Take a look at this! Women and those who care about humane politics are marching today all over the nation. It is a
sight for sore eyes!!
THE RESISTANCE LIVES!!!!
Saturday, January 20, 2018
Women’s March Returns a Year Later, as Movement Evolves--THE RESISTANCE LIVES -- ALL OVER THE NATION ! :)
Thursday, January 18, 2018
Trump’s exam shows serious heart concerns, doctors outside the White House say
"Cardiologists not associated with the White House said
Wednesday that President Trump’s physical exam revealed serious heart
concerns, including very high levels of so-called bad cholesterol, which
raises the risk he could suffer a heart attack while in office.Dr.
Ronny L. Jackson, a rear admiral and the White House physician, said
Tuesday in his report on the president’s medical condition that Trump
was in “excellent” cardiac health, despite having an LDL cholesterol
level of 143, well above the desired level of 100 or less.
Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist at the Scripps Research Institute,
disputed that rosy assessment. On Wednesday, he said the most alarming
fact is that the president’s LDL levels remain above 140 even though he
is taking 10 milligrams of Crestor, a powerful drug that is used to
lower cholesterol levels to well below 100."
Drumpf lies and he lies ALL the time even in the face of evidence he gets others to do the lying for him. -- RESIST!
READ THE ARTICLE BELOW
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Democrats Score Special Election Upset In Wisconsin GOP (Crooked Republican) Stronghold
https://www.huffingtonpost.
Support Democrats running for office and keep those wins coming. Do not
underestimate the GOP gobs of billionaire bucks. They have an endless
supply of money thanks to the rancid Citizen's United SCOTUS
Republican decision that counts money as speech and corporations as
people squashing the middle class and the poor -- of course. Democrats
have their billionaires,
too, thankfully but not, unfortunately, as many as the Republican
crooks. Ah,
good name taken from the Beast's play book. Now let's call them Crooked
Republicans.
Never
feel complacent ever. Crooked Republicans will do
all they can to steal middle class bucks, ruin earned social safety
nets basing it on so called "law" and, while they are at it, bash the
poor! If you, your parents or grandparents have paid into Social
Security, Medicare and need it to survive, know someone who needs
Medicaid to live then be always vigilant and run people for office who
will save these necessary earned programs that extend life! Trump's so
called tax cut was simply a permanent tax cut from 35 to 21% for the top
2% billionaires whose wealth is not enough who, he thinks, needs more
including most especially his most important person -- himself. Middle
class tax cuts are minimal and NOT permanent. Do you really think Trump
cares about the middle class? Think again. Republicans do NOT care
about most of you.
Crooked
Republicans want it all and are after your Social Security, Medicare
and the eradication of Medicaid for the poor. See Youtube George
Carlin in his "The American Dream" rant said it all (WARNING: profanity) for exactly what crooked Republicans are doing!
SAVE LIVES, RUN FOR OFFICE ON PROGRESSIVE VALUES AND ALWAYS
RESIST!
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Eliza Dushku, Change and Hope
The
actress, Eliza Dushku while filming "True Lies" alleges she was sexually
harassed by the stunt coordinator, Joel Kramer (see link below.) Will
the egregious sexual harassment of women by men of power ever change? I
am a feminist and have been since I honed my political philosophy over
40 years ago. I know of Eliza Dushku but have not seen many of her
films. I know, though, she has a loving family. It is the most
egregious thing that men -- triple that for the film industry -- have
done to women because they knew women would sacrifice most anything to
achieve the most American of dreams - - a Bette Davis success. Young
actresses race with the clock to craft a career at a young age before
the hands of time wreak havoc on their bodies and fade that dream. It
must be a hellish life to desperately want something but to have the
stress that aging places on a young woman, especially so on a teenage
girl, in her quest to perfect her craft in an unforgiving career where
each blemish on a woman's body is a threat to something she so
desperately wants to attain.
Having
said that to lop blame on those who knew her secret 20 or 30 years ago
but did not speak out when it happened during a time when doing so would
have possibly ended their loved one's career is unfair. We cannot, I
think, and must not levy blame on those who knew about it then but said
nothing. It was a different time. It was not so many other victims'
faults either at that time who feared exposing their secret would be
like ending their lives.
Powerful
men exert powerful fear simply look at our so called president to
understand that. Times have changed. Is it safe to come out of the
Munchkin dark? The hope is it is and it will remain safe. I fear,
though, some men's sexual voraciousness and anarchistic actions on that
unyielding appetite will change little. Some into the future will still
prey on the less powerful because they know they can. Eliza Dushku
shares an egregious experience with millions of women young and old
across the globe many of whom still cannot reveal their shame. Many
still wear the scarlet letter.
