Category Archives: Politics

Thoughts on a recent podcast

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I listen to quite a few podcasts during the week. Many of these podcasts are less than 30min. But I also listen to a handful of long-form podcast. One of those is “The Diary of a CEO.” The host (Steven Bartlett) does a magnificent job interviewing the different guests. Guests range from scientists to CEOs to even ex CIA operatives who offer a wide range of opinions and knowledge. Furthermore, the conversations are fascinating and thought provoking. The podcast also has a Youtube channel if one prefers to “watch” the interview.

Recently, Bartlett had Reid Hoffman (wiki) as a guest (watch here on youtube). Who is Hoffman? He is one of the members of the “PayPal Mafia” but might be more commonly recognized as the founder of LinkedIn.

Now why would I be so interested in even writing about this interview? One of the discussed topics centered around “censorship” and Hoffman’s thoughts about Twitter’s banning Trump (NPR).

But before I get to his thoughts, here are my thoughts about deplatforming in general.
1) One of the reasons America is “great” is the fact that everyone has a platform to speak about any issue and there would be very little retribution (i.e. being cancelled, getting doxxed) for speaking one’s mind. As much as I don’t like hate speech or speech that denigrates one tribe over another tribe, the opinions of the speaker are just opinions. I believe that the speakers SHOULD BE ABLE to speak their peace regardless of whether the speech is truthful, full of lies, full of hate, or flat out disrespectful and disparaging. I still believe that deplatforming Trump was the wrong move.
2) I also believe that ALL SPEECH needs to be monitored to be factual or at very minimum if there are opposing sides/stories that both sides are presented. What you say is what you believe but it might not be correct or factual. And this is where I think speech needs to be monitored. The choice should be up to the reader to confirm if what is stated is factual or not. America needs to raise a new generation of thinkers who should be able to decide on their own what is true and what is false.
3) I also beleive that speech with ANY THREAT of violence should NEVER BE TOLERATED. Regardless of if the THREAT of violence is hinted at, considered subversive or just overt declaration, this type of speech should be taken seriously and action to minimize the threat should be swift.
4) There still is a chance for all traditional and social media companies to “MAKE SPEECH GREAT AGAIN.” First to clearly implement speech policies that strictly forbids threats of violence while also implementing fact checking process on controverisal topics. Second to implement ways where fact checking policies allow readers to decide themself.

Back to the podcast, here’s a shortcut (click here) to Hoffman’s opinion about how speech should be handled. His idea represents a solid middle ground. I am happy that there are others who also believe that it is possible to have a society where speech can be balanced, safe, civil, and truthful. Hoffman goes further with the idea of freedom of speech vs freedom of reach and how differentiating between the two benefits society. Even contrarian and/or unpopular opinions should be heard by society, explored and thoroughly investigated by society, and then confirmed or debunked by society.

After thinking about this for the last few days, I pose this question to readers: Would a society that participates in the type of civil discourse (as imagined by Hoffman) become a better society overall?

AMERICA, DO BETTER!!!

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It’s been over a week since Trump was projected to be re-elected. I’ve had conversations with friends about this and I thought I’d put my thoughts on paper.

First, I was raised to be respectful, to be honest, to speak the truth, to live a life of integrity and most importantly to strive to be a morally good person. I would never support Trump because Trump INVALIDATES everything on how I was taught and raised.

Supporting Trump and the “Trumpublican” party, you are invalidating these ideals of being respectful, being honest, being truthful, living with integrity and being a morally good person. By supporting Trump and the “Trumpublican” party, you are signaling that you accept the discord and strife that Trump and his echo chamber of Fox News/Tucker Carlson/Steven Miller/Steve Bannon/etc has brought to society. By supporting Trump and the “Trumpublican” party, you are signaling that you admire someone who lies constantly, someone who is seeking to benefit himself and his brand, and someone who is a rich narcissistic convicted pussy grabber.

I cannot support Trump because of his behavior and everything he represents goes against my own moral compass. I want to know the rationale of why someone raised to be honest, to be truthful… would want to vote for Trump. Is this what these 76M AMERICAN voters really want to idolize?! A narcissistic lying self-serving convicted pussy grabbing president?

