[Content Note: Guns; injury; death.]
In Brooklyn, a group of men got into an argument and at least one of them starting shooting, injuring another: "The victim was shot in one leg during an argument with two other men on Atlantic Avenue near Flatbush Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn — outside the mall and across the street from the Barclays Center, home to the Brooklyn Nets and New York Islanders. Dozens of police officers rushed to the scene after multiple people called 911. Medics took the victim to Methodist Hospital in stable condition."
In a UPS facility in San Francisco, the incident was significantly worse: "A UPS employee opened fire at a San Francisco package delivery facility on Wednesday, killing three employees and then himself as officers closed in, police and the company said. San Francisco assistant police chief Toney Chaplin said a news conference that two others were wounded in the shooting that prompted a massive police response in downtown San Francisco. Police have not determined a motive."
Fucking hell. Fucking hell.
My condolences to the families, friends, and colleagues of the deceased. I hope those who were injured have the resources they need to heal.
I am just so goddamned sad and angry — especially because I know there have been other shootings across the country today of which we haven't even heard, and there will be more before the day is done.
I hate this. I hate all of it. The deaths; the injuries; the indifference; the grief; the patterned news of trickling details about the shooter — his name, his motive, his history of violence; the calls for more guns; the "madman" theories; the accusations that calling for gun reform is "politicizing" the deaths; the graphs showing how many mass shootings we've had in the U.S. this year; the debates about what "counts" as a mass shooting and whether enough people died this time for it to qualify; the apathy around domestic violence as a predictor; the reflexive talking points about what constitutes terrorism (and who gets called terrorists); the quick and insistent forgetting of the victims but not the steps in this choreographed routine we perform again and again and again.
I hate it. It doesn't deliver justice for the dead; it doesn't prevent more victims. It's just endless grief, with no hope of respite, because we have a Second Amendment that was written by long-dead white men.
Two More Shootings Today
I Have Questions
[Content Note: Guns; shooting; domestic violence.]
Are there any members of Congress who were there in 2011 when Giffords was shot who are calling for increased security now but didn't then?
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) June 14, 2017
What about members who are saying this is the line in the sand re: partisan vitriol? Why was Giffords being shot not the line in the sand?
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) June 14, 2017
Why is it not "politicizing" the shooting to call for more guns and/or more security details, but is "politicizing" to call for gun reform?
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) June 14, 2017
Why are so many pro-gun folks resistant to proposals making DV a disqualifier to gun ownership, when virtually all shooters have DV history?
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) June 14, 2017
Why are many members of Congress (rightly!) angry about a violent threat to them at a baseball game, but not to women seeking healthcare?
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) June 14, 2017
Why have so many folks calling for the end of ideological vitriol today not cared about marginalized people who have been targeted & harmed?
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) June 14, 2017
I have lots of questions. I know the answers to them.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) June 14, 2017
Daily Dose of Cute
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
We Resist: Day 146
One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures 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.
* * *
REMINDER: KEEP CALLING YOUR SENATORS TODAY TO TELL THEM TO VOTE NO ON REPEALING AND REPLACING THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT.
Today is a very important day to make calls, because Donald Trump's resolve might be cracking. Alan Fram at the AP: Trump Tells Senators House Health Bill Is 'Mean'. "Donald Trump told Republican senators Tuesday that the House-passed health care bill he helped revive is 'mean' and urged them to craft a version that is 'more generous,' congressional sources said."
.@realDonaldTrump Does this mean you will refuse to sign it, or will you sign a "mean" bill just to get a win? https://t.co/MzmKwFEhui
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) June 13, 2017
As Greg Sargent reports at the Washington Post, Republicans' response is to be pissed at Trump "for accidentally unmasking their big scam."
