GAZED

Author: wpusername4300

  • Untitled post 74

    A number of 670 worldwide protests is not normal the day after a United States President takes office. It’s not normal for over 3 million people – many women – to feel an impending threat looming over their civil rights, looming over their democracy, that they’re compelled to go organize in crowds of hundreds of thousands. It’s not normal for protests to outnumber inauguration attendees either – but this is no normal “Republican” president. The threat does not stem from his political affiliation, but rather from his pathological dishonesty, cavalier attitude about nuclear weapons, exploitation of those most vulnerable in our society, complete disregard for our democratic institutions and the Constitution, temperament of a chihuahua, political illiteracy, complete disregard for science, and well-documented vitriol he’s shown for minority groups and women. So here we are, standing at roads end the day after the largest, peaceful one-day protest in U.S. took place, vowing to resist the demagogue and his historically inexperienced, swamp monsters who strive to destroy the agencies and principles that brought this country to its greatness.

    The President Electoral said it best, it’s simply “unpresidented,” He came in with a the lowest approval rating in recent history of 32%. To put things into perspective George W. Bush left office with an approval rating of 62% after leaving the country to die in two wars and the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. Obama, even after fervent obstruction from the conspiracy-nut right, managed a 60% rating. And the rating was reflected in his pathetic side-show of an inauguration with an estimated attendance of 250,000 people, compared to Obama’s 1.8 million in 2009 and 1 million in 2012. He also had ratings lower than Obama’s and Reagan’s. Instead of quieting fears, the narcissist-in-chief threw a classic tantrum over a non-issue. First taking to Twitter, then he had his rabid mouthpiece attack the media for accurately reporting crowd size and declare it the “biggest inauguration”, shut down the Interior Department’s Twitter for retweeting crowd difference photos, had his other spin-artist call it an “alternative-fact” on live television, and then in classic Trump fashion attacked the protestors that outnumbered his crowd (before an intern snatched his phone.)  

    Conservatives, feeling a bit shaken-up, drew every excuse from the book for the giant two-day flop – liberals don’t have jobs (blue states are the economic engines of the country?), conservatives are regular people that can’t afford “$1000/night DC hotels, it was cold, D.C. is blue. That’s cute, the inauguration is a D.C. holiday, they sure could take days off to attend 20 Trump rallies, and the protests were on a Saturday. And we know who brought us the weekend, whiny protesters who dared feel entitled to a two-day weekend. Furthermore, Obama was inaugurated on a Tuesday in 28-degree weather but had a turnout of 1.8 million. And Republicans like George W. Bush managed to get bigger crowds. Also, I thought they didn’t have jobs that’s why they voted Trump?

    Favorability aside, 74 million people voted against him and he lost the popular vote by 3 million votes. This march was a reminder that he has no mandate, and the people will not lay idly-by as he undoes 50 years of progress.

    The president Electoral continues to be a stain on American society with no sign of doing the – much speculated by Trump apologists – 180 into a new person. Because it wasn’t for show and people are starting to realize that and unite. He has delivered on one thing -r he managed to unite us, unite us against him. As Bernie Sanders said, “By trying to divide us up by race, religion, gender and nationality you actually brought us closer.”

    The fact is, he hasn’t magically become more “presidential.” His use of the American nazi slogan “America first” in his inauguration speech is proof of that. It’s a vile throwback to the WWII isolationist, anti-semitic movement.

    The true majority has spoken, and it needs to maintain the momentum for however long this administration lasts. It must remember that the “power of the people is stronger than the people in power.” People must remember that citizens rose up from not just coast to coast, but everywhere in between. (There goes the coastal elite narrative.) And that politics doesn’t end once somebody gets elected.

    Political protest made the United States the world power it is today, it is one of the greatest facets of our democracy that has held those in power accountable in order to progress forward. Without it religious persecution would exist, we’d still be an english colony, debtor’s prisons would exist, people would be allowed to own & exploit other human beings, workers wouldn’t have any rights, children would die in factories, women would be second-class citizens, and segregation and hate crimes would be de jure. The Women’s March formally outlines their vision here but it was about visibility. It was about sending a message of resistance, because there is no compromise on with hate, no compromise with a side that rejects science, with a side that chooses to see the world through revisionist history, no compromise with a cabinet that wants to let Wall Street ruin the economy again, that wants to defund public education, that wants to strike down voting rights, that wants to add humans to a nazi-Germany like registry or go back to the age of Japanese internment camps. These are just some of our fears. Conservatives fears’ when they protested – because they did protest – were conspiracy dreams of FEMA camps, sharia law, and socialism – all on the basis of Obama’s skin color.  Silence is consent; standing still in the face of impending injustice is siding with the oppressor.

    To belittle, and dilute the message down to “reproductive rights” is dismissive and reflective of the echo-chamber detractors live in. I personally am not a third-wave feminist and morally (not religiously) disagree with abortion, yet I stand for these peaceful demonstrations because I’m not tone-deaf.

    Time after time, he’s shown us who he is. What are we giving a chance? As President his administration and he have already put forth the first move of any authoritarian regime – “his own security and intelligence community,” casually desired another war and a war crime ““We should have kept the oil. Maybe we’ll have another chance,” sided with Putin over our 17 intelligence agencies, lied to us about releasing his tax returns, waged a war against the first amendment because the media dared report his own verbatim, offered us “alternative-facts” for frivolous issues. Are we supposed to wait around and see what happens because the President’s words “don’t mean anything”?  Are we supposed to let people die from a lack of healthcare? Encroach on our civil liberties? Allow creeping authoritarianism to rise under the guise of “making America great again when it’s already great? Let him and his cabinet of deplorables dismantle the founding values on which this country was founded on?

     “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”

  • Highlights from Obama’s Farewelll Address

    It was the perfect end to a surreal, phenomenal 8 years. Maybe one of the greatest speeches delivered in the last few thirty years. Embodying the values he carried so fervently behind every decision, Obama delivered the very message which he never strayed from; genuine, passionate, moving and most importantly hopeful. Hopeful in the face of such a tumultuous political climate. Managing to both reflect on the past and offer relevant advice for the uncertainty to come. With this he came full circle with his title as orator-in-chief, he was able to be substantive, candid, yet inspiring, something that is tough to come in a world of empty rhetoric. Remarking on the rising dangers of political confirmation bias, threats to democratic ideals, civility in a transition of power, and progress to be made.The 44th President of the United States made us believe that we could and we can.

    Here are some of the most impactful, notable quotes:

    -He warned against the dangers of the citizenry not serving against the ‘fourth’ branch of government by checking on our democratic institutions. After all, the Constitution is just a piece of paper unless enforced.

    “After eight years as your President, I still believe that. And it’s not just my belief. It’s the beating heart of our American idea — our bold experiment in self-government. It’s the conviction that we are all created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It’s the insistence that these rights, while self-evident, have never been self-executing; that We, the People, through the instrument of our democracy, can form a more perfect union.”

    -“For 240 years, our nation’s call to citizenship has given work and purpose to each new generation. It’s what led patriots to choose republic over tyranny, pioneers to trek west, slaves to brave that makeshift railroad to freedom. It’s what pulled immigrants and refugees across oceans and the Rio Grande. (Applause.) It’s what pushed women to reach for the ballot. It’s what powered workers to organize. It’s why GIs gave their lives at Omaha Beach and Iwo Jima, Iraq and Afghanistan. And why men and women from Selma to Stonewall were prepared to give theirs, as well.”

    -He guarded against cynicism with the very message that made a patriot out of me. Which is no easy feat; after a rocky, stained history founded on the bodies of natives, built up on the backs of slaves, decades of discrimination, and interventionist wars, many Americans are prone to cynicism. Trust in government has rapidly declined, from 74% in 1964 to 19% in 2015. Yet would one really want to live anywhere else?  Patriotism isn’t blind love for your country it’s wanting to hold it responsible. Obama best conveyed this message throughout his presidency.

    “So that’s what we mean when we say America is exceptional — not that our nation has been flawless from the start, but that we have shown the capacity to change and make life better for those who follow. Yes, our progress has been uneven. The work of democracy has always been hard. It’s always been contentious. Sometimes it’s been bloody. For every two steps forward, it often feels we take one step back. But the long sweep of America has been defined by forward motion, a constant widening of our founding creed to embrace all and not just some.”

    -Pleaded for unity during these divided times:

    “That’s what I want to focus on tonight: The state of our democracy. Understand, democracy does not require uniformity. Our founders argued. They quarreled. Eventually, they compromised. They expected us to do the same. But they knew that democracy does require a basic sense of solidarity — the idea that for all our outward differences, we’re all in this together; that we rise or fall as one.”

    -Relayed some of his great economic achievements:

    “To begin with, our democracy won’t work without a sense that everyone has economic opportunity. And the good news is that today the economy is growing again. Wages, incomes, home values, and retirement accounts are all rising again. Poverty is falling again. The wealthy are paying a fairer share of taxes even as the stock market shatters records. The unemployment rate is near a 10-year low. The uninsured rate has never, ever been lower. Healthcare costs are rising at the slowest rate in 50 years. And I’ve said and I mean it — if anyone can put together a plan that is demonstrably better than the improvements we’ve made to our health care system and that covers as many people at less cost, I will publicly support it.”

    -Touched on the threat that wealth inequality is to the American ideal of advancement stating the accepted idea that the economy grows when the middle-class does (because of their greater MPC.) Arguing that being unresponsive to the American people’s needs dampers political participation amid growing cynicism.

    ”Our economy doesn’t work as well or grow as fast when a few prosper at the expense of a growing middle class and ladders for folks who want to get into the middle class. That’s the economic argument. But stark inequality is also corrosive to our democratic ideal. While the top one percent has amassed a bigger share of wealth and income, too many families, in inner cities and in rural counties, have been left behind — the laid-off factory worker; the waitress or health care worker who’s just barely getting by and struggling to pay the bills — convinced that the game is fixed against them, that their government only serves the interests of the powerful — that’s a recipe for more cynicism and polarization in our politics.”

    -He candidly touched on the controversial and unspoken of reality that manufacturing jobs aren’t the future and that the solution to a changing workforce isn’t failing attempts to stop outsourcing, but education. Those manufacturing jobs are obsolete and the second industrial revolution is inevitable.

    “But there are no quick fixes to this long-term trend. I agree, our trade should be fair and not just free. But the next wave of economic dislocations won’t come from overseas. It will come from the relentless pace of automation that makes a lot of good, middle-class jobs obsolete. And so we’re going to have to forge a new social compact to guarantee all our kids the education they need…”

    -Brilliantly and succinctly warned against the detriment sharp divisions has on the American people as a whole:

    “If every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hardworking white middle class and an undeserving minority, then workers of all shades are going to be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves.”

    –“If we’re unwilling to invest in the children of immigrants, just because they don’t look like us, we will diminish the prospects of our own children — because those brown kids will represent a larger and larger share of America’s workforce.”

    -Acknowledged the ugly strain of racism that still exists in our social atmosphere and how we must combat it:

    “ But if our democracy is to work in this increasingly diverse nation, then each one of us need to try to heed the advice of a great character in American fiction — Atticus Finch — who said “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

    -Struck down the idiotic phenomenon of “race baiting” which is used to invalidate millions of minorities’ experiences and false notion that we live in a post-racial society.

    “For white Americans, it means acknowledging that the effects of slavery and Jim Crow didn’t suddenly vanish in the ’60s — that when minority groups voice discontent, they’re not just engaging in reverse racism or practicing political correctness. When they wage peaceful protest, they’re not demanding special treatment but the equal treatment that our Founders promised.”

    -On the dangers of fake-news and the confirmation bias that drives political echo-chambers:

    “For too many of us, it’s become safer to retreat into our own bubbles, whether in our neighborhoods or on college campuses, or places of worship, or especially our social media feeds, surrounded by people who look like us and share the same political outlook and never challenge our assumptions. The rise of naked partisanship, and increasing economic and regional stratification, the splintering of our media into a channel for every taste — all this makes this great sorting seem natural, even inevitable. And increasingly, we become so secure in our bubbles that we start accepting only information, whether it’s true or not, that fits our opinions, instead of basing our opinions on the evidence that is out there.”

    -Progress is impossible without a foundation of facts, if we’re arguing on scientific consensus instead of solutions we’ll never get anywhere:

    “In the course of a healthy debate, we prioritize different goals, and the different means of reaching them. But without some common baseline of facts, without a willingness to admit new information, and concede that your opponent might be making a fair point, and that science and reason matter — then we’re going to keep talking past each other, and we’ll make common ground and compromise impossible.”

    -Touched on the GOP’s hypocrisy and corporate welfare:

    “And isn’t that part of what so often makes politics dispiriting? How can elected officials rage about deficits when we propose to spend money on preschool for kids, but not when we’re cutting taxes for corporations?”

    -Warned against the politics of fear:

    ”That order is now being challenged — first by violent fanatics who claim to speak for Islam; more recently by autocrats in foreign capitals who see free markets and open democracies and and civil society itself as a threat to their power. The peril each poses to our democracy is more far-reaching than a car bomb or a missile. It represents the fear of change; the fear of people who look or speak or pray differently; a contempt for the rule of law that holds leaders accountable; an intolerance of dissent and free thought; a belief that the sword or the gun or the bomb or the propaganda machine is the ultimate arbiter of what’s true and what’s right.”

    –”Democracy can buckle when we give in to fear. So, just as we, as citizens, must remain vigilant against external aggression, we must guard against a weakening of the values that make us who we are.”

    -Called for America to hold its high democratic ideals in fight against threats to democracy:

    “So let’s be vigilant, but not afraid. ISIL will try to kill innocent people. But they cannot defeat America unless we betray our Constitution and our principles in the fight. Rivals like Russia or China cannot match our influence around the world — unless we give up what we stand for — and turn ourselves into just another big country that bullies smaller neighbors.”

    -Once again pushed that a democracy isn’t self-regulating and the citizenry must do its part to uphold it:

    “Our democracy is threatened whenever we take it for granted.  All of us, regardless of party, should be throwing ourselves into the task of rebuilding our democratic institutions. When voting rates in America are some of the lowest among advanced democracies, we should be making it easier, not harder, to vote. When trust in our institutions is low, we should reduce the corrosive influence of money in our politics, and insist on the principles of transparency and ethics in public service. When Congress is dysfunctional, we should draw our congressional districts to encourage politicians to cater to common sense and not rigid extremes.”

    “Our Constitution is a remarkable, beautiful gift. But it’s really just a piece of parchment. It has no power on its own. We, the people, give it power. (Applause.) We, the people, give it meaning. With our participation, and with the choices that we make, and the alliances that we forge. (Applause.) Whether or not we stand up for our freedoms. Whether or not we respect and enforce the rule of law. That’s up to us. America is no fragile thing. But the gains of our long journey to freedom are not assured.”

    -Called for citizens to spring into action instead of sitting complacently:

    “We weaken those ties when we define some of us as more American than others; when we write off the whole system as inevitably corrupt, and when we sit back and blame the leaders we elect without examining our own role in electing them.”

