Sunday, April 30, 2017

Draining the swamp

I saw a sign at Trump’s Harrisburg rally that said he was “draining the swamp.”

Here is what is really happening.  Lawyers representing Dow Chemical, whose CEO is an advisor to Trump, sent letters to three of Trump’s cabinet agencies asking them “to set aside” the results of government studies that said pesticides in the family of organophosphates are harmful to about 1,800 threatened or endangered species.  Dow Chemical manufactures the pesticides.

Dow Chemical gave Trump about $ 1 million to underwrite his inaugural festivities.  

This all comes on the heels of EPA administrator Scott Pruitt’s announcement that he was reversing an Obama effort to bar the use of Dow’s chlorpyrifos pesticide after studies found that even tiny levels of exposure could hinder the development of children’s brains.

Every time you see an announcement that the Trump administration is reversing an Obama era “regulation,” substitute the word “protection.”  That is what is happening.


Information of the Dow effort is from an article by Michael Biesecker, “Pesticide Maker Tries to Kill Risk Study,” Lancaster Farming,(Apr. 29, 2017), p. A 22.

Saturday, April 29, 2017

Hollowing out the middle

The Pew Research Center released a study earlier this week that found in the last twenty years the American middle class shrank, while the rich did quite well and the number of poor expanded.  According to researcher Rakesh Kochhar, “Compared with the Western European experience, the adult population in the U.S. is more economically divided.”  

He also said, “There is an aura of redistribution of income from middle income to upper income.”

Trump’s proposal to eliminate the estate tax, a tax that applies to less than one percent of the American public, should help that process along.  I don’t think it will do much to make American great again, but it will be great to be an heir to the richest one percent.

Incidentally, while the stock market is booming, the actual growth in the American economy has been sluggish in the first quarter, far lower than the last year Obama was president.  Sad.


Today thousands of Trump supporters rallied in Harrisburg.  According to observers, it may have been the largest number of delusional people ever assembled in one location.

Friday, April 28, 2017

Open carry?

When I stopped to get my New York Times this morning in Kresgeville, the door was locked.  Bobbi came over to unlock it and said the State Police had just been there and told her to lock up, since a scruffy looking man was in the area, and he was carrying a gun.  I later found out that the Pleasant Valley School District was under lockdown for the same reason.

Wait a minute.  Isn’t it legal to walk around Pennsylvania with a gun, including a loaded gun?  Don’t we have open carry?  Isn’t this what the NRA and Trump want?.  Especially since Trump got rid of the restriction that prevented mentally ill people from buying guns.

While I am on this subject, former U.S. Representative Jay Dickey of Arkansas died earlier this week.  Dickey was the man who in 1996 attached a rider to a House bill to prevent studies of firearm safety.  The law stipulated “none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be used to advocate or promote gun control.”  Since then the government has spent approximately $240 million to study traffic safety and virtually nothing to study deaths from firearms.  The auto safety studies, it is estimated, have saved about 350,000 lives.  

About the same number of Americans die from guns as from auto accidents.  


In 2012, after the massacre of 12 people in Aurora, Colorado, Mr. Dickey changed his mind.  He was no longer in Congress, however, and his law is still in effect.

Thursday, April 27, 2017

The Worst 100 Days

He says the 100 day mark isn’t important, but he is obviously obsessing about it.  He’s trying to jam through a tax bill that will aid his own businesses, and he desperately wants to undo the Affordable Care Act before the weekend.

It would all be sad if it weren’t so pathetic.  Sad!  Pathetic!  

Oh yeah, he got Gorsuch on the Supreme Court.  That will not go down in history as an accomplishment.  Not after the Republicans blocked an appointee who was actually qualified to sit on the Supreme Court.  Sad.


Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Umuganda

In 1994 the Hutu majority in Rwanda slaughtered approximately one million Tutsi and moderate Hutu who refused to take part in the slaughter.  It was the worst example of genocide since the World War II killing of the Jews.  Approximately one million Rwandans were killed, men, women, and children, many hacked to death with machetes.

Now, once a month, all Rwandans between the ages of 18 and 65 must take part in community service for three hours.  The day of service is called Umuganda.  Each community picks a project, and Rwandans, both Tutsi and Hutu, must participate.

