Category: Government

The Fear of Trump Among the Elderly

senior, man, fearful, sad
senior, man, fearful, sad

A man fearful, sad. (Creative Commons)

I don’t know if there’s anything so under-reported and so heart-wrenching right now as the fear of Donald Trump among the elderly. There is a grave terror, almost, of what Trump and the Trump Administration might do to the safety net supporting the vast majority of our senior Americans. This is across the board, although some are more fearful than others, depending on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, veterans, those with physical or mental disabilities — no one seems to consider herself or himself safe.

Had a conversation yesterday with a retired couple. They’re white, middle class, now living on a fixed income. But their fear is palpable. The rumblings among the GOP in Congress to gut or privatize Social Security, slash Medicare — these are real concerns for this couple.

I’ve heard similar fears expressed by older family members and friends. The revolt would be great and gray.

GOP governors have already hacked away at Medicaid, with Maine’s GOP Governor Paul LePage saying earlier this month “he would rather ‘go to jail’ than expand Medicaid programs without a long-term plan for substantial funding.” That’s a nice statement, and, on the surface, it sounds like responsible economics. But what is he doing to secure such sustainable funding? And what is the economic cost of people dying early or young because of lack of access to health care?

If we examine news reports, we find some coverage of Social Security, fears of what Paul Ryan might do to Medicare, but this anxiety our longtime residents feel about Donald Trump, is, I believe, under-reported.

And I hope some news organizations begin to take a closer look.


Rolling Stone Ranks Anthony Scaramucci’s 10 Days in the White House

Anthony Scaramucci
Anthony Scaramucci

Anthony Scaramucci

Yes, it happened.

Turning Left readers are always very well informed, so this is not a breaking story.

Anthony Scaramucci was fired by President Donald Trump.

Rolling Stone ranks his 10 days in the White House, from “biblical murder analogies to denials of auto-fellatio, the Mooch’s brief tenure will be, at the very least, memorable.”

There was a false report today that Scaramucci’s wife was leaving him, filed for divorce, because he posted nude photos of her and loved politics more than she.

But that was satire.

What’s real?

Anthony Scaramucci lasted 10 days in the White House.

Here are notable firings and resignations from the Trump Administration, from our friends at LATimes.com:

  • Anthony Scaramucci, Director of communications (fired), 10 days
  • Reince Priebus, White House chief of staff (resigned), 189 days
  • Derek Harvey, National Security Council Middle East advisor (fired), 186 days
  • Michael Short, Assistant press secretary (resigned), 186 days
  • Sean Spicer, White House press secretary, White House director of communications (resigned), 182 days
  • Walter Shaub, Director of the Office of Government Ethics (resigned), 180 days
  • Robert Iger, Advisory council (resigned), 133 days
  • Elon Musk, Advisory council (resigned), 132 days
  • Mike Dubke, Director of communications (resigned), 85 days
  • K.T. McFarland, Deputy national security advisor (reassigned), 177 days
  • James B. Comey Jr., FBI director (fired), 109 days
  • Angella Reid, White House chief usher (fired), 105 days (and the only Person of Color on the list)
  • Katie Walsh, Deputy White House chief of staff (resigned), 69 days
  • Craig Deare, National Security Council senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs (fired), 26 days
  • Mike Flynn, National security advisor (resigned), 22 days
  • Sally Yates, Acting attorney general (fired), 10 days

That’s a list to rival, well, any previous administration.

More details here.

Candidate Donald Trump, The Don, Donnie “Make-America-Great-Again” T., boasted that he knew the best people. He would hire only the best people.

But he’s treating the West Wing like an episode of that little-watched The Apprentice, even calling the Cabinet Room as the “boardroom.”

Donald Trump, the most insecure man in America, governing, if you can call it that, out of spite for President Obama.

Who is next to go?

Bingo, anyone?

next to go, Trump administration

Who will be next to go in the Trump Administration.


Trump Sells Out Israel To Impress Russians

Donald Trump smug smile

Donald Trump smug smileThe secret intelligence Donald Trump boasted about in front of his Russian buddies?

It came from Israel.

Israel.

The lives that could be lost. The dangers we could face.

From the NYTimes:

The classified intelligence that President Trump disclosed in a meeting last week with Russian officials at the White House was provided by Israel, according to a current and a former American official familiar with how the United States obtained the information. The revelation adds a potential diplomatic complication to the episode.

Israel is one of the United States’ most important allies and a major intelligence collector in the Middle East. The revelation that Mr. Trump boasted about some of Israel’s most sensitive information to the Russians could damage the relationship between the two countries. It also raises the possibility that the information could be passed to Iran, Russia’s close ally and Israel’s main threat in the Middle East.

The potential for catastrophic fallout from the child in the White House, the child dying to impress others, is incredible.

I’m scared now.


University Park: Here’s Your Board Agenda … From 2015

So I thought I would take a look at the website from University Park, IL. People have been commenting for quite some time what a mess it is in that town.

University Park is about 30 miles directly south of Chicago’s Loop. For those of you unfamiliar, the town seems to have had a viciously divided board for some time now.

Decided to see what their online presence was like.

They have a decent-looking website. Check it out here: http://www.university-park-il.com/.

Hover over the word “Government” in the top menu, then go down to “Board of Trustee’s Agenda.

Click on that. Go ahead.

As of this writing, that click takes you here, to the board’s agenda from (wait for it) July 28, 2015:

http://www.university-park-il.com/DocumentCenter/View/1128

University Park: keeping the past alive.