Jimmy Fallon Strikes Back at Trump: 'You’re the President! Why Are You Tweeting at Me?' - Fortune

Jimmy Fallon Strikes Back at Trump: 'You’re the President! Why Are You Tweeting at Me?'

By NATASHA BACH June 26, 2018
Jimmy Fallon is using his own soapbox to clap back at President Trump.

A day after Trump sent out a tweet calling on Fallon to “be a man,” Fallon focused his Monday night monologue on The Tonight Show on the commander-in-chief.

“Before we begin,” he told the audience at the start of the show, “I just want to give a shout out to our show’s number one fan: the president of the United States!”

“As you may have heard, last night, the president of the United States went after me on Twitter,” he continued. “So Melania, if you’re watching, I don’t think your anti-bullying campaign is working.”

Fallon went on, explaining that while he initially planned to tweet back, he then realized that he has “more important things to do.” But then he realized that Trump should also have more important things to do, telling the audience, “He’s the president! What are you doing? You’re the president! Why are you tweeting at me?”

Poking fun at the notion of Trump getting into a Twitter war with him, Fallon said, “The president went after me on Twitter. It’s pretty much the only thing I have in common with NFL players.”

Even after finishing his monologue, Fallon had a couple more points of clarification for his audience. Referring to the part of Trump’s tweet where he claimed that Fallon called him to discuss the “monster ratings” of the show they did together, Fallon said, “First of all, I’ve never called this human in my life.”

“I don’t have his number, I don’t want his number,” Fallon continued. “And ‘monster ratings’? I’ve never said ‘monster ratings.’ I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

And if you thought it was just Fallon who doubled down on the feud Monday, you’d be wrong. At a rally in Columbia, S.C., Trump claimed once again that Fallon had called him, explaining, “He’s lost. He looks like a lost soul. But you know what, he’s a nice guy.”

“I agreed to do his show and I guess because I was running at that time, I think, he got tremendous ratings. He should be thankful. He shouldn’t be upset or angry,” Trump continued. “He’s all apologizing because he humanized me? And he really hurt himself.”

Roseanne Barr tearfully apologizes for racist tweet: 'I’ve made myself a hate magnet' - ABC News

Roseanne Barr tearfully apologizes for racist tweet: 'I’ve made myself a hate magnet'
By JOI-MARIE MCKENZIE via GMA Jun 24, 2018, 4:43 PM ET

Roseanne Barr broke down in tears in a new interview during which she continued to apologize for tweeting a racist remark by comparing a former Obama adviser to an ape.

"I have to get a hold of myself," Barr, 65, said at one point through tears during her interview with her longtime friend, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, which he put on Soundcloud.

"I horribly regret it. Are you kidding? I lost everything, and I regretted it before I lost everything," she continued. "And I said to God, 'I am willing to accept whatever consequences this brings because I know I’ve done wrong. I’m going to accept what the consequences are,' and I do, and I have."

Barr added, "And I’ve made myself a hate magnet, and as a Jew, it’s just horrible. It’s horrible."

Roseanne Barr played herself on "Roseanne."
Barr's May tweet, which has since been deleted, said that Valerie Jarrett, who is African-American, was a product of the Muslim Brotherhood and "Planet of the Apes" -- "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj." She apologized to Jarrett the same day along with the cast of her since-canceled ABC reboot, "Roseanne."

The comedian revealed during the interview that ABC asked her to leave Twitter after the incident if they were to keep working with her and she refused. She also repeated a claim that she was on sleep medication Ambien when she fired off the tweet.

Barr also revealed that she didn't realize Jarrett was African-American.

"I thought she was white," Barr said during the 35-minute conversation with Rabbi Boteach. "I didn't know she was black and I cop to it."

Barr added tearfully, "I have black children in my family. I can’t, I can’t let them say these things about that, after 30 years of my putting my family and my health and my livelihood at risk to stand up for people."

Roseanne Barr on the show.
"I’m a lot of things, a loud mouth and all that stuff. But I’m not stupid, for God’s sake," she said. "I never would have wittingly called any black person, [I would never had said] they are a monkey. I just wouldn’t do that. I didn’t do that."

Barr said even though she feels misunderstood, she apologizes and feels remorse.

