The judiciary seems to be the only branch of the government that can put any meaningfully restraint on President Donald Trump; although an argument can be made that despite their numerical weakness, Democratic lawmakers have been able to wrest policy victories from the GOP and Trump.
The Trump administration has suffered losses in two recent court decisions.
#U.S. District Judge Harry D. Leinenweber has ruled that Attorney General Jeff Sessions cannot withhold public safety grant money to sanctuary cities. Judge Leinenweber said that the city of Chicago has shown a "likelihood of success" in arguing that Sessions exceeded his authority with the new conditions.
#The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management must provide more data to support its argument that coal makes no net contribution to climate change after it's burned in power plants.
#When Sarah Hucklebee Sanders advocated the firing by ESPN of a reporter who labeled Trump as a white supremist, she may have broken a law. 18 U.S. Code #227 makes it a crime to wrongfully influence "a private entity's employment decisions by a Member of Congress or an officer or an employee of the legislative or executive branch." The penalty could be imprisonment for up to fifteen years. (The law includes the President).
Sanders also advocated the firing of former FBI Director James Comey. Since Comey could be a witness in the investigation of Russian meddling in U.S. affairs, this could be considered to be a case of witness intimidation and/or obstruction of justice. If President Trump put her up to it, he could be subject to prosecution.
#President Trump retweeted a video showing Trump or a stand-in for him hitting a golf ball that hits Hillary Clinton in the back and knocks her down. Tweeters have lambasted him on several grounds, but the best one to me labels his retweet as "juvenile." It is disconcerting to have a juvenile as president.
#On September 17, Trump tweeted: "I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night. Asked him how Rocket Man was doing." He also wrote: "Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!" Few North Koreans own cars, and private travel inside the isolated country is extremely restricted. Also, the last two rounds of U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea did not include an oil embargo after China objected.
#Sam Clovis, a non-scientist nominated to be the chief scientist of the Department of Agriculture, has called climate change, "junk science."
*In June 2017, there were some 225,000 open construction jobs in the U.S., up 31 percent from June 2016. Houston must find places to stay for the tens of thousands of construction workers needed and will need to pay then above-market wages, because it will need to lure them away from existing jobs.
*A Tulane and University of California, Berkeley, found that some 100,000 Hispanic workers thronged into the Gulf Coast region in the wake of Katrina, many of them undocumented.
#Word is leaking out of the White House that President Trump may soften his position on the Paris Agreement on climate change. It is a grave mistake for anyone to get too excited because Trump has adopted a position on an issue dear to one's heart. Wait awhile and Trump may adopt a position completely opposite to the earlier one. Consider that early this year Trump assured Dreamers that he has a "great heart" and they could "rest easy" regarding any chance their status might be changed. Then he delighted his hard-core supporters by putting an end to DACA. That was followed by his sending to Congress the task of constructing a solution. That was followed by his "deal" with the Democratic leaders in the House and Senate to, at least, not deport the Dreamers. Although Trump had effectively agreed to let the Dreamers continue to live in the United States as before, "Amnesty Don" tried to extricate himself from his conundrum by saying that he had not embraced amnesty nor a path to citizenship.
#The appalling cruelty of President Trump and GOP lawmakers is illustrated by: 1. Approximately 690,000 dreamers -- 800,000 is the most publicized number but apparently 110,000 Dreamers have forfeited that status -- have been forced to live a life of anxiety, wondering if they will be deported, or, at least, lose their work permits; and 2. GOP lawmakers have kept tens of millions of those insured under the Affordable Care Act in fear of losing their coverage by offering variant after variant of demon health care bills.
It is also worthy of mention in these measurements of cruel disregard that President Trump has kept 11 million undocumented immigrants on tenterhooks and many sleepless nights, as they worry about being deported, or family members, relatives or friends being deported, while they stay behind.
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