Rwanda is not paradise.  The President, Paul Kagame, in office since 2000, recently pushed a constitutional amendment allowing him to be elected for a third term.  Nonetheless, it is qhard to imagine living in a country where approximately one half of the population tried to kill the other half.  The Rwandans are attempting to atone and to forgive.  It is an amazing undertaking, and I hope it will succeed.


I learned about Umuganda in an article by Megan Specia in the New York Times, (26 Apr. 2017), p. A6.

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Fair Districts PA

Tonight at the Carbon County Democrats for Progress meeting, we heard  a talk from representatives of the group Fair Districts PA.  This group is spearheading an effort to change the Pennsylvania Constitution to end gerrymandering in the state.  As the speaker pointed out, in Pennsylvania voters don’t pick their legislators; legislators pick their voters.

One of the most amazing statistics presented is that 57 percent of the candidates running for state or federal legislative seats in Pennsylvania had no opponent in the last general election.  Think about that.  Over half of our legislators ran unopposed.  I’m not sure what you call that, but it is not a democracy.


Currently there are two bills in the Pennsylvania legislature that call for an amendment.   Both bills, SB 22 and HB 722, have Republican and Democratic sponsors.  Now all we need is a groundswell of constituents who believe in fairness and a representative democracy.  That may be a stretch, but I’m hoping this effort succeeds.

Monday, April 24, 2017

Ann Coulter wants me dead

There’s a big controversy at U.C. Berkeley on a decision to postpone and reschedule a speech by conservative agitator Ann Coulter.  This is a woman who wrote that liberals, of which I am proud to say I am one, have a tendency to commit treason.  A book by Ms. Coulter, entitled “Treason:  Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism,” argues that liberals have an inherent tendency to take a position on the side of treason.

The penalty for treason is usually death, either by hanging or firing squad.  I conclude, and I believe rightly so, that Ms. Coulter thinks people like me should either be shot or hung.  


I certainly think that Ms.Coulter has a right to speak at U.C. Berkeley.  I am an absolutist when it comes to the First Amendment.  I just hope she is escorted by a contingent of police officers.  I would hate to think that she might shoot some liberal professor for treason.

Sunday, April 23, 2017

The Planet Doesn't Have Time For This

That was the headline in today’s Sunday Review section of the New York Times.  I mean, really.  The polar ice caps are melting.  The Amazon rain forest continues to shrink.  Drought in Syria is a main cause of instability.  The Aral Sea is no more.  The coral reefs are dying.  The oceans are rising.  The Everglades are on fire.  

And Trump and his appointees actually deny that global warming is real.  Not that it is caused by humans, mind you, but that it isn’t real.  


Yesterday our grandson marched in the parade in Chico, California, defending science.  I am so proud of him, but I never thought we would need demonstrations defending the scientific method.  As one of the signs said, “One dark age is enough.”  How did we ever reach this point?

Saturday, April 22, 2017

EPA cuts

At our booth today at the Earth Day festival in Jim Thorpe more than 200 people signed postcards to Sen. Toomey telling  him to fight the proposed cuts to the EPA.  We asked people to add comments to the cards.  People wrote that they wanted clean water and clean air.  Quite a few people mentioned that they were voters, and a number also noted that they were Republicans.


I hope Toomey listens.

Friday, April 21, 2017

Earth Day, Jim Thorpe

I am aware from the stats available to me that I have readers in such far-flung places as Germany, China, and Belgium.  I’m especially appreciative of my Belgian readers.  

But...if you are in the area of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, tomorrow, April 22, stop by the Save Carbon County booth at the Earth Day Festival.  We have information on the proposed PennEast pipeline compressor station that will scare and amaze you, and we have postcards to send to Sen. Toomey asking him to oppose the proposed cuts in the EPA budget.

I am old enough to remember the very first Earth Day.  I don’t think I have ever been so pessimistic, not even when Reagan and the Bushes were elected.  This is really crunch time for not only the American environment, but also for the entire globe.  


To celebrate Earth Day, don’t just pick up litter.  Litter is unsightly, but it is not changing the climate.  Support an environmental interest group like Nature Conservancy, the Sierra Club, or the Audubon Society.  We need political clout.