"But I have to face that it hurt people," she explained. "When you hurt people, even unwillingly, there’s no excuse. I don’t want to run off and blather on with excuses. But I apologize to anyone who thought, or felt offended and who thought that I meant something that I, in fact, did not mean. It was my own ignorance, and there’s no excuse for that ignorance."

"You have to feel remorse, not just repentance," Barr continued. "You have to take an action in the world -- whether it’s through money or other things -- to correct your sin. After your heart is unfrozen and after it stops being broken from the pain you caused others, you stop being a robot and you gotta' come back to God. So it’s remorse, and I definitely feel remorse."

ABC, meanwhile, announced this week that it will launch a spin-off of "Roseanne" called "The Conners" without Barr but with the rest of the cast. The show is set to debut in the fall.

Does Trump's approval rating predict a 2020 re-election? - CNN

Does Trump's approval rating predict a 2020 re-election?

By Julian Zelizer, CNN Political Analyst

Updated 2352 GMT (0752 HKT) June 25, 2018
Trump GOP approval up despite immigration crisis

Trump GOP approval up despite immigration crisis 01:23
Julian Zelizer is a history and public affairs professor at Princeton University, editor of "The Presidency of Barack Obama: A First Historical Assessment" and co-host of the "Politics & Polls" podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @julianzelizer. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own.

(CNN)When President Trump takes unimaginable steps like separating little children from their families to prove a point about how tough he is willing to be on the borders, there is a natural inclination for Democrats to predict that he finally took a step too far. He finally did something that would break the camel's back, he has given the nation a reason to believe he is not fit to serve.

But before Democrats assume that the crisis on the border will bring this President down, they might want to take a look at the recent poll numbers from Gallup. Despite everything that has happened over the last year and a half, the findings show that the President is not quite as weak as some of his opponents are hoping. Last week his job approval rating averaged 45%, the highest that it has been since his first week in office and, this week, slipped slightly to 41%.
Trump touts decline in African-American unemployment rate
Trump touts decline in African-American unemployment rate
Indeed, his job approval ratings have remained in the 40s since mid-April when unemployment rates plummeted to historically low levels. Just as notable is the political breakdown of his rating, with a 38% approval among Independents and 87% among Republicans. If one adds a grade curve to these numbers, it's clear that outside of the Democratic Party, his approval is holding steady.
His rating now is similar to Jimmy Carter (42%), Ronald Reagan (44%), Bill Clinton (44%) and Barack Obama (47%) in June of their second years. The good news for Democrats is that all four of those presidents experienced difficult midterm elections. In 1978, the conservative coalition of Republicans and Southern Democrats cut into the size of Carter's Democratic majority, with the emergence of new firebrands like Newt Gingrich of Georgia who were determined to cause the President problems.
Four years later, the Gipper lamented as House Democrats increased their majority by 26 seats, with most of the gains being liberal Democrats. And of course, Clinton saw Republicans regain control of Congress in 1994 and Obama watched as the GOP took over the House in 2010. None of this bodes well in 2018 for the Republicans, who are likely staring at a difficult midterm.
Donald Trump is as popular as he's ever been (in 1 poll)
Donald Trump is as popular as he's ever been (in 1 poll)
But the 2020 outlook, the one that really matters to President Trump -- who, we must remember, is not particularly interested in legislation anyway -- is a bit brighter. While Carter ended as a one-term president, Reagan, Clinton, and Obama all went on to be reelected and ended their presidency with strong approval ratings. They are presidents who are often seen by significant swaths of the public as successful and even transformative.
There are a number of factors clearly behind the job approval numbers for President Trump. With an unemployment rate of 3.8% as of last month, everyone in the administration will be feeling pretty good if it's true that voters pick presidents based on the health of their wallets.
The overall state of the stock market doesn't hurt matters either. For all the eye rolls and shoulder shrugs, along with the occasional statement by a Republican that things are not right in Washington, the numbers reveal that his partisan support remains very strong. This is why so few Republican politicians are running away from the President and his decisions, while more and more are embracing his leadership. Notwithstanding the horrific stories of children detained in warehouse-like facilities, a good portion of the public supports President Trump.

The message for Democrats should be clear. The political battle to come in the next few months is going to be fierce. The party is going to need to put together an awesome electoral mobilization, with exciting candidates and big ideas, a first-rate ground game, a strong-fund raising strategy, and a sophisticated plan for the media if they are going to do that one thing that would be guaranteed to bring the era of Trump to an end: defeat him in the 2020 election. The new numbers for Gallup show that this goal will not be an easy one to achieve.

