July 2015: BLM activists seize the mic at a Democratic candidate forum to grill Martin O'Malley and Bernie Sanders on police violence.
Nov. 2015: A judge orders the release of dash-cam footage that appears to show McDonald walking away from police when he was shot. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel fires his police chief the next month.
Feb. 7, 2016: Beyonce's dancers adopt a Black Panther look for the Super Bowl halftime show. Police unions call for a boycott of the star.
Feb. 24, 2016: BLM activists disrupt a Hillary Clinton fundraiser, demanding she apologize for her racially charged comments about "super predators" during the 1990s. Clinton appears irritated, but the next day she does just that."
May 2016: The first state "Blue Lives Matter" bill passes in Louisiana. Attacking a cop is now a hate crime.
June 2016: The police-van driver in the Freddie Gray case is acquitted.
July 5, 2016: Alton Sterling is fatally shot by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, while officers have him pinned to the ground.
July 6, 2016: During a traffic stop, a Minnesota cop shoots Philando Castile as he reaches for his wallet -- that's according to Castile's girlfriend, who livestreams his demise on Facebook: "You told him to get his ID, sir!"
July 7, 2016: A black gunman kills five cops at a Dallas protest against police violence. He holes up in a parking garage, where police kill him with an explosives-bearing robot.
July 12, 2016: President Barack Obama defends Black Lives Matter at a memorial for the slain officers. "We have all seen this bigotry in our lives at some point," and "none of us is entirely innocent," he says. "That includes our police departments."
July 17, 2016: A black military veteran ranted online about the treatment of black people by police assassinates three officers (one of them black) in Baton Rouge.
July 18, 2016: At the Republican National Convention, Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke, who is black, proclaims that "blue lives matter." In an op-ed the same day, he calls Black Lives Matter the "enemy."
July 18, 2016: A police officer in Florida shoots a black caregiver who was lying in the street with his hands up. A union rep explains that the officer had been aiming at the man's autistic patient, whose toy truck he mistook for a firearm.
July 27, 2016: After further acquittals in the Freddie Gray case, charges are dropped against the remaining officers.
Aug. 2016: 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick starts sitting out the national anthem to protest police violence. A few pros and countless high school and college athletes follow suit.
Sept. 2016: Clinton debates Donald Trump: "I think implicit bias is a problem for everyone, not just police," she says. Critics pounce. "Yes, Hillary Clinton called the nation racist," writes a Washington Times columnist.
Oct. 2016: Attorney General Loretta lynch says the DOJ will (finally) start collecting national data on police use of force.
Dec. 2016: A jury of 11 whites and one African American deadlocks in the trial of Michael Slager. A new trial is slated for 2017. Slager is later convicted in a federal court for a civil rights violation.
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Items From the March/April Sierra Magazine
#Some unemployed coal miners refuse job-retraining programs in the belief that President Trump will revive their industry.
#House Speaker Paul Ryan calls for women to bear more children.
#The World Bank says it will no longer finance oil and gas projects after 2019.
#A study in the "Lancet" finds that pollution is responsible for 9 million premature deaths each year -- more than the combined total from war and hunger.
#Syria agrees to sign the Paris climate accord, leaving the United States as the only country in the world opposed to the agreement.
#Rio Tinto, the world's second-largest mining company, seeks to sell off its remaining coal mines in Australia and exit the coal business altogether.
#More than half of all coal plants have now closed or committed to retiring.
#Cars and trucks surpass electricity production as the largest source of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.
#After three flat years, global emissions are expected to have risen by 2 percent in 2017.
#U.S. natural disasters consistent with climate change cost $306 billion in 2017.
ADDENDUMS:
*"The stock prices of gun manufacturers usually rise after mass shootings. One explanation: Shareholders know that gun owners, fearing stricter gun-control laws, will purchase more weapons in the following weeks, even though such restrictions are unlikely to be imposed." (Source: Joseph Hogan, "Making a Killing," The Nation, March 19/16, 2018).
*A Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis found that the combined effect of Trump's infrastructure and budget plans will actually be "large and growing annual cuts in infrastructure spending." In other words, Trump 's spending cuts in ongoing infrastructure spending exceeds his total planned spending on infrastructure, which is $200 billion in federal spending, a far cry from the $1 trillion he had once promised to spend.
*The Congressional Progressive Caucus has proposed $2 trillion in new infrastructure spending, with renewable energy, safe water, and 21st-century transportation, including public transit, as top priorities.
#House Speaker Paul Ryan calls for women to bear more children.
#The World Bank says it will no longer finance oil and gas projects after 2019.
#A study in the "Lancet" finds that pollution is responsible for 9 million premature deaths each year -- more than the combined total from war and hunger.
#Syria agrees to sign the Paris climate accord, leaving the United States as the only country in the world opposed to the agreement.
#Rio Tinto, the world's second-largest mining company, seeks to sell off its remaining coal mines in Australia and exit the coal business altogether.
#More than half of all coal plants have now closed or committed to retiring.
#Cars and trucks surpass electricity production as the largest source of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.
#After three flat years, global emissions are expected to have risen by 2 percent in 2017.
#U.S. natural disasters consistent with climate change cost $306 billion in 2017.
ADDENDUMS:
*"The stock prices of gun manufacturers usually rise after mass shootings. One explanation: Shareholders know that gun owners, fearing stricter gun-control laws, will purchase more weapons in the following weeks, even though such restrictions are unlikely to be imposed." (Source: Joseph Hogan, "Making a Killing," The Nation, March 19/16, 2018).