Second, it’s frustrating to know 76M Americans support a lying toxic bastard… who openly calls to have his opponents shot for opposing him… who openly degrades, disrespects and bullies people… Who only seek to benefit his business/brand… Who isn’t a president I support.

Up until the 2016 election, I had always believed that the President of the United States needed to represent someone who can show the rest of the world how great America is… Someone who after the election isn’t mired in pettiness… Someone who wants to see and lead a freer, safer, richer US. Trump did none of that in his 1st term. And Trump’s 2nd term will be at best more of the same… At worst will be regarded in history as a dark 4 years.
If Trump gets his way with Project 2025, Americans will lose… Not immediately but Americans will lose their future. Americans will bear the brunt of his tariffs, leading to increased prices because companies pass on the cost to consumers (us). Americans could very likely lose even more rights over their own bodies. Americans will face an even larger police state all to “keep immigrants out”. The idea of a “blind justice” may be gone with the Trump administration actively pursuing people who oppose Trump. And protecting the environment will probably be an after thought.

Third, here’s a post election observation…
1) where are the claims that there’s “massive voter fraud” ?
2) where are the claims of a “rigged election”?

Here’s a secret…. There never was massive fraud and election rigging to begin. In 2020, Tump and Trumpublicans being the sore petulant losers that they are spread rumors about rigged elections and voting fraud. Yet when they win in 2024, the Trumpublicans magically trust the election system. That just means that the 2020 results never was about “massive voter fraud” or “rigged election” but a sore loser whining. Now that I think about it… Being able to whine and not receive any repercussion….. That’s called privledge.

Here’s a question… after spending YEARS denouncing the government, are Trumpublicans now going to ask the public to “trust the government”? If so, it just means that Trumpublicans cared only about winning at all costs... even going so far as denouncing their own government report as well as breaking govermental norms. I would propose that breaking of norms escalated when McConnell wouldn’t even allow the Senate to entertain any hearings for SCOTUS nominee (Merrick Garland) during the 2016 election year while expediting another SCOTUS nominee (Amy Barrett) was quickly ushered in 2020 election. This winner take all attitude leading to strife and discord only energizes Trump even more.

Fourth, I’m curious how many people voted. As of 13NOV2024, according to CNN…
2024: 76M Trump vs 73M Harris
2020: 81M Biden vs 74M Trump
2016: 62M Trump vs 65M Clinton
2012: 65M Obama vs 61M Romney
2008: 69M Obama vs 59M McCain

Here’s a conspiracy theory of voter repression… where’s the missing 8M Biden Voters?

Fifth, this whole concept of “rigged election” really got me thinking. Listening to various politics podcast, there’s been a lot of discussion around legislative and congressional/electoral maps. I’ve learned that different states implement different methods to draw these maps and the the majority of the maps that are drawn are generally gerrymandered to favor Republicans or Democrats depending on the state. Else the maps are drawn by an independent commission which might also be subject to influence by Democrat or Republican leaning members. I’ve also learned that Republicans have been making pushes to control the state legislature over the past two decades. Looking at the overall US 2020 electoral map by county (below), it’s not hard to see Democrats are populated around major cities and along the coasts. But every where OUTSIDE the cities is predominantly Republican. Thus a majority of the states are Republican strongholds. So by saying it’s a rigged election, Trump is actually right. The Republicans have rigged the electoral maps to win. So if they don’t win, then something broke the rigged system. How’s that for conspiracy theory!?

From Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2020_Election_Results_Map_by_County.png)

And finally, the last thing I can really think of is this…

AMERICA,
(WE CAN) DO BETTER!!

Biden’s College Loan Debt Forgiveness Plan

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If you haven’t heard, President Biden plans to go forward with plans to forgive up to $10,000 in college loans for individuals making under $125,000 a year. Obviously there are specific rules a debtor will need to follow in order to take advantage of the loan forgiveness. Reading through the articles, there are clear lines of political division masked behind the “concerns of the national debt/fiscally irresponsible”, “unfairness to those who have already paid”, and “increasing inflation”. Let’s breakdown some of the arguments as I see it.

1) Concerns of national debt. I find this argument inherently flawed. Both political sides have used this argument when the other side has been pushing a spending plans. Republicans criticized Build Back Better. Democrats criticized Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. They clearly can’t be right and the criticisms from both sides are just smoke screens to confuse the voters.

