Shakesville: healthcare

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We Resist: Day 902

a black bar with the word RESIST in white text

Ready #USWNTParade pic.twitter.com/x2lauLDxQ0
— Jennifer Allen (@Jenallen28) July 10, 2019

So, yesterday, Amy McGrath announced that she is challenging Mitch McConnell for his senate seat, and then this happened... Kasie Hunt at NBC News: McGrath Raises a Record $2.5 Million on First Day of Senate Campaign. "Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate Amy McGrath raised more than $2.5 million in the first 24 hours of her campaign against Mitch McConnell — over $1 million of it coming in just the first five and a half hours after she announced, according to her campaign. McGrath campaign manager Mark Nickolas said it's the most ever raised in the first 24 hours of a Senate campaign." RIGHT FUCKING ON.

Jamie Ross at the Daily Beast: California Becomes First State to Give Health Care to Some Undocumented Migrants. "California has become the first state to offer taxpayer-supported health care to some undocumented migrants after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law Tuesday. The new laws...will allow around 90,000 low-income adults below the age of 25 to access the state's Medicaid program, even if they're undocumented. ...Newsom said he plans to further expand coverage to more adults in the years to come." Woot!

* * *

Ann E. Marimow and Jonathan O'Connell at the Washington Post: Appeals Court Dismisses Emoluments Lawsuit Involving [Donald] Trump's D.C. Hotel.

A federal appeals court Wednesday sided with [Donald] Trump, dismissing a lawsuit claiming the president is illegally profiting from foreign and state government visitors at his luxury hotel in downtown Washington.

The unanimous ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit is a victory for the president in a novel case brought by the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia involving anti-corruption provisions in the emoluments clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

In its ruling, the three-judge panel said the attorneys general lacked legal standing to bring the lawsuit alleging the president is violating the Constitution when his business accepts payments from state and foreign governments.

Crap.

[CN: Rape culture]

Labor Sec Alex Acosta "is proposing 80% funding cuts for the government agency that combats child sex trafficking." Obv this is in the news b/c of his role in the Epstein case but notable all its own as another case of cabinet heads destroying their depts. https://t.co/mumMGNz0VW
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) July 10, 2019

Nicole Lafond at TPM: DOJ Instructs Two Mueller Deputies Not to Appear for Closed-Door Testimony. "House Democrats are attempting to make arrangements for two of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's deputies to appear for a private, closed-door testimony on the same day that Mueller is set to testify — July 17. But the Justice Department has reportedly instructed the two special counsel staffers, James Quarles and Aaron Zebley, not to appear. According to new reports in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, the DOJ's interference could muddy the deal that the department and lawmakers reached last month to get Mueller's testimony." Muddy the deal. That's polite.

Peter Jamison at the Washington Post: Trump's July Fourth Event and Weekend Protests Bankrupted D.C. Security Fund, Mayor Says. "Trump's overhauled July Fourth celebration cost the D.C. government $1.7 million, an amount that — combined with police expenses for demonstrations through the weekend — has bankrupted a special fund used to protect the nation's capital from terrorist threats and provide security at events such as rallies and state funerals. In a letter to the president Tuesday, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) warned that the fund has now been depleted and is estimated to be running a $6 million deficit by Sept. 30. The mayor also noted that the account was never reimbursed for $7.3 million in expenses from Trump's 2017 inauguration." Fucking grifter.

Ally Boguhn at Rewire.News: Trump's Human Rights Commission Could Undercut Human Rights.

The Trump administration launched an advisory commission this week tasked with examining human rights in foreign policy — but advocates worry it could undermine global reproductive rights.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday announced the creation of the U.S. State Department's Commission on Unalienable Rights. He said the commission will conduct "an informed review of the role of human rights in American foreign policy" and provide him "with advice on human rights." A notice published in the Federal Register in May said the commission will provide "fresh thinking about human rights discourse where such discourse has departed from our nation's founding principles of natural law and natural rights."

Though the State Department has an office devoted to human rights, the commission was "conceived with almost no input from" it, Politico reported. Officials told the outlet that the commission is "advisory and will not create policy, and maintain that everyone has 'unalienable rights,' including LGBTQ people and other minorities."

Mary Ann Glendon, a professor of law at Harvard University who teaches on human rights, will chair the commission. Glendon's anti-choice activism earned her the "Proudly Pro-Life Award" from National Right to Life in 2009. That year, Glendon turned down a medal from the University of Notre Dame, citing its decision to give President Barack Obama an honorary degree.

Fucking hell.

[CN: Video may autoplay at link; ableist language at link] Jonathan Cohn at the Huffington Post: Obamacare Had Another Bad Day in Court; That's Pretty Alarming. "[T]he mere possibility that the two Republicans would invalidate part, let alone all, of the Affordable Care Act is hard to fathom. The consequences of such a ruling would be devastating, and the underlying argument of the lawsuit is, according to a wide array of respectable legal experts, positively [absurd]. And yet, here we are."

Rishika Dugyala at Politico: Pence Aide Still Refuses to Reveal Why Trip Was Mysteriously Scrapped. "The mystery surrounding Vice President Mike Pence's scrapped trip to New Hampshire last week is still alive, with his chief of staff telling reporters Wednesday morning that he can't yet offer up an explanation. 'I can't talk about that,' Pence chief of staff Marc Short told reporters on the White House driveway. He said the public could expect an answer 'in a few weeks.'" What horseshit. [Background.]

[CN: Nativism] Josh Israel at ThinkProgress: GOP Congressman Claims without Proof That 80% to 90% of Asylum Claims Aren't Legit. "Texas Rep. Michael Cloud (R) falsely stated that few asylum seekers have legitimate claims of political persecution, and that their cases should therefore merit only a very brief evaluation lasting 30 minutes to two hours maximum. The House Freedom Caucus member combined debunked statistics and a misunderstanding of what makes people eligible for asylum in a Fox News interview." These fucking lying assholes.

* * *

It is not enough for government to pass laws that protect consumers from corporations that harvest and monetize their personal data. It is also necessary for these laws to have teeth. https://t.co/LDlTKzYc5h
— EFF (@EFF) July 9, 2019

Maxwell Tani at the Daily Beast: CNN Tells Digital Staff: Take Some Cues from Fox News. "Fox News is already beating CNN on TV. Now, to ensure the conservative news network doesn't start winning online, CNN wants to make sure its employees know what stories Fox News is writing about. In recent months, CNN's newly revamped audience development team has begun highlighting the top daily stories people are searching for online in a widely seen company Slack messaging channel. The network has begun placing small fox emojis next to stories the right-leaning cable outlet covered online that CNN missed." Goddammit.

