[Discussion] The Donald Trump Administration

Let's follow and discuss what our newest presidential administration gets up to, the good, the bad, the lawsuits.

Top_Shelf wrote:

Any insight into why Central America is getting"rougher"?

Well, one reason is because organized crime is on the rise. This is partially because the US has been exporting gang members:

The spike in cross-border and internal displacement in the northern triangle is to some extent manufactured in the US. Between 2013 and 2015, the US government authorised the deportation of more than 300,000 Hondurans, Guatemalans and Salvadorans with criminal records, many of them children of refugees from the 1970s and 1980s. Another 550,000 Mexicans were also deported over the same period.

The return of so many people, many of them convicted felons, coincided with a sharp uptick in criminal violence in Central America and Mexico. The policy of deporting Latin Americans was actually expanded during the Obama administration. For years the returnees have strained local criminal justice and penal systems to breaking point – overcrowded prisons are even referred to as “crime colleges” or “finishing schools for crime”.

Also problems: the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, the displacement from Colombia's civil war (which currently has the world's largest displacement crisis), Mexico's cartels, the US deporting Salvadorans and Hondurans who previously had Temporary Protected Status here.

Only a tiny, tiny fraction of the refugees get anywhere near the US's borders.

NBC: Why are so many migrants crossing the U.S. border? It often starts with an escape from violence in Central America
Americas Quarterly: The Stunning Scale of Latin America's Migration Crisis
Doctors Without Borders: Humanitarian Crisis in Central America: People are fleeing the kind of violence we usually see in war zones

Médecins Sans Frontières wrote:

Every year, an estimated 500,000 people flee extreme violence and poverty in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras and head north through Mexico to find safety. The high levels of violence in the region, known as the Northern Triangle of Central America, are comparable to that in war zones where MSF has worked for decades.

Gang-related murders, kidnappings, extortion, and sexual violence are daily facts of life. “In my country, killing is ordinary—it is as easy as killing an insect with your shoe,” said one man from Honduras, who was threatened by gang members for refusing their demand for protection money, and later shot three times.

Central Americans fleeing violence often face more of the same along the migration route through Mexico. In 2017, MSF published a special report based on two years of research into the medical needs of refugees and migrants in the region.

And, of course, there's the longer-term opinion:
Op-Ed: U.S. support for brutal Central American dictators led to today’s border crisis

Rahmen wrote:

Voter registration deadlines by state

March. And Vote.

Unfortunately, I will not be in the DC march on the 30th. Wife's birthday weekend out of town.

OG_slinger wrote:
BadKen wrote:

If an El Salvadoran woman (especially a teen) fleeing gangs of thugs who are taking slave "wives" at gunpoint doesn't meet the definition of refugee or asylum seeker, then we either need a new category, or one of those should be revised.

Sessions issued a ruling about ten days ago saying that fear of gang violence or sexual assault wasn't enough to qualify for asylum anymore.

Yeah, I remember. I was referring more to Blind_Evil's info about those people not qualifying for asylum because they are not political targets. There should be some category for asylum from anarchy.

Sessions' ruling was just an implementation of the terrorist stance that the US is taking on immigration. It's another excuse to cage people and put them on display for potential refugees as an example.

I am reminded of "the wall" in The Handmaid's Tale.

Which, by the way, this week's episode was heartbreakingly relevant, as it dealt directly with the result of a young child being isolated from her parents. In the comments on the show, the producers said they interviewed NGOs that deal with this kind of thing. The dialogue in the show was as faithful as possible to the kinds of statements they heard about from children and parents. It hurt to watch it.

Just as a warning for anyone considering watching, it also contains TWO scenes of graphic sexual assault, which was even harder to watch. Sometimes I wonder why I keep up with that show when they pull sh*t like that.

BadKen wrote:

If an El Salvadoran woman (especially a teen) fleeing gangs of thugs who are taking slave "wives" at gunpoint doesn't meet the definition of refugee or asylum seeker, then we either need a new category, or one of those should be revised.

Would be nice In a more perfect world. I don't think it'll happen. I don't think a majority of people in the U.S. would support such legislation because that essentially lets entire countries enter. The INA has proven to be long-standing because people are by nature somewhat exclusionary, IMO.

