Recent threats targeting Jewish community centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, as well as last week's shooting in Kansas City, remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all of its very ugly forms.
Not only does Il Douché fail to directly condemn the actions of attacking Jewish cemeteries, the phrasing is so ambiguous that a Pepe Pooper can read this "condemnation" as being directed towards the Jews themselves and not the vandals. The neo-fascists see "hate and evil" as being the Jews, so this might just as well be a dogwhistle pat-on-the-back for them.
We have begun to drain the swamp of government corruption by imposing a five-year ban on lobbying by executive branch officials, and a lifetime ban on becoming lobbyists for a foreign government.
As Pro-Publica points out, this is smoke and mirrors B.S.
Burr is the first publicly known example of a former lobbyist who was able to take a job in the government as a result of President Donald Trump’s watering down of ethics rules in place during the Obama administration.As a candidate, Trump regularly railed against lobbyists and led crowds in chants of “Drain the swamp!” But as president, Trump last month signed an executive order that weakened significant aspects of the Obama ethics policy, including scrapping a ban on lobbyists joining agencies they had recently lobbied.Ethics experts say Burr’s hiring is a troubling example of how the new administration has greased the revolving door.“A lobbyist like Burr may de-register on Monday and enter the Trump Administration on Tuesday,” said Craig Holman of the watchdog group Public Citizen. “The very same agency Burr has been lobbying as a hired gun is now Burr’s to help run. This is a grave problem for the public because the agency may well represent the special interest rather than the public interest.” - https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-watered-down-ethics-rules-let-lobbyist-help-run-agency-he-lobbied
And we are imposing a new rule which mandates that for every one new regulation, two old regulations must be eliminated.
This is just asinine on the face of it. To put a regulation on driverless cars in place, we’ll just get rid of those pesky regulations on seat belts in cars as well as those requiring sprinkler safety systems in public buildings. Sheer demagogic idiocy.
We have cleared the way for the construction of the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines. Thereby creating tens of thousands of jobs, and I’ve issued a new directive that new American pipelines be made with American steel.More smoke and mirrors. The vast majority of the 21,050 jobs to which Il Douché refers are temporary, and not involved directly with the pipeline at all. To inflate his numbers, Trump has thrown in estimates of those restaurant workers, convenience store attendants, shoe-shine boys, etc., who would serve the actual pipeline employees. The REAL number of people estimated by the State Department to be directly employed in constructing the pipeline is 1,950. And the vast majority of those are temporary jobs that will disappear after just two years. How many? Of the 1,950 pipeline jobs, only 35 will be permanent and last beyond the two years of construction.
The real beneficiaries of the pipeline is not the American worker, but a handful of oil executives. No surprises there.
We want all Americans to succeed, but that can’t happen in an environment of lawless chaos. We must restore integrity and the rule of law at our borders. For that reason, we will soon begin the construction of a great, great wall along our southern border.From a wall, to a great wall, now to a "great, great wall". Trump doubles down. Maybe next year he'll be promising "a great, great, great wall, and Mexico will pay for it and they'll also pay for it's upkeep and painting it a classy shade of gold as well!"
According to data provided by the Department of Justice, the vast majority of individuals convicted of terrorism and terrorism-related offense since 9/11 came here from outside of our country. We have seen the attacks at home, from Boston to San Bernardino, to the Pentagon, and yes, even the World Trade Center. We have seen the attacks in France, in Belgium, in Germany, and all over the world. It is not compassion but reckless to allow uncontrolled entry from places where proper vetting cannot occur.Interesting that Trump has gone from "extreme vetting" to "proper vetting", which in his mind is the same thing. Or possibly a variation of "kill them all and let God sort them out."
In another nod to his alt-right base, he conspicuously omits their brethren in the KKK and other reich-wing terror groups who have committed murders and coordinated attacks on various non-WASP peoples in America.
Finally, I have kept my promise to appoint a justice to the United States Supreme Court, from my list of 20 judges, who will defend our Constitution... we have chosen judge Neil Gorsuch, a man of incredible skill and deep devotion to the law. He was confirmed unanimously by the court of appeals, and I am asking the Senate to swiftly approve his nomination.
Yeah, that Neil Gorsuch. The one who jokes about fascism and subverting the Constitution:
Friend emails turns out Neil Gorsuch was in her class at Columbia, here are yearbook photos pic.twitter.com/H7VPHMNT61— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) February 1, 2017
More than one in five people in their prime working years are not working. We have the worst financial recovery and 65 years.("And"? Shouldn't that be "in"?) The claim is dubious at best as "recovery" can be measured in a myriad of ways, But it is a recovery, after The Great Republican Recession Of 2008, and certainly not the worst by most important measures:
And when you consider the fact that once in power the Republicans implemented their policy of tying cinder blocks around the ankles of the recovery in their attempt to make Obama a one-term president, you understand that the fiscally-challenged GOP is what prevented the recovery from improving. For power-hungry, anti-American Republicans, this was a feature, not a bug:
I just met with officials and workers from a great American company, Harley Davidson. In fact, they proudly displayed five of their magnificent motorcycles, made in the U.S.A., on the front lawn of the White House. And they wanted me to ride one, and I said, no thank you.
Maybe a trike would be more appropriate? Afraid of bikes, afraid of stairs, afraid of dogs. What planet is this buffoon from?
I believe that real and positive immigration reform is possible, as long as we focus on the following goals: To improve jobs and wages for Americans, to strengthen our nation's security, and to restore respect for our laws. If we are guided by the well-being of American citizens, then I believe Republicans and Democrats can work together to achieve an outcome that has eluded our country for decades.This is the ongoing lie he's told to stoke the fears of the chicken-hearted right-wingers (and others) in America. It's a common nationalistic and rhetorical trope going back to many authoritarian dictators over the centuries. Trump bangs that drum as skillfully as any of them.
Another Republican president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, initiated the last truly great national infrastructure program, the building of the interstate highway system. The time has come for a new program of national rebuilding.
To launch our national rebuilding, I will be asking the Congress to approve legislation that produces a $1 trillion investment in infrastructure of the United States financed through both, public and private capital, creating millions of new jobs.
The Democrats have pushed for bigger infrastructure for eons, and the Republicans have fought that for almost as long, notably the infrastructure improvements proposed by Obama to help lift us out of The Great Republican Recession of 2008. Eisenhower was able to accomplish his plans without implementing a crony-prone "public-private" angle.
This is the first time the president has suggested public financing will be needed in addition to private investment to fix and rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, but it is still unclear where that money will come from. There is significant opposition within Trump’s own party in Congress to raising gasoline and diesel taxes, and there is some opposition in his own party to increasing tolling on the nation’s highways, bridges and other infrastructure — a key way to leverage private funding for infrastructure.
If Congress approves spending $1 trillion on the nation’s infrastructure, that would be a much bigger investment than what lawmakers approved to address the Great Recession in the early days of the Obama administration. The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act spent $787 billion in a much broader way — including tax cuts and tax credits, and aid to state governments and school districts to shore up their budgets and prevent layoffs — in addition to investments in public infrastructure, including what President Obama called “shovel ready” projects.
http://www.npr.org/2017/02/28/516717981/watch-live-trump-addresses-joint-session-of-congress?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social
As for healthcare, well, Republicans hate the very idea of healthcare. Asking a Republican to come up with a plan for healthcare is like asking a vegan to cook your steak dinner for you. As such (and since the GOP healthcare "plan" is essentially to flush healthcare down the toilet), I'll let Il Douché respond to Il Douché:
Tonight I am also calling on this Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare with reforms that expand choice, increase access, lower costs, and at the same time, provide better healthcare.
Mandating every American to buy government-approved health insurance was never the right solution for our country.
Here are the principles that should guide Congress as we move to create a better healthcare system for all Americans. First, we should ensure that Americans with pre-existing conditions have access to coverage, and that we have a stable transition for Americans currently enrolled in the health care exchanges.
Secondly, we should help Americans purchase their own coverage, through the use of tax credits and expanded health savings accounts, but it must be the plan they want, not the plan forced on them by our government.
Thirdly, we should give our state governors the resources and flexibility they need with Medicaid to make sure no one is left out.
Fourth, we should implement legal reforms that protect patients and doctors from unnecessary costs that drive up the price of insurance and work to bring down the artificially high price of drugs and bring them down immediately.
And finally, the time has come to give Americans the freedom to purchase health insurance across state lines. Which will create a truly competitive national marketplace that will bring cost way down and provide far better care.
Republicans have had 7 years to come up with a plan to "expand choice, increase access, lower costs, and at the same time, provide better healthcare" and Republicans have failed completely. They have come up with exactly squat.
Universal Single-Payer is the best, most-cost effective, most efficient, and healthiest way to healthcare. Period.
1st - Republican claims that they will "ensure that Americans with pre-existing conditions have access to coverage" is more GOP snake-oil B.S. As has been pointed out, I have access to a Mercedes-Benz, but if I cannot afford it, it does me no good.
2nd - More sleazy Republican snake-oil bait-and-switch. "We'll give you the right to buy your own insurance" - that's the same BS "Chaos-Care" we had before the ACA.
3rd - Giving governors the "flexibility" to gut medicare is not a healthcare plan.
4th - Holding doctors accountable for their actions and holding medical device companies accountable for their products is not controversial. Restricting American citizens access to the full and unfettered processes of the justice system to hold these groups accountable is unAmerican at its core.
5th - More Republican B.S. -
Individual insurance coverage is regulated by states, not the federal government, so insurers have to have their plans approved state by state. However, the Affordable Care Act [already] permits states to join together to sell insurance across state lines, and at least three states now allow some form of cross-border sales of health insurance. So far, however, no insurers have shown interest in selling [health insurance] plans across state lines. Many analysts say that some consumers might see some savings but could also end up with fewer protections — and fewer guaranteed benefits — than they have in their own state. Selling/buying insurance across state lines is mostly a theory, so far not proved to work.
http://www.npr.org/2017/02/28/516717981/watch-live-trump-addresses-joint-session-of-congress
Megan was diagnosed with Pompe disease, a rare and serious illness, when she was 15 months old. She was not expected to live past five. On receiving this news, Megan's dad, John, fought with everything he had to save the life of his precious child. He founded a company to look for a cure and helped develop the drug that saved Megan's life.
Great idea! If you learn you have cancer or diabetes, just start a company to invent a cure! Easy peasy! Why have Republicans kept this secret away from us for so long?
[F]amilies should be free to choose the public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home school that is right for them.
Fine. Just don't ask the American taxpayer to fund these.
I am sending the Congress a budget that rebuilds the military, eliminates the defense sequester, and calls for one of the largest increases in national defense spending in American history.
The Pentagon is not wanting for money. Crony capitalism at work. Overtime.
We are blessed to be joined tonight by Carryn Owens, the widow of a U.S. Navy Special Operator, Senior Chief William "Ryan" Owens. Ryan died as he lived: a warrior, and a hero –- battling against terrorism and securing our nation.Trump is the quintessential Republican: An asshole and a chickenhawk -
What followed was clearly a powerful moment in the speech, referencing Owen’s death in a raid in Yemen. But though Owens’ widow was there, it was notable who wasn’t — Owens’ parents. This week, Owens’ father called for an investigation and refused to meet with Trump when the president met his son’s body at Dover Air Force Base. “I told them I didn’t want to make a scene about it, but my conscience wouldn’t let me talk to him,” Owens’ father, Bill, a veteran who said he did not vote for Trump, told the Miami Herald. Irritated with the White House’s using his son’s death as cover against those who criticize the raid, Bill Owens said, “Don’t hide behind my son’s death to prevent an investigation. I want an investigation. … The government owes my son an investigation.”
http://www.npr.org/2017/02/28/516717981/watch-live-trump-addresses-joint-session-of-congress
Trump then has the gall to clumsily close his speech by paraphrasing a truly great president, a Democratic president, John F. Kennedy, in his speech at American University just days before his assassination.
More on this speech an a later post.
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