National Security

Remember Hillary Clinton’s email scandal way back in 2016? She used a private server in her home for some official public communications. An FBI investigation that stretched over several years did not find any emails marked classified but federal agencies retrospectively determined that 100 emails should have been classified, including 22 as “Top Secret”. FBI director James Comey concluded that Clinton had been careless but recommended no charges be filed.

The Hillary Clinton emails received more media coverage than any other topic during the 2016 presidential campaign. Donald Trump took full advantage of it, grinning while his supporters chanted “Lock her up!” at his rallies. He made security one of his key items in his platform. Here are some of Trump’s quotes made during the campaign.

In my administration I’m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law. (18 August 2016)

We also need to fight this battle by collecting intelligence and then protecting, protecting our classified secrets… We can’t have someone in the Oval Office who doesn’t understand the meaning of the word confidential or classified. (6 September 2016)

One of the first things we must do is to enforce all classification rules and to enforce all laws relating to the handling of classified information. (7 September 2016)

We also need the best protection of classified information. (19 September 2016)

Then as President of the United States, Trump made the following statement on 26 July 2028.

As the head of the executive branch and Commander in Chief, I have a unique, Constitutional responsibility to protect the Nation’s classified information, including by controlling access to it… Any access granted to our Nation’s secrets should be in furtherance of national, not personal, interests.

But his actions did not follow his campaign promises. To say he was careless would be a gross understatement – Trump had utter disregard for national security. He frequently posted classified information on Twitter, used insecure telephones or emails to discuss classified information.

In May 2017, a few months into his first presidency, Donald Trump secretly met with the Russian ambassador and foreign minister in the Oval Office and handed them the name of an intelligence agent working for the US and Israel spying on the Islamic State in Syria. After the meeting American intelligence pulled a high-level source from within the Russian government who was at risk from mishandling of classified information by Trump administration.

In another incident in 2019 Trump posted to Twitter a high-resolution image taken of an Iran facility that revealed the capabilities of the American spy satellites. The only other photograph from a KH-11 spy satellite that had been leaked was in 1984, and the man who leaked it went to prison for espionage.

While in the White House Trump regularly illegally destroyed records and documents by shredding and burning them and even flushed some down the toilet.

When he left the White House Trump took with him boxes of documents that by law (the Presidential Records Act of 1978) belong to the National Archives and Records Administration. Many of the boxes that he took contained classified documents, which contravenes several other laws. He stored them, unsecured, at his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, where he often entertains foreign agents. Trump ignored requests by the government to return the documents. When the documents were subpoenaed Trump returned some boxes and moved and hid others. It took a surprise raid on Mar-a-Lago by the FBI to obtain the rest (and there are suspicions that some may still be missing).

Trump’s second presidency is already worse for security.

Both the FBI and CIA have been significantly weakened by the firing of top officials and experienced agents.

Trump’s soon to be confirmed Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, has been described as a “Russian asset”. She supported Russia’s involvement in Syria, denying the Syrian regime’s crimes against their own people. When Russia invaded Ukraine she blamed NATO and Biden. She bought the lie that the US had biolabs in Ukraine developing bioweapons.  While there is no evidence she has actually collaborated with Russian agents, her nomination to this senior intelligence position is more than a bit concerning. The Syrian translator who was with Gabbard in her visit to Syria said of her “And what she is doing with Ukraine shows that it goes beyond her maybe misunderstanding one conflict. She is hook, line and sinker, a Russian puppet.”

On her first day on the job as Attorney General, Pam Bondi disbanded the Foreign Influence Task Force which investigates the influence of other countries, such as Russia and China, on US elections. The former head of FBI counterintelligence Frank Figliuzzi said of the move “It’s astounding. It’s now a free for all for foreign Intel services seeking influence.”

As explained in the February 4 post, the collapse of USAID has given Russia and especially China opportunities to expand their influence in Africa, Asia and Central and South America, diminishing American national security.

Internal security of American’s private data has also been compromised.

Elon Musk and his young computer-coding engineers (Robert Reich calls them the Musk-rats) have illegally infiltrated several federal government agencies including USAID (see my February 4 post), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Department of Education, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the United States Treasury, gaining access to their data and firing anyone who tries to stop them. Not only is much of the information they are accessing private and confidential but these kids (ages 18-25) have no security clearance whatsoever and no authority to do what they are doing other than the President’s approval.