BadKen wrote:
OG_slinger wrote:
BadKen wrote:

If an El Salvadoran woman (especially a teen) fleeing gangs of thugs who are taking slave "wives" at gunpoint doesn't meet the definition of refugee or asylum seeker, then we either need a new category, or one of those should be revised.

Sessions issued a ruling about ten days ago saying that fear of gang violence or sexual assault wasn't enough to qualify for asylum anymore.

Yeah, I remember. I was referring more to Blind_Evil's info about those people not qualifying for asylum because they are not political targets. There should be some category for asylum from anarchy.

Sessions' ruling was just an implementation of the terrorist stance that the US is taking on immigration. It's another excuse to cage people and put them on display for potential refugees as an example.

I am reminded of "the wall" in The Handmaid's Tale.

Which, by the way, this week's episode was heartbreakingly relevant, as it dealt directly with the result of a young child being isolated from her parents. In the comments on the show, the producers said they interviewed NGOs that deal with this kind of thing. The dialogue in the show was as faithful as possible to the kinds of statements they heard about from children and parents. It hurt to watch it.

Just as a warning for anyone considering watching, it also contains TWO scenes of graphic sexual assault, which was even harder to watch. Sometimes I wonder why I keep up with that show when they pull sh*t like that.

I have a hard time watching too - but it is a bit of a cautionary tale about allowing a theocracy to dictate policy, which is the way the needle is pointing... really, all the handmaidens tale is is a spin on if American were fundamentalist Muslim, what would it look like. If we put white people in those places, what would it appear to be?

It’s a brilliant concept to open our eyes to, not only our own swing in such lockstep dogmas, but that of places all over the world currently where half of the population is literally treated like chattel for even less of a reason than propagation of the species.

I really wish I had not read that at bedtime. Or ever, really, but now I'll never sleep.

Gremlin wrote:
Top_Shelf wrote:

Any insight into why Central America is getting"rougher"?

Well, one reason is because organized crime is on the rise. This is partially because the US has been exporting gang members:

The spike in cross-border and internal displacement in the northern triangle is to some extent manufactured in the US. Between 2013 and 2015, the US government authorised the deportation of more than 300,000 Hondurans, Guatemalans and Salvadorans with criminal records, many of them children of refugees from the 1970s and 1980s. Another 550,000 Mexicans were also deported over the same period.

The return of so many people, many of them convicted felons, coincided with a sharp uptick in criminal violence in Central America and Mexico. The policy of deporting Latin Americans was actually expanded during the Obama administration. For years the returnees have strained local criminal justice and penal systems to breaking point – overcrowded prisons are even referred to as “crime colleges” or “finishing schools for crime”.

Also problems: the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, the displacement from Colombia's civil war (which currently has the world's largest displacement crisis), Mexico's cartels, the US deporting Salvadorans and Hondurans who previously had Temporary Protected Status here.

Only a tiny, tiny fraction of the refugees get anywhere near the US's borders.

NBC: Why are so many migrants crossing the U.S. border? It often starts with an escape from violence in Central America
Americas Quarterly: The Stunning Scale of Latin America's Migration Crisis
Doctors Without Borders: Humanitarian Crisis in Central America: People are fleeing the kind of violence we usually see in war zones

Médecins Sans Frontières wrote:

Every year, an estimated 500,000 people flee extreme violence and poverty in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras and head north through Mexico to find safety. The high levels of violence in the region, known as the Northern Triangle of Central America, are comparable to that in war zones where MSF has worked for decades.

Gang-related murders, kidnappings, extortion, and sexual violence are daily facts of life. “In my country, killing is ordinary—it is as easy as killing an insect with your shoe,” said one man from Honduras, who was threatened by gang members for refusing their demand for protection money, and later shot three times.

Central Americans fleeing violence often face more of the same along the migration route through Mexico. In 2017, MSF published a special report based on two years of research into the medical needs of refugees and migrants in the region.

And, of course, there's the longer-term opinion:
Op-Ed: U.S. support for brutal Central American dictators led to today’s border crisis

It is also the natural culmination of nearly a century of our destroying any elements of Latin American civil society, much of it a concerted effort on the part of the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, GA.

We intentionally terrorized all of South and Central America so we could have fruit and coffee. Now we complain that people are trying to leave.

Does he even like Starburst candies and if not the he probably just holds on to these for the sh*t power moves. What a dick. Waiting to hear Starburst twitter f*ck you to him hopefully.

