We Resist: Day 533

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Friday, July 06, 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 Launches Racist, Sexist Attacks on Maxine Waters and Elizabeth Warren and Trump's War on Immigrants Continues Apace.

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


Kia Morgan-Smith at the Grio: Therese Patricia Okoumou Speaks Out After Arrest for Climbing Statue of Liberty to Protest Trump Immigration Policy.
Therese Patricia Okoumou, the soul sister who defiantly sat at the base of Lady Liberty to protest of Trump's inhumane immigration policies, spoke out for the first time and credited our Forever First Lady Michelle Obama as the inspiration for her Statue of Liberty sit-in.

"Michelle Obama … said when they go low, we go high. And I went as high as I could," Okoumou said.

The heroic Black woman, who is an immigrant herself, rose up in resistance and climbed the Statue of Liberty on the Fourth of July. The 44-year-year old was arrested and charged with trespassing, interference with government agency functions, and disorderly conduct, reports ABC7.

When she emerged from the court, crowds awaited her and cheered for Okoumou.

"Trump has ripped this country apart. It is depressing. It is outrageous," she said at a Thursday press conference. "His draconian zero-tolerance policy on immigration has to go."

...Okoumou is expected back in court August 3 for a status conference. She faces a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a fine.
I sincerely hope that she is not obliged to spend a single day in prison for calling attention to human rights abuses being committed by this administration, while they continue to live high on the taxpayer hog with no accountability in sight.

Speaking of no accountability, this thread by Democratic Senator from Illinois Dick Durbin about the incoming head of the DOJ Criminal Division is something.


And there's more where that came from.

Ana Swanson at the New York Times: Trump's Trade War Against China Is Officially Underway. "A trade war between the world's two largest economies officially began on Friday morning as the Trump administration followed through with its threat to impose tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese products, a significant escalation of a fight that could hurt companies and consumers in both the United States and China. ...The escalation of the trade war from threat to reality is expected to ripple through global supply chains, raise costs for businesses and consumers, and roil global stock markets, which have been volatile in anticipation of a prolonged trade fight between the United States and almost everyone else."

Lily Kuo at the Guardian: China Retaliates with Tariffs After U.S. Begins Trade War. "Minutes after the U.S. tariffs went into effect at 12.01am on Friday U.S. time, a spokesperson for China's ministry of commerce said, 'China promised not to fire the first shot, but in order to safeguard the country's core interests as well as that of the people, it is forced to fight back,' according to Xinhua. ...'If what the U.S. wants is to escalate a trade war with China, then so be it. A little fighting may be the only way the Trump administration clears its mind and allows everyone to sober up,' the state-run Global Times said on Friday. 'The Trump administration is behaving like a gang of hoodlums with its shakedown of other countries, particularly China,' said an English-language article in the China Daily. On Thursday, a spokesperson for China's ministry of commerce said the U.S. will be 'opening fire on the whole world and also opening fire on itself.'"

Karoun Demirjian at the Washington Post: Republicans on Russia Trip Face Scorn and Ridicule from Critics at Home.
Republican lawmakers who went to Russia seeking a thaw in relations received an icy reception from Democrats and Kremlin watchers for spending the Fourth of July in a country that interfered in the U.S. presidential election and continues to deny it.

..."Russians wooing with a shopworn song — repugnant as nails on a blackboard," Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wrote in a Twitter post in response to the delegation's trip. "They are enemies and adversaries, attacking us."

Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) led the eight-member delegation on a multi-day tour of St. Petersburg and Moscow... Joining Shelby were Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), John Thune (R-S.D.), and Rep. Kay Granger (R-Tex.).

Members of the delegation set off on their trip late last week promising to be tough with Russian officials ahead of the president's visit, especially on matters of election interference. But they struck a conciliatory tone once there: The point of their visit, Shelby stressed to the Duma leader, was to "strive for a better relationship" with Moscow, not "accuse Russia of this or that or so forth."
Fucking disloyal cowards.

[Content Note: Nativism; child abuse] Jonathan Blitzer at the New Yorker: Parents Are Struggling to Reclaim Their Children from the Office of Refugee Resettlement. "A few days ago, [a Honduran woman named Rosalinda Hernández] learned that it will be several more weeks, at least, before the government can return her [9-year-old son, with whom she'd crossed the border seeking asylum]. In order to regain custody of their children, immigrants like Hernández need to collect documents that prove their fitness as parents and submit their fingerprints — and the fingerprinting alone takes about twenty days to process."

[CN: Nativism; child abuse; rape culture] Rebekah Entralgo and Joshua Eaton at ThinkProgress: Man with History of Sex Crimes Working at Kansas Shelter for Unaccompanied Migrant Children. "A man with a history of serious sex crimes allegations is working at a shelter for unaccompanied immigrant children in Topeka, Kansas, according to public records reviewed by ThinkProgress. ...Alarmed by the 2014 news report, [Myra Gillum, a former case manager at the shelter] sent an email to the Department Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security, and other federal agencies on Aug. 16, 2017, to let them know about his troubling past." And yet he is still working there.