This week the CIA on orders from the President sent a list of new CIA employees to the Office of Personnel Management by unclassified email. Sending the list this way makes it easier for China or Russia intelligence to hack, exposing all of these people to risk. Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the intelligence Committee said that the sharing of the officer’s names was “a disastrous national security development”.

Donald Trump has made America and the World less safe. And it’s only week three.

Sources

https://hartmannreport.com/p/musks-and-trumps-national-security-115

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/06/lock-her-up-we-now-know-trump-did-far-worse/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump%27s_disclosures_of_classified_information

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/tulsi-gabbard-russian-connection-dni-trump-syria-b2692244.html

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/elon-musks-government-dismantling-fight-stop/story?id=118576033

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/us/politics/cia-names-list.html

Constitutional Crisis 2 - Worcester v. Georgia

The court case Worcester v. Georgia before the United States Supreme Court in 1832 set two different precedents – that Indian nations hold distinct sovereign powers, and that the President (and State governments) can ignore Supreme Court rulings.

The State of Georgia wanted to move the Cherokees off their land and give it to white settlers. A small group of missionaries, living in the Cherokee Nation to translate the Bible into their language, also advised them of their rights under the Constitution and federal treaties. The Georgia government did not like this and enacted a law prohibiting white persons from residing in the Cherokee Nation without permission of the State. Samuel Worcester and three other missionaries were arrested and sentenced to 4 years in prison with hard labor.

The case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court in 1832. Chief Justice John Marshall wrote for the majority that Indian nations were “distinct, independent political communities retaining their original natural rights” and that although the Cherokee Nation had surrendered sovereign powers in their treaties with the United States, it remained a separate, sovereign nation with a legitimate title to its national territory. The ruling also vacated (annulled) Worcestor’s conviction.

Georgia ignored the Supreme Court’s ruling, refused to release the missionaries, and continued to pressure the federal government to relocate the Cherokees. President Andrew Jackson sided with Georgia and said “The decision of the supreme court has fell still born, and they find that it cannot coerce Georgia to yield to its mandate”. This quote has since been paraphrased to “The Chief Justice has made his decision; now let him enforce it”.

In a 2021 podcast J.D. Vance suggested that if the courts try to stop Trump from firing every bureaucrat and civil servant and replacing them with “our people”, he should just ignore them and “stand before the country like Andrew Jackson did and say ‘The chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it’.” Vance has repeated this position several times since and even argued that if the Supreme Court tried to stop Trump from controlling the staff of his own government, then that is the constitutional crisis, not what the President does in response.

For reference, here are the Oaths of Office that Donald Trump and J.D. Vance swore to on January 20.

I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

By the way, the Cherokee story does not end well. The missionaries were released and the Georgia law requiring permission for a white person to live in their territory was rescinded. The Marshall ruling later became one of the strongest tools for upholding Indian nations’ tribal rights. But it didn’t help the Cherokees. The U.S. Army forced them off their land and marched them to Indian Territory in Oklahoma on what became known as the “Trail of Tears”.

Sources:

https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/worcester-v-georgia-1832/

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/08/12/what-jd-vance-gets-wrong-about-the-supreme-court-00173445

Gaza

Donald Trump’s ill-conceived remarks yesterday about America taking over Gaza makes this a good time to share some of my thoughts on the Gaza war.

Israel Supporters

The MAGA crowd, and some of my acquaintances and family members, are 100% supportive of Israel’s actions in Gaza. They believe that the terrorists that pulled off the October 7, 2023, raid need to be eradicated at all costs. And if the Palestinians don’t want to have their towns bombed and people killed, all they have to do is return the hostages and turn over all the Hamas leaders to Israel. So the destruction of the buildings and deaths of civilians is all on them.  Also that Hamas uses hospitals and schools as hiding places with civilians as shields, so of course Israel has to bomb them.

Here is how I would answer that.

Worse than 40 October 7 Raids

First let’s agree that the October raid was horrible with 1,200 killed, women brutally raped, and 250 taken as hostages. This has been described as the worst terrorist attack in Israel’s history. Now let’s imagine that a raid like this was to occur every year for 40 years. Unimaginably terrible, right? But what Israel has done to the Palestinians in the last 15 months is much worse. Here’s why.

First, there have been about 40 times as many civilians, including women and children, killed in Gaza as in the October 7 raid. So about the same number of people would be killed in 40 years of raids as in the last 15 months.

