Showing posts with label Nancy Pelosi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nancy Pelosi. Show all posts

Primarily Speaking

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, July 16, 2019
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image of a cartoon version of me wearing a large foam finger pointed upward at 'Let's do this thing,' pictured in front of a patriotic stars-and-stripes graphic, to which I've added text reading: 'The Democratic Primary 2020: Let's do this thing.'

Welcome to another edition of Primarily Speaking, because presidential primaries now begin fully one million years before the election!

I'm going to start off with some cute stuff today, because who doesn't need some cute stuff, right?!

1. Outtakes of Senator Cory Booker recording messages to his supporters:


[Video Description: Various clips of Booker looking into the camera and stumbling over his words, stammering and making funny expressions and laughing.]

I especially like that big belly laugh at 0:30!

2. Senator Elizabeth Warren had some fun in Philly, and the really cute part is that photo of her shaking hands with a little girl who is looking very serious about the opportunity to speak to a presidential candidate! OMG my heart.

3. Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro melted my heart by refusing to hold a baby. Yes, you read that right! He didn't want to get the baby sick after he'd been shaking hands all day. COME ON. That's too sweet!


I hope he's as good a dad as that makes me think he must be!

* * *

And now to the decidedly less cute news...

[Content Note: Nativism; racism] I probably haven't read all 200 candidates' responses to Donald Trump's reprehensible racism directed at sitting members of Congress, but the best of the ones I've seen was Julian Castro's, for its needed and deserved bluntness: "Everybody knows that the president acts like a white supremacist. He is a racist; he's made that clear on so many different occasions. ...The question is: What are we as Americans going to do about this?"

Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders tied for the worst responses.

Although Biden at least did say plainly that Trump's statements were "a flat, racist attack," he then suggested that Trump "should go home." How helpful! I bet he'll definitely do that!

Sanders meanwhile just decided to use it as a fundraising opportunity, because of course he did. His tweet contains a donation link and text reading: "I've said all along that Trump is a racist. He is proving that point yet again by attacking Reps. @IlhanMN, @RashidaTlaib, @AyannaPressley, and @AOC. Split a contribution between their campaigns and ours to send a message that his racism will not stand."

Split a contribution between their campaigns and ours. JFC.

* * *

Senator Kamala Harris is making the case that issues affecting women of color are universal issues about which we should all care:
When Kamala Harris thinks about the range of issues that impact women of color — the gender pay gap, the lack of access to affordable housing, and America's high maternal mortality rate for black mothers, among other things — the California senator says she sees universal concerns over the economy, home ownership, and healthcare.

It's a point Harris plans to make Tuesday in Davenport when she joins several women of color at a round-table co-hosted by a local chapter of LULAC, the nation's oldest Latino civil rights organization.

"These are issues that we should all care about," the Democratic presidential candidate told the Des Moines Register. "Where we, as a nation, stand on these issues is a reflection of our collective identity."

..."I really credit the leaders of Iowa for understanding that regardless of what might be the majority population or demographics of the state, that anything that impacts anyone impacts all of us," she said.
[CN: Nativism] Senator Elizabeth Warren is tweeting about Trump's move to end asylum for Central Americans: "This is another targeted, xenophobic attack from the Trump administration. As president, I'll reinstate TPS designations and Deferred Enforced Departure to protect those at risk back in their home countries, including migrants from Central America."

Senator Cory Booker is also tweeting about that move, noting: "This is as illegal as it is immoral." [CN: Violence] He's also remembering Sadie Roberts-Joseph, the Baton Rouge civil rights leader who was found murdered: "Sadie Roberts-Joseph was a pillar of the Baton Rouge community as a civil rights leader and activist who will be missed by so many. I hope and pray for swift justice. As we mourn her loss we must honor her life by continuing her work."

Joe Biden says he'll challenge Trump to some push-ups: "'If [Donald] Trump makes of fun of his age or questions his mental state during a debate, Joe Biden has a response at the ready: He'll challenge him to do push-ups on stage,' the Washington Post reports. Said Biden: 'I'd say, 'C'mon Donald, c'mon man. How many push-ups do you want to do here, pal?' I mean, jokingly. ...C'mon, run with me, man.'" NOPE.


Biden also says of Nancy Pelosi, who inexplicably believes that a meaningless resolution condemning Trump's racism is enough while he's torturing children in concentration camps: "I think she's doing a masterful job. I have great respect for her." Noted.

[CN: Racism; police brutality] The white police officer who fatally shot a Black man last month in Mayor Pete Buttigieg's town of South Bend, Indiana, has quit his job, with the police union president attributing the resignation to "job-related stress, a lawsuit, and national media attention. He said 'hateful things said on social media have been difficult' for the officer and his family. Mills said the 'fights' over the killing are 'just too much for Sgt. O'Neill and his family to undertake right now,' and added: 'Resigning will allow him to focus on these challenges, as well as assist his wife with their three children.'" I would like to know if Buttigieg had any role in orchestrating O'Neill's resignation.

In fundraising news, Beto O'Rourke's fundraising is falling off, and Castro "had the highest rate of donations under $200 of any 2020 candidate. No PAC money, no corporate PAC or lobbyist money — this campaign is driven by grassroots support."

John Delaney is still definitely running for president.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

Open Wide...
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Nancy Pelosi, Please Do Something Real

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, July 15, 2019
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I am utterly beyond the beyond with this nonsense:

House Democrats are drafting a resolution to condemn President Donald Trump's racist tweets against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other high-profile freshman congresswomen, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Monday.

..."This morning, the President doubled down on his attacks on our four colleagues suggesting they apologize to him," Pelosi wrote to House Democrats. "Let me be clear, our caucus will continue to forcefully respond to these disgusting attacks."
Continue to forcefully respond? Democratic leadership hasn't even begun to forcefully respond yet.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and freshman Rep. Tom Malinowksi (D-N.J.), who was born in Poland, will draft the resolution, according to Pelosi. It's unclear when the House will vote on the measure and the speaker did not specify in her letter.

"One step at a time," a senior Democratic aide said when asked about vote timing.
Oh for fuck's sake.

As I noted on Twitter, a resolution is aggressively inadequate.

Also, Pelosi is urging Republicans to sign the resolution. THEY'RE NOT GOING TO SIGN IT, NANCY.

We are long past the point at which it's enough baiting to "prove" (like it wasn't already manifestly evident) that Republicans are fully on board with every ounce of Trump's malice and depravity.

We have reached the point at which justifying symbolic actions by claiming to be gathering such proof is nothing more than an excuse for not doing something meaningful.

Trump is torturing people, including children, in concentration camps. A strongly-worded letter ain't gonna fucking cut it!

Open Wide...
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Trump Is a F#@king Racist, Part One Zillion in an Endless Series

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, July 15, 2019
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[Content Note: White supremacy; nativism; misogyny.]

Yesterday, Donald Trump tweeted this racist shit about Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts:

So interesting to see "Progressive" Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly......

....and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how....

....it is done. These places need your help badly, you can't leave fast enough. I'm sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!
As many people have already noted, all four of the congresswomen targeted by Trump are U.S. citizens, so this is just more of the nativist birther shit on which he's made his political name, starting with his birther campaign against President Barack Obama.

I'll come back to that, but I also want to note very clearly that accusing sitting members of Congress of being uppity for having ideas about "how our government is to be run" shows, yet again, Trump's hostility to the most basic notion of the separation of powers. The president doesn't unilaterally run the U.S. government. Congress is a coequal branch which has as much authority over "how our government is to be run" as the executive branch.

Naturally, Reps. Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, Omar, and Presley had some thoughts for the president.

Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: "Mr. President, the country I 'come from,' & the country we all swear to, is the United States. ...You are angry because you can't conceive of an America that includes us. You rely on a frightened America for your plunder. You won't accept a nation that sees healthcare as a right or education as a #1 priority, especially where we're the ones fighting for it. Yet here we are. But you know what's the rub of it all, Mr. President? On top of not accepting an America that elected us, you cannot accept that we don't fear you, either."

Tlaib tweeted: "Yo @realDonaldTrump, I am fighting corruption in OUR country. I do it every day when I hold your admin accountable as a U.S. Congresswoman. Detroit taught me how to fight for the communities you continue to degrade & attack. Keep talking, you'll be out of the WH soon. #TickTock"

Omar tweeted: "As Members of Congress, the only country we swear an oath to is the United States. Which is why we are fighting to protect it from the worst, most corrupt and inept president we have ever seen. You are stoking white nationalism because you are angry that people like us are serving in Congress and fighting against your hate-filled agenda."

Pressley, quoting Trump's words, tweeted: "THIS is what racism looks like. WE are what democracy looks like. And we're not going anywhere. Except back to DC to fight for the families you marginalize and vilify everyday."

And of course they got backup from the People's President:


One thing I want to emphasize, again, is that one of the primary reasons Trump currently occupies the White House — and has the attendant platform from which to disgorge this despicable trash — is that lots and lots and lots of people who should have known better treated him like an entertaining joke through most of his candidacy, despite the fact that he launched his political career with a birther campaign and, long before that, was a public racist who had been sued by the Justice Department for housing discrimination and purchased newspaper ads calling for the death of the Central Park Five.

I'm old enough to remember when people who urgently warned that Trump was a dangerous authoritarian racist and misogynist were told to stop being such killjoys and ruining everyone's fun making fun of the silly man with the weird hair.

And the purpose of saying that, once more, at this particular moment is that it's still happening. Even now, even as the sitting president goes after women of color serving in the U.S. congress, engaging in rank nativism and racism and misogyny, asserting his authoritarianism as he demeans them as human beings and demeans the role of U.S. Representatives in federal governance, there are still people who have nothing but jokes.

We need more than fucking jokes. It is long past time to treat Donald Trump with the gravity his bigotry and tyranny deserve.

Open Wide...
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Trump's Massive Purge of Undocumented Immigrants Is Back On

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Thursday, July 11, 2019
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[Content Note: Nativism; abuse.]

Last month, Donald Trump announced a massive purge of "millions" of undocumented immigrants, then reversed course at the last minute, demanding that House Democrats fund his vile immigration agenda or he would proceed with the sweep.

A week later, Speaker Nancy Pelosi caved on her demands that any emergency border funding include protections for migrant children and limitations on the use of the funding, and allowed the Senate border bill to come up for a vote in the House, where it passed, giving Trump a $4.6 billion check to spend on his nativist malice, with zero restrictions.

And in exchange for that capitulation, Trump has now announced that the purge is back on, anyway.

Caitlin Dickerson and Zolan Kanno-Youngs at the New York Times report:

Nationwide raids to arrest thousands of members of undocumented families have been scheduled to begin Sunday, according to two current and one former homeland security officials, moving forward with a rapidly changing operation, the final details of which remain in flux. The operation, backed by [Donald] Trump, had been postponed, partly because of resistance among officials at his own immigration agency.

The raids, which will be conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement over multiple days, will include "collateral" deportations, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the preliminary stage of the operation. In those deportations, the authorities might detain immigrants who happened to be on the scene, even though they were not targets of the raids.

...Agents have expressed apprehensions about arresting babies and young children, officials have said. The agents have also noted that the operation might have limited success because word has already spread among immigrant communities about how to avoid arrest — namely, by refusing to open the door when an agent approaches one's home. ICE agents are not legally allowed to forcibly enter a home.
This is happening in the United States of America right now: Donald Trump is ordering a purge and the agents tasked with carrying out that order are expressing qualms about arresting babies.

Undocumented immigrants must know their rights, and ICE agents who are apprehensive about the operation must acknowledge their responsibility to resist inhumane orders. STAND DOWN. Don't carry out these raids.

And Democrats must learn to never, ever, negotiate with Trump. They gave him $4.6 billion in exchange for absolutely nothing, except more betrayal and more malice.

You know what to do: MAKE NOISE. RESIST.

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Pelosi Caves; Trump Gets $4.6B Border Package

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Friday, June 28, 2019
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[Content Note: Nativism; abuse.]

So, late yesterday, under pressure from moderates in her caucus, Speaker Nancy Pelosi caved on her demands that protections for migrant children and restrictions on the Trump Regime's use of emergency border funding and allowed the Senate border bill to come up for a vote in the House. It passed.

In other words, Donald Trump just got a $4.6 billion check to spend on his nativist malice, with zero restrictions, while he's torturing children in concentration camps.

This is a massive failure. Progressives in the Democratic caucus are deeply unhappy about it, as well they should be. Moderates in the Democratic caucus should be ashamed of themselves, but aren't — because they believe they need to look tough on border security be reelected.

Honestly, when you're voting to fund the abuse of children knowing that malice is Trump's agenda, I don't know what difference there is between you and a Republican, anyway.

I'm so filthy fucking angry.

As I noted on Twitter yesterday: Trump is now going to say, forever, that whatever he does to children at the border has bipartisan approval.

And anyone who is still saying at this point that Pelosi is a great strategist who's just giving Trump enough rope with which to hang himself has to understand that they are implicitly making an argument that children's lives are negotiable.

What is the line in the sand? What is it?


Pelosi should be launching impeachment hearings of Trump for his vicious nativism at the southern border. Instead, she's giving him what might as well be a blank check to escalate it.

I cannot believe I am saying this, but Pelosi must be removed and replaced immediately.

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Trump Reverses Course on Immigrant Purge — to Blame Democrats for His Malice

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, June 24, 2019
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[Content Note: Nativism; child abuse.]

After announcing a massive sweep of undocumented immigrants last Monday, scheduled to begin yesterday, Donald Trump reversed course at the last minute, tweeting: "At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks to see if the Democrats and Republicans can get together and work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border. If not, Deportations start!"

[CN: Video may autoplay] According to a CNN source, Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Trump late Saturday asking him to call off the raids. They reportedly "spoke at 7:20 p.m. ET Friday night for about 12 minutes, according to the source." Now Trump is using Democrats' plaintive calls for decency to blame them for his malice.


Trump is demanding that House Democrats put their stamp on the cruel immigration policies Trump wants, or he'll be forced to torture undocumented immigrant families. This is sick beyond measure.

