The executive orders keep coming, hirings and firings are shuffling up the professional civil service, and Trump’s various appointments are barreling toward Washington.
If it seems like a lot, Jill Richardson argues this week, maybe that’s the point. It’s hard for any ordinary human to keep track of all these rapid-fire changes, much less resist them, which Trump may hope will make it easier to push radical changes through.
One change that didn’t get through without a fuss was the “Muslim ban” — an extremely controversial executive order halting America’s refugee program and banning immigration from seven Muslim countries. Don’t miss Khalil Bendib’s powerful cartoon on that below.
The ban prompted an enormous wave of protest, with demonstrators showing up at airports all over the country, as well as a court ruling against the more extreme provisions against green card holders.
This week in OtherWords, Dina El-Rifai puts that Muslim ban in context, and asks opponents to avoid the Muslim stereotypes employed by Trump and others.
Also this week, as labor secretary nominee Andrew Puzder goes before Congress, Wendy C. Wolf sizes up his record on labor rights. It isn’t pretty. In the same vein, Sam Pizzigati reports on how declining labor rights for construction workers have made their jobs much more dangerous.
Jim Hightower, finally, skewers a bill by a retiring member of Congress to scrap retirement benefits for everyone else.
Khalil Bendib / OtherWords.org
- Don’t Play Into Trump’s Hands on the Muslim Ban / Dina El-Rifai
Please don’t reinforce ideas that paint us as violent. - If You Work, This Appointment Matters to You / Wendy C. Wolf
The man Donald Trump picked to protect workers’ rights is a serial violator of them. - America’s Construction Carnage / Sam Pizzigati
As unions decline, construction workers are dying at alarming rates. - Uncle Sam Wants… Your Social Security Check / Jim Hightower
A Texas Republican, who’s ready to retire with a nice pension, wants to cut Social Security benefits for everyone else by up to 69 percent. - Ruling by Chaos / Jill Richardson
Trump’s made so many orders — on the environment and everything else — that it’s hard to keep track, much less resist. That’s the point. - You’re Fired! / Khalil Bendib
