Trump and cabinet full of conflicts of interest

The big reason that elected and appointed officials at both the state and federal level are supposed to disclose their business interests is to allow the public to recognize conflicts of interest which in many instances is enough to prevent them. Texas has state disclosure regulations and so do most cities. Congress passed and President Obama signed the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge or STOCK Act in 2012 which makes it illegal for federal officials, whether elected or appointed such as cabinet members to profit from their knowledge of upcoming legislation or regulations or other information not available to the general public.

For roughly the last 40 years presidents have thought it appropriate to put their holdings into what is called a blind trust. That’s essentially like a mutual fund where the shareholder doesn’t know which stocks are owned. In this way a president can’t know how the decisions he makes or the agreements he signs will affect his personal finances so they shouldn’t affect the decision and he can’t profit from advance knowledge.

Donald Trump continues to refuse to produce his tax returns which are one way the American people could determine for themselves whether or not he takes undue advantage of a president’s far ranging access to secret information. Nor will he put his assets in a blind trust. Instead he says his children and managers will handle business for him but he’ll still know what companies he is invested in and what if any affect his decisions will have on those businesses before anyone else.

Last week in what appears to be an effort to curry favor with Trump the government of Kuwait has cancelled their reservation with a competing business and changed the location of an event to a Trump owned hotel.

While on the campaign trail Trump bragged that he knew how to game the system and therefore he knew how to clean it up but his actions so far suggest he has no intention of doing so. Trump’s nomination of Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson to be the next Secretary of State, a position in which he will have numerous illegal conflicts of interest given his holdings in Exxon stocks and Exxon’s business dealings with Russia among other countries is just one reason for concern. Another problematic Trump nominee is Congressman Tom Price for Secretary of Health and Human Services who has traded stock in at least forty health care companies while on the House committee that regulates them. More worrying is that close Trump advisor Newt Gingrich has proposed that Trump can simply pardon his cabinet members for the crimes of conflict of interest and continue as if they were legal to begin with.

Many people voted for Trump in the belief that he wouldn’t tolerate this kind of gaming the system but it seems he’s already letting them down. If you’re one of those people you certainly have a right to be angry. There are other examples of him backing away from campaign promises such as I’ll “drain the swamp”, “build a wall” and “lock her up”. I foresee more to come, so if you’re having buyer’s remorse now or feel it later the Resistance will welcome you.

 Published in the Seguin Gazette December 29, 2016

Revolution may well be in the works

A little over two years ago billionaire venture capitalist Nick Hanauer wrote an essay for the online magazine Politico in which he argues that “the pitchforks are coming for the plutocrats”. He says that people like himself, Bill Gates and Donald Trump had better heed history and take action to relieve the societal stresses created by wealth inequality and poverty soon or like the French and Russian revolutions the masses will become fed up and take it out on the people who have abused them for so long. Hanauer will tell you he’s not brilliant, he says he was a mediocre student and has no technical background, he just has a higher than average tolerance for risk and a knack for seeing where things are going a little sooner than the other guy.

Hanauer compared revolutions to bankruptcy in that both slowly move toward the cliff and then suddenly occur seemingly without warning. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. said in a 1966 60 Minutes interview “I think that we've got to see that a riot is the language of the unheard. And, what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the economic plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years.” Revolutions are messy and violent and everyone suffers, most of all those who are already suffering as the few systems that help them fend off starvation inevitably breakdown.

It’s been argued that acting on insight similar to Hanauer’s is what has held the country together many times over the last 240 years; one example being Teddy Roosevelt and his efforts to restrain the worst excesses of capitalism. Now that a minority of voters has managed to elect Donald Trump I fear that the chances of this nation’s leaders acting on enlightened self-interest to restrain capitalism’s natural tendency toward monopoly and increasing profits at any cost have been dramatically reduced such that we’ll see a return to the strife and violence of the 1920’s and 1930’s.

Efforts to right the ship like Moral Monday protests led by Rev. William Barber in North Carolina are modeled after the successes of the Civil Rights era. After this election many argued that it was successful in that Gov. McCrory was ousted and therefore a model for further efforts around the nation. Unfortunately the Republican led legislature there failed to get the message and instead set about stripping the governor-elect of virtually all power. As Fredrick Douglass said so eloquently “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”

As Nick Hanauer pointed out revolution creeps up on you, we don’t know when it will happen or what will appear to be the precipitating event but we seem to be moving ever closer. Isn’t it time for our leaders to behave like Teddy Roosevelt and once again act relieve the pressure before it’s too late?

