Trump's "fake news" meme is also popular with another group of folks, authoritarian despots.

Courtesy of Politico:

Authoritarian rulers across the globe are adopting President Donald Trump’s favorite phrase to limit free speech, with prominent leaders or state media in at least 15 countries using his “fake news” line to denounce their critics, according to a POLITICO review. 

By aligning themselves with Trump’s words, despots have been able to use the U.S. president as a shield for their attacks on press freedom and human rights, said Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. 

“I’m seeing it more and more,” he said. Trump, he added, “is providing a context and framework for all sorts of authoritarian leaders—or democratic leaders and others who are dissatisfied or upset by critical media coverage—to undermine and discredit reporting.” 

In February, for example, Syrian President Bashar Assad brushed off an Amnesty International report that some 13,000 people had been killed at one of his military prisons by saying, “You can forge anything these days, we are living in a fake news era.” 

In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte has complained of being “demonized” by “fake news.” Last month, with Trump laughing by his side, he called reporters “spies.”

Over the weekend, a state official in Myanmar attracted notice when he said, “There is no such thing as Rohingya. It is fake news,” referring to the persecuted ethnic group. 

Those are hardly the only examples of Trump’s phrase being deployed internationally: In March, Chinese state media dismissed a prominent rights activist’s account of torture as “fake news.” And in May, the People’s Daily ran an op-ed with the headline, “Trump is right, fake news is the enemy, something China has known for years.”

Possibly the worst American export ever!

America, making the world a more shitty place since 2017.

While visiting the Philippines Donald Trump slams President Obama for refusing to meet with President Rodrigo Duterte because he was killing suspected drug dealers without benefit of a trial.

Pres. Trump previews visit to Philippines, "where the previous administration was not exactly welcome, as you probably remember." pic.twitter.com/UBcgr0r1qq

— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) October 31, 2017

Courtesy of Raw Story: Before and after his trip to the Philippines this week, President Donald Trump pumped himself up by repeating a story about his predecessor, Barack Obama, being barred from even touching down in the island nation.

The problem: That's not true. 

As pointed out by political journalists Tuesday, Trump's claim that Obama "didn't land" in the Philippines because of his "horrible" relationship with the nation misinterprets the entire situation.

It was Obama, in fact, who canceled a meeting with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte in September 2016 after the two leaders got into a tiff over the mass killings in the Philippine drug war.

Trump keeps making this bizarre false claim about Obama. What actually happened was Obama, in advance, cancelled a planned Laos meeting with Duterte, who’d insulted him and his mother. He wasn’t stranded in the sky above Manila. https://t.co/69ziOf5ro5

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) November 14, 2017

What, was Obama too good to sit down and talk to a mass murder who was arbitrarily killing his citizens without allowing them the benefit of a trial first?

Barack Obama pandering to humanitarians.

Political correctness run amuck is what that is.

But not Donald Trump, hell no! Donald Trump admires strong men who know how to keep their people in line.

In fact Donald Trump will even work with one to steal an American election.

That's how accepting Trump is of dictators, oligarchs, and butchers.

Donald Trump makes America great again by struggling with a simple group handshake.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

President Trump, after some brief, initial confusion, managed to successfully execute a traditional handshake for a group photo at a summit in the Philippines. 

But first, the president’s unintentionally comedic struggles went viral. 

Appearing at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit here, Trump was momentarily befuddled by the traditional group handshake, in which the leaders cross their right arm over their left and grasp the hands of the fellow participants on both sides. 

“Give us your brightest smile,” an emcee intoned, as the leaders lined up onstage for their star turn.

But Trump could not quite do that, nor could he muster the ritual greeting. 

As bad as it is to have this shitgibbon at home screwing things up here in America, it is infinitely worse to have him on the national stage making our country a laughingstock.

I heard the argument made to that wonderful woman who flipped off Trump's motorcade, that even if we do not like Trump we should respect the office.

But seriously at this point what is there left deserving of our respect?

President of Philippines says that Donald Trump offered support for his wholesale slaughter of drug dealers in phone call. Well isn't that nice?

Good luck with murdering your citizens. 

Courtesy of The Daily Beast:

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says President-elect Donald Trump wished him luck with his controversial campaign against drugs, a campaign which international bodies say includes extrajudicial killings. 

According to Duterte, the conversation occurred late Friday, when he called Trump to offer congratulations. 

The talk, in which both sides invited the other to visit, was described by one of Duterte’s aides as a “very engaging, animated conversation,” the Associated Press reported. 

A video released by Duterte’s aide showed the strongman leader smiling while on the phone with Trump, talking about enhancing bilateral ties. 

In a part of the conversation that wasn’t aired, however, Duterte says Trump “was wishing me success in my campaign against the drug problem.” 

“He understood the way we are handling it and I said that there's nothing wrong in protecting a country," Duterte said, commenting on his heavy-handed tactics. 

“It was a bit very encouraging in the sense that I supposed that what he really wanted to say was that we would be the last to interfere in the affairs of your own country,” he said. 

It was unclear whether Trump explicitly said he approved of Duterte’s tactics, and Trump has yet to confirm Duterte's account of the conversation. 

Yes it is entirely possible that Trump had no idea that Duterte had murdered over 4,000 suspected drug dealers without benefit of trial when he made the comments of support.

But then again since this is a guy who ran for office with the promise of kicking out millions of Mexican immigrants, and targeting Muslims due to their religion, perhaps he did.

After President Duterte threatened to call President Obama a "son of a whore" his country loses millions in investment dollars.

Courtesy of the Independent:  

Losses in Philippine stocks are accelerating as foreigners keep pulling money from Asia’s most expensive market, amid speculation that the outbursts of President Rodrigo Duterte are hurting investor sentiment. 

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index fell 1.3 per cent to 7,619.10 in its biggest decline in five weeks. The gauge has dropped 6 per cent from a 15-month high on 21 July, paring its gain this year to 9.6 per cent. 

 Foreign funds pulled $58m (£43m) from local equities on Wednesday, the most in almost a year, and have sold a net $333m in an 11-day run of outflows. The index is down 2.3 per cent this quarter, the only decliner among major Asian markets.

Duterte’s threat to call US President Barack Obama a “son of a whore” if he criticised an anti-drug campaign that’s left around 2,400 dead, and the subsequent cancellation of a meeting between the leaders, “didn’t sit well” with overseas investors, said Rafael Palma Gil, a portfolio manager at Rizal Commercial Banking Group in Manila.

That's right asshole.

If you insult our president there are repercussions.

Apparently Obama and Duterte did finally meet during yesterday during the  Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit: 

According to a White House official, Mr Obama had a brief discussion with Mr Duterte before the Asean Gala Dinner in the leaders’ holding space. He said the exchange consisted of pleasantries between the two. However, the two leaders entered the dinner venue separately, were seated far apart and did not interact with each other during the meal that lasted an hour and 20 minutes. 

The incident has soured relations between the two nations, at a time when their strong partnership is critical for regional stability. The Philippine government is concerned about Chinese activity in the South China Sea and, in the same week as the diplomatic row, released intelligence photos purporting to show Chinese coast guard vessels in the disputed Scarborough Shoal. 

Yep, that is one smart president the Philippine people have there. 

I wonder if they will enjoy their new Chinese overlords?

Philippine president threatens to cuss at President Obama if he brings up all the people he had murdered.

I am going to sa bad words at you, do you want that?

Courtesy of AP:

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned President Barack Obama on Monday not to question him about extrajudicial killings, or "son of a bitch I will swear at you" when they meet in Laos during a regional summit. 

Duterte said before flying to Laos that he is a leader of a sovereign country and is answerable only to the Filipino people. He was answering a reporter's question about how he intends to explain the extrajudicial killings to Obama. More than 2,000 suspected drug pushers and users have been killed since Duterte launched a war on drugs after taking office on June 30. 

In his typical foul-mouthed style, Duterte responded: "I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony. I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions. Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum," he said, using the Tagalog phrase for son of a bitch. 

Duterte has earlier cursed the pope and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

I'm sorry, who does this little bitch think he is threatening?

People have been cursing and threatening the life of our President since before he even took office.

His e-mail box is so full of all capitalized threats and disgusting insults that it has to be monitored by a White House staffer wearing a full hazmat suit.

A Republican actually yelled out "You lie!" during the President's State of the Union address.

He is burned in effigy someplace in the South at least three times a year, he has been threatened with impeachment over a half dozen times since he took office, and he was even accused of not being an actual citizen of the country that he now leads.

And this punk is going to sling a couple of bad words at him?

Bitch please.

The President just had to get all up in this guy's grill over his country's attempts to alter the outcome of American elections through cyber terrorism.

I think he can handle some wannabe island dictator's temper tantrum.

P.S. Actually after I wrote this post I learned that Obama just said fuck it and cancelled the meeting.

Before doing that the President had simply said this when he heard about the remarks: 

“I just heard about some of this,” Obama subsequently told reporters at a press conference in China, referring to Duterte’s comments. “But I have seen some of those colorful statements in the past, and so, clearly, he’s a colorful guy.”

