TRUMP JR. TRYING TO DISSEMBLE WAY OUT OF JAM

The never-ending sage of Russia and Trump family and administration officials and campaign aides continues.

"WASHINGTON — He is a veteran of the Red Army, photographed in the 1980s with fellow soldiers in a Russian birch forest. He collects fine art, likes opera and owns a nearly $2 million townhouse in trendy Logan Circle, in the center of Washington. He often zips around the city on a bright orange bicycle.

On Friday, Rinat Akhmetshin, the Soviet army veteran, revealed another detail of an exotic life: He was one of the people at the meeting Donald Trump Jr. had with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016.

The presence of Mr. Akhmetshin adds another development to the evolving narrative about the gathering, which Donald Trump Jr. arranged after learning that a Russian lawyer claimed to have damaging information about Hillary Clinton. The news of Mr. Akhmetshin’s attendance shows how the story of the meeting keeps changing and has increased pressure on the White House to offer a more comprehensive account of what happened.

Mr. Akhmetshin, a naturalized American citizen who talks openly of his past in a K.G.B. counterintelligence unit focused on hunting spies in the Russian military, is well known in diplomatic and media circles in Washington, where he has worked for years on behalf of business and political interests in Russia and other former Soviet states.

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Since The New York Times first reported the meeting on July 8, Donald Trump Jr. has had shifting accounts of what happened. When he learned that The Times planned to publish excerpts from his emails about the meeting, Donald Trump Jr. released them himself on Twitter and said he was doing so to be transparent.

The emails revealed that Donald Trump Jr. also invited Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and a campaign adviser, as well as Paul J. Manafort, who at the time was the Trump campaign chairman. Rob Goldstone, a publicist and former British tabloid reporter who helped broker the meeting, was also there.

But Donald Trump Jr. did not disclose that other people who were not mentioned in the emails were also in attendance, including Mr. Akhmetshin and a translator. In his interview with The Times, Mr. Akhmetshin identified the translator as Anatoli Samachornov."

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7060696059642580878#editor/target=post;postID=4806657670835871098

Perhaps Jr. has inherited a gene for dissembling.

OBAMA OFFICIALS INVESTIGATED

"House Republicans plan to give federal prosecutors what they say is evidence that Obama administration officials illegally shared or leaked names of associates of President Donald Trump that were incidentally collected in U.S. government eavesdropping.
The Intelligence Committee obtained information from documents and other sources that it plans to turn over to the Justice Department, likely by August, to determine whether crimes were committed, panel Chairman Devin Nunes of California said in an interview."
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-14/republicans-to-give-prosecutors-documents-on-leaking-allegations

Given Hillary Clinton's recklessness with e-mail, this should be investigated.  Some Dems claim it's an attempt to distract attention from investigations of Trump and his staff.  It needs to be investigated.  I expect integrity from both parties.

TRUMP EMBARASSES SELF & AMERICA WITH REMARKS RE FRENCH PRES.' WIFE

http://www.mlive.com/news/us-world/index.ssf/2017/07/trump_caught_on_tape_talking_a.html

Add in the kiss and the fact that his wife was standing right beside him, it reveals a man with some serious character defects.  Unless you are an alt-right freak, you should be worried and embarrassed re the man in the White House.  Western Europe, our closest allies, must view us as idiots.

THE TRUMP AND HIS REPUBLICAN TOADYS' AGENDA

"* TRUMP’S ‘POPULIST’ AGENDA IS NOT ACTUALLY POPULIST: The Post notes the big picture: Economic growth is more stagnant than Trump predicted; the Trump budget and health plan mirror Paul Ryan’s vision of shredding the safety net; and Trump’s trade agenda is stalled:

Trump’s combination of setbacks and delays on key policy initiatives highlight how the president is struggling to advance a populist vision of governing in a Republican Party that historically has not been receptive to such an approach. With his budget and health care, Trump is falling in line with some of his party’s most conservative voices, even if the policies threaten to harm many of the working-class voters who elected him.

Basically all that’s left of Trump’s “populist nationalism” is the stepped-up deportations, the travel ban (which is partially in effect) and the hostility to international cooperation on climate change."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/07/14/this-nbc-news-scoop-is-another-big-blow-to-the-trump-camps-russia-spin/?tid=pm_opinions_pop&utm_term=.5e5446d4edd6

When are his bromance, hero worship, toadying and sychophantic supporters in the working class going to get the picture?  Most eventually will, and the result for Republicans could be devastating.  I hope the epiphany comes in time for the mid-term elections. 

Alt-rightism has trumped populism.  The scorched earth let them eat cake, attitude of hard-core ideologues reflects the political truism that winners reward their supporters and punish their enemies.  Who are the alt-right's, conservative Republican's friends? 
Big business, the wealthy, polluting industries, makers of dangerous products,  Wall-Street con and rip-off artists, among others.  The de-regulation only benefits them and ordinary people and consumers and the environment pay the price.  White and Christian supremacists also like the policies.  Deportation, cut Planned Parenthood funding for poor women's health care, etc. feed this tribalism.
Class also interacts.  The poor and working class are disproportionately black and Hispanic.  When  they vote, the vote Democrat.  The Medicare and health care cutbacks will hit them disproportionately.  Also hurt will be working-class whites who supported trump.

