Showing posts with label muslim ban. Show all posts
Showing posts with label muslim ban. Show all posts

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Presidential Job Description

"It's common sense. Some things are law – and I'm all in favour of that – and some things are common sense. And this is common sense." President Trump
Whatever that means. Who decides if it's common sense or the law???? And what happens then? Is the President in charge of making common sense decisions?

I think Trump looks at the United States like a corporation and he is like the CEO. This week he has had to learn that he in fact doesn't call all the shots and the people of the USA are not employees, they are citizens. They are not on President Trumps's payroll and actually he has been elected to serve them and not the other way around. I think he needs to be reminded that he is an elected official and he kind of has to obey the law, just like everybody else. I thought a job description for the President as outlined in the Constitution might clear up any questions we all might have as far as what he is able to do:

The President’s Job
According to the Constitution
The US Constitution contains the only official “job description” for the
President of the United States. According to Article II, Sections 2 and 3, the
President:
1) Is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of the United States,
and of each state’s militia when the nation has need of it
2) Has power to obtain information and opinions from heads of the
executive departments
3) May grant pardons and reprieves for crimes against the United States
4) Makes treaties with other countries with the approval of the Senate
5) Appoints ambassadors, federal judges and heads of executive
departments – all subject to the approval of the Senate; the President
also has power to fill any vacancies that may happen while the
Senate is in recess
6) Must report to Congress from time to time about the state of the union
and recommend whatever measures he thinks are necessary
7) May call members of Congress together on extraordinary occasions,
as well as adjourn their meetings when they cannot agree on their
own about when to do this
8) Receives foreign ambassadors and other public officials
9) Is responsible for enforcing the nation’s laws
10) Issues commissions to all officers of the United States

As far as executive orders go, here is the description found by Wikipedia, easy to understand right: "Within the executive branch itself, the president has broad powers to manage national affairs and the priorities of the government. The president can issue rules, regulations, and instructions called executive orders which have the binding force of law upon federal agencies but do not require approval of the United States Congress. Executive orders are subject to judicial review and interpretation." The last sentence being the key, I guess....judicial review. 

So why all this emphasis on pushing the so called "Muslim Ban" through? Why isn't he putting energy into other issues, like the big promises he made during his inauguration? Jobs, for one and getting everybody off welfare a close second. Wow, to do that I guess he really would need a solid, intelligent economic program at hand. We have seen or heard nothing of this. Instead the press has been declared the enemy, the environment is under threat, women's rights are under threat, a racist is in the process of being appointed as the attorney general, and a senator has been forbidden to speak in the Senate. He puts on a good show, I will give him that.

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

You're Fired!


via Democracy Now!
"President Donald Trump fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates on Monday night, just hours after she announced the Justice Department would not defend Trump’s executive order temporarily banning all refugees, as well as citizens, from seven Muslim-majority nations. Yates had written a memo saying, quote, "I am responsible for ensuring that the positions we take in court remain consistent with this institution’s solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is right. I am not convinced that the defense of the executive order is consistent with these responsibilities nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful." Yates had served in the Justice Department for 27 years."
The White House accused Ms. Yates of betraying  the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order which she believes to be unconstitutional. So he fired her??? She was told that it is time to get serious about protecting the citizens of the Unite States.
So get serious about it Mr. President. How about trying diplomacy instead of aggression?  Invading countries to protect the interests of the USA hasn't worked so well in the past has it? As a normal citizen I ask you, when will this worsening spiral of violence stop?? What role has the USA's foreign policies played in creating the Taliban and ISIS? I am so sick of this cheap political rhetoric and wish just for once, we could get an honest answer out of Washington.
Berlin out.

Monday, January 30, 2017

Trump Muslim Ban

via The Intercept

According to the NYT more than 40 protests were organized across the USA, in response to Trump's ban on Muslims from seven different countries. Tens of thousands of Americans chanted and shouted their opposition to the Trump administration’s travel ban — and expressed their solidarity with refugees and Muslims.
Glenn Greenwald points out in his article in "The Intercept" on Trump's ban, that strangely enough the countries that have produced and supported the largest number of anti-U.S. terrorists — Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, UAE — are excluded from the ban list because the tyrannical regimes that run those countries are close U.S. allies. Go figure. The countries that have been included in the ban,  Syria, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Iran, Sudan, and Yemen have, according to the Cato Institue, produced virtually no terrorists who have committed terrorist acts on US soil from 1975 to 2015. So what is this really about? Europe is taking on the bulk of refugees being forced to flee countries that have been destabilized and bombed by among others, the USA. Now, the USA is not even offering these refugees asylum? I just don't get it.