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Donald Trump Donald Trump Featured

Petition Demanding the Release of Trump’s Taxes Gets Over 1 Million Signatures

What is Trump hiding? The man is already president but still he refuses to tell Americans the truth about the people he does business with.

Multiple petitions have been filed requesting a release of Trump’s taxes, but one if the more successful petitions was filed on the White House wrbsite and it gained over 1 million signatures.

The petition, which closed Sunday, asks the federal government to “immediately release Donald Trump’s full tax returns, with all information needed to verify emoluments clause compliance.”

“The unprecedented economic conflicts of this administration need to be visible to the American people, including any pertinent documentation which can reveal the foreign influences and financial interests which may put Donald Trump in conflict with the emoluments clause of the Constitution,” the description of the petition says.

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Donald Trump Donald Trump Featured

Bernstein – Trump’s Lies Are “The Most Dangerous Enemy Of The People”

Carl Bernstein is not a fan of Donald Trump and for good reasons. The new Republican president has taken it upon himself to chastise the intelligence committee and the media, categorizing any negative story about him as “fake news” and setting the American people against these news outlets.

Can you say dictatorship?

Bernstein, a well-respected journalist and author of many best-selling books including “His Holiness” and “A Woman In Charge”, took to Twitter to warn Americans against the lies of the new President.

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Domestic Policies

Make America Great? Promote the Arts and Culture.

Had enough yet? Of course not. And it’s still February.

If the press conference wasn’t proof enough that the president still doesn’t have a handle on his facts, then let’s move on to those things that do not lie: the numbers.

Yes, it’s almost time for the president to issue a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, that starts in October, and word is that it’s going to include the GOP’s greatest hits. That means that social programs will of course be on the chopping or reforming block, such as Medicare and Medicaid, programs that actually do a great deal of great for their intended beneficiaries, while we are in for a massive infusion of money to the military because, well, we need a huge amount of new weapons to fight, well, ISIS? Russia? China? I’m not quite sure. I guess maybe after being at war for 16 years, many of our weapons have been used and we need new ones? We’ll come back to that one.

Some of the other cuts on the Republican wish list are oldies but goodies from the 1980s Reagan Revolution.  They include drug treatment programs and the Export-Import Bank, but the program cuts that really show where the right’s priorities are will fall on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. That these programs account for maybe a few hundred million dollars in a $4 trillion dollar budget doesn’t seem to matter. They will be on the chopping block no matter what that says about the ruling party’s priorities.

The CPB, the NEA and the NEH, quite simply, bring a certain level of calm, thoughtfulness, pragmatism, knowledge, intelligence and, yes, democracy, to the country. So naturally you can see why the right would want to get rid of them. Chaos and unpredictability are in. Sober-minded analysis is definitely out. But ever since Robert Mapplethorpe, Andres Serrano and “Tales of the City” made their way into the consciousness of the party of morality, they have tried to demonize publicly funded culture as elitist and leftist, arguing that if television programs and art exhibits can’t pay their own way, then they should be thrown onto the bonfire of the inanities.

A country that loses its culture is in more trouble than one that loses a war. And some culture will always need public support. Artists cannot always get exhibition space on their own and some television programs are worth seeing even if they can’t attract sponsors. The public benefits from programming and exhibits that supports new and vibrant artistic voices in areas of the country that might want or need to see different perspectives. This is what makes our country great. Democratizing culture serves everyone. And if you don’t like it, turn it off.

Even more damaging would be cuts to or elimination of the National Endowment for the Humanities. This is where the United States shows its commitment to learning, academic research, and school programs that encourage people to read poetry and great literature, and to involve themselves in timeless and timely ideas that might not see the light of day without this support.

The NEH sponsors educational institutes for school and college teachers in areas that allow for significant pedagogical growth across the education establishment. Thousands of teachers, including me, have spent wonderful summers researching, studying, arguing, observing and learning something that they never would have learned without these programs. The NEH provides a lifeline to teachers and students and makes our schools richer in every way. Why would anyone want to cut that?

It would be terrible for this country to lose its creative could in order to save a pittance. We can’t afford not no have these programs. And once they’re gone, they’re gone for good.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Donald Trump Donald Trump Featured

Trump Supporter Cannot Give an Example of a “Fake News Story” – Video

Donald Trump and his supporters try to pummel the media into submission, categorizing all stories against Donald Trump as “fake news.” To answer get an example of these “fake news” stories, Don Lemon of CNN attempted to ask two trump supporters for examples of these stories.