    “So, you see, that’s what our democracy demands. It needs you. Not just when there’s an election, not just when your own narrow interest is at stake, but over the full span of a lifetime. If you’re tired of arguing with strangers on the Internet, try talking with one of them in real life. If something needs fixing, then lace up your shoes and do some organizing. If you’re disappointed by your elected officials, grab a clipboard, get some signatures, and run for office yourself. Show up. Dive in. Stay at it.”

    To Malia and Sasha:

    “Of all that I’ve done in my life, I am most proud to be your dad.”

    To Joe Biden:

    “..You were the first decision I made as a nominee, and it was the best. Not just because you have been a great Vice President, but because in the bargain, I gained a brother. And we love you and Jill like family, and your friendship has been one of the great joys of our lives.

    -”And to all of you out there — every organizer who moved to an unfamiliar town, every kind family who welcomed them in, every volunteer who knocked on doors, every young person who cast a ballot for the first time, every American who lived and breathed the hard work of change — you are the best supporters and organizers anybody could ever hope for, and I will be forever grateful.Because you did change the world. You did.”

    Left off with the optimistic message he started with, the one that made people truly feel inspired by a politician for the first time in their lives

    -“And that’s why I leave this stage tonight even more optimistic about this country than when we started. Because I know our work has not only helped so many Americans, it has inspired so many Americans — especially so many young people out there — to believe that you can make a difference — to hitch your wagon to something bigger than yourselves.”

    “Let me tell you, this generation coming up — unselfish, altruistic, creative, patriotic — I’ve seen you in every corner of the country. You believe in a fair, and just, and inclusive America.) You know that constant change has been America’s hallmark; that it’s not something to fear but something to embrace. You are willing to carry this hard work of democracy forward. You’ll soon outnumber all of us, and I believe as a result the future is in good hands.”

    “I am asking you to hold fast to that faith written into our founding documents; that idea whispered by slaves and abolitionists; that spirit sung by immigrants and homesteaders and those who marched for justice; that creed reaffirmed by those who planted flags from foreign battlefields to the surface of the moon; a creed at the core of every American whose story is not yet written

    Yes, we can. Yes, we did. Yes, we can.”

    History will be much kinder to him, farewell to one of the greatest presidents in United States history.

  • Against all Odds: Barack Obama’s Legacy

    The unknown senator from Illinois, a young black political outsider with a Muslim middle name, a passionate community leader that no one estimated would come to carry the weight of the collapsing global economy, largest amount of threats to American soil, and pivotal geopolitical challenges on his shoulders, managed to not only rectify these problems by salvaging our sinking nation, but enact unimaginable progress.  Propelling through unprecedented Congressional obstruction, and vitriolic media attacks, he managed to navigate the country out of the worst recession since The Great Depression into a 4.7% unemployment rate, end the war in Afghanistan, kill Osama Bin Laden, prevent Iran from gaining nuclear capability, provided healthcare to 30 million who were uninsured – allowing people to be treated for illnesses without going bankrupt, imposed the toughest climate regulations in history and checked off numerous civil rights feats such as legalizing gay marriage.

    The senator from Illinois, with his captivating intelligence and poise, managed to make his idealistic vision of “Yes We Can” resonate in the withered and cynical spirits of Americans – energizing them with a little hope during the turbulent thunderstorm. It’s no wonder our orator-in-chief won the hearts and minds over the spouse of one of the greatest Presidents of the 20th century in the form of Hillary Clinton – he’s carried the presidency scandal free with great class, charm, kindness, family values and even humor. For many, it was the first time they felt their voices mattered – felt included in the political process as he opened up the White House to all cultures, ages, nations, and ethnicities, making little black boys grow up believing they too, could be president. I and many millions of others will deeply miss this phenomenal president, but look forward to having him stand alongside us as a citizen. History will no doubt smile on Obama for his graceful and consequential presidency.

    Sitting on an approval rating of 57%, I believe it’s worth it to look back on the tremendous gains he made to fully appreciate his impact. But what we may see as a time for reminiscing the closing chapter of a remarkable presidency, conservatives see as Obama having 10 days left to put them all in FEMA camps, take away their guns, and instill sharia law. They’ve apparently elected a successor to save us from what – a booming economy? A strong border with record deportations? Not going bankrupt for getting needed medical attention? Equal rights? The truth is that when one is accustomed to white male supremacy, equality feels like oppression. Healthcare for all feels like oppression. An economy working for the middle class feels like oppression. But farewell to that, Wall Street, Exxon, and all the swamp monsters are directly in charge now.

    Obama inherited the worst economic recession since the Great Depression, 10% unemployment rate, low consumer confidence, increase in foreclosures – you name it – and salvaged it. We now stand at a 9-year low unemployment rate of 4.6%, with increased consumer confidence, a booming auto industry, and a deficit shrunk my three-fourths. Doing all of this with a stimulus package consisting of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment act. Since, economy has added 15.5 million new jobs since 2010 and had 75 consecutive months of private-sector job growth – the longest period on record. This past December adding 156,000 new jobs. On top of that his auto industry bailout has added over 100,000 jobs; in 2011 the Big Three automakers gaining market share for the first time in two decades.

    “Food stamp recipients didn’t cause the financial crisis; recklessness on Wall Street did,” Obama declared in his 2016 State of the Union address, and do match his sentiments. In 2010, he imposed the most far-reaching Wall Street reform in history with the signing of the Dodd-Frank Act – a pivotal move after their very recklessness caused the disastrous financial crisis. It creating a consumer watchdog to prevent mortgage companies from exploiting Americans,  prevent reckless risk-taking, and overall building a safer foundation for economic growth.

    And of course, Trump in his narcissistic fashion, credits himself for the consumer confidence rise from 25 in ‘09 to 113.7 – the highest its been since December 2013, as reported by The Conference Board. But of course the despot with delusions of grandeur will steal a man’s 7 years of hard work, it’s not like the economy and stock market have been breaking records these past two years or anything.

    Critics often derail his economic success by pointing to the doubling of the national debt, but actually a frivolous criticism from people who have no clue how it even works. For one, Congress approves all spending so perhaps their unjustified anger should be directed to them considering the president isn’t a dictator. Secondly, Obama increased the debt by 68 %, adding $7.917 trillion, Reagan on the other hand, increased it by 186% but you don’t see anyone talking about that. Our GDP is certainly a lot bigger than it was in the 80s so there’s no sense in looking at the actual dollar amount, percentages provide a clearer more comprehensive view. Thirdly, like Reagan, Obama was navigating the country out of a recession, and doing so requires deficit spending to push the market back up to equilibrium. So either you increase the debt or leave everyone on the street to die in a horrible depression-turned-recession. There are no “balancing budgets” during inequilibrium, it’s just basic economics. Also, it’s estimated that under Trump debt will increase $34 trillion over the next 20 years by giving $7 trillion tax cuts to millionaires and $5 trillion of tax cuts to corporations, not to mention infrastructure spending, military expansion, and $35 billion border wall.

    Under the Obama administration, the U.S. improved its image on the world stage with his peaceful diplomacy and rhetoric, managing to reverse the sharp decline in world opinion towards the U.S. of the Bush years. In his first term, favorable opinion rose an average of 26% in 10/15 countries surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project.

    He largely achieved this by getting us out of war, lessening our image as war-hawks, opening up foreign relations with other countries, spreading democracy, killing Osama Bin Laden, and arriving at diplomatic negotiations with our adversaries over nukes.

    Killing Osama Bin Laden – the leading perpetrator behind the 9/11 attacks didn’t quiet his detractors heinous slander about him being “un-American” or a Muslim.  According to them, “He didn’t pull the trigger.” Well you see, there’s this Constitutional clause about the president being the commander in chief of the armed forces. Lincoln gets credit for navigating through the civil war, Wilson gets credit for WWI,  and so on and so forth. People don’t get to cherry-pick the successes and failures that are attributed to presidents.

    He also reached a peaceful settlement with the historic Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) which curbed the Islamic Republic’s ability to obtain a nuclear weapon. The success was no easy feat and excellently displayed Obama’s skillful and adept diplomatic abilities. A common misconception his name should be cleared of is that we paid Iran $400 million of ransom money. In reality, it’s just a fake-news story attempting to once again discredit him for the exceptional accomplishment. It was really a reimbursement for funds owed since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

    Not to mention that he also got us out of a senseless disastrous war where thousands of Americans were sent to die in. When he came into office 180,000 troops were deployed and on December 18, 2011 the last troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan and Iraq.

    His foreign policy moves haven’t always been perfect, but we’re definately alot better than we were 8 years ago – not as big of war-hawks. Those who criticize him for not going “far enough” turn a blind eye to the fact that he never had a real super majority in Congress. Take Guantanamo bay, on Jan. 22, 2009 he issued an executive order calling for the closure of the prison facility within one year, but like what would become a tiring precedent, Congress – both Republicans and Democrats – refused. Back in February of 2016 he made a final attempt to no surprising avail. What is largely unspoken of, is the reduction of the number of detainees by 76% – tremendous progress against the ugly stain the facility is on American democracy and due process. His administration also oversaw the removal of Bush torture policies which allowed prisoners to be detained in tortured under scanty evidence that would not allow prosecution. Furthering these reversals by dismantling the de-jure remnant of racial profiling that was the post- 9/11 registry. Obama throughout his administration sought to uphold democratic principles and not have our image tainted with calls of hypocrisy.

    In July of 2015, he re-established U.S.-Cuba diplomatic relations, opening their embassies for the first time in 50 years.

    He also toppled the Gaddafi regime to defend Libyan civilians, ending his forty-two-year dictatorship. On Feb. 1, 2011, he took the right side of the Arab Spring, by ending Egyptian president Mubarak’s thirty-year rule.

    Obama became the first U.S. president to visit Hiroshima – the site of one of two nuclear bombs that together killed almost 300,000 civilians – during the 71st Memorial to call for a “world without nuclear weapons” and meet survivors.

    Overall, he greatly improved relations with the world, upholding the idea that America represents a country for all. Another myth that’s worth debunking, is that he deported more people than “all other presidents combined.” For low-info individuals, the statistics at face seem like easy bait for some good ol’ Obama-bashing, but the reality is that metrics changed. Thus, the definition of deportation changed to include those who were turned away at the border crossing, artificially inflating numbers. It’s much different than ripping tax-paying families apart with established homes, jobs, and friends apart.  Deportations of people apprehended in the interior of the U.S. dropped from 237,941 in Obama’s first year to 133,551 in 2013, according to immigration data. So where is this “weak border” conservatives speak of? Record numbers of illegal immigrants are being turned away. Shouldn’t both sides be pleased?

    On domestic and social issues Barack Obama has made unparalleled strides. Becoming a champion for the LGBTQ community by appointing two pro-gay-marriage judges to the Supreme Court that would later legalize it and repealing the stigmatizing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” 1990s-era restriction, allowing gays to openly serve in the military. Acting like a true constitutionalist because in our secular society, with a privileges and immunities clause, and the Ninth Amendment, outlawing marriage in between two people has no place.

    For a century, Democratic presidents such as Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Truman, Johnson, Carter, and Clinton have been trying to implement universal health care – Barack Obama finally achieved it. Thirty-million previously-uninsured Americans were finally able to get the healthcare they needed without going tens of thousands of dollars into debt. There have been countless stories of cancer-ridden patients, or others with debilitating illnesses getting the needed treatment without having to lose an arm and a leg. Sure it’s not perfect ( single-payer would be better) but it’s a giant step in the right direction that has certainly laid a foundation. don’t know what’s so radical about ensuring Americans don’t have to decide between going into bankruptcy and getting treatment or dying. The United States has moved towards a more modern society such as the UK’s, Canada’s, and France’s.

    “No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change.” “It is indeed one of the biggest threats facing our planet today.” Our planet, silly conservative detractors. Terrorism won’t end civilization as we know it; we could all thrive if we stopped twisting each other’s words. Barack Obama imposed the toughest climate change regulations in history being the first president to acknowledge the existential threat global warming is on our world through the Paris Agreement, Clean Power Plan, Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, and EPA emissions rules

    He even killed the construction of the Keystone Pipeline to not undercut efforts against climate change.

    Protections were even extended to our environment through the signing of the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act (2009), designating more than 2 million acres as wilderness, created thousands of miles of recreational and historic trails, and protected more than 1,000 miles of rivers. Also creating the largest ecologically protected area on the planet in Hawaii encompassing over half a million square miles.

    Obama truly was a president for all the people, making progress with veteran affairs by increasing the 2010 department budget by 16% and 2011 budget by 10%. Going on to sign a Gi bill offering $78 billion in tuition assistance over a decade, then giving tax credits to businesses to encourage the hiring of veterans.

    He was a champion for civil rights and equal opportunity. Signing the Hate Crimes Prevention Act (2009), expanding existing hate crime protections to include crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation, gender, or disability, in addition to race, color, religion, or national origin.

    He undid decades of harm the racist criminal justice system disproportionately imposed on African Americans, by pardoning a historically groundbreaking number of convicted felons who had been given heavy sentences for minor drug offences.

    By appointing two female Supreme Court justices – one the first Latina to ever serve – he inadvertently declared that our government should move towards representing all of its constituencies because America is far different than it was in the 1800s, and brilliance should be recognized no matter what.

    Obama also opened up the White House to everyone – all cultures, musicians, nations, the youth of the nation. Held science and technology fairs and challenges in the White House – made it a priority to spark an interest with our youth. All of this serving to include people in the political process and reassure them that America belongs to everyone.

    All of these foreign, domestic, and social feats become much more remarkable when one realizes he did all of it with unprecedented Congressional obstruction, heinous media attacks, and a hostile party relentlessly attacking him and his family’s every move. Few presidents have been treated so poorly as he has – specially when most attacks are not policy related – they surpass the racist label.  Calling him the “anti-christ,” a terrorist, denying his Christianity, starting birther conspiracies, saying he hates America and many more flagrant lies. And as for the GOP, their well-known anti-Obama campaign started the night of inauguration. Take a look at these quotes from top conservatives:

    -“Our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny Barack Obama a second term.” – Mitch McConnell

    -At Obama‘s speech in front of Congress in 2009, a Republican member of the House, acting like a drunk frat boy in a comedy club, decided to heckle him, shouting “You lie!”

    –They’ve suggested things like not inviting him to deliver the SOTU, or depriving him of the use of Air Force One.

    -“I do not believe that the president loves America,” said Rudy Giuliani, “He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up.”

    -“What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan,anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?” Newt Gingrich asked. “Obama’s more African in his roots than he is American.”

    And the latest from Trump ally Carl Paladino, “Obama catches mad cow disease after being caught having relations with a Herford. He dies before his trial and is buried in a cow pasture next to Valerie Jarret, who died weeks prior, after being convicted of sedition and treason, when a Jihady cell mate mistook her for being a nice person and decapitated her.” On Michelle Obama:“I’d like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.”

    These aren’t unique incidents, there could be a book filled with disgusting, racist comments republicans have made about the Obama’s – peppered with Obama effigies, and the n-word. They still have the nerve to claim he was “divisive.”

