Summations Only

Doh, I must have forgotten to put on my tinfoil hat! LOL "AltReich AltNews", I hadn't seen this expression before is this your creation or borrowed?

Borrowed

Here's my reaction to just one paragraph from a New York Times article describing the inauguration (Donald Trump Is Sworn In as President, Capping His Swift Ascent):

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Violence broke out an hour before Mr. Trump was inaugurated when protesters smashed shop windows around Franklin Square in downtown Washington. A Bank of America branch had all its windows shattered and a Starbucks was left with a gaping hole in its glass front door. Police officers in riot helmets used pepper spray to break up groups of protesters, who spread out and kept breaking windows.

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Smashing shop windows? Wrong way to protest.And here's my reaction to Trump's inaugural speech (this link is to an annotated version, I couldn't find the text alone, though the text is led by a video of the speech).

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For too long, a small group in our nation's capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth.

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He's right in one sense. I believe everyone in the Senate is a multi-millionaire, and those in the House probably aren't doing badly either. How is that Obama is a multi-millionaire, $12.2 million according to Google. Politics should not be a route to riches. Those who hear its siren call should fare no better than teachers and policemen.And he's right in another sense. Washington and environs have become incredibly prosperous. Serving government should not be so lucrative. Lobbyists would not be paid so much if lobbying didn't work, and our politicians should not be for sale to those who can afford to put together the right package of campaign donations and charming and skilled persuaders.

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Politicians prospered, but the jobs left, and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nation's capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.

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It's true that the manufacturing sector has declined, but it isn't because politicians prospered. Our manufacturing sector is a victim of our nation's success where wages rose to the point where they priced our workers out of jobs. Protective tariffs would insulate manufacturing against foreign competition but increase domestic prices. There are no simple solutions. Indications so far are that Trump favors tariffs.

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The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer. Everyone is listening to you now. You came by the tens of millions to become part of an historic movement, the likes of which the world has never seen before. At the center of this movement is a crucial conviction that a nation exists to serve its citizens.

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But nations do not exist in vacuum. When one nation in some way restricts access to its markets by other nations, those nations retaliate with restrictions of their own, and now both nations are poorer. This isn't to say that arriving at fairly matched competitive markets isn't complicated and difficult, but trade negotiations are the answer, not unilateral tariffs and dictating terms to trading partners.

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...an education system flush with cash...

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An education system flush with cash? He must be talking about the private schools his children attended.

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For many decades we’ve enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry, subsidized the armies of other countries while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military.

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Depletion of our military? This is just false. We remain the greatest military on Earth, probably by a larger margin than at any time in our history.

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We've defended other nations’ borders while refusing to defend our own...

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Here Trump is improperly conflating the integrity of our unthreatened borders with the defense of western Europe.

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...and spent trillions and trillions of dollars overseas while America's infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay. We've made other countries rich while the wealth, strength and confidence of our country has dissipated over the horizon.

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And now Trump continues on to confusedly blame defense of western Europe for both making those countries rich (obviously they're not significantly different in wealth than ourselves) and making ourselves poor. Our spending on defense did not make western Europe rich and it did not bankrupt ourselves. Our greater spending on defense allowed us to dictate the approach to the cold war, and our military influence added to our economic influence is part of why Coke and Pepsi and MacDonald's and Burger King dominate world markets and not Schweppes and Brioche Dore.

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Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families. We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies and destroying our jobs. Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength.

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Am I reading this right? Is this a call for protectionism? If so, then that way lies world disaster. Worldwide wealth builds from mutually beneficial trade.

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We will build new roads, and highways, and bridges, and airports, and tunnels, and railways all across our wonderful nation. We will get our people off of welfare and back to work rebuilding our country with American hands and American labor.

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Putting people to work at government expense building infrastructure is a good idea.

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We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world, but we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first.

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Nations do best when working out mutually beneficial arrangements with partners.

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We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones and unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the earth.

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I kind of like the tone of this. After all, we broke Iraq in a way that gave birth to ISIS, so we bear great responsibility for fixing it. But the real way to eliminate radical Islam is to bring peace and prosperity to the region, not to conquer it. Military solutions are just another way of playing whack-a-mole. You can conquer them in one place, but they'll just rise up in another.

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At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America, and through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other. When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice. The Bible tells us how good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity.

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Calls to nationalistic fervor like this are scary. This is how wars start. Sure, we all love our country, but we also realize that our own best interests are actually tied up in mutual self-interest with other nations.

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We will no longer accept politicians who are all talk and no action, constantly complaining but never doing anything about it. The time for empty talk is over.

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This is ironic, the man who manages to talk and talk while saying nothing specific calling for an end to empty talk.--Percy

Exactly. Trump did not say much of anything specific.The inauguration speech was essential a Valentine's Day card for his base. I'm not surprised that it was full of stuff that I am not onboard with. Over the next few months, we are going to see Trump in action as president. If I am going to complain from this point on, it is going to be about what he does and tries to do as president.

Somewhere today I saw someone quote somebody quoting the second half of the original Pledge of Allegiance which was later replaced by the current one written by a Socialist:

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We give our heads and hearts to God and our country; one country, one language, one flag!

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The gestures of the first half was to touch your forehead then your heart with your right hand. For the second half (" ... one country, one language, one flag!") the right arm was extended outwards in what we now consider a Nazi salute.Does not bode well for our country. Perhaps I'd better start brushing up on my heel-clicking.Edited by dwise1, : Added "... the second half of ... "

But seriously. Trump is a salesman first and foremost. He will sell you a pig in a poke without even thinking about it. Of course, there comes a point where you open that poke and look inside to see that there's no pig there, that you have been cheated, but by that time the guy who had sold you that pig in a poke is long gone with your money.Trump is still selling America a pig in a poke. Slowly but slowly America is going to open that poke and look inside to discover that he has lied to them and has cheated them.One word: Trump University. Did nobody learn from that?

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A family story in case you don't understand the expression.When my father was 8, his family moved to Texas. His mother sent him to the general store with a shopping list. The "old woman" behind the counter, about 18 years old, asked him "What's your'n?" which he misunderstood to be "urine" which led to her boxing his ears (in those days, the community's duty was to beat your child every time it dared to misbehave in any manner). As he was sitting outside crying, a man passing by asked him what was wrong, being a non-Texan understood the situation, and explained it to the poor kid. So now he had all the items on the shopping list and was trying in vain to carry them away in his arms. The "old woman" asked him if he wanted a poke. No! He had been hurt and traumatized enough, so he didn't need for her to poke him! But she insisted, saying that he needed a poke and she was going to give it to him.A poke was a sack to carry your goods in.

Article: Trump signs executive order that could effectively gut Affordable Care Act’s individual mandateTrump last night signed an executive order directing federal agencies to ease the burden of Obamacare on "consumers, insurers, hospitals, doctors, pharmaceutical companies, states and others." Trumpian in its non-specificity, it apparently gives agencies the right to modify regulations created under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that impose taxes or fees.Trump might think his executive order gives federal agencies the right to create regulations contrary to the ACA, i.e., contrary to current law, but any agency that does this should be challenged in federal court. We still have the rule of law, or at least I hope we do. As the article accurately states, "In general, federal rules cannot be undone with a pen stroke but require a new rulemaking process to replace or delete them."--Percy

Seems like all new presidents do that one, but he seems to have a particularly itchy trigger finger. As much as it seems Putin has his finger wrapped around Trump, Mad Dog Mattis seems to have figured out Putin's game and has been very vocal that he presents the most significant existential threat to the U.S. So hopefully Trump will listen to his own Secretary when it comes to that (provided the information is accurate). But I do agree with Trump that positive relations with Russia is indeed an asset, not a liability, with the proviso that the US isn't getting played by Russia. I would like to see our pseudo-war with Russia to be over and to see true peace between the two... but I realize that is a lofty goal, nevertheless. Trump has really bought in to the antiquated notion that in order to have a strong economy you have to consume national products over exports... which economists have been demonstrating is not really the case for like 2 decades now. Does he maybe have something small right about perhaps too much reliance on Chinese imports? Sure, maybe. But the overwhelming economic relationship between China and the US is not only good for the two nations economies, but also the world's overall economic health and stability. It also has the ancillary benefit of disincentivizing war between the two nations who, without those trade relations, surely would have ideological differences that may bring about military conflict. All presidents pander to their party line.... except maybe Reagan's choice of Sandra Day O'Connor. I have no problem with ICE or CBP doing their job, and I think protecting the border is fine within reason, but rounding people up in the manner he is suggesting will only create a very serious rift between the Mexican-American community that doesn't need to exist. Mexicans are as American as apple goddamn pie, if you ask me. Literally one of the dumbest plans in human history... a monstrosity so costly on the taxpayers with, literally, no incentive. To think that a wall will keep people out in 2017 is so childishly naive, it's almost too much to believe... as if ladders, tunnels, or small amounts of explosives can't solve that. I have zero problem with legitimate terrorist watch-lists, but I have a big problem with indiscriminately placing all muslims on a watch-list is a Hitlerian quality that needs to be avoided for rather obvious reasons. Eh... They don't do much except make small enhancements to charges. But I wouldn't necessarily get rid of them. Great idea. That bill is an atrocious piece of legalese that is severely harming doctors in small practices. I think he's been talking of expanding it in lieu of replacing ObamaCare, but I could be thinking of something else. I'm pretty sure he advocates Roe v. Wade. People forget that he was a registered Democrat up to the the 1990's. A lot of people on the Left have been making assumptions about him like he must hate gay people... but he's actually been very supportive of gay rights. Hope not That would be tragic A flat tax makes everyone pay the same percentage. Having more money would mean more money taxed but not a higher percentage.

This was more a reference to the unusual number of currently open judgeships due to refusal of the Republican Senate to consider Obama appointees. The concern isn't that Trump will appoint conservative judges. Of course he will. The concern is the number of conservative judges he will be appointing at the beginning of his presidency, about double what is typical. If this is true (how are small-practice doctors being harmed?) then fixing it might be considered, rather than scrapping a plan that helps provide health insurance to millions who previously had none. Trump believes the EPA puts American businesses at a disadvantage internationally and is in favor of reducing environmental regulations. He has singled coal out as being especially aggrieved. Indeed, it is tragic that Trump doesn't accept the evidence that humans are primarily responsible for climate change, and that his EPA nominee is a climate change skeptic. I think the only flat tax Trump is proposing is for unincorporated businesses and capital gains, reductions in both cases.--Percy

Obama entered the white house with a net worth of something like 2 million dollars. Let's recall that both he and Michelle worked at large law firms before entering public service. The president drew a salary of 400K for 8 years, and now his net worth is estimated at something between 7 and 12 million dollars[1] depending on who does the estimating.Now at the upper end of the estimating, there are some questions one might ask, but at the lower end, prudent investing, plus 8 years of salary, plus book royalties from a book written before he became president, plus winning the Noble Peace Prize (something like a million dollar award) easily explains Obama's increase in fortune.[1]http://time.com/...9729/barack-obama-net-worth-55th-birthday

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An analysis of Obama’s financial disclosure in 2015 showed a net worth between $2 million and $7 million, reported USA Today. Celebrity finance resource Celebrity Net Worth, however, reported that Obama’s net worth is as high as $12.2 million.

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The same article lists the sources for Obama's income. I see nothing untoward in those sources. YMMV.Edited by NoNukes, : No reason given.

Who said anything about untoward? It was a general point about the political class in agreement with Trump, that politics seems to be a route to riches when it shouldn't be, and Obama was an example. As an ex-president Obama can now go out on the speaking circuit commanding large fees. It isn't that something untoward is going on with the political class that is wrong. It's that it's possible to become wealthy through politics that is wrong.As with almost all Trump criticisms this one is remarkably free of details. It plays well as a sound bite. But I happen to agree with this one.--Percy

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The campaign to impeach President Trump has begun

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The effort to impeach President Donald John Trump is already underway.

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At the moment the new commander in chief was sworn in, a campaign to build public support for his impeachment went live at ImpeachDonaldTrumpNow.org, spearheaded by two liberal advocacy groups aiming to lay the groundwork for his eventual ejection from the White House.

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The organizers behind the campaign, Free Speech for People and RootsAction, are hinging their case on Trump’s insistence on maintaining ownership of his luxury hotel and golf course business while in office. Ethics experts have warned that his financial holdings could potentially lead to constitutional violations and undermine public faith in his decision-making.

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The impeachment drive comes as Democrats and liberal activists are mounting broad opposition to stymie Trump's agenda. Among the groups organizing challenges to the Trump administration is the American Civil Liberties Union, which plans to wield public-records requests and lawsuits as part of an aggressive action plan aimed at protecting immigrants and pushing for government transparency, among other issues.

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We think that President Trump will be in violation of the Constitution and federal statutes on day one, and we plan a vigorous offense to ensure the worst of the constitutional violations do not occur, said Anthony D. Romero, the ACLU’s executive director.

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and

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The ACLU files first Freedom of Information Act request on Trump’s business conflicts

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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is filing a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA) to learn the details of Trump’s conflicts of interest.

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Along with being the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump is a billionaire real estate mogul with construction projects ongoing in multiple countries around the world, which could potentially put him in violation of the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution. As of this writing, he still hasn’t released his tax returns to the public, making him the first president in decades to refuse what was considered standard disclosure for American heads of state.

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In an effort to force the new administration to be transparent with the public, the ACLU has filed a FOIA request with the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, the Office of Government Ethics, the General Services Administration, and the Office of Personnel Management between November 9, 2016 (after Trump won the election), and January 20, 2017 (Inauguration Day). The ACLU is seeking all legal opinions, memoranda, advisories, and communications between the aforementioned agencies and the Trump transition team.

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Since the election, it has become clear that during the Trump administration the public’s relentless focus on government transparency will be critical to documenting and pushing back against government violations of civil liberties, the ACLU wrote on its website.

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Trump took the oath, but he didn’t take the steps necessary to ensure that he and his family’s business interests comply with the Constitution and other federal statutes, said ACLU executive director Anthony Romero in a public statement. Freedom of information requests are our democracy’s X-ray and they will be vitally important to expose and curb the abuses of a president who believes the rules don’t apply to him and his family.

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The ACLU points to multiple causes for its FOIA request, including reports that Trump and his businesses are in debt to foreign governments, currently litigating multiple civil suits with more plaintiffs preparing additional lawsuits, and even potential violations of nepotism law by hiring his son-in-law as a White House adviser. On its website, the ACLU pointed out that a bipartisan team of ethics lawyers said that Trump may already be in violation of the Emoluments Clause:

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The Framers included this provision in the Constitution to guarantee that private entanglements with foreign states would not blur the loyalties of federal officials, above all the president, the ethics experts wrote in a joint statement. Yet that lesson seems lost on Trump, whose continued significant ownership stake in the Trump Organization forges an unbreakable bond between Trump and a global empire that will benefit or suffer in innumerable ways from its dealings with foreign governments.

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Fastest call for impeachment ever.Enjoy

It won't go anywhere, until the Republicans decide that it is time to dump Trump.

The equation for republicans is simple: no Trump means Mike Pence, one of theirs.

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Will Trump Be Impeached?

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On the other hand, many elected Republicans, perhaps most, consider Trump to be a threat to their brand and priorities. They worry that Trump is unhinged. (Who, apart from Trump himself, doesn’t?) To see Trump disappear and leave things to Mike Pence, a lockstep party man with all of Trump’s traditional rightist views and none of Trump’s eccentricities or heresies, would be a dream-come-true for Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. ...

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It's only a matter of time before TrumpleThinSkin does something atrocious, like drum up a war with Iran by trying to make the Intelligence people create fake evidence.The equation for democrats is a bit more complex: no Trump means Mike Pence, plus possible republican back-lash,What will tip either equation towards impeachment is public outcry, showing massive opposition. Something on the order of the women's march and satellite rallies yesterday -- the largest single protest in US history -- but something that will have bipartisan support.Enjoy

In the short term I think the FOIA request has a chance for some positive results.In the longer term, it seems likely that Trump will commit a number of impeachable offenses during his presidency, but he probably is safe from impeachment while the Republicans control the Senate. The mid-term elections will be the earliest opportunity for the Democrats to take over the Senate, and by that time there should be plenty of impeachment ammunition.Anyone looking for inspiration? Try this: Pictures From Women’s Marches on Every Continent (literally, *every* continent)--Percy