Mary Kinda Contrary: Episode 7 – The Trump Administration’s Civil and Human Rights Rollbacks of 2020-2021: Thank God Its Over!
Mary Lemanski reads and comments on a list, compiled by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, of the Trump Administration’s civil and human rights rollbacks during the final year of his administration.
Transcription
Hello, everyone. It’s Mary Lemanski and you are listening to the Mary kind of contrary podcast. And I am just getting set up and started here on Facebook live. This podcast will later be distributed on all the networks that you find podcasts and listen to them. Um, the episode from yesterday is up.
Episode six, this will be episode seven, um, and there will be another episode either late tonight or early tomorrow, um, where I will talk about what I’ve been through for the past three years with, um, being the target of domestic terrorists, um, and, but for this episode, episode seven, we are going to be talking about, [00:01:00] uh, the civil and human rights rollbacks, um, from the Trump administration from his last year in office, 2020 into 2021.
And, um, if you are interested and this is the first time you are. Tuning into this podcast. Um, there are three other episodes, chock full of everything that he did the first three years he was in office. And, um, yeah, so, and check out my other podcast. Um, they, they’ve all been kind of political, but politically bent, but I’m hoping after tomorrow that I can talk about other things besides politics, because.
You know, I, I love arts and culture and stuff like that. And I do like to stay active about what’s, or I guess, um, aware of what’s going on politically, but [00:02:00] really it’s, I like the days when I, I didn’t really have to worry so much about, um, our freedoms and our civil rights and, um, human rights being violated by our government.
Um, currently they are not, but I fear what, uh, another Trump administration would do so, um, these next few episodes. I won’t be doing my usual introductory, uh, music because I just want to get down to business and talk about this stuff. Because tomorrow’s the day. So anyway, on January 3rd, 2020, let’s get right into it.
By the way, I’m getting all of this information from the leadership conference of civil and human rights. You too can look it up. If you go to civil rights. org forward slash Trump dot R dash [00:03:00] rollbacks. Forward slash, um, and that would, I’m sorry, that’s, that’s it. So that’s civil rights. org slash Trump dash rollbacks.
And then you’ll be able to read it for yourself. All right. So that’s the leadership conference on civil and human rights. This is on their website. And I’m just comment commenting on my thoughts on these things. And I’m not a lawyer or anything. I’m sure a lawyer would have a lot more to say than I would.
So anyway, this is, I’ve had law classes, but I’m, I’m not a lawyer, but just reading it, this is, just reading these words is my, these are my reactions to them. Okay. So, uh, this is 2020. This is the last year into 2021. [00:04:00] Cause it was, you know, President for 20 days, basically 19 days, um, into 21. So, okay. So on January 3rd, again, starting early in the, in the new year of 2020, remember this was the year of the pandemic.
So. Um, on January 3rd, the Trump administration filed a brief in June Medical Services versus GE, G E E, um, urging the court to allow a Louisiana abortion access law to go into effect. The civil rights community filed briefs, urging the court to strike down the restrictive law, highlighting the law’s impact on black women.
Starting off the year attacking black women. Okay. On January 7th, the Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a proposal that would gut the agency’s 2015 affirmatively furthering fair housing rule. [00:05:00] Um, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s proposal would leave people of color, women, and other protected communities already harmed by unfair and unequal housing policies at a further disadvantage.
Thank you very much. So attacking the poor again. This is a regular theme in the past, you know, three episodes, including this one, fourth episode. Um, on January 13th, the Washington Post reported that the Trump administration would divert 7. 2 billion of funding from the Pentagon to fund the president’s harmful and wasteful wall along the southern border.
On January 13th, I already talked. I already said my thoughts on the law in the last episode. I’m not going to go on and on about it. On January 13th and subsequently on February 11th for the Senate Companion Resolution, [00:06:00] the White House issued a statement of administration policy opposing H. J. Res. 76, a resolution under the Congressional Review Act to overturn Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos borrower defense rule.
The leadership conference on civil and human rights supports this resolution. So going back to attacking the, um, the student borrowers, um, also on January 13th, the white house issued a statement of administration policy, opposing HR 1230, the protecting older workers against discrimination act. Oh man, they’re already working when they’re older and then you have to discriminate against them.
Okay, which the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights supports. They didn’t support what Trump did. They supported the, the, um, House [00:07:00] resolution. On January 16th, nine federal agencies issued proposed rules eliminating the rights of people receiving help from federal programs to, one, request a referral if they have a concern or problem with a faith based provider.
And two, receive written notice of their rights. So
the changes would encourage agencies to claim broader religious exemptions to deny help to certain people while receiving federal funds. So you can receive federal funds and discriminate against people just because, you know, your faith supposedly says that. Although I thought Jesus opened his arms to everyone.
Um, and that those are the people that seem to be the most. Um, invested in these kind of rollbacks. Um, it seems [00:08:00] weird. Um, and let’s see. So they, you can’t, you can’t, if you have a, if you have a problem, um, with a faith based provider, you can’t even voice a concern about it, which, which seems to go against First Amendment rights, or you can’t request a referral, even if they have a concern.
Sorry. I misread that. Um, and receive written notice of their rights. So they can’t even tell you what your rights are. The federal government can’t even tell you what your rights are.
This is very concerning. Well, and when your rights change from state to state, how can they really tell you what your rights are? I mean, if you’re a woman, your rights change from state to state. Your rights aren’t the same in all the states. On January 23rd, the Department of State announced a new regulation [00:09:00] aimed at denying pregnant people, speaking of women, uh, pregnant people visas to prevent them from traveling to the United States.
