Trumptrocities of Note
* More assaults on the First Amendment
The
Trump Administration, in the form of attack dog and white supremacist Steve
Bannon, issues a statement calling the media the “opposition party,” and warning that the
media should “keep its mouth shut.”
Donald
Trump turned to Twitter (again) to denounce the New York Times and The
Washington Post. “Thr coverage about me
in the @nytimes and the @washingtonpost gas been so false and angry that the
times actually apologized to its dwindling subscribers and readers.”
“FAKE NEWS!”
It would be a little less embarrassing if this guy would use spell check.
There doesn’t seem to be any specific event or article that set him off this
time. I suppose he was sitting on the
shitter with nothing else to do and…well…had a little extra shit to get rid of.
* Endangered Species Act and endangered species. While no specific action has yet been taken,
The Endangered Species Act is in the crosshairs of the GOP. Why you ask?
Because, silly rabbit, those pesky animals are getting in the way of big
business making money. This is a
Trumptrocity to look for in the near future.
*The Trumptrocity piece de resistance however is:
Sorry. We’re Closed.
Remember the date Friday, January 27th 2017.
On that date
Donald Trump signed an executive order banning nationals of 7 Muslim countries
from entering the United States. Those
countries are; Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
This ban will last at least 90 days.
On that date in the same executive order Donald Trump
banned indefinitely, the entry of those fleeing from war-torn Syria.
On that date America turned off the beacon of hope and
plunged America further into a bleak blackness of hate and bigotry and Islamophobia.
On that date America took another step backward in a new
retreat back to the bad old days.
To fully understand this perversion you should read the actual text. It’s something of
a work of art if you’re an aficionado of cynicism, hypocrisy and any concept
that runs counter to what America is supposed to stand for. In fact if you're all in in for cowardice you’ll love
it.
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| The new face of personna non grata |
Isn’t it interesting that not one of the Muslim
nations on this list does business with a Trump company? And while the order mentions 9/11, not one of
the countries named includes those that the 9/11 attackers came from.
Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United
States to protect its citizens from foreign nationals who intend to commit
terrorist attacks in the United States; and to prevent the admission of foreign
nationals who intend to exploit United States immigration laws for malevolent
purposes.
Okay, that’s fine. Who would argue against letting in the
malevolent? The only problem is that this doesn’t target malevolence per
se. It targets nationals from 7
countries. So if you’re a lily white malevolent
from say Germany or Norway well then, come on in. But if you're say a world class distance runner from Somalia wanting to train, or a researcher from Iraq wanting to collaborate with your American counterparts or some little kid from Iran wanting to see mom then come back another time please. If we really want to keep malevolence out of
America then I say let’s take Donald Trump and that entire damnable and
repulsive administration of his and put them on a boat to somewhere, anywhere; or maybe just nowhere - let 'em drift.
If you’re an Iraqi trying to get into America, you’re
pretty well screwed. If you’re from
Syria then you’re extremely screwed. According
to Section 5 (C):
Pursuant to section
212(f) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1182(f), I hereby proclaim that the entry of
nationals of Syria as refugees is detrimental to the interests of the United
States and thus suspend any such entry until such time as I have determined
that sufficient changes have been made to the USRAP (U.S. Refugee
Admissions Program) to ensure that
admission of Syrian refugees is consistent with the national interest.
These changes apparently refer to Trump’s extreme
vetting. Most of us sitting comfortably
in our living rooms worrying about weighty matters like whether to bet the over
or under in the Super Bowl probably never knew that Syrian refugees
already go through a vetting process that takes 2 – 3 years.
In an interview with ABC News Trump warned, “…its
countries that people are going to come in and cause us tremendous problems.
Our country has enough problems without allowing people to come in who, in many
cases or in some cases, are looking to do tremendous destruction.” Bullshit.
Adham Sahloul writes in Lawfare, “He’s actually got matters backwards: citizens in a place like Syria
face tremendous terror from Syrian government and Russian warplanes bombarding
them daily, but there is no indication that Syrian refugees themselves have
brought that terror with them to the countries they have entered—at least not
in any numbers.”
He continues, “The
number of terrorist attacks in the United States by Syrian refugees is zero…According
to a 2016 study by the CATO Institute, there's only a one in a 3.64 billion
chance of being killed in an act of terrorism committed by a refugee of any
nationality; that’s a 0.00000003 percent chance of being murdered by a refugee.”
But let’s cut the crap, Donald Trump and his sycophants
and supporters don’t really give a shit about national security. The issue here is Trump keeping his odious,
off the cuff campaign promises that appealed to the hearts (and I use this term very loosely here) of the ugliest
elements of American society that put Trump in office. The issue is an appeal to those people who
abuse minorities, people of color and anyone who doesn't' conform to a twisted
limited vision of what they believe America stands for.
Trump and his team managed to craft a document that
discriminates against Muslims without actually using the word Muslim.
Section 5 (e) says in part…the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security may jointly determine to
admit individuals to the United States as refugees on a case-by-case basis, in
their discretion, but only so long as they determine that the admission of such
individuals as refugees is in the national interest -- including when the
person is a religious minority in his country of nationality facing religious
persecution… That’s of course Trump
team-speak for Christians are okay. Common sense would make you think that this will be found by the courts to run afoul of the First Amendment but in the past couple years common sense has apparently fled to more friendly grounds so let's not count on anything right now.
Some of the immediate results of this order are real head
shakers.
British Olympian, and recently knighted, Sir Mo Farah,
who is originally from Somalia may be banned from returning to the United
States where he trains and where his family currently resides.
Conservative British Member of Parliament Nadhim Zahawi,
who is of Iraqi origin has confirmed that he is now banned under the order.
A 5 year old Iranian boy, a legal resident of Maryland,
was detained at Dulles Airport.
Iraqis who aided the American military during the Iraq
War are affected. Thanks for your help and support in good faith and at the
risk of life and limb but we really don’t want you here.
Nome of these and the legion of other incidents to come will
phase Trump or the Kool Aid drinkers.
They’re all satisfied. It’s one
less Muslim that they have to waste time harassing on the way home from the KKK rally.
For all the thought that was put into this Trump might just as well have tweeted it. During the election he talked about this issue often using the term "extreme vetting." It was one of those mystery catch phrases of his that he blithely tossed out with no rhyme, reason or definition. It might have been nice if he'd done some minimal vetting of this monstrosity but why get caught up in the details of running it past the Departments of State, Justice, Homeland Security and Defense? And why would you want to run it past the lawyers at NSC? You know how lawyers roll, they might spoil all the excitement. I imaging that Trump got together with his son-in-law Kushner and decided, "What the hell. Looks good enough for government work."
There’s no sugar coating this. America has been slimed by
its own President. We’ve gone beyond laughingstock to pariah in one short week.
Other nations are having to carry our weight for us. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
tweeted, To those fleeing persecution,
terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith.
Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada.
As an American, I’m mortified. Like it or not I’m now, in
the worldview, represented by a loathsome and detestable individual. I’d had no
plans for overseas travel but if I did I’d cancel them. I’m too embarrassed.
America and the world will long remember the date, Friday, January 27th 2017.
Posted by Paulie - San Francisco CA
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