 Israeli survivors of the October 7 attack could be taken to a modern, fully equipped and stocked hospital for treatment. Family members of the dead could grieve at funerals and bury their loved ones in cemeteries. Survivors and their families had homes to go to with sufficient food to eat and water to drink. They could go about their lives without a constant fear of death coming at any moment.

The Palestinians had none of these luxuries. The dead were often left buried in the rubble. Injured survivors either died alone or were carried to makeshift hospitals. Children had limbs amputated and women were given Caesarian sections without anesthetics. Survivors did not know if their missing family members were dead or alive, and if alive where they were. They lived in constant fear of another bomb or of IDF soldiers using them for target practice. The Palestinian people were herded, homeless, from one “safe” location to another, and sometimes the “safe” places were bombed.

Israel has kept supplies of food, water and medical supplies out of Gaza, holding up long lines of trucks at the border. There are credible reports of Israelis living in the West Bank stopping and looting the aid trucks, stealing the supplies for themselves. This has likely added to the death toll and certainly added to the misery of the Palestinians.

An estimate in January put the number of Palestinians dead and wounded at 46,000 and 109,000. I’m sure it is higher than that. That’s 40 times the number of dead in the October raid.

So, I argue, it would have been better for humanity for Israel to allow Hamas to carry out one raid a year for 40 years than to do what it did. And, of course, that would not happen as Israeli border security would be greatly enhanced.

Self-Defense?

Israel and its supporters call the Gaza war “self-defense”. If killing 40 times as many people in revenge for a raid is self-defense, then imagine what the Palestinians could now do should the tables be turned. If Israel was helpless with no army, air force or allies to defend itself, and the Palestinians had an army, warplanes, and bombs supplied by an ally, and they bombed every Israeli town and city to rubble, killing nearly 2 million Israelis (40 x 48,000), would the same people call this self-defense?

Israel’s excuse was they were hunting and killing the Hamas terrorists who were behind the October raid. Netanyahu has been charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court – doesn’t that make him a terrorist? Do you suppose that Israel would turn him over to the Palestinian army?

Antisemitism

Israel and its supporters love to play the “Antisemitism” card when anyone shows any opposition to the Gaza war. Millions of Jews around the world are opposed to what Israel did, and is still doing, in Gaza. Almost 1 / 3 of American Jews consider it genocide and 60% favor a Palestinian state. Are these people Antisemites? One can oppose government policies and acts without being against the country. If you don’t like what Trump is doing does that make you anti-American? (his followers might think so but most Americans wouldn’t). Or if you don’t like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, does that make you anti-Canadian?

God’s Punishment?

Most Christians and Jews believe that the Jews are God’s chosen people and that they have to support Israel’s actions to protect itself from the evil Arabs. But the Old Testament is full of stories of God punishing His Chosen People for their sins. A recurring punishment was invasion by neighboring tribes, sometimes including taking Jews as prisoners back to their country (e.g. Babylon). Perhaps October 7 was God’s way of punishing His people for their sins? If so, what must God have in store to punish them now??

Demonstrations

Finally, I’ll share my thoughts on the pro-Palestinian demonstrations, and other acts on both sides.

Demonstrations protesting the destruction of Gaza and the killing of thousands of civilians broke out across North America, often on university campuses. These were widely condemned by the media and right-wing governments as antisemitic. If they stopped at condemning Israel’s actions, I would argue, they were not antisemitic. But many went further calling for the eradication of Israel and death to Jews, which, I argue, was both antisemitic and wrong.

The phrase “from the river to the sea” is claimed to be the rally cry of the Palestinian terrorists whose objective is to push the Israelis into the sea and take over all the land they once had. But that is also the objective of many extremist Israelis – for Israel to take over the West Bank and Gaza. To me both extreme views are wrong. Call one Antisemitism and the other Islamophobia if you wish, the names don’t matter.

Also wrong is blaming any Jewish or Palestinian person living in other countries (like Canada or America) for the raid or the war. They may have family members involved on one side or the other but they are not responsible and it is wrong to blame them. It is much more wrong to persecute them for it. Both sides have been guilty of this.

 One last thought. I have avoided calling the war “genocide”. There are strict definitions of the word (e.g. by the Genocide Convention) that many say the Gaza war doesn’t quite meet. Amnesty International says it does; the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that it does not. I don’t care what it’s called, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or something else. It was absolutely horrible and should never have been allowed to happen.

