Shakesville: privacy

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We Resist: Day 895

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I guess this is what it looks like when a DDoS attack takes down Cloudflare and a bunch of the Internet pic.twitter.com/kHHddaPeHp
— Lance Ulanoff (@LanceUlanoff) July 2, 2019

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

* * *

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* * *

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

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

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

If you're reading this, I have just been arrested with 17 other Jews and allies outside of the ICE Detention Facility in Boston, protesting the US government's detention and dehumanizing abuse of immigrants in concentration camps at the border and around the country. pic.twitter.com/rB6U65yTQ4
— Jaclyn Friedman❄️ (@jaclynf) July 2, 2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rage. Seethe. Boil. Fume. GODDAMMIT.

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

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

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We Resist: Day 887

Iran leadership doesn't understand the words "nice" or "compassion," they never have. Sadly, the thing they do understand is Strength and Power, and the USA is by far the most powerful Military Force in the world, with 1.5 Trillion Dollars invested over the last two years alone...

...The wonderful Iranian people are suffering, and for no reason at all. Their leadership spends all of its money on Terror, and little on anything else. The U.S. has not forgotten Iran's use of IED's & EFP's (bombs), which killed 2000 Americans, and wounded many more...

...Iran's very ignorant and insulting statement, put out today, only shows that they do not understand reality. Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration. No more John Kerry & Obama!

No more people who aren't bellicose sadists who threaten "obliteration" of their enemies. To all decent Americans' grief and regret.

In related news... [Content Note: Video may autoplay at link] Saagar Enjeti and Jordan Fabian at the Hill: Trump: I Do Not Need Congressional Approval to Strike Iran. "Trump told Hill.TV in an exclusive interview Monday that he does not need congressional approval to strike Iran. When asked if he believes he has the authority to initiate military action against Iran without first going to Congress, Trump said, 'I do.' ...The president disputed Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) assertion that he would need congressional approval for any 'hostilities' against Iran. 'I disagree,' he said. 'Most people seem to disagree.'" The fuck they do. I'm sure his cadre of sycophants do. Outside that thicket of reprobates, however, most people believe the president is not a fucking dictator.

Did anyone imagine that Putin would stop with just interfering in our election once he got away with that sans consequence? Oh. [CN: Video may autoplay at link] Tom Embury-Dennis at the Independent: Russia Contradicts Trump Administration by Saying Downed U.S. Drone Was in Iranian Airspace. "[Secretary of Russia's Security Council Nikolai Patrushev] spoke to reporters after a three-way meeting with his Russian and Israeli counterparts in Jerusalem. He said Iran — an ally of Russia — had not briefed Moscow about the incident, but that the Russian Defense Ministry had concluded the drone entered Iranian airspace."

Jennifer Jacobs at Bloomberg: Trump Muses Privately About Ending Postwar Japan Defense Pact. "Donald Trump has recently mused to confidants about withdrawing from a longstanding defense treaty with Japan, according to three people familiar with the matter, in his latest complaint about what he sees as unfair U.S. security pacts. Trump regards the accord as too one-sided because it promises U.S. aid if Japan is ever attacked, but doesn't oblige Japan's military to come to America's defense, the people said. The treaty, signed more than 60 years ago, forms the foundation of the alliance between the countries that emerged from World War II."

So Trump "mused about it privately," and yet here we are reading about it! And of course we're all meant to understand it's because Trump is always pouting about unfair our treaties are, and yet, as Olga Lautman notes on Twitter: "Just what Putin wants! Trump gets all his foreign policy ideas from the Kremlin who wants weaker or no alliances." Huh.

Say, on that note... Steven Erlanger at the New York Times: Council of Europe Restores Russia's Voting Rights.

In a decision opposed by most former Soviet-bloc countries, the parliament of the Council of Europe voted on Tuesday to end Russia's suspension, which began with the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

Those voting to restore Russia's full rights in the council, which is separate from the European Union, argued that if Russia left the organization — as it had threatened to do — it would deny Russian citizens the right to bring cases before the European Court of Human Rights, a part of the council.

Opponents argued that Europe was giving in to the illegal annexation of Crimea and Russia's support for separatist warfare in eastern Ukraine — and just as important, starting a process of normalizing relations with Moscow.

Does that strategy — holding the safety of marginalized people hostage in order to extort concessions and avoid accountability or any consequences at all for large-scale abuses — sound familiar to anyone else? Because it should.

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[CN: Nativism; child abuse]

As I said yesterday, "losing" children is part of the strategy. The Trump Regime has no effective method for tracking children as it is; moving them around will make reunifications even more difficult — and will make it easier for them to conceal the deaths of children. https://t.co/eR3uyr69FZ
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) June 25, 2019

Nancy Cook at Politico: Trump Is Tiring of Mulvaney. "In recent weeks, Trump has been snapping at his acting chief of staff with some frequency, and expressing greater frustration with him than usual, according to four current and former senior administration officials. Trump has long said that he prefers the flexibility offered by temporary titles, but Mulvaney's ongoing 'acting' status underscores the uphill battle he faces as Trump's third chief of staff in less than two-and-a-half years. While Mulvaney is not in danger of losing his job any time soon, officials stressed, Trump's treatment of him still signals to aides the slow deterioration of their relationship has begun."

A Chilean billionaire bought a mansion in DC just before @POTUS's inauguration. While he was closing on it, Jared Kushner & Ivanka Trump signed a deal to rent it. Then the billionaire got permission to plan a mine on environmentally delicate US land https://t.co/xpZCkKJTcp
— Emily Flitter (@FlitterOnFraud) June 25, 2019

Greg Sargent at the Washington Post: Our Next Election Is Dangerously Vulnerable, a Top Democrat Warns.

[Donald] Trump is set to meet with Vladimir Putin at the Group of 20 this week, and one big question is whether Trump will warn the Russian leader against launching another attack on our political system.

We can guess the answer to that — he won't, because he stands to benefit. But that should renew attention to the steps we could be taking to fortify our elections against outside interference, but aren't, largely because Trump doesn't want us to, and because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is blocking many such efforts.

The causes for worry are mounting.

...Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a member of the Intelligence Committee, has played a lead role in studying the threat of more election interference.

...The Plum Line: What do you fear most in elections to come?

Wyden: As of today, the election interference of 2020 by hostile foreign powers — and I'm not just talking about the Russians — is going to make 2016 look like small potatoes.

