Sunday, November 20, 2016

I Once Thought What We Needed In The White House Was A Businessman Too, But Not This One


"I'll Surround Myself By The Best And Smartest People Ever" He Said - But He's Already Proved He's Not Capable Of Doing That Either

Meme by Addicting Info from Pinterest

John A. Smith, Founder/Editor, Sunday, November 20, 2016 

(UPDATED: 7:57PM November 20, 2016)

 I Too Thought The Best Thing To Straighten Out Government Would Be To Put A Businessman In The White House, But Never This One

     During the Reagan years I was in the top 5% of income in the country. I thought Ronald Reagan was the best thing since sliced bread, voted for him twice. Then I got smart, and informed. Over the years many, many things, came to light and I started to see, and understand, how much damage he did to the country. Not the least of which was his "Trickle- Down-Economics" aka "Reaganomics" which didn't work and has been proven not to work numerous times since his days in office. Republicans still call themselves "Job Creators" and say trickle-down-economics is what the country needs but that is just what Republicans do, ignore facts and keep lying over and over, no matter how many times it's been disproved. Unfortunately what Republicans think, is true all to often, that is, if you say something enough times in the media people will believe it no matter how false it is. Ask Republicans, especially Myron Ebell, who President-Elect Donald Trump appointed as head of the EPA Transition Team. "Ebell, who is not a scientist, has long questioned the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity is fueling unprecedented global warming." See: Trump taps climate-change skeptic to oversee EPA transition below 

     The details of how "good" a businessman the President-Elect has been, as portrayed in the media over the last eighteen months, are far from businessman of the year and more like a scam artist cheating everyone he enters into a deal with. Although he has had 3,500 legal actions including 4 bankruptcies that he brags about where he "got hundreds of millions out of those casinos" but left all the contractors, lenders, investors, and employees to sustain the loses. Republicans call him "a genius" for not paying taxes for 18 years and hiring small contracting companies to do work on his properties and simply deciding not to pay them and use his giant staff of lawyers to delay court proceedings knowing the small companies will not be able to continue paying the legal fees and therefore have to drop the lawsuits they bring to get paid for the work they did.

When Trump Was Challenged By An Interviewer About Having Zero Experience In Government, Policy Making, Domestic and Foreign Policy, I Thought He Gave A Great Businessman Answer: "I'll Surround Myself By The Best And Smartest People" - But He's Already Proved He's Not Capable Of Doing That Either

Myron Ebell Appointed to Head Transition of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

     In a Washington Post article on November 11, 2016 Trump taps climate-change skeptic to oversee EPA transition  the Post reported "The man planning how a Trump administration can obliterate Obama’s environmental legacy is Myron Ebell, a Washington fixture who has long been a cheerful warrior against what he sees as an alarmist, overzealous environmental movement that has used global warming as a pretext for expanding government." 

"President-elect Donald Trump has made no secret of his disdain for the Environmental Protection Agency, saying the regulations it has put out under President Obama are “a disgrace.” He has vowed to roll back Obama’s signature effort to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, known as the Clean Power Plan, and to scrap a litany of other “unnecessary” rules, especially those imposed on the oil, gas and coal sectors."

     In a November 17, 2016 post Media Matters for America: CNN’s Jake Tapper Exposes Trump Adviser Myron Ebell As Industry-Funded Climate Change Denier they show a video from the November 16 edition of CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper. The video is of President-Elect Donald Trump saying he will end the EPA, as well as comments from Myron Ebell and others.

     November 16, 2016 CNN's Gregory Krieg reports in an article: Climate change worries escalate as Trump elevates top deniers  that Trump's ascendance is threatening not to simply undo a series of already tenuous international agreements, but give a boost to interests opposed to fossil fuel regulation, while amplifying voices who express doubt -- or outright deny -- that climate change is real, . The many worries about Myron Ebell as well as numerous concerns including how Donald Trump doesn't understand what a "blind trust" is and says he is going to have his children run his business.

Stephen K. Bannon, the former Breitbart News chief executive who will serve as Trump's chief strategist and counsel

     Here are some Stephen Bannon quotes:

ON RACISM / ANTI-SEMITISM:

-- In an interview with Mother Jones in August, Bannon acknowledged that white nationalists and anti-Semites are drawn to the so-called “alt-Right” movement.
“Look, are there some people that are white nationalists that are attracted to some of the philosophies of the alt-right? Maybe,” he said. “Are there some people that are anti-Semitic that are attracted? Maybe. Right? Maybe some people are attracted to the alt-right that are homophobes, right? But that’s just like, there are certain elements of the progressive left and the hard left that attract certain elements.” (Mother Jones, August 2016)

ON WOMEN:

-- In a 2011 radio interview, Bannon had a hypothesis about why progressive women vilify prominent conservative women like Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin.
“That’s why there are some unintended consequences of the women’s liberation movement,” he said, according to BuzzFeed. “That, in fact, the women that would lead this country would be pro-family, they would have husbands, they would love their children. They wouldn’t be a bunch of dykes that came from the Seven Sisters schools up in New England. That drives the left insane and that’s why they hate these women.” (Political Vindication Radio, 2011)

READ MORE from CBS NEWS: Quotes from Steve Bannon, Trump's new White House chief strategist



Here are the people whose names have been floated for Trump’s Cabinet (from The Washington Post):

     The Washington Post has put together a comprehensive graphic showing who is being considered for many of the important posts that the Trump transition team needs to fill in this post that was updated November 18, 2016 at 8:38PM EDT Here are the people whose names have been floated for Trump’s Cabinet. This very informative graphic was found in another post by the Washington Post Trump chooses Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general, Rep. Mike Pompeo for CIA director "President-elect Donald Trump announced Friday that he plans to nominate Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) as attorney general and Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) as CIA director, a pair of hard-line conservatives who offer early signs of the shape of Trump’s Cabinet."   

     "South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R), appearing at a Federalist Society convention in Washington, did not mention Trump’s nominees in her remarks. But Haley, whose parents immigrated from India, urged the Republican Party to remind the public that it is the party who will offer opportunities “to all citizens, regardless of their race, gender or where they are born and raised.”"

      "Pompeo, 52, was elected to the House in 2010 as part of the first wave of so-called tea party lawmakers. A U.S. Military Academy and Harvard Law School graduate, he has a varied background. He served as a U.S. Army cavalry officer before founding an aerospace company, serving as president of an oil-field equipment manufacturing firm and — in a brief, little-known chapter of his early career — was an attorney with the Washington, D.C. mega-law firm Williams and Connolly."

     "Pompeo is a vocal critic of President Obama’s nuclear accord with Iran. “I look forward to rolling back this disastrous deal with the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism,” he tweeted Thursday, before his offer to become CIA director was public."

For a Laugh Check Out Samantha Bee Digging through Trump's Picks

     The Week posted "Samantha Bee Digs Through Donald Trumps "nightmare" Cabinet List, Looking For Less Bad News"  where they take a look at what Samantha Bee did on her last "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee" show. She looked at Donald Trump's real and prospective picks for top advisers and cabinet positions.You can see her performance in two parts on Youtube

New Cabinet Installation: Part 1 | Full Frontal with Samantha Bee | TBS

and 

 New Cabinet Installation: Part 2 | Full Frontal with Samantha Bee | TBS 

 

     Well the transition goes on with more and more proof that the Donald Trump that campaigned IS going to build a cabinet and attempt to institute much of the shocking, racist, misogynistic, hate mongering, and divisiveness in his presidency. I was asked to "give him a chance" and I did. I planned to give him more time but with the picks he has made the message is clear and won't be changing anytime soon. So, brace for impact, volunteer with established organizations, donate to those organizations that have a proven track record of fighting for all our rights. Don't get silent! CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES on EACH issue that is important to you! Flooding their e-mails and phone lines have more of an effect than you might think. Use the links below to FIND, CONTACT and TRACK YOUR Representatives:

 

How to Find and Contact your Representatives

To FIND, and CONTACT, your State Senators, Assemblyperson, and other Local Legislators enter your ​Address and ​Zip Code at:
OpenStates.org
(You can also search for “Bills” and “Legislation” that are in the State Legislature and across all states at this site.)

To FIND, and CONTACT, your U.S. Congressperson enter your Zip Code at:
(You can also search for “Bills” and “Legislation” that are, or were, in the House of Representatives (Congress,) see which Congressional district you are in, and much more about the United States House of Representatives (Congress,) the at this site.)

To FIND, and CONTACT, your U.S. Senators enter your Zip Code at:
(You can also search for “Bills” and “Legislation” that are in the U.S. Senate, and much more about the U. S, Senate at this site.)


To TRACK your Congressperson, Senators, Legislative Bills, Voting Records of your Representatives, go to:
GovTrack.us     

Other very useful sites are:
POPVOX   VoteSmart   and PolitiFact (to check Facts about things you hear and see from Politicians.)    
 

