HyperNormalisation

Here is a link to an interesting documentary....HyperNormalisation from Adam Curtis. This documentary tries to explain some of the craziness we are experiencing today and how we got where we are. There is no rational explanation for Trump having been elected president but Curtis does make an effort at reasoning why. Here the blurb to the film....
"HyperNormalisation wades through the culmination of forces that have driven this culture into mass uncertainty, confusion, spectacle and simulation. Where events keep happening that seem crazy, inexplicable and out of control—from Donald Trump to Brexit, to the War in Syria, mass immigration, extreme disparity in wealth, and increasing bomb attacks in the West—this film shows a basis to not only why these chaotic events are happening, but also why we, as well as those in power, may not understand them. We have retreated into a simplified, and often completely fake version of the world. And because it is reflected all around us, ubiquitous, we accept it as normal. This epic narrative of how we got here spans over 40 years, with an extraordinary cast of characters—the Assad dynasty, Donald Trump, Henry Kissinger, Patti Smith, early performance artists in New York, President Putin, Japanese gangsters, suicide bombers, Colonel Gaddafi and the Internet. HyperNormalisation weaves these historical narratives back together to show how today’s fake and hollow world was created and is sustained. This shows that a new kind of resistance must be imagined and actioned, as well as an unprecedented reawakening in a time where it matters like never before." via thought maybe
Check it out.

GET HIM OUTTA HERE! Wildest Donald Trump Rally Moments

Three people, Kashiya Nwanguma, Molly Shah, and Henry Brousseau, have filed lawsuits against Trump supporters who they claim assaulted them at a rally and against Donald Trump, who they claim incited the attack. They claim they were assaulted at a Trump campaign rally in Louisville, Kentucky, where Mr Trump directed the crowd to “get them the hell out.” They are the first to take legal action. Now you can see in this short compilation above how Trump reacted to protestors at several of his rallies while campaigning for President. It isn't pretty, in fact it's absolutely unbelievable that someone who has behaved like this, in public, is now President of the United States. What is wrong with people, how is this possible? He apparently brings out the worst in his supporters
and now even his supporters are admitting it! Matthew Heimbach, leader of the white nationalist Traditional Youth Network,  has accused Donald Trump of inciting violence at his campaign rallies, saying he was encouraged to angrily remove protesters from a rally by the New York tycoon!
He has claimed in a federal court filing that he acted under Mr Trump’s authority to remove protestors from a March 2016 rally in Louisville, Kentucky.
Any of the alleged actions, he states, were taken "pursuant to the directives and requests of Donald J Trump and Donald J Trump for President lnc.”
President Trump’s lawyers have submitted their own filing, in which they claim he cannot be subject to civil suits because he is president of the United States. They also claim that his words were not  directed to his crowds. Who was he yelling at?? The rally, being as that it took place before Trump was elected, is not considered an official presidential act and although he is not be liable for damages in civil suits over his actions as President, he is not immune from federal litigation concerning non-official acts. 
So this should be interesting, thugs calling the kettle black.