Shiver.

Paul LeBlanc at CNN: Warren Introduces New Election Security Plan. "Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday released a new election security and voter fraud protection plan aimed to 'secure our elections from all threats, foreign and domestic.' 'Our elections should be as secure as Fort Knox,' the senator from Massachusetts wrote in a Medium post outlining the multi-pronged plan. 'But instead, they're less secure than your Amazon account.'"

A great and necessary idea — which chief Democracy Killer Mitch McConnell will ensure goes absolutely nowhere. Sob.

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[CN: Sexual violence; rape apologia] Cristina Cabrera at TPM: Trump Denies Carroll Sexual Assault Accusation by Claiming 'She's Not My Type'. "Donald Trump denied writer E. Jean Carroll's allegation of sexual assault by stating that 'she's not my type' on Monday. 'I'll say it with great respect: Number one, she's not my type. Number two, it never happened,' Trump told the Hill. 'It never happened, okay?'" JFC he is such a foul specimen. I hate him mightily.

[CN: Toxic masculinity; entitlement; gun violence; child abuse] Ben Kesslen at NBC News: California Man Shoots 10-Month-Old Girl in Head After Her Mother Rejects Him, Police Say. "A 10-month-old girl is recovering in Fresno, California, after being shot in the head by a man who made unwanted sexual advances toward her mother. Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said Deziree Menagh, 18, brought her young daughter, Fayth Percy, to a social gathering Saturday night where Marcos Echartea, 23, made advances toward her. Echartea grabbed her hand, tried to pull Menagh into him, and told her to sit on his lap, police said. The two barely knew each other, having met for the first time a week earlier. Uncomfortable with Echartea's advances, Menagh left the party in a car with Fayth and a friend. ...Echartea fired three rounds into the driver's window, one hitting Fayth in the head."

[CN: War on agency] Erin Heger at Rewire.News: Texas GOP Outlaws Local Governments from Having 'Any Transaction' with Abortion Providers. "Senate Bill 22, signed into law this month by Gov. Greg Abbott (R), takes effect September 1. The legislation prohibits cities, counties, and local governments from conducting 'any transaction' with an abortion provider or its affiliates — including leases, sales, and donations of real estate, goods, and services. 'What these statewide leaders are saying is that local entities no longer have the capacity to steward their community resources in the way that they see fit,' Autumn Keiser, director of communications and marketing for Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, told Rewire.News."

If you don't see the through-line between all three of the above stories, I don't even know what to tell you.

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[CN: Climate crisis; class warfare] Damian Carrington at the Guardian: 'Climate Apartheid': UN Expert Says Human Rights May Not Survive. "The world is increasingly at risk of 'climate apartheid,' where the rich pay to escape heat and hunger caused by the escalating climate crisis while the rest of the world suffers, a report from a UN human rights expert has said. Philip Alston, UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said the impacts of global heating are likely to undermine not only basic rights to life, water, food, and housing for hundreds of millions of people, but also democracy and the rule of law."

This speaks to my Ark Theory, in which oligarchs are using the climate crisis as their own modern-day "Noah's Ark" to escape the threat of overpopulation.

EXCLUSIVE: After Stephen Moore's failed Fed bid, he's creating a crypto central bank https://t.co/tL6AvLeMYt

"I’m really excited about doing this,” Moore said. “I hope it makes me rich.”
— Dan Primack (@danprimack) June 25, 2019

Douglas MacMillan at the Washington Post: Data Brokers Are Selling Your Secrets: How States Are Trying to Stop Them. "A state law passed last year required all businesses that trade data on Vermont's residents to register publicly and share some basic information about how they operate. ...The experiment in Vermont is being closely watched at a time when regulators across the country are trying to address growing concerns over online privacy. A California law set to take effect at the beginning of next year will allow the state's residents to opt out of having their data sold. Maine passed a law this month barring Internet service providers, including AT&T and Verizon, from selling broadband customers' information. State legislatures in New York, Maryland, and Massachusetts are all considering measures to give residents more control over data."

One wee fly in the ointment... Jamie Ross at the Daily Beast: Federal Agencies Left Private Data Open to Cyberattacks for a Decade, Says Senate Report. "Multiple federal agencies kept up an outdated security system over the past decade that left Americans' personal information vulnerable to theft, according to a damning new Senate report out Tuesday. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found the failures came from the Departments of State, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Education, Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, and the Social Security Administration." Terrific.

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

Open Wide...

We Resist: Day 865

Unless a politician's thought is "I need to draft legislation that prevents access to these killing machines" and their prayer is "please, god, let it pass," I don't want to hear about any thoughts and prayers anymore.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 18, 2018

Andrew Kirell at the Daily Beast: Trump on Gun 'Silencers' Like One Used in Virginia Beach Shooting: 'I Don't Like Them at All'. "[Donald] Trump on Monday morning condemned gun 'silencers' like the one police say the Virginia Beach shooter attached to his handgun while killing 12 people last Friday evening. 'The suspect in the Virginia Beach shooting used a silencer on his weapon. Do you believe that silencers should be restricted?' a reporter asked Trump outside the White House, as the president departed for a U.K. visit. 'I don't like them at all,' Trump replied, according to a pool report." But is he going to do anything about them?! Of course not.

[CN: Flooding; death; displacement] Chris McGreal at the Guardian: 'So Much Land Under So Much Water': Extreme Flooding Is Drowning Parts of the Midwest.

Weeks of flooding is drowning large parts of the midwest, wrecking communities and turning farms into inland seas. On top of that, a near record number of tornadoes has whipped through the region, smashing homes and claiming nearly 40 lives so far. All of this comes after the wettest 12 months in the US since records began.

Storms and near record rainfall have caused the region's three major rivers to flood, inundating communities from Nebraska to Michigan and Illinois to Oklahoma, driving tens of thousands in to shelters, shutting businesses, and closing interstate highways.

Waters that used to surge and recede have stayed around, swamping millions of acres of farmland and devastating the planting season. The amount of land farmers are being prevented from sowing by the water is estimated to be as much as double the previous record of 3m acres of corn, set in 2013. The worst-hit states include Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Indiana.

In Nebraska, where farmers are already grappling with the effects of Donald Trump's trade war with China, which has killed off a good part of the soybean trade, flooding is estimated to have destroyed $1bn-worth of crops and livestock.

