An overview of the changes being quietly made under the Trump Administration under the surface of the controversies and overt racism we see. With a special focus on how DACA effects Melanoid People and what the Administration is doing to maintain power and avoid impeachment.
Written by Tiffany Tubman
September 6, 2017
The term smoke and mirrors is a North American term that refers to the obscuring or embellishing of the truth of the situation with misleading or irrelevant information. More specifically, it refers to something intended to disguise or draw attention away from an often embarrassing or unpleasant issue. This term is the most accurate way of describing the Trump administration. The latest bit of smoke has been with the termination of the DACA program for immigration.
What is DACA?
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is an American immigration policy founded by the Obama administration in June 2012. DACA allows certain illegal immigrants who entered the country as minors to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and eligibility for a work permit, they must be free of any criminal charges and meet the quota requirements governed by the Constitution on groups entering the US. Approximately 800,000 such young people (referred to as “dreamers” after the DREAM Act) were enrolled in the program as of 2017.
In November 2014, President Barack Obama attempted to expand DACA to cover additional immigrants, but multiple states sued to prevent implementation of the expansion and it was ultimately blocked by the courts. The United States Department of Homeland Security rescinded the expansion on June 16, 2017, while continuing to review the existence of the DACA program.
On September 5, 2017, DACA was formally rescinded by the Trump administration, but implementation was delayed six months to give Congress time to come up with a solution for the population that was previously eligible for DACA. Currently, there are no people of African ancestry (Melanoid) people enrolled in the program. The participants are all white (Hispanic) and Asian, with a very small amount being from Western Europe (less than 1%).
What is Trump hiding?
Per Seth Abramson, an Attorney and correspondent with CNN, MSNBC, BBC, PBS, NPR, and the Washington Post, Trump—via Trey Gowdy—is AGAIN attempting to use the House Intel Committee to END the Russia probe. Trump is surely hiding something serious as it relates to Russia. In April, America learned that Trump secretly conspired with House Intel Committee Chair Devin Nunes to prematurely end the Russia probe. That sordid episode—and illegal behavior—is likely now part of Special Counsel Mueller’s Obstruction investigation against the president.
The aim of the Trump-Nunes conspiracy was to delegitimize the FBI probe by proving the evidence that birthed it was false and/or illegal. The result of the conspiracy—besides fodder for Mueller’s Obstruction probe—was Nunes “recusing” himself from the Intel Committee’s work. While Nunes never REALLY recused himself—he continued (crucially) overseeing the Committee’s subpoenas—with Trey Gowdy assumed a leading role. Trey Gowdy is a US Congressman representing the 4th District of South Carolina and the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee.
Gowdy now seeks—in EVERY sense like Nunes—to delegitimize the FBI probe by proving the evidence that birthed it was false and/or illegal. While HARD evidence Gowdy is coordinating with Trump remains elusive, there’s enough CIRCUMSTANTIAL evidence that media MUST investigate.
First, some context: as an ex-criminal investigator Abramson states the House Intel Committee—even post-Nunes—is running a sham investigation. There have been no formal open session interviews and very few key people have been interviewed, those that have were in closed session.
The result is the public never hears the testimony and the witnesses can block Mueller from seeing their testimony. Yesterday, CNN reported Manafort has used his agreement with the Committee to keep his testimony from the FBI.
As to secondary persons of interest—or other material witnesses of ANY kind, eyewitness/otherwise—the Committee’s spoken to almost none. And yet—with only TWELVE legislative days left in 2017—the House Intel Committee is making noise about finishing all its work this year. When the Mueller probe began in May, members of the House Intel Committee tried to use it—entirely fraudulently—to end their *own* work.
And of course, intel-sharing agreements ensure Congress asks witnesses the same sort of questions the FBI would have planned to ask them. Instead the House signed agreements for witnesses to testify in closed session without permitting their testimony to be seen by the FBI. And the House avoided interviewing any witness the FBI was likely to interview—even though Mueller was not stopping them from doing so.
Now, a little context on Gowdy that really is CRITICAL information to have to frame what’s happening. Trey Gowdy, who once worked for the DOJ, was on Trump’s *short-list* for Jeff Sessions’ job (Attorney General).
Trey Gowdy giving the known white supremacy hand signal for interview on this topic.