Ultimately, voters really need to think about what kind of “national debt” is considered good debt. Using a line from advocates of higher education, taking on debt in order to obtain more schooling is good. The idea is that education will result in higher wage increases and overall higher wages making the debt more as an “investment” in the future. If voters are to also consider this “investment” hypothesis and apply to the national debt, what sort of programs are appropriate then for US to incur any sort of debt?

I personally believe investments in infrastructure, education and healthcare are critical for the future of US. These kinds of investments will undoubtedly payoff in the future (whether 5 years or 50 years) benefiting American people. Even just around infrastructure, did you know that US has an overall score of C- (https://infrastructurereportcard.org/). With tragic issues like what happened with the Flint water crisis, and even the current crisis in Jackson, MIssissippi, infrastructure improvements should be one of the top items on every American’s list. Improvements to fix/update highways, bridges, internet, electrical grids, water systems, sewage systems, etc… are critical since they are used everyday by millions of Americans.

With education, teaching future generations the skills needed is critical. It’s not just the advanced skills from “STEM” majors (aka science technology engineering mathmatics) but also the basic building/trade/technical skills that support every day life (carpentry, electrian, mechanic). Education helps maintain a bustling economy. Unfortunately, the emphasis on “advanced” skills seems to outweigh any thought about the basic trade/technical skills. It doesn’t matter how skilled a brain surgeon might be at the operating room table, if the hospital is not built correctly or wired correctly, or if the mechanic does not fix the surgeon’s car correctly…. that surgeon is useless to society if something happens to the building, or operating room or even his car.

And finally, healthcare is also critical to the future of US. By guaranteeing the right to a minimum standard of healthcare, the US government can ensure a standard of living for generations. If the government were to either set a minimum standard OR provide the minimum standard of healthcare, American’s would have access to yearly general check ups which would also provide a benefit of potentially spotting future health issues ahead of time instead of having to require ER visits to handle sudden (potentially preventable) medical issues. How can a “1st world nation” really say they are “1st world” when so many rely on ER visits for healthcare?

2) Unfairness to those who have paid. Why wasn’t this argument used when the US bailed out the banks and the automobile companies during the start of the great recession? If the US government can “pay” to save corporations, why can’t the same US government that “WE THE PEOPLE” created also “pay” the debts of students?

Back in the 2008, depending on the various sources (MIT, Wiki, Rolling Stone, Balance) the US government ended paying anywhere from a minimum around $500 BILLION to over $7 TRILLION. Assuming the numbers are accurate, the reader should be reminded that the $500Billion (minimum) went to corporations. At the same time, the American dream of owning homes were being shattered by foreclosures, under water home values and personal mortgage debt. American people were literally being ignored because the government made some calculation that certain financial institutions were just “too big too fail.” Hypothetically if the $500B were to have been distributed to the approximate 300M US citizens, each citizen would have received approximately $16,700.

With Biden’s loan repayment, eligible debtors would receive $10,000. Again depending on the various sources (CNBC, Daly Caller), the US government would be paying around $330 BILLION. The payment would only target a small subset of the US population based on the criteria set by the administration. At the very minimum some 20MILLION borrowers would now be debt free and be able to divert the loan money towards some other debt or future savings. That’s 20 Million borrowers who might now be able to stop living “pay check to pay check” and be able to have the ability to plan a more financially secure future.

3) Increasing Inflation. To be honest, I’m not sure how a sudden $10,000 deduction from a balance would affect inflation. Many borrowers are only putting $300-$1000 towards their debt on a monthly basis. At most the borrower will now have an extra $300-$1000 to spend on other debt or towards something important/necessary (maybe fix a car? or emergency fund?) I don’t think the extra money will lead to the increase in inflation so suddenly. I feel like pundits talk about the $10,000 as if borrowers are going to go somewhere to spend all $10,000 at once irresponsibly. Please let’s give the borrowers some credit…


Overall, I think Biden’s Loan Debt Forgiveness Plan is great. However, I think the amount of $10,000 is too much all at once. A more reasonalbe alternative would be $5,000 to knock off the borrowers balance. I also agree with the income restrictions qualification as a way to limit high earners from this program. In my study of American history, I’ve realized that America generally rewards or favors people and corporations through various financial benefits such as tax cuts, tax incentives, and even tax loopholes. Biden’s plan is one of those rare plans that try to help the common American citizen. What’s not to like about that?

