February 14th, 2017

-The Administration is attempting to repeal a rule put in place just before Obama left office, which put heavy restriction on gun ownership for citizens with mental disabilities. While there has been a severe uptick in shootings perpetrated by (white, male) citizens with mental instability/illness, statistics on causality tell a different tale. Scientific research shows that mental illness does NOT make you more likely to commit gun violence against others. They are, however, slightly more prone to committing suicide via gunshot; but with the higher risk of suicide in the mentally ill population, while the raw numbers are higher, the percentage is about the same.
According to the Washington Post: “Under the rule…Social Security beneficiaries with psychiatric disabilities who are assigned a money manager for their disability benefits would be reported to the FBI’s background check database as people ineligible to purchase firearms.”
Why Isn’t This Normal?

• An administration besides 45’s put forth a hasty rule as a band-aid against a much MUCH bigger problem in America.
• Restricting gun ownership for a particular group of people is unconstitutional, as all Americans have the right to bear arms (Cornell). The amendment itself is vague and has come under scrutiny many times in the last century, so the fact that it’s coming up again isn’t the irregular part.
• We lost 20 children to a Mass Shooting at an elementary school five years ago, and yet the Repubs continue to protect gun ownership. THIS SHOULD BE A BIPARTISAN ISSUE ON WHICH WE ALL AGREE–HUMAN LIVES CONTINUE TO BE SNUFFED OUT BY GUN VIOLENCE AT AN ALARMING RATE.
• The same party that frequently argues against abortion, on the grounds that every life is sacred, is also actively fighting to keep guns in the hands of U.S. citizens, when our mass shooting rates are among the highest in the world.
• Several prominent republicans refuse to admit that the school shooting referenced above ever actually happened. This, above all else, is not normal.

-Kerry Ant Cornrows encouraged citizens to support Irritation’s failing product lines, live on television.
Why Isn’t This Normal?

• Using a government position to affect buying trends is in direct violation of federal ethics rules. Cornrow’s comments on TV were a cut and dry case (she even used the words “free advertisement”) of endorsement, made more offensive by the fact that she was supporting 45’s daughter’s business, creating a direct conflict of interest for him (NPR).
• A week later, 45 continues to tweet about how unfairly Irritation is being treated by the press and her distributors. He or someone else with access to the official P.O.T.U.S. twitter account then retweeted his complaints.
• Spritzer refused to comment on the issue when asked about it directly by press.
• Cornrow was apparently ‘counseled’ on her actions, but she continues to act with full authority. She also stated that 45 supports her “100%”.
• SHE CONTINUES TO ACT WITH FULL AUTHORITY.

 

February 13th, 2017

Day 23, 24, 25: It’s been a long weekend.

-Over the weekend, North Korea tested a missile launch. They aimed their ballistic missile at the sea of Japan while Japan’s Prime Minister was golfing with 45 in Florida. PM was obviously displeased, but 45 has been uncharacteristically silent on the matter since his press release.

Why Isn’t it Normal?

• Many news outlets believe the “test” was strategic, planned for a time when Japan was visiting the US to show strength to both nations. Some speculate that the test was a direct challenge to 45 himself, due to the harsh policies he proposed against North Korea during his campaign.
• 45 threw his (and America’s) weight behind Japan as a nation, both in their condemnation of North Korea’s actions, and continuing as allies in general. This is in direct opposition to 45’s comments on Japan during his campaign, which were regularly negative, disparaging, and occasionally threatening.

-National Security Adviser M. Flynn (Rider) resigned today. Rider already had a reputation for keeping illegal connections with Russian officials, and was caught lying to several members of the Administration about these relationships. 45 knew about these issues and planned to take a few days before making a decision re: Rider’s employment. Instead, Rider turned in his resignation after only 24 days on the job.

Why Isn’t it Normal?

• Rider’s tenure is by far the shortest for a national security adviser since the position was created in the 1940s, and among the briefest for any senior West Wing staffer (LA Times).
• The connections between Rider and Russia only add to the confusion and speculation regarding 45’s connection to the nation as well as President Put-in. 45 has fluctuated from insisting he has never met the man to speaking fondly of his strengths.

-The Department of Education misspelled W.E.B. Du Bois’ name, then made a spelling error in their apology tweet for the mistake.

Why Isn’t it Normal?

• Unfortunately, this February has become rife with disrespect for the African American community, in both large and small ways. Du Bois was a sociologist, author, activist, and editor, who died at age 95 in 1963.
• Whoever is running the Department of Education twitter definitely has google, and chose not to use it to spell-check their post. They didn’t address the error for almost four hours after it was initially made.

 

February 9th, 2017

Day 20:
(how has it only been 20 days it feels like forever)
-Senator Elizabeth Warren was blocked from reading a letter that Coretta Scott King, wife to famous activist, preacher, and all around good guy* Martin Luther King Jr., wrote to criticize Senator Sessions’ record on civil rights in 1986. Warren was silenced and Republican Senators voted not to let her speak on the floor again until Sessions’ nomination to Attorney General is complete. After leaving the floor, Sen. Warren took to facebook live to read the full text of Mrs. King’s letter. The video has been viewed over 7 million times. EDIT: Thanks to Sam for the update: Not only was Warren silenced and censured but then her male colleagues were allowed to read the letter without being stopped.
*I’ve said before that I will try not to editorialize the news, but if we’re really at a place where MLK jr’s legacy is up for debate, ESPECIALLY during Black History month….then there really is no turning back from the evil darkness befalling our nation.
-Oh, more on this whole letter banning thing–it was accepted as admissible evidence to the nomination process. So the Senate agreed it was okay to consider, but not okay to say out loud. I’m just…
-Every day something more blatently totalitarian and gross happens in government and the folks trying to speak for the actual citizens of this country are stopped and it’s just not cool, okay.
-I’m really displeased that the adults literally running our nation right now are acting like petulant children instead of caring a whit about the actual humans in this country. Oh, speaking of…
-Tourniquet tweeted that Nordstrom is treating his daughter unfairly. Nordstrom’s stocks then spiked. (EDIT: thanks to Sam for this info also: The stock went down, then went back up like normal. The bigger issue being the official POTUS account retweeted it. Which means tax dollars going towards supporting his business interests.)
– Flint Michigan still doesn’t have clean water.

February 8th, 2017

Day 19:
-The senate voted in the new Secretary of Education this morning. Regardless of her lack of experience, complete inability to answer basic questions re: proficiency vs. growth, and unwillingness to sever her business ties, the vote was a 50/50 split. The VP broke the tie and voted her in. However, there’s still plenty we can do to fight against her actions. Also, look up the list of congress members who voted her in. If you disagree with their actions, then vote against them next time they’re up for re-election.
-South Park creators are backing off 45 because they can’t keep up with the reality of the situation. They also decided to pump the breaks because reality is actually stranger than fiction right now.
-45 tweeted complaining about how democracy works, and doubting the legitimacy of the Judge that took action against his travel ban.
-45 continues to be angry at any press that criticizes him, getting members of his staff to also speak out against any outlet that doesn’t wholesale praise his actions.
-Ke*ly Ant Cornrows gave an interview to CNN, switching her stance on the network being fake news. She also expressed guilt over making up the Bowling Green Massacre. The full interview is almost a half hour long.

February 7th, 2017

Day 18: 45 threatened to de-fund the entire state of California, due to their proposal to create a “sanctuary state” for all undocumented immigrants. This was actually one of his campaign promises, as part of his 10-step plan to fix our immigration “problem”. Unpacking this one is difficult, because “sanctuary city” is not a legal term, and gets applied liberally to any city taking steps to separate local law enforcement from immigration services. The idea of a sanctuary city was born in the 80s when religious institutions started providing refuge for immigrants from Guatemala and El Salvador. Many of the immigrants fled civil unrest but were denied sanctuary largely due to Cold War Politics. Since then sanctuary cities and even counties have developed all over the country. Depending on your source the total number can be anywhere from 30-40 cities and 200-400 counties. “Sanctuary Cities” became a hot button topic in 2015 when an illegal immigrant shot a woman dead on a San Francisco pier. He had previously been deported five times, and opponents to sanctuary cities claim that if he’d been handed over to Immigration services, the woman he murdered would still be alive today. Pres claims that California attempting to become a full sanctuary state means they are out of control, and claimed he won the vote CA. (False). California officials are fighting back by arguing that they represent their constituents accurately and fairly.
-Turnip took to Twitter recently for two separate attacks on the American media, claiming there is a widespread conspiracy to cover up or neglect reporting terrorist attacks on American soil, and claiming that every outlet reporting his approval rating dropping is making it up.
-During a protest in New Haven that blocked off a major highway, a “critically ill” man in an ambulance had an “emergency procedure” done. According to some EMTs online, “emergency procedure” could mean a wide variety of things, some as minor as applying an IV. New Haven residents also pointed out that the ambulance was stopped by protesters just two blocks from Yale Medical Center, and the police should have rerouted the ambulance. Still more details that muddy the water include that the protest was dispersing by the time the ambulance was reported as blocked, and the man who organized the protest fled the scene after physically attacking law enforcement officials. Anyone with more details please let me know.
-Neiman Marcus joined Nordstrom in dropping Trumpet product lines.

Note: I’m misspelling officials names on purpose. Honestly I talk so much about politics that it probably won’t make a difference if Facebook algorithms go over my posts, but I’d rather not take my chances. Besos!