The Constitution and the President

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

The presidential oath of office.

The 35 most powerful words in the world.

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” — Preamble to the Constitution

The Constitution is the supreme law of the land in the United States. link

Article Two of the Constitution describes the office of the President of the United States. The President is head of the executive branch of the federal government, as well as the nation’s head of state and head of government.

Article Two describes the office, qualifications and duties of the President of the United States and the Vice President. It is modified by the 12 Amendment which tacitly acknowledges political parties, and the 25th Amendment relating to office succession. The president is to receive only one compensation from the federal government. The inaugural oath is specified to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.

The president is the Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces and state militias when they are mobilized. He or she makes treaties with the advice and consent of a two-thirds quorum of the Senate. To administer the federal government, the president commissions all the offices of the federal government as Congress directs; he or she may require the opinions of its principal officers and make “recess appointments” for vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate. The president is to see that the laws are faithfully executed, though he or she may grant reprieves and pardons except regarding Congressional impeachment of himself or other federal officers. The president reports to Congress on the State of the Union, and by the Recommendation Clause, recommends “necessary and expedient” national measures. The president may convene and adjourn Congress under special circumstances.

Section 4 provides for removal of the president and other federal officers. The president is removed on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

Article Three of the Constitution describes the court system (the judicial branch), including the Supreme Court. There shall be one court called the Supreme Court. The article describes the kinds of cases the court takes as original jurisdiction. Congress can create lower courts and an appeals process. Congress enacts law defining crimes and providing for punishment. link

With that information said, maybe now we can lay down a clearer path of why the courts are important.

The courts uphold the laws of the land. They help to protect and serve our rights. Our liberties. Our freedoms. They help to settle disputes, correct some wrongs and sometimes even the courts don’t go the way the people want, but they go the way the law is written.

When times change and events come to pass where laws need to be reevaluated and changed or new laws are needed, than the courts are there for us too.

When a man steps up, is elected into office, promises to uphold and follow the LAW OF THE LAND and then does everything in his power to overrule the LAW OF THE LAND, to violate the rights and freedoms of the people, then the courts are beholden to do their job and prevent him. To protect us. To reaffirm the LAW OF THE LAND.

This is not “obstructionism”. This is the job of the courts. Anyone willing to throw away the Constitution, the LAW OF THE LAND, with the excuse of ” security” or “safety” is not American. They are voluntarily giving up their rights to freedom of speech, religion, assembly, etc. They no longer want the rights given to them by the Constitution and protected by the courts. This is a fact.

This is what the president needs to learn. To understand.

Or, he needs to go because he refuses to uphold his oath of office. His promise to the people. All the people.

We the People.

Money. It’s All About Money.

It always comes down to the American dollar, doesn’t it?

Hell! My theory as to why Trump even ran for President was so he could get his face on a dollar bill. (I guess no one told him he would have to be dead just to be in the running for the honor…)

Ego aside…

Trump was going to cut costs, make deals and save the American citizens money when he took office. Not to mention bringing jobs back. So, let’s start with jobs first, shall we?

Trump has taken claim for persuading companies to keep businesses in the US and to bring/create/keep jobs for Americans.

Notice I say he’s “taken claim”?

Intel – 10,000 jobs

 Intel previously announced the $5 billion investment in the Arizona chip factory with former President Barack Obama in 2011.

GM – 7000 jobs

GM plans to shift 450 jobs from supplier plants in Mexico back to the U.S., and has pledged to protect 1,500 factory jobs that were previously at risk of leaving the country. GM is also adding 5,000 jobs to its finance and technology operations.

Walmart – 10,000 retail jobs / 24,000 temporary construction jobs

Walmart will add 10,000 jobs by expanding, renovating or relocating 59 Walmart and Sam’s Club stores. It’s also expanding online services. In addition, the project will create 24,000 temporary construction jobs. The problem here is that the construction jobs are temporary and the retail jobs are not full time.

Lockhead Martin – 1,800 jobs

Lockheed has every reason to charm Trump: It is the largest U.S. government contractor, according to the most recent most recent data. But these new jobs would have been added with or without him. The positions announced are linked to production increases that have been in motion for years, a Lockheed spokesman told CNNMoney. Lockheed plans to deliver 150 jets in 2019, compared with 36 aircraft in 2014.

Amazon – 100,000 jobs

Amazon would probably add tens of thousands of jobs regardless of who is president. The e-commerce company is growing rapidly, and Amazon adds fulfillment centers each year to expand its shipping operations. Trump is taking the claim despite the repeated attacks on the company and saying that they are “getting away with murder tax-wise.”

Alibaba – 1 million jobs

Alibaba’s pledge to help create 1 million jobs in the U.S. is vague and misleading. Ma is not going to build factories. He is not planning to set up Alibaba operations centers that would employ tech-savvy Americans. And he is not touting a big investment. What he is touting is trade; exporting American made products into China.

Fiat Chrysler – 2,000 jobs

In a 2015 deal with the United Auto Workers union, the company committed to investing $5.3 billion in American plants to open up additional union jobs. 

Ford – 700 jobs

Instead of building a new plant in Mexico (Reportedly $1 Billion) they are investing $700 million in Ford’s Flat Rock, Michigan. The plant will allow the company to ramp up production of electric and self-driving cars.

Carrier – 800 jobs

Trump boasted this as his first win, saving 1,100 jobs. Carrier says the agreement really saved 800 jobs — not 1,100 — from moving to Mexico. The company confirmed to CNNMoney that it never planned to move 300 administrative and engineering positions from Indianapolis. However, Carrier will receive $7 million in financial incentives from the state of Indiana over the next 10 years — a fraction of what Carrier expected to save if it moved the jobs to Mexico.

 

Those are the jobs Trump “created” or “saved”.

But, those aren’t the only jobs Trump has created.

You see, Trump has nearly 2,000 VACANT positions HE still has to fill and most of those do not require Senate confirmation. According to the data collected by Leadership Directories, the Trump administration currently has about 400 vacant roles that require Senate confirmation, another roughly 400 direct presidential appointments sitting empty that don’t require confirmation, and about 1,200 Schedule C vacancies that similarly do not require Senate approval.

The State Department, an integral part to our outreach to the world, usually has a staff of 70,000+ world wide. Normally it is headed by the Secretary of State, his appointed Deputy and other State appointees. (Appointed by the Secretary of State and NOT the President.) However, though Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has tried to make some appointments, he has been shot down repeatedly by Trump. But while senior State appointees have yet to be appointed, other staff has been showing up. The Office of Policy Planning is now filled not just with Ph.D.s, as it once was, but with fresh college graduates and a malpractice attorney from New Jersey whose sole foreign-policy credential seems to be that she was born in Hungary. Tillerson’s chief of staff is not his own, but is, according to the Washington Post, a Trump transition alum named Margaret Peterlin. Rumor has it that Peterlin has instructed staff that all communications with Tillerson have to go through her, and even scolded someone for answering a question Tillerson asked directly, in a meeting.

