Shakesville: MIsogynoir

Showing posts with label MIsogynoir. Show all posts

We Resist: Day 889

a black bar with the word RESIST in white text

A woman whose unborn baby was killed in a 2018 Pleasant Grove shooting has now been indicted in the death.

Marshae Jones, a 27-year-old Birmingham woman, was indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury on a manslaughter charge. She was taken into custody on Wednesday.

Though Jones didn't fire the shots that killed her unborn baby girl, authorities say she initiated the dispute that led to the gunfire. Police initially charged 23-year-old Ebony Jemison with manslaughter, but the charge against Jemison was dismissed after the grand jury failed to indict her.

...[Jones] was five months pregnant and was shot in the stomach. The unborn baby did not survive the shooting.

"The investigation showed that the only true victim in this was the unborn baby," Pleasant Grove police Lt. Danny Reid said at the time of the shooting.

...The 5-month fetus was "dependent on its mother to try to keep it from harm, and she shouldn't seek out unnecessary physical altercations," Reid added.

I don't even know where to begin. If we're criminalizing women's emotional behavior while they're pregnant, we are in deep shit.

Amanda Reyes, Executive Director of the Yellowhammer Fund, a member of the National Network of Abortion Funds which helps women access abortion services, said in the statement: "The state of Alabama has proven yet again that the moment a person becomes pregnant their sole responsibility is to produce a live, healthy baby and that it considers any action a pregnant person takes that might impede in that live birth to be a criminal act."

She further notes that this opens the door to women being charged for not getting adequate prenatal care — and, of course, many women don't because of our garbage policy of treating healthcare as a privilege rather than a right.

Women are more than incubators. Goddammit.

[CN: War on agency; class warfare] Jessica Mason Pieklo at Rewire.News: What's Next in the Continuing Mess of the Domestic 'Gag Rule' Fight.

Reproductive rights and health advocates on Monday filed an emergency petition to the full Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, asking it to reverse a ruling last week setting aside preliminary injunctions blocking the Trump administration's domestic "gag rule" from taking effect.

The request is advocates' latest attempt to prevent the administration from enforcing the rule, which bans federal family planning dollars from going to healthcare providers who perform abortions or refer patients for abortion services and was originally set to take effect on May 3. Last week, a three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Trump administration could begin enforcing the policy while the case makes its way through the courts.

On Friday, attorneys from the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a separate emergency request with a federal court in Maine to block the gag rule as well. The court has not yet ruled on that request. A separate injunction remains in place for Title X grantees in Maryland.

[CN: Sexual assault] Daniel Victor at the New York Times: Two Women Who Heard E. Jean Carroll's Account of Being Attacked by Trump Go Public. "Two women in whom E. Jean Carroll confided about having allegedly been sexually attacked by Donald Trump in the 1990s spoke publicly about it for the first time in an interview excerpted on the New York Times podcast 'The Daily,' describing the conflicting advice they gave their friend at the time. On Wednesday, Megan Twohey, a Times reporter, interviewed Ms. Carroll and the two women, Carol Martin and Lisa Birnbach, who had not been publicly identified until now. It was the first time since the alleged assault that the women had discussed it together."

So, not only has Carroll gone on the record with her rape allegation against a sitting president, but the two friends in whom she confided at the time are now going on the record. And still, it's barely getting any attention.

[CN: Rape culture] Alex Kaplan at MediaMatters: Here's How a Fringe Smear Targeting E. Jean Carroll Reached Donald Trump Jr. "After author and advice columnist E. Jean Carroll reported that [Donald] Trump sexually assaulted her in the 1990s, the president's son, Donald Trump Jr., pushed a conspiracy theory that the claim was 'ripped-off a plot' from a 2012 episode of NBC procedural Law & Order. Before being amplified by Trump Jr., the conspiracy theory was spread by a Twitter account associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory and another account whose content has regularly been shared by 'seemingly-automated accounts.' It has also been pushed by the Daily Mail's political editor."

[CN: Nativism; abuse] Maria Sacchetti at the Washington Post: U.S. Asylum Officers Say Trump's 'Remain in Mexico' Policy Is Threatening Migrants' Lives, Ask Federal Court to End It. "U.S. asylum officers slammed [Donald] Trump's policy of forcing migrants to remain in Mexico while they await immigration hearings in the United States, urging a federal appeals court Wednesday to block the administration from continuing the program. The officers, who are directed to implement the policy, said it is threatening migrants' lives and is 'fundamentally contrary to the moral fabric of our Nation.' ...The union said in court papers that the policy is compelling sworn officers to participate in the 'widespread violation' of international and federal law — 'something that they did not sign up to do when they decided to become asylum and refugee officers for the United States government.'"

[CN: Nativism] Franco Ordoñez at NPR: Trump Wants to Withdraw Deportation Protections for Families of Active Troops.

The Trump administration wants to scale back a program that protects undocumented family members of active-duty troops from being deported, according to attorneys familiar with those plans.

The attorneys are racing to submit applications for what is known as parole in place after hearing from the wives and loved ones of deployed soldiers who have been told that option is "being terminated."

The protections will only be available under rare circumstances, the lawyers said they've been told.

"It's going to create chaos in the military," said Margaret Stock, an immigration attorney who represents recruits and veterans in deportation proceedings. "The troops can't concentrate on their military jobs when they're worried about their family members being deported."

I can't imagine anything that makes more abundantly clear that Trump's immigration policy isn't about "protecting citizens" but is just straight-up white supremacist, nativist malice.

Twitter is introducing a label to place over tweets from world leaders that are found to be in violation of its rules around abuse, harassment, and violent threats. Those tweets will still remain up, but they'll be placed behind a notice. https://t.co/b9KhKgpmFd
— Ryan Mac (@RMac18) June 27, 2019

As Kyle Griffin notes on Twitter, this is "a move with potentially stark implications for Trump's account." LOL indeed.

* * *

Peter Baker at the New York Times: Heading to G-20, Trump Once Again Assails America's Friends. "In the hours before and after leaving for an international summit meeting, Mr. Trump assailed Japan, Germany, and India. He complained that under existing treaty provisions, if the United States were attacked, Japan would only 'watch it on a Sony television.' He called Germany a security freeloader and chastised India for raising tariffs on American goods."

Seung Min Kim, Damian Paletta, and Simon Denyer at the Washington Post: Trump Arrives at Global Economic Summit with Full Agenda and List of Grievances. "'Well, I think I can say very easily that we've been very good to our allies, we work with our allies, we take care of our allies,' Trump, flanked by senior aides and Cabinet officials, said at the beginning of his dinner with [Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison]. 'We even help our allies militarily. So we do look at ourselves and we look at ourselves, I think, more positively than ever before, but we also look at our allies and I think Australia is a good example.'"

And when President Trump sits down with President Xi on the sidelines of the G-20 summit, all eyes will be on whether they can restart trade talks that collapsed amid a war of words in May. https://t.co/h3o3BPSoXy
— NBC News (@NBCNews) June 27, 2019

Eliana Johnson Burgess Everett at Politico: Trump's Hawks Ramp Up Campaign to Shred Last Part of Iran Nuclear Deal. "Iran's expected breach on Thursday of the uranium stockpile limits set by the 2015 nuclear deal is reviving a fierce debate within the Trump administration and on Capitol Hill about just how hard Trump should go to undermine the agreement. Even though Trump pulled out from the deal struck by President Barack Obama, an important portion of the agreement was left intact that allows work on Iran's civil nuclear program and facilitates international projects to encourage its advancement. The State Department has issued waivers to allow those projects to continue and doing away with them would almost certainly blow up the deal entirely. That's precisely the goal that Trump administration hawks, led by national security adviser John Bolton, have been pursuing."