Let’s talk about Gun Control

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US political inaction is pretty ridiculous. I think for the most part the Republicans are the ones who are do not want to anger their NRA donors. So much for representing the people right?

This is what I think the US should do immediately.

1) The US government should create a new department whose sole purpose is to create, manage, administer and enforce a brand new gun database.
2) The new gun database will register all new gun purchases going forward. Law-abiding citizens are also required to re-register their guns in this new database. As part of the startup, existing databases from any/all states will be used to cross check previous registrations with the new registration
3) Registration involves satisfying four different requirements. First, the gun owner needs to be trained at qualified gun training centers. Second, the gun owner needs to pass an psycholocial evaluation administered by a psychologist/psychiatrist to determine if the gun owner is deemed fit to handle the responsibilities of a gun owner but also as a “law abiding citizen.” Third, a registration fee must also be paid. The fee amount will depend on the type of gun being registered. The goal of the department is to be as self-sufficient as possible relying only on registration fees to be operational. Fourth, gun owners must maintain their training, psychological evaluation and paid registration fee every 3 years. Failure to do so will result in extra penalties, extra scrutiny and forced confiscation. After all law abiding citizens shouldn’t be missing payments.
4) The US government should also seek to regulate the gun market by setting higher prices for gun ownership. Simply put, the more damage a gun is capable of doing results in the gun being more expensive. Consequently, the more damage a gun is capable of doing, the more training, the more extensive evaluation and higher registration fee.

I will admit… I don’t know if this will work. But the fact that we’ve gone over 20 years without ANY LEGISLATION IS RIDICULOUS!! If we just look at school shootings, the fact that Columbine occurred in 1999 and we have also experienced many more deadly school shootings like Virginia Tech, Sandyhook/Newton, Marjory Stoneman/Parkland, and now Robb Elementary/Uvalde. And these are just school shootings. We’ve also experienced other mass shootings like in Las Vegas, Orlando and even in Buffalo. EGADS….

WE the PEOPLE of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA must vote for change. We must vote against the NRA interests.

The SCOTUS “Leak”

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By now, if you haven’t heard about the SCOTUS leak of the draft documents of the majority opinion of a recent court case…. You really need to at least read/listen the news on a daily basis. The consensus from various news pundits say that the DRAFT MAJORITY OPINION as it stands now would OVERTURN Roe v Wade. If nothing changes to the current draft, this ruling is extremely consequential and devastating.

Three thoughts come to mind….
1) What happened to the separation of Church and State?
2) The ruling calls into question our freedoms…. so then where are these “freedoms” that the “Land of the Free” claims to have?
3) What is happening to this country?

Separation of Church and State: A draft opinion comes out and suddenly all the high profile religious leaders start saying things like “our prayers have been asnwered” or “praising god“. How is this not religiously motivated? Would you expect this kind of reaction from religious leaders if we were talking about banning guns used in dometic terrorist mass shootings? Clearly the religious leaders “thoughts and prayers” have been shit for mass shootings and I think I now know why… these “thoughts and prayers” were all focused on creating political miracles that allowed the Republicans to shit on the Constitution in order to retain the power and advantages they need. Technically… McConnell for cockblocking Obama’s nominee (Gorsuch) because it was an election year and then fast tracking Trump’s nominee (Barrett) also during an election year. Egads… What is happening to this country?

I also don’t understand religions. They have an inherent double standard that they seem to ignore. Many say they follow the bible… yet it seems like they only cherry pick the passages of the bible that suits them AND ignore other inconvenient passages. Is that really “FOLLOWING THE BIBLE” or is it more like “taking inspration from the bible”? During the pandemic, Sure you don’t want to wear a mask, get a vaccine shot, whatever… because your religion/bible/pastor says its a sin (or whatever stupid reason). The government made exceptions for your religious values. YET, you expect the government to also support your religious values and impede on a person’s choice to get an abortion or not? Egads… What is happening to this country?