Meanwhile, following Friday's report about the Trump Regime's horrific abuse of immigrant children in their concentration camps, there have been additional first-hand accounts published about the horrors taking place in these facilities:

Isaac Chotiner at the New Yorker: Inside a Texas Building Where the Government Is Holding Immigrant Children. "We drove around afterward, and we discovered that there was a giant warehouse that they had put on the site. And it appears that that one warehouse has allegedly increased their capacity by an additional five hundred kids. When we talked to Border Patrol agents later that week, they confirmed that is the alleged expansion, and when we talked to children, one of the children described as many as three hundred children being in that room, in that warehouse, basically, at one point when he first arrived. There were no windows."

William Brangham at PBS: A Firsthand Report of 'Inhumane Conditions' at a Migrant Children's Detention Facility.
Basically, what we saw are dirty children who are malnourished, who are being severely neglected. They are being kept in inhumane conditions. They are essentially being warehoused, as many as 300 children in a cell, with almost no adult supervision.

We have children caring for other young children. For example, we saw a little boy in diapers — or he had no diapers on. He should have had a diaper on. He was 2 years old. And when I was asked why he didn't have diapers on, I was told he didn't need it.

He immediately urinated. And he was in the care of another child. Children cannot take care of children, and yet that's how they are trying to run this facility. The children are hardly being fed anything nutritious, and they are being medically neglected.

We're seeing a flu outbreak, and we're also seeing a lice infestation. It is — we have children sleeping on the floor. It's the worst conditions I have ever witnessed in several years of doing these inspections.
[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Serena Marshall, Lana Zak, and Jennifer Metz at ABC News: Doctor Compares Conditions for Unaccompanied Children at Immigrant Holding Centers to 'Torture Facilities'. "'The conditions within which they are held could be compared to torture facilities,' the physician, Dolly Lucio Sevier, wrote in a medical declaration obtained exclusively by ABC News. ...She described conditions for [children] at the McAllen facility as including 'extreme cold temperatures, lights on 24 hours a day, no adequate access to medical care, basic sanitation, water, or adequate food.' All the children who were seen showed evidence of trauma, Lucio Sevier reported, and the teens spoke of having no access to hand washing during their entire time in custody. She compared it to being 'tantamount to intentionally causing the spread of disease.'"

Asked about these reports over the weekend, Mike Pence pretended like he cares (as if the Trump Regime doesn't have control over these conditions) and made sure to introduce the regime's new talking point blaming the Democrats: "If Democrats in Congress will simply step up...we can solve the crisis."


He is a despicable scoundrel. The Trump Regime could, at any time, reverse their vile nativist policy of separating and detaining families. They could certainly reverse their policies on climate change, which is driving much of the northward migration of refugees, and they could certainly reverse their decision to eliminate foreign aid for Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, whence come many of the refugees fleeing violence and/or joblessness and/or hunger.

This is hardly the fault of Democrats. Mike Pence knows that. So does Donald Trump.

It wasn't the Democrats who established concentration camps in order to torture thousands of migrant and refugee children.

On that note, I will end by recommending this blunt and necessary editorial at the Salt Lake Tribune by their editorial board: Yes, We Do Have Concentration Camps.

MAKE YOUR CALLS. Resist.

Open Wide...
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Good News (Hopefully) for Impeachment Supporters

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Thursday, June 20, 2019
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Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, a member of the House Democratic leadership and a close ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's, has officially called for an impeachment inquiry.

Felicia Sonmez at the Washington Post reports:

[Rep. Schakowsky] is calling for an impeachment inquiry into [Donald] Trump, arguing that doing so will allow lawmakers to obtain more evidence of the president's alleged misconduct.

The move is likely to put greater pressure on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has repeatedly rebuffed calls from members of her caucus to open such an inquiry.

"Today, I am announcing that I believe that the House of Representatives should begin an impeachment inquiry, officially, because [Donald] Trump certainly has committed all kinds of offenses that meet the standard of impeachment, high crimes, and misdemeanors," Schakowsky said in a video posted on her official website late Wednesday.

The Illinois Democrat, who is a senior chief deputy whip and a close Pelosi ally, said that she has "felt really from Day One — from the time that Donald Trump raised his hand and took the oath of office — that he had already violated the emoluments clause," a constitutional provision banning the acceptance of gifts or payments from foreign governments without congressional approval.

She added that she had read special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's report "from beginning to end" and that there are "many, many examples of the president obstructing justice."

While House Democratic leadership has "done a good job" investigating Trump and his administration, it is necessary to take things to the next step to obtain more evidence, Schakowsky argued.

"Instituting the impeachment inquiry will actually enable us to get more information, more documents, have the force of the Constitution behind us to get even more evidence of the president's deserving to be impeached," she said.
So, one of two things is happening here. Either:

1. Schakowsky is breaking with Pelosi to put pressure on her, knowing that her position and relationship with Pelosi carries an enormous amount of weight and will get attention in the press (precisely as it has).

2. Schakowsky is playing a role designed for her by Pelosi, who is carefully building a public case for impeachment before she launches the inquiry.

I honestly don't care which it is. Either way, this is good news for those of us who support impeaching Donald Trump. In one case, Pelosi's own caucus is starting to visibly push back which will eventually force her hand; in the other case, Pelosi has a strategy the objective of which is impeachment.

In either scenario, it's telling that Schakowsky is making her case using both partisan Democrats' talking point about the plentiful examples of obstruction in the Mueller report and the argument favored by wonky progressives and other Trump critics regarding the enhanced investigatory powers conferred by an impeachment inquiry.

I feel hesitantly hopeful that we may be nearing an impeachment inquiry, while I also recognize the possibility that Schakowsky's video is designed precisely to generate that (false) hope. It certainly wouldn't be the first time we were enticed to believe that a salvation was coming when it manifestly wasn't. The difference between this situation and the Mueller report, however, is that Congress is empowered to take action itself, with an attendant public expectation that it will when circumstances demand it.

Here's hoping that this means what it suggests, and that we get there quickly. The clock is striking thirteen already.

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We Resist: Day 879

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, June 17, 2019
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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.

* * *

Earlier today by me: Today in Rampaging Authoritarianism and Primarily Speaking and Some Good News from SCOTUS.

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

Bozorgmehr Sharafedin at Reuters: Iran Says It Dismantled a U.S. Cyber Espionage Network. (Emphasis on "says.") "Iran said on Monday it had exposed a large cyber espionage network it alleged was run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and that several U.S. spies had been arrested in different countries as the result of this action. ...The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, said on Monday: 'One of the most complicated CIA cyber espionage networks that had an important role in the CIA's operations in different countries was exposed by the Iranian intelligence agencies a while ago and was dismantled.' ...He did not specify how many CIA agents were arrested and in what countries."

Nasser Karimi and Jon Gambrell at the AP: Iran Says It Will Break Uranium Stockpile Limit in 10 Days. "Iran will break the uranium stockpile limit set by Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers in the next 10 days, the spokesman for the country's atomic agency said Monday while also warning that Iran could enrich uranium up to 20% — just a step away from weapons-grade levels. The announcement by Behrouz Kamalvandi, timed for a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, puts more pressure on Europe to come up with new terms for Iran's 2015 nuclear deal. The deal has steadily unraveled since the Trump administration pulled America out of the accord last year."

