the chickens are coming home to roost... any day now.
June 15, 2018 4:07 AM   Subscribe

"The Clinton Trump foundation is a criminal enterprise!" At least that's what the New York State Attorney General's office is suing him for. Meanwhile Trump made friends over the weekend in Singapore, much to Kim Jong Un's delight. They even made a video to commemorate the historic event.

In this 'scaramucci's' episode of "as the Constitution spins in its un-marked grave" the writers propose a meeting between Trump and Putin, jailing kids who come across the border with their parents as a way to make a buck, and to find out more tune in to the latest episode!
posted by From Bklyn (2541 comments total) 103 users marked this as a favorite
 
Just because it’s too good not to quote explicitly, here’s the lead-in to the announcement in the first link:
Attorney General Underwood Announces Lawsuit Against Donald J. Trump Foundation And Its Board Of Directors For Extensive And Persistent Violations Of State And Federal Law

Lawsuit Seeks Restitution of $2.8 Million Plus Penalties

AG’s Office Sends Referral Letters to Internal Revenue Service and Federal Election Commission for Further Investigation and Legal Action

In Light Of Misconduct And Total Lack of Oversight, Lawsuit Seeks To Dissolve Donald J. Trump Foundation and Bar Donald J. Trump And Members Of Trump Foundation’s Board Of Directors From Serving On Board Of Any Other New York Charity

Valar popcornis!
posted by darkstar at 4:14 AM on June 15, 2018 [66 favorites]


Yesterday, in a speech in Fort Wayne, Jeff Sessions invoked bible scripture as justification for separating families at the border. Later, when asked about it by the press, Sarah Sanders backed him up on it.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:16 AM on June 15, 2018 [30 favorites]


So I'm just catching up on the "very Biblical to enforce the law" stuff from yesterday and I perhaps need some clarification as an atheist here—does conventional Christian theology regard it as somehow good or proper for Jesus to have been crucified under Roman law, maybe in a "God hardened the Pharaoh's heart" way or a Terminator time loop / fulfillment of prophecy way?

If Christians don't regard the crucifixion of Jesus to be a just or appropriate enforcement of law, that's one heckuva prominent counterexample to handwave past in the course of generically asserting that enforcement of law is "Biblical"...

Also on the progress of the various investigations seeming to near a crescendo, is anyone else reminded of Independence Day when the alien ship arrives in position above the White House and starts to power up its weapon? Good thing it's so Biblical to enforce law.
posted by XMLicious at 4:19 AM on June 15, 2018 [16 favorites]


No, not all Christians believe that temporal law is the ultimate arbiter of what we are called to obey. From my comment in the earlier thread, there are key counterexamples that make the whole “the Bible is about enforcing the government’s law” a chilling echo of autocratic regimes.
posted by darkstar at 4:23 AM on June 15, 2018 [26 favorites]


does conventional Christian theology regard it as somehow good or proper for Jesus to have been crucified under Roman law,

Not that I'm any sort of theologian, but the varieties of Christianity I'm familiar with tend to be silent on whether it was "proper" or legal under Roman law. I mean, Christianity isn't really about the finer points of first century Roman law.

The crucifixion is, however, unequivocally seen as good, seeing as how it led to, you know, the salvation of all mankind (or some of mankind, depending on your particular variety of Christianity). I mean, the annual commemoration of the event is called Good Friday, and that's not intended to be ironic.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:30 AM on June 15, 2018 [5 favorites]


The adolescent in my life has a great disdain for current politics and is working his first real job. Last night he was talking about the NK meeting. I was like, cool, you're watching the news. He said, I can't help it, the tv is on all day and I was like what channel what channel WHAT CHANNEL.

So now we have to deprogram this kid, like, daily. He was talking about the great significance of the NK meeting and we're like /facepalm.

But the owner is this pugnacious guy who hails from Italy and punched out some guy in his parking lot last week because of an insult to his dough. I'm telling the kid to ask him probing questions about the Euro, sort of hoping to cause some sort of meltdown.

Hopefully the kid's exposure to Fox will be like when boys read Ayn Rand and then it wears off (usually).
posted by angrycat at 4:33 AM on June 15, 2018 [64 favorites]


In other democracies (in all their various forms), is the head of state largely held to be free from the rule of law? If so, what is the reasoning behind giving said person such a godhead?

I mean, I can understand that maybe the office of the head of state and it's personification in whoever currently holds the office, in their official acts, needs to be able to fulfill their sworn, legal duties free from encumbrance of "petty" lawsuits, for example. But I've never taken that to mean that the human being (or facsimiles like Trump) in their private actions is free to do whatever the fuck they want.

I think there is a very strong argument that having a person in office whose non-presidential acts are so patently illegal prevents the same person from fulfilling their duties in their official role.

So how is it even a question whether the President is above the law, as a person?

(Humans love their "gods" and "royalty", don't they?)
posted by maxwelton at 4:33 AM on June 15, 2018 [11 favorites]


The whole "the Bible tells us to enforce the law" is:

1) particularly galling when the Justice Department said it wasn't going to defend key provisions of the ACA literally last week,

2) particularly galling when the policy being defended isn't an actual law, and

3) HOLY FUCK WHO GIVES A SHIT WHAT THE BIBLE HAS TO SAY ABOUT THE LAW EITHER WAY THIS IS NOT A THEOCRACY
posted by kyrademon at 4:34 AM on June 15, 2018 [264 favorites]


So how is it even a question whether the President is above the law, as a person?

Because there are people for whom it is not a foregone conclusion that "respect the office of the president" is different from "the person in the office is also absolved of scrutiny for their private life".

And there are even more people for whom the line shifts depending on "is the guy who's in office right now on my team or the other team?"
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:37 AM on June 15, 2018 [9 favorites]


If Christians don't regard the crucifixion of Jesus to be a just or appropriate enforcement of law...

I'm not sure they'd go so far as to say it was a just/appropriate application of law, though, given that, without the crucifixion, there'd be no Christianity. Instead, they fix all the blame on Judas and move on.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:37 AM on June 15, 2018 [1 favorite]


After fully skipping the last 2 megathreads, I pop in. I'm still wondering at what point, when the cancer is pervasive and attacking the whole system, do we strike hard and at least cripple/slow it?
Not that I'm counting on Mueller but goddamn it, take some fucking serious swipes already.
posted by yoga at 4:39 AM on June 15, 2018 [18 favorites]


Wasn't the Holocaust mandated by German law? Could someone please ask Sessions and Sanders about that?
posted by Cocodrillo at 4:41 AM on June 15, 2018 [13 favorites]


I was like, cool, you're watching the news. He said, I can't help it, the tv is on all day and I was like what channel what channel WHAT CHANNEL.

Oh, I can guarantee it's Fox News. It's always Fox News. If it's a business, and there's a tv on all day, it's going to be Fox News. Doubly so if it's in the customer waiting area. It doesn't matter if it's a muffler shop or a doctor's office. It's always Fox News.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:49 AM on June 15, 2018 [30 favorites]


I'd really appreciate ending the biblical B plot discussions. We know anyone on the side of obeying laws makes a good christian is easily going to be shown a hypocrite. And anyone in the current administration is that and more. I'll buy a soapbox for my next pony request.
posted by michswiss at 4:53 AM on June 15, 2018 [28 favorites]


So Nunes is upset again. Why, oh why did no one tell him anything before the IG report was released?

Incidentally, I have never seen a sweatier, guiltier looking guy in my life. Every time I see him it reminds me of myself when my wife asks where all the cookies went.
posted by Literaryhero at 4:59 AM on June 15, 2018 [43 favorites]


The whole "the Bible tells us to enforce the law"

I cannot even begin to get into how insane this entire argument is on a religious level, because it is insane, but given Session’s public statements on Masterpiece Cakeshop, I have another Bible quote I feel is far more relevant, namely Matthew 23:27-28:
[27]Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men's bones, and of all filthiness. [28] So you also outwardly indeed appear to men just; but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
posted by corb at 5:00 AM on June 15, 2018 [63 favorites]


Father Simmons
Dear Jeff Sessions, are you aware that the argument you made today from Romans 13 was a central argument of the German Christian (Pro-Nazi) movement over and against the Confessing Church? I'm not saying you are a Nazi, but you’re interpreting the Bible like one.
posted by chris24 at 5:19 AM on June 15, 2018 [169 favorites]




`In other democracies (in all their various forms), is the head of state largely held to be free from the rule of law? If so, what is the reasoning behind giving said person such a godhead?

Nit: I think you mean head of government, not head of state. The US is a bit weird in making them the same person; most democracies split them between a prime minister and a president or monarch.

But yeah, AFAIK it's commonplace for the head of government to be immune. The logic behind that immunity isn't hard to understand, especially in a federal system where significant subnational governments might be controlled by other parties. Just imagine 2009-2017 in a world where instead of filing civil suit against the federal government every 18 seconds, shitbag Republican DAs/AGs like Abbott (at the time) could have been filing actual indictments against Obama, and probably convincing shitbag Republican judges to withhold bail entirely.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 5:39 AM on June 15, 2018 [7 favorites]


Trump approves tough tarriffs on China (Politicalwire via AP, the failed NYT)

President Trump “has approved a plan to impose punishing tariffs on tens of billions of dollars of Chinese goods as early as Friday, a move that could put his trade policies on a collision course with his push to rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons,” the AP reports.

“Trump met Thursday with several Cabinet members and trade advisers and was expected to impose tariffs on at least $35 billion to $40 billion of Chinese imports… The amount of goods could reach $55 billion.”


The die is flushed . . .
posted by petebest at 5:42 AM on June 15, 2018 [4 favorites]


> Nearly one-fifth of Americans would deny their country’s Muslims the right to vote

Again from the Wikipedia article above, what I thought was an interesting quote, relating to the systematic removal of citizens' rights from Jewish people by the Nazis:

'Philosopher Hannah Arendt pointed out this important judicial aspect of the Holocaust in The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), where she demonstrated that to violate human rights, Nazi Germany first deprived human beings of their citizenship. Arendt underlined that in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, citizens' rights actually preceded human rights, as the latter needed the protection of a determinate state to be actually respected.'

posted by Myeral at 5:44 AM on June 15, 2018 [35 favorites]


We are now, officially, in a global trade war, in which our opponents are not only our traditional adversaries, but also our historic allies.

The cost to average, hardworking Americans will be in the hundreds of billions of dollars before it’s over.

This is what happens when you have incompetents and ideologues running things.
posted by darkstar at 5:47 AM on June 15, 2018 [65 favorites]


Jews are still sounding off after the Orthodox Union gave AG Jeff Sessions an honor/award yesterday.

The OU isn't just a representative organization for many Orthodox synagogues. They also grant a mark, called a hechsher, to kosher foods so Jews will know which have passed inspection and are approved to eat by a board of rabbis. Their mark is accepted by most Jews who keep kosher, more than any other organization's. The OU Should Stick To Kosher Laws - Or Become Treif
How are the OU’s customers going to feel about it honoring Jeff Sessions? At some point, they are going to ask whether they want child-separation branded on their baked beans and medium-sharp cheddar. They are going to remember that they wanted kosher food so that everyone could eat at their wedding—not so that a queer couple couldn’t have one. They are going to ask exactly what is so ethical or healthy about an institution whose political concerns are moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, securing the right to discriminate against LGBT people, and cozying up to Donald Trump. Those non-Orthodox Jews are going to wonder why they should outsource their kashrut to people whose Judaism is fundamentally alien to their own. And everyone is going to realize that there are hundreds of other kashrut agencies out there—many which don’t run a political lobby on the side.

posted by zarq at 5:50 AM on June 15, 2018 [54 favorites]


Trump approves tough tarriffs on China

Looks like North Korea won't be returning the State Depts call anymore.
posted by PenDevil at 5:53 AM on June 15, 2018 [3 favorites]




I really do not understand what he thinks those tariffs are going to accomplish. Even when I disagreed with Reagan or Bush's policies, I could understand their reasoning.

But he's fomenting chaos that will rebound and punch us in the face. There's no way this won't hurt American taxpayers. It seems like an incredibly counterintuitive move for a man who is deeply insecure and desperate to have the worship of the people.
posted by zarq at 5:59 AM on June 15, 2018 [9 favorites]


Matthew Yglesias (Vox)
When reading about the obviously illegal things the Trump Foundation did, recall that the Times & Post partnered with conservative advocacy groups to run oppo research about the Clinton Foundation.

Politico: New York Times, Washington Post, Fox News strike deals for anti-Clinton research
The New York Times, The Washington Post and Fox News have made exclusive agreements with a conservative author for early access to his opposition research on Hillary Clinton, a move that has confounded members of the Clinton campaign and some reporters, the On Media blog has confirmed.

"Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich" will debut on May 5. But the Times, the Post and Fox have already made arrangements with author Peter Schweizer to pursue some of the material included in his book, which seeks to draw connections between Clinton Foundation donations and speaking fees and Hillary Clinton's actions as secretary of state. Schweizer is the president of the Government Accountability Institute, a conservative research group, and previously served as an adviser to Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

Fox News' use of Schweizer's book has surprised no one. The bulk of the network's programming is conservative, and the book's publisher, HarperCollins, is owned by News Corporation. But the Times and Post's decision to partner with a partisan researcher has raised a few eyebrows. Some Times reporters view the agreement as unusual, sources there said. Still others defended the agreement, noting that it was no different from using a campaign's opposition research to inform one's reporting -- so long as that research is fact-checked and vetted. A spokesperson for the Times did not provide comment by press time.
---

Hmm.. Some Times folks thought doing oppo for Rs was a bad idea, some a good idea. I wonder who welcomed being an arm of the Republican Party?

Maggie Haberman
.@amychozick got her hands on that "Clinton Cash" book, y'all
NYT: New Book, ‘Clinton Cash,’ Questions Foreign Donations to Foundation
posted by chris24 at 5:59 AM on June 15, 2018 [51 favorites]


Here's the video of Trump's truly shocking strong-man remarks, via Think Progress's Aaron Rupar:
WOW -- Trump says he wants American people to treat him like North Koreans treat totalitarian dictator Kim Jong Un.

"Hey, he's the head of a country, and he's the strong head -- he speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same." https://pic.twitter.com/A43xYXsFod
In other news, Scott Pruitt ordered his EPA aides to facilitate a White House internship for his daughter, induced a Virginia politician to try to get his daughter into law school, leveraged cheap Rose Bowl football tickets, and staff to arrange off-the-books meeting with billionaire donor Philip Anschutz, the NYT reports.

Michael Pence, the Washington Post has uncovered, is turning VP’s office into gateway for lobbyists to influence the Trump administration: "About twice as many companies and other interests hired lobbyists to contact the vice president’s office in Pence’s first year than in any single year during the tenures of Vice Presidents Joe Biden and Richard B. Cheney, filings show.

"Among those lobbying Pence and his staff were representatives of major drug companies and energy firms, as well as businesses seeking favorable tax treatment. Many others have contacted his office on more obscure regulatory matters such as a Medicare billing dispute, technology regulations at the Department of Education and regulations at the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the records show."

And, per CNN, Michael Cohen is seeking a restraining order against Michael Avenatti to bar from speaking to the press—because of "his seemingly unquenchable thirst for publicity" that threatens "to result in Mr. Cohen being deprived of his right to a fair trial, and threatens to turn what should be a solemn federal court proceeding into a media circus."

P.S. Donald Trump has switched to retweeting Fox and Friends this morning. For the second day in a row, he has no public appearances on his schedule for today.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:01 AM on June 15, 2018 [42 favorites]


In other democracies (in all their various forms), is the head of state largely held to be free from the rule of law? If so, what is the reasoning behind giving said person such a godhead?

Not only the head of state, but also federal and state legislators. Mexico has had this in it's constitution since the 19th century. It's called "fuero" and it's a concept that comes from medieval law. The logic, as GCU Sweet and Full of Grace point's out, is that you don't want the people in government being destabilized and constantly hassled with frivolous lawsuits by their opponents (think the Clinton investigations, but as lawsuits).

In 2006 there was a process to take away Andrés Manués López Obrador's fuero as mayor of Mexico City because of a improperly done process of imminent domain. This was largely seen as a move by Vicente Fox's government to derail Lopez's presidential campaign (which it kind of did).

As you can imagine, fuero has been used in more cases than not as a shield for corruption. In April of this year the lower chamber voted to eliminate it for federal legislators and other government officials, although the president still has to go through an impeachment process in order to be judged.
posted by Omon Ra at 6:03 AM on June 15, 2018 [10 favorites]


The Bible verse can be properly understood as a fig leaf. Feel bad about us putting babies in cages? Here's a Bible verse you can use to soothe the remnants of your conscience. Now stop thinking and keep voting Republican.
posted by emjaybee at 6:15 AM on June 15, 2018 [20 favorites]


Trump digging holes within holes within holes and jumping in live on TV right now, surrounded by press, somewhere outside the White House
posted by XMLicious at 6:18 AM on June 15, 2018 [6 favorites]


In today’s edition of ‘You’re Not Supposed To Say That Part Out Loud”:
PHOENIX -- A Republican lawmaker is being criticized for saying "there aren't enough white kids to go around" when discussing integration in schools at an event in northern Arizona. Rep. David Stringer, a Republican from Prescott, spoke Monday at the Yavapai County Republican Men's Forum.

Stringer's speech was livestreamed on Facebook and saved to his campaign page. It was later removed. But a clip widely circulated on social media by a Democrat showed Stringer talking about how immigration is changing the demographic makeup of the country.

"Sixty percent of public school children in the state of Arizona today are minorities. That complicates racial integration because there aren't enough white kids to go around," Stringer said in part of the video.

The clip also shows Stringer saying "immigration is politically destabilizing" and "immigration today represents an existential threat to the United States."

"If we don't do something about immigration very, very soon, the demographics of our country will be irrevocably changed and we will be a very different country and we will not be the country you were born into," he said.
Stringer has quite a long history of bigotry in the state.
posted by darkstar at 6:19 AM on June 15, 2018 [55 favorites]


As far as Comey's staggering hypocrisy goes, I'd argue that many people are ignoring the tribal factor. Comey is a lifelong Republican.

I doubt that Comey consciously and deliberately set out to hurt the Democrat and help the Republican, but our cognitive bias towards tribalism is insidious and our actions rarely match what we'd like to imagine our motives are. Studies show that people will rationalize and even make subconscious math errors to arrive at whatever conclusion is the "right" conclusion as deemed by their social group.

The blend of sexism and tribal politics all but guaranteed that Comey would find a way to put his thumb on the scale for Trump.

The Democrats have, for far too long, basically agreed that certain Cabinet level positions belong to the Republicans even if there's a Democratic President. FBI and CIA director and Secretary of Defense being the big three that tend to be given to Republicans as a sort of reflexive bow in the direction of bipartisanship and acknowledging innate Republican ownership of security.

I hope that the lesson of James Comey is being learned and that President Harris, or whoever gets the Democratic nom, will appoint exactly zero Republicans to her Cabinet or other high posts. The era of bipartisan comity is long over and pretending otherwise is just being a sucker.

If Obama's choice for FBI director had been a Democrat then Hillary Clinton would be President right now.
posted by sotonohito at 6:21 AM on June 15, 2018 [98 favorites]


And there it is (again):

Trump on Kim Jong Un: “He speaks and his people sit up in attention. I want my people to do the same.”


When someone tells you who they are, BELIEVE THEM.
posted by Sophie1 at 6:23 AM on June 15, 2018 [184 favorites]


Trump's bat-shit wandering press gaggle may be intended to distract from Paul Manafort's imminent jailing, but he's not only making no sense, but he's also admitting to crimes.

More, courtesy of Aaron Rupar:
REPORTER: Did you dictate Don Jr's misleading statement about Trump Tower meeting?

TRUMP: "Let's not talk about it. You know what that is? It's irrelevant. It's a statement to the NYT. The phony, failing NYT. It's not a statement to a high tribunal of judges."
When someone tells you who they are, BELIEVE THEM.

Trump: "I'm kidding, you don't understand sarcasm"
Ron Howard narrator: Donald wasn't, and he doesn't sarcasm.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:32 AM on June 15, 2018 [49 favorites]


I really do not understand what he thinks those tariffs are going to accomplish.

Remember he's got a combative toddler's understanding of everything. I'm sure the only thing that stuck in his head about international trade is something like, "We buy more stuff from them than they buy from us." Which is both Not Fair and clearly means we're the Losers in the deals because in TrumpWorld there's no such thing as "mutually beneficial carefully balanced agreements" there's only Winners and Losers and Winners are the ones who walk away with a bunch of cash in their pockets because they've suckered the Losers into paying too much money for some crap.

Plus he's striking out at other country's leaders who he thinks have personally insulted him.
posted by soundguy99 at 6:35 AM on June 15, 2018 [13 favorites]


Oh, I can guarantee it's Fox News. It's always Fox News. If it's a business, and there's a tv on all day, it's going to be Fox News. Doubly so if it's in the customer waiting area. It doesn't matter if it's a muffler shop or a doctor's office. It's always Fox News.

That hasn't been my experience in New York, where businesses often have NY1 on television all day, and often enough have CNN.
posted by layceepee at 6:35 AM on June 15, 2018 [7 favorites]


and acknowledging innate Republican ownership of security

Not disagreeing with your main point, but in today’s context does anyone besides me think this fact is shit-brainingly hilarious? Pardon me, I’m going to go wash out my eyeballs with rocks.
posted by eirias at 6:39 AM on June 15, 2018 [9 favorites]


I'm a doctor in a rich Atlanta suburb, who joined a group whose office had Fox News on in the waiting room 24/7. I'm still "the new guy," and I was really scared to ruffle feathers, but one day I changed it to the Travel Channel and asked the receptionist to politely tell patients who wanted to watch the news that they can change it to any station they want except for cable news. We've had one fella get angry enough with the new policy to raise a stink, but all in all I'm very happy with the decision!
posted by Fritzle at 6:41 AM on June 15, 2018 [214 favorites]


Father Simmons
Dear Jeff Sessions, are you aware that the argument you made today from Romans 13 was a central argument of

literally every civil rights struggle in American history, back to and including being cited by opponents of the Revolutionary War. Slavery, Jim Crow, suffrage, LGBTQ rights... every time, every single solitary time that someone wants to change an unfair law, some knob says "ROMANS THIRTEEN". It's the slightly more specific version of "God works in mysterious ways", and anyone who makes it is not doing so from a place of theology or government or belief. It is only ever (and I know, I say this a lot) an excuse rather than a reason.
posted by Etrigan at 6:41 AM on June 15, 2018 [92 favorites]


Last night there was an older man standing at an intersection cheerfully waving around a sign that said TRUMP WON FAIR AND SQUARE. Sure, buddy, for various definitions of "fair" and "square" that involve being a morally and financially corrupt piece of shit.

I looked him right in the eye and flipped him off and then I had to explain to my little kids that yes, sometimes it's fine to flip people off if they are assholes.
posted by lydhre at 6:43 AM on June 15, 2018 [69 favorites]


Am wondering if anyone is profiting financially from the new concentration camps being set up. Hard to believe that opportunity would go unexploited.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:46 AM on June 15, 2018 [7 favorites]


Even more selected Trump coverage from Aaron Rupar:
TRUMP: "Paul Manafort worked for me for a very short period of time." Says he "feels bad" for him because the alleged crimes happened years ago. Won't rule out pardoning anybody.
The Toronto Star's Daniel Dale fact-checks this, since Fox certainly won't:
Trump lies of Manafort: "Paul Manafort worked for me for a very short period of time...He worked for me, what, for 49 days or something?"

He worked for Trump for 144 days, from March 29, 2016 to August 19, 2016.
Trump's bat-shit wandering press gaggle may be intended to distract from Paul Manafort's imminent jailing, but he's not only making no sense, but he's also admitting to crimes.

(Because living under the Trump regime distorts both the sense of reality and the rule of law, I sometimes catch myself momentarily uncertain that Don Jr.'s meeting was illegal and Trump dictating a statement to cover it up makes him an accessory. It's well past the point for the media to pretend otherwise, yet here we are.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:46 AM on June 15, 2018 [20 favorites]


Minneapolis/St Paul-area mefites:

There is a Fathers' Day protest against family separation organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (I can vouch for them, they have been around a while):

https://twitter.com/MIRAcMN/status/1007467093627949056

It is at 2pm on Sunday at 2200 Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis - just blocks from the blue line light rail stop, on the 2 bus line, near where the 22 and the 14 cross Franklin. There should be parking in the nearby residential streets. My bet is that there will be a rally and a short march.

If you are worried about the weather, want a place to sit down before or after the event, are thinking about bathroom availability , etc, this location is right near several coffee shops, the Seward Pizza Luce and a bunch of other restaurants.

I will be attending!

If you've never been to a protest before:

0. This type of protest organized by this group is likely to be extremely safe and family friendly, for a variety of reasons ranging from local groups' strategies to the desire not to endanger undocumented and/or child attendees.

1. It's okay to go for a little while and leave, or go to the rally and not go on the march, or march for a little while and then peel off.

2. You can bring a sign if you want, but you can also show up without a sign. There are often signs available, but you also don't have to carry one if you don't want, or if you get hand cramps, etc.

3. Wear comfortable shoes and casual clothes, bring a water bottle; in Minnesota both sunscreen and an umbrella are often good accessories.

4. This protest will probably still happen even if it's raining, unless it's like a super long downpour. Check MIRAC twitter if in doubt.

If you have often thought, "I wish I could go to a protest but I am nervous about it, uncertain of norms, feel weird, etc" this is probably a good one to cut your teeth on. If you're an anxious person, you can do sort of a "stop by the rally, then go get coffee if the anxiety grows on you" thing.

If you have friends who are looking for a way to show their feelings about this monstrous policy, please share this with them. (I mean, there are lots of other things to do - donate money, call senators, write letters - but if folks have been longing to do something public, this is a thing.)
posted by Frowner at 6:50 AM on June 15, 2018 [115 favorites]


Last night there was an older man standing at an intersection cheerfully waving around a sign that said TRUMP WON FAIR AND SQUARE.

You have been blessed to encounter the wandering spirit-archetype of the Republican voter. In case you see it again: it's customary to scream OBUMMER DID 9/11 as an offering of appeasement to ensure the coming of the Lib Tears rains.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:52 AM on June 15, 2018 [13 favorites]


Am wondering if anyone is profiting financially from the new concentration camps being set up.

Daily Beast: Defense Contractors Cashing In on Immigrant Kids’ Detention, including former CIA security contractor MVM, which actually had a guarding gig in Iraq cancelled over inadequacy protection.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:53 AM on June 15, 2018 [28 favorites]


That was an insane interview/gaggle, even by Trumpian standards. Did he say a single goddamn thing in that mess that wasn't either demonstrably a lie or completely reprehensible? "I liked Michael [Cohen]" and "I like ratings," I guess.
posted by marshmallow peep at 6:53 AM on June 15, 2018 [8 favorites]


Am wondering if anyone is profiting financially from the new concentration camps being set up.

do you really even need to ask?
posted by entropicamericana at 6:57 AM on June 15, 2018 [25 favorites]


"I liked Michael [Cohen]"

Liked? Past tense? *removes hat*

Listen Michael, we want you to tread very fucking carefully, because what he's going to do to you is going to be fucking disgusting, you hear us?
posted by petebest at 7:00 AM on June 15, 2018 [32 favorites]


Trump lies of Manafort: "Paul Manafort worked for me for a very short period of time...He worked for me, what, for 49 days or something?"

He worked for Trump for 144 days, from March 29, 2016 to August 19, 2016.


Bannon was only campaign head for 84 days.
posted by chris24 at 7:02 AM on June 15, 2018 [14 favorites]


Am wondering if anyone is profiting financially from the new concentration camps being set up. Hard to believe that opportunity would go unexploited.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:46 AM on June 15
[+] [!]


Fifth link in the FPP. tl/dr: a Corp called MVM from Virginia.

I heard on a podcast that raicestexas Is a site where you can see about doing something to help.
posted by From Bklyn at 7:03 AM on June 15, 2018 [4 favorites]


...in Minnesota both sunscreen and an umbrella are often good accessories.

Unlike Seattle...
/sarcasm
posted by y2karl at 7:10 AM on June 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


Something I'm wondering: Maybe family separation was intended all along as blackmail - the new immigration bill is so bad, and basically all it has that's not terrible is some weak-sauce stuff about Dreamers and "we will detain children and parents together", and that's if the wall gets funded and all this other horrible stuff gets done.

Is this just the GOP tactic? Do something genocidally monstrous and only offer to dial it back in exchange for almost-equally-monstrous concessions?

TBH I don't trust these fuckers, and I bet that whatever gets into law, they'll still be separating families because they're hateful and there's money in it, so I hope no one is fooled by this kind of bill.
posted by Frowner at 7:10 AM on June 15, 2018 [12 favorites]


Reporter: "You're defending now Kim Jong Un's human rights records. How can you do that?"

.@POTUS: "You know why? Because I don't want to see a nuclear weapon destroy you and your family."


In case you were wondering whether he imagines specific domestic enemies and their families being killed with nukes. You think he always imagines that they're somebody else's?
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:11 AM on June 15, 2018 [20 favorites]


Is this just the GOP tactic? Do something genocidally monstrous and only offer to dial it back in exchange for almost-equally-monstrous concessions?

Yes, but also they are really that monstrous. When you see immigrants as subhuman it is not only permissible but almost preferable to treat them like that, so your base won't ever even risk feeling empathy for them.

It's vile, it's a tactic, and I don't know how to fix it. Because fixing family separation IS a worthy goal for the Dems and we can't afford to treat it like a bargaining chip instead of a priority.
posted by lydhre at 7:14 AM on June 15, 2018 [13 favorites]


Reporter: "You're defending now Kim Jong Un's human rights records. How can you do that?"

.@POTUS: "You know why? Because I don't want to see a nuclear weapon destroy you and your family."


One-time Republican hero Ronald Reagan had no problem criticizing the human rights record of the Soviet Union, despite them being armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons.

Of course, that was back when Republicans were opposed to being dupes of Moscow.
posted by Gelatin at 7:15 AM on June 15, 2018 [72 favorites]




The clip also shows Stringer saying "we've made immigration is politically destabilizing"

FTFY, Stringer.
posted by Mental Wimp at 7:17 AM on June 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


"Good for us." Fuck Baquet and the Times.

Brian Stelter (CNN)
NYT editor @DeanBaquet: Trump has "made everybody care a lot about news, and I think people understand that they're seeing a big-deal news moment. And that's good for us."
posted by chris24 at 7:19 AM on June 15, 2018 [32 favorites]


When I try to explain to my status quo–embracing liberal Democrat friends that Trump used to abuse speed and shows clinical signs of cognitive impairment, I get brushed off. But then Trump goes on an extended bout of bad craziness in front of the cameras like this morning, and I have to wonder if I'm underestimating how bad this is.

Here's a worst-case scenario from Leverage creator Jon Rogers:
I was a comedian in the 90’s. I’ve seen the effect of every vice known to man. Hell, there was a club in Boston that would try to *pay* you in coke.

This is crazy - I KNOW it’s crazy - but Trump seriously looked like he was on the wrong end of a cocaine bender this morning.[...]

You don’t think I know how crazy this sounds? I know it can’t be what’s happening. Can it? Are they having senior coke parties at the White House? Is that why Guliani’s so manic and Kudlow’s Canada rant and then Kudlow had a heart attack oh shit OH SHIT—

He actually said he was up 25 hours at the Korea thing and he hates to travel to foreign countries and spends most of his weekends at his own properties and if this were ELEMENTARY Lucy Liu would raise an eyebrow and we’d cut to commercial.
Rogers, like a good comedian, is introducing points we need to consider seriously by couching them in jokey language. Trump's boast that he'd been awake for 25 hours—how, how at his age?—isn't enough to explain his bizarre behavior at the Singapore summit. If Trump relied on speed before to get him through some difficult business times (and weight gain), what was stopping him from getting a new 'scrip from Dr. Ronny Jackson? What's stopping him from getting one from Jackson's replacement?

But enough about that topic speculation—here's Mitch McConnell telling the Washington Examiner, “If the IG is through, why can’t the Mueller investigation finally wrap up? [...] What I think about the Mueller investigation is, they ought to wrap it up. It’s gone on seemingly forever and I don’t know how much more they think they can find out.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:21 AM on June 15, 2018 [41 favorites]


.@POTUS: "You know why? Because I don't want to see a nuclear weapon destroy you and your family."

After shushing her he goes back to bringing the boys back home from Korea:
"I have had so many people begging me: parents, mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, wherever I went, 'could you please get the remains of my boy back?' They're giving them back, nobody thought that was possible."
posted by kirkaracha at 7:25 AM on June 15, 2018 [11 favorites]


Reporter: "You're defending now Kim Jong Un's human rights records. How can you do that?"

.@POTUS: "You know why? Because I don't want to see a nuclear weapon destroy you and your family."


So, the takeaway message is....develop nukes, because then the US will appease you. Got it.
posted by nubs at 7:29 AM on June 15, 2018 [63 favorites]


here's Mitch McConnell telling the Washington Examiner, “If the IG is through, why can’t the Mueller investigation finally wrap up? [...] What I think about the Mueller investigation is, they ought to wrap it up. It’s gone on seemingly forever and I don’t know how much more they think they can find out.”

Oh, he probably knows; he just doesn't want to know.

As for the public calls to "wrap it up," Watergate lasted fouryears, Whitewater seven, and 538 doesn't even count the endless Congressional attempt to make the Benghazi molehill into a mountain.
posted by Gelatin at 7:29 AM on June 15, 2018 [35 favorites]


So, the takeaway message is....develop nukes, because then the US will appease you. Got it.

That was obvious after George W. Bush launched a war against the one member of the so-called "axis of evil" that didn't have a functional nuclear program.
posted by Gelatin at 7:30 AM on June 15, 2018 [16 favorites]


Also, let me just say fuck Glenn Greenwald, now and forever. You go on Hannity, you lose any right to say that you are part of the left.
posted by NoxAeternum at 7:34 AM on June 15, 2018 [51 favorites]


I want to note that the internment camp we've seen so far from journalists is for boys - to my knowledge, we haven't seen one that houses the girls yet. It may seem like a small problem to some, but it is almost guaranteed that the camp holding girls is not properly equipped to handle menstruation, let alone at a large scale. When talking to your representatives about keeping families together, please take a second to also ask them about this issue. For example: "What is the Senator/Congressperson doing to ensure that menstruating girls held in these camps have access to adequate facilities and supplies like pads, tampons, clean clothing, and private bathrooms? Do contracts with private vendors require the vendor to provide a minimum standard of care with respect to menstruation? When will the Senator/Congressperson introduce legislation addressing this issue? Has the Senator/Congressperson met with any groups to ensure that these supplies are provided by private donors in the interim?"
posted by melissasaurus at 7:35 AM on June 15, 2018 [109 favorites]


Also whatever cash the foundation had on hand isn't stuffed under a mattress; the Foundation would have been making money from its float.

What is this float you speak of? There was no float or at least very little.

You don't have to speculate. You can read the annual 990PF forms yourself. The Trump Foundation was quite tiny for a so-called billionaire. Less than half the money contributed to it was from Trump's pocket, which is highly unusual for a private foundation.

Most years the foundation took in less than a million dollars. Over its entire 20 or so year span, it only took in $18 million of which only $8 million was Trump's money. Many years Trump put not a dime of his own money into his foundation.

The foundation balance was usually less than $1 million and it may as well have been under a mattress because total annual investment income was a fraction of 1%, a couple thousand dollars a year. It was likely kept in a plain old business checking account for easy disbursement as a slush fund.
posted by JackFlash at 7:36 AM on June 15, 2018 [11 favorites]


Fox News: Why the media are acting like lemmings in warning of a Trump 'cult'

g a s l i g h t i n g
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:37 AM on June 15, 2018 [13 favorites]




I'm a doctor in a rich Atlanta suburb, who joined a group whose office had Fox News on in the waiting room 24/7. I'm still "the new guy," and I was really scared to ruffle feathers, but one day I changed it to the Travel Channel and asked the receptionist to politely tell patients who wanted to watch the news that they can change it to any station they want except for cable news. We've had one fella get angry enough with the new policy to raise a stink, but all in all I'm very happy with the decision!

I love my doctor at least partially because they keep the TV on HGTV, so people of all political stripes can watch other people tear down walls and argue about farm sinks.

A tall friend of mine (who could reach the waiting room TV at the car place) was personally thanked by another customer when he reached up and changed Fox to a sports channel. He doesn't even like sports, he just figured anything was better. And it was.

I think more of us should take the initiative on this, in the name of "nobody needs to be stressed by news while they're getting an oil change." You don't have to put it on MSNBC. Just put on a nature documentary or a cooking show.

If more waiting rooms had Great British Baking Show on, we might be a kinder, better nation.
posted by emjaybee at 7:41 AM on June 15, 2018 [94 favorites]


REPORTER: Did you dictate Don Jr's misleading statement about Trump Tower meeting?
TRUMP: "Let's not talk about it. You know what that is? It's irrelevant. It's a statement to the NYT. The phony, failing NYT. It's not a statement to a high tribunal of judges."


@nycsouthpaw
“When a defendant voluntarily offers an explanation or voluntarily makes some statement tending to show his innocence and it is later shown that the defendant knew that the statement or explanation was false, the jury may consider this as showing a consciousness of guilt on the part of the defendant since it is reasonable to infer that an innocent person does not usually find it necessary to invent or fabricate an explanation or statement tending to establish his innocence.” -typical jury instructions on false exculpatory statements
posted by chris24 at 7:46 AM on June 15, 2018 [85 favorites]


I love my doctor at least partially because they keep the TV on HGTV, so people of all political stripes can watch other people tear down walls and argue about farm sinks.

My psychiatrist's large practice does this as well, and fortunately everyone can scoff at professional brand influencers building luxury yurts in Bali, regardless of Personal Issues.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 7:47 AM on June 15, 2018 [20 favorites]


I’ve got the infrared transmitter and remote app on my phone so I can change the channel on some TVs surreptitiously. Highly recommended!
posted by rabbitrabbit at 7:49 AM on June 15, 2018 [55 favorites]


I have a number of questions that aren't really worth answering since Sessions is probably acting in bad faith, but:

Would Sessions' bible quote now constitute the policy of the entire Justice Department? Has it been used by the Justice Department before? By what process did he decide to use it as an argument, and why now? It's such a vague, general quote - if this is so core to how Sessions sees laws why was it not brought up during confirmation rather than now?
posted by lazugod at 7:59 AM on June 15, 2018 [4 favorites]


If more waiting rooms had Great British Baking Show on, we might be a kinder, better nation.

This is such a genius idea I am thisclose to starting a Kickstarter to fund a DVD-of-the-show drive to send to every waiting room in the country as an option for lobby screening.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:03 AM on June 15, 2018 [27 favorites]


Why people should not be surprised about Sessions
“Ultimately, freedom of speech is about ascertaining the truth,” Sessions, an Alabama Republican, told Horowitz’s audience on Nov. 14, 2014. “And if you don’t believe there’s a truth, you don’t believe in truth, if you’re an utter secularist, then how do we operate this government? How can we form a democracy of the kind I think you and I believe in… I do believe that we are a nation that, without God, there is no truth, and it’s all about power, ideology, advancement, agenda, not doing the public service.”
posted by adamvasco at 8:09 AM on June 15, 2018 [6 favorites]


The Vox video is 404-ing.
posted by BigBrooklyn at 8:12 AM on June 15, 2018


I do believe that we are a nation that, without God, there is no truth, and it’s all about power

On the one hand, it seems obvious to me that in order to believe this, to really, truly feel this as true, you have to lack almost all empathy and feeling of connection with other people. If the only two guiding principles you can perceive are either blind obedience to authority or naked pursuit of power, it is because you do not have an internal moral compass of your own. No feelings of warmth, of compassion, of love to guide your beliefs and choices, just a cold, barren place where fear looms so large that you try to fill it with power. The world only makes sense if you can place yourself above others; it’s only safe if you can hurt others.

And on the other hand, this would mean fully one third of this country is so damaged and hollow as to be unrecognizable.

There are no good hands.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:19 AM on June 15, 2018 [32 favorites]


If more waiting rooms had Great British Baking Show on, we might be a kinder, better nation.

Troof. When we had to bring in my old man to Emerg on Christmas Eve, we changed the channel to the fireplace broadcast. That did a LOT to improve the mood of the room. (And why don't they have the fireplace channel as a permanent thing, anyway?)

This mindless banter is brought to you by my brain itching for the news that Manafort is going to jail. What is the freakin' holdup? *lights cigarette*
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:19 AM on June 15, 2018 [15 favorites]


Regarding waiting room TVs. I’m just a lowly resident and therefore have no authority to comment on such shit even though it makes me crazy when I see Fox News on in the waiting room I have to pass through frequently. I’ve never actually asked who controls it but I assume the patients can change it if they want because even though it’s on Fox News a lot, sometimes it’s on something nicer like a music channel. (In fact it seems like cable news has been on less often than usual these days, which is encouraging, although it’s still on way more than I am comfortable with.)

My point being, dear patients, YES PLEASE request/ demand/ initiate channel changes! In lots of cases you’re probably the one with the most power in that particular situation. And if enough people complain maybe it’ll lead to more proactive channel- choosing by whoever runs the office and may simply not care what’s on or realize why it’s disgusting.
posted by robotdevil at 8:20 AM on June 15, 2018 [16 favorites]


Perry Bacon & Dhrumil Mehta, 538: How Trump’s Popularity Is Holding Up, By State
It often seems as if American politics is split between two immutable camps: Trump loyalists and Trump haters, and neither group ever changes its mind about anything. But the data here suggests more fluidity — and in Trump’s case, the movement is against him. Trump does have near-ironclad support (close to 90 percent approval, according to Gallup) among self-described Republicans nationally. But a Gallup poll conducted last year found that only about 40 percent of U.S. adults identify themselves as either Republicans or leaning toward the GOP. So that remaining 60 percent of the U.S. that identifies as Democrats and independents is likely where Trump has grown more unpopular.

...

Eight of the 10 states...where Trump’s net approval declined the most are places where the president lost in 2016. But his popularity has plunged more in ruby-red Utah (-27 points), Oklahoma (-23) and Montana (-21) than in swingy Colorado (-17) and blue California (-15). (Trump of course started with pretty lackluster numbers California and Colorado, so he had more room to fall in the red states.) That said, his numbers have held up much better in states such as South Carolina (-11), West Virginia (-10) and South Dakota (-7).

...

The 10 states were Trump’s numbers are closest to where they were in January 2017 include Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina...these are fairly inelastic states overall, meaning that they have very few swing voters. All five states have large black populations that overwhelmingly vote Democratic and white populations that overwhelmingly vote Republican. Take Georgia, for example: Trump started off there with 53 percent approval and 35 percent disapproval, and it looks like the state’s Democrats have united in hating him over the last 17 months (taking him to 44 percent disapproval) but Republicans haven’t moved, so his approval rate is at 51 percent.
Their analysis is mostly based on state-by-state chronological data from Morning Consult.
posted by nangar at 8:20 AM on June 15, 2018 [20 favorites]


First, they came for the asylum seekers.
Then, they came for the citizens.

From Elizabeth McLaughlin, One of our followers sent us this letter she received TODAY from Homeland Security after applying for a passport. She is a US citizen.

She wrote: “I served my country proudly in the United States Army. I am a college graduate. I have a BS in social psychology and was working towards another degree until hurricane Harvey hit. I have worked several verifiable jobs . . . I have recently been employed as a counselor and a highly respected Parole Officer and Case Manager. It seems to me that the letter is implying that they believe that I am not a US citizen . . . My wife and I are not sure what this means in trump's America. I am getting my affairs in order quickly just in case they come [for] me"

ICE isn’t just coming for folks crossing the border. They’re coming for ANYONE they believe may not belong here, no matter how spurious the facts. Born near the US-Mexico border in a midwife birth that delayed the filing of your birth certificate? Get ready. Fascism is here.

Fascism is here. It's been here for a while.
posted by Dashy at 8:26 AM on June 15, 2018 [125 favorites]


...in Minnesota both sunscreen and an umbrella are often good accessories.

Unlike Seattle...
/sarcasm


Joke is fair, but unlike Seattle, Minnesota is showing a protest against family separation and I'm not seeing one in Seattle. I'm not seeing any in Washington state at all, and it's really bothering me.

When the Muslim ban hit, people clogged the airports and the streets. Donations started flowing to groups fighting the whole mess. We were all on a hair trigger at that point, so people reacted. This is...I don't want to get into comparing one atrocity to another, but this seems at least comparably awful. And yet where are we?

I don't have the skills to organize a protest. I don't remotely know where to begin. But I know those people are out there, I know it can be done because we've seen it again and again. This shit should have us out in the streets. Where is everyone?
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:28 AM on June 15, 2018 [9 favorites]


darkstar: "A Republican lawmaker is being criticized for saying "there aren't enough white kids to go around" when discussing integration in schools at an event in northern Arizona. "

It should be pointed out that the AZ GOP and gov Ducey have called for Stringer to resign.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:35 AM on June 15, 2018 [6 favorites]


I have a number of questions that aren't really worth answering since Sessions is probably acting in bad faith, but:

No, he's not.

When the representative of the Powers That Be steps forward and cites Romans 13 ("The powers that be are ordained of God.") he is very sincerely saying "respect my authority or you will go to Hell."

Romans 13 says nothing good or bad about any particular government action, past, present, future, or hypothetical. It just says "obey Caesar."

And when Caesar says it, it means "obey me."

There is nothing more to it.
posted by ocschwar at 8:35 AM on June 15, 2018 [30 favorites]


Judge hasn't decided where Manafort goes, but Manafort has pleaded not guilty to witness tampering
posted by Twain Device at 8:37 AM on June 15, 2018 [1 favorite]


Holy SHIT, that letter. "You were born near the Mexican border so document your entire life or we'll refuse to acknowledge your citizenship."

The surprise is more that they've reached this point so quickly than that they want to do it (because they were never coy about the racism, just gaslighting-ly defensive about getting called out on it) but still. Fucking hell.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:37 AM on June 15, 2018 [51 favorites]


Regarding that letter that Elizabeth McLaughlin received - The very first bit of identification that they are asking for are baptism / confirmation / other ceremony information. Expressed differently, the very first question they are using to determine citizenship is based on religion.

Outside of that, I'm a US citizen who was born in KY, and I couldn't answer all of these questions. This line of questioning is something that could easily be used to arbitrarily deny passports or even citizenship, as it's virtually impossible for many to answer all of them, and no matter how much you answer, it's up to the reviewer to make the call.
posted by MysticMCJ at 8:38 AM on June 15, 2018 [90 favorites]


It should be pointed out that the AZ GOP and gov Ducey have called for Stringer to resign.

Vote to expel him you spineless cowards.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:39 AM on June 15, 2018 [17 favorites]


The very first bit of identification that they are asking for are baptism / confirmation / other ceremony information. Expressed differently, the very first question they are using to determine citizenship is based on religion.

The historical comparison you're thinking about right now is appropriate.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:39 AM on June 15, 2018 [49 favorites]


nangar: "Their analysis is mostly based on state-by-state chronological data from Morning Consult."

Morning Consult tends to be Trump leaning, but it's still worthwhile looking at these for trend lines.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:44 AM on June 15, 2018




LOCK HIM UP
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 8:46 AM on June 15, 2018 [41 favorites]




A Man, A Jail, Manafort
posted by tonycpsu at 8:48 AM on June 15, 2018 [84 favorites]


"SCOOP: A fmr top CIA interrogator is training ICE's deportation agents in interrogation methods, documents show.

He was hired *3 days* after the Trump admin authorized its policy of separating undocumented families caught crossing the border."
posted by lazugod at 8:50 AM on June 15, 2018 [49 favorites]


Happy Mana-Friday!
posted by Fleebnork at 8:50 AM on June 15, 2018 [3 favorites]


Cook rating updates:

TX-32 (Sessions) | Lean R => Toss-up

and governor races:

IA (R – Reynolds) |​ Likely R => Toss-up
MA (R – Baker) | Likely R => Solid R
NH (R – Sununu) | Lean R => Likely R
OH (R – OPEN) |​ Lean R => Toss Up
PA (D – Wolf) | Lean D => Likely D
VT (R – Scott) | Likely R => Solid R
posted by Chrysostom at 8:50 AM on June 15, 2018 [15 favorites]


Yay, a consequence!
posted by Space Kitty at 8:51 AM on June 15, 2018 [50 favorites]



Inside Casa Padre, the converted Walmart where the U.S. is holding nearly 1,500 immigrant children
(Michael E. Miller, Emma Brown and Aaron C. Davis for Washington Post, June 14, 2018)
BROWNSVILLE, Tex. — For more than a year, the old Walmart along the Mexican border here has been a mystery to those driving by on the highway. In place of the supercenter’s trademark logo hangs a curious sign: “Casa Padre.”

But behind the sliding doors is a bustling city unto itself, equipped with classrooms, recreation centers and medical examination rooms. Casa Padre now houses more than 1,400 immigrant boys in federal custody. While most are teenagers who entered the United States alone, dozens of others — often younger — were forcibly separated from their parents at the border by a new Trump administration “zero tolerance” policy.
Emphasis mine, because this element is ALL ON TRUMP. The follow-up (or stunning lack there-of) is on Congress.

And it looks like they turned off the extra AC and spruced the place up for a public visit. Now get someone to talk to the kids a week later and see how presentable it is then.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:53 AM on June 15, 2018 [27 favorites]


"Casa Padre" is really odd spanish (literally "House Father"), akin to saying "Mucho bueno". Weird.
posted by Omon Ra at 8:59 AM on June 15, 2018 [4 favorites]


This shit should have us out in the streets. Where is everyone?

I’ve been looking for a Bay Area protest and so far, unsuccessful. I don’t know if people are just protested out or what.
posted by greermahoney at 9:00 AM on June 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


We are definitely not a Trump cult (Alexandra Petri, WaPo)
We are not praising him because we are rudderless and terrified and adrift and have lost sight of our principles. We are praising him because he is right about everything, and he always golfs under par, and his children are gorgeous and deserve power, and his hands are of course the right size. Those who cross him will come to rue it. […]

To those who say his administration is corrupt, I say, that is just what the people who report facts want you to believe, and we know what Donald Trump thinks about them. To those who say, wait, didn’t EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt use government employees to find him moisturizer from a hotel, I say, as House Speaker Paul Ryan did: What, I literally cannot hear you, who is Scott Pruitt, probably this is a misunderstanding, I know nothing about any of this! […]

There is nothing inconsistent or unprincipled in our embrace of this man, because he embodies every virtue, except virtues we have previously said we valued — like marital fidelity and probity and not making excuses for white supremacists. Speaking of which, we have literally no idea why all of these white supremacists are showing up now, and it has nothing to do with Trump, unless it does, in which case, it is a good thing. But they do not represent us, except in the literal sense that they have been nominated to be our representatives, and speak for us.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:02 AM on June 15, 2018 [38 favorites]


L.A. is doing a lot. We have some really heavy hitting immigrant rights groups here.
posted by Sophie1 at 9:02 AM on June 15, 2018 [3 favorites]


@PopeHat:
Manfort's detention is an opportunity to make a point about conspiratorial thinking regarding prosecutions. Claims by Team Trump that the prosecutions here are a political conspiracy -- like Dinesh D'Souza's claims -- aren't unusual. They're the norm in white collar cases.

In my experience, "privileged" people -- affluent or relatively affluent, college educated, with "good" backgrounds -- generally experience criminal prosecution as conspiratorial. These are not conspiracy-minded people to begin with; they're regular people. But they perceive the standard operation of the criminal justice system as conspiratorial. They see common developments in the case as evidence that they are being singled out for special treatment by a malicious foe within the prosecutor's office.

They look at the routine actual operation -- not what they show on TV -- of the criminal justice system, and think "this is Kafkaesque and sick and outrageous and unfair. There has to be a reason. They must be out to get ME." They cannot conceive that the system, in a country they love that has given them so much, treats people this way regularly. So they conclude that prosecutors have a bias against them or are being directed by powerful people with bias. How else could they be treated like this?

By contrast, when I've represented poor people -- people who grew up in neighborhoods with frequent police contact, people of color, etc. -- they do not see conspiracy. They see the things done to them as the system working as usual.

In my mind, this is similar to the psychology that leads us to JFK & 9/11 conspiracy theories. A malevolent conspiracy is easier, more comfortable, to believe than believing this can just happen.
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:05 AM on June 15, 2018 [112 favorites]


Now he's going to be... Man-a-Cell.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:05 AM on June 15, 2018 [4 favorites]


Judge Orders Paul Manafort Detained Amid Witness Tampering Allegations (NPR, June 15, 2018)
A federal judge ruled Friday that Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, must be jailed ahead of his trial in connection with alleged witness tampering.

Manafort, prosecutors and others were due in court in Washington, D.C., following charges that Manafort and a Russian associate may have asked future witnesses in the case to lie to the jury.
...
His lobbying firm, Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly — the Stone was Roger Stone, who is also reportedly under investigation by the special counsel — was included in a 1992 report by the Center for Public Integrity titled "The Torturers' Lobby." (subtitle: "How Human Rights-Abusing Nations Are Represented in Washington" -- on Scribd)
He's going to jail because he can't be trusted to not tamper with witnesses if left on his own -- between Feb. 23 and April, Manafort and Kilimnik "knowingly and intentionally attempted to corruptly persuade another person, to wit: Persons D1 and D2, with intent to influence, delay, and prevent the testimony of any person in an official proceeding." This is after he was co-writing an op-ed while out on bail in November 2017 with a Russian who has ties to the Russian intelligence service and prosecutors tried to revoke his bail back in December 2017. It's as if there's something or some things he really doesn't want coming to light.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:08 AM on June 15, 2018 [16 favorites]


“I don’t know what bill he was talking about,” one R said.

Here's a clue, doofus. He wants the one that gives him the most money for a wall. The rest is uninteresting, boring details he doesn't care about.
posted by JackFlash at 9:08 AM on June 15, 2018 [7 favorites]


"SCOOP: A fmr top CIA interrogator is training ICE's deportation agents in interrogation methods, documents show.

I think it’s important to describe these things accurately, in plain English, so: they are training ICE agents to torture people.
posted by schadenfrau at 9:09 AM on June 15, 2018 [89 favorites]


I hope they perp walk him so the Post can run with MANAFORT IN MANACLES
posted by uncleozzy at 9:10 AM on June 15, 2018 [15 favorites]


Three US marshals led Manafort out of the courtroom into the prisoner holding area immediately after the judge's ruling. He was not placed in handcuffs. Before he disappeared through the door, turned toward his wife and supporters and gave a stilted wave.

Minutes later, a marshal returned to give his wife, Kathleen, still standing in the courtroom's front row, Manafort's wallet, belt and the burgundy tie he wore Friday.


I hope they thoroughly checked that tie for Manafort larvae and pupae.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:12 AM on June 15, 2018 [13 favorites]


I hope he starts spilling the beans so we can get the headline MANA TAPPED.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:12 AM on June 15, 2018 [29 favorites]


@ZoeTillman: Judge to Paul Manafort: "You have abused the trust placed in you six months ago." On rejected Manafort's lawyer's request for a clearer "no contact" order in lieu of going to jail: "This is not middle school. I can't take his cell phone."

Greg Sargent, How the conventions of political journalism help spread Trump’s lies, in which pretty much the entire press corps lines up to spread lies about the IG report.
Trump’s allies have widely cited the inspector general’s findings about the now-infamous texts between an FBI agent and lawyer — which do show animus towards Trump’s candidacy — as not just proof of anti-Trump bias at the FBI during the Clinton investigation, but also to bolster Trump’s argument that the Mueller probe into Russia-Trump campaign collusion is suspect.

Many news accounts inadvertently grant these arguments credibility, not just by quoting them, but also by claiming as fact that the conduct in question actually does lend support to those arguments. Yes, they also convey that the inspector general’s overall conclusion undercuts the Trumpian narrative. But the straddle itself is the problem. It showcases a convention often relied upon in political journalism — the use of the “lends fodder” formulation to float false claims alongside true ones — that has to go.
Trump's batshit press conference this morning (which is worth watching if you can stomach it instead of quotes, to get the full effect) is another example: hundreds of tweets quoting his unrebutted nonsense.
posted by zachlipton at 9:13 AM on June 15, 2018 [27 favorites]


Mod note: I'm gonna give y'all like three more minutes to get the Manafort puns out of your system and then I need you to button it up.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:13 AM on June 15, 2018 [71 favorites]


As The Scandals Mount, Conservatives Turn On Scott Pruitt (NPR, June 14, 2018)
"PRUITT BAD JUDGMENT HURTING @POTUS, GOTTA GO," tweeted influential conservative talk radio host and Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham on Wednesday.

"It just doesn't look good. If you want to drain the swamp, you got to have people in it who forego personal benefits and don't send your aides around doing personal errands on the taxpayer dime, otherwise you make everyone else look bad," said Ingraham on her radio show on Wednesday.

"All these things that are coming are really not good things," said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla. in an interview with Ingraham. "I've kind of taken the position that if that doesn't stop, I'm going to be forced to be in a position where I'm going to say, 'Scott you're not doing your job.'"
It looks like Inhofe is a firm believer in the McCain school of politics - Being Very Concerned is Good Enough.

DEEDS NOT WORDS.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:13 AM on June 15, 2018 [17 favorites]


(manafart)
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:16 AM on June 15, 2018 [38 favorites]


Like MANA from heaven! Made it in just under the wire!!!!
posted by Sophie1 at 9:17 AM on June 15, 2018 [6 favorites]


I’ve been living here 13 years and I still do not understand why the fuck MA can’t seem to run a credible Democrat for governor. Why are we giving up already, goddamnit??
posted by lydhre at 9:17 AM on June 15, 2018 [6 favorites]


"It just doesn't look good. If you want to drain the swamp, you got to have people in it who forego personal benefits and don't send your aides around doing personal errands on the taxpayer dime, otherwise you make everyone else look bad," said Ingraham on her radio show on Wednesday.

Yeah, it's like, so weird that Pruitt just showed up one day at the EPA and started spending taxpayer money on his own aggrandizement. It isn't like Trump had anything to do with his presence there at all.
posted by Gelatin at 9:18 AM on June 15, 2018 [13 favorites]


I hope he starts spilling the beans so we can get the headline MANA TAPPED.

MANA-FLIPPED, surely.

Re: Pruitt, EPA this morning sent out a picture of him signing a new Clean Water Act rule at the Resolute Desk next to a smiling Kumquat In Chief, so the Audience Of One is still happy with him.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:18 AM on June 15, 2018 [4 favorites]


In my experience, "privileged" people -- affluent or relatively affluent, college educated, with "good" backgrounds -- generally experience criminal prosecution as conspiratorial. These are not conspiracy-minded people to begin with; they're regular people. But they perceive the standard operation of the criminal justice system as conspiratorial. They see common developments in the case as evidence that they are being singled out for special treatment by a malicious foe within the prosecutor's office.

Atom Eyes: thank you for the link to that tweetstorm by @PopeHat. (I'm gradually losing my hatred for tweetstorms. See what this administration does to people!) I would add that this kind of thinking, seeing Evil Conspiracies To Take A Good Man Down, applies to some of the men revealed to be harassers/abusers as well. How very dare this happen to Affluent White Men? Roger Stone did it! Meanie feminists falsely accuse! No, YOU did it, Handsy, and are suffering Consequences maybe for the first time in your life.

I am convinced that if the same standards for wrongdoing (or alleged wrongdoing) applied to white people who are middle-class and up, we'd see: Major, major criminal justice reform, and a lot less corruption.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 9:20 AM on June 15, 2018 [18 favorites]


Joke is fair, but unlike Seattle, Minnesota is showing a protest against family separation and I'm not seeing one in Seattle
There was a protest just a few days ago at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac, attended by Governor Inslee, Attorney General Ferguson, and U.S. Rep. Jayapal (among others).
posted by mbrubeck at 9:21 AM on June 15, 2018 [3 favorites]


P.S.: He's Manafucked, and will hopefully be Manaflipping like a pancake soon!
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 9:22 AM on June 15, 2018 [11 favorites]


An American editorial cartoonist has been fired for skewering Trump. He likely won’t be the last. (Ann Telnaes, WaPo)
I did worry that editorial cartooning would be the next target of a president so enamored of visuals. That didn’t happen. In retrospect, I’m fairly certain it’s because Trump doesn’t read; he gets all his news from the television (Fox News) and uses Twitter as his megaphone. And I’m guessing his staff doesn’t cut out cartoons and tape them to the White House refrigerator so he will see them as he goes for his regular two scoops of ice cream. But with the firing of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette cartoonist Rob Rogers, we now see that suppressing a free press can be accomplished without an authoritarian president’s orders. Michael Cohen isn’t the only “fixer” Trump has at his disposal.

Rogers has been the editorial cartoonist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for more than 25 years. Most working cartoonists have had an occasional idea spiked by his or her editor. But in the past few weeks, editorial director Keith Burris and publisher John Robinson Block have refused to publish six of Rogers’s cartoons, all criticizing Trump or his policies. Block and Burris have also rejected many of Rogers’s rough sketch ideas for several months.

This wasn’t the first time Block has used his position to defend President Trump’s actions; in January he demanded an editorial run in the Post-Gazette and the Toledo Blade (where he is also the publisher) supporting Trump’s use of the term “shithole countries.”
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:23 AM on June 15, 2018 [59 favorites]


@MarshallCohen: In addition to the Manafort news, Mueller scored a small win today in the lesser-watched Internet Research Agency case. Judge rejected an attempt by one of the Russian companies to review the grand jury instructions, which they claimed were faulty. The judge passed.

Trump, spewing nonsense at his weird press gaggle thing, and demonstrating he's swallowed every bad-faith argument about the IG report completely: "If you read the IG report I’ve been totally exonerated. As far as I’m concerned"

@adamdavidson:
Today, with coverage of the OIG report and the bad faith lying response by Trump and his people, I feel, ever more strongly, that the media has a real problem in telling the big, clear, obvious story of our age.

The President is under investigation for the most shocking of crimes. There is ample proof that his campaign, probably with his knowledge, colluded with Russia in many ways. He and his sycophants fight this by lying. The OIG report is NOT an important referendum on Mueller in any way. No reading of it could suggest it is. Yet, wise to news people's tired practices, Trump and Republicans know that they can fuel yet another day of baseless debate about Mueller.

I don't have an obvious solution, other than don't publish absurd stories like normally good @pdacosta's piece today. And don't publish Trump and GOP lying assertions as fact. But how do we cover a deep, clear story that doesn't have the daily incremental beats we crave. This is why we created @planetmoney. It is a model, I think, of how to do engaging, exciting, ongoing reporting about deep stories that aren't well told in shorter, incremental ways. One message to reporters is this: your editors are pushing you for daily incrementalism and volume. But you will become more famous and more successful if you actually give your readers, listeners, viewers substantive, deep, context-rich reporting.

I have done thousands of incremental stories in my career. But it's the handful of deep, long-term, non-incremental stories that really helped people make sense of complexity that have given me far more opportunities, advancement, even money. So, reporters: ignore your editors! Think of your readers, listeners, viewers. They don't want incrementalism. They don't want to read about stupid lies about a report. They want you to help them make sense of the world.
----

@TomNamako:
You can hear Trump calling a female reporter off-screen “obnoxious” here:

He points to someone.

“Quiet," he says.

[lots of reporter cross-talk]

Trump leans over and says to someone, “She’s so…she’s so obnoxious.”
He was reportedly pointing at Weijia Jiang (CBS News): "If asking tough questions makes her obnoxious, so be it."
posted by zachlipton at 9:25 AM on June 15, 2018 [71 favorites]


So, with this talk of Cohen maybe cooperating (which is seen by some as a signal to Trump) it makes me wonder how much information he could be compelled to testify about if he did get a pardon. We may get a lot of court time trying to figure out the limits of the 5th amendment.
posted by azpenguin at 9:25 AM on June 15, 2018 [1 favorite]


I'm an atheist and definite believer in separating church and state. If a holy book had to be a basis for law, well, the Bible is full of contradictions and lots of awful ideas, so pass on that.

All that said, the gist of its instructions for treating foreigners when they visit your country is pretty consistent. There's not just some out-of-context quote where you squint and maybe the bleeding hearts are right; there's plenty of Isiah, Leviticus, Exodus, and New Testament passages that exhort complete, total hospitality. (The text also endorses violent xenophobia against the foreigners not in your country -- like I said, inconsistent and often awful.)

I see a similar consistency to Jesus's stance on the class system. Although he doesn't outline some kind of massive social safety net program (probably because the concept wasn't around for him to consider), he's very obviously against wealth accumulation and in favor of helping the poor. He says it over and over; he couldn't be clearer.

So bearing those things in mind, along with my awareness of right-wing alternate-reality-generation mechanisms, something I've pondered a lot lately is: Why haven't conservatives successfully appropriated Jesus in full? It may seem obvious that they have -- their Jesus is white, they talk about him constantly, and "Christian" has long ago become wrapped up, identity-wise, with "conservative".

But what I'm getting at is this: When someone has a bumper sticker saying "Who would Jesus bomb?", or someone brings Jesus into a conversation about how we should treat people in desperate circumstances, you immediately know the subtext. You know you're dealing with someone whose is basically liberal and whose Jesus is basically progressive. Conservatives never slap a "Who would Jesus bomb?" sticker on their car as a show of support for bombing countries. A poster saying "Jesus opposed high taxes on the job-creating rich" or "Jesus thought poor people were lazy and ungrateful" is recognizable satire even in Red America. (I think? It's not an experiment I'm willing to try. This phenomenon is fuzzier if we use the word "Bible" rather than "Jesus", so maybe that's key.)

By contrast, conservatives really do have an alternate-reality version of Martin Luther King Jr. If people are talking about Black Lives Matter and someone says "I believe that MLK would say..." you can't be sure how they'll end the sentence. Is their MLK going to be the Republican version whose entire message, apparently, was "Enough with the race stuff"? Or the real-life social and economic radical who obviously would support today's racial civil rights movements?

The discrepancy gets weirder when you consider that MLK was of course so much more recent, which means (1) that we can be even more confident, history-wise, about the things he said and did (I think "Jesus" may well be an amalgam of different messiah-type figures) and (2) that American conservatism was around to vilify him during his lifetime.

That even conservatives know how mixing their philosophies with "Jesus" requires shameless rationalization and never making eye contact with their own deity... it's kind of bewildering. But as long as it remains the case, it's a powerful rhetorical tool in our pockets.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:26 AM on June 15, 2018 [18 favorites]


To reiterate: I will eat a gluten free Thing with Words on it if I’m wrong, but: Manafort can’t flip without risking the lives of everyone he loves, so he’s not flipping. He’s going to jail for the rest of his life. Silently.

I am convinced that if the same standards for wrongdoing (or alleged wrongdoing) applied to white people who are middle-class and up, we'd see: Major, major criminal justice reform, and a lot less corruption.

Agreed. But also I think the various supremacies, and the resultant hundreds of years of crimes against humanity, are the ur-corruptions in this country. They are the root. Once you have the mental machinery in place to justify that level of obscenity, everything else is a piece of cake.

Time to rip it out by the root.
posted by schadenfrau at 9:28 AM on June 15, 2018 [11 favorites]


There was a protest just a few days ago at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac, attended by Governor Inslee, Attorney General Ferguson, and U.S. Rep. Jayapal (among others).

1) Glad that happened
2) How do people know these things are happening so they know when to show up?
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:28 AM on June 15, 2018 [3 favorites]


Walter Shaub (fmr Dir. Office Government Ethics)
Sen. Graham just admitted on CNN to Kate Bolduan that the goal of ripping terrified children from their desperate parents is deterrence. I’ve been saying all along that the plan is to commit sufficiently horrific atrocities to scare people away. This is state sponsored terrorism.
Kate Bolduan: The President could fix this with a phone call.

Sen. Lindsey Graham: Yeah but that just incentivizes more illegal immigration.

Bolduan: Are you sure?

Graham: Yeah I'm sure. I'm sure that people are going to be less likely to bring their kids to America if they get separated than if they live together and get released into the country.
posted by chris24 at 9:31 AM on June 15, 2018 [77 favorites]


"If you read the IG report I’ve been totally exonerated. As far as I’m concerned"


Yeah, well, as far as he’s concerned, he’s also been totally exonerated by The Story of Sinuhe, the Apple Software License Agreement, the assembly instructions for the Billy bookcase, and that one cloud shaped like a poodle, so...
posted by darkstar at 9:34 AM on June 15, 2018 [32 favorites]


Graham: Yeah I'm sure. I'm sure that people are going to be less likely to bring their kids to America if they get separated than if they live together and get released into the country.

“If you don't like me working with President Trump to make the world a better place, I don't give a shit,” Graham said Friday morning during an interview with CNN.

OK, then I won't give a shit if you get what you deserve.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:35 AM on June 15, 2018 [62 favorites]


2) How do people know these things are happening so they know when to show up?

Here in NY, in addition to following organizations and organizers doing this work on twitter and other social media platforms, many groups also use opt-in based text messaging systems.

I got a text yesterday from United We Dream in anticipation of a SCOTUS ruling on the Muslim ban - it included links to info about protests.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 9:35 AM on June 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


I’ve been looking for a Bay Area protest and so far, unsuccessful. I don’t know if people are just protested out or what.

I cannot link to Twitter from here, but Rebecca Solnit is helping to organize a protest today at 4PM, at the ICE field office at 630 Sansome Street in San Francisco.
posted by suelac at 9:36 AM on June 15, 2018 [16 favorites]



1) Glad that happened
2) How do people know these things are happening so they know when to show up?



To be fair, in Minnesota no one organized anything for the national #FamiliesBelongTogether day, I think ours is basically that, only on a weekend and with a little more notice.

1. Next time there is a national day of protest and no one here has organized anything, I personally am going to organize something, even if it is just me and, like, three people. Better something than nothing. I would do this by plugging into the "national day of..." infrastructure and just posting my event, keeping an eye on it to make sure that merging it with a bigger one wouldn't make sense. Before I posted my event, I would line up friends who would go with me so that it would be at least a tiny group.

2. If you want to plug into something, start by following the facebook or twitter of whatever local immigrants' rights orgs you can find on the google. Add things to follow as you see them reposted. This will give you a better sense of the local actors. Also, you can just ask them - I was chatting with a friend and found out about a local county-level anti-ICE project that wasn't super well promoted but has a lot of good policy stuff.

You can also google "[location] immigrants rights protest" and the news coverage will probably tell you who organized the protest. It looks like groups called Northwest Detention Center Resistance and Mijente organized the recent one in Seattle.

I am seeing a huge but solvable problem on this issue and similar ongoing policy disasters - there is poor communication even among activist groups and different activist social circles, never mind trying to reach out to people who would like to start participating. The problem is that facebook and twitter self-segregate unless you're really active in searching, but people just put stuff on the twitters and think they're good. We need other methods - partly a return to flyering, for one thing - it used to be that if you didn't know what was going on, you'd just head over to whatever the liberal part of town was, whether the library bulletin board or the student district, and there would be paper flyers that any old person could read regardless of who they knew.
posted by Frowner at 9:37 AM on June 15, 2018 [20 favorites]


Thank you, Suelac. I have the info. Appreciate it.
posted by greermahoney at 9:38 AM on June 15, 2018 [1 favorite]


Kate Bolduan: The President could fix this with a phone call.

Sen. Lindsey Graham: Yeah but that just incentivizes more illegal immigration.


Note that Graham just undercut the lie that Democrats are somehow responsibile for "not fixing the law that forces them to do it." (Which the press should realize is phony, anyway, since Republicans control both houses of Congress.)

But, for what seems like the millionth time, they're doing it to asylum seekers too, and seeking asylum is -- and ought to be -- a totally legal process.
posted by Gelatin at 9:42 AM on June 15, 2018 [22 favorites]




Zachary Cohen (CNN)
Sec. Mattis: "Putin seeks to shatter NATO. He aims to diminish the appeal of the western democratic model and attempts to undermine America's moral authority, his actions are designed not to challenge our arms at this point but to undercut and compromise our belief in our ideals"

---

Cool. Now do your boss.
posted by chris24 at 9:51 AM on June 15, 2018 [39 favorites]


He just did, though.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:52 AM on June 15, 2018 [51 favorites]


NPR: A Texas Prosecutor On Immigrant Family Separations

Steve Fucking Inskeep soft-balling a regime OverThug and giving him all the airtime he needs to deceive and obfuscate. Even the language in the title: "Immigrant Family Separations" (instead of, say, "Child Detention Camps") is clear minimization. Your occasional reminder that NPR is controlled opposition.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:55 AM on June 15, 2018 [19 favorites]


What the everloving fuck? WSJ, Behind the Scenes at G-7 Meetings, Allies Dismayed by Trump’s Jabs. We've got calling Juncker a "brutal killer" thing already ("I think he meant it as a compliment but I’m not so sure"), but this is new:
At one point, Mr. Trump brought up migration as a big problem for Europe and then told Mr. Abe, “Shinzo, you don’t have this problem, but I can send you 25 million Mexicans and you’ll be out of office very soon,” according to the senior EU official who was in the room. A sense of irritation with Mr. Trump could be felt, “but everyone tried to be rational and calm,” the person said.

The EU official said at another point, in a discussion over Iran and terrorism, Mr. Trump verbally jabbed at Mr. Macron, “You must know about this, Emmanuel, because all the terrorists are in Paris,’” the senior official said.
He thinks he can send Japan 25 million Mexicans? I don't. What.
posted by zachlipton at 9:58 AM on June 15, 2018 [34 favorites]


lydhre: "I’ve been living here 13 years and I still do not understand why the fuck MA can’t seem to run a credible Democrat for governor. Why are we giving up already, goddamnit??"

I think it's actually kind of in the self-interest of power brokers in the General Court (the legislature) to have it this way. The legislature is firmly in the hands of the Democrats for the foreseeable future. When the governor is a Democrat, a lot of power flows to him, and away from the legislature. You're just supporting the governor. When the governor is a Republican, on the other hand, legislative leaders become very important - you're blocking the governor, you're negotiating with the governor, when you run for re-election, you can contrast yourself with him.

It's stupid, but Massachusetts has some pretty...non-constituent focused...politicians.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:00 AM on June 15, 2018 [11 favorites]


I think that's supposed to mean "If you had 25 million Mexicans (read: illegal immigrants, because Trump's a racist) in your country the people would vote you out and replace you with a Japanese version of me." Not that he believes he can personally export Hispanic people.

I think.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:00 AM on June 15, 2018 [19 favorites]


He thinks he can send Japan 25 million Mexicans? I don't. What.

It's the "millions of Illegals voting" horseshit that he latched onto after the election to explain losing the popular vote.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:01 AM on June 15, 2018 [5 favorites]


In my experience, "privileged" people -- affluent or relatively affluent, college educated, with "good" backgrounds -- generally experience criminal prosecution as conspiratorial.

...Which is why for me, the most delicious part of Manafort's facing criminal charges and going to jail is that he's being unapologetically treated somewhat like a normal, no-name, everyday person. Sure, even his prosecution and imprisonment reflect his privilege (high-powered lawyer, probably a club Fed prison eventually, etc.), but knowing that for affluent criminal fucks like him, anything less than total deference and kid gloves is "unfair" and beneath them... it's just fantastic to think about him not being able to will his wishes into existence. Enjoy Planet Earth, fuckwad.
posted by Rykey at 10:03 AM on June 15, 2018 [12 favorites]


Occasional reminder that NPR News pushed "enhanced interrogation" for years, like the tools they are.

Twitter and Facebook are some twisted shit but ok because we have got to find a reliable fact-based alternative to corporate news. They've shot the country in the leg and are doing fuck all about it.

adamdavidson: I feel, ever more strongly, that the media has a real problem in telling the big, clear, obvious story of our age.

*checks watch* er, welcome, adamdavidson. Kudos on your creeping suspicion.

Donald Trump's Russian Mob Connected Campaign Manager Jailed Amid a Flurry of Indictments. . . isn't the headline we'll see even though it's the case.
posted by petebest at 10:08 AM on June 15, 2018 [17 favorites]


US expected to withdraw from UN Human Rights Council: report

A source told Reuters that the move could be “imminent.” The council will begin a three-week session in Geneva on Monday. Other diplomatic sources told Reuters that the withdrawal was “not a question of if but of when.”

Probably time to stop denying that we're fully a rogue state.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:08 AM on June 15, 2018 [59 favorites]


Not that he believes he can personally export Hispanic people.

I think.


I once had the unfortunate professional acquaintance of a rich old white guy with a history of being powerful and unopposed in private business who decided one day he wanted to declare eminent domain on a large section of the city that was predominantly poor Africian-American housing, bulldoze the neighborhoods, and turn it into a private country club and golf course for him and his rich white guy buddies. When I asked about the current residents and how he can't just take over a big block of the city, he said he had solved that: he would have the residents rounded up and bused to the other side of the state where they'd be someone else's problem.

In the end this plan did not come to fruition (and he tried for a white under different approaches), but I firmly believe these kinds of racists who don't have someone to tell them no believe they can simply export groups they don't like out of sight and out of mind.
posted by Servo5678 at 10:09 AM on June 15, 2018 [34 favorites]


What the hell, he gets away with every other goddamn thing he tries, why not go for it!? Mariel boatlift II, electric boogaloo.
posted by Don Pepino at 10:11 AM on June 15, 2018 [4 favorites]


Greenberg Quinlan Rosler poll of Texas Senate has Cruz up 49-43 on O'Rourke [MOE: +/- 3.1%].
posted by Chrysostom at 10:12 AM on June 15, 2018 [12 favorites]


I’ve been living here 13 years and I still do not understand why the fuck MA can’t seem to run a credible Democrat for governor.

Aside from Deval Patrick, who spent eight of those years as governor, you mean?

Part of it is that, as long as they stay in Massachusetts, credible Republican gubernatorial candidates tend to be more like Northeastern Republicans from the 1960s - actually liberal on many issues (yes, even Romney had his liberalish moments, at least until he abandoned the state after a couple years to run for president). Baker is like that, too, on most sort of classic liberal issues - he's pro-gay rights, for Romneycare, um, Obamacare, etc. Sure, he's against sanctuary-state status and is OK with state police cooperating with ICE, and he's done his best to privatize the MBTA, but that's where the legislature comes in.
posted by adamg at 10:14 AM on June 15, 2018 [6 favorites]


How do people know these things are happening so they know when to show up?

I was made aware of the Families Belong Together events via the megathread (thanks, Metafilter!) and attended my local one, the first time I've been able to attend an event like this since living here. When I got there I saw that there were people representing from multiple groups including but not limited to our local branches of: Poor Peoples Campaign, Democratic Socialists of America, and Women's March. There were more but I can't remember what they were. There was a lot of discussion about social media, asking people to Facebook Live from the event, asking people to bring friends to events. I've been enjoying an extended break from Facebook, and I'm mostly just a lurker on Twitter, but if this is what it takes to stay in the loop I'm willing to accept that- I've now followed all these groups on social media.

I also realized once I was there how many people appeared to be affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist church- which now that I think of it makes total sense but I'd also sort of forgotten UU existed. Now that I've made that connection, I think I'm going to try to start going to my local one occasionally, as it seems like probably a decent way to meet like-minded, organizing people and hear about events.

By the way thanks to (i believe it was) Frowner for recent comments about what do/ expect at events. I would just add that, I wasn't sure what was going to be happening and whether I was supposed to get there at the beginning and stay for the whole thing. Because I'm socially awkward and didn't know anyone I didn't get there until like an hour in, only to discover later that a lot of awesome people had given some really great and motivating speeches at the beginning (which luckily got recorded so I did get to see them.) But next time I'll go when it actually starts.

Lastly, in this ocean of horrible media, I was pleasantly surprised to read this little tidbit in a news blurb about the event (on the website of a Sinclair station, no less; emphasis mine):

In a briefing Thursday, White House Spokesperson Sarah Sanders again falsely claimed the decision to separate families was a law, not a Trump administration decision.
posted by robotdevil at 10:14 AM on June 15, 2018 [23 favorites]


Aside from Deval Patrick, who spent eight of those years as governor, you mean?

Part of it is that, as long as they stay in Massachusetts, credible Republican gubernatorial candidates tend to be more like Northeastern Republicans from the 1960s - actually liberal on many issues (yes, even Romney had his liberalish moments, at least until he abandoned the state after a couple years to run for president). Baker is like that, too, on most sort of classic liberal issues - he's pro-gay rights, for Romneycare, um, Obamacare, etc. Sure, he's against sanctuary-state status and is OK with state police cooperating with ICE, and he's done his best to privatize the MBTA, but that's where the legislature comes in.


Of course Patrick was a Democrat but his election was treated as both an aberration and an inevitability (to his detriment). Coakley was a milquetoast candidate at best and there's no one of merit running in this Hopeful Year of The Blue Wave 2018.

Thing is, Baker might be a "Northeastern Republican" but he's a piece of shit on a million liberal issues, especially from a defunding social services and slashing the budget point of view. "That's where the legislature comes in" is a pipe dream, for the legislature too.
posted by lydhre at 10:22 AM on June 15, 2018 [4 favorites]




Can someone please post a link about the 4pm SF ICE protest? I'm having trouble finding anything.
posted by mabelstreet at 10:28 AM on June 15, 2018 [1 favorite]


On that CIA interrogator training ICE agents thing, the contract says it is "to supply training based on a unique concept known as Detecting Deception and Eliciting Responses System."

Besides being the title of a self-published 1-star-review book, this "system" shows up in a few TSA and Border Patrol manuals, and is described in this Homeland Security document as "...an advanced behavioral science and interview strategies course designed for CBP CTR Officers/Agents to build upon and improve their skills of information collection and their ability to gather valid and factual information from potential terrorist suspects."

It's owned by (private sector) Abraxas Corporation, which provides "service, technical, and training programs across a vast array of Intelligence and U.S. Government organizations". Their parent company's website is a study in blandly terrifying, if you feel like you need some more of that in your day. (Seriously I had no idea how much of this "national security" stuff had already been privatized. Lots.)

So there's my contribution to the yarn wall for the day
posted by ook at 10:33 AM on June 15, 2018 [54 favorites]


Also it's a no-bid contract, just as icing on the cake
posted by ook at 10:35 AM on June 15, 2018 [21 favorites]


Michael Cohen is seeking a restraining order against Michael Avenatti to bar from speaking to the press

Denied for now, along with a reminder from the judge that he meant it when he said he didn't want ex parte applications. Avenatti can respond in 10 days, and the judge will consider it from there.
posted by zachlipton at 10:36 AM on June 15, 2018 [20 favorites]


Trump immigration comments spark chaos in GOP

He pulled this in January too, blowing up his own party's bill. It's almost as if he doesn't actually want any action taken on immigration because the current horror show he's created is suiting him just fine.
posted by zachlipton at 10:42 AM on June 15, 2018 [19 favorites]


@realDonaldTrump
The Democrats are forcing the breakup of families at the Border with their horrible and cruel legislative agenda. Any Immigration Bill MUST HAVE full funding for the Wall, end Catch & Release, Visa Lottery and Chain, and go to Merit Based Immigration. Go for it! WIN!

Mass kidnap-for-ransom.

@realDonaldTrump
Wow, what a tough sentence for Paul Manafort, who has represented Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and many other top political people and campaigns. Didn’t know Manafort was the head of the Mob. What about Comey and Crooked Hillary and all of the others? Very unfair!


Incoming pardon.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:44 AM on June 15, 2018 [33 favorites]


Where are the girls they are holding? That's what's worrying me. Already sold to traffickers? Are all the boys accounted for? They been sold too? My heart breaks. How can anyone be this evil?

I'm additionally wondering that since none of the people involved with the internment are presumably cleared in the usual way for working with children, how many of them even COULD have been cleared to work with children, if processed through correct channels. What kind of background checks will be done on the temp workers they're going to have to hire as these places expand? Because it's exactly the kind of situation that will be an irresistible lure to gross predators, especially in an administration that has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is 100% okay with child molestation.
posted by poffin boffin at 10:44 AM on June 15, 2018 [64 favorites]


Trump continues to make the patently false claim that the Democrats are responsible for his administration's novel decision to prosecute anyone suspected of illegal entry and thereby separate children from parents. He says he hates the policy and that all that needs to happen for its resolution is for the Democrats to call him up and make a deal. Just as with DACA, Trump's strategy is to commit unconscionably evil acts which appeal to his base, and then to blame his political opponents in an attempt to extort their acceptance of other policies he supports, such as the absurd border wall.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:47 AM on June 15, 2018 [36 favorites]




Their parent company's website is a study in blandly terrifying, if you feel like you need some more of that in your day.

For folks looking to divest -- the parent company, Cubic Corporation, is publicly traded. It is a component in each the funds listed here - including a number of Vanguard funds; Vanguard is the second largest institutional shareholder after BlackRock.

Sleeping Giants is tweeting the names of other contractors as they're revealed. MVM Inc. is privately held, but General Dynamics is public and included in the S&P 500 and several Vanguard funds.
posted by melissasaurus at 10:49 AM on June 15, 2018 [29 favorites]


A small respite from the horrors o the day:

@funder:
Paul Manafort was in genuine shock when his bail was canceled and he was ordered to jail. His face apparently changed colors becoming clammy and flustered. He realized that no matter what, he’s spending time in prison. And that sank in... quickly. I think he will flip, soon.
posted by Artw at 10:55 AM on June 15, 2018 [65 favorites]


One of Australia's original sins and historical stains is the stolen generation. Too recently, the Australian government were taking Aboriginal children from their parents.

We had a Prime Minister who refused to apologize for this. It was so infuriating to me because, in my mind, it came down to this simple fucking choice:

Is taking children away from their parents evil?
☑ Yes
☐ No

If you fail this simple quiz than you have no role in leadership.
posted by adept256 at 10:57 AM on June 15, 2018 [87 favorites]


The facilities that have been reported on are licensed childcare facilities, meaning their employees have to be cleared appropriately. These are not DHS or military facilities. They're either private or under HHS.

However, a) presumably the facilities that have been reported on are the absolute best examples that could be found. B) they may not have been getting appropriate oversight to begin with, and that oversight may be different in character under the current administration. C) they are currently over capacity, which is a serious problem itself, and d) they have recently had to hire a lot of people quickly.

I want to stress that this was the absolute best example of such a facility, and still, the only good thing you can say about it is that there is no clear evidence of physical damage to the kids.

The temporary facilities being made, such as the tent cities, do not have to be licensed, and they could be "temporary" for a very long time.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 10:59 AM on June 15, 2018 [10 favorites]


Russia's state TV: "Crimea is ours, Trump is ours!"
posted by growabrain at 11:00 AM on June 15, 2018 [27 favorites]


Not to make excuses for Vanguard, but those are index funds. For example, the Vanguard Total Market Index Fund owns precisely 2.29% of every public company in the U.S., good or bad.
posted by JackFlash at 11:01 AM on June 15, 2018 [4 favorites]


The idea that Russia's invasion of Crimea was justified because of the Russian-speaking people there has been a Kremlin talking point for many years, and I have heard it repeated by a viewer of RT. Now POTUS is repeating the same point. He may well have been educated on this matter by Putin himself.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:03 AM on June 15, 2018 [19 favorites]


Sometimes I think about how in 1976 a school bus with 26 children was hijacked, and how all the kids and the driver were buried in a box truck in a quarry while they were held for ransom. They were able to dig themselves out after 16 hours and the kidnappers all got life sentences.

I think about thousands of buried trucks under military guard.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:04 AM on June 15, 2018 [6 favorites]


Can someone please post a link about the 4pm SF ICE protest? I'm having trouble finding anything.

All I can find is this fb link.
posted by greermahoney at 11:10 AM on June 15, 2018


And if you can’t make that one, there’s one in Richmond on Sunday. Also fb. Sorry.
posted by greermahoney at 11:13 AM on June 15, 2018


WSJ, ‘What’s He Doing Here?’: Inside Trump’s Turbulent Relationship With Michael Cohen, in which Trump got tired of Michael Cohen in 2009. He tried to get his staff to get him to resign, and cut his salary in half. Cohen didn't go, sticking around to boost his boss's political ambitions and, per the article, help write tweets attacking Rosie O’Donnell. Oh, and he ran for re-election for his seat on the Trump World Tower board literally this month, but resigned after people started pulling a "he doesn't even go here," since he no longer owns an apartment in the building.

WSJ, Trump, More Independent of West Wing Advisers, Relies on Cabinet
One recent power struggle involving Mr. Kelly centered on the selection of Mr. Trump’s top economic adviser. Mr. Kelly offered the position to Chris Liddell, the former General Motors executive who had been overseeing a White House office aimed at long-term policy goals, senior officials said. But Mr. Kelly had to retract the offer, they said, when it leaked and Mr. Trump changed his mind amid the coverage, including a critical editorial on The Wall Street Journal opinion page.

The president then installed Larry Kudlow in the job as director of the National Economic Council. Mr. Kudlow didn’t meet Mr. Kelly until after he accepted the job.
Totally normal staffing process.

White House walks back Trump's rejection of immigration compromise, in which the White House anonymously says Trump "misunderstood the question," and he actually supports both immigration bills. This is pathetic.
posted by zachlipton at 11:17 AM on June 15, 2018 [35 favorites]


Thanks for the links, greermahoney! (I went on fb last night for the first time in months to share my donation to the raicestexas immigration bond fund, so my fb defenses are down anyway)

occupysf says union Local 2 is protesting there today at 2pm, too. Not sure if these are coordinated
posted by mabelstreet at 11:20 AM on June 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


"We call on all countries to take joint actions, resolutely put an end to this outdated and regressive behavior and firmly defend the common interests of humankind," the Chinese commerce ministry said, according to the South China Morning Post.

So there you go, China is calling for a trade-coalition-of-the-willing against the U.S.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 11:37 AM on June 15, 2018 [11 favorites]


AP Exclusive: About 2k minors separated from families

The tally is from April 19 through May 31.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:38 AM on June 15, 2018 [29 favorites]


John Podhoretz's magazine Commentary has put out a new issue titled "African Americans vs. American Jews" (Twitter link) which proves that when it comes to race-baiting, Never-trumpers really only take issue with trump because he talks bad and looks funny.
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:39 AM on June 15, 2018 [9 favorites]


in which the White House anonymously says Trump "misunderstood the question," and he actually supports both immigration bills

Who are you going to believe regarding the President's opinion: The President, on the record, or an anonymous White House Official?

A few years ago, this would be a rhetorical question
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:39 AM on June 15, 2018 [12 favorites]


@realDonaldTrump
Wow, what a tough sentence for Paul Manafort, who

...who hasn't been sentenced: he merely had his bail revoked; it's a pre-trial detention order because Manafort is a flight risk and because he's probably involved in witness tampering.


I believe he's in jail because the judge doesn't believe he'll stop tampering with witnesses, not so much that he's a flight risk.

Anyway, here's an article title you probably don't want to read while you're eating: President Trump Injects Fresh Chaos Into Immigration Debate (NPR, June 15, 2018)
President Trump took Capitol Hill by surprise on Friday when he announced he would not sign a House GOP bill on immigration legislation drafted specifically to meet his policy demands.

"I'm looking at both of them. I certainly wouldn't sign the more moderate one," Trump told Fox News in a previously unannounced interview on the White House lawn.

House GOP leaders have been working for weeks on legislation aimed at meeting the so-called four pillars of Trump's policy demands on any bill to provide a path to legal status to people brought to the U.S. as children. House Republicans had been working with White House aides including Marc Short and Stephen Miller to ensure the president's support in the event it reached his desk.
...
Members are particularly confused by Trump's statement because Miller offered conservatives private assurances of Trump's support during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday.
...
"I hate the children being taken away," he said, "The Democrats have to change their law. That's their law."

Trump has repeatedly blamed Democrats, but it was the Justice Department under Attorney General Jeff Sessions that called for a crackdown at the border and tougher enforcement that now includes separating parents and their children into different detention facilities. There is no law that requires family separation.
Bolded For Truth. This is not "stop punching yourself," it's "stop punching that baby with my fist."

After Traveling 2,000 Miles For Asylum, This Family's Journey Halts At A Bridge (NPR, June 15, 2018)
The Berduo family traveled nearly 2,000 miles from Guatemala to the international bridge between Matamoros, Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas, but they could go no further.

Under a new policy, federal border agents stationed in the middle of international bridges are turning away asylum seekers like the Berduos, telling them there is no room in U.S. Customs and Border Protection stations for them.
...
Christina Patiño Houle, director of the Rio Grande Valley Equal Voice Network, says the administration is giving a mixed message. Federal officials are telling asylum applicants to stop wading across the river and entering unlawfully. Rather, they should come through an official port of entry.

"A message is being broadcast across the nation that migrants should be seeking asylum through official channels, and it's just not possible," Patiño Houle says. "What we're seeing on the ground is that people are being turned away. They're being told that either there's no room or they cannot enter the bridge."

U.S. officials say there may be a holdup at some bridges but that, ultimately, immigrants who wait a matter of hours or days are permitted to enter.

"Port of Entry facilities were not designed to hold hundreds of people at a time who may be seeking asylum," CBP says in its statement.

But there are not hundreds of migrants a day trying to cross the Matamoros/Brownsville bridge, according to Mexican officials interviewed on the Matamoros side. They estimate only 10 to 15 asylum seekers show up a day, and they're surprised that U.S. agents are saying there's no room in their station.
Bolded for emphasis.

'These Are Not Kids Kept In Cages': Inside A Texas Shelter For Immigrant Youth (NPR, June 14, 2018; updated June 15, 2018)
"We want to show you that these are not kids kept in cages," said Alexia Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the Texas nonprofit Southwest Key that operates the shelter. "We provide them excellent care."

A network of about 100 migrant youth shelters are now 95 percent full. Casa Padre, which houses boys ages 10 to 17, has room for just 28 more children.

The federal government is looking for additional places to put the surge of migrants, mostly from Central America, coming across the border seeking asylum. And officials are considering housing young immigrants temporarily at U.S. military facilities.
...
On Wednesday, reporters were allowed a rare glimpse inside Casa Padre, a 250,000-square-foot facility located on the outskirts of Brownsville across from a pizza joint and a McDonald's. The boys confined there waved, smiled and said "hola" to the group of visiting journalists; reporters were forbidden to interview the children or staffers. The ratio is one adult counselor to eight children, to keep them in line and to watch for behavioral and emotional problems.

During the carefully scripted visit, the boys were shooting baskets, kicking soccer balls, playing video games, watching a movie, sitting in classrooms where they were taught about the U.S. government, learning tai chi and chowing down on a meal of chicken and mixed vegetables.
...
"Our goal is to reunite kids with their families," Rodriguez said.

But immigrant advocates fear these children may end up staying longer in shelters like this one. That's because the federal government has begun fingerprinting family members who want to take in these children, and sharing that information with the Department of Homeland Security. The advocates fear this will make the relatives less willing to step forward.
...
Meanwhile, the Trump administration's policy of separating families is facing harsh criticism from members of Congress, religious leaders and pediatricians.
Reunite the children with their families where?

And if you want to hear more from pediatricians on this matter, here you go:

Detention of Immigrant Children (by Julie M. Linton, Marsha Griffin, Alan J. Shapiro, Council on Community Pediatrics; Policy Statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics, May 2017, Vol. 139 / Issue 5)
Immigrant children seeking safe haven in the United States, whether arriving unaccompanied or in family units, face a complicated evaluation and legal process from the point of arrival through permanent resettlement in communities. The conditions in which children are detained and the support services that are available to them are of great concern to pediatricians and other advocates for children. In accordance with internationally accepted rights of the child, immigrant and refugee children should be treated with dignity and respect and should not be exposed to conditions that may harm or traumatize them. The Department of Homeland Security facilities do not meet the basic standards for the care of children in residential settings. The recommendations in this statement call for limited exposure of any child to current Department of Homeland Security facilities (ie, Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities) and for longitudinal evaluation of the health consequences of detention of immigrant children in the United States. From the moment children are in the custody of the United States, they deserve health care that meets guideline-based standards, treatment that mitigates harm or traumatization, and services that support their health and well-being. This policy statement also provides specific recommendations regarding postrelease services once a child is released into communities across the country, including a coordinated system that facilitates access to a medical home and consistent access to education, child care, interpretation services, and legal services.
I'd like to believe that things have gotten better, but even if they have, this "zero tolerance" bullshit hasn't improved the situation because of (imminent) overcrowding, if nothing else.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:40 AM on June 15, 2018 [38 favorites]


China has announced 25% retaliatory tariffs on 545 US products, to take effect next month. The products include farm equipment, cars, and agriculture. Additional products are targeted for tariffs at a future date.
posted by zachlipton at 11:43 AM on June 15, 2018 [26 favorites]


@studentactivism:
Okay. I've found it. The absolute culmination of the "we have to build bridges with the far right" argument

It’s quite a thing.
posted by Artw at 11:45 AM on June 15, 2018 [28 favorites]


I think there's only one thing that might turn Trump's base against him: being personally damaged by an economic crisis. I suppose a trade war with China could achieve that!
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:46 AM on June 15, 2018 [4 favorites]


Michael Avenatti is tweeting that the government has extracted more info from Cohen's materials
• 2 Blackberrys that they're still extracting from
• 16 pages of shredded material
• 731 pages of encrypted messages from WhatsApp and Signal

Oh, just...731 pages of encrypted messages?
posted by Brainy at 11:46 AM on June 15, 2018 [36 favorites]


I do believe that we are a nation that, without God, there is no truth, and it’s all about power, ideology, advancement, agenda, not doing the public service.”

Honestly, more and more, when I see these people, it's like the Uncanny Valley of religion. Like they're trying to say the things that a person of faith might say but instead it's full of bees.

Because like - you can believe that without God, there is no truth or goodness or public service, but if you're in the Christian faith tradition, there is no place but hell that has no God in it, so it's kind of an irrelevant statement in that context. Like, if you're going to tell me Jan Zabinski wasn't - as a person of faith would perceive it - doing God's work or service for the public good when he hid Jews from the Nazis just because he was an avowed atheist I'm going to tell you that you need to do some hard looking at yourself.

And whenever this kind of stuff comes up I keep remembering that Pew poll which measured both people's perception of their own religiosity, and people's actual attendance at church aligned with their support of Trump. And it found that as people's actual church attendance increased, their support for Trump declined, but that people who considered themselves religious but that didn't actually join with a religious community and attend it regularly were pretty much the sweet spot for support for Trump.

And like - there are people of sincere faith out there who try their best and do good in the world. But I feel like there are also a lot of people who claim to be religious more as a way of preserving perceived white culture than as a way of actually having religion. I mean, I can never know what's in their hearts, but like - I just don't see these people actually doing good in the world even by their own lights. Where is Sessions' charity work? Who has he actually helped? What good has he tried to do in the world? If it's all bitterness and corruption all the way down, he doesn't get to blame that poison on God. That's all him.
posted by corb at 11:51 AM on June 15, 2018 [44 favorites]


Where is Sessions' charity work? Who has he actually helped? What good has he tried to do in the world?

Many American Christians have rejected this doctrine- you get into heaven by faith, not by good works.
posted by dilaudid at 11:53 AM on June 15, 2018 [13 favorites]


Trump still wants to pretend that he lost the popular vote due to millions of non-citizen illegal voters. It's still a thing. Even in private, even among world leaders. He can't let it go, because it is fundamental to his ego.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:53 AM on June 15, 2018 [6 favorites]


cjelli: ...who hasn't been sentenced: he merely had his bail revoked; it's a pre-trial detention order

I have a strong feeling that around half the country doesn't understand the distinction between bail and fines, and correspondingly, between jail and prison. I actually didn't grasp the first one until around this year, and that's partly because of the (unacceptably high) number of people given unaffordable bail, which arguably defeats the whole point. Embarrassingly, I didn't realize that people even got the money back! I sort of figured it was a funding source of the legal system, or something (and I'm sure there are jurisdictions where it somehow is, but that would be an instance of corruption). But no, it's collateral. Which makes more sense.

We very often talk about jail and bail like they are punishment, when they're not supposed to be. You detain people until it's time for their trial/sentence, and you use bail to counter any incentives for not showing up in court (which means bail can and should be zero for a lot of people).

The blurring of these distinctions also comes up in apologetics for the fresh atrocities of child kidnapping. "If the parents didn't want to go to jail they should have followed the law!" Well, setting aside what is and isn't legal, criminal suspects aren't imprisoned, just detained. Because there's no cause for punishment, so prison should be out of the question. That's why keeping families together while their cases were processed worked (with lots of problems) before. The families still weren't going anywhere in the old system. And it's another reason that Sessions and Trump are full of such rancid evil white-hooded perfidious bullshit.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:54 AM on June 15, 2018 [21 favorites]


I do believe that we are a nation that, without God, there is no truth, and it’s all about power, ideology, advancement, agenda, not doing the public service.”

I'm glad you highlighted that - one of the reasons I like using Greimas (or semiotic) squares is that it elucidates these not-a-contradictions. Sessions is here NOT saying that believing in God grants all these things -he leaves the door open for someone to believe in God and also have no capital-T-Truth, and indeed just be all about power, ideology and advancement while loudly proclaiming a religious belief.

Sounds familiar.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:56 AM on June 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


@C_Sommerfeldt: NEW: Rudy Giuliani tells @NYDailyNews "things might get cleaned up with some presidential pardons" when the "whole thing is over" in light of Paul Manafort being sent to jail.

I was hesitant to post this because I try to take a pass on Rudy's ramblings, as they don't reflect anything other than his own delusions, but this one is pretty striking. Is he actively trying to get himself caught up in obstruction charges? Does he really have no better way to send this message than through the press? Why?
posted by zachlipton at 11:56 AM on June 15, 2018 [22 favorites]


I think there's only one thing that might turn Trump's base against him: being personally damaged by an economic crisis.

...they'll be saying that President Trump doesn't have enough power...and blame it on certain parasitic and traitorous ethnic groups.
posted by bonobothegreat at 11:59 AM on June 15, 2018 [11 favorites]


that's partly because of the (unacceptably high) number of people given unaffordable bail, which arguably defeats the whole point. Embarrassingly, I didn't realize that people even got the money back!

In most cases, people without the means must buy a bail bond from a bondsman company. The cost of this bond is typically 10% to 15%. You never get that money back, even if you go to trial.

For example, if you don't have ready cash for a $5000 bond, you must pay $500 to $750 to a bondsman to put it up the bail for you. You never get that money back.
posted by JackFlash at 12:02 PM on June 15, 2018 [17 favorites]


fixing family separation IS a worthy goal for the Dems and we can't afford to treat it like a bargaining chip instead of a priority.

If the kids are not bargaining chips, this is pure malicious racist evil. If the kids are bargaining chips, this is pure hostage-taking evil. How do you negotiate with people willing to abuse kids to get leverage?
posted by benzenedream at 12:02 PM on June 15, 2018 [37 favorites]




I was hesitant to post this because I try to take a pass on Rudy's ramblings, as they don't reflect anything other than his own delusions, but this one is pretty striking. Is he actively trying to get himself caught up in obstruction charges?

He was in the wrong room at some point, and he knows it, and he knows that Pence and/or Manafort and/or Flynn and/or someone else was in that room at the same time. And that room is going to end up becoming the metonym for the whole Trump / Russia / money-laundering / election-tampering / who-the-hell-knows-what-else scandal. And someone else is going to sing or has already sung, and Rudy knows that Trump's loyalty is a fragile and brittle thing, and the only slim, tiny chance he has is that he gets a pardon before Trump and Pence get impeached.
posted by Etrigan at 12:05 PM on June 15, 2018 [7 favorites]


Many American Christians have rejected this doctrine- you get into heaven by faith, not by good works.
Yes that's true, and the same is true of almost all Protestant Christians in Europe and everywhere else in the world. It is a basic tenant of Calvinism, which is the foundation of most of the world's protestant religions.

However, this doesn't at all mean that Calvinists are somehow innately amoral. It's simply that the causality runs the other direction. The faith of those who are saved will be evident in their works.

I really, really wish non-Christians would stop using various strawman Christianities to beat up on American evangelicals. I am not a fan of their brand of Christianity, but neither is it as stupid as many here seem to think.
posted by chrchr at 12:07 PM on June 15, 2018 [16 favorites]


There is no law that children need to be separated from their family.

Every discussion of whether or not Christians believe they must obey the law at all times needs to first highlight this fact.
posted by xammerboy at 12:08 PM on June 15, 2018 [7 favorites]


I don't know exactly where American Christianity stepped over the line from "if you have faith, you will naturally act with love toward your fellow man," to "if you have faith, you can throw your fellow man into an open sewer and Jesus will be totally cool with it," but it'd be nice if we as a culture could get a do-over on that one.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 12:09 PM on June 15, 2018 [52 favorites]


John Podhoretz's magazine Commentary has put out a new issue titled "African Americans vs. American Jews"

No surprise. This is the same magazine that published Norman Podhoretz (John's father)'s "My Negro Problem -- and Ours" in 1963 when he was editor. That link's behind a paywall, but here's a pdf. The title was adapted from arguments made at the time by Malcolm X and others. Podhoretz argued (among other things) that the solution to the problem of racism and race hatred was the erasure of African Americans and their culture through intermarriage and miscegenation. Which is really, really, really fucking racist.) Podhoretz wrote an essay explaining why he wrote the thing in 2013. Without apologing. More about the essay(s) and Podhoretz himself from Jeet Heer, here and here.

Jews were active in the Civil Rights movement, yes. Religiously speaking, we are supposed to have a moral and ethical obligation to fight oppression and not contribute to it. Further, we're supposed to do that without asking for a fucking handout in return. The very idea is revolting.

African Americans are not "indebted" to Jews for a damned thing and it is profoundly offensive, undeniably racist and completely disgusting to say they are. It is unspeakably disgusting to say that African Americans should be supporting Israel because of the civil rights movement.
posted by zarq at 12:09 PM on June 15, 2018 [37 favorites]


scaryblackdeath, I got you.

SEATTLE PROTEST against this immigration policy - THIS SUNDAY, June 17th, Noon, Westlake Park.

Families Belong Together / Familias Unidas No Divididas (Yes, this is a FB link. Sorry.)

Hosted by Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and other organizations.

I do not know if this is a 'permittted' or 'unpermitted' event, nor if they're just going to rally, or rally and march.
posted by spinifex23 at 12:10 PM on June 15, 2018 [6 favorites]


@KatyTurNBC: The President lied or misled the American public 19 times this morning. We have an hour long fact check now. @MSNBC
@mschlapp: Katy this is why the Natl media is literally unhinged from half of the country. Report the facts leave the moral condemnation to others

The conservative media project in a nutshell. "Report the facts" means 'shut up and take stenography' rather than, er, reporting facts. And this is why bad journalism providing false balance to try to stop right-wing criticism never works: they don't want the pure factual reporting either. They want zero negative things said about them at any time. And if you spend an hour reporting facts, you're unhinged.

There just aren't enough hours in the day for us to all take an hour to sort out the nonsense every time the President opens his mouth, and by the time that's over, we'll have another hour's worth of lies to deal with.
posted by zachlipton at 12:15 PM on June 15, 2018 [59 favorites]


I really, really wish non-Christians would stop using various strawman Christianities to beat up on American evangelicals. I am not a fan of their brand of Christianity, but neither is it as stupid as many here seem to think.

Two-thirds of highly-religious white Protestants approve of the job trump is doing in office, according to Gallup.

So, you're right: not ALL (white) Evangelicals are stupid. Just 66.6% (heh) of them.
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:15 PM on June 15, 2018 [20 favorites]


Yes that's true, and the same is true of almost all Protestant Christians in Europe and everywhere else in the world. It is a basic tenant of Calvinism, which is the foundation of most of the world's protestant religions.

Nope, Calvinists believe in salvation by grace/election, i.e., TULIP, not salvation by faith.
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:16 PM on June 15, 2018 [13 favorites]


Two-thirds of highly-religious white Protestants approve of the job trump is doing in office, according to Gallup.

At the risk of making a no-true-Scotsman argument: I think it is important to note that these "highly religious" people are self-professed Christians, and may not have the self-reflection necessary to gauge whether their faith may have some faults.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:21 PM on June 15, 2018 [5 favorites]


> If the kids are bargaining chips, this is pure hostage-taking evil. How do you negotiate with people willing to abuse kids to get leverage?

If funding for CHIP is any indication, with great difficulty.
posted by klarck at 12:21 PM on June 15, 2018 [6 favorites]


I really don't want to be Not All Christians but chrchr is right. Pointing out problems in doctrine is all well and good but using support for Trump or whatever to argue against the religion is no different from Trumpists ranting about 72 virgins and Sharia to justify their hatred of their Muslim neighbors.
posted by downtohisturtles at 12:24 PM on June 15, 2018 [4 favorites]


Trump has a problem with pre-trial detention for someone who suborned perjury while out on bail and who's facing 14 felony counts and 300+ years for crimes ranging from obstruction of justice to money laundering.

Trump has no problem ordering pre-trial detention and separation from their parents for thousands of immigrant children for the misdemeanor of illegally entering the US. And also detaining and separating those who committed no misdemeanor and are simply seeking asylum.
posted by chris24 at 12:26 PM on June 15, 2018 [87 favorites]


And now for excerpts from a soliloquy by Chuck Wendig on tone policing in the age of Trump.


Fuck Trump.

Now, if your response to that was GASP TUT TUT, WHAT LANGUAGE, THIS IS HOW WE LOSE THE NEXT ELECTION --

It's an awfully weird time to be fucking tone policing, isn't it?

"OH GOD I'M BEING EATEN BY A FUCKING TIGER FUCK FUCK OW FUCK"

"Whoa whoa whoa, Dave, maybe your *toilet mouth* is why the tiger has chosen to eat you. Try a little politeness from now on, fella."

The right has crafted a sneaky narrative, one where they get to walk away with every atrocity in the book -- while simultaneously holding full court press against the teeniest slight cast by someone on the left. "Yes, I killed a baby, but that Democrat was RUDE about it."
posted by vverse23 at 12:27 PM on June 15, 2018 [87 favorites]


Maybe we should let the theological sidebar slide? (I know, eponysterical.)
posted by Barack Spinoza at 12:28 PM on June 15, 2018 [33 favorites]


Many American Christians have rejected this doctrine- you get into heaven by faith, not by good works.

As Jesus’s brother James put it, “faith without works is dead.” And St. John asks “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? . . . Those who say “I love God,” and hate their brothers and sisters, are liars.”
posted by EarBucket at 12:29 PM on June 15, 2018 [13 favorites]


And now for excerpts from a soliloquy on tone policing in the age of Trump.