The regulation represents an attack against pregnant people living in countries without access to the visa waiver program and immigrant women, particularly those of color and with low incomes. Again, attacking people of color and the poor. This is a regular theme. On January 30th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released block grant guidance to allow states to cap Medicaid spending, essentially putting forward the notion that we should ration health care for the most vulnerable people in our nation.
On January 31st, the Trump administration announced an expansion of its Muslim ban, which will expand restrictions on [00:10:00] additional countries, including Myanmar, also known as Burma. Um, I’m sorry if I, um, I, uh, if I butcher the names of these countries, I should know these things. I’m a travel agent. You would think I would know, but, um, Eritrea, Eritrea, um, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania.
So, um, again, uh, banning people from predominantly Muslim countries from coming into our country. On February 5th, the White House issued a statement of administration policy opposing House Resolution 2474, the Protecting the Right to Organize [00:11:00] Act. They don’t want you organizing against your government.
The Trump administration doesn’t want you organizing against your government. Or, you know, organizing to protest or, you know, march. On February 5th, so, they issued a statement opposing the Protecting the Rights to Organize Act, which the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights supports. On February 10th, the Trump administration released its fiscal year 2021 budget proposal, which included 1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act over 10 years, cuts to SNAP by 182 billion over 10 years, cuts assistance for some people with disabilities through Social Security disability insurance and supplemental security income, and reduces the temporary assistance.
For a needy families [00:12:00] program by 21 billion dollars over 10 years, among other drastic cuts going again, going after the poor again, um, and health care, social security on February 13th, the Department of housing and urban development proposed to amend the equal participation of faith based organizations rule that removes safeguards to prevent discrimination.
Why are we preventing safeguards to discrimination? We’re the United States of America. We’re the melting pot. We’re. You know, all of these, these high ideals of everybody coming together and building a nation. You can’t do that if you’re discriminating against people.
On February 14th, Valentine’s day, the [00:13:00] Trump administration announced the deployment of law enforcement tactical units from the Southern border as part of an arrest operation in sanctuary cities across the country. This includes the deployment of members of the elite tactical unit known as which acts as a border patrol SWAT team.
So you remove them from the southern border to arrest people in sanctuary cities?
Why would you remove them from the southern border? Our border is being overrun. It’s not very, it’s not good military strategy.
Do you really want him in command? On February 20th, the White House published a memo [00:14:00] dated January 29th, signed by Trump That granted Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, the authority to ignore the collective bargaining rights of civilian employee, employees working for the Department of Defense.
Ignore your, your, the civilian employees working for the Department of Defense, a collective bargaining, the collective bargaining agreement. Their rights.
On February 25th, the Department of Justice sided with the plaintiff. Students for Fair Admissions. To oppose race based affirmative action at Harvard University and a friend of the court brief filed in the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
Um, this is kind of a 180 from what the Department of Justice usually did in the past, I believe. [00:15:00] On February 26th, the Department of Homeland Security expanded two pilot programs, the Humanitarian Asylum Review Process, HAARP, for Mexican nationals, and Prompt Asylum Claim Review, PACER, the fast track, that fast track the asylum process for migrants at the U.S. border. The American Civil Liberties Union argues that both programs deny asylum seekers due process since it is nearly impossible for the migrants to access legal help.
So, when the ACLU steps in, It’s usually rights are being violated, uh, pretty badly. So, um, on February 26th, the department of justice created a denaturalization section in its immigration office to prioritize stripping citizenship [00:16:00] rights from naturalized immigrants who commit certain crimes. So you’re a naturalized immigrant here in the United States, and you’re going to.
Get your rights stripped away from you for certain crimes.
What about birthright citizens? Does this open up a pathway legally for birthright citizens that are born here? That commit crimes to, I don’t know, I don’t know where they would send us, it would be like England sending us off to, you know, sending, sending, when England sent all of its, um, You know, convicts and stuff to Australia or whatever, what are they going to do with us?
I mean, what does that, what does that set the precedent for, for us? You know, [00:17:00] as people that are born here? I’ve, I’ve read that they want to get rid of the birthright citizenship too, which makes no sense because they don’t want people coming over here, um, and having babies and then, you know, The baby is a citizen of the United States.
They don’t, they, they don’t want that. So, uh, so they are trying to, you know, limit, limit people in so many different ways. Um, and this is just one of them. So they, sorry, they, um, I just hit something in my notes. My notes went flying away. So in this case, they created, created [00:18:00] a new section in the immigration office called the denaturalization section. And its main priority is to strip citizenship rights from naturalized immigrants who commit certain crimes.
Think about what that precedent sets for us that are born here.
On February 27th, the Department of Justice filed a statement of interest in support of a Kentucky wedding photographer who is challenging a city ordinance banning businesses from discriminating against gay customers. The photographer, Chelsea Nelson, refused to photograph same sex weddings due to her religious beliefs.
Um, so, Here’s one thing. Um, businesses have always been able to refuse customers for whatever reason they want. [00:19:00] And what, so then the, the, the Supreme court deciding that, um, that people can choose not to serve people, um, who are gay is, it’s just, it’s, it’s bringing to light that, that businesses, you know.
bigotry, but at the same time, any business can refuse service to anybody for any reason. Um, that was what I was told way early in my career. Um, and so that’s, that’s just a business role, but should we be discriminating against people, um, for, for, you know, Reasons that if you really think about it go against most religions, you [00:20:00] shouldn’t, you should love your neighbor.
You shouldn’t discriminate against them. So I don’t know it. This is this is where there’s a fine line between the legal and the moral. The moral part of it, would I discriminate, would I discriminate against, um, uh, you know, if, if, if I had, uh, if I had an ultra, um, ultra conservative customer come in and, and, and want to work with me, do you think I would turn them down?
Probably, probably I’ve said so in my social, other social media page that I would not, I don’t want their money. I don’t want to work with somebody like that. They’d have different morals than me. I just, I don’t want the hassle if they’re going to, you know, and, and the times that I have had to work, well, work with, um, conservatives, I’ve, they’ve been a little bit high maintenance, [00:21:00] just, just going to be honest.
So, um, anyway, onward, um, okay, on February 27th, the Department of Justice filed a statement of interest in support of a content. Whoops, I just read that. Um, okay, on February 28th, the Department of Justice proposed, the Department of Justice is busy. 26th, 27th, 28th, March 6th. Yeah. Okay, February 28th, uh, the Department of Justice proposed regulations, increasing fees of immigrants for immigrants and requiring asylum seekers to pay a 50 fee to have their cases heard in court.
Um, so these people are already poor and you’re going to [00:22:00] increase their fees. They’re already coming here because they’re, they’re seeking asylum and you’re increasing their fees. Um, fees for permanent. Residence permits would increase by 990 to a total of 2, 750 and the cost for naturalization of nudist citizens would increase by 445 to 1, 170.
It’s crazy.
On March 6th, the Department of Justice issued a rule saying that DNA data samples from migrants taken into federal custody after trying to cross the U. S. border can be stored and shared among federal agencies.
I’m telling you, if they can do it to the migrants that come over, they can do it to us. Do you want to give your DNA to the government and have it shared among the agencies? [00:23:00] I’m just saying, the legal precedent is there for them to do this. It’s there. And we, and we allowed them to do this. We elected them and, and thank God we have a chance to not elect them again.
On March 10th, the White House issued a statement of administration policy opposing House Resolution 2486, the National Origin Based Anti Discrimination of Non Immigrants Act, which the Leadership Conference of Civil and Human Rights supports. I, I see during this time, like the, the Democrats, people putting forth these House resolutions, they really, they really drove home what the point of the, the bill was the National Origin Based Anti Discrimination for Non Immigrants Act.
No, it’s literally spells [00:24:00] no ban.
I wish they would like be that succinct and straightforward with their, their marketing of their candidates. You know what I’m saying? Nevermind. Um, on March 17th, the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs announced a decision to temporarily exempt and waive certain affirmative action requirements connected to federal contracts for coronavirus relief.
So, we’re into, um, we’re, we’re into the pandemic now, March 17th, um, so they’re, they’re temporarily exempting and waiving certain affirmative action requirements connected to federal contracts for coronavirus relief. How convenient.
How [00:25:00] convenient to, to, to hurt the people that need it the most. On March 20th, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention imposed a 30 day restriction on all non essential travel into the United States from Mexico and Canada, an effort led by Stephen Miller to use public health laws to reduce immigration.
On March 24th, Attorney General William Barr signed a statement of interest arguing against the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference. Their transgender athlete policy, which allows athletes to compete as the gender with which they identify. So we’re back to attacking transgender people. It’s transgender people, poor people, people of color, women.
Those are, those are the people that they’re targeting. And if you’re in one of those groups, you might not want to vote for Trump tomorrow.[00:26:00]
On April 20th, the Trump administration extended its March, 2020 CDC rule on border restrictions until May 20th. 2020.
Not, not wanting, uh, not wanting people to come into the country. On April 22nd, Trump signed an executive order to temporarily ban the issuance of green cards to people seeking permanent residency in the United States, a move that was viewed as a shameless manipulation of the pandemic to justify the administration’s xenophobic policies.
On April 30th, the Department of Education issued guidance. Flouting congressional intent under the CARES Act that directs school districts to share millions of dollars designated for low income students with wealthy private schools.[00:27:00]
So why do the rich private schools need money from the low income students?
Share millions of dollars designated for low income students with wealthy private schools. So is it allowing, um, I’m not quite sure. I would like to read more up on that. What she, what the, what Betsy DeVos did there, uh, with the Department of Education. Um, and okay, that just sent me down a rabbit hole of thinking there that you just witnessed. Okay. On February 6th, the Department of [00:28:00] Education released its final rule on title, Rule nine that raises the bar of proof for sexual misconduct, bolsters the rights of those accused, and introduces new protections that include sexual harassment.
If the rule takes effect, it will silence sexual assault survivors and limit their educational opportunity. Oh, you’d expect so much from a rapist. A convicted rapist. On May 12th, the Department of Educate, of Agriculture appealed an injunction that blocked The agency from proceeding with cuts to the SNAP program food stamps. The new requirements if the USDA wins its appeal would strip 688, 000 Americans of their food benefits.
[00:29:00] Attacking the poor again on May 12th. The Department of Health and Human Services eliminated sex sexual orientation and gender identity and tribal data collection in the adoption and foster care and care and analysis and reporting system, which collects case level information in all children in foster care and those who have been adopted with Title four E agency involvement.
So they don’t wanna know if, if. They don’t want the Department of Health and Human Services to know your sexual orientation, gender identity, or if you’re tribal data, a Native American, um, in the foster care adoption system. These seem like things that need to be addressed. [00:30:00] Like tracked, especially if, if people, you know, have a tendency to be abused because of their sexual orientation, their gender.
On May 14th, the White House issued a statement of administration policy opposing House Resolution 6800, the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions or HEROES Act, which the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights supports. So they, they, they opposed. The Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act in the middle of the pandemic.
On May 15th, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights sent a letter of impending enforcement action to the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference and six school [00:31:00] districts declaring that Title IX requires Schools to ban transgender students from competing in school sports based on their gender identity and threatening to withhold funding from Connecticut schools if they do not comply.
On May 19th, the Trump administration announced the indefinite extension of the CDC order that allows federal authorities at the border to immediately return migrants to their home countries. They’re using the pandemic to their advantage at this point. On May 26th, the Department of Justice filed a Statement of Interest in an Alabama federal court in support of the state’s onerous absentee ballot requirements that put black voters and voters with disabilities at risk during the COVID pandemic, COVID 19 pandemic.
Um, just a thing about absentee ballots, they’ve been used for decades, maybe centuries. [00:32:00] They’ve definitely been used for decades. And, um, our, our troops overseas vote by mail. I don’t understand what the problem is. Has our, our country, our voting system is one of the best in the world and, and, and most secure.
And it had been for, you know, decades. And now all of a sudden, since Trump’s running, it’s all of a sudden something’s wrong with it. These same people that were going, yes, USA, we’re the best. We’re the best. Right before Trump came along and said, you know, make America great again. We’re already great that that should have like, I don’t know, that should have been their reaction, but it wasn’t [00:33:00] and and now we have to, to deal with this one more time and and look at all this stuff that he’s done.
I mean, or did the last time I mean, all they’re going to do is just reverse the Biden administration and all this stuff is going to go back into effect. That’s I mean, the Supreme Court right now. It’s just shady. Sorry. Got to say it. Um, two, at least two of the people on the Supreme Court are bought and paid for by people with, um, not the best interests for our country.
It’s more like selfish billionaire interests, white supremacist interests. On May 29th, Trump vetoed a bipartisan resolution to overturn a Department of Education rule and hold Secretary of Law accountable for failing to provide relief to students defrauded by for profit colleges. [00:34:00] So, so, That’s, that’s actually why Betsy DeVos got into, into being a Department of Education, um, Secretary because she, she wanted to, to overdo that, you know, she’s, she has a, she has a finger in the for profit college pie.
On May 29th, Trump issued a presidential proclamation aimed at restricting the entry of graduate students and researchers from China, or as Trump says, China.
Can we, can we get a, a president that like, Treats other countries with respect, please. On June 20, on June 1st, police officers and the National Guard dispersed peaceful protesters outside the White House using tear gas and flashbang explosions [00:35:00] so that Trump could pose for photos while holding up a Bible upside down, by the way, which is kind of satanic, in front of St.
John’s Episcopal Church.
On June 3rd, the Department of Justice filed a brief in Fulton v. City of Pennsylvania, I mean, sorry, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, calling on the U. S. Supreme Court to allow religious affiliated adoption agencies to refuse child placement into LGBTQ homes. The Justice Department is not a party to the case.
So now the Justice Department is interfering in other cases that it’s not really a party in. On June 12th, the Department of Health and Human Services issued its final rule rolling back the Non Discrimination Protections Section 1587 of the Affordable Care [00:36:00] Act. The rule was, will promote discrimination in medical care.
So, take care of the sick, unless, you know, this or that or the other. On June 14th, the Washington Post reported that the Department of Housing and Urban Development will propose a rule that will roll back Obama era guidance requiring single sex homeless shelters to accept transgender people. So, they’re already thrown out of their homes, they’re living on the street homeless, they’ve been discriminated against, they can’t get housing of any kind, and now You’re making it okay for, um, single sex shelters, homeless shelters to discriminate against them.
Where do you want them to go?
On June 15th, a 161 [00:37:00] page resolution from the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice was published in the Federal Register that would make it exceedingly difficult for migrants to claim asylum in the United States. Like I said yesterday, Jesus was a refugee. All these Christians hating on people crossing the border for, because they’re trying, because they’re trying to escape, you know, harmful conditions.
And they come here and people are even worse to them. I mean, really, I mean, it’s really bad. I mean, we’re America. We open our arms to everyone. When has it been any different? On June 19th, the Department of Justice filed a statement of interest arguing that the Equal Protection Clause permits Idaho’s fairness.
in Women’s Supports Act, which bans [00:38:00] trans girls and women from school sports teams. On June 22nd, Trump issued a proclamation to expand and extend his April 22nd order that suspends some immigration from outside the United States. The new proclamation extends the initial green card ban in the April proclamation until, until December 31st, 2020, and includes additional significant restrictions on several categories, including Of temporary guest worker visas.
So people can’t even come over to, to guest work, but during this is also during the pandemic. Um, so they’re using the pandemic. To keep immigration at bay, basically, even people that are just temporary guest workers, which we need to, for, you know, um, a lot of the, the farming, you know, um, [00:39:00] the meat industry, we, we need temporary workers to come and work these jobs because Americans don’t want to do them.
And, um, and not having people to come in and work at these places. Probably actually drove up prices because then they couldn’t have the output that they, they would have had to. So that, I wonder who that helps. On June 24th, the White House issued a statement of administration policy opposing House Resolution 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, which the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights supports. On June 24th, the White House issued a statement of administration opposing House Resolution 7120, the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act, which the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights supports.
It’s like the House can’t get anything [00:40:00] done because the, um, well, the President saying he opposes it doesn’t necessarily mean that it got vetoed or anything, but, um, but still just having the President say that he, he opposes the House. Um, justice and policing that he opposes, um, uh,
you know, all of these different house resolutions that are meant to help people, especially during a pandemic. I mean, it’s really like cruel, cruel and thoughtless, um, thoughtless to the people that, um, make this country run.
On June 24th, the White House issued a statement of administration policy supporting house resolution 3985, that just in unifying solutions. To [00:41:00] invigorate Communities Everywhere Act, which the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights opposes. So I’m, I’m guessing this was some kind of, uh, I would have to look this up.
Um, I’m guessing it’s some kind of, if it’s invigorate communities everywhere, invi, it’s probably some kind of open up too soon during the pandemic thing is my guess. But let’s look it up. Let’s, let’s just look it up really quickly. I’m not gonna be lazy. We need to know,
[00:42:00] uh, this bill addresses policies and issues regarding policing practices and law enforcement accountability. Oh, so it’s probably, probably an answer to the other one. The bill funds state and local grants, incentivizes state and local reporting on the use of certain policing practices, creates new federal offenses for certain misconduct, establishes a commission to study the conditions affecting black men and boys.
Well, that would have been a good thing. It establishes. Best practices and training requirements. Um, but I just wonder what the, what the motivation behind, uh, studying the conditions affecting black men and boys.
Introduced in the Senate. It wasn’t introduced by, oh, Senator Tim Scott [00:43:00] from South Carolina.
Huh. That’s another thing I should probably probably look into that I don’t have time for right now. Um, okay.
Okay. On June 25th, the Trump Administration filed a brief with the US Supreme Court arguing that the entire Affordable Care, uh, affordable Care Act should be invalidated saying the remainder of the Affordable Care Act should not be allowed to remain in effect. The brief was filed in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
It’s like they’re trying to kill us or something. On July 7th, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued its final rule on payday care and title lending, undoing consumer protections and threatening to devastate, devastate communities of color that are already facing the worst fallout of the pandemic.
Also on July 7th, the [00:44:00] Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights Issued a notice in the Federal Register proposing changes to the Federal Rights Data Collection, because, you know, you don’t want to know about stuff, including removal of several questions regarding school and district characteristics, discipline, school finance, and data disaggregation.
So, so the, the, the Office for Civil Rights, who you would think would want to know as much as possible about civil rights and who’s being affected, um, is, um, Removing certain questions, several questions about those things that we want to know about. On July 8th, the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice issued a proposal rule that would bar asylum seekers from countries with disease outbreaks.
The proposal does not [00:45:00] say whether it would only apply during a global pandemic, but instead would depend on determinations made by the Attorney General and Homeland Security Secretary in consultation with the Department of Health and Human Services. For On July 14th, the Department of Justice filed a brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate Medicaid work requirements in Arkansas after a three judge panel of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that blocked the work requirements. On July 14th, like the government, the federal government’s working against. The people that are trying to, to make things better, like actively working against them.
On July 14th, the federal government executed Daniel Lewis Lee, the first federal execution in more than 17 years, after the Trump administration resumed the federal death penalty. So this is where Trump starts going on a killing spree. [00:46:00] This is the first federal execution. He goes on a killing spree for the rest of the year.
On July 15th, the Trump administration finalized a rule proposed by the White House Council on Environmental Equality to change how the federal government implements the National Environmental Policy Act, NEPA. NEPA is the federal law signed by President Nixon, a Republican in 1970, that safeguards air, water, and land by requiring environmental assets.
The results of major infrastructure projects the Trump administration’s rule limits the number of projects that require in depth environmental review and no longer requires federal agencies to weigh a project’s vulnerability to climate change or impact on global warming.
Now they’re, they’re attacking the earth. On July 16th, the Commission on Unalienable Rights, the formation of which was announced in July [00:47:00] 2019 by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, released a draft report to the public. Experts described the report as undermining decades of human rights progress. Do we need to, more of this stuff?
Do we need to, to elect these people again? On July 16th, because you know, the people That were on his cabinet back then are probably going to be the same people that are going to be on it acting again Acting not later. They’re not confirmed by Congress. They’re all acting puppet people On July 16th, the federal government executed Wesley Ira Perkey, the second federal execution in more than 17 years after the Trump administration resumed the federal death penalty.
Also on July 17th, the federal government executed Dustin Lee Honkin. The third federal execution in more than 17 years after the Trump administration resumed the federal death penalty. [00:48:00] He’s finally getting to kill people. He’s killing like a million, a million, a million. He’s killing Americans by the tens of thousands with the pandemic.
And now he’s like literally killing people on death row. On July 21st, Trump signed a mirandum attempting to ban undocumented immigrants from counting toward congressional apportionment following the 2020 census. On July 23rd, Secretary Carson terminated the Obama era Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule, replacing it with a new rule called Preserving Community and Neighborhood Choice.
The, um, Obama era rule Aim to combat segregation and housing policy. Ben Carson was a black man. You would think you would not want to have [00:49:00] segregation in housing policy, but I don’t know. That’s, that’s, that’s Not for me to, to make his decisions. On July 28th, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, issued a morandum to drastically curtail the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA program, while the agency decides whether to rescind the program completely.
The memo is in response to the U. S. Supreme Court’s decision in June 2020 that found the violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it rescinded the program in September 2017.
On July 30th, NPR reported that the U. S. Census Bureau would be cutting census door knocking a month short. On August 3rd, the Bureau released a statement confirming that both field data collection and self response would be ending a month early on September 30th. They don’t [00:50:00] really want to know about America, apparently, who really makes up this country.
On August 6th, Trump appointed J. Christian Adams to serve on the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights and was sworn in one week later. Adams, who is a member of the President’s Voter Suppression Commission, was appointed to the U. S. CCR. On the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, like a slap in the face, on, on August 8th, Trump signed a series of politically motivated executive actions amid the coronavirus pandemic. One of the memos he signed defers payroll taxes from September through December 2020. Trump also said that if reelected, he would permanently terminate the payroll tax. In a letter to Senate Democrats on August 24th, Stephen Goss Chief actuary of this [00:51:00] social secretary or social security administration said that such a move would deplete social security by mid 2023.