In Iowa, bordered on either side by America's two greatest rivers, the Mississippi and the Missouri, entire towns have been engulfed and some may never revive. At the weekend, levees failed on three rivers, flooding homes and forcing the evacuation of thousands in Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas.

This should be dominating the news, given its unfathomable scope, but it isn't. And I believe a significant part of the reason why it's not getting more coverage is that the president isn't relentlessly tweeting about it. He's barely said a word about it.

It's meant to be the job of the president to care about and call the nation's attention to stuff like this. The for-profit coastal media can't profit handsomely from a story like this, so they mostly ignore it, unless and until the president's attention demands reporting.

It's absolutely chilling how quickly we've become a nation in which the press only cares about what this president does. That's a red flag about how deeply authoritarian a state we already are.

[CN: Nativism; child abuse; self-harm] Monique Q. Madan at the Miami Herald: No Hugs, Kids Cutting Themselves: Court Gets Unprecedented Peek Inside Homestead Shelter. "A 705-page court document filed by lawyers who spent substantial time inside Homestead's detention center for unaccompanied minors says the migrant children held there [2,350 and counting] are subjected to 'prison-like' regimens, potentially sustaining permanent psychological damage due to isolation from loved ones. Based on interviews with detainees, the filing describes dumbfounded and despairing children, cut off from their relatives except for phone calls, enduring 'military-camp' style conditions and stays that often stretch into months." Rage. Seethe. Boil. What the fuck are we doing. Goddammit.

[CN: Anti-choice terrorism] Jill Heaviside and Rosann Mariappuram at Rewire.News: The Escalation of Anti-Abortion Violence Ten Years After Dr. George Tiller's Murder. "As we mark the tenth anniversary of the assassination of Dr. George Tiller, it is incredible to think that, just over a month ago, Republican Sen. Ben Sasse was really asking how 'the pro-life position is in any way violent.' Violence has been a central tenet of the anti-abortion movement since before the U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade. As activists have sought control over the reproductive freedom of millions of people — particularly women of color, low-income women and families, and queer, gender-nonconforming, and transgender communities — they have used violence as a tactic of control, abuse, and fear across the United States."

Read this thread.

Elaine Chao is Mitch McConnell’s wife and Trump’s Secretary of Transportation.

The corruption is immense. https://t.co/hEKQV2LO9a
— Leah McElrath (@leahmcelrath) June 3, 2019

[CN: Privacy violations] Jamie Ross at the Daily Beast: Quest Diagnostics Admits 12 Million Patients May Have Had Medical Data Breached. "Nearly 12 million people may have had their personal, financial, and medical information breached, Quest Diagnostics has admitted. Quest, one of the biggest blood testing providers in the country, said it believes someone had gained unauthorized access to the systems of AMCA, which is a billing collections vendor. 'Information on AMCA's affected system included financial information (e.g., credit card numbers and bank account information), medical information, and other personal information (e.g., Social Security Numbers),' Quest said in a filing, according to NBC News." Fucking hell.

* * *

Donald Trump is on a state trip to the UK, and he is, as always, an international embarrassment.

Josh Israel at ThinkProgress: Trump's Insult of Meghan Markle Is Right out of His Tired Playbook.

Eric Lutz at Vanity Fair: Trump Launches UK Trip by Calling London Mayor a "Stone Cold Loser".

Obviously, Brits are taking kindly to his shit, so the Trump Baby Blimp is back and a giant penis was mown into a field along Trump's flight path.

* * *

Jared Kushner is on quite a roll.

Josh Wingrove and Kim Chipman at Bloomberg: Kushner Questions Whether Palestinians Can Govern Themselves.

Jonathan Swan at Axios: Kushner Unsure Whether He'd Alert FBI If Russians Request Another Meeting.

Jamiles Lartey at the Guardian: Trump 'Absolutely Not' a Racist, Insists Kushner.

This fucking guy.

* * *

[CN: Sexual abuse] Julia Alexander at the Verge: YouTube Won't Stop Recommending Videos with Children, Despite Ped0philia Problem. "A new report from the New York Times found that, despite evidence from independent researchers that YouTube's algorithm helps videos of children spread among predatory circles, YouTube's teams don't want to turn off recommendations because it would hurt creators by reducing traffic driven to their videos." In other words, it would hurt YouTube's profits, so OH WELL.

[CN: Sexual abuse] Kate Briquelet at the Daily Beast: Feds Are Asking Jeffrey Epstein's Victims About Sex-Trafficking Crimes. "Eleven years after billionaire Jeffrey Epstein received what amounted to a country-club jail sentence for allegedly molesting dozens of girls in Florida, his victims could be closer to justice — with a possible future federal prosecution beyond Palm Beach. ...[I]n February of this year, a federal judge ruled the non-prosecution agreement (NPA), which was concealed from the victims and their counsel, violated the law, specifically the Crime Victims' Rights Act. Now the feds are contacting victims to discuss possible remedies. During these meetings, the government is reportedly asking one question in particular: Did Epstein’s abuse ever cross state lines?"

[CN: Homophobia] Quimby at Celebitchy: Rocketman Edited in Russia to Cut All Gay Scenes Due to 'Homosexual Propaganda' Law. "Russian film critic Anton Dolin reported that 'all scenes with kissing, sex, and oral sex between men have been cut out' and that the movie's 'final caption' explained that Elton 'established an [AIDS] foundation and continues to work with his musical partner.' Both notable accomplishments, to be sure, but the original caption mentions Elton's marriage to David Furnish and their children. On Friday, Elton and the other filmmakers released a statement condemning the decision. Russia's 'homosexual propaganda' law was signed by Putin in 2013 under the auspices of protecting children. However it has the opposite effect, particularly on LGBT youth, who are denied access to support services and to representation of gay people in media under this law. The law also contributes to a rampant anti-gay culture and to violence and discrimination."

And speaking of violent, homophobic dictators whom Donald Trump adores... [CN: Homophobia] Julia Hollingsworth at CNN: Philippine President Duterte Says He 'Used to Be Gay' Before He 'Cured' Himself. "After accusing his political opponent and vocal critic Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV of being gay, Duterte said he could sense he himself was also 'a bit gay' while married to his ex-wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman. Their marriage was annulled in 2000. Duterte went on to say that he was 'cured' after meeting current partner Honeylet Avanceña. 'I became a man again! So beautiful women cured me,' Duterte said. 'I hated handsome men afterwards. I now prefer beautiful women.' Duterte has a history of making controversial and contradictory remarks about the LGBT community." JFC.

