We Resist: Day 512

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Friday, June 15, 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 Wants a Meeting with Putin — and No One's Going to Stop Him and Trump Again Praises Kim; Chillingly Jokes About Executions.

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

[Content Note: Nativism; child abuse; self-harm] Molly Hennessy-Fiske at the LA Times: 'Prison-Like' Migrant Youth Shelter Is Understaffed, Unequipped for Trump's 'Zero Tolerance' Policy, Insider Says.
Antar Davidson said he became disillusioned after the Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' policy began sending the shelter not only children who had crossed the border unaccompanied by adults, but also those separated from their parents.

The caseload is straining a facility he described as understaffed and unequipped to deal with children experiencing trauma... During his time at the shelter, children were running away, screaming, throwing furniture, and attempting suicide, Davidson said. Several were being monitored this week because they were at risk of running away, self-harm and suicide, records show.

...Davidson saw more and more confused and upset children, most from Latin America. There also were more of what staff call "tender age" children, those under 13. Some were as young as 4, he said.

"What was once a transient facility with a staff that was strained and struggling is now becoming a more permanent facility," and more "prison-like," Davidson said.

..."I can no longer in good conscience work with Southwest Key programs," he wrote. "I am feeling uneasy about the morality of some of the practices."
Meanwhile, of course there are defense contractors lining up to line their pockets by facilitating those very immoral practices. Betsy Woodruff and Spencer Ackerman at the Daily Beast: Defense Contractors Cashing in on Immigrant Kids' Detention. "Virginia-based MVM Inc., seeks a compliance coordinator to help in San Antonio with the 'rapid deployment of an Emergency Influx Shelter for unaccompanied children.' ...MVM appears to believe its business is growing. A job posting on Indeed.com from 20 days ago advertises for youth care workers 'in anticipation of a contract award.' ...The defense contracting giant General Dynamics is advertising a data-entry position within ORR's case-coordination program for undocumented children that will, among other things, monitor youths' cases as they move through the system." Fucking hell.

An observation:


Relatedly:


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Dominic Rushe at the Guardian: Trump Announces $50bn in China Tariffs, Escalating Possibility of Trade War. "Donald Trump has announced a 25% tariff on $50bn of Chinese goods, escalating trade tensions a day after Beijing officials warned China was preparing to retaliate. The move, after a long war of words, escalates the possibility of a full trade war between the world's two leading economies."

And this despite the fact that his previous round of tariffs are a complete flop. Catherine Rampell at the Washington Post: Trump's Tariffs Are Already Backfiring. "Those metal tariffs have left steel prices more than 50 percent higher in the United States than they are in China or Europe. This is bad news for U.S. companies that purchase steel — including to manufacture washing machines, which are essentially big steel boxes. Perhaps worse, our furious trading partners are now striking back by placing new tariffs on U.S. goods. Among the products that both the European Union and Canada have targeted for retaliation? You guessed it: U.S.-made washing machines."

Meanwhile...


Stephanie Nebehay at Reuters: U.S. Expected to Retreat from Main U.N. Rights Forum. "Talks with the United States over how to reform the main U.N. rights body have failed to meet Washington's demands, activists and diplomats say, suggesting that the Trump administration will quit the Geneva forum whose session opens on Monday. A U.S. source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the withdrawal appeared to be 'imminent' but had no details. Diplomatic sources said it was not a question of if but of when the United States retreats from the Human Rights Council." Of course.


Sam Levin at the Guardian: Police Worked with Violent Pro-Trump Activist to Prosecute Leftwing Group.
A pro-Trump demonstrator who admitted hitting protesters at a far-right rally received help and support from California police, who worked with him to prosecute leftwing activists, records show.

Documents and testimony in a trial surrounding a rightwing demonstration in Berkeley reveal that police and prosecutors pursued charges on behalf of Daniel Quillinan, a conservative activist who has posted fascist memes and came to the event with Kyle Chapman, now a celebrated figure amongst the "alt-right." The authorities consistently treated Quillinan as a victim even though he was visibly armed with a knife, a wooden "shield," and a "flagpole" — and had told law enforcement that he "hit someone in the head," according to court files.

The resulting criminal trial against five anti-fascist protesters — who are accused of assaulting Quillinan during a roughly 15-second altercation — is, according to activists, the latest example of U.S. law enforcement aggressively targeting leftwing demonstrators and favoring members of the far-right after violent clashes. In another California case, police have worked directly with neo-Nazis to go after counter-protesters, including a black activist stabbed at a white supremacist rally.
Fucking hell.


Kira Lerner at ThinkProgress: This Is How Florida Makes It Nearly Impossible for Ex-Felons to Get Their Voting Rights Restored. "Florida has one of the strictest felon disenfranchisement laws in the country, requiring anyone with a felony conviction to apply for clemency from the governor in order to restore their right to vote. The process has become even more difficult since Scott took office in 2011 and instated a five to seven year waiting period before people like Johnson could even petition for their rights. The board meets just four times a year, and just a small fraction of the thousands of people who apply for clemency are even considered."


And finally...


Sob.

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