Trade In The Era Of Trump

Trade In The Era Of Trump

D. S. Mitchell

As an epic economic and diplomatic tour, empty-handed. His tactics of insult and bullying did not play well.

Here in the United States there is white knuckle fear that NAFTA will once again become central in Trump’s great trade experiment. Of course, there are valid points made by the administration. There is trade imbalance, but most US industries are looking for a few tweaks, not abolishment of a treaty that has produced many benefits for US industry and farmers.

NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, is a 1994 pact between Canada, US and Mexico. I’m from NW Oregon and many Mexican markets were opened to Northwest wheat growers. In fact, exports increased by 400%. At the same time many of these farmers have complaints about Canadian wheat pricing. You can’t make everybody happy, but that does not mean these folks want to tear up the historic treaty.

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Trump Moves Quickly To Reshape Appeals Courts

Trump Moves Quickly To Reshape Appeals Courts

D. S. Mitchell

Sounds pretty boring, talking about the US judicial system. But here goes, because what Trump is doing could change court decisions in this country for the next two plus generations.

There are 179 judgeships on the US courts of appeals as authorized. The judges are all nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. These positions have lifetime terms.

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I’m A Liberal–And Here Is Why

I’m A Liberal, And Here Is Why

D. S. Mitchell

The resurrection of the GOP attack on Health Care, Trump’s UN speech, and a nasty Twitter exchange with a rabid Trump supporter, or maybe, a Russian troll, has caused me to sit down and pout for a few minutes, kick my feet and wonder if the fight is worth it.  I, like many of you, get so tired.  Some days it seems like Trump, in 10 short months is on the precipice of destroying the backbone of this country, our laws and our media. In the midst of my pout, I remember what President John F. Kennedy said about his core values and I perked up and finished calling my list of potentially five persuadable Republican Senators; in an effort to stop the GOP effort to repeal the ACA. 

The JFK quote has been seen a million times, but it is worth another view.  If you are a liberal and are taking a breath, forget it. The GOP and all their ‘effing money are out to screw us all. So get up, dust yourself off, drag the sign out of the basement, and hit the streets. Or, the phone. You can have a big impact if you make those Senate office phones ring.

So, my sweet liberal friends, gather courage from the words of one of our greatest presidents, “If by a ‘liberal’ they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reaction, someone who cares about the welfare of the people–their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties–someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what it means to be a ‘liberal’ then I’m proud to say, I’m a liberal.”

Keep up the fight, the road will be hard and the results slow in coming, but a determined heart will protect health care and the social contract our government has with its citizens.

Join the Resistance

Dar

Trump Policies Threaten National Park System

Trump Policies Threaten National Park System

D. S. Mitchell

The National Park Service just entered its second century of existence.  The National Park system “features over 400 stunning landscapes, iconic historic sites, battlefields, and cultural treasures that define our country, its evolving story and the enduring legacy we are called upon to uphold,” a recent National Park Foundation informational declared.  I have chosen a dozen National Park sites to highlight, today. Places that must be protected for future generations.

We have been entrusted with so much natural beauty and we cannot shrug our responsibility to future generations.  We must protect these treasured locations and prevent Trump & Associates from raping the environment.  Please join the National Park Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, Sierra Club and dozens more organizations that are hitting all the alarm bells and filing lawsuits against the Trump Administration to stop these fossil fuel profiteers before they can start drilling, logging, and fracking on these precious lands. Join the Resistance against the environmental attack. Stop the Trump wrecking crew before the damage becomes irreversible.

Over the last several weeks I have hit the dangers to the environment button pretty hard. I promise this is my last post on the environment and, or, climate change for a while. Please, please, please give to any of the organizations fighting to save our threatened wild places. There is so much flim-flam, and “keep your eye on the pea” that I am worried that what is happening behind closed doors will decimate our park system before the public even finds out that it has happened.

So, with the beauty of our country at stake due to Trump’s Administration intention to dig, plow, pump, drill, log and frack every corner of the planet, starting on our public lands. Because of the danger,  I thought it might be a nice reminder of our nation’s beauty by taking a short tour of 12 of our most remarkable National Parks.