Gowdy was also in the running for Comey’s job. (Trump’s claim is this precludes someone from investigating him.) https://t.co/RXRphXD2LJ
With Trump the titular head of the GOP, Gowdy was given, in June, his DREAM committee assignment—head of the House Oversight Committee. Democrats charged Gowdy with acting as a “second attorney” for Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner during his recent closed-door testimony.
Gowdy is now RAISING MONEY off his purported role as Kushner’s “second attorney,” per a POLITICO story. https://t.co/lDDvxcdXXo On July 11th, Gowdy told Trump’s White House in the *clearest possible terms* it needed to come clean on Russia. https://t.co/J2kBnbpL1E But within 30 days of that extraordinary admonishment of the White House over its response to the Russia probe, Gowdy did an about-face.
A KEY question right now is to discover what happened with, or to, Trey Gowdy between July 12th and sometime in early to mid-August. The most significant event in the House Intel investigation during that period—BY FAR—was its interrogation of Jared Kushner on July 25. Trump—almost certainly illegally—called Sen. Chuck Grassley prior to one of his sons testifying before Congress. https://t.co/euVLGr0UnD
That said, it’s not conspiracy theory—just sound investigation—to ask if Trump spoke to Gowdy before ANOTHER of his sons testified to Congress. Specifically, we would want to know if there is ANY evidence Trump spoke to Gowdy about the Russia investigation between July 11th and 25th. Please watch 60 seconds of this July 25 video, in which Gowdy seems to slip up momentarily at 3:30 in the video. https://youtu.be/YNzetqaTRBA
On July 25, Trump had ONLY said publicly that he was angry at Sessions *over his recusal*, and had NOT said he had no confidence in him. On July 25 Gowdy said on FNC, “I think the president’s frustration is *not* the recusal…” before changing his statement to “I hope…” Trey Gowdy’s statement of the president’s thinking—quickly “fixed”—contradicted ALL public statements of the president up to that point. Later in the interview, Gowdy stated—as fact, not supposition—that Trump had “no confidence” in Sessions, though Trump had not publicly said that leading to support there had been some private conversations to take place between Gowdy and Trump, directly or through an intermediary (back-channel).
You MUST understand this with one KEY fact in mind: Trey Gowdy was the runner-up for Sessions’ job, and would be the TOP PICK to replace him. And remember too that if Trump fired Mueller, Gowdy would be a top pick for THAT job and has said he *wants* it. https://t.co/hXCAF5YR28 Now, with all THAT in mind, read the September 5, 2017 BREAKING NEWS, which is mind blowing. https://t.co/xoCgoXPRJX
Just as Steele’s dossier—a good deal of which has been verified—is gaining credibility nationally, Gowdy is setting out to undermine it. His MO is identical to Nunes’—when Nunes sought to undercut the FBI investigation by saying it improperly declassified witnesses’ names. Just so, Gowdy says the July ’16 FISA warrant the FBI got on Carter Page is an original sin that ends the legitimacy of the whole probe.
Nunes’ *big lie*—crafted with Trump Administration aid—was that President Obama used illegal Trump Tower intercepts to initiate an FBI probe. Subsequently, this acqusation was proven false by Trump’s DOJ, led by Jeff Sessions within the last few days.
Gowdy’s *big lie*—which parrots Administration disinformation—is the FBI illegally used dodgy human intelligence to initiate its probe. Just as Nunes warred with the FBI by implying it acted illegally, Gowdy is *subpoenaing his investigate partner* to make the same claim.
It is *extraordinary* for *one* governmental body to subpoena *another* governmental body when *both have the same mission*. It is *especially* stunning when the subpoenaing body—House Intel—has deliberately cut deals with Trump aides to hide info from the FBI. And it is a *historic* level of oddity for the subpoenaing body to have a theory of FBI misconduct based on *literally no information*. Nunes was fed disinformation by the White House. Right now, it’s *only* the White House that’s implying Steele’s sources were paid liars.
Trump agent Devin Nunes secretly sent his aides on an overseas trip to find Steele and question him before Congress could. This was part of a disinformation effort designed to libel Steele—focusing particularly on the question of WHO paid him and his sources. At a time, we have SOME reason to suspect Trump and Gowdy discussed Russia, Trump agents were hunting for Steele to ask him about payments.