House Republicans are angry with [Donald] Trump for blurting out an inconveniently candid view of their health-care bill, Politico reports today. Trump reportedly told a closed-door gathering of GOP senators that the House repeal-and-replace bill is "mean" and called on them to make it "more generous." This promptly leaked, and a lot of people are noting that Trump undercut House Republicans politically and provided Democrats with ammo for a thousand attack ads.All of that is spot-on, and I will personally be calling my Republican Senator today to ask him not to vote for a healthcare bill that even the president says is mean. I sincerely hope you will leverage the gift Trump has given us to do the same, if you're represented by any Republicans in the Senate.
But I'd like to argue that this moment has broader significance than that. If you place Trump's private candor in the context of the indefensibly opaque and secretive process that Republicans are using to get this health-care bill through, it reveals in a fresh way just how scandalous their approach to remaking one-sixth of the U.S. economy really has been.
...House Republicans are now angry at this, Politico reports, because they stuck out their necks making the case for a bill that would leave many millions without coverage and gut protections for people with preexisting conditions. They "explained to their constituents" that the last-minute changes to the bill (adding all of $8 billion) would make it less destructive to that latter group. But Trump has now upended all of this, putting them at greater political risk.
But their anger over this is particularly galling, because Republicans themselves do not want their constituents to actually know what is in the bill they are set to pass. And they are taking active, extensive and possibly unprecedented steps to make sure they don't. Trump merely made this harder for them to get away with.
* * *
Caroline Bankoff at New York Magazine: Trump's Staff Has Reportedly Talked Him out of Firing Mueller. "Trump believes that Mueller, a friend of Comey, is part of a partisan 'witch hunt' against him. According to the Times, much of Trump's staff basically agrees, but they have tried to convince their boss that another rage-fueled intervention in the Russia investigations 'would turn a bad situation into a catastrophe.' (Melania also reportedly told her husband 'she believed the appointment of Mr. Mueller would speed resolution of the Russia scandal,' resulting in his exoneration.) ...On the other hand, there's only so much anyone can do: 'People close to Mr. Trump say he is so volatile they cannot be sure that he will not change his mind about Mr. Mueller if he finds out anything to lead him to believe the investigation has been compromised. And his ability to endure a free-ranging investigation, directed by Mr. Mueller, that could raise questions about the legitimacy of his Electoral College victory, the topic that most provokes his rage, will be a critical test for a president who has continued on Twitter and elsewhere to flout the advice of his staff, friends, and legal team.'"
Philip Bump at the Washington Post: Sessions's Testimony Highlights Trump's Deep Lack of Interest in What Russia Did in 2016. "In his testimony, Sessions told Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) that he 'did not recall' any meeting during which Trump expressed concern or curiosity about what Russia had been doing during the 2016 election. ...Both before and after his election and inauguration, Trump's attitude toward the Russia investigation has almost exclusively been that it's a hassle, not an important step toward assuring the sanctity of American elections. (A sanctity, mind you, that has been his purported focus in establishing a commission to look at alleged voter fraud.) Instead, he has consistently disputed whether Russia was even behind the hacking—a line that Sessions mirrored in his testimony on Tuesday by stating that Russia's role was the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies without embracing it as his own."
[Content Note: Video may autoplay at link] Nick Penzenstadler, Steve Reilly, and John Kelly at USA Today: Most Trump Real Estate Now Sold to Secretive Buyers. "Since [Donald] Trump won the Republican nomination, the majority of his companies' real estate sales are to secretive shell companies that obscure the buyers' identities, a USA TODAY investigation has found. Over the last 12 months, about 70% of buyers of Trump properties were limited liability companies–corporate entities that allow people to purchase property without revealing all of the owners' names. That compares with about 4% of buyers in the two years before. ...Since Election Day, Trump's businesses have sold 28 of those U.S. properties for $33 million."
Tom Hamburger and Karen Tumulty at the Washington Post: Congressional Democrats to File Emoluments Lawsuit Against Trump.
Nearly 200 Democratic members of Congress agreed to file a lawsuit Wednesday against [Donald] Trump alleging that by retaining interests in a global business empire he has violated constitutional restrictions on taking gifts and benefits from foreign leaders.Honestly, it actually is hard to conclude that Democrats are being motivated by partisanship, for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that the Democrats consistently fail to act for the specific reason of being afraid to look partisan. There really has to be something serious going on for Dems to risk the horror of some dipshit shill on CNN accusing them of partisanship.
