What Trump has done: Today's news for January 24th

So what has President Donald Trump done?

CNN:

What the Trump administration has done so far

Here's a list of the Trump administration's actions in its first 72 hours:
1. Taken over running of the entire federal government.

Cue the James Earl Jones voice, "This...is CNN." Thank you Captain Obvious.

2. Issued an executive order aimed at rolling back former President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act.

Good start. Now let's put some meat on those bones?

3. Halted a reduction to the annual mortgage insurance premiums borrowers pay when taking out government-backed home loans. 

Another good start. How about getting the federal government out of the mortgage business entirely?

4. Ordered agencies to freeze new regulations, giving the new administration time to review them.

Finally! A president who recognizes that government regulations can have a downside.

5. Received a key legal OK from the Justice Department for Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner to take on a role in the White House.

We care about this why? Maybe CNN should report that Trump got copies of the White House's front door keys made? Or maybe what he had for dinner Saturday night?

6. Met with the CIA, where he addressed employees. Trump also took over the nuclear codes.

These are two very different things. Getting the nuclear codes is "business as usual" in the transfer of presidential power.

Meeting with the CIA is mildly interesting, especially given the anxiety between Trump and the intelligence community.

7. Trump's nominee for CIA director, Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo, contradicted his earlier testimony and said he was open to revisiting limits on interrogation techniques including waterboarding if his intelligence officers think it is needed.

Being "open to revisiting limits on interrogation techniques" is not the same as actually doing something. Scratch  this one from the list.

8. Raised the specter of another conflict in Iraq, with Trump expressing regret for not taking over the country's oil and telling the CIA, "We should have kept the oil. Maybe we'll have another chance."

If America is going to be carrying on with the "Modern Crusades", we need to be a bit more ruthless about how we go about it. Trump correctly stated that if we kept the oil, ISIS would not have been able to sell it for their own profit.

(Note that I do not support the Modern Crusades. But if we are going to fight a war, at least do it intelligently.)

9. Spoke to the Mexican president and said the two will meet at the end of January.
10. Spoke to the Canadian prime minister about the two nations' economic relationship.
11. Announced he has meetings with leaders in Mexico and Canada to begin re-negotiating NAFTA.
12. Announced his first foreign leader meeting will be Friday with the United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May.

Good stuff, and appropriate.

13. Signaled a shift in the Justice Department's civil rights efforts when it requested a delay in the lawsuit over a Texas law requiring voters to present certain types of government-issued IDs. 

Being required to present an ID to vote is not racist or evil.

The real unspoken issue with this is the fees which the state governments charge for a basic ID card and/or ID information, such as birth certificates. If a person doesn't have a drivers license, and cannot afford the fees to get a birth certificate of basic ID card, they end up in a situation where these fees become de facto poll taxes. This is the true problem.

Back to CNN...

14. Prepared to issue more executive orders this week.   

Really? Trump "prepared to issue more executive orders"? And what was his preparation? Did he practice signing his name? Flex his wrist a few times to work out the carpal tunnel kinks?

15. Told the National Park Service not to tweet after it retweeted side-by-side images showing the crowd at former President Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration and Trump's inauguration.

Jawohl mein kommandant!

16. Began discussions about moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

TRUMP: Let's move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
STAFF: Ok.
TRUMP: Next subject...

17. Confronted his first national disaster as President, deadly tornadoes in Georgia. 

TRUMP (watching tv): Look at that devastation. Just horrible...

18. Issued executive orders to withdraw from the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal negotiations, as well as executive order on abortion and lobbyists who want to work in the White House.

If they buried the lede any deeper, it would be in China...

CNN:

Trump signs order withdrawing from TPP, reinstate 'Mexico City policy' on abortion

President Donald Trump on Monday will start to unravel the behemoth trade deal he inherited from his predecessor, as he signed an executive action to withdraw from the negotiating process of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

That executive action sends signals to Democrats and leaders in foreign capitals around the world that Trump's rhetoric on trade during the campaign is turning into action. Trump vowed during the campaign to withdraw the US from the Pacific trade deal, commonly known as TPP, which he argued was harmful to American workers and manufacturing.

