We Resist: Day 256

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, October 02, 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: 50+ Killed and Hundreds Injured in Mass Shooting and Trump Dedicates Golf Trophy to Hurricane Victims and State Violence Meets Catalan Referendum in Spain, Following Russian Meddling.

Most of the news today is about the terrorist mass shooting in Las Vegas, as well it should be, so first some related news and then just a couple of other items today...

[Content Note: Guns; violence; death; terrorism.]


Kira Lerner at ThinkProgress: House GOP Set to Approve Bill That Could Make Mass Shootings Deadlier. "As details emerge about the carnage at a Las Vegas country music concert, the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, the House is set to move forward with a vote on a gun lobby-backed bill that would deregulate the sale of gun silencers, which make it harder to detect the origin of gunshots. ...In the early chaos of these attacks, it's often difficult for law enforcement and the general public to discern the original of gunshots and whether there could be more than one gunman. The use of silencers would make that even more difficult."


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Richard Primus at Politico: The Supreme Court's Blockbuster Term.
The Supreme Court term that begins this week is set to be a blockbuster. There's a reason: When Justice Antonin Scalia died in February of 2016, the court hit the pause button on some of the most important issues it was facing. Either because the justices knew they would be deadlocked, or because they preferred not to tackle important questions without a full bench, the court started ducking big cases, and we've now been through two cycles with relatively few landmark decisions.

That's about to end. Once Justice Neil Gorsuch took his seat, the court put one big case after another on the calendar, and the term that starts this week is set up to pack the punch of two to three normal Supreme Court terms. When you factor in the Trump administration's tendency to provoke constitutional litigation, there's no telling how explosive the new term could be.

Some of this term's docket presents familiar culture-war issues: Prominent in that category is Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, in which a Christian baker seeks legal vindication for his refusal to sell a wedding cake to a same-sex couple.

...Another case, Carpenter v. United States, asks whether and how the Fourth Amendment limits the government's ability to track individuals' locations by searching their historical cellphone records.

...There's also Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, in which the court is being asked, on First Amendment grounds, to overrule prior cases holding that public-sector unions can require employees at unionized workplaces to contribute financially to the unions.

...The biggest constitutional controversy of the Trump administration so far—the entry ban—could also find its way to the court.

...But the most important developments of all this year could come in election law. In Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute, the court confronts Ohio's effort to purge its voter rolls of voters who have not voted in recent elections. ...Most momentously of all, Gill v. Whitford presents a challenge to Wisconsin's system of districts for state legislative elections.

...As significant as the court's new term seems, though, the whole year could also feel like just a prelude to what might be coming next. Court-watchers speculate perpetually about retirements, and usually the speculation is overly eager. But it isn't [strange] to think that Kennedy might be on his last lap.
At Rewire, Jessica Mason Pieklo notes: "And the Court hasn't filled its docket yet, either. It could also take up a transgender rights case. Hell, we may even get more health-care challenges and some birth control benefit cases, too. ...And if that fact doesn't send a chill down your spine, consider the cases working their way up the appellate courts. They include challenges to laws that would practically ban second-trimester abortion outright by outlawing one of the safest and most common methods of later abortion; attempts to enshrine damaging and discriminatory voter ID laws; and cases that could either cement workplace rights for LGBTQ employees or endorse workplace discrimination against those workers." Shiver.

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[CN: Disablist language] Trump Urges Staff to Portray Him as "Crazy Guy". "Plenty of world leaders think the president is crazy — and he seems to view that madman reputation as an asset. The downsides are obvious: The rhetoric can unnerve allies and has the potential to provoke enemies into needless, unintended war. But Trump keeps using the tactic, with varying degrees of success: Just [this weekend], the president undercut his Secretary of State by suggesting diplomacy with 'Little Rocket Man' in North Korea was a waste of time — implying that only military action would resolve the conflict. 'Save your energy Rex,' Trump tweeted, 'we'll do what has to be done!' We've never seen anything like this before. Trump's tweet, undercutting Tillerson's diplomatic efforts, comes a day after Tillerson acknowledged for the first time that the administration was in direct communication with North Korea."


[CN: Nativism] Tina Vasquez at Rewire: ICE Raids Don't Just Grab Criminals. "Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted 'Operation Safe City' [last] week, with nationwide immigration sweeps that led to the apprehension of more than 450 undocumented immigrants, many of whom were not originally targeted by the raids. The enforcement action was intended to target so-called sanctuary cities — a term for jurisdictions that do not always honor detainer requests—according to the federal immigration agency. ...As ICE officials often say, [last] week's operation reportedly prioritized 'criminal aliens' — people 'with criminal convictions, pending criminal charges, and known gang members and affiliates.' But the agency's numbers suggest otherwise."

Michael Weissenstein, Josh Lederman, and Matthew Lee at the AP: Attacks in Havana Hit U.S. Spy Network in Cuba. "To date, the Trump administration largely has described the 21 victims as U.S. embassy personnel or 'members of the diplomatic community.' That description suggested only bona fide diplomats and their family members were struck, with no logical motivation beyond disrupting U.S.-Cuban relations. Behind the scenes, though, investigators immediately started searching for explanations in the darker, rougher world of spycraft and counterespionage, given that so many of the first reported cases involved intelligence workers posted to the U.S. embassy. That revelation, confirmed to the AP by a half-dozen officials, adds yet another element of mystery to a year-long saga that the Trump administration says may not be over."

[CN: Homophobia; transphobia] Andy Towle at Towleroad: Starting Friday, It Will Be Legal Across Mississippi to Discriminate Against LGBTQ People Based on Religious Beliefs. "Pending further challenge, Mississippi's heinous anti-LGBT bill, HB 1523, is set to take effect on Friday after the 5th Circuit denied a rehearing challenging the law. HB 1523 would allow officials and healthcare providers in the state to discriminate freely against LGBTQ individuals due to their own 'moral' or religious objections, such as turning away same-sex couples who seek marriage licenses or declining hormone therapy to transgender patients. ...Lambda Legal has called the law 'one of the most aggressive and sweeping anti-LGBT measures in the nation.'"

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