How To Govern For Dummies

How to Govern For Dummies

by C. A. Matthews

I don't usually like to call people names or point out their mental/moral deficiencies, but when a person states in public that Neo-Nazis and Klansmen are "nice people," then that someone desperately needs some calling out. I suspect you know which person I'm referring to, so there's no need for me to hurt our shared sensibilities by typing this person's name. Just reading it causes me anxiety at times, so it's better I keep this sorry-excuse-for-an-elected-official nameless.

Are there some human beings who are simply irredeemable? Are there some individuals that, try as we may, we can't educate to a level where they can handle their responsibilities? I don't know. I used to consider myself an optimist, but the past two years have taught me a few lessons I wish I could unlearn. One recent example of how some people and their organizations aren't to be trusted is a group with a name beginning with the letters "DNC." They, and all card-carrying members of the 1% elitist establishment, are complete write-offs in the trust department. (This opinion piece on the recent ruling concerning the DNC Fraud Lawsuit makes the point very well.)

Would do you think--perhaps for the sake of our collective sanity we should at least attempt to teach this nameless individual of low intelligence/little morality how to do his job correctly? And what better way to teach the tiny-minds of those with tiny-hands than by giving them bite-sized nuggets of wisdom called "tweets." Short and easy to digest (mentally), tweeting is what this guy is all about it seems. At least we can sleep at night knowing we've done our best and tried to make the world a better place--which is more than can be said for you-know-who.

So, in 140 characters or less, here are some quotable quotes from a new "idiot's guide" on how to govern the United States of America.

1) We all can tell the climate is changing. Stop lying & appoint scientists to the EPA & other agencies. 80F in Ohio in winter is NOT okay.

2) Nazis and KKK are NOT "nice people." They are EVIL & those who say they're "nice" aren't nice themselves.

3) Ordinary Americans want #MedicareForAll & free education. The vast majority don't make $10million/year & golf at your private resorts.

4) Oil pipelines & fracking are dead ends. Go w/ green energy. Stop persecuting water protectors--free them all! #StandWithStandingRock

5) Human beings come in all shades & gender identities. They all serve in the Armed Forces. Respect them. They sacrifice a lot for us.
(Read more on this story here.)

6) #WaterIsLife & without it we die. Poisoning rivers w/ coal ash & fracking wastes kills people. That's murder. Don't kill people!

7) #WindPower will not stop the wind. #SolarPower works at night. Pls appoint real scientists to advise you, not corporate stooges.

8) Go to bed at a decent hour. Tweeting like a teenager at night makes us think you're emotionally stunted. So does saying Nazis are "nice."

  9) Follow Ike's example--tax corporations. Pay your own taxes & make the 1% pay theirs. It's responsible economics.

10) Mein Kampf is not reading material for a president. Confederate statues celebrate white supremacists & slavery. These are both WRONG.

11) Afghanistan, where empires go to die. Withdraw our troops & stop the war. NOW. #nomorewar

12) North Korea is poor yet proud. Threatening to nuke them is bullying & dangerous to EVERYONE'S health on the planet. Don't.

13) Being president is NOT a hobby, golfing is. Golfing is not your job, being president is. Time should go toward your job, not hobby. 

14) Women deserve to be treated with respect. Do not grab at any part of their anatomy. You wouldn't want your wife groped, right? (Answer: No)

15) Medicaid expansion is working. Many Americans are healthier. Hospitals, doctors & nurses agree--keep it! #medicareforall

16) Sheriff Arpaio is a criminal. Pardoning him says you agree with racial profiling & abuse. That is criminal. Stop it.
(Read more on this story, with video.)

ACLU Deputy Legal Director Cecillia Wang said about the pardon:

“With his pardon of Arpaio, Trump has chosen lawlessness over justice, division over unity, hurt over healing. Once again, the president has acted in support of illegal, failed immigration enforcement practices that target people of color and have been struck down by the courts. His pardon of Arpaio is a presidential endorsement of racism."

17) Hiring actors to fill your rallies tells us that you're not popular. Get over it & work on becoming a decent human being.

18) Congress is the branch that passes laws. You can't go around laws & expect folks not to notice. R U a fascist dictator?

19) On the campaign trail, you promised not to cut Medicare & to end the NAFTA trade imbalance. Keep your promises. Ordinary people suffer when you don't. (Read about "The War on Workers".)

20) Mexico will not pay for your "wall." Neither will anyone else. Jettison this stupid, wasteful & racist idea.

21) Stop using taxpayers' $$$ to golf weekly. You depleted a whole year's Secret Service budget in less than 7 months.

22) Destroying our Nat'l Parks & Forests, polluting our air, water & land leads to our kids' early deaths--your kids' too. (Read "7 Reasons We Face a Global Water Crisis".)

23) Betsy DeVos doesn't know what the Civil War was about. Do you? Fire her then resign your office. You'll both be more popular. Promise. 

24) Domestic terrorists can speak fluent English & have a racist agenda. They are the worst kind. They should be punished. Stop stereotyping immigrants.

25) You can't make America great again if you destroy her original inhabitants. America is NOT about once race or religion, but many. Embrace diversity.

Do you have any "tweets" you think should go in the How to Govern for Dummies guide for the tiny-brained, tiny-handed ex-reality TV star? Tweet them and then feel free to post them in the comments section below for all to share and re-tweet. Thank you.

***

To understand where our current administration is coming from, perhaps we should take a look at their  "bible." Sean gives us a short review of a book that demonstrates how the Right is religiously following their game plan. Racism and the destruction of democracy, unfortunately, play a predominant role.

Democracy in Chains by Nancy MacLean
reviewed by Sean Nestor

Nancy MacLean's Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America centers around Nobel Prize-winning economist James Buchanan, a graduate of the University of Chicago's School of Economics and contemporary of Milton Friedman. He made it his life-long mission to dismantle democracy by developing an intellectual movement to justify the elevation of market interests above popular ones.

In the 1950's, Buchanan leveraged funds from several wealthy donors upset by the New Deal to found the Thomas Jefferson Center for Political Economy at the University of Virginia. Merging the rhetorical legacy of John C. Calhoun with contemporary Chicago school economics, Buchanan's scholarly efforts have become the cornerstone of many right-wing think tanks while producing generations of scholars promoting a money-above-all ethos.

What really piqued my interest was how important racism was in the founding of the Center for Political Economy. Supreme Court orders to integrate the public school system were met with such violent hostility in Virginia that many public school districts were closed rather than integrated. Buchanan, who believed strongly in segregation, capitalized on this turmoil by developing and promoting the idea of school vouchers--a market solution that allowed racial segregation in schools to continue more covertly.

Oh, and the location of the Center? Charlottesville, Virginia.

BIO: Sean Nestor is an educator and activist from Toledo, Ohio. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Single Payer Action Network and Co-Chair of the Lucas County Green Party.

***
Here are some ways you can help "educate" 
the current occupant of the White House... 

You told us you wanted to give the Trump administration a science lesson, so we did. We just delivered boxes of Environmental Science for Dummies -- books you helped us send -- to the EPA, with a note from you and thousands of other 314 Action supporters.

We started these science textbook campaigns to send a message to the most anti-science voices in the Trump administration: If you’re not going to seek out science, we’ll bring it to your front door instead.

But since you last chipped in to help send these books to the likes of Rick Perry, Scott Pruitt, and members of the House Science Committee, the administration has ramped up its attacks on science -- even dismissing an entire climate advisory panel.

So we’re going to ramp up our response and make this an ongoing campaign. Chip in to help us keep sending copies of Environmental Science for Dummies books to the most anti-science voices in Washington, D.C. >>

The purge of scientific voices from the administration is already unprecedented -- and it’s only getting worse. 

This month alone, they’ve tried to cover up a groundbreaking climate report, continued to dismantling the EPA behind-the scenes, and did we mention they're disbanding yet another panel of scientific advisors dedicated to climate policy?

So while Scott Pruitt probably won't take a break from dismantling his own agency and jeopardizing public health to flip through Environmental Science for Dummies, it’s more important than ever to send a signal that the rest of America stands with science -- and that we’re prepared to hold them accountable to it.
Make a donation and we’ll ship a book in your name to the Trump administration.

Thanks!
Harmony
Harmony Knutson
Director of Advocacy
314 Action

***

From Democracy for America:

"Donald Trump is a racist, and he just pardoned another racist."

With those words, Arizona Congressmember Ruben Gallego accurately summed up the shocking and disturbing pardon Trump gave late last night to the awful white supremacist Joe Arpaio.

Arpaio has spent decades terrorizing Latino residents of the Phoenix area, using his power as Sheriff to harass, racially profile, and abuse people of color. A court finally ordered him to stop the persecution. He defied the court and kept doing it anyway. And as a result, he was convicted of contempt and was awaiting sentencing.

But Trump's pardon means Arpaio walks free. It wasn't just Arpaio himself that Trump pardoned. Trump gave his blessing to using police power to enforce white supremacy and erode basic constitutional rights. It was one of the most racist acts of his presidency.

It is also another impeachable offense. As Harvard law professor Noah Feldman wrote earlier this week in anticipation of a possible pardon for Arpaio, there is only one remedy in the constitution for this: impeachment.

Sign the petition: It's time for Congress to impeach Donald Trump.

Arizona voters fired Joe Arpaio last fall. It was a stunning win for human rights and progressive values. But it was equally important that Arpaio face the legal consequences of his violent, criminal, and unconstitutional actions. Trump's actions mean others around the country will continue to feel emboldened to use police power to oppress people of color.

Here's what Feldman wrote in Bloomberg View this week about why this pardon constitutes an impeachable offense:

"When a sheriff ignores the courts, he becomes a law unto himself. The courts' only available recourse is to sanction the sheriff. If the president blocks the courts from making the sheriff follow the law, then the president is breaking the basic structure of the legal order. 

From this analysis it follows directly that pardoning Arpaio would be a wrongful act under the Constitution. There would be no immediate constitutional crisis because, legally speaking, Trump has the power to issue the pardon.

But the pardon would trigger a different sort of crisis: a crisis in enforcement of the rule of law.

The Constitution isn't perfect. It offers only one remedy for a president who abuses the pardon power to break the system itself. That remedy is impeachment.

James Madison noted at the Virginia ratifying convention that abuse of the pardon power could be grounds for impeachment. He was correct then -- and it's still true now."

Congressmember Gallego said on MSNBC last night that Trump wants to "erode the rule of law so he can hurt other people." That's why DFA believes impeachment is so important: Trump won't stop with a pardon of Arpaio. He's already reportedly planning to end the DACA program and send police after nearly a million children of immigrants. Trump has to go.

Sign the petition: It's time for Congress to impeach Donald Trump.

Thank you for fighting back against Trump and the racist violence he continues to promote.
- Robert
Robert Cruickshank, Senior Campaign Manager
Democracy for America

***

From 350.org

Dear friends,

There’s been a breakthrough in the case against ExxonMobil.

Earlier this week, two Harvard researchers published a peer-reviewed study that confirmed what investigative reports have long alleged: Exxon knew about global warming as early as the 1970s but executives buried the truth and funded an aggressive misinformation campaign that has delayed climate action for decades.

The study is a systematic, irrefutable documentation of Exxon’s coverup and is just what's needed to get more Attorneys General to join the “Exxon Knew” investigation.

Click here to sign a letter to your Attorney General urging them to join Massachusetts and New York in investigating ExxonMobil’s climate cover-up.

Even if you’ve signed before, now is an important time to send another message to your AG demanding that they take action.

In the past, Exxon has accused journalists of “cherry-picking” their studies on Exxon’s climate lies and urged the public to read the documents for themselves.

Well, these two Harvard researchers did just that: they read as many Exxon-backed scientific studies they could, and compared it with Exxon’s public communications. What they found confirmed everything we’ve been saying: while Exxon scientists showed that Big Oil fueled global warming, Exxon executives were preaching delay and denial in public.

