Marco Rubio destroys his own tax plan argument, and other recent crazy news

Marco Rubio destroys his own tax plan argument, and other recent crazy news

So there is much to say about the tax plan currently be pushed by Republicans in congress, I am not an economic expert so I won’t say much.  My main concern, is that once taxes are cut, the Republicans will once again become concerned with the deficit and try to make major cuts to Medicare and other social programs.

But there is one thing I heard last night that sums up my main issues with this tax plan.  CNN hosted a very lively debate with members of congress about the tax plan.  Marco Rubio, Bernie Sanders, and others were going at it in front of a live audience who were asking the questions.  It was a great listen.

At one point a gentleman stood up to ask a question.  He pointed out that the tax cuts were targeted to provide major tax cuts to the wealthy and to corporations.  (in fact the tax cuts for the middle class are temporary, while corporate tax cuts are permanent - this of course is smoke and mirrors to make the impact on the deficit seem like less than it likely will be, for we can guess that in ten years, congress will not let the tax cuts expire.)  He pointed out that unemployment is at an all time low, the stock market at an all time high, and corporations are making record profits.  He agreed that a massive tax cut is a mighty weapon to spur the economy but asked why, when the economy is booming, would we use such a weapon, adding to the deficit and making it more difficult to pay for education, first responders, the military, etc.  

Marco Rubio spoke up and said something I agree with.  He said that the idea of a booming economy is interesting.  He said the people who have greatly benefited under Obama’s economic expansion in the past 10 years are the wealthiest people in the country.  He said billionaires have done really well under Obama, while the middle class is getting squeezed.  (interestingly people in poverty are not even talked about in these discussions)

What I can’t believe about this is that none of the people he was debating called him on this.  The entire argument that he and the Republicans were making about why this tax cut is going to help the middle class, is that it was going to cut taxes for the wealthy people and the corporations, and that they are the ones who will invest and cause economic growth.  They argued all night that if we give corporations and billionaires more money, that they will hire more people and increase their wages!  

So my follow up questions to Rubio would have been simple.  If in the past 10 years, billionaires have been doing so well (according to him) and if corporate profits are at an all time high, then why haven’t they been increasing wage?  Why hasn’t the wealth trickled down????  And if it hasn’t, why would more tax cuts, for the people already doing so well, make a difference?

The tone of the debate was a bit bothersome, even though interesting.  It did highlight how polarized congress is and how unwilling the Republicans are to compromise.  The entire time, the Republicans argued that they were the party trying to help the middle class.  Rubio kept saying things like “Bernie wants to take all your money” and that the Democrats were the enemies of the working class.  Health care came up since the Senate has attached a repeal of the Obamacare mandate to the tax plan and of course the Republicans blamed all of the problems with health care in this country on Obamacare.  With such exaggerations and untruths, it is no wonder compromise seems so difficult for these people.  

As I sit here in the doctor’s office writing this, I just read an article in Vanity Faire about the USDA and how people who work there are shocked by how incredibly unqualified Trump’s appointees are to the department.  This is a vital department in charge of agriculture, food safety, food stamps, etc.  Ironically this is having a negative effect on the very rural voters who put Trump in office.  The article made the point that what we really should be worried about these days, is what is happening to our government where the spotlights are not shining.  This is the same story at the EPA, the State Department, etc.  Since Reagan famously said the government is the problem, not the solution, Republicans have made sure this was a self fulfilling prophesy, and Trump is taking the destruction of our government to a new level.  

I digress, but this does lead to one other point from this week’s news that is very illustrative of our current administration.  The head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Richard Cordray, resigned and appointed his Chief of Staff, Leandra English, to run the agency.  Instead Trump appointed Mick Mulvaney to run the Bureau.  The CFPB was created by Obama and the democrats after the 2008 Great Recession in order to protect people from predatory lending practices and other financial scams.  It has since forced banks like Wells Fargo to pay millions of dollars to consumers who suffered from their illegal practices (like opening bank accounts in customers names without their permission or knowledge).  To me, this is what our government should do - protect people.  Holding Wall Street accountable is also good for our government, as it cost us 800 billion in tax-payer dollars to bail these banks out when their shady mortgage deals went belly up.  

