Tag: Calamity Politics

To Believe, Or Not To Believe

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To Believe, Or Not To Believe

D. S. Michell

In 2015, after years of debate on the separation of Church and State issue, a Republican controlled State Legislature passed a bill authorizing the placement of a Ten Commandments Monument on the Arkansas Capitol grounds.  A group of fundamentalists raised $26,000 to fund the creation of the Ten Commandments monument. That monument was erected last week on the Capitol grounds at Little Rock, Arkansas.

Within 24 hours of its erection, the Ten Commandments came tumbling down, after being rammed by a Dodge Dart, driven by Michael Tate Reed.  Reed, posted a video of himself running into and destroying the newly placed monument. Reed reportedly yelled, “Oh my goodness—-freedom,”  as he rammed the 6,000 pound granite slab.  Reed 32, was arrested and secured at Pulaski County Jail charged with, criminal trespass, defacing object of public interest, and First degree criminal mischief.  Reed has subsequently been transferred to mental health authorities.

Reed in 2014 rammed another vehicle into a Ten Commandments monument at the Oklahoma State Capitol, in Oklahoma City, OK.  And, in fact, Reed is currently under court order to maintain mental health treatment and therapy.

Wednesday afternoon, maintenance crews were cleaning up the mess.  Arkansas officials intend to replace the monument as soon as possible. A state official confirmed the vow to replace the monument, “we won’t let this bitterness and hatred stop us.”

The separation of Church and State debate is not expected to tamper down in the near future. The ongoing, and increasingly loud dissension seems to increase as partisanship policies polarize respective groups.

Nationwide school boards, city and county hearings, state legislators and citizens are debating the place of religion in American life. One of the most contentious arguments centers around the display of the Ten Commandments and other religious invocations on public buildings and grounds. The display of the Ten Commandments has led to numerous legal battles and poisonous debate.

Through a spokesman, the ACLU issued a statement,  “We are committed to seeing  unconstitutional monuments struck down, but safely through legal means.” A group called Freedom From Religion, has threatened numerous laws suits across the country and have successfully had religious monuments removed from government properties in Mississippi and New Mexico.

My opinion is simple. You as an individual, or a business owner can decide to put religious decors, monuments, plaques on your property.

I as an individual do not want such religious monuments on my property, nor do I want any such affirmations on public property, EVER.

It’s a big week end here in my little corner of the world.  The annual HOA garage sale is going full force. People come from all over the county for this huge event.  The community picnic will be Sunday, another big event. The 4th of July, because it is on a Tuesday this year, is making it a really long week end, and thousands of tourists are flooding our beach side  community.  Traffic on our narrow little roads gets risky for walkers and bikers.

Calamity Politics wishes all my readers. HAPPY 4TH! Stay Safe.

Join the Resistance

Dar

Heartbreaking

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Heartbreaking

D. S. Mitchell

Calamity politics woke up early this morning to more health care debate on the the cable news channels. I have been making my calls to Senators and voicing my disgust for the emerging  disaster identified by many as, “TrumpCare”.

I have written several posts recently about the health care subject and again this morning Calamity Politics is urging political action by everyone.  If you’re reading this post don’t forget to write, call, protest, run for office, anything to further the Resistance.

One of the things that never gets people excited is organizing.  But, grassroots organizing is essential. Knock on doors, talk to people, ask them what they are looking for in a candidate, and find a candidate that matches what that community is talking about.  Whatever you do, don’t lose faith.  If you take a hammer and you hit it against a concrete wall, over and over again, that wall will breach.  We are that hammer.

The secret writing of the Republican health care bill was enough to convince many people of its dubious underpinnings. The opposition to the pending legislation by hospitals, nurses and doctors, American Cancer Society, Diabetes Foundation,  and reportedly 76% of the U.S. population is unprecedented.  Those factors alone should be enough for the Republicans to sense the way the wind is blowing, but they cannot get past the “Repeal ObamaCare” thinking.  If the Republicans are allowed to pass the TrumpCare bill many American citizens will suffer, maybe you, maybe your mother, or an uncle, a friend from work. Someone you know will be negatively effected if this bill passes.

