- Jan 31
- 39 min read
The following are posts from February 2017:
Wednesday February 1, 2017
No ‘G’day, mate’: On call with Australian PM, Trump badgers and brags - The Washington Post http://ow.ly/koFA308AX35
Thursday February 2, 2017
Friday February 3, 2017
Check out this article from USA TODAY:
Federal judge in Seattle blocks Trump's travel ban nationwide
Trump adviser cites non-existent 'massacre' defending ban http://ow.ly/FVEl308FICq
Will Trump give Conway leniency he won't give media? http://ow.ly/z0Wz308FIGL
Check out this article from USA TODAY:
Trump to dismantle Dodd-Frank Wall Street rules through executive orders
Trump’s pick for Army secretary withdraws from consideration - The Washington Post http://ow.ly/HfLf308FIT1
Various articles about the Trump Admin during the past couple weeks since Trump was sworn in:
Forty percent of registered voters support impeaching President Trump, according to a poll released Thursday from the left-leaning Public Policy Polling (PPP).
Nearly half of voters, 48 percent, are opposed to impeaching Trump, and 12 percent remain unsure, according to the poll.
Pollsters also found that a majority of voters, 52 percent, would prefer former President Obama in his old role rather than Trump; 43 percent prefer Trump, and 5 percent are uncertain.
Two top Republicans long expected to lead the Senate’s role in repealing the Affordable Care Act said publicly this week that they are open to repairing former president Barack Obama’s landmark health-care law ahead of a wholesale repeal, which has been a GOP target for eight years.
Coming one week after a closed-door strategy session in which Republicans expressed frank concerns about the political ramifications of repealing the law and the practical difficulties of doing so, statements this week by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) brought into public view the political and policy challenges the GOP is facing.
Alexander, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said at a hearing Wednesday: “I think of it as a collapsing bridge. . . . You send in a rescue team and you go to work to repair it so that nobody else is hurt by it and you start to build a new bridge, and only when that new bridge is complete, people can drive safely across it, do you close the old bridge. When it’s complete, we can close the old bridge, but in the meantime, we repair it. No one is talking about repealing anything until there is a concrete practical alternative to offer Americans in its place.”
And Hatch, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee — another panel with a crucial role in the effort to repeal the ACA — said Thursday that he “could stand either” repealing or repairing the law. “I’m saying I’m open to anything. Anything that will improve the system, I’m for,” he said.
A federal judge in Detroit has ordered the administration to stop enforcement of President Trump’s executive order barring citizens from certain Muslim-majority countries from traveling to the U.S, CBS Detroit reported Friday.
A federal judge in Boston is hearing arguments on a request to extend a temporary injunction against President Donald Trump’s travel ban.
A seven-day restraining order was granted Sunday in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of two professors who were detained at Boston’s airport as they returned home from an academic conference.
A lot of politics is about the basics, and in Congress that means answering the phone. By that measure, life on Capitol Hill in the Trump era is a struggle.
Whether constituents are calling to request congressional flags, get help with a local issue — or, more likely, to register their support or displeasure with the latest move by President Donald Trump — these days they are more likely to get a busy signal or voice mail than a live human.
It’s especially true for Republican senators responsible for ensuring confirmation of Trump’s Cabinet, including divisive picks like billionaire Betsy DeVos to lead the Education Department.
Dropped calls mean angry voters, so lawmakers across the Capitol, from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to the most junior senator working out of a temporary basement office, are scrambling to handle the surge.
The Trump administration has revoked more than 100,000 visas under its temporary ban on travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries, according to The Washington Post.
A government attorney revealed the number during a hearing in a lawsuit filed on behalf of two Yemenis who arrived at Dulles International Airport but were sent back to Ethiopia due to Trump’s executive order.
The attorney did not provide a specific number of visa holders sent back to their home countries from the airport, located in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., according to the Post.
The Saturday Night Massacre was the term used by political commentators[1] to refer to U.S. President Richard Nixon’s dismissal of independent special prosecutor Archibald Cox, and as a result the resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus on October 20, 1973, during the Watergate scandal.
Last Week:
White House Staff start leaking: https://twitter.com/RoguePOTUSStaff
Jared is fuming about Trump: http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/01/can-jared-kusher-ivanka-trump-survive-the-white-house
And Jared Kushner had already been handed the administration’s first crisis—a multi-headed hydra of Sean Spicer’s press conference; Conway’s reference to “alternative facts”; Trump’s ill-advised C.I.A speech; his untruths about the size of his rally (and, later, why he lost the popular vote).The tide of bad press seemed to swell on Saturday, another person with ties to the First Family told me, when Kushner was absent observing Shabbat. “He wasn’t rolling calls on Saturday when this happened,” this person told me. “To me, that’s not a coincidence.”
Friday; Jan 27:
Bannon appointed to National Security Council in permanent position while the DNI and JCS was demoted. The Dept of Energy (in charge of the NUKES) Director (Perry?) was removed all together.
Bannon is who wrote the EOs, was in on the Putin call (with Flynn) and is now basically running things. Trump is his puppet: http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-steve-bannon-national-security-council-2017-1
GOP warns Trump to not drop the sanctions: http://time.com/4652478/donald-trump-russia-putin-republicans/
Saturday; Jan 28:
This is a remarkable day. When Donald Trump was elected president, we promised that if he tried to implement his unconstitutional and un-American policies that we would take him to court. We did that today. And we won.
Sunday; Jan 29:
Obama’s story about the arc of history does not imply that progress moves forward steadily and without interruption, or that liberals should adapt to complacency, or that progress will occur without conflict. Indeed, that conflict has burned for more than two centuries. What we now call the struggle between red and blue America was the same basic divide that pit Adams against Andrew Jackson. Blue America envisions a positive role for government in developing the talents of all its citizens, regardless of identity. Red America intertwines a suspicion of elites and centralized authority with a commitment to racial revanchism.
Adams’s fatalistic assessment 180 years ago seemed accurate at the time, after his party had suffered three consecutive defeats. And, indeed, his Whigs would suffer a series of misfortunes leading to its ultimate expiration within two decades. Yet, in the long run, Adams’s ideas won out. Slavery was abolished in 1865, a national bank was established in 1913, and the federal government actively invested in education and infrastructure, all as Adams had dreamed. “From the vantage point of the twenty-first century,” writes historian Daniel Walker Howe, “we can see that the Whigs, though not the dominant party of their own time, were the party of America’s future.”
