Earth, the Only Home We Have

I'm emerging from Trump-fatigue to call attention to the one issue that threatens all of us: changes in the climate here on earth.  September 20 is the day designated for a global climate strike as a way to make our voices heard. (Find ideas for how to support the strike here: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-support-the-global-climate-strike-1838097431)

Every human needs clean air, clean water, and a reliable food supply in order to thrive.  Why, then, is the president set on a course that reverses the policies that have worked toward ensuring these things?

Reversing these policies amounts to failure to uphold the Constitution. We need to state clearly to President Trump that upholding it is his duty, and remind him and ourselves of the purpose American's founders had in mind when writing it. (Preamble below.)

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Although the president's actions and policies fail in more than one of these areas, it's "promote the general Welfare" that most closely applies when it comes to climate change.

Youth around the globe are taking the lead in calling attention to the fact that we live on Earth, "There is no Planet B" - that action by all the world's governments is needed right now.  Here in the USA, we are in the unfortunate position of having climate change deniers in charge of the Executive Branch and many in the Congress as well.  Given that, we have a special responsibility for making our voices heard.

For more about climate issues, and what we can do in addition to participating on September 20, check out this Vox.com article.

To assure yourself that you are not alone in being concerned about climate change, check out this article about a recent Gallup poll.

Just Give Him Some Time...

Are you someone who said this when Donald Trump was elected President?  Well, a friend of mine just penned a letter to Mr. Trump.  He's given me permission to publish it here.  It's an excellent summary of what Trump has done during the time he's been given so far, and lays out the case for bringing that time to an end.

Dear Sir:
After having observed you for the past twenty months, I feel compelled to express my concerns about your “presidency.” They are:

• First and foremost: You are a liar. You exaggerate, misrepresent and fabricate facts not in evidence. I need not remind you of the countless occasions that you have lied. You know full well when and where you have done so. In short, you are morally corrupt, devoid of any integrity; thus, untrustworthy as the President and as a leader of the free world.

• Your inflated ego prevents you from seeing reality and heeding the counsel of political and economic experts who have the knowledge and expertise to advise you appropriately.  You have surrounded yourself with “advisors” who serve nothing more than to feed your ego, and who have forgotten that their allegiance is not to you, but to the citizens of this country. Your hubris knows no bounds. Remind yourself that you lost the popular vote by three million.

• You have alienated our long-standing allies and have instead cowed to some of the most violent oppressors of human rights. Your shameful adoration of Russian President Putin, for example, and your unwillingness to defend the country against Russian interference into our democratic practices borders on at least malfeasance and nonfeasance, not to mention the possibility of treason.

• Your ignorance of basic economic principles defies description, as is evidenced by your insistence on effecting barriers to international trade, i.e., tariffs, that have adversely impacted and which will continue to adversely affect American consumers, businesses and others, not to mention especially farmers, for example, who will experience shortfalls in prices for their soy beans. Additionally, you use the threats of tariffs to further alienate some of our closest friends, e.g., Canada. This is ill advised and does not serve well the interests of the nation.

• You dehumanize people of color, women, followers of different religions, and the disabled by calling them “dogs”, “rapists”, “terrorists” and “lowlifes”. You are a bigot. Your lack of compassion, and your vile comments about your detractors fail to meet the expectations of “presidential demeanor.”  You belittled Senator John Mc Cain’s captivity, for example, a man whose service to this country, courage, intelligence and integrity far exceeded any you could ever dream of.  

• Your clownish behavior as evidenced by your “portrayal” of  “proper presidential behavior” was just that:  Clownish and just plain childish.  You have courageously proclaimed you would like to hit someone “in the mouth” from a lofty stage. Is that the expected behavior of a President or of a bully? Your rhetoric has divided the nation, emboldened neo-Nazi and other hate groups, and implicitly condoned violence, such as what we have seen in Virginia and elsewhere.

• Your tweets reflect the emotional and intellectual immaturity of a petty, twelve-year old adolescent. I need not say anymore about his. You repeat yourself; your vocabulary is gravely limited, unbefitting of a President of the USA.  