Public education will take hits on both the federal and state level.  In Texas, funding for public education has decreased and unfunded mandates have increased.  The Repubs want tax relief.  The current Republican school bills in TX are shell games that will only further gut public education.  Many urban schools are disaster areas.  Most, if not all, are dominated by black and Hispanic students of low income.  More punishing your enemies by punishing their kids and crippling the future of many.  The Repubs don't care.   Their kids go to private schools, pricey charter schools and  white-dominated suburban schools.

Have these lawmakers lost all sense of decency and humanitarian values?

WHO LIKES TRUMPS OUTRAGEOUS STATEMENTS AND WHAT VALUES DO THEY SUPPORT?

Trump's statements and tweets encourage sick values our society has tried to minimize, esp. some attitudes toward women.  The inane, dumb, embarrassing excuses Trumpistas make for his behavior is disgusting.  They rarely address the issue.  Mass delusions galore there. This behavior does not bode well for the future of democracy.

"Who Likes Trump’s Tweets and Why

By SUSAN CHIRAJUNE 29, 2017

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Once again, President Trump has triggered a predictable wave of outrage, this time over his insulting tweets about the television host Mika Brzezinski’s bleeding face-lift. We know who he alienates by this behavior — and that includes many mainstream Republicans as well as Democrats. But who is the audience he is playing to? And what are the implications when the president flouts what used to be seen as taboos?

Mr. Trump and his die-hard followers delight in the shock value of violating social and political norms. They revel in the thumb in the eye. It’s intrinsic to the president’s appeal to his base, and it’s increasingly clear that either deliberately or impulsively, both his conduct and his policies are aimed at that base and not beyond it.

The president is an equal-opportunity insulter, but let’s just focus on his posture toward women — and the ecstatic response this evokes in some quarters. This was the week in which Mr. Trump called an Irish reporter to his desk while talking to her prime minister about her smile — only the latest of a stream of pronouncements about women’s appearance. His jab at Ms. Brzezinski echoed his comment that another television anchor, Megyn Kelly, had been bleeding from her wherever, that evocation of menstruation, so unclean, so embarrassing, so primal.

There is something about his swagger, his unabashed embodiment of a time when women were eye candy and arm candy. And there is something about the way he strikes back at women who anger him that seems to resonate for some men — and which, at least so far, has not cost him the support of the women who backed him. The uncomfortable larger question is whether this president’s behavior is encouraging and unmasking resentments about women’s place in society.

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The women’s movement spent decades attempting to change attitudes among Americans so that tweets like Mr. Trump’s would be out of bounds. Even a year ago, the conventional wisdom was that comments like Mr. Trump’s taped boasts about forcing himself on women were political suicide. That no longer appears to be true. And the fear is that much as President Barack Obama’s election seemed to ignite resentments about race that most people had been shy about expressing publicly, Mr. Trump’s election may be unleashing latent anger toward women.

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Related Coverage

Trump Mocks Mika Brzezinski; Says She Was ‘Bleeding Badly From a Face-Lift’ JUNE 29, 2017

 

Opinion Gail Collins

I’ve Overestimated Donald Trump JUNE 29, 2017

 

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Theda Skocpol, professor of government and sociology at Harvard, has been visiting eight counties around the country as part of her research to monitor developments in the Trump presidency. “There’s one example after another as if some button had been pushed and people were openly saying to each other the tensions you’ve been feeling about gender changes over the last 40 years — it’s just fine to uncork all those ambivalent and angry feelings,” she said of national trends overall.

Christine Matthews, veteran strategist and president of Bellwether Research who has advised Republican campaigns, said that there is some polling data to suggest Mr. Trump is tapping into anger among some men. “A subset of men whom Trump appeals to is threatened by women in power,” she said. “They feel their dominance in society is threatened. This is not coming — generally — from college-educated men or those in suburban or urban centers with strong economic prospects.”

Joan C. Williams, a law professor and author of “White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America,” said that unless other political leaders address class grievances, Mr. Trump’s appeal will continue to resonate.

“Trump’s persistent insults to high-profile women play to that part of his base that has long been incensed at a definition of political correctness that includes women, L.G.B.T.Q. people, immigrants and other groups — but leaves out working-class whites nursing the hidden injuries of class,” she said. “So long as class remains unacknowledged as a key source of social disadvantage, Trump’s insults will feel to some of his supporters like a delicious poke-in-the-eye of elites.”

Mr. Trump has in fact turned politics into performance art. Some have likened what he does to insult comedy of the type practiced by Don Rickles. But insult comics are quick to point out that there is a crucial difference. “Insult comedy underneath it all is about affection,” said Lisa Lampanelli, known for routines that both insult and reveal what it feels like to be insulted. “I saw Trump be a roastmaster at the Friars Club, but he doesn’t have the skill to do this kind of thing with the right intention underneath it. Is it entertaining to some? I don’t find these tweets entertaining in the least. It’s off-putting and it gets to a scary bully level.”

