TomCADem
TomCADem's JournalI am heartbroken: Malala criticizes Trump for closing the door on children fleeing violence
Source: Washington Post
Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who survived being shot in the head by the Taliban and went on to become an internationally-known advocate for girls' education and children's rights, said she is “heartbroken” over President Trump's executive order temporarily banning refugees from entering the United States.
“I am heartbroken that today President Trump is closing the door on children, mothers and fathers fleeing violence and war,” Malala said in a statement Friday through her nonprofit organization, the Malala Fund. “I am heartbroken that America is turning its back on a proud history of welcoming refugees and immigrants — the people who helped build your country, ready to work hard in exchange for a fair chance at a new life.”
Trump on Friday signed orders not only to suspend admission of all refugees into the United States for 120 days but also to implement “new vetting measures” to screen out “radical Islamic terrorists.” Refugee entry from Syria, however, would be suspended indefinitely, and all travel from Syria and six other nations — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen — are suspended for 90 days. Trump also said he would give priority to Christian refugees over those of other religions.
Referring to those criteria, Malala called out Trump for discriminating against children from those countries who have found themselves helplessly caught up in war.
Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/%E2%80%98i-am-heartbroken%E2%80%99-malala-criticizes-trump-for-%E2%80%98closing-the-door-on-children%E2%80%99-fleeing-violence/ar-AAmlII3?li=BBnb7Kz
Trump Protests: Marches on Washington 2017
March against corruption, for the environment or against hate? Or, sit back, surrender, and console yourself that you are not currently being targeted as a scapegoat by Republicans.
http://dc.about.com/od/communities/fl/Trump-Inauguration-Protests-and-Rallies-in-Washington-DC.htm
Following the 2017 Inauguration, a number of groups that oppose the policies of President Donald J. Trump are continuing to organize marches, protests, and rallies in Washington DC and other locations in the United States. On January 21, 2017, the day following the day that Trump was sworn in as President, the Women’s March on Washington brought together millions of people around the world to make their voices heard on issues such as gender-based violence, reproductive rights and women’s health, LGBT rights, worker’s rights, civil rights, immigrant rights, religious freedom, environmental justice and more. The March was a first step for many participants and additional events are being planned for the coming year
April 15, 2017 - Tax Day March on Washington - Expose Trump's conflicts of interests.
http://taxmarch.org/
April 29, 2017 - People's Climate March - March for jobs, justice and the climate
https://peoplesclimate.org/
June 11, 2017 - LGBTQ National Pride March - Members of the community are ready to stand up for their rights in the Donald Trump era.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1949652305264195/?active_tab=about
TBD - March on Washington for Science - Because alternative facts suck.
http://www.scientistsmarchonwashington.com/
How do You Get Progressives To Support A Regressive Sales Tax? Call It An Import Tax!
Aim at Chinese and Mexican consumer imported goods, then use the additional revenues to fund Trump's proposed personal income tax cuts that primarily benefit the rich. In addition, by taxing imports from Mexico, Trump will claim that Mexico is paying for his wall even though it really American consumers that are paying for the wall through this consumption based tax.
Does Trump's 20 percent tax on imported goods sounds familiar? Well, perhaps because Steve Forbes proposed something similar back in the 90s as a means of funding a tax cut for the rich.
https://www.brookings.edu/research/dont-buy-the-sales-tax/
Don’t Buy the Sales Tax
The tax reform panacea in vogue several years ago was the flat tax. This go around, it’s the retail sales tax. Advocates praise the simplicity, the potential for economic growth, the enforceability, and the fairness of a tax system based on consumption. But when examined closely, the simplicity breaks down, payments would be close to impossible to collect, and the tax’s fairness would be, at best, questionable. Nonetheless, more plausible consumption and income tax reform plans should not be ignored.
The politics of tax reform are cyclical, and once again, we’re hearing the call for sweeping change. The flat tax and the idea of fundamental tax reform dominated policy discussions in 1995 and the early part of 1996. These proposals aimed to replace the income tax, drastically simplify taxes, and spur economic growth by flattening tax rates, eliminating tax preferences, and taxing consumption rather than income. In 1997, however, Congress and the President moved in essentially the opposite direction. The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 showered new deductions and credits on various groups of taxpayers, made taxes more complicated, and raised effective marginal tax rates for many people.
Now, as 1998 begins, there are once again renewed calls to tear out the income tax and start over. Although the flat tax has certainly not disappeared, the newest plan to attract significant attention is a national retail sales tax. Representatives Dan Schaefer (R-Colo.) and Billy Tauzin (R-La.) have proposed a 15 percent sales tax which they claim will replace the personal and corporate income taxes and the estate tax. A group called Americans for Fair Taxation has launched a multimillion dollar campaign to replace income, estate, and payroll taxes with what they claim would be a 23 percent sales tax. These plans would tax almost all private consumption and all government expenditures. Ways and Means Chairman Bill Archer (R-Texas) has indicated general support for a sales tax but to date has officially kept his options open.
