More Doings of the Trump Administration

Trump is fundamentally changing the procedure and regulations around the “Voice of America” broadcast to foreign countries.  There had been safeguards to keep the thing from being too political and now those are being swept away.  On top of this Trumps wants the Voice of America to broadcast right in this country as a direct government propaganda tool.  Do we really want this?

Russian troops are creating increasing hostilities in the Ukraine and at the same Trump is lightening sanctions against Russia though he’s calling it an “adjustment”.  Now a 35 page memo has surface describing what the Russians did to sabotage the Hillary campaign, and the agent that released this information was shot twice in the back of the head in what the Russians are referring to as “a shooting accident”.  They even have a name for it SHRMSH or something, a Russian acronym, which apparently was referred to in the movie “From Russia With Love”. 

President Trump is expected to sign two directives on Friday, ordering a review of financial industry regulations known as Dodd-Frank and halting implementation of a rule that requires financial advisers to act in the best interests of their clients...  Needless to say the Republicans have been after Dodd-Frank since early 2012 when it was an issue in the Presidential campaign of that year.  People who thought Trump would look out for the little guy in financial affairs were sorely mistaken.  So what else is new?

Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump's administration enacted new sanctions on Iran Friday, the first concrete action after the White House put Tehran "on notice" this week.  The Treasury Department said it was sanctioning individuals and companies connected to Iran's ballistic missile program and those providing support to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Qods Force.  The moves come as punishment for the country's test launch of a ballistic missile last weekend. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn said the move was "provocative" and in defiance of a United Nations Security Council resolution.  The new sanctions are designed not to violate the Iran nuclear deal, which the US and five other world powers signed with Tehran during Obama's tenure. That plan allowed for the lifting of major sanctions against Iran in exchange for a curtailment of its nuclear program.  I’m glad to hear that. 

The US economy added 227,000 jobs in the month of January and the unemployment rate rose to 4.8%.  So the first unemployment news in the Trump administration is slightly negative.  If Shawn Hannity is right employment is a failure unless we have at least 300,000 jobs to the economy.   Bobby Gindoll came into office with a surplus in Louisiana and screwed up so badly he was voted out of office.  Sam Brownback in Kansas is still in power and he has economically ruined that state.  

Robert Reich, an ex Clinton aid, was at the riot at Berkley the other night when what he described as “para-military” forces engaged in all that flame throwing activity.   Reich believes this definitely was a false flag operation.  However this story has been dropped from the news but it seems to me somebody investigate just who these instigators were.  Have any of them been identified and arrested and if not, why not?  Think about it. 

Donald Trump spoke a few words yesterday about the navy seal who was killed in a raid that was organized by the Obama administration.  Other seals were wounded and some civilians were killed including a five year old girl.  However generally the raid was a success and a lot of intelligence was gathered and we killed fourteen Al Qaeda.  This may be one area where the democrats are overreacting just a little.  Our navy seals are highly trained and rigorous in their discipline.  I think what happened with this raid could have easily happened if the raid had occurred while Obama was still president.

There is other troubling news.  It seems as if Kelly Anne Conway is making up news about a “Bowling Green Masacre” because two Iraqi terrorists were arrested at Bowling Green.  So now they make up stuff that never happened and all the liberal talk show hosts have been making jokes about it.  So just to clarify the Administration has gone through the looking glass!  Kellyanne Conway is justifying a Muslim ban based on a supposed masacre in Bowling Green, which never happened!

Now Congress ended background checks for “mentally disabeled” people on SSI who are getting funds from the government for their disability.  I have mixed feelings about this.  Thon Hartman states just now that this regulation pertains to those who got on disability because of Mental Illness, that is, because they were too mentally ill to hold down a job.  It at first blush sounds a little risky but the ACLU favors Trump and congress’s move because they don’t believe people’s rights to own a gun should be denied because of “disability”.  I think maybe we should define what we’re talking about here.  Should I rush out to take advantage and go buy a gun now?

People are concerned that Trump wants to carve out special exceptions to his “vetting” of refugees if they are Christian refugees.  Also people wonder about Trump’s concern for “Islamic terrorism” without other “terrorists” such as Timothy Mc Vey or Dylan Roof.   Apparently Trump is working off Obama's list of countries in the Mideast for US citizens not to travel to, and that's his rationalle.  But I've heard other conservatives talking about how "Christian" refugees shouldn't be counted in the "vetting" process.  

Congress got rid of a regulation barring Kentucky coal miners from throwing sludge into a local river.  Trump thinks this is a good thing.  The way people talk you’d think half the people in the states of Kentucky and West Virginia were coal miners and they don’t mind getting black lung disease of being cut off of disability just as long as they have the right to go on polluting.  The extent to which Donald Trump is biased in favor of wanton polluters will become increasingly evident as the weeks and months pass.

One thing which may absolutely shift the balance of Church and State in this country is the lifting of all political shackles from tax exempt churches.  Now they can be just as political as they care to be with overt campaigning and endorsements of political candidates.   I think the solution is don’t give ANY churches tax exempt status and that way they can be free to do what they want, but if their campaigning is on the government dime, then I have a problem with it.