Trump’s pick to run the agency, Mulvaney, has called the CFPB a sick joke and while in Congress, he voted to kill the agency.  He is also one of Trump’s architects of his push to deregulate.  Trump is consistent in his appointments.  It seems like the only qualification he looks for is someone who hates the agency the person is being appointed to.  Of course, of most concern to me are his appointments of climate deniers and enemies of renewable energy to positions in charge of energy and environmental policy.  For instance his most recent appointment this month to the highest environmental post in the White House - Kathleen White - has called carbon dioxide “the gas of life”, has called solar power ‘parasitic’, and suggested creating a ‘blue ribbon commission’ to re-litigate climate science, and develop an “alternative scientific methodology” to the IPCC.  This from a woman who has no science background - she has degrees in religion and humanities and is a cattle rancher and dog breeder.  

And back to Rubio’s admission that corporate profits and the super rich have been doing swimmingly under Obama, this once again contradicts Trump’s argument that regulation is hurting economic growth.  Trump said he wants to drain the swamp, stand up to Wall Street, and is not beholden to special interests because he has his own money.  During the debate yesterday, a guy actually said he voted for Trump because he wants to help the middle class and he asked the Democrats why they won’t work with Trump to help the middle class.  Getting rid of regulations that protect people and the environment; appointing people like Mulvaney to run (or ruin) the CFPB; filling his cabinet with Wall Street Bankers, oil company executives, pharmaceutical company execs, etc; these actions are not designed to help the middle class, they are designed to help rich people get richer.  As Kenny Ausubel said at this year’s Bioneers conference, “Trump is not draining the swamp, he is swamping the drain”.

Just look at Trump’s own actions as a business man.  This shows where his priorities lie, and it ain’t with the middle class.  Turns out just this week court documents were unsealed that reveal a settlement where Trump paid out $1 million to settle a lawsuit which was a result of him hiring undocumented laborers to demolish a building by working 12 hour shifts without safety equipment such as masks, hard hats, and gloves for which he paid as little as $4/hour.  And he rails against undocumented workers.  I guess he knows he needs to build the wall so he can’t have cheap labor to hire.  

P.S.  So I gotta just add one postscript before I publish this post.  Every day there is news to talk about, so I gotta publish and move on, but this is impossible not to comment on.

 Yesterday Trump retweeted racist videos, posted by a fringe, far right hate group from Britain.  These videos (at least one of which was fake) were said to show Muslims committing acts of violence.  This is a(nother) new low for our bigot-n-chief!  Most frightening is the fact that Trump actually spends time watching fringe right wing media and thinks it is so valuable that he retweets it, amplifying the racist messages.  What a horrible man we have in charge of this country.  It makes me sick!  And Sarah Huckabee-Sanders says it doesn’t matter of the videos are real, ‘the threat is real!’  Never mind fake news, we have a fake president.  

What I want for my birthday - An Intact Iran Deal and...

Last week I heard that Trump is likely to decertify the nuclear deal with Iran by the deadline of October 15.  Being just two days from my birthday I immediately thought, 'if I could wish for one thing for my birthday, it would be that Trump would not make this dangerous move'.

These times have been pretty heavy... hurricanes, mass shootings, wild fires, etc.  It would be nice not to have other anxiety producing factors in the world.  Of course Trump does not understand this, which was clear by his statement he made last week while surrounded by his military advisors - that this is the 'calm before the storm'.  He mad the point that he was surrounded by the worlds great military leaders and then made this statement.  When asked what he meant, he only said 'you will find out!'  Hearing him say this, really put butterflies in my stomach, even though I know he likes to say shocking things, this was beyond the pale.

