Sam Proctor Staff Writer For nearly two weeks now, Donald Trump has sat in that room with no corners, scribbling away one executive order after another just as he said he would. Many Americans are becoming increasingly paranoid by his actions (and inactions) and are wondering what they can do to preserve the good nature of our country, and how they can aid the continuance of the progressive agenda. Before looking to the future it is critical that we take a step back and realize how we got here. It is important that we understand how Mr. Trump skillfully used language to inspire doubt and distrust toward his opposing candidates, the current employees of government, scientists, as well as science itself. In short, how he (ironically) mastered the science of cultivating mass ignorance in order to assist his rise to power.
Ignorance is a funny word. And like many words throughout the course of this past election, it has adopted charged connotations that evoke a flurry of emotions. Ignorance, in its purest sense, is not as terrible a thing as people often make it out to be. When we enter this world as infants, we are ignorant of practically all things except our instincts. Ignorance is a natural phenomenon, an unavoidable fact of life. Fortunately, in the twenty first century, we have a massive arsenal of information at our disposal which should serve to enlighten us about the things we do not know. Unfortunately, some public figures are masters of deception, and use clever techniques to rouse skepticism on matters which threaten their own personal interests. “There’s just no conclusive evidence…” “Scientists are still debating…” “We need more research before…” “We just don’t know…” Trump and his team have used these phrases to brilliantly cast doubt upon the legitimacy of the press, the integrity of persons of power in D.C., the validity of issues surrounding climate change and other environmental phenomena, and much more. The reason that I call this strategy of deception brilliant is because it is both low risk and high reward. Low risk in that no one can definitively prove that Mr. Trump is intentionally knitting a blanket of deceit in order to shade the populous from reality, and therefore he cannot be held accountable. High reward in that once his listeners adhere to the feeling of doubt, he has won. He is then capable of acting any which way he desires without the fear of a global backlash because beliefs have been systematically subdued and replaced with doubt and distrust. Although Trump and his team may be considered the largest current players in the game of cultivating ignorance, they certainly are not the inventors of such strategies. Much of Mr. Trump’s language is reminiscent to the playbook of Big Tobacco, who capitalized on the doubt within Americans that cigarettes actually cause cancer; who funded research on anything and everything that would distract the population from the dangers of cigarettes. In the same way, Mr. Trump is diminishing the legitimacy of essential pillars of our society by invoking uncertainty about government, media, and science. Mr. Trump is doing everything in his power to distract us in every way possible. Mr. Trump will not deliver truth to the public until societal and global problems are too grand to ignore.
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Rachel Atakpa Editor and Staff Writer A partner piece to this will be published in the first issue! Nominees for cabinet positions which require senate confirmation in order of presidential succession:
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil Corporation As the CEO of ExxonMobil, Tillerson has allowed for climate change denying to continue and has established strong business ties with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Tillerson has no government or military experience and, if confirmed, will be the first Secretary of State with no government or military experience. His business ties through ExxonMobil, particularly with Russia, are a significant conflict of interest in serving as the Secretary of State. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, co-founder & co-CEO and chairman of Dune Capital Management Mnuchin was a partner during his 17 year run at Goldman Sachs, founded his own hedge fund management company called Dune Capital management, and co-founded RatPac-Dune Entertainment. He is promising the biggest tax overhaul since the the days of Reagan’s damaging trickle-down economics tax changes. In 2009, Mnuchin purchased a failing home loan lender called IndyMac. IndyMac was renamed as OneWest and has been charged with filing false documents during foreclosures, robo-signing (signing foreclosure documents without reading them), and racial discrimination in lending. Between 2014 and 2015 OneWest offered only two mortgages to Black borrowers, positioned branch offices in areas that were inaccessible to or had few people of color, and it was found that “homes owned by the bank in minority neighborhoods were in a much greater state of disrepair compared to the foreclosures it owned in white neighborhoods.” If confirmed, serving as Secretary of the Treasury will be Mnuchin’s first experience in the public