Assaulting Journalists Is A.O.K. for Trump and Supporters
At a recent rally in Montana, President Trump was pumped up in recounting the physical beating of a "Guardian" journalist by Rep. Greg Gianforte. "By the way, never wrestle him. You understand that? Never. Any guy that can do a bodyslam, he's my kind of...he's my guy." "I shouldn't say this. But they're nothing to be embarrassed about." Trump then turned to his left, raised his right arm over his head, cradled his left arm over an imaginary body, and slammed down his right arm."
The people arrayed behind Trump broke out in expressions of unrestrained joy. The irony of this display is that the GOP has been labeling the Democratic Party as a "violent mob."
Those who voted for Donald Trump for the presidency had ample evidence of the violence is Trump's being. At his campaign rallies, Trump repeatedly urged violence toward protesters. Three of his outbursts stand out: 1. He expressed his desire to slam his fist into the face of a protester; 2. He said he would pay the expenses of anyone who ran into trouble for physically assaulting a protester; and 3. He expressed a yearning for the olden days when protesters required medical attention.
During the presidential campaign, Trump called for acts of violence that violated international treaties and/or U.S statues, or went to the extreme end of a violence spectrum. At least twice in the campaign, he vowed to kill the families of suspected terrorists. He has never disavowed that promise. He said he would authorize the use of torture that went well beyond waterboarding. He reversed that position during the transition period when General James Mattis told him that he could accomplish more with a few cigarettes and a sixpack. That was not the end of it, however, as, after talking to a few intelligence officials, Trump became convinced that torture "works" -- that is apparently his current position. He said he would order his military commanders to permit their troops to commit war crimes. When asked if his commanders would follow his orders, Trump answered: "They will. Believe me!" The Trump campaign team issued a statement in early March 2016, stating that existing law would be followed. That statement was then muddied later that month, when in an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, Donald Trump said that the laws on dealing with terrorism were too strict, and he would try to loosen them up.
Abortion is a special case: In his adult life, Donald Trump has held a variety of positions on it. He was once pro-choice, but in early March 2016, he said that women who have an abortion must pay a penalty. Before that day was over, Trump said that women who have abortions are "victims." In June 2016, during an interview with John Dickerson of CBS News, Trump said that abortion is murder. Given that most, or all, U.S. legal jurisdictions do not have a statue of limitations on murder, any person who has performed an abortion could be charged with murder; also, any woman who has taken a fetus to an abortionist could be charged as an accessory to murder. Trump's position, if adopted, would mean prison time, or even Death Row for many people. This would be violence by proxy.
Monday, October 29, 2018
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Guiliani's Chaotic Mixture and More
I. Guiliani's Chaotic Mixture
"[Guiliani] has, in effect, become the legal auxiliary to Trump's Twitter feed, peddling the same chaotic mixture of non sequiturs, exaggerations, half-truths, and falsehoods. Guiliani, like the president, is not seeking converts but comforting the converted." "And the juxtaposition of his seedy theatrics on behalf of Trump with his performance on that grand stage is jarring." [1]
Among the threats levied by Rudy Guilani is that Mueller "doesn't get it done in the next two weeks we will unload on him like a ton of bricks." (Richard Nixon was subpoenaed for the White House tapes; and Bill Clinton was subpoenaed for testimony in the Whitewater investigation, although he ultimately testified voluntarily." "In 1997, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that President Clinton was legally obligated to submit to a deposition in Paula Jones's sexual harassment case against him."
II. Suspicious Money Transfers
Federal investigators are looking at a pair of suspicious money transfers from some of the planners and participants in the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump campaign officials and a Kremlin- connected lawyer. The transfers involve money from Russia and Switzerland being moved to places such as the British Virgin Islands, Bangkok and New Jersey. One transfer involved an offshore company controlled by Aras Agalarov, wiring almost $20 million to his own account at a New York bank. He also transferred $1.2 million from the family bank in Russia to a New Jersey account controlled by his son, Emin.