Of course, coming up with a real example of a fake news story was harder than thought. When asked for an example, one cast member said, “it doesn’t matter the story, what he does is always negative.”

Don Lemon pressed on. Watch the response.

Video

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Donald Trump Donald Trump Featured

Former Head of CIA – Trump “wanders between the real world and the world according to Trump” – Video

Leon Panetta, the former head of the CIA, went on CNN Thursday and referenced Donald Trump’s recent bazaar press conference. Panetta expressed worry over the apparent fantasy world Donald Trump wallows in, and the real world the rest of us live in.

“We are living in the world according to Trump,” Panetta said. “You know, it’s tough to gauge this president by a standard that has been set by past presidents. This is a president like no other president we’ve ever had and he wanders between the real world and the world according to Trump. I guess my concern is that at some point the president of the United States has to get very serious with the American people and with the press about the challenges we face and what this president is going to do to deal with those challenges. If he simply continues to engage in this kind of personal attack, counterattack to the press, this reality TV kind of presentation, what I worry about is that not enough time is going to be focused on the real crises and the real threats that the country faces.”

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Elections Featured

Hey You! Wanna be Governor of NJ? We Need One

Chris Christie will go down in New Jersey history as one of the most unpopular, least effective, self-serving governors this state has ever had. And given our history, that’s saying a lot. But for someone with the political skills he has and the ability to connect with everyday people, having a 17% approval rating is shocking. He spent all of his political capital on Hurricane Sandy and thought that he would be the big mouth with the righteous anger in 2016, but that didn’t work out either.

And now he seems to have disappeared. OK, not entirely. He is spending his last few months highlighting the problems of drug addiction and is stumping for more money for treatment programs, but otherwise, he doesn’t have much else. His school spending plan is pretty much dead on arrival and Trump has taken all of the available space and oxygen in the politician realm. Christie was passed over for a cabinet position, but I can see him taking over after one of Trump’s originals flames out, which will happen sooner rather than later. Heck, if Christie can hang on, he could become VP if Trump does something high-crimish or misdemeanorlike in the next two years, which is also looking somewhat possible given that he can’t stand criticism and thinks that everything that goes against his family is unfair.

Even Christie’s Lieutenant Governor, Kim Guagdano, is fleeing Trenton and is running to succeed her boss. It will be interesting to see how she’s going to separate herself from him since we didn’t see much of her leadership style for, well, eight years. And that includes the time when the state got smacked with a blizzard when Christie was on vacation and Guagdano was the acting Governor. Not a peep. And the state ground to a halt. Talk about laissez-faire.

The Democrats are in much better shape in this state than nationally, but they are still going to have to round up votes in the traditionally Democratic urban and suburban areas. Right now Phil Murphy is the front-runner and has already been endorsed by party bigwigs and some unions. John Wisniewski is also running and he actually has state-level governing experience as a member of the State Assembly for the past 20 years. He’s trying to run as an outsider, but if Trump is any guide to how an outsider runs a government, Wisniewski might want to run as the trusted, sure hand who can actually govern.

But this is all for the future as we’re in the money-grubbing phase of the election until springtime, and the primaries aren’t until June. Another election. Fun.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Donald Trump Donald Trump Featured

World-Wide Gamblers Betting Big Bucks on a Donald Trump Impeachment 

The joke that is Donald Trump is serious business in the gambling world, as people place big bets on whether the Donald would be impeached or quit before his term is out.

Gambling houses all over the world are taking in action on whether Trump, inaugurated just last month, will resign or be impeached. And the odds aren’t as long as you might think.

Ladbrokes, the British oddsmaking giant, has Trump’s chances of leaving office via resignation or impeachment and removal at just 11-to-10, or just a little worse than even money. The odds of Trump being impeached this year in the House of Representatives are only 4-to-1, according to the Irish bookmaker Paddy Power, despite GOP control of the chamber. You can win $180 on a $100 bet with Bovada, the online gaming site, that Trump won’t make it through a full term — though the bet is off if Trump passes away during the next four years.

All in all, Trump has meant big business for the international gambling industry. There’s always been betting on politics — mostly as a novelty around election season — but professional bookies say Trump’s unlikely victory and tumultuous transition mean that gamblers are jonesing to wager on his presidency.

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Donald Trump Donald Trump Featured

Trump Aides – Donald Trump is Not Prepared for The Job of President

Donald Trump is beginning to feel the pressures of running the federal government, so say some of the people who works in his miserable administration. Politico reports;

In interviews, nearly two dozen people who’ve spent time with Trump in the three weeks since his inauguration said that his mood has careened between surprise and anger as he’s faced the predictable realities of governing, from congressional delays over his cabinet nominations and legal fights holding up his aggressive initiatives to staff in-fighting and leaks.

