July 1, 2019

  • The Progressive Lens Quarterly Round-up: April-June 2019

    Trump Era Days 802-892

     

    What was reported?

    • Two Federal Reserve officials expressed concern that inflation is too weak, which compelled them to consider future rate cuts to alleviate some of the economic tension.
    • The economy grew at a 3.2% rate in the first quarter – while simultaneously having the most layoffs in a first quarter in ten years - of 2019. 196,000 jobs were created in March, with the unemployment rate sitting at 3.8%. In April, 263,000 jobs were added, unemployment fell to 3.6%, and wages rose by 3.2%. Only 75,000 jobs were created in May, with just barely more than 20,000 of those being private sector jobs (the worst performance in nine years). Unemployment held at 3.6% and the stock market rallied with the news as they anticipated lowered interest rates. Overall, the economic growth in the counties which voted for Trump grew faster than elsewhere since his election; although, the pay increase has been sluggish, but Baby Boomers started seeing the fastest decline in their employment in 4 years. With the tax rates having changed in 2017, the reduced tax refunds took a chunk out of retail spending this season.
    • Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein resigned.
    • Trump pulled the United States out of an international arms treaty which was intended to help stop the proliferation of weapons around the world, including into the hands of terrorists.
    • The Trump Administration officially banned transgender soldiers.
    • An 11 year old child was ordered deported when they were mistakenly left off an immigration court docket.
    • David Bernhardt – a man with a past as an executive in fossil fuels - was confirmed by the Senate to be the Secretary of the Interior.
    • Trump’s family sued Capital One and Deutsch Bank to try and keep them from complying with Congressional subpoenas.
    • Private health insurers are reportedly looking for any loopholes available to escape the requirement to cover mental health, helping to contribute to a rise in suicides. Yet another example for why we need to take profit out of healthcare and adopt a single payer program.
    • The United Statesstood alone in rejecting an international binding agreement to reduce plastic waste.
    • Climate Change wreaked havoc on the Arctic Ocean – while the measure of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere reached 415 PPM, the highest in human history - as temperatures exceeded 80 degrees in the area earlier this year. It was found that the totality of human behavior in exploiting and abusing the environment, our population growth, and our insatiable consumption, is threatening 1/8th of the world’s nonhuman animal population with extinction.
    • Thanks to automation, the quickening pace of the market’s evolution towards a more “efficient” approach will likely eliminate just under half of all jobs – with a particular focus on part-time, “low-skilled” work – within two decades.
    • The Supreme Court reached a compromise on the abortion question pertinent to a law in Indiana where they upheld a provision on burying fetal remains while dismissing a provision which restricted abortion rights. The Court also struck down an attempt to force a non-gerrymandered redrawing of congressional districts in Ohio and Michigan.
    • After her failure to fix the Brexit deal debacle, Theresa May stepped down as British Prime Minister.
    • After Congress voted to reject arming Saudi Arabia’s war with Yemen, Trump declared an “emergency” – claiming a threat from Iran – so as to circumvent Congress in selling arms to the Saudis.
    • It was reported that a North Korean nuclear envoy was executed by the Kim regime after he was charged with spying for the United States – along with four others – following the failed nuclear summit back in March. Still, Trump continues to praise the dictator and even made history becoming the first U.S. President to step foot in North Korea as he and Kim Jong Un experienced a jovial moment wherein they accomplished little beyond a historical photo/video and an agreement to revive the nuclear talks that Trump had abandoned earlier on.
    • Trump ordered Hope Hicks and his former White House counsel Don McGahn to ignore a subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee.
    • Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn revealed that on a number of occasions someone affiliated with the White House or with the Republicans in Congress had reached out to him to try and procure his interference in the Mueller Investigation. Trump was hell bent on controlling the direction of the investigation.
    • Former Special Counsel and Former FBI Director Mueller delivered his public remarks about the special investigation. He noted clearly that there was no way that the investigation could lead to an indictment of the sitting president, because of Justice Department policy. He declared that the investigation would have explicitly exonerated Trump if they felt they could. In other words, he was leaving the door wide open for Congress to impeach the president.
    • The Trump Administration wants to cut $191 Billion from food stamps over the next decade while also charging retailers a fee for accepting such.
    • Neil Gorsuch and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were the only two dissenting Justices in a Supreme Court ruling which upheld the so-called “separate sovereigns” doctrine pertinent to “double jeopardy”. If the dissent had been the successful wing of the ruling, a presidential pardon could have exonerated a citizen from a state charge for the same crime; thereby expanding Trump’s powers at a crucial moment when his team is under legal fire.
    • Trump “jokingly” suggested that his supporters might demand that he stay in office past his permitted time.
    • Despite the use of children soldiers by Saudi Arabia in the Yemen Civil War, Secretary of State Pompeo has kept Saudi Arabia off of the United States list of countries which recruit children to wage war.
    • Trump claimed executive privilege to inhibit congressional attempts to acquire documents pertinent to the administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. Even so, the Supreme Court blocked the implementation of the question – for the time being – out of concern for the process by which the Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross added it to the census form.
    • A British General who is helping lead counter-terrorism efforts in the Middle East contradicted claims by the Trump Administration that Iran represents a growing threat in Iraq and Syria.
    • After some drama over his personal life started to come to light, the Acting Defense Secretary – former Boeing Executive – Patrick Shanahan withdrew from consideration for the confirmation process. Trump announced that the Army Secretary – who also used to be in the military industrial complex – will be replacing Shanahan. All of this turmoil amidst the rising tensions with Iran; which our own Intel reveals that our government has provoked. In fact, one of the claims made by the U.S. Government was disputed when a Japanese oil tanker reported that one of tankers attacked was reportedly not by a mine, but by a “projectile”.
    • Trump ordered and then quickly cancelled an attack on Iran in response to a spy drone that Iran shot down. He claimed – in a tweet wherein he misspelled “site” (using “sight” instead) – that he cancelled out of concern for casualties.
    • Walmart got caught attempting to bribe third world country governments to try and secure permits.
    • Trump said he would contemplate both reporting to the authorities and seeing or hearing what information offered by a foreign interest about his political opponents.
    • The United Statesset a new record by going longer than it has at any other period without increasing the federal minimum wage standard.
    • The Justice Department argued before federal court against having to provide a bed, toothbrushes, and soap for detained children. They claimed it was not essential for remaining “clean and sanitary”.
    • Press Secretary Sarah Sanders stepped down, apparently contemplating a run for Governor in Arkansas; where her father previously served multiple terms as Governor.
    • The five conservatives on the Supreme Court ruled in favor of overtly partisan gerrymandering, saying that the decision on how to draw legislative districts was purely “political” and was thereby out of reach for the courts to intervene.

     

     

    Tonight’s Conclusion

     

    I decided back in May to shift this summary from a monthly review to a Quarterly review. I did this because I don’t always have the time to review all of the news of the month. Still, the past three months have been among the most tumultuous in our history. From the resignation of Rosenstein to Mueller finally delivering both his report as well as his public statement which more or less punted the question of Trump’s indictment to the impeachment powers of Congress (where it belongs). From the ongoing and accelerating climate crisis to the collapse of the role of law and shredding of democracy. From good statistical economic news to the ever-growing ominous economic storm clouds edging closer. From the onslaught of traditional wedge issues to our basic discussion in kitchen table politics. All of what we have been seeing as the next presidential election cycle gets underway suggests that 2020 will be the absolute most important election to date…if not ever.

     

    Over the next quarter, it will be telling how we respond to what happened in the previous. The economy slowed down significantly in May and if that trend holds up in June then we could be seeing the beginning of a recession by year’s end. Congress is running out of time to avoid even more dangerous precedents being set for future presidents, and Mueller could not have made it clearer that Congress has a job to do here. The greatest threat to all life on Earth is the Climate Crisis, but an immediate threat to global stability is Donald John Trump. It is up to us to rally and demand action, because underestimating Trump is the worst mistake that any and all of his adversaries have consistently made…at their own peril. Underestimating him now will be at our collective peril.

     

    #NotMeUs #OurRevolution #TheResistance #ImpeachTrump #ClimateCrisis

     

    Purchase my manifesto, “The Pillars of Unitism”.

     

    Before I part, here are some articles – recently discovered, but not necessarily published recently - which may interest you:

     

    • None at this time.

     

    Until next time…

     

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