Lawfare: Malevolence Tempered by Incompetence: Trump’s Horrifying Executive Order on Refugees and Visas by Benjamin Wittes (January 28, 2017)
What’s more, the document also takes steps that strike me as utterly orthogonal to any relevant security interest. If the purpose of the order is the one it describes, for example, I can think of no good reason to burden the lives of students individually suspected of nothing who are here lawfully and just happen to be temporarily overseas, or to detain tourists and refugees who were mid-flight when the order came down. I have trouble imagining any reason to raise questions about whether green card holders who have lived here for years can leave the country and then return. Yes, it’s temporary, and that may lessen the costs (or it may not, depending on the outcome of the policy review the order mandates), but temporarily irrational is still irrational.
Put simply, I don’t believe that the stated purpose is the real purpose. This is the first policy the United States has adopted in the post-9/11 era about which I have ever said this. It’s a grave charge, I know, and I’m not making it lightly. But in the rational pursuit of security objectives, you don’t marginalize your expert security agencies and fail to vet your ideas through a normal interagency process. You don’t target the wrong people in nutty ways when you’re rationally pursuing real security objectives.
When do you do these things? You do these things when you’re elevating the symbolic politics of bashing Islam over any actual security interest. You do them when you’ve made a deliberate decision to burden human lives to make a public point. In other words, this is not a document that will cause hardship and misery because of regrettable incidental impacts on people injured in the pursuit of a public good. It will cause hardship and misery for tens or hundreds of thousands of people because that is precisely what it is intended to do.
To be sure, the executive order does not say anything as crass as: “Sec. 14. Burdening Muslim Lives to Make Political Point.” It doesn’t need to. There’s simply no reason in reading it to ignore everything Trump said during the campaign, during which he repeatedly called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States.
Washington Post: Judge halts deportations as refugee ban causes worldwide furor by Jerry Markon, Emma Brown and Katherine Shaver (January 29, 2017) -
A federal judge in New York blocked deportations nationwide late Saturday of those detained on entry to the United States after an executive order from President Trump targeted citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
Judge Ann Donnelly of the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn granted a request from the American Civil Liberties Union to stop the deportations after determining that the risk of injury to those detained by being returned to their home countries necessitated the decision.
Minutes after the judge’s ruling in New York, another came in Alexandria when U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema issued a temporary restraining order to block for seven days the removal of any green-card holders being detained at Dulles International Airport. Brinkema’s action also ordered that lawyers have access to those held there because of the ban.
Time: Republicans Begin to Break With President Trump by Philip Elliott/Indian Wells, Calif,Alex Altman (January 29, 2017) -
By Sunday evening, more than a dozen GOP members of Congress had spoken out against Trump’s executive order on immigration. Among them were an array of the party’s most influential figures. The top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, said the United States should not implement a religious test. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio said the plan to strengthen vetting of refugees was itself not vetted. And the political and policy groups led by Charles and David Koch offered their first public criticism of Trump, whose candidacy the billionaire brothers found so unpalatable they sat out the 2016 election.
The wave of criticism marks the end of a startlingly brief honeymoon period for a new President who has been in office for scarcely a week, and even set the White House on defense as it backtracked on the ban applying to green-card holders. And while much of the blowback was driven by Trump’s immigration orders, the controversial plans he has on the horizon suggest the rest of his term could be just as rocky.
The emerging rifts come amid mass protests in cities around the U.S. against an executive order that would block millions of people from entering the United States. Legal permanent U.S. residents were detained at airports, refugees were trapped en route to the United States and judges from coast to coast stepped in to stop the unprecedented White House action. The chaos knocked the White House back on its heels and prompted Trump on Sunday night to release a defense of the policy.
Showing posts with label timemag. Show all posts
Showing posts with label timemag. Show all posts
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Time: President Trump Wants to Kill These 17 Federal Agencies and Programs. Here's What They Actually Cost (and Do)
By Taylor Tepper:
To put this in context: The total cost, per American, of the following 17 programs said to be on the chopping block is $22.36 per year-- of which more than a third comes from a single clean-energy program. By contrast, housing subsidies, like the mortgage interest deduction, which are disproportionately used by the wealthy, cost $296.29 per American.
Here's a list of the various federal agencies reportedly on the chopping block, along with some of their key initiatives -- and some of the jobs supported.