The lead senator filing the complaint in federal district court, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), said Tuesday that the lawsuit has already drawn more congressional plaintiffs — 196 — than any legal action previously taken against a president. No Republicans had joined in the lawsuit so far, although they will be invited to do so, Blumenthal said.
An advance copy of the legal complaint reviewed by The Washington Post argues that those in Congress have special standing because the Constitution's "foreign emoluments clause" requires the president to obtain "the consent of Congress" before accepting any gifts.
The legal effort, led in the House by Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), is likely to escalate tensions between the White House and Capitol Hill, where at least five committees are investigating various issues related to the Trump administration.
...The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night, but on Monday, press secretary Sean Spicer dismissed the lawsuit filed by the two state attorneys general, saying it's "not hard to conclude that partisan politics may be one of the motivations."
[CN: Racism] Jenny Rowland at Think Progress: Despite Tribal Opposition, Trump's Interior Secretary Wants to Shrink Bears Ears National Monument. "The report and review of Bears Ears National Monument are the result of an Executive Order signed by Trump in April aimed at revoking or shrinking 27 national monuments. Bears Ears is a 1.35 million-acre monument that was designated late last year by President Obama at the behest of a coalition of five tribal nations with the intention to protect sacred Native American sites and ecologically significant landscapes. 'For Navajo nation this is really about the preservation of our way of life as Navajo people,' said Ethel Branch, Attorney General for the Navajo Nation and Navajo tribal member. 'Protection of these lands is non negotiable. Our people and our leaders have spent endless hours working to protect these lands through monument designation.'"
Yessenia Funes at Colorlines: Climate Change Mentions Are Deleted From the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Website. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has made some subtle, but telling, changes on its website. It recently removed all mentions of climate change from its Tribal Climate Resilience Program website. Now, it is called Tribal Resilience Program. ...This isn't the administration's first attempt at clearing climate change off federal websites. The EPA's climate change website was all but removed in April."
Bernie Sanders at the New York Times: How Democrats Can Stop Losing Elections. This is an 857-word essay by someone who is not even a Democrat, which does not mention any of the following: Voting rights, voting accessibility, voter purges, felony restrictions on voting, prisoner disenfranchisement, machine tampering, gerrymandering, foreign meddling, ideological harassment and violence, or the need for responsible journalism that centers policy. Fucking Bernie Sanders, man.
And finally, a couple of pieces of good news...
David Eggert at the AP: Five People, Including Michigan Health Chief, Charged in Flint. Nick Lyon, head of the Michigan Health Department, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter as part of the investigation of Flint's lead-contaminated water crisis. Wow. And good.
Stephanie Merry at the Washington Post: Oliver Stone Defended Vladimir Putin to Stephen Colbert; the Audience Laughed at Him. Oliver Stone is such an ass. I'm so glad he's getting pushback on this garbage.
What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
Discussion Thread: Rough F#@king Week
This has felt to me like a really tough week, for a bunch of reasons. It seems like it's felt rougher than usual for a lot of other folks, too. So here's a space in case you need to talk about stuff.
How are you?
Horrific Fire at Grenfell Tower in London
[Content Note: Fire; injury; death; displacement. Please note there are images of the building in flames at nearly every news article.]
A blaze engulfed the 24-story residential building Grenfell Tower in west London overnight, killing at least six people and injuring dozens more. NHS England has reported that 74 people have been transferred to hospitals for treatment, 20 of whom are in critical care. The Metropolitan Police say they expect the number of fatalities to rise after the "truly shocking" fire.
Hundreds of firefighters battled to rescue residents from their flats after the blaze broke out, shortly before 1am. The fire rapidly engulfed the full height of the 24-storey block, and was still burning strongly more than six hours later, with a thick pall of dark smoke visible across the capital.Residents had reportedly been concerned about fire safety for at least five years:
Residents could be seen waving and screaming from their windows, as firefighters wearing breathing apparatus fought to rescue them. There were unconfirmed reports from a number of witnesses who spoke of seeing residents jump from their homes as they were engulfed by flames.
