Baal or Baphomet or Breitbart, the American people took his Good Word and trusted him with the keys to the kingdom without so much as checking his tax record or clearing him of criminal fraud in multiple instances.
Why should we be surprised he works for Putin per his own personal liabilities, or that he would cover his tracks by removing public disclosure of all visitors? captcha : wiretaps
Wow, we're saving $70,000 over 4 years. Why would you even say something if it's such a low figure? Seriously, it's 0.000000018% of the budget. That's like a guy that makes $100k trumpeting the fact that he saved $0.0018. Less than 2/10s of a penny. I'm sure nobody expected anything different from this president, when your whole reason for getting elected is so your family and friends can loot the treasury "openness" isn't high on your agenda.
Enigma
They were propaganda to begin with. Politically sensitive meetings simply occurred off site at nearby locations.
Nothing, in my view, so excellently exemplifies this principle as the quadrennial US election.
I don't know why he tolerates all the criticism. He's the president. He needs to start rounding up the whiners.
Stand tall, President Trump! We're on your side, no matter what!
Really? Who cares about a visitor log to the White House?
I guess I'm just wondering why this is even something to talk about
Chief Judge Merrick Garland - Obama's nominee for Supreme Court Justice - even agrees:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/08/30/white-house-visitors-foia-appeals-court/2742823/
"In both the 1974 FOIA Amendments and the 1978 Presidential Records Act, Congress made clear that it did not want documents like the appointment calendars of the president and his close advisors to be subject to disclosure under FOIA," Chief Judge Merrick Garland wrote for the three-judge panel. "Granting Judicial Watch's request for certain visitor records, however, would effectively disclose the contents of those calendars."
Can someone please point me to the law or regulation requiring a sitting president or president-elect to release his or her tax returns?
Can someone please point me to the law or regulation that requires our government or government officials to maintain social media accounts?
Can someone please point me to the law or regulation that requires the executive branch to make White House visitor logs available for public review?
If you are going to be upset that they are no longer willingly providing this information, then perhaps the best thing to do would be to pass a law requiring them to do so. For those unfamiliar with our process here in the US, that would involve action from the legislative branch. Contact your legislative representatives and demand they do something if you are really that upset.
It really seems most people who would complain about the shuttering of open.gov let their outrage get the best of them before they finished the article, as it clearly states, "and that the removed disclosures, salaries and appointments would be integrated into WhiteHouse.gov in the coming months.". Ergo, all that information is going to be retained, its just moving locations.
No president candidate nor elect is under any legal obligation whatsoever to release tax returns, not relevant to open.gov discussion.
Now it may be a good idea to make revealing tax returns a law, but right now that's just a good idea
I like how Slashdotters fall over themselves to justify what the orange cheeto does or says. Goes to show how spineless they are: any values they claimed to hold in the last decade - net neutrality, openness of government, name it - are dross to be disposed of in the wake of their God Emperor.
Even with this policy, there was plenty of secrecy under Obama (as under all previous presidents). More than enough to hide the ways in which they betray us.
They hate public protests, so they hate openness, regardless of what they say. The like getting away with evil, too. And every singly one of them (zero exceptions) is a liar. Transparency is the *only* way we can keep them honest....and that is precisely why they do everything they can to not have it.
Just before Racheal Maddow Released Trumps' tax return for him, Trump himself released one year of taxes - in which Trump payed over *$30 million*. IN income tax. For one year. So what is going to be exciting about the other years, finding out that every year he pays ~30 million in personal income taxes?
In just one year Trump is paying more in tax than the entire population of Slashdot will over a lifetime.
I could see some reason to want to see Trump's taxes before anything was released, but now people who call to see more of what we already know just look like total goobers. It's like if there were marches after Al Capones Vault was opened demanding they go back in and look at all the bricks. You are literally a brick-chaser.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Will my bigoted worldview compel me to sell out my country to Russia, when a Russian agent assumes the Presidency?
Vladamir Putin is a racist closet homosexual like me, so his puppet "Agent Orange" will support my bigoted views as well.
It doesn't really matter if the US government is controlled by our adversary Russia. As long as I can stomp on the throats of those I believe are less than me. Nobody has to know that they are better than me as long as my Russian controlled Pee-Puppet stays in tho Oval Office.
but the man has always been the living symbol of arrogance and greed
Hey, didn't you know that Obama is not president and Hillary didn't get elected?
Since you were talking about living symbols for arrogance and greed and all...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Firstly, tax returns are not presidential records. Secondly, from the summary, which starts with a negative tone but includes a few tidbits at the end:
"the removed disclosures, salaries and appointments would be integrated into WhiteHouse.gov in the coming months"
Which part of the sentence "The Trump Administration will not disclose logs of those who visit the White House complex" were you having difficulty understanding? There was a press conference. Spicer said clearly and distinctly "we will not release this information."
here's a different cite, if you don't like the first one. http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/14/...