This goes on from the snippet posted and is very good.
posted by chris24 at 12:29 PM on June 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


@mschlapp: Katy this is why the Natl media is literally unhinged from half of the country. Report the facts leave the moral condemnation to others

Another lie. Trump doesn't speak for half the country, let alone all of it.
posted by Gelatin at 12:29 PM on June 15, 2018 [12 favorites]


I really, really wish non-Christians would stop using various strawman Christianities to beat up on American evangelicals. I am not a fan of their brand of Christianity, but neither is it as stupid as many here seem to think.

If they don't want to be tarred with the stupid, malicious, racist, asshole brush, then maybe they should stop acting like it.

As a former Southern Baptist, I can attest that they've formulated a doctrine that values repentance and faith far more than acts. I've heard preachers say at funerals, that the dead loved one's good deeds mattered not at all, but her faith would get her home. I've seen evil sons of bitches get welcomed into the arms of the church because they repented publically every Sunday.

If American evangelicals want respect and kindness towards their faith, then maybe they should start spreading some around themselves.
posted by teleri025 at 12:30 PM on June 15, 2018 [23 favorites]


I really don't want to be Not All Christians but chrchr is right. Pointing out problems in doctrine is all well and good but using support for Trump or whatever to argue against the religion is no different from Trumpists ranting about 72 virgins and Sharia to justify their hatred of their Muslim neighbors.

You've gone past Not All Christians right into All Religions Matter.
posted by This time is different. at 12:31 PM on June 15, 2018 [17 favorites]


I think there's only one thing that might turn Trump's base against him: being personally damaged by an economic crisis. I suppose a trade war with China could achieve that!

His base won't turn against him if the economy goes to shit; they'll always find a way to blame that on Obama or liberals or immigrants etc. But if Trump truly crashes trade and the economy and if the community of decent nations boycotts and sanctions and isolates and condemns us, it will fuck things up for the serious money people who fund the GOP, and they can and will obliterate Trump posthaste

However, it would also create even more suffering for many vulnerable Americans, so it's hard to advocate that, but it may be the only thing other than one too many greasy cheeseburgers that can make a difference.
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:33 PM on June 15, 2018 [9 favorites]


At the risk of making a no-true-Scotsman argument: I think it is important to note that these "highly religious" people are self-professed Christians, and may not have the self-reflection necessary to gauge whether their faith may have some faults.

Which is a fair theological point, but if I'm on the outside looking in I have no way to gauge what another religion believes other than the beliefs professed by its adherents. I'm open to the argument that the "God loves assholes (if they believe)" crowd is a vocal minority, but not that they don't count because they're reading the Bible wrong.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 12:36 PM on June 15, 2018 [5 favorites]


@C_Sommerfeldt: NEW: Rudy Giuliani tells @NYDailyNews "things might get cleaned up with some presidential pardons" when the "whole thing is over" in light of Paul Manafort being sent to jail.

Here's the full NY Daily News story: Rudy Giuliani Says Mueller Probe 'Might Get Cleaned Up' With 'Presidential Pardons' In Light Of Paul Manafort Going To Jail
“I don’t understand the justification for putting him in jail,” Giuliani, 74, said. “You put a guy in jail if he’s trying to kill witnesses, not just talking to witnesses.”

Giuliani, who serves as Trump’s personal lawyer, doubled down on his previous call to end Mueller’s investigation.

“That kind of investigation should not go forward,” Giuliani said. “It’s time for Justice to investigate the investigators.”
On a lighter note, ABC's Evan McMurry posted a heart-warming video of Paul Manafort hurrying into the courthouse this morning to chants of "Lock him up!"

Also, if we truly need an in-depth discussion of the intersection of religion and politics in the US, could the interested parties please make a separate FPP???
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:39 PM on June 15, 2018 [31 favorites]


@SenSchumer: .@realDonaldTrump’s actions on China are on the money. China is our real trade enemy, & their theft of intellectual property & their refusal to let our companies compete fairly threatens millions of future US jobs.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 12:40 PM on June 15, 2018 [1 favorite]


Please. The Prosperity Gospel is not Calvinism.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 12:41 PM on June 15, 2018 [5 favorites]


Cancel your subscription and then

Print is the New Vinyl OR Reading the Resistance Round One on Paper

Remember when we knew what someone was reading down the bar, on the bus, in the waiting room because it was on visible tangible paper instead of a blank device? Pay for old school paper subscriptions, flaunt what you're reading and support print publications that do investigative journalism instead of clickbait Trumpism.

Starter list:

USA Today: Skeptical political coverage of administration talking points, matter of fact pushback editorials. Give a print subscription to your TV-yelling-news-always-on relatives. Also a great gift to your local senior center. Alert: US Fathers Day is June 17, 2018.

The New Yorker: Unbelievable Scaramucci interview many Scaramuccis ago, stellar political investigation and opinion: https://www.newyorker.com/

Texas Observer: excellent coverage of immigration, border control

The Guardian: London calling for 21st century America

Columbia Journalism Review: critical coverage of politics and journalism

Rolling Stone: plainspoken political reporting:

Cancel your subscription starter list:

The New York Times: lickspittle access journalism, perfected bothsideism misogyny, Trump whisperer Maggie Haberstrom and her Trump book partner Glenn Thrush (back from his brief #MeToo slap on the wrist), horseraces and only horseraces, David Brooks disengenous handwringing

Washington Post: normalized bothsideism, normalizing Trumpism

Harper's: host of faux feminist faux #MeToo backlash

Atlantic Monthly: incubator of Ross Douthat (see New York Times) and attempted brand extension via hiring of racist "conservative" writer
posted by jointhedance at 12:45 PM on June 15, 2018 [20 favorites]


@SenDougJones: It’s appalling to me that someone could use the Bible to justify tearing children away from their families. This @TheJusticeDept policy is not a law—HUGE difference—and it defies our values as Americans. I’m exploring every option available to halt this policy.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:46 PM on June 15, 2018 [45 favorites]


@SenSchumer: .@realDonaldTrump’s actions on China are on the money. China is our real trade enemy, & their theft of intellectual property & their refusal to let our companies compete fairly threatens millions of future US jobs.

I have responded to congratulate Chuck on his failure to take back the Senate.
posted by Existential Dread at 12:49 PM on June 15, 2018 [12 favorites]


As Jesus’s brother James put it, “faith without works is dead.”

Yeah. No shit. Do you really think that Christians who believe in "salvation by faith" have never heard of that verse in James? Please also refer to Ephesians 2:8. People have been trying to figure this out for literally hundreds of years.

You can criticize Sessions and Trump-voting Christians for hypocrisy and generally being lousy Christians without digging up any particular weird Christian doctrines. This doctrine isn't why they're being horrible.
posted by chrchr at 12:49 PM on June 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


Good News Dept: Looks like organizers have collected enough signatures in Massachusetts to put initiatives for Paid Family and Medical Leave and a $15 minimum wage on the ballot in November.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:50 PM on June 15, 2018 [39 favorites]


Washington Post: normalized bothsideism, normalizing Trumpism

*laughs*

They've spent the last two years aggressively going after Trump. More than any other paper. Calling out lies, publishing leaks, scandals and exposés. They employ David Fahrenthold, who won a Pulitzer for his coverage of Trump's lies about charitable donations.
posted by zarq at 12:52 PM on June 15, 2018 [101 favorites]


NBC News, Despite claims, GOP immigration bill would not end family separation, experts say. GOP sources say they're working on new language.
posted by zachlipton at 12:52 PM on June 15, 2018 [8 favorites]


@SenDougJones
It’s appalling to me that someone could use the Bible to justify tearing children away from their families. This @TheJusticeDept policy is not a law—HUGE difference—and it defies our values as Americans. I’m exploring every option available to halt this policy.


That Senator Roy Moore isn't tweeting out his support for the trafficking of thousands of girls right now is proof enough that this isn't the worst possible timeline and that some bad outcomes are still avoidable.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:53 PM on June 15, 2018 [20 favorites]


Mod note: Hey folks let's maybe stop trying to solve comparative religion in here, I think this is mostly going in circles and not very good ones at this point.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:54 PM on June 15, 2018 [48 favorites]


I posted this on the tail end of the previous thread, but it's important, and I don't want it to get missed, so I'm reposting here also.

I've been offline for a few days, and when I came back, I noticed that at the top of the site, there is a banner about funding shortfalls with Mefi. These political threads are killers when it comes to staff and site resources. Those of us who partake regularly in these threads, and who have available resources, now is the time to chip in. $8,000 a month shortfall could spell the doom of the site we all love and visit all the time. At the risk of sounding like an NPR host, please contribute now. Give generously and often.

I think we'd all be lost without Mefi, let's not find out.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 12:56 PM on June 15, 2018 [102 favorites]


The CA primary vote counting continues apace and in the CA-48 House race the totals now stand at:

DANA ROHRABACHER (REP--Ural Mountains) 47,052 30.6%
HANS KEIRSTEAD (DEM) 26,716 17.4%
HARLEY ROUDA (DEM) 26,387 17.2%

Keirstead's lead over Rouda continues to wobble around 200-400 votes.

The top two finishers will face-off in the general this November. Speaking of the general in November -- are we to expect a delay of 10 days for the votes to get counted then, too? (Or more, as the primary vote counting is still ongoing. Cross your fingers they finish up before we vote again!)
posted by notyou at 12:58 PM on June 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


This is the same confusion as earlier reported, except that it's been half a day and now multiple members of congress are saying they don't know which bill -- or which set of policies -- the President actually supports.

Neither does the President. As soon as one of the competing bills steps up to lavish him with praise and hotel concessions, then we'll have a winner.
posted by notyou at 1:00 PM on June 15, 2018 [4 favorites]


Last i saw, Jones (and eight other Democrats) still hadn't signed on to Feinstein's bill, so his tweet seems to be just the equivalent of "thoughts and prayers" for victims of gun violence. Same goes for McCain, Flake, and Collins, any two of whom would give the bill majority support if the whole Dem caucus joined, if they ever backed up their concerns with action.
posted by zombieflanders at 1:01 PM on June 15, 2018 [8 favorites]


US expected to withdraw from UN Human Rights Council

Quite seriously, I keep expecting Trump to fulfill one of the right’s biggest wet dreams and leave the UN altogether and kick it out of the country.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:03 PM on June 15, 2018 [9 favorites]


Speaking of the general in November -- are we to expect a delay of 10 days for the votes to get counted then, too?

If we're lucky. Could be longer.

Remember that on election night in 2016 people were thinking that Trump had won the popular vote narrowly as well as the electoral college and there were only a few voices in the wilderness yelling about how California counts slower than molasses and was going to deliver millions and millions of extra votes for Clinton.
posted by Justinian at 1:03 PM on June 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


In Russia, reality shapes you.
posted by infini at 1:05 PM on June 15, 2018


Remember that on election night in 2016...

No
posted by Atom Eyes at 1:05 PM on June 15, 2018 [40 favorites]


Guiliani: “I don’t understand the justification for putting him in jail,” Giuliani, 74, said. “You put a guy in jail if he’s trying to kill witnesses, not just talking to witnesses.”

This is Giuliani playing dumb for the rubes. As a former prosecutor he knows that one condition of release on bail is that you commit no more crimes. Talking to witnesses to shape their testimony in your favor is a crime. It doesn't require any threats at all.
posted by JackFlash at 1:07 PM on June 15, 2018 [51 favorites]


California does a lot of vote by mail, and stuff just needs to be postmarked by Election Day. Thus, slow counts.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:11 PM on June 15, 2018 [7 favorites]


There's some lol-worthy Trump's mirror in that WSJ article about Cohen posted by zachlipton:
Mr. Trump jabbed at his opponents, including board member Stephen Wolf, who had been chief executive of US Airways Group Inc. before the airline filed for bankruptcy. “What does he know? He ran his airline into the ground,” Mr. Trump said from the podium with Mr. Wolf nearby, according to several attendees.
posted by peeedro at 1:13 PM on June 15, 2018 [6 favorites]


If I ever do a re-watch of Seinfeld, it's going to be super weird seeing Giuliani pop up in that episode about frozen yogurt.

It would be like if Joseph Goebbels had made a guest appearance on the Jack Benny show in 1932.
posted by Atom Eyes at 1:16 PM on June 15, 2018 [50 favorites]


I love that Chuck Wendig rant but jeebus h christ I wish he could have written just one blog post and posted a damn link or a pic or the rant or SOMETHING. This is why I hate that Twitter is our only method of communication allowed now. (Also, kids, get off my lawn.)
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:17 PM on June 15, 2018 [11 favorites]


Oh boy, this Friday isn't going to let up even a little, is it?

Right now in Nevada; someone with a gun and an armored car is blocking traffic in the middle of the Hoover Dam.

[8 News Now] #UPDATE: In a photo sent to 8 News NOW from Keith Aronson, the suspect has notes taped to the window of the vehicle he's barricaded in. One note says "Mr. President release the reports," according to a passerby. #HooverDam #8NN

I can only presume those "reports" are the QAnon/Pizzagate nonsense.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 1:18 PM on June 15, 2018 [31 favorites]


Jeff Sessions’s other favorite Bible stories (Alexandra Petri, WaPo)
Leaving aside the fact that the Bible is, well, not the law of the land and not something we should cite from a legal standpoint when explaining the laws of the land, here are some more justifications that Sessions might use for this policy. You can find a lot of things in the Bible.
  • Job: As we see in the Bible, God is in favor of making innocent people suffer for no reason whatsoever.
  • Judgment of Solomon: As King Solomon so wisely and clearly admonishes us, babies should be taken from their mothers and cut in half.
  • Moses in the Bulrushes: As the Bible so humanely shows, if you take a baby from its mother and float it downriver in a basket, it will work out fine.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:20 PM on June 15, 2018 [29 favorites]


Everybody always talks about how when Allied troops retook much of Europe, they marched Germans through concentration camps. They made the German citizenry see what their empire did. I've never really seen it said outright, but the understanding was "you are responsible for this. Even if you didn't do this yourselves, you allowed this to happen, on your own soil. If you identify as a German, and the government was doing this in Germany, then you are culpable."

We look down on those people. We look at those people and say "even if they weren't card-carrying nazis, if they allowed this to happen, then they didn't do the right thing. They didn't stand up."

This is happening here, now. We're taking children from parents, not because these parents are unfit, but because of their background. They weren't born on the right side of a border. MAYBE this policy isn't racist, but if it isn't it's really damned close. And while I don't think that the US is looking to cause genocide in this case, nor many of the horrible things the nazis did to Jews and others, I'm going to argue that taking children from parents is a form of torture, for both the children and the parents.

I am the perfect example of why Democrats lose. I always try to be reasonable. I've joined the marches, and I've canvassed, and voted when I should. I try to talk with people rather than get emotional. To a fault. I pick on the faults of people on the left more than is necessary, certainly more than people on the right criticize their own. I try to be rational, and pragmatic. Although I have suggested it in the past (in a failed attempt at humor/farce/court jestering,) I am not interested in a civil war. I do not want this country to become an actual, literal war zone.

But maybe it's time. Maybe it's time I drew a line in the sand, or planted my flag on the hill upon which I would die. I do not want anyone to be able to say of me, "he knew what his own government was doing and he did nothing." I'm not advocating violence but goddammit they are taking and imprisoning children, right here, right now. This isn't some faraway, fucked-up nation with a different language and different cultures, this is my home. How dare they. And how dare I not do anything in response?
posted by nushustu at 1:22 PM on June 15, 2018 [85 favorites]


I can only presume those "reports" are the QAnon/Pizzagate nonsense.

Either that or an unredacted DOJ OIG report, I've seen speculation both ways with no confirmation yet. The Dam has been evacuated & traffic is being rerouted.
posted by scalefree at 1:25 PM on June 15, 2018


Mod note: Heya, let's maybe leave conspiracy nonsense to the conspiracy nonsensers and not run with it at length in here.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:32 PM on June 15, 2018 [6 favorites]


Right now in Nevada; someone with a gun and an armored car is blocking traffic in the middle of the Hoover Dam

To be clear, this is the bypass bridge and not the dam itself — I believe the road was rerouted from the dam several years ago.
posted by stopgap at 1:34 PM on June 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


He's been taken into custody. Show's over.
posted by scalefree at 1:35 PM on June 15, 2018 [6 favorites]


Is there a venting thread?
posted by ZeusHumms at 1:36 PM on June 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


Trump has a problem with pre-trial detention for someone who suborned perjury while out on bail and who's facing 14 felony counts ...Trump has no problem ordering pre-trial detention and separation from their parents for thousands of immigrant children for the misdemeanor of illegally entering the US.

To quote peak Morrissey:
"It's not like any other [incarceration],
This one's different,
because it's us."
posted by msalt at 1:38 PM on June 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


Is there a venting thread?

Fucking Fuck XI was archived earlier today, so I don't believe there is a currently active venting thread.
posted by nubs at 1:39 PM on June 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


What does he know? He ran his airline into the ground.

The ups and (mostly) downs of Trump Shuttle, the president’s long-defunct airline
The crash landing of the Boeing 727 was perhaps the best metaphor about Donald Trump’s airline: a passenger jet with malfunctioning nose gear dumping fuel to avoid a greater catastrophe, the thin veneer of a graceful landing torn away with the white underbelly paint grinding on the asphalt, and public relations spin turning a near-disaster into an apparent strength.
...
Marble sinks were too heavy on the airframe, where every inch is scrutinized to save space and weight, so faux-marble was installed. Thick burgundy carpets made it difficult for flight attendants to move their beverage and food carts. Trump advised the attendants to push harder, Kranish and Fisher wrote. And despite customer surveys touting on-time flights and consistent schedules as their main needs, Trump insisted on gold-plated fixtures, leather seats and chrome buckles for flights that typically took less than an hour.
Donald Trump’s airline went from opulence in the air to crash landing
Even at the time, Trump was widely believed to have overpaid [$365 million]. When his team added up how much it would cost to start such a carrier from scratch, they estimated around $300 million.
...
On airplanes that were worth about $4 million each, Trump spent about $1 million apiece to redesign them. He wanted a T on the tail of the plane as big as possible. A giant TRUMP was painted on the side.
...
Over an 18-month period, Trump couldn’t turn a profit. The Shuttle had lost $128 million.
...
In late 1991, about 2½ years after Trump had purchased the airline, Trump gave up control of his prize in order to get out from a pile of debt.

As part of the deal, Trump was no longer responsible for some $245 million in loans left on the shuttle airline. In addition, out of the $135 million that Trump had personally guaranteed, at least $100 million was forgiven, according to news reports at the time.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:43 PM on June 15, 2018 [20 favorites]


NBC News, This man is running Russia's newest propaganda effort in the U.S. — or at least he's trying to: Alexander Malkevich [the "USA Really. Wake Up Americans" guy] tried to throw a rally at the White House, but nobody showed up.

Sad trombone.
posted by zachlipton at 1:43 PM on June 15, 2018 [12 favorites]


A Man, A Jail, Manafort

A palindrome for the occasion:

Yo, Joe, no glib regrets. No! Manafort in nitro? Fan!! A monster gerbil gone. O, joy!
posted by msalt at 1:54 PM on June 15, 2018 [68 favorites]


Called my useless slimebag Texas senators to tell them how I felt about fucking tent concentration camps for children outside El Paso. They won't care because they are useless slimebags who are a-ok with babies in cages, but I guess it's good I called to let them know I see their evil. It doesn't feel particularly useful but it's all I've got available to me to do today. Ugh.
posted by emjaybee at 2:06 PM on June 15, 2018 [40 favorites]


If a holy book had to be a basis for law, well, the Bible is full of contradictions and lots of awful ideas, so pass on that.

All that said, the gist of its instructions for treating foreigners when they visit your country is pretty consistent.


If there’s one historical commonality of all the civilizations that have risen above base tribalism, it’s the value of hospitality. A nation that won’t shelter and embrace a stranger in need is invariably doomed to failure.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 2:07 PM on June 15, 2018 [20 favorites]


Slate, “The Waiver Process Is Fraud”, in which the government tells the Supreme Court that the travel ban is ok because there's a waiver process, but consular officials say it's all a scam and they were told they couldn't grant waivers.

For instance, a Yemeni girl with cerebral palsy was denied a waiver until the issue came up in the Supreme Court hearing.
posted by zachlipton at 2:08 PM on June 15, 2018 [21 favorites]


Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo notes that the DOJ Inspector General's report didn't deal with leaks by FBI agents to Republicans, and has a video of Nunes claiming that they leaked details of Anthony Weiner's laptop to him in September 2016, almost as soon as the agents were aware of the laptop's contents.

It's clear to me that Comey's actions were partially an attempt to appease a large body of FBI agents who were virulently anti-Clinton and were unconcerned about influencing the election, at best.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:10 PM on June 15, 2018 [25 favorites]


It doesn't feel particularly useful but it's all I've got available to me to do today.

When you feel like you might despair, write postcards.
posted by OnceUponATime at 2:12 PM on June 15, 2018 [8 favorites]


Guiliani: “I don’t understand the justification for putting him in jail,” Giuliani, 74, said. “You put a guy in jail if he’s trying to kill witnesses, not just talking to witnesses.”

I refuse to believe Giuliani wouldn't have a handy explanation/excuse if Manafort openly killed a witness.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 2:12 PM on June 15, 2018 [11 favorites]


I prematurely hit post there. Postcards to Voters has campaign at the moment for the specual election to replace disgraced Congressman Blake Farenthold (who used $84,000 of taxpayer money to settle a sexual harassment suit) for the remainder of his term -- which runs until November. They want to elect the guy who is already the Democratic nominee for the November ballot, so he will be the incumbent in that race. It's a special election, so a little turn out goes a long way
posted by OnceUponATime at 2:16 PM on June 15, 2018 [12 favorites]


Walter Shaub (fmr Dir. Office Government Ethics)
Sen. Graham just admitted on CNN to Kate Bolduan that the goal of ripping terrified children from their desperate parents is deterrence. I’ve been saying all along that the plan is to commit sufficiently horrific atrocities to scare people away. This is state sponsored terrorism.


When Democrats retake control, there's no looking "forward not backwards" this time.

ICE agents and Republican politicians must be turned over for trial at The Hague for crimes against humanity.

Get your Democratic members on record now. Not just abolish ICE, war crimes tribunals.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:18 PM on June 15, 2018 [54 favorites]


It's clear to me that Comey's actions were partially an attempt to appease a large body of FBI agents who were virulently anti-Clinton and were unconcerned about influencing the election, at best.

One thing Ds need to do if they take the House is immediately open an investigation into these leaks. Rs have gone wild subpoenaing and releasing FBI texts and emails to thwart justice. Time to do it for justice. Let's see what's in *those* FBI texts.
posted by chris24 at 2:30 PM on June 15, 2018 [12 favorites]


WaPo, After forging new ties with North Korea, Trump administration turns to Russia
The president’s interest in a meeting with Putin became public in March after the Kremlin disclosed that Trump extended an invitation in a phone call with the Russian leader. But U.S. officials say Trump privately has been asking his aides for a bilateral meeting ever since he met with Putin in Vietnam in November on the sidelines of a multilateral economic summit.

“After that meeting, the president said he wanted to invite Putin to the White House,” one U.S. official said. “We ignored it.”

At the time, top aides in the National Security Council opposed the idea of a meeting and said they didn’t view Trump’s interest in a summit as an order to set one up. “They decided: Let’s wait and see if he raises it again,” said the official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.
Just who the hell is the President anyway?
posted by zachlipton at 2:31 PM on June 15, 2018 [8 favorites]


Chris Hayes continues to do commendable journalistic work on this from his twitter within the last half hour:

Were trying to make sense of some exclusive documents we've obtained about family separation, but there appear to be some really shocking details contained in the statistics, more later

One thing these internal documents show very clearly is that *of curse* this is a new policy intentionally undertaken by the Trump admin. Its actually called the "prosecution initiative.[emphasis mine]
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 2:33 PM on June 15, 2018 [18 favorites]


Romans 13 says nothing good or bad about any particular government action, past, present, future, or hypothetical. It just says "obey Caesar."

At the risk of being pedantic (but, hey, look what website I'm on) I will point out that the text never ever says Caesar, or emperor, or Senate, or king, or any title at all. It says "authorities." (Greek: "exousia") which is a really generic term. There is nothing in the text itself that points specifically to the authorities of the secular government. So, a good question to ask is "what authorities would Paul--the guy who has been repeatedly imprisoned by Roman leaders and will someday be executed by the emperor--what authorities is he likely thinking of, in context?" And you can read all of Romans and find nothing about secular government, but a whole long argument about the need for non-Jewish Christians to respect the Jewish roots and heritage of the Christian faith--including a very emphatic section in Romans 11 about how Gentiles have been grafted into Israel and are only saved because the promises God gave Israel are now being gracious extended to them. Then you realize that at this point in history, Christianity hadn't spun off to be its own separate thing but was a subset of Jewish worship, and then it hits you "OH MY GOD, ROMANS 13 IS TELLING GENTILE BELIEVERS TO BE RESPECTFUL OF THE SYNAGOGUE AUTHORITIES, IN WHOSE SPACES THEY ARE MEETING, AND WHOSE SCRIPTURES THEY HAVE ADOPTED AS THEIR OWN."

At least, that's the argument Mark Nanos makes, and he's sold me. Romans 13 was never about doing whatever Caesar says. God doesn't care about Caesar. It was always about Gentile Christians being respectful of the synagogue leadership. There is no text that enjoins Christians to obey secular government, and a hundred examples in the Bible of God's people ignoring kings and rulers to do what is morally right.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 2:33 PM on June 15, 2018 [83 favorites]


the "prosecution initiative"

The Hamming distance between the language of this admin and that of the Nazis continues to be minimal.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 2:37 PM on June 15, 2018 [12 favorites]


@KatyTurNBC: The President lied or misled the American public 19 times this morning. We have an hour long fact check now. @MSNBC
@mschlapp: Katy this is why the Natl media is literally unhinged from half of the country. Report the facts leave the moral condemnation to others


Tur responded, "Where am I deviating from the facts here? This is a statement of fact. He lies. A lot."

Schlapp—who, as husband to White House Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp, is hardly a disinterested party—doubled down, "A tweet is too short but in many cases there is a dispute over objective facts including at the border. Perhaps neither side is lying."

Tur has now broadcast Why are Republican leaders OK with the President of the United States lying?—The President of the United States made 19 false or misleading statements to the press this morning on topics ranging from North Korea to the Russia investigation. Why won’t Republican lawmakers hold him accountable for his lies?

Mic drop.

And seriously, I'm this close to making a Romans 13 Roundup FPP myself if people really, really want to debate this.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:38 PM on June 15, 2018 [97 favorites]


As part of the deal, Trump was no longer responsible for some $245 million in loans left on the shuttle airline. In addition, out of the $135 million that Trump had personally guaranteed, at least $100 million was forgiven, according to news reports at the time.

And this man painted himself as the answer to the middle class' anger over the foreclosure crisis.

The banks could forgive my mortgage and not realize one-tenth of one percent of the loss they took on Trump this one time.
posted by Gelatin at 2:39 PM on June 15, 2018 [7 favorites]


Vanity Fair, Melania Trump Spent Her Husband’s Birthday Away from Her Husband
We know that Donald Trump did not give his wife a gift for her birthday back in April. So, what was Melania’s plan for Trump’s 72nd birthday on Thursday? Leaving him alone in D.C. The First Lady was photographed in New York on Trump’s special day with a caravan of black S.U.V.s for what her spokesperson said was a series of “meetings.”

According to her spokesperson, Melania was in New York on Wednesday and left the city on Thursday. The spokesperson clarified statements made by the president, who told reporters last week that Melania was unable to fly after undergoing surgery for her kidney. She is still able to fly domestically.
Don Jr., for his part, took to Fox News to announce he had not gotten his father anything.
posted by zachlipton at 2:43 PM on June 15, 2018 [10 favorites]


Holy shit. Trump is Andy Kaufman.

It all makes sense now. The wrestling, the wigs.
posted by petebest at 2:51 PM on June 15, 2018 [14 favorites]


My psychiatrist has taken to giving me rosy-eyed projections about how this will end (midterms! Mueller!) and part of our sessions have been totally:

shrink: blah blah blah rosy outcome. That answer doesn't seem to satisfy you.
me: because it's not entirely truthful
posted by angrycat at 2:52 PM on June 15, 2018 [12 favorites]


Tur responded, "Where am I deviating from the facts here? This is a statement of fact. He lies. A lot."

Schlapp—who, as husband to White House Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp, is hardly a disinterested party—doubled down, "A tweet is too short but in many cases there is a dispute over objective facts including at the border. Perhaps neither side is lying."


Good on Tur for challenging Schlapp. Note that his response is the weakest of weak sauce -- he doesn't cite any specific case, only vague "dispute over objective facts," and says that "perhaps neither side is lying."

Schlapp's statement would be an embarrassing admission that he has nothing even if the Trump administration deserved the benefit of the doubt. They don't.
posted by Gelatin at 2:53 PM on June 15, 2018 [6 favorites]


Pardon for the callback to much earlier in this thread (8am today), but this is sort of my area of expertise and I feel like it needs to be addressed.

Dashy posted a link to a US passport application adjudication letter from the Department of State (not Homeland Security, as stated in the tweet text):
From Elizabeth McLaughlin, One of our followers sent us this letter she received TODAY from Homeland Security after applying for a passport. She is a US citizen.

She wrote: “I served my country proudly in the United States Army. I am a college graduate. I have a BS in social psychology and was working towards another degree until hurricane Harvey hit. I have worked several verifiable jobs . . . I have recently been employed as a counselor and a highly respected Parole Officer and Case Manager. It seems to me that the letter is implying that they believe that I am not a US citizen . . . My wife and I are not sure what this means in trump's America. I am getting my affairs in order quickly just in case they come [for] me"

ICE isn’t just coming for folks crossing the border. They’re coming for ANYONE they believe may not belong here, no matter how spurious the facts. Born near the US-Mexico border in a midwife birth that delayed the filing of your birth certificate? Get ready. Fascism is here.
Later, MysticMCJ makes some leaps of reasoning about the letter. This is not surprising since this thread and the last part of the previous megathread have been heavy on the Religion Issue(s):
Regarding that letter that Elizabeth McLaughlin received - The very first bit of identification that they are asking for are baptism / confirmation / other ceremony information. Expressed differently, the very first question they are using to determine citizenship is based on religion.

Outside of that, I'm a US citizen who was born in KY, and I couldn't answer all of these questions. This line of questioning is something that could easily be used to arbitrarily deny passports or even citizenship, as it's virtually impossible for many to answer all of them, and no matter how much you answer, it's up to the reviewer to make the call.
So, a few things here, just gentle reminders for everyone. First of all, the US Department of State, despite its shitty, shitty current and recently-fired leadership, is a bastion of public service comprised of thousands of career bureaucrats who are quietly, gently still providing quality services to the citizens of the United States. I can't say 'nothing,' but I can say that not much has changed in that regard.

The letter in question is not exceptional. In the course of my job I've seen a bunch of different letters rejecting applications and requesting further documentation, and while I haven't seen one that references a shady Records Clerk as reason for making that request before, it is not out of the ordinary. California issues two different birth records, a "long-form" Certificate of Live Birth and an Abstract of Birth. Technically, both documents meet the State Dept's requirements for proof of citizenship when applying for a passport, but the latter has been specifically disallowed due to—I believe—a ton of those blank records being stolen from the state decades ago. So hinky shit gets in the way all the time of accurate local-level records-keeping, and the Dept of State does a pretty good job keeping those issues straight and gives appropriate responses when they come to bear on the application process.

Now, MysticMCJ noticed that they provide a list of various documentation an applicant can provide to supplement whatever proofs they submitted initially with the application. That list is not new, and it can be found on the State Dept's travel website (I believe) verbatim:
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/requirements/citizenship-evidence.html
And yeah, right at the top of the list for "Early Public or Private Documents" is Baptism Certificate. Further down the list there's a 'Family Bible' (because apparently that's a thing!), and there are a bunch of other records listed like Census records, Hospital Birth Records (those are the ones with the footprints on 'em), early school records, post-natal care records from the doctor, etc. These are all things that families have traditionally generated as, well, public or private records of their lives in the USA. Jumping to the conclusion that we're living in a theocracy because the Department of State accepts various traditional family records as secondary proofs of citizenship is the wrong reaction. Personally, I think it's cool that our federal bureaucracy has published and makes available so many avenues for providing proof of citizenship, as they attempt to cover the vast breadth of experiences US Citizens live in their early lives.

Were you born in a hospital? What about in a hot tub (this was apparently a thing while my mother was pregnant with me)? Delivered by a doctor or a midwife or a stranger? Born in a barn? In a cab? Were you born to parents who didn't (or couldn't) navigate the bureaucratic maze that is local records departments? Were you born abroad to US Citizen parents who didn't know they had to obtain a CRBA for you? Were you born abroad and then moved here as an infant and received citizenship through your parents when they were naturalized? Did they get you a passport right away? Did they get a Certificate of Citizenship for you at the same time they got their Naturalization Certificates? All of these variances have to be accounted for when verifying Citizenship for the purpose of obtaining a US Passport, and I think the real people working at the Department of State do a pretty good job of providing possible avenues for proof of citizenship to those who were born under non-standard circumstances.

TL;DR: everything is terrible, but that's no reason to jump to conclusions about a federal bureaucracy that is still managing to function under downright unAmerican leadership. Now I scroll back up and finish reading about Manafort in jail! (And whatever other fresh hells have been uncovered in the six hours since, oof.)
posted by carsonb at 2:54 PM on June 15, 2018 [59 favorites]


Michael Avenatti is tweeting that the government has extracted more info from Cohen's materials
• 2 Blackberrys that they're still extracting from
• 16 pages of shredded material
• 731 pages of encrypted messages from WhatsApp and Signal


This is huge. Here is the government's official declaration to Judge Kimba Wood. Apparently, they reassembled everything in the shredder, have cracked one of two Blackberries and are still working on the other. And:
The Government was advised that the FBI’s original electronic extraction of data from telephones did not capture content related to encrypted messaging applications, such as WhatsApp and Signal. The FBI has now obtained this material. There are approximately 731 pages of messages, including call logs, which were also produced today.
My guess: they found the piece of paper where Cohen wrote down his SUPER SEKRIT passwords, maybe in his safe deposit box. But the password for his older Blackberry wasn't on the list. No wonder he's thinking about flipping.
posted by msalt at 2:57 PM on June 15, 2018 [34 favorites]


angrycat: "My psychiatrist has taken to giving me rosy-eyed projections about how this will end (midterms! Mueller!) and part of our sessions have been totally:

shrink: blah blah blah rosy outcome. That answer doesn't seem to satisfy you.
me: because it's not entirely truthful
"

I don't want to minimize your concerns, things could absolutely still go shitty. The thing is - maybe now more than in previous point in US history - the future is unpredictable. I think back to when a commenter here - a person I believe to be a perceptive analyst of US politics - stated firmly that Mueller would be fired in the next few days, no question whatsoever. That was maybe six months ago.

Things may go truly full out fascist. Things may move back to normal. Things may do something we haven't even thought of yet. NOBODY knows.

I don't know that this helps any, just (if you can) don't pre-catastrophize.
posted by Chrysostom at 3:06 PM on June 15, 2018 [37 favorites]




I’m trying to imagine the massive impact that seven hundred pages of encrypted messages — specifically sent via an app intended to keep the contents secret — might have when compromised. It would probably be bad for even an average, not-especially-sleazy, attorney. But one who is hip-deep in the Swamp?

It’s going to be a very bad year for Mr. Cohen.
posted by darkstar at 3:08 PM on June 15, 2018 [9 favorites]


Jews are still sounding off after the Orthodox Union gave AG Jeff Sessions an honor/award yesterday.

After further discussion, the Orthodox Union, along with 26 other Jewish organizations and counting, has signed on to the Jewish Communal Letter Condemning Family Separation Policy, addressed to Sessions and Nielsen.
posted by zachlipton at 3:10 PM on June 15, 2018 [30 favorites]


Holy shit. Trump is Andy Kaufman.

I understand the comparison, but obviously we would be MUCH better off if this were the case. Trump is just another loser real-estate asshole from Queens. Take comfort in the fact that the Courts have given zero credibility to Trump and his proxy's arguments in actual court proceedings.

And you know that whole pardoning thing? Barbara Underwood has shown she is NOT Schniederman, and frankly, I think she welcomes the professional challenge of charging President DJT in NY for plain old money laundering...

Think of her Trump Foundation filings as her warm-up swings...
posted by mikelieman at 3:10 PM on June 15, 2018 [21 favorites]


The Government was advised that the FBI’s original electronic extraction of data from telephones did not capture content related to encrypted messaging applications, such as WhatsApp and Signal. The FBI has now obtained this material.

These kind of statements are always lacking in particular details that pique my curiosity. When the FBI extracts data off of a phone, they make copies of the phones' filesystems, then analyze it with software, etc. They would have had all of the "content" on the phone (even if they couldn't access the content, they had possession of it). They then go on to say that they simply "obtained" the material.

This statement makes me think they got the messages from somewhere that's specifically not the phone itself. It also makes me think that the FBI is pointing out that they can get the WhatsApp and Signal conversations with or without cooperation of those they are targeting, and with or without the physical phone.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 3:28 PM on June 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


731 pages of encrypted messages from WhatsApp and Signal

AAAAAAAHHAHAHAHAA

oh wait

Guys if an earthquake happens or something and they somehow manage to implement full fascism we’re going to need a new app
posted by schadenfrau at 3:30 PM on June 15, 2018 [11 favorites]


@GadiNBC:
We’re about to head into another detention shelter for immigrant children separated from families. This one much different from the former Walmart @jacobsoboroff showed us earlier this week. No cameras allowed in but our reports coming up @MSNBC @NBCNightlyNews @allinwithchris

So, the first thing children who are brought here are told is that this is not a detention center. — Even though they are not allowed to leave. Don’t know when they will be freed. And get 2 phone calls to family a week. Those calls can’t be longer than 10 minutes.

The first thing we were shown is this bell that is supposed to give kids hope... but seemed really haunting. we weren’t allowed to take pictures. But here’s what it said in Spanish. It means when a minor finally achieves their dream of reuniting with their family or sponsor, they’ll ring this bell as they leave. This will be the sound of hope. So one of the staff members giving the tour rang the bell... there was this strange second of silence... then all over the facility immigrant kids stopped what they were doing and started clapping. The idea, that one day they’ll leave free and get to ring the bell. (Unless they turn 18, at which point they are turned back over to ICE to be detained and prosecuted as an adult) in those cases, the bell isn’t rung.

At this facility, there are 63 kids, all males and most from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. We saw them playing soccer in a caged field with nets. We were told the fencing was because soccer balls kept getting kicked off property.

The kids wake up at 630 am. Breakfast at 7am. Schooling until 2pm. Clinical work until 3pm Vocational, large muscle and recreational leisure structured by different blocks afterward. They have movie nights, special events, can play soccer... The staff says they have even hosted a prom where these immigrant children —- who are being held in a fenced and locked facility—- are allowed to dress up and socialize with girls who are also in the custody of HHS. And it’s not just parents being separated from their children... if a family has siblings that are brother and sister, they are seperated as well. At this facility in El Cajon, brothers and sisters are allowed to see each other once a week.

At this facility- staff says the average minor stays 47 days... but they have had a stay as long as +260 days. The HHS average stay is 56. Right now there are 11,351 minors being held in over 100 shelters like this across the country.
And these are the two that have allowed press.
posted by zachlipton at 3:30 PM on June 15, 2018 [89 favorites]


> Personally, I think it's cool that our federal bureaucracy has published and makes available so many avenues for providing proof of citizenship

I really appreciate your detailed response, but I can't say I feel any better.

So lets look at all of those venues - all of this is well and good if possessing one of them can be an definitive proof of citizenship, but so few of the are, that this could so very easily be turned into requiring so many avenues of proof of citizenship.

My points were as follows:
- It's surprising to me that the very first question is regarding baptism / ceremonies. I mean it's cool if that's an additional method you can use, but it still stands out as weird to list that as the very first thing. The problem with something "weird" like this is that something that may come across as a bureaucratic oddity in a benevolent administration can unfortunately take on an entirely different context under, say, a white supremacist fascist president. So maybe this is how it always has been, but we should be damned wary of it now, and look towards how comfortable we are with this long term.
- I still couldn't answer all of those questions, and if the record of my birth is suspect (assuming that's similar to the birth certificate) and it's the reason that I'm getting this letter in the first place, I likely don't have enough supplementary information to answer my birth in a reliable way. Seriously - I have zero other ways of actually proving that I was born here as opposed to having merely lived here for years, as I don't have a clue what hospital I was born in, and I don't have living or reliable parents that I can ask the bulk of the questions surrounding the circumstances of my birth. I can tell you my addresses, schools, employers, and family members, but none of that proves my birth authoritatively - it becomes a judgement call. Perhaps under a benevolent administration, I could have more faith in that playing out well, and I'd honestly love to know from your experience if those things would be sufficient in of themselves in the past.

To be clear - I'm not saying that these extra methods of proving citizenship are bad in of themselves, but all it takes is a change in leadership to change the context of everything. History doesn't really give me hope here. And to be further clear, it's not so much an "oh, shit - they are asking a religious question" as it is an "oh, shit - there's so many more things that can be used to deny citizenship than I had envisioned."

I absolutely value those workers who are doing good now, and who are keeping government running - but those institutions are being purged and filled with Trump loyalists. While I value the career government employees who are acting in good faith as they should, I have zero confidence that they will not be purged and replaced with those who will gladly adapt the routine paperwork into instruments of persecution.

You may say that this is all an overreaction to a passport application - I'd normally say that this is how it starts, but I think we are well beyond that point now, and we should be incredibly wary of where this can be taken, especially in the context of an administration that is separating families and interning "non-citizens" in the name of religion.

I appreciate the work you have done here, and I hope beyond hope that we can maintain some good people in similar roles.
posted by MysticMCJ at 3:38 PM on June 15, 2018 [9 favorites]


If I ever do a re-watch of Seinfeld, it's going to be super weird seeing Giuliani pop up in that episode about frozen yogurt.

It would be like if Joseph Goebbels had made a guest appearance on the Jack Benny show in 1932.


Try watching Home Alone 2.
posted by saturday_morning at 3:59 PM on June 15, 2018 [21 favorites]


Or Sex and the City, or any flick in NYC where he insisted on being on it.

I love how so far 2 family members did squat for his birthday, including leaving/talking about it on Fox News.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:23 PM on June 15, 2018 [8 favorites]


Tim Dickinson (Rolling Stone)
we've got a kafkaesque nightmare in the making. Parents held by DHS; kids sent by HHS into foster homes in the interior. No system in place to track for future unification. What happens when the parents are deported? What happens if our government breaks these families forever? reunification right now is an ad-hoc process requiring lawyers and benevolent foster families. what happens to the kids whose parents fall off the map? they're stateless; are they naturalized; do they become a new population of Dreamers 10-15 years from now? Are they put up for adoption?

Some of this has shades of Argentina's dirty war and the children of the disappeared. There are over the horizon impacts we're not considering at all. And it's driven by a dehumanization of these desperate people who are seeking refuge and opportunity. It's the "Animals" factor; you don't treat humans like this. the next phase is the Trump administration complaining about the cost of interning all of these thousands of people they've decided to make wards of the state. Where that leads us is darkness.
posted by chris24 at 4:30 PM on June 15, 2018 [75 favorites]


Which the press should realize is phony, anyway, since Republicans control both houses of Congress.

Also, "nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it." So why the fuck aren't you fixing it?
posted by kirkaracha at 4:32 PM on June 15, 2018 [4 favorites]


At this facility, there are 63 kids, all males

WHERE ARE THE GIRLS.
posted by nikaspark at 4:33 PM on June 15, 2018 [66 favorites]


The Ocasio Cortez / Crowley debate (NY-14) just ended -- she did really well; Crowley was struggling. Even if she doesn't win the primary, I think it was really good for the party that this debate happened.
posted by melissasaurus at 4:39 PM on June 15, 2018 [13 favorites]


ABC 's story Judge Orders Paul Manafort to Jail Pending Trial, 'Very Unfair' Says Trump includes an anonymous leak's belief-beggaring claim: "Sources close to President Trump’s legal team told ABC News they were 'stunned' by the decision."

Either Team Trump's so stupid that they honestly didn't think Manafort's jailing was the likely outcome or they consider their supporters so stupid that an attempt to play innocent would succeed with them.
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:43 PM on June 15, 2018 [12 favorites]


What happens if our government breaks these families forever?
Wether these families are broken or not, the misery may live on for decades. See: residential school system in Canada.
posted by bonobothegreat at 4:46 PM on June 15, 2018 [27 favorites]


The idea, that one day they’ll leave free and get to ring the bell. (Unless they turn 18, at which point they are turned back over to ICE to be detained and prosecuted as an adult)
What the fuck is up with that, by the way? They were brought here involuntarily as children, so when they turn 18 they going to be prosecuted "as an adult" for... what exactly? Being stuck in an ICE jail for however many years of their childhood?

Jesus Christ! We don't even treat American criminals that way. If you commit an offense as a juvenile, you may be (at most) imprisoned for the rest of your childhood, but then your record gets sealed and you get released. You get a fresh start - not "tried as an adult" for the offense you committed during your childhood. Yes I know there are some exceptions for especially heinous crimes, but it is not just a general policy that you go to juvey until age 18 and then start the prosecution all over again as an adult!
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 4:57 PM on June 15, 2018 [63 favorites]


Some of this has shades of Argentina's dirty war and the children of the disappeared. There are over the horizon impacts we're not considering at all.

Innumerable locations and facilities, secrecy, nobody apparently keeping track. It's far too plausible that now or in the near future there will be on-paper "residential homes" that will be found to never have actually existed, the children never to be found.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:03 PM on June 15, 2018 [15 favorites]


I promise you, no one of latinx origins has failed to consider all of these things at great length and for nearly 2 years now.

WE BEEN SAYING
posted by poffin boffin at 5:10 PM on June 15, 2018 [82 favorites]


There’s a kid with epilepsy that got snatched, I wonder if ICE know that, know how to care for them, if there’s even the remotest chance that kid isn’t going to suffer and possibly die due to medical neglect.

It seems likely there is already a bodycount.
posted by Artw at 5:13 PM on June 15, 2018 [5 favorites]


Oh man just watched the Ocasio-Cortez/ Crowley debate and it was awesome. You can watch it here (twitter link).

I don't really know anything about Crowley but man that looked like it got him sweating. His responses were a delicious blend of defensive and condescending with an undertone of panic. When he's going on and on about how good he is for diversity, look at all the women and minorities he's helped get elected . . . oh my god how embarrassing. "Help me, a white guy, defeat this minority woman so I can contribute to diversity. This young lady obviously lacks the qualifications to contribute to diversity." The fuck!? The look on her face when he's flailing, like she's thinking, "aww, you're precious."

He just comes off as entirely obsolete compared to her. God, I hope she wins. I want so much more of this.

(Also is it wrong that I love how much she sounds like Tracy Flick in her ad once she gets going?)
posted by robotdevil at 5:22 PM on June 15, 2018 [13 favorites]


WE BEEN SAYING

I personally feel so awful that I’m just now learning about the extent of this.

I don’t even know what else to say other than I’m here, I’m listening. I’m sorry.
posted by nikaspark at 5:25 PM on June 15, 2018 [7 favorites]


The first thing we were shown is this bell that is supposed to give kids hope...

The bell makes you free.

I don't use horrific very often. But this is horrific.

Hopefully the collapse of this administration & demise of ICE will go hand-in-hand.
posted by phigmov at 5:25 PM on June 15, 2018 [38 favorites]


Josh Marshall, There’s Something Fatally Wrong in the IG Report on the FBI and DOJ. The most important thing here is Nunes' Fox News appearance last night, where he said "good FBI agents" told him in September 2016 about the emails on Weiner's laptop. The timing is suspicious there, but even more conspicuous is the fact that the report doesn't really dig into this. Comey sent the letter because he thought the information would leak anyway, and yet the fact that the FBI can't keep information secret isn't addressed in the report.
Here’s where the new information from Thursday evening comes into play. Last night on Fox News Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) said that in late September 2016 “good FBI agents” from the New York field office told him and members of the House Intelligence Committee (HPSCI) that they’d found new Clinton emails on Anthony Weiner’s laptop. Nunes presented these agents as “whistleblowers” and that can be the case when government employees believe they’ve uncovered wrong-doing. But the timing suggests they more or less immediately went to congressional Republicans, about six weeks before the election. The emails were discovered on September 26th. They were talking Nunes in “late September.” That means they had to be “whistleblowing” in four days or less. That sounds more like politicized leaking of details of an on-going investigation than anything that could pass as whistle-blowing. If the “good FBI agents” went to Nunes and other congressional Republicans one or two days after the laptop was discovered that means they didn’t allow any reasonable amount of time to decide the top officials in DC were dragging their feet. They were clearly trying to force the matter.

Step back from the intricacies of the IG Report on the FBI and DOJ and there’s a lot of reason to believe that James Comey made what all consider a bad decision in large part because he and his advisors feared leaks and that these leaks would encourage claims of political bias against Comey and the FBI. There’s also quite a lot of evidence that fear of those leaks was driven by hostility to Clinton among agents in New York as well as members of the fraternity of retired FBI Agents. This hostility or bias toward Clinton seems like a very big driver of events in the fall of 2016. This would not absolve Comey of responsibility for his actions. But it seems impossible to understand the fullness of the situation without trying to get to the bottom of this part of the story. And yet, again, it’s largely ignored in the IG Report. No mention of Giuliani. No mention of the “good FBI agents” who went to House Republicans. I can only imagine what the texts of those “good FBI agents” might contain if scrutinized like Strzok’s and Page’s have been.

As I noted above, it’s possible that this is part of a future IG Report. There’s conflicting word on that. Even if that’s the case, presenting only one distorted side of the story in this report seems highly questionable. However that may be, we still need to get to the bottom of what happened here and why. Because the decision to send that letter on October 28th clearly had a big impact on the election of Donald Trump. And it never should have happened.
posted by zachlipton at 5:30 PM on June 15, 2018 [40 favorites]


Rene Boucher, who beat the crap out of Rand Paul is sentenced to 30 days in prison. Rand Paul is a sitting member of congress. Judging from the 30 day sentence he's also got to be a tremendous asshole.
posted by rdr at 5:34 PM on June 15, 2018 [18 favorites]


Judging from the 30 day sentence he's also got to be a tremendous asshole.

Or judging from everything else we know and have seen of him.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:47 PM on June 15, 2018 [17 favorites]


I don’t even know what else to say other than I’m here, I’m listening. I’m sorry.

Go a little further. Phone your reps. Make your voice heard. Listening isn’t enough.
posted by nubs at 5:59 PM on June 15, 2018 [9 favorites]


Mod note: One deleted. There is no universe in which pedophilia or child sex abuse jokes are funny, please don't.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 6:23 PM on June 15, 2018 [27 favorites]




@taniel: Diana Becton has been elected to a full term as District Attorney of Contra Costa County, clearing the 50% threshold to avoid a runoff.

Criminal justice reformers had rallied behind Becton, while police unions backed her opponent.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:50 PM on June 15, 2018 [27 favorites]


I've found that a good rule of thumb is to vote against whoever is backed by police unions. It has thus far served me well. I have, sadly, had to break this rule occasionally because there are so many goddamn prosecutors running for office (eg Kamala Harris) but it works as a broad stroke.
posted by Justinian at 6:53 PM on June 15, 2018 [18 favorites]


Breitbart: Photos: Inside Shelter for Illegal Alien Children Separated from Parents.

The photos are all explicitly supplied by the facility and HHS. Breitbart gives the full Theresienstadt Treatment here and it's disgusting.

They are also given toiletries and lessons in hygiene — literally how to flush a toilet, brush their teeth, and operate the shower, which some of the children may have never seen in their lives.

“Cages,” these are not. What is immediately striking about the facility is the enthusiasm and care of the staff who work there. One administrator greeted the journalists on the tour: “Welcome to our home.” The children at the facility seemed genuinely happy, despite their unfortunate circumstances and the trauma of their long journey.

The real scandal is how the media have portrayed the shelters.


That the writer of this propaganda's bio includes "named to Forward’s 50 'most influential' Jews in 2017" is a hypershande. An ultrashande. At least the original Nazi propaganda didn't include "we even have to teach the disgusting little things how to use a toilet, and they thank us for it."
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:00 PM on June 15, 2018 [31 favorites]


@C_Sommerfeldt: NEW: Rudy Giuliani tells @NYDailyNews "things might get cleaned up with some presidential pardons" when the "whole thing is over" in light of Paul Manafort being sent to jail.

Giuliani apparently told the same thing to CBS's Paula Reid: Giuliani tells me he advised POTUS not to pardon anyone before Mueller probe ends & POTUS agrees. But pardons possible *after* Mueller probe

Josh Marshall: Notable that Rudy felt it was necessary to explicitly reassure Manafort today that a pardon is in the cards.

Adam Davidson: But, as with everything he does, it's impotent. Manafort's most well-documented alleged crimes occurred in NY and Virginia whose AGs will, surely, happily prosecute him.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:07 PM on June 15, 2018 [16 favorites]


@chrislhayes:
According to internal [CBP] documents obtained by @allinwithchris, from June 3-11, fully ***91%*** of parents being prosecuted at the border and forcibly separated from their children are being prosecuted for a *misdemeanor.*

Additionally in that period of time 366 children were separated from their parents. Also, and this is still a bit unclear, the documents appear to show that child separation is happening *before* the decision to prosecute. That means there are parents being ripped away from their kids who ***aren't even being prosecuted.****
...
Let me say this: I think people should be careful about directing their rage at the social service providers running the facilities that house migrant kids. Some of the facilities are clearly subpar, and there’s obviously a range in their quality. But unaccompanied minors are a real policy challenge. These are basically orphanages, and the best orphanage in the world is not going to be a very happy place, for the most part. Which is why it is so utterly insane and barbaric to *exacerbate* this already difficult challenge by actively prying children away from their parents and sending them to facilities not equipped to deal with their specific trauma or age group.
...
They have implemented a policy of family separation without constructing a clear process for family reunification.
posted by zachlipton at 7:09 PM on June 15, 2018 [51 favorites]


Rene Boucher, who beat the crap out of Rand Paul is sentenced to 30 days in prison.

I'm sympathetic to his plight, but you don't beat the shit out of people. All things considered though, 30 days seems pretty light for breaking the ribs of a Senator, and given that the Senator is Rand Paul, he may not have such a hard time in the clink.
posted by rhizome at 7:09 PM on June 15, 2018 [4 favorites]


if a family has siblings that are brother and sister, they are seperated as well. At this facility in El Cajon, brothers and sisters are allowed to see each other once a week.

Goddamn. These people.
posted by petebest at 7:11 PM on June 15, 2018 [21 favorites]


Breitbart: Photos: Inside Shelter for Illegal Alien Children Separated from Parents.

The photos are all explicitly supplied by the facility and HHS. Breitbart gives the full Theresienstadt Treatment here and it's disgusting.


Jamelle Bouie (Slate)
“slaves got free food and housing, you know”

---

Plus the fact that conditions are a small part of the issue. With the main issue being THEY ARE FUCKING TORN AWAY FROM THEIR PARENTS FOR GOD KNOWS HOW LONG AND GOD KNOWS HOW THEY REUNITE.
posted by chris24 at 7:16 PM on June 15, 2018 [44 favorites]


Step back from the intricacies of the IG Report on the FBI and DOJ and there’s a lot of reason to believe that James Comey made what all consider a bad decision in large part because he and his advisors feared leaks and that these leaks would encourage claims of political bias against Comey and the FBI.

In my perfect imaginary future, the Clinton investigation was cover for the Russia one. Like the FBI was all "Benghazi? Emails? Sure, man, we're all over it. They got us working in shifts!" Meanwhile Page and Stone and everybody else you can think of was yakking their fool heads off. It's good to dream.
posted by rhizome at 7:17 PM on June 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


Yeah I feel like "look how bad conditions aren't!" is a red herring along the lines of "we should arm teachers" to distract from the real issue of "get rid of guns." these kids could be staying in fucking Trump hotels and it wouldn't change the fact that they're being subjected to extreme and long-lasting psychological trauma. I wish someone would point that out in response any time someone suggests conditions aren't really THAT bad. obviously having horrible conditions makes things WORSE, but it's not like having "good" conditions like TV and sports and bathrooms or whatever bullshit this is makes any of this remotely okay.
posted by robotdevil at 7:23 PM on June 15, 2018 [12 favorites]


Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab is raising money for RAICES; the introductory section of the product page has info on that organization, and links to other nonprofits in this fight and to key pieces of legislation. Sanders and Sessions are also referred to as "monstrous, merciless ghouls," as in, "Boy howdy, you monstrous, merciless ghouls, does Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab have a Bible lesson for you."

In the email announcing the fundraiser, BPAL asks for signal boosts:

"Our post on Facebook was blocked from getting a paid boost (which businesses have to use in order to reach all their followers) because we're not authorized to buy "political advertisements." Let that sink in for a moment: under the new rules, a series of products raising money for a legal aid charity is considered a political advertisement. And even if we become authorized to boost posts like these, they'll be accompanied by some kind of "this is a political ad" disclaimer."
posted by Iris Gambol at 7:26 PM on June 15, 2018 [35 favorites]


Please. The Prosperity Gospel is not Calvinism.

Here's an observation that bears thinking about: the Puritans still have two descendant denominations today: the Unitarian Universalist movement, and the United Church of Christ. Both are very liberal, not despite their origin with the Puritans, but because of it. And Sessions's use of Romans 13 is the touchstone that shows it.

When the English settled the coast, the north was settled by the Puritans. The South was settled by cadet sons: men seeking to recreate the same great estates their elder brothers were inheriting back home. They were intent on establishing the same social order, with the lower orders induced by any means, to accept their lot in life, and so the church in the South made frequent use of ROmans 13.

Up north, the Mayflower disaster forced the Puritans to set up their government without any authorization from home, so when they started deciding their affairs with the New England town meeting, they became the "powers that be" and thus had no use for Romans 13.

Sessions has just restated the Civil War, albeit in a fashion that is bloodless and may remain so. But once again a northern victory is a must.
posted by ocschwar at 7:31 PM on June 15, 2018 [38 favorites]


@NBCNews:
WATCH: A speech by VP Pence was interrupted by protesters against the Trump administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the border.
VIDEO
posted by chris24 at 7:39 PM on June 15, 2018 [58 favorites]


Nobody ever said the HHS detention centers have cages. The CBP/ICE holding facilities are the places with chain-link enclosures, cement floors, shock blankets, and also family segregation.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:40 PM on June 15, 2018 [9 favorites]


Jackie Calmes of the LA Times:
"Why are you lying about it, sir?"
That's what WH transcript of Trump's remarks today TWICE records reporters asking:
1-to his repeated claim IG report "exonerated" him (it had no'g to do w/Russia probe)
2-to his blaming splitting families at border to Dems & a nonexistent law
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:09 PM on June 15, 2018 [38 favorites]


When Democrats retake control, there's no looking "forward not backwards" this time.


oh honey
posted by moorooka at 8:12 PM on June 15, 2018 [32 favorites]


because we're not authorized to buy "political advertisements."

To be clear, they’re selling perfume scents with biblical names in order to raise money for legal aid. And Facebook has decided that’s “political advertising.”

So I’m guessing the only political advertisement that FB will actually stop will be things like this, while the FSB has the means to jump through FB’s hoops.

I cannot wait to see that company burned to the ground.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:21 PM on June 15, 2018 [30 favorites]


When Democrats retake control, there's no looking "forward not backwards" this time.


oh honey


I swear I can hear them building the table to take things off of as I type.
posted by non canadian guy at 8:35 PM on June 15, 2018 [16 favorites]


Perhaps we could not pre-decide that we are screwed?
posted by Chrysostom at 8:44 PM on June 15, 2018 [64 favorites]


Perhaps we could not pre-decide that we are screwed?

I would like to append "and instead pre-decide that we're going to nail these crooks?"
posted by nikaspark at 8:57 PM on June 15, 2018 [34 favorites]


Tomorrow's Daily News front page:

Callous. Craven. Soulless. Trump.
posted by chris24 at 9:03 PM on June 15, 2018 [34 favorites]


Iris Gambol: Sanders and Sessions are also referred to as "monstrous, merciless ghouls," as in, "Boy howdy, you monstrous, merciless ghouls, does Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab have a Bible lesson for you."

I love BPAL so much, and am furious on their behalf about how Facebook's new rules are blocking their attempts to raise awareness about important issues. I, um, may have placed an imprudently indulgent order of biblical-themed scents earlier tonight. (Talk about sentences I never thought I'd write...)
posted by Superplin at 9:16 PM on June 15, 2018 [13 favorites]


For those in the El Paso area Beto is leading a march protesting the separation of families at the Tornillo site Tornillo site
posted by wobumingbai at 9:25 PM on June 15, 2018 [30 favorites]


They cannot conceive that the system, in a country they love that has given them so much, treats people this way regularly. So they conclude that prosecutors have a bias against them or are being directed by powerful people with bias. How else could they be treated like this?

By contrast, when I've represented poor people -- people who grew up in neighborhoods with frequent police contact, people of color, etc. -- they do not see conspiracy. They see the things done to them as the system working as usual.


I'm barely in the threads rn because my husband is in the hospital but this perfectly reflects my experience working in public health and government benefits. Middle class and better white folks who come to need the system experience it and think "wow, this is horribly unfair and shitty!" and then jump to "it must be because I'm white and you're discriminating against me because all those poor POC get lots of benefits super easily! Fox News Told Me So!" So they want to make benefits even HARDER to get for people (who aren't them) somehow thinking that will end up helping them out because of their zero sum thinking, I guess.

Whereas poor POC are never surprised when you tell them you have to put them on a waiting list or that you can't help them or that they need yet another piece of paper before they can get help. They are used to the way it works and are just grateful for anything you can do for them. They are used to the world being horribly unfair and shitty to them.

I just started telling people "well, you keep voting Republicans to be in charge of the state and they keep cutting the funding, so if you feel you need our services you should contact them."
posted by threeturtles at 9:38 PM on June 15, 2018 [102 favorites]


Yes yes yes. Formerly middle class white people are shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, that there is no real help for them. "You mean I'm going to be evicted?!?" Yep! "I can't live on that!" You sure can't!

I also tell them to call their elected officials.
posted by Mavri at 10:05 PM on June 15, 2018 [45 favorites]


soundguy99: "Remember he's got a combative toddler's understanding of everything. I'm sure the only thing that stuck in his head about international trade is something like, "We buy more stuff from them than they buy from us.""

Remember this trade war began with the Cheeto's withdrawal from TPP because it was a key Obama policy. The other parties to that deal still got together and, after stripping all the burdensome and heavy handed IP regulation that the US had required to sign on, signed a deal that excludes the US. And now the Cheeto wants back in to TPP but for some reason the other parties don't feel like making concessions now. I really can't imagine why.

And in typical Cheeto fashion he's on record as thinking TPP was a handout to China even though the deal excludes China and was structured as a counter to China's influence.

hades: "If you use the Signal desktop app, for example, it saves its message logs in plain text, so be sure to use an encrypted filesystem, a strong login/encryption password, and a short timeout on your screen lock. And still frequently wipe your history. If the app has a "disappearing messages" feature, use it. The app is only as good as your use of it."

And everyone you correspond with.
posted by Mitheral at 10:24 PM on June 15, 2018 [18 favorites]


NYT: Video Shows Border Patrol Vehicle Hitting Native American Man, Then Driving Away

Video and press release. The Tohono O'Odham Nation straddles the border and since it supports human rights, BP/ICE have motive to intimidate them. Or, in this case, try to kill them.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:41 PM on June 15, 2018 [58 favorites]


Re ...Beto is leading a march protesting the separation of families at the Tornillo site.

This was a last minute change. Like they decided this today. He was scheduled to do two town halls in the Houston area Sunday which they rescheduled for July in order to do this march instead. Last Monday Beto flew down to the busiest Texas border crossing in McAllen to talk to people that work there and people trying to cross (facebook video). It's hard to listen to, it made me cry at times. But then he flew back to DC and talked about it all week to people there.

Cruz meanwhile has said nothing about this all week. I called his stupid Houston office every day to see if he had made any change to his statement from weeks ago in support of separating families. All I got out of Cruz's people is "we are monitoring the situation" with no details of what that actually entailed.

When I canvass this will be one of my stories of why I'm voting for Beto. When we were watching this horrific news develop this week, Beto worked to bare witness, shed light on the issue, and make change. Cruz spent his time trying to troll a television comedian on Twitter.

I have a full time job. I also work full time volunteering for Beto O'Rourke because I want him to be my senator SO BAD. He is the most genuine person I've ever met. He truly wants to serve us, to make government work for us. I know it's a long shot. But I'm not alone in this state that's this invested either.
posted by dog food sugar at 10:50 PM on June 15, 2018 [104 favorites]


but I guess you can't necessarily trust that your co-conspirators haven't compiled their own version

Why would you guess that the carrier wasn’t archiving all your messages? Which could be shared with authorities with big enough subpoenas?

This is all trivial.
posted by notyou at 11:40 PM on June 15, 2018


I guess this could be a derail. I have no knowledge nor expertise in digital communication or cryptography whatsoever. Why would you guess that anyone in that chain of somebodies managing your message at this late date can’t crack yer code a lot easier than you expect?
posted by notyou at 12:03 AM on June 16, 2018


Strong cryptography—the type used by these apps—is still legal in the US, that's why.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:34 AM on June 16, 2018 [6 favorites]


Or Cohen gave them access.
posted by fullerine at 12:59 AM on June 16, 2018 [7 favorites]


According to this Mother Jones article by Dan Friedman, Manafort has been using a sneaky practice known as "foldering" that can be used to share messages through an email application without actually sending any emails.

"Greg Andres, an attorney on Mueller’s probe, said Manafort has engaged in the art of “foldering.” As Andres noted, foldering involves giving multiple people access to a single email account so they each can read emails created as drafts. (A message is never transmitted—which means it cannot be intercepted—and usually a message is destroyed after being read.) Foldering is a way to “hide the fact that you’re sharing information,” Andres explained."

posted by TwoToneRow at 1:00 AM on June 16, 2018 [24 favorites]


Petraeus did the same thing, and al-Qaeda before him. The FBI is pretty hip to this trick.
posted by zachlipton at 1:03 AM on June 16, 2018 [19 favorites]


Jesus Christ! We don't even treat American criminals that way. If you commit an offense as a juvenile, you may be (at most) imprisoned for the rest of your childhood, but then your record gets sealed and you get released. You get a fresh start - not "tried as an adult" for the offense you committed during your childhood. Yes I know there are some exceptions for especially heinous crimes, but it is not just a general policy that you go to juvey until age 18 and then start the prosecution all over again as an adult!
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 7:57 PM on June 15 [28 favorites +] [!]
What? No. America murders children holding you guns in open carry states. Children of color are getting suspended and expelled from pre-school. High school girls are getting slammed to the floor from their desks. And this isn’t about anything inherent in these children, Black men in America who hold college degrees have a harder time finding employment than white convicted felons.

Let’s be very clear that white male children get a lot of leeway in the judicial system here, but extrajudicial punishment of children of color is ongoing and horrific. The judicial system is no better.
posted by bilabial at 1:04 AM on June 16, 2018 [31 favorites]


Giuliani tells me he advised POTUS not to pardon anyone before Mueller probe ends & POTUS agrees. But pardons possible *after* Mueller probe

So Mueller drags his investigation out as long as possible, building up an impeccable body of evidence to hand to state prosecutors in every defendant's case, and doesn't "end" his probe until the conclusion of his indictment against the siting President.

Which Trump challenges in court, naturally, dragging the whole process out another year minimum, as Mueller racks up guilty pleas, flips lieutenants and keeps building a mountain of evidence against the President. Worst case scenario: Trump rides out his presidency to face a 67-count indictment on January 22, 2021.
posted by msalt at 1:08 AM on June 16, 2018 [7 favorites]


Remember this trade war began with the Cheeto's withdrawal from TPP because it was a key Obama policy

True, but at the same time lets not let it fall into the memory hole that the TPP was also opposed by a significant chunk of the progressive movement. Killing TPP was a terrible idea held by a lot of people. They got what they wanted and I wonder how they feel that has worked out for us.
posted by Justinian at 1:19 AM on June 16, 2018 [23 favorites]


But the best case is Mueller turns in his report fairly soon, and it is so damning even Republicans vote to impeach him... I know I shouldn't hold my breath. I am anyway.

It's clear though that Trump uses the fact that the legal system works so slowly to shield his actions. One of the scariest things about him to me is that he's not interested in acting lawfully. He just does whatever he wants knowing it will take the courts years to catch up. It's honestly given me a new appreciation for how Nazi Germany likely happened - too quickly for any government's bureaucracy to respond. It took what, two years after his misuse of his foundation's money was detailed and published in the news for legal proceedings to start? The courts seem generally powerless to stop him until it's too late.
posted by xammerboy at 1:34 AM on June 16, 2018 [19 favorites]


The BEST case scenario is one in which a large number of Republican politicians, including Pence, McConnell, Ryan, Nunes, Cruz, etc, and the Party itself are ALSO indicted for/ convicted of money laundering and obstruction of justice.

I don't hold my breath, but I do dream.
posted by Kelrichen at 3:38 AM on June 16, 2018 [41 favorites]


I was at a bbq yesterday and was talking to a friends grandfather. He brought up politics. I cringed- old white dude with money talking to me about politics, no thank you. Anyway, there were about half a dozen two year olds there running around. He said to me, “looking at all these kids, I don’t care what party you are, but separating them from their parents is inhuman.” That was that.

Most people don’t care about political scandals or oligarchs or laundering money or even politics really, but what Trump is doing is pure evil, and I think many people are starting to recognize it. He’s not some buffoon loudmouth who some people hate and some people love-he’s the guy ripping kids out of their parents arms and putting them in camps.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 3:41 AM on June 16, 2018 [92 favorites]


I Was Fired for Making Fun of Trump
I should’ve seen it coming. When I had lunch with my new boss a few months ago, he informed me that the paper’s publisher believed that the editorial cartoonist was akin to an editorial writer, and that his views should reflect the philosophy of the newspaper.

That was a new one to me.

I was trained in a tradition in which editorial cartoonists are the live wires of a publication — as one former colleague put it, the “constant irritant.” Our job is to provoke readers in a way words alone can’t. Cartoonists are not illustrators for a publisher’s politics
posted by octothorpe at 4:48 AM on June 16, 2018 [82 favorites]


According to this Mother Jones article by Dan Friedman, Manafort has been using a sneaky practice known as "foldering" that can be used to share messages through an email application without actually sending any emails.

"Greg Andres, an attorney on Mueller’s probe, said Manafort has engaged in the art of “foldering.” As Andres noted, foldering involves giving multiple people access to a single email account so they each can read emails created as drafts. (A message is never transmitted—which means it cannot be intercepted—and usually a message is destroyed after being read.) Foldering is a way to “hide the fact that you’re sharing information,” Andres explained."


Yeah, I don't know. I could see this kind of breathless mystification used against Democrats pretty easily. Obviously using a drafts folder makes it look sneaky, but taking his identity out of it I could see this being the legitimate product of a desire to separate shared work-notes etc from actual communications, and being an older dude who is just not going to learn how to use Another Fucking Program just to share document drafts etc. Would it be so sinister if it was G:\internal\privileged\drafts ?

You'd be amazed at the kind of weird things users manage to do with Outlook Shared Folders and .PSTs and .OSTs etc. They'll put stuff in there that makes Exchange say "I dunno, man, this is your problem now"
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:03 AM on June 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


The Feinstein Problem - California’s primary showed why the Democratic Party is stuck in place.
The Democratic Party is a gerontocracy driven primarily by careerism and convenience. The pathologies that make Feinstein’s return to the Senate a given and convince Democrats burning cash on the Republican Party’s Blankenships, Akins, and nobodies out in California are the dynamics keeping unambiguously corrupt New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez in the party’s good graces. They are the pathologies that encouraged Nancy Pelosi to resist asking John Conyers—an easily replaceable congressman representing one of safest Democratic seats in the country, a man who’d been in Congress for over a half-century—to step down for over a week after he was credibly accused of sexual assault and harassment by over half a dozen women. They are the pathologies that allow Bill Clinton to dismiss questions about his sexual misconduct with confidence that party leaders will never cast him aside. They are the pathologies that encouraged the Hillary Clinton campaign to consider, seriously and aptly, adopting “Because It’s Her Turn” as its slogan in 2016. The Democratic Party is a professional fraternity only secondarily interested in advancing the proposals in its grab bag of policy ideas—proposals that Democratic candidates are, in fact, free to oppose provided they can raise cash easily and appeal to voters who will inevitably tire of them and vote for the Republican candidates and policies they are likely to eventually prefer.

Careerism and convenience are, of course, important forces in the Republican Party as well. But the Republican Party is about to select its third speaker of the House this decade. This is churn driven largely by internal debate and dissent about how the Republican Party can best advance its particular vision for American society—how it can more deeply empower the white, wealthy, and thus worthy citizens of this country. Every Republican politician is, really, no more than an instrument for that project, and the Republican Party is not terribly particular about who they hire to fulfill it: Accused pedophiles and mad reality show hosts are welcome to apply. The majority of Republican politicians live in constant fear that they’ll be canned for someone who might be more deeply committed to the party’s vision. The vast majority of Democratic politicians do not share a similar fear, a problem given that the well-being of struggling Americans and the planet depends on the Democratic Party uniformly taking on a bold and cohesive ideological agenda. It’s only the striving opportunism of potential candidates like Kirsten Gillibrand and Cory Booker that’s moving the party in this direction. “The days of Democrats biding our time, biting our tongue, and triangulating at the margins,” De León crowed in February, “are over.” They are not, actually. Not yet.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:11 AM on June 16, 2018 [17 favorites]


I could see this being the legitimate product of a desire to separate shared work-notes etc from actual communications

Storing stuff in folders shouldn't be assumed in and of itself to mean wrongdoing. But it should be pretty simple for investigators to distinguish legitimate use from a backchannel for communication.

If messages are always saved into a folder by someone logged in from 1 IP address/range and soon after opened and deleted by someone with a different IP address who then creates and saves a different message...
posted by duoshao at 5:13 AM on June 16, 2018 [10 favorites]


If the kids are not bargaining chips, this is pure malicious racist evil. If the kids are bargaining chips, this is pure hostage-taking evil. How do you negotiate with people willing to abuse kids to get leverage?

But that’s precisely my point. There IS no way out for the Dems because we fundamentally care about human lives in a way that the Republicans simply do not, wether because of political calculation of just plain evilness (and is there even a difference?). We are not even playing the same game because, to us, it can’t be a game.

Rs hold all the cards because they do not give a shit. How do we handle it? How do we solve it while protecting children and immigrants? I don’t fucking know.
posted by lydhre at 5:16 AM on June 16, 2018 [15 favorites]


I could see this being the legitimate product of a desire to separate shared work-notes etc from actual communications

The devil doesn’t really need more advocates, thanks.

Yes, this could, if you took it in isolation and didn’t consider all the many other ways this guy was clearly trying to avoid monitoring, look innocent. That’s why he was doing it.

And let’s not say “Oh, this could be used against Democrats, too!” on the same day that the GOP is literally claiming that a nonexistent immigration law is the Democrats’ fault while they’re in the minority. There is no “handing them weapons” anymore.
posted by Etrigan at 5:20 AM on June 16, 2018 [29 favorites]


A message is never transmitted—which means it cannot be intercepted

Huh? A message is totally still transmitted, or else the users wouldn't see anything on their ends. It's just not formatted as an email. I find it a bit hard to believe that the teched-up end of the FBI or actual no-shit spooks that were surveilling him weren't pretty comprehensively examining every packet into and out of his IP address and subpoenaing (or just hacking and controlling) his email and other accounts.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 5:22 AM on June 16, 2018 [14 favorites]


soon after opened and deleted by someone with a different IP address who then creates and saves a different message...

This is the sketchy part. But from a system perspective it's no different than everyone using the same KSTREETDBAGCO\plutocrat creds to access a shared Outlook folder. Kludges like that are not unsual.

It's not that I don't want to see Manafort speared for spoliation if that's what happened. I just don't want the next 30 years of my life to involve endless bickering over the scope of discovery because "foldering."
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:30 AM on June 16, 2018 [7 favorites]


Huh? A message is totally still transmitted, or else the users wouldn't see anything on their ends.

With email, using SMTP between the mailservers, the message is transmitted in plain text; the message body may still be encrypted, but the sender and recipient addresses are by necessity readable so the ISPs involved have that information, and law enforcement can request that. And with the message body unencrypted the entire message can be easily read.

If you only use foldering (or another way to edit a document by several people in sequence), the people accessing that folder remotely can do so over a VPN or using TeamViewer or similar, then yes, the message content is transmitted in a way, but it's not openly readable.

Files created and deleted (either within a mail program using foldering, or as straight-up documents of some sort) still leave traces anyway. Unless you're well-versed in computer hygiene, which, given the shoddiness of trying to hide the traces of their other activities, I would not expect that to be anywhere near good enough to keep law enforcement out of the message contents.
posted by Stoneshop at 5:41 AM on June 16, 2018 [4 favorites]


Mod note: Folks, the foldering thing is beginning to take over the entire discussion. Maybe there's enough interest and info to make a separate post and thread about this, but let's let it rest here for now.
posted by taz (staff) at 5:59 AM on June 16, 2018 [8 favorites]


This morning, Paul Manafort woke up in jail.

That's not really news, but I like typing that sentence.

This morning, Paul Manafort woke up in jail.

As to why he belongs there, Just Security has a damning overview article Paul Manafort = Evidence of Collusion with nine key findings in the public record that show evidence of multiple violations of federal campaign finance law and a conspiracy with Russian individuals either aligned with Putin or working on behalf of the Russian government. It's not news to us, but it's succinct enough to forward to anyone you know who may be still on the fence.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:12 AM on June 16, 2018 [82 favorites]


From yesterday: Think of [NY prosecutor Underwood's] Trump Foundation filings as her warm-up swings...

Indeed. Farenthold wrote copious articles about how fishy the Trump Foundation was more than a year ago. It was all documented and in the public domain. Dissolving the Trump Foundation, disbursing its paltry assets to legitimate charities, and shutting off that channel of grift for the Trump crime family is low hanging fruit. Wait til she gets going.
posted by Gelatin at 6:36 AM on June 16, 2018 [6 favorites]


This morning, Paul Manafort woke up in jail.

That's not really news, but I like typing that sentence.

This morning, Paul Manafort woke up in jail.


I am decidedly not a morning person, but I thought about this while I was waking up and I gotta say, the thought of Manafort waking up the first time in jail while you're making breakfast and getting ready for the day gives you quite a pep in your step.
posted by jason_steakums at 6:46 AM on June 16, 2018 [52 favorites]


I don't know what I'm supposed to do with Andrew Sullivan, but this article wasn't wrong:

Trump Is Making Us All Live in His Delusional Reality Show (archive.org link because nymag's cookie verification widget is shit)

The president believes what he wants to believe, creates a reality that fits his delusions, and then insists, with extraordinary energy and stamina, that his delusions are the truth. His psychological illness, moreover, is capable of outlasting anyone else’s mental health. Objective reality that contradicts his delusions is discounted as “fake news” propagated by “our country’s greatest enemy,” i.e., reporters. . . It’s vital for us to remember this every day: Almost no one else in public life is so openly living in his own disturbed world.

This past week was a kind of masterpiece in delusion. . .
[insert agog recap of the last scaramucci] I’m not opposed to his meeting Kim Jong-un, by the way. It’s worth a shot. If somehow Trump’s gambit pays off, he’ll deserve a lot of credit. I even see the point of withdrawing U.S. troops at some point. I’m basically with him in unraveling the American empire. But I’m afraid I cannot forgive or forget Trump’s praise for the most hideously totalitarian regime on the planet, for a bloodthirsty scion who conducts regular public hangings, keeps his subjects in a state of mind-control, holds hundreds of thousands in concentration camps, and threatens the world with nuclear destruction. To watch an American president give his tacit blessing to all of that, to laud Kim for being “rough” on his people, right on the heels of attacking every democratic ally, is an obscenity.

And this was the response of the secretary of State, when asked, inevitably, how the U.S. could in any way verify North Korea’s promised denuclearization: “I find that question insulting and ridiculous and, frankly, ludicrous.” It’s ludicrous, he explained, because the president said there will be verification of denuclearization. And so there will be. Get that? Just lean into the delusion, and everything will be well. Trump’s various mouthpieces have resorted to exactly that formula, when asked difficult or obvious questions that assume a reality different from Trump’s. The empirical questions — those that reference the real world — are “ludicrous,” “inappropriate,” or “ridiculous.” But then when the Trump peons can’t answer the question, because it would reveal Trump as a fantasist, what else are they supposed to do? Show a propaganda video made by the National Security Council?


No mention of the traumatizing children decree. Otherwise a reasonable, if entirely-too-late analysis.
posted by petebest at 7:34 AM on June 16, 2018 [15 favorites]


This morning, Paul Manafort woke up in jail.

Schadenfreude aside, former Assistant United States Attorney Mitchell Epner @MitchellEpner puts this into real-world context:
Pre-trial lockup in DC is no joke. It is certainly no Club Fed (which is not all that nice in itself). He will be in a real cell, with real bars, surrounded by other real accused felons. There is very little sorting of pre-trial detainees.

There is very little sorting of pre-trial detainees. He will be mixed with people that would eventually serve in Maximum and Medium security prisons.

If Paul Manafort wants to get out of pre-trial general population, the quickest and safest way to do it is to flip. This is HUGE pressure.

Being imprisoned before trial is a huge detriment to being able to prepare your defense.

Instead of going to the lawyer's office everyday and working around the clock with all of the documents and experts available, you can only do work during visiting hours with the materials that the attorneys can carry in. This is also HUGE pressure to flip.
Nevertheless, I just like typing the sentence, "This morning, Paul Manafort woke up in jail."
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:36 AM on June 16, 2018 [62 favorites]


This morning, Paul Manafort woke up in jail.


INDEED!

And the Northern Neck Regional Jail has an inmate status website, and yes, on P26 there's

Number : 00045343
Name : MANAFORT, PAUL

Booking Date/Time : 6/15/2018 8:22:00 PM
Release Date/Time :


Housing Location : VIP
Visitation Day : FRI 2:15 P.M. TO 3:15 P.M.

Charges
Statute : 999 - FEDERAL CHARGE
Case Number: Bond Amount :
Offense Date : 06/15/2018 Arrest Date :

#include happy-dance.c
posted by mikelieman at 7:49 AM on June 16, 2018 [32 favorites]


Housing Location : VIP

Hoping that’s not what it sounds like, and he really is getting treated like everyone else
posted by schadenfrau at 7:53 AM on June 16, 2018 [7 favorites]




Hoping that’s not what it sounds like, and he really is getting treated like everyone else

Anything that's not gen pop or medical is solitary confinement.

It is not fun being VIP or PC or any sort of special status in any US prison.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:00 AM on June 16, 2018 [2 favorites]


Please, Paul. Please flip in exchange for protection for you and your family. I’m actually really in the mood for a cake.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:02 AM on June 16, 2018 [11 favorites]


The Northern Neck Regional Jail is about 2 hours south of DC so think of it as a 4 hour tax on his lawyer's time every time they have to meet with him.
posted by peeedro at 8:05 AM on June 16, 2018 [9 favorites]




Michael Cohen spotted in NYC. Guy on street: "Hey, it's that guy that's going to jail! Awesome. Way to go, bud."
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:13 AM on June 16, 2018 [56 favorites]


It's like five hours from Brighton Beach, his handlers are going to be grouchy.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:21 AM on June 16, 2018 [7 favorites]


There is very little sorting of pre-trial detainees. He will be mixed with people that would eventually serve in Maximum and Medium security prisons. If Paul Manafort wants to get out of pre-trial general population, the quickest and safest way to do it is to flip. This is HUGE pressure.

A public defender told me people that would otherwise be found innocent often plead guilty just to get out of the pre-trial prisons. Welcome to American motherfucker.
posted by xammerboy at 8:22 AM on June 16, 2018 [22 favorites]


"Welcome to American motherfucker"

said the banner at the secret CIA/FSB prisoner exchange next year
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:27 AM on June 16, 2018 [2 favorites]


Just to put this in historical perspective
“What broke the Watergate case was when James McCord got a 25-year sentence,” Akerman said when asked about the hearing while appearing on MSNBC’s “Velshi & Ruhle." “He was one of the Watergate burglars. He got a 25-year sentence. He was sitting in jail because that’s what made him crack and cooperate.”

But Akerman noted that Manafort, who is 69 years old, could soon be facing life in jail.

“And here it could be even worse,” Akerman said. “It could be the beginning of a life sentence. Paul Manafort, if he does not cooperate, may never ever see the outside of a jail cell.”
posted by xammerboy at 8:31 AM on June 16, 2018 [24 favorites]


I think Michael Cohen is more likely to be the key than Manafort. Manafort is not just protecting Trump, he's directly shielding Putin and the other Russian oligarchs. Life in prison isn't his worst outcome here, it's "falling" from a 16th story window or mysteriously "hanging himself" while in custody if he does flip.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:39 AM on June 16, 2018 [12 favorites]


It should be noted that fuckers like these never face consequences for anything, ever, so even if it was the coziest most hotel like prison ever it would be utter torture for him.

(I do not advocate extra efforts to provide them coziest most hotel like prisons beyond any that are part of broader prison reform for everyone.)
posted by Artw at 8:39 AM on June 16, 2018 [7 favorites]


It should be noted that fuckers like these never face consequences for anything, ever, so even if it was the coziest most hotel like prison ever it would be utter torture for him.

If I was stuck in a Marriott Fairfield Inn ( Motel ) for a month, and COULD NOT LEAVE THE ROOM, I would be singing within 2 weeks.
posted by mikelieman at 8:52 AM on June 16, 2018 [5 favorites]


Circle of Willis: Children at the Border (science podcast)
In this special episode of Circle of Willis I talk with five developmental scientists about what may be happening to the children who are currently being separated from their parents as part of a policy to deter immigration and asylum seekers at the southern border to the United States. We discuss what happens to the private emotional lives of these children, but also what happens to their brains and to their bodies.
posted by FelliniBlank at 9:00 AM on June 16, 2018 [10 favorites]


Paul Manafort, if he does not cooperate, may never ever see the outside of a jail cell.”
For Manafort, there’s the probability of a pardon if he sits tight until his trial September. That’s gotta factor in his calculation.
posted by chrchr at 9:00 AM on June 16, 2018 [8 favorites]


I don’t know if people are just protested out or what.

I'm not sure how much use protest actually is, in the current circumstances. Given the utterly baffling claims currently being made that these policies are somehow the Democrats' doing, I'm not sure how the administration could be pressed into changing course by protests, and it's not like the enactment of the "Muslim Ban," so mass protests while judges are being asked to rule on emergency injunctions won't help the same way this time.

I know that not everyone has the money to spare, but donations to RAICES and New Mexico Immigrant Law Center and other similar organisations (including those linked above) which are able to offer case-by-case legal assistance seem like the best way to help in this moment. You can't shame an administration comprised of people who can't feel shame.
posted by halation at 9:09 AM on June 16, 2018 [9 favorites]


Paul Manafort, if he does not cooperate, may never ever see the outside of a jail cell.”

Based on the things I’ve seen (polonium poisoning, nerve agent attacks, etc) I well imagine Paul Manafort sitting in jail for the rest of his life so that his children get to have a rest of theirs.
posted by nikaspark at 9:12 AM on June 16, 2018 [6 favorites]


Let’s face it, it’s highly likely all the bit players in this get a polonium breakfast wether they cooperate or not. Putin is meticulous on that front, and patient.
posted by Artw at 9:28 AM on June 16, 2018 [5 favorites]


(I do not advocate extra efforts to provide them coziest most hotel like prisons beyond any that are part of broader prison reform for everyone.)

I am all for prison and judicial reform but only on the condition that 'Law and Order' acolytes receive the benefits of the reforms last. This way we can ensure that the reforms are comprehensive and quick.
posted by srboisvert at 9:31 AM on June 16, 2018 [19 favorites]


I'm not sure how much use protest actually is, in the current circumstances.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t do it in hopes the administration will feel shame and change their ways. I know this administration won’t. I do it so the average person walking down the street will realize that not everyone is putting their heads in the sand until re-election time. They see us, they honk, they hopefully go home and take some action, themselves. I do it so we get put on the news, and anyone watching sees that they are not alone in being upset about what’s happening. I do it so I can look at the real-life faces of the people who want to fight, not the avatar of someone who may or may not be a bot online. Real people. They bring their kids, and I see their little eyes taking it all in, learning the importance of standing up for what’s right. And it motivates me to do more for them.

And I consider it practice because I’m pretty convinced before this is over, we’re all going to have to take to the streets.
posted by greermahoney at 9:35 AM on June 16, 2018 [104 favorites]


Let’s face it, it’s highly likely all the bit players in this get a polonium breakfast wether they cooperate or not. Putin is meticulous on that front, and patient.

Nobody's heard a peep since late last year from Papadopoulos's mysterious contact Prof. Mifsud, for example.

(The only thing close to an update comes from his (estranged) wife, who claims Mueller was investigating him as unregistered agent of Israel.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:42 AM on June 16, 2018 [9 favorites]


I have seen the inside of jails like these (not as a guest of the state, fortunately) and even if you're fine chilling out by yourself in a small, spartan room with no human contact, the thing that's going to get to you is the boredom. If you're lucky you get some old books or magazines or something. If you're in an extremely nice jail, you might get a tablet. But even if you do, it's you and four bare walls and nothing but free time to sit and think about what you did and what's going to happen.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 9:47 AM on June 16, 2018 [1 favorite]


Let's all remember to take the good times when they arrive. It's a weekend, it's a win, you've earned it: cake!

Welcome Home Uncle Joey
posted by petebest at 9:56 AM on June 16, 2018 [6 favorites]


The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church tweeted:
“ It is not the Christian way and it is not the American way to separate children from their parents at the borders of this country.”
Some Christians get it.
posted by Biblio at 10:03 AM on June 16, 2018 [12 favorites]


Much like Jeff Flake tweets, what matters is how they vote.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:21 AM on June 16, 2018 [9 favorites]


A new holding place for hundreds of immigrant children: A vacant warehouse in Houston

The space could hold up to 240 children, mostly "tender age" kids under 12, as well as pregnant and nursing teenagers.

But Texas non-profit Southwest Key Programs, which obtained a “lucrative” contract with the federal government, has signed a lease for the space and, according to its application, is requesting a license to hold up to 240 children, from “0 to 17” years of age.


Something about the use of the phrase "tender age" here turns my stomach.

Soon, the warehouse on the corner of Emancipation Avenue in downtown Houston will hold thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children.

Downtown Houston sounds very accessible to protesters and/or liberation armies.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:24 AM on June 16, 2018 [41 favorites]


The Mifsud mystery notwithstanding, Russia doesn't tend to go after non-Russians outside Russia. Which is not to say that it doesn't happen, nor that there won't be other highly motivated mobsters who might like to see tongues silenced, but I wouldn't overplay the polonium teapot. Nor, if you do think Putin wants to waste potential informers, should you imagine that incarceration is a prophylactic.
posted by Devonian at 10:29 AM on June 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


NYT: How Trump Diverged From Other Presidents and Embraced a Policy of Separating Migrant Families. In which we learn just who the #1 most insistent WH proponent of the "Zero Tolerance" child concentration camp policy is, the one who pushed hard for it since 2016 despite administration misgivings. Go on, guess!
But Mr. Miller has expressed none of the president’s misgivings. “No nation can have the policy that whole classes of people are immune from immigration law or enforcement,” he said during an interview in his West Wing office this past week. “It was a simple decision by the administration to have a zero tolerance policy for illegal entry, period. The message is that no one is exempt from immigration law.”
posted by FelliniBlank at 10:32 AM on June 16, 2018 [12 favorites]


Normally killing a country's citizen inside that county's borders by a second country would be considered an Act of War.

With Comrade Bone Spurs in the driver's seat who knows what it might be construed as. Probably something along the lines of "I asked Putin three times, he said he didn't do it, he doesn't even know what balonium is".
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:33 AM on June 16, 2018 [19 favorites]


Much like Jeff Flake tweets, what matters is how they vote.

I’m an Episcopalian lay minister, and I can guarantee you that most of the folks in our pews are voting for Democrats.
posted by EarBucket at 10:42 AM on June 16, 2018 [24 favorites]


Coincidentally, this week I was just researching the breakdown by political parties for each major religious group/denomination in the US.

The Episcopalians definitely lean Dem. Now, when the leadership of the Mormons, or Nazarenes, or Southern Baptists issue such a statement, we’ll know we’ve hit a major turning point.
posted by darkstar at 10:59 AM on June 16, 2018 [10 favorites]


A public defender told me people that would otherwise be found innocent often plead guilty just to get out of the pre-trial prisons.

JFC this is a fucked up country.
posted by ook at 11:06 AM on June 16, 2018 [39 favorites]


when the leadership of the Mormons, or Nazarenes, or Southern Baptists issue such a statement, we’ll know we’ve hit a major turning point.

Well, potentially great news then. Can anyone verify this Atlantic report (by one Jonathan Merritt)?

Southern Baptists Call Off the Culture War
America’s largest Protestant group moves to cut ties with the Republican Party and re-engage with mainstream culture.

posted by msalt at 11:10 AM on June 16, 2018 [31 favorites]


Well, potentially great news then. Can anyone verify this Atlantic report (by one Jonathan Merritt)?

If true then we're probably about to see a white flight from religion.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 11:23 AM on June 16, 2018 [19 favorites]


A public defender told me people that would otherwise be found innocent often plead guilty just to get out of the pre-trial prisons.

JFC this is a fucked up country.


And that isn't even getting into plea bargains (which constitute > 94% of felony convictions). If you are part of the disenfranchised* then it's actually the rational choice to take a plea bargain, utterly regardless of guilt, otherwise you can be gambling your life on the de facto coin toss of the injustice system. And the prejudiced whims of those who drag them into it....
Police officers have wide discretion in deciding whether a person is breaking the law, and they sometimes arrest people for such offenses as sleeping in public and sitting too long on a bench. One case involved a woman whose crime seemed to have been, in the words of the officer who filed the report, “walking down the road around 1:30 a.m.” with “no legitimate reason.”



* Literally after the conviction is on record.
posted by Buntix at 11:28 AM on June 16, 2018 [19 favorites]


If true then we're probably about to see a white flight from religion.

Works for me.
posted by msalt at 11:42 AM on June 16, 2018 [6 favorites]


When I see references to Kushner working on Prison Reform, I can't help being reminded of this old Soviet-era joke:
The Commissar tells his staff to take money out of the elementary education programs and put it into the prison system. When asked why, he says "I am thinking of my future. It's unlikely I will be spending it in elementary school.'

I see twitter users have had similar ideas. I didn't see this joke listed in the Wiki page on Russian Political Jokes, but it occurs to me that page might become increasingly relevant. For example, "Today, due to bad health and without regaining consciousness, Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko took up the duties of Secretary General" could easily be reworked into a cabinet appointment announcement.

Also, whatever might come of 'prison reform', it would probably involve taking money out of worthwhile programs in order to give it to cronies.
posted by MtDewd at 11:50 AM on June 16, 2018 [5 favorites]


Sorry msalt, but I think Merritt's take is extremely rose-tinted. His only evidence that the Southern Baptist have "called off the culture war" is that they elected 45-year-old J.D. Greear to be the youngest president of the SBC ever. So, what does "Pastor J.D." think about the culture war? From his blog:
"The loss of gender identity has devastating consequences for society. God designed male and female, and society flourishes only as it lives according to His design. As I noted above, studies consistently show that the mother/father unit is the best environment for the rearing of children .... Grudem writes, “Every human nation on earth, every society of any size or permanence at all, has recognized and protected the institution of heterosexual marriage.” He cites a leading anthropologist who studied 86 failed societies, noting that no society was able to flourish after 3 generations once “strict marital monogamy” was abandoned as the standard."
On the question of whether the SBC stay out of politics and stop fighting same-sex marriage:
"My conclusion is that the government has the responsibility to protect the institution of marriage, an institution established by the Creator in the creation. Government did not invent marriage; government recognizes the institution established in the creation. To fail to to do so has devastating consequences for society."
There's lots more, including the usual cowardly disclaimer that lobbying to deny LGBTQ+ folks equal social and political standing doesn't mean he *hates* us. But yeah, Greear wants to end the culture war as much as his predecessor did, which is to say he wishes they wouldn't get such bad press for being raging bigots.
posted by This time is different. at 11:57 AM on June 16, 2018 [43 favorites]


Southern Baptist Convention, 1967:

WHEREAS, The Southern Baptist Convention reiterated in 1963 its historic position for separation of Church and State in its statement on "The Baptist Faith and Message" in these words: "Church and State should be separate. The State owes to every church protection and full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends. In providing for such freedom no ecclesiastical group or denomination should be favored by the State more than any other . . . the Church should not resort to the civil power to carry on its work . . . the State has no right to impose taxes for the support of any form of religion." and,

WHEREAS, We desire to see all rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and Bill of Rights secured unto all persons, and

WHEREAS, An increasingly complex society constantly raises new questions in application of the separation principle,

Therefore, be it RESOLVED, That this 1967 session of the Southern Baptist Convention reaffirm its 1963 declaration for separation of Church and State, and

Be it further RESOLVED, That we urge the Congress of the United States to enact legislation which would help clarify responsibility of the judiciary to interpret the meaning of the United States Constitution for separation of Church and State, including constitutionality of federal funds in church-sponsored programs, and

Be it further RESOLVED, That we remind all who call themselves Baptists, distinguish carefully the services that are publicly supported from the Christian ministries that should be supported exclusively by the churches and hold to programs that are clearly committed to Christ and His kingdom.

posted by snuffleupagus at 12:06 PM on June 16, 2018 [7 favorites]


Not knowing what else to do, I've continued to canvass, because it is my jam. I'm a strong introvert, but I still find knocking doors easier than making phone calls. I like that a canvass packet is a discrete amount of work, a set number of doors to knock, people to talk to, and then it's finished. I get to be outside which is less great when it's 96 degrees out, but it's still some physical activity outside and sometimes people thank me for being out. As of today, I've knocked over 500 doors for Cary Kennedy who's running to be the first woman governor of Colorado. She's a great candidate and I hope she wins, but nobody seems to have good polling data and the primary is still officially 10 days way. Unaffiliated voters, who were eligible to vote in CO's primary for the first time and got both parties' ballots and several directives to only return one, are having some trouble following the instructions that they can only vote one party's ballot. I'm bummed about this, though it seems like the rejection rate is still below the average rate of other states with similar systems for primaries.
posted by danielleh at 12:21 PM on June 16, 2018 [26 favorites]


And that isn't even getting into plea bargains (which constitute > 94% of felony convictions). If you are part of the disenfranchised* then it's actually the rational choice to take a plea bargain, utterly regardless of guilt, otherwise you can be gambling your life on the de facto coin toss of the injustice system. And the prejudiced whims of those who drag them into it.

Bail and plea bargains are barbaric relics of feudalism that have no place in a decent society.
posted by The Whelk at 12:21 PM on June 16, 2018 [35 favorites]


A public defender told me people that would otherwise be found innocent often plead guilty just to get out of the pre-trial prisons.

JFC this is a fucked up country.


Manafort got home detention after never actually putting up the original 10$ million bail and the judge yesterday called it "a very difficult decision" to remand him to custody after being charged with fucking witness tampering in the very same trial.

Contrast with the way the system usually operates: Let’s not celebrate the fact that Manafort was jailed pre-trial. Let’s celebrate the careful, individualized, deliberate & due process he was afforded *before he was jailed pretrial while still presumed innocent. I wish my clients were afforded the same. and My very different experience: This *never would have happened to any of my clients. 1. Never could've afforded bail set in 1st place & would have been detained all this time pretrial. 2. Would've been arrested *immediately w/ bail revoked if any allegations of witness tampering.

Out of morbid curosity I texted my public defender friend in Kentucky what was his last bail hearing. He said "28 years old black male 1st degree assault for a bar fight, 25k bail, he'll sit in jail till trial because no way his family has that".
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:28 PM on June 16, 2018 [66 favorites]


JFC this is a fucked up country.

Gonna be fun seeing all the people suddenly upset about that aspect of it.

Oh look, Alan Dershowitz is one.

Very much looking forwards to having you on side applying this principles to others, Detah, especially those NOT attempting witness tampering.
posted by Artw at 12:35 PM on June 16, 2018 [4 favorites]


"28 years old black male 1st degree assault for a bar fight, 25k bail, he'll sit in jail till trial because no way his family has that"

You know it would be infinitely easier if bail for non-felonies could be pledged to your future earnings. If you don't show up to your hearing to sort the matter out the state just starts garnishing your wages until you do.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 12:38 PM on June 16, 2018 [4 favorites]


Kentucky is actually one of the better bail states even, there's no for profit bailbondsmen, release is secured by posting a 10% bond managed by the courts system, and the courts are supposed to apply a risk assessment test to every case with statutory preference for low bail amounts. But still, people sit in jail till trial all the time, every day. $2500 might as well be 25,000 or 25 million if you don't have it.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:46 PM on June 16, 2018 [8 favorites]


It's getting hot in Texas.

So Cruz in some weird effort to try and humanize himself, trolls Jimmy Kimmel on Twitter and challenges him to a dumb basketball game. Kimmel accepts. (fyi all these links are facebook video links). They then book a gym at Texas Southern University, a HBCU. The SAME gym that local residents raised money and booked for a town hall where they invited Cruz to come talk with them. Cruz completely ignored them. The Cruz / Kimmel game is on Juneteenth in a historic black neighborhood the 5th ward at an HBCU. Guess who else is in town? Beto O'Rourke.

As Cruz preps for his celebrity ball game with Kimmel, Beto choses to attend the Juneteenth Parade (this video is really charming in parts btw - people being really adorable and awesome). And then he changes his plans for two town halls in the area tomorrow to instead lead a Father's Day March to Tornilla, Texas, the site of the next tent city for children in crisis who will be separated from their families. To bare witness to this happening in our state.

Houston has never been much of a protesting city. But there are folks out at TSU protesting this game. That it's happening at all. That Cruz wants to humanize himself in a neighborhood he has ignored. That Cruz ignored his invite to this same gym by the community last year. That Cruz votes to cut funding for healthcare and schools and thinks the winner of his dumb game donating 5K to a local school or a local hospital make up for that.

I have friends out there (facebook photo). The neighborhood surrounding the school has Beto yard signs all over it. Residents are allowing protesters to stand in their yards facing the gym under oak trees . I don't know if Beto will show up to this or if he's left town already for the Tornillo March on the other side of the state.

But if he does Beto has the support of the neighborhood and the crowd. Many in the crowd wearing their Beto shirts.

It's been a crazy week. But now when I canvass I can tell the story of this week. When we were all saddened by this news. When our current sitting senator refused to change his support for separating children, instead spent his time planning and posting all over Twitter about a dumb game, Beto was talking with residents at Juneteenth. Beto was planning a March for children who need our help now.
posted by dog food sugar at 1:17 PM on June 16, 2018 [109 favorites]


I've posited the "Manafort afraid of polonium" reasoning for not flipping myself but, while we shouldn't reject it out of hand, it should be noted that as far as I am aware not a single person in the history of the program has been killed while in federal witness protection. That doesn't mean he might not fear being the first but it would be, literally, unprecedented.
posted by Justinian at 1:27 PM on June 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


How could he ever go into witness protection? Every facial recognition system already in existence would pick him out in a photo. When your phone is realtime tagging the people it sees, he's not going to be able to be anybody but himself.
posted by yesster at 1:32 PM on June 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


I wonder if Manafort is afraid that one or more of his kids might wind up with a polonium sammie for lunch one day? That might be a motive to keep quiet. I don't think omertà factors into it one little bit - I doubt any one of Trump's clown car of circus rejects would know loyalty or discretion if it hit them over the head. It's Fredos all the way down.

If more rich, white, professional white-collar criminals got to see the inside of Real Jail and taste some of the consequences meted out to those not so privileged by race and/or class, we'd have criminal justice reform so fast our heads would spin. Rather like #metoo kicking the Consequences up the ladder for those who never had to face Consequences before.

Manafort is probably not the guy who is going to spearhead this. But it's satisfying to see someone get perp-walked. Now I'm waiting for the other cuffs to drop.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 1:38 PM on June 16, 2018 [13 favorites]


Not knowing what else to do, I've continued to canvass, because it is my jam.

Believe me, you are doing the most important job of any campaign for anything. I am including "being the candidate" in the jobs list. Hold your head high, you are the best volunteer.
posted by Anonymous at 1:38 PM on June 16, 2018


If more rich, white, professional white-collar criminals got to see the inside of Real Jail and taste some of the consequences meted out to those not so privileged by race and/or class, we'd have criminal justice reform so fast our heads would spin.

See also: if the Obama DOJ had actually prosecuted mortgage fraud. The Manafort case is the clearest example of the two-tiered justice system I can remember since 0 bankers went to jail for intentionally crashing the world's economy. Actually applying the law equally would transform the system from both sides, with people who've never feared any consequences whatsoever experiencing actual deterrent effects for the first time in their lives, and people who've been disproportionately and systematically over-targeted finally getting relief.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:49 PM on June 16, 2018 [66 favorites]


"I asked Putin three times, he said he didn't do it, he doesn't even know what balonium is".

Balonium is the poison that Putin has made the US ingest via the White House.



The Episcopalians definitely lean Dem. Now, when the leadership of the Mormons, or Nazarenes, or Southern Baptists issue such a statement, we’ll know we’ve hit a major turning point.

Statements from Mormon Church leadership and newsroom on immigration are actually way more moderate, reasonable, and, well, christian (and even pro-refugee) than you'd expect given how most US Mormons skew politically.

Some of that makes its way into how Mormons at large relate to immigration issues vs Evangelicals. Or into expressed support for Obama's immigration policies.

So, yeah. Mormon leadership seem to be there with the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

There are, of course, an awful lot of very very Republican Mormons. The funny thing is that as hierarchical and even arguably authoritarian as Mormon believers often seem to be.... it doesn't always translate to receiving messages about immigrants like the above from leadership, and political tribe sometimes trumps (heh) religious tribe. For an example, you can read an account by a clearly put-upon conservative Utah former lawmaker complaining about lobbying and ecclesiastical pressure by the church in support of things like (*gasp*)... minimal non-discrimination protections (housing, employment) for LGBT folks! And guest worker cards along with other reasonable treatment of undocumented immigrants! It all led that particular longsuffering disciple to disillusionment with the Mormons. Always fun to see conservatives discover their capacity for the religious nuance or outright dissent they're often quick to characterize as corruption in others (and it's novel to see people exit Mormonism not because of the usual concern over substantial challenges to church claims or having relatively liberal social views, but because the church's views are too liberal and not xeno/homo-phobic enough for them).

So it's still a mixed bag when it comes to rank-and-file views. But: there's been some recently conducted research on generational attitudes in Mormonism, and while Boomers identifying as Mormon overwhelmingly skew Republican, among Millennials who so identify in this survey, it was pretty much an even split between Democrats and Republicans (47% & 46% respectively).

Assuming this is not a lifecycle thing (e.g, youth often progressive, age becomes conservative), that's a huge shift. It's going to be 30-50 years before that makes its way in force to LDS leadership, but sometime in the next 20 years, most Boomers are going to have cast their last votes, X-ers are going to be the retirees, and millenials are going to be the middle-aged middle class. One could even conceivably imagine Utah being a light red state instead of a red state, assuming the politics of the last few decades even translates to that time.
posted by weston at 2:01 PM on June 16, 2018 [8 favorites]


Trump will nominate Mulvaney protégée Kathy Kraniger as CFPB director.

She has no fiscal policy experience. Mulvaney will be the shadow director until 2023, most of the way through the next President’s term.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:27 PM on June 16, 2018 [5 favorites]


Just wrote my first ever letter to my representative, urging him to act to keep families crossing the border from being split up. Not a great or perfect letter, but — I've been reading these threads for years now, and noticed myself getting more and more despondent, and it’s time for my voice to be heard. Silence is not the way to go.

I did this via resist.bot, and it was actually fun!
posted by young_simba at 3:16 PM on June 16, 2018 [39 favorites]




According to Trump, interning children is in fact a negotiating strategy to get what he wants on immigration.

So it really has come to this - "give me what I want or I'll leave these children to live or die in the desert".
posted by Frowner at 3:20 PM on June 16, 2018 [19 favorites]


Manafort has been doing committing crimes for years. He hasn't bothered to be particularly discreet about the money laundering or influence peddling and there have been no consequences. He hasn't really thought about what happens if the government wants to squeeze him. Witness protection won't help him against the Russian state. I assume that at the least the Russians monitor international calls and data. He would never be able to visit or even spontaneously call whatever family he leaves behind him when he goes into protection. All the high life, the expensive restaurants in big cities, the tailored suits, they'd be over. I would take that life over a jail cell but I haven't spent the last few decades chasing after money and status. Manafort might think he'll be pardoned or that the Mueller investigation might be slowed and he might be right. If he's not just a hired flunky for the Russians but is a full on agent for them I would imagine that US intelligence would know that and they wouldn't make his life in protection particularly comfortable.

Another question is what if he knows about active and successful collaboration with the Russians to steal the election and he flips. I'd be happy about him flipping but Manafort would be looking at spending the rest of life reviled as a traitor. Trump won't last forever.
posted by rdr at 3:21 PM on June 16, 2018 [2 favorites]


So it really has come to this - "give me what I want or I'll leave these children to live or die in the desert".

As a federal crime, kidnapping for ransom gets you 20 years. Should there ever be consequences for the offenders, you'll be asked to have sympathy for them. When you are, remember that whatever they end up getting, it won't be 40,000 years.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:29 PM on June 16, 2018 [35 favorites]


Ted Cruz again defends family separation, as Beto O'Rourke plans vigil at Tornillo tent camp

"There's no doubt that the images that we've seen of children, and children being separated from their parents, are heartbreaking. They were heartbreaking when Obama was president," Cruz told reporters Saturday after speaking at the Texas Republican convention. "I visited the Obama camps that he set up to detain little boys and little girls who crossed the border illegally. Illegal immigration produces human tragedies that are wrong" [...] "When you see reporters, when you see Democrats saying, 'Don't separate kids from their parents,' what they're really saying is don't arrest illegal aliens," Cruz said Monday.