Even thought, if Trump decertifies the deal, he is just handing the problem to congress, this action would be devastating to world peace for a number of reasons.  First, the stability and trustworthiness of the United States is essential when making deals such as this.  This deal with Iran was made with a number of nations, all of whom say Iran is in compliance. Bush's own administration says Iran is in compliance.   Decertification on our part will only embolden the hardliners within Iran, and it will make it more difficult for us to solve similar situations diplomatically - think North Korea.  There is a chance that Iran and the other countries keep up their end of the bargain, and a chance (however unlikely, that the Republican controlled congress will actually vote to stay in the deal.  But wavering on our commitment to Iran sends a clear message to North Korea that we are not to be trusted.

This seems to be what Trump wants.  When Secretary of State Tillerson tried to work his diplomacy with North Korea, Trump tweeted that he is wasting his time.  Trump continues to call Kim Jung-un names.  Trump also said last week something to the effect 'that the US has tried talking with North Korea for 25 years to no avail, so obviously there is only one thing that will work'.  He also threatened to destroy the entire country while speaking the United Nations.  All these things are likely to convince countries like North Korea that they need nukes to defend themselves against a hostile United States.

Trump is in way over his head.  When he first took office, he came out of a ten minute meeting with the Chinese president to say that he learned a lot and that he did not realize how complicated the situation with North Korea is.  His bullying tactics and pandering to his base at all costs is a dangerous gamble when nukes are involved.  He has ordered a 30% reduction in the State Department, which basically means 30% less employees. This lack of diplomats has crippled our efforts around the world to communicate with allies and adversaries alike. At the same time, Trump has ordered an increase in military spending.

Of course, the bully Trump is, he naturally is drawn towards the military as a tool to get what he wants and he clearly does not understand diplomacy. Just look at any of his endless tweets - you could not be more undiplomatic if you tried.  Just this week he tweeted to states like Texas and Florida that the federal government will not leave them until they have fully recovered from their hurricanes and then turned around to tweet that the US government can't stick around and help forever in Puerto Rico.  Two starkly different messages, way to make Puerto Ricans feel like valued American Citizens.  Never mind the fact that FEMA still has people in New Orleans working on recovery from Katrina! and still in New York after Sandy.

The list of people, from military leaders so Trumps' own advisors, to Israeli Prime ministers even, who say the US should stay in the Iran deal is a long long list.  Trump says it is what he thinks that counts.  My hope, is that he realizes what praise he will get if he certifies the deal and he certifies it so he can bask in the glory of people saying what a smart move it was.

We also know that Trump wants to undo everything that Obama did.  Trump wants to keep his campaign 'promises'.  It is easy to run a campaign that is against something.  And he ran against everything Obama.  He even campaigned against Obama's US citizenship long before he ran for president.  He ran against Obamacare, against refugees, against the Paris Climate accord, against Obama's executive actions (Trump has signed twice as many as Obama at this point in his presidency), against restrictions of coal power, and the list goes on.  So now if Obama did it, Trump is gonna undo it.  What people like Trump fear more that an unsuccessful black leader - a successful one.  And the worst part, is that behind the scenes, while we talk about North Korea, Russia, and Kapernick, government agencies and regulations are being dismantled, defunded, understaffed, and handed over to lobbyists and CEOs of the very corporations the agencies are meant to keep in check. From the EPA to the Office of Energy Efficiency to the Department of the Interior to Health and Human Services to the Department of Education.  Deep damage is being done.  The Republican claim that government is the problem is a self fulfilling prophecy.  I am not even sure how much Trump understands what is happening and how much he is simply being taken advantage by all the opportunistic players who supported his rise to power so they could get in and cash out.

OK, my birthday wish has gone off on a bit of a tangent.  Let me just end by saying I wish, Trump will stay in the Iran deal - certify it (unfortunately something he needs to do every 90 days - which kills him to do since each time he does he is admitting that Obama's deal is working).  I did include an 'and...' it the blog title.  There are so many ands, but I will stick with...and that his administrations' attempts to roll back environmental protections is thwarted by public outcry and by the next wave of politicians to be elected.