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

Open Wide...

We Resist: Day 812

Ronald Vitiello, acting director of U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), announced Wednesday that he will leave his post effective Friday, becoming the latest in a string of top-level officials to resign from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The recent departures leave DHS in a state of disrepair just months before apprehensions on the southern border are expected to reach their yearly peak. According to CBP data, apprehensions historically reach their apex in May.

Vitiello's resignation comes one week after [Donald] Trump pulled his consideration for ICE director, reportedly because senior adviser Stephen Miller believed Vitiello was not tough enough on immigration enforcement.

This as there are (unconfirmed) reports of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) engaging in shooting drills on the border. I am really frightened about what the next escalation in Trump's vile nativist agenda will bring.

Not unrelatedly, Aphra_Behn is live-tweeting her reading of Benjamin Carter Hett's The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise of Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic, and it is a thread you should definitely read.

* * *

Aaron Blake at the Washington Post: William Barr's Highly Questionable Use of Trump's 'Spying' Talking Point. "At a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday morning, Barr confirmed that he is looking into what he called 'spying' on the Trump campaign during the 2016 election. 'I am going to be reviewing both the genesis and the conduct of intelligence activities directed at the Trump campaign during 2016,' Barr said. 'I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal.' When pressed by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) on whether he indeed viewed it as 'spying' on Trump's campaign, Barr said, 'I think spying did occur.' ...That is a highly disputed term when it comes to what the FBI did relative to the Trump campaign in 2016." To put it mildly!

Barbara McQuade at the Daily Beast: Barr Sounds More and More Like Trump's Roy Cohn. "Although the FBI's conduct should not be immune from scrutiny, government officials typically refer to intelligence activities as 'surveillance' or 'collection.' The use of the loaded term 'spying' raises skepticism of his impartiality. In addition, Barr stated, 'I think there was probably failure among a group of leaders there at the upper echelon.' He has reached this conclusion even though he hasn't 'set up a team yet' to investigate. Barr's testimony revealed a mindset that is consistent with the Trump narrative of an FBI that is out to get him. This is the attorney general appointed by Trump after Trump criticized Barr's fired predecessor, Jeff Sessions, for failing to protect him. Does Trump finally have his Roy Cohn?"

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Caroline Kelly at CNN: Ex-DNI: 'Stunning and Scary' that Barr Would Raise Spying Allegation. "Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Wednesday it was 'both stunning and scary' that Attorney General William Barr would tell lawmakers that Donald Trump's 2016 campaign was spied on. 'I thought it was both stunning and scary,' Clapper, who served under President Barack Obama, told CNN's Anderson Cooper. 'I was amazed at that and rather disappointed that the attorney general would say such a thing. The term 'spying' has all kinds of negative connotations and I have to believe he chose that term deliberately.'"

I have been writing about Trump's war on the intelligence community since (GOOD GOD) December of 2016, before he was even inaugurated, and in May of 2017, I shared a piece by Michael J. Glennon, a professor of international law at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a former counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who outlined a scenario in which Trump emerges victorious in his battle with the intelligence community, and "a revamped security directorate could emerge more menacing than ever, with him its devoted new ally." And here we are, with Trump emerging not just as an ally of a malicious security directorate, but as its unchecked and unaccountable leader.

Meanwhile, as Trump and Barr lay the groundwork to have show trials of investigators who rightly viewed him as a security risk to the nation:

"Mar-a-Lago may present the worst counterintelligence nightmare the country has faced since the Cold War." Besides Trump himself, of course. https://t.co/ZhmA49CEqD
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) April 11, 2019

* * *

Kathryn Kranhold at NBC News: Twice as Many Companies Paying Zero Taxes Under Trump Tax Plan. "At least 60 companies reported that their 2018 federal tax rates amounted to effectively zero, or even less than zero, on income earned on U.S. operations, according to an analysis released today by the Washington, D.C.-based think tank, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The number is more than twice as many as ITEP found roughly, per year, on average in an earlier, multi-year analysis before the new tax law went into effect. Among them are household names like technology giant Amazon.com Inc. and entertainment streaming service Netflix Inc., in addition to global oil giant Chevron Corp., pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly and Co., and farming and commercial equipment manufacturer Deere & Co."

As I noted in comments on today's Primarily Speaking thread, Senator Elizabeth Warren is not happy about this state of affairs and has announced a plan that would force these companies to start paying at least part of their fair share: The Real Corporate Profits Tax would apply "to the profits very large American companies report to their investors — with no loopholes or exemptions. ...This new tax only applies to companies that report more than $100 million in profits — about the 1200 most profitable firms in the country last year. That first $100 million is left alone, but for every dollar of profit above $100 million, the corporation will pay a 7% tax. ...That means Amazon would pay $698 million in taxes instead of paying zero."

Speaking of tax evasion... Kate Riga at TPM: Under Pressure from Tax Probe, Trump's Older Sister Steps Down from Judgeship. "Donald Trump's older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, has stepped down from her role as a federal appellate judge and thus ended the scrutiny into whether she and her siblings' fraudulent tax schemes constitute a breach of judicial conduct. According to a Wednesday New York Times report, the investigation was launched due to the Times reporting that Barry and her siblings financially benefited from chicanery and fraud committed in the 1990s."

And speaking of crooks...

When someone announces they are going to run for office.... any office no matter the party. Red or Blue they need to be VETTED! People flocked to Avenatti when he said he would run in 2020. This is the kind of candidate that like Trump is compromised and can be manipulated. https://t.co/UAyF5aeY9L
— Nadine van der Velde (@nadinevdVelde) April 11, 2019

* * *

[CN: Christian Supremacy] Jessica Mason Pieklo at Rewire.News: The Supreme Court Considers Giving Conservative Christians a License to Discriminate…Again. "The Masterpiece Cakeshop decision most certainly did not grant the plaintiffs the broad-scale license to discriminate against LGBTQ people that they had asked for during oral arguments. That's why it took less than four months for evangelicals to return to the Court with another case involving a baker turning away a same-sex couple because of a religious objection to marriage equality. On Friday, the Supreme Court will consider whether to grant review. If it does, Klein v. Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries could be one of the next term's most important cases."

[CN: War on agency] Laura Hancock at Cleveland.com: 'Heartbeat' Abortion Ban on Its Way to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. "The Ohio General Assembly sent a bill to Gov. Mike DeWine on Wednesday afternoon that would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected. The House passed the bill 56-40, mostly along party lines, as people on both sides of the abortion debate loudly protested outside the chamber. Shortly after, the Ohio Senate voted 18-13, also largely on party lines, to agree to changes made in the House to Senate Bill 23. DeWine has said he would sign a heartbeat bill."

[CN: Nativism] Amanda Holpuch at the Guardian: U.S. Immigration Police Broke Facebook Rules with Fake Profiles for College Sting. "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) violated Facebook policy by creating fake social media profiles tied to the University of Farmington, a sham university it created to identify people committing immigration fraud. More than 600 students, nearly all Indian citizens, were caught up in the scheme, which the Guardian has found included fake Facebook profiles created by the nation's second largest federal investigative agency, ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division. 'Law enforcement authorities, like everyone else, are required to use their real names on Facebook and we make this policy clear on our public-facing Law Enforcement Guidelines page,' a Facebook representative told the Guardian."

[CN: Privacy violations; sexual assault] Matt Day, Giles Turner, and Natalia Drozdiak at Bloomberg: Amazon Workers Are Listening to What You Tell Alexa.

The work is mostly mundane. One worker in Boston said he mined accumulated voice data for specific utterances such as "Taylor Swift" and annotated them to indicate the searcher meant the musical artist. Occasionally the listeners pick up things Echo owners likely would rather stay private: a woman singing badly off key in the shower, say, or a child screaming for help. The teams use internal chat rooms to share files when they need help parsing a muddled word — or come across an amusing recording.

Sometimes they hear recordings they find upsetting, or possibly criminal. Two of the workers said they picked up what they believe was a sexual assault. When something like that happens, they may share the experience in the internal chat room as a way of relieving stress. Amazon says it has procedures in place for workers to follow when they hear something distressing, but two Romania-based employees said that, after requesting guidance for such cases, they were told it wasn't Amazon's job to interfere.

Holy shit.

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

Open Wide...

We Resist: Day 811

President Trump called Russia probe "an attempted coup."

"This was an attempted takedown of a president," he added. "We beat them." https://t.co/y9kyb02XFN pic.twitter.com/WjJWlPj0dc
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 10, 2019

It was an illegal investigation. Major. It was an illegal investigation. It was started illegally. Everything about it was crooked. Every single thing about it. There were dirty cops. These were bad people. You look at McCabe and Comey, and you look at Lisa [Page] and Peter Strzok. These were bad people. And this was an attempted coup. This was an attempted takedown of a president. And we beat them. We beat them.

So the Mueller Report, when they talk about obstruction — we fight back! And you know why we fight back? Because I knew how illegal this whole thing was! It was a scam.

In addition to the fact that these statements are terrifying, they are also simply not true. The investigation was not illegal. It was not an attempted coup. The president is engaging in rank hyperbole (and projection) in order to rationalize the imminent attack he will levy on the people who have tried to hold him accountable.

* * *

[Content Note: Nativism; abuse; death. Covers entire section.]

Salvador Rizzo at the Washington Post: Trump Digs In on False Claim That He Stopped Obama's Family Separation Policy. "'President Obama had child separation. Take a look. The press knows it, you know it, we all know it. I didn't have — I'm the one that stopped it. President Obama had child separation. …President Obama separated children. They had child separation. I was the one that changed it, okay?' — President Trump, in remarks at the Oval Office, April 9, 2019. This is a Four Pinocchio claim, yet Trump keeps repeating it when he's pressed on family separations. Repetition can't change reality. There is simply no comparison between Trump's family separation policy and the border enforcement actions of the Obama and George W. Bush administrations."

No, repetition can't change reality. But it can obscure it. And Trump has successfully done precisely that again and again. He's doing it once more — and reframing himself as the savior of the very people his vile policies harm, in the process.

"There's already been a relentless, multi-faceted attack on asylum seekers. The idea that they're somehow going to enact greater restrictions and make it worse, it's just hard for me to imagine what that would even look like." https://t.co/r2BSI4D5Tn
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) April 10, 2019

Admin at Transgender Law Center: Nearly a Year After Roxsana's Death, ICE Still Shirks Responsibility for Her Care. "Today the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator (NM OMI) released the autopsy report for Roxsana Hernandez, a 33-year-old transgender woman and asylum-seeker from Honduras who died while in immigration enforcement custody after seeking protection and turning herself in at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in early May 2018. 'The NM OMI dragged their feet in releasing Roxsana's autopsy report only to let ICE run the show and use the report to do their dirty work of shirking responsibility for her care. It's absolutely appalling that they presented their findings to ICE prior to offering those findings to Roxsana's family’s legal representatives,' said Lynly Egyes, director of litigation for Transgender Law Center (TLC), about the report."

The Trump Regime is meanwhile pushing out anyone who might stand in the way of their escalating nativist malice:

White House officials have been pushing the Claire Grady to resign, since if Grady is still serving in that role when Nielsen officially steps down tomorrow, a federal statute would require her to be named acting secretary instead of McAleenan. https://t.co/eo0YePyP2B https://t.co/NiiNc5yW0X
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) April 9, 2019

This is so deeply scary.

* * *

Caitlin Oprysko at Politico: Trump: There's a 'Better Chance' of Middle East Peace with Netanyahu. "Speaking to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House, Trump congratulated one of his closest international allies [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who was reelected to a fifth term]. 'It may be a little early but I'm hearing he's won it and won it in good fashion. So he has been a great ally. He is a friend. I would like to congratulate him,' he said. ...'The fact that Bibi won, I think we'll see some pretty good action in terms of peace,' he said. 'Look, everyone said — and I never made it a promise — but everybody said you can't have peace in the Middle East with Israel and the Palestinians. I think we have a chance. I think we have now a better chance with Bibi having won.'"

I think it's safe to say that Donald Trump's — and Benjamin Netanyahu's — definition of "peace" is very different than mine.

Lisa Rein and Damian Paletta at the Washington Post: If Trump Has His Way, This Major Federal Agency Is on the Way Out. "The White House is moving to do what no president has accomplished since World War II: eliminate a major federal agency. If the Trump administration succeeds at dismantling the Office of Personnel Management, the closure could be a blueprint for shuttering other departments as it tries to shrink government. The agency would be pulled apart and its functions divided among three other departments. An executive order directing parts of the transition by the fall is in the final stages of review, administration officials said, with an announcement by [Donald] Trump likely by summer." Fucking hell.

The two-minute 2020 campaign video using the score from The Dark Knight Rises "showed badly-edited jump cuts of the Clintons, Barack Obama, hundred-dollar bills, and Trump speaking at rallies and walking through the corridors of the White House." Whut. https://t.co/2hhfhflL5d
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) April 10, 2019

Eliana Johnson and Daniel Lippman at Politico: Trump's 'Truly Bizarre' Visit to Mt. Vernon.

During a guided tour of Mount Vernon last April with French president Emmanuel Macron, Trump learned that Washington was one of the major real-estate speculators of his era. So, he couldn't understand why America's first president didn't name his historic Virginia compound or any of the other property he acquired after himself.

"If he was smart, he would've put his name on it," Trump said, according to three sources briefed on the exchange. "You've got to put your name on stuff or no one remembers you."

The VIPs' tour guide for the evening, Mount Vernon president and CEO Doug Bradburn, told the president that Washington did, after all, succeed in getting the nation's capital named after him. Good point, Trump said with a laugh.

...Trump asked whether Washington was "really rich," according to a second person familiar with the visit. In fact, Washington was either the wealthiest or among the wealthiest Americans of his time, thanks largely to his mini real estate empire.

"That is what Trump was really the most excited about," this person said.

If Trump was impressed with Washington's real estate instincts, he was less taken by Mount Vernon itself, which the first president personally expanded from a modest one-and-a-half story home into an 11,000 square foot mansion. The rooms, Trump said, were too small, the staircases too narrow, and he even spotted some unevenness in the floorboards, according to four sources briefed on his comments. He could have built the place better, he said, and for less money.

...And despite his criticisms, Trump found something to like at Mount Vernon, too. Among the artifacts preserved there is the bed where Washington passed away from a throat infection in 1799. Trump, who is infamously picky about where he sleeps and resists spending nights away from home, felt out the bedpost and told the Macrons and Bradburn that he approved, according to three people briefed on the event.

"A good bed to die in," Trump said.

What a deeply unpleasant person he is. Even if he were not the president exploiting his power to destroy everything I value, I would still loathe him with the fiery passion of ten thousand suns, just on a personal level. YUCK.

But he is the president. And he is also, as Eastsidekate described him in a private message (which I'm sharing with her permission), "a vile propagandist who wants to remake the country with himself as dictator." Accurate AF.

When he was not yet president, he couldn't stand the fact that people liked Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton more than they liked him. Now that he's president, he can't stand the fact that any president in all of U.S. history might be liked better than him.

That insecurity is going to fuel some incredibly fucked-up authoritarian maneuvers to obliterate history behind his own legacy.

He'll destroy the country just to contain it within his own shadow.

* * *

[CN: LGBTQ hatred] Andy Towle at Towleroad: 6 of 11 Most-Challenged Library Books of 2018 Had LGBTQ Content. "The American Library Association reported its Top 11 challenged books in 2018, six of which were specifically objected to due to LGBTQ content. ...Notable among them was John Oliver's A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, a parody of a book by Vice President Mike Pence's daughter, which made the lead bunny character gay."

[CN: Child abuse; privacy violations] catherine lizette gonzalez at Colorlines: Chicago Implements GPS Monitoring Devices That Calls, Records Children without Their Consent. "Cook County, home of Chicago, Illinois, has implemented [an ankle monitor] GPS monitoring system that calls and records youth without their consent... The device, called ReliAlert XC3, allows electronic monitoring officers in criminal court and Track Group employees to contact — and record — individuals wearing the the ankle monitor. And while wearers can initiate contact with the monitoring center, they do not have the option to decline calls. Cook County officials and Track Group say the monitoring tool improves communication with children who are awaiting trial, but attorneys, experts, and advocates call its implementation an invasion of privacy and violation of the U.S. Constitution."

Josh Israel at ThinkProgress: 190 House Republicans Vote Against Bill to Reinstate Popular 'Net Neutrality' Internet Protections. "House Republicans sided with the Trump administration on Tuesday, opposing a bill to reinstate the Federal Communications Commission’s Obama-era net neutrality rules, despite growing support for such a move among consumers. The bill passed the House 232 to 190, but it unlikely to make it past the Republican-controlled Senate. Just one House Republican — Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) — voted for the bill."

Not only are Republicans behaving as though they'll never have to answer to voters again; they're going to great lengths to make sure they don't even have to hear from those of us who will be priced out of internet access.

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

Open Wide...

We Resist: Day 795

Mueller's report isn't even public yet, and it's "time for a reckoning," but it's still never time for a reckoning on their goddamn hideous coverage of Hillary Clinton, without which we wouldn't be here right now. https://t.co/mF4ZNevEqs
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 25, 2019

Andy Towle at Towleroad: Trump to Seek Revenge on Media and Former Officials Who Accused Him of Collusion. "After falsely declaring himself 'completely exonerated' by the Mueller Report, which nobody has seen aside from his appointee Attorney General William Barr, Trump plans to come for members of the media and former officials who have criticized him. The Washington Post reports: 'Within an hour of learning the findings, Trump called for an investigation of his critics and cast himself as a victim. Aides say Trump plans to highlight the cost of the probe and call for organizations to fire members of the media and former government officials who he believes made false accusations about him, while aggressively mocking his critics and one of his favored enemies, the news media.'"

Luke Barnes at ThinkProgress: Trumpworld Celebrates Mueller Report — and Looks for Retribution. "The president doubled down on those comments as he boarded Air Force One to return to Washington, describing the investigation as an 'illegal takedown that failed,' adding late Sunday that he hoped 'somebody is going to be looking at the other side.' Trump's tweet and follow-up remarks encapsulate his supporters' reaction to the Mueller report. Reaction in Trumpworld swiftly went from relief over the findings to a desire to inflict some sort of payback against those — namely Democrats and members of the media — who had spent the last two years assuming that Mueller would definitively prove collusion between Trump and the Kremlin. 'You're going to see him [Trump] use this as a political bludgeon,' Cliff Sims, a former Trump aide, told CNN."

This is going to get so ugly.

* * *

In other news today...

Carlos Garcia, Carlos Jasso, Diego Ore, Brian Ellsworth, Maria Tsvetkova, and Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber at Reuters: Russian Air Force Planes Land in Venezuela Carrying Troops. "Two Russian air force planes landed at Venezuela's main airport on Saturday carrying a Russian defense official and nearly 100 troops, according to media reports, amid strengthening ties between Caracas and Moscow. A flight-tracking website showed that two planes left from a Russian military airport bound for Caracas on Friday, and another flight-tracking site showed that one plane left Caracas on Sunday. That comes three months after the two nations held military exercises on Venezuelan soil that President Nicolas Maduro called a sign of strengthening relations."

Lauren Markham at the Guardian: Who Keeps Buying California's Scarce Water? Saudi Arabia. "But what business does a foreign company have drawing precious resources from a U.S. desert to offset a lack of resources halfway around the globe? What Fondomonte Farms is doing is merely a chapter in the long story of water management in the west, one that pierces the veil on the inanities of the global supply chain — how easy it is to move a commodity like alfalfa, or for that matter lettuce or clementines or iPhones, across more than 13,000 miles of land and sea, how much we rely on these crisscrossing supply lines, and at what cost to our own natural resources."

Catie Keck at Gizmodo: FEMA Breach Exposes Personal Data and Banking Information of 2.3 Million Disaster Survivors. "The Federal Emergency Management Agency may have put the personally identifying information of millions of disaster survivors at risk of fraud and identity theft, according to a recent report from the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General. The March 15 report said that during an audit of FEMA's Transitional Sheltering Assistance program, it found that the agency shared and subsequently exposed the personal data of 2.3 million survivors of a number of natural disasters that included the 2017 California wildfires as well as hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Survivors of these incidents provided their private information to FEMA in order to obtain assistance such as temporary housing."

* * *

[Content Note: Gun violence; self-harm; death. Covers entire section.]

Kaylee Hartung, Susannah Cullinane, and Holly Yan at CNN: Parkland Mourns 2 Student Suicides a Year After Stoneman Douglas Shooting. "Sydney Aiello, a 2018 graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, died by suicide last week. She survived the attack on Valentine's Day 2018 that killed 17 people at the Florida school — including 14 students and three staff members. Aiello, a Florida Atlantic University student, suffered from survivor's guilt and had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, her mom told CNN affiliate WFOR. Then on Saturday, more tragedy struck Parkland when a second student died in what police describe as 'an apparent suicide.' ...'Unfortunately, what we've learned is that the survivors of a traumatic event like a school shooting carry with them a lot of guilt, anxiety, pressures, depression even,' said Ryan Petty, whose daughter Alaina Petty was killed in last year's shooting."

Nicholas Rondinone at the Hartford Courant: Father of Sandy Hook Victim Avielle Richman Found Dead at Edmond Town Hall After Apparent Suicide. "[Jeremy Richman, 49, the] father of Avielle Richman, one of 20 first-grade students and six educators killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook School shooting, was found dead of an apparent suicide at Edmond Town Hall early Monday, police said. ...Richman, who led the charge on mental health issues with his wife in the wake of the shooting, had an office for the Avielle Foundation at Edmond Town Hall. The foundation was Richman's foundation is dedicated to pushing for 'brain science research' to attempt to discover the reasons behind some individuals' murderous actions."

My condolences to the families, friends, classmates and/or colleagues, and communities of the people who died. I am so sorry.

These deaths are painful reminders that gun violence is a reverberating trauma. It changes — and sometimes ends — lives long after the bullets have been shot.

It's one of many reasons that gun violence in the United States is an urgent public health issue. Shame on any politician in this country who refuses to take necessary action to address it.

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

Open Wide...

We Resist: Day 784

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: Beto O'Rourke Announces He's Running for President and Russia Threatens to Arm Submarine with Nuclear Doomsday Devices and Quote of the Day.

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

Karoun Demirjian at the Washington Post: In Overwhelmingly Bipartisan Vote, House Calls for Mueller Report to Be Made Public. "The House voted overwhelmingly and in bipartisan fashion to urge the Justice Department to publicly release the entirety of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's report into Russian interference in the 2016 election, once completed. The move is an attempt to 'send a clear signal both to the American people and the Department of Justice' that lawmakers expect to see the full account of Mueller's work, according to the House Judiciary Committee's chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.). The final vote count was 420 in favor, with no one voting no. Four lawmakers voted 'present.'"

Interesting. So, this is either confirmation that the Mueller investigation is truly a joke and the GOP knows it, or a signal that the GOP is ready for Trump to get to fuck so they can install Pence. Possibly a little from column A and a little from column B.

The resolution is non-binding, so some people have suggested that they voted for it knowing it wouldn't matter. Except the Republicans are the masters of the symbolic bullshit vote! They don't do anything without thinking about it, no less with zero dissenters.

And if their constituent base pays attention to that sort of vote at all, I'd think they'd have wanted their reps to vote no, because they want them to protect the president from this travesty of justice. For the Fox News set, Trump is a mighty victim of Mueller, after all!

Like I said: Interesting.

* * *

Kathryn Krawczyk at the Week: Matthew Whitaker Just Changed His Story on Michael Cohen's Case, House Judiciary Chair Says. "Matthew Whitaker previously declined to address whether he spoke with [Donald] Trump about Michael Cohen's campaign finance crimes. He apparently gave lawmakers a clearer picture of such a possibility on Wednesday. In February, the former acting attorney general appeared before the House Judiciary Committee for an open-door congressional testimony and wouldn't say whether he talked with Trump about Cohen. But since then, a report from The New York Times showed that the president asked Whitaker to put a Trump supporter in charge of an investigation into his former lawyer." Oopsy!

Veronica Stracqualursi at CNN: Top Judiciary Democrat Says 'Sleep Well' Email to Michael Cohen Suggested Pardon. "CNN obtained two emails from April 2018 between Michael Cohen and Robert Costello, an attorney who said he had spoken with the president's lawyer in the Russia investigation, Rudy Giuliani. Although Costello's email did not specifically mention a pardon, he wrote to Cohen, 'Sleep well tonight, you have friends in high places.' 'I take it as the president or people on his behalf may have been dangling the possibility of a pardon in front of Mr. Cohen to say to him, don't tell the truth, don't implicate the president. Play the game right and you have friends in high places, and you'll be okay, we'll give you a pardon,' New York Rep. Jerry Nadler told CNN's John Berman on New Day on Thursday. Nadler said that, if true, backchannel involvement from Trump in Cohen's case would be a 'terrible' obstruction of justice and abuse of power." Indeed it would!