"I visited the Obama camps that he set up to detain little boys and little girls."

Cruz really is a master at being himself, isn't he.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:45 PM on June 16, 2018 [13 favorites]


Will Trump's child detention policy be Obama's Katrina?
posted by wildblueyonder at 3:49 PM on June 16, 2018 [2 favorites]


>whatever they end up getting, it won't be 40,000 years.

Shared this with an evangelical anti-Trump friend who responded "Correct, it'll be eternity."
posted by EarBucket at 4:06 PM on June 16, 2018 [7 favorites]


I'd much rather that he get twenty years now than eternity later.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:11 PM on June 16, 2018 [35 favorites]


whynotboth dot gif
posted by EarBucket at 4:20 PM on June 16, 2018 [11 favorites]




http://www.ispaulmanafortinjail.com/

does what it says on the tin.
posted by Justinian at 4:49 PM on June 16, 2018 [21 favorites]


2020 watch: James Comey is in Iowa
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:50 PM on June 16, 2018


2020 watch: James Comey is in Iowa

I SWEAR TO CHRIST IF THIS MOTHERFUCKER RUNS FOR PRESIDENT IT WILL BE MY SUPERVILLAIN ORIGIN STORY
posted by schadenfrau at 4:54 PM on June 16, 2018 [138 favorites]


I've been relieving the pressure on my brain by trying to educate the good people of Twitter on some basic fucking civics facts. Recent Universe Brain Moments include:

There is such a thing as a legal permanent resident! The only options available to people for living in the US legally extend beyond "citizen" and "illegal."

Non-citizens pay taxes!

When people are arrested, the period between arrest and trial date can be handled in various ways, we do not just automatically lock every single person up for the weeks and months until their trial date. (Note: abolish cash bail. Either assess the accused as a risk or don't.)

Crossing the border illegally is a misdemeanor. A minor one. The max punishment for which is considetably less than the max punishment for what I was arrested for (and then was freed on my own recognizance after about 12 hours in the pokey).

Somehow, I still don't feel any better.
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:01 PM on June 16, 2018 [50 favorites]



Comey has been in Iowa before likely for family things. His wife is from there.
posted by Jalliah at 5:05 PM on June 16, 2018 [6 favorites]


Cruz really is a master at being himself, isn't he.

A master of using human misery as a wedge issue. Yes.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 5:16 PM on June 16, 2018 [1 favorite]


Because praising Kim Jong Un at the beginning of this week wasn't enough, the Trump White House has sent out a press release:
President Donald J. Trump spoke today with Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary to congratulate him on the formation of his new government. Both leaders agreed on the need for strong national borders and reflected on the President's successful summit with Chairman Kim Jong Un of North Korea. The two leaders further pledged to keep United States-Hungary relations strong.
Orban has been hard at work turning Hungary into an authoritarian state, and his party's massive election victory in April will only embolden him in his enthno-nationalist, xenophobic, anti-EU, crony-capitalist project. And he's a big, big fan of Putin, so they have that in common, too.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:31 PM on June 16, 2018 [21 favorites]




So the guy on the Hoover Dam bridge yesterday, there was some uncertainty what report he wanted released & why. Now we know, thanks to a cellphone video he shot from inside his armored car & sent to a freelance right wing provocateur. It's the DOJ OIC report & he's mad Trump hasn't locked Hillary up yet.
posted by scalefree at 5:53 PM on June 16, 2018 [21 favorites]


The WaPo is reporting that Scott Pruitt's true talent is sucking up to the boss, For Pruitt, gaining Trump’s favor — and keeping it — came through fierce allegiance. Includes details about him:
- always eating in the White House mess, compares his antics of always dropping by the Oval Office to a character in the show Veep.
- offering to serve as lead negotiator in Mexico for new NAFTA deal
- offering to take up the stalled infrastructure bill
- pitching to Trump an illegal scheme to mandate higher fuel economy standards for imported cars
- feeding "inaccurate" data to Trump about Paris Climate Accord and being "excoriated" by Cohn and Tillerson for doing so
- weakening clean water rules as a birthday present to Trump
posted by peeedro at 5:58 PM on June 16, 2018 [5 favorites]



How could he ever go into witness protection? Every facial recognition system already in existence would pick him out in a photo. When your phone is realtime tagging the people it sees, he's not going to be able to be anybody but himself.

The woman who smoked that crack with Marion Barry got plastic surgery, as did her boyfriend, before they went into witness protection. But I suppose now there is good iris recognition technology.
posted by jgirl at 6:03 PM on June 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


I just want to highlight this bit from the Pruitt article, about him fighting to pull out of the Paris agreement:
As it turned out, he was already in the White House, having just ordered the ice cream special in the Mess, where he often dined hoping for just such an opportunity to talk to the president. Once in the Oval Office, Pruitt reinforced Trump’s desire to leave the accord, arguing against other advisers so long that an aide had to bring a cup so his melting ice cream wouldn’t drip onto the presidential rug.
posted by zachlipton at 6:09 PM on June 16, 2018 [14 favorites]


“A Flag for Trump’s America,” Jeff Sharlet, Harper's, July 2018

I was surprised. I thought it'd just be a flag with a middle finger and "FUCK YOUR FEELINGS" below the bird.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 6:09 PM on June 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


Manafort would be looking at spending the rest of life reviled as a traitor.

Turning on the President would go a long way to rehabilitating him. John Dean came out of Watergate better than the rest of them, and he was no saint.
posted by msalt at 6:09 PM on June 16, 2018 [7 favorites]



Crossing the border illegally is a misdemeanor. A minor one.

The priest pointed that out tonight at Sunday vigil mass in the 'hood on the House side of the Capitol. He is a lawyer who was ordained later in life. He retired after being sent to Southern Maryland (a very beautiful and nice place, I hasten to add) when he got under the hierarchy's skin for being too liberal and writing that way.

In his retirement he works with Catholic Charities helping people with immigration law. He spoke of the "stomach-churning" fear mothers tell him about. He reminded us that Sessions needs to read the verses following the ones used to support what is going on, the verses about offering food and water. He spoke at length about the need to stop what is going on. He said about 100 of the children in custody are under 4 or 5 years old. One of the bishops has suggested canonical penalties (i.e. excommunication) be used against Catholics who help carry this out.

Outside on the steps after the service he said "the border service guys" don't like this and don't want to have to do it. But reading LEO tweets makes me a lot less certain of that.
posted by jgirl at 6:18 PM on June 16, 2018 [13 favorites]


Resistbot users can opt to have their messages tweeted via the Resistbot Open Letters account; if you do this, only your first name and town are used as identifiers. Have a look, and see what citizens are fired up about!
posted by salix at 6:18 PM on June 16, 2018 [6 favorites]


scalefree: I wouldn’t give a provocateur Laura Loomer any traffic. Even if this video isn’t fake, a propagandist shouldn’t get any traffic which could help the next scam spread.
posted by adamsc at 6:24 PM on June 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


Reading the New Yorker's story on Trump pursuing a summit with Putin is tremendously scary. I don't know how this POS can look at his presidency and think that seeking a one-on-one meeting with Putin right now is a good thing to do. Aside from the fact that his policy is 'Fuck you, that's why.' That he legitimately loves dictators. That there is something in his sick twisted soul that gets off on having people beg for favor.

I honestly didn't think that we'd see Trump go full Trump. I'm sort of plagiarizing from the Pod Save America guys here, but I assumed that there would be some moderation. That the government, checks and balances, would rein him in and he'd be content playing some nominal role. It's like we let loose some wild animal and excepted it to learn physics or something.

He's going full batshit insane. He loves this fascist shit. I know we know this, but it's like, knowing it, really knowing it, is hard. And the GOP is enabling it.

Westworld and The Handmaids Tale seem to me to be both sorts of cultural expression of unease to despair with the status quo. I think as a society it is really fucking hard to accept how wrong things are going. Especially when we have our jobs, and if you're not an immigrant, you're not LGBT, you're not disabled, you're not in public housing, I'm sure I'm forgetting something, you're not a target (yet).
posted by angrycat at 6:36 PM on June 16, 2018 [35 favorites]


ACLU via Huffington Post: Bus Driver Tells Passengers Only U.S. Citizens Can Ride As Border Patrol Agent Looks On

- AND -

Border Patrol chief: Number of migrant family separations could double

“We are trying to build to 100 percent prosecution of everybody that is eligible,” Padilla told the Post. “We are not there yet, but that is our intent.” [...] Padilla said Border Patrol agents find separating families painful, though, he noted, agents have the best interests of children at heart. “We’ve got agents who are rescuing children right at the river, sometimes in the river,” he told The Post. “We’ve got children who show up in extremely bad shape. We’ve got children of a tender age who’ve been assaulted by their smugglers.”


I think this is as bad as it seems.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:01 PM on June 16, 2018 [43 favorites]


The sheer volume of disingenuous bullshit coming out around this family separation policy is truly staggering.
posted by runcibleshaw at 7:07 PM on June 16, 2018 [33 favorites]


I honestly didn't think that we'd see Trump go full Trump. I'm sort of plagiarizing from the Pod Save America guys here, but I assumed that there would be some moderation.

That's what most people expected, because it's what happens in fiction: Joe Schmo the Everyman becomes king/emperor/president and after doing some wacky things makes an attempt at social reform. He learns that an autocrat can't actually make substantial changes against the will of the establishment, and (in most stories) relinquishes his position in exchange for some smaller but still significant social progress.

It turns out that there is no conservative deep state establishment. The power of bureaucrats and senior officials has been shown to be a paper tiger, a Potemkin village propped up by the conflicting needs of the Executive and Legislature. That conflict has vanished: the people who portrayed themselves as statesmen (or, rarely, women) were actually restrained by the Presidency, not vice versa. Now the gloves are off it's like feeding time in the shark tank and they're pantingly eager not to miss out.
posted by Joe in Australia at 7:16 PM on June 16, 2018 [6 favorites]


It turns out that there is no conservative deep state establishment. The power of bureaucrats and senior officials has been shown to be a paper tiger, a Potemkin village propped up by the conflicting needs of the Executive and Legislature. That conflict has vanished: the people who portrayed themselves as statesmen (or, rarely, women) were actually restrained by the Presidency, not vice versa.

I don't think this is quite right. Institutions have held up somewhat robustly, more than most expected. But they're ultimately limited where the rightful check on executive power, Congress, abdicates its constitutional function in favor of abetting executive tyranny. The system can survive 1/3 branches controlled by illiberal autocrats, but not 2/3. It's like the Titantic, the framers planned for a maximum of 6 breached watertight bulkheads. Republicans breached all 16 bulkheads at the same time.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:30 PM on June 16, 2018 [27 favorites]


So it really has come to this - "give me what I want or I'll leave these children to live or die in the desert".

forget everything else this president has done - THIS is what he should be impeached for - the democrats should demand it - if the republicans refuse then we ask the international authorities to swear out a warrant alleging crimes against humanity so anyone who supports this policy can be arrested on foreign soil, including trump

the world needs to make it clear that this is not acceptable, even if they have to embargo us
posted by pyramid termite at 7:37 PM on June 16, 2018 [55 favorites]


he said "the border service guys" don't like this and don't want to have to do it.

I'm sure if it were my job to rip a breastfeeding child from its mother, I'd feel like a worthless bag of shit too.

This is the hill. It's not Mueller. It's taking down Racist America™ right here. No midterms, no help from corporate news. No DNC. Non-racist Americans with half an ounce of compassion and common sense do it, the sooner the better. If we can't fix this bullshit whim of a sociopath's policy, we have bigger problems than a doddering fuckstick in a wig.
posted by petebest at 7:38 PM on June 16, 2018 [52 favorites]


It's like the Titantic, the framers planned for a maximum of 6 breached watertight bulkheads.

The Framers planned that by this point SOMEONE would have had enough of Trump's bullshit and challenged him to a duel on the Field of Honour.
posted by mikelieman at 7:47 PM on June 16, 2018 [22 favorites]


SOMEONE would have had enough of Trump's bullshit and challenged him to a duel on the Field of Honour.

If he had enough honor to show up to a duel, we wouldn't be in half as much of a mess as we are now.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 7:50 PM on June 16, 2018 [14 favorites]


The Texas tent city outside of El Paso is already open, one day after the site's announcement.

And here's video from ABC.

The only thing this administration has done quickly, quietly and efficiently is the building of concentration camps for children.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:03 PM on June 16, 2018 [99 favorites]


Trump Again Falsely Blames Democrats for His Separation Tactic (NYT (?!))

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Saturday repeated his false assertion that Democrats were responsible for his administration’s policy of separating migrant families apprehended at the border, sticking to a weekslong refusal to publicly accept responsibility for a widely condemned practice that has become a symbol of his crackdown on illegal immigration.

[...] In fact, there is no law that requires families to be separated at the border. There is a law against “improper entry” at the border, as well as a consent decree known as the Flores settlement that limits to 20 days the amount of time that migrant children may be held in immigration detention, which a federal judge ruled in 2016 also applies to families. A 2008 anti-trafficking statute — signed into law by a Republican president, George W. Bush — also requires that certain unaccompanied alien minors be transferred out of immigration detention in 72 hours. None of those laws or precedents mean that children must be taken away from their parents.


The fact that this is so cut-and-dried that even the failed NYT feels comfortable calling it out means this isn't a question about anything. No talking heads need apply. It's not an opinion buffet. Make the calls, get it done.
posted by petebest at 8:09 PM on June 16, 2018 [36 favorites]


Don Lemon on CNN is all out of evens, too (YouTube): “That is just a lie.”
posted by darkstar at 8:13 PM on June 16, 2018 [19 favorites]


@topherspiro:
Wow. This is the private letter @SenatorCollins is sending to her constituents rationalizing Trump's policy of separating children from their families. #mepolitics

@marmel:
There are no GOP moderates.
They all must go in 2018.
From Senator, To Representative to dog catcher.
They must be driven out of our democracy in November.
Which means register, Get IDs if you need them, and plan to vote in packs.
Midterms are in 142 days

posted by Artw at 8:19 PM on June 16, 2018 [37 favorites]


I'm pretty sure all of the GOP moderates have (D) next to their names.
posted by jferg at 8:26 PM on June 16, 2018 [18 favorites]


Talking of which...

@jordainc:
40 senators backing bill to prevent separation of families at border. congress.gov/bill/115th-con…

No GOP senators yet. D's who haven't signed on (at least as of yesterday):
1) Brown
2) Cardin
3) Donnelly
4) Heitkamp
5) Jones
6) Manchin
7) McCaskill
8) Stabenow
9) Tester


So at least a few Dems who think “be like nazis” is a vote winner.
posted by Artw at 8:33 PM on June 16, 2018 [9 favorites]


Stabenow signed on today, though that's not reflected on the official list yet. As have Brown ("per spouse" anyway) and Cardin
posted by zachlipton at 8:37 PM on June 16, 2018 [17 favorites]


9) Tester

So at least a few Dems who think “be like nazis” is a vote winner.


A local resistance organization (Missoula Rises) is meeting with Tester in a few days to discuss this particular issue, so hopefully that'll resolve shortly.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:39 PM on June 16, 2018 [2 favorites]


Stabenow signed on today.

Whew, finally. She and Sen. Peters took their sweet time about it.
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:40 PM on June 16, 2018 [7 favorites]


Geez, McCaskill. I know she's in a tough campaign but that's rough.
posted by gerryblog at 8:42 PM on June 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


They all must go in 2018.
From Senator, To Representative to dog catcher.
They must be driven out of our democracy in November.


They're not going to be, though. Even notwithstanding the Senators not up for election, there is no scenario in which Democrats win every seat in the House, that's just nonsense. And of course, the same things at the state level.

I get that it's satisfying to go around Carthago delenda est-ing all the time. I would like to see some more of "even in the best case scenario, the GOP is still going to have some people in power, we need to figure out how to deal with that."
posted by Chrysostom at 8:45 PM on June 16, 2018 [24 favorites]


I’m one of Senator Cardin’s constituents. He’s going to hear from me that I consider his delay in joining the bill unacceptable. The Democratic primary is coming up soon, and he’s not going to get my vote with this kind of nonsense.
posted by wintermind at 8:49 PM on June 16, 2018 [4 favorites]




Sometimes it’s important to have goals, Chrysostom.
posted by Artw at 9:03 PM on June 16, 2018 [17 favorites]


> I get that it's satisfying to go around Carthago delenda est-ing all the time. I would like to see some more of "even in the best case scenario, the GOP is still going to have some people in power, we need to figure out how to deal with that."

This sentiment is a perfect example of how a Democrat is someone who won't take their own side in an argument. *Of course* Democrats can't win all 535 congressional seats, the thousands of state races, etc. But what's the point in saying that?

Besides, "Carthago delanda est" is a lot easier to read on a bumper sticker.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:22 PM on June 16, 2018 [9 favorites]


What's the point in saying "Our goal is something that is literally impossible"?
posted by Chrysostom at 9:29 PM on June 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


its marketing.
posted by yesster at 9:30 PM on June 16, 2018 [4 favorites]


> What's the point in saying "Our goal is something that is literally impossible"?

Ask Senator Doug Jones.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:32 PM on June 16, 2018 [16 favorites]


What's the point in saying "Our goal is something that is literally impossible"?

I think it’s a “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars” kind of thing. I’m ok with dreaming big.
posted by greermahoney at 9:38 PM on June 16, 2018 [10 favorites]


...and, just to pre-empt the obvious (and factually correct) response... of course the likelihood of winning a single "unwinnable" seat is higher than the likelihood of winning in dozens or hundreds of "unwinnable" seats. But we never really know which are the winnable "unwinnable" seats, and that uncertainty is reason enough to me to never send a signal to voters or volunteers that their races are unwinnable.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:42 PM on June 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


It's a long term goal. They are a derelict party with no serious policy ideas, and they deserve to be ground into dust. Of course we won't completely erase them in one round of elections, but I think a strategy of openly and aggressively pursuing that goal is a good one.
posted by contraption at 9:45 PM on June 16, 2018 [8 favorites]


Remember the "50 State Strategy"? It seemed like the moment the Democrats gave that up, the Republicans took it on, with extra cheating.
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:51 PM on June 16, 2018 [21 favorites]


I like to imagine my tearful calls to Senators Peters and Stabenow got them off their butts!

I was very upset when I called this week.
Children being taken from their parents in the name of ‘safety’ and ‘security’ really wrecked me.
posted by Gadgetenvy at 9:59 PM on June 16, 2018 [18 favorites]


tonycpsu: "Ask Senator Doug Jones"

His election wasn't impossible! If you look back at my contributions to these threads at the time, I at no point called Jones's election impossible. Hell, I even strongly pushed back against people who said that it was. In general, I always go out of my way to never say that things WILL or WILL NOT happen, because nobody knows.

But that's different from something that *cannot* happen. Taking control of the Congress is aspirational, universal healthcare is aspirational, those are great, inspiring goals. "We control 100% of everything" is not aspirational.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:12 PM on June 16, 2018 [20 favorites]


But that's different from something that *cannot* happen. Taking control of the Congress is aspirational, universal healthcare is aspirational, those are great, inspiring goals. "We control 100% of everything" is not aspirational.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:12 AM on June 17 [+] [!]


You're right. In order to do that, democrats would have to undertake a decades long campaign to disenfranchise republican voters.
posted by runcibleshaw at 10:16 PM on June 16, 2018 [8 favorites]


> I at no point called Jones's election impossible.

I never said you did. A lot of people did, though.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:26 PM on June 16, 2018


What's the point in saying "Our goal is something that is literally impossible"?

It's how you make the impossible possible.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 12:27 AM on June 17, 2018 [5 favorites]


Texas Monthly published a heartbreaking, detailed interview with the executive director of the Houston office of the Tahirih Justice Center yesterday about what exactly is happening on the ground in the child separation/detention policy.
posted by charmedimsure at 12:30 AM on June 17, 2018 [20 favorites]




Mod note: Let's drop the back and forth about the impossible goal at this point (also jokey sub-derail removed). Please remember that we're trying to have these threads as a somewhat clear channel for people to find out news and related discussion about Trump / WH / elections and try to keep things pointed in that direction.
posted by taz (staff) at 1:02 AM on June 17, 2018 [5 favorites]


Since news broke of US border officials taking children from their families I've been hearing, in my mind's ear, Archie Roach's Took the Children Away. I listened to it for real today and thought, with lyrics adapted to America's current situation, it could be a good song to play at protests and the like, and not difficult for a crowd to sing.
posted by valetta at 1:45 AM on June 17, 2018 [4 favorites]


I'll add this as a favorite gut-punch of a protest song for this era:
Radney Foster - "All That I Require"

(I've been reading MeFi since it was new but I've never signed up. The current funding announcement finally pushed me to do so and to donate. I struggle to imagine not having this community in these dark days. Thank you all. And, to the rest of you lurkers: if you can, please do so too. )
posted by bcd at 3:07 AM on June 17, 2018 [70 favorites]


Caroline O. (Shareblue)
Trump keeps trying to blame Democrats, but here's John Kelly in March 2017 talking about implementing forced separation for immigrant families:

"I am considering, in order to deter more movement along this terribly dangerous network, I am considering exactly that."

VIDEO
posted by chris24 at 3:20 AM on June 17, 2018 [39 favorites]


From the interview posted above by >charmedimsure

Article 31 of the Refugee Convention clearly says that it is improper for any state to use criminal laws that could deter asylum seekers as long as that asylum seeker is asking for asylum within a reasonable amount of time. But our administration is kind of ignoring this longstanding international and national jurisprudence of basic beliefs to make this distinction that, if you come to a bridge, we’re not going to prosecute you, but if you come over the river and then find immigration or are caught by immigration, we’re prosecuting you.

TM: So if you cross any other way besides the bridge, we’re prosecuting you. But . . . you can’t cross the bridge.


It’s all so fucked up. That article is worth a read. Sounds a lot like Scientology. You have to come into the building to request a refund. But if you want a refund, you’re suppressive and therefore can’t come into the building. Convenient.
posted by robotdevil at 5:30 AM on June 17, 2018 [33 favorites]


Trump associate Roger Stone reveals new contact with Russian national during 2016 campaign (WaPo):
One day in late May 2016, Roger Stone — the political dark sorcerer and longtime confidant of Donald Trump — slipped into his Jaguar and headed out to meet a man with a Make America Great Again hat and a viscous Russian accent.

The man, who called himself Henry Greenberg, offered damaging information about Hillary Clinton, Trump’s presumptive Democratic opponent in the upcoming presidential election, according to Stone who spoke about the previously unreported incident in interviews with The Washington Post. Greenberg, who did not reveal the information he claimed to possess, wanted Trump to pay $2 million for the political dirt, Stone said.

“You don’t understand Donald Trump,” Stone recalled saying before rejecting the offer at a restaurant in the Russian-expat magnet of Sunny Isles, Fla. “He doesn’t pay for anything.”
posted by peeedro at 6:07 AM on June 17, 2018 [28 favorites]


Wherein Kellyanne's husband and conservative power lawyer recommends criminal investigation of the Trumps.

Kyle Griffin (MSNBC)
Election law experts from across the political spectrum largely agreed that the New York A.G. made a compelling case this week that Trump’s campaign and his charitable foundation violated federal campaign finance laws during the 2016 election.
NYT: Will the Justice Department Investigate the Trump Foundation?


George Conway
Retweeted Kyle Griffin
These are obviously very serious allegations, and they should be referred to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
posted by chris24 at 6:11 AM on June 17, 2018 [16 favorites]


Trump associate Roger Stone reveals new contact with Russian national during 2016 campaign (WaPo):

Adam Davidson (New Yorker)
This sounds like a joke, but is clearly true: the Trump team's defense is that we tried, really hard, again and again, to collude with Russia, but nothing ever worked out.
posted by chris24 at 6:19 AM on June 17, 2018 [45 favorites]


It's a searing experience, but that Texas Monthly article linked by charmedimsure has to be read
posted by Myeral at 6:20 AM on June 17, 2018 [5 favorites]


Adam Davidson (New Yorker): This sounds like a joke, but is clearly true: the Trump team's defense is that we tried, really hard, again and again, to collude with Russia, but nothing ever worked out.

And in that vein...

Aaron Rupar (Think Progress)
GIULIANI, SHORTER: Roger Stone may have tried to collude with Russia, but I believe his effort was unsuccessful, so meh

VIDEO OF RUDY WITH JAKE TAPPER THIS MORNING
posted by chris24 at 6:32 AM on June 17, 2018 [4 favorites]


List is getting smaller.

@jordainc
Would make the list of D's who haven't signed on:
1) Donnelly
2) Heitkamp
3) Jones
4) Manchin
5) McCaskill
6) Tester

posted by Artw at 6:34 AM on June 17, 2018 [3 favorites]


General Michael Hayden is all out of fscks. And he's been burning the trolls. [links to his Twitter]
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:38 AM on June 17, 2018 [24 favorites]


Again from the Texas Monthly article,
In other cases, we see no communication that the parent knows that their child is to be taken away. Instead, the officers say, “I’m going to take your child to get bathed.” That’s one we see again and again. “Your child needs to come with me for a bath.” The child goes off, and in a half an hour, twenty minutes, the parent inquires, “Where is my five-year-old?” “Where’s my seven-year-old?” “This is a long bath.” And they say, “You won’t be seeing your child again.”
I am so so so fucking angry and if I weren't taking care of my own infant child right now I'd be likely trying to find my way to Texas (to bear witness, if nothing else). If I were one of these parents I'd probably be on trial for attempted murder of the guard who did this to my child.
posted by Gaz Errant at 6:40 AM on June 17, 2018 [50 favorites]


Trump associate Roger Stone reveals new contact with Russian national during 2016 campaign (WaPo)

This is a classic hang out from Roger the Rat-fucker. He and Caputo are covering their asses because they didn't mention this "unimportant" meeting during their House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence testimony, but Caputo, for his sake, had better have brought it up to the Mueller investigation for his interview.

Now Stone is volunteering his version of the meeting to the Post, telling them it's "an FBI sting operation". For good measure, this incredibly shady Henry Greenberg character introduced a supposed ex-employee of the Clinton Foundation into the narrative. The Post does a credible job of fact-checking where it can, but this story is ultimately being orchestrated by Stone, for his own benefit. Caveat lector.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:01 AM on June 17, 2018 [16 favorites]


The WaPo has more details on the jail that will be Manafort’s home while awaiting trial. Not a Club Fed; formerly home to Michael Vick, Chris Brown, Taliban-linked Irek Hamidullin, and Colombian druglord Hernan Giraldo Serna. Also includes details of a negligent inmate death.
posted by peeedro at 7:17 AM on June 17, 2018 [10 favorites]


I hope this shines a light on the desperate need for prison reform. That said…

Inmates are permitted one personal visit per week. Manafort, a former campaign chairman for President Trump, was assigned Fridays from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m. as his visitation window.

That little insert just gives you chills, doesn't it.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:25 AM on June 17, 2018 [12 favorites]


Kellyanne Conway on Meet the Press with the standard lies and gaslighting on child concentration camps but with that special Kellyanne flair. Starts with the classic "As a mother and a catholic and a person with a conscience" and ends with "there are people comparing this to Nazis: what an outrageous disrespect to the six million people who died in that time."

As someone whose extended family mostly died in the Holocaust, every time I see this "how dare you disrespect them" faux-indignation it's all I can do not to lunge through the screen like Enraged Jewish Videodrome and deliver a Gianforte Suplex.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:53 AM on June 17, 2018 [84 favorites]


Marcy Wheeler: Rat-Fucker Extraordinaire Roger Stone Probably Had Far More Damning Texts Seized by FBI on March 8
By revealing that Mueller caught Caputo and Stone dealing in dirt with Russians, they reveal a certain detail to other co-conspirators: probably, that Mueller has obtained the contents of Roger Stone’s phone. As a reminder, on March 9, the FBI obtained the cloud-stored contents of 5 AT&T phones (and probably at least as many Verizon ones), at least one but not all of which were Manafort’s. There’s a lot of reason to believe that at least one of the phones obtained was Stone’s.
...
We can be virtually certain, too, that Stone is offering just a limited version of the story, as he has done over and over again. Of note: Stone doesn’t claim he said to Oknyansky that he wasn’t interested in the information; rather, he only claims that Trump wouldn’t pay $2 million for it. By the end of the summer someone else — Peter Smith — was offering money for dirt on Hillary. And the Clinton Foundation was a key focus of Stone’s; he raised it 8 times on Twitter between that meeting at the election.

Now, as I said, the reason we’re learning about this particular lie from Caputo and Stone is because it feeds a certain narrative, that the FBI was seeking to set up the Trump campaign. That makes zero sense, given that even accepting the outreach from a Russian would have triggered attention from the FBI, and it’s clear FBI just got this information recently (probably, as I’ve noted, on March 9). Remember, too, the FBI didn’t formally learn that the Russians were targeting the Democrats, to the extent they did (and the Russians targeted Rubio and Graham as well) until June. So there’s no reason the FBI would have used a Russian to deal dirt in May. In other words, Caputo and Stone’s story makes zero sense.
She goes on to speculate that Russia was deliberately using former FBI informants to approach the Trump campaign, because their communications would not be monitored by the NSA. [so expect to see Josh Marshall coming up with that insight in 3-4 days].
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:56 AM on June 17, 2018 [23 favorites]


7 D congressman are trying to enter a shelter in NJ.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries
Here w/ six other members of Congress including ⁦@RepJerryNadler⁩ ⁦⁦@RepEspaillat⁩ at ICE detention facility in Elizabeth, NJ making surprise Father’s Day visit. They are refusing to let us in. We will #Resist #KeepingFamiliesTogether
PIC
posted by chris24 at 7:57 AM on June 17, 2018 [53 favorites]


Kellyanne Conway on Meet the Press with the standard lies and gaslighting on child concentration camps but with that special Kellyanne flair. Starts with the classic "As a mother and a catholic and a person with a conscience" and ends with "there are people comparing this to Nazis: what an outrageous disrespect to the six million people who died in that time."

(in my dreams)

CHUCK TODD: To respond to that, we'd like to introduce NBC's Special Commentator on Jewish Affairs, @Sarah Silverman.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:03 AM on June 17, 2018 [18 favorites]


Nadler is my rep! Go Jerry!

Rep. Nadler
We have gotten the door open at the Elizabeth, NJ ICE detention center and refusing to let it close until we are given access to the detainees. #FamiliesBelongTogether
posted by chris24 at 8:06 AM on June 17, 2018 [72 favorites]


God I love Jerry Nadler. Here he is putting his body on the gears of the machine.
posted by prefpara at 8:07 AM on June 17, 2018 [18 favorites]


Jinx, chris24! (Hi neighbor)
posted by prefpara at 8:07 AM on June 17, 2018 [2 favorites]


To see Roger Stone put in prison for rat fucking with Assange? That's the dream.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:14 AM on June 17, 2018 [7 favorites]


The president* is especially incoherent this morning:
WITCH HUNT! There was no Russian Collusion. Oh, I see, there was no Russian Collusion, so now they look for obstruction on the no Russian Collusion. The phony Russian Collusion was a made up Hoax. Too bad they didn’t look at Crooked Hillary like this. Double Standard!
posted by octothorpe at 8:33 AM on June 17, 2018 [11 favorites]


If you don’t want people to think about Russian collusion definitely say it in caps four times in a row
posted by The Whelk at 8:42 AM on June 17, 2018 [86 favorites]


Members of Oregon's Congressional delegation were able to tour a detention center for asylum seekers. They found that a majority of the people detained there are from India. Detainees don't have money to make phone calls, and don't know where their wives and children are. "This is a shameful hour in U.S. history," said U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer. "I don't care what your stance on immigration is, no one should favor ripping children out of their parents' arms ...." Red-faced with tears streaming down his cheeks, Blumenauer couldn't continue.
posted by terooot at 8:47 AM on June 17, 2018 [68 favorites]


If you don’t want people to think about Russian collusion definitely say it in caps four times in a row

Especially when Junior tweeted the confession to meeting illegally with Russian criminals in Trump Tower.

IIRC, Rudy was all, "Yeah, I thought she was just a Russian, and not a lawyer for the Russian Government."

As if that matters to the prohibition in 52 USC 30121.

How can the President's Lawyer NOT KNOW THIS???
posted by mikelieman at 8:53 AM on June 17, 2018 [6 favorites]


The president* is especially incoherent this morning

This previous tweet was clearly written by his staff after the Stone story was released: "Washington Post employees want to go on strike because Bezos isn’t paying them enough. I think a really long strike would be a great idea. Employees would get more money and we would get rid of Fake News for an extended period of time! Is @WaPo a registered lobbyist?"

That obviously wasn't enough to calm him down, though, so an hour later Trump (and it's clearly Trump this time) went on the tweet-rampage about all-caps exclamation-point "WITCH HUNT!"
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:55 AM on June 17, 2018 [5 favorites]


And of course @WaPo is not an active Twitter handle having been previously banned, much less the Post's.

And WaPo's reporters are not talking about striking.
posted by chris24 at 8:57 AM on June 17, 2018 [8 favorites]


How can the President's Lawyer NOT KNOW THIS???

My theory is that he knows it, but understands corporate news to be a giant farce wherein everyone lies to the hilt to see who wins. He's right, of course.

Hey everyone, please share the Capitol Switchboard number with your pals: (202) 224-3121

A helpful robot menu will bring you to the office you seek. Let's give the staffers a bracing Monday of inventive voicemails to kick off the news cycle.
posted by petebest at 9:01 AM on June 17, 2018 [20 favorites]


I hope Manafort gets to try the prison loaf
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:09 AM on June 17, 2018 [2 favorites]


I'm sure if it were my job to rip a breastfeeding child from its mother, I'd feel like a worthless bag of shit too.

"This atrocity I am being paid to commit sure does give me the sads" is the new "I was only following orders", and inspires exactly as much sympathy.
posted by multics at 9:11 AM on June 17, 2018 [64 favorites]


I think the internment camps should be connected to visiting Kim.

Trump meets Kim and in a week we have children in concentration camps.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 9:14 AM on June 17, 2018 [13 favorites]


From the Texas Monthly article above:

AC: So the idea of zero tolerance under the stated policy is that we don’t care why you’re afraid. We don’t care if it’s religion, political, gangs, anything. For all asylum seekers, you are going to be put in jail, in a detention center, and you’re going to have your children taken away from you. That’s the policy.

We've established it's not "law", much less "Democrat's law", so let's never hear that bullshit again without a flamethrowing response (DC press, ok?).

This is the TrumpBorg's whim (it's not able tho be enacted fully because - surprise - no one was expecting it), and it can be stopped today. Right now. With a phone call.
posted by petebest at 9:41 AM on June 17, 2018 [15 favorites]


I can't even with the "America's always been super evil" shit this morning. Can we not have this argument again now?
posted by Gaz Errant at 9:47 AM on June 17, 2018 [19 favorites]


More to the point, it was noted in this thread literally six hours ago that John Kelly was talking about the family separation policy in March 2017, over a year ago.

The immigration detention facilities were already very abusive under the Obama administration, they always seemed like internment camps to me, and sheriff Arpaio famously had a death camp in the desert less than 15 years ago.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 9:48 AM on June 17, 2018 [13 favorites]


(Texas Monthly article, last one but it's a doozy)

AC: In the shelters, they can’t even find the parents because the kids are just crying inconsolably. They often don’t know the full legal name of their parents or their date of birth. They’re not in a position to share a trauma story like what caused the migration. These kids and parents had no idea. None of the parents I talked to were expecting to be separated as they faced the process of asking for asylum.

TM: I would think that there would be something in place where, when the child is taken, they’d be given a wristband or something with their information on it?

AC: I think the Department of Homeland Security gives the kids an alien number. They also give the parents an alien number and probably have that information. The issue is that the Department of Homeland Security is not the one caring for the children. Jurisdiction of that child has moved over to Health and Human Services, and the Health and Human Services staff has to figure out, where is this parent? And that’s not easy.


Sometimes the parents are deported. Kids are in New York and Miami, and we’ve got parents being sent to Tacoma, Washington, and California. Talk about a mess. And nobody has a right to an attorney here. These kids don’t get a paid advocate or an ad litem or a friend of the court. They don’t get a paid attorney to represent them. Some find that, because there are programs. But it’s not a right. It’s not universal.


Yeah, give the internment camp children a number. I mean - they're not even trying to disguise it.
posted by petebest at 9:54 AM on June 17, 2018 [57 favorites]


and sheriff Arpaio famously had a death camp in the desert less than 15 years ago.

Tent City closed Oct 10th, 2017. WAY less than than 15 years ago.
posted by Weeping_angel at 9:56 AM on June 17, 2018 [16 favorites]


And it only closed because we finally got rid of the bastard.
posted by Weeping_angel at 9:57 AM on June 17, 2018 [11 favorites]


I think the Department of Homeland Security gives the kids an alien number.

Children's identities are literally being replaced with "Alien Number X."
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:01 AM on June 17, 2018 [15 favorites]


At the rally in DC last week, they said parents were given slips of papers when they were separated from their kids to 'give them a bath.' When the parents realized their kids weren't going to be returned, they found the names on the papers not only weren't the right names, but often didn't even match the number of children that were taken from them.

I haven't slept right since.
posted by Space Kitty at 10:08 AM on June 17, 2018 [49 favorites]


More Evidence of the Critical Failure of the IG Report
Let’s review a range of evidence for not only anti-Clinton bias but actions which had specific and protracted effects on the investigation and news coverage of Clinton.

1. We have strong evidence that there was a clique of senior agents in the New York field office with what senior FBI and DOJ officials viewed as a “visceral hatred of Secretary Clinton.” We don’t have to take Comey and Lynch’s word for it. This was actually a talking point among the GOP right in the fall of 2016. It was simply proffered as evidence for Clinton’s perfidy.

2. We have strong reporting that law enforcement officials confirmed that agents in the New York field office leaked information about the laptop to one of candidate Trump’s lead campaign surrogates, Rudy Giuliani. He in turn used that information to push a restarting of the Clinton investigation. Giuliani claimed as much publicly and only changed his story when an investigation got underway.

3. We know from Rep. Devin Nunes’ own account that, within two or three days of finding the emails on the laptop, what Nunes termed “good FBI agents” were leaking the information to Capitol Hill Republicans. According to Nunes, it wasn’t just him but the “House Intelligence Committee.” Presumably he means Republicans on the Committee but maybe to Democrats too.

4. We know from the IG Report itself that all the top FBI officials aside from Comey believed that the fear that the laptop information would be leaked if Comey did not announce it was a key driver in the decision to send the letter. The remaining evidence suggests those leaks would have been driven by animus against Secretary Clinton.

All of this adds up to strong evidence that the investigation was directly affected by people with clear anti-Clinton bias and that the critical decision to send the October 28th letter was driven at least in large part by their actions – actions which were clearly improper and may even have been illegal.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:12 AM on June 17, 2018 [38 favorites]


TW: disturbing themes.

If anyone is in any doubt that the horrific treatment of vulnerable kids is purely a US phenomenon, this article about teenage African refugees in the UK should help to clear that up, I'm sorry to say.
posted by Myeral at 10:20 AM on June 17, 2018 [5 favorites]


emptywheel, In Attempt to Learn How Much Mueller Knows about Roger Stone’s “Collusion,” Devin Nunes Blames FBI for Stone and Michael Caputo’s Perjury to HPSCI. In short, the Stone thing is a setup by which Nunes can threaten to impeach Rosenstein, as he did this morning, by blaming the FBI rather than Stone and Caputo for perjury.
posted by zachlipton at 10:24 AM on June 17, 2018 [9 favorites]


Do we still have an active Fucking Fuck thread? Because I'm literally losing sleep and physically ill over this. I have a five-year old son. I can't even watch movies where similarly aged kids are upset or hurt.

And now every time I go on Twitter it's just....who are these proud monsters? Why are they like this? How did they get to be so broken? I literally can't understand how anyone could be so hateful and mean about children.
posted by soren_lorensen at 10:25 AM on June 17, 2018 [57 favorites]


TM: So if you cross any other way besides the bridge, we’re prosecuting you. But . . . you can’t cross the bridge.

It’s all so fucked up. That article is worth a read. Sounds a lot like Scientology. You have to come into the building to request a refund. But if you want a refund, you’re suppressive and therefore can’t come into the building. Convenient.


It's worse than that. According to the interview and other reports I've seen, those McAllen CBP agents are falsely telling people "we're full" or "the bridge is closed" instead of letting them cross, which is essentially setting them up to attempt entry via the river. And according to the existing treaties and tradition, even entering at a non-approved point is OK for asylum seekers as long as you present yourself immediately to Border Patrol to request asylum. That mostly hasn't even been treated as a civil infraction, let alone a criminal offense.

Trump is just choosing to ignore that longstanding norm, as he does so many others. And of course, the goal is to criminalize pretty much any form of entry into the US by brown people and use any excuse to abduct their kids and inflict maximum suffering.
posted by FelliniBlank at 10:39 AM on June 17, 2018 [26 favorites]


How about a note of levity? Here's Jia Tolentino in the New Yorker talking about the movie Coco (movie spoilers in the article, of course):
“Hey ppl over here getting drunk and watching Coco just fyi,” I texted Andrew, who was still at the office. In return, I received a series of panicked instructions to not start without him. “You have already seen it….” I texted. “I DON’T CARE!!!!!!!” he texted back. “DON’T START WITHOUT ME!!!!”
Did I say note of levity? Sorry...
“Coco” is a movie about borders more than anything—the beauty in their porousness, the absolute pain produced when a border locks you away from your family. [...] The thesis of the movie is that families belong together. I watched it again this week, reading the news that Donald Trump is considering building an unregulated holding camp for migrant children, that ICE showed up on the lawn of a legal permanent resident and initiated deportation procedures, that a four-month-old baby was torn away from her breastfeeding mother. If justice is what love looks like in public, then love has started to seem like the stuff of children’s movies, or maybe the stuff of this children’s movie—something that doesn’t make sense in the adult world, but should.
It is Fathers Day in the US and I'm sitting in an airport in fucking tears reading about kids being ripped away from their parents - and they blame the "Democrat law" for this? I'm also beginning to understand that when they take kids away "for a bath" they really do understand the historical parallels all too well, and that they're deliberately trying to rhyme. That's darker than I thought possible.

Abolish ICE and prosecute these wannabee SS thugs.
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:42 AM on June 17, 2018 [39 favorites]


Yeah, these are really bad times. There are links I don’t click. I trust you all when you say it is horrendous. Its so depressing not to be able to help those kids and their parents.
About the NY FBI people: how can you be a senior person in the FBI in New York and not know Trump is a crook? And be willing to hand over the nation to that crook, just to avoid having a female president.
It is so disgusting.
posted by mumimor at 10:44 AM on June 17, 2018 [29 favorites]


At the rally in DC last week, they said parents were given slips of papers when they were separated from their kids to 'give them a bath.' When the parents realized their kids weren't going to be returned, they found the names on the papers not only weren't the right names, but often didn't even match the number of children that were taken from them.

During his MSNBC interview the other day (about 5:30-7:30), Beto O'Rourke explained that DHS/CBP/ICE have one numbering system for entering/detained migrants and HHS has its own different numbering system for "unaccompanied minors," and no one could assure him that there is any matching/tracking of these two numbers that will ensure parents' children can be found in the system when the parents are released and come looking.

The whole interview is very detailed and informative (and devastating) about conditions on the ground in McAllen.
posted by FelliniBlank at 10:47 AM on June 17, 2018 [33 favorites]


Stomaching the news lately has been really hard lately. I've even been avoiding the Thread. I'm so sorry for everyone. Love and courage, neighbours. May this ongoing heartbreaking outrage someday soon finally fucking end.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 11:02 AM on June 17, 2018 [7 favorites]


Trump is just choosing to ignore that longstanding norm
Trump is the puppet. This is the doings of Stephen Miller and Jeff Sessions. Stephen and Jeff are close, Stephen trained under Sessions. They are working this horror together, and Stephen is coaching Trump. Stephen Miller is a man without a soul, a pure psychopath. He is getting off on this. Jeff Sessions is thrilled to destroy black and brown people in any way he can. Attacking Trump may feel good, but it is Stephen Miller that is the root of this program, along with Jeff Sessions. Kelly loves it, too. But Trump is the puppet, it won't change or stop as long as Trump keeps getting attacked. We need to go after Sessions and Miller and Kelly.
posted by W Grant at 11:05 AM on June 17, 2018 [20 favorites]


The reasons for taking the children seem awfully thin to me. A duty to simply carry out law in its most abstract sense? A disincentive to come to the country? Where's the argument that they're inferior and need taken care of, or are foreign spies, or are evil masterminds of some kind? From a historical perspective, I would have expected a stronger argument than someone put a bad law on the books, so what can you do? And then in terms of history, please don't tell me we're going to justify this by pretending these camps are great places. That arguments already been used to justify plantations and ghettos.

But worst of all from a historical perspective, I feel pretty sure that if I were to meet someone from say Nazi Germany, and ask them when was the time when it all could have been stopped they would point to a time that looks a lot like right now. I don't know that this ball is going to keep rolling and become an avalanche, but I'm pretty certain if it does it will be too late.
posted by xammerboy at 11:05 AM on June 17, 2018 [10 favorites]


Two days ago, Trump on Fox News:
Doocy: How are you going to celebrate Father’s Day?

Trump: “Work. I’m going to work.”
Today: "The motorcade arrived at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, VA, at 11:06....This is the second straight day that POTUS has visited his DC-area golf club."

As far as I'm concerned, he should spend all his time golfing, but what a stupid pointless lie.
posted by zachlipton at 11:07 AM on June 17, 2018 [49 favorites]


Trump is the puppet. This is the doings of Stephen Miller and Jeff Sessions. Stephen and Jeff are close, Stephen trained under Sessions. They are working this horror together, and Stephen is coaching Trump. Stephen Miller is a man without a soul, a pure psychopath. He is getting off on this. Jeff Sessions is thrilled to destroy black and brown people in any way he can. Attacking Trump may feel good, but it is Stephen Miller that is the root of this program, along with Jeff Sessions. Kelly loves it, too. But Trump is the puppet, it won't change or stop as long as Trump keeps getting attacked. We need to go after Sessions and Miller and Kelly.

Sorry, by "Trump," I mean the Trump administration. They're all responsible, and we all recognize that Miller and Sessions and Kelly are the authors of this policy and Nielsen is apparently fine with participating. But, you know, puppet or not, Trump is the fucking President; he is responsible for what his administration does, and he campaigned on being terrible to immigrants and treating them as subhuman. His supporters love this shit, they see it as fulfilling a campaign promise, and if anybody thinks he's not going to be bragging about it and leading chants of "lock them up" at upcoming rallies, they're kidding themselves. He does not get to say "oh, my handlers did it."
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:13 AM on June 17, 2018 [21 favorites]


The First Lady's office put out a statement: "Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform."

It's meaningless "both sides" claptrap that puts the blame on partisanship rather than her husband, but it's still interesting to me that there's a statement at all. It's not like her office has felt compelled to put out a statement about how she hates to see all the other things that are happening. They are acutely aware of how monstrous this is, and are desperate to cast blame for their own policy.
posted by zachlipton at 11:14 AM on June 17, 2018 [47 favorites]


Here is a disturbing thread about other ways the administration is separating parents from children - by inventing concerns about whether the parents are actually related to the children.
posted by prefpara at 11:15 AM on June 17, 2018 [4 favorites]


"He does not get to say "oh, my handlers did it."
I totally agree with you. But we get to say that. We get to go after Stephen Miller like we did with Bannon and try to get him out of the White House. It is much easier for us to do that than to get Trump out. We have to take out who we can take out, and right now that is not Trump.
posted by W Grant at 11:17 AM on June 17, 2018 [7 favorites]


It's meaningless "both sides" claptrap that puts the blame on partisanship rather than her husband, but it's still interesting to me that there's a statement at all.

Not just blaming partisanship: it's subtly furthering the rhetoric of using the children as hostages in negotiating "successful immigration reform." It's worse than no statement at all.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:22 AM on June 17, 2018 [26 favorites]


"Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform."

The only way to interpret this that makes any sense is, “They wouldn’t be getting separated if there were a wall.” As if the separation is a force of nature and not a deliberate course of action that has been chosen by knowing individuals, which can be stopped by those individuals making the opposite choice.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:29 AM on June 17, 2018 [5 favorites]


It's not like her office has felt compelled to put out a statement about how she hates to see all the other things that are happening.

I will bet a significant number of donuts that Miller-Kelly et al were begging the Office Of The First Lady to jump in on the both-sides narrative because they can see how badly taking the children is playing among low-information unlikely-voting women. They want her to provide the excuse for those women to stay home in November.
posted by Etrigan at 11:29 AM on June 17, 2018 [15 favorites]


Which is to say: This is defense. They're scared.
posted by Etrigan at 11:30 AM on June 17, 2018 [29 favorites]


It's not a witch hunt if there's really a witch.
posted by Sphinx at 11:39 AM on June 17, 2018 [5 favorites]


They're all fucking Nazis.

Aaron Rupar (Think Progress)
.@SenatorCollins says she doesn't support legislative efforts to stop family separation because she thinks the bills on offer are "far too broad." Adds that she supports building the wall as part of a comprehensive solution.

VIDEO
posted by chris24 at 11:40 AM on June 17, 2018 [24 favorites]


I'm really uncomfortable with two threads of thought here that basically excuse or normalize Trump's behavior: that it's really Sessions or Stephen Miller (age 32) running the show, and that the US/UK/etc. also do horrible things to refugees.

This policy is uniquely fucked up and evil. Stephen Miller may be the hyper-ruthless lieutenant, the Lavrentiy Beria to Trump's Stalin. But Trump is still the Stalin.
posted by msalt at 11:44 AM on June 17, 2018 [34 favorites]


The First Lady's office put out a statement: "Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform."

She similarly provided covering support for her husband's birtherism—"It’s not only Donald who wants to see [Obama's birth certificate], it’s American people who voted for him and who didn’t vote for him."—so it's not surprising to find her sticking her both-sides oar into this fiasco.

As far as I'm concerned, he should spend all his time golfing

If he were solely spending this time golfing, that would be preferably, but he's also using this time to confer with his cronies and meet with people away from the supervision of Kelly, the scrutiny of the White House press pool, and the documentation of the White House visitor's list. Whatever he comes up with on Twitter this evening will have been brainstormed on the Trump National's links and at its club house. (It's also infuriating that he's charging the Secret Service for golf cart rentals, but Trump never passes up an opportunity to squeeze a buck out of people.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:48 AM on June 17, 2018 [10 favorites]


On my way to the protest being put on by MIRAC here in Minneapolis, hope many local Mefites are also attending.
posted by misterpatrick at 11:51 AM on June 17, 2018 [18 favorites]


@SenatorTester
On this Father's Day, I'm announcing that I'm cosponsoring the Keeping Families Together Act. Ripping children from their mothers and fathers is sick and heartless, and it's contrary to our values as Montanans and Americans.

My man.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:04 PM on June 17, 2018 [52 favorites]


I beleive McCaskill is also a yes?

Here's hoping people are working hard on Donnelly, and Heitkamp - anyone who does not sign up is of course unsalvageable.
posted by Artw at 12:11 PM on June 17, 2018 [3 favorites]


I'm really uncomfortable with two threads of thought here that basically excuse or normalize Trump's behavior: that it's really Sessions or Stephen Miller (age 32) running the show, and that the US/UK/etc. also do horrible things to refugees.
The greatest part of the President's job is to make decisions--big ones and small ones, dozens of them almost every day. The papers may circulate around the Government for a while but they finally reach this desk. And then, there's no place else for them to go. The President--whoever he is--has to decide. He can't pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That's his job.
Harry S. Truman
posted by kirkaracha at 12:11 PM on June 17, 2018 [23 favorites]


@SenatorTester
On this Father's Day, I'm announcing that I'm cosponsoring the Keeping Families Together Act. Ripping children from their mothers and fathers is sick and heartless, and it's contrary to our values as Montanans and Americans.


While I applaud their action and agree it needs to be done, the Democrats have to play up the fact they're stopping Trump's action, not "fixing the law" or it will play right into Trump's lie that it was their legislation that caused the problem in the first place.

The bill should be renamed the "Stop Trump From Caging Children Act."
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 12:15 PM on June 17, 2018 [43 favorites]


As I have pointed out before MAGA is Spanish for witch (more literally, sorceress).
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 12:16 PM on June 17, 2018 [14 favorites]


Margaret Sullivan, Instead of Trump’s propaganda, how about a nice ‘truth sandwich’?
Unlike those who insist that what the president says is news and therefore must be reported, Lakoff proposes a radical reimagining of how the news media reports on Trump.

Instead of treating the president’s every tweet and utterance — true or false — as newsworthy (and then perhaps fact-checking it later), Lakoff urges the use of what he calls a “truth sandwich.”

First, he says, get as close to the overall, big-picture truth as possible right away. (Thus the gist of the Trump-in-Singapore story: Little of substance was accomplished in the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, despite the pageantry.) Then report what Trump is claiming about it: achievement of world peace. And then, in the same story or broadcast, fact-check his claims.

That’s the truth sandwich — reality, spin, reality — all in one tasty, democracy-nourishing meal.

Avoid retelling the lies. Avoid putting them in headlines, leads or tweets, he says. Because it is that very amplification that gives them power.
posted by zachlipton at 12:21 PM on June 17, 2018 [123 favorites]


FBI agent removed from Russia probe for anti-Trump texts says he’s willing to testify before Congress (WaPo)
The FBI agent who was removed from the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election for sending anti-Trump texts intends to testify before the House Judiciary Committee and any other congressional committee that asks, his attorney said in a letter made public Sunday.

Peter Strzok, who was singled out in a recent Justice Department inspector general report for the politically charged messages, would be willing to testify without immunity, and he would not invoke his Fifth Amendment rights in response to any question, his attorney, Aitan Goelman, said in an interview Sunday. Strzok has become a special target of President Trump, who has used the texts to question the Russia investigation.

Goelman said Strzok “wants the chance to clear his name and tell his story.”
posted by Barack Spinoza at 12:22 PM on June 17, 2018 [28 favorites]


I'm really uncomfortable with two threads of thought here that basically excuse or normalize Trump's behavior: that it's really Sessions or Stephen Miller (age 32) running the show, and that the US/UK/etc. also do horrible things to refugees.

There is no excuse for or normalization of Trumps behavior, if that is how I come across I apologize. The horrible things the US and the UK have done and are doing to black and brown people are facts. They are horrific facts, but they are the facts. I do not believe looking at the facts normalizes them, unless that is how we respond, if we accept them and then ignore them, allowing those things to continue. I am not advocating that. I am advocating fighting for our lives and our futures, by looking at the facts and making strategic decisions about what and how to fight rather than letting my anger react and lash out at the easy target.

"After graduating from college, Miller worked as a press secretary for Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and Congressman John Shadegg, both members of the Republican Party.[34] Miller started working for Alabama Senator and future Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 2009,[34] rising to the position of communications director.[21] In the 113th Congress, Miller played a major role in defeating the bi-partisan Gang of Eight's proposed immigration reform bill.[21][34] As part of his role as communications director, Miller was responsible for writing many of the speeches Sessions gave about the bill.[35] Miller and Sessions developed what Miller describes as "nation-state populism," a response to globalization and immigration that would strongly influence Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. Miller also worked on Dave Brat's successful 2014 House campaign, which unseated Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor."

Donald Trump did not create or institute this zero tolerance policy. AG Jeff Sessions did. That Trump is the president and is defending it is just a fact of how awful Trump is - that does not change that Stephen Miller and Jeff Sessions have been working together undermining Immigration Reform since at least 2014 and developing horrific policies that Jeff Sessions is now in a position to implement and Stephen Miller is in a position to sell to Trump. I am not trying to exhonerate Trump, just point out that none of this originated with him and it has not been implemented by him. Repeatedly attacking Trump may feel good, but it's punching at the puppet. Start punching at the creators and the man implementing the policy, that's Miller and Sessions. We are not going to take Trump down over this. We may be able to take down Stephen Miller and maybe even Jeff Sessions, though, with a unified effort.
posted by W Grant at 12:42 PM on June 17, 2018 [16 favorites]


Children's identities are literally being replaced with "Alien Number X."

Alien number isn't a detainee thing. I have an alien number. It's written on the front of my green card and engraved into the back of the magstripe.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 12:42 PM on June 17, 2018 [9 favorites]


Instead of treating the president’s every tweet and utterance — true or false — as newsworthy (and then perhaps fact-checking it later), Lakoff urges the use of what he calls a “truth sandwich.”

As an aside, MeFi favorite George Lakoff is collateral damage in the Trump-Russia scandal, having been targeted in a lawsuit by Trump Tower meeting attendee Irakly “Ike” Kaveladze over Lakoff's accusations that he's a money-launderer for Russia. Kaveladze's represented by sometime Trump attorney Scott Balber, but Lakoff's had to start a GoFundMe project for his legal defense. This is exactly the kind of "lawfare" that Putin's allies use to silence his critics.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:50 PM on June 17, 2018 [30 favorites]


AP: Hundreds of children wait in Border Patrol facility in Texas

Hundreds of children are waiting away from their parents inside a Border Patrol holding facility in South Texas, with groups of 20 or more children to a single cage. There are bottles of water, bags of chips, and large foil sheets intended to serve as blankets. [...] The Border Patrol says it’s providing adequate meals, bathrooms access and medical care to people being held. But Michelle Brane of the Women’s Refugee Commission says she’s met a teenager caring for an unrelated young child because they’ve been separated from their adult guardians.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:58 PM on June 17, 2018 [30 favorites]


Comparing the Trump administration to the previous WWII era Nazi infestation is inaccurate in one respect. Back then there was only ever one concentration camp specifically for children: The "Shelter for the refugee children", ostensibly for the purpose of "upbringing and re-education". Altogether a total of 6,693 children ended up there. To date there are reported to be 10,000 in the U.S. "shelters".

In other respects things are very much the same, however:
"How many children came, and where they were dispatched, could no longer be found out. The children in the children's barracks cried inexorably and were calling their mothers, who were only a few steps away from the children, but the fascist criminals did not let mothers to approach their children. Older children tell us through tears, that they can not calm the little ones, because they are hungry, there are no one to change diapers of the little ones, and they are afraid that everyone will die. These children, who have not yet reached the age of ten, swear to us, "Come on, sister, bring us mothers, bring at least mothers to these little ones. You will see, if you do not bring them their mothers, they will suffocate, by the tears alone."
- Testimony of Jana Koh, the Croatian Red Cross secretary.

I realise it's a minor point in Kellyanne Conway's using Holocaust victims as a human shield, but (and I realise I'm probably overinterpreting),
"there are people comparing this to Nazis: what an outrageous disrespect to the six million people who died in that time."
that is a really weird and unsettling use of the passive voice.
posted by Buntix at 1:07 PM on June 17, 2018 [52 favorites]


It is unclear if they have deathcount yet, but once they do you can be assured it will be discussed super, super passively.
posted by Artw at 1:16 PM on June 17, 2018 [17 favorites]




NYT, Miriam Jordan, ‘I Can’t Go Without My Son,’ a Mother Pleaded as She Was Deported to Guatemala
n federal court, parents typically plead guilty to the misdemeanor offense of illegal entry. Many are then likely to accept “expedited removal” from the country, in the hope of being reunited quickly with their children. But children cannot be subject to expedited removal; they are automatically entitled to a full hearing before an immigration judge, and their cases take longer to resolve.

“Once the parent and child are apart, they are on separate legal tracks,” said John Sandweg, who was acting director of ICE during the Obama administration.

Reunification becomes particularly difficult when a parent is deported without the child and is no longer on American soil, Mr. Sandweg said; in those cases, “there is a very high risk that parents and children will be permanently separated.”
...
Ms. Ortiz recalled sobbing heavily as she reluctantly climbed the steps to the plane that would take her and dozens of other deported migrants back to Guatemala early in June. She said she was the last to board.

“Please don’t put me on the plane,” she remembered pleading over and over in Spanish. “I can’t go without my son.”

“I was shaking, I could barely walk,” Ms. Ortiz recalled. She said that an American immigration officer escorting her across the tarmac was also in tears. “She told me to talk to the boss when I got inside the plane,” Ms. Ortiz said.

But he did not listen.

“I cried the entire flight,” she said. “When I arrived at the airport in Guatemala, I was almost fainting. They gave me a tranquilizer.”
posted by zachlipton at 1:24 PM on June 17, 2018 [38 favorites]


that is a really weird and unsettling use of the passive voice.

That’s not passive voice. “Die” is an intransitive verb that doesn’t require an object, and passive voice requires making the object into the subject. It would be passive if she’d said “...who were killed in that time”.

She’s not grammatically obscuring what happened, she’s just regular-obscuring it.
posted by Etrigan at 1:25 PM on June 17, 2018 [29 favorites]


Protest today at the South Bay jail in Boston, where the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department makes money by renting cells to ICE (something they've been doing since before the current administration). More video.
posted by adamg at 1:40 PM on June 17, 2018 [12 favorites]


Alien number isn't a detainee thing. I have an alien number. It's written on the front of my green card and engraved into the back of the magstripe.

It's not solely a detainee thing, but it is also a detainee thing. I am not sure that being numbered and forcibly detained is something where the knowledge that others not bring detained are issued numbers in better circumstances is much help. It's the difference between an SSN and a prisoner number.
posted by jaduncan at 1:41 PM on June 17, 2018 [2 favorites]


Wondering if any European or Russian families have been split up this way yet.
posted by ZeusHumms at 1:44 PM on June 17, 2018 [30 favorites]


It's not solely a detainee thing, but it is also a detainee thing.

Yes. Exactly. It's an everything thing. But "Alien number" sounds scary and depersonalizing and people use it because it's trying to instill an emotion in you about these kids. It's not a bad emotion but it's the exact same style of bullshit that we exasperatedly try to debunk with Snopes articles on Facebook feeds.

I am not sure that being numbered and forcibly detained is something where the knowledge that others not bring detained are issued numbers in better circumstances is much help.

It makes us look bad and intellectually dishonest when someone can point out in seconds how this super macabre concept is rather benign. There's so many more things to be horrified about like the clusterfuck in its entirety.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 2:05 PM on June 17, 2018 [4 favorites]


I don’t think “separated” covers what’s happening. No one seems to know how they’re going to reunite these families. They’re stealing children.
posted by schadenfrau at 2:12 PM on June 17, 2018 [52 favorites]


I don't actually agree it's benign due to the tendency to dehumanise detainees, although when kids are also being stolen from parents the numbers would not rate
in my top 20 issues.
posted by jaduncan at 2:14 PM on June 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


If You Ask Me: Only Deadpool Can Save Us Now (Libby-Gelman Waxner, New Yorker)
People have been asking me, as a proud Jewish woman and the spokesperson for my slavishly dedicated fans everywhere, “What do you make of Roseanne Barr and her downfall?” I tell them that it’s a clear example of Libby’s Law: when a person has been rich and famous for more than half of her life, she has probably completely lost touch with reality. When Roseanne continues to refer to herself as the voice of the working class, whom is she talking about? Her team of accountants? Her beleaguered publicists? The working people who service her vehicles and estates? Roseanne’s turned into Evita without the demonic charm, tweeting from her palace balcony.

Trump, of course, has enjoyed only the cheesiest and most embarrassing forms of wealth and celebrity for decades, which is why, even in his Brioni suits, he comes across as the owner of an Omaha used-car dealership starring in his own cable ads.

Trump’s entire political outlook can be reduced to pitching suckers a bad deal on a rusted Toyota and then crowing about it. Ivanka, who has enjoyed second-tier, achievement-free stardom since birth, is even sadder, since she’s desperate to be considered a genteel, adored lady of taste and quality. She’s taken the Joan Crawford playbook to heart, clearly spending most of her day poring over her own Photoshopped images and policing them to eliminate any hint of blemished truth. On her Instagram, she’s always holding her towheaded children aloft and almost nuzzling them with her polished cheek or unlined forehead, without quite making the physical contact that could cause facial creasing, not to mention actual emotion.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 2:14 PM on June 17, 2018 [35 favorites]


One thing that's worrying me is the known fact that these people are not just evil but incompetent and unprepared. They are implementing this hideous policy without anything near the resources, facilities, funding, or infrastructure to handle the numbers of parents and kids. Just what do DHS and HHS think is going to happen when they cram thousands of traumatized (which means immune-suppressed) poor little kids into close shoddy quarters without sufficient staffing and healthcare resources? They're looking at cholera, typhus, TB outbreaks.
posted by FelliniBlank at 2:21 PM on June 17, 2018 [33 favorites]


Five immigrants dead in crash southwest of San Antonio

Authorities are investigating the scene where a car full of unauthorized immigrants being chased by Border Patrol agents crashed. Dimmit County deputies say the crash happened off Texas 85 in Big Wells around noon. Fourteen people were inside, including the driver and passenger, KSAT 12 reports.

A death occurring in the act of pursuing people with the intent to kidnap their children would count as Felony Murder.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:27 PM on June 17, 2018 [29 favorites]


Kellyanne Conway ... ends with "there are people comparing this to Nazis: what an outrageous disrespect to the six million people who died in that time."

It's really wrongheaded (and sneaky) framing to act like genocide is a quick event, barely a statistic in our review mirror, when it's actually a process that unfolds over time. We can now see harbingers of another genocide. It's not disrespectful to scream our heads off about it.
posted by puddledork at 2:34 PM on June 17, 2018 [33 favorites]




It's really wrongheaded (and sneaky) framing to act like genocide is a quick event, barely a statistic in our review mirror, when it's actually a process that unfolds over time.

Right, this isn't the Nazis circa 1942. It's the Nazis circa 1934.
posted by Justinian at 2:36 PM on June 17, 2018 [39 favorites]


I'm just back from the rally against family separation in Seattle. It was about what I expected--not huge, but they filled up Westlake Park, which is a little plaza in downtown. Several of the speakers were organizers and local/state legislators. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal was there.

Takeaways from what she said:
* There is a mass mobilization effort in the works for marches in DC and elsewhere, and hopefully we'll see stuff on it in the next 24 hours. The hopefully seemed an important caveat on timing, but the organizing is happening.

* She very clearly pointed out this is a policy decision by the White House, not a law, and therefore it can be reversed with the same level of policy decision. Bills are circulating in both houses of Congress, but ultimately Trump could just decide to stop this shit.

* She spoke with many of the close to 200 women sent to the federal prison in SeaTac held as a result of this zero tolerance stuff. She said all but a handful of them were seeking asylum, which of course is legal, and yet they were arrested, detained, separated, etc.
She also pointed out that the federal prison is under professional management, its guards are unionized, etc -- which is important to note, because she said these women told her the federal prison was the first place they'd been treated like human beings. This place holds some actual dangerous criminals, it is literal prison, and yet they're more humane there than ICE custody.

* ICE conditions involve freezing cold cells, no blankets, etc., and not even clean drinking water. ICE denies this, but the federal prison staff and the warden told her they've been hearing about this from prisoners from the beginning.

* Among the usual "call your representatives, talk to your family outside the district and the state and ask them to contact theirs," Jayapal put up an interesting suggestion: the White House has disconnected their direct line for the public, but you can always call the Trump Hotel to complain about this policy.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 2:41 PM on June 17, 2018 [92 favorites]


Oh, one other thing: Jayapal said she has had Republicans tell her privately they know this is bad, she's seen them consistently run away even from committee hearings where it might come up--but they aren't coming out against it publicly. Which says a lot.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 2:58 PM on June 17, 2018 [39 favorites]


Thread: "And you cannot -- I can't believe we are still going over this -- you cannot convert a fascist to a nonfascist by appealing to their empathy."
posted by prefpara at 3:13 PM on June 17, 2018 [45 favorites]



Jules Susdaltsev (@jules_su):
Heads up! You can send prison inmates completely unsolicited mail!

Paul Manafort
Inmate Number 00045343
Northern Neck Regional Jail
PO Box 1060
Warsaw, VA 22572
Thread includes photos of some of inmate 45343's new mail.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 3:21 PM on June 17, 2018 [42 favorites]


Also from Suzdaltsev: "It’s pretty f*cking amazing that Trump’s number one bargaining tool is holding children literally hostage (DACA, CHIP, child concentration camps), then saying Democrats forced his hand by not approving awful anti-immigration legislation, to which Democrats cave *every time*."
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:32 PM on June 17, 2018 [28 favorites]


Right, this isn't the Nazis circa 1942. It's the Nazis circa 1934.

Kellyanne Conway occupies the exact same position as Joseph Goebbels did. She would've been defending the holocaust if she had been alive at the time, and it's impossible to envision any action, up to and including death camps, that she wouldn't defend going forward.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:34 PM on June 17, 2018 [36 favorites]


I've also seen a bit of social media blah blah about how important it is to tell stories and frame narratives with real stories and somehow hearing a story will change someone's mind and this was actually a couple weeks ago but at the time I was like, yeah I don't think so. And lo and behold, every real story of real children crying real inconsolable tears is met by the fuck your feelings crowd exactly how you would predict. Fuck that child's feelings, fuck the parents' feelings, fuck the libs' feelings, fuck everyone's feelings but my own (those are super mega important). Again: I don't know how people get like this and I definitely do not know how to get them to not be like this. I'm not sure it's possible.
posted by soren_lorensen at 3:37 PM on June 17, 2018 [30 favorites]


Sens. Heitkamp, Donnelly, and Jones have all signed onto S.3036. The only Democrat remaining is--and I know this is totally going to surprise everybody--Joe Manchin.

Also still remaining on the side of concentration camps: Everybody in the GOP.
posted by zombieflanders at 3:38 PM on June 17, 2018 [50 favorites]


"It’s pretty f*cking amazing that Trump’s number one bargaining tool is holding children literally hostage (DACA, CHIP, child concentration camps), then saying Democrats forced his hand by not approving awful anti-immigration legislation, to which Democrats cave *every time*."

Uh, what anti-immigration legislation did the Democrats cave on exactly? They haven't, so far as I am aware, voted for or against any such legislation because the Rs haven't brought any up for a vote?
posted by Justinian at 3:38 PM on June 17, 2018 [12 favorites]


But "Alien number" sounds scary and depersonalizing and people use it because it's trying to instill an emotion in you about these kids.

The fact that an infant is recorded as Alien #123456 rather than "José and María's son Alejandro" is literally depersonalising. In context it's one of the reflexive bureaucratic things officials do while interning young children and deporting their parents. It's not for the benefit of the people concerned: they can't access official records, and there's no indication that these numbers are being used to, e.g., let attorneys access other family members.

ID numbers may not be one of the sadistic flourishes introduced for the sake of further demoralising people, but that's only because they didn't need to. The essential elements of a totalitarian regime already exist, like personal-status courts and militarised police. Saying that ID numbers aren't scary in themselves is really missing the point. Everything is being weaponised against the enemies of the regime, and it is legitimately terrifying.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:49 PM on June 17, 2018 [25 favorites]


Uh, what anti-immigration legislation did the Democrats cave on exactly? They haven't, so far as I am aware, voted for or against any such legislation because the Rs haven't brought any up for a vote?

Dems caves on the government shutdown when offered a transparently false promise of a DACA vote.
posted by Artw at 3:52 PM on June 17, 2018 [13 favorites]


If these are the "good" pictures they'll let us see - they're not good - imagine what we don't see.

David Begnaud (CBS)
These images were just released by border patrol @CBP showing the McAllen, Texas detention facility that we were allowed to tour today. For now, we can only rely on what they give us. They will not allow us inside to film on our own. Why? “Privacy”; they don’t want faces shown
PIX1-4 PIX5
posted by chris24 at 4:07 PM on June 17, 2018 [28 favorites]


we're gonna need an amendment to that bill requiring an autopsy, independent investigation, and public report for a child that dies in custody. did i just type that on fathers' day? fuckkk me.
posted by j_curiouser at 4:09 PM on June 17, 2018 [29 favorites]


They will not allow us inside to film on our own. Why? “Privacy”; they don’t want faces shown

Hey if someone wants to hire me as a "new reporter," I'll wear the hidden camera. I can even do my own face-blurring.
posted by rhizome at 4:42 PM on June 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


Fuck that child's feelings, fuck the parents' feelings, fuck the libs' feelings, fuck everyone's feelings but my own (those are super mega important). Again: I don't know how people get like this and I definitely do not know how to get them to not be like this. I'm not sure it's possible.

It's not possible. Fuck 'em. It's time to put our best efforts into being part of the tide that washes over them and buries them in silt. Donate, call your Congresscritters, protest, volunteer for a campaign.
posted by soundguy99 at 4:48 PM on June 17, 2018 [24 favorites]


It's not possible. Fuck 'em.

It's possible but it was mostly done from 1943 until around 1948.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:52 PM on June 17, 2018 [4 favorites]


did i just type that on fathers' day?

You're not alone.

@MerriamWebster
Top lookups today: father, dad, daddy, honor, concentration camp
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 4:53 PM on June 17, 2018 [74 favorites]


On her Instagram, [Ivanka]’s always holding her towheaded children aloft and almost nuzzling them with her polished cheek or unlined forehead, without quite making the physical contact that could cause facial creasing, not to mention actual emotion.

I would love to see a reporter ask Donald Trump, "Given that today is Father's Day, when was the last time you hugged your son Barron?"
posted by msalt at 4:57 PM on June 17, 2018 [14 favorites]


16 days until the 4th of july, when we celebrate our country's freedom and heritage of shining a light to the rest of the world

only we can't really do that this year - not with children being taken away from their parents for no other reason then they showed up at the wrong border at the wrong time ...

i think the 4th should be a national day of protest - remind the flag wavers and the fireworks fans that children are being put in concentration camps in this country and let them experience some bitterness to go with their holiday
posted by pyramid termite at 4:59 PM on June 17, 2018 [44 favorites]


Today: Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen
‏@SecNielsen
We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period.

CNN a month ago: DHS secretary defends separating families at the border

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Tuesday defended an agency policy that will result in more families being separated at the border, saying, under a barrage of questions at a Senate hearing, that similar separations happen in the US "every day."

In a month we should expect them to say that were never any children at all.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:05 PM on June 17, 2018 [55 favorites]


Ipsos vis Daily Beast: Poll: Republicans Approve of Trump’s Family Separation Policy

To the statement “It is appropriate to separate undocumented immigrant parents from their children when they cross the border in order to discourage others from crossing the border illegally,”

Overall agree: 27%(naturally)
D: 13. I: 29. R: 46

Less than 1 in 3 Republicans disagrees with the policy. The GOP owns this, elected officials and voters both. "Disagreeing" Republicans just want a tax cut more than they don't want child concentration camps.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:23 PM on June 17, 2018 [34 favorites]


David Begnaud (CBS): These images were just released by border patrol @CBP showing the McAllen, Texas detention facility that we were allowed to tour today. For now, we can only rely on what they give us. They will not allow us inside to film on our own. Why? “Privacy”; they don’t want faces shown

Brian Stelter (CNN)
"No cages" has been a pro-Trump talking point lately. "They're not in cages," @HuntsmanAbby said on Fox. Now these pictures come out...
posted by chris24 at 5:23 PM on June 17, 2018 [16 favorites]


Kirstjen Nielsen, an attorney, is well accustomed to speaking hyper-precisely. The US doesn't have a policy of separating families at the border: they profess to be concerned that children may be the victims of human trafficking, and therefore separate them from the adults ostensibly responsible for them. Similarly, she has said that the US doesn't arrest refugees arriving through a port of entry. What she didn't say was that the US has made it impossible for refugees to cross at most of these points, and so they get arrested when they enter at another point. Refugees, of course, shouldn't be arrested at all. This hyper-literalism is just meant to obfuscate the awful truth.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:25 PM on June 17, 2018 [75 favorites]


pyramid termite - the interwebs seems to be coalescing around July 1 as a day of protest, both at ICE camps and state/local facilities that intern migrants.
So far, I've only seen snark phrasing ("surely I'm not..."), but it might be worth penciling in one's calendar. (It's searchable on the Facebook, but I'm dumb and can't figure out how to post here on mobile)
posted by Sweetdefenestration at 5:27 PM on June 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


Question: If/when the parents are deported, what happens to the children? Do they stay in the camps indefinitely? Are they sent back too? I've been trying to find that out but been unsuccessful.
posted by sundrop at 5:28 PM on June 17, 2018 [2 favorites]


If/when the parents are deported, what happens to the children? Do they stay in the camps indefinitely? Are they sent back too? I've been trying to find that out but been unsuccessful.

[shrug emoji] followed by Nuremberg Trials.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:30 PM on June 17, 2018 [8 favorites]


Kirstjen Nielsen, an attorney, is well accustomed to speaking hyper-precisely. The US doesn't have a policy of separating families at the border: they profess to be concerned that children may be the victims of human trafficking, and therefore separate them from the adults ostensibly responsible for them.

I think that's even too generous to Nielsen, who is a fucking monster along with John Kelly. She's saying "we" meaning "the Trump administration" does not have the policy of family separation, because it's the Democrat's policy. She's not even being overly lawyerly, she's spouting the same Stephen Miller approved lines somehow blaming the Flores court opinion as "a Democratic law" requiring this evil, even though it has never happened before.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:31 PM on June 17, 2018 [27 favorites]


what happens to the children?

"or whatever"

- John Kelly
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:33 PM on June 17, 2018 [42 favorites]


what happens to the children?
According to the articles I've read on the blue, parents are dealt with under DHS, but children are dealt with under OOR as unaccompanied minors, so there's a real possibility that they become lost to each other. (on mobile, sorry no links atm)
posted by Sweetdefenestration at 5:46 PM on June 17, 2018 [4 favorites]


what happens to the children?

No bell will ring for them.
posted by parki at 5:49 PM on June 17, 2018 [13 favorites]


Laura Bush calls out the border policy in the Washington Post (open link in a private/incognito window if you've used up this month's views already):
I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart.

Our government should not be in the business of warehousing children in converted box stores or making plans to place them in tent cities in the desert outside of El Paso. These images are eerily reminiscent of the Japanese American internment camps of World War II, now considered to have been one of the most shameful episodes in U.S. history. We also know that this treatment inflicts trauma; interned Japanese have been two times as likely to suffer cardiovascular disease or die prematurely than those who were not interned.

Americans pride ourselves on being a moral nation, on being the nation that sends humanitarian relief to places devastated by natural disasters or famine or war. We pride ourselves on believing that people should be seen for the content of their character, not the color of their skin. We pride ourselves on acceptance. If we are truly that country, then it is our obligation to reunite these detained children with their parents — and to stop separating parents and children in the first place. ...
posted by maudlin at 6:22 PM on June 17, 2018 [85 favorites]


Since the heretofore etiquette held that former presidents don't criticize later ones, this is probably as close as we'll get to that.

Trump will ignore it.
posted by rhizome at 6:40 PM on June 17, 2018 [8 favorites]


the heretofore etiquette held that former presidents don't criticize later ones

well maybe it's time to let that standard go too
posted by thelonius at 6:42 PM on June 17, 2018 [66 favorites]


Breitbart is taking the newspeak initiative on the part of the administration: Associated Press Uses ‘Cages’ to Describe Chain-Link Partitions in Border Patrol Center

Cages = "chain-link partitions." See, everybody? Completely different. We can add the euphemism to the Dictionary of the New Age. Note that this is the same writer that put out Breitbart's "the shelters are like luxury resorts" piece yesterday. I guess "normalize child concentration camps" is his regular beat now.

Klemperer started work on his Lingua Tertii Imperii early in the Nazi era. I wonder if any philologists are working on one now.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:50 PM on June 17, 2018 [14 favorites]


this is probably as close as we'll get to that.

And it's using the dogwhistle "content of their character, not the color of their skin" crap to say how utterly horrible the current Trump admin is - not horrible in character but horrible in execution of the Republican brand by keeping the unsaid stuff unsaid or done more subtly.

I'm guessing that the American oligarchs are using Trump as an uber-Overton Window pusher so, afterwards, any (small) social reform will take attention away from the lack of reform in massive financial crimes.
posted by porpoise at 6:52 PM on June 17, 2018 [4 favorites]


I'm guessing that the American oligarchs thought that's what they were doing with Trump, and that things have gotten out of hand, and they still (erroneously) believe they can bring him back in line.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 7:01 PM on June 17, 2018 [6 favorites]


From Rust Moranis’ link on Klemperer, one of the euphemisms used by the Nazis jumped out at me:

“Verschärfte Vernehmung ("enhanced interrogation"): torture”

So, there’s that...
posted by darkstar at 7:05 PM on June 17, 2018 [19 favorites]


Again: I don't know how people get like this and I definitely do not know how to get them to not be like this. I'm not sure it's possible.

white supremacy, white nationalism.
posted by poffin boffin at 7:08 PM on June 17, 2018 [12 favorites]


This is the best explanation I've found re: Obama vs. Trump:

The short answer is Trump's switch to a zero tolerance policy, where any immigrants of illegal status are being prosecuted, versus Obama administration's focus mostly on violent/criminal offenders. While families with children were occasionally detained under Obama, they would typically be placed into short-term detention and then released on bond. Under Trump's zero-tolerance rules, the parents are being placed in prison, where their kids obviously cannot go, so the kids are then being housed elsewhere.

The difference, in other words, is the end of "catch and release", which you may have seen conservative pundits yelling about during the Obama years. The problem, it turns out, is that when you don't release, you've got to figure out where to put everyone you caught.

The 2014 photos of "children in cages" (or whatever you want to call it) under Obama were the result of an unusual spike in unaccompanied children coming to the border and getting backed up in processing. Although there were a lot of children without parents, that was not a case of kids being separated from parents, it was a case of these children entering the system without parents.

Trump's administration themselves say that what's happening now is a new and different policy. It's an intentional new tactic, meant to dissuade families from trying to cross the border illegally. Trump has publicly denied responsibility for this policy (obviously), but in court, Trump's DOJ argued the opposite (because they wanted to prove that the courts didn't have the right to interfere with ICE detention policy).

Note also: separating families is a different issue from the 1,500 "missing children." Those children, like the kids from the Obama-era pictures, arrived at the border unaccompanied. So while DHHS obviously fucked up in keeping track of them, those aren't cases of kids and parents being separated. As far as I can tell, although Trump's policies ARE separating families, they haven't lost any of those children.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 7:11 PM on June 17, 2018 [42 favorites]


immigrants of illegal status

It is not illegal to request asylum at the border.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 7:14 PM on June 17, 2018 [54 favorites]


WTF reality did I wake up in today when I am loving Laura Bush and tearing up because I agree with her and I am so grateful she is helping shine a spotlight on the the horrors of the Republican party's actions?

I just received an e-mail from Indivisible Chicago, Chicago's rally is "Saturday June 30, from 11:30-2:00 in Federal Plaza and it is growing very quickly in size. It has been public from about a day and already there are almost 1000 people going." I think this will be one of our largest events.
posted by W Grant at 7:17 PM on June 17, 2018 [16 favorites]


And even for those who aren't seeking asylum, the policy is despicable and cruel. Focusing on the legality of the asylum part can overshadow that separating families, with the possibility that they are never reunited, for what is a misdemeanor civil violation is immoral and wrong. Unless these fuckers who think it's ok are fine with me coming to take their kid when they run a stop sign, they can fuck off forever.
posted by chris24 at 7:19 PM on June 17, 2018 [43 favorites]


FBI agent removed from Russia probe for anti-Trump texts says he’s willing to testify before Congress (WaPo)

Like clockwork, Trump went on a Twitter rant this evening about "the FBI’s sick loser, Peter Strzok", "the totally discredited Mueller team of 13 Angry & Conflicted Democrats", "Fake News Media", "Slippery James Comey", and "Witch Hunt!" (And Trey Gowdy receives a shout-out for his ingratiating interview this morning with Chris Wallace about the Justice Department Inspector General's report.) Trump's tabloid rhetoric is straight out of the New York Post, but unlike his outburst this morning before hitting the links, these tweets sound like they were at least edited by staff. In any case, they provide cover to the Capitol Hill Trumpists to attack Wray and the FBI in the wake of the DoJ IG report.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:23 PM on June 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


It makes us look bad and intellectually dishonest when someone can point out in seconds how this super macabre concept is rather benign.

The Nazis did it. The Nazis are doing it. Macabre and benign together is the banality of evil. Get worked up or don't but there's no argument to be had here. They're splitting families to terrorize them. Stop this.
posted by petebest at 7:38 PM on June 17, 2018 [19 favorites]


while DHHS obviously fucked up in keeping track of them

A lot of these kids were asking for sanctuary from gangs, or other mortal dangers. My impression is that agents weren't tracking these kids very carefully on purpose, out of intended kindness.

If you petition the court for sanctuary, you have to prove you need it in court, which isn't always possible. I would probably have given one of these kids to a "family member" as well and then helped them get "lost in the system". Not that that turned out so well in many cases...
posted by xammerboy at 7:43 PM on June 17, 2018


I just want to remind everyone that there have been no reports about female children. Where they are, who is caring for them, if their sanitary and health needs are being met.

WHERE ARE THE GIRLS?
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 8:28 PM on June 17, 2018 [40 favorites]


WHERE ARE THE GIRLS?
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet
Thank you. Noted and will be mentioned as my first comment when I call my Senator's and Rep again tomorrow and when I fax my lame ass Republican governor's office. I may even call Rauner's office tomorrow instead of faxing him.
posted by W Grant at 8:33 PM on June 17, 2018


Everything Trump is doing now wrt to "stopping illegal immigration" i.e. the demonisation of refugees, the detention in bleak conditions, the false claim that refugees are "illegal" - sad to say Australia has been doing that for over a decade. And Trump is well aware of it - he referred to it during his campaign.

He is following the Australian govt's playbook.
posted by awfurby at 8:35 PM on June 17, 2018 [18 favorites]


WHERE ARE THE GIRLS?

If they're white and Republican, they're here (NYT): Trumpism Finds a Safe Space at Conservative Women’s Conference

Cheyenne Martin, a 19-year-old student at Georgetown University, described being ridiculed by classmates for her desire to lead the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency one day. But this weekend she was met with a standing ovation.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:40 PM on June 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


Those conservative women are ready for the Lebensborn.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:47 PM on June 17, 2018 [9 favorites]


@SenFeinstein: UPDATE: 48 senators now support the Keep Families Together Act. We're making progress, but we still need Republicans to join. If you're represented by a Republican senator, tell them to support S.3036. #KeepFamiliesTogether
posted by Chrysostom at 9:14 PM on June 17, 2018 [28 favorites]


It's all a part of the Republican #MeToo movement:
One 17-year-old wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat said she doubted the widely accepted statistic that one in four college women experience rape or attempted rape — but if it was true, the reason was because “we’re importing rape culture” through illegal immigration and homosexuality.
posted by xammerboy at 9:20 PM on June 17, 2018 [10 favorites]


@ICEgov
Learn more about HERO Child-Rescue Corps

The pictured ICE agent has an Iron Cross tattoo.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:23 PM on June 17, 2018 [50 favorites]


“we’re importing rape culture” through illegal immigration and homosexuality.

I... no actually I don’t want to know, it’s all bullshit anyway. These racist homophobic shitstains can fuck all of the way off regardless.
posted by Artw at 9:31 PM on June 17, 2018 [17 favorites]


You should really take the time to read Oscar Wilde's letter asking for mercy - on behalf of others, not his own self! - in Reading Gaol. Here it is, reprinted by Slate, but you may find a reproduction of the brochure in which his letter was originally reprinted at archive.org.

I wish I knew what became of Martin, and the children.
posted by Joe in Australia at 9:34 PM on June 17, 2018 [6 favorites]


Does anyone here get the sense that Trump has grown into to the job? Obviously in the most odious of ways of course, but for the first several months of his presidency Trump flailed and veered all over the place.

He's still doing that, but now he has grown more comfortable with the power he wields, and the bullying aspect of his true nature has taken full flight.

He gets off on hurting people, he has his whole life, and the role of president has given him untold opportunity to do this on a scale he could only dream of before.

He's such a clusterfucking idiotstick of a human being that it took him over a year to realize this.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 9:38 PM on June 17, 2018 [14 favorites]


The pictured ICE agent has an Iron Cross tattoo.

Are you sure? It looks like it has five points to me. Does anyone recognize the characters in the tattoos? I know I've seen them before but am drawing a blank on what they're from.
posted by Candleman at 9:42 PM on June 17, 2018


Tomorrow's New York Post -- owned by Murdoch and Trump's fave tabloid -- from the Editorial Board.

Stop breaking up families at the border
It’s not just that this looks terrible in the eyes of the world. It is terrible: at least 2,000 children ripped from their parents’ arms, sometimes literally, in just the first six weeks.

Maybe the White House figures families will stop coming once word gets out, but they won’t all stop: Some are fleeing truly horrific situations back home.

We recognize that returning to the policy of two months back creates some perverse incentives: Bring kids along, and you’ll just be deported if you’re caught. But at least switching back avoids having the US government earning comparisons to the Nazis.
posted by chris24 at 9:46 PM on June 17, 2018 [28 favorites]


It looks like it has five points to me.
It's on the bend of his elbow, it's an illusion of the angle, straighten it out, it's a cross, not a five pointed symbol.
posted by W Grant at 9:46 PM on June 17, 2018


I do think it's a 4-pointed Maltese cross, that it looks like it might have 5 is because of the angle of his arm. And, yes, given the context that's... not a good look.

But it is absolutely possible that this isn't a neonazi symbol; the maltese with the sorta rounded arms like that is used very commonly in firefighter logos. I have no idea if that's what's going on here without being able to make out the symbol in the center of the tattoo but everyone should be aware there are a lot of non-neonazi uses of a Maltese Cross (which isn't exactly the same as the look of an Iron Cross).
posted by Justinian at 9:47 PM on June 17, 2018 [6 favorites]


I thing they're talking about the partially obscured one on his elbow. The long word in the number 1 is "Guadacanal"
posted by mbo at 9:47 PM on June 17, 2018


The pictured ICE agent has an Iron Cross tattoo. Are you sure?

It's not just the Iron Cross, it's his whole arm: Rune characters, an Imperial Eagle, maybe even German under the clouds with a cross.... I'll bet ten bucks there's a swastika on his chest.
posted by xammerboy at 9:49 PM on June 17, 2018 [5 favorites]


TNR: Dismantle the Department of Homeland Security
posted by Chrysostom at 9:53 PM on June 17, 2018 [26 favorites]


The "runes" are ancient greek rather than Futhark which is more closely associated with Nazism. I can't read greek soooo. The Eagle is pretty clearly a bald eagle, which appears on our seal and all our money. I don't see anything which looks like German. There does appear to be an OM at the bottom but for all we know that says MOM.

I hope I've built up enough goodwill here that people understand I'm not bending over backwards to defend a possible neonazi. But... unless someone can identify that symbol in the maltese cross it's thin at best.
posted by Justinian at 9:54 PM on June 17, 2018 [23 favorites]


WHERE ARE THE GIRLS?

There appear to be some in photos 4 and 5 here.
posted by hades at 10:33 PM on June 17


That's ICE facilities. We have no pictures or reports of what happens to the girls when ICE remands them to custody of....HHS? Who? Where? Where are all the girls?
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 9:56 PM on June 17, 2018 [10 favorites]


The 1 with Guadalcanal in it is a 1st Marine Duvision insignia. For all I know the other vaguely dodgy looking stuff is just US military stuff cos that stuff just looks vaguely fascist and dodgy anyway... but I’m pretty sure the elbow is an iron cross. Let’s face it, if it isn’t they consider the fact that it might look like one a plus.
posted by Artw at 10:01 PM on June 17, 2018 [4 favorites]


An end-of-the-weekend assortment (also known as the the sweet feeling of relief when you get to close a whole bunch of browser tabs in one go):

Axios, Fly on the wall: When POTUS goes off-script, on that time in March when Trump abruptly announced in the middle of an infrastructure speech that we were pulling out of Syria right away, and then that didn't happen:
We’re told by someone who heard the remarks directly that just before Trump took the podium at 2 p.m. at a union training site in Richfield, Ohio, there was this fascinating exchange back in the West Wing:

White House chief of staff John Kelly was watching walk-up TV coverage in the outer office of his suite.
Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin sidled across the hall and stood in the doorway.
Indicating the president, Kelly said: “He swore to me that he wouldn’t announce anything on Syria.”
Hagin replied: “Well, we’ve heard promises like that before. We really won’t know till he’s done talking.”
Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general, said: “I think he knows he can’t fuck us on this.”
Hagin cocked his head — he'd heard that before.
NPR, FEMA Blamed Delays In Puerto Rico On Maria; Agency Records Tell Another Story. FEMA claimed to have 500 generators in Puerto Rico before the storm; they had 25. Their plastic roof program ran out of plastic and they only had 125,000 tarps, months after they were needed. Democrats have introduced a bill, which is naturally going nowhere, to create an independent comission to investigate the Puerto Rico hurricane response. FEMA says the storm is "the villain" here.

Politico, Court: Federal government doesn’t owe insurers Obamacare payments. An appellate panel rejected claims that that the government should have to pay up on the risk corridor payments they promised to health insurers. This is $12+ billion in funds promised to health insurance companies that Republicans got angry about and decided not to pay. It's basically over at this point (though this will surely be appealed), as the insurers who didn't go broke have raised premiums accordingly, but it's just another form of GOP sabotage of the ACA.

There's a court challenge over Kentucky's Medicaid work requirements. The argument they're seriously going with is that the waiver (which allows the work requirements to happen) promotes the objectives of Medicaid because otherwise the governor will revoke the Medicaid expansion. So their legal argument is just straight-up that the governor is holding the program hostage, so even though it seems like the work requirement would reduce coverage, it's actually maintaining coverage because otherwise the governor will shoot the hostages.

Politico, Judge green-lights ‘kill list’ lawsuit. Former Al Jazeera Islamabad bureau chief Ahmad Zaidan and freelance journalist Bilal Kareem say they've nearly been killed repeatedly by drone strikes going back years (including before the present administration), leading them to believe they're on a government kill list, and they'd would like to sue the government to stop that. Kareem is a US Citizen, and in a first, a judge is allowing his part of the case to go forward, writing that "His interest in avoiding the erroneous deprivation of his life is uniquely compelling."

Snopes, The Only LGBTQ Newspaper in the White House Briefing Room Can’t Get Their Questions Answered. In which the Washington Blade would like to ask why Trump doesn't sign a proclamation for Pride Month (I mean, we know why, but there's still power in asking), and Sanders has only called on their reporter once, in January.

Bloomberg, Twitter to Face Claims by ‘White Advocate’ Over Banned Accounts.

Brownsville Herald, Cubans seeking asylum in limbo at Hidalgo bridge:
He is one of dozens of Cubans, and now Central Americans, whose journey has been cut short after being denied entry due to local detention centers reportedly being at capacity, at least according to customs officials on the bridge. Now, approximately 50 people spent Thursday night on the bridge, about half of whom were Cuban.

Their plight creates an ironic juxtaposition: Presenting oneself at the bridge and declaring asylum falls within legal parameters, yet they have been lawfully detained amid the Trump administration’s new “zero tolerance” policy. Enacted in April, the policy criminally prosecutes those who cross the border illegally by averting an official port of entry, detaining them until their appearance in federal court as opposed to paroling or immediately deporting them.

Immigrant advocates have theorized that preventing people from immediately applying for asylum at ports of entry could be a strategy to deter people from seeking asylum.
Gosh, it's almost like they don't want people to claim asylum at all. On the one hand, they insist everyone "follow the process" and enter legally, and then when people do just that, they say they're full and won't let them in.

This is a really good point from Benjy Sarlin on the "strategy" behind the present situation where the White House has positions that range from "we're not separating parents and children" to "damn straight we are and we're proud of it" to "we don't want to but the Democrats made us:
This is an actual strategy, but Trump also has a long history of allowing allies to just invent their own version of his presidency for niche audiences. If you just listened to a Pence, you’d think he’s a Russia hawk whose top priority is human rights in North Korea. If you’re inclined to vote Republican already but uncomfortable with Trump’s more extreme positions, you can just tell yourself it’s all an act for voters and the “real” version is Pence/Haley. Or if you’re in his base, just tell yourself it’s the other side putting on the show.

“You can’t con an honest man,” is the phrase I always thought of at rallies in 2016. Few people really believe everything Trump says, but tons of them believe they’re the smart one who knows what’s *really* going on underneath the public statements.

Incidentally, the wackiest *pro Trump* conspiracy theories reflect this dynamic. The Qanon conspiracy, which Roseanne fell for, assumes Trump’s praise for Russia and attacks on Mueller are fake and they’re teaming up on a secret investigation into Dems.
[...]
This cynicism is the biggest advantage Trump has on any number of fronts, based on same experience. “All politicians lie/have conflicts of interest/sic gov on opponents” etc, even “collude with foreign rivals.” Accurately rebutting puts you in position of defending hated pols.
And lastly, this is a very good @nycsouthpaw thread on the IG report. AG Lynch testified that nine days before the election, she discussed with Comey how how a “deep and visceral hatred of Secretary Clinton” by a cadre of senior NY FBI agents “has put us where we are today” with the Weiner laptop. This is a conclusion by DOJ leadership that anti-Clinton bias by FBI officials led to the Comey letter in October 2016. Yet the coverage has been consumed with Strzok and Page's texts, where the IG found no bias in their actions, rather than the bias of these anonymous NY field office officials who caused Comey to take actions that altered the election:
Coverage of the IG report has not focused on this revelation of political bias, indeed “hatred,” by FBI agents affecting the election outcome. Instead it has been preoccupied with Strzok/Page, whose views the IG concluded had not affected the investigation much less the election. These coverage choices mirror the asymmetry Democrats complained of in coverage of the email scandal itself. Much graver wrongdoing on the pro-Trump side is overlooked or given scant notice in favor of hypervigilant coverage of petty misconduct that media know Trump will amplify. This is an important conversation between the Attorney General and the FBI Director. It occurred real time before the election and it concerned a grave, election-altering allegation of misconduct that the IG conspicuously did not resolve. Please give it the attention it deserves!

Strzok and Page are famous names now. We’ve read their texts. We know some of the most intimate details of of their lives. Who are the FBI agents whose “hatred” of one candidate prompted the Comey letter? What’s in their chat history? Will we ever get that part of the story?
posted by zachlipton at 10:09 PM on June 17, 2018 [72 favorites]


I need to back off my statement. I don't know a lot about this stuff, and shouldn't have opened my mouth. Mea Culpa.
posted by xammerboy at 10:10 PM on June 17, 2018 [3 favorites]


I just got done having a fight on Facebook with a guy whose main argument was that this wasn’t even happening. Like, we gave him ABC, NBC, and NYTimes links, as well as the official CBP photos and he just refused to believe it. Said they were biased news stories and they’re just making it all up. I never really understood the Holocaust deniers, but at least that’s in the past. It’s not actively happening right now. (There were probably Holocaust deniers back then, too, weren’t there? God, people suck.)
posted by Weeping_angel at 10:14 PM on June 17, 2018 [18 favorites]


So. Don't mock me for being obsessive. I think the greek tattoo probably says:
[illegible] σκληρά
παιδιά [illegible]
Which would translate badly into something like [...] hard, play [...]. Work hard, play hard maybe?

In any case I doubt it has any sinister meaning. This dude works for ICE; that does not necessarily speak well of his character. But I fear this is gonna get picked up by the right wing noise machine as AMERICA HATING LEFTISTS SLANDER DISABLED MARINE VETERAN. It's true that they'll do something like that no matter what so it's not exactly avoidable. But in any case I've gone about as far as I can deciphering this dude's creepy ink.
posted by Justinian at 10:23 PM on June 17, 2018 [12 favorites]


The argument is that this is more or less SOP, and that it is and has been policy of previous admins to separate kids from parents when the kids and parents arrive illegally. What’s different now, and why Nielsen can say on Twitter (what a time to be alive!) that there is no policy of family separation, is that they are now more rigorously defining the definition of illegal arrivals to include a lot more folks seeking asylum.

That seems to work for some consciences. Or enough of them to keep at it for now.
posted by notyou at 10:28 PM on June 17, 2018


Who wore it better: Ivanka Trump or detained children?
posted by zachlipton at 10:52 PM on June 17, 2018 [20 favorites]


the heretofore etiquette held that former presidents don't criticize later ones
well maybe it's time to let that standard go too


Question: who thinks Trump is going to keep his mouth shut about any succeeding President?

We will not protect the dignity of the office by rote courtesies to a man who cares neither for dignity nor the duties of the office, and in fact seems to relish his own offenses to both.
posted by wildblueyonder at 11:10 PM on June 17, 2018 [47 favorites]


I'm guessing that the American oligarchs thought that's what they were doing with Trump, and that things have gotten out of hand, and they still (erroneously) believe they can bring him back in line.

In another thread, I quoted John Kampfner's Guardian review of Volker Ullrich's Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939: "His dismantling of the fragile democratic norms should have come as no surprise. [He] had always been frank about his intentions. His coalition partners either thought he wasn’t serious, or they could control him."

I'll describe this thought here as I did there: an epitaph for their time, and ours.
posted by adamgreenfield at 12:49 AM on June 18, 2018 [33 favorites]


Does anyone here get the sense that Trump has grown into to the job?

Trump is doing more through executive orders, more in foreign policy, more on immigration, where his executive powers are. He's gotten a lot craftier, not defending certain laws, using others as leverage to create new laws. These are essentially new methods of governance. He seems willing to do whatever he wants with the military without congressional approval. He's appointed a ton of federal judges. He even got his crazy tax bill passed, and will likely kill Obamacare through de-funding. He's been effective, and I think he's only getting to be more so.

A lot of what he's accomplished has been through a willingness to do things and use techniques other presidents wouldn't have. He's constantly testing what he's legally capable of doing, and I expect we'll see a lot more of that.
posted by xammerboy at 2:06 AM on June 18, 2018 [12 favorites]


The CBS reporter whose tweet showing pictures cages in the McAllen, TX facility was linked earlier (David Begnaud) has a story up now.

This facility still looks like it did in 2014. But in 2014, children weren't being taken from their parents here. Embedded at this link are a five minute video of the reporter describing what he saw inside and answers he was given to his questions about how child separation actually works, and pictures from inside which were provided by the facility.

Inside look at Border Patrol facility in Texas housing hundreds of children
"He said that detentions in the facility lasted between 12 to 36 hours.
...
One teenager told an advocate who visited that she was helping care for a young child she didn't know because the child's aunt was somewhere else in the facility. She said she had to show others in her cell how to change the girl's diaper.
...
More than 1,100 people were inside the large, dark facility that's divided into separate wings for unaccompanied children, adults on their own, and mothers and fathers with children. The cages in each wing open out into common areas to use portable restrooms. The overhead lighting in the warehouse stays on around the clock.

The Border Patrol said close to 200 people inside the facility were minors unaccompanied by a parent. Another 500 were "family units," parents and children. Many adults who crossed the border without legal permission could be charged with illegal entry and placed in jail, away from their children."
posted by OnceUponATime at 2:10 AM on June 18, 2018 [12 favorites]


He seems willing to do whatever he wants with the military without congressional approval

This, sadly, puts him in good company with every other president. Obama's request for Congressional approval in Syria was something of an anomaly and, frankly, I think only occurred because he didn't actually want to do it and knew approval would not be forthcoming.
posted by Justinian at 2:25 AM on June 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


From the CBS report on the McAllen Children's Concentration Camp, in Texas:
Michelle Brane, director of migrant rights at the Women's Refugee Commission, met with a 16-year-old girl who had been taking care of a young girl for three days. The teen and others in their cage thought the girl was 2 years old.

"She had to teach other kids in the cell to change her diaper," Brane said.
One of the things I find so terrifying is that nobody thought about things like this. Nobody imagined (or cared enough to imagine) that babies need diapers and people to change them. And there must be a hundred other commonplace things of this sort, even before we get to irregular or unexpected things, like colic or earaches or infectious diseases. Children are literally going to die - quickly, through accidents or undiagnosed illnesses; slowly from a lack of care and comfort - because of American malevolence and bigotry.

Buntix quoted this above, but compare the CBS report to this one, about the Susak Children's Concentration Camp during the Holocaust:
"How many children came, and where they were dispatched, could no longer be found out. The children in the children's barracks cried inexorably and were calling their mothers, who were only a few steps away from the children, but the fascist criminals did not let mothers to approach their children. Older children tell us through tears, that they can not calm the little ones, because they are hungry, there are no one to change diapers of the little ones, and they are afraid that everyone will die. These children, who have not yet reached the age of ten, swear to us, "Come on, sister, bring us mothers, bring at least mothers to these little ones. You will see, if you do not bring them their mothers, they will suffocate, by the tears alone."
- Testimony of Jana Koh, the Croatian Red Cross secretary.
And these children too will suffocate from tears alone, and so will hundreds or thousands of others, crying on the floor in the perpetual daytime of mercury vapour lights, without even the comfort of a blanket or touch of an adult hand.
posted by Joe in Australia at 2:54 AM on June 18, 2018 [79 favorites]


Question: who thinks Trump is going to keep his mouth shut about any succeeding President?

He won't. At least, when he can still open it.

Shoving hamburgers into his maw as he does, there's a chance he'll keel over from a heart attack or a stroke before his term is up. And in my dreams he'll do so during a speech or a press conference, in full view of cameras recording it all.

I prefer him to get impeached, and justice slamming down on him like a ton of bricks, but the above is an acceptable substitute.
posted by Stoneshop at 3:35 AM on June 18, 2018 [17 favorites]


Father James Martin, SJ
Like many, I've resisted using this word but it's time: the deliberate and unnecessary separation of innocent children from their parents is pure evil. It does not come from God or from any genuinely moral impulse. It is wantonly cruel and targets the most vulnerable. 1/
2/ Its use has been cloaked in lies, another clear sign that it does not proceed in any way from God or from a genuinely moral impulse. And the results--misery, anguish, physical suffering, division and despair--are also unmistakable signs that this is an evil.
3/ As St. Paul wrote, "You will know them by their fruits....every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit." (Mt 7:17). That is, the results enable us to clearly recognize evil. As such, we have a moral obligation to name it and fight against it.
4/ Anyone who participates in this kind of wanton cruelty is also guilty of this evil. "I was just following orders" went out at Nuremberg. The decision-makers and all who cooperate in these actions will be judged.
5/ "I was a stranger and you did not welcome me." (Mt 25)

---

Manu Saadia (Trekonomics)
According to the Convention Against Torture, to which the US is a signatory, the US government and its agencies are torturing children.
"Torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions."
posted by chris24 at 3:44 AM on June 18, 2018 [97 favorites]


Houston Chronicle: Chief Acevedo and other law enforcement slam Trump's family separation policy
Law enforcement leaders in Houston and elsewhere joined in Sunday on condemning President Donald Trump's 'zero-tolerance' immigration policy, which is leading to the separation of thousands of young children from their parents in recent weeks.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said Sunday that children should not be kept in immigration detention centers and said the current situation highlights Congress' failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform. "Separating families harms children," Gonzalez said. "To me, it's an affront to our American values." [...]

Chris Magnus, police chief in Tucson, Arizona, wrote that the practice raised "troubling questions" for police chiefs who cooperate with immigration enforcement that separates parents from children.
"Is this consistent with the oath you took to serve & protect?," he wrote Saturday afternoon. "Is this humane or moral? Does this make your community safer?"

And Lupe Valdez, the former sheriff of Dallas County who is now running as the Democratic candidate for governor against incumbent Greg Abbott, announced she would be marching in protest with other elected officials outside of a detention center in Tornillo in West Texas.

Chief Acevedo is a good man.

Chief Art Acevedo
American values? Conservative values? Progressive values? Judeo-Christian values? Family values? History & God will be unkind to those who are silent or support this oppressive, inhumane, unGodly policy. God is watching us, we can’t hide from him. WWJD?


@Rottluver425
Replying to @ArtAcevedo
Don't you have a large police department to run? Worry about the citizens of your City and your officers, leave the politics to those who are actually politicians


Chief Art Acevedo
Replying to @Rottluver425
We have 600,000+ immigrants in this city and ensuring they trust their police department is critical to our mission of keeping our city safe. Messages like yours must be what the German Police were told leading up to the Holocaust. Not this chief, not this Nation, not this time!
posted by chris24 at 3:51 AM on June 18, 2018 [155 favorites]


Does anyone here get the sense that Trump has grown into to the job? Obviously in the most odious of ways of course, but for the first several months of his presidency Trump flailed and veered all over the place.

It's all gone downhill since they figured out how to work the light switches.
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:55 AM on June 18, 2018 [49 favorites]


You know, when law enforcement officials from Texas and Arizona are calling out a policy as inhumane and immoral, I can't help but wonder why all those people who claim to "back the blue" are suddenly complaining about the actions of the police.
posted by Daughter of Time at 4:05 AM on June 18, 2018 [63 favorites]


News You May Have Missed has posted this week's roundup, with a focus on ways to help children separated from their families at the border, and stories on: ICE agents trained in interrogation techniques by former CIA (thank you, Metafilter, for that story); Morristown, TN support of families rounded up by ICE; new rules on asylum keeping out victims of domestic and gang violence; Michigan conservatives revising K-12 social studies curriculum to remove references to gay rights, the NAACP, the KKK, climate change, and Roe v. Wade, etc; AP World History curriculum change; Mexican election & foreign interference; U.S. apparently withdrawing from the Human Rights Council; Data Propria (Cambridge Analytica alumni) already working for Trump 2020; Ajit Pai rushes to beat a court date in order to approve Sinclair-Tribune merger; and photosynthesis discoveries.

This is a page I founded which is now run by a team of volunteers (of which I am only one). It would be very helpful if you all could like/comment on our posts, as we find that Facebook's new algorithms are de-emphasizing them.
posted by joannemerriam at 5:12 AM on June 18, 2018 [26 favorites]


You know, it somehow amazes me that the Houston Chief of Police says, 'let's not be Nazis' and half of those responses to his tweet are about how he's selling out citizens. Every day I wake up and have a reckoning about where we are now.
posted by angrycat at 5:22 AM on June 18, 2018 [62 favorites]


ICE is pretending to be the local police to gain access in NYC.
According to attorneys and advocates, field officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement have for years been known to misrepresent themselves as members of local law enforcement agencies in an attempt detain immigrants, a practice known internally as “ruses.” As municipal and state officials scale back cooperation with ICE, often in response to the agency’s ever-more aggressive tactics under the Trump administration, agents have been regularly resorting to making home arrests and using deceptions that go way beyond merely identifying as “police.”
posted by schadenfrau at 6:19 AM on June 18, 2018 [28 favorites]


The sheer volume of disingenuous bullshit coming out around this family separation policy is truly staggering.

