Thursday Thirteen #575

On my Facebook feed, someone close to me posted a video of some protestors who couldn't say why they were protesting, exactly, and the person asked the question how has the current president inteferred with human rights.

I've seen that video (or a similar one) before and I think it resurfaces on each side to prove that a president hasn't impacted the day-to-day life of citizens.

However, the current administration has indeed impacted the life of day-to-day citizens, and while some of the impacts do not necessarily rise to the level of a loss of a "human right" (which one can define in innumerable ways - I personally prefer the U.N. version to the U.S. Constitutional Bill of Rights, for example), they are more egregious than efforts of previous administrations.

The fact that I can come up with 13 things is appalling and scary. The fact that there are more than 13 is mind boggling. But here you go. Just a few.

1. Calling the press "the enemy of the people." This is such a violation of the 1st Amendment of the Constitution that I shouldn't even have to spell it out, but as a member of that press I find this phrase absolutely horrifying. To have a newsperson called the "enemy of the people" invites hate and discord and lo, we have bombs at CNN. Imagine that. Even if the POTUS is not sending armies to news offices, this type of rhetoric has a chilling effect on a journalist, who may subconsciously not follow a story through to its conclusion for fear of retribution, or who may choose not to write a story for a similar reason. I have been threatened for things I have written in the past and it does have an affect on you and how you think about your work and what you're doing.

2. Reversing environmental policies via changes in the Environmental Protection Agency that impact clean water regulations. For example, the stream protection rule, which prevented mining companies from dumping waste water into streams, was axed in February 2017. I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of drinking lead or other harmful chemicals.

3. Reversing environmental policies in the same manner that impact air pollution and smog. I remember the times when you could walk outside and say, "I smell Covington," and everyone knew you were referring to the papermill, an hour's drive away. That has disappeared thanks to regulations that are now being demolished at policy level. For example, the "revised" clean power plan initially was forecast to prevent 3,600 premature deaths and 90,000 asthma attacks nationally. But the current administration did away with that clean power plan. So now you can expect 3,600 premature deaths and 90,000 more asthma attacks. I like to breathe and I have asthma. Odds are good I could be one of those premature deaths and/or one of those asthma attacks. I expect these policy changes to significantly shorten my life span.

4. Undermining science. The governmental websites have been scrubbed of scientific evidence with regards to many things, most especially climate change. I don't care whether you believe humans influence climate change or not, frankly, because I think it is imperative that we take care of the planet in the best ways possible, whether the climate is changing or not. This lack of information leads to a dumbing down of the citizenry, who already are lemmings following one another off a cliff anyway.

5. Changes in vehicle fuel efficiency standards (March 2017). The standards were supposed to keep down pollutants and greenhouse gases. So more smog, more choking in the parking lot, more need to carry around my asthma inhaler.

6. Allowing the use of chlorpyrifos, a widely used pesticide (March 2017). The chemical has been linked to damage to the nervous system and prior to the Trump administration, EPA scientists said a ban was warranted. Household use of the chemical was phased out a decade ago but it is still used in farms across the US. I'm very sensitive to chemicals and have no doubt that many of my health issues stem from things like this.

7. Revocation of a rule that expanded the number of people who could earn overtime pay. This doesn't affect me directly but it does affect first responders, many of whom earned overtime pay under previous administration rules. The Obama-backed rule would have guaranteed overtime for full-time salaried workers who earn up to $47,476 a year (it doubled the previous threshold of $23,660 a year). Not sure how making sure you keep working hard for nothing helps makes America great again.

8. Stopped a rule that would require large companies to report worker incomes by race and gender. The rule was aimed at reducing pay disparity. This particularly impacts women, who already make less then a man in the same job doing the same work. In 2017, female full-time, year-round workers made only 80.5 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 20 percent.

9. Reversed an interpretation of the Civil Rights Act that provided protection to transgender workers. This doesn't affect me but it does affect a friend of mine. Everyone, regardless of how you self-identify with regards to gender, should have the right to work.

10. Ended a rule that barred employers from taking some or all of the tips given to service employees. I don't know about you, but when I give a tip to the waitress, I expect her to get it, not the company she works for. I mean, she already only makes just a little over $2 an hour thanks to our stupid laws for restaurant workers. How is this helping these hard-working people make ends meet? It isn't. It's just helping the restaurant owner, who likely drives a Mercedes and lives in a nice house while the waitress drives a 1989 Taurus and lives in a mobile home.