Badlands National Park, South Dakota:  Established on Jan. 29th, 1939 the Badlands National Park protects 242, 796 acres of southwestern South Dakota.  The park terrain is dramatic with sprawling grasslands, deep canyons and towering rock spires.. The park is habitat for Bighorn Sheep, American Bison and small rodents such as the prairie dog. Inside the park at Fossil Exhibit Trail fossils recovered within the park are on display for visitors.

Yosemite National Park, California: Yosemite was first protected in 1864. Yosemite is famous for its waterfalls and steep peaks. Within 1,200 square miles there are deep valleys, grand meadows, ancient giant sequoia, and a vast wilderness area.  Yosemite is a World Heritage Site and entertains 5 million tourists annually.

National Mall and Memorial Parks, Washington, D.C.:     A centerpiece of the Mall is the Lincoln Memorial, an enduring symbol of freedom.  The memorial was designed after an ancient Greek temple.  The 36 outer fluted columns represent the number of states in the Union at the time of Lincoln’s death.  The “park/mall” is in downtown Washington, D.C. Unofficially it is the area between the Lincoln Memorial on the West and East to the U.S. Capitol grounds.  The mall contains the Smithsonian, art galleries, cultural institutions and many memorials, sculptures and statues. Some of the greatest assemblage of humanity in giant protests have occurred on the National Mall.

Glacier National Park, Montana: Glacier National Park was established May 11, 1910. The park covers 1,583 square miles of wilderness in Montana’s Rocky Mountains.  Glacier carved peaks and valleys run all the way to the Canadian border.  There are more than 700 miles of hiking trails. Diverse wildlife include Grizzly bears and Mountain goats. The park is known as the “Crown of the Continent.” Glacier is the headwaters for streams that flow to the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and to Hudson Bay.  What happens at Glacier affects waters in a huge section of North America.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: The Great Smoky Mountains National Park cover 816 square miles straddling the border between North Carolina and Tennessee.  Lush forests where wildflowers bloom year round is a delightful park that offers camping and hiking among rivers, creeks and waterfalls.  The Great Smoky Mountains National Park entertains more than 11 million visitors annually. Rainfall rushes down the mountainsides of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, creating an abundance of waterfalls . Visitors will find cascades and waterfalls on nearly every stream or river in the park.

Gettysburg National Military Park, Pennsylvania: The park protects and interprets the landscape of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg.   The park commemorates the largest battle fought during the American Civil War. It was after the tragedy at Gettysburg where so many died on both sides that Abraham Lincoln came to give one of the most famous and memorable speeches of all time, forever known as the “Gettysburg Address.” The park is about 9.5 square acres.  The park welcomes over a million visitors annually.

Crater Lake National Park, Oregon: Crater Lake is 1950 ft deep. The lake was formed when Mount Mazama erupted nearly 8,000 years ago and then collapsed, forming the lake.  The park is the only National Park in the state of Oregon and entertains over 800,000 visitors each year.  The lake is fed only by rain and snowfall and is a photographer’s dream blue. The park was established by Teddy Roosevelt in May 1902 and encompasses over 183,000 sq acres.

Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida: The Dry Tortugas is a small archipelago of coral islands which are the most western and most isolated of the Florida Keys.  The park is 99% water and is located 68 miles west of Key West, Florida.  The area is home to sea turtles, and multiple sea birds.  The seven small islands in the Gulf of Mexico offers picturesque blue waters, superlative coral reefs and marine life, and the historic Fort Jefferson and is skin divers paradise.

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona: The canyon is one mile deep and 277 miles long.  The Grand Canyon was formed during six million years of geological and erosion activity. Teddy Roosevelt famously said, it is “the one great sight which every American should see.” The park was established in February 1919, and covers over 1900 square miles. Layered bands of red rock frame the Colorado River at the bottom of a mile deep canyon.  The Grand Canyon is one of the most visited tourist destinations in the United States accommodating more than 6 million visitors annually.

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming:
Located in NW Wyoming the Grand Teton National Park encompasses 310,000 acres.  The park was established in 1929 and entertains 3.5 million annual tourists.  The park includes the 4,ooo meter Grand Teton Peak and the valley known as Jackson Hole.  Grand Teton Park is linked to the nearby Yellowstone National Park by the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway.  Rugged mountain peaks rising above a rich landscape with extraordinary wildlife, pristine lakes, and alpine terrain are the Grand Tetons.  The park provides 200 miles of trails for hiking, fishing and back country camping. Exploring the Snake River and experiencing the serenity of the region is memory making.