Trump and the War on Coal

A crucial EU standing committee vote to clean up Europe's toxic air is coming up on April 28th. If the new pollution limits are passed than even bigtime polluters (coal) Germany and Poland, would be forced to clean up their act. If the regulations are implemented the dirty coal industry will be forced to adopt the best available techniques to clean up the air pollution caused by burning coal. Every day in Europe, air pollution caused by coal causes the deaths of 63 people through pollution related diseases. By applying clean air technologies thousands of lives could be saved, deaths caused by dirty air could be reduced by 85%. So you would think this is pretty cut and dry but, the coal industry isn't pleased that legislation could be passed which would force them to clean up or shut down, so lobbyists are fighting this and once again we are faced with a possible outcome of profit over people.
So Europeans are fighting for clean air regulations here and on the other side of the pond, Trump's newest executive order begins the process of reversing the climate change policies put into effect by the Obama administration. He is putting an end to the war on coal and stepping up his gameplan on the war on breathable air. He has already proposed cutting E.P.A. funding by 2,6 billion dollars and laying off about a fifth of it's workforce. The Obama Clean Power Plan places limits on carbon emitted from existing power plants and would have forced hundreds to close. This plan was the product of years of debate and negotiation between industry and environmental groups, economists, and policymakers. Many activists felt that the end result was too weak. Trump’s executive order, is simply ignorant and arrogant. If the U.S. is to meet its commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement, part of the world’s eleventh-hour efforts to avoid catastrophic climate change, the Clean Power Plan cannot be revoked. Repealing the C.P.P. will do little or nothing to help out-of-work coal miners. Robert Murray, the C.E.O. of Murray Energy, the country’s biggest private coal company, recently said that coal jobs weren’t going to come back in the numbers that Trump has promised. According to estimates of the E.P.A. the C.P.P. would help prevent as many as thirty-six hundred premature deaths, seventeen hundred heart attacks, ninety thousand asthma attacks among children, and three hundred thousand missed workdays and school days every year. So much cannot be said for Trump's plan, in fact the only people who would seem to benefit are actually who? Not miners, really, because the coal industry has become so obsolete that jobs won't really be created in any large number  so I'm guessing the only people who really benefit from this craziness are a few people at the top of the industry, right? So if we win the battle here in Europe we can only hope that the battle still rages in the U.S. and that Trump will be foiled once again.  

The Swamp

Now, if I was going to "drain the swamp" in Washington, I think I might start off with former Goldman Sachs employees, or any former big bank employees for that matter, who now hold some sort of office in Washington. Right? Would some how make sense considering the role the banks, and specifically Goldman Sachs, played in the 2008 worldwide financial crash. Millions of Americans lost their jobs, their homes and their businesses in the recession that the crisis sparked, the worst economic downward descent since the Great Depression. So unless you live under a rock, you know that Wall Street, specifically Goldman Sachs and cohorts, were willing to screw people out of their pensions, homes and investments to put money in their own pockets. And they did. Big time. If I was someone who had run for president on the "drain the swamp" ticket, I sure wouldn't be hiring folks from Goldman Sachs and other big banks that were too big to fail but not too big to take money from taxpayers. Would you? It's not as if Wall Street isn't a longtime established player in Washington, there have been many former employees present in many administrations but Trump presented himself as an economic nationalist determined to not to be a lackey to Wall Street. So what's up President Trump? Now that Jim Donovan has joined the team, Trump has five Goldman Sachs expats
in high level positions. Even White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus reportedly tried blocking Donovan from the Treasury because he had fears of an image problem with too many “Goldman guys.” But Donovan got the post anyway. Other big banks are represented in Trump's team as well, One West Bank, who were especially brutal to homeowners, and Bear Stearns just name a few more.
But it’s not just the presence of ex-bank executives that is so scary, it’s Trump's agenda, oriented to Wall Street’s wishes. Trump has settled into an agenda of tax cuts and deregulations for the financial industry. When I read the word deregulation in the same sentence as Wall Street, I feel pretty disconcerted. In February Trump signed an executive order to get rid of regulations preventing private equity funds to be a game player in the 401k game. These schemes involve a higher risk and
can, as we have seen the in past, go really bad. So is this is what Trump meant by draining the swamp? He never intended to drain the swamp, he couldn't care less about draining the swamp. All just talk and as we all know, talk is cheap.

Trump's Massive Tax Cuts?

Trump has glibly promised massive tax cuts for "the middle class, the forgotten people, the forgotten men and women of this country, who built our country”. Unfortunately if we take a good look at his tax cuts it appears that the only people who will benefit big time are the richest 1%. Meanwhile more than 8 million with children are to be at a disadvantage and are expected to suffer under his proposed tax plan. Is anyone really surprised by this? Maybe the peolple who voted for him are but I can't imagine anyone else is.
Lily Batchelder, a law professor and tax expert at NYU has stated that “The Trump tax plan is heavily, heavily, skewed to the most wealthy, who will receive huge savings. At the same time, millions of low-income families – particularly single-parent households – will face an increase.”
Ms. Batchelder who wrote an academic paper on Trump's tax plan which was published by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, has also stated that "The president's plan “significantly raises taxes” for at least 8.5 million families, with “especially large tax increases for working single parents”. More than 26m individuals live in those families. According to Ms. Batchelder’s research Trump’s tax "reforms" – if taken at their “most conservative” – could leave just over half of America’s nearly 11m single-parent households facing an increased tax burden. This figure rises to 61% – or 7m households – if the analysis is run on “reasonable assumptions” that the changes Trump has suggested go ahead.
Single-parent families would suffer the most because Trump is planning on lowering the amount of tax-free earnings to $15,000 per adult, regardless of the number of children in the household. Under current law the threshold is $17,400 for single-parent families with one child and $24,750 for a couple with one child, and the threshold increases by $4,050 for each additional child.
The richest 1% will collect 47% of all the tax cuts – an average saving of $214,000. 
So while the poor will face tax increases, the rich will receive big tax cuts that get even bigger as you work up the income scale. So where is the massive tax cut for the forgotten people?
 Matt Gardner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) has said.  “America is already very unequal, and his proposals would make income inequality a lot worse,” This is obviously quite worrisome. If he rode to victory on a middle-income wave of support, those middle Americans will be very disappointed.”
Well that doth indeed sucketh.

International Women's Day and Trump

Happy International Women's Day, ladies!
I thought a fun way to celebrate would be to list just a few of Trump's chauvinistic, insulting and disparaging comments he has made about women through the many years of his unsavory public life.
Lest we forget who we are dealing with here....

1. In a May 1991 Esquire magazine profile, Trump said this in lieu of his recent bad press: "You know, it really doesn’t matter what they write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass. But she’s got to be young and beautiful."

2. "You’re disgusting." Trump hurled at the woman lawyer who asked to take a break during a deposition, to pump breast milk for her 3-month-old daughter.

3. He insulted New York Times columnist Gail Collins. Trump sent her a copy of one of her columns, in which she called him a "financially embattled thousandaire," he circled her columnist picture and added a note saying, "The Face of a Dog."

4. He has insulted Arianna Huffington on several occasions, "Arianna Huffington is unattractive both inside and out. I fully understand why her husband left her for a man- he made a good decision."

5. He felt it necessary to tweet that Bette Midler is an extremely unattractive woman.

6. He has called Rosie O'Donnell, among other things, crude, rude obnoxious and dumb. “Rosie O'Donnell is disgusting, both inside and out. If you take a look at her, she's a slob. How does she even get on television? If I were running The View, I'd fire Rosie. I'd look her right in that fat, ugly face of hers and say, 'Rosie, you're fired.'

7. Trump has been quoted as saying that women who seek abortions should receive "some form of punishment" if abortions become banned. He has since renigged on this, but hey, he put it out there, this he can't deny.

8. Trump has attacked Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren repeatedly calling her "goofy," (goofy, really??) "a fraud," and, like Clinton, someone who is "playing the woman’s card."

9. He obviously had a weird problem with the fact that Miss Universe Alicia Machado had put on weight. During the first presidential debate, Hillary Clinton called out Trump for his history of chauvinistic comments. In particular, she called attention to Trump body-shaming Machado, whom he has called "Miss Piggy," "Miss Housekeeping," and an "eating machine."

10. Megyn Kelly has often been a target of his inappropriate comments...
After the first debate Trump called her a “bimbo”in one of his inimitable tweets.
He later implied her tough line of questioning was because she was menstruating.
“You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever,” he said.
He has also called Ms. Kelly “really weird, “crazy,” “the most overrated anchor,” “very bad at math,” “dopey,” “so average in every way”“Never worth watching”“sick”“the most overrated person on TV,” “Highly overrated” and a “lightweight.”

11. This is what he had to say about former presidential candidate Carly Fiorina....
 “Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that?
“Can you imagine that, the face of our next next president? I mean, she’s a woman, and I’m not supposed to say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?”

12.He has insulted the German ice skating champion Katarina Witt..."Wonderful looking while on the ice but up close and personal, she could only be described as attractive if you like a woman with a bad complexion who is built like a linebacker".

13. He, of course hit Hillary hard during the campaign, implying that if she couldn't satisfy her husband, how could she satisfy the USA? At a rally, he also called her an enabler to Bill Clinton's affairs “Bill Clinton was the worst in history and I have to listen to her talking about it?" he said in Eugene, Oregon. “Just remember this: She was an unbelievably nasty, mean enabler.

14. In an interview with New York Magazine in 1992 , Trump uttered this charming phrase about women: 'You have to treat 'em like s----'.


 15. And of course the all time low..
the  emergence of a video in which he discusses "grabbing (women) by the p****" and states that “when you’re a star, they let you do it”. Wonder what they let you do when you are president?
President Trump, before he was of course our elected commander in chief, is seen using lewd and sexually aggressive language to brag about groping and trying to have sex with women, including someone who was married, in footage obtained by the Washington Post.
In the video, Trump was recorded talking about a woman, who, thankfully for her sake remains unnamed, to Billy Bush, who was then a host for TV entertainment show Access Hollywood.
“I moved on her and I failed. I’ll admit it,” Trump says. “I did try and f--- her. She was married.
“And I moved on her very heavily... I moved on her like a b----, but I couldn’t get there."

So these are just a few of the President's comments over the years. Do we really have to ask if an International Women's Day is still relevant? What does this say about our society and what women have achieved when a man like Trump is sitting in the oval office? Pretty sad.

War Propaganda?

Here is a link, to what is in my opinion, a really intelligent article by Glenn Greenwald for "The Intercept" on Trump's use of a grieving woman, (standing next to Ivanka Trump, really?) during his speech before Congress. This woman's husband was killed in a commando raid in Jemen that Trump ordered. It was obviously intended to be a powerful moment during the televised speech where Trump is seen as showing great empathy for this poor young widow. Sustained applause. Some media commentators gushed about Trump's true presidential moment. Now, Trump isn't the first to use to this tactic of using suffering soldiers and their families, it seems to be quite popular among Presidents, Obama and George W. Bush also seemed to find it effective. Many civilians were also killed in this raid, including nine children, but the of course are not mentioned. This is also key to an effective form of war propaganda, politicians and media commentators fixate on the number of Americans being killed but the innocents (collateral damage?) remain for the most part nameless and faceless. How else can a war on terror  turn into a never ending war? (And who is fighting this war? The financially and socially disadvantaged, not the offspring of the elite and financially powerful.) Americans must continue to regard themselves as victims and not as perpetrators, the enemy has to be dehumanized, we cannot be privy to families of the fallen civilians grieving for their loved and lost.
But here is the real key to Trump's performance and c'mon, I am not saying he isn't sympathetic but the time and place to showing his sympathy is, as always, used to his advantage, and here I quote......
"The ritualistic tribute to dead or wounded U.S. soldiers has other purposes as well: It attempts — not using rational formulas but rather emotional impulses — to transfer the nobility of the slain soldier onto the war itself; after all, how unjust could a war be when such brave and admirable American soldiers are fighting in it?
And it is also intended that the soldier’s nobility will be transferred to his commander in chief who is so solemnly honoring him. As demonstrated by the skyrocketing post-9/11 approval ratings for George Bush and the endless political usage Obama obtained for killing Osama bin Laden, nothing makes us rally around a president like uplifting war sentiment."
Glenn Greenwald "The Intercept" 
Read the article and keep in mind that this how many Europeans see our war effort.