III. Flame-Retardant Chemicals
Lead, a deadly neurotoxin that never biodegrades, assaulted the public health throughout the 20th century, largely through its role as an additive to gasoline. According to the Chicago Tribune, flame retardants are now taking over as a major problem, as it has found that certain flame retardants doubled in the blood of adults every two to five years between 1970 and 2004. This anti-public-health offensive designed to magnify the threat of fire, helps explain why flame retardants are now embedded in an astonishing array of consumer products, including furniture, bedding, electrical equipment, and -- most despicable of all -- children's clothing and car seats. [2]
The E.P.A. maintains a database of some 85,000 chemicals that have been manufactured or processed in the United States, but it has subjected less than 300 of these to rigorous testing under the Toxic Substance Control Act and has banned only five (including PCBs.)
IV. Rescinding TPS Suspended
Edward Chen, a U.S. district judge in San Francisco, suspended the Trump administration's decision to rescind temporary protected status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of immigrants. The decision will relieve immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan. He said that "TPS beneficiaries and their children will suffer irreparable harm and great hardship." They face the choice of bringing their children with them or "splitting their families apart." The United States and their communities are the only things the TPS recipients have known.
V. ICE Processing Center
In May of this year, a surprise inspection of the privately run Adelanto ICE Processing Center found nooses made from bed sheets in 15 of 20 cells. Detainees waited "weeks and months" to see a doctor. Detainees were commonly subjected to disciplinary segregation before being found guilty of violating rules. From November 2017 to April 2018, detainees filed 80 medical grievances.
VI. Remirez Eyewitness Not Interviewed
Kathy Charlton, a mutual friend of Brett Kavanaugh, who, NBC has confirmed, was identified to the FBI as an eyewitness to the incident of Kavanaugh exposing himself to Deborah Remirez. Charlton told NBC News that, in a phone conversation on September 21, a former classmate of hers, told her that Kavanaugh had called him and advised him not to say anything "bad" if the press were to call. Then on September 21, according to the texts, that same person sent Charlton a text accusing her of disclosing their conversation to a reporter. "Hellllllooooo. Don't Fxxxxxx TELL PEOPLE BRETT GOT IN TOUCH WITH ME!!! I TOLD YOU AT THE TIME THAT WAS IN CONFIDENCE!!!"
Footnotes:
[1] Jeffrey Toobin, "Beating the Drum," The New Yorker, September 10, 2018.
[2] Jamie Kitman, "Worse Than Lead?" The Nation, September 10/17, 2018.
"[Guiliani] has, in effect, become the legal auxiliary to Trump's Twitter feed, peddling the same chaotic mixture of non sequiturs, exaggerations, half-truths, and falsehoods. Guiliani, like the president, is not seeking converts but comforting the converted." "And the juxtaposition of his seedy theatrics on behalf of Trump with his performance on that grand stage is jarring." [1]
Among the threats levied by Rudy Guilani is that Mueller "doesn't get it done in the next two weeks we will unload on him like a ton of bricks." (Richard Nixon was subpoenaed for the White House tapes; and Bill Clinton was subpoenaed for testimony in the Whitewater investigation, although he ultimately testified voluntarily." "In 1997, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that President Clinton was legally obligated to submit to a deposition in Paula Jones's sexual harassment case against him."
II. Suspicious Money Transfers
Federal investigators are looking at a pair of suspicious money transfers from some of the planners and participants in the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump campaign officials and a Kremlin- connected lawyer. The transfers involve money from Russia and Switzerland being moved to places such as the British Virgin Islands, Bangkok and New Jersey. One transfer involved an offshore company controlled by Aras Agalarov, wiring almost $20 million to his own account at a New York bank. He also transferred $1.2 million from the family bank in Russia to a New Jersey account controlled by his son, Emin.
III. Flame-Retardant Chemicals
Lead, a deadly neurotoxin that never biodegrades, assaulted the public health throughout the 20th century, largely through its role as an additive to gasoline. According to the Chicago Tribune, flame retardants are now taking over as a major problem, as it has found that certain flame retardants doubled in the blood of adults every two to five years between 1970 and 2004. This anti-public-health offensive designed to magnify the threat of fire, helps explain why flame retardants are now embedded in an astonishing array of consumer products, including furniture, bedding, electrical equipment, and -- most despicable of all -- children's clothing and car seats. [2]
The E.P.A. maintains a database of some 85,000 chemicals that have been manufactured or processed in the United States, but it has subjected less than 300 of these to rigorous testing under the Toxic Substance Control Act and has banned only five (including PCBs.)