* * *
Even if the tax were enforceable at these rates, the implied effects on economic growth would be small at best, and certain sectors of the economy, such as employer-provided health insurance, could be affected significantly. The sales tax would raise burdens on low- and middle-income households and sharply cut taxes on the top 1 percent.
House science chairman: 'Get your news directly from the president'
Source: CNN
Washington (CNN)The chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee is asking Americans to trust the information they get from the President over the news produced by the media.
Republican Rep. Lamar Smith saluted President Donald Trump from the floor of the House on Tuesday evening, rattling off his first-week accomplishments but saying Trump is not getting the press coverage he deserves.
"The national liberal media won't print that, or air it or post it," Smith said. "Better to get your news directly from the President. In fact, it might be the only way to get the unvarnished truth."
Trump has been called out for highlighting falsehoods and conspiracy theories during his political career and has repeatedly attacked the mainstream press as pushing "fake news."
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/25/politics/lamar-smith-donald-trump-news/index.html
My act of resistance today was to pay for a subscription to The NY Times to support independent news media.
Propublica - Trump Promised to Resign From His Companies But Theres No Record Hes Done So
Do you remember the news conference with stacks of folders indicating that Trump has transferred control of his companies? Turns out that it just bullshit as of now. Maybe he will get around for it for his next term.
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-promised-to-resign-from-his-companies-but-no-record-hes-done-so
At a news conference last week, now-President Donald Trump said he and his daughter, Ivanka, had signed paperwork relinquishing control of all Trump-branded companies. Next to him were stacks of papers in manila envelopes — documents he said transferred “complete and total control” of his businesses to his two sons and another longtime employee.
Sheri Dillon, the Trump attorney who presented the plan, said that Trump “has relinquished leadership and management of the Trump Organization.” Everything would be placed in a family trust by Jan. 20, she said.
That hasn’t happened.
To transfer ownership of his biggest companies, Trump has to file a long list of documents in Florida, Delaware and New York. We asked officials in each of those states whether they have received the paperwork. As of 3:15 p.m. today, the officials said they have not.
Franken emerges as liberal force in hearings
Glad that Al Franken is taking it to Trump's cabinet picks.
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/315393-franken-emerges-as-liberal-force-in-hearings
Sen. Al Franken stole the spotlight at the confirmation hearings for President Trump’s Cabinet picks, giving a glimpse into how he plans to hold the new administration accountable.
* * *
Franken used his time on the dais to grill Trump’s Cabinet-level picks at several hearings on topics ranging from healthcare to immigration. Some of his fiery exchanges produced memorable moments that captivated social media and grabbed national headlines.
The senator’s sharp questioning was first on display at the hearing for Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump’s attorney general nominee, last Tuesday. Franken took the Alabama Republican to task over Trump’s claim that millions of people cast fraudulent votes for Hillary Clinton, and questioned whether Sessions had inflated the number of desegregation cases he prosecuted.
"Our country needs an attorney general who doesn't overstate his involvement," Franken said, agitating Sessions.
In Trump We Trust: Inauguration prompts celebration in Russia
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - The Kremlin may have spent years reviling America, but Russians hoping Donald Trump will usher in a new era of detente marked his inauguration on Friday with parties and trinkets from commemorative coins to "matryoshka" nesting dolls in his image.
Washington was turned into a virtual fortress with an estimated 900,000 people -- backers and protesters -- descending on the capital. In London, anti-Trump activists draped a banner reading "Build Bridges Not Walls" from Tower Bridge. Protests were planned across western Europe on Friday and Saturday.
But according to Gennady Gudkov, a Putin critic and former lawmaker, Russia is in the grip of "Trumpomania", with state media giving the President-elect blanket air time at the expense of more mundane and sometimes depressing domestic news stories.
That, he said, was in part because the U.S. election, unlike elections in Russia, had been unpredictable. The Kremlin is hoping Trump will ease sanctions imposed over the annexation of Crimea, team up with Russia against Islamic State, and cut back NATO military activity near Russian borders.
Read more: https://www.google.com/amp/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN1541S6?client=safari
It is as if the Russians themselves won the Presidency.
Article - Jews Failed to Spot Hitler's Menace
Interesting article by the author of "Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise to Power.”
http://forward.com/opinion/157832/jews-failed-to-spot-hitlers-menace/?attribution=author-article-listing-1-headline
In the very early 1920s, when Adolf Hitler was still only a local rabble rouser in Munich, two men from Munich’s American consulate made a point of observing his rallies: Robert Murphy, the young acting consul, and Paul Drey, a German employee who was a member of a distinguished Bavarian Jewish family. “Do you think these agitators will ever get far?” Murphy asked his colleague. “Of course not!” Drey replied. “The German people are much too intelligent to be taken in by such scamps.”