Make Empathy Great Again

via awelltraveledwoman

Transgender Student Rights

 Below is the definition of bullying found on the stopbullying.gov, the government website on stopping bullying in schools.  

 "Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior (among school aged children) that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose."

What kind of example is the government setting for our children? Where do they think bullying comes from if not from imitation. There should be a new government website created which gives citizens pointers on how to recognize and stop bullying on a governmental level. Here is what they suggest adults do to stop bullying in schools:

"Stop Bullying on the Spot

When adults respond quickly and consistently to bullying behavior they send the message that it is not acceptable. Research shows this can stop bullying behavior over time. There are simple steps adults can take to stop bullying on the spot and keep kids safe."

So what we can do with the bullying behavior seen on a daily basis coming out of the Oval Office, the Senate and Congress? Sending out the message that it is not acceptable. Hereby sending said message out. Is this really what will make America great again? Targeting the memebers of a society who are most easily targeted? This is what Trump had to say about bullying in 2016:

"The billionaire CEO sat down for an interview with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, which aired on the cable network Tuesday night. During the exchange, Kelly asked Trump if he was ever bullied as a child. He responded that he had not been, but bullying isn’t solely a youth phenomenon. “People are bullied when they’re 55,” Trump said. Kelly, sensing the irony of the moment, replied with a coy smile: “Can happen when you’re 45.”
“You know, it happens, right?” Trump continued. “But you gotta get over it. Fight back, do whatever you have to do.” Okay. Whatever we have to do.

Statistics from STOMP Out Bullying show that 9 out of 10 LGBT-identified students are bullied in school. 9 out of 10? In this day and age? Statistics also show that  LGBT youth are also four times more likely than their heterosexual counterparts to attempt suicide.
On Febrary 22nd, the Trump administration revoked Obama-era guidance laid out in 2016’s so-called Dear Colleague letter that sought to protect transgender students under Title IX, undoing what trans and civil rights advocates have termed a victory on a major cultural and political battleground.
Donald Trump promised to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals in his prime-time convention speech, and he said he was heartened to hear that the crowd supported him in that fight. So what, was he not telling the truth? Or was it fake news?

 

Scott Pruitt & the E.P.A.

photo via thinkprogress

I basically blame the Democrats for Trump's victory. I don't understand why they chose Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. I honestly believe Bernie Sanders would have had a better chance than Clinton to bring it home for the Democrats. So wouldn't you think, at least now, the Democrats would do what is in their power to oppose Trump's course of destruction? Well obviously not all of them. Two Democrats, Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota voted for Scott Pruitt as new head of the EPA. Are you kidding me? They should be ashamed of themselves. Let us take a look at Mr. Pruitt's interest for the environment and his relationship to the agency which once did make an effort to protect the environment, and which yes, might indeed, in the future better be named as a "so-called" environmental protection agency.
During the time Scott Pruitt served as the attorney general of Oklahoma, he sued the E.P.A. fourteen times in an effort to block federal air and water pollution regulations. He repeatedly sought to block policies designed to address climate change and has openly stated he is sceptical that climate change actually even exists. Why did Republicans insist on holding a confirmation vote on Friday when the Oklahoma attorney general’s office is under order to release about 3,000 of Mr. Pruitt’s emails related to his communications with the fossil fuel industry during a period in which, as that state’s attorney general, he repeatedly sued the E.P.A. and sought to block policies designed to address climate change. Pruitt is so shameless a choice that over 700 former E.P.A. employees have signed a letter to senators opposing his confirmation. According to Greenpeace, here is the real dirt on Pruitt....
 via Greenpeace
"Pruitt’s public statements on climate and energy are frustrating (to say the least) for anyone who understands basic science. But it’s what he hasn’t said that’s even worse.
In 2014, Pruitt was caught in a secretive alliance with oil and gas industry insiders aimed at tearing down environmental protections. Emails obtained by the New York Times show Pruitt and other Republican attorneys general collaborating with corporations and lobbyists to file lawsuits and challenge federal regulations on everything from fracking to air pollution.
One of those fossil fuel insiders was Harold Hamm, Trump’s top energy adviser and CEO of the country’s largest fracking company. Hamm would go on to chair Pruitt’s 2013 re-election campaign. More recently he’s made news as one of the biggest proponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline; it’s his company’s fracked oil that would have flowed through the pipeline if it had been completed.
Meanwhile, Pruitt has received $318,496 in campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry since 2002, leaving little doubt about whose interests he’ll protect as EPA head — and it’s not people or the environment."
So-called crazy activists and scientists who care about the future of the planet and and warn us that we must change our habits if future generations are to have clean air and water have little chance of making the profit the fossil fuel industry has by encouraging us to keep calm and carry on destroying the planet. Trump wants to dismantle the E.P.A. and has taken a huge first step in doing so. This is really a disaster.

Fact Check Trump Press Conference

  

image via ThinkProgress

I just watched Trump's press conference, all 77 minutes of it, and now I get why the European press has the general impression that the people of the Unite States have elected someone who isn't playing with a full deck. He whines about being left a huge mess to clean up, about how long it is taking to get his cabinet approved, goes on and on about his ratings in the Rasmussen poll being so high, and attacks the press and their credibility over and over again. Really? He assures the people of the United States that he will do everything in his power to reunite a divided country and lower, oh, wait, no, eradicate crime in inner cities. How? Didn't get around to elaborating on this, but I have the feeling it has alot to do with law enforcement? Or maybe not? It's all fake news anyway right? Or not? Everybody but Breitbart and Fox News and oh, yeah, President Trump, just spew fake news. Well, a fact check might clear up a little confusion.... here is a link to Politfact where you can actually, do a little fact checking on Trump's press conference. In fact if there are facts you would like checked out, you can suggest a fact check to Politfact and they will check the facts for you. You can write them here: truthometer@politifact.com . 
It is our responsibility to check facts and not just choose to believe those who support our opinions. We have to be informed, we have to search out reliable sources of information. Trump is undermining the credibility of the New York Times and several other news sources who we believe to be serious and responsible. It is right to question all sources of information and of course to check your facts, but to be told again and again that the media is nothing but fake news is of course very disconcerting and weakens us and our ability to decide and act on our decisions. On the other hand, we are being told that Breitbart and Fox News are impartial and unbiased. That they are fair. This simply isn't true, but don't take my word for it, check it out, check out several sources that have proven themselves to be truthful and responsible. Be informed.

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.

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.

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.

Berlin Sister March

Here is a link to an article in the Berlin English language magazine, "Lola". Expats living in Berlin were interviewed at the protest march last Saturday.  Here is a quote from one of the ladies interviewed:
“Everything is at stake during this presidency – healthcare, public funding for education, welfare, the environment. Women will keep earning lower wages. The LGBT page from the White House website is already gone. I’m extremely angry and I’m here to protect my reproductive rights. I’m tired of old white conservative rich men telling me what to do with my ovaries and my vulva. They’re mine. They don’t belong to them. I feel sorry for Melania – blink twice if you need help. Women, we need to stand up for our rights. We’re not second or third class citizens. We need education. We can’t sit idle. We have to mobilise and we have to keep on pushing.”
Irene Mogollon, 43, film editor, grew up between California and New York
I feel sorry for Melania, too. Go Irene.

The next big anti-Trump demonstration is scheduled for April 15, 2017. The official hashtag is #DivestDonald and protests are being planned nationwide.
Berlin out.

The Netherlands welcomes Trump in his own words

I am getting tired of the sympathetic looks so many Europeans are giving me, like
you don't seem crazy but what is up with the homeland???  We really are not in this alone and Europe is indeed to say the very least, disconcerted with the choices that are being made in the USA.
So my BFF, who is living in London, sent this video and I would like to share an European reaction to Trump and his "America first" policy. So here is a Dutch video where the Dutch are taking a pro-active approach.
Berlin out.

Karim Sulayman - I trust you

Trump's politics simply create fear and who would have thought it possible, even greater divisions
in the good ol' US of A. This guy above is making a statement and people are reacting like human beings. Go NYC! Our only option is to come together and say no to muslims having to register, to a wall being built, ( if you have lived in Berlin, as I do, you know this will not be a constructive move!), to limiting the control that women have over their own health and bodies, to building a pipeline instead of keeping that oil in the ground, to cutting the budget for NEA and trying to destroy public radio.
Berlin out.

Resist

via Greenpeace

January 25th, 2017 
 "Washington, DC – This morning, seven activists deployed a 70-foot by 35-foot banner of the word “Resist” above the White House. The activists from around the country are still in place, calling for those who want to resist Trump’s attacks on environmental, social, economic, and educational justice to contribute to a better America.

Since Trump has taken office, his administration has removed all mentions of climate change and LGBTQ rights from the White House website, taken steps to bring back the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines, and issued a press gag order on all employees of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture."

Have we ever seen a photo like this before?  Not as far as I can remember. Think it just about sums it up, though.

Let The Good Times Roll

Well, he is indeed off to a prolific start. President Trump has been very busy since his move into the oval office. Although in an alternative universe, these may be, as Kellyanne Conway might aptly claim, alternative facts, they do seem, for what it is worth, to be documeneted. Trump's war on the press is apparently also a war on historical facts and collective memory.
Here is a record, according to CNN, of his first 72 hours....

1. Taken over running of the entire federal government.
2. Issued an executive order aimed at rolling back former President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act.
3. Halted a reduction to the annual mortgage insurance premiums borrowers pay when taking out government-backed home loans.
4. Ordered agencies to freeze new regulations, giving the new administration time to review them.
5. Received a key legal OK from the Justice Department for Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner to take on a role in the White House.
6. Met with the CIA, where he addressed employees. Trump also took over the nuclear codes
7. Trump's nominee for CIA director, Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo, contradicted his earlier testimony and said he was open to revisiting limits on interrogation techniques including waterboarding if his intelligence officers think it is needed.
8. Raised the specter of another conflict in Iraq, with Trump expressing regret for not taking over the country's oil and telling the CIA, "We should have kept the oil. Maybe we'll have another chance."
9. Spoke to the Mexican president and said the two will meet at the end of January.
10. Spoke to the Canadian prime minister about the two nations' economic relationship.
11. Announced he has meetings with leaders in Mexico and Canada to begin re-negotiating NAFTA.
12. Announced his first foreign leader meeting will be Friday with the United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May.
13. Signaled a shift in the Justice Department's civil rights efforts when it requested a delay in the lawsuit over a Texas law requiring voters to present certain types of government-issued IDs.
14. Prepared to issue more executive orders this week.
15. Told the National Park Service not to tweet after it retweeted side-by-side images showing the crowd at former President Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration and Trump's inauguration.
16. Began discussions about moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
17. Confronted his first national disaster as President, deadly tornadoes in Georgia.
18. Issued executive orders to withdraw from the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal negotiations, as well as executive order on abortion and lobbyists who want to work in the White House.

 He has also reinstated the "Global Gag Rule" which bans U.S. funding for any international healthcare organizations that perform abortions or advocate for the legalization of abortion or even mention it, even if those activities are funded by non-U.S. money. So, I guess all the ladies who came out on Saturday to peacefully protest will be stepping up their game.

He has also signed two executive actions today to advance construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines.
A strange move indeed for someone who regards himself as an envrironmentalist.

He is most definitely on a roll. Let's keep our eyes and ears open.