Jamie Ross at the Daily Beast: Trump's DC Hotel Charged Secret Service $200,000 in First Year of Presidency. "The Trump International Hotel in Washington, just five blocks from the White House, charged the Secret Service more than $200,000 in taxpayer money during the first year of Trump's presidency. Expense documents obtained by NBC News show that a total of $215,254 was spent by the agency at the property from September 2016 to February 2018. One bill came in at $33,638 for just two days of use. "

[CN: Climate change]

OK, so, turns out the ocean has warmed about 20% more than we previously thought… which has dire consequences for all life on our planet on land and in the water https://t.co/glPMbQV91D
— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) June 27, 2019

Jon Henley and Sam Jones at the Guardian: Spain Fights Huge Forest Fire as European Heatwave Intensifies. "More than 500 firefighters and soldiers are working to bring a huge forest fire under control in north-eastern Spain as the early summer heatwave intensifies across Europe. The fire, in the Catalan province of Tarragona, has been fanned by strong winds and high temperatures and has so far burned across 5,000 hectares (12,355 acres) of land. ...'We're facing a serious fire on a scale not seen for 20 years,' the region's interior minister, Miquel Buch, said in a tweet."

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

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We Resist: Day 853

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.

* * *

Late yesterday and earlier today by me: #StopTheBans and Nancy Pelosi, What Are You Even Doing? and Primarily Speaking.

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

Welp, Speaker Nancy Pelosi's and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's decision to go to the White House to meet with Donald Trump on infrastructure turned out to be a bad idea! WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED.

Trump instead declared that he wouldn't work with them, because of the Democrats' investigations and talk of impeachment.

Josh Dawsey: "Trump says he walked into room with Pelosi and Schumer and told them he wanted to do infrastructure but that he won't work with them unless they 'get these phony investigations over with.' And now he's in the Rose Garden for a presser."

Judy Woodruff: "Standing in Rose Garden, [Donald] Trump adds 'these are the people that after 2 years and 45 million dollars...500 witnesses..and Nancy Pelosi says I engaged in a coverup. We have a House investigation, Senate investigation, & we did nothing wrong. These people were out to get us.'"

Chris Megerian: "'We will go down one track at a time,' Trump says. He'll fight Democrats first, work on policies later. That's a wrap from the Rose Garden."

As always, Aaron Rupar has video.

That Trump just came out and said HE won't work with Dems on infrastructure because of the threat of impeachment, which Pelosi still hasn't agreed to pursue, is exactly why: 1. Pelosi and Schumer shouldn't even have gone to WH; 2. Pelosi should be launching impeachment hearings.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 22, 2019

Honestly, I do not understand the argument it's a "win" if Pelosi, Schumer, or anyone else can successfully bait Trump into behaving like a villainous wreck.

WE ALREADY KNOW HE IS A VILLAINOUS WRECK. No more evidence is required.

Now it's (beyond) time to do something about it.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 22, 2019

See, the problem with the whole "let Trump hoist himself with his own petard" concept is that, for it to work, there has to be someone positioned and willing to hold him accountable.

And, while we wait, Mitch McConnell is busily stacking the courts.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 22, 2019

The pushback I'm getting on those tweets is incredible. Over and over, I am being accused (of course) of not understanding politics. The thing is, I am urgently in favor of launching impeachment hearings not because I don't understand U.S. politics, but because I do.

I have been writing about U.S. politics in this space for 15 years, and I have routinely been both entirely right about what's happening in this country and well ahead of the curve. My track record speaks for itself.

Impeach him now.

* * *

Karoun Demirjian at the Washington Post: Justice Department and House Intelligence Panel Strike Deal for Mueller Materials.

The House Intelligence Committee will not enforce a subpoena against Attorney General William P. Barr as planned Wednesday, after the Justice Department agreed at the 11th hour to produce the redacted material and underlying information from the special counsel's report that the panel sought, albeit more slowly than it wanted.

Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), the committee's chairman, announced the deal in a statement Wednesday morning. He warned that the subpoena "will remain in effect and will be enforced should the Department fail to comply with the full document request."

This is ridiculous. The constant goalpost-moving benefits Trump. It's just that simple.

Kate Riga at TPM: Tillerson Slipped into the Capitol to Tell House Committee About Trump and Russia. "Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson quietly slipped into the Capitol Tuesday to talk to the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the Trump administration’s interactions with Russia. According to the Daily Beast, Tillerson arrived under a shroud of secrecy, with almost no media warning and a back entrance to the building. During a six-hour hearing, Tillerson told the committee about how the administration actively avoided confronting Russia on their election interference in the name of establishing a rapport with Russian President Vladimir Putin." Also ridiculous. Open hearings are necessary. Secrecy also benefits Trump.

Jeff Stein and Josh Dawsey at the Washington Post: Confidential Draft IRS Memo Says Tax Returns Must Be Given to Congress Unless President Invokes Executive Privilege. "A confidential Internal Revenue Service legal memo says tax returns must be given to Congress unless the president takes the rare step of asserting executive privilege, according to a copy of the memo obtained by The Washington Post. ...Trump has refused to turn over his tax returns but has not invoked executive privilege. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has instead denied the returns by arguing there is no legislative purpose for demanding them. But according to the IRS memo, which has not been previously reported, the disclosure of tax returns to the committee 'is mandatory, requiring the Secretary to disclose returns, and return information, requested by the tax-writing Chairs.'" Cool outline to Trump on how he can keep his taxes concealed.

* * *

[Content Note: Transphobia] Zack Ford at ThinkProgress: Virginia Confirms It Will Discriminate Against Transgender National Guard Personnel. "Responding to an inquiry from ThinkProgress, Adjutant General Timothy Williams...proceeded to repeat the Trump administration's description of the ban. 'The new DOD policy doesn't ban transgender individuals from service, and transgender service members may continue to serve,' he wrote. 'The DOD policy states that anyone who meets military standards without special accommodations can and should be able to serve, and this includes transgender persons.' This is incorrect. The administration's policy explicitly requires that service members can only serve in their 'biological sex.' This automatically precludes any transgender person from serving, including those who are already living in accordance with their gender identity."

[CN: Nativism] Chelsia Rose Marcius at the Daily Beast: Texas Migrant Detention Center Shuts Down over Flu Outbreak Following Teenager's Death. "U.S. Customs and Border Protection's main migrant intake center in Texas has halted work after a 'large number' of migrants fell ill, the agency announced late Tuesday. An unspecified number of migrants at the Central Processing Center in McAllen began showing 'signs of a flu-related illness,' CBP said. No further details were immediately available on the number of those affected or their ages. The outbreak comes just one day after [16-year-old Carlos Gregorio Vasquez] who had been held at the same facility died after being diagnosed with the flu."

7-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin. 8-year-old Felipe Alonzo-Gomez. 16-year-old Juan de León Gutiérrez. A still-unidentified 2-year-old boy. And 16-year-old Carlos Gregorio Vasquez. Sob.

[CN: Misogynoir] Tucker Higgins at CNBC: Harriet Tubman $20 Bill No Longer Coming in 2020: Mnuchin Says Redesign Postponed. "The redesign of the $20 bill featuring Harriet Tubman will no longer be unveiled in 2020, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday. The unveiling had been timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. Mnuchin said the design process has been delayed and no new imagery will be unveiled until 2028." Of course.

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

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Trump's Relentless Campaign of Stochastic Terrorism: Rep. Ilhan Omar Edition

[Content Note: Islamophobia; misogynoir; stochastic terrorism.]

On Friday, Donald Trump tweeted a video that interspersed clips of Rep. Ilhan Omar speaking about 9/11 at an event hosted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and footage of the Twin Towers burning on 9/11. Alongside the video, Trump tweeted the text: "WE WILL NEVER FORGET!"

Omar's speech had been the focus of manufactured conservative outrage for days by the time Trump issued his disgusting and incendiary tweet. (For more on that, see Eli Rosenberg and Kayla Epstein at the Washington Post), so Trump, always the opportunist, saw a chance to throw some Islamophobic red meat to his deplorable base.

It was also another opportunity for Trump to further his campaign of stochastic terrorism against marginalized people and/or his critics. I shared my thoughts about that on Twitter over the weekend:

What Donald Trump is doing is stochastic terrorism. The president is targeting a member of Congress in a way that not only makes her unsafe, but makes every Muslim (and other non-Muslims frequently targeted by violent Islamophobia, like Sikhs) unsafe.

Here is a piece I wrote last year about Trump's campaign of stochastic terrorism.

It's critical to understand the president's despicable, dangerous strategy.

Stochastic terrorism is "the use of mass communications to incite random actors to carry out violent or terrorist acts that are statistically predictable but individually unpredictable. In short, remote-control murder by lone wolf."

That is: Leverage visibility and influence to dehumanize your enemies and cast them as threats, then sit back and wait for your most radical and/or unstable supporters to take violent action. It helps significantly if you've also leveraged your power to give access to deadly weaponry to as many people as possible.
As I have said many times, Trump did not invent bigotry. But he amplifies it, and he empowers its most vicious purveyors (including himself), every chance he gets.

* * *

Sometimes lost in all the technical analysis of what a corrupt and radical and dangerous president Donald Trump is, is the fact that he's an extraordinarily awful human being. Just a toxic, bigoted, vengeful, dishonest, sadistic piece of shit. There is an abuser at the wheel.

It's increasingly problematic for the press to avoid straightforwardly addressing that Trump is an awful human being, b/c his nature is why this isn't going to get better. The fewer checks on his power, the worse it will get. His unfettered cruelty is terrifying to contemplate.

That the press persists with the obscene pretense that it's somehow impolite to bluntly call someone a bad person — even if he is demonstrably a white supremacist, nativist, patriarchal, authoritarian pigshit, who publicly mocks disabled people for laughs — will kill us all.

This has been my pinned tweet since two days after the election, when it was all the rage to admonish me to "give Trump a chance." And it will stay pinned until he is gone, because I know exactly who he is.

Not going to "give him a chance." I'm going to resist every single thing he tries to do, b/c he's used every chance he ever got to hurt ppl.

I've seen a number of people saying that Trump attacked Omar despite the fact a Trump supporter was recently arrested for making a direct threat on her life — but Trump isn't attacking Omar in spite of the existing threats to her life; he's attacking her because she is already vulnerable, so that threats against her will increase.

And so they have:

Rep. Ilhan Omar says she's faced increased death threats since President Trump spread around a video that purports to show her being dismissive of the 2001 terrorist attacks. "This is endangering lives," she said, accusing Mr. Trump of fomenting right-wing extremism. "It has to stop."

Yes, it does. Donald Trump has to be disempowered immediately, because he is not going to stop out of the goodness of his heart. He has none.

Open Wide...

We Resist: Day 720

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.

* * *

Late yesterday and earlier today by me: Keep Your Eyes on Pence and Trump's F#@king Speech Thread and Rosenstein Reportedly to Leave Administration Soon and Trump Has Border-Walled Himself into a Corner.

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

[Content Note: Authoritarianism; nativism; and dehumanization. Covers entire section.]

Luke Barnes at ThinkProgress: Experts Saw Signs of Growing Authoritarianism in Trump's Primetime Address. No shit. "Both Professors Ben-Ghiat and Berman agreed that authoritarians regularly inflate or entirely manufacture supposed national security crises — often based off of classified info only they have access to — in order to further cement their grip on power."

This does not even resemble being the president of a constitutional federal representative democracy. This is being an authoritarian throwing a tantrum. https://t.co/jPtpv3Wm8n
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 9, 2019

Sarah Kendzior at the Globe and Mail: Forget the Wall; Trump Is the National Security Crisis. "We are two years into the presidency of a man who launched his campaign by smearing Mexicans as rapists and murderers and then proclaimed he would make Mexico pay for a wall to keep the alleged perpetrators out. But Mr. Trump's obsession with the wall had as little to do with ensuring public safety as his prior obsession with President Obama's birth certificate had to do with legislative legitimacy. Both were rhetorical moves designed to shift the parameters of debate into rancid, racist territory."

Kate Riga at TPM: Trump Tells TV Anchors Before Speech That Border Trip Is Just a Photo Op. "Donald Trump told TV news anchors at a lunch before his Oval Office address that his upcoming trip to the border won't 'change a damn thing' and that it's really just a photo opportunity."

HEADS UP

The Trump administration appears to be moving forward with condemnation notices and land seizure for border “wall” construction in Texas. Thread 👇🏼

🚨🚨🚨 https://t.co/hAkLcJRmIs
— Leah McElrath (@leahmcelrath) January 9, 2019

This is always the horror of authoritarian leadership: On the one hand, it's manufactured drama built on obvious lies. On the other, it is very real and terrifying oppression being justified by those invented crises and rank dishonesty.

Anyway. Trump's whole family seems great cough. Ed Mazza at the Huffington Post: Donald Trump Jr. Says Border Wall Is Like a Zoo Fence Protecting You from Animals. "Donald Trump Jr. is getting called out for an Instagram message he posted that compared the proposed border wall to a zoo fence. 'You know why you can enjoy a day at the zoo?' the son of [Donald] Trump wrote in an Instagram story on Tuesday night. 'Because walls work.'"

The most unbelievable part of this tweet is that Don Jr has friends. https://t.co/X62UVCft4e
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 8, 2019

This entire fucking family JFC.

* * *

Nico Hines at the Daily Beast: Trump Campaign Consultants Cambridge Analytica Found Guilty of Breaking Data Laws. "Cambridge Analytica has been found guilty of breaking data laws after refusing to disclose how much information it holds on an American professor, where it got the data, and — perhaps most importantly — how it used it and who it gave it to. The British analytics firm, which was hired by the Trump campaign, has been accused of misusing the Facebook data of almost 100 million Americans while working to elect [Donald] Trump. ...In court Wednesday, the administrators of SCL Elections, which declared bankruptcy in May last year, finally admitted that it had broken the law. The last-minute guilty plea came on the day the trial was scheduled to begin. The judge ruled the company had shown a 'willful disregard' for the enforcement of data laws, but sentenced the company to pay less than $20,000 — even with the addition of some of the costs, the penalty was around $26,000." That'll show 'em! (Sob.)

Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post: One More Russian Contact: Here's Why It Matters. "We've come a long way since Trump claimed neither he nor anyone on the campaign had contacts with Russians. Before the latest revelation, the Moscow Project had discovered '97 contacts between Trump's team and Russia linked operatives, including at least 28 meetings. And we know that at least 28 high-ranking campaign officials and Trump advisers were aware of contacts with Russia-linked operatives during the campaign and transition.' Furthermore, 'None of these contacts were ever reported to the proper authorities. Instead, the Trump team tried to cover up every single one of them.'"

Pilar Melendez and Julia Arciga at the Daily Beast: TSA Officers Are Already Quitting over the Shutdown, Union Says.

Airport security screeners forced to work without pay during the government shutdown have been calling out sick. But now the mad-as-hell workers are actually quitting their jobs.

That's according to union officials representing Transportation Security Administration officers, who will miss their first paycheck since the government ground to a halt Dec. 22 over a budget and border wall impasse.

"Some of them have already quit and many are considering quitting the federal workforce because of this shutdown," Hydrick Thomas, head of the American Federation of Government Employees' TSA Council, said in a statement Tuesday.

"The loss of officers, while we're already shorthanded, will create a massive security risk for American travelers since we don't have enough trainees in the pipeline or the ability to process new hires. Our TSOs already do an amazing job without the proper staffing levels, but if this keeps up there are problems that will arise — least of which would be increased wait times for travelers."

...One TSA worker at JFK International Airport in New York told The Daily Beast that at least 15 of his coworkers have called out since the shutdown began on Dec. 22 — and he might be next.

"Listen, I love my job and I have been willing to work for free as people in Washington sort everything out," said the worker, who has been on the job for about a year and asked to remain anonymous.

"But how long is this going to take? I have a newborn," he said. "I can barely afford to miss this pay period. I don't want to lose my job but I also don't want to lose my apartment, you know?"

Oliver Milman at the Guardian: Americans' Health at Risk as Shutdown Slashes EPA. "The U.S. government shutdown has stymied environmental testing and inspections, prompting warnings that Americans' health is being put at increasing risk as the shutdown drags on. More than 13,000 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are not at work, with just 794 people deemed essential staff currently undertaking the agency's duties. The remaining skeleton staff are able to 'respond to emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property,' according to an EPA planning document. But many routine activities such as checks on regulated businesses, clean-ups of toxic superfund sites, and the pursuit of criminal polluters have been paused since 28 December."

[CN: Anti-choicery] Jessica Mason Pieklo at Rewire.News: GOP Women's Senate Judiciary Assignments Are About Abortion, Not Optics. "Republicans made history this week by assigning one-third of their women senators to serve on the Judiciary Committee. U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) are set to become the first Republican women to serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee, but their assignments are about more than just addressing the horrible optics of Republicans never having had a woman on a committee that deals with fundamental constitutional privacy rights like abortion. They just added two more committed anti-choice activists and Trump loyalists to the committee charged with jurisdiction over federal civil rights law, at precisely the time the administration's attacks on civil rights — and especially reproductive rights — are reaching a fevered pitch."

[CN: Racism] Today in the New York Times going full Nazi:

WTAF. I suspect that people who have never heard this used as a slur don't live in "rarefied circles" so much as they live in "circles without any Latinx friends, relatives, or neighbors with whom they have meaningful conversations about racism." https://t.co/3CKgjS6WKh
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 9, 2019

[CN: Misogynoir; loss of wanted pregnancy] Tressie McMillan Cottom at Time: I Was Pregnant and in Crisis; All the Doctors and Nurses Saw Was an Incompetent Black Woman. "Everything about the structure of trying to get medical care had filtered me through assumptions of my incompetence. There it was, what I had always been afraid of, what I must have known since I was a child I needed to prepare to defend myself against, and what it would take me years to accept was beyond my control. Like millions of women of color, especially black women, the healthcare machine could not imagine me as competent and so it neglected and ignored me until I was incompetent. ...When the medical profession systematically denies the existence of black women's pain, underdiagnoses our pain, refuses to alleviate or treat our pain, healthcare marks us as incompetent bureaucratic subjects. Then it serves us accordingly."

* * *

And finally, some good news... Samantha Young, Anna Gorman, and Ana B. Ibarra at Towleroad: Newsom Comes out Swinging on Day One for Single-Payer, Immigrant Coverage. "Within hours of assuming office Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a defiant challenge to the Trump administration with sweeping plans to expand health coverage to more Californians, pushing for a single-payer system and insurance for undocumented young adult immigrants. He also called for new state-funded subsidies to help people afford health insurance, coupled with a requirement that all Californians have health insurance. And he signed an executive order that directs state agencies to work together to negotiate prescription drug prices." Right on.

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

Open Wide...

We Resist: Day 698

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.

* * *

Earlier today by Fannie: A Journey of Artistic Comrades. And by me: Michael Flynn to Be Sentenced Today and The Abusive Artist Doesn't Want to Be Separated from His Art. And ICYMI late yesterday: Cassandra's Lament, Part Wev in an Endless Series.

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

I'm going to start out with some good news, care of one of our longtime favorites, Idris Elba. Yohana Desta at Vanity Fair: Idris Elba on the #MeToo Movement. "In a recent interview with The Sunday Times, the actor was asked if it's hard to be a man in Hollywood now due to the #MeToo movement, which has led to a broader reckoning against sexual misconduct. Plenty of actors have been asked something similar, and many have responded with statements that ended up necessitating apologies — from Matt Damon to Henry Cavill. But Elba? He had this to say in response: "It's only difficult if you're a man with something to hide." Simple as that." BOOM.

Because we deserve it, here is a screenshot of Idris Elba and Tom Hardy from RocknRolla. You're welcome!

image of Tom Hardy and Idris Elba in RocknRolla

IrRESISTible. See what I did there?
* * *

[Content Note: Nativism. Covers entire section.]

Hamed Aleaziz at BuzzFeed: The Trump Administration Is Slowing the Asylum Process to Discourage Applicants, an Official Told Congress.

A high-ranking Customs and Border Protection official told Congress earlier this month that border agents were limiting asylum applications along the border because allowing too many migrants to apply would inspire more migrants to come, according to a letter written by senior House Democrats on Monday.

The statement by Jud Murdock, CBP's acting assistant commissioner, contradicted official claims that the practice of "metering" — when officials limit the number of individuals who can make asylum claims at ports of entry on any given day — was due to resource constraints, including a lack of detention space and personnel. When asked about the practice at a Senate hearing last week, CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said that it was not meant as a deterrent.

But on Dec. 6, Murdock said in a closed congressional briefing that CBP had chosen to limit asylum-seekers at ports of entries because "[t]he more we process, the more will come," according to the letter.

Murdock's answers to follow-up questions "clearly indicated, given the context, that the Department's decision to limit processing was primarily motivated by its desire to deter migrants from seeking asylum at ports of entry" generally, according to the letter, which was signed by Reps. Zoe Lofgren, Bennie Thompson, and Jerrold Nadler, the ranking Democrats on the Immigration Subcommittee, the Homeland Security Committee, and the Judiciary Committee, respectively.

Particularly in light of that confirmation of one of the many observable cruel practices being employed as disincentive, this piece from Tina Vasquez at Rewire.News is so important: Migrants Share Their Vision for a World That Honors and Respects Them. "[N]o matter the deterrents used by governments, no matter the anti-immigrant rhetoric deployed, no matter the risk or cost, people have always migrated and will continue to migrate globally. This is because their lives depend on their ability to move from one place to another — for family, for work, and in many cases for safety."

Maxwell Tani at the Daily Beast: Advertisers Ditch Fox News' Tucker Carlson for Saying Immigration Makes U.S. 'Dirtier'. "Last Thursday, Carlson ran a segment arguing against the economic benefits of immigration in which he claimed the influx of low-skilled workers 'makes our own country poor and dirtier and more divided.' ...At least four advertisers were not pleased with Carlson's comments. ...During his show on Monday, Carlson defended his comments, saying various government statistics showed that illegal immigration has damaged natural landscape in the American Southwest. 'We're not intimidated,' he said. 'We plan to try to say what's true until the last day. And the truth is unregulated mass immigration has badly hurt this country's natural landscape.'" This fucking guy.

It's tough to believe that any advertiser has been willing to associate themselves with anyone or anything on Fox News up until this point, but I'm glad that these advertisers finally drew a line somewhere.

* * *

“Trump may emerge as a brazen grifter who, by aspiring to the White House like a wizened, soiled version of Icarus, flew beyond the boundaries of his own luck and abilities and delivered his business, children and well-being into the hands of prosecutors.”https://t.co/3ixzKPjUEI
— Leah McElrath (@leahmcelrath) December 17, 2018

Trump may (or may not) have delivered himself into the hands of prosecutors, but, in either case, he's plowing ahead with his 2020 reelection bid. Alex Isenstadt at Politico: Trump Launches Unprecedented Reelection Machine. "Donald Trump is planning to roll out an unprecedented structure for his 2020 reelection, a streamlined organization that incorporates the Republican National Committee and the president's campaign into a single entity. It's a stark expression of Trump's stranglehold over the Republican Party: Traditionally, a presidential reelection committee has worked in tandem with the national party committee, not subsumed it. Under the plan, which has been in the works for several weeks, the Trump reelection campaign and the RNC will merge their field and fundraising programs into a joint outfit dubbed Trump Victory. The two teams will also share office space rather than operate out of separate buildings, as has been custom." Yikes.

David A. Fahrenthold at the Washington Post: Trump Agrees to Shut Down His Charity Amid Allegations That He Used It for Personal and Political Benefit.

[Donald] Trump has agreed to shut down his embattled personal charity and to give away its remaining money amid allegations that he used the foundation for his personal and political benefit, New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood announced Tuesday.

Underwood said that the Donald J. Trump Foundation is dissolving as her office pursues its lawsuit against the charity, Trump, and his three eldest children.

The suit, filed in June, alleged "persistently illegal conduct" at the foundation and sought to have it shut down. Underwood is continuing to seek more than $2.8 million in restitution and has asked a judge to ban the Trumps temporarily from serving on the boards of other New York nonprofit organizations.

Underwood said Tuesday that her investigation found "a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation — including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more."

A small but important victory.

Speaking of which... Nicole Lafond at TPM: Stone Forced to Run Apology Ads in Papers as Part of Defamation Settlement. "Former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone — who faces scrutiny for his lack of credibility in the Russia probe — has been forced to run apology advertisements in national newspapers as part of a settlement agreement for making false statements on InfoWars, the Wall Street Journal reported. Stone was sued for $100 million for false claims about Chinese businessman Guo Wengui, who is known as a dissident of Beijing. Guo filed the lawsuit in March, after Stone suggested he was convicted of crimes in the U.S. and China and claimed Guo donated to Hillary Clinton's campaign, which is illegal for a foreign national, as the WSJ notes. Stone will also have to retract his comments on social media. He won't have to pay any damages if he complies."

Bill Chappell at NPR: U.S. Space Command Is Revived, as Vice President Pence Unveils Plan in Florida.

America's military operations in space are now back under a single unified command, as the Trump administration revived the once-retired U.S. Space Command on Tuesday. Vice President Mike Pence outlined the plan during his visit to the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday.

"Today, there are more than 18,000 military and civilian personnel working in space operations for our national security, all across the Department of Defense," Pence said.

The vice president added that under [Donald] Trump's order, Space Command will "integrate space capabilities across all branches of the military; it will develop the space doctrine, tactics, techniques, and procedures that will enable our warfighters to defend our nation in this new era."

"A new era of American national security in space begins today," Pence said.

Okay. Still super thrilled (NOT THRILLED) about the idea of Donald Trump and Mike Pence launching nukes from space. Christ.

[CN: Misogyny; racism; harassment]

"Female politicians & journalists were abused on Twitter every 30 seconds in 2017, according to the largest-ever study into how women are targeted w/hate speech online. ...Black women were almost twice as likely as their white counterparts to be targeted." https://t.co/ukthh89EJb
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) December 18, 2018

[CN: Wildfires; carcerality; injuries] Yessenia Funes at Earther: Two California Inmates Suffered Severe Burns Fighting the Camp Fire. Why Were They There at All? "No firefighters' lives were lost fighting the Camp Fire, but five suffered serious burn injuries on November 8... Among those injured were two incarcerated people, who suffered burns to the face and neck. ...These incidents once again raise the question of how ethical and just this conservation camp program — which bills itself as voluntary — really is. California has 44 conservation camps sprinkled throughout the state that house nearly 4,300 incarcerated people. At these camps, prisoners earn a mere $2 a day with an additional dollar per hour when they're fighting an active fire — which is higher than other prison jobs but dramatically lower than the $40,000 to $56,00 annual salary firefighters outside prison earn."

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

Open Wide...

I Have a Question

[Content Note: Sexual harassment and assault; misogynoir; rape apologia; victim-blaming.]

Do you think the Venn diagram of motherfuckers who are disgracing themselves by defending Les Moonves and the shitwheels who are embarrassing themselves by trash-talking Serena Williams is a perfect goddamned circle?

That's a rhetorical question.

Please feel free to discuss both stories in comments.

Open Wide...

We Resist: Day 482

Donald Trump has officially acknowledged that he reimbursed his attorney, Michael Cohen, for a payment the lawyer made on Trump's behalf in 2017. The purpose of the payment is not named, but it was almost surely the one Cohen made to a porn actress with whom Trump allegedly had an affair.

"In the interest of transparency," reads a footnote in Trump's newly filed 2017 financial disclosure form, "while not required to be disclosed as 'reportable liabilities' on Part 8, in 2016 expenses were incurred by one of Donald J. Trump's attorneys, Michael Cohen. Mr. Cohen sought reimbursement of those expenses and Mr. Trump fully reimbursed Mr. Cohen in 2017. The category of value would be $100,001 - $250,000 and the interest rate would be zero."

That line almost certainly refers to the $130,000 payment that Cohen made to Stormy Daniels in October 2016 in exchange for her signing a non-disclosure agreement regarding her alleged tryst with Trump.

"Expenses were incurred." Oh, they were, huh? LOL this fucking criminal clown.

The Stormy Daniels reimbursement to Michael Cohen is listed in Trump's financial disclosure. So it's official, both Trump and Cohen initially lied about the Daniels payment. https://t.co/1wAWYzDfP3 pic.twitter.com/LC2dXBMpoK
— Emily C. Singer (@CahnEmily) May 16, 2018

And there's the rub.

FINGERS CROSSED THAT THIS WILL MATTER AT SOME POINT BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE GREAT.

NEW: Ethics office sending letter to Rod Rosenstein stating that Michael Cohen's payment on behalf of Trump was a debt and may be relevant to "any inquiry" Rosenstein may be pursuing. pic.twitter.com/e22Jfuozic
— Ari Melber (@AriMelber) May 16, 2018

Huge news—the Ethics Office concluded that Trump made a false statement on his prior ethics disclosure, which is a crime if it is done knowingly and willfully, and referred the matter to Rosenstein for potential criminal prosecution. https://t.co/OecIBkdGwE
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) May 16, 2018

* * *

Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani at ThinkProgress: Nikki Haley Walks out of U.N. Security Council Meeting as Palestinian Envoy Begins to Speak. "The Security Council was holding an emergency meeting to discuss the violence in Gaza. Israeli forces killed at least 62 Palestinians protesting along the border fence on Monday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza. That number included several children, one of whom was just 8 months old. More than 3,100 others were wounded. ...'I ask my colleagues here in the Security Council: Who among us would accept this type of activity on your border?' she said. 'No one would. No country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has.' Haley did not mention the Israeli soldiers and snipers firing at the Palestinian protesters or the death toll from Monday. Less than two hours later, when Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations Riyad Mansour began to speak, she walked out of the meeting." Wow. What a disgrace.

"Giuliani's point, echoed by many conservatives, is Mueller's year-old investigation has run too long and is causing Trump unacceptable political damage." That's rich, considering as long as Trump's in office, it's giving the GOP time to consolidate power. https://t.co/M1BcKFQOx7
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 16, 2018

Which is to say nothing of the fact that "the impression the president may have broken the law is inconvenient to him politically" is no reason to end an investigation, nor to engage in obstruction, nor to repeatedly express contempt for the rule of law. https://t.co/5yhPMrDqgq
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 16, 2018

Michael Birnbaum at the Washington Post: E.U. Leader Lights into Trump: 'With Friends Like That, Who Needs Enemies?'

Even by the stressed standards of relations between Europe and the United States in the Trump era, European Council President Donald Tusk's Wednesday criticisms were unusually cutting.

At the outset of a summit of European leaders whose agenda items, point by point, have to do with the flames of crises that many Europeans see as ignited by [Donald] Trump, Tusk ripped into what he called "the capricious assertiveness of the American administration" over issues including Iran, Gaza, trade tariffs, and North Korea.

...Tusk, a former prime minister of Poland who now presides over one branch of E.U. policymaking, went full zen in his angry description of Trump's effect on Europe.

"Looking at the latest decisions of Donald Trump, someone could even think: With friends like that, who needs enemies?" Tusk told reporters in English ahead of a summit in Sofia, Bulgaria. "But, frankly speaking, Europe should be grateful by [Donald] Trump. Because, thanks to him, we got rid of all the illusions. He has made us realize that if you need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of your arm."

Just as a totally random (cough) reminder: President Obama hired Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State because her reputation with leaders around the world was so stellar.

Sob.

* * *

Ughhhhhhhhhhh. "With two of 51 Republicans committed to voting against Haspel, and five Democrats indicating that they will support her, she appears to be set to become the agency’s first female director." https://t.co/bDj2NNAbfo
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 16, 2018

The Democrats really failed on that one, in my estimation, but it's important to remember that, by and large, they are still fighting the good fight day in and day out, despite many forces working against them.

To wit: Eric Levitz at NYMag: The Democratic Party Has an 'MSNBC Problem'.

"The Democrats need to stop obsessing about Trump and Russia, and start talking about the bread-and-butter issues that matter to ordinary people." Since Donald Trump took office, that sentiment has been a refrain for the party's leading critics on both the left and right. It is also fundamentally unfair.

In truth, the Democratic Party is quite focused on promoting a progressive critique of the GOP's positions on taxes, health care, and social spending, because it knows that Republicans are deeply vulnerable on those issues. MSNBC, CNN, and the broader mainstream media, however, are obsessed with the White House's myriad scandals — because they know that a federal investigation into the American president's potential ties to the Kremlin (and/or porn stars and/or white-collar crime) is ratings gold — while daily broadcasts reiterating the regressive implications of the GOP's tax law and health-care plans would be anything but.

If you get your news from Democratic Twitter accounts, then you might well think that the biggest "scandal" in American politics right now is the Republican Party's war on the middle class.

But if you get your news from cable television — or secondhand from friends and family who watch cable news — then you will think that "Russia-gate" is the Democratic Party's central concern; because that is just about the only thing that cable news channels invite Democratic officeholders to go on television to discuss.

...It is not MSNBC's job to promote the Democratic Party's economic message. And the Mueller investigation is an important and fascinating story that's tailor-made for television news. It would not be realistic for Democrats to expect any for-profit media company to prioritize conveying its preferred political narratives over covering the most sensational events of the day.

And yet, Republicans do get that courtesy from the nation's most-watched cable news channel. Fox News puts the GOP's messaging needs ahead of maximizing eyeballs: When big breaking news about the Mueller investigation reflects poorly on the Republican president, Fox lets its competitors own the day's top story.

This puts Democrats at a profound structural disadvantage — especially in the war for the hearts and minds of working-class white voters in the deindustrializing Midwest.

There is much more at the link, and I highly recommended reading the whole thing.

Democrats are also at a disadvantage because the political press largely doesn't explain that foreign collusion is itself a "bread-and-butter issue." You know who cares even less about providing livable wages for working class Americans than the Republican Party? Vladimir Putin.

* * *

[Content Note: Anti-Blackness; misogynoir; harassment] Blue Telusma at the Grio: 'Humiliated' Black Woman Strip-Searched by Macy's Clerk Because 'People Like You Have Been Stealing'. "Conteh Moore was shopping at a San Jose Macy's on May 8th when a sales associate accused her of stealing a bottle of cologne. Shortly thereafter, the employee performed an invasive strip search on her without her consent, but came up empty handed. 'They searched my purse and stripped my sweater off me,' Moore said. She also claims the employee made comments that demonstrated her suspicions about Moore being a thief were based on racial bias. 'She said, 'People like you have been stealing from Macy's, stealing stuff,'' Moore explained." JFC.

[CN: Self-harm; misogyny] Maggie Fox at NBC News: More Girls Are Attempting Suicide; It's Not Clear Why. "A new study out Wednesday finds that more kids are either thinking about or attempting suicide. 'When we looked at hospitalizations for suicidal ideation and suicidal encounters over the last decade, essentially 2008 to 2015, we found that the rates doubled among children that were hospitalized for suicidal thoughts or activity,' Dr. Gregory Plemmons of Vanderbilt University told NBC News. ...Girls made up nearly two-thirds of the cases. ...'I don't have any one magic answer that explains why we're seeing this,' Plemmons said. ...But there was a hint in Plemmons' data. The rate of hospital visits was much higher during the school year. ]On average, during the eight years included in the study, only 18.5 percent of total annual suicide ideation and suicide attempt encounters occurred during summer months,' the team wrote." Goddammit.

Tony Perkins, head of hate group Family Research Council, has been tapped for a spot on the International Religious Commission.

He'll be taking his anti-Muslim, anti-LGBT views to a federal board overseeing religious freedom violations around the globe.https://t.co/py7sKIhBYe
— Southern Poverty Law Center (@splcenter) May 15, 2018

Mike Elk at the Guardian: North Carolina Teachers Join Wave of Strikes with One-Day Walkout. "Thousands of teachers and their supporters are set to rally at the state capitol on what will also be the first day of the session for the North Carolina general assembly. The walkout aims to highlight low wages and poorly funded public schools. Since 2009, real wages for teachers have fallen by 9.4% in North Carolina. Following a successful teachers' strike in West Virginia in March, union organisers in North Carolina began discussing what they could do. Then they watched teachers in several other states go on strike too. 'We saw Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Arizona, of course, and that momentum that has been building in these 'right-to-work states' is inspiring,' said Kristin Beller, a teachers' union leader in Wake County, North Carolina." Go get 'em, teachers!

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

Open Wide...

We Resist: Day 470

"A whole town has been ordered to evacuate after the eruption of the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island... All 1,500 inhabitants of Pahoa were told to leave after steam and lava poured out of a crack in the nearby Leilani Estates." So scary. https://t.co/sY5GwNFWNH
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 4, 2018

That's not really a resistance item, but I wanted to put it at the top of this post, because I fear — and hope I am wrong — that any need and expectation of federal recovery will turn into a resistance item.

For now: I'm thinking of you, Pahoa. I hope y'all are safe, and I desperately hope the damage, to your property and all the sentimental items held within, is minimal. ♥

* * *

This ain't good:

Judge repeatedly tried to get the special counsel lawyer to say that the real reason they were going after Manafort was to get leverage on Manafort to get info on Trump. "The vernacular is, "to sing'," judge quipped. Lawyer wouldn't bite.
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) May 4, 2018

Rachel Weiner at the Washington Post: Federal Judge in Virginia Grills Special Counsel on Manafort Investigation.

A federal judge in Virginia on Friday grilled lawyers from the office of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III about the motivations for bringing a bank and tax fraud case against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.

"You don't really care about Mr. Manafort's bank fraud," Judge T.S. Ellis III said during a morning hearing. "You really care about getting information Mr. Manafort can give you that would reflect on Mr. Trump and lead to his prosecution or impeachment."

Manafort was seeking to have the bank and tax fraud charges against him dismissed in federal court in Alexandria, with his lawyers arguing that the alleged crimes have nothing to do with the election or with [Donald] Trump.

Ellis agreed, but he made no immediate decision on the defense motion. He said even without such a connection the special counsel, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, may well still have the authority to bring the charges.

Um, yeah. Because that's what happens when someone breaks the law: They may have criminal charges brought against them. JFC.

Judge Ellis also said: "We don't want anyone in this country with unfettered power. It's unlikely you're going to persuade me the special prosecutor has power to do anything he or she wants." NO ONE IS ARGUING THAT OMG.

The wheels may be truly coming off the cart. (And I'm not sure they were ever properly screwed in to begin with.)

"I don't want to know what the law is. I want to know who the judge is." -- Trump's mentor, Roy Cohn https://t.co/9NC3IbOGeK
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) May 4, 2018

Sob.

* * *

Giuliani "told NBC News that he made the explosive announcement about the U.S. president's personal reimbursement to Michael Cohen in order to try to get ahead of Special Counsel Robert Mueller." So, exactly what I said yesterday, then. https://t.co/X82VA6o2TE
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 4, 2018

And then right on cue... Ben Jacobs at the Guardian: Donald Trump Says Giuliani Yet to Get His 'Facts Straight' on Stormy Daniels. "Speaking to reporters on the south lawn of the White House on Friday morning, Trump said Giuliani 'started yesterday…he'll get his facts straight.' He added that 'virtually everything said has been said incorrectly' about the payment to Daniels."

It's all wrong, so no one can possibly tell what the truth is. More helpful chaos.

This is the same play, over and over and over. It's honestly embarrassing that the U.S. media keeps falling for this same fucking trick again and again.

It's also very perilous for all the rest of us, for the reasons I detailed yesterday:

To be clear: The perception of chaos is an organized (nonchaotic) strategy. The suggestion there is no strategy helps that strategy.

The less people understand a strategy, the harder it is to counter. If we don't even know there *is* a strategy, so much the better (for them).
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 3, 2018

Donald Trump isn't interested in anyone having their "facts straight." Trust that.

* * *

Susan B. Glasser at the New Yorker: Donald Trump's Pursuit of an Oval Office Meeting with Vladimir Putin.

This coming Monday, Putin, already Russia's longest-serving leader since Joseph Stalin, will be inaugurated to a new six-year term. In March, Trump defied his own advisers to congratulate Putin in a post-election phone call, then surprised them again by inviting Putin to Washington for a summit meeting. It seems implausible and politically [foolish] to imagine that Trump would even consider a chummy one-on-one with Putin now, especially when the risks to Trump from the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Trump's Russia ties appear so significant. And yet the invitation, I'm told, was real, and reflects the President's strongly expressed personal preference.

Will Trump follow through with it — and add yet another high-drama plotline to the already oversubscribed Trump show? I asked an array of current and former U.S. and European officials about it over the last few weeks, and the answers, as always when it comes to the mystery of Trump and Russia, are surprising, contradictory, and frustratingly incomplete.

Cool. Meanwhile...

Cassandra Pollock and Alex Samuels at the Texas Tribune: Hysteria over Jade Helm Exercise in Texas Was Fueled by Russians, Former CIA Director Says. "A former director of the CIA and NSA said Wednesday that hysteria in Texas over a 2015 U.S. military training exercise called Jade Helm was fueled by Russians wanting to dominate 'the information space,' and that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's decision to send the Texas State Guard to monitor the operation gave them proof of the power of such misinformation campaigns. Michael Hayden, speaking on MSNBC's Morning Joe podcast, chalked up people's fear over Jade Helm 15 to 'Russian bots and the American alt-right media [that] convinced many Texans [Jade Helm] was an Obama plan to round up political dissidents.' Abbott ordered the State Guard to monitor the federal exercise soon after news broke of the operation. Hayden said that move gave Russians the go-ahead to continue — and possibly expand — their efforts to spread fear. 'At that point, I'm figuring the Russians are saying, 'We can go big time,'' Hayden said of Abbott's response."

"Some members of Congress, military officials and people who do similar security work say that Prince’s role as chairman of Frontier puts him in the unsettling position of advancing the strategic agenda of the United States’ largest rival." That's polite. https://t.co/rMl04JdP6Y
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 4, 2018

Trump should be less concerned about soybean tariffs and more concerned about mercenaries, if he really wants to put "America First." (I know he doesn't.)

Billy House at Bloomberg: House Republicans Prepare to Endorse Trump's Military Parade. "House Republicans are preparing to endorse [Donald] Trump's plan for a military parade in the nation's capital, with warfighting vehicles rolling down city streets and planes flying overhead. The display in Washington would be authorized under the Republican-proposed draft for the annual defense policy measure... The parade would look back 'on a century of military service and focuses on the men and women who sacrificed to secure America's freedoms,' according to the summary released by committee chairman Mac Thornberry, a Texas Republican. 'Far too many American veterans and their families believe their sacrifices have not been given the public recognition that they deserve.'"

Jon Swaine and Julian Borger at the Guardian: Trump Set to Benefit as Qatar Buys $6.5m Apartment in New York Tower. "The government of Qatar bought a $6.5m apartment in one of Donald Trump's New York towers soon after the dismissal of a lawsuit that tried to stop the president benefiting from such deals. Qatar's mission to the United Nations signed a deal for the condominium at Trump World Tower on 17 January, according to city records. The purchase means that the Middle Eastern state now owns four units in the building, for which it paid $16.5m. ...Qatar's new acquisition at Trump World Tower, which is in Manhattan's Midtown East section, coincided with an intense lobbying campaign in Washington by the Qatari government amid a regional crisis that has pitted the Gulf monarchy against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates."

Authoritarianism, corruption, military parades... It's all happening.

Like it or not.

#TeamNot

* * *

[Content Note: Misogynoir; disablism] Tia Berger at the Atlanta Black Star: Woman Says She Was Treated 'Like an Animal' and Thrown Off Flight on Claims She Was 'Contagious'. "Jeanne Lehman was recently diagnosed with shingles but received the green light from her doctor that was not contagious and could fly back to Edmonton. Upon her flight with Air Canada on April 22, Lehman asked to be seated near a window due to insecurities of the rash on her face and the flight attendant agreed. However, the airline employee came back wearing a mask with gloves and told Lehman she was being escorted off the plane. 'No one talked to me… No one listened to me,' the passenger told Insider. 'She [flight attendant] said to me, 'You're contagious.' She was practically screaming it in front of everyone… I told her: But I am not contagious! And even if I was, this is not the way to say it. Please don't say this in front of everyone.'" Lehman says a white woman would not have been treated that way, and I absolutely agree.

[CN: Racism] Dakin Andone and Hollie Silverman at CNN: A Mom on a College Tour Called the Cops on Two Native American Teens Because They Made Her 'Nervous'. "The teens saved their own money to take the family's only car and drive 7 hours from New Mexico to Fort Collins, Colorado, to visit the campus Monday, their mother told reporters with CNN affiliates KOAT and KRQE. 'This was their dream school, and I wanted to give them that opportunity,' the mother, Lorraine Kahneratokwas Gray, said. By the time they showed up, the tour had already begun. 'A parent participating in the tour called campus police because she was nervous about the presence of two young men who joined the tour while it was in progress,' the school said. Officers responded and pulled the young men aside while the tour continued on ahead without them." FUCK THIS. [Related: On Sitting with Fear.]

[CN: Misogyny]

Heh. I have this shirt, too. “Iowa House hides lawmaker's Raygun 'vagina' T-shirt on video feed amid abortion debate” https://t.co/i85encMuBp via @DMRegister
— Robin Marty (@robinmarty) May 3, 2018

[CN: Homophobia] Zack Ford at ThinkProgress: Kansas and Oklahoma Vote to Allow Adoption Agencies to Discriminate Against Same-Sex Couples. "Lawmakers in Kansas and Oklahoma passed bills this week chipping away at marriage equality, approving legislation that would allow child-placement agencies to refuse placements based on their religious beliefs — such as discriminating against same-sex couples — without endangering state funding. ...Proponents of bills in both states argue that they have nothing to do with discriminating, but are just about protecting religiously affiliated adoption agencies." LIARS.

[CN: Misogynist violence] And finally, I guess we're still discussing Kevin Williams because news outlets keep giving him space:

Kevin Williamson said people who get abortions should be hanged. Now he wants to know "what should be done" with people who have abortions. And the Washington Post gave him a platform: https://t.co/uKlz03gH1G
— Rewire.News (@Rewire_News) May 3, 2018

Countless women have been *reflexively* kept out of media jobs just because we're women, or because we're feminist women. Just swept aside without another thought. Now look at this Very Civil and Lengthy Debate about employing a man who would hang women. https://t.co/zmBL1QCZ02
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 4, 2018

He advocated hanging women for getting abortions. That is all any decent person should need to hear. Debate over.

"But that's intolerant!" YES IT IS. And if you expect me to feel ashamed of being intolerant of violent misogyny, you're going to have a long-ass wait.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 4, 2018

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

Open Wide...

We Resist: Day 469

As the American Immigration Council explains, "the enforcement of US immigration laws has historically been guided by policies that emphasize prioritization": An undocumented immigrant who committed a violent crime or an immigrant believed to be a threat to national security was prioritized for enforcement and, eventually, deportation. Trump's executive orders — starting on the fifth day of his presidency with 13767, which called for the construction of a wall on the Mexican border and the swift repatriation of those living in the United States without authorization — have done away with this system, making enforcement priorities a thing of the past. Now every undocumented immigrant is deportable.

...Newly empowered, ICE is newly emboldened. Despite the many failings of Trump's White House, the administration has delivered on one of the president's primary goals: Mass deportations. Trump is giving ICE the tools, financial resources, and presidential backing to go after immigrant communities as never before.

The agency still claims to focus primarily on those with criminal records, which, often, can mean nothing more than an old DUI conviction — and raids have been based on that. Yet the fastest-growing category of arrests under Trump are of people with no criminal charges. Last year, the agency arrested more than 28,000 "non-criminal immigration violators."

There is much, much more at the link.

[CN: Nativism] Kira Brekke at ThinkProgress: Since Trump, Immigrants Are Living with a 'Monster Under the Bed'. "While there has always been an ebb and flow in how presidential administrations handle immigration, the Trump administration has waged an all out war on immigrant communities since January 2017. 'There is a viciousness in which this administration relishes targeting people and feels just shameless in the embracing of that,' Avideh Moussavian, senior policy attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, told ThinkProgress."

Meanwhile...

'Chain migration' for me, none for thee: Melania Trump's parents attend U.S. citizenship hearing. https://t.co/Lhxw5AdylK
— Gabe #DreamActNow Ortíz (@TUSK81) May 2, 2018

And, as yet another reminder that Trump is not an anomaly of Republican politics...

[CN: Nativism] Alfonso Serrano at Colorlines: Seven-State Coalition Sues to End DACA. "A seven-member coalition of Republican states filed a lawsuit on Tuesday (May 1) against the Trump administration in an effort to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, the Obama-era initiative that protects hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from deportation. ...Last week's federal ruling ordering the Trump administration to continue DACA also called on the government to reopen the program to new applicants, a decision that could benefit hundreds of thousands of immigrants. The judge, however, stayed the decision, giving the Department of Homeland Security 90 days to produce a strong argument for ending DACA. On Tuesday, six other states — Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, and West Virginia — joined Texas as plaintiffs in the case."

To be clear: These Republican states are suing the Trump administration to help the Trump administration end DACA.

* * *

Dominic Rushe at the Guardian: Over 1,000 Economists Warn Trump His Trade Views Echo Mistakes of 1930s. "Over a thousand economists have written to Donald Trump warning his 'economic protectionism' and tough rhetoric on trade threatens to repeat the mistakes the US made in the 1930s, mistakes that plunged the world into the Great Depression. ...'Congress did not take economists' advice in 1930, and Americans across the country paid the price. The undersigned economists and teachers of economics strongly urge you not to repeat that mistake. Much has changed since 1930 — for example, trade is now significantly more important to our economy — but the fundamental economic principles as explained at the time have not.'" All of that is right — except for the part where it presumes that economic collapse is not the objective.

Sarah Pulliam Bailey at the Washington Post: Amid Stormy Daniels News, Trump Expected to Announce Faith-Based Office on National Day of Prayer. "Trump plans to sign an executive order Thursday to create his version of a faith-based office during a Rose Garden ceremony in front of 200 religious leaders — a move that has caused concerns about church and state under previous administrations. ...The White House announcement, which was first reported by Religion News Service, is expected to introduce the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative, intended to signal to religious groups that they have a voice in the government." Not to "religious groups." To white conservative Christians.

[CN: War on agency]

"'It's designed to give the court an opportunity to revisit Roe v. Wade,' said Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield." https://t.co/PfZc9fyhxn
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 3, 2018

Echoes of the Iowa legislator I quoted just yesterday: "He acknowledged this bill is an attempt to 'take another run at Roe v. Wade,' he said about the 1973 Supreme Court decision to allow abortion, and predicted the bill will be the vehicle for overturning that decision. 'We're not hiding that.'"

Elham Khatami at ThinkProgress: Oklahoma Bill Aimed at Dismantling Unions Takes 'Revenge' on Teachers for Striking. "Weeks after tens of thousands of Oklahoma teachers ended their nine-day strike after securing major wins, including teacher raises and additional education funding, legislators introduced a bill that aims to hamper membership in the teachers unions that helped organized the walkouts. The measure, Senate Bill 1150, began as a bill tackling child abuse, but was completely rewritten this week thanks to an amendment by state Rep. Todd Russ (R). ...Ed Allen, president of the Oklahoma City chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, told The Oklahoman that the legislation 'seems like a revenge bill to come back after teachers, after the walkout.'"

[CN: Misogynoir; harassment] Perry Stein at the Washington Post: Three Black Teens Are Finalists in a NASA Competition; Hackers Spewing Racism Tried to Ruin Their Odds.

The three D.C. students couldn't believe the news. They'd developed a method to purify lead-contaminated water in school drinking fountains, and NASA announced last month that they were finalists in the agency's prestigious high school competition — the only all-black, female team to make it that far.

"Hidden figures in the making," one of the teens wrote in a celebratory text message to her teammates and coaches, a reference to the 2016 movie about the true story of three African American women who worked for NASA in the 1960s.

The next stage of the science competition included public voting, and the Banneker High School students — Mikayla Sharrieff, India Skinner, and Bria Snell, all 17-year-old high school juniors — turned to social media to promote their project.

But while the teens were gaining traction on social media and racking up votes, users on 4chan — an anonymous Internet forum where users are known to push hoaxes and spew racist and homophobic comments — were trying to ensure the students wouldn't win.

The anonymous posters used racial epithets, argued that the students' project did not deserve to be a finalist, and said that the black community was voting for the teens only because of their race. They urged people to vote against the Banneker trio, and one user offered to put the topic on an Internet thread about [Donald] Trump to garner more attention. They recommended computer programs that would hack the voting system to give a team of teenage boys a boost.

NASA said in a statement that voting was compromised, prompting it to shut down public voting earlier than expected. The federal space agency said it encourages the use of social media to build support for projects but wrote in a statement Tuesday that public voting was ended because people "attempted to change the vote totals."

Rage seethe boil. There is a whole additional level of fuckery in trying to shut down three Black girls whose project is about purifying drinking water, while Flint still doesn't have clean water.

[CN: Class warfare]

In Michigan, a state Republican bill would exempt many whites in rural areas from 30-hour work requirements for Medicaid health coverage. Residents in black-majority Detroit, Flint would have the work requirements, but not in some largely white rural areas.https://t.co/2cfWLwrMUo pic.twitter.com/O5AdJmLX3N
— Niraj Warikoo (@nwarikoo) May 3, 2018

This is legislation of the profoundly racist narrative that is extremely prevalent among poor whites, which essentially argues: White people just use welfare as a bridge. Black people use it as an apartment.

It's an attempt to entrench into law the notion that Good White Folks use welfare the way it's supposed to be used, to help someone who works hard but is just down on their luck get back on their feet blah blah bootstraps, while Black people cynically and selfishly abuse the system.

Takers and makers. The Republican Party isn't even trying to hide the white supremacy central to their policymaking anymore. Thanks to Donald Trump for showing they needn't even bother.

* * *

Adam Peck at ThinkProgress: The Media's 2016 Freakout over Clinton's Pneumonia Looks Really Suspect Today.

The entire media world breathlessly covered her every movement that September day, when Clinton had to be helped into a van after baking in the summer sun at a 9/11 memorial ceremony.

...Fast forward 20 months. On Tuesday afternoon, CNN reported that longtime Trump physician Harold Bornstein admitted that the doctor's note he signed and publicly released during the campaign — you know, the one where he said Trump's "physical strength and stamina are extraordinary," that he would be "the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency," and whose blood work was, in professional medical parlance, "astonishingly excellent" — was a complete fabrication, and was in fact dictated by Trump himself.

As of midday Wednesday, Fox News has yet to address the subject on its website. NPR and the Washington Post ran short stories based on CNN's reporting. The New York Times ran a short wire piece from Reuters on its website. The discrepancy between the coverage of Clinton's health and Donald Trump's by the country's newspaper of record wasn't lost on people.

One image is the @nytimes app after Hillary Clinton had *gasp* pneumonia. The other is after news broke that Trump dictated his own health report during the campaign and sent people to steal his medical records. 🤔🤔🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/dbZkUvOA3E
— Stacy (@LaikaSpaceDog) May 2, 2018

And so it goes. After 16 months of the Trump presidency, we are completely deadened to monumental scandal.

This whole piece is great.

[CN: Terroristic threats; homophobia]

What a colossal fuck-up. I'm thinking of y'all in Boystown. JFC.

"According to court documents, Sleeper sent the message 'Orlando will happen in Chicago,' in an apparent reference to the June 2016 mass shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando."https://t.co/tsVSbvXF35
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 3, 2018

[CN: Homophobia] Andy Towle at Towleroad: Mat Staver on Trump's Judicial Appointments: 'Literally, We Are a Few Months away from Ending Gay Marriage'. "'The nice thing about what [Donald]Trump has done, different from other Republican presidents, is that he is appointing, he's nominating, so far, judges who are what I would call constitutionalists, originalists, dedicated to the original understanding and interpretation of the Constitution and the statutes. On the other hand, Republican presidents in the past, they've been hit or miss. [Donald] Trump so far has been hitting this on the nail.' Staver could hardly contain himself while talking to VCY America's Jim Schneider about the possibility of 'one, maybe two more' SCOTUS Justices retiring and being replaced 'with someone like Gorsuch.' Said Staver: 'That means the abortion decision, the same-sex marriage decision, all of those things that went the wrong way will ultimately be in the balance to be reversed. So literally we are a few months away.'"

Fuck every single person who said or implied there was no difference between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) August 15, 2017

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