Traffic
I suspect that Los Angeles Traffic is reflective of traffic throughout the United Stats (when it comes to other countries the situation is rather different for different reasons). The introduction of Lyft and Uber services, as well as Door Dash, and other "gig" delivery services have turned traffic for the 9-5 types into a congealing mass of annoyance. Population Density has also increased, and the sheer number or cars on the road or owned go up with that. For every single family dwelling or two converted into multi-unit housing there is a corresponding increase in vehicle density. And of course, no new roads are being built. Elon Musk's Boring Company remains a pretty speculative solution, and even if it were to start today, it would likely take years, or decades to make an impact. So, what happens is that you get a different sort of class divide again where the middle gets squeezed. Those that have the wherewithal to avoid driving, and take advantage of newer driving services for their transportation needs shift the driving burden to those who scrabble to get by with the meager income provided by internet cabs and delivery services. Just where the income level is where that becomes an attractive option probably varies, but the need to travel doesn't diminish. However, if you can shift the burden of the annoyance that goes along with driving, you get more driving activity. The fact that people use theses sort of Door Dash delivery services to deliver fast food cuisine, makes it seem likely that the income threshold may not be that high. Someone may not want to hassle with the drive to their local fast food restaurant, but if someone is willing to take on that burden for a sufficiently low cost, then you get another car on the road. Now there is an argument that this is still the same number of cars, which is technically true, but it yields an increase traffic. Here's how it works.
Lets say a customer wants his fast food fix, and is willing to drive. The drive is 3 miles round trip.
Instead, said customer will have a deliveryperson go and get their order for them and deliver it. The round trip to the house is still 3 miles of course, BUT there is additional mileage for the driver who is making the delivery. Even if it is only 0.5 miles additional (the delivery person is in the area after all, but half a mile isn't all that far), that is a 16% increase in miles driven on the roads. That does not take into account the distance the driver will add to return to wherever their home is (to be fair, that should be distributed by the number of deliveries being made). As this gets multiplied out, it should become clear that there are more cars on the road, and this is more likely to happen in denser population areas, since there will be more people that want to take advantage of such services.
Self driving cars will change this dynamic again, and hopefully for the better. Odds are that we will see self driving cars with drones for the door delivery where possible. That may not happen, particularly if a drone falls on top of someone's head early on, but if you want to deliver to an apartment building, they will either still need a person to go upstairs, or a drone will need access via a window. Nearby trees could make certain areas problematic for that, so don't be surprised if there are "No drone delivery" zones. The other option would be for drones to be curbside delivery, which is still better than you having to hassle with traffic. But if you do have to use the roads, you will be competing for road space with all the other 9-5ers as well as the increased delivery services. Your commute isn't going to get any better, at least not any time soon.
Welcome to the future...
Friday, November 16, 2018
Sunday, August 12, 2018
Trump Watch 20180812 - Trump V Charlottesville Anniversary
Today's Episode: Charlottesville Anniversary
With a "Unite the Right 2" rally basically fizzling out in DC, with only a few dozen supporters of the event showing up, Trump (and the media for the most part) were able to basically ignore the anniversary, as it hasn't gotten a critical mass nationally to get the topic of racism in America to get much in the way of high profile attention or protests. Trump himself has put out rather tepid "all racism is bad" tweets, and left it at that, and while a variety of commentators (and former assistant Omarossa, of The Apprentice fame) have come out and said that Trump himself is a racist, that sort of accusation isn't really new, and seems unlikely to change any minds at this point.
For his part, Trump was at one of his golf courses in Bedminster, New Jersey, hosting a photo op for a group of supporters known as "Bikers for Trump." The few images I did see of the group and Trump was devoid of POC as far as I could tell.
It does seem that the boldness of the White Supremacist crowd has left them, and Trump seems able to avoid the issue of late. It will be easier for him to do so if is alt-right type supporters stay in the shadows.
- Trump Charity lawsuit by New York Attorney General
- FBI investigation (it keeps being called a Russian Collusion investigation, but I'm pretty sure more to it than that at this point)
- North Korea
- The Space Force
- The Border Wall
- Alien Children Detention/family separation
- Presidential Pardons
- Civil War Monuments
- Muslim Travel Ban
- China Tariffs/Trade
- Canada-G7 Tariffs/Trade
- NAFTA
- Puerto Rico response
- Military Parade in Washington
- World Trade Organization
- Covfefe Syndrome
- NATO
- Russia/Putin relationship
- Racism
Giuliani still there as Lawyer
John F. Kelly still there as Chief of Staff - 6-29-2018 Trump says "Things Happen."
Jeff Sessions still there as Attorney General
Sarah Huckabee Sanders still there as Press Secretary, rumors continue to be denied.
Mike Pompeo - Secretary of State
John Bolton - National Security Advisor
Marc Short - White House Legislative Affairs Director - no denial of plans regarding his departure prior to the 2018 midterms.
Kirstjen Nielsen - Homeland Security Secretary
Joe Hagin - White House deputy Chief of Staff is resigning.- reported June 19th
Scott Pruitt - EPA Director - Resigned 7-5-2018
Saturday, August 11, 2018
Trump Watch 20180811 - North Korea wants Peace now!
Todasy's Episode: North Korean Demands!
So, at this stage of the North Korean agreement, North Korea's state-run newspaper (Rodong Sinmun) has published a statement/article explaining that North Koreas wants peace treaty talks before detailing a list of its nuclear weapons. Apparently it appears that North Korea wants to have a peace treaty with the United States in place prior to disclosing information about its weapons. Honestly, on the face of it, it seems pretty reasonable for a state that is at war with another state to want a peace treaty before revealing its military secrets. At a political level, at least for the United States, that sort of first step is a pretty big one, since it goes a long way towards removing any military option for denuclearizing North Korea. Of course, a detailed list of their nuclear capabilities would go a long way towards making a first strike option more viable for the United States if a hot war began.
Trump hasn't admitted to the difficulties going on with North Korea, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo continues to say that there is "progress," (whatever that means), but it leaves Trump himself in something of a dilemma, and he has been pretty silent about any problems.
Basically, if Trump admits that his negotiations were a failure, he may have trouble with his base, who apparently either don't see other media reports about the situation, or if they do, they consider such reports "fake news." Democrats could use the issue to pan him, and it would probably wind up causing at least some Republican politicians to criticize him over the failure.
I expect that even if Trump were to admit to the failure, some of his true believers would come up with some sort of excuse for the statement, but the first step will ave to be Trump admitting that it did fail. That will probably happen when North Korea takes some new high profile belligerent action (firing another missile or some such), but until then I expect Trump to keep quiet.
Giuliani still there as Lawyer
John F. Kelly still there as Chief of Staff - 6-29-2018 Trump says "Things Happen."
Jeff Sessions still there as Attorney General
Sarah Huckabee Sanders still there as Press Secretary, rumors continue to be denied.
Mike Pompeo - Secretary of State
So, at this stage of the North Korean agreement, North Korea's state-run newspaper (Rodong Sinmun) has published a statement/article explaining that North Koreas wants peace treaty talks before detailing a list of its nuclear weapons. Apparently it appears that North Korea wants to have a peace treaty with the United States in place prior to disclosing information about its weapons. Honestly, on the face of it, it seems pretty reasonable for a state that is at war with another state to want a peace treaty before revealing its military secrets. At a political level, at least for the United States, that sort of first step is a pretty big one, since it goes a long way towards removing any military option for denuclearizing North Korea. Of course, a detailed list of their nuclear capabilities would go a long way towards making a first strike option more viable for the United States if a hot war began.
Trump hasn't admitted to the difficulties going on with North Korea, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo continues to say that there is "progress," (whatever that means), but it leaves Trump himself in something of a dilemma, and he has been pretty silent about any problems.
Basically, if Trump admits that his negotiations were a failure, he may have trouble with his base, who apparently either don't see other media reports about the situation, or if they do, they consider such reports "fake news." Democrats could use the issue to pan him, and it would probably wind up causing at least some Republican politicians to criticize him over the failure.
I expect that even if Trump were to admit to the failure, some of his true believers would come up with some sort of excuse for the statement, but the first step will ave to be Trump admitting that it did fail. That will probably happen when North Korea takes some new high profile belligerent action (firing another missile or some such), but until then I expect Trump to keep quiet.
- Trump Charity lawsuit by New York Attorney General
- FBI investigation (it keeps being called a Russian Collusion investigation, but I'm pretty sure more to it than that at this point)
- North Korea
- The Space Force
- The Border Wall
- Alien Children Detention/family separation
- Presidential Pardons
- Civil War Monuments
- Muslim Travel Ban
- China Tariffs/Trade
- Canada-G7 Tariffs/Trade
- NAFTA
- Puerto Rico response
- Military Parade in Washington
- World Trade Organization
- Covfefe Syndrome
- NATO
- Russia/Putin relationship
Giuliani still there as Lawyer
John F. Kelly still there as Chief of Staff - 6-29-2018 Trump says "Things Happen."
Jeff Sessions still there as Attorney General
Sarah Huckabee Sanders still there as Press Secretary, rumors continue to be denied.
Mike Pompeo - Secretary of State
John Bolton - National Security Advisor
Marc Short - White House Legislative Affairs Director - no denial of plans regarding his departure prior to the 2018 midterms.
Kirstjen Nielsen - Homeland Security Secretary
Joe Hagin - White House deputy Chief of Staff is resigning.- reported June 19th
Scott Pruitt - EPA Director - Resigned 7-5-2018
Trump Watch 20180810 - Sessions v Contempt Threat
Today's Episode - Turn that plane around!
So, it turns out that two plaintiffs in an asylum case were on a plane to El Salvador and when the judge in the case (Judge Emmet G. Sullivan) learned that was the case, he ordered the government to "turn that plane around." Additionally, he added that he would start holding officials in contempt of court if the plaintiffs weren't returned immediately, and that he would start with the attorney general.
The government didn't actually turn the plane around, but rather landed, de-planed the rest of their human cargo (consisting of other border crossers who were processed for deportation), kept the two plaintiffs on board, and flew back to the U.S. It isn't clear just how feasible just "turning around" would have been at the time the judge made his demand.
So far though, no contempt charges have not been filed against anyone in the administration. Just how far things would have to go for such a charge to be filed remains unclear. And of course, the question of how much of a deterrent a threat of a contempt of court charge holds is subject to debate as well, BUT the plaintiffs were returned, so there is some deterrent value in such a threat.
Still, I'm betting that Jeff Sessions isn't very worried about this.
- Trump Charity lawsuit by New York Attorney General
- FBI investigation (it keeps being called a Russian Collusion investigation, but I'm pretty sure more to it than that at this point)
- North Korea
- The Space Force
- The Border Wall
- Alien Children Detention/family separation
- Presidential Pardons
- Civil War Monuments
- Muslim Travel Ban
- China Tariffs/Trade
- Canada-G7 Tariffs/Trade
- NAFTA
- Puerto Rico response
- Military Parade in Washington
- World Trade Organization
- Covfefe Syndrome
- NATO
- Russia/Putin relationship
Giuliani still there as Lawyer
John F. Kelly still there as Chief of Staff - 6-29-2018 Trump says "Things Happen."
Jeff Sessions still there as Attorney General
Sarah Huckabee Sanders still there as Press Secretary, rumors continue to be denied.
Mike Pompeo - Secretary of State
John Bolton - National Security Advisor
Marc Short - White House Legislative Affairs Director - no denial of plans regarding his departure prior to the 2018 midterms.
Kirstjen Nielsen - Homeland Security Secretary
Joe Hagin - White House deputy Chief of Staff is resigning.- reported June 19th
Scott Pruitt - EPA Director - Resigned 7-5-2018
Thursday, August 09, 2018
Trump Watch 20180809 - Space Force!
Today's Episode: Space Force 2020!
Putting aside the logistics and cost of a "separate but equal" branch of the military (and for that matter, the rather odd choice of phrasing for it, given the generally negative historical context of the term "separate but equal,") there is the issue of how it is being presented. From the way I see it being spoken about, it comes across as a sort of call to arms to be the "best" and while not clearly a call to be the most belligerent, it seems close to that.
"Now the time has come to write the next great chapter in the history of our armed forces, to prepare for the next battlefield where America's best and bravest will be called to deter and defeat a new generation of threats to our people, to our nation," said Pence. "The time has come to establish the United States Space Force."
I accept that a "space force" may be prudent, or at least some specific planning and organization that is optimized for the intricacies of orbital and electronic defense and offense. Whether a new military branch, or a subset of existing branch (or branches) would be the best way to manage such a thing seems pretty open to debate, but a POTUS is the Commander in Chief, and while they can't unilaterally create a new military branch, they do have an understandably large influence on such a thing. I suspect that a part of it appeals to Trump's ego as well, as the establishment of a new armed services branch during his tenure would be a legacy issue that would be quite unlikely to be done if he achieves it.
The deeper issue is that it seems to be part of a policy of belligerence, rather than one rooted in reality with a hope for something better. The militarization of space my be necessary, but I don't believe it should be lauded. It is a failure of diplomacy and any sort of march of progress towards peace. If it were to be approached as such, with at least the hope that it could be avoided should other world powers agree, I would have a better feeling about the sales pitch. Of course, maybe I'm naive in that regard. It might be more reasonable, and possibly more effective to take a belligerent stance. And IF militarization of space is inevitable, I would feel better if the U.S. had superiority, not that I think the U.S. is necessarily really "better," than other potential "space military" powers, but more because I believe that it is at least safer to be the bully than the bullied (although to be fair, I do believe that we are somewhat better overall than China when it comes to such things, but I admit that I am clearly biased based on my upbringing when it comes to that issue).
Seriously though, I suspect that the current administration didn't even consider some means of keeping space demilitarized. And if previous administrations tried to keep space that way, they didn't do much to advertise that position.
And so here we are.
Giuliani still there as Lawyer
John F. Kelly still there as Chief of Staff - 6-29-2018 Trump says "Things Happen."
Jeff Sessions still there as Attorney General
Sarah Huckabee Sanders still there as Press Secretary, rumors continue to be denied.
Mike Pompeo - Secretary of State
Putting aside the logistics and cost of a "separate but equal" branch of the military (and for that matter, the rather odd choice of phrasing for it, given the generally negative historical context of the term "separate but equal,") there is the issue of how it is being presented. From the way I see it being spoken about, it comes across as a sort of call to arms to be the "best" and while not clearly a call to be the most belligerent, it seems close to that.
"Now the time has come to write the next great chapter in the history of our armed forces, to prepare for the next battlefield where America's best and bravest will be called to deter and defeat a new generation of threats to our people, to our nation," said Pence. "The time has come to establish the United States Space Force."
I accept that a "space force" may be prudent, or at least some specific planning and organization that is optimized for the intricacies of orbital and electronic defense and offense. Whether a new military branch, or a subset of existing branch (or branches) would be the best way to manage such a thing seems pretty open to debate, but a POTUS is the Commander in Chief, and while they can't unilaterally create a new military branch, they do have an understandably large influence on such a thing. I suspect that a part of it appeals to Trump's ego as well, as the establishment of a new armed services branch during his tenure would be a legacy issue that would be quite unlikely to be done if he achieves it.
The deeper issue is that it seems to be part of a policy of belligerence, rather than one rooted in reality with a hope for something better. The militarization of space my be necessary, but I don't believe it should be lauded. It is a failure of diplomacy and any sort of march of progress towards peace. If it were to be approached as such, with at least the hope that it could be avoided should other world powers agree, I would have a better feeling about the sales pitch. Of course, maybe I'm naive in that regard. It might be more reasonable, and possibly more effective to take a belligerent stance. And IF militarization of space is inevitable, I would feel better if the U.S. had superiority, not that I think the U.S. is necessarily really "better," than other potential "space military" powers, but more because I believe that it is at least safer to be the bully than the bullied (although to be fair, I do believe that we are somewhat better overall than China when it comes to such things, but I admit that I am clearly biased based on my upbringing when it comes to that issue).
Seriously though, I suspect that the current administration didn't even consider some means of keeping space demilitarized. And if previous administrations tried to keep space that way, they didn't do much to advertise that position.
And so here we are.
- Trump Charity lawsuit by New York Attorney General
- FBI investigation (it keeps being called a Russian Collusion investigation, but I'm pretty sure more to it than that at this point)
- North Korea
- The Space Force
- The Border Wall
- Alien Children Detention/family separation
- Presidential Pardons
- Civil War Monuments
- Muslim Travel Ban
- China Tariffs/Trade
- Canada-G7 Tariffs/Trade
- NAFTA
- Puerto Rico response
- Military Parade in Washington
- World Trade Organization
- Covfefe Syndrome
- NATO
- Russia/Putin relationship
Giuliani still there as Lawyer
John F. Kelly still there as Chief of Staff - 6-29-2018 Trump says "Things Happen."
Jeff Sessions still there as Attorney General
Sarah Huckabee Sanders still there as Press Secretary, rumors continue to be denied.
Mike Pompeo - Secretary of State
John Bolton - National Security Advisor
Marc Short - White House Legislative Affairs Director - no denial of plans regarding his departure prior to the 2018 midterms.
Kirstjen Nielsen - Homeland Security Secretary
Joe Hagin - White House deputy Chief of Staff is resigning.- reported June 19th
Scott Pruitt - EPA Director - Resigned 7-5-2018
Wednesday, August 08, 2018
Trump Watch 20180808 - The Parade is marching on!
Today's Episode - The Parade is on!
I don't totally get the idea of a military parade in Washington, but it doesn't really offend me. I can see where people see it as a sort of chest-beating exercise, but there are also people that like the idea of such things. The general reporting on the subject seems to skew towards a negative assessment of the parade, but apparently the funding for such a parade is being green lit, so we'll see how it goes.
There hasn't been a lot of specific Trump statements made recently that are getting much notice, so it's a good time to review some of the items on the general list, and the Parade is one of them. It is interesting that the idea has gotten to this stage, so if there is real resistance to it, that resistance doesn't seem to be very strong. At this point, it seems like we will be seeing some sort of parade in Washington (although it seems unlikely that we will get to see tanks rolling down the streets).
Giuliani still there as Lawyer
John F. Kelly still there as Chief of Staff - 6-29-2018 Trump says "Things Happen."
Jeff Sessions still there as Attorney General
Sarah Huckabee Sanders still there as Press Secretary, rumors continue to be denied.
Mike Pompeo - Secretary of State
I don't totally get the idea of a military parade in Washington, but it doesn't really offend me. I can see where people see it as a sort of chest-beating exercise, but there are also people that like the idea of such things. The general reporting on the subject seems to skew towards a negative assessment of the parade, but apparently the funding for such a parade is being green lit, so we'll see how it goes.
There hasn't been a lot of specific Trump statements made recently that are getting much notice, so it's a good time to review some of the items on the general list, and the Parade is one of them. It is interesting that the idea has gotten to this stage, so if there is real resistance to it, that resistance doesn't seem to be very strong. At this point, it seems like we will be seeing some sort of parade in Washington (although it seems unlikely that we will get to see tanks rolling down the streets).
- Trump Charity lawsuit by New York Attorney General
- FBI investigation (it keeps being called a Russian Collusion investigation, but I'm pretty sure more to it than that at this point)
- North Korea
- The Space Force
- The Border Wall
- Alien Children Detention/family separation
- Presidential Pardons
- Civil War Monuments
- Muslim Travel Ban
- China Tariffs/Trade
- Canada-G7 Tariffs/Trade
- NAFTA
- Puerto Rico response
- Military Parade in Washington
- World Trade Organization
- Covfefe Syndrome
- NATO
- Russia/Putin relationship
Giuliani still there as Lawyer
John F. Kelly still there as Chief of Staff - 6-29-2018 Trump says "Things Happen."
Jeff Sessions still there as Attorney General
Sarah Huckabee Sanders still there as Press Secretary, rumors continue to be denied.
Mike Pompeo - Secretary of State
John Bolton - National Security Advisor
Marc Short - White House Legislative Affairs Director - no denial of plans regarding his departure prior to the 2018 midterms.
Kirstjen Nielsen - Homeland Security Secretary
Joe Hagin - White House deputy Chief of Staff is resigning.- reported June 19th
Scott Pruitt - EPA Director - Resigned 7-5-2018
Tuesday, August 07, 2018
Trump Watch 20180807 - Trump V Legal Immigrants
Today's Episode: Trump Vs. Legal Immigrants.
So it seems that while the administration talks about wanting immigrants to "follow the rules," to become citizens, they seem to be changing the rules in order to hinder those that follow the rules, but take advantage of the social safety net while they are green card holders to gain citizenship.Working wouldn't be good enough, depending on whether the green card holder took advantage of public benefits that they qualified for.
This isn't official yet, but it is clear that even without these changes, fewer legal immigrants have been moving through the process (issuing green cards, or issuing actual citizenship), with the numbers down by 20% compared to the Obama administration.
Now, it could be that the previous administration was "too lax" on enforcing rules. Hard to really tell. But given the rhetoric from the administration and their supporters, I'm guessing that they are being much more stringent (i.e. heartless), seeing as we are talking about people that were fine with separating children from parents at the border, and not worrying about keeping families together through the process.
It would be nice to see an official explanation for the process the administration would want in place, so the citizenry could evaluate it. But I doubt that's going to happen, and let's face it, even if it did, how many people would really take the time to learn what it all meant.
It does seem clear that it's time to change that little poem under the Statue of Liberty though...
Giuliani still there as Lawyer
John F. Kelly still there as Chief of Staff - 6-29-2018 Trump says "Things Happen."
Jeff Sessions still there as Attorney General
Sarah Huckabee Sanders still there as Press Secretary, rumors continue to be denied.
Mike Pompeo - Secretary of State
So it seems that while the administration talks about wanting immigrants to "follow the rules," to become citizens, they seem to be changing the rules in order to hinder those that follow the rules, but take advantage of the social safety net while they are green card holders to gain citizenship.Working wouldn't be good enough, depending on whether the green card holder took advantage of public benefits that they qualified for.
This isn't official yet, but it is clear that even without these changes, fewer legal immigrants have been moving through the process (issuing green cards, or issuing actual citizenship), with the numbers down by 20% compared to the Obama administration.
Now, it could be that the previous administration was "too lax" on enforcing rules. Hard to really tell. But given the rhetoric from the administration and their supporters, I'm guessing that they are being much more stringent (i.e. heartless), seeing as we are talking about people that were fine with separating children from parents at the border, and not worrying about keeping families together through the process.
It would be nice to see an official explanation for the process the administration would want in place, so the citizenry could evaluate it. But I doubt that's going to happen, and let's face it, even if it did, how many people would really take the time to learn what it all meant.
It does seem clear that it's time to change that little poem under the Statue of Liberty though...
- Trump Charity lawsuit by New York Attorney General
- FBI investigation (it keeps being called a Russian Collusion investigation, but I'm pretty sure more to it than that at this point)
- North Korea
- The Space Force
- The Border Wall
- Alien Children Detention/family separation
- Presidential Pardons
- Civil War Monuments
- Muslim Travel Ban
- China Tariffs/Trade
- Canada-G7 Tariffs/Trade
- NAFTA
- Puerto Rico response
- Military Parade in Washington
- World Trade Organization
- Covfefe Syndrome
- NATO
- Russia/Putin relationship
Giuliani still there as Lawyer
John F. Kelly still there as Chief of Staff - 6-29-2018 Trump says "Things Happen."
Jeff Sessions still there as Attorney General
Sarah Huckabee Sanders still there as Press Secretary, rumors continue to be denied.
Mike Pompeo - Secretary of State
John Bolton - National Security Advisor
Marc Short - White House Legislative Affairs Director - no denial of plans regarding his departure prior to the 2018 midterms.
Kirstjen Nielsen - Homeland Security Secretary
Joe Hagin - White House deputy Chief of Staff is resigning.- reported June 19th
Scott Pruitt - EPA Director - Resigned 7-5-2018
Monday, August 06, 2018
Trump Watch 20180806 - Confederate Memorials keep getting added to the list
Today's Episode: More and more Confederate monuments
This is more of an update not particularly related to Trump himself. He has been busy with other things lately, and this story has sort of fallen by the wayside. Still, an update did appear, and it turns out the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has a list of Confederate memorials nationwide, but that list continues to be updated. It turns out that over the last year, 75 memorials have been renamed or removed from public places, but the list has increased by 237 in that time, so over 300 such memorials have been identified since then. The fact is that such sites really aren't in a general sort of database, and they are scattered throughout the US. The SPLC has been working on it, but I suspect that the word hasn't spread as far and wide as people might think. This sort of thing takes time and effort, which of course translates to money, and the question of just how high this is on the list of things to do for people in general. Because, while it did get a high profile spike in public consciousness, the more important thing was apparently the whole Alt Right and open racism on the march in America. That protest group has gone to ground again, and may have lost steam when a lot of the Polo patrol was faced with the ugly reality that the real hard core are quite willing to kill if they think they are being supported.
As for the memorials themselves, it takes money to take them down or relocate them. Local citizenry may not be keen to spend that money, prioritizing other projects for public funds. Some of the monument are also not publicly owned, so private property rights are in play as well. It's one thing for the city council to remove a statue from a public area, a whole other thing to try and get someone to remove a memorial from private property.
It seems unlikely that his story will get much in the way of national headlines again without some outsize event. It MIGHT happen, and of course, depending on how serious it gets (and whether Klansmen and neo-nazis are involved again), it seems unlikely that this will get attention from the POTUS otherwise.
Giuliani still there as Lawyer
John F. Kelly still there as Chief of Staff - 6-29-2018 Trump says "Things Happen."
Jeff Sessions still there as Attorney General
Sarah Huckabee Sanders still there as Press Secretary, rumors continue to be denied.
Mike Pompeo - Secretary of State
This is more of an update not particularly related to Trump himself. He has been busy with other things lately, and this story has sort of fallen by the wayside. Still, an update did appear, and it turns out the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has a list of Confederate memorials nationwide, but that list continues to be updated. It turns out that over the last year, 75 memorials have been renamed or removed from public places, but the list has increased by 237 in that time, so over 300 such memorials have been identified since then. The fact is that such sites really aren't in a general sort of database, and they are scattered throughout the US. The SPLC has been working on it, but I suspect that the word hasn't spread as far and wide as people might think. This sort of thing takes time and effort, which of course translates to money, and the question of just how high this is on the list of things to do for people in general. Because, while it did get a high profile spike in public consciousness, the more important thing was apparently the whole Alt Right and open racism on the march in America. That protest group has gone to ground again, and may have lost steam when a lot of the Polo patrol was faced with the ugly reality that the real hard core are quite willing to kill if they think they are being supported.
As for the memorials themselves, it takes money to take them down or relocate them. Local citizenry may not be keen to spend that money, prioritizing other projects for public funds. Some of the monument are also not publicly owned, so private property rights are in play as well. It's one thing for the city council to remove a statue from a public area, a whole other thing to try and get someone to remove a memorial from private property.
It seems unlikely that his story will get much in the way of national headlines again without some outsize event. It MIGHT happen, and of course, depending on how serious it gets (and whether Klansmen and neo-nazis are involved again), it seems unlikely that this will get attention from the POTUS otherwise.
- Trump Charity lawsuit by New York Attorney General
- FBI investigation (it keeps being called a Russian Collusion investigation, but I'm pretty sure more to it than that at this point)
- North Korea
- The Space Force
- The Border Wall
- Alien Children Detention/family separation
- Presidential Pardons
- Civil War Monuments
- Muslim Travel Ban
- China Tariffs/Trade
- Canada-G7 Tariffs/Trade
- NAFTA
- Puerto Rico response
- Military Parade in Washington
- World Trade Organization
- Covfefe Syndrome
- NATO
- Russia/Putin relationship
Giuliani still there as Lawyer
John F. Kelly still there as Chief of Staff - 6-29-2018 Trump says "Things Happen."
Jeff Sessions still there as Attorney General
Sarah Huckabee Sanders still there as Press Secretary, rumors continue to be denied.
Mike Pompeo - Secretary of State
John Bolton - National Security Advisor
Marc Short - White House Legislative Affairs Director - no denial of plans regarding his departure prior to the 2018 midterms.
Kirstjen Nielsen - Homeland Security Secretary
Joe Hagin - White House deputy Chief of Staff is resigning.- reported June 19th
Scott Pruitt - EPA Director - Resigned 7-5-2018
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