Refugees face 20 levels of vetting: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/29/us/refugee-vetting-process.html
Monday; Jan 30:
This weekend alone, the civil liberties group received more than $24 million in online donations from 356,306 people, a spokesman told The Washington Post early Monday morning, a total that supersedes its annual online donations by six times.In an interview with CNN, the ACLU had a one-word reaction: “Wow.”
Mexican avocados have been held up at the American border after the US Department of Agriculture temporarily blocked their import after a row over potatoes. Five trucks carrying 100 tonnes of the fruit from the Mexican state of Jalisco were halted at the border last week after the US reneged on an export agreement signed last year.
Draft of State Dept letter of Dissent: https://lawfareblog.com/breaking-news-full-text-draft-dissent-channel-memo-trump-refugee-and-visa-order
When I read about the incredibly active first week of the Trump administration, I struggle with two competing narratives about what’s really going on. The first story is simple: the administration is just doing what it said it would do, literally keeping its campaign promises. Lots of people won’t agree, but it’s playing to its base. They’re also not really good at this whole government thing yet, so implementation is shaky. The second is more sinister: the administration is deliberately testing the limits of governmental checks and balances to set up a self-serving, dangerous consolidation of power.
As airports fell into chaos in the wake of Donald Trump’s executive order this weekend, border agents confronted targeted travelers with an unusual request: access to their social media accounts. In Houston, an immigration lawyer named Mana Yegani reported Border Patrol agents checking new arrival’s Facebook pages, alongside questions about political views and associations.
The White House has asked the Pentagon to compile a list of recommended Iraqis to be exempted from the 90-day travel ban, which could include translators, drivers, linguists and others who have taken “tangible actions” supporting U.S. forces, according to spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis.
If the U.S. government stops processing or admitting people even for a week, “their exit visa expires or their medical expires, they have to go back and start all over,” Nina Zelic, director for refugee services for the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, one of nine domestic resettlement agencies, told The Huffington Post last week. “The process is so synchronized that any stick in the wheel sort of throws it off pretty badly.”
According to the Globe and Mail, Bissonnette was known as a “right-wing troll” among local groups for his ultraconservative comments on social media. He openly expressed support for Marine Le Pen, of France’s far-right National Front, and defended Donald Trump in online forums.
The Trump White House did not consult top Republican leaders or key committee heads before the president’s unilateral action Friday barring travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries, multiple GOP sources said.
The offices of Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and other leaders were not shown the text of the executive order or asked to provide any input before Trump signed it at the Pentagon on live television, these sources said.
President Obama speaks out: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-in-a-rare-move-for-an-ex-president-breaks-silence-to-criticize-trump-on-immigration/2017/01/30/2d221bca-e72d-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html?utm_term=.28736c3d69d5
Obama, who is still on vacation with his family after leaving office this month, issued a statement through his spokesman Monday encouraging Americans to publicly protest President Trump’s move to ban citizens from seven majority-Muslim countries — as well as refugees from across the globe — from entering the United States.
He also contested Trump’s claim that Friday’s executive order was based in part on decisions made during his administration, including identifying the same seven countries as harboring terrorism threats and slowing the processing of visas for Iraqis after evidence surfaced that two Iraqis seeking resettlement had been linked to terrorist activity in their homeland.
“With regard to comparisons to President Obama’s foreign policy decisions, as we’ve heard before, the President fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion,” Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said in a statement.
Here’s the breakdown by country:
Iran: 35,363 nonimmigrant visas, 7,179 immigrant visasIraq: 13,499 nonimmigrant visas, 2,010 immigrant visasSyria: 10,061 nonimmigrant visas, 1,901 immigrant visasSudan: 5,080 nonimmigrant visas, 1,642 immigrant visasYemen: 4,525 nonimmigrant visas, 3,143 immigrant visasLibya: 3,303 nonimmigrant visa, 272 immigrant visasSomalia: 331 nonimmigrant visas, 1,078 immigrant visas
The work of the committee aides began during the transition period after the election and before Donald Trump was sworn in. The staffers signed nondisclosure agreements, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Trump’s transition operation forced its staff to sign these agreements, but it would be unusual to extend that requirement to congressional employees. Rexrode declined to comment on the nondisclosure pacts.
It’s extremely rare for administration officials to circumvent Republican leadership and work directly with congressional committee aides. But the House Judiciary Committee has some of the most experienced staffers when it comes to immigration policy.
Interviews and internal communications obtained by The Intercept reveal how American personnel tasked with aiding the planet’s most vulnerable populations and representing the country in the international arena are learning bit by bit, through emails and confounding directives, how the jobs they signed up for are being steadily eroded.
The immigration official said that staffers at one Department of Homeland Security office were devastated when they arrived at work Monday morning to find an email, circulated among DHS leadership over the weekend, informing department personnel that they would no longer be permitted to adjudicate any immigration claims from the seven countries targeted by Trump’s travel ban, including petitions for asylum, permanent residency, or naturalization.
President Obama is heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country. In his final official speech as President, he spoke about the important role of citizens and how all Americans have a responsibility to be the guardians of our democracy — not just during an election but every day.
Citizens exercising their Constitutional right to assemble, organize and have their voices heard by their elected officials is exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake.
With regard to comparisons to President Obama’s foreign policy decisions, as we’ve heard before, the President fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith.
The great issue of today is lying — constant lying in public. Lying is the ally of faction and, since President Trump’s rise to power, it is the greater danger. Yes, the word is lying — not negotiation, salesmanship, bluster, attention-getting, delusion, deception, braggadocio, exaggeration, bullying, alternative facts, or any other euphemism. Once, President John F. Kennedy could say that our national problems were no longer ideological but technical. Lying on a grand scale has reversed that.
Over the past 25 years there have been two periods of increased gun violence in U.S. schools and “the timing of these periods significantly correlates with increased economic insecurity,” said researchers from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.“The link between education and work is central to our expectations about economic opportunity and upward mobility in America,” said John Hagan, a professor of sociology at Northwestern University and one of the authors of the study, which was published in the journal Nature Human Behavior.“
Our study indicates that increases in gun violence in our schools can result from disappointment and despair during periods of increased unemployment, when getting an education does not necessarily lead to finding work.”