This is a tough one. While free trade is a good thing, how much negotiation do you need to accomplish it? Here is how it should work:

ONE SIDE: Let's have free trade between us? No tariffs, and no subsidizing exporting industries to cut costs. Just completely fair trade.
OTHER SIDE: Ok.

The fact negotiations drag on for years is all you need to know that somebody is getting screwed. It may be us, or it may be them. My money is the average people on both sides are the ones getting screwed, while the politicians walk away with some kind of profit.

Continuing the story...

The other executive actions signed Monday included reinstating the Mexico City abortion rules and instituting a hiring freeze for federal agencies.

Now if he can turn that hiring freeze into a federal staff reduction, we will be making progress.

As for the Mexico City abortion rule:

The News & Observer:

What is the Mexico City abortion rule?

Here are a few facts about the Mexico City Policy:

• It requires foreign non-governmental organizations to not provide or promote abortion services if they receive funds from the U.S. government. Specifically, the funds would come from the United States Agency for International Development, and abortion cannot be presented as a “method of family planning.” Promoting abortion services includes work such as counseling for women that includes language on abortions.
• The policy was named for Mexico City because it was announced at the United Nations International Conference on Population in that location.
• It was signed into law by former President Ronald Reagan and went into effect in 1985.
• The policy stayed in effect until 1993, when it was rescinded by former President Bill Clinton. Since then, it has been reinstated by every Republican president and rescinded by every Democratic president within their first few days in office. Obama rescinded it exactly eight years ago, on Jan. 23, 2009.
• Obama’s statement when he repealed the policy read, in part, “It is clear that the provisions of the Mexico City Policy are unnecessarily broad and unwarranted under current law, and for the past eight years, they have undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning in developing countries. For these reasons, it is right for us to rescind this policy and restore critical efforts to protect and empower women and promote global economic development.”
• The presidents previous to Obama who took actions on the policy signed them on Jan. 22 of their respective years, which is the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. Some noted in 2009 that Obama likely waited a day on purpose due to the anniversary, though Obama never confirmed or denied that.
• The order does provide exceptions in cases of rape, incest or life-threatening conditions.
• Critics of the policy refer to it as the “Global Gag Rule,” and the U.S. has been unsuccessfully sued over the policy by those who say it limits freedom of speech.
• The policy creates legal problems for organizations in certain countries, such as South Africa, where the groups are legally required to inform a woman seeking an abortion of her rights and refer her to a facility that would perform an abortion.

Why would anyone want to spend money to promote abortion at all? It is already bad enough that the government denies the right to life of fetuses, but now we are going to take money from taxpayers who are against this procedure and force them to indirectly promote it around the world? This is insane...and typical of the Democrats.

Kudos to President Trump for ending this insanity.

In other Republican news...

The Intercept:

REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS IN FIVE STATES PROPOSE BILLS TO CRIMINALIZE PEACEFUL PROTEST

ON SATURDAY, THE Women’s March on Washington will kick off what opponents of the incoming administration hope will be a new era of demonstrations against the Republican agenda. But in some states, nonviolent demonstrating may soon carry increased legal risks — including punishing fines and significant prison terms — for people who participate in protests involving civil disobedience. Over the past few weeks, Republican legislators across the country have quietly introduced a number of proposals to criminalize and discourage peaceful protest.

Notice how this article starts out linking this action with the Women's March? Very sly, but that isn't the whole story:

The proposals, which strengthen or supplement existing laws addressing the blocking or obstructing of traffic, come in response to a string of high-profile highway closures and other actions led by Black Lives Matter activists and opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Republicans reasonably expect an invigorated protest movement during the Trump years. 

These laws aren't saying you can't protest. Only that you cannot stop the rest of the world just so you can have your "look at me" moment. There is no inherent connection between police shootings and highways, or women's rights and highways. To demand that protesters should be allowed to block highways is not only stupid, but inconsiderate of the rights of others.