#Obama administration

[black-fist-order]

[deadpresidents]

No caption needed.

[tomorrowusa]

People need to be reminded of Trump's woeful incompetence which came to a head during the pandemic emergency and resulted in the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

The Obama administration successfully dealt with the threats from swine flu and Ebola. There was no swine flu disaster, there was no Ebola disaster, and there was even no Zika disaster because competent people were running the US. Near the end of Obama's term, his National Security Council staff put together a 69-page playbook on how to deal with pandemic emergencies. It's called "Playbook for Early Response to High-Consequence Emerging Infectious Disease Threats and Biological Incidents". Of course Trump ignored the document and plunged the nation into COVID hell.

Trump team failed to follow NSC’s pandemic playbook

Michelle Obama, in one of her best speeches ever in Kalamazoo this weekend, excoriated Trump's incompetence.

Michelle Obama laced into Donald Trump in a searing speech in Michigan on Saturday, accusing the former president of “gross incompetence” and having an “amoral character” while challenging hesitant Americans to choose Kamala Harris for US president. “By every measure, she has demonstrated that she’s ready,” the former first lady told a rapt audience in Kalamazoo. “The real question is, as a country, are we ready for this moment?” [ ... ] In raw and strikingly personal terms, she asked why Harris was being held to a “higher standard” than her opponent. Trump’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and his failed attempt to cling to power after losing the 2020 election should alone be disqualifying, Obama argued. But now the people who worked closest with him when he was president – his former advisers and cabinet secretaries – had stepped forward with a warning that he should not be allowed to return to power.

ICYMI, here is Michelle Obama's speech in Michigan.

Too many people have been afflicted by Trumpnesia. They seem to have forgotten the catastrophe that happened starting on 22 January 2020 when the first COVID infection was discovered on US soil. On that day Trump told CNBC: "we have it totally under control" and "it's going to be just fine".

Instead of following Playbook for Early Response to High-Consequence Emerging Infectious Disease Threats and Biological Incidents, Trump did the usual bullshit Trump things like criticize the Oscars and rage-tweet from the bathroom. He belatedly declared a state of emergency on Friday the 13th of March – the day after the stock market crashed.

Don't let anybody in real life get away with describing the Trump years as some sort of utopia.

Some people disingenuously claim they don't know enough about Kamala Harris despite her 20 years in public service. We all know more than enough about Trump's egregious ineptitude which turned a national emergency into a prolonged national nightmare.

[eternal-echoes]

“So this is the fifth key feature of our common national life today: malice wrapped in the language of tolerance, sensitivity, and rights. It consists in an appetite to use power not simply to prevail in political debate, but to humiliate and erase dissent, and even its memory, in reworking the cell structure of society.

Examples range from the strange to the bitter. They include efforts to scrub Confederate public monuments from the South, and "progressive" academic attacks on American Founder Alexander Hamilton (of Hamilton Broadway musical fame). They include companies like Apple and Salesforce.com that attack religious liberty legislation in states nationwide and "use economic threats to exercise more power over public policy than the voters who use the democratic process." And they include selective shaping of the Advanced Placement U.S. history framework by the College Board, controversial efforts to "fix" democracy by major philanthropies, and bitter posthumous attacks on "unprogressive" public leaders.(31)

There's more. In 2011, the Obama administration stripped funds from the U.S. bishops' Migrant and Refugee Services anti-human-trafficking program. MRS was a highly regarded leader in its help to victims of sex trafficking. But it was defunded because the bishops declined to provide abortion and contraceptives as part of MRS services. The money was reassigned to groups ranked lower in quality, but more ideologically compliant, by the same White House.

The same intolerance marked the administration's fight to coerce abortion and contraceptive services as part of national health care. It tenaciously refused reasonable compromise on exemptions for religiously affiliated providers and organizations and deliberately sought to break any opposition-prompting a sardonic Wall Street Journal editorial renaming the Little Sisters of the Poor "the Little Sisters of the Government."(32)

-Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, Strangers in a Strange Land: Living the Catholic Faith in a Post-Christian World