Yes, but that's because they know it hurts them politically. Which means press them on it at every opportunity -- heck, even the normally supine Washington press corps gave Sarah Huckabee Sanders some rare pushback. (Not over her lies, of course, but over the obvious immorality of the program, asking about her empathy, for which no public evidence exists.)
posted by Gelatin at 6:34 AM on June 18, 2018 [8 favorites]


Every day I wake up and have a reckoning about where we are now.

Surrounded by people who proclaim themselves good, advocate evil, and are unwilling or unable to see the difference.
Up to our eyeballs in former crypto-fascists who just stopped being crypto.
Under the thumb of a sociopathic cult leader and his legions of followers.

The only way really out of this is truth and reconciliation, but that's never going to happen.
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:35 AM on June 18, 2018 [8 favorites]


Nice page from The Democracy List that provides a daily recap of protests, actions, news, information, and upcoming protests.

On Friday, there was an immigration checkpoint on I-93 in New Hampshire.
'"I don't know if you're a citizen," the agent tells O'Donnell. "I don't know if you're a terrorist."'

On Sunday, there was a fairly large protest at the ICE center in Elizabeth, NJ. Seven Dem Reps were eventually able to gain access and speak with adults being held there.

We're continuing to beat on Susan Collins' door. We've got her down to "inconsistent with American values" but she won't sign on to the bill. Yet.
posted by anastasiav at 6:36 AM on June 18, 2018 [31 favorites]


angrycat: "You know, it somehow amazes me that the Houston Chief of Police says, 'let's not be Nazis' and half of those responses to his tweet are about how he's selling out citizens. Every day I wake up and have a reckoning about where we are now."

That's been the worst part of the last two years: the realization of how much horrible shit my fellow Americans are happy to support. I mean the fact that the orange idiot still has a 40% approval rating just blows my mind.
posted by octothorpe at 6:41 AM on June 18, 2018 [41 favorites]


On Friday, there was an immigration checkpoint on I-93 in New Hampshire.
How is this allowed? US citizens are being stopped en masse, without probable cause, and asked for their papers? This is what we've come to?
posted by baltimoretim at 6:45 AM on June 18, 2018 [32 favorites]


That's been the worst part of the last two years: the realization of how much horrible shit my fellow Americans are happy to support.

This was my first thought in reaction to the "it can happen here" discussion. There are plenty of people in the country who would applaud unleashing State terror, as the Nazis did in 1933 against Communists and Social Democrats, against "liberals".
posted by thelonius at 6:46 AM on June 18, 2018 [19 favorites]


You know, it somehow amazes me that the Houston Chief of Police says, 'let's not be Nazis' and half of those responses to his tweet are about how he's selling out citizens.

Has anyone checked those responses to see where they come from?
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:46 AM on June 18, 2018 [12 favorites]


They're vastly underreporting the number of children they're kidnapping. It's at least five times what we've been told.

A senior administration official who asked not to be identified said the Department of Health and Human Services has been taking in about 250 children per day in recent weeks. HHS is the agency that is taking in children when they are separated from their families.

An HHS official added that the agency expects to be taking about 250 kids each day at least for the next two months. If that estimate holds, HHS could be caring for 18,500 more children by the end of August. The HHS official said as of Friday, HHS was already holding 11,500 children, which means the total could hit 30,000 by August.

posted by Rust Moranis at 6:52 AM on June 18, 2018 [38 favorites]


There are plenty of people in the country who would applaud unleashing State terror, as the Nazis did in 1933 against Communists and Social Democrats, against "liberals".

As noted previously we are way, way into the poem now. Unchecked they will work their way through everyone.
posted by Artw at 6:53 AM on June 18, 2018 [9 favorites]


How is this allowed? US citizens are being stopped en masse, without probable cause, and asked for their papers? This is what we've come to?

It's been this way for years and years. I was stopped by a checkpoint while driving cross country back from California in 2009. This particular injustice and "papers please" bullshit long predates the current administration. I'm in no way saying that we shouldn't be upset and this administration is showing itself to be particularly dangerous and, for lack of a better word, rabid on the subject, but the country let it 'come to' this years ago.

It's just now happening in places other than the southern border to non-brown folks so, maybe, folks will get pissed off at being made to wait hours in traffic to have their constitutional rights impinged upon. I'm not optimistic.
posted by RolandOfEld at 6:54 AM on June 18, 2018 [17 favorites]


How is this allowed? US citizens are being stopped en masse, without probable cause, and asked for their papers?

This has been legal for many years.
The Constitution in the 100 Mile Border Zone (ACLU)
Your Rights in the Border Zone (ACLU)
posted by anastasiav at 6:57 AM on June 18, 2018 [18 favorites]


How is this allowed? US citizens are being stopped en masse, without probable cause, and asked for their papers? This is what we've come to?

Anywhere within 100 miles of a border is under jurisdiction of the CBP and - suprise! - the coastline is considered a border.
posted by PenDevil at 6:57 AM on June 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


The ACLU has a page detailing where the 4th amendment "doesn't necessarily apply" around our borders. Good informative read.
posted by Sophie1 at 6:58 AM on June 18, 2018


New York Magazine has published a sobering interview with former Obama deputy national security adviser and foreign-policy speechwriter Ben Rhodes. It ranges widely but revolves mainly around Trump-realted topics, such as Obama's reaction to his election and his post-presidency approach to his successor, the Trump-linked Black Cube dirty ops targeting him, and the long-term international consequences of Trump's election for America.
To me, the more troubling thing, the more painful thing, is an entire approach to governing is just being eviscerated. We spent eight years trying to be good stewards in terms of whether we were right or wrong, trying to do this set of jobs a certain way. You watch the G7 summit — that, to me, is the most difficult thing to watch, because those countries have no idea what the hell is going on. And they don’t care about the reality show. Here, there’s almost a humor to it, but my basic view is that there was going to be a natural reallocation of global influence over the next 50 years with countries like China, India …[...]

It’s gonna happen in four years. That’s what I see happening. To me, that’s what’s most troubling, is that the cost of what Trump is doing is profound, but it’s not apparent day-to-day. So with the news cycle, it’s like, “Oh, he just shook Kim Jong-un’s hand.” No, in fact, what he just did is send a message that by trashing our allies, he’s further accelerating people turning to China and away from us. The consequences won’t become apparent right away.[...]

The policies are recoverable, right? We can care about climate change again. We can work with our allies again. We can advocate for human rights again, and you can go down the list. But the second troubling thing I’ve heard is that, like, Trump is totally recognizable because yeah, we’ve all had a corrupt leader — and I’ve heard this in Southeast Asia and Latin America — the rich liar with the son-in-law is usually who runs the country. [...] But that makes America just like everybody else. And that’s what China’s argument is, right?
This began to sink in with Rhodes in January when he was in Japan for meetings at the time Trump was baiting Kim Jong Un on Twitter. "And these were kind of business-leader types and I thought that all they’d want to talk about was North Korea. All they wanted to talk about was Charlottesville. [...] And what I realized is that that was more important to their calculation[....] Like, is this country not what we thought it was?"
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:04 AM on June 18, 2018 [66 favorites]


The HHS official said as of Friday, HHS was already holding 11,500 children, which means the total could hit 30,000 by August

By next August that's over 100,000 imprisoned children, about the same number of people we put in Japanese internment camps. By the winter after next, that's about the total number of live concentration camp inmates in 1944.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:06 AM on June 18, 2018 [34 favorites]


Trump on Twitter:
"The people of Germany are turning against their leadership as migration is rocking the already tenuous Berlin coalition. Crime in Germany is way up. Big mistake made all over Europe in allowing millions of people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture!"
Which comes as somewhat of a surprise to me, a German, since there is no revolution in the air (AfD, the right-wing party holding flat and showing no gains) and the crime rate is at a 30-year-low.

Oh, and yeah, racism. He's not even pretending a little bit anymore, is he?
posted by PontifexPrimus at 7:33 AM on June 18, 2018 [85 favorites]


Border Patrol still "very uncomfortable" that everyone is saying "cages": and added that they may be cages but people are not being treated like animals.
posted by TwoStride at 7:37 AM on June 18, 2018 [28 favorites]


The Supreme Court dismissed the Wisconsin partisan gerrymandering case (Gill v. Whitford) for lack of standing. No judges dissented, though there are multiple concurrences. In the Maryland partisan gerrymandering case (Benisek), they issued a per curium decision upholding the denial of a preliminary injunction. In other words, they're not going to touch the actual merits of whether partisan gerrymandering is a thing and how courts should deal with it.

They also granted a number of cases for next term, including Apple v. Pepper, the iOS App Store anti-trust case.
posted by zachlipton at 7:38 AM on June 18, 2018 [5 favorites]


... and added that they may be cages but people are not being treated like animals.

If it looks like a duck, etc....
posted by Krazor at 7:39 AM on June 18, 2018 [3 favorites]




Former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly on Monday said President Trump should "reverse course" on his administration's "zero tolerance" policy that separates families at the U.S.-Mexico border.
posted by anastasiav at 7:59 AM on June 18, 2018 [11 favorites]


CNN (video): Scaramucci: Trump needs to change this now

'Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci says President Trump needs to put an end to the practice of separating undocumented children from their parents "today."'
posted by chris24 at 8:01 AM on June 18, 2018 [12 favorites]


Which comes as somewhat of a surprise to me, a German, since there is no revolution in the air (AfD, the right-wing party holding flat and showing no gains) and the crime rate is at a 30-year-low.

Trump appears to be referring to the dispute between Merkel and (conservative) interior minister Horst Seehofer regarding a relatively technical point of immigration policy: whether asylum seekers who have submitted an application to another EU country should be allowed to pass through Germany or be turned away at the German border. Seehofer wants them turned away, Merkel would let them through for now while seeking an EU-wide solution.

Seehofer does not dispute that crime is down, including crimes committed by immigrants.

A check of a few newspapers suggests the German press is not treating Trump's blathering very kindly.
posted by jedicus at 8:01 AM on June 18, 2018 [17 favorites]


Re: Gill v. Whitford - came here to post the same. Damn, damn, damn. We leftward Sconnies will just have to be twice as good, I guess.
posted by eirias at 8:02 AM on June 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Trumps ambassador has also voiced a desire for the German government to be replaced with far right ethnic-nationalists.

There’s another word for that.
posted by Artw at 8:04 AM on June 18, 2018 [21 favorites]


Jorge Rivas, Splinter: A Former Japanese Internment Camp Prisoner on the Dire Effects of Putting Kids in Detention
There’s been some national press coverage, but I don’t feel like we are responding with the amount of outrage these actions deserve. Are we being complacent?

When thousands of Japanese Americans were being removed from their classrooms, from their jobs, and their neighborhoods, there was no outcry. No one instituted any kind of protest. And there was no press or organized effort to stand up for the Japanese-Americans because it was war time. We are currently in a war-like situation in that immigrants are seeking safety. And they have been characterized as criminals and rapists.

On one level I think people have the sense that anyone trying to enter our country is a threat. So there is support for Trump’s tightened policies. The broader audience is feeling complacent because they don’t feel identified with the population. I think that’s what happened to us.

My hope is that people will know how important it is to stand up for the injustice that’s happening right now.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:06 AM on June 18, 2018 [25 favorites]


Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci says President Trump needs to put an end to the practice of separating undocumented children from their parents "today."'

And this is how they cut off the Left from the debate. Send Mooch out to stake out the rightmost left position.
posted by rhizome at 8:09 AM on June 18, 2018 [14 favorites]


Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told a gathering of sheriffs on Monday to ignore press reports of mistreatment of undocumented minors separated from their families at the southwest border.

"It is important to note that these minors are very well taken care of — don’t believe the press," Nielsen said to the National Sheriff's Association while addressing reports of substandard treatment of minors.

"They are very well taken care of -- you know this as many of you have detention facilities of your own," she added.

Kirstjen Nielsen is guilty of ongoing crimes against humanity. She cannot be forgotten if any justice ever comes.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:13 AM on June 18, 2018 [76 favorites]


Gill v. Whitford is a punt, not a full-on denial. They said the district court didn't properly review whether the plaintiffs had standing to sue (which, they said, is based on whether they live in gerrymandered districts) and remanded so it can perform that analysis. Gorsuch and Thomas would have dismissed altogether but couldn't even get Alito to sign on to that garbage.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:13 AM on June 18, 2018 [9 favorites]


"It is important to note that these minors are very well taken care of — don’t believe the press,"

lugenpresse amirite
posted by entropicamericana at 8:15 AM on June 18, 2018 [21 favorites]


Didn't Nielsen just say that family separation was fake news and no children were being separated from their parents?

This is basically like the collusion thing too:

We didn't do it.
We didn't do it, but if we did do it, it would be fine.
We maybe did it, but just a little and we probably didn't mean it.
We maybe did it, and if we did do it, well, you'd do it too.
We totally did it and it was awesome, come at us, bros.
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:17 AM on June 18, 2018 [76 favorites]


eirias: "Re: Gill v. Whitford - came here to post the same. Damn, damn, damn. We leftward Sconnies will just have to be twice as good, I guess."

So, the SCOTUS take seems to be that a given person can only be impacted by the way their own district is drawn, so they can't be seeking statewide relief. However, the thought is that this still leaves the door open for *political parties* to make statewide claims, since all districts impact them. This is not yet over.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:19 AM on June 18, 2018 [12 favorites]


Democracy Now: Meet the Migrant Child Detention Center Whistleblower Now Speaking Out Against Family Separations

Antar Davidson says he quit after he was forced to tell children who were separated from their mother not to hug one another.

He also describes mandatory meetings which the ($million/year earning) CEO asked employees to contribute from their paychecks to (ostensibly) pay for the children's health care.

It's fractal evil.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:24 AM on June 18, 2018 [57 favorites]


Donald Trump Jr. Likes Tweet Suggesting Children Separated from Parents at Border are Crisis Actors

Presented without comment.

Oh wait, here's a comment: I hope he dies in prison.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:27 AM on June 18, 2018 [140 favorites]


Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told a gathering of sheriffs on Monday to ignore press reports of mistreatment of undocumented minors separated from their families at the southwest border.

"It is important to note that these minors are very well taken care of — don’t believe the press," Nielsen said to the National Sheriff's Association while addressing reports of substandard treatment of minors.


The obvious simple response to this is "how well would your children have to be taken care of for you to be okay with someone else making the decision to take them away from you for three weeks?"
posted by phearlez at 8:34 AM on June 18, 2018 [34 favorites]


So, I just got off the phone with Sentient Slime in a Badly Fitting Human Suit sometimes Called Ted Cruz. Well, his office, the holes in the phone are hard for slime to manage. I basically said that while I didn't expect SSiBFHS to actually have any human compassion, but I would like him to think about how he'd feel if ICE showed up and took all his soup cans, and then tried to separate him from his egg sacks. (Which made the staffer snort, although he tried to cover it quickly.)

I finished by saying that this policy, not law, was inhuman, unamerican, unchristian, immoral and bad. And that people who supported it are bad people who do bad things and should feel bad. I said that ICE needed to be abolished, 45 needed to be impeached for the good of all humanity, and if Ted wanted to continue his ruse as a human being, he needed to start acting like one.

Also, where are the girls? Seriously. Where are the girls? I mentioned that SlimeTed had 2 beautiful little girls, and how would he feel knowing they were unsupervised, in the care of people who had not been cleared by the viper system to be near children, and that breastfeeding babies were being taken away from their mothers with no plan in place to keep those children alive, or allow the mothers to pump so they can continue breastfeeding if/when they ever see their children again.

I used the words Nazi. I said this policy was a slippery slope towards death camps, and either Ted needed to step up and start fixing the shit his party broke, or he should pack his bag and get the fuck out so someone else could be a real Senator for the real population of Texas, which, as it turns out, is a lot more brown and Spanish speaking than pseudo Hispanic Cruz wants to believe.

Next up, John Cornyn...that evil fucking "concerned" bastard.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 8:35 AM on June 18, 2018 [142 favorites]


Yeah, at this point, every single Republican who says this policy is "fine, it's fine, don't worry", should have to volunteer one of their children or grandchildren to go to the camps and babysit.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 8:37 AM on June 18, 2018 [27 favorites]


When you traumatically separate kids from parents, it wouldn't matter if they went to a luxury hotel and ate off solid-gold plates, you have already hurt them. They cannot, by definition, be "well taken care of," because they are imprisoned without their parents.

The shitty facilities and neglect are one, very upsetting, part, but they are not the whole of the evil being perpetrated here.
posted by emjaybee at 8:42 AM on June 18, 2018 [91 favorites]


Chauncey DeVega, Salon: Michael Eric Dyson: Donald Trump is “what black people have warned America about”
Sociologist and best-selling author says Trump is no “aberration from whiteness” but its ultimate fulfillment.
When you think about this moment in America, with President Donald Trump, did you ever think you would see such a thing transpire?

Not in such naked intensity, that a man of such manifest incompetence and Herculean ignorance would be at the helm of the ship of state. It’s pretty depressing. It’s pretty remarkable. But given the kind of person I am and the kind of people from whom I hail, I am forced to think about the consequences of all this that could be productive in an ironic way.

One of them is that people should understand that in many ways Donald Trump is the manifestation of what black people have warned America about in regard to whiteness for some 300 years. This is what racism looks like, this is how it happens, this is what it does to you. It’s incoherent often, it’s narcissistic, it’s self-preoccupied, it’s irrational, it comes at you in such gusts and waves of hostility that it’s hard to manage. It knocks you off-kilter, and you try to stand back off to fight it. This is what a lot of America is feeling in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s presidency. He’s not an aberration from whiteness, so to speak. He’s an extension of the logic of what that is, at its base.

That’s one of the good things. And then the second thing is to remind ourselves that this is, by far, not the worst thing to ever happen in America. It is pretty bad but when you look back at history, Civil War, enslavement, Jim Crow and a host of ills -- as bad as Donald Trump is, it isn't the worst thing that happened. So let’s put the brakes on and figure out how to handle him and move beyond him in the future and heal the country.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:42 AM on June 18, 2018 [71 favorites]


Oh, wow, SecretAgentSockpuppet, I just got off the phone after politely and blandly asking Cruz and Cornyn to support S.3036 and stop separating families at the border. I like your approach much better.
posted by Tuba Toothpaste at 8:43 AM on June 18, 2018 [19 favorites]


how he'd feel if ICE showed up and took all his soup cans, and then tried to separate him from his egg sacks

Cruz's father entered the US legally in 1957 to attend University in Texas and then obtained political asylum in the U.S when his student visa expired.

Never let Cruz forget for one moment that he is a US Senator because the US granted political asylum to his father - the very same asylum that Cruz would now reject for others who need it. He is the literal product of people who took advantage of their right of freedom of movement between states. For him to do anything except loudly support the rights of immigrants to obtain asylum in this country is hypocritical and horrific.

Not that he cares, of course.
posted by anastasiav at 8:45 AM on June 18, 2018 [139 favorites]


I just got banned from the Georgia Lt. Gov.'s Facebook page for stating perfectly reasonable opinions in the comments. As far as I can tell, a federal court ruled in Davison v Loudoun Co that politicians can't ban constituents from their official Facebook pages. I didn't know what else to do, so I contacted the local media. This asshole, besides just being an asshole Nazi enabler and pro-NRA/anti-Delta, is running for governor against the awesome Stacey Abrams.
posted by hydropsyche at 8:47 AM on June 18, 2018 [51 favorites]


Michael Eric Dyson was on NPR yesterday and he was really, really good. Amazingly articulate speaker, so much so that I may have missed some holes in his arguments, but I don't think so.
posted by rhizome at 8:48 AM on June 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


When you traumatically separate kids from parents, it wouldn't matter if they went to a luxury hotel and ate off solid-gold plates, you have already hurt them. They cannot, by definition, be "well taken care of," because they are imprisoned without their parents.

Or to put it in a historically resonant way, separated but treated humanely is inherently inhumane.
posted by martin q blank at 8:50 AM on June 18, 2018 [13 favorites]


hyrdropsyche, you might also contact the Georgia ACLU. The Maryland ACLU sued Hogan for banning users and deleting comments on Facebook.
posted by amarynth at 8:54 AM on June 18, 2018 [15 favorites]


cjelli: "Kagan's concurrence is basically 'HEY DID YOU CONSIDER PURSUING A CASE THIS WAY???' with giant flaming letters written a mile high pointing to arguments the court would be more receptive to, so this is very much not over as an issue"

Agreed. See also this Stephen Wolf analysis, and reminder that there is a North Carolina gerrymandering case due to be heard next term, which I *think* the NC Dem party is a party to.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:56 AM on June 18, 2018 [6 favorites]


Zero tolerance is the new intolerance.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:57 AM on June 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


This asshole, besides just being an asshole Nazi enabler and pro-NRA/anti-Delta, is running for governor against the awesome Stacey Abrams.

NB: Cagle still has a runoff to win in order to be the GOP nominee. Of course, his opponent is arguably even worse.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:58 AM on June 18, 2018


Head of San Diego Border Patrol: "Some of these kids are hardened adults"

That is a quote.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:01 AM on June 18, 2018 [47 favorites]


Crimes against humanity keep being brought up. Would there be any legal way, perhaps after this administration is gone, to actually follow through on that and actually hold people accountable? Like, send people to the Hague for trial level of accountable? Or are we not at that level or is that not something that there are legal mechanisms for?

Following through on accountability might send an important message to future administrations...though, I can't tell if it will be received as "Ok, won't go there" so much as "Dirty Democrats sent good border cops to rot in European prisons!" Though, even if it's the latter, maybe it would be better to establish that we won't put with this sort of thing and that people will actually be held accountable.
posted by delicious-luncheon at 9:02 AM on June 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Twitter thread showing how the NYT cancel your subscriptions is once again "catapulting the propaganda" by astroturfing a member of the executive board of the Kenosha County, Wisconsin GOP into a "well-educated suburban mom" and "small business owner".
posted by tonycpsu at 9:10 AM on June 18, 2018 [16 favorites]


New Yorker: The Government has no plan for reuniting the immigrant families it is tearing apart

The federal departments involved in dealing with separated families have institutional agendas that diverge. Immigration and Customs Enforcement—the agency at the D.H.S. that handles immigrant parents—is designed to deport people as rapidly as it can, while O.R.R.—the office within the Department of Health and Human Services (H.H.S.) that assumes custody of the kids—is designed to release children to sponsor or foster families in the U.S. Lately, O.R.R. has been moving more slowly than usual, which has resulted in parents getting deported before their children’s cases are resolved. There’s next to no coördination between D.H.S. and H.H.S.
posted by anastasiav at 9:14 AM on June 18, 2018 [39 favorites]


Crimes against humanity keep being brought up. Would there be any legal way, perhaps after this administration is gone, to actually follow through on that and actually hold people accountable? Like, send people to the Hague for trial level of accountable? Or are we not at that level or is that not something that there are legal mechanisms for?

You would have to ratify the Rome Statute and that would require 2/3 of the Senate of which the Republicans would not only balk at but probably call for the head of the Democratic president responsible for submitting that ratification to the Senate.

In fact, we're so afraid of the ICC that US law requires us to invade The Netherlands in order to free any US service members that might be held by the ICC.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 9:15 AM on June 18, 2018 [6 favorites]


@nbcnews
BREAKING: AG Sessions on Trump admin. policy of separating migrant families at US border: "If we build a wall, we pass some legislation, we close some loopholes, we won’t face these terrible choices."

Wants to make it clear that this is a hostage situation and the kidnapping will continue until democrats pay the ransom.

(nb. the kidnappings will continue even if democrats pay the ransom)
posted by Artw at 9:19 AM on June 18, 2018 [94 favorites]


About those Trump tweets at targeting Merkel... I'm pretty confused about whether there's really some kind of crisis or not. I came across this Wall Street Journal article...

By Bojan Pancevski, WSJ (June 13th) Immigration Standoff Shakes Merkel’s Fragile Government
At issue is one measure in a 63-point action plan by Interior Minister Horst Seehofer —one that would instruct border police to turn back migrants found to have applied for asylum in other countries of the European Union’s border-free area.

After Ms. Merkel opposed the measure, Mr. Seehofer, in a rare revolt by a minister against the head of the German government, on Tuesday canceled the planned presentation of his plan, declaring the measure integral to any attempt at bringing illegal immigration under control.

There appeared to be few avenues left on Wednesday for Mr. Seehofer other than to compromise or resign—an unprecedented break in the conservative movement that would leave the government without a parliamentary majority.
And then this follow up from today...

Bojan Pancevski, WSJ (June 18th): "Merkel’s Government Avoids Collapse Over Immigration Battle, at Least for Now"
BERLIN—German Chancellor Angela Merkel secured a two-week reprieve in her confrontation with her coalition partner on Monday, averting at least for now a collapse of her government over immigration.

Ms. Merkel clashed with longstanding ally Horst Seehofer, interior minister and chairman of the Bavarian sister party to her conservative bloc, last week after he threatened to go ahead with a plan she vetoed to start turning back some migrants at the German border.
...
Mr. Seehofer’s and Ms. Merkel’s parties have been jointly contesting elections for decades, but the CSU has grown increasingly impatient with her refugee agenda. Polls show rising support for the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany could cost the CSU its absolute majority in Bavaria at a regional election in October.
...
Bavaria has been Germany’s frontline state in the migration crisis, with the biggest influx coming from neighboring Austria. A Civey poll found on Monday that 71% of voters in Bavaria would endorse a breakdown of the coalition if the CSU fails to implement its demands."
So is there is a real risk of the coalition breaking down over this? Ugh. Being nervous about other countries' politics is even worse than being nervous about my own. I'm even more helpless. I don't think I'm allowed to write postcards to voters in Bavaria.
posted by OnceUponATime at 9:24 AM on June 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


Masha Gessen on the Trump administration's new attempt to revoke the status of naturalized citizens.

The green card application asks "have you ever committed a crime?", and if you are discovered to have lied about that (as in, you slept with someone of the same sex in a country where that is illegal), your citizenship could be revoked.

I really really hate these people.
posted by suelac at 9:32 AM on June 18, 2018 [62 favorites]




Manchin caves!
posted by Artw at 9:35 AM on June 18, 2018 [66 favorites]


Note that in the United States, basically everybody has committed a crime they were not arrested for. Anybody who answered "no" to that question could have their citizenship revoked if the administration feels like it.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:37 AM on June 18, 2018 [38 favorites]


@ddale8: "Trump says he's directing the government to create a "Space Force" as a sixth branch of the Armed Forces."

"We have the Air Force and we're going to have the Space Force. Separate but equal."

(Yes, he said "separate but equal.")"
posted by entropicamericana at 9:37 AM on June 18, 2018 [43 favorites]


As everyone here is painfully aware, we're going deeper and deeper into the twilight zone every day, particularly with the latest scandal about family separation. Horrible stories keep piling up and even though Godwin himself thinks his namesake law's comparison is probably now apt, it's hard to find a bedrock motivation in the quicksand of government-by-twitter. Is it the banality of profoundly incompetent evil or maybe our historical imagination doesn't go back far enough? I can't make it escape my attention that separating families was an extremely common practice among slavers in the antebellum past. I know how hard many people have fought over generations to maintain the institutions of that antebellum past, if not de jure then de facto. We're a few clicks of the dial away from recapitulating Germany's dark past but also our own. Within the border zone, ICE has a lot of the same ability to act unchecked as did the gestapo and the bloodhound posses of the Fugitive Slave Act. Someone has to harvest the crops, after all, if migrant labor isn't allowed. We're living one of those parts of history whose outcome you peek on wikipedia about when you get to it in the chronology.
posted by feloniousmonk at 9:38 AM on June 18, 2018 [15 favorites]


Note that in the United States, basically everybody has committed a crime they were not arrested for. Anybody who answered "no" to that question could have their citizenship revoked if the administration feels like it.

This is the exact same thought that came to my mind.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 9:41 AM on June 18, 2018 [8 favorites]


like others above, prompted to end decades lurking by funding shortfall, against the background of the value this community has represented over those years, particularly the ongoing thread of endless dumb doom.

thanks to you all for being here doing this.
posted by 20 year lurk at 9:42 AM on June 18, 2018 [58 favorites]


We need a prominent Democratic leader to declare what is obvious. If the wall goes up, in a few years, when the administration changes, we will cheerfully go full free Berlin and tear apart the wall.

I'll be there. I'll pay for an airplane ticket and bring along my wife and son and we will happily smash it to pieces.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 9:46 AM on June 18, 2018 [21 favorites]


Oh, good - "space force." I honestly expect him to announce that the outer space treaty is up for renegotiation as well. "Outer space treaty is a BAD DEAL and BAD FOR AMERICANS! We pay 90% of the cost and see NO BENEFITS!"
posted by MysticMCJ at 9:49 AM on June 18, 2018 [12 favorites]


Re the SC case: even if they only wanted to change the district they reside in, that HAS to change at least one other district. So punting on that front after the previous debacle of "it's too complicated to draw maps" makes it seems like a decision not based on the reality of districting?
posted by Slackermagee at 9:52 AM on June 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Manchin caves!


So now those GOP a-holes twittering about this is "not who we are" while doing nothing can step up and actually do something.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:52 AM on June 18, 2018 [6 favorites]


This ad for Wisconsin GOP Senate candidate Leah Vukmir sums the era up well

spoiler: she really wants to shoot one of us
posted by OverlappingElvis at 9:53 AM on June 18, 2018 [12 favorites]


Poffin boffin - I just submitted a new venting thread. Hopefully it will be up shortly.
posted by Sophie1 at 10:01 AM on June 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


@ddale8: "Trump says he's directing the government to create a "Space Force" as a sixth branch of the Armed Forces."

Oy vey.

“To permit irresponsible authority is to sow disaster; to hold a man responsible for anything he does not control is to behave with blind idiocy.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers [the book, not the movie]
posted by zarq at 10:08 AM on June 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


This ad for Wisconsin GOP Senate candidate Leah Vukmir sums the era up well

"Standing on principle takes guts."


Comments are disabled for this video.
posted by NorthernLite at 10:08 AM on June 18, 2018 [68 favorites]


I just left voice mail for my two Goofus & Gallant senators, thanking the latter for supporting the Keep Families Together Act S.3036 (and asking him to hold fast in the face of Jeff Sessions's extortionate speech) and cajoling the former for remaining silent on the issue, which is tantamount to backing the Trump Administration child-snatching policy.

For those interested in following up with their senators, the Capitol Hill switchboard number is (202) 224-3121, and Faxzero offers a free fax service to senators.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:12 AM on June 18, 2018 [5 favorites]


Here's the thanks Chuck Schumer got for his effusive praise of the China trade war a few days ago. The icing on the cake is that neither party knows the difference between a hat and a bovine.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:13 AM on June 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


Doktor Zed, thanks for the fax link. My Senators generally let their voicemail boxes fill up so you can't even leave them a message by calling their offices!
posted by rikschell at 10:24 AM on June 18, 2018


So now those GOP a-holes twittering about this is "not who we are" while doing nothing can step up and actually do something.

It does let Dems do this...

@SenFeinstein
UPDATE: The entire Democratic caucus supports our bill to bar children from being taken from their parents at the border. I’ve heard countless Republicans say that they oppose children being taken from their parents. If that’s true, they should support our bill NOW!

Honestly I didn't think they had the weight to get Manchin on board, god knows what they offered him, maybe they'll get some official Rs on board as well now?
posted by Artw at 10:27 AM on June 18, 2018 [46 favorites]


Manchin caves!

See how any Democrat, even a Blue Dog, is better than any Republican? I've been very proud of Dianne Feinstein lately - she's been really stepping up, and I think it's because we, her constituents, have been pushing her to the left. (And because she's not a terrible person who wants to see little kids in concentration camps.)

It's really easier than ever, with social media and ResistBot and smart phones, to communicate with our various elected representatives. Whether this is "good" or "bad" depends on the caliber of the constituents - it amplifies our progressive voices, but, alas, also those of the deplorables. Again, why Democrats are better for us - they are more likely to listen to us and not the people who really do like seeing children be brutalized.

ZeusHumms, thank you for the Chauncey DeVega link. Another good and relevant DeVega article at Salon is From 9/11 to 11/9: How The War on Terror Helped Donald Trump Win. I don't really like Salon all that much (and haaaaate their janky website) but DeVega has written some very perceptive articles on our current situation.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 10:27 AM on June 18, 2018 [38 favorites]


Trump says he's directing the government to create a "Space Force" as a sixth branch of the Armed Forces

I don't think he can direct that. The United States Air Force was established by the National Security Act of 1947, so I assume we'd need an act of Congress to set up another branch. And we already have the Air Force Space Command.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:30 AM on June 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


Honestly I didn't think they had the weight to get Manchin on board, god knows what they offered him, maybe they'll get some official Rs on board as well now?

Maybe... maybe he felt the policy is awful and does awful things?
posted by Justinian at 10:32 AM on June 18, 2018 [9 favorites]


imagine an overton window shoved so far the right that you think speaking up against locking children in cages is praiseworthy instead of THE BAREST FUCKING MINIMUM OF STANDARDS
posted by entropicamericana at 10:33 AM on June 18, 2018 [72 favorites]


Rosie M. Banks: "See how any Democrat, even a Blue Dog, is better than any Republican?"

Because he "caved" to not defending children being put in cages? This doesn't seem like a moment to laud Manchin.
posted by TypographicalError at 10:33 AM on June 18, 2018 [9 favorites]


Space Force? I wonder how that would affect our military budget? Hmm....
posted by parm=serial at 10:34 AM on June 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


This doesn't seem like a moment to laud Manchin.
It IS a moment to laud that he is a Democrat and not a Republican.
posted by W Grant at 10:35 AM on June 18, 2018 [20 favorites]


I don't think that was lauding, it was pointing out that pretty much any Democrat beats pretty much any Republican as an officeholder. A point that has been disputed here in the past.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:35 AM on June 18, 2018 [59 favorites]


I wonder how that would affect our military budget? Hmm....

If you strip money from NASA that they spend on things like climate change research, you can keep it cost neutral!
posted by Candleman at 10:37 AM on June 18, 2018 [6 favorites]


A point that has been disputed here in the past.

Indeed. And perhaps one that we can avoid disputing again for the sake of it, I hope.
posted by lazaruslong at 10:37 AM on June 18, 2018 [9 favorites]


Maybe... maybe he felt the policy is awful and does awful things?

Nah. Dude is a racist MAGA hat, or at best gutlessly imitates one to secure MAGA votes. He was put under pressure of some kind and caved, or he was bought out in some way. If we suddenly see a bunch of support for the wall from Dem higher ups we’ll know which.
posted by Artw at 10:40 AM on June 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


@JebBush:
Children shouldn’t be used as a negotiating tool. @realDonaldTrump should end this heartless policy and Congress should get an immigration deal done that provides for asylum reform, border security and a path to citizenship for Dreamers.
posted by chris24 at 10:45 AM on June 18, 2018 [40 favorites]


Behind the paywall, but two ratings moves from Cook:

KY-06 (Barr): Lean R => Toss-up
VA-10 (Comstock): Toss-up => Lean D
posted by Chrysostom at 10:48 AM on June 18, 2018 [20 favorites]


I have called and emailed and donated and am going to a protest this weekend but it doesn't feel like enough. I feel awful sitting at work and filling out spreadsheets while children are ripped from their parents arms. I don't know what else I can do but it doesn't feel enough.
posted by hapaxes.legomenon at 10:49 AM on June 18, 2018 [14 favorites]


Richard Painter released his first ad in his campaign for the MN-DFL Senate nomination. As we say here in Minnesota, that sure is something.
posted by nathan_teske at 10:52 AM on June 18, 2018 [6 favorites]


New Quinnipiac poll on child concentration camp favorability, with slightly different results than yesterday's Ipsos poll.

Overall US disapproval: 66% (compared to 56% for Ipsos)
Republican voter approve/disapprove: 55/35 (compared to 46/32 in Ipsos)

A face-value interpretation is that more exposure and coverage of the crisis decreased overall support but increased Republican support. They like it. It's who they are.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:52 AM on June 18, 2018 [64 favorites]


Family separation could turn into Trump's Katrina -- the policy or action that allows the wobbly, low interest voter and the Obama 2012/Trump 2016 voter to back away from Trumpism without having to reckon too much with their complicity (and while it galvanizes the opposition).
posted by notyou at 10:54 AM on June 18, 2018 [11 favorites]


Ugh, I've had to stop following Trump's approval numbers for my own mental wellbeing... and then Chris Hayes retweets a link to the gallup numbers showing Trump's approval at his highest since the inauguration annnnd I'm super depressed again. There is no escaping it. We're really a terrible people.
posted by Justinian at 10:55 AM on June 18, 2018 [20 favorites]


Mod note: A few things removed. I know shit's sort of spiking in crazy even by current standards but if you folks can please dial back the riffing and the spit-takes a little to help this thread not be an omni-timesuck today that would be really helpful.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:56 AM on June 18, 2018 [10 favorites]




How to sleep at night when families are being separated at the border (Alexandra Petri, WaPo)
The trick is forgetting they are children.

If you remember that they are children, you will not be able to go on with any of this. If you remember when you were a child, and frightened, and everything seemed impossibly big and loud and sharp and hard except a certain pair of familiar arms, this will have to stop.
posted by Is It Over Yet? at 10:59 AM on June 18, 2018 [94 favorites]


This twitter thread about gaming turns out to be incredibly relevant to the family separation mess. Starts with the ordinary "back when I played D&D," but then... wow.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:03 AM on June 18, 2018 [66 favorites]


For those not in the know: Massachusetts has a history of electing moderate Republican governors, to balance the always-all-Dem legislature.
posted by Melismata at 11:03 AM on June 18, 2018


scaryblackdeath: " Jayapal put up an interesting suggestion: the White House has disconnected their direct line for the public, but you can always call the Trump Hotel to complain about this policy."

Finally a benefit to free international calling in staff residence.

Rust Moranis: "By next August that's over 100,000 imprisoned children, about the same number of people we put in Japanese internment camps. By the winter after next, that's about the total number of live concentration camp inmates in 1944."

I imagine the policy will be effective in reducing asylum seekers presenting at the US border before those sorts of numbers are realized.
posted by Mitheral at 11:15 AM on June 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Mitheral: I imagine the policy will be effective in reducing asylum seekers presenting at the US border before those sorts of numbers are realized.

That's certainly possible, but some people in the administration are going to see those numbers as a goal, and are going to ramp up deportation and citizenship-removal so as to reach it.

Call your reps and send postcards to voters! We, collectively, have got this.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:31 AM on June 18, 2018 [6 favorites]


Josh Marshall, TPM Editorial: Family Separation, Evil Via Policy and The Internal Contradictions of Trumpism
There’s also the matter of channel conflict. Channel separation is a bedrock principle of marketing. You sell the same product to different people at different prices – price discrimination. You sell the same product to different people using different pitches. It all works so long as the channels remain largely separate. Since Trump is more than anything a marketing man the framework of channel conflict is an appropriate way to explain what is happening.

For base Trumpists: family separation for the bad people is simply awesome.

For other pro-Trump Republicans: evil against children may not be okay, but abusing Democrats works. So for them, no defense of family separation as such, but stick it on the Democrats. Blaming the opponents of your policy for policy is perverse, nasty and thus awesome.

For more Middle of the Road Voters: It’s simply not happening. There is no family separation policy. It’s literally not happening at all or if it is happening it’s being forced on us and families were separated under Obama too.
So we have mixed messaging going on. Maybe this is worth a Congressperson's time to call out.
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:42 AM on June 18, 2018 [30 favorites]


A face-value interpretation is that more exposure and coverage of the crisis decreased overall support but increased Republican support. They like it. It's who they are.

This is maybe grasping at straws, but the way the question was worded kinda softballs the child torture angle.
25. As you may know, some families seeking asylum from their home country cross the U.S. border illegally and then request asylum. In an attempt to discourage this, the Trump administration has been prosecuting the parents immediately, which means separating parents from their children. Do you support or oppose this policy?
As you may know, these monsters only care about Republican approval, so maybe next time ask the question honestly.
posted by schadenfrau at 11:42 AM on June 18, 2018 [5 favorites]


"which means" says that one must follow the other, but this is not true; it is a policy which is changeable (without legislation). "and" would, at minimum, be a much more honest representation, not even considering how leading the question was in the first place.
posted by Bovine Love at 11:49 AM on June 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Of all the distractions to try and draw attention away from the child concentration camps, announcing a space military seems particularly weak and silly.
posted by lazugod at 11:55 AM on June 18, 2018 [17 favorites]


This twitter thread about gaming turns out to be incredibly relevant to the family separation mess. Starts with the ordinary "back when I played D&D," but then... wow.

This deserves to get wider distribution.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 12:02 PM on June 18, 2018 [20 favorites]


ICE Statement on the maybe-nazi tattoo

Aparently the iron cross is a “titan 2” platoon symbol (not seeing anything for google on that, no idea of it’s an iron cross) and the Greek is the “Spartan creed”.

I can still tell the guy is a Nazi, mind, on account of how he joined ICE.
posted by Artw at 12:09 PM on June 18, 2018 [48 favorites]


@MichaelCBender: Pictures of President Trump and Kim Jong Un in the West Wing of the White House. A few weeks ago, these frames surrounded pics of Trump with Emmanuel Macron, president of France, one of America’s closest allies.

@DavidNakamura: Side note: In Jan. 2017, I took a picture of these frames sitting empty on Obama's last night. Trump has changed the frames from black to gold. Here's what they used to look like

Meeting with awful people is part of the job. Creating a glory wall of your fun times together really is not.
posted by zachlipton at 12:10 PM on June 18, 2018 [18 favorites]


The "Space Force" was first mentioned in June of last year (I could have sworn it was more recent -- my personal time distortion runs in both directions, I guess). From that point in time, here's a valuable Alexandra Erin thread (recently re-tweeted by her) about its significance as a concept, how it fits with so-called Star Wars missile defense and similar military-competitiveness concerns.

People are treating this like his typical nonsense but it's actually his deeply scary nonsense.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 12:12 PM on June 18, 2018 [7 favorites]


Do you think he knows about the Outer Space Treaty? Do you think he cares?
posted by Weeping_angel at 12:19 PM on June 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


Forbes, Dan Alexander, Lies, China And Putin: Solving The Mystery Of Wilbur Ross' Missing Fortune
For most of last year, Ross served as secretary of commerce while maintaining stakes in companies co-owned by the Chinese government, a shipping firm tied to Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, a Cypriot bank reportedly caught up in the Robert Mueller investigation and a huge player in an industry Ross is now investigating. It’s hard to imagine a more radioactive portfolio for a cabinet member.


To this day, Ross’ family apparently continues to have an interest in these toxic holdings. Rather than dump them all, the commerce secretary sold some of his interests to Goldman Sachs—and, according to Ross himself, put others in a trust for his family members. He continued to deal with China, Russia and others while evidently knowing that his family’s interests were tied to those countries.

In addition, five days before reports surfaced last fall that Ross was connected to cronies of Vladimir Putin through a shipping firm called Navigator Holdings, the secretary of commerce, who likely knew about the reporting, shorted stock in the Kremlin-linked company, positioning himself to make money on the investment when share prices dropped.

Absurdly, maintaining all those conflicts of interest appears to be entirely legal—a reflection of ethics laws woefully unprepared for governing tycoons like Donald Trump and Wilbur Ross.

Ross appears to have broken one law, however: submitting a sworn statement to federal officials in November saying he divested of everything he had promised he would—even though he still held more than $10 million worth of stock in financial firm Invesco, his former employer. He also continued to hold a short position in a bank called Sun Bancorp, a company he had promised to divest. The next month, Ross got rid of interests in both.
Or as Mike McIntire, the Times investigative reporter who broke the Navigator Holdings story put it: "Days after I sought comment from Wilbur Ross about his investment in a Kremlin-linked shipping firm, he shorted stock in the company, then sold it after my story with @sashachavkin came out"

In case you're wondering how to piss off Forbes, it's playing games like this:
Wilbur Ross is not known for telling the truth. On a Sunday afternoon last fall, just back from a trip to Asia, Ross called Forbes to lie about his personal fortune. Forbes had listed the commerce secretary on its billionaires rankings for years, but his financial disclosure report revealed less than $700 million in assets. When pressed about the discrepancy, Ross calmly cited more than $2 billion in undisclosed assets, saying he had shifted a chunk of his fortune to a trust for his family.

Those billions apparently did not exist, but when six senators demanded an investigation, Ross insisted his statements contained a kernel of truth. “At the time of my conversation with the reporter, I was in the process of creating a trust as a mechanism to divest my assets in order to comply with my ethics agreement.” But Ross’ ethics agreement required him to divest, either by selling his assets or giving them away. Simply parking them in a trust was not enough.
Many more details inside, including fancy charts showing the connections to the Bank of Cyprus and Vekselberg.
posted by zachlipton at 12:22 PM on June 18, 2018 [30 favorites]


Do you think he knows about the Outer Space Treaty? Do you think he cares?

He has shown time and again that he does not care about any obligations or agreements, whether those are treaties and relationships established by prior administrations, or contracts he signed to pay people for their labor. He does what he wants, and whatever has come before is immaterial.
posted by agentofselection at 12:22 PM on June 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


Aparently the iron cross is a “titan 2” platoon symbol (not seeing anything for google on that, no idea of it’s an iron cross) and the Greek is the “Spartan creed”.

I can still tell the guy is a Nazi, mind, on account of how he joined ICE.


Referencing the Spartans is only a slightly quieter dogwhistle. Fascists are all about the Spartans.
posted by camyram at 12:22 PM on June 18, 2018 [34 favorites]


Well, the marine platoon with an (unofficial?) iron cross logo that nobody has heard of before isn’t exactly a confidence builder either.
posted by Artw at 12:25 PM on June 18, 2018 [9 favorites]


the Greek is the “Spartan creed”

I called it, in a, I guess, deleted comment early this morning
posted by thelonius at 12:26 PM on June 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


New York’s Health Department Plans to Recommend Legalizing Marijuana

Cynthia Nixon is such a great governor; it's just weird these articles always give top billing to some other guy with completely different views every time a part of her agenda is carried out.
posted by zachlipton at 12:27 PM on June 18, 2018 [59 favorites]


Do you think he knows about the Outer Space Treaty? Do you think he cares?
posted by Weeping_angel at 2:19 PM on June 18 [+] [!]

1. He almost certainly does not know it exists.

2. If he does know it exists, he most certainly does not care about its contents enough to study it.

3. A summary of it short enough to hold his attention would confirm his iron conviction that any treaty entered willingly proves we are suckers.

4. It's an easy idea to sell during a stump speech.

5. He might forget about this in a week.
posted by Caxton1476 at 12:30 PM on June 18, 2018 [9 favorites]


Bible-Quoting Marco Rubio Defends Trump's Inhumane Child-Separation Policy

When you're willing to hold out your hand to "never-Trumpers", remember Rubio was their wet-dream candidate.
posted by maxwelton at 12:38 PM on June 18, 2018 [23 favorites]


Sahil Kapur (Bloomberg)
New: @KamalaHarris calls on @SecNielsen to resign.
"The government should be in the business of keeping families together, not tearing them apart. And the government should have a commitment to transparency and accountability. Under Secretary Nielsen's tenure, the Department of Homeland Security has a track record of neither. As a result, she must resign.

"During her time as the manager of the government's third largest agency, the Department has implemented a policy that has separated thousands of children from their families, issued a directive to make it easier to detain pregnant women, tried to use DACA recipients as leverage to achieve the President's anti-immigrant agenda, failed to address some of the agency's most pressing management challenges and overseen the continued failed response to tragedy in Puerto Rico.

"As a member of the Homeland Security Committee of the United States Senate for the last 18 months, which has oversight of the Department of Homeland Security, I have asked Secretary Nielsen and other DHS officials to clarify each of these policies, because the American people deserve to know the truth. I have, since March of 2017, repeatedly asked for complete data on the number of children separated and what training and protocol exists for carrying out such separations. In response, the leadership of this department has routinely failed to provide complete answers to questions from me and my colleagues.

"The Department's lack of transparency under Secretary Nielsen's leadership combined with her record of misleading statements including yesterday's denial that the Administration even had a policy of separating children at the border, are disqualifying. We must speak the truth. There is no law that says the Administration has to rip children from their families. This Administration can and must reverse course now and it can and must find new leadership for the Department of Homeland Security."
posted by chris24 at 12:41 PM on June 18, 2018 [90 favorites]


Referencing the Spartans is only a slightly quieter dogwhistle. Fascists are all about the Spartans.

So is the entire US military. In particular, I think, the Marines. Their training is based on fucking Spartan manuals. I'm not kidding. The US Military emulates a fascist slave state that held, essentially, toxic masculinity as its highest value system, by design. Apparently they were really good at turning out soldiers, so...

Still feels like something that's going to come back to bite us in the ass.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:44 PM on June 18, 2018 [20 favorites]


ICE is pretending to be the local police to gain access in NYC.

I'm sure impersonating a police officer is a crime in New York (and elsewhere).
posted by Gelatin at 12:45 PM on June 18, 2018 [9 favorites]


He's lost Fox's Judge Napolitano.

Evan Rosenfeld (Mediaite)
NEW: Fox News senior judicial analyst @Judgenap: “[Trump]’s trying to use children to turn up the heat on the negotiatiors... it’s child abuse to separate children from parents unless necessary to save the human life. That’s not the case here.”
posted by chris24 at 12:47 PM on June 18, 2018 [44 favorites]


I'm sure impersonating a police officer is a crime in New York (and elsewhere).

Yeah, it's a felony IIRC. So at this point it's really about whether or not New York institutions -- the NYPD, the mayor, the Governor -- want to do anything about it.

The quotes in the article all sounded very nervous. "Sounds like a very good argument that they've impersonated a police officer" and "we've had no complaints about that, that would be very bad" etc etc.

And it's not like you're going to get a complainant with standing to come forward. Because they're afraid of ICE.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:48 PM on June 18, 2018 [8 favorites]


I just read through all of these comments, but I'm not sure I really digested anything beyond the link to the New Yorker article stating that there's no plan or process in place for getting these children back to their families...
posted by xammerboy at 12:50 PM on June 18, 2018 [25 favorites]


it's really about whether or not New York institutions -- the NYPD, the mayor, the Governor -- want to do anything about it.


Genuinely curious if anyone with subject area knowledge could weigh in, but it would appear that this listing is short by a few names . . . the District Attorney's office in any of the 5 boroughs (theyre all separate) and/or the NYS AG would, i think, be more inclined to go after this egregious abuse of power if they were able.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:51 PM on June 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


Senator Mazie Hirono joins Harris in calling for Nielsen's resignation.

Frank Thorp V (NBC)
Sen @maziehirono steps out of Senate Judiciary on 🔥🔥🔥 about Trump admin policy separating children from parents, says DHS @SecNielsen should Resign, & calls Republicans “gutless wonders” for not doing more to stop it.
posted by chris24 at 12:55 PM on June 18, 2018 [66 favorites]


ProPublica, Listen to Children Who’ve Just Been Separated From Their Parents at the Border: ProPublica has obtained audio from inside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility, in which children can be heard wailing as an agent jokes, “We have an orchestra here.”

Brb, vomiting.
posted by zachlipton at 12:57 PM on June 18, 2018 [86 favorites]




In nearly 500 pages of answers, Facebook stonewalls some senators’ questions -- Written answers follow CEO Mark Zuckerberg's testimony before two Senate committees. (Cyrus Farivar for Ars Technica, June 16, 2018)
Earlier this week, Facebook submitted nearly 500 pages worth of written responses to dozens of US senators’ questions stemming from CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s April 2018 testimony before two committees.

In the documents, the company attempted to provide clarity to the lingering concerns many lawmakers had. While seemingly trying to be forthright overall, Facebook was also evasive when responding to certain critical questions.

Notably, Facebook declined to promise to share the results of its post-Cambridge Analytica investigation with the public or even Congress. The social media giant also wouldn’t say if it had ever turned off a feature for privacy reasons.

Finally, Facebook took a stronger position against offering a more private, paid, ad-free version of it service, saying that if it did so "it would not be Facebook."
Questions FB did not clearly answer include a question from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California), who asked: "In 2014, Facebook updated its policies to reduce third party applications’ access to user data. [Is Facebook] now investigating applications that, as you described had access to ‘a large amount of information,’ before this change?" and three questions from Sen. Cortez Masto (D-Nevada): 1. "Has Facebook ever launched a feature that had to be turned off because of the privacy implications?" / 2. "Why did Facebook hire Joseph Chancellor, who was the business partner of Aleksandr Kogan, around the same time as the Guardian article alerted you to the violation of your policies?" / 3. "Why do you continue to employ him to this day?"
posted by filthy light thief at 1:00 PM on June 18, 2018 [21 favorites]


zachlipton: The Supreme Court dismissed the Wisconsin partisan gerrymandering case (Gill v. Whitford) for lack of standing. No judges dissented, though there are multiple concurrences. In the Maryland partisan gerrymandering case (Benisek), they issued a per curium decision upholding the denial of a preliminary injunction. In other words, they're not going to touch the actual merits of whether partisan gerrymandering is a thing and how courts should deal with it.

Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish: Gill v. Whitford is a punt, not a full-on denial. They said the district court didn't properly review whether the plaintiffs had standing to sue (which, they said, is based on whether they live in gerrymandered districts) and remanded so it can perform that analysis. Gorsuch and Thomas would have dismissed altogether but couldn't even get Alito to sign on to that garbage.

NPR reports both as punting: Supreme Court Punts On Partisan Gerrymandering, Leaving Status Quo In Place (June 18, 2018)
The U.S. Supreme Court essentially punted on extreme partisan gerrymandering Monday, declining to address the central questions at the heart of whether the practice is constitutional.

The court took up two cases, one out of Wisconsin and one out of Maryland, with lines drawn by both parties.

It declared that the plaintiffs in Wisconsin don't have standing to sue, because they didn't try to prove that their vote had been diluted in their own district.

In Maryland, the court declined to engage on the merits of the case. The lower court, it said, was right in leaving the current system in place.

In many ways, this is a win for those who wish to leave partisan gerrymandering in place, because this decision likely makes it harder for groups opposed to the practice to bring such a case in the future.

Justice Elena Kagan filed a concurring opinion, however, that liberals may look to figure out a roadmap for how to bring a future case, as those opposed to partisan gerrymandering are sure to regroup.

"Partisan gerrymandering, as this Court has recognized, is 'incompatible with democratic principles,' " Kagan wrote, adding, "More effectively every day, that practice enables politicians to entrench themselves in power against the people's will. And only the courts can do anything to remedy the problem, because gerrymanders benefit those who control the political branches."

Kagan's concurrence was signed by the court's other three liberals and cites Justice Anthony Kennedy, and it appears Kennedy remains the potential swing vote on the merits of partisan gerrymandering.

That's if Kennedy remains on the court, and, for now, the status quo remains in place.
The article continues with background of the cases.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:05 PM on June 18, 2018 [6 favorites]


ProPublica, Listen to Children Who’ve Just Been Separated From Their Parents at the Border

Time to haul every amplifier in DC to the White House.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:06 PM on June 18, 2018 [68 favorites]


The WH press briefing has been delayed, and is now about 10 mins overdue from its pushed-back time. Id LOVE for a reporter to ask Sarah Sanders to respond to the audio of those children, have he say she hasnt heard it, and have it played for her right then and there during the briefing.

ah fantasies
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:08 PM on June 18, 2018 [53 favorites]


at this point I am genuinely afraid they would enjoy it
posted by kelborel at 1:17 PM on June 18, 2018 [18 favorites]


The WH press briefing has been delayed, and is now about 10 mins overdue from its pushed-back time. Id LOVE for a reporter to ask Sarah Sanders to respond to the audio of those children, have he say she hasnt heard it, and have it played for her right then and there during the briefing.

There's always Brian Karem, but you know what she'll say: "Well, if their parents didn't want them to be sad, they shouldn't have blah blah blah yata yata" or "Kids cry; they're getting excellent care." They're soulless bloodsucking ghouls; listening to devastated kids won't make them find a sudden well of empathy.
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:17 PM on June 18, 2018 [5 favorites]


Then a distraught but determined 6-year-old Salvadoran girl pleads repeatedly for someone to call her aunt. Just one call, she begs anyone who will listen. She says she’s memorized the phone number, and at one point, rattles it off to a consular representative. “My mommy says that I’ll go with my aunt,” she whimpers, “and that she’ll come to pick me up there as quickly as possible.”
Jesus fucking Christ.

The article notes that the ten children on the call appear to be between the ages of four and 10. I leave it as an exercise in wanting to punch the fuck out of Jeff Sessions to imagine which end of the age range cries harder.
posted by joyceanmachine at 1:18 PM on June 18, 2018 [49 favorites]


The ProPublica audio is, like most of their work (support non-profit journalism!) Creative Commons licensed, so it can be used for free by other outlets. I have the C-SPAN feed for the perennially delayed press briefing open in the background, and I can hear WH reporters in the briefing room listening to it now.

Will the broadcast networks air it tonight?
posted by zachlipton at 1:19 PM on June 18, 2018 [35 favorites]


I wish the media would call it what it is: Child torture.

Saying, "children are being held in harsh conditions/separated from their parents/may experience long-term trauma" is handwaving past the fact that these people are deliberately inflicting pain on children in order to make adults more pliable.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:19 PM on June 18, 2018 [51 favorites]


The audio is being played in the background of the briefing room right now.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:19 PM on June 18, 2018 [49 favorites]


Matthew La Corte
Here's a thread featuring Republican responses on ending the policy of family separation:
- Rep. Diaz-Balert (R-FL) says, "It is totally unacceptable, for any reason, to purposely separate minor children from their parents. Any and every other option should be implemented in order to not separate minors from their parents, which I believe is unconscionable"
- Rep. Love (R-UT) says, "The Administration’s horrible “zero tolerance” policy has unnecessarily separated children from their parents and I firmly oppose it. As a mother of three children & daughter of immigrant parents, this is something that’s heartbreaking to me"
- Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) says, "It's time for this ugly and inhumane practive to end now. It's never acceptable to use kids as bagaining chips in the political process"
- Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) says, "The administration’s decision to separate families is a new, discretionary choice. Anyone saying that their hands are tied or that the only conceivable way to fix the problem of catch-and-release is to rip families apart is flat wrong"
- Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) says, "while we must work to reduce the occurence of illegal border crossings, it is unacceptable to seperate young children from their parents. This is exactly why passage of a compromise solution is absolutely necessary"
- Senator James Lankford (R-OK) says,"I disagree with the administration’s policy of separating families, but we must continue to protect the privacy of the children, many who have experienced trauma"
- Gov. Charlie Baker (R-MA) says "the federal governments' actions are resulting in the inhumane treatment of children"
- Mitt Romney says "we need a more compassionate answer" to protect children
- Senator Heller (R-NV), "doesn’t support separating children from their families, and he believes that this issue highlights just how broken our immigration system is and why Congress must act to fix it"
- Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) says, "The separation of children from parents is always a tragedy. While some tolerated it when it happened under the previous administration, I found it unacceptable then & I find it unacceptable now"
- Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN) says, "It's heartbreaking to hear about the situation along our border and the stories of children being removed from their moms and dads. The U.S. should not forcibly break up families. That is just not what America is about"
posted by chris24 at 1:24 PM on June 18, 2018 [21 favorites]




Here's a thread featuring Republican responses on ending the policy of family separation:

tl;dr: Thoughts and prayers
posted by zombieflanders at 1:24 PM on June 18, 2018 [31 favorites]


Action alert: National Treasure Walter Shaub is sounding the alarm for a national protest after getting 100,000 votes for it on Twitter; he says details will be announced at 8:00 tonight.
posted by kelborel at 1:25 PM on June 18, 2018 [34 favorites]


Finally, Facebook took a stronger position against offering a more private, paid, ad-free version of it service, saying that if it did so "it would not be Facebook."

Well this might make it easier to sieze Facebook once we’ve beat back the Nazi menace and can turn our attention to collaborators and war profiteers

Silver linings, take em where you can get em
posted by schadenfrau at 1:25 PM on June 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


Brian Karem went behind the Blue Door. Someone said "you get 'em, Brian." He came back a minute later and is now saying that he "knocked on the door but no one answered." He says he doesn't know if anyone's back there.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:26 PM on June 18, 2018 [11 favorites]


Colorado governor bars state resources for Trump family separation policy
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) is barring state agencies from using state resources in support of carrying out President Trump's "zero tolerance" policy that separates migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The governor signed an executive order on Monday that forbids state resources from being used "to separate children from parents or legal guardians on sole ground of immigration status."

“The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s policy and practice of separating children from their parents when arriving at the southern border is offensive to our core values as Coloradans and as a country,” he states in the order.

Hickenlooper also sent a letter to Congress urging that they take action to stop the policy, according to CNN.
posted by chris24 at 1:27 PM on June 18, 2018 [44 favorites]


Here's a thread featuring Republican responses on ending the policy of family separation:

I hear a lot of flapping gums, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
posted by nubs at 1:27 PM on June 18, 2018 [12 favorites]


Senator Heller (R-NV), "doesn’t support separating children from their families, and he believes that this issue highlights just how broken our immigration system is and why Congress must act to fix it"

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) says, "The administration’s decision to separate families is a new, discretionary choice. Anyone saying that their hands are tied or that the only conceivable way to fix the problem of catch-and-release is to rip families apart is flat wrong"


Words mean nothing. Unless they sign on to the Democratic bill, they support child torture. That's it. There are zero other options. Just these two could stop this, today. If they don't, it's because they approve of the policy 100%.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:28 PM on June 18, 2018 [33 favorites]


Senator James Lankford (R-OK) says,"I disagree with the administration’s policy of separating families, but we must continue to protect the privacy of the children, many who have experienced trauma"

LIKE BEING TAKEN FROM THEIR FAMILIES AND THROWN IN CAGES YOU RAGING PROLAPSE
posted by schadenfrau at 1:29 PM on June 18, 2018 [32 favorites]


https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/18/separation-children-parents-families-us-border-trump
I’m on an old iPad and cant figure out how to make links, but I hope you will read this comment. This is my family’s story, in a way, but obviously also different. My uncle was left behind with kind gentiles when my grandparents fled, and has never recovered. My mother came along, but suffers to this day from anxiety and depression. My aunt was born a refugee, and my gran, her mother suffered from post-partum depression and never loved her. How do you think this worked out when they grew up to become parents? What is happening now doesn’t only affect those it hurts directly.
posted by mumimor at 1:32 PM on June 18, 2018 [37 favorites]


Jesus fucking christ. I am immune to just about fucking everything. I have dealt with a fair share of trauma and can power through emotions on logic and getting shit accomplished. I got through the entire audio, but not without getting nauseated. If the people in the press room aren't asking hard questions and demanding answers, they are soulless.
posted by Sophie1 at 1:33 PM on June 18, 2018 [16 favorites]


when you've even lost BILL FUCKING O'REILLY:

"The government should know how bad this looks and how innocent children are actually suffering. That kind of scenario is unacceptable to most Americans as exemplified by former First Lady Laura Bush's withering criticism."

kinda fucked up that "the government" is unilaterally controlled by one party headed by a close personal friend of yours, eh bill?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:33 PM on June 18, 2018 [37 favorites]


Press Briefing update: per Zeke Miller the briefing now set to begin at 5pm so Nielsen can gaslight us all some more. [paraphrase]
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:34 PM on June 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


Everybody should listen to that link, it's painful, but it's part of our national history now.
posted by Sphinx at 1:36 PM on June 18, 2018 [14 favorites]


Notable that in that quote O'Reilly cites how bad it looks for the Republicans three times ("how bad this looks"/"unacceptable to most Americans"/"Laura Bush's withering criticism") to "innocent children are actually suffering" only once.
posted by Gelatin at 1:37 PM on June 18, 2018 [37 favorites]


Is there a better link for the audio? I get a "Error 503 Backend.max_conn reached" error.
posted by ian1977 at 1:38 PM on June 18, 2018


Reversing course, Massachusetts Gov. Baker directs National Guard not to send any assets or personnel to the Southwest border "because the federal government’s current actions are resulting in the inhumane treatment of children.”

Colorado governor bars state resources for Trump family separation policy

can't believe we're gonna have another civil war based on states' rights except this time it's the federal government full of racists. it's gonna be super-confusing for future students.
posted by logicpunk at 1:39 PM on June 18, 2018 [11 favorites]


> The government should know how bad this looks

For fucks sake, none of this is about how it looks! The government shouldn't fucking be doing it, period. What he is saying is totally inline with Republican wishes for this to simply not be visible, of course.
posted by MysticMCJ at 1:40 PM on June 18, 2018 [22 favorites]




Seriously. I want my state to expel ICE. Entirely. I would sign the fuck up for that.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:41 PM on June 18, 2018 [21 favorites]




Here's the full text of S.3036 - Keep Families Together Act. The question for GOP Senators is this: what in this bill is worse than the administration's current policy that prevents you from signing on to it?
posted by jetsetsc at 1:42 PM on June 18, 2018 [28 favorites]


I want to make this very clear. If you are a childhood trauma survivor and/or you have kids who have suffered trauma, this audio is EXTREMELY painful and triggering. Please take care of your mental health. If you need to not listen, do not make yourself.
posted by Sophie1 at 1:43 PM on June 18, 2018 [53 favorites]




It's incredibly sad that the best-case scenario right now is "well maybe we somehow get the government to lock up parents and children together in inhumane conditions," and people will cheer that victory if it somehow happens.
posted by zachlipton at 1:46 PM on June 18, 2018 [48 favorites]


The question for GOP Senators is this: what in this bill is worse than the administration's current policy that prevents you from signing on to it?

it was written and sponsored by democrats, so...


I can totally see the Republicans introducing a bill of their own with the exact same text and McConnell putting that up for vote just to be petty dicks if a couple Republican senators signal they'll back it.
posted by jason_steakums at 1:47 PM on June 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


> I can totally see the Republicans introducing a bill of their own with the exact same text

There's no way that they don't include a demand for wall funding or similar... I don't think they would pass up any opportunity to use hostages in their favor, no matter how horrible things are.
posted by MysticMCJ at 1:51 PM on June 18, 2018 [5 favorites]


I think - and I'm speculating based on her comments - the objection Senator Collins makes to the Keep Families Together Act is that Section 2 (a)(1), (2) and (3) as written would prohibit separation even if the parent is arrested for a felony. Perhaps there's a reason that's not included in the conditions for separation, I don't know.
posted by schoolgirl report at 1:52 PM on June 18, 2018


Also, resistbot got a fax through to my governor on the first try. As I only recently started using it, I don't know if that's a common thing or not-- but if that line isn't perpetually busy, we aren't making enough noise.
posted by MysticMCJ at 1:53 PM on June 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Of course, if that's the case she could simply offer up her own version, but she's clearly too feckless to bother.
posted by schoolgirl report at 1:55 PM on June 18, 2018


Politico, Nancy Cook, Trump aides plan fresh immigration crackdowns before midterms
Top aides to President Donald Trump are planning additional crackdowns on immigration before the November midterms, despite a growing backlash over the administration’s move to separate migrant children from parents at the border.

Senior policy adviser Stephen Miller and a team of officials from the Justice Department, Department of Labor, Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of Management and Budget have been quietly meeting for months to find ways to use executive authority and under-the-radar rule changes to strengthen hard-line U.S. immigration policies, according to interviews with half a dozen current and former administration officials and Republicans close to the White House.

The goal for Miller and his team is to arm Trump with enough data and statistics by early September to show voters that he fulfilled his immigration promises — even without a physical border wall or any other congressional measure, said one Republican close to the White House.

Among the fresh ideas being circulated: tightening rules on student visas and exchange programs; limiting visas for temporary agricultural workers; making it harder for legal immigrants who have applied for any welfare programs to obtain residency; and collecting biometric data from visitors from certain countries.
...
In one of the most closely watched plans under discussion, the Department of Homeland Security has proposed a new rule that former Obama administration officials and immigration advocates worry could be used as an end run around a 1997 court settlement that limits the length of time migrant children can be kept in government custody.

“Once you rescind that regulation, then you go back to being able to do whatever you want and the detention becomes the complete discretion of ICE,” said Leon Fresco, former deputy assistant attorney general for the Office of Immigration Litigation at the Department of Justice. “That is where people think this is headed.”
They've realized that attacking immigrants won them the last election, so they'll do it with the force of law this time.
posted by zachlipton at 1:55 PM on June 18, 2018 [41 favorites]


Mitt Romney takes a strong stance! *

* Mitt Romney dies not take a strong stance, Mitt Romney takes a weak as piss stance that is as utterly useless and morally compromised as everything else he says and does.
posted by Artw at 1:56 PM on June 18, 2018 [14 favorites]


when we abolish ICE, what will become of its 20K employees? will they filter into the private security/incarceration industry, join police forces, TSA, the private-army-formerly-known-as-blackwater/xe (and its ilk), agitate among the oath keepers or worse? or merely turn in their jumpsuits & guns and, abashed, merge harmlessly back into civilian society, as good citizens who neither harm nor seek to harm others?
posted by 20 year lurk at 1:58 PM on June 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


Lock them up.
posted by Artw at 1:59 PM on June 18, 2018 [39 favorites]


Please, this is what Mitt Romney insinuated he wanted when he ran for president on the platform of "self-deportation" for undocumented immigrants. Make coming to America so onerous so many won't even try.
posted by Groundhog Week at 2:00 PM on June 18, 2018 [18 favorites]


@oliverdarcy: A White House official tells @jeffzeleny that @PressSec didn't want to do the briefing today amid questions on child separation policy, so @SecNielsen is being flown in from New Orleans to take questions.

I mean, this is self-serving nonsense so Sanders can protect her reputation as a caring mother who tears up at the prospect of such things, nevermind how much time she's already spent defending the policy, but here we are. I like this suggestion to use someone who is already in the building instead:

@pbump: Or they could have brought Trump in.
posted by zachlipton at 2:00 PM on June 18, 2018 [44 favorites]


I can totally see the Republicans introducing a bill of their own with the exact same text

There's no way that they don't include a demand for wall funding or similar... I don't think they would pass up any opportunity to use hostages in their favor, no matter how horrible things are.

At the moment they're more scared of Trump (and Trump voters) than they are scared of anything else.
posted by notyou at 2:02 PM on June 18, 2018


when we abolish ICE, what will become of its 20K employees?

Historically speaking, they should flee to Argentina.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 2:03 PM on June 18, 2018 [117 favorites]


Sanders deserves very little moral credit (in my estimation) for refusing to handle today’s briefing. If she had taken to the podium and announced her personal objections, maybe. If she had tendered her resignation? Sure. But this is what you sign up for when you agree to be disinformation minister for this president.

I’m sick to death of these double standards on moral questions. These are moral questions, and they have zero credibility on morality. Make that clear.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 2:04 PM on June 18, 2018 [26 favorites]


There's no way that they don't include a demand for wall funding or similar... I don't think they would pass up any opportunity to use hostages in their favor, no matter how horrible things are.

There's no way they give up the hostages simply because it's the right thing to do.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:04 PM on June 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


Sanders is a damn coward and should stand up, face the nation, and tell the lies she's paid to tell.
posted by EarBucket at 2:06 PM on June 18, 2018 [46 favorites]


@oliverdarcy: A White House official tells @jeffzeleny that @PressSec didn't want to do the briefing today amid questions on child separation policy, so @SecNielsen is being flown in from New Orleans to take questions.

I mean, this is self-serving nonsense so Sanders can protect her reputation as a caring mother who tears up at the prospect of such things, nevermind how much time she's already spent defending the policy, but here we are.


At the risk of presenting too much hope: it's reasonable to see this as a sign of traction. Sarah Huckabee Sanders isn't in her position to sway anyone's opinions or put out any convincing lies. Everyone knows she's full of shit, including her. Sanders is out there to say "Fuck you" to the press, every day, which is why Trump wants her there.

Someone like her dodging this is significant. I don't remotely think it's because she spent the weekend looking for her empathy. I'm not seeing this as a sign of any shred of humanity within her. But this looks bad enough that even she wants to dodge it.

Take the little wins. Even the tiny, petty little wins. Don't stop there, but don't ignore them, either. It's how you build momentum.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 2:07 PM on June 18, 2018 [55 favorites]


In re visa crackdowns and so on: It will be interesting to see how they handle produce rotting in the fields (already starting to happen) and universities missing out on all those sweet, sweet full-tuition enrollees. In a typical administration, you'd assume they'd cave as "respectable" people with money start to complain, but since this is really just the oligarchs and their fascist base, they'll probably just carry on because they don't care if they run everyone else into bankruptcy.
posted by Frowner at 2:08 PM on June 18, 2018 [9 favorites]


Historically speaking, they should flee to Argentina.

Should we set up a Go Fund Me?
posted by ian1977 at 2:09 PM on June 18, 2018


so @SecNielsen is being flown in from New Orleans to take questions.

I want to see the look on her face when that audio is played back for her. I hope there is at least one person in the press room who will do that.
posted by Existential Dread at 2:14 PM on June 18, 2018 [6 favorites]


shes being described as "chipper" and "upbeat" by reporters in the briefing - chris geidener from buzzfeed noting it isnt "exactly fitting the day"
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 2:15 PM on June 18, 2018 [8 favorites]


I am on a pro-killing-the-planet mailing list (Energy Nation) that just announced that today, June 19, is the last day to comment (right column) on the Department of the Interior's plan to start drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. If you haven't commented, please do!
posted by Bella Donna at 2:16 PM on June 18, 2018 [10 favorites]


I called the DC office of my Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) and said I had a nomination for her "Squeal Award", named in reference to her previous job castrating pigs, and the poetic resemblance of that task to reducing government "pork".
I will be giving out my Squeal Award each month, which recognizes a Washington expense, program or concept that has proven to be wasteful and must be cut. Iowans simply should not be on the hook for these reckless spending habits. By highlighting this out of control waste, we can work to hold Washington accountable.
My nominee was the Trump administration's new and unilateral zero-tolerance policy on illegal entry, which has resulted in thousands of children being snatched from their parents and housed in cages in privately-operated concentration camps, including a disused Walmart. I proposed that a great deal of taxpayer money might be saved by allowing the children to remain with their parents, instead of snatching them away and sending them to a cage in a privately-operated concentration camp. I noted that the policy would be a highly appropriate recipient of the "Squeal Award" because of the inevitable "Squealing" noises that are no doubt issued by toddlers when being snatched away from their mothers and placed into cages in privately-operated concentration camps. I also noted that this wasteful spending was all due to the unilateral actions of the Trump administration, aided and enabled by complicit politicians such as Senator Joni Ernst, who remains silent in the face of this monstrous evil. I was thanked and my message will be passed along
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:20 PM on June 18, 2018 [44 favorites]


Can't we get somebody to go on Fox and Friends, look directly into the camera, and tell Trump that the ratings are really bad on this and that he should pardon all the children?
posted by Soliloquy at 2:20 PM on June 18, 2018 [6 favorites]


Some should interrupt her right here by playing that audio . . . shes going on about how well the children are treated.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 2:21 PM on June 18, 2018 [9 favorites]


Hillary Clinton blasts administration on family separation (with a side of I warned you!) and calls on women to lead (Vox).
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 2:21 PM on June 18, 2018 [32 favorites]


Kristjen Nielsen wraps up by saying, essentially, "won't someone please think of the Nazis?"

The first or second question is thankfully asking if she's heard the audio of the wailing children and seen the pictures of them in cages.
posted by Justinian at 2:25 PM on June 18, 2018 [16 favorites]


SHE HASNT SEEN [OR HEARD] SOMETHING CAME OUT TODAY - AND I AM SHOCKED!
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 2:25 PM on June 18, 2018 [5 favorites]


DHS Secretary is putting a bright face on this draconian horseshit. This theater of cruelty is nauseating.

Q: How is this not child abuse?
Sec: Could you be more specific?
posted by Barack Spinoza at 2:25 PM on June 18, 2018 [18 favorites]


Peter Baker (NYT)
Another first lady heard from: Rosalynn Carter releases statement saying "The practice and policy today of removing children from their parents' care at our border with Mexico is disgraceful and a shame to our country."
posted by chris24 at 2:26 PM on June 18, 2018 [32 favorites]


Was the follow-up "don't worry, we can play it for you right now"?
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:26 PM on June 18, 2018 [6 favorites]


Can we please leave fatalism out of the thread and take it this-a-way? Thanks much!
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 2:27 PM on June 18, 2018 [18 favorites]


Listening to the DHS Secretary, one thing is clear to me -nothing will change and there' nothing anyone can do to stop this.

I understand the sentiment, but there are people who could stop this, and they have (R) after their names. Just because they're not stopping it and unlikely to doesn't mean we should cede the point that they are choosing this just as much as Trump and Nielsen and Pence and all the others.
posted by Emmy Rae at 2:27 PM on June 18, 2018 [13 favorites]


Hillary Clinton blasts administration on family separation (with a side of I warned you!)

Hillary Clinton is fully entitled and correct to tell everyone "I told you so" about this regime forever.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 2:27 PM on June 18, 2018 [115 favorites]


Someone needs to ask her if she is aware that "I was only following orders" has not been seen as sufficient justification for enforcing immoral laws since at least 1945. Am I wrong that her justification is "this is the law and we are only following orders"?
posted by Justinian at 2:27 PM on June 18, 2018 [17 favorites]


Nielsen straight-up said that one of the reasons parents can be separated from their children is if they don't have documents demonstrating their relationship. Because paperwork is something that most people fleeing persecution tend to have in droves.

Somebody should play the damn audio for her.
posted by zachlipton at 2:27 PM on June 18, 2018 [38 favorites]


im going to stop with the live-blogging i swear but this exchange just happened:

Reporter: do you think this policy, or any part of it, is cruel?

DHS Sec Neilsen: its not a policy.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 2:28 PM on June 18, 2018 [10 favorites]


Where are the girls, where are the toddlers?

Neilsen: i dont know
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 2:29 PM on June 18, 2018 [41 favorites]


Reporters in the room (a) aren't playing the tape (b) aren't reading her Sessions or Kelly's defense of the "not a policy".
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:29 PM on June 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


I am on a pro-killing-the-planet mailing list (Energy Nation) that just announced that today, June 19, is the last day to comment (right column) on the Department of the Interior's plan to start drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. If you haven't commented, please do!

That comment form seems intimidatingly technical. Any idea what kind of comments would be effective, and/or how should they be formatted?
posted by runcibleshaw at 2:31 PM on June 18, 2018


I understand the sentiment, but there are people who could stop this, and they have (R) after their names. Just because they're not stopping it and unlikely to doesn't mean we should cede the point that they are choosing this just as much as Trump and Nielsen and Pence and all the others.

Does it matter? If we have every indication that shows that politicians with an R behind their names have no intention of ending this, what's there to cede? The practical matter is that no one will stop this. Let's be clear, I'm in a family of immigrants that have been deeply affected by this administration. I am intimately familiar with immigration law and process. Nothing will change for these people until this administration chooses to.
posted by RedShrek at 2:32 PM on June 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


@pdmcleod: I would like a White House reporter to ask Nielsen specifically how Congress can end child separation when parents are prosecuted, as all of them are. Am very, very curious to hear her answer.

This is the central contradiction here. How can "Congress can fix this tomorrow," as she just flippantly said with a smile, as long as it's administration policy to prosecute everyone for illegal entry? If their position is that everyone gets prosecuted, and Congress isn't going to repeal the illegal entry statute, separating families will continue to happen as long as they keep that up.

Neilsen is now complaining that there are "loopholes" (in other words, court orders) that prevent jailing children, so they have no choice.
posted by zachlipton at 2:34 PM on June 18, 2018 [10 favorites]


Woo hoo MS13 made it big
posted by RedShrek at 2:34 PM on June 18, 2018


PLAY THE AUDIO
posted by birdheist at 2:37 PM on June 18, 2018 [5 favorites]


this is getting good - she repeated that they should come through legal ports and is now "defending" turning people away by saying that its just because we dont have the resources at this time and that they should come back.

now she says the idea that this policy is acting as a deterrent is offensive, what a fucking asshole.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 2:37 PM on June 18, 2018 [7 favorites]


I want to share how I reduced my feeling of despairing powerlessness by at least 10%, if not 15%!

It occurred to me that I could easily put together a pamphlet with information about what's happening, and some numbers people can call and organizations they can support. I paid a copy shop to fire off 1,000 copies, and two of my friends helped me fold them all up. I handed out half in stacks to local businesses to put by their cash registers. I plan to hand out the rest when I go back to protest again in front of ICE's NYC headquarters at 26 Federal Plaza (the employee exit is on Worth St.). I'll probably be there tomorrow around noon for about an hour, if anyone wants to join me. You're all welcome to adapt the pamphlet to your states and use and distribute however you want.
posted by prefpara at 2:37 PM on June 18, 2018 [74 favorites]


Nielsen says people seeking asylum should enter legally at ports of entry and claim asylum. Asked about how people are being turned away at ports of entry, "That actually is incorrect. We have limited resources." She claims that they're not turning them away, just telling them to come back.

So it's actually...correct?
posted by zachlipton at 2:37 PM on June 18, 2018 [15 favorites]


Reporter in the briefing just shouted “Lies!” as the DHS Sec left the room to shouted questions.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 2:38 PM on June 18, 2018 [67 favorites]


Someone has played the audio, but it's only faint in the background. I'm saddened that during the 2.5 hour delay, nobody found a bluetooth speaker to use.
posted by onehalfjunco at 2:38 PM on June 18, 2018 [10 favorites]




I hate this. Why is no one pointing out that in 2014 the Gang of 8 had agreed on immigration reform and then Senator Jeff Sessions and Stephen Miller undermined it!
posted by W Grant at 2:42 PM on June 18, 2018 [5 favorites]


A reporter was playing the audio during the briefing.
posted by Sophie1 at 2:42 PM on June 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


Prepared statement by Dem WV Sen Capito after Trump mtg. She chairs subcmte which controls wall funding: We are on the same page as President Trump. Our highest priority is securing the U.S. border.

To clarify, Senator Capito is actually a Republican.
posted by Emmy Rae at 2:44 PM on June 18, 2018 [20 favorites]


Yeah, and Pergram works for Fox News.
posted by zombieflanders at 2:46 PM on June 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


Maybe... maybe [Manchin] felt the policy is awful and does awful things?

And/or he can read polls and realizes this policy is a big loser. Either way, Republicans face party pressures that Democrats don't, and it matters.
posted by msalt at 2:51 PM on June 18, 2018 [5 favorites]


Capito is one of the Republicans that people sometimes inexplicably lump in with the "moderate" group, without any sort of evidence that she is. During the healthcare debates she was one of the targets to flip because an ungodly percentage of her state is on Medicaid despite voting overwhelmingly for Trump.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:01 PM on June 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


@Olivianuzzi: I played the audio of children separated from their parents at a US Customs and Border Protection facility that was published by @ProPublica today at the White House briefing. Officials failed to adequately and truthfully answer questions about the policy. I would have waited until I was called on to play it, but I was not being called on. After another reporter’s phone began loudly ringing with a melodic jingle, I figured the briefing room could probably deal with a more important disturbance.
posted by zachlipton at 3:04 PM on June 18, 2018 [82 favorites]


I wonder if this is the beginning of a sustained propaganda campaign to shore up republican support for the midterm election. If so, I fear what the coming weeks will bring. Mass deportations, pulling out of NAFTA, more economic sanctions for Mexico, militarization of the border, etc. The whole Trump wish list on speed. God help us.
posted by Omon Ra at 3:06 PM on June 18, 2018 [11 favorites]


God help us.

If God exists, he'll have to beg our forgiveness.

We help us.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:10 PM on June 18, 2018 [21 favorites]


@dale_e_ho: Kansas documentary proof of citizenship law for voter registration struck down permanently. Court finds it violates the NVRA and the U.S. Constitution.
posted by Chrysostom at 3:11 PM on June 18, 2018 [57 favorites]


Ted Cruz, of all people..

Andrew Desiderio (@desiderioDC)
CRUZ introduces “emergency legislation” to keep families together at the border and provide funding for new immigration judges to expedite court proceedings for asylum cases. Summary from his office: [image, text reproduced below]
This week Sen. Cruz is introducing the Protect Kids and Parents Act, which will:

. Double the number of federal immigration judges, from roughly 375 to 750
. Authorize new temporary shelters, with accomodations to keep families together.
. Mandate that illegal immigrant families must be kept together, absent aggravated criminal conduct or threat of harm to the children.
. Provide for expedited processing and review of asylum cases, so that -- within 14 days -- those who meet the legal standards will be granted asylum, and those who do not will immediately be returned to their home countries.
Of course, he can't just sign on to the Democratic bill. And I have .. concerns .. about the adherence to the "legal standards" of those being granted asylum. It's increasingly obvious that this administration wishes to criminalize asylum for .. y'know... undesirables. But, we won't be caging children? so? small win maybe?


(*sigh*)
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 3:12 PM on June 18, 2018 [5 favorites]


@CharlesSoule
If they will do this to children, on the flimsiest excuse, they will do it to anyone.

Including, on the flimsiest excuse, you.


(thread)
posted by Artw at 3:17 PM on June 18, 2018 [43 favorites]


Cruz must be really worried about Beto.
posted by Sphinx at 3:18 PM on June 18, 2018 [36 favorites]


He'd better worry about Beto. I see new signs for that guy every day in my very average Texas neighborhood.

I didn't post anything but "Call your Senators" on my Facebook today. Couldn't stand to post anything silly.

I don't want to relax because of Cruz's bill because I trust the Rs as far as I can throw them with my busted arm, but we'll see.
posted by emjaybee at 3:21 PM on June 18, 2018 [10 favorites]


Kobach didn't just lose. He was ordered to complete 6 hours of additional continuing legal education in the hope that he learn the rules of civil procedure and evidence. He insisted on trying the case himself instead of letting the Kansas Attorney General’s office do their jobs, and it went spectacularly poorly.

Provide for expedited processing and review of asylum cases, so that -- within 14 days -- those who meet the legal standards will be granted asylum, and those who do not will immediately be returned to their home countries.

Even if this is possible, I can't see how this wouldn't be the complete end of asylum in this country. Some of these are effectively death penalty cases; this would turn them into a rush job.
posted by zachlipton at 3:22 PM on June 18, 2018 [31 favorites]


Kobach also ended up making the state pay for his court fine for contempt.
posted by Chrysostom at 3:24 PM on June 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


The only way to adjudicate a case in 14 days is either to deny them all, or allow them all. Guess which one 350 new Republican appointed immigrant judges will be ordered to pick.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:25 PM on June 18, 2018 [15 favorites]


Cruz must be really worried about Beto.

I hope he's worried, that he's sweating bullets and needing an Ambien prescription. I want to see every man Jack and every woman Jill of the (R)'s that have a D opponent turfed out - or at least as many as possible. Rather than trying to win over "swing" voters, we just need to get as many D voters to the polls as we possibly can. When we vote, we win. Two-thirds of Americans are opposed to the atrocity that is going on. We can stop the authoritarians if we get to the polls and elect Democrats.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 3:27 PM on June 18, 2018 [17 favorites]


Merriam-Webster tweeted out an explanation of 'gaslighting' immediately after Nielsen's press conference ended.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 3:30 PM on June 18, 2018 [95 favorites]


Me earlier: At the moment they're [GOP pols] more scared of Trump (and Trump voters) than they are scared of anything else.

Sphinx, a moment ago: Cruz must be really worried about Beto.

They'll need several more scared GOP pols to get this done (and good luck getting the President to sign it), but it's a start.
posted by notyou at 3:34 PM on June 18, 2018


I would like the phrase "swing voters" to disappear. These human pendulums, who need to be courted every 2-4 years, are not worth the candle.
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:43 PM on June 18, 2018 [27 favorites]


Say what you want about the tenets of National Socialism, at least they had real trauma.

Matt Christman
At least the original Nazi social base went though World War One and the Depression. What are these people’s excuse? That Tim Allen show getting cancelled?
posted by chris24 at 3:44 PM on June 18, 2018 [99 favorites]


In the summary of an article titled "Growing number of Republicans urge Trump to change policy on separating families", the WaPo demonstrates a growing spine:

President Trump doubled down on his false insistence that Democrats are to blame for the administration’s forced separation of migrant children from their families at the border. Contrary to Trump’s claims, the separations largely stem from a “zero-tolerance” policy announced with fanfare last month by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

And look, the NYT too: "Trump Defends Child Separation but Falsely Pins It on Democrats"

President Trump remained resistant in the face of growing public outcry over his administration’s policy of separating children from their parents at the border. He repeated the false assertion that Democrats were to blame for it, and claimed that criminals used children to cross into the U.S.

I'm afraid the Republicans are going to bail for the exits and then pretend nothing ever happened, when the only acceptable solution in the long term is to abolish ICE and prosecute its goons.
posted by RedOrGreen at 3:47 PM on June 18, 2018 [23 favorites]


At least the original Nazi social base went though World War One and the Depression. What are these people’s excuse? That Tim Allen show getting cancelled?

Apparently it’s that in our dystopian hell world the largest voting block lives in “Villages” perfectly isolated from the world beyond FOX News.
posted by Artw at 3:49 PM on June 18, 2018 [8 favorites]


Arizona Daily Star (there has been an abundance of really good local reporting on this, which needs to be listened to more), In Tucson court, immigrant parents still left guessing about kids' whereabouts
For the 51st time in the last month, a parent wanted to know the whereabouts of her child. And for the 51st time, the authorities in federal court in Tucson did not tell her.

Flor Berillos de Lopez pleaded guilty to crossing the border illegally June 10 near Lukeville with her 15-year-old daughter, who was taken from her by the Border Patrol hours before Berillos’ June 12 hearing at U.S. District Court in Tucson.

“They were separated this morning and she does not know where her child is,” defense lawyer Joe Machado told Magistrate Judge Bernardo P. Velasco during an Operation Streamline hearing, a fast-track prosecution program for illegal border crossers.

The exchange came a week after Magistrate Judge Bruce G. MacDonald told federal prosecutor Christopher Lewis to call the agency responsible for the children and report back with a way for parents to know where their children are.

On June 6, U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Cosme Lopez said prosecutors in Tucson were working with law enforcement and the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which places children split from their parents in foster care or with family members, to develop a “mechanism” to keep parents informed about their children.

A week later, Lopez said he was “unsure” what was happening with the mechanism.
The most important bit is farther down though:
As is the case with most parents prosecuted through Streamline, Berillos was scheduled to be sentenced to time served, released and deported.

“You would think they would know that and keep them together,” Machado said.
Nielsen has had many arguments, including claiming no policy exists, but one of her main ones is that parents have to be separated from children because the parents are being prosecuted for illegal entry. But in most cases, these are misdemeanor illegal entry charges (illegal re-entry is a felony) where defendants are often sentenced to time served. It's not like the parents are spending long periods of time in prison on the criminal charge that would require separation; they're just being separated for the sake of separating them.

Also, @chrislhayes:
It's really really important we find out how many young children (under 10) are in ORR custody, where they are, and how these facilities are caring for them. Can't get an answer from ORR.

What's happening right now is that faciltiies that were already handling unaccompanied minors are now also getting an influx of kids taken from their parents. But those facilities tend to be for kids aged 10 - 18 years. But there's no existing capacity to deal with little kids, bc no one sends a 2 yo unaccompanied. Now, bc we've taken 2yo's and 4yo's from their parents we have to care for them and no one, as far as I can tell, has any idea how that is being done and by whom.

This is an extremely urgent matter for obvious reasons.
posted by zachlipton at 3:50 PM on June 18, 2018 [71 favorites]


I finally got sufficiently inspired to make my first campaign donation of 2018, and it went to Beto O'Rourke. I held off for a long time because I was unsure who to donate to or how much, and my ADHD-addled brain doesn't want to commit to anything it hasn't done a thousand times before, so it makes up excuses like that. I hope everyone reading this will take a moment to donate to some cause they believe in, even if it's just $1, because once you've taken the first step, no matter how small, the next step is always easier.
posted by shponglespore at 3:56 PM on June 18, 2018 [20 favorites]


> Now, bc we've taken 2yo's and 4yo's from their parents we have to care for them and no one, as far as I can tell, has any idea how that is being done and by whom. This is an extremely urgent matter for obvious reasons.

I weep for my adopted country.
posted by RedOrGreen at 3:59 PM on June 18, 2018 [5 favorites]


U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) released the following statement on the practice of separating children and parents at the U.S. border.

“The time is now for the White House to end the cruel, tragic separations of families. They are not consistent with our values. The thousands of children taken from their parents and families must be reunited as quickly as possible and be treated humanely while immigration proceedings are pending. ‎I am troubled that those seeking asylum are being turned away before they even have the opportunity to file their papers. While I have said that this is a policy discussion that needs to be had, in my view we should not have a policy designed to separate families, particularly mothers with young children, without a clear process and focus on the needs of the children. To blame previous administrations for a wrong committed today is not acceptable. The Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security should make the call today. If the administration does not fix this and fast, we in Congress must.”

Since this actually puts some responsibility on the Executive Branch it's the closest thing yet to an acceptable statement from a GOP senator.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:09 PM on June 18, 2018 [68 favorites]


Sanders doesn't need to return. Ann Coulter's got it covered.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 4:11 PM on June 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


(although Murkowski still hasn't signed on to the bill so I guess that makes her statement useless but...not fully disgusting?)
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:12 PM on June 18, 2018 [9 favorites]




How bad was that performance? When even Cillizza...

Chris Cillizza
Well, that was a total disaster for Nielsen and the White House
posted by chris24 at 4:19 PM on June 18, 2018 [16 favorites]


About the status of babies, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) was on MSNBC just now reporting that he was allowed into an "infant room" at a detention center -- the interview was happening in Brownsville, so I'm not sure where the facility is located. He said one eight month old infant there has been away from her mother for a month; there was also a one-year-old who had been detained alone for a month.
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:31 PM on June 18, 2018 [35 favorites]


there was also a one-year-old who had been detained alone for a month.

That kid will have an attachment disorder for the rest of their life. It's a crime against humanity.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:34 PM on June 18, 2018 [127 favorites]


Prepare to protest, prepare to march, prepare to strike, prepare to fight. The monsters of our time have crossed so many lines before and so fast that we have been scrambling to react, resist, refuse. I didn't think there would be a moment like this where people were finally galvanized: these fascists won't be drummed out by petitions or persuasion, the mueller investigations and midterm elections will only help if they have the force of the will of the people behind them. Save up some food, memorize a phone number, switch off your bill autopay, get ready for civil disobedience. There is no painfree way to rewind to the status quo ante: a few donations and some letters to the editor won't put this country back together again.

So yes: sign petitions but also make protest signs
So yes: call your politicians
but also call your friends and allies
So yes: donate to campaigns but also start a strike fund
So yes: resist but also FIGHT BACK

every one of these child camps has public roads leading to it: block them.
every one of these child camps has workers in it, follow them home and take the non-violent protest to their homes
every one of these republicans have offices back home, make working there impossible.
This system requires that most people politely go about their business, doing their jobs and not rocking the boat

Do to these monsters what they do to planned parenthood, what they do to gay marriages and gay funerals. Hound them, don't let them hide from their crimes.
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 4:41 PM on June 18, 2018 [60 favorites]


How is this allowed? US citizens are being stopped en masse, without probable cause, and asked for their papers? This is what we've come to?

In 2001, some dudes crashed planes into buildings and ever since we've reacted in weird and insane ways. Any land area within 100 miles of the US border is now subject to being searched like this. No one seemed to care to fight it when it became a thing and now that it's being used for evil it's too late.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 4:46 PM on June 18, 2018 [40 favorites]


Anywhere within 100 miles of a border is under jurisdiction of the CBP and - suprise! - the coastline is considered a border.

"Coast" includes the Great Lakes, btw. The entire state of Michigan is within the 100-mile "papers, please" jurisdiction.
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:54 PM on June 18, 2018 [11 favorites]


Are there mass protests scheduled? Who can organize this? I'm talking mass protests + general strike. No one gets to work until these kids are reunited with their parents.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 4:57 PM on June 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Are there mass protests scheduled? Who can organize this? I'm talking mass protests + general strike. No one gets to work until these kids are reunited with their parents.

A nationwide protest for (I think) June 30 is about to be announced tonight at around 8 pm.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:00 PM on June 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


June *30th* ? It's June 18th. WHY IS EVERYTHING TAKING SO LONG? AAAAAAAA.. Where's the fucking-fuck thread...
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 5:03 PM on June 18, 2018 [9 favorites]


Are there mass protests scheduled? Who can organize this? I'm talking mass protests + general strike. No one gets to work until these kids are reunited with their parents.

The best and fastest way to get something done is to get your friends and family to go down to the nearest gov't office and start protesting.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 5:04 PM on June 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


If you'd like to tell the Census Bureau not to include a citizenship question on the census, you can submit your comments for the record (it can really make a difference, both to show that people care and oppose the policy, and later if the policy is challenged in court if the agency hasn't done enough to take comments into consideration).

(Via the Population Industry Association and MeFi's favorite librarian.)
posted by zachlipton at 5:06 PM on June 18, 2018 [17 favorites]


Wheeeeeee

Daniel Dale
Breaking: Trump announces he plans to retaliate against China's retaliation against his $50 billion in tariffs, asking his officials to identify another $200 billion worth of goods to hit with tariffs.
- Trump says he'll find another $200 billion in Chinese goods to hit with tariffs if China retaliates against this $200 billion in tariffs, which come on top of the original $50 billion.
posted by chris24 at 5:07 PM on June 18, 2018 [20 favorites]


It will be interesting to see if his supposed masters let him pull that off.
posted by Harry Caul at 5:10 PM on June 18, 2018


WaPo, Trump defiant as crisis grows over family separation at the border
Trump has been closely monitoring the coverage, but has been suspicious of it, telling associates he believes the media cherry-picks the most dramatic images and stories to portray his administration in a negative light, according to one senior administration official.

The images in the media contrast with more positive photos Trump’s aides have shown the president depicting detained children smiling, playing video games and exercising outside, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid.
...
Trump considers immigration a winning issue for him politically, advisers said. The president has complained repeatedly in recent months that he looks “weak” on border enforcement and has been concerned his base could turn on him for not being tougher, according to a senior administration official.

A second administration official said Trump is in agreement with Miller, a hard line influence on the administration, in believing, “If we’re having an argument on immigration, we always win because that’s our ground, no matter what the nuances of the argument are.”

White House officials have said there is no comprehensive strategy at play. “What’s the end game?” another senior administration official asked.

At a meeting with Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) at the White House on Monday, Trump re-upped his threat to shutdown the government in September if he doesn’t get money for the border wall, according to two people familiar with the meeting. Trump told the senators he was willing to take such a drastic action, these people said, and wanted his wall funding along with strong border security measures.
...
The White House distributed more than 3,000 words of talking points to Republican allies under the headline, “Congressional Democrats’ Policies Are Responsible for the Border Crisis and Family Separations.” The talking points — which included repeated and false claims and claimed that children were being treated well, calling reports of inhumane treatment “bunk” — were largely greeted with amazement, according to senior Republican aides.
posted by zachlipton at 5:11 PM on June 18, 2018 [14 favorites]


*hums Chrysostom's theme song*

@Taniel: #CA48 flips: Harvey Rouda takes the lead over Hans Keirstead for the very first since Election Night, by... *40* votes. (This is to determine Rep. Rohrabacher's opponent.) There are mostly only provisional ballots left to count, & these have leaned heavily toward Rouda.
posted by zachlipton at 5:13 PM on June 18, 2018 [14 favorites]


June *30th* ? It's June 18th. WHY IS EVERYTHING TAKING SO LONG?

Because unlike the Muslim ban that was centered on airports, which are everywhere, this happens in southern border states more than elsewhere - people in other states need time to mobilize if they're going to blockade roads or follow people around with cameras.

There are some kinds of holding facilities in other states, but we don't know where they are, and they're often not easily accessible, especially by public transit. And "handful of people waving signs at local gov't offices" won't make change happen, especially if your local gov't offices strongly disapprove of these actions. (I work a few blocks from Feinstein's office... showing up there with a posterboard sign won't fix anything.)

Geography's working against us on this one - concentration camps are always held away from cities, away from suburbia, out in uncomfortable places where not many people live and it's not easy to visit.

We can protest in the meantime, but getting huge numbers together for this won't happen overnight.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 5:16 PM on June 18, 2018 [25 favorites]


Because unlike the Muslim ban that was centered on airports, which are everywhere, this happens in southern border states more than elsewhere - people in other states need time to mobilize if they're going to blockade roads or follow people around with cameras.

It's not so much that international airports are everywhere (since they're really not except in populous states) but that there are many of them in super-large and blue cities or cities with large blue contingents. And they're easily accessible, visible, and known locations. You can mobilize a giant crowd of people very fast in those circumstances.

I hate the delay on this too, but for those of us who can't hop on the bus or into the car and go without making arrangements first, this does enable me to attend a protest in a major city several hours away, which I could not do on short notice.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:26 PM on June 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


Unless the plan is to storm the detention centers and break the detainees out; there's little point in travelling. A general strike, on the other hand.... That's everywhere, and it affects everyone, and they want it to go away quickly.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 5:26 PM on June 18, 2018 [7 favorites]


Let us all take the time to remember that these brave patriots who insist their 2nd amendment right to bear arms insures their ability to stand valiantly against government tyranny

HAVE taken up arms to:
  • Defend some dude's ability to graze on land without paying fees
  • Walk into a pizza place to investigate a thinly documented conspiracy story about child trafficking
HAVE NOT taken up arms to:
  • Assemble in a former Walmart parking lot to protest the documented, with video, containment of children in chain-link cages
I mean, forget even expecting them to go to those detainment centers en-masse and force their way in. That doesn't seem all that out of line with setting up your sniper station on an overpass but whatever - just show the fuck up if you're so gung-ho on saving kids. For bonus points, don't let any employees back in the building. They can leave but not go in. Those for-hire sleaze will hit the bricks and call in sick the rest of the week.
posted by phearlez at 5:33 PM on June 18, 2018 [43 favorites]


I just realized that pizzagate was the Trump's Mirror omen for all this. I feel sick.
posted by Westringia F. at 5:39 PM on June 18, 2018 [30 favorites]


just show the fuck up if you're so gung-ho on saving kids

Trick question, the nonexistent pizzagate kids were white. The real asylum seekers aren't.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:41 PM on June 18, 2018 [14 favorites]




As mentioned above, nationwide protests June 30th, with information to be available on familiesbelongtogether.org (just a sign-up form right now).

And here's confirmation from Lomi Kriel at the Houston Chronicle (who you should follow if you're on twitter and interested in immigration issues; she's very good at getting to the bottom of the legal situation behind immigration stories) that first-time illegal entry (a misdemeanor) often results in a sentence of time served or a couple days in prison (it's a maximum of 6 months), especially with children.

Sec. Nielsen said today that "If an American were to commit a crime anywhere in the United States, they would go to jail and they would be separated from their family. This is not a controversial idea." Which, first, it should be a controversial idea, because we do that way too damn often and it's bad, but in this case, it's not a crime people are generally being jailed over. And none of that justifies putting parents through bureaucratic hell to try to even find out where their children are after they get out or deporting parents and leaving their children to navigate a separate legal process by themselves.
posted by zachlipton at 5:45 PM on June 18, 2018 [23 favorites]


Last year on the Crooked Media podcasts there was a common expression: "Trump always shoots the hostage." Of course, this was at the time used in the context of his ineptitude at deal-making. I think that given enough time, it's also literal.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:45 PM on June 18, 2018 [10 favorites]


Nielsen should resign immediately, you can't spin this shit.
posted by Sphinx at 5:52 PM on June 18, 2018 [17 favorites]


One reason there isn't a general strike (or any other large-scale action) is that large-scale non-violent actions are rarely the product of spontaneous demands of individuals' consciences. They may look that way, they may even deliberately be presented that way, but they are almost universally the product of a lot of earlier labor-intensive organizing and strategizing. And for something as dramatic, costly, and difficult to organize as a general strike, they're probably the result of a lot of earlier organized action directed at the same policy. I mean, if you're wondering, "Why isn't there a general strike?" try asking yourself, "Why can't I convince five of my neighbors not to go to work for a week?" That's not a defeatist question, by the way, but rather a way of identifying the things that a social movement would need to do and provide before it could call a general strike.

It's not like a bunch of individual people get really mad and a general strike just happens.
posted by This time is different. at 5:53 PM on June 18, 2018 [49 favorites]


Sec. Nielsen said today that "If an American were to commit a crime anywhere in the United States, they would go to jail and they would be separated from their family.

I plan to revisit this quote often when 45 is indicted, or Ivanka, or don jr.
posted by OHenryPacey at 5:54 PM on June 18, 2018 [44 favorites]


It's not like a bunch of individual people get really mad and a general strike just happens.

Yep. I can show up to protest. I can take days off to protest. I can drive to detention centers and protest. I can't afford to strike from my job unpaid for more than a week. And I'm a single person living alone. It's even harder for families. Maybe I should be willing to not be able to pay my rent to stop this heinous shit, but I would need to know I'm not the only one. I'd need to know that my small contribution would have some kind of effect. It's the shittiest of moral and ethical calculations to have to make.
posted by runcibleshaw at 5:58 PM on June 18, 2018 [30 favorites]


Sec. Nielsen said today that "If an American were to commit a crime anywhere in the United States, they would go to jail and they would be separated from their family. This is not a controversial idea."

This happens after a trial and a conviction, not on first accusation of a crime. And children thus separated from their parents are sent to the care of approved foster care homes, OR to family members whenever those are available. Parents separated from their children because of crimes have a right to know where those children are being held, and the right to contact with them.

None of that process was followed here.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 6:06 PM on June 18, 2018 [99 favorites]


Apologies if this has been addressed: can anyone point me to some advice on what a US citizen residing abroad (my wife) can do to protest/help with respect to the separation of kids from their parents?
posted by dhruva at 6:08 PM on June 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


Thank you. Well-stated.
posted by greermahoney at 6:09 PM on June 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


dhruva: my partner's in the same position, she's donated to https://www.raicestexas.org/
posted by mbo at 6:18 PM on June 18, 2018 [6 favorites]


I keep having to tell people on Twitter about that time I got arrested and was released from the pokey the next morning. I got nabbed for a misdemeanor that actually carries max penalties quite a bit more severe than an illegal entry charge. I got a letter in the mail (at my house, where I was chilling comfortably, studying for finals) a few days later stating my court date a couple weeks later. I was not separated from anyone except for a single, highly unpleasant night spent in the county lock-up. (I went to court, pled guilty, had the good fortune to be white and well-educated, and got a slap on the wrist.)

So yeah, no, you do not get arrested and then immediately have your children confiscated. We do still have due process in this country, at least for the time being.

The next time we have a Dem majority in a house of Congress, I want hearings upon hearings upon hearings about this. And then when those are over? More hearings.
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:22 PM on June 18, 2018 [67 favorites]


It;s pretty clear at this point that targetting Trump properties is the way to go, if there are any in your country. A long line of people at the concierge desk coming to lodge a customer complaint about a bad experience, in particular about abysmal accomodations given to a child, with each complainant taking as long as possible to explain an incident before it becomes clear that the incident happened at a different Trump "hotel" and the child is an involuntary guest. This could be scaled up for a mighty long time.
posted by ocschwar at 6:23 PM on June 18, 2018 [85 favorites]


You can also donate to Innovation Law Lab who is supplying legal aid to those detained in Sheridan OR: https://innovationlawlab.org/donate/

Also any portland mefites, if you can't make it to Sheridan there's a vigil at the ICE center in PDX tonight, 4310 SW Macadam.
posted by nixon's meatloaf at 6:26 PM on June 18, 2018 [8 favorites]


Follow up with parties sitting down at Trump restaurants, looking at the menus, looking at the menus, looking at them somre more, you get the idea.
posted by ocschwar at 6:32 PM on June 18, 2018 [10 favorites]


I was thinking to myself this morning, "you know, how come Fox haven't tried to divide and conquer white people using kids in cages as a wedge issue".
Tucker Carlson: "This is one of those moments that tells you everything about our ruling class. They care far more about foreigners than about their own people."
Turns out I just had to wait until 8pm.

I knew they were going to use these kids as bait. I fucking knew it. But I'll take it anyway. To quote Bill Kristol (thank you very fucking much you bow-tie wearing dipshit, I'm quoting Bill Fucking Kristol):
[I]f the idea we should strive to treat foreigners decently is to be an object of scorn, I'll wear that scorn as a badge of honor.
Because that's this timeline. Bill Kristol, the Iraq War's biggest cheerleader, is reasonable and I'm agreeing with him.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 6:39 PM on June 18, 2018 [38 favorites]




Politico, Nielsen becomes the face of Trump's border separations
White House chief of staff John Kelly advised Nielsen against doing the press conference, but she charged ahead anyway, according to a senior administration official. She placed blame for some of the heart-rending scenes captured by the news media squarely on Congress and charged that kids are being warehoused because lawmakers have shirked their responsibility to close loopholes in current immigration law.
...
But Kelly’s status in the White House has changed in recent months, and he and the president are now seen as barely tolerating one another. According to four people close to Kelly, the former Marine general has largely yielded his role as the enforcer in the West Wing as his relationship with Trump has soured. While Kelly himself once believed he stood between Trump and chaos, he has told at least one person close to him that he may as well let the president do what he wants, even if it leads to impeachment – at least this chapter of American history would come to a close.

In recent months, his Secret Service detail has often been spotted standing outside the gym in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in the middle of the day – and White House officials who pass it on the way to meetings view his late morning workouts as an indication of him having thrown in the towel on trying to have any control inside the West Wing.
I know everyone is just saying random stuff about each other to cause chaos and shift blame, but that's a hell of a thing to have attributed to the White House Chief of Staff.
posted by zachlipton at 6:46 PM on June 18, 2018 [67 favorites]


Just to offer a little slight bit of goodish-news in the midst of all this crud, I offer you this article from my distant acquaintance Daniel Schulman from Demand Progress, detailing some of the things that have happened in the legislative appropriations process. In short, this is Congress deciding about paying for shit regarding their own goings-ons and other housekeeping sort of stuff.

The good stuff in there is a study on pay inequities (good for women and PoC staff), money to pay interns (which is an impediment to getting diverse folks staffing congress because only people who can afford to work at cost can take these gigs), and working to fix the child care situation for congressional staff. There's other good stuff in there from a data nerd/transparency standpoint but it's a little more inside baseball.
posted by phearlez at 6:57 PM on June 18, 2018 [5 favorites]


How bad is Fox News? It's embarrassed Seth MacFarlane (CW: large close-up of MacFarlane's face)
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:11 PM on June 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


CBS News: New child concentration camp favorability poll, again with somewhat different results.

Overall disapprove: 67%
R: 36% approve, 39% disapprove

Much lower approval for Republicans than the other 2 polls; and overall that's by far the most inconsistent variable of these three polls. It's like we're watching the Republican brain thrashing in cognitive dissonance death-agonies.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:22 PM on June 18, 2018 [23 favorites]


Much lower approval for Republicans than the other 2 polls; and overall that's by far the most inconsistent variable of these three polls. It's like we're watching the Republican brain thrashing in cognitive dissonance death-agonies.

Maybe this issue is so visceral that the media can't effectively Both Sides it away, which makes you wonder what polls would look like without most news outlets tripping over themselves to normalize evil on other topics.
posted by jason_steakums at 7:30 PM on June 18, 2018 [34 favorites]


Someone posted the video upthread today, but Ann Coulter calling the crying migrant children "child actors" is IMHO is so unbelievably vulgar, despicable, disgusting, ... an entire thesaurus of synonyms for "abominable" do not even begin to describe it ...
posted by StrawberryPie at 7:49 PM on June 18, 2018 [19 favorites]


Then wait until you see Laura Ingraham describing these facilities as "basically summer camps" or boarding schools, citing this story, which discusses the trauma of a mother being told she had 10 minutes to say goodbye to her children. Here's video and a transcript.

Later in her show (no video of this yet):
Sessions says families must enter through ports of entry if they don't want to be separated, even though the administration is *turning people away* from ports of entry
Sessions says this is not like Nazi Germany "because in Nazi Germany, they were keeping the Jews from leaving the country!"
Sessions admits that the family separation policy is being used a deterrent: "I hope people will get the message."
The administration's policy is that this is not a deterrent, because that would be illegal, so thanks to the Attorney General for giving up that game. Also, Nazi Germany was pretty big on deporting Jews.
posted by zachlipton at 8:00 PM on June 18, 2018 [30 favorites]


Current Fox News homepage headlines:

How Obama WH sparked outrage over treatment of immigrant kids, and why Trump refueled controversy

Hillary Clinton cites another Bible quote to fight Trump on immigration

DHS head Nielsen says immigration crisis 'is not new,' calls on Congress to act

WATCH: Watters debates Donna Brazile on separating children from parents at US-Mexico border

Sen. Ted Cruz introduces 'emergency' bill to keep immigrant families together, slams Dems' proposal

Justice Department asks Supreme Court for help with sanctuary cities injunction

Pelosi calls for Trump to end 'inhumane, barbaric' policy at the border

Recording of crying children at U.S. border adds to outrage


They’re one-siding, of course, and trying to play the ridiculous Obama angle, but they’re having trouble with it.
posted by Artw at 8:02 PM on June 18, 2018 [11 favorites]


Looking at the Vox analysis of polls on this, and of all the groups Quinnipiac breaks its results into, Republicans are the only one with more support than opposition.

Every age group is against. Whites are against it, with and without degrees. Also regardless of gender — yes, white men are against it, by 55%. (I assume what's going on is that overall Republican support, also 55%, is so lukewarm enough for opposers to join white male Democrats to form a majority of the set.) I've never seen such a stark line between Republicans and their own base's demographics.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:06 PM on June 18, 2018 [13 favorites]


phearlez: Let us all take the time to remember that these brave patriots who insist their 2nd amendment right to bear arms insures their ability to stand valiantly against government tyranny

HAVE taken up arms to:
[...]


Somebody makes much the same point on twitter:
@nygard

So, history experts from America who kept claiming Hitler could never have put all those people in concentration camps if only there were more guns. I guess this is your big moment?
I know that this is exactly not the point of the comment, or of the tweet, but I was thinking about political violence the other day, and the gun-lobby's claim that the Second Amendment gives citizens the right to violently resist injustice on the part of the state. Processing my own emotional reaction to all of this, which I'm not proud of, I'll admit that I've caught myself wondering at the fact that nobody in the world's most heavily armed country has gone down to liberate these kids from their captors at gunpoint.

I'm not wishing for this - for lots of obvious and excellent reasons - but still. Astonished and, in the first few irrational moments, even slightly disappointed that the overlap of pizza-basement-investigating macho gun-rights types and abject right-wing tribalists was such a mathematically perfect circle when the cards landed on the table.
posted by chappell, ambrose at 8:11 PM on June 18, 2018 [41 favorites]


My mother, who basically lives on right-wing Instagram, told me earlier today how disgusting it is that the camps are "treating illegals better than American children who live in poverty" and how even so-called Republicans (probably meaning Laura Bush?) aren't listening to ICE about how the children are "actually" being treated there, and how the children in these camps are getting more education than American public school children "who were kept out of school when their selfish teachers were striking." This is a slight improvement over last week, when she was literally screaming during Sunday family dinner about how liberals were lying about children being separated from their parents, and how no one made illegal immigrants have those children in the first place (Yes. Really.) or bring them here with them.

And by "improvement," I mean a slight movement to a shared factual reality: that children ARE being separated from their parents. Last week she refused to believe that.

I try not to vent too much in public about my mother, who is not white and is second-gen ffs, because I know white supremacist systems have fucked her up good (and in the end, the explanation doesn't matter because her moral output in the universe is still shit) but, yeah. There is literally no point in The Current Situation where the right-wing talking point isn't going to be pointing to anyone to their left and saying THEY are the one who clearly don't care about children, and no point where there won't be a portion of Americans who find that statement reasonable and believe that history is obviously going to prove them correct.

I appreciate so very much all the factual information but also some of the rhetoric in this thread. My calls to my representatives today felt like mostly incoherent anger, but I took notes from this thread and will be working on a script for tomorrow where my anger will be laser focused.
posted by mixedmetaphors at 8:13 PM on June 18, 2018 [66 favorites]


the gun-lobby's claim that the Second Amendment gives citizens the right to violently resist injustice on the part of the state

The point that we have all been making is that the implicit but unstated caveat is 'injustice' against those bearing arms.

The 2nd Amendment had nothing to do with 'injustice' but rather any erosion of rights/ privileges of those who (historically) can bear arms (white, male, landowner).
posted by porpoise at 8:15 PM on June 18, 2018 [11 favorites]


Sessions says this is not like Nazi Germany "because in Nazi Germany, they were keeping the Jews from leaving the country!"

Man, just imagine how happy Sessions would be to help Jews leave the country
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:17 PM on June 18, 2018 [13 favorites]


John McCain update - concerned and wants someone to do something about it, though not him obviously.
posted by Artw at 8:22 PM on June 18, 2018 [16 favorites]


(I'd like to apologize on behalf of Australia. It feels like some of this might be on us. We have a truly terrible track record in terms of how we've treated refugees. It's become far worse in the last twenty years, and I'm deeply ashamed that I see these stories and it's all horrifyingly familiar to what I see here at home. There's every indication that the hardline approach taken by the Rodent and now by P. Dutty has inspired the heartless refugee policies your government is putting in place, because those policies have been seen to be - more or less - accepted by the electorate. Though they have some small differences in implementation, your policies look scarily familiar to our system of putting poor people fleeing for safety into sweltering extraterritorial gulags. The 'Australian Ballot' was a great export, and I think you folks would really benefit from our mandatory preferential voting, but I'm so sorry that you seem to be mirroring the worst aspects of what we're doing down here.)
posted by MarchHare at 8:22 PM on June 18, 2018 [35 favorites]


Politico, Call to suspend Mueller probe was just posturing, Giuliani says
President Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani said on Monday that he was actually just bluffing last week when he called for Justice Department leaders to suspend special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation within 24 hours.

“I didn’t think it would,” Giuliani told POLITICO with a laugh when asked about the Mueller inquiry’s still being very much an active investigation. “But I still think it should be.”
...
“That’s what I’m supposed to do,” Giuliani explained on Monday. “What am I supposed to say? That they should investigate him forever? Sorry, I’m not a sucker.”
Nobody should speak to this man or report anything he has to say (yes, I am aware that's what I'm doing by quoting him here), because none of it is remotely useful.

----

Man, just imagine how happy Sessions would be to help Jews leave the country

If you see him showing an interest in Madagascar, that's an extremely bad sign. By which I mean, Sessions statement is profoundly ignorant of history.
posted by zachlipton at 8:24 PM on June 18, 2018 [22 favorites]


While Kelly himself once believed he stood between Trump and chaos, he has told at least one person close to him that he may as well let the president do what he wants, even if it leads to impeachment — at least this chapter of American history would come to a close.

Way back in Septemer of 2016, independent journalist Sarah Kendzior issued a warning to Trump allies and enablers:
What media and GOP don't get is any action taken now out of fear or favor expires in November. Your loyalty to Trump won't be rewarded.
I study authoritarian states. I know how this works. Maybe he's blackmailing you. Maybe he's bribing you. Either way, his word is no good.
Trump is going to screw you over like he screws everyone else over. He will humiliate you and you will have sacrificed yourself for nothing.
Emphasis added, because she retweets that periodically, but with increasing frequency lately.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:25 PM on June 18, 2018 [62 favorites]


Mod note: A few comments deleted. It's been a long day with a lot going on, and we've been pretty loose in here on reactionblogging etc today, but now I'm going to ask people to throttle back the one-liners and the general "just goes to show, these fuckers" type comments.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:34 PM on June 18, 2018 [6 favorites]


Sessions says this is not like Nazi Germany "because in Nazi Germany, they were keeping the Jews from leaving the country!"

I sure the people sent to Poland on trains would beg to differ. What an asshole.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:51 PM on June 18, 2018 [23 favorites]


MysticMCJ: "Also, resistbot got a fax through to my governor on the first try. As I only recently started using it, I don't know if that's a common thing or not-- but if that line isn't perpetually busy, we aren't making enough noise."

In theory a properly set up public government fax line like this should never be busy. It won't be a physical paper fax, the number will be answered by a fax to pdf/email server with essentially unlimited incoming capability because it is hooked up to switch/PBX.
posted by Mitheral at 9:13 PM on June 18, 2018 [10 favorites]


Guys, anyone have federal resources on whether or not these kid jails have fire drills/evacuation plans for hoax bomb threats, etc, like Jewish community centers child care need?
posted by mikelieman at 9:34 PM on June 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


Bunnie Huang explains that by taxing electronic components at 25%, but not assembled consumer electronics Trump will be forcing more American manufacturing offshore
posted by mbo at 9:45 PM on June 18, 2018 [32 favorites]


The president has complained repeatedly in recent months that he looks “weak” on border enforcement and has been concerned his base could turn on him for not being tougher

Remember, when Trump was recently asked about Kim's genocide, he replied that Kim is "tough". That's the look he's going for....
posted by xammerboy at 9:49 PM on June 18, 2018 [8 favorites]


ELECTIONS NEWS

** OH-12 special: JMC Analytics poll has GOPer Balderson up 46-35 on Dem O'Connor, which is close to what Monmouth found last week. Of additional interest are the numbers for Brown for Senate (+6) and Cordray for governor (-1), which would translate into pretty solid wins for both.

** 2018 House:
-- DCCC adds 10 more seats to the Red To Blue program. A good sign to still be expanding the map.

-- 538 generic ballot average stands at D+7.4 (47.3/39.9).
** 2018 Senate:
-- MO: Global Strategy Group poll finds McCaskill up 47-41 on Hawley [MOE: +/- 3.5%]. Note that this was commissioned by the (Dem-aligned) Senate Majority PAC.

-- ND: Mason-Dixon poll has GOPer Cramer up 48-44 on Heitkamp [MOE:+/- 4.0%].

-- Enten: If you're an incumbent sitting under 50%, you're actually still okay if you have a 10+ lead. This should be intuitive, frankly, but you get people obsessing about sub-50 numbers.
** Odds & ends:
-- Reactions to the SCOTUS gerrymandering decisions this morning are coalescing around, "this still has some avenues to pursue, all is definitely not lost." Analysis from Jeffrey Toobin, Rick Hasen, 538.

-- Senator Bennet [D-CO] to introduce legislation to ban partisan gerrymandering and allow any voter to challenge on a statewide basis (what SCOTUS just said wasn't currently kosher in Gill).

-- More on the Kobach citizenship ID ruling. General take seems to be that - aside from the judge's clear contempt for Kobach - the findings of fact are extremely well-supported, and would be very difficult to overturn on appeal (any successful appeal would have to be that the law was improperly applied).

-- NY gov: Former Syracuse mayor Stephanie Miner, who had been earlier approached about running in NY-24 or trying to primary Cuomo, but passed on both, now says she's going to run as a 3rd party candidate. This is really stupid, as she has no chance of winning, but - if Cynthia Nixon runs as the WFP candidate - stands at least a chance of splitting the vote so much that the GOP candidate wins.

-- Reasonable chance that Nevada will the first female-majority state legislature after the election.

-- Cook governor race write-up. Prediction is anywhere from 4 to 8 seat Dem pickup.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:55 PM on June 18, 2018 [26 favorites]


Heitkamp looks to be possibly the most endangered Democratic Senator. I can't see Manchin losing while Heitkamp wins, for example. Dunno what Heitkamp can do except GOTV and hope the environment is sufficiently pro-Democrat overall to carry her over. Unfortunately North Dakota doesn't have the urban centers where you can really try to concentrate resources and push the Democratic vote up like many of the endangered-Democrat states. Someone like Sherrod Brown has a lot of options for places to run up the score.
posted by Justinian at 10:05 PM on June 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


My ranking, fwiw, would probably go:

Heitkamp
Donnelly
Nelson
McCaskill
Manchin
Tester
Baldwin

What Heitkamp has going for her is that she's well liked in the state and that her opponent has a long history of saying stupid stuff.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:12 PM on June 18, 2018 [5 favorites]


Ok i am home from the vigil at Portland ICE... Not a large number of people down the, i suspect most humans were out at sheridan. people were settling in to occupy tho so go by and say hi.

Apparently ICE asked the protestors blocking the entryway to let their employees out to go home to their families. Hmm.

Mike Bivins is a good source of local coverage: https://mobile.twitter.com/itsmikebivins
posted by nixon's meatloaf at 10:15 PM on June 18, 2018 [21 favorites]




Guys, anyone have federal resources on whether or not these kid jails have fire drills/evacuation plans for hoax bomb threats, etc, like Jewish community centers child care need?

I will bet you a cake that the same people who forgot babies need diapers forgot that public buildings need emergency plans. I also wonder about public health audits, provisions for quarantine, the sufficiency of plumbing and isolation in the event of gastro ("stomach flu") outbreaks, formula for the infants – particularly the breastfeeding ones, whose mothers' milk will have dried up by the time they're reunited, if that ever happens – management plans for victims of sexual assault, management plans for the prevention if sexual assault, and a million other crucial things that Trumpistas probably don't care about.
posted by Joe in Australia at 11:26 PM on June 18, 2018 [48 favorites]


From @S_Rabinovitch
Trump's latest threat of tariffs on $200bn of Chinese goods is not a random number. It would, in a narrow sense, put tit-for-tat retaliation out of reach for China: it bought only $170bn of US goods and services last year.

But China has asymmetric options. It could levy higher tariffs than the 10% that Trump proposes. It could mess with US firms in China, which make most profits in country, not as exports. And it could add security dimensions to the conflict, perhaps testing US resolve on Taiwan.

In short, if Trump takes it to $200bn, this has the potential to get much, much messier. Strictly speaking, it's true that China and US aren't in a trade war yet: neither has implemented their big threatened tariffs. But the path to escalation is now frighteningly clear.
China does also hold $1.17 trillion of U.S. debt (private & government combined). In essence what Trump is doing is starving the golden goose to try and force it to lay more eggs...
Consider what the current arrangement means: The Chinese buy up dollar bills in the form of Treasuries. This helps inflate the value of the dollar. In return, American consumers get cheap Chinese products and incoming investment capital. The average American is made better off by foreigners providing cheap services and only demanding pieces of paper in return.
posted by Buntix at 12:20 AM on June 19, 2018 [23 favorites]


I'd like to apologize on behalf of Australia. It feels like some of this might be on us.

They boiled the frog in Australia, so we got to concentration camps real slow rather than all at once like they did in America. Please make us look terrible.

One thing I know absolutely doesn't cut through: arguing that asylum seekers aren't illegal. Take it from us, this doesn't work. The asylum seeker law is an exceptional case and the whole point is that they're trying to shut the whole thing down. I've been asking 'so they've been tried in a court then?' but I haven't seen that battle-tested yet.
posted by Merus at 12:28 AM on June 19, 2018 [12 favorites]


New Zealand-based people, there will be demonstrations in Auckland and Wellington on Friday: https://twitter.com/juliefairey/status/1008933781066080256?s=19
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:28 AM on June 19, 2018 [3 favorites]


Comrades are forming an occupation at the I.C.E. Center at 4310 SW Macadam Avenue in Portland, OR.

I do believe the time for direct action has more than arrived. Easy to say from 1000 miles away, I know. But if the shit hits the fan direct action-wise I can't imagine Los Angeles won't be ground zero for some of it.
posted by Justinian at 1:14 AM on June 19, 2018 [14 favorites]


someone I follow on Twitter pointed out that in a screed of longish (and relatively coherent by his standards, so written by someone else) three or four line tweets, the tweet that follows the one where he talks about the problems in Germany is exactly 14 words.......it actually stands out in the TL.

Miller isn't even being subtle anymore, as soon as he saw the glee in Jeff Sessions face when he trotted out the Romans 13 citation to relatively chaotic press coverage, he realised, they're in the clear.
posted by Wilder at 1:31 AM on June 19, 2018 [18 favorites]


Not only that, but the tweet in question,

"We don’t want what is happening with immigration in Europe to happen with us!",

is basically the same sentiment as "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children." rephrased.


From the (well worth reading in whole) thread by @Stonekettle:
Nazis thought themselves victims, persecuted by elitism. By liberalism. By intellectualism. By foreign influence. By multiculturalism. By a loss of manly vigor. By dilution and/or contamination of racial purity. By unemployment and economic disadvantage.
3/

...

Our leaders tell us that we are losing our identity, our history, our rights and privileges, our security and we come to fear that they are right.

This is how it goes.

And little by little, bit by bit, we become monsters.

12/
posted by Buntix at 1:54 AM on June 19, 2018 [59 favorites]


Protests in Philly today:
12:20 Tuesdays with Toomey 200 Chestnut Street
5-8 Mike Pence has some fundraiser at Rittenhouse Square. What I've heard is that this is going to be a big protest.

the TWT will be immigrant-themed, not sure about the Pence rally
posted by angrycat at 3:36 AM on June 19, 2018 [23 favorites]


Padlock the door and board the windows, put the people in the street
"It's just my job," he says, "I'm sorry," and draws a check, goes home to eat
But at night he tells his woman, "I know I hide behind the laws"
She says, "You're only taking orders": that's how every empire falls


John Prine
That's How Every Empire Falls

(The whole song is eerily prescient of Trump's America)
posted by rocket88 at 5:16 AM on June 19, 2018 [35 favorites]


WaPo demonstrates a growing spine:

President Trump doubled down on his false insistence that Democrats are to blame for the administration’s forced separation of migrant children from their families at the border. ...

And look, the NYT too: "Trump Defends Child Separation but Falsely Pins It on Democrats"


This morning, even NPR pointed out that Trump "falsely claimed" Democrats are responsible for the situation in its morning headline roundup. A narrative seems to have been established; at east this time, it's a true one.
posted by Gelatin at 5:29 AM on June 19, 2018 [20 favorites]


I am so tired of the phrase "falsely claimed". GOD.
posted by lazaruslong at 5:33 AM on June 19, 2018 [48 favorites]




Since I went to Methodist seminary, most of my friends are at General Conference this week busy doing this. The letter of complaint is the first step towards formally expelling Jeff Sessions from the United Methodist Church for complaints including child abuse, immorality, and racial discrimination for his actions at the Justice Department in regard to immigration, pursuant to Paragraph 2702.3 of the 2016 United Methodist Book of Discipline. It further accuses him of "dissemination of doctrines contrary to the standards of doctrine of the United Methodist Church" for that fucking moronic Romans 13 business. Here's BuzzFeed with more; here's the UMC news service.

I think it's somewhat unlikely he'd actually be expelled (churches tend to be reluctant to expel laypeople; the big-gun punishments are mostly reserved for clergy who actually represent the church), but it's definitely possible, and the fact that 600 church leaders signed on to the complaint in a very short period of time, at General Conference, is notable
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:46 AM on June 19, 2018 [81 favorites]


The NYT spoke to Stephen Miller on the record with audio and they spiked it

Cancel your subscriptions. It's beyond past time to stop extending any courtesies to this White House. No anonymous sourcing, no background quotes, nothing off record, nothing. Zero.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:51 AM on June 19, 2018 [57 favorites]


You may wish to order up a bulk load of red string, pins, and cork boards before reading...
In 1995, Russian and American social conservatives plotted out what would, during the 2016 election, become the main link between U.S. Christian fundamentalists and those in Moscow.

We obtained the notes from that very first meeting
posted by Buntix at 5:52 AM on June 19, 2018 [34 favorites]


If Christians must obey lawful leaders, that means politicians are effectively religious functionaries and Sessions should be subject to canonical inquisition. But if the Church rejects that doctrine, while Sessions maintains it, then he's a heretic who should be expelled. I call this Catch 14.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:54 AM on June 19, 2018 [19 favorites]


It's beyond past time to stop extending any courtesies to this White House.

But Maggie’s book isn’t out yet

You just don’t understand journalism
posted by schadenfrau at 6:13 AM on June 19, 2018 [35 favorites]


I will bet you a cake that the same people who forgot babies need diapers forgot that public buildings need emergency plans.

Look, I've been in "Event Production" for a LONG TIME. I keep a copy of "The Event Safety Guide" on my kindle at all times. "Safety First!, Last! ALWAYS!!!" is my motto.

So, I'm seriously concerned about the safety of these children -- and employees. It brings to mind 3 questions.

1. Is there a comprehensive list of the facilities?

2. Who are the "AHJ" ( Authorities Having Jurisdiction ) of those facilities?

3. Have the AJH conducted the necessary inspections?
posted by mikelieman at 6:16 AM on June 19, 2018 [39 favorites]


@joshsternberg: The NYT spoke to Stephen Miller on the record with audio and they spiked it because the White House “were not comfortable using the audio...when they found out his voice was going to be on a podcast they were not happy about it. So they asked us not to use it.”

The fact that the White house didn't want you to use an on-the-record interview after the fact should be the biggest part of the story when you run it anyway.
posted by Gelatin at 6:38 AM on June 19, 2018 [136 favorites]


MSNBC keeps playing the Laura Ingraham—Jeff Sessions in Nazi Germany, they were keeping the Jews from leaving the country clip over and over again without actually pointing out that he's lying.

It occurred to me that Friedrich Trump left Bavaria for the U.S. at 16 years old, three years after his father died. So he would have been an unaccompanied minor and placed in these camps.
posted by XMLicious at 6:44 AM on June 19, 2018 [42 favorites]


Tom Kiefer is a photographer who works as a janitor for the CBP in Arizona. His images of tangible items--rosary beads, shirts, combs--taken from migrants are sobering. El Sueño Americano.
posted by stonepharisee at 6:46 AM on June 19, 2018 [35 favorites]


@joshsternberg: The NYT spoke to Stephen Miller on the record with audio and they spiked it because the White House “were not comfortable using the audio...when they found out his voice was going to be on a podcast they were not happy about it. So they asked us not to use it.”

It's not clear from this that they didn't use quotes from the interview in print. It sounds more like they wanted to put an interview recording into a podcast too and the White House objected, which is kind of a different thing.
posted by Mocata at 6:56 AM on June 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


Mod note: One deleted. Hey, the phone calls to prisoners issue is interesting and would be a good post, which would allow enough room to discuss decently, unlike here where we have less bandwidth for side discussions.
posted by taz (staff) at 6:56 AM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


1. Is there a comprehensive list of the facilities?

2. Who are the "AHJ" ( Authorities Having Jurisdiction ) of those facilities?

3. Have the AJH conducted the necessary inspections?


It's me again. I'm a new yorker, so by default senators schumer and gillibrand represent my beliefs on this, HOWEVER, I still made the effort to call their offices, and share this concern with them, and suggest than any amendments to legislation that can, should include a requirement for the fire department, ambulance, police, and health departments having jurisdiction over these facilities sign off on their readiness.
posted by mikelieman at 6:59 AM on June 19, 2018 [29 favorites]


El Sueño Americano.

They’re confiscating Bibles and rosaries, for an extra-ironic twist on this “Biblical” policy.

Growing up evangelical, I was fed I don’t know how many books and movies that depicted the near-future persecution of Christians by the US government. Bibles were taken away, parents were separated from their children, and they were rounded up into camps. Evangelicals endorsing this are literally backing what they denounced as Antichrist when they imagined it happening to them.
posted by EarBucket at 7:03 AM on June 19, 2018 [76 favorites]


Evangelicals endorsing this are literally backing what they denounced as Antichrist when they imagined it happening to them a black man was President.

Fixed for accuracy.
posted by Gelatin at 7:04 AM on June 19, 2018 [25 favorites]


I just want to second that Tom Kiefer photo project link. You need to bear witness to the things he photographs.

"The item was considered non-essential personal property and discarded during processing." is a phrase that certainly evokes the concentration camps.
posted by anastasiav at 7:05 AM on June 19, 2018 [48 favorites]


This stuff predated Obama by decades. Goes back to the late sixties/early seventies.
posted by EarBucket at 7:06 AM on June 19, 2018 [6 favorites]


Obama was in the fifth grade in 1972 when A Thief In the Night, perhaps the definitive Antichrist freakout movie, was released.
posted by EarBucket at 7:10 AM on June 19, 2018 [7 favorites]


George Takei: ‘At Least During the Internment …’ Are Words I Thought I’d Never Utter
At least during the internment, when I was just five years old, I was not taken from my parents. My family was sent to a racetrack for several weeks to live in a horse stall, but at least we had each other. At least during the internment, my parents were able to place themselves between the horror of what we were facing and my own childish understanding of our circumstances. They told us we were “going on a vacation to live with the horsies.” And when we got to Rohwer camp, they again put themselves between us and the horror, so that we would never fully appreciate the grim reality of the mosquito-infested swamp into which we had been thrown. At least during the internment, we remained a family, and I credit that alone for keeping the scars of our unjust imprisonment from deepening on my soul.

I cannot for a moment imagine what my childhood would have been like had I been thrown into a camp without my parents. That this is happening today fills me with both rage and grief: rage toward a failed political leadership who appear to have lost even their most basic humanity, and a profound grief for the families affected.

How do political leaders convince themselves of the virtues of such a policy? History shows it doesn’t take much. After Japan dropped its bombs, the political scapegoats were obvious. As America geared up for war, the administration needed some way to show that it was being tough on Japan, as it had little military success at the early going to trot out. Being tough on Japan easily translated into being tough on the Japanese here in America. No matter that most of us weren’t even Japanese nationals; nearly two-thirds of those imprisoned were U.S. citizens, after all. But as the Wartime Relocation Authority made clear, “a Jap is a Jap.” That was their own “zero-tolerance” policy.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 7:12 AM on June 19, 2018 [139 favorites]


They made the story partly about the White House quashing the audio. That seems pretty good?

Well, maybe, but if the White House wanted them to quash the audio, it follows that there's something about it that the White House didn't want people to hear. It isn't a journalist's job to help the powers that be conceal things they don't want the public to hear, but quite the opposite.
posted by Gelatin at 7:14 AM on June 19, 2018 [27 favorites]


They’re confiscating Bibles and rosaries, for an extra-ironic twist on this “Biblical” policy.

Growing up evangelical, I was fed I don’t know how many books and movies that depicted the near-future persecution of Christians by the US government. Bibles were taken away, parents were separated from their children, and they were rounded up into camps. Evangelicals endorsing this are literally backing what they denounced as Antichrist when they imagined it happening to them.


Probably because Evangelical attitudes towards Catholics are, let's say, less than ecumenical.
posted by The Notorious SRD at 7:17 AM on June 19, 2018 [27 favorites]


Meanwhile, in the world of Trump money-laundering, McClatchy DC reports: Buyers Tied to Russia, Former Soviet Republics Paid $109 Million Cash For Trump Properties
Buyers connected to Russia or former Soviet republics made 86 all-cash sales — totaling nearly $109 million — at 10 Trump-branded properties in South Florida and New York City, according to a new analysis shared with McClatchy. Many of them made purchases using shell companies designed to obscure their identities.[...]

The Trump Organization, the collective name for about 500 Trump businesses owned by the president and now run by his adult sons, did not respond to a request for comment about the data, which was compiled by the left-leaning group American Bridge 21st Century and focused on areas that the Treasury Department targeted. But company officials have previously told McClatchy that the company generally focuses on branding and management and is not involved with sales or development.

Gil Dezer, who operates six buildings that bear Trump's name on Sunny Isles Beach, which is nicknamed "Little Moscow," acknowledged that Russian buyers are attracted to the Trump name. [...] But he said virtually all real estate purchases between 2008 and 2013 were cash because the recession made mortgages largely unavailable. "If it wasn’t for our wealthy buyer group we would have made no sales," he said.[...]

"We've long suspected that Donald Trump's businesses were a front for money laundering and our research suggests it could be true," said Harrell Kirstein, communicators director for the Trump War Room at American Bridge. "The millions of dollars in previously unreported, all-cash real estate deals we discovered raise troubling questions about who is funding his businesses, why, and what they're getting in return."

The group looked at real estate records at 2,769 condo units at 10 luxury buildings that the Trump Organization either develops or licenses in Miami-Dade and Broward counties in South Florida and New York City; three Trump Towers, Trump Palace and Trump Royale, all in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., Trump Hollywood in Hollywood, Fla. and Trump Soho, Trump Place, Trump World Tower and Trump International Hotel & Tower in New York — offering a snapshot into the buyers of Trump properties.[...]

Some of the buyers appeared to spend above market value — one of the signs, along with a lack of information about where the money comes from and properties sitting empty — that raises suspicion, said Elise Bean, former staff director of a Senate subcommittee that investigated money laundering.
Some of the buyers include the operator of a sports betting ring for a Russian-American organized crime group, a Ukrainian businessman accused of laundering tens of millions of dollars, an Uzbeki diamond dealer was arrested on charges he laundered drug money before he was killed in New York, a Russian dynastic family tied to organized crime, a Crimea sanctions-busting Belarus businessman, and the chairman of the board of a Treasury-sanctioned oil transportation company. But that's only scratching the surface of this article's pattern of suspicious financial activities.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:18 AM on June 19, 2018 [30 favorites]


Barack Spinoza: Reporter in the briefing just shouted “Lies!” as the DHS Sec left the room to shouted questions.

Kirstjen Nielsen Is So Fucking Full of Shit -- Katherine Krueger for Splinter News, Gizmodo Media Group, June 18, 2018, recapping the lies of the day.

Said more politely and less directly: 'We Do Not Have A Policy' Of Separating Families, DHS Head Says, Contradicting Policy (NPR's own text linking to the article titled "Defiant Homeland Security Secretary Defends Family Separations")

Also from Splinter News, Clio Chang reminds everyone to Stop Covering Family Separation Like a Political Horse Race, with citations of "both sides" coverage.

A Former Japanese Internment Camp Prisoner on the Dire Effects of Putting Kids in Detention (Jorge Rivas, Splinter News, June 18, 2018) -- Jorge interviews Satsuki Ina, whose family was split up in Japanese internment camps, and who is now a psychotherapist who has spent time visiting family detention centers, including the South Texas Family Residential Center, which sits just 44 miles away from her childhood prison in Crystal Lake.

House GOP Immigration Bill Would Modify — But Not End — Child Detentions (NPR, June 18, 2018)
House Republican leaders are reworking their "compromise" immigration bill to include a provision that modifies — but doesn't completely end — the "zero tolerance" policy being enforced now by the Trump administration.

In the new legislation, children would now be held in the same place as their parents if they are detained. Under the White House's policy, roughly 2,000 children have been separated from their parents after crossing the Southwest border illegally in the past six weeks.
...
The controversial policy enacted by the White House had been meant to be a deterrent by persuading those who were considering trying to cross the border — even if they were seeking asylum in the U.S. by fleeing violence in their home country — not to do so. The separation of children then, Goodlatte said, was an "ancillary" problem caused by trying to follow the law.
Emphasis mine, because holy fuck this can't be re-stated enough.

And this morning, NPR was pushing back against Trump's blatant lies and cowardice about immigration issues being on the Democrats, trying to be tough on immigration while trying to off-load the ugly consequences on someone else. Mara Liasson also calls out Trump for repeating a lie so that it becomes the truth, to DOMINATE THE MEDIA which is refreshing to FINALLY FUCKING HEAR FROM THE MEDIA. Now, how about a nice truth sandwich?

They also cited Anthony Scaramucci's Twitter comment:
You can’t simultaneously argue that family separation isn’t happening, that it’s being used as a deterrent, that the Bible justifies it and that it’s @TheDemocrats fault. @POTUS is not being served well by his advisors on this issue.
Liasson then retorted that perhaps Trump is not being served well by his instincts, because his instincts are to blame the Democrats or someone else for his unpopular actions.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:19 AM on June 19, 2018 [59 favorites]


They’re confiscating Bibles and rosaries, for an extra-ironic twist on this “Biblical” policy.

I grew up Catholic. I have little doubt that many of the rosaries and Bibles they are throwing away have sentimental value -- enough for these migrants to choose to bring it among the scant few possessions they took along. Confirmation presents, gifts from relatives, family heirlooms, what have you -- these "confiscated" items have stories that mean something to the victims of this inhuman Republican policy, and their being trashed is an additional act of cruelty, and there's no reason at all to give these monsters the benefit of the doubt that said cruelty isn't delibreate and calculated.
posted by Gelatin at 7:22 AM on June 19, 2018 [92 favorites]


The detention centers are now part of Wikipedia's 'List of concentration and internment camps'.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:25 AM on June 19, 2018 [79 favorites]


EarBucket : Bibles were taken away, parents were separated from their children, and they were rounded up into camps. Evangelicals endorsing this are literally backing what they denounced as Antichrist when they imagined it happening to them.

The Notorious SRD: Probably because Evangelical attitudes towards Catholics are, let's say, less than ecumenical.

It certainly doesn't help matters. But something tells me they'd do the same thing if migrants were 100% Exactly Right Kind Of Protestant. There would still be no sense of religious kinship, both because of the racism and the way in which political-racism has become a defining feature of Evangelical identity, overriding just about every other doctrine. They see no siblings in Christ, only siblings in Trump. (I wonder how many migrants have tried praising Trump, to get leniency.)
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:29 AM on June 19, 2018 [8 favorites]


I get the idea behind demanding that they run the audio, or putting it online separately, but it feels weird to be attacking the NYT over, essentially, being clear and transparent about this -- had they simply buried the audio, would we even be having this conversation? We would not. They made the story partly about the White House quashing the audio. That seems pretty good?

I'm not like an expert in journalistic ethics, but FUCK NO IT ISN'T PRETTY GOOD! Air the audio and their access to Miller and the White House be damned. If it was so bad that Miller and or the admin. didn't want it aired that's all the more reason to air it. They're getting nothing from the White House but lies, so if they lose access and never get another interview with them again it's no big loss.
posted by runcibleshaw at 7:30 AM on June 19, 2018 [18 favorites]




1. Is there a comprehensive list of the facilities?

For the adults at least this should serve as a good start. ICE Detention Facility Locator. The kids are under a separate jurisdiction though.
posted by scalefree at 7:31 AM on June 19, 2018 [4 favorites]


Those pictures of rosaries and other items remind me of the pictures at the holocaust museum of the piles of wedding rings and other items removed from the Jews, Romas, gays and others held and killed at Nazi camps.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 7:37 AM on June 19, 2018 [55 favorites]


Once the kids are processed, a lot of them are being sent every which way to private and religious nonprofits and foster homes. There's a Catholic Charities facility in my area that has taken some in--they're already part of the foster care system. I mean, they're complicit, no doubt, but they are at least not laughing at crying children, and presumably giving them some hugs? They don't agree with the policy but I think they see themselves as doing harm reduction. Do I go protest there? I don't know.
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:38 AM on June 19, 2018 [8 favorites]


There would still be no sense of religious kinship, both because of the racism and the way in which political-racism has become a defining feature of Evangelical identity, overriding just about every other doctrine.

A lot of "evangelicals" actually don't go to church and are not part of a church community at all. It's just a dog-whistle way of saying "I'm white" it's not actually a religious sentiment. Wasn't one of the highest predictors of being a Trump voter a person who identified as evangelical but had not attended a church service recently?
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:41 AM on June 19, 2018 [26 favorites]


They don't agree with the policy but I think they see themselves as doing harm reduction.

I'd rather those kids be in foster homes than in tent cities with armed guards.
posted by EarBucket at 7:41 AM on June 19, 2018 [16 favorites]


Why would you protest Catholic Charities if they’re taking in refugee children?
posted by Barack Spinoza at 7:41 AM on June 19, 2018 [15 favorites]



Sessions says this is not like Nazi Germany "because in Nazi Germany, they were keeping the Jews from leaving the country!"


"We are not Nazis because our uniforms are slightly different!"

It looks like the Nazi label is beginning to stick and sting.
posted by srboisvert at 7:42 AM on June 19, 2018 [28 favorites]


The Notorious SRD: Probably because Evangelical attitudes towards Catholics are, let's say, less than ecumenical.

"Evangelical" applies to two classes of non-episcopal protestants.

One class, primarily northern, responds to an influx of immigrants by offering worship services in their language. The Perl programming language exists because of northern evangelicals who needed to speed up how fast they produce translations of the Bible.

THe other class, primarily southern, has been using the existence of northern evangelicals as a cover, to pretend that they are respectable human beings.
posted by ocschwar at 7:42 AM on June 19, 2018 [17 favorites]


Mod note: Couple deleted. Let's not get off into general Trump voter demography or "they're supposedly Christian but"; we've been over that stuff and it remains terrible. Let's keep the thread for more specific updates on current events.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:46 AM on June 19, 2018 [6 favorites]


Following the Wikipedia links:

Trump administration family separation policy links to Casa Padre, one of the holding facilities, which is administered by Southwest Key Programs, a nonprofit which has received $310 million in grants in the current federal fiscal year. Not all of that is due to the recent family separation policy.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:46 AM on June 19, 2018 [4 favorites]


It is starting to look like the Nazi label is begging to stick and sting.

This is your occasional reminder that back during the George W. Bush administration, Jonah Goldberg wrote a book called Liberal Fascism trying to claim that it's liberals who are the real fascists (yes, he went in part with the lame and discredited "Nazis had "socialist" in their name" argument). If memory serves me correctly, he claimed that part of his motivation was that he was tired of conservatives being called fascists. And here we are.
posted by Gelatin at 7:48 AM on June 19, 2018 [23 favorites]


There's a Catholic Charities facility in my area that has taken some in--they're already part of the foster care system. I mean, they're complicit, no doubt, but they are at least not laughing at crying children, and presumably giving them some hugs?

I don't think it's a good idea to protest at Catholic Charities, etc. The alternative caregivers for these kids are worse.

For what it's worth, the foster care program for unaccompanied minors is managed, as far as I can tell, by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. If any MeFites feel moved to sign up as foster families for kids who would otherwise end up in the fifth bunk in a Casa Padre cubical, you can sign up as a foster family through USCCB here.

The US Catholic Bishops are on the right side of this issue.
"Our government has the discretion in our laws to ensure that young children are not separated from their parents and exposed to irreparable harm and trauma," he said. "Families are the foundational element of our society and they must be able to stay together.

"Separating babies from their mothers is not the answer and is immoral," Blansfield said.

After the statement was read, Cardinal DiNardo asked the crowd of bishops: "Brothers, do I have your support for this statement?" Applause rang out.
The Catholic Church is a world-wide group of about a billion people, so if course it has internal politics of its own. Many if not most of these immigrants are themselves Catholic. But so is Steve Bannon. When the DACA fight was grabbing public attention, this is what Bannon said...
Former White House chief strategist Steven Bannon said the Catholic Church's support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, is economically driven and owes to the church's struggle to fill pews.

"To come to grips with the problems in the church, they need illegal aliens. They need illegal aliens to fill the churches. It's obvious on the face of it," Bannon said in a "60 Minutes" interview that aired in full Sunday night. "They have an economic interest in unlimited immigration."
I wrote a post about the culture war within the Catholic church in a another megathread back in early 2017, for what it's worth.
posted by OnceUponATime at 7:50 AM on June 19, 2018 [22 favorites]


Regarding the nytimes audio. I just listened to the podcast where their journalists paraphrase Stephen Miller's position. It is roughly that the administration is the true humanitarians because their policy discourages people from putting children in danger by crossing the border with them. Also Stephen Miller is also concerned about "permanent family separation" i. e. Undocumented immigrants killing citizens.

In my opinion, the White House doesn't want that audio played because Stephen Miller likely sounds ghoulish, illogical and combative to the journalists. Remember how bad he was on This Week, I have to imagine he is worse in print interview.
posted by mmascolino at 7:51 AM on June 19, 2018 [19 favorites]


Casa Padre, one of the holding facilities, which is administered by Southwest Key Programs, a nonprofit which has received $310 million in grants in the current federal fiscal year.

Which reminds me -- part of the entire reason for the DACA program, and among the reason it wasn't unconstitutional or illegal, thank you very much, was that Congress doesn't appropriate enough money to deport every undocumented person, so the Executive obviously has to prioritize who they do round up and deport. Has Congress actually appropriated the money to run this operation, or does is just come out of the massive black budget known as the "Department of Homeland Security"?

Controlling the purse strings via the House of Representatives is yet another reason these midterms are so vital. Democrats can, should, and must refuse to fund Trump's forays into fascism.
posted by Gelatin at 7:53 AM on June 19, 2018 [9 favorites]


@realDonaldTrump
Democrats are the problem. They don’t care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13. They can’t win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters!


He sees the children as an infestation. He will kill them if given enough time.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:53 AM on June 19, 2018 [86 favorites]


Yeah, I see nothing "complicit" about the usual shelters/charities taking in refugee children and keeping them in a basically safe/supportive, non-cage environment. Unless you mean the part where, as part of receiving the children, someone has meet with camp guards face to face and doesn't kick them in the groin or something.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:54 AM on June 19, 2018 [7 favorites]


The Notorious SRD: Probably because Evangelical attitudes towards Catholics are, let's say, less than ecumenical.

InTheYear2017: It certainly doesn't help matters. But something tells me they'd do the same thing if migrants were 100% Exactly Right Kind Of Protestant.


Actually, a lot of these migrants are evangelical christians. I sometimes help out in a migrant shelter in Monterrey, Mexico, and a lot of the people who have been passing through lately (almost 90% I'd say) are evangelical folks from Guatemala and Honduras fleeing violence in their country.
posted by Omon Ra at 7:54 AM on June 19, 2018 [18 favorites]


Josh Robin from NY1News reports on Twitter that per Steven Wagner (Acting Assistant Secretary, Administration for Children and Families), child immigrants are being held in facilities in NY and NJ, but he can't yet determine where (except one Catholic-affiliated facility).
posted by anastasiav at 8:00 AM on June 19, 2018 [7 favorites]


He sees the children as an infestation. He will kill them if given enough time.
@Hal_Duncan
This is full-on bugfuck fascist agitprop: "My political opponents, hitherto so seemingly bourgeois & wedded to respectability it's embarrassing, in fact want nothing less than for criminal hordes to overrun our country in a diabolic plan to increase their voting base."
He is really not giving a fuck anymore, is he? "The Democrats are all 9-foot-tall monsters with posionous fangs who want nothing more than to DESTROY AMERICA by letting in foreign people who are ALL MURDERERS AND RAPISTS and we need to TORTURE CHILDREN to force the Demon-crats to allow us to build a wall to keep them all out!!! In conclusion: no collusion."
posted by PontifexPrimus at 8:03 AM on June 19, 2018 [61 favorites]


Small piece of good news:
RICHMOND, Va. — In a majority six to one vote, the Richmond Public School board voted Monday night to change the name of J.E.B. Stuart Elementary to Barack Obama Elementary School

Barack Obama Elementary school was chosen from a total of seven finalists.

Earlier this year the Richmond School Board voted 8-1 to rename the Northside school that honored the Confederate general.
I'm not actually in favor of naming stuff for living people, but it's a lot better than a racist traitor.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:05 AM on June 19, 2018 [71 favorites]


Trump (or more likely Dan Scavino at this hour) posted on Twitter: "We must always arrest people coming into our Country illegally. Of the 12,000 children, 10,000 are being sent by their parents on a very dangerous trip, and only 2000 are with their parents, many of whom have tried to enter our Country illegally on numerous occasions."

MSNBC's Chris Hayes: Since the president is lying about this, I'll reiterate that we obtained internal CBP documents that show that ****91%**** of parents whose kids are taken away are being prosecuted for misdemeanor FIRST TIME entry.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:07 AM on June 19, 2018 [88 favorites]


I grew up Catholic. I have little doubt that many of the rosaries and Bibles they are throwing away have sentimental value -- enough for these migrants to choose to bring it among the scant few possessions they took along. Confirmation presents, gifts from relatives, family heirlooms, what have you

I'm completely sleep deprived right now but this strikes me as a terrible stupid intersection between two recent topics.

1. The administration's ridiculous claim that families should be separated because there is no documentation establishing that these are parents and children traveling together.

2. That woman who was requested to give documentation of her birth in the US, including such items as baptism records or family bibles


So, uh, maybe that "non-essential personal property" could help document some things? Not that anyone involved in the claim for documentation likely cares.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 8:08 AM on June 19, 2018 [35 favorites]


only 2000

2000 kidnappings-for-ransom times 20 years merits only 40,000 years in prison.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:09 AM on June 19, 2018 [23 favorites]


Wait wait wait, something just occurred to me. Trump, for all his "destroy everything Obama did", has his administration claiming "No no, this policy was Obama's". Now, normally, under Trump's MO, he'd dismantle it by the simple fact that Obama did it. The fact that he hasn't tells us everything we need to know (As if we didn't already) about their motives

So, disingenuous as the "but Obama was doing it too" already is, it is REALLY extra special terrible reasoning.
posted by Twain Device at 8:11 AM on June 19, 2018 [16 favorites]


@nbcpolitics
NEW: Sen. Hatch tells @NBCNews that he is circulating a letter for Republican and Democrat Senators to sign calling for AG sessions to apply a moratorium on family separations at the border until Congress can act - @frankthorp

Having worked his whole life for evil shit to happen this particular evil shit is making him uncomfortable and he doesn’t want his name on it. God forbid he actually do anything meaningful about it though. Pathetic.
posted by Artw at 8:14 AM on June 19, 2018 [17 favorites]


I'm from downstate IL. My extended family are all United Methodists. My Grandmother was quite active in the church, and taught Sunday School for something like 30 years. I find myself in the position of #notallchristians every once in awhile (I'm Jewish now), and was really unhappy to learn this morning that Jeff Sessions is a Methodist. But also quite happy to learn that many said Methodists are unhappy with his words and actions. So I decided what the hell, and I called up the old ancestral church in my hometown, thinking to leave a message but actually getting though to the minister (pastor? minister?). Now, I don't know anything, like ANYTHING about scripture or christianity or methodism, but I told him that I am often embarrassed at the seemingly hypocritical positions the followers of the Jesus often take, and that I have him on the phone because I wanted to do SOMETHING, ANYTHING to get this shit to stop, and that I wanted my $10 of lifetime offerings to the his church to go towards giving Jefferson the boot. He heard me out, seemed to be understanding, and indicated that the boot was a process and not swift and hard per se. He seemed to agree that using Romans 13 was bad.

He then explained to me that it's God who appoints the leaders. Is that not a complete abdication of responsibility?
posted by everythings_interrelated at 8:16 AM on June 19, 2018 [16 favorites]


My four kids are ages nearly-four to ten. The same age range as the kids in the facility where ProPublica taped. I have them drawing pictures of our family today, which we will be delivering along with my letter to the office of our worthless senator, the chair of the Homeland Security committee. He has of course made no statements, asked no public questions, called for no hearings. Does not appear to consider this issue his responsibility in any way.

I'm legitimately stunned by their inability to even account for these children.
posted by gerstle at 8:16 AM on June 19, 2018 [11 favorites]




Trigger warning for child abuse I suppose, I suppose we've reached the point where damn near everything is because fuck this timeline...

Partial transcript (any errors are my own) from the video link above detailing an employee's experience in the camp he was working in, emphasis mine but taken from video as best I can:

Host: "Talk about the moment that so disturbed you. Describe the scene."

Antar: It was pretty much a day of, of being shown a very uncompassionate organization claiming to be a humanitarian non profit. The children were separated from their mother, um, and, and the next day they, at two in the morning, I believe it was, they left a facility in Texas. They arrived at the Tuscon facility at 9:30 in the morning, having not have slept the entire night. They were showered, fed. Um, they went through the intake process. My shift started at 1:30. So I was eventually able to start talking to them.

Initially, he understood... because no one spoke Portuguese and there's a phone translation service but it does not work very well. The oldest brother, as soon as I started speaking Portuguese, burst out crying and he explained to me that he thought his mom had disappeared. In Brazil when the government tells you that someone has 'disappeared' it has a very different connotation than it does here. That it essentially means they are dead. I had affirm to him first that his mom was not in fact dead, and then basically proceed to try and explain to him with no clear answers where his mom was, what kind of facility. We had no idea, the case managers had no idea.

After that I was told to supervise them in a classroom, it was a brother who was 16, his sister who was 10, and their younger brother who was 8 along with a 5 year old Guatemalan girl who came with them from Texas and had made friends with the sister. They had begun asking me, this was about 4 in the afternoon, they had begun asking me to sleep... in a bed. They were very tired. They hadn't had sleep all night. They had just been separated from their mom. And I requested, I requested from the management if I could get beds for them so that they could sleep. They told me negative. Didn't even really give me a reason. And, essentially, I was forced to, huh, offer to sweep the floor to make a space for them to sleep on the floor. To which I felt, uh, extremely disgusted... and that was only the beginning.

So after having asked them to sleep on the floor and sweeping the floor... I went on to teach my chapqueta (sic?) class, which I had been doing at Southwest Key. Then later on in the evening it was not until 8 o'clock until the kids were assigned rooms.

In Spanish and English they were trying to explain to the kids that they were all going to be separated: the brother, all three of the siblings in separate rooms. They responded to this by basically clinging to each other and crying. I was called on the radio and I was told, over the radio, "Antar, come over here, you need to tell them they cannot hug. They can't hug." So I said, 'Ya'know I don't know that I'm going to do that but I'm on my way.' So I arrived to the scene and the three siblings were clutching each other for dear life, tears streaming down their face. I approach the brother and say in Portuguese and say "Bro, you gotta be strong." and he turns to me with tears streaming down his face and says "How? How can I be strong? Look at my brother. Look at my sister. They're trying to separate us again."

And I didn't know. I just put my head down and didn't know what to say to him. And at that moment a shift leader ran....

Host (interrupting): "Antar, how old are these children?"

Antar: "These kids, the oldest brother was 16, the sister was 10, and the younger brother was 8". So at that moment the shift leader ran up to me and very aggressively told me "Diles que no pueden abrazar! Tell them that they can't hug." Now this is also in front of other children, other employees, who are watching this. So she screams at me to tell them not to hug, that they aren't allowed to hug. That's the rule at Southwest Key.

Meanwhile, I'm looking at these kids, it's the two little, the two little siblings, just ya'know *gestures a hugging motion* thinking they're gonna be ripped now from their brother's arms. The brother crying, because he can't do anything necessarily.

And I told her, at that point when she told me to do that, I told her, "I'm sorry, but as a human being that's not something I can do. You're welcome to do it yourself." To which she replied, first that she would report me to a supervisor and then she went directly to them and said "Diles que no pueden abrazar. You're not allowed to hug." And he looks at me with tears streaming down my face in utter disbelief that that would happen and it was at that moment that I realized that if I were to continue with Southwest Key, at least here in this facility, that I'd be told to be do things that were against, what I'm now seeing from across the world, are against the code of all human's morality.

I tried to make internal change. I contacted a regional director. I noticed that it wasn't going anywhere after 3 or 4 days. I requested my time off stating that I needed to process these very impactful and traumatizing events. I was denied after 2 days and at that point was when I handed in my resignation as a conscientious objector to the route and the direction that the organization was taking.

posted by RolandOfEld at 8:21 AM on June 19, 2018 [126 favorites]


I don't know how else to do this, so I copied and pasted from my Daily Actions e-mail from Indivisible Chicago.
Action 1: Condemn Companies Aiding Family Separation

Thanks to Shannon Coulter at Grab Your Wallet and Sleeping Giants, we now know the names of two contractors that are coordinating Trump’s child prison camps: MVM Inc. and General Dynamics

It’s time to make these folks work for their paycheck and make our voices heard. Here is the contact info for their PR teams. Send them polite, but firm emails that their support for these child prison camps is intolerable and immoral.

lryan@generaldynamics.com
Carol.Smith@gd-ms.com
DDuBard@nassco.com
david.hench@gdbiw.com
Mark.Meudt@gdit.com
porterr@gdls.com
rafael.moreno@gdels.com
heidi.fedak@gulfstream.com
heinz.aebi@jetaviation.ch
laurie.vanbrocklin@gd-ots.com
dbarrett@gdeb.com

Email template:

Hello,

It has come to my attention that your business is holding immigrant children in jails.

They are children and asylum seekers. They should not be separated from their parents and they shouldn't be in concentration camps.

Please ask your leadership to back out of this contract as there is no way to justify this.

Thanks,

[You]
posted by W Grant at 8:21 AM on June 19, 2018 [55 favorites]


The WaPo has some optimistic horserace coverage, Doubling down on hard-line immigration politics is riskier for Trump than he seems to realize:
There’s just one problem: There’s little indication that immigration is the winner that Miller and apparently Trump think it is.

We can start with that family-separation policy. It’s deeply unpopular, with two-thirds of Americans opposing it. But a CNN-SSRS poll revealed something remarkable: Even a quarter of those who approve of the job Trump is doing as president disapprove of the family separation effort.

More broadly, voters tell pollsters that Trump’s immigration positions are political detriments, not winners. Miller claims “90-10” support for Trump’s positions. NBC-Wall Street Journal polling shows that support for Trump’s immigration policies inclines about half of voters to oppose a candidate. Six in 10 told CBS News that they opposed the centerpiece of Trump’s immigration policies, building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump’s approval ratings on immigration are lower than his overall approval and his approval on the economy among every partisan group.
posted by peeedro at 8:29 AM on June 19, 2018 [17 favorites]


Email template:

I copied the contact list into a new gmail message's To: field, with "Subject: It has come to my attention that your business is holding immigrant children in jails." and the text of the above template and hit send. Took less than a minute. /. effect the bastards mail servers.
posted by mikelieman at 8:30 AM on June 19, 2018 [12 favorites]


What does General Dynamics- an "aerospace and defense company"- have to do with these programs!? Does anyone know the direct link? I'm sure it won't make me feel any better, but it's shady enough already.
posted by Krazor at 8:33 AM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


DHS: Nielsen hasn't visited child detention center since family separation policy

She's going to try and claim that her ignorance-via-indifferent-negligence excused what happened under her watch. It didn't work at Nuremberg and it shouldn't work for her.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:36 AM on June 19, 2018 [65 favorites]


GD is effectively a holding company for a lot of unrelated businesses. I don't think you're going to achieve much by sending messages to people who work in subsidiaries that aren't working on these camps.

Disclaimer: I am a former employee. In 4 years of working for one of their subsidiaries, I had absolutely zero contact with the parent organization. Nor did my boss. Nor did my boss's boss. I don't know how far up you'd actually need to go to be involved in the parent organization (which could make a difference).

The fact that the company is tied up in shady shit like this was definitely a big reason for leaving, but I'd argue that it's disingenuous to think of them as a single company, particularly if you're targeting their workers... By the same logic, you could start looking at public companies that have problematic owners/shareholders, which is going to be an endless and fruitless rabbit-hole.
posted by schmod at 8:41 AM on June 19, 2018 [8 favorites]


@realDonaldTrump
Join me tomorrow in Duluth, Minnesota for a #MAGA Rally!


If there are a couple hundred people in MN willing to block a few highways then that's a primo opportunity to throw some bodies onto the gears of the ol' machine.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:42 AM on June 19, 2018 [61 favorites]


Fixed for accuracy.

In light of the sensitive nature of this thread could we not "fix" posts that people have made in good faith? It's pointlessly antagonistic.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 8:42 AM on June 19, 2018 [20 favorites]




I think the thing that is truly terrifying about Trump using the word "infest" is that Zyklon B was originally a pesticide.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:45 AM on June 19, 2018 [17 favorites]


AP: Verizon is pledging to stop sales through intermediaries of data that pinpoints the location of mobile phones to outside companies, the Associated Press has learned.

It is the first major U.S. wireless carrier to step back from a business practice that has drawn criticism for endangering privacy. The data has allowed outsiders to track wireless devices without their owners’ knowledge or consent.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:46 AM on June 19, 2018 [39 favorites]


In my family, my generation is the first in four generations that hasn't used pick-up-and-go to deal with Bad Stuff. My great-grandmother fled into the hills when the Japanese came, taking not just her own young children, but those of her students who would go with her, because she was a school administrator and otherwise, those children would have nowhere to go.

A decade later, her daughter fled the Communists, leading her toddler daughter by hand, with her mother-in-law in a wheelbarrow because her feet were bound and she could just about manage a hundred steps as a post-dinner constitutional.

Two decades after that, my parents were economic migrants, going first to Canada, then to the US, where my dad ended up taking a good, professional job that could have gone to a white American, but he impressed the interviewers and secured a middle-class life for himself and his family.

And lo and behold, just about forty years later, their daughter is sitting at her white collar job wearing a nice white collar dress with a cashmere sweater even though it's 90 degrees outside because ugh, office air conditioning -- and I'm looking at a photo of a woman, kneeling in the dirt while armed men stand around and make sure she doesn't grab her daughter and run off into the darkness, because she and her kid will be separated in the coming hours, and she can't do a fucking thing except prepare her child to be ripped away from her.

But for the grace of time and circumstance, that woman's story is my story. I have a child just that age.

I donated $150 to RAICES yesterday. It isn't enough.
posted by joyceanmachine at 8:46 AM on June 19, 2018 [126 favorites]


What does General Dynamics- an "aerospace and defense company"- have to do with these programs!?

There's a lot of stuff that goes into "defense company" that you might not expect -- logistical stuff that includes food preparation, construction material that includes chain-link fencing, basic soldier's kit stuff that includes sleeping bags, etc. etc. The "defense contractor" that I worked for in Iraq started in ordnance disposal, moved into security, branched out into logistics, and within two years, our highest-profit line item was the Red Bull vending machine in an Iraqi police academy.
posted by Etrigan at 8:49 AM on June 19, 2018 [15 favorites]


Here is the contact info for their PR teams.
GD is effectively a holding company for a lot of unrelated businesses. I don't think you're going to achieve much by sending messages to people who work in subsidiaries that aren't working on these camps.
I do believe those are the Public Relations teams for the parent companies, not any subsidiary. There is no better way to effect change/get a response than to tie the parent company to the awful business of a subsidiary, distant or otherwise.
posted by W Grant at 8:50 AM on June 19, 2018 [9 favorites]


A few tips for sending emails that will be successful in defeating spam blockers:

- Send each new message as its own thread with a new subject line. Don't reply to previous emails.
- Don't send blasts to multiple recipients on one email. Send one individual email per email address.
- Use a standard font with no special characters or colors, if possible. Avoid using caps excessively. Avoid expletives.
- Do not attach anything or use images in the body of the message.
- If you normally have a signature that is automatically appended to the end of a message, make sure to delete it and type up a brief one, consisting of just your name.
- Don't send links, or even URLs, if you can help it.
- Wait at least 72 hours before emailing the same address.
- Use an extremely basic and ambiguous subject line that is two words or longer, ex: "Quick Question" "Thoughts on This?" "Need Review"
- If you really want to sell the idea, get yourself a domain to email from that looks like an official company.
- Don't turn on read receipts
posted by Krazor at 8:51 AM on June 19, 2018 [30 favorites]


Not even kidding:
Department of State @StateDept
Happening soon! Join our colleagues from @TravelGov for a Facebook Live event at 10:00 a.m. ET to ask your questions about traveling with kids and to hear their tips to make traveling with the whole family easier. http://ow.ly/EiGc30kytJo 9:52 AM - 19 Jun 2018
I bet that went well.
posted by anastasiav at 8:53 AM on June 19, 2018 [58 favorites]


@W Grant, I sent this email because of you. Thank you for the information and template.
posted by samthemander at 8:54 AM on June 19, 2018 [7 favorites]


I worked for a nonprofit (not in that program) who has a unaccompanied youth residential in the last 15 years, pretty sure it still exists .And, those kids 1) came here alone, by themselves 2)were older but still minors in the US 3) had a goal of having a full time fluent staff member in all languages spoken by the kids 4) had lots of programs focused on independence, ESL, successful immigration 5) provided them with legal assistance. The goal was to keep these youth where they wanted to be and provide them with resources and skills to do just that.

There was alot of acknowledgement that these teenagers who'd been working and living lives in their home countries were suddenly told you are a kid and how confusing that was.

I worry how this non profit is swept up in the new policies, people who are social workers and lawyers trying to do good, treat these kids with respect and such. Part of me is absolutely furious they haven't released a statement about how they will not take grants or continue this program. Or how they won't take kids who are seperated, just unaccompanied. I haven't seen a peep. But if they close, where are the these kids going to go?

The infrastructure has popped up overnight without people who have NO institutional memory of what it used to be, not that it was good, but that it was atleast aimed at helping youth reach goals of living in America.

This has to stop. It should have never started.

It is not a crime to try and find a better, safer life for your family. There is no reason to take children from their parents.

We know that jailing one parent is incredibly detrimental to US citizen children , and in most cases they still live with a biological parent, and if not that a family member they already know. They have visitation. They can communicate. We know that foster care, even when it is unquestionably the safest option, is still traumatizing and that attachment is incredibly valuable and important. That's when kids are in their own country, in their own hometowns, with their schools and people who speak their language. It causes harm.

The criminals are the people who take these kids, not the parents who want a better life for them.
posted by AlexiaSky at 8:55 AM on June 19, 2018 [24 favorites]




Former ICE Director: Some migrant family separations are permanent

"Permanent separation. It happens," said John Sandweg, who served as acting director of ICE under the Obama administration from 2013-2014. [...] "You could easily end up in a situation where the gap between a parent's deportation and a child's deportation is years," Sandweg said.

What's being done now will be forever.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:06 AM on June 19, 2018 [47 favorites]


George P. Bush's mother wasn't a U.S. citizen when he was born. Are they going to deport him to Mexico too?
posted by elsietheeel at 9:17 AM on June 19, 2018 [16 favorites]




I would be willing to bet the girls are being forced to care for the toddlers, if no one is allowed to touch them.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:20 AM on June 19, 2018 [15 favorites]


Incidentally, the Daily Beast gives unwarranted column inches to Team Trump's favorite mercenary: Erik Prince: I ‘Cooperated’ With Mueller—The Trumpworld insider is under scrutiny for his alleged backchanneling with Russia, his work for China, and his plans for Afghanistan. He defends it all in a new interview. (Daily Beast)

While Prince offers detailed positions about China, Afghanistan, Iran, he stonewalls his way through all questions related to Mueller's investigation—although he seems eager to assert he's cooperating. "I certainly understand the intense interest in the investigation and certainly some of the wild-eyed reporting in the media. I have spoken voluntarily to Congress and I also cooperated with the special counsel. I have plenty of opinions about the various investigations but there’s no question some people are taking it seriously and I think it’s best to keep my opinion on that to myself for now. All I will add is that much of the reporting about me in the media is inaccurate, and I am confident that when the investigators have finished their work, we will be able to put these distractions to the side." Which is hilariously hypocritical since it looks like he lied under oath in his congressional testimony.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:21 AM on June 19, 2018 [13 favorites]


"It happens" is the worst lie.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 9:21 AM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


W Grant: "It’s time to make these folks work for their paycheck and make our voices heard. Here is the contact info for their PR teams. Send them polite, but firm emails that their support for these child prison camps is intolerable and immoral."

I'm really conflicted about this sort of action. Does anyone think there is a transition plan in place if GD says "This gig isn't worth it; we're out of here Friday."?
posted by Mitheral at 9:21 AM on June 19, 2018


I suspect that the girls and small children are being kept away from the cameras because the administration is calculating that those images would be more polarizing.

Showing only preteen boys allows them to flood the discourse with messages and images about how these kids are criminals and gang members waiting to happen.
posted by murphy slaw at 9:23 AM on June 19, 2018 [94 favorites]


Trump threatening government shutdown in September if he doesn't get border wall funding.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:24 AM on June 19, 2018 [14 favorites]


I'm really conflicted about this sort of action. Does anyone think there is a transition plan in place if GD says "This gig isn't worth it; we're out of here Friday."?

Maybe I'm a simple person and/or missing something here but I find it quite straightforward to hope that companies, or any single given company, would say "Fuck this, I'm out." to being party to what's happening. I lack the vernacular or eloquence to put it succinctly but it's not too far removed from the idea, and actuality, that I turned down mechanical engineering jobs where I'd be drilling oil or designing missiles.

It's the simple fact that folks (and companies) continue to grease the wheels of the machine that's perpetuating these atrocities such that other individuals feel morally bound to throw themselves between said wheels/gears in hopes of, eventually, bringing said atrocity to an end.

I don't know, I know there's a debate to be had as to what's ideal or morally right here but fuck if I'm smart enough to get beyond that stage of enlightenment on this one.
posted by RolandOfEld at 9:28 AM on June 19, 2018 [4 favorites]


Trump threatening government shutdown in September if he doesn't get border wall funding.

Good. Sample script for calling your reps: "Dear [representative]: Fuck the government. Shut it down and gum up the works and every time a microphone is put in front of you, only say 'WE DO NOT NEGOTIATE WITH KIDNAPPERS AND TERRORISTS.' "
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:29 AM on June 19, 2018 [47 favorites]


Forgive me if this is a naively dumb question, but why are we not simply turning these people away and sending them back home?
posted by joeyjoejoejr at 9:29 AM on June 19, 2018 [3 favorites]


why are we not simply turning these people away and sending them back home?

Because that's what used to be the protocol, and Sessions has announced "zero tolerance", which means federal prosecution for what is basically just a misdemeanor.
posted by suelac at 9:31 AM on June 19, 2018 [16 favorites]



Forgive me if this is a naively dumb question, but why are we not simply turning these people away and sending them back home?
posted by joeyjoejoejr at 12:29 PM on June 19 [+] [!]


Every action taken by the admin that seems unnecessarily cruel is because it is unnecessarily cruel. The point is unnecessary performative cruelty against those seen as "the enemies" of America.
posted by runcibleshaw at 9:32 AM on June 19, 2018 [44 favorites]


Forgive me if this is a naively dumb question, but why are we not simply turning these people away and sending them back home?

For one thing, under US law, refugees have a right to apply for asylum. It's legal and does not make them "illegal immigrants."

(But the Trump Administration is turning them away from legal ports of entry, so some of them cross illegally -- after which they can still apply for asylum, but the Trump Administration is instead arresting them.)
posted by Gelatin at 9:32 AM on June 19, 2018 [40 favorites]


W Grant: "It’s time to make these folks work for their paycheck and make our voices heard. Here is the contact info for their PR teams. Send them polite, but firm emails that their support for these child prison camps is intolerable and immoral."

I'm really conflicted about this sort of action. Does anyone think there is a transition plan in place if GD says "This gig isn't worth it; we're out of here Friday."?
posted by Mitheral at 9:21 AM on June 19 [+] [!]


They aren't leaving until their contracts are finished. Shining light on them may get them to say they will not renew their contracts. Shining light on them may get them to care more about the objects of their contracts (children in concentration camps) and less concerned about their profits. Shining light on them may get them to use their political influence, which is likely quite powerful influence, to help end the policy. These companies give a lot of money to political campaigns and to lobbyists.
posted by W Grant at 9:37 AM on June 19, 2018 [7 favorites]


Shining light on them may eventually result in a law making it illegal for a private organization, for-profit or otherwise, to run a prison or detention center, for any reason.

The government has the authority to imprison people. Only the government should be responsible for running the prisons.
posted by Gelatin at 9:40 AM on June 19, 2018 [23 favorites]


AP's Ken Thomas @KThomasDC this morning: ‘WH trade adviser Peter Navarro on #China: "This is a trade dispute, nothing more, nothing less. President Trump has a great relationship with President Xi."’

Bloomberg this noon: Stocks Decline, Bonds Rally as Trade Fears Build—Tough trade talk is nothing new for investors this year, but a sense that stress is ratcheting up between the U.S. and China is taking a toll. "The S&P 500 sank the most in three weeks with industrial companies hit hardest after President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on another $200 billion of Chinese goods, and the Asian nation pledged retaliation. The gauge bottomed at 2,743, bouncing off a level closely watched by some technical analysts. [...] Stocks fell across Europe and Asia, where Chinese shares plunged after reopening following a holiday."

But Trump thinks he can make a deal to fix all this on the basis of a handshake and a smile with Xi…
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:41 AM on June 19, 2018 [3 favorites]


Trump threatening government shutdown in September if he doesn't get border wall funding

Have we reached the point where the harm this would cause is less than the harm they're causing?
posted by Quindar Beep at 9:43 AM on June 19, 2018 [11 favorites]


Have we reached the point where the harm this would cause is less than the harm they're causing?

The Department of Homeland Security's budget is no doubt considered "essential," and the concentration camps are run under DHS, so they will continue on their merry way until Congress defunds them or the ACLU or someone wins a habrus corpus suit.

Though I hope the media remembers is reminded of this advance threat when Trump tries to blame the Democrats for any budgetary crisis in September.
posted by Gelatin at 9:45 AM on June 19, 2018 [10 favorites]


If, like me, you're trying to explain this mess to people who haven't been paying attention (or pay attention only to Fox), I've found this to be the best combination of clearly written and comprehensive explanation of what's happening. Includes a great bullet point list of the existing laws and why they don't require Trump & Co. to do what they're doing. The facts about Trump's policy of separating families at the border.
posted by martin q blank at 9:45 AM on June 19, 2018 [22 favorites]


WH trade adviser Peter Navarro on #China: "This is a trade dispute, nothing more, nothing less.

Hey, that's how the Clone Wars started.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:45 AM on June 19, 2018 [48 favorites]


Detention camps will continue to function in a government shutdown, I promise.
posted by EarBucket at 9:46 AM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


"It was an act of purest optimism to have posed the question in the first place," I suppose.
posted by Quindar Beep at 9:47 AM on June 19, 2018 [5 favorites]


I'm hearing reports that the WH is 'reviewing its policy'. Is there anything in this, friends in the USA?
posted by Myeral at 9:48 AM on June 19, 2018


Electorally speaking, I assume that a September shutdown, with just two months to midterms, would only hurt Republicans and help Democrats, unless I'm very mistaken. Democrats have every reason to remain firm on not funding a single brick, and in addition to basic decency, they can point out Trump's constant refrain that Mexico would pay.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:49 AM on June 19, 2018 [27 favorites]


I'm hearing reports that the WH is 'reviewing its policy'. Is there anything in this, friends in the USA?

You'll know when we know, my friend.
posted by saturday_morning at 9:50 AM on June 19, 2018


Detention camps will continue to function in a government shutdown, I promise.

Paying ICE agents, arresting more people... yes. They'll continue to fund that.

Operating the existing camps, providing power, security, food.... That's what most of us are worried about.

The people in charge notoriously do not like paying for things. People are expensive to keep alive.

I'm scared, y'all.
posted by schmod at 9:50 AM on June 19, 2018 [6 favorites]


Article appears to be partway a puff peice for the Cruz bill, which is worthless.
posted by Artw at 9:50 AM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


"It was an act of purest optimism to have posed the question in the first place," I suppose.

It may be an act of purest optimism on my part, but I predict the Republicans, desperate to hold onto their Congressional majorities, would not welcome another Republican government shutdown scarcely a month before the midterm elections. No doubt Trump will try to use it to rally his base, but I doubt a government shutdown would really benefit the Republicans, and as I indicated earlier, his own words will make it hard to pain the Democrats as at fault. And I doubt that trying it and backing down would endear Trump to his base either.
posted by Gelatin at 9:52 AM on June 19, 2018


I'm 50/50 on 'Trump not understanding how things work' and 'Trump framing himself as the aggrieved party to generate media attention.'

Usually it's both.
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:52 AM on June 19, 2018 [5 favorites]


Democrats have every reason to remain firm on not funding a single brick

Agreed, but I also think we'll need to keep up the pressure on some of the, hrm, more wishy-washy folks like Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer

It's amazing just how bad Chuck is at this stuff.
posted by Existential Dread at 9:52 AM on June 19, 2018 [6 favorites]


After yesterdays "giving no fucks" Gutless Wonder speech outside chambers, I'm all in for Mazie Hirono as the next Senate Majority Leader.
posted by Sophie1 at 9:57 AM on June 19, 2018 [36 favorites]


How exactly does a government shutdown come from a President?
posted by Harry Caul at 9:57 AM on June 19, 2018


@ddale8: Trump accuses the media of helping traffickers of children in some unknown way: "They are fake. They are helping these traffickers and these smugglers like nobody would believe. They know it."
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:59 AM on June 19, 2018 [9 favorites]


How exactly does a government shutdown come from a President?

He doesn't sign a budget until baby gets what he wants.
posted by Sophie1 at 10:00 AM on June 19, 2018 [8 favorites]


How exactly does a government shutdown come from a President?

He vetoes the requisite spending bill.
posted by Gelatin at 10:00 AM on June 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


How exactly does a government shutdown come from a President?

By refusing to sign any budget passed without a veto-proof majority, I assume.
posted by suelac at 10:00 AM on June 19, 2018 [3 favorites]


Jane Coaston, Vox: Stephen Miller believes in controversy as political strategy, even if it means jailing children ... But it’s starting to fail with conservatives.
To understand what the Trump administration is thinking about separating families and locking kids up at the border, you have to understand Stephen Miller’s foundational political belief: It’s better to stir controversy, at any price, than it is to engage constructively.

The architect of Donald Trump’s immigration policy and the White House’s resident troll, the 32-year-old White House senior policy adviser believes it’s good to “trigger the libs,” so to speak, with “the purpose of enlightenment.” To Miller, working constructively across the aisle isn’t as useful as “melting snowflakes.”
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:00 AM on June 19, 2018 [11 favorites]


Trump Administration Lying About Separation Policy (WaPo via Politicalwire because paywall)

WaPo - “Our analysis finds the doublespeak coming from President Trump and top administration officials on this issue is breathtaking, not only because of the sheer audacity of these claims but also because they keep being repeated without evidence.”

“Immigrant families are being separated at the border not because of Democrats and not because some law forces this result, as Trump insists. They’re being separated because the Trump administration, under its zero-tolerance policy, is choosing to prosecute border-crossing adults for any offenses.”


Well we're past the "lying" in the headline now, at least. Yay.
posted by petebest at 10:01 AM on June 19, 2018 [54 favorites]


Some good contacts at General Dynamics to make your feelings heard:

investorrelations@generaldynamics.com

Investor Relations: 703-876-3559

Just lie and say that you're an investor and that you're disappointed that GD has had a hand in this as it's certainly bad news for your investment. (As of this morning at 11:47, GD shares are down $-3.06)

General Dynamics Corporate: 703-876-3000

Beyond that, I would honestly bypass the PR person. It's their job to field these kinds of inquiries and they already have or will soon develop a focused plan of dealing with these kinds of contacts. What will begin to bother them is you calling or emailing senior management so that they can't get work done. Even wasting their support staff's time trying to deflect your call or email is going to make an impact. Do that instead of walking your outrage into the hands of the person whose job it is to spit out a byline and send you along.

They say on their site that they're committed to "good corporate governance," so it's only fair that you ask that they put their money where their mouth is.

List of high-level GD executives

The CEO of the company is former CIA intelligence officer and DOD employee (really) Phebe Novakovic. She's already been frustrated by the Trump administration, (not morally, of course, that's asking too much of the business world, but it has been bad for business), so there's a chance that direct pressure applied to her may hold some sway.

What's difficult is that crackpot conspiracy theorists (think: people who believe in secret government mind control satellites) have gotten hold of her email address in the past, so it doesn't follow the normal conventions of firstinitiallastname@generaldynamics.com. The ones I found online are phebe.novakovic@generaldynamics.com and pnovakov@generaldynamics.com. One, both or neither may be legit. Calling is not likely to work. If you want to talk to the CEO, presumably you would not call the main corporate line as you would have her # already.

Instead, try to get Howard Rubel, head of investor relations on the horn:

hrubel@generaldynamics.com

(Call either the investor relations line or the main one)

Say in a relaxed, natural voice, kind of like s/he's your friend. Speak the whole line at once, but not fast. Don't wait for the person on the other end to really challenge you. You can be firm without being an asshole:

"Hey, this is (your name, first and last), I've been trying to get ahold of (person you're trying to contact's first name ONLY) today- is s/he in the office, did you know?"

Them: "Yeah, s/he's in, I'll transfer you"

You: "Thanks"

Them: "No, s/he's not in, can I take a message?"

You: "Sure, just let her/him know I called whenever s/he gets back in. S/he'll know what it's about. My number is (X)."

You may also ask if you can leave a voicemail.

If they ask why you're calling, answer every question shortly and ambiguously, but not evasively. You can begin to even become annoyed, but don't wander into hostility. Remember, you're only impatient. Never miss a chance to make it seem like you misinterpreted the questions. They do't get paid enough and they want to be rid of you, but they also don't want to let crazy people through, otherwise they'll get in trouble. As soon as you answer, ask a follow up question of your own. Repeat until you get transferred or at least get a message through. If things are really going south:

"Hey, I'm sorry this is taking longer than I expected, I have to go. Can you just let her/him know I called? My number is (X). Sorry, thanks!"

The secret is that it doesn't matter who you talk to, as long as they're pretty high up the food chain. They'll all talk to each other. Whether it's Information Technology systems' EVP Dan Johnson (djohnson@generaldynamics.com) or SVP Amy Gilliland (agilliland@generaldynamics.com), whom I'd wager are already under appreciated and have a lot on their plates, or Greg Gallopoulos (ggallopoulos@generaldynamics.com), SVP General Counsel and Secretary who, I'm more than certain, already has his hands full juggling the legality of all sorts of shady stuff, or Elizabeth Schmid (eschmid@generaldynamics.com), head of government relations who I'm sure is tearing her hair out daily dealing with the deep, systematic dysfunction of trying to do literally anything and getting a straight answer from Capitol Hill, or Bob Helm (rhelm@generaldynamics.com), SVP Planning and Development who will ultimately have to figure out a fresh direction forward for the company once everything goes to shit, or even Kim A. Kuryea, SVP HR and Administration who will likely have to deal with at least a couple of resignations and probably a lot of other internal unpleasantness once GD's complicity in all of this comes to light to the wider public. Rest assured, even low level people will feel the effects of this, and it will fall to her and her team to sort out the pieces.

Whoever you get, once they answer the phone, all you have to do is say why you really called. The trick is that no matter your feelings on the subject, speak calmly and directly without using harsh language so that they don't immediately hang up. Like a hostage negotiator, the idea is to keep them talking. Avoid confrontational language like "concentration camps." As tempting as it may be to say what they obviously are, use the language that they're comfortable with. The goal, in an ideal world, would be to convert someone who isn't fully aware of what their company is doing and get them to apply pressure towards having nothing to do with these camps. Make them see that it's more trouble than it's worth. On the other end of the spectrum, if they can be provoked into proving they're evil, saying something truly awful about the situation, you go straight to the media. ("Senior VP of General Dynamics believes immigrants are getting better treatment than they're worth, and stands behind company policy wholeheartedly") Whatever you do, REMEMBER- threatening, violent, or otherwise abusive language will help NOBODY in this situation. If you don't think you can hold to this, save yourself the exasperation and don't call or email. Remain calm and keep the bigger picture in mind.
posted by Krazor at 10:01 AM on June 19, 2018 [84 favorites]


Second GOP governor pulls National Guard resources from border:

@GovLarryHogan: Until this policy of separating children from their families has been rescinded, Maryland will not deploy any National Guard resources to the border. Earlier this morning, I ordered our 4 crewmembers & helicopter to immediately return from where they were stationed in New Mexico.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:03 AM on June 19, 2018 [88 favorites]


"They are fake. They are helping these traffickers and these smugglers like nobody would believe. They know it."

Throwing the reddest of meats to the Pizzagate/QAnon demographic.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:04 AM on June 19, 2018 [27 favorites]


Oh man. So aside from all the horror and grief and anger, I’m realizing that the other effect of this past week has been to...dehumanize Republicans.

Like I can feel it—it’s shifted. I didn’t know I still had hope for Trumpists as people until suddenly I didn’t anymore. I just feel disgust, and contempt. And what worries me is that the sense I’m getting is that I’m not the only one on the left who’s experiencing that shift. Is this how they’ve always felt about us?

I don’t know how a country moves forward when people feel like this about each other.

What the hell do we do?
posted by schadenfrau at 10:08 AM on June 19, 2018 [58 favorites]


From John Cornyn's facebook page. Hm.

The Trump Administration has made a decision to enforce all of our laws by prosecuting adults in criminal court when they're apprehended crossing our borders illegally. I support that approach.

Because of numerous federal court decisions, settlements, and statutes, an adult can be separated from a child as part of the legal process as it plays out. That way, children are placed in a separate, safer setting. I doubt many of us would want a child to go to a jail cell where somebody is being held for illegally entering the country.

As the New York Times stated this weekend, there is no expressed Trump Administration policy stating that illegal border crossers must be separated from their children.

We have to keep family members together and prevent unnecessary hardship, stress, and outrage. The good news is we have it within our power to find a better way because parents who are awaiting court proceedings shouldn't have to do so separated from their children, and children shouldn't be taken from their parents and left frightened and confused about where they are and what is transpiring around them.

I plan to introduce a bill to mitigate the problem of family separation while improving the immigration court process for unaccompanied children and families apprehended at the border. To the greatest extent possible, families presenting at ports of entry or apprehended crossing the border illegally will be kept together while waiting for their court hearings, which will be expedited.

I would ask our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to take a hard look at this bill and to work together to find a reasonable solution for this component of the crisis at our border.

posted by emjaybee at 10:08 AM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


The temptation is there to finally get a Vanguard margin account and short the living fuck out of GD.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:09 AM on June 19, 2018 [9 favorites]


@ddale8: Trump accuses the media of helping traffickers of children in some unknown way: "They are fake. They are helping these traffickers and these smugglers like nobody would believe. They know it."

The Toronto Star's Daniel Dale is live-tweeting Trump's speech to the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and that's just one example of the bat-shittery Trump's spouting. He sounds utterly unhinged, "ranting wildly about immigration" in Dale's words, but he's getting a lot of applause when he throws red meat to his audience.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:10 AM on June 19, 2018 [11 favorites]


Krazor, that was an amazing post. Thank you
posted by mabelstreet at 10:12 AM on June 19, 2018 [8 favorites]


A friend is trying to find people who can speak Mayan languages such as Mam, Tz'utujil, or Kaqchikel. There are multiple mothers separated from their children, detained in Denver, who are in desperate need of translator services (which can be done by phone). DM me if you happen to know of anyone.
posted by Sophie1 at 10:13 AM on June 19, 2018 [39 favorites]


Last thing, I found a template that could be adapted to be useful in emailing companies or government about this matter:

Dear X,

I am a concerned investor of General Dynamics. I have an investment portfolio which for many years has included shares in General Dynamics.

However, since the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons now prohibits the development, testing, production, manufacture, possession and stockpiling of nuclear weapons, I am asking you to discontinue your work on nuclear weapons without delay, to bring General Dynamics into compliance with this new treaty.

This means, specifically:

- Renouncing all future contracts that relate to the Trident D5 missile system or any other nuclear weapon system
- Re-deploying and re-directing your nuclear weapons-related facilities, infrastructure and workforce to meet the challenges of climate change.
- Lobbying the federal government and members of Congress to end the US nuclear weapons program and to invest instead in the technologies that will address climate change.

Your support will be crucial to the success of worldwide efforts to abolish nuclear weapons. I hope that you will assist rather than impede efforts to eliminate this ultimate threat to our future. It will protect your company from the impact this Treaty will have on your business worldwide, as more and more countries sign, ratify and implement this Treaty. And will protect your company from the inevitable impact this Treaty will have on your line of business when the US government is finally forced to sign the Treaty itself.

In the meantime, I want my investments to help secure my well-being and that of my family, not undermine it. Unless you can reassure me that you will no longer be a nuclear weapons producer, I intend to move my investments elsewhere.

I look forward to your response to these concerns and will be happy to share it with others around the world who have similar concerns.

Yours sincerely,

(X)

-------

It's a good exercise in tone. Direct, polite, personal, specific, and brief. We may not all be financial investors of a specific company, but we are (mostly) tax payers. And we all have a vested interest in making sure America does not become (more) of a hell-hole of human rights abuses, and maintains healthy international relationships.
posted by Krazor at 10:14 AM on June 19, 2018 [13 favorites]


@ddale8
The president alleges that "professional lawyers" are giving asylum-seekers false stories to recite to judges. (Obviously, he's not providing evidence for anything.)


Dale forgot to put the triple parentheses around "professional lawyers."
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:14 AM on June 19, 2018 [34 favorites]


joeyjoejoejr: Forgive me if this is a naively dumb question, but why are we not simply turning these people away and sending them back home?

Lots of answers given, but there's something that didn't get spelled out in full, which I myself wasn't clear about until just now. The parents have been sentenced to imprisonment after being found guilty of a crime. This was always a possibility in any given case of border-crossing, by the principle that the crosser violated the law. But lenience was typical, especially if the migrant had children. Jeff Sessions changed it because he has jurisdiction over all the immigration courts.

Apart from prison/jail time (I don't know how long a maximum sentence can be), there's a 20-day window for decisions to be made about any given person after their initial apprehension. So assuming a judge never decided to administer punishment, then after 20 days they'd be granted asylum or, more likely, deported.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 10:29 AM on June 19, 2018 [12 favorites]


ABC News, Luis Martinez: "Using Trump's term, Pentagon suspends plans for 'wargame' with South Korea"

The cancellation is official.
posted by jedicus at 10:31 AM on June 19, 2018 [10 favorites]


> Oh man. So aside from all the horror and grief and anger, I’m realizing that the other effect of this past week has been to...dehumanize Republicans. [...] I don’t know how a country moves forward when people feel like this about each other. What the hell do we do?

My goal is to stop short of dehumanizing them by understanding that the vicious and selfish impulses that have led them to support the GOP's (and Trump's) policies are very much human impulses. Humans are kind of awful. The rule of law is in part designed to put guard rails around us and keep that awfulness in check, but it doesn't neutralize those impulses.

I'll let my observation of those impulses influence how much time I choose to spend among Trump supporters and Republicans, and I might even throttle back the amount of effort I devote to trying to change their minds if it's clear that they're not listening to reason, but I will try to keep an open enough mind to reestablish a dialogue if and when they realize the immense harm their ideology has caused. Such a relationship will never be the same afterwards as it was before, but it was their choice to support the Nazi President and his Nazi-enabling party, not mine.

Just last night, my wife was on Facebook, and saw an exchange between a college friend of mine and his wife, who have gone full Trumper in recent years. His wife was wishing him a happy birthday with some kind of Trump meme gif, and he responded with another Trump meme gif, and how much of an honor it was to receive wishes from a great President or something like that. I don't know if she ended up unfriending them as I suggested she ought to, but I do feel that there's a tension between wanting to keep lines of communication open and a need for self-care, and the point at which two well-educated Jewish parents are openly celebrating a neo-Nazi President who's rounding up children and putting them in camps... well, that's a time where politeness and wanting to be open to a dialogue takes a back seat to preserving one's own dignity and sanity. They're still human, but they've surrendered to the worst of human impulses, and for that, they deserve whatever scorn and ridicule they receive.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:32 AM on June 19, 2018 [38 favorites]


The Toronto Star's Daniel Dale is live-tweeting Trump's speech to the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and that's just one example of the bat-shittery Trump's spouting. He sounds utterly unhinged, "ranting wildly about immigration" in Dale's words, but he's getting a lot of applause when he throws red meat to his audience.

The fact that the red meat Trump is throwing his base is cruel immigration policy indicates that public perception wise, the Republican tax cut is a massive flop.
posted by Gelatin at 10:33 AM on June 19, 2018 [24 favorites]


vicious and selfish impulses

Don't forget ignorance and peer pressure. Those are, I think, the most powerful forces influencing Trump supporters.
posted by OnceUponATime at 10:34 AM on June 19, 2018 [3 favorites]


Is this how they’ve always felt about us?

Yes.
posted by jgirl at 10:35 AM on June 19, 2018 [29 favorites]


Humans are kind of awful.

As if on cue, one more gobbet of red meat at his speech: Trump, beaming, the light right on his face, hugged a flag while "You Can't Always Get What You Want" played in the background.

This is what his base is here for: the eternal spectacle of cruel triumph. There's no making amends with that, or communicating with it, or "understanding" it in any empathic or non-clinical sense. It's absolutely within the normal range of human behavior, but it's not in the normal behavioral range of people.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:39 AM on June 19, 2018 [56 favorites]


Don't forget ignorance and peer pressure.

Don't forget the ignorance is a direct result of corporate news failing to state the obvious.

The Obvious.
posted by petebest at 10:42 AM on June 19, 2018 [13 favorites]


The fact that the red meat Trump is throwing his base is cruel immigration policy indicates that public perception wise, the Republican tax cut is a massive flop.

Trump took a little time to address it in his speech. Dale reports, "For the 10th time, Trump falsely claims: "Not since Ronald Reagan have they done any major tax-cutting." Forget about Obama and Clinton - he keeps writing the George W. Bush tax cuts out of history." and "Trump is telling his usual completely fictional long story about how nobody after Reagan could ever pass tax cuts until he, branding genius, decided to call them tax cuts, rather than tax "reform," which nobody understands."

It's clearly awkward for him to dwell on the topic when the promised economic gains haven't materialized and the stock market is falling thanks to his protectionist trade policies even as he speaks. Instead, in a strange effort to conclude on a high note, he promises his business audience, "You will soon have the Space Force, because that's where it's at. Space. That's where it's at."
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:42 AM on June 19, 2018 [21 favorites]


Mark Knoller tweet: "Pres ends speech to @NFIB Conference and hugs flag."

Literally. Via TPM
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:48 AM on June 19, 2018 [7 favorites]


Sen. Ted Cruz introduces 'emergency' bill to keep immigrant families together, slams Dems' proposal

Cruz's bill is meant to be a poison pill so he can claim to be in favor of keeping families together while not actually supporting any bill designed to accomplish that. Especially not one written by Democrats.
posted by scalefree at 10:51 AM on June 19, 2018 [23 favorites]




I found this Politico article instrumental in explaining Trump supporters. They are not the "white working class" - they are, for the most part, well-off, older people who want America to be like some all-white Mayberry fantasy land - which did not exist even in their youth, but never mind that.

It's like they can't deal with anything outside their well-padded playroom for adults. Migrant children aren't their grandchildren, therefore they are not deserving. Migrant mothers aren't their daughters, therefore...etc. When you cross white fragility (PDF) with authoritarianism you get Trump supporters. They want Trump (and the police, ICE, etc. etc.) to get rid of the "menaces" to what they think of as their country.

Trump supporters feel threatened and fearful. I just can't feel sorry for them at all because the poor kids and parents in concentration camps must feel a million times more afraid and with an actual reason. I just wish I knew what to do to get through to people who feel threatened and fearful enough to vote for a sociopath and hurt actual small children because they are scaaaaared. Valium in the water supply? EMDR for everyone? I do know the best most immediate solution is to stand behind the Democrats who are protecting the children and vote more of them in this November.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 10:51 AM on June 19, 2018 [52 favorites]


joeyjoejoejr: Forgive me if this is a naively dumb question, but why are we not simply turning these people away and sending them back home?

On that note: Before W.Bush (and then Obama) most people who crossed the border without documentation were just...sent back. No prosecution, no fingerprinting, and no real records kept.

Both (late period) W. and Obama kept records and fingerprinted people, and prosecuted border crossers rather than just turning them back. This is what leads to the jump in deportation statistics under Obama - he didn't deport more than average, but he did tolerate the expansion of the judicial apparatus, which is what led us where we are now.

When considering Obama and deportation, I think it's important to take the larger point, which is that when you expand the judicial apparatus you're paving the path for worse to come. It's like not calling the police unless it is a really serious matter - don't expand the judicial apparatus unless it's to solve a grave, dangerous problem. Obama did not per se seek to increase the number of individuals forced back across the border - he just made it more dangerous, unpleasant and carceral to be undocumented, and that was a definite way station to where we are today.
posted by Frowner at 10:55 AM on June 19, 2018 [56 favorites]


One thing to bear in mind is that population movements are real, inevitable, and on the increase. In the US, there is really only the Southern Border where this is felt. Europe feels it much more acutely, and there is no pleasure in knowing that the laid back European life is obtained in part by a cruel policy of exclusion. People are literally impaling themselves on the fences of Ceuta and Melilla to get the miserable deal that is asylum. Walls have already gone up. The problem is a human problem that knows no boundaries, and nobody knows how to really act as if we shared one planet. If we could even get to the stage where we acknowledge that it is Our problem and not "their" problem, we might inch forward. Nobody has an answer, but we are not yet in a place where we could grope towards one.
posted by stonepharisee at 10:56 AM on June 19, 2018 [30 favorites]


I found this Politico article instrumental in explaining Trump supporters.
“We’re proud to be deplorables. We’re proud to have a president who gets things done and doesn’t take any crap,” said Louise Kneisley, a 69-year-old Villager from Rock Hill, S.C. “All Obama did was play golf.” When I pointed out that Trump plays more golf than Obama did, she didn’t miss a beat: “OK, but then he goes to work!”

Kneisley and her boyfriend, 78-year-old former Marine Joe Campbell, believe Obama dragged America into a virtual state of anarchy. Even though crime rates have been dropping for decades, they carry .380 Berettas when they leave The Villages in case they encounter carjackers. “Damn right—it’s dangerous out there,” Campbell says. And even though the population of undocumented immigrants did not increase under Obama, Campbell is sure they’ve been pouring across the border: “We need the wall, because a lot of them are rapists and killers — and the ones that aren’t, I’m tired of paying for them.”
I can't even with these ignorant hypocritical motherfuckers.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:08 AM on June 19, 2018 [89 favorites]


Secret recording of weeping children begging for their parents while a Border Patrol official mocks them

One of Philip K. Dick's inspirations to write "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" came when he had read a Nazi journal in which an SS officer complained about not being able to sleep because the crying of the children in the concentration camps kept him awake. Instead of empathizing with the suffering of the children, the officer only saw them as a nuisance that disturbed his sleep.

Luckily it seems Border Patrol agents have better soundproofing in their quarters these days.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:15 AM on June 19, 2018 [65 favorites]


there is no pleasure in knowing that the laid back European life is obtained in part by a cruel policy of exclusion.

Hmm. A wonderful, vibrant society, the existence of which is believed to depend on a child continuing to suffer? Sounds like The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.

I dunno. If you'd have asked me a couple of years ago if I were for "open borders" or "one world government" I'd've said "That's ridiculous. No one is actually in favor of that stuff. That's just a silly right wing caricature."

But you know what? Planes, trains, and automobiles exist. People and goods (and diseases and weapons) move all over the world. The international banking system exists. Money moves all over the world. The internet exists. Information moves all over the world. Climate change is real -- the effects of pollution are felt all over the world. All of this means that things which happen on the other side of the world these days can very much affect me. And I'm starting to think that means I want some say in those matters that affect me. Which means I'm much more in favor than I used to be of, if not "one world government," then at least international bodies like the UN and the EU having some actual enforcement powers, and being fairly representative of their member nations. Some kind of federalism with a couple of levels beyond "national government" would probably be okay with me, actually.

Timothy Snyder talks in his books about how recent the idea of a "nation state" is anyway (it used to be all empires) and how nation states have never really existed independent of international bodies, which are needed to stabilize them. So lets make those international bodies stronger, better, more democratic.

And this thing where money and pollution can cross borders but people cannot... I mean, that's just a recipe for exploitation. The money goes to tax havens, where the people aren't allowed to go. There are no "people havens." So maybe I am in favor of open borders, or at least, a lot more open than we have now.

Jeez, I dunno. Maybe Trump is in some way radicalizing me. I don't want to take up arms or anything. But I sure am open to some more extreme "globalist" positions than I used to be.
posted by OnceUponATime at 11:16 AM on June 19, 2018 [59 favorites]


Kate Riga, TPM: Caputo Pulls 180, Admits That He Did Contact A Russian During Campaign

I think we need to stop listing Trump affiliates who have had Russian contacts, and start listing those that haven't. It'd be a lot easier.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:17 AM on June 19, 2018 [22 favorites]


It continues to be the case, even recently, that when I call for radically open borders, almost everyone in my peer group -- right, center, and left -- will explain how impossible that would be, how destabilizing, how destructive to jobs and institutions, how I clearly don't understand how immigration works, and how my privilege allows to me to make such a misguided claim since I have an elite job that is unlikely to be hurt by the destabilization. Ie, they make fancier, bipartisan versions of the usual Republican arguments for tight borders. Polarization has shifted the overton window rightward for Republicans and leftward for Democrats, but even then, few leaders on the left ever publicly argue for radically open borders allowing in millions.
posted by chortly at 11:17 AM on June 19, 2018 [11 favorites]




And this thing where money and pollution can cross borders but people cannot... I mean, that's just a recipe for exploitation.

I've said it before, but while one may well disagree with Marx's proposed solutions, his critique of capitalism was spot on.
posted by Gelatin at 11:20 AM on June 19, 2018 [21 favorites]


emjaybee: From John Cornyn's facebook page -- "The Trump Administration has made a decision to enforce all of our laws by prosecuting adults in criminal court when they're apprehended crossing our borders illegally. I support that approach."

So you're in support of ratcheting up prosecutions for misdemeanors? I think it would be a better use of taxpayer funds to go after serious criminals, not people looking for asylum.


chortly: Polarization has shifted the overton window rightward for Republicans and leftward for Democrats, but even then, few leaders on the left ever publicly argue for radically open borders allowing in millions.

On a coldly pragmatic level, I can't imagine that locking up people for extended periods for misdemeanors and taking their children from them is cheaper than a drastically more open immigration policy. My bold, socialist vision is to take funding from these concentration camps and making affordable housing for these new immigrants.

Oh, and this is a reminder that Paul Ryan wants you to have more (white) babies -- “This is going to be the new economic challenge for America: people. Baby boomers are retiring—I did my part, but we need to have higher birth rates in this country,” Ryan told reporters (YT) on Dec. 14, 2017.
”We have something like a 90 percent increase in the retirement population of America, but only a 19 percent increase in the working population in American,” he said. “So what do we have to do? Be smarter, more efficient, more technology—still gonna need more people.”

Ryan is not wrong about declining fertility rates in America. The United States birth rate has been on the downfall for years and hit an all-time low in June, according to The New York Times (Google search to bypass pageview limits; direct link to NYT). It fell 1 percent from last year, to 62 births per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 to 44.

The declining numbers are said to be associated with the decrease of births for teenagers and 20-year-olds. The birth rate for women having children in their 30s and 40s has increased, but not enough to compensate for the age group of 15 to 29—Ryan wants to change this.
CONSERVATIVES KNOW WE NEED MORE WORKERS but they're scared of losing white dominance or "losing their culture" racist.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:27 AM on June 19, 2018 [35 favorites]


In case you were wondering why Saturday Night Live has been so toothless when it comes to substantive satirical critiques of the trump administration:

Michael Che (SNL co-head writer) Wants You To Know He Feels Bad For Sarah Huckabee Sanders
Michael Che, who has a history of targeting women who criticize him, would like you to know that Sarah Huckabee Sanders has no choice but to serve as the mouthpiece of an administration tearing children away from their parents, much as a Verizon customer service technician has no choice but to speak for Verizon [...]

Michael Che, who once said it’s not his job to know—and that he doesn’t care—if Donald Trump is a racist, would like you to know it’s really just so cruel how everyone treats Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who last week said it’s “very biblical” to cage refugee children [...]

Michael Che, who will host the 2018 Emmys with Colin Jost, would like you to know that lying on behalf of Donald Trump is no different than providing accused criminals with the due process to which they are Constitutionally entitled [...]
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:27 AM on June 19, 2018 [29 favorites]


I saw two things on twitter this week that really clarified Trump voters for me. One says that it's chilling what atrocities white people will accept if they believe it's only happening because people won't follow the rules. The other is a thread about how vicious evangelicals will be to their own children when they step out of line.

Combine an obsession with being right and white supremacy, and voila, Trump voters.
posted by Mavri at 11:33 AM on June 19, 2018 [31 favorites]


Michael Che (SNL co-head writer) Wants You To Know He Feels Bad For Sarah Huckabee Sanders
...
Sarah Huckabee Sanders has no choice but to serve as the mouthpiece of an administration tearing children away from their parents, much as a Verizon customer service technician has no choice but to speak for Verizon [...]


Other press secretaries have served the president without resorting to out and out lies and espousing despicable ideologies out loud. So, no, Michael Che, she's not like the Verizon customer service technician. She's more like Joseph Goebbels, if you're really looking for a good analogy.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:33 AM on June 19, 2018 [34 favorites]


Good on a local politician: New Mexico state rep. joins border shelter protests (KRQE, June 19, 2018)
New Mexicans are speaking out, some even joining in on protests outside of a border shelter, including New Mexico state representative Bill McCamley.

"This can't be who we are as Americans. It just can't," said Camley.

McCamley joined hundreds of families marching along a rural road in Tornillo, Texas, just more than an hour south of Las Cruces.

The temporary shelter there is reportedly housing children in cages and the images are going viral.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:34 AM on June 19, 2018 [30 favorites]




"This can't be who we are as Americans. It just can't," said Camley.

Hate to break it to you, but this is who we are.
posted by Sphinx at 11:37 AM on June 19, 2018 [13 favorites]


The Toronto Star's Daniel Dale is live-tweeting Trump's speech to the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and that's just one example of the bat-shittery Trump's spouting. He sounds utterly unhinged, "ranting wildly about immigration" in Dale's words, but he's getting a lot of applause when he throws red meat to his audience.

@matthewamiller: I'm used to Trump saying this kind of stuff. The fact that a room full of small businessmen convened by an established DC trade association cheered him for it was chilling.
posted by zombieflanders at 11:39 AM on June 19, 2018 [36 favorites]




Wish I was in downtown Portland instead of going to work :(
posted by gucci mane at 11:46 AM on June 19, 2018 [7 favorites]


Well yeah, Trump’s base is the worst people we can create, small business tyrants from the suburbs - usually older, al,ost always white, and probably sitting on some inherited wealth or assets.
posted by The Whelk at 11:46 AM on June 19, 2018 [18 favorites]


The weirdest thing in Trump's speech, via Daniel Dale:
!!! Trump claims that Canadians come into the United States, buy products, and "smuggle" them back into Canada because Canada's tariffs are so high...for example, that they buy shoes in the U.S., wear them, and "scuff 'em up" to make them look plausibly old at the border.
"Canada's not going to take advantage of the United States, any longer," Trump says.
Canadians, please let me know if you've ever crossed the border to buy shoes and made them all dirty before going home so Canadian customs wouldn't notice that you're a smuggler
If you click through and scroll down, you can find great admissions of smuggling by various Canadians ("I did, but at the border they asked if I was a smuggler, and being Canadian I had to answer honestly"). Of course, none of this makes any sense. Shoes sold in America are, by in large, not made here, but if Canadians want to come to the US, shop in our stores, pay US sales tax, and then evade Canadian taxes to bring them home, I'm not understanding why that takes advantage of the US or why that would be a problem the President of the United States would be concerned about. I would think that would be behavior the National Federation of Independent Businesses, representatives of independent shoe stores across the land, would want to encourage, in fact.
posted by zachlipton at 11:50 AM on June 19, 2018 [48 favorites]




Gov Northam has just recalled VA National Guard & Helicopter crew from border to protest the family separation policy.
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 11:56 AM on June 19, 2018 [47 favorites]


Well we're past the "lying" in the headline now, at least. Yay.

Nope, sorry. Headline now reads: "The facts about Trump’s policy of separating families at the border."
posted by Behemoth at 11:56 AM on June 19, 2018 [7 favorites]


Hate to break it to you, but this is who we are.

This is who some of us are, and it is terrifying that things have aligned for that particular American slice to get a president. But I don't think this is who most of us are, e.g. 538: Separating families at the border is really unpopular

I remember in 2016, I felt frantic, crazy, trying to get anyone I could to help try to defeat Trump. But I truly think that the outrage at this man and the recognition of the good being done by those fighting him is growing and growing, and I think we will see some of that in 2018 and we will see a lot of it in 2020, and I think the hard work being done by organizers now could bear fruit in real, country-changing policy just within a few short years on immigration, on gun control, on environmental policy, on health care, on income inequality.

I am sickened by the actions of this administration and their supporters, but I don't think those actions will go unanswered.
posted by tarshish bound at 11:56 AM on June 19, 2018 [30 favorites]


The shoes-for-Canada thing was, ironically, made pointless by NAFTA (source: was a kid in the seventies in Montreal and it was cheaper to cross-border shop for shoes, if you happened to be down there).
posted by Quindar Beep at 11:59 AM on June 19, 2018 [4 favorites]


Interesting opinion from Lee Drutman of New America in The New York Times: The Best Way to Fix Gerrymandering Is to Make It Useless
Today’s congressional map is more biased in favor of Republicans than it has been in over 100 years, in good part because of gerrymandering. (Geography also plays an important role: Democrats simply waste a lot of votes by concentrating in cities.)

Reformers could certainly try again next year, perhaps finding new approaches to avoid the shoals of standing. But a better approach would be to revamp the antiquated electoral institution that makes elaborate districting schemes both possible and so profitable in the first place — the single-member district. Increase the size of districts (and use ranked-choice voting to improve proportionality) and the predictability of results declines, making gerrymandering far less effective.

It’s a truism across nations — the larger the size of the electoral district, the less effort expanded on gerrymandering. This is a primary reason that the United States is the world leader in gerrymandering: It is one of only a handful of advanced democracies that still use single-member plurality-winner districts.

It’s not just that single-member districts make gerrymandering easier. They also make the stakes higher. The polarized two-party system of today is largely a product of our single-member, plurality-winner districts, which render votes for third parties “wasted” and discourage the formation of alternative parties.

posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:02 PM on June 19, 2018 [22 favorites]


A rare exception to the "everything that comes out of Rudy's mouth is completely useless and should not be repeated" rule is when he's discussing his own involvement in a criminal conspiracy, Rudy Giuliani Says FBI Questioned Him On Leaks That Hurt Clinton Campaign
Rudy Giuliani says FBI agents interviewed him in his room at the Trump International Hotel earlier this year regarding his 2016 remarks predicting a “surprise” in the closing days of the presidential race that would benefit then-Republican nominee Donald Trump.

“That’s all they asked about. What was I talking about in terms of ‘surprise’?” Giuliani told HuffPost Tuesday. “What was I talking about when I was talking about new information?”
...
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), a member of the Trump transition team, recently admitted that FBI officials gave him inside information about the Clinton investigation in September, 2016. And FBI and Justice Department officials have long suspected that disgruntled anti-Clinton forces in the FBI’s New York field office were feeding Giuliani and James Kallstrom, the pro-Trump former head of that office, information that hurt the Clinton campaign.

Giuliani told HuffPost that he spoke with Kallstrom as well as one other former FBI official he would not identify.

But Giuliani said he told the FBI agents who interviewed him that he had neither inside knowledge of the Clinton probe’s status nor advance warning of Comey’s Oct. 28 announcement. He was merely speculating that FBI agents were so upset by Comey’s earlier decision not to charge the Democratic nominee with any crimes that they would “revolt,” either by leaking damaging information about her or by resigning en masse.

“Did I get any leaks from the FBI? I said no,” Giuliani said, adding that the “surprise” that he promised in 2016 was a 20-minute national television ad he was urging Trump to buy to deliver a speech “hitting very hard on the Comey decision.”
How much do we want to bet that Giuliani is stupid enough to lie to the FBI? Do we really think it's likely that Nunes (who had all sorts of connections to the campaign) got a tip about Weiner's laptop, but nobody else connected to the campaign heard about it?
posted by zachlipton at 12:03 PM on June 19, 2018 [20 favorites]


Guatemalan woman sues Trump admin over alleged separation from son while seeking asylum

A Guatemalan woman is suing the Trump administration, claiming that her son was taken from her at the border while she was seeking asylum. MSNBC reported on Tuesday that the woman’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday, alleges that federal officials took her 7-year-old son from her at the border last month. The lawsuit comes amid a major outcry over the administration's “zero tolerance” policy, which has resulted in thousands of children being separated from their parents after being detained at the border. (Developing)

posted by Rust Moranis at 12:10 PM on June 19, 2018 [40 favorites]


That article doesn't state whether she ever got her son back...
posted by saturday_morning at 12:13 PM on June 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


Casa Padre, one of the holding facilities, which is administered by Southwest Key Programs, a nonprofit which has received $310 million in grants in the current federal fiscal year.

We now have multiple sources who say that the $1.5 million/year CEO of Southwest Key traveled around to their various facilities to press low-wage workers to donate $240/each back to the non-profit to care for the kids the government is paying them to take care of.

Also, this Doug Mills photo of Melania is amazing
posted by zachlipton at 12:16 PM on June 19, 2018 [17 favorites]


I don't really understand the mechanics of what the op-ed on gerrymandering entails, or whether it would provide better representation of the views of the electorate. Does anyone have any better details?
posted by runcibleshaw at 12:16 PM on June 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


Well yeah, Trump’s base is the worst people we can create, small business tyrants from the suburbs - usually older, al,ost always white, and probably sitting on some inherited wealth or assets.

Or who have made their own money through a combination of luck, being a dick, and exploiting/ripping off others. People whose fragility is in part thinking everyone is trying to steal their 'hard-earned', because that's how they got it.

That the Petite Bourgeois of small business owners and precariously well-off were the primary backbone of Fascism was a point Erich Fromm made quite strongly in his analysis of the Nazis of his era (IIRC in The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness [PDF, full book, 7M]).

It's been a long while since I've read it, but seems like it's increasingly relevant. Particularly as the Frankfurt School are the bogeymen that keep the 'intellectual' dark web up at night (presumably because they haven't actually ever talked to any people on the left from this century).
posted by Buntix at 12:17 PM on June 19, 2018 [17 favorites]


NFIB's online member directory was working fine 30 minutes ago, but it looks like they pulled it down because all you get now is a 404 error.

Their partner list (providing discounts to NFIB members) is still live, however.

Hoping Sleeping Giants gets on this straight away.
posted by zakur at 12:17 PM on June 19, 2018 [14 favorites]


> The Toronto Star's Daniel Dale is live-tweeting Trump's speech to the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and that's just one example of the bat-shittery Trump's spouting. He sounds utterly unhinged...

The library where I work has a wall of TVs with corresponding parabolic speakers for patrons to watch; during my lunch hour I walked past them, and while I couldn't hear the audio and the subtitles were not on for the channel broadcasting this speech, I could tell by the amount of arm-waving Trump was doing, the particularly crazed expression he was sporting and his unusually deep shade of orange that it was, even by his standards, Some Hitler Bullshit.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:18 PM on June 19, 2018 [12 favorites]


I'm really pissed that the party of Fiscal Responsibility is setting up the U.S. government for untold billions in dollars in reparations.

On top of being pissed about everything else.
posted by yesster at 12:19 PM on June 19, 2018 [4 favorites]


Jesus, the stupid look on his face when he dry humps the flag.
posted by Artw at 12:21 PM on June 19, 2018 [8 favorites]


> "Canada's not going to take advantage of the United States, any longer,"

I, for one, will be happy to support Trump in this matter by doing as little business as possible with American companies.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:22 PM on June 19, 2018 [11 favorites]


So are a lot of us, The Card Cheat.
posted by Quindar Beep at 12:24 PM on June 19, 2018 [5 favorites]


Vanity Fair, Michael Cohen, Holding His Cards Close to the Vest, Has Hired a New Lawyer
Cohen, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, has now hired Guy Petrillo to represent him in the ongoing criminal investigation of his business dealings in the Southern District of New York. Petrillo, a New York attorney who works with clients in criminal and civil matters prosecuted by the government, served as the chief of the criminal division in the S.D.N.Y. from 2008 to 2009. According to his Web site, Petrillo handles cases involving money laundering and fraud, along with congressional and special investigations. Neither he nor Cohen immediately responded to requests for comment.

News of Cohen’s legal shake-up has inevitably fanned speculation about whether he would flip. The conjecture appeared to weigh on Donald Trump, who distanced himself from his former personal attorney when asked by reporters outside the White House last week if he thought Cohen would cooperate with the government. “I always liked Michael,” he told reporters.

The use of the past tense was not lost on those close to Cohen. These people say that Trump has been foolishly careless with how he has publicly talked about Cohen, who they believe holds all the cards in the situation. “That one line had to be the dumbest thing [Trump’s] ever said,” one person familiar with his thinking told me. And that, indeed, would be quite an accomplishment.
posted by zachlipton at 12:26 PM on June 19, 2018 [28 favorites]


"Canada's not going to take advantage of the United States, any longer,"

So: 1) We need to levy tariffs on Canada because of our trade deficit;
But also: 2) Canadians are taking advantage of Americans by buying our products.

I will pay one hundred dollars cash money to a member of the White House press corps if they ask Trump point-blank what he thinks a trade deficit is.

(Follow-up, also $100: "Can you tell me the names and ages of all your children?")
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 12:27 PM on June 19, 2018 [35 favorites]


And that, indeed, would be quite an accomplishment.

Truly how could you even quantify, it's an angels on the head of a pin question.
posted by poffin boffin at 12:27 PM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


Speaking of being Canadian, I wrote a letter to my Liberal MP. Not that I have high hopes, but if anyone wants to do the same, feel free to use it as a template.
Dear $_MP:

I am a constituent of yours in $_RIDING, writing concerning the extremely disturbing developments over the last several days at the US-Mexico border. As I am sure you are aware, American immigration officials are separating the young children of undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers from their parents, in violation of international law as well as basic human decency.

Most Canadians I know have been appropriately disgusted by this news. To quote the American Academy of Pediatrics: "Highly stressful experiences, including family separation, can cause irreparable harm to lifelong development by disrupting a child’s brain architecture ... When children are separated from their parents, it removes the buffer of a supportive adult or caregiver to help mitigate stress and protect against substantial impacts on their health that can contribute to chronic conditions like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and heart disease.” This is putting it mldly.

Of course, we do not control the internal policies of other nations, however unconscionable they may be. Nevertheless, I believe Canada's government has a role to play here, particularly because the implications of family separation are so appallingly clear in our own shameful residential school history.

I am writing to call on the federal government to step up Canada’s leadership on the global stage by doing the following:

1) Issuing a statement, preferably by Mr Trudeau himself, condemning the practice of family separation and making clear that Canada would never consider such a policy.
2) Suspending the Safe Third Country Agreement in light of the fact that the USA is no longer acting as a reliable partner.
3) Expanding Canada’s intake of immigrants from Central and South America.

I know very well that your government considers itself to be in a difficult position in relation to the current American administration, especially regarding international trade, and I imagine there is a reluctance to aggravate these tensions. But the current humanitarian crisis must completely supersede such economic considerations.

I look forward to your response to these events.

Sincerely,
saturday_morning
posted by saturday_morning at 12:31 PM on June 19, 2018 [48 favorites]


The President's current campaign manager is publicly demanding that the President fire the Attorney General.

I was talking to someone this weekend who was convinced that some level of the baby concentration camps fiasco was related to getting rid of Sessions. Which . . . um.

But I've now heard from several older, left-leaning acquaintances words to the affect that getting rid of Sessions would somehow be bad because of his recusal in the Mueller/Russia wingding, and each time I've been nonplussed.

I'm sure it's possible on some level for Sessions to be replaced with a howling demigorgon that literally eats all the babies, but I don't see them getting approved by Congress. I do not actually believe they can find someone worse than Jeff Sessions,* and the extent to which the Russians tampered with the election pales in the face of the holocaust being unleashed at the border by lil' Jeffy Fascist-pants.

*Universe: "hold my beer."
posted by aspersioncast at 12:37 PM on June 19, 2018 [11 favorites]


> "I do not actually believe they can find someone worse than Jeff Sessions"

This is one of the obvious reasons that Pruitt hasn't been fired. He doesn't need Congressional approval.
posted by kyrademon at 12:41 PM on June 19, 2018 [10 favorites]


Nationwide general strike?
posted by jgirl at 12:43 PM on June 19, 2018 [9 favorites]


the extent to which the Russians tampered with the election pales in the face of the holocaust being unleashed at the border by lil' Jeffy Fascist-pants.

Do not forget that the extent to which the Russians tampered with the election was a necessary prerequisite for the resultant human rights violations. They are all but inseparable, and should be viewed in the context of the long term Russian strategic goal to deligitimise Western politics, democracy, and the very concept of the validity of human rights law.

So, uh, I do not agree that it pales in comparison. I do not even view the two issues as easily divisible. The correct answer here is for Congress to do their job and legislate against this on an emergency basis.
posted by jaduncan at 12:43 PM on June 19, 2018 [34 favorites]


The hell of it is this new separation policy will indeed marginalize some of them so much that becoming criminals and gang members will be the only way they have any support network whenever they're eventually cut loose. And then you have a propaganda feedback loop that the next crop of fascists running the US can double down on.
A reminder that this was one of the things in post-WW1 Germany that led to Hitler: hundreds of thousands of Russian and Eastern Jews were fleeing pogroms and stranded in Germany waiting for passage to the Americas. And because of the political situation, they were denied work, housing and food. Only the most well-off could manage without resorting to some form of misdemenour or crime.
So while there had always been antisemitism in Germany, now there were actual worries to point to. No matter that the elected German government had created these problems. And the hate spread. This was before the Nazis.
I was already struggling with anxiety before the Trump election, and right now my job bizzarely involves studying my own family history. It’s tough, and hard to be optimistic these days. I hope you guys are right about the blue wave.
posted by mumimor at 12:53 PM on June 19, 2018 [23 favorites]


Well yeah, Trump’s base is the worst people we can create, small business tyrants from the suburbs - usually older, al,ost always white, and probably sitting on some inherited wealth or assets.

Since we often slide back into fairly broad generalizations about Trump supporters around here, if folks want a more detailed breakdown of the types of Trump supporters, The Five Types of Trump Voters by Emily Ekins is a nice quantitative look at the demographic information. I'm always a bit skeptical of sticking people into hard clusters since the reality is often a lot more continuous and mixed, but if we must do it, this is a good approach. The 5 types are:

• Staunch Conservatives (31%): Traditional conservatives, older, middle to upper income.
• American Preservationists (20%): Low education, low income, nativist.
• Free Marketers (25%): Libertarian, wealthier.
• Anti-elites (19%): Younger, anti-establishment, potential Obama/Sanders supporters.
• The Disengaged (5%): Younger, female, low-knowledge.

This breakdown is more along lines of belief than income, but it does show how these two things are connected: The first two categories are more traditional conservatives, the first (31%) being the richer traditional white conservative, and the second (20%) being the low-income, low-education "working white class" conservative. Then we have the less traditional conservatives: the older, wealthier libertarian types (25%) and the younger, anti-establishment types (19%), which might also include the Disengaged.

So while I have no interest in doing justice to Trump voters for their own sake, it's worth keeping in mind that the opposition is comprised of a variety of types, only half of which are relatively wealthy, while the other half is either poorer working whites, or young people who are also (like most young people these days) relatively poor. If we wanted to, the third and fourth groups would probably be the ones to target for "swing" voters, but of course I wouldn't advocate that here. But regardless, remember there are at least four types of distinct Trumpist to hate: wealthy white conservatives, poor white racists, libertarians, and young anti-establishment types. And if you want to be empirical about it, they should all be hated about equally.
posted by chortly at 12:54 PM on June 19, 2018 [24 favorites]


Yeah, but if you can take half of them out, Trump is no longer a threat.
posted by mumimor at 12:56 PM on June 19, 2018


East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94: The President's current campaign manager is publicly demanding that the President fire the Attorney General. That seems novel!
President Donald Trump’s campaign manager for the 2020 presidential election tweeted Tuesday that it’s “time to fire” Attorney General Jeff Sessions and end special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Citing the Justice Department’s inspector general report on the FBI’s handling of the Hillary Clinton investigation as “the truth to end it all,” Brad Parscale said “you can’t obstruct something that was phony against you.”
Emphasis to remind everyone that Trump has been taking money from rubes FROM DAY ONE OF HIS CURRENT PRESIDENCY, and has been making good money on that.

aspersioncast: I was talking to someone this weekend who was convinced that some level of the baby concentration camps fiasco was related to getting rid of Sessions. Which . . . um.

While Parscales' tweet is pretty clear ("Time to fire Sessions / End the Mueller investigation / You can’t obstruct something that was phony against you / The IG report gives @realDonaldTrump the truth to end it all." -- except, the IG report wasn't about Trump's collusion with Russia), but various news outlets have focused on the fact that it was Jeff Sessions who announced the "zero tolerance" policy, not the Democrats, as Trump has tried to claim in an attempt to warp reality once again.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:58 PM on June 19, 2018 [5 favorites]


> Since we often slide back into fairly broad generalizations about Trump supporters around here, if folks want a more detailed breakdown of the types of Trump supporters, The Five Types of Trump Voters by Emily Ekins is a nice quantitative look at the demographic information.

You'll forgive me if I'm not willing to uncritically accept the findings of a Cato fellow on matters of Trumpism, libertarianism, and the like, and, while I sense that your "hate them equally" comment was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, it still seems worth pointing out that some of the descriptors (e.g. nativism) deserve more hate than others (being old or "anti-elite".)
posted by tonycpsu at 1:02 PM on June 19, 2018 [17 favorites]


Emphasis to remind everyone that Trump has been taking money from rubes FROM DAY ONE OF HIS CURRENT PRESIDENCY

To be fair, he's also been taking money from non-rubes seeking preferential treatment from the Executive Branch, aka "bribes"
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:03 PM on June 19, 2018 [6 favorites]


runcibleshaw: "I don't really understand the mechanics of what the op-ed on gerrymandering entails, or whether it would provide better representation of the views of the electorate. Does anyone have any better details?"

The analysis is correct: the US Congress currently has a combination of single member geographic districts, first past the post voting, and (mostly) allowing politicians to draw district boundaries which add up to gerrymandering and its attendant problems. There are multiple ways to address this. Most reform has focused on the third point, and having some sort of non-partisan boundaries draw the boundaries. The issue here is that due to geographical sorting, Democrats are more concentrated than Republicans (the original sin here is racism). So you end up still having some imbalance between representation and popular preference.

The op-ed kind of fudges what it wants to do, but the original NYT editorial it links to addresses the other two points: moving to multi-member districts (not currently used at the Congressional level, but they were historically, and still are in many state legislatures and locally) and ranked choice voting (being experimented with on a state level in Maine, and locally in numerous places). I agree that this would both produce more "swinginess" and also ensure at least representation from each party everywhere. It would also go some way to promoting third party viability.

That's not necessarily the only way to do it - there are multiple systems out there (I'm partial to mixed member proportional myself. But I think the US is unique in having all three of those features of the electoral system, and at least two of them (FPTP, member drawn boundaries) are basically unequivocally bad.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:06 PM on June 19, 2018 [11 favorites]


Notably, the US already has multiple members per district in the form of Junior and Senior Senators for each State. Enlarged House districts could also have multiple members.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:11 PM on June 19, 2018


A friend is trying to find people who can speak Mayan languages such as Mam, Tz'utujil, or Kaqchikel.

@MariahGracex3: "i will literally never get over the fact that europeans just came over unannounced and have the audacity to deport people indigenous to this land"
posted by Buntix at 1:15 PM on June 19, 2018 [47 favorites]


You'll forgive me if I'm not willing to uncritically accept the findings of a Cato fellow on matters of Trumpism, libertarianism, and the like, and, while I sense that your "hate them equally" comment was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, it still seems worth pointing out that some of the descriptors (e.g. nativism) deserve more hate than others (being old or "anti-elite".)

Entirely tongue-in-cheek. Obviously hate is mainly about beliefs and motivations, not demographic proportions. But the more serious purpose was just to use a little data to underscore the point that Trump voters are formed in a variety of distinct ways, including education levels, income levels, beliefs about the economy, gender, racism, anti-establishment, etc. The overall point was not about how to feel about them, but about being clear that there is no single Trump type, and even the largest group -- wealthy white men -- are still a minority of the coalition.

(And re Cato, I agree about their politics, but I don't see how it would bias basic demographic statistics, which looked fine to me. But if you don't want to "uncritically accept" them, I'd be interested to see the criticism. I doubt it would change the basic finding that the Trump coalition is made up of many different groups, though.)
posted by chortly at 1:17 PM on June 19, 2018 [5 favorites]


I've suggested before that the next Democratic Congress and President should scrap as obsolete the Apportionment Act of 1911, which caps the number of representatives at 435. Instead, they should increase the number of representatives. More representatives would likely benefit high-population -- and mostly Democratic -- states, as well as affecting the Electoral College. It would also ensure members of Congress represent smaller populations, and thus could be more responsive to their communities' needs.
posted by Gelatin at 1:18 PM on June 19, 2018 [15 favorites]


East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94: "Notably, the US already has multiple members per district in the form of Junior and Senior Senators for each State. Enlarged House districts could also have multiple members."

True, but they're not elected concurrently, so it doesn't have the same effect as a normal multi-member district. If a state is, say, 55% Democrat and 45% GOP, they're going to elect a Dem senator each time (all else being equal).
posted by Chrysostom at 1:18 PM on June 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


> But if you don't want to "uncritically accept" them, I'd be interested to see the criticism.

I'm not in a position to critique the methodology without seeing more detail about it than what she divulges in the appendix, but I do know that clustering algorithms can be sensitive to / influenced by correlated variables, and that, as Ekins herself puts it, "this methodology, and market segmentation generally, is both an art and a science and the groups identified depend on the questions asked on the survey, what we think the answers mean, which manifest variables we include in the LCA analysis, and how we interpret the results." With that in mind, and given how Cato has spent decades defining racism down and minimizing the harm of the libertarian ideology's indifference to racism, I'm not inclined to trust her on the fuzzier parts of her methodology that she only provides a surface description of.
posted by tonycpsu at 1:22 PM on June 19, 2018 [4 favorites]




I was on regulations.gov today, and you can comment on ATF's proposed rule change that bump stocks (and similar items) be classified as "machineguns", and would be unlawful to own. Comment period ends June 27. Be one of the thousands to comment!
Comment Here
Docket #: ATF-2018-0002
The Department of Justice (Department) proposes to amend the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives regulations to clarify that “bump fire” stocks, slide-fire devices, and devices with certain similar characteristics (bump-stock-type devices) are “machineguns” as defined by the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) and the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA), because such devices allow a shooter of a semiautomatic firearm to initiate a continuous firing cycle with a single pull of the trigger.
...
With limited exceptions, primarily as to government agencies, the GCA makes it unlawful for any person to transfer or possess a machinegun unless it was lawfully possessed prior to the effective date of the statute. The bump-stock-type devices covered by this proposed rule were not in existence prior to the GCA's effective date, and therefore would fall within the prohibition on machineguns if this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) is implemented. Consequently, current possessors of these devices would be required to surrender them, destroy them, or otherwise render them permanently inoperable upon the effective date of the final rule.
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 1:27 PM on June 19, 2018 [11 favorites]


I’ve been thinking a lot about Ursula K. Le Guin’s short story, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.

It seems, indeed, that a lot of Americans are perfectly fine with a society built on cruelty to children, as long as they themselves get to enjoy relative comfort and prosperity.
posted by darkstar at 1:28 PM on June 19, 2018 [9 favorites]


I am on a pro-killing-the-planet mailing list (Energy Nation) that just announced that today, June 19, is the last day to comment (right column) on the Department of the Interior's plan to start drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. If you haven't commented, please do!

That comment form seems intimidatingly technical. Any idea what kind of comments would be effective, and/or how should they be formatted?

runcibleshaw, I just saw your comment and this is not my area of expertise. I suggest simply sending an email to Bureau of Land Management (blm_ak_coastalplain
_EIS@blm.gov) as listed on the government website I linked to earlier. Please note: The Trump administration has published public comments before, so consider if you are willing to see your email address and name potentially made public.

The Audubon Society has sample text for a Letter to the Editor; I have basically rewritten it but honestly, anything you want to say is probably fine.

Subject line: Comment on NOI Document
Body: Please do not open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is home to more than 200 species of birds, along with polar bears, wolves, and nearly 200,000 caribou that raise their young in the refuge. Using the budget process to open the refuge bypasses the usual legislative steps denies citizens a meaningful voice in this decision. I strongly oppose this plan. Please prevent drilling in the Arctic Refuge and protect it for the future."

More background here from Audubon.
posted by Bella Donna at 1:30 PM on June 19, 2018 [5 favorites]


The thing is, in the Omelas story, their comfort and prosperity was explicitly because of that cruelty. We don't even have that fig leaf - this cruelty does nothing except excite the bloodlust of bigots.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:30 PM on June 19, 2018 [28 favorites]


Donald Trump, the family separation crisis, and the triumph of cruelty (Vox)

Includes an interesting use of the life and thought of political theorist Dr. Judith Shklar to illuminate what’s really odious here: the cruelty.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 1:31 PM on June 19, 2018 [15 favorites]


The thing is, in the Omelas story, their comfort and prosperity was explicitly because of that cruelty. We don't even have that fig leaf - this cruelty does nothing except excite the bloodlust of bigots.

the immigrants are coming here in the first place due to the invisible cruelty of imperialism and exploitation of poor countries by rich countries. the cruelty was always there.
posted by murphy slaw at 1:33 PM on June 19, 2018 [17 favorites]


But I don't think this is who most of us are, e.g. 538: Separating families at the border is really unpopular

Words are cheap and almost meaningless. It doesn't matter if most people oppose this sort of thing if a lot of them continue to vote Republican. If you vote for and support Republicans, you support this policy. Period. This is who they are.
posted by Justinian at 1:34 PM on June 19, 2018 [37 favorites]


> The Trump administration has likely lost track of nearly 6,000 unaccompanied migrant children, thousands more than lawmakers were alerted to last month, according to a McClatchy review of federal data.

This in a country where companies pride themselves on being able to track their deliveries and inventories down to the smallest nuts and bolts.
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:46 PM on June 19, 2018 [19 favorites]


Lack of oversight is a deliberate point here.
posted by Artw at 1:50 PM on June 19, 2018 [19 favorites]


Don't worry, none of this will embolden fascists in other - oh, wait:

Matteo Salvini vowed to turn “words into action” in his drive to root out and expel thousands of nomadic Roma from Italy as he shrugged off critics who said the far-right interior minister was adopting illegal policies reminiscent of the country’s fascist past.

Salvini, who has seen a jump in his approval ratings in the little under three weeks he has been in office, has called for a new census of Roma and for all non-Italian Roma to be expelled as part of his .

He also praised on Twitter the demolition of an “illegal” house used by Roma in Turin - which had been ordered by a local council controlled by Salvini’s League party - even as he was condemned by rival politicians and a top Jewish leader.

[...]

Salvini is on record as having praised Benito Mussolini, the Italian fascist leader, and his new policy has sparked comparisons by the centre-left Democratic party to ethnic cleansing rules introduced in the late 1920s that also targeted the Roma.



As Putin-allied parties join governing coalitions in Italy and Austria, their interior ministries could give Russia a backdoor to meddle in Europe—and undermine Western security co-operation:

Salvini’s appointment as Italian interior minister is too recent to draw any conclusions from. However, the special status of interior ministries in the minds of KGB-trained personnel—who of course inhabit the Kremlin and control United Russia—suggests that every effort will be made to exploit the opportunity. The crucial question is whether or not Salvini is open to blandishments from the Lega’s Russian partners, and what leverage (if any) they possess; he may yet decide to assert his independence.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:51 PM on June 19, 2018 [15 favorites]


the extent to which the Russians tampered with the election was a necessary prerequisite for the resultant human rights violations.

That may very well be true, but is the Mueller investigation going to magically somehow fix the human rights violations? Is Sessions staying there and doubling down on this monstrosity worth allowing on the off-chance that his replacement would fire Rosenstein?

The Mueller investigation isn't going to save us.
posted by aspersioncast at 1:56 PM on June 19, 2018 [10 favorites]


The crucial question is whether or not Salvini is open to blandishments from the Lega’s Russian partners, and what leverage (if any) they possess; he may yet decide to assert his independence.

Let's face it, if you are an intelligence service you back the people you have leverage on. Why would you want to bankroll someone you hadn't at least partially compromised if there was a better option within the party you were bankrolling?
posted by jaduncan at 1:57 PM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


Texas Tribune: A facility to house undocumented children is planned for downtown Houston, but city officials don’t want it there.

“I do not want to be an enabler in this process. I do not want the city to participate in this process,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said at a press conference Tuesday, surrounded by a host of religious leaders. “The fire department has yet to inspect this facility. The health department has yet to provide a food permit or shelter permit. … If we don’t speak, if we don’t say no, then these types of policies will continue.”

Asked what power the city would have to delay or prevent the permitting from moving forward, Turner said city officials would “take the time to do our job.” “If any of these facilities require them coming to the city of Houston, we will be methodical in our approach,” Turner said.

Turner was joined by state. Sen. Sylvia Garcia, a Houston Democrat likely on her way to U.S. Congress in the fall, and several area religious leaders, who cast the debate over family separations at the border as a moral one. “I too do not want to be an enabler,” Garcia said. “We stand here in opposition to this proposed baby jail near downtown.”

posted by Rust Moranis at 1:58 PM on June 19, 2018 [41 favorites]


I'm not in a position to critique the methodology without seeing more detail about it than what she divulges in the appendix, but I do know that clustering algorithms can be sensitive to / influenced by correlated variables, and that, as Ekins herself puts it, "this methodology, and market segmentation generally, is both an art and a science and the groups identified depend on the questions asked on the survey, what we think the answers mean, which manifest variables we include in the LCA analysis, and how we interpret the results." With that in mind, and given how Cato has spent decades defining racism down and minimizing the harm of the libertarian ideology's indifference to racism, I'm not inclined to trust her on the fuzzier parts of her methodology that she only provides a surface description of.

I probably wouldn't bet the farm on the exact percentages in these groups, but her basic methodology is pretty standard for social science. Choosing the exact clustering method, variables to include, and number of groups are always somewhat subjective, but in any case, I don't think the overall point -- that Trump folks are made of the intersection of a bunch of factors including education, income, gender, racism, trade, anti-establishment, etc -- is very sensitive to the specification. That's pretty much universally agreed upon among social scientists. But I agree that a better approach would just be to show the coefficients on a regression of Trump support on all these different factors -- with the overall conclusion not turning on the individual numbers, but on the idea that there are a lot of different pathways to Trump besides just being a Fox-watching traditionally conservative rich white man. Whatever their exact percentages, the poor whites, wealthy libertarians, anti-establishment youth, and other subcategories also need to be grappled with.
posted by chortly at 1:59 PM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


Issuing a statement, preferably by Mr Trudeau himself, condemning the practice of family separation and making clear that Canada would never consider such a policy.

You really don't want to know what percentage of indigenous Canadian children aren't living with their parents, mostly because of various child services/CAS interventions. (HINT: it is in the double digits.)
posted by mightygodking at 2:01 PM on June 19, 2018 [16 favorites]


Axios: New York to sue Trump administration over child separation policy

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday that the state intends to file a "multi-agency lawsuit" against the Trump administration "for violating the Constitutional rights of immigrant children and their families who have been separated at the border."
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:03 PM on June 19, 2018 [56 favorites]


But I agree that a better approach would just be to show the coefficients on a regression of Trump support on all these different factors

Thats a completely different thing that what she is doing--she's describing Trump supporters, not trying to do inference on what variable explain support for Trump. That's also been done many many times.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 2:09 PM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


I am on a pro-killing-the-planet mailing list (Energy Nation) that just announced that today, June 19, is the last day to comment (right column) on the Department of the Interior's plan to start drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. If you haven't commented, please do!

So I'm a professional environmental planner, and I have good news and bad news on this.

The good news: the comment period in question, which ends today, is only for the Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement on the plan to open ANWR to drilling. That means BLM is asking the public and non-profits to let them know what particular issues should be covered in the EIS, and what the scope of the analysis should be. This is the very beginning of the EIS process under the National Environmental Policy Act, and there will be at least one more opportunity for public comment, when the Draft EIS is released (probably at least a year from now).

The bad news: Generally an EIS asks the question, "How do we meet a particular goal, and what are the impacts of the various options we have reasonably identified to meet that goal?" Do we expand postal service in East Township by (a) building a new post office; (b) hiring new staff; (c) using pigeons; (d) no action.

An EIS must always consider the No Action alternative, and it should consider a reasonable range of alternatives to meet the identified project purpose and need. Ordinarily, that would mean that this ANWR EIS would analyze the possibility of not leasing out any of the refuge to oil & gas development. The EIS would have to show that the alternatives were reasonably chosen to meet a valid public need, and then would have to justify the choice of any alternative that wasn't the least environmentally-damaging. Finally, the administrative record would have to show that the agency's decisions are not arbitrary and capricious, are based on reasonable science, and the whole process complied with the Administrative Procedure Act.

However in this instance Congress has handcuffed BLM by requiring that the BLM lease out 400,000 acres of the refuge, regardless of the environmental damage that could result, and regardless of the usefulness of oil and gas leasing in a world where climate change is an issue and any sane decisionmaker would prioritize renewables.

So BLM's proposed action and no action are all going to evaluate leasing 400,000 acres of wilderness: there is no possibility that they won't, unless none of the developers bid on the options. Which seems unlikely.

At least we get an EIS, and it will certainly be watched over by every major environmental group in the country, and the litigation will go on for years after the decision is made. It's a shame that Congress directed BLM to lease without doing any preliminary studies to see if it's worth it, but this is far, far, from the end of the fight.
posted by suelac at 2:12 PM on June 19, 2018 [27 favorites]


@RepTimWalz:
I’m proud to introduce the #KeepFamiliesTogether Act with @RepJerryNadler, @HouseJudDems and over 190 @HouseDemocrats.

This bill will end the Trump administration’s inhumane practice of separating children from their parents at the border. #HumanRights #FamiliesBelongTogether
posted by Chrysostom at 2:13 PM on June 19, 2018 [33 favorites]




> Choosing the exact clustering method, variables to include, and number of groups are always somewhat subjective, but in any case, I don't think the overall point -- that Trump folks are made of the intersection of a bunch of factors including education, income, gender, racism, trade, anti-establishment, etc -- is very sensitive to the specification.

That's a significant widening of scope from the original point, which outlined an exact number of clusters and a particular set of latent factors that apply to the members of each. Of course Trump voters contain different coalitions, but there are implications of Ekins' subjective application of statistical techniques and her interpretation of the result that would seem very appealing to her Cato bosses, and I'm pushing back against those specific implications. If all you're doing is noting that Trump voters are old and young, rich and poor, suburban and rural, nativist and merely okay with nativism, racist and merely okay with racism, then that's fine, but that study says a lot more than that, and I wanted to make it clear where it's coming from.
posted by tonycpsu at 2:15 PM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


Axios: New York to sue Trump administration over child separation policy

Cynthia Nixon really is doing a great job
posted by schadenfrau at 2:16 PM on June 19, 2018 [46 favorites]


I've suggested before that the next Democratic Congress and President should scrap as obsolete the Apportionment Act of 1911, which caps the number of representatives at 435. Instead, they should increase the number of representatives.

Since conservatives love to venerate the Founders and original intent I'm sure they'd be on board.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:16 PM on June 19, 2018 [4 favorites]


states, as well as affecting the Electoral College. I mean I would support getting RID of the electoral college as an anti-democratic process but repealing the 1911 act would be one of the easy things a Dem controlled legislature could do expand democracy and voting rights (and keep unpopular politicians from gaming the system). The naked attack of voting rights and access by the right shows you they know how unpalatable they are.

I say it a lot ...Al Smith had it right, the answer to the problems of democracy is more democracy.
posted by The Whelk at 2:18 PM on June 19, 2018 [8 favorites]


We just had a couple hundred protesting ICE here in San Francisco. And now 12 Republican Senators have signed on to Hatch's letter calling for an immediate end to the family separation policy pending action (ha!) by Congress. Sen. Menendez played the audio on the Senate floor. Still 0 Republicans on Feinstein's bill.
posted by zachlipton at 2:22 PM on June 19, 2018 [32 favorites]


Still 0 Republicans on Feinstein's bill.

Dean Heller would be an excellent target to lean on, no? Any Nevadans in here feel like making some calls?
posted by saturday_morning at 2:24 PM on June 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


I don't really understand the mechanics of what they op-ed on gerrymandering entails, or whether it would provide better representation of the views of the electorate. Does anyone have any better details?

I had to go to the dentist and couldn't post this right away, but I have some other good links on this topic. I feel like multi-member districts with ranked choice voting is actually a really important part of what we need to do to fix the long term problems with our democracy.

Here is a Vox explainer: This voting reform solves 2 of America’s biggest political problems

An op ed written by Rep Don Beyer, who actually introduced a bill into the House which would make this possible... Let’s change how we elect the House of Representatives

And a detailed explanation from FairVote.org with worked examples of how mult-member ranked choice voting works and results in proportional representation for the House, without changing our constitution. Multi-Winner Ranked Choice Voting Example

Please help spread this idea so we can fix the long term problems eventually, assuming we survive the current crisis.
posted by OnceUponATime at 2:29 PM on June 19, 2018 [15 favorites]


Rick Wilson: Nationalist populism is always an angry journey, but images of Nuremberg rallies, of rage-filled speeches by Maximum Leaders, and of revolutions in the streets, colour the broad conception of how autocratic and despotic regimes rise. The cinematic versions are full of smoke, noise, and the short, sharp shocks of the Revolutionary Guard seizing the radio station, the airfield, the Central Bank.

The reality is often more prosaic, more bureaucratic, and begins not with the Grand Guignol of nights filled with broken glass, long knives, or roundups of groups on the wrong side of power. Banal, bureaucratic, and a slow escalation from drudgery to horror is more the tale.
posted by growabrain at 2:29 PM on June 19, 2018 [29 favorites]


Joe Hagin, the President's Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations is resigning after sex cult revelations, the kind of story that barely warrants a raised eyebrow nowadays
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:29 PM on June 19, 2018 [37 favorites]


@NC_Governor:
The cruel policy of tearing children away from their parents requires a strong response, and I am recalling the three members of the North Carolina National Guard from the border. - RC
posted by Chrysostom at 2:31 PM on June 19, 2018 [14 favorites]


Peter Strzok has been escorted from FBI headquarters.

Meanwhile, I presume everyone at the New York Field Office is still happily employed?
posted by zachlipton at 2:33 PM on June 19, 2018 [34 favorites]




Joe Hagin, the President's Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations is resigning after sex cult revelations, the kind of story that barely warrants a raised eyebrow nowadays

It gets even better:

"And in 2013 — as Hagin’s future boss was railing against the Obama administration over the 2012 terrorist attack on the US embassy in Benghazi that killed a US ambassador — Igtet [Hagin's client] met with the man the US believed to be the mastermind of the attack, who has since been convicted on terrorism charges."
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:41 PM on June 19, 2018 [9 favorites]


Haley also cited concerns about the membership of Venezuela, saying that “no country who is a human rights violator should be allowed a seat at the table.”

I mean, to be fair she's just following through on her own thoughts here by withdrawing.
posted by thefoxgod at 2:42 PM on June 19, 2018 [25 favorites]


Washington Post: House GOP Plan Would Cut Medicare, Social Security to Balance Budget
House Republicans released a budget proposal Tuesday that would balance in nine years — but only by making large cuts to entitlement programs, including Medicare and Social Security, that President Trump has vowed not to touch.

The House Budget Committee is aiming to pass the blueprint later this week, but that may be as far as it goes this midterm election year. It’s not clear that GOP leaders will put the document on the House floor for a vote, and even if it were to pass the House, the budget would have little impact on actual spending levels.

Nonetheless the budget serves as an expression of Republicans’ priorities at a time of rapidly rising deficits and debt. Although the nation’s growing indebtedness has been exacerbated by the GOP’s own policy decisions — including the new tax law, which most analyses say will add at least $1 trillion to the debt — Republicans on the Budget Committee said they felt a responsibility to put the nation on a sounder fiscal trajectory.

“The time is now for our Congress to step up and confront the biggest challenge to our society,” said House Budget Chairman Steve Womack (R-Ark.). “There is not a bigger enemy on the domestic side than the debt and deficits.”
Their brilliant ideas include limiting per capita Medicare payments, letting states change Medicare into a block-grant program, giving seniors the option of enrolling in private health plans to compete with Medicare, eliminating concurrent receipt of unemployment benefits and Social Security disability insurance, and relying on other congressional committees to come up with a combined $302 billion in unspecified deficit reductions.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:47 PM on June 19, 2018 [16 favorites]


Haley also cited concerns about the membership of Venezuela, saying that “no country who is a human rights violator should be allowed a seat at the table.”

Engagement is important! We'll meet with Kim Jong Un with no preconditions and praise him for being "tough"!

Engagement is useless! We're withdrawing from the UNHRC because there are imperfect countries there!
posted by jedicus at 2:47 PM on June 19, 2018 [45 favorites]


Seems like an odd time to withdraw from a global Human Rights effort. Or, it would be if anything about this administration was planned past the smash-and-grab.
posted by petebest at 2:48 PM on June 19, 2018 [5 favorites]


It's official: The US Just Quit The United Nations Human Rights Council
"As we said we would do a year ago if we did not see any progress, the US is officially withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council," US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said, calling it a "cesspool of political bias."
Taken at face value, ok, fine, withdraw, but I will always be amazed at people in high-ranking jobs who manage to implement goals in what has to be the worst ways possible. You'd think this is the sort of thing that would get quietly get pushed back a few weeks just for optics' sake, you know?
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 2:48 PM on June 19, 2018 [16 favorites]


And now 12 Republican Senators have signed on to Hatch's letter calling for an immediate end to the family separation policy pending action (ha!) by Congress. Sen. Menendez played the audio on the Senate floor. Still 0 Republicans on Feinstein's bill.

And Cornyn says he's got a bill, and Cruz, too. Republicans want this to go away, but they are also absolutely desperate to look like they're leading and to not give the appearance of cooperating with Democrats.

The implications of all that are really something. Especially looking at the mid-terms after the summer. Some of them really think they need to do something, and others think they can really run out the clock and still hold onto their jobs. And some of the latter are probably 100% correct, because white supremacy will carry them over the finish line.

But the display of internal breaks along with a simultaneously unified front against cooperating with Democrats is really something. Infighting is one thing, but cooperation is apparently a bridge too far.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 2:48 PM on June 19, 2018 [27 favorites]


One day after being criticized by the top UN human rights official for its policy of separating children from their parents at the border, the United States is reportedly announcing that it is withdrawing from the main UN human rights organ, the Human Rights Council.

The timing is eyebrow raising
, but this was not an entirely surprising decision. One year ago, Nikki Haley visited the Human Rights Council in Geneva and issued an ultimatum: unless the Council reformed to her liking, the United States would pull out.

Haley’s criticisms of the council center around two indisputable facts: that the Council frequently focuses Israel and that some members of the Council are countries with poor human rights records. But rather than remain on the Council to defend Israel and try and prevent countries with poor human rights records from influencing the work of the Council, the United States is calling it quits.

posted by infini at 3:11 PM on June 19, 2018 [16 favorites]


Gone are the days when diplomacy, even lobbying was used to shape global (and multilateral) policies. Now its "Do as I say or I'm leaving"...
posted by infini at 3:12 PM on June 19, 2018 [3 favorites]


12 Republican Senators have signed on to Hatch's letter calling for an immediate end to the family separation policy pending action (ha!) by Congress. [...] Still 0 Republicans on Feinstein's bill.

You wouldn't know about the Democratic bill from NPR's drive-time coverage this afternoon, which focused on two competing Republican bills and glossed over the a Democratic bill that the entire caucus has now agreed to.
posted by Gelatin at 3:23 PM on June 19, 2018 [39 favorites]




You'd think this is the sort of thing that would get quietly get pushed back a few weeks just for optics' sake, you know?

Unless it was a message. I just did a round of US news for my African timeline because things were getting out of hand, and headlines from the past week alone are painting a horrible picture of a nation gone mad, rampaging and trying to start wars, while yanking babies from their mother's teats to send them to summer camp (per Fox), and kickstarting a whole new section of the military. Immigrants are infesting us, here are the exterminators. Stop now. The world is watching. France (and the EU) have made their position clear. China is not the loser here. Canada has gone home. Even India.

I guess this is it, huh?
posted by infini at 3:26 PM on June 19, 2018 [7 favorites]


You wouldn't know about the Democratic bill from NPR's drive-time coverage

Yeah, same thing from the NYT, at least in the version of their story on this that’s up at the moment. It stinks to high heaven.
posted by adamgreenfield at 3:28 PM on June 19, 2018 [11 favorites]


Trump's in a meeting with House Republicans that's supposed to be about immigration, but per the reps that keep texting out to reporters from inside the meeting, he's just holding forth on random non-immigration topics from trade to fighter jets. And then, via Jake Sherman (and like five other reporters who cover Congress):
WOW!

Trump: “Is Mark Sanford here? I just want to congratulate him on running a great race.”

Room goes silent. Trump then called him a nasty guy and the room booed, a bit.
posted by zachlipton at 3:28 PM on June 19, 2018 [27 favorites]




Roll Call, Flake Holds Up Judicial Nominee, Won’t Say Why
“Oh, it’s just something I’m working out,” Flake said Tuesday, without offering any more details. The typically media-friendly senator did say his reason didn’t have anything to do with Grant herself.
Usually Flake says the words without taking any action, so this new technique of taking an action without saying any words is puzzling.
posted by zachlipton at 3:47 PM on June 19, 2018 [34 favorites]


Sometimes with Trump, chaos is probably just incompetence. But in the case of the child separations, it seems this has been really effective in reinforcing a false narrative that there is a flood of undocumented migrants. Even lots of people in this thread seem to tacitly accept there is a crisis at the US/Mexico border but that the remedy should not include separating children from their parents.

Chaos is a strategy of the administration, so when things seem to be going spectacularly badly or unusually stupidly, that's the time to pull back and really think in broad strokes about the issue. It seems to me that Trump is trying to make The Wall the less bad of two options.
posted by Rumple at 4:00 PM on June 19, 2018 [21 favorites]


@pkcapitol: House Dems heckle Trump as he leaves Capitol. “We won’t go away ... Don’t you have children!”
They were within 3-4 feet of Trump.

In other news, the Koch brothers are out to destroy public transit:
Public transit, Americans for Prosperity says, goes against the liberties that Americans hold dear. “If someone has the freedom to go where they want, do what they want,” Ms. Venable said, “they’re not going to choose public transit.”

The Kochs’ opposition to transit spending stems from their longstanding free-market, libertarian philosophy. It also dovetails with their financial interests, which benefit from automobiles and highways.

One of the mainstay companies of Koch Industries, the Kochs’ conglomerate, is a major producer of gasoline and asphalt, and also makes seatbelts, tires and other automotive parts. Even as Americans for Prosperity opposes public investment in transit, it supports spending tax money on highways and roads.
posted by zachlipton at 4:03 PM on June 19, 2018 [27 favorites]


“If someone has the freedom to go where they want, do what they want,” Ms. Venable said, “they’re not going to choose public transit.”

Haha. Anybody who has experienced even barely better than shitty mass transit chooses it because of the freedom it offers "to go where they want, do what they want" without dragging along a 4,000 pound anchor of plastic, steel, aluminum, and rubber.
posted by notyou at 4:12 PM on June 19, 2018 [90 favorites]


We won’t go away ... Don’t you have children!

Of course he does. He has Ivanka. And Don Jr. And misc.

I said earlier in the thread that I had to stop following Trump's approval since it was so upsetting. That's true but I'm going to check in on it again for the next week or two to see if surely this actually impacts it negatively. If it does not then we know that half the country is truly lost.
posted by Justinian at 4:18 PM on June 19, 2018 [5 favorites]


Speaking of said children.

@maggieNYT: What Trump said about @IvankaTrump in the Hill meeting - that she came to him and said "Daddy, what are we doing about this?" Trump said it's a "tough issue," pivoted to something else.

He's now at his hotel raising money for his Super PAC, in case you're wondering how little he's doing anything about this "tough issue."
posted by zachlipton at 4:24 PM on June 19, 2018 [8 favorites]


reinforcing a false narrative that there is a flood of undocumented migrants.

Two months ago border crossings were at a 40 year low and are still very near historic lows.
posted by chris24 at 4:25 PM on June 19, 2018 [44 favorites]


if it does not then we know that half the country is truly lost.

We already know. It's probably not half, more like a third, but we are a deeply diseased, corrosive, and rotting nation.
posted by cell divide at 4:28 PM on June 19, 2018 [10 favorites]


If you're feeling close to your mental health limits today, maybe skip reading this one, just because I'm sure your mental real estate is already preoccupied with how much damage those kids are sustaining...

Laura Santhanam, PBS: How The Toxic Stress of Family Separation Can Harm A Child. Contains info about physiological stress reactions and child development. Might be persuasive to low-information people who aren't already dehumanization-happy assholes.
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 4:29 PM on June 19, 2018 [11 favorites]


Vanity Fair, Michael Cohen, Holding His Cards Close to the Vest, Has Hired a New Lawyer

But not too close to his chest.

CNN: Trump's Personal Attorney Is 'Willing To Give Info' About The President
"He knows a lot of things about the President and he's not averse to talking in the right situation," one of Cohen's New York friends who is in touch with him told CNN. "If they want information on Trump, he's willing to give it."[...]

The shift in legal strategy and signals of potential cooperation with investigators come as Cohen feels increasingly isolated from the President, whom he has been famously loyal to for more than a decade. Last week, CNN reported Cohen has indicated a willingness to cooperate to alleviate pressure on himself and his family.

"He feels let down by him and isolated by him," another friend of Cohen's told CNN. Cohen has famously said he would take a bullet for Trump and he has fashioned himself as Trump's "fixer," willing to help handle situations quietly.[...]

According to another Cohen friend, whether he decides to cooperate with federal investigators would depend on what is ultimately in any indictment. If the indictment is deemed relatively less serious than expected, for example, it's possible that Cohen would choose to plead guilty. CNN reported on Friday that Cohen had not yet met with prosecutors to discuss a potential deal, and it's unclear whether either side is seeking one.

"Anything is a possibility," the person said.
So once again, Cohen and his allies are telling multiple stories to the press about his willingness to cooperate with the authorities. Whether he's sending signals to Trump, setting off smokescreens, or running out of options remains to be seen.
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:34 PM on June 19, 2018 [16 favorites]


Presidential approval ratings have become a meaningless metric, so it would be nice if we didn't go back to that nearly empty well too often in these threads.
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:37 PM on June 19, 2018 [6 favorites]



If someone has the freedom to go where they want, do what they want,” Ms. Venable said, “they’re not going to choose public transit.”


Spoken like a person who only ever goes to malls with parking lots. I was overjoyed to find that the place where I work had a summer camp my kid could attend. During the school year, I do this ridiculous convoluted commute involving a car, a bike or a bus or a combination of all three, because he doesn't ride a school bus (pick up time incompatible with my work hours), no public bus goes from our house to his school, and there's nowhere to park that doesn't cost $10+/day in the central business district where I work. But now since we're both going to the same place, and that place is well served by transit, we can take the bus together! It's fantastic!
posted by soren_lorensen at 4:43 PM on June 19, 2018 [11 favorites]


Ice Cream TRUCK blocks ICE


(Omg you Guys it’s the ice cream socialists)
posted by The Whelk at 4:44 PM on June 19, 2018 [117 favorites]


@passantino [VIDEO]: .@Zac_Petkanas says on Fox News a 10-year-old girl with Down Syndrome was separated from her mother at the border. Corey Lewandowski responds: "Womp womp."

I swear Lewandowski is going to be White House Chief of Staff anytime now.
posted by zachlipton at 4:47 PM on June 19, 2018 [24 favorites]




ELECTION RESULT

In the special election for Miami-Dade County Commission District 5, Democrat Eileen Higgins has flipped this longtime Republican seat, 53-47. Control of the commission now belongs to the Democrats.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:54 PM on June 19, 2018 [73 favorites]




“If someone has the freedom to go where they want, do what they want,” Ms. Venable said, “they’re not going to choose public transit.”

America, I am but a humble Canadian, but I recently returned from a trip to Scandinavia, and in these far-off lands where bicycles and public transit are rampant I witnessed several freedoms being curtailed most severely; freedom of assembly in parking lots and traffic jams, and freedom of expression by car horn, to choose but two of the most egregious repressions. And this is, of course, to say nothing of these poor wretches’ right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of themselves and their families, which of course are sorely lacking in these socialist purgatories. America, I beseech you...do not go down this road!
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:03 PM on June 19, 2018 [20 favorites]


If people really were not choosing public transit, then there would be no need for a lobby group to try and block it.
posted by Chrysostom at 5:04 PM on June 19, 2018 [89 favorites]


"He knows a lot of things about the President and he's not averse to talking in the right situation," one of Cohen's New York friends who is in touch with him told CNN. "If they want information on Trump, he's willing to give it."

And now I'm worried he's got jack shit that's actually useful to give Mueller, if he's got friends out there talking up how much he's got.
posted by jason_steakums at 5:08 PM on June 19, 2018 [3 favorites]


Democrat Eileen Higgins has flipped this longtime Republican seat, 53-47.

YAY!! I wrote postcards for her! A little spot of light in a dark day. Thanks as always for your updates, Chrysostom; you're doing essential work for us all.
posted by obliviax at 5:09 PM on June 19, 2018 [47 favorites]


A precursor to genocide’: “The President’s tweet that immigrants will ‘infest our Country’ includes an alarming verb choice for anyone with knowledge of history,” writes language expert Aviya Kushner. “Characterizing people as vermin has historically been a precursor to murder and genocide. The Nazis built on centuries-old hatred of Jews as carriers of disease in a film titled ‘Der Ewige Jude,’ or ‘The Eternal Jew.'”
Yes, he is a Nazi.
posted by growabrain at 5:13 PM on June 19, 2018 [63 favorites]


CA-48 update: Rouda lead over Keirstead up to 69 votes. There are apparently just a few dribs and drabs left to count, so Rouda probably has it sewn up...by 0.1%.
posted by Chrysostom at 5:17 PM on June 19, 2018 [11 favorites]


runcibleshaw: I don't really understand the mechanics of what they op-ed on gerrymandering entails, or whether it would provide better representation of the views of the electorate. Does anyone have any better details?

OnceUponATime: I had to go to the dentist and couldn't post this right away

I had to do a double-take seeing write because that was also literally true for me, haha. So, with some post-dentist rewriting…

It's true that multi-member congressional districts used to exist in places around the United States — the Constitution doesn't forbid them. But the voting system was (I think) always something called block voting, which is used a lot for town counsels and school boards. It's very simple — if you have, say, 4 seats in the district, then each voter chooses 4 candidates, and the 4 people with most votes overall win.

The problem with that method is that any coalition of candidates with even a slim plurality of support can easily win all the seats, rather than something proportionate. (Mathematically, the 4 winners may as well be a single "super-candidate", and they'd beat out any other set of 4 aligned candidates the same way a single-winner plurality race could be won by someone with 40% of the vote.) It was therefore a classic way to entrench white power — a large region could be 33% black and have 4 white reps instead of being 4 smaller districts with proportionate reps — and the Supreme Court struck it down. (There are arguments on different sides as to whether this means any multi-member proposal is dead on arrival.)

By contrast, around the world the most common system for giving districts multiple representatives is a ranking method called single transferable vote (STV). It's a logical extension of the single-winner system instant runoff vote (IRV), called "ranked choice" in places like Maine. In addition to other links in this thread, the best video explanation I know is this one, from a series that uses animal characters to explain election methods.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 5:17 PM on June 19, 2018 [6 favorites]


“If someone has the freedom to go where they want, do what they want,” Ms. Venable said, “they’re not going to choose public transit.”

Ahahaha. I live in a well-off California suburb, where, needless to say, people have cars. But our little Shadelands Shuttle (a commuter bus that makes a loop around my neighborhood to and from BART) is always well-patronized. It's free! It's clean! It has Wi-Fi! The drivers are nice and the passengers well-behaved! The local businesses pay for it so that the passengers don't have to!

You get what you pay for and all that. If the taxpayers and/or local businesses are willing to chip in for public transit they get nice buses that people want to ride. I like having the shuttle because trying to park at BART is one of the circles of hell.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 5:20 PM on June 19, 2018 [17 favorites]


Sec. Nielsen had the audacity to go out for Mexican food. DSA twitter reacted quickly.
posted by zachlipton at 5:33 PM on June 19, 2018 [90 favorites]


The Troll Administration. They could not be doing worse messaging if they were actively trying to, so one suspects they are. Someone is going to write a 600-page (so far) case study textbook titled Hold My Beer: Crisis PR in the Trump Administration.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:41 PM on June 19, 2018 [8 favorites]


None of these people should be able to have a pleasant meal in public ever again
posted by The Whelk at 5:42 PM on June 19, 2018 [92 favorites]


I think these people don't yet understand the sheer quantity of proletariat sputum they're going to be ingesting in restaurants for the rest of their lives.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:43 PM on June 19, 2018 [47 favorites]


They seem to be blissfully unaware of how many foncy-ponts eatery kitchens are staffed predominantly by immigrants.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:44 PM on June 19, 2018 [18 favorites]


Video from the DSA action [Facebook link]
posted by murphy slaw at 5:45 PM on June 19, 2018 [43 favorites]




The Miami Herald has some more details on Eileen Higgins' win and the implications on Miami's political landscape.

I'm not in her district, but I'm really happy about what this means locally. Particularly I'm excited about transit reforms that could be possible with a Democratic commission majority. Though it's not a confirmed long lived majority as a bunch of commission seats are up in August.

(Side note: I do not understand a lot of local election timing. Why are the commission seats up during the primary for the regular mid-terms and not during the actual mid-terms? Why was the election for the mayor of South Miami in March of this year instead November? I'm not sure if it's intentionally a voter suppression tactic, but it feels like it.)
posted by JustKeepSwimming at 5:50 PM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


Video from the DSA action [Facebook link]

God love the DSA. This is one of the few non-miserable moments in days.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:56 PM on June 19, 2018 [29 favorites]


Video from the DSA action [Facebook link]

I'm actually crying. I can't believe they were allowed to protest for so long. Go, DSA, go!
posted by anastasiav at 5:57 PM on June 19, 2018 [21 favorites]


Video from the DSA action [Facebook link]

This is the way forward. No member of the Trump administration, or employee of FOX News, or anyone they associate with in any way, should be permitted to appear in public, ever again. Water in the face. Hounded out of every public place. Boycotts of any company that gives them a single dime after they leave office. They don't get to show their face, ever.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:00 PM on June 19, 2018 [69 favorites]




I know I'm a little late but I want to say I hope Jarrett Walker will write something in response to the article about the Kochs' efforts to annihilate mass transit, which made my transportation colleagues and me explode a bit today. (Maybe he has and I missed it?) One of Walker's big tenets is "frequency is freedom"--i.e. frequent mass transit gives you the freedom to do so much. I would link to his work but I am writing this on--gasp--a very well-populated train and am not too good at getting links from my phone.
posted by ferret branca at 6:04 PM on June 19, 2018 [15 favorites]


America, I beseech you...do not go down this road!

Given the state of the roads in the US (to be fixed next Infrastructure Week, surely), this would simply be impossible without a 4WD at the very least.
posted by Stoneshop at 6:08 PM on June 19, 2018 [5 favorites]


Video from the DSA action [Facebook link]

This was incredible. And I hope it is repeated every time one of these fucking fascists shows their face in public. At restaurants. At stores. On airplanes. Everywhere. No justice, no peace.
posted by Justinian at 6:08 PM on June 19, 2018 [48 favorites]


to pour into and infest our Country

"Nits make lice" for the 21st century.
posted by TwoStride at 6:12 PM on June 19, 2018 [5 favorites]


JustKeepSwimming: "The Miami Herald has some more details on Eileen Higgins' win and the implications on Miami's political landscape. "

Yeah, this is obviously pretty big and exciting for Miami-Dade, and could be an indicator of stuff more broadly in Florida. The Senate race is obviously huge, and if Democrats were to retake the governor's mansion....
posted by Chrysostom at 6:18 PM on June 19, 2018 [5 favorites]


Democrats Torn on Whether to Negotiate With Trump Over Family-Separation Policy.

I'm also torn but ultimately I think it's like negotiating with hostage-takers. Don't do it for substantive things (trivial stuff is fine) or Trump will simply take more hostages. Once you pay the danegeld, etc.
posted by Justinian at 6:29 PM on June 19, 2018 [16 favorites]


I bet that went well.

[narrator voice]: it did not go particularly well …
Hey @StateDept I have a question. I have two great kids, ages 2 and 9. If I take them to a foreign country this summer, and when we get there, officials from that country kidnap my kids and lock them in cages, what should I do? Do I like call you guys or...?
 — @lisrencz
Dad from The Netherlands here. Is this a good moment in time to visit your country as a tourist? Will my children be able to facetime me after being caged? Should I have my phone number tattooed on their arms to make it easier?
 — @mauricewessling
If I'm bringing my kids back in to the country with me, should I bring them pre-caged in a kennel or will one be provided by ICE? If the former, this is a great way to save on airfare! Just send the kids in cargo!
 — @ThisIsChad
posted by scruss at 6:29 PM on June 19, 2018 [53 favorites]


The Troll Administration. They could not be doing worse messaging if they were actively trying to, so one suspects they are.

Melania Trump @FLOTUS late this afternoon: "A great visit with the King & Queen of Spain at the @WhiteHouse today. Queen Letizia & I enjoyed tea & time together focusing on the ways we can positively impact children."

This isn't an accident or tone-deafness. She and her staff are a working component of the Trump Administration, in all its ostentatious cruelty.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:30 PM on June 19, 2018 [64 favorites]




Metro DC DSA is very well organized and I support their efforts in both building and expanding their base and fucking up a fascist’s dinnertimes.
posted by The Whelk at 6:39 PM on June 19, 2018 [41 favorites]


Yakima Washington is having a protest on Monday 25/June / 2018 4:00 - 7:00 pm at the Chinook Tower. People are asked to bring stuffed toy animals or other symbols of childhood.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 6:43 PM on June 19, 2018 [5 favorites]


@AP: Washington, D.C., passes ballot initiative that would eliminate 2-tiered minimum wage for tipped employees.
posted by zachlipton at 6:45 PM on June 19, 2018 [45 favorites]


Victory for the workers! (and statehood for DC and PR now)
posted by The Whelk at 6:49 PM on June 19, 2018 [13 favorites]


Rachel Maddow just lost her composure on-air for some time at a breaking AP news report that Texas is setting up a 4th "tender age" camp for "hundreds" of babies and young toddlers.
posted by Justinian at 7:02 PM on June 19, 2018 [42 favorites]


AP: Youngest migrants held in ‘tender age’ shelters
Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children forcibly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border to at least three “tender age” shelters in South Texas, The Associated Press has learned.

Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the Rio Grande Valley shelters described play rooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis. The government also plans to open a fourth shelter to house hundreds of young migrant children in Houston, where city leaders denounced the move Tuesday.
------
“The thought that they are going to be putting such little kids in an institutional setting? I mean it is hard for me to even wrap my mind around it,” said Kay Bellor, vice president for programs at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which provides foster care and other child welfare services to migrant children. “Toddlers are being detained.”
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:03 PM on June 19, 2018 [43 favorites]


That's the story that caused Rachel Maddow to break down on air to the point where she had to hand off to Lawrence O'Donnell because she couldn't speak.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:04 PM on June 19, 2018 [16 favorites]


OK that DSA video was amazing. I don’t care how heartless she is, there’s gotta be something awful about hearing “*your name* is a villain.” I hope she hears that echoing in her head every night as she tries to sleep.
posted by greermahoney at 7:08 PM on June 19, 2018 [12 favorites]


@ZoeTillman: Update: Lawyers for the Guatemalan woman challenging her separation from her son while she seeks asylum filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order requiring authorities to release her son from detention (the woman is already out on bond)

The son in question is seven. Seven.

This case is particularly batshit, because the mother has been released on bond, meaning an asylum officer found she had a credible fear of persecution and has been released pending proceedings in immigration court on her asylum claim. Now the government won't tell her where her child is, even though there's now negative reason to separate them, because she's not even in custody anymore.

Separating parents and children is unconscionable. Not returning the children to people we're not even holding is...I don't even know what to say.
posted by zachlipton at 7:10 PM on June 19, 2018 [99 favorites]


I wouldn't be surprised if the government didn't know where her child is
posted by localhuman at 7:12 PM on June 19, 2018 [23 favorites]


I wouldn't be surprised if the government didn't know where her child is

I would be utterly gobsmacked if they did.
posted by greermahoney at 7:14 PM on June 19, 2018 [24 favorites]


Add PA to the states that won't allow their national guard to assist in Trump's evil border policies:
posted by mcduff at 7:14 PM on June 19, 2018 [20 favorites]


Not super impressed by state’s pulling three guard members or whatever it is. Ban ICE from your borders or get the fuck out.

Who would investigate 6,000 kidnappings (or whatever it is now)? The FBI?

I’m not kidding. I want to know who’s looking for those kids.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:17 PM on June 19, 2018 [15 favorites]


Anyone in New Zealand reading this, The Spinoff has a list of actions you can take. There are protests at the US embassy in Wellington and the US consulate in Auckland.

Additionally Green MP Golriz Gharaman is calling on the NZ government to condemn the human rights abuses being committed at the border.
posted by supercrayon at 7:17 PM on June 19, 2018 [7 favorites]


Does anyone know if state Children's Protective Services officers, backed up by local police or other non-federal officers, could demand entry to these places and arrest people for child abuse? Because this looks like solid grounds for "I don't care what kind of wacko politics are involved here; we have LAWS in this state about the treatment of children, and you're not following them. Claiming that you don't have the resources to house them in compliance with those laws is ridiculous--have you ASKED? We have agencies for that."
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 7:18 PM on June 19, 2018 [42 favorites]


More direct action in DC.

@American_Bridge WATCH as attendees arrive at a fundraiser at Trump Hotel while the cries of children being ripped away from their parents ring out
posted by scalefree at 7:18 PM on June 19, 2018 [54 favorites]


I'm honestly surprised Trump hasn't threatened to federalize the National Guard to drag those soldiers back to the border.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:19 PM on June 19, 2018


Pence was in Philly tonight for a fundraiser. Hundreds (maybe thousands?) of people showed up outside of the hotel to protest. Here's one sign.
posted by mcduff at 7:21 PM on June 19, 2018 [27 favorites]


As far as I can tell, these are already state-licensed facilities (the new tent camps on federal land may not be). Getting state child welfare officials to urgently inspect these facilities is very much something that needs to happen, but the whole thing is structured so the shit rolls downhill to the contractors that operate these places, never uphill to ICE and those creating the problem by separating families in the first place.
posted by zachlipton at 7:21 PM on June 19, 2018 [4 favorites]


Not super impressed by state’s pulling three guard members or whatever it is. Ban ICE from your borders or get the fuck out.

Want to relitigate McCullogh Vs. Maryland?
posted by ocschwar at 7:22 PM on June 19, 2018 [4 favorites]


Every fucking mention of these concentration camps needs to include the phrase "Trump Hotel." That goddamn revolting brand name needs to become synonymous for all time with terrorizing children.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:25 PM on June 19, 2018 [82 favorites]


Does anyone know if state Children's Protective Services officers, backed up by local police or other non-federal officers, could demand entry to these places and arrest people for child abuse? Because this looks like solid grounds for "I don't care what kind of wacko politics are involved here; we have LAWS in this state about the treatment of children, and you're not following them. Claiming that you don't have the resources to house them in compliance with those laws is ridiculous--have you ASKED? We have agencies for that."

I called Jerry Brown's office. I will be making some more calls to my representatives.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 7:25 PM on June 19, 2018 [6 favorites]


No one should be able to check into their room at a Trump hotel without hearing the cries of those children ringing throughout the lobby. Direct action now.
posted by downtohisturtles at 7:30 PM on June 19, 2018 [42 favorites]


BuzzFeed, Migrants Hesitate At Border, Fearing For Their Children
As Claudia walked past Mexican immigration agents at the bridge connecting Reynosa and Hidalgo, Texas, ready to show their US counterparts proof of her brother’s murder and the risk it presented to the rest of the family, they advised her to turn around because “your kids will be taken from you.”

Patricia tried to cross the bridge with her 7-year-old son to ask for asylum two weeks ago but US authorities turned them around. They never gave her a reason.

Piedad, who witnessed two of her husband’s cousins get killed, had it worse: US agents turned her and her three children over to Mexican authorities, who in turn put them in detention for a week.
Sec. Nielsen and Sessions are lying. This is what happens when people try to use the legal immigration process they talk so much about. These women weren't crossing illegally; they were presenting themselves at a port of entry to claim asylum just like politicians keep saying they're supposed to.
posted by zachlipton at 7:32 PM on June 19, 2018 [74 favorites]


A reminder (as much to myself as anyone else):

“There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part. You can't even passively take part! And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it — that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!”

Yes. But also:

My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times. I have heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered. They are concerned about the state of affairs in our world now. Ours is a time of almost daily astonishment and often righteous rage over the latest degradations of what matters most to civilized, visionary people.

You are right in your assessments. The lustre and hubris some have aspired to while endorsing acts so heinous against children, elders, everyday people, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, is breathtaking. Yet, I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit dry by bewailing these difficult times. Especially do not lose hope. Most particularly because, the fact is that we were made for these times. Yes. For years, we have been learning, practicing, been in training for and just waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement.

...


Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good.“

Despair is a sin. Roll up your sleeves.
posted by supercrayon at 7:33 PM on June 19, 2018 [76 favorites]


Rachel Maddow chokes up and cries on air as she struggles to deliver news that migrant babies and toddlers have been sent to "tender age" shelters


After Justinian and FelliniBlank mentioned it, I actually looked for the video. I haven't cried like this since last night, reading about the exact same thing. I guess this is just the new normal.

On preview: I'm not advocating for despair, I think that a lot more of us (including myself) need to be out in the streets, loudly making ourselves heard.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 7:40 PM on June 19, 2018 [12 favorites]


I urge everyone in this thread (and indeed everywhere) to stop paying any attention whatsoever to Trump's approval ratings - but if you're going to go ahead and do it anyway, please always sandwich it with a look at Nixon's approval ratings, and How the Watergate crisis eroded public support for Richard Nixon from the Pew Research Center. From the former:
Just as he was being sworn in for a second term in the most expensive inauguration in history to that point, Nixon’s approval rating soared to the highest peak of his presidency (67 percent) and then immediately went into free fall. ... In January, Howard Hunt pleaded guilty, the first of a string of other guilty pleas from others on trials that were widely reported on front pages.

May 1973 was the crossover point when more Americans disapproved of Nixon’s performance as president than approved. His approval ratings never recovered from that point.

...

For the rest of his presidency, Nixon maintained a loyal core constituency of about 25 percent of those polled who approved of his performance as president. But most people held a negative view of his presidency, with disapproval ratings in the mid-60s.
Trump is well below 67%. He may always keep that 25-27%, like Nixon did. But that wasn't enough to keep Nixon in the White House.

... But better yet, forget Nixon's approvals AND Trump's approvals. They don't matter. What matters is how the Congressional majority votes, and how the voters vote in November (and the specials and primaries before then), and what the courts do. No individual voters are voting on Trump for another two years (or maybe even never again). Please, if you can, put your energy - mental as well as physical - into getting Democrats elected, and if you have some dollars, put them toward getting out the vote and the lawsuits that are standing in the way of the criminal Republicans.
posted by kristi at 7:44 PM on June 19, 2018 [13 favorites]


So as not to abuse the edit function: the above comment about despair is a reminder to myself not to despair. I’ve been nearly paralyzed by the evil shit happening back home and by my own feeling of helplessness. I wouldn’t seek to instruct anyone else on their emotional state other than to say you’re all good people and I hope you’re looking after yourselves in these fucked up times.
posted by supercrayon at 7:44 PM on June 19, 2018 [30 favorites]


From Metro DC DSA: We're not backing down from fascist scum. We can build a better world. Join us. http://mdcdsa.org/join .

At least someone in DC is taking action. Because the Republican Congress certainly isn't. I would like to see some Democratic Congressfolks join in as well. They can't pass legislation in the minority but that doesn't mean they can't do things outside the House/Senate chambers.
posted by Justinian at 7:50 PM on June 19, 2018 [29 favorites]


Nixon comparisons aren't that relevant, Nixon absolutely would not have resigned if he had today's Republicans and FOX News. Even the Democratic congress didn't remove Nixon from office, he only resigned when a group of Republicans went to him and made clear they would vote to remove. That will never happen with today's Republican party, no matter what crimes are uncovered or committed in the future. There are no Republicans that would go to Trump, and no Republicans that would vote to remove. We're at baby concentration camps and no Republicans will even sponsor a bill, they'll never impeach.

Electing Democrats to hold the line till 2020, and then retake power, is the only option.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:51 PM on June 19, 2018 [40 favorites]


Yeah, I don't want to get too far in the weeds but I mostly agree with TD Strange here. If Fox News had existed in the early 70s Nixon would have served out his term.
posted by Justinian at 7:52 PM on June 19, 2018 [12 favorites]


Let this not lead you to despair but radicalize you further.
posted by The Whelk at 7:54 PM on June 19, 2018 [37 favorites]


Let's not retro-litigate the 70's.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:56 PM on June 19, 2018 [35 favorites]


(Also I’m gonna ask National in a month is this had an effect on our membership numbers - we apparently picked up Tim from Tim And Eric cause of the dinner disruption)
posted by The Whelk at 8:05 PM on June 19, 2018 [6 favorites]


Members of the Tribe in better standing than me: what will it take for the OU and as many other umbrella organizations out there to declare a kherem on Stephen MIller? THis is already months overdue given the the little creep managed to make himself known as "David Duke's favorite Jew." He caused this. He needs to suffer as many indignities as possible.
posted by ocschwar at 8:05 PM on June 19, 2018 [5 favorites]


ELECTIONS NEWS

** 2018 Senate:
-- MT: Gravis poll has Tester up 51-44 on Rosendale [MOE: +/- 4.5%].

-- FL: Gravis poll has Nelson up 50-40 over Scott [MOE: +/- 2.8%]. That's considerably higher than other recent polling, which has shown the race within a couple of points.

-- AZ: OH Predictive poll of the GOP primary has McSally solidly in the lead at 39%, Ward at 25, Arpaio at 14 [MOE: +/- 4%].

-- TX: Club For Growth getting itchy about Cruz chances, looking to put resources behind him.
** 2018 House: MT-AL: Same Gravis Montana poll has Dem challenger Williams up 49-43 on GOP incumbent Gianforte.

** Odds & ends:
-- Trump approvals show that 2016 was an aberration, things seem to be reverting to the 2012 map.

-- Missouri's new governor appointed a lieutenant governor, something he may not actually have the power to do. MO Dem party has sued, seeking to force a special election. Gov Parson's action here is less GOP skulduggery than a nonpartisan executive power grab - Dem governor Nixon had previously asserted he had the right to do this, as well.

-- Good backgrounder on DC's elimination of the separate tipped minimum wage. Note that several other states are considering the same action.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:24 PM on June 19, 2018 [18 favorites]


Every fucking mention of these concentration camps needs to include the phrase "Trump Hotel." - Felliniblank

My dad still calls a newspaper a "Hoover blanket" and Mac n cheese "Nixon Steak."* So I am pro calling these camps Trump Hotels.


*I think this may not have gained traction beyond my immediate family.
posted by vespabelle at 8:39 PM on June 19, 2018 [52 favorites]


Woof, if anyone feels like making a FPP just about increasing the minimum tipped wage I'll be in there with a damn rant about that bullshit Mother Jones article.
posted by runcibleshaw at 8:40 PM on June 19, 2018 [3 favorites]


-- Trump approvals show that 2016 was an aberration, things seem to be reverting to the 2012 map.

Florida looks like a real anomaly to me. What are they seeing that the other swing states aren't? Trump's approval there is red state approval.
posted by Justinian at 8:48 PM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


Harvard Institute of Politics getting ragged on Twitter following Cory Lewandowski's "whomp whomp" remark.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 9:00 PM on June 19, 2018 [17 favorites]


Yeah, Florida is interesting. You've got high Trump approval, but on the other hand you have good Nelson approval and decent performance in special elections, including two flips.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:04 PM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


So Corey Lewandowski's mockery of a 10 year old girl with Down Syndrome being put in a concentration camp made it to the largest and most virulent pro-Trump message board and right now is its sixth most popular link. Here are the ten top-rated comments under the video:

(1) HAHAH. Corey such an asshole. I cant stop laughing. The other dude is a Clinton associate who gives a fuck what he thinks. (2) Holy shit that's so baller (3) I don't know the facts, but I do know it's a lot easier to steal a kid with mental and physical issues than a child who knows you aren't his mommy. Just sayin'. (4) Holy shit, that other guy was triggered as fuck. Liberals fucking hate it when you make fun of their virtue-signaling. (5) Lewandowski wins the trigger of the year award. (6) I love how everyone on earth automatically believes this Clintonista’s sob story without ANY ounce of skepticism. Like he would never lie to make the Democrats look like saints right? Those involved with the Clintons NEVER lie EVER! (7) I love that incredulous pearl clutcher losing his shit after that. Sure, it sucks, but what do they expect us to do, just let these people go? (8) I get the feeling 'womp womp' is going to be the title every time the Democrats get bad news. (9) The reaction makes it that much funnier. (10) WOMP WOMP TOP KEK HIGH ENERGY LEVELS WOMP WOMP MAGA BULLET TRAIN

So there you go. Those are the quantified consensus opinions of a 600,000-strong "community" of representative Trump supporters. This is the refined essence of the movement. There will be no negotiating with it.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:08 PM on June 19, 2018 [90 favorites]


what will it take for the OU and as many other umbrella organizations out there to declare a kherem on Stephen MIller?

Cherems and similar communal punishments (which I understand may be similar to excommunication in some Christian groups) only work within tight communities, e.g. within a specific Chassidic group. If the target can just switch synagogues the punishment is toothless, which is why I have never heard of them being imposed by an even vaguely modern Jewish organisation. It's just embarrassing when they don't work. They especially don't work against people like Stephen Miller, who apparently has no social bonds he cares about: his own family calls him a Nazi.

That being said, the OU ought to be on the right side of history here and it is probably highly susceptible to pressure from its member congregations: there's only about 1,000 of them. Lots of people here probably know someone who knows someone involved in its congregational politics, or involved in the OU's affiliated youth organisation, NCSY.
posted by Joe in Australia at 9:10 PM on June 19, 2018


Washington Post. Report: Half of recent immigrant detainee deaths due to inadequate medical care

It's not about freeing the children, it's about saving them.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:22 PM on June 19, 2018 [46 favorites]


Trump hotel is not precise enough. Thanks to odonnell, we can use Trump secret baby jails

Same branding
posted by mikelieman at 9:25 PM on June 19, 2018 [8 favorites]


Well, for mainline protestant churches, excommunication is particularly toothless, but the United Methodist Church is still initiating action against Sessions. But I see your point, Joe. Miller's wikipedia entry indicates the tribe really has no leverage on him. At least not until such time as he wants to marry.
posted by ocschwar at 9:27 PM on June 19, 2018


(And the OU has already called Miller out.)
posted by ocschwar at 9:28 PM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


Should Corey Lewandowski currently or in future be employed by any media company they become the face of mocking Down’s syndrome and should have advertises and sponsors called and notified of that. That guy needs to be only employable by creepy ass far right lobbyists and the Trump government.
posted by Artw at 9:28 PM on June 19, 2018 [6 favorites]


That guy needs to be only employable by creepy ass far right lobbyists and the Trump government.

How do you expect him to do that from his cage?
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:35 PM on June 19, 2018 [4 favorites]


I think these people don't yet understand the sheer quantity of proletariat sputum they're going to be ingesting in restaurants for the rest of their lives.

Sputum is only the beginning. Thanks to a mid-eighties fortuitous encounter with Spy Magazine (yes, I was there when “short-fingered vulgarian” was first printed), I have known about DJT for most of my life, since his claim to fame was being the third-most-appalling Manhattan real estate mogul. He was far outdone by Leona Helmsley, whose treatment of her employees was such that when she went to the restaurant in one of her hotels, the glass of water that arrived at her table had usually just had the junk of every male employee in the kitchen dunked in it.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:37 PM on June 19, 2018 [14 favorites]


Trump: “Is Mark Sanford here? I just want to congratulate him on running a great race.”
Room goes silent. Trump then called him a nasty guy and the room booed, a bit.


So he made sure Sanford wasn't there and then dissed him? Profile in courage.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:41 PM on June 19, 2018 [10 favorites]


After his odious remarks claiming that his $15B* spending cut was far more important than any "shiny object of the day" family separation crisis, I called David Purdue's office and ordered him to resign. I urge all Georgians to do the same. If I could figure out how to get that message to the local news, I'd do that too.

* Yes, $15 billion. Literally 0.35% of the federal budget for FY2018. A little more than one third of one percent. In addition to being a MAGA-hat chud and bootlicker, David Purdue is apparently innumerate.
posted by ob1quixote at 9:47 PM on June 19, 2018 [19 favorites]


Bloomberg: House GOP Unveils Budget to Fast-Track Tax Cuts, End Obamacare

This. Amid the family separations nightmare, they want to do this.
It's like they want to burn everything down before they have to face voters in November. (And no, I don't take that for granted, either.)

I am very much reminded of the end of World War II, and how once the Nazis knew they were fucked and they would lose the war, they tried to speed up the murders in the camps. They knew the end was coming, so they literally wanted to get as much murder done as they could before the end.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:49 PM on June 19, 2018 [54 favorites]


I would be shocked if they rammed something through before November. I would not be surprised at all if they rammed it through during a lame-duck session after November but before a new Congress is seated in January. Imagine that; Ds retake the House but Republicans pass some of the biggest fuck-you legislation of all time before they are replaced in January.
posted by Justinian at 9:52 PM on June 19, 2018 [5 favorites]


For anyone feeling especially rosy about the DSA tonight, they recently launched a new online store where you can send a donation for cool union-made socialist merch: https://store.dsausa.org/
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 10:05 PM on June 19, 2018 [12 favorites]


Definitely keep reminding each other: Marathon, not sprint. There is no point in our upcoming lives where we will not be fighting off the effects of this administration. No relaxing after an election; after a break for cheering, we need to get back to the long slog of fixing our country, and hopefully doing it before our entire eastern border is under water.

We need to push the Overton window so far to the left that future generations will have no comprehension of how this administration worked, just like most current Americans don't understand how communities worked before public schools existed.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 10:06 PM on June 19, 2018 [66 favorites]


The dsa has given me hope. I needed hope.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 10:42 PM on June 19, 2018 [15 favorites]


Tom McCay, Gizmodo: Medium, Github, and Twitter Are Shutting Down Accounts Spreading ICE Employees' LinkedIn Data
Both code repository GitHub and blogging platform Medium have taken down a project to automatically catalogue the identities of staff for Immigration and Customs Enforcement—the government agency which has attracted widespread revulsion for its role enforcing the Donald Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy throwing immigrant children into detention centers—citing rules against doxxing. Additionally, Twitter appears to be suspending accounts that have been posting information from the project’s data set.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:52 PM on June 19, 2018 [7 favorites]


The Michigan Department of Civil Rights (that's a government agency) says that infants "as young as three months of age" are being brought to Michigan after the government separates them from their parents.
posted by zachlipton at 10:56 PM on June 19, 2018 [20 favorites]


Fwiw, when we are through this, I want every single person at every single step scrutinized for any action taken in Bad Faith, and each and every deprivation of Due Process and Equal Protection prosecuted to the fullest. From top to bottom. No exceptions.
posted by mikelieman at 11:06 PM on June 19, 2018 [17 favorites]


The Michigan Department of Civil Rights (that's a government agency) says that infants "as young as three months of age" are being brought to Michigan after the government separates them from their parents.

I posted this Grand Rapids news video in that thread, about Bethany Christian Services, which does foster home placements for unaccompanied immigrant/refugee kids. (I think they also do some of that anti-abortion "pregnancy support" and "adoption facilitation" stuff that strikes me as super-creepy, but whatever.)

"Immigrant children ripped from families land in Michigan — here's how to help" includes info on the other agency, Samaritas, fostering stolen kids. More on Samaritas and its role.
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:14 PM on June 19, 2018 [6 favorites]


“If someone has the freedom to go where they want, do what they want,” Ms. Venable said, “they’re not going to choose public transit.”

I'm comfortably middle class and haven't owned a car in 25 years. I also haven't paid for parking, looked for a parking spot, been stuck in traffic, been a car accident, had car repairs, shoveled a driveway, shopped for the cheapest gas, gotten a speeding ticket or driving violation or had a vehicle breakdown or flat.

I chose transit even way back when it was more difficult before smart phones and buses that announce stops and I lived in the burbs. Nowadays it gets easier every year. I get bars on the underground portions of the Chicago L now. I can watch Netflix. I can read any of the hundred books on my phone or browse the web. Sure it cost a couple bucks each way and takes a little more time but it is much better time and I don't have to worry about shit.

You can have your "freedom to" on this one but I chose the "freedom from" all the goddam hassles of driving.

So you're wrong Ms. Venable. The only way I would ever drive again would be if I had to. Like making a run for a Canadian border for example.
posted by srboisvert at 11:21 PM on June 19, 2018 [63 favorites]


Re the ICE LinkedIn data, after reading the underlying Twitter thread, I can't believe it's the left that gets mocked for being easily triggered. People on that thread are off the deep end, saying it will lead to murder, tagging the FYI to investigate the guy, citing terrorism statutes, etc.
posted by mabelstreet at 11:31 PM on June 19, 2018 [4 favorites]


Re the ICE LinkedIn data, after reading the underlying Twitter thread, I can't believe it's the left that gets mocked for being easily triggered.

It's projection and bad faith, all the way down.
posted by heathkit at 11:50 PM on June 19, 2018 [24 favorites]


Sometimes an image really is worth a thousand words. I’m donating this image I painted on behalf of Nasty Woman Press to the cause of social justice. Feel free to use it on social media, on your signs, wherever you can to spread the word.

Here's the 400 DPI original painting, free for download.

And here's a 150 DPI version, if that's what you prefer.

Thanks, guys! I love Metafilter so much!!
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 11:53 PM on June 19, 2018 [142 favorites]


That's an awesome picture, Suburbanbeatnik. You're awesome.
posted by Joe in Australia at 11:59 PM on June 19, 2018 [9 favorites]


Thank you, Joe!!
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 12:04 AM on June 20, 2018




Those are helicopters being withdrawn by state national guards. The three or four service members are crew. I think withdrawing half-a-dozen or so helicopters from border patrol is quite noticeable to anyone in government service who deals with these matters, civil or military. It is a worthwhile gesture.
posted by CCBC at 12:13 AM on June 20, 2018 [22 favorites]


Flagged as fantastic, Suburbanbeatnik! That’s amazing!! Thank you for sharing it with us.
posted by greermahoney at 12:16 AM on June 20, 2018 [3 favorites]


Electing Democrats to hold the line till 2020, and then retake power, is the only option.

no, international prosecution of crimes against humanity is another option - the democratic house needs to demand impeachment - if the repubicans refuse, it's my understanding that this refusal to prosecute opens the way for the hague to prosecute, as well as others

and whatever argument that the us doesn't belong to whatever organization doesn't really matter, anymore than it did at nuremburg

this is no longer a purely national issue - with the separation of children from their parents, it's become an international one
posted by pyramid termite at 12:40 AM on June 20, 2018 [32 favorites]


People on that thread are off the deep end, saying it will lead to murder, tagging the FYI to investigate the guy, citing terrorism statutes, etc.

A dude just shot up a pizza place because he thought the (non-existent) basement housed a child sex trafficking ring.
posted by sideshow at 12:45 AM on June 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


For those of us tracking the various ways in which the culpable New York Times works to normalize the unfolding Trumpist atrocities, a weak signal: they at least had the decency to identify DC DSA as "a liberal group that works for social and economic justice" in their coverage of the Nielsen protest.

Being an official Old, I'm happy to call this an interesting, if rare, example of normalization and the Overton window shifting in the other direction. The "liberal" is, of course, galling to anyone with a modicum of political sophistication, but it's infinitely more palatable to their upper-middle-class readership than the other characterizations available. Not long ago they would have been happy to tar a group like DSA as marginal, wild-eyed barbudos. Keep pressing.
posted by adamgreenfield at 1:20 AM on June 20, 2018 [19 favorites]


(I also want to add my voice to those of everyone here who's noted how the outbreak of righteous, direct action, at long last, generates hope far out of proportion to its actual effect in slowing the progress of the machine. My deep gratitude to those of you throwing your bodies upon the gears and wheels.)
posted by adamgreenfield at 1:44 AM on June 20, 2018 [15 favorites]


Is it wrong that I'm pissed off that kids shit down Melrose in LA over....XXXtentacion?
posted by bootlegpop at 1:55 AM on June 20, 2018 [4 favorites]


Today is World Refugee Day.

Yesterday, the US withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council.
posted by runcifex at 2:02 AM on June 20, 2018 [23 favorites]


Is it wrong that I'm pissed off that kids shit down Melrose in LA over....XXXtentacion?

Of course not. XXXtentacion was indefensible, and it hurts to see some folks who ought to know better excusing his brutal misogyny in the name of the excitement he brought to their genre. But then, remember that "For What It's Worth" was originally written about a protest against the utterly trivial Sunset Strip curfew, and that went on to lubricate a generation's willingness to engage in the physical confrontation with authority.

I'm for anything, anything at all, that teaches people to take their grief to the streets. Sometimes big things have small beginnings.
posted by adamgreenfield at 2:09 AM on June 20, 2018 [11 favorites]


Today is World Refugee Day.

Yesterday, the US withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council.


On Juneteenth. Fuckers pulled out of the HRC on the day commemorating the abolition of slavery.
posted by chris24 at 3:11 AM on June 20, 2018 [88 favorites]


US lobbyist for Russian oligarch visited Julian Assange nine times last year
Adam Waldman, who has worked as a Washington lobbyist for the metals tycoon since 2009, had more meetings with Assange in 2017 than almost anyone else, the records show.
It is not clear why Waldman went to the WikiLeaks founder or whether the meetings had any connection to the Russian billionaire, who is now subject to US sanctions. But the disclosure is likely to raise further questions about the extent and nature of Assange’s alleged ties to Russia.

posted by PenDevil at 3:29 AM on June 20, 2018 [11 favorites]


Aaron Rupar:
Acting ICE director Thomas Homan, without any sense of irony, tells @TuckerCarlson that he objects to people comparing ICE to Nazis because they "are simply enforcing laws enacted by Congress."
Completely unrelated tweet (Steve Lieber):
In 1946, cartoonist & illustrator Noel Sickles was sent by Life magazine to sketch the Nuremberg trials. Here is his sketch of the execution of Joachim Von Ribbentrop, who claimed at trial that his boss had made all of the important decisions, & that he was only following orders.
posted by PontifexPrimus at 3:47 AM on June 20, 2018 [71 favorites]


I apologize for being a bit lazy in this, but I'll ask anyway. I've been unable to follow the news stories about the secret baby jails with as much attention as I do the rest of this because it's just too utterly heart-breaking, and as the father of a delightful little girl I'm having a hard time even writing this without tearing up. As an act of self-care I've skipped over a lot of details, seeing only enough to keep me aware of what's happening.

But I want to help, and I know in these threads there've been scattered mentions of organizations you can donate to who are directly trying to affect the situation and protect the innocents we're cruelly traumatizing. Could someone be so kind as to recap some of those, so I don't have to go through a bunch of posts that fill me with misery and despair to find them and figure out who best to donate money/goods to?

It would be sincerely appreciated.
posted by jammer at 4:22 AM on June 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


jammer, this Slate roundup of how to help was recommended by Dan Savage. Also at Slate, a piece about why donating money to RAICES may be a particularly good choice. Thank you for stepping up, jammer. Not all of us can donate money right now, so I am especially grateful to other MeFites who both can and do. That is a huge help.
posted by Bella Donna at 4:35 AM on June 20, 2018 [31 favorites]


Tyler Q. Houlton (@SpoxDHS)
While having a work dinner tonight, the Secretary and her staff heard from a small group of protestors who share her concern with our current immigration laws that have created a crisis on our southern border.
posted by chris24 at 4:36 AM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


Previous AskMes here and here.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 4:36 AM on June 20, 2018 [4 favorites]




Slate's Dalia Lithwick has some useful recommendations: Here’s How You Can Help Fight Family Separation at the Border—Lawyers, translators, donations, protest.
• The ACLU is litigating this policy in California.
• If you’re an immigration lawyer, the American Immigration Lawyers Association will be sending around a volunteer list for you to help represent the women and men with their asylum screening, bond hearings, ongoing asylum representation, etc. Please sign up.
Al Otro Lado is a binational organization that works to offer legal services to deportees and migrants in Tijuana, Mexico, including deportee parents whose children remain in the U.S.
CARA—a consortium of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, the American Immigration Council, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association—provides legal services at family detention centers.
The Florence Project is an Arizona project offering free legal services to men, women, and unaccompanied children in immigration custody.
Human Rights First is a national organization with roots in Houston that needs help from lawyers too.
Kids in Need of Defense works to ensure that kids do not appear in immigration court without representation, and to lobby for policies that advocate for children’s legal interests. Donate here.
The Legal Aid Justice Center is a Virginia-based center providing unaccompanied minors legal services and representation.
Pueblo Sin Fronteras is an organization that provides humanitarian aid and shelter to migrants on their way to the U.S.
RAICES is the largest immigration nonprofit in Texas offering free and low-cost legal services to immigrant children and families. Donate here and sign up as a volunteer here.
• The Texas Civil Rights Project is seeking “volunteers who speak Spanish, Mam, Q’eqchi’ or K’iche’ and have paralegal or legal assistant experience.”
Together Rising is another Virginia-based organization that’s helping provide legal assistance for 60 migrant children who were separated from their parents and are currently detained in Arizona.
• The Urban Justice Center’s Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project is working to keep families together.
Women’s Refugee Commission advocates for the rights and protection of women, children, and youth fleeing violence and persecution.
• Finally, ActBlue has aggregated many of these groups under a single button.
This list isn’t comprehensive, so let us know what else is happening. And please call your elected officials, stay tuned for demonstrations, hug your children, and be grateful if you are not currently dependent on the basic humanity of U.S. policy.
Lithwick's added another two batches of suggestions for organizations who can help in the meantime, and hopefully there will be more to come.

ᴏɴ ᴩʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ: I see Bella Donna just linked to this, but I'd like to post Lithwick's recommendations in this thread as well.
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:42 AM on June 20, 2018 [85 favorites]


Thank you very much, Bella Donna and Doktor Zed. That's really helpful.
posted by jammer at 4:44 AM on June 20, 2018


NY1 received a tip last night that separated kids were being transferred to NY through an agency in East Harlem and they got video of folks bringing several girls there at 1am. Still awaiting more information; we know that at least 70 kids have been transferred to NYS from the southern border.
posted by melissasaurus at 5:05 AM on June 20, 2018 [18 favorites]


I prefer boycotting the advertisers who sponsor Fox News, and this is the best list I could find.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:10 AM on June 20, 2018 [16 favorites]


Anything telling us how Murdochs the Younger are concerned and upset and blahblahblah is about as useful as McCain, Flake, Collins, etc making their usual concerned and upset noises, which is to say fuck-all. It's PR so that they can move the Overton window of publicity in their favor.
posted by zombieflanders at 5:17 AM on June 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


I prefer boycotting it motherfucking all. Any affiliated company, any affiliated person, anything and everything. Shut it fucking down.
posted by chris24 at 5:19 AM on June 20, 2018 [16 favorites]


the Murdoch sons are liberal

This is a lie.
posted by Artw at 5:22 AM on June 20, 2018 [27 favorites]




John McCain's chief advisor in his 2008 campaign. (and usual caveats that yes, Reagan, Kasich, etc. aren't the great shakes he thinks they are.)

Steve Schmidt
29 years and nine months ago I registered to vote and became a member of The Republican Party which was founded in 1854 to oppose slavery and stand for the dignity of human life. Today I renounce my membership in the Republican Party. It is fully the party of Trump. It is corrupt, indecent and immoral. With the exception of a few Governors like Baker, Hogan and Kasich it is filled with feckless cowards who disgrace and dishonor the legacies of the party’s greatest leaders. This child separation policy is connected to the worst abuses of humanity in our history. It is connected by the same evil that separated families during slavery and dislocated tribes and broke up Native American families. It is immoral and must be repudiated. Our country is in trouble. Our politics are badly broken.

The first step to a season of renewal in our land is the absolute and utter repudiation of Trump and his vile enablers in the 2018 election by electing Democratic majorities. I do not say this as an advocate of a progressive agenda. I say it as someone who retains belief in DEMOCRACY and decency. On Ronald Reagan’s grave are these words. “ I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph and there is purpose and worth to each and every life.” He would be ashamed of McConnell and Ryan and all the rest while this corrupt government establishes internment camps for babies. Everyone of these complicit leaders will carry this shame through history. There legacies will be ones of well earned ignominy. They have disgraced their country and brought dishonor to the Party of Lincoln.

I have spent much of my life working in GOP politics. I have always believed that both parties were two of the most important institutions to the advancement of human freedom and dignity in the history of the world. Today the GOP has become a danger to our democracy and values. This Independent voter will be aligned with the only party left in America that stands for what is right and decent and remains fidelitous to our Republic, objective truth, the rule of law and our Allies. That party is the Democratic Party.
posted by chris24 at 5:24 AM on June 20, 2018 [119 favorites]


One of the immigrant organizations in MPLS linked a video [which is very, very upsetting] of a man being dragged away by ICE as he pleads to stay in the US so that he won't be killed in Honduras. It's here.

I worry that because children are understood (by everyone except the GOP and other Nazis) to be innocent, if child separation is stopped then this will still be permitted to go on.

It is something that has been happening (realistically probably as long as there have been deportations) but with regularity since DHS and ICE were founded.

I know most of us know that at this point, but the video...You know how when something that you'd believed before becomes viscerally true and you realize that your previous belief was weak sauce compared to what you now feel?

What I find with immigration issues (and with prison issues and in general with structural injustice) is that it gets worse all the way down. The commonplace story is far less bad than the details that emerge.
posted by Frowner at 5:26 AM on June 20, 2018 [39 favorites]


Guess who strolled past the sounds of wailing immigrant children to celebrate with oversized bottles of champagne at a Trump Hotel, and was just pleased as peaches to hob-nob with people excited to put toddlers in concentration camps?

If you said "Jack Dorsey, founder, chairman, and CEO of Twitter, a company with a long history of coddling actual Nazis while punishing their targets (which includes going after Jewish journalists), and dude who loves to apologize to bigots" then COME ON DOWN.
posted by zombieflanders at 5:32 AM on June 20, 2018 [120 favorites]


Fuck Jack Dorsey, his platform and everything they touch. The rot in his soul is epic.
posted by adamgreenfield at 5:37 AM on June 20, 2018 [24 favorites]


You talking about pal of everyone @jackboot?

@jack
Do everything it takes to #KeepFamilesTogether.

What are the highest impact ways to help?


Not in ways that actually involve responsibly managing his platform, of course.
posted by Artw at 5:39 AM on June 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


On my walk to the subway yesterday, in between tracking this thread on my work computer and on my phone while on the train, I was thinking about proportional responses.

I don't mean the military kind really, like in that one scene from West Wing, although there are ways to make that fit. I mean socially, politically.

There are too many Really Big Deal fucked up things that the Trump admin has done to list them off, but any list has got to include baby jails, the massacre-by-ineptitude of Puerto Rican citizens, treasonous manipulation of our electoral and financial systems by agents (including the President) of a hostile foreign power, catastrophic destabilization of world peace, abandoning climate change efforts, racist as fuck behavior across the board including voter disenfranchisement, and so on and so on and so on and so on.

I find myself despairing at times, because the nature of these crimes is so incredibly, blatantly, monstrously evil. These evils are not new in America (for the most part) and we need to reckon with our history along with this current iteration. And for both of these reckonings, we need a response that is in proportion to the crimes. That's why, for me, impeaching Donald Trump isn't enough. The return to power of the Democratic party in the legislature isn't enough (though it would be a fine starting place) and electing a Democratic President isn't enough. Trying and jailing the entire Trump staff of sycophants and enablers along with him and his Republican allies in Congress who are actively covering up for him isn't enough. And hand to spaghetti although I love 'em, Obama and Clinton-type leaders aren't enough anymore.

We need a proportional response. What is the proportional response to the crimes of the Trump administration? Of the Republican party? What is the proportional response to the not-insignificant % of our population that wholeheartedly support these crimes? This is one reason why I walk around some days feeling a bit of that gaslit foggy brain painful impotence feeling. This is not normal, these crimes are so far beyond the pale, and I need my progressive representatives, and the Big N press institutions, and the leaders of progressive nations to stand up and say the truth: that America is being burned down in front of our eyes by white supremacy that has finally wrested control of the levers of power from even the banality of evil status quo that was America before. It's happening in front of our eyes and so many of the people and institutions that I had some modicum of trust in are still waffling around with "falsely claimed" and horseraces and both-sides-do-it and and and and and.

We need a proportional response. In the adminstration of justice to the perpetrators of these crimes, and also in the course correction that America needs to follow. Let's go down the list of the travesties and for every single one, we enact a reform as impactful towards the good as we possibly can.

Pull out of the Paris agreement and deny climate science? Go to jail for crimes against humanity. And after we have thrown away the key, guess what - America invests a trillion dollars in clean energy industries, decides to actually compete with the rest of the world on who is going to be the leader in green energy, and requires that 50% of all cars / trucks / everything on the road in the US are electric by 2025. NASA works with global partner space industries to put 50 new satellites into orbit with the express purpose of studying the ongoing destruction of climate and we listen to the experts' analysis of this wealth of data to enact targeted actions to slow down global warming.

Take immigrant children and put them into baby jails? Abolish ICE, prosecute and jail every single person who had a hand in this. And after we have thrown away the key? A complete overhaul of our immigration system including full amnesty and automatic citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants who have been here for years, a porous border and open trade policy with Mexico, the establishment of a global emergency task force for population movements with the progressive President of the United States offering sanctuary to as many refugees as there are refugees. America becomes the new Safe Haven for all peoples fleeing violence, and a New Land for all those who want to come here and make a better life for themselves.

Let the NRA take over a political party and actively campaign against the children and minorities with the temerity to protest being massacred? Every single person in a leadership / lobbyist / whatever position in the NRA is prosecuted for many many many murders. After they go to jail? Guns are now illegal in the United States except under very specific circumstances a la Australia and other workable models. The 2nd amendment is repealed.

and so on and so on. I'm sure there are better policy proposals to be thought of, but it's the scale that matters to me. The punitive response must be massive, and the progressive reforms that come after should absolutely dwarf the New Deal.
posted by lazaruslong at 6:11 AM on June 20, 2018 [47 favorites]


this Trump-enabling framing of 'yes, what a horrible problem we have with separating children from their parents it is very sad SHS can't even speak of it w/o tearing up' feels a whole lot like the gun control debate. Oh yes it is very sad to have children shot in school but we have this whole Second Amendment thing so what can we do.

It's very evil bullshit.

I pray to whatever exists that we do not have an actual national crisis that Trump can use to justify this shit. But maybe we don't need one. It's the fear of whites losing the majority. That seems to be working pretty well.
posted by angrycat at 6:13 AM on June 20, 2018 [18 favorites]




While you get all properly worked up about how immigrants and refugees are being treated by the current administration remember that you are also likely to be at risk. This version of the Republican party has been using the phrase "Real Americans" for years. They have been openly telling you their plans.
posted by srboisvert at 6:28 AM on June 20, 2018 [39 favorites]


> Vanity Fair, Michael Cohen, Holding His Cards Close to the Vest, Has Hired a New Lawyer

CNN: Trump's Personal Attorney Is 'Willing To Give Info' About The President


Michael Cohen and his team went for the trifecta with leaking to the media last night.

WSJ: Michael Cohen Wants Trump to Pay His Legal Fees—Former personal lawyer for Trump hires New York attorney Guy Petrillo
Michael Cohen has hired New York lawyer Guy Petrillo to represent him in a federal investigation into his business dealings, and has told associates he wants President Donald Trump, his former boss, to pay his legal fees, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Cohen has frequently told associates in recent months he is frustrated that the president hasn’t offered to pay his legal fees, which he has said are “bankrupting” him, according to one of the people. He has said he feels that Mr. Trump owes him after his years of loyalty to the former real-estate developer, whom he served for nearly a decade at the Trump Organization.

The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment, and there has been no indication Mr. Trump is planning to pay for his former longtime lawyer’s legal fees.

The Trump campaign had been footing the bill for some of Mr. Cohen’s legal expenses, paying nearly $230,000 to McDermott, Will & Emery LLP between October 2017 and January 2018, according to Federal Election Commission records and a person familiar with the matter. But those payments helped cover Mr. Cohen’s legal representation in the separate Russia investigation, not in the probe of his business dealings.

The Trump family had also financed a portion of Mr. Cohen’s legal bills in the latter probe, paying for the review of documents seized by prosecutors in an April raid of his properties, but hadn’t agreed or offered to cover his full fees, according to people familiar with the matter.
It's almost comical how Cohen has rolled out this story, first playing cagey with Vanity Fair, then threatening to flip to CNN, and finally trying to leverage all this for paying his legal bills with the WSJ. If Cohen manages to cajole Trump into coughing up, he'll have succeeded where so many before have failed—either he has almost as much blackmailable material on Donald as Putin has or he's deluded.

(Sorry, I would have posted this last night, but the general news lately has exhausted me. Thank goodness there's a new Fucking Fuck thread.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:32 AM on June 20, 2018 [24 favorites]


Would Trump paying Cohen's legal bills in an investigation where Trump is a possible suspect be considered witness tampering?
posted by PenDevil at 6:35 AM on June 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


Paraphrasing: “you don’t get it; Trump never pays”
posted by mumimor at 6:36 AM on June 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


Another Republican losing sleep at night:

@spencerjcox
Can’t sleep tonight. I know I shouldn’t tweet. But I’m angry. And sad. I hate what we’ve become. My wife wants to go & hold babies & read to lonely/scared/sad kids. I want to punch someone. Political tribalism is stupid. It sucks & it’s dangerous. We are all part of the problem.

Of course the problem is couched in terms of “tribalism” (presumably on both sides and “cable news” (presumably not Fox).
posted by Artw at 6:45 AM on June 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


Michael Cohen has hired New York lawyer Guy Petrillo to represent him in a federal investigation into his business dealings, and has told associates he wants President Donald Trump, his former boss, to pay his legal fees, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Administration Clown Car is now doing donuts on our country's front lawn.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:48 AM on June 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


Fwiw, when we are through this, I want every single person at every single step scrutinized for any action taken in Bad Faith, and each and every deprivation of Due Process and Equal Protection prosecuted to the fullest. From top to bottom. No exceptions.

I trust this is not to punish them, but to use as a deterrent against some theoretical future wrongdoers.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:03 AM on June 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


Mod note: A few deleted; let's not list out further horrible shit they could do, and let's reel it back some on the "these fuckers" one-liners. The WTF thread is there for people who have to scream.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:11 AM on June 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


NPR Political coverage update! They seem to be doing a new thing now: they have some Republican dipshit on to lie at them. The host sometimes interjects their lies with facts (even Steve Inkseep has done this!). THEN, they have a political reporter talk with the host to basically fact check the lying Republican that was just on.

So, it's not the best. Personally I would do pre-recorded interviews, and if it was just a whole bunch of lies, I'd say "well I talked to Rep This Guy but most of what he said was false, so I will not play the interview".

The other thing is, sometimes this allows the lying Republican to set the framing. So this morning they were referring to the two house immigration bills Rs have come up with as "the compromise bill" and "the compromise to the compromise bill" which is an utterly stupid name. These are compromises between hardline Rs and slightly less hardline Rs (calling them moderates is far too generous). Both "compromise" bills are compromises BETWEEN Republicans and no one seems to think to ask "hey! I wonder if there are any Democrats in the government that could offer input on what our laws should be". No one mentioned that all the Democratic senators are behind one clean bill with no funny business, but they did mention Ted Cruz's bill.

In sum: slightly better, still bad.
posted by Emmy Rae at 7:14 AM on June 20, 2018 [31 favorites]


He has said he feels that Mr. Trump owes him after his years of loyalty

ahahahahahahah

Cohen, you are absolutely, 100% fucked at this point. Look at Manafort and quiver because, to borrow Cochran's shtick, that's your fate if you don't co-operate.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:14 AM on June 20, 2018 [21 favorites]


I also would not be surprised if they don't know who these kids are. Reading the lawyer account posted yesterday sort of confirmed this suspicion for me, that they are following the thought that parents who don't have documented proof of identity could be trafficking, so we don't actually know who these kids are to reunite (or track) them.

Non verbal kids and kids young enough not to know names are very at risk. Once you take a parent from a kid who just knows parents as mommy and daddy how do you reconnect them?
posted by AlexiaSky at 7:16 AM on June 20, 2018 [28 favorites]


A friend of mine posted the below on Facebook last night and I thought I'd share here in case mefites have reactions and/or would be able to run with it.

--

So it seems like the “shelters” being used to detain children separated from their parents at the border are subject to various state childcare licensing regulations. At least they were cited in past years by states for minor infractions (when they were predominantly used for unaccompanied minors). I’m wondering if these shelters have had official inspections from the different state Health and Human Services Departments since they started to be used for the new evil policy. I bet the inspections are usually only once or twice a year, so maybe they haven’t been inspected recently.

It’s a little boring, but maybe an effective angle to attack this is to pressure state officials to do thorough and immediate licensing investigations into these facilities. I bet some of the licensing requirements are hard to comply with quickly, and there have to be a lot of technical, egregious violations. Time for an unscheduled, surprise inspection. Also, some facilities have had to apply to their home states for waivers to expand. Seems like there’s room for political pressure on whether to grant those waivers, too. I’d hope states are already on it, but maybe if we live in a state with one of these facilities, we should call our governors and health and human services departments to be sure.

Given the hoops the local family daycares around here have to jump through (which in my opinion are overbearing and a little unfair, considering most are run by not very educated women who are not so good at paperwork but great at caregiving), I would hope that at least the same standard would be applied to a giant corporate facility. Has all the new staff had the 20+ hours of training and are they at the right level of certification? Do they have all the right forms filled out correctly in the proper order? Are injury and incident reports sent to the state within 3-5 days? Do Epi-pens have an accompanying prescription? Do they have the right permits for building renovations? Are there toothbrushing waivers or permission slips in place? If basic human decency can’t stop them, maybe bureaucracy can.
posted by AwkwardPause at 7:20 AM on June 20, 2018 [46 favorites]


Non verbal kids and kids young enough not to know names are very at risk. Once you take a parent from a kid who just knows parents as mommy and daddy how do you reconnect them?

That right there is the secret sauce. These kids that are going to end up "permanent separations" mentioned upthread? This is how they're already getting away with it.
posted by Krazor at 7:20 AM on June 20, 2018 [12 favorites]


Given the hoops the local family daycares around here have to jump through (which in my opinion are overbearing and a little unfair, considering most are run by not very educated women who are not so good at paperwork but great at caregiving), I would hope that at least the same standard would be applied to a giant corporate facility.

Texas Officials Allow 15 Immigrant Shelters to Hold More Kids than Licenses Permit, Texas Observer
posted by Freon at 7:24 AM on June 20, 2018 [32 favorites]


Sessions and his ICE goons have successfully created a system less humane than the one instituted in the early 18th century.

Caro Howell, Director of the Foundling Museum, talks about the eighteenth-century tokens; objects left by mothers who gave up their babies to the care of the Foundling Hospital, the UK’s first children’s charity, which was founded in 1739 to take in babies who would otherwise have been abandoned on the streets

This is such a rank abdication of responsibility and abuse of power that it should be enough to impeach the whole nest. My contempt for the GOP is beyond expression.
posted by Devonian at 7:24 AM on June 20, 2018 [22 favorites]


> He has said he feels that Mr. Trump owes him after his years of loyalty

Michael Cohen has worked for Trump for years and has undoubtedly watched and helped him screw over people who thought they had earned Trump's loyalty...and yet even he apparently believed that surely the leopard would never eat *his* face. Based on what, dude?
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:33 AM on June 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


Axios grants a Senior Administration official anonymity to say that Trump is “moved personally” by the separation of families

n.b. Jonathan Swan, who shares this story's byline, is part of the Trump Whisperer Troika of journalists Trump himself leaks to (the NYT's Maggie Haberman and the WaPo's Philip Rucker are the other two). So when Swan quotes a "senior administration official", there's a chance it could be Trump or, if not, then someone who has Trump's approval, explicit or tacit, for the leak.

The explanation that Trump is "doing it to press the case with Congress. He's moved personally, but also doesn't want to look weak. He feels boxed in, is frustrated and knows it's bad politics — but also understands it's not a fight he can back down from." is very much the story that the Trump White House wants to circulate within the Beltway. After Trump's rambling address to House GOPers about immigration yesterday, it comes off as scrambling to perform damage control.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:34 AM on June 20, 2018 [11 favorites]


chris24: 29 years and nine months ago I registered to vote and became a member of The Republican Party which was founded in 1854 to oppose slavery and stand for the dignity of human life.

General reminder: the Democrats used to be the racists, and the Republicans the party of the people, until the Southern Strategy flipped all that, as seen in two maps:
1920 Presidential election map showing Democrat James M. Cox winning only the Solid South and Republican Warren G. Harding prevailing in the electoral college. From the time of Reconstruction until the Civil Rights Era, the Southern states consistently supported the Democratic candidate for President.
-vs-
1964 presidential candidate Barry Goldwater won his home state of Arizona and five states in the Deep South, depicted in red. The Southern states, traditionally Democratic up to that time, voted Republican primarily as a statement of opposition to the Civil Rights Act, which had been passed in Congress earlier that year.
Another example: George Wallace, governor of Alabama, was a Democrat, and is remembered for
pro-segregation "Jim Crow" positions during the mid-20th century period of the Civil Rights Movement, declaring in his 1963 Inaugural Address that he stood for "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever", and standing in front of the entrance of the University of Alabama in an attempt to stop the enrollment of black students.
Republicans, time and time again, try to re-write their party's history by overlooking how the party alignments changed DRASTICALLY, and re-casting themselves as the Party Against Slavery. THIS IS BULLSHIT. DO NOT LET IT STAND.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:34 AM on June 20, 2018 [52 favorites]


If Cohen really has as much hard evidence against Trump as many suspect, it's very possible Trump will pay his legal fees out of an instinct for self-preservation, which would supersede his greed.

As to loyalty, I imagine Cohen didn't doubt Trump's loyalty not because he is unaware that Trump never pays his bills, but because a scenario where Cohen ended up getting caught and charged literally was unimaginable to him... the loyalty of the incurious and unimaginative is a sure and solid thing, but has a distinct brittleness when unforeseen events are brought to bear on it.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 7:38 AM on June 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


In fairness, Schmidt was citing that history in order to contrast it with the changes he now (finally) perceives. It is reasonable to say "We used to be on the right side of this, and now that we're not, I'm leaving." This is different from the people who say "Party of Lincoln" in order to imply that "Democrats are the real racists" or whatnot.
posted by Scattercat at 7:43 AM on June 20, 2018 [12 favorites]


Yeah, everyone leaving the GOP is a win, even if they should have done it long ago. Be glad they're seeing the light, even if it took children in cages to make them see it.
posted by EarBucket at 7:45 AM on June 20, 2018 [16 favorites]


Speaking of both Trump Whisperers and Michael Cohen, the NYT's Maggie Haberman @maggieNYT reports: "Trump family feels like it’s being shaken down. Cohen allies say Trump family is being short-sighted."

Now that's some primo both-sides access journalism!
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:46 AM on June 20, 2018 [36 favorites]


Trump family feels like it’s being shaken down.

The family that is currently shaking down America for a border wall using kids as leverage has no sense of irony.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:54 AM on June 20, 2018 [50 favorites]


Trump family feels like it’s being shaken down.

If there's any story here it's "Family of Malignant Narcissists Feels Like Victims While They are Literally the Most Powerful People in the World and are Currently Putting Babies in Prison." Maggie Haberman is worse than useless, she's an accomplice to crimes against humanity.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:57 AM on June 20, 2018 [86 favorites]


Corey R. Lewandowski @CLewandowski_
Lots of Fake News today. I mocked a liberal who attempted to politicize children as opposed to discussing the real issue which is fixing a broken immigration system. It’s offenseive that the MSM doesn’t want to talk about the fact these policies were started under Obama.
He can't even comprehend that someone might have empathy for others and a situation might have nuance. He's just playing the game. Like you know how it is. When you got skin in the game, you stay in the game but you don’t get a win unless you play in the game. Play the whataboutism card against imprisoning kids card and alea iacta est.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:57 AM on June 20, 2018 [31 favorites]


Utter lack of empathy and understanding of empathy is prevalent in this administration.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:01 AM on June 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


The world has become worn down by Trump's bluster and used to his constant stream of lunacy. But this numbness shouldn't lead to the normalization and acceptance of his aggressive outrageousness. The claim - leveled without a shred of proof - that the German government and its officials would deliberately keep the true extent of criminality from the citizens of Germany should not go without consequences. His open support for German right-wing populists is nothing less than a blatant attack by a foreign power on this country's government. It is a direct attempt by the White House to destabilize the Federal Republic of Germany.
[...]
No, this U.S. president was never a partner. He is a hostile opponent. We should finally start to treat him as such and act accordingly. Summoning the U.S. ambassador for a formal protest would be a good first step. Furthermore, relations to this U.S. government should be reduced to a bare minimum. It is also no longer necessary to pretend to be on friendly terms. Germany and the European Union should abandon polite self-restraint when dealing publicly with Trump and his government. We can't completely cut off the channels of communication, but they should be used sparingly.

We have long known that we could no longer rely on the United States under Donald Trump. Now, though, it has become clear that we have to protect ourselves from him.

posted by infini at 8:06 AM on June 20, 2018 [56 favorites]


I think we're going to see more reports like this:

Migrant children sent to shelters with histories of abuse allegations (via Reveal News)
posted by Emmy Rae at 8:08 AM on June 20, 2018 [18 favorites]


I know that the mods keep (rightly) deleting links to Seth Abramson's "General Strike" tweetstream (and rightly so).

But I just wanted to say that while I understand the impulse, a general strike is not going to start on Twitter.

As far as I can tell, the US currently doesn't have the union infrastructure to coordinate and support a general strike. A general strike is not a flash mob. It starts with coordination between trade unions to build the infrastructure to support workers who could otherwise neither afford nor risk a walk-out.

If you want a general strike to become a viable tool in the hands of US leftists, support labor with all your might and you might see it in a decade.
posted by murphy slaw at 8:08 AM on June 20, 2018 [36 favorites]


American fascist: October 2016 cover of Letras Libres, a Mexican magazine of arts and politics.
posted by Omon Ra at 8:08 AM on June 20, 2018 [9 favorites]


lefty lucky cat: If Cohen really has as much hard evidence against Trump as many suspect, it's very possible Trump will pay his legal fees out of an instinct for self-preservation, which would supersede his greed.

Trump's personality complicates this, and makes for paradoxical results. If he feels like his legal situation is truly precarious, then he's also likely to feel that Cohen owes him loyalty that much more, darn it. In his world, there's no such thing as reciprocity, so helping someone is always a sucker's game. Give him an inch and and he expects a mile precisely because you've made it clear that your purpose in the world is to give him stuff. The only reason Putin can get Trump to do anything is his status as a dominant father-figure type in his mind, the person he figures he should just keep giving stuff.

(Another relevant paradox is the circumstances under which he could fire Mueller. It probably won't happen when he thinks the investigation is too hot on his tail, as with Cohen's increasing jeopardy. It could happen if Trump feels dominant/smug. So even though the WITCH HUNT tweets help prepare the base to justify Mueller's firing, they also suggest that, for now, he's simply too scared to do it. It's rare for Freudian analysis to nail anyone at all, but it really does describe the president.)
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:11 AM on June 20, 2018 [9 favorites]


Americans have been riveted in recent months to every new detail coming out of the ongoing investigation into possible collusion by the Trump campaign. An army of amateur investigators has managed to uncover new developments in the case. Who are they and what drives them?
posted by infini at 8:16 AM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


So it seems like the “shelters” being used to detain children separated from their parents at the border are subject to various state childcare licensing regulations.

The preexisting ones, yes. Unfortunately, they're building the new ones on military properties where the states have no jurisdiction.
posted by Sophie1 at 8:18 AM on June 20, 2018 [11 favorites]


AP: Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is drafting an executive action for President Donald Trump that would direct DHS to keep families apprehended at the border together during detention.

That’s according to two people familiar with her thinking who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the effort before its official announcement.


I thought there was no policy and there was also no problem with the policy and that Obama did it too so it's good and that it's offensive that we would suggest that the policy isn't great. Anyway, Nielsen thinks this order (which I think there's a great chance that Trump will refuse) will excuse her for her role in the torture of thousands of children.

I hope she's granted an extra few dollars at the prison commissary for it. Enjoy that canned mackerel, Kirstjen.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:27 AM on June 20, 2018 [33 favorites]


I thought there was no policy and there was also no problem with the policy and that Obama did it too so it's good and that it's offensive that we would suggest that the policy isn't great.

Also, it was a deterrent.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:29 AM on June 20, 2018 [23 favorites]


Non verbal kids and kids young enough not to know names are very at risk. Once you take a parent from a kid who just knows parents as mommy and daddy how do you reconnect them?

I've been thinking about this, and it might come down to DNA tests in many cases. Which has its own problems in terms of expense. But will be the least we can do.
posted by emjaybee at 8:31 AM on June 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


If they stop right now - properly stop, and not some half assed bullshit - we are still in a situation where a bunch of traumatized children are left in limbo as a result of an inhumane policy. Pressure should not be dropped in the slightest.
posted by Artw at 8:33 AM on June 20, 2018 [75 favorites]


It's not unreasonable to think that the protest last night made her cave. She was facing a lifetime of never getting spit-free food in a restaurant. Deservedly, but you can see the motivation there.
posted by Quindar Beep at 8:34 AM on June 20, 2018 [13 favorites]


The policies that Cruz et al are coming up with are still too harsh. There is no reason to detain people seeking asylum at all. They have committed no crime. It's better to not separate their kids, sure, but even as families they should not be locked up. They should be registered so their cases can be heard and then turned loose to their families, or whatever the procedure was before.

As for other immigrants, well I think our policies there are stupid and we should let more people in in general, but if I have to choose between stupid policies, go back to catch and release. It's cheaper and less cruel.
posted by emjaybee at 8:36 AM on June 20, 2018 [57 favorites]


The suggested policy ammedmebt appears to be that families go into the improvised shelters to suffer together.
posted by Artw at 8:36 AM on June 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


In this morning's Pruitt news, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), last seen being very concerned about reports that his longtime pet AG is the front-runner for Mr. Corruption 2018, is now "a little embarrassed" to have doubted him following a Monday-evening meeting.
The Republican senator told reporters Wednesday that any of Pruitt's lapses were minor and excusable given his lack of experience in Washington, but that many were simply untrue and fueled by critics of his deregulatory agenda.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:38 AM on June 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


Vanity Fair: "Stephen actually enjoys seeing those pictures at the border": the West Wing is fracturing over Trump's callous migrant-family policy

When your workplace includes a psychopath whose job is to torture children and you continue going to work but are bothered by your coworker's enjoyment of it, you are also a psychopath. Just with slightly different dead zones in your brain. This is precisely the same dynamic seen among direct perpetrators of, for example, the Holocaust.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:45 AM on June 20, 2018 [85 favorites]


The Republican senator told reporters Wednesday that any of Pruitt's lapses were minor and excusable given his lack of experience in Washington

Does Inhofe not realize that he's saying here that Oklahoma is corrupt to the eyeballs? This isn't a guy without government experience -- he's been a legislator and AG for twenty years.
posted by Etrigan at 8:51 AM on June 20, 2018 [35 favorites]


From the Vanity Fair article: “She’s tired of taking on water for something she doesn’t believe in,” a friend of Sanders told me. “She continues to have a frustration that the policies are all over the map,” another person close to her said. “It’s not a good look for Sarah.”

Then she should fucking goddamn well resign and speak out!!!

Not a "good look." Fucking goddamn too bad.
posted by jgirl at 8:53 AM on June 20, 2018 [82 favorites]


“She continues to have a frustration that the policies are all over the map,”

It's not that she disapproves of concentration camps for children, it's that she resents having to give inconsistent defenses of concentration camps for children.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:54 AM on June 20, 2018 [87 favorites]


People called her a liar and having her lies correctly called out made her feel bullied but in no way made her reflect upon the fact that she IS in fact a liar who lies on behalf of a disgusting corrupt soulless regime bent on the fucking active destruction of the existence of anyone not white. She can die mad about that.
posted by poffin boffin at 9:00 AM on June 20, 2018 [82 favorites]


some facilities unidentified (but identifiable) in that Reveal article include:

Comprehensive Health Services, Inc., of Florida, closed after an employee was convicted for "trading sexually explicit photos and text messages with minors" but recently reopened; The Children’s Village, of New York, where "a Guatemalan boy was sexually assaulted by an older boy" and received medical treatment for which his mother was billed although she was not apprised of the underlying incident; KidsPeace, of Maine, where an employee accused of having sex with a(n adult) client remained, undisciplined for months.

these are but token examples of "dozens of other" cases where "federal officials continued sending children who crossed the border...after the incidents came to light."

as to the featured case of Shiloh, Texas HHS spokesman Reynolds denied the state has oversight (over the confinement and proper treatment of persons located at facilities in the state of Texas) as the state "is not a party to the contract" between the shelters and ORR (which tends to shed some light on the state's willingness, which is not to say duty or ability, to intercede in the interest of the children against current federal policy).
posted by 20 year lurk at 9:04 AM on June 20, 2018 [13 favorites]


I wonder how Stephen Miller feels knowing that Trump and Sessions are reaping all 'the glory' of the immigration camps. Maybe someone should ask him that a few dozen times in public.
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:08 AM on June 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


The rest of that Vanity Fair quote:

Stephen actually enjoys seeing those pictures at the border,” an outside White House adviser said. “He’s a twisted guy, the way he was raised and picked on. There’s always been a way he’s gone about this. He’s Waffen-SS.”

Historical ignorance aside – I think the speaker must mean the Totenkopfverbände – this is a stunning comparison to get on the record. They’re well past the point of even pretending to resent being compared to the actual world-historical Nazis. It is, somehow, going to take a generations-long, root-and-branch effort to repair this damage.

And one of the things that nags at me is that the next generation of unloved, uncared-for, untouched, unheld sociopath is being forged on the southern border right now, by monsters who instinctually seem to understand just how one goes about making more monsters, and have turned to the task with unseemly glee. I shudder to think of the revenge that will one day be extracted by some among the babies being ripped even now from the love and protection of their families.
posted by adamgreenfield at 9:09 AM on June 20, 2018 [45 favorites]


I have a sneaking suspicion that Trump will endorse the order to end the policy with gusto and the bloviate for the rest of the term how he ended the "awful Democrat's policy that began under Obama," as he's claimed enough to make it stick. It's the perfect victory for him to publicize to his base- the people who sincerely believe him when he says that "he's gotten more done so far than any other president in history." He will count this as a win across multiple axes, mark my words.

- He gets to look like he has a moral compass for a second. "President Trump is sympathetic to the little children whose criminal parents risked their lives without their consent to bring them here."

- He gets to lock up more people together at once. Better for the shareholders of the companies that will be contracted/less effort for the bureaucracy if everybody's going to the same place.

- It doesn't look like he's being "weak" on immigration to his "rule-of-law" base because he's still enforcing the wider, godawful immigration strategy (wall, mass deportations, ICE raids, AND continuing to imprison people, just together.)

- He gets to stick it to the Democrats, because "they're the ones that started it in the first place."

- He gets to look good to the small government people because he "didn't originate the idea, but he's fair and he listens to his people, and as much as it pains him to use his executive power, he's going to do it for the good of the children."

- You better believe that when bad things happen to the kids that are kept with their parents in detention, the parents and their care will get the blame rather than the facility or the government.

The is no downside for him to reject this. The more I think of it, the more I see the potential that this could get worse. Mods, please remove if you feel like it's catastrophizing speculation, but at the same time, doesn't it track with his conduct to this point?
posted by Krazor at 9:09 AM on June 20, 2018 [26 favorites]


Ashley Parker, WaPo President Trump seems to be saying more and more things that aren't true
He’s done it on Twitter. He’s done it in the White House driveway. And he’s done it in a speech to a business group.

President Trump — a man already known for trafficking in mistruths and even outright lies — has been outdoing even himself with falsehoods in recent days, repeating and amplifying bogus claims on several of the most pressing controversies facing his presidency.

Since Saturday, Trump has tweeted false or misleading information at least seven times on the topic of immigration and at least six times on a Justice Department inspector general report into the FBI’s handling of its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server. That’s more than a dozen obfuscations on just two central topics — a figure that does not include falsehoods on other issues, whether in tweets or public remarks.
- Things that aren't true
- mistruths
- outright lies (there it is!)
- falsehoods
- bogus claims
- false information
- misleading information
- obfuscations
And down at the bottom of the article,
Brian Fallon, a press secretary for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential bid, said he thinks the past week may mark an “inflection point” in how both the media and the public treat Trump’s mistruths.

“The lies have been so bald and discernibly false, I think people have felt license to challenge him and use the word ‘lie’ more freely than they have in the past,” Fallon said.
posted by carsonb at 9:11 AM on June 20, 2018 [22 favorites]


I was pretty taken aback by Stephen Miller's response to the news coverage. I can't find a link, but he said that he loved it, that 90% of the people were for it, that securing the border is winning issue for them. He basically dared the media to continue covering it.

And for all I know he's right. Kellyann Conway polled American's feelings in regards to immigrants for years and was convinced a candidate who took a hard line stance against immigrants could be president. She was right. I find myself lost as to where Americans are really at when it comes to immigration. I really don't know, and I don't know if polls would accurately reflect feelings that would be shameful if made public.
posted by xammerboy at 9:11 AM on June 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


I don't often link Reddit but some classy as hell shade is being thrown hard by a member of the Ask historians (which is a heavily moderated and quality sub if there ever was one) subreddit here.

Sessions of this and similar trials are full examples like this, which is one of many such stories historians of Nazi Germany and other eras in history encounter regularly in their work

Emphasis mine, I see what the author did there. Nice. Anyway, nice to see jabs and hooks like this being thrown in, otherwise politically agnostic, circles.
posted by RolandOfEld at 9:12 AM on June 20, 2018 [9 favorites]


I guess in short, what I'm saying, is that the people on the right and even some moderates who we've started to see speaking out to say that feeling ethically and morally weird about ripping kids away from their parents in the last few days will get to breathe a sigh of relief and say to themselves "The leader of our party DOES have a heart! We fixed it! Mission accomplished! Problem Solved! Border's still secure! God bless America!"
posted by Krazor at 9:13 AM on June 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


I am really at the absolute end of my ability to deal rationally with this whole situation. Regarding the reveal's reporting:

The Children’s Village, of New York, where "a Guatemalan boy was sexually assaulted by an older boy" and received medical treatment for which his mother was billed although she was not apprised of the underlying incident;

what the hell am I supposed to make of that organaization's President and CEO retweeting:
Save the Children Action Network‏Verified account @SCActionNetwork · Jun 16
Taking away children from their families at the border is inhumane and traumatic. Take action today to urge Congress to keep families together. http://bit.ly/2t6vDwq #FamiliesBelongTogether


I want assurances from these folks that they wont take any children into their care without clear documentation of who their parents are and what our government is doing with them.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 9:15 AM on June 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


I shudder to think of the revenge that will one day be extracted by some among the babies being ripped even now from the love and protection of their families.

I think it would be okay if we didn't, however sympathetically, project that traumatized immigrant children could be the next generation of sociopathic criminals.
posted by poffin boffin at 9:15 AM on June 20, 2018 [58 favorites]


So once they go back to putting whole families in cages, we're still fighting this shit, right?
posted by runcibleshaw at 9:16 AM on June 20, 2018 [54 favorites]


poffin boffin, you are of course correct. All my fears are for them, not of them.
posted by adamgreenfield at 9:17 AM on June 20, 2018 [3 favorites]


So once they go back to putting whole families in cages, we're still fighting this shit, right?


We will be, the question is: Will the members of the GOP who started to defect? Will the billionaire investors of the contractors for the facilities? Will we still see senators trying to get access on Facebook live? Will we still have the blockades, protests, and and occupations? I hope with everything that I've got that they will, but I have doubts as well.
posted by Krazor at 9:20 AM on June 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


So once they go back to putting whole families in cages, we're still fighting this shit, right?

On twitter, @prisonculture tweeted (I'm paraphrasing): Appealing to their conscience is fruitless. We must fight this by building power, and that will take time.

That's how I am trying to think about this. This feels like an emergency - it is an emergency - but emergency is probably our new normal and we have to think about how to sustain action and make progress within it.
posted by Emmy Rae at 9:21 AM on June 20, 2018 [44 favorites]


Thanks to folks for all the reminders: I finally signed up for a recurring monthly donation to mefi.
(Omg my phone just tried to autocorrect "mefi" to "medium.")
posted by mabelstreet at 9:21 AM on June 20, 2018 [4 favorites]


> I guess in short, what I'm saying, is that the people on the right and even some moderates who we've started to see speaking out to say that feeling ethically and morally weird about ripping kids away from their parents in the last few days will get to breathe a sigh of relief and say to themselves "The leader of our party DOES have a heart! We fixed it! Mission accomplished! Problem Solved! Border's still secure! God bless America!"

You're not wrong, but I'm less concerned about political wins than I am about lessening the cruelty, and letting families remain together is less cruel. That doesn't mean we pack up and declare victory, or that we give the opposition a free pass for how long they've been willing to allow that cruelty to exist, but it does mean that activist energy paired with unanimous support from Democrats in Congress has been able to turn an unconscionably egregious wrong into just an egregious wrong.

Assuming the action to reunite families is being done in good faith, begins immediately, and completes as fast as humanly possible, we should accept this unconditional surrender and move on to the next objective of correcting so many other things that are wrong with our policy around immigration.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:21 AM on June 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


This thread by Alexandra Erin is speculative, but very, very worrying. Her theory is this is a bait and switch to get the military deployed domestically.
posted by Brainy at 9:22 AM on June 20, 2018 [30 favorites]


he thinks the past week may mark an “inflection point” in how both the media and the public treat Trump’s mistruths.

Yes, this will surely mark a pivot, like when Trump pivoted after the nomination. No, wait, after the election. No, wait, after the State of the Union.

The system, including the media, is going to want to get everything back to "normal" as soon as possible. It wants homeostasis, even with a raging infection in the body politic. Just wait and see how many Democratic politicians are invited onto the Sunday morning shows this week...
posted by nubs at 9:22 AM on June 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


Ashley Parker, WaPo President Trump seems to be saying more and more things that aren't true

So, one more time. Truth is not a thing that has value in & of itself in Trump's mind. Things are true if they're useful to him & false if they aren't. It's almost solipsistic. What this really means? Things are getting worse but his mind is incapable of admitting it because he's in charge so things must be getting better.
posted by scalefree at 9:23 AM on June 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


Then she should fucking goddamn well resign and speak out!!!

It occurred to me yesterday that if the television series The West Wing had gone the way the current West Wing is going, it would be the second season and only actors Martin Short and Rob Lowe would still be around (and Sam would be a recurring character -- how often do we hear about current White House Deputy Director of Communications Jessica Ditto*?) Leo, Josh, C.J., Charlie, and Toby would all be gone, and Toby's replacement would have been twice replaced as well. Even cast members of later seasons such as Kate and Will would have been replaced. I am pondering a West Wing where Short and Lowe share the opening credits with Robert Urich, Brian Benben, Wayne Brady, Linda Lavin, and Ryan Seacrest.

*More proof the writers are just phoning it in now.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:24 AM on June 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


some facilities unidentified

my bad: KidsPeace and The Children's Village are identified and discussed later in the article, below that point in reading at which some inexplicable obscuring liquid must have intruded between my corneas and the monitor.
posted by 20 year lurk at 9:27 AM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


By the way, I've seen a lot of people suggesting that Trump is a puppet. In some regards I think he is, but his opinions on immigration and authoritarian rulers are long held. His desire to be president is long held. You can find videos from 20 years ago with him talking about becoming president and doing some of these things. This isn't to suggest that his policies are well thought. Trump is uninformed and unhinged, but he's also unlikely to change his mind. He's "the decider" who asks Miller and Sessions for options and then consistently chooses the most radical, risky, divisive, legally questionable, and fastest method of getting what he wants.

In some ways he reminds me of FDR, who also had a willingness to create questionable law and organizations that would only be temporarily effective until the courts caught up with him. FDR's attempt to pack the Supreme Court comes to mind too. Only Trump's from an evil and stupid dimension, and there's no existential emergency (in reality) driving his decisions. I mention the likeness, because I think it's a mistake to think Trump's tactics will necessarily backfire or are ineffective. He could end up very popular and devastatingly effective.
posted by xammerboy at 9:30 AM on June 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


From RolandofEld’s r/Askhistorians link:
Welzer further describes that Nazism even managed to incorporate an individual's struggle with their deeds into their frame of reference. They knew that what they were doing was immoral on some level but it was framed in a way where an individual who struggled with what they had to do and did it anyway was perceived as a "real man" because he would put the good of the people's community over his own feelings. Hence, when Himmler describes the Holocaust in his Posen speech, he highlights that despite the hard mission that had been given to them by history, they had always remained civilized (anständig). This is a particular nefarious aspect of these mechanism of ideological framing: Wherein overcoming doubt in the face of cruel acts becomes a virtue.
posted by schadenfrau at 9:30 AM on June 20, 2018 [38 favorites]


"real man" = "tough"
posted by xammerboy at 9:33 AM on June 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


Toxic masculinity is the gift that keeps on destroying people's lives, lifetime after lifetime.
posted by Green With You at 9:36 AM on June 20, 2018 [44 favorites]


NPR Political coverage update! They seem to be doing a new thing now: they have some Republican dipshit on to lie at them [...]

I know that by "new thing" you're referring to the next parts, because NPR has been doing that for years now.

[...] The other thing is, sometimes this allows the lying Republican to set the framing.

That is the serious problem with even NPR's new "instant fact checking" model, and yet I am certain it is not accidental. Whether deliberately or incompetently, they fail the cause of journalism by accepting Republican premises and framing as valid.

The sad thing is, since the "liberal media" myth was never argued in good faith, no amount of rhetorical concession will lead Republicans to concede NPR is liberal. Trump himself defined "fake news" as that which does not reflect well on him, and even back in the George W. Bush administration we realized that facts have a liberal bias. The media owes a duty to the facts, not to phony "balance," which already concedes too much.
posted by Gelatin at 9:43 AM on June 20, 2018 [13 favorites]


This NYTimes story about Trump's planned executive order to stop the separation of families he ordered in the first place, uncritically repeats his lie that there's a "drastic surge" in illegal immigration:

it is unclear how Mr. Trump intends to claim the legal authority to violate what have been legal constraints on the proper treatment of children in government custody, which prevented former President Barack Obama from detaining families together during a similar flood of illegal immigration two years ago.
posted by ook at 9:44 AM on June 20, 2018 [7 favorites]




Well, of course that NYT article repeats Trump's lie—Maggie Haberman helped write it, with the help of "a person familiar with the White House plans."

She uncritically repeats the almost the exact same line that Axios's Jonathan Swan did earlier today: "But the president, furious about the pummeling he has taken in recent days, has been casting about for an escape from the crisis, people familiar with his thinking said. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security are preparing the executive order that is designed to end the family separations. [...] People close to the president said he remains convinced that his immigration policies are appropriate and necessary. But Mr. Trump is said to be increasingly frustrated by the criticism he is getting, and aware that he is boxed in by the legal argument his administration has made."

Cancel your subscription.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:49 AM on June 20, 2018 [23 favorites]


Trump just made comments and took a few questions at a meeting of sycophants. Says that he'll sign something before he leaves for MN today, that "this has been going on for 50 years" and that "all the really bad pictures you saw were from when Obama was doing it." The bags under his eyes look like hardboiled eggs that didn't turn out right.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:49 AM on June 20, 2018 [10 favorites]


(Not to let that detail overshadow the executive order itself, which is apparently to just throw whole families into jail together, which... better? I guess?)
posted by ook at 9:51 AM on June 20, 2018


From the Lewandowski link: It’s offenseive that the MSM doesn’t want to talk about the fact these policies were started under Obama.

Because Trump has been so shy about undoing literally anything with Obama's name on it, right?
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:51 AM on June 20, 2018 [17 favorites]


Michael Cohen has worked for Trump for years and has undoubtedly watched and helped him screw over people who thought they had earned Trump's loyalty...and yet even he apparently believed that surely the leopard would never eat *his* face. Based on what, dude?

Cohen knows Trump is a snake. Cohen also knows where the (figurative, probably) bodies are buried, and he's reminding Trump of that fact.
posted by Gelatin at 9:51 AM on June 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


I have a sneaking suspicion that Trump will endorse the order to end the policy with gusto and the bloviate for the rest of the term how he ended the "awful Democrat's policy that began under Obama," as he's claimed enough to make it stick. It's the perfect victory for him to publicize to his base...
posted by Krazor at 9:09 AM on June 20


Oh totally, and he'll get away with it too. WaPo and a few other "liberal" outlets may call him out on it but the majority of the news will have headlines like "Trump puts an end to family separation" and since very few people bother reading past the headline that will be what sticks: Trump put an end to it. Never mind that he started it, never mind the strategies and policies that made this happen, never mind all of it, Trump stopped it. The Fox News spin will be that the Dems were to blame, the liberal media will say the Dems were not to blame, and by then we'll have had 4 other scandals to discuss so it'll most likely fall out of the newscape entirely.
posted by Vindaloo at 9:53 AM on June 20, 2018 [11 favorites]


Apparently Trump's comments also included unilaterally cancelling tomorrow's congressional picnic, in what I can only assume is a petulant poke in the eye to the GOP caucus for making him at least pretend to stop putting babies in jail.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:53 AM on June 20, 2018 [12 favorites]


from trump's statement:
"If you’re really, really pathetically weak, the country is going to be overrun with millions of people and if you’re strong, then you don’t have any heart. That’s a tough dilemma. Perhaps I’d rather be strong."

Finally, something we have in common! We're both rooting against his heart.
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:54 AM on June 20, 2018 [28 favorites]


'White Civil Rights Rally' application approved for DC

Kessler and his group are requiring participants to wear bodycams.
posted by jgirl at 9:55 AM on June 20, 2018


Speaking of access journalism, here's Tiger Beat On the Potomac's Jake Sherman:
This is unbelievable.

The Capitol is filled with wives, husbands and kids, who have flown into town because they were invited to go to the White House. This is a highlight of many congressional families’ summers.
He is, of course, responding to the real horror: the cancellation of the Congressional Picnic, where they will cruelly be denied lavish steak dinners.
posted by zombieflanders at 9:56 AM on June 20, 2018 [59 favorites]


Strategy reminder:

- the midterms are everything. Dems must take at least one house of Congress, or there is literally nothing to stop Trump.

- Trump (and Stephen Miller) use outrageous actions as a weapon. Do your best not to get overwhelmed because that is exactly what they want.

- They overplayed their hand on family separations and are taking real political damage.

- Trump can say whatever he wants, but don't make the mistake of assuming people believe him or the Fox News spin

- Polls even two months ago showed that a majority of Americans -- including Republicans -- want a check on Trump because he is legit scary. In fact, voters have always liked split government (president vs. Congress) as a check on abuses.

Put it all together and a clear strategy emerges: do everything possible to focus on Congressional races this fall. Emphasize the message "we need a check on Trump." Not impeachment, not gory details of abuses. Keep it simple, as unemotional as possible, and work on independent and moderate Republican friends.
posted by msalt at 9:56 AM on June 20, 2018 [65 favorites]


Mother Jones saying that 'indefinite detention' will replace the 'Tender Age' centers and child concentration camps. By order of the Supreme Leader
posted by Myeral at 9:56 AM on June 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


Kessler and his group are requiring participants to wear bodycams.

Oh no mister Nazi, please don't throw yourself into the briar patch.

Mother Jones saying that 'indefinite detention' will replace the 'Tender Age' centers and child concentration camps.

Concentration camps that contain both adults and children have much more potential for internal organized resistance than child camps and would therefore be more possible to liberate.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:59 AM on June 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


Ending a shitty, hurtful policy and finding a way to replace it with something even shittier and more hurtful would be completely on-brand for this regime. This fight isn't over at all.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:59 AM on June 20, 2018 [29 favorites]


The fact that a bunch of bootlickers are missing their Special Persons Party cause King Toddler had a tantrum is pleasing in an extremely petty way.
posted by The Whelk at 10:02 AM on June 20, 2018 [58 favorites]


Jake Sherman has apologized: "This was a dumb tweet. Period."
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:02 AM on June 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


Apparently Trump's comments also included unilaterally cancelling tomorrow's congressional picnic, in what I can only assume is a petulant poke in the eye to the GOP caucus for making him at least pretend to stop putting babies in jail.

That and his aides know that after yesterday's shitshow with House GOPers—in which he insulted a sitting member of their caucus—Trump cannot be trusted off the leash during such a stressful situation as this. He's boorish and charmless at the best of times, and this is the exact opposite. (He's also cognitively impaired, as I keep telling my status quo–embracing liberal friends, but that's another topic.)

His #MAGA rally tonight is going to be absolutely bugfuck.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:03 AM on June 20, 2018 [15 favorites]


The Card Cheat: "Michael Cohen has worked for Trump for years and has undoubtedly watched and helped him screw over people who thought they had earned Trump's loyalty...and yet even he apparently believed that surely the leopard would never eat *his* face. Based on what, dude?"

Presumably because he knows where the bodies are buried.

Quindar Beep: "It's not unreasonable to think that the protest last night made her cave. She was facing a lifetime of never getting spit-free food in a restaurant."

Pretty sure that ship has sailed.
posted by Mitheral at 10:04 AM on June 20, 2018 [15 favorites]


we all know the real reason he canceled the picnic - even though they started cooking those steaks this morning there was no way they would be sufficiently overcooked in time for tomorrows affair.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 10:05 AM on June 20, 2018 [30 favorites]


Trigger warning: Reveal has posted a new story about immigrant children being forcibly injected with drugs, based on a lawsuit that was filed in April. I had to stop reading the lawsuit document after following the first account from a teenager who has been waiting to join his dad for more than a year. I want folks to know about this but don't read if it's too much (and yes, it's all too much, I know. Self-care, etc.).
posted by Bella Donna at 10:06 AM on June 20, 2018 [27 favorites]


which is apparently to just throw whole families into jail together, which... better? I guess?

I'm going to go with still horrible and a human rights abuse, but marginally better based on George Takei's essay yesterday about the whole situation. (My family was sent to a racetrack for several weeks to live in a horse stall, but at least we had each other.)

But still a crime against humanity, make no mistake.
posted by anastasiav at 10:08 AM on June 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


New CNN poll.

Trump approval: 39%
Trump disapproval: 54%
Net: -15

Last poll: -12

And this is before the impact of all this hits. To offset the agita from the Gallup 45% last week.
posted by chris24 at 10:09 AM on June 20, 2018 [22 favorites]


I'll revise my (now-deleted) comment. It appears that Stephen Miller's cell phone number has been published. Normally I'd agree that doxxing is unacceptable, but this person is (a) an extremely powerful voice guiding the most horrific governmental policies of the last few decades and (b) an unaccountable public official paid by our tax dollars, I think it's reasonable for constituents to be able to express our opinions to him.
posted by Existential Dread at 10:12 AM on June 20, 2018 [23 favorites]


Certainly this new legislation will include provisions to reunite every single child now detained in our labyrinthine foster care system with his or her parents, no?

No?
posted by vverse23 at 10:13 AM on June 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


Wow those approval numbers.

Trump's Katrina unless today's new order diffuses the crisis.

Another bright spot: Stephen Miller is probably having a bad day at the office.

[Edited to add: not because of the doxxing, but because his boss will need someone to blame.]
posted by notyou at 10:14 AM on June 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


His #MAGA rally tonight is going to be absolutely bugfuck.

In the Axios article where they said he felt for the families, it said despite that he wouldn't back down because he'd look weak. Now he's backed down. So yeah, the narcissistic injury and lash out is gonna be lit. And beyond the craziness tonight, I fully expect some other intentional act to harm others to make him feel like "a man" again.
posted by chris24 at 10:16 AM on June 20, 2018 [15 favorites]


Mod note: Yeah, sorry, I get the impulse but let's not be publishing "everybody call this phone number, it's definitely the correct number, express the level of hate you have against Stephen Miller to whoever answers"; general principle we don't want to go there.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:17 AM on June 20, 2018 [11 favorites]


> chris24:
"I prefer boycotting it motherfucking all. Any affiliated company, any affiliated person, anything and everything. Shut it fucking down."

Keep Fox together. These people hitched their stars to Rupert ages ago, and now that they have to experience the splashback they want to run to Disney or Comcast. FUCK THAT. Call these companies out, keep the stink of Fox News on Fox Entertainment. Make it impossible to sell. It may be 100 years of Hollywood history, but that's what happens when you piss on people.
posted by rhizome at 10:17 AM on June 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


And this is before the impact of all this hits.

The dates of the poll are Jun 14 - 17, so practically before any of this hits.
posted by chris24 at 10:17 AM on June 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


From a local resistance organization. Not certain if this is accurate but the source has been pretty reliable.

DO NOT BE FOOLED by what this Order does. Here are the facts thus far:
1. Families will not be immediately separated, but they will be held in detention together.
2. Crossing the border “illegally” will no longer be deemed a civil violation, it will be deemed a criminal violation.
3. Because it is a criminal violation the parents will be charged criminally. At that point, their children will be forcibly taken.
4. The Executive Order will provide a provision that families will be expedited through the criminal process. This means that the removal of their children will be expedited.

There is still a need for the Tent Cities. There will still be Tender Age Facilities. This serves as optics for Trump to claim he is not ripping families apart. He is. The GOP are. They are just hiding in in the fine print.


So the only change is that the kids will be kept with parents until the parents are charged, at which point they go into cages and camps, instead of putting the kids in a cage as soon as they're detained? And that the process of charging them will be expedited? That's...not an improvement.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:20 AM on June 20, 2018 [64 favorites]



Another bright spot: Stephen Miller is probably having a bad day at the office.\

I honestly think it is probably galvanizing his resolve.
posted by jgirl at 10:20 AM on June 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


Existential Dread, are you confusing Miller with someone else? Miller was in high school in the late 90s/early ‘00s.

he’s a few years younger than me and went to my temple.
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:20 AM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


So the poll only includes G7 fallout and Singapore meeting with Kim, really.
posted by birdheist at 10:21 AM on June 20, 2018


Miller is 32.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:25 AM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]




Dara Lind, Vox: Why keeping families together in immigration detention might not be much of a solution
Republicans, including Donald Trump, are proposing to solve the crisis caused by the separation of thousands of children from their parents at the US/Mexico border by trying to allow families to be detained together in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security.

That would prevent the trauma and outrage that separating families has caused. But it wouldn’t necessarily solve the problem of adequate care for children in government custody — and it could make it extremely difficult to honor due process for migrants seeking asylum.

In 2014, in response to outrage about children and families crossing into the US, the Obama administration ramped up the detention of families — spinning up ICE facilities to temporarily hold families while they were sent through the deportation process.

Lawyers described the results as a “shitshow” in which migrants with legitimate asylum claims were almost certainly being deported.

Here’s the article I wrote about it at the time. It initially ran on August 6, 2014.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:27 AM on June 20, 2018 [19 favorites]


Stephen Miller is a troll. We know how hardcore trolls behave when people fight them; they harden and they don't give two shits, it's more grist for their mills, so to speak.

Miller is probably happy (well, whatever passes as "happy" for someone like him) to have made people so angry that they are doxxing him. It will do nothing except inflate his importance in his own mind and drive him to further outrages. I think the thing to do is to directly undermine what he's doing, and not make it about him at all, however that can be done.
posted by droplet at 10:29 AM on June 20, 2018 [9 favorites]


Miller is 32.

Yeah, I worded that poorly. I meant imply he's the architect behind policies that are more horrifying than any US Gov policies of the past few decades, not that he's been behind the last few decades of horrible policies.
posted by Existential Dread at 10:30 AM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


counterpoint: we launch him into the sun
posted by poffin boffin at 10:30 AM on June 20, 2018 [55 favorites]


@CBSThisMorning: WATCH: @IanBremmer describes exchange between Chancellor Merkel and Pres. Trump at #G7 summit: "He stood up, he put his hand in his pocket... and he took two Starbursts candies out, threw them on the table and said to Merkel, 'Here, Angela. Don't say I never give you anything.'"

Previously in Starbursts news, Donald Trump only eats the red and pink Starbursts
posted by zachlipton at 10:30 AM on June 20, 2018 [21 favorites]




Monmouth poll of WV-03 (again using multiple turnout models). Ojeda is the Dem, Miller the Republican:
Registered voters: Ojeda 43 - Miller 41
Normal midterm: Ojeda 47 - Miller 41
Enthused Dems: Ojeda 49 - Miller 39
WV-03 went Trump 73-23.

Holy shit.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:32 AM on June 20, 2018 [84 favorites]


Josh Marshall thinks this executive order is a ruse:
The President says he’s signing an executive order to end family separations. The actual aim seems to be to pick a fight with the courts and allow separations to continue while blaming judges. According to The New York Times, the President will sign an executive order allowing children to be detained indefinitely with their parents. The problem is that that violates a 1997 consent decree saying that you can’t detain/imprison children for more than 20 days (technically what’s currently happening isn’t detention). It straight up violates that order. So what will almost inevitably happen is that a court will step in, say you can’t do that and then Trump will announce that the judge is forcing him to keep separating families.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:35 AM on June 20, 2018 [71 favorites]


Ha, read the first word of each paragraph of that post I linked and mentioned, well 3 thru 8 anyway. I missed the rest of the half duress code/half hidden message the first read through. Way to go OP and thanks reddit commentator that pointed it out.
posted by RolandOfEld at 10:35 AM on June 20, 2018 [13 favorites]


GOP Senate nominee Corey Stewart endorsed Paul Nehlen months after he shared white nationalist content
Virginia Republican Senate nominee Corey Stewart endorsed anti-Semitic congressional candidate Paul Nehlen months after Nehlen shared content from a prominent white nationalist who praised the violent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In a video obtained by CNN's KFile, Nehlen and Stewart can be seen together at an event at the Trump Hotel in Washington, DC. The video, originally a Periscope by far-right commentator Jane Ruby, was taken on November 2, 2017. A photo tweeted by Ruby shows Stewart and his wife posing with Nehlen at the event as well.

"He's going to do great work for us in the Senate," Nehlen says of Stewart in the video. "He's going to do great work for us in the Senate. I'm thrilled about Corey. Yeah. Thrilled about Corey running." Stewart, responding to Ruby, says he hopes Nehlen is elected and praises him as a "real conservative."

The timing of the endorsement undercuts his current explanation that he had only praised Nehlen prior to him making "bigoted" statements.
posted by chris24 at 10:37 AM on June 20, 2018 [17 favorites]


Kessler and his group are requiring participants to wear bodycams.
3. Bring either an American or Confederate flag to the demonstration. No other flags are allowed.

9. DO NOT bring unapproved items. This will include weapons, shields, etc as well as “racist” symbols. This is a White Civil Rights rally, not a street fight or an anti-(fill in an ethnic group here) rally.
So much for the free speech loving right.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:40 AM on June 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


Departure time:

ABC, Michael Cohen resigns from RNC committee post, sources say. Wait, he still was Deputy Finance Chair? What the hell? And:
Cohen also criticized the administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the southern border, the first time he’s distanced himself from the president.

"As the son of a Polish holocaust survivor, the images and sounds of this family separation policy is heart wrenching,” Cohen wrote. “While I strongly support measures that will secure our porous borders, children should never be used as bargaining chips."
WaPo, Key nuclear expert departs Trump administration as North Korea negotiations loom
posted by zachlipton at 10:42 AM on June 20, 2018 [33 favorites]


> The Card Cheat:
"Michael Cohen has worked for Trump for years and has undoubtedly watched and helped him screw over people who thought they had earned Trump's loyalty...and yet even he apparently believed that surely the leopard would never eat *his* face. Based on what, dude?"

This is why Steve Schmidt should not be welcomed, because we all know he's just at the rightmost edge of the overton window.
posted by rhizome at 10:42 AM on June 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


The dates of the poll are Jun 14 - 17, so practically before any of this hits.

We shouldn't cherry pick polls, though. The CNN poll is very heartening but its one poll and didn't really shift the average much; in fact Trump's approval ticked upwards in the average even when that poll got put in. I have no idea how people can look at a trade war with China and all the other crap (though as you say mostly before the child prisons) and decide this is really great stuff, but here we are.

Stay on target! Vote the bastards out.
posted by Justinian at 10:43 AM on June 20, 2018 [12 favorites]


Holy shit.

It's crazy that Ojeda is up 6 points in the normal turnout model. He's a good candidate, sure, but this district... wow. West Virginians do seem a lot more willing to split tickets than people in other places. I can't imagine very many places where Clinton won by 50 deciding to ever vote a Republican in as their Rep for instance.
posted by Justinian at 10:48 AM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]




This is why Steve Schmidt should not be welcomed, because we all know he's just at the rightmost edge of the overton window.

FFS, I welcome him. I don't exonerate him or Rs, but I'll certainly take his help in defeating Trump with not just lame tweets, but actually voting D and convincing other Rs to do so as well. Again, if people want to be all SPD vs CPD and let the Nazis win, go ahead but I won't be.

Quinta Jurecic (Lawfare)
my impression is that a lot of resistance to Never Trumpers on the left comes from a feeling that working with them, even grudgingly, constitutes absolution. I'd argue we can separate absolution from temporary political partnership, & offer the latter while refusing the former.
posted by chris24 at 10:50 AM on June 20, 2018 [49 favorites]


ABC, Michael Cohen resigns from RNC committee post, sources say. Wait, he still was Deputy Finance Chair? What the hell?

Yup. The RNC scrubbed him from their website's searches, but last month an official spokeswoman confirmed he was still on the finance committee.

Cohen also criticized the administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the southern border, the first time he’s distanced himself from the president.

Sounds like Team Trump isn't underwriting his legal defense…
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:52 AM on June 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


@katierogers: Common theme: A Trump supporter in Duluth, one of many waiting in a long line outside tonight’s rally location, just told me she has compassion for separated families but ultimately believes that the detainment center photos and videos are fake and photoshopped.

All the photos and video (not the ProPublica audio) were government handouts. Trump's created a monster where people can cry fake news even at administration-provided photos because they don't want to admit what's going on. Or they just plain like it and are still too shy to say so.
posted by zachlipton at 10:55 AM on June 20, 2018 [80 favorites]


Correct: the absence of a human being does feel it more than him.

Cue Kellyanne Conway heading on to Fox News to talk about Alternative Empathy.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:56 AM on June 20, 2018 [4 favorites]


Trigger warning: Reveal has posted a new story about immigrant children being forcibly injected with drugs, based on a lawsuit that was filed in April. I had to stop reading the lawsuit document after following the first account from a teenager who has been waiting to join his dad for more than a year. I want folks to know about this but don't read if it's too much (and yes, it's all too much, I know. Self-care, etc.).

posted by Bella Donna at 10:06 AM on June 20 [10 favorites +] [!]


Reminded me of this article in the Star Tribune, from a week ago. It seems the lovely Minneapolis Police Force was directing EMTs to inject people with ketamine in order to make their jobs easier. It led to some deaths. This should never happen involuntarily shy of a court order.

Especially not to children outside of their parents custody.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:01 AM on June 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


Quinta Jurecic (Lawfare): my impression is that a lot of resistance to Never Trumpers on the left comes from a feeling that working with them, even grudgingly, constitutes absolution. I'd argue we can separate absolution from temporary political partnership, & offer the latter while refusing the former.

More from her specifically about Schmidt renouncing Rs.

Quinta Jurecic
I’ve been wondering when we’d get to this point. To be clear, by “this point” I mean when never Trumpers start to explicitly align themselves with the Democratic Party.
Also: when I've mentioned genteel conservatives radicalizing, this is what I meant:
@SteveSchmidtSES: Humanity in our history. It is connected by the same evil that separated families during slavery and dislocated tribes and broke up Native American families. It is immoral and must be repudiated. Our country is in trouble. Our politics are badly broken.
I highly doubt any of these guys would have been talking about the genocide of Native Americans as a core component of US history pre-Trump. Is that enough? Of course not! But for all the talk about Overton Windows, this really does seem to be shifting things to the left. I mean, Max Boot is writing about systemic racism in Foreign Policy these days
posted by chris24 at 11:01 AM on June 20, 2018 [25 favorites]


Justinian: "It's crazy that Ojeda is up 6 points in the normal turnout model. He's a good candidate, sure, but this district... wow. West Virginians do seem a lot more willing to split tickets than people in other places. "

You have to suspect outlier for this poll, but a) Dems still have a significant registration advantage in WV-03 (20-ish points, I think), and there is still *some* ticket-splitting, and b) the Senate numbers from the same poll look pretty plausible.

Senate numbers and some Wisconsin stuff that came in will be in tonight's roundup.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:01 AM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


From the CNN article linked above:
by attacking Sanford, a guy who already lost his job because of Trump, the President saps out even more goodwill from even the Republican members who support him.
FWIW this is the dynamic that did in Missouri Governor Greitens. In Missouri this started pretty much from day one after the election, but this example is one of the few times I've seen it become explicit and public in the DC political dynamic.

Maybe the start of something.
posted by flug at 11:02 AM on June 20, 2018 [4 favorites]


Trump's approval ticked upwards in the average even when that poll got put in. I have no idea how people can look at a trade war with China and all the other crap (though as you say mostly before the child prisons) and decide this is really great stuff, but here we are.

Pretty simple. 90% of press attention was about the Singapore Summit, and low information pollees saw Trump meet Kim Jong Un in a high-stakes gamble and walk away with an agreement. Of course that agreement was worthless and he made major concessions to get it, but the sugar high will take a while to wear off.
posted by msalt at 11:03 AM on June 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


The explanation that Trump is "doing it to press the case with Congress. He's moved personally, but also doesn't want to look weak. He feels boxed in, is frustrated and knows it's bad politics — but also understands it's not a fight he can back down from." is very much the story that the Trump White House wants to circulate within the Beltway. After Trump's rambling address to House GOPers about immigration yesterday, it comes off as scrambling to perform damage control.

This suggests the way to attack Trump on this issue is to highlight that he is being incredibly weak. Too weak to stand up to the racist baby thieves. Too weak to do what is right when it has a political cost. Too weak to do what is right. Too weak to act decisively and actually lead the nation.

So weak that America as a country is now so afraid of children it is imprisoning babies.

The man is cowering.
posted by srboisvert at 11:06 AM on June 20, 2018 [10 favorites]


@JenniferShutt: Senate votes not to discharge the rescissions bill from committee. Final vote tally had 48 yes votes and 50 no votes. The bill doesn't advance.

This has been a phenomenal waste of time.
posted by zachlipton at 11:07 AM on June 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


United, American Airlines asks feds not to use their aircraft to transport migrant children

Add whatever airlines don't follow suit to the list of corporations that gleefully participate in the trafficking and torture of children.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:07 AM on June 20, 2018 [51 favorites]


Reminded me of this article in the Star Tribune, from a week ago. It seems the lovely Minneapolis Police Force was directing EMTs to inject people with ketamine in order to make their jobs easier. It led to some deaths. This should never happen involuntarily shy of a court order.


Sorry, didn't get the edit in time to insert the link to the Star Tribune article.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:07 AM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


People close to the president said he remains convinced that his immigration policies are appropriate and necessary. But Mr. Trump is said to be increasingly frustrated by the criticism he is getting, and aware that he is boxed in by the legal argument his administration has made.

Notice how this statement shows what a weakling Trump is. He thinks his policy is necessary and doesn't want to look weak, but is backing down due to people saying mean things about him on TV? It's good that he is, to the extent that he is, but even better is that we know we can beat him, and we know how.

NYT: Michael Bloomberg Will Spend $80 Million on the Midterms. His Goal: Flip the House

Surely the Senate is the more opportune target?
posted by Gelatin at 11:09 AM on June 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


The Senate is the bigger target (since controlling it gets you control of nominations as well as a blockade on legislation), but the House is more "opportune" in the sense of having better odds. Also demands more in the way of outside spending because it's hundreds of races, many with inexperienced or underfunded candidates.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:11 AM on June 20, 2018 [18 favorites]


I have no idea how people can look at a trade war with China and all the other crap (though as you say mostly before the child prisons) and decide this is really great stuff, but here we are.

A "trade war with China" is a war, and a war is something that our hero president can win for us.

I've also seen "the parents of these kids are being put in harm's way BY taking them to our borders", and "it's a lie the kids are being taken, they're being voluntarily surrendered".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:12 AM on June 20, 2018 [3 favorites]


So weak that America as a country is now so afraid of children it is imprisoning babies.

The WW2-era term for such behavior is "chickenshit."

It's time to battle with the networks and the FCC and force them to use that term just as they were forced to use the term "shithole" thanks to the president.
posted by ocschwar at 11:12 AM on June 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


Yeah, there's tons of House districts with high return on your campaign dollar. Any of the Senate races anywhere close to flipping (in either direction) are going to have boatloads of money poured in already.

If I were J.Q. Billionaire, I'd donate to the House, and downballot stuff - state legislatures, state Attorney General and Secretary of State races.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:13 AM on June 20, 2018 [10 favorites]


This is why Steve Schmidt should not be welcomed, because we all know he's just at the rightmost edge of the overton window.

This is absurd. It's world cup time. You don't turn down an own-goal by the other team.

The value of Steve Schmidt is not that he persuades Democratic Party members or that he can now set Democratic Party policy. The value is that he is a lifelong republican tried and true and now feels his party is no longer consistent with his values and that democratic party is closer to those values. Also he is a vote.

This is precisely the result the democratic party needs on a national scale. This means both that the Republicans have gone horribly awry and that the Democratic Party is doing something very well.
posted by srboisvert at 11:17 AM on June 20, 2018 [89 favorites]


Calling my R Senator's D.C. office today, I reached an actual human being (the second time, I believe, since I've been calling since Trump's inauguration). I conveyed my hopes that he'd look into Wilbur Ross's ethical violations since he'd criticized him over steel tariffs and my displeasure at his lack of a stance on the Trump Administration's family separations policy for migrants.

What made it worthwhile—and which I heartily recommend to others—was politely asking her to read it back to me, correcting her where she'd tried to elide my points, and thanking her for her time. Just trying to plant seeds, one does what one can.

Still, if I got through during lunchtime, that means the Capitol Hill switchboard—(202) 224-3121—needs some more attention.
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:23 AM on June 20, 2018 [27 favorites]




Axios: Michael Cohen slams Trump’s child separation while resigning from RNC

"As the son of a Polish holocaust survivor, the images and sounds of this family separation policy is heart wrenching,” Cohen wrote in an email to RNC chair Ronna McDaniel, per ABC. “While I strongly support measures that will secure our porous borders, children should never be used as bargaining chips."

Welcome to the Resistance, Michael fucking Cohen.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:24 AM on June 20, 2018 [31 favorites]


@ZekeJMiller: WH official: "The First Lady has been making her opinion known to the President for some time now, which was that he needed to do all he could to help families stay together whether it was by working with Congress or anything he could do on his own."

I mean it's crap, but what the hell is going on here? Why did they put this out? This reads like Melania insisted she be given some kind of credit right now.
posted by zachlipton at 11:24 AM on June 20, 2018 [13 favorites]


So what will almost inevitably happen is that a court will step in, say you can’t do that and then Trump will announce that the judge is forcing him to keep separating families.

What needs to happen is a court steps in with a blasted habeus corpus writ, demanding that these children and their parents be freed. Trump can whine about activist judges all he wants then.
posted by Gelatin at 11:25 AM on June 20, 2018 [17 favorites]


TPM: Trump Admin: No Surprise Lawmaker Visits To Child Detention Centers, No Talking To Kids

An e-mail from HHS, obtained by TPM, says lawmaker visits must be set up two weeks in advance, with no exceptions. When they are allowed to visit, members of Congress are not allowed to take any photos, record audio or speak with the detained children. They are not allowed to bring any staff members with them on the visit.

How about reinforced bulldozers and the Red Cross? Can they bring those?
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:29 AM on June 20, 2018 [61 favorites]


Yeah, now that Trump has been shamed/cajoled into letting the families stick together while incarcerated for a misdemeanor (when seeking asylum shouldn’t even be counted as a crime at all), you can count on a lot of other GOPers coming around to the idea that family separation is a Bad Idea.

Cue Ivanka crawling out from under her diamond-encrusted rock just long enough to make some comment about how families are important, etc.

Few of them can be counted on to do the right thing until it’s already a foregone conclusion, or when it’s patently obvious that it’s hurting their re-election chances.
posted by darkstar at 11:30 AM on June 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


I mean it's crap, but what the hell is going on here?

Note the feminization of care; care as a compromise between the stern father/tyrant and the loving mother; and thus a compromise from the pure "strength" that Trump embodies (to him and to his base). Framing this as arising a plea from Melania gives him a kind of out. It's a moment of grace that allows for the continuation of many many other brutalities.
posted by wemayfreeze at 11:32 AM on June 20, 2018 [50 favorites]


Boston City Council just voted unanimously to condemn what's going on. One councilor, who has two young children, broke down in tears and said she's had trouble just leaving the house the past couple of days. Another councilor, whose family fled the Nazis two generations ago (and whose father was such a prominent civil-rights leader the city named a bridge after him), said comparisons to the actions of Nazi Germany were "entirely appropriate."

Yeah, this is Boston, but even here there is work to be done to protect immigrants. Charlie Baker may be disgusted with ripping babies from parents, but he opposes sanctuary status fo the state, for example.
posted by adamg at 11:32 AM on June 20, 2018 [35 favorites]


CNN has Corey Lewandowski on like nothing happened despite his mocking of a child with Down Syndrome being ripped from her parents. Shameful.
posted by Justinian at 11:34 AM on June 20, 2018 [71 favorites]


wemayfreeze: Note the feminization of care; care as a compromise between the stern father/tyrant and the loving mother; and thus a compromise from the pure "strength" that Trump embodies (to him and to his base). Framing this as arising a plea from Melania gives him a kind of out. It's a moment of grace that allows for the continuation of many many other brutalities.

It's literally medieval -- here's a Twitter thread from a historian about how this matches queenly tradition.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:38 AM on June 20, 2018 [27 favorites]


The WaPo's Aaron Blake buries the lede somewhat in Trump and Kirstjen Nielsen’s embarrassing surrender on separating families at the border:
The Trump administration insisted it didn't have a policy of separating children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. It said that it was merely following the law. And it said “Congress alone can fix” the mess.

It just admitted that all that was nonsense — and that it badly overplayed its hand.

...It's at once an admission that the politics of the issue had gotten out of hand and that the administration's arguments were completely dishonest. Virtually everything it said about the policy is tossed aside with this executive action. It's the political equivalent of waving the white flag and the legal equivalent of confessing to making false statements. Rather than letting Congress rebuke it, the White House is rebuking itself and trying to save some face.

...Rarely has the White House so tacitly and unmistakably admitted to overplaying its hand. And rarely has it so blatantly copped to its own dishonesty about its actions. Nielsen, in particular, has a lot of explaining to do. But this whole thing is an extremely ugly chapter. And it makes clear that, from Day One, this was a political gambit to force an immigration bill through. It didn't work.
Blake is too enamored with the horse race to put the fact that the Administration just admitted it was lying all along up front, but his analysis -- including that this awful policy was an attempt at leverage on an immigration bill -- which is still going nowhere in Congress, way to go, Trump -- seems spot on.
posted by Gelatin at 11:46 AM on June 20, 2018 [23 favorites]


Reuters, Trump’s catch-and-detain policy snares many who have long called U.S. home , in which ICE is now refusing bond to many people who have been in the country for decades, ripping apart families. Reuters did some great data analysis on this:
While ICE bond numbers are not available, data from the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), which oversees the nation’s immigration courts, provide evidence that immigration officials are increasingly denying bond in the Trump era.

The number of detained immigrants requesting bond hearings in immigration court – their only option if ICE denies them bond when they are arrested – surged 38 percent during the first year of the Trump administration from the previous year to 73,000, a two-decade high, a Reuters analysis of EOIR data shows.

At the same time, immigrants are being held in detention far longer, as many initially denied bond by ICE are forced to await the outcome of subsequent bond hearings in court. The average length of detention for non-criminals reached 63 days in April 2017, double what it was a year earlier and the longest monthly average since at least 2010, according to the most recent ICE data.
There's a flowchart of the horrific process behind the link, along with the story of how a traffic stop leads to over a year in detention and pleading letters from children.
posted by zachlipton at 11:47 AM on June 20, 2018 [28 favorites]


Like DACA, this is basically the same hostage strategy we've seen a dozen times before at this point. Phase 2 of the strategy was intended to follow the exact same pattern as usual: to save these children, Democrats would be asked to vote for a Republican bill that mitigates the worst of the hostage-taking in exchange for the major Republican policies that they wanted all along. The press joins Republicans in demanding the Democrats do something rather than letting the crisis continue, and enough "pragmatic" Democratic Senators agree that it's better to pursue the short-term improvement than let children suffer / shut down the government /etc. The only difference is that this time the hostage-taking blew up in their faces a bit faster and harder than they expected, because it was even worse than usual, and their broken empathy prevented them from anticipating that.

This article from TPM outlines the specific goals in Phase 2 -- what the Republicans want to get for releasing the hostages:

the GOP bills up for consideration in the House and Senate would ...slash legal immigration and allocate tens of billions of dollars for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.... dramatically cut the time immigrants have to present their bids for asylum ... mandates the hiring of thousands of new immigration judges who must hear families’ cases within 14 days of them crossing the border ... make it nearly impossible for asylum-seekers to put together the evidence needed for a successful application ... raise the legal bar for asylum claims, making it much more difficult for immigrants to qualify ... end the Flores settlement, a decades-old federal court ruling that bans the government from holding children in immigration detention for longer than 20 days.

Hopefully, it's blowing up enough that we won't get to Phase 2, but keep in mind this has been the main purpose for everyone to the left of Miller: induce horrific suffering in order to coerce nine Democratic Senators to pass a bill. Miller of course (and probably Trump, insofar as he has intentionality at all) just wants the suffering for its own sake, but the McConnells and Ryans remain firmly on board for the Phase 2 payoff (plus they get off on the suffering too, I'm sure). If this strategy fails today, they will just hunt around for a slightly milder version that finds the sweet spot of suffering that is bad enough to pressure Democratic legislators, yet not so bad that the public hits the streets. So we have to keep hitting the streets, straight through to November.
posted by chortly at 11:47 AM on June 20, 2018 [43 favorites]


TPM: Trump Admin: No Surprise Lawmaker Visits To Child Detention Centers, No Talking To Kids

A more accurate headline might be "Trump Admin: We Still Have Plenty To Hide, Thank You".

And this tacit admission is all the more reason members of Congress, to say nothing of state and local law enforcement, should redouble their efforts to shine a light on what's going on in these camps.
posted by Gelatin at 11:49 AM on June 20, 2018 [26 favorites]


United Airlines and American Airlines saying they won't participate in the movement of imprisoned unaccompanied minors to detention centers (from the Guardian):

“We have no desire to be associated with separating families, or worse, to profit from it,” American Air said in a statement. “We have every expectation the government will comply with our request and we thank them for doing so.”


Hopefully just the beginning of a long list of corporate refusals to participate, and public shaming of the regime.
posted by stillmoving at 11:56 AM on June 20, 2018 [25 favorites]


the GOP bills up for consideration in the House and Senate would ...slash legal immigration

And that's been the subtext -- at least when the subject gets discussed in the mainstream media -- all along. There's a significant wing of the Republican Party that doesn't want immigration from Mexico, Central, or South America at all. Yet for some reason the subject is always couched in terms of "immigration reform" and "enforcing border security." I have no doubt the Republicans hear the dogwhistles; it's a shame the media sees its role in helping the Republicans obfuscate their policy goals. Yet again.
posted by Gelatin at 11:56 AM on June 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


As a quick follow-up, I don't want to count chickens, but if they do back down today, it's worth figuring out as best we can exactly what pushed them over the edge. Obviously it was a vast array of forces, including much of the mainstream media, intra-Republican denunciations, national polls, and liberals protesting. Whatever the final tipping point was, it couldn't have been achieved without all of these things. But it's still worth paying close attention to the tick-tock reporting over the last 24 hours to see who actually effectuated the reversals and what very specifically happened to them in the last couple days to push them from gleeful defiance to capitulation. It may be that it all comes down to national polling, in which case there's nothing much we can learn from this apart from that it takes the entire nation on fire to stop them; but there may also be more specific strategic lessons to learn about how to successfully force these ghouls to check themselves.
posted by chortly at 11:57 AM on June 20, 2018 [11 favorites]


T-Mobile Urged to Drop Corey Lewandowski After ‘Womp Womp’ Immigration Comments

Urging T-Mobile sounds good right about now. Putting Corey Lewandowski in a cage and feeding him monkey chow might be the long-term goal but in the near-term he can at least be deprived of income.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:57 AM on June 20, 2018 [49 favorites]


NeverTrumper Erick Erickson comes out swinging against the creeping fascism of...
slightly embarrassing administration officials in restaurants?
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:05 PM on June 20, 2018 [15 favorites]


Brink Lindsey
The freedom to publicly confront government officials who violate basic human rights is pretty much the exact opposite of fascism.
posted by chris24 at 12:08 PM on June 20, 2018 [78 favorites]


NeverTrumper Erick Erickson comes out swinging against the creeping fascism of...
slightly embarrassing administration officials in restaurants?


I can see his point. If we're going to start shaming conservatives in public for advocating reprehensible policies, where will it end? Who among them will be safe? Not he.
posted by Gelatin at 12:13 PM on June 20, 2018 [33 favorites]


Perhaps you'd like to tell CNN what you think about continuing to give Lewandowski a platform?

CNN Viewer Feedback Form
posted by runcibleshaw at 12:14 PM on June 20, 2018 [28 favorites]


T-Mobile Urged to Drop Corey Lewandowski After ‘Womp Womp’ Immigration Comments

Mocking people with disabilities is the Trump way. And the Trump way is the Nazi way.
Most people associate Donald Trump’s bigotry with groups such as Mexicans, African Americans, women, Muslims, and Jews, to name a few—and with good reason. But his disdain for the handicapped should also receive serious attention.

Those who see important parallels between Donald Trump’s America and Germany under Adolf Hitler (a comparison that is unfortunately not nearly as far-fetched as it once might have seemed) may not know about the tragic fate that befell tens of thousands of disabled people during the Third Reich. And if that’s the case, they would not know about the role it played in the evolution of Hitler’s murderous policies toward Jews and others he considered outside his desired national community.
...
Donald Trump’s disdain for handicapped Americans has not remained solely at the level of rhetoric. His administration has adopted policies that appear to be nothing short of a concerted attack on the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). In October 2017, to give but one example, the Department of Education withdrew 72 documents that set out the rights of disabled students.

The heartlessness behind such prejudice can perhaps best be seen in the direct impact it’s already had on some of the most vulnerable individuals. In October 2017, for example, an undocumented 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who had just come out of surgery found herself in the custody of federal immigration officials. In another case, a six-year-old paraplegic boy faced the prospect of losing his only caregiver because immigration officials targeted the man for deportation.
...
Donald Trump knows what his national community looks like. He knows who’s in and who’s out. And we know that too because he makes it very clear with each insult, with each mocking gesture, and more ominously still, with each new policy, with each new regulation, and with each new law. Whether it goes further—from discrimination to removal—is up to all those armed with the knowledge of history and the sense of fellow feeling to understand that ultimately we’re all part of one single group.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:17 PM on June 20, 2018 [42 favorites]


I mean it's crap, but what the hell is going on here? Why did they put this out? This reads like Melania insisted she be given some kind of credit right now.

It's because she's getting A LOT of blowback for this tone-deaf tweet two days ago:
Melania Trump @FLOTUS : "A great visit with the King & Queen of Spain at the @WhiteHouse today. Queen Letizia & I enjoyed tea & time together focusing on the ways we can positively impact children."
posted by zakur at 12:17 PM on June 20, 2018 [13 favorites]




The Ice Opinion:

@finallevel (Ice T)
Separating babies from their parents is WRONG... Under any Fuckin man made law.
posted by Artw at 12:20 PM on June 20, 2018 [38 favorites]


Voter interest in the midterm elections stands at a historic high with a singular focus — Trump
Midterm elections often act as a referendum on whoever occupies the White House, but in most election years, many voters don’t view their ballot that way. This year, they do: Some 60% say they view their midterm vote as a ballot essentially against (34%) or for (26%) Trump, according to a newly released survey from the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. That makes Trump a bigger factor in the midterm than any president since Pew first asked the question during President Reagan’s first term.
Ceterum autem censeo Trumpem esse delendam
posted by kirkaracha at 12:24 PM on June 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


@ryanjhaas:
ICE announces it has shut down its operations temporarily at its facility in SW Portland due to #OccupyICEPDX protest.
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:19 PM on June 20


Best news I've heard all week! Don't let up!
posted by Krazor at 12:24 PM on June 20, 2018 [15 favorites]


@ryanjhaas:
ICE announces it has shut down its operations temporarily at its facility in SW Portland due to #OccupyICEPDX protest.


Proof of concept. Nice time of year for camping.

Fox News chyron while Trump was signing the order, just now: "TRUMP: THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR 60 YEARS"
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:25 PM on June 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


focusing on the ways we can positively impact children

Delete your husband.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:25 PM on June 20, 2018 [46 favorites]


> I can see his point. If we're going to start shaming conservatives in public for advocating reprehensible policies, where will it end? Who among them will be safe? Not he.

This is part of why rich, white, Republican men love Trump so much and refuse to condemn him; he's living proof, an ideal to aspire to, that you can live your life to the reprehensible fullest without suffering any consequences whatsoever. If he were to go down, like Capital-D Down, it would be a sign that it can happen to anyone, no matter how rich and white and male and Republican you are.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:26 PM on June 20, 2018 [43 favorites]


Here's a copy of the EO: Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family Seperation

That is, of course, not how you spell "Seperation." Analysis forthcoming, but yeah they're going straight after Flores (here's the Floresplainer you're looking for) to keep children in indefinite detention in military facilities:
(e) The Attorney General shall promptly file a request with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to modify the Settlement Agreement in Flores v. Sessions, CV 85-4544 (“Flores settlement”), in a manner that would permit the Secretary, under present resource constraints, to detain alien families together throughout the pendency of criminal proceedings for improper entry or any removal or other immigration proceedings.
This isn't a win. We're still not going to brunch!
posted by zachlipton at 12:29 PM on June 20, 2018 [46 favorites]


United Airlines and American Airlines saying they won't participate in the movement of imprisoned unaccompanied minors to detention centers (from the Guardian):

Sounds like a good time to pressure Alaska Airlines and others over Twitter and elsewhere.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 12:31 PM on June 20, 2018 [9 favorites]


Er, they broke the link when they fixed the spelling, because of course they did. Try here.
posted by zachlipton at 12:33 PM on June 20, 2018 [12 favorites]


The detention centers are now part of Wikipedia's 'List of concentration and internment camps'.

And now, they're not. Classic Wikipedia. Lots of talk about it though. There's also Trump Administration family separation policy that addresses the most current events.
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:34 PM on June 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


> Rust Moranis:
"T-Mobile Urged to Drop Corey Lewandowski After ‘Womp Womp’ Immigration Comments"

Isn't the Observer owned by Jared Kushner? Might explain why the TMo connection is buried halfway down the article.
posted by rhizome at 12:35 PM on June 20, 2018


Section 3: "(b) The Secretary shall not, however, detain an alien family together when there is a concern that detention of an alien child with the child’s alien parent would pose a risk to the child’s welfare."

Hmm....
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 12:37 PM on June 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


Proof of concept. Nice time of year for camping.

In Arizona and Texas, it's not. I went to a protest the other day, here in Phoenix, and the heat... Geez, the heat. I was prepared, and I'm good at handling the heat, but it was still a little dangerous.

This is a serious thing about managing resistance in the desert, the inverse of managing resistance in places like Alaska. So many forms of resistance involve standing outside in the sun.
posted by meese at 12:42 PM on June 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


Kansas documentary proof of citizenship law for voter registration struck down permanently. Court finds it violates the NVRA and the U.S. Constitution.

An update: the office of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach announced yesterday that it's in no hurry to comply with the court's ruling.

[A spokeswoman] said it wasn’t clear how soon those directions should be made. “I think ‘immediately’ is kind of open to interpretation,” she said.
posted by teraflop at 12:43 PM on June 20, 2018 [18 favorites]


This portion of the preamble is interesting to me: "Under our laws, the only legal way for an alien to enter this country is at a designated port of entry at an appropriate time."

There have been numerous reports of CBP officials at ports of entry telling asylum seekers that they're full and can't come to claim asylum, to try again later when the facility is supposedly less crowded. Why do I suspect that "at an appropriate time" will mean it's never considered an appropriate time to claim asylum?

And this is actually the worst:
The Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary), shall, to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, maintain custody of alien families during the pendency of any criminal improper entry or immigration proceedings involving their members.
This is straight up saying that it's government policy to keep people in custody (and now, in military facilities) during the entire legal process, rather then releasing them on bond, with ankle monitors, etc... as the law allows. See the Reuters story I posted upthread on what this does to families and how this is already being carried out.
posted by zachlipton at 12:46 PM on June 20, 2018 [33 favorites]


Interesting point in that Vox Floresplainer zachlipton shared: [During the Obama Administration,] Immigration advocates challenged the policy of family detention under Flores. And judges agreed with them — in large part because it said the Obama administration was out of bounds in detaining migrant families for the purpose of “deterrence.” (As NBC’s Benjy Sarlin has pointed out, that’s why certain Trump administration officials have been careful not to say that family separation is a deterrent, or even a policy, now.)

Except that Trump and his cronies haven't been so careful in saying the policy was a deterrent or policy. Given that courts have not shied from taking Trump's public statements into account when weighing Administration claims of its supposed intent, I predict that litigating this consent agreement won't go well for Trump.
posted by Gelatin at 12:47 PM on June 20, 2018 [4 favorites]


In Arizona and Texas, it's not. I went to a protest the other day, here in Phoenix, and the heat... Geez, the heat. I was prepared, and I'm good at handling the heat, but it was still a little dangerous.

You're right. Fox News has someone at the Tornillo camp right now and he says it's 104 degrees. The correspondent is making very clear that they were not allowed inside. He doesn't seem happy about it.

The correspondent and the anchor aren't acting the way I'm used to seeing on Fox: they seem really skeptical about the legality of the order, and even...shaken, a tiny bit? It's really weird, guys.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:48 PM on June 20, 2018 [34 favorites]


An update: the office of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach announced yesterday that it's in no hurry to comply with the court's ruling.

Given Kobach has already been found in contempt by the judge, I have to think he's risking jail time here.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:49 PM on June 20, 2018 [21 favorites]


The Executive Order says:
The Attorney General shall promptly file a request with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to modify the Settlement Agreement in Flores v. Sessions, CV 85-4544 (“Flores settlement”), in a manner that would permit the Secretary, under present resource constraints, to detain alien families together throughout the pendency of criminal proceedings for improper entry or any removal or other immigration proceedings.
Vox has an explainer of the Flores settlement and how it has been followed by previous administrations by releasing families after 20 days of detention. It's unclear to me that the Executive Order requires the government to follow that practice pending their requested modification of the Flores settlement. One would imagine that now Trump has caved, he would want to avoid a repeat of this debacle, but one would imagine many things about the President which do not comport with our unimaginable reality.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:49 PM on June 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


Separating babies from their parents is WRONG... Under any Fuckin man made law.

Makes me think there should be one of those Ice-T SVU memes: They take white fragility, mix it with toxic masculinity and authoritarianism. Messes people up so bad they end up votin' against their own economic interests. Kids are callin' it GOP.

I see that the other day, Sessions penned an op-ed in which he repeated the talking point that the children in these internment camps are in fact being treated better than American children:

And these children are well cared for. In fact, they get better care than a lot of American kids do. They are provided plenty of food, education in their language, health and dental care, and transported to their destination city — all at taxpayer expense.

Mr Sessions, 1) That's...not the mic drop defense you think it is. That's still an indictment of The American Way as the Republican party believes it should be structured because any sane person should then ask you, "Well, why aren't we providing that standard of care to all children?" and 2) Have you ever tried for even a second to imagine yourself in anyone's shoes other than those of the white men above you in the hierarchy? Even a second?

I can't believe we're in a world where Carson and Perry come off as the least offensive part of this marauding band of amoral predators simply because they typically only say things that are stupid rather than stupid and evil like the rest of that crew does.
posted by lord_wolf at 12:51 PM on June 20, 2018 [53 favorites]


definitely what we need is less oversight in the illegal incarceration of immigrant children, let's give them to the people whose job is to violate the geneva conventions
posted by poffin boffin at 12:54 PM on June 20, 2018 [31 favorites]


I don't think it makes sense to think of this as Trump reversing course. AP says: The order aims to keep families together while they are in custody, expedite their cases, and ask the Department of Defense to help house families. (emphasis mine)

Doesn't that just mean "turn them over to the military as soon as possible"?
posted by Emmy Rae at 12:55 PM on June 20, 2018 [10 favorites]


[A spokeswoman] said it wasn’t clear how soon those directions should be made. “I think ‘immediately’ is kind of open to interpretation,” she said.

I'm sure the courts will keep your unique timetable in mind when you're jailed for contempt.
posted by Gelatin at 12:56 PM on June 20, 2018 [11 favorites]


Yeah, this is bad. The good news is that it gives us an excuse to light up the phones of Democrats to make sure they don't fall for it, rather than having to piss into the wind trying to get Republicans to care about anyone but themselves and their own electoral outlook.
posted by tonycpsu at 12:56 PM on June 20, 2018 [15 favorites]


So Abu Grhaib, the family edition

Yes this is much, much worse. Getting the DOD involved is the next step towards the worst case.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:57 PM on June 20, 2018 [35 favorites]


The Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary), shall, to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, maintain custody of alien families

Speaking of, i'd still like to know what appropriation covered the imprisonment of immigrant children. I doubt Congress anticipated "set up child concentration camps" as a budget line item.
posted by Gelatin at 12:58 PM on June 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


Hey if you’re calling your representatives, ask them about Abu Ghraib and oversight, but also maybe ask them who, right now, as of this moment, is looking for the thousands of kids the administration has already admitted are “lost”

Who is in charge of that investigation

Who is looking for these kids
posted by schadenfrau at 1:01 PM on June 20, 2018 [27 favorites]


Yep. Nothing has been "reversed". A reversal would simply be to declare the zero-tolerance policy over. Instead, he's zigzagged into a different type of atrocity.

Is imprisoning whole families an improvement? In some ways, perhaps. "Even" the Nazis and the people who rounded up Japanese Americans usually kept families together.

Thousands of children remain separated, with the means of reunification unclear. Even a true reversal, declaring an end to zero-tolerance, would not change that. So this has to be made clear to the public, that Trump has done something that can't really be undone at all.

Ugly legal battles are coming up, and it's very possible that a court will declare that part of the order void in some way, at which point Trump throws up his hands while saying the courts are "making" him keep families apart.

odinsdream: what the GODDAMN FUCK is wrong with journalists covering this fiasco.

I almost sympathize in that it's difficult to articulate to the public "No, this doesn't count." Probably the best way is to sidestep entirely: "Trump Signs Order To Imprison Whole Families". After all, sidestepping is exactly what they're doing here.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 1:02 PM on June 20, 2018 [21 favorites]


Tim Heidecker (of Adult Swim/Tim & Eric fame) joins the Democratic Socialists of America.
I just joined the @DemSocialists / That stunt in DC today convinced me. I encourage all to take a look and considering joining as well.
("That stunt" referring to the haranguing of Nielsen at that Mexican restaurant.)
posted by Rhaomi at 1:02 PM on June 20, 2018 [35 favorites]


So essentially the Executive Order moves the goalposts in an attempt to convince journalists that Trump is fixing the situation and they should cover something else.
posted by Gelatin at 1:02 PM on June 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


Israeli officials concerned by U.S. pullout from human rights council
Israeli foreign ministry officials tell me they are concerned that U.S. withdrawal from the UN human rights council will make it harder to block anti-Israeli initiatives on the council. The officials say that even though they feel the council is extremely biased against Israel, U.S. membership helped to soften or fend off some anti-Israeli steps.
posted by PenDevil at 1:03 PM on June 20, 2018 [9 favorites]


Yes this is much, much worse. Getting the DOD involved is the next step towards the worst case.

If I'm going to keep them under guard, better it be soldiers under the UCMJ than ICE.
posted by ocschwar at 1:07 PM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


Isn’t shifting this to military detention of families actually running afoul of the Posse Comitatus Act? I mean, using military personnel/bases to enforce the strictest possible reading of asylum law...?

Or is this one of those carve-outs, like using the 101st Airborne to re-integrate the schools when the Governor of Arkansas improperly used the AR National Guard to help him impose segregation?
posted by darkstar at 1:08 PM on June 20, 2018 [9 favorites]


they get better care than a lot of American kids do. They are provided plenty of food, education in their language, health and dental care, and transported to their destination city — all at taxpayer expense.

American kids are given the right to contact their parents even when they are separated for legal reasons.

And no, you don't get a pass for "we're providing education and health care," when their families would be perfectly happy to manage those for themselves. You've decided that you want to torture kids and their families, and providing bare-minimum physical survival resources is the price you're happy to pay for that.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:11 PM on June 20, 2018 [16 favorites]


@realdonaldtrump
Had a great meeting with the House GOP last night at the Capitol. They applauded and laughed loudly when I mentioned my experience with Mark Sanford. I have never been a fan of his!


I can't even imagine why he felt like tweeting this. I have to assume he's responding directly to something? Did Fox news mention this?

This is so exhausting.
posted by bluemilker at 1:11 PM on June 20, 2018 [15 favorites]


@eisingerj: While it’s necessary to focus on children concentration camps, the reality is that our policy discussion has been hijacked. The border crisis is a myth. Immigration has been falling. Doesn’t hurt wages or increase crime. It isnt in the top 100 serious challenges for our country.

@sbg1: This is why Trump thinks he’s winning: by creating a crisis all now accept the idea that there is an immigration crisis...

No matter what happens with these children, Trump has manufactured a crisis out of thin air because he thinks its politically advantageous. The legal and political process over families will go on, but no matter what, he thinks he's won because he got everyone to freak out over the border, despite there being no crisis there at all. Making the discussion all about the border, instead of the gazillion things we could be talking about instead, is to his benefit.

The amount of time we've had to spend on crises entirely of Trump's making is staggering, and it's entirely about trying to keep us from going backward. Right now, it's about fighting to maybe only go somewhat backward rather than really really backward. Imagine if we were using this time and energy to work on literally anything from Clinton's platform. Or Sanders'. Or heck, even most of Jeb!'s. The human tragedy of this administration obviously comes first, but I get really bummed out thinking about how many opportunities we've missed to try to make the country better because we have to keep fighting to try to preserve something resembling the status quo. And the status quo wasn't all that good for a lot of people to begin with.
posted by zachlipton at 1:13 PM on June 20, 2018 [91 favorites]


"Under our laws, the only legal way for an alien to enter this country is at a designated port of entry at an appropriate time."

8 U.S. Code § 1158 - Asylum
(a) Authority to apply for asylum
(1) In general
Any alien who is physically present in the United States or who arrives in the United States (whether or not at a designated port of arrival and including an alien who is brought to the United States after having been interdicted in international or United States waters), irrespective of such alien’s status, may apply for asylum in accordance with this section or, where applicable, section 1225(b) of this title.
posted by chris24 at 1:13 PM on June 20, 2018 [78 favorites]




This is so reminiscent of the people who say "Slaves didn't have it so bad! They had food and shelter because their owners wanted them to be healthy!"

It only works if you never let yourself, for one second, imagine how you would actually feel if you were ripped away from your family/detained/enslaved.

It requires you to imagine the affected people as simple, easy to placate/distract, not really needing the things human beings need; community, hope, opportunity, stable relationships, autonomy, pride. In other words, as not actually people.
posted by emjaybee at 1:14 PM on June 20, 2018 [74 favorites]


If I'm going to keep them under guard, better it be soldiers under the UCMJ than ICE.

In principle, I'd agree with you, but in practice this is still so, so bad.

Like I mentioned above: Rep. Pramila Jayapal said the immigrant women she talked to at the federal prison in SeaTac said it was the first place they'd been treated like human beings. It meant longstanding regulations and a unionized guard staff. Literal federal prison alongside actual federal offenders is apparently far better than ICE custody.

But with this? The reality is this is the Trump administration, and every impulse bends toward cruelty. So yeah, UCMJ would imply something better than ICE, but the Abu Ghraib worries are accurate. Remember the Abu Ghraib mess came about through contractors working with a military staff that wasn't trained to run a prison. The warden had no experience. That shit was engineered to be a horror show from the start.

There are military bases and contingents who are better-prepared to run something like this than others. I don't think we're going to see that here. They aren't going to hand this over to the best of bad choices in the interests of mitigating harm. They're going to foist it off to some unprepared, untrained personnel, probably one we'll find out has a history of conduct problems, and then they'll shrug and say, "Sorry, the military isn't built to take care of illegals."

And all of that comes back to the larger points that DoD shouldn't be anywhere near this and we shouldn't be doing it in the first place.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 1:15 PM on June 20, 2018 [17 favorites]


Gee, Rich, it's too bad that your team's policy of throwing kids in concentration camps caused comparisons to Nazi Germany.

(It's also notable that Goldberg wrote his book in part because he was tired of people calling Republicans fascists -- or, perhaps more accurately now, noting Republicans have fascist tendencies.)
posted by Gelatin at 1:17 PM on June 20, 2018 [4 favorites]


@realdonaldtrump:Had a great meeting with the House GOP last night at the Capitol. They applauded and laughed loudly when I mentioned my experience with Mark Sanford. I have never been a fan of his!
---
I can't even imagine why he felt like tweeting this.



"I fully expect some other intentional act to harm others to make him feel like "a man" again."

I guess we should be happy it's just insulting Sanford right now.
posted by chris24 at 1:17 PM on June 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


From a mental health professional who specializes in NPD:

This is not over by any means. I know you’re not fooled. The narcissist psychopath causes deliberate trauma and pain so he can fake rescue. It’s manipulative intermittent reinforcement to control target. He hasn’t changed. There’s no bottom to his sadism.

posted by Sophie1 at 1:17 PM on June 20, 2018 [61 favorites]


I can't believe we're in a world where Carson and Perry come off as the least offensive part of this marauding band of amoral predators simply because they typically only say things that are stupid rather than stupid and evil like the rest of that crew does.

They are controlled opposition, to have someone "reasonable" to contrast with those crazy protesters who won't take the fig leaf they're certain to pass.
posted by dilaudid at 1:17 PM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]




According to the national mythology, the United States has long opened its doors to people from across the globe, providing a port in a storm and opportunity for any who seek it. Yet the history of immigration to the United States is far different. Even before the xenophobic reaction against European and Asian immigrants in the late nineteenth century, social and economic interest groups worked to manipulate immigration policy to serve their needs. In A Nation by Design, Aristide Zolberg explores American immigration policy from the colonial period to the present, discussing how it has been used as a tool of nation building.
posted by infini at 1:21 PM on June 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


United Airlines and American Airlines saying they won't participate in the movement of imprisoned unaccompanied minors to detention centers

Tyler Q. Houlton (@SpoxDHS)
It’s unfortunate that @AmericanAir , @united, and @FlyFrontier no longer want to partner with the brave men and women of DHS to protect the traveling public, combat human trafficking, and to swiftly reunite unaccompanied illegal immigrant children with their families.
- Despite being provided facts on this issue, these airlines clearly do not understand our immigration laws and the long-standing devastating loopholes that have caused the crisis at our southern border.
- Buckling to a false media narrative only exacerbates the problems at our border and puts more children at risk from traffickers. We wish the airlines would instead choose to be part of the solution.
- For 15 years, @DHSgov has worked diligently with America’s airlines to secure aviation and facilitate the travel by air of millions of Americans and visitors and we will continue to do so.
posted by chris24 at 1:23 PM on June 20, 2018 [9 favorites]




I hope Democrats on Capital Hill don't sit back now that families will be imprisoned in cages together instead of separately. I know activists won't but too many in the media and Congress are easily mollified. This is like if Trump started a policy of shooting immigrants twice and then announced the controversy was over because he signed an order limiting the number of shots to one.

I assume the protests on the 30th are still on.
posted by Justinian at 1:25 PM on June 20, 2018 [25 favorites]


@MEPFuller:
Meadows is pissed about the version of Goodlatte that they’re voting on.

Mark Meadows and Paul Ryan are having quite the disagreement right now. Both are pointing at each other. We could hear Meadows say “I’ll sign the damn discharge petition I don’t care anymore” from the gallery.

The last thing Mark Meadows said to Paul Ryan as he walked away was “doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter anymore.” Don’t think I’ve ever seen Mark Meadows as livid as he is right now.
Don't exactly know what the hell happened here, and the Goodlatte bill is a nonstarter anyway, but this well could seem like it's going to blow up Ryan's emergency immigration bill completely.
posted by zachlipton at 1:26 PM on June 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


- For 15 years, @DHSgov has worked diligently with America’s airlines to secure aviation and facilitate the travel by air of millions of Americans and visitors and we will continue to do so.

He definitely doesn't think these "alien children" (per the EO) are Americans, so is he classifying them as visitors?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:26 PM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


But, but, the Trumps are a family of immigrants. Not like in the Mayflower people were immigrants, but like in Ivana and Melania and Trump’s mum and his paternal grandparents were immigrants. Why is this not spoken about? (I know it has been mentioned here and there, but it should be front and center every day).
posted by mumimor at 1:31 PM on June 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


Despite being provided facts on this issue, these airlines clearly do not understand our immigration laws and the long-standing devastating loopholes that have caused the crisis at our southern border.

Yeah, well, the US Supreme Court just ruled that bakers don't have to bake cakes for people they don't like, so I'm ok with the airlines and whoever else wants to use that precedent to not work with you.
posted by nubs at 1:31 PM on June 20, 2018 [51 favorites]


They're white, mumimor. That's the answer.
posted by Justinian at 1:32 PM on June 20, 2018 [31 favorites]


Emjaybee: This is so reminiscent of the people who say "Slaves didn't have it so bad! They had food and shelter because their owners wanted them to be healthy!"

It only works if you never let yourself, for one second, imagine how you would actually feel if you were ripped away from your family/detained/enslaved.

It requires you to imagine the affected people as simple, easy to placate/distract, not really needing the things human beings need; community, hope, opportunity, stable relationships, autonomy, pride. In other words, as not actually people.


This made me think of Zora Neale Hurston's recently rediscovered and published Barracoon (here's the Metafilter FPP), a biographical novel of the last survivor of the Atlantic slave trade. Kossula, aka Cudjo Lewis, was an old man of 95 when he was interviewed, and he still broke down in tears when he recalled his family and his homeland.

I wish I could send a copy of Barracoon to every Republican elected official and member of the Cabinet, but I wonder if it would do any good.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 1:32 PM on June 20, 2018 [16 favorites]


have been watching executive orders (and credulous reporting on same) pretty closely since last inauguration:

this is awfully fast for this administration to draft, approve and sign an executive order, and unprecedentedly fast to make it available at whitehouse.gov, leading me to entertain the suspicion this development was planned.
posted by 20 year lurk at 1:35 PM on June 20, 2018 [37 favorites]


They're white, mumimor. That's the answer.
Yes, obviously. But imagine if the headlines were, “second generation immigrant Donald Trump wants to build a wall on the border”, or “immigrant Melania Trump won’t take a clear stand against seperating children from their parents”.
Put the racism out in the open, get them to defend it.
posted by mumimor at 1:38 PM on June 20, 2018 [24 favorites]


I hope Democrats on Capital Hill don't sit back now that families will be imprisoned in cages together instead of separately.

So far in my feed I've seen Kamala Harris, Joe Kennedy III, Brian Schatz, Beto O'Rourke, and Jeff Merkley either tweet that this EO is basically the return of internment camps, or retweet others who are saying it. The caucus leaders have thus far said nothing.
posted by zombieflanders at 1:40 PM on June 20, 2018 [56 favorites]


Tyler Q. Houlton (@SpoxDHS)
It’s unfortunate that @AmericanAir , @united, and @FlyFrontier no longer want to partner with the brave men and women of DHS to protect the traveling public, combat human trafficking, and to swiftly reunite unaccompanied illegal immigrant children with their families.


Huh, unaccompanied children? Where would they be reunited, exactly? The countries they fled, perhaps?
posted by filthy light thief at 1:41 PM on June 20, 2018 [3 favorites]


But imagine if the headlines were, “second generation immigrant Donald Trump wants to build a wall on the border”, or “immigrant Melania Trump won’t take a clear stand against seperating children from their parents”.

Power doesn't work like that. Aspersions from a person's history are for the underclass, the same reason it doesn't change anything to point out that Stephen Miller appears to never have had any friends.
posted by rhizome at 1:42 PM on June 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


@realdonaldtrump:Had a great meeting with the House GOP last night at the Capitol. They applauded and laughed loudly when I mentioned my experience with Mark Sanford. I have never been a fan of his!

Been waiting for this tweet, and here it is:

@justinamash: House Republicans had front row seats to @POTUS’s dazzling display of pettiness and insecurity. Nobody applauded or laughed. People were disgusted.

There were a lot of witnesses that saw the lack of applause and laughter. They talk to reporters, as evidenced by the fact that they were texting reporters from the meeting as it happened. But he's so petty and insecure that he had to do this anyway.

This seems unrelated, but hang on:

@mikedebonis: House Republicans understand the upshot of the EO as such: They have 20 days to come up with a fix before the Flores deadline again kicks in and kids are going to be separated again. Trump essentially created another cliff.

The extent to which Trump is piling shit on Republicans in Congress right now is astonishing. The Sanford thing, repeatedly creating immigration crises and demanding they solve them immediately, even cancelling their damn picnic. I don't think they're going to actively turn on him anytime soon or anything, but he's not doing himself any favors.
posted by zachlipton at 1:42 PM on June 20, 2018 [56 favorites]


this is awfully fast for this administration to draft, approve and sign an executive order, and unprecedentedly fast to make it available at whitehouse.gov, leading me to entertain the suspicion this development was planned.

Well, maybe. It's also possible they slapped together some hasty legalese. i recall they had to go thru something like three versions of the Muslim ban before they came up with one that would stand up in court, however shakily.

If the EO proposes to renegotiate Flores v Reno (aside: Given how hard Trump got rolled by North Korea, negotiating against him could be an opportunity), I presume it'll wind up in court. It probably will anyway. As Trump is fond of saying, we'll see what happens, but I have not so far been impressed by his team's legal acumen.
posted by Gelatin at 1:43 PM on June 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


I hope Democrats on Capital Hill don't sit back now that families will be imprisoned in cages together instead of separately. I know activists won't but too many in the media and Congress are easily mollified. This is like if Trump started a policy of shooting immigrants twice and then announced the controversy was over because he signed an order limiting the number of shots to one.

I think it's in keeping with what I was saying a bit before the executive order came out:

If this strategy fails today, they will just hunt around for a slightly milder version that finds the sweet spot of suffering that is bad enough to pressure Democratic legislators, yet not so bad that the public hits the streets.

This new, more "moderate" position is designed to keep up the hostage situation, just one a bit less inflammatory to the public. It's designed to stage a crisis that will pressure Democrats to sign onto the Republican bill "solving" the problem, while reducing the blowback of the original plan. (And even that one almost worked -- as far as I know, they continue to successfully hide the girls and baby facilities.) Hopefully the protests including June 30th will continue, but if not, we will have the harder, more familiar job of trying to block hostage-driven legislation without the support of the media and national protests.
posted by chortly at 1:44 PM on June 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


The extent to which Trump is piling shit on Republicans in Congress right now is astonishing. The Sanford thing, repeatedly creating immigration crises and demanding they solve them immediately, even cancelling their damn picnic. I don't think they're going to actively turn on him anytime soon or anything, but he's not doing himself any favors.

How many more people did Trump motivate to come out this November and vote for a Democrat? He isn't doing the Congressional Republicans any favors either.
posted by Gelatin at 1:45 PM on June 20, 2018 [4 favorites]




Good article from the Boston Globe the other day: ‘When are Republicans going to stand up to Trump? Never.’ Here’s why.
posted by Melismata at 1:58 PM on June 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


ICE continue their attacks on families, including working families well inland from the 100 mile border zone:
ICE Carries Out Its Largest Immigration Raid In Recent History, Arresting 146
(NPR, June 20, 2018)
Dozens of federal agents descended on a major meat supplier in northeast Ohio on Tuesday, arresting 146 Fresh Mark employees in what the agency calls its largest workplace raid in recent history — and its second massive raid in the state this month.
...
The operation, as large as it was, marks just the latest in a series of high-profile raids carried out by federal authorities. About 100 people were arrested at a meat packing plant in Tennessee in April — while just two weeks ago in Ohio, ICE officials rounded up 114 people in a massive immigration raid at a landscaping company's locations two hours northwest of Salem.

As NPR's Vanessa Romo explained at the time, the operation earlier this month drew some condemnations: "ICE officials had come under fire by immigrant advocacy groups who claimed dozens of children had been left stranded at schools, day cares and with babysitters as their parents were carted off to detention centers elsewhere in the state and in Michigan."
Emphasis mine, to emphasize that ICE is tearing apart families across the country, not just those seeking safety and security in the United States.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:59 PM on June 20, 2018 [58 favorites]


Atlanta Mayor Bottoms orders jail to refuse new ICE detainees

“I, like many others, have been horrified watching the impact of President Trump’s zero tolerance immigration policy on children and families, Bottoms said in a statement. “My personal angst has been compounded by the City of Atlanta’s long-standing agreement with the U.S. Marshal’s Office to house ICE detainees in our City jail.”

Bottoms said that she had concerns about a potential unintended consequence of individuals being sent private, substandard, for-profit facilities elsewhere in the state as a result of the order.

“But the inhumane action of family separation demands that Atlanta act now,” she said.

posted by Rust Moranis at 1:59 PM on June 20, 2018 [48 favorites]


Yeah, well, the US Supreme Court just ruled that bakers don't have to bake cakes for people they don't like

That was not the decision. The court ruled that the baker was treated with hostility and bias by a state commission. They did not rule that bakers, in general, don’t have to bake cakes for gay people or anything like that. The right is framing it that way, but we really should fight that framing.
posted by greermahoney at 2:00 PM on June 20, 2018 [60 favorites]


> Good article from the Boston Globe the other day: ‘When are Republicans going to stand up to Trump? Never.’ Here’s why.

*thinks "It's tax cuts, isn't it?"*

*opens link*

*Cmd-F "tax cuts" -> 1 of 3 matches*

*facepalms*
posted by tonycpsu at 2:05 PM on June 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


One interesting quote from that Boston Globe article has a "what's-the-matter-with-Kansas" flavor to it:
“This is the agonizing dilemma for a lot of folks,” [longtime Wisconsin-based conservative talk radio host Charlie Sykes] said. “You get the tax cuts, but then of course you might have to swallow a trade war. You get federal judges, but you might also have to bite your tongue when you see attacks on the rule of law. A lot of Republicans and conservatives are really wrestling with that checkered record.”
So Republicans get some victories, at the cost of a trade war with China -- which will do wonders for the economy heading into the midterm elections -- minor matters like attacks on the rule of law. The article isn't complimentary to Republicans for their Faustian bargain.
posted by Gelatin at 2:06 PM on June 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


WSJ, Publisher of National Enquirer Subpoenaed in Michael Cohen Probe
Federal authorities have subpoenaed the publisher of the National Enquirer for records related to its $150,000 payment to a former Playboy model for the rights to her story alleging an affair with Donald Trump, according to people familiar with the matter.

The subpoena from Manhattan federal prosecutors requesting information from the publisher, American Media Inc., about its August 2016 payment to Karen McDougal is part of a broader criminal investigation of Mr. Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, they said.

Investigators are probing any potential efforts by Mr. Cohen to suppress damaging information about Mr. Trump during the presidential campaign, including whether he coordinated with American Media to pay Ms. McDougal and then not publish her account, other people familiar with the matter said.

Prosecutors are examining whether the payment violated campaign-finance or other laws, the people said.
I believe the appropriate reaction this is: womp womp.
posted by zachlipton at 2:21 PM on June 20, 2018 [71 favorites]


I just called Schumer's office and yelled at the staffer on the phone like I have never yelled. I don't know what the FUCK Schumer thinks he is accomplishing by furthering Trump's lie that today's executive order "reverses" anything. And why ANY praise? Can we draw the line at FUCKING internment camps?
posted by prefpara at 2:22 PM on June 20, 2018 [83 favorites]


I don't think they're going to actively turn on him anytime soon or anything

Dream bigger, you never know what the most craven and venal body of people in the history of humanity might do to protect themselves and their families money.
posted by poffin boffin at 2:22 PM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


- For 15 years, @DHSgov has worked diligently with America’s airlines to secure aviation and facilitate the travel by air of millions of Americans and visitors and we will continue to do so.

Nice airports you have to operate your billion-dollar businesses out of, shame if anything happened to them.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:27 PM on June 20, 2018 [19 favorites]


Just because this has been a big mess, and by way of a recap:

Two months after initiating a “no tolerance” policy that criminalized families seeking asylum in the U.S. — a policy that resulted in thousands of children being stripped away from their parents and sent, sometimes out of state, to live in cages in for-profit detention centers — the President signed an Executive Order allowing the families to remain incarcerated together for the misdemeanor offense.

Note, that this is a misdemeanor at all is only because Border officials are refusing to follow the law and accept asylum seekers in official locales, and the asylum seekers’ legal option to cross the border at unofficial sites and then request asylum of Border agents is being intentionally subverted by those authorities.

The initial policy is one that administration officials variably claimed (a) did not exist, (b) did exist and was terrible but was the fault of the Democrats, and (c) did exist and was a good idea as a way to deter immigration, with all three of these claims being made sometimes in the same interview.

This new EO was signed only after weeks of mounting outrage by Democrats was joined in the past few days by many media outlets, all the former First Ladies and, finally, some GOP legislators.

Meanwhile, the new EO opens up the door to even greater abuses, because the underlying mistreatment of asylum seekers by criminalizing their actions is not at all addressed, and the detentions will now be on military bases, where journalists and watchdog groups have even less access.

Oh, and the President threatened another $200 billion in tariffs on China, got nothing but played in his meeting with Kim Jong Un, had his “charitable” foundation sued for flagrant and pervasive illegality, had his former campaign manager sent to jail, and had his sleazeball attorney just offer to cooperate with the Federal investigators!

Hell of a week!
posted by darkstar at 2:32 PM on June 20, 2018 [93 favorites]


Ed Kilgore at NYMag gets it right: Trump Ends Family Separations by Ordering Family Detentions.

Instead of reversing the zero-tolerance policy on blanket criminal prosecutions, they're just going to hang onto everyone together instead of separately. This is not much of an improvement.
posted by suelac at 2:36 PM on June 20, 2018 [42 favorites]


> I don't know what the FUCK Schumer thinks he is accomplishing by furthering Trump's lie that today's executive order "reverses" anything.

None of this should be taken as a slight on you for holding his feet to the fire and letting him know that the EO is unacceptable, but there is a tension here between not wanting to give his political opponent credit and wanting to give Democrats and their supporters a rare win on the scoreboard. Ending child separation is, in fact, a reversal of a policy of child separation, assuming even that much actually gets done -- and that is cause for a very qualified, muted celebration. Meanwhile, this isn't a reversal of the many other awful things that are being done under current law (or outside of it), or the even more awful abuses that the EO paves the way for, and Schumer acknowledges those facts in his tweets.

There was probably a better way to wordsmith that statement, but I do think there's positive value in giving kudos to the activists and constituents who were able to obtain a significant concession from an administration that rarely concedes anything.
posted by tonycpsu at 2:37 PM on June 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


I think a better headline for this is "Trump Orders Bigger Cages"
posted by mbo at 2:40 PM on June 20, 2018 [71 favorites]


This Executive Order requires families to be detained together for 20 days. What happens after 20 days? It doesn't say. This is not a resolution to the problem.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:43 PM on June 20, 2018 [12 favorites]


@JuliaEAinsley: Per DOJ press call and convos with HHS, DHS: No one seems to have a plan for reuniting these 2300 kids with their parents

Politico, Steyer ad links children crying to ‘lawless president’, in which Tom Steyer is launching an ad containing 15 seconds of audio from Trump's child jails.

Law talking guy Greg Siskind on the EO (click through for version with screenshots of the order embedded):
Making it difficult or impossible to apply for asylum at ports of entry seems to be the plan so that people are forced to enter illegally and then be arrested and detained. The "appropriate time" language seems code for "virtually never". Obviously, this is a gross violation of the letter and spirit of our asylum laws. People are reporting being turned away for weeks straight. Hopefully, a court will step in (not holding my breath for Congress).

The Administration has left a huge loophole that will allow family separation to continue. I hope reporters pick up on this (one actually asked me already about this language). "Where appropriate" and consistent with "available resources" means "if we feel like it.". In other words, when all you reporters go home and protests on the street stop, we can resume. DON'T BUY IT. Congress needs to tie the Administration's hands.

Policy only applies to parent -child relationships. I am aware of instances of children traveling with grandparents, aunts, uncles, older siblings, etc. That could be an issue for some. Another place for mischief. The Administration believes parents who bring their kids across the border illegally are smugglers. Seems they can use that logic as a reason to separate. In other words, to "protect" the kids.

Formalizes policy of using military bases to intern refugees. More BS. Flores is supposed to prevent long term detention of kids. Parents are being arrested for misdemeanor charge and should not be detained indefinitely until court ruling -years-as is the current plan. They should be released if they have an asylum claim.

One that makes sense is prioritizing cases for detained people. But they must have meaningful access to justice. They need time to prepare and the ability to get legal help. You can be sure this WH will do everything in their power to prevent that.
@stevenportnoy: JUST IN: Senior Justice Department official Gene Hamilton confirms the Flores settlement still controls, and that unless Congress or the court acts, the government can only detain families together for "up to 20 days."

This whole thing is a ruse. Just like DACA, it's just setting off another time bomb for Congress to fail to diffuse so Trump can say he's not being cruel and is just following the law.
posted by zachlipton at 2:44 PM on June 20, 2018 [61 favorites]


They're white, mumimor. That's the answer.

Yes, obviously. But imagine if the headlines were, “second generation immigrant Donald Trump wants to build a wall on the border”, or “immigrant Melania Trump won’t take a clear stand against seperating children from their parents”.
Put the racism out in the open, get them to defend it.


The racism is so ingrained in our culture and language that we don't even call white Europeans "immigrants". We call them "expats".
posted by rocket88 at 2:58 PM on June 20, 2018 [30 favorites]


Ratings changes from Cook:

WV-03 (R-open): Likely R => Lean R
TX-31 (R-Carter): Solid R => Likely R
posted by Chrysostom at 2:58 PM on June 20, 2018 [13 favorites]


This is so reminiscent of the people who say "Slaves didn't have it so bad! They had food and shelter because their owners wanted them to be healthy!"

Breaking up families was a key part of maintaining the antebellum slave state.
posted by mikelieman at 3:12 PM on June 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


The question I'd pay money to see asked at a Whitehouse briefing:
"Mrs. Sanders, you've spent the better part of the past month telling us that President Trump could not reverse the decision to separate asylum seekers and their children. Now, with the stroke of a pen, the President has done just that. What was your motivation for trying to publicly castrate the President in the eyes of the American people?"
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 3:14 PM on June 20, 2018 [23 favorites]


For those who are interested, here's some light reading: Haven't read through the review article in great detail; if there is anything wrong with it (or a better source) I trust that someone here will draw attention to it.
posted by compartment at 3:15 PM on June 20, 2018 [14 favorites]




Hey y'all, Twitter is finally doing something to stop doxxing and racism on Twitter!

*checks notes*

Er, sorry, I meant that they're doing something to stop doxxing of racists on Twitter. My mistake!
posted by tonycpsu at 3:21 PM on June 20, 2018 [29 favorites]


So one thing I'm deducing from all this is that the so called "catch and release" policy was, in fact, the correct and appropriate policy. Because illegal entry is a misdemeanor, legally at the same level as running a stop sign. It's not appropriate to detain someone for that, and we don't have the resources to do so; the appropriate thing to do is to process them, set a court date, and release them until then. Is that correct?

I don't think I've ever, ever heard a Democrat defend these policies. I've never even heard them try to explain it.

But also that explanation is going to feel intuitively wrong to a lot of people. I mean, if a security guard catches you trespassing somewhere you shouldn't be, they might not prosecute you, but they will definitely show you the door and make sure you leave. The asylum process feels intuitively odd too - if you apply to rent a room at a motel, you don't enter and then ask, even if you're homeless, you wait outside to be let in. Even other refugees are often waiting somewhere outside the country for their refugee application to be accepted.

And illegal entry is a misdemeanor, okay, but simply being in the country without authorization *feels* like it should also illegal, so "release them on bond" means "release them to continue committing this crime." ... The crime, of course, is just existing in the wrong place.

I'm sorry if this is to much like JAQing off, or apologizing or justifying racism - that's not really what I mean - I guess I'm expressing my own lack of understanding.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 3:22 PM on June 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


5 companies making millions off family separation

Private, for profit prison and Detention centers are just so nakedly evil on its very face I can’t belive we just accept theh exist. Elaiminate them, all of them, and maybe we can start to be a functioning society.
posted by The Whelk at 3:25 PM on June 20, 2018 [53 favorites]


To be honest I had long believed the myth that illegal entry was merely a civil infraction and not a crime. It's a misdemeanor for the first infraction and a felony for subsequent infractions.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:25 PM on June 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


So I'm just about to call my senators to make sure they're continuing to speak out, now that the appalling Executive Order is out, and I checked their web sites to make sure I knew the latest from them before calling:

Sen. Feinstein:

press release: Feinstein: Trump Wrong to Call Protections for Unaccompanied Children ‘Loopholes’ (notes that she co-authored legislation years ago with a Republican to protect children, and "These protections were passed unanimously by the Senate and signed into law by a Republican president." and says "President Trump should not be taking children away from their parents in order to force Democrats into rolling back protections for other children.")

press release: Fact-Check: Bill to Keep Families Together Does Not Bar Prosecutions, Mandate Release (correcting Republican lies about the Keep Families Together Act)

Sen. Harris:

Twitter: "This Executive Order doesn’t fix the crisis. Indefinitely detaining children with their families in camps is inhumane and will not make us safe."

and

"This Executive Order in no way deals with reuniting the *two thousand three hundred* children who have been torn away from their parents and remain separated. When will they see their parents again? They must be reunited immediately."

So now my calls can be "Thank you - I agree - please do everything you can to get the message across that the EO is a call for continuing to imprison children of asylum seekers."
posted by kristi at 3:27 PM on June 20, 2018 [33 favorites]


To be honest I had long believed the myth that illegal entry was merely a civil infraction and not a crime. It's a misdemeanor for the first infraction and a felony for subsequent infractions.

You know, that prompted me to look around and I found Table of Federal Misdemeanors , including such breaking-up-families worthy crimes such as "18:§46 Transportation of water hyacinths" and "18:§288 False claims for postal losses "
posted by mikelieman at 3:30 PM on June 20, 2018 [44 favorites]


You know, that prompted me to look around and I found Table of Federal Misdemeanors , including such breaking-up-families worthy crimes such as "18:§46 Transportation of water hyacinths" and "18:§288 False claims for postal losses

And 18§:711 - making bootleg Smokey the Bear merchandise. What kind of monster...
posted by Roommate at 3:40 PM on June 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


To be honest I had long believed the myth that illegal entry was merely a civil infraction and not a crime.

My understanding is that while illegal entry is a crime, being in the country illegally is a civil infraction. For instance: a major proportion of the undocumented residents in the US came legally and then overstayed their visas. So how they got here was legal, but they're now in violation of the law. But that violation is being punished as if it were a felony by imprisonment and deportation, instead of the legal equivalent of failing to keep your car registration up to date...
posted by suelac at 3:42 PM on June 20, 2018 [16 favorites]


I highly encourage reading through the Table of Federal Misdemeanors.

For example, if you put the 4-H Club logo on your farmer's market stand without actually being a member, you have committed a federal misdemeanor with the same penalty as first-time illegal entry.

Or if you try to put a lien on a seaman's clothes, you have committed a federal misdemeanor with the same penalty as first-time illegal entry.

Can you even imagine
posted by 0xFCAF at 3:42 PM on June 20, 2018 [27 favorites]


Also fishing without a license.
posted by rhizome at 3:43 PM on June 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


I mean, if a security guard catches you trespassing somewhere you shouldn't be, they might not prosecute you, but they will definitely show you the door and make sure you leave. The asylum process feels intuitively odd too - if you apply to rent a room at a motel, you don't enter and then ask, even if you're homeless, you wait outside to be let in.

