In 2016, the President’s Cabinet consists of 15 Department heads (all named Secretary, except the Attorney General of the Justice Department). These are the highest ranking government executives in America, besides the constitutionally elected President and Vice-President. The Vice-President is considered part of the Cabinet. Each of the 15 Cabinet officers must be approved by the Senate, after nomination by the President. In addition, there are seven other government officers considered of Cabinet rank.
| Vice President of the United States | |
| Official Cabinet Departments | |
| 1 | Department of State |
| 2 | Department of the Treasury |
| 3 | Department of Defense |
| 4 | Department of Justice |
| 5 | Department of the Interior |
| 6 | Department of Agriculture |
| 7 | Department of Commerce |
| 8 | Department of Labor |
| 9 | Department of Health and Human Services |
| 10 | Department of Housing and Urban Development |
| 11 | Department of Transportation |
| 12 | Department of Energy |
| 13 | Department of Education |
| 14 | Department of Veterans Affairs |
| 15 | Department of Homeland Security |
| Additional Cabinet Rank Appointments | |
| 1 | White House Chief of Staff |
| 2 | Environmental Protection Agency |
| 3 | Office of Management & Budget |
| 4 | United States Trade Representative |
| 5 | United States Mission to the United Nations |
| 6 | Council of Economic Advisers |
| 7 | Small Business Administration |
Newish Names Since Last Week
These newer female potential cabinet members are:
Gov. Nikki Haley (in Red)
- Gov. Nikki Haley (South Carolina) for Secretary of State
- Shirley Ybarra for Secretary of Transportation
- Michelle Rhee for Secretary of Education
- Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education
Betsy DeVos, Trump’s Secretary of Education Nominee
Today, Trump made it official. He announced he will nominate two women for Cabinet level positions: Gov. Nikki Haley (SC) for U.N. Ambassador, and Betsy DeVos, a billionaire private citizen for Secretary of Education.
Women converted two of four potential job slots into official Trump Cabinet picks over the past week. Gov. Haley got moved on the chess board to another post, not in the line of Presidential succession. One candidate is gone (Michelle Rhee), one is still pending (Shirley Ybarra).
The Orphan Basket of three departments with no candidates last week is no more. The Secretary of Education nominee has been chosen, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has a serious candidate in Dr. Ben Carson, and the Department of Labor has had one potential pick put forward by the Transition Team.
The Transition Train, Conductor Donald J. Trump**, is chugging along.
It’s Official (For Now): Trump’s Picks Appointment Accepted
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/us/politics/donald-trump-president-elect.html?_r=0
What to Make of the Cabinet Selections So Far (as of November 23)
They say it is often best to Go With What You Know. And in the last week the Trump transition team has wavered some from their relentless pursuit of Whiteness.
Trump’s Cabinet Picks (as of November 23, 2016)
By deciding to include Nikki Haley and Betsy DeVos Trump has added a feminine side to his dominant decorating scheme. In one fell swoop, he has added a double diversity element and a two-fer simultaneously. The two women selected drop his previously 100% White Male enclave to a less exclusive 78% White Male enclosure.
Photos by Renee Ittner-McManus/rimphotography.com
Gov. Nikki Haley (in Blue)
In Nicki Haley Trump has garnered a two-fer, both a Woman and an Ethnic Minority pick. Nikki is surely the former, and is usually described as an Indian-American, or more frequently an Asian-American whose ethnic roots are in South Asia (India).
Life, sadly, is often complicated. More greys than Black or White. The ethnic identification of Americans of Indian subcontinent extraction has a long and very complex history. The U.S. Courts and the Census Bureau often disagree with each other. Indian-American themselves are split on the issue. U.S. Courts refused to recognize Indian-Americans as White for citizenship (immigration) purposes from 1923 onwards (U.S. Supreme Court decided United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, 1923).
The U.S. census for quite some time has let people of Indian Asian extraction self-designate (1980) whether they want to be considered White or Asian-American in the official 10-year census count. As of the 1990 census summary, about 89% of the affected American population checked Asian-American, 4% listed White. Nicky Haley has often labeled herself a proud Indian-America; on her 2001 voter registration card she gave her ethnicity as White.
Understand that none of this makes any difference as to who Nikki Haley actually is, or what she stands for. But is this era of heightened tensions about who is really a true American, and significant distrust of immigrants, foreigners, and their families fanned by the campaign rhetoric and frequent actions of a substantial fraction of Trump supporters, it injects muddle and confusion in assessing her status.
She may consider herself White for some purposes, and an Indian-American for others. That is up to her. For purposes of characterizing as best we can the diversity of Trump’s Cabinet choices, let’s consider her the first, and so far only, member of a minority ethnic group.
As for Betsy DeVos, while she will rank in the presidential line of succession and Haley won’t, Nikki Haley has gotten more press attention just now. Betsy DeVos is extremely rich, and rather unknown to most Americans outside of Michigan, where she is known as a fierce advocate for alternatives to public schools. An outside observer might be forgiven for concluding her primary purpose is to bleed the Public School system dry, not White.
She is enthusiastic about engaging the entire country in a massive experiment on privatization of secondary education, by means that have never been attempted or proven anywhere in the U.S. on a mass scale. A ginormous roll of the dice with the future of all our kids. Just trust us private school reformers, our little successes can be scaled up smoothly and leave no one behind, even those other kids.
Recall that this is a huge step back from one of the singular glories of the rise of American power, wealth, and influence since the early 19th century. That is, for more than 150 years America has made a solemn promise to our citizens, all our people, that every kid will have the chance to receive a completely free, quality public-school education through high school funded entirely by general tax revenues.
DeVos may have a shot at imposing her utopian vision, with Trump’s enthusiastic backing. But only at the cost of finally destroying and discarding a basic part of the social contract that has bound Americans together for the better part of 200 years. Dare I point out that neither DeVos or Trump has any direct personal experience with public secondary education; they each grew up with silver spoons in a money bubble, education-wise.
Problems with the Public Education system? You bet, big ones. Kill the whole engine to bring in for-profit greedsters, hucksters, and charlatans to drain the Public Treasury? That is a recipe to cheat the good folks in DWA trying to do better.
It won’t take that long to play out. Within 10 years DWA is likely to find they are perfectly free to send their kids to any of a number of quality private schools, just as long as they can somehow find the $25-$30,000 each and every year for each and every child they have in order to pay for it. Given local and state budget constraints, and concerns about tax rates, you can bet there won’t be any serious public tuition funding for their preferred choices. An air kiss in passing, perhaps.
As for Washington and federal tax subsidies, don’t you know, what with the nations’ budget deficit and national debt, there will be no room for cash payments direct to parents to help when tuition is due each semester. There could be some tax credit assistance, but that helps only after parents cough up the $25,000 for each kid up front. In other words, it helps only those wealthy enough to not need the help in the first place. Surprise, surprise. DWA stiffed again.
In the meantime, what is left of the Public School system will be dead or dying, lost for good. Regular folks screwed again, double time. Loss of a primary social contract benefit, all the time paying subsidizing benefits for rich folks.
State of the Proto-Cabinet Summary
All told, including Trump and Pence, the 22 cabinet rank posts, and the three special significant add-ons (Senior Political Advisor, National Security Advisor, and CIA Director) that makes a total of 27 picks at issue. That said, Trump’s proto-cabinet is now 1/3 selected (9 of 27). Women comprise 22%; ethnic minorities 11%.
Whites of both sexes make up either 89% or 100% of his choices so far, depending on how Nikki Haley wants to be counted. Not much change from one week ago, still very top-heavy White Males. Still snow blindness territory observed from a middle distance.
One might almost think there just aren’t any qualified ethnic choices among the very best people for poor President Trump to draw on. Just a slice or two, even thin slices, when America is 40% other than White. Or maybe Trump’s inner circle is restricted and inbred, and thus hampered by the Gene thing Trump likes to talk about.
For the moment, given Trump’s promises of fair inclusion for all of America’s citizens by gender and ethnicity, he remains well short of his pledge.
America’s Countdown to Midnight is now at 8 Weeks until Inauguration. Time Marches on.
A Brief Meditation on Night and Seneca the Philosopher
Seneca the Younger 17th Century Marble Bust (Prado Museum)
Here is a pithy quote from Seneca the Younger (circa 4 B.C.- 65 A.D.), famous Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, wealthy citizen, and powerful advisor to the Emperor.
Night brings our troubles to the light, rather than banishes them.
While we are on the subject of Seneca’s wisdom, here are two more pertinent sayings from his writings.
Greed’s worst point is its ingratitude.
The worse a person is the less he feels it.
Seneca was an immigrant from the hinterlands brought to Rome as a young boy, who received a good education. He rose to a position of power and influence, and was subject to harsh criticism by political opponents. He was accused of hypocrisy and toadying up to the tyrant Nero, labeled a constant womanizer, and engaged in financial manipulations in Roman colonies, while amassing a personal fortune. In AD 65 he was implicated in a plot on the Emperor, and ordered to commit suicide.
Seneca’s story has survived for 2,000 years as part of the corpus of Western civilization. There are parallels and cautionary tales for our shared humanity, and our recently chosen most powerful American political leader.
The lessons of Seneca were likely never learned in school, and unlikely to be heeded late in life by those needful of his sound advice. Boring, requires detailed reading, and hard thinking. All excellent reasons to skip the lessons, like the Daily Intelligence Briefings that go mostly undelivered at the top since November 9th.
Pity. The soon to be President-Elect might actually learn a thing or two.
*Today’s musical interlude inspiration is courtesy of Kool & the Gang’s major funk and disco hit, Ladies’ Night (1979).
Kool & the Gang sing Ladies’ Night
The song, from their album of the same name was number 8 song on the Billboard Top 100 Chart for 1980. The famous tag line from the song is the phrase, “This is your night tonight. Everything’s gonna be all right.”
I’m not sure if Betsy DeVos will understand. She may be of a certain age and immune. However, I bet Nikki Haley gets it, and that she appreciates the beat and the sentiment from 35 years ago played forward. Regardless of whether she is White or Indian-American right now.
Gov. Nikki Haley (in White)
Who’s in charge of the Train? Is it the Conductor or the Engineer? The consensus is that the Conductor has the supervisory responsibility over the entire operation. Thus, Conductor Trump, not Engineer Trump.
Tuesday’s night Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia, which appears to have been caused by the train’s excessive speed around a tight curve, has left many wondering who is responsible for what on American trains. A modern-day train typically has two to five crew members responsible for operating it. The two required no matter the type of train are an engineer and a conductor; the former is responsible for operating the locomotive, while the latter plays a supervisory role over the entire operation. The two work in unison.
An engineer sits in what the layman may call the driver’s seat. He is directly responsible for the speed at which a train travels and for relaying operational information to the conductor, who usually take on the responsibility of communicating with higher-level operators to inform and be informed of delays and need-to-know information. Both conductors and engineers are trained specifically for each locomotive and each route they will operate on, because they all require different styles of operation. For example, a train carrying coal through the American Midwest is operated differently from a passenger train traveling between Eastern Seaboard metropolises. The train model that derailed in Philadelphia is the fastest passenger train in the U.S. and requires unique operating training.
For many older New Yorkers used to the city’s massive subway system from the good old days (1960’s), the more familiar term for who’s running the train might be Motorman, instead of either of the above choices.
From the Wikipedia entry for the Roman philosopher, Seneca:
Seneca, Roman Stoic Philosopher (circa 4 BC – 65 AD)
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (often known as Seneca the Younger or simply Seneca (c. 4 BC – AD 65) was a RomanStoicphilosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature.
He was a tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero. While he was forced to commit suicide for alleged complicity in the Pisonian conspiracy to assassinate Nero, some sources state that he may have been innocent.
He was born in Cordoba in Hispania, and raised in Rome, where he was trained in rhetoric and philosophy. Caligula and Fabius were critics of his works, and Columella, Pliny, Tacitus and Dio proponents.
From AD 54 to 62, Seneca acted as Nero’s advisor, together with the praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus. One byproduct of his influence was that Seneca was appointed suffect consul in 56. Seneca’s influence was said to have been especially strong in the first year.Tacitus and Dio suggest that Nero’s early rule, during which time he listened to Seneca and Burrus, was quite competent.
Dio reports the common uncomplimentary rumors circulating about Seneca’s hypocrisy and venality:
“Nor was this the only instance in which his conduct was seen to be diametrically opposed to the teachings of his philosophy. For while denouncing tyranny, he was making himself the teacher of a tyrant; while inveighing against the associates of the powerful, he did not hold aloof from the palace itself; and though he had nothing good to say of flatterers, he himself had constantly fawned upon Messalina and the freedmen of Claudius, to such an extent, in fact, as actually to send them from the island of his exile a book containing their praises—a book that he afterwards suppressed out of shame. Though finding fault with the rich, he himself acquired a fortune of 300,000,000 sesterces; and though he censured the extravagances of others, he had five hundred tables of citrus wood with legs of ivory, all identically alike, and he served banquets on them.”
Dio also reports that Seneca had been involved in forcing large loans on the indigenous British aristocracy in the aftermath of Claudius’s Roman conquest of Britain, and then calling them in suddenly and aggressively, which he includes as one of the factors that contributed to Boudica’s rebellion. This may have contributed as well to his own downfall.
In AD 65, Seneca was caught up in the aftermath of the Pisonian conspiracy, a plot to kill Nero. Although it is unlikely that Seneca conspired, Nero ordered him to kill himself.
Seneca’s Suicide German Woodcut Printed Illustration (1474)
Seneca remains one of the few popular Roman philosophers from the period. He appears not only in Dante, but also in Chaucer and to a large degree in Petrarch, who adopted his style in his own essays and who quotes him more than any other authority except Virgil. In the Renaissance, printed editions and translations of his works became common, including an edition by Erasmus and a commentary by John Calvin. John of Salisbury, Erasmus and others celebrated his works. French essayist Montaigne, who gave a spirited defense of Seneca and Plutarch in his Essays, was himself considered by Pasquier a “French Seneca.”
Even with the admiration of an earlier group of intellectual stalwarts, Seneca is not without his detractors. In his own time, he was widely considered to be a hypocrite or, at least, less than “stoic” in his lifestyle. His tendency to engage in illicit affairs with married women and close ties to Nero’s excess test the limits of his teachings on restraint and self-discipline. It would make sense that Seneca’s position of power would make him vulnerable to trumped-up charges, as many public figures were at the time.
Examination of Seneca’s life and thought in relation to contemporary education and to the psychology of emotions is revealing the relevance of his thought. For example, Martha Nussbaum in her discussion of desire and emotion includes Seneca among the Stoics who offered important insights and perspectives on emotions and their role in our lives. Specifically devoting a chapter to his treatment of anger and its management, she shows Seneca’s appreciation of the damaging role of uncontrolled anger, and its pathological connections.
Some writers regard Seneca as the first great Western thinker on the complex nature and role of gratitude in human relationships.
Works attributed to Seneca include a dozen philosophical essays, one hundred and twenty-four letters dealing with moral issues, nine tragedies, and a satire, the attribution of which is disputed.
Seneca generally employed a pointed rhetorical style. His writings expose traditional themes of Stoic philosophy: the universe is governed for the best by a rational providence; contentment is achieved through a simple, unperturbed life in accordance with nature and duty to the state; human suffering should be accepted and has a beneficial effect on the soul; study and learning are important.
