We Resist: Day 642

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, October 23, 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 Boasts That He's a "Nationalist" at Nativist Rally; Attacks Liberal Women and The Trump Effect: It's "Okay to Grab Women" and Trump Threatens "Whoever" with Nuclear War, and It Barely Makes the News.

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

[Content Note: Nativism; harassment; exploitation. Covers entire section.]

In further "Trump doesn't exist in a vacuum" news... Nicole Rojas at Newsweek: Woman Demands Passports from Tourists After They Spoke Spanish at Virginia Restaurant. "The woman harassed a Latina woman and her family, visiting from Guatemala after they spoke in Spanish. 'She asked for our passports. She said she knew everyone in the county and told us to leave,' the Latina woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told Telemundo's Washington D.C., affiliate. 'We told her: We're not speaking with you; we're speaking among ourselves.' The unidentified white woman was captured on cellphone video approaching the family and launching an expletive-filled rant. 'You don't freeload in this fucking country,' the woman can be heard yelling. 'You get the fuckk out, back to your fucking country.' The woman claimed the Guatemalan tourists were freeloaders 'on America,' according to the video posted by Telemundo."

It's not a coincidence that this happened at the same time that Donald Trump — and other members of the Republican Party — are relentlessly fear-mongering about a caravan of refugees headed for the southern border, to escape desperate violence in Central America.

Relatedly:

Gary Younge at the Guardian: 'They Want to Take Me Away': Immigrants Under Attack as Trump Tries to Rally Republican Base. "Ricardo was one of the first. As summer progressed almost 40 people in this Wisconsin town of 80,000, with a Latino population of around 16,000, have been detained. One man was stopped in his car as he drove three friends to work. They were only looking for him but they were all detained. In a meeting with the Interfaith Coalition, the county sheriff described the fellow passengers as 'collateral damage.' Now an entire community lives in fear. People aren't leaving their houses, not even to go to church. One man, who has stopped going to work, is living from odd jobs he does for church members who drive him to and from home."

Ian Millhiser at ThinkProgress: Neil Gorsuch's First Opinion of the New Supreme Court Term Is an Attack on Immigrant Communities. "In a brief opinion joined only by Justice Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch cast his lot on Monday with the Trump administration's effort to rig the 2020 Census in order to reduce the political influence of immigrant communities. Should this plan ultimately succeed, it is likely to shift power towards white people and away from Latinos."


Vera Bergengruen at BuzzFeed: Immigrant Recruits Are Having Their "Loyalty" Questioned for Following Lawsuits Against the Pentagon.
When the 29-year-old US Army recruit finally received the results of her security screening, a year after the exhaustive eight-hour counterintelligence interview all foreign-born soldiers must take and almost three years since her enlistment, she laughed in disbelief.

Under "Loyalty," she had been flagged for comments she made about following a series of lawsuits filed on behalf of immigrant recruits like her who'd enlisted in the U.S. military with a promised path to citizenship only to find themselves mired in years of bureaucratic limbo and at risk of deportation while they wait.

"I was shocked seeing it in under 'loyalty issues.' How is this disloyal to the United States, or dishonest? Of course I follow these lawsuits, these claims have merit," she told BuzzFeed News, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of endangering her family in her home country. "This really smells like retaliation. I felt like the screener was thinking 'hell, yeah, I can use that against you.'"
Disgusting.

Sam Levin at the Guardian: Tech Firms Make Millions from Trump's Anti-Immigrant Agenda, Report Finds. "Silicon Valley technology corporations including Amazon, Palantir, and Microsoft make millions from U.S. immigration enforcement, according to a new report. They provide tools that aid surveillance, detention, and deportation of individuals targeted by Donald Trump's anti-immigrant agenda, according to a paper published Tuesday by a coalition of immigrant rights groups. The report outlined ways Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has expanded its reach, with infrastructure from tech companies that have faced growing internal and external pressure to cancel their contracts."

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[CN: Abduction, violence, and death. Covers entire section.]

There are reports today that Jamal Khashoggi's remains have been found. There has been no official confirmation and, as far as I have seen as of this writing, no positive identification made by Khashoggi's family. Because there are a lot of agendas among the various state actors involved in his murder, I would caution you to be wary of such news unless and until there is a public statement from his loved ones.

John Hudson, Shane Harris, and Josh Dawsey at the Washington Post: CIA Director Flies to Turkey Amid Growing Controversy over Jamal Khashoggi Killing. "CIA Director Gina Haspel departed for Turkey on Monday amid a growing international uproar over Saudi Arabia's explanation of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to people familiar with the matter. ...The arrival of the director suggests an effort by the U.S. intelligence community to assess the information the Turks have, including what Turkish officials have said is audio that captures the killing. Intelligence officials are increasingly skeptical of the Saudi account and have warned [Donald] Trump that the idea that rogue operators flew to Istanbul and killed Khashoggi without the knowledge or consent of Saudi leaders is dubious, a White House official said."

Mary Lee at Politico: Turkish President Claims Saudis Planned for Days to Kill Khashoggi. "Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday declared that plans for the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi were hatched days before he disappeared inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, disputing the Saudi government's claim that Khashoggi was accidentally killed during an argument. Erdogan, in remarks reported by The Associated Press, called on Saudi Arabia to divulge details on who ordered Khashoggi's 'savage murder' and demanded the 18 Saudi agents suspected of executing that order be tried in Turkish courts."

Anonymous in Saudi Arabia at ThinkProgress: Inside Saudi Arabia, Media Narratives of Khashoggi Killing Absolve Kingdom of Responsibility. "Until now, much coverage of resurgent Saudi nationalism has emphasized the more cheerful aspects of the kingdom's newly embraced secular identity. The socio-economic reforms championed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, including an end to 'extremist ideas' and curtailed powers for Saudi religious authorities, have been coupled with state efforts to promote peaceful displays of national pride — flags and scarves and everything green on Saudi National Day, new investments in cultural heritage projects. Yet darker aspects of this renewed national attachment have been deployed alongside efforts to drown out any hint of dissent."

Alan Rappeport at the New York Times: Saudi Crown Prince Gets Standing Ovation Despite Inquiries into Khashoggi. "Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, received a standing ovation as he made an unannounced appearance at a global investment conference [in Riyadh] on Tuesday, further clouding an event that has been thrown into disarray after the killing of a dissident Saudi journalist. The crown prince, who is suspected of playing a role in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, appeared just ahead of a late afternoon presentation about technology but did not give any remarks. His presence came as American business executives attending the conference tried to keep a low profile and Saudi business leaders attempted to distance themselves from Mr. Khashoggi's murder."

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Josh Kovensky at TPM: Trump Lawyer Rudy Giuliani Headlines Pro-Russian Conference in Armenia.
Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has a new side gig: Conference headliner in Armenia.

The 74-year-old Trump defense attorney spoke Tuesday in Yerevan at the International Forum of Eurasian Partnership, a conference aimed at promoting the Eurasian Economic Union — the Russia-organized economic bloc.

The former New York City mayor and current personal attorney to President Trump was the final speaker at a plenary session titled "technological breakthroughs and potential opportunities of the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union."

Joining Giuliani, a former U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, was Sergey Glazyev, an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin who was sanctioned in March 2014 for his role in the annexation of Crimea.

[CN: Trans hatred] Amanda Michelle Gomez at ThinkProgress: Health Department Removes 'Gender' from Its Civil Rights Page. "The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) removed mentions of the term 'gender' from its civil rights webpage. The removals preceded a New York Times report on Sunday detailing a memo that the Trump administration is aiming to define gender as a fixed condition determined by genitalia at birth — and HHS is spearheading this effort. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) webpage 'Discrimination on the Basis of Sex' was altered to remove ten mentions of the word 'gender,' according to a new report from the Sunlight Foundation's Web Integrity Project released on Tuesday. The changes occurred sometime between February 26, 2018 and March 5, 2018."


April Reign also has an important thread on the Georgia governor's race, which begins here:


[CN: Homophobia; eliminationism] Andy Towle at Towleroad: Four Nashville Gay Bars Targeted by Pro-Trump 'MAGA' Hate Mail. "At least four gay bars in Nashville, Tennessee have been targeted with pro-Trump MAGA hate mail in the past week. ...The postcard has a 'MAGA' stamp on the back of it and has a return address that traces back to an empty lot in downtown Nashville. 'When you put a picture of an assault rifle on there which was used in the Pulse shooting and you mail it to every LGBT bar in Nashville, that is coming from a hateful place. To say that it's disturbing is an understatement,' [Melvin Brown, owner of Stirrup] said."

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