Be Smart. Stay Informed. Actively Dissent.

Thursday, September 20, 2018

Nothing is more emblematic of the Trump doctrine than to spit in the face of a poor, homeless American.  Conservatives love to make it sound so simple.  Just pull yourself up by your bootstraps they say.  WHAT IF YOU HAVE NO BOOTS?  What if you literally have nothing?  These safety net programs are the last resort for millions of Americans.

Trump favors imposing stricter requirements on adult recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as food stamps, and has disparagingly described beneficiaries as “welfare” recipients.


Wednesday, September 19, 2018

The headline pretty much tells the story here but please allow us to elaborate a bit.

After the education secretary, Betsy DeVos, started scaling back consumer protections for student borrowers last year, six states and the District of Columbia sped up their own efforts to crack down on abusive lending practices by companies that administer federal loan programs.


Tuesday, September 18, 2018

There are two separate issues identified in this post.  First are gun dealers selling illegally to individuals who have failed or would fail a background check.  Second are individuals lying on background checks and never facing punishment for it which encourages them to keep lying to try to buy a gun.

First, on gun dealers who have a vital role to play in stopping gun crimes. For some, what appears to be missing are the will, the competence and the incentives to play that role well.


Monday, September 17, 2018

Republicans screamed at the top of their lungs for eight years under President Obama about budget deficits and our national debt.  They blamed him for bank bailouts initiated before his term.  They shot down vital stimulus plans to bring our economy out of a total collapse and, you know, make America great again.

As we wrote about in June 2018, the Republican tax heist is causing massive budget deficits


Thursday, September 13, 2018

The 2018 fiscal year budget passed by Congress in late 2017 was under quiet assault recently as Trump's crew sought to cut any budgetd foreign aid not already spent.

The Trump administration’s plans to take back over $3 billion in congressionally allocated funds were killed Tuesday in a major win for foreign aid.


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