Published in the Seguin Gazette December 23, 2016

Trump Supporters Must Denounce White Supremacists like Dylann Roof

A radical Christian white supremacist went on trial last week for the nine murders he committed June 17, 2015. That’s not the phrasing you’re likely to hear from ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox. There you’ll hear that Dylann Roof is accused of 33 counts of hate crimes for the murders he committed that night at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. You’ll probably hear or read that he wanted to start a race war but unlike the Muslims who killed so many in San Bernadino later that year no one wants to talk about how Roof was radicalized.

Now think about how many Americans react to such violence perpetrated by Muslims, too many of us want to throw them all out of the country. President-elect Trump on the campaign trail said he thought it would be a good idea to register all Muslims. We all know how well that worked out for German Jews and Americans of Japanese ancestry. Many Americans screech that if Muslims don’t believe in such violence then their religious leaders should speak out against it. I don’t hear them calling for Christian churches like the one Roof attended to speak out in condemnation.

Analysis by the Southern Poverty Law Center suggests that Roof was a reader and commenter on The Daily Stormer, a white nationalist news website. Roof cited the website of the Council of Conservative Citizens as his gateway to white nationalism. The Council’s president Earl Holt issued a statement saying that Roof had some "legitimate grievances" against black people. Harold Covington, the founder of the Northwest Front called the attack "a preview of coming attractions". These groups like to refer to themselves as the alt-right as if they’re just another variant of conservatism and the media generally lets them get away with it.

Roof’s horrendous acts occurred well before Trump began his run for the presidency yet he openly courted the alt-right/white nationalist vote and their campaign donations. Since last year numerous media sources have reported on drastic increases hate crimes yet the soon to be leader of the most powerful nation on earth has not thought to condemn these acts instead he tweets insults at the Saturday Night Live cast in the middle of the night.

When you’re out Christmas shopping somewhere you’ll see a sign that says “You break it, you bought it.” It’s time for those who voted for Trump to own the racist remarks he’s made. It’s on you because you’ve given him a green light by knowingly casting your ballot in his favor. You are in part responsible for the hate crime spike because your support and your vote for Trump gave permission for racist speech and as we know from Roof having permission to speak such ugliness turns into ugly acts.

If you think you’re a good person and voted for Trump because he’s a Republican it’s time for you to step up and condemn his racism and that of many of his supporters. It’s time you prove you’re a good person by running the racists out of the Republican Party once and for all. While you’re at it you need call out those that think it’s OK to make fun of the disabled like Trump did on national television when he demeaned a journalist who offended his tender feelings. You also need to intervene when you see some misogynist in the work place grabbing a woman or sexually harassing her as Trump so proudly stated he did. You need to step up or you’re just another racist, misogynist and not a good person. So which are you?

Published in the Seguin Gazette December 16, 2016 

Radical Christian White Supremacist on Trial

A radical Christian white supremacist went on trial last week for the nine murders he committed June 17, 2015. That’s not the phrasing you’re likely to hear from ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox. There you’ll hear that Dylann Roof is accused of 33 counts of hate crimes for the murders he committed that night at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. You’ll probably hear or read that he wanted to start a race war but unlike the Muslims who killed so many in San Bernadino later that year no one wants to talk about how Roof was radicalized.

Now think about how many Americans react to such violence perpetrated by Muslims, too many of us want to throw them all out of the country. President-elect Trump on the campaign trail said he thought it would be a good idea to register all Muslims. We all know how well that worked out for German Jews and Americans of Japanese ancestry. Many Americans screech that if Muslims don’t believe in such violence then their religious leaders should speak out against it. I don’t hear them calling for Christian churches like the one Roof attended to speak out in condemnation.

Analysis by the Southern Poverty Law Center suggests that Roof was a reader and commenter on The Daily Stormer, a white nationalist news website. Roof cited the website of the Council of Conservative Citizens as his gateway to white nationalism. The Council’s president Earl Holt issued a statement saying that Roof had some "legitimate grievances" against black people. Harold Covington, the founder of the Northwest Front called the attack "a preview of coming attractions". These groups like to refer to themselves as the alt-right as if they’re just another variant of conservatism and the media generally lets them get away with it.

Roof’s horrendous acts occurred well before Trump began his run for the presidency yet he openly courted the alt-right/white nationalist vote and their campaign donations. Since last year numerous media sources have reported on drastic increases hate crimes yet the soon to be leader of the most powerful nation on earth has not thought to condemn these acts instead he tweets insults at the Saturday Night Live cast in the middle of the night.

When you’re out Christmas shopping somewhere you’ll see a sign that says “You break it, you bought it.” It’s time for those who voted for Trump to own the racist remarks he’s made. It’s on you because you’ve given him a green light by knowingly casting your ballot in his favor. You are in part responsible for the hate crime spike because your support and your vote for Trump gave permission for racist speech and as we know from Roof having permission to speak such ugliness turns into ugly acts.

If you think you’re a good person and voted for Trump because he’s a Republican it’s time for you to step up and condemn his racism and that of many of his supporters. It’s time you prove you’re a good person by running the racists out of the Republican Party once and for all. While you’re at it you need call out those that think it’s OK to make fun of the disabled like Trump did on national television when he demeaned a journalist who offended his tender feelings. You also need to intervene when you see some misogynist in the work place grabbing a woman or sexually harassing her as Trump so proudly stated he did. You need to step up or you’re just another racist, misogynist and not a good person. So which are you?

Published in the Seguin Gazette December 16, 2016

Price Proves a Dangerous Appointment

Georgia congressman and medical doctor Tom Price is Donald Trump's nominee to be Secretary for Health and Human Services (HHS). He's only known for his obsessive opposition to the Affordable Care Act so you can call him Doctor No. As disturbing as Price’s opposition to insuring that 20 million Americans continue to have access to health care is I’m even more concerned about his views on medical science.

As Secretary for Health and Human Services Price will set policy for a number of agencies including: the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – which does much of our basic biomedical and health-related, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – which among other things sets vaccine policy for this country, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – regulating pharmaceuticals, medical devices, food, diagnostics, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Dr. Tom Price belongs to a radical physician’s group called the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). The associate requires its members to sign a “declaration of independence” pledging that they will not work with Medicare, Medicaid, or even private insurance companies. According to AAPS Principles of Medical Ethics, it is moral and ethical to refuse to treat patients who have Medicare or Medicaid. Apparently that means Price doesn’t believe in medical care for those over 65 or disabled because Medicare is the only insurer those folks have access to in my experience.

In addition the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons is explicitly opposed to any form of government regulation of health care and considers the Food and Drug Administration to be unconstitutional. The association also inexplicably opposes organ donations.

The association publishes the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons which often promotes articles on such junk science as the thoroughly debunked connection between autism and vaccinations as well as those denying the link between HIV and AIDS, claims that abortions cause breast cancer. The reason this is important is that no other journal will publish these papers due to the consistently poor quality of the research. This journal seems to prefer bad science as a criterion for publication.

If this were just matter of who was going to speak and the Lions Club annual benefit or the high school graduation none of this would matter. Instead we’re talking about whether or not the man who will lead one of the most important scientific agencies in the country actually accepts the scientific method we all should have learned in grammar school or high school science class. If he doesn’t as appears from his membership in the fringe Association of American Physicians and Surgeons the American people are in danger.

If the proverb “Whoever keeps company with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm” is true then Price is also a quack and we’ll be the ones suffering harm so he’s the last person who should be in charge of the nation’s healthcare resources.

Published in the Seguin Gazette December 9, 2016

Don't Give Up on our Republic

At the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, as he left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation Ben Franklin is reported to have been asked, “Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?” He replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

Though many of us assume that since our Republic has withstood numerous trials since its founding it is certainly durable today. Recent research by Harvard lecturer Yascha Mounk and Roberto Stefan Foa, a political scientist at the University of Melbourne in Australia suggests that may not be the case. The November election results support the report’s findings.

This worrisome trend isn’t found just in the United States. In previously published work the researchers calculated that 57 percent of older Americans believed it was legitimate for the military to take over if the government were incompetent or failing to do its job, while 81 percent of millennials agreed. The same generational divide showed up in Europe, where 47 percent of older people thought a military takeover would be legitimate, while only 64 percent of millennials agreed.

