We Resist: Day 886

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, June 24, 2019
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 Reverses Course on Immigrant Purge — to Blame Democrats for His Malice and Primarily Speaking.

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

[Content Note: White supremacy; nativism] Let's start with some GOOD news, care of Ravelry, whose managers have announced that they are "banning support of Donald Trump and his administration on Ravelry. ...We cannot provide a space that is inclusive of all and also allow support for open white supremacy. Support of the Trump administration is undeniably support for white supremacy." Right on.

This announcement comes at a time when the Trump Regime's violent white supremacy is painfully evident in its torture of brown children in concentration camps, and as Axios reports on leaked Trump transition documents in which a number of people who went on to hold prominent administration positions were flagged for ties to white supremacy.

It also comes at a time when Donald Trump is brazenly asserting his authoritarianism, like in this absolutely appalling tweet in which he suggests he (and/or someone else bearing the Trump name) will be president for the rest of his natural life and beyond:


That is terrifying. Also terrifying is the fact that most people reacted to it with jokes, rather than treating it with the gravity it deserves.

Ravelry is taking this moment seriously. Good for them.

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[CN: Sexual violence] At the Cut, E. Jean Carroll published an account of Donald Trump raping her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in Manhattan in the mid-nineties. It is a deeply harrowing read of a blatant rape. Carroll is at least the 22nd woman to accuse the U.S. president of sexual assault, and it has not received proportional or sustained coverage in the news.

At Media Matters for America, Katie Sullivan observes that, the day after Carroll's account was published, "several major newspapers failed to report the story on their front pages, even though it is horrific, detailed, and extremely similar to the accounts of numerous other women." Among the papers who did not include the story on their front pages: The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune.

[CN: video may autoplay at link] At the Huffington Post, Hayley Miller notes that, two days after Carroll's account was published, "the hosts of the most popular Sunday morning talk shows in the U.S. had the opportunity to ask their guests ― often a mix of high-profile Republicans and Democrats ― about Carroll's horrifying claim and whether to hold the president accountable. But the allegation went largely undiscussed by major TV networks on Sunday morning, clearing the path for yet another sexual assault allegation against the president to slip into the void. ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, and NBC ― the networks that make up the 'big five' of Sunday morning talk shows ― boasted major political players in their lineups that included Vice President Mike Pence and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). And yet not a single one of them was asked about Carroll's allegation."

Jon Allsop at the Columbia Journalism Review deep-dives into the media failure:
As is often the case, the criticism that "the media" did "not cover" Carroll's accusation should not be taken literally. The story was generated by the cover of a major magazine and provoked a vocal reaction on Twitter; Carroll subsequently spoke to major networks, and will continue her interview round today as New York hits newsstands. The complaint, rather, is one of magnitude, and on such terms is entirely legitimate.

...Nieman Lab's Joshua Benton calculated that the story was not among the 164 articles featured on the Times's homepage; it appeared there later on, but the Times tagged it in its books section, and even there it was downplayed. As of this morning, the story is all but absent from the homepages of major outlets. Yes, it's three days old at this point. But, as MSNBC's Joy Reid said yesterday: "In any other universe, in any other presidency, in any other news cycle… [Carroll's allegations] would have been the lead story all week long."

...Whatever the reason, it's astonishing that Carroll's allegation isn't ubiquitous in our news media this morning. Its relative absence is doubly surprising when you consider that the #MeToo moment — with its brilliant reporting on Harvey Weinstein and so many other abusive men—has arguably been the biggest story of the Trump era not to centrally feature Trump. Somehow, Trump escaped accountability at the height of that moment. It looks like that's happening again.
Rage. Seethe. Boil.

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Patrick Wintour at the Guardian: U.S. Proposes Tanker Protection Force in Wake of Gulf Attacks.
The U.S. is to propose an international maritime Gulf protection force, its special envoy on Iran has said, as the Trump administration prepared to announce fresh economic sanctions on Tehran.

Brian Hook said he had been holding extensive talks with U.S. allies in the wake of the Gulf of Oman tanker attacks, when two vessels were damaged by explosions. He believed a global coalition to protect shipping was required.

"There have been too many attacks. We could have had an environmental disaster and extensive loss of life due to reckless Iranian provocations," he said.

Hook said the G20 summit this week in Japan would be a good forum for discussions.
So now Trump wants to use the attacks on tankers to build what I can only assume he wants to be a rival/replacement of NATO, but including all his friends like the Saudis. Cool.

R. Jeffrey Smith at the New York Times: Hypersonic Missiles Are Unstoppable — and They're Starting a New Global Arms Race. Hypersonic missiles are "a revolutionary new type of weapon, one that would have the unprecedented ability to maneuver and then to strike almost any target in the world within a matter of minutes. Capable of traveling at more than 15 times the speed of sound, hypersonic missiles arrive at their targets in a blinding, destructive flash, before any sonic booms or other meaningful warning. So far, there are no surefire defenses. Fast, effective, precise, and unstoppable — these are rare but highly desired characteristics on the modern battlefield. And the missiles are being developed not only by the United States but also by China, Russia, and other countries."

[CN: Nativism; child abuse]


[CN: Nativism; death] Sheriff Eddie Guerra of Hidalgo County, Texas, tweeted last night: "Deputies are on scene by the river SE of the Anzalduas Park in Las Paloma Wildlife Management Area where Border Patrol agents located 4 deceased bodies. Bodies appear to be 2 infants, a toddler, and 20yoa female. Deputies are awaiting FBI agents who will be leading." He has posted no updates since.

I'm not certain if FBI agents are taking the lead on the case because the bodies were found on federal land or because there is the possibility of foul play or some other reason altogether, but I will note the unlikelihood, as is the wide conjecture, that the victims drowned in the river near which they were found and their bodies all washed up simultaneously in the same place.

There is no good reason for migrants and refugees to die in the desert. All the reasons are bad. But I truly hope they did not die by violence at the hand of someone amped up by nativist rhetoric, because that means it is far more likely that more people will die the same way.

On a related note... Jamie Ross at the Daily Beast: Vigilante Arrested for Impersonating U.S. Border Patrol Agent. "A member of a vigilante group known for stopping migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border has been arrested for allegedly impersonating a U.S. Border Patrol agent, court documents show. ...Reuters reports Jim Benvie, spokesman for the so-called Guardian Patriots, was arrested on the separate impersonation charges Friday in Oklahoma. The Justice Department alleges that Benvie, 44, passed himself off as a Border Patrol agent in April. Earlier this year, the Guardian Patriots split from another armed border group, the United Constitutional Patriots."

[CN: Nativism] Carmen Heredia Rodriguez at Kaiser Health News: Non-English Speakers Face Health Setback If Trump Loosens Language Rules. "A federal regulation demands that certain health care organizations provide patients who have limited English skills a written notice of free translation services. But the Trump administration wants to ease those regulations and also no longer require that directions be given to patients on how they can report discrimination they experience. ...The government acknowledged in the proposal that the change would lead to fewer people with limited English skills accessing health care and fewer reports of discrimination [but said] the impact of doing away with these requirements would be 'negligible.'"

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Helena Bottemiller Evich at Politico: Agriculture Department Buries Studies Showing Dangers of Climate Change.
The Trump administration has refused to publicize dozens of government-funded studies that carry warnings about the effects of climate change, defying a longstanding practice of touting such findings by the Agriculture Department's acclaimed in-house scientists.

The studies range from a groundbreaking discovery that rice loses vitamins in a carbon-rich environment — a potentially serious health concern for the 600 million people world-wide whose diet consists mostly of rice — to a finding that climate change could exacerbate allergy seasons to a warning to farmers about the reduction in quality of grasses important for raising cattle.

All of these studies were peer-reviewed by scientists and cleared through the non-partisan Agricultural Research Service, one of the world's leading sources of scientific information for farmers and consumers.

None of the studies were focused on the causes of global warming – an often politically charged issue. Rather, the research examined the wide-ranging effects of rising carbon dioxide, increasing temperatures, and volatile weather.

The administration, researchers said, appears to be trying to limit the circulation of evidence of climate change and avoid press coverage that may raise questions about the administration's stance on the issue.

"The intent is to try to suppress a message — in this case, the increasing danger of human-caused climate change," said Michael Mann, a leading climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University. "Who loses out? The people, who are already suffering the impacts of sea level rise and unprecedented super storms, droughts, wildfires, and heat waves."
Elana Schor at the AP: Medical Groups Warn Climate Change Is a 'Health Emergency'. "74 medical and public health groups aligned on Monday to push for a series of consensus commitments to combat climate change, bluntly defined by the organizations as 'a health emergency.' ...'The health, safety, and well-being of millions of people in the U.S. have already been harmed by human-caused climate change, and health risks in the future are dire without urgent action to fight climate change,' the medical and public health groups wrote in their climate agenda."


The entire exchange is just fucking incredible.

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