* * *
International Trade Administration
Budget: $521 million
Cost per American: $1.60
The ITA helps American businesses sell more products to overseas markets. One beneficiary was the Iron Fist Brewing Company, located in Vista, California. A representative of the San Diego U.S. Export Assistance Center connected with the brewery at a convention in 2013, and helped them export to Australia, Canada, Finland, Hong Kong, among others. Iron Fist hired two more employees thanks to new export revenue, the ITA reports.
Manufacturing Extension Partnership
Budget: $142 million
Cost per American: $0.43
This is a so-called public-private partnership that helps small to medium-size manufacturers become more efficient, build new products, and improve sales and marketing techniques. Missoula, Mont.-based organic soap wholesaler Botanie used their local MEP affiliate to help keep pace with their growing business -- by, for instance, using more sophisticated technologies to track inventory. The MEP says it helped Botanie save $280,000 and retain six jobs.
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
Budget: $286 million
Cost per American: $0.88
The majority of COPS' annual budget is dedicated to hiring more police personnel to help local communities improve their policing. Last October, the Justice Department announced $119 million in grant funding for 184 law enforcement agencies across the country -- resulting in 900 created or saved jobs, the office reports. Among the recipients was the Dallas Police Department, which had lost five officers in an ambush a few months earlier; it got $3.1 million to hire 25 officers.
To put this in context: The total cost, per American, of the following 17 programs said to be on the chopping block is $22.36 per year-- of which more than a third comes from a single clean-energy program. By contrast, housing subsidies, like the mortgage interest deduction, which are disproportionately used by the wealthy, cost $296.29 per American.
Here's a list of the various federal agencies reportedly on the chopping block, along with some of their key initiatives -- and some of the jobs supported.
* * *
International Trade Administration
Budget: $521 million
Cost per American: $1.60
The ITA helps American businesses sell more products to overseas markets. One beneficiary was the Iron Fist Brewing Company, located in Vista, California. A representative of the San Diego U.S. Export Assistance Center connected with the brewery at a convention in 2013, and helped them export to Australia, Canada, Finland, Hong Kong, among others. Iron Fist hired two more employees thanks to new export revenue, the ITA reports.
Manufacturing Extension Partnership
Budget: $142 million
Cost per American: $0.43
This is a so-called public-private partnership that helps small to medium-size manufacturers become more efficient, build new products, and improve sales and marketing techniques. Missoula, Mont.-based organic soap wholesaler Botanie used their local MEP affiliate to help keep pace with their growing business -- by, for instance, using more sophisticated technologies to track inventory. The MEP says it helped Botanie save $280,000 and retain six jobs.
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
Budget: $286 million
Cost per American: $0.88
The majority of COPS' annual budget is dedicated to hiring more police personnel to help local communities improve their policing. Last October, the Justice Department announced $119 million in grant funding for 184 law enforcement agencies across the country -- resulting in 900 created or saved jobs, the office reports. Among the recipients was the Dallas Police Department, which had lost five officers in an ambush a few months earlier; it got $3.1 million to hire 25 officers.
Friday, March 24, 2017
[Special] Time: Read President Trump's Interview With TIME on Truth and Falsehoods
By Michael Scherer (transcribed by Time Staff):
[Michael:] But even in that Sweden quote, you said look at what happened on Friday in Sweden. But you are now saying you were referring to something that happened the following day.
[President Trump:] No I am saying I was right. I am talking about Sweden. I’m talking about what Sweden has done to themselves is very sad, that is what I am talking about. That is what I am talking about. You can phrase it any way you want. A day later they had a horrible, horrible riot in Sweden and you saw what happened. I talked about Brussels. I was on the front page of the New York Times for my quote. I said Brussels is not what it used to be, very sad what has happened to Brussels. I was absolutely lambasted. A short time later they had the major attack in Brussels. One year ago today. Exactly one year ago today. And then people said you know Trump was right. What am I going to tell you? I tend to be right. I’m an instinctual person, I happen to be a person that knows how life works. I said I was going to win the election, I won the election, in fact I was number one the entire route, in the primaries, from the day I announced, I was number one. And the New York Times and CNN and all of them, they did these polls, which were extremely bad and they turned out to be totally wrong, and my polls showed I was going to win. We thought we were going to win the night of the election.
So when you…
And then TIME magazine, which treats me horribly, but obviously I sell, I assume this is going to be a cover too, have I set the record? I guess, right? Covers, nobody’s had more covers.
