Seventh Week of the Trump Presidency

• WikiLeaks undermines the CIA by dumping classified information regarding surveillance techniques. CIA intelligence gathering became obsolete over night. Nigel Farage, a Trump/UK go-betweenl was seen visiting the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where Julian Assange is hiding shortly before the dump.
• Jeff Sessions had a third meeting, April 2016, with Sergey Kislyak.
• Trump appoints Jon Huntsman as ambassador to Russia. Trump had formerly accused Huntsman of giving away American interests to the Chinese when he served as Chinese Ambassador.
• Trump spends 31% of his time on vacation. Played golf 9 times in 7 weeks on the tax payers dime. Tax payers are also paying 30 million a month to keep Melania and Baron safe in New York
• Trump calls for a 20 billion dollar national school voucher program. Is this the end of public education?
• PolitiFact, a non partisan fact checking organization, found that 70% of Trump’s post election statements are false or mostly false – the same as during the campaign. No surprise there!
• China grants Trump 38 more trademarks for his businesses. Feinstein seeks judicial action as this is a blatant violation of the Emolument’s Clause which forbids officials from receiving “gifts”.
• Trump fires 46 Obama appointed federal attorneys without having replacements. He has cut the state department staff by 37% and eliminated all senior officials who have an institutional memory of the department. Rex Tillerson remains unavailable to reporters.
• Trump plans to cut NOAA’s budget by $1,000,000. NOAA studies how the climate is changing.
• Trump issued and executive order to initiate a review of the Clean Water Rule/Waters of the US (WOTUS).
• Trump accuses Obama of releasing 122 Gitmo detainees who have reengaged in terrorism. False! 113 of the 122 were released by Bush!
• Trump claims he had no knowledge that Flynn was a foreign lobbyist for Turkey during his campaign and while Flynn was receiving security briefings. Warnings were given to the transition teams.
• Trump is sending ground troops to Syria despite experts saying there can be no military solution to the conflict and Assad stating that he views these uninvited troops as invaders.
• At least 6 states are challenging Trump’s Muslim ban in court. States argue that the new executive order will have profound and detrimental effects on state economies.
• Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke reverses the ban on lead use in ammunition and fishing tackle, a ruling that was put in place to protect animals that are vulnerable to lead poisoning such as the condor and other raptors.
• Rep. Jason Chaffetz tells poor people to stop buying I-phones if they want health care – make a choice.
• Iowa Representative Steven King states that you can’t restore a civilization with someone else’s babies.
• In an address to staff, HUD Department Head Ben Carson stated he preferred performing brain surgery on young people because they generally live longer and the slaves who came here were immigrants, who worked hard for really less.
• The Dept. of Labor proposes a new regulation which would delay an Obama fiduciary rule which required investment brokers to work towards their client’s best interests.
• Scott Pruitt, EPA Chief stated, that CO2 does not cause climate change. EPA is expected to attack critical pollution standards for cars and light weight trucks
• Budget cuts to EPA would eliminate the Environmental Justice budget and cut funding to grants for pollution clean-up. These grants have distributed 24 million dollars to over 1400 affected mostly minority communities.
• Republican Congress rolls out Trumpcare; More than 24 million people could lose health care by 2026. Wealthy people benefit disproportionately due to a standardized subsidy which results in 600 billion in tax cuts for the rich. AARP states that a 64 year old man making $15,000/yr. could face premiums of up to $8,400. Medicaid would be defunded after the midterm elections. Women would face discriminatory financial repercussions for being poor, using birth control, or being pregnant. It also includes a provision which limits law suits against medical device companies.