[CN: Misogyny] Larrison Campbell at Mississippi Today: Robert Foster, GOP Governor Candidate, Denies Woman Reporter Access Because of Her Gender. "In two phone calls this week, Colton Robison, Foster's campaign director, said a male colleague would need to accompany this reporter on an upcoming 15-hour campaign trip because they believed the optics of the candidate with a woman, even a working reporter, could be used in a smear campaign to insinuate an extramarital affair. 'The only reason you think that people will think I'm having a (improper) relationship with your candidate is because I am a woman,' this reporter said. Robison said the campaign simply 'can't risk it.'" Seethe.

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

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We Resist: Day 886

The fuck. https://t.co/13j4SLmaFP
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) June 21, 2019

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

Ravelry is taking this moment seriously. Good for them.

* * *

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

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

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

Jon Allsop at the Columbia Journalism Review deep-dives into the media failure:

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

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

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

Rage. Seethe. Boil.

* * *

Patrick Wintour at the Guardian: U.S. Proposes Tanker Protection Force in Wake of Gulf Attacks.

The U.S. is to propose an international maritime Gulf protection force, its special envoy on Iran has said, as the Trump administration prepared to announce fresh economic sanctions on Tehran.

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

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

Hook said the G20 summit this week in Japan would be a good forum for discussions.

So now Trump wants to use the attacks on tankers to build what I can only assume he wants to be a rival/replacement of NATO, but including all his friends like the Saudis. Cool.

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

[CN: Nativism; child abuse]

This doesn't necessarily solve the conditions problem — it's not like CBP has better-provisioned facilities just ready to go — but does moot (AFAICT) the use of the fact-finding trip that leaked last week in lawsuits against CBP. https://t.co/kzGKQUqvzb
— Dara Lind (@DLind) June 24, 2019

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

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

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

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

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

* * *

Helena Bottemiller Evich at Politico: Agriculture Department Buries Studies Showing Dangers of Climate Change.

The Trump administration has refused to publicize dozens of government-funded studies that carry warnings about the effects of climate change, defying a longstanding practice of touting such findings by the Agriculture Department's acclaimed in-house scientists.

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

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

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

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

"The intent is to try to suppress a message — in this case, the increasing danger of human-caused climate change," said Michael Mann, a leading climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University. "Who loses out? The people, who are already suffering the impacts of sea level rise and unprecedented super storms, droughts, wildfires, and heat waves."

Elana Schor at the AP: Medical Groups Warn Climate Change Is a 'Health Emergency'. "74 medical and public health groups aligned on Monday to push for a series of consensus commitments to combat climate change, bluntly defined by the organizations as 'a health emergency.' ...'The health, safety, and well-being of millions of people in the U.S. have already been harmed by human-caused climate change, and health risks in the future are dire without urgent action to fight climate change,' the medical and public health groups wrote in their climate agenda."

TAPPER: Do you think climate change is a threat?

MIKE PENCE: America has the cleanest air and water in the world

TAPPER: That's not true

PENCE: Ahh, but we're making progress on reducing carbon emissions pic.twitter.com/u5hUxFpE6P
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 23, 2019

The entire exchange is just fucking incredible.

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

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We Resist: Day 874

On May 21st, four commissioners who compose the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (E.A.C.) were asked to attest, in Congress, that they agreed with the findings of the special counsel Robert Mueller that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. It was a strange and oddly suspenseful moment in what might have been a routine oversight hearing of the House Administration Committee.

The E.A.C. is a small, relatively obscure agency, established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (H.A.V.A.), an election-modernization bill that was passed in response to the disastrous failure of voting equipment during the 2000 Presidential election. H.A.V.A. allocated over three billion dollars to the states to upgrade their election systems and authorized the E.A.C. to distribute it. The E.A.C. was also mandated to advise election officials and oversee the testing and certification of voting and vote-tabulation machines. Seventeen months away from the next Presidential election, it could be leading the charge against future cyberattacks. It is not.

Senator Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat who sits on the Intelligence Committee, predicts that the 2020 election will make what happened in 2016 "look like small potatoes." "It's not just the Russians," he told me. "There are hostile foreign actors who are messing with two hundred years' worth of really precious history." Wyden recently reintroduced the PAVE Act, a wish list of election-security provisions that failed to get through the Senate last year. The measure includes the use of hand-marked paper ballots and a prohibition on wireless modems and other kinds of Internet connectivity, all of which have been advocated by computer scientists and other election experts for years.

But with the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, making it clear that he will not advance any election-security legislation, the PAVE Act, and also other election-security bills, many of which have bipartisan support, will languish. McConnell has made 2020 open season for hackers aiming to undermine our election system. The E.A.C. has made this easier, by displaying not only intransigence and institutional weaknesses but also a willful disregard of the threats facing our elections.

Jessica Brandt at Slate: How Not to Handle Security Threats to Our Elections.

In the weeks before the 2016 presidential election, a Florida company known as VR Systems fell victim to a Russian spear-phishing campaign. Most Americans have never heard of VR Systems, but it runs poll books — the registries that election workers use to track who is eligible to vote and who has already voted — for counties in eight states around the country.

The hackers used the information they gathered from VR Systems to breach two of the Florida county election systems the company managed. And three years later, new reporting suggests that VR Systems may also have inadvertently put Russians in a position to alter voter rolls in North Carolina, another swing state, on the eve of the 2016 presidential election.

Meanwhile... Matt Zapotosky and John Wagner at the Washington Post: Trump Asserts Executive Privilege to Shield Documents on Census Citizenship Question. And as Danielle McLean at ThinkProgress noted in a piece I shared in yesterday's We Resist thread, the Trump Regime "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."

I cannot emphasize this strongly enough: Pinning all of our hopes for crawling out of this mess on the 2020 election is aggressively foolish. With Mitch McConnell at the helm, the Republican Party is doing every goddamn thing it can to rig this election. And, if all their efforts fail, Donald Trump will almost certainly assert that there was election fraud and refuse to leave office. We have to do something to prevent tha outcome now.