*A Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis found that the combined effect of Trump's infrastructure and budget plans will actually be "large and growing annual cuts in infrastructure spending." In other words, Trump 's spending cuts in ongoing infrastructure spending exceeds his total planned spending on infrastructure, which is $200 billion in federal spending, a far cry from the $1 trillion he had once promised to spend.
*The Congressional Progressive Caucus has proposed $2 trillion in new infrastructure spending, with renewable energy, safe water, and 21st-century transportation, including public transit, as top priorities.
Thursday, March 22, 2018
An Educational Scam and Abortions Going Underground
ECOT's Educational Scam
Two reviews by the Ohio Department of Education for 2016 and 2017 have found that the charter online school system, ECOT, had over-billed Ohio taxpayers by $80 million for thousands of students that it couldn't show were meeting the department's enrollment standards. As a result, the state ordered the school to begin paying back almost $4 million per month in school funds, which ECOT claimed it was unable to do. ECOT has been given almost $1 billion in taxpayer money that would otherwise have gone to local school districts. [1]
According to Ohio law, charter schools are required to provide students with at least 920 hours of "learning opportunities" per year -- about 25 hours a week -- and those who miss 105 consecutive hours have to be kicked off a school's rolls and potentially face truancy proceedings. Records from ECOT's recent legal fight show that as recently as the 2015-2016 school year, students could be legally counted as enrolled, even if they they only logged into the ECOT systems but never accessed learning materials.
According to the New York Times, ECOT has a graduation rate of just 40 percent and produced more dropouts than any other school in the nation.
From 2006 to 2016, charter schools almost tripled their enrollments nationwide, from 1.2 million to 3.1 million. Students, in fact, weren't required to participate in online classroom learning at all, according to another ECOT official's testimony regarding the 2015-2016 school year. [2]
President Trump's FY 2019 budget provides $1.4 billion in additional funding for school choice programs like charters, even while cutting billions of dollars from the Department of Education's overall budget.
Abortions Go Underground
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, "white male doctors consolidated their professional power in part by sidelining female and often nonwhite midwives and other community healers." "[The] newly formed American Medical Association spearheaded efforts to criminalize abortion, which historians believe was part of a larger campaign to monopolize the market and restrict competition, including from midwives. Physicians, almost exclusively men, publicly questioned the morality of abortion -- and by extension, the morality of the lay practitioners who provided it." "As long as women have had unwanted pregnancies, other women have helped them resolve the problem." "Today, as abortion rights are restricted at an unprecedented rate -- between 2011 and 2016, more than 160 clinics closed -- this informal network of nonmedical providers is responsible for a small but significant number of abortions nationwide." [3]
Abortion restrictions and lack of access have grown like Topsy in the United States, illustrated by rural Pennsylvania, where 85 percent of the counties are without an abortion clinic. Over the past decade, Arizona has passed extremely restrictive abortion legislation. One law stipulates that surgical abortion can only be provided by a physician; a second law forbids physician assistants from dispensing abortion drugs. In 2008, there were ten Planned Parenthood clinics that provided abortion services. Now, there are only four. Also, patients face mandatory waiting periods and parental consent laws. [4]
Other abortion developments of note include: Wisconsin - Early this month, a bill was heading to the governor's desk that prevents public workers from using their health insurance to pay for abortion care. South Carolina - Both chambers passed a bill that would ban doctors from telling patients that the state-mandated lies they must recite are politically motivated and inaccurate. Iowa - The Senate passed a bill that would outlaw nearly all abortions, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Florida - The House passed a ban on the safest, most common method of second trimester abortions, forcing doctors to provide subpar care. Mississippi - On March 6, by a vote of 35 to 15, the State Senate passed House Bill 1510, which would prohibit abortions after 15 weeks, except for medical emergencies and "in cases of severe fetal abnormality." The Guttmacher Institute said the bill "is based on the assertion, which is not consistent with scientific evidence and has been rejected by the medical community, that a fetus can feel pain at that point in pregnancy." The Mississippi governor has since signed the bill. South Carolina - Last month, the State Senate's judiciary committee approved a so-called "Personhood Act," proposing a sweeping ban on abortions, with no exceptions for medical emergencies or cases of incest and rape.
Guns and Abortions
Dana Milbank, the Washington Post syndicated columnist, wonders why abortions are restricted more than guns, while abortions are declining and gun deaths are rising. "Even speech is limited if it endangers life. Why shouldn't there be reasonable restrictions on guns, too?" "Even though 92 percent of abortions take place in the first trimester, the pro-life movement takes aim at late-term abortions." Milbank adds that for many pro-lifers, "opposition to abortion is deeply held morality. But it is no stretch to say that those who accept the routine mass murder of innocents are not truly pro-life." [5] I would call the pro-life movement, the anti-choice movement.
ADDENDUMS:
*President Trump's FY 2019 budget proposes a $25 million cut in school safety activities; elimination of a $400 million grant program for bullying protection, mental-health assistance and the like. Deep cuts are also proposed for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and National Institute of Mental Health.
*NBC reports that it was three pro-abstinence appointees, including HHS chief of staff Victoria Huber, who led the effort to end the $213 million Teen Pregnancy Program, alleging that it has had either a negative or no impact. The program has bipartisan support in Congress.
Footnotes
[1] James Pogue, "Least Likely to Succeed," Mother Jones, March/April 2018.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ning Lisa-Schultz, "New Abortion Underground," Mother Jones, March/April 2018.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Dana Milbank, "Where are pro-lifers on Parkland?" The Albuquerque Journal, February 24, 2018.
Two reviews by the Ohio Department of Education for 2016 and 2017 have found that the charter online school system, ECOT, had over-billed Ohio taxpayers by $80 million for thousands of students that it couldn't show were meeting the department's enrollment standards. As a result, the state ordered the school to begin paying back almost $4 million per month in school funds, which ECOT claimed it was unable to do. ECOT has been given almost $1 billion in taxpayer money that would otherwise have gone to local school districts. [1]
According to Ohio law, charter schools are required to provide students with at least 920 hours of "learning opportunities" per year -- about 25 hours a week -- and those who miss 105 consecutive hours have to be kicked off a school's rolls and potentially face truancy proceedings. Records from ECOT's recent legal fight show that as recently as the 2015-2016 school year, students could be legally counted as enrolled, even if they they only logged into the ECOT systems but never accessed learning materials.
According to the New York Times, ECOT has a graduation rate of just 40 percent and produced more dropouts than any other school in the nation.
From 2006 to 2016, charter schools almost tripled their enrollments nationwide, from 1.2 million to 3.1 million. Students, in fact, weren't required to participate in online classroom learning at all, according to another ECOT official's testimony regarding the 2015-2016 school year. [2]
President Trump's FY 2019 budget provides $1.4 billion in additional funding for school choice programs like charters, even while cutting billions of dollars from the Department of Education's overall budget.
Abortions Go Underground
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, "white male doctors consolidated their professional power in part by sidelining female and often nonwhite midwives and other community healers." "[The] newly formed American Medical Association spearheaded efforts to criminalize abortion, which historians believe was part of a larger campaign to monopolize the market and restrict competition, including from midwives. Physicians, almost exclusively men, publicly questioned the morality of abortion -- and by extension, the morality of the lay practitioners who provided it." "As long as women have had unwanted pregnancies, other women have helped them resolve the problem." "Today, as abortion rights are restricted at an unprecedented rate -- between 2011 and 2016, more than 160 clinics closed -- this informal network of nonmedical providers is responsible for a small but significant number of abortions nationwide." [3]
Abortion restrictions and lack of access have grown like Topsy in the United States, illustrated by rural Pennsylvania, where 85 percent of the counties are without an abortion clinic. Over the past decade, Arizona has passed extremely restrictive abortion legislation. One law stipulates that surgical abortion can only be provided by a physician; a second law forbids physician assistants from dispensing abortion drugs. In 2008, there were ten Planned Parenthood clinics that provided abortion services. Now, there are only four. Also, patients face mandatory waiting periods and parental consent laws. [4]
Other abortion developments of note include: Wisconsin - Early this month, a bill was heading to the governor's desk that prevents public workers from using their health insurance to pay for abortion care. South Carolina - Both chambers passed a bill that would ban doctors from telling patients that the state-mandated lies they must recite are politically motivated and inaccurate. Iowa - The Senate passed a bill that would outlaw nearly all abortions, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Florida - The House passed a ban on the safest, most common method of second trimester abortions, forcing doctors to provide subpar care. Mississippi - On March 6, by a vote of 35 to 15, the State Senate passed House Bill 1510, which would prohibit abortions after 15 weeks, except for medical emergencies and "in cases of severe fetal abnormality." The Guttmacher Institute said the bill "is based on the assertion, which is not consistent with scientific evidence and has been rejected by the medical community, that a fetus can feel pain at that point in pregnancy." The Mississippi governor has since signed the bill. South Carolina - Last month, the State Senate's judiciary committee approved a so-called "Personhood Act," proposing a sweeping ban on abortions, with no exceptions for medical emergencies or cases of incest and rape.
Guns and Abortions
Dana Milbank, the Washington Post syndicated columnist, wonders why abortions are restricted more than guns, while abortions are declining and gun deaths are rising. "Even speech is limited if it endangers life. Why shouldn't there be reasonable restrictions on guns, too?" "Even though 92 percent of abortions take place in the first trimester, the pro-life movement takes aim at late-term abortions." Milbank adds that for many pro-lifers, "opposition to abortion is deeply held morality. But it is no stretch to say that those who accept the routine mass murder of innocents are not truly pro-life." [5] I would call the pro-life movement, the anti-choice movement.
ADDENDUMS:
*President Trump's FY 2019 budget proposes a $25 million cut in school safety activities; elimination of a $400 million grant program for bullying protection, mental-health assistance and the like. Deep cuts are also proposed for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and National Institute of Mental Health.
*NBC reports that it was three pro-abstinence appointees, including HHS chief of staff Victoria Huber, who led the effort to end the $213 million Teen Pregnancy Program, alleging that it has had either a negative or no impact. The program has bipartisan support in Congress.
Footnotes
[1] James Pogue, "Least Likely to Succeed," Mother Jones, March/April 2018.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ning Lisa-Schultz, "New Abortion Underground," Mother Jones, March/April 2018.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Dana Milbank, "Where are pro-lifers on Parkland?" The Albuquerque Journal, February 24, 2018.
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Drilling Free-for-All
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke wants to open up most U.S. waters -- including protected areas off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in the Arctic -- to oil and gas drilling.
Zinke requires that his presence at the Interior Department be signaled by the hoisting of a special flag.