Social media offers another lens. It’s a medium Mr. Trump exploits brilliantly, and one that has fostered and amplified a toxic subculture of misogyny. Today on Twitter, there was glee about Mr. Trump’s tweet alongside the denunciations. Some piled on with more insults about women. Others were overjoyed that Mr. Trump was upsetting “snowflakes,” that derisive term of art for oversensitive liberals. Still others believed that the president was justifiably striking back against attacks on him from Ms. Brzezinski and her co-host, Joe Scarborough. Some insisted there was no sexism involved, that women aren’t exempt from criticism and have to learn to take it, just as men do.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/29/opinion/who-likes-trumps-tweets-and-why.html 

INSANE REQUEST FOR VOTER INFORMATION FROM WHITE HOUSE COMMISSION

The insanity emanating from the White House never ceases.  We now have a commission on voter fraud which has made an outrageous data request to states for information on voters.  The real motive for this is to try to find support for Trump's delusion that he would have won a majority of the popular vote but for voter fraud by Democrats.  This is insane!  The data does not include which presidential candidate the voter selected.  Thus, the data will not answer the question.  I'ts just totally dumb and a waste of time and money.

"The political uproar over a White House commission’s request to state election officials for a trove of personal data on the nation’s voters continued as secretaries of state gathered for their annual meeting on Friday in Indianapolis.

The panel was set up to investigate claims of voter fraud, which experts generally agree is rare, after President Trump claimed illegal voting had cost him the popular vote in November’s election, and it has come under attack by election officials from both parties.

As of Thursday evening, 20 states and the District of Columbia had outright rejected the request by Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state and vice chairman of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, which works to promote expanded access to the ballot. Most of the remaining states either said they were studying the request or agreed to provide only public information like lists of voters who are registered.

Some of the reaction was blistering, even from Republican state officials. Mississippi’s Republican secretary of state said last week those behind the request could “go jump in the Gulf of Mexico.” (The news organization Mississippi Today reported on Thursday that Mississippi has been providing this data to Interstate Crosscheck, a Kansas initiative with similar goals that Mr. Kobach runs.)

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  Asked for Voters’ Data, States Give Trump Panel a Bipartisan ‘No’ JUNE 30, 2017

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  The Man Behind Trump’s Voter-Fraud Obsession JUNE 13, 2017

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The commission fired back on Wednesday, issuing a statement that called the dust-up “fake news” arising from “obstruction by a handful of state politicians.” Some election scholars say, however, that there are real questions about the panel’s intent.

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Here’s what to know about the panel and access to voter data.

What information is being sought?

The commission’s request is voluminous: For 200 million voters, it seeks names, addresses, dates of birth, political affiliations, the last four digits of Social Security numbers, which elections they voted in and whether they are active, inactive or canceled voters. It also requests records of felony convictions, whether voters are registered in other states, and whether they serve in the military or live or cast votes by mail from abroad.

The official request asks for information if it is “publicly available,” which is commonly the case for much of this data.

Why is the commission seeking data from the states?

The panel wants to compare state voter databases with “a number of different databases, looking for the possibility for areas where voter rolls could be strengthened,” Marc Lotter, a spokesman for Vice President Mike Pence, told the investigative news organization ProPublica on Thursday.

Mr. Kobach, who prepared the request without input from at least some of the other commissioners, has a history with this issue: He already oversees the Interstate Crosscheck program that compares voter rolls from some 30 states in an effort to turn up people who vote in two states. Crosscheck has been widely criticized as inaccurate; one analysis found that of the 7.2 million potential double voters the program had identified, no more than four were actually accused of deliberately registering or voting in two states.

Voting rights advocates and some scholars say they have concerns that Mr. Kobach, who maintains that voter fraud is pervasive, may want to build a case for stricter requirements for registering to vote and casting ballots. They also argue that the database comparisons he wants to make will, like the Crosscheck program, vastly overestimate the potential for fraud.

 

See more at

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/07/us/politics/voter-fraud-commission.html

TRUMP ENCOURAGING POLITICAL VIOLENCE (AMONG OTHER THINGS)

I keep running out of adjectives to describe our "President." 

I.  his now infamous doctored video showing him beating up a man with a CNN logo pasted over his face is unbelievable.  It drove his favorable rating as President down even lower and got negative comments from Republicans.  What description fits here?  Bully?  Narcissist with an extremely fragile ego?  Immature, spoiled teenager? Will this inspire the wackiest among his supporters to violence against the media. Will politi al violence become part of the repertoire of Trump supporters?