* * *

Betsy Woodruff at the Daily Beast: White House Will Preview Mueller Evidence Before Nadler Review. "When House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) announced on Monday that he had reached an agreement with the Justice Department to view some of the underlying evidence behind Special Counsel's Robert Mueller's report, the announcement was hailed as a major breakthrough for the Democratic Party's oversight efforts. But Nadler may get less than expected. That's because the Trump White House will work with the Justice Department to decide what exactly the committee gets to see, two senior administration officials told The Daily Beast. And, so far, the White House has not waived executive privilege regarding any of Mueller's materials, the two officials said."

Shep Smith explaining to Fox News viewers, in a voice usually reserved for explaining to children why you can't have a cookie in the grocery store, that the Mueller report did not exonerate Trump and found 10 potential instances of criminal obstruction. https://t.co/HqNnr89EYd
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) June 12, 2019

Reuters Staff at the Guardian: Donald Trump Shows Off 'Secret' Mexico Document but Photos Reveal Contents. "Donald Trump brandished a document on Tuesday confirming details of a regional asylum project agreed with Mexico to stave off threatened tariffs, saying the plan was 'secret' even though Mexican officials had revealed much of it."

Guess what's on the piece of paper in MY pocket? A letter signed by every member of the House and Senate saying Donald Trump and Mike Pence must vacate their offices effective immediately. Shocking, I know, but IT'S ON THE PAPER. No, you can't see it. https://t.co/c8jYM1oqt2
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) June 11, 2019

* * *

Shelby Hanssen and Ken Dilanian at NBC News: Reps of 22 Foreign Governments Have Spent Money at Trump Properties. "Representatives of at least 22 foreign governments appear to have spent money at Trump Organization properties, an NBC News review has found, hinting at a significant foreign cash flow to the American president that critics say violates the U.S. Constitution."

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Maureen Groppe at USA Today: Rep. Greg Pence Amends Filing That Showed Lodging Charge at Trump Hotel. "Greg Pence, a freshman congressman and brother of Vice President Mike Pence, reported spending more than $7,600 in campaign funds on lodging at the Trump International Hotel in the first few months after his election in November, although lawmakers are supposed to pay for their own housing in Washington. ...Hours after USA Today pressed for more detail on the nature of the lodging expenses, the campaign filed an amended FEC report that changed the designation of the expenses to 'fundraising event costs.'"

Kyla Mandel at ThinkProgress: Trump International Hotel Will Host a Climate Denial Conference. "In late July, climate science deniers will descend upon the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. — located right across the street from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — to attend the Heartland Institute's annual climate conference. The theme this year is 'Best Science, Winning Energy Policies.' ...The hotel — referred to by one Department of Energy staffer as 'Republican Disneyland' — has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from oil, coal, natural gas, and mining interests who come to attend events frequented by administration officials. Last March, the Independent Petroleum Association of America's (IPAA) annual 'Congressional Call-Up' was held at Trump's hotel."

Shahien Nasiripour and Caleb Melby at Bloomberg: Trump's Net Worth Rises to $3 Billion Despite Business Setbacks. "Donald Trump's net worth rose to $3 billion, a 5% gain over the past year... The increase in Trump's wealth reverses two years of declines and brings his net worth back to 2016 levels, according to figures compiled by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index from lenders, property records, securities filings, market data, and a May 16 financial disclosure."

So, Trump is doing just fine. In other news...

Heather Long at the Washington Post: GOP Leader Concedes Tax Cuts May Not Pay for Themselves as 2019 Deficit Grows. "Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.), a lead architect of the GOP tax bill, suggested Tuesday the tax cuts may not fully pay for themselves, contradicting a promise Republicans made repeatedly while pushing the law in late 2017." And what will happen when a conservative government wants to cut spending? They won't raise taxes. They'll institute austerity measures to defund social services.

Programs on which, for instance, non-wealthy elderly people depend. Especially those who have been exploited by the corporations handed fat tax cuts and zero oversight by the Republican Party.

Nick Penzenstadler and Jeff Kelly Lowenstein at USA Today: Seniors Were Sold a Risk-Free Retirement with Reverse Mortgages. Now They Face Foreclosure.

n a stealth aftershock of the Great Recession, nearly 100,000 loans that allowed senior citizens to tap into their home equity have failed, blindsiding elderly borrowers and their families and dragging down property values in their neighborhoods.

In many cases, the worst toll has fallen on those ill-equipped to shoulder it: urban African Americans, many of whom worked for most of their lives, then found themselves struggling in retirement.

...These elderly homeowners were wooed into borrowing money through the special program by attractive sales pitches or a dire need for cash – or both. When they missed a paperwork deadline or fell behind on taxes or insurance, lenders moved swiftly to foreclose on the home. Those foreclosures wiped out hard-earned generational wealth built in the decades since the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

...Consumer advocates said the analysis supports what they have complained about for years – that unscrupulous lenders targeted lower-income, black neighborhoods and encouraged elderly homeowners to borrow money while glossing over the risks and requirements.

Goddammit.

* * *

In GOOD reproductive rights news: Chelsia Rose Marcius at the Daily Beast: Ariana Grande Donates Proceeds From Atlanta Concert to Planned Parenthood. "Pop superstar Ariana Grande has donated the proceeds from her sold-out Atlanta concert to Planned Parenthood, TMZ reports. The singer gave $300,000 to the nonprofit from her June 8 show in Georgia, one of the states that recently passed restrictive abortion legislation." Awesome.

[CN: Anti-choicery; anti-choice terrorism; war on agency. Covers rest of section.]

Jason Salzman at Rewire.News: This Ballot Measure Could End Later Abortion Care in Colorado.

"These people have no concern for the health and welfare of the women we are helping. This is anti-abortion madness carried to a logical extreme," Dr. Warren Hern, whose Boulder Abortion Clinic bills itself as "specializing in late abortions for fetal disorders," told Rewire.News. Criminalizing later abortion would have a major impact on people outside Colorado too, as the state has become a reproductive health-care haven for people in other states.

For decades, anti-choice activists have targeted Hern with vigils, protests, and gunshots through his window, but he has continued to be an outspoken proponent of abortion rights in the media and on his clinic's website, which states, "The true meaning of 'family values' is the freedom to choose your own life and values with those you love."