Happy Friday the 13th everyone!!

Trump: who he pardons, who he calls "sons of bitches", says a lot about the man.

OK, so this weekend Trump took control of the news cycle once again.  Rather than talking about the destruction of Puerto Rico, the glooming failure of Obama Care repeal, the war of words between Trump and North Korea, the news cycle was focused on athletes’ rights to protest, respecting the flag, and racial politics.  Trump is good at commanding attention.

I think it is such a clear illustration of what kind of man Trump is that he actually spends the time and energy to go after peaceful protesters while he recently pardoned the infamous Sherriff Joe Arpio .  

Arpio was a man who bragged about having his own concentration camp.  Under his leadership, mistreatment of prisoners was routine.  His crackdown on Latinos was found to be unconstitutional and he was ordered to stop.  He refused to comply with the judge’s orders and was found in contempt of court.  For this, Trump pardoned him.  Even Paul Ryan publically disagreed with this pardon.  Arpio was also one of the main people pushing the idea that Obama was not born in the US (along with Trump) and even sent a team to Hawaii to investigate.  Trump called Arpio a patriot.

Meanwhile we have players in the NFL who have decided to drop a knee to protest what they believe to be racial injustice in the US, including the shooting of unarmed black men by police or wanna-be police.  Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid started doing this and it has since spread, as has the controversy over what they are doing.  Read here an op-ed by Reid on why they did it and chose to be respectful as they did.

It is incredible to me, not only that the President of the United States, would call peaceful protestors such as these, sons of bitches, it is also incredible to me how many people defend him, saying how the players are disrespecting the flag, and the country, and the military.  This is such hogwash. Clever, but hogwash. 

When Bush bombed Iraq, I got heat for protesting that war – I wasn’t “supporting the troops”, people told me.  No, I was trying to prevent our government from sending the troops to fight an unwinnable and immoral war – I was supporting the troops (and was thanked over and over again by military personnel who took the time to literally salute my protest of that war).  Folks in the military believe they are fighting to keep this country free – that includes free speech.  And dropping a knee during a song and a prayer to the flag, this is not so disrespectful.  The injustices blacks have suffered in this country, and still suffer, are so terrible, they could certainly move a person to want to protest and to not fully embrace the moment of false unity that the national anthem might represent for many.  And by dropping a knee, they aren’t preventing anyone else from standing tall and proud.  They are simply using their platform to take a stand for something they believe in.

The fact that this is what Trump thinks about.  How does he even have time?  That is sick and frightening.  Of course it is not surprising.  We know he knows how to use simple tactics like rallying ‘round the flag and calling others unpatriotic to help sure up his political support.  We also know he loves to be a bully.  He bullies everyone – even those in his own cabinet.  He won the election by being a bully.  He is the reality TV show villain.  And now that this bully has the US military behind him, he uses that as a tool with which to bully entire nations.  He took the opportunity of speaking in front of the UN (a body designed to bring countries together in the name of world peace) to threaten the entire nation of North Korea with complete destruction.  That would mean killing 25,000,000 people.  How can you even threaten such a thing?  He could have stated how different our values are from North Korea, etc, but no, the bully threatens to kill them all, men, women, and children. 

Policy differences aside, the man in the White House is a disgrace to our nation, to our flag, to the ideals of this country.  I can think of reasons to feel patriotic, he is certainly not one of them. 

My students' inspring engineering projects on Tolerance

Hi everyone,

  I have been wanting to write so may blogs lately to address all sorts of issues that have been on my mind.  I also have wanted to stick to inspiring and hopeful subjects.  I have wanted to write a blog which I will call "Hope and Patriotism in the time of Trump" but last school year I was too busy, over the summer I was too busy, and now a new school year has begun.

  Our first day back at work we watched a video of one of our students - a second grade girl - who likes to memorize speeches.  She recited MLK's "I have a dream" speech with adorable passion.  I broke down crying watching it because that morning, after a blissful week of camping with my family, I had driven to school listening to the news about Charlottesville.  Here we were, 50 years after MLK gave that speech (and his life) and we have exhibitions of hate like this.  It hit me harder than I expected.

  Well the incredible kids I get to teach do give me hope and I am proud to have a job where I get to help guide them on their path to becoming positive change makers.  So I thought this would be an appropriate time to share the project they did last spring in my class.

  They had a semester 'expedition' called Being Human in which they studied in Science things like human evolution, genetics, and neurology.  In Humanities they studied world religions, philosophy, the Holocaust, and tolerance.  For their final product they were tasked with creating  creating an interactive kinetic sculpture which played on the theme of Tolerance.  Throughout the process students really grappled with engineering challenges and often had to redesign and work through failures and road blocks.  The learning was rich and the end products were incredible.  The diversity of ideas and depth of thought that went into these pieces were inspiring.

  I have never worked harder as a teacher nor had as much fun.  Guiding 20 students through different engineering challenges - learning as we went - was intense.  It was also a blast to be able to use a skill saw in class everyday and to have students going at it with hammers and saws.  The most rewarding part was the process of working through the failures and coming out triumphant.

 I think looking at the photos and reading the artists statements is worth a look, especially today as we see so much hate.  Knowing that 7th grade students are thinking about xenophobia and fighting for LGBTQ rights (these kids do make their parents take them to protests on the weekends) is inspiring.  These are the leaders of tomorrow.

I have not shared a Google Folder before, I hope everyone can see these photos.  If not, let me know and I will post them on my blog,  I am hoping I can skip that step and save some time.

Towards Tolerance...

Danny

Here is the link to the folder...
Engineering Tolerance Project

Thoughts on Trump's first month

My reaction to Trump’s first month in office

 [In the past I have been criticized by friends and family for not providing my sources for all the statements I make in my blog.  What I have written here should be considered more of a brain dump than a research paper and I don’t have time to go through and hyperlink to sources.  If anyone is curious where I get my crazy ideas, I am happy to provide sources and back up my claims with facts upon request.]

Also, there is this discussion about whether or not we should give “Trump a chance” now that he is President.  Of course, he has a chance, he is in the White House, but that does not mean we should not speak out when we disagree with what he does.  I was in the street protesting against actions taken by both our previous presidents and expect I will be with this president as well. 

People also say the press is not being fair to him.  The job of the press should be to challenge the government.  That is what keeps them honest.  The Iraq war was an example when the press failed in their job in this regard.  So Trump should not complain.  It is ironic he says it is all fake news (CNN, BBS, NBC, New York Times, etc) while he embraces Fox News and Breitbart.  The other day Trump got into trouble for making claims about crime in Sweden caused by immigrants, as his source he sighted a sensationalistic story he watched on Fox News.  We know the media gets stories wrong, we know media is biased on both sides, but Trumps obsession with the news all being “fake” if it makes him look bad is just ridiculous.  He needs to grow up.

During the campaign I disagreed with nearly everything Trump promised to do so naturally I find myself in disagreement with what he is doing, since, to his credit, he is doing what he promised. However, it is not just what he is doing, but how he is going about doing it.  His lack of diplomacy is disturbing, his disregard for advice from professionals is worrying, and his lack of concern for what is factual is frightening. 

I was very upset with the Republicans in congress who made it their stated goal to block everything Obama tried to do when he was elected.  Hundreds of appointments never got confirmed, every piece of legislation was filibustered requiring a super majority to pass anything, they even shut the government down.  The talking points were that Obama was pushing a radical socialist agenda.  The truth is, Obama was a very moderate President.  He was far from liberal – he deported more people than any president, he presided over the biggest increase in domestic oil production in US history, he took single payer health care off the table before beginning to compromise with the Republicans, he authorized more drone strikes than any US president, he promoted free trade agreements, etc.   

