The debate over executive orders usually comes down to political bickering: The party that's out of the White House traditionally rails against them, but orders are suddenly OK when it gets back in. " CNBC, "Executive Orders coming? Here's how they work." January 28, 2017
Beneath that calm surface....
Feb 6 // Jan 23 2017
Accountants are wrong. Apparently, numbers do lie.
Turns out, the weekend was just a warm-up. Here we go.
Donald Trump likes numbers. We all knew that. But I'm not sure any of us knew he liked arguing about numbers as much as he does. Especially pointless numbers. This time he was arguing about the election numbers, for God's sake. The election numbers!
Let's take a look at this, shall we? The man is in the White House. Against all prognosticators. Against all reliable pollster pronouncements. Against the predictions of almost everyone who had a microphone. He's there and now he says he would have won the popular vote - and soundly defeated Hillary Clinton in every way - except for the millions of illegal votes people cast for her.
Once again, similar to how we felt about the "Inauguration Day crowd" kerfuffle, we're perplexed at Two Weeks Ago News. The ego staggers. Although it shouldn't. Ummm: Mr. President? You won enough to sit in the Oval. Now shut up and get to work.
From the "Careful what you wish for" file: Get to work, indeed.
Two Weeks Ago News learned that President Trump has spent most of his time signing Executive Memoranda which are almost exactly like Executive Orders with a different name. Executive Orders do have some bite, however, and the only way they can be reversed entirely is by one president reversing the order of another.* The ultimate "you're not the boss of me" move.
* At the same time, they are far from all-powerful edicts; see Bay, Guantanamo; President Obama.
The President was more than up for it. He wrote the following Executive Memoranda:
Recent presidents who have instituted or rescinded the "global gag rule" / Mexico City Policy:
Instituted it: Rescinded it:
Ronald Reagan Bill Clinton
George H.W. Bush Barack Obama
George W. Bush
Donald Trump
Anyone else see a pattern here?
For anyone who didn't know, the TPP includes twelve countries that border the Pacific Ocean, and according to BBC News, "The pact aimed to deepen economic ties between these nations, slashing tariffs and fostering trade to boost growth. Members had also hoped to foster a closer relationship on economic policies and regulation." Clearly, President Trump does not agree.
Quiz time! January 23, 2017...Who said this??
"I am glad the Trans-Pacific Partnership is dead and gone. For the last 30 years, we have had a series of trade deals — including the North American Free Trade Agreement, permanent normal trade relations with China and others — which have cost us millions of decent-paying jobs and caused a ‘race to the bottom’ which has lowered wages for American workers. Now is the time to develop a new trade policy that helps working families, not just multinational corporations."
____ Donald Trump
____ Bernie Sanders
____ Hillary Clinton
____ Paul Ryan
Answer yet? If you checked Bernie Sanders, you're correct!
No more - except for the military (more than 1/3 of federal employees.) And except for whatever jobs are “necessary to meet national security or public safety responsibilities,” whatever they are. And just to be clear, the president is not empowered to make big changes regarding federal employment. Congress makes the big changes.
Enough already. We're exhausted. And we've just realized that we left out the Affordable Care Act meddling and the mortgage loan stuff. We'll get to it. It's two weeks ago again tomorrow.
Accountants are wrong. Apparently, numbers do lie.
Turns out, the weekend was just a warm-up. Here we go.
Donald Trump likes numbers. We all knew that. But I'm not sure any of us knew he liked arguing about numbers as much as he does. Especially pointless numbers. This time he was arguing about the election numbers, for God's sake. The election numbers!
Let's take a look at this, shall we? The man is in the White House. Against all prognosticators. Against all reliable pollster pronouncements. Against the predictions of almost everyone who had a microphone. He's there and now he says he would have won the popular vote - and soundly defeated Hillary Clinton in every way - except for the millions of illegal votes people cast for her.
Once again, similar to how we felt about the "Inauguration Day crowd" kerfuffle, we're perplexed at Two Weeks Ago News. The ego staggers. Although it shouldn't. Ummm: Mr. President? You won enough to sit in the Oval. Now shut up and get to work.
From the "Careful what you wish for" file: Get to work, indeed.
Two Weeks Ago News learned that President Trump has spent most of his time signing Executive Memoranda which are almost exactly like Executive Orders with a different name. Executive Orders do have some bite, however, and the only way they can be reversed entirely is by one president reversing the order of another.* The ultimate "you're not the boss of me" move.
* At the same time, they are far from all-powerful edicts; see Bay, Guantanamo; President Obama.
The President was more than up for it. He wrote the following Executive Memoranda:
- No more Federal funds will be sent to international non-governmental organizations who provide or talk about abortion services, AKA The Mexico City Policy. Surprise! President Trump is a Republican and his platform is opposed to abortion.
Recent presidents who have instituted or rescinded the "global gag rule" / Mexico City Policy:
Instituted it: Rescinded it:
Ronald Reagan Bill Clinton
George H.W. Bush Barack Obama
George W. Bush
Donald Trump
Anyone else see a pattern here?
- Withdrawing from the Transpacific Partnership Agreement
For anyone who didn't know, the TPP includes twelve countries that border the Pacific Ocean, and according to BBC News, "The pact aimed to deepen economic ties between these nations, slashing tariffs and fostering trade to boost growth. Members had also hoped to foster a closer relationship on economic policies and regulation." Clearly, President Trump does not agree.
Quiz time! January 23, 2017...Who said this??
"I am glad the Trans-Pacific Partnership is dead and gone. For the last 30 years, we have had a series of trade deals — including the North American Free Trade Agreement, permanent normal trade relations with China and others — which have cost us millions of decent-paying jobs and caused a ‘race to the bottom’ which has lowered wages for American workers. Now is the time to develop a new trade policy that helps working families, not just multinational corporations."
____ Donald Trump
____ Bernie Sanders
____ Hillary Clinton
____ Paul Ryan
Answer yet? If you checked Bernie Sanders, you're correct!
- Hiring Freeze for the Feds! Outrageous! Workers need protection! J. David Cox, Sr., head of the American Federation of Government Employees, said "All American should be outraged." We were J. David! We were!
No more - except for the military (more than 1/3 of federal employees.) And except for whatever jobs are “necessary to meet national security or public safety responsibilities,” whatever they are. And just to be clear, the president is not empowered to make big changes regarding federal employment. Congress makes the big changes.
Enough already. We're exhausted. And we've just realized that we left out the Affordable Care Act meddling and the mortgage loan stuff. We'll get to it. It's two weeks ago again tomorrow.