The London fire commissioner, Dany Cotton, had earlier confirmed there had been fatalities as a result of the "unprecedented" fire.
"In my 29 years of being a firefighter I have never ever seen anything of this scale," she said. "This is a major fire that has affected all floors of this 24-storey building, from the second floor upwards."
However, it has emerged that concerns about fire safety in the tower were raised as early as 2012, when a health and safety review found firefighting equipment had not been checked for up to four years. A residents' group also raised concerns about the single emergency exit to the building in 2016, warning that if that exit were to become blocked in a fire, people would be trapped inside.Horrible. I feel sick reading that, imagining how profoundly angry, frustrated, and grief-stricken the residents' group must feel that their urgent warnings went unheeded.
In a blogpost on Wednesday morning, the Grenfell Action Group said: "We have posted numerous warnings in recent years about the very poor fire safety standards at Grenfell Tower and elsewhere in [the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea]. ALL OUR WARNINGS FELL ON DEAF EARS and we predicted that a catastrophe like this was inevitable and just a matter of time."
My condolences to the surviving residents of Grenfell Tower, and to the families, friends, colleagues, and neighbors of those whose lives were lost. My thoughts are with those who were injured. My sympathies for the hundreds of people who have lost their homes.
The Guardian is posting live updates here.
Multiple People Shot at Congressional GOP Baseball Game Practice
[Content Note: Violence.]
UPDATE 3: Donald Trump just made a brief statement during which he disclosed that the shooter, 66-year-old James T. Hodgkinson of Belleville, Illinois, has died.
UPDATE 2: Hours after the shooting, it still isn't clear how many people total were shot. At least four. Fortunately, none of them have been fatally wounded. Rep. Steve Scalise is reportedly in surgery as of 11am ET, after being shot in the hip.
UPDATE: The latest information is that four people total were shot this morning. The rest of the post below has been updated to reflect the updated information.
This morning, during the GOP's practice for the traditional bipartisan baseball game, a shooter opened fire on the GOP Congresspeople who were on the field, injuring three four people, including House Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise.
According to early reports, the other three people shot include at least one member of the Capitol police and at least one Congressional aide to Rep. Roger Williams. Some number of other people were treated on scene and/or transported to hospitals with injuries sustained during the chaos. None of the injuries are thought to be life threatening.
The shooter is in custody. From that alone, we could guess that he is a white man, but witnesses to the shooting have described him that way, too. They also say he appears to have been acting alone, using a rifle.
Because Rep. Scalise was there, there was a Capitol police detail present, as the majority whip is provided with security. The Capitol police were armed, so they reportedly kept the shooter from doing more damage before local police arrived on the scene.
It sounds like it could have been a lot worse. Thank Maude that it wasn't.
Obviously, the shooter is presumed to have been politically motivated, but we have no idea about the contours of that motivation at this point.
More information will become available as the investigation continues and police have an opportunity to talk to all the witnesses and the shooter.
My sympathies to the injured, and to everyone who was there and not physically injured but traumatized by this horrible incident.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Drazil: What is currently your "favorite tv series (or, you know, episodic video series that might be on Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, or YouTube as well as on tv)"?
Better Call Saul. This season has just been incredible. OMG.
Shaker Thumbs
Shaker Thumbs is your opportunity to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to a product or service you have used and that you'd recommend to other Shakers or warn them away from.
Almost eight years ago (!!!), I recommended an online eyeglass retailer in this series. At some point along the way, I switched to Zenni Optical as my primary online specs shop, so I thought I'd update my recommendation for this installment of Shaker Thumbs.
Nothing ever went wrong with the other place; I just tried out Zenni and liked them better.
This is my current "spare pair" from Zenni, as back-up to the pair I got at a doctor's office. (I always have to go to an eye doctor, anyway, because I've got an eye problem that needs regular checking out with fancy equipment.) It's not the greatest picture of me, lol, but it is a nice pic of the frames!
I really like Zenni's selection and interface. Their shipping is quicker than it used to be. Their customer service isn't amazing, but it is isn't terrible, by any means. And I'm happy with the quality of the glasses I've purchased.
Anyway! Give us your thumbs-up or thumbs-down in comments!
[Just to be abundantly clear, I am not affiliated in any way with Zenni, nor am I receiving any form of payment from them. It's just a service I've personally found super useful and am happy to recommend.]
Sessions Testimony Wrap-Up
Well, that was something. Attorney General Jeff Sessions listened to questions for nearly three hours, and he even sort of answered some of them!
If you were unable to watch or follow that session in real time, I live-tweeted the hearing and have Storified those tweets.
In sum: Sessions doesn't recall a whole lot of stuff; he doesn't want to talk about his conversations with the president but can't provide a clearly articulate legal justification for that; he's mad about the way James Comey made implications about him; he is very appreciative of Republican Senators who use their time to slowly hand well-constructed answers to him with which he can simply agree; he doesn't like Democratic Senators who ask him hard questions and expect reasonable answers; and he is rather obviously not bright enough to be the Attorney General of the United States, but exactly not bright enough to work for Donald Trump.
My two primary takeaways from the session were these:
1. The Republicans really aren't taking these hearings even remotely seriously. Their only usefulness, as far as Republicans are concerned, are to run interference for Trump and his loyalists. That isn't news, of course, but this hearing affirmed it. Again.
2. My instinct is that Sessions didn't actively and personally collude with Russia, but that there's probably a pretty good chance he knew that shit was going on during the campaign. In any case, he sure doesn't seem too concerned about Russian collusion and/or interference, which is profoundly troubling in and of itself.
Blog Note
FYI I'm following (and live-tweeting) the Sessions hearing, so content will be light this afternoon, as I can't do that and simultaneously write new content, lol. New content in this space will return once we get through the hearing!
As always, I will compile my live-tweeting at the end of the session for anyone who isn't able to follow along on Twitter.
Daily Dose of Cute
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
We Resist: Day 145
One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures 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.
* * *
Here are some things in the news today:
Earlier today by me: Sessions to Testify to Senate Intelligence Committee.
REMINDER: KEEP CALLING YOUR SENATORS TODAY TO TELL THEM TO VOTE NO ON REPEALING AND REPLACING THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT.
Jesse Eisinger and Justin Elliott at ProPublica: Trump's Personal Lawyer Boasted That He Got Preet Bharara Fired. "Marc Kasowitz, [Donald] Trump's personal lawyer in the Russia investigation, has boasted to friends and colleagues that he played a central role in the firing of Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, according to four people familiar with the conversations. Kasowitz told Trump, 'This guy is going to get you,' according to a person familiar with Kasowitz's account. Those who know Kasowitz say he is sometimes prone to exaggerating when regaling them with his exploits. But if true, his assertion adds to the mystery surrounding the motive and timing of Bharara's firing. ...Kasowitz and the White House did not respond to requests for comment." I'll bet they didn't.
Bharara was not investigating Trump at the time he was fired, but he was overseeing the district in which Trump's business dealings prior to being elected would be investigated, should any investigations arise, and he was conducting an investigation into Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Price, as well as investigating Fox News.
So, Bharara's firing has always had the whiff of obstruction, and it sure got stinkier when Trump fired James Comey. All of which, of course, was preceded by the firing of Sally Yates.
Now, Trump's surrogates are going on the attack against Special Counsel Bob Mueller — and, incredibly, Trump confidant Christopher Ruddy, CEO of arch-conservative Newsmax Media, told PBS' Judy Woodruff last night: "I think he's considering perhaps terminating the special counsel. I think he's weighing that option."
It's absolutely breathtaking — and simultaneously somehow totally unsurprising — that Trump would actually consider firing the Special Counsel appointed to investigate his administration's ties to Russia, whose appointment was only necessitated by his own Attorney General's ties to Russia, about which he lied under oath during his confirmation hearing.
