We Resist: Day 419

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Wednesday, March 14, 2018
a black bar with the word RESIST in white text

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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Earlier today by me: Trey Gowdy Contradicts Colleagues; Says Russia Wanted to Assist Donald Trump and Harm Hillary Clinton and A Terrible Reminder That White Supremacy and Patriarchy Are Inextricably Linked and U.K. to Expel Russian Diplomats After Spy Poisoning.

Here are some more things in the news today...

Let us start with some good resistance news, as young people across the nation demand action on gun violence:


There is much, much more under the hashtag #NationalWalkoutDay on Twitter. I take up space in solidarity with the students who are walking out and calling in legislators to take action.

In related news:

Amy Larson at KSBW: Seaside High Teacher Accidentally Fires Gun in Class, Students Injured.

Pat Collins, Erica Jones, and Andrea Swalec at NBC 4 Washington: School Resource Officer Accidentally Fires Gun Inside Alexandria School.

AP/Detroit News: Sheriff Apologizes for Leaving Gun at School.

Keep marching, kids.

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Anna Nemtsova at the Daily Beast: Ukraine Government Has Frozen Its Manafort Investigations; Critics Say It Is Currying Favor with Trump. "Investigations here into payments allegedly made to Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort by deposed Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych have ground to a halt, potentially affecting the U.S. case against Manafort. Information from the Ukraine investigations is a cornerstone of the indictments brought against Manafort by special counsel Robert Mueller, who has charged him with money laundering, failure to register as a foreign agent, and other crimes. But it appears that many top officials here, from the current president on down, would like to forget about the Manafort case. Their reason: They don't want to get on the wrong side of the Trump administration." Or, presumably, Vladimir Putin.

This is very bad news. And it is very worrying for the future of Mueller's investigation, given that Qatar has also decided not to turn over to Mueller "evidence of what they claim is illicit influence by the United Arab Emirates on Jared Kushner and other Trump associates," because they fear "harming relations with the Trump administration."

Not good. Not good at all.

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[Content Note: Islamophobic violence; anti-choice terrorism] Michael Tarm and Amy Forliti at the AP/Chicago Tribune: 3 Illinois Men, Including One Who Drafted a Border Wall Plan for Trump, Charged with Minnesota Mosque Bombing.
Federal authorities on Tuesday charged three men from rural central Illinois with the bombing of a Minnesota mosque last year and said one of the suspects told an investigator the goal of the attack was to "scare" Muslims out of the United States.

A statement from the U.S. attorney's office in Springfield, Illinois, says the men also are suspected in the attempted bombing of an abortion clinic.

The Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, was bombed just before morning prayers on Aug. 5, causing a fire and extensive damage although no one was injured or killed. And there was an attempted bombing of the Champaign, Illinois, Women's Health Practice on Nov. 7.

One of the men, Michael B. Hari, 47, described in an April 2017 Chicago Tribune article how he drafted a $10 billion plan to build a wall along the border with Mexico, citing [Donald] Trump's call for such a wall. Hari drew up the proposal after launching a security company, Crisis Resolution Security Services, the newspaper said.
Trust that if it were anyone other than white men who had engaged in two separate acts of terrorism against two distinct groups, this would be a massive news story. But it's just white men who love Trump attacking Muslims and feminists, so NBD I guess. Seethe.

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Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suebsaeng at the Daily Beast: Trump Wants to Stock White House Team with Fox News Stars and Loyalists. "A leading contender to succeed Gary Cohn as Director of the National Economic Council is CNBC's Larry Kudlow. ...The president is a fan of Kudlow's TV commentary, according to sources in and outside of the administration, and the two occasionally speak on the phone. ...Former UN Ambassador John Bolton [who is on the shortlist to replace National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster] also speaks with the president on occasion [and] happens to be a regular on Fox News. And the president is said to enjoy his commentary. ...Hours after Tillerson's resignation, one of his deputies, Steve Goldstein, the Undersecretary of State for Public Affairs, was also sacked. He was quickly replaced by Heather Nauert, a department spokeswoman and former Fox News host." JFC.

Meanwhile — and I'll believe it when I see it — Republican Senators Rand Paul and John McCain have said they won't support Mike Pompeo's and Gina Haspel's nominations to State and CIA respectively, leaving Republicans with just 49 votes.

