Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Thursday 19 January 2017
The Doom of Donald Trump: fleshy man given to vulgarities and gauche behavior, boastful, thin-skinned, politically amoral, vengeful, unforgiving and, most important, considered an illegitimate president
New York Daily News, 16 January 2017:
Whether he knows it or not, the specter of Lyndon Baines Johnson haunts Donald John Trump. There are some jarring similarities -- two big fleshy men given to vulgarities and gauche behavior, boastful, thin-skinned, politically amoral, vengeful, unforgiving and, most important, considered illegitimate presidents. For Johnson that took some time to sink in; Trump is already there.
Johnson ascended to the presidency upon the death of John F. Kennedy and then won election in a landslide over Barry Goldwater. Nevertheless, an air of illegitimacy clung to him like an odor. It thickened as opposition to the Vietnam War became more and more furious and it peaked, in my estimation, with a hoax in 1967 by Paul Krassner in the counterculture magazine The Realist.
Tongue in cheek, it reported that Johnson had climbed into Kennedy's casket and there done unspeakable things. The story was abominable, tasteless and deserved any other insult you could throw at it, but some people believed it. I know. I heard it.
Jump now a half-century to the recent stories relating to Trump and alleged shenanigans in Russia at a time not all that distant. The accounts, unverified and as revolting as any concocted about Johnson, had a currency that can only be explained by Trump's own behavior -- a persona that seems so self-indulgent, so juvenile, that almost any sort of behavior seems credible. Trump called the report fake news and, as always, blamed the messenger (the media, the intelligence community, etc.) but he ought to have looked in the mirror and wondered why he looks so ugly to so many people.
Krassner is an obscure 1960s figure; Rep. John Lewis is not. He said the other day that Trump's presidency was illegitimate and he would not, as an invited member of Congress, attend the inaugural. Trump, of course, tweeted a disparagement. As he did when he belittled John McCain's heroism under torture, Trump said Lewis was "all talk" and "no action."
Lewis is one of the last of the great civil rights era heroes. He marched. He protested. He had his head cracked at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. It was 1965 and the Alabama police nearly beat him to death. He is a man of immense courage and morality, so much greater than Trump in those respects.
Yes, Trump won in the Electoral College and that, alas, is all that matters. But on the larger point, Lewis is right. Trump conducted a dirty, dishonest campaign which sullied the very presidency he won. He questioned Barack Obama's legitimacy, trafficked in racism and demagoguery and seems to have had poll workers in far-off Moscow. Still, he'll be the President….
By the end of the week, Donald Trump will be the President. I wish him the best; I wish him the worst. The dilemma is how to separate loathing for him from love of the country. I am leaving it to time to work that out.
In the meantime, Trump will have his moment, that's for sure, but when things go wrong he will be chased from office -- just like Johnson once was. The ancient Greeks knew why: A man's character is his fate. In that case, Trump's presidency is doomed.
Labels:
Donald Trump,
politics,
USA
Monday 16 January 2017
Friday 13 January 2017
Items not allowed around Trump on 20 January 2017
These are items that cannot be near Donald J. Trump during what he refers to as "the show" aka the presidential inauguration. It would appear that protesters will not be welcome if they make themselves visible.
*Aerosols
*Ammunition
*Animals
other than service/guide animals
*Backpacks
and bags exceeding size restrictions (18" by 13" by 7")
*Bicycles
*Balloons
*Coolers
*Drones
and other unmanned aircraft systems
*Explosives
*Firearms
*Glass,
thermal, or metal containers
*Laser
pointers
*Mace
/ Pepper spray
*Packages
*Selfie
Sticks
*Signs
exceeding the size restrictions (20" x 3" x 1/4")
*Structures
*Supports
for signs and placards
*Toy
guns
*Weapons
of any kind
*Any
other items determined to be potential safety hazards
Labels:
Donald Trump,
USA
Thursday 12 January 2017
Hollywood speaking truth to power in 2017
Publicly saying your piece before neo-McCarthyism hits Hollywood - replacing the 1940s & 50s persecution of alleged Reds Under Beds with Let's Get People Who Don’t Agree With Trump in 2017.
Labels:
Donald Trump,
fascism,
USA
Sunday 8 January 2017
It's as official as it is ever going to get - the Russian Government decided it would like this man to be the 45th President of the United States of America
It's as official as it is ever going to get - the Russian Government decided it would like this man to be the 45th President of the United States of America.