IV. Rescinding TPS Suspended
Edward Chen, a U.S. district judge in San Francisco, suspended the Trump administration's decision to rescind temporary protected status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of immigrants. The decision will relieve immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan. He said that "TPS beneficiaries and their children will suffer irreparable harm and great hardship." They face the choice of bringing their children with them or "splitting their families apart." The United States and their communities are the only things the TPS recipients have known.
V. ICE Processing Center
In May of this year, a surprise inspection of the privately run Adelanto ICE Processing Center found nooses made from bed sheets in 15 of 20 cells. Detainees waited "weeks and months" to see a doctor. Detainees were commonly subjected to disciplinary segregation before being found guilty of violating rules. From November 2017 to April 2018, detainees filed 80 medical grievances.
VI. Remirez Eyewitness Not Interviewed
Kathy Charlton, a mutual friend of Brett Kavanaugh, who, NBC has confirmed, was identified to the FBI as an eyewitness to the incident of Kavanaugh exposing himself to Deborah Remirez. Charlton told NBC News that, in a phone conversation on September 21, a former classmate of hers, told her that Kavanaugh had called him and advised him not to say anything "bad" if the press were to call. Then on September 21, according to the texts, that same person sent Charlton a text accusing her of disclosing their conversation to a reporter. "Hellllllooooo. Don't Fxxxxxx TELL PEOPLE BRETT GOT IN TOUCH WITH ME!!! I TOLD YOU AT THE TIME THAT WAS IN CONFIDENCE!!!"
Footnotes:
[1] Jeffrey Toobin, "Beating the Drum," The New Yorker, September 10, 2018.
[2] Jamie Kitman, "Worse Than Lead?" The Nation, September 10/17, 2018.
Monday, October 8, 2018
The Amazon as a Tipping Point and Other Environmental Concerns
I. The Amazon as Tipping Point
Tropical forests in the Amazon and around the world have been so degraded by logging, burning, and agriculture that they have started to release more carbon than they store, according to scientists from the Woods Hole Research Center and Boston University. Carlos Nobre, Brazil's leading climatologist, cautions that humans have deforested roughly 16 percent of the entire Amazon basin -- just 4 to 9 percent from his projected tipping point. This means that the deforestation must be halted -- and soon-- if humankind is to have much chance of avoiding a climate catastrophe.
Brazil is the deadliest country in the world for land defending, with more than 140 killings since 2015, according to the NGO Global Witness.
II. Climate Wrecking Industries
Global warming activists' new target is what you might call the climate-wrecking industry: The coal, gas, and oil companies that have amassed colossal fortunes through the extraction, marketing, and sale of fossil fuels, and along the way, deceived the public about the inherent dangers of their business model. According to peer-reviewed studies by Richard Hade and the Climate Accountability Institute, the business practices of just 90 fossil-fuel companies are responsible for two-thirds of the observed increases in global surface temperatures between 1751 and 2010.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has said: "I think what petrifies the fossil-fuel industry is not so much the possibility of ultimate judgments and liability, but the day of discovery, when plaintiffs start to get access to their internal files. Once the documents become public, and a hard look can be taken at those documents, then the reputational damage for their knowing behavior will begin to pile up." One weakness of campaigning directly against the climate wreckers is that it's simply unrealistic to expect a corporation to abandon the very reason for its existence.
III. "Homies" Getting Solar Jobs
Since 2010, Homeboy Industries has been offering tuition, tutoring and financial support for "homies" wishing to learn about solar-panel design, construction, and installation in the photovoltic-training program at the East Los Angeles Skills Center. There are now 3.4 million renewable-energy workers around the world. According to the 2017 National Solar Jobs Census, employment in the U.S. solar sector has grown 168 percent since 2010 to more than 250,000 jobs.
IV. ACE Means More Deaths
Late in August 2018, the E.P.A. published what it calls the Affordable Clean Energy rules, or ACE. The new rules, which would replace the Clean Power Plan, are rules in name only. They'd allow states to set their own standards; these, in many cases, would amount to a carte blanche for utility companies. Meanwhile, by the E.P.A.'s own admission, the new "rules" could result in as many as fourteen hundred premature deaths annually, owing to the increased pollution from coal plants. [2]
Footnotes:
[1] Audrea Lim, "Green Workers Rising," The Nation, September 24/October 1, 2018.