sector. Secretary of Defense CONFIRMED General James “Mad Dog” Mattis, Retired 4-star General In order for Mattis to be confirmed, Congress had to pass a law to exempt Mattis from the requirement that one must be out of active-service duty for at least seven years before serving as the Secretary of Defense. Mattis opposed repealing the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Act and wrote in Warriors & Citizens: American Views of Our Military, co-edited by himself and Kori N. Shake, that it is dangerous when “progressive agenda” enacts “social change” in the military. Attorney General Senator Jeff Sessions, R-Atlanta Sessions is a vehement and open antiblack politician. In 1986, many allegations came forth about his racist behaviors. Sessions’s former deputy, Thomas Figures reported that Sessions repeatedly called him “boy” and told him to “be careful what you say to white folks.” Figures also reported that Sessions had made remarks about being okay with the Ku Klux Klan “until he found out they smoked pot.” Justice Department Lawyer, J. Gerald Hebert, reported that sessions called the NAACP and the ACLU “un-American” and “communist inspired,” and that the NAACP specifically “force civil rights down the throats of people.” As a result of statements such as these being brought forward, Sessions was not allowed to be confirmed as a judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. Additionally, Sessions is a climate change skeptic, has been named a “champion of anti-muslim and anti-immigrant extremists” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, has opposed Democratic stimulus bills, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act, and providing additional funding for Veterans Affairs medical services. Sessions supported George W. Bush’s tax cut packages from 2001 and 2003 respectively, the war in Iraq as a whole, and an amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Furthermore, Sessions has opposed hate crimes protections, safe-sex education, and according to the Human Rights Campaign has “supported laws that criminalize LGBTQ activity, using discriminatory laws to harass LGBTQ Alabamans, and blasting the Lawrence v. Texas decision, which ended the criminalization of same-sex relationships.” Secretary of Interior House Representative Ryan Zinke, R-Montana Zinke has served on the Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Natural Resources, and is a former Navy SEAL commander. He supports American energy independence through implementing energy policy that revolves around a balance of renewable, fossil fuel, and alternative energy. Zinke is a climate change skeptic and a proponent of drilling and mining on public lands. Secretary of Agriculture Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue Perdue served as the first republican governor in Georgia since reconstruction from 2003-2011. Before that, Perdue was a veterinarian. Environmental activists have reported that Perdue received “hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal farm subsidies that help chemical companies and large agricultural conglomerates at the expense of small farmers and the environment.” Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Chairman and Chief strategist of equity firm W.L. Ross and Co. Essentially, Ross is a turnaround investor. This means that he spends his money as a billionaire buying bankrupt companies in order to restructure them and make a profit—components of this include outsourcing jobs and cutting employee benefits. In order for this to not be a conflict of interest as the nominee for Secretary of Commerce, Ross will have to divest at least 80 investment funds. Perhaps the biggest cloud of controversy surrounding Ross is in regard to the 2006 Sago Mine Disaster. Ross is the owner of Sago Mine and in 2006, after 12 miners lost their lives in a mining accident, the company was accused of ignoring safety regulations which resulted in the death of the miners. Furthermore, in 2016, W.L. Ross and Co. paid out 2.3 million dollars in civil penalty after being charged for non-transparency to investors. Ross has promised to make significant changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Secretary of Labor Andrew Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants (parent company of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr.) Puzder is a staunch opponent of raising the minimum wage, maintaining overtime rules, and paid sick leave. He is also a strong advocate for repealing the Affordable Care Act. Pudzer has no government experience. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, R-Georgia Previously, Price was an orthopedic surgeon. During his time in Congress he has served as Chairman of House Budget Committee. In terms of healthcare, Price supports privatizing and establishing a voucher system for medicare, and is strongly opposed to Planned Parenthood and the Affordable Care Act. New York Senator Chuck Schumer has asserted that “Congressman Price has proven to be far out of the mainstream of what Americans want when it comes to Medicare, the Affordable Care Act and Planned Parenthood. Nominating Congressman Price to be the Health and Human Services secretary is akin to asking the fox to guard the henhouse.” Price has voted against adopting a new Georgia state flag without the Confederate battle cross, and voted in support of an amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Dr. Ben Carson, retired neurosurgeon, former GOP presidential candidate Carson has no government experience and has been quoted saying he believes that “having [himself] as a federal bureaucrat would be like a fish out of water, quite frankly.” Carson has expressed many other sentiments of uncomfortability with accepting a cabinet position. Carson’s role as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development revolves around providing fair and equal housing opportunities. However, much of Carson’s rhetoric revolves around up-by-your-bootstraps sentiments and staunch opposition to government assistance. Furthermore, Carson has been critical of anti-segregation policies put forth by the NAACP and the Obama administration. Carson has also compared homosexuality to bestiality and incest. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, Former Secretary of Labor for George W. Bush (2001-2009) Chao has extensive government experience working as the Deputy Secretary of Transportation under George H.W. Bush and as the Secretary of Labor for George W. Bush. Under the W. Bush administration, Chao became the first Asian-American woman to hold position in the United States cabinet. A major conflict of interest in her potential nomination is that her husband is the Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell. McConnell holds substantial power in ensuring that presidential agenda becomes law. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, Member of the board of Energy Transfer Partners and of the Board of Sunoco Logistics Partners Perry has twice tried and twice failed to be elected as president, once in 2012 and once in 2015. He has extensive government experience, having acted as the governor of Texas for 14 years as well as maintaining positions as Texas’s lieutenant governor, house representative, and agricultural commissioner. Perry has expressed interest in eliminating the Departments of Commerce, Education, and Energy. His most notable and damaging conflict of interest is that he is a board member of Energy Transfer Partners. Energy Transfer Partners is the parent company of Dakota Access. Dakota Access is the company trying to build the Dakota Access Pipeline. Perry’s position on the Energy Transfer Partners board will only enable, validate, and normalize the president’s executive order to advance the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Billionaire Philanthropist DeVous is a strong proponent of school choice, private school voucher programs, and using taxpayer dollars to “funnel taxpayer dollars from public schools to private and religious schools.” Her family has given millions of dollars to anti-LGBTQIA organizations like the National Organization for Marriage, and the SPLC noted hate group Family Research Council. Furthermore, their funds have been used to support and implement a ban on marriage equality in Michigan in 2004. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. David Shulkin, Undersecretary at Department of Veterans Affairs If confirmed, Shulkin would be the first person from the Obama administration to be rolled over to the new presidential administration. He would also be the first Secretary of Veterans Affairs to have not served in the military. Shulkin believes in maintaining VA medical centers in the public sphere as opposed to privatizing them, saying that “it would be a terrible mistake, a terrible direction for veterans and for the country, to essentially systematically implement recommendations that would lead to the end of the VA healthcare system.” Secretary of Homeland Security CONFIRMED General John Kelly, Retired 4-star General Kelly worked at Guantanamo Bay under the Obama administration and pushed back against efforts to close it. He was a key figure in negotiating and carrying out the Alliance for Prosperity in 2014, through which the United States invested $1 billion in Honduran, Guatemalan, and El Salvadoran governments. He supports strong border control and as the Secretary of Homeland Security he will deal with policy and action regarding immigration, border security, domestic terrorism, and cybersecurity. This means that he will oversee the presidential administration’s promise to “build a wall” on the border between the United States and Mexico. Nikita Imafidon Editor and Staff Writer “Without a backup plan for transitioning citizens with policies through the ACA to another affordable option, the millions unable to access what they need to stay healthy will once again be living proof of a shocking implication in our country: that healthcare is a privilege, not a right.” In case you missed the news, the United States has a new president. His name is Donald Trump, and the first item on his agenda: repealing The Affordable Care Act (otherwise known as the ACA). The law was first introduced by President Barack Obama in 2010. No, it’s not actually called “Obamacare” but yes, those two terms are referring to the same policy.