Right after the effort fails, Gowdy announces—with no evidence—that he’s adopted Trump’s evidence-free view on Steele’s funding tactics. And in doing so Gowdy declares war on the FBI just as Nunes did—with the same type of argument Nunes had—and with an equal lack of info. But it gets better! Because Gowdy has subpoenaed SESSIONS and is going to demand SESSIONS come testify before Congress. However, there is no way in which Sessions can comply.
According to Attorney Abramson, Sessions is 1) a witness in Trump’s Obstruction case, 2) facing (even Gowdy implies it) perjury charges and 3) cannot speak about Russia. Remember, Sessions recused himself due to a legal “conflict of interest.” If he answers Gowdy’s subpoena, he could face new charges. Gowdy’s subpoena for Sessions to testify could force Sessions to resign—which both Trump/Gowdy want (some same, some different reasons). And if Sessions instead answers the subpoena and testifies, it’d be such a violation of his Oath of Office, he’d have to resign (so, same result). The mere sending of the subpoena (a) undermines the Mueller probe, (b) libels key evidence without proof and (c) wastes FBI resources.
Abramson cannot imagine any criminal lawyer/investigator not thinking, on hearing these facts, that Gowdy is acting on bad faith—and WITH Trump. And he’s doing it at a time Trump is loading Congress up with so much work, baggage, and nonsense the Russia probes will HAVE to suffer. He’s doing it knowing that if Congressional probes can’t be effective by the time midterm campaigning starts, those probes will sputter. More smoke and mirrors!
Gowdy is doing it knowing he will, given Trump’s past short-lists for these positions, possibly be offered a job if either Sessions OR Mueller go. He does it amidst HORRIFIC news about Trump/Russia—including proof Trump was negotiating business deals with the Russians while running. He does it as the “salacious” claims in Steele’s dossier are closer than ever to being proven—with witnesses coming out of the woodwork. He does it as *he himself is running* one of the sloppiest, most lackadaisical criminal investigations Abramson has EVER seen from a prosecutor during his long career.
So maybe Trump cannot fire Mueller directly—but he can use Gowdy as he did Nunes to slander the FBI and seek an end to the Russia probe. The media MUST report this effort AND the context within which it occurs—as it helps prove intent, design, and, yes, a conspiracy.
In summary, during June, the GOP mantra was, “do NOTHING to interfere with Mueller.” Now, it’s “either Mueller gives us ALL WE WANT or we sue him.” This may also be the first time in American history Congress has attempted to challenge a warrant the FBI received from a secret court. This may also be the first time an Intel committee has exercised a dilatory Oversight committee function on an *in-progress* FBI probe.
The GOP lead Congress is certainly complicit and one must ask why they would go to such extremes and ruin democracy for one so unfit to lead. The GOP is reluctant to impeach and remains complicit.
Why Trump’s impeachment is highly unlikely?
Trump Laws-Protect him by maintaining white supremacy and the power/financial control prevents impeachment.
When you say “America First,” I have no choice but to see it through a white supremacist framework, because it’s an old KKK mantra. – “Left” from Twitter @LEFTsentThis
Through executive order and using authoritarian powers since term onset for the office of US President, Jan. 20, Trump’s administration has enthusiastically and systematically undone or uprooted rules, policies and tools that predated his time in office. Below, a list of those changes, roughly organized by subject area. Here is a major overview of the changes under this administration:
- Withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The trade deal would have established a trade partnership between the United States and countries on the Pacific Rim.
- Revoked a rule that expanded the number of people who could earn overtime pay.
- Reversal of a rule that would mandate that oil and gas companies report payments to foreign governments. The Securities and Exchange Commission will no longer receive this information.
- Stopped a rule that would require large companies to report worker incomes by race and gender. The rule was aimed at reducing pay disparity.
- Ended limits on the ability of states to drug test those seeking unemployment benefits.
- Reversed a policy allowing states to develop their own work requirements for welfare recipients.
- Revoked an executive order that mandated compliance by contractors with laws protecting women in the workplace. Prior to the 2014 order, a report found that companies with federal contracts worth millions of dollars had scores of violations of labor and civil rights laws.
- Repeal of a rule allowing states to create retirement savings plans for private-sector workers.
- Cancelled a rule mandating that financial advisers act in the best interests of their clients.
- Repeal of a bill that mandated that employers maintain records of workplace injuries.
- Removed information about worker injuries from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration website.
- Killed a rule mandating that government contractors disclose past violations of labor law.
