It has been a crazy ass week here in the USA. On Thursday, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke sent his recommendations to the president on altering the status of twenty-seven national monuments installed under the Antiquities Act since 1996, adding the Clinton and George W Bush administrations to the Obama crosshairs. Tonight, I suggest a few new monuments that Trump may look to create going forward.
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Here’s the thing, look at a list of the 27 monuments under review. Sixteen were added to the list during the Obama administration. My only surprise is that Cesar Chavez, Buffalo Soldiers, Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad, Freedom Riders, and Stonewall weren’t on the list. Of course, these monuments don’t take up much land and they aren’t in the West. It is awfully hard to rescind these from the perspective of opening up lands to hunting and drilling. My guess is that the attack on these monuments is only a matter of time.
What is a National Monument? from US News and World Report
The 1906 Antiquities Act, enacted under President Theodore Roosevelt, empowers the president to declare as national monuments any landmarks, structures and other "objects of historic or scientific interest" on land owned or controlled by the federal government. Roosevelt established 18 monuments, including the Grand Canyon in Arizona and Devil's Tower in Wyoming. Most presidents since then have designated additional monuments. Congress has created others.
On Friday, the president pardoned Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Maybe he thought we wouldn’t notice what with a Category 4 hurricane approaching Texas.
Just in case you forgot what he was convicted of, he was convicted of criminal contempt for ignoring a judge’s orders to stop profiling Latinx in Maricopa County.
For a list of all the other things he did and said over the years, hop over to the Twitter feed of the Phoenix New Times. It’s horrifying reading.
My personal favorite is the time he faked an assassination attempt complete with “suspect”.
Nobody loves golf more than the Donald. Expect the 17th fairway at his golf course in Bedminster, NJ to be declared a national monument any day now.
Behold the Sand Trap National Monument, branded Trump because of course.
But seriously, can you think of a better metaphor for the nation under this administration?
I feel stuck. I don’t know about you.
And then there is the Princess Ivanka, peddler of shoes and clothing made in third world sweatshops. Did you think that Trump would forget her? Once the mountains have been cleared of all useful minerals, there will be this.
I can see the unveiling press conference now. Trump and Ivanka holding a giant pair of bejewled scissors to cut a Make America Great Again ribbon.
“Nobody makes better monuments, and better shoes, than Ivanka. What a beauty, huh?
And finally, there will be this little number somewhere in Appalachia.
Clean Coal is very near and dear to the Trump administration, even if he doesn’t understand the technology.
He actually said this in Phoenix last week:
“We’ve ended the war on beautiful, clean coal and it’s just been announced that a second, brand-new coal mine, where they’re going to take out clean coal — meaning, they’re taking out coal. They’re going to clean it — is opening in the state of Pennsylvania, the second one.”
Stevie Ray Vaughan died in a plane crash August 27, 1990 in a plane crash in East Troy, Wisconsin. This was the first time I remember a death hitting me as a personal loss. I was sixteen that summer and in the middle of a blues guitar immersion phase. The blues were in the process of speaking to me at that point in my life. I was starting to discover the dark side of love as well as my parents’ divorce. Music was my escape.
The bonus video tonight is Vaughan and Double Trouble from the 1985 Montreux Jazz Festival.
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TOP COMMENTS
from edrie:
from the arpaio travesty diary, talking about the weasel sessions, azubia wisely pointed out the value of swamp cleaning.
from Northern Pol:
A diary highlighting the response of the "Cajun Navy" to the terrible floods in Texas brought out this response.
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