Secretary Of Health And Human Services

Two “Democrats” Who Now Are MAGA Republicans And Cabinet Members!

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It is stunning that two former Democrats are now MAGA Republicans, and will be part of Donald Trump’s second term Cabinet, assuming they are confirmed by the Republican majority in the US Senate!

Both are very dangerous to be part of the Cabinet, but sadly, we are faced with the likelihood that they will be in key positions

Tulsi Gabbard, former Democratic Congresswoman from Hawaii, as Director of National Intelligence, despite her flirtations with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin over recent years. The thought that such a person, who is a massive security risk, would become the leading spy executive of our federal government is horrifying beyond belief!

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, son of the late Senator and Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy is a conspiracy theorist; anti vaccine advocate; against flouride in America’s water supply; and desirous of damaging America’s health care system. He is a disgrace to the Kennedy family name, and has a horrendous history of drug and alcohol abuse, and sexual misconduct during his three marriages.

Neither Gabbard nor Kennedy should have any impact on American government policy, and both are very dangerous, but unlikely that either can be stopped from gaining power under Donald Trump!

Unqualified And Controversial Trump Appointments Abound In Early Selections!

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When one observes Donald Trump’s early appointments, one concludes that he has decided to name unqualified individuals to a multitude of major positions.

When one can say that Florida Senator Marco Rubio becoming Secretary of State is the “best” appointment of a horrendous list, that summarizes what a disaster the nation is facing!

Rubio has 14 years of Senate experience, and is on the Senate Intelligence Committee, and while no great intellectual, he meets the minimum requirements to lead our foreign policy establishment, but is no star in any sense.

But then, one looks at other appointments:

Pete Hegseth, a Fox News Host, as Secretary of Defense
Kristi Noem, South Dakota Governor, as Secretary of Homeland Security
Elise Stafanek, NY Congresswoman, as United Nations Ambassador
Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas Governor, as US Ambassador to Israel
Tulsi Gabbard, former Democratic Congresswoman from Hawaii as Director Of National Intelligence
Lee Zeldin, former NY Congressman, as head of the Environmental Protection Agency

Pete Hegseth is a total surprise to the Pentagon with no real credentials to head the Pentagon.

Kristi Noem has ZERO experience to head Homeland Security, and has been an embarrassment as Governor of a very small state, South Dakota.

Elise Stefanik is an ultimate example of an individual who transformed, conveniently, from being a moderate Republican to a MAGA Republican, as a way to advance her career.

Mike Huckabee is a Christian Zionist, whose ultimate aim is to convert Jews to his radical brand of Christianity, the last thing that American Jews would support, but may be acceptable to the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as he works to take over the Palestinian territories.

Tulsi Gabbard is a former Democratic Presidential contender, who has gone over to the Republican Party, after going off the rails in her foreign policy views, and now will be more powerful over intelligence gathering than anyone else .

Lee Zeldin has no desire to promote environmental protection, so can be described as a fox put into a chicken coop.

It seems clear that the major qualification to be in the Trump Cabinet is to be slavishly loyal to his agenda, with no concept of considering what is constitutional and legitimate!

Add to this list Robert F. Kennedy Jr. possibly being Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Billionaire Elon Musk everywhere, trying to have a major influence.

This list will become even more controversial as the days pass, and fireworks are possible on some of the appointments.

And now, as I am writing, controversial Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz has been chosen to be Attorney General, which would seem extremely divisive.

It also means now THREE Republican House members, including Mike Waltz of Florida as National Security Adviser, along with Stefanik and Gaetz, will be removed from that chamber, endangering, at least for the short term, having a Republican majority, which seems a lunatic move!

The last 24 hours have been shocking, and will continue to be in the coming hours and days!

Trend Toward Older First Term Members Of Congress–Mitt Romney And Donna Shalala As Examples Of Trend

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A trend that has developed lately is that some new members of Congress are older than usually at their swearing in, as compared to previous times.

We have two such examples in the 116th Congress.

Newly minted Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, the 2012 Republican Presidential nominee, will be two months short of age 72 in January. He lost the race for a Senate seat in Massachusetts to Senator Ted Kennedy in the Midterm Elections of 1994, 24 years ago, but now will be in the Senate a quarter century later.

