Day Four in Trump’s World
We’ll be keeping tabs on all of the (mostly alarming) shit that happens under Trump’s watch: Here are today’s highlights.
- Trump signed an executive order giving the green-light to the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone Pipeline. Permission for the Dakota Access Pipeline was stopped under the Obama administration after mass protests. (Fun fact: Trump owns stock in Phillips 66, who has notable shares in the Dakota Access Pipeline. No proof that he has gotten rid of those stocks has been presented.)
- Ben Carson, Nikki Haley, Wilbur Ross and Elaine Cho were confirmed to the cabinet. Carson will serve as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He has no experience to support his new role. Billionaire Wilbur Ross was confirmed as Commerce Secretary and Transportation Committee. Government administrator Elaine Cho will serve as transportation secretary. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley will serve as ambassador to the UN.
- Trump banned multiple federal offices from external communications, which includes posting on social media, issuing press releases, or providing internal documentation to the public. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and research staff within the Department of Agriculture (USDA) were issued these orders. Last week, the National Parks Service was issued a similar ordered after posting a tweet not supporting Trump’s plans to allow National Park land to be used for resources.
- Trump repeated a debunked claim that millions of fraudulent votes cost him the popular vote. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer perpetuated that lie at an official White House briefing today.
- Mitch McConnell is putting pressure on the confirmation hearing for Rex Tillerson, the head of Exxon Mobile, for Secretary of State—despite some concerns over his background.
- The option to translate WhiteHouse.Gov into Spanish was removed from the website. Staff claims they are “working on it.”
- Homicide rates for Washington D.C. on Trump’s WhiteHouse.Gov are false. The official White House website claims homicide went up in our nation’s capital “50%” last year, which is not correct. Homicide rates in D.C., as reported by D.C. Metro Police Department indicate they decreased by 17% in 2016.
- Despite criticism from Trump, FBI Director James Comey is to remain in his position. Comey is leading the investigation looking into Trump and his cabinet’s ties to Russia and the Kremlin.
- Trump’s appointee, Rep. Tom Price, to serve as the Department of Health and Human Services refuses to acknowledge that people’s health and livelihood will be at stake when the ACA is repealed without a replacement during a series of questions at his confirmation hearing.
- Trump has accepted Speaker Paul Ryan’s invitation to address congress on February 28th, 2017.
- Two journalists on assignment with valid press credentials were charged with felony riot and face up to 10 years in prison. They were arrested in a mass arrest on Friday, January 20th, when they were covering the protests of Trump’s inauguration—otherwise known as a violation of the First Amendment.
- Alt-Right Neo-Nazi leader Richard Spencer has put out a call to arms to build an “alt-right militia” in response to him being punched in the face by an anti-fascist protestor at Trump’s inauguration. Spencer has gone on record in the past for supporting the genocide of black Americans.
ICYMI: Trump issued a federal hiring freeze yesterday, exempting the military. Here is how a hiring freeze works.
Update: Badlands National Park defied the Trump Social media ban on National Parks today by tweeting a series of scientifically proven climate change facts. They were ordered to delete them.
Update: HR7, a bill that permanently bans taxpayer funding of abortion, passed through The House of Representatives by a vote of 238-183.
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