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Bill O'Reilly

Sometimes I will read about a television show in its last season or its last episode and realize I never watched it.  I may have heard of the program and might even be able to tell you the name of an actor or two, but I will never have seen the show.

So it is with Bill O’Reilly.  Of course I knew who he was.  I knew he had other people write books to which he signed his name.  I believe the last one was about morality.  I also knew he was amazingly popular, and brought in millions in advertising revenue.  


I even might have caught a glimpse of him as I clicked through the channels, but I never actually watched him.  Consequently, I won’t miss him.  I’m pretty sure a large number of female employees at Fox won’t miss him either.  

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Solving America's problems

James M. Stone, a one-time government bureaucrat in the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and subsequently the CEO of a highly successful insurance business, has written a book entitled Five Easy Theses (Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016).  The book, subtitled Commonsense Solutions to America’s Greatest Economic Challenges, looks at five current problems.

Stone notes in his introduction that many of his proposals will irritate both liberals and conservatives, but he points out that America’s problems need solutions, not partisan bickering.  I have a feeling that he will irritate conservatives more than liberals, but some of his proposals, such as a two-year public service corps, increased vocational schooling, and an increase in the retirement age to collect Social Security, will no doubt irritate liberals as well.

The five areas he examines are fiscal balance (read what he says about the estate tax), inequality (conservatives will not like this chapter), education (everybody will find fault), health care (doctors will be insulted), and financial sector reform.

I will admit that I found the chapter on inequality hard going, and I didn’t even read the one on financial sector reform.  I have never been good with any topic that involves investments or financial matters; I blame my econ. prof.  Nonetheless, I recommend this book.  When you read about the shortcomings in American health care and education, and you see the statistics on the growing inequality, you will realize we need to act.


Unfortunately, we have a completely ignorant President and a Congress only interested in preventing women from terminating pregnancies, deporting immigrants, and sucking up to the NRA.

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

You can't hide your lyin' eyes

The admonition to tell the truth goes back thousands of years.  “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor” was one of the Ten Commandments.  

It comes to us in fairy tales.  Remember the boy who cried wolf.  It comes to us from Walt Disney.  Remember Pinocchio.  It comes to us from American folklore.  “Father, I cannot tell a lie.”

And now we have Trump.  Does truth matter?  Of course it does.  Here are some recent statements from Trump.  I personally think one is true, but you have to admit, it might be hard to tell which one.  And that is the problem with lying. 

The reason Hillary won the popular vote was because three million illegals voted.

Over 100 people released from Guantanamo by Obama later became terrorists.

Germany owes billions to NATO.

Obama wiretapped me.

A carrier is steaming toward North Korea right now.

We’ll pass a health care bill that will be cheaper and provide coverage for all.

Obama was born in Kenya.

More people attended my inauguration than any other.


Syrian president Assad used chemical weapons on his own people.

Monday, April 17, 2017

"If this shirt offends you..."

I need some advice.

I’ve been gong to West End Therapy in Kresgeville for rehab.  Today an old guy wearing a tee shirt with the Confederate battle flag was there.  The shirt said, “If this offends you, you need a history lesson.”

I ignored the guy completely, but I was thinking, suppose he talks to me.  People there are fairly friendly and often strike up conversations.  I thought of a number of rejoinders to his shirt, but I’m not sure which would be best.  I’d appreciate some feedback.

“I taught American History, bud, and I think it’s you who needs a history lesson.”

“Actually, your shirt does offend me.  It has been used as a symbol of racism ever since the Civil War.”

“We really don’t need to talk.  Your shirt tells me everything I need to know about you.”

“Let me guess.  You voted for Trump, hate Muslims, and own at least five or six guns.”


“Hey, I also have a Confederate flag shirt, but mine says White Trash.”

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Donald Trump's Spring Breaks

When he was campaigning for president, Donald Trump said he would rarely leave the White House because there was so much work to be done.  He also accused President Obama of running through taxpayer money on vacations.

Trump’s time at Mar-a-Lago is on target to run up more spending in ONE YEAR than President Obama used in EIGHT.


I know that Trump supporters feel defensive, and I know they want to justify their votes, but come on folks.  This is getting ridiculous.