So, it looks like Trump has to fix his house first. The White House cannot work with a skeleton crew no matter how large the ego is in the Oval Office.

Now, onto money.

Money money money.

No, not the song.

I’m talking the Almighty American Dollar.

When President Obama was in office, there was a handy-dandy little book written called “The $1.4 Billion Dollar Man: Costs of the Obama White House.” In this book, the White House expenditures were listed in a concise, convenient list:

• President’s salary and allowance: $450,000
• White House building operating expenses: $14,658,000
• White House Grounds: $6,057,000
• Vacations: $20,000,000
• Health care for the first family, including traveling medical staff and equipment: $7,000,000
• Campaign expenses not reimbursed to government: $311,000,000
• White House staff: $7,985,420
• Office of Administration budget: $14,481,000
• Special missions including White House Communications Agency: $161,252,000
• Military salary costs: $153,441,360
• Salary costs for presidential airlift squadron: $75,000,000
• Presidential plane fleet: $44,000,000
• Presidential helicopter fleet: $300,000,000
• Ground transportation: $2,200,000
• Transportation total: $346,200,000
• Secret Service: $259,152,884

Now, we know that Trump will surpass $1.4 Billion before he gets halfway through his first six months. How do we know this? Obama had only one White House, Trump has three; The White House, Trump Tower and the “Winter White House” aka the “Weekend White House”.

A weekend in Mar-a-Lago is costing the American taxpayers just over $3 million dollars. That is only for a weekend. That is a cost of $156,000,000 ($156 Million) a year. Note that Obama’s vacations cost a total of $20 Million a year. Also note that we don’t know when/if/where Trump will vacation at. (Probably Russia…)

Security is a major expense when it comes to the President. Obama’s security was 1/3 what Trump’s is simply because, again, he only had one White House. There are no numbers for the cost of security provided for Trump Tower besides those of the NYPD, but those numbers are staggering enough. According to most accounts, the NYPD spends approximately $25 Million a month to protect the tower. If the First Lady and Barron stay there the whole year, that is an additional $300 Million per year.

So, by adding two White Houses to his presidency, Trump has increased his expenditures of the White House budget by $456 Million.

#resist #ImpeachTrump #FollowTheRubles

 

Protesting the Protesters

“Ladies and gentlemen, another definition of terrorism is violence in the name of politics,” said Wayne Lapierre, executive director of the NRA.

 

Protesting in Arizona would is on par with terrorism. Senate Bill 1142 seeks to limit political demonstrations by expanding the definition of a “riot” to include actions that damage property, and making rioting an offense that can be prosecuted under racketeering statutes. The bill passed on February 22, 2017 with all 17 Republicans voting in favor, and all 13 Democrats opposed. 

For the record, protesters are NOT terrorists.

Protesting is how people gather to support an issue, or fight an issue. It brings to the forefront issues that many have heard about but haven’t, in some cases, understood. Some issues have been glaringly obvious as to why they were wrong, needed fixing, or needed attention.

Protesting is something that Americans are rather famous for, even if some don’t see it that way.

But now some members in our government want to call protesters terrorists. They want to cease their property, claiming that they have the right under perverse racketeering laws. They spread rumors and lies that protesters are being paid to create disturbances. (Not like some political big-wigs aren’t paying people to sit in audiences and clap and applaud…)

Thinking this way, violating our Freedom of Speech, it is UnAmerican. To prove protesting works and why we do it, I submit to you the following:

Boston Tea Party: December 1773, protesters gathered in Boston Harbor to reject the latest shipment of tea from the East India Company. They were speaking out against the Tea Act. Result: Spurred the movement for independence from England.

Women’s Suffrage (U.S. Movement): The women’s-suffrage movement in the U.S. dates as far back as the Revolutionary War, but women’s-rights leaders, such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott, spearheaded the strong push for equal voting rights in the mid-19th century. After the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, the rallying cry for women’s right to vote became a yell too loud to ignore. Result: The 19th Amendment was ratified.

Labor Movement: From the textile factories in Lowell, Mass., where the first labor unions were formed, to the railroad strikes in the Southwest led by the Knights of Labor, which thrust unions and their demands into the national spotlight — there have been many triumphant moments in labor movement history. But not every moment was so joyous. Indeed, it’s a tragedy that we have to thank, in part, for many of the standards and workers’ rights we now enjoy. The Triangle Shirtwaist fire in 1911 started as a small factory fire, but quickly became the deadliest industrial accident in New York City history due to insufficient fire escapes and factory bosses giving little care to fire and safety measures. In the aftermath, a commission was formed to investigate the cause of the 146 deaths, and within a few years, legislation was introduced to create and enforce stricter workplace-safety laws, safer factories and shorter hours. Result: The tragedy boosted the strength of the burgeoning union movement and went on to inform many of the rights we enjoy today, including minimum wage and collective-bargaining rights.

Civil Rights March: August 28, 1963, March from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. The gathered masses stood peaceably for hours in the stifling August heat as musicians and orators appealed for equal rights for African Americans and, really, all minorities. Result: Civil Rights Act of 1964

Vietnam War: Fall of 1969, more than 500,000 people marched on Washington to protest U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. The November rallies were part of a string of demonstrations that took place around the world in 1969, with groups from San Francisco and Boston to London petitioning for peace. Result: Despite their cries, the war went on for six more years, ending with the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.

Gay Rights: The riots following the June 28, 1969, police raid on New York City’s Stonewall Inn did not start the discussion on gay rights, but they certainly became the catalyst for a national movement. When the Mafia-owned bar that offered a safe place for gay men and lesbians to drink and dance was shut down as part of a citywide crackdown on homosexual life, Greenwich Village erupted into several days of unrest. Violent police beat-downs and open mocking of the authorities by the protesters escalated the neighborhood protest into a full-scale rally for acceptance and equality. Results: Prior to the Stonewall riots, the gay-rights movement had been mostly underground; only two years later, there were organized groups in every major city in America. 