Land of the Free? For a country that claims “to have various freedoms”, specifically which freedoms are talked about? Freedom of speech? Freedom of religion? Freedom of fair trials? Freedom to bear arms? The founders/writers of the Constitution clearly couldn’t list all the enumerated rights (Ninth Amendment) but these rights do exist ie… the Right to privacy, the Right to Vote. Do these unenumerated rights follow the basic human rights list? Perhaps? From the 30 basic human rights, one of the rights advocates “to marry and have a family.” It should also be assumed that the converse is also a right (to marry but not have a family) or any variation of marriage and family to also be held as a right. Or perhaps the unenumerated rights follow the “natural right.” Regardless of which unenumerated rights are being defined, what is absolutely clear is that religion is actively violating these rights because religion says it can. Furthermore, why must someone who is NOT religious comply with the religious words/beliefs that are being written into law across various states? For American’s who “scoff at the Middle East and the Sharia Law“, I find that these abortion laws are strangely Sharia-like.

What is happening to this country? Whenever I read/listen to the news, I ask this as well. I think there are two major issues. First it’s the Republicans. They are disregarding any semblance of bi-partisanship. They are seeking to just destroy whatever the Democrats propose instead of offering a counter proposal. Remember the Affordable Care Act aka “Obamacare”? Many of their constituents were given healthcare probably for the first time through ACA and liked it. Yet Republicans denigrated Obamacare causing such a fury repealing the ACA would have negatively impacted their constituents. Another despicable Republican act is their opposition to the infrastructure bill. Yet, these Republicans are going back to their constituents claiming victory for something they voted against. The US Government should be reformed. Opposition to a bill should result in zero distributed funds. It’s all or nothing since that’s what Republicans are doing with the government.

Second, its the current duopoly party system. Both parties are heavily influenced by MONEY. The current system requires candidates to establish a large war chest in order to fund their campaigns. Funding campaigns requires meetings with rich individuals/corporations hoping to influence the candidate. Sure candidates can say they are not influenced by big money… but seriously…. Money buys influence. The government needs to transition away from dark money and lobbyists circling around the candidates and government officials. The government should abolish rules that support the two party system and seek ways where a 3rd/4th/multi party candidates can also succeed. Yes a parliamentary congressional system is possible requiring bipartisanship and coalition building. The current two party system are such broad based coalitions that effectively there are already multiple parties. But the government rules prevent 3rd party candidates from standing out.

Feeling disgruntled and hopeless? To be honest, I feel the same too. But I still believe if we continue to vote on what matters to us in 2022.

2022 IS AN ELECTION YEAR!
VOTE! VOTE!! VOTE!!!

The Democratic Party Social Media Dilemma?

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The Democrats have a media problem. They need to have a “Fox News/Tucker Carlson or OAN” equivalent in mainstream media. The goal of this new media organization is to counter, satirize, discuss and question the conservative agenda. Questions need to be asked to promote discussion and promote reality check.

Here are some questions to ask:
1) What was the real extent of Marina Butina’s infiltration of the Republican party?
2) Has the impartiality / non-political nature of SCOTUS been contaminated knowing that Justice Thomas’ wife has been privately supporting the lies of electrion irregularities even going so far as to encourage Mark Meadows to do “something”?
3) Why are Republicans openly hostile against COVID19 policies like mask wearing and vaccinations claiming these policies infringe on their freedoms yet brazenly implement laws like Texas’ SB8 that infringe on a woman’s freedom of choice and body?

The Dems f-cking it up!! >[

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The fact that Sinema and Manchin were “holding out” from joining the Democratic causes that propelled the Dems into the congressional majorities should have been the FIRST warning sign that neither of these senators are going to give a shit about the Democratic causes in Build Back Better. What’s in Build Back Better? The White House website (wiki, link 1, link 2) has a fairly good synopsis. After also reading the other links, here’s my interpretation of it…

Build Back Better (BBB) will probably help families with kids through tax credits, childcare subsidies, universal pre-school programs and probably most importantly paid family leave (link). In US laws, there currenlty is 12 weeks of UNPAID leave (60 working days or 240 hours). Some states have added exceptions and require paid family leave.

