Day 19: Who Needs Public Education?

The assault on all that's decent continues. In today's edition:

• Betsy DeVos was confirmed as Secretary of Education. Despite a huge resistance movement, the vote came down to 50-50, with Pence breaking the tie. Republicans are firmly in Trump's pocket, if they couldn't muster opposition to a truly abominable nomination.
• Media outlets around the country defended their record against the administration's list of "under-reported terrorist attacks". Outlets pointed out that whoever wrote the document can't spell, made up attacks that didn't happen, cared only about Muslims attacking white people, didn't care about Muslims attacking Muslims (the majority of terrorist attacks), and didn't care about White people attacking anybody. Furthermore, the vast majority of attacks received coverage by multiple outlets, sometimes dominating headlines for a week. Those that didn't were typically very small affairs. The whole thing is a farce that some poor staffer was lumped with.
• Trump met with sheriffs who support his wall idea today. He claimed that the murder rate is the highest it's been in 47 years, which is demonstrably false (it's a smidgen higher than last year, but lower than every year before that). He also offered to "destroy" the career of a state senator who a sheriff disagreed with. Petty and vindictive. Not a presidential combination.
• The US Army Engineers told congress that they will award the easement required for the Dakota Access Pipeline. =( I've nothing else to say.
• The Federal Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit heard from lawyers on the immigration ban. A ruling is expected within a week or so.
• A House committee voted to eliminate the Electoral Assistance Commission, the only body in the country tasked with ensuring the security of elections in the country. Amidst claims of electoral fraud and vote-rigging, of course, eliminate a commission whose sole purpose is to ensure free and fair elections.
• 'Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to President Donald Trump, said Monday that the administration will continue using the term "fake news" until the media understands that their "monumental desire" to attack the President is wrong.' Wow. Just wow. The administration truly believes that it is above criticism, and continues to work to erode trust in the media.
• The House of Representatives voted to repeal a variety of laws today. We'll see if the senate takes those bills up.
• Trump continues to attack any institution that opposes him. Opening paragraph: "President Trump appears to be laying the groundwork to preemptively shift blame for any future terrorist attack on U.S. soil from his administration to the federal judiciary, as well as to the media."

A healthy democracy requires an independent judiciary in addition to a free and respected press. The "founding fathers" understood this. For a party who claims to cling to the constitution, the Republicans seem to be sorely in need of a lesson in civics.