It is our right in this nation and, indeed our duty, to speak out in our time because now we can. Men of good faith and men of ethics must speak out, stand with women and say MeToo.
Will
this phenomenon that the powerful have over the powerless ever change?
Martin Luther King quoted Unitarian Minister Theodore Parker: The Arc
of the Moral Universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Let us hope
it does despite and, perhaps, because of the right wing extremist Trumpian times
in which we live.
Friday, January 12, 2018
Haitian Embassy -- Express your apologies
If you want to express your apologies for the disgusting profane
comment of our "sable genius" president against the nation of Haiti here
is the link.
http://haiti.org/contact-us/
http://haiti.org/contact-us/
Profound Questions
A man, Alan
Milner, who is on my FB feed and who is bright offers his cultural,
political and economic views. I find them challenging and have
responded with my own answers and questions.
Alan Milner: I just do not believe that you watch billionaires at the Golden Globe awards and you think that they are any more in touch with reality than the current asshole in the White House.Here's some reality for you. Anyone who has billions of dollars is a murderer. They may not have pulled the trigger of a gun, but by hoarding great wealth, they are responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. Multiply that by the number of billionaires we have out there now and that equals to millions of deaths.
Alan Milner: I just do not believe that you watch billionaires at the Golden Globe awards and you think that they are any more in touch with reality than the current asshole in the White House.Here's some reality for you. Anyone who has billions of dollars is a murderer. They may not have pulled the trigger of a gun, but by hoarding great wealth, they are responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. Multiply that by the number of billionaires we have out there now and that equals to millions of deaths.
Let me say this very clearly: Being a successful billionaire mogul
doesn't qualify anyone to be president regardless of your motivations.
Billionaires are disqualified by virtue of their wealth because the ONLY
way that wealth is ever accumulated is at the expense of the poor and
the working classes. If you don't get this, then you don't understand
either politics or economics.
But what I am really disturbed about is that you even watch this s%$t and think it bears any relationship to your reality.
John responds: If you think most of the people at the GGs are billionaires, then you don’t know much about the movie business.
Alan: People do not understand the concept that extreme wealth makes monsters out of people. You don't own the money. The money owns you.
My Comment: I hear what you are saying, Alan, I really do. I have spent my young adult and adult life thinking about the concepts you raise. I need clarification though. How would you want to organize society? What nation on this planet shares all the accumulated wealth equitably? I am not an economist by far but in shaping my political philosophy I examined what was out there. Did Marx have it right? Did Adam Smith the advocate of capitalism have it right? Did Ayn Rand have it right with unbridled capitalism with which Speaker Ryan is in love? Did Castro, Mao Tse Tung or Lenin have it right? Did all the fascist autocrats get it right? Who got it right?
I submit man has not figured out how to equitably motivate people to create the necessities of life and live comfortably. I came to the conclusion that although not perfect capitalism when done right with wealth not horded by a very few provides the motivation for people to create. It needs boundaries though. What brakes would you want to create, Alan, that put a lid on how much money a person can accumulate? Capitalism when done more equitably creates quality -- a better mousetrap and all that. The problem is when our nation takes off regulation, takes off the brakes on the financial system, takes off brakes on commodities that pollute, denies science to accumulate that wealth just for the sake of its accumulation then chaos happens and many deaths occur.
Everything that Trump has done creates a HUGE imbalance of wealth and power. That is as I see it the problem. Once a culture removes the brakes and allows its people to go haywire in the pursuit of wealth with no or little regulation then it becomes an immoral wasteland where the few take it all and majority will suffer greatly with significantly less. Depressions and recessions happen of which revolutions are made only to be replaced with a system that is often worse. You tell me how you would organize a system where the production of goods and services creates a better standard of living but is at the same time equitable?
Your thoughts are profound, Alan, but I simply do not see an economic system out there that is fair, just and provides the greatest number of necessities for the greatest number of people without incentive to do so.
But what I am really disturbed about is that you even watch this s%$t and think it bears any relationship to your reality.
John responds: If you think most of the people at the GGs are billionaires, then you don’t know much about the movie business.
Alan: People do not understand the concept that extreme wealth makes monsters out of people. You don't own the money. The money owns you.
