Category: Personalities

We Can’t Forget Puerto Rico

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We Can’t Forget Puerto Rico

D. S. Mitchell

Two months ago Puerto Rico was hit by a Category Five hurricane. Maria devastated the island.  More than half of the island continues to be without power and hundreds of thousands of residents are fleeing to the American mainland, in what has been described as an “extraordinary exodus.” The early sense of desperation seems to have morphed into resignation.

On October 3, 2017 President Trump visited Puerto Rico and tossed paper towels to a crowd of needy fellow Americans and bragged about how well the administration’s response to the disaster was going. But now two months after the disaster there is little tangible evidence of real progress. Simple things like, running water, and traffic lights remain unavailable to most of Puerto Rico’s 3.4 million citizens. Early on, the Pentagon dispensed emergency troops to the island. Those emergency troops are now beginning to pull out, except for those working on the island’s demolished power grid.

Tens of thousands of jobs have been eliminated. Thousands of small businesses remain closed and may never reopen. Two months after Maria, a significant number of Puerto Rican hospitals are still running on emergency generators. FEMA officials report that the conditions on the island are so bad that they are being forced to continue to focus on Phase I, the emergency response phase-providing potable water, roofing tarps, in other words the bare necessities, 60 days after the event.

The storm’s official death toll is 55. Forensic researchers believe that number will increase dramatically, probably into the 100’s when all bodies are recovered. The morale of the islanders has remained low as services remain unavailable and scandal has developed around  the dysfunctional and debt-ridden power authority.

The chief executive of the power authority quit this month as details emerged of a $300 million contract with a small White Fish, Montana company. The contract was canceled when irate islanders learned the power authority had agreed to pay $319 per hour to visiting linemen while comparable contractor’s were being paid as little as $42 per hour.

White Fish Energy has reportedly agreed to resume work in Puerto Rico after the government of Puerto Rico made a partial payment on work done. There is an investigation now underway in the Congress into White Fish Energy and why such a small company was given such a huge contract without a bidding process. Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke is from White Fish, Montana and the connection between the Secretary and the CEO of White Fish Energy has come under scrutiny.

It is estimated that 2,ooo Puerto Ricans have left the island each day, headed to the mainland where they will use their American citizenship to resettle with relatives in New York, New Jersey, California and Florida. By the end of 2017 it is expected that over 300,000 immigrants will have entered Florida. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency to handle the wave of immigrants.  The influx already rivals the Cuban immigration during the 1980 Muriel boat lift.

Governor Ricardo Rossello has asked Congress for $94.4 billion in aid to help the island. So far Congress has approved $5 billion. The underlying question is what leadership role the federal government will play in Puerto Rico’s reconstruction. What is obvious is that there needs to be a comprehensive recovery plan from the Trump administration, and so far it seems that the administration has moved on.

President Trump impressed Puerto Ricans with his rudeness and his scornful critique of the Mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulin Cruz.  His tweets were considered insulting and divisive.  One tweet, “They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort” was particularly hurtful. It is agreed that Trump has a sworn duty to support  Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans are American citizens trapped in an unprecedented emergency, but Trump does not seem to grasp the enormity of the situation or his responsibility to the people of Puerto Rico.

Calamity Politics is a progressive political on-line news magazine.  Join the Resistance.

Dar

Trade In The Era Of Trump

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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

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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 Back, And I’m Optimistic

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I’m Back, And I’m Optimistic

D. S. Mitchell

The last post written by me specifically directed at Donald Trump was written on October 14, 2017. Since that date, I have mostly been writing about environmental issues, domestic problems and the American health scene. The reason quite honestly, is that after completing my 7 part series, Trump: Behind The Curtain, I was so disgusted and repelled by the revelations that I felt I needed to step back, and take those proverbial deep breaths. But, I am back now, and I am feeling hopeful.

The elections across the country on Tuesday November 7, 2017, the one year anniversary of the election of Donald J. Trump as president of the United States, brought out a lot of  people who are madder than hell at the direction that Trump and the GOP are taking this country. Women, people of color, immigrants, the college educated, suburbanites, the LGBT community, came together to vote for decency and inclusion.

Our history is imperfect, but our direction toward inclusiveness and decency has been ongoing and progressive.  The results of Tuesday’s elections make it clear that the American people want to continue on the road forward and not turn backwards to a time when a person was defined by their race, their sex, their wealth; not their intelligence, their creativity, their courage and their moral character.

If you are part of the Resistance, you can be proud and happy for Tuesday’s victories, but I believe that very success will lead to greater efforts by the 1% donors, Russian meddlers and old line Republicans to suppress the vote, demoralize and discourage participation by Democrats and Independents.

Turn out is the key. Voting for what you believe in and not staying home because you feel powerless. Your vote is America’s future. It is easy to leave it up to someone else to make those decisions, but if you are committed to progress then you must take responsibility for your actions.  If you want change, if you want progress, you must speak up, you must speak out. No bystanders allowed.

Calamity Politics is an active, progressive on-line political news magazine that proudly admits to a Progressive agenda. Join us weekly for opinion and analysis of the national political scene.

Join the Resistance.