Lenny Bernstein at the Washington Post: Women Seeking Abortions Turn to Volunteer Network for Help. "The work of a nationwide network of volunteers and nonprofit groups that assist women trying to end unwanted pregnancies has reemerged as new state restrictions on abortion threaten to force women to travel farther, pay more and wait longer for the procedure. The groups, which help with the cost and logistics of travel, lodging, food, child care, and the abortion procedure itself, say they're working harder and spending more. They've also seen an increase in donations for aid to the low-income women who have three-quarters of U.S. abortions and who are most of their clients."

Jessica Mason Pieklo at Rewire.News: The Nuns Are Back Before the Supreme Court, and They're Trying to Kill the Birth Control Benefit for Good. "Conservatives have spent the better part of a decade arguing the Affordable Care Act's birth control benefit, which provides insurance coverage for a host of contraception without additional cost or co-pay, violates religious freedom principles. Those efforts have had mixed results. Despite two turns before the U.S. Supreme Court, dozens of lower court orders, and a handful of executive orders from [Donald] Trump, the benefit remains in place — but employers who object to it can avoid complying with it. This week, the Roberts Court will consider taking up a case that could settle the birth control benefit's fate once and for all."

* * *

[CN: Self-harm; addiction] Erika Edwards at NBC News: U.S. Death Rates from Suicides, Alcohol Abuse, and Drug Overdoses Reach All-Time High. "Rates of deaths from suicides, drug overdoses, and alcohol have reached an all-time high in the United States, but some states have been hit far harder than others by [the so-called deaths of despair], according to a report released Wednesday by the Commonwealth Fund. ...What separates the top ranked states from the lowest? Health care coverage. 'We really think of healthcare access of being the foundation of a high-performing health care system,' [David Radley, a senior scientist for the Commonwealth Fund] said. The states that ranked at the bottom of the list all had the highest rates of residents without health care coverage."

If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.

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

Open Wide...

We Resist: Day 868

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: Malice Is His Agenda. Compassion Is Mine. and Today Is the 75th Anniversary of D-Day and Primarily Speaking and Pelosi Still Won't Budge on Impeachment.

Let's start with some GOOD news today...

Tierney Sneed at TPM: North Carolina Republicans Fail to Overturn Governor's Veto of Anti-Abortion Bill. "North Carolina's legislature upheld Gov. Roy Cooper’s (D) veto of an anti-abortion bill Wednesday afternoon. Only this year — after the 2018 midterms — did Democrats have enough seats in the legislature to end the GOP's supermajority in the statehouse, which had previously given Republicans the votes to override Cooper's vetoes."

The Republicans will keep fighting, especially their fight to keep gerrymandering the state so that Democrats can't even get a majority in the legislature anymore, but this is very good news for the moment. Yay!

And the battle continues nationally...

Dr. Leana Wen at Rewire.News: A State of Emergency in Missouri and Across the Country. "We are in a state of emergency for reproductive health in America, and it requires a true emergency response. Over the past few months, we've seen just how vulnerable access to safe, legal abortion is across the country. Anti-abortion politicians in states across the country have enacted extreme, dangerous, and unconstitutional abortion bans that will endanger lives. ...As an emergency physician, I don't use the words 'emergency' lightly. But I know one when I see it, and there is no denying that the United States is facing a state of emergency that must be addressed." This is a public health crisis.

Elham Khatami at ThinkProgress: Trump's Decision to End Federal Fetal Tissue Research Is Dangerous. "The Trump administration on Wednesday announced that it would end fetal tissue research by federal scientists, despite strong evidence of the benefits of using fetal tissue to research treatments and diseases that affect millions of people, including HIV, human development disorders, and various cancers. Ironically, the administration positioned the move as a way to protect the 'dignity of human life.'"

All of Mike Pence's wildest dreams are coming true.

Because Trump is letting him drive domestic policy. https://t.co/4WGqDEtsXn
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) June 5, 2019

* * *

Mark Hosenball at Reuters: Still No Briefing for Senate Intel Panel on Mueller Report. "The only committee of the U.S. Congress running a genuinely bipartisan probe of Russian meddling in U.S. politics has still had no word from the Trump administration on briefing the panel about the Mueller report's counterintelligence findings, congressional sources said on Wednesday. ...Since the mid-April release of the redacted report, the Senate Intelligence Committee has been stonewalled in much the same way the administration has refused to cooperate with other committees, two congressional sources said."

[CN: Nativism] Camilo Montoya-Galvez at CBS News: Military to Spend a Month Painting Border Barriers to "Improve Aesthetic Appearance". "In its notification to Congress, DHS said [assigning members of the military to spend a month painting a mile-long stretch of barriers to improve their 'aesthetic appearance'] in Tucson, Arizona had allowed Border Patrol to combat the 'camouflaging tactics of illegal border crossers' who sought to evade detection. The agency said migrants also appeared to have 'greater difficulty' scaling painted bollards along the border. On Twitter, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-highest Democrat in the Senate, denounced the task as a 'disgraceful misuse' of taxpayer money. 'Our military has more important work to do than making Trump's wall beautiful,' he added."

[CN: Nativism; white supremacy; trans hatred; death]

NEW: Johana Medina died five days ago. Nearly all of the reporting about her death has included a dehumanizing statement from ICE, one published uncritically by journalists, even though it included a literal Nazi talking point. These details matter. https://t.co/pDYRqYXlxO
— Tina Vasquez (@TheTinaVasquez) June 6, 2019

Barbie Latza Nadeau at the Daily Beast: No Disciplinary Action for Top Military Brass Involved in Botched Niger Mission. "Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan said Thursday that he agreed with an independent investigation that cleared top military brass in a 2017 special-forces mission in Niger that left four U.S. soldiers dead. The Wall Street Journal reports Shanahan said none of the officers in charge of the mission that led to a deadly ambush of Green Berets by militants should be disciplined. The Pentagon inquiry recommended administrative discipline for 'mistakes and oversights' by nine of those involved in the fatal mission, but stopped short of further action that might have included dismissals from service."

My condolences once more to Myeshia Johnson.

I can't believe that was less than two years ago. It feels like sixteen eternities.