[2] Elizabeth Kolbert, "Fire Alarm," The New Yorker, September 10, 2018.
Tropical forests in the Amazon and around the world have been so degraded by logging, burning, and agriculture that they have started to release more carbon than they store, according to scientists from the Woods Hole Research Center and Boston University. Carlos Nobre, Brazil's leading climatologist, cautions that humans have deforested roughly 16 percent of the entire Amazon basin -- just 4 to 9 percent from his projected tipping point. This means that the deforestation must be halted -- and soon-- if humankind is to have much chance of avoiding a climate catastrophe.
Brazil is the deadliest country in the world for land defending, with more than 140 killings since 2015, according to the NGO Global Witness.
II. Climate Wrecking Industries
Global warming activists' new target is what you might call the climate-wrecking industry: The coal, gas, and oil companies that have amassed colossal fortunes through the extraction, marketing, and sale of fossil fuels, and along the way, deceived the public about the inherent dangers of their business model. According to peer-reviewed studies by Richard Hade and the Climate Accountability Institute, the business practices of just 90 fossil-fuel companies are responsible for two-thirds of the observed increases in global surface temperatures between 1751 and 2010.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has said: "I think what petrifies the fossil-fuel industry is not so much the possibility of ultimate judgments and liability, but the day of discovery, when plaintiffs start to get access to their internal files. Once the documents become public, and a hard look can be taken at those documents, then the reputational damage for their knowing behavior will begin to pile up." One weakness of campaigning directly against the climate wreckers is that it's simply unrealistic to expect a corporation to abandon the very reason for its existence.
III. "Homies" Getting Solar Jobs
Since 2010, Homeboy Industries has been offering tuition, tutoring and financial support for "homies" wishing to learn about solar-panel design, construction, and installation in the photovoltic-training program at the East Los Angeles Skills Center. There are now 3.4 million renewable-energy workers around the world. According to the 2017 National Solar Jobs Census, employment in the U.S. solar sector has grown 168 percent since 2010 to more than 250,000 jobs.
IV. ACE Means More Deaths
Late in August 2018, the E.P.A. published what it calls the Affordable Clean Energy rules, or ACE. The new rules, which would replace the Clean Power Plan, are rules in name only. They'd allow states to set their own standards; these, in many cases, would amount to a carte blanche for utility companies. Meanwhile, by the E.P.A.'s own admission, the new "rules" could result in as many as fourteen hundred premature deaths annually, owing to the increased pollution from coal plants. [2]
Footnotes:
[1] Audrea Lim, "Green Workers Rising," The Nation, September 24/October 1, 2018.
[2] Elizabeth Kolbert, "Fire Alarm," The New Yorker, September 10, 2018.
Sunday, October 7, 2018
Bite-Sized Bits on Which to Chew
*The EPA banned chlorpurifos for indoor pest control in 2011, but 6 million pounds of it are applied annually to approximately 50 crops, including oranges, alfalfa, and almonds. (Source: Wendy Becktold, "Toxic Neighbors," Sierra, September/October 2018.)
*Trump created 1,700,000 jobs in 2017. Obama's figures are: 1,839,000 in 2011; 2,044,000 in 2013; 2,553,000 in 2014; 2,240,000 in 2015; and 1,959,000 in 2016.
*The AFT investigated 12,700 cases of people submitting false information to illegally buy guns, and only 12 were prosecuted. Pennsylvania alone prosecuted 472 people.
*Shareholders took about a third of corporate profits from the 1950s to the 1970s. "Since the year 2000, they've been taking more than twice that." "During the 1960s, shareholders took about 1.7 percent of GDP in the cash paid in dividends and in the net number of stocks that were brought; now it is around 4.7 percent of GDP." "The top 4 percent of households hold half of all stocks; the bottom half own just 9 percent." (Source: Mike Konczal, "Economy in the Stocks," The Nation, September 10/17, 2018.)
*President Trump is dismantling the Refugee Admissions Program by announcing an all-time record low admissions cap of 30,000 for FY 2019.
