It’s been a long three and three-quarters years, with just under three weeks left before the November election.
We owe it to future generations to review what this time has meant for so many Americans. There are 52 cards and 8.06e+67—8.06 times 10 to the 67th power—possible combinations in each deck:
It’s a 68 digit number: so many possibilities.
Let’s see what President Trump has done with his hand.
Let’s count the number of immigrants affected in this country, illegal or otherwise. How many children have been separated from their families, and subsequently “misplaced,” or—better put—“never tracked?”
How many essential low-paying support jobs, done primarily by immigrants, has he thrown into chaos? No American wants to wash dishes, pick crops, or slice pork bellies, and yet the President has classified these hard-working people as ICE‘s top priority. Just imagine the ever-present fear in the immigrant community under his reign.
How many victims suffer from pollution in the United States? What has he done for them, other than aggravate their conditions?
What has he done for the uninsured, other than plan to add more to their ranks by removing the protections of the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare?
How has he addressed pharmaceutical profits, which are rising astronomically? How many people are affected by their price-gouging and category restrictions?
What has he done for our soldiers in the Middle East—if not around the world—other than threaten their safety and security? Does retreating from commitments and betraying allies create a safer environment?
How many ICE agents has Donald Trump radicalized with his relentless war on immigration? How did they behave before Donald Trump? How much cruelty has occurred on his watch and how many abnormal operations are now considered as the norm? Do they realize how much suffering their actions have caused as they carry out their “duty?”
How many millions of people across the United States are negatively affected by the President’s actions? Does anyone truly breathe easier? Are they healthier? Are they less fearful? Is their job any more stable?
How is he contributing to future cancer rates? How many people will become a statistic because of the environmental rollbacks he is seeking?
There are 35 Senate seats up for reelection this November and Donald Trump has made turning those seats more important than ever.
There are 13 battleground states—he‘s made them equally significant.
So, let‘s review the accomplishments.
Not a single effort benefits a real public issue; Instead, they feed a dark manipulated perception: bad immigrants. bad poor people, bad radicals. In doing so, the administration follows an essential policy of divisive madness.
And through it all, our Joker plays the Wild Card, since everything depends on how much disruption and chaos he creates. These distractions further an agenda of de-evolution, destroying the very systems that others have worked so hard to achieve: the unravelling of government, dissolution of healthcare, the subversion of women‘s and voter‘s rights, sowing social and racial division, all the while promoting virulent Capitalism for all.
With so little empathy and rationale, it’s as if he lacks the fundamental tools to act with decency and foresight.
And through it all, the Senate enables him.
It‘s time we played with a full deck, and a different set of cards.
I’ve had enough. Have you?
Selected Reading
As Priyansh Rastogi tells us in his informative blog post, “Every time you shuffle a deck of cards, chances are that you have put them in an order that has never been seen in the history of the universe.”
https://blog.priyanshrastogi.com/crazy-math-every-time-you-shuffle-a-deck-of-cards-chances-are-that-you-make-history-7afe34c8dcb3
“Key findings about U.S. immigrants,” Pew Research Center,
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/20/key-findings-about-u-s-immigrants/
“Family Separation by the Numbers What Are the Jobs That Immigrants Do?” Scientific American Blog Network, https://www.newamericaneconomy.org/sites/all/themes/pnae/img/Immigrant_Workers_Brookings.pdf
”Asthma Facts,“ AAFA.org,
https://www.aafa.org/asthma-facts/
“How Many Americans Are Uninsured? — 2020, Policy Advice,
https://policyadvice.net/health-insurance/insights/how-many-americans-are-uninsured/
“Top health insurers' revenues soared to almost $1 trillion in 2019,” BenefitsPRO,
https://www.benefitspro.com/2020/02/24/top-health-insurers-revenues-soared-to-almost-1-trillion-in-2019/
“Top 20 Pharma Companies by Market Cap in Q1 2019,” BioSpace,
https://www.biospace.com/article/top-20-pharma-companies-by-market-cap-in-q1-2019/
“Health insurance coverage in the United States,” Wikipedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_insurance_coverage_in_the_United_States
“After Recent Deployments, How Many U.S. Troops Are in the Middle East?,” US News,
https://www.usnews.com/news/elections/articles/2020-01-09/after-recent-deployments-how-many-us-troops-are-in-the-middle-east
“Most Americans Dislike the Way Donald Trump Conducts Himself, Survey Finds,” US News,
https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2020-03-05/most-americans-dislike-the-way-donald-trump-conducts-himself-survey-finds
“U.S. and World Population Clock,” United States Census Bureau,
https://www.census.gov/popclock/
“Figure 1: Trends in Age-adjusted Cancer Death Rates* by Site, Males, US, 1930-2017,” Cancer.org,
https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/annual-cancer-facts-and-figures/2020/trends-in-age-adjusted-cancer-death-rates-by-site-males-1930-2017.pdf
”Figure 2: Trends in Age-adjusted Cancer Death Rates* by Site, Females, US, 1930-2017,” Cancer.org,
https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/annual-cancer-facts-and-figures/2020/trends-in-age-adjusted-cancer-death-rates-by-site-females-1930-2017.pdf
“United States Cancer Statistics: Data Visualizations,” CDC,
https://gis.cdc.gov/Cancer/USCS/DataViz.html
2020 Senate Election Interactive Map
https://www.270towin.com/2020-senate-election/
“2020 election: The most competitive Senate races,” Axios,
https://www.axios.com/senate-seats-election-2020-54bee405-7f43-456c-936f-5bc75758bc59.html
“United States Senate elections, 2020,” Ballotpedia,
https://www.axios.com/senate-seats-election-2020-54bee405-7f43-456c-936f-5bc75758bc59.html
“Wild Explanation Of How Many 52-Card Deck Combinations There Are Just Crushed My Brain,” BroBible,
https://brobible.com/life/article/deck-cards-total-number-order-cominations/
“The Cost of Immigration Enforcement and Border Security,“ American Immigration Council,
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/the-cost-of-immigration-enforcement-and-border-security