Saturday, April 15, 2017

Tax Day Demonstration in Hazleton

Today about 15 people demonstrated in front of Congressman Lou Barletta’s office on Broadway in Hazleton.  We carried signs demanding that Trump release his tax returns as every other president has done for the past 40 years.

We also demanded that Barletta meet with his constituents.  To drive the point home, one demonstrator wore a chicken costume.  Barletta is the congressman who was opposed to Ryan’s tax repeal because he was afraid some undocumented residents might get some health care. 

The demonstration was part of a nation-wide protest.  Keystone Progress and other liberal social media networks advertised the actions.  We had people from various parts of the district, though most of us came from Carbon County, which seems to be a hot bed of anti-Trump activity.


Linda and I were both interviewed on WBRE TV, which means the event actually happened.  (There’s an old maxim–if it wasn’t on TV, it didn’t happen.)

Friday, April 14, 2017

Headlines (with comments)

These appeared in the Allentown Morning Call today.

“Trump administration reveals adjustments to Obamacare”  
     We haven’t been able to kill the program, but we can tweak portions of it so it won’t work.

“Trump lets states block some Planned Parenthood money”
     That should please the base.  The fact that women will die from botched illegal abortions is not a problem. 

“‘Regulatory assault’ is over, miners told”
     Assault on clean air and clean water is just beginning.

“DeVos undoes Obama student loan protections”
     What is more important–student loan contractors or the welfare of college students? 

Thursday, April 13, 2017

FERC responds

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently released its Environmental Impact Statement on the PennEast/UGI Pipeline.  (That’t the one that is slated to cross our preserved farm.)  By law, FERC must respond to “intervenors” who make comments on the EIS.  

The conclusion of the EIS was that the environmental effects weren’t substantial enough to halt the pipeline,.  This is a pipeline that will cut through state parks, public watersheds, preserved farmland, habitats of a number of endangered species, wetlands, streams , creeks, and rivers, but FERC says the environmental effects are either minimal or will be mitigated.

The EIS is full of omissions, errors, and inaccuracies.  Many intervenors submitted multi-page statements pointing out the problems and omissions.  For over 100 of the comments , FERC had a ready reply.  It was not, “oh, we must have missed that,” or “whoops, we’ll look into that that.”


It was “Thank you for your comment.”  I am not kidding.  FERC met the statutory requirement in that it responded.  Really, it did.  “Thank you for your comment.” 

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

P.S. 121, East Harlem

In 1981 millionaire businessman Eugene Lang was invited to address the 6th grade class of P.S. 121 in East Harlem.  Lang had been a student there, and he was prepared to tell the students, now mostly African American and Latino, that if they worked hard, they could be successful also.

He looked out the 61 students and realized how hollow those words were.  In an on-the-spot impulsive move, he put aside his remarks.  “So I began by telling them that one of my most memorable experiences was Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, and that everyone should have a dream.  Then I decided to tell them I’d give a scholarship to every member of the class admitted to a four-year college.”

Later a principal told him that at most perhaps one or two students would take advantage of the offer.  It was then that Mr. Lang realized the students needed more than money.  He hired a project coordinator, met with the students, encouraged them, provided tutors, and gave assistance in finding jobs for those students who decided not to go to college.

At least half did go to college, and Mr. Lang started a movement to get other people to offer similar scholarships.  His foundation is responsible for the support of more than 16,000 kids who were able to attend college.

Mr. Lang was a son of Daniel Lang, an immigrant who escaped to America from Hungary, where he had been found guilty of distributing socialist literature.

Mr. Lang died earlier this week.  We can draw a number of lessons from him.  One is how much of an positive impact rich people can have when they care about other people.  Another is how America wastes talent when impoverished kids have no hope.  How many of those 61 students would have dropped out or turned to crime if it had not been for Mr. Lang?  Why can’t we provide the kind of support to millions of kids now in school that Mr. Lang provided to those kids in P.S. 121?

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Trump supporters have their feelings hurt

Remember during the campaign how nasty Trump supporters were?  They loved it when Trump attacked his opponents, reveled in ethnic and racial slurs, and criticized anyone who objected as being “politically correct.”

“Saturday Night Live” satirized Trump supporters who will be losing their government assistance but still stick by their man.  They looked just as silly as real Trump supporters who say similar things.

Evidently there have been complaints that Saturday Night Live is insensitive.  It’s too mean.  It’s being a bully.  


My advice to all those Trump supporters whose feelings are hurt.  Suck it up. 

Monday, April 10, 2017

Philadelphia election for the 197th

On March 21 a special election was held in the 197th district in Philadelphia.  A Green party candidate, Cheri Honkala, lost to the Democratic candidate, Emilio Vasquez.  Vasquez’s supporters used intimidation tactics and dishonest activities to win.  Ms. Honkala had been endorsed by Our Revolution, the Bernie Sanders group, and she had widespread support, but she couldn’t overcome the illegal activities on behalf of the Democratic candidature.

She has detailed a laundry list of questionable activities on behalf of the Democratic candidate, and she has filed suit in federal court to overturn the results of the election.

First of all, the kinds of voter intimidation and illegal payments engaged in by Philly Democrats goes way beyond hard ball politics and crosses over into dictatorial behavior.  Secondly, this gives aid and comfort to Trumpians and “True the Vote” type groups which claim there is widespread fraud and illegal activities in our electoral process.


Question for the statewide Democratic Party and the Philadelphia Democratic Party:  Is an election for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives so important that you need to cheat to prevent a Green from being elected?  Do you really wonder why people are so turned off to politics?

Sunday, April 9, 2017

Your contribution is tax deductible

I just finished my federal income tax return.  Like most Americans, I do not itemize my deductions.  Our medical expenses have never reached the threshold to itemize, and we are not paying interest on a mortgage.  While we give quite a bit to Democratic candidates and liberal interest groups like the Sierra Club, those contributions are not deductible.,

Almost all of the other charities we send checks to explain that we can deduct our contributions.  Actually, we can’t, since we don’t itemize.

I send out the solicitation letters for the “Friends of Kibler School,” a 501 C-3 organization.  On those letters we always put a note that contributions are deductible IF THE DONOR ITEMIZES.


OK, I know it may be a small thing, but it is one of those little irritants my life.

Saturday, April 8, 2017

Anti-pipeline rally in Stockton

Today Linda and I attended an anti-pipeline rally in Stockton, New Jersey, on the banks of the Delaware River.  The New Jersey side of the river is far more organized and far more militant in working to stop the pipeline.  Every New Jersey municipality along the proposed PennEast/UGI pipeline has passed resolutions in opposition.  New Jersey’s two U.S. senators have expressed their opposition to the pipeline, and both Republican and Democratic candidates for governor are opposed.  Perhaps the most impressive fact of all is that 70% of the New Jersey landowners along the route have refused pipeline personnel permission to even survey the route.

Hundreds of people were in attendance, including a number of participants dressed in Revolutionary War costumes.  Linda spoke to the rally, telling the participants we were there from Carbon County, named for another fossil fuel.  We are still dealing with the problems caused by that industry (acid mine runoff, culm banks, subsidence, black lung disease), and now we are doing it again with fracked gas.

An amazing and disheartening development is that earlier this week the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the final environmental impact report for the pipeline.  The Commission said the environmental impacts would be minimal.  

This is a pipeline that will cross preserved farmland, streams, wetlands and state parks, mandate a permanent corridor, and pollute the atmosphere with a compressor station in Kidder Township, and the environmental effects are minimal?


As Linda said in her speech, the purpose of this pipeline is to enrich the robber barons, just like the coal industry.

Friday, April 7, 2017

Words matter and so does inexperience

Earlier this week President Trump and U.N. Ambassador Haley both said, in effect, that we needed to accept that Assad of Syria was a given fact and we had better get used to the idea.

A few days later Assad used poison gas.  I certainly can’t tell you Assad’s reasoning, but I believe that decision was beyond coincidence.  I think President Assad thought, ok, now I’m safe, and I can do what I want.


Who is advising Trump on foreign policy?  He is no longer a candidate; he is the President of the United States.  Words matter.  People pay attention.  We’d all be better off if he just shut the f--- up.

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia

I’ve always admired Jehovah’s Witnesses.  I think the religion, like other religions, is misguided and futile, but I admire their persistence.  Anyone who has canvassed for an unpopular political candidate knows how difficult it is to approach people on their front porches and endure insults and nastiness.

I also admire the way they have expanded religious freedom in this country.  West Virginia had a law that school children had to salute the flag.  Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t do that, so the Witness kids were expelled.  Then their parents were jailed for violating school attendance laws.  In 1943 in West Virginia v. Barnette, the U.S. Supreme Court said that was unconstitutional.

At least we weren’t as bad as Nazi Germany.  Jehovah’s Witnesses were killed along with Jews.  In Stalin’s Russia they were also killed.

Now, in Putin’s Russia, the Justice Ministry has put the headquarters of the group on this list of groups banned “in connection with the carrying out of extremist activities.”  The Ministry has asked the Supreme Court to outlaw the group from spreading “extremist” texts.


The next time a couple comes to your door with their literature, don’t be nasty.  Thank them, tell them you aren’t interested, and be happy you live in a country where people still have religious freedom.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Bill O'Reilly

Bill O’Reilly, the leading money-maker for Fox “News,” has been in the the public eye these last few days because of a report that Fox has spent over $13 million to settle sexual harassment suits against O’Reilly.

Today President Trump publicly came to O’Reilly’s defense.  


Are you surprised?

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Trump voters remain loyal

Times columnist Nicholas Kristof interviewed a number of Trump voters and reported on his findings on Sunday..  He found that most of them, while having some doubts about Trump, would still vote for him.  He heard over and over that Trump voters, even though harmed by Trump policies, still support him.

“And that’s a refrain I heard over and over.  Some of the loyalty seemed to be grounded in resentment at Democrats for mocking Trump voters as dumb bigots, some from a belief that budgets are complicated, and some from a sense that it’s too early to abandon their man.”

So I guess sucking up to Putin and Sisi, gutting the EPA, lead shot ok’d for federal lands, rollback of climate rules, ethics problems of cabinet officials, the pipeline across Indian lands, support for dangerous insecticides, taking health care away from millions, Gorsuch, DeVos, meals on wheels cutbacks, killing civilians in the Middle East, vicious attacks on immigrants, lies about Obama, and on and on--this isn’t enough.


You know what.  They are dumb bigots.

Monday, April 3, 2017

Photography show

On Saturday Linda and I attended a photography show at Pier 94 in New York sponsored by the Association of International Photography Art Dealers.  This annual show attracts exhibitors from across the globe, including dealers from Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America.  The photos on display were truly amazing.  

There were over 100 booths, each one worth a careful perusal.  Then we came to a completely empty booth with this sign on the wall:

Due to the recent travel ban and the uncertainty of international travel from countries identified in the ban, Ag Galerie, Tehran, is unable to participate in The Photography Show this year.


There it was.  Trump protecting us from photographs.  What a putz.

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Chlorpyrifos

No, I don’t know how to pronounce it.  It is an insecticide made by Dow Chemical.  EPA scientists recommended that it be permanently banned from farms nationwide because of potential harm to farmworkers and children.  The chemical was banned in 2000 for most household uses, but it is still used on about 40,000 farms on about 50 crops.

Among the possible results of the use of chlorpyrifos are learning and memory declines, particularly among young children.  Scott Pruitt, the new EPA director, decided that the agency needed more time to study the chemical before taking action.

Dow Chemical says we need not worry.

Information for this post is from an article by Eric Lipton in the Times, Mar. 30, entitled “E.P.A. Chief Won’t Ban Insecticide Thought to Be Risky.”

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Trump apologizes for being an asshat

In a meeting with reporters in the Rose Garden today, President Trump apologized to the nation for being, in his words, “a complete asshat.”  Trump said that he was responsible for “failures in judgement, in morality, and in common sense.”  He said he had considered resigning from the presidency, but he was afraid that Pence might be even worse, and if Pence resigned, Ryan would be the next in line.  “I’m afraid we are in for a rough four years,” Trump told reporters.  

In a related development, Michael Flynn, who led chants of “Lock her up” at a Trump rally last summer, may be going to jail himself.  Congressional investigators have rejected Flynn’s offer to cooperate in return for immunity.   This means that if Flynn has committed crimes, he could do time.


The second paragraph is NOT an April Fool’s joke.