We Resist: Day 104

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:

I covered Trump's planned executive order on "religious liberty" here.

The White House: Readout of [Donald] Trump's Call with President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation. "[Donald] Trump of the United States and President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation spoke today regarding Syria. [Donald] Trump and President Putin agreed that the suffering in Syria has gone on for far too long and that all parties must do all they can to end the violence. The conversation was a very good one, and included the discussion of safe, or de-escalation, zones to achieve lasting peace for humanitarian and many other reasons. The United States will be sending a representative to the cease-fire talks in Astana, Kazakhstan on May 3-4. They also discussed at length working together to eradicate terrorism throughout the Middle East. Finally, they spoke about how best to resolve the very dangerous situation in North Korea."

I'm sure these two great humanitarians will solve all the problems of the world together in no time. (Sob.)

Andy Towle at Towleroad: FBI Director Comey: It Makes Me 'Nauseous' That We Might Have Influenced the Election. Well, you did influence the election, and it makes the rest of us nauseous, too. Anyway.

FBI Director James Comey was grilled by Senator Dianne Feinstein about why he chose to announce, 11 days before the election, that the FBI was opening an investigation into a new set of Hillary Clinton emails (for which they had not even yet secured a warrant).

"Why wouldn't you just do the investigation as you would normally," Feinstein asked, "with no public announcement?"

Said Comey: "This was terrible. It makes me mildly nauseous to think we might have had some impact on the election …Even in hindsight I would have made the same decision. I sat there that morning and I could not see a door labeled 'no action here.' I could see two doors, they were both actions. One was labeled 'speak' and the other was labeled 'conceal.'"

Added Feinstein: "You took an enormous gamble: the gamble was that there was something there that would invalidate her candidacy. And there wasn't."

Andy's got video at the link.

Comey's "speak vs. conceal" statement is garbage all on its own, but, using his own terrible frame, he had the same choice regarding the FBI's investigation of the Trump campaign's possible collusion with a foreign government, and he chose "conceal" in that case, so.

Further to that:

Real choice was not conceal or speak. Comey spoke about Clinton & concealed Trump invest. Real choice was to abide by DOJ policy or violate.

— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) May 3, 2017

The Senate hearing continues. It is infuriating to watch.

Comey is a shameful wreck. The GOP cannot be trusted to investigate. And that is all I'm going to say about this hearing.

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 3, 2017

Tierney Sneed at TPM: GOP Obamacare Repeal Defector Throws Hail Mary Pass to Bring Moderates Back On. "The idea is being floated by Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), a former Energy and Commerce chair who has worked on the health care legislation in the past and came out against the latest iteration of the repeal bill due to its weakening of pre-existing-condition protections. He is seeking an additional $8 billion over five years for the bill's 'Patient and State Stability Fund,' which offers states funding to set up high-risk pools or other market stabilization programs. According to the Axios report, the funding would specifically be for consumers with pre-existing conditions who see their insurance premiums jacked up for not maintaining continuous coverage, as could be possible under the Republican plan." High-risk pools aren't sufficient. This is still garbage. KEEP CALLING KEEP CALLING KEEP CALLING!!!

[Content Note: Transphobia] Christine Grimaldi at Rewire: Trump Administration Reverses Course on Obamacare's Civil Rights Protections. "The Trump administration plans to roll back sweeping federal nondiscrimination provisions enacted under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that protect transgender people and pregnant people. ...'The Section 1557 regulation has been literally life-saving for transgender people all across the country, who are routinely turned away from emergency rooms and doctors' offices and refused coverage for critical medical care. Now, the Trump administration is going after transgender people yet again and trying to take away these basic protections,' National Center for Transgender Equality Executive Director Mara Keisling said in a statement. 'The administration is rejecting the views of every major medical associations, most courts, and most Americans, who believe that people should not be denied health care because of who they are. That's not just bad science and bad law—it's a dangerous attack on transgender people's ability to survive.'"