President Donald Trump signs a $1.5 trillion tax bill that includes opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.
Trump reduces the size of two national monuments in Utah -- Bears Ears by 85 percent and Grand Staircase-Escalante by nearly half --the largest reduction of previously protected areas in U.S. history. The Sierra Club's Environmental Law Program challenges the move.
EPA administer Scott Pruitt appoints Robert Phalen -- who said that children need to breathe dirty air to strengthen their lungs -- to an agency science board.
The EPA dramatically loosens its guidance on radiation, now saying that exposure equivalent to that of 5,000 chest X-rays "usually results in no harmful health effects."
Responding to objections from the Sierra Club's legal program and others, federal energy regulators soundly reject an attempt by Energy Secretary Rick Perry to subsidize coal-fired and nuclear power generators in the name of "grid resiliency."
The Interior Department renews the lease for a copper and nickel mine next to Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The mine belongs to a Chilean billionaire who is also the Washington, D.C. landlord to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. (Source: Sierra, March/April 2018).
Contaminated Wild Seafood
Ryan Bigelow of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch says that most tuna consumed in the United States is imported, much of it caught in the Pacific, in regions where fishing practices are loosely regulated. According to a 2014 study, as much as one-third of the wild seafood imported to the United States was caught illegally. To add to the sourcing concerns, because of industrial emissions, the mercury content of Pacific-caught yellowfin and bigeye tuna crept up by several percent every year between 1998 and 2008, according to a 2017 review paper. In January 2017, the Food and Drug Administration added bigeye tuna to its list of foods to be avoided by women of childbearing age and children. (Source: Mother Jones, March/April 2018).
Zinke requires that his presence at the Interior Department be signaled by the hoisting of a special flag.
President Donald Trump signs a $1.5 trillion tax bill that includes opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.
Trump reduces the size of two national monuments in Utah -- Bears Ears by 85 percent and Grand Staircase-Escalante by nearly half --the largest reduction of previously protected areas in U.S. history. The Sierra Club's Environmental Law Program challenges the move.
EPA administer Scott Pruitt appoints Robert Phalen -- who said that children need to breathe dirty air to strengthen their lungs -- to an agency science board.
The EPA dramatically loosens its guidance on radiation, now saying that exposure equivalent to that of 5,000 chest X-rays "usually results in no harmful health effects."
Responding to objections from the Sierra Club's legal program and others, federal energy regulators soundly reject an attempt by Energy Secretary Rick Perry to subsidize coal-fired and nuclear power generators in the name of "grid resiliency."
The Interior Department renews the lease for a copper and nickel mine next to Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The mine belongs to a Chilean billionaire who is also the Washington, D.C. landlord to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. (Source: Sierra, March/April 2018).
Contaminated Wild Seafood
Ryan Bigelow of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch says that most tuna consumed in the United States is imported, much of it caught in the Pacific, in regions where fishing practices are loosely regulated. According to a 2014 study, as much as one-third of the wild seafood imported to the United States was caught illegally. To add to the sourcing concerns, because of industrial emissions, the mercury content of Pacific-caught yellowfin and bigeye tuna crept up by several percent every year between 1998 and 2008, according to a 2017 review paper. In January 2017, the Food and Drug Administration added bigeye tuna to its list of foods to be avoided by women of childbearing age and children. (Source: Mother Jones, March/April 2018).
Monday, March 19, 2018
President Trump's Raw Form at Penn. Rally
Trump in Raw Form at Penn. Rally
Deprived of a carefully worded teleprompter at his Pennsylvania rally for the Republican candidate, Rick Saccone, running for a seat in the U.S House, President Donald Trump was free to allow his base instincts to take over. Although Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) was in no sense an issue in the race, he took the occasion to call her a "low-IQ person," and also repeated a claim that Washington, DC is run over with "very bad people." Was Trump trying to get a bigger turn-out for that segment of his base that is composed of out-and-out racists? The charitable view of what Trump said is that he was referring to the Democratic lawmakers in DC; however, even that view contradicts the occasional claim that Trump wants to proceed on a bipartisan basis. Trump's "bad people" were not limited to those in DC, as he directed the audience's attention to all the bad people in the assembled media people.
Trump also called MSNBC host Chuck Todd a "sleepy-eyed son-of-a-bitch." Todd was a strange target, because during the campaign, Todd was considered too be the host on MSNBC who did the most to boost the Trump campaign. Since I watch MSNBC quite a bit, Todd seems to be the host who has the most Republican lawmakers on his show. One account I've read is that Trump has had meetings with Todd, at which they yell at each other in the beginning and then settle down to have a civil conversation.
As an indication that Trump's frequent references to his greatness are not limited by any sense of reason, Trump took credit for the success of the Olympics in South Korea. Also, he again provided evidence of his reverence for dictators, when he told his supporters to be "nice" toward Kim Jong-un.
At the rally to promote the candidacy of Rick Saccone, Saccone was rarely mentioned, with about the only reason Trump gave to vote for him was that he would support the entire Trump agenda. Even that support was compromised by Trump referring to the fact that he had carried the district by 20 percent over Hillary Clinton. It was clear from the most recent polling that, at best, Saccone might have squeezed through by the skin of his teeth, Trump then taking credit for saving Saccone from a defeat. The Trump camp was initially silent in the face of a narrow win by the Democratic candidate; however, later, a White House spokesperson issued a statement saying that Trump's late intervention saved Saccone from a major defeat. Trump supporters frequently defend the indefensible.
Trump Gets Personal with Mueller
Over the weekend, President Trump's tweeting has gotten personal with Robert Mueller, with Trump calling him out by name and saying again that there is no collusion and no crime, and that the investigation should never have been started. The extra dimension is Trump's charge that all 13 prosecutors are Democrats, with the push back being that the prosecutors have not demonstrated political bias in their former work. More importantly, Mueller is a registered Republican, as is his immediate superior.
Trump's more pointed charges against the Mueller investigation have stirred the embers of the fear that Trump is getting ready to fire Mueller, and the attendant fear among Democratic lawmakers that the Republican leadership will let him get away with it. Related to the Mueller furor is the recent firing of Andrew McCabe, the deputy director of the FBI. An ethics committee in the FBI recommended that McCabe be fired for the way he handled his role in the investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails, with a specific charge that he had given a background briefing to journalists, a practice that is often done by government officials. Attorney General Jeff Sessions did the actual firing. The firing took on a heartless coating when the it took place literally hours before McCabe would have officially qualified for a pension, which now may mean no pension, or a very limited one.
The report is that McCabe took notes that are contemporaneous with the firing of James Comey and what Comey told him; also, McCabe prepared documents on his own interaction with Trump after the Comey firing. McCabe has now reportedly turned his documents over to the Mueller team. President Trump has called the documents "fake," whether or not he has seen them. Trump's frequent denigrations of McCabe has sullied his reputation and it almost a certainty that absent Trump's fulminations against him, he would either have continued in his job, or retired with a full pension.
Stormy Weather in Forecast for Trump
Stormy Daniels is scheduled for a "60 Minutes" interview on March 25. Her lawyer has said that she will reveal the kinds of bodily harm that has been threatened if she reiterates her story of her sexual encounters with Trump. The lawyer has also announced that six more women have come forth with accounts of sexual activity with Trump. He says that the stories sound creditable but they have not been fully vetted.
Stormy has agreed to give up the $130,000 that Trump's personal lawyer has admitted he paid her. Since this is a court filing, the receipt or denial of the repayment must be in writing. I haven't been able to locate an account of what has happened to Stormy's give back.
Today I heard a concise description of Trump's treatment of the Stormy matter: He has denied a relationship ever happened, and has paid "hush" money for something that never happened. That is a description of a bogus leader who should never be followed nor trusted.
ADDENDUMS:
*Days before President Trump signed a bill that increased military spending by $165 billion over the next two years, a Gallup poll found 33% in favor of increased military spending, 34% supported reduction, and 31% favored the status quo.
*A committee will be formed to develop a plan for school safety with the demonstrably incompetent Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, heading it.
*DeVos imploded in a recent "60 Minutes" interview, in which she demonstrated her poor grasp of educational issues, the low point coming when Lesley Stahl asked if she ever has visited under-performing schools, and to DeVos's response that she has a policy not to visit them, DeVos smilingly agreed with Stahl's suggestion that maybe she should.
*At least four Cabinet members -- Ben Carson, Scott Pruitt, Ryan Zinke, and VA Secretary David Shulkin met separately with White House Secretary William McGinley to discuss ethics practices. All four have been found to be living extravagantly at taxpayer expense.
*House Agriculture Chairman Michael Conaway announced that he would delay the release of a farm bill, as all the Democrats on the committee would not vote for it because it would take 8 million people off the SNAP rolls.
*U.S. Central Command General Joseph Vogel joined Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is saying the Iranian nuclear deal is in the best interests of the U.S. He says: "If the JCPOA goes away, than we will to have another way to deal with the nuclear weapons program."
*Jennifer Baker, the spokeswoman for the Institute for Legislative Action at the NRA, says: "These bills [potential bans of bump stocks] are inherently overreaching and would ban commonly owned firearm accessories."
*Last month, the Supreme Court refused to hear the Trump administration challenge to a lower court temporarily blocking DACA. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will continue to review the case.
*The White House insists the DACA program is "clearly illegal" and benefits "illegal immigrants en masse."
*A national poll has found that 56% favor electoral redistricting; only 12% oppose.
Deprived of a carefully worded teleprompter at his Pennsylvania rally for the Republican candidate, Rick Saccone, running for a seat in the U.S House, President Donald Trump was free to allow his base instincts to take over. Although Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) was in no sense an issue in the race, he took the occasion to call her a "low-IQ person," and also repeated a claim that Washington, DC is run over with "very bad people." Was Trump trying to get a bigger turn-out for that segment of his base that is composed of out-and-out racists? The charitable view of what Trump said is that he was referring to the Democratic lawmakers in DC; however, even that view contradicts the occasional claim that Trump wants to proceed on a bipartisan basis. Trump's "bad people" were not limited to those in DC, as he directed the audience's attention to all the bad people in the assembled media people.
Trump also called MSNBC host Chuck Todd a "sleepy-eyed son-of-a-bitch." Todd was a strange target, because during the campaign, Todd was considered too be the host on MSNBC who did the most to boost the Trump campaign. Since I watch MSNBC quite a bit, Todd seems to be the host who has the most Republican lawmakers on his show. One account I've read is that Trump has had meetings with Todd, at which they yell at each other in the beginning and then settle down to have a civil conversation.
As an indication that Trump's frequent references to his greatness are not limited by any sense of reason, Trump took credit for the success of the Olympics in South Korea. Also, he again provided evidence of his reverence for dictators, when he told his supporters to be "nice" toward Kim Jong-un.
