Clouds of Hate<\/p>\n
As a self-described member of the \u201cResistance,\u201d I am still holding my breath for the results of the Mueller Investigation and the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. The fact that Mueller and the Senate are trying to follow up on the Steele Dossier gives even more credence to the possibility that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian Government to win the election. The investigations and their inevitable results in the Courts and the Congress are still to come. We have a long way to go.<\/p>\n
But it has become more apparent that the Trump Administration is doing damage every day: damage to America, to the rights of all citizens, and to a nation \u201c…dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today the White House announced that women\u2019s birth control is no longer guaranteed under the Affordable Care Act. If a woman works for an employer who has religious or moral (there\u2019s a vague term if there every was one) objections, the employer can get exempted from providing birth control. This could have dramatic impact on particular areas of employment: hospitals, many managed by Catholic Church agencies, may claim the exemption, leaving their women employees without insured birth control. (I\u2019m sure the insurance will continue to cover Viagra.)<\/p>\n
This is part of the ongoing war the Trump Administration is waging on women\u2019s health rights. Many of the proposals for changes to health insurance would allow insurers to charge women higher rates than men since they have the \u201cpre-existing condition\u201d of being a woman. Add this to the attacks on women\u2019s right to choose (the House passed a bill this week criminalizing abortion after the 20th<\/sup> week of pregnancy) and it\u2019s clear that the goal of the Administration and the Republican majority is to \u201cde-equalize\u201d women.<\/p>\n Yesterday Attorney General Sessions issued a statement that the Justice Department does not consider discrimination against trans-gendered people as discrimination based on sex, and therefore they are not protected under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This continues to roll back \u00a0LGBTQ rights gained over the past two decades, as the Department now claims that the legal definition of gender is \u201cbiological\u201d only. Taken to its logical conclusion, discrimination based on \u201cgender-identification,\u201d and potentially sexual preference as well, will no longer be considered a \u201ccivil right\u201d by the US Government.<\/p>\n This week the Justice Department also filed a brief supporting the right of a business to deny service to folks who do meet their approved sexual preference. This was the case of the baker who didn\u2019t want to make a cake for a gay wedding, but it isn\u2019t too far a reach to see this legal precedent rolling into all sorts of public life. This is the kind of discrimination that Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960\u2019s \u201csat in\u201d to end: Attorney General (Jefferson Beauregard) Session has allowed its return.<\/p>\n And finally, the President himself clearly demonstrated his own prejudices this week in his \u201cdisaster\u201d appearances. In Puerto Rico, the President complained about the cost of rebuilding, he questioned the willingness of Puerto Ricans to work, and he did little more than congratulate the Federal employees on their efforts. He failed to show empathy, and even made light of the shortages (tossing a few rolls of paper towels out.)<\/p>\n In contrast, in Las Vegas he went to the hospitals, he talked to the survivors and the first responders: he was clearly more comfortable among \u201chis\u201d people. \u00a0The difference: a President who is ill at ease among Hispanics, but \u201cjust fine\u201d in the remains of a Vegas \u201ccountry concert.\u201d One wonders whether he would have been so quick to sympathize if the concert had been \u201cLife is Beautiful\u201d or \u201cLallapalooza\u201d (not so much his base.)<\/p>\n So while we wait for the answers about the legitimacy of the Trump Presidency, remember that the work of the Alt-Right goes on, making Americans less equal. It is the tremendous price we pay for the results of last year: we are surrounded by \u201cclouds of hate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"