• Your unfounded criticism of the media reflects just how thin-skinned you are, unable to listen to critiques of your administration and of your behavior.  You fail to understand, indeed accept, that a free press---including public radio and television--- is the foundation of a thriving democracy as well as a constitutional guarantee. Your shouts of “fake news” ring hollow.

• Contrary to your campaign promises to select only “the best people”, you have filled your cabinet with incompetent and unprepared persons---lickspittles---whose only interests are in advancing the fortunes of polluting industries, for-profit schools, Wall Street, the wealthiest members of society; perpetuating your lies to the press, and opposing environmental laws and regulations intended to safeguard the health and safety of American citizens. In this regard, your administration’s utter disregard for the environment, as well as your attempts to roll back environmental protection regulations and laws, is unconscionable. 

• You ignore scientific proofs for global warming and support pollution emitting and outdated industries and technologies…e.g., coal… rather than advocating for and investing in sustainable and renewable energy.  Your withdrawal from the Paris Agreement was a mistake, and further evidence of your utter disregard for the welfare of our country, its citizens and the earth.

• You have denigrated federal agencies such as the FBI and the Justice Department, including the Attorney General, and ridiculed the rule of law. You forget that the AG’s do not pledge to be loyal to you, but to protect and defend the Constitution of the US.  Stop, in the name of justice, interfering with the legal system, and attempting to sidetrack investigations into alleged crimes of your administration.  

• Finally, I view your immigration policy as one designed solely to discriminate against Mexicans, and citizens of Central America---people of color. Your administration has also launched a “witch hunt” against US citizens of Mexican descent, to deprive them of their US passports, which I also view as discriminatory.  And do not delude yourself into thinking that Mexico will pay for your “wall.” It won’t.  Your practice of separating children from their parents is cruel and inhumane. Neither that practice nor your wall address the root causes of the immigration crisis at our southern borders. And, please, stop saying that the Democrats want open, uncontrolled borders; they don’t.

To conclude, I beseech you, sir, for the good of the nation, please resign as the President. You would be serving the country far greater than you can ever imagine by doing so.  (End of letter.)

In the time he has had, President Trump has made all the worst tendencies of the Republican Party stand out. Can be convinced to resign?  Is a graceful exit possible?

NOTE: Yes, It's been a year since my last post.  Chalk it up to not being able to keep up with all of the damage done by the Trump Administration in that time.  

The Biggest Take Away of All? Trump Calls It Mean, But Will He Stop It?

During his campaign for President, Trump promised to replace Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act) with better health care coverage for more people. The "repeal and replace" bill that came out of the Republican House, and now the Republican Senate's bill do not measure up.  In fact, they are thinly disguised efforts to give the wealthiest Americans tax breaks that they don't need and pay for them by cutting health care coverage for tens of millions of people.  Trump has called the bills mean.  Is this just empty talk? Will he cave to the Republican Congress or insist they come up with something that actually serves the people who voted for him?

There are many helpful analyses of the bills available. Here are links to a few:

On winners and losers created by the Senate (and House) bills:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/6/23/15857044/senate-health-bill-winners-losers-poor-wealthy-disabled

On the "process" the Senate followed and the result:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/6/26/1675303/-These-pictures-are-worth-a-thousand-words-and-an-untold-number-of-lives

Another way to visualize the trade-off in benefits:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/6/26/15862002/tax-cuts-ahca-republican-health-plan

Keep the pressure on your Senators and Representatives.  These bills are disaster.  They need to take steps to stabilize the Affordable Care Act.  The Democrats are ready to work on it.  As Kevin Drum at Mother Jones puts it:

  ... “Keep Obamacare but fix it” is practically the Democratic rallying cry these days. There’s hardly a Democrat alive who doesn’t loudly and publicly support this position. A couple of months ago all 48 Democratic senators signed a letter promising, “If repeal is abandoned, we stand ready to work with you to help all Americans get the affordable health care they need.” Every liberal rally and march includes people carrying “Don’t repeal it, fix it!” signs. I’ve personally written multiple times about this, most recently two days ago: “Obamacare’s modest problems could be fixed with nothing more than a few minor changes and additional funding of $5-10 billion or so.” Those minor changes include, possibly, a higher mandate penalty and continuing to fund the CSR subsidies. Nothing all that hard.

A detailed report on ways to stabilize the ACA can be found here:
http://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/issue_briefs/2016/rwjf430816

But Trump has said if there's no repeal and replace bill, just let Obamacare "crash and burn".  That doesn't sound to me like he's on the side of those who voted him into office.

Trump is Taxing Our Wallets and Our Patience

Our tax returns are due on April 18. Join the Tax Day Protest.  

Here’s my list for President Trump: 

• Release your tax returns so we taxpayers can see your business connections with foreign governments, and other potential problems.
• Stop gutting the services that benefit the majority of Americans - health care; social security; clean food, air and water; education.
• Stop spending taxpayers’ money on bombs; diplomacy is cheaper and more effective.
• Reimburse the US Treasury for the cost of the excessive number of trips you are taking to Mar-a-Lago and Trump Tower. (We pay for you to stay in the Whitehouse.)
• Stop using your position to increase the wealth of your family.
• Come up with a tax plan that requires the richest among us to carry a bigger share of the burden. They used to. Your current plans favor people like you, your family, and your cronies.

Trump and Bannon Want to “Make America Grate Again”

No, “grate” isn’t a typo. A tip of the hat to a dear friend who called to my attention the aptness of this play on words.


The intentional shredding of America was in evidence during Trump’s campaign, and has intensified via executive orders and proposed legislation. And Trump’s tweets, whether he means them to be or not, are annoying, and distracting to Americans who want our country to be a democracy that works for everyone.

One aspect of the shredding is the perennial “let’s you and them fight” tactic that keeps the power brokers in the 1% in charge. Consider this quote from a recent post by D.R. Tucker at Political Animal. (http://washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/)

Even if they (the hardest core supporters of Trump) feel pain, so long as their Adversaries, their Enemies (as defined by the Trump administration), feel more pain, they will be happier than the proverbial pig in you-know-what. …
Remember what Lyndon Johnson told us decades ago:
I’ll tell you what’s at the bottom of it,” he said. “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”

Text in ( ) added by me.

Substitute anyone from a group considered “other” for “colored man” and you’ll get the picture.

About Steve Bannon and his philosophical stand that America is in a “fourth turning”, crisis period: (http://www.businessinsider.com/book-steve-bannon-is-obsessed-with-the-fourth-turning-2017-2)

I wonder, along with the author of the Business Insider article at the link above, whether Bannon is trying to bring about a fourth turning by using Trump to produce chaos, and at the same time not understanding that each “fourth turning” (if one buys that analysis of history) is unique - that there is such a thing as progress in human moral development, a tendency to be more inclusive of others and concerned for their well-being.

In my opinion, Bannon’s promoting war with Islam, anti-immigrant executive orders, destroying safety-net programs, and gutting environmental protections, etc. assumes that these are necessary catalysts for a new order to emerge. But I believe he’s got it wrong.

From the Business Insider article:

If Bannon believes that he is working for this Gray Warrior (the supposed hero of the fourth turning), then he's missing a very important point: Millennials are the ones who lead the way forward out of crisis in this story, but considering the needs of the young has never had any place under Trumpism. Trump's words appealed most to older generations who felt like something had been taken away from them, not to younger generations who felt like they were never given a chance at the American Dream in the first place. Text in ( ) added by me.

What I hope is happening under Trump and Bannon is that the foolhardiness of executive orders that try to turn the clock back to the 1950’s, or worse, is becoming evident to more and more people. And, that the blowback resulting from this realization will kick us into a new period designed to address the needs and aspirations of the 99%.

The Abominable Trump Budget - Take Aways That Kill

I'll start with a quote, courtesy of Public Citizen:

“Budgets are moral documents. Federal funding should reflect the priorities and the values of the majority of the American people.”
Mike Pence said that in 2009 — long before he became Donald Trump’s vice president.