My Comment: I hear what you are saying, Alan, I really do. I have spent my young adult and adult life thinking about the concepts you raise. I need clarification though. How would you want to organize society? What nation on this planet shares all the accumulated wealth equitably? I am not an economist by far but in shaping my political philosophy I examined what was out there. Did Marx have it right? Did Adam Smith the advocate of capitalism have it right? Did Ayn Rand have it right with unbridled capitalism with which Speaker Ryan is in love? Did Castro, Mao Tse Tung or Lenin have it right? Did all the fascist autocrats get it right? Who got it right?
I submit man has not figured out how to equitably motivate people to create the necessities of life and live comfortably. I came to the conclusion that although not perfect capitalism when done right with wealth not horded by a very few provides the motivation for people to create. It needs boundaries though. What brakes would you want to create, Alan, that put a lid on how much money a person can accumulate? Capitalism when done more equitably creates quality -- a better mousetrap and all that. The problem is when our nation takes off regulation, takes off the brakes on the financial system, takes off brakes on commodities that pollute, denies science to accumulate that wealth just for the sake of its accumulation then chaos happens and many deaths occur.
Everything that Trump has done creates a HUGE imbalance of wealth and power. That is as I see it the problem. Once a culture removes the brakes and allows its people to go haywire in the pursuit of wealth with no or little regulation then it becomes an immoral wasteland where the few take it all and majority will suffer greatly with significantly less. Depressions and recessions happen of which revolutions are made only to be replaced with a system that is often worse. You tell me how you would organize a system where the production of goods and services creates a better standard of living but is at the same time equitable?
Your thoughts are profound, Alan, but I simply do not see an economic system out there that is fair, just and provides the greatest number of necessities for the greatest number of people without incentive to do so.
Wednesday, January 10, 2018
A More Perfect Union -- Fiddler on the Roof
Federal Judge Orders Trump Administration To Keep DACA In Place --
"A
federal judge in California ordered the Trump administration on Tuesday
to keep in place the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program,
which protects undocumented immigrants who entered the country as
children from deportation and allows them to work legally, while a
lawsuit proceeds.
The
order, signed by U.S. District Judge Williams Alsup, marks a major
triumph for immigrant rights groups who have rallied around the program
that benefits nearly 700,000 people."
My Comment:
No doubt the racist Trump Justice Department will try to appeal this decision of a lower federal court which will, if let stand, save thousands of lives. The Supreme Court is always a worry. Merrick Garland, Obama's rightful process correct SCOTUS choice was, in historically unique form, derailed by Republicon Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as he waited like a snake stocking its prey to see if Republican Trump was elected. A stroke of luck allowed his mean-spirited calculation to succeed and negated President Obama's rightful choice. Trump was sadly elected and quickly the process correct Obama's SCOTUS choice of excellence, Justice Merrick Garland, was never allowed even a hearing. Neil Gorsuch the right wing extremist Scalia clone, Trump's choice, was seated on the Supreme Court in an effort to swing the Court inhumane right. Justice Kennedy remains progressives' singular lonely choice balancing precariously like a fiddler on the roof making life and death decisions affecting the futures of thousands if not millions of human beings. Justice Kennedy, the tie breaker, has been entrusted with shaping the character of this nation as either one of diversity or of white supremacy.
My Comment:
No doubt the racist Trump Justice Department will try to appeal this decision of a lower federal court which will, if let stand, save thousands of lives. The Supreme Court is always a worry. Merrick Garland, Obama's rightful process correct SCOTUS choice was, in historically unique form, derailed by Republicon Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as he waited like a snake stocking its prey to see if Republican Trump was elected. A stroke of luck allowed his mean-spirited calculation to succeed and negated President Obama's rightful choice. Trump was sadly elected and quickly the process correct Obama's SCOTUS choice of excellence, Justice Merrick Garland, was never allowed even a hearing. Neil Gorsuch the right wing extremist Scalia clone, Trump's choice, was seated on the Supreme Court in an effort to swing the Court inhumane right. Justice Kennedy remains progressives' singular lonely choice balancing precariously like a fiddler on the roof making life and death decisions affecting the futures of thousands if not millions of human beings. Justice Kennedy, the tie breaker, has been entrusted with shaping the character of this nation as either one of diversity or of white supremacy.
SCOTUS can let this decision by the lower federal court stand by not hearing it or hear it, let it stand, or overrule it.
Progressives' hearts will
never rest until this Congress is in 2018 overturned, Democrats take power,
Trump is impeached, convicted and removed from office to take his
rightful place in the ash bin of history. Let us pray if you are a
prayerful person that this national nightmare ends and our nation
returns to its quest to become as the Constitutional Preamble states "a
more perfect union."
Monday, January 08, 2018
Oprah Calls For Day When No One Has To Say ‘Me Too’ During Golden Globes Speech
I thought of writing something on Oprah's magnificent speech at the Golden Globes but there is so much good to say about Oprah Winfrey that I thought it
would be too arduous a task to do in the morning. Thus, I leave the
link to her acceptance speech and her appearance to accept the Cecil B.
Demille award for career
excellence below.
I
will say, though, one thing. Her acceptance speech was magnificent and
presented with the excellence that she has shown all her life! I post the
story and the speech below.
Sunday, January 07, 2018
Avaaz is the campaigning community bringing people-powered politics to decision making worldwide + my Comment--Watch the video
My Comment: 
️
FABULOUS
video, made me cry with happiness. Those who resist Trump's ugly
attempt at the acquisition of total power and the money that sustains it
keep on keeping on as there are
those billions you do not even know who are with us fighting the
Trumpian madness here and other nationalist and right wing extremists
around the world. They are resisting the racist run of the few to ruin
the lives of the many by stopping right wing extremism from taking it
all--taking our healthcare, taking our savings and finally if we allow
it taking our lives. No more passively
looking at corruption and hate, shrugging our shoulders because we can
do something, we can reject right wing extremist hate here and around
the world, WE CAN RESIST!! Send this to everyone you know and it will be sent to those you don't know. RESIST! Then watch the video.
This video recorded by Avaaz team members is going viral! It's a shot of hope and love for 2018 -- will you help share it and spread the joy across the world? Watch and share it now:
2017 was a rough year, but wow, is the resistance on fire! We've never been prouder of our movement -- both Avaaz, and all those we stand with.
We've stopped the rise of the far-right in several countries, frustrated Trumpism in almost every major accomplishment it sought, opened our hearts to refugees, won major battles to protect our planet, and defeated toxic foes from Monsanto to Rupert Murdoch.
The best part is the WAY we're winning. Not through fear, anger and manipulation, but through love, hope and smarts. We are being the change we wish to see, and building the world we dream of, each step of the way. And we're doing it, TOGETHER.
So bring it on, 2018!!!
With gratitude for all you lovely people who made all this happen, and hope for the year to come,
Ricken, Emma, Fatima, Alice, Nana, Spyro, Nataliya, Danny and the whole Avaaz team.
P.S. If you're feeling hopeless right now -- yes, the threats are real, but if we give up hope where does that leave us? Our grandparents faced far worse with far less -- we can't throw our hands up now. Lots of love to you! And let's all beware the media we're reading this year -- the far-right and the Russian government have an OBJECTIVE of making engaged citizens like us cynical by spinning stories and lies (especially on Facebook) that destroy hope and trust in democracy, institutions, media and each other. Here's evidence for that (Guardian). Let's fight smart for everything we love in 2018!!!
Saturday, January 06, 2018
I love me, I love me, I'm wild about myself
Trump Defends His Mental Capacity, Calling Himself a ‘Genius’https://www.nytimes.com/2018/0
Trump's Theme Song:
From
what planet did Trump originate? Did they hate us so much
that they sent this crackpot who must make love to and kiss himself 42
times a day? Great lyrics to a song he must sing: "I love me, I love
me, I'm wild about myself!" Wouldn't you know Youtube has the song!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Friday, January 05, 2018
The Definition of Insanity
This
imbecile president has zero knowledge regarding the separation of
powers, the essence of our democracy and that which nations have copied
the world over for its brilliance. He has either never read a
historical analysis of the colonial period that was the stone cutter of
our Constitutional democracy or he is just plain illiterate and stupid
to boot. I suspect it is all of those things as he has read nothing
and, perhaps, even cannot read a thing. This is sadly our president,
the occupant of the most powerful office in the world capable of
destroying it and all we know in it in a nuclear nanosecond.
The
definition, it is said, of insanity is doing the same thing over and
over again expecting different results. This dolt president asked his
immediate world if they could prevail upon Attorney General Sessions not
to recuse himself and then asked FBI Director James Comey himself to
drop the investigation of Michael Flynn and Russia. When he would not
Trump, in ignorance, fired him and did not give one second of thought to
an obstruction of justice charge that could be made against him by
anyone assuming the authority of the investigation of Trump's ties to
Russia and its ties to influencing a presidential election. This is evidence, yet again, of Trump's profound
Constitutional and historical ignorance. He has no idea that his power
is profoundly checked by a separation of powers; by a separate and
independent judiciary and that he is not a king despite his thinking
that he is.