—

(31) Regarding Confederate monuments, see Cain Burdeau, "Monumental Fight," Philadelphia Inquirer, March 27, 2016. On Alexander Hamilton, see Terry Teachout, "Rapping the Legend," Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2016. On corporate political activism, see Monica Langley, "Tech CEO Turns Rabble Rouser," Wall Street Journal, May 3, 2016, quoting Georgia State Senator Josh McKoon. On American history, see Lynne V. Cheney, "The End of History, Part II," Wall Street Journal, April 2, 2015. On philanthropies and democracy, see James Piereson, "Philanthropies Target Democracy for 'Saving. Watch Out," Wall Street Journal, July 24, 2014. On attacks on the insufficiently progressive, see Lloyd Cohen, "The Posthumous Attacks on Scalia Begin," Wall Street Journal, May 5, 2016; note that in the case of George Mason University's law school, the attacks failed. Note also the similar spirit directed at the (still living) Justice Clarence Thomas in the HBO film Confirmation; see Stuart Taylor JI., "The Hollywood Hit-Job on Justice Clarence Thomas," Wall Street Journal, April 17, 2016.

(32) Editorial, "Little Sisters of the Government," Wall Street Journal, November 10, 2015.

[tearsofrefugees]

[morganagotinne]

[derekpadron]

Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott and Corporate Accountant Josephine Fify Viera with their Guns Sending Subliminal Messages through Radio Towers to Schizophrenic Voters and Threatening to Send the Redneck and Hillbillie Hoes of John Boehner as Nurses and Neighbors with Guns After the Disabled Who Vote Democrat in the State of Florida!

[black-fist-order]

[deadpresidents]

Pope Francis visiting President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House, September 23, 2015.

Francis was just the third Pope to ever visit the White House. President Jimmy Carter was the first President to host a Pope at the White House when Pope John Paul II visited on October 6, 1979. And President George W. Bush welcomed Pope Benedict XVI on April 16, 2008. Pope Benedict's visit actually took place on his 81st birthday and President Bush surprised the pontiff with a birthday cake in the Blue Room of the White House before their meetings began.

[tomorrowusa]

First a heads-up. Nobel economics laureate Paul Krugman has retired from the New York Times. But he is now fairly active at his Substack. Occasionally we'll be linking some of his work there.

In this piece, Dr. Krugman argues that the MAGA war on the "deep state" is also a war on America's health.

One enduring theme of the MAGA movement has been hostility toward the “deep state” — what people outside the movement might call professional civil servants. Trump and company believe that the deep state is out to get them, which is paranoid. But they’re not wrong to believe that public employees who see themselves as working for the nation rather than for whoever currently occupies the White House pose a problem for their agenda. So what will MAGA do, now that it’s in power? Many observers, myself included, have focused on plans to convert a number of civil service jobs into political appointments. But just a few days into the new regime it’s clear that the assault on professional government will be much broader than that — that it will involve an effort to intimidate and politicize civil servants, too. And early indications are that one prime target will be agencies devoted to protecting public health. [ ... ] Public health agencies, even more than the rest of the government, are in the firing line. You can’t talk seriously about health policy without taking race and gender into account; yet according to the New York Times, one contractor collecting demographic data for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has already been told to stop work, and the results of an already completed survey won’t be released. But wait, there’s more: federal health agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes for Health, have been ordered to pause all external communications, including health advisories and scientific reports. NIH, in particular, appears to have been effectively put in lockdown, with even routine meetings canceled and employees forbidden to travel.

He concludes...

If MAGA had been around at the time, do you have any doubts that it would have opposed all of these public health measures and accused their proponents of being part of some dark conspiracy? And when — not if — the next pandemic strikes, do you expect our battered, politicized public health agencies to keep Americans properly informed? If Trump is still in charge, do you expect him to respond effectively, as opposed to minimizing the threat and muzzling anyone who might contradict him? It’s hard to feel optimistic about any of these concerns.

Did I just hear the word "pandemic"? There is some distressing news out of Uganda from the Washington Post.

Uganda announced Thursday that a nurse, 32, had died of Ebola in the capital, Kampala, amid a new outbreak of the deadly virus there — the first in two years. The country has activated emergency response procedures, officials said. Uganda registered 164 cases and 55 confirmed deaths from Ebola over four months in late 2022. That outbreak ended early the following year. The patient died after experiencing fever-like symptoms and seeking treatment at several hospitals and from a traditional healer, Diana Atwine, permanent secretary of the Health Ministry, said in a statement on Thursday. His fever, chest pain and breathing difficulty progressed to unexplained bleeding, a common symptom of a severe case of Ebola. Forty-four close contacts have been cited for tracing, including 30 health workers and patients from a hospital and 11 family members.

