Saturday, January 21, 2017

President Trump - Day 1

I avoided all the hoopla of inauguration day on purpose.  I have been keeping up with the confirmation hearings which have been a mixed bag.  Expecting the absolute worst from all of the nominees some have surprised me with being almost reasonable.  Rex Tillerson has divested himself, and sounded much more reasonable than the Boss.  He might be OK although I am not sure I am being deceived by low expectations and the performance of others making him look better than he is.
Betsy DeVos on the other hand is an unmitigated disaster.  Smiling through all her responses she showed no real preparation or if she had some she is a slow learner.  Sen. Franken especially showed her ignorance of even simple educational concepts.  AARGH!  But she will be confirmed it seems as was General Flynn, a conspiracy believer as the head of NSA - just what we need with a President who does not shy away from outlandish claims like Obama not being an American citizen.

Then of course he signs a vague executive order to follow up on the dismantling of the ACA.  I will not call it Obamacare as it is really Romneycare to those of us in Massachusetts.  It was relabeled by Republicans to make it less popular among their constituents many of whom partook of it as ACA some not even realizing that the two were the same thing.  So much for not ruling by executive order.  Obama was not even that big on them and he had a Congress that would not pass any legislation.  Trump has no excuse especially as he campaigned against them.  Here are the stats from Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_federal_executive_orders

The CBO released a report that should have halted most of the momentum to repeal it but doesn't seem to be slowing it down much.  I don't have ACA insurance but will pay higher private premiums and taxes as a result of its repeal.  That is not nearly the disaster awaiting those who are sick and really need the insurance.

Rioting is bad as I had written about earlier in relation to riots in Portland.  I know you are angry but we must follow the rules of MLK who learned them from Gandhi who adapted them from Jesus' teaching.  The rules are simple: No violence.  Remember the turn of the civil rights movement came about in large part by seeing the police turn dogs and fire hoses on peaceful protesters.  The riots in the ghettos once MLK was gone did the cause of civil rights no favors.  Violence in the cause of equal rights under a President who is not tolerant of criticism will only harden the government's response to any protest.  Already every Trump supporter on my Facebook page is posting the pictures of protesters breaking windows and torching a car.  There has been more violence after sports teams win a national championship but any deviation from peaceful is seen as a threat but those in power.

Peace out.



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