- Rescinded an Obama effort to reduce mandatory sentences. Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered that prosecutors seek the most stringent penalties possible in criminal cases.
- Cancelled a phase-out of the use of private prisons.
- Reversed restrictions on providing surplus military gear to police departments. Those restrictions were implemented by the Obama administration after the unrest in Ferguson, Mo.
- Reversed a ban on civil forfeiture. Law enforcement officials are now once again able to seize assets from suspects who haven’t been convicted of any crime.
- Reversed the government’s position on a voter ID law in Texas. Under the Obama administration, the Justice Department argued that the law had discriminatory intent. Under Sessions, Justice withdrew that complaint. On Wednesday, a federal court threw out the law.
- Reviewed Justice Department efforts to address problematic police departments. An effort to address concerns in the Baltimore Police Department was delayed.
- Reversed an Obama ban on drilling for oil in the Arctic.
- Reviewed the status of national monuments for possible reversal. In April, Trump signed an executive order ordering a review of monuments added in the past 20 years, opening up the possibility that some areas previously set aside would have that status revoked.
- Withdrew a rule regulating fracking on public land.
- Postponed an EPA rule that would have had chemical plants better evaluate and inform the public about possible safety issues. This decision, made in June, drew new attention after Hurricane Harvey flooding led to an explosion at a facility new Houston.
- Rejected a proposed ban on the pesticide chlorpyrifos. The month after this decision, a group of farmworkers were sickened by exposure to the chemical.
- Reversed a ban on plastic bottles at national parks.
- Repealed a ban on lead bullets. The bullets were banned under Obama because the lead can poison wildlife.
- Rescinded a limit on the number of sea animals that can be trapped or killed in fishing nets.
- Delayed and potentially rolled back automotive fuel efficiency standards.
- Repealed the Waters of the United States rule. This rule expanded the definition of water bodies that were protected by the Environmental Protection Agency.
- Ended a rule banning dumping waste from mining into streams.
- Reversed a rule banning hunting bears and wolves. The ban applied to federal refuges in Alaska and prohibited hunting predators using certain methods.
- Repealed a rule that would have centralized federal land management.
- On Friday, Politico reported that some representatives of oil and gas companies are worried that Trump’s moving too quickly to reverse regulations on their industry. “[Y]ou don’t need to roll things back so far that it opens an opportunity for outsiders to criticize, or something bad happens,” one analyst said.
- Withdrew from the Paris climate agreement.
- Blocked the Clean Power Plan. The plan implemented under Obama focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
- Ended a study on the health effects of mountaintop-removal mining. The process involves blasting away the tops of hills and mountains to get at coal seams under the surface.
- Rescinded a rule mandating that rising sea levels be considered when building public infrastructure in flood-prone areas.
- Removed a bike-sharing station at the White House.
- Plans to scale back or end a policy under which people who immigrated to the U.S. illegally as children could work legally and avoid deportation. The program, begun under Obama, is called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA.
- Cut the number of migrants and refugees allowed from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
- Repealed a rule allowing transgender individuals to serve in the military.
- Rolled back of Obama’s outreach to the Cuban government.
- Ended the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents program. DAPA extended protections for some immigrant parents whose children were citizens of or residents in the United States.
- Rolled back school lunch standards championed by Michelle Obama.
- Withdrew federal protections for transgender students in schools. Under the rule approved by Obama, transgender students could use school bathrooms that corresponded to their gender identities.
- Reversed a rule that mandated how achievement is measured in schools.
- Repealed a rule mandating certain requirements for teacher-preparation programs.
- Halted or cancelled hundreds of other minor regulatory actions.
- Revoked a ban on denying funding for Planned Parenthood at the state level.
- Repealed a rule mandating that Internet service providers seek permission before selling personal information.
- Cut outreach aimed at bolstering enrollment in Obamacare.
- Reversed a rule that would ban gun sales to those deemed “mentally defective” by the government.
- Slow or nonexistent staffing at the Senate-confirmed and management level across administration agencies.
- Repealed a rule mandating consolidation of transit planning authorities.
- Ended the declaration of June as Pride Month and the practice of recognizing the end of Ramadan with an after dinner.
- Cancelled public reporting on visitors to the White House and other online data.
- Changed the definition of domestic terrorist to remove the alt-right, include the alt-left and reduced funding to combat hate groups in the US.