Heathrow operator to shift top company outside UK because of Brexit - Financial Times

Heathrow operator to shift top company outside UK because of Brexit
Ferrovial, an international infrastructure operator, will move its holding company out of Britain

Josh Spero - June 26, 2018
Ferrovial, the Spanish manager of Heathrow airport, has said that it will be moving its international holding company out of Britain because of Brexit.

The announcement came the morning after Heathrow’s third runway gained parliamentary approval, with the transport secretary declaring it would show Britain’s “future as a global nation” after Brexit.

The holding will move from Oxford to Amsterdam.

“The reason for the move is to maintain the group’s international companies under the umbrella of [EU] communities’ legislation,” the company said, following a report in Spanish newspaper Expansion.

Ferrovial is an infrastructure operator which runs airports, toll roads and urban services such as waste management in North America, Europe and Australia. It had revenue of €2.7bn in the first quarter of 2018, down from €2.9bn the year before.

In the UK, as well as Heathrow, it runs Glasgow, Southampton and Aberdeen airports and is helping to build the Crossrail project and the Thames tideway tunnel, a large new sewer for the capital.

Other companies in the transport sector have responded to Brexit by adding, not moving. EU airline Wizz Air has obtained UK licences, while British airline easyJet has set up a Vienna-based subsidiary, in case no agreement on aviation is reached in a “hard Brexit”.

Philippine President Duterte calls God 'stupid' - BBC News

Philippine President Duterte calls God 'stupid'
June 26, 2018
Mr Duterte is known for being outspoken in his views
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has called God "stupid", sparking anger in the largely Catholic country.

In a televised speech, he slammed the story of Adam and Eve's fall from grace in the Bible and the logic behind the Christian concept of original sin.

Mr Duterte is well known known for his outrageous statements and unfiltered attacks on his rivals.

While the church and many citizens condemned his remarks, his office said he was expressing personal beliefs.

The president has in the past also criticised the Pope in crude language and has racked up a string of other statements widely deemed as highly offensive, cruel or misogynist.

His latest comments came at a speech in Davao, the city he governed as a mayor before running as president.

Kae Suin
@kaesuin
 Duterte has crossed the line when he gave that statement about God. It’s too much. He’s sick.

1:18 PM - Jun 26, 2018

Magic Man
@Magic_Poblete
 Mr. President Duterte
You got some issues. You can hate us Catholics. But calling our God stupid or idiot are very painful words. If you hate us, then hate us. Just don't include God in your anger.

1:24 PM - Jun 26, 2018

End of Twitter post by @Magic_Poblete
Asking "Who is this stupid God?", Mr Duterte criticised the Biblical story of creation and Adam and Eve being thrown out of the Garden of Eden after they ate the "forbidden fruit".

"You created something perfect and then you think of an event that would tempt and destroy the quality of your work," he said.

'Our democratic way of life hangs in the balance'
Will Netflix's Amo be the Philippine Narcos?
The president also slammed the concept of original sin - whereby all humans are tainted by Adam and Eve's wrongdoing - saying: "You weren't born yet, but now you have original sin."

"What kind of religion is that? I can't accept it."

The Catholic Church called the comments 'blasphemous'
Local Catholic bishop Arturo Bastes responded by calling the president a "madman" and urging people to pray for his "blasphemous utterances and dictatorial tendencies" to end.

Mr Duterte is a known and open critic of the Catholic Church in a country where more than 90% of the population are Christian and the vast majority of those are Catholics.

His outbursts therefore triggered a predictable backlash and debate online.

ilda
@ilda_talk
 Whether you think he is right or wrong, Duterte has a right to express his opinion just like everybody else. No one has a monopoly on being right. Duterte hasn’t turned his opinion about God into a policy so what’s the problem? You have your beliefs and he has his own.

9:35 AM - Jun 26, 2018

The president's spokesman Harry Roque defended Mr Duterte's comments as merely being his personal convictions. He also explained the outburst by referring to the president's claim that he was abused by a priest at a Catholic school during his childhood.

Rodrigo Duterte took office in July 2016 on a hardline platform against crime and corruption. The brutal campaign of extrajudicial killings against drug dealers and users has since though sparked mounting criticism against the strongman.