Place of Printed Books in Houses of Wealthy 25 Years After Gutenberg
Most Americans probably associate the Gutenberg Bible (1455) as the first printed book. This is, not so surprising a rather gross error. In point of fact, the Chinese have practiced woodblock printing since 868 AD, and printing with moveable woodblock type characters since 1313 AD, or more than 1,000 years ago.
From the Wikipedia entry on the History of Books:
The invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg around 1440 marks the entry of the book into the industrial age. The Western book was no longer a single object, written or reproduced by request. The publication of a book became an enterprise, requiring capital for its realization and a market for its distribution. The cost of each individual book (in a large edition) was lowered enormously, which in turn increased the distribution of books. The book in codex form and printed on paper, as we know it today, dates from the 15th century. Books printed before January 1, 1501, are called incunables. The spreading of book printing all over Europe occurred relatively quickly, but most books were still printed in Latin. The spreading of the concept of printing books in the vernacular was a somewhat slower process.
What Gutenberg did do that was notable was print the first mass produced book using moveable metal type in Europe in 1455. That is rather a long list of qualifiers to one claim. This is a fairly common ethnocentric blindness trait exhibited by the dominant Western civilization boosters. Others (foreigners) are less clever, less smart, and less rich than we are, and have been so for as long as we care to look back. It is one of the least admirable American habits.
It is a also bad habit that Trump seems particularly subject to, foreign and domestic. He is constantly making broad bold claims that simply do not pass the smell test. As if by their mere utterance and repetition, that will somehow make them come to pass. He seems to shrug off inconvenient facts as if they just don’t apply to him.
Like say, for instance, I got the most primary votes in 2016 (Clinton), or the biggest political rally crowds (Obama), or the biggest TV ratings for my convention (Obama, McCain). No, no, and no. Or that he won the 2016 popular vote for President, when he lost by more than 2 million actual votes cast, and has ended up with the lowest percentage for any Electoral College choice for President in 192 years. Quite a record that is, perhaps indelible, and historic.
James Lenox copy (acquired 1847) of Gutenberg Bible (NY Public Library)
There is no question that the Gutenberg Bible is a highly significant event in Western culture and its reflection in modern day America. There are only 49 complete, or nearly complete copies of this work known to exist in all the world (as of 2009). Eleven of these are found in the United States. The only country with more copies is Germany with 13. The first copy ever owned by a U.S. citizen is the James Lennox copy (1847) held in the New York City Public Library. Our Library of Congress in Washington has a good copy. Other U.S. copies are found at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, the University of Texas, and interestingly at the Lilly Library of Indiana University. The only institution with more than one copy is the Morgan Library, a private institution also in New York City, which has three.
What do copies of the Gutenberg Bible have to do with anything? With all our faults and flaws, America since its founding has always been a repository and protector of learning and cultural objects of significance for us and the world. We have an honored tradition in this country of very generous philanthropic giving and support from our prominent and wealthy citizens, especially the extremely wealthy and most fortunate of our citizens.
This shining example has been essentially lost on Trump who is so miserly with his fortune as to earn the well deserved nickname of “The Cheapskate Billionaire”. Historically, and compared to his financial and biological contemporaries, Trump’s generosity is a pitiful drip-drip dribble compared to a full flow from others.
Rockefeller and Morgan and Carnegie, much tougher and richer businessmen in their day than Trump will ever be, knew better.
There are no educational institutions, collections of art or artifacts, performance venues, or public purpose institutions bearing his name or substantially funded by him or his companies. None. Not a one. What a sad commentary on 70 years of a bountiful life with literally billions in resources to manage and dispose of. The best Trump can do is grab it all for himself, and five children, and keep grabbing.
A failure of imagination, of concern for his fellow man, of generosity of spirit, and a profound failure of individual leadership. A failure of Biblical proportions, if Trump claims a Christian faith and ethic for himself.