We Resist: Day 67

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 in the news today:

Karen DeYoung and Missy Ryan at the Washington Post: Trump Administration Weighs Deeper Involvement in Yemen War. "Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has asked the White House to lift Obama-era restrictions on U.S. military support for Persian Gulf states engaged in a protracted civil war against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to senior Trump administration officials. ...Approval of the request would mark a significant policy shift. U.S. military activity in Yemen until now has been confined mainly to counterterrorism operations against al-Qaeda's affiliate there, with limited indirect backing for gulf state efforts in a two-year-old war that has yielded significant civilian casualties. It would also be a clear signal of the administration's intention to move more aggressively against Iran."

[Content Note: War; terrorism; death] Jonathan Marcus at the BBC: A New U.S. Strategy in the Fight Against So-Called Islamic State? "All the signs are that military commanders are being given greater autonomy in pushing forward the operation, whether it be freeing up the Pentagon from the micro-management of the White House and National Security Council, or greater leeway to local US commanders in Iraq to call in airstrikes. Inevitably, this has led to problems. Reports suggest the civilian death toll is growing markedly... US forces are now much more intimately involved in the fighting in both Iraq and Syria, though there are still the ritual denials that they are actually in the front line. ...The US seems to be intensifying its military campaign against IS without any real equivalent diplomatic surge."

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Jake Tapper at CNN: Nunes Says He Was on White House Grounds the Day Before Revealing Trump Surveillance Info. "One source told CNN that Nunes, a California Republican, was seen on the White House grounds the day before his announcement. In a phone interview, Nunes confirmed to CNN that he was on the White House grounds that day―but he said he was not in the White House itself. ...He told CNN he wanted to 'reiterate this has nothing to do with Russia.' Nunes went to the building because he needed a secure area to view the information, he told CNN." Sounds legit. (It does not sound legit.)

Greg Miller and Karoun Demirjian at the Washington Post: Chairman and Partisan: The Dual Roles of Devin Nunes Raise Questions About House Investigation. "Nunes, 43, has said he is committed to leading an impartial inquiry into Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. election, and search for any evidence of coordination with Trump or his associates. But Nunes, who served as an adviser on Trump's transition team, has also at times used his position as chair of the intelligence committee in ways that seem aligned with the interests of the White House. ...Nunes has pushed his panel to focus on lines of inquiry—including hunting the sources of damaging news leaks—that seem more favorable to Trump." This is why we need an independent commission to investigate. Now.

Sam Fellman at BuzzFeed: The Trump Administration Was Silent for Hours After Russia Arrested Hundreds of Protesters. "Russian police in riot gear arrested a leading opposition leader and hundreds of protesters in Moscow on Sunday, as the biggest protests Russia has seen in years bloomed in cities across the country. Hours after this crackdown on what appeared to be largely peaceful gatherings, the Trump administration did not issue any statements about the arrests." It took a State Department spokesperson 12 hours to issue a statement condemning the detention of peaceful protesters.

[CN: Shooting; death] In other things Trump couldn't be bothered to tweet about: "A shooting in a Cincinnati nightclub left 15 people wounded, one of them fatally, early on Sunday morning." Cameo, the site of the shooting, is a hip-hop nightclub.

There's been a shooting in a nightclub; one person is dead; not a peep on Twitter from Trump, who is reportedly golfing today.

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 26, 2017

The man who was killed has been identified as Obryan Spikes. My condolences to his family, friends, and community.

Joanna Walters at the Guardian: Donald Trump Blames Everyone But Himself for Healthcare Legislation Failure. "As internecine squabbling continued in the Republican party, [Trump's] targets included conservatives in Congress, Democrats and, possibly, the House speaker, Paul Ryan." The buck stops...over there somewhere.

Daniel Politi at Slate: Bannon Pushed Trump to Use Health Care Vote to Write Up 'Enemies List'. "The New York Times reports that Bannon kept on pushing President Donald Trump to pressure the health care vote to move forward so that an 'enemies list' could be compiled of all those who voted against the measure. The president's legislative affairs director, Marc Short, was also pushing the same idea. ...The Times story appears to confirm earlier reports from the Daily Beast that quoted an official saying that Bannon called on the president 'to keep a shit list on this.' The unnamed official added: 'Not sure if I'd call it an 'enemies list,' per se, but I wouldn't want to be on it.' Another aide described it as a 'hit list' for Republicans who were not loyal to the president." Everything is fine. (Everything is not fine.)

[CN: Racism; privacy violations] Olivia Solon at the Guardian: Facial Recognition Database Used by FBI Is Out of Control, House Committee Hears. "Approximately half of adult Americans' photographs are stored in facial recognition databases that can be accessed by the FBI, without their knowledge or consent, in the hunt for suspected criminals. About 80% of photos in the FBI's network are non-criminal entries, including pictures from driver's licenses and passports. The algorithms used to identify matches are inaccurate about 15% of the time, and are more likely to misidentify black people than white people. These are just some of the damning facts presented at last week's House oversight committee hearing, where politicians and privacy campaigners criticized the FBI and called for stricter regulation of facial recognition technology at a time when it is creeping into law enforcement and business."

[CN: Assault] Angel Jennings and Anh Do at the L.A. Times: Reporter and Photographers Say They Were Assaulted by Trump Supporters at Huntington Beach Rally. "An OC Weekly reporter and two photographers said Sunday that they were physically assaulted by pro-Trump demonstrators at a Make America Great Again rally in Huntington Beach and are seeking the public's help in identifying at least one of the people responsible." This didn't happen in a vacuum. Trump's relentless discrediting campaign against the media is fueling this violent hatred.

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