I think Richard Nixon still has you beat. But he was in office for longer, so give yourself time.
Ok good. I’m sure I’ll win.
[Michael:] But even in that Sweden quote, you said look at what happened on Friday in Sweden. But you are now saying you were referring to something that happened the following day.
[President Trump:] No I am saying I was right. I am talking about Sweden. I’m talking about what Sweden has done to themselves is very sad, that is what I am talking about. That is what I am talking about. You can phrase it any way you want. A day later they had a horrible, horrible riot in Sweden and you saw what happened. I talked about Brussels. I was on the front page of the New York Times for my quote. I said Brussels is not what it used to be, very sad what has happened to Brussels. I was absolutely lambasted. A short time later they had the major attack in Brussels. One year ago today. Exactly one year ago today. And then people said you know Trump was right. What am I going to tell you? I tend to be right. I’m an instinctual person, I happen to be a person that knows how life works. I said I was going to win the election, I won the election, in fact I was number one the entire route, in the primaries, from the day I announced, I was number one. And the New York Times and CNN and all of them, they did these polls, which were extremely bad and they turned out to be totally wrong, and my polls showed I was going to win. We thought we were going to win the night of the election.
So when you…
And then TIME magazine, which treats me horribly, but obviously I sell, I assume this is going to be a cover too, have I set the record? I guess, right? Covers, nobody’s had more covers.
I think Richard Nixon still has you beat. But he was in office for longer, so give yourself time.
Ok good. I’m sure I’ll win.
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Time: Donald Trump's EPA Pick Imperils Science—And Earth
By Eric Pooley:
The Full Story (January 17, 2017)
As the Senate prepares for Scott Pruitt’s Jan. 18 confirmation hearing, much of the debate over Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency has centered on Pruitt’s doubts about global climate change. And though it would be genuinely appalling to have an EPA Administrator who doesn’t accept basic climate science, the trouble with Pruitt goes deeper. As the Attorney General of Oklahoma, Pruitt has shown he is not only a relentless opponent of EPA standards for climate pollution. He has been a relentless opponent of basic pollution limits as well, the kind that protect us from mercury, smog, arsenic and other deadly air toxics. He questions whether toxic mercury pollution is hazardous to public health. He shut down his office’s Environmental Protection Unit. And now he wants to do for the United States what he did for Oklahoma.
For six years as Attorney General, Pruitt kept very busy doing the bidding of his financial supporters in the oil and gas industry. E&E News reported last month that, after being elected in 2010, he folded his office’s Environmental Protection Unit, which investigated things like water contamination and illegal dumping, and launched a new “Federalism Unit” devoted to filing legal challenges against the EPA—at least 14 of them, 13 of which had industry players as co-parties to the suits and financial contributors to Pruitt's political causes. A Pruitt spokesman says others absorbed the environmental unit’s duties. But its budget was zeroed out by 2014, and one former state environmental official has come forward to say that Pruitt "hasn't really done anything to protect Oklahomans."
Mercury is a deadly neurotoxin that damages the brains of “the developing fetus and young children,” according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. It is spewed into the air from coal-fired power plants and other industrial sources before settling into lakes and waterways and contaminating the fish we eat. But Pruitt’s challenges against the EPA’s mercury standards include a tidy piece of scientific denial, claiming “the record does not support the EPA’s findings that mercury... pose[s] public health hazards.” After that legal challenge failed, Pruitt sued a second time to block the mercury rules—even though virtually all power plants had already complied with them at a fraction of the expected cost.
Thanks in part to the EPA rules Pruitt opposed, mercury levels in Atlantic Bluefin tuna are rapidly declining. But Oklahomans aren’t so lucky. While Pruitt was busy trying to kill national mercury rules, the number of Oklahoma lakes listed for mercury contamination was climbing. This year, the state lists 40 lakes with fish consumption advisories due to mercury levels—up from 19 listed in 2010. Eight lakes were added just this year. Another Attorney General might have been trying to identify the sources of this pollution. But Pruitt was apparently too busy suing the EPA.
