We Resist: Day 6

One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.

So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.

Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.

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Here are some things I've read today:

Charlie Savage at the New York Times: [Content Note: Torture; war crimes] Trump Poised to Lift Ban on C.I.A. 'Black Site' Prisons.

The Trump administration is preparing a sweeping executive order that would clear the way for the C.I.A. to reopen overseas "black site" prisons, like those where it detained and tortured terrorism suspects before former President Barack Obama shut them down.

President Trump's three-page draft order, titled "Detention and Interrogation of Enemy Combatants" and obtained by The New York Times, would also undo many of the other restrictions on handling detainees that Mr. Obama put in place in response to policies of the Bush administration.

If Mr. Trump signs the draft order, he would also revoke Mr. Obama's directive to give the International Committee of the Red Cross access to all detainees in American custody. That would be another step toward reopening secret prisons outside of the normal wartime rules established by the Geneva Conventions, although statutory obstacles would remain.

Utterly vile.

Julia Edwards Ainsley at Reuters: [CN: Islamophobia] Trump expected to order temporary ban on refugees. "U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to sign executive orders starting on Wednesday that include a temporary ban on most refugees and a suspension of visas for citizens of Syria and six other Middle Eastern and African countries, say congressional aides and immigration experts briefed on the matter. ...Another order will block visas being issued to anyone from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, said the aides and experts, who asked not to be identified."

Jerry Markon, Robert Costa, and Abigail Hauslohner at the Washington Post: [CN: Anti-immigrationism; white supremacy] Trump to sign executive orders enabling construction of proposed border wall and targeting sanctuary cities. "President Trump plans to sign executive orders Wednesday enabling construction of his proposed wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and targeting cities where local leaders refuse to hand over [undocumented] immigrants for deportation, according to White House officials familiar with the decisions."

Michelle Goldberg at Slate: [CN: War on agency] Trump Didn't Just Reinstate the Global Gag Rule; He Massively Expanded It. "In the past, the global gag rule meant that foreign NGOs must disavow any involvement with abortion in order to receive U.S. family planning funding. Trump's version of the global gag rule expands the policy to all global health funding. According to Ehlers, the new rule means that rather than impacting $600 million in U.S. foreign aid, the global gag rule will affect $9.5 billion. Organizations working on AIDS, malaria, or maternal and child health will have to make sure that none of their programs involves so much as an abortion referral."

Tom McCarthy and Megan Carpentier at the Guardian: Trump's supreme court shortlist: three potential nominees emerge. "Trump's reported top picks—Neil Gorsuch, Thomas Hardiman, and Bill Pryor—are all federal appeals court judges appointed by George W. Bush, with strong conservative credentials. Their collective views have ranged from supporting 'religious liberty' exemptions for employers who object to covering contraception under healthcare plans, to support for a rollback of abortion rights."

Hui Yong-Yu at Bloomberg: Trump Hotels CEO Plots U.S. Expansion With Foreign Plans Shelved. "'There are 26 major metropolitan areas in the U.S., and we're in five,' Trump Hotels CEO Eric Danziger said after a panel discussion Tuesday at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit in Los Angeles. 'I don't see any reason that we couldn't be in all of them eventually.' Having Trump hotels in 26 cities would triple the current total."

Isaac Arnsdorf at Politico: Trump's company picks GOP lawyer, own attorney for ethics team. "Bobby Burchfield, a partner in the Washington office of King & Spalding who represented George W. Bush in the 2000 Florida recount, will be independent ethics adviser. He'll be responsible for signing off on transactions that could raise ethics or conflicts of interest concerns. ...In addition, George Sorial, a lawyer for the Trump Organization since 2007, will become chief compliance counsel. Sorial's work for Trump included his for-profit education company, Trump University, that recently paid $25 million to settle fraud accusations."

Jon Swaine at the Guardian: Four more journalists get felony charges after covering inauguration unrest. "Four more journalists have been charged with felonies after being arrested while covering the unrest around Donald Trump's inauguration, meaning that at least six media workers are facing up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine if convicted."

Senator Rand Paul has introduced his alternative to the Affordable Care Act and [pdf] it's total garbage. Like, scary and dismal garbage.

Michael Fitzgerald at Towleroad: [CN: Homophobia] AG Nominee Jeff Sessions Stands by Support for Extreme Anti-Gay First Amendment Defense Act. "Jeff Sessions, President Trump's nominee for attorney general, is continuing to stand by his support for the heinous anti-gay First Amendment Defense Act (FADA). Human Rights Watch notes that the bill 'would prohibit any adverse action by the federal government against an individual or organization for discriminatory actions against legally married same-sex couples as long as they claim they are acting in accordance with their religious beliefs.'"

Teddy Wilson at Rewire: [CN: War on agency] Arkansas Lawmakers Pass Anti-Choice Law That Courts Have Nixed. "The Arkansas House on Monday passed a bill, created by an anti-choice legislation mill, seeking to ban a commonly used procedure for miscarriages and second-trimester abortion care. ...Bills criminalizing the D and E procedure were created by the National Right to Life Committee, an anti-choice legislation mill."

Joanna Walters at the Guardian: Indiana bill would allow police to shut down protests 'by any means necessary'. "The proposed law, simply labelled Senate Bill 285, or SB 285, and designed to deal with 'traffic obstruction by protestors' would go into effect in July if passed. It calls for officials, such as a city mayor or county sheriff, to be required to quickly clear any mass traffic obstruction—defined as 10 or more protesters—blocking roads."

What have you been reading that we need to resist today?