We Resist: Day 242

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: Trump Again Displays What a Rotten Specimen He Is and On the Protests and Police Misconduct in St. Louis.

Greg Sargent at the Washington Post: The Trumpcare Zombie Is Back from the Dead — And Here Come the Same Old Lies. "Senate Republicans are planning a major push this week to see if they can get 50 votes for the repeal bill created by Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Politico reports that Trump and the White House will try to build support for it. The Graham-Cassidy bill would get rid of the Medicaid expansion and subsidies for lower income people starting in 2020 and replace them with block grants to the states, which could use that money to cover people in a variety of other ways. ...[M]ost of these Senators, including Collins, Murkowski, Capito, and Portman, originally expressed strong moral opposition to the original GOP repeal bills precisely because of their deep Medicaid cuts. And now we are going to find out whether they meant what they said."

Benjamin Hart at NY Mag: Last-Ditch Obamacare Repeal Effort May Get a Vote. "Graham-Cassidy, as it's known, is far more ambitious than Republicans' last attempt at killing the Affordable Care Act, dubbed a 'skinny repeal,' which came within one vote of passing the chamber in July. The new bill is a veritable parade of horribles: It would replace the subsidies that are a key part of Obamacare with block grants, nix the individual mandate, end federal protections for preexisting conditions, and much more."

JUST OUT: Here's a summary of the Graham-Cassidy repeal. Yes, it's that bad.

Spread far and wide if useful. pic.twitter.com/Z0bbj0qaPd

— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) September 13, 2017

MAKE YOUR CALLS.

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BBC News: North Korea Says Sanctions Will Accelerate Nuclear Programme. "North Korea has warned that more sanctions and pressure will only make it accelerate its nuclear programme. In a strongly worded statement, the foreign ministry called a new round of restrictions imposed by the United Nations as 'the most vicious, unethical, and inhumane act of hostility.' Meanwhile, the U.S. and South Korea have carried out joint military exercises over the Korean peninsula."

Ben Blanchard and Hyonhee Shin at Reuters: Korean Peninsula Draws Range of Military Drills in Show of Force Against North Korea. "The U.S. military staged bombing drills with South Korea over the Korean peninsula, and Russia and China began naval exercises ahead of a U.N. General Assembly meeting on Tuesday where North Korea's nuclear threat is likely to loom large. The flurry of military drills came after Pyongyang fired another mid-range ballistic missile over Japan on Friday and the reclusive North conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3 in defiance of United Nations sanctions and other international pressure."

Jonathan Swan at Axios: Trump's Dark View of North Korea Options. "Contrary to the president's breezy tweet...in which he refers to Kim Jong-un as 'Rocket Man,' top administration officials have a dark view of how this plays out. They believe the confrontation with [Kim Jong-un] will define Trump's first term in office. The consensus view among Trump, Mattis, and McMaster, according to several officials briefed on their thinking, is that this conflict is heading towards two options, both with high risks: Escalated confrontation with China and the military option."

The fact that Trump and his handlers believe that North Korea policy "will define Trump's first term in office" is not good. Not good at all.

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Fred Barbash at the Washington Post: Trump Lawyers Spill Beans, Thanks to Terrible Choice of Restaurant — Next Door to the New York Times. "It is every Washington reporter's dream to sit down at a restaurant, overhear secret stuff, and get a scoop. It rarely happens. Still, everyone in town important enough to have secrets worth keeping knows that secrets are not safe on the Acela train and in Washington restaurants. This is especially true in eateries next door to a major newspaper. Yes, Ty Cobb and John Dowd, lawyers for [Donald] Trump, we're talking to you. But it's too late now." GOOD FUCKING GRIEF. Everyone associated with this administration is a complete jackass with zero discretion!

Caitlin MacNeal at TPM: NYT: Trump Lawyers at Odds over How Many Documents to Turn over to Mueller. A summary of the Times report based on the overheard conversation described above. (And in response to their debate: OH I DON'T KNOW HOW ABOUT ALL OF THEM AS REQUIRED BY LAW?!)

Jon Swaine and Shaun Walker at the Guardian: Trump in Moscow: What Happened at Miss Universe in 2013.

The Guardian has learned of additional, previously unreported, connections between Trump's business partners on the pageant and Russia's government. The ties are likely to attract further scrutiny by investigators who are already biting at the heels of Trump associates.

A full accounting of Trump's actions in the Russian capital as that autumn turned to winter may be critical to resolving a controversy that has already consumed the first eight months of his presidency.

"Our committee's investigation will not be complete unless we fully understand who [Donald] Trump met with when he was over in Russia for Miss Universe, and what follow-up contacts occurred," Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said in an interview.

Trump's attorney, John Dowd, declined to answer when asked whether the president's team accepts that the Miss Universe contest is a legitimate area of inquiry for investigators. "Fake news," Dowd said in an email.

Chris Smith at Vanity Fair: Did Jared Kushner's Data Operation Help Select Facebook Targets for the Russians? "[Investigators in the House, Senate, and special counsel Robert Mueller's office] are intrigued by the role of Jared Kushner, the now-president's son-in-law, who eagerly took credit for crafting the Trump campaign's online efforts in a rare interview right after the 2016 election. 'I called somebody who works for one of the technology companies that I work with, and I had them give me a tutorial on how to use Facebook micro-targeting,' Kushner told Steven Bertoni of Forbes. 'We brought in Cambridge Analytica. I called some of my friends from Silicon Valley who were some of the best digital marketers in the world. And I asked them how to scale this stuff ...We basically had to build a $400 million operation with 1,500 people operating in 50 states, in five months to then be taken apart. We started really from scratch.' Kushner's chat with Forbes has provided a veritable bakery's worth of investigatory bread crumbs to follow."

Natasha Bertrand at Business Insider: Mueller Just Obtained a Warrant That Could Change the Entire Nature of the Russia Investigation. "Robert Mueller, the FBI special counsel, reportedly obtained a search warrant for records of the 'inauthentic' accounts Facebook shut down earlier this month and the targeted ads these accounts purchased during the 2016 election. ...Legal experts say the revelation has enormous implications for the trajectory of the FBI's investigation into Russia's election interference and into whether Moscow had any help from [Donald] Trump's campaign team. ...Mueller would not have sought a warrant targeting Facebook as a company, [Asha Rangappa, a former FBI counterintelligence agent] said. Rather, he would have been interested in learning more about specific accounts [which means he] 'already has enough information on these accounts — and their link to a potential crime to justify forcing [Facebook] to give up the info.'"

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David A. Fahrenthold, Amy Brittain, and Matea Gold at the Washington Post: Trump's Divisive Presidency Reshapes a Key Part of His Private Business. "Trump-owned hotels and clubs have long made money by holding galas and other special events. Now, their clientele is changing. Trump's properties [are losing the kind of customers the business was originally built on: nonpolitical groups who just wanted to rent a room, but] are attracting new customers who want something from him or his government."

Matt Shuham at TPM: In First Words to UN, Trump Praises Trump-Branded Condo Next Door. "Donald Trump opened his first remarks at the United Nations Monday by complimenting the Trump-branded property across the street. 'I actually saw great potential right across the street, to be honest with you, and it was only for the reason that the United Nations was here that that turned out to be such a successful project,' he said, immediately after thanking those in attendance at a meeting on UN reform."

Emoluments clause COUGH.

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[Content Note: Nativism] Christine Grimaldi and Tina Vasquez at Rewire: Anti-Immigrant Bill Exacerbates DACA Tension on Capitol Hill.

A handful of virulent immigration foes in the U.S. House of Representatives claimed the bill they railroaded through on Thursday morning would combat what they've described as an epidemic of gang violence at the hands of immigrants, undocumented or otherwise.

Congressional Democrats, civil rights advocates, and faith-based organizations say that they're wrong—and that Republicans should redirect their efforts to protecting the 800,000 young undocumented immigrants in peril since the Trump administration ended Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) one week ago.

...More than 350 organizations signed onto a separate letter of opposition. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund's Thomas A. Saenz characterized it as "keeping with the very worst traditions of nativist lawmaking, falling in line with immigrant stereotyping in congressional enactments of a century ago."

Juliet Eilperin at the Washington Post: Shrink at Least 4 National Monuments and Modify a Half-Dozen Others, Zinke Tells Trump. "Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended that [Donald] Trump modify 10 national monuments created by his immediate predecessors, including shrinking the boundaries of at least four western sites, according to a copy of the report obtained by The Washington Post." So, protect confederate monuments and shrink national monuments. Cool.

Also by Eilperin at the Post: Trump Administration Working Toward Renewed Drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Of course.

[CN: Anti-choice terrorism] Jenavieve Hatch at the Huffington Post: Anti-Abortion Protesters Storm the Waiting Rooms of at Least 2 Clinics.

On Friday morning, at least two abortion clinics in the U.S. were targeted by anti-abortion protesters who stormed the clinics' waiting rooms, refusing to leave. The protesters were eventually arrested by local police for trespassing.

HuffPost confirmed the arrests with Northland Family Planning in Sterling Heights, Mich. and Alexandria Women's Health Clinic in Alexandria, Va. Two other clinics, one in Columbus, Oh. and another in Albuquerque, New Mexico were also reportedly targeted, but HuffPost has yet to receive confirmation.

According to Lara Chelian, the Director of Advocacy at the Sterling Heights clinic, there were four arrests made at her clinic.

Chelian said that about 20 anti-abortion protesters showed up outside the clinic on Friday morning ― something that is far from unusual. However, she told HuffPost that five of those protesters "stormed the [Northland Family Planning clinic's] waiting room and refused to leave."

One protester reportedly left when staff threatened to call police. The other four remained, and were later arrested.

"They must have posted bail immediately because the ones who are arrested are back [protesting] already," Chelian told HuffPost on Friday afternoon.

Fuck these assholes. That is terroristic intimidation and a gross invasion of patient privacy.

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