We Resist: Day 665

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: Is Facebook Worth It? And by me: This Is Making Me Filthy Angry and Saudi Prosecutor Says Team Dispatched to Rendition Khashoggi Killed Him.

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

[Content Note: Anti-Semitism; Nazism; terrorism] Christina Tkacik at the Baltimore Sun: Man Shouts 'Heil Hitler, Heil Trump' During Intermission of Baltimore Performance of Fiddler on the Roof. "A man shouted a pro-Nazi and pro-Trump salute during a performance of Fiddler on the Roof at Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre on Wednesday night. Audience member Rich Scherr said the outburst during intermission prompted fears that it was the beginning of a shooting. The man, who had been seated in the balcony, began shouting 'Heil Hitler! Heil Trump!' Immediately after that, 'People started running,' Scherr said. 'I'll be honest — I was waiting to hear a gunshot. I thought: Here we go.'" Horrendous.

Meanwhile... Casey Michel at ThinkProgress: As Hate Crimes Rise, a Bill to Combat the Problem Languishes in Congress. The legislation "attempts to not only stem the rising tide of hate crimes across the U.S., but to also help Americans get a better handle on where and how these hate crimes take place, and who exactly is targeted. The 'National Opposition to Hate, Assault, and Threats to Equality Act,' dubbed the 'NO HATE Act,' was introduced early last year by Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA). However, it has languished in Congress over the past 18 months — perhaps due to the fact that the measure has zero Republican co-sponsors. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced a similar bill in the Senate in 2017."

Related Reading: Today in Trump's Campaign of Stochastic Terrorism.

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Staff at the Daily Beast: Trump Attacks Mueller as 'Disgrace to Our Nation,' Claims White House Is Running 'Smoothly'. "With the midterm elections over and the threat of additional indictments apparently looming large on his mind, [Donald] Trump turned his anger to Robert Mueller and his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, calling his team 'a disgrace to our nation' in a Thursday morning tweet. ...'The inner workings of the Mueller investigation are a total mess,' he wrote. 'They have found no collusion and have gone absolutely nuts. They are screaming and shouting at people, horribly threatening them to come up with the answers they want. They are a disgrace to our Nation and don't care how many lives the ruin. These are Angry People, including the highly conflicted Bob Mueller, who worked for Obama for 8 years. They won't even look at all of the bad acts and crimes on the other side. A TOTAL WITCH HUNT LIKE NO OTHER IN AMERICAN HISTORY!' Separately, he claimed the White House is 'running very smoothly.'"

Since everything Trump says is projection, we can safely assume Mueller's team is the one running very smoothly and the White House is a chaotic disgrace to the nation. Also: We can see the same with our own eyes. Also also: Bob Mueller did not work for Obama for eight years. Just FYI.

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[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Cheyenne Haslett at ABC News: Judge Sides with Nelson, Rules Florida Law on Matching Ballot Signatures Being Applied Unconstitutionally. "In the latest legal twist in the Florida vote-counting controversy, a federal judge has ruled that the state's law requiring signatures on ballots to match those on file is being applied unconstitutionally. U.S. District Chief Judge Mark Walker has granted a preliminary injunction, sought by Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson... Vote-by-mail and provisional ballots have become increasingly popular, Walker said, but the county canvassing boards, which determine whether a voter's signature on vote-by-mail and provisional ballots match state records, are 'staffed by laypersons that are not required to undergo formal handwriting-analysis education or training.'" What a mess.

Career officials at the agencies pushed back on the White House requests, US officials and people briefed on the requests say. "Once they realized it was a serious request, the career guys were furious," a senior US official involved in the process says. https://t.co/9kz8rJtsU0

— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 15, 2018

Walter M. Shaub, Jr. at Slate: This Is the Saturday Night Massacre. "With the firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, America is in uncharted territory. ...The thing about traveling in uncharted territory is that you don't know where you'll end up. This may seem like a simplistic observation, but it's one worth making. Uncharted territory is the last place a conscientious government official wants to be and the first place an unscrupulous one wants to go. ...[W]hatever the outcome of Mueller's investigation, America is establishing new precedents. One precedent is that [Trump] fired the FBI director — and Congress did nothing. Another is that Trump admitted the FBI's investigation of his campaign motivated the firing — and Congress did nothing. A third precedent is that Trump fired the attorney general after having railed against him publicly for refusing to intervene in the investigation — and Congress has done nothing. A fourth precedent is..." (Read the whole thing. It's very good.)

Anna Schecter at NBC News: Text Messages Show Roger Stone and Friend Discussing WikiLeaks Plans. "Six days before WikiLeaks began releasing Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's emails, Roger Stone had a text message conversation with a friend about WikiLeaks, according to copies of phone records obtained exclusively by NBC News. 'Big news Wednesday,' the Stone pal, radio host Randy Credico, wrote on Oct. 1, 2016, according to the text messages provided by Stone. 'Now pretend u don't know me.' 'U died 5 years ago,' Stone replied. 'Great,' Credico wrote back. 'Hillary's campaign will die this week.'"

Important..
Russian media & Bloomberg are reporting that Congress may postpone Russian sanctions until next year. A sweeping Russian sanctions package was initially postponed until after midterms. Yet Congress updated sanctions on Cuba today. Unreal! https://t.co/OGo8ClTuVg

— Olga Lautman (@olgaNYC1211) November 15, 2018

Vaughn Hillyard at NBC News: Second Trump-Kim Summit to Go Ahead without List of Nuclear North Korean Weapons, Pence Says. "The U.S. will not require North Korea to provide a complete list of its nuclear weapons and missile sites before [Donald] Trump and the North's leader Kim Jong Un meet for a second time, Vice President Mike Pence told NBC News exclusively on Thursday. Since an initial agreement for denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula was reached between Trump and Kim in June, the United States has pressed the North Koreans to provide information on the entirety of its nuclear operations. The Kim regime has refused to provide the details of the country's operations and postponed scheduled meetings with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in New York City last week. The second Trump-Kim meeting, slated for after the New Year, will be where a 'verifiable plan' to disclose the sites and weapons must be reached, Pence said." Sounds legit.

"Moderating influence." https://t.co/ThBiLN06ux

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) November 14, 2018

[CN: Domestic violence] Claudia Rosenbaum and Ruby Cramer at BuzzFeed: Stormy Daniels' Attorney Michael Avenatti Has Been Arrested on Suspicion of Domestic Violence. "A report on the alleged incident was taken on Tuesday, and as of Wednesday afternoon, Avenatti was booked on a felony domestic violence charge, LAPD Officer Jeff Lee told BuzzFeed News. Officials declined to elaborate on the allegations, except to say the alleged incident occurred at a residence in the 10000 block of Santa Monica Boulevard near Beverly Hills. ...Avenatti, who was released on $50,000 bail, denied any allegation of abuse or violence, first in a statement through his law office, and again outside after his release." Sounds about right.

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And finally, this is a remarkable act of resistance, which I am angry has even been necessitated, and I take up space in solidarity with the teachers.

Casey Quinlan at ThinkProgress: Los Angeles Teachers Are Willing to Strike for Better School Conditions 'as Long as It Takes'. "Teachers at Beachy Avenue Elementary School are weary. They're tired of paying for so many of their classroom supplies, having very few physical education options for students, lacking laptops for students to regularly use, the co-location of charter schools, and dealing with the burden of constant testing. And they're willing to go on strike. ...[Oralia Reyes, a third grade teacher at Beachy Avenue Elementary School, said:] 'I don't want any of my students to feel like they're lacking. I don't want any of them to feel second class or anything. That is what I am fighting for. And I think the parents once they hear that, understand that we're not in it for ourselves.'"

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