Occupy Wall Street: Sept. 17, 2011 3,000 people assembled at Battery Park with the intention of occupying Wall Street to protest greed and corruption in the government and financial system. Denied access to Wall Street, the protesters instead found a home at nearby Zuccotti Park, just around the corner from Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. During the first week of the occupation, some 300 people camped out, crafted a motto (“We Are the 99%”) and organized small-scale marches to protest a system that they say bailed out the banks and left everyone else to fend for themselves. It was a message that resonated. Within a month, the Occupy movement gained momentum, spreading to cities across the U.S. and around the world. Result: Unknown

Women’s March: A worldwide protest on January 21, 2017, to advocate legislation and policies regarding human rights and other issues, including women’s rights, immigration reform, healthcare reform, the natural environment, LGBTQ rights, racial equality, freedom of religion, and workers’ rights. The rallies were aimed at Donald Trump, immediately following his inauguration as President of the United States, largely due to statements and positions attributed to him regarded by many as anti-women or otherwise offensive. It was the largest single-day demonstration in U.S. history. The Washington March drew at least 500,000 people, and worldwide participation has been estimated at five million. Result: Unknown

 

 

Our History, Our Future

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

How to stop our present course… I have been unable to even consider the ways to make what is happening in this once great country of ours to stop.

How do we stop the seeds of hatred from being sown?

• The desecration of cemeteries because of religion/race.
• The murder of innocents because of their race.
• The bomb threats on community civic centers

 

How do we teach tolerance when the leaders of our country only insist on intolerance?

• Banning travel based on religion.
• Acknowledging a day of observance while ignoring the deaths of over 6 million people who were killed because of their religion.
• Disregarding people because of their gender.

 

How do we enforce the laws when the highest office in the land flaunts the fact that the laws do not apply to him?

• Trump doesn’t pay his taxes, which he gladly stated on live television, saying it proves he’s smart.
• Trump violates the Emolument clause on a daily basis.
• Threatened cities to withhold funding should they become “sanctuary cities”, though only Congress has the power to withhold/withdraw funding.
• Refusing to acknowledge the First Amendment by silencing the press.

 

How do we apply the First Amendment when the government denies us our rights? How do we fight this? How do we state our displeasure?

Our first step is to bring our concerns to our representatives in government.

You can call, but you will more likely than not, get voice mail.

You can send an email, but it may never be read.

You can go to the town hall meetings to speak to your representatives. Here lies another problem.

• Representatives of the government are choosing to not appear for their own meetings.
• Falsehoods of “paid protesters” are being banded around the country, distracting from the issues.
• Representatives are lying about the audiences in the meetings, stating that the people there aren’t even their constituents.
• The representatives don’t want to face angry constituents or answer to them.

How do we fight this? How do we stop this? The same way We, The People, have done in the past.

• Protest en masse.
• Let your voice be heard loud and often.
• Don’t give up.
• Don’t surrender.
• Stand up for what you believe in.
• Stand up for your fellow neighbor, whether they are American born, immigrant, racially different, gender different, religiously different and even politically different.

Left or Right, if you allow a voice to be silenced, who is to say your voice isn’t next?

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

~Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)

 

Armageddon: Day 29

So, nearly a month and we are still here. Barely.

How about a run down?

His Cabinet Nominations and Confirmations:

 

• Secretary of Defense – General James Mattis (Confirmed Jan. 20, 2017 with a waiver of the National Security Act of 1947.)
• Secretary of Homeland Security – John Kelly (Confirmed Jan. 20, 2017)
• Secretary of State – Rex Tillerson (Trump nominated for the position as top U.S. diplomat, the equivalent of a foreign minister, on December 13, 2016. He was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 23, 2017.)
• Attorney General – Jeff Sessions (Confirmed Feb. 8, 2017.)
• Secretary of Health and Human Services – Tom Price (Confirmed Feb. 10, 2017.)
• Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency – Scott Pruitt (Confirmed Feb. 16, 2017.)
• Secretary of Labor – Andy Puzder (Withdrew his nomination on Feb. 15, 2017.) Alexander Acosta (Nominated Feb. 16, 2017.)

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Things to Note:

Rex Tillerson: On January 26, 2017, when Tillerson visited the United States State Department, Undersecretaries Joyce Anne Barr, Patrick F. Kennedy, Michele Bond, and Gentry O. Smith all simultaneously resigned from the department. Former State Department chief of staff David Wade called the resignations “the single biggest simultaneous departure of institutional memory that anyone can remember.” The Trump administration told CNN the officials had been fired and the Chicago Tribune reported that several senior state department career diplomats left the State Department, claiming they “had been willing to remain at their posts but had no expectation of staying.” link

On Feb. 16, 2017, Much of seventh-floor staff, who work for the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources and the Counselor offices, were let go, including Ambassador Kristie Kenney, the Counselor of the State Department and one of the last remaining senior officials. Ambassador Kenney is a career foreign service officer who had served as an ambassador under Presidents Obama, Bush and Clinton. Her staff was told that Secretary Tillerson has no intention to fill the counselor’s position anytime soon.

It should also be noted that not a single State Department official was included in the White House meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, however, was in the meetings and Trump is depending on Kushner to handle “peace in the Middle East”. Kushner has no diplomatic experience.

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Jeff Sessions: The fight for Sessions confirmation ran hard and deep due to his beliefs. He has flip-flopped most of his decisions during his career on policing, gay rights, investigative priorities and affirmative action. He once called a white civil rights lawyer a “disgrace to his race” and dubbed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People “un-American.” On the reverse side, he helped to promote legislation that honors civil rights leader Rosa Parks, to opposing gay marriage and the inclusion of sexual orientation as a federal hate crime.

KKK – As US Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, Sessions’s office filed civil rights charges in the 1981 killing of Michael Donald, a young African-American man who was murdered in Mobile, Alabama by a pair of Ku Klux Klan members. Sessions’s office did not prosecute the case, but both men were arrested and convicted.

African-American Issues – In 1985, Sessions prosecuted three African American community organizers in the Black belt of Alabama, including Martin Luther King Jr.’s former aide Albert Turner (known as the Marion Three), for voter fraud, alleging tampering with 14 absentee ballots. The prosecution stirred charges of selective prosecution of black voter registration. The defendants were acquitted of all charges by a jury after three hours of deliberation.

LBGTQ Issues – He voted against the Matthew Shepard Act, which added acts of bias-motivated violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity to federal hate-crimes law, commenting that it “has been said to cheapen the civil rights movement”.

– Sessions voted in favor of advancing the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2004 and 2006, a U.S. constitutional amendment which would have permanently restricted federal recognition of marriages to those between a man and a woman. (Link no longer is active…)

– Sessions voted against the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010.

Health Issues – Sessions is against legalizing marijuana for either recreational or medicinal use.

– Sessions believes “that sanctity of life begins at conception”.