Trump has a record of encouraging violence against those who heckled at this meetings while on the campaign trail.  See videos at
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-national-space-council_us_59581eeee4b05c37bb7ed0f7?utm_campaign=hp_fb_pages&utm_source=politics_fb&utm_medium=facebook&ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013&section=politics

Will political violence become part of the repertoire of Trump supporters?  Remember Mussolini's violent 'blackshirt' supporters?  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackshirts

2.  The clown show part of his schtick continued with the quote below.

“We know what this is, space. That’s all it has to say: space,” Trump said as he prepared to sign his executive order [re-establishing the National Space Council]. He then turned to Aldrin and asked, “There’s a lot of room out there, right?”

“To infinity, and beyond,” Aldrin quipped as others laughed. But Trump apparently didn’t get the reference to Buzz Lightyear’s catchphrase in “Toy Story.”

“This is infinity here. It could be infinity,” Trump answered in a rambling response. “We don’t really don’t know. But it could be. It has to be something — but it could be infinity, right?”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-national-space-council_us_59581eeee4b05c37bb7ed0f7?utm_campaign=hp_fb_pages&utm_source=politics_fb&utm_medium=facebook&ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013&section=politics

What description fits here.  I'll go with 'dumb,' or 'airhead.

3.  See this editorial re the "President," Nixon and role modelling
                  

"Maybe we should all take a moment to feel a little sorry for Donald Trump, who reacted to criticism on Thursday by tweeting a stream of coarse insults at the television journalist Mika Brzezinski.

After all, he so clearly lacks the toughness of George Washington, who once privately observed that his critics’ “arrows … never can reach the most vulnerable part of me.” He lacks the confidence of Dwight Eisenhower, who said, when asked if he thought his press coverage was fair, “Well, when you come down to it, I don’t see what a reporter could do much to a president, do you?”

And — are we really about to write this sentence? — Mr. Trump lacks the grace Richard Nixon showed, at least in public. At the height of Watergate in late 1973, Mr. Nixon blurted at a news conference, “I have never heard or seen such outrageous, vicious, distorted reporting in 27 years of public life.” Yet he added, “I am not blaming anybody for that. Perhaps what happened is that what we did brought it about.”

Mr. Trump may be a more tender soul, or less resilient. In any case, he can’t seem to take the heat.

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• 
  

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  I’ve Overestimated Donald Trump JUNE 29, 2017

• 
  

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  Who Likes Trump’s Tweets and Why JUNE 29, 2017

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  ‘Morning Joe’ Hosts and Trump Bring National Enquirer Into Their Feud JUNE 30, 2017

• 
  

  Trump Mocks Mika Brzezinski; Says She Was ‘Bleeding Badly From a Face-Lift’ JUNE 29, 2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Probably no one in the world draws as much scrutiny and criticism — even mockery — as an American president, and each president understandably chafes. But for Mr. Trump, every barb seems to hit home, and he vengefully attacks his tormentors . . . 

           

 

 

He does not appear to realize that he is embarrassing himself. This is what both Republicans and Democrats have been trying to tell Mr. Trump since his tweeted attacks on the MSNBC co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Ms. Brzezinski, which were capped by the claim that he refused to spend New Year’s Eve at Mar-a-Lago with Ms. Brzezinski, who was “bleeding badly from a face-lift.”

“People may say things during a campaign, but it’s different when you become a public servant,” Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, told The Times. “I see it as embarrassing to our country.” Senator James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma, said Mr. Trump’s tweets “do not provide a positive role model.”

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Add to the nastiness of the attack its creepy misogyny. Here again was Mr. Trump, whose casual boasting of sexual assault nearly upended his candidacy, denigrating women with references to “bleeding.” “This is not okay,” Representative Lynn Jenkins, Republican of Kansas, said on Twitter. “As a female in politics I am often criticized for my looks. We should be working to empower women.”

Mr. Trump’s advocates are trying, implausibly, to present his online demonstrations of self-pity as feats of macho toughness. The spokeswoman for Melania Trump (who has named anti-cyberbullying as a potential advocacy project) said the tweets showed that “when her husband gets attacked, he will punch back 10 times harder.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the deputy White House press secretary, said Mr. Trump was “fighting fire with fire.”

Mr. Trump’s behavior sabotaged a day that included critical talks on the Senate health care bill, a speech on energy policy and the arrival of South Korean President Moon Jae-in for talks on the North Korean nuclear threat. Thursday ended with Mr. Trump awkwardly awaiting Mr. Moon’s motorcade, as reporters shouted, “Mr. President, do you regret your tweets this morning?”

The big question for all of us is whether with his foot-stamping and his vulgarity Mr. Trump, in defiance of all his predecessors, is creating a new model for future presidential behavior. Can the etiquette of professional wrestling and reality television truly pass as acceptable for the Oval Office? The breadth and depth of bipartisan repugnance for this president’s insults suggests, thankfully, that the answer may prove to be no."
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/30/opinion/president-trump-melting-under-criticism.html

RPUBLICAN HEALTH CARE SCAM

The last Republican health care bill (created in secret and never read by many in the
Senate) added tax cuts for the wealthy for health care benefits for the less affluent. When proposed Medicaid cuts are added in, health care for the poor, working class, etc . will shrink greatly.