Ebola makes COVID seem like a fun disease. The mortality rate for the 2014 outbreak of Ebola in West Africa was around 40%. The Obama administration took decisive action to limit Ebola in the United States. Thanks to quick science-based action, the number of Ebola cases in the US was limited to 11 (eleven). Out of the 11, just 2 cases were contracted inside the US. 2 of the 11 died – 18.2% or less than half of the international rate.

At the end of the Obama administration, his National Security Council staff authored a guide called "Playbook for Early Response to High-Consequence Emerging Infectious Disease Threats and Biological Incidents" and left it for Trump to use. Of course Trump ignored it.

Trump team failed to follow NSC’s pandemic playbook

The first COVID-19 case appeared in the US on 21 January 2020. Instead of taking decisive measures recommended in the Obama pandemic playbook, Trump said this to his favorite CNBC host.

While Trump dawdled and did the usual Trumpian things like rage tweet about the 2020 Oscars, the virus spread throught the US. He only got around to declaring a pandemic emergency on Friday the 13th of March – a day after the stock markets crashed.

^^^ dark red = deaths, orange/pink = infections

By March 13th, COVID-19 had spread to 49 states and DC. Ultimately, at least 30% of the US population became infected and 1.14 million deaths were reported.

If Ebola spreads to the US while Trump and RFK Jr. are in charge, expect a catastrophe.

[thashining]

No, to funding Childhood cancer.....cause elon said so?

Gabriela Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Alexandra Villarreal at The Guardian:

The United States has resumed placing immigrant families in detention, re-embracing harrowing operations where scenes unfold such as toddlers learning to walk under the supervision of private prison corporations and children marking their birthdays at government facilities they can’t leave. If the Obama and first Trump administrations are anything to go by, parents will have to watch their little ones go hungry without familiar foods, the kinds families cook if their children aren’t stuck in so-called “baby jails”. Some kids will face getting sicker and sicker with serious illnesses like failing kidneys or intestinal parasites while contracted medical personnel largely ignore them. Others will turn angry, despondent or suicidal amid the uncertainty of when they will be allowed to leave such a stark place, where strangers police everything they do. This is not conjecture. It is what happened for years, over and over again, when immigrant families were detained, until the Biden administration indefinitely suspended the practice for undocumented families in 2021, opting instead to surveil them through ankle bracelets, wrist monitors or phone apps. And it is what Donald Trump is inviting now as federal officials re-operationalize two Texas family detention centers, one of which will funnel about $180m in annual revenue to the private prison corporation CoreCivic. Already, at least three children are in custody with their parents. Family detention and the profits it brings to the US carceral industry have returned to the country overnight, in a bruising setback for immigrant families and all who care about their wellbeing and rights. Many kids held by the Trump administration will inevitably endure harm. Could this be another misguided attempt to deter others from coming to the US? The overwhelming expert consensus is that family detention is neither safe nor just. The American Academy of Pediatrics warns that the federal government’s facilities “do not meet the basic standards for the care of children”. A report from the American Bar Association decried the infringement of the “due process right to legal counsel” for detained families. Even the federal government’s advisory committee wrote that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – which oversees immigration enforcement – should follow “the presumption that detention is generally neither appropriate nor necessary for families”. [...] In fact, the new administration had already started depriving children of their liberty before it officially brought back family detention stateside. It was simply getting other countries to do it on American taxpayers’ dime, likely in part to circumvent existing requirements in the US that protect immigrant kids and limit their time in custody. In recent weeks, flights filled with people of nationalities that are harder to deport because of poor bilateral international relations, such as Iranians, Afghans, Russians and Chinese, have been dispatched to Panama and Costa Rica, nations whose governments were pressured into acting as middle men to hold and then supposedly repatriate hundreds of people – or at least take them off the US government’s hands.

The family separation policy of both the Obama and Trump I Administrations are back, and that is a grave insult to common sense.

[wat3rm370n]

Schools don't have to overturn ADA compliance based on White House central government DEI edicts. 

That isn't the American way things work, but people elected to school boards may not be familiar with Schoolhouse Rock. 

