DeSantis Refugee Trafficking Fallout

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the future of the MAGA GOP, is basking in the afterglow of flying 48 Venezuelan refugees from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard to “own the Libs,”spending $615,000 in public funds on two charter jets. That’s a cost of $12,300 for each refugee DeSantis trafficked for his own political purposes.

DeSantis still has almost $11.5 million more in purloined federal COVID relief funds left, so he’s doubling down. There’s been a further payment of $950,000, possibly for flights to Delaware (Joe Biden’s home state) or New Jersey. The charter jet contractor, Vertol Systems, owned by Republican donor James Montgomerie, purchased helicopters from Russian government-controlled companies, and received a PPP loan of $255,583 in 2020, during the Trump Administration. Vertol has been associated with James Odom, who went to prison for laundering campaign funds for Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign. It’s not clear if Vertol got a sole-source contract; they’re certainly not the only charter jet outfit in Florida, so state procurement officials should take a look at that, if they’re not afraid of poltical retribution.

DeSantis and his cronies may be liable for other crimes. They fraudulently lured unsuspecting refugee men, women, and children from Texas to a small, isolated town in Massachusetts, promising non-existant jobs and housing. The refugees are suing for fraud, and a Texas sheriff is looking into the matter.

Is it interstate human trafficking? It may be a gray area but, in any case, it’s certainly cruel. Of course, that’s the point.

Update:

“DeSantis risks voter backlash in Florida with migrant flights,” Max Greenwood and Ann Parnes, The Hill

More:

“Massachusetts seeks human trafficking probe targeting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over migrants,” John Bacon and Rachael Devaney, USA Today

“The smoking gun in Martha’s Vineyard,” Judd Legum, Popular Information 

“Senator Ted Cruz says that transporting migrants is illegal, but commends GOP governors for it anyway,” Alia Shoaib, Insider

“DeSantis actions on migrants is ‘mini-ethnic cleansing’, expert warns,” Stephanie Kirchgaessner, The Guardian

__________________
Shortlink: https://wp.me/p6sb6-Bng

Image (“DeSantis Immigration Hat”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Alabama Ends School Yoga Ban

“Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has signed a bill to allow public schools to offer yoga, ending a ban that stood for nearly 30 years. Christian conservatives who back the ban said yoga would open the door for people to be converted to Hinduism.

The new law allows yoga to be offered as an elective for grades K-12. While it erases a ban that, over the years, some schools had not realized existed, it also imposes restrictions on how yoga should be taught. Students won’t be allowed to say, ‘Namaste,’ for instance. Meditation is not allowed.

‘Chanting, mantras, mudras, use of mandalas, induction of hypnotic states, guided imagery, and namaste greetings shall be expressly prohibited,’ the bill states. It also requires English names be used for all poses and exercises. And before any students try a tree pose, they’ll need a parent’s permission slip.”

— “Alabama Will Now Allow Yoga In Its Public Schools (But Students Can’t Say ‘Namaste’),” Bill Chappell, NPR News

________________
Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-xaK

Image (“Zoom Yoga, after a 19th century Joga Pradīpikā manuscript”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

 

Alabama Doesn’t Decriminalize School Yoga

Zoom Yoga Lesson

In 1993 the state of Alabama outlawed yoga classes in public schools, fearing the exercizes would turn young Christian children into Hindus. School regulations specifically prohibit use of the greeting “Namaste.” If only students had started class by saying “How-do, y’all ….”

State Rep. Jeremy Gray, who also teaches Yoga, recently introduced a bill to legalize K-12 Yoga, and the Alabama House of Representatives approved it last month. The bill went to Alabama’s upper house, but state senators upheld the ban.

More:

“Alabama fails to reverse ban on school yoga as conservatives say they fear rise in Hinduism,” Akshita Jain, The Independent

“Yoga can leave you injured, psychotic and a Hindu, Christian groups claim,” Ed Pilkington, The Guardian

________________
Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-wZM

Image (“Zoom Yoga, after a 19th century Joga Pradīpikā manuscript”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Trump Re-Election Campaign Begins

President Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign held its first rally in Greenville, NC on Wednesday, but the campaign actually started on Twitter the previous weekend. Mr. Trump is campaigning against four young congresswomen of color, none of whom are actually 2020 presidential candidates. At the rally he specifically singled out Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who came to the U.S. from war-torn Somalia as a child refugee. “Send her back,” responded the red-hatted crowd.

More:

“At North Carolina Rally, Trump Bets on Divisive Attacks as Way to Bolster Re-election Bid,” Michael Crowley, New York Times

“Trump slams ‘squad’ during North Carolina rally as crowd chants ‘send her back,'” John Fritze, USA Today

“Trump Goads Crowd Into Urging Deportation of Congressional Democrat,” Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine

“Trump refers to Ocasio-Cortez as just ‘Cortez’ because it ‘takes too much time’ to say full name,” Arris Folley, The Hill

“A new poll shows why Trump attacked Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar — and why it could get even uglier,” Aaron Blake, Washington Post

“Trump’s premeditated racism is central to his 2020 strategy,” Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen, Axios

House Votes to Condemn Trump’s Racist Tweets

On Tuesday the U.S. House of Representatives voted to condemn recent racist comments by President Donald J. Trump. Congressional rules prevented members from calling Mr. Trump a racist, but that shouldn’t stop you.

