We Resist: Day 21

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 and Jonathan Weisman in the New York Times: Trump Assails Senator Who Divulged that Gorsuch Called Attacks on Judiciary 'Demoralizing'. "It was a bit of a kiss-and-tell moment when Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, told reporters that Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, had called Mr. Trump's attacks on the judiciary 'demoralizing' and 'disheartening.' The account was readily confirmed on the record by a White House adviser, Ron Bonjean, working to advance the Gorsuch confirmation. But that wasn't enough to stop the president from going after Mr. Bluementhal."

John Wagner at the Washington Post: Trump Attacks McCain for Questioning Success of Deadly Yemen Raid. "Trump lashed out at Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Thursday, saying that the senator's negative assessment of a deadly raid in Yemen last month 'emboldens the enemy!' ...'Sen. McCain should not be talking about the success or failure of a mission to the media,' Trump said in a series of tweets Thursday morning. 'Only emboldens the enemy! He's been losing so long he doesn't know how to win anymore. Our hero Ryan died on a winning mission ... not a 'failure,'' Trump tweeted."

So: Trump has moved from trying to publicly discredit members of the judiciary to trying to publicly discredit members of the Senate. This is unprecedented, contemptible, and very alarming.

Trump has tweeted on 3 topics this morning: Blumenthal on Gorsuch, Chris Cuomo interviewing Blumenthal, the Yemen raid. He lied about all 3.

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 9, 2017

Meanwhile, Kellyanne Conway went on Fox News to say: "Go buy Ivanka's stuff, is what I would tell you...I'm going to give it a free commercial here, go buy it today." As Larry Noble noted: "Appears Kellyanne Conway may have just violated ban on Federal employee using public office for endorsement of product. 5 CFR 2635.702." This, too, is unprecedented, contemptible, and very alarming.

[Content Note: Islamophobia; terrorism] Leah McElrath, citing reporting by Rukmini Callimachi, a leading journalistic voice on Islamic extremism, reports that ISIS refers to Trump's Muslim ban as "the Blessed Ban," because "ISIS sees this as *their* doing. They succeeded in scaring the daylight out of America" and believe it's proof "their terror tactic worked. They frightened the most powerful man in the world."

[CN: Nativism] Nigel Duara at the LA Times: Longtime Phoenix Resident in U.S. Illegally Detained in Early Display of Trump Executive Order's Reach. "A Phoenix woman in the country illegally who was considered a low priority for deportation by the Obama administration has been taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Immigrant advocates say her detention reflects the severity of the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, 36, had lived in the country since she was 14. ...A mother of two, she continued to live in Arizona and checked in with ICE every six months. On her scheduled meeting Wednesday morning, she arrived at the ICE field office in Phoenix surrounded by supporters. An immigration attorney later told the crowd outside that Garcia de Rayos had been arrested."

Ed Pilkington at the Guardian: Proposed Trump Executive Order Would Allow U.S. Firms to Sell 'Conflict Minerals'. "A draft executive order, composed last week and obtained by the Guardian, proposes a two-year suspension of a portion of the Dodd-Frank financial reforms that requires US firms to carry out due diligence to ensure that the products they sell include no minerals mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or neighbouring countries. The regulation was widely applauded as a mainstay of attempts to cut the umbilical chord between big business and violent warlords who have spread unrest throughout the Congo and caused the deaths of more than five million people since the 1990s."

Jacob Sullum at Reason: Trump Does Not Know What Civil Forfeiture Is, But He Likes It. "Trump's knee-jerk support for civil asset forfeiture is troubling, especially in light of a growing bipartisan consensus that the practice should be reformed or abolished because it hurts innocent property owners and warps law enforcement priorities. Worse, the White House transcript of the president's remarks about forfeiture shows he literally does not know what he is talking about, which suggests this 'law and order' president is happy to go along with whatever cops want, even if he has no idea what it is."

Olivia Nuzzi at New York Magazine: Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus Want You to Know They Are Friends. I'm sure they do. But the only part of this profile of two white supremacist authoritarians in which I'm interested is this: "Bannon dismissed the entire theory as a manifestation of media myopia and incuriosity. 'The opposition party'—meaning the press, not the Democrats—'has to have …' He paused. 'Since they're too dumb and too lazy to actually do any work, um — am I over my skis here right now?' he asked Priebus. 'No, no,' Priebus laughed." Being interviewed for a personal profile, they are complaining about the press. They're like trolls who shout about being censored in comments sections, thus proving they are not being censored. Except, you know, much more dangerous, since they are running the country and trying to discredit the press so they can't be held accountable.

Lissandra Villa at BuzzFeed: Senators Are Pissed Their Constituents Can't Get Through as Phone Calls Flood the Senate. Well, some Republican Senators. So, you know, keep calling.

[CN: Misogyny; video may autoplay at link] Andrew Kaczynski at CNN: Sen. Lindsey Graham: Silencing Sen. Elizabeth Warren 'Was Long Overdue'. Ah, THERE'S the Lindsey Graham I knew and loathed all those years.

[CN: Death penalty] Breanna Edwards at The Root: Mississippi Considers Firing Squad, Electrocution, and Gas Chamber as Execution Methods. "Mississippi lawmakers are pushing forth a proposal to add firing squad, electrocution, and the gas chamber as methods of execution in case a court blocks the use of the drugs that are used in lethal injections, the Associated Press reports. The bill, Mississippi House Judiciary B Committee Chairman Andy Gipson said, is a response to lawsuits filed by 'liberal, left-wing radicals.' If you couldn't guess, Gipson is a Republican. Anyway, apparently, the bill that proposes the antiquated methods of execution passed in the Mississippi House of Representatives despite opposition Wednesday, and now, the ball is in the court of the Senate."

[CN: Guns] Lois Beckett at the Guardian: Gun Rights Advocates Prepare Push for More Guns in Schools. "'If taxpayer dollars are funding a facility…you should be able to exercise your second amendment right to carry,' [Missouri state legislator Andrew McDaniel] said. ...Last year, gun control advocates defeated legislation in 15 different states that would have allowed more guns into K-12 schools, according to a national group, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. And already this year, the group said, nine states have introduced new legislation."

[CN: Misogyny] Nicole Knight at Rewire: Lawmaker: Pregnant Workers Who Want Accommodations Should Quit. A South Dakota Republican this week offered an unusual solution for workers denied on-the-job pregnancy accommodations: quit. Rep. Wayne H. Steinhauer (R-Minnehaha) was on a panel of state lawmakers, all men, who voted 8 to 3 Monday to shelve a bill requiring reasonable workplace accommodations during and after pregnancy, including frequent or longer breaks, modified work schedules, and private non-bathroom space for breastfeeding. 'It's not prison. You can quit,' Steinhauer, a business owner, said during a Monday hearing of the House Commerce and Energy Committee on the bill, HB 1120. 'You've got a choice every day. You make a choice whether you come to work. And I'm here to tell you, if a person's not allowing you to breastfeed at work or making appropriate accommodations at work, we can pass this law, but you don't want to work for that guy. Get the heck out of there.'"

[CN: White supremacy; anti-Semitism] Morgan Eads at the Lexington Herald Leader: White Nationalists Plan Conference for 'White Working Families' at State Park in Eastern Kentucky. "A white nationalist group plans to instruct participants on proper marching, how to create propaganda, and on being 'a voice for our people' at a conference in April at Jenny Wiley State Park in Floyd County. ...The chairman of the organization, Matthew Heimbach, said Wednesday that the party will join people from the National Socialist Movement and other groups to host the conference. Over 100 people have registered so far. ...The Southern Poverty Law Center lists the Traditionalist Worker Party as 'a white nationalist group that advocates for racially pure nations and communities and blames Jews for many of the world's problems.'"

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