It's also unclear whether Trump understands that he cannot personally fire the Special Counsel. That's not how it works. He could pressure Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is acting AG in the Russia matters, by virtue of Jeff Sessions' aforementioned recusal, to fire Mueller, but given that Rosenstein just appointed Mueller, he is unlikely to agree with the president that the Special Counsel needs to be fired.
(In fact, in testimony just earlier today, Rosenstein stated: "If there were good cause, I would consider it. If there were not good cause, it wouldn't matter to me what anybody says.")
Every day, we are verging closer to a major crisis in the Department of Justice, as Trump brazenly seeks to remove anyone who is tasked with investigating his administration. The president has utter contempt for the rule of law. And his party doesn't seem to care.
* * *
Kira Lerner at Think Progress: The Senate Is Blocking TV Reporters from Interviewing Lawmakers in the Capitol. "The Senate made an unprecedented move on Tuesday and began banning members of the media from interviewing lawmakers in the halls of the U.S. Capitol, according to multiple reporters. As GOP senators draft their signature health care law in secret, refusing to share the text of the bill with the public or the media, TV reporters said they were approached in the halls by Senate staff who said they could no longer film interviews with lawmakers."
If the Republicans' healthcare bill is so fabulous, then why are they scared to show it to the public or answer any questions about it?
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) June 13, 2017
What a bunch of conniving cowards.
[Content Note: Violent imagery/mob metaphor] Stephen A. Crockett Jr. at the Root: How Trump's Cabinet Meeting Devolved into a Mob Movie. "After signing some stuff the president then praised himself as one of the most productive signing stuff president ever and the conceded that President Roosevelt may have signed stuff better than him. Godfather Trump then asked the cabinet to introduce themselves and their position... Vice President Pence started the praisefest: 'The greatest privilege of my life is to serve as vice president to the president who's keeping his word to the American people,' The New York Times reports. ...But the true tribute and most bizarre moment came from 'The most likely to be beaten by Trump with a baseball bat' chief of staff Reince Priebus, whose job is hanging on by an angel's eyelash. 'We thank you for the opportunity and the blessing to serve your agenda,' Preibus said."
Yes, I mentioned that shit yesterday, but I still can't get over it! I AM STILL PROCESSING THAT THIS IS WHAT IS HAPPENING AT THE WHITE HOUSE OMGGGGGG. And if Trump really expects us to believe he's not the kind of guy who asked James Comey to make a loyalty pledge, then maybe he shouldn't oblige the members of his Cabinet to talk about how awesome he is on camera. Just a thought!
Yessenia Funes at Colorlines: U.S. Does Not Sign G7 Document on Climate Change. "In a new, international, anti-climate move, the United States did not sign onto a pledge yesterday (June 12) from the leading industrial nations which comprise the Group of Seven, or G7. The seven countries—Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States—met in Bologna, Italy, for two days to discuss the matter before releasing the environment ministers' statement yesterday. It sets a global agenda to meet the sustainable development goals and properly respond to the manmade disaster that is climate change with explicit language on how climate change will further exacerbate poverty and social problems around the world, particularly for 'women and Indigenous peoples.' EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt was there on behalf of the United States but left more than a day early after other leaders expressed their disappointment in the U.S. for withdrawing from the Paris Agreement June 1."
Renae Ditmer at Indian Country Today: Will [Donald] Trump Eliminate the BIA? "It's a tale as old as time: The federal government wants to reform the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to better serve both American Indians and taxpayers. ...Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, with his literal spurs and cowboy hat and horse, has now been charged by his boss, [Donald] Trump, to make reform happen once again and with less money than ever, accounting for inflation. On March 13, Trump signed an executive order entitled 'A Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch,' and he has since directed the Office of Management and Budget 'to propose a plan to reorganize governmental functions and eliminate unnecessary agencies…components of agencies, and agency programs.' Could that be what Trump wants Zinke to do at the BIA? No one at the White House is saying that, but they aren't saying much of anything on Indian affairs, despite repeated requests for comment. What is known is that Trump's executive order does not mention consultation with the American Indian and Alaska Native communities, or consent by them to implement any changes to Indian-focused programs."
