We Resist: Day 447

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Wednesday, April 11, 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: Trump's Tweets on Russia Reveal His Continued Allegiance...to Russia and Paul Ryan Is Not Running Again, or Something.

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

Caitlin MacNeal at TPM: Trump Moved to Fire Mueller in December. "Following reports in December that special counsel Robert Mueller's team had subpoenaed a bank for records on [Donald] Trump, the President told advisers that he wanted to shut down Mueller's investigation, the New York Times reported late Tuesday. Reports at the time indicated that Deutsche Bank received subpoenas for records related to Trump and his family. This set Trump off, and he pushed for Mueller to go, according to the New York Times."

Trump, of course, does not have the legal authority to fire Mueller directly, despite his beliefs to the contrary. Which is probably why we're now hearing reports that he wants to instead fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who, due to Attorney General Jeff Sessions' recusal, currently fills the position which holds the power to fire Mueller.

Pamela Brown, Gloria Borger, Evan Perez, Jeff Zeleny, Dana Bash, and Dan Merica at CNN: Trump Considering Firing Rosenstein to Check Mueller. "This is one of several options — including going so far as to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions — Trump is weighing in the aftermath of the FBI's decision Monday to raid the office of Michael Cohen, the President's personal lawyer and longtime confidant. Officials say if Trump acts, Rosenstein is his most likely target, but it's unclear whether even such a dramatic firing like this would be enough to satisfy the President."


Trump is seemingly on a rampage, but I suspect this is actually just the prelude to his real rampage — which may come on several fronts, including whatever ostensibly retributive military actions he takes, as the warmonger John Bolton eggs him on.


Have I mentioned once or twice or three thousand times that I hope we all get through this safely? I hope we all get through this safely.

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[Content Note: Nativism; white supremacy. Covers entire section.]

Alfonso Serrano at Colorlines: Three Southern States Pledge National Guard Troops to Reinforce Border Security.
Three Republican-led southern states on Monday (April 9) vowed to send 1,600 National Guard troops to the United States-Mexico border. It's a direct response to [Donald] Trump's pledge to militarize the border to stem immigration, and it comes as details emerge about the role troops will play in the area.

Per The Associated Press, Texas deployed 250 troops last Friday (April 6), and Governor Greg Abbot said he will add 300 troops per week until the number reaches 1,000. New Mexico expects to send 250 troops to its border, while Arizona officials said the state will deploy 225, followed by another 113 later in the week.

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey told The AP that the National Guard troop's mission "is about providing manpower and resources to support federal, state, county, tribal, and local law enforcement agencies in stopping the flow of criminals, narcotics, weapons, and ammunition that is being trafficked into our state."

...On Monday, new details emerged about the role National Guard troops will play on the border. Their work will include maintenance of roads, providing support for drones and helicopters, and operating surveillance systems. Troops will also assist border patrol agents with arrests of immigrants and carry out armed patrols, according to the Washington Post.

"National Guard personnel will only be armed for their own self-protection to the extent required by the circumstances of the mission they are performing," Lieutenant Colonel Jamie Davis, a Department of Defense spokesman, told the Post.
Which means, of course, that any and every killing committed by National Guardsmen at the border will be attributed to self-defense. I would like to say I hope there is no violence along the border, but anyone who has been paying attention to what has been happening at the border for decades knows that it is already rife with violence and various abuses of power.

Speaking of which. [CN: Murder; domestic violence] Sarah Sarder and Tom Steele at the Dallas News: Border Patrol Agent Charged with Murder After Woman, Child Found Dead Near Rio Grande. "A U.S. Border Patrol agent has been arrested after the bodies of a woman and a 1-year-old child were found near a rural park in South Texas. The bodies of 27-year-old Grizelda Hernandez and her son Dominick Alexander Hernandez were discovered about 15 feet apart near the banks of the Rio Grande on Monday. Ronald Anthony Burgos-Aviles, 28 — the Border Patrol agent who reported finding the bodies — was arrested on two counts of capital murder, Laredo police announced Tuesday afternoon. Burgos-Aviles and Hernandez had been in a romantic relationship, police said at a news conference."

Still speaking of which. [CN: Disablism; abuse] Julia Ainsley at NBC News: Video Shows U.S. Agents Trying to Dump Injured Man over Mexican Border. "A video obtained by NBC News shows U.S. Border Patrol agents attempting to break international law by forcing an injured and mentally unstable man back into Mexico by falsely claiming that he is not in their custody, failing to identify him, and assuming he is Mexican because 'he looks like it.' U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) provided the video after a whistleblower first alerted NBC News to the existence of the footage. ...The incident occurred at the U.S.-Mexico border in Calexico, California on March 27, 2017 and sparked a complaint by Mexican officials to CBP, which launched an investigation that ended with the agents being reprimanded, but ultimately keeping their jobs." Fucking hell!


E.A. Crunden at ThinkProgress: Justice Department Halts Legal Aid for Detained Immigrants Facing Deportation. "The Department of Justice will temporarily halt and review a program providing detained immigrants with legal advice and assistance, the latest move in a series of crackdowns on immigration and immigrant rights more broadly by the Trump administration. The Washington Post's Maria Sacchetti reported Tuesday night that the Executive Office for Immigration Review intends to 'conduct efficiency reviews which have not taken place in six years.' The implications will be immediate: Officials told the Vera Institute of Justice that the organization's government-backed Legal Orientation Program (LOP) will be paused beginning this month."

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[CN: Carcerality] Nnennaya Amuchie at Rewire: Cash Bail Fuels the Prison Industrial Complex, But We Can Stop It. "Cash bail requires someone who is charged with a crime to pay in full, as assurance that they will return for their court dates. When someone cannot afford the cash bail issued by the judge, they are incarcerated while awaiting trial or until they are able to afford the payment. Many people use surety bonds, where a third-party bail bondsman pays for the bail amount in exchange for collateral, which often puts more people in debt. Sixty percent of people in women's jails have not yet been convicted of a crime and are awaiting trial. This means that our current jail system is punishing people before they have gone through due process and presented their case in front of a jury of their peers. The prison industrial complex is profiting off these individuals."

And finally! "We can't have it both ways: We can't say that we're able to change the world, and then pretend it's not our fault when we do." 🔥🔥🔥


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