If You Are A Syrian Refugee in the US

Yesterday, President Trump signed new executive orders that ban entry into the US by citizens from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen for at least 90 days. These orders also halted the US refugee program for 4 months.

The EO banned all refugees from Syria. From a review of social media sites it is clear the vast majority of Americans don’t have a clue what the US does to clear a refugee before they are allowed into the country. Syrian refugees are vetted using the most rigorous standards.

If you are a Syrian refugee currently in the US  you:

  • Are a woman, child, elderly(over 60) or have a severe medical condition
  • Were subject to a lengthy screening process conducted by the United Nations including multiple interviews to determine where in Syria you are from and who you know. You also had your iris scanned to establish your identity.
  • Were subject to a 24 month screening process coordinated by the Department of Homeland Security that included:
    • background checks by the FBI Terrorist Screening Center, Department of Department of Defense and other departments within DHS. These checks included checking your fingerprints against US and International terrorist data bases and a detailed review of all of the countries you visited or applied to visit, ever.
    • In person interviews (multiple interviews) are conducted by specially trained DHS personalized.
    • Paid the US Government back for your plane ticket here within 6 months

We live in a dangerous world. It is easy to fall into the trap of being scared of everybody. In this case, a quick Google search can go a long way to easing those fears. The results of that Google search can help the average American understand why our refugee program has resulted in far less violence than countries in Europe.

Perhaps President Trump should use Google more and Twitter less.

Trump Is Messing With Texas

President Trump is setting a collision course with Mexico that threatens to derail the Texas economy. Too bad the average Trump supporter has no clue of the danger.

Look at social media and you have Trump supporters cheering  ending NAFTA, building a border wall and placing a 20% tariff on the approximately $60 billion in surplus imports will be GREAT for the US. (The $60 billion represents a trade deficit of approximately 10% of total trade of $584b with Mexico).

Meanwhile, trade experts and economists will tell you none of this is actually good for the US. Continue reading “Trump Is Messing With Texas”

Trump Fails To Work With U.S. Ethics Czar

Last week PEOTUS Trump announced his long promised plan to rid himself of his conflicts of interest. Trump is placing his operating companies into a trust and turning over the day to day operations to his two sons. There are a few more details but that’s the gist of it.

Attorneys who specialize in government ethics including lead ethics attorneys from the Obama and Bush administrations Norm Eisen and Richard Painter and Harvard Constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe, were not impressed.

Their opinions and I’m paraphrasing: “You can put lipstick on a pig but its still a pig”.

Continue reading “Trump Fails To Work With U.S. Ethics Czar”

Trump and His Broken Tax Return Promises

The lack of transparency displayed by President Elect Donald Trump including his refusal to release his Federal Income Tax Returns is unprecedented in modern Presidential history. His failure to uphold his promise to disclose his Federal Income Tax Returns has left the American people blind to conflicts of interest our President Elect may have.

The financial disclosure requirements for Presidential Candidates is inadequate. Last week it was reported that President Elect Donald Trump under reported his debt obligations by almost $1 billion.  The Wall Street Journal reported this could represent severe conflict of interest issues for PE Trump. Continue reading “Trump and His Broken Tax Return Promises”

Putin’s Puppet – Delegitimizing Trump

Yesterday, one of the many political talking heads asked if there was a story line emerging on the left to delegitimize Trump’s Presidency.  You know something similar to Obama’s birth certificate that could be used to whip up a frenzy of Trump opposition.

Shockingly no one gave the obvious, blaring, glaring answer – Putin’s Puppet.

Continue reading “Putin’s Puppet – Delegitimizing Trump”

Trump Selfishly Clings To Conflicts of Interest

We’ve all heard the excuses about why President Elect Trump can not be expected to fully resolve his conflict of interest issues including:

  • Ethics and conflicts of interest laws don’t apply to the President
  • Trump’s businesses are too VAST
  • Trump shouldn’t have to give up everything to be President – it’s just not fair. Besides voters knew Trump owned these businesses.

Here’s the reality –

Continue reading “Trump Selfishly Clings To Conflicts of Interest”

Obamacare – What is it?

Americans are about to be dragged through a debate about Obamacare as the new Trump Administration prepares to “repeal and replace” it.  It’s a debate that most Americans are really not ready to have because 6 years after the law passed, many aren’t really sure what Obamacare is.

This hit home for me a few weeks ago as I was speaking with a Republican friend. My friend said he thought Obamacare needed to be replaced with something that required everyone to have insurance. I was shocked and left wondering how in the world my very educated friend did not realize he just said he wanted to replace Obamacare with something that is essentially Obamacare.

Continue reading “Obamacare – What is it?”

Trump Gets Nothing From Boeing

PE Trump met with Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg yesterday.  His goal was to negotiate the costs of the Air Force One program down.  After the meeting Muilengurg pledged to keep the costs under $4 billion.  Sounds like a great win for Trump and the American tax payer right?  The press thinks so but is it really?  No. Continue reading “Trump Gets Nothing From Boeing”

Talk to Us Trump

PE Trump has talked with the us, the American people, ZERO times since election night.  He’s tweeted us, announced a deal with Carrier for 700 jobs, given us a peek into his meeting with the Tech Titans, given reporters off the record sandwiches and chips, given us short blurbs on Boeing and yesterday he gave reporters answers to a few questions on the recent terror attacks.  His Thank You Rallies have been private events (yes large events but still private) with invited guests only.  Attendees who appear not to fit in have regularly been asked to leave his rallies both before and after the election. Continue reading “Talk to Us Trump”

What Happened Last Week

Some but far from all of the highlights from the week of 12/11/16 Continue reading “What Happened Last Week”