Friday, November 4, 2016

Let's Look At Some of the Ways Republicans are Cheating, Lying, Passing Laws, and Ignoring Court Rulings on Laws That Have Been Ruled Unconstitutional



Let's Look At Some of the Ways Republicans are Cheating, Lying, Passing Laws, and Ignoring Court Rulings on Laws That Have Been Ruled Unconstitutional After They Sign Them Into Law

John A. Smith, Editor/Founder, November 4, 2016

 
Photo by: CartoonStoc

Gerrymandering, Voter (Suppression) ID Laws, Voter Intimidation, Posting Incorrect Information Ignoring Court Rulings, Cutting Early Voting Places in Low-Income or Minority Areas, SuperPACS Telling People To Stay Home and Vote By Texting "Hillary" to a Number (That Is Not Possible), and MUCH, MUCH, More! 

Photo by: All That Is Interesting

Gerrymandering: 

      Republican Governors and Republican-Controlled State Legislatures redraw the lines of voting districts that all but assure that Republicans will win, even when there are many more votes for the Democratic candidate. How Gerrymandering works and the current legal battles since the U.S. Supreme Court found in favor of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission in Arizona State Legislature v Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission  On June 29, 2015 the opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court was made, siding with the Independent Commission. But that doesn't, by itself, end gerrymandering. Any state that doesn't have an "Independent Commission" to redraw the voting district lines fairly have to petition and get a proposition on their General Election ballot to form, and authorize, an Independent Commission. You can be certain that the 31 states currently controlled by Republican Legislatures and Governors will not only fight this decision but in fact, like other actual laws, ignore it. Here is the latest on legal battles involving gerrymandering. And finally from North Carolina: The ‘smoking gun’ proving North Carolina Republicans tried to disenfranchise black voters.

Photo by: Madison.com

Voter (suppression) ID Laws

     The aforementioned 31 Republican-controlled State Legislatures and/or states with Republican Governors have been busy creating, passing, and signing into law so-called Voter ID laws are supposedly to combat "Voter Fraud." The problem here is that the Republicans themselves conducted an investigation that found only 31 instances out of 1 BILLION votes were found. So all these laws are to prevent/discourage a problem that DOESN'T exist. They are actually being written and passed to discourage, suppress, and intimidate voters. Voters from low-income areas, minority voters, and the like. Many have been found to be extremely racist and in fact unconstitutional. Here are articles on Texas, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and more states that have had their laws knocked down. This is just one article showing why laws were deemed unconstitutional.  This is a Google search showing numerous results on Voter ID laws being shown to be racist and/or unconstitutional. Even after laws are determined to not be valid Republican Governors refuse to stop using the tactics that they had written into those laws! Texas Voter ID Law Violates Voting Rights Act Court Rules,  Here,  GOP voting restrictions struck down in three states. And finally, In the past two weeks, judges have ruled against voter-ID laws and other limits on voting in five states. In Wisconsin the State was told to provide free-voting-ID's but choose to lie to potential voters instead. Recordings show Wisconsin DMV workers giving wrong info on voter ID cards. 

 
Photo by: The Moderate Voice

Cutting Early Voting Times and Locations

      Republican Governors are cutting early voting times and locations IN MINORITY and LOW-INCOME areas! In one instance this is how it works: North Carolina early-voting cuts could dampen black vote.County boards of elections have approved reducing early-voting hours in 23 of North Carolina’s 100 counties. Another eight counties plan to end early voting on the Sunday before Election Day, when a huge number of African-American voters tend to go to the polls." Republicans are closing early voting sites and limiting times specifically to disenfranchise minorities. Black Turnout Soft in Early Voting, Boding Ill for Hillary Clinton. North Carolina politicians are openly racist in their Voter (suppression) ID laws, voting restrictions and early voting changes. Dozens of North Carolina counties slash early voting weeks before Election Day. "Lenoir County near North Carolina’s eastern shore is more than 40 percent black, and there are more than double the number of registered Democrats than Republicans. But its Board of Elections is controlled by white Republicans, who recently voted to slash the number of early voting sites from four to one, and only open that location during weekday businesses hours and a couple of hours on Saturday morning."



Ignore the Trolls: You Definitely Cannot Vote Via Text

America’s electoral system is already kind of a mess. Now, Twitter trolls are doing their best to make it even more confusing by spreading disinformation about how to cast a ballot on election day. The latest example: Donald Trump supporters are spreading memes on Twitter in both English and Spanish, trying to trick Hillary Clinton supporters into thinking they can vote by text.
Don’t fall for them. There’s no such thing as voting by text. 

NO! YOU CAN'T VOTE VIA A TEXT MESSAGE!
Fake ads are being spread throughout the internet and signs to be used where there are lines to vote are being spread. Photo by: LawNewz
 

VOTE TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8TH, AT YOUR POLLING PLACE!

ANY QUESTIONS ON WHO AND WHERE TO VOTE GO TO: 

 http://www.canivote.org/

https://www.vote.org/

https://www.usa.gov/election-day

Also find actual ELECTION LAWS AT:

https://www.usa.gov/election-day