"Take back our government'
He never said who he was taking it back for.
It doesn't appear to be the bulk of his voting base.
Trump Administration Refusing To Disclose Names Of White House Diamond Elite Members
Should've voted Regressive! This would have been taken care of within minutes.
23K a year may sound like peanuts, but imagine, if it saves him but one trip to Mar A Lago to meet with undisclosed donors, we're starting to talk real money here.
The fool will try to hide all of his crimes any way he can. He is simply a Putin wannabe.
I'm sorry to have to be the one to say this, because most of the time I fall on the libertarian side of things, but this should have been done long ago. The people are not entitled to make the President walk around with a microscope up his ass. Running the most prosperous nation on the plant is a complex task, and microscopes only show part of the picture. Making the President a slave to "gotcha" politics and the crybaby minority is only going to interfere with the diligent prosecution of our laws.
... and move its contents to Mar-a-lago.
The whole point of laws like FOIA is that the law says that the information is public. If each White House decides what it lays open and what it does not, then it will only lay open the stuff that it does not care if people see. So you meet someone somewhere else if you don't want them showing up on the visitor log. That makes a log disclosure sooooo effective.
for the Olympic gymnastics competition?
Logs of people visiting the White House? Would you want people to know who visited the White House and did business with Trump LLC for future contracts?
How about the director of..... Isis? He sends his aides to the White House to talk to Trump.
If I was the Pres having parties with $35million dollar entrance fee. I wouldn't let anyone near my log of names. Unless the buyer wants to double on that $35million dollars. Yeah! Highway to $Billion ain't that hard. Just got to get the laws on your side.
If you're that much of a coward to not suffer the consequences of your actions, what else are you trying to hide?
Then the media can be as open as well. Given their campaign to destroy anyone and anything in the way of their narrative, it can be safe to say that they can no longer be assumed to be good or impartial.
The excuses from the con artist administration are just that, excuses.
The Obama administration left office on January 21st, 2017. On the other hand, they seem to want to keep a Soviet-like iron grip on power through the rioters, media, and DNC faithful.
The swamp keeps filling
You might want to wake up and check the date. Also note that the media have turned back from the Presidential Guard to the Fifth Column.
oil companies dictate our energy policy
Well, they're more competent than Greenpeace or Sierra Club on energy.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Clearly the billionaire and his voters know nothing about swamps. As far as "dem 'gaters" -- dangerous creatures don't exist in most swamps.
The white house website hosting that information instead? About as likely as his tax records being released.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
subject correction. was in too much of a hurry.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
If you have not learned this by now it is time you learn. Trump could rape a 5 year old with a machine gun and his supporters will somehow justify it. Trump could pull his little pecker out on the news and pee on his wife and his supporters will talk about how great he is making the country. It doesn't matter anymore to them. Trump is a rich White male that won the White House on the promise of returning the US to the days of lynchings and White sheets. His supporters don't give a fuck about any logic or reason. Most of them are neonazis thinking they are building the 4th Reich. Obama could have been the best president in US history and they don't give two shits because he was Black. You will never change their mind. Get over it. They chose their side and will not listen to you no matter how much sense you make. It's time you all wake up and realize the hard truth. The truth is there are millions of dickheaded dumb ass hateful people in this world that are stuck in shit head mode. They will never listen or care to listen to you, unless you are filthy rich and pushing their backwards ideology.
Will my bigoted worldview compel me to sell out my country to Russia, when a Russian agent assumes the Presidency?
I know y'all think she really won because of the popular vote, but Hilary did not win the election.
She was the one with all of the ties to Russia, from uranium sales to lots of sketchy contributions from various Russian sources.
Trump meanwhile has pretty much no connection to Russia apart from a fondness for ornate gold.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Plus, mining is gradually being automated.
That sounds like a LOT of jobs right there, perfect to transition a lot of miners into retirement.
Looks like Trump was right again, mining jobs are coming back after all.
Not to mention that now China is buying a lot more coal from the U.S. than they were prior to Trump.
Trump Trump Trump!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Ye Gods!!!
Can you people just get over it??? Acting like a bunch of spoiled little babies!
Please, we heard crickets from y'all when Obama sealed everything from from his transcripts to his supposed dissertation, his grades and who financed his college. Obama's supposedly transparent administration was anything but transparent for the almost decade he was in office. Transparent? For whom?
Kind of like trying to bail out the ocean's water with a coffee cup. Since he's not tracking who comes in, I hope they send illegals to see the White House. :P
Jokes and meme's aside, nobody cares. Trump may full well screw all those swing state voters over, but his opponent didn't make any promises whatsoever (well, there was that time she promised to cost them all their jobs). There's a group of Dems going around called "Justice Democrats" trying to separate themselves from "Corporate Democrats" and line up with Bernie Sanders. I wish them the best. Otherwise we're gonna have 8 years of Trump because like the man said: "What have you got to lose?". If you're a coal miner in Ohio the answer is probably: nothing.