However the President expressed concern that the meeting would not be productive. Apparently he decided it wouldn't be and is now meeting with the president of South Korea instead.

Philippine Catholic Bishops are sending Bibles and rosary beads to communities devastated by typhoon Yolanda. Yeah who needs food and shelter when you have Jesus?

Courtesy of Inquirer News: 

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is sending several copies of the Bible and rosaries to Tacloban and nearby provinces to fill the spiritual necessities of those affected by supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name Haiyan). 

According to the CBCP, the Episcopal Commission for the Biblical Apostolate (ECBA) will be sending 1,000 copies of the Bible to help strengthen the faith of the typhoon victims. 

On the other hand, the prayer support network of the pro-life movement Rosary for Life donated to the CBCP an initial 3,000 rosaries for Tacloban to help uplift the spiritual morale of the devastated people in the city. 

“We know that through prayers somehow we will survive as a people and persevere in life. The primacy of the spiritual dimension in our lives must be emphasized to our people. We, of course know that the physical necessities of life are important but also important is the spiritual side of the people in this recent calamity. We are making these rosaries available to people to help them pray in this time of trial and tragedy,” said William Lorenzo, the communication officer of Rosaries for Life, in a statement. 

Lorenzo said they would visit the affected areas to help rehabilitate the Catholic spirituality of the people of Tacloban. 

He added that rosaries would also be sent to Samar, another province badly affected by the supertyphoon. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Natividad Pagadut, ECBA’s executive secretary, believes that the distribution of the Bible should be coupled with formation and counseling of the people in order to guide them on how to use it. 

“We hope that the Bible would help the victims recover from the tragedy, strengthen their faith, and improve as persons,” she said. 

“It is best to couple it with formation, counseling and to guide them on what to read in the Bible during this time. With this, they will be consoled, challenged, they will gain hope to move on, and get up from this terrible experience,” Pagadut said. 

The biblical apostolate also gave 100 copies of children’s Bible for kids to read to help them get up from the devastating experience. 

WTF? These people have lost EVERYTHING and with all of the money at their disposal the Catholic church sends them Bibles and beads?

They don't care about the well being of these people, they are just worried that they will lose members of the flock who might be questioning the wisdom of worshiping a God who either sent this typhoon on purpose who was unable or unwilling to prevent it.

These people need physical help, not more proselytizing.

I may be nothing more than a heathen but I have sent two different donations already.

Cash donations.

And I did it not to earn my way into heaven, or to buy my way out of hell, but simply because it is the right, the human, thing to do.

Blind girl from the Philippines sings "Wrecking Ball." And kills it!

You know it's actually a pretty good song. Too bad it will always be associated with this rather controversial Miley Cyrus video.

Oh, and by the way, this little girl is freaking AMAZING!

Personally I can't believe that American Christians let themselves be "one upped" like this.

Courtesy (if we can call it a courtesy) of the Daily Mail:

Christians were nailed to crosses in the Philippines today in a grim Good Friday (I know this is a day late, but it took me until today to keep the bile down long enough to write this) reenactment of Jesus's suffering. 

Thousands of people watched as 17 devoted Catholics were 'crucified' in the gruesome annual ritual. 

Church leaders have condemned the practice which they believe are a distortion of the true Easter message. (Really? It sounds a little TOO undistorted to me!)

"Oh I see you got your nails done!"

Nine men were crucified in Pampanga province's San Pedro Cutud village today, while at least eight others were crucified in neighbouring villages. 

The annual event - which dates back to the 1950s - drew an estimated crowd of 10,000 worshippers. 

What the hell America?  I thought we were the "can do" nation.

How could religious Americans possibly allow some backwater Philippine island folk "out Christ" them like this?

Rubbing soot on our foreheads, speaking gibberish, eating croutons while washing it down with Kool-aid and calling it the flesh and blood of Christ, teaching our children that science is the work of Satan, refusing to watch porn on Sundays, and then hiding baskets of colored shell covered unfertilized chicken embryos (Remember, life begins at menstruation kiddies!) for our children to find on Easter, is that what we call religious commitment?

These people are LITERALLY nailing themselves to the cross in order to get closer to God (As well as getting closer to the possibility of gangrene), and in the process making Americans look like slackers.

Come on Americans! This is the country of extreme snowboarding, extreme skateboarding, and extreme college drinking, how can we turn our back on the opportunity to participate in a little extreme Christianity?

After all WWJD? Actually I guess I should change that to WDJD?

P.S. If your stomach can take it, and if it can it is stronger than mine, there is a video at the link. But don't say I didn't warn you.