We Resist: Day 865

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: A Second Migrant Woman Has Died in U.S. Custody and Primarily Speaking.

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

[Content Note: Gun violence; death; video may autoplay at link] Madeline Holcombe, Holly Yan, and Mark Morales at CNN: New Details Emerge in the Virginia Beach Mass Shooting That Left 12 People Dead. "We now know the man who gunned down 12 people at a Virginia Beach office resigned the morning of the attack. But many more questions remain as to why a veteran city engineer targeted people he'd worked with for years. DeWayne Craddock, 40, fired indiscriminately on a municipal building Friday afternoon. He was fatally wounded in a lengthy shootout with police." The piece is a good summary of what information is known at this time, which doesn't include the shooter's motive. The victims are also listed at the link. My sincerest condolences to their families, friends, coworkers, and community. I am so sorry.

Unless a politician's thought is "I need to draft legislation that prevents access to these killing machines" and their prayer is "please, god, let it pass," I don't want to hear about any thoughts and prayers anymore.

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 18, 2018

Andrew Kirell at the Daily Beast: Trump on Gun 'Silencers' Like One Used in Virginia Beach Shooting: 'I Don't Like Them at All'. "[Donald] Trump on Monday morning condemned gun 'silencers' like the one police say the Virginia Beach shooter attached to his handgun while killing 12 people last Friday evening. 'The suspect in the Virginia Beach shooting used a silencer on his weapon. Do you believe that silencers should be restricted?' a reporter asked Trump outside the White House, as the president departed for a U.K. visit. 'I don't like them at all,' Trump replied, according to a pool report." But is he going to do anything about them?! Of course not.

[CN: Flooding; death; displacement] Chris McGreal at the Guardian: 'So Much Land Under So Much Water': Extreme Flooding Is Drowning Parts of the Midwest.

Weeks of flooding is drowning large parts of the midwest, wrecking communities and turning farms into inland seas. On top of that, a near record number of tornadoes has whipped through the region, smashing homes and claiming nearly 40 lives so far. All of this comes after the wettest 12 months in the US since records began.

Storms and near record rainfall have caused the region's three major rivers to flood, inundating communities from Nebraska to Michigan and Illinois to Oklahoma, driving tens of thousands in to shelters, shutting businesses, and closing interstate highways.

Waters that used to surge and recede have stayed around, swamping millions of acres of farmland and devastating the planting season. The amount of land farmers are being prevented from sowing by the water is estimated to be as much as double the previous record of 3m acres of corn, set in 2013. The worst-hit states include Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Indiana.

In Nebraska, where farmers are already grappling with the effects of Donald Trump's trade war with China, which has killed off a good part of the soybean trade, flooding is estimated to have destroyed $1bn-worth of crops and livestock.

In Iowa, bordered on either side by America's two greatest rivers, the Mississippi and the Missouri, entire towns have been engulfed and some may never revive. At the weekend, levees failed on three rivers, flooding homes and forcing the evacuation of thousands in Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas.

This should be dominating the news, given its unfathomable scope, but it isn't. And I believe a significant part of the reason why it's not getting more coverage is that the president isn't relentlessly tweeting about it. He's barely said a word about it.

It's meant to be the job of the president to care about and call the nation's attention to stuff like this. The for-profit coastal media can't profit handsomely from a story like this, so they mostly ignore it, unless and until the president's attention demands reporting.

It's absolutely chilling how quickly we've become a nation in which the press only cares about what this president does. That's a red flag about how deeply authoritarian a state we already are.

[CN: Nativism; child abuse; self-harm] Monique Q. Madan at the Miami Herald: No Hugs, Kids Cutting Themselves: Court Gets Unprecedented Peek Inside Homestead Shelter. "A 705-page court document filed by lawyers who spent substantial time inside Homestead's detention center for unaccompanied minors says the migrant children held there [2,350 and counting] are subjected to 'prison-like' regimens, potentially sustaining permanent psychological damage due to isolation from loved ones. Based on interviews with detainees, the filing describes dumbfounded and despairing children, cut off from their relatives except for phone calls, enduring 'military-camp' style conditions and stays that often stretch into months." Rage. Seethe. Boil. What the fuck are we doing. Goddammit.

[CN: Anti-choice terrorism] Jill Heaviside and Rosann Mariappuram at Rewire.News: The Escalation of Anti-Abortion Violence Ten Years After Dr. George Tiller's Murder. "As we mark the tenth anniversary of the assassination of Dr. George Tiller, it is incredible to think that, just over a month ago, Republican Sen. Ben Sasse was really asking how 'the pro-life position is in any way violent.' Violence has been a central tenet of the anti-abortion movement since before the U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade. As activists have sought control over the reproductive freedom of millions of people — particularly women of color, low-income women and families, and queer, gender-nonconforming, and transgender communities — they have used violence as a tactic of control, abuse, and fear across the United States."

Read this thread.

Elaine Chao is Mitch McConnell’s wife and Trump’s Secretary of Transportation.

The corruption is immense. https://t.co/hEKQV2LO9a

— Leah McElrath (@leahmcelrath) June 3, 2019

[CN: Privacy violations] Jamie Ross at the Daily Beast: Quest Diagnostics Admits 12 Million Patients May Have Had Medical Data Breached. "Nearly 12 million people may have had their personal, financial, and medical information breached, Quest Diagnostics has admitted. Quest, one of the biggest blood testing providers in the country, said it believes someone had gained unauthorized access to the systems of AMCA, which is a billing collections vendor. 'Information on AMCA's affected system included financial information (e.g., credit card numbers and bank account information), medical information, and other personal information (e.g., Social Security Numbers),' Quest said in a filing, according to NBC News." Fucking hell.

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Donald Trump is on a state trip to the UK, and he is, as always, an international embarrassment.

Josh Israel at ThinkProgress: Trump's Insult of Meghan Markle Is Right out of His Tired Playbook.

Eric Lutz at Vanity Fair: Trump Launches UK Trip by Calling London Mayor a "Stone Cold Loser".

Obviously, Brits are taking kindly to his shit, so the Trump Baby Blimp is back and a giant penis was mown into a field along Trump's flight path.

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Jared Kushner is on quite a roll.

Josh Wingrove and Kim Chipman at Bloomberg: Kushner Questions Whether Palestinians Can Govern Themselves.

Jonathan Swan at Axios: Kushner Unsure Whether He'd Alert FBI If Russians Request Another Meeting.

Jamiles Lartey at the Guardian: Trump 'Absolutely Not' a Racist, Insists Kushner.

This fucking guy.

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[CN: Sexual abuse] Julia Alexander at the Verge: YouTube Won't Stop Recommending Videos with Children, Despite Ped0philia Problem. "A new report from the New York Times found that, despite evidence from independent researchers that YouTube's algorithm helps videos of children spread among predatory circles, YouTube's teams don't want to turn off recommendations because it would hurt creators by reducing traffic driven to their videos." In other words, it would hurt YouTube's profits, so OH WELL.

[CN: Sexual abuse] Kate Briquelet at the Daily Beast: Feds Are Asking Jeffrey Epstein's Victims About Sex-Trafficking Crimes. "Eleven years after billionaire Jeffrey Epstein received what amounted to a country-club jail sentence for allegedly molesting dozens of girls in Florida, his victims could be closer to justice — with a possible future federal prosecution beyond Palm Beach. ...[I]n February of this year, a federal judge ruled the non-prosecution agreement (NPA), which was concealed from the victims and their counsel, violated the law, specifically the Crime Victims' Rights Act. Now the feds are contacting victims to discuss possible remedies. During these meetings, the government is reportedly asking one question in particular: Did Epstein’s abuse ever cross state lines?"

[CN: Homophobia] Quimby at Celebitchy: Rocketman Edited in Russia to Cut All Gay Scenes Due to 'Homosexual Propaganda' Law. "Russian film critic Anton Dolin reported that 'all scenes with kissing, sex, and oral sex between men have been cut out' and that the movie's 'final caption' explained that Elton 'established an [AIDS] foundation and continues to work with his musical partner.' Both notable accomplishments, to be sure, but the original caption mentions Elton's marriage to David Furnish and their children. On Friday, Elton and the other filmmakers released a statement condemning the decision. Russia's 'homosexual propaganda' law was signed by Putin in 2013 under the auspices of protecting children. However it has the opposite effect, particularly on LGBT youth, who are denied access to support services and to representation of gay people in media under this law. The law also contributes to a rampant anti-gay culture and to violence and discrimination."

And speaking of violent, homophobic dictators whom Donald Trump adores... [CN: Homophobia] Julia Hollingsworth at CNN: Philippine President Duterte Says He 'Used to Be Gay' Before He 'Cured' Himself. "After accusing his political opponent and vocal critic Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV of being gay, Duterte said he could sense he himself was also 'a bit gay' while married to his ex-wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman. Their marriage was annulled in 2000. Duterte went on to say that he was 'cured' after meeting current partner Honeylet Avanceña. 'I became a man again! So beautiful women cured me,' Duterte said. 'I hated handsome men afterwards. I now prefer beautiful women.' Duterte has a history of making controversial and contradictory remarks about the LGBT community." JFC.

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