[CN: Worker exploitation] Krithika Varagur at the Guardian: Revealed: Reality of Life Working in an Ivanka Trump Clothing Factory. "The reality of working in a factory making clothes for Ivanka Trump's label has been laid bare, with employees speaking of being paid so little they cannot live with their children, anti-union intimidation, and women being offered a bonus if they don't take time off while menstruating. The Guardian has spoken to more than a dozen workers at the fashion label's factory in Subang, Indonesia, where employees describe being paid one of the lowest minimum wages in Asia and there are claims of impossibly high production targets and sporadically compensated overtime. The workers' complaints come only a week after labour activists investigating possible abuses at a Chinese factory that makes Ivanka Trump shoes disappeared into police custody."
Ally Boguhn at Rewire: Karen Handel: Georgia's Discriminatory Voter ID Law Her 'Most Important Accomplishment'. Yes, that's the same Karen Handel who was just bragging about not supporting a liveable wage. She's also, in case you've forgotten this old chestnut, the same Karen Handel who had to resign as vice president for public policy for Susan G. Komen for the Cure after the massive public relations disaster caused by withdrawing funding from Planned Parenthood. She seems great. Ahem.
What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
Republicans Continue to Be a Disgrace on Russia
[Content Note: Video may autoplay at link.]
At Bloomberg today, Michael Riley and Jordan Robertson have a major new report: Russian Cyber Hacks on U.S. Electoral System Far Wider Than Previously Known.
Russia's cyberattack on the U.S. electoral system before Donald Trump's election was far more widespread than has been publicly revealed, including incursions into voter databases and software systems in almost twice as many states as previously reported.Emphasis mine.
In Illinois, investigators found evidence that cyber intruders tried to delete or alter voter data. The hackers accessed software designed to be used by poll workers on Election Day, and in at least one state accessed a campaign finance database. Details of the wave of attacks, in the summer and fall of 2016, were provided by three people with direct knowledge of the U.S. investigation into the matter. In all, the Russian hackers hit systems in a total of 39 states, one of them said.
The entire piece is well worth your time to read. This is a critically important story, hints of which we've been hearing since last year: "Suspected Russian hackers have also probed a number of state voter registration databases. But the intelligence community statement stopped short of blaming Moscow for these attacks." However, the scope was unknown, at least to the public, until now.
I am very frustrated and angry that steps were not taken to address these concerns before the election, even if that meant delaying the election. And you can guess whose fault that was:
In many states, the extent of the Russian infiltration remains unclear. The federal government had no direct authority over state election systems, and some states offered limited cooperation. When then-DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said last August that the department wanted to declare the systems as national critical infrastructure — a designation that gives the federal government broader powers to intervene — Republicans balked. Only after the election did the two sides eventually reach a deal to make the designation.Fucking perfect. So, during the election in which Russia was meddling to influence the outcome in Republicans' favor, Republicans refused to agree to designate election systems as critical infrastructure, but after the election in which Russia meddled and now appears to have multiple compromised actors within the White House, possibly including the president himself, Republicans agreed to give authority of election systems to the federal government.
Got that? I hope so. Because it is extremely fucked up, and it is something that every American citizen needs to understand — since, every day, it looks more and more like one of our two national parties is just a collection of goddamned traitors.
Sessions to Testify to Senate Intelligence Committee
Today, starting at 2:30 PM EDT, Attorney General Jeff Sessions will publicly testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee, as part of their ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and Donald Trump's attempts to disrupt investigation thereof.
If you are in search of online streaming, here is the C-SPAN link where his testimony will be broadcast.
As I noted yesterday, Sessions almost certainly requested the open session "as an excuse to not have to answer the committee's questions, and you bet your ass that the committee members know that, and the Republican majority is going along with it anyway. Because it's another opportunity for them to run interference for Trump, while pretending like they are interested in holding him accountable."
