Filed under: From the Soap Box | Tags: bears, ecology, Elephants, fossil fuels, Lake Michigan, lions, oil, South Dakota, wildlife, wolves
The manifestation of all of the rotten elements of US society that have been growing over the last 50 or so years is terribly overwhelming and heart-wrenching.
The FCC ruling today is a big blow to its last semblance of democracy (and its cut to subsidies for the poor to have internet access is simply mean). The looming tax cuts for the very wealthy, including write-offs for private jets and other corporate expenditures, as well as inheritance tax avoidance is blatant avarice. Meanwhile, teachers, fire fighters, police officers lose itemized deductions, and the opportunity to own a home, put their children through university, and to receive healthcare without a lifetime of debt. The hypocrisy of the Trump regime regarding sexual assault is sickening, as is the public’s preoccupation with it in the face of the larger atrocities being committed daily by this administration while the public’s attention is averted. Those who are excessively wealthy and who run the government must be laughing at the stupidity of ordinary people. In a complex and insidious way, we are all complicit in what has happened.
However, all of the aforementioned doesn’t matter in the long-run if there are no more forests, or natural lands, or safe drinking water, or the air can’t be safely breathed. Nor does any of it matter when wildlife has been eradicated. The Trump regime had already lifted a ban on the hunting of wolves and bears (and their young), made deals with oil companies to build pipelines & drill for oil in protected territories to undermine the welfare of our planet, its animals and ourselves. Only today a pipeline spilled hundreds of thousands of oil in South Dakota and a steel corporation was discovered dumping tons of toxins into Lake Michigan.
And if this wasn’t enough, the Trump regime reversed legislation that protected elephants and lions in Africa. Today, the wealthy donors to this administration received some ‘payback’ because they can now ‘hunt’ down these animals and bring “trophies” in the form of their body parts back to the US in order to display and, ostensibly, impress guests (?!). Let that sink in – the body parts of a lion or an elephant as a ‘trophy’ to be mounted somewhere in their house. Imagine how these elephant’s babies will feel when some soul-less white man fells their mother or father or brother or sister. They will suffer fear and loss. They will grieve. They are sympathetic, smart, wise, and loving creatures that are family-oriented. They mourn for those members who die, and they remember them long after they are shot, dismembered, and carried back on an airplane by a savage.
***Addendum: Trump says the elephant ban is “on hold.” Outrage, thank goodness, must have been enough. However, this administration will ‘slip it in’ when no one’s looking, so to speak. Also, this still leaves the issue of lions as trophies & wolves being hunted down in their dens…
Filed under: Chronicle of Trump administration 2017 | Tags: Abortion, American politics, CDC, EPA, fascism, fossil fuels, immigration, muslimban, Oil drilling, tax credit, Trump
*Need to put in cabinet nominee information/hearings.
Because each new day with this unpopular man in the White House is yet another affront, I feel I must list, each day, Trump’s actions in order to chronicle and to order in my own mind.
Disclaimer: I understand that this is not an exhaustive list. I have rationed myself maximum two hours to read the news and go on social media each day, and I task myself with checking two sources for all information read.
If you, a prospective reader, have information to add to any of this, please do let me know – thank you!
Jan. 20, 2017
- Women’s March DC extends to millions marching across USA and the rest of the world.
Jan. 21, 2017
- Trump claims more at his inauguration than at the Women’s March and that CNN is spreading falsehoods about his inaugural day and the crowds there.
- Spicer press meeting, “alternative facts” enters the public’s vernacular via Kellyanne Conway.
- Trump repeals a low income tax credit for first time homebuyers.
Jan. 23, 2017
- Trump signs order to revive construction again on Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines.
- Reference to climate change wiped from the White House website.
- Trump declares there will be an “investigation” into voter fraud during election2016 due to “illegals” voting.
Jan. 24, 2017
- Trump signs order to deport three million Muslim immigrants, to temporarily halt immigration, and to (re start) a Muslim registry. Various city mayors and police forces declare they will not support the deportation.
Jan 25, 2017
- Trump signs order to begin building wall between US and Mexico (NAFTA?)
- EPA banned from posting updates, reports, information on climate change on website, via social media, or the press.
- Trump signs order to repeal EPA financing for scientific research saying it is a “conflict of interests.”
- Trump announces that there will be investigation into de-funding “sanctuary cities” for immigrants (see Jan. 24).
- CDC cancels their attendance to a major climate change conference.
- Trump signs “anti abortion order.” The order blocks United States funding to foreign organisations that perform or provide advice on abortions.
Jan. 27, 2017
- Trump orders a travel ban on all citizens, travellers w existing visas, green card holders, dual citizenship holders from seven countries: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. Protests erupt in major cities airports all over the country.
Jan. 29, 2017
- Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are ejected from the Principals Committee of the National Security Council. In place of them and added as a regular member is the Assistant to the President and Chief Strategist, the publisher, Steve Bannon. Also added as a regular member, Trump’s Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.
Jan. 30, 2017
- Acting Attorney General Sally Yates is fired after she instructs Justice Department not to adhere to the executive order by Trump to Muslim ban due to the legality of the order.
Jan. 31, 2017
- Betsy Devos nominated as Education Secretary.
- Senate Democrats boycott nomination hearing on Mnunchin and Price.
- Trump says America fully behind Muslim Ban and to ignore the “hysterical cries” of the TV and protesters.