For all the promises of Republican bonhomie, Trump and his aides kept GOP congressional leaders almost completely in the dark about the most consequential act of his young presidency: a temporary ban on refugees and on anyone from seven majority-Muslim nations.
Defense Secretary James Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly fumed privately to associates over the weekend because they had been caught unaware by a travel ban that was drafted and set into action largely in secret by the White House, according to three people who have spoken with them.
Inside the West Wing, tensions flared as differences in management style emerged between two factions: one led by chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon and senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, who wrote the immigration order, and the other composed of Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and his deputies, who are accustomed to operating with a more traditional chain of command.
After the sun set on Monday and Democrats made their way from the Capitol, a crowd of at least 1,000 protesters was waiting on the narrow path between the court and its first set of stairs. The crowd, bent around a path that had been left open for Democrats, launched into chants of “Hands too small, can’t build a wall” and “Build a fence around Mike Pence.” Some shouted, “Walk the walk!” — a command to the Democrats themselves.
Seizing on growing public outcry over Trump’s executive order temporarily banning citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries and refugees from across the globe, Democrats on Capitol Hill launched what they said would be a protracted fight on several fronts. It will include public protests against the ban, delaying Cabinet confirmations and an attempt to reject Trump’s pick to serve on the Supreme Court, an announcement expected Tuesday.
The plans represent a sharp pivot in Democratic strategy after weeks of vowing to work with Trump and Republicans in areas of agreement — and to allow noncontroversial nominees to be quickly confirmed.
But “then Trump shredded the Constitution,” said one senior aide familiar with ongoing strategy talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“We should be using our time on the floor to talk about the dangerous consequences to U.S. national security by this executive order. We shouldn’t be rushing through any confirmation votes this week,” said Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.).
A draft of a potential executive order began circulating in Washington over the weekend that would overturn President Barack Obama’s directive barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the federal workforce and by federal contractors.
But individuals familiar with deliberations within the White House, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because no final decision has been made, said that the details of the policy remain in flux and that it is far from certain President Trump would ultimately issue such an order.
That top officials are debating whether to wade into the issue of gay and transgender rights highlights the tension the new administration faces when it comes to social issues. Trump campaigned on an economic message, but he is under pressure from the social conservatives who propelled him into office to implement their top priorities.
“He is running a cabal, almost like a shadow NSC,” the official said. He described a work environment where there is little appetite for dissenting opinions, shockingly no paper trail of what’s being discussed and agreed upon at meetings, and no guidance or encouragement so far from above about how the National Security Council staff should be organized.The intelligence official, who said he was willing to give the Trump administration the benefit of the doubt when it took office, is now deeply troubled by how things are being run.“They ran all of these executive orders outside of the normal construct,” he said, referring to last week’s flurry of draft executive orders on everything from immigration to the return of CIA “black sites.”
After the controversial draft orders were written, the Trump team was very selective in how they routed them through the internal White House review process, the official said.
Tuesday; Jan 31/Today:
Minhaj said Trump’s executive order caused white women to turn scarves into hijabs and Muslims were praying at the airport while others cheered them on.“Think about how crazy this is: Because of Donald Trump, people were being nice at the airport,” Minhaj said. “For years, Donald Trump has been scared by the spread of Islam in America. Well, congratulations, Mr. President. Mission accomplished.”
“[W]e answered questions on stage and were reminded what the stories were all about: fighting fascism, embracing diversity and never giving up hope. Suddenly seemed a lot less fantastical,” the actor wrote, before thanking the Potter fans who turned out.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/keith-olbermann-donald-trump-apology_us_589019d8e4b0522c7d3ccbff
Less than two weeks into his presidency, Republicans are facing a major test of that vow. A broad swath of congressional GOPers have come out against Trump’s immigration executive order, which was an outgrowth of his proposed Muslim ban that Republicans roundly condemned during the campaign. What lawmakers will do to act on their concerns remains to be seen.
Amazon is supporting Bob Ferguson, Washington state attorney general, in suing Trump over the “un-American and unlawful” ban in what is the first legal challenge to the policy. The lawsuit seeks to temporarily block the executive order and have key provisions struck off as unconstitutional.
“If successful, this would have the effect of invalidating the President’s unlawful action nationwide,” said Ferguson. “Our complaint will be supported by declarations from entities like Expedia and Amazon, in which they lay out the significant harm that this executive order imposes on their businesses and their employees."
Microsoft and Expedia also said they would support the legal challenge, offering information about the ban’s impact and testimony if necessary.
Protests erupt in UK over Muslim Ban: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/01/nationwide-protests-uk-trump-muslim-ban-170131014554397.html
Tens of thousands of people across Britain have protested against Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to formally invite US President Donald Trump to the country.
Protesters at Monday evening’s gatherings demanded that the government withdraw its invitation in light of Trump’s decision to ban citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.
The rallies, which were held in every major British city and several smaller towns, drew huge crowds despite being announced less than a day earlier.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bill-oreilly-donald-trump-travel-ban_us_58905ef9e4b0c90efeffde85
In one of several recent clashes with President Donald Trump’s administration, Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly refused attempts by the White House to name Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach as Kelly’s deputy, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday night.
The NRA is lobbying for a jurist who is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, and the group is prepared to be an important player in winning confirmation for Trump’s choice.
Beyond the Supreme Court, the NRA sees an opportunity with Republicans in control of the White House and Congress to pass legislation that would expand concealed-carry laws across state lines. It also hopes to win approval of a bill that would make it easier for hunters to use sound suppressors, otherwise known as silencers.
The White House said former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates "betrayed” the Justice Department at the threat of national security. She was ousted late Monday night.
But the Democrats see a more sinister motive, warning that Trump is adopting a tyrannical approach that politicizes the Justice Department and will discourage federal employees from upholding their constitutional duties across all agencies.
Three Republican lawmakers say undertaking such a massive project will fall short of alleviating the issues surrounding border security.
Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), who represents the largest region along the Mexican border of any member of Congress, actively opposes the wall, a cornerstone of Trump’s campaign.And Reps. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) and Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) have both expressed skepticism about how effective the wall would be at stopping the flow of people coming to the U.S. illegally.
Their lack of enthusiasm means there isn’t a single border-area lawmaker who vocally supports the construction of a wall in their district.
“I’m going to vote for Rex Tillerson in spite of some significant reservations about Exxon Mobil and about his ties to Russia because I think he’ll give the president the kind of independent advice that he needs,” King said Tuesday on CNN’s “New Day,” referring to Trump’s pick to lead the State Dept.