While the full law is available on the HealthCare.gov website, the main goal of the ACA is to expand the access of healthcare to households that lack the means to afford healthcare services otherwise. The ACA does this by providing subsidies to those who have incomes that rank within a certain margin of the federal poverty level. The law also intends to expand the Medicaid program to cover citizens in poverty, as well as generally lowering the basic cost of health care through support of innovative treatment methods. There is a wide variety of reasons that Trump and multiple other politicians find fault with the act. The actual implementation of the ACA had a rocky start with numerous website crashes and glitches. Its negative introduction to the public left a bad taste in many people’s mouths. The distrust in the ACA only continued with worries about companies laying off employees in order to provide the required healthcare for all its staff members, and with concerns about the policies being too confusing, states The Economist. Some Democrats simply wanted to see changes made, but many Republicans agreed that the ACA should be thrown in the garbage as soon as Obama walks out the door. Trump, it seems, supports the latter. He has already started the opening stages of repealing the law, issuing an executive order on his inauguration day proclaiming that his administration wants to promptly seek a repeal. But why does this matter? For me, it took a look at the lives of my friends and their loved ones to finally take notice of just how much this change will wound the American people. According to a study by the Congressional Budget Office, eighteen million people could lose their health insurance with just partially repealing the ACA. Some of these people include my friends who grew up in poverty and are barely able to fund their education, let alone go to a doctor when they have had severe flu symptoms. Some of these people include peers I’ve met who fear that friends they know with epilepsy will definitively be unable to make the monthly purchase of the twelve kinds of medication needed to prevent their seizures. Without a backup plan for transitioning citizens with policies through the ACA to another affordable option, the millions unable to access what they need to stay healthy will once again be living proof of a shocking implication in our country: that healthcare is a privilege, not a right. In repealing the ACA, the group hit the hardest are the impoverished, and furthermore, people in poverty are disproportionately people of color, LGBTQ+ community members, and those with physical and mental disabilities. One in three transgender individuals are homeless at some point in their life. With already limited access to health care to meet the needs of trans people, the many trans individuals living in poverty are completely out of luck for even basic adequate care. The repeal of the ACA means that people who can’t afford to go to the doctor when they have chest pains will die out in the middle of their garage while rich people over seventy are using their money to buy their third heart transplant. While the government may not be shooting bodies and leaving them in mass graves, they are deliberately choosing who lives and who dies. It is time to bring out the word that many refuse to name: genocide. Genocide brings to mind Nazi Germany, Rwanda, and the more recent tragedy of Aleppo. But genocide is not just about actively slaughtering civilians. It is about the deliberate death of a people, and the repealing of the ACA in the United States facilitates the easily preventable death of many minority populations. The process of repealing the Affordable Care Act continues for now, but the resolve to fight to stay alive continues right alongside the signatures of the Trump Administration. While the ACA has its issues, repealing the Affordable Care Act is not the solution to the problem of health care access. In fact, its repeal further builds on the problem. At the moment, the best the nation can do is listen to the words of former politician Jon Corzine in his 2005 statement on the U.S. Senate floor: “‘Never again’ is the rallying cry for all who believe that mankind must speak out against genocide.” It’s time for us to start saying “never again.” Annie Bolin Editor and Writer On Tuesday, January 24th, 2017, President Trump issued an executive order to continue construction of the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines. This comes almost two months after the Obama Administration denied an easement of construction to Dakota Access LLC, via an Environmental Impact Statement to be conducted by the US Army Corps of Engineers. This comes as no surprise—Trump’s financial disclosures have revealed his investments in Energy Transfer Partners, operators of the pipelines, totaling between $500,000 and $1 million, and in Phillips 66, which would own a fourth of the DAPL if completed. Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota (R) issued a statement on January 31, 2017 claiming that with the easement, the pipelines will be built safely as to protect the Standing Rock Sioux and others along the Missouri River, but this does not erase the fact that the DAPL is encroaching on sacred Sioux land. In response, the Standing Rock Sioux and the Indigenous Environmental Network have issued statements of reassurance of their continued mobilization, resistance, and civil disobedience.
Donations to the Standing Rock Sioux efforts against the DAPL and Keystone XL pipelines can be made here. Elizabeth Jayne Wenger Editor-In-Chief "Trump is not Hitler, he is his own person, and while we must watch out for history’s repetition, we must also watch for new dangers. With Trump, my fears lay more with how his particular brand of nationalism manifests itself." On January 20th, 2016, Trump gave his inaugural address to America. The nationalism that pervaded the speech has come under fire by many of his critics and has sparked comparisons to Hitler. Hitler’s first speech as Chancellor of Germany, “An Appeal to the German People,” like Trump’s inaugural address, pushed nationalism and boasted God’s faith in his nation. Both urged unification against a “common” enemy. For Hitler, that enemy was communism and Jewish conspiracy, for Trump, “radical Islamic terrorism.” Unfortunately for both Jewish people then and Muslim people today, misplaced generalizations labeled their religions as enemies of state. |
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