"Pretend you are that most improbable of combinations — a lovable billionaire. In other words, you’re Warren Buffett. The politicians who worship guys like you have another treat in store: They will cut your most recent tax bill by $679,999, making you even wealthier.

But it comes with a price. A fellow American of a certain age making $56,000 a year would have to pay three times more in annual health care premiums — $20,500 — to help finance your windfall. You don’t need the money. Cripes, you’re worth $76 billion! But that other citizen can’t live without health care.

Such is the bargain — your health care for my tax cut — that Republicans have proposed with their overhaul of the Affordable Care Act. The toxic Senate bill does nothing to fix a struggling system. But it is bold and quite daring: for this is the broadest attack on working Americans by a governing political party in our lifetime.

No surprise, the real Warren Buffett wants nothing to do with it. He calls it, the “Relief for the Rich Act.” Another eminently sensible Midwesterner, Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, is equally perplexed. Why take away vital services for the struggling middle class, the mentally ill, the poor and the elderly to give more money to people who don’t need it?

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“And they think that’s great?” Kasich, a Republican, said. “That’s good public policy? What, are you kidding me?”

Timothy Egan JUNE 30, 2017

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Part 2

Frustrated by the Senate's inability to come up with a repeal and replace Obama care solution, Pres. Trump called for a repeal now with a replacement later.  This will leave millions without health insurance.  There may never be  replacement.  The Republicans controlling the Senate may never be able to agree.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/repeal-now-replace-later-will-kill-the-gops-health-care-reform/2017/07/05/490407fa-6107-11e7-a4f7-af34fc1d9d39_story.html?utm_term=.79dfdb167885

 Texas' two Senators, John "Cornhole" Cornyn and Ted "Tsar" Cruz are two alt-right favorites who will probably never vote for a replacement if there is a repeal. 

DISGRACEFUL, LEGALLY INCORRECT OPINION BY TX SUPREME COURT

"The Texas Supreme Court on Friday sided with same-sex marriage opponents who argued that the city of Houston should not have extended its benefits policy to married same-sex couples. The court threw out a lower court ruling that had favored the benefits and sent the case back to a lower court.
The benefits policy was enacted by Houston's former, and first openly gay, mayor, Annise Parker, in 2013.
In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal government must extend benefits to married same-sex couples. In 2015, the Supreme Court declared same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states. At issue is whether that ruling requires public agencies to provide benefits to same-sex spouses of government employees.
The plaintiffs — two taxpayers represented by same-sex marriage opponents — contend that Houston's benefits policy goes further than the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court's Obergefell decision requires. The Texas Supreme Court, in Pidgeon v. Houston, agreed.
As KUT explained, the Texas Supreme Court originally declined to hear the case, which upheld the lower court's decision, but reversed course "under pressure from top Texas Republicans":

"Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an amicus brief in October asking the all-Republican court to reconsider. They also asked the court to clarify that the U.S. Supreme Court case legalizing same-sex marriage, Obergefell v. Hodges, does not 'bind state courts to resolve all other claims in favor of the right to same-sex marriage.' "

http://www.npr.org/2017/06/30/535021154/texas-supreme-court-rules-against-benefits-for-same-sex-couples


"The state Supreme Court’s refusal to extend state spousal benefits to same-sex couples is an insidious attempt to defy Obergefell v. Hodges."  http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/06/texas_supreme_court_refuses_to_extend_spousal_benefits_to_same_sex_couples.html

"As the Supreme Court held in Obergefell v. Hodges, the Constitution “entitles same-sex couples to civil marriage ‘on the same terms and conditions as opposite-sex couples.’” Indeed, just this week in Pavan v. Smith, the Court reaffirmed its holding that the benefits of marriage must be granted to same-sex couples “on the same terms and conditions as opposite-sex couples.”

Nevertheless, the Texas Supreme Court held on Friday that the benefits of marriage may not need to be granted to same-sex couples on the same terms and conditions as opposite-sex couples. And the Texas court reached this frivolous conclusion in an unanimous opinion."
https://thinkprogress.org/texas-supreme-court-same-sex-couples-d8e8e8228133

First part of U.S. Supreme Court decision in Pavan v. Smith.  https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/16pdf/16-992_868c.pdf
PER CURIAM.
As this Court explained in Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U. S. ___ (2015), the Constitution entitles same-sex couples to civil marriage "on the same terms and conditions as opposite-sex couples." Id., at ___ (slip op., at 23). In the decision below, the Arkansas Supreme Court considered the effect of that holding on the State's rules governing the issuance of birth certificates. When a married woman gives birth in Arkansas, state law generally requires the name of the mother's male spouse to appear on the child's birth certificate—regardless of his biological relationship to the child. According to the court below, however, Arkansas need not extend that rule to similarly situated same-sex couples: The State need not, in other words, issue birth certificates including the female spouses of women who give birth in the State. Because that differential treatment infringes Obergefell's commitment to provide same-sex couples "the constellation of benefits that the States have linked to marriage," id., at ___ (slip op., at 17), we reverse the state court's judgment." [emphasis added]

Trump's appointee dissented.  Will Gorsuch be the new Roger Taney (of the Dred Scott decision)?

