Does our anti-immigrant government know about this?
Category: Politics
Eating Out in San Francisco
Perusing the bill after enjoying a meal in a San Francisco restaurant, you will likely see an additional charge, usually itemized below the sales tax, for “SF Mandate” or “Employee Mandate.” The charge could be 4% of the total tab, or 5% or 6%. Or a flat charge of $1.50 or $2.00 per diner. Or maybe there is no additional charge. The city of San Francisco requires businesses with twenty or more employees to provide heath coverage. This is so distasteful to restaurant operators, who value their workers so little and are so resentful of compensating them, they put the cost as a separate charge on the bills.
Being Presidential
Pundits have largely applauded the President’s address to Congress, praising him for being “presidential” and sticking to the Teleprompter. We have a new standard for judging our leader. Simply not going off the rails during a speech now is the measure of success. (Editorial comment: Exploiting a grieving person – at her most vulnerable – is truly despicable.)
Here for comparison, here are excerpts from previous presidents.
Orange You Glad….
Having lately emigrated from northern California, I still keep up on the news from my previous home. Other parts of the country, or even other parts of northern California, deal with raucous town hall meetings or rioting in the streets over speakers invited onto campus. Sonoma County, by contrast, is mired in controversy over Superior Court Judge Elliot Daum’s artistic – or political – expression. After the recent peaceful transfer of power with the inauguration of a new president, Judge Daum removed the portrait of Barack Obama from his courtroom. The space previously reserved for the president’s image now displays a single piece of fruit, an orange. A real orange. Local Republicans and some lawyers have criticized the judge’s allegedly expressing political opinions in court and showing disrespect for the president.
A Sonoma State University criminal justice professor said Daum’s orange “pushes the limits of what we hope for from our judges in terms of their involvement in the politics of the day.” He went on to say, “I also think it is pretty funny.”
Judge Daum so far has made no public comment on the matter.
Making America Great Again
Our new administration has pledged that everything it does will be to make America number one. For some reason that doesn’t seem to be working in the category of tourist destinations. Only a month after the inauguration, foreign tourism in the United States is down 6.8%. And it’s probably going to get worse. Internet searches for flights to the U.S from locations outside our country are down 17%. This translates to many billions of dollars that will not be spent here. New York City alone takes in $60 billion annually from tourists.
Business travel in the U.S. declined $185 million in the first week after the Executive Order was issued banning travel from seven countries.
If you make your living from hotels, restaurants, transportation, retail stores, tour operations et cetera… good luck.
Because All Black People Know Each Other
It’s still Black History Month and our president is still honoring it. From yesterday’s press conference:
“We’re going to do a lot of work on the inner cities. I have great people lined up to help with the inner cities.”
“When you say the inner cities, are you going to include the CBC, Mr. President, in your conversations with your urban agenda, your inner city agenda—” American Urban Radio Networks reporter April Ryan asked.
“Am I going to include who?”
“Are you going to include the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus—”
“Well, I would. I tell you what, do you want to set up the meeting?” Trump said, speaking over her. “Do you want to set up the meeting?”
“No, no, no, I’m just a reporter,” Ryan said.
“Are they friends of yours? No, go ahead. Set up the meeting.”
“I know some of them, but I’m sure—”
“Let’s go. Set up a meeting.”