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-- OriginalOwner_ [tinyurl.com] writes:

from the in-case-you-were-wondering-"what-comes-next" dept.

AlterNet reports [alternet.org]

Architect of the Most Racist Law in Modern US History Named to Trump's Team

Kris Kobach, the extremely controversial Kansas secretary of state, has been named [kansas.com] to Donald Trump's transition team.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has been asked to join President-elect Donald Trump's transition team.

The team will advise Trump on policy issues leading up to his swearing-in in January, preparing him to begin his first 100 days in office. It's an unpaid position for Kobach.

Kobach called the transition from Obama's presidency to Trump's "one of the sharpest transitions we've seen", a 180-degree turn for the country.

[...]Kobach was the architect of the most racist law in modern American history. SB 1070 passed in Arizona in 2010. What did it mean? If you have brown skin or an accent, police had a right to stop you, detain you, and demand you prove your citizenship. [americanprogress.org]

[...]Before becoming the secretary of state in Kansas, Kobach worked for an organization [(the Federation for American Immigration Reform [splcenter.org]), which] the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated as a hate group [splcenter.org].

[...]Kobach is also extremely dedicated to making sure that minorities, women, and low-income voters can't participate in elections. His outrageously unconstitutional laws and actions were struck down [kansascity.com] by the federal courts last month.

[...]This is a repulsive signal from Donald Trump. If this is a sign of things to come, buckle up. We are going to have to fight like hell to save this democracy.

Apparently, Trump's racist rants weren't just about posturing for votes.
"Hitler's only kidding about the antisemitism" - New York Times, 1922 [boingboing.net]

In related news, Snopes reports Trump Taps Outspoken Climate Denier To Oversee EPA Transition Team [snopes.com]

[Myron Ebell] once described [archive.org] Newt Gingrich's suggestion to abolish the EPA as "bold and visionary".

On this topic recently The Independent notes [independent.co.uk]

Climate change may be escalating so fast it could be "game over", scientists warn

New research suggests the Earth's climate could be more sensitive to greenhouse gases than thought, raising the spectre of an 'apocalyptic side of bad' temperature rise of more than 7C within a lifetime

Recode[1] reports that "proud to be gay" Peter Thiel [soylentnews.org] now has a top job [recode.net] on the transition team that just appointed a virulently anti-gay politician to shepherd domestic policy vetting

Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell will head the handling of domestic policy issues [theguardian.com] for the administration.

[...]In case you never heard of him, Blackwell is now a senior fellow at the Family Research Council, the Christian lobbying organization well known for its persistently ugly attacks on LGBT rights. Blackwell is right there with them, saying in 2006 when he was running for governor of Ohio: "I think homosexuality is a lifestyle, it's a choice, and that lifestyle can be changed. I think it is a transgression against God's law, God's will."

[1] For a place named Recode, they sure do produce horrible HTML [w3.org]. I had to use View+No Style to un-overlap their text.

It now seems quite obvious that Trump's campaign "promises" to change things about government have completely fallen flat.

"Drain The Swamp"?? The Trump Team is Loaded With Lobbyists, Donors, & DC Insiders

Reporting on this topic, Crooks and Liars notes specifically Jamie Dimon Floated For Treasury Secretary [crooksandliars.com]

They point to a Politico page [politico.com] that says

Donald Trump campaigned as an outsider who vowed to "drain the swamp" in Washington, but the president-elect's transition team is packed with veterans of the GOP establishment as well as with lobbyists for the fossil fuel, chemical, pharmaceutical, and tobacco industries.

As Trump and his aides vet nominees for his Cabinet and lay out a first 100-day agenda, they are leaning heavily on the sort of DC insiders that the billionaire railed against on the campaign trail--people who cut their teeth working for Presidents George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and former nominee Mitt Romney, as well as on the influence peddlers Trump accuses of "rigging" the system against ordinary Americans.

There's also one more possible curveball, come December 19: The Electoral College denying Trump a majority [google.com] and House Republicans (who don't think of The Donald as a "True Conservative") doing the same.

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