Erica Werner, Seung Min Kim, and John Wagner at the Washington Post: Three Senators Crash Trump Dinner with Last-Ditch Plea as Opposition Mounts to Emergency Declaration. "Drama mounted in the Senate Thursday ahead of a showdown vote over [Donald] Trump's border emergency declaration, as a GOP senator described crashing the White House residence with two of his colleagues to plead with Trump for a deal. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he showed up at the White House Wednesday night with Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Ben Sasse (Neb.), interrupting Trump as he dined with First Lady Melania Trump. They discussed how to satisfy GOP concerns on the emergency declaration but reached no agreement, and Trump renewed his veto threat Thursday morning."

Nothing about that sounds real, including the part where Donald and Melania were having dinner together. This is theater. And the fact that prominent Republicans want to appear as though they are trying to stop Trump — without, let us carefully note, actually doing anything to actually stop him with their Senate majority — makes me feel even more strongly that Trump may have reached the end of his usefulness to the GOP. They still want him to enact his horrific agenda, but they're now at a point where they want to look like they disagree with it. That's worth noting.

* * *

[Content Note: Human rights violations; violence; death; stochastic terrorism. Covers whole section.]

These next two items are related, signaling how far we have already descended into an authoritarian regime with total abandonment of human rights:

I’m not sure why, but it feels shocking to see, written down, an official statement that the US doesn’t give a damn about a country’s human rights record as long as we get what we want. And what we want is apparently not protection of human rights. /2
— Lisa Borden (@lisawborden) March 14, 2019

Ashley Turner at CBNC: State Department Report Calls Jamal Khashoggi's Death a Human Rights Violation But Doesn't Implicate the Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman. "The State Department acknowledges Saudi Arabia's killing of U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi in its annual human rights report but makes no mention of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the section on his death. That's despite reports that the CIA determined the Saudi leader ordered Khashoggi's assassination."

"Human rights" has become a punchline as the Trump Regime embraces murderous dictators around the world.

And at home, Trump continues to wage his campaign of stochastic terrorism, conveying a thinly veiled message to his supporters that they should "get tough" on dissidents:

This, too, must be read as part of Trump's campaign of stochastic terrorism. He is inviting average people to commit violence on his behalf, but distancing himself from it with the pretense that he's just stating a "truth" about "the way it is." https://t.co/0vyV9gIg90
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 14, 2019

Trump is propped up by a transnational crime syndicate dominated by billionaires. Folks will emphasize the threat here -- but it's also an attempt to make himself seem rooted in all-American, blue-collar protection. In reality Trump's big backers are corrupt elites just like him. https://t.co/I0lRghCrXd
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) March 14, 2019

Shiver.

Important related reading today from Adam Serwer at the Atlantic: White Nationalism's Deep American Roots.

* * *

Michael LaForgia, Matthew Rosenberg, and Gabriel J.X. Dance at the New York Times: Facebook's Data Deals Are Under Criminal Investigation. "Federal prosecutors are conducting a criminal investigation into data deals Facebook struck with some of the world's largest technology companies, intensifying scrutiny of the social media giant's business practices as it seeks to rebound from a year of scandal and setbacks. A grand jury in New York has subpoenaed records from at least two prominent makers of smartphones and other devices, according to two people who were familiar with the requests and who insisted on anonymity to discuss confidential legal matters. Both companies had entered into partnerships with Facebook, gaining broad access to the personal information of hundreds of millions of its users."

Kyla Mandel at ThinkProgress: Republican Congressman Says Green New Deal Is 'Tantamount to Genocide'. "House Republicans are ramping up their opposition to the Green New Deal, invoking increasingly dire rhetoric as the proposal gains prominence. In a press conference on Thursday, several top Republicans called for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to direct all House committees to hold hearings to discuss the details of the ambitious climate action proposal. Calling the Green New Deal resolution a 'fantasy-land proposal' and 'tantamount to genocide,' House Republicans said they want to have a public debate on the plan in order to 'pull the curtain back.'"

IN OTHER NEWS... Kalhan Rosenblatt and Phil Helsel at NBC News: Millions in Path of Potential Bomb Cyclone as Winter Storm Slams Central U.S.

As many as 74 million people were expected to face some type of severe weather ranging from blizzard conditions to heavy rain and flooding through Friday.

...Authorities said 1,100 motorists were "stuck and stranded" in "treacherous conditions" on roads in Colorado's El Paso County. Sheriff Bill Elder added that search and rescue operations would continue through the night. His advice was to "STAY HOME."

Around 86,000 customers in Colorado were without electricity early Thursday, according to Xcel Energy. Another 47,000 had no power in New Mexico and northern Texas.

...Denver International Airport's runways were shut down Wednesday, and almost 1,400 flights were canceled amid the whiteout, the Denver Post reported. The newspaper noted that it was only the fourth time in the airport's history that runways had been closed.

More than 5 inches of snow was recorded at the airport as of 5 p.m. Wednesday, while parts of Colorado Springs and Aurora reported 10 inches, according to the weather service.

...Blizzard warnings stretched on a large swath of the central U.S., from eastern Colorado and Wyoming, portions of Nebraska, and large parts of the Dakotas and into western Minnesota as of Wednesday night, while eastern Nebraska, southeastern South Dakota, and parts of Iowa were under flood warnings.

Between 6 to 12 inches of snow is likely for the central and northern plains through Thursday, particularly in the central portions of the Dakotas, the weather service said in a forecast discussion.

...Severe thunderstorm warnings also stretched from southwestern Texas to parts of Kansas, according to the weather service. Parts of Wisconsin and Michigan were among the areas under a flash flood watch.

...In Texas, Dallas-Fort Worth recorded gusts of wind between 75 mph and 78 mph early Wednesday. ...In Tennessee and parts of Mississippi, as much as 4 inches of rain could fall through Friday.

So, you know, good thing Republicans are spending their time complaining about climate change legislation and making up fairy stories about how Democrats don't want you to be able to eat cheeseburgers anymore or whatthefuckever.

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

Open Wide...

We Resist: Day 895

We Resist: Day 887

We Resist: Day 865

We Resist: Day 812

We Resist: Day 811

We Resist: Day 795

We Resist: Day 784

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