See also Frontiero v. Richardson, 93 S.Ct. 1764 (1973).

I suppose next Texas' politicians-- judicial, legislative or executive-- will be telling us that the state and Texas local governments don't have to provide benefits equal to traditional, opposite sex couple where one of the partners  of a white spouse is a black or one of the spouses is a Muslim.  All of these scenarios, and the current one, have the same ideological supremacist and stigmatizing rationale. The ruling will result in loss of benefts for the same-sex spouse

I took both a Constitutional Law and a Civil Rights course in law school.  I have taught constitutional law at both the undergraduate and graduate level.  I have read dozens of books on the topic and regularly read relevant Supreme Court decisions and related articles.  I am aware of the long history of reactionary attempts by the Texas Supreme Court and legislature to justify unlawful discrimination against blacks, black and white couples, black schoolchildren, etc.. Anyone who cares about the rule of law, the constitutional right to equal protection of the law, and knows anything about those legal provisions and relevant U.S. S.Ct. decisions knows this a B.S. opinion.  It is a sad day when close-mindedness and political influence trump the rule of law in a state Supreme Court.

TRUMP'S WHITE HOUSE TOO SECRETIVE

The Founding Fathers, First Amendment, U.S. Supreme Court and many others have recognized that transparency is necessary to keeping government honest and efficient. Without an active media, the people's right to know is meaningless.  Sunlight is the best disinfectant.  Trump and many Republicans hate and fear the media.
Republicans kept the media out of its work group on health care in the Senate. The Trump administration has attempted to put the media on a leash.  The Pres. says the respects the media but calls them the enemy of the state and tries to conceal.
http://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-dallas-morning-news/20170629/281749859369730

CONGRESSIONAL MALE REPUBLICANS AND WOMEN

Like their President, too many male Republican congressional leaders reflect sexist attitudes.  There are 5 female Republican senators.  None was included in the 13-man working group that came up with the first draft of the current Republican health care plan.  I guess women have no unique health issues that need to be addressed.  Health care is not the only area.  Access to birth control, and, esp. abortion are, issues where Republicans in many states have moved aggressively against women and their rights.

"After the House passed a health care bill that gave states the option to drop pregnancy and maternity care from required insurance coverage, Republican leaders in the Senate seemed poised to answer criticism from women. Instead they courted more, naming a 13-member, all-Republican working group on health care legislation, without a single woman on it — forcing Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader who approved the panel, on the defensive  a few weeks ago.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/09/us/politics/health-care-women-senate.html

See also

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gop-health-care-bill-women_us_590b63a0e4b0d5d9049a2daf

TRUMP'S BULLY PUPPET TWEETS

Trump's latest cyber-bulling and sexist escapade (involving a female talk show personality, Mika B. ,  who criticized the Prez., has drawn widespread criticism, even from those in his party.  This kind of behavior sends the wrong message to teens who are prone to bully others--often with horrible results (e.g. teen suicide, depression).

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/06/29/donald-trumps-morning-joe-insults-spark-outrage-accusations-misogyny/439876001/

For a list and text of Trumps offensive, sexist remarks see
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/politics/donald-trump-sexism-tracker-every-offensive-comment-in-one-place/

In an interview months ago Trumps wife said she wanted to do something about Cyber bullying.  She needs to do something about him.

When are  Trumpista politicians and supporters going to face the reality about the character of the man in the Oval Office? When are more Republican women in Congress going to see the light? Will this be the final straw that breaks the camel's back?  Let's hope so.

TRUMP: WORST PRESIDENTIAL ROLE-MODEL EVER

As I and others have stated before, the election of Trump has been interpreted, rightly or wrongly, accurately or inaccurately, as support for the alt-right and various supremacy movements.  Except perhaps for those into history and politics, the current President is seen as a worthy role model.  Why would millions of people have voted for him is spite of his numerous outrages statements spanning many years.  The looseness of the President and his administration with the truth and facts also sets a model for many.  The forceful ejection of peaceful protesters from Trump campaign stops suggests and unhealthy tolerance for force.  Many Trumpistas see that a carte blacnhe for previously unacceptable, if not illegal behavior.   The Attorney General has cut back on federal intervention into unlawful use of force by police and wants to reinstate the failed 'war on drugs.'  One senses a hard, mean, scorched earth policy toward those who are not liked.  The message to many out there is clear. It's OK to violate laws and engage in disgraceful behavior. It is  disgraceful message.  I'm not saying these kinds of event never happened before.  Trump and the alt-right Republicans have encouraged such behavior, intentionally or not.

