Cruel and unusual
It's Monday and it's hot again. Enough of that.
Like most people, I read and hear and see the news and things that pertain to our current President and his administration never cease to astound me. And the word I keep coming back to is "cruel."
I could just as easily settled on "inept," "indifferent," "inexperienced," "unfeeling," "vindictive," or any number of other single words.
But "cruel" seems to sum up so much of what we're exposed to.
To make my point:
--The Trump administration acknowledged in the past few days that it estimates approximately 3,000 children were separated from their parent(s) when they attempted to enter this country illegally or arrived and requested asylum. To this moment the Administration also acknowledges that they do not know the precise whereabouts of these children's parents, or whether the parents may have already been deported back to their countries of origin. This is related to the Administration's "zero tolerance" policy of treatment of individuals who attempt to enter the United States illegally, a policy which now apparently does not include separation of children and their families. And many of these children, including those under the age of 5, are being compelled to appear in court in proceedings that they cannot possibly comprehend, let alone participate in on a constructive basis.
--In an international discussion of a World Health Assembly resolution advocating breastfeeding, Administration officials not only did not agree with the majority decision on this subject, but actively threatened countries that wanted to introduce the measure with the eventual withdrawal of economic and military aid. The preferred position of the Administration appears to have been to side with the manufacturer of baby formula, despite there being extensive possible health issues related to the absence of clean water in many underdeveloped areas.
--Recently the Administration announced its decision to withhold billions of dollars in payments to insurers designed to incentivize certain insurers to cover high-risk individuals under the Affordable Care Act, which is still in effect, despite the Administration's and Republicans' opposition to it. This will force coverage to cost more, cover less and offer fewer choices to those who must obtain coverage from the exchanges that well "Obamacare" insurance plans. Worth noting that most of the states where high percentages of individuals and families are reliant on ACA plans voted for the current president.
--In May the Administration announced new guidelines for dealing with labor unions that represent federal employees. Among the new policies that are just going into effect, agencies are to reopen collective bargaining to recalculate the actual on-duty time of employees more closely and to "move swiftly" to deal with poorly performing employees, renegotiating any contracts that make it more difficult to do so or allow any form of progressive discipline.
--In the area of the environment, the Administration and their appointees at the Environmental Protection Agency have done away with a number of policies and regulations designed to monitor carbon production and emissions, protection of endangered species of animals, increases in the standards involving fuel efficiency of passenger vehicles, and ongoing research in the areas of climate change and the prevention of it.
--And let's not forget about Puerto Rico, where a large percentage of that island's population of over 3,000,000 American citizens are still without electricity or clean water due to catastrophic damage to the island's power grid and infrastructure in last year's hurricanes with this year's first named storm already beginning to have an impact on the fragile power systems.
Nearly all of what's mentioned above was deliberate and intentional, not coincidental or accidental.
Hence the title of today's post. And this is just a partial list.
Like most people, I read and hear and see the news and things that pertain to our current President and his administration never cease to astound me. And the word I keep coming back to is "cruel."
I could just as easily settled on "inept," "indifferent," "inexperienced," "unfeeling," "vindictive," or any number of other single words.
But "cruel" seems to sum up so much of what we're exposed to.
To make my point:
--The Trump administration acknowledged in the past few days that it estimates approximately 3,000 children were separated from their parent(s) when they attempted to enter this country illegally or arrived and requested asylum. To this moment the Administration also acknowledges that they do not know the precise whereabouts of these children's parents, or whether the parents may have already been deported back to their countries of origin. This is related to the Administration's "zero tolerance" policy of treatment of individuals who attempt to enter the United States illegally, a policy which now apparently does not include separation of children and their families. And many of these children, including those under the age of 5, are being compelled to appear in court in proceedings that they cannot possibly comprehend, let alone participate in on a constructive basis.
--In an international discussion of a World Health Assembly resolution advocating breastfeeding, Administration officials not only did not agree with the majority decision on this subject, but actively threatened countries that wanted to introduce the measure with the eventual withdrawal of economic and military aid. The preferred position of the Administration appears to have been to side with the manufacturer of baby formula, despite there being extensive possible health issues related to the absence of clean water in many underdeveloped areas.
--Recently the Administration announced its decision to withhold billions of dollars in payments to insurers designed to incentivize certain insurers to cover high-risk individuals under the Affordable Care Act, which is still in effect, despite the Administration's and Republicans' opposition to it. This will force coverage to cost more, cover less and offer fewer choices to those who must obtain coverage from the exchanges that well "Obamacare" insurance plans. Worth noting that most of the states where high percentages of individuals and families are reliant on ACA plans voted for the current president.
--In May the Administration announced new guidelines for dealing with labor unions that represent federal employees. Among the new policies that are just going into effect, agencies are to reopen collective bargaining to recalculate the actual on-duty time of employees more closely and to "move swiftly" to deal with poorly performing employees, renegotiating any contracts that make it more difficult to do so or allow any form of progressive discipline.
--In the area of the environment, the Administration and their appointees at the Environmental Protection Agency have done away with a number of policies and regulations designed to monitor carbon production and emissions, protection of endangered species of animals, increases in the standards involving fuel efficiency of passenger vehicles, and ongoing research in the areas of climate change and the prevention of it.
--And let's not forget about Puerto Rico, where a large percentage of that island's population of over 3,000,000 American citizens are still without electricity or clean water due to catastrophic damage to the island's power grid and infrastructure in last year's hurricanes with this year's first named storm already beginning to have an impact on the fragile power systems.
Nearly all of what's mentioned above was deliberate and intentional, not coincidental or accidental.
Hence the title of today's post. And this is just a partial list.
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