BBB also has a concerted effort in pushing US towards a green infrastructure platform to combat climate change and hopefully establishing a future clean energy technology growth. Climate change needs to be enacted at the governmental/federal level. The overwhelming majority of climate scientists (97%) believe there’s climate change (link 1, link 2, the 3%?, another 3%?).

BBB is also trying to bring affordable healthcare to everyone. Although short of providing single payer healthcare to everyone, it will at least try to shore up some of the deficiencies from the ACA (Obamacare). The US healthcare is horribly inefficient at receiving healthcare based on how much it pays (link 1). Spending nearly 20% of annual GDP and with citizens one medical emergency away from bankruptcy, the US’s laissez faire approach to healthcare needs to change.

BBB will try to help the middle income families through affordable housing and affordable college education. The average student loan debt of a graduating senior has been increasing and for 2021 sits at $30,600! There are a number of different options you can use with that amount. A college graduate could buy a reliable Japanese car like Honda/Toyota and drive 10 years before it breaks. And to be realistic, a college graduate doesn’t neccessarily need to drive a high end luxury car like BMW, Mercedes or Lexus straight out of college unless they’re in a customer facing job like sales. Or alternatively, the 30,600 could fund a 10 year passive investment account with a 5% rate of return and $200 monthly contributions which would yield nearly 80K at the end of 10 years. Or, if there’s affordable housing, the graduate could use the money on a down payment for a condo/house which leads to real estate investment wealth.

BBB says it’s “fully paid for” which I highly doubt (confirmed). However, these kinds of programs are meant to be investments in the future. And even if the future is unknown, the US government needs to act quickly because not doing anything might be worse thing to do. Unfortunately, the US government is anything but fast.

The Debt Limit again!?

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Seriously… can we as a nation start to hold both Democrats AND Republicans accountable? Back in 2017, the Republicans believed in raising the debt ceiling. When Republicans had the House, Senate and the White House to pass spending bills, of course the debt ceiling will be raised. But god forbid… when Republicans do not control the White House, they are absolutely against raising the debt ceiling.

This political bickering between Dems and Reps is hurting the country. The cyncism behind such flip-flops by both parties is why there’s such low voter turnout.

CAN WE STOP WITH THIS BULLSHIT? CAN WE VOTE OUT THIS BULLSHIT!?

Last Week Tonight: Asian Americans

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John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight talked about Asian Americans. This 30 minutes of discourse is not enough.

After watching this video….

  • Can we all agree… White America has a history of pitting various ethnic groups against each other. Even John Oliver calls it out.
  • Asian Americans are come from 20+? countries in Asia ranging from India, Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. We probably speak well over 20+ dialects/languages. We have different cultures, eat different foods, practice different religions, and have different customs. AND YET… the only thing that ties us together is this term. We should use this to our advantage.
    • As Asian Americans, we have to pursue positive change.
    • As Asian Americans, we absolutely need to leave America better for our grand kids.
    • As Asian Americans, we must demand for a country that doesn’t discriminate people of different skin color, heritage, sexual orientation, religion and socio economic status.
    • As Asian Americans, we have to help other minorities as much as possible.
  • The only thing White America fears is when we minorities call out the racism that exists. You know you’ve hit a sensitive topic when attempts to deflect the conversation involves “what about-ism”.
  • And finally… As Americans, can we strive to follow the Golden Rule? Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.

Trump’s Facebook Ban

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By now, the news of Trump’s 2 year ban from Facebook has been widely circulated. I actually disagree with Facebook’s decision of a 2 year ban. Trump should be allowed the opportunity to take back his Facebook (FB) profile. However, FB should strip his history of posts and interactions as if it were a new account. Then, Trump would be subjected to these “more stringent rules” in place for politicians and face the penalties of violating it.

One has to wonder what these new rules are and how many other rules are there. FB explicitly has said it will ban hate speech and abuse. What about lies and fake news? Does FB have an example of what FB considers as hate speech and abuse? What does FB consider as “newsworthy”? There’s so many questions that I think FB is just playing into the Republican’s hand of “censorship.” Let’s take the current Trump talking point about the “stolen” election. Where does it rank amongst FB’s new rules? FB… how about some transparency?

What about the other social media platforms like Twitter (another Trump favorite). Trump looks like it’s still banned from Twitter. But will Twitter also apply the same rules to other politicians as it did to Trump?