Sunday, November 13, 2016
[Special] Editorial Prognostication
Trump may not be a true conservative, but he went and used their talking points and won the White House. Many liberals, progressives and casual observers were shocked by the results, particularly because the polls never had Trump winning. However, Trump's ascension should not be much of a surprise. From the days of the moral majority, the Republican Party has been slowly drifting away from the Rockefeller/Eisenhower model of operation. The Contract With America GOP takeover in the 90s, the Tea Party movement of the 00s, and now the Alt-Right/White Nationalist infiltration of the 10s has brought the GOP to the party of Trump.
Moderates of the party, such as Paul Ryan, may share the fate of Eric Cantor and lose their seats to hard-right conservatives, but all of them are giddy with excitement over the reality of controlling the White House, Senate and House. The GOP will be able to push nearly the entirety of their agenda for the next few years (depending on the midterm turnouts and the next presidential election). It will likely be devastating to all minorities, including women, and we could see serious consequences to the economy and the environment. The Supreme Court is likely lost for a generation or more. However, by 2020, minorities will be the majority for Americans under 18, and sometime around 2045 the US will be a minority majority country (meaning Caucasians will no longer be above 50% of the population). It is not possible for a party which has excluded and marginalized all people of color, all non-Christian religions, and women of any sort, to be successful on the national level beyond that point. This short-term success will be a long term catastrophe for the Republican Party.
The people who supported Trump will also be burned. Ryan is already saying he wants to eliminate Medicare (as explained in New York Magazine), a gut-bunch to Baby Boomers who supported Trump more than any other age group. There will be no wall along the Mexican border. Industrial, mining and manufacturing jobs will not increase. The "swamp" will not be drained.
Conservative Strategist Rick Wilson spoke with the Washington Post in October and warned of the consequences: “For years now, Democrats will be able to roll out TV ads and say, ‘When John Smith says today he’s for a brighter future, remember who he stood by: Donald Trump. He stood by Donald Trump’s misogyny, racism, sexism and stupidity.’” The Republican Party will fall to shifting demographics. It had the chance to be more inclusive, and it went the opposite way. That is not a feasible position. No matter how hard they try to stem the tide of immigration, the idea of a Norman Rockwell white protestant America is a dream that will not become a reality. Per the Post once again, from October 22:
The major demographic changes are well known. The United States is becoming more diverse racially and ethnically, better educated overall and with a population that is aging. Pew’s analysis found the following: “The Democratic Party is becoming less white, less religious and better-educated at a faster rate than the country as a whole, while aging at a slower rate. Within the GOP, the pattern is the reverse.”
By putting together the demographic shifts with changes in party allegiance, the Pew study underscored two big changes — one talked about for some years, the other an ongoing issue for Republicans that Trump’s candidacy has highlighted. Both bode poorly for the Republicans if they cannot adjust their appeal rapidly.
I know Trump fans do not see the writing on the wall, even though they are scared of Sharia law in the U.S. and ISIS attacks on American soil, despite the stupidity of same. Somewhere in their brains, Republicans know the end is near for conservatives of today (holdovers of 20th and even 19th century ideals that are incompatible with a modern world). As seen with Brexit and the rise of the far-right in Europe (via Time Magazine), there is a push back from conservatives, but it is nothing more than the thrashing and flailing of the dying, fighting to maintain relevancy and power. They may jack up the system for a while, they may make life difficult for minorities, women and progressives, but the future belongs to us. They can never change that.
By putting together the demographic shifts with changes in party allegiance, the Pew study underscored two big changes — one talked about for some years, the other an ongoing issue for Republicans that Trump’s candidacy has highlighted. Both bode poorly for the Republicans if they cannot adjust their appeal rapidly.
I know Trump fans do not see the writing on the wall, even though they are scared of Sharia law in the U.S. and ISIS attacks on American soil, despite the stupidity of same. Somewhere in their brains, Republicans know the end is near for conservatives of today (holdovers of 20th and even 19th century ideals that are incompatible with a modern world). As seen with Brexit and the rise of the far-right in Europe (via Time Magazine), there is a push back from conservatives, but it is nothing more than the thrashing and flailing of the dying, fighting to maintain relevancy and power. They may jack up the system for a while, they may make life difficult for minorities, women and progressives, but the future belongs to us. They can never change that.
