Category Archives: donald trump

All Posts, deficit, donald trump, economy

WEAR THE PATRIOT’S MASK

How should we deal with people who make our national crisis worse by refusing to adopt effective safety practices?  Over six million Americans have been diagnosed with the Covid -19.  More than 180,000 have died.  Millions more have lost jobs and the ability to support themselves.  The national debt that we must repay will soon be more than the total value of everything the nation produces in a year for the first time since the end of WWII.

Our most effective weapons in a war against the virus are:

  1. Wear a mask in public places
  2. Maintain social distance.
  3. Don’t congregate in large groups.

We lack leadership and enforcement of those practices, especially at the national level, where our President routinely denies the facts and refuses to personally adopt safe practices.  As a result, we are among the hardest hit nations in the world.

Why do we passively accept anti-social behavior from people who endanger our families and livelihoods?  Safety practices can become behavior standards for our communities and our nation when enough of us speak up directly to those who misbehave.  That won’t be a pleasant task but it is not nearly as difficult as allowing a virus to rule our lives.

Some retail clerks and managers say they fear abusive behavior and threats by anti-maskers; and that is why they don’t enforce their own rules.  Anti-maskers are getting their way through noisy intimidation and bullying.  They are impeding our war effort and allowing the virus to linger; and they will continue until responsible citizens stand up to them.  I’ve seen a few folks publicly confront those who are not doing their part.  It is uncomfortable, but I am learning to do it too.  We are at war with a virus.  Those who do not follow safety practices endanger us all.  Their traitorous behavior is unacceptable.

The death toll, economic damage, inability to operate schools normally, and other consequences of not masking, not distancing, and allowing unsafe mass gatherings is a burden that good citizens should not have to bear.  The nations in the chart above are home to freedom loving people that are succeeding against the virus.  They all have leaders who are educating the public and pushing voluntary compliance. Many also have penalties for non-compliance. Germany,

A picture of presidential leadership – the vast majority of Donald Trump’s audience was unmasked on the White House lawn to hear him accept the Republican presidential nomination.

France, Australia, South Korea, Japan, UK, and Canada have all used fines or other penalties at times when voluntary compliance didn’t work.

It’s difficult to fathom why police and prosecutors are resistant to enforcement, when laws or emergency orders are in place.  One common explanation is lack of resources, but that doesn’t stand up to close examination.  The virus is the most dangerous and immediate threat to our public safety.  Consider that police do have resources to monitor speed limit violations by radar.  Some of that time could be reallocated to routine checks of masking compliance at high risk locations.  Masking compliance could also become part of routine patrols.  If someone calls to report a mask or distancing violation, it can be triaged in the same way as other calls.  A violent crime in progress is a high priority.  Taking an in-person report of a stolen lawn mower is a lower priority.  Police make triage decisions every day and they generally do it well.

Many Americans are masking, distancing and avoiding crowds because they have believed CDC advice, because they care for others and because it’s the right thing to do.  But now the Trump administration is manipulating information from CDC and other sources to sow doubt about scientific facts.  They are misleading rather than leading their loyalists.

Americans have been watching a microscopic virus take away our schools, churches, businesses, friends and families.  The non-performance of our government at the national and local level leaves the work to individuals and private groups.  That’s why we need to have plain-talk conversations with anyone who doesn’t mask or distance; and refuse to passively accept the deaths and damage that they are causing.  Patriotic Americans do not sit idle while the nation is losing a war.  We’re running out of time and resources to fight the virus.  Think about it.  How will you help?

Click Here to see current world wide virus statistics

All Posts, donald trump, government ethics, Russia and Trump

Adlai Stevenson for President

originally published 1/19/2019

2019 has barely begun, but the first candidates for our 2020 Presidential election are already forming teams and making themselves heard around the nation.  While considering how to write about that, I came across quotations from Adlai Stevenson, a very thoughtful candidate that we didn’t elect.  Running as a Democrat, he lost twice to President Eisenhower, in 1952 and 1956.  Here are some of his thoughts.  (Women reading this, please forgive his exclusive use of masculine pronouns.  It was the manner of speech at the time.) Continue reading Adlai Stevenson for President →

All Posts, American Foreign Policy, budget, Congress, Constitution, donald trump, immigration

THE WALL IS INSIGNIFICANT

originally published 1/16/2019

Benjamin Franklin supposedly described our new form of government to a citizen as “a republic, if you can keep it”.  A republic is a sovereign nation where power resides in elected individuals representing citizens, and where government leaders exercise power according to the rule of law.  The debate over whether to build a wall along our border with Mexico is no longer about the wall.  It is about whether we are still a republic. Continue reading THE WALL IS INSIGNIFICANT →

All Posts, American Foreign Policy, donald trump, economy

Economic War Or Peace?