Here are some examples.
1.  Trump and women.  His recorded 'crotch grabbing' remarks were disgusting.  He has a long history of immature put downs of women.  He treats them as a true sexist would.  Here's a recent example.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4649786/Caitriona-Perry-relives-bizarre-President-Donald-Trump.html
More on the Mika B incident later
For a complete list and text  of his sexist statements see
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/politics/donald-trump-sexism-tracker-every-offensive-comment-in-one-place/

2.  City Councilman in Ohio suggests that one way to deal with the opiate addiction epidemic is to refuse EMS service for multiple overdose patients.  Where do they find these people? 'Scorched earth' policy for these citizens.  Would anyone have dared to say such an outarageous thing before Trump and the alt-right emergence. What is his mentality?  Hopefully he will be voted out, but don't count on it.  There are lots of alt-right, scorched earth, Trump toadies and sycophants out there.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/06/28/a-council-members-solution-to-his-ohio-towns-overdose-problem-let-addicts-die/?utm_term=.c18dcf97a4fe

3.  Three young black women who were fashionably, modestly and appropriately dressed black women were denied access to a bar in Dallas.  The bouncer said they didn't meet the dress code.  The owner later said he didn't know this was required by city ordinance.  He did not produce a written copy during the interview.  He said that there was a fight and the Texas ABC regulations required him to not let anyone else in the bar.   Why didn't the bouncer tell these women this--if it really happened?  Advertising media for the bar shows women who are much less well-dressed than these 3.  There have been prior similar complaints against the bar.  The matter is under investigation. Sounds like a cover-up to me.  Stay tuned.

"It's déjà vu all over again. Three summers ago, the city and the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division intervened after DeAndré Upshaw was denied entry to Kung Fu Saloon because of his sneakers but really because of his skin. The bar eventually had to pay a fine and agree to actually follow the law. Yet years later, stories still abound in which patrons say they've been denied entrance to Trophy Room and other Uptown clubs based on dress codes that aren't publicly posted and used whenever bouncers want to keep black and brown people out.
https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/06/29/yet-allegations-uptown-bars-dress-code-means-minorities

See also http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/dallas-county/women-allege-racism-kept-them-out-of-uptown-dallas-bar/451331293

These kinds of allegations and incidents are happening regularly in the U.S. and overseas and in Europe. Just google the topic for examples.

MORE ON SENATE REPUB. HEATLH CARE BILL

The Senate Republican health care bill was drawn up in private sessions.  No Dems, media or citizens were invited.  If transparency is the ultimate sanitizer, secrecy must be ultimate concealer of festering feces.  Some Repub. Senators say the have not seen the final draft of the bill.
http://www.newsweek.com/john-mccain-health-care-senate-republicans-627720
 Is this how American democracy is supposed to work.  I guess with Trump and his toadies we now have a new set of rules.  If you have democratic values, you should be concerned with these 'government in secret' tactics.  If you don't care about how American democracy works, it probably doesn't bother you.

A new poll shows that a majority of Americans do not support the bill.  https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/06/28/suffolk-poll-obamacare-trump-senate-health-care-plan/103249346/

The bill includes a classic con.  They promise lower premiums and more flexibility.  They forget to mention that the CBO says out-of-pocket costs will rise for most Americans.  The elderly, those with chronic illnesses, traumatic injuries will be hit very hard. Those who are not affluent could be squeezed unmercifully.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/27/us/premiums-under-senate-health-plan.html


  This, just makes economic sense.  You lower prices and limit benefits. Medicare, which is relied on by many senior citizens and the 'masses' will be cut. Yet, the Repubs. refuse to acknowledge this.  Why not work on reducing the cost of health care costs? Republicans have no interest in this.  Too many seem only to be interested in putting more $ in the pockets of the health care industry tycoons and America's wealthiest citizens.The cost for America's wealthiest citizens will go down.  They are the ones who need it the least. Who do you think is buying into expensive concierge medicine plans?

Fortunately, this plan will probably fail.  The public is wising up.  Conservative Repub. Senator says the Senate leadership's timetable for passing the bill will happen when  "pigs can fly".

Many Republicans are reluctant because of the cuts.  Others are just disdaining the masses (see related post).  Some seem to be taking a scorched earth approach in supporting the bill (e.g Senator Ted Cruz and Rand Paul.)  I just don't understand this disdain, if not hatred, for America's less affluent citizens. 

TRUMP, REPUBLICAN AND ANY RAND'S DISDAIN FOR THE MASSES

Personal note:  If I had to put a label on my political views I would say I am a 'cautious libertarian.'  I have never understood why many libertarians have adopted the Randian version.  I tried reading her two most famous books and found them intellectually barren. All they are is a celebration of narcissism,  and individuality over all other values. The ideas are popular because they tell many people what they want to hear.  See the book, "The Culture of Narcissism." (the author blames, among others acquisitive capitalism, and left-wing 'entitlement' theory)
See also
https://www.themonthly.com.au/

My own version of  'libertarianism' is based on constitutional values and the ideas of the 'Founding Fathers.'  My main criticism of libertarianism is that it has a naive faith in rationality and humanity of human beings, and a blindness toward the dysfunctions, harms and frauds of free-market capitalism. 

