President's Day - 2017
We are less than 40 days into 45's presidency. I have this mental picture of a reporter, from one of those very conservative media outlets who were invited into last Friday's closed-door press briefing with Sean Spicer as the New York Times, CNN, L.A. Times and the Huffington Post were excluded; asking Mr. Trump a question.
"Mister President, today is President's Day. As we sit in the Oval Office, in your opinion, who is our nation's greatest president ever?"
"Me. I'm the greatest president in the history of not just the USA, but of the entire planet. The bigly things I've done in just a few weeks are much more bigly than those of the presidents who came before me. In fact I've done such a great job I'm working on replacing those four guys on that mountain in South Dakota with just me."
A bit of a stretch? Probably. But not all that big of one when you consider a tweet that the narcissistic resident of the White House sent out last week.
"The media has not reported that the National Debt in my first month went down by $12 billion vs a $200 billion increase in Obama first mo."
The lunacy goes deeper. In an era where 45 is talking constantly about how the media puts out fake news, it is he and his myopic minions who are engaging in the biggest lies ever. Comparing the first month of his tenure in the Oval Office with that of President Obama is one of the most egregious of false equivalencies ever.
January 2009. The U.S. is reeling from a financial meltdown. The Dow Jones Industrial average, which hit a high of 14,000 in October of 2007 was below 8,000 the day that President Obama was sworn in. It would fall below 7,000 by March of 2009.
January 2017. The U.S. is enjoying a recovery. Unemployment is at a historic low. The market continues to climb.
I cannot say with any degree of certainty that when history renders its judgment about where Donald Trump ranks in terms of other presidents, for better or worse, but I predict he'll be near the bottom with Andrew Johnson and Franklin Pierce.
* * *
Speaking of comparisons between 45 and President Obama, let's make a few
President Obama went to Chicago in February of 2009 and went back in June of 2009. Those were his only visits to his hometown during his first six months in office.
45 has visited his Mar-a-Lago home three straight weekends during February of 2017. He has spent three of his first six weekends in office
President Obama played his first round of golf after being inaugurated on April 26, 2009.
45 has gone to his golf courses six times during his first six weeks in office. CNN reports that while 45's staff is taking great pains to conceal the number of rounds of golf he has played, it appears that he played a round of golf on "most of those visits."
At this rate 45 will play a lot more golf than President Obama did during their respective times in office, and let us not forget that 45 constantly criticized President Obama for playing golf too often.
* * *
Some numbers:
Austria - 54,064
France - 400,000
Germany - 400,000
Italy - 671,000
Japan - 67,065
Russia - 4,000,000
Spain - 390,000
United Kingdom - 863,000
United States - 11,300,000
These are estimates of the illegal immigrant population in these nations made between 2008 and 2010. A comparison of 13 nations (those above without Japan but adding The Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, The Netherlands, Slovakia and Turkey) to the U.S. showed that the total population of illegal immigrants in the U.S. at the time was 3.8%; while the average of the other 13 nations was only 1.3%
No other nation on this planet has been as tolerant of illegal immigration as the U.S. was prior to the election of 45.
But no new laws have been passed. What 45 is instructing the Department of Homeland Security to do regarding the deportation of those who are in this country illegally is not illegal. It is a drastic change in policy.
I've said all along that our nation is in need of a comprehensive reform of those laws governing immigration. We also have a problem with those here illegally whose home country will not take them back. What do we do with them?
Do we have any recourse against this change in policy? None that I can see through the judicial system. None that would ever get enough votes in the Congress.
Take the cast of Juan Carlos Hernandez Pacheco of West Frankfort, IL. This town voted overwhelmingly for 45 in November. Now they are uniting behind the man they know as "Carlos." He is the manager of a local restaurant and a "pillar of the community" according to many who reside there.
He was taken into custody by federal immigration agents on February 9th. He remains in custody. While DHS doesn't have anything to say about why he was arrested, or why on that particular day; but they did mention he has two DUI convictions.
Wait a minute, you're thinking. DUI isn't a serious crime that merits deportation. It isn't murder or rape. Tell that to the families of the 9,967 people who were killed in DUI incidents in 2014 according to the Center for Disease Control. 19% of children who died in auto accidents in that year died because of someone who was DUI.
One DUI is forgivable. We all make mistakes, errors in judgment. Multiple offenses are not so easily forgiven. Andrew Thomas Gallo who killed three people including Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart in a 2009 crash was previously convicted of DUI and was driving on a suspended license at the time. Like it or not, it was only good fortune that Mr. Pacheco didn't injure or kill anyone in either of his DUI incidents.
Now I am NOT saying he should be deported solely on the basis of those two convictions. I am saying that we cannot dismiss those convictions out of hand because of what he has done since. The point is that if 45 wants to deport those here illegally because of things like DUI convictions, he has the power to do so.
How do we fix this? There is only one way. Change the composition of the Congress so that we can institute the comprehensive immigration reform that is needed. A subject I'll be addressing in another blog.
"Mister President, today is President's Day. As we sit in the Oval Office, in your opinion, who is our nation's greatest president ever?"
"Me. I'm the greatest president in the history of not just the USA, but of the entire planet. The bigly things I've done in just a few weeks are much more bigly than those of the presidents who came before me. In fact I've done such a great job I'm working on replacing those four guys on that mountain in South Dakota with just me."
A bit of a stretch? Probably. But not all that big of one when you consider a tweet that the narcissistic resident of the White House sent out last week.
"The media has not reported that the National Debt in my first month went down by $12 billion vs a $200 billion increase in Obama first mo."
The lunacy goes deeper. In an era where 45 is talking constantly about how the media puts out fake news, it is he and his myopic minions who are engaging in the biggest lies ever. Comparing the first month of his tenure in the Oval Office with that of President Obama is one of the most egregious of false equivalencies ever.
January 2009. The U.S. is reeling from a financial meltdown. The Dow Jones Industrial average, which hit a high of 14,000 in October of 2007 was below 8,000 the day that President Obama was sworn in. It would fall below 7,000 by March of 2009.
January 2017. The U.S. is enjoying a recovery. Unemployment is at a historic low. The market continues to climb.
I cannot say with any degree of certainty that when history renders its judgment about where Donald Trump ranks in terms of other presidents, for better or worse, but I predict he'll be near the bottom with Andrew Johnson and Franklin Pierce.
* * *
Speaking of comparisons between 45 and President Obama, let's make a few
President Obama went to Chicago in February of 2009 and went back in June of 2009. Those were his only visits to his hometown during his first six months in office.
45 has visited his Mar-a-Lago home three straight weekends during February of 2017. He has spent three of his first six weekends in office
President Obama played his first round of golf after being inaugurated on April 26, 2009.
45 has gone to his golf courses six times during his first six weeks in office. CNN reports that while 45's staff is taking great pains to conceal the number of rounds of golf he has played, it appears that he played a round of golf on "most of those visits."
At this rate 45 will play a lot more golf than President Obama did during their respective times in office, and let us not forget that 45 constantly criticized President Obama for playing golf too often.
* * *
Some numbers:
Austria - 54,064
France - 400,000
Germany - 400,000
Italy - 671,000
Japan - 67,065
Russia - 4,000,000
Spain - 390,000
United Kingdom - 863,000
United States - 11,300,000
These are estimates of the illegal immigrant population in these nations made between 2008 and 2010. A comparison of 13 nations (those above without Japan but adding The Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, The Netherlands, Slovakia and Turkey) to the U.S. showed that the total population of illegal immigrants in the U.S. at the time was 3.8%; while the average of the other 13 nations was only 1.3%
No other nation on this planet has been as tolerant of illegal immigration as the U.S. was prior to the election of 45.
But no new laws have been passed. What 45 is instructing the Department of Homeland Security to do regarding the deportation of those who are in this country illegally is not illegal. It is a drastic change in policy.
I've said all along that our nation is in need of a comprehensive reform of those laws governing immigration. We also have a problem with those here illegally whose home country will not take them back. What do we do with them?
Do we have any recourse against this change in policy? None that I can see through the judicial system. None that would ever get enough votes in the Congress.
Take the cast of Juan Carlos Hernandez Pacheco of West Frankfort, IL. This town voted overwhelmingly for 45 in November. Now they are uniting behind the man they know as "Carlos." He is the manager of a local restaurant and a "pillar of the community" according to many who reside there.
He was taken into custody by federal immigration agents on February 9th. He remains in custody. While DHS doesn't have anything to say about why he was arrested, or why on that particular day; but they did mention he has two DUI convictions.
Wait a minute, you're thinking. DUI isn't a serious crime that merits deportation. It isn't murder or rape. Tell that to the families of the 9,967 people who were killed in DUI incidents in 2014 according to the Center for Disease Control. 19% of children who died in auto accidents in that year died because of someone who was DUI.
One DUI is forgivable. We all make mistakes, errors in judgment. Multiple offenses are not so easily forgiven. Andrew Thomas Gallo who killed three people including Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart in a 2009 crash was previously convicted of DUI and was driving on a suspended license at the time. Like it or not, it was only good fortune that Mr. Pacheco didn't injure or kill anyone in either of his DUI incidents.
Now I am NOT saying he should be deported solely on the basis of those two convictions. I am saying that we cannot dismiss those convictions out of hand because of what he has done since. The point is that if 45 wants to deport those here illegally because of things like DUI convictions, he has the power to do so.
How do we fix this? There is only one way. Change the composition of the Congress so that we can institute the comprehensive immigration reform that is needed. A subject I'll be addressing in another blog.
posted by me at 5:49 PM
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