We Resist: Day 554

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Friday, July 27, 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 Fannie: Here's Why Some People Can't Stand Bernie Sanders. And by me: Collusion, But His Tweets, and Maybe Something Will Matter Someday and BrianWS and Liss Talk About Their Election Terrors.

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

Lots of news about Michael Cohen, of course, and the presumption that he's fixing to "flip" on Donald Trump. I sure hope that is the case! But I have my doubts. On Wednesday, I noted:


I haven't, however, been able to figure out what the Cohen theater is all about, but seeing this at the Daily Beast today gave me an idea:

screenshot of an article at the Daily Beast, showing an image of Michael Cohen and Donald Trump facing off, with a headline reading 'Team Trump Ready to 'Bury' Cohen, 'Weakling' and 'Traitor'' and a subhead reading 'This could get ugly.'

If it is indeed theater, the point is may be to send a message to anyone who would actually contemplate turning on Trump.

What's in it for Cohen? Well, he's probably neck-deep in real criminality that is being concealed beneath all of the theatrics.

He'll probably do anything he can to protect Trump, because as long as Trump is protected, he's protected. Either via Trump obstructing any investigation that would find Cohen guilty, or via subsequent pardon.

Just a thought. But maybe Cohen is the person who will surprise me, and defy his reputation as the premiere Trump loyalist to become a key witness against him. Dare to dream!

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Rebecca Morin at Politico: Putin Invites Trump to Moscow for a Second Meeting. "Russia President Vladimir Putin on Friday said he invited [Donald] Trump to Russia for another face-to-face meeting — a meeting the White House says Trump is open to. 'We are ready to invite [Donald] Trump to Moscow. He has, by the way, such an invitation, I told him about it,' Putin said."


Everything is fine. (Everything is not fine.)

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

Sabrina Siddiqui at the Guardian: Trump Plans to Rescind Work Permits for Spouses of Immigrants on H-1B Visas.
[In 2015], Barack Obama's administration implemented a rule that granted work permits to certain immigrants on H4 visas. Known as H4EAD, the policy enabled the spouses of H-1B workers who were already awaiting green cards to apply for employment authorization.

But now Donald Trump's administration is expected to formally rescind the Obama-era rule — potentially upending the lives of tens of thousands of immigrants who took advantage of the H4EAD work permits.

The proposed rules change, which was anticipated last month, but has not yet been announced, is part of the Trump administration's efforts to reshape America's immigration system.

Advocates laboring to save the Obama-era policy say doing away with the rule could once again confine immigrant spouses, mostly women, at home and strip their families of a necessary second income.
Staff at the BBC: U.S. Child Migrants: Over 700 Not Reunited with Families by Deadline. "Some 711 migrant children taken from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border have not yet been returned to them, despite a court-ordered deadline. U.S. government lawyers said the children were not eligible to be reunited with their parents. ...In 431 cases the parents were no longer in the U.S., a court filing said." BECAUSE THE TRUMP REGIME DEPORTED THEM.


Rebekah Entralgo at ThinkProgress: ICE to Deport the Wife of Decorated Marine Veteran. "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents notified Orlando, Florida resident Alejandra Juarez Tuesday that she will be deported to Mexico on August 3, according to the Military Times. Juarez, the wife of veteran Marine Sgt. Cuauhtemoc 'Temo' Juarez, also a former member of the Florida National Guard, entered the United States in 1998 and the two married in 2000. ...The mother of two has fought for her right to stay in the country for years, but a crackdown on immigration by the Trump administration has left her with no other choice."

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Seung Min Kim at the Washington Post: Trump Uses Taxpayer-Funded Trip to Campaign for GOP Candidates. "[Donald] Trump on Thursday used a taxpayer-funded trip to Illinois to openly advocate for electing Republicans to Congress — blurring the line between official and political events in the heat of the midterm campaign season. 'You've got to vote Republican, folks, you've got to vote Republican,' Trump said during the speech at a steel plant in Granite City, Ill., that had recently reopened. ...White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told reporters on Air Force One that 'there is no legal prohibition' on endorsing political candidates at official, taxpayer-funded events. 'It is no surprise that the president would want people in Congress who support his agenda,' Gidley said."