- Ending accountability for equal pay.
- Ending affirmative action.
- Arming police with military gear, and inviting police brutality.
- Taking away the right to protest and threatening the media, placing the First Amendment in grave danger.
- Banning transgender troops.
- Ending accountability for campus sexual assault
- Rounding up all immigrants, regardless of criminal records and placing them in internment camps.
- Defending neo-Nazis and white supremacists, using their signals, speaking in coded language to give the approval of the assault/attack on all non-white people empowering the Rahowa.
- Muslim Ban
- Removal of all LGBTQ protections under Title 9.
- Reduction of the EPA staff to lowest levels since Reagan while allowing a poisonous pesticide, Monsanto, to poison impoverished communities. Also, these pesticides interfere with the hormone levels in kids which is causing boys to have more breast growth and girls to mature faster.
- Hiring industry insiders who do not require Senate confirmation to run our shadow government while all the positions requiring confirmation remain open. This has consolidated all power into the hands of few.
- Cancelled the DACA program, phasing out in 6 months with a plan to deport DREAMERS or hold them in internment camps until deportation.
Black people and immigration/DACA
Prior to 1965, policies such as the national origins formula limited immigration and naturalization opportunities for people from areas outside Western Europe. Exclusion laws enacted as early as the 1880s generally prohibited or severely restricted immigration from Asia, and quota laws enacted in the 1920s curtailed Eastern European immigration. The Civil Rights Movement led to the replacement of these ethnic quotas with per-country limits.
The new law maintained the per-country limits, but also created preference visa categories that focused on immigrants’ skills and family relationships with citizens or U.S. residents. The bill set numerical restrictions on visas at 170,000 per year, with a per-country-of-origin quota. However, immediate relatives of U.S. citizens and “special immigrants” had no restrictions.
Since 1642 there have been laws in place by the US government to restrict the number of Blacks/African ancestry people in the US. There is a required 9:1 white to black population rate governed by the US Constitution and put in the books 1779.
Immigration and DACA have nothing to do with us and is not our cause. The Constitution of the US welcomes the citizens and immigrants to the US with the rights to life, liberty, and property. Melanoid people, we are the property. Blacks are the US dream that the founders were pursuing. Land was given and money based on the amount of slaves a white person owned until the late 1800s.
Immigration does not affect Black people. Our focus needs to be our people and our issues. We need policies and action, beyond photo opportunities.
What next?
We must become a race of people who compete for economics and power. We must have every other group hold their own nuts as we create solidarity and fight for our causes. Causes that create policies that empower our people. Imagine if #Black Rights or #ReparationsNOW would trend the way #DACA or #DREAMERS have trended the past week.
We must all demand that our local town and city mayors create an ordinance that make us a protected class. In United States, federal anti-discrimination law, a protected class is a group of people with a common characteristic who are legally protected from discrimination based on that characteristic. (See the City of Alexandria https://www.alexandriava.gov/humanrights/info/default.aspx?id=368) We need the protection associated with policies to empower us.
We need businesses and policies that make this easier for our group specifically because with only a job, we have no inheritance for our children. We are not generating wealth. The lack of wealth is the lack of power.
Ase’
Tiffany Tubman
Twitter: @montswife16
Email: TubmanFights@gmail.com
Exquisite investigative journalism…ur mind has no bounds!!!
Great article but…Tiffany Tubman is clearly a feminine persona Tariq created to coerce black women to get on board with #blackfirst
Black women cannot choose between their womanhood and blackness.
Unless there is tangible evidence of black men improving on their sexist/territorial behaviour, don’t expect this game to work.
YAH WE WUZ KANGS N SHIIIIT LETS ZAP DAT WHITE CAVE DEMON WIT OUR MAGIC MELANIN POWERS
Magic melanin powers = AIDS
i dont know if.i.agree with the statistic that no melanoid people are affected today edwidge danticat on democracy now brought up TPS (50,000 haitianz goven temporary residencies) as part of DACA can anyone explain the correlation /difference
let me be more specific daca and tps are to be rescinded. tps is onlt for Haitiama
Irma destroyed many things and farm land so if you were here in the us since 2011 and thanks to trump , these melanpid people will be returning to a country which is ravaged and has no food security . https://floridaimmigrant.org/2017/06/5-years-of-daca-and-the-future-of-tps/
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