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Policy and Politics - what do you think?
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Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Policy and Politics - what do you think?
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Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Policy and Politics - what do you think?
Donald Trump’s ‘Very Special’ Victory in Syria |
We've seen trump's ploy for three years: he names others with disparaging words that actually pertain to himself. He called Ted Cruz "lying" yet it's trump who's told us more than 12,000 lies while in office. He called Hillary "crooked" yet he's the one receiving bribes from supplicants patronizing his hotels. Now, the president who gave classified secrets to the Russian ambassador during his first week in office, the commander-in-chief who dismissed our country's intelligence agencies in favor of publicly defending Putin in Helsinki, has called whistleblowers and the Congressional investigation chairman a "traitor." Asking foreign countries to discredit a political opponent illegally corrupts our elections. Conditioning our foreign policy with Ukraine on such political "favors" corrupts our national integrity. Withholding military aid from Ukraine defending itself against Russian incursion actually aids our enemy. That is treason. Republican senators must chose: defend the traitor or defend the rule of law. |
Political pundits on both sides are saying that Robert Mueller's testimony "didn't move the needle" because he neither indicted nor exonerated the President any more clearly than stated in his 448-page report. Trump and his supporters claim victory, as predictably they would no matter what transpired. But let us ask, victory over what? Mueller didn't draw indictment conclusions because he was prohibited from doing so. The copious, damning facts that he documented about trump's lieutenants collaborating with Russia to influence our election, and about trump's subsequent obstruction of the investigation, those facts are reason enough to initiate impeachment hearings to bring the President to just accountability. What is an appropriate response to the serious Russian attacks on our democracy and on the integrity of our self-governance? Republicans should stop playing partisan games and cooperate with Democrats to defend the rule of law and our electoral sovereignty | |
Conned, and Following a Cowardly Bully For the last 35 years, economic productivity has gone up, yet, the purchasing power of employee wages has stayed about the same. So where does all the wealth that workers create go? To the top 1 percent. And the top 1% of those people receive most of those profits. Working people are stressed. They can hardly make ends meet. They are only one illness, or one divorce, or one car breakdown away from drowning under quicksand of debt. They are stressed. And angry. Trump harnesses that anger by talking like a tough guy. Himself a coward, he bullies the weak. Real tough guys, the men and women who have been carrying the super-rich on their backs, were raised to "suck it up," to "be a man," "don't show your hurt." They need to be tough or else be seen as losers. So they hold it in, inside where resentment festers and anger burns. The bullying coward points at innocent targets to blame for their condition. Trump isn't tough. He caves in as soon as he faces resistance. But he declares victory anyway. And his followers believe him. They don't see that their plight is because an undeserving few take nearly all the wealth they've produced. Trump calls those suffering low-paying jobs "losers." Trump's believers are conned to suck it up, blame the "others," but don't ever question why the super-rich have so much while they have so little. That's the con. Watcha gonna do? Resist? Or continue sucking it up. | |
For those who would evaluate the debaters' scrum by memorable quotations, the winner would be Elizabeth Warren reminding us that health care is a basic human right which the current profit system doesn't serve. The loser might be Tim Ryan with his cute alliteration, "a teacher in Texas, a nurse in New Hampshire and a waitress in Wisconsin." And the most puzzling would be John Delany's description of his carbon tax proposal, "it goes out one pocket and back in another." Beyond rhetorical zingers, there is a critical need for thoughtful, compassionate, courageous, honest, responsible leaders to regain the cockpit and reverse our country's descent into an abyss of disrespect, irrationality, incompetence, and corruption. Many candidates have the good will to do so. A few have well-thought plans for doing so. Some have the experience of actually getting positive changes done in Washington. Some have a life history that commits their soul to improving a middle-class economy for working people. Some have the fire to burn Donald trump. All candidates have some of these qualifications. Elizabeth Warren has all of them. She is real. She is qualified. And, she is natural enough to crack a smile while discussing important issues. She'll listen to you and then say something resonant from her own life. We need Warren to disinfect our government from the rotten stench of liars, cheaters, criminals, traitors and thieves. My dream ticket would be Elizabeth Warren paired with Gov. Jay Inslee as Vice President. That would recognize climate change is the crisis that has to be the organizing principle of all our government's actions. As Inslee said, "we are the first generation that feels the sting of climate change, and the last that can do something about it." Kamala Harris is a first class prosecutor who probably can win a debate or two. But is she experienced enough to actually make changes in Washington if she won the Presidency? This Californian sees her as more ambitious than accomplished. She quickly used each position she arrived at as the launching pad for her next office. Not a lot of achievement left behind in each of those posts. Elizabeth Warren, in contrast, actually got a beneficial new agency started in Washington. True, trump has been strangling the Consumer Finance Protection Agency, but that doesn't detract from Warren's accomplishment. Take a lesson from Barack Obama's rapid rise to the top: he got rolled by more experienced Republican politicians over and over, as he thought he could make a deal and they led him down that primrose path. We shouldn't underestimate our nation's need for Elizabeth Warren. | |
May is a month of commencements. We see happy graduates and relieved parents celebrating new beginnings. This month, we also see a commencement of a most serious attack on our civil rights, as many states are passing bans on a woman's right to choose her own health decisions. Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio ban abortions after fetal heartbeat detection, which is often before the woman herself realizes she is pregnant. This ban doesn't just affect pregnant women, it affects all of us who believe in equal rights and equal civil treatment for all people regardless of gender. Activists for maintaining the civil rights of women are advocating boycotts of events located in those states in order to exert political pressure against these horrible measures. Should we do any less regarding our responsibility as citizens and supporters of our nation's civil rights principles? It is inconvenient when external events disrupt well-laid plans. It is more than inconvenient when people are prohibited by new state laws from dealing with unplanned events, even those caused by violence. The boycott is to protest the legislated policy of those states, irrespective of whether their regressive laws are declared unconstitutional by the lower courts. The republican strategy is to provoke court cases all the way up to the Supreme Court, where they expect a 5-judge majority will reverse the Roe decision. So the boycott should be called off only when the states rescind their dangerous legislation. Hopefully, there are a majority of good, decent people in those states who will vote those regressive legislators from office in the next election. This is NOT a battle between reasonable principles. If it were, then both sides might come to agreement that abortion be limited to rape, incest, health of the mother, etc. AND our society would provide social services to both prevent unwanted pregnancies and to help mothers-in-need to raise healthy children into well-balanced, creative adults. Social services and programs would include government support for sex education, access to contraceptives, reproductive health services, subsidized housing, food, medical care, and education for families whose children were forced to be born. That would be a true "pro-life" package. As it is, republicans only care about the life of the unborn until they are born, then the mother and child are on their own. It seems the anti-choicers' motivation is really to punish women who have sex without the intention to conceive a baby. As if that were the only reason for sharing sexual intimacy! To do nothing acquiesces and enables the anti-women policymakers. There is no one who is not affected by these policies. It is "support" or "oppose." There is no "no opinion" option. "No opinion," "I don't care," and "it's too political" are options that enable the bad policies to move forward without resistance. My Rapist Apologized By Michelle Alexander Opinion columnist May 23, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/opinion/abortion-legislation-rape.html?searchResultPosition=10 I recall some male law students arguing that abortion bans wouldn’t be so bad, so long as there were exceptions made in cases of rape. I wondered how a “rape exception” to an abortion ban could possibly help women, like me, who did not want to report a rape to the police and who could not possibly prove that a rape occurred if the man denied it. Criminal cases take months, even years, to be resolved. Would abortions be allowed based on mere allegations of rape without any proof? If not, what would a woman have to prove in a matter of days or weeks to get an abortion in the first trimester? How could she overcome the inevitable denial? What man would admit to rape knowing that he’d face a likely prison sentence? Post-Roe America Won’t Be Like Pre-Roe America. It Will Be Worse. By Michelle Goldberg Opinion Columnist May 16, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/16/opinion/alabama-abortion-georgia-roe.html?searchResultPosition=2 The new wave of anti-abortion laws suggests that a post-Roe America won’t look like the country did before 1973, when the court case was decided. It will probably be worse. Prior to the Roe decision, it was generally up to doctors to determine what constituted a “medically justifiable” exemption to abortion bans. The legal loophole provided a space in which doctors and women could negotiate and allowed physicians to perform abortions in the privacy of their own offices or homes. By contrast, the new laws seek to curtail medical discretion. Under the Alabama measure, doctors can perform abortions only when a woman is facing death or “serious risk of substantial physical impairment of a major bodily function.” Otherwise, abortion is a Class A felony, and the potential 99-year prison sentence it carries is far longer than any punishment a doctor could have faced in pre-Roe America. I Was an Anti-Abortion Crusader. Now I Support Roe v. Wade. By Rob Schenck, an evangelical minister. May 30, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/opinion/abortion-schenck.html?action=click&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=Article®ion=Footer&contentCollection=Opinion Over the last decade, I have changed my view on Roe. I’ve come to believe that overturning Roe would not be “pro-life”; rather, it would be destructive of life. I have witnessed firsthand and now appreciate the full significance of the terrible poverty, social marginalization and boldfaced racism that persists in many of the states whose legislators are now essentially banning abortion. If Roe is overturned, middle- and upper-class white women will still secure access to abortions by traveling to states where abortion is not banned, but members of minorities and poor whites will too often find themselves forced to bear children for which they cannot adequately care. What is “pro-life” about putting a woman in a situation where she must risk pregnancy without proper medical, social and emotional support? What is “pro-life” about forcing the birth of a child, if that child will enter a world of rejection, deprivation and insecurity, to say nothing of the fear, anxiety and danger that comes with poverty, crime and a lack of educational and employment opportunities? Passing extreme anti-abortion laws and overturning Roe will leave poor women desperate and the children they bear bereft of what they need to flourish. This should not be anyone’s idea of victory. Anyone who thinks otherwise is indeed a fool. Rob Schenck is the president of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Institute in Washington and the author of “Costly Grace: An Evangelical Minister’s Rediscovery of Faith, Hope and Love.” At what time in the life-cycle do these legislators stop caring about the "sanctity of life" and welfare of the "person"? … … Birth. These legislators are living, breathing examples of why it is necessary to allow women to have abortions. In some of these examples, abortions should have been mandatory. | Abortion Bans: 9 States Have Passed Bills to Limit the Procedure This Year By K.K. Rebecca Lai, updated May 29, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/us/abortion-laws-states.html States that have introduced complete abortion bans Passed: AL Pending: MO, OK, TX, GA, IN, MS, WA States that have introduced fetal heartbeat bills Passed: GA, KY, MO, MS, OH, LA Pending: MN, NY, TX, FL, IL, MD, SC, TN, WV Alabama Governor Signs Strictest U.S. Abortion Ban Into Law By Reuters May 15, 2019 Alabama's governor signed a bill to ban nearly all abortions in the state, even in cases of rape and incest. Governor Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed the measure a day after the Republican-controlled state Senate approved the ban. Alabama House Approves 'Born Alive' Abortion Bill By The Associated Press May 22, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/05/22/us/ap-us-xgr-abortion-bill-.html?searchResultPosition=15 Montgomery, Ala. — Doctors would face prison sentences if they fail to treat babies "born alive" after an attempted abortion, under a bill approved Tuesday night by the Alabama House of Representatives. The measure patterned after legislation in Texas comes a week after Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation seeking to outlaw almost all abortions in the state. Missouri Lawmakers Pass Bill Criminalizing Abortion at About 8 Weeks of Pregnancy https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/17/us/missouri-abortion-law.html?searchResultPosition=50By Sabrina Tavernise and Adeel Hassan May 17, 2019 Missouri lawmakers passed a bill Friday to ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, the latest in a flurry of anti-abortion measures across the country intended to mount direct challenges to federal protections for the procedure. The measure, known as the Missouri Stands for the Unborn Act, now moves to the desk of Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, who is expected to sign it. The bill, which bans abortions at around eight weeks of pregnancy, often before a woman even knows she is pregnant, included no exceptions for rape or incest. Louisiana Governor Breaks With Democratic Party on Abortion By The Associated Press May 17, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/05/17/us/ap-us-abortion-louisiana-governor.html?searchResultPosition=3 Louisiana's Democratic Governor, John Bel Edwards, who has repeatedly bucked national party leaders on abortion rights, is ready to sign legislation that would ban the procedure as early as six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant, when the bill reaches his desk. Louisiana's proposal, awaiting one final vote in the state House, would prohibit abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected. After Alabama Abortion Law, 3 Democrats Propose a New Strategy By Maggie Astor May 17, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/17/us/politics/alabama-abortion-law-democrats-roe.html?searchResultPosition=44 Responding to a series of highly restrictive abortion laws aimed at overturning Roe v. Wade, several Democratic presidential candidates have called on Congress to codify abortion rights, signaling a newly aggressive approach in a debate whose terms have long been set by conservatives. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey was first out of the gate on Wednesday, telling BuzzFeed News that if elected president, he would pursue legislation to guarantee abortion rights nationwide, superseding state restrictions, even if the Supreme Court overturned Roe. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York promised the same on Thursday, and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts came forward Friday morning with a more detailed plan. The three senators also called for repealing the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding for abortions. “I’ve had enough of being on defense,” Ms. Gillibrand wrote in an email to supporters on Thursday, vowing to codify Roe, repeal the Hyde Amendment, create a federal funding stream for abortion and other reproductive health care, and ensure that “no state can prevent private insurance from covering abortion.” Ms. Warren proposed legislation that would forbid states to interfere with abortion providers or access. She also called on Congress to prohibit state measures that do not technically restrict abortion services but make them harder to provide in practice, like laws that require providers to have hospital admitting privileges or regulate the width of clinics’ hallways. Corporations, Events Face Boycott Threats Over U.S. Abortion Laws By Reuters May 17, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2019/05/17/business/17reuters-usa-abortion-boycott.html?searchResultPosition=39 Companies operating in Alabama and Georgia, ranging from Toyota to Netflix, as well as an Alabama music festival faced boycott threats on Friday after the states passed near-total bans on abortion. Responding to the United States' most restrictive laws on the procedure, activists have taken aim at media companies that use Georgia as a production hub and Alabama-based automakers such as Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz. A day after Maryland and Colorado officials told staff not to travel to Alabama to protest its abortion law passed Tuesday, people took to Twitter to say they were cancelling convention visits and beach vacations in the state. Alabama Boycott Builds as States Retaliate Against Abortion Law By Reuters May 17, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2019/05/17/world/europe/17reuters-usa-abortion-alabama-boycott.html?searchResultPosition=1 (Reuters) - A movement to boycott Alabama over its near-ban on abortion gained momentum Thursday as officials in Maryland and Colorado called for economic retaliation and online flyers urged people not to buy anything in, or from Alabama. Maryland's Democratic Comptroller Peter Franchot said he would advise his state's $52 billion pension fund to divest from Alabama, and urged other states to follow suit. Colorado's Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold called for a boycott of Alabama and urged the Election Center, an organization that trains election officials from across the country, to move out of the state. |
Anyone may have their own list of trump crimes. I started making this list with disciplined attention, but became overwhelmed by the quantity and velocity of new assaults to our comfort, security, viability and democracy. Sadly, I have not maintained the list as current as it ought to be. 1 - Pulling the USA out of the Climate Accords. This increases the damage of global climate change by retarding actions to reverse the pollution of greenhouse gases. It also damages American industries and jobs by ceding leadership for non-carbon energy technology to other countries. Meet the Money Behind The Climate Denial Movement Nearly a billion dollars a year is flowing into the organized climate change counter-movement By Colin Schultz smithsonian.com December 23, 2013 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/meet-the-money-behind-the-climate-denial-movement-180948204/?fbclid=IwAR1Sg04exwouRhcNanTBd9Ka7LHSW9PAotnoCLWVG6YyL2qlH6b9qE7VWXY There is a very well-funded, well-orchestrated climate change-denial movement, one funded by powerful people with very deep pockets. In a new and incredibly thorough study, Drexel University sociologist Robert Brulle took a deep dive into the financial structure of the climate deniers, to see who is holding the purse strings. According to Brulle's research, the 91 think tanks and advocacy organizations and trade associations that make up the American climate denial industry pull down just shy of a billion dollars each year, money used to lobby or sway public opinion on climate change and other issues. 2 - Polluting our air and water by reducing EPA regulations and eviscerating the agency's staff and budget. Trump appointed Scott Pruitt, a corrupt politician historically on the take from oil companies, to wreck the EPA. He's doing so in many ways: policy, budget, staffing. Trump Administration Wants to Make It Easier to Release Methane Into Air https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/climate/methane-emissions-epa.html?emc=edit_na_20180910&nl=breaking-news&nlid=87544576ing-news&ref=headline Trump scraps Obama policy on protecting Great Lakes, oceans https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/2018/06/21/trump-great-lakes-water-policy/36250077/?csp=chromepush Trump revoked an executive order issued by President Barack Obama in 2010 following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, it killed 11 workers and spewed millions of gallons of crude that harmed marine wildlife, fouled more than 1,300 miles of shoreline and cost the tourism and fishing industries hundreds of millions of dollars. Obama said the spill underscored the vulnerability of marine environments. He established a council to promote conservation and sustainable use of the waters. 84 Environmental Rules on the Way Out Under Trump By Nadja Popovich, Livia Albeck-Ripka and Kendra Pierre-Louis updated June 3, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks.html?fbclid=IwAR2sEHt9WdRiMu9YymhLpBYaEaePDYoF9Oe2NCXu7EOTpo43nV_9clc2S80 President Trump has made eliminating federal regulations a priority. Connect the Dots to See Where Trump’s Taking Us The direction and results are obvious. By Thomas L. Friedman Opinion Columnist June 11, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/opinion/trump-climate-change.html?fallback=0&recId=1MZD6wUbaZbn02G3grSJ1tqfnBd&locked=0&geoContinent=NA&geoRegion=CA&recAlloc=top_conversion&geoCountry=US&blockId=most-popular&imp_id=884020066&action=click&module=trending&pgtype=Article®ion=Footer Trump wants the companies to slow down their innovation and pollute more, in order to drive up their short-term profits. It’s like burning your furniture to heat your house. Trump is trying to lower auto emission/mileage standards that were making our car companies more competitive against efficient Chinese and Japanese automakers — and making our air cleaner — while Trump is signing multibillion-dollar bailouts for farmers and Air Force bases ravaged by extreme weather that has been amplified by climate change that is amplified by carbon pollution, while Trump is having his bureaucrats hide evidence of climate change and while Trump is forcing Americans to pay billions in tariffs on Chinese imports to protect against, among other things, future competition from Chinese electric vehicles that have zero emissions and zero oil consumption. Is he crazy, is he evil, is he maniacally committed to unwinding every good thing Barack Obama did, or is he just plain stupid? This is not strategic. This is not winning. This is not patriotic. It’s just foolish, destructive and cynical. 3 - Discounting science and fact-based policymaking Under Trump's administration, scientists in the EPA, National Institutes of Health, and NASA are not allowed to use phrases like "climate change" in official reports and documents. The Center for Disease Control is not allowed to study the health impacts of gun ownership and use. The science advisory council has been filled with representatives of corporations who want environmental regulations reduced with no penalty for their destructive environmental impacts. 4 - Reducing the impact and independence of the Consumer Finance Protection Agency Trump Budget Director, Mick Mulvaney is reducing the agency's staff and budget, and working to curtail its independence as mandated by Congress. Many lawsuits against financial malfeasance have been dropped. Other agencies that have had drastic cuts in their budgets thereby hampering their ability to enforce laws and protect the public include the Securities and Exchange Commission and Internal Revenue Service. 5 - Shamefull lying and distorting of truth From his inauguration until June 7, 2019, Trump has told 10,796 verifiable lies, according to the Washington Post fact checkers [https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-claims-database/?utm_term=.5550e67a9cb6]. His dishonesty has left friends and critics wary of anything that the President of the United States says. The trust and faith of the world in our country has been greatly diminished. Here's the opinion of conservative commentator, Bret Stephens: Hannah Arendt observed: “If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer.” The result is that people lose the capacity to think for themselves, to make judgments, to find a rational basis for taking any sort of stand on principle. They become sheep. The president will say anything to a base that will believe anything. Meanwhile, the rest of the country doesn’t believe a word. What happens when we have our own Chernobyl, or another 9/11, or something worse, and the credibility of government becomes essential to the survival of the state? What ‘Chernobyl’ Teaches About Trump https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/20/opinion/chernobyl-hbo-lies-trump.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage 6 - Using the Office of the President to enrich his private business interests, and allowing high-ranking members of his administration to do likewise. Trump’s Corruption: The Definitive List The many ways that the president, his family and his aides are lining their own pockets. By David Leonhardt and Ian Prasad Philbrick https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/28/opinion/trump-administration-corruption-conflicts.html?action=click&module=Trending&pgtype=Article®ion=Footer&contentCollection=Trending Foreigners are paying the Trumps. A few days after the 2016 election, the government of Kuwait canceled a planned event at the Four Seasons Hotel. It instead held the event — a celebration of Kuwait’s National Day — at the Trump International Hotel in Washington. The list of governments spending money at his properties includes Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Turkey, China, India, Afghanistan and Qatar. Trump Inc. is expanding overseas. During Trump’s presidency, his companies have pushed to expand overseas, with help from foreign governments. One example: In May, an Indonesian real-estate project that involves the Trump Organization reportedly received a $500 million loan from a company owned by the Chinese government. Two days later, Trump tweeted that he was working to lift sanctions on a Chinese telecommunications firm with close ties to the government — over the objections of both Republicans and Democrats in Congress. He ultimately did lift the sanctions. President Trump handed the Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE a lifeline on Thursday, agreeing to lift tough American sanctions over the objections of Republican lawmakers, his defense advisers and some of his own economic officials. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/business/us-china-zte-deal.html?emc=edit_th_180608&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=224309750608 The strong likelihood that his family’s financial interests have distorted U.S. foreign and national security policy, have startled even the cynics. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/opinion/trump-pruitt-corruption.html?action=click&module=Trending&pgtype=Article®ion=Footer&contentCollection=Trending Tom Wolfe wrote a memorable essay on what really drives many powerful men. … It is … the pleasure of “seeing ’em jump” — of watching people abase themselves, jump through hoops, to cater to your whims. It’s about making yourself feel bigger by getting other people to act small. 7 - Tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations while social insurance programs are threatened with cuts. It’s a mess of a bill; it will do little for economic growth, while increased deficits will create pressure to cut social insurance programs that affect many more people than the relative handful of wealthy stockholders who will win big. Now, Republicans want to reduce the Trillion Dollar annual deficit by cutting Social Security and Medicare. A devastating analysis of the tax cut shows it’s done virtually no economic good By Michael Hiltzik May 29, 2019 https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-tax-cut-effects-20190529-story.html?fbclid=IwAR1IZCu2-WFL14F8aST4z4tyKfBkZM1YVLOdbzphyopQKW9kMK5N3xvH3gQ The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service has just published a deep dive into the economic impact of the cuts in their first year, and finds that the cuts have had virtually no effect on wages, haven’t contributed to a surge in investment, and haven’t come close to paying for themselves. Nor have they delivered a cut to the average taxpayer. The report's summary reads in part: “Although growth rates cannot indicate the tax cut’s effects on GDP, they tend to rule out very large effects particularly in the short run." The tax-cut fallacy By Jennifer Rubin Opinion writer May 29, 2019 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/05/29/tax-cut-fallacy/?utm_term=.79af72f58166 The impact on wages has been insignificant, despite the $4,000 yearly increase for households promised by the White House. Real wages grew more slowly than GDP. The corporate tax cuts did not results in new investment from abroad or wage increases: While evidence does indicate significant repurchases of shares, relatively little was directed to paying worker bonuses, which had been announced by some firms. The tax cuts did not come close to paying for themselves. The tax cut has done nothing for economic growth by Jennifer Rubin June 28, 2018 https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2018/06/28/the-tax-cut-has-done-nothing-for-economic-growth/?utm_term=.4247de9d05bf Obama’s former car czar Steven Rattner writes, “Since mid-February, when the Commerce Department first recommended imposing tariffs on imported metals, prices for steel in the United States have been rising sharply and are now 38% above where they stood at the end of 2017. That may be good news for domestic companies that produce the metal, but for American companies that rely on steel as in input, higher prices will be felt. (Comparatively, steel prices in the United States are now more than 50% higher than in both Europe and China.)” He continues, “Moreover, the tariffs could well have the counterproductive effect of costing more jobs than they save or create. That’s because steel using industries employ more than 10 times as many workers as steel producing industries.” In 2017, US goods imports totaled $2.2 trillion — of which $1.1 trillion were purchases of raw materials, intermediate goods and capital equipment — and US goods exports totaled $1.5 trillion. If Trump were to impose, for example, a 10 percent across-the-board tariff on all imports, producer costs would rise by roughly $110 billion (or 10 percent of $1.1 trillion). Commensurate retaliation abroad would reduce US export revenues by roughly $150 billion (or 10 percent of $1.5 trillion). Together, the increased costs and reduced revenue would amount to a $260 billion reduction in manufacturing-sector profits. Last year, the US manufacturing sector’s profits were $550 billion, so a 10 percent import levy alone could end up cutting profits nearly in half. When Trump claims that protectionism will revitalize manufacturing and bring back jobs, one can only wonder where he thinks the investment will come from without the profits his tariffs will chase away. Factory workers aren’t getting what Trump promised Catherine Rampell June 25, 2018 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/factory-workers-arent-getting-what-trump-promised/2018/06/25/725d7c92-78b4-11e8-aeee-4d04c8ac6158_story.html?utm_term=.563462c18efd Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs had already raised the company’s input costs, because those metals are among the primary raw materials it purchases. Worse, the European Union last week “punched back” against those metal tariffs with retaliatory countertariffs of its own, including an additional 25 percent tax on Harley-Davidson motorcycles shipped from the United States. On Monday, the company announced that it had no choice but to shift more of its production out of the United States. In Missouri, the nation’s last remaining major nail producer has lost half its business in the past two weeks, laid off dozens of workers and may be out of business around Labor Day. All thanks to Trump’s steel tariffs, which have sharply raised its input costs. In Iowa, soybean, corn and pork producers fret about the hundreds of millions of dollars in sales they stand to lose from retaliatory duties on their exports to China, Mexico and the E.U. A report released this week by the Trade Partnership, a consulting and research firm, estimated that the ratio of jobs lost to jobs gained from Trump’s trade actions will be about 16 to 1: 26,280 steel and aluminum jobs gained, compared with 432,747 jobs eliminated throughout the rest of the economy. 8 - Alienating our allies while appeasing our adversaries. Late May, 2018, the Trump administration imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum from the European Union, Mexico and Canada, sparking anger and threats of retaliation from those allies. Analysts say the current dust-ups between the Trump administration and longtime U.S. allies point to a potential shift in international dynamics. https://www.npr.org/2018/06/08/617687912/trump-likely-to-get-chilly-reception-at-g-7-as-allies-bristle-at-u-s-moves 9 - Ripping children from their mother’s arms and blaming it on Democrats. The facts about Trump’s policy of separating families at the border by Salvador Rizzo June 19 at 3:00 AM https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/06/19/the-facts-about-trumps-policy-of-separating-families-at-the-border/?utm_term=.75788e1bef90&wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1 Immigrant families are being separated primarily because the Trump administration in April began to prosecute as many border-crossing offenses as possible. This “zero-tolerance policy” applies to all adults, regardless of whether they cross alone or with their children. The Justice Department can’t prosecute children along with their parents, so the natural result of the zero-tolerance policy has been a sharp rise in family separations. More than 2,300 immigrant children were separated from parents during six weeks in April and May, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The Trump administration implemented this policy by choice and could end it by choice. No law or court ruling mandates family separations. Michele Goldberg: It’s hard to know who’s worse — the sociopaths like Miller who glory in the administration’s cruelty, or those who are abashed enough to lie about the filthy thing they’re part of, but not to do anything else. NYT June 18, 2018 BAJ: No, we can't take in all the refugees of the world, but neither can we ignore all who suffer, especially those whose suffering is in part the consequence of our geopolitical actions. We ravaged Central America, and it is partly our responsibility to provide refuge for those whose lives are shattered and threatened by the resulting lawlessness. We hesitated to support the rebellion against Syria's dictator when they had a good chance of bringing a better form of government to that country. Now, morally we have a responsibility to provide refuge to the hundreds of thousands whose lives have been brought down to fear and hunger and dust by Bashir el Asad. Donald Trump’s Small Hostages Frank Bruni June 19, 2018 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/opinion/donald-trump-immigrants-children.html?action=click&module=Trending&pgtype=Article®ion=Footer&contentCollection=Trending Why don’t we call the terrified children whose incarceration is riveting the country what they are at this point? Not migrants. Not detainees. Not pawns, although that comes closest to the mark. They’re hostages. President Trump is using them as flesh-and-blood bargaining chips, hoping that their ordeal and reasonable Americans’ disgust with it will get him what he wants. Give him his border wall and he’ll give the country relief from the sight of caged children and the sound of their sobs. Deny him and his government will stay its heartless course, no matter how much trauma is inflicted on these kids, no matter how much shame is heaped on America, no matter how profound the betrayal of its promise, no matter how deep the interment of its soul. He’ll blame the nightmare on his opponents and he’ll be persuasive, because he’s a better liar. He has had more practice at it. 10 - Continuously working to change the structure and values of our society. The Trump Doctrine Is Winning and the World Is Losing https://www.nytimes.com/…/su…/trump-china-america-first.html Quite explicitly, the leader of the free world wants to destroy the alliances, trading relationships and international institutions that have characterized the American-led order for 70 years. The administration’s alternative vision for the international order is a bare-knuckled assertion of unilateral power that some call America First. This aggressive disregard for the interests of like-minded countries, indifference to democracy and human rights and cultivation of dictators is the new world Mr. Trump is creating. He and his closest advisers would pull down the liberal order, with America at its helm, that remains the best guarantor of world peace humanity has ever known. Fall of the American Empire Paul Krugman June 18, 2018 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/opinion/immigration-trump-children-american-empire.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_ty_20180619&nl=opinion-today&nl_art=6&nlid=22430975emc%3Dedit_ty_20180619&ref=headline&te=1 What we’re witnessing is a systematic rejection of longstanding American values — the values that actually made America great. But our role in the world was always about more than money and guns. It was also about ideals: America stood for something larger than itself — for freedom, human rights and the rule of law as universal principles So all the things happening now are of a piece. Committing atrocities at the border, attacking the domestic rule of law, insulting democratic leaders while praising thugs, and breaking up trade agreements are all about ending American exceptionalism, turning our back on the ideals that made us different from other powerful nations. 11 - Instituting tariffs on our trading partners, which is causing more companies to expand production off-shore, and raise the price of domestic products. G.M. Says New Wave of Trump Tariffs Could Force U.S. Job Cuts https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/29/business/automakers-tariffs-job-cuts.html?emc=edit_na_20180629&nl=breaking-news&nlid=22430975ing-news&ref=cta The “hardest hit” cars, General Motors said in comments submitted to the Commerce Department, are likely to be the ones bought by consumers who can least afford an increase. Demand would suffer and production would slow, all of which “could lead to a smaller G.M.” G.M. suggested that additional tariffs would put American companies at a disadvantage in the midst of a “fast-paced transportation revolution led by cutting-edge technologies.” Its investments in jobs and operations at home, the carmaker said, are critical to this effort. Harley, stung by tariffs, shifts some production overseas https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/harley-stung-by-tariffs-shifts-some-production-overseas/2018/06/25/4b94115e-7871-11e8-ac4e-421ef7165923_story.html?utm_term=.277f68d35287 June 25 MILWAUKEE — Harley-Davidson, up against spiraling costs from tariffs, will begin to shift the production of motorcycles headed for Europe from the U.S. to factories, to overseas facilities. President Donald Trump has used Harley-Davidson as an example of a U.S. business that is being harmed by trade barriers. Yet Harley has warned consistently against tariffs, saying they would negatively impact sales. The maker of the iconic American motorcycle said in a regulatory filing Monday that EU tariffs on its motorcycles exported from the U.S. jumped between 6 percent and 31 percent, which translates into an additional, incremental cost off about $2,200 per average motorcycle exported from the U.S. to the EU. 12 - Declaring a false national emergency in order to override the fiscal power of Congress (claiming that the flow of undocumented migrants across the Mexico border has increased when it is at a 15 year low, and claiming that illegal drugs come across the border where there are no walls when 90% come through legal ports of entry). Meanwhile, ignoring actual national emergencies such as 33,000 gun deaths per year, 47,000 opioid deaths per year, 2.5 million homeless children, thousands of children licked in cages with no record to connect them with their families, and inaction on the impending climate change catastrophe. 