We Resist: Day 60

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, March 20, 2017
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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.

* * *

Here are some things in the news today:

As you may recall, I have been saying for some time now that the most present national security threat outside the U.S. is the escalation in East Asia. On Friday, in case you missed it, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson threatened "preemptive action" against North Korea, Pyongyang threatened war, and Trump responded by casually taunting North Korea and China on Twitter. So, everything's fine. (Everything is not fine.)

Lisa Rein and Juliet Eilperin at the Washington Post: White House Installs Political Aides at Cabinet Agencies to Be Trump's Eyes and Ears. "Most members of Trump's Cabinet do not yet have leadership teams in place or even nominees for top deputies. But they do have an influential coterie of senior aides installed by the White House who are charged—above all—with monitoring the secretaries' loyalty, according to eight officials in and outside the administration. This shadow government of political appointees with the title of senior White House adviser is embedded at every Cabinet agency, with offices in or just outside the secretary's suite." This is not normal.

Austin Wright and Martin Matishak at Politico: Comey Confirms FBI Probe into Trump-Russia Collusion. "FBI Director James Comey confirmed Monday the FBI is investigating Russia's meddling in the presidential election, including possible links between the Trump campaign and Moscow. Comey told the House Intelligence Committee at a hearing that the bureau normally does not comment on the existence of counterintelligence investigations, but that he was authorized to do so in this case because of the extraordinary public interest." Rage. Seethe. Boil. This fucking guy.


Meanwhile, Republicans on the committee are doing their damnedest to deflect and run interference for Trump. Trey Gowdy questions Comey about leaks. Devin Nunes wonders if the Clinton campaign shouldn't be investigated for ties to Russia. The long and the short of the hearing is this:


And this, of course, is from what they are trying to protect Trump, at all costs:


[Content Note: Sexism] Ian Millhiser at ThinkProgress: SCOTUS nominee Neil Gorsuch Faces Extraordinary Sexism Allegation from Former Student. "Jennifer Sisk, a Denver attorney who took a class taught by Gorsuch at University of Colorado law school, wrote to Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) claiming that Gorsuch said firms should engage in illegal and sexist hiring practices. ...The judge, according to Sisk, 'argued that because many women left their companies we all knew women who purposefully used their companies.' Gorsuch also allegedly 'outlined how law firms, and companies in general, had to ask female interviewees about pregnancy plans in order to protect the company.' According to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal law banning sex discrimination in employment [prohibits] 'covered employers from basing hiring decisions on pregnancy or sex. Thus, an employer may not refuse to hire a woman because she is or expects to become pregnant.'"

[CN: Water contamination] Yessenia Funes at Colorlines: A Water Crisis Like Flint's Is Unfolding in East Chicago, Indiana. "And [lead is] not just in the dirt—it's in the Garza's drinking water, too. This is because East Chicago, a predominantly Black and Latinx city of nearly 30,000, is located on the USS Lead Superfund Site. ...Some homeowners' backyards had lead levels higher than 45,000 parts per million, far beyond the federal limit of 400 parts per million." Fucking hell.

[CN: Homophobia] Andy Towle at Towleroad: Georgia GOP Lawmakers Add Anti-LGBT Provision to Adoption Bill in Sneak Attack. "George GOP lawmakers made a sneak attack on LGBT people on Thursday, adding a discriminatory provision to an adoption bill pending in the state legislature. The Georgia Voice reports: 'In a shameful act of political maneuvering, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee just tainted a good adoption bill by adding a blatantly discriminatory amendment that seeks to allow adoption agencies—even ones that receive public funding—to discriminate against same-sex couples and refuse to work with prospective LGBT parents,' Jeff Graham said in a statement from the organization Georgia Unites."

[CN: Bigotry] Mike Stark at Rewire: Right-Wing Media Is a Domestic Threat to the Republic. "Rosenwald suggests that talk radio's power will continue to be a dominant force until the nuts and bolts of elections are dismantled and rebuilt with a more resilient design that increases the diversity of powerful voices heard in Republican primaries. If he is correct, the United States of America faces a threat from within unlike any it's ever known. The fact is, conservatives control virtually all levers of the federal government, and the vast majority of the states. Talk radio and conservative propaganda work to their immense benefit; they cannot—and should not—be expected to level the playing field."

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