We Resist: Day 392

One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures (plus the occasional non-Republican who obliges us to resist their nonsense, too, like we don't have enough to worry about) 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: On the Parkland School Shooting and Missing Security Clearances; Major Security Threats.

[Content Note: Nativism; Islamophobia] I'll start today with a little glimmer of good news, care of Lawrence Hurley at Reuters: U.S. Court Says Trump Travel Ban Unlawfully Discriminates Against Muslims. "Donald Trump's travel ban targeting people from six Muslim-majority countries violates the U.S. Constitution by discriminating on the basis of religion, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday in another legal setback for the policy. ...'Examining official statements from [Donald] Trump and other executive branch officials, along with the proclamation itself, we conclude that the proclamation is unconstitutionally tainted with animus toward Islam,' 4th Circuit Chief Judge Roger Gregory wrote in the ruling."

It's good news that the 4th Circuit Court ruled that the ban is unconstitutional and did so on the grounds that it's nakedly hostile toward Muslims. The continuing bad news, of course, is that the Supreme Court allowed the ban to go into effect while it's being challenged in the lower courts, and that the Trump administration is stacking the lower courts with horrendous unqualified conservatives as quickly as possible.

[CN: Nativism. Covers entire section.]

Alice Ollstein at TPM: Trump Administration Moves to Preemptively Kill DACA's Last Best Chance. "On Wednesday night, a group of Republican and Democratic senators nailed down a difficult compromise on immigration that has been weeks in the making — a bill that provides a 12-year path to citizenship for young immigrants known as Dreamers, allocates the full $25 billion [Donald] Trump has demanded for the U.S.-Mexico border, bans the parents of DACA recipients from ever receiving legal status or citizenship, and bars legal permanent residents from sponsoring their adult, unmarried children. But before the bill could even come to the floor for an expected vote Thursday, the Trump administration was working to undermine it. ...As Senate supporters of the compromise were working to whip up the 60 votes necessary to pass it Wednesday night, White House officials told the Washington Post they were doing the opposite — calling lawmakers and asking them to oppose it."

What a shitty, cruel "compromise" it was, anyway, and still the best that Democrats could get. Imagine being the kind of heartless scum who would agree to allow DREAMers to stay in the country, but only with the stipulation that their parents can never achieve legal status. Unconscionable. Fuckers.

Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security is getting in on the act, trying to derail any legislation even slightly favorable to undocumented immigrants and refugees.

This official press release issued by the Department of Homeland Security today is horrendous. The language they use to talk about undocumented immigrants and refugee-seekers sounds like they're discussing vermin control. I'm absolutely sick. https://t.co/O3qhQ5XIE2

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 15, 2018

I've never before read a press release from a federal agency that was written with this level of unprofessionalism. This is the opening line, and they're not even trying to disguise that it's sheer propaganda written by Nazi clowns: "Border security includes the ability to remove illegal aliens that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) apprehends, otherwise we are stuck with a system that sanctions catch and release."

We are verging ever closer to this administration issuing straight-up eliminationist dictates on undocumented immigrants. I am very angry, and I am very scared.

[Additional CN for this item: War on agency] Tina Vasquez at Rewire: Trump Wants ICE Agents to Determine Who Gets Abortion Care. "Tucked away in the appendix of the Trump administration's proposed 2019 budget are new restrictions for undocumented people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody who may want to access abortion care. ...[Currently, if] a person in detention simply wants to exercise their right to abortion care, they can fund their own procedure. What may change under Trump is that undocumented immigrants in ICE custody could be prohibited from accessing abortion entirely." Seethe.

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[CN: Domestic violence] Melanie Schmitz at ThinkProgress: Trump Finally Spoke out About Domestic Abuse and His Answer Was Not Great. "The remarks were in response to an ongoing controversy over recently departed Staff Secretary Rob Porter, who has been accused by two ex-wives of verbal, emotional, and physical abuse. 'I am totally opposed to domestic violence, and everybody here knows that,' he told reporters. 'I am totally opposed to domestic violence of any kind. Everyone knows that. It almost wouldn't even have to be said. So, now you hear it, but you all know it.'" Fuck you.

[CN: Racism; silencing; Nazism] Ashley Feinberg at the Huffington Post: Leaked Chat Transcripts: New York Times Employees Are Pissed About Bari Weiss. "On Monday night, the fury over Bennet's op-ed page and its contempt for readers coalesced around something Weiss tweeted (and later deleted). Criticism flew in from all points of the compass — including from within the Times itself, where staffers were unusually frank in expressing their anger at both Weiss and the newspaper, according to an internal chatroom transcript obtained by HuffPost. ...'i will no longer remain silent about our hostile work environment just so that it will be pleasant for others'." Note that all of that conversation happened before the Times decided to hire (and fire) Quinn Norton. Sounds like the NYT is a fun place to work as it's going full Nazi.

Zachary Basu at Axios: Adviser to Melania Trump Received $26 Million from Inaugural Committee. "Wis Media Partners, an event-planning company founded in December 2016 by a longtime friend and current senior adviser to Melania Trump, was paid $26 million by [Donald] Trump's inaugural committee, according to tax filings." Fucking grifters. From literally Day One.

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