* * *

Melanie Schmitz at ThinkProgress: Trump Says He'll Decide New China Tariffs Following G20, Amid Trade Battle with Republicans. "Donald Trump said Thursday that he would decide whether to impose a new round of tariffs on $325 billion worth of Chinese goods following the G20 summit in Osaka at the end of June. Trump's comments came during a joint appearance with French President Emmanuel Macron, not long after the U.S. president announced he might ratchet up his trade war with China to 'at least $300 billion' on Chinese goods."

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Alexander Nazaryan at Yahoo News: Trump Admits His Cabinet Had 'Some Clinkers'.

Raised on Norman Vincent Peale's "power positive thinking" quasi-philosophy, the president was attempting to convince both of us that his people really were the best people, even as evidence to the contrary presented itself daily in the form of damning news reports, mystifying congressional testimony, and ethics reports that read like treatments for Mafia movies.

"There are those that say we have one of the finest Cabinets," Trump claimed. That is not a commonly held view. In fact, it is difficult to think of anyone even halfway credible — Republican or Democrat — who has said anything approaching that.

...Trump did allow that there had been "some clinkers," by which he presumably meant people like EPA administrator Pruitt and HHS head Price, both of whom left the administration in disgrace, as did several other of their colleagues.

"But that's okay," he said of hiring men and women who turned out to be less than they seemed and less than he'd hoped. "Who doesn't?" True enough. But there's a difference between a clinker and a charlatan, a man who is no good at his job and a man who sets out to do that job poorly.

And there is a difference between someone who falls out of the president's favor because of incompetency and someone who falls out of the president's favor because of insufficient fealty.

Joshua Partlow, David A. Fahrenthold, and Taylor Luck at the Washington Post: A Wealthy Iraqi Sheikh Who Urges a Hardline U.S. Approach to Iran Spent 26 Nights at Trump's D.C. Hotel. "In July, a wealthy Iraqi sheikh named Nahro al-Kasnazan wrote letters to national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging them to forge closer ties with those seeking to overthrow the government of Iran. Kasnazan wrote of his desire 'to achieve our mutual interest to weaken the Iranian Mullahs regime and end its hegemony.' Four months later, he checked into the Trump International Hotel in Washington and spent 26 nights in a suite on the eighth floor — a visit estimated to have cost tens of thousands of dollars."

And finally, in possibly but probably still unlikely good news... Elizabeth Lopatto at the Verge: Bowing to Pressure, YouTube Will Reconsider Its Harassment Policies. "YouTube will reconsider its harassment policies and may update them, the company said in a new blog post. The statement was apparently prompted by public pressure on the company after a conflict between two YouTubers: Carlos Maza, who hosts for Vox, and Stephen Crowder, a conservative media personality. In response to backlash, YouTube has convened a blue-ribbon commission and appears to be hoping everyone will stop screaming." Lolsob.

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

Open Wide...

#StopTheBans

[Content Note: War on agency.]

"We will stand up and speak out because we know that keeping people unhealthy is a tool of oppression and stripping reproductive health care is a tool of misogyny." — @DrLeanaWen, President & CEO @PPFA, President @PPact #StopTheBans pic.twitter.com/yQX0ywjYF6
— Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) May 21, 2019

As I mentioned earlier, there are hundreds of events around the country today protesting the abortion bans being passed in state legislatures, and you can follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #StopTheBans.

I've been following with each free moment I've had today, often with tears streaming down my face because of a constellation of emotions: Pride in and solidarity with the protesters; anger at the actions by Republican legislators that obliged the protests; fear of what will happen to women et. al. if we lose the fight to prevent these bans from taking effect.

“We stand together to call out these anti-choice politicians who talk so much about life and yet ignore the lives of the half the population. YOU matter. WE matter.” —NARAL President @ilyseh #StopTheBans pic.twitter.com/WlLtVZSzXB
— NARAL (@NARAL) May 21, 2019

I have previously noted on many occasions (here, was probably the first time) that I'm hard-pressed to see why I should be any less contemptuous of a man (or woman) who sits at a big mahogany desk in a government building making decisions about my body without my consent than I should be of the men who used physical force to make decisions about my body without my consent.

It is an observation by which anti-choice folks are outraged. They are horrified to be compared, even obliquely, to sexual predators. As well they should be. I am horrified to have to make it. But anyone who holds the position that they should be able to legislate away my bodily autonomy and supersede my consent about what happens to my body shouldn't be too goddamned surprised by the comparison.

One must be ridiculously incapable of self-reflection to simultaneously argue that sexual assault (forcing a woman to do something with her body she doesn't want to do) is a Terrible Thing, but the denial of abortion (forcing a woman to do something with her body she doesn't want to do) is a Moral Imperative.

Disallowing access to abortion, i.e. forced birth, is an inherently violent position which values fetuses more highly than the people who carry them.

I am utterly unwilling to pretend it could ever be anything else.

Abortion bans are reproductive coercion.

Forced birth is a violent act.

Abortion is healthcare.#StopTheBans
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 21, 2019

This is a war on agency. It's a war on autonomy. It's a war on choice. It's a war on consent. It's a war on women and anyone else who can get pregnant. It's a war that will be expanded to control any bodies that the authoritarian pigshits in charge want to control to limit people's freedom.

We matter.

Our agency matters.

Our autonomy matters.

Our choice matters.

Our consent matters.

Our freedom matters.

We matter.

#StopTheBans.

Open Wide...

We Resist: Day 840

It was a day like any other at the West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa. In a nondescript office park, abortion clinic escorts shielded incoming patients from the graphic signs and verbal abuse of anti-choice protesters gathered across the clinic’s private parking lot.

On Tuesday around 8:15 a.m., a Toyota SUV that had been spray-painted black pulled into the lot. There, the driver exchanged words with a volunteer escort before backing the SUV into her side. She yelled at the driver to get away from her. He yelled back, threatening to hit her a second time, then put the car in reverse again to do so. She moved out of the way; the driver swung the vehicle around and left.

...[Helmi Henkin — chair of the clinic escort group West Alabama Clinic Defenders and Alabama's only statewide abortion fund, the Yellowhammer Fund] recognized the suspect as an anti-choice person who had previously threatened clinic escorts. But Tuscaloosa police did not take their previous reports seriously, Henkin said.

...The attack comes as Alabama Republicans are trying to pass HB 314, a bill to criminalize abortion providers. Dubbed the "Human Life Protection Act," the bill passed the GOP-controlled house last Tuesday. Nearly all Democratic house members walked out in protest.

The anti-choice bill would make it a crime for doctors to perform abortions at any stage of pregnancy, unless the person's life is in danger. A doctor caught performing an abortion would face up to 99 years in prison; attempted abortion would carry a sentence of up to ten years.

Anti-choice terrorism is one of the most common forms of terrorism in the United States, and it's also one of the least discussed. The political press renders it almost entirely invisible, despite the fact that it is brazenly waged, the coordination and orchestration done right out in the open. It is an inherently violent ideology, backed by a decades-long campaign of intimidation, harassment, and violence directed at abortion providers and abortion seekers. And the sitting president is actively stoking the flames.

* * *

Paul Farhi at the Washington Post: White House Imposes New Rules on Reporters' Credentials, Raising Concerns About Access.

The White House has implemented new rules that it says will cut down on the number of journalists that hold "hard" passes, the credentials that allow reporters and technicians to enter the grounds without seeking daily permission.

The new policy has been met with some confusion and even worry among journalists, some of whom suspect that the ultimate aim is to keep critics in the press away from the White House and [Donald] Trump.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders explicitly denied that, saying the changes were prompted by security concerns, not to punish journalists. "No one's access is being limited," she said Wednesday night.

Yeah, well, she's a professional liar, so.

I guess now that it's clear there are no penalties for GOP lawbreaking, they think it's safe for Don Jr. to come and lie under oath. https://t.co/YIKUsgVPZI
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 8, 2019

Wesley Morgan at Politico: McMaster Blasts Former Colleagues as 'Danger to the Constitution'. "Former national security adviser H.R. McMaster accused some of his former White House colleagues on Wednesday of being 'a danger to the Constitution' because they are either trying to manipulate [Donald] Trump to push their own agenda or see themselves as rescuing the country from what they view as the commander in chief's bad policy choices." Looks like someone has a book to sell!

Funny how all these Trump sycophants are supposedly great patriots who totes care about what's best for the country once they're looking for new sources of income.

* * *

Courtney Kube at NBC News: U.S. Officials: Iran Official Okayed Attacks on American Military. "The U.S. decision to surge additional military forces into the Middle East was based in part on intelligence that the Iranian regime has told some of its proxy forces and surrogates that they can now go after American military personnel and assets in the region, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence. ...Among the specific threats the U.S. military is now tracking, officials say, are possible missile attacks by Iranian dhows, or small ships, in the Persian Gulf; attacks in Iraq by Iranian-trained Shiite militia groups; and attacks against U.S. ships by the Houthi rebels in Yemen." As I noted yesterday, this intel is being inflated by warmongering pigshits who want a war with Iran.

Tim Kelly at Reuters: U.S., Japan, India, and Philippines Challenge Beijing with Naval Drills in the South China Sea. "In fresh show of naval force in the contested South China Sea, a U.S. guided missile destroyer conducted drills with a Japanese aircraft carrier, two Indian naval ships, and a Philippine patrol vessel in the waterway claimed by China, the U.S. Navy said on Thursday. While similar exercises have been held in the South China Sea in the past, the combined display by four countries represents a fresh challenge to Beijing as [Donald] Trump threatens to hike tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods."

Choe Sang-Hun at the New York Times: North Korea Fires Two Short-Range Ballistic Missiles, South's Military Says. "North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday, the South Korean military said, an escalation from the North's most recent weapons test just five days ago. The two missiles were launched eastward from the country's northwest, with one flying 260 miles and the other about 170 miles, the military said in a statement. ...The statement did not say where the missiles had landed, but the reported distances would put them in the sea between North Korea and Japan."

Pete Williams, Tom Winter, and Dan De Luce at NBC News: U.S. Seizes North Korean Ship Suspected of Violating U.N. Sanctions. "The Justice Department asked a federal judge Thursday to give the U.S. ownership of a North Korean freighter that was caught shipping coal in violation of U.N. sanctions. ...[T]he U.S. sought a civil forfeiture action — the same thing prosecutors do when they seek to take ownership of planes or boats used by drug smugglers. The Justice Department says the U.S. is entitled to take this action because payments to maintain and equip the vessel were made through American banks."

* * *

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Christina Zdanowicz at CNN: A Student Sued Because He Didn't Want the Chickenpox Vaccine; Then He Got Chickenpox. "Jerome Kunkel sued the local [Walton, Kentucky] health department because of a policy temporarily barring students who aren't immune against chickenpox from coming to classes and extracurricular activities... The high school senior refused the vaccine, citing his faith. Kunkel's father, Bill, told CNN affiliate WLWT they object to the particular vaccine because he believed it was derived from 'aborted fetuses.' The chickenpox vaccine was created using cells descended from those of a fetus terminated in the early 1960s. ...Kunkel contracted chickenpox last week and has recovered [and returned] to school on Wednesday [after being out since mid-March]. 'Jerome is in a catch-up mode,' [his attorney] said. 'He feels like they kind of ruined his senior year.'" Whooooops!

Deanna Paul at the Washington Post: GOP State Legislator Attacks Vaccine Scientist on Twitter, Accusing Him of Self-Enrichment, 'Sorcery'. "A Texas state legislator unleashed a vilifying attack on a leading vaccine scientist Tuesday, accusing the doctor of 'sorcery.' ...[Peter Hotez, professor and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine] took his concerns about [a report published Monday by the Texas Department of State Health Services that noted the state recorded a 14 percent rise in parents opting out of their children's vaccinations] to Twitter. And then he received an unexpected, seething personal attack from the Republican state legislator, Rep. Jonathan Stickland." JFC.

Meanwhile... [CN: Christian Supremacy] Julie Zauzmer at the Washington Post: A Conservative Christian Group Is Pushing Bible Classes in Public Schools Nationwide — and It's Working. "Activists on the religious right, through their legislative effort Project Blitz, drafted a law that encourages Bible classes in public schools and persuaded at least 10 state legislatures to introduce versions of it this year. Georgia and Arkansas recently passed bills that are awaiting their governors' signatures. Among the powerful fans of these public-school Bible classes: [Donald] Trump. 'Numerous states introducing Bible Literacy classes, giving students the option of studying the Bible,' Trump tweeted in January. 'Starting to make a turn back? Great!'" Seethe.