    You see he was divisive for being black, for rising above his “proper station in life.” Republicans are experts at mental gymnastics and blaming the other side that which they are guilty of. The numbers however show he succeeded despite constant roadblocking and  the ignorant masses which rallied against him based on the color of his skin. How convenient to blame political divisions -aka racists vs non-racists- on the first black president. What’s the logic behind that? “Since he’s black he forced us to unleash our racist drivel which in turn caused the non-racist half of America to oppose us?” They don’t regard Bush as the worst president – not Carter, but Obama, all for being the first black president. When you’re accustomed to white supremacy, equality feels like oppression. An intelligent black man taking the place of a stupid, disastrous white one, feels like oppression – that’s the “divisiveness.” Despite all the vitriol he rose above the human vermin’s hisses, carrying the entire country with grace and dignity.

    The election of Barack Hussein Obama was a blast against 400 years of slavery, 60 years of segregation, and the institutional racism that still remains.   It shattered the legacy of white supremacism, breaking barriers, and gave people hope for the first time in their lives that true progress was being made and that their voices mattered.  His election embodied American ideals of “you can make it here if you try,” that all men truly were “created equal.”  The significance of the election was best captured by none other than Michelle Obama’s 2016 DNC speech: “I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn..” It gave little black boys everywhere the idea that they too could be president and brought a smile on the faces of those who lived through segregation. 

    Image result for obama little boy
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    On a lighter note, here’s something both parties can agree on – he was the coolest president ever. Topping the top three’s in terms of charm and definitely number one in humor. With his many appearances on talk show television, we’ve gotten to know him what feels like more personally – and our President has some quick wit.

    Obama has been just the epitome of “presidential” – without all the contrived sliminess that usually comes with it. Charming, fiercely intelligent, kind, great with kids, well-read, diplomatic, able to provide thoughtful, nuanced responses to complex problems – basically the opposite of his successor.

    What I most admired about him is that when he said he would change the world, he honestly believed he could.  I remember him mentioning in a documentary that in order to be a politician there should be,  “that romantic notion that what you can do can change things for the better.”

    He never wavered from that sense of idealism which many tend to lose during dreary times, doing the best he could with the hand he was dealt. Idealism creates resilience, and we should all hold onto it -without it there’s no propelling forward. Half-hearted efforts have never won anything. Half-hearted efforts didn’t make this country the world power it is now.

    I want to thank Obama for making me both an idealist and a patriot. For showing me that the America where hope, liberty, and equality for all applies, still exists and is worth fighting for. That being self-made and self-assured will get you places. I and millions will deeply miss his sound judgment on matters affecting people at home and around the world.

    He will also no doubt go down as one of the greatest orators in history – sincere, hopeful, realistic, and direct. When was the last time a politician ever inspired anyone? With that I will leave you with some of my favorite excerpts from his speeches…

    New Hampshire primary speech:

    “We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check. We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

    For when we have faced down impossible odds, when we’ve been told we’re not ready or that we shouldn’t try or that we can’t, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can.

    It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation: Yes, we can.

    It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail towards freedom through the darkest of nights: Yes, we can.

    It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness: Yes, we can.

    It was the call of workers who organized, women who reached for the ballot, a president who chose the moon as our new frontier, and a king who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the promised land: Yes, we can, to justice and equality.

    Yes, we can, to opportunity and prosperity. Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can repair this world. Yes, we can.”

    2012 Madison, Wisconsin rally:

    “Now, the folks at the very top in this country, they don’t need another champion in Washington. They’ll always have a seat at the table. They’ll always have access. They’ll always have influence. That’s the nature of things.

    The people who need a champion are the Americans whose letters I read late at night after a long day in the office, the men and women I meet on the campaign trail every day. The laid-off worker who’s going back to community college to retrain at the age of 55 for a new career, she needs a champion. The restaurant owner who’s got great food, but needs a loan to expand after the bank turned him down, he needs a champion. The cooks and the waiters and the cleaning staff at a Madison hotel, trying to save enough to buy a first home or send their kid to college, they need a champion.”

    “They don’t have lobbyists. The future never has as many lobbyists as the status quo. But it is the dreams of those children that will be our saving grace. That’s what will propel us forward. That’s what will make America continue to be this shining light on a hill.”

    “We’ve come too far to let our hearts grow faint. Now is the time to keep pushing forward: to educate all our kids and train all our workers, create new jobs, bring our troops home, care for our veterans, broaden opportunity, grow our middle class, restore our democracy, and make sure that—no matter who you are, no matter where you come from, no matter how you started out, no matter what your last name is—you can make it here in America if you try.”

    2016 SOTU Address:

    “We did not, in the words of Lincoln, adhere to the “dogmas of the quiet past.” Instead we thought anew, and acted anew. We made change work for us, always extending America’s promise outward, to the next frontier, to more people. And because we did – because we saw opportunity where others saw only peril – we emerged stronger and better than before.”

    “And most of all, democracy breaks down when the average person feels their voice doesn’t matter; that the system is rigged in favor of the rich or the powerful or some special interest.

    50th Anniversary from Selma to Montgomery Marches Speech:

    “America is not the project of any one person. Because the single most powerful word in our democracy is the word ‘We.’ ‘We The People.’ ‘We Shall Overcome.’ ‘Yes, We Can.’”

  • Should the Electoral College Be Abolished?

    Should the Electoral College Be Abolished?

    “The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.” – Donald J. Trump. Truer words have never been spoken by Trump. If you thought the 2000 Al Gore loss was unfair, well wait ‘till you hear how much our losing 2016 candidate won the popular by – 2.9 million votes.  In fact, with our current electoral system, a candidate can win the presidency with just 22% of the popular vote when 78% of the country voted against them. The electoral college is an archaic system that focuses on winning states not people, corrupts the electoral process, contributes to the apathetic culture of low-political efficacy, and most of all suppresses the will of the majority – a concept this country was founded on. A system with a failure rate of 9% established by wealthy, elite, land-owning white men to protect their interests from the will of the people, shouldn’t be kept around. Women weren’t allowed to vote, slaves were counted as three-fifths of a person – but we somehow managed to overturn that, so why can’t we move towards proportional representation in electing the most important office in the United States? This is a bipartisan issue that we should all be fighting for once facts are established and common myths dispelled.

    I’ll explain, according to the founder’s own words, why it was actually established and. First of all, remember who these founders were, they were wealthy, white, property-owning white men wanting to protect their own interests. Remember that the top 1% even back then owned 99% of the wealth? Remember Bacon’s Rebellion. They didn’t want a “tyranny of a majority,” to the antithesis of democratic values because they deemed too stupid to elect a leader.  Alexander Hamilton spells this sentiment out in The Federalist Papers, saying it was designed to ensure a president is chosen “by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choice.”

    Gatekeeping Elite Interests From Democracy

    Things haven’t changed much (at the expense of everyone’s loss), even back then the elite were trying to prevent power from seeping out their inner-circle into the hands of those rebellious colonists who asked for too much – who asked not to be indentured servants. You see “tyranny of the majority” is simply a democracy, they ironically gave it the epithet ‘tyranny’ because a true democracy was detrimental to property-owning, white male interests. What we currently have now is true tyranny – power is disproportionately concentrated in low-populated states dubbed “swing states,” but more on that later. Just as they feared “tyranny of majority” they also feared black people and women voting, but we managed to overcome that.

    A Vestige of Slavery

    Not only was it established to protect elite interests and suppress the “stupid” masses, but it is a vestige of slavery. The father of the Constitution, James Madison, at the Constitutional Convention, expressed that with a popular vote, the Southern states, “could have no influence in the election on the score of Negroes.” This is how slave-owning Jefferson beat out John Adams in the election of 1800. With this and the three-fifths compromise, slaveholding states were able to increase their representation in Congress and also in the Electoral College. With slavery being abolished and the three-fifths compromise done away with, there was no reason to keep the electoral college. It’s simply indefensible. It was clearly designed to override the will of the people and preserve the power of the “white establishment” as Bill O’Reilly inadvertently argued against his cause. Thanks for confirming the de jure system of white supremacy that permeates our country Bill!

    Furthermore, “minority rights” (that are not ensured by the electoral college at all) will always be protected considering that we have proportional representation in the legislative branch. That’s where one decides individual policy. When it comes to choosing president why shouldn’t everyone have one equal vote?

    Even the positive, protective aspects of the system have failed us, proving there is no need for it. The electoral college was created precisely to stop unqualified demagogues, pawns of foreign powers, and an “ill administration”:

    “… of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.” — Alexander Hamilton, (Federalist No. 1)

    “the true test of a good government is its aptitude and tendency to produce a good administration,” and for that reason, he said, the electors should be “able to estimate the share which the executive in every government must necessarily have in its good or ill administration.” (Federalist No. 68.)

    ” the Constitution is designed to ensure “that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.”

    In Federalist No. 68, Hamilton wrote that one major purpose of the Electoral College was to stop the “desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils.” Saying the college should  “Guard against all danger of this sort … with the most provident and judicious attention” from the electors.

    It’s clearly failed considering we now have a historically unqualified, politically illiterate demagogue that also happens to be a pawn to a foreign power.

    Myth: Big Cities Will Be Overrepresented

    Let’s move on to debunking common myths that are sensible concerns. One person one vote, actually makes each vote count, there’s no such thing as big cities being “overrepresented,” a bigger population should account for a bigger portion of the vote, arbitrary ideological lines shouldn’t be decisive in a democracy. No, they also won’t be disproportionately pandered to – campaigning in cities only is a losing strategy. Our current system forces candidates to pander to “swing states” while ignoring the rest of the country’s interests. Having a popular vote decide the presidency means each person – not empty, overrepresented land – gets to have an equal say in deciding the most important position in the United States.

    The benefits are inarguable, voter turnout increases because the cynical attitude of  “my vote doesn’t count” is eradicated. Republicans will want to vote in California and Democrats can vote in Texas. The voice of the minority shouldn’t be more impactful than the voice of the majority just because you disagree with them; maybe candidates should just work harder to earn the unpopular party’s vote. Let’s back all of this up.

    Small states actually have overwhelming power and their inhabitants’ disproportionately loud voices. In a proportional system, 574,000 people would be represented by one vote but our current system does the opposite. For instance, Georgia, Virginia, Michigan, and New Jersey are missing one vote. Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio, Illinous are missing two, Florida is missing four, New York 5, and California 10. So no big states aren’t “tyrannical” – they’re actually underrepresented.  One Virginia vote is worth 3 Texas votes, and one Wyoming vote is worth 4 Californian votes. Tell me, how this is in any way fair? When the electoral college was created, less than 5% of Americans lived in cities; today, it’s 80%. We’ve tripled the power of rural Americans, even though every American vote should be equal. Why wouldn’t we change laws in a changing world? Why are some individual’s votes worth less than others’ due to geography? The electoral college pretends fewer people live where they do and more people live where they don’t. To me that sounds like tyranny, true tyranny – tyranny of the minority.

    A switch to proportional representation wouldn’t actually hurt small states. As aforementioned, campaigning in cities only is a losing strategy; candidates will not ignore 287 million other people. Such a notion ignores the mathematical reality of population distribution. The top 10 cities are 7.9% of popular vote and even the next 90 biggest cities are 19.4% of popular vote. To believe otherwise is ludicrous and an intellectually dishonest endeavour used to further one’s own agenda. It’s absurd that with our current system 80% of the vote cast in the country has no impact on the outcome of the election.

    In fact, our current system already panders to few states: campaigns, with no need to win the popular vote focus on Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia and a few others. Furthermore, they don’t care about small states. Remember they can theoretically win with just 21% of the popular vote. This graph shows the states candidates most visited:

    Supporters of the outdated system erroneously believe low-populated, rural states would be overlooked but with the current focus on a few “swing” states – the other 37 and their interests are ignored by candidates. A direct election ensures that candidates represent the interests of all the people, not just the people in the swing states. Every state would become a battleground for voters, forcing candidates to run better campaigns in order to appeal to a broader swathe of the electorate. Currently they have no reason to do so – their focus is only on the six or so states that will determine the outcome.

    Increased Voter Turnout

    Our indirect electoral process suppresses voter turnout. Changing it would cause the true silent majority in states like Texas and California to vote, because there would be no wasted votes. The past 2012 election results point to this, even with our “wasted vote” system 3 million Democrats voted in Texas and 5 million Republicans voted in California. If electoral votes were awarded proportionately, 16 Texan votes should have gone to Obama, and 20 to Romney. But to everyone’s detriment, with the winner-take-all system, those who vote for losing party might as well stay home.

    Undemocratic Faithless Electors

    To add final blow to the system with 9% failure rate, there’s also the concept of faithless electors. Which we know for certain where created to willy-nilly vote against anyone who disagreed with elite interests since they truly didn’t protect us from a foreign influence, demagogue, or unqualified candidate this election. Faithless electors, exemplify the fragility of our democracy, at any instance, they can easily go against the people’s wishes with just a fine. They capture the real essence of why the college was founded – as a blockade between the American people’s interests and elite interests.

    The hypocrisy of Electoral College loyalists is amusing, they sure rallied against it back in 2012, didn’t they? But all of the sudden their candidate loses the popular vote by a historical number and they defend it. Once again proving them to be spineless, self-serving, hypocritical

    You can’t really blame them, their own savior is a guy known to flip-flop on abortion, health care, etc. A poll of more than 40% of Trump voters even said California’s vote shouldn’t count. That’s right, the most populated state in the country shouldn’t count. Why? Well because I don’t like “them.”

    The Electoral College Crowns Popular Vote Losers

    I’ve already explained why yes, the most popular party with the most votes should win, and no big cities won’t decide elections since it’s a losing strategy and they only account for 20% of the population, but I want to be clear that abolishing it won’t ensure democrat dynasty for the rest of time. The five electoral failures throughout history where a candidate has lost the popular but won the presidency have gone to republicans. It happened in 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000 and now, 2016.

    The electoral college often helps Republicans in close races. Abolishing is not in any way ‘unfair,’ nor does it give coastal states disproportionately loud voices; currently, small states have that not the other way around. One person, one vote is true “popular sovereignty” and a “government for the people by the people.” Would it matter if those 8 million New Yorkers were geographically dispersed all around mid-western rural states? You see, this isn’t about a concentration of power, this is about ‘your side’ losing. With a popular vote, no state will be overrepresented because it’ll just be about the people and for the people not empty, overrepresented land as it is now. Even then, why should the minority rule if one party is more popular than the other? Because again, this isn’t about so-called “tyranny” it’s blatant fear of your side losing.

    Forget the arbitrary construct of “red states” or “blue states,” if California voted 60% democrat, and 40% Republican, 32 votes out of their 54 be cast for the Democratic candidate and the remaining 22 be cast for the Republican candidate. Lower populated areas simply shouldn’t get an equal shot to higher populated areas because their viewpoints are not as popular. That’s just popular sovereignty.

    To put it in layman’s terms, a farmer from Ohio can still vote for his concerns and his voice won’t be overrepresented as it is now, or underrepresented. The farmer’s voice will weigh just as much as each American individual, whether there are enough individuals that lean his way is a different story. One that is the responsibility of the candidates running for the presidency. This is where yet another benefit comes in, since every vote is weighted equally, candidates will be more responsive to the concerns of the entire citizenry not just swing states, and therefore will try to win their vote. Which is precisely why abolishing it does not guarantee purely democrat presidents. Not only will voter turnout increase, therefore upping the number of republicans voting in traditionally blue states, but republican candidates that would usually lose the popular vote won’t always because they’d have reason to campaign in former “blue states.” It’s up to the candidates to do a better job with resonating with the entire country, because they’re not just governing Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, they’re leading the entire country.