Graham Kates at CBS News: Trump "Directly Involved" in Post-Inauguration Hunt for Rogue Tweeter. "Donald Trump was 'directly involved' in the search for the person who, using the official National Park Service account, retweeted side-by-side comparisons of the crowds at Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration ceremony and former President Barack Obama's 2009 ceremony, CBS News has confirmed. The retweet was deleted soon after it was posted and the Twitter accounts of the National Park Service and other U.S. Interior Department agencies were briefly shut down. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told CBS News two days later in an email that the White House neither demanded the retweet be taken down, nor ordered the Interior Department accounts to be suspended. But emails released by the National Park Service in response to a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that the new president was 'concerned' about the retweet. ...A White House spokesperson did not return a request for comment about Cash's depiction of Trump's involvement."

[CN: Police brutality; racism; death] AP: Jordan Edwards Shooting: Texas Officer Who Killed 15-Year-Old Fired. "The Balch Springs, Texas, officer, identified as Roy Oliver, was terminated for violating department policies in the shooting death of Jordan Edwards, police chief Jonathan Haber said. ...Haber said Oliver, who joined the department in 2011, had committed 'several' violations of policy but would not say what they were because Oliver is entitled to appeal his firing. The Dallas County district attorney and the Dallas County sheriff's office are investigating the case." That's a start. The bare minimum. Edwards' death has been ruled a homicide. Oliver should also face charges.

[CN: Police brutality; racism; death] Ashley Cusick and Matt Zapotosky at the Washington Post: Justice Department to Formally Reveal Decision Not to Charge Officers in Alton Sterling Case. "Justice Department officials have scheduled a news conference for Wednesday afternoon to formally reveal their decision not to bring charges in the fatal police shooting of Alton Sterling—an announcement that some fear might cause unrest in a city that was gripped by tense protests after Sterling's death last summer." Unrest. Meaning valid and necessary protests in response to official indifference to state-sanctioned violence. (My original report on the killing of Alton Sterling is here.)

Stephanie Parkinson at NBC News: Flint Puts 8,000 People on Notice for Tax Liens for Unpaid Water Bills. "Thousands of people in Flint are at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure if they don't pay up on their water bills. After recently putting out shut-off notices the city is now back to threatening tax liens on people's homes. 'I got scared, for probably the first time since this all started this actually scared me,' said Melissa Mays, who is a mother and water activist who lives in Flint. Mays received the notice in the mail Friday stating that she must pay nearly $900 by May 19 to avoid a lien being placed on her property." Yeah. The same Flint which has not had drinkable water for three fucking years.

Brad Reed at Raw Story: Ben Carson: Homeless Shelters Shouldn't Be 'Comfortable Settings' or Else People Might 'Just Stay' in Them. "Ben Carson, the secretary of the Housing and Urban Development, is reportedly obsessed with making sure low-income residents living in government-sponsored housing aren't enjoying themselves too much. A new report from the New York Times reveals that Carson this week visited a homeless shelter in Ohio and was 'plainly happy' after he saw that it had 'stacked dozens of bunk beds inside' and 'purposefully did not provide televisions' so that residents there wouldn't get too comfortable. Elsewhere, Carson expressed consternation that an apartment complex for veterans was so well heeled, as he remarked that it lacked 'only pool tables.'"

[CN: White supremacy] J. Lester Feder and Edgar Mannheimer at BuzzFeed: How Sweden Became "The Most Alt-Right" Country in Europe. "The white nationalist Richard Spencer is partnering with two Swedish outfits to create a company they hope will become a media giant and keep race at the center of the new right wing. It is envisioned, one co-creator said, as a 'more ideological Breitbart.' Called the AltRight Corporation, it links Spencer with Arktos Media, a publishing house begun in Sweden to print English-language editions of esoteric nationalist books from many countries. The other Swedish partner is Red Ice, a video and podcast platform featuring white nationalists from around the globe."

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