13 - Acting as if trump were a Russian asset, wittingly or deliberately. Andrew McCabe, Ex-FBI Deputy, Describes 'Remarkable' Number of Trump-Russia Contacts February 18, 201912:14 AM ET https://www.npr.org/2019/02/18/695112668/andrew-mccabe-ex-fbi-deputy-describes-remarkable-number-of-trump-russia-contacts "I don't know that we have ever seen in all of history an example of the number, the volume and the significance of the contacts between people in and around the president, his campaign, with our most serious, our existential international enemy: the government of Russia," McCabe told NPR's Morning Edition. "That's just remarkable to me." "The president kind of went off on a diatribe," McCabe told NPR, explaining that Trump described his belief that North Korea had not actually launched any missiles because Russian President Vladimir Putin told him that the U.S. intelligence assessment was wrong and that "it was all a hoax." The president, in short, was taking the word of Putin over his own top advisers. Andrew McCabe Couldn’t Believe the Things Trump Said About Putin The former deputy director of the FBI explains why the bureau felt obligated to investigate the president—and how the Mueller probe might end. Natasha Bertrand Feb 19, 2019 https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/02/mccabe-warns-trump-mueller-undeterred/583000/ “We felt like we had credible, articulable facts to indicate that a threat to national security may exist,” “He thought North Korea did not have the capability to launch such missiles. He said he knew this because Vladimir Putin had told him so … the president said he believed Putin despite the PDB [Presidential Daily Briefing] briefer telling him that this was not consistent with any of the intelligence that the US possessed.” McCabe: 'I think it's possible' Trump is a Russian asset By Kate Sullivan and Laura Jarrett, CNN February 20, 2019 https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/19/politics/andrew-mccabe-trump-law.../index.html "I think it's possible. I think that's why we started our investigation, and I'm really anxious to see where (special counsel Robert) Mueller concludes that," McCabe said. McCabe described the events leading up to the decision to open a counterintelligence investigation into the President, saying that, following the President's firing of Comey and his mention of Russia as part of the rationale, the FBI was "obligated to open the case" as there was an "articulable basis" to believe a "federal crime has been committed." Andrew McCabe is a former Acting Director of the FBI, who earned a career-long reputation investigating the Russian organized crime, counter-terrorism and Russian counter-intelligence. McCabe took over as the leader of the FBI when Trump fired James Comey in May 2017. McCabe was fired in 2018, just 26 hours shy of his announced retirement date. McCabe says he told lawmakers about opening an investigation into Trump, and ‘no one objected’ The Washington Post By Matt Zapotosky February 19, 2019 https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/mccabe-says-he-told-lawmakers-about-opening-an-investigation-into-trump-and-no-one-objected/2019/02/19/cff06e78-3448-11e9-af5b-b51b7ff322e9_story.html?utm_term=.d957535134cd Former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe said Tuesday that officials briefed a bipartisan group of lawmakers after the bureau opened an investigation into President Trump in May 2017, and that no one in the room pushed back. McCabe said in an interview with Savannah Guthrie on NBC’s “Today” show. “No one objected. Not on legal grounds, not on constitutional grounds and not based on the facts.” McCabe said the FBI felt it had good reason to investigate Trump in May 2017 after he fired James B. Comey as the bureau’s director. He said the bureau thought it was “possible” that Trump was working on behalf of Russia, and opening a case signified that the FBI was treating the matter as a national security threat. “It is saying that we had information that led us to believe that there might be a threat to national security — in this case that the president himself might, in fact, be a threat to the United States’ national security,” McCabe said. Here are 18 reasons Trump could be a Russian asset By Max Boot Columnist January 13, 2019 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/here-are-18-reasons-why-trump-could-be-a-russian-asset/2019/01/13/45b1b250-174f-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html?utm_term=.bd505598144f — Trump has a long financial history with Russia. — The Russians interfered in the 2016 U.S. election to help elect Trump president. — Trump encouraged the Russians to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails on July 27, 2016 (“Russia, if you’re listening”) — There were, according to the Moscow Project, “101 contacts between Trump’s team and Russia linked operatives,” and “the Trump team tried to cover up every single one of them.” — The Trump campaign was full of individuals with suspiciously close links to Moscow. — Manafort, who ran the Trump campaign for free and was heavily in debt to a Russian oligarch, offered his Russian business partner, with links to Russian intelligence, polling data used to target the Russian social media campaign on behalf of Trump. — Trump associate Roger Stone knew in advance that the Russians had hacked Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s emails. —Trump fired Comey to stop the investigation of the “Russia thing,” and then bragged about having done so to the Russian ambassador and foreign minister while also giving them top-secret information. — Trump has consistently refused to acknowledge that Russia interfered in the U.S. election or mobilize a government-wide effort to stop future interference. —Trump attacks and undermines the Justice Department and the FBI (“a cancer in our country”) —Trump attacks and undermines the European Union and NATO — he has suggested that France should leave the E.U. and that the United States should leave NATO — Trump supports populist, pro-Russian leaders in Europe, such as Viktor Orban in Hungary and Marine Le Pen in France, just as the Russians do. — Trump has praised Putin (“a strong leader”) while trashing just about everyone else — Trump yielded to Putin, in Hamburg and Helsinki, and has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal details of his conversations with Putin, including taking possession of of his own interpreter's notes and instructing the linguist not to discuss what had transpired with other administration officials. — Trump defends the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and repeats other pro-Russian talking points. — Trump is pulling U.S. troops out of Syria, handing that country to Russia and its ally Iran. — Trump has effectively done nothing in response to the Russian attack on Ukrainian ships in international waters, thereby encouraging greater Russian aggression. — Trump is sowing chaos in the government, with a record-breaking partial government shutdown and “acting” appointees in key posts such as the Defense Department and Justice Department, thus furthering a Russian objective of undermining its chief adversary. 14 - Endangering the world with nuclear proliferation Top Trump appointees promoted selling nuclear power plants to Saudi Arabia over objections from national security officials By Tom Hamburger , Steven Mufson and Ellen Nakashima February 19, 2019 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/top-trump-appointees-promoted-selling-nuclear-power-plants-to-saudi-arabia-over-objections-from-national-security-officials-house-democratic-report-says/2019/02/19/6a719762-3456-11e9-af5b-b51b7ff322e9_story.html?utm_term=.e61257d16385 Key members of the Trump administration pushed a plan to sell nuclear power plants to Saudi Arabia in the months after the inauguration despite objections from members of the National Security Council, according to a 24-page report from the House Oversight and Reform Committee, based on internal White House documents and the accounts of unnamed whistleblowers. It said the objectors — including White House lawyers and National Security Council officials — opposed the plan out of concern that it violated laws designed to prevent the transfer of nuclear technology that could be used to support a weapons program. The report released Tuesday notes that one of the power plant manufacturers that could benefit from a nuclear deal, Westinghouse Electric, is a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, the company that has provided financial relief to the family of Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and a senior White House adviser. Brookfield Asset Management took a 99-year lease on the Kushner family’s deeply indebted New York City property at 666 Fifth Ave. 15 - Flouting the rule of law, obstructing justice, attacking our constitutional separation of powers and constitutional checks and balances Constitutional crisis? Call it what you want, here’s what Trump has done. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/05/15/constitutional-crisis-call-it-what-you-want-heres-what-trump-has-done/?utm_term=.290b8b1a8ebc By Jennifer Rubin Opinion writer May 15, 2019 Trump unfairly sought and obtained foreign assistance in the election, and then left the United States open to further attacks on our democracy. The president has refused to divest himself of business interests, and has used his office to enrich himself Volume II of the Mueller report lays out 10 categories of conduct in which Trump obstructed the Mueller investigation No questions are being answered about any subject. And then, when subpoenas are being issued, there’s a blanket command, disobey all subpoenas. Lawlessness and chaos go hand in hand By Jennifer Rubin Opinion writer April 9, 2019 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/04/09/lawlessness-chaos-go-hand-hand/?utm_term=.28bc2a98bc42 First, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report, the product of a process designed to sideline Trump’s direct subordinates, was immediately subject to the attorney general’s exoneration, was kept from Congress and is being subjected to redaction that may leave the report looking like Swiss cheese. Other special prosecutor or independent counsel reports (e.g. the Starr report, the Watergate findings) had been transmitted in unredacted form to Congress and in, the case of Kenneth W. Starr’s report, made public. Second, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee requested Trump’s tax returns under a statute that says the Treasury Department “shall” make it available on request. White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney apparently translates “shall” as “shall not in a million years,” and contrary to the statute’s intent, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has consulted with the White House general counsel’s office about the potential release of Trump’s tax returns. (The Post notes, “The process is designed to be walled off from White House interference …) Finally, Trump reportedly lopped off heads at DHS because the now-fired secretary and others resisted orders that violated statutes and/or court orders. All of this conduct suggests we have a president whose primary tools of governance are lying and lawbreaking. Truth about Mueller report: Trump’s behavior provoked it and still helps Russia By Trudy Rubin Updated: March 25, 2019 https://www.philly.com/opinion/mueller-report-release-trump-russia-barr-takeaways-20190325.html Let’s be clear on what the Mueller report reportedly says and doesn’t say about President Donald Trump’s relationship to Russia. Hint: Although there were no new legal charges, Trump was not, as he claims, “completely exonerated.” 1. No formal collusion, but still a series of suspicious dealings with Russia by senior Trump campaign officials. 2. The investigation was anything but a “witch hunt” as Mueller proves with his details of Russian interference in the 2016 election. 3. Trump continues to help the Kremlin. By attacking U.S. intelligence agencies and our NATO military alliance and by dissing the European Union and leaders of America’s close allied nations, Trump plays into Putin’s plans to undercut Western democracies. Equally important, by refusing to lead an all-of-government response to Russian cyber-espionage, the U.S. is open to more interference. 4. Trump owes Mueller an apology, and owes the U.S. public the full release of the Mueller report. Do lawbreaking, lying to the public and colluding with a foreign enemy add up to innocence? By David Leonhardt Opinion Columnist March 22, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/22/opinion/mueller-report-trump-russia.html?action=click&contentCollection=undefined&contentPlacement=2&emc=edit_ty_20190325&module=stream_unit&nl=opinion-today&nlid=87544576l%3Dopinion-today&pgtype=collection®ion=stream&rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fdavid-leonhardt&te=1&version=latest Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump. Trump campaign officials knew of these foreign efforts and encouraged them. Trump campaign officials attempted to conceal contacts they had with Russians and other foreign officials. Campaign officials knew in advance about the WikiLeaks email dumps. Trump was secretly pursuing a business venture in Russia and lied about it. Trump directed a subordinate to break the law. Trump’s campaign was run by criminals. Trump and His Associates Had More Than 100 Contacts With Russians Before the Inauguration By KAREN YOURISH and LARRY BUCHANAN JAN. 26, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/01/26/us/politics/trump-contacts-russians-wikileaks.html?module=inline A useful interactive chart Matt Zidar's list of Bad policies Trump administration’s expanded oil and gas offshore drilling proposal while exempting Florida to protect Trump interests Whitefish Energy (a company partly owned by interior sect Zinke) getting a lucrative no bid contract to restore power in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. Puerto Rico later cancelled the deal. Lifting the ban on import of trophy animals like elephants. Nearly all Trump’s Cabinet members have shown disdain for the regulatory processes they’re charged with supervising. interior, energy, education, epa. Huge cuts to R&D for climate change, health effects of exposure to chemicals, fracking. It is a long list. Inaction or token moves on opiate crisis Not filling positions to limit the ability of agencies to take action. Carving up and drastically reducing national monuments. huge rollback in Obama’s fuel efficiency standard for cars and trucks. Gutting of air quality standards. 30%. EPA budget cuts mostly in enforcement and climate change research. Killing the Clean Power Plan Gutting science budgets in every agency. Generally engineering a war on science. $600 billion increase in defense. Some well-expressed summary criticisms: What if the Republicans Win Everything Again? Total victory for the G.O.P. would mean Trump unleashed. David Leonhardt https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/opinion/sunday/midterm-elections-republican-party-trump-senate-house.html?module=inline Winning the midterm election would embolden Trump to push even harder toward the America he wants — where corporate oversight is scant, climate change is ignored, voting rights are abridged, health care is a privilege, judicial independence is a fiction and the truth is whatever he says it is. In [Trump's] America, congenital liars and sexual harassers don’t get punished. They can become president. In that America, people with dark skin aren’t guaranteed the same rights as people with white skin, and a violently warming planet is less important than corporate profits. In that America, the federal government protects the wealthy and powerful, often at the expense of everyone else. By now, no one should have any illusions about how Trump will behave if he faces no restraints. Desperately Seeking Principled Republicans The party has lost its way, and it’s time to start over. Nicholas Kristof https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/20/opinion/sunday/congress-republicans-democrats-conservatives.