And sure enough: "Jeff Sessions does not plan to reveal information about his private conversations with [Donald] Trump during his testimony...according to sources close to the Attorney General. The sources said the former senator and Trump loyalist is unlikely to talk about any direct conversations with the president."
There is, however, still an awful lot the committee can ask him, and should ask him, and that he would presumably be able to answer without disclosing any conversations with the president.
For example: Sessions should be asked, and should be able to answer, whether he did indeed have a third undisclosed meeting with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak—and, if so, what the nature of that conversation was and why he failed to disclose it.
Sessions should also be asked, and should be able to answer, why on earth he left former FBI Director James Comey alone in a room with Donald Trump, when he seemed to know, based on Comey's descriptions of his hesitation, that Trump was about to pressure Comey to drop the investigation of Michael Flynn—and, subsequently, why he failed to ensure that Comey never had any further solo interactions with Trump, despite Comey explicitly requesting Sessions' assistance in preventing precisely that.
I'm sure Sessions will try to pass on answering anything and everything, since the last time he was being grilled by a Senate committee, specifically by Senator Al Franken, Sessions volunteered information about which Franken didn't even ask, and perjured himself like an asshole.
So he needs to be pressed to answer hard questions to which we need answers. I hope the Democrats are up for the job, because I am damn sure the Republicans aren't.
Keep Dialing for Healthcare!
I know I'm the brokenest of all broken records, but we need to be making ALL KINDS OF NOISE today. Call your Senators and ask them to vote no on the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act. (Or thank them for promising to vote no.)
There are more ideas for how to take action here, and please feel welcome and encouraged to leave additional ideas in comments.
But calling is most important, so pick up those phones and make a call!
All the talk about Senate Republicans killing the "reform" bill was just that—talk. They were always going to find a way to pass it, because they want a "win" and Trump wants a "win" and none of them care that their reprehensible "healthcare" bill will kill people. (Except insofar as many of them consider that a feature, not a bug.)
And the Democrats have reportedly decided against withholding consent and forcing the Senate to grind to a halt, because they apparently don't believe there's significant enough payoff for such an extreme act, since it would probably only delay the passge of the bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with a dumpster fire.
Last night, it was thought that the Democrats might be worried that withholding consent would blow up a deal on which they were working with Republicans. This morning: "Senior senators in both parties on Monday night reached a bipartisan deal to add new sanctions on Russia and allow Congress to disapprove of any attempt by [Donald] Trump to ease penalties on Moscow, the most significant GOP-backed constraint on the White House so far this year."
So, basically, it sounds like the Democrats were obliged to trade away obstructionism on healthcare in order to get the Republicans to agree to even the most basic check on Trump's fealty to Russia.
This is where we are. So it's up to us. We've got make enough noise to make Senate Republicans reconsider passing this bill.
KEEP CALLING. It's the best chance we've got to save Obamacare.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Brenda A.: "What is your guilty pleasure to splurge on when you're out shopping or just walking through the convenience store?"
Cheap hair stuff. Clips, goo, stylers, whatever. LOL.
The Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by sunlight.
Recommended Reading:
Monica Roberts: 50th Anniversary of Loving v. Virginia SCOTUS Case
Andy Towle: [Content Note: Eliminationist homophobic and racist violence] Pulse Massacre Victims Remembered in Heart-Wrenching Video on Anniversary of Attack
Kenrya Rankin: Puerto Ricans Vote Overwhelmingly for Statehood
Angry Asian Man: [CN: Racism] Sportswriter Fired for Racist Tweet About Indy 500 Winner
Ijeoma Oluo: [CN: White supremacy] White People Will Always Let You Down
Ragen Chastain: [CN: Fat hatred; disablism] Stereotypes, Sizeism, and Ableism
Suzanne Ciechalski: Pete Souza's Book Will Have a Foreword Written by a VIPresident
Jacob Kastrenakes: Atari Teases a Mysterious New Console, or Something
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
