He's threatening to tax the billions of remittances that the immigrants are sending to their families which has already been tried and was found to be a waste. There are lots of ways to send money...what an idiot.

Executive orders become law. I think the only way to counteract it is to have Congress refuse to fund it or to try to amend it some way. If that happens the President can veto the change. Now how a President can be stopped from ruling by executive order, I don't know, but boy you sure have to trust him.

It may be that only the Supreme Court can step in to prevent that from happening, oh but wait, they're short right now.

I think I'm going to have nightmares tonight. Friday night after T's inauguration I dreamed of snakes. The next night I dreamed of fiddleback spiders aka Brown Recluse.

So the "complicated" part was his "plan" that he'd been telling us for the past couple of weeks? Are you kidding me? The man has no plan, why can't people see he's just a bag of hot air?

Nightmares, Oakley? You want nightmares? Last night Amy Sedaris posted a pic on Instagram of DJT as a fleshy pink hog. It made my skin crawl, but there was something so accurate about the depiction that I couldn't stop staring at it. Guess what I dreamed of ...

Well ... here ya go. Animal Farm and all that jazz.

The man has no plan, why can't people see he's just a bag of hot air? I think the numbers are increasing hour by hour of those who are seeing right through him. He's been in office for, what, 5 days now? His approval ratings are dismal, which does not bode well for his future but instead may just say something about a gathering revolution. I say let's roll.

The US doesnt have a cement/ concrete supplier that can handle the job- or even in the top 20 so it looks like Mexico will be the one to benefit from the wall- they can provide the materials and have several US facilities with over 10,000 workers to do the labor.

His approval ratings are dismal, which does not bode well for his future
but instead may just say something about a gathering revolution. I say
let's roll.

Starting with the National Park Service.

How's this for a nightmare?

I've been told that NASA, along with the National Park Service, has set up a "rogue" twitter account. I may have to create a twitter account of my own just so I can support these folks.

Here's National Park Services Alt Twitter acct. Some of their tweets are quite funny.

https://twitter.com/AltNatParkSer

Here's an explanation of Executive Orders

http://www.cnbc.com/2014/01/28/executive-orders-what-they-are-and-how-they-work.html

I think he is firing off all this stuff because his supporters are watching now at the beginning and he and they will be able to say "he kept all his promises." Six months from now folks may not be paying much attention anymore. He's cementing his base.

I may have to create a twitter account of
my own just so I can support these folks.

I did that today.

I believe the average number of executive orders sign per presidents in the first 100 days is 14 trump has signed 12 in less than a week... Shows a desire to abuse his power I would say.

here is a list of how many orders all presidents signed during their tenure not per term mind you.

So, we can come up with billions to build a useless wall, but we can't fix our roads and bridges? Not to mention provide health care for all of our citizens.

Wow, oh the hypocrisy! Nothing hurtful about those pictures!

"Would Jesus post of picture of someone just to make fun of them?"

"that picture is indicative of some really ugly thoughts"

"The photo posted made me shake with anger and want to cry. MY Jesus
would be deeply grieved by what has attempted to convey." (and more)

Well, apparently I need to tighten that rubberband! It didn't hurt quite enough :(

Hey Monica my picture actually shows that dems use the power of executive orders on a whole more than the republicans... Trump may change that history though.

Monica, you posted a photo of a real person. Where do you see a real photo of Trump in this thread? Good grief, they've been drawing political cartoons ever since there was paper and ink!

The Man in the High Castle -- American born version.

Yes, the memes featuring Trump are political satire which has been a journalistic feature for decades and a world apart from Monica's picture of a pierced and tattooed young man with the smug assertion of deserved joblessness and blame. I think there's a pretty big difference between that and Orwell's classic Animal Farm, which I referred to in my post above.

Monica, have you read this?

Would this be a good place to share this?

or this?

Plenty more here: http://joe-ks.com/archives_jan2017/QueenDonald.htm

Me before Nov. 8: "I can't believe he wants to build a wall--does he realize the impact of that?"

My Trump voter friends: "Oh, that's just campaign rhetoric, silly. He's not going to actually build a wall."

Then, me on Nov. 9: "I can't believe he won! There must have been voter fraud."

My Trump voter friends: "Oh, you're a sore loser!"

So... now that Trump wants to waste resources investigating voter fraud, is he a sore winner? Or has he forgotten that he won the election?

I swear there are so many crazy headlines each day, I'm not sure which one to follow.

• Monica, this is not the Jesus thread. And regarding tightening the rubberband, that is an excellent idea, even if you get to pick the placement of the rubberband. So many places, so little time.

I love this nickname

I can not believe this man is our president! I feel we have been pranked. I keep thinking Aston kutcher will jump in at any moment and say hey America you have just been punk'd. Come on Aston please tell us we have all just been punk'd, please!

The New York Times an excellent set of graphics today showing the progress of 45's agenda items and what needs to be done to put them into effect.

He is not leaning to one party only it seems..

I saw a headline earlier today where Ryan and McConnell said they'd approve 12 billion to build the wall. I'd love to hear if conservatives here think it's a good use of our tax dollars.

Trump wants American consumers to pay for the wall with a 20% import tax on Mexican imports that he just proposed.

Just like he "saved" those 700 Carrier jobs in Indiana with tax subsidies passed on to the residents.

Mexico is our third largest supplier of goods, and in particular, our second largest supplier of agricultural products. Just what our obesity epidemic needs--more expensive produce. Oh, and that wall will prevent our largest agricultural workforce from entering the country.

That's good, right? I wonder how many Trump voters will go apply for jobs picking strawberries from California fields.

He's supposed to be such a great businessman and negotiator but would he do this on one of his own business projects? Would he put up 15 million of his own money for a building and just hope he'll get the money back somehow? What a joke and yet another crackpot pronouncement .

ETA.......he's asking taxpayers to do what he would never do in his own business practices.

$12B seems kind of low for the wall. But I'm curious, all you who voted for Trump, are you okay with $12 billion going to build the wall? If so, is that all or would you be okay with double that amount?

If you could please answer the question without deflecting. Like, "Well Obama spent more than that on ..."

The true cost is $15 - $25 billion.

Since a billion tax payers dollars is kind of an abstract idea to those of us that don't deal in those quantities all the time I want to post this analogy that I think illustrates it in a relatable way:

The magnitude of difference between billion and million can be illustrated with this example of the time scale:

• A million seconds is 12 days.
• A billion seconds is 31 years.
• A trillion seconds is 31,688 years.

The 20% import tax that Mr. Trump wants to use to pay for his Wall is a raise in taxes for Americans. Didn't he say he was going to lower taxes if elected?

if it's $25 billion, that's inexpensive. The USA has spent $2.4 trillion in Afghanistan. Building a wall is cheap and nobody has to die.

The Border Patrol Chief who will leave at the end of the month has said he does believes the wall is going in the wrong direction. There are tunnels which had been used for drug smuggling so what is T going to do about that?

Also the terrain...eh.

There was a really good documentary I saw on PBS about Mexicans traveling through the desert somw of which would get picked up by border patrol agents. The documentary focused on I believe a non profit group who would help families locate missing loved ones who had crossed illegally. They worked with forensic scientists to find clues on bodies who were found in the desert.

The dangerous crossing and death in the documentary made me think about what we can do to help these people cross legally (which they discussed some because the process is so long). I don't think T is addressing the real problem.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/us-border-patrol-chief-trumps-immigration-executive-order/story?id=45067794

Perhaps we should spend a fortune teaching Mexican government how to treat their people with respect and they'd stop risking their lives to escape.

Brushworks, you realize that Mexico is part of a route, the majority of immigrants crossing the border are now coming from countries in Central America.

I doubt the majority of illegals are from other countries. According to immigration services, approximately 720,000 Mexicans cross the border every year, only half are detained.
According to immigration research:

Mexicans come to the United
States primarily to escape problems in their native country, which
includes a stagnant economy, high levels of crime, political corruption
and widespread drug use. Mexicans enter the U.S. every day
seeking a safer life and better job opportunities. Migrants cite drug
trafficking and safety concerns as primary incentives for departure, and
move to the U.S. with the hopes of living an overall better life

Brushworks, I know you are being sarcastic, but that is the reality of living in the world. Even if you aren't a humanitarian and the only reason your country funds programs in developing nations is for selfish reasons (eg, keeping refugees out of your country, stopping terrorism), it is still a good idea. By elevating the living standards of all people in all countries, we make things better for ourselves (qualitatively and quantitatively).

Brushworks, from The Atlantic:

, "For the first time in more than 60 years, more non-Mexicans than Mexicans were apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol at checkpoints in 2014, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center.

Approximately 257,000 non-Mexicans were apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol in 2014, compared to about 229,000 Mexicans, according to the recently released data. The total number of unauthorized immigrant apprehensions is up 16 percent from the prior year."

Here's who is crossing our border with Mexico.

Reposting this as encouragement to remain active:

Our vice president today blatantly disregarded the separation of church and state. He proclaimed his religious beliefs while on the clock and inserted his intentions in how they influence his representation of our country.

A complete and utter disregard for our Constitution.

This is what trump said yesterday

“I would say that the office is so powerful that you need God even
more,” Trump tells The Brody File. “There’s almost not a decision that
you make when you’re sitting in this position that isn’t a really
life-altering position. So God comes in even more so.”

Yep, like the separation of church and state.

Too many hateful things have been done in the name of Jesus or God or while violent or abusive people wrap themselves in a cloak of religious righteousness.

Our vice president today blatantly disregarded the separation of church and state.

Today was the National Prayer Breakfast hosted by the US Congress. Oops, I guess Congress didn't get the "separation of church and state" memo :)

Matthew 6: 5-6

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

Monica, if you have a problem with the constitution, you should read a little about Thomas Jefferson. You know, one of the guys who wrote the thing. The constitution says clearly that the government is prohibited from making any laws “respecting an establishment of religion.” That includes any religion. That means our country was founded on the concept of secularism. We also have the freedom to speak freely and the freedom to worship however we choose. This causes a little bit of confusion with people that don't have the ability to think critically. Freedom to practice religion in a secular country is a beautiful thing.

However, the government doesn't have the freedom to inflict the belief in God on any of it's citizens. So why does Congress pray and why is "In God We Trust" on our money? Well, it come up in the courts numerous times and our jurisprudence has found that it's considered ceremonial or ornamental, and therefore, is not coercive. We Americans love our traditions and ceremonies.

From Wikipedia:

"Separation of church and state" is a phrase used by Thomas Jefferson and others expressing an understanding of the intent and function of the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States which reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

The phrase "separation of church and state" is generally traced to a January 1, 1802 letter by Thomas Jefferson, addressed to the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut, and published in a Massachusetts newspaper. Jefferson wrote,
“
"I
contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American
people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church
& State."[1]

Well, the context, purpose and intention of each situation is different, Monica, but it's understandable why you don't realize this.

Furthermore, the National Prayer Breakfast isn't a government-sponsored event. The Fellowship Foundation sponsors it.

The National Prayer Breakfast is hosted by members of the United States Congress and is organized on their behalf by The Fellowship Foundation, a Christian organization.

You can read more about The Fellowship here. There have been controversies about the secrecy and political power of it and of the head of the organization, Doug Coe. But a US president wouldn't dare not attend and lose the Christian vote.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fellowship_(Christian_organization)

Relative to the scripture that I posted above, I dislike the concept of the National Prayer Breakfast and National Day of Prayer. For those for whom faith is an integral part of their day-to-day existence, these things are simply not necessary, and indeed take on a nature of grandstanding. They are actually strongly politically motivated and very self-serving.

I believe that politicizing the belief in God has more to do with pandering to religious voters. Pence and the like excluded, but I accuse politicians from all parties. So really, it's insincere and therefore should be looked upon as offensive to those that don't use God for material gain.

The same goes for prayer in public school. What does forcing prayer every morning do? I went to Catholic school and praying as a child was just something I had to do, along with the dreaded Confession. It meant nothing to me. I was reading the other day that the removal of prayer from schools in 1963 instigated the political activism of Christians. They first tried to organize over the prayer issue but it went nowhere, so then they tried to get Christians fired up over homosexuality. That wasn't as successful as they hoped, so they tried abortion. Bingo!