If
he remains in office after his and his administration's gargantuan
Constitutional abridgements, unethical behaviors as well as his alleged
conflicted illegal money laundering business interests then he has
successfully subverted our democracy begun by patriots in 1776 and honed
for nearly 2 and one half centuries. If he is not removed from office
than he has successfully done what the British could not do in 1776,
what Confederates who fought to destroy this nation in 1860 could not
do, what Hitler and the Axis powers could not do in 1941, what
Communists (including Russia) and Fascists alike could not do in the
20th century.
Surely
we will not let this stupid man bring this nation down exposing it to
those who would love nothing more than to annihilate it. This cannot be
so. This must not happen. "A Republic if you can keep it" said
Benjamin Franklin when asked what type of government the Founders
formed. We will keep it, indeed, rather than let a con man,
charlatan, classless carnival barker swamp thing kill it and worse leave
this nation open to those adversaries in the 21st century, including
Russia, that would seek destroy it.
RESIST and share this with whomever you choose.
Thursday, January 04, 2018
Who is minding the store?
The latest Bannon vs. Trump Vesuvian blow up in this non compos mentis
sad excuse for an administration is that the town -- Washington -- is
deserted with the exception of some crackpot right wingnut hate infused
violent extremists. I worry about the safety and security of the
nation. Who
is minding the store? There is no one home, the leader is a mental
case, many have quit, formally resigned or have been fired. The oval
office is filled with vipers and paranoids whose ire is directed one
against the other, the State Department is
depleted of persons with talent, enemies with strength are knocking at
the
global door and this country is in the cross-hairs of adversarial
nations with nukes. Add to the chaos is a winter bomb cyclone pummeling
east coast millions. Of course, in Trump's feeble uninquisitive near
illiterate mind this is not related to global warming because it is
cold! He cannot cerebrally connect the difference between weather and
climate change. Power could go out and many could die from the cold
which will be zero or below with wind. What
else could happen? Oh yes, did I mention San Francisco had an
earthquake?
I
have never seen a worse historical era in my life. This national
insanity is worse than the Cuban Missile crisis, worse than
Watergate, worse than the violence of the 1960's, maybe even worse than
the dawn of WWII. At the apex of discord there is a crackpot at the
helm of the strongest nation on earth who is drunk with power he should
not have and has not a clue how to use it but does know he has a "big
button" nuclear biscuit on his desk with an itchy trigger finger just
dying to see how it works. Has he ever seen films of Hiroshima or
Nagasaki? I doubt it. Youtube could give him all the pictures he needs
to know of just what a nuclear blast would mean. Perhaps, he does not
even know how to get to Youtube but he surely does know how to tweet.
The tweeter-in-chief, uses only 140 characters with lousy grammar,
spelling errors galore, syntax of a five year old to convey a message
that imperils the world.
This
is what happens when the people place in high office incompetents who
care about
one thing they can derive from immense power ..... money! That is what
the Russia scandal is about -- money and the laundering of it with
conflicts of interest all over the globe. It is why Trump's
administration is embroiled in Everest size scandals and imploding.
Those who have the most wealth in this nation find it is not enough for
them. They want it all. They want all for them and nothing for anyone
else. Elect them at your peril.
Wednesday, January 03, 2018
I'm Melting I'm Melting!
Feast your eyes. It requires no comment by me. 
Steve Bannon Suggests Donald Trump Met With Russians After Don Jr. Did
The former White House strategist called the infamous Trump Tower meeting “treasonous,” according to a new book.
https://www.huffingtonpost.
Monday, January 01, 2018
Hanging together
What
did Ben Franklin say? "We MUST hang together or we will surely hang
separately." Trump is a beast as he lowers the corporate tax rate from 35%
to 21% ... let me say that again from 35 to 21% permanently, gives the middle class a
small break and then raises its tax because its tax cut is not permanent. He gives the middle class a small break to make one
stand on bended knee thanking him and kissing his ring for an extra 18 bucks in one's pay check.
Add to the egregious, unconstitutional not to mention unethical things
he and his oligarchic family with a little help from his Russian friends
have done and in finality he has raped this nation not only through
massive tax cuts he and his Republican henchmen gave
themselves and the top 2% but by excreting on our Constitution
specifically the Emoluments clause making millions off us.
If Clinton had ever done that ... well need I say more?
Trump is a curse on this nation. Add 1.5 trillion to the deficit through his tax cuts and guess with what this
cretinous glutton wants to fill the hole. If you said funds from Medicare, Social
Security and Medicaid -- YOU win the prize -- ill health and poverty for millions.
Medicare and Social Security are earned they are not
so called "entitlements." Your children and grandchildren will need
the availability of these programs to survive their retirement years.