Donald John Trump |
U.S. National
Intelligence Council,
Intelligence
Community Assessment, 6 January 2017, excerpt:
“This report is a declassified version of a
highly classified assessment; its conclusions are identical to those in the
highly classified assessment but this version does not include the full supporting
information on key elements of the influence campaign.
Assessing
Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections
ICA
2017-01D
6
January 2017
Key
Judgments
Russian
efforts to influence the 2016 US presidential election represent the most
recent expression of Moscow’s longstanding desire to undermine the US-led
liberal democratic order, but these activities demonstrated a significant
escalation in directness, level of activity, and scope of effort compared
to previous operations. We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an
influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s
goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate
Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We
further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference
for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these
judgments.
We also assess Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help
President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting
Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him. All
three agencies agree with this judgment. CIA and FBI have high
confidence in this judgment; NSA has moderate confidence.
Moscow’s approach
evolved over the course of the campaign based on Russia’s understanding of the electoral
prospects of the two main candidates. When it appeared to Moscow that Secretary
Clinton was likely to win the election, the Russian influence campaign
began to focus more on undermining her future presidency.
Further information
has come to light since Election Day that, when combined with Russian behaviour
since early November 2016, increases our confidence in our assessments of
Russian motivations and goals.
Moscow’s
influence campaign followed a Russian messaging strategy that blends covert intelligence
operations — such as cyber activity — with overt efforts by Russian Government agencies,
state-funded media, third-party intermediaries, and paid social media users or
“trolls.” Russia, like its Soviet predecessor,
has a history of conducting covert influence campaigns focused on US presidential
elections that have used intelligence officers and agents and press placements
to disparage candidates perceived as hostile to the Kremlin.
Russia’s intelligence
services conducted cyber operations against targets associated with the 2016
US presidential election, including targets associated with both major US
political parties.
We assess with high
confidence that Russian military intelligence (General Staff Main
Intelligence Directorate or GRU) used the Guccifer 2.0 persona and
DCLeaks.com to release US victim data obtained
in cyber operations publicly and in exclusives to media outlets and
relayed material to WikiLeaks.
Russian intelligence
obtained and maintained access to elements of multiple US state or local electoral
boards. DHS assesses that the types of
systems Russian actors targeted or compromised were not involved in vote tallying.
Russia’s state-run
propaganda machine contributed to the influence campaign by serving as a platform
for Kremlin messaging to Russian and international audiences.
We
assess Moscow will apply lessons learned from its Putin-ordered campaign aimed
at the US presidential election to future influence efforts worldwide,
including against US allies and their election processes.”
Tuesday 3 January 2017
Sunday 4 December 2016
Plea from Standing Rock Sioux Tribes falling on deaf ears?
For months now the Dakota and Lakota people and their supporters have been resisting the establishment of an oil pipeline across their ancestral lands in North Dakota.
Thus far the courts have offered no relief and the U.S. Government is showing no desire to require that the pipeline path be altered.
Thus far the courts have offered no relief and the U.S. Government is showing no desire to require that the pipeline path be altered.
If you live in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, reflect on how lucky you are that that traditional owners, retirees, families, farmers, graziers, business people and the communities in which they live all came together and successfully fought off the threat to water security and the environment that coal seam gas mining represented.
Those proposed gas field were also supposed to have a long pipeline.
Now look in your wallet and see if there are a few dollars to spare and consider donating at http://standwithstandingrock.net/.
"The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is a federally recognized tribe of American Indians. 81 Federal Register 26826, 26830 (May 4, 2016)."
Those proposed gas field were also supposed to have a long pipeline.
Now look in your wallet and see if there are a few dollars to spare and consider donating at http://standwithstandingrock.net/.
"The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is a federally recognized tribe of American Indians. 81 Federal Register 26826, 26830 (May 4, 2016)."
Excerpt from letter:
"Our Tribe is deeply disappointed in this decision by the United States, but our resolve to protect our water is stronger than ever. The best way to protect people during the winter, and reduce the risk of conflict between water protectors and militarized police, is to deny the easement for the Oahe crossing, and deny it now.