    Abolishing is no simple process that will happen in the foreseeable future, which is why we should fight for proportional representation in the electoral college.That way, a narrow 1.2% win in Florida will not yield a 29 electorate gain for one candidate. So that a candidate doesn’t just need a fifth of the popular vote to win, so that voter turnout increases, so that 80% of the vote cast in the country isn’t inconsequential to the outcome, and so that 37 states aren’t ignored. Most of all so that the highest office in the United States makes an effort to represent all the people regardless of what state they come from.

  • Why Hamilton Electors Must Rise Up

    America you’ve been conned. Not just by any con-man, a con-man-in-chief. Not only won’t he deliver on his promises but the blueprint he’s laid out, shows that he’ll actively work against you. Did a cheeto-toned face come to mind? Sadly, your working class hero is an unhinged fraud, but you will be an architect of your own misery. Donald J. Trump has taken all the things he criticized Hillary Clinton for and amped them up by one thousand percent. Her “corruption” doesn’t hold a candle to the hurricane of danger he’s dragging in. The swamp is overflowing, his conflict of interests are impeachable, he’s using the power of the presidency for his own financial gain, damaging foreign relationships, his university has been proven fraudulent, Saudi ties are more apparent than ever, and he helped a foreign country subjugate our democracy by hacking the election. All while appointing a cabinet of historically inexperienced deplorables who actively oppose their own agencies. Tremendous. This isn’t simply about party lines, I’ll accept a conservative, but the man is completely unfit to serve. Let’s further explore why Hamilton electors must rise up to protect our democracy.

    If you thought billionaires buying the government was bad, well now they are the government. So if you didn’t vote for the lesser of two evils, and aren’t regretting that choice, you’re not listening. The most imminent reality is that he’s completely flip-flopped on the one pivotal issue that conservatives overlooked his racism, xenophobia, and misogyny for – standing up to Wall Street and prioritizing the middle class. Trump voters should’ve seen this coming. I mean how are Bush tax cuts on steroids, which raise taxes for 8.5 million families supposed to help the economy?  Eleven million households of single parents will also see increases. It’s a fact that the middle-class has the largest MPC, so the economy grows when it does.

    But suddenly “we told you so” doesn’t feel so good when we’ll all be slaves to Exxon, Goldman, and Russia. Trump’s even taken one step further to openly mock the empty rhetoric that got him elected at a victory tour rally when after a chant of “lock her up!” from the crowd, Trump replied: “That plays great before the election – now we don’t care.” Oh, but I thought Hillary was the one who would “say anything to get elected.”

    Let’s start by carefully looking in his cabinet. He almost specifically appoints people to undermine the positions, people who don’t ‘believe’ in their agencies. SNL put it best, his appointments are like making Walter White the head of the DEA. Or, putting an arsonist in charge of the fire department.

    -Michael Flynn as his National Security Adviser:

    An islamophobic general who’s pushed fake news 16 times since August and indirectly put American’s lives in danger at a Washington pizzeria by pushing the ludicrous Pizzagate fabrication. Yes, Trump’s adviser is taking notes from Alex Jones the alt-right conspiracist who believes Sandy-Hook was a hoax, Obama is a demon, and 9/11 was an inside job. If that doesn’t scare you then I don’t know what will. Most of all, he mishandled classified information! Oh, and let’s not forget – he’s also a Russian puppet! The hypocrisy of the Trump campaign is almost tangible, so much for sticking it to “crooked Hillary.”

    -Steve Bannon as Chief Strategist:

    The ex-CEO of Breitbart, a white supremacist website which largely founded the “alt-right”  movement. Of course, alt-right just being a euphemism for neo-nazi and there’s no question about it considering they’re self-proclaimed white supremacists. Just take a look at their conferences in Washington where they “heiled” Trump while doing a Nazi salute, and talked about the “superiority” of white men. They’ve got it all – anti-Semitism, unadulterated misogyny, and most of all fake news. So Donald Trump’s wild conspiracy theories about “paid protestors”, “millions of fake votes,” etc., make sense when you consider who advises him. That’s right the future president of the United States propagates fake news stories from an unabashed white supremacist website. How long until he starts a war with North Korea over a fake piece from another “brilliant alt-right provocateur?” Again, I respect right-wing websites like the National Review. What I don’t respect is propagating conspiracy theories that put Americans’ lives in danger or white supremacism.

    –Jeff Sessions as Attorney General:

    The man who couldn’t even pass a Reagan-era confirmation hearing in the south because he was deemed too racist to be a judge, has been appointed to one of the highest ranked positions in the law. It’s as if Trump is purposely seeking out the most notorious bigots in our country. Jeff Sessions was denied judgeship in Alabama in 1989 for his anti-civil-rights positions and racist comments such as saying the NAACP and Civil Liberties Union are “un-American, Communist-inspired organizations,” accusing them of trying to “force civil rights down the throats of people,” and calling a white civil-rights attorney a “disgrace to his race” for representing black clients, and going after black leaders with false “voter fraud” charges in order to suppress the black vote. To make matters worse in the hearing he called the NAACP a “possible threat to national security.”  He was openly against civil rights, he thought blacks were second class citizens who had risen above their “proper station” in life. Yes, it was over 30 years ago, but his record speaks louder than any pseudo-apology he’s offered.  He’s continued voting anti-voting rights, anti-civil rights, and anti-immigrant. Jeff Sessions will wad up the Constitution and destroy the founding pillars of the beacon of hope that is American democracy.

    –Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State:

    Tillerson is not just a pal of Russia’s authoritarian leader, but he is the head of one of the largest oil companies in the world. Thus, the stranglehold big oil has on democracy will continue, in a more direct way. His Russian ties are scarier than ever considering the recent Russian election hacking. Russia is not our friend, but they are to Tillerson, as he personally received the ‘Order of Friendship’ medal from the dictator himself. Ronald Reagan is rolling in his grave. These ties explain why he would be offered the job or even take it. You see the man has no diplomatic experience; he simply stepped in to cut out the middleman. His appointment is all part of an obvious plan to lift the sanctions imposed on Russia, which had blocked his $500 billion oil deal.

    –Gary Cohn as Director of National Economic Council: Goldman Sachs will be running our economy. You know, the one’s that caused the massive 2008 financial crisis, the worst recession in recent history? Again, Trump cut out the middleman. If you thought billionaires buying the government was bad, well now they are the government.  Didn’t Trump criticize Ted Cruz in the primaries for Goldman Sachs ties and Hillary in the general? Well, now Goldman Sachs is his right-hand man.

    –Scott Pruitt as head of the EPA:

    Trump nominated a climate change denialist and fossil fuel shill to head the Environmental Protection Agency, or should I say dismantle it. The fact is that there is a scientific consensus on climate change and no “snowball” argument will derail the overwhelming evidence. These people will keep disputing facts once our major coastal states such as Florida are under water. Goodbye to the Paris Climate Change Agreement and any effort to combat (or really ‘ease’) the effects of climate change. The biggest threat facing our planet is global warming but our president thinks it’s a “hoax created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive.” In fact, the Trump team is even going on a witch hunt against EPA civil servants, but more on that later. Just remember, all it takes is a 3-4 degree temperature change in Earth’s climate for the Arctic ice to melt and make certain major population centers uninhabitable. Tell me conservatives, even if the 97% of the scientific community was wrong, what are you gonna get? A healthier, more efficient environment? Who cares about that let’s take oil money and shut up!

    –Andrew Puzder as Labor Secretary:

    A fast-food CEO, who is a critic of the minimum wage,  worker protections, whose company has broken worker safety laws, wants to replace workers with machines to head…the labor department. No one better than to fight for the “silent working class majority” than an out of touch billionaire whose record actually fights against your wishes.

    -Gary Cohn as Economic Council Director:

    He’s the President of Goldman Sachs who was a key architect of the 2008 financial crisis. It doesn’t get any more hypocritical than this. This cabinet couldn’t possibly get any more slimy worse if it tried. Now who’s being controlled by financial interests?

    -Steven Mnuchin as Treasury Secretary:

    Another Goldman Sachs employee with no known qualifications. Oh and he also used to work for the alt-right’s conspiracy fueler – George Soros. Poetic justice.

    -Rick Perry as head of the Department of Energy:

    Ex-governor of Texas is set to run the agency he forgot he wanted to eliminate. There’s literally nothing else to say, the ridiculousness and disrespect towards our American executive branch speaks for itself.

    –Ben Carson as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: The retired neurosurgeon with no political background, knowledge, or experience is set to lead a department he knows nothing about. When just earlier he’d said he wouldn’t want to take a position because he, “feels he has no government experience, he’s never run a federal agency. The last thing he would want to do was take a position that could cripple the presidency.” This isn’t funny anymore, people’s lives are being put at stake at the hands of incompetent, politically illiterate, morons who actively oppose their agencies. Our future Secretary of HUD opposes anti-poverty programs because it creates “dependency.”

    –Betsy DeVos as the Education Secretary:

    A billionaire GOP donor, anti-union activist who helps gut public education by funneling money into “vouchers” for private education. Without the money, public schools fail, and get then get shut down. What an excellent person to help the future that is children, thrive.

    –Elaine Chao as head of Transportation Department:

    Chao made $1.2 million while overseeing Wells Fargo as a director during the period the bank has admitted to created millions of fake accounts.

    As you can see he’s truly outdone himself and appointed a cabinet of deplorables who won’t represent American interests, only those of the billionaire class and Russia. Appointed inexperienced people who actively oppose their agencies work. Look at it like this, Obama’s Secretary of Energy appointments were MIT physicist, Steven Chu, with a Nobel Prize. Rick Perry miserably failed chemistry courses during college and couldn’t even name the agency. Is it not a total disregard for American lives to put complete buffoons to lead the most important agencies? Big oil running the state, Goldman running the economy, and an Alex Jones follower at our national security, somehow this is how we win. Or maybe that’s how he wins, that’s all his campaigns ever really been about, he just never thought he’d make it this far.

    If you thought billionaires buying the government was bad, well now they are the government. Get ready for a 2008-like recession on steroids, endless destruction of our environment, and unresponsiveness to the American interests. This is official an oligarchy. Is this what working class whites meant by feeling “represented?” Are you all secret billionaire Putin fanboys? Well, maybe the latter is correct. Basically, conservatives complained about big business being in the pocket of the government, so they made them the government instead! You played yourself.

    The hypocrisy doesn’t end there. Recently his Saudi Arabia ties, have been confirmed after he closed down companies linked to the country. But I thought he wasn’t corrupt like “crooked Hillary?”

    Furthermore, the fraudulent Trump University, which stole millions from the most vulnerable of our society looking to get ahead, has settled for $25 million. But Donald, I thought you weren’t guilty? He even went on to brag about settling the lawsuit for a “small fraction of the potential award,” thus admitting that regardless he walked away from the con-job stealing from single mothers and students.

    His unfitness to serve as the President, doesn’t stop there. He’s set a dangerous precedent of his term by suppressing & publicly flouting those that disagree with him like a petulant child.

    This time, Donald attacked the president of United Steel Workers Union after he questioned his phony ‘Carrier deal.’ The deal gave Carrier a $7 million tax cut in exchange for not moving a plant to Mexico. In the end, Carrier kept 730 jobs in the US, and 1,233 will be moved anyway. Trump made a corporatist bribe and we lost over 1,000 American jobs. He set a precedent for corporations to threaten to outsource jobs, get a tax cut, and then outsource them anyway. What happened to “You’re gonna pay a damn tax when you leave this country?” Instead of penalizing as promised, he’s rewarding them for moving jobs away. Where is the art in this deal?

    Trump gets praised for keeping 770 jobs while Obama is a failure for adding 178,000 jobs a month.

    But I digress. Equally, if not more heinous is how Trump responded. Going on one of his classic Twitter rampages, he launched baseless attacks against the union president, which caused his goons to send him death threats. This is how our future president treats political dissent, by brazenly attacking them. It’s almost tantamount to third-world style leadership. Attacking unions is reminiscent of the Gilded Age, and that’s exactly what his term will be with big oil and other modern day ‘robber barons’ in charge.

    In the latest tantrum, he “canceled” a new Air Force One, via Twitter (again), citing false concerns over the price of the plane. This interestingly came soon after Boeing expressed concerns over trade policies.

    The man has the temperament of a Chihuahua. He’s even gotten a teenage girl sent death threats after she asked a question at a political forum. If you can’t even take a question without lashing out like a maniac on Twitter for all your rabid followers to go after, then maybe you’re not qualified for the job at any level.

    Not only that, but he won’t attend intelligence briefings (because he’s “too smart”) yet has time to watch and whine about a comedy sketch show endlessly. He has time to get triggered on the behalf of his vice president by a broadway musical who politely asked him to protect civil rights, throw a tantrum over Twitter not making a “crooked Hillary” emoji, attack Vanity Fair via Twitter for giving him a negative restaurant review and has time to whine about people expressing their First Amendment right by peacefully protesting his win. He even had time to push a fake news conspiracy about “million of illegal votes,” possibly signaling that (with the help of Sessions) he will attempt to suppress the minority vote in the future. Going on to later thank African Americans for not voting: “The African-American community was great to us…they didn’t vote, & that was almost as good for me”

    In fact, he shows more fervor and conviction when attacking said magazine for criticizing his restaurant, then when telling white supremacists to stop hate crimes after practically being forced to. And instead of getting even a basic civics lesson or learning anything about governing considering he has no political history, he’s just basking in his own pride on a divisive victory tour. What a class act, what a leader. I hope no country decides to attack us during an episode of Saturday Night Live.

    Our President-elect hates the Constitution, even going as far to say flag burners should lose citizenship or go to jail. Even though it was decided by the Supreme Court that it’s a form of symbolic protest in Texas v. Johnson – even uber-conservative Justice Scalia agreed. What makes this country great are the principles it was founded on, including being able to freely criticize the government without fear of persecution in order to prevent tyranny and have an actual democracy, and yes that includes flag burning. Subjugating free speech and lashing out like he has against dissent is synonymous to that of dictatorships like North Korea.

    Not only does he hate the Constitution but he’ll be in violation of it from day one if he doesn’t divest from all business interests. He’s shown no signs of doing that as of yet because he fundamentally thinks that the president “can’t have a conflict of interest.” The Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution begs to differ, Trump:

    “..no person holding any office of profit or trust” shall “accept of any present, emolument, office or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince or foreign state” unless requested by Congress.

    Now saying he will hand his businesses over to his children, who sit in on his presidential meetings including those with foreign countries. What a step up. Ivanka Trump for one has sat in on a meeting with the Japanese prime minister and a phone call with the Argentine president. And all three children sat in on a meeting with tech companies yesterday. To fully establish the denigration of our democracy into a dictatorship controlled by a dynasty, it’s now been announced that Ivanka will take the office reserved to the First Lady, meanwhile Melania and her son stay in New York. The nepotism couldn’t be anymore brazen. And he hasn’t resolved to do anything about his conflicts of interests, even skipping out on a press conference a few days ago where he was supposed to address his plans for his businesses in order to parade around with Kanye West and distract the news. I mean for goodness sake, Jimmy Carter sold his peanut farm to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest! Trump is utterly the most unqualified, unfit, and most dangerous President-elect we’ve ever had.

