We Resist: Day 526

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Friday, June 29, 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: Five Dead in Shooting at Capital Gazette in Annapolis and Donald Trump, Justice Kennedy, and Deutsche Bank and The Collusion Is Right out in the Open: Syria + the European Union Edition.

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


Relatedly, three days ago, Shaker Adam Jones dropped into comments the link to this New York Times piece, about the "powerful signal of recessions" that "has Wall Street's attention." In response, I commented: "A recession, inflation, and a trade war. Anyone who needs big-ticket items in the near future, especially anything with steel or aluminum — a new car, major repairs, replacement windows, new kitchen or laundry appliances — and can afford to get them now might want to do it. I fear prices are going to go through the roof very soon." For whatever that's worth.

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Jessica Mason Pieklo at Rewire.News: Why I Believe Donald Trump Will Choose a Woman to Kill Roe v. Wade.
I think there's a better chance that Trump nominates a woman to cast the deciding vote to overturn Roe, if and when the time comes.

This works in Trump's favor in several ways. First, he'll preen about how much he loves women. I can already hear him: "Look at me! I love women so much I just appointed one to replace a man at the Supreme Court! Nobody loves women more than me."

Second, it'll put Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who are both pro-choice, in the position of possibly voting against only the fifth woman ever appointed to the high court. I know Democrats, who need Collins' and Murkowski's help to block a Trump nominee, plan to push them from the left. It's safe to assume they're getting even more pressure from the right.

And finally, what could be more perfect from an evangelical standpoint than to have a woman kill abortion rights? They'll even call it feminism.
I can't remember a time I disagreed with Jessica, and, unfortunately, this time is no different. I also fully expect Trump to nominate a woman to kill Roe. Among all the other damage his nominee is anticipated to do.

Samantha Allen at the Daily Beast: Will Trump's New SCOTUS Judge Mean the End of My Gay Marriage — and So Many Others? "With the near certainty of a far-right replacement for Kennedy, the sort of tangible rights that same-sex couples like mine have only begun to taste could be yanked away. Our marriages — if we still have marriages in every state — might be relegated to some sort of second-class status that would allow basically anyone to turn us away. At the very worst, the United States could become the second country in the world after Bermuda to repeal same-sex marriage rights after previously recognizing them."

Kyla Mandel at ThinkProgress: Here's What Environmental Law Experts Think About Justice Kennedy's Retirement. "Kennedy's retirement is 'terrible news for environmental law and the protection of public health and the environment,' Patrick Parenteau, law professor and senior counsel in the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic at Vermont Law School, told ThinkProgress. As most experts agree, Kennedy will almost certainly be replaced with a more conservative judge, tipping the balance further to the right and leaving key environmental protection rulings vulnerable."

Basically, there isn't a single progressive advocacy community that isn't fear-shitting about what Kennedy's departure from the Supreme Court means for our future.

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[Content Note: Nativism; child abuse. Covers entire section.]

Lisa Riordan Seville and Hannah Rappleye at NBC News: Trump Administration Ran 'Pilot Program' for Separating Migrant Families in 2017.
The government was separating migrant parents from their kids for months prior to the official introduction of zero tolerance, running what a U.S. official called a "pilot program" for widespread prosecutions in Texas, but apparently did not create a clear system for parents to track or reunite with their kids.

Officials have said that at least 2,342 children were separated from their parents after being apprehended crossing the border unlawfully since May 5, when the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy towards migrants went into effect.

But numbers provided to NBC News by the Department of Homeland Security show that another 1,768 were separated from their parents between October 2016 and February 2018, bringing the total number of separated kids to more than 4,100.

..."This was happening in El Paso before it was news," said Linda Rivas, executive director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center. "People didn't believe it."
Emphases mine.

Michael E. Miller at the Washington Post: Inside a U.S. Immigration Jail, Mothers Count the Days Since They've Seen Their Children. "'It's been four months since I saw my son,' one woman wrote next to her nine-digit alien registration number. 'He's three years old.' 'I haven't even spoken to her,' wrote a mother separated from her 5-year-old for weeks. 'I'm desperate.' 'I'm destroyed,' added another. ...[Trump] signed an executive order halting the separations last week. But even as immigrant rights activists hailed the ruling, it was not clear what it would mean for parents such as Veliz who are locked up thousands of miles from their children, awaiting asylum or immigration hearings in courts. 'We are hoping the government doesn't create mass family immigration prisons,' said Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the San Diego lawsuit. 'The administration has been floating that idea. We are not deluding ourselves.'"

Rebekah Entralgo at ThinkProgress: Trump Administration Is Drafting a Plan to Dramatically Change the U.S. Asylum System. "The plan, created under the watchful eye of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, would effectively bar people from receiving asylum if they entered the country between ports of entry. Additionally, the regulation would codify an opinion written by Sessions in June that sought to restrict asylum for victims of domestic and gang violence. ...Penalizing asylum-seekers for entering the country 'the wrong way' is consequential for a number reasons — most importantly because it is becoming increasingly complicated for immigrants to enter 'the right way.' Immigrants arriving at ports of entry are being repeatedly turned away and asked to come back at a later date. Under the Trump administration's new 'zero-tolerance' policy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents have employed a new strategy of staking out international bridges to tell Central American asylum seekers they cannot proceed to the port because they are at capacity."


Marissa J. Lang at the WaPo/Chicago Tribune: More Than 500 Arrested as Women Rally in D.C. to Protest Trump's Immigration Policy. "Capitol Police said 575 protesters were arrested and escorted out of the Hart Senate Office Building in a mass demonstration that called for the abolishment of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, and an end to migrant family detentions and the Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' immigration policy. They were charged with unlawfully demonstrating, a misdemeanor. ...As police continued to clear the area, several senators greeted demonstrators, including Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill. 'I join them in calling on the Trump administration to reunite these families and give these kids back to their parents,' Duckworth said."

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[CN: Nazism; homophobia]


Like the killer in the Capital Gazette shooting, this bomber was said to have been acting on a grievance: "Surman, who sells chemicals and chemical blends through eBay, Amazon, and other websites, has been in a zoning dispute with Milford Township over the company for some time."

But, again, like Ramos, Surman didn't choose to act on that long-running grudge with public violence until now. And I don't believe for a moment that's a coincidence.

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[CN: Violence]


By way of reminder, it was exactly two weeks ago today that Trump joked about Kim killing his generals.

Ken Dilanian at NBC News: Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein, FBI Director Wray Face Angry House Republicans. "Angry House Republicans" is one way of putting it. Another, more accurate way of putting it might be "House Republicans who are feigning righteous anger to conceal their attempt to obstruct justice on behalf of their corrupt and disloyal president."

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that "White House Chief of Staff John Kelly could depart in coming weeks." Great job with all that "moderating," pal. Seeya.

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