Mr Mueller Please Hurry!!
In the past few days, the Republicans forwarded a process of cutting taxes for corporations and the very wealthy, and ultimately raising taxes on the poor and middle class. They have fallen in line with support for accused child molester, Roy Moore, as Senator for Alabama. General Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, and is cooperating with the Mueller investigation. And the President has accused the FBI of being “in tatters” for an agent who happened to text support for Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election.
But while we were distracted, there was the drip, drip, drip of changes in America: changes that makes America a colder, harder, dirtier and less tolerant place. It starts with the statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of Kansas, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. When asked raising the tax on estates to over those $11 million, Grassley stated:
“I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.”
This seems to represent the view of the “old men” of the GOP: if you don’t have money it’s your own fault, and the government has no obligation to help you.
This view is made more clear by the lack of Congressional action on the “Childhood Health Insurance Program (CHIP), with nine million children losing their health insurance. In the same way, the Senate version of the “tax cut” bill would ultimately cut thirteen million people from health insurance.
And while we were distracted, President Trump went to Utah to try to dismantle two National Monuments, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante. This is not only pristine canyon land, but also sacred land to the Navajo and other tribes in the area. Instead, much of this would be open to “economic development,” including mining for some of the largest coal reserves in the nation. (To be fair, the courts will tie this action up for a while.) Oh, and the “border wall” is planned to go through Big Bend National Park in Texas, another natural wonder which would be marred forever.
Eric Prince, brother of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and founder of the controversial mercernary firm Blackwater, has proposed that the US government hire private “intelligence networks” run by contractors. This “pay for spies” idea has gained the support of the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Mike Pompeo.[1] It would allow President Trump to “bypass” the “Deep State” intelligence agencies that he has railed against since before the election, to have his own private spy agency.
Prince, by the way, is the author of the “privatization plan” for Afghanistan, where he asked for a $40 Billion payment to takeover the Afghanistan war with private forces. Fortunately the Joint Chiefs of Staff threw out the idea.
President Trump has made it clear that the US will recognize the capital of Israel as Jerusalem, rather than Tel Aviv. This move is sure to inflame the Muslim world, particularly the Palestinians, who believe their capital should be located in Jerusalem (rather than Ramallah.) The President won his “travel ban” (read “Muslim ban”) in the Supreme Court yesterday, allowing him to block travel from some Muslim countries. And the “Dreamers” are still waiting to see what the Congress will do, with the President making it clear he is willing to began the process of driving them back into the shadows of illegality again.
Trump began the dismantling of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, placing his Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Mick Mulvaney, in charge. Mulvaney has vowed to take the department apart, and has been one of the strongest opponents of the Bureau from its inception. The Bureau has saved consumers billions of dollars since is advent in 2010. The Federal Communications Commission is poised to change the nature of the national internet experience, ending “net neutrality” and allowing “per service” charge for internet services.
As more evidence shows that the President is in the grip of the Russians, the possibility of a Constitutional crisis grows. But every day that Trump is in office, the country grows more at risk. So much is being changed that Americans are forced to choose when to make a stand, to perform triage on all of the issues that matter. Mr. Mueller, please, HURRY!!
[1] http://www.newsweek.com/trump-private-spies-deep-state-735091
You are absolutely right… this administration is destroying the country as we know it. So many ch is happening, so many are in the dark, convinced that everything is fake news. I’m losing hope