At the rally to promote the candidacy of Rick Saccone, Saccone was rarely mentioned, with about the only reason Trump gave to vote for him was that he would support the entire Trump agenda. Even that support was compromised by Trump referring to the fact that he had carried the district by 20 percent over Hillary Clinton. It was clear from the most recent polling that, at best, Saccone might have squeezed through by the skin of his teeth, Trump then taking credit for saving Saccone from a defeat. The Trump camp was initially silent in the face of a narrow win by the Democratic candidate; however, later, a White House spokesperson issued a statement saying that Trump's late intervention saved Saccone from a major defeat. Trump supporters frequently defend the indefensible.
Trump Gets Personal with Mueller
Over the weekend, President Trump's tweeting has gotten personal with Robert Mueller, with Trump calling him out by name and saying again that there is no collusion and no crime, and that the investigation should never have been started. The extra dimension is Trump's charge that all 13 prosecutors are Democrats, with the push back being that the prosecutors have not demonstrated political bias in their former work. More importantly, Mueller is a registered Republican, as is his immediate superior.
Trump's more pointed charges against the Mueller investigation have stirred the embers of the fear that Trump is getting ready to fire Mueller, and the attendant fear among Democratic lawmakers that the Republican leadership will let him get away with it. Related to the Mueller furor is the recent firing of Andrew McCabe, the deputy director of the FBI. An ethics committee in the FBI recommended that McCabe be fired for the way he handled his role in the investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails, with a specific charge that he had given a background briefing to journalists, a practice that is often done by government officials. Attorney General Jeff Sessions did the actual firing. The firing took on a heartless coating when the it took place literally hours before McCabe would have officially qualified for a pension, which now may mean no pension, or a very limited one.
The report is that McCabe took notes that are contemporaneous with the firing of James Comey and what Comey told him; also, McCabe prepared documents on his own interaction with Trump after the Comey firing. McCabe has now reportedly turned his documents over to the Mueller team. President Trump has called the documents "fake," whether or not he has seen them. Trump's frequent denigrations of McCabe has sullied his reputation and it almost a certainty that absent Trump's fulminations against him, he would either have continued in his job, or retired with a full pension.
Stormy Weather in Forecast for Trump
Stormy Daniels is scheduled for a "60 Minutes" interview on March 25. Her lawyer has said that she will reveal the kinds of bodily harm that has been threatened if she reiterates her story of her sexual encounters with Trump. The lawyer has also announced that six more women have come forth with accounts of sexual activity with Trump. He says that the stories sound creditable but they have not been fully vetted.
Stormy has agreed to give up the $130,000 that Trump's personal lawyer has admitted he paid her. Since this is a court filing, the receipt or denial of the repayment must be in writing. I haven't been able to locate an account of what has happened to Stormy's give back.
Today I heard a concise description of Trump's treatment of the Stormy matter: He has denied a relationship ever happened, and has paid "hush" money for something that never happened. That is a description of a bogus leader who should never be followed nor trusted.
ADDENDUMS:
*Days before President Trump signed a bill that increased military spending by $165 billion over the next two years, a Gallup poll found 33% in favor of increased military spending, 34% supported reduction, and 31% favored the status quo.
*A committee will be formed to develop a plan for school safety with the demonstrably incompetent Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, heading it.
*DeVos imploded in a recent "60 Minutes" interview, in which she demonstrated her poor grasp of educational issues, the low point coming when Lesley Stahl asked if she ever has visited under-performing schools, and to DeVos's response that she has a policy not to visit them, DeVos smilingly agreed with Stahl's suggestion that maybe she should.
*At least four Cabinet members -- Ben Carson, Scott Pruitt, Ryan Zinke, and VA Secretary David Shulkin met separately with White House Secretary William McGinley to discuss ethics practices. All four have been found to be living extravagantly at taxpayer expense.
*House Agriculture Chairman Michael Conaway announced that he would delay the release of a farm bill, as all the Democrats on the committee would not vote for it because it would take 8 million people off the SNAP rolls.
*U.S. Central Command General Joseph Vogel joined Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is saying the Iranian nuclear deal is in the best interests of the U.S. He says: "If the JCPOA goes away, than we will to have another way to deal with the nuclear weapons program."
*Jennifer Baker, the spokeswoman for the Institute for Legislative Action at the NRA, says: "These bills [potential bans of bump stocks] are inherently overreaching and would ban commonly owned firearm accessories."
*Last month, the Supreme Court refused to hear the Trump administration challenge to a lower court temporarily blocking DACA. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will continue to review the case.
*The White House insists the DACA program is "clearly illegal" and benefits "illegal immigrants en masse."
*A national poll has found that 56% favor electoral redistricting; only 12% oppose.
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Some Tidbits From the Underside of American Life
*A recent survey showed that a little more than one in five respondents said they had experienced sexual assault since starting college -- 28% of women, 12% of men, and nearly 40% of gender- non-conforming students.
*According to "The Guardian" newspaper, "Since 1968... there have been 1,516,863 gun-related deaths on US territory. Since the founding of the United States, there have been 1,396,733 war deaths."
*According to a recent Gallup/Knight Foundation survey, most Americans believe it is now harder to be well-informed and to determine which news is accurate. They increasingly perceive the media is biased and struggle to identify objective news sources."
*According to Twitter's own data, at least 50,000 automated accounts tied to Russia set out more than two million-related tweets between September 1 and November 15, 2016.