Saturday, December 30, 2017
Sentiments from a friend
A friend sent the
sentiments below to me. She is one of the nicest people I know who
lives the words on the sign. It is good advice for the New Year and
I
will try to perfect its thought although I know at times I will fall
short. We can only try to do the best we can with the life we were
given making the
best effort we can to transform the injustice and inequality suffering
of others into justice and equality for the world entire.
Friday, December 29, 2017
Confession
I must
confess. I want to reflect the characteristics of a Heather Hier who
gave her life in Charlottesville protesting against right wing
nationalism and extremists. She stood for the causes in which I
believe. I feel, in part, that I am like the person they say she was.
She was a person who stood for justice, had empathy for the poor and
wanted to provide hope to those who had none.
It
is the injustice of the Trump presidency I cannot bear. It is the lies
and the fact that he stands for the 2% richest while he says he stands
for the opposite. He is using, I believe, this presidency and the
people who should not support him, for one thing -- the money he can
make from it and them. I get infuriated by the injustice he has
perpetrated, the minorities he has hurt and the death his policies will
cause against those who can tolerate these injustices the least.
I am angry at the lies Trump tells but I am even angrier at the persons
who believe his lies and cement a low base that supports him. I am so
saturated with anger, fear and disbelief at this unjust and
unfit-for-the-presidency man who captured the the most powerful office
in the world that sometimes I verbally Vesuvian erupt when the situation
does not warrant I should. I fear I become more like the hardened
opposition I loathe then the people with whom I truly identify. So I
will say here, I am sorry for those things I say in anger; things that
should not be said by me. I say them because I am frightened for the
first time in my life by my country in which I had so much hope. This
nation which is capable of much humane social change has become
in this era at times unrecognizable to me. I begin to feel hopeless
that those in this nation who need help will not get it or, indeed, have
the things for which they worked so hard get taken away by the richest
among us who want it all and found a leader in a zero conscience Trump
who will give it all to them and take his helping of it as well.
The
last thing I would want is to become so hardened in my position that
like the opposition I do not see the real forest through the trees. The
real lush forest of our nation, I believe, is its ability to change and
to rescue those who face hardship in this nation and those who face it
in the nations of their births; those who face poverty, disease,
disenfranchisement and death in nations they once called home. Facebook
offers one the ability to state one's beliefs in a public forum. It is
so powerful that things stated in the heat of debate with faces hidden
from view can make one immune and not listen to opposing beliefs and
worse say things one would not say to another's face. I do not want to
become like that. I want to stand for humane policy, for understanding,
for empathy, for inclusion and, perhaps, most of all for the tolerance I
would want others to bestow upon me.
In
this New Year I will at least try to not say unto others that which I
would not want to said unto me. I will, in this New Year, I hope, try
to do better.
Happy New Year to all my friends and even to those who are not.
Thursday, December 28, 2017
Tallying the Damage of Trump's Presidency in 2017 by Tessa Stuart of "Rolling Stone Magazine" + My Comment -- The Trojan Horse Trump
Though
the tax bill was the only piece of major legislation Trump was able to
get passed this year, the 45th president got plenty done
Last week, after the mad dash to pass the GOP tax bill and last-minute scramble to fund the government, President Trump finally had a moment to pause and reflect on his first year in office. And, as he does when he has a thought, he tweeted about it: "So many things accomplished by the Trump Administration, perhaps more than any other President in first year. Sadly, will never be reported correctly by the Fake News Media!"
The thing is: he's not entirely wrong. It's true the tax bill was the first and only piece of major legislation he was able to get passed this year – an almost unimaginable reality, considering his party has control of both chambers of Congress – but even without many actual bills to his name Trump has gotten quite a bit done this year. Starting with his very first act in office.
The Federal Housing Administration was poised to cut mortgage fees the week Trump was sworn in, a move that would have made home ownership more accessible and less expensive for everyone across the board, but especially for the poorest Americans – "the forgotten men and women" he often spoke of on the campaign trail. Mortgage lenders, home builders and real estate agents were united in their support for the move, but Trump scrapped it an hour after the inauguration. His reason, outlined in a letter from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, was vague: "more analysis and research" was needed to assess how "potential market conditions in an ever-changing global economy" could impact future rates, the agency said.
Reportedly, there was no reason. The decision was motivated by the fact that Trump didn't want anything – no matter how popular or uncontroversial – going through if it was endorsed by President Obama. The FHA decision was, ultimately, emblematic of Trump's first year in office: a symbolic move chiefly motivated by spite that had serious, negative consequences for actual people. In this case, the change would mean as many as 40,000 buyers couldn't buy a home in 2017, according to estimates by the National Association of Realtors; the week after the decision, mortgage applications dropped 3.2 percent.