– Sessions voted against the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007, which would have provided funding for human embryonic stem cell research (and was vetoed by President Bush).

– In 2006, Sessions coauthored legislation amending the Ryan White CARE Act to increase the share of HIV/AIDS funding going to rural states, including Alabama.

–  Sessions voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in December 2009.

– Sessions voted against the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

Climate and Energy – Sessions is skeptical of the scientific consensus on climate change.

– Sessions has voted in favor of legislation that would bar the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases.

– Sessions has voted to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

Immigration – Sessions was an opponent of legal and illegal immigration during his time in Congress. He has said that a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants undermines the rule of law, that the inflow of guest workers and immigrants depresses wages and raises unemployment for United States citizens, and that current immigration policy expands an underclass dependent on the welfare state. In a May 2006 floor speech, he said, “Fundamentally, almost no one coming from the Dominican Republic to the United States is coming because they have a skill that would benefit us and that would indicate their likely success in our society.”  Steve Bannon talked about Jeff Sessions as the leader of the movement for slowing down both legal and illegal immigration, considering his work to kill immigration reform as akin “to the civil rights movement of 1960”.

– Sessions has opposed the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006.

– Sessions has opposed the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007.

– Sessions has opposed the Gang of Eight‘s Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013.

Foreign and Military Issues – Sessions opposed legislation by Senator John McCain prohibiting the US military from engaging in torture.

– Sessions introduced legislation to increase the death gratuity benefit for families of service members from $12,420 to $100,000. The bill also increased the level of coverage under the Servicemen’s Group Life Insurance from $250,000 to $400,000. Sessions’s legislation was accepted in the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2005.

– Sessions voted against additional funding for the VA medical system. He opposed the bill due to cost concerns and indicated that Congress should instead focus on “reforms and solutions that improve the quality of service and the effectiveness that is delivered”.

– Sessions was nominated to be a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama, but his nomination failed due to criticism of his record on civil rights, as well as allegations that he had made racially insensitive remarks.

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Tom Price – Price opposes abortion and supported the proposed Protect Life Act of 2011, which would have denied Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) funding to health care plans that offered abortion (the PPACA already prevented public funding covering abortions) and allowed hospitals to decline to provide abortions. The bill excludes cases where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest and in cases where a woman suffers from a medical issue that would place her at risk of death unless an abortion is performed.

– Price voted against federal funding of groups such as Planned Parenthood.

– Price has said that the birth-control coverage mandate in the Affordable Care Act violated religious freedoms and suggested that it is not necessary because all women can afford birth control.

– Price voted against a law that allowed the Food & Drug Administration to regulate tobacco as a drug.

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Scott Pruitt – Described as a climate change denier, he said of global warming that “that debate is far from settled” and “We don’t know the trajectory, if it is on an unsustainable course. Nor do we know the extent by which the burning of fossil fuels, man’s contribution to that, is making this far worse than it is.” 

– Pruitt has sued to fight the EPA’s Clean Power Plan and regulations on methane emissions.

– Pruitt has called himself “a leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda.”

– Pruitt, as Oklahoma Attorney General, sued the EPA at least 14 times. (Regulated industry companies or trade associations who were financial donors to Pruitt’s political causes were co-parties in 13 of these 14 cases.)

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Executive Orders [link]:

1. Executive Order Minimizing the Economic Burden of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Signed: January 20, 2017

Trump signed his first order hours after taking the oath of office. It’s aimed at reversing the Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s landmark legislation. The order says the Trump administration will “seek prompt repeal” of the law. It weakens parts of the law, instructing the Secretary of Health and Human Services and other agencies to “waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the implementation” of any part of the law they think places a financial burden on the government.

2. Expediting Environmental Reviews and Approvals for High-Priority Infrastructure Projects

Signed: January 24th, 2017

The order explains how the Trump administration will expedite environmental reviews and approval of “high priority” infrastructure projects, like bridge, airport, and highway repairs. The order instructs the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality to determine a project’s “environmental impact” and decide whether it’s “high priority” within 30 days of a request. This was issued in response to protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

3. Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States

Signed: January 25, 2017

The order strips federal grant money to “sanctuary cities.” It also orders the Secretary of Homeland Security to hire 10,000 more immigration officers, create a weekly list of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, and review immigration policies. The order also creates an office to assist victims of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. Local and state police must now detain people they find that came to the United States illegally.

4. Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements

Signed: January 25, 2017

The order directs federal funds towards construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. It calls on the Secretary of Homeland Security to prepare congressional budget requests for the wall. The order also instructs the government to hire 5,000 more Border Patrol agents, to build facilities to hold undocumented immigrants near the Mexican border, and to end “catch-and-release” protocols.

5. Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States

Signed: January 27, 2017

The order temporarily suspends the entry of immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries: Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, and Somalia, for 90 days. All refugees are barred from the country for 120 days. Syrian refugees, in particular, are banned indefinitely. During the ban, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security will revise the refugee admission process. After this order was signed, thousands of Americans protested at airports across the country.

6. Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Appointees

Signed: January 28, 2017

The order prevent executive branch officials from lobbying for five years after leaving office. It also places a lifetime ban on lobbying a foreign government. The order bans appointees from accepting gifts from registered lobbyists and bans appointees who were lobbyists from participating in any issues they petitioned for within the last two years.

7. Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs

Signed: January 30, 2017

The order says the government must cut two regulations for every one, new regulation proposed. Regulations cannot cost anything, meaning any costs associated with regulations must be offset by eliminations. The head of each agency must keep a record of the money saved under this order, and they must send those reports to the president.

8. Core Principles for Regulating the United States Financial System

Signed: February 3, 2017

The order says the U.S. Financial System must have the following “Core Principles”: making regulation “efficient, effective, and appropriately tailored,” preventing government bailouts, and ensuring that U.S. firms are competitive with foreign companies. The Secretary of the Treasury must review financial regulations and report back to the President in 120 days, to determine whether financial policies are in accordance with the outlined “Core Principles.”

9. Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety

Signed: February 9, 2017

The order instructs Attorney General Jeff Sessions to create a task force that would propose new legislation to reduce crime, uncover drug trafficking, and expose illegal immigration and violent crime. The newly-assembled task force will submit a yearly report to President Trump.

10. Preventing Violence Against Federal, State, Tribal, and Local Law Enforcement Officers

Signed: February 9, 2017

The order calls on the Department of Justice to “enhance the protection and safety” of law enforcement by increasing the penalties for crimes committed against police officers. The Attorney General oversees this order, and is instructed to determine whether existing laws adequately protect law enforcement. If they are not found to do so, the Attorney general must propose legislation to better protect officers.