There is no way Trump's budget reflects the priorities and values of the majority.  Despite what Trump claims, the majority of American's who voted in 2016 voted for Hillary Clinton and the values she represents.

The Trump budget is a loser, a plan to shift money from domestic spending to building a border wall, amping up the military, and providing big tax breaks and other special treatment for millionaires and corporations.

The Boston Globe published a list of all the agencies and programs the Trump budget would cut: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/03/16/here-list-agencies-and-programs-trump-budget-would-defund-entirely/FU6eHGUMCBIketz8uPWDJJ/story.html

What could Trump (or whoever put this budget together) be thinking?  If enacted, this budget would throw America back to the bad old days.

• Did anyone total up the potential job losses?  
• The cost in lives of the elderly, sick, and disabled? 
• The number of malnourished children? 
• The number who will be without legal representation because they are poor? 
• The lost opportunities for education - formal and informal, such as visits to museums and libraries? 
• The financial losses from storms and other natural disasters? 
• The health costs of polluted air and water, and tainted meat and produce. 
• The increased potential for war when the capacity for diplomacy and aid to developing nations is damaged beyond repair?

I could go on, but will leave it to you to read the list at the link above, and study analyses of the impact. Nothing in Trump's budget will serve to "make America great again."  To the contrary, it will damage America's standing as a leader in the free world.

Add this budget to Trump's draconian immigration policies, failure to honor the Constitutional rights of all US citizens, and failure to condemn violence directed towards people because of their religion, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, gender presentation, etc, and you have a picture of a dis-United States of America headed for a steep decline.

We, the majority of Americans, cannot let this happen.  Let your Senators and Representatives know that you want them to call out this budget as the disaster it is, and tell them what your priorities - real American values - are.

Trump Administration's Deeply Flawed Immigration Policy

Trump's recent Executive Order banning certain people from entering the US couldn't have been better designed to create chaos.  And, one wonders if that wasn't part of Steve Bannon's strategy in drafting it.

NPR provided an annotated analysis of the order: http://www.npr.org/2017/01/31/512439121/trumps-executive-order-on-immigration-annotated that is definitely worth reading.

At the time of this post, the EO is under a Temporary Restraining Order imposed by a Federal judge. 17 States have filed a brief asking that the TRO be kept in place.  This list from the brief is a good summary of their rationale:

Washington, Minnesota, and Other States Have Standing to Challenge the Executive Order Because of the Harm It Inflicts on the States themselves.

• Disruption and Additional Costs at State Colleges and Universities.
• Disruption to State Medical Institutions
• Diminished Tax Revenues from Students, Tourists, and Business Visitors
• Irreparable Harm from Establishment Clause Violations
• Harm to Sovereign and Quasi-Sovereign Interests

You can read the full brief here: https://www.scribd.com/document/338596484/17-States-Join-Washington-v-Trump#from_embed

This quote from the President of the University of Pennsylvania, Amy Gutmann, regarding the EO is telling:

The damage already done to the lawful freedoms and opportunities of our students and colleagues, here and around the world, is undeniable and indefensible.

Update: On February 9, a 3 judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court upheld the Temporary Restraining Order. The text of the decision can be found here: http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/09/politics/travel-ban-9th-circuit-ruling-full-text/ A key issue in the decision was "lack of due process" in depriving individuals of their life, liberty or property.

More on upcoming action in the courts here: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-court-idUSKBN15O2XS

Have we returned to the bad old days of the Know Nothing Party a hundred years ago?  Consider this bit of history from Martin O'Malley, former governor and mayor, that puts today's immigration controversy, especially "sanctuary cities" in context: https://medium.com/@MartinOMalley/the-truth-behind-sanctuary-cities-a40b67f9cd15#.8evmojgmm

Here is a report from Amnesty International on what Syrians who are fleeing there country face: http://www.amnestyusa.org/research/reports/human-slaughterhouse-mass-hangings-and-extermination-at-saydnaya-prison-syria

From the WWII days: