January 1, 2020

  • The Progressive Lens Quarterly Roundup: October-December 2019

    Trump Era Days 985-1,076

     

    What was reported?

    • 136,000 Jobs were reportedly created in September; even so, wage growth slowed to 2.9%, while unemployment fell to 3.5%. Bond yields slipped for a seventh straight month as well. In October, 128,000 jobs were created, wage earnings increased by a mere 3%, and unemployment ticked up to 3.6%. According to the November 2019 jobs report, manufacturing slowed for a fourth consecutive month, but wages rose by 3.1% in November. Labor participation trickled from 63.3% to 63.2%.. Unemployment sat at 3.5% in November and the economy created 266,000 jobs.
    • The World Trade Organization found that the European Union has been subsidizing their airline service “Airbus”, which paved the way for a number of American tariffs on EU goods ranging from fruits to textiles and totaling $7.5 Billion.
    • In a moment of history, in 2018 billionaires wound up paying less than working class citizens in taxes.
    • A report by the Brookings Institute found that almost half of American workers work in low-quality, low-paying jobs, and that most of those workers are in their prime working years, and are not teenagers.
    • Congressman Elijah Cummings passed away.
    • It seems that the Supreme Court is increasingly less willing to shut up and listen than they used to be, as they are showing more signs of talking over each other as well as the men and women arguing cases before them.
    • Religious Leader Ralph Reed called for Evangelicals to be “obedient” in supporting Trump in 2020.
    • The electric utility Pacific Gas and Electric sparked some controversy when they hosted a series of planned service shut-offs for hundreds of thousands of customers supposedly to help prevent the spread of forest fires.
    • Trump accidentally sent – for a second time – talking points to Congressional Democrats on how to respond to the Ukraine investigation. He also started advocating for the whistleblower to be exposed to the world.
    • Through Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Trump Administration – in defiance of international law and the position of the United Nations - announced that it was no longer the position of the United States that the settlements in Palestinian territory by the Israelis was a violation of international law.
    • Trump’s long-time political consultant Roger Stone was found guilty of his seven criminal charges which included lying to Congress, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering.
    • Nikki Haley – former Ambassador to the UN – claimed that those anonymous subversive forces within the Trump White House tried to recruit her to help them “save the country” from Trump.
    • Energy Secretary Rick Perry resigned and promised it had nothing to do with Trump seemingly throwing him under the proverbial bus relative to Ukraine.
    • CBS uncovered a potential scandal involving the appointment of Trump’s ambassador to the Bahamas. The nominee had given a million dollars to Trump’s inauguration fund and while his nomination was hung up in the Senate the Republican Party chair emailed him about making a hefty donation, to which the nominee responded that a fast-tracked confirmation would warrant a response from he and his wife.
    • Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman – a senior official in the White House charged with handling Ukraine – told Congress that he had no doubt that Trump was trying to use quid pro quo to force Ukraine to help him damage Biden.
    • Trump’s Acting Ambassador to Ukraine told Congress that an aide of his overheard the president’s attempts to trade military aid funds for a damning investigation of the Bidens by Ukraine.
    • Vice President Pence was implicated in the scandal surrounding Trump’s attempt to use a quid pro quo arrangement of exchanging military aid to Ukraine for dirt on the Bidens. The accusation about Pence being aware of the effort came from the testimony of Ambassador Sondland. Pence denied knowledge of the issue. President Trump dismissed the testimony almost entirely – after initially trying to block said testimony -, saying he didn’t know Ambassador Sondland, but then he cherry-picked parts of the testimony for his own benefit.
    • Ohio Republicans proposed forcing doctors to re-implant pregnancies in women who could actually die from said pregnancies. The pregnancies at issue are dangerous as they occur outside of the womb, which typically happens after a woman has had a hysterectomy or otherwise had her tubes manipulated so as to prevent pregnancy. They also proposed a bill which would empower students to not properly do their science homework and to substitute religious views for scientific facts.
    • It was reported that the Trump administration wants to reduce regulations for nursing homes, saying that current rules are too strict.
    • White House records revealed that Trump regularly communicates with lawyers – including Giuliani – and others on unsecure lines which could be potentially monitored by foreign surveillance agencies.
    • A scientific report found that human activity is causing the oxygen in the ocean to deplete at dangerous rates, endangering the current balance of the ecosystem.
    • The president openly said on the White House lawn that he would ask the Chinese to do as he wanted Ukraine to do: investigate Vice President Biden and his son.
    • Trump’s Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary resigned, which continued a trend of leaving another vacancy in the executive branch and created a fresh scenario – in Trump’s everlasting pursuit of loyalty amongst his Cabinet – wherein he will continue to have “Acting” leaders, instead of official ones.
    • Important documents were released which showed the officials from the Bush, Obama, and Trump Administrations – including each of the White House occupants – misled the American people about the necessity for and the conditions in the war and occupation of Afghanistan.
    • Education Secretary DeVos – whose career started as a leader in private charter schools, and who was scolded in October by a federal judge for ignoring a court order to stop collecting student loan payments incurred by fraudulent “schools” – refused to allow full loan forgiveness for college students defrauded by private colleges which scammed them into signing up.
    • Trump has been rapidly filling – at an historic rate - federal court vacancies which had been left open by the filibustered Senate throughout Obama’s presidency. He recently managed to flip a handful of federal courts to “Republican majority” as a result.
    • The House of Representatives impeached Donald Trump on two charges: obstruction of Congress and abuse of power.
    • The Trump Administration eliminated an interactive map – called TOXMAP – which had allowed citizens to track pollution activities across the nation (which relied on data provided from various sources), particularly from pollution-producing companies.
    • Trump signed a new defense authorization bill which militarized space – by creating a sixth branch of the military, called the “Space Force” -, with 12 weeks of paid family leave for federal workers and a relatively minor pay increase (of 3.1%) for the military servicemembers.
    • The Russian Federation revealed that they have developed a new hypersonic weapon which can carry a nuclear weapon to the United States and potentially evade missile defense systems. This is a byproduct of Trump’s unwinding of nuclear agreements and his calls for a new arms race as Russia appears to be hoping for a renewal of the New START treaty negotiated under Obama.
    • Anti-US demonstrators protesting recent US airstrikes in Iraq stormed the American Embassy in Baghdad. Iraq has been immersed in scandal in the past few months as their prime minister was recently forced to resign after Iraqi Security Forces killed protestors.

     

     

    Tonight’s Conclusion

     

    Now, we enter a brand new year and a new decade. This year also happens to be a presidential election year. All throughout this presidency many pundits have speculated that Trump would resign, that he wouldn’t seek re-election, or that he would be removed from office by now. I have NEVER thought that he would be absent from the ballot in November of this year. The man’s ego is what drives his pursuit of power and it is what keeps him from resigning. Resigning would be an admission of guilt or fault.

     

    Trump has NEVER willingly humbled himself to acknowledge that he is at fault. Furthermore, the cult of personality which Trump exploits for his fascist agenda maintains a stranglehold on his party. His primary opponents pursuing the Republican Nomination will be easily crushed in the states where the party will actually permit a contest. Likewise, Republican opposition to Trump is extremely hard to find as the rank and file as well as the leadership all fear the wrath of the base which has fallen head over heels for their dear leader. Stepping up to Trump within his party is tantamount to political suicide and requires a degree of bravery that very few elected Republicans are willing to parade for the world to see.

     

    Trump became the third president in American history impeached and the fourth in our history to seriously face the threat thereof. Truth be told, his impeachment was too generous to him as the laundry list of impeachable offenses should have comprised thousands of pages. Still, it is worth noting that the trial is likely to go in Trump’s favor so long as the Senators have to go on the record with their vote. No Republican Senator who aspires to run for reelection will willingly vote for his removal. Despite all of that, the rule of law is so crucial and the balance of power is so vital that his impeachment was mandatory if our members of Congress were to try and preserve the foundational principles of this Republic.

     

    He could still wind up getting removed from office, but if he doesn’t (which is the most likely scenario), the Democrats and the American people must not turn a blind eye to him as he must be expected to do any dirty trick – up to and including igniting a war – to remain in office. Fascism never fades into darkness without a fight, so we must ready ourselves for the political fight that could make or break this nation.

     

    #NotMeUs #OurRevolution #TheResistance #ImpeachTrump #ClimateCrisis

     

    Purchase my manifesto, “The Pillars of Unitism”.

     

     

    Until next time…

     

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