Good thing we didn’t keep him in office, huh? We wouldn’t have social security now.
On August 18th, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission signaled its intent to create burdensome new rules for its conciliation process that could tip the scales in favor of employers and potentially expose workers who file workplace discrimination claims, as well as potential witnesses, to retaliation.
Trump’s all about the retaliation, isn’t he? Let’s not vote him into office and see what he means by retaliating and being a Dictator for a day. A dick tator. On August 18th, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission signaled its intent to create burdensome new rules. Oh, I’m sorry, I just read that. [00:52:00] On August 19th, the U.S. Agency for International Development released an updated draft policy on gender and women’s empowerment that eliminated any reference to transgender people or contraceptives. See, they’re coming after your birth control. On August 21st, the White House issued a statement of administration policy opposing House Resolution 8015, the Delivering for America Act, which the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights supports.
On August 26th, Eric Dreeben, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, sent letters to the governors of Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey, and New York, all Democrats, Requesting information under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act about the coronavirus response of public nursing homes in their states.
The move, which occurred during the Republican National Convention. It was viewed as a political move, targeting Democrats to [00:53:00] distract from the President’s failed response to the pandemic. On August 26, the Department of Education issued a Dear Educators and Stakeholders letter announcing the withdrawal of eight guidance documents, including its rationale that previous support the document, the Department expressed for diversity, for advocating for policy preferences and positions beyond the requirements of the Constitution in Title VI.
Thanks. I mean, if the stuff’s in there, why do you go through the hassle of removing it unless you have an ulterior motive for removing these protections against people? This guidance of how to handle certain situations. On August 26th, the federal government executed lesbian Charles Mitchell.
Killingsbury, the fourth federal execution in more than 17 years after the Trump administration resumed the federal death penalty. On August, [00:54:00] the next day, on August 28th, the federal government executed Keith Duane Nelson, the fifth federal execution in more than 17 years after the Trump administration resumed the federal death penalty.
On August 31st, the Department of Education issued a notice in the Federal Register that it had rescinded almost 100 guidance documents issued since the 1990s. These guidance documents on how to handle different situations within the Department of Education were all rescinded by Betsy DeVos.
And if you wonder why the, the, why, why the current administration, why the, the Biden administration is having so much problems getting stuff done, well they had to undo all this crap that Trump did for four years, first. On September 2nd, Trump sent a memorandum [00:55:00] to the Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget that threatened to pull federal funding from anarchist jurisdictions, quote, unquote, cities that are, quote, unquote, that are permanently anarchy, violence, and destruction.
This was also viewed as a political move targeting cities where people are protesting police brutality and systemic racism. On September 3rd, the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued an opinion, later abandoning its long standing interpretation of Section 707 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, undoing, undoing long standing interpretations that people have fought for for decades. You know, hundreds of years. In some cases, just undoing them. On [00:56:00] September 4th, the Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a final rule that severely weakens the desperate impact tool under the Fair Housing Act, which will make millions of people more vulnerable to housing discrimination.
On September 4th, Russell Voit, Voit, Voit, Voit, Voit, Voit, Voit, Voit, Voit, Voit, I can’t. I’m sorry. I’m so bad with pronouncing things. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget sent a memo to the heads of executive departments and agencies instructing them to end anti racist trainings that address white privilege and critical race theory, calling them divisive anti American propaganda.
On September 8th, the Department of Justice filed a brief in support of an Indiana Catholic school that was sued for firing a teacher in a same sex marriage. Also, on September 8th, a whistleblower complaint from a Department of Homeland Security official [00:57:00] alleged that top Department of Homeland Security officials, including Chad Wolf and Ken Cuccinelli, directed analysts to downplay threats from violent white supremacy and Russian election interference.
They want to hide the fact that white supremacists were causing these riots. It wasn’t the BLM protesters, it was white supremacists, and if you look it up, you can find out, that you can see, that most of the people arrested were white supremacists, and Russian intellectual election interference, Russian election interference, I mean, we know, we know that has happened, the CIA has said it has, it happened, um, they, they went to downplay the threats. Why? Because it’s helping them. [00:58:00] On September 17th, the AP reported that the Department of Education is threatening to withhold some federal funding from Connecticut school districts if they follow a school, a state policy that allows transgender girls to compete as girls.
In high school sports on September 22nd, Trump issued an executive order prohibiting federal agencies, federal contractors, and grantees from engaging in anti discrimination workplace diversity trainings. The administration deemed divisive.
They don’t like diversity, do they? It’s, it’s only divisive if you’re white and you can’t accept the fact that black people and Uh, uh, LGBTQ people, uh, Muslims, you know, all of us, all of us are equal. It’s only divisive if you [00:59:00] don’t think that we’re all equal.
On September 22nd, the Department of Labor proposed a rule that would make it easier for employers to misclassify workers and deny them minimum wage and overtime protections, attacking workers. On September 22nd. Here we go again. Another killing spree. The federal government executed William Emmett LaCroix Jr., the sixth federal execution, in more than 17 years after the Trump administration resumed the federal death penalty. See, he doesn’t have to shoot somebody anywhere to have his followers do it. He can just go into office and kill people every day on death row. And that’s it. And people will elect him president.
Please don’t elect him president so he can do this. Please.
It’s, it’s very barbaric, very barbarian.[01:00:00]
On September 22nd, the Trump administration asked the U. S. Supreme Court to schedule oral arguments in a case related to Trump’s July 2020 memorandum attempting to ban undocumented immigrants from counting toward congressional apportionment following the 2020 census. On September 10th, a three judge district court had barred the administration from implementing the memo.
On September 24th, the Department of Housing and Urban Development issued its final rule to gut the desperate. impact tool under the Federal Housing Act, which will make it harder to challenge systemic racism by housing providers, financial institutions, and insurance companies that deprive people of the services and opportunities they need.
On September 24th, the federal government executed Christopher Andre Villalba, the seventh Federal execution in more than 17 years after the Trump administration [01:01:00] resumed the federal death penalty. On September 30th, gosh, September is so busy. The state department told Congress that it would allow only 15, 000 refugees to resettle in the United States in the 2021 fiscal year.
Which began the following day. Wow. Talk about short notice. On October 1st, the White House issued a statement of administration policy opposing House Resolution 8406, the HEROES Act, which the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights supports. We talked about the HEROES Act earlier. On October 6th, Microsoft revealed that the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs contacted the company over its commitments to increasing diversity.
According to Microsoft, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has focused on whether Microsoft’s commitment to double the number of Black and African American people, [01:02:00] managers, um, senior individual contributors and senior leaders in our workforce by 2025 could constitute unlawful discrimination on the basis of race.
which would violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The OFCCP contacted Wells Fargo for the same reason, saying that if they were to double the number of Black and African American people who are managers, senior individual contributors, and senior leaders, in the company that they would be in violation of the discrimination on, uh, would be in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
I mean, they’re, they’re really consistently attacking people that need the most help. On October 7th, the Trump administration filed an emergency application with the U. S. Supreme Court [01:03:00] in an attempt to halt the 2020 census count early. The application was filed under the 9th After the 9th Circuit upheld a district court’s ruling that the administration could not stop the count at the end of September.
See, remember, they wanted to stop it early. On October 8th, a Justice Department member suspended all diversity and inclusion training for the department’s employees and managers in compliance with Trump’s recent executive order banning anti bias trainings. I mean, we don’t, we, we want you to discriminate against people and we don’t even want you to know that you’re discriminating against people.
On October 21st, Trump signed an executive order that could expand his ability to hire and fire tens of thousands of federal employees. The order would allow federal agencies to reclassify certain workers, which would strip them of job protections. See, this is so he can appoint his own people. If he were to win the election in November, [01:04:00] um, this would have put all his, so he would have been able to strip these people of their job protections.
Take and put his own, you know, people in there that do his bidding. The National President of the American Federation of Government Employees referred to the order as the most profound undermining of the civil sense of the civil service in our lifetimes. The most profound undermining of the civil service in our lifetimes during the first Trump administration.
Let’s not make the same mistake again. On November 1st, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of the Treasury Approved Georgia’s waiver request under Section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act, which allows the state to exit the federal marketplace without creating a state based marketplace to replace it.
This would endanger coverage and access to care for tens of thousands of people. On November 2nd, Trump has signed an executive order establishing the President’s Advisory [01:05:00] 1776 Commission to promote patriotic Education, quote, unquote, the commission teased by Trump in remarks on September 17th was reviewed as a political move aimed at censoring the teaching of American history and as an attack on the New York Times Pulitzer Prize winning 1619 project, which details the nation’s history beginning with the first enslaved Africans when the first enslaved Africans were brought to America on November 9th in a memo to U.
S. Attorneys. Attorney General Barr authorized the opening of election fraud investigations, quote unquote, if there are clear and apparently credible allegations of irregularities that, if true, could potentially impact the outcome of a federal election in an individual state. The memo, for which there was no factual basis, was reviewed, was viewed as an attempt to sow chaos and led to the [01:06:00] resignation of Richard Pilger, Director of the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Election Crimes Branch.
On November 13th, U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced a revised naturalization civics exam that will create unfair and unnecessary obstacles to lawful permanent residents pursuing U. S. citizenship.
This country was built on immigrants. Why, why are we stopping it? Especially when, like, people are not wanting to have kids. We need the, we need people to come to this country to, for, to build and grow.
On November 16th, the Social Security Administration finalized a rule that could make it more difficult for people who apply for disability benefits to appeal denials by [01:07:00] allowing agency attorneys to hear appeals rather than impartial and independent administrative law judges. On November 19th, see, so, so they, they, they finalized this rule that allows the agency attorneys to hear the appeals rather than an administrative law judge because when Trump goes and appoints the people that he wants into the offices, then they’ll, they’ll, they’ll be free to, um, to deny people disability benefits.
On November 19th, the federal government executed Orlando Cordia Hall, the eighth federal execution in more than 17 years after the Trump administration resumed the federal death penalty. On November 24th, CNN reported that the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review was ordering some immigrants facing deportation to file to stay in the [01:08:00] United States, rushing the process and increasing the likelihood of deportation.
The orders appeared to be signed by supervisory judges, not judges assigned to the cases. So now they’re trying to, to make it, you know, just putting in people just to, to sign off so that immigrants are deported quickly. They’re not even the judges in charge of the cases. I mean, think about what these legal precedents set for the rest of us Americans.
These are legal precedents that if they use it in this case, they can use it in another case. It can apply in another case. On December 7th, the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs announced a final rule that expands the ability of federal contractors to claim religious exemptions from federal non discrimination laws and regulations, allowing them to discriminate discriminate against people of color, religious minorities, [01:09:00] women, and LGBTQ people.
On December 8th, the White House issued a statement of administration policy opposing the conference report to, uh, uh, um, accompany House Resolution 6395, the National Defense Authorization Act. Their opposition was based in large part on the inclusion of language that would rename all bases and other military assets named for the Confederacy.