    Moving on to a flash of his foreign policy style, Trump managed to single-handedly unravel decades of American foreign diplomacy put in place by Nixon with one unabashed phone call he lied about making.

    It’s been established since 1979 that the US government would not have any official contact with Taiwan,  in order to recognize the People’s Republic of China. The moron called the President of Taiwan lunging into the most sensitive of China’s interests – the “One China” policy.  It’s always been U.S. policy towards China not to recognize Taiwan. Erratic, major pivots in foreign is how wars start, and the orange buffoon managed to unravel the most sensitive piece of diplomacy established with a country who we owe billions to and that has nukes. Hello World War III.

    To top of the Idiocracy that is American politics right now, 17 nonpartisan U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that  Russia tampered with the US election to help Trump win and Putin was directly involved.  Kremlin hacked the DNC and RNC, but only leaked DNC files to help him win. Trump won decisive states by less than one percentage point, so their influence could’ve been much more extensive than we know so far.. What’s more, FBI director Comey and majority leader McConel deliberately withheld information on Russia meddling with the election, thereby violating the Hatch Act. Not a first time for Comey who reopened last minute election-costing witch hunt against Hillary. The GOP literally aided foreign aggression against American democracy and the Trump team may be complicit

    This is bigger than Watergate. It isn’t about party lines, and our treasonous President-elect has defended U.S. foreign attackers and attacked our intelligence community. It’s no wonder why he hasn’t attended any intelligence briefings, and said he’s getting intel talking to foreign leaders. He did deliberately call for Russia to hack Hillary Clinton at his last press briefing. And even his cabinet is heavily immersed with Russian connections from Rex Tillerson and Michael Flynn, his National Security Adviser.

    We had 33 Congressional Hearings on Benghazi, countless investigations on her damn emails but none on Russian efforts to influence our election even when they had a suspicion. This has gone on far too long and our national security and democratic principles are being subjugated, with the help of the President-elect himself seeing as he’s attacking the CIA. But he sure doesn’t have a hard time believing debunked Infowars conspiracies about “millions of illegal votes.”

    The electoral college was created precisely to stop unqualified demagogues, pawns of foreign powers, and an “ill administration”:

    “… of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.” — Alexander Hamilton, (Federalist No. 1)

    “the true test of a good government is its aptitude and tendency to produce a good administration,” and for that reason, he said, the electors should be “able to estimate the share which the executive in every government must necessarily have in its good or ill administration.” (Federalist No. 68.)

    And in Federalist No. 68, Hamilton wrote that one major purpose of the Electoral College was to stop the “desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils.” Saying the college should  “Guard against all danger of this sort … with the most provident and judicious attention” from the electors.

    Donald J. Trump has shown utter disrespect for our founding values, no interest in learning how to govern, wadded up the Constitution into toilet paper, and could be a treasonous pawn to a dictator. He’s proven to us how easily he can start a war or a depression through his actions and has shown complete contempt for upholding the law; bragging about not paying taxes exemplifies it. Russia and the KKK got the president they wanted but the majority of Americans didn’t, with Hillary Clinton currently leading Trump by 2.8 million votes. Now is the time to respectfully ask our electors to honor America’s founding fathers. And urge our Congressmen to postpone to vote until all our electors have been provided an intelligence briefing.

  • Donald Trump is Not My President

    After last night’s devastating results, half of America was left shaken to it’s core – media and politicians included, while the other half celebrated the nomination of Donald Trump as our 45th president. The electoral college created to protect us from a demagogue failed us. Hillary didn’t just lose, civil rights lost, civil liberties lost, mother earth lost and the fundamental values on which this country’s “greatness” was founded on was lost.  Hate crimes in the name of Trump are already spurring abound. To get respect, you have to give respect; I refuse to respect someone whose disrespected I and millions’ of others entire existence. Someone who’s disrespected fundamental, core American values and morals. The Statue of Liberty weeps -”give me your…”. Excuse me if I refuse to board the sinking Titanic ship that is America and sing kumbaya with the orchestra that is establishment Democrats.

    Democrats everywhere are pleading for unity – unity precludes sharing a belief system or at least compromising. Compromise precludes accepting facts as facts then arguing about solutions,  as well as not viewing half of the country as subhuman species. Sadly your President-elect (I just got acid reflux), is the impetus behind anti-intellectualism and facts. Deny the unemployment rate? Check. Say it’s actually twice as high as it was during the Great Depression? Check. Deny the scientific consensus behind climate change? Check. Say it was a hoax created by the Chinese to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive? Wait what? We’re venturing into new Republican territory here. It’s the fringe corner of conspiracy nut-sery, and you’ve elected it’s leader as president. Regrettably, your President is the driving force emboldening white supremacism by deeming minorities as subhumans. One side lives in an echo chamber ground by nothing but Trump’s baseless verbatim. Don’t get me wrong,  I respect opposing views, I think opposition is vital to intellectual discourse and advancement; what I don’t respect is bigotry and unadulterated ignorance.

    While it is Obama’s job to ensure the peaceful transition of power, saying “we’re actually all on one team,” is ludicrous. (That’s understatement for reasons also stated above.) I’m not on the team that wants to turn back the clock on equality and expand our oligarchy. I’m not on the team that unabashedly hates brown people.  Did they do that for you Barack? For the past 8 years, did they “meet you halfway?” No, they treated you with utmost contempt and created the most vicious and far-fetched rumors about you in order to discredit your accomplishments. All for being the first black president. These angry, sick individuals didn’t work with you and they don’t want to work with ‘us’. If they did they wouldn’t have created – and won – the most divisive, nasty campaign by alienating and scapegoating every minority in the book. So if you’re clutching at your pearls because we’re using such a bold mantra, you’re a hypocrite. Democrats are simply playing your game, except this time we’re not saying rejecting the president-elect based on fears of our “guns being taken away”, FEMA camps, and fear that he’s a Muslim and will enact sharia law like your crowd full of loons did. People aren’t even rejecting him because they dislike conservative ideology they’re rejecting him because they fear for their lives.

    Compromise in the face of the oppressor means siding with the oppressor. Playing with the devil makes you complacent for whatever evil he manifests. Therefore, I can not, and will not, meet Orwellian demagogues who want to track human beings like animals “halfway.” Bernie Sanders said it best, ““if you ask for a half loaf, “you’re gonna get crumbs.” Let’s also not forget that being a true centrist masked under the paper-thin veneer of progressiveness cost Hillary Clinton the election. That must be some kind of stockholm syndrome, feeding the hand that slaps you down, and I refuse to partake in it.

    What’s at stake is very real. Marriage equality is in jeopardy, the economy is in jeopardy,  Americans’ health is in jeopardy, voting rights are in jeopardy, women’s rights are in jeopardy, the environment is in jeopardy, and our relationships with other countries are in jeopardy. Oh and don’t get abortions rape victims, it says it in the bible…wait what’s that Trump’s being a  thrice married sexual predator makes him an adulterer? WRONG! To top off this looming Idiocracy , Muslims, Latinos, and black people genuinely fear for their lives. Barbarian Joe Arpario style racial profiling will spur abound because fear mongering has won. In the echo chamber, facts don’t exist remember. A rampant misogynist, politically illiterate,  war-crime and dictator loving, a professional scam artist with a cavalier attitude about nukes has won and we all lost – whether we know it or not yet.

    “B-b-but democrats have taken the white working class for granted, we’re gonna have our jobs back!” We’ll you’re in for a ride after Mr. Eliminate-the-$19-Trillion-Dollar-Debt, defaults it (ah his signature Chapter 11 move!), prints out more money, lowers minimum wage, gives $7 trillion tax cuts to millionaires and $5 trillion to corporations and leaves you hanging while economic growth stagnates. Trickle down economics doesn’t work people. Your messiah Reagan was disastrous. I fear for the way he’ll run America like he runs his businesses 6 bankruptcies and all. These fools fell for a crony who doesn’t pay taxes (bb-but it’s those Mexicans) and should be in jail for it. The working class savior  is a rotting pumpkin who outsources all his jobs, lays off thousands in careless bankruptcies, scams contractors, and preys off financial crisis such as the one in 2000.

    -The aftermath of a Trump presidency would be: 3.5 million fewer jobs, unemployment rate rises to as high as 7%,the average American household’s after-inflation income will stagnate, and stock prices and real house values will decline.

    You see, Trump told them Obama ruined the economy and he will keep jobs in America. Just how he pretended illegal immigration isn’t net negative, the undocumented are not simply overstaying their visas, and crime hasn’t gone down as immigration has gone up. Create a problem, and provide a false solution – it’s simple republican politics 101.

    Not only can all his preposterous 3rd world proposals be enacted with the republican Congress and soon to be Supreme Court, but the beast he has awakened provides a more imminent threat. We don’t even have to look at the fact that REPORTED hate crimes quintupled after Brexit in the UK as an example – it’s happening here. These white supremacist terrorists have been emboldened, becoming open about their bigotry. They’re celebrating the death of the “PC police,” feeling validated for hating minorities, and they’ve taken action. Here are the galvanized deplorables Hillary accurately weighted:

    -They took no time to hesitate and clearly shouted “Kill Obama” at his concession speech while Trump didn’t even flinch

    -”Fu*k Ni**ers’ & ‘Whites Only’ graffiti scrawled in school restroom

    -Students chanting “White Power” while carrying a pro-Trump sign were recorded at York County School of Technology

    –A building in Philadelphia was vandalized with Anti-semitic graffiti The vandal wrote Trump’s name, substituting a swastika for the T in Trump’s name. Alongside it was scrawled, “Seig Heil” – a popular Nazi salute.

    -Make America White Again in Wellsville with a Nazi sign on a building

    –A Muslim prayer room door was defaced with the word “Trump!” at NYU

    -White people are going around dressed up in black-face flouting black students

    -Crowds shouted “build a wall” in Royal Oak Middle School at Latino students

    -‘Go back to Africa’ was written in a restroom stall at Maple Grove Senior High

    – “Black lives don’t matter and neither does your vote“ was writing on Durham, North Carolina walls

    -A gay man was beaten and told by attackers “We have a new president,  f*ggot.”

    And much, much, more. But for the sake of preserving some sort of brevity I’ll refer you to this compilation post. I mean the KKK said it best:

    “The success of the Trump campaign just proves that our views resonate with millions.” Let that sink in.

    I’m moving on now to talk about a phenomenon that actually affects privileged white people, ( hate crimes committed by neo-nazis is just – oh – small potatoes!) I already covered just why isn’t a working class savior let me just make it clear that Tsar Trump’s brain lacks the capacity for nuance or problem solving and won’t even deliver on the ‘other’ issues what he promised you right-wingers. How will he defend the unborn? How will he fix veteran affairs? How will he take care of the military and its generals that he disrespects so much? How will he come up with a plan to defeat ISIS in 30 days when he doesn’t even know who the hezbollah and hamas are? He has no plans, no substance, nothing. Have a little taste of a Trump presidency here:

    –He insists he has a genius, foolproof plan but he can’t tell anybody because it’s a secret for months. Then admits he has none:

    Lauer: So, is the plan you’ve been hiding this whole time asking someone else for their plan? Trump: No. But when I do come up with a plan that I like, and that perhaps agrees with mine — or maybe doesn’t — I may love what the generals come back with… Lauer: But you have your own plan? Trump: I have a plan, but I don’t wanna..”

    His plan for ISIS – or lack thereof – is just the foolproof Donald Trump way of making money enacted on to policy. Announce you have a foolproof plan, get people to invest in the risky idea and if it works, he pays out. If his risky idea fails, Donald Trump declares bankruptcy. Sadly running the country isn’t like running Trump University or running a casino.

    He doesn’t have a plan to revive the economy (and we already covered how economists almost unanimously agree that he’ll drive us into the greatest great recession.): Take this excerpt from CNN. ”Another voter pressed him on whether voters should simply believe that he will revive the economy based on his last name, or whether he has any specific plans to address economic challenges. “I think they should,” Trump said of voters electing him based on his name, adding that he would renegotiate trade deals involving the U.S. and bring jobs back. “But how?” the 21-year-old college student and entrepreneur asked again. Trump didn’t get more specific beyond explaining that he plans to lower taxes and renegotiate trade deals.

    –Doesn’t have a plan for his proposed mass deportation: That’s why in the first debate he was totally devoid of substance: Let’s look at another perfect excerpt from CNN. “Trump didn’t explain exactly how he would deport the estimated 11 million undocumented people living in the U.S., simply pointing to his managerial skills.”

    What a GUY!  This explains his terrible debate performance. “How will you stop money from influencing politics?” “Defeat Crooked Hillary!” “How will you ISIS?” “We need to be vigilant!” “How will better the education system?” “I love education tremendously!” This is who you elected, oh how the mighty will fall.

    These masochists didn’t “stick it to the other side,” they stuck it to the human race as a whole – themselves included. An experience-less imbecile will turn us back 50 years by repealing all progress and having his teahadist SCOTUS nominee help strike down every court ruling ensuring of rights and liberties.  His anti-science/facts/reality goons, Sarah Palin, Rudy Giuliani, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, and John Bolton will ensure this, and  his sociopathic authoritarian dream team will be complete.  

    Furthermore, people will die once he “repeals medicare”, will suffocate in ‘Gyna’-like smog once he gets rid of the “Department of Environmental” (sigh..he means the EPA) and Climate Change Agreement, our children will become more illiterate than the people who voted for him due to cuts in education, the economy will plummet, war crimes will be committed , and the death grip corporations have on America will proliferate. This isn’t simply about party lines, Mitt Romney was an honorable, informed, and well-prepared man, this is about authoritarian tendencies, bigotry as a norm, and a total disregard for facts. So don’t tell me we’ve “been through this before.” America really reared it’s ugly head, showing they’d rather have open suppression of brown people, than retain basic civil rights and a growing economy. If you’re not terrified you’re not listening.

    Trump voters, don’t cry after 11/9 marks the denigration of the world power as we know it, you were an architect of your own misery.

  • Never Trump: A Full Comprehensive Guide to Why This Election Is About More Than Party Lines

    Never Trump: A Full Comprehensive Guide to Why This Election Is About More Than Party Lines

    A textbook narcissist, a blatant racist, a hate mongrel, a conman, and a misogynist with fascist tendencies – words I would’ve never in my life used to describe a republican nominee or past republican president. They’re words millions of people have readily adopted into their conversation as soon as there’s a mention of him. Attitudes have changed because the whole dynamic has changed, because what is at stake this election is so much bigger than a preference over the size of government, social welfare, and gun rights. Tsar Trump is what is looming over our electoral horizon, threatening the values that this country was built on and our national respectability.