We ask that everyone who can appeal to President Obama and the Army Corps of Engineers to consider the future of our people and rescind all permits, and deny the easement to cross the Missouri River just north of our Reservation and straight through our treaty lands. When the Dakota Access Pipeline chose this route, they did not consider our strong opposition. Our concerns were clearly articulated directly to them in a tribal council meeting held on Sept. 30, 2014, where DAPL and the ND Public Service Commission came to us with this route. We have released the audio recording from that meeting.
Again, we ask that the United States stop the pipeline and move it outside our ancestral and treaty lands.
It is both unfortunate and disrespectful that this announcement comes the day after this country celebrates Thanksgiving—a historic exchange of goodwill between Native Americans and the first immigrants from Europe. Although the news is saddening, it is not at all surprising given the last 500 years of the mistreatment of our people. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe stands united with more than 300 tribal nations and the water protectors who are here peacefully protesting the Dakota access pipeline to bolster indigenous people’s rights. We continue to fight for these rights, which continue to be eroded. Although we have suffered much, we still have hope that the President will act on his commitment to close the chapter of broken promises to our people and especially our children.”
https://www.governor.nd.gov/files/executive-order/Executive%20Order%202016-08.pdf
Plea for assistance sent on behalf of three Sioux tribes to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 2 December 2016:
If anyone living in the Northern Rivers region would like to show support for the people at Standing Rock they may send a message to U.S. President Barack Obama on the White House website at https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact.
Background
The people of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Nation are often called Sioux. They are the members of the Dakota and Lakota Nations. “Dakota” and “Lakota” mean “friend” or “allies”. The term “Sioux”, dates back to the seventeenth century when some of the Dakota people were living in the Great Lakes area. The Ojibwa or Annishinaabe called the Lakota and Dakota “Nadouwesou” meaning “adders” or “little snakes”. This term was then shortened and corrupted by French traders, resulted in retention of the last syllable as “Sioux.”
The Dakota and Nakota people of Standing Rock include the Upper Yanktonai (in their language called Ihanktonwana, which translates to “little end villages”) and Yanktonai from the Cut Head Band. The Cut Heads, whose name is literally translated, get their title from the fact that when they withdrew from the Yanktonais, there was a row over secession and a fight. Their leader sustained a scalp wound and the name Cut Head was given. The Yankton and Yanktonais are called the Wiceyala or Middle Sioux. When the Middle Sioux moved onto the prairie, they had contact with the semisedentary riverine tribes such as the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara. Eventually the Yanktonai displaced these tribes and forced them upstream. However, periodically the Yanktonai did engage in trade with these tribes and eventually some bands adopted the earth lodge, bullboats and horticultural techniques of these people, though buffalo remained their primary food sources. The Yanktonai also maintained aspects of their former Woodland lifestyle. Today Yanktonai people of Standing Rock live primarily in communities on the North Dakota portion of the reservation.
The Lakota, as the largest division of the nation, are subdivided into the Oceti Sakowin or Seven Council Fires. The Lakota people of the Standing Rock Reservation included two of these subdivisions, the Hunkpapa, means “campers at the Horn” and Sihasapa or “Blackfeet,” not to be confused with the Algonquian Blackfeet of Montana and Canada, which are an entirely different group. The Hunkpapas get their name from their hereditary right of pitching their tepees at the outer edge of the village as defenders of the camp. The Sihasapa name comes from walking across a burned prairie after an unsuccessful expedition and their feet blackened, thus they were called the Blackfeet. The Lakota Hunkpapas and Sihasapa are the northern plains people and practically divested themselves of all woodland traits of their Dakota ancestors. The culture revolved around the horse and buffalo; the people were nomadic and lived in hide tepees year round. Their Hunkpapas and Sihasapa ranged in the area between the Cheyenne River and Heart Rivers to the south and north and between the Missouri River on the east and Tongue River to the west.
UPDATE
RT Question More, 4 December 2016:
The US Army Corps of Engineers will not grant permission for the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross Lake Oahe, the hotspot of massive protests of water protectors, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe said in a statement, adding that alternative routes are now being studied.
"The Department of the Army will not approve an easement that would allow the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe in North Dakota," said a statement on the US Army website, citing the Assistant Secretary for Civil Works, Jo-Ellen Darcy.
U.S. Army statement, 4 December 2016:
The Department of the Army will not approve an easement that would allow the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe in North Dakota, the Army's Assistant Secretary for Civil Works announced today.
Jo-Ellen Darcy said she based her decision on a need to explore alternate routes for the Dakota Access Pipeline crossing. Her office had announced on November 14, 2016 that it was delaying the decision on the easement to allow for discussions with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, whose reservation lies 0.5 miles south of the proposed crossing. Tribal officials have expressed repeated concerns over the risk that a pipeline rupture or spill could pose to its water supply and treaty rights.
"Although we have had continuing discussion and exchanges of new information with the Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access, it's clear that there's more work to do," Darcy said. "The best way to complete that work responsibly and expeditiously is to explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing."
Darcy said that the consideration of alternative routes would be best accomplished through an Environmental Impact Statement with full public input and analysis.
The Dakota Access Pipeline is an approximately 1,172 mile pipeline that would connect the Bakken and Three Forks oil production areas in North Dakota to an existing crude oil terminal near Pakota, Illinois. The pipeline is 30 inches in diameter and is projected to transport approximately 470,000 barrels of oil per day, with a capacity as high as 570,000 barrels. The current proposed pipeline route would cross Lake Oahe, an Army Corps of Engineers project on the Missouri River.
Jo-Ellen Darcy said she based her decision on a need to explore alternate routes for the Dakota Access Pipeline crossing. Her office had announced on November 14, 2016 that it was delaying the decision on the easement to allow for discussions with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, whose reservation lies 0.5 miles south of the proposed crossing. Tribal officials have expressed repeated concerns over the risk that a pipeline rupture or spill could pose to its water supply and treaty rights.
"Although we have had continuing discussion and exchanges of new information with the Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access, it's clear that there's more work to do," Darcy said. "The best way to complete that work responsibly and expeditiously is to explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing."
Darcy said that the consideration of alternative routes would be best accomplished through an Environmental Impact Statement with full public input and analysis.
The Dakota Access Pipeline is an approximately 1,172 mile pipeline that would connect the Bakken and Three Forks oil production areas in North Dakota to an existing crude oil terminal near Pakota, Illinois. The pipeline is 30 inches in diameter and is projected to transport approximately 470,000 barrels of oil per day, with a capacity as high as 570,000 barrels. The current proposed pipeline route would cross Lake Oahe, an Army Corps of Engineers project on the Missouri River.
Labels:
environment,
USA,
water policy politics,
water wars
Thursday 1 December 2016
IQ rankings and where Donald J Trump might just fit
**Please note before reading that there is no verifiable proof available online for the Intelligence Quotients (IQs) listed.This post is based on a casual Google search**
Standardised IQ tests produce a rough approximation of an individual’s perceived intelligence level in comparison to others. An I.Q somewhere between 90 and 110 is usually considered average intelligence and an estimated 8.9 per cent of the population is likely to have an IQ score of 120 or over.
This is what Donald Trump says of his own intelligence level:
Browsing the Internet gives some examples of estimated intelligence levels of famous and not-so-famous individuals ranging from paragons of virtue through to serial killers:
187. Bobby Fischer
185. Galileo Galilei
180. Rene Descartes
178. Tim Roberts
175. Immanuel Kant
175. Peter Rodgers
170. Stephen Hawking
170. Paul Allen
168. Sharvin Jeyendran
165. Charles Darwin
165. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
162. Lydia Sebastian
160. Albert Einstein
160. George Eliot
160. Nicolaus Copernicus
160. Bill Gates
155. Rembrandt van Rijn
153. Joshua Madugula
150. Nolan Gould
149. Jimmy Saville
148. Abraham Lincoln
145. Thomas Edison
145. Napoleon
143. Richard Nixon
141. Adolf Hitler
140. George Washington
140. Hillary Clinton
140. The woman down the road from me
132. Nicole Kidman
130. Barack Obama
125. George W. Bush
120. Ulysses S. Grant
120. Dwight D. Eisenhower
Ăź--------------------------------------------------- Right about here is where I would place U.S. Republican president-elect Donald John Trump based on his own estimation.
119. John F. Kennedy
118. David Berkowitz
113. Zombie Girl
111. Sarah Palin
Ăź--------------------------------------------------- Right about here is where I would place Donald Trump based on my estimation.
109. Charles Manson
104. Max Nocerino
Labels:
Donald Trump,
just for fun,
USA
Wednesday 30 November 2016
America begins to gird for battle against Trump's ideological excesses - Part 2
STATEMENT, 15 November 2016:
As
scholars of Jewish history, we are acutely attuned to the fragility of
democracies and the consequences for minorities when democracies fail to live
up to their highest principles. The United States has a fraught history
with respect to Native Americans, African Americans and other ethnic and
religious minorities. But this country was founded on ideals of liberty
and justice and has made slow, often painful progress to achieve them by
righting historic wrongs and creating equal rights and opportunities for all.
No group has been more fortunate in benefiting from this progress than
American Jews. Excluded by anti-Semitism from many professions and social
organizations before the Second World War, Jews in the postwar period became
part of the American majority, flourishing economically and politically and
accepted socially. There are now virtually no corners of American life to
which Jews cannot gain entry. But mindful of the long history of their
oppression, Jews have often been at the forefront of the fight for the rights
of others in this country.
In
the wake of Donald Trump’s electoral victory, it is time to re-evaluate where
the country stands. The election campaign was marked by unprecedented
expressions of racial, ethnic, gender-based, and religious hatred, some coming
from the candidate and some from his supporters, against Muslims, Latinos,
women, and others. In the days since the election, there have been
numerous attacks on immigrant groups, some of which likely drew inspiration
from the elevation of Mr. Trump to the presidency of the United States.
Hostility
to immigrants and refugees strikes particularly close to home for us as
historians of the Jews. As an immigrant people, Jews have experienced the
pain of discrimination and exclusion, including by this country in the dire
years of the 1930s. Our reading of the past impels us to resist any attempts to
place a vulnerable group in the crosshairs of nativist racism. It is our
duty to come to their aid and to resist the degradation of rights that Mr.
Trump’s rhetoric has provoked.
However,
it is not only in defense of others that we feel called to speak out. We
witnessed repeated anti-Semitic expressions and insinuations during the Trump
campaign. Much of this anti-Semitism was directed against journalists,
either Jewish or with Jewish-sounding names. The candidate himself
refused to denounce—and even retweeted--language and images that struck us as
manifestly anti-Semitic. By not doing so, his campaign gave license to
haters of Jews, who truck in conspiracy theories about world Jewish domination.
We
condemn unequivocally those agitators who have ridden Trump’s coattails to
propagate their toxic ideas about Jews. More broadly, we call on all
fair-minded Americans to condemn unequivocally the hateful and discriminatory
language and threats that have been directed by him and his supporters against
Muslims, women, Latinos, African-Americans, disabled people, LGBT people and
others. Hatred of one minority leads to hatred of all. Passivity and
demoralization are luxuries we cannot afford. We stand ready to wage a struggle
to defend the constitutional rights and liberties of all Americans. It is not
too soon to begin mobilizing in solidarity.
Mika
Ahuvia, University of Washington
Allan Amanik, Brooklyn College of CUNY
Karen Auerbach, Brandeis University
Leora Auslander, University of Chicago
Eugene M. Avrutin, University of Illinois
And 193 more signatories Allan Amanik, Brooklyn College of CUNY
Karen Auerbach, Brandeis University
Leora Auslander, University of Chicago
Eugene M. Avrutin, University of Illinois
***********
Jonathan Greenblatt, director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
***********
You Do
Not Represent Us: An Open Letter to Donald Trump
Dear
Mr. Trump:
At the
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, students are taught to
represent the highest levels of respect and integrity. We are taught to embrace
humility and diversity. We can understand why, in seeking America’s highest
office, you have used your degree from Wharton to promote and lend legitimacy
to your candidacy.
As a
candidate for President, and now as the presumptive GOP nominee, you have been
afforded a transformative opportunity to be a leader on national and
international stages and to make the Wharton community even prouder of our
school and values.
However,
we have been deeply disappointed in your candidacy.
We,
proud students, alumni, and faculty of Wharton, are outraged that an
affiliation with our school is being used to legitimize prejudice and
intolerance. Although we do not aim to make any political endorsements with
this letter, we do express our unequivocal stance against the xenophobia,
sexism, racism, and other forms of bigotry that you have actively and
implicitly endorsed in your campaign.
The
Wharton community is a diverse community. We are immigrants and children of
immigrants, people of color, Muslims, Jews, women, people living with or caring
for those with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQ community. In other
words, we represent the groups that you have repeatedly denigrated, as well as
their steadfast friends, family, and allies.
We
recognize that we are fortunate to be educated at Wharton, and we are committed
to using our opportunity to make America and the world a better place — for
everyone. We are dedicated to promoting inclusion not only because
diversity and tolerance have been repeatedly proven to be valuable assets to
any organization’s performance, but also because we believe in mutual respect
and human dignity as deeply held values. Your insistence on exclusion and
scapegoating would be bad for business and bad for the American economy. An
intolerant America is a less productive, less innovative, and less competitive
America.
We, the
undersigned Wharton students, alumni, and faculty, unequivocally reject the use
of your education at Wharton as a platform for promoting prejudice and
intolerance. Your discriminatory statements are incompatible with the values
that we are taught and we teach at Wharton, and we express our unwavering
commitment to an open and inclusive American society.
Signed by 4,028
members of the Wharton community as of 6 November 2016.
This
letter reflects the personal views of its signatories only and is not
affiliated with the Wharton School. The Wharton School takes no political
position and does not comment on its students, alumni, or faculty.
Democratic Congresswoman for 5th District of Massachusetts Katherine Clark, media release, 17 November 2016:
Washington, D.C. -- Congresswoman Katherine Clark has introduced legislation to ensure that U.S. Presidents are required to resolve any conflicts of interest with regard to financial interests and official responsibilities. Current law prohibits federal office holders from engaging in government business when they stand to gain profit. The President and Vice President are currently exempt from this statute.
Clark’s Presidential Accountability Act removes this exemption and requires the President and Vice President to place their assets in a certified blind trust or disclose to the Office of Government Ethics and the public when they make a decision that affects their personal finances.
This issue has been elevated to greater importance as concerns of conflicts of interest have surfaced in the first week of the President-elect’s transition period. From the Trump Organization’s federal contract to operate the President-elect’s hotel in the Old Post Office Pavilion in Washington, D.C. to the scale of his debt to foreign banks, the President-elect’s business interests present an unprecedented level of conflict. Trump has also appointed his children to serve in leadership positions on both the President-elect’s transition team and his businesses.
Clark’s Presidential Accountability Act prohibits the President from engaging in government responsibilities from which they or their families can benefit financially.
“The President of the United States has the power to affect how our tax dollars are spent, who the federal government does business with, and the integrity of America’s standing in a global economy,” said Clark. “Every recent president in modern history has taken steps to ensure his financial interests do not conflict with the needs of the American people. The American people need to be able to trust that the President’s decisions are based on the best interests of families at home, and not the President’s financial interests.”
Previous American presidents including Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama have all used some form of blind trust or placed their assets in an investment vehicle over which they had no control.
Full text of H.R. 6340 can be found here.
The Hill, 23 November 2016:
A number of Democratic Electoral College electors are planning to use their votes to undermine the election process in opposition to President-elect Donald Trump,
Politico is reporting.
Some electors are lobbying their Republican counterparts to vote for someone other than Trump in an attempt to deny him the 270 votes required to elect him, according to the news outlet.
They are also contemplating whether to cast their votes for someone other than Hillary Clinton, like Mitt Romney or Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio).
With at least six electors already vowing to become "faithless," the defection could be the most significant since 1808, when six Democratic-Republican electors refused to vote for James Madison, choosing vice presidential candidate George Clinton instead.
The electors acknowledge that it is unlikely that they will be able to block Trump from gaining office, Politico reported, but they are optimistic that their effort will raise enough questions about the Electoral College to reform or abolish it.
"If it gets into the House, the controversy and the uncertainty that would immediately blow up into a political firestorm in the U.S. would cause enough people — my hope is — to look at the whole concept of the Electoral College," one of the electors told Politico.
It’s unclear how many, if any, Republicans have signed on to the effort.
Twenty-nine states legally require their electors to obey the results of the popular vote in their state.
The
Washington Post,
25 November 2016:
An election recount will
take place soon in Wisconsin, after former Green Party presidential candidate
Jill Stein filed a petition Friday with the state’s Election Commission, the
first of three states where she has promised to contest the election result.
The move from Stein, who
raised millions since her Wednesday announcement that she would seek recounts
of Donald Trump’s apparent election victories in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania
and Michigan, came just 90 minutes before Wisconsin’s 5 p.m. Friday deadline to
file a petition…..
Trump secured a total of
1,404,000 votes in Wisconsin, according to the commission; Clinton had
1,381,823.
In the end, Stein, who
secured 31,006 votes in Wisconsin, was not the only presidential candidate to
demand a recount. Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente, the Reform Party nominee who got
1,514 Wisconsin votes, also filed a recount petition, according to the state’s
Election Commission.
To be on the safe side,
the group of experts urged a recount — but it was Stein’s campaign that ended
up demanding one, soliciting at first $2.5 million and later
up to $7 million to fund the recounts. As of Friday evening, Stein’s
campaign reported taking in over $5.25 million in recount-related donations —
the most by a third-party candidate in history.
Wisconsin has the first
deadline of the three states in question. If Stein’s campaign wishes to file recount
petitions in the other states as promised, she must do so by Monday to meet
Pennsylvania’s deadline, and Wednesday to meet the Nov. 30 deadline in
Michigan.
In a statement, Wisconsin
Elections Commission Administrator Michael Haas guessed that the cost and
complexity of the recount would be in excess of the state’s last recount in
2011, which carried a price tag of more than $520,000. In that recount over a
state Supreme Court seat, the commission had to recount 1.5 million votes —
about half the 2.975 million ballot votes that were cast during the 2016
presidential election.
Jill Stein website as of 30
November 2016:
Congratulations on
meeting the recount and legal costs for Wisconsin and Pennsylvania! Raising
money to pay for the first two recounts so quickly is a miraculous feat and a
tribute to the power of grassroots organizing.
Now that we have
completed funding Wisconsin's recount (we filed on Friday) and fundraising for
Pennsylvania's voter-initiated recount (due Monday), we will focus on raising
the needed funds for Michigan's recount (due Wednesday). The breakdown of these
costs is described below!
Labels:
Donald Trump,
fascism,
people power,
USA
Monday 28 November 2016
Trump discussing U.S.-Mexico border wall and Muslim register
This is U.S. president-elect Donald J. Trump holding a transition meeting at one of his golf courses - presumably for a bit of free advertising.
Carolyn Kaster / AP
However, Buzz Feed noted on 22 November 2016 that the photo opportunity advertised something else as well – what was being held in Secretary of State for Kansas and counsel for the Immigration Law Reform Institute Kris Korbach’s left hand:
Image enlarged, rotated and cropped
According to Buzz Feed:
Kris Kobach, reportedly jockeying for a position in the Trump administration, is an immigration hardliner reportedly advising Trump and was the author of a now-defunct post-9/11 registry program, called NSEERS, for immigrants from Muslim countries…..
The first three points on the paper read:
1. Update and reintroduce the NSEERS screening and tracking system (National Security Entry-Exit Registration System) that was in place from 2002-2005. All aliens from high-risk areas are tracked.
2. Add extreme vetting questions for high-risk aliens: question them regarding support for Sharia law, jihad, equality of men and women, the United States Constitution.
3. Reduce intake of Syrian refugees to zero, using authority under 1980 Refugee Act.
The rest of the paper is either fully or partially obstructed by Kobach’s arm.
Neither Kobach or the Trump transition team immediately responded to request for comment.
There is also mention of Trump’s planned border wall between the U.S. and Mexico – with the “entire 1,989 miles planned for rapid build”.
Labels:
Donald Trump,
fascism,
immigration,
islamophobia,
USA
Tuesday 22 November 2016
America begins to gird for battle against Trump's ideological excesses
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was founded in 1920 and by its own reckoning now is the “leading civil liberties advocate in the Supreme Court. With over 200 staff attorneys and an extensive network of cooperating attorneys, we handle thousands of cases each year on behalf of clients whose rights have been violated”.
On 11 November 2016 it threw down the gauntlet in what may become the biggest battle to retain the full gamut of civil liberties and human rights in America since the 1960s.
On 11 November 2016 it threw down the gauntlet in what may become the biggest battle to retain the full gamut of civil liberties and human rights in America since the 1960s.
Click on image to enlarge
At 7:01 AM on 18 Nov 2016 ACLU tweeted this:
On the same day the ACLU website displayed this banner.
Tuesday 15 November 2016
Voting in federal elections is an obstacle course for U.S. citizens compared with Australian voting rules
Next time you feel inclined to bitch about being obliged to exercise your right to vote in Australian elections, pause and be thankful you still have a relatively unfettered ability to vote.
Because the largest and most well-known Western democracy is bit by bit taking that right away from its own citizens – and given the number of far-right wing ideologues in the current Australian federal parliament and their obvious admiration for the US Republican Party we may yet have to fight to keep them from tampering with our near universal franchise.
The situation in the United States…..
The Nation, 4 November 2016:
Nearly half of counties that previously approved voting changes with the federal government have cut polling places this election.
When Aracely Calderon, a naturalized US citizen from Guatemala, went to vote in downtown Phoenix just before the polls closed in Arizona’s March 22 presidential primary, there were more than 700 people in a line stretching four city blocks. She waited in line for five hours, becoming the last voter in the state to cast a ballot at 12:12 am. “I’m here to exercise my right to vote,” she said shortly before midnight, explaining why she stayed in line. Others left without voting because they didn’t have four or five hours to spare.
The lines were so long because Republican election officials in Phoenix’s Maricopa County, the largest in the state, reduced the number of polling places by 70 percent from 2012 to 2016, from 200 to just 60—one polling place per 21,000 registered voters. Previously, Maricopa County would have needed federal approval to reduce the number of polling sites, because Arizona was one of 16 states where jurisdictions with a long history of discrimination had to submit their voting changes under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. This part of the VRA blocked 3,000 discriminatory voting changes from 1965 to 2013. That changed when the Supreme Court gutted the law in the June 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision.
The polling place reductions in Maricopa County were a glaring example of a disturbing trend. The Leadership Conference for Civil Rights surveyed 381 of the 800 counties previously covered by Section 5 where polling place information was available in 2012 or 2014 and found there are 868 fewer places to cast a ballot in 2016 in these areas. “Out of the 381 counties in our study, 165 of them—43 percent—have reduced voting locations,” says the important new report.
DemocracyNow! 7 November 2016:
On Saturday, the U.S. Supreme Court restored a Republican-supported law in Arizona banning political campaigners from collecting absentee ballots filled out by voters.
In New Jersey, a federal judge decided against the Democratic National Committee in a complaint it brought against the Republican National Committee, ruling that the RNC’s poll monitoring and ballot security activities did not violate a legal settlement.
But in a ruling hailed by voting rights advocates, a federal judge late Friday ordered county elections boards in North Carolina to immediately restore registrations wrongfully purged from voter rolls.
All of this comes as this year’s presidential election is the first in half a century to take place without the full protection of the Voting Rights Act.
In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down crucial components in Section 5 of the act in a case called Shelby County v. Holder, when it ruled that states with histories of voting-related racial discrimination no longer had to "pre-clear" changes to their voting laws with the federal government.
For more, we’re joined by Ari Berman, author of the recent article, "There Are 868 Fewer Places to Vote in 2016 Because the Supreme Court Gutted the Voting Rights Act."
New York University School of Law, Brennan Centre For Justice, 12 September 2016:
New Voting Restrictions in Place for 2016 Presidential Election
In 2016, 14 states will have new voting restrictions in place for the first time in a presidential election. The new laws range from strict photo ID requirements to early voting cutbacks to registration restrictions.
Those 14 states are: Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
(This number decreased from 15 to 14 when the D.C. Circuit blocked a voter registration requirement in Alabama, Georgia, and Kansas on September 9, 2016. Georgia was removed, but Alabama and Kansas remain on the map because certain restrictions remain in place. Other recent court rulings have impacted the map: North Carolina and North Dakota were removed after courts blocked restrictive laws. Despite a recent court victory mitigating the impact of Texas’s photo ID law, it is still included because the requirement is more restrictive than what was in place for the 2012 presidential election.)
This is part of a broader movement to curtail voting rights, which began after the 2010 election, when state lawmakers nationwide started introducing hundreds of harsh measures making it harder to vote.
Overall, 20 states have new restrictions in effect since the 2010 midterm election. Since 2010, a total of 10 states have more restrictive voter ID laws in place (and six states have strict photo ID requirements) seven have laws making it harder for citizens to register, six cut back on early voting days and hours, and three made it harder to restore voting rights for people with past criminal convictions.
This page details the new restrictive voting requirements put in place during that time period.
Voting Restrictions in Place for First Time in Presidential Election in 2016
Status Key:
RED - RESTRICTION IN PLACE FOR FIRST TIME IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN 2016
PINK - RESTRICTION IN PLACE FOR 2012 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
The New York Times, 12 November 2016:
States won by Trump (red) and Clinton (blue) as at count on 12 November 2016
States won by Romney (red) and Obama (blue) in the 2012 US Presidential Election
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