Paul Ryan (R. WI) said he had dreamed of this bill, this moment, “since he used to talk policy at kegger parties, in college.”  Are you fucking kidding me? Someone who is still holding on to dumb ass, drunk ‘college kid’ ideas is drawing up national health care policy that potentially effects everyone in America either directly, or indirectly, makes me furious.

These folks are so removed from everyday life that they don’t even realize what they sound like. The other day Senator Lindsey Graham (R. S.C.) made the comment, “If we don’t pass a bill, we”ll  just wait until ObamaCare collapses.  Maybe then we can get something passed.”

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senator Graham’s comments are both heartlessness and offensive.  Somebody has cancer, guess we’ll watch his treatment interrupted, his life turned up side down, and most likely his hastened death.  Why, when we have the technology to save his life? Because, some guy in college fell in love with the Ayn Rand idea of ‘me’ over everyone else, or an old guy that acts as if no action is acceptable. That’s like watching someone drown and you standing on the dock ignoring the event, and it’s potential.

Maybe you guys, back there in Washington, D.C. need a reality check.  Sometimes a bad ‘promise’ should be broken, and the Republicans have made some really bad promises over the last eight years., without any regard to the negative effect, those promises will have on a large portion of the American population.

Dar

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Time To Plug-In

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Time To Plug-In

D. S. Mitchell

Calamity Politics had a “plug-in failure” Sunday night.  The failure involved temporary loss of multiple features on the blog.  This failure was extremely aggravating, and it wasn’t resolved until Jane worked her magic.  However, she hasn’t been able to fix everything, yet. But, she is on it, and I’m sure all of our features will be available again, soon.

The reason I’m even mentioning our Calamity Politics catastrophe is because it demonstrates a life truth: shit happens. And when that shit happens to concern health care, there are several subsistence safety net programs for Americans. The big three are,  Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.

My anger has grown steadily as the Republicans prepare to destroy American health care. Just  watching Mitch McConnell smirk into the camera surrounded by the Republican caucus sends me into a rage.   They are all looking tail-wagging happy with themselves.  Is that the way you are supposed to look when you are throwing millions of people’s lives  into chaos?

Last week in the Capitol of the United States of America handicapped individuals, protesting the proposed draconian cuts to Medicaid, were pulled from wheel chairs, zip-tied, and arrested.  It was one of the most disturbing and disgusting sights, I believe I have ever seen.

I believe the next 2 days are vital if we are to have any chance of stonewalling this legislation. Call Republican Senators and tell them to put conscience above party. Phone calls are very effective. Please call and demand they “vote no” on the Senate Repeal and Replace ACA bill.  Stop TrumpCare.

Join the Resistance

Dar

Another Beach Day

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Another Beach Day

D. S. Mitchell

I have been trying to stay calm.  Morning meditation, a 3 mile walk on a misty beach, background acoustic guitar played today while I worked on my *novel.  No cable news.  Just me, and steady controlled breathing.

There are two special elections in the South today.  The South, since the late 1960’s has been  Republican red.  When I was a kid, the Democrats owned the South.  But, strangely enough in reaction to Civil Rights Legislation backed by the Democrats the South moved lock, stock and barrel to the Republican party.

I donated to both Democratic candidates, Archie Parnell in South Carolina, and Jon Ossoff in Georgia. Not much money, because I’m a pensioner, but I felt I had to at least put something in the pot. Not that I expect the Dems to win, but I have hope.

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Karl Rove Goes On Trump Attack

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Karl Rove Goes On Trump Attack

D. S. Mitchell

I have not heard Karl Rove’s name for quite sometime. When George W. Bush was in office Karl Rove dominated the news. Today he runs a SuperPac, or something.

Mr. Rove was not someone that I particularly liked when he was in the spotlight. However, in the Wall Street Journal yesterday Karl Rove took a bite at Donald Trump’s ankle. Here are a few samples of the criticism from that WSJ Op Ed.

Rove’s first nip was just another attack chorused by many Washington insiders, “He (Trump) lacks the focus or self discipline to do the basic work required of a president.”

Karl, most of us out here in the real world have known that simple observation for quite some time.  In my opinion, if Trump hadn’t inherited $300,000,000 million dollars when his father died I doubt whether he would have been able to hold a job due to his severe personality disorder.

Without his massive inheritance I can see Trump  drifting from job to job and living in his cousin’s trailer.  I think that sometimes the public believes that these rich guys are really, really smart. Yeah, some of them are really smart.  However, a whole lot of them inherited vast fortunes, have built up an inside network beginning at their private schools.  It’s nice to be an insider, it takes a lot of money and a lot of time.  It’s all about who you know and who you break bread with.

Rove continued his ankle biting attack, ” His (Trump) chronic impulsiveness is apparently unstoppable and clearly self defeating.  Mr. Trump may have mastered the modes of communication (Twitter) , but not the substance, thereby sabotaging  his own agenda.”

Pretty strong words coming from “Bush’s Brain”.  Getting fired up, Karl continues, “Mr. Trump has figured out how to tweet his way around the mainstream media.  Yet, by disregarding basic fact checking, he is deepening the already considerable doubts Americans have about his competence and trustworthiness.”

I probably shouldn’t give Karl too much credit for his Trump attack.  I assume that Karl Rove is more about saving the GOP, than Donald Trump.  My gut tells me that Karl was approached, in some way, by a group of rich Republicans who are beginning to feel the heat, and are getting nervous about Trump and want to distance themselves from the coming cataclysm.

What I find so amazing is that there are so many pans on the stove that the cook is unsure which one to take off the burner first;  Russian collusion, money laundering, bribery, self-dealing, corruption, obstruction of justice.  My hope is that Robert Mueller is able to pull the pans off the stove at the right time and produce a banquet of charges against Trump, The Trump Organization, The Trump Campaign, Jared Kushner, Mike Flynn, Jeff Sessions, Paul Manafort, Mike Pence, and everyone of those other folks who have been twisting the law for their own enrichment and holding hands with a foreign government while swearing to protect the United States Constitution and its people.

Remember, do something today to forward the Resistance. Write the letter, make the call, share a progressive tweet. Stay involved. Stay invigorated. Do not give into fatigue. We are fighting the most dangerous threat to Democracy since the founding of the Republic.

Dar

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Charitable Giving Stays ‘In House’ With Trump Family

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Charitable Giving Trump Style

D. S. Mitchell

About Calamity News

Calamity Politics is a progressive political blog published on the North Oregon coast.  Calamity News and Politics aims to present engaging political commentary and analysis, where we, in our own sarcastic and cynical  manner put a spotlight on interesting and topical news issues.  Since January 20th, 2017, Calamity Politics has focused its energies on keeping the media spotlight on the calamitous and outrageous scandals centering around the Trump Administration. The Trump family is a scandal factory.

Trump News

The headline news, and the back pages too, of  yesterday’s papers were full of juicy stories.  I know… I complain about it a lot. Too many absolutely incredible salacious stories for me to keep up with. Nobody can write fast enough. I keep struggling on, however. Trump’s Twitter Turds. Mar-a-lago advertisements on the White House website. Melania Trump advertising her jewelry on Pinterest.  Speaking of Melania; a whole crop of nude photos from the 1990’s have surfaced. Kellyanne Conway is hawking Ivanka Trump’s apparel in front of the Presidential Seal. It keeps me slack-jawed.