We’re the United States of America. Why are we honoring a country that is not our country? The Confederate, the Confederacy is not our country. The United States of America is our country. Only American generals should have their names on U. S. military bases, not Confederate. The other side, that’s the other side.
I mean, yes, they’re in our own country, but it’s still the other side. And that’s not a country we [01:10:00] want. So don’t elect them tomorrow. That’s not the country we want. We want the United States of America back. I’m sorry. We want to keep the United States of America. We don’t want to make it great and Confederate.
On December 10th, the federal government executed Brandon Bernard, again, another killing spree, the ninth federal execution in more than 17 years after the Trump administration resumed the federal death penalty. On December 11th, the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice finalized a sweeping new rule that creates additional barriers to asylum eligibility and limits who can qualify for protection.
People who claim they will face persecution based on gender or gang violence, for example, would generally not qualify for asylum under these new rules. On December 11th, the federal government executed Alfred [01:11:00] Bourgeois, the Bourgeois, Bourgeois, Bourgeois. The 10th federal execution, more than 17 years after the Trump administration resumed the federal death penalty on December 12th, justice department lawyers acknowledged that the expulsion of 66.
Unaccompanied migrant children without a court hearing or asylum interview by U. S. border officials represented a contravention of a November district court ruling. On December 16th, the Department of Justice finalized a rule that strips the Executive Office for Immigration Review of its ability to make a reasoned decision on a fully developed record and blocks people in immigration proceedings from mounting an effective appeal.
So for like two weeks, he laid off, but then in 2021, [01:12:00] they started back up again on January 8th. They got to get in their last blows before they get out of office. This is January 8th, 2021. The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights released a memorandum misconstruing the U. S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clinton County and its application to Title IX of the Education Amendments. of the, of 1972, refusing to apply Bostock, which prohibits discrimination against LBGTQ people, to federal education law. On January 8th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved a new Medicaid financing system in Tennessee, a 10 year quote unquote experiment, threatening healthcare for the 1.
4 million people in the state’s Medicaid program. On January 12th, the Department of Health and Human Services finalized a rule that allows social service providers that receive government funding to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity. They’re [01:13:00] using your tax dollars to discriminate.
On January 12, 2021, a letter from the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Commerce outlined whistleblower complaints that Census Bureau Director, Dr. Stephen Dillingham, ordered staff to prioritize the unconstitutional and premature production of a technical report that would include data on documented and undocumented immigrants in the United States, a directive motivated by partisan objectives.
Dr. Dillingham resigned six days later following demands from civil rights organizations and members of Congress, On January 13th, the federal government executed Lisa Montgomery. Gotta get a woman in there, otherwise his killing spree wouldn’t be complete. The 11th federal execution in more than 17 years after the Trump administration resumed the federal death penalty. I’d be interested to see the races of these people [01:14:00] too.
On January 14th, the federal government executed Corey Johnson. He has nothing else to do but kill people at this point. The 12th federal execution in more than 17 years after the Trump administration resumed the federal death penalty. Imagine being like 5 days away from being president of the United States and your highest priority is killing people on death row.
On January 16th, the federal government executed Dustin John Higgs. 13th federal execution. Did I read about Cory? Did I just read about Lisa Montgomery? Did I read about Cory Johnson? We’ll read about Cory Johnson again, just in case. On January 14th, the federal government executed Cory Johnson, the 12th federal execution, more than 17 years after the Trump administration resumed the federal death penalty.
On January 16th, the federal government executed Dustin John Higgs. That’s like the 13th, the 14th, and the 16th were all 15th and 15th was probably I don’t I don’t know why he skipped the 15th. Probably had to [01:15:00] golf that day. I don’t know. Um, on January 16th, the federal government executed Dustin John Higgs, the 13th federal execution, more than 17 years after the federal government resumed the federal death penalty.
On January 18th, which is my birthday, which was also MLK Day, Trump’s 1776 commission issued a report calling for patriotic education, quote unquote. Comparing progressivism to fascism. Are you freaking kidding me? You’re the one limiting people. You’re the one discriminating against people. That’s what fascists do.
=And communism. Really? You’re centralizing the wealth into the hands of, of, of the wealthy, the, the billionaire class that seems more like communism, centralizing the wealth in the hands of one area that seems more like one, one that seems like communism to me. Centralized wealth.
Comparing progressivism to fascism and [01:16:00] communism and justifying the nation’s founding on the basis of slavery. So they justified slavery. We wouldn’t have this country if it wasn’t for slavery. Of course we wouldn’t. And you need to acknowledge that it’s bad. And no other country needs to be formed on that basis.
Otherwise you turn it, you have this, this problem that we have now where we have a white supremacist that’s running for office And he’s, could potentially be elected president again, after doing all this crap. Thankfully, that was the last day. Um, he had to get out of the office on the 20th so that Biden could come in and take over, but you know, he was busy back down to the last minute, killing people.
And his, his, his, um, pandemic policies killed a lot of people too. Hundreds of thousands of Americans, more than some wars. [01:17:00] So think about that tomorrow when you go to the ballot box. Um, and, um, I’ll be posting this pretty soon. You can find this podcast, Mary Kind of Contrary podcast, um, on all the places where you can find podcasts.
And also, um, I will have it up on marykindofcontrary. com soon. So thank you so much for listening. Um, And please vote tomorrow, no matter what party you are. I respect your right to vote. And, um, you may see me later today or early, early tomorrow morning because I’m going to lay out what has happened to me since I spoke at a school board meeting where Proud Boys were present.
What has been happening to me the past three years. Thank you and I’ll see you guys later. Bye for [01:18:00] now.