From H. RES. 489
Condemning President Trump’s racist comments directed at Members of Congress.
July 15, 2019

Whereas President Donald Trump’s racist comments have legitimized fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

strongly condemns President Donald Trump’s racist comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color by saying that our fellow Americans who are immigrants, and those who may look to the President like immigrants, should “go back” to other countries, by referring to immigrants and asylum seekers as “invaders,” and by saying that Members of Congress who are immigrants (or those of our colleagues who are wrongly assumed to be immigrants) do not belong in Congress or in the United States of America.

Read the whole resolution here.

Related:

“Trump’s Tweets So Clearly Racist It’s Spelled Out In Discrimination Law,” Matt Shuham, TalkingPointsMemo

__________________

Short Link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-tr5

Image (“In Case You Forgot”) by Mike Licht. Download copies here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com.

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

House GOP Leader on Racist Tweets: We are the Party of Lincoln

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R, CA-23) denied that President Trump’s recent tweets and comments were racist: “I think this party has been very clear. We are the party of Lincoln. Let’s not be false about what is happening today.”

More:

“House GOP Leaders Claim Trump Tweets Not Racist Because We Are ‘Party Of Lincoln,’” Nicole Lafond, TalkingPointsMemo

“House Minority Leader deflects on racist tweets: We are the party of Lincoln,” CNN

___________________

Short Link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-tqV

Image (“July 4, 2019, after Bill Mauldin”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Trump: ‘I’M a racist? YOU’RE the racist!’

President Donald Trump, son and husband of immigrants, has tweeted that four U.S. citizens should “go back where they came from,” even though three of them are native-born children of immigrants, one is a naturalized citizen who came to the U.S. as a child refugee, and all four are women of color who were recently elected to Congress.

There was swift reaction from most Republican officials: [crickets].

Others have rightly condemned the president’s statement as racist. Mr. Trump’s reaction to this criticism was predicable: I’M a racist? YOU’RE the racists!

Some suggested that President Trump should apologize for the racist remarks, and his reaction was likewise predictable: ME apologize? YOU should apologize!

There was evidence that Mr. Trump was paraphrasing recent comments by Fox News pundits, and predictions that the president would continue these racist attacks as part of his 2020 campaign strategy. After all, racism got him elected in the first place.

More:

“Republicans embrace Trump’s racism. Blame them as much as him.” Eugene Robinson, Washington Post

“Trump says he’s not concerned about being racist because ‘many people agree’ with him,” Aaron Rupar, Vox

“Trump Is a Racist. If You Still Support Him, So Are You.” Goldie Taylor, Daily Beast

“Donald Trump’s long history of racism, from the 1970s to 2019,” German Lopez, Vox

“President Trump’s Bigotry Is Part of a Pattern,” Jonathan Bernstein, Bloomberg

“Racism Comes Out of the Closet,” Paul Krugman, Washington Post

“Trump’s America Is a ‘White Man’s Country,’” Jamelle Bouie, New York Times

“‘His only tool is racism’: why Trump’s bigoted tirade could be a vote winner,” David Smith, The Guardian

“Trump Attacks Democratic Congresswomen With White Nationalist Rhetoric,” Chas Danner, New York Magazine

“Trump answers racism accusation with a charge of his own: Anti-Semitism,” Washington Post

“Anti-Defamation League warns Trump to stop ‘throwing around accusations of anti-Semitism,'” Marina Pitofsky, The Hill

“Presidential historian: Trump joins Andrew Johnson ‘as the most racist president in American history,'” Catherine Garcia, The Week

Trump: ‘Emergency! Emergency! I Mean, If I Wanted to….’

After spending a week threatening to declare lack of a border wall a national emergency, President Trump backed off, saying he could do that if he wanted to, but he won’t do that just yet. There are two reasons for him to say that:

1. Diverting Army Corps of Engineers project money from disaster prevention and recovery for useless political promise fulfillment isn’t a good look; and
2. Democrats in the House and border landowners would tie him up in court well past 2020.

More:

“No ‘Emergency’ Will Allow Trump to Build His Wall,” Noah Feldman, Bloomberg

“Toddler-in-Chief Doesn’t Wanna ‘Do’ a National Emergency,” Claire Lampen, The Cut

“Bipartisan blowback hits idea of tapping Army Corps for wall money,” Annie Snider, Politico

“Texas Border Landowners Vow To Reject Buyouts For Trump’s Wall,” Nomaan Merchant, AP, via Talking Points Memo

“6 real emergencies that should be more important to Donald Trump than the wall,” Paul Brandus, USA Today

Related:

“That GoFundMe to build a border wall is issuing $20 million in refunds,” Taylor Hatmaker, Techcrunch

“A Border Is Not a Wall. It’s much more interesting.” Alexis C. Madrigal, The Atlantic

_________

Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-sE0

Top image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Border Wall: Art of the Threat

After being schooled on TV by Nancy Pelosi, President Trump is conducting his latest extortion campaign via Twitter and White House Staff Creature Stephen Miller. The Trump Doctrine: Gimme $5 billion for my border wall, or else:

“If we don’t get what we want one way or the other, whether it’s through you, it’s through military, I will shut down the government.”

The deadline is Friday.

______________

Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-swR

Top Image by Mike Licht via the Ransomiser. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Adiós blanco América cristiana

The United States is no longer a majority white, Christian country. At 45 percent of the population, white Christians are a shrinking demographic, and it’s obvious, hence the bitter backlash from many members of the group against the country’s increasing diversification.

“People fight like that when they are losing a sense of place, a sense of belonging, and a sense of the country that they understand and love. How do they reengage in public life when they can’t be the majority?” — Robert P. Jones, author of The End of White Christian America.

An Atlantic video.

Related:

“Trump can’t make America white again,” Eugene Robinson, Washington Post

______________

Short Link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-oIk

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine