Over at the Palmer Report, Bill Palmer tells us the way National Park employees found to stand up to Trump, who is blocking federal employees from commenting on climate change to the extent that he has issued a gag order to prevent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from mentioning it and has deleted tweets made by the National Park Service (NPS) and even suspended the Twitter account of one park account that tweeted about climate change. An anonymous group of individuals has created an unofficial Twitter account for park and climate change news that Trump can’t touch.
We are still not equal. That’s why Women March.
Sleep.Eat.Write responds on Medium to a women who doesn’t believe in women’s rights or the Women’s March entitled, “You Are Not Equal. I’m Sorry.” Here’s an excerpt:
You are not equal. Even if you feel like you are. You still make less than a man for doing the same work. You make less as a CEO, as an athlete, as an actress, as a doctor. You make less in government, in the tech industry, in healthcare.
You still don’t have full rights over your own body. Men are still debating over your uterus. Over your prenatal care. Over your choices.
CFPB finds that two credit bureaus have been lying to you
The Atlantic reports that two major credit bureaus have been misinforming and misleading users:
A CFPB investigation concluded that Transunion and Equifax deceived Americans about the reports they provided and the fees they charged…
In their investigation, the Bureau found that the two agencies had been misrepresenting the scores provided to consumers, telling them that the score reports they received were the same reports that lenders and businesses received, when, in fact, they were not. The investigation also found problems with the way the agencies advertised their products, using promotions that suggested that their credit reports were either free or cost only $1. According to the CFPB the agencies did not properly disclose that after a trial of seven to 30 days, individuals would be enrolled in a full-price subscription, which could total $16 or more per month. The Bureau also found Equifax to be in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which states that the agencies must provide one free report every 12 months made available at a central site. Before viewing their free report, consumers were forced to view advertisements for Equifax, which is prohibited by law.
Trevor Noah talks about his book on growing up in apartheid South Africa and inviting Tomi Lahren to The Daily Show
Trevor Noah speaks on The Breakfast Club about his autobiographical book on growing up knowing his birth – as a biracial child – was a crime in apartheid South Africa … a place where his mother had to dress as his nanny in order to be able to walk down the street with him.
Noah shares his questions and opinions on Donald Trump and speaks about his decision to invite Tomi Lahren to be his guest on The Daily Show. One reason for doing it was to have the chance to be heard by her audience, who otherwise would never learn anything about him.
Opposition to draconian policies & politics can succeed
And keep in mind … we must protect the open internet now more than ever before, so we can communicate freely. One of Trump’s first targets is dismantling the FCC, which has offered internet users a meaningful level of First Amendment and corporate abuse protections.
Trump Day 1: hate-based attacks, pussy-grabbing, threats – documented on reporter Shaun King’s Twitter feed
We all need to read @ShaunKing's Twitter feed starting yesterday. Prepare yourself first. He's documenting "#Trump Day 1" hate. Horrifying.
— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) November 10, 2016
"Almost all white people except for educated white women chose Donald Trump in droves &that's a problem"- @ShaunKing pic.twitter.com/1GajQn8WLV
US depends on immigrants – pledge to join the boycott to protect their rights
.@realDonaldTrump is https://t.co/gY10rg4e9x immigrants must boycott for dignity. Sign our pledge https://t.co/eKPXuaaqrU #migrantboycott pic.twitter.com/J8wMvORpbe
— Movimiento Cosecha (@CosechaMovement) November 9, 2016
Vote YES on NJ Ballot Q#2 to protect gas tax funds from being raided like clean energy and health funds were
New Jersey Assemblyman Dr. Tim Eustace wants New Jersey voters to know that voting YES on Ballot Question #2 will enable extremely important protections of taxpayer dollars. Election Day this year falls on Tuesday, November 8.
Here are short and long versions of the reasons it’s important to vote YES to Q2. You already know how important it is that you go vote in the first place – right?
The short version of why YES on Q2
On the gas tax issue, Assm. Eustace comments:
The New Jersey gas tax increase of 23¢ is law – and it’s a mistake to think it will go away if people vote NO on Ballot Question #2 at the polls next Tuesday. Gov. Christie’s second-in-command discussed the ballot question in a 101.5 Radio interview, revealing that either she does not understand this law, or maybe Ms. Guadagno is hoping to draw out Republican voters who believe that the gas tax will go away if they vote no. But, this is not true.
Government investigates vote suppression back to 2004 and presidential commission proposes protections
Cuyahoga County Board of Elections’ Deputy Director Pat McDonald offered testimony to the Presidential Commission on Elections on ways that voter registration and voting procedures could be revamped to make voting both easier and more secure. The commission’s findings on “The American Voting Experience” were presented to President Obama in 2014.
Part of a package presented to Congress on 14 December 2004 is the sworn affidavit of Sherole Eaton, a Deputy Director of the Hocking County, Ohio, Board of Elections. She describes the experience of voter machine tampering by Michael, a consulting company employee, who in 2004 entered the Board of Elections office claiming that the computers on which voting results had been stored, needed to be fixed – and proceeded to dismantle both primary and backup computers. The incident happened shortly before a planned recount was due to take place.
On live TV Pres. Obama offers the perfect comeback to Trump’s nasty tweet
The President responds to Trump’s tweet, “Obama will go down as perhaps the worst president in the history of the United States,” with the comment, “Well, @realDonaldTrump, at least I will go down as a … president … (mic drop)!”
That’s just one of the mean tweets the president read out and responded to on the Jimmy Kimmel show a couple of days ago. Our president does not disappoint.
Here are some of the mean tweets Pres. Obama dealt with on the Jimmy Kimmel show last year.
2016 Voter Resources: register, get help with voting problems, check out candidates
Voting hotlines
866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) – English language hotline
888-VE-Y-VOTA (888-839-8682) – Spanish language hotline
888-API-VOTE (888-274-8683) – Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Tagalog
1-844-418-1682 – Arabic language hotline
Call hotline numbers to learn where to go and what you need to do in order to vote. Also, report on problems like long lines, faulty voting machines and any other obstructions you encounter while attempting to vote.
Please help spread the word about the hotlines by:
An important essay by an honored student on the hypocrisies of inclusion in higher ed
Sung Yim wrote an essay to Columbia University after essays the Korean poet was asked to submit as a student representative of Columbia College Chicago’s Nonfiction writing department were twice rejected and the last essay, cut down to almost nothing to eliminate any controversial bits. The author writes about the author’s own work:
It’s important to keep in mind that my work has always been scathingly political. That is, I would think, part of why the writing faculty nominated my work. It’s also important to keep in mind that they were soliciting short work of a long-form artist. I was clipping and revising each piece I was submitting to them, which took hours of free labor.
Commissary Kitchen, a prison cookbook by a Mobb Deep rapper
A new cookbook is on the market about which its prison chef author Prodigy Johnson of the rap group Mobb Deep writes, “This book won’t make you a better cook, but it might make you a better person.”
Knowing what to eat and how to make it is evidently such an important part of prison life that there’s an entire cottage industry of cookbooks written on the subject. Inmate survival guides often have a section on food and how to use the commissary to augment prison diets. Commissary Kitchen: My Infamous Prison Cookbook, which will be published this month, is written by Prodigy and journalist Kathy Iandoli.
Exposé: government assistance thief known in the 1970s as “Welfare Queen” was a white career criminal
Ronald Reagan loved to tell stories. When he ran for president in 1976, many of Reagan’s anecdotes converged on a single point: The welfare state is broken, and I’m the man to fix it. On the trail, the Republican candidate told a tale about a fancy public housing complex with a gym and a swimming pool. There was also someone in California, he’d explain incredulously, who supported herself with food stamps while learning the art of witchcraft. And in stump speech after stump speech, Reagan regaled his supporters with the story of an Illinois woman whose feats of deception were too amazing to be believed.
Has Sweeney convinced NJ legislators to turn their backs on giving a living wage to NJ workers any time soon?
I got a slightly confusing reply from State Senator Bob Gordon to my email regarding this issue and have been checking into what his reply could mean. Here are the facts I’ve learned: