Day: July 6, 2018

‘Trump’s Trojan Horse,’ a Poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Buck Banks

Trump’s Trojan Horse
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Homer didn’t live long enough
To tell of Trump’s White House
Which is his Trojan horse
From which all the president’s men
Burst out to destroy democracy
And install corporations
As absolute rulers of the world
Ever more powerful than nations
And it’s happening as we sleep
Bow down, oh Common Man
Bow down!

There’s a Partisan Patriotism Gap

Buck Banks

76 percent

Overall, the YouGov poll found that 76 percent of Americans consider themselves “very” or “somewhat” patriotic. But between Republicans and Democrats, there were pretty big differences: A whopping 97 percent of Republicans placed themselves in the “very” or “somewhat” categories, compared with 71 percent of Democrats. That’s a gap of 26 percentage points. Even more starkly, 72 percent of Republicans consider themselves to be “very” patriotic (the highest level of patriotism), compared with 29 percent of Democrats — a 43-point gap.

Nearly Two-Thirds of Americans Think Immigrants Strengthen the Country

Buck Banks

60 percent

Public opinion surveys have frequently asked the U.S. public whether “immigrants today strengthen our country because of their hard work and talents” or whether “immigrants today are a burden on our country because they take our jobs, housing and health care.” The above figure shows the percent indicating that immigrants “strengthen our country because of their hard work and talents” from every question in the Roper Center’s iPOLL database from 1994 to 2017 (the last time the question was asked). Although views toward immigrants have varied over the years, more than 60 percent of the U.S. public indicated that immigrants strengthen our country in December of 2016 and in March, May, and July of 2017.

Mar-A-Lago Seeks Visas for 40 Immigrants to Work as Waiters

Buck Banks

40

President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club “has applied for permission to hire 40 foreign workers to serve as waiters during the winter social season in Palm Beach, Fla.,” the Washington Post reports. “The application filed with the Labor Department signals that — despite Trump’s insistence that immigration is holding down wages and crowding out native-born American workers — his club believes it cannot find any Americans willing and able to hold the waiter jobs.”

Pruitt a Lying Cheat Until the Bitter End

Buck Banks

“It is extremely difficult for me to cease serving you in this role first because I count it a blessing to be serving you in any capacity, but also, because of the transformative work that is occurring. However, the unrelenting attacks on me personally and my family, are unprecedented and have taken a sizable toll on all of us.”

— Excerpt from Scott Pruitt’s resignation letter to Donald Trump published by Fox News.