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion-columnists&action=click&contentCollection=columnists®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=sectionfront Then there’s Andrew Sullivan, the conservative writer, who dismisses today’s Republican Party as “the party of corruption, propaganda, vote suppression, and barely masked bigotry.” He adds, “I despise it because I am conservative.” The Trump Tax Scam, Phase II Deficits are up? Cut Medicare and Social Security! By Paul Krugman https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/opinion/taxes-medicare-social-security-midterms.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion-columnists&action=click&contentCollection=columnists®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=sectionfront Dishonesty about the sources of the deficit is, however, more or less a standard Republican tactic. What’s new is the double talk that pervades G.O.P. positioning on the budget and, to be fair, just about every major policy issue. The point is that we’re now in a political campaign where one side’s claimed position on every major policy issue is the opposite of its true position. Republicans have concluded that they can’t win an argument on the issues, but rather than changing their policies, they’re squirting out clouds of ink and hoping voters won’t figure out where they really stand. The hidden costs of the GOP’s deficit two-step https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-hidden-costs-of-the-gops-deficit-two-step/2018/10/21/2dfda0f4-d3c2-11e8-8c22-fa2ef74bd6d6_story.html?utm_term=.8fc472eb6dbd GOP audacity with deficits and tax cuts is something to behold By E.J. Dionne Jr. http://eastbaytimes.ca.newsmemory.com/?token=bX6GUz9BKCTqw4p28WjsIQ%3d%3d&product=eEditionCCT Republicans complain loudly about deficits when Democrats are in power — evenwhen deficits are essential to avoiding economic catastrophe, as they were during President Obama’s first term. But when the GOP takes control, its legions cheerfully send deficits soaring. Recall what Vice President Dick Cheney said in 2002 justifying the 2003 tax cuts: “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.” Republicans’ absurd claim that their $1.5 trillion corporate tax cut last year had nothing to do with the $779 billion deficit in 2018 has encountered considerable derision. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mc-Connell, R-Ky., even gave Democrats the gift of saying the problem — “the real drivers of the debt” — lay in spending for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Democrats always say the Republican plan is to use deficits to cut the heart out of our social insurance system. There it was in black and white. Inequality “lowers GDP growth by depriving lower-income households of the ability to stay healthy and accumulate both physical and human capital, including underinvestment in education, which results in lower labor productivity in the economy,” according to the report. From Tim Rowden via FaceBook Some people are saying that we should give #45 a chance, that we should "work together" with him because he won the election and he is "everyone's president." This is my response: I will not forget how badly he and so many others treated former President Barack Obama for EIGHT YEARS... • I will not "work together" to privatize Medicare, cut Social Security and Medicaid. • I will not "work together" to remove civil rights from ANYONE. • I will not "work together" to destroy marriage equality and make it a states right to deny love between two people. • I will not "work together" to deny health care to people who need it. • I will not "work together" to increase the profits of the insurance companies. • I will not "work together" to deny medical coverage to people on the basis of an alleged or actual "pre-existing condition." • I will not "work together" to build a wall. • I will not "work together" to persecute Muslims. • I will not "work together" to shut out refugees from countries where we destabilized their governments, so that we could have something more agreeable to our oligarchy. • I will not "work together" to lower taxes on the 1%. • I will not "work together" to increase taxes on the middle class and poor. • I will not "work together" to help #45 use the Presidency to line his pockets and those of his cronies. • I will not "work together" to weaken and demolish environmental protection. • I will not "work together" to sell American lands, especially National Parks, to companies which then despoil those lands. • I will not "work together" to enable the killing in any way of whole species of animals just because they are predators, or inconvenient for a few, or because some people want to get their thrills killing them. • I will not "work together" to waste trillions more on our military when we already have the strongest in the world. • I will not "work together" to alienate countries that have been our allies for as long as I have been alive, and longer. • I will not "work together" to slash funding for education. • I will not "work together" to take basic assistance from people who are at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. • I will not "work together" to allow torture and "black op" prison sites. • I will not "work together" to "take their oil." • I will not "work together" to get rid of common sense regulations on guns. • I will not "work together" to eliminate the minimum wage. • I will not "work together" to support so-called "Right To Work" laws, or undermine, weaken or destroy Unions in any way. • I will not "work together" to suppress scientific research, be it on climate change, fracking, or any other issue where a majority of scientists agree that #45 and his supporters are wrong on the facts. • I will not "work together" to increase the number of nations that have nuclear weapons. • I will not "work together" to put even more "big money" into politics. • I will not "work together" to violate the Geneva Convention. • I will not "work together" to give the Ku Klux Klan, the Nazi Party and white supremacists a seat at the table, or to normalize their hatred. • I will not "work together" to increase voter suppression. • I will not "work together" to normalize tyranny. • I will not “work together” to eliminate or reduce ethical oversite at any level of government. • I will not "work together" with anyone who is, or admires, tyrants and dictators who murder their opposition. • I will not "work together" with #45 because I will not allow one man to feed upon the fears of the populace, blaming minorities for their condition or their inability to thrive. This is the line, and I am drawing it. • I will stand for honesty, love, respect for all living beings, and for the compassion and humanity that is the center of Life itself. • I will use my voice and my hands, to reach out to the uninformed, and to anyone who will LISTEN for what's really so dangerous about #45, his friends and the Big Lie they spin to the world: • That "winning", "being great again", "rich" or even "beautiful" is anything more than nothing when others are sacrificed to glorify its existence. Eugene Robinson's list If Trump doesn’t warrant impeachment, who does? By Eugene Robinson Columnist May 30, 2019 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/if-trump-doesnt-warrant-impeachment-who-does/2019/05/30/0ae3ee8a-8311-11e9-bce7-40b4105f7ca0_story.html?utm_term=.c956344f4ae5 The political calculus isn’t clear. The moral calculus, however, is. What would a president have to do, hypothetically, to get this Congress to impeach him? * Obstruct a Justice Department investigation, perhaps? No, apparently that’s not enough. * What about playing footsie with a hostile foreign power? * Abusing his office to settle personal grievances? * Using instruments of the state, including the justice system, to attack his perceived political opponents? * Aligning the nation with murderous foreign dictators while forsaking democracy and human rights? * Violating campaign-finance laws with disguised hush-money payments to alleged paramours? * Giving aid and comfort to neo-Nazis and white supremacists? * Defying requests and subpoenas from congressional committees charged with oversight? * Refusing to protect our electoral system from malign foreign interference? * Cruelly ripping young children away from their asylum-seeking parents? * Lying constantly and shamelessly to the American people, to the point where not a single word he says or writes can be believed? President Trump has done all of this and more. If he doesn’t warrant the opening of an impeachment inquiry, what president ever would? | |
Whether in business or politics, this confidence game artist floats from scheme to plot to ploy to hustle to hype to conspiracy to deceit. How have his grifting frauds continued for so long? As P.T.Barnum noticed, "there's a sucker born every minute." Next time you see someone wearing a MAGA hat, just greet them with a "Hey, rube!" Times Investigation: Decade in the Red: Trump Tax Figures Show Over $1 Billion in Business Losses Newly obtained tax information reveals that from 1985 to 1994, Donald J. Trump’s businesses were in far bleaker condition than was previously known. By Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig May 8, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/07/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html?fallback=0&recId=1Ky3SC6VnmrQMjx8NxxGmMQkVS7&locked=0&geoContinent=NA&geoRegion=CA&recAlloc=top_conversion&geoCountry=US&blockId=most-popular&imp_id=84078101&action=click&module=trending&pgtype=Article®ion=Footer “He has an appetite like a Rocky Mountain vulture,” Mr. Greenberg, the legendary chairman of Bear Stearns, told The Wall Street Journal in 1987. “He’d like to own the world.” In his actions, Mr. Trump was more like a peacock. 5 Takeaways From 10 Years of Trump Tax Figures By Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner May 7, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/07/us/trump-tax-figures.html 1. Mr. Trump was deep in the red even as he peddled deal-making advice 2. In multiple years, he appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual taxpayer 3. He paid no federal income taxes for eight of the 10 years 4. He made millions posing as a corporate raider — until investors realized he never followed through 5. His interest income spiked in 1989 at $52.9 million, but the source is a mystery |
Wow ! The Perverse Prevaricator, the Lying Liar, the Fabulist Falsifier, the Misleading Maligner and Deceiving Dissimulator broke through the 10,000-lie ceiling in 828 days. 10,111 by April 27, and still going strong. Do you think he'd stop if he knew that nobody believes anything he says? Some say his verbose equivocations are a symptom of mental pathology; others say he's just a prolific con. I wonder what kind of mental condition the people who continue to believe him have; some even continue to defend the self-promoting phony. |
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-claims-database/
The Fact Checker’s ongoing database of the false or misleading claims made by President Trump since assuming office. Updated Oct. 9, 2019
The false claims that Trump keeps repeating
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/fact-checker-most-repeated-disinformation/?utm_term=.662f486057f6
Updated April 29, 2019
If a schoolyard bully insults and assaults other kids, supervising adults may "tsk-tsk" with a cluck of their tongues, but if they do nothing else, they aid, abet, and enable the bully's bad behavior. Reprimand is demanded for the sake of the other kids, and for the sake of abiding by the rules, if not for the sake of teaching the reprimanded child as well. And so it is with our precious democracy, that those whose responsibility is to check our President's lawless obstruction are now called to active duty. Disparaging clucking sounds without meaningful reprimand would enable the White House bully to continue treating our collective government and trusted commonwealth as his personal platform for pecuniary power. Cheats, liars, law-benders and law-breakers, including and especially the President and his minions, must face consequence for their actions, or else our civil society will deconstruct to schoolyards where might makes right. Those who say this is not the time for Congressional impeachment fail to acknowledge that the clock runs out in nine months when 2020 election campaigning will be fulsome, and calls for lawful accountability will be misinterpreted as political grandstanding Those who say that Congressional impeachment is futile because Republican Senators will not vote to convict an impeached Trump fail to believe that America can self-correct and regain its course toward the ideals of liberty and justice under law. If Congress Representatives and Senators fail to hold the President accountable for breaking our laws and for endangering us to foreign intervention, voters can fail to reelect them in 2020. So-called political realists who call for more investigation, outside of impeachment proceedings that bring consequence, would enable the law-breaker to continue evading and lying while bulling others and enriching himself, at our peril. Oversight and accountability of the President is Congress' constitutional duty. Failure to impeach would make Congress an accomplice to trump's crimes and continue to endanger us from ongoing foreign intervention in our elections. Let Speaker Pelosi know your opinion at https://www.speaker.gov/contact/. | |