11. Canceled a rule mandating that financial advisers act in the best interests of their clients. Apparently it is better that the financial advisers work in the best interest of themselves, and steer investors towards the things that give the financial advisors the biggest cut. Not. Helps no one but the financial advisors, and certainly doesn't help the average person.

12. Reversed a ban on civil forfeiture. Law enforcement officials are now once again able to seize assets from suspects who haven’t been convicted of any crime. This means that if you get pulled over and sass the cop a little, they can take your car and everything in it, and you won't get it back. I see this as a violation of the US Constitution myself, under the search and seizure law (Bill of Rights, Article IV).

13. Blocked implementation of a rule that would have made it easier for farmers to sue big agricultural companies. This one does affect us, because it means that if we receive, say, bad seed from a big ag company (maybe we think we're getting alfalfa and turnips come up), we have no way to go back and recover our loss. If you think this is nothing, go pay for seed and fertilizer for 200 acres of land. Write a check for thousands of dollars and see if you wouldn't be pissed that you no longer have any right of redress for this or any other grievance where farming is concerned.

And then there is this:

"In the days immediately following Mr Trump’s election, the Southern Poverty Law Centre recorded more than 1000 hate crimes. The group said that they would normally expect to see this kind of figure over a six month period.

This dramatic increase has now levelled off, but the rate of hate crimes is still above pre-election levels, the group has said. Since Mr Trump’s election, there have been at least 16 attacks on synagogues and other Jewish centres, and swastika graffiti has appeared in public places across the country.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly aligned himself with the pro-life movement, and has said he would like to see Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court ruling which legalised abortion in the US, overturned.

The Century Foundation found that US legislators introduced more than 400 measures aimed at limiting abortion access in 2016. Mr. Trump has also threatened to defund Planned Parenthood, the country’s largest abortion provider, and is expected to reinstate the global gag rule, a Reagan-era policy which prevents foreign NGOs from receiving any US aid if they offer terminations. "

And this:

"Women’s health advocates warn that the Trump administration is set to try tightening access to birth control by broadening religious exemptions for companies providing health insurance.

A new rule on contraceptives was sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget last week, which reviews regulations before release. If it moves forward, this would be the government’s second attempt to expand religious exemptions for providing birth control in health plans."

My nephew is getting married soon. If he and his new wife don't want children right away, they should be able to get birth control. I took birth control for health reasons - I had severe endometriosis and took the pills to try to control it SO I COULD HAVE A BABY. The effort failed but I can't think of any medicine that is denied to men. Can you?

The level of anger and hatred in this country has risen considerably. It's mean out there. I feel it every time I go into the grocery store. No wonder I have ulcers. I blame that on the rhetoric coming out of the Whitehouse. I blame the bombs on the doorsteps of Democrats and media on the rhetoric coming out of the Whitehouse.

Unfortunately I could go on and on. Net neutrality. A mean immigration policy. This new proposal to apply gender to children at birth (scientists and doctors know that there really are babies born with both sets of genitals. It's not as abnormal as you might think.) Small things? Not really. Not small to me when it concerns my health, my ability to obtain medication, my ability to see my niece do what she wants to with her own body and not have her life dictated by some old white guys in suits. No, it's not small.

Some of these things I am sure some people think are just wonderful. I do not think any of them are wonderful. I find them cruel, evil, unjust, tainted, slanted, and willfully negligent and a total disregard of the basic rule of law and the rights of citizens to live in a peaceful society.

But that's just me and how I feel about it.


Here are some of the sources if you want to read more. Because there is much, much more. All of it is worth protesting.

http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/6383/trump-voters-is-this-really-what-you-wanted/
https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/07/a-jaw-dropping-list-of-all-the-terrible-things-trump-has-done-to-mother-earth/
https://iwpr.org/issue/employment-education-economic-change/pay-equity-discrimination/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/08/24/what-trump-has-undone/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.174b94f16237
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/what-trump-is-actually-accomplishing/535458/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-election-win-us-president-inauguration-climate-change-hate-crime-dollar-value-a7537616.html
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2017/03/08/fcc-ajit-pai-net-neutrality-cable-box/98894350/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/21/trump-administration-define-transgender-out-of-existence-new-york-times
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/18/trump-administration-trying-to-expand-religious-exemptions-for-birth-control-coverage
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-news-advocates-trump-citizenship-immigrants-20180807-story.html

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 575th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.