“And he’s a guy that doesn’t need the job, I suspect right now he probably wonders if he wants the job. But I think he will be an independent voice.”
“Given the rate at which things are coming to a head, “President Trump” — the sort-of legitimate head of a republic — won’t last long,” Krugman writes. “Either he or the republic, in any meaningful sense, will be gone quite soon. I have a hard time seeing one year, let alone four.
”What this means, Krugman says, is that absolutely no one should collaborate with Trump — even if they happen to agree with him on a particular issue. The threat to democracy that Trump represents, according to Krugman, is too great to risk giving him legitimacy.
Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee are boycotting the confirmation vote on President Donald Trump’s nominees Steve Mnuchin, for Treasury Secretary, and Tom Price, for Secretary of Health and Human Services.
The boycott means that Democrats have delayed the confirmation vote of these two Trump nominees. Democrats don’t have enough votes to block Trump’s nominees — they can be confirmed with a simple majority alone, which Republicans have the numbers for. But the committee can’t vote without a quorum, and that requires at least some Senate Democrats to attend.
In an 1888 lecture, James Russell Lowell, a founder of this magazine, challenged the happy assumption that the Constitution was a “machine that would go of itself.” Lowell was right. Checks and balances is a metaphor, not a mechanism.
Everything imagined above—and everything described below—is possible only if many people other than Donald Trump agree to permit it. It can all be stopped, if individual citizens and public officials make the right choices. The story told here, like that told by Charles Dickens’s Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, is a story not of things that will be, but of things that may be. Other paths remain open. It is up to Americans to decide which one the country will follow.
No society, not even one as rich and fortunate as the United States has been, is guaranteed a successful future. When early Americans wrote things like “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,” they did not do so to provide bromides for future bumper stickers. They lived in a world in which authoritarian rule was the norm, in which rulers habitually claimed the powers and assets of the state as their own personal property.
Rep Maxine Waters introduces bill demanding an investigation of Trump & any collusion ties to Russian Hacking: https://twitter.com/MaxineWaters/status/826427863524048896
All told it took less than 2 weeks for Trump to get to the point that Nixon did after the Watergate break in.
God, I hope this means his impeachment and/or criminal charges are coming up soon. Otherwise, I’m not sure America will exist in a month’s time. We will be a full dictatorship with the way that Trump is purging opposition and people who wish to defend the Constitution over being loyal to Trump.
10 Dystopia books to read besides 1984: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/10-orwellian-books-about-censorship-and-the-power-of-words_us_588a73ade4b0cef5cf87010f
I believe that what we need is a nonviolent national general strike of the kind that has been more common in Europe than here. Let’s designate a day on which no one (that is, anyone who can do so without being fired) goes to work, a day when no one shops or spends money, a day on which we truly make our economic and political power felt, a day when we make it clear: how many of us there are, how strong and committed we are, how much we can accomplish.
More common in Europe than in the United States, the general strike has its roots in the British working class movement of the mid-1800s; one of the first major general strikes in the United Kingdom occurred in 1842, when unionists and Chartists led a massive strike for better wages and political reform. About 500,000 workers across Britain participated in the strike, which staved off proposed wage cuts and improved working conditions in most factories.
This covers the rest of Tuesday through to late Wednesday night.
FYI: WaPo has a twitter account that specifically applies context to Trump tweets. @realDonaldCntxt
For the rest however, it was anything but a display of profiles in courage. The widespread unease in Republican ranks at what is happening, at the damage being done to the country’s global reputation, is palpable. But the criticism is being voiced not at the substance of what has been done, but at the way it was done.
Two separate sources with links to the counter-intelligence community have confirmed to Heat Street that the FBI sought, and was granted, a FISA court warrant in October, giving counter-intelligence permission to examine the activities of ‘U.S. persons’ in Donald Trump’s campaign with ties to Russia.
CBS News has learned that U.S. investigators have been looking into at least one phone call – in late December – between Flynn and Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak.The call came just as the Obama administration expelled dozens of Russian diplomats and announced sanctions in response to the wave of election cyberattacks.
The letters were sent in September 2015 and June 2016, and directed Twitter to provide the FBI with the “name, address, length of service, and electronic communications transactional records for all services, as well as all accounts,” pertaining to two accounts. Both letters instruct the company not to turn over the content of those accounts.
The letters also specified that Twitter was not to “disable, suspend, lock, cancel or interrupt service” to either account, on fears that the users would become aware that they were under investigation.
It is not clear why Flynn Jr.’s account was taken down, though he recently garnered interest over a tweet about Trump’s executive order to temporarily ban U.S. entry to refugees from several predominantly Muslim countries. The inflection of Flynn Jr.’s tweet suggested that the president’s order is, in fact, a ban on Muslims.
Flynn’s Twitter account appears to have been deleted a day after his son, Michael G. Flynn, also deleted his account. The younger Flynn deleted his account after he sent multiple tweets using the hashtag “#MuslimBan" on Saturday and Sunday, referring to Trump’s executive order banning refugees and immigrants from certain Muslim-majority countries.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/michael-flynn-russia-speaking-gig-democrats-investigate-234502
The ranking Democrats on six House committees are asking the Pentagon to determine whether the adviser, Mike Flynn, violated the Constitution’s emoluments clause when he was paid to speak at an event in Moscow celebrating the Russian-funded news outlet RT.The emoluments clause bars government officials from accepting gifts or payments from foreign governments.
Flynn retired from the Army in 2014 as a three-star general. The House Democrats, though, are pointing to Defense Department guidance that warns retired military officers that they are still subject to the emoluments clause even after they leave the military because “they are subject to recall.”
Flynn, in his first appearance in the White House press briefing room, said the missile launch and an attack against a Saudi naval vessel by Iran-allied Houthi militants off the coast of Yemen underscored “Iran’s destabilizing behavior across the Middle East.”Richard Nephew, a former Obama administration official who was a U.S. negotiator with Iran on the deal, said Flynn’s comment could backfire.“I think this will create an impetus for the Iranians to ‘resist’ and ‘defy’ more, and that could well create an escalatory cycle with Iran,” he said. “Being tough with Iran is one thing, but you have to back it up and bring partners with you. Is Flynn prepared to deal with what comes from that?”
Ever since Trump got the security briefings in December on Russian hacking Putin has been purging ranks of US/UK assets.
Intelligence around the world have been paying attention to this since the Dossier was leaked. Putin has since released information on charging FSB agents of treason and there has been at least 4 deaths linked to this as well.
Where did Putin get this information and how? Fingers are pointing to Trump. There is also Flynn’s 6 phone calls to Russian Ambassador on the day of Obama expelling those 35 Russians.
This leads to belief and evidence of, that Trump and Flynn have shared classified information with Putin. This is treason.
The following is some tweets on theories of why Trump would be aiding Putin in such a way. What does Putin have on Trump?
There is a shitton of circumstantial evidence that we can indict Trump over. If it was anyone else, he would already be in handcuffs sitting in jail waiting for a trial.
Unless, they are letting him get more rope for his neck. But can we wait that long? Will anything be left of our democracy in a month’s time?
Senate Democrats deployed a dramatic eleventh-hour maneuver to deny committee votes to two of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks Tuesday, arguing that those nominees had lied to them.
Senators on the Finance Committee were set to vote on Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) to lead the Department of Health and Human Services and Steve Mnuchin to lead the Treasury Department. But on Tuesday morning, they simply didn’t show up for the votes, denying Republicans the quorum they needed to move forward toward confirmation. At least one Democrat needs to be present for the vote to happen.
Explaining the boycott, Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said the two nominees “misled the public and held back important information about their backgrounds.”
To state the obvious, Reuters is a global news organization that reports independently and fairly in more than 100 countries, including many in which the media is unwelcome and frequently under attack. I am perpetually proud of our work in places such as Turkey, the Philippines, Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Thailand, China, Zimbabwe, and Russia, nations in which we sometimes encounter some combination of censorship, legal prosecution, visa denials, and even physical threats to our journalists. We respond to all of these by doing our best to protect our journalists, by recommitting ourselves to reporting fairly and honestly, by doggedly gathering hard-to-get information – and by remaining impartial. We write very rarely about ourselves and our troubles and very often about the issues that will make a difference in the businesses and lives of our readers and viewers.
San Francisco filed a lawsuit on Tuesday challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order directing the US government to withhold money from cities that have adopted sanctuary policies toward undocumented immigrants.
The order would also bar undocumented immigrants from accessing the child tax credit, even when their children are U.S. citizens.
Further, the order would direct the government to publish recurring reports on how much money it spends on benefits for immigrants — and how those funds could be reinvested in America’s inner cities.
While there’s much to be said for informing the public on how its tax dollars are spent, the ostensible purpose of this report is to direct the anger and resentment of the native-born working poor toward the immigrants below them — instead of at the oligarchs above. After all, you could just as easily start publishing weekly reports on how subsidies to oil companies and the revenues that will be lost to Trump’s tax cuts for the rich — or the $20 billion the president wants to spend on his monument to American xenophobia — might be “reinvested” in our urban centers.
Hundreds of people protesting President Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks marched on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s Brooklyn, New York, home Tuesday night, demanding he fight the nominations.
As protests against Trump and his policies sweep the nation, activists took to the streets in front of 9 Prospect Park West, the apartment building where Schumer lives in the upscale neighborhood of Park Slope.
Demonstrators chanted, “Chuck! Chuck! Don’t sell us out! We need a fighter to knock Trump out!” and, “No hate! No fear! Refugees are welcome here!” as they marched toward Schumer’s house.
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The protest was part of #ResistTrumpTuesdays, a series of events planned for every Tuesday during Trump’s first 100 days. The actions are led by progressive advocacy group MoveOn.org, community activist group Resist Trump New York, and several other national organizations. Thousands rallied outside local offices of Congress members during last week’s #ResistTrumpTuesdays demonstrations, which followed massive worldwide women’s marches.
“The Senate must insist upon 60 votes for any Supreme Court nominee, a bar that was met by each of President Obama’s nominees,” Schumer said in the statement. “The burden is on Judge Neil Gorsuch to prove himself to be within the legal mainstream and, in this new era, willing to vigorously defend the Constitution from abuses of the executive branch.”
And Schumer sounded doubtful the Colorado federal judge could make the case.“Given his record, I have very serious doubts about Judge Gorsuch’s ability to meet this standard,” Schumer said. “Judge Gorsuch has repeatedly sided with corporations over working people, demonstrated a hostility toward women’s rights, and most troubling, hewed to an ideological approach to jurisprudence that makes me skeptical that he can be a strong, independent justice on the court.”
Iran: Ebay, Google, YouTube, DropBox, Twitter. Plus World of Warcraft, Tindr, Periscope, Flipgram, Bizrate.com, and Shopzilla.
Syria: Al Monitor, Apple, MigrantHire.
Iraq: ThinkEthnic
Watch this video: https://www.indy100.com/article/donald-trump-rudy-giuliani-cyber-security-briefing-dementia-7556681
A top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, fired back, saying that “the American government will understand that threatening Iran is useless,” according to the Reuters news agency, citing local media.
“This is not the first time that an inexperienced person has threatened Iran,” the adviser, Ali Akbar Velayati, said. “Iran does not need permission from any country to defend itself.”
Journalist Jose Antonio Vargas goes after Tucker Carlson: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/02/i-operate-in-facts-youre-a-pundit-journalist-juan-antonio-vargas-smacks-down-foxs-tucker-carlson/
The arrival of Californian, Texan, Puerto Rican, Northern Irish, Catalan, Italian and Lebanese secessionists to mingle with activists from several unrecognized separatist territories in former Soviet republics is becoming a tradition as Moscow turns to belligerent, anti-Western nationalism coupled with a readiness to take up arms against its former Soviet vassals.
Moscow uses these gatherings to promote its political agenda, gain more political leverage in the West and push for the lifting of Western sanctions imposed on Moscow after its 2014 annexation of Crimea and support of the separatists in eastern Ukraine, a former lawmaker with the ruling United Russia party said.
“The more the West is disunited, the more beneficial it is to Russia,” Sergei Markov said, adding that the secession of California and Texas — a prospect that would appear to be something of a long shot — would “undoubtedly benefit” the Kremlin.
After a week filled with executive orders fulfilling a large portion of his major campaign promises, President Donald Trump appears to have backed away from his pledge to let Medicare negotiate for lower prescription drug promises.
Mr Trump said that, after meeting with pharma lobbyists, he would oppose apparent “price-fixing” by Medicare, rather than working to stymie the industry’s grip on drug prices.
“I’ll oppose anything that makes it harder for smaller younger companies to take the risk of bringing their product to a vibrantly competitive market,” he said this week, according to a pool report. “That includes price-fixing by the biggest dog in the market, Medicare, which is what’s happening.”
But the Post poll has excellent news on that front, too: 40 percent of Democratic women say they plan to get more involved in political causes this year. Only 25 percent of all American adults, and 27 percent of Democratic men (sigh), say the same. Democrats under 50 — particularly those who lean left — are also planning to step up their game in large numbers.
What this outpouring of anti-Trump sentiment portends for the battles ahead—and how to turn it into ongoing political power—are essential questions to analyze and debate. But first things first: If the opposition indeed manifested the biggest political protest in the nation’s history, this achievement must be stated clearly, recognized widely, and claimed as a victory by the forces that made it happen. Such a public declaration is imperative not only because putting more people in the streets than ever before is by definition a historic achievement. It’s also because this achievement illuminates the new balance of power and possibilities on today’s political battlefield.
One thing is undeniable: The popular opposition to Donald Trump is big—very big. More important, the protests of Trump’s first 10 days showed that a significant portion of the opposition isn’t going to sit idly by, grumbling in private, while Trump demonizes immigrants, violates the Constitution, ravages the environment, and more. Organizations like Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and Greenpeace have not only received tens of millions in donations since Trump took office; they’ve also seen a remarkable surge in the numbers of people looking to get involved. These are people who are rising up and will take to the streets. They will become part of the Resistance. And in so doing, they will convince countless others to join them—to take the critical step from passive opposition to active resistance. As one protest sign in Washington urged: We Outnumber Them—Resist!
One oft-heard chant at the Washington march warned Trump that this was only the beginning: “We are not going away! Welcome to your first day!” Four days later, Greenpeace made good on that promise by unfurling a giant yellow banner on a construction crane above the White House with black letters exclaiming “RESIST!”—an instantly iconic image that Greenpeace is printing on posters and flags to display in windows at home and wave at the next rally. Three days later, the tens of thousands who protested and rushed to airports to battle the Muslim travel ban demonstrated that large numbers of people are ready to put their bodies on the line to call out authoritarianism and to defend American values and their fellow human beings.
Then, things get interesting. The Senate has a pile of work ahead of it, from continuing to approve Trump’s executive branch nominees to a Supreme Court vacancy. Plus, there’s a budget that expires at the end of April, the Obamacare repeal law through a budget-reconciliation vote, the debt ceiling, and several other matters requiring attention. The Senate can take the time to pass these CRA resolutions, but Mitch McConnell has to weigh that against getting other work done.
That makes the outcry among rank-and-file Democrats to resist the Trump regime and its allies in Congress more than a symbolic stand. We know that Senate Democrats can withhold unanimous consent, stretch out conformation votes, and make life miserable for the majority, as Republicans did to them. The CRA resolutions introduce the aspect of a ticking clock. Every delay that Democrats force in the Senate gives less time for these regulations to be wiped out, subsequently crippling future action to protect against pollution in lands and waterways, or contractor malfeasance. McConnell will eventually have to choose which regulations to rescind and which to keep, as long as Democrats don’t collaborate and let the clock run.
Resistance doesn’t just satisfy a psychic longing to stop an outlaw presidency. For the next several months, it has an end goal.
While probation generally implies house arrest from sunset to sunrise, under a 1945 law that human-rights lawyers point to as problematic, police have the discretion to force the ex-prisoner to spend that time under supervision inside a police station. The practice was practically unheard of for political prisoners until now.
“It is legal, but they are exploiting the law and imposing an exemplary punishment on the defendant because these people are considered opponents of the regime,” said Mohamed Elhelw, the head of the legal unit for the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms. “This is unprecedented. The way probation is being implemented is actually imprisonment. It violates the spirit of the law.”
Robert Loeb, the president of Temple Bnai Israel, told Forward: "Everyone knows everybody, I know several members of the mosque, and we felt for them. When a calamity like this happens, we have to stand together."
We have probably 25 to 30 Jewish people in Victoria, and they probably have 100 Muslims. We got a lot of building for a small amount of Jews.
”One of the mosque’s founders, Shahid Hashmi, said: “Jewish community members walked into my home and gave me a key to the synagogue.”
The centre was built in 2000.
Donations and an online fundraising campaign have raised more than $900,000 (£717,000) for reconstruction.
In the days leading up to President Trump’s inauguration last month, Senate Democrats seemed to have settled on a strategy for taking him on.
It went something like this: Pick their battles and fight the Cabinet nominees they considered most unqualified or extreme. Stick together to oppose the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and other GOP efforts to dismantle the progressive gains of the Obama era. And wait for Trump to come to them seeking a deal on infrastructure, trade, or other issues where their priorities aligned.
The Democratic base, it turned out, had other ideas.In protests across the country and in calls, tweets, and Facebook messages to senators over the first 10 days of Trump’s presidency, the party rank-and-file demanded a much simpler game plan: Fight him on all of it.
In an agency-wide directive sent to DHS staff early Wednesday afternoon, the IG’s office wrote, “All agency personnel must preserve any document that contains information that is potentially relevant to OIG’s investigation, or that might reasonably lead to the discovery of relevant information relating to the implementation of this Executive Order. For the duration of this hold, any relevant information that is within your possession or control must be preserved in the exact form as it currently exists.”
The Department’s IG office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the investigation.
It’s lost on few operatives in either party that Democrats need 24 seats to win back the House and almost exactly that many Republicans hold districts that voted for Clinton. Moreover, about two-thirds of those Republicans are in districts that backed Romney in 2012—albeit in some cases very narrowly—before tipping to Clinton last fall. That could be a preview of the difficulties ahead for them as Trump so aggressively defines the GOP with polarizing actions on issues including climate, trade, and immigration, as well as with his combative personal style.
“These are districts that already didn’t like Trump when he was elected, and given what we are seeing with his approval numbers … there is no reason to believe [it will get better],” said Tom Bonier, chief executive officer of TargetSmart, a Democratic voter-targeting firm. “If that does represent his high-water mark, there has to be a number of Republicans who are deeply concerned about [their] election prospects in 2018, based on their party affiliation and their connection to President Trump.”
Roth was, in fact, not the only inspector general to receive a phone call. Several others took similar calls or were left voicemail messages that put their job security in jeopardy. A transcript of one such message, obtained by the House Oversight Committee, read like this:
I’m calling on behalf of the presidential transition team to inform you that you are being held over on a temporary basis to continue working in the capacity as inspector general following the inauguration.
Those calls were a result of a Jan. 13 email titled “TONIGHT: Inspector Generals Notification.” The email, which was first reported by The Washington Post, directed Trump’s “team leads” to call their IGs and let them know they were being “held over on a temporary basis.” It also mentioned that the current inspectors general would be vetted based on information the team leads had provided.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., announced a bill titled the Strengthening Oversight of National Security Act that would codify the permanent members and structure of the National Security Council, and require a joint congressional resolution to add any member or attendee who has not been confirmed by the Senate – other than a handful of non-political White House staff members.
It would also limit the principals committee to members of the National Security Council. And if someone who is not Senate-confirmed needs to attend for a “one-time decisionmaking action” it would require their name to be shared with Congress within 24 hours.
Gorka immediately shut down any suggestion that the Trump administration would heed criticism of its handling of the executive order, telling Tapper it’s “not reflective of the truth” to suggest there were problems with the ban’s rollout.
The Murkowski switch is a testament to the power of the grassroots resistance to Trump and to his cabinet picks.
“I have heard from thousands, truly, thousands of Alaskans who have shared their concerns about Mrs. DeVos,” Murkowski acknowledged, before announcing that “I do not intend to vote on final passage to support Mrs. DeVos.”
Murkowski had, indeed, heard from “thousands, truly, thousands of Alaskans” who expressed opposition to the DeVos nomination—voicing particular concerns about the Trump pick’s support for school privatization and school “choice” schemes, and about the threat her approach poses to rural schools.
“More than 200 Alaskans gathered outside of US Senator Lisa Murkowski’s office in downtown Anchorage on Monday afternoon to protest President Donald Trump’s choice of Michigan billionaire and school voucher advocate Betsy DeVos for education secretary,” Alaska Dispatch News reported this week:
Demanding that Murkowski vote against DeVos, protesters stood outdoors holding signs and chanting, “Stand up for Alaska,” “Public funds for public schools,” “Lisa, you know better,” and “We need educators, not billionaires.” Many also stood in a line that snaked inside Peterson Tower on L Street, waiting to take one of the elevators six floors up to Murkowski’s office where they wrote down their comments to the Republican senator.
President Donald Trump threatened in a phone call with his Mexican counterpart to send U.S. troops to stop “bad hombres down there” unless the Mexican military does more to control them itself, according to an excerpt of a transcript of the conversation obtained by The Associated Press.
The excerpt of the call did not make clear who exactly Trump considered “bad hombres,” — drug cartels, immigrants, or both — or the tone and context of the remark, made in a Friday morning phone call between the leaders. It also did not contain Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s response.
The vote, mostly along party lines, was by far the closest in at least half a century.
Fifty-six senators backed Tillerson, and 43 voted no. Every Republican favored Tillerson, along with four members of the Democratic caucus, Senators Heidi Heitkamp, Joe Manchin and Mark Warner as well as Angus King, an independent.
Democratic Senator Chris Coons did not vote.
Tillerson’s predecessor in the position, John Kerry, was confirmed by 94 to 3. Condoleezza Rice, the last secretary of state nominated by a Republican, was confirmed by 85-13.
Bannon, who used to head the alt-right outlet Breitbart News, spoke at a 2014 conference at the Vatican in which he called for a Christian holy war. “We’re at the very beginning stages of a very brutal and bloody conflict,” he said, referring to Islam as a “new barbarity that’s starting, that will completely eradicate everything that we’ve been bequeathed over the last 2,000, 2,500 years.”
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“No, I think the president has been very clear that his number one goal is not to target any one religion, but places, and areas where we believe that there is an issue. There is a big difference between Islam the religion and radical Islamic terrorists, that come here to do us harm,” he replied. Vega then asked, “But nothing about this comment that the president wants to distance himself from, or even elaborate on? I mean, these are being seen as very controversial –”
“I just think that I made it clear that there’s a difference between the president’s view,” he replied.
Fed leaves interest rate alone: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-idUSKBN15G5D5
It should have been one of the most congenial calls for the new commander in chief — a conversation with the leader of Australia, one of America’s staunchest allies, at the end of a triumphant week.
Instead, President Trump blasted Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over a refugee agreement and boasted about the magnitude of his electoral college win, according to senior U.S. officials briefed on the Saturday exchange. Then, 25 minutes into what was expected to be an hour-long call, Trump abruptly ended it.
At one point, Trump informed Turnbull that he had spoken with four other world leaders that day — including Russian President Vladimir Putin — and that “this was the worst call by far.
”Trump’s behavior suggests that he is capable of subjecting world leaders, including close allies, to a version of the vitriol he frequently employs against political adversaries and news organizations in speeches and on Twitter.
“This is the worst deal ever,” Trump fumed as Turnbull attempted to confirm that the United States would honor its pledge to take in 1,250 refugees from an Australian detention center.
Republicans in House vote to axe rules preventing corruption and pollution: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-regulations-idUSKBN15G5QZ
Mattis’s visit comes amid reports that the North may be readying to test a new ballistic missile in what could be an early challenge for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.
“I will talk to them about THAAD absolutely,” Mattis told reporters shortly before landing in South Korea, referring to the plans to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea.
South Korea and the United States say the deployment of THAAD is designed to protect against North Korea’s growing nuclear and ballistic capabilities.
On Wednesday’s The Lead with Jake Tapper, CNN reporter Kate Bennett said that Melania’s lack of a White House staff is an unusual stage for the first lady to be in. Sure, Melania might not be living in the White House, but the role of the first lady also doubles as the nation’s host, often arranging for special dinners and visits from foreign dignitaries. But as Bennett points out, there’s no staff heading the office of the first lady. “There’s no social secretary, no communications director, no chief of staff,” Bennet said. “So right now even the visitor’s office is on hold because there’s no one staffed there, which means the white house, the people’s house, is not allowing tours.” She added that by comparison, Michelle Obama had a staff of 24 who were mostly in place by the time she arrived at the White House.
In a statement to the Daily Beast, Reddit noted that the r/altright subreddit forum would be banned due to members posting the personal information of others with the intent of causing them harm. The practice is also referred to as doxxing.
