Trump's Denigration of African Americans

African Americans Are Special Target of Trump's Ire
President Trump called Rep. Fredericka Wilson (D-FL) "wacky" in a tweet. He accused the three African American women listening in on a condolence call of lying. He asked a reporter named April if she could set up a meeting with the Black Caucus, likely thinking that since she was black, she would have a special link to the group. Then there was the black reporter with ESPN, who called Trump a white supremist, and both Trump and press secretary Sanders called for her firing. When Trump urged pro football owners to fire protesting players, it is notable that most of the those protesting have been African Americans. And now, the aforementioned April has not been invited to the White House Christmas party, even though she is part of the White House press corps.

Electing Outsiders
Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has said:"The American people voted to elect an outsider who is capable of implementing real, positive, and needed change -- instead of a lifelong politician beholden to special interests." "If they were interested in continuing decades of costly mistakes, another establishment politician more concerned with putting politics over people would have won." A White House source slammed the Bush II and Obama legacies:  "If one presidential candidate can dissemble a political party, it speaks volumes about how strong a legacy its past two presidents really had."

George H.W. Bush has fired back by calling Trump a "blowhard" and his son, George W., has said that Trump "doesn't know what it means to be president." Former House Speaker John Boehner has declared that Trump is "not a Republican."

Gun Deaths Rise
The Associated Press reports that roughly two/thirds of gun deaths are suicides and those have been increasing for about ten years. The firearms death rate rose to 12 deaths per 100,000 people last year, up from 11 per 100,000 in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overall, the same source reports more than 38,000 gun deaths last year, up from about 36,000 in 2015 and about 33,500 each year between 2011 and 2014.

Accidents kill a youngster under age 18 on an average of every other day, based on a joint study by the Associated Press and USA Today. The study went deeper than prior studies. Deaths and injuries have spiked for those under age 5. Nearly ninety 3-year-olds were killed or injured in shootings, the vast majority self-inflicted. The death rate spikes again for ages 15-17, when victims are most often fatally shot by other children.

Republican lawmakers and their leader in the White House seem to be determined to protect the rights of violent offenders, domestic abusers, and unstable miscreants to own whatever guns they want. They are also blocking regulation of the "bump stock" accessories. In February, President Trump signed a bill rolling back an Obama-era regulation that made it harder for people with a mental illness to purchase a gun.

Environmental Nominee Has Some Quaint Views
Kathleen Hartnett White is President Trump's nominee to be the head of the Council on Environmental Quality, and she believes carbon dioxide is harmless "plant food"; equates belief in climate change to "paganism"; and calls solar and wind power "unreliable and parasitic."

She has said that coal use in the 1800s actually ended slavery in the United States, because "fossil fuels dissolved the economic justification for slavery." When in her confirmation hearing, Sen. Jeff Markley (D-OR) asked her if she believed carbon dioxide levels have increased dramatically, White answered "no."

Evangelicals Warm to Moore
A JMC analytics poll found that 37 percent of evangelicals surveyed said the allegations of sexual abuse against Roy Moore make them more likely to vote for him, and 28 percent said it makes them less likely.  34 percent said it makes no difference. In all, including those who are evangelicals and those not, 29 percent said it  would make them more likely and 38 percent said it would make them less likely. The poll was conducted November 9-11.

ADDENDUM:
*The Economic Policy Institute has calculated that approximately 1.8 million veterans -- or one in five -- would get a raise if Congress raised the minimum wage to $15 by 2024. Nearly two/thirds are age 40 or older.