Trump literally *just* threatened to veto H.R. 986, the "Protecting Americans with Preexisting Conditions Act of 2019," the other day. https://t.co/6DTR4YX0qk
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 9, 2019

Adam Gabbatt at the Guardian: Facebook Co-Founder Calls for Company to Break Up over 'Unprecedented' Power.

A co-founder of Facebook has called for the government to break-up the company, warning that Mark Zuckerberg's power is "unprecedented and un-American."

Chris Hughes, who helped established Facebook after meeting Zuckerberg at Harvard University, wrote in the New York Times that Facebook's acquisition of rival platforms had given Zuckerberg unparalleled power over speech.

"Mark's influence is staggering, far beyond that of anyone else in the private sector or in government. He controls three core communications platforms — Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — that billions of people use every day," Hughes wrote.

"We are a nation with a tradition of reining in monopolies, no matter how well intentioned the leaders of these companies may be. Mark's power is unprecedented and un-American. It is time to break up Facebook."

Yep.

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

Open Wide...

We Resist: Day 839

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee criticizes President Trump’s use of executive privilege over release of full Mueller report: “I can only conclude that the president now seeks to take a wrecking ball to the Constitution of the United States of America.” https://t.co/xL5l0YkrLv pic.twitter.com/81B8zZIqEr
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) May 8, 2019

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee: I'm pausing for a moment because I do think this is a moment in history.

And I appreciate my good friends on the other side of the aisle, but — having received a letter both from, a copy of the letter to the President of the United States by Attorney General Barr; a letter from the Department of Justice indicating after their purposeful collapse of the negotiations, well-intentioned by the staff and House Judiciary Committee — I can only conclude that the president now seeks to take a wrecking ball to the Constitution of the United States of America.

For the first time in the history of the United States, a president is now exerting executive privilege over every aspect of life that the American people desire to have information: Whether or not their Affordable Care Act is dissolving the preexisting condition; whether or not children are being separated from their parents; whether or not the environment is being destroyed... Anything that the Congress wants to do on behalf of the American people is now being alleged to be under the jurisdiction of privilege.

Then, of course, we have to surmise that this is an absolute lawless behavior by this administration. The Attorney General's actions are contemptuous — and insulting to Congress. But we're simply the tools. It is to the American people.

YES. THIS. IMPEACH HIM NOW.

Felicia Sonmez at the Washington Post: Pelosi Says Trump Is 'Becoming Self-Impeachable'. "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that [Donald] Trump is 'becoming self-impeachable,' pointing to his efforts to fight all subpoenas from congressional investigations and prevent key aides from testifying before Congress. 'The point is that every single day, whether it's obstruction, obstruction, obstruction — obstruction of having people come to the table with facts, ignoring subpoenas ... every single day, the president is making a case — he's becoming self-impeachable, in terms of some of the things that he is doing,' Pelosi said at a Washington Post Live event."

What the everloving fuck is she even talking about? "Self-impeachable" isn't a thing. If what she means is that Donald Trump's contempt for the law is leaving Democrats no choice but to impeach him, then she should say that.

Unfortunately, I suspect what she means is that Trump is turning himself into a figure for which people won't vote and will "self-impeach" himself out of office during the next election, which is unmitigated horseshit — first of all because his base loves his authoritarian behavior for "owning the libs" and secondly because we are unlikely to have free and fair elections especially if Congress refuses to even try to hold Trump accountable.

Goddammit, this is infuriating.

* * *

After abruptly cancelling his trip to Germany. https://t.co/7pb24CESTO
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 7, 2019

So, one day after I wrote "The Trump Regime Wants a War with Iran," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cancels his scheduled trip to Germany and heads to Iraq, where the administration has claimed that Iran is planning to use proxies to strike U.S. forces.

Which, of course, is garbage intel being inflated by warmongering pigshits.

Betsy Woodruff and Adam Rawnsley at the Daily Beast: Trump Admin Inflated Iran Intel, U.S. Officials Say.

On Sunday, the National Security Council announced that the U.S. was sending a carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Persian Gulf in response to "troubling and escalatory" warnings from Iran — an eye-popping move that raised fears of a potential military confrontation with Tehran.

Justifying the move, anonymous government officials cited intelligence indicating Iran had crafted plans to use proxies to strike U.S. forces, both off the coast of Yemen and stationed in Iraq. National Security Adviser John Bolton also discussed the intelligence on the record. A consensus appeared to be emerging: that Iran was gearing up for war.

But multiple sources close to the situation told The Daily Beast that the administration blew it out of proportion, characterizing the threat as more significant than it actually was.

It's the Iraq War all over again. And why not? John Bolton got away with it one time; he figures he might as well do it again.

* * *

Eliana Johnson at Politico: Trump Campaign Refuses to Say Whether It Has a Policy on Foreign Agents. "FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Tuesday that if any 2020 presidential campaign is contacted by a foreign agent, it's 'something the FBI would want to know about.' But would [Donald] Trump's campaign alert the feds if approached by a potential election meddler? It won't say. The Trump campaign did not respond to numerous inquiries about whether it has implemented a policy about foreign interference — including the use of information stolen or hacked by a foreign power and whether aides must formally report outreach from foreigners."

Because they are planning to cheat. Are you paying attention, Speaker Pelosi? Christ.

Meanwhile... Cristina Maza at Newsweek: Russia Isn't Just Interfering in U.S. Elections; It's Abusing the American Justice System.

Before special counsel Robert Mueller submitted his 448-page report to the Department of Justice in March, the special counsel's team had argued in court against handing over sensitive evidence to Concord Management, a Russian company caught up in the sweeping investigation into Russian election interference.

The Russian firm, owned by Evgeney Prigozhin, a man close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, would use the evidence as part of a disinformation campaign against the special counsel, Mueller's team argued in an 18-page memorandum filed in January. After all, the company had been indicted for funding the St. Petersburg-based troll farm that used social media campaigns to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

According to court filings, Concord Management's lawyers had already been permitted to review documents as part of the pre-trial discovery process, and the information had been used to launch a disinformation campaign targeting the special counsel's investigation directly. Handing more documents to the lawyers would jeopardize U.S. national security, according to Mueller's team, and would allow Moscow to use the discovery process to gather intelligence on the Russia investigation.

But months later, despite the evidence that the information would be misused, the dispute was still unresolved as Concord Management's American lawyers argued in U.S. courts that they should be permitted to review millions of additional documents collected in the discovery process.