Trump, Randians, and Republicans in general show a general disdain for the masses.  Many are in the masses themselves.  They cut their own threats because Trump et al. feeds their supremacists appetites and takes their side in the culture wars.  It's pretty obvious that the Republicans favor corporations and the affluent.  Trump claims to champion them and too their votes, but his policies, show otherwise little or no serious support.  (e.g. support for the Republican Senate health care bill. Propping up coal mining jobs which will  inevitably all butvdisappear is not support for the working class.)

http://www.newsweek.com/trump-administration-embraces-ayn-rand-disdain-masses-579685

CBO REVEALS REPUB. HEALTH CARE BILL DELUSIONS

Pres. Trump promised during his campaign thtat the first bill he would sign would be a repeal of and replacement of Obamacare. Seven months later, Congress, which has Republican majorities in both houses, can't even come up with a bill. The current Senate bill will probably also fail.  A report from the non-partisan CPO  contradicts Trump's and Republican claims about their Obamacare repeal and replace bill. Trump says the CBO is wrong. Who would you trust most?  Politicians for the CBO.  Not being a delusional ideologue, I'd go with the CBO.  Is this any way to run a law-making institution?  Making decisions on the basis of delusions is inefficient and dangerous.

 

"WASHINGTON Twenty-two million Americans would lose insurance over the next decade under the U.S. Senate Republican healthcare bill, a nonpartisan congressional office said on Monday, complicating the path forward for the already-fraught legislation.

After the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score, Senator Susan Collins, a moderate Republican, said she could not support moving forward on the bill as written.

Collins' opposition highlights the delicate balance that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell must strike as he tries to deliver a legislative win to President Donald Trump by reconciling the Republican Party's moderate and conservative wings.

Moderate senators are concerned about millions of people losing insurance. Key conservative senators have said the Senate bill does not do enough to repeal Obamacare.

The CBO assessment that an additional 15 million people would be uninsured in 2018 under the bill and its prediction that insurance premiums would skyrocket over the first two years prompted concern from both sides."

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-healthcare-idUSKBN19H1NZ

TRUMP: MOST INCONSISTENT PRESIDENT EVER

It appears that Pres. Trump wakes up to a brand new world every morning.  Perhaps that's too strong.  Let's try "he wakes up to a new delusion every morning."  Perhaps that's too strong.  Let's try 'he wakes up to new alternative facts every morning."
The points is, the man is wildly inconsistent.
At one point NATO was obsolete, now he's all in except perhaps for a fair payment issue.  First, there was no Russian attempt to influence the 2016 Presidential election.  Then, Obama knew about it and did nothing.  This statement was then followed by a delusional statement that Obama did nothing about it because it was benefitting the Russians.  First, he is not being investigated and then the investigation is a 'witch hunt"
You figure it out. For additional examples see
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/apr/13/donald-trump-policies-have-been-inconsistent/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/25/the-remarkable-inconsistency-of-trumps-attacks-on-the-media/?utm_term=.5397374d133a

Want more?  Just google 'Trump inconsistent.

S.CT. HANDS TRUMP PARTIAL, INTERIM VICTORY ON MUSLIM BAN

By Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung | WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to President Donald Trump by reviving parts of a travel ban on people from six Muslim-majority countries that he said is needed for national security but that opponents decry as discriminatory.
 The justices narrowed the scope of lower court rulings that had completely blocked key parts of a March 6 executive order that Trump had said was needed to prevent terrorism in the United States, allowing his temporary ban to go into effect for people with no strong ties such as family or business to the United States. [tmsnrt.rs/2seb3bb]
The court issued its order on the last day of its current term and agreed to hear oral arguments during its next term starting in October so it can decide finally whether the ban is lawful in a major test of presidential powers.

By Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung | WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to President Donald Trump by reviving parts of a travel ban on people from six Muslim-majority countries that he said is needed for national security but that opponents decry as discriminatory.
 The justices narrowed the scope of lower court rulings that had completely blocked key parts of a March 6 executive order that Trump had said was needed to prevent terrorism in the United States, allowing his temporary ban to go into effect for people with no strong ties such as family or business to the United States. [tmsnrt.rs/2seb3bb]
The court issued its order on the last day of its current term and agreed to hear oral arguments during its next term starting in October so it can decide finally whether the ban is lawful in a major test of presidential powers.

By Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung | WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to President Donald Trump by reviving parts of a travel ban on people from six Muslim-majority countries that he said is needed for national security but that opponents decry as discriminatory.
 The justices narrowed the scope of lower court rulings that had completely blocked key parts of a March 6 executive order that Trump had said was needed to prevent terrorism in the United States, allowing his temporary ban to go into effect for people with no strong ties such as family or business to the United States. [tmsnrt.rs/2seb3bb]
The court issued its order on the last day of its current term and agreed to hear oral arguments during its next term starting in October so it can decide finally whether the ban is lawful in a major test of presidential powers."
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-immigration-idUSKBN19H1OR?DCMP=NWL-pro_top

This was a compromise decision among the Justices.  The final decision will come next year.  At this point, this was a good decision. In his first big case, Gorsuch acted like a Trump toady.  I had higher hopes for him.