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The Enemy of the People
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Author Archives: Red from Texas
Trump and the “Fake Mess” he Inherited
During his 77 minute press conference yesterday, Donald Trump dwelled repeatedly on the difficulties of assuming office.
“I inherited a mess. It’s a mess. At home and abroad, a mess. Jobs are pouring out of the country.”
Here are some facts about the “fake mess” that Trump inherited. He came into the White House with the following:
Dow Jones Industrial at near all-time high of 19,875 – up from 6626 when Obama took office. What a mess!
82 straight months of private sector job growth – the longest in U.S. history. What a mess!
11.3 million new jobs were created in the last 8 years. What a mess!
Unemployment at 4.7% down from 10% when Obama took office. What a mess!
No more secret and illegal black site U.S. prisons. What a mess!
Number of uninsured adults at all time low. What a mess!
20 million more adults with health insurance than when Obama took office. What a mess!
People now have coverage for pre-existing conditions. What a mess!
Rate of increase in insurance premiums has dropped. What a mess!
Increased spending on housing and mental health care for veterans. What a mess!
Consumer confidence rose from 37.7 to 98.1 under Obama. What a mess!
Equal pay under the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. What a mess!
US Auto industry is booming with sales up from 10.4 million units annually to 17.5 million in the last 8 years. What a mess!
Deficit as a percentage of the GDP dropped from 9.8% to 3.2% in the last 8 years. What a mess!
LGBT citizens now treated like everyone else. What a mess!
Abortion rates declining. What a mess!
Violent crime rates at historic lows. What a mess!
Obamacare extended the life of the Medicare insurance trust fund (currently solvent until 2030). What a mess!
Torture banned. What a mess!
Solar and Wind Power generation are at an all time high. What a mess!
High School Graduation rates are 83% – an all time high. What a mess!
Corporate profits up by 144% in the last 8 years. What a mess!
U.S. has normal relations with Cuba after 55 years of failed policies. What a mess!
U.S. reliance on foreign oil is at a 40 year low. What a mess!
US Exports up 28% in last 8 years. What a mess!
No more foolish and pointless war in Iraq that was root cause of much of the turmoil today. What a mess!
Osama Bin Laden and countless others like him – Dead. What a mess!
What Trump inherited was a fortune. What we have now is a mess.
Today in Texas History – February 17
From the Annals of Higher Education – In 1867, Jessie Andrews was born in Washington, Mississippi. Andrews moved to Texas with her family in 1874 and her mother Margaret Miller Andrews operated a boarding house near the State Capitol. Andrews graduated from Austin High. After graduation, Andrews took the entrance exam for the University of Texas and became the first woman admitted in 1883. She majored in German and received her B.Litt. degree in 1886. She taught for a year at Mrs. Hood’s Seminary for Young Ladies and then joined the faculty at UT teaching German and French. She thus became the first female graduate and first female teacher at UT. During the First World War she became disillusioned with Germany and quit her faculty position to operate a store with her sister. Jessie Andrews Dorm at UT is named in her honor.
Photo from the Center for American History at UT-Austin.
Today in Texas History – February 16
From the Annals of the Explorers – In 1599, Spanish explorer Juan de Oñate found Jusepe Guitiérrez at Picurus, New Mexico. JG was the lone survivor of the ill-fated expedition led by Francisco Leyva de Bonilla. Five years earlier, Bonilla had been sent by by Governor Diego de Velasco of Nueva Vizcaya to pursue a group of Native Americans suspected of widespread theft. Bonilla quickly abandoned the pursuit and began to search for the fabled treasure of Quivira. The group spent about a year on the upper Rio Grande encamped at Bove (San Ildefonso). From there they explored parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and Nebraska. According to Gutiérrez, a Mexican Indian who was with the party, Bonilla was stabbed to death after a quarrel with his lieutenant, Antonio Gutiérrez de Humaña, who then assumed command. JG and five others deserted and attempted to return to New Mexico. Only JG made it back, but he was captured by Apache and Vaquero Indians and held for a year. He finally made his way to Cicuyé and was later found by Oñate at Picuris who recognized his value as a guide and interpreter. When Oñate arrived at Quivira in the summer of 1601, he learned that Humaña and his followers had been killed by hostile Indians on their return journey.
Trees are a Communist Plot
State Senator and Tea Party favorite Donna Campbell of New Braunfels is up in arms about municipalities protecting trees. It’s the latest attempt to wrest control of local issues away from the citizens of Texas cities and have policy dictated by the right-thinking stalwarts of the Texas Legislature.
Campbell has introduced Senate Bill 782 which provides that a landowner owns the trees on his or her property, and limits the mitigation fee that a local government can impose on a landowner for removing trees greater than 10 inches in diameter. According to Campbell, her bill:
“limits the power of government by ensuring Texans have solid ground to stand on when it comes to managing and developing their own land. City tree ordinances are some of the most egregious examples of property rights violations in our state, affecting millions of property owners in Texas. It’s time to shift the balance of local control back in favor of local liberty.”
What a crock. If the voters in these godforsaken liberal bastions don’t want tree ordinances they are perfectly capable of voting out their council members and mayors who have enacted them and replacing them with Tea Partisans like Campbell. Red guesses that aint happening and Campbell just can’t stand the thought that others may not believe the Tea Party nonsense she spouts.
Bottom line – Teabaggers like Campbell believe in local government right up to the point where they don’t agree with the policies enacted. So Campbell and her Tea Party sycophants do not believe that Texas cities have the right to enact ordinances to protect their local environments and preserve their natural resources as they see fit for their communities.