Now the Democrats are in a tough place.  If they obstruct Trump, they will look like hypocrites, after complaining about Republican obstructionism.  But what Trump wants to do is so far to the right of the political mainstream that the energized liberal leaning base of the Democratic party is demanding the Democrats do just that – obstruct!  This is a major flaw in the way the two party system is working out in our country.  Especially with gerrymandering, which is allowing congress to get increasingly polarized.  A Mitt Romney or Lindsey Graham administration would be far less worrying and probably would have less Democratic opposition.

Of course as we can see, politicians leading from the center have failed to do enough to reign in corporate power and to help the working class.  A moderate Republican or Clinton presidency would have likely continued the status quo.  It is difficult to see a way out of our political dilemma.  Of course my hope is that reaction to Trump will pull the political pendulum back to the left. 

 I wrote most of this a couple weeks ago and of course everyday there is more to comment on.  I would like to be solution oriented, rather than just complaining, but it is important to be aware of what our government is doing and to analyze the effects of their actions so we can be informed voters.  As far as solutions, I think we need to organize, this could be one of the great outcomes of this election.  It was people in the street that helped force civil rights laws to be passed, to force the end of the Vietnam war, etc.  Also we need to take positive actions in our local communities.  If you want to help create jobs, buy local, and if you don’t care where you create jobs, at least buy fair trade.  Vote with your dollar.  Work towards making your community welcoming to immigrants, use less fossil fuels if you are worried about climate change, etc, etc.  It is time for the grassroots to grow what we want from the ground up because positive change is not likely to trickle down to us from the top any time soon. 

So thoughts on a few specific actions of Trump in these first few weeks:

Oil Pipelines/Fossil fool production:  Well, what can I say.  This is the issue I will take to the streets for.  (I marched on the White House to protest the Keystone XL pipeline while Obama was Pres.) Ramping up oil infrastructure when scientists warn us we must keep 80% of the remaining fossil fuels in the ground to avoid catastrophic climate disruption is a crime against humanity and a crime against nature.  Plus, renewables are at the point of being cost competitive, are better for job creation, can decentralize and democratize energy production, and are cleaner throughout their life cycle than fossil fuels.  The argument we must ramp up coal mining to give coal miners jobs is just short sighted.  Teach coal miners to do other things.  There is a couple from Silicon Valley who have moved to coal country and using their own money have trained coal miners to code and create websites.  These ex-miners are landing tons of jobs with companies starved for tech help.  Just one example that could be replicated, if only our leader was inspired to do so.  When Trump signed an executive order to allow the Keystone XL pipeline he claimed it would create 28,000 construction jobs.  The State Department actually says it will only create 3,900 jobs for one year and only 35 permanent jobs

Lack of diplomacy:  Trump’s tweets about how Obama was too nice to Iran but Trump will not be.  This type of talk is exactly what can help hardliners in countries like Iran get elected.  Ayatollah Khomeini was just telling Iran that Donald is now showing Iran the true face of America.  By being a bully he is opening the door to leaders who will talk tough and stand up to America the Bully. This makes the world more dangerous.  While Trump says he is going to rid the world of terrorism and make us all safer, his style, his mouth, his tweets, his policies are all much more likely to make us less safe.  I can’t understand how anyone thinks otherwise, although I know some do. 

Heath Care:  Well this is one of the most classic Trump moments.  This weekend Trump was speaking to the nation’s governors.  He actually said:

"Now, I have to tell you, it’s an unbelievably complex subject. Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated."

This is so classic.  Yes, Trump, we all knew it was so complicated, why do you think it took so long to get this passed by the Democrats. Trump has been promising a ‘better plan that will cover everyone and be less expensive’.  We can spend pages dissecting the reasons this cannot happen with any of Trumps ideas.  Basically the only way to do this is a single payer system, which in this country will even struggle to keep health care costs down because hospitals charge so much, drug companies charge so much, doctors get paid so much, etc.  Trump’s plan has been compared to all three current Republican plans in congress and his actually does worst than all three at reducing cost and expanding care. 