Since the recent publication of my book “Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise to Power,” many people have asked me why American diplomats and journalists were often slow to recognize the threat that Hitler represented. It’s a legitimate question, requiring more than a simple answer. But an equally legitimate question is why many German and American Jews were often just as slow in waking up to the Nazi danger.
Or slower. In fact, some Americans living in Germany were more alarmed by what they were witnessing than German Jews appeared to be. In late 1932, as Hitler was close to taking power, Edgar Ansel Mowrer, the Chicago Daily News correspondent who was one of the most perceptive observers on the scene, attended a dinner at the home of a prominent Jewish banker. All the other guests were also Jewish bankers, and Mowrer was startled to hear that some of them had given money to the Nazis at the urging of non-Jewish German industrialists.
When Mowrer expressed his astonishment at his dinner companions’ “strong suicidal urge,” his host insisted that Hitler shouldn’t be taken seriously. The implication: The Nazi leader would never act on his most extreme rhetoric, and besides, the donations would keep him reasonable. To Jews who were more willing to listen, Mowrer’s advice was unequivocal: “Get out, and fast.”
CBS News - Angela Merkel replaces Hillary Clinton as prime target of fake news
What is it about powerful women that creates so much hate in Trump and his alt-right/Russian loving supporters?
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/angela-merkel-replaces-hillary-clinton-as-target-of-fake-news/
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has become a target of websites spreading fake news, misleading stories and conspiracy theories ahead of her country’s election, according to an analysis compiled by BuzzFeed News.
A website called Your Newswire, which was responsible for spreading the “Pizzagate” conspiracy about Hillary Clinton and a pizzeria in Washington, D.C., claimed Merkel took a selfie with one of the terrorists in the Brussels attack, the report said, when it was actually a refugee.
Another website, Anonymousnews.ru, published recent fake stories about German NATO officers arrested in Aleppo for collaborating with members of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), reported BuzzFeed, which also said the website contained pro-Kremlin propaganda and has also made claims about the CIA being behind 9/11.
The report said some of the other websites posting fake news include Junge Freiheit, which is a weekly newspaper that has been endorsed by the country’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
MLK - Drum Major Instinct Sermon - Prophetic Words About Election of Trump
Why would so many working class voters support a man whose favored policies would hurt their interests? Martin Luther King answered this question over 40 years ago:
http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_the_drum_major_instinct/
Now the other thing is, that it leads to tragic—and we've seen it happen so often—tragic race prejudice. Many who have written about this problem—Lillian Smith used to say it beautifully in some of her books. And she would say it to the point of getting men and women to see the source of the problem. Do you know that a lot of the race problem grows out of the drum major instinct? A need that some people have to feel superior. A need that some people have to feel that they are first, and to feel that their white skin ordained them to be first. (Make it plain, today, ‘cause I’m against it, so help me God) And they have said over and over again in ways that we see with our own eyes. In fact, not too long ago, a man down in Mississippi said that God was a charter member of the White Citizens Council. And so God being the charter member means that everybody who's in that has a kind of divinity, a kind of superiority. And think of what has happened in history as a result of this perverted use of the drum major instinct. It has led to the most tragic prejudice, the most tragic expressions of man's inhumanity to man.
The other day I was saying, I always try to do a little converting when I'm in jail. And when we were in jail in Birmingham the other day, the white wardens and all enjoyed coming around the cell to talk about the race problem. And they were showing us where we were so wrong demonstrating. And they were showing us where segregation was so right. And they were showing us where intermarriage was so wrong. So I would get to preaching, and we would get to talking—calmly, because they wanted to talk about it. And then we got down one day to the point—that was the second or third day—to talk about where they lived, and how much they were earning. And when those brothers told me what they were earning, I said, "Now, you know what? You ought to be marching with us. (laughter) You're just as poor as Negroes." And I said, "You are put in the position of supporting your oppressor, because through prejudice and blindness, you fail to see that the same forces that oppress Negroes in American society oppress poor white people. (Yes) And all you are living on is the satisfaction of your skin being white, and the drum major instinct of thinking that you are somebody big because you are white. And you're so poor you can't send your children to school. You ought to be out here marching with every one of us every time we have a march."
Now that's a fact. That the poor white has been put into this position, where through blindness and prejudice, (Make it plain) he is forced to support his oppressors. And the only thing he has going for him is the false feeling that he’s superior because his skin is white—and can't hardly eat and make his ends meet week in and week out. (Amen)
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