We Resist: Day 895

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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Late yesterday and earlier today by me: Quote of the Day and Malice Is the Agenda — and Here's What It Looks Like and Primarily Speaking.

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

Staff at BBC: Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp Hit by Photo Glitch. "Some Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp users cannot upload photos, videos, and files. A spokesman for Facebook, which owns all three apps, told BBC News: 'We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible.' ...The Facebook Messenger app, which is often installed separately, is also affected."

Twitter DMs have also been affected all day.

I'm sure I'm just a paranoid hysteric for thinking that there's no way this isn't probing ahead of the election.

I guess this is what it looks like when a DDoS attack takes down Cloudflare and a bunch of the Internet pic.twitter.com/kHHddaPeHp

— Lance Ulanoff (@LanceUlanoff) July 2, 2019

In other tech news, Alfred Ng at CNET: Amazon Alexa Keeps Your Data with No Expiration Date, and Shares It, Too. "Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, sent a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in May, demanding answers on Alexa and how long it kept voice recordings and transcripts, as well as what the data gets used for. The letter came after CNET's report that Amazon kept transcripts of interactions with Alexa, even after people deleted the voice recordings. The deadline for answers was June 30, and Amazon's vice president of public policy, Brian Huseman, sent a response on June 28. In the letter, Huseman tells Coons that Amazon keeps transcripts and voice recordings indefinitely, and only removes them if they're manually deleted by users." Yikes.

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Juliet Eilperin, Josh Dawsey, and Dan Lamothe at the Washington Post: Park Service Diverts $2.5 Million in Fees for Trump's Fourth of July Extravaganza.

The National Park Service is diverting nearly $2.5 million in entrance and recreation fees primarily intended to improve parks across the country to cover costs associated with [Donald] Trump's Independence Day celebration Thursday on the Mall, according to two individuals familiar with the arrangement.

Trump administration officials have consistently refused to say how much taxpayers will have to pay for the expanded celebration on the Mall this year, which the president has dubbed the "Salute to America." The two individuals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, confirmed the transfer of the Park Service funds Tuesday.

The diverted park fees represent just a fraction of the extra costs the government faces as a result of the event, which will include displays of military hardware, flyovers by an array of jets including Air Force One, the deployment of tanks on the Mall, and an extended pyrotechnics show.

And, because "the White House is distributing VIP tickets to Republican donors and political appointees," this is essentially a taxpayer-funded campaign event for the fucking authoritarian grifter who cheated his way into the Oval Office.

[Content Note: Video may autoplay at link] Jim Sciutto at CNN: Military Chiefs Have Concerns About Politicization of Trump's July 4th Event. "In the planning for the event, Pentagon leaders had reservations about putting tanks or other armored vehicles on display, the source said. As the final details come together, several top military chiefs of the individual services are not attending and instead are sending alternates in their place, though some say they had prior plans." That seems like an inadequate response to an authoritarian trying to politicize the military as part of his fascist takeover.

Speaking of Trump's rampaging authoritarianism, Melanie Schmitz at ThinkProgress: Trump Is Mad That Mueller Is Testifying 'Again'.

Donald Trump on Tuesday lamented Special Counsel Robert Mueller's upcoming testimony before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees later this month, incorrectly stating that Mueller had appeared before them previously and demanding lawmakers move on from the nearly two-year long investigation.

"Robert Mueller is being asked to testify yet again," Trump tweeted. "He said he could only stick to the Report, & that is what he would and must do. After so much testimony & total transparency, this Witch Hunt must now end. No more Do Overs. No Collusion, No Obstruction. The Great Hoax is dead!"

Mueller has not yet answered questions publicly about the findings contained in his 400-plus page final report on that investigation, which focused on Russian interference in the 2016 election. His testimony, scheduled for July 17, will be the first time he takes questions about those findings.

Not that Trump cares. Facts are irrelevant, as his objective is spreading disinformation to discredit Mueller.

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[CN: Nativism; eliminationism] Scott Bixby at the Daily Beast: ICE Told Agents 'Happy Hunting!' as They Prepped for Raid. "As federal immigration authorities put the finishing touches on a plan to initiate a nationwide raid on undocumented immigrants in September 2017, agents and field directors involved in the planning could barely contain their excitement. When the sweep's codename was changed from 'Operation MEGA' to 'Operation EPIC,' one member of the San Bernardino field office joked that the name should be changed again, to 'Operation Super Epic Mega sonic just so there's no confusion.' 'Right???' responded a fellow ICE agent. 'It was Trumppped!!' Another email seeking volunteers and assistance in building target lists signed off by telling agents: 'Happy hunting and target building!'"

[CN: Nativism] adamg at Universal Hub: 18 People Arrested at ICE Protest; All Have Charges Dropped Before They're Even Arraigned. "The Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports prosecutors this morning dropped trespassing charges against 18 people arrested in a Jewish-led 'Never Again' protest at the ICE detention facility at the South Bay jail last evening. Before the 18 — a number chosen by protest organizers for arrest because of its 'good luck/long life' significance in Hebrew — could be arraigned in Roxbury Municipal Court, prosecutors filed 'nolle prosequi' forms formally dropping the charges and leaving them with clean records."

One of the people arrested was Jaclyn Friedman, who has an important thread on the protest and arrests beginning here:

If you're reading this, I have just been arrested with 17 other Jews and allies outside of the ICE Detention Facility in Boston, protesting the US government's detention and dehumanizing abuse of immigrants in concentration camps at the border and around the country. pic.twitter.com/rB6U65yTQ4

— Jaclyn Friedman❄️ (@jaclynf) July 2, 2019

[CN: Nativism; sexual assault; details of assault at link] Tina Vasquez at Rewire.News: Reporting a Rape in Immigration Jail: One Asylum Seeker's Fight for Justice. "Lopez and her attorney have sought justice without success. They have struggled to access basic information from officials at the jail and within U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who are investigating the case. The responses they have received often conflict with each other. Meanwhile, Lopez remains detained at the Yuba County Jail, an immigrant detention facility about an hour north of Sacramento. Lopez's experience navigating the criminal justice system while detained mirrors others reported by Rewire.News. The situation seems compounded for Lopez and other LGBTQ migrants, who are vulnerable to abuse and neglect in prison-like facilities."

[CN: Sexual assault; rape apologia; victim-blaming] Jon Swaine at the Guardian: Teen Accused of Rape Deserves Leniency Because of His 'Good Family', Judge Says.

A judge suggested that a teenage boy accused of raping a drunk girl at a party should be treated leniently because he came from "a good family," and cast doubt on whether such an attack amounted to rape at all.

Judge James Troiano in New Jersey made the remarks while ruling that the boy, who was identified only as "GMC," should not face trial as an adult for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl while recording the incident on his mobile phone.

"This young man comes from a good family who put him into an excellent school where he was doing extremely well," Troiano said. "He is clearly a candidate for not just college but probably for a good college. His scores for college entry were very high." Troiano, 69, also noted that the boy was an Eagle Scout.

Investigators said GMC sent a clip of the alleged rape to seven of his friends, and later sent a text adding: "When your first time having sex is rape."

...The judge also cast doubt on allegations GMC's victim was too drunk to understand what was happening, asserting that she "walked hand-in-hand" with GMC to a basement area where the alleged rape took place.

And he dismissed the significance of GMC's boastful text messages, describing this as "just a 16-year-old kid saying stupid crap to his friends."

The judge also "went on to question whether the rape victim and her family had understood 'the devastating effect' that pressing charges would have" on GMC's life.

Rage. Seethe. Boil. Fume. GODDAMMIT.

I feel like virtually every inch of progress we made in the almighty task of dismantling the rape culture has been completely obliterated by appointing a confessed serial sex abuser to the presidency. Fuck.

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