 Sources:

https://www.newarab.com/news/one-third-american-jews-view-israels-war-gaza-genocide

https://www.vox.com/politics/378913/israel-gaza-genocide-icj

Coming Constitutional Crisis

All of Donald Trump’s actions since taking office January 20 have the same ultimate goal – to consolidate power in the Executive Branch of the federal government. Much of what he has done is illegal, some of it unconstitutional. Many lawsuits have been filed (more than 24 so far), and already a few court orders proclaimed, to stop certain of his actions. The crisis will come when Trump defies a court order, especially one from the Supreme Court, essentially saying “Who’s gonna make me? You and whose army?”

Here are some of the illegal acts Trump and his cronies have done in the first 2 weeks.

·         Overruled the Justice Departments ban on TikTok.

·         Signed an executive order changing the interpretation of the 14^th amendment as it applies to children of non-citizens born in the United States.

·         Summarily fired inspectors general (see my January 27 post) without cause or required notice.

·         Fired federal prosecutors and FBI agents that had worked on cases involving Trump or the January 6 insurrection.

·         Fired federal civil servants and offered retirement payouts which they had no authority to offer.

·         Attempted to freeze federal grants and loans, temporarily blocked by a court order.

·         Took over the USAID organization, placing it under the State Department and freezing (almost) all payments.

Much of this illegal activity has to do with usurping the “power of the purse” which belongs exclusively to Congress and its elected members. Congress is made up of two bodies – the House of Representatives with 435 members (distributed proportionately by population) and the Senate with 100 (2 per state).

The proper (legal) way to bring about such changes would be to get a bill passed through the two houses and then signed by the president. Either Trump isn’t sure that such bills would pass both houses even with his slim majority in both, or he is too impatient to wait the amount of time it would take for them to be studied and debated. More likely Trump believes he no longer needs to go that route and is simply usurping the power for himself. This essentially makes Congress useless and irrelevant.

And this is what makes these actions illegal and unconstitutional.

To restructure the federal government giving more control to the Executive Branch (president) would require a constitutional amendment. An amendment would also be required to change the citizenship birthright. Constitutional amendments are very difficult and in the case of government restructuring, would be nearly impossible.

You would expect the members of Congress to be opposed to losing power and relevancy, and the Democrats are. But the Republican lawmakers have been notably silent. There is a reason for this. Most no doubt agree with Trump’s policies and any that don’t are afraid to voice opposition fearing for their jobs (remember “primary” as a verb in my January 225 post?) or for the safety of themselves or their family from the MAGA Redshirts*. All of them (Republican lawmakers) are happy to let Trump enact these policies himself, taking it out of their hands, because many of these policies are very unpopular with the voters back home, even the Republican supporters.

Peter M. Shane, a legal scholar and expert on separation of powers law at New York University described what the Trump regime has been doing as “well past euphemism about pushing the limits” and instead amounts to “programmatic sabotage and rampant lawlessness.”

So the big question is what will happen when (not if) Trump defies a court order. If he has control of the military and police by that time, who will stop him?

Mass demonstrations by the American people will be crushed by Trump using the Insurrection Act (how ironic is that!!) and the military. And many Americans have no faith that the 2026 midterm elections will even be held, or if they are that they will make any difference no matter how many voters wake up in the meantime (Russia still has elections).

Even impeachment, should enough Republican lawmakers realize that the next institutions to be eliminated in the name of government efficiency could be the House and Senate, might just be ignored.

The more deeply entrenched this regime gets, the harder it will be to root them out. The struggle will not be easy nor, I’m afraid, without significant loss of life.

Such are the times we find ourselves in.

Sources

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/us/trump-federal-law-power.html

 *  Mussolini had his Blackshirts and Hitler his Brownshirts. These were civilian paramilitary groups that committed violent actions against enemies of their fascist leader. Trump’s violent MAGA followers have been given the unofficial name of Redshirts (likely due to the red MAGA caps they wear). They are ready to attack anyone who Trump suggests is an enemy, either online with vicious threats or harassing them at their home. Following the 2020 presidential election, two election officials in Georgia, Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shea Moss, required FBI protection and relocation after being (falsely) accused of election fraud by Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani. Trump supporters surrounded their house, harassing them for days. Judges who made unfavorable rulings against Trump have similarly received threats.

 

USAID

The United States Agency for International Development was created by president John F. Kennedy in 1961 to coordinate federal foreign aid. It operates under the guidance of the president, secretary of state, and the National Security Council. Its budget is approved by Congress.

During the Cold War, foreign aid was a key strategy to combat Soviet influence in other countries of the world.