| On the matter of impeaching Trump, Speaker Pelosi has to pick her poison By Eugene Robinson, June 16, 2019 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/on-impeachment-nancy-pelosi-has-to-pick-her-poison/2019/06/13/9e85f596-8e1c-11e9-b08e-cfd89bd36d4e_story.html?utm_term=.e942ceb18457 The danger in doing nothing is that Congress allows Trump to hold himself above the law. Elizabeth Warren Calls for Impeachment Process Against Trump New York Times, April 19, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/19/us/politics/elizabeth-warren-impeachment.html?searchResultPosition=1 “To ignore a president’s repeated efforts to obstruct an investigation into his own disloyal behavior would inflict great and lasting damage on this country, and it would suggest that both the current and future Presidents would be free to abuse their power in similar ways,” Ms. Warren wrote on Twitter. “The severity of this misconduct demands that elected officials in both parties set aside political considerations and do their constitutional duty,” Ms. Warren wrote on Twitter. “That means the House should initiate impeachment proceedings against the President of the United States.” No bottom: Republicans show they’ll defend just about anything Trump does By Paul Waldman Opinion writer April 22, 2019 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/04/22/no-bottom-republicans-show-theyll-defend-just-about-everything-trump-does/?utm_term=.d0e29da07766 "… nowhere was the rapid transformation more evident than among white conservative evangelicals, who at one time persuaded everyone to refer to them as “values voters,” as though they were the only ones in possession of “values” while everyone else just has opinions. Their enthusiastic embrace of the most amoral president in modern history has proved how laughable that appellation always was, which is why no one uses it anymore." The Great Republican Abdication A party that no longer believes in American values. By Paul Krugman April 22, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/22/opinion/trump-republican-party.html?fallback=0&recId=1KICOAp2TVUgIkJ174f7jNdflHc&locked=0&geoContinent=NA&geoRegion=CA&recAlloc=top_conversion&geoCountry=US&blockId=most-popular&imp_id=233075383&action=click&module=trending&pgtype=Article®ion=Footer "The modern G.O.P. is perfectly willing to sell out America if that’s what it takes to get tax cuts for the wealthy. Two conclusions follow. Anyone expecting bipartisanship in dealing with the aftermath of the Mueller report — in particular, anyone suggesting that Democrats should wait for G.O.P. support before proceeding with investigations that might lead to impeachment — is being deluded. The simple fact is that one of our two major parties — the one that likes to wrap itself in the flag — no longer believes in American values." Impeach Donald Trump Yoni Appelbaum The Atlantic, March 2019 Issue https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/impeachment-trump/580468/ In these five ways the impeachment process has succeeded in the past: - shifting the public’s attention to the president’s debilities - tipping the balance of power away from him - skimming off the froth of conspiratorial thinking - moving the fight to a rule-bound forum - dealing lasting damage to his political prospects Evan McMullin Trump welcomed the Russian attack and obstructed resulting investigations, an impeachable offense What kind of patriotic American wouldn’t reject and report a foreign offer to collaborate against our country? https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/mueller-report-proves-trump-failed-sound-alarm-russia-impeachable-offense-ncna997076?utm_campaign=should-congress-move-to-impeach-presiden-zRhY&utm_customer=think&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=opinary&fbclid=IwAR0a4yAQnHHBe743FvMESnvFqCwLXfk8y2J2aIZ2n_skyRkyoQUp7wj97GI President Donald Trump and his campaign tried to profit from the most “sweeping and systematic” information warfare attack ever waged against the United States of America. Trump and his team were uniquely positioned to sound the alarm and halt the Russian attack, but instead they welcomed it. And then they tried to obstruct efforts to investigate it. As such, Trump bears distinct responsibility for our failure to defend against Russia’s hostility and take the steps necessary to deter future threats. Mueller documented a serious crime against all Americans. Here’s how to respond. By Hillary Clinton April 24, 2019 Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/hillary-clinton-mueller-documented-a-serious-crime-against-all-americans-heres-how-to-respond/2019/04/24/1e8f7e16-66b7-11e9-82ba-fcfeff232e8f_story.html?utm_term=.437e3f05c8d5 First, like in any time our nation is threatened, we have to remember that this is bigger than politics. Second, Congress should hold substantive hearings that build on the Mueller report and fill in its gaps, not jump straight to an up-or-down vote on impeachment. Third, Congress can’t forget that the issue today is not just the president’s possible obstruction of justice — it’s also our national security. Fourth, while House Democrats pursue these efforts, they also should stay focused on the sensible agenda that voters demanded in the midterms, from protecting health care to investing in infrastructure. … It’s critical to remind the American people that Democrats are in the solutions business and can walk and chew gum at the same time. (BAJ:) HRC makes good points, especially that it is necessary to hold the white house occupant to account so that he doesn't continue to endanger our country. Let the hearings begin! But, in my opinion, hearings without the context of impeachment might be mischaracterized as just another "witch hunting" expedition. In the context of impeachment, hearings would carry the weight of impending accountability. The Mueller report leaves little doubt: Trump obstructed justice By Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent April 18, 2019 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/04/18/mueller-report-makes-it-clear-trump-obstructed-justice/?utm_term=.1e8dd76d49db Good summary of trump's crimes detailed in the Mueller report. A bad time to impeach Trump? Here’s what history says. By Aaron Blake April 23, 2019 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/04/23/no-time-impeach-trump-history-disagrees/?utm_term=.66f52768617c The limited history of impeachments suggests that this is something that could be dealt with and wrapped up in four months or less — well before any Democratic primary votes are cast and even before most of the primary debates. If Democrats want to move past impeachment and focus on other things, one of the best ways might be to just get on with it. Democrats must seize and define this moment. Otherwise, Trump will. By Eugene Robinson April 22, 2019 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/democrats-must-seize-and-define-this-moment-otherwise-trump-will/2019/04/22/0856c736-652b-11e9-8985-4cf30147bdca_story.html?utm_term=.7e2b06227e96 Quoting Lindsey Graham, "… impeachment is not about punishment. Impeachment is about cleansing the office. Impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office.” The political case for moving deliberately but fearlessly toward impeachment is even clearer: If timorous Democrats do not seize and define this moment, Trump surely will. Trump will mount this attack no matter what Democrats do . And strictly as a matter of practical politics, the best defense against Trump has to be a powerful offense. The conventional wisdom is that Republicans made a political error by impeaching Clinton. But they did win the White House in 2000 and go on to dominate Congress for most of President George W. Bush’s tenure. If impeachment was a mistake, it wasn’t a very costly one. Does it “play into Trump’s hands” to speak of impeachment? I think it plays into the president’s hands to disappoint the Democratic base and come across as weak and frightened. Voters who saw the need to hold Trump accountable decided to give Democrats some power — and now expect them to use it. The Mueller Report Was My Tipping Point I was a Trump transition staffer, and I’ve seen enough. It’s time for impeachment. Apr 23, 2019 J. W. Verret, Professor of law at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/gop-staffer-advocates-trumps-impeachment/587785/?fbclid=IwAR0S_5F6fav0B68u20ZB62ic8_pf6VFNtQx1mFg653rQYP7HHYdTTBaDP5Q I disagreed with Trump’s rhetoric on immigration and trade. I also had strong concerns about his policies in my area of financial regulation. The hostility to Russian sanctions from the policy team was even more unsettling. This elaborate pattern of obstruction may have successfully impeded the Mueller investigation from uncovering a conspiracy to commit more serious crimes. At a minimum, there’s enough here to get the impeachment process started. In impeachment proceedings, the House serves as a sort of grand jury and the Senate conducts the trial. Republicans who stand up to Trump today may face some friendly fire. Today’s Republican electorate seems spellbound by the sound bites of Twitter and cable news, for which Trump is a born wizard. Yet, in time, we can help rebuild the Republican Party. There Was No Russia Conspiracy. But Trump Is More Dangerous Than Ever. By Andrew Sullivan April 19, 2019 http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/04/andrew-sullivan-impeach-trump-now.html [Mueller's report reveals] an unprecedented series of impeachable offenses. It is a textbook definition of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” It is the story of a president assaulting the rule of law, attempting to manipulate the justice system, dangling pardons to induce perjury, and reflexively putting his own personal interests — or simply ego — before any interest of the country as a whole. Mueller openly states that his own investigation was thwarted by the president to the extent that the “the justice system’s integrity [was] threatened.” When a president openly threatens the integrity of the justice system, and says he has unlimited power to do so in the future, he not only can be impeached, he must be impeached. There will never be enough Republican votes to convict Trump in the Senate. But after this report’s summary and backup for what we have been witnessing in public for two years now, there is another consideration. What are the consequences of not impeaching? Trump now has a Justice Department run by a loyalist who believes in total executive supremacy, and who has just revealed himself as a man willing to lie and deceive and distort to please his master. Every official who might have restrained this president is gone. There are almost no heads of agencies, and no dissent in the Cabinet. The country is effectively being ruled by a monarch and his court. Foreign policy has been given to family members. The Fed is being rigged to remove professionals and install loyal toadies. The judiciary is being filled with judges who defer to presidential power in every circumstance. This president will not stop foreign meddling from happening again, and will be happy if it helps reelect him. This is, quite simply, intolerable. We have a president who is an instinctual criminal and liar, who threatens the integrity of our justice system and of our democratic elections, who is incapable of understanding the rule of law, backed by an attorney general who just outright distorted the findings of the special counsel. What more do we need to know? To refuse to use the one weapon the Founders gave us to remove such a character from office is more than cowardice. It is complicity. It is a surrender to forces which aim to make the world safe for authoritarianism. This disgusting man is not just a cancer in the presidency. His presidency is a cancer in our Constitution and way of life. Can U.S. survive two more years of this president? Letter to East Bay Times editor, 5-1-19 https://eastbaytimes-ca.newsmemory.com/?token=72dToB3QufEK2vh3spEhrg%3d%3d&product=eEditionCCT Can the U.S. survive two more years of this dangerous, unstable, fear-mongering president? 1) Trump controls the nuclear codes and could start World War III; 2) Trump prefers personal relationships with Russian and North Korean dictators versus reliable, traditional alliances, such as NATO; 3) Trump’s tax cuts are exacerbating the U.S. wealth gap; 4) Instead of “Medicare for All,” Trump is still working on eliminating Obamacare; 5) Trump is stacking the courts, is reversing environmental protections, is fostering gun violence, is worsening climate change by encouraging use of fossil fuels, has told more than 10,000 lies (per The Washington Post), has allegations of obstruction of justice (would Obama have been impeached with similar charges?), etc. Remember, Nixon resigned after Republicans finally turned against him, and Trump is much worse than Nixon was. — George Reid, Pleasanton If Trump doesn’t warrant impeachment, who does? By Eugene Robinson Columnist May 30, 2019 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/if-trump-doesnt-warrant-impeachment-who-does/2019/05/30/0ae3ee8a-8311-11e9-bce7-40b4105f7ca0_story.html?utm_term=.c956344f4ae5 The political calculus isn’t clear. The moral calculus, however, is. What would a president have to do, hypothetically, to get this Congress to impeach him? * Obstruct a Justice Department investigation, perhaps? No, apparently that’s not enough. * What about playing footsie with a hostile foreign power? * Abusing his office to settle personal grievances? * Using instruments of the state, including the justice system, to attack his perceived political opponents? * Aligning the nation with murderous foreign dictators while forsaking democracy and human rights? * Violating campaign-finance laws with disguised hush-money payments to alleged paramours? * Giving aid and comfort to neo-Nazis and white supremacists? * Defying requests and subpoenas from congressional committees charged with oversight? * Refusing to protect our electoral system from malign foreign interference? * Cruelly ripping young children away from their asylum-seeking parents? * Lying constantly and shamelessly to the American people, to the point where not a single word he says or writes can be believed? President Trump has done all of this and more. If he doesn’t warrant the opening of an impeachment inquiry, what president ever would? An impeachment inquiry is risky. Not opening one is riskier. By Eugene Robinson Columnist July 11, 2019 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/an-impeachment-inquiry-is-risky-not-opening-one-is-riskier/2019/07/11/818f8bb8-a411-11e9-b732-41a79c2551bf_story.html?utm_term=.b88684ecaa13 The administration’s policy of stonewalling congressional demands for documents and testimony may be unlawful, but it’s effective. … [If] the House opens an impeachment inquiry, Congress’s power to investigate would be at its height, and courts would recognize the obvious need to act speedily to enforce properly constituted subpoenas. Pelosi and other Democrats keep saying that no one is above the law, including the president. But the Justice Department’s view that a sitting president cannot be made to face criminal charges means that Trump is indeed above the law — unless the one body that can hold him accountable, Congress, does its job. We Can’t Impeach One of the Most Unpopular and Corrupt Presidents Ever and Risk Alienating the Racist Voters Who’d Never Vote for Us Anyway by Bob Vulfov May 30, 2019 https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/we-cant-impeach-one-of-the-most-unpopular-and-corrupt-presidents-ever-and-risk-alienating-the-racist-voters-whod-never-vote-for-us-anyway?fbclid=IwAR142Be-gypsZ-37-yRqIqPLePceT7UTpvh97FNO4CL52dAqHBp_DJ5k_2c If we impeach the president now, we risk subjecting ourselves to an infinite array of cunning, political retributions. He might tweet some mean things about us. Or he might tell a bunch of Cadillac dealership owners at Mar-a-Lago that he’s totally innocent and being treated unfairly. Hell, he might even call into an evening cable news show and stammer aimlessly about how he’s the subject of a witch hunt. |
Since changing to Daylight Saving Time on March 10, media opinionators are talking about making it year-round. Permanent DSL is a terrible, dangerous idea. Setting the clocks ahead one hour moves an hour of morning light to the end of the day. That's great between March 21 and September 21, when there is more daylight than night. But for the winter-half of the year, we need more light in the morning when kids are going to school. Our children go to school at about the same time that commuters are starting their treks to work. Darkness and early morning sun in commuters' eyes create dangerous hazards. Later in the day, schools end before most commuters return home, so evening darkness is not as dangerous. As it is, Daylight Saving Time ends in November, nearly two months past the September 21 Equinox. Shortening, not lengthening, the DST period would make mornings safer for our children and grandchildren. |
https://eastbaytimes-ca.newsmemory.com/?token=laXCUJ2OINARhjEqd2vViA%3d%3d&product=eEditionCCT
"Springing forward to daylight saving time is obsolete, confusing and unhealthy, critics say" (WashPost 3-8-19)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/03/08/springing-forward-daylight-saving-time-is-obsolete-confusing-unhealthy-critics-say/?utm_term=.d43cfd2890c8&wpisrc=nl_most_03072019&wpmm=1
We've seen him stumble, reading speeches on a teleprompter, and we've heard he won't, or can't, read daily CIA intelligence briefing reports. But there is one book that Donald Trump kept beside his bed and studied carefully, according to his first wife, Ivana. Adolf Hitler's My New Order held Trump's attention as he read this tome on using propaganda to control a nation. After the Parliament building was destroyed by a suspicious fire, Hitler issued the 1933 "Reichstag Fire Decree," giving him extraordinary powers that crushed Germany's democracy under the jackboot of dictatorship. Is Trump attempting to replay that disaster with his phony "national emergency" declaration? Declaring a national emergency gives the President many more dangerous powers than simply spending military base reconstruction funds to build a useless, symbolic wall. It enables censorship of our free press; it enables massive spying on American citizens with tools unimaginable in Hitler's time; it could squelch Mueller's investigation. Democrats will oppose this fake "emergency," but Senate Republicans also need to stand up for our democracy, now, before trump actually uses this power, or it will be too late to stop catastrophe | |
As reported in Mother Jones magazine, and elsewhere ("Festival of Slights, the 1st Night: Trump’s Book of Hitler Speeches") by Ben Dreyfuss, December 12, 2017
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/12/festival-of-slights-trump-hitler-speeches/
We Are Here Now We are Nature in Nature Follow the trail of scents before you. Leave a scent behind for others to follow. Loyalty + Trust = Love At her ending, she trusted my love, loyally. Living & Dying = Nature At her ending, I couldn't envision an alternative. Body motion, taste, and smell are a dog's best way to communicate. Sometimes her tongue's lick of my hand would tell me something. My touch on her fur would reassure her. When she felt loved and secure, a good-dog scent would emanate from her paws. We communicated Without words Or intention. Simply emotions, Uninterpreted and true: Love Understanding Loyalty Trust Peacefulness Alertness Protection Pride Humor Challenge Fun Curiosity Persistence Consistency Discipline Belonging We were partners. |
It is almost a failure of will, a failure of love, to let them grow old. - Mary Oliver, poet, "Dog Songs" She liked to prance, holding a ball in her mouth, saying, "try to catch me!" She liked to run after the ball, or a squirrel, or a cat. She once caught a squirrel, an old one. And once, she and her cousin Bo caught a cat, an old cat Who wanted to die after 19 years, Maybe not anticipating what future a dog's mouth would bring. She liked to walk, sometimes leading on the trail, looking back to be sure she took the correct fork. Later in life, she'd follow, getting increasingly distracted with every smell, scent, and aroma. Maybe she was trying to hide the fact that she was slowing down. Sometimes, she'd stop, sniff a little and stare motionless for a very long time. Finally, it occurred to her, "what was I going to do here?" and she'd slowly walk toward me, still puzzling over that question. I had stopped my morning walk many times, waiting for her to catch up, slowly. Slowly she would walk toward me, still sniffing the ground or a nearby plant, still getting distracted. And then, she'd arrive and I'd pet her and tell her she's a good dog, and we'd resume my exercise walk. Three days ago, she walked quickly ahead of me, all the way to the dog park -- in the rain -- first time in a long time. Two days ago, I found myself pulling her by the leash, she was walking so slow and distracted. Yesterday, I walked alongside her, letting her set the pace, without a leash. She stumbled a few times, loped after the ball once, halfheartedly, even though I threw it gently, not far. This morning was her last walk. She was happy to start as she always is every morning, She was enthusiastic irrespective of its daily repetition. This morning, she moved slowly, back legs losing their balance a few times. Slowly, and with dignity, we walked the length of the dog path and back. It was only at the end of the path that her back end collapsed, unsupported by her legs. I helped her up and carefully; we hobbled home. She could barely stand while eating breakfast, her back end leaned at a precarious angle, but I could see she enjoyed her usual dog's breakfast. I knew that I'd have to take her to the vet when I returned from the Woman's March scheduled for Noon in Oakland. Marching, I got some exercise, but also felt a pain in my hip joint. I wonder if Bella had felt something similar. At least I knew what to do about it, thanks to coaching from my physical therapist. When I returned home, Bella could hardly arise to greet me, but she did. I had to carry her down the stairs to get to the car. Without forethought, Karen announced she would accompany us. Grateful am I, because we needed to imagine the future, together. Bella barely walked from the car to the vet's door. We waited a long time, she, lying on the floor between my feet, I sitting sadly on the bench above her. After the vet examined her, Bella could not stand. Her right leg's paw didn't even point pad-downward. The vet said she had lost feeling in her paw. The vet had no cure. Maybe a dog chiropractor in Walnut Creek could try acupuncture, but it would be a long process. We called. He wasn't available for two or three days from now. How can a dog live if it can not stand? How could she walk or sniff a smell or eat breakfast or poop, if her back legs were dead weight? I realized that her suffering should end before it would really begin. We held her and hugged her as a calming trust enveloped her. Wordless, she and I remembered some of our fun moments: Playing in the ocean's waves Walking in the redwood forest Retrieving the ball with eager anticipation of the next throw Deep stares into each other's eyes, our greeting ritual when I came home. Her happy-dog aroma effused from her paws. Her eyes were alive and wanted to live. She couldn't anticipate what life would be like with half a body dragging her. The sedative put her into a daze, and the injection quickly stopped her heart. She died, head in my hands, her eyes looking without vision. Afterthoughts Don't second-guess. Don't second-guess. Don't second-guess. But, Looking over the papers I kept in her dog file, I saw a vet's prescription for a more powerful pain killer than the pills I had been giving her. I forgot that I had a bottle of those pills, unused. If they could have eased her pain, would she have been able to walk, and to live? What if her legs failed completely two days later, when she would have been in the care of Shelly while Karen and I were skiing, would that be right for Shelly, or for Bella? What if she died when I wasn't holding her? No. I made the right decision. No. More. Second-guessing. With grateful appreciation of Mary Oliver (of blessed memory), whose corroborative wisdom gave me comfort. |
Bella
Is it legal for the Federal government to force employees to work without pay? That looks like slavery, which is constitutionally prohibited. Sure, Congress passed a bill requiring workers' reimbursement after the trump shutdown ends, but that payment date is indefinite. Doesn't this also violate labor laws? Putin's puppet President is destabilizing the integrity and security of our government. He forces slavery on shutdown government workers so that the impact of their absence won't be felt by the general public. The actual absence of 800,000 government workers, including TSA inspectors, Securities and Exchange regulators, judges, firefighters and IRS accountants, could not be sustained for these long weeks of shutdown. So, instead, the burden of trump's desperate political shutdown piles on the backs of dedicated men and women who chose public service, working for what should be a reliable employer. Meanwhile, how can they pay their bills? This just ain't right. | |
A probably insane, and possibly treasonous, President has shut down our government. This causes far more damage than just stopping paychecks to 800,000 government workers. Millions of Americans who rely on our government for farm loans, food inspections, disease control, weather forecasting and airport security are endangered. If Putin himself was in the White House, he couldn't be more effective in weakening our country. Trump's pull-out of Syria puts our Kurdish allies, men and women who bravely fought ISIS, at mortal risk from the Turks. Would anyone else in the world ever agree to become our ally? Thank you, Putin's Puppet President. |
Seldom has a president’s ego required so much shoring up. There’s not enough concrete in creation for that job.
By Frank Bruni Jan. 8, 2019
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/08/opinion/trump-speech-border-wall.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_ty_20190109&nl=opinion-today&nl_art=2&nlid=87544576emc%3Dedit_ty_20190109&ref=headline&te=1
Reaction from the Daily Beast
WEST WING STINKER
Donald Trump Delivers a Wet Fart Oval Office Address
The president can’t get his wall. So like a shitty salesman, he’s now trying to pitch you on something else. Rick Wilson 01.08.19
https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-delivers-a-wet-fart-oval-office-address?fbclid=IwAR3cgV9kTLOf9Ov5lY3jHmLTec-mW6dR8QKFw4pJ5CxbmVclyUWV6VsUzA0
Trump looked exhausted, squinty, and bored, reading in a near-monotone from the Teleprompter. It went over like a wet fart.
He said it tonight; the idea of a glorious concrete wall from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico is deader than that lemur he glues on his head every morning.
[My opinion: At least, now we have seen that the guy can read ... just barely, and from his voice tone I'd conclude, with little comprehension.]
Rashida Tlaib said "Impeach the motherfucker" and all the Repubs ran to protect their mothers.
The real national emergency is the threat of Trump’s collapse
By Greg Sargent Opinion writer January 8, 2019
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/01/08/real-national-emergency-is-threat-trumps-collapse/?utm_term=.95d2f8ea731f
Because there isn’t any real national security emergency at the border and the rest of the political system won’t play along, Trump must invent one, because both the existence of such a crisis and Trump’s ability to “solve” it (which he may be able to act out only through executive overreach) are foundational to Trumpism. The collapse of these foundational myths is the real looming emergency.
Your fact-checking cheat sheet for Trump’s immigration address
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/01/08/your-fact-checking-cheat-sheet-trumps-immigration-address/?utm_term=.3cedca50f97c
The situation along our southern border is a national crisis.
By any available measure, there is no new crisis at the border.
The wall will be paid for by the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal.
This is a Four-Pinocchio claim.
I have already started building the wall.
No, Trump has not started building the wall. Congress only appropriated money for bollard fencing, replacement fencing or secondary fencing.
The wall will be built by good old American steel companies that were practically out of business.
Steel companies were not practically out of business.
I never said it would be a concrete wall.
Au contraire. Trump has said it repeatedly: On Dec. 31, he tweeted: “An all-concrete wall was NEVER ABANDONED.”
The wall in Israel is 99.9 percent effective.
Only one-tenth (33 miles) of the Israeli barrier with Palestinian territories is an eight-meter (25-foot) concrete wall. The other 90 percent is a two-meter (6-foot) high electronic fence. As for “99.9 percent,” these numbers are a fantasy.
U.S. officials have blocked nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists from entering the country.
DHS officials will concede that “most of these individuals are trying to enter the U.S. by air”
According to the State Department, at the end of 2017, “there was no credible evidence indicating that international terrorist groups have established bases in Mexico, worked with Mexican drug cartels, or sent operatives via Mexico into the United States.”
DHS data show that most individuals on the terrorist watch list — a different statistic than encounters with known or suspected terrorists — attempt to enter by air. Most of the 2,554 people on the terrorist watch list who were encountered by U.S. officials in 2017 tried to enter through airports (2,170) or by sea (49).