Hobear wrote:

Does he even like Starburst candies and if not the he probably just holds on to these for the sh*t power moves. What a dick. Waiting to hear Starburst twitter f*ck you to him hopefully.

He likes red and pink ones apparently. The next president will have a lot to do when he gets into office - the nice thing is that other world leaders will be relieved and easier to work with, well, with the exception of the other dictators.

Hobear wrote:

Does he even like Starburst candies and if not the he probably just holds on to these for the sh*t power moves. What a dick. Waiting to hear Starburst twitter f*ck you to him hopefully.

Once again, a headline I assumed was satire turns out to be real. What the hell are we doing?

BlackSheep wrote:

I have a hard time watching too - but it is a bit of a cautionary tale about allowing a theocracy to dictate policy, which is the way the needle is pointing... really, all the handmaidens tale is is a spin on if American were fundamentalist Muslim, what would it look like. If we put white people in those places, what would it appear to be?

The Handmaid's Tale was written in 1985 in response to Reagan and the swift rise of the so-called Moral Majority. The book isn't about America as a fundamentalist Muslim country. It's a book about America as a fundamentalist Christian country.

OG_slinger wrote:
BlackSheep wrote:

I have a hard time watching too - but it is a bit of a cautionary tale about allowing a theocracy to dictate policy, which is the way the needle is pointing... really, all the handmaidens tale is is a spin on if American were fundamentalist Muslim, what would it look like. If we put white people in those places, what would it appear to be?

The Handmaid's Tale was written in 1985 in response to Reagan and the swift rise of the so-called Moral Majority. The book isn't about America as a fundamentalist Muslim country. It's a book about America as a fundamentalist Christian country.

"Like" is not sufficient support for this comment

Chaz wrote:

Once again, a headline I assumed was satire turns out to be real. What the hell are we doing?

Letting Scott Pruitt buy tactical pants, apparently.

SCOTT PRUITT HAS SPENT A TOTAL OF $4.6 MILLION ON SECURITY, NEW DISCLOSURES SHOW — INCLUDING $1,500 ON “TACTICAL PANTS”

SCANDAL-PLAGUED ENVIRONMENTAL Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has now spent more than $4.6 million from public coffers on security, according to documents obtained by The Intercept and Documented under the Freedom of Information Act. The amount represents a $1.1 million increase from Pruitt’s total security costs as released in another disclosure just a month ago.

Pruitt’s high spending on security has become the subject of mounting criticism and a host of official investigations: Several EPA inspector general investigations have been opened, as well as an ongoing investigation by the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee.

Records released under the Freedom of Information Act list expenditures totaling $288,610 on a range of security-related items. The EPA, according to three expense line items for April, spent a total of $2,749.62 on “tactical pants” and “tactical polos.”

It's been said before, but: He's head of the EPA, why the hell does he think he needs all of this security?

And, while we're at it:

WP: White House to propose merging Labor and Education into one agency as centerpiece of federal government overhaul

The White House on Thursday will propose merging the Education and Labor departments into one federal agency, the centerpiece of a plan to remake a bureaucracy that President Trump and his supporters consider too big and bloated, according to an administration official familiar with the plan.

The long-awaited proposal to reorganize federal agencies would shrink some and augment the missions of others. It is the result of a directive that Mick Mulvaney, head of the Office of Management and Budget, issued to federal leaders 14 months ago. He urged them to find ways to merge overlapping, duplicative offices and programs and eliminate those the administration views as unnecessary.

Gremlin wrote:

And, while we're at it:

WP: White House to propose merging Labor and Education into one agency as centerpiece of federal government overhaul

The White House on Thursday will propose merging the Education and Labor departments into one federal agency, the centerpiece of a plan to remake a bureaucracy that President Trump and his supporters consider too big and bloated, according to an administration official familiar with the plan.

The long-awaited proposal to reorganize federal agencies would shrink some and augment the missions of others. It is the result of a directive that Mick Mulvaney, head of the Office of Management and Budget, issued to federal leaders 14 months ago. He urged them to find ways to merge overlapping, duplicative offices and programs and eliminate those the administration views as unnecessary.

Sure... that makes perfect sense. The “poors” only need enough education to serve the wealthy, so why not have a perfect conveyor belt from school to factory, eh? After all, those that can afford it will send their kids to private school, anyway.