Arcadia National Park, Maine:
The Arcadia National Park consists of 49,000 + acre Atlantic coast recreation area, primarily on Maine’s rugged coast including Mount Desert Island.  The landscape is woodland, rocky beaches and glacier scoured granite peaks such as Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the Atlantic coast of the United States.  Visitors come to bike historic carriage roads, fish the waterways and enjoy the abundant wildlife, including moose, bear, whales and sea birds.The park was established in 1919.

Arches National Park, Utah: Described as a “red rock wonderland,” Arches National Park is a landscape of contrasting colors, landforms and textures. The park has more than 2,000 natural stone arches, as well as hundreds of soaring pinnacles, massive fins, and giant balanced rocks.” The Arches National Park is north of Moab, Utah. The 119.8 square miles park is bordered by the Colorado river in the southeast. The park entertains over 1.5 million visitors annually. Park was established in 1929.

Calamity  Politics is a progressive political blog.  We post mostly everyday.  Our focus is on the U.S. political scene. Our intent is to present relevant and engaging analysis and commentary on the headline news of the day. Please leave a comment.  We enjoy reading what our readers have to say.

Join the Resistance

Dar

Racism At The White House

Racism At The White House

D. S. Mitchell

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Those words were put to paper 240 plus years ago when the founding fathers joined together to form the United States of America, a democratic nation.

Several days ago, in Charlottesville, VA, torch carrying, chanting protesters identified variously as Neo-Nazi’s, KKK, skin heads or white supremacists, carrying AK47’s and baseball bats threatened the peacefulness of one of America’s most charming cities.

Twelve separate white supremacists groups from around the country gathered together in Charlottesville, VA last week in a stated effort to start a race war.  The particular event drawing them together last week end was the advertised removal of a commemorative statute sitting on public property celebrating Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

The Confederacy consisted of eleven Southern states which seceded from the United States in 1860 in a failed effort to protect and sustain the disgusting custom of slavery.  The south an agrarian society was “perfectly” suited to slave ownership.

The remaining states, known as the Union rejected the secession effort and a four and a half year long war tore the country apart. Affects of the social schism, war atrocities and the failed reconstruction have left an ugly scar on the face of this nation.

As severe reaction to the Confederate loss of the Civil War, a practice of “separate but equal” was instituted throughout the south, effectively separating the races in all aspects of life, whether it was using the a public bathroom, eating at a lunch counter, drinking from a water fountain, or riding a city bus.

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A Neighbor’s Nazi Experience

A Neighbor’s Nazi Experience

D. S. Mitchell

Martin Hartman, a tall slender man, his thinning white brushed back leans against his cane for support. There is a sadness in his eyes and a soberness in his demeanor. You can tell he has a story, and he wants to tell it.

He was born in Holland in 1924. He looks to the ground, before looking back into the reporters eyes. His family had owned a prosperous construction business, until the Depression he tells us. His family like many others had suffered during those economically depressed times, but by 1940, things he explains slowly as memories cloud his 93-year-old face, the economy “had begun to turn around”.

The turnaround was slow, but things had been looking up.  Within just a few days his life, and the life of friends and family were inexorably changed forever.

“I was 16. It was May 10, 1940. We heard bombing and saw planes. It was the German invasion, and the blitz was over in three days.” The squashing of Holland’s defenses was quick, but far from painless.

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What About A Recess Appointment To Replace Sessions?

 

A Recess Appointment To Replace Sessions?

D. S. Mitchell

Recess appointments let a president install an appointee to a position that normally requires Senate approval thru the confirmation process.  Recess appointees avoid the questions and scrutiny of the Senate and the media.  When appointed during a Senate recess that appointee’s term can run thru the end of the next session of the Senate.  Which means anyone appointed during this August recess could conceivably serve through 2019.

Democratic senators intend to continue procedural moves to prevent the Senate from formally adjourning for recess in August, in order to prevent DJT from making any recess appointments, most particularly to the position of Attorney General.