9 facts you should know about the border before Trump addresses the nation
Sally Kohn, Opinion contributor Published 4:00 a.m. ET Jan. 8, 2019
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/01/08/facts-donald-trumps-border-wall-address-nation-immigration-shutdown-column/2503981002/?fbclid=IwAR2TXGBARPXi7zXVrqfTClUmFk47-VWfCKRdl4URx9n7uTqwfgWn-LYxEGo
It would be nice if Donald Trump would stick to the facts in his address to the nation, but that's not likely. After all, Trump has been hyping fears about violence stemming from the United States/Mexico border since the early moments of his presidential campaign. In June 2015, for instance, he painted an ugly picture of Mexican migrants crossing the border. “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists,” Trump said. He has kept up his fearmongering about the border, but ramped it up in recent weeks as justification for his sudden decision to shutdown the federal government because neither Democrats nor Republicans in his own party will approve funding for Trump’s border wall. He has tweeted about “our VERY DANGEROUS SOUTHERN BORDER” and even threatened to declare a state of emergency to build the wall that he insists is not only needed but is also needed now more than ever.
Trump is simply, on these and related points, incorrect. Here are the key facts:
►Illegal border crossings are down. Significantly.
►The counties along the southern border are among the safest in the United States.
►Most undocumented immigrants don’t “sneak” across the border.
►The White House is lying about terrorists crossing the southern border.
►Migrant caravans aren’t “sneaking” across the border, either.
►Drugs entering the USA across the southern border are most often hidden in legal shipments.
►Conservative political figures and think tanks think Trump’s wall is pointless.
►There are already 654 miles of border fencing.
►Americans do not support Trump’s wall.
Nancy Pelosi said, “This is not a wall between Mexico and the United States that the president is creating here; it’s a wall between reality and his supporters. He doesn't want them to know what he's doing to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security in his budget proposal. He doesn't want them to know what he's doing to clean air and clean water and the EPA. He doesn't want them to know how he is hurting them, so he keeps the subject on the wall.
Here is a good analysis of the Grifter's wall:
How the Border Wall Is Boxing Trump In
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/05/us/politics/donald-trump-border-wall.html?emc=edit_th_190106&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=875445760106&fbclid=IwAR3xW_2jMnEfRvWdAPqcU0jmW_dgG7QYEltQa9YTbU8U0z0No8De7RTLav0
What started out as a memory trick for an undisciplined candidate has… run headlong into the realities of divided government
The federal shutdown hinges on whether the United States should fund a large wall on its border with Mexico. While Trump has described the wall’s progress, not a single mile of an extended wall has been built so far.
https://www.nytimes.com/.../01/05/us/border-wall.html...
Here is an article that makes a strong case against a "Wall" from conservative think tanks, newspapers and other outlets. It is succinct, well written and fact based. To my Trump friends, take a minute to read it and ponder what smart conservative people have to say about a wall's effectiveness.
What Happened When A Trump Supporter Challenged Me About the Wall
The week of December 20, 2018 was a good week for Vladimir Putin. * Trump shut down the U.S. government. * Trump is pulling our troops out of Syria, leaving the field open for Russia and Iran to celebrate with Assad. * Secretary of Defense Mattis, the last "adult in the room," resigned, objecting to Trump's policy of insulting our allies and cuddling up to our adversaries. * Trump's initiation of a tariff war has finally collapsed the stock market. Oh, and * Trump lifted sanctions against one of Russia’s most influential oligarchs. Yep, this may be Putin's very best week, ever. Trump Administration to Lift Sanctions on Russian Oligarch’s Companies https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/us/politics/sanctions-oleg-deripaska-russia-trump.html Dec. 19, 2018 WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced on Wednesday that it intends to lift sanctions against the business empire of Oleg V. Deripaska, one of Russia’s most influential oligarchs. His companies, among the biggest in the aluminum industry, had been hit with sanctions in April in retaliation for Russian interference in the election and other hostile acts by Moscow. Representative Lloyd Doggett of Texas said that the plan “appears to be a shell game brokered by a sanctioned Russian bank, VTB Bank, involving one of Putin’s closest buddies, Oleg Deripaska. It only encourages Putin to pursue his destabilizing activities around the world.” |
By Adam Goldman, Michael S. Schmidt and Nicholas Fandos Jan. 11, 2019
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/us/politics/fbi-trump-russia-inquiry.html?emc=edit_th_190112&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=875445760112
Agents and senior F.B.I. officials had grown suspicious of Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia during the 2016 campaign but held off on opening an investigation into him in part because they were uncertain how to proceed with an inquiry of such sensitivity and magnitude. But the president’s activities before and after Mr. Comey’s firing in May 2017, particularly two instances in which Mr. Trump tied the Comey dismissal to the Russia investigation, helped prompt the counterintelligence aspect of the inquiry.
Here are 18 reasons Trump could be a Russian asset
Max Boot Columnist January 13, 2019
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/here-are-18-reasons-why-trump-could-be-a-russian-asset/2019/01/13/45b1b250-174f-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html?utm_term=.eeb1aaa20bc6
— Trump has a long financial history with Russia.
"Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets," said Donald Jr. in 2008. "We don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia," boasted Eric Trump in 2014.
— The Russians interfered in the 2016 U.S. election to help elect Trump president.
— Trump encouraged the Russians to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails on July 27, 2016
— There were, according to the Moscow Project, “101 contacts between Trump’s team and Russia linked operatives,” and “the Trump team tried to cover up every single one of them.”
— The Trump campaign was full of individuals with suspiciously close links to Moscow, such as Carter Page, George Papadopoulos, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates and Michael Flynn.
— Manafort, who ran the Trump campaign for free and was heavily in debt to a Russian oligarch, now admits to offering his Russian business partner with links to Russian intelligence, polling data that could have been used to target the Russian social media campaign on behalf of Trump.
— Trump associate Roger Stone, who was in contact with Russian conduit WikiLeaks, reportedly knew in advance that the Russians had hacked Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s emails.
— Once in office, Trump fired Comey to stop the investigation of the “Russia thing” — and then bragged about having done so to the Russian ambassador and foreign minister while also sharing with them top-secret information.
— Trump has refused to consistently acknowledge that Russia interfered in the U.S. election or mobilize a government-wide effort to stop future interference.
— Trump attacks and undermines the Justice Department and the FBI (“a cancer in our country”) — two institutions that stand on the front lines of combating Russian espionage.
—Trump attacks and undermines the European Union and NATO — he has suggested that France should leave the E.U. and that the United States should leave NATO
— Trump supports populist, pro-Russian leaders in Europe, such as Viktor Orban in Hungary and Marine Le Pen in France, just as the Russians do.
— Trump has praised Putin (“a strong leader”) while trashing leaders of allied nations.
— Trump was utterly supine in his meetings with Putin, principally in Hamburg and Helsinki.
Even more suspicious, according to a Post article on Saturday, Trump “has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal details of his conversations with . . . Putin.
— Trump defends the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and repeats other pro-Russian talking points.
— Trump is pulling U.S. troops out of Syria, handing that country to Russia and its ally Iran.
— Trump has effectively done nothing in response to the Russian attack on Ukrainian ships in international waters, thereby encouraging greater Russian aggression.
— Trump is sowing chaos in the government, most recently with a record-breaking partial government shutdown.
The Threat in the White House
By Susan E. Rice, former national security adviser
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/23/opinion/trump-mattis-syria-afghanistan.html
Nothing illustrates this dangerous dysfunction more starkly than President Trump’s reckless, unilateral decisions to announce the sudden withdrawal of all 2,000 United States troops from Syria and to remove 7,000 from Afghanistan. These decisions went against the advice of the president’s top advisers, blindsided our allies and Congress, and delivered early Christmas presents to our adversaries from Russia and Iran to Hezbollah and the Taliban.
Cutting and running from Syria benefits only militants, Turkey, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, Russia and Iran. We are abandoning our Kurdish partners, leaving them vulnerable to Turkey’s offensive, after they did the hard work of undermining the Islamic State.
Mr. Trump himself has dealt the death blow to effective policymaking. The president couldn’t care less about facts, intelligence, military analysis or the national interest. He refuses to take seriously the views of his advisers, announces decisions on impulse and disregards the consequences of his actions. In abandoning the role of a responsible commander in chief, Mr. Trump today does more to undermine American national security than any foreign adversary. Yet no Republican in Congress is willing to do more than bleat or tweet concerns.
Mattis' departure will leave the administration all but devoid of wise, principled leadership and the guts to check a president who consistently places politics and self-interest above national security.
"I am proud to shut down the government." The White House Occupant's words were spoken like a true agent of Putin's Russia. Trump welcomes a shutdown during Oval Office squabble with Pelosi, Schumer https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/schumer-pelosi-set-to-meet-with-trump-on-wall-but-house-gop-stands-firm/2018/12/11/2604b1ae-fd56-11e8-862a-b6a6f3ce8199_story.html?utm_term=.17ef359f3c43&wpisrc=nl_evening&wpmm=1 December 11 at 7:14 PM President Trump, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer berated each other on camera Tuesday over Trump’s border wall, an Oval Office spectacle that underscored the distance between the two sides as they confront a fast-approaching deadline for a partial government shutdown. Schumer accused the president of throwing a “temper tantrum,” ended with Trump declaring he’d be proud to shut down the government to get the money he wants for his long-promised U.S.-Mexico border wall. “I think the American people recognize that we must keep government open, that a shutdown is not worth anything, and that you should not have a Trump shutdown,” Pelosi said, to which Trump replied, “Did you say ‘Trump’?” Trump Threatens Shutdown in Combative Appearance With Democrats https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/11/us/politics/trump-border-wall-government-shutdown.html?emc=edit_na_20181211&nl=breaking-news&nlid=87544576ing-news&ref=headline Dec. 11, 2018 WASHINGTON — President Trump on Tuesday transformed what was to be a private negotiating session with Democratic congressional leaders into a bitter televised altercation over his long-promised border wall, vowing to force a year-end government shutdown if they refused to fund his signature campaign promise. “This wall thing” of Mr. Trump’s is “like a manhood thing for him — as if manhood could ever be associated with him,” Ms. Pelosi told fellow Democrats. The administration has yet to spend much of the $1.3 billion Congress approved for border security last year. |
We've seen this con played before. Remember when FBI Director James Comey revealed an ongoing investigation of Hillary Clinton just before the election? He violated agency policy because he feared his agency would be considered biased if they didn't reveal and Hillary won. Turns out, the investigation found nothing illegal and it was dropped, but its revelation twisted the election toward the con artist who now occupies the Oval Office. For months, the con man had been complaining that the election was rigged and the FBI was biased, causing Comey to bend over backwards to prove it wasn't. He bent over, way too far. Now the Grifter-in-Chief is complaining that the Federal judge who decided a case against him is biased. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has come to the judge's defense, explaining that judges are objective, irrespective of the President who appointed them. Is Justice Roberts now being conned to bend over and over-react to prove no bias in anticipation of a Trump case coming before the Supreme Court? |
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/us/politics/trump-chief-justice-roberts-rebuke.html?emc=edit_th_181122&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=875445761122
Nov. 21, 2018 WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. defended the independence and integrity of the federal judiciary on Wednesday, rebuking President Trump for calling a judge who had ruled against his administration’s asylum policy “an Obama judge.”
Rebuking Trump’s criticism of ‘Obama judge,’ Chief Justice Roberts defends judiciary as ‘independent’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rebuking-trumps-criticism-of-obama-judge-chief-justice-roberts-defends-judiciary-as-independent/2018/11/21/6383c7b2-edb7-11e8-96d4-0d23f2aaad09_story.html?utm_term=.242470abbc88&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1
November 21 at 6:21 PM The chief justice of the United States and the president of the United States engaged in an extraordinary war of words Wednesday over the independence of the federal judiciary, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. issuing a rare rebuke of President Trump’s criticism of an “Obama judge” who ruled against the administration.
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With over seven decades of experience - feeling the hopes and disappointments of policies, seeing the idealism and disgust of politics - some of the things Bruce Joffe has learned in life may be wisdom, others may be delusion. ... You decide.
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