Further Reading -
The Nation: The Republican Party Created This Monster
New York Times: The G.O.P. Created Donald Trump
Washington Post: Donald Trump is the Monster the GOP Created
Monday, October 31, 2016
[Special] Time: Why ISIS Supports Donald Trump
By Matt Olsen:
This year, ISIS isn’t simply a passive observer of American politics. Since the group’s rapid rise in 2014, ISIS has established a far-reaching, sophisticated propaganda machine. Its members rely on social media to shape public opinion, recruit new members and mobilize followers to carry out attacks. Now, some of them are using those channels to advocate for Trump. In August, one ISIS spokesman wrote: “I ask Allah to deliver America to Trump.” Another supporter declared: “The ‘facilitation’ of Trump’s arrival in the White House must be a priority for jihadists at any cost!!!” ISIS is working to drum up support for the candidate it has called “the perfect enemy.”
That may come as a surprise to some. After all, Trump has spent this election season making a series of combative and bellicose comments on terrorism—from his pledge to kill the families of terrorists, his plans bring back torture of suspected terrorists and his call to ban all Muslims from entering the United States. But the truth is, Trump’s statements and extreme policies aren’t just contrary to our values—they play right into the hands of ISIS.
Trump’s anti-Muslim proposals are likely to inspire and radicalize more violent jihadists in the U.S. and Europe. Specifically, his calls for a ban on Muslims visiting our country and for blanket spying on mosques reinforce ISIS’s view that the U.S. is hostile to all Muslims. As a former ISIS fighter told Revkin and Mhidi: “When Trump says hateful things about Muslims, it proves that jihadists are right to fight against the West, because the West is against Islam.” As a result, his ideas fuel the group’s efforts to radicalize and mobilize its followers to take action. In fact, Trump himself has been featured in ISIS propaganda videos following the Brussels attack and the Orlando massacre.
Trump’s statements also serve to isolate and alienate the same Muslim Americans who must be our partners in this fight. They’re often on the front lines against ISIS in its effort to radicalize those who are disaffected or otherwise susceptible to its hateful message. And they are in the best position to recognize the signs of radicalization and to intervene before it’s too late. Marginalizing these Americans sows distrust of the government and law enforcement, and makes it more difficult to identify and disrupt attacks. Terrorist groups around the world are eager to capitalize on this opportunity: the al-Qaeda group in East Africa released a video quoting Trump to convince American Muslims to join the group because they are not welcome in their own country.
The Full Story (September 7, 2016)
This year, ISIS isn’t simply a passive observer of American politics. Since the group’s rapid rise in 2014, ISIS has established a far-reaching, sophisticated propaganda machine. Its members rely on social media to shape public opinion, recruit new members and mobilize followers to carry out attacks. Now, some of them are using those channels to advocate for Trump. In August, one ISIS spokesman wrote: “I ask Allah to deliver America to Trump.” Another supporter declared: “The ‘facilitation’ of Trump’s arrival in the White House must be a priority for jihadists at any cost!!!” ISIS is working to drum up support for the candidate it has called “the perfect enemy.”
That may come as a surprise to some. After all, Trump has spent this election season making a series of combative and bellicose comments on terrorism—from his pledge to kill the families of terrorists, his plans bring back torture of suspected terrorists and his call to ban all Muslims from entering the United States. But the truth is, Trump’s statements and extreme policies aren’t just contrary to our values—they play right into the hands of ISIS.
Trump’s anti-Muslim proposals are likely to inspire and radicalize more violent jihadists in the U.S. and Europe. Specifically, his calls for a ban on Muslims visiting our country and for blanket spying on mosques reinforce ISIS’s view that the U.S. is hostile to all Muslims. As a former ISIS fighter told Revkin and Mhidi: “When Trump says hateful things about Muslims, it proves that jihadists are right to fight against the West, because the West is against Islam.” As a result, his ideas fuel the group’s efforts to radicalize and mobilize its followers to take action. In fact, Trump himself has been featured in ISIS propaganda videos following the Brussels attack and the Orlando massacre.
Trump’s statements also serve to isolate and alienate the same Muslim Americans who must be our partners in this fight. They’re often on the front lines against ISIS in its effort to radicalize those who are disaffected or otherwise susceptible to its hateful message. And they are in the best position to recognize the signs of radicalization and to intervene before it’s too late. Marginalizing these Americans sows distrust of the government and law enforcement, and makes it more difficult to identify and disrupt attacks. Terrorist groups around the world are eager to capitalize on this opportunity: the al-Qaeda group in East Africa released a video quoting Trump to convince American Muslims to join the group because they are not welcome in their own country.
The Full Story (September 7, 2016)
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