Ironically, Trump has been most successful at the very thing he criticized Obama for – extensive use of executive orders to achieve his policy goals. And, for all his high-profile legislative belly flops, since assuming office nearly a year ago he's managed to do an incredible amount of damage – to the environment, health, education, civil and labor rights – entirely outside of Congress.
Here's a rundown.
Health careTrump failed, repeatedly, to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but with the help of a Republican-controlled Congress, he has found ways to undermine the law. The tax bill Congress hastily approved just before the end of the year included a provision repealing Obamacare's individual mandate to buy insurance. The mandate, originally devised by the arch-conservative Heritage Foundation, imposes a penalty on anyone who doesn't buy insurance as a way to incentivize more individuals to get coverage, expand the risk pool and drive down costs. It's unclear what repealing the mandate will do, but economists believe it will drive up health care premiums, causing the ranks of the uninsured to swell by almost one-third, or an estimated 41 million people, by 2026, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Those premium increases will be in addition to ones that were already anticipated after the Trump administration announced in October it would stop paying for subsidies that offset out-of-pocket costs for low-income Americans. (Insurance companies warned the decision could force them to stop offering plans on the Obamacare exchanges.) That's fine with Trump's Department of Health and Human Services, which is actively working to discourage enrollment in the exchanges. The agency shrank its budget for ACA advertising by 90 percent, slashed funding to groups that help with enrollment by 40 percent and cut the enrollment period in half – a move that will automatically re-enroll some Americans in plans they no longer want before they're eligible to switch to another.
In 2017, Trump also reinstated and expanded the so-called global gag rule, a Reagan-era relic banning foreign aid to NGOs that advocate for abortion access, offer abortion services or even discuss abortion with clients. The move imperils a range of programs around the world aimed at addressing outbreaks of HIV, malaria and Zika. Plus, Trump reversed a rule here in the U.S. that banned states from withholding federal funds from clinics that provide abortion, withdrew a rule that would have reimbursed active-duty military and their family for travel to medical appointments, and revoked another rule that banned the mentally ill from buying guns.
ImmigrationJohn Kelly's tenure as the head of the Department of Homeland Security was a short but busy one. He oversaw the implementation of and court challenges to Trump's Muslim ban. The Supreme Court ruled in December that the full revised ban, restricting travel to the U.S. from six majority-Muslim countries plus North Korea, could go into effect while challenges to the law work their way through the court system. (A handful of government officials from Venezuela and their family members are also banned by the order.)
The Muslim ban has received the most attention, but Trump also has managed sweeping reversals of Obama-era immigration policies. Under Trump, ICE is hiring thousands of new agents (it plans to double in size by 2023) and enlisting the help of local police, expanding the criteria for deportation and fast-tracking deportation hearings. Kelly withdrew an Obama-era memo, never implemented, that would have protected the parents of U.S. citizens from deportation and suspended a proposed visa that would have encouraged entrepreneurs from other countries to remain in the U.S.
Pending action by Congress, Trump will end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which granted protected status to 690,000 people who came to the U.S. as children.
He ended a program that granted temporary legal residence to children who fled to the U.S. from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, impacting more than 2,700; ordered 2,500 Nicaraguans and 60,000 Haitians with provisional residency to leave the country over the next two years; slashed the number of refugees the U.S. would accept by more than half, from 110,000 to 45,000; and imposed new screening procedures that could drive that number even lower. Refugee resettlement this year dropped precipitously – as of October, 1,242 and arrived in the U.S. in 2017, compared to 9,945 the previous year.
EducationUnder Trump – the former proprietor of Trump University – the Department of Education has moved swiftly to dissolve rules on for-profits colleges and dismantle protections for student borrowers. First the agency withdrew a slate of policy memos designed to increase accountability for student loan servicers, then it gutted two Obama-era policies that would have offered relief to students misled or defrauded by colleges and withheld federal student aid from programs that habitually left students with more debt than they could repay. The agency has abandoned work on joint lawsuits with several states against for-profit schools, too. (The DOE official in charge of policing such predatory behavior is a former dean of DeVry, a for-profit school prosecuted for predatory practices.)
The Trump Department of Education also withdrew guidance for addressing sexual assault complaints on college campuses, discontinued a grant designed to increase socioeconomic diversity in public school districts, revoked 72 policy papers on the rights of students with disabilities and rescinded protections for transgender students.