The Trump administration wants to revamp and rename a U.S. government program designed to counter all violent ideologies so that it focuses solely on Islamist extremism, five people briefed on the matter told Reuters.
The program, “Countering Violent Extremism,” or CVE, would be changed to “Countering Islamic Extremism” or “Countering Radical Islamic Extremism,” the sources said, and would no longer target groups such as white supremacists who have also carried out bombings and shootings in the United States.
It is not, however, “politicization” of the Department of Justice. That’s an altogether different — and more dangerous — phenomenon. It’s what happens when an attorney general or president employs the enormous power of the department, with its 10,000 lawyers and 13,000 FBI agents, to pursue personal or partisan goals. It happens when impartiality is thrown out the window and vindictiveness and vendetta take over.
Is Sessions the man to ensure this does not happen? This week’s showdown between President Trump and acting attorney general Sally Yates changes the equation. The independence of the department is under threat. Protecting it must be Sessions’s top priority. Yet thus far he has offered little more than bland assurances of fairness — combined with worrying hints of blindness to the gravity of the situation.
U.S. military officials told Reuters that Trump approved his first covert counterterrorism operation without sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations.
As a result, three officials said, the attacking SEAL team found itself dropping onto a reinforced al Qaeda base defended by landmines, snipers, and a larger than expected contingent of heavily armed Islamist extremists.
The Pentagon directed queries about the officials’ characterization of the raid to U.S. Central Command, which pointed only to its statement on Wednesday.
“CENTCOM asks for operations we believe have a good chance for success and when we ask for authorization we certainly believe there is a chance of successful operations based on our planning,” CENTCOM spokesman Colonel John Thomas said.
“Any operation where you are going to put operators on the ground has inherent risks,” he said.
The U.S. officials said the extremists’ base had been identified as a target before the Obama administration left office on Jan. 20, but then-President Barack Obama held off approving a raid ahead of his departure.
A White House official said the operation was thoroughly vetted by the previous administration and that the previous defense secretary had signed off on it in January. The raid was delayed for operational reasons, the White House official said.
Billy Baldwin on Twitter: "Twitler gettin' his swerve on... #StopPresidentBannon https://t.co/wmaThEc6qV" http://ow.ly/WvNs308G6Sx
The rapid halting of President Donald J. Trump's immigration order has given him his first exposure to the limits on his presidential power.
Sunday February 5, 2017
Melissa McCarthy's Sean Spicer might be even funnier than Alec Baldwin's Donald J. Trump on this week's Saturday Night Live.
Trump defends Putin: "You think our country's so innocent?" - CNN http://ow.ly/PF2r308Hy2p
The "Ragged Old Flag" Lyrics From This Super Bowl Spot Bring All The Feels http://ow.ly/q2qi308HFYt
After Trump moves to undo financial regulations, Sanders calls him ‘a fraud’ - The Washington Post http://ow.ly/DmzU308HH90
A congressman even jumped in with a joke.
Monday February 6, 2017
Check out this article from USA TODAY:
127 companies now support brief opposing Trump ban
Why We’re Calling for Congress to Impeach Donald Trump - TIME http://ow.ly/uUfS308KlSp
Trump and Staff Rethink Tactics After Stumbles - NYTimes.com http://ow.ly/6qsY308Km2n
Tuesday February 7, 2017
The Hill was live.
WATCH LIVE: Teachers, parents, students and lawmakers gather outside the Capitol to protest the nomination of Betsy DeVos for secretary of Education.
Check out this article from USA TODAY:
Betsy DeVos confirmed Education secretary in historic vote
Check out this article from USA TODAY:
Homeland Secretary John Kelly: I should have consulted Congress on travel ban
Check out this article from USA TODAY:
Federal appeals court judges skeptical of Trump's travel ban
"It's a shame that Republicans voted to confirm one of their major donors instead of looking out for our children."
Warren cut off during Sessions debate after criticism - CNN http://ow.ly/wMDt308N1RF
Wednesday February 8, 2017
Thursday February 9, 2017
Donald Trump's tweet about Nordstrom and Ivanka Trump was an important mistake.
But White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer made matters dramatically worse.
Friday February 10, 2017
Interested in taking action regarding Enviro Issues in Texas?
Every Texas Legislative Session, a coalition called the Alliance for a Clean Texas (ACT) works together on legislation affecting the environment and public health. This is a big-tent coalition that includes environmental, public health, consumer protection, and faith-based organizations. ACT participating-organizations meet weekly at the Capitol to discuss legislation and legislative strategy.
ACT sends out Friday alerts on bills of concern that are moving through the legislature and also holds a weekly Sunday call with interested citizens and citizen-activists from across the state on critical environmental legislation. This call is some of the most important work of the coalition, allowing the group to activate grassroots support, and contact local elected officials including mayors and county judges, where and when it is most needed. An example of this organizing is the citizen-mobilization which occurred in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and elsewhere when the Legislature was debating House Bill 40, which eviscerated local control on oil and gas drilling, in the 2015 session. These citizen-calls are also an important tool for organizing lobby days, regional events, press conferences, and citizen outreach to legislative offices.
ACT is looking for interested individuals to participate in the citizen calls and the environmental work of ACT this session. If you or individuals in your Senate Districts would like to become involved please sign up at www.acttexas.org. For further information, contact ACT Coordinator Beving Rita at rita.beving@gmail.com or (214) 557-2271.
Here's a list of our senators and representatives phone numbers to keep so you can call on issues that are important to you:
Senator John Cornyn: 202-224-2934
Senator Ted Cruz: 202-224-5922
State Sen. Lois W. Kolkhorst: 512-463-0118
State Rep. Geanie W. Morrison: 512-463-0456
Saturday February 11, 2017
If you don't have your papers proving you are here legally or a US Citizen prepare to get detained by ICE. They don't care. If you are brown you are a target.
Monday February 13, 2017
This is some A+ trolling.
Thursday February 16, 2017
Saturday February 18, 2017
Check out this article from USA TODAY:
Trump declares 'fake news' media 'the enemy of the American people'
Wednesday February 22, 2017
Thursday February 23, 2017
Don't forget about tonight's meeting!
"Elected Republican officials, in Trump’s mind, should focus on representing 'Republican people,'" Steve Benen writes. http://on.msnbc.com/2lN9EJv
Great meeting tonight, thanks to all who came out!
Friday February 24, 2017
Sunday February 26, 2017
Go figure.
-- end of February 2017 posts