    He is the antithesis of everything we represent, a Youtube comment section brought to life almost. But no matter what treasonous or good old fashioned 1950s racist remark he spews next, he will continue to rise in the polls steady as he has. No one said it better than himself – “I could shoot people in streets and not lose support.” He’s not funny, he’s not making any intelligent/biting comments about the “PC” world, and he certainly hasn’t got the humanity, preparation or capacity fulfill the highest order in our country. So if you think you’re ‘sticking it’ to the establishment or ‘SJW’ by voting for him I’ve got news for you – you’re an economically and politically illiterate moron and you’re driving an entire country into the ground. If you support him for being a “successful businessman” and for being “anti- establishment”, I’ve also got news for you – he’s neither of those things. Also, voting just against Hillary because she’s not a pure progressive is like drinking bleach if your favorite drink isn’t available. Hopefully, this article will help edgy, privileged, apathetic people (probably not!) understand just what an egregious, insolent, despot this man would be as president and reveal him as the con artist he is. Because to stay silent is to enable to the possibility of an Idiocracy.

    I’d like to start off by mentioning the classic “Fourteen Defining Characteristics Of Fascism” from Dr. Lawrence Britt. I know this comparison has been drawn a million and one times, and I would normally refrain from writing about something so hackneyed if it didn’t eerily ring so true.

    “ 1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism 2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights 3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause 4. Supremacy of the Military 5. Rampant Sexism 6. Controlled Mass Media 7. Obsession with National Security 8. Religion and Government are Intertwined 9. Corporate Power is Protected 10. Labor Power is Suppressed 11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts 12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment 13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption 14. Fraudulent Elections:

    Obviously, all don’t apply because we’re talking about a person here but hell, are a whole lot of them spot on! (We’re really just touching the surface here.)

    • Powerful and Continuing Nationalism: See “Make America Great Again”, this crazy North Korea type video (the kids were never paid), constant empty rhetoric such as “We’re gonna win, we’re gonna win big.” Former KKK wizard David Duke champions him for his nationalism bordering on nativism –he was “overjoyed” to see the businessman’s campaign  “embrace most of the issues that I’ve championed for years,” including the nationalist and protectionist notion of “America First.” It all really narrows down to Nativism; despite illegal immigration negative, his fear-mongering paints it as an epidemic. He does believe the 14th amendment should be repealed.
    • Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights/Obsession with Crime and Punishment:”Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.”

    This can easily be tied back to his foreign policy wanting to commit the war crime of killing terrorist families, wanting to preserve Guantanamo and ‘load it up’ even further, and approving of torture methods such as waterboarding and others ‘even worse’. All for our own safety against the evil Middle East. Despite this violating international laws and federal anti-torture statutes. Military leaders themselves have come out and said that they don’t support torture and that it violates international agreements that the United States has signed. Furthermore, he has consistently encouraged violence at his rallies and egged on his supporters to beat up the peaceful: see “..knock the crap out of them.I promise you, I’ll pay the legal fees.” , “Maybe he should have been roughed up.”, and the classic “I’d like to punch him in the face.”  

    • Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats: “The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.” His disparaging comment.” He has called for a database to track Muslims – yes like they’re animals with total disregard to human rights or any decency. Something completely out of an Orwellian novel. Has called for banning mosques and banning Muslims altogether from entering the United States. Donald Trump has made Mexicans and Muslims a scapegoat for the country’s problems. We all heard him call Mexicans (yes MEXICANS he never said ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS) drug traffickers, criminals, and rapists in his presidential announcement :“The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems. When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” Spreading such  FACTUALLY WRONG hateful rhetoric against an ethnic group has ignited hate-crimes abound. A Latino homeless man was beaten  in his name . At an elementary school soccer game, girls yelled, “Donald Trump, build that wall!” at Latina students on the the field and racial slurs were also spewed. This is the kind of racial division he’s igniting, and casual racism he’s establishing as a norm. Now tell me, is a total disregard for our Ninth Amendment, establishment clause, the 1964 CIVIL RIGHTS ACT and premise that “all men are created equal” American, much more – presidential??? His dictatorial tendencies have no place in a country so diverse built by such a diverse group of people. What ever happened to “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..”? Not only this, but he wants mass deportations. Trump is trying to empty out the population equivalent of Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico.
    • Rampant Sexism:

    Shall I start off with the most recent and most DEPLORABLE comments yet: A hot mic that captured him detailing his sexual harassment and predatory behavior towards women in 2005 has been released in which he says the following:

    -“And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.Grab them by the p—y,” “You can do anything.”

    – “I moved on her and I failed. I’ll admit it,” The tape was recorded several months later being married to his third wife, Melania.” I did try and f— her. She was married,” Trump says.

    These are just some of the many irredeemable predatory comments made by a notorious misogynist who has several rape accusations against him and should not be taken lightly. This could be your next president. A despot with no shame or moral compass, who sees women as objects – even his own daughter I might add. He admitted his actions in confidence, actions which fall in line with many women’s accounts. People love him for his honesty and how he tells it “like it is”, well we’ve heard what is deep in his heart what he says when the cameras aren’t there. Yet somehow Mexicans are the rapists ruining the moral fabric of our society, not the old GOP party of child molesters and sleazy thrice married groppers.It’s actually turning out that everything he believes about them is a more accurate description of him. Government leech who doesn’t pay taxes? Check! But more on that later.

    Here are more rampantly sexist, vile comments:

    – ”When I come home and dinner’s not ready i go through the roof”

    -“A person who is flat-chested is very hard to be a 10,” Mr. Trump said to Mr.Stern, also in 2005.”

    -Took to Twitter and said: “26,000 unreported sexual assaults in the military-only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?”

    – Trump spoke to Esquire magazine about the media: “You know, it doesn’t really matter what [they] write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.”

    -On tough questions from Megyn Kelly, “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. There was blood coming out of her wherever,” Mr. Trump said after a Fox News debate in 2015, in an interview with CNN.

    -“Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president? I mean, she’s a woman, and I’m not supposed to say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?” Mr. Trump, referring to Carly Fiorina, in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 2015.

    -He retweeted a meme making fun of Ted Cruz’s wife, Heidi Cruz using an unflattering photo

    -Donald Trump: “Pregnancy is never–it’s a wonderful thing for the woman. It’s a wonderful thing for the husband. It’s certainly an inconvenience for a business…And whether people want to say that or not, the fact is it is an inconvenience for a person that is running a business.” NBC’s Dateline, October 2004

    -”She was favored to win — and she got schlonged, she lost, I mean she lost,” Trump said, using a vulgar Yiddish word for a man’s penis.

    -Called Rosie O’Donnell a fat, ugly, slob

    -Called Alicia Machado “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping”.

    – He supports Roger Ailes who’s been accused by 25 women of sexual harassment

    He has a history of sexual assault, and many of these women’s accounts fall in line with Trump’s comments in the leaked Access Hollywood tapes:

    -The child rape case filed against him is back on

    – In the 90’s his  ex-wife accused him of rape

    -In 1993 he was sued for sexual harassment

    -Erin Burnett reports Donald Trump kissed her friend without consent: “Trump took Tic Tacs..Then leaned in … catching me off guard and kissed me.”

    –Donald J. Trump had barely met Rowanne Brewer Lane when he took her into Ivanka’s bedroom and asked her to change into a bikini

    -Temple Taggart, the 21-year-old Miss Utah, says that in 1997: “He kissed me directly on the lips. I thought, “Oh my God, gross.” He was married to Marla Maples at the time. I think there were a few other girls that he kissed on the mouth. I was like “Wow, that’s inappropriate.”

    – “That must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees,” he told a female contestant on “The Celebrity Apprentice.”

    The list goes on and on.

    –Trump also brags that he liked to sneak backstage while the Miss Universe contestants were naked to “inspect” them:

    I used to ask myself the question would he let people speak to his daughters or wife that way?

    -Actually yes: Trump told Howard Stern that it was ok to call his daughter Ivanka “a piece of ass.”  But please do keep touting around how much your father “respects women” you sell-out.

    • Controlled Mass Media: He has blacklisted many media outlets, called for ‘close the internet’ with Bill Gates help (MAJOR LOL’s), and shuts down press at his events or puts them in a pen like animals. If major censorship isn’t fascism at it’s worst then I don’t know what is and don’t want to know what it would look like with him as president.
    • Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts: Well, he did say, “I love the poorly educated.”

    Outside of this, he has asserted his confidence that as president he would force military would obey his orders to commit war crimes (such as killing terrorists’ families). “They’re not going to refuse me. If I say do it, they’re going to do it.” (But we’ll get into the grittiness of his relationship with the U.S. military later). Lastly, Trump promises to restore the nation to its “greatness” not by a series of policies (till this day he has no plan for taking out ISIS), but by his personality. If all of this doesn’t display dictatorial tendencies then I don’t know what does.

    Shall we start off with by debunking the four most common misconceptions about him propagated by those on the fence? You either know someone or are someone who overlooks his many outrageous policy proposals because of a belief one of the following:

    Misconception #1: He’s a successful, self-made businessman that will help average, middle-class Americans.

    -Reality: Donald J. Trump did not create his fortune, he merely inherited it. On top of his “small loan” of $6.8 million in today’s dollars, he got control of his father’s company, and a roughly $200 million dollar inheritance. He was launched into life with ‘yhuuuuuge’ financial cushions, so big that failure would have been harder to achieve. How self-made of him.His tone-deafness and ‘out of touchness’ with the American people really shows. Furthermore, if he had put all of his inheritance in an (S&P 500) index fund in 1982, he’d be worth even more than he is today. Donald doesn’t own most buildings, he just sells his name to them. So far, this highlights just how little effort he put to be where he brags about being, but most disastrous are his SIX bankruptcies. Bankruptcies which he brags about. Yes, SIX TIMES. He’s said that he was just using “brilliantly, the laws of the country” to his advantage. When a billionaire takes advantage of the government, it’s just good business. When a poor person does they’re “moochers”. Furthermore, he hasn’t released his tax returns meaning he’s either lying about his net worth or hasn’t paid taxes   for god knows how long. This should cause anyone to question his skewed values and morality. He doesn’t pay taxes and wants to lower them, yet plans to have massive military spending, build an enormous wall, and reduce the national debt! Where is all this money coming from? Does he plan on just filing chapter 11 on the U.S. debt? These are all questions I have definite answers to from his own mouth further down. Stick around to find out!

    Misconception #2: He’s “anti-establishment”

    He’s honest. He tells it like it is. He’s not politically correct and most of all he’s not a bought-out career politician. Did a face come to mind? If it was spray-tanned to a finish the complexion of a Cheeto, and sported an animal on it’s head – spare your vote this November. Being open about being an asshole does not mean he’s funded his own campaign. He has always taken donations, agreed with corporate interests, and currently has super PACs. Not to mention how entangled with the establishment he’s been, considering his long history of donations to politicians such as Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and *gasp* Hillary Clinton. Yes, in fact, he’s donated $100,000 to crooked Hillary. In 2008, he even went as far to say that Clinton would “make a good president.”  Sorry kids, it’s all a persona used to lure in tea-partiers and disgruntled millennial Bernie supporters. Inexperience is also no virtue.

    Misconception #3: It’s all a facade and he won’t be so radical in office.

    The most amusing part about this has got to be the fact that it (most often) comes from people who think Hillary Clinton’s progressive promises are all lies and she’ll actually start WWIII, but somehow Trump’s own verbatim is simply “rhetoric.” When has a candidate done a complete 180 once in office? It’s just such lazy wish-casting thinking. Trump’s character and policy proposals are outrageous. But we should give him a chance because, in addition, he is inexperienced? The lives of 300 million Americans are not something to be played with.

    Misconception #4: “Well at least he’s not a war hawk like Hillary.”

    Trump is further right than Hillary on foreign policy. Actually, it is widely known that Trump supported the Iraq war before it was unpopular to do so back in 2002. He was just lucky enough to not be in a position of public service to have that fact ingrained in everyone’s mind. Like mentioned before, he wants to just bomb the hell out of Middle Eastern countries, take their oil, and kill terrorist families. What a dove.

    Now time for the fun part. Here come the most heinous of his proposals, actions, and beliefs that only  someone on the caliber of an absolute despot could be capable of. Organized into helpful little subsections!

    Trump on the economy:

    -To top of his absolute incompetence and the long growing list of impossible assertions, he’s said that he can eliminate the $19 trillion U.S. national debt in 8 years. Not even the deficit, he said the DEBT. Not only is this obviously impossible under the high tax rates of the left often calls for, but we’d have to spend half as much a year as we do now. Spending 2 trillion a year instead of four, all while cutting taxes. The absolute genius! Someone show him to the next open economics 101 class.

    -He wants to default the U.S. national debt.Yes, just do his signature chapter 11 move. On the United States debt. Not fully repaying investors in U.S. Treasuries has been justly called insane by top economic fellows.

    -When asked how he would manage the national debt he literally said the U.S. never has to default “because you print the money”. That’s right you just print out more money, no this was not said by a 5th grader, and couldn’t be more outta a satire of American politics if he tried.

    ––Thinks wages are “too high”, and should be lowered  See: ““Our wages are too high. I think having a low minimum wage is not a bad thing for this country.” Sounds like a depression waiting to happen.

    -Thinks the unemployment rate of 5.6% is manipulated for political purposes and thinks that “Our real unemployment is anywhere from 18 to 20 percent,”Most recently he’s said it “may be 42%”.  During the height of the Great Depression in 1933, it was 25%. Somehow crooked politicians are hiding the REAL numbers. That brings to question – is he going senile? Does he even know what such a thing as a ‘work force’ is? Is this entire election just one big troll? I have almost have no words.

    -By giving $7 trillion tax cuts to millionaires and $5 trillion of tax cuts to corporations, the national debt would increase by $34 trillion over the next 20 years under a Trump presidency. That’s right “the king of debt” would make it so that everyone in America would be under $100,000 of debt.

    -The aftermath of a Trump presidency would be: 3.5 million fewer jobs, unemployment rate rises to as high as 7%,the average American household’s after-inflation income will stagnate, and stock prices and real house values will decline.

    From not understanding basic things such as the national debt, U.S. Treasuries, inflation, to wanting to lower the already ridiculous minimum wage (that hasn’t kept up with inflation), denying outright facts, and wanting to enact a disastrous economic plan. Donald Trump will ensure the demise of the already struggling U.S. economy and put us in the worst economic recession since the Great Depression.  What we need surely is someone who outsources all his jobs, lays off thousands in careless bankruptcies, scams contractors, and preys off financial crisis such as the one in 2008. Elizabeth Warren put it best:

    “When the economy is in this kind of trouble, calling on Donald Trump for help is like if your house is on fire calling an arsonist to come help out.”

    Trump’s history as a con artist/fraud:

    So about Trump rooting for an economic crisis…….

    –“I sort of hope that happens because then people like me would go in and buy,” Trump said in a 2006 audiobook from Trump University, answering a question about “gloomy predictions that the real estate market is heading for a spectacular crash.” Later saying “If there is a bubble burst, as they call it, you know you can make a lot of money..If you’re in a good cash position — which I’m in a good cash position today –– then people like me would go in and buy like crazy.”

    –“People have been talking about the end of the cycle for 12 years, and I’m excited if it is,’ he told the Globe and Mail in March of 2007. “I’ve always made more money in bad markets than in good markets.”