“Private school” is also a joke, because some/many/most/all(?) of them still receive (significant) public funding. You wanna be “private” then be private, but mandate that they must receive no less than $1 in public funds, so they still have to abide by things like non-discrimination laws, etc.

Was listening to some REO the other night and was really struck by just how relevant this song from is today. Not surprised to find someone used it for this video. It's looking more and more like it is going to be a fight to take the country back. I guess that's why Pruitt is gearing up.

I can't stop laughing about this:

@ben_towle wrote:

Hey, did you know that now that Paul Manafort's in jail you can send him mail?

Address here: bit.ly/2tnMISE

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DgJ40A2V4AAc_NC.jpg)

firesloth wrote:

I can't stop laughing about this:

@ben_towle wrote:

Hey, did you know that now that Paul Manafort's in jail you can send him mail?

Address here: bit.ly/2tnMISE

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DgJ40A2V4AAc_NC.jpg)

Yoink!!!!!

OG_slinger wrote:
BlackSheep wrote:

I have a hard time watching too - but it is a bit of a cautionary tale about allowing a theocracy to dictate policy, which is the way the needle is pointing... really, all the handmaidens tale is is a spin on if American were fundamentalist Muslim, what would it look like. If we put white people in those places, what would it appear to be?

The Handmaid's Tale was written in 1985 in response to Reagan and the swift rise of the so-called Moral Majority. The book isn't about America as a fundamentalist Muslim country. It's a book about America as a fundamentalist Christian country.

Sorry - I wasn’t clear there. It’s a look at what America would look like if we resembled the fundamental theocratic nations that really rose up around that (and later) time. I was only attempting to remark on the brilliance of touching an audience that might otherwise ignore the plight of those suffering under such regimes and about the dangers any religion could pose when its rules, interpreted by man and twisted for political power are used as justification for actions.

Trump just keeps shuffling towards shutting down all negative press.

President Trump is continuing to hail his historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a win for the United States, but says media coverage of the meeting is "almost treasonous." In an excerpt of an interview with conservative pundit Mike Huckabee that airs on Saturday, Mr. Trump says that the two leaders came to a "wonderful agreement" in Singapore, but that it's a "shame that the fake news covers it the way they do."

"It's honestly, it's really almost treasonous, you want to know the truth," he said. "If you listen to the mainstream media, it's almost like I lost the negotiation."

Mr. Trump said during talks with Kim, the U.S. "got our hostages back, we get the remains back of our great heroes that have died. The big thing is the denuclearization."

Mark this point.
This is the turn. From where stuff seemed to be still unbelievable and under the surface to wholesale grabs, more violence, administration bullying and people getting hurt in the streets.
It is crazy that it took a year and a half to reach the tipping point and then perhaps a month to pass it.

We have to be really careful too. Because any upcoming protests they may try and escalate. If there are riots, Trump can try to postpone the midterm elections.

GWJers in purple and red areas be safe.

f*ck that treasonous f*ck.

fangblackbone wrote:

We have to be really careful too. Because any upcoming protests they may try and escalate. If there are riots, Trump can try to postpone the midterm elections.

You think? Part of me thinks it would be amazing if there were tens of thousands of people counter-protesting the Nazis in DC.

I admit that I thought black protesters would be the first targets for concentration camps. I should have remembered how his campaign started: first thing he said was that he was going to target 'Mexicans'.

In further "I am shocked it's not satire" news:

Donald Trump asks why other people are called the elite when 'I have a much better apartment and I'm richer than they are'

“They always call the other side ‘the elite’. Why are they elite? I have a much better apartment than they do,” the US president said.

“I’m smarter than they are. I’m richer than they are. I became president and they didn’t.

fangblackbone wrote:

If there are riots, Trump can try to postpone the midterm elections.

Then Trump will find out that he has no control over the midterm elections or any elections for that matter.

The Constitution has given that power to individual states and Congress.

"The Elections Clause": The Constitution, Article 1, Section 4 wrote:

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Place of Choosing Senators.

I don't see even this Republican-controlled Congress or Republican state governors wanting the "honor" of being the first people who have intentionally delayed or prevented an election in the history of our country.

For someone so fashion conscious, you’re telling me it’s an accident that she’d wear that jacket on a 100 degree day at the border? Next, we’re going to need to build an Atlantic wall to keep her kind out.