Every president from Eisenhower on, Republican or Democrat, has been supportive of foreign aid – until Donald Trump. Even as recently as last year it has received strong bi-partisan support. In June 2024 an amendment to eliminate foreign assistance from the 2025 budget was rejected by 80% of the Republican-led House of Representatives.

In dollar value America spends more money on foreign aid (nearly $40 b) than any other country, but as a % of national income (less than 1%) it’s at the bottom of the list of wealthy countries.

The countries receiving the most aid from USAID in 2023 were: Ukraine, Ethiopia, Jordan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Nigeria, South Sudan and Syria. There are aid programs in 100 countries around the world. The programs include aid to refugees, fighting infectious disease outbreaks, disaster relief, women’s health, clean water, and much, much, more. It feeds starving children and provides treatment to AIDS patients, keeping them alive.

One of the programs funded through USAID is PEPFAR, created by President George W Bush in 2003 to combat AIDS worldwide. This has been a hugely successful program currently treating 20 million people with AIDS and has prevented millions of babies and adults from getting it.

On Monday the brand new Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that he is taking over as acting director of USAID. Employees were told not to come to work that day. Then Tuesday a group of young men (ages 18-24) on behalf of Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) forced their way into the USAID building and took over the department. They locked out all employees and also refused to allow Democratic lawmakers into the building. All funds have been frozen except, apparently, for programs in Israel and Egypt.

Moving USAID into the State Department destroys its independence and gives Trump and Musk direct control over what programs get funded. Their stated aim is to shut it down completely.

This is bad news not only for the poor people depending on the aid but also for America. Besides being the right thing to do, foreign aid helps America in two ways. 1) It catches and stops contagious diseases in the country of origin before they can spread turn into pandemics. And 2) it prevents Russia and China from increasing their influence in countries in Africa, Central and South America, and in the Pacific. Both of these countries are delighted with Trump’s move to shut down USAID.

Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii put it well. “There is a reason that USAID is an arm of American foreign policy, and it is because we understand that a stable world means a stable America.”

Tomorrow I’ll discuss the legality of this and other actions of the Trump regime and how it’s all leading to a constitutional crisis.

 Sources

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/us-musk-doge-government-concerns-1.7448728

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/04/what-is-usaid-donald-trump-elon-musk-foreign-aid-freezes

https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-usaid-c0c7799be0b2fa7cad4c806565985fe2

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/what-is-usaid-trump-musk-shut-down-budget-funding-doge-rcna190441

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/05/musk-doge-takeover-usaid

Tariff Turmoil

I don’t have much to say about the tariffs Trump is imposing on Canada, China and Mexico starting tomorrow. But here are a few comments.

Another Fine Mess substack today wrote that only 38% of Americans support the tariffs on Canada and Mexico. He then pointed out that that’s approximately the same percentage of Americans who can’t read at a Grade 5 level.

The tariffs are already creating turmoil in both economies.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, at 91 the oldest and longest serving US Senator, has a lot of unhappy Iowa farmer constituents who depend on Saskatchewan potash to grow soybeans and corn and can’t afford to pay 25% more for it. Iowa has about 85,000 farms and the farmers vote Republican. Word is Grassley is pleading with the president to make an exception for Canadian potash.

But that’s not the only agricultural issue.

The beef industry is highly integrated between the two countries. The tariffs will hurt the western Canadian beef industry and raise the price of beef in the US.

Central Canada (mainly Ontario) will be hit even harder.

The North American auto manufacturing industry is highly integrated. Canadian auto exports brought in about $51 billion in 2023 with 90% going to the USA. The Financial Post estimates the tariff will add $3,000 to the average price of automobiles, driving down sales and ultimately shutting down factories in both countries.

And that’s just a few examples – every industry in both countries will be affected in both predictable and unpredictable ways.

Trump’s excuse for implementing the tariffs on Canada and Mexico is to coerce these countries to do more to curb fentanyl coming in to the US across their borders. Canada pointed out that less than 1% of the fentanyl in the US comes from Canada (43 pounds vs. 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border in 2024). Also that more drugs cross the other direction into Canada from the USA. Then there are guns. Most guns used to commit crimes in Canada come from the US, smuggled across the border. The same is true in Mexico – the Mexican drug gangs buy their guns in Texas because Mexico has tougher gun control laws.

But that’s just the excuse. The real reason is to demonstrate strength and power.

