We Resist: Day 162

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Friday, June 30, 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.

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Here are some things in the news today:

Earlier today by me: Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough Disclose That Donald Trump Has Been Trying to Blackmail Them and Our Democracy Is at Grave Risk.

REMINDER: KEEP CALLING YOUR SENATORS TO TELL THEM TO VOTE NO ON TRUMPCARE.

This morning, Donald Trump, evidently frustrated with his party's inability to pass comprehensive healthcare legislation in the tiny window of his short attention span, tweeted this shit:


At Politico, Jennifer Haberkorn reports: "Repealing the health law without a replacement would kick about 18 million Americans off of health coverage in the first year — and reach 26 million a few years later, according to a CBO analysis of a 2015 bill to repeal the health law without a replacement."

As part of his morning tweetshitz, he also dropped this turd:


Well, it turns out he was just taking credit for a task force that "will include Chicago police officers, federal agents, Illinois state troopers, 'intelligence analysts,' and state and federal prosecutors. ...Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said in the press release that the task force 'will significantly help our police officers stem the flow of illegal guns and create a culture of accountability for the small subset of individuals and gangs who disproportionately drive violence in our city.'"

You know, if Trump actually cared about the gun violence in Chicago, he could take a look at the gun laws in Indiana, the state his veep Mike Pence used to run, since: "According to the FBI, roughly 60% of guns used in crimes in Illinois were from out of state. The overwhelming number of those guns flow into Illinois from states that have much less restrictive gun laws. Most of those out of state guns came from Indiana."

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Mike Allen and Jonathan Swan at Axios: Trump Overrules Cabinet, Plots Global Trade War. "With the political world distracted by [Donald] Trump's media wars, one of the most consequential and contentious internal debates of his presidency unfolded during a tense meeting Monday in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, administration sources tell Axios. The outcome, with a potentially profound effect on U.S. economic and foreign policy, will be decided in coming days. With more than 20 top officials present, including Trump and Vice President Pence, the president and a small band of America First advisers made it clear they're hell-bent on imposing tariffs — potentially in the 20% range — on steel, and likely other imports. ...One official estimated the sentiment in the room as 22 against and 3 in favor — but since one of the three is named Donald Trump, it was case closed. No decision has been made, but the President is leaning towards imposing tariffs, despite opposition from nearly all his Cabinet." Holy shit.

I can't put this any more plainly: Trump is literally contemplating destroying the U.S. economy and fucking over our major trading partners and national security allies in order to please his base with a talking point so they'll keep showing up at his Make America Clap Again rallies.

He will ruin countless lives in pursuit of adoration from know-nothings (who would themselves be devastated by this decision) because of his insatiable ego.

Fuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhk.

Kimberly Dozier at the Daily Beast: Spies Fear Trump's First Meeting with Putin. "Moscow believes its leader, ex-spy master Vladimir Putin, can extract major concessions from [Donald] Trump when the two meet for the first time next week, European officials tell The Daily Beast. The officials say their intelligence indicates Putin thinks he can outmaneuver Trump at the G-20 summit, playing on promises of cooperation on areas like counter-terrorism to win concessions like a reduction in the raft of sanctions against Russia. ...Their misgivings highlight concern that Trump's inexperience and Putin's ability to flatter will slowly degrade the U.S. alliance with Europe over time, and boost Moscow back to near-superpower status while extracting no changes to its aggressive, expansionist behavior." Everything is fine. *gulp*

Joel Schectman, Dustin Volz, and Jack Stubbs at Reuters: Despite Hacking Charges, U.S. Tech Industry Fought to Keep Ties to Russia Spy Service. "New U.S. sanctions put in place by former President Barack Obama last December — part of a broad suite of actions taken in response to Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election — had made it a crime for American companies to have any business relationship with the FSB, or Federal Security Service. ...Under a little-understood arrangement, the FSB doubles as a regulator charged with approving the import to Russia of almost all technology that contains encryption... Worried about the sales impact, business industry groups...contacted U.S. officials at the American embassy in Moscow and the Treasury, State, and Commerce departments... The sanctions would have meant the Russian market was 'dead for U.S. electronics' said Alexis Rodzianko, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, who argued against the new restrictions. 'Every second Russian has an iPhone, iPad, so they would all switch to Samsungs,' he said." Oh.

AP: Donald Trump Threatened with Subpoena over Comey 'Tapes'. "Bipartisan leaders on the House intelligence committee are threatening a subpoena if the White House does not clarify whether any recordings, memoranda, or other documents exist of Donald Trump's meetings with fired FBI director James Comey. ...In a 23 June letter, the White House responded to the committee request by referring to Trump's tweets. ...A letter Thursday from Republican congressman Mike Conaway of Texas, who is leading the Russia investigation, and Democratic congressman Adam Schiff of California says Trump's Twitter statement 'stops short of clarifying' whether the White House has any tapes or documents. Conaway and Schiff said in a statement that the letter makes clear that should the White House not respond fully, 'the committee will consider using compulsory process to ensure a satisfactory response.'" Damn.

[Content Note: Misogyny] Tara Palmeri at Politico: White House Council for Women and Girls Goes Dark Under Trump. "When President George W. Bush took office, he quickly and quietly disbanded President Bill Clinton's Office for Women's Initiatives and Outreach — and now President Donald Trump appears to be doing the same thing to President Barack Obama's White House Council on Women and Girls. The council, created by Obama in 2009 to monitor the impact of policy changes and liaise with women's groups has been defunct while the Trump administration evaluates whether to keep it, according to three senior White House officials. 'We want the input of the various agencies to understand the assets they have so that we make this office additive, not redundant,' said White House spokeswoman Hope Hicks." FUCK YOU.

[CN: Trans hatred] J. Lester Feder at BuzzFeed: Trump Administration Appoints Anti-Transgender Activist to Gender Equality Post. "The Trump administration has appointed an activist who led a campaign to restrict bathroom access for transgender students to the office of Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in the US Agency for International Development. Bethany Kozma's title is senior adviser for women's empowerment, according to an agency spokesperson. ...In 2016, she launched a campaign to oppose the Obama administration's guidance to public schools that said transgender students have the right to use facilities matching their gender identity; the guidance was withdrawn by the Trump administration in February." Goddammit I hate this administration.

Emily Holden at E&E News: Pruitt Will Launch Program to 'Critique' Climate Science. "U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is leading a formal initiative to challenge mainstream climate science using a 'back-and-forth critique' by government-recruited experts, according to a senior administration official. The program will use 'red team, blue team' exercises to conduct an 'at-length evaluation of U.S. climate science,' the official said, referring to a concept developed by the military to identify vulnerabilities in field operations. ...The disclosure follows the administration's suggestions over several days that it supports reviewing climate science outside the normal peer-review process used by scientists. This is the first time agency officials acknowledged that Pruitt has begun that process. The source said Energy Secretary Rick Perry also favors the review." What. The. Fuck.

Oliver Milman at the Guardian: Trump Called 'Threat to Every Coastline' as He Pushes Ocean Drilling Plan. "Environmentalists have condemned Donald Trump as a 'threat to every ocean and coastline in the country,' after the president pushed forward plans to expand oil and gas drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans as part of what he called a new era of 'American energy dominance.' The Trump administration has taken the first steps to rewrite a five-year plan, put in place under Barack Obama, that banned drilling along the Atlantic seaboard and in large swaths of the Arctic. The interior department is opening a 45-day public comment period for a new plan that it says will help grow the economy." Oh.

[CN: Islamophobia] Kenrya Rankin at Colorlines: Who Will Be Allowed into the U.S. Now That the 'Muslim Ban' Is in Effect? "Per the New York Times, the Trump Administration defines acceptable foreign nationals as those with the following family members in the United States: 'a parent (including parent-in-law), spouse, child, adult son or daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, sibling, whether whole or half. This includes step relationships.' According to the guidelines, if refugees and visitors from the banned countries can demonstrate one of these relationships, they will be admitted. The guidelines do not allow for the entry of 'grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, brothers-in-laws and sisters-in-law, fiancés and any other 'extended' family members.'" Awful.

Jeva Lange at the Week: Leaked Audio from Trump's Re-election Fundraiser Catches the President Threatening to Sue CNN. "'It's a shame what they've done to the name CNN, that I can tell you,' Trump told the crowd. 'But as far as I'm concerned, I love it. If anybody's a lawyer in the house and thinks I have a good lawsuit — I feel like we do. Wouldn't that be fun?' ...Trump also slammed CNN's staff as being 'horrible human beings' and gloated, 'Boy, did CNN get killed over the last few days,' a reference to three reporters resigning over a story that did not meet CNN's editorial standards." Fucking hell. The only thing on which this guy can sustain focus is his vendettas.

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