*"With the guidance of Stephen Miller, Steve Bannon, Jeff Sessions, and Kris Kobach, Trump has assembled the nation's most rabid anti-immigrant politicians to translate fear of immigrants into policy and attempt to turn back the tide of demographic shifts that the major rewrite of the immigration code ushered in." (Source: Julianne Hing, "A Racist Ransom Note," The Nation, February 26, 2018).
*Trump February 18 tweet: "Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They're spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign -- there is no collusion.Get back to basics and make us all proud."
*"Already, 30 border cities, counties and tribal governments across America have passed resolutions against building more walls. These localities already know the costs and consequences of further militarizing the border." (Peter Simonson, "Leaders reject wall on border," The Albuquerque Journal, February 17, 2018).
*"Scott Pruitt and staffers billed taxpayers nearly $200,000 for his trips over six months last year, according to travel vouchers obtained by an environmental organization." "Vouchers released for some of the Oklahoma trips cited the reason for travel only as 'meetings in state' or as tours of companies in the Tulsa area." "The costs included $138,969 overall for trips involving commercial airfare from March to August." Another $56,000 went to charter flights. (Source: "EPA boss expenses scrutinized," The Albuquerque Journal, February 17, 2018).
*In a roughly 50 minute call on February 20 between President Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, the border wall occupied much of the conversation. Nieto was so upset by the nature of the call that he scuttled a visit to the White House.
*President Trump gave a "thumbs up" when meeting with hospital personnel after the shooting in the Florida high school shooting.The Twitter picture was later changed to a picture of him standing next to law enforcement officers.
*Trump has said that he wants "people who a natural talent" to carry guns in schools -- such as having a good golf swing. Matthew Miller, a former spokesman for the Obama Justice Department, tweeted that the "more he talks about the issue, the dumber he sounds."
*According to "The Guardian" newspaper, "Since 1968... there have been 1,516,863 gun-related deaths on US territory. Since the founding of the United States, there have been 1,396,733 war deaths."
*According to a recent Gallup/Knight Foundation survey, most Americans believe it is now harder to be well-informed and to determine which news is accurate. They increasingly perceive the media is biased and struggle to identify objective news sources."
*According to Twitter's own data, at least 50,000 automated accounts tied to Russia set out more than two million-related tweets between September 1 and November 15, 2016.
*"With the guidance of Stephen Miller, Steve Bannon, Jeff Sessions, and Kris Kobach, Trump has assembled the nation's most rabid anti-immigrant politicians to translate fear of immigrants into policy and attempt to turn back the tide of demographic shifts that the major rewrite of the immigration code ushered in." (Source: Julianne Hing, "A Racist Ransom Note," The Nation, February 26, 2018).
*Trump February 18 tweet: "Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They're spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign -- there is no collusion.Get back to basics and make us all proud."
*"Already, 30 border cities, counties and tribal governments across America have passed resolutions against building more walls. These localities already know the costs and consequences of further militarizing the border." (Peter Simonson, "Leaders reject wall on border," The Albuquerque Journal, February 17, 2018).
*"Scott Pruitt and staffers billed taxpayers nearly $200,000 for his trips over six months last year, according to travel vouchers obtained by an environmental organization." "Vouchers released for some of the Oklahoma trips cited the reason for travel only as 'meetings in state' or as tours of companies in the Tulsa area." "The costs included $138,969 overall for trips involving commercial airfare from March to August." Another $56,000 went to charter flights. (Source: "EPA boss expenses scrutinized," The Albuquerque Journal, February 17, 2018).
*In a roughly 50 minute call on February 20 between President Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, the border wall occupied much of the conversation. Nieto was so upset by the nature of the call that he scuttled a visit to the White House.
*President Trump gave a "thumbs up" when meeting with hospital personnel after the shooting in the Florida high school shooting.The Twitter picture was later changed to a picture of him standing next to law enforcement officers.
*Trump has said that he wants "people who a natural talent" to carry guns in schools -- such as having a good golf swing. Matthew Miller, a former spokesman for the Obama Justice Department, tweeted that the "more he talks about the issue, the dumber he sounds."
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Emission Accomplished
At one point last year, President Trump staged a photo op in which he stacked up the volumes of regulations his administration had rescinded to that point. What has been lacking in the elimination of regulations are explanations of why the regulations are bad for the country. Trump's formula of eliminating two regulations for every new one created has no rational basis.
Focusing exclusively on Scott Pruitt's systemic attack on environmental protections shows how destructive just that one part of what Steve Bannon has called the Trump administration's assault on the administrative state has been.
Greenhouse Gas Limits: Declaring "the war on coal is over," Pruitt announced the EPA would repeal President Barack's Clean Power Plan, which would have placed limits on carbon pollution from power plants -- a major cause of global warming.
Clean Water Protections: Pruitt plans on rescinding the Waters of the United States rule, which gives the agency wider latitude to regulate pollution.
Oil and Gas Drilling: After "hearing from industry," Pruitt canceled the EPA's 2016 directive that energy companies provide information on methane emissions from their drilling operations.
Hazardous Air: The EPA withdrew a 1995 policy that imposed limits on nearly 200 pollutants, including arsenic, lead, and mercury, from major industrial polluters.
Hazardous Chemicals: Pruitt has delayed an Obama-era rule requiring plants to release inventories of chemicals on hand -- key information for first responders in the event of an accident.