Robert Reich wrote this today

The reason Trump has raised tariffs on Canada and Mexico is not to have more bargaining leverage to get better deals for the United States from Canada or from Mexico.

Hours before the Canadian tariffs went into effect, Trump was asked if there was anything Canada could do to stop them. “We’re not looking for a concession,” Trump said, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday afternoon. “We’ll just see what happens, we’ll see what happens.”

The real reason Trump has raised tariffs on Canada and Mexico is to show the world that he’s willing to harm (smaller) economies even at the cost of harming America’s (very large) economy.

The point is the show — so the world knows it’s dealing with someone who’s willing to mete out big punishments. Trump increases his power by demonstrating he has the power and is willing to use it.

The turmoil is the point.

 

Sources

https://tcinla757.substack.com/p/poking-around-its-only-been-three

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/what-you-need-to-know-about-trumps

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-2-2025

I posted this too soon. About an hour later the news came out that Trump had talked to Trudeau and Sheinbaum and postponed the tariffs on Canada and Mexico for 30 days while they work on border solutions. Trudeau announced a $1.3 billion border plan which I noted did not cover drugs or guns coming across the border into Canada. It looks like Trump got what he wanted from the tariff threat after all, which was an excuse to back down. The turmoil from the tariff threat was enough.

And later that night I learned that most of what Trudeau promised was part of a proposal made to the US back in December.  The only new items were the appointment of a "Fentanyl Czar" (I wonder whose idea that was!) and the naming of drug cartels as terrorists. Again Trump didn't get much for his blustering but maybe the blustering was the point. But White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt put a positive spin on it proving that this was the purpose of the tariff bluff: "Canada is bending the knee, just like Mexico."

My theory is that it was the sudden drop in the Dow-Jones that prompted Trump's about-face, not anything that  Canada or Mexico offered or threatened. And certainly not from any advice from his economic advisors - a genius like him doesn't need any advice because - wait for it - "I've got common sense".

Another update (Feb 7, 2025). Just saw some Canadian border stats in Murray Mandryk's Saskatoon Star Phoenix column today. While 43 pounds of fentanyl were intercepted going from Canada to the USA in 2024, 882 pounds were intercepted coming into Canada from the USA. Similarly 3,000 illegal guns entered the USA from Canada while 30,000 entered Canada from the USA. As to "irregular entry" migrants in 2024, 18,644 entered the USA from Canada; 28,000 entered Canada from the USA. Canada should tell Trump - you fix your border problem and we'll fix ours, no tariffs required.

https://thestarphoenix.com/opinion/columnists/mandryk-want-to-survive-trump-dont-take-his-untruths-literally/wcm/b875c687-20f9-4260-948b-be8a7951dfa1

Sex Determination

With a stroke of his magic Sharpie, Donald Trump tried to change biology on the first day of his second presidency.

He signed an executive order that the federal government will henceforth recognize only two sexes – male and female. The order then defined “female” as a person who at conception belongs to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell, and “male” as a person who at conception belongs to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell.

Whoever drafted this order was not a reproductive biologist (but they did get the relative sizes of the egg and sperm correct). The phrase “at conception” was no doubt inserted to further their anti-abortion agenda but has an unintentional humorous effect. All fetuses are female for the first 6 weeks of life before the presence of the SRY gene starts turning some into males. So according to this executive order all Americans must be female.

Trump also signed a flurry of other orders attacking the LGBTQ+ population of Americans, based on the belief that sex is binary. But is it always? Let’s take a closer look at the biology of sex determination.

First I’ll define some terms as I use them here.

Sex has to do with a) the primary or reproductive sexual traits – presence of ovaries or testes, and b) the external genitalia – uterus, labia, vagina and clitoris or scrotum, prostate and penis.

Gender is an expression of social and sexual identity in human cultures [Chakrabarty]

Sexual orientation is the physical, mental, emotional or sexual attraction to a particular sex [Wikipedia].

Intersex – having a combination of female and male sexual traits

Chakrabarty puts it this way: “Sex is in your pants; gender is in your head.”

Here are two quotes from Carole Hooven’s book T:

In humans, sex is usually determined at conception based on whether the sperm has an X or Y chromosome.

An individual’s sex isn’t always consistent with its sex chromosomes. What matters most is the particular pattern of gene expressions that leads to the development of testes or ovaries.

There are three main stages of sex development.

1.      Conception – chromosomes

2.      Fetal – development of sex glands and sexual anatomy

3.      Puberty – development of secondary sexual traits

Changes can occur at any of these stages preventing the pure development of one sex or the other. The general term for these is Disorders of Sexual Development or DSDs. The chart here shows the complexity of gender development and DSDs.

Typically, an individual with two X chromosomes will develop into a female; an individual with an X and a Y chromosome will develop into a male. But there are exceptions.

The critical part of the Y chromosome is a gene called SRY. In rare cases during meiosis the gene may migrate onto the X chromosome in either the egg or sperm. Without the activation of the SRY gene, the fetus will continue as female, therefore an XY individual without the SRY gene can develop into a female and an XX individual with one can develop into a male. Whether you identify as a man or woman, you have no way of telling which sex chromosomes you have without doing a DNA test.

One DSD in which a genotypic male (with XY chromosomes) develops into a phenotypic female is Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (CAIS). The fetus develops testes which produce testosterone but the testosterone receptors don’t work, resulting in a phenotypic female. More on this disorder later.

By the sixth week in a developing fetus, a cluster of cells has formed on each kidney that will develop into the sex glands. At this point they could become either ovaries or testes. That is why Trump’s definition of sex at conception was mocked – we are all female at conception. What triggers the differentiation in the gland development is the presence of the SRY gene (which as I have shown is usually but not always on the Y chromosome). The SRY gene creates SRY protein which turns on and upregulates (increases the activity of) another gene called SOX9 on Chromosome 17. The SOX9 gene creates SOX9 protein which in turn upregulates a number of other genes which cause the cell cluster to develop into testes. Without the SRY gene the cells will develop into ovaries; the default sex is female. If the SOX9 or other genes in the testes-making pathway don’t function normally the fetus will likely develop into a female but with some male traits.

Two weeks later at 8 weeks the internal sexual organs differentiate. By this time the fetus has developed two sets of primordial ducts: Wolffian ducts and Mullerian ducts. The Wolffian ducts will develop into the male internal plumbing – the epididymis, the vas deferens and the seminal vesicles. The Mullerian duct will develop into the uterus, fallopian tubes and cervix. Only one set of ducts will develop, the other will degenerate. Which one wins the contest depends on the presence of testes. The testes produce two different hormonal signals – the Mullerian inhibiting hormone to cause the Mullerian duct to degenerate, and testosterone which causes the Wolffian duct to develop. Without the signals from the testes the Wolffian duct will degenerate and the Mullerian duct will develop – here again female is the default.

At 9 weeks the external sexual organs differentiate. In the absence of testosterone, or testosterone receptors, the genital tubercle and folds develop into the clitoris and labia. In the presence of testosterone, the same genital tubercle and folds develop into the penis and scrotum. Much later, in the third trimester, the testicles descend from near the kidneys into the scrotum.

In the case of CAIS where the testosterone receptors don’t function, but the Mullerian inhibiting hormone does, both the Wolffian and Mullerian ducts will degenerate leaving them with no scrotum, no uterus, and a “blind” vagina. Their testes will remain hidden in their abdomen, undescended. Most people with CAIS grow up as a girl and don’t realize they are different until they fail to begin menstruating. They go through adolescence much the same as other girls, developing breasts and hips, because enzymes convert the testosterone their testes produce into estrogen. They live a fairly normal life and often marry but of course can’t get pregnant with no uterus or ovaries.

Androgen inhibition isn’t always complete. Partial inhibition, called PAIS results in a combination of male and female characteristics to varying degrees. Such people are described as intersex.

A different example of DSD that shows up at puberty is often called Guevedoces, Spanish for “testicles at twelve”. With this condition a genotypic male (with XY chromosomes) is deficient in the enzyme 5a-reductase which is required for the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT is necessary for fetal development of primary sex organs so the child will appear female. At puberty increased testosterone production promotes secondary male sex characteristics (deeper voice, muscle growth, facial hair) and belated development and growth of male genitalia, turning girls into boys.

There are many more Disorders of Sexual Development – see the above chart. DSDs can occur at the chromosome level at conception; at the differentiation of the sex glands and the development of internal and external sex organs at the fetal stage; and at the development of secondary sex traits at puberty.

So sex isn’t so binary after all.

A recent survey found that about 7.1% of Americans self-identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans. This is a small but significant population of America, amounting to about 24 million people.  It is estimated that around 2% of the population (about the same percentage as redheads) are intersex, although many are not aware of it. While some intersex people cannot have children, others can.