Earlier this year, the International Criminal Court opened a preliminary inquiry into crimes committed during the drugs purge.

In 2017, Mr Duterte admitted to stabbing someone to death as a teenager.

A very controversial record
His frequent rhetorical outbursts are often far beyond what's considered acceptable by his critics.

He said he would be "happy" to slaughter millions of drug addicts in the country and has responded to international criticism of his policies by calling former US President Barack Obama a "son of a whore" and slamming the EU as hypocrites.

Skip Twitter post by @chzconcepcion

Chaiz
@chzconcepcion
 It's so sad how Duterte calls God stupid and now the same people (Catholics) who didn't have anything to say about the thousands who died bc of the drug war suddenly care. Yes, it's offensive but it's hardly the worst thing he's ever said or done.

12:06 PM - Jun 26, 2018
11
See Chaiz's other Tweets

In April 2016, he spoke to an election campaign rally about the 1989 murder and rape of a female Australian missionary in Davao, where he was mayor at the time.

"I was angry because she was raped," he said. "That's one thing. But she was so beautiful, the mayor should have been first, what a waste."

His office later apologised for the comments.

Earlier this year Mr Duterte told Filipino soldiers they should shoot female communist rebels in the vagina.

A few weeks ago he made headlines by making an overseas Filipina worker kiss him on stage during a live event.

Narcissists 'irritating but successful' - BBC News

Narcissists 'irritating but successful'
By Sean Coughlan
BBC News education and family correspondent
26 June 2018

Narcissists might be irritating attention seekers - but they are also annoyingly likely to be successful, according to researchers.

Even though their personality traits might seem negative, psychologists say their sense of superiority gives them a "mental toughness" not to give up.

An international team of researchers says narcissists tend to come out on top in education, work and romance.

Their "heightened sense of self-worth" gives them great self-confidence.

For psychologists, narcissism is one of the "dark triad" of malevolent personality traits, along with psychopathy and Machiavellianism - with narcissists having a tendency to be self-centred, vain, grandiose and to need the admiration of others.

Narcissism 'short-lived way to popularity'
Why we should pity attention-seeking narcissists
But Dr Kostas Papageorgiou, from Queen's University Belfast, says research shows that narcissists are often socially successful and undeterred by rejection and their craving for attention can make them "charming" and highly motivated.

Narcissists can have an exaggerated view of their own importance
"If we could abandon conventional social morality - and just focus on what is successful," he says, then narcissism can look like a very "positive" trait.

"If you are a narcissist you believe strongly that you are better than anyone else and that you deserve reward," says the psychologist.

This might be unbearable for everyone else around them, but Dr Papageorgiou says this kind of boundless self-belief is also linked to being "mentally tough" and a readiness to "embrace challenges".

It's all about me
The "power" of narcissism is currently on public view, he says, in the prevalence of narcissistic behaviour in popular culture, whether on social media, reality television or in politics.

Dr Papageorgiou is part of a research team including academics from Goldsmiths, the University of London, King's College London, University of Texas at Austin and Manchester Metropolitan University, which used performance in secondary school exams to show how narcissists could overtake people who had more ability than them.

It is "all about me" for narcissists
Using a sample of more than 300 young people identified as narcissists in secondary school in Italy, the researchers found that they tended to score much better in exams than would have been expected from other tests of their intelligence.

Psychologists said that as well as traits such as egotism and the need to dominate, these narcissists had high levels of resilience and determination.

They were not cleverer, but were more confident and assertive and were able to overtake students who otherwise would have more ability.

Charming monsters
Dr Papageorgiou says this pattern of advantage at school carries through to university and work - and also in romance.

He says that narcissists are likely to attract more partners.

"They're quite charismatic. If you spend a lot of time trying to be charming and persuade other people, it might well make you more attractive, says Dr Papageorgiou.

He says there could even be an evolutionary element to what he says is a rise in narcissism, with narcissists having more sexual partners and passing on their genes to more people.

Dr Papageorgiou says about 60% of narcissism is inherited, with the rest shaped by the environment.

Narcissists can be "absolutely destructive for those around them", says the psychologist, but there is nothing inevitable about this and they can limit the impact of these character traits.

"You can control them, rather than let them control you," he says.

Dr Papageorgiou argues that such personality traits should not be seen as "either good or bad" but as "products of evolution" and "expressions of human nature".