If they actually go through with their opposition, good. But also? Fuck. Because what will happen if Trump is denied? By which I mean: What will Trump do?

It definitely won't be nothing.

That's not an argument for giving him what he wants, by the way. It's just a straightforward acknowledgment that Trump is a vengeful shit who causes pain when he doesn't axiomatically get what he demands.

This was always going to be the problem with electing as president a spoiled adult man who won't abide being told "no."

If you never tell him no, that's a problem, because he will become a dangerously indulged tyrant. And if you do tell him no, that's a problem, too, because he will react in a way that may cause equal or even more harm than what he originally sought.

Either way, we lose.

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[CN: Nativism. Covers entire section.]

E.A. Crunden at ThinkProgress: 'Show Me Your Papers' Law Goes into Effect as Texas Activists and Lawmakers Vow to Continue Fight. "A three-judge panel declared Tuesday evening that Senate Bill 4 (SB4), a law targeting so-called sanctuary cities, can go forward, seven months after it was meant to take effect. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed most of a ruling by a San Antonio judge who blocked the law from going into effect in August. While the appeals panel rejected one component of the law, which would have barred officials from endorsing policies curbing immigration crackdowns, the rest now stands. 'The plaintiffs have not made a showing that they are likely to succeed on the merits of any of their constitutional claims,' wrote Judge Edith H. Jones, in a ruling lauded by the Texas government." Goddammit.

Tina Vasquez at Rewire News: Activists Fear ICE Will Target Another Reproductive Justice Advocate for Deportation. "Eva Chavez, a domestic violence survivor who has worked with La Unión del Pueblo Entero for 15 years and with the Texas Latina Advocacy Network of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH) for ten years, was detained by ICE on February 14. Advocates said the federal immigration agency released Chavez because she is the primary caretaker for her son, who requires weekly doctor's visits, including thrice weekly therapy sessions. ICE released Chavez but required her to return for a check-in Wednesday. Advocates fear Chavez will be the next victim of the agency's 'silent raids.' Silent raids are the increasingly common practice of ICE turning a routine check-in into deportation, either by informing the person they have 30 days to leave the United States or by detaining them on the spot. These raids are affecting immigrant mothers across the country. This is the second NLIRH-affiliated reproductive justice advocate to be targeted by ICE this month." Rage.

Adolfo Flores at BuzzFeed: Trump Said He Wants Tough Border Walls Because Would-Be Crossers Are Like 'Mountain Climbers'. "During his visit to San Diego Tuesday to look at prototypes for the border wall, [Donald] Trump said he wants structures that will be difficult for migrants to get over, calling them 'professional mountain climbers.' 'Getting over the top is easy. These are like professional mountain climbers, incredible climbers. They can't climb some of these walls,' Trump told reporters. 'Some of them they can. Those are the walls we're not using.'" This fucking guy.


Sudhin Thanawala and Amy Taxin at the AP/Denver Post: Immigrants Sue U.S. over End to Temporary Protected Status. "The Trump administration's decision to end a program that lets immigrants from four countries live and work legally in the U.S. was motivated by racism and leaves the immigrants' American born children with an 'impossible choice,' according to a federal lawsuit filed on Monday. Nine immigrants and five children filed the suit in federal court in San Francisco to reinstate temporary protected status for people from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan. ...The lawsuit — at least the third challenging the administration's decision to end temporary protected status — cites [Donald] Trump's vulgar language during a meeting in January to describe African countries. 'They did it because of xenophobia, and we need to make sure that we say it loudly so that everyone knows,' said Martha Arevalo, executive director of the immigrant advocacy group, Central American Resource Center." Right on!

AlJazeera Video: Muslim Immigrants' ID Cards Used to Build a 'Wall of Defiance'. "Donald Trump's hardline immigration policies have been at the centre of debate not only in the United States, but worldwide. And one artist in Washington has built her own wall — to highlight the faces, fears, and faith of America's Muslim immigrants. Artist Sobia Ahmad transferred ink from Muslim American immigrants' ID photos onto ceramic tiles for her wall installation." I am so angry that she was obliged to create this piece of resistance, but, given the regrettable circumstances, I love that she did.

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