Donna Shalala, former Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001, after being President of Hunter College from 1980-1988 and Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, from 1988-1993, was then President of the University of Miami in Florida from 2001-2015, and President of the Clinton Foundation from 2015-2017. She is now the new Congresswoman in the Miami, Florida district that was occupied by Ileana Ros Lehtinen from 1989 through 2018. It earlier had been the seat of the revered Claude Pepper from 1962-1999.

That seat in South Florida is an especially sacred seat in a sense, and Shalala will be one month short of age 78 when she joins the House of Representatives.

Corrupt And Unethical Cabinet Members Of Donald Trump, Greater Than Ulysses S. Grant, Warren G. Harding, Or Richard Nixon

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Donald Trump is presiding after just one year over the most corrupt Cabinet in American history, more than Ulysses S. Grant, Warren G. Harding, or Richard Nixon.

The following Cabinet members have come under controversy for ethical violations, and for their arrogance and insensitivity, and lack of scruples:

Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin
Attorney General Jeff Sessions
Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke
Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross
Former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos
Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin
Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Neilsen
Environmental Protection Agency Head Scott Pruitt
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly
Director of the Office of Management and Budget and Acting Head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Mick Mulvaney

Most of the above are setting a record as the absolutely worst possible human beings in public positions of trust, and this does not include the multitude of others who have resigned or been forced out, and the reality that the turnover in the Trump White House is triple that of Barack Obama at this point, and double other administrations.

Many of the people around Trump, past and present, have had to hire lawyers, and built up massive expenses defending their role and influence under the 45th President. Many have lost whatever reputation they had coming in, and many will end up in prison for their misdeeds.

Trump has managed to bring the most despicable, most disgraceful, most nasty and mean spirited, and most materialistic oriented people to gather around what has become a “ship of rats”.

Their inferior and disgusting performance in public office will haunt them the rest of their lives and into history, and this includes the corrupt and entitled son in law Jared Kushner, and daughter Ivanka Trump.

And at the same time, sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have solidified just how disastrous they are, and how destructive they have been, adding to the tragedy of Donald Trump, who will go down where he has started after just one year, the worst President ever in American history, bar none!

Eight Republican Senators Possible Votes Against House Passed “Health Care” Bill, So Highly Unlikely That “TrumpCare” Will Become Law!

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Senator Susan Collins of Maine

Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska

Senator Dean Heller of Nevada

Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona

Senator John McCain of Arizona

Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia

Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee

Senator Rob Portman of Ohio

These are the 8 Republican Senators who are seen as likely to vote against the House passed excuse for a “Health Care” bill, making it highly unlikely that “TrumpCare” will become law!

Collins and Murkowski do not want Planned Parenthood defunded, and want to protect Medicaid patients in their states, both states with many poor people.

Heller faces a very tough race for reelection in Nevada, as does Flake in Arizona, and both have a very large senior citizen constituency in their Western states.

McCain, despite his often inconsistent statements and actions, is basically a moderate, certainly as compared to the vast majority of Republicans in the Senate and in Congress.

Capito comes from one of the poorest states of all, West Virginia, and many poor, disabled (such as coal miners), and senior citizens would be harmed by the GOP passed House bill.

Corker is one of the more reasonable Republican Senators, and seems very cautious as to accepting such a radical bill as the House passed.

Portman also comes across as one of the more reasonable Republican Senators, and Ohio is the state of Governor John Kasich, who extended Medicaid, and it is hard to imagine that Portman would wish to harm his state’s disabled, senior citizens and poor, in a state which went for Trump, not realizing that the President would not give a damn about those on Medicaid, and those who were willing to support him with no good reason to do so, except being ignorant of reality about what right wing Republicans would do to destroy the good parts of ObamaCare.

It is hard to imagine that ANY Democratic Senator, not even Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, or Jon Tester of Montanan would support any major change in the Affordable Care Act!

So do NOT expect any kind of legislation anywhere near what the House Freedom Caucus, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, or Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price want, and expect that the American people will react in 2018 by a Democratic takeover of the House, including a move toward impeachment of the most despicable President in American history, bar none, Donald Trump!

The Urgency Of The Democratic Party Taking Back The House Of Representatives, And State Governorships And Legislatures In 2018

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Jon Ossoff, the Democratic front runner in the 6th Congressional District of Georgia (Atlanta suburbs), fell just short of the 50 percent needed to win that seat in the House of Representatives, and avoid a runoff.