    -Later during the first presidential debate, he doubled down by saying “That’s called business, by the way.”

    And so he went on to prey on the victims of the financial crisis. But wait – he cares about the American family! Donald Trump, not the hero we needed but the one we deserve.

    –Tax returns: It had been speculated that he’s been hiding them either because a) he’s not as rich as he claims to be or b) he doesn’t pay any. Well as it turns out, it’s most likely the latter. The New York Times’ leaked 1995 tax records show that he hasn’t paid federal taxes for 18 years.  He even justified his downright corrupt behavior that embodies everything wrong with our current system by saying ““That makes me smart,” during the first debate.

    So let’s see, he wants to lower taxes, build a massive $38 billion dollar wall, complains about the country’s subpar infrastructure, wants to bring down the national debt, expand the military, and pushes the fallacy of the tax-avoiding illegal immigrants all while not paying taxes for nearly two decades. The man has no shame or self-awareness, he’s a self-serving egomaniac! The most patriotic thing you can do after serve your country (which he also fervently avoided but now mocks war heroes for) is pay taxes. Donald Trump does not care about taking care of veterans. He’s corrupt and the corruptor. Poor families trying to stay alive are freeloaders, but when the top 1% do it, they’re “brilliantly suing the laws of the country.”

    -Trump Foundation: For those whose only claim for their support is that he’s “ not corrupt” well I’ve got news for you – he is the CORRUPTOR. That’s how he got his tax breaks in the first place, by donating to politicians. In this case, the Trump Foundation was being investigated by the New York Attorney General for unlawfully taking money from his charity. Later, even having to pay and IRS penalty for violating tax laws by giving a political contribution to Attorney General of Florida who was set to investigate fraudulent Trump University. She later decided against it, I wonder why..it’s almost like he’s buying influence and physically embodying the extent of cronyism of this country. Earlier this week it was completely called to shut down by the New York attorney general.

    -Trump University: A get rich promise targeted to “single parent(s) of three children that may need money for food” turned out to be a get-Donald-Trump-richer scheme from a fraudulent university that is now being sued. This is one of many of Trump’s ploys which targeted  the most vulnerable of our society and kicked them down further leaving them with next to nothing.

    -Ripped off workers to build his wealth: He stiff hundreds of small businesses, workers, and contractors. Some received as little as 30 cents on the dollar.  Edward Friel Jr. was just one of many who was cheated, he landed a $400,000 contract but only received $83,000 after the job was finished. So it’s no surprise that this self-proclaimed savior of the middle class has over 4,000 lawsuits all from average people. He later justified his heinous actions with the juvenile response of  “Maybe he didn’t do a good job and I was unsatisfied with his work.”. He really is a sociopath.

    -Trump even ripped off children: The patriotic performance put on by a trio of young girls at a Trump rally, never received the $2,500 asked for and their father has now filed a lawsuit against him.

    – Stole donations meant for veterans: He raised $6 million “for veterans” and never paid groups in full. They only received $2.4 million.

    – Hypocritical business practices:

    -His main campaign motto is “bringing back jobs to America.” Yet Trump outsources for nearly all of his products! He makes his shirts in Bangladesh (where he pays workers 30 cents an hour.) Neckties are made in China,suits are made in Mexico and India, vodka in the Netherlands  

    -Trump hired illegal Polish immigrants to build the Trump tower knowingly. “The employees were off-the-books, working 12-hour shifts seven days a week for $4 to $5 an hour, with no overtime. Some workers were never paid what they were owed.”

    Trump on foreign policy:

    Let’s begin by establishing his relationship with other nations.

    -He’s made million dollar business deals with Saudi Arabia, (even with Osama Bin Laden’s half-brother).  Donald has even had a Saudi prince “bail him out twice”. Yet he scolds Hillary for her donations and blames the country for 9/11.

    -Moving on to Russia. Donald Trump notoriously loves dictators, but does he actually have ties in some of these countries? The answer is yes. He’s received funding from Russian investors after American banks stopped lending to him following his many bankruptcies.

    So where do his loyalties lie? Are we supposed to  trust a two-faced politician? We’ve all seen how The Dark Knight turns out. Now onto the insubstantial substance of Trump’s:

    -Treasonous Trump called for Russia to hack the U.S. government: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing…” Is he clueless about the fact that he broke numerous federal laws by calling on a foreign government to engage in espionage against the U.S.? By the country’s long-time enemy? This may be the worst condemnation of his character and capacity to run a country.  The last thing we need is is the most impulsive sociopath of all sociopaths to lead us into WWIII.

    –Loves dictators:On Putin: “He’s running his country and at least he’s a leader, unlike what we have in this country.” In fact, he’s had nothing but praise for him since 2007.

    –Loves dictators pt. 2: On Sadaam Hussein:  Trump said Saddam Hussein “did well. He killed terrorists.” Tsar Trump is actually praising someone who actively sponsored terrorism and simply murdered anyone he didn’t like. If Trump loves undemocratic, authoritarian diplomacy so much maybe he should move to the middle-east and have at it.

    Trump’s praise of strongmen knows no bounds. It’s where he takes inspiration, hence his terets-like outbursts of “LOW-ENERGY” and “strength and stamina.” But it turns out Donald’s love isn’t unrequited, Putin’s called Donald “brilliant”. That should be disqualifying enough on its own.

    –Dictators love him: He’s been praised by the North Korean government. Again, that should be disqualifying on its own.

    –Nukes:

    -Would nuke the Middle East, “Let me explain. Somebody hits us within ISIS — you wouldn’t fight back with a nuke?

    -Went on to say why have nuclear weapons if you’re not gonna use them: “Then why are we making them? Why do we make them?”

    -Would nuke Europe if necessary: “Europe is a big place. I’m not going to take cards off the table. We have nuclear capability.”

    –Said we needed to be “unpredictable” with nuclear weapons: “And I wouldn’t want to say — even if I felt it wasn’t going — — I wouldn’t want to tell you that… because, at a minimum, I want them to think maybe we would use it, OK?

    –Doesn’t know what the nuclear triad is

    And much, much more. A man with such a cavalier attitude about weapons of mass destruction is bound to be Hitler 2.0 in office.

    –Trump supported the disastrous Iraq war before it became unpopular to do so in 2002

    – Wants to go to war with Iran over gesture: “And by the way, with Iran, when they circle our beautiful destroyers with their little boats and they make gestures that our people — that they shouldn’t be allowed to make, they will be shot out of the water,”

    –Wants disastrous trade wars: Trump has called for 45% across-the-board tariff on manufactured imports from China, and 35% on goods made in Mexico (he would have to tariff his own goods!) Tariffs would end up imposing a tax on households and companies of 1.8% which could cause a recession. Also, more than one-half of U.S. imports from China and three-quarters of U.S. imports from Mexico are capital goods and intermediate goods that American firms need for their own production. Shrinking these imports would be damaging U.S. firms, reducing long-term growth and destroying jobs. Oh the hero of the middle-class.

    –Wants to build ruin the relationship with our Mexican ally by building a $38 billion dollar wall: It would be the most expensive infrastructure built in history. Not only is this monetarily not plausible – to build or to even upkeep – but it wouldn’t work. It’s estimated nearly half of illegal immigrants enter the country through a LEGAL PORT OF ENTRY and simply overstay their visas. This kills two talking points with one stone as it also proves they have been probed for a criminal background. Not to mention that immigration is net negative. A wall is nothing more than an ideological security blanket for those whose brains have been enslaved by the fear-mongering right-wing media. It does nothing to address the actual diplomatic problem of illegal immigration and is an easy “solution” for someone as politically illiterate as Trump.

    – Wants to kill terrorist families aka civilians: “The other thing with the terrorists is you have to take out their families, when you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families.”

    –Wants to ban Muslims from entering the country: “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on,”   a campaign press release said.

    By doing this how are we any different than the theocratic countries we fight against to “bring democracy?” This is by far unconstitutional. Proposals like these injure our relationship with our allies who are trying to fight along with us. They 1) push them back to terrorist war zones where because of their destitute living face the probability of recruitment and 2) confirm the terrorists’ propaganda about Westerners….

    –In fact, ISIS uses Donald Trump in recruitment videos: How are we supposed to bomb an ideology away if our own president would be making the terrorist organization GROW?

    He has not even a rudimentary understanding of the world around us or how to tackle our toughest issues. Most of all, Donald J. Drumpf  has no plan to defeat the biggest threat to our modern society, but more on that on the following section.

    Trump on policy proposals/substance:  

    What Donald Trump lacks in substance he makes up in rhetoric. And he is simply devoid of substance so…Remember when I said he planned to restore America to its greatness not by a series of policy proposals but by his cult of personality?

    –No plan for defeating ISIS:

    He insists he has a genius, foolproof plan but he can’t tell anybody because it’s a secret for months.

    -“If I run, and If I win, I don’t want the enemy to know what I’m doing. Unfortunately, I’ll probably have to tell at some point, but there is a method of defeating them quickly and effectively and having total victory.”

    -” I have a simple message for them. Their days are numbered. I won’t tell them where and I won’t tell them how. We must…we must as a nation be more unpredictable. We are totally predictable. We tell everything. We’re sending troops. We tell them. We’re sending something else. We have a news conference. We have to be unpredictable. And we have to be unpredictable starting now.

    -”I do know what to do and I would know how to bring ISIS to the table or, beyond that, defeat ISIS very quickly…And I’m not gonna tell you what it is tonight.”

    -”There is a way of beating ISIS so easily, so quickly, so effectively, and it would be so nice…. I know a way that would absolutely give us guaranteed victory … The problem is then everybody will take the idea, run with it and then people will forget where it came from…. I ran it past two or three people. [It’s] so simple. It’s like the paper clip. You know, somebody came up with the idea of the paper clip and made a lot of money and everybody’s saying, ‘Boy, why didn’t I think of that, that was so simple.’ This is so simple, so surgical, it would be an unbelievable thing. Now, I’ve been around saying this, you would think somebody from the administration would at least would call me and say, ‘Hey, could you tell us what it is?’ It happens to be a great idea. But at the right time, I guess I’ll give it.”

    Then he goes on to say he’s gonna simply adopt a plan from “top generals” once he’s elected like it’s a high school project. Which a retired general has called “sophomoric” and said it shows a “complete lack of understanding of the threat and the ways to fight it.”

    -“I am also going to convene my top generals and give them a simple instruction: They will have 30 days to submit to the Oval Office a plan for defeating ISIS,”

    Finally, with a slip of the tongue he admits he has no plan:

    -Lauer: So, is the plan you’ve been hiding this whole time asking someone else for their plan? Trump: No. But when I do come up with a plan that I like, and that perhaps agrees with mine — or maybe doesn’t — I may love what the generals come back with… Lauer: But you have your own plan? Trump: I have a plan, but I don’t wanna..”

    The few policy proposals he did have were ones the Obama administration had already been doing such as partnering with Jordan and Egypt, working with NATO, cutting off ISIS funding,  cyber warfare against ISIS, and decimating al Qaeda.” But somehow Obama doesn’t do enough to defeat radical Islam. Either way, this complete sideshow of a candidate wants votes but won’t release policy plans voters can get behind on. Are people supposed to vote for him on a whim? Well you just have to TRUST HIM (I’m pretty sure his mantra is something sociopaths say.) His plan for ISIS – or lack thereof – is just the foolproof Donald Trump way of making money enacted on to policy. Announce you have a foolproof plan, get people to invest in the risky idea and if it works, he pays out. If his risky idea fails, Donald Trump declares bankruptcy. Sadly running the country isn’t like running Trump University or running a casino.

    Trump has a plan like your friend really does have a girlfriend. You just can’t meet her because she lives all the way across the country and she’s a busy..uhh doctor.

    -He doesn’t have a plan to revive the economy: Take this excerpt from CNN. ”Another voter pressed him on whether voters should simply believe that he will revive the economy based on his last name, or whether he has any specific plans to address economic challenges. “I think they should,” Trump said of voters electing him based on his name, adding that he would renegotiate trade deals involving the U.S. and bring jobs back. “But how?” the 21-year-old college student and entrepreneur asked again. Trump didn’t get more specific beyond explaining that he plans to lower taxes and renegotiate trade deals.

    –Doesn’t have a plan for his proposed mass deportation: That’s why in the first debate he was totally devoid of substance: Let’s look at another perfect excerpt from CNN. “Trump didn’t explain exactly how he would deport the estimated 11 million undocumented people living in the U.S., simply pointing to his managerial skills.”

    What a GUY!  This explains his terrible debate performance. “How will you stop money from influencing politics?” “Defeat Crooked Hillary!” “How will you ISIS?” “We need to be vigilant!” “How will better the education system?” “I love education tremendously!”

    Trump’s racism/xenophobia:

    On “the blacks”:

    -” Black guys counting my money! I hate it.”

    -”I think that the guy is lazy. And it’s probably not his fault because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is, I believe that. It’s not something they can control.”

    -His pitch for the black vote to a crowd full of white people: “What do you have to lose by trying something new like Trump? What do you have to lose?You live in your poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose?”

    –“Sadly, because president Obama has done such a poor job as president, you won’t see another black president for generations!”

    –Retweet neo-nazi false crime statistic reports saying that white victims are murdered by black people 81% of the time.

    -Started birther movement

    –Sued by the Justice Department twice for not renting to blacks.

    On Muslims:

    -Has called for tracking them using a database, shutting down mosques, and banning Muslims altogether from entering the country.

    On Mexicans:

    -“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

    –“If you go to Fusion, you will see a story: About 80% of the women coming in, you know who owns Fusion? Univision! Go to Fusion and pick up the stories of rape. It’s unbelievable when you look at what’s going on. So all I’m doing is telling the truth,” Trump said. Lemon replied that the press stories are about women being raped, but not about criminals coming across the border. “Well, somebody’s doing the raping, Don! I mean somebody’s doing it! Who’s doing the raping? Who’s doing the raping?” he asked.

    – Called 1996 Latina Miss Universe “Miss Housekeeping”

    -Said federal Judge Fonzalo Curiel who was presiding over a Trump University lawsuit was unqualified to do his job because of an “inherent conflict of interest” due to his Mexican heritage

    –Wants to repeal the 14th amendment

    Not only is he factually wrong but the irony is richer than he is. Claims Mexicans are rapists, but he has multiple lawsuits from women claiming sexual assault and multiple tapes where he proudly details his predatory behavior leading to assault have surfaced. He pushes the narrative of the tax-avoiding illegal, yet they pay more taxes than he does! But I digress, for actual debunking with cold hard statistics take a look at this article.

    Trumpisms:

    –Made an appeal for the assassination of his presidential opponent to his rabid supporters: ““If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people — maybe there is, I don’t know.” Classic dog-whistle politics taken to the most reprehensible level.

    –Has the audacity to disrespect P.O.W.: He said that John McCain was “not a war hero” and “I like people that weren’t captured, OK?” The disgust grows once you remember that Donald J. Trump avoided the military draft for Vietnam with phony medical waivers.

    –Mocked disabled reporter:“Now the poor guy, you’ve got to see this guy: ‘Uhh, I don’t know what I said. I don’t remember,’” Trump said during a rally as he flailed his arms awkwardly.