This likely constitutes the largest corporate crime in history. Attorneys General in Massachusetts and New York have already opened up investigations into Exxon, but the company is fighting back with everything they’ve got (they’ve even gotten their cronies in Congress to subpoena 350.org to try and shut us up).

We need to get more Attorneys General to join in the case so that they can bring the resources of their offices to bear. This is one instance where the more lawyers, the better.

Please click here to add your name to a letter to your Attorney General.

We’ll make sure your signature is delivered and that we keep up the pressure on Exxon, the other big fossil fuel companies, and their political puppets at all levels.

Exxon is fighting this case tooth and nail because they know it could take them down and finally open up the space for real action on climate change. We need to be tougher.

Let’s get to work,
Jamie

***

From Credo:

Twitter’s terms of service bans hateful conduct and making violent threats.¹
If threatening nuclear war – as Donald Trump did in a recent tweet – does not count, we don’t know what does.

Tell Twitter: Crack down on @RealDonaldTrump. Click here to sign the petition
Trump recently tweeted:

“Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!”

Twitter's terms of service explicitly provide:

Like many other Trump tweets, this one clearly violated Twitter’s rules and policies against hateful conduct and violent threats.² Trump has also repeatedly emboldened violent white supremacists on Twitter, sharing their memes and retweeting their posts to millions of followers. His active promotion of hate mongers helped create the violent atmosphere of racist hate that led to a white supremacist killing a woman with his car in Charlottesville, Virginia.³
 
Just days after the white supremacist violence in Virginia, Trump tweeted and then deleted a cartoon depicting a train hitting a CNN reporter. While the White House later claimed that it was tweeted inadvertently, it was not the first time Trump has used his Twitter account to encourage violence targeting the media.⁴

Twitter’s coddling of Donald Trump could have deadly consequences. Trump has a history of setting official government policy via tweet. If he spouts off without thinking, makes a disastrous typo – or, worst of all, if his account were to be hacked – the result could be nuclear war.
Despite the possible repercussions and Trump’s repeated violations, Twitter has yet to act. It is not too much to ask for Twitter to ensure that White House staff verify any Trump tweets before they are posted. Or, Twitter could stop coddling white supremacists and authoritarians and follow through on its own terms of service by revoking Trump’s account.

Tell Twitter: Crack down on @RealDonaldTrump. Click here to sign the petition

Donald Trump has used his Twitter account to wreak havoc on enemies real and imagined. He has directed armies of internet trolls against journalists, public figures and anyone who draws his ire. His tweets about government policy have caused multibillion dollar changes in the market caps of major corporations. A few weeks ago, he sent a series of tweets announcing a decision to ban transgender Americans from the military despite not having consulted with the military first.⁵
If his account tweeted that he had ordered a military strike – whether it was from his own thumbs or because the account had been hacked – countless American lives could be lost before cooler heads prevail. Twitter has more than enough reason to revoke Trump’s account based on its own rules. It must either do so or institute immediate safeguards, or all of us could pay the price.

Tell Twitter: Crack down on @RealDonaldTrump. Click below to sign the petition:

https://act.credoaction.com/sign/twitter_trump?t=8&akid=24682%2E9999572%2EO6TO9l

Thank you for speaking out,
Murshed Zaheed, Political Director CREDO Action from Working Assets

Add your name:

References:

1. Twitter, “The Twitter Rules,” retrieved Aug. 14, 2017.
2. Jack Moore, “Donald Trump's Twitter Account Is Very Much in Violation of Twitter's Terms of Service,” GQ, Aug. 11, 2017.
3. Judd Legum, “3 White Supremacists On Twitter That Inspire Donald Trump,” ThinkProgress, July 3, 2016.
4. Kyle Griffin, "Trump RT'd this pic..." Twitter, Aug. 15, 2017.
5. Moore, “Donald Trump's Twitter Account Is Very Much in Violation of Twitter's Terms of Service.”