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Asymmetric warfare is war between belligerents whose relative military power differs greatly, or who employ drastically different strategy or tactics. It is typically a war between a standing, professional army and an insurgency or resistance movement.  Guerrilla warfare and terrorism are two examples.  Our armed forces will not be defeated by the Taliban.  But, on the other hand, we have not been able to drive them from the field in Afghanistan.  I’m wondering if we are entering an era of asymmetric economic warfare.    Are we vulnerable to economic wars that we won’t lose but can’t decisively win? Continue reading Economic War Or Peace? →

All Posts, budget, Congress, deficit, donald trump, economy, taxes

IS THE FINANCIAL END NEAR?

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The cartoon made me laugh. Maybe it’s funny because it’s based in truth.   Although I hope that our national litany of mini-crises and scandals will end soon, I don’t expect it.  These stormy times are distracting us from more important issues, particularly our national financial situation. Continue reading IS THE FINANCIAL END NEAR? →

All Posts, civil rights, donald trump, race, randolph county north carolina

LET’S MAKE RACISM UNACCEPTABLE

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The Washington Post recently published a story (READ IT HERE) that took place where I live , Randolph County, North Carolina.  It features local people but it is actually about President Donald Trump’s support of racism.  Similar stories can be found in towns, cities and rural areas

To enter our historic courthouse for a meeting of the County Commissioners, one must walk past an armed Confederate Soldier who fought to preserve slaveryi. It's perceived as a racist message by many descendants of slaves.
To enter our historic courthouse for a meeting of the County Commissioners, one must walk past an armed Confederate Soldier who fought to preserve slavery. It’s perceived as a racist message by many descendants of slaves.

all across America.  For reasons unknown to me, the writer picked the story of the Trogdon family and our community to make her point: overt racist activities are on the rise; and the President of the United States has encouraged it. Continue reading LET’S MAKE RACISM UNACCEPTABLE →

donald trump, Russia and Trump

DOES TRUMP FEAR THAT THE END IS NEAR?

The release of the Nunes-Republican memo criticizing the FBI looks like an act of desperation by an Administration which thinks that the end is near.

CLICK HERE to read the much anticipated memo and the White House cover letter authorizing its release. What an anti-climax! It claims that the FBI should have said some nice things about Carter Page to the FISA court before getting authorization to tap his phone; shouldn’t have included information from the Steele Dossier with other justification and that people who didn’t like Donald Trump shouldn’t have been allowed to participate in the investigation.

The memo doesn’t include the FBI’s justification for their actions. That might be good because (according to the FBI) that would endanger sources and methods. Democrats say the memo is misleading and that they have additional information that should have been made available if the Republican memo was released. But House Republicans and the President won’t declassify the information Democrats want us to see.

Maybe it doesn’t matter…under these circumstances will anyone other than FOX News followers believe a Republican-only memo written and published under the supervision of Devin Nunes and Donald Trump?

For those who have been part of the Trump administration this may be your best hope:    REPENT!  THE END IS NEAR!

All Posts, Christianity, civil rights, donald trump, justice, taxes, war

Follow Dr King out of Trump’s shithole

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President Trump’s remarks about “Shithole” nations and his desire for more immigration from (white) Northern Europe are a perfect contrast to our January 15 national day of recognition for Dr. Martin Luther King Junior – born January 15, 1929.  Except for an assassin’s bullet, he might have celebrated his 89th birthday today.  Instead he was killed before reaching the age of forty.

Click below to hear singer-songwriter Patty Griffin’s reflection on Dr King’s final speech and what his final prayer might have been before he died

Dr. King is rightly remembered as a principal leader of the civil rights movement that brought legal equality for Americans of African descent, at least on paper.  The struggle to fully achieve the promise of equality under the law continues to this day.

Today, I think it is important to remember that in his final years, Dr King had expanded his mission and ministry to encompass two additional concerns: He supported and expanded the peace movement that sought to bring American troops home from our military incursions into the affairs of other nations, principally Vietnam.  The second new subject was economic justice.  He saw, even in the 1960s, the concentration of extreme wealth among a few privileged Americans while laborers were unable to support families.  On the day that he was killed, he was in Memphis to support the demands of sanitation workers for improved wages and working conditions.

Dr King was not abandoning his civil rights mission.  He was expanding it.  The war affected everyone, regardless of race, through unnecessary killing and through the waste of economic resources that could have been used to improve American lives.  Economic inequality and injustice to working Americans affected minorities disproportionately but it was abundantly clear that a permanent, generation-spanning economic underclass existed in every race.  Insulting labels from that era such as “poor white trash” and “nigger” have not lost or changed their meaning in the half century since Dr King’s death.  They still refer to people who have had few opportunities for economic and educational advancement.  They are the victims of an economy and a nation that has no need for their limited skills and little motivation help them find opportunities.  How different, really, are the problems of the white Appalachian coal miner, the rural southern black, and the small town and urban workers of all races who lost jobs to automation?

Dr King saw clearly that we can all succeed together by creating opportunities for personal and economic growth through education and social safety net programs.  How ironic is it that Norway (the nation from which President Trump would like to have more immigration) has done what Dr King suggested?  Proponents of creating those programs here in the US are often derisively  called “socialists”.   It is precisely because of those socialist programs that very few people want to leave Norway.  People like it there.  Not only do they share their wealth, they have more to share.  In Norway, the average economic output per person is $70, 392 compared to $57,436 for Americans.  What a surprise!  A nation that strives to provide opportunities for everyone is more productive than one which ignores the needs of its poorest citizens.

Americans have responded to our problems by forming a circular firing squad – shooting (sometimes literally) at each other rather than lifting each other up, as Dr King would have taught.  Now we have elected a President and a Republican congressional majority who have cut taxes on corporations at a time when corporate profits are at record highs; cut taxes on the wealthiest Americans at a time when they already own a greater share of our national wealth than at any time on record; and will borrow money that we all have to repay in order to fund their gifts to the wealthy.  They also plan to drastically increase military spending for the longest and arguably least justified wars in American history.

Unfortunately, I must agree with President Trump that there is indeed a “shithole”.  He and the Republican congress are pushing us into it.  We’ll have to climb out using the remaining resources that they haven’t wasted.  We can do that if we will quit blaming the victims of poverty for their condition and begin focusing our efforts on creating opportunity for every American to achieve her or his full potential.  Success in that endeavor will be the measure of a great nation.

 

 

All Posts, Christianity, donald trump, justice, religion, taxes

Real Christmas Light

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In a conversation about the state of our world, a friend asked what my subject would be for a “Christmas column”.  My immediate reaction was cynicism.  It seemed unfitting to celebrate Christmas in a world where borders matter more than starving refugees, where the wealthy get a tax cut paid for with borrowed money, and where self-professed Christians in movements like Aryan Nation Church of Jesus Christ and Westboro Baptist Church preach racism and intolerance in Jesus’ name.

A day passed by before it occurred to me that Jesus was born, lived and was crucified in a world not so different from our own.  His teaching, preaching and example were about living in a flawed, unfair and sometimes hostile world.  What better time and place to celebrate his birth, life and sacrifice than here and now, in our own darkness?  The light that he brought to his world can brighten our own.

The land where Jesus lived was ruled by the most powerful military force of its time, the Roman Empire.  They allowed significant local autonomy as long people paid taxes to the empire and didn’t attempt insurrection.  Regional government was based on Jewish religious laws under Roman supervision.  Political and financial power were often abused.  The temple tax, owed by everyone, enriched the high priests.  It also paid temple employees including musicians, janitors, decorators, guards and those who sold animals for sacrifice. They sustained the mystique of the temple and the belief that High Priests could influence God through rituals.  Little tax money trickled down to the poor.

There were a lot of itinerant preacher/teacher/rabbis in Jesus’ time.  People were angry, especially in rural areas where taxes were collected to support Rome and Jerusalem while poverty reigned locally.  Jesus directed his ministry to the poor, the working class, the disenfranchised, and much of the time he simply ignored Rome and Jerusalem.  He recruited fishermen, laborers, and other common people as followers.

Stories of his work include miracles to benefit the sick and poor.  The lepers who were healed were outcasts under Jewish law.  The prostitutes (identified as “sinners”) with whom he reportedly dined at a tax collector’s invitation are thought to have been hired as after-dinner entertainment – women who had only their bodies to sell.

Jesus did far more than heal and feed people.  He taught a better way of living that became a movement.  It was based on two principles – love God, and love your neighbor as yourself.  Today people sometimes debate what “God” and “neighbor” mean.  Nevertheless, Jesus’ teaching is so clear that we can apply it to our 21st century lives.

It’s almost as important to recognize what Jesus didn’t do as what he did.  Did Jesus ever pray for rain in the desert, military defeat of the Roman invaders or other intervention in daily life?  He taught others to pray for enough food to get through the day, forgiveness of sins and recognition of temptation – nothing more.  He never tried to enforce his values through civil laws.  People were free to follow or not.  He never asked for contributions to build a cathedral, a megachurch or even a small one.  Nor did he urge placing a monument to the Ten Commandments at every courthouse.

Jesus cared about individuals but he also spoke to and about government when he overturned the money changers’ tables where the poor were legally cheated by a government sanctioned religion.  He engaged in civil disobedience to save the life of a woman caught in the act of adultery.  The prescribed penalty was for her to be stoned to death.  Jesus halted the stoning with this challenge, “Let anyone who is without sin cast the first stone.”

Who was this man who changed our world so much?  Once, when he was asked, he replied with a question of his own, “Who do you say that I am?”  Do you say he is Son of God, Messiah and Savior?  Or is he a teacher whose powerful ideas will, if we follow them, allow us to live peaceably together?

Regardless of our 21st century answer to his question, his birth, his life and his sacrifice are worthy of celebration. By applying his teaching today we can bring light to a dark world. 

Are we willing?

Hugh Haynie Christmas Cartoon

Permission for use of this Hugh Haynie cartoon was granted by the Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary

All Posts, deficit, donald trump, taxes

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE – TAX FREE

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President Trump and Congressional leaders have promised Americans Christmas presents including lower taxes for everyone and raises for the working middle class averaging $4000 per year.  Even Santa can’t match that magic.

As I draft this column, the plan is that Republican leadership will propose a new tax law to the House Ways and Means Committee (whose job it is to draft tax laws) on November 1 with a request that they approve it in a matter of a few days.  It is being prepared in secret by two cabinet members and four politicians who are leaders in the House and Senate.  They’re all male, all white, and all Republican so we don’t need to worry.  They know what’s best and they’ll take care of us.

The goal of the bill’s authors is to get it passed before the end of 2017, allowing less than two months for committee hearings, expert analysis, and public opinion.   They say that they want to move quickly before lobbyists put on too much pressure for special interests.  Maybe they’re also concerned about having those pesky town hall meetings where noisy constituents ask hard questions.

The tax proposal is supposedly derived in large part from the House of Representatives GOP Tax Plan so we can look there for a preview.  It was evaluated meticulously by the Brookings Tax Policy Center.  They created a straightforward estimate of the bottom line change in taxes for Americans at all income levels.  Naturally some of us will fare a bit better than others.  You can check this chart to see how much help your family would get.  CLICK HERE for the entire Brookings report.

HOW HOUSE GOP TAX PLAN AFFECTS FAMILY INCOMES
Income Level Average tax saving/year
Lowest 20% -$50
Middle 20% -$260
Highest 20% -$11,760
Highest 1 % -$212,660
Highest 0.1% -$1,262,530
SOURCE:

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/analysis-house-gop-tax-plan/full

You may recall that our federal budget already runs a large annual deficit.  Republicans plan to borrow more money to make up for the tax cuts.  In order to get your tax savings, your share of the additional borrowing will be about $4600 per person plus annual interest at about 3 percent.  Republicans no longer  worry about debt since President Trump explained that if the economy goes bad, we can “make a deal” to cover the debt.  These guys are so smart about money that they know how to make debt disappear.  They’ll do what’s best for us.

President Trump says that the extremely rich people will invest their tax savings and that will create more jobs.  If there are more jobs then there will be more demand for workers so everyone’s wages will go up by an average of $4,000 per year.  Mr Trump said that we can be confident; it’s actually middle class and low-income people who will benefit most from this plan.  It’s so beautiful that it makes me want to sing along with Merle Haggard’s old song, “We’ll all be drinking that free Bubble-Up and eatin’ that rainbow stew.”

The new law would also make changes to corporate taxes; something that most knowledgeable people agree is needed. Isn’t it great to have such hard-working leaders applying the skills they learned at places like Goldman Sachs so that we don’t have to listen to experts or think for ourselves?  It’s especially considerate of our six great leaders to get all the work done so that the congressional committees that would otherwise need to carefully consider the law can be finished with it in time to enjoy the holidays with their families and friends.

Merry Christmas to all Americans from your congressional leadership – always doing the thinking for American families and protecting their interests.  In case you’d like to send them a “thank you” note, they are Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Trump economic advisor Gary Cohn, House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Ways and Means chairman Kevin Brady, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Finance chairman Orrin Hatch.

One parting thought – this is the time when Americans must decide whether we want to live our “wonderful lives” in Pottersville or Bedford Falls. (Many references are to the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” – as inspiring today as ever.)

ADDITIONAL READING:  https://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/27/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-big-6-tax-plan-243205