The administration’s rocky opening days have been a setback for a president who, as a billionaire businessman, sold himself to voters as being uniquely qualified to fix what ailed the nation. Yet it has become apparent, say those close to the president, most of whom requested anonymity to describe the inner workings of the White House, that the transition from overseeing a family business to running the country has been tough on him.

Trump often asks simple questions about policies, proposals and personnel. And, when discussions get bogged down in details, the president has been known to quickly change the subject — to “seem in control at all times,” one senior government official said — or direct questions about details to his chief strategist Steve Bannon, his son-in-law Jared Kushner or House Speaker Paul Ryan. Trump has privately expressed disbelief over the ability of judges, bureaucrats or lawmakers to delay — or even stop — him from filling positions and implementing policies.

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Education

Trump’s Education Secretary Blocked from Entering Washington School

Fresh off her controversial nomination, controversial nomination process and eventual confirmation, the most inexperience Education Secretary in this country’s history, Betsy DeVos, was greeted by a not-so-welcoming group of protesters as she tried entering a school in Washington.

Parents holding signs greeted DeVos when she arrived at Jefferson Middle School Academy in southwest Washington, not far from the Department of Education building.

When she tried to enter the school, the protesters stood in front of her, video from CNN affiliate WJLA showed.

The video showed DeVos then turned around and walked away, with one protester walking beside her shouting, “Go back! Shame, shame.”

She got into an SUV and drove off. It’s not clear if she later entered the school through another door.

WJLA reported the protest was organized by the Washington Teachers’ Union, which did not support DeVos’ nomination.

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Entertainment

Former President Barack Obama Found Kitesurfing in The Caribbean – Video

He carried the worries of a nation on his shoulder for the last eight years, now the former president of the United States is using the first few weeks out of office to unwind,

Well deserved Mr. President!

Video

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Education

Readin’, Writin’ and ‘Ridiculous

There’s a certain perverse pride public educators should feel due to the fact that Betsy DeVos, the nominee for Secretary of Education, is, of all the Trump cabinet picks, the object of the most phone calls and other communications objecting to her confirmation. She’s also the only nominee that some Republican Senators will oppose. At last, education is at the top of the priority list. Feel better?

The corporatization of public education has been gaining strength since A Nation at Risk was released in 1983, warning the United States that students were not learning the content and skills they needed in order for our country to compete in the economic and political world. Despite efforts to reform the curriculum, incorporate technology, and change teaching practice to include cooperative learning, Back to Basics learning and the upside down classroom, schools are being shortchanged in state budgets and students are being tested over the course of multiple days which could be used for more quality instruction.

The solution? Betsy DeVos.

Yes, what this country needs is a Secretary of Education with no public school…anything. Not attendance, not school board, not having children attend public school, and not any knowledge of laws that govern the public schools. She is the perfect manifestation of the ideology that puts money, competition and strict, top-down management above all else. She represents the conservative view that, really, anyone can be in education because, well, teaching is easy and the schedule is cake and, honestly, if you were so smart, you would have gone into a field where you were respected and could earn piles of cash.

Stupid teachers.

But just public school teachers. Conservative ideology says that private school teachers are just fine because they understand the private nature of capitalism and that skimming the best students off the top is the American way. And Charter School teachers? You are even better because you are directly challenging the public schools and those nasty unions in your districts. Cynical? You bet. True? No.

But that seems to be where Betsy Devos is on the educational continuum. She is highly unqualified,  regal in her detachment from all things public school, blithely ignorant of what she doesn’t know, and dismissive of what really works in education. She is also a reflection of the president’s (shudder) own uncaring attitude towards anything that requires thoughtfulness and academic rigor. What do you expect from someone who doesn’t read books?

The silver lining is that conservatives don’t want a federal presence in education, preferring to keep the major issues at the state level. The problem is that DeVos will champion vouchers and the growth of non-public schools. How much of an impact she’ll have will depend on how much power she can carve out of the department.

The responsibility of all public school educators is to oppose her at every turn and to do what’s right for our students.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Celebrities

See It – Ellen’s Tribute to The Obamas – Video

Ellen Degeneres gave an unforgettable tribute to an unforgettable President and First Lady, Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. And in this unforgettable tribute were unforgettable footage of the Obamas doing some unforgettable dance moves.

This is a must see for all!

Video

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