Chart from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
The tax policies that convicted felon and President-elect Donald Trump wants to enact will raise taxes on working-class Americans, like those in Mesa County, while cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans.
Policies that raise taxes on poorer people while disproportionately benefitting wealthier people are called “regressive taxes.” A regressive tax essentially takes the most from people who can least afford it.
Matt Gaetz, Trump’s first pick to be United States Attorney General (AG). The AG serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the United States and principal legal advisor to the U.S. President
On December 23, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Ethics Committee, whose “singular mission is to protect the integrity of the House,” released a long-awaited report on the behavior of former House Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) (pdf), who was president-elect Donald J. Trump’s first choice to be Attorney General of the United States.
Gaetz resigned from his Congressional seat after his nomination to be AG, and prior to the release of the report.
Anti-vaccine activists RFK, Jr. (L) with his friend Aaron Siri, who in 2022 asked the FDA to revoke approval of the Polio vaccine (Source: Facebook)
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK Jr.), Trump’s pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services, is working with Aaron Siri to select candidates for top public health positions in Trump’s administration.
Aaron Siri petitioned the FDA in 2022 asking it to REVOKE approval of the POLIO VACCINE.
Courtroom drawing of Red Rock GMC minority owner Bryan Knight sitting at the Defendant’s table. (Anne Landman)
In a “David vs. Goliath” case, Derek Paiz, a former detailer for Red Rock GMC, lost his pro se wage theft lawsuit against Red Rock Auto Group II, Inc. on December 11, 2024 after a six person jury returned a verdict (pdf) in favor of Red Rock.
Swearing in Trump after he promised on national television to degrade the U.S. Constitution would be assisting him in undermining the Constitution
In a recent interview with Kristin Welker broadcast on national television on December 8, convicted felon and president-elect Trump promised to “absolutely” end birthright citizenship “on day one” of his presidency:
KRISTEN WELKER: You promised to end birthright citizenship on day one.
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: Correct.
KRISTEN WELKER: Is that still your plan?
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah. Absolutely.
KRISTEN WELKER: The 14th Amendment, though, says that, quote, “All persons born in the United States are citizens.”
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah.
KRISTEN WELKER: Can you get around the 14th Amendment with an executive action?
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: Well, we’re going to have to get it changed. We’ll maybe have to go back to the people. But we have to end it.
Trump
President-elect Trump’s nominees for cabinet and other powerful positions read like a “Who’s Who” of Christian nationalists (pdf) and Project 2025 creators. His choices for key federal positions in federal government constitute a direct threat to the secular foundations of the U.S. government and signal the implementation of Project 2025, the extremist blueprint aimed at reshaping the federal government to align with a narrow sectarian ideology. Project 2025’s agenda includes dismantling the wall between state and church, curbing religious freedoms for non-Christians, and pushing policies that marginalize religious minorities and LGBTQ-plus individuals. By nominating individuals deeply entrenched in Christian nationalist movements to key positions, Trump can fast-track the implementation of this radical agenda.
Here’s a rundown of cabinet and high-level picks that are prominently connected to Christian nationalism, Project 2025 or the America First Policy Institute, founded to advance Trump’s Christian nationalist-influenced agenda:
Frame from a TV ad by a local agency that sells Medicare Advantage plans
At this time of year, ads hawking “Medicare Advantage” plans flood every possible media outlet, imploring seniors to call 1-800 numbers for “free Medicare evaluations” where brokers can sign them up for Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. MA plans are also called Part C plans, which offer premiums for private insurance plans that cost less than traditional Medicare plans while also offering freebies like vision screenings, dental cleanings, gym memberships and a monthly allowance to spend on drugstore merchandise.
These plans definitely sound alluring, but beware.
Torch-bearing white supremacists in Charlottesville, Aug. 11, 2017, cited President Trump as the inspiration for their “Unite the Right” rally (Photo: Edu Bayer/The New York Times)
On November 25, Trump said that as soon as he’s inaugurated on January 20, 2025 he will institute a new 25% tariff on all goods coming into the U.S. from Mexico and Canada, plus an additional 10% tariff on goods from China.
So look out. Your cost of living is about to get a huge increase.
Trump is either willfully ignorant about how tariffs work, or is lying to Americans about it by repeatedly asserting that other countries will pay the tariffs, and not Americans.
Economists and tax experts all say that’s completely wrong.
“I don’t belong here. I haven’t broken any laws,” says Tina, who continues to do internet shows from Mesa County Jail. (Screenshot: Rumble.com)
If you need some good news at a time when Americans have embraced racism, misogyny, vindictiveness, sexual abuse, large-scale fraud, corruption and grift as acceptable behaviors in their incoming commander-in-chief, here’s it is:
On November 25, 2024, the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission (IEC) voted to resume investigating Tina Peters (pdf) for multiple ethics charges filed against her while she was County Clerk, and not let her off the hook as a result of committing even worse crimes that landed her in prison.
Red Rock GMC on First Street in Grand Junction, where Derek Paíz was employed as a detailer
A civil wage theft lawsuit, 23CV52 (pdf), filed by a tenacious former vehicle detailer against Red Rock Auto Group II, Inc. and Red Rock’s local minority owner Bryan Knight, is headed for a fast-approaching jury trial December 9-11, 2024 at the Mesa County Justice Center.
At a virtual pre-trial conference this morning, November 20, Judge Matthew Barrett confirmed that the trial is set for those dates and will be heard by a 6-person jury.
Bryan Knight, now listed as a minority (10%) owner of Red Rock GMC
Derek Paíz worked as a detailer for Red Rock GMC at 741 N. First Street in Grand Junction from April-September, 2022. He filed the case pro se (on his own, without an attorney) on October 26, 2023 seeking wages he alleges Red Rock failed to pay him for work he did while employed at the GMC dealership in 2022.