11. Enforcing Federal Law with Respect to Transnational Criminal Organizations and Preventing International Trafficking

Signed: February 9, 2017

The order identifies human trafficking, drug smuggling, cyber-crime, financial crimes, and corruption as threats to “public safety and national security.” It instructs the administration to cut down on organized crime (like gangs and cartels) by increasing cooperation with foreign governments and the way they share information and data. The “Threat Mitigation National Intelligence” will lead this initiative, and will deliver a report to President Trump within 120 days. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly serve on the “Threat Mitigation National Intelligence” committee.

12. Providing an Order of Succession within the Department of Justice

Signed: February 9, 2017

The order changes the order of succession for Attorney General. The sequence is now: the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri. Jeff Sessions is currently serving as Attorney General, taking office on February 9, 2017. Just a week before leaving office, former President Obama signed an executive order changing the order of A.G. succession without explanation.

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Other Items to Note:

Policy

• Immediate regulatory freeze pending review
• Spending freeze and media blackout at several government agencies
• Suspended reduction of Federal Housing Mortgage Insurance Premium rates
• Withdrawal of Affordable Care Act
• Withdrawal from Trans-Pacific Partnership
• Reinstatement of Mexico City Policy
• Government-wide hiring freeze
• American Pipelines: Dakota Access and the Keystone XL pipelines
• High-priority infrastructure
• Voting fraud
• Organization of the NSC and Homeland Security Council
• Changes to Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

First military operation on Al-Qaeda under Trump

January 29 – Trump authorized a raid by US commandos on Al-Qaeda in Yakla, Baida in Yemen. At least 14 jihadists were killed in the raid, as well as 10 civilians, including children. The raid also resulted in the death of Chief Petty Officer William Owens a 36-year-old Virginia-based Navy SEAL, the first U.S. combat casualty in Trump’s presidency.

Supreme Court nomination

On the evening of January 30, Trump announced his nomination of U.S. Appeals Court Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court.

And…On Feb. 18, 2017 Trump is holding his first new campaign rally (for apparently his run for re-election) at the Orlando-Melbourne International Airport in Melbourne, Florida. link

God Save Us All From This Insanity!!

Your voice will not be heard if you remain silent.

#resist #ImpeachTrump

 

 

It happened to me

I have always considered myself to be one of those women who would never find herself the object of someone’s unwanted attention. And should I ever find myself in that situation, I knew I would take the steps to fight back, to not be the victim.

Or so I thought.

I had made a new friend, and he was a handful to deal with, but friends come in all flavors and he was helpful to me when I had to move. He helped me to get 85% of my stuff out of my old place and for that I was very grateful for.

But, he also had his drawbacks. He has a penchant to interrupt which is a major pet peeve of mine. Another major flaw was his love affair with Trump. But, I dealt with those and allowed room for the friendship to grow. (He had other flaws, but there is no reason to list them all.)

Now, this guy is in some capacity, in the massage industry. Some times he would come around a place I hang out at and would walk up to various people and give them a massage. The first time he gave me one was to help me get rid of a migraine. Then, every few days he would just come around, massage my shoulders, neck or back.

After a couple of months our conversations didn’t change, but every once in awhile his touch did. Nothing obvious, nothing overt just… A bit different.

Then, one night I slept wrong, injuring myself. Somehow I had laid on my side in a way that became painful the next day. I woke to find I could barely lift my arm. Later that day, while relaxing after work and trying to get the kink out of my shoulder, he arrived and offered to help me with it.

So, we sat in a semi-secluded corner of my hangout and he started to work on it. His hands were gentle and cautious as he began, “exploring” the extent of area that was tense and in pain. I was wearing my work clothes, which made it a wee bit more difficult because, well, I was wearing two shirts. ( Cold weather, Ohio, we layer.) So he was working on my shoulder and the next thing I know is he has his hand through my sleeve.

This was different, but, it made sense, I thought.

Now, this was no quick massage and my shoulder was unwilling to release the pain. His hand didn’t stay in my shirt the whole time. He would pull out and work the kinks down my arm, up my shoulder, etc. I did what I could to relax, allow his work to work.

I was in pain. I was trying to relax. I was trying to let go. I was trying to ignore everything else in the shop. I was slow to realize that every time someone came in to the shop he would withdraw his hand from my shirt.

It clicked when his hand lowered, covering my breast.

It was only for a moment. A speck of time so short I wasn’t certain it happened. It couldn’t have. I mean, this doesn’t happen to me and, if it did, I wouldn’t just sit there…

Then he did it again.

I… Couldn’t process it.

He couldn’t be doing that.

Not to me.

Not there in public.

Not in my friend’s shop.

Didn’t anyone see him doing it?

Why didn’t I stop him?

I should have.

I should have jumped to my feet, bitched him out, slapped the crap out of him and embarrassed the living fuck out of him!

Instead I sat there, frozen as he cupped my breast and squeezed my nipple.

When he was done, he hugged me and left the shop for the day.

Me? I sat there.

Embarrassed, ashamed, shocked…

I packed up my things a few minutes later and went home, numb.

Numb.

That is one word that seems the most descriptive of all the English language. You feel it as you say it, think it, imagine it. Numb.

It took about two days to talk to my friends about the incident. I was still in disbelief and, admittedly I wasn’t fully believed. Not fully believed, but they began to be more wary of him.

And me? Well, my habits changed a bit.

I arrived later than usual to the shop n hopes of missing him. As part of my privilege of being an unofficial employee I could find shelter behind the counter with the employees, keeping a wall between him and I.

After two weeks, though, I had come to terms with it and a spark was lit within me. That spark fired a confrontation between us to which I basically told him what he did was wrong, unwanted, unwarranted, and would never, ever happen again. He is not allowed to touch me, not even for a hug.

And then he said it.

“I don’t know why I did it. I don’t know why you allowed it. Obviously I find you attractive…” More was said, but you get the jiest.

A few days I confessed to two more friends. One who’s core is fire and the other who’s core is apparently brimstone. Together the two of them approached him and gave it to him. They flogged him, then banished him from the shop.

Things have been so relaxful since.

I still feel horrible it happened at the shop, and that my friends had to be involved in it at all, but I guess that shows me how strong my new friendships are to me.

I have mentioned no names here, and I don’t plan to. All involved know who is who. This was written for me.

~K.

The Presidential Oath

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

The Electoral College does their duty on Monday, December 19, but before they do, shall we take a look at 35 very important words?