Dar

An Obligation To Preserve Health Care

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The Obligation To Preserve Health Care

D. S. Mitchell

The Trump administration seems bent on destroying health care in America. Despite promises to “guarantee health care for all” while on the campaign trail, Trump has moved back to the GOP corner, now calling for Repeal and Destroy.

Open enrollment for the ACA (ObamaCare) starts on November 1st and extends through December 15, 2017 for health care policies starting January 1, 2018.  I would wager that a large part of Americans are unaware of these important approaching dates.

Why wouldn’t they know?  The problem comes from the Trump administration’s dramatic cut backs on efforts to tell people about deadlines and other matters related to the ACA.  The strategy is to openly sabotage the national health care system. Americans should be given time to check their current coverage and make health care decisions to avoid being trapped in a policy they don’t like, or in a policy that no longer fits their needs.

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Part VII: Behind The Curtain

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Part VII: Behind The Curtain

D. S. Mitchell

At the end of Part VI it was January 11th and Donald Trump was holding his first press conference since his Electoral College win. Trump stood to one side of the stage, flanked by Donald Jr 39, Ivanka 35, and Eric 33, listening to his tax attorney, Sheri Dillon explain to the audience of reporters and staff, the changes that were being made to the Trump Organization.

The stage with a center podium was decorated with solemn dark blue drapes and a row of American flags with long gold tassels giving the event a sober tone. On a black shrouded table, to the left of where Dillon stood at the podium, were stacks of manila folders. The stacks were impressively high. Pointing to the stacks of folders, Dillon claimed they were filled with 1000’s of documents proving that Trump was re-arranging his empire to satisfy the growing chorus of critics.

Dillon claimed the Trump “business empire” was “massive”. She emphasized massive several times. A couple of times Dillon tried to draw a correlation between Trump and former Vice President, Nelson Rockefeller as she talked about the changes being made at the Trump Organization. Evidently, she did not know that Rockefeller had released his tax returns and later offered to place his sizeable assets in a blind trust. Neither of which Trump has offered to do.

“The plan” was, according to Dillon, to put the Trump Organization into a trust to be managed by his sons and a long time executive. She emphasized that there would be no more foreign deals, an ethics advisor would be chosen and lastly, Donald Trump would have no involvement in the business. It quickly became clear that Trump was not going to sell his business or put those assets in a blind trust, or release his tax returns.

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The Flag Is For Protester And Soldier

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Let’s remember we are more alike than we are different. Last weekend President Trump went on a rant at an Alabama rally and attacked any “SOB” that did not stand for the National Anthem.  Steve Schmidt, my new favorite guy, said it simply, “The flag is for the protester and the soldier.”

Join the Resistance

Darlene

Part VI: Behind The Curtain

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Part VI: Behind The Curtain

D. S. Mitchell

In part V we saw how Donald Trump’s poor judgment and lack of “give a shit” attitude, his branding and monetization of everything he touches is a direct cause of most problems besetting his administration. Scandal, ethics reviews, Senate inquiry and counter-intelligence investigations have plagued this recently installed White House.  Most of the problems are Trump’s  fault. Donald cares little about who he associates with, as long as they kiss the ring, rub his ego and equate everything to money.

Roger Stone, a disgusting creep, who is a self-described lobbyist, political consultant and “Republican operative” got together with Trump and they decided that Paul Manafort would make a great campaign chairman.  OMG. This is the same guy who was making millions of dollars working against American interests in Crimea and the Ukraine. And between these two guys the only name they could come up with was Paul Manafort to chair the Trump campaign?  That limiting of potential candidates for the job is mind bending, unless that already known relationship between Manafort and the Kremlin was considered a positive and defining qualification.

Once installed at Trump’s right arm, Manafort just two weeks before Trump was nominated as the Republican nominee for the president of the United States, he offered to “provide briefings” on the presidential race, through a European intermediary, to Russian oligarch and billionaire Oleg Deripaska.  Deripaska is a known confidant of Vladimir Putin and because of his connections to organized crime has not been allowed to travel in the United States.

On July 7, 2016 Manafort wrote to his intermediary, “If he (Deripaska) needs private briefings we can accommodate.”

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I’m A Liberal–And Here Is Why

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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

Part V: Behind The Curtain

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Part V: Behind The Curtain

D. S. Mitchell

At the end of Part IV: Behind The Curtain, David Cay Johnston told the reading audience that he had never seen evidence that Donald Trump was now a billionaire, or ever has been a billionaire.   I have no idea, and actually I really could care less if Trump is a billionaire or just a multimillionaire. That shit’s all in his head, not mine. Kinda like the guy who buys the biggest most gaudy truck he can find, to make up for some secret deficiency.

What I do care about is the obvious, and quite serious conflict of interest issues.  Trump has provided no tax returns, he has not established a blind trust, or divested himself of his businesses.  There are many questions about his deals with Russian oligarchs and his ongoing effort during the 2016 campaign to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, working behind the scenes with his long time attorney, Michael Cohen.

One of the character flaws noted by personal friends of Trump and discussed earlier in this series, is Trump’s poor judgment when choosing partners and associates. I can’t help adding my opinion on this matter.  I think, in addition to poor judgment, Trump just does not give a damn, that’s right, I don’t think he cares. The president’s  choice of Jared Kushner to be his Senior Advisor is a perfect example.

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