Job creation:

This is really what people elected him for.  I am not sure how serious he is about this.  I am sure he would like to create jobs and he boasts about the thousands here and the thousands there that he says he saved from moving to Mexico.  But job creation needs to happen in the millions.  If he is serious about creating jobs why not invest in renewable energy?  If he is serious about creating jobs why increase military spending while slashing the budget elsewhere.  Dollar for dollar, military spending is the worst possible place to spend the government’s money as far as job creation is concerned.  His attack on NAFTA and other trade deals will have winners and losers.  Many jobs could be lost.  For instance Mexico is the biggest foreign purchaser of US dairy products and without NAFTA it could be that dairy from places like New Zealand would be cheaper for Mexico to buy, costing US dairy farms billions of dollars.  I was against NAFTA but repealing it now is not necessarily beneficial to our economy.  And our country has been adding jobs under Obama (and decreasing illegal immigration) so he does not really need to do much to claim job growth.  But what kinds of jobs are we talking about.  The struggle of the working class comes more from low wages and underemployment (part time work) than unemployment.  By the people Trump has chosen to lead the economy and department of labor I have little hope he is going to create living wage jobs for people. 

His nominees: 

Trump has complained that he can’t get his cabinet confirmed.  He is the one who chose controversial people for every cabinet post, of course the confirmation for these people will not be smooth.  Also many of them had not filled out their conflict of interest documents and other items needed for vetting on time.  And some are pulling out due to conflicts of interest, others have turned down the position. 

  I have blogged about them before.  Putting an enemy of public education in charge of the Department of Education, a Wall Street banker who enriched himself while earning the nickname the ‘Foreclosure King” as Treasury Secretary, a fast food CEO charged with labor and safety violations in charge of the Department of Labor, someone with a history of suing the EPA in charge of the EPA, someone who once said he would get rid of the Department of Energy in charge of the Department of Energy, and someone who has fought against civil rights, voting rights, immigrant rights, gay rights, in charge of the Department of Justice – well I suppose this is Trump’s prerogative and elections have consequences.  Not much we can do but speak out against them, hope they surprise us, and if they don’t, say I told you so, and hope people are paying attention and vote differently next time! 

Sure seems like Trump’s goal is to dismantle the very parts of the government that are meant to protect the people from the corporate quest for making as much money as possible.  If I give Trump the benefit of the doubt I would think that perhaps these people who seem critical of the very departments they are in charge of, will be the right people to find ways to scale back the bureaucracies that have built up over time.  Of course I would trust them to do this more if I believed they believe in the mission of their departments. 

“Immigration Ban” – I watched a conservative blogger talk about how great this was and how Trump executed it perfectly and how it was such a common sense thing and how Obama made the list of countries so why are liberals all whining about it and the liberals are just still upset they lost the election and that is the only reason they are in the street protesting.   This demonstrates how we can live in two different realities, because I see it all just the opposite.  Obama made the list and probably increased the vetting process for these countries.  Nothing wrong with that and that is not what Trump did.  If Trump had said he is halting issuing NEW visas until his admin can review the vetting process I would not complain.  But the way he did this, overnight stopping anyone from coming who is not a citizen, was just stupid.  Green card holders could not return home after visiting family or going on a business trip.  People who had visas issued after years of vetting, could not be reunited with their families.  Something like 100,000 visas were revoked.  And all this in the name of making us safer.  Ironically it was more likely to make us less safe.  The bad publicity this gave us was the perfect recruiting tool for ISIS.  It also showed a total lack of understanding of the terrorist threat.  The vast majority of terrorist attacks here at home have been from US citizens who have been radicalized via the internet – not affected by this ban.  Look at the backlash from US corporations who have said this will hurt the economy and make it less likely for tech companies to start businesses here in the US or US diplomats, past bipartisan cabinet officials, and State Department officials who have said this makes us less safe.  This was amateur time in the White House.  And to justify it Trump and his team continue to make up lies.  (ie: Bowling Green Massacre)  And Trump says the media is covering up and failing to report terrorist attacks to downplay the threat!  What?  His list of underreported events included attacks overseas that did not even kill anyone to San Bernardino, which was clearly heavily reported on.  Alternate reality.  His list was also exclusively attacks by Muslims on non-Muslims.  Clearly a list created to stoke fear of a particular group of people. 