Donald Trump is telling these people that they don’t exist.

 

Sources

T – the Story of Testosterone, the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us. Carole Hooven, 2021.

Explaining Life Through Evolution, Prosanta Chakrabarty, 2023

A simiilar post by my brother in November 2024

https://dablogfodder.blogspot.com/2024/11/transforming-identity-bigotrys-war.html

Washington plane crash

 The deadliest aviation disaster in America since 2001 occurred in Washington DC Wednesday night (January 26). All 67 passengers and crew aboard the passenger jet and a military helicopter were killed when they collided and crashed into the Potomac River.

In the past when a disaster like this occured the President would ask people to stay calm, not jump to conclusions, and wait for more information.

Instead, President Trump, before any facts were known, starts blaming everyone but himself. A little more than an hour after the crash Trump posted on social media “…It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn? Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane? This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”

The next morning Trump told reporters that the problem was the previous administrations’ (that of Obama and Biden) DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) policies and lowering of safety standards. He said “I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first. And they put politics at a level that nobody has ever seen, because this was the lowest level…” He accused Pete Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary under Biden, for running the Department of Transportation very badly.

Buttigieg responded. “Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch. President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe.” Buttigieg was referring to Trump’s elimination of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee.

Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, told CBS News that he stands behind “every highly skilled, highly trained air traffic controller that is out there. It doesn’t matter their race, color, religion, you can know you are in the best hands…”

Tennessee Garvey, chair of the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals, asserted that the rigorous standards for hiring pilots, mechanics, and air traffic controllers were never relaxed to meet diversity goals, and that recruiting standards had not been responsible for any air traffic episodes. Trump has not provided any evidence to back up his claims to the contrary.

When asked by a reporter how he could be so sure, so quickly, that DEI was a factor in the crash, Trump replied “Because I have common sense, ok? And unfortunately, a lot of people don’t.”  Trump believes he is the world’s most brilliant genius and an expert on every subject, and has no need for such mundane things as facts. This reminds me of his ideas of injecting bleach to cure COVID-19; “drill, Baby, drill” to lower energy costs; and turning on the water faucet to fight the Los Angeles fires.

Some facts have come out since the crash. The tower at Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington DC where the plane was headed, like most (90% in one report) air traffic control facilities across the country, has been understaffed for years due to employee turnover and budget cuts (likely due to Republican opposition to fully fund the FAA). Some traffic controllers at Reagan Airport that day were handing helicopters as well as the planes landing and departing, jobs which are usually done by two controllers because the different aircraft use different radio frequencies. Could that have been a factor??

During the Biden administration the Republican controlled Congress blocked funding for the hiring of 3,000 more controllers. And the immediate federal hiring freeze that Trump put in place the first day (which applies to air traffic controllers) isn’t helping. And Thursday night Trump’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) made the situation worse. They sent out an email, 24 hours after the crash, to every air traffic controller (among other civil servants) encouraging them to resign immediately and take an early retirement. I’m sure there are no plans to immediately replace them and if there has been a decades-long shortage there are no qualified controllers to take their jobs. How is this making airports safer?

It also turned out that one of the helicopter pilots killed in the crash was a woman, which fits right in with the Republican idea of DEI, which is that every member of a minority – by race, sex, gender – is inherently less qualified than a white male.

When this news came out the online vitriol shifted to the helicopter pilots. The family of the female pilot have asked the Army not to release her name due to concerns for their safety. Speaking of jumping to conclusions, a rumor started that the female pilot was a transgender woman who is a Black Hawk pilot. Her name and picture were soon posted all over X. The soldier, Jo Ellis, posted a video of herself proving that she wasn’t the one killed, and had this to say “I understand some people have associated me with the crash in DC. The charge against me is false. It is insulting to the families to try to tie this to some sort of political agenda. They don’t deserve that. I don’t deserve this.”

We still don’t know what caused this crash but I have two predictions – make that three:

1.      There will be more airport disasters in the next 4 years.

2.      Trump will continue to blame anyone but himself.

3.      His base will continue to believe every lie that he utters.

Sources

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-30-2025

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/business/air-traffic-control-staffing-plane-crash.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/us/politics/trump-plane-crash-dei-faa-diversity.html

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/31/washington-dc-crash-initial-report-staffing-levels-not-normal

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/over-90-percent-u-s-airport-towers-understaffed-air-traffic-controllers-data-shows/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/30/trump-washington-dc-plane-crash-dei