Thursday, March 23, 2017

meme about Trump Russia and real estate

Sorry I've doing this a lot, but it seems important.  I didn't write this.  This is a copied meme.

Tonight another story links POTUS to Russia's dirty underbelly.

Federal prosecutor Preet Bharara was investigating a case in which big ticket properties in Manhattan were being purchased by Russian investors with possible links to decades old tax corruption scandals. In the midst of his investigations, he was told to resign by President Trump. At the time it seemed like a preemptive house-clearing of Obama appointees, not surprising after the judiciary blowback regarding the White House's half-cocked attempts at religious profiling hiding unironically under the veil of immigration reform.

Now the motives seem more connected to the Russian election corruption investigation than ever, as news comes out that a key witness to the Bharara investigation plunged from the fifth floor of his apartment building in Russia. So many Kremlingates to keep track of, right?

America, wake up. This is no longer about the knee-jerk reaction of the left to the election. Where do you want to remember standing when it became inarguable that our administrative branch was being headed by a halfwit who has only the interests of his Russian backers at heart? Take your Republican hat off. Hell, take your Libertarian, Green Party, or whatever other hat off - and start thinking like a patriot. Call your representatives and voice your fears and ask them to make public their support of any investigations into the Russia link to POTUS. If it's all smoke, what do you or they have to lose?

Friday, March 17, 2017

Yet another meme -- about Trump lying

I did not write this.  I copied it from someone else

Remember when the so-called President said he was going to donate his salary? Well he just accepted his second paycheck.
Remember when he said Mexico was going to pay for the wall? He has asked Congress to appropriate the $25 billion of taxpayer money to cover costs.
Remember when he said he was going to divest from his businesses? Changed his mind.
Remember when he said he was going to release his tax returns? Changed his mind.
Remember when he said he wasn't going to go on vacation or play golf? 5 of the last 7 weekends he went on vacation and played golf, costing taxpayers $11.1 million.
Remember when he said he was going to use American steel to build these dangerous pipelines? Russian steel arrived last week for the Keystone Pipeline XL.
Remember when he said would defeat ISIS in 30 days? He still doesn't even have a plan.
Remember when he said he was going to appropriate money to HBCUs? He lied to get a photo-op.
Remember when he said he was going to drain the swamp of Washington insiders? His cabinet is filled with lobbyists, oil and Wall Street executives.
Remember when he said he wasn't going to cut social security and Medicare? The Republican bill does just this.
Remember when he said that nobody on his campaign has any communications with Russian govt? 7 of his people have now admitted they spoke and/or met with Russian officials, after they lied and got caught.
Remember when he said that the Obamacare replacement would cover more people at lower cost? The AHCA that the GOP and 45 are now pushing; they now admit will cover fewer people at a higher cost.
Share so everyone can remember what a liar this so-called president (45) truly is.
And please don't tell me about something Obama did or try to live on the margins of his statements to spin it.
He is a liar and I'm at a loss why the Democrats don't shout it from the mountain top with a bullhorn 24 hours a day.

Monday, March 13, 2017

Meme about Trump

 I did not write this. This is a meme. I copied it

Someone else's response to a post, too accurate and well written not to share

Ladies and gentlemen,

The dismantling of the United States Government is happening right before our eyes.  It cannot be denied. The current president has appointed virtually every director to oversee departments for which they have clearly demonstrated an aggression towards.  The healthcare plans for millions are soon to evaporate just so millionaires and corporations can get more tax breaks.

The EPA, Energy, Education, Health and Human Services, Justice and State Departments - ALL of these departments are currently headed by people who have stated a willingness to either destroy the department, or severely disable its ability to function as designed.  This is the goal of the Trump Administration - to destroy government as we know it - including those programs for which millions of people have come to depend upon.

Additionally, this President refuses to release his tax returns which speaks volumes. Who is he indebted to, and why?  What concessions will he make to those debt holders as President of the United States in exchange for leniency, or complete absolution of his debts?

He will disparage virtually any person on the earth who disagrees with him, to include world leaders EXCEPT Vladimir Putin. In fact, this president has praised Putin many times over - a man who has had people killed to further his stranglehold on Russian power.

Further, this president has leveled serious charges about many issues - illegal wire tapping, voter fraud, Muslim crime, and much more - without providing a scintilla of evidence to prove his claims.

This president has surrounded himself with known white supremacists and nationalists - people whose worldview excludes virtually anyone who isn't white.  These people, with offices adjacent to the Oval Office are shaping government policy at present.  He regularly watches rightwing news reports then tweets about those reports as if they are fact, when all evidence proves otherwise.

This president's representatives have zero problem going on television to spew the latest propaganda, "alternative facts," and outright lies, to deflect their culpability, and that of this administration, in wrongdoing on a scale for which will likely be mind-blowing if ever we, as a country, are afforded the whole truth.

Throughout all this, the Republican Party has remained virtually silent, going about their day intent upon ignoring the voice and will of the majority as they work in concert to assist in the destruction of 70+ years of progressive change.

The Party of family values, "Freedom," and the Constitution - the Party who claims the United States military veteran is as revered as the god they claim to serve, shows us all on a daily basis this is all hyperbole.  For the facts truly show, this Republican Party is hell-bent on hurting the average American much more than they are concerned with doing anything which would make their lives easier to live.  Their followers claim the Democratic Party is "just as bad," and yet, I cannot remember a time in my lifetime where millions worried as much about their futures under any Democratic president, as they do today, in 2017. The Democrats have their problems, but they hardly compare to what we have under Republican rule.