Arm Waving Outrage

Never in my lifetime could I have imagined such outrage. If you aren’t mad, I mean screaming, arm waving, foot stomping mad, you are not paying attention. Listen, ladies and gentlemen the ongoing scandals, brewing up from the sewer of corruption known as the Trump Administration, is beyond comparison. I am not even talking about the possible conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians.

The Eric Trump Foundation

The above three paragraphs were just me on a rant. Pardon me. The subject of today’s story is the manipulation and clear corruption of The Eric Trump Foundation by Donald Trump Sr. According to a Forbes story, in 2007 Eric Trump established the Eric Trump Foundation. The stated goal was to raise money for St. Jude’s Research Hospital. St. Jude’s is a hospital that specializes in cancer treatment of children. At that time, Eric chose several of his friends to sit on the board.

Initial Event

According to the promotional for the first event, The Eric Trump Foundation claimed costs would be minimal. Eric stated he could use the Trump National Golf Course, in Westchester County, New York for “free’. At the time Eric said, “We get to use our assets (the golf course) 100% free of charge.”

St. Jude’s Hospital

Information provided by several outlets including NBC, MSNBC, Forbes, and the Washington Post, show that Eric Trump delivered $11,000,000 between 2007 and 2015 to the St. Jude’s Research Hospital.  Sources further show that in addition to the $11 million Eric helped raise an extra $5,000,000 for St. Jude’s “through events hosted by other groups”.

Trump Sr Gets Involved

According to Eric Trump Foundation IRS filings the overhead cost of the golf course charity event was around $50,000, and although not “free” as claimed, certainly within reason for such an event. After 2010 apparently, Donald J. Trump, Sr caused expenses to more than double. A former employee, Ian Gillule, stated that Donald Sr. went on a terror when he learned that The Eric Trump Foundation wasn’t being “billed” for the club use. When the old guy flipped out according to Gillule he insisted that “EVERYONE” gets billed. From that point on, costs ballooned. In 2011 the costs were up to $142,000.  By 2015, the costs for the invitational golf event exceeded $322,000.

Excessive Fees

Forbes reported the increased costs for the tournaments coincided with two events. The first being Donald Trump, Sr deciding to “bill” the charity event.  Second, changes to The Eric Trump Foundation Board of Directors. Reports claim The Eric Trump Foundation began using its charitable status to “funnel” donations that donors believed were going to St. Jude’s Research Hospital, instead to The Trump Organization. This was done by charging excessive fees to use Trump properties during fundraisers, and then “re-donating” other funds to charities “friendly” to Trump interests.

Paying Daddy

Numerous news sources report The Eric Trump Foundation paid $1.2 million dollars to the Trump Organization between 2007 and 2015 despite Eric Trump’s claims they had “free” use of the links and buildings for the St. Jude’s event.  Based on filings from The Eric Trump Foundation and other charities, it becomes clear that the course was not free.

Watchdogs

Charity watchdogs told Forbes Magazine “the listed expenses defy any reasonable cost justification for a one-day golf tournament”. Dan Alexander writing for Forbes reported that they had uncovered that the Donald J. Trump Foundation, “apparently used Eric’s charity to funnel $100,000 into generating revenue for The Donald J. Trump Foundation.

Investigations

New York state is investigating The Donald J. Trump Foundation for its not so charitable activities. The president’s foundation had come under earlier scrutiny for “self dealing and advancing the interests of its namesake” rather than those of charity. Alexander wrote,”All of this seems to defy federal tax rules and state laws that ban self-dealing and misleading donors.  The Eric Trump Foundation suspended operations in December of 2016, after his father won the presidential election. Currently, Eric and Don Jr. are running the Trump Organization. That fact alone, raises larger questions about Trump family dynamics and whether Eric and Don Jr. are handling the Trump Org independent of their father

Hallucinating Mind

I think we all know there is no separation between the president and the affairs of the Trump Organization. The veil is obviously fake. It is clear old man remains involved in Trump Organization. Such activities should disqualify Trump from holding any public office, much less the presidency. Trump has not set up a blind trust by any stretch of the imagination. The Forbes story summation, “Altruism as a business development strategy isn’t necessarily illegal.  But, a situation in which outside donor money is redeployed away from the core mission in ways that seems to ultimately benefit the family that pays the majority of the Board is–at best–an appearance problem”.