Robyn Powell at Rewire.News: Judge Kavanaugh's Supreme Court Nomination Could Put the Americans with Disabilities Act in Danger. "Judge Kavanaugh is known for being anti-regulation, which worries advocates because federal regulations are critical to how disability rights laws — including the ADA — are interpreted and enforced. Moreover, businesses increasingly oppose the ADA. Many, for example, support the ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 (HR 620). This bill, which has passed the House, would significantly weaken the ADA and greatly limit its enforcement. But even if HR 620 does not pass the Senate, advocates worry that if a case challenging the ADA came before the Supreme Court, Judge Kavanaugh's pro-corporate leanings could mean he would vote to undermine it."

E.A. Crunden at ThinkProgress: Two Michigan Communities Given Bottled Water After Hazardous Chemicals Found. "Residents of two Kalamazoo counties will receive bottled water on Friday morning after 'high amounts' of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, were detected during testing conducted by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). A PFAS test yielded 1,410 parts per trillion in their drinking water, 20 times higher than the lifetime health advisory given by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ...City officials said they were unsure how the man-made chemicals entered the water source."

Nicole Knight at Rewire.News: Walmart Accused of Unlawfully Punishing Pregnant Hourly Workers. "A pair of former hourly Walmart workers allege in a court filing that the corporation fired them for seeking treatment in a hospital for extreme nausea, vomiting, severe cramps, and fears of miscarriage. Although the women told their supervisors they would miss work and later furnished doctors' notes, the retail giant considered the absences unauthorized under its 'absence control' policy, the women allege. Dina Bakst, co-president and co-founder of A Better Balance, the legal nonprofit that brought the lawsuit, said the Walmart policy 'flouts New York's pregnancy accommodation law by punishing pregnant workers for lawful absences.'"

Mark Bergen and Josh Eidelson at Bloomberg: Inside Google's Shadow Workforce. "Every day, tens of thousands of people stream into Google offices wearing red name badges. They eat in Google's cafeterias, ride its commuter shuttles, and work alongside its celebrated geeks. But they can't access all of the company's celebrated perks. They aren't entitled to stock and can't enter certain offices. Many don't have health insurance. Before each weekly Google all-hands meeting, trays of hors d'oeuvres and, sometimes, kegs of beer are carted into an auditorium and satellite offices around the globe for employees, who wear white badges. Those without white badges are asked to return to their desks."

Martha Bebinger at NPR: Some Doctors, Patients Balk at Medicare's 'Flat Fee' Payment Proposal. "The Trump administration announced a plan Friday that would affect about 40 percent of the payments physicians receive from Medicare. Not everybody's pleased. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services calls its proposed plan a historic effort to reduce paperwork and improve patient care. But some doctors and advocates for patients fear it could be a disaster."

Why? Because it will deteriorate the quality of patient care and reduce doctors' income. Both are individually concerning — and if you imagine doctors concerned about their income are just being greedy, consider the effect of dramatically reducing anyone's income when we're also in the middle of a student loan crisis, no less someone who took out loans for seven years or more of required education. I know some doctors who are in their 40s and still paying off massive student debt. For a generation now, we've been asking a lot of doctors to take on enormous amounts of student debt on the same salaries doctors used to make when education was more affordable. It's a different world for doctors of Gen X and younger.

Essentially, what this change will do is ensure there are few doctors who accept Medicare patients, leaving Medicare patients without adequate healthcare options.

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[CN: Sexual abuse cover-up]


[CN: Sexual harassment/assault]


Michael Balsamo and Michael R. Sisak at the AP: Avenatti: 3 Women Paid 'Hush Money' for Trump Relationships. "Michael Avenatti, the attorney for [Stormy Daniels], said Thursday that he now represents three additional women who he says had relationships with [Donald] Trump and were paid 'hush money' before the 2016 presidential election. ...Asked if he had evidence that the women had relationships with Trump, Avenatti said: 'Yes.'"

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