Fuel Efficiency Standards: The EPA is reviewing tougher fuel standards established under Obama -- standards that Pruitt calls "costly for automakers and the American people."
Smog: The Obama administration strengthened limits on ozone pollution, which causes smog. Pruitt has yet to enforce the rule.
Toxic Power Plant Pollution: The EPA is rethinking limits on chemicals like arsenic, lead, and mercury that power plants dump into waterways. The agency could revise a rule restricting mercury and other toxic pollutants in the air.
Climate Denial: Pruitt says he doesn't think humans are a "primary contributor" to global warming, and he has proposed a series of "debates" designed to challenge mainstream climate science.
Dangerous Pesticides: The EPA plans to revise an Obama-era rule that prevents farmworkers younger than 18 from applying pesticides. Pruitt has also refused to ban chlorpyrifos, a pesticide that can damage the nervous system -- despite agency scientists saying a ban was warranted.
Coal Ash: Under Obama, the EPA set national standards for the disposal of toxic coal residue. Pruitt has granted an industry request to reconsider the rule.
Global Climate Accords: After a bitter debate among top advisers, President Donald Trump sided with Pruitt and Steve Bannon, announcing he would withdraw from the Paris climate accord.
Abandoning Enforcement: Pruitt has slashed the number of civil cases filed against polluters, according to the New York Times. Officers who once investigated environmental crimes are now manning Pruitt's security detail, the Washington Post reports.
Politicizing the Grant Process: Pruitt assigned a former Trump campaign aide to review all EPA grants, according to the Post. The aide, John Konkus, directed staffers to remove climate change from grant solicitations.
Stacking the Agency With Industry Allies: In a move critics called "scientific censorship," Pruitt announced that scientists who receive EPA grants can no longer serve on the agency's advisory boards. Seven board members immediately resigned and were replaced with industry-friendly scientists.
Slashing Staff and Hiring Cronies: Under Pruitt, the number of EPA staffers has fallen by more than 800. According to ProPublica and the Times, that loss includes 200 scientists, most of whom haven't been replaced. Meanwhile, Pruitt has hired longtime friends and acquaintances. (Source: Amy Thomson and Rebecca Leber, "Emission Accomplished," Mother Jones, March/April 2018).
Focusing exclusively on Scott Pruitt's systemic attack on environmental protections shows how destructive just that one part of what Steve Bannon has called the Trump administration's assault on the administrative state has been.
Greenhouse Gas Limits: Declaring "the war on coal is over," Pruitt announced the EPA would repeal President Barack's Clean Power Plan, which would have placed limits on carbon pollution from power plants -- a major cause of global warming.
Clean Water Protections: Pruitt plans on rescinding the Waters of the United States rule, which gives the agency wider latitude to regulate pollution.
Oil and Gas Drilling: After "hearing from industry," Pruitt canceled the EPA's 2016 directive that energy companies provide information on methane emissions from their drilling operations.
Hazardous Air: The EPA withdrew a 1995 policy that imposed limits on nearly 200 pollutants, including arsenic, lead, and mercury, from major industrial polluters.
Hazardous Chemicals: Pruitt has delayed an Obama-era rule requiring plants to release inventories of chemicals on hand -- key information for first responders in the event of an accident.
Fuel Efficiency Standards: The EPA is reviewing tougher fuel standards established under Obama -- standards that Pruitt calls "costly for automakers and the American people."
Smog: The Obama administration strengthened limits on ozone pollution, which causes smog. Pruitt has yet to enforce the rule.
Toxic Power Plant Pollution: The EPA is rethinking limits on chemicals like arsenic, lead, and mercury that power plants dump into waterways. The agency could revise a rule restricting mercury and other toxic pollutants in the air.
Climate Denial: Pruitt says he doesn't think humans are a "primary contributor" to global warming, and he has proposed a series of "debates" designed to challenge mainstream climate science.
Dangerous Pesticides: The EPA plans to revise an Obama-era rule that prevents farmworkers younger than 18 from applying pesticides. Pruitt has also refused to ban chlorpyrifos, a pesticide that can damage the nervous system -- despite agency scientists saying a ban was warranted.
Coal Ash: Under Obama, the EPA set national standards for the disposal of toxic coal residue. Pruitt has granted an industry request to reconsider the rule.
Global Climate Accords: After a bitter debate among top advisers, President Donald Trump sided with Pruitt and Steve Bannon, announcing he would withdraw from the Paris climate accord.
Abandoning Enforcement: Pruitt has slashed the number of civil cases filed against polluters, according to the New York Times. Officers who once investigated environmental crimes are now manning Pruitt's security detail, the Washington Post reports.
Politicizing the Grant Process: Pruitt assigned a former Trump campaign aide to review all EPA grants, according to the Post. The aide, John Konkus, directed staffers to remove climate change from grant solicitations.
Stacking the Agency With Industry Allies: In a move critics called "scientific censorship," Pruitt announced that scientists who receive EPA grants can no longer serve on the agency's advisory boards. Seven board members immediately resigned and were replaced with industry-friendly scientists.
Slashing Staff and Hiring Cronies: Under Pruitt, the number of EPA staffers has fallen by more than 800. According to ProPublica and the Times, that loss includes 200 scientists, most of whom haven't been replaced. Meanwhile, Pruitt has hired longtime friends and acquaintances. (Source: Amy Thomson and Rebecca Leber, "Emission Accomplished," Mother Jones, March/April 2018).
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