Keeping It In House

Think about it. Just another example of the Trump family keeping the money ‘in house’. Remember, you can’t just sit around. These are challenging times. The president is head of a crime family. He must be replaced. Support the Resistance. Make a phone call, write a letter to the local newspaper, write a letter to your Senator, your representative. If you want to become more involved start a blog, march in a protest, run for office. Pick one small task each day, and do it.  It is the totality of action that moves mountains and societies.  Taking a phrase and reusing it in a whole new way, ‘just do it”.

Join the Resistance

Headlines Revisited & Rethought

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Headlines Revisited & Rethought

D. S. Mitchell

16 Hours Of Loss

The Progressive political blog, Calamity News and Politics, has been quieted for the last 16 hours due to a phone/computer/wi-fi issue. It’s amazing the loss I have felt over that time. It felt as though a good friend had moved from across the street, to across the country. Thank God, the imaginary “move” only lasted 16 hours. OMG, my life without wi-fi felt so empty. My 21st century brain has become part of the technology it has created. I believe, it will be another 30-50 years before we know, and understand the consequences of this transformation from real to semi-virtual world.

The Forgotten Book

By hour six my brain reluctantly detached from my internet alter ego, and admitted that I would need to get along without half “my brain” for an undetermined length of future time.  By hour seven, I was desperately looking for relief from my technological desert. As my head cleared, I remembered that book I needed to finish for a class I am taking. Good thing, there. I have a paper due based on the reading of that book due on 6-12. Since given a mandatory vacation day, I plunged back into the book I had put down after Chapter 3, six weeks ago.

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White Supremacist Kills Two And Wounds Third

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White Supremacist Kills Two & Wounds Third

D. S. Mitchell

It was a sunny 80 degrees in Portland, Oregon on May 26, 2017 and three heroes emerged from the many on the Max Green Line that afternoon. It was 4:30 pm and the Line #3 train was headed East from downtown, crowded with homeward bound passengers. These people were just riding a train home and without warning, they were caught up in an American tragedy.

Two teenagers, one black girl, and one Muslim girl who was wearing the traditional head covering hijab became the target of a man using abusive language. A witness, identified as Evelin Hernandez 38, reported that the man became quite agitated and began yelling racial slurs at the two young women. According to Hernandez, the two young women tried to move to the back of the train, while the man continued his rant of insults.

As the teenagers moved away, the insults became more virulent and the situation appeared to quickly escalate. It was at this point, according to witnesses that two men, Best and Namkai-Mechi attempted to intervene and quiet the rowdy man. The agitator continued yelling “hate speech” at the retreating teens. In the midst of the man’s ranting and raving he pulled a knife, turned on the Good Samaritans and viciously stabbed and slashed the two men, slicing each of their necks. A third young man, Micah David-Cole Fletcher stepped in and attempted to stop the carnage, at which time the assailant turned his rage on Fletcher, who was also stabbed, and his throat slashed.

During the assault several passengers called 911 and police were dispatched to the scene. After the attack the perpetrator attempted to flee the scene. After running from the Hollywood Transit Station where the train had stopped, he was apprehended in a neighborhood close to Providence Medical Center, said Portland Police spokesman, Sgt Pete Simpson.

In a prepared statement Simpson identified the alleged killer as Jeremy Joseph Christian, a 35 year old professed white supremacist with a long history of criminal activity, including felony robbery, kidnapping and weapons conviction. Christian served eight years in prison related to the armed robbery of a convenience store when he was 20. During that robbery Jeremy Christian was shot in the face by a Portland police officer during that arrest.