    -“The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” I imagine his tweet writing process goes something like this: *spins buzzword wheel* “global warming” was created by *spins again* “Chinese” for *spins a third time* “U.S. manufacturing.”

    –Made up the name of a nonexistent federal agency he would get rid of as president – the Department of Environmental.

    –Thinks vaccines cause autism

    -In addition to his long list of conspiracy theories he claims Muslims cheered after 9/11

    -That there was no drought in California

    -”I went to an Ivy League school. I’m very highly educated. I know words, I have the best words…but there is no better word than stupid. Right?”

    –Donald Trump’s ex-wife once said Trump kept a book of Hitler’s speeches by his bed

    -Woke up at 3 am to tweet about Miss Universe. He’s absolutely unhinged.

    -Bragged about not paying taxes:  Said “That makes me smart,” in response to Hillary’s now proven claim that he doesn’t pay taxes.

    –Defended his small hands and made a comment about his genitalia to show off his excellent presidential temper.

    – Congratulated himself after Orlando shooting: “Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don’t want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!” Because the first thing you do after the most deadly mass shooting is “appreciate the congrats.” His lunacy knows no bounds.

    –”I would like to extend my best wishes to all, even the haters and losers, on this special date, September 11th.” Say what?

    –As 3,000 people were dying he bragged about having the second tallest building in Manhattan: “Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually, before the World Trade Center, was the tallest—and then, when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second-tallest. And now it’s the tallest.”

    This could be your next president. If you’ve lauded him for being honest then don’t blow off his words when “speaks his mind”; he’s shown you his heart. You’ve now seen what a disaster both diplomatically and economically he would be for this country. The example he would set for this generation of children. The person who’s reached the highest bar in this country would be an irreverent, inexperienced, shameless rampant misogynist, open racist, nativist, professional con artist, and out-of-touch racist who mercilessly preys on the most vulnerable in our society. Whose narcissistic personality disorder causes him to see those he perceives as below him as disposable hence his cavalier attitude about nuclear arsenal. Trump has less respect for the people – flouting those he perceives as weak such as the disabled, war heroes, and women. He is someone who has no respect for the laws of our country or even the supreme law of the land. His tax returns, call to repeal the 14th amendment, disrespect for generals/call for them to commit war crimes, and Orwellian-like proposal to track human beings of a certain religion have all shown this. His actions display just how much he cares about helping the middle-class in the United States of America – from targeting the poor through Trump University, to outsourcing, to stiffing those who built his wealth, and rooting for economic recessions. There is no reason why a  man completely unhinged from reality with a head full of conspiracies, false promises, and regard for authoritarians should hold the highest office in our land.

    Donald J. Trump is completely devoid of substance and appears to be utterly economically and politically illiterate. On top of this, cheated the tax system for two decades and sexually assaults women thus confusing his own personal follies with other’s by scapegoating undocumented immigrants. By far, he is the most unqualified candidate we’ve ever had in the history of the United States. This November don’t vote for the denigration of the world power as we know it, vote for experience, common sense, and vote for the wellbeing of the men and women of this country. Our civic duty is to revoke the absolute caricature of American politics that is Donald Trump. And remember, if you don’t vote for the lesser of evils, you’re voting for the greater of them. It’s more than about party lines, it’s about being a decent, logical human being with some kind of moral compass.

    Because after witnessing his rise I finally understand how Hitler came to power. So don’t believe the soundbite, do research, and most importantly vote. Don’t be an architect of your own misery by sitting out or throwing away your vote. Most importantly don’t let history repeat itself by electing a fascist demagogue.

  • Illegal Immigration Myths Debunked

    Illegal Immigration Myths Debunked

    The MAGA cult has built up the false threat of immigrants as a scapegoat to distract people while Republicans gut Medicaid, expand domestic surveillance, sell $1 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia, have the 2008 financial crash cronies deregulate the swamp, destroy our democratic institutions, and get away with the biggest criminal conspiracy in U.S. history. Let me preface this by stating the most obvious thing ever – being against white supremacist rhetoric and laws does not mean being for illegal immigration. Immigration should be reformed; people who are here legally have paid tons of legal fees among other costs, so going around that process is not fair to anyone.

    Trump, actually is against immigration in general not just“illegal immigrants. He proclaimed it loud and clear when he called all Mexicans rapists, proposed a bill curtailing immigration, and labeled African countries “sh*tholes.” “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”  Aside from the hilarious fact that he thinks Mexico is sending these people he pretty much called everyone who got here both legally and illegally a criminal, drug trafficker, and criminal. He’s sure about the overwhelming amount of criminals, but he’s not sure about the good people part.

    Like any man of rhetoric, further probing proves his claims baseless. According to a CNN interview with Don Lemon, this is his “evidence.”

    Trump: This was an article by Fusion. Somebody said Fusion is owned by Univision. This one says, “80% of Central American women and girls are raped [emphasis by Trump] crossing into the United States.”

    Don Lemon, CNN: That’s about women being raped, it’s not about criminals coming across the border or entering the country.

    Trump: Somebody’s doing the raping, Don — I mean, you know —

    Let’s start off by debunking this ridiculous claim with an excerpt from Politico Magazine:

    “A 2011 U.S. Government Accountability Office study “Criminal Alien Statistics: Information on Incarcerations, Arrests and Costs” found that of the three million arrests of immigrants, legal or not, examined by investigators, only two percent were for sex offenses—two percent too many, but hardly an epidemic. It didn’t break down the ethnicity or legal status of the offenders, but the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey breaks down such stats by victims. For 2013 (the most recent year available), it shows that whites accounted for 71 percent of all sexual assaults documented (above their total percentage of 63 percent of the U.S. population), while Latinos accounted for 9 percent, far below their total percentage of 17 percent.”

    There is no illegal immigration epidemic.

    Net immigration overall from Mexico net negative. That is, we’re experiencing a net outflow of undocumented workers.

    Our borders are strong — the Obama administration deported more people than any other U.S. president in history.

    There is no correlation between increased immigration and crime.

    Nevermind surging homegrown terrorism committed by white males or the rampant crime committed by American citizens, illegal immigrants have lower incarceration rates and crime rates than native-born Americans a

    Illegal immigrants overall, do not reside in the US illegally because they are criminals in fear of vetting, they have been vetted – an estimated 66% overstay Visas. (Which to be technical, is not a criminal offense.) Contrary to popular belief, there’s also no path to citizenship much less a “line.”

    Illegal immigrants are 44 percent less likely to be incarcerated than natives.

    Accordingly, “1.53 percent of all native-born adults (18-54) are incarcerated, compared with 0.85 percent of illegal immigrants in the same age range – including those incarcerated for immigration crimes and in immigration detention.”  That number drops to 0.50 percent when excluding them.  Furthermore, White, native-born Americans are incarcerated at a rate of 0.90 percent, illegal immigrants of every race and ethnicity are still less likely to be incarcerated, at a rate of 0.85 percent. Additionally, American cities with more illegal immigrants do not have a higher crime rate.

    Nationally, from 1990 to 2010, the violent crime rate declined almost 45 percent and the property crime rate fell 42 percent, even as the number of undocumented immigrants more than tripled. According to the conservative Americas Majority Foundation, crime rates from 1999 to 2006 were lowest in states with the highest immigration growth rates. During that period, the total crime rate fell 14 percent in the 19 top immigration states, compared to only 7 percent in the other 31.

    Goreign-born people in America—whether they are naturalized citizens, permanent residents or undocumented—are incarcerated at a much lower rate than native-born Americans, according to the National Institute of Corrections.

    People fleeing violence from economically stagnant countries actually come to the US in search of a better life for their families – shocking!

     The Border Wall Wouldn’t Work

    As much as 45% of the total unauthorized migrant population entered the country with visas that allowed them to visit or reside in the U.S. for a limited amount of time

    This again disproves the criminal myth as overstayers have been screened and found admissible.

     Illegal Immigrants Don’t Take Away Jobs

    “If someone can come into your country, learn your language, and do your job better than you, you deserve to have your job stolen” – Louis CK. Jokes aside, this is a myth.

    We are already at “full employment with more job openings than at any point in history.” The idea that there is a fixed amount of jobs available falls under the “lump of labor fallacy.”  As population increases so does total employment; foreign workers do not crowd-out employment.

    They aren’t taking anyone’s jobs away. The US economy is actually seeking 6.2 million jobs  at a time when general unemployment is at a 16-year low, which is even lower among college-educated.

    –(NPR) reported in March 2006 that: “…overall, illegal immigrants don’t have a big impact on U.S. wage rates. The most respected recent studies show that most Americans would notice little difference in their paychecks if illegal immigrants suddenly disappeared from the United States. That’s because most Americans don’t directly compete with illegal immigrants for jobs. There is one group of Americans that would benefit from a dramatic cut in illegal immigration: high-school dropouts

    –According to the Immigration Policy Center, a nonpartisan group, research indicates there is little connection between immigrant labor and unemployment rates of native-born workers. Here in the United States, two trends—better education and an aging population—have resulted in a decrease in the number of Americans willing or available to take low-paying jobs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, close to 26 million foreign-born people, or 17 percent of the country’s labor force, worked in the United States in 2014. These workers are more likely to be employed by the service industry, while native-born workers are more likely to hold jobs in management, professional, sales and office occupations.

    Illegal immigrants pay taxes and DON’T get benefits because they’re ILLEGAL

    They pay sales and property taxes ( when they buy or rent a house or apartment), and a staggering $13 billion in taxes total. They’re providing a surplus to a system they can’t reap benefits from.

    – The U.S. Social Security Administration estimated that in 2013 undocumented immigrants—and their employers—paid $13 billion in payroll taxes alone for benefits they will never get. They can receive schooling and emergency medical care, but not welfare or food stamps

    –Illegal immigrants pay social security payroll taxes but are not eligible for benefits. During 2006, Standard & Poor’s analysts wrote: “Each year, for example, the U.S. Social Security Administration maintains roughly $6 billion to $7 billion of Social Security contributions in an “earnings suspense file”—an account for W-2 tax forms that cannot be matched to the correct Social Security number. The vast majority of these numbers are attributable to illegal workers who will never claim their benefits

    -Now onto the most obvious part: social welfare programs bar illegal immigrants from receiving benefits and require proof of immigration status. That includes food stamps, as well as cash welfare assistance, Medicaid, and even the new health care law. HUD also requires proof of legal status. Federal law only allows them emergency medical care.

    –It’s true that some children of illegal immigrants qualify for benefits if they were born in the United States and are citizens. But there aren’t nearly enough of those types of children — an estimated 4 million — to account for 43 percent of food stamp recipients.

    3.) Anchor babies

    Immigration judges will not keep immigrant parents in the United States just because their children are U.S. citizens. In 2013, the federal government deported about 72, 410 foreign-born parents whose children had been born here. These children must wait until they are 21 before they can petition to allow their parents to join them in the United States. That process is long and difficult. In reality, there is no such thing as an “anchor baby.”
    Overall the United States needs an immigration reform because restrictions are much tougher on Mexico than European countries and under current policy, many people whose immigrant ancestors who arrived between 1790 and 1924 would not be allowed in today. I also used to ignorantly ask this myself but no there is  no “line” for most very poor people with few skills to stand in and gain permanent U.S. residency. Generally, gaining permission to live and work in the United States is limited to people who are (1) highly trained in a skill that is in short supply here and offered a job by a U.S. employer, (2) escaping political persecution, (3) joining close family already here, or (4) winners of the green-card lottery.  

    Furthermore, without 11 million illegal immigrants the agricultural economy would practically collapse, and aside from the actual technical costs of mass deportation, this is simply not an option. No one should get here illegally but if they’re here they should get humane treatment not be exploited. I mean ask yourself why they’re willing to traverse through so much scorching desert with their families often times? Risking their lives. Surely poor families fleeing violence are risking it all to sell drugs in another country. Do you think if these people had the option of coming here legally they wouldn’t take it? Isn’t paperwork more preferable than a treacherous journey across thousands of miles of desert where they often die? They’re not coming here illegally because they have criminal backgrounds (45% overstay visas and there is no correlation between crime and increased immigration), but because people fleeing economic stagnancy and undeclared civil war simply don’t have the time and money. They don’t have the time to wait in a line where they see no end and money to cover legal fees. Remember some of these Latino countries have a higher murder rate than Iraq did during the height of the Iraq war. That’s what we’re pushing these desperate families back into. 

    So much for,  “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

  • Ban Stock Buybacks Again

    Ban Stock Buybacks Again

    Stock buybacks used to be illegal, once considered a form of stock manipulation until 1982 when the SEC passed rule 10b-18 legalizing the practice under Reagan’s failed trickle-down agenda. Over the past 10 years, companies on the S&P 500 have put $5.4 trillion into purchasing their own shares instead of investing in the economy and workers. For this reason, the recent $2 trillion stimulus plan aimed at combating the economic downturn has banned buybacks up to 12 months after the government assistance ends. Under just almost two months of a pandemic-induced recession and many companies are now filing for bankruptcy, so why didn’t they “save for a rainy day” as the underpaid working-class advised? Stock buybacks should be permanently outlawed again, and companies should start investing their free cash flow in human capital and the economy. Stock buybacks are just a legal way companies conduct insider trading without investing in the economy.

    During the two years following the 2017 corporate tax cuts, companies on the S&P 500 spent $1.5 trillion in share buybacks instead of investing in the US economy. And in the past 10 years, the top 20 companies on the S&P 500 bought back $1.3 trillion in shares.But common share buybacks from the open market leaves little shares outstanding. Trickle-down failed to trickle-down again, absolute shocker. The airline industry  has recently garnered criticism for this practice. Boeing and other airlines regularly buy back shares from the stock market to increase their share price. Over the past 10 years, the top U.S. airlines have spent 96% of their free cash flow buying back shares.

    Instead of creating jobs, investing in the economy, workers, and raising their wages, they are enriching stakeholders instead of those actually driving their businesses. Buybacks are an indolent way to increase stock prices without actually growing the company.

    Companies increase their share prices by purchasing back their own shares and leaving fewer outstanding shares in the stock market. This boosts the EPS (earnings per share) and enriches stockholders. This is all without ever investing in capital expenditures, research and development, or ever giving back to workers by increasing their stagnant wages.

    Stock buybacks should be permanently outlawed long after the March 27, 2020 $2 trillion stimulus plan expires. This bill gave $50 billion in stimulus assistance to cargo and passenger airline and $17 billion for businesses considered critical to national security such as Boeing. It also placed a ban on share buybacks on any company receiving assistance. Buybacks are essentially insider trading, they’re a lazy way to increase stock prices without ever growing the economy or company and investing in workers. 

    In the deficit-increasing aftermath of the 2017 corporate tax cuts, it should be clear that unchecked late stage capitalism fails to invest savings back in the economy and its workers. The legalization of stock buybacks has only given CEO’s more reason to exploit workers by not paying fair wages while they opt repurchase their company’s shares instead. This is why CEO pay increased 438% between 1990 and 2016 while the average adjusted hourly wage in the U.S. only grew 12% between 1964 and 2018. It’s time to invest back in the American worker whose wages haven’t kept up with the 657% rise in inflation & 176% rise in productivity over the past 50 years.