We Resist: Day 490

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Thursday, May 24, 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.

* * *

Earlier today by me: Trump Opens His Filthy Yapper About the NFL's Terrible New Anthem Policy and Trump Calls Off North Korea Summit with Vile Letter and Trump Straight-Up Lies About James Clapper.

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

While Trump was making a statement at the signing ceremony for the bill rolling back the financial protections of Dodd-Frank, he said this:

I've spoken to General Mattis and the Joint Chiefs of Staff and our military, which is by far the most powerful anywhere in the world, and has been greatly enhanced recently, as you all know, is ready, if necessary. Likewise, I've spoken to South Korea and Japan, and they are not only ready, should foolish or reckless acts be taken by North Korea, but they are willing to shoulder much of the cost of any financial burden, any of the costs associated, by the United States in operations, if such an unfortunate situation is forced upon us.
Remember what it was like when we had a president who wasn't just wantonly threatening and provoking war every goddamn day? That was nice.

BBC News: MH17 Missile Owned by Russian Brigade, Investigators Say. "The missile that downed a Malaysia Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine in 2014 belonged to a Russian brigade, international investigators say. For the first time, the Dutch-led team said the missile had come from a unit based in western Russia. All 298 people on board the Boeing 777 died when it broke apart in mid-air flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. It was hit by a missile fired from rebel-held territory in Ukraine. Russia says none of its weapons was used. But on Thursday Wilbert Paulissen, a Dutch official from the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), told reporters: 'All the vehicles in a convoy carrying the missile were part of the Russian armed forces.'" Oh. That seems significant. Once upon a time, we had presidents who might have cared to make a comment on that.

Josh Dawsey at the Washington Post: In Reversal, Giuliani Now Says Trump Should Do Interview with Mueller Team. OF COURSE HE DOES. BECAUSE GIULIANI'S ENTIRE PURPOSE IS TO PUBLICLY CREATE ENDLESS CHAOS AND CONFUSION. Does everyone believe me now?!

Anyway. In that interview, buried far beneath the exact headline that Trumpworld wanted, is some real news: "Giuliani said he was concerned that the president would become a target or that the interview would be a perjury trap, because the 'truth is relative.' The president's legal team continues to try to set limitations on an interview, including the duration and questions posed, he said. 'They may have a different version of the truth than we do,' Giuliani said."

Alternative facts. Fake news. "A different version of the truth." This is what life under authoritarian rule looks like. This is what it feels like. A slow drip of gaslighting that becomes like the Chinese water torture, from which there is no escape. It feels like descending into madness.

* * *

[Content Note: War on agency] Ally Boguhn at Rewire.News: Trump Praises His War on Reproductive Rights at Anti-Choice Gala. "[Donald] Trump in his Tuesday address to the anti-choice Susan B. Anthony List's annual gala...lauded his administration for proposing a rule aimed at banning domestic family planning funding from going to health providers that provide separately-funded abortion care. ...[T]he Department of Health and Human Services officially announced that it had proposed the policy hours before the president joined the anti-choice event on Tuesday. Trump at the gala characterized the move as a 'new rule to prohibit Title X funding from going to any clinic that performs abortions,' and justified it by falsely claiming that federal funds were going to abortion care." Rage seethe boil.


Natasha Geiling at ThinkProgress: Trump Is About to Repeal One of Obama's Last Climate Rules. "The rule change, finalized by the Department of Transportation on Tuesday and set to be published to the Federal Register in the coming days where it will become official, removes the obligation for states and cities to measure greenhouse gas emissions from fuel use by vehicles on their roads that would be associated with new projects such as expanding highways. Targets for limiting greenhouse gas emissions will not be required either. ...This news comes after the Environmental Protection Agency announced the rollback of separate Obama-era vehicle emissions standards — a decision over which states are now suing the agency." JFC.

* * *

[CN: Sexual violence; abduction; misogyny; terrorism; starvation] Kate Hodal at the Guardian: Women Saved from Boko Haram Say Soldiers Made Them Trade Sex for Food.
Thousands of women and girls who believed they were being led to safety from Boko Haram by Nigerian security forces were instead systematically abused in exchange for food and assistance, an Amnesty International investigation has revealed.

The shocking claims were made by more than 250 people interviewed over a two-year period. Some allege they were raped by members of the Nigerian military and Civilian Joint Task Force (Civilian JTF), while others say they were starved. The troops ordered civilians out of their villages and into satellite camps, where thousands of people, including children, have died of hunger, the report claims.

"The soldiers, they betrayed us — they said that we should come out from our villages," said Yakura*, 35, who fled her home in December 2016, believing the government soldiers were delivering her and her family to safety. "They said it would be safer and that they would give us a secure place to stay. But when we came, they betrayed us. They detained our husbands and then they raped us women."
My god. That the international community has allowed this nightmare to go on endlessly is a shame on all of us. It truly is.

[CN: Sexual harassment] An Phung and Chloe Melas at CNN: Women Accuse Morgan Freeman of Inappropriate Behavior, Harassment. "In all, 16 people spoke to CNN about Freeman as part of this investigation, eight of whom said they were victims of what some called harassment and others called inappropriate behavior by Freeman. Eight said they witnessed Freeman's alleged conduct. These 16 people together described a pattern of inappropriate behavior by Freeman on set, while promoting his movies and at his production company Revelations Entertainment." Horrible.

[CN: Sexual assault] Gideon Resnick at the Daily Beast: Democrat Nate Boulton Ends His Iowa Gubernatorial Campaign over Sexual Misconduct Allegations. "Iowa State Sen. Nate Boulton, one of six candidates in the state's Democratic gubernatorial primary, announced Thursday that he will suspend his campaign following accusations of sexual misconduct. On Wednesday, The Des Moines Register reported that [five women accused Boulton of nonconsensual sexual touching]. ...Boulton didn't deny the allegations to the Register but said: 'I don't have the same recollection. But I am not going to offer any additional context to this, other than to say if someone's perspective is that it was inappropriate and I crossed a line and I misread a situation in a social setting, I do apologize.'" Okay.

* * *

Let's end with some good resistance news...


YES!!!

And finally: Amanda Michelle Gomez at ThinkProgress: ADAPT Activists Put Their Bodies on the Line to Gain Support for Disability Integration Act. "Roughly 200 ADAPT activists last Tuesday surrounded the Washington, D.C. headquarters of AARP, the influential non-profit focused on older adults, barricading exits so no one could leave. Police eventually guided people out of the building. But they only made it as far as the end of the block before activists stopped them again with their bodies. ADAPT wouldn't let up until either AARP endorsed a critical civil rights bill, or they were arrested. ...ADAPT protested for six hours in humid, 90-degree heat before police successfully escorted every AARP employee out of the garage — but only after employees were forced to drive on a sidewalk they secured from activists." Powerful.

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

Shakesville is run as a safe space. First-time commenters: Please read Shakesville's Commenting Policy and Feminism 101 Section before commenting. We also do lots of in-thread moderation, so we ask that everyone read the entirety of any thread before commenting, to ensure compliance with any in-thread moderation. Thank you.

blog comments powered by Disqus