Data from Freedom House, a watchdog organization that measures democracy and freedom around the world, shows that the number of countries classified as “free” rose steadily from the mid-1970s to the early 2000s. Many Latin American countries transitioned from military rule to democracy; after the end of the Cold War, much of Eastern Europe followed suit. And longstanding liberal democracies in North America, Western Europe and Australia seemed more secure than ever.

But for the last decade, Freedom House’s index has shown a decline in global freedom each year. Over the past 10 years, 105 countries, the United States among them, have seen a net decline, and only 61 have experienced a net improvement.

In other research published earlier this year it was found that Trump supporters tended to score high on a scale of authoritarian behavior and that fear would drive those who don’t typically score high on that scale to have their score increase.

Venezuela, once had the highest possible scores on Freedom House’s measures of political rights and democracy in the 1980s. Even then Venezuela already scored as deconsolidating on the test Mounk and Foa developed to ascertain the health of a democracy. Since then, Venezuelan democracy has declined significantly. In 1992 there was an attempted a coup against the democratically elected government. In 1998 Hugo Chávez was elected president on a wave of populist support, and he immediately passed a new constitution that consolidated his power. His government cracked down on dissent, imprisoned political opponents and shredded the country’s economy with a series of ill-planned economic overhauls.

Donald Trump ran on a populist platform, he evoked an authoritarian ideal saying “Only I can solve - the problem du jour”. Since his election he has called a meeting with some of the biggest media companies and threatened them in addition to his campaign promise to weaken their libel protections so they can be sued. Today he is threatening to prosecute Hillary Clinton if she pursues recounts of votes in swing states. His economic plans are reported by most economists as dangerous to downright tragic. I know people who have compared Trump to Mussolini or even Hitler but I think a more apt and recent model is likely Hugo Chávez.

I’m not ready to give up on our Republic and I hope you aren’t either but it’s going to take effort on the part of every citizen to restore our freedom are you ready to do your part?

Published in the Seguin Gazette December 2, 2016

A Reason to be Outraged

I understand why protesters chanting “Not My President” are upset, worried and angry. On the other hand it’s an unproductive exercise in that it won’t change behavior of our elected officials. That’s not to say they should “get over it” as Trump supporters would have it. Instead their actions should be directed at accomplishing specific goals.

One of those goals could be preventing the worst of Trump’s cabinet appointments from being confirmed by the Senate. Of those named so far his nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama for Attorney General certainly qualifies as one of the worst he’s likely to select.

The Attorney General is responsible for many areas of law and one is prosecuting Civil Rights cases. Sen. Sessions, once US Attorney in Alabama, has a history of racist behavior that is so bad he was once rejected by the Republican controlled Senate when nominated by Ronald Reagan for a federal judgeship. Thomas Figures, a black assistant US Attorney in Mobile, said that Sessions had repeatedly referred to him as “boy.” Sessions admitted to calling the Voting Rights Act a “piece of intrusive legislation.” Gerry Hebert, a former Department of Justice employee who worked in the Voting Section, told Congress that Sessions had called the NAACP and ACLU “Communist-inspired” and “un-American,” and labeled the white civil-rights lawyer Jim Blacksher “a disgrace to his race.”

Sessions was elected to the US Senate in 1996 and hasn’t shown any effort to reform. He frequently earned an “F” rating from civil-rights groups like the NAACP and praised the Supreme Court’s decision to gut the Voting Rights Act in 2013, saying, “if you go to Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, people aren’t being denied the vote because of the color of their skin.” If ongoing voting discrimination wasn’t a problem in his home state of Alabama they wouldn’t have tried to close 31 DMV offices, mostly in majority-black counties, after instituting strict photo-ID requirements to vote. We don’t need a man who doesn’t believe in the goals of the Voting Rights Act in charge of enforcing civil rights.

So instead of lashing out and expending energy to no avail we should listen to former congressional staffers who agree that the best way to get our legislator’s attention and cause them to act as you wish is to call their local offices and speak to the local staff member about your concern. That means we should all be calling our own US Senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, urging them to reject Jeff Sessions as Attorney General. They both have offices in San Antonio. Sen. Cruz’s office number is (210) 340-2885 and Sen. Cornyn’s number is (210) 224-7485.

If you truly want to make a difference, calling those offices and getting your like minded family and friends to do the same is the most likely way to accomplish this worthy goal. Keep those numbers handy because Donald Trump is likely to offer other poor choices for important cabinet posts and you’ll want to call our Senators about them too.

Published in the Seguin Gazette November 25, 2016