LaborUnder Trump, the Department of Labor has aggressively abandoned rules governing exposure to harmful chemicals. Among others, it delayed a rule on silica, which is linked to lung disease and cancer, and abandoned ones that would have imposed exposure limits on styrene, another cancer-causer, and 1-bromopropane, a neurotoxin. At the same time, the agency did away with regulations designed to keep track of workplace injuries and deaths. The administration also nixed a rule designed to help close the wage gap by requiring companies to report what they pay by race and gender, and ordered a review of a rule meant to protect workers from bad retirement saving advice.
Civil rightsSince taking the helm at the Justice Department, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has undermined the rule of law while preaching a tough-on-crime philosophy. He ordered a review of agreements struck between problematic police departments and the DOJ's civil rights division, instructed federal prosecutors to pursue the heaviest penalties possible for all defendants, ended a program to improve forensic science standards and rescinded a directive to stop using private prisons.
A legendary hardliner on immigration, Sessions also instructed DOJ lawyers to pursue felony charges not only against immigrants re-entering the country – formerly a misdemeanor crime – but also against anyone who gives them a ride or offers them a place to sleep. And he changed the department's position on a high-profile case about voter ID laws in Texas. (The Department of Justice under Obama contested the law on grounds that it was discriminatory; under Trump, the department has decided it's not.)
Sessions reversed discrimination protections for transgender workers and did away with a rule that would have ensured homeless transgender individuals could choose to stay at the sex-segregated shelter that matched their gender identity. He also issued new guidance on the interpretation of religious freedom, a move that civil rights advocates worry will give religious groups grounds to discriminate against LGBT people.
EnvironmentUnder Trump, the U.S. withdrew from the Paris climate accord, and is now the only country in the world that is not party to the non-binding agreement to address global warming. The administration also announced it would cease payments to the U.N.'s Green Climate Fund and disbanded a federal advisory panel on climate change, while the Energy Department banned the use of the phrase "climate change" itself.
Trump's EPA greenlit completion of both the Dakota Access and the Keystone XL pipelines. The Keystone XL, according to a report produced by Obama's EPA, will increase and accelerate the rate at which greenhouse gases are emitted into the atmosphere, worsening climate change. Construction also threatens habitats of a number of endangered species, including the whooping crane and swift fox. The Dakota Access pipeline threatens the safety of drinking water.
Trump's EPA overturned, threw out or otherwise abandoned rules that banned lead bullets from National Wildlife Refuges and the sale of plastic water bottles at National Parks, created standards for recycling aerosol cans, protected whales and sea turtles, restricted what coal companies could dump into streams, reduced pollutants at sewage treatment plants, and limited methane and other greenhouse gas emissions. The agency also delayed implementation of rules aimed at preventing accidents at chemical plants and limiting power plants' ability to dump heavy metal-laden toxic waste into public waters. Against the advice of its own scientists, the EPA chose not to ban a widely used insecticide believed to harm children's mental development.
Trump reduced Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments by two million acres, introducing the possibility of future oil and natural gas exploration, mining and logging in an area sacred to local Native American tribes. He lifted an Obama-era moratorium on coal mining on public lands, signed an executive order directing the Interior Department to re-examine a ban on offshore drilling and revoked an order protecting the northern Bering Sea region in Alaska.
Though he probably doesn't realize it, Trump benefits from doing so many ridiculous things that his crises steal attention from each other. Recall the overwhelming year of Trump. Watch below.
My Comment: This article makes my head explode. If you are not feeling the same effects I wonder why. What composes the character of a man that would reintroduce cancer and other disease causing chemicals into the environment and open up gorgeous pristine areas with beautiful scenery killing animals that live there to the spoliation and pollution of oil drilling and gas exploration two known causes of global climate change. Does this ignorant Cretan president with his evil numb heart and his know nothing family not enjoy breathing? Do you not want your family to enjoy good health? This man is not only a malevolent danger to us but to future generations if his policies remain intact. I do not know how if one loves their family or even cares about oneself anyone on planet earth could call themselves in this modern era Republican and be proud. Our nation has enacted post WWII many life threatening policies and conducted the killing field of slaughter all over the world of which I have often been an ardent critic but never did I think the majority of this nation's heart was was cruel, unjust and without an ounce of character or conscience until now that it has seen fit through an electoral college flue to elect this Trojan Horse Trump. He is a killer with zero conscience, hides his face under a metaphor KKK sheet and is said to alleged have a copy of Hitler's Mein Kampf at his bedside. The fact that can believe that true tells one all one nees to know about the content of this man's rancid character. RESIST BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!
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