Aaron David Miller at USA Today: Why Are We Headed for a Blowup with Iran? It Began When Trump Scrapped the Nuclear Deal.
The Iranian regime is authoritarian, ideological, and repressive, a serial human rights abuser and regional troublemaker. But we now find ourselves in a dangerous situation largely as a result of a great unraveling begun by the Trump administration's unilateral decision last year to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement.

The accord — known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — was flawed, to be sure, and didn't address Iran's aggressive regional behavior or its ballistic missile programs. Even so, it was still a highly functional arms control agreement that imposed significant constraints on Iran's nuclear program for at least for a decade or more.

Campaigning hard against the agreement, candidate Trump vowed to renegotiate or leave what he deemed the worst agreement ever negotiated. Then as president, he pulled out of the agreement and launched his "maximum pressure" campaign. The administration reimposed sanctions on banking and petrochemicals and, in the past several months, has made a major effort to reduce Iran's lifeblood — its oil exports — to zero. As intended, all of this has wreaked havoc on the Iranian economy.

Not surprisingly, the regime, which the Iranian foreign minister quipped had a Ph.D. in sanctions busting, signaled through mine attacks on six oil tankers in the past month that it had options, too. Within hours of Thursday's attacks, oil prices spiked.

No matter how egregious the regime's behavior in other areas, pulling out of the JCPOA without a Plan B other than "maximum pressure" has more than any other factor brought us where we are today.
Well, that and the fact that Donald Trump and his advisors actively want a war with Iran.

As, it appears, does Vladimir Putin. Olga Lautman notes on Twitter: "While tensions are heating up with Iran Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak is in Iran holding talks with Iran's oil minister."

I strongly suspect the Kremlin is trying to orchestrate a U.S.-Iran war. A war that it won't even have to fight:


* * *

[Content Note: Racism; nativism. Covers entire section.]

Oliver Laughland at the Guardian: How Trump's Census Question Could Transform America's Electoral Map. "For the first time, the census could include a question on respondents' citizenship that, according to the bureau's own research, will substantially reduce the number of people willing to participate. A study published last week estimated that the addition of the question could mean up to 4 million people — mostly people of color from immigrant minority communities — could go uncounted. If such an undercount occurs the effects will be profound. It could allow for electorate boundaries throughout America to be redrawn, almost certainly favouring the Republican party. It could result in billions of dollars in federal funds being withheld from some of the most vulnerable communities in America."

Rebekah Entralgo at ThinkProgress: Census Battle over Citizenship Question Leaves Immigration Activists with Their Hands Tied.
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on the constitutionality of the the citizenship question by the end of the month, but not before the Census Bureau launched a test last Thursday to examine how its inclusion will impact responses. Approximately 480,000 housing units around the country will receive a questionnaire with households randomly assigned to one of two versions of the questionnaire: one with the citizenship question included, the other without. These results are expected to be completed by October.

So where does that leave the groups that advocate on behalf of immigrants and want to ensure their community members are counted? For now at least, their hands are tied.

Many people are not aware of the census in the first place, and a tremendous amount of resources is spent on outreach and keeping communities informed. With the citizenship question in limbo until at least the end of June, that reduces the amount of time groups can provide outreach.

"We are waiting to see what happens and then we'll decide accordingly," Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR) San Francisco Bay office told ThinkProgress. "I tell my staff we are planning to encourage participation in the census the same way we did in 2010. Because it's really important that all of these communities be counted. This matters now and well beyond this president's time in office."

But, Billoo emphasizes, that's not to say she isn't extremely hesitant.

"We recognize, of course, that we could not discourage participation in the census," she added. "The option isn't discourage versus encourage. It is neutral or silent versus encourage. Because even though I do want my community to be counted, it would also weigh heavily on me if I weren't confident in the safety, security, and secrecy of the census data."
Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux at FiveThirtyEight: The Citizenship Question Could Cost California and Texas a Seat in Congress. "The results of the count determine everything from where grocery stores are placed to how congressional representatives are distributed. There are few things we care more about around here than political apportionment (although, if we're being honest, we care an awful lot about groceries, too). So we went in search of researchers who had estimated the potential effect of the citizenship question. We found several, none of whom agreed on just how big an impact this would have. But they were all on the same page about one thing — if the Supreme Court rules that the new question can be included, it could alter our political future."

* * *

Kate Riga at TPM: On Heels of Conway Rec, Dems Call for Probe into Kushner for Hatch Violations. Just days after the Office of Special Counsel recommended that White House counselor Kellyanne Conway be fired for violating the Hatch Act, Reps. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Don Breyer (D-VA) are calling for Jared Kushner to be investigated as well. 'As you know, under the Hatch Act, federal employees are prohibited from fundraising for political candidates,' they wrote to the Office of Special Counsel. 'Alarmingly, recent media reports indicate that Mr. Kushner is nonetheless taking a direct role in raising funds for the re-election campaign of [Donald] Trump.'"

This is the right thing to do, because ethics and rules still matter. But nothing will come of it. Kellyanne Conway and Jared Kushner will not be fired. Members of the Trump administration won't stop violating the Hatch Act. The only result will be that that the Trump administration is further empowered by having visibly broken the law and gotten away with it (again). Which underlines the urgency of impeaching him now.

Rachael Bade at the Washington Post: Push to Impeach Trump Stalls Amid Democrats' Deference to — and Fear of — Pelosi. "As pressure has mounted in recent weeks on House Democrats to move more aggressively against Trump, Pelosi has demonstrated the firm grip she wields over her caucus — quashing, at least for now, the push for impeachment. It is a command that colleagues say is drawn from a deep well of respect for the political wisdom of the most powerful woman in American politics — and fear that challenging her comes with the risk of grave cost to one's career."

Care more about the entire country than your careers, Democrats. For fuck's sake.

If we wanted opportunistic careerists who didn't give a flying fuck about the nation's future, we could just vote for Republicans. Get a goddamned grip.

* * *

[CN: Misogyny; racism] Isabella Dally-Steele at Ms.: This Week in Trump's War on Women. "On Tuesday, Politico revealed that claims of racism and sexism in the Treasury Department, which came to a head after Secretary Steve Mnuchin's decision to delay the historic rebranding of the $20 bill by changing out Andrew Jackson's image for Harriet Tubman's until at least 2026, were spot on. Nancy Cook revealed that the department's lack of diversity is much more than skin deep — with only three women and one person of color in Department's 20-person senior staff and an overwhelmingly white, male boys club culture permeating the workplace. 'For women and people of color,' said one of Cook's sources, a former Treasury official, 'there is just a general feeling when you walk in and there are all white men that it is not a comfortable environment.'"

[CN: Sexual assault; war on agency] Staff at AP: Ex-Pastor in Texas Accused of Sexually Abusing Teen Relative. "A former Southern Baptist pastor who supported legislation in Texas that would have criminalized abortions has been arrested on charges of child sex abuse, accused of repeatedly molesting a teenage relative over the course of two years." Men who object to women's right of consent over our own bodies when it comes to healthcare frequently don't care about our right of consent in any circumstance.

[CN: Misogyny] Sam Stein at the Daily Beast: Exclusive Poll Reveals Dems' Sexism Problem in 2020.
Sexism is weighing down the women running for the Democratic presidential nomination, a new public opinion survey conducted by Ipsos for The Daily Beast reveals.

A full 20 percent of Democratic and independent men who responded to the survey said they agreed with the sentiment that women are "less effective in politics than men." And while 74 percent of respondents claimed they were personally comfortable with a female president, only 33 percent believed their neighbors would be comfortable with a woman in the Oval Office.

That latter number, explained Mallory Newall, research director at Ipsos, was a strong tell about how gender dynamics were souring voters on certain candidates. Asking respondents how they believe their neighbors feel about an issue is "a classic method to get around people being reluctant to admit to less popular views."
Jesus fucking Jones, dudes. Get your shit together.

* * *

Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky at NBC News: Without Swift Action on Climate Change, Heat Waves Could Kill Thousands in U.S. Cities. "If global warming sometimes seems like a distant or abstract threat, new research casts the phenomenon in stark, life-or-death terms. It predicts that in the absence of significant progress in efforts to curb emissions of temperature-raising greenhouse gases, extreme heat waves could claim thousands of lives in major U.S. cities. If the global average temperature rises 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels — which some scientists say is likely if nations honor only their current commitments for curbing emissions — a major heat wave could kill almost 6,000 people in New York City. Similar events could kill more than 2,500 in Los Angeles and more than 2,300 in Miami."

Brian Kahn at Earther: Half of Greenland's Surface Started Melting This Week, Which Is Not Normal. "Greenland has been scorching (by Greenland standards) for the past few days, with temperatures rising 10-20 degrees Celsius (18-36 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal across the island. Ruth Mottram, a climate scientist with the Danish Meteorological Institute, told Earther that the weather station at the top of the ice sheet saw temperatures reach above freezing on Wednesday and they were headed that way again on Thursday. That puts them just a degree or so away from setting the all-time heat record for June, which is currently held by June 2012."

Erin McCormick, Bennett Murray, Carmela Fonbuena, Leonie Kijewski, Gökçe Saraçoğlu, Jamie Fullerton, Alastair Gee, and Charlotte Simmonds at the Guardian: Where Does Your Plastic Go? Global Investigation Reveals America's Dirty Secret.
What happens to your plastic after you drop it in a recycling bin?

According to promotional materials from America's plastics industry, it is whisked off to a factory where it is seamlessly transformed into something new.

This is not the experience of Nguyễn Thị Hồng Thắm, a 60-year-old Vietnamese mother of seven, living amid piles of grimy American plastic on the outskirts of Hanoi. Outside her home, the sun beats down on a Cheetos bag; aisle markers from a Walmart store; and a plastic bag from ShopRite, a chain of supermarkets in New Jersey, bearing a message urging people to recycle it.

Tham is paid the equivalent of $6.50 a day to strip off the non-recyclable elements and sort what remains: translucent plastic in one pile, opaque in another.

A Guardian investigation has found that hundreds of thousands of tons of U.S. plastic are being shipped every year to poorly regulated developing countries around the globe for the dirty, labor-intensive process of recycling. The consequences for public health and the environment are grim.
This is a must-read report.

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

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Nancy Pelosi, What Are You Doing?

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Thursday, June 13, 2019
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Yesterday, the president gave us once again evidence that he does not know right from wrong. It's a very sad thing. Very sad thing that he does not know right from wrong.

I believe that he has been involved in a criminal cover-up — I've said that before — and our investigation is demonstrating that. The Mueller report showed obstruction of justice in 10 — at least 10, perhaps 11 — places.

But for the president to be so cavalier, to disregard, to be indifferent to wrong and any sense of ethics, that who we are as a country, to say he would invite foreign intervention [stammers] the intelligence community with great confidence has put forth that the Russians interfered in our election. That's an assault on our democracy. An assault on our democracy.

This president says it's a hoax. He's supposed— He takes an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, ah, but I guess it doesn't include him, in terms of being, uh, to be held accountable, to obey the law.
"Donald Trump doesn't know right from wrong" is not the message we need right now. At all.

As I said on Twitter: "The fuck he doesn't. Trump isn't confused, @SpeakerPelosi. He's aggressively unethical. He's aggressively corrupt. He leverages the power of his office to enact an agenda of malice and corruption, and then leverages the power of his office to shield himself from consequences."

Further, the Constitution doesn't magically hold presidents accountable. The Constitution provides a process by which the Congress can do that, so howsabout DOING THAT, Nancy?

Impeach him now. Christ.

She won't, of course. Not now. Maybe not ever. I don't know.

What I do know is that I find it very troubling that the Democratic Speaker of the House wants to look like she's going after Trump while actually continuing to protect him.

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We Resist: Day 873

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, June 11, 2019
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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.

* * *

Late yesterday and earlier today by me: Omgggggggggg and Trump: "I Don't Leave" and Primarily Speaking.

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

Donald Trump had an epic tweetshitz disgorgement this morning. At Raw Story, David Badash offers a summary of the nightmare: "Trump's rambling and incoherent tweets made little sense. For example, this one in which he may or may not be quoting Fox News, saying, 'The Greatest Witch Hunt of all time continues. All crimes were by the other side, but the Committee refuses to even take a look. Deleting 33,000 Emails is the real Obstruction — and much more!' ...This one clearly is all Trump: 'PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!' There were more, of course."

Former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade testified to the House Judiciary Committee that Trump's "conduct described in the report constitutes multiple crimes of obstruction of justice, supported by evidence of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." The Daily Beast has a transcript of her statement, which is worth your time to read.

This seems like a little nothing of a story, but it's actually worth our attention and scrutiny: Felicia Sonmez and Dan Lamothe at the Washington Post: Former Trump Chief of Staff Reince Priebus Joins the Navy. Note the details of what it took for him to get there.
Reince Priebus, [Donald] Trump's former chief of staff, has officially joined the Navy.

At a commissioning ceremony Monday morning, Vice President Pence swore in Priebus as an ensign, an entry-level officer. Priebus and his family also met with Trump at the White House after the ceremony.

...Priebus's commissioning follows a lengthy process in which former defense secretary Jim Mattis recommended him and a board of officers selected him as a reserve officer, according to defense officials and a memo obtained by The Washington Post late last year.

...A Navy review board reviewed 42 candidates last December and "professionally recommended" Priebus and four others to join the service through a competitive direct-commission program for human resources officers, the memo said.
I noted on Twitter: First, I expect that he will be quickly promoted. Second, I don't think it's a coincidence this happened immediately following the Mueller report. Priebus kept his fucking mouth shut. This is his reward. And note it was Pence who personally swore him in.

Malcolm Nance tweets: "He is now a Navy Public Relations Officer. I shit you not." And, just like that, Trump has his propagandist in the Navy.

Trump-Pence are politicizing the military with loyalists. Trump threatens not to recognize election outcomes if he doesn't win. And the reason for Pence's (and Putin's) fascination with Venezuela comes sharply into focus.

Maduro now looks like a dry run for what will happen here. I sure as fuck hope I'm wrong about that.


Relatedly, Dana Bash at CNN reports that the Trump campaign is considering putting resources in Oregon: "Oregon is so blue that it has not voted for a Republican for president since 1984. But the Trump campaign is flush with cash and is looking for ways to spend its money and time wisely while Democrats duke it out for the chance to run against [Trump]."

In a free and fair election, Trump would have zero chance of winning Oregon. But if the GOP, with or without help from Russia (or other nefarious actors), rigs the elections to, say, turn Oregon red, this is the preemptive explanation for how it happened: They had the wisdom to "put resources" in Oregon.

Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell is doing everything he can to undermine the integrity of U.S. elections to Trump's favor:
There actually are a lot of bills to safeguard the 2020 elections from the next Russian attack. Mitch McConnell is blocking all of them.

The New York Times reported a few days ago that McConnell is refusing to bring to a vote any bill to safeguard the elections from foreign attack. There's a Democratic bill to provide election funding to state and local governments. There's a bipartisan Senate bill to "codify cyberinformation-sharing initiatives between federal intelligence services and state election officials, speed up the granting of security clearances to state officials, and provide federal incentives for states to adopt paper ballots." McConnell won't allow any of them to come to a vote.

The threat from Russian election interference is actually quite severe. Russian intelligence breached at least one Florida county computer system and planted malware in a manufacturer of vote-tabulating machines, according to the Mueller report. While the probability that Russian hackers could actually change the outcome of the next election is low, the consequences would be extraordinarily high — especially if they do so by actual vote-rigging rather than mere information warfare.
Luke Harding and Jason Burke at the Guardian: Leaked Documents Reveal Russian Effort to Exert Influence in Africa. "Russia is seeking to bolster its presence in at least 13 countries across Africa by building relations with existing rulers, striking military deals, and grooming a new generation of 'leaders' and undercover 'agents,' leaked documents reveal. The mission to increase Russian influence on the continent is being led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman based in St. Petersburg who is a close ally of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. One aim is to 'strong-arm' the U.S. and the former colonial powers the UK and France out of the region. Another is to see off 'pro-western' uprisings, the documents say."

* * *

Andrew Desiderio, Heather Caygle, and John Bresnahan at Politico: Pelosi-Nadler Clash over Impeachment Intensifies. "Nadler has twice urged Pelosi in private to open a formal impeachment inquiry, but the speaker, backed by the majority of her leadership team and her caucus, has maintained that impeaching the president would backfire on Democrats without meaningful Republican support. And there is no sign that Trump's GOP firewall is cracking."

Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post: The House Begins to Tell the Story of Trump's Criminality. "[T]his is the beginning of a process that will, if committee chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) is successful, include fact witnesses who can bring to life what the panel explained on Monday. Whether it changes public opinion sufficiently to encourage Democrats to move to impeachment is unknown, but if part of the task here is to make an historical record, Democrats have certainly succeeded."

Former Rep. Steve Israel at the Atlantic: What Nancy Pelosi Wants to Do Before Impeachment.
For Pelosi, public sentiment doesn't mean following public opinion, but strategically shaping it so that it's more receptive to a strategic goal. It's not just laying the groundwork; it's fertilizing it. That takes message discipline, unity, and patience — all of which will be necessary as pressure to impeach [Donald] Trump continues to build.

...Pelosi, remember, believes it's possible to shape public sentiment. That's why she's unleashed her committee chairs to fully exercise their oversight responsibilities by investigating every facet of potentially impeachable offenses: Jerry Nadler of the Judiciary Committee, Adam Schiff on Intel, Maxine Waters on Financial Services, Elijah Cummings on Oversight and Reform.

They may find a smoking gun — incontrovertible evidence that crystallizes public support for impeachment and maximizes pressure on House Republican incumbents in moderate districts. Then Pelosi will have achieved her goal: a broader public consensus for impeachment and stronger, if not necessarily overwhelming, bipartisan support.
Connecting those dots draws a line that points toward impeachment. I just hope we get there sooner rather than later. Because I'm honestly worried that it's already too late.

* * *

[CN: White supremacy] Danielle McLean at ThinkProgress: Under Trump, the 2020 U.S. Census Could Fail to Count 4 million Americans. "Republican efforts to rig the 2020 U.S. Census could leave more than four million people, including a large number of black and Latinx Americans, uncounted and unrepresented, according to a new study from the Urban Institute. The upcoming 2020 Census is facing 'unprecedented challenges and threats,' according to the report, thanks to the Trump Administration, which has done everything possible to ensure that minority populations are left uncounted, giving Republicans a huge edge during the 2021 congressional and state legislative redistricting process."

[CN: LGBTQx hatred] Felicia Sonmez and Carol Morello at the Washington Post: Pence Says Move to Bar Rainbow Flags Outside U.S. Embassies Was 'the Right Decision'. Yes, I'm sure he does, since it was probably at his direction. Also: This isn't news. Let me know when Mike Pence stops hating queer people for two seconds, because that would be news.

[CN: Trans hatred; death; carcerality] Jamie Ross at the Daily Beast: Trans Woman Who Died at Rikers Island Prison Was in Solitary. "Layleen Polanco was pronounced dead in her cell Friday afternoon, reportedly around an hour after a prison officer noticed she was unconscious. The exact cause of her death hasn't yet been determined. She was in the women's jail on Rikers, in a unit for transgender women, but was placed in solitary as punishment for allegedly taking part in a fight."

* * *

And finally, let's end with some GOOD news...


Amanda Michelle Gomez at ThinkProgress: As Red States Try to Close Clinics, Maine Increases Number of Abortion Providers.
In September, Maine will start allowing health care professionals like nurses to perform abortions, thanks to a bill signed into law by Gov. Janet Mills (D) on Monday.

The law allows nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other advanced practice clinicians to administer medication abortion and other in-clinic procedures. The number of clinics where aspiration abortion, the most common type of in-clinic procedure and used up to 16 weeks in pregnancy, is performed would increase from three to up to 18 — including in Aroostook County, among the poorest counties statewide, and where patients have had to travel over 150 miles for an in-clinic procedure.

"Allowing qualified and licensed medical professionals to perform abortions will ensure that Maine women, especially those in rural areas, are able to access critical reproductive health care services when and where they need them from qualified providers they know and trust," Mills said in a press statement. "These health care professionals are trained in family planning, counseling, and abortion procedures, the overwhelming majority of which are completed without complications."
Amazing.

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

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We Resist: Day 869

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Friday, June 07, 2019
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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.

* * *

Earlier today by me: Trump Administration to Open Mass Detention Facility for Migrant Children in Texas and Primarily Speaking.

Let's start with a whole bunch of GOOD resistance news today!

Auditi Guha at Rewire.News: There's a New Standard for Paid Family Leave Policy in the United States. "Starting in July 2021, workers in Connecticut can get up to 12 weeks off to care for themselves, their family, or a loved one. ...It has the most generous wage-replacement policy and would cover 95 percent of low-wage workers' pay, up to $900 a week for up to 12 weeks, and includes a broad definition of a loved one covered under the policy, including siblings, grandparents, or anyone 'equivalent of a family member,' even if the person is not of blood relation. This is a boon for single parents and LGBTQ people, who often have non-traditional support networks, advocates say." Yay!

Jessica Glenza at the Guardian: Why the Guardian Is Changing the Language It Uses to Describe Abortion Bans. "The Guardian will no longer use the term 'heartbeat bill' in reference to the restrictive abortion bans that are moving through state legislatures in the U.S. ...'We want to avoid medically inaccurate, misleading language when covering women's reproductive rights,' the Guardian's U.S. editor-in-chief, John Mulholland, said. 'These are arbitrary bans that don't reflect fetal development — and the language around them is often motivated by politics, not science.' The Guardian style guide already encourages editors to use 'anti-abortion' over 'pro-life' for clarity, and 'pro-choice' over 'pro-abortion.'" Terrific!

Kate Riga at TPM: Nadler Pushes Impeachment to Centralize Investigations into Trump. "Nadler crafted his pitch around two central points. One, that impeachment proceedings would centralize the investigations into [Donald] Trump and his administration currently sprawled across multiple committees, keeping it all contained within Judiciary. Second, Nadler argued that, procedurally, it's easy to get information and ask questions during impeachment proceedings than in regular House committee sessions." Excellent arguments. Keep pushing, Jerry!

And that's not all he's up to:


[Content Note: Video may autoplay at link] Ryan J. Reilly at the Huffington Post: House Democrats to Make It Easier to Find Trump Aides in Contempt, Bring Them to Court. "House Democrats are set to vote next week on a resolution that would make it easier for the House of Representatives to drag members of the Trump administration to court ― and to find them in contempt ― for failing to comply with congressional subpoenas. The resolution will also declare Attorney General William Barr and former White House counsel Don McGahn in contempt of Congress, and authorize the civil enforcement of subpoenas in federal court. The House Rules Committee is expected to take up the resolution on Monday evening, and the full House could take it up on Tuesday."

Erin Banco and Asawin Suebsaeng at the Daily Beast: House Dems Preparing Investigation of Rudy Giuliani for Ukraine Shenanigans. "Top congressional Democrats are actively discussing opening a probe into Rudy Giuliani for his overseas political and consulting work, including a recent attempt to uncover dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden, a source with direct knowledge tells The Daily Beast. The contours of a potential probe are still under consideration. But it would likely look at whether Giuliani's relationships with foreign politicos interfered or intersected with American foreign-policy efforts." (Spoiler Alert: They did!)

We all know that the Trump Regime is going to continue ignoring Democrats' authority, but I am nonetheless very glad that the Democrats continue to try to hold them accountable.

* * *

And now onto the not-good news...

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Lee Moran at the Huffington Post: Donald Trump Uses D-Day Ceremony Interview to Rant About Nancy Pelosi. "With the graves of U.S. troops who sacrificed their lives in World War II behind him, [Donald] Trump gave an interview to Fox News and tore into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). 'I think she's a disgrace,' Trump told Laura Ingraham in a sit-down pre-recorded at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial on the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings. 'I actually don't think she's a talented person. I've tried to be nice to her because I would have liked to have gotten some deals done,' Trump added. 'She's incapable of doing deals; she's a nasty, vindictive, horrible person.'" Fucking hell.

On Twitter, someone suggested that those troops died in part so that Trump would have the freedom to say even horrible things near their graves, but, as I noted in reply: Trump is not a private citizen. As president, he is both the head of government and the head of state. The rules and norms about what he can/should say are very different, and free speech laws do not apply.


Diana Ohlbaum and Rachel Stohl at Just Security: An 'Emergency' Arms Deal: Will Congress Acquiesce in Another Blow to Its Authority? "What exactly has changed to warrant an emergency declaration for additional arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE? It is not as if the Trump administration has been unable to make arms deals with the Middle East up until now. Since taking office, the Trump administration has approved more than $20 billion worth of arms sales to Saudi Arabia and approximately $5 billion worth of sales to the UAE."


Ian Millhiser at ThinkProgress: Two Cases Show the Astounding Breadth of the Supreme Court's War on Democracy. "These two cases, Kisor v. Wilkie and Gundy v. United States, are early stages of a much broader effort to transfer power from the executive branch — whose leader is elected, at least most of the time — to a judiciary that is unaccountable to voters and that is now controlled by the Republican Party. It is unclear whether the Supreme Court's right flank has the votes it needs to prevail in both cases, but both are bellwethers for an agenda that could leave the next Democratic president powerless to govern."

[CN: War on agency; hostility to consent; sexual assault; covers next two paragraphs] Jamie Ross at the Daily Beast: Missouri Forcing Women to Have Pelvic Exams 72 Hours Before Abortions, Says Doctor. "Missouri state officials are forcing physicians to perform pelvic exams on women ahead of abortions, according to a doctor who works at the last abortion clinic left in the state. David Eisenberg told the Los Angeles Times that, since the state's governor signed a law banning abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy, he's been forced to carry out the exams. ...'What I realized was I effectively have become an instrument of state abuse of power,' said Eisenberg. 'As a licensed physician, I am compelled by the state of Missouri to put my fingers in a woman's vagina when it's not medically necessary.'"

As I have noted previously, regarding state laws mandating medically unnecessary vaginal ultrasound probes, the state is victimizing abortion providers by coercing them into being their tools of sexual violence, and I am glad that Dr. Eisenberg is stating this plainly and also profoundly upset that he is being put in that position, along with abortion providers all over the country obliged to perform similarly invasive procedures with no purpose but to deter women from seeking abortions.

[CN: Queer hatred; white supremacy] Casey Quinlan at ThinkProgress: The Organizers Behind Boston's Straight Pride Parade Should Concern You. "The three men organizing the parade, planned for August 31 [in Boston], are John Hugo, Mark Sahady, and Chris Bartley, who is called the 'gay ambassador' on the event website. Sahady has ties to groups like the Proud Boys, the New Hampshire American Guard, and the Massachusetts Patriot Front. Hugo unsuccessfully ran for the Massachusetts' 5th Congressional District in 2018 with support and endorsement from Resist Marxism, a group that is considered to be 'alt-lite' and holds anti-Semitic, misogynist, and anti-LGBTQ views."

[CN: Terrorism]


Jeff Cox at CNBC: Jobs Creation Slows Dramatically with Payrolls Up Just 75,000 in May, Much Worse Than Expected. "Job creation decelerated strongly in May, with nonfarm payrolls up by just 75,000 even as the unemployment rate remained at a 50-year low, the Labor Department reported Friday. The decline was the second in four months that payrolls increased by less than 100,000 as the labor market continues to show signs of weakening. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a gain of 180,000. In addition to the weak total for May, the previous two months' reports saw substantial downward revisions. March's count fell from 189,000 to 153,000 and the April total was taken down to 224,000 from 263,000, for a total reduction of 75,000 jobs."

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

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Pelosi Still Won't Budge on Impeachment

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Thursday, June 06, 2019
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It isn't just Democratic voters who are calling on Speaker Nancy Pelosi to shift her stubbornly held opposition to impeachment; it's also a growing number of members of the Democratic House caucus. And her responses to their pleas are getting increasingly incomprehensible:

Pelosi met with Nadler (D-N.Y.) and several other top Democrats who are aggressively pursuing investigations against the president, according to multiple sources. Nadler and other committee leaders have been embroiled in a behind-the-scenes turf battle for weeks over ownership of the Democrats' sprawling investigation into Trump.

Nadler pressed Pelosi to allow his committee to launch an impeachment inquiry against Trump — the second such request he's made in recent weeks only to be rebuffed by the California Democrat and other senior leaders. Pelosi stood firm, reiterating that she isn't open to the idea of impeaching Trump at this time.

"I don't want to see him impeached, I want to see him in prison," Pelosi said, according to multiple Democratic sources familiar with the meeting.
What in blazes is she even talking about?! There is a diminishing likelihood that Donald Trump will ever face consequences for anything, no less end up incarcerated, so long as Democrats refuse to use every tool in the box to try to hold him accountable.

Nancy Pelosi is not a stupid person. She knows this.

Which is why she has nothing but an argle-bargled mess of an argument to try to defend this absurd position: "Instead of impeachment, Pelosi still prefers to see Trump defeated at the ballot box and then prosecuted for his alleged crimes, according to the sources."

Okay. Sure. Except we're almost certainly not going to have free and fair elections, and Mitch McConnell and the Republican Senate majority are busily stacking the courts with conservative sycophants who will never allow Trump to be convicted of anything.

I don't know what on earth has happened to Pelosi, and it is, bluntly, terrifying to contemplate what is driving her detestably obdurate refusal to budge from her irrational position.

Her position is indefensible. Her justifications are unconvincing. Her alternate vision is comprehensively unreasonable.

This is unfathomable.

If she cannot be convinced, she must be removed.

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We Resist: Day 866

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, June 04, 2019
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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.

* * *

Late yesterday and earlier today by me: Happy Pride Month! and Migrant Children in U.S. Custody Left in Vans for Days and Primarily Speaking.

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

Donald Trump is in the UK, making an arse out of himself and embarrassing the United States on the global stage once again, and I really don't have any fucking thing to say about anything he's doing or saying there, or who is meeting with him and who is refusing to meet with him and with whom he's supposedly refusing to meet. The only thing I have to say about it is this:


In other news...

Heather Caygle and Sarah Ferris at Politico: Clyburn Walks Back Impeachment Comments.
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn on Monday walked back remarks suggesting that Democrats will impeach [Donald] Trump, reversing course to say he's "farther" from backing impeachment than most of his caucus.

Clyburn's comments came after a private leadership meeting Monday evening in which Speaker Nancy Pelosi reiterated that she didn't support launching impeachment proceedings right now despite a growing push within the caucus.

"I'm probably farther away from impeachment than anybody in our caucus," Clyburn (D-S.C.) told reporters Monday night. "We will not get out in front of our committees. We'll see what the committees come up with. I've said that forever."

Asked by Politico whether he thought impeachment proceedings were inevitable, Clyburn simply said no.

The No. 3 Democrat's comments stand in contrast to what he said Sunday, suggesting it was only a matter of time before House Democrats began impeachment proceedings against Trump.
What the everloving fuck. Pelosi can twist arms all day long, but she's not the only one who knows how to apply pressure.

To wit: Sam Brodey, Erin Banco, and Sam Stein at the Daily Beast: Pro-Impeachment Dems Are Privately Recruiting Other Members Despite Pelosi's Warnings. "Unwilling to wait for Nancy Pelosi to embrace their cause, pro-impeachment House Democrats have begun recruiting fellow lawmakers to their camp in a bid to put more pressure on the House Speaker. The effort has been described by one lawmaker as 'organic.' But the goal is clear: The lawmakers are hoping to build a critical mass of members that will force Pelosi to choose between defying the majority of her own caucus or moving forward with [an impeachment process]."

And here's a big subtweet for Pelosi, in case she still ain't getting the message:


Meanwhile, Trump continues to behave in a way that demands impeachment. Kate Riga at TPM: Trump Shows No Sign of Cowing to GOP Tariff Vote Threat: 'That Would Be Foolish'. "Tensions between congressional Republicans and [Donald] Trump have been heightened in the past few days over Trump's threat to levy tariffs on Mexico. Now, congressional Republicans are mulling holding a vote to block the tariffs, which could also prevent funds from going to Trump's border wall. At a press conference Tuesday in the UK, Trump showed no signs of backing off his tariff strong-arming. 'I don't think they will do that; if they do it's foolish,' he said of the threatened Republican vote. 'There's nothing more important than borders. I've had tremendous Republican support.' The vast majority of Republicans don't often break with this president, but many of his usual allies have voiced displeasure at his tariff threat."

Here's the thing: The GOP is vanishingly unlikely to stand up to Trump, but the fact that they're even publicly pretending that they might creates a very good opening for Pelosi to announce impeachment proceedings, saying, "Even his own party now sees that this president goes too far." Let's get to getting, Nancy!


Jason Rezaian at the Washington Post: The State Department Has Been Funding Trolls and I'm One of Their Targets. "Even after spending a year and a half in prison in Tehran, I knew that if I wanted to go on writing about Iran, I would be a target for plenty of public attacks despite the abuse I had suffered at the hands of the Islamic Republic. And so it has been. But I never imagined the U.S. State Department would be funding my attackers. ...Ironically, the Iran Disinformation Project was funded by the State Department's Global Engagement Center, which was begun to combat online extremism and propaganda. The targets of the tweets included think-tank analysts, human rights activists, and journalists (including me)."

[Content Note: White supremacy] Adam Serwer at the Atlantic: A White Man's Republic, If They Can Keep It. "Long before Trump was even elected, Republican Party insiders were plotting to increase white political power at the expense of people of color. After Trump was elected, they implemented this plan by insisting that their actual goal was the protection of minority voting rights. As with the Voting Rights Act, there was the real reason and the stated reason, the truth and the pretext. The nationalism, and the delusion."

Like clockwork: Khushbu Shah at the Guardian: Activists Say New Tennessee Law Aims to Suppress African American Votes. "Last month, Tennessee's governor, Bill Lee, signed a law imposing restrictions on those groups holding voter registration drives, citing the high number of registrations collected by voting rights groups which are incorrect and become ineligible once filed to the state. The law, once enforced, would fine those turning in incomplete or incorrect registration forms. In some cases, it could mean criminal charges." For fuck's sake.

[CN: Nativism; child abuse]


[CN: Anti-choicery; loss of wanted pregnancy] Jeni Putalavage-Ross at Rewire.News: I Needed a Second-Trimester Abortion; a Proposed Texas Bill Would Have Put Me in Greater Danger. "I found out I was pregnant soon after getting married. My husband and I were ecstatic because we were in our mid-30s, and we wanted to start a family right away. We didn't expect to be told that our fetus had issues 'incompatible with life' at our second anatomy scan at nearly 22 weeks of pregnancy. ...I don't second-guess the decision to have an abortion, but I do wonder what my life would have been like nine years ago if I had been treated by doctors forced to comply with a dangerous bill like SB 1033 by denying me the abortion I needed."

[CN: Anti-choicery] Amanda Michelle Gomez at ThinkProgress: UN Commissioner Had Some Tough Words About U.S. Abortion Bans. "Recent state-level anti-abortion policies, including Alabama's and Georgia's near-total bans, amount to torture, according to a top official at the United Nations. 'We have not called it out in the same way we have other forms of extremist hate, but this is gender-based violence against women, no question,' UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kate Gilmore told the Guardian. 'It's clear it's torture — it's a deprivation of a right to health.'"

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

Open Wide...
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