Now he will face Republican Karen Handel on June 20, and it will be more difficult to gain the seat, a traditionally GOP district in the past 38 years since Newt Gingrich won the seat in 1979, followed up by Tom Price, the Health and Human Services Secretary, who vacated the seat to become part of Donald Trump’s cabinet.

One can be assured massive amounts of money will be spent on both sides of this race, which, if Ossoff wins, would be a major blow to Donald Trump and his agenda.

The 24 point swing in Kansas’s special election for the House, and now the 10 point swing in Georgia, in the first round, are signs that the Democrats COULD regain the majority in the House of Representatives in 2018, after eight years in the “wilderness”.

It is simply a sign of the reality that the Democratic Party, at a low point, having lost so many seats in both houses of Congress in the Barack Obama era, along with governorships and state legislatures, have the urgency to work very hard to start their revival.

The average number of seats gained by the “out” party in the midterm elections is 23 in the House of Representatives, and right now, the Democrats need 24 seats to regain control, so it is within potential gains that one might expect.

The US Senate will be nearly impossible to win seats, however, as only 8 Republicans are up for reelection in 2018, as against 25 Democrats.

Looking at the GOP held seats, the only possible gains, and not easily, might be Jeff Flake’s seat in Arizona, and Dean Heller’s seat in Nevada. The only other possible hope would be if somehow Ted Cruz could be unseated in Texas, but that is highly unlikely. So at this point, the most that could be expected is a 50-50 tie in the Senate, with Vice President Mike Pence able to use his vote in a tied Senate.

One must realize that while many of the 25 Democratic seats are seen as safe, a large number are not so, including Claire McCaskill in Missouri, Jon Tester in Montana, Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota, Joe Manchin in West Virginia, Joe Donnelly in Indiana, Bill Nelson in Florida, and Bob Casey in Pennsylvania. Note that Heitkamp, Manchin, and Donnelly tried to protect their flank by voting for Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, but McCaskill, Tester, Nelson and Casey did not do so.

But beyond Congress, it is urgent that state governorships be gained, as well as control of more state legislatures, all in planning for the next census of 2020 and the redistricting of House seats and state legislative seats that will come after 2020, with the evil reality of gerrymandering affecting the next decade.

Jeff Sessions,Tom Price, Nick Mulvaney: Former Members Of Congress Working Against Civil Rights, Health Care, And Common Decency Toward The Poor!

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Three former members of Congress have become leading figures in the Trump Administration, as it works against Civil Rights, Health Care, and common decency toward the poor, and one has to wonder how these three men can look in the mirror and feel they are doing what is proper in any society.

Jeff Sessions, former Alabama Senator, is doing everything he can as Attorney General to undermine the rights of all racial minorities, women, gays and lesbians, and transgender Americans, trying to take us back to the way things were in the era before the Civil Rights Movement began in the 1950s, and trying to deny the role of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation in American society. Jeff Sessions has a hardened look on his face, and anyone can see what a nasty racist, nativist, and misogynist Sessions is.

Tom Price, former Georgia Congressman and a medical doctor, is Secretary of Health and Human Services, and has engaged in corrupt conflicts of interest regarding stock profits given to him by companies that the department must deal with. And now, Price is so eager to knock 24 million Americans off health care completely. What kind of doctor, and basically any human being, would be so hardhearted and cold and distant about the basic life and health of people who are elderly, disabled, poor? The man has such an evil look on his face.

And then we have former South Carolina Congressman Nick Mulvaney, who is head of the Office of Management and Budget, who is out to promote extreme tax cuts to the wealthy by cutting all programs that help the poor to survive just barely, including Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, as well as health care, education, food stamps, used by poor women and their children, as well as disabled and elderly. Mulvaney sees the poor as a group to exploit and make their miserable lives ever more downtrodden. Mulvaney is Robin Hood in reverse, and is a despicable, uncaring man, who has no conscience.

The thing that unites all three is that they are all “religious”, “good Christians”, in all the hypocrisy of such terminology!

If this is religiosity, to oppose the message of their savior Jesus Christ, who happened to be Jewish, then no wonder so many people are so cynical about religion!

Cabinet Of “Deplorables” Marches Forward Toward Confirmation

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The effects of election results are demonstrated once again as the Cabinet of “Deplorables” marches forward toward confirmation.

The last 24 hours have been particularly gloomy as Betsy DeVos was confirmed as Secretary of Education, and Jeff Sessions was confirmed as Attorney General.

Having a person who has never in any way been involved in public education and believes in charter schools and Christianized education is outrageous and demoralizing. America’s children will suffer as she takes over with the intention of ignoring the issues of disabled students, racial and ethnic minorities, and the protection of women and girls, and the problem of guns in schools.

Jeff Sessions reminds us too much of George Wallace, and the old saying applies–Once a bigot, always a bigot–ant to believe that he will dispense equal justice, and enforce civil rights and civil liberties, and protect women’s rights and immigrants rights, is to believe the tooth fairy.

We will soon see Tom Price as Secretary of Health and Human Services, with an intention to destroy Medicare, Medicaid, and ObamaCare as we know it; and Scott Pruit head the Environmental Protection Agency which he has sued 14 times and would like to destroy the agency if he could; and Ryan Zinke as Secretary of the Interior, but not dedicated to preservation of the National Parks and protection of native American rights.

And other horrors in the cabinet are also in line for a vote, one that the Democrats and Progressives are unable to stop, a very depressing time.

Trump Cabinet By Far The Oldest In American History: The Senior Citizen Dominance!

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One unnoticed issue about the Donald Trump Cabinet is that the 45th President has, by far, the oldest group of Cabinet officers in all of American history.

A total of 11 people around Trump are from age 62 up to 79 as they take over their positions, making our government one run by “senior citizens”.

Understand that this blogger is technically a “senior citizen”, but he also is not taking on the burden of a high pressure, burdensome job working for a President of the United States, and to have the vast majority of those in charge of our future being those who have, probably, no more than 10-15 years left, in a natio in which half the population is under 35, brings up the issue of whether it is proper that so many “senior citizens”, who will not be personally affected long term, should be in charge of government policy that affects 325 million Americans.

Here are the cabinet members who fit into this category:

Tom Price, Secretary of Health and Human Services, 62
Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State, 64
Steve Bannon, Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor, 64
Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation, 64
Ben Carson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 65
Andrew Puzder, Secretary of Labor, 66
Rick Perry, Secretary of Energy, 66
General John Kelly, Secretary of Homeland Security, 66
General James Mattis, Secretary of Defense, 66
Jeff Sessions, Attorney General, 70
Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce, 79

And Donald Trump is 70 years and 7 months, 8 months older than Ronald Reagan, when he took the oath of office.

It must be admitted that Hillary Clinton is 69; Joe Biden is 74; and Bernie Sanders is 75, but it is highly likely that they would have brought in a much younger group of Cabinet officers.

Trump Appointments That Declare “War”: Health And Human Services, Education, Labor, Environmental Protection Agency, Interior, Justice, Energy

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Donald Trump has made a horrific list of cabinet and other appointments that have declared “war” on domestic concerns that extend from the time of Theodore Roosevelt through to Barack Obama, with particularly great threat to the heritage of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal and Lyndon B. Johnson and the Great Society.

The appointment of Tom Price as Secretary of Health and Human Services endangers Social Security. Medicare, Medicaid, and Food Stamps–affecting the poor, elderly and sick.

The appointment of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education endangers public education at all level, and concerns about college debt burdens for millions of college and university students, and promotes the “Christianization” and charter school movement against American traditions of two hundred years.

The appointment of Tom Puzder as Secretary of Labor endangers the whole labor movement advancements of the past century, including unionization, minimum wage, sick leave, overtime, and safety conditions.

The appointment of Scott Pruitt as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and of Ryan Zinke as Secretary of the Interior endangers the environment, and our national park and national forest system in massive ways that are incalculable.

The appointment of Jeff Sessions as Attorney General of the United States endangers the enforcement of civil liberties and civil rights, and will be particularly dangerous to the rights of racial minorities, women, and gays and lesbians.

The appointment of Rick Perry as Secretary of Energy endangers the nation, as Perry is totally ignorant of science and nuclear energy, and wanted to destroy the department, based on his statements during Presidential debates in 2011 and since.

We are faced with a nightmare scenario, as probably the most that might be expected is the blocking of potentially one or two of these nominees at the most, but the clear cut possibility that all of them will be confirmed by the Republican majority in the US Senate, and the Democrats will not be able to stop any of them from destroying our domestic future!