[CN: White supremacy; death; anti-Black slur at link] Breanna Edwards at the Root: White Driver Who Fatally Struck Black Man, Called Him Racial Slur After Death, Cleared of All Fault in Collision. "A white driver who struck and killed a black Louisiana motorist who stopped to pick up debris off the roadway has been cleared of all wrongdoing in the fatal collision, state police said in a news release. This is despite the callousness that 18-year-old Matthew M. Martin allegedly showed after the crash, sending Snapchat messages after hitting and killing 31-year-old Sherell L. Lewis Jr. 'Y'all i just hit a whole guy on the highway,' one message, showing a red vehicle, read." Rage seethe boil.

[CN: White supremacy; anti-Blackness] Kristine Phillips at the Washington Post: A Black Lawmaker Was Canvassing Door to Door in Her District; a Constituent Called 911. "State Rep. Janelle Bynum, an Oregon Democrat, was talking to constituents, typing notes on her cellphone as she knocked on doors in her district just outside Portland. Then a sheriff's deputy pulled up. Bynum — who is black — said a resident in the Clackamas County neighborhood where she was canvassing had called the police on Tuesday, thinking she was 'suspicious' because she was going door to door and 'spending a lot of time typing on her cellphone after each house.'" FOR FUCK'S SAKE.

[CN: White supremacy; anti-Blackness] Sarah Newell and John Hinton at the Winston-Salem Journal: Man Accused of Racism No Longer Employed by Sonoco After Incident at Community Pool in Winston-Salem. "Winston-Salem police were called to a private community pool Wednesday afternoon after a white man asked a black woman to show her ID. ...About 2 p.m. Wednesday, Bloom asked a black woman, who was in the pool area, for identification, Gulkham said. ...In the video posted to Facebook, Bloom can be seen talking to the woman and police officers outside of the gate. The woman tells the two officers that Bloom asked for her address, then asked to see her ID. 'Where does it say that I have to show an ID to use my own pool,' the woman says." What a brave patriot, making sure no interloping babies get to use a pool during a heatwave. Fucking shitwheel.

[CN: Sexual harassment and assault; rape culture] Joshua Eaton at ThinkProgress: Leaked Notes Reveal Buddhist Leader Coerced Female Students into Sex. "A senior official in the Buddhist group Shambhala International admitted Monday that its head, prominent Buddhist teacher and author Sakyong Mipham, had coercive sexual relationships with his female students, according to meeting notes obtained by ThinkProgress. The notes come from a private video call Monday between ground-level Shambhala leaders and its governing body, called the Kalapa Council. They reveal a crisis of leadership, with members calling for Mipham, the council, or both to step down in the wake of a sex scandal that has rocked the organization. ...Last week, the advocacy group Buddhist Project Sunshine published a report detailing allegations of coercive relationships and sexual assault by Mipham — including a second-hand allegation that a woman in Chile accused him of rape."

[CN: Sexual harassment; hostility to consent]


[CN: Sexual assault; racism] Brian Slodysko at the AP: Indiana Governor, Legislative Leaders Call for AG to Resign. "Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb and the two GOP Statehouse leaders on Thursday called for Republican Attorney General Curtis Hill to resign amid what they called credible claims that Hill drunkenly groped four women, including a lawmaker, at an Indianapolis bar. 'Four women had the courage to step forward to report sexual harassment by the Indiana attorney general,' the Republican governor said in a statement on Thursday night. 'The findings of the recent legislative report are disturbing and, at a minimum, show a violation of the state's zero tolerance sexual harassment policy.'" If it seems unusual that Indiana Republicans would so quickly disavow one of their own for sex abuse, let me assure you that it is and inform you that Curtis Hill is Black.

[CN: Sexual assault] Corky Siemaszko at NBC News: More Ohio State Wrestlers Say Rep. Jim Jordan Knew About Sexual Abuse When He Was Coach. "One of the wrestlers, Shawn Dailey, said he was groped half a dozen times by Dr. Richard Strauss in the mid-1990s, when Jordan was the assistant wrestling coach. Dailey said he was too embarrassed to report the abuse directly to Jordan at the time, but he said Jordan took part in conversations where Strauss' abuse of many other team members came up. 'I participated with Jimmy and the other wrestlers in locker-room talk about Strauss. We all did,' Dailey, 43, told NBC News, referring to Jordan. ...Dailey corroborated the account of one of those wrestlers, Dunyasha Yetts, who told NBC News that Yetts had protested to Jordan and head coach Russ Hellickson after Strauss tried to pull down his wrestling shorts when Yetts went to see him for a thumb injury."

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