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Trump Wants to Keep Ethic Waivers Secret

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Trump Wants To Keep Ethic Waivers Secret

D. S. Mitchell

Calamity Politics, a West Coast based progressive political blog, attempts to shine a light into the murky world of U.S. political dog fighting

I have been silent for a day or two while I did some archive updates and computer housekeeping. I added lots of new pictures. If you haven’t taken a look at the site for a while, I welcome you back and hope you take a few minutes to look at some of the old stories. As I was adding pictures I was surprised to note that most of the same issues that were shocking me six months ago are still shocking me, today.

Now that the house cleaning is complete I am back. My storytelling fingers have been itching to get back to covering the hot button current events of our day. This White House has dropped a shield around itself. There is not even a pretense of transparency. Dozens of former lobbyists and industry lawyers have been hired by the Trump administration. In late January President Trump signed an executive order that “barred lobbyists and lawyers” hired as political appointees from participating in “particular” policy issues that involved former clients for two years. Trump of course, like previous presidents, reserved the right to “issue a waiver” to anyone he wanted to hire. This action is not new. What is new is that the Trump White House has been steadfastly refusing to release evidence of any such waivers, or acknowledgement of who waivers were granted to, or disclosure of any accompanying documents.

    1. Walter M. Shaub Jr., head of the Office Of Government Ethics has asked every federal agency for copies of all waivers and accompanying documentation issued by Trump be returned to his office no later than June 1, 2017. In response the White House challenged Shaub’s “legal authority” to demand such information. Mick Mulvaney, chief of the Office of Management and Budget requested more time to review “the scope of OGE authorities”, without specifying what those questions were.

In a statement provided to the NY Times, Mulvaney switched tactics, and accused Shaub of “playing politics” and attacked the “expansive scope and breathless timetable, demanded that we seek further guidance”. The reason for the “expansive” scope is because Trump has hired innumerable former lobbyists and industry lawyers for the administration, many of whom the administration has attempted to conceal from public scrutiny. For every minute the waivers are kept secret the Trump appointees are able to potentially advance their own financial interests.

A week after attempting to further stonewall the requests by the OGE, the White House announced it will comply with the OGE request and will publicly disclose all waivers that the White House has quietly given out since January that allow these former lobbyists to work in the administration. The White House position was drawing heavy fire from ethics watchdogs. These waivers are given on a case-by-case basis, and in effect, allow appointees to work on policies that may overlap with issues they worked on with former employers.

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Trump On Tour

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Trump On Tour

D. S. Mitchell

I am screaming at the top of my lungs. It’s a damn good thing this is not a pod cast commentary, because someone would be ordering psych restraints for this old girl.

I started writing for Calamity Politics because I saw Trump as a demented, narcissistic, irrational, terrifying, irresponsible, backward thinking, corrupt and dangerous individual. I was concerned that the country had just elected a gross misogynist clown as President of the United States.

I wanted to speak out against what I expected to be an immediate attack on the environment, entitlement programs and Roe v Wade. I knew the Republicans, heavily financed by the Koch Brothers, and other right extremist Superpacs, would launch an all out attack against anything progressive as soon as the inaugural partying was over.

Because of my intense concern, I felt the pressure to get on line with Calamity Politics as soon as possible. If you as a reader, wonder who I am, and what I stand for, I suggest you take a few minutes and read ‘About Me’ and ‘Mission Statement’ which are located on buttons at the top of this page.

I thought I might be alone in my outrage. Had I “lost” my mind, as was suggested by two family members, or was I one of many?

I found out soon that I was just one of an army of individuals who were truly fearful that the election of Donald Trump was a step back in time. None of us wanted to take 21st century America back to the segregated, air polluted and garbage littered mid 20th century America romanticized by Donald Trump. So fearful in fact were we, that we began organically to call ourselves the “resistance”. I embraced the label as a personal commitment to fight trump, and everything he represents. I am a soldier in the fight against authoritarianism. I am one of the ‘resistance”.

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