Friday, February 03, 2017

Is it the second civil war in the US?

What is going on over there? As he had promised during his campaign Donald Trump banned citizens of 7 countries from visiting the US, for 3 months. The countries all happen to be in the Middle East and north Africa, and so was promptly dubbed a Muslim ban. Protesters are not swayed by the fact that 6 of the countries on Trump's list ban visitors from Israel. Iran bans any passport that has an Israeli visa stamp on it. A judge in Seattle has blocked the order nationwide. How the judge will enforce his order is a puzzle. US embassies abroad can just sit on visa applications from citizens of these countries without giving any reason. Others maybe blocked at airports of countries through which they are passing, as has happened in Egypt and the Netherlands. While there is so much drama regarding Trump's order there has been not one word about Kuwait banning citizens of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan since 2011. Tunisia is the only democratic country in the Arab world, and is not on Trump's list, but is an active center for recruiting jihadists. However, what is happening in the US is almost like civil war. Acting Attorney General, Sally Yates ordered her staff not to defend Trump's order in courts. The department's Legal Counsel had passed the order as legal so it was her duty to defend it, as long as she is drawing a salary from the government. If she had moral objection she should have resigned. Encouraging mutiny in her staff was gross dereliction of duty. Senior Secret Service agent, Kerry O'Grady made disparaging remarks about Trump on Facebook and said she would not take a bullet for him. That essentially means that she would cooperate with an assassination attempt on Trump. She has since been suspended. Even worse are the leaks from the White House and from government departments. "Every time something got to one of the agencies, it got out," said an insider. But even worse, someone or some people have been leaking Trump's conversations with world leaders. When Edward Snowden revealed how the Obama administration was spying on friendly governments he had to take refuge in Russia, where he is still living. Obama pardoned Chelsea Manning who leaked 750,000 pages of defense documents, but not Snowden who leaked Obama's dirty work. Uber CEO, Travis Kalanick was forced to step down from Trump's economic advisory council because people boycotted his taxis and Nordstrom, a department store in Seattle has discontinued Ivanka Trump's clothing line and accessories. Mean. Who knew that the US also has a Loony Left, which strongly believes that Trump is bent on "crushing various groups -- Muslims, Latinos, the black and trans communities, academics, the press". Who is financing this hysteria? Perhaps, billionaires who are afraid of being forced to bring their money back from abroad and pay taxes. All about black money. Just like India.

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