It is shocking, but not surprising that Donald Trump is aiming at ending all civil rights laws and enforcement, going back to the time of Lyndon B. Johnson, and really even back to earlier efforts and support of Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy.
It is also an attack on the advancements that came under later Presidents and Congresses, to promote equal opportunity, and overcome generations of discrimination and bias by state and local governments.
It is reviving the hatred and prejudice enunciated by generations of the Ku Klux Klan, and such individuals as Orval Faubus of Arkansas, Ross Barnett of Mississippi, Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, and most notably, George Wallace of Alabama.
It is a bold move to reinstall Jim Crow laws that dominated from the Gilded Age to the era of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
It is the final surrender of the Republican Party, which had promoted civil rights at a time when Southern Democrats were advocating segregation and defiance of the federal government.
Now, we have a wealthy New York real estate magnate proudly promoting what he has believed his entire life, to bring back the racism and nativism that he has advocated, with so many excusing him or saying that he is not such, when he most clearly is so!
And to top it off, Trump is attempting to remove Birthright Citizenship from Native Americans, the original and only “true” Americans, as well as discriminating against Latinos and Asian Americans as well, as he considers only “white” people from Europe as “true Americans”!
When and how will this crazy revival of hate and prejudice be stopped dead in its tracks?
When will the Republican Party remember the basis of their existence in the mid 19th century, when they were a party of racial equality?
In Trump’s ICE raids, Native Americans and Puerto Ricans are being racially profiled.
CNN is reporting that several officials who worked on the criminal investigations into Trump have been fired.
Google Maps will change the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/28/tech/google-maps-gulf-of-mexico-america/index.html
Well, I refuse to call it “Gulf of America”.
The Associated Press has established style guidance on the Gulf of Mexico and Mount McKinley.
1. “The Associated Press will refer to the Gulf of Mexico by its original name while acknowledging the name, Gulf of America. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are recognizable to all audiences.”
2. “The Associated Press will use the name Mount McKinley instead of Denali. The area lies solely in the United States and as president, Trump has the authority to change federal geographical names within the country.
https://apnews.com/article/ap-style-gulf-mexico-mount-mckinley-denali-13bd46d636cef6f2608bd5d2c3d907ee
This is WILDLY irresponsible and reckless!
CDC ordered to stop working with WHO immediately, upending expectations of an extended withdrawal
https://apnews.com/article/cdc-who-trump-548cf18b1c409c7d22e17311ccdfe1f6
This is viciously cruel!
Trump Administration Halts H.I.V. Drug Distribution in Poor Countries
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/health/pepfar-trump-freeze.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sU4.nnB5.iT69u4FuwlEZ&smid=url-share
Trump has ordered a freeze on all federal loans and grants.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/27/politics/white-house-pauses-federal-grants-loan-disbursement/index.html
Top USAID career staff placed on immediate leave
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/27/top-usaid-career-staff-ordered-leave-00200854
Trump To Tariff Chips Made In Taiwan, Targeting TSMC
https://www.pcmag.com/news/trump-to-tariff-chips-made-in-taiwan-targeting-tsmc
He’s gone full dictator.
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/trump-goes-full-dictator?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=271358&post_id=155905746&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=f5hl&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
The Impoundment Crisis of 2025
https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/120-the-impoundment-crisis-of-2025
The way Trump is going I can’t help but wonder what they’re planning to do with elections. Why would they even think of allowing them to be free and fair?
Trump apparently wants a resort in Gaza.
https://digbysblog.net/2025/01/27/the-trump-gaza-resort-on-the-way/
Nancy LeTourneau at the Horizons blog explains about the situation with Colombia.
https://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-white-house-instigated-tensions.html
Grassroots organizers are saying that Democratic voters are getting fed up with the party’s inaction against Trump.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/democrats-prepared-to-oppose-trump-s-unqualified-cabinet-picks
I’m fed up with them too. They need to aggressively stand against the GOP.
Several nonprofit organizations are suing the Trump administration over its move to freeze various federal aid programs.
The Oklahoma State Board of Education voted Tuesday to approve a proposal requiring families to prove their immigration or citizenship status when enrolling their children in school.
Another Win For Trump….
Jim Acosta is leaving CNN.
They told him he would have to switch to a midnight show despite his ratings being the highest on the network in daytime. So he left.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cnn-anchor-leaving-reports_n_67988491e4b0dd1913e46a93
Trump’s Press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, gave her first White House briefing today. She called on content creators — bloggers, podcasters and others who use nontraditional media — to apply for White House press credentials and a coveted seat in the briefing room.
She allowed what she dubbed “new media” the first chance to ask questions, and gave the first one to Axios’ Mike Allen. Up second was Matt Boyle, of the right-wing site Breitbart. She praised both outlets as “widely respected and viewed.”
Government agencies are being asked to provide answers to a battery of questions seeking to discover whether any of their grants, loans and financial assistance fund any organization that engages in DEI practices, promotes “gender ideology,” supports or promotes abortion care or provides services to undocumented immigrants, according documents obtained by HuffPost.
The questions posed to agencies are part of Trump’s “temporary” freeze on all federal grant, loan or financial assistance spending by federal government agencies that was reported on Monday. The Office of Management and Budget memo announcing the freeze stated its purpose as rooting out all federal spending on “Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies.” It asked agencies to perform a review of all covered programs by Feb. 10.
The questions on the document that agencies are meant to fill out as part of their review shows what kinds of programs the White House is targeting. These questions, culled from the spreadsheet sent to agencies, are below:
Please identify the email of the senior political appointee responsible for overseeing this program
Does the program have any pending funding announcements?
Does the program have any anticipated obligations or disbursement of funds before 3/15/2025?
Does this program have any statutory requirements mandating the obligation or disbursement of funds through 3/15/2025?
Provide the estimated date of the next obligation or disbursement of funds
Does this program provide Federal funding to non-governmental organizations supporting or providing services, either directly or indirectly, to removable or illegal aliens?
Is this program a foreign assistance program, or provide funding or support activities overseas?
Does this program provide funding that is implicated by the revocation and recission of the U.S. International Climate Finance Plan?
Does this program include activities that impose an undue burden on the identification, development, or use of domestic energy resources (including through funding under the Inflation Reducing Act of 2022; and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act)?
Does this program provide funding that is implicated by the directive to end discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities, under whatever name they appear, or other directives in the same EO, including those related to “environmental justice” programs or “equity-related” grants?
Does this program promote gender ideology?
Does this program promote or support in any way abortion or other related activities identified in the Hyde Amendment?
If not covered in the preceding columns, does this program support any activities that must not be supported based on executive orders issued on or after January 20, 2025 (including executive orders released following the dissemination of this spreadsheet)?
Provide additional information on program or project activities.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) confirmed anecdotal reports Tuesday about widespread problems with the Medicaid payment system, writing on social media that Medicaid portals are in fact down in all 50 states.
“My staff has confirmed reports that Medicaid portals are down in all 50 states following last night’s federal funding freeze,” Wyden said. “This is a blatant attempt to rip away health insurance from millions of Americans overnight and will get people killed.”
What will it take for Americans to say “enough is enough”?!
Trump has caused the Doomsday Clock to be moved to 89 seconds to midnight.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/28/science/doomsday-clock-2025-time-wellness/index.html
At her first White House briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt made an unusual claim about inflation that has stung American shoppers for years: Leavitt said egg prices have continued to surge because “the Biden administration and the Department of Agriculture directed the mass killing of more than 100 million chickens, which has led to a lack of chicken supply in this country, therefore lack of egg supply, which is leading to the shortage.”
That’s not exactly correct, and it needs some context. Those “killings” are required by the Department of Agriculture to contain the spread of the highly contagious avian flu that has afflicted 100 million birds since 2022, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. The egg-laying birds either die naturally or are culled to avoid the spread of the deadly virus. It is up to farmers to report an outbreak to state officials and the Department of Agriculture, who will eliminate the impacted birds in the flock. Farmers can apply for financial assistance from the USDA if they lose their flocks.
In November and December alone, the virus surged killing about 17.2 million egg-laying hens — half of 2024’s total, according to the USDA. As a result, egg prices are expected to rise by 20% this year as the virus spreads, and flocks are slow to repopulate. The avian flu has also spread to dairy farms and has been detected in humans.
If the infected egg-laying birds weren’t killed, the virus could spread, and egg prices could be even higher. Unless the Trump administration decides to change its bird flu policy, Trump’s USDA will also help assist in the “mass killing” of chickens.
LGBTQ rights groups are suing the Trump administration over ban on transgender military members.
Just over 1 week in, and this administration is already the unmitigated disaster many of us predicted it would be.
A judge has halted Trump’s freeze on federal funding until a hearing on Monday.