*In April, the Department of Homeland Security admitted that the government has lost track of an additional 1,495 immigrant children it had moved out of shelters last year. Senate investigators could not determine with certainty the whereabouts of 1,488 out of 11,254 children the agency had placed with sponsors in 2018, based on follow-up calls from April 1 to June 30.
*The Interior Department has significantly reduced restrictions on methane emissions from oil and gas firms operating on federal and tribal lands.
*Peace Action supports legislation to prohibit research, development, production and deployment of a "low-yield" nuclear warhead for the Trident D-5 missile.
*Current estimates for the war in Yemen are that 10,000 have been killed, and 15 million of Yemen's population of 23 million are "food insecure."
*The Department of Homeland Security is making a broad expansion of the government's ability to deny vises or residency to immigrants if they or members of their households benefit from programs such as Medicaid Part D, SNAP, or Section 8 housing vouchers. U.S. immigration laws have long contained provisions limiting foreigners who are likely to become a "public charge."
*Bloomberg has obtained a private, internal poll from the Republican National Committee showing respondents, by a margin of 61 percent to 30 percent, say the new tax law benefits "large corporations and rich Americans" over "middle-class families." Compared to the June before the tax bill was passed, wages (adjusted for inflation) dropped 0.2 percent in June 2018.
*Democratic AGs successfully sued Betsy DeVos in federal court to stop her from rolling back protections for student loan borrowers from predatory for-profit colleges.
*In a recent Mississippi rally, right after Trump said that people should be presumed innocent until proven guilty, the crowd chanted "Lock her up!" in reference to Hillary Clinton. Early this month, Trump said: "It's a very scary time for young men in America when you can be guilty of something you may not be guilty of."
*Trump created 1,700,000 jobs in 2017. Obama's figures are: 1,839,000 in 2011; 2,044,000 in 2013; 2,553,000 in 2014; 2,240,000 in 2015; and 1,959,000 in 2016.
*The AFT investigated 12,700 cases of people submitting false information to illegally buy guns, and only 12 were prosecuted. Pennsylvania alone prosecuted 472 people.
*Shareholders took about a third of corporate profits from the 1950s to the 1970s. "Since the year 2000, they've been taking more than twice that." "During the 1960s, shareholders took about 1.7 percent of GDP in the cash paid in dividends and in the net number of stocks that were brought; now it is around 4.7 percent of GDP." "The top 4 percent of households hold half of all stocks; the bottom half own just 9 percent." (Source: Mike Konczal, "Economy in the Stocks," The Nation, September 10/17, 2018.)
*President Trump is dismantling the Refugee Admissions Program by announcing an all-time record low admissions cap of 30,000 for FY 2019.
*In April, the Department of Homeland Security admitted that the government has lost track of an additional 1,495 immigrant children it had moved out of shelters last year. Senate investigators could not determine with certainty the whereabouts of 1,488 out of 11,254 children the agency had placed with sponsors in 2018, based on follow-up calls from April 1 to June 30.
*The Interior Department has significantly reduced restrictions on methane emissions from oil and gas firms operating on federal and tribal lands.
*Peace Action supports legislation to prohibit research, development, production and deployment of a "low-yield" nuclear warhead for the Trident D-5 missile.
*Current estimates for the war in Yemen are that 10,000 have been killed, and 15 million of Yemen's population of 23 million are "food insecure."
*The Department of Homeland Security is making a broad expansion of the government's ability to deny vises or residency to immigrants if they or members of their households benefit from programs such as Medicaid Part D, SNAP, or Section 8 housing vouchers. U.S. immigration laws have long contained provisions limiting foreigners who are likely to become a "public charge."
*Bloomberg has obtained a private, internal poll from the Republican National Committee showing respondents, by a margin of 61 percent to 30 percent, say the new tax law benefits "large corporations and rich Americans" over "middle-class families." Compared to the June before the tax bill was passed, wages (adjusted for inflation) dropped 0.2 percent in June 2018.
*Democratic AGs successfully sued Betsy DeVos in federal court to stop her from rolling back protections for student loan borrowers from predatory for-profit colleges.
*In a recent Mississippi rally, right after Trump said that people should be presumed innocent until proven guilty, the crowd chanted "Lock her up!" in reference to Hillary Clinton. Early this month, Trump said: "It's a very scary time for young men in America when you can be guilty of something you may not be guilty of."
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