Republicans control the Senate and the only way they could formally adjourn, which would set up a period when recess appointments are allowed–is to pass an adjournment resolution.  Democrats have vowed to filibuster such an effort, wanting to block any effort by President Trump to make any recess appointments.  Democrats plan to force the Senate to hold pro forma sessions–pro forma is a means that keeps the Senate officially in session, in effect never recessing, calling itself to order every three days.

The pro forma maneuver started by Harry Reid (D. NV) during the George W. Bush administration and was continued under the Obama administration.  President Obama attempted to challenge the maneuver by making a number of recess appointments despite the Senate being in pro forma session every three days.  The tactic to by pass the Senate confirmation by recess appointment under Obama was cut down by the Supreme Court which stated in their opinion that, “the Senate is not technically in recess unless it was away for 10 days or more.

I’ve been hearing a lot of fear in people’s discussions that Trump might make numerous recess appointments, basically making appointments when the Senate’s back was turned.  Hopefully this effort will be stopped solidly by the Democratic opposition.

Calamity Politics will be watching the antics of Trump and the Republican Senate an will continue to report.

Join the Resistance

Dar

It’s Just Politics

It’s Just Politics

D. S. Mitchell

The Bloggisphere

Writing for Calamity News and Politics gives me a platform to discuss headline events and political policy. It also provides me a place to vent and fume. If somebody doesn’t like the drum I’m beating, they are fully able, and encouraged to move on; to a site that better satisfies their social view of the world.

My Son

“Don’t get so wound up, it’s just politics”, my son recently told me.  Well, whether I’m saying it to my son, or to a potential reader, or to a neighbor, that is the wrong attitude. In the end, politics is policy, and policy effects everything in our lives. The schools, the hospitals, the parks, the highways, the airports, the waterways, international trade, health care, military defense and social justice.  Nearly every part of our daily life is effected in someway by the policies that our elected officials enact in Washington, D.C., or our state capitols. Got it?

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Twitter Madness

Twitter Madness

D. S. Mitchell

It was me, not Trump.  I admit it.  I went on a Twitter rant to several Senators and cable news channels this morning.  Central to the rant was outrage over Trump’s unprecedented $3.6M weekends at Mar-a-Lago, but no Medicaid, no Meals On Wheels, no TIGER, no PBS, no Muppets.  Just ANOTHER million or two burned up while Trump and his entourage parade around like Louis the XVI.  I’m waiting for Melania Antoinette to suggest we, “eat cake.”

With the severe budget cuts this president is recommending many of his most devoted voters will be hurt the most.  Some of these folks are barely hanging on.  With the damage Trump and his cronies are planning,  many of his supporters will be on the street, living with relatives, or dead.

How can a newly elected president, who is an Electoral College President, not a Popularly Elected President, hurt so many of his supporters, mostly elderly, rural poor, in such a devastatingly malevolent way.  Many of these seniors can’t make it without the ACA (Obama Care), Medicaid, rural hospitals and clinics, and Food Stamps. From the looks of it, TRUMP LIED AGAIN.  He is a master of the con, and has, over the years, fucked just about everybody, in one way, or another; at one time, or another.

I’ve written an average of two posts a day for my political blog, Calamity Politics for at least the last two months. There is so much going on with the U.S. political scene. I can’t stay quiet. So, if it seems sometimes like I might be screaming, I just may, be.

I  intend to add, probably a third post to my daily political blog journal for just, today. I have a need. A need to comment when I see an outrage.The Fire Around Trump is white-hot. The Trump discussion is white-hot and I plan on keeping the fires stoked, with nothing more than a reporting of the outrages that Trump and his chorus of Trumpettes have perpetrated on the American people over the last 24 hour news cycle. We need to crank up the volume. I’m just wondering if we can light the investigatory fire in this heavily Republican government?

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Trump Sucker Punches His Voters

Trump Sucker Punches His Voters

D. S. Mitchell

It’s freaking Cold

It seems to have been a colder than usual winter. I’m not talking about climate change at the moment, more a comment on how a string of seventy days of freaking’ cold days, ran both my electric, and my gas bills to unimaginable heights. Natural gas prices are low, but my consumption went through the roof. I wore sweaters and sweats continuously and haven’t gone to bed in the buff, since last December. So, I’m out of bed, fireplace is going and the chill is slowly being driven off. I’m about to check out the morning political shows and plan on getting to Calamity News and Politics after I brew a cup of coffee.

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