Red won’t call Campbell a “ten dollar whore” of the development lobby because she probably has raked in a lot more than that in campaign contributions from the big developers who view trees as impediment to more profits. Red is sure she can justify being bought and paid for because she probably believes her own BS.
Today in Texas History – February 15
From the Annals of the People (or at least some of the People) – In 1876, citizens of Texas (and by that Red means white men and some Hispanics) adopted the Constitution of 1876. The vote was 136,606 in favor with 56,652 against. The 1876 Constitution was the sixth such document governing Texas since the declaration of independence from Mexico in 1836. The 1876 Constitution was primarily a reaction in connection with the reassertion of the Democratic Party (again white men) in the wake of Reconstruction. It also incorporates some aspects of law from Spanish and Mexican rule, as well as protection for agriculture and debtors. While calling for equal rights and due process on its face, those guarantees meant little to women and minorities at the time of adoption and for decades afterwards. The 1876 Constitution has been repeatedly amended, but it remains the governing document of Texas to this day.
The Russians are Cunning, the Russians are Cunning
The resignation of National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, after less than a month in office may just be the tip of the giant Russian iceberg looming in front of the Trumpian ship of state. Flynn had to go after having lied to Vice President Mike Pence about discussing sanctions with the Russian Ambassador before Trump took office. Flynn apparently relayed the message from Trump that Putin need not worry about Obama’s latest round of sanctions and that everyone would kiss and make up when Trump took over. Only that seems to explain the lack of Russian retaliation. Putin had always taken strong action in response to sanctions – until he didn’t – which alerted anyone who was paying attention that something was going down.
Clearly, Trump was behind the attempt to undermine the authority of the sitting President and conduct unauthorized diplomatic negotiations with a hostile foreign power in violation of the Logan Act. Flynn was not flying solo on this mission. He thought the President had his back – a perhaps fatal miscalculation in this case.
Flynn’s connections to Putin and his Kakistocracy go much further back. Flynn was an early Trump devotee and rah-rah man and had his own connections with the Kremlin. Was he the main bag man between Trump and Putin? It seems very plausible that Flynn knows more than anyone about what happened with the Russians during the campaign. In all likelihood, Flynn was in charge of managing the apparent quid pro quo between Putin and Trump. If elected, Trump would kowtow to most of Putin’s demands and make kissy-face; in return Putin would not expose Trump’s Russian peccadillos and possible criminal connections. And to sweeten the deal, Putin would unleash his squads of hackers and undermine Hillary’s campaign. It was a win-win deal for both autocrats – the real one and the would-be one.
As it now looks more and more like Putin has the goods on Trump (the Moscow Hotel videos are probably just a teaser – the real question is whether Trump is in deep with the Russian Mob), Flynn likely had the unenviable task of selling out his country after Trump’s election. Someone had to seal the deal made with the Russian strongman during the campaign.
Trump’s big mistake may have been not tossing Flynn overboard before taking office. But perhaps he was afraid that Flynn knew too much. The problem is compounded now and the vultures are circling the White House already. Look for Trump to arrange for the Russians to either pay off or otherwise take care of Flynn before he spills the borscht. The price of treachery is always dear.
Today in Texas History – February 14
From the Annals of Coincidence – In 1882, the town of Valentine in Jeff Davis County was founded when crews building the Southern Pacific Railway reached the outpost on St. Valentine’s Day. Valentine is the only incorporated municipality in Jeff Davis County. The town capitalizes on its name every year with the West Texas Valentine’s Day Celebration hosted by the Big Bend Brewing Company which draws upward of 1000 lovers some years. The headliner this year will be Tejano legend Little Joe y la Familia. The U.S. Post Office also does a landmark business cancelling letters and cards.
Photo of Valentine’s Day celebration in Valentine from thefusionmag.com
One Down – 4,999,999 to go!
Donald Trump’s claim that he would have won the popular vote but for the millions of people who voted illegally finally got some legs last week. Yep, Texas found someone who voted illegally – but not in 2016. Rosa Maria Ortega was convicted in Fort Worth last week on two felony counts of illegal voting over allegations that she improperly cast a ballot five times between 2005 and 2014. Ortega was a legal permanent resident who was brought to the U.S. as a baby and mistakenly thought she was eligible to vote. And she foolishly voted Republican, including for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose office helped prosecute her. That’s gratitude for you.
Ortega received a harsh sentence of 8 years – likely due to the hubbub caused by Trump with his claims of widespread voter fraud. Ortega has been in the U.S. since infancy and has four teenage children. Since this is a felony conviction, Ortega will likely be deported after serving her sentence. Another example of the pro-family policies of the GOP.
Red is just waiting for the 4,999,999 other cases of illegal voting that would establish Trump could have easily won the popular vote – but he is not holding his breath.
Today in Texas History – February 13
From the Annals of Aviation – In 1943, the first class of military aerial navigators arrived at San Marcos Army Air Field. Texas bases were widely used to train aviators during World War II. More than 10,000 navigators were trained in San Marcos and elsewhere in Texas. During the Korean War, SMAAF was the largest helicopter training base in the U.S. In 1953 the field was renamed Gary Air Force Base, in honor of 2d Lt. Arthur Edward Gary, the first San Marcos resident killed in World War II. The base was transferred to the army in 1956 and renamed Camp Gary. It was closed in 1963. The site is now used as the Gary Job Corps Center and San Marcos airport.
Paradise in Hell 