It's a false equivalency to claim that Hillary Clinton would have us in a similar situation. The facts do not bear this out.  While Hillary may have her own problems with many trusting her, legitimately or not, she hardly compares to the freewheeling, dangerous, and dictatorial Narcissist-in-Chief currently dismantling the country - a man who tweets inflammatory things on a daily basis as a means to distract the public from the real stories he is involved in.

Donald J. Trump does not serve every American.  In fact, he serves few.  He is an oligarch whose mission is to further enrich himself, and those like him.  He has not given a day in his life in the complete service of others but has only dedicated his life to growing his vast empire through screwing over contractors, vendors, and workers who have contributed to his success.  The records clearly show this.  In fact, the federal government, in the 1970s, filed suit against Trump for discriminations in rental practices, for he would not rent apartments to black people.  He is a criminal who recently paid $25 million dollars to settle his Trump University fraud case - these things without a conviction of wrongdoing, as any average citizen would most surely have received for doing the same.

He has mocked handicapped people and disparaged prisoners of war. He claims to stand for all women, even though he has been caught on audio admitting to assaulting unsuspecting women by grabbing their genitalia.  He has bragged about trying to have sex with other women while he was married. He has verbally and publicly attacked virtually every woman who has claimed assault against him.  I could go on and on.

Folks, I truly believe we, as a country, are at a crossroads.  Good, decent, honest and intelligent people can either fall victim to the bullying tactics of the Trump followers, and fall in line behind them, or we can question every damn thing this president, and his administration does where our freedoms, rights, and Constitutional protections are being trampled upon and obliterated.

It is past time to RISE UP, SPEAK OUT and FIGHT - for our country, for our rights, for our children and grandchildren, AND our planet!  For if we allow the Alt-Right, and those who are blinded to the evil clutches of authoritarianism and white supremacy to reign supreme upon this land, it will likely be centuries until we can recover, if ever.

The Republican Party and Donald J. Trump have clearly demonstrated their affinity for helping the rich continue to grow their wealth, at the expense of the rest of us, and the planet in which we live.  Today, more than ever, we need to send a loud and sustained message to these people that WE are the true power in this country and we will not let them destroy it any longer.

Please join me.  Do not normalize this man, nor his administration. NOTHING currently occurring in government is normal.  Question everything.  Fight back.  #Resist.

SHARE at will, everywhere and anywhere.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Trump breaking promises

As you know, if you have been reading this blog, I am not a Trump supporter.

However, there were some things that he said that I liked.  I liked that he sounded less hawkish than Hillary.  He didn't want us to be the international police. He wanted to be friends with Russia.

Hillary sounded more like business as usual.

On the international front, business as usual hasn't been very good, please see my former blog at Iran Bitter Harvest

I even had a more tolerant view of Russia than most Americans and liked his stance on being friends with Russia, please see my former blog at Russia v Ukraine a dissenting view

Hillary's hawkishness was one thing that I really didn't like about her. I often found myself arguing with my fellow Hillary supporters, who felt that Trump's mercurial temperament made him more likely to get us involved in a war than Hillary, who seemed relatively calmer.  I said that Trump had repeatedly criticized our war efforts.  It seemed very unlikely to me that he would be more likely to get us involved in a war than Hillary.

Then I see this budget.  He's increasing military spending.  That's so disappointing from someone who was anti-war and who was supposedly a business man who was going to help us get into a fiscally sounder position.

Of course, also, he said that he was for clean air and water, but then he's slashing the EPA.  He seems to have a vendetta against the EPA -- and the FDA -- seemingly unaware of how these two agencies protect all of us from being poisoned.  That's very disappointing as well. 

He's just sounding more and more like a traditional Republican, which is not, I don't think, what people voted for when they voted for him.

Friday, March 3, 2017

Republicans defunding federal public education programs -- meme

I did not write this.  This is a meme.  I am cutting and pasting from social media

And so it begins: the attempt to dismantle the public education system in the USA. Please read this! And, if you are a friend of mine in this forum who utilizes private education and you don't understand why strong funding and federal protections need to be in place to ensure equal access for all children in a public system, please pm me, and we can talk! We kind of figured out that separate isn't equal. And federal protections for students have been created BECAUSE they were needed.

House Bill 610 makes some large changes. Inform yourselves!

This bill will effectively start the school voucher system to be used by children ages 5-17, and starts the defunding process of public schools.

In addition the bill will eliminate the Elementary and Education Act of 1965, which is the nation's educational law and provides equal opportunity in education.

ESSA is a big comprehensive program that covers programs for struggling learners, AP classes, ESL classes, classes for minorities such as Native Americans, Rural Education, Education for the Homeless, School Safety (Gun-Free schools), Monitoring and Compliance and Federal Accountability Programs.

The Bill also abolishes the Nutritional Act of 2012 (No Hungry Kids Act) which provides nutritional standards in school breakfast and lunch.

The bill has no wording whatsoever protecting students with disabilities, no mention of IDEA (theFederal special education law) and FAPE (a guarantee of a FREE and APPROPRIATE education for special children).
Some things ESSA does for Children with Disabilities
-Ensures access to the general education curriculum.
-Ensures access to accommodations on assessments.
-Ensures concepts of Universal Design for Learning
-Includes provisions that require local education agencies to provide evidence-based interventions in schools with consistently underperforming subgroups.
-Requires states in Title I plans to address how they will improve conditions for learning including reducing incidents of bullying and harassment in schools, overuse of discipline practices and reduce the use of aversive behavioral interventions (such as restraints and seclusion).

Please call your representative and ask him/her to vote NO on House Bill 610 (HR 610) introduced by three Republican reps.

PLEASE copy and paste, don't just share. That limits it to friends we have in common. Thank you.