Supreme Court:  again, this is one of those consequences from the election.  Trump made public a list of conservative judges vetted by the Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society – and he was elected and now chose someone from that list.  Gorsuch, while not the worst on the list, is certainly (if he sticks to his past record) going to swing the court in favor of corporate rights over human rights.  We are just gonna have to suck this up.  I strongly believe we would be better off if Presidents would nominate Judges from the center of the ideological spectrum, rather than the fringes.  Obama tried to do this a year ago by nominating Garland and the Republicans played politics with that appointment and won.  This is a consequence of the election that will last decades.  Shame on the Democrats for not making it a bigger issue during the campaign. 

Voter Fraud:  More alternative facts from the team Trump on this one.  3 – 5 million illegal voters in the last election with no proof of a single one.  Trump came up with a list of voter rolls that have people who should not be registered, like people registered in two states. (turns out half his family were registered twice – classic).  Again – if he had said he wants to improve the voter rolls, great, claiming that there is widespread voter fraud – not true.  Just this weekend a Trump surrogate was repeating the false claim that voters were bussed across state lines to vote twice.  Of course widespread voter fraud has been a claim made by republicans for ages and has been used to pass stricter voting laws like voter ID laws.   So I would expect that when Trump comes out with his report on the topic that he will recommend making it more difficult for people to vote, because we know this affects poor voters more than wealthy voters.  Everyone from Federal Judges to Republican politicians have called these voter ID laws out for what they are – clearly intended to suppress the vote with no evidence of a problem they are trying to solve.  In fact in Texas the voter ID laws were ruled unconstitutional by federal judges.  Texas appealed and not Jeff Sessions is dropping the fed’s case so even though they won, looks like the law may be allowed to stand, no surprise considering Sessions’ record on the issue. 

Deregulation:    Trump says he will get rid of 80% of regulations because ‘none of them do any good’.  That is just crazy talk.  I am sure there are lots that are poorly written or obsolete.  I could get behind an honest look at reducing regulation.  Maybe start by cutting them by 20%.  Trump wants to allow corporations, which by definition have no moral compass because they are mandated to maximize profit, to be able to make as much money as possible.  That is Trump’s world view.   This increases income inequality and is exactly the system people thought they were voting against.   

   The regulations he is attacking first – regulations on the fossil fuel industry (because they have such a hard time making a profit) and the banking industry.  He plans to repeal Dodd Frank, which was meant to prevent the risky behavior banks take that caused the Great Recession of 2008 and the Great Depression.  When banks take risks, they maximize profit for their CEOs and then when the banks fail, the taxpayers bail them out while the working class gets screwed.  While Dodd Frank could be tweaked to help smaller banks it is a common sense and important regulation.  Repealing it clearly increases the risk our economy could fail again. 

   I cannot see how anyone thinks the far right end of the spectrum has anything to offer the working class.  They govern for the corporate class, the 1%.  Deregulation is the goal so corporations and the people running them, can make as much profit as possible while not having to suffer under ‘burdensome’ rules intended to protect the environment or workers.

  Funny thing is, many of these regulations actually create more jobs.  Let’s say you require coal plants to install new air scrubbers or to take extra precautions with their coal ash disposal.  These steps cost the company more money because they need to hire more people to do the extra work.  That could mean less profit for the corporation or higher electricity prices, but we should pay more for dirty energy and if we really want to create jobs we need more money being spent and less going into the Swiss bank accounts of the CEOs.