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what world do you live in? Blacklisted from _where_ exactly? I see Trump getting buddy buddy with the Goldman-Sachs types he swore up and down he would drain the swamp of. If that's Blacklisting then sign me the f' up.
What you're doing is a classic right wing technique: divert attention with a straw man argument. The question I have is: Do you know you're doing it or are you just repeating something you picked up online or from talk radio? If the former, stop it. Best case scenario you're lowering the quality of discourse the world over and worst case you're throwing your country under a bus. If the latter I'd suggest broadening your horizons towards the left. Start with Bernie Sanders & Beth Warren.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
It's the essence of the "If you haven't done anything wrong, why is your privacy so important to you" argument.
The salient difference being that privacy is to be enjoyed in abundance by citizens qua private individuals, but should to be afforded only sparingly to public officials qua public officials. Transparency, not privacy, is the the expectation we should have of government.
History shows that the privacy enjoyed by individual citizens is inversely proportional to the privacy government officials are permitted in the exercise of their power.
Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security. --Edmund Burke
...I mean, "I wonder who is coming to visit?"
So it seems Slashdot doesn't support Cyrillic characters. It would of been funny. :/
...I mean, "I wonder who is coming to visit?" -- Latin character version of Russian because Slashdot only knows Latin languages.
The Oval Orgies are back! Call the escort services, agent!
Given their campaign to destroy anyone and anything in the way of their narrative,
That is the god's honest truth, if you live inside the partisan news bubble of the right.
For everybody else, we know better. Please, for the love of jesus, break free of tribal epistemology.
I don't know of one person who would deliberately not avoid paying taxes when given the opportunity.
I do. Mitt Romney. When he released his tax returns during the 2012 campaign he chose not to take some deductions.
Had Romney taken the full deduction, he would have paid some quarter of a million less in taxes.
Romney releases his 2011 tax return and 20-year average tax rate
Is it me, or does anyone else notice a relative lack of Trump support on this website since His Orangeness bombed Syria?
Piss off the Russian government, and their puppet Astroturfers and their unwitting accomplices find something else to do than fight tooth and nail to defend his every move.
Your use of the "we know better" marks you.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
1. There is no law requiring these logs to be published.
2. Presidents of BOTH parties can simply avoid such things by meeting people at locations other than the White House - and they have always done so.
3. Presidents before Obama did not release these logs, Obama did so as a PR move to present himself as "the most transparent" president ever.
4. President Obama's team routinely "scrubbed" the logs of anybody he did not want the public to know about. Google it. Journalists discovered this years ago when they saw people coming and going and did not find them in the logs. Obama admin people have admitted this.
This all means that the American people have never had access to this info, NOT EVEN UNDER OBAMA who gave them the ILLUSION of transparency by publishing sanitized/doctored/scrubbed logs. The Obama logs were every bit the fakery and political-stunt-aimed-at-stupid-gullible-people that the online petitions he introduced were.
Trump will release full visitor logs five years after the current term ends.
Obama just decided to keep many records secret
Isn't Trump's mere delay instead of outright refusal much better?
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Wonder how this fits into that.
Trump kills open.gov! He hates openness! He's a horrible person! I hate him and so should you!
vs.
To save a bit of money, the content on open.gov is moving to whitehouse.gov.
I know that Trump isn't well liked (especially here), but come on, guys. You're acting like children.
Love sees no species.
"the removed disclosures, salaries and appointments would be integrated into WhiteHouse.gov in the coming months.""
So, basically this is a non-story news story.
Need to protect privacy of these folks, but not normal citizens who have an ISP.
If the website cured cancer, it's worth it too!
Hypotheticals are hypothetical.
Laughing at the modbombers.
you're that much of a coward to not suffer the consequences of your actions, what else are you trying to hide?
Then the media can be as open as well. Given their campaign to destroy anyone and anything in the way of their narrative, it can be safe to say that they can no longer be assumed to be good or impartial.
The excuses from the con artist administration are just that, excuses.
The Obama administration left office on January 21st, 2017. On the other hand, they seem to want to keep a Soviet-like iron grip on power through the rioters, media, and DNC faithful.
The swamp keeps filling
You might want to wake up and check the date. Also note that the media have turned back from the Presidential Guard to the Fifth Column.
oil companies dictate our energy policy
Well, they're more competent than Greenpeace or Sierra Club on energy.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Trump will release full visitor logs five years after the current term ends.
Obama just decided to keep many records secret
Isn't Trump's mere delay instead of outright refusal much better?
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.