The Constitution of the United States of America is not just a piece (or pieces) of paper. It is the framework that binds our country, it’s land and people together. Good men and women have fought and died for it and what it stands for. It is an amazing piece of work that has only needed to be amended 27 times since it was originally signed. An amazing fact on its own.

The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land.

Now, with that said, let’s look at that oath.

“…best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend…”

How exactly is that going to happen when Trump chooses to not receive daily briefings? His reasoning for not doing this is be cause he’s “like really smart”.  So, I guess Pence, his Vice President, and Ret. Gen. Michael Flynn, his National Security Advisor must not be so smart since they are receiving the daily briefings… daily. Then again, Gen. Flynn couldn’t keep from spilling top secret info so…

There is another issue with the oath.

How can he take it when he’s already violating the Constitution? Breaking the Supreme Law of the Land?

Article VI of the Articles of Confederation was the source of the Constitution’s prohibition on federal titles of nobility and the so-called Emoluments Clause. The clause sought to shield the republican character of the United States against corrupting foreign influences.1

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

ARTICLE I, SECTION 9, CLAUSE 8

It is a known fact that Trump is already in violation of the Ethics in Government Act for not releasing his financial disclosure, but maybe he’s waiting until he takes the Oath… Probably not.

The other fact involves the blind trust he is refusing he needs to do.

He is wrong.

He is his brand. If he allows governments and foreign diplomats to pay for ANYTHING with his name, his brand on it, they are giving HIM money. He might as well stand on the front steps of the White House, cup in hand.

So, when this man stands to take the oath, he will be lying, violating, breaking and trashing it and everything We The People stand, fight and die for.

He wants to imprison those who invoke their use of the First Amendment and burn the flag of the United States, but believes he can trash the whole Constitution.

Used and Abused

So…. I have gone silent for awhile and now that things have been settled I can let you all in on what has been going on.

As many of you may know, I have been living with two roommates for the last 3 years. They are “nice” girls whom, well, one I have known nearly my whole life. And, the relationship has not always been good.

We lost touch shortly after graduating from high school, but picked up our friendship again a few years later. Then I got engaged and asked her to be my Bride’s Maid, and she agreed. She was also at the time working in some sort of catering/party planning thing and said she would help me with everything I needed to do. About a month later she stopped answering my calls, never return a call and eventually sent me a card in the mail saying “it was too much for her”. And I didn’t hear from her again.

Three years ago, my life was changing again as my then current roommate (and wonderful friend) had decided to move in with her son and his family and sell her house. So, I sent out a call via Facebook to find a new place to live.

My call was answered by my ex-Bride’s Maid’s girlfriend. They had a room. Free internet. I would pay $150 a month plus my groceries. So, I moved to Dayton, Ohio and moved in with them.

I was not told that they drank constantly, or smoked heavily. I was not told that they held “get-togethers” all night and well, well into the following morning. (I go to work at 4am, so that was not appreciated.) But, I dealt with it, bought a sleep mask and some ear plugs and went on with life.

Then, as time went on, rent increased for various reasons:

• $25 a month for half the storage facility they rented to put their stuff in since I was now using the room they had stored it in
• $5 a month for toilet paper
• $30 a month because the water increased
• $30 a month for rides to work (after I totaled my car)
• Increase car rides to $40 a month for an unknown reason.
• Additional $5 a month in toilet paper  because the cost went up.

In the end, I was paying $360 a month for ONE room, no access to the kitchen (unless I wanted to clean EVERYTHING IN IT and not a single place to sit in the living room. Not to mention the fact that NONE of my stuff was allowed in any room besides my bedroom.

Then came the kicker.

I was paying $400 a month, $40 of it going to rides to work. Then, one day, for no reason what-so-ever, I was told, “We wont be driving you to work anymore.” Okay, fine. But then, they decided to continue to keep the $40.

When I asked for my change, the answer I was given was “I spoke to my financial adviser and she said that since you are using one bedroom and we are sharing the other one (they had married since I moved in, so duh! Yeah they are sharing a bedroom!) that I should be paying half the rent. Plus, toilet paper has gotten expensive and I should be grateful I have it to use.”

Yes, they wanted to charge me ANOTHER $5 a month for toilet paper.

But, besides that, let’s get back to me paying for half the rent. What is the rent you ask? Good question! $480 a month. That’s right. $480 a month and I am paying $400 for a room.

So, I was done.

I made arrangements to move, got another apartment, a studio right next to theirs, and had hoped to be moved out before they expected rent. But I didn’t get moved fast enough. One day, a couple days after they expected rent, I was cornered at my bedroom door and the one girl wanted to know what was going on.

In the end, she was upset I was leaving. So upset that they had the keys changed, because they thought I would take their stuff. (I didn’t, but have been accused in the past of taking stuff they found were missing. Not that stuff I LOANED THEM was ever returned to me!) Also, when I did move out, they wouldn’t  let me have my computer printer. They also cut me off of the internet service I paid for IN ADVANCE. That’s right, I paid, in cash, for a year of internet and now I have no access because “I left in the rears” and because I “moved out before the end of the contract”.

What the fuck ever.

I can always buy another printer and I can access the internet practically anywhere. (This post is kinda proof of that…)

I heard that they told the landlord they wont be able to make rent this month, if that isn’t funny as hell, I don’t know what is!

I will say that there were additional factors that pushed me to move:

• They each bought a brand new pair of Asics sneakers (approx. $100 a pair) when I struggled to have enough cash to eat that week.
• I came downstairs one day and found the living room practically empty and thought THEY were moving out, leaving me with nothing but a rent I couldn’t afford.
• I found out through friends that my roommates had a garage sale, and didn’t say a word to me. Not even to ask if I wanted to sell anything.

The best part, though, was when the one girl and I spoke she kept saying “All you had to do was communicate with us.”

When I told her I didn’t appreciate her taking what wasn’t hers (explaining that was the $40 a month for rides, which they were no longer providing) she said, “You didn’t have any problem paying it before.”

I said, “I was paying for a service! You stopped providing that service! I need that $40 to pay someone else now!”

Her response? “All you had to do was communicate with us.”

Well, No, actually. I don’t. Not anymore. I gave and gave. I stood by while having to listen to “funny” anti-semantic jokes from someone who thinks she is funny. (She isn’t.) I dealt with a 44 year old woman who is an alcoholic and who throws temper tantrums. I dealt with an apartment smelling of BO and used alcohol, unfair rent increases, loud music, accusations of me stealing/taking things, loaning out money and items and not having them returned and a plethora of other things that are truly too gross to write about. So, no. I am done.

People walk in and out of my life all the time and when someone has done me wrong, well, they are erasable. I can carry on as if you don’t exist. And so, with this post, this is the last thing I will write about and think about that deals with them.

Moving on.

Donald Trump vs. Merriam-Webster

Ohhhhh Donald!

I have been DYING to write this one!

You once said, “I know words. I have the best words.” Video Here.

You are wrong.

You don’t know the best words. A man from an Ivy League school should be able to speak about any subject without using the term “very” as often as you do.

You could use so many different words instead of the word “very”; truly, exceedingly, mere, bare, utter, selfsame, absolute,special, particular, etc.

Hell! Just ask your speech writers! That’s what you pay them for… oh yeah… you ignore them. Well, that’s your dollar…

Anyways! I had a point… Oh yes!

You do NOT have the best words!

That, sir, would be Merriam-Webster. As in Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary. (Or, since you believe everything on the internet before you believe anything else: http://www.merriam-webster.com/.)

That has the best words.

I like the dictionary. As a matter-of-fact, I am going to use it to prove who and what you are. Enjoy!

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terrorism

noun ter·ror·ism \ˈter-ər-ˌi-zəm\

Legal Definition of terrorism

1. :  the unlawful use or threat of violence especially against the state or the public as a politically motivated means of attack or coercion

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bigot

noun big·ot \ˈbi-gət\

Full Definition of bigot

1. :  a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially

2. :  one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance

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fascism

noun fas·cism \ˈfa-ˌshi-zəm also ˈfa-ˌsi-\

Full Definition of fascism

1. often capitalized :  a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition

2. a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control <early instances of army fascism and brutality — J. W. Aldridge>

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egocentric

adjective ego·cen·tric \ˌē-gō-ˈsen-trik also ˌe-\

Full Definition of egocentric

1. concerned with the individual rather than society

2.  taking the ego as the starting point in philosophy

3. a :  limited in outlook or concern to one’s own activities or needs

   b :  self-centered, selfish

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conceited

adjective con·ceit·ed \-ˈsē-təd\

Full Definition of conceited

1.  ingeniously contrived :  fanciful

2.  having or showing an excessively high opinion of oneself

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hypocrite

noun hyp·o·crite \ˈhi-pə-ˌkrit\

Full Definition of hypocrite

1. a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion

2. a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

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liar

noun li·ar \ˈlī(-ə)r\

Full Definition of liar

1. :  a person who tells lies

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mythomania

noun mytho·ma·nia \ˌmi-thə-ˈmā-nē-ə, -nyə\

Definition of mythomania

1. :  an excessive or abnormal propensity for lying and exaggerating

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slander

transitive verb slan·der \ˈslan-dər\

Simple Definition of slander

1. : to make a false spoken statement that causes people to have a bad opinion of someone

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bully

noun bul·ly \ˈbu̇-lē, ˈbə-\

Simple Definition of bully

1. : to frighten, hurt, or threaten (a smaller or weaker person) : to act like a bully toward (someone)

2. : to cause (someone) to do something by making threats or insults or by using force

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arrogant

adjective ar·ro·gant \ˈer-ə-gənt, ˈa-rə-\

Simple Definition of arrogant

1. : having or showing the insulting attitude of people who believe that they are better, smarter, or more important than other people : having or showing arrogance

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blowhard

noun blow·hard \-ˌhärd\

Simple Definition of blowhard

1. : a person who talks too much and who has strong opinions that other people dislike

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braggart

noun brag·gart \ˈbra-gərt\

Full Definition of braggart

1. :  a loud arrogant boaster

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windbag

noun wind·bag \ˈwin(d)-ˌbag\

Simple Definition of windbag

1. : a person who talks too much

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pompous

adjective pomp·ous \ˈpäm-pəs\

Full Definition of pompous

1.  excessively elevated or ornate <pompous rhetoric>

2.  having or exhibiting self-importance :  arrogant <a pompous politician>

3.  relating to or suggestive of pomp or splendor :  magnificent

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bombastic

adjective bom·bas·tic \bäm-ˈbas-tik\

Definition of bombastic

1. :  marked by or given to bombast :  pompous, overblown

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asshole

noun ass·hole \ˈas-ˌ(h)ōl\

Definition of asshole

1. usually vulgar:  anus

2. usually vulgar:  a stupid, incompetent, or detestable person

3. usually vulgar:  the worst place —used in phrases like asshole of the world

 

All words and their definitions came from the wonderful http://www.merriam-webster.com/

Terrorism, Immigrants and Donald Trump

Donald Trump says he wants to “suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism.”

So, why is is he wrong?

 

Oh…. so many reasons.

 

For now, let’s begin with a history of known terrorists and terrorist groups from/in the United States.

 

Abu Sulayman al-Irlandi

Born as: John Phillip Walker Lindh

Born in: Washington, D.C.

Abu Sulayman al-Irlandi (John Phillip Walker Lindh) is a U.S. citizen who was captured as an enemy combatant during the United States’ 2001 invasion of Afghanistan in November 2001. He was captured and detained at Qala-i-Jangi fortress, used as a prison. He took part in the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi, a violent uprising of the Taliban prisoners, during which the CIA officer Johnny “Mike” Spann was killed, together with all but 86 of the estimated 300–500 prisoners. Brought to trial in United States federal court in February 2002, Lindh accepted a plea bargain; he pleaded guilty to two charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison without parole. Source.

 

Omar Hammami

Born in: Alabama, U.S.

Al-Shabaab, the group behind the Kenya mall attack, has a history of recruiting American terrorists. Born in Alabama to a Southern Baptist mother and a Sunni Muslim from Syria, Hammami joined the Somali militant group in 2006. Hammami was known as Abu Mansoor al-Amriki, or “the American,” and was known for rapping about jihad in popular YouTube videos. He was reportedly killed by al-Shabaab just two weeks ago after a falling out with the group’s leadership, but his death has not been confirmed, according to the Guardian.

 

Jehad Serwan Mostafa

Born in: Waukesha, Wisconsin

Mostafa was raised in California and was active at his San Diego mosque before joining al-Shabaab, according to NBC San Diego. He is accused of providing material support to al-Shabaab and fighting with a terrorist group. Mostafa is believed to be in Somalia, and could face up to 15 years in prison if caught.

 

Anwar al-Awlaki

Born in: Las Cruces, New Mexico

Born in New Mexico, al-Awlaki grew up in Yemen but returned to the U.S. for college and graduate school. He then practiced as an imam in California and Virginia, where he interacted with three of the 9/11 hijackers. He also allegedly communicated with Major Nidal Hasan before the Fort Hood shooting that killed 13 soldiers, and is suspected of engineering the failed plot to bring down a jetliner over Detroit. He was killed by a CIA drone in Yemen on Sept. 30, 2011.