My letter to school board members:

The Trump executive orders can't legally change any law regarding civil rights and nothing issued from the White House requires any changes to school or district policies or practices. These confusing, irrational, and rudely worded orders are however probably causing a lot of stress for parents and families, and probably the kids too, and that's wrong. Schools should NOT be places with toxic atmospheres that traumatize kids, that should be obvious. You have my support in our community to protect our schools so they are a welcoming place for all students and everyone has safe access to education with all rights honored.

Please feel free to copy or repurpose the contents of my letter.

The wording of the response I got from the president of the school board makes it clear that they do actually believe these "anti-DEI" edicts from the White House can overturn, for example, Section 504 law in the schools. 

Ty Holmes in an email to Chloe Humbert Feb 2, 2025, 12:26 PM: "Regarding DEI and recent executive orders, we recognize that these matters are still unfolding at the federal level. At this time, I do not believe there is an immediate impact on our district. However, as clarity emerges through the legal and governmental process, we will continue to navigate any changes with thoughtfulness and a focus on our students' and staff members well-being."

What are they even saying? This is pretty scary that our local Scranton School District has a school board director that seems to be anticipating Trump putting the stops on Section 504, and who knows what else. And what's this about the staff member well-being I have to wonder. This response raises far more questions than answers. It seriously undermines my trust in the ability of the Scranton School Board to adhere to actual laws, and not just go along with whatever comes out of the "central government" to do targeted harm.

ACLU - ReNika Moore, January 24, 2025 The Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard left colleges and universities with several pathways to advance educational equity. The decision had no bearing on K-12 education, where schools must continue to identify and address barriers to equitable learning environments. At a minimum, schools are required to comply with federal and state civil rights laws that ensure educational opportunities are provided on an equal basis. This means reviewing policies and practices to ensure they don’t unnecessarily limit opportunities based on race or other protected characteristics. Schools must also work to foster a climate where all students can access and thrive in their educational pursuits. Now, more than ever, educational institutions must resist intimidation and reaffirm their commitment to identifying and removing barriers to equal opportunity. Programs labeled as DEIA encompass a broad range of lawful initiatives that create fairer workplaces and schools. The executive orders attempt to conflate these lawful efforts with discrimination, weaponizing enforcement to bully institutions into abandoning critical programs and taking steps to try to eliminate protections against discrimination by government contractors. However, no court has declared DEIA efforts inherently illegal, and President Trump cannot override decades of legal precedent.

If you think that Trump's central government discriminatory chaos edicts aren't going to affect your blue enclaves because they're not legal, I suggest you think again.

Scranton is a blue city in a blue county in northeastern Pennsylvania, with a Dem governor in PA, and local Dem reps in the state government and a mayor who worked on Dem political campaigns including the Obama campaign and worked in the Obama administration. And Ty Holmes is the first Black Scranton School District School Board Director. 

More info on the Scranton School Director:

OPINION: Chris Kelly Opinion: Want a Scranton School Board seat? Take the DeNaples challenge Chris Kelly, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa. Wed, April 28, 2021 at 8:17 AM EDT "I expected it, but it's sad because you don't get to serve 25 years if you have questionable morals," Holmes told me in a telephone interview on Tuesday. "If people don't take that into consideration because of who I'm married to or what their perception of someone is that automatically I'm a corrupt person, that's ridiculous." Holmes' wife Margie — a teacher at Bancroft Elementary — is Louis DeNaples' niece, which makes "Uncle Louie" Holmes' actual uncle — by marriage. To some, this connection is disqualifying. These critics affix "the Scarlet D" to Holmes and dismiss him outright as the latest in a decadeslong line of corrupt flunkies DeNaples has installed in positions of power to do his bidding at public expense.

[morganagotinne]

AND THE RESULT IS THE BLACK RACISM WE ARE FACING NOW.

[derekpadron]

Given that Republican United States President Donald Trump is forcing us poor and Disabled Americans and Our Middle Class to pay higher groceries prices from Higher Tariffs, I'd rather Vote for Democrats so the Democrats can Lower Tariffs and Raise Taxes on the Rich and Lazy Freeloader Millionaires and Billionaires in USA! If Corporate Accountants Josephine Fify Viera and Alexander Viera threaten to have me killed for Voicing my Public Opinion, I've already Tipped to the FBI about the Viera Mafia. Also, Josephine and Alex Viera are Republicans that have Cuban immigrant families coming or are here in the United States, so Kick Them Out!