This case, which sucked up innumerable hours and energy from U.S. law firms, lawyers, and judges, is just one example of how ill-equipped the American justice system is to respond to politically motivated cases from abroad and to Russia's manipulation of the system, experts argue.

And of course Trump is busily stacking the courts with lackeys who aren't keen to prioritize America's best interests.

* * *

Staff at Protect Our Care: White House Threatens Veto of "Protecting Americans with Preexisting Conditions Act".

Late yesterday, the White House threatened to veto H.R. 986, the "Protecting Americans with Preexisting Conditions Act of 2019," ahead of its scheduled vote on the House floor tomorrow. The bill introduced by Rep. Annie Kuster (NH-02) would protect patients with pre-existing conditions from abuse by insurance companies that is enabled by new Trump administration regulations that sabotage our health care.

...In response to their shameless veto threat, Protect Our Care chair Leslie Dach released the following statement:

"Democrats are working to protect patients with pre-existing conditions like cancer, diabetes, and asthma but the Trump administration is now threatening to veto those efforts. Trump and his Republican allies have tried to repeal these protections for people with pre-existing conditions, then they went to court to strike them down and now they're threatening to veto them. No matter how many false promises they make to the American people, the record shows they'll do everything they can to let insurance companies gut coverage for patients with pre-existing conditions."

Larry Elliott at the Guardian: U.S. Prepares to Raise China Trade Tariffs. "The U.S. and China have moved to within 36 hours of a full-scale trade war after Washington published a list of imported products that will face higher tariffs from Friday. In a clear sign of Washington's hardline approach in talks with Beijing, the U.S. trade representative's office filed the formal paperwork needed to increase duties on $200bn of Chinese goods from 10% to 25% later this week. ...China has threatened to retaliate against any step up in U.S. action."

T.J. Stiles at the Washington Post: America Is Losing Its Memory. "America is losing its memory. The National Archives and Records Administration is in a budget crisis. More than a resource for historians or museum of founding documents, NARA stands at the heart of American democracy. It keeps the accounts of our struggles and triumphs, allows the people to learn what their government has done and is doing, and maintains records that fill in family histories. Genealogy researchers depend on it, as do journalists filing Freedom of Information Act requests. If Congress doesn't save it, we all will suffer."

Oliver Milman and Fiona Harvey at the Guardian: U.S. Is Hotbed of Climate Change Denial, Major Global Survey Finds. "A total of 13% of Americans polled in a 23-country survey conducted by the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project agreed with the statement that the climate is changing 'but human activity is not responsible at all.' A further 5% said the climate was not changing. Only Saudi Arabia (16%) and Indonesia (18%) had a higher proportion of people doubtful of manmade climate change."

Juliana Menasce Horowitz at the Pew Research Center: Americans See Advantages and Challenges in Country's Growing Racial and Ethnic Diversity. "A majority of Americans (57%) say the fact that the U.S. population is made up of people of many different races and ethnicities is a very good thing for the country, and another 20% say this is somewhat good." However, some of the other findings were far more grim, like: "Most Americans (70%) say they would not be particularly bothered if they heard people speak a language other than English in a public place, including 47% who say they would not be bothered at all. Still, a sizable share (29%) says this would bother them at least some."

A "sizable share" that is almost the exact same percentage as the hardcore conservative base. What a coinkydink.

[Content Note: Nativism; vigilantism] Matt Shuham at TPM: Stung by Leader's Arrest and Bad Press, Armed Border Militia Adopts New Name. "Stung by the arrest of their leader, an eviction from their campground on Union Pacific Railroad land, and weeks of critical press coverage, members of the United Constitutional Patriots (UCP) border militia will be reforming under a new name, said Jim Benvie, the de facto spokesperson for UCP's 'Border Ops,' on Tuesday. 'We are officially changing our name to Guardian Patriots,' Benvie said in a live video stream filmed on a patch of land near the U.S.-Mexico border. 'The reason for that is because we have had attacks on the UCP.'" Thanks for letting us know, assholes.

[CN: Anti-semitism; white supremacy] Veronica Ortega at 5 News Online: Holocaust Remembrance Day Event in Russellville Interrupted by White Supremacists Rally. "Joyce Griffis has organized the Holocaust remembrance day event in Russellville for years. This year, they were interrupted by members of a white supremacist group. 'It made me feel terrible, it made me feel terrible for my friends. They were talking to us like we were pieces of nothing,' Griffis said. Sir Beryl Wolfson, a 96-year-old World War II veteran, was invited to speak at the event. Wolfson says he saw the liberation of the concentration camps with his own eyes. He says he's traveled all over the state sharing his story for a reason. 'Never forget, because it could happen again, and I'm trying to get this out to the people so it won't happen again in any place,' Wolfson said." Sob.

[CN: Homophobia] Matt Wilstein at the Daily Beast: Meghan McCain's Husband Ben Domenech Goes on Unhinged Homophobic Rant Against 'Cuck' Seth Meyers.

The View host Meghan McCain seemed pretty uncomfortable by the end of her contentious appearance on NBC's Late Night on Tuesday night [during which Seth Meyers said her comments about Ilhan Omar's supposed anti-Semitism were dangerous]. But for the most part, she was able to keep things cordial with host Seth Meyers.

Then, a few hours later, early Wednesday morning, her husband shared his unfiltered thoughts about the interview on Twitter.

In a series of since-deleted tweets, Ben Domenech, the founder and publisher of conservative website The Federalist, went on an unhinged rant against the late-night host and former head writer for Saturday Night Live that was at times homophobic and at others suggested that he has only succeeded in comedy because he is a white man.

"I see that @sethmeyers, the untalented piece of shit who only has has job because he regularly gargled Lorne Michaels' balls, went after my wife tonight with his idiotic anti-Semitic bullshit," Domenech wrote.

..."Here is proof that white men get ahead despite their obvious lack of talent," he continued. "It's @sethmeyers, who would beg for a third of the viewers at @TheView. He's awful, untalented, and a perfect definition of a cuck," he added, referring to a popular far-right pejorative.

What a nice family.

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

Open Wide...

We Resist: Day 902

We Resist: Day 886

We Resist: Day 874

We Resist: Day 868

#StopTheBans

We Resist: Day 840

We Resist: Day 839

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