 

Adam Gadahn

Born in: Oregon

A Muslim with Jewish grandparents, Gadahn was born in California and moved to Pakistan in 1998, CNNreports. He began appearing in al-Qaeda videos in 2004, and subsequently released many videos praising the 9/11 attackers, renouncing his American citizenship, and asking wealthy Muslims to sponsor killings like the murder of America’s top diplomat in Libya, Chris Stevens. He served as Osama bin Laden’s media adviser and spokesman.

 

David Coleman Headley

Born as: Daood Sayed Gilani

Born in: Washington, D.C.

A native Chicagoan, Headley is currently serving 35 years in prison for helping to plan the deadly 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Headley had attended training camps for Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani militant group behind the attacks, and helped scout locations for the shootings and bombings, according to the New York Times.  He also participated in a failed plot against a Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

 

Eric Robert Rudolph

Born in: Merritt Island, Florida

Eric Robert Rudolph is an American, and a former explosives expert for the United States Army who was convicted for a series of anti-abortion and anti-gay-motivated bombings across the southern United States including the Centennial Olympic Park bombing, between 1996 and 1998, which killed two people and injured over 120 others.former explosives expert for the United States Army. Two people died, and 111 were injured.

Described by US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as a terrorist, he spent five years on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list until he was caught in 2003. In 2005, as part of a plea bargain, Rudolph pleaded guilty to numerous federal and state homicide charges and accepted four consecutive life sentences in exchange for avoiding a trial and a potential death sentence. He remains incarcerated at the ADX Florence Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.

 

John J. (“J.J.”) and James B. (“J.B.”) McNamara

Born in: Exact Location Unknown (Presumably U.S.)

The Los Angeles Times bombing was the purposeful dynamiting of the Los Angeles Times building in Los Angeles, California, on October 1, 1910 by union member(s) belonging to the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers. The explosion started a fire which killed 21 newspaper employees and injured 100 more. It was termed the “crime of the century” by the Times. Brothers John J. (“J.J.”) and James B. (“J.B.”) McNamara were arrested in April 1911 for the bombing. Their trial became a cause célèbre for the American labor movement. J.B. admitted to setting the explosive, and was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. J.J. was sentenced to 15 years in prison for bombing a local iron manufacturing plant, and returned to the Iron Workers union as an organizer. Source.

 

Theodore Kaczynski

Born in: Evergreen Park, Illinois

From 1978 to 1995, Harvard University graduate and former mathematics professor Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski – known by the codename “UNABOM” until his identification and arrest by the FBI – carried out a campaign of sending letterbombs to academics and various individuals particularly associated with modern technology. In 1996, his manifesto was published in The New York Times and The Washington Post, under the threat of more attacks. The bomb campaign ended with his capture.

 

Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols

Born in: Lockport, New York / Lapeer, Michigan

Oklahoma City bombing: This truck bomb attack by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols killed 168 people on April 19, 1995 – the deadliest domestic-based terrorist attack in the history of the United States. It inspired improvements to United States federal building security.

 

Wade Michael Page

Born in: Loveland, Colorado

On August 5, 2012, a massacre took place at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, where 40-year-old Wade Michael Page fatally shot six people and wounded four others. Page committed suicide by shooting himself in the head after he was shot in the stomach by a responding police officer.

 

Dylann Roof

Born in: Columbia, South Carolina

Charleston church shooting: During a prayer service at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Roof is alleged to have killed nine African Americans, including senior pastor and state senator Clementa C. Pinckney, and injured one other person. After several people identified Roof as the main suspect, he became the center of a manhunt that ended the morning after the shooting with his arrest in Shelby, North Carolina. He later confessed that he committed the shooting in hopes of igniting a race war. Source.

 

Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik

Born in: Chicago, Illinois / Karor Lal Esan, Pakistan

San Bernardino attack: On December 2, 2015, 14 people were killed and 22 injured in a mass shooting at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, United States. Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, a married couple, targeted a San Bernardino County Department of Public Health training event and holiday party of about 80 employees in a rented banquet room. Farook was an American-born citizen of Pakistani descent, while his wife was a Pakistani-born legal resident of the U.S. He had attended the event as an employee before the shooting.

 

The Jewish Defense League

Based Out Of / Headquarters:  New York City, Los Angeles

The Jewish Defense League (JDL) was founded in 1969 by Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York City. FBI statistics show that, from 1980 to 1985, 15 terrorist attacks were attempted in the U.S. by JDL members. The FBI’s Mary Doran described the JDL in 2004 Congressional testimony as “a proscribed terrorist group”. The National Consortium for the Study of Terror and Responses to Terrorism states that, during the JDL’s first two decades of activity, it was an “active terrorist organization.” Kahane later founded the far right Israeli political party Kach.

 

Ku Klux Klan

Based Out Of / Headquarters: Exact Location Unknown (Southern U.S.)

During reconstruction at the end of the civil war the original KKK used domestic terroristic methods against the Federal Government and against freed slaves. During the 20th century, leading up to the civil rights movement, unrelated Ku Klux Klan (KKK) groups used threats, violence, arson, and murder to further their anti-Catholic, anti-Communist, anti-semitic, and white-supremacist agenda. Domestic terrorists with agendas similar to the KKK include neo-Nazis and white power skinheads.

 

United Freedom Front

Based Out Of / Headquarters: Exact Location Unknown (Northeastern U.S.)

The United Freedom Front (UFF) was a small American Marxist organization active in the 1970s and 1980s. It was originally called the Sam Melville/Jonathan Jackson Unit, and its members became known as the Ohio 7 when they were brought to trial. Between 1975 and 1984 the UFF carried out at least 20 bombings and nine bank robberies in the northeastern United States, targeting corporate buildings, courthouses, and military facilities. Brent L. Smith describes them as “undoubtedly the most successful of the leftist terrorists of the 1970s and 1980s.” The group’s members were eventually apprehended and convicted of conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, and other charges.

 

The Mountain Meadows Massacre

(Utah Territorial Militia from the Iron County district & Paiute Native Americans)

Based Out Of / Headquarters: Utah

The Mountain Meadows massacre was a series of attacks on the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train, at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah. The attacks began on September 7 and culminated on September 11, 1857, resulting in the mass slaughter of the emigrant party by members of the Utah Territorial Militia from the Iron County district, together with some Paiute Native Americans. Intending to leave no witnesses and thus prevent reprisals, the perpetrators killed all the adults and older children—about 120 men, women, and children in total. Seventeen children, all younger than seven, were spared.