Trespass on private property and paying for service from a business are poor analogies, IMO. The majority of undocumented people are visa overstays; these are people that are paying for housing, contributing to the local economy, paying sales tax and often income tax if they're employed. They may not be organized or documented in the same manner as a citizen, but they are contributing to society in a meaningful way, both economically and otherwise.

Similarly, border crossers contribute to our society; they come here to work. Our small business owners (oh noble job creators!) rely on them and often exploit them, which is a major problem on its own, but serves to prop up our cheap food prices. Studies have shown undocumented people are a net gain in economic and social terms. Treating them like a breaking-and-entering suspect is a problem of perspective. Criminalizing them is detrimental to both them and to us as citizens.
posted by Existential Dread at 3:47 PM on June 20, 2018 [10 favorites]


@IvankaTrump, 12:28 PM - 20 Jun 2018
Thank you @POTUS for taking critical action ending family separation at our border. Congress must now act + find a lasting solution that is consistent with our shared values;the same values that so many come here seeking as they endeavor to create a better life for their families
posted by kirkaracha at 3:49 PM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


How is kidnapping a member of congress only a misdemeanor? How is it the same kind of crime as unlicensed honeybee transport? who made these laws, i would like to speak to the manager.
posted by poffin boffin at 3:49 PM on June 20, 2018 [21 favorites]


NYT settles on a better headline: Trump Retreats on Separating Families, but Thousands Will Remain Apart
And a Health and Human Services official said that more than 2,300 children who have already been separated from their parents under the president’s “zero tolerance” policy will not be immediately reunited with their families while the adults remain in federal custody during their immigration proceedings.

“There will not be a grandfathering of existing cases,” said Kenneth Wolfe, a spokesman for the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services. Mr. Wolfe said the decision about the children was made by the White House, but he added, “I can tell you definitively that is going to be policy.”

The president signed the executive order days after he said that the only way to end the division of families was through congressional action because “you can’t do it through an executive order.” But he changed his mind after a barrage of criticism from Democrats, activists, members of his own party and even his wife and eldest daughter, who privately told him it was wrong.
I believe "kidnapping" is an appropriate term to describe this situation.

----

"Definitely show you the door and make sure you leave" is essentially how it works, with the exception of people who make an asylum claim. If you're *handwaving over details* stopped after recently crossing the border or at the port of entry, you're subject to expedited removal, which allows DHS to send you back without you ever seeing an immigration judge, receiving due process, or a right of appeal or legal representation.

The primary exception to that is if if you claim asylum or express a "credible fear" of persecution or torture in their home country. If you do that, you go talk to an asylum officer, and you have to convince them that there's a "significant possibility" you could peruse a successful asylum claim. If you do that, you get a notice to appear in immigration court where you'll have to make your case (on your own, unless you can afford a lawyer or manage to get pro bono assistance). Otherwise, you can be promptly sent back.

However, simply being in the country without authorization isn't illegal (the Goodlatte bill would change that, just one of the reasons it's terrible). ICE had a special program called the family case management program where particularly vulnerable individuals seeking asylum could live in fairly non-restrictive conditions, receive social services for themselves and their children, and get legal assistance in preparing their asylum cases. 99% of those in the program showed up for their court dates. The Trump Administration killed the program last year.

And I think that's likely a good approximation for how a first draft of a more reasonable system could work. You come, you make a credible asylum claim, we put you up in a safe non-prison place with good services, you go to immigration court, get a ruling that's not based on Sessions' efforts to deny everyone asylum, appeal if necessary, and either stay and receive social services for new immigrants or leave if they lose their cases.
posted by zachlipton at 3:53 PM on June 20, 2018 [24 favorites]


New Leverage episode: let’s steal a congressman
posted by The Whelk at 3:53 PM on June 20, 2018 [30 favorites]


One never ending pleasure of the current administration is that now a large proportion of our brains are occupied with the finer grained points of things like immigration law. I wake up some mornings like why am I an amateur expert in the minutiae of congressional decorum?! Also from a few days ago but Amy Poehler is completely over it.
posted by supercrayon at 3:55 PM on June 20, 2018 [11 favorites]


The Intercept, Scott Pruitt Has Spent a Total of $4.6 Million on Security, New Disclosures Show — Including $1,500 on “Tactical Pants”
Records released under the Freedom of Information Act list expenditures totaling $288,610 on a range of security-related items. The EPA, according to three expense line items for April, spent a total of $2,749.62 on “tactical pants” and “tactical polos.”

Since last year, shortly after his Senate confirmation, Pruitt’s office began purchasing security-related items, including multiple vehicle leases, over $80,000 worth of radios, $700 in shoulder holsters for the radios, and a kit to break down doors, among other purchases.
...
Pruitt’s office spent $24,115 on a variety of tactical clothing and body armor in seven separate orders. All of the tactical gear was purchased in 2018, more than a year into Pruitt’s tenure as EPA chief. The agency spent a staggering $88,603 on radios and accessories, including holsters and travel chargers.
...
The agency also spent $931 in September 2017 on a “breaching kit” — items typically used by law enforcement to gain entry to a locked building or vehicle. Pruitt’s security team has run into problems with locked doors before: His security detail called the police to his apartment on March 29, 2017, when they became concerned that they couldn’t contact him. Pruitt was taking a nap, but the police and guards smashed down the door and eventually had to pay $2,460 to replace it. Despite that embarrassment, the security detail now has its own door smasher.
posted by zachlipton at 3:56 PM on June 20, 2018 [30 favorites]


He went straight from ordering children put in bigger cages at the concentration camp to a MAGA campaign rally in Minnesota, 29 months before the 2020 election.

Video board above the arena here at the Trump rally describes the president's Twitter account as "your source for real news"
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:03 PM on June 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


Miller knows exactly what he's doing showing his face at a Mexican restaurant, or thinks he does. He's certainly trolling the libs and triggering and rustling jimmies, but at a certain point trolling can become detrimental to one's health. Points to the Post for accuracy in verb choice.

NYPost: Protester yells ‘fascist’ at Stephen Miller dining in Mexican restaurant

“Hey look guys, whoever thought we’d be in a restaurant with a real-life fascist begging [for] money for new cages?” another customer at the Mezcal joint snarled at Miller, according to a source who saw the encounter.

Miller didn’t respond and scurried away, the witness said
.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:05 PM on June 20, 2018 [69 favorites]


White House to Propose Merging Education, Labor Departments
The White House plans to propose merging the Departments of Labor and Education as part of a broader reorganization of the federal government, according to a person with knowledge of the proposal.
...
The reorganization likely would require approval from Congress, However, it’s not clear that lawmakers have the appetite to undertake a far-reaching reorganization, especially at this point in the political calendar.
Ceterum autem censeo Trumpem esse delendam
posted by kirkaracha at 4:06 PM on June 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


So I just made those calls to my senators. My script:
I am calling to thank the Senator for the Keep Families Together Act and her latest statements.
Is she committed to continue to fight the imprisonment of children mandated by the new Executive Order?
What action will she take to stop the illegal practice of turning away asylum seekers at the border?
Sen. Harris's staffer told me she's working on 3 related bills and "she will not stop" until we have better immigration policy - and after I had expressed my support and thanks for all her work, he also said "Thank you for calling, it really does make a difference." (So even if your representatives are already doing the right things, call them anyway! Say thank you!)

When I asked Sen. Feinstein's staffer what Feinstein could do NOW, aside from legislation, she told me about Feinstein calling on the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security back in March about ICE (apparently it was about the resignation of ICE official James Schwab over ICE's lies). I urged her to do everything she could NOW to stop the illegal practice of refusing entry to asylum seekers.

Just a reminder for anyone who has trouble calling - you can also send a fax, free, through FaxZero. I know faxes get read, because I've gotten responses (via US Mail) to some of the faxes I've sent.
posted by kristi at 4:06 PM on June 20, 2018 [19 favorites]


Called it!
Cue Ivanka crawling out from under her diamond-encrusted rock just long enough to make some comment about how families are important, etc.

Then right on cue:
@IvankaTrump, 12:28 PM - 20 Jun 2018

Thank you @POTUS for taking critical action ending family separation at our border. Congress must now act + find a lasting solution that is consistent with our shared values;the same values that so many come here seeking as they endeavor to create a better life for their families


Silent complicity, until speaking out and taking a stand is no longer helpful or courageous.
posted by darkstar at 4:10 PM on June 20, 2018 [47 favorites]


To be honest I had long believed the myth that illegal entry was merely a civil infraction and not a crime.

Prosecutorial discretion is a major pillar of our current justice system. The "Prosecution Initiative" is the admin saying that every instance of suspected illegal entry will be charged and prosecuted, no discretion, no exceptions. There is no requirement in our laws to prosecute every suspect; declining prosecution happens all the time everywhere (for good and bad reasons).
posted by melissasaurus at 4:10 PM on June 20, 2018 [21 favorites]


Cmon they’re eating at Mexican places on fucking purpose. Can you imagine one of the SS bigwigs ordering kids put in a ghetto then sending out for some latkes? Like we would just assume it was performative assholery right? So it is in this instance.

Also: I hate these racist bastards. I hate them so godamn much.

On preview: oh, fuck off Ivanka, you’re worse than useless.
posted by supercrayon at 4:14 PM on June 20, 2018 [52 favorites]


Aside from the clear moral argument. there's a simple logistical argument against prosecuting misdemeanor illegal entry by parents who are accompanying children: it's a misuse of taxpayer funds to unnecessarily spend money on "supervising" the children, when their parents could continue to do so with less cost and significantly less inhumane trauma to innocent kids.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:15 PM on June 20, 2018 [15 favorites]


Prosecutorial discretion is a major pillar of our current justice system.

And this is what the Trump administration considers the most pressing legal issue in the entire universe of any possible crime committed in the entire country. We're talking about adding thousands of illegal entry cases to DOJ's docket. It's a staggering commitment of manpower, which is why they haven't even come close yet to their stated goal of prosecuting 100% of illegal entry cases. They can't, they don't even have enough prosecutors to do that.

This is what they want DOJ doing instead of tax enforcement, drugs, computer crimes, actual child trafficking, or like the absolute endless ocean of white collar crimes revealed in just the last 18 months. Fuckkkk all those other cases, they're pulling everyone to gin up misdemeanors into the excuse to jail children.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:16 PM on June 20, 2018 [41 favorites]


Prosecutorial discretion is a major pillar of our current justice system.

This is certainly true but we should also continue to focus on overcriminalization which has been a growing problem for decades. It's a tool of authoritarianism. You make it so that virtually everyone breaks one law or another and then selectively enforce ("prosecutorial discretion") the laws against your opponents while declining to do so against allies.

Take Russia for instance; This is one of Putin's big levers of power.

And it's getting to be that way in the US. So I'm all for prosecutorial discretion as a way to shield the powerless from unjust action but never lose sight of the fact that it's more often used as a cudgel against those without power, or to take away the power of the losing side of a power struggle. (ie LOCK HER UP, LOCK HER UP).
posted by Justinian at 4:24 PM on June 20, 2018 [32 favorites]




The organizer is the same man who organized last year's white supremacist rally that turned deadly in #Charlottesville. The permit is for August 11th and 12th

The reporting has been that Trump intends to ramp up the culture war to boost Right turnout in November, so hang on to your hats.
posted by notyou at 4:37 PM on June 20, 2018 [3 favorites]


Hundreds of migrant youngsters secretly flown to New York to tackle Trump’s immigration crisis. One is aged just nine months
Officials say they were not informed of the children's presence.
Immigrant Kids Taken From Parents Being Held In E Harlem: Mayor.
More than 350 kids, the youngest just 9-months-old, have been held at the East Harlem facility after being taken from the southern border.
posted by adamvasco at 4:39 PM on June 20, 2018 [15 favorites]


I used odinsdream perfect comment for my resistbot text tonight. (Hope that's ok.)
posted by Mavri at 4:40 PM on June 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


Geraldo Rivera and Hannity Erupt Over Border Policy: ‘When Did We Become the Party of Child Abuse?!’

I mean, 2016, obviously, as the last possible date, but lets face it, there's probably arguments for way earlier.

Also: Geraldo seems like he might actually have a soul.

(That last one still a provisional finding)
posted by Artw at 5:03 PM on June 20, 2018 [24 favorites]




Trump, who is refusing to free and return the children he's holding hostage, takes the stage in Deluth to a crowd that was just chanting "lock her up" (in June 2018) to the lyric "And I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free," and I feel ill.

The crowd is now chanting "CNN sucks," and Trump did his usual "the people of Minnesota can't stand winning so much, please can we take it easy?" routine as if that's a thing anybody has ever said.

@thehighsign: "Lock her up!" is bizarrely delusional now, like Miss Havisham & her decayed wedding cake. No relation to reality, just the desire for a woman in a cage.

@jdawsey1: "Kim Jong Un will turn that country into a great, successful country," Trump says to the crowd in Minnesota.

He says this is because he "got along" with Kim. He also claimed that the remains 200 Korean War soldiers have been sent back; that hasn't happened yet. Then he thanks "a friend of mine," China and President Xi for helping.

He rushes to say that "the border will be just as tough as it's been," and launches into a rant about how Democrats put illegal immigrants before citizens. Many "build the wall" chants.
posted by zachlipton at 5:14 PM on June 20, 2018 [19 favorites]


Here's what I just sent to Schumer over FaxZero. Feel free to use/adapt.

Dear Senator Schumer,

Can we draw the line at internment camps, please? What the hell were you thinking PRAISING today's executive order, which DOES NOT rescind or reverse the zero tolerance policy, has more loopholes than the Gordian Knot, and makes things appreciably worse by shifting detention to the DOD? And excuse me, you HOPE that the president will do something to reunite the THOUSANDS of children currently being permanently traumatized with their terrified parents? No, **I** hope that YOU will do something about it! Please understand, I am yelling because this is AN ATROCITY! AMONG THE WORST THINGS AMERICA HAS EVER DONE! And you, the leader and face of the Democrats, are giving Trump golf claps over some handwaving deepening fascism? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? How about you read the order before you praise it? And then maybe go sit on the steps of ICE next to Congressman Lewis, instead of shaming us all with this hot wet garbage. Please, please, treat this with the seriousness that it deserves. Shut everything down, use every tool, pull every fire alarm - I don't know what you're waiting for! THESE ARE LITERAL INTERNMENT CAMPS! THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF BABIES, TODDLERS, AND LITTLE KIDS IN GOD KNOWS WHAT CONDITION UNDER THE CARE OF GOD KNOWS WHO! GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!

Sincerely,
A very disappointed and despairing constituent
posted by prefpara at 5:16 PM on June 20, 2018 [55 favorites]


Over on the invaluable wtfjusthappenedtoday I just saw in yesterday's summary that Cohen "wants Trump to pay his legal fees."

Now, I *know* that this means that Cohen would like Trump to pay for the new lawyers that Cohen has engaged, but my immediate (and far more satisfying) parsing of the statement was that Trump hasn't paid Cohen's invoices, because of course Trump stiffs even his own shifty mob fixer.
posted by MarchHare at 5:17 PM on June 20, 2018 [4 favorites]


NBC News, Foster mom on trauma of separated migrant children: 'They are coming crying, almost hysterical'
A 10-year-old boy who woke screaming in the middle of the night. A 9-year-old boy who barely ate for more than three weeks after being separated from his father. A 5-year-old girl who went numb and silent when she found out her father had been deported without her.

These are three of the migrant children cared for recently by Christine, a foster mother in Michigan. She has seen children facing imminent deportation hide under her coffee table. And she has listened as they ask constantly about their parents.

“It’s painful to watch them suffer and I don’t have the answers for them,” said Christine, who asked that only her first name be used to protect the children's privacy. “It’s just painful to see a child this young have to go through that. They are not equipped.”
...
Alexander tried but couldn't remember the phone numbers of family in El Salvador. He had crossed the border with his father on May 9, but they were separated and now Alexander didn't know where his father was.

For more than three weeks, Alexander hardly ate and had trouble sleeping through the night. He also had a fever and some respiratory issues after contracting chicken pox while he was detained by immigration authorities, according to Christine and a spokeswoman for Bethany Christian Services.

“He was the child I was most worried about,” she said.
These would be the children the government has no stated plan to return.

Trump asks if a protester is a man or a woman, saying he can't tell because "he needs a haircut more than I do."
posted by zachlipton at 5:21 PM on June 20, 2018 [53 favorites]


@RebeccaBerg of CNN: New: RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and Labor Secretary Alex Acosta have pulled out of planned speeches to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference, the group says, as Rs and the WH face political blowback over family separations at the border

Can't say I've heard of the group, so I don't know how big of a deal this is. But it's another sign of Republicans running and hiding.

They're scared. They don't want to face this. They also don't want to do what it takes to fix it.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 5:34 PM on June 20, 2018 [27 favorites]


And finally, Alaska Airlines: At Alaska Airlines, our values guide us to do the right thing. Alaska Airlines does not support the recent immigration policy that separated immigrant children from their families. To our knowledge, we haven't transported any immigrant children who have been separated from their families, and today informed the government that we do not want to do so.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 5:37 PM on June 20, 2018 [46 favorites]


As Doktor Zed predicted upthread: this rally is, in fact, completely bugfuck.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:38 PM on June 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


Trump attacks "the elite": "Why are they elite? I have a much better apartment than they do. I'm smarter than they are. I'm richer than they are. I became President, and they didn't." This was followed by "I’m representing the greatest smartest, most loyal, best people on earth, the deplorables."

Words mean nothing.

He's now explaining that the media "wants to stay on immigration" because they don't want to "reveal the Russian scam" they'd see if they went into "the halls of Congress." Then he starts attacking Clinton and randomly rants "she wanted to have windmills."

Meaning means nothing.
posted by zachlipton at 5:39 PM on June 20, 2018 [40 favorites]


Trump: "We have...Space Force!"
Crowd, chanting: "Space Force! Space Force!"

Does it still count as a force if it's one very large ship headed for the sun?
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:46 PM on June 20, 2018 [35 favorites]


To be honest I had long believed the myth that illegal entry was merely a civil infraction and not a crime.

Remember that most of them are only charged with illegal entry because when they show up at the border stations they're told the stations are "closed."

That's specifically done to trick asylum seekers to break the law. If they could make an asylum request, as the law dictates, they would be commiting neither a civil nor criminal infraction.
posted by ocschwar at 5:51 PM on June 20, 2018 [39 favorites]


Cmon they’re eating at Mexican places on fucking purpose. Can you imagine one of the SS bigwigs ordering kids put in a ghetto then sending out for some latkes? Like we would just assume it was performative assholery right? So it is in this instance.

Oh yes. This trolling has been a constant thing with Trump and his followers. In fact, Trump did the same thing with a Tweet about taco bowls on Cinco de Mayo, just after he'd been going on about building a wall between the US and Mexico. Also, do you remember his campaign ad showing Hillary Clinton ("Most corrupt candidate ever!") over a background of dollar bills and a big six-pointed star? Trump loves this kind of thing, whether he's the one doing it or one of his surrogates.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:52 PM on June 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


> Trump: "We have...Space Force!"
Crowd, chanting: "Space Force! Space Force!"


It's not about being right or wrong, it's about annoying liberals, so I suggest Democrats put forth some legislation zeroing out the Air Force's budget and moving it over to NASA, which would be renamed "The Space Force".

I mean, it's worth a try, at least.
posted by tonycpsu at 5:54 PM on June 20, 2018 [18 favorites]


Also: Geraldo seems like he might actually have a soul.

Maybe he’s having flashbacks to the only time he was ever worth a damn?
posted by Sys Rq at 5:55 PM on June 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


They're scared. They don't want to face this. They also don't want to do what it takes to fix it.

Impeachment would be a good start.
posted by ocschwar at 5:56 PM on June 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


I cannot fathom the level of masochism necessary to voluntarily watch this rally, so thanks everyone for your space chant updates
posted by theodolite at 5:57 PM on June 20, 2018 [33 favorites]


Yeah, sometimes I go scan freeh republix to se what his base is thinking, and I have not yet tonight, but I bet some of his base is thinking "if he caved on this we will never get the wall."

I'll let you all know if I try to confirm this theory.
posted by vrakatar at 5:59 PM on June 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


WaPo, Trump signs order ending his policy of separating families at the border, but reprieve may be temporary. Yes; the headline is bad; cancel your subscription; etc... Moving on, we learn that what looked like a slapdash job was, in fact, done hurriedly and carelessly because Trump randomly demanded an executive order today:
The executive order came after a day of frantic White House meetings as administration lawyers scrambled to produce a legally sound document to solve Trump’s political dilemma. Trump had begun to doubt his strategy, telling Republican lawmakers privately on Tuesday night that the images of the children were a “bad issue” for the GOP.

Early Wednesday, Trump surprised his aides by ordering them to write an executive order and saying he wanted to sign it before leaving for Minnesota, despite telling reporters Friday that such an order could not be done. Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and White House Counsel Donald McGahn pushed back, arguing that an executive order could not be written to comply with the legal limits on child detentions — an argument that Trump had championed publicly in recent days — prompting a debate among the president and his aides, according to officials with knowledge of the deliberations.

Kelly urged the president to continue pressing Congress to pass a law and argued that signing an order would not solve the problem. McGahn continued to question the legality of the executive order, according to the officials. Many aides, though, including Ivanka Trump and Kellyanne Conway, urged the president to end the separations. Eventually, after a number of meetings, ideas and drafts, McGahn said the final product could be legal.

The slapdash nature of the effort was apparent when the White House released an initial version of the executive order that misspelled the word “separation.” The episode left many aides puzzled over the administration’s strategy in the immigration fight.

“Everyone in the White House is relieved with the outcome as it stands,” said one senior official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. “But we are all utterly confused why we went through this exercise.”
Jeff Flake actually takes (not particularly meaningful for the time being, since there's plenty of nominees in the pipeline already) action! Except it's for kinda dumb reasons unrelated to the rule of law, because Jeff Flake. CNN, Jeff Flake threatens to block Trump's appellate court nominees over Cuba travel, tariffs

@brianefallon: If Flake is truly going to make a thing out of this, it becomes all-important for Dems to unite in opposition to Trump's circuit court judges. It'd be asinine if Dems provide the votes to put Trump judges over the top while Flake is holding out. Mazie Hirono votes against cloture on every Trump judge nominee. If every Dem will simply #VotelikeMazie, we can now block every Trump circuit court judge for as long as Flake is executing his holdout strategy. It would be awesome if Mitch McConnell cancelled August recess only to end up being unable to confirm any more appeals court judges.

Oh, and Fox News actually ran with this chyron: "Trump rally live & only on Fox News. Other networks ignore Presidential rally." I can't even.
posted by zachlipton at 6:04 PM on June 20, 2018 [34 favorites]




Maybe he’s having flashbacks to the only time he was ever worth a damn?

Hey. There was nothing in Al Capone's vault but it wasn't Geraldo's fault.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 6:11 PM on June 20, 2018 [16 favorites]


If Flake is truly going to make a thing out of this, it becomes all-important for Dems to unite in opposition to Trump's circuit court judges. It'd be asinine if Dems provide the votes to put Trump judges over the top while Flake is holding out.

This will happen. Democrats have been voting for Trumpjudges overwhelmingly. Scroll through and look how many nominations are 91-0, 77-21, 74-24. The traitor caucaus reliably provides the winning margin on the close ones. Only the worst partisans are along party lines. There's a 0% chance of Democrats blocking the overwhelming majority of Trumpjudges, regardless of what Flake does.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:16 PM on June 20, 2018 [11 favorites]


"Lock her up!" is bizarrely delusional now, like Miss Havisham & her decayed wedding cake. No relation to reality, just the desire for a woman in a cage.

I guess only women in cages can play down the things they lose.
posted by Daily Alice at 6:43 PM on June 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


Maddow via Kyle Griffin: "The Justice Department has requested that the Pentagon send active duty JAGs, active duty U-S military lawyers to Texas, Arizona and New Mexico to work special, unprecedented, 6-month shifts as quote, 'special assistant U-S attorneys.'"

Do the math: concentration camps on military bases right on the border + vastly increased prosecutors + no permanent solution for Dreamers + longterm legal residents already arrested and deported + ICE scouring through naturalized citizens' apps looking for tiny errors.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:47 PM on June 20, 2018 [47 favorites]


Is it me or does a horde of military lawyers kinda suggest that they're going to do quasi-court-martial military commissions, like Bush did in Guantanamo? In other words, the way we committed war crimes against suspected terrorists?
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:15 PM on June 20, 2018 [10 favorites]


wapo:
blah blah "senior administration officials said ... according to officials with knowledge of the deliberations
... according to the officials said one senior official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations ... One senior DHS official acknowledged ... The DHS official said ... the DHS official said" blah blah grows marginally credible at "Gene Hamilton, a senior Justice Department official, said on a conference call with reporters" and "HHS Secretary Alex Azar said."

this line, "The slapdash nature of the effort was apparent when the White House released an initial version of the executive order that misspelled the word 'separation,'" convinces this avid reader of writs, dictats, fiats, proclamations & decrees that David Nakamura, Nick Miroff, and Josh Dowsey (plus committee of contributors who somehow slipped "vociferously" twice into the article) of the washington post have not consistently been reading the executive orders and written materials produced by the regime, as i have. meanwhile consider recent buzz to the effect that regime staff salt their prose with Errors and Malapropisms to seem more authentically the dear leader's voice: they carefully prepare their ostensibly ill-considered and shoddily-executed communication to appear so.

um. i shall strive not to spend too much threadspace futilely venting my skepticism of and continual disappointment in the washington post, the hometown paper that you hate to have to depend on (not too unlike the mandarins and apparatchiks of the democratic party) -- is this the sort of thing best confined to the OnoNoNoOFuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk! thread somewhere?
posted by 20 year lurk at 7:17 PM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


Yes, it seems a thing you would do if you wanted to carry out mass deportation tribunals.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:17 PM on June 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


His #MAGA rally tonight is going to be absolutely bugfuck.

Easiest prediction I ever made on MetaFilter.

CNBC's John Harwood has an all-too-timely quote from Art of the Deal co-author Tony Schwartz:
This presidency is now all about mental illness. Trump's narcissism is getting progressively worse. rapidly escalating risk[.…] every move he makes is a response to distorted inner world he lives in”.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:37 PM on June 20, 2018 [28 favorites]


kinda suggest that they're going to do quasi-court-martial military commissions, like Bush did in Guantanamo?

Those have involved top-notch lawyers and years and years of legal argument and appeals. I think you could make a pretty compelling case that immigration court today is worse.
posted by zachlipton at 7:40 PM on June 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


Meanwhile, I feel like a moron here, but the USG stealing 2300 children from parents without cause and releasing/deporting those parents and then just NOT BOTHERING to even attempt to return the children to their parents' rightful custody and just like just randomly saying, "You have no parental rights and we are just going to keep these children we took from you without cause and make them wards of the state or sell them to middle-class white people" or whatever. That can't possibly be legal?

Federal courts could not possibly fail to order Trump to give those kids back, could they? I'm just gobsmacked by these HHS comments that are like "Oh, yeah, we have no plans to reunite these families."

I mean, I could be the worst most horrible neglectful abusive parent, but if DHS removes a kid from my home, they can't just KEEP them permanently without a hearing or trial. You can't sever parental rights without some sort of proceeding. Can you?
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:41 PM on June 20, 2018 [19 favorites]


we are just going to keep these children we took from you without cause and make them wards of the state or sell them to middle-class white people" or whatever. That can't possibly be legal?

No. It's not. Article 2 of the UN General Assembly Resolution 260 (aka "The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide")
...any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 7:47 PM on June 20, 2018 [45 favorites]


(Sorry, Child Protective Services, not DHS.)
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:47 PM on June 20, 2018


I finally paid up and joined DSA tonight, largely because of The Whelk. I joined at the Family level but didn't name my husband because he's an immigrant... and... well.

#AbolishICE
posted by workerant at 7:51 PM on June 20, 2018 [66 favorites]


(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

I get that it's internationally illegal on the grand scale. I meant even within regular ordinary prosaic US law. With the Muslim bans, there were immediately a bunch of lawsuits and injunctions and slapdowns from the federal circuit courts saying, "YOU CANNOT FUCKING DO THIS TO PEOPLE, ASSHOLE."
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:55 PM on June 20, 2018


And in fact, isn't one of the overturnings/injunctions on the Muslim ban about the provision saying Trump could bar US resident refugees' family from joining them in the US? I would think they'd bring the hammer down on DHS/HHS refusing to habeas the corpus of a foreign national's toddler.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:57 PM on June 20, 2018


I finally paid up and joined DSA tonight, largely because of The Whelk.

I also joined DSA tonight. I had been thinking about it for some time, also in large part due to the Whelk, and it's these last couple of days of action -- Portland, DC, SF, LA -- that put me over. I don't have a lot of money or a ton of energy but I'll be pitching in what and where I can.

I'm not yet convinced we're going to make it through this, not with anything like the country that we thought we had. But if we do make it, it's only going to be with a strong and unified (and righteously furious as fuck) resistance. That's what I'm seeing from DSA right now, and that's what we all need a lot more of, right now and in the weeks and months and years to come.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 8:20 PM on June 20, 2018 [18 favorites]


ELECTIONS NEWS

** 2018 House:
-- WV-03: Monmouth poll shows Democrat leading in all turnout models. Detail upstream.

-- ND-AL: Mason-Dixon poll has GOPer Armstrong up 46-35 on Dem Schneider [MOE: +/- 4.0%].

-- DCCC May fundraising was double the NRCC's.

-- Vox: Dem enthusiasm high, as is proportion of voters saying they are directly responding to Trump.
** 2018 Senate:
-- WI: Marquette poll has Tammy Baldwin up 50-39 against Nicholson, or 49-40 against Vukmir [MOE: +/- 4.0%].

-- CA: USC poll has Diane Feinstein up 36-18 on Kevin de Leon. In the first round, she beat him 44-12.

-- WV: That Monmouth poll has Manchin up 7-11 points on Morrisey, depending on turnout model and whether or not Blankenship can run.

-- 538 profile of Doug Jones.

-- David Byler has put up his Senate forecasting model. Currently about a 30% chance of Dems gaining control.
** Odds & ends:
-- ME gov: Maine finally did the subsequent voting rounds required in the Dem governor primary; AG Janet Mills emerged the winner. She was leading after the first round, too. Jared Golden ended up with the ME-02 nod, as expected.

-- NM gov: Carroll Strategies poll has Dem Michelle Lujan Grisham up 51-43 on GOPer Steve Pearce [MOE: +/- 2.8%]. This would be a Dem flip.

-- WI gov: That Marquette poll has Tony Evers widely leading for the Dem nom at 25%, no one else breaking double digits. Scott Walker leads Evers 48-44 in a matchup.

-- A non-partisan redistricting initiative should be on the ballot in Michigan. There's still a challenge pending before the state Supreme Court.

-- GOP support among young women is really cratering.

-- The NC gerrymandering case has already been amended to meet the new SCOTUS requirement for standing. So this is likely to be back in their laps shortly.
=================
Personal note: This is the last ELECTIONS NEWS until July 6 or 7. We're going overseas for two weeks, and I'm not taking my laptop, and hopefully won't even be looking at these threads.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:26 PM on June 20, 2018 [121 favorites]


teraflop: "An update: the office of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach announced yesterday that it's in no hurry to comply with the court's ruling."

Kobach has folded, instructions have been sent to county clerks not to ask for proof of citizenship.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:30 PM on June 20, 2018 [30 favorites]


Godspeed Chrysostom!
posted by bstreep at 8:31 PM on June 20, 2018 [25 favorites]




Thank you for all the election news, Chrysostom,.
Have a restful time away.
posted by Gadgetenvy at 8:47 PM on June 20, 2018 [22 favorites]


NYT also: Trump Retreats After Border Policy Outcry
Order Does Nothing to Address Plight of 2,300 Children
President Trump caved to political pressure and signed an executive order that ends his policy of separating families by indefinitely detaining parents and children together at the border. But there are still legal and practical obstacles to ending the practice, and the order does not address the children who have already been separated.
Regardless of anything else, Trump looks weak and craven here. Brace for furious tweets and lashing out in the worst way. And if there is a God, I hope she's looking out for those 2300 children, because no one in our government is going to be allowed to help them.

(I didn't know we could go from "approaching fascism" to "worse than Nazi Germany" in a single short step, but separating babies from asylum-seekers was the magic missing step.)

Oh, and WaPo: In retreat on family separation policy, Trump’s focus was on looking strong
He abandoned his policy of removing migrant children from their parents’ care without any mention of supporters who had spent weeks defending him and echoing his false claim that Democrats alone were responsible for the crisis on the border. Instead, he talked at length on Wednesday about his own strength, an issue he has always placed at the center of the immigration debate.
posted by RedOrGreen at 8:53 PM on June 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


I finally paid up and joined DSA tonight, largely because of The Whelk.

I also joined DSA tonight. I had been thinking about it for some time, also in large part due to the Whelk


Welcome, comrades! I've been in for just over a year now, and being able to direct my energy into work for my little local chapter instead of blind internet rage has been the thing keeping me sane, to the extent I've been kept sane. The Whelk is a very good influence.
posted by contraption at 8:56 PM on June 20, 2018 [17 favorites]


Another new DSA member here, and another hat-tip to The Whelk. Shoulder to shoulder, friends, it's the only way we can fight this.
posted by Quietgal at 8:57 PM on June 20, 2018 [18 favorites]


We're going overseas for two weeks, and I'm not taking my laptop, and hopefully won't even be looking at these threads.

I fear this is how Tehhund started out...

Have a good trip! I’m sure we’ll be here when you get back.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:00 PM on June 20, 2018 [13 favorites]


WaPo, Erik Hanshew, Assistant Federal Public Defender in El Paso, Families will no longer be separated at the border. But where are my clients’ kids?
At another hearing before a different judge, as one of my colleagues asked the agent on the stand about the whereabouts of my client’s child, the prosecutor objected to the relevance of the questions. The judge turned on the prosecutor, demanding to know why this wasn’t relevant. At one point, he slammed his hand on the desk, sending a pen flying. This type of emotional display is unheard of in federal court. I can’t understand this, the judge said. If someone at the jail takes your wallet, they give you a receipt. They take your kids, and you get nothing? Not even a slip of paper?

Our office does what it can. If we’re lucky, we can determine that a client’s child is at least in the vicinity of El Paso. But those “answers” come only after calls and calls and calls to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). The process is so chaotic and byzantine that our office has tasked investigators, paralegals, administrative staffers and interns with calling and sitting on hold, waiting to speak to someone. Some of our investigators have waited nearly an hour just to get a person on the line. And once they find someone, their inquiries are met with vague statements that the child is in the United States. The ORR demands to speak directly to the parent of the child. We explain that the parent is in federal custody at local detention facilities, to no avail. We ask the local jails to facilitate the calls with the ORR. It took more than an hour for one call to be set up, so the jails stopped doing it.
Michael Avenatti shouldn't be taking immigration cases as a PR play, but he is. Here's the form one of his clients, in detention, filled out asking in Spanish for the phone number where she can speak to her daughter Britany. The only response, dated yesterday and written in English: "I do not have this information."

Also, here's the state of play for tomorrow's immigration votes in the House: GOP Chaos, Confusion Ahead of Thursday Immigration Votes. You can read a bunch of words, but "both appear doomed to fail at this juncture" sums it up. It's almost like Paul Ryan doesn't actually want an immigration bill. Hmm...
posted by zachlipton at 9:06 PM on June 20, 2018 [33 favorites]


The future is ours for the taking friends!
posted by The Whelk at 9:23 PM on June 20, 2018 [19 favorites]


If you want a bright spot in your day, the RAICES folks have been running a fundraiser on Facebook today. I've seen it come by my feed a couple times so far... At this point, they've upped their limit to $20 MILLION, because they've already raised $15 MILLION.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 9:25 PM on June 20, 2018 [24 favorites]


Rick Hasen is now predicting Anthony Kennedy will retire next week after punting on the gerrymandering cases.

The only thing that can make everything worse is another Gorsuch. When the median vote is John Roberts, everything back to 1863 is in danger of repeal.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:25 PM on June 20, 2018 [17 favorites]


Why would you want as part of your legacy "allowed successor to be chosen by Donald Trump"
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:27 PM on June 20, 2018 [11 favorites]


At this point, they've upped their limit to $20 MILLION, because they've already raised $15 MILLION

They were somewhere between $7M and $8M when I got up this morning around 6. They doubled in a single day.
posted by anastasiav at 9:27 PM on June 20, 2018 [3 favorites]


Daily Beast, Ex-CIA Contractor Makes Millions Flying Immigrant Kids to Shelters, with details on how this practically works:
Before it transported immigrant children for the government, MVM was better known as a contractor providing guards for CIA and NSA facilities in Iraq. A since-dismissed lawsuit by a former employee of the company alleged that employees in Iraq were “procuring and possessing unauthorized weapons and explosives.”
A large crowd hauled out to LGA at midnight after Make the Road NY put the word out that children would be brought to New York tonight after receiving tips from passengers on board.
posted by zachlipton at 9:34 PM on June 20, 2018 [16 favorites]


> If you want a bright spot in your day, the RAICES folks have been running a fundraiser on Facebook today. I've seen it come by my feed a couple times so far ... At this point, they've upped their limit to $20 MILLION

That fundraiser was started by a couple, Charlotte and Dave Willner, in San Francisco, with an initial goal of $1500. Enough to pay for a lawyer for a single migrant parent.

Washington Post this afternoon: These parents hoped to raise $1,500 for separated migrant families. They raised $12 million and counting.

Small steps sometimes lead to much bigger things.
posted by RedOrGreen at 9:36 PM on June 20, 2018 [55 favorites]


Buzzfeed: This Man Owned The Texas Farmland Where Immigrant Boys Are Now Being Housed In Tents

"A week ago there was nothing here," said the 83-year-old, referring to a detention camp erected by the Trump administration to handle the influx of immigrant children separated from their parents under the president's "zero-tolerance" policy. The detention center, located about 30 miles from El Paso, was built on land Lettunich and his brothers inherited from their father, who came to the United States from the former Yugoslavia.

[sigh] Let me guess: this dude who inherited wealth from his immigrant dad is going to be an entitled old prick who wants damn immigrants to stay away from what's rightfully his.

Lettunich watched Tuesday as teenage boys walked single file in a line between the tents used to shelter children separated from their parents. Around 200 boys were housed in the facility on Sunday night, with plans that it could hold up to 4,000. "I don’t approve of them using it for that," said Lettunich.

Wait a minute! Holy smokes! Maybe they found the Real Heartland American who recognizes that he's a child of an immigrant and doesn't like child concentration camps! Maybe there's hope!

But the farmer's concern isn't the minors being held at the center, at least not in a political sense. He supports a hardline on immigration, and believes anyone crossing the border illegally should be immediately deported. "They’re got air conditioning, they’re being fed, they’re probably playing video games or something. It’s better conditions than what they had before," he said. Lettunich said he doesn't worry about children being forcibly separated from their parents after crossing the border because people should follow the laws of the United States.


...oh.

"What does concern me is the welfare of this country, and the citizens. We're opening a door, and if it’s not stopped, we’ll overwhelm this country by millions of people and we can’t handle it," he said. [...] He fears what the increasing immigrant population means for the Texas town he grew up in. "The customs and everything here are changing to a Hispanic way, a lot of the Anglos are just leaving," said Lettunich. "I feel it’s a threat to our way of life, and how we have always lived." Lettunich notes that his Catholic church now reads the sermon in English and Spanish.

oh no

"They could be hitting the border here and amassing over there by thousands. And then what do you do?" he asked, pointing from his kitchen toward the Rio Grande. "What if 500 people come through here and start grabbing the cars, and the tools and start threatening us? This is the front line." "I think we’ll be like Rome in 400 AD," said Lettunich. "All the tribes came in and plundered everything."

America.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:49 PM on June 20, 2018 [47 favorites]


"I think we’ll be like Rome in 400 ADAmerica in the 1500s-1600s. All the tribesEuropeans, especially the British, came in and plundered everything."
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:53 PM on June 20, 2018 [35 favorites]


Rick Hasen is now predicting Anthony Kennedy will retire next week after punting on the gerrymandering cases.

If there is one thing that will send me into a depression spiral I might never come out of, it’s losing another SC seat. I just don’t know how we could recover from that.
posted by greermahoney at 10:03 PM on June 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


“While DSA is doing incredible migrant justice work around the country we are NOT the only ones. Here’s a short thread of other great organizations to check out and support“ a thread with links to other grassroots, specialized, local support groups
posted by The Whelk at 10:21 PM on June 20, 2018 [17 favorites]


Can we maybe not doom-speculate for kicks just this once? Actual reality on the ground is devastating enough at the moment.
posted by FelliniBlank at 10:25 PM on June 20, 2018 [49 favorites]


Rick Hasen is now predicting Anthony Kennedy will retire next week after punting on the gerrymandering cases.

If he goes now, it's because he knows the Senate has a distinct possibility of flipping in November, making it considerably harder to get another right-winger through after that date. That is, if Kennedy goes now, it will because he actively wants another Alito or Scalia to replace him.

It's also possible that he fears that if Dems control the Senate, they'll only approve a liberal justice and/or just sit on all nominees until 2020 using an expanded version of the Garland rule.
...Just kidding -- no one would ever believe the Dems could manage that.
posted by chortly at 10:26 PM on June 20, 2018 [10 favorites]


“While DSA is doing incredible migrant justice work around the country we are NOT the only ones. Here’s a short thread of other great organizations to check out and support“ a thread with links to other grassroots, specialized, local support groups

A quick reminder for anyone who can't donate just now, but could later: even if this shitshow was totally upended and the regime released everyone tomorrow, the damage done to these kids will go on and on for a long time. The organizations working to help these immigrants will still need your money next month and next year. If you can donate now, definitely do so, but if you're feeling bad because you can't donate until next payday, there's nothing wrong with that.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:30 PM on June 20, 2018 [6 favorites]




The abuse claims against the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center near Staunton, Virginia, are detailed in federal court filings that include a half-dozen sworn statements from Latino teens jailed there for months or years. Multiple detainees say the guards stripped them of their clothes and strapped them to chairs with bags placed over their heads. [...] In addition to the children’s first-hand, translated accounts in court filings, a former child-development specialist who worked inside the facility independently told The Associated Press this week that she saw kids there with bruises and broken bones they blamed on guards. [...] The suit alleges staff members routinely taunt the Latino youths with racially charged epithets, including “wetback”[...] In their sworn statements, the teens reported spending the bulk of their days locked alone in their cells, with a few hours set aside for classroom instruction, recreation and meals. Some said they had never been allowed outdoors, while the U.S.-born children were afforded a spacious recreation yard.

And on, and on, and on. Many people need to go to prison for a very long time.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:34 PM on June 20, 2018 [53 favorites]


I say this not because it's not horrific, but just to distinguish which horrors we're talking about: these are different immigrant children from the ones now being separated from their parents at the border. These are the children the government says are gang members but even managers at the juvenile center don't agree. All such children are in ORR "care" though.
posted by zachlipton at 10:35 PM on June 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center near Staunton, Virginia, aka Abu Ghraib Jr.
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:38 PM on June 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


Meanwhile, the New York Times suggests you work on your manners, you ruffians:
The contagion of incivility: President Trump says undocumented immigrants want to “infest” the United States. His critics respond with vituperative words of their own.
Ratio is about what you'd expect.
posted by FelliniBlank at 10:47 PM on June 20, 2018 [12 favorites]


There has not been much about today that I would call “positive” by any stretch, but the fact that we can now call Scott Pruitt “Tactical Pants” as a nickname definitely qualifies.

It’s up to you if you want to go full name - Scott “Tactical Pants” Pruitt, just “Tactical Pants”, or TP, for short.
posted by greermahoney at 10:48 PM on June 20, 2018 [10 favorites]


The contagion of incivility: President Trump says undocumented immigrants want to “infest” the United States. His critics respond with vituperative words of their own.

From the comments:
...several reliable, well-informed sources confirmed that Hitler's anti-Semitism was not so genuine or violent as it sounded, and that he was merely using anti-Semitic propaganda as a bait to catch masses of followers and keep them aroused, enthusiastic and in line for the time when his organization is perfected and sufficiently powerful to be employed effectively for political purposes.

A sophisticated politician credited Hitler with peculiar political cleverness for laying emphasis and over-emphasis on anti-Semitism, saying, "You can't expect the masses to understand or appreciate your finer real aims. You must feed the masses with cruder morsels and ideas like anti-Semitism. It would be politically all wrong to tell them the truth about where you really are leading them."
-- New York Times, November 21, 1922

Transcribed from an image
posted by kirkaracha at 11:01 PM on June 20, 2018 [65 favorites]


emjaybee: "This is so reminiscent of the people who say "Slaves didn't have it so bad! They had food and shelter because their owners wanted them to be healthy!"

It only works if you never let yourself, for one second, imagine how you would actually feel if you were ripped away from your family/detained/enslaved
"

And of course the bolded part isn't even true. I really doubt it is true in the child concentration camps either.
posted by Mitheral at 11:12 PM on June 20, 2018 [4 favorites]


Why would you want as part of your legacy "allowed successor to be chosen by Donald Trump"

interestingly enough according to the helpful misdemeanor document posted above, kidnapping a supreme court justice is also only a misdemeanor, like bees.
posted by poffin boffin at 11:17 PM on June 20, 2018 [27 favorites]


Rust Moranis: “Many people need to go to prison for a very long time.”
“Communications and claims under art.15 of the Rome Statute may be addressed to:
Information and Evidence Unit
Office of the Prosecutor

Post Office Box 19519
2500 CM The Hague
The Netherlands

or sent by email to otp.informationdesk@icc-cpi.int


or sent by facsimile to +31 70 515 8555.”
posted by ob1quixote at 11:21 PM on June 20, 2018 [15 favorites]


NY1 received a tip last night that separated kids were being transferred to NY through an agency in East Harlem and they got video of folks bringing several girls there at 1am.

Nacht und Nebel.
posted by Stoneshop at 11:42 PM on June 20, 2018 [18 favorites]


So the New Zealand Prime Minister just gave birth to a healthy baby girl today. Chatfilter, but if the PM gets to meet Trump at the APEC meeting later this year (after she returns from maternity leave!), I really hope she brings baby and makes a fucking highly visible point that you don’t seperate kids from their parents regardless of circumstance.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 11:47 PM on June 20, 2018 [29 favorites]


Because this is 2018: Family Members of Detainees Are Reviewing Border Detention Centers on Facebook

This isn't nearly as amusing as it might sound; here's an excerpt from the Google review page for the IAH Secure Adult Detention Center:
3400 FM 350, Livingston, TX, USA.
Mi esposo esta ahí casi un mes y no a podido llamar a centró América 😔😭😭😭😭😭 que hago para saber cómo hablar con el tenemos la nena mal de salud ayuda
Answer
Quiero hablar en español
Answer
Muy buenos días quisiera comunicarme con un detenido se llama Ángel Paulino quisiera saber que brazalete tiene para poder tener información y que proceso seguir
Answer
Como hago la cuenta para poder hablar con un detenido por favor
Answer
posted by Joe in Australia at 11:51 PM on June 20, 2018 [10 favorites]


Oh that is heartbreaking, Joe in Autralia. FYI, the bit you've linked isn't quite a review but attempts by family to reach detained refugees.
posted by stillmoving at 11:56 PM on June 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


Holy Hell - even a Canadian regional news outlet points out 'Seeking asylum is not illegal'.
posted by porpoise at 12:05 AM on June 21, 2018 [13 favorites]


Came here to continue my nascent little tradition by rage-posting that vile New York Times article on "civility" — yes, yes, I continue to read the Times, though more out of lifelong habit and a perverse desire to see how low they can go than anything else.

The civility piece really is something special. Not merely does it indulge in an impressive amount of mental gymnastics to accommodate the bothsidesist conclusion we all knew it was headed for from the first line, but it displays a truly stunning ability to completely overlook the question of power. Because, yeah, sure, the one-off swearing in impotent frustration of a past-his-prime Hollywood star and a literally anonymous rando visiting the Capitol are directly equivalent in force, meaning and consequence to the ongoing rhetoric of the most powerful human being on the planet, who has an extensive, mighty, global apparatus capable of concretizing the crudity of his expression in the most damaging ways. In a sense, it's a new low, for an institution I'd already lost all respect for.

Count me in as another new DSA join, BTW, and again thanks largely to The Whelk's reporting here. I've been especially thrilled to see their clarity on the criminality of ICE, and their willingness to engage in direct action aimed at challenging that organization's ability to operate unhindered. I'm most likely a few notches to the left of their main mass of membership, and have an anarchist's instinctual mistrust of this kind of formation, but want to apply my energy where it's most likely to be effective, and by my lights they've been doing a shit-hot job of organizing resistance lately. (Feel free to Memail me, BTW, if you're a DSA member in London or elsewhere overseas. Let's talk.)
posted by adamgreenfield at 1:20 AM on June 21, 2018 [22 favorites]


Trump attacks "the elite": "Why are they elite? I have a much better apartment than they do. I'm smarter than they are. I'm richer than they are. I became President, and they didn't." This was followed by "I’m representing the greatest smartest, most loyal, best people on earth, the deplorables."

I keep coming back to this, because most people don't do their psychotherapy at campaign rallies 866 days before their next election. And it's worth watching the video to see just how angry and contemptuously he says all this, how gross it is for the crowd to cheer at being called deplorable, indeed, how gross it is that he so blatantly describes his constituency as consisting entirely of the deplorables that voted for him?

But the frustration here is so clear. He's got everything he's ever dreamed of, and it's still not good enough for "the elites" he's sucked up to his entire life. He's always been a joke to the actual elite in this country, and becoming President has only made that worse. Nothing's going to make his father hug him, or whatever is making him so desperately crave the approval he's never going to get.
posted by zachlipton at 2:32 AM on June 21, 2018 [66 favorites]


Wait you can join the DSA from overseas? HOT FUCKING DAMN Y’ALL. I had no idea! I’ve been making sad puppy eyes from New Zealand because if I was back home I would be so keen. I just assumed it was a no go and stupidly didn’t even investigate. You just made my day adamgreenfield! And cheers to The Whelk for your updates and enthusiasm you’re good people man.
posted by supercrayon at 3:16 AM on June 21, 2018 [8 favorites]


A very smart roundup with lots of views by Emily Burack in Alma: Is it Fair to Compare the U.S. border separations with the Holocaust?

Despite the title this is the exact opposite of a defense of US policy; it's apparently asking whether the comparison is fair to past victims of American prejudice as well as to Holocaust survivors. I know how I feel, but I take the point that things like slavery, Indigenous genocide, and Japanese internment may actually be more appropriate comparisons.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:28 AM on June 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


Re: is it fair comparing this current development to things in the past

Not to derail, but just a side note from someone not raised in the American school system: a few years ago I read a book called Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen. It's been a while, but one point he made stuck with me - that in American-taught history, America goes from strength to strength. It's always progress towards an ideal; there is no setback, no back-sliding, it moves onward and upward forever in a continuous graph from the earliest beginnings to today.

I think this might explain why so many Americans have trouble coming to terms with the current situation: it has been ingrained in them that things always improve, they have literally no frame of reference for things getting worse.
Conversely, if things are a certain way now - well, that must be an improvement over the old ways, then, surely, since the ratchet only allows forward movement. That would also explain why so many people are loath to believe the new concentration camps even exist: "we had them (with the Japanese internment), we moved past them, and now they can't exist anymore".
posted by PontifexPrimus at 3:44 AM on June 21, 2018 [67 favorites]


I think this might explain why so many Americans have trouble coming to terms with the current situation: it has been ingrained in them that things always improve, they have literally no frame of reference for things getting worse.

then americans must have bad memories, because the mid to late 70s were a bad time for the country as a whole and a disaster for the midwest - watergate, industrial economies collapsing, an out of control crime rate, oil prices going through the roof, etc etc etc

i don't think you can totally understand the later baby boomers without taking this time into account

come to think of it, i don't see how the 30s qualify as moving forwards

but one of the main beliefs of our current time is that things have gotten worse and are getting worse - isn't that what MAGA implies?

i fear the coming rage in this country when trump's supporters finally realize that he hasn't actually DONE anything to make their lives better - and it will come - it may have to wait until he's gone, but people will figure it out and they will be pissed
posted by pyramid termite at 4:12 AM on June 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


then americans must have bad memories, because the mid to late 70s were a bad time for the country as a whole and a disaster for the midwest - watergate, industrial economies collapsing, an out of control crime rate, oil prices going through the roof, etc etc etc

i don't think you can totally understand the later baby boomers without taking this time into account

come to think of it, i don't see how the 30s qualify as moving forwards

but one of the main beliefs of our current time is that things have gotten worse and are getting worse - isn't that what MAGA implies?


Viewing the nation as being on an overall "Progress" track doesn't mean that there aren't setbacks. In fact, the setbacks give you things to overcome and improve upon. You're in a good place - and a problem came along, you fixed it and things are now even better! The Great Depression happened - but then we got over it! We got attacked by Hitler and Japan - but we beat them! And after the war, our prosperity boomed and we went to the moon!

If you look at the high school history books, everything that happens in the US is a story of "this problem came up, but we beat it!" over and over again. The mid-late 70s were followed by the yuppie 80s, too, don't forget - that'd be very easy to fit into the "a problem came up but we beat it!" mold.

The problem is that that is an EXTREMELY simplistic depiction of history, and there was a lot more to it. But this is how history is taught here, and this is the historical narrative that most everyone's working with.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:32 AM on June 21, 2018 [8 favorites]


AP (via NY POST):
WASHINGTON — Immigrant children as young as 14 housed at a juvenile detention center in Virginia say they were beaten while handcuffed and locked up for long periods in solitary confinement, left nude and shivering in concrete cells.

The abuse claims against the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center near Staunton, Virginia, are detailed in federal court filings that include a half-dozen sworn statements from Latino teens jailed there for months or years. Multiple detainees say the guards stripped them of their clothes and strapped them to chairs with bags placed over their heads.

“Whenever they used to restrain me and put me in the chair, they would handcuff me,” said a Honduran immigrant who was sent to the facility when he was 15 years old. “They also put a bag over your head.”


What is this black site bullshit? I wonder how the racist tin badge chucklefucks who carry out these orders would feel about the same thing happening to their kids in a Spanish-speaking country.

Scratch that, I already know: they'd demand we invade it.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:33 AM on June 21, 2018 [17 favorites]


> i fear the coming rage in this country when trump's supporters finally realize that he hasn't actually DONE anything to make their lives better - and it will come - it may have to wait until he's gone, but people will figure it out and they will be pissed

I'm sorry, no it won't, and no, they won't. The fuel that drives the racist's allegiance to a leader is whether someone makes them feel superior to others. Trump does that, he's always done that, the only way he could be a traitor to his followers would be a traitor to his race and he's never going to do that. If he goes down, it will be as a martyr to a double-digit percentage of Americans, and I am not sure how ugly things will get, but they will get ugly.

At least they will be ugly for racists TOO; if Trump doesn't go down it will just be ugly for their victims.
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:34 AM on June 21, 2018 [18 favorites]


Mid-year performance review.

Trump and Putin plan to meet in mid-July
posted by chris24 at 4:35 AM on June 21, 2018 [36 favorites]


Trump and the rest of the Turd Reich have said they must have zero tolerance and detain these immigrants because otherwise they'll disappear. Um, no. Actually, last year ICE abolished a very effective asylum program that basically used an out-patient approach to asylum seekers rather than an incarceration model. And despite the fear-mongering from Rs of immigrants disappearing into the wind, 99% attended their court appearances and ICE checkins.

Atlantic: ICE Shuts Down Program for Asylum-Seekers
The United States’ family case management program provides a more relaxed alternative to detention facilities, functioning less like a prison and more like a counseling center. As part of the program, social workers connect asylum-seekers to legal representation, guide them through the court system, and help them receive housing and healthcare, as well as schooling for their children. Asylum-seekers must also have demonstrated that they legitimately fear returning to their country of origin in order to qualify.

Since January 2016, the program has served asylum-seekers in numerous cities across the U.S., including Chicago, Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. According to a letter signed by Ann Schlarb, the senior vice president of The GEO Group—the prison company that runs the case management program—99 percent of the program’s participants “successfully attended their court appearances and ICE check-ins.” Schlarb even noted that “families have thrived” under the relaxed conditions.
posted by chris24 at 4:45 AM on June 21, 2018 [56 favorites]


venting my skepticism of and continual disappointment in the washington post

yes, yes, I continue to read the Times, though more out of lifelong habit and a perverse desire to see how low they can go than anything else.

the NYT cancel your subscriptions
WaPo, "Trump signs order. .. "Yes; the headline is bad; cancel your subscription; etc...

Cancel your subscription starter list:

The New York Times ...
Washington Post ...
Harper's ...
Atlantic Monthly ...


Okay ENOUGH. I have to push back on this. The ONLY reason we know about any of the horrors the Trump administration is committing is because of hard working reporters, many of them at these publications. That 2016 Active Measures site I maintain is FULL of links to stories broken by this exact list of newspapers and magazines. (I can't remember one from Harpers, actually, but The Atlantic has been doing amazing work right up there with NYT and WaPo.)

This very thread is full of links to articles published by these guys... but prefaced with the wording above which asks people to pull funding for the very reporting we rely on. Listen, I love metafilter and I just signed up to support it with $5 a month, but making payroll for a staff of 7 work from home moderators is a hell of a lot cheaper than paying a staff of dozens of investigative reporters around the world and maintaining the infrastructure to support them. And these politics threads wouldn't be worth much if they weren't full of information that people who DO subscribe to those old school print publications are paying to find out.

Can we go back to our practice of crediting journalists by name when we quote their stories, and acknowledging the distinction between a paper's editorial page and its newsroom? (The Wall Street Journal is also doing great investigative reporting in these dark years, even though their editorial page is pure propaganda.)

This whole "cancel your subscriptions" thing really just seems like a new form of "your favorite band sucks." Like "I'm too cool to like popular things enjoyed by the masses." But that is not actually how one becomes cool.

Yes, the dead tree media have played a part in Trump's rise, just like the FBI did and Russia did and Facebook and Twitter did and so on... But really it was a perfect storm, a lot of people doing a lot of evil stuff and a lot of other people making a lot of mistakes because they just couldn't believe what was really happening, and apparently a hunger among half the population for a populist demagogue. It's not fair to blame the media alone. Covering Trump is HARD... no one ever knows how seriously to take him.

But we desperately need MORE investigative reporting right now, not less. And we need to build trust in knowable objective reality back up as Trump tries to obscure all facts with a radar chaff of lies, accusations of bias, and constant fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

Please pick one or two of those publications and BUY A SUBSCRIPTION.
posted by OnceUponATime at 4:56 AM on June 21, 2018 [233 favorites]


Trump and Putin plan to meet in mid-July

Note that the CNN has only anonymous sources for this article: "two diplomatic sources familiar with the matter", one source telling them that Trump really wants Putin to come to D.C. but Putin prefers Vienna as neutral ground. And a Kremlin spokesperson is saying that John Bolton's going to visit Moscow at some point, while the NSC isn't answering any questions about that.

Meanwhile, the advance team is being prepped: American Senators to Visit Russia at End of Month: Report from NY Daily News
group of American senators will travel to Russia at the end of the month and celebrate Independence Day in Moscow, according to a report. The delegation will arrive in St. Petersburg on June 30 and spend time there before heading to the country’s capital on July 3 and 4th for meetings with lawmakers, Russian news agency Interfax reported, citing an unnamed official.

A group of Republican senators had been planning a visit to the country after an invitation from U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman, the Washington Post reported last week. Those reportedly part of the group included Richard Shelby of Alabama, John Neely Kennedy of Louisiana and North Dakota’s John Hoeven, though those members have not announced any plans.[...]

Shelby, Kennedy and Hoeven are on neither the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee or on the Senate Intelligence Committee that issued a report last month saying Russia tried to influence the 2016 election.
These three need to hear from their constituents ASAP about this little trip.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:05 AM on June 21, 2018 [15 favorites]


What is this black site bullshit?

Looks like treating refugees like shit is not the only idea Australians need to feel sorry to the rest of civilisation for normalising.

Don Dale Youth Detention Centre
posted by flabdablet at 5:25 AM on June 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


Please pick one or two of those publications and BUY A SUBSCRIPTION.
Or help out Truthout, ProPublica, Democracy Now!, ThinkProgress, The Guardian, Pacific Standard, AlJazeera. Texas Tribune,, Daily Beast, MotherJones, Pew Research, JustSecurity, emptywheel, Der Spiegel, and dozens of other hard working investigative reporting orgs without being so complicit in the diaper-changing of Trump.
posted by Harry Caul at 5:42 AM on June 21, 2018 [76 favorites]


At least one of these publications was integral in choosing to inflate “But her emails” to the level of crisis while ignoring Trump’s collusion efforts, in hiring columnists whose openly stated agenda is to demonize women and/or minorities, and in continually publishing articles examining Trump supporters and making it sound like it’s perfectly reasonable that the logical result of being worried about one’s job security and hometown culture is to become a white supremacist who wants to commit genocide.

Hell no, I'm not buying a fucking subscription. In fact, the point of not buying one is so they are economically obligated to fire the people who publish those perspectives.
posted by Autumnheart at 5:43 AM on June 21, 2018 [17 favorites]


This whole "cancel your subscriptions" thing really just seems like a new form of "your favorite band sucks."

Agreed, we should support newspapers doing good reporting, even if we don't always agree with their editorial slant. That said, the NYT really, truly does suck and does not deserve our subscriptions, even if their produce investigative articles worth reading (alongside other independent reporting, of course). They are the KISS of American journalism.

Case in point from today's editions:
‘A Blowtorch To the Tinder’: Stoking Racial Tensions Is a Feature Of Trump’s Presidency—The president often dehumanizes immigrants and cultivates tribalism under the banner of his slogan, ‘Make America Great Again.’ by Trump Whisperer Philip Rucker
VS.
In Era of Trump, Incivility Spreads in a Divided Nation—Mr. Trump rails against illegal immigrants as "murderers and thieves" who want to "infest our country." Some of his opponents respond with rage. (Either this approach went over so badly that the NYT had to back down from its reflexive both-sidesism and changed it to "In Trump’s America, the Conversation Turns Ugly and Angry, Starting at the Top" or they deliberately spun it when promoting the article on Twitter and in their News Alert).

Funnily enough, Michelle Wolf's skit about the NYT's Op-Ed page can be applied to the attitudes of their White House desk.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:44 AM on June 21, 2018 [14 favorites]


From the WaPo via Political Wire: Stoking Racial Tensions Is Trump’s Survival Strategy
As he leads his party into the potentially perilous midterm election five months from now, Trump is trying to make cultural identity a central theme of the Republican pitch to voters. ...

Trump is calculating that by playing to people’s fears and anxieties he can maximize turnout among hard-core supporters to counterbalance evident enthusiasm on the Democratic side. Fueling Trump’s approach, advisers say, is an unremitting fear of his own: that his base could abandon him if he is deemed too weak on immigration, which was a centerpiece of his 2016 campaign.

Recall that back in 1981, as he was dying of brain cancer, Lee Atwater noted that using overt racism as part of the odious Southern Strategy was a political loser for Republicans. All of Trumps's -- and conservatives' in general -- complaints about so-called "political correctness" is resentment that they can't be overtly racist. And it turns out, they can.
posted by Gelatin at 5:45 AM on June 21, 2018 [27 favorites]


Another notable thing about that WaPo article is that in defending Trump, a campaign spokesperson used not one but two dog whistles in a single sentence: Pierson, one of the few African Americans who work for Trump, said the president’s policies are “centered around law and order and prioritizing American families.”

Sadly, writer Philip Rucker did not point out that "law and order" has a specific, racist message to many conservatives, and that conservatives have been narrowly defining who are "real Americans" for many years.

Even his campaign's defense of Trump's racism uses racism -- though of the deniable sort that was once Atwater's stock in trade.
posted by Gelatin at 5:52 AM on June 21, 2018 [6 favorites]




The latest TIME cover: Welcome to America.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 6:15 AM on June 21, 2018 [13 favorites]


Sadly, writer Philip Rucker did not point out that "law and order" has a specific, racist message to many conservatives, and that conservatives have been narrowly defining who are "real Americans" for many years.

That's a good example, Gelatin, of what I meant about not always agreeing with the editorial slant of otherwise credible journalism. It would have been more helpful if Rucker had gone into the racist history of "law and order" politics. He's candid, however, about what Trump's doing, with several up-front paragraphs of ample illustrations: "Echoing the words and images of the white nationalist movement to dehumanize immigrants and inflame racial tensions has become a defining feature of Donald Trump’s presidency and of the Republican Party’s brand." He still provides space to Trump's defenders, even the crypto-fascist Steve King, but the article's first half of examples of Trump's hateful rhetoric puts them in better context. It's an imperfect piece by MeFi standards, but it's better than the alternative.

The NYT's piece, in contrast, switches to its attention to Robert De Niro's "Fuck Trump" speech and the anonymous "Fuck you, Mr. President" in the Capitol by its third paragraph—with a pearl-clutching "the president has generated so much anger among his foes that some are crossing boundaries that he himself shattered long ago."—and then shifts to an impartial-seeming professor to complain generally about "a decline in civility and an uptick in incivility". The next major example the NYT writers use is an all-caps tweet from Peter Fonda threatening to take Barron away from Melania (for which he apologized.) Then it wastes some time describing a Twitter debate between Gen. Michael Hayden and Wolf Blitzer about the appropriateness of Holocaust analogies and Trump's child internment camps. It's classic churn journalism for the chattering classes, and I feel dumber for having read it. (And although she doesn't share a by-line on this article, it notes at the bottom "Maggie Haberman contributed reporting from New York.")

Cancel your NYT subscription.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:16 AM on June 21, 2018 [34 favorites]


Bad Religion - The Kids Are Alt-Right.

Nice effort by them, but in this ironic post-post-ironic age, I kind of expect alt right people to listen to that song more than other people since it sounds so anthemic.
posted by bootlegpop at 6:19 AM on June 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


Here's some solid data about white evangelicals (and yes, it's all about the racism with them):
My research indicates white evangelical conservatism correlates strongly with their perceptions anti-white discrimination, even after taking into account economic status, party, age and region. Fully 50 percent of white evangelical respondents to our 2016 survey reported feeling they face discrimination that’s comparable to, or even higher than, the discrimination they believe Muslim Americans face. Those who hold this perception are more likely to hold conservative attitudes on issues as wide-ranging as climate change, tax policy and health-care reform.

Here’s what is not behind these beliefs: economic anxiety

posted by TwoStride at 6:57 AM on June 21, 2018 [35 favorites]


I agree with OnceUponATime. People are shooting the messanger here. Yes, the NYT is absurdly in thrall to 'balance', a bit prissy and mealy-mouthed, has some idiotic columnists etc. It still has lots of valuable reporting and the overall tenor of its commentary is strongly anti-Trump. The same is true twice over of the Washington Post.

I'm British and we do things the other way round here. We have virulently partisan newspapers and relatively balanced TV news. A propaganda channel like Fox wouldn't be allowed here, but the Sun and the Mail carry a lot more weight than their print equivalents do in the US.

From that point of view, getting wound up by the NYT's failings to the extent that you start thinking of it as a primary enemy makes me think of people here getting hot under the collar about the BBC because it's insufficiently hospitable to their point of view, be it Corbynite or pro-Brexit (or both!).

The bothsidesism is annoying in both cases, and don't get me started on that mad old git John Humphrys, whose idea of putting a tough question is increasingly just to channel the right-wing voices in his head. But at least there are institutions out there with some sort of commitment to reporting on reality and not just putting out propaganda of the Fox/Sun kind.

I get that the American mythology of the reporter as fearless civic hero is bullshit that partly mystifies the role of class and business interests, just as the myth of America the home of democracy and human rights is bullshit that does the same. But the point of both myths is that sometimes people feel compelled to live up to them too.
posted by Mocata at 7:07 AM on June 21, 2018 [18 favorites]


Yeah. That song kinda sucked, and will definitely find more favor within the community they're claiming to mock than outside of it.

If we're gonna go with old punk rockers coming out of retirement due to Trump, lets go with L7's 'Dispatch from Mar-A-Lago'
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 7:08 AM on June 21, 2018 [11 favorites]


From 'Playing Whack-a-Mole With Trump’s Lies Isn’t Enough' by Nancy Letourneau, Washington Monthly:
There is a reason why Donald Trump and Stephen Miller want to keep the country’s focus on the lies of these non-existent threats. It was perhaps best captured by the leadership of Cambridge Analytica.
The two fundamental human drivers when it comes to taking information onboard effectively are hopes and fears and many of those are unspoken and even unconscious. You didn’t know that was a fear until you saw something that just evoked that reaction from you. And our job is to get, is to drop the bucket further down the well than anybody else, to understand what are those really deep-seated underlying fears, concerns.

It’s no good fighting an election campaign on the facts because actually it’s all about emotion. The big mistake political parties make is that they attempt to win the argument rather than locate the emotional center of the issue, the concern, and speaking directly to that.
Trump and Miller believe that as long as they are “dropping the bucket further down the well” to tap into deep-seated fears associated with the demise of white supremacy, they have a fighting chance in the upcoming election.

Cambridge Analytica staff are right to say that you can’t win that battle with facts alone. While it’s important to stay grounded in facts and point out the constant lies, the resistance will need to do more than that. Rep. Joe Kennedy III of Massachusetts recently provided an example of how that’s done: Facebook video .

He transformed the story about “those” parents and children who are being detained into “our” story and went on to say that “humanity doesn’t come with citizenship or a green card.” In other words, he laid the foundation for empathy and tapped into our values. While liberals will always need to be grounded in facts and coherent policies, that is the kind of message that is required to take on the fear-mongering that is at the core of the Republican Party right now.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:10 AM on June 21, 2018 [25 favorites]


He was merely using anti-Semitic propaganda as a bait to catch masses of followers and keep them aroused

Hitler devoted incredible resources to exterminating Jews during an existential war even when he started losing. Nothing, in the end, was more important to him, and nothing seems more important to Trump than immigrants. He talks more about immigrants than anything else. He hasn't flipped on the issue, as he has with so many others. He's surrounded himself, by choice, with die-hards who also seem obsessed with it. I've really come around to thinking it's his mono-mania.
posted by xammerboy at 7:12 AM on June 21, 2018 [47 favorites]


mikelieman: You know, that prompted me to look around and I found Table of Federal Misdemeanors, including such breaking-up-families worthy crimes such as "18:§46 Transportation of water hyacinths" and "18:§288 False claims for postal losses "

I know you were picking the relatively harmless ones, but why not look under the heading of
Assault
18:§111 Assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees (simple)
18:§112(b) Protection of foreign officials, official guests, and internationally protected persons
18:§113(a)(4-5) Assaults within maritime and territorial jurisdiction
18:§115 Influencing, impeding, retaliating against federal official by threats to family member (simple)
Those sound like more serious offenses, and potentially ones carried out by Trump and co.

In the words of our president and his lackeys: ZERO TOLERANCE! LOCK THEM UP!

(Why are so many shocked when the reality TV star relies on shock and misdirection to maintain attention on the thing he wants you to see, so you ignore the other things?)

Rust Moranis: Miller didn’t respond and scurried away, the witness said.

Hey, look - facing trolls down in real life works again!
posted by filthy light thief at 7:16 AM on June 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


Just wait until they hear “Born in the USA”
posted by Barack Spinoza at 7:18 AM on June 21, 2018 [10 favorites]


The bothsidesism is annoying in both cases
Granting fascists, racists, xenophobes and lying incompetent narcissists a 'side' is propaganda in their interest. An important part of their agenda is portraying their violent selfish needs as legitimate. No thank you.
posted by Harry Caul at 7:21 AM on June 21, 2018 [10 favorites]


under the banner of his slogan, ‘Make America Great Again.’

That was his old slogan. His 2020 slogan is "Keep America Great!". His claim is that he already Made America Great Again.
"We can't say 'Make America Great Again,' because I already did that," Trump said before thousands of supporters in an airplane hanger.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:23 AM on June 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


He's surrounded himself, by choice, with die-hards who also seem obsessed with it. I've really come around to thinking it's his mono-mania.

Naturally. Make America Great Again was always doublespeak for "America is for White People."

Thus the "promises made, promises kept" banners at the rallies and the insistence of his supporters that he's delivering: on the only thing they care about.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:26 AM on June 21, 2018 [17 favorites]


Hitler devoted incredible resources to exterminating Jews during an existential war even when he started losing.

Hitler devoted incredible resources to exterminating the Jews because he was losing the war. Like all bullies and abusers, he had to find a weaker target to take out his aggression on in order to feel powerful. And as he started losing the war, those impulses became even more intense.

Which is why Trump's immigration insanity has everything to do with the Mueller investigation, and why this is all so scary. Trump hasn't even gotten started; this is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 7:30 AM on June 21, 2018 [24 favorites]


>relatively balanced TV news

'Relatively' being the operative word. After Isabel Oakeshott was exposed as having kept secret vital information relating to horrid UKIPer Arron Banks and his (ahem, allegedly) nefarious links to the Kremlin she was invited onto the 'relatively balanced' Question Time so that she could continue peddling her right wing lies without even being challenged. And that is just one example among many. Despite the BBC regularly being branded leftist by right wing politicians, they regularly allow egregious nonsense from the governing elites to air - without challenge, and indeed often with active promotion.
posted by Myeral at 7:31 AM on June 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


But regardless, remember there are at least four types of distinct Trumpist to hate: wealthy white conservatives, poor white racists, libertarians, and young anti-establishment types. And if you want to be empirical about it, they should all be hated about equally.

We all know who is being spoken about here, but "young anti-establishment types" is a huge brush that can also include many Progressives, Populists, Green Party voters and Democratic Socialists. They're not conservatives, and unlikely to be Trump voters or people who would support his agenda. You're calling for the groups of people you named to "all be hated about equally." I would think it's probably a good idea to be as specific as possible.
posted by zarq at 7:35 AM on June 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


With three words, President Trump fortifies a flawed perception about NASA -- "We're reopening NASA," president says at a campaign rally. (Eric Berger for Ars Technica, June 21, 2018)
Fresh off an appearance at a National Space Council meeting Monday, space was evidently on his mind when President Trump spoke at a campaign rally in Duluth, Minn., on Wednesday night. "Our beautiful ancestors won two world wars, defeated fascism and communism, and put a man on the face of the Moon," he told his adulatory crowd. "And I think you saw the other day, we're reopening NASA. We're going to be going to space."
Oh fuck, he's full on White Pride at rallies, isn't he? Fuck.

Also, President Trump makes news at Space Council meeting by going off script -- "Stay apart. Stay apart. Don't get together. Stay apart." (Eric Berger for Ars Technica, June 18, 2018)
For its third meeting, the National Space Council chose the White House as its venue. This allowed President Trump to stop by the meeting to sign a policy document on space-traffic management and also share a few thoughts. This event was supposed to focus on the relatively sedate topic of space debris, but the freewheeling president had other ideas.

Among his remarks, Trump declared that he was pressing ahead with the creation of a Space Force to become the sixth branch of the US military. Additionally, he mused about the high cost of rockets built by Boeing and Lockheed Martin and suggested they should not work together "because the pricing only goes up."
...
"We are going to have the Air Force, and we are going to have the Space Force, separate but equal," Trump said. "It is going to be something. So important. General Dunford [Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff], if you would carry that assignment out, I would be very greatly honored, also. Where's General Dunford? General? Got it?"

Dunford replied, "We got it."

But while Dunford nodded his assent, both the Air Force and the Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, have signaled their disapproval for moving military spaceflight activities out of the Air Force and into a new branch of government. "I oppose the creation of a new military service and additional organizational layers at a time when we are focused on reducing overhead and integrating joint warfighting efforts," Mattis wrote (PDF) in October.
...
Trump also offered some thoughts on United Launch Alliance, the rocket company jointly owned by Boeing and Lockheed Martin. "I don't like when Boeing and Lockheed get together because the pricing only goes up," Trump said. It appeared to be something of a joke, but then he later added, "I don't know. I don't love that stuff. We're going to have to talk about that, your joining those two companies."

The chief executives of Lockheed Martin (Marillyn Hewson) and Boeing (Dennis Muilenburg) were in the audience. Referencing both of them (who sat side by side), Trump said, "Look at them; they're sitting together. Oh, it's no wonder we don't get the pricing we want. Huh? Stay apart. Stay apart. Don't get together. Stay apart."

The president appeared to be confused about United Launch Alliance, which was formed in 2005 and builds the Atlas and Delta rockets used for military and commercial launches. Of ULA, Trump said, "That's a combination of Boeing and Lockheed on the Space Launch System, SLS." However, ULA is distinct from Boeing's space division, which is building the Space Launch System rocket for NASA's human exploration program.

Trump is correct that the price of the SLS rocket only keeps going up—development costs are running more than $2 billion a year, and the first launch probably remains at least two years away. However, it is unfair to pin that on ULA, which is not involved in the NASA booster program and has faced pressure to make its rockets more competitive after SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket entered the market in 2010.
Space farce! Space farce!
posted by filthy light thief at 7:35 AM on June 21, 2018 [16 favorites]


Cable news reporting that 21 JAGs are being seconded to DoJ to run immigration “prosecutions.”

The talking heads are reading it as a manpower problem.

Bullshit. This is about having the lawyers running this coming from DoD and being under the direct chain of command.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:35 AM on June 21, 2018 [24 favorites]


Listening to radio news with my six-year-old daughter.
Her (adamantly): Nobody could be so evil as to take babies from their parents!
Me: The President is that evil, and so are many of the people who work for him or support him.
Her: Wow... What does he feed them?
Me: I guess the babies drink formula and the older children have regular food. But no-one’s really sure, because it’s all secret.
Her: Someone has to stop him.
Me: There are many, many people who are upset and angry about all this, and are trying to stop him, and I think some day we are going to do it.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:37 AM on June 21, 2018 [99 favorites]




I'm going to partly retract something I wrote earlier, joining with others who didn't see any complicity in charity/church organizations taking in some of the children. Sometimes "complicit", or worse, is the right word -- "Bethany Christian Services" in particular should rightly earn suspicion...

FelliniBlank : (I think they also do some of that anti-abortion "pregnancy support" and "adoption facilitation" stuff that strikes me as super-creepy, but whatever.)

The part of your mind setting off an alarm -- listen to it. A lot of Christian groups show zero interest in family reunification. At this stage of things, a big, big thing to worry about now is the number of Americans who view this as an opportunity to "benevolently" raise the kids in "better" circumstances than if they were with their parents. People are going to describe the stolen kids as "orphans" when they very much are not.

Adoption can absolutely be a wonderful thing. It's also been a major conduit of white supremacy. For an extreme example of the mindset I'm talking about, you may be familiar with the phrase "kill the Indian and save the man" -- that's part of the forced "Americanization" of Native youth, taking them to schools that indoctrinated them into Western culture, cutting their hair, etc.

Conservative Christian Americans fall on a spectrum in their racism, and while some are fully on board with the Trumpian Nazi view of all migrants as an "infestation", others follow the "it's cultural" racist path, the idea that kids need to be saved from their wayward ~illegal~ background. The "salvation" being cultural, religious, etc. That's why I'm slightly (just slightly) less concerned if the organization is Catholic rather than Protestant. (Also, this thread has discussed the fact that many of the kids are evangelical. I can imagine trouble for the ones whose white evangelical foster parents refuse to believe it.)

Note that a standard talking point has been "The parents did this -- the children are blameless but the parents took them on a dangerous journey knowing there would be consequences." Now ask yourself how many Christian organizations align with the Republican Party. In fact that would be my main proxy for whether an organization is trustworthy on this -- other than their (genuine) desire to do good for these kids, do they seem basically Trumpy? Do they even object to the zero tolerance policy that stole the kids in the first place?

The number one priority is getting those families back together. Kids should be in humane conditions until that happens. We should not fall for the rhetoric that seemingly-good conditions are enough -- it was bogus when it was used to defend the prisons and camps, and it's still bogus if the environment is non-governmental.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:45 AM on June 21, 2018 [50 favorites]


"We are going to have the Air Force, and we are going to have the Space Force, separate but equal,"

there's probably a reason that phrase rolls off his tongue so easily.
posted by martin q blank at 7:46 AM on June 21, 2018 [20 favorites]




White Deaths Exceed Births in a Majority of U.S. States

This will just feed into white supremacy because of the fear and dread of white minority status.
posted by jgirl at 7:51 AM on June 21, 2018 [8 favorites]


Why are they elite? I have a much better apartment than they do. I’m smarter than they are. I’m richer than they are. I became president and they didn’t.

Some day, when Donald's political power has been taken away, his apartment is a cell, and his riches have been liquidated, I am glad he will still be able to rely on his smarts. They can't take his smarts away from him.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:52 AM on June 21, 2018 [19 favorites]


'Relatively' being the operative word. After Isabel Oakeshott was exposed ... she was invited onto the 'relatively balanced' Question Time ... And that is just one example among many. Despite the BBC regularly being branded leftist by right wing politicians, they regularly allow egregious nonsense from the governing elites to air - without challenge, and indeed often with active promotion.

Sure, but again, I don't think being insufficiently challenging to a right-wing talking head on a shouty debate programme is as bad as the all-out extreme right propaganda blasted out at all hours by the likes of Fox and the Mail.

I'm not defending the BBC and the NYT particularly - there are huge problems with the way both work, and it's partly structural: the BBC habitually gives too much airtime to people like Farage because people like that make good telly when the expectation is that debate should be adversarial. And the NYT goes through insane contortions out of fear of being thought 'partisan'.

It's more that 'cancel your subscription' seems a weird place to put your anger. It's focusing on the way that stuff gets reported when what you're really angry about is the stuff being reported. And at least the NYT and BBC actually do some real reporting from time to time.
posted by Mocata at 7:52 AM on June 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


People need to learn Scott Lloyd's name and face and never let him have peace in public again for the rest of his life.

VICE: The Man Trump Put in Charge of Separated Children Has No Experience with Them

Lloyd has also written several articles arguing against abortion. He suggested that birth control leads to more abortions, that state lawmakers should mandate women must ask for (and receive) men’s permission before seeking abortions, and that women who rely on birth control provided through a government family-planning program be banned from receiving abortions.

Lloyd hasn’t spoken publicly since early April, according to a tally by the reproductive health group Equity Forward. That’s roughly when the Trump administration implemented its policy, which effectively splits up families. [...] A spokesperson for the Administration of Children and Families, which oversees the Office of Refugee Resettlement, declined to answer several emailed questions about Lloyd’s work experience.

In a Congressional hearing, Washington Democrat Rep. Pramila Jayapal asked Lloyd whether he believed a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion depended on her immigration status. After some back and forth, Lloyd replied, “Well, my answer is that any number of rights depend on where they stand in terms of our immigration system.”

“I do not understand that answer. Is that a yes or a no?” Jaypal shot back. “I’ll take that as a no. So do you believe that immigrants have constitutional rights?” “Once again, ma’am,” Lloyd said, “if somebody wants to come into the United States and enjoy full — ” “I’ll take that as a no,” Jayapal cut him off.

posted by Rust Moranis at 7:57 AM on June 21, 2018 [47 favorites]


It's really hard to discuss "Trump is Hitler" or "Trumpism is Naziism" with people who haven't actually read and studied Nazi propaganda writings and other media. Read speeches by Goebbels, Hitler and the writings of other Nazis and compare their work to the worst of the GOP. Nazi literature and propaganda included tracts and books with content like this: Ten Nazi anti-semitic arguments, The “Decent” Jew: A Letter to an Englishman, 1937, The Jews in World Politics and The Pestilential Miasma of the World. Prior to 1933, Goebbels' writings were extensive.

I normally don't link to anti-semitic tracts here, but a little knowledge can be valuable. It can also provide perspective.

Trump isn't Hitler. Trump is a short-sighted, wannabe racist dictator who creates scapegoats through lies to promote himself and his actions. Trump doesn't have a grand plan or plans to take over the world. He's incapable of the planning and forethought that would be required to create an actual Nazi machine. He's a selfish, self-involved idiot, most concerned about being "right", his image and legacy, not the "survival" of his race.

The comparisons are superficial at best. Trump is a bumbling idiot compared to Hitler. That's not to say he can't cause real damage or human suffering. He can. But it seems hyperbolic to talk about him being on the same level or a spiritual descendant of the worst person in modern human history.
posted by zarq at 7:58 AM on June 21, 2018 [17 favorites]


It's more that 'cancel your subscription' seems a weird place to put your anger. It's focusing on the way that stuff gets reported when what you're really angry about is the stuff being reported.
Nope. It's the way. It has been discussed here repeatedly. See: anonymous WH sources, trump whisperers, alt right culture pieces, forums for literally ranting fascists (Miller, Bannon, Gorka, etc).
posted by Harry Caul at 8:01 AM on June 21, 2018 [8 favorites]


Or help out Truthout, ProPublica, Democracy Now!, ThinkProgress, The Guardian, Pacific Standard, AlJazeera. Texas Tribune,, Daily Beast, MotherJones, Pew Research, JustSecurity, emptywheel, Der Spiegel

Of that list, Truthout, Democracy Now!, Think Progress, Just Security, and emptywheel are all sources for commentary which offer little or no original investigative reporting of their own. Not that there is anything wrong with commentary, but it is a heck of a lot cheaper than investigative reporting. What major stories of the Trump era have any of those outlets broken? The news you read on those sites is just them summarising revelations which came out of the investigative work done by journalists working for mainstream publications.

The Daily Beast, Mother Jones, and Buzzfeed (not on your list) are new media standouts who actually have been breaking some big stories, and I'm totally okay with people who would rather support them than WaPo or NYT. Same with Pro Publica, and Pew Research.

The others are foreign news outlets which are probably more like WaPo or NYT than you realize because they have the same business model... Except Al Jazeera which is supported bybthe Qatari government, I believe.
posted by OnceUponATime at 8:01 AM on June 21, 2018 [29 favorites]


Mod note: Folks, I'm gonna note at this point the "to cancel or not cancel (or exhort to cancel or not)" argument as something that is an understandable thing to have, but not a good one to have again and again within and across threads. Please add that to the pile of stuff to maybe just not dig in on the nth time it comes around.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:06 AM on June 21, 2018 [18 favorites]


The comparisons are superficial at best. Trump is a bumbling idiot compared to Hitler.

Hitler was also a malignant narcissist, also lazy, also a bumbling idiot (cite: much of Germany's male youth dying in Russia), and also got into power due to incredible coincidences and lucky circumstances. The fact that we're getting 1945 Neurodegenerative Hitler instead of relatively competent 1934 Hitler doesn't make the comparisons superficial.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:06 AM on June 21, 2018 [40 favorites]


Mod note: Double-header mod comment here but maybe let's likewise spend a little less time on "how good is this Hitler analogy" and more on tracking what is specifically happening right now and talking about what folks can do about it.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:21 AM on June 21, 2018 [52 favorites]


The Daily Beast, Mother Jones, and Buzzfeed (not on your list) are new media standouts who actually have been breaking some big stories, and I'm totally okay with people who would rather support them than WaPo or NYT. Same with Pro Publica, and Pew Research.

If you're looking for a site a bit off the beaten path that does some amazing investigative & analytical work for its size, take a look at Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo. It runs on a semi-open model with some of its better content & discussion available to subscribers to its service called Prime ($50/year).
posted by scalefree at 8:36 AM on June 21, 2018 [18 favorites]


okay I' ll stop arguing about subscriptions but real quick fact check on myself-- Mother Jones is a print magazine too and has been around for many years, also the Texas Tribune and Pacific Standard are not foreign publications
posted by OnceUponATime at 8:38 AM on June 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


Talking Points Memo also offers free Prime membership for students or people who can't afford it.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:42 AM on June 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


Media Matters for America: Sinclair “must-run” segment on family separation policy and child detention attacks the media

From the most recent “must-run” “Bottom Line With Boris”
BORIS EPSHTEYN: "Many members of the media and opponents of the president have seized on this issue to make it seem as if those who are tough on immigration are somehow monsters. Let’s be honest: While some of the concern is real, a lot of it is politically driven by the liberals in politics and the media."

Are there Sinclair stations near you? Use Media Matters’ interactive map at FindSinclair.com to learn more.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:49 AM on June 21, 2018 [20 favorites]


Not sure if I missed this being posted. If not, WaPo's Outlook/Perspective section:

A Texas public defender says he can’t get answers for the parents who have already lost their children.
posted by Emmy Rae at 9:06 AM on June 21, 2018 [13 favorites]


Let’s be honest: While some of the concern is real, a lot of it is politically driven by the liberals in politics and the media.

Which is a frank admission of how effectively Trump's policy makes him and the Republicans look terrible to anyone but his racist base.

Modern movement conservatism invested untold amounts of time, money, and effort in creating branding that downplayed its dependence on racism. Trump has undone all that work in a matter of barely a couple of years, to the point where the mainstream media can run articles declaring that Trump is banking on overt racism to forestall electoral disaster in November and no one is surprised.
posted by Gelatin at 9:13 AM on June 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


Y'all that Kennedy video that zeushumms linked to this morning is well worth a watch. Rhetoric is a drug, and non-diagetic music is manipulative, but it felt really good to watch that short speech.
posted by mabelstreet at 9:22 AM on June 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


via Political Wire: Republicans Don’t Have Votes for Immigration Bill
...the only question going into the big vote is how badly it fails.

[Requisite Hamilton audio clip]
posted by Gelatin at 9:24 AM on June 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


Rhetoric is a drug, and non-diagetic music is manipulative, but it felt really good to watch that short speech.

Way back many Scaramuccis ago, past and current Civil Rights Hero John Lewis made a speech on the House floor against the bill gutting the ACA. I hear him saying those words in my head almost every day: "Not today, not tomorrow, and never! Ever!"

Sometimes it keeps me going, sometimes it makes me cry.
posted by Emmy Rae at 9:26 AM on June 21, 2018 [16 favorites]


@NBC News: The First Lady is making the surprise visit to meet with migrant children and visit facilities at the US-Mexico border, her office says.

Damage control.

You know exactly what happened here: they realized they needed to send a "human" face out there, and it was down to either Ivanka or Melania. Ivanka probably couldn't be inconvenienced, and they probably figure Melania is a more "sympathetic" face because of that time she disappeared and people were worried about her welfare. I kid you not, I'm 100% sure they had that conversation, probably in far more crass terms than I'm using.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:26 AM on June 21, 2018 [43 favorites]


Secretary for Health and Human Services Alex Azar and Melania Trump are visiting a migrant child shelter in McAllen TX. The head of the shelter is explaining his philosophy of the five pillars of child life, none of which is "access to a parent".
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:28 AM on June 21, 2018 [10 favorites]


WaPo, Trump administration will stop prosecuting migrant parents who cross the border illegally with children, official says
Trump’s order said the government would maintain a “zero tolerance” policy toward those who break the law, but a senior U.S. official, when asked to explain how the federal government would change enforcement practices, told The Washington Post that Border Patrol agents have been instructed to stop sending parents with children to federal courthouses for prosecution.

“We’re suspending prosecutions of adults who are members of family units until ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) can accelerate resource capability to allow us to maintain custody,” the official said.
I was reading looking for the catch, and gosh, there it is right there. More jails to keep parents and children locked up together.
posted by zachlipton at 9:30 AM on June 21, 2018 [32 favorites]


Honestly, it shouldn't be impossible to track these children down, especially the ones who are at facilities of some kind. There's a coupla thousand of them... they can be photographed, the pictures can be categorized by gender and age, and shown to the parents. Most children will at the very least be able to say their own first names, so that further helps to make them recognisable.

Nowadays, those pictures don't even have to be printed. They can be shown on a website. It's easy and it's cheap.

The parents have tons of motivation to find their children, they'll definitely want to take the time to look through a couple of hundred pictures. I daresay that they will almost never mistake someone elses child for their own.

This is doable. It should be possible to reunite more than 70% of these children with their parents or other family members. If it doesn't happen, it's not because it's impossible... it's because no one in power cares enough to make it happen.
posted by Too-Ticky at 9:30 AM on June 21, 2018 [29 favorites]


The First Lady is making the surprise visit to meet with migrant children and visit facilities at the US-Mexico border, her office says.

Why is the non-elected first lady allowed visitation of these facilities without giving two weeks notice, while members of the US Congress are being denied this access?
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:31 AM on June 21, 2018 [155 favorites]


“We’re suspending prosecutions of adults who are members of family units until ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) can accelerate resource capability to allow us to maintain custody,” the official said.

If this is true, if the administration plans to detain families indefinitely when they have the resources available to do so, then they will be knowingly violating the Flores settlement. They will either be risking contempt of court, or, more likely, they will start separating families again after 20 days of detention. This problem is not resolved.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:35 AM on June 21, 2018 [22 favorites]


Why is the non-elected first lady allowed visitation of these facilities without giving two weeks notice, while members of the US Congress are being denied this access?

Well, since Trump can obviously give the order to let her in, Congress should demand he give the same order to let in any other congressperson who presents him- or herself with valid credentials. If he has nothing to hide, he should do it. If he doesn't do it, he admits he has something to hide.
posted by Gelatin at 9:38 AM on June 21, 2018 [21 favorites]


Counterpoint: @tparti: I'm asking WH officials about WaPo story saying Trump admin stopping zero tolerance policy. They don't know anything about it and were not aware of breaking story.
@ZoeTillman: DOJ spox response to when asked about the WaPo story that the administration is suspending prosecutions of migrant parents: "Not accurate"

This is probably a good example of why major changes in policy should come with people's names attached, or at the very least an indication of which agency people work for, because "a senior U.S. official" is entirely too vague for this stuff. Also, it's not like they can't or won't just turn around and prosecute the parents later.

Artists from Indecline painted a "we make kids disappear -ICE" billboard in Emeryville, CA (it was formerly a "we make junk disappear" billboard for a hauling company).
posted by zachlipton at 9:40 AM on June 21, 2018 [41 favorites]


The biggest thing in the legal world today: SCOTUS ruled that SEC Administrative Law Judges are unconstitutionally appointed. This is a seismic ruling that could require thousands of administrative cases across the federal government to be readjudicated, under officers appointed by Trump.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:43 AM on June 21, 2018 [41 favorites]


My friend and her children are in the Russell Building right now doing a lie in with with their local UU group. This should be happening in all of the capitol buildings as much as possible.
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 9:46 AM on June 21, 2018 [29 favorites]


This problem is not resolved.

I doubt there's a simple enough way to explain this subject that'll allow the general public to understand it easily, and Trump's people aren't interested in the facts, but it's probably worth noting that this problem is that we don't have the resources to detain every immigrant, nor to adjudicate every immigration case. Trump's actions, from slapdash concentration camps to press-ganging JAG lawyers, are a frank admission. (And I'll say again that it's unlikely Congress has appropriated funding for his actions, so it's likely other funds were misappropriated.)

All of that means that the Executive Branch heretofore had to prioritize which immigrants it would detain, adjudicate, and deport, and that Congress' failure to appropriate sufficient resources for any other course of action is tacit approval of whatever prioritization had to take place.

Which means DACA was legal, and Trump's actions help prove it.
posted by Gelatin at 9:46 AM on June 21, 2018 [18 favorites]


This is a seismic ruling that could require thousands of administrative cases across the federal government to be readjudicated, under officers appointed by Trump.

Would they have to be confirmed by the Senate?
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:48 AM on June 21, 2018


The First Lady is making the surprise visit to meet with migrant children and visit facilities at the US-Mexico border, her office says.

Translation: The First Lady is visiting a concentration camp for children for a fucking photo op.
posted by zarq at 9:49 AM on June 21, 2018 [87 favorites]


Would they have to be confirmed by the Senate?

No, they would be appointed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (i.e. the 5 Commissioners). The Commission is currently made up of 3 Trump appointees and 2 Obama appointees. There are 2 Republicans, 2 nominal independents, and 1 Democrat (the law prevents any party from outnumbering the other(s) by more than one). I don't know which way the nominal independents lean, but since both of them were appointed by Trump, I'm guessing they aren't liberal.

The best/simplest outcome is that all five SEC ALJs are formally appointed by the Commission and then they play musical chairs to readjudicate each other's prior cases, since the Court held that re-appointed ALJs can't rehear their own prior cases.
posted by jedicus at 9:59 AM on June 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


Reading the Lucia v Securities and Exchange Commission opinion, it seems the administrative law judges in this case could be appointed by the SEC, not all of whose members are Trump appointees. But perhaps in other departments it would be the President or the Trump-appointed Department Head appointing the judges. Being "inferior officers of the United States", none of the judges would require Senate confirmation.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:59 AM on June 21, 2018 [2 favorites]




Would they have to be confirmed by the Senate?

Very unclear, there may be a technical fix just by altering the way some positions are hired. However there will be an explosion of new litigation as lawyers challenge the appointments of ALJs at every federal agency, including Social Security which uses some 1800 ALJs to decide disability cases. Basically this throws every adminstriave law case into total uncertainty, and since a stated goal of the Trump administration is to destroy the administrative state, it’s hard to imagine they’re going to want to try easy fixes when maximum chaos is easily within reach.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:01 AM on June 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


There are 2 Republicans, 2 nominal independents, and 1 Democrat

Weirdly I think the "I" next to "Robert J. Jackson Jr" is a typo. Everyone else seems to think he was appointed as a Democrat, despite being technically nominated by Trump.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:03 AM on June 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


Julia Ioffe descends into Trumpland for her implicitly authorized profile of Don Jr. for GQ: The Real Story of Donald Trump Jr. "All he ever wanted was to make his dad proud, but things have never turned out quite right for Donald Trump Jr. Even now, despite finding his purpose as a bombastic star of the far right, Junior’s personal life is in shambles and the specter of Robert Mueller looms large."

Despite a lot of "poor little rich boy" color reporting—and underreporting his role in the suspicious business practices of the Trump Org—the article provides a cautionary portrait of Don Jr.'s adoption by the likes of Breitbart and Mike Cernovich as Trump's alt-right heir. Its anonymously sourced insider account of the fateful Trump Tower meeting, however, reads like another modified limited hang out, but it's instructive to see how Trump allies continue to pitch it as a nothingburger. "'I think he regrets taking the meeting,' a source close to Don told me. 'Does he regret it because he thinks he did something wrong? No. He regrets it because it ended up causing a situation that wasted a lot of time and money.'" and "He wasn't embarrassed to be revealing that he had exchanged DMs with WikiLeaks,' says the source, even though it was by this point abundantly clear to the American officials that WikiLeaks had links to Russian intelligence. 'He's too stupid to be malicious.'"

The GQ piece concludes: "There's little doubt that as a political creature, Don has grown more sure-footed [really? by whom?—ed.]. Once reportedly derided by Trump campaign staffers as 'Fredo,' the Corleone child who can't seem to do anything right except endanger his family legacy, Don has now become one of Trump's most useful spokesmen. [...] And in the coming months, he'll be making a big push to campaign for Republicans ahead of this year's midterms—firing up his father's base." So watch out.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:03 AM on June 21, 2018 [3 favorites]




@Texas Tribune:
We polled Texans and we asked them: Do you support separating children and parents who are apprehended while trying to enter the U.S. illegally? We found that most Texas voters oppose family separation at the border.


Overall: 28% support, 57% oppose
Democrats: 11% support, 83% oppose
Republicans: 46% support, 35% oppose
Independents: 28% support, 46% opposed

(18% of Republicans answered No Opinion, which I think we can infer means they support it, but are too ashamed to say it out loud.)
posted by Atom Eyes at 10:07 AM on June 21, 2018 [27 favorites]


@nbeaudrot: It seems likely that increased coverage of immigration/asylum/refugees will lead the public to MASSIVELY overestimate the scale of money/people involved, as with welfare in the 1980s/90s

Beyond the broken families and scarred children, this will be the lasting legacy of all this. People will come away with the idea that there's a massive problem requiring drastic measures, when there simply isn't one.
posted by zachlipton at 10:09 AM on June 21, 2018 [26 favorites]


> We polled Texans and we asked them: Do you support separating children and parents who are apprehended while trying to enter the U.S. illegally? We found that most Texas voters oppose family separation at the border. [...]
Democrats: 11% support, 83% oppose


And who exactly are the 11% of Democrats who support separating children from their asylum-seeking parents?
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:11 AM on June 21, 2018 [17 favorites]


From the deposition of one of the children who was put on medication without a parent's consent at Shiloh RTC:
During his time at Shiloh RTC, [redacted] was placed on numerous psychotropic medications including Duloxetrine, Clonazepam, Olanzapine, Geodon, Latuda, Divalproex and Haloperidol. Attachment 9. This combination of drugs includes four different classes of medication, the majority of which, four of the six, are antipsychotics with very limited FDA-approved uses in children and adolescents. The use of multiple antipsychotic medications at the same time is inconsistent with medical guidelines. Moreover, the use of Clonezepam (trade name Klonopin) indicates that the other drug combination may have caused significant adverse effects - such as akathisia, a severe movement disorder.

ORR Records indicate that at times [redacted] was simultaneously placed on six psychotropic drugs, plus two additional drugs "as needed." Attachment 9. In addition to the regular psychotropic medications he was placed on, [redacted] was forcibly medicated on several occasions at Shiloh RTC, as well. Plaintiffs' review of [redacted] file revealed nothing to indicate that either [redacted] or any family members provided consent for any of these medications.
posted by Sophie1 at 10:13 AM on June 21, 2018 [52 favorites]


You know the term Dixiecrat? Well, they're not all dead.
posted by Atom Eyes at 10:14 AM on June 21, 2018 [17 favorites]


Philly: Moveon sponsored FamiliesTogether protest 6/30, 11 am, City Hall North Plaza.
posted by angrycat at 10:19 AM on June 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


Trump is a bumbling idiot compared to Hitler. That's not to say he can't cause real damage or human suffering. He can. But it seems hyperbolic to talk about him being on the same level or a spiritual descendant of the worst person in modern human history.

Remember, most of the damage was done by the people "Working Towards The Fuhrer"

The Republican Party is just using Trump to further their inhuman agenda, he's not their leader.
posted by mikelieman at 10:19 AM on June 21, 2018 [21 favorites]


@nbeaudrot: It seems likely that increased coverage of immigration/asylum/refugees will lead the public to MASSIVELY overestimate the scale of money/people involved, as with welfare in the 1980s/90s

And this is absolutely going to be the Trumpist mid-term strategy, because they have nothing else.

Nick Beaudrot follows up: "This is why 'Trump is prosecuting children instead of dangerous criminals' is probably better framing. You cannot 'actually, this is a small problem' your way out of it, even if it's true."

Hopefully Dems will use that framing to counter-act, but it's going to get ugly, especially if Trump's latest #MAGA rally is an indication ("We have liberated towns. Liberated. Like it was captured by a foreign country...liberated towns out in Long Island. MS-13. Gangs." and "We will have the greatest borders. The greatest walls.").
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:21 AM on June 21, 2018 [12 favorites]


@nbeaudrot: It seems likely that increased coverage of immigration/asylum/refugees will lead the public to MASSIVELY overestimate the scale of money/people involved, as with welfare in the 1980s/90s

And this is absolutely going to be the Trumpist mid-term strategy, because they have nothing else.

Nick Beaudrot follows up: "This is why 'Trump is prosecuting children instead of dangerous criminals' is probably better framing. You cannot 'actually, this is a small problem' your way out of it, even if it's true."


You can absolutely tell this from their own rhetoric. LAT: On child separations, Trump administration shows how to lie with numbers


Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen cited a horrifying statistic to justify the Trump administration’s policy of ripping children away from adults at border crossings.

“In the last five months, we have a 314% increase in adults and children arriving at the border, fraudulently claiming to be a family unit,” Nielsen told reporters. She repeated the figure a few minutes later:

“The kids are being used by pawns by the smugglers and the traffickers,” she said. “Again, let’s just pause to think about this statistic: 314% increase in adults showing up with kids that are not a family unit. Those are traffickers, those are smugglers. That is MS-13. Those are criminals and those are abusers.”

In fiscal 2017, which spanned October 2016 through Sept, 30, DHS recorded 46 cases of “individuals using minors to pose as fake family units.” In the first five months of the 2018 fiscal year (October through February), there were 191 cases. That’s an increase of 315.2%, to be precise.[bolded emphasis mine]
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 10:27 AM on June 21, 2018 [21 favorites]


Another SCOTUS decision today clears the way for states to start collecting sales tax on online purchases even if the seller has no physical presence in the state where the purchaser is in. That's going to be a real mess for a lot of small businesses. The South Dakota law that the court upheld has some qualifiers, such as 200 transactions or $100,000 in sales in the state, but that's still going to hit a lot of smaller sellers. Even with software able to handle a lot of the work for who owes what to which jurisdiction, this is going to create a lot of headaches. I know a person who built up a web store from scratch, and he was absolutely dreading the idea of this coming to pass. He sells prints and has a ton of tax paperwork to fill out already even though he doesn't make a ton of money at all.
posted by azpenguin at 10:29 AM on June 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


In abusive relationships, abusers know how grateful people feel when the suffering they’ve inflicted stops. This is a dynamic worth resisting, so here is where the words you choose matter: If you describe the moment when an abusive person stops as relenting or relieving or any variant that invokes mercy, you’re flattering the abuser, painting him as not just powerful but benevolent. Crediting him with defusing a situation he created positions him (as Brian Phillips points out) as the hero deactivating the bomb rather than the person who lit the fuse. If the point is to inform, then, this language fails to do so. Instead, try to use language that communicates exactly what happened. In this case, Trump tried out a policy that punished small children to gain political leverage, lied that it was not his, lied that he could not undo it himself, and then—facing worldwide condemnation—undid it.

The challenge here is that while Trump’s retraction is a concession to public outrage, it’s a superficial one. The facts: Rather than simply ceasing his own policy, he’s issued an order intended to undo federal protections that limit a child’s detention to 20 days—which is no sure thing. His order has made the situation more legally complicated, not less

posted by growabrain at 10:30 AM on June 21, 2018 [52 favorites]


I'm going to partly retract something I wrote earlier, joining with others who didn't see any complicity in charity/church organizations taking in some of the children. Sometimes "complicit", or worse, is the right word -- "Bethany Christian Services" in particular should rightly earn suspicion...

They should also earn suspicion because they are connected to the DeVos family, including Brian DeVos, who is (or was) Senior Vice President for Child and Family Services.
posted by FelliniBlank at 10:30 AM on June 21, 2018 [8 favorites]


Paul Krugman, NYT: The Devil and Tom Donohue
News item #1: The Trump administration is taking thousands of children away from their parents, and putting them in cages.

News item #2: House Republicans have released a budget plan that would follow up last year’s big tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy with huge funding cuts for Medicare and Medicaid.

If you think these items are unrelated, you’ve missed the whole story of modern American politics. Conservatism – the actually existing conservative movement, as opposed to the philosophical stance whose constituency is maybe five pundits on major op-ed pages — is all about a coalition between racists and plutocrats. It’s about people who want to do (2) empowering people who want to do (1), and vice versa. [...]

So pardon me for being cynical when I see Tom Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – a man who turned the chamber into a relentlessly political organization, throwing all its weight behind the GOP – declaring that the child separation policy is terrible. “This is not who we are,” he says. Sorry, Mr. Donohue, but it is who you are: you made a deal with the devil, empowering racism and cruelty so you could get deregulation and tax cuts. Now the devil is having his due, and you must share the blame.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:32 AM on June 21, 2018 [72 favorites]


Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica: Twitter punishes users for doxing White House advisor Stephen Miller
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:33 AM on June 21, 2018 [9 favorites]


Corey Lewandowski dropped by speakers bureau

Leading Authorities, Inc., one of Washington DC's top speakers bureaus, severed ties with Lewandowski on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter said. His name no longer appears on the bureau's website.


May this be the first of an unending parade of womp womps.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:36 AM on June 21, 2018 [73 favorites]


@bradheath: This morning, DOJ asked a court to drop criminal immigration charges against 17 adults who had been traveling with their children, the chief federal public defender in south Texas says.

So despite the insistence of DOJ's spokeswoman, something seems to have changed today, at least on a small scale for a limited time. Anyway this is what they've been saying was entirely impossible because we have to enforce the law and therefore prosecutorial discretion can't exist, and now it seems to be happening.

Nick Beaudrot follows up: "This is why 'Trump is prosecuting children instead of dangerous criminals' is probably better framing.

Absolutely. They've accepted that there are limited resources. When Trump eliminated the Obama-era enforcement priorities (which, yes, were also bad and often not applied and many of us said so at the time), he made it government policy to spend time fighting to deport law-abiding parents who have been here for decades rather than people with extensive criminal histories. The problem is that this is a comparatively nuanced argument that requires slightly more words than our present national discourse of "immigrants. bad. MS-13. rapists." so getting people to listen is a challenge.
posted by zachlipton at 10:38 AM on June 21, 2018 [9 favorites]


People like Tom Donohue want all of the advantages and benefits from a system that privileges them, but they don't want to be made to feel bad or even uncomfortable about any suffering the policies they support cause others. They don't care about the suffering, they just want to avoid feeling guilty about it, which is why so many racists seem to think the worst racism of all is calling racists out for their racism.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:38 AM on June 21, 2018 [50 favorites]


Leading Authorities, Inc., one of Washington DC's top speakers bureaus, severed ties with Lewandowski on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter said. His name no longer appears on the bureau's website.

Look, you can work for a guy that mocks people with disabilities, you can assault reporters*, and you can sexually assault singers*. But mocking people with disabilities yourself? Now that's where we draw the line!

* As long as they're women, of course. #wompWomp
posted by kirkaracha at 10:43 AM on June 21, 2018 [12 favorites]


Curtis Millsap was live.

Inspired by Deuteronomy 26 and a sense of humanity.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:46 AM on June 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


I love the shade Krugman throws, subtly, at David Brooks: Conservatism – the actually existing conservative movement, as opposed to the philosophical stance whose constituency is maybe five pundits on major op-ed pages — is all about a coalition between racists and plutocrats.

Krugman chafes under the NYT's rules that prevent him from addressing Brooks' pervasive intellectual dishonesty, so it's good to see him finding the occasional workaround.
posted by Gelatin at 10:49 AM on June 21, 2018 [57 favorites]


(And because it may be of interest to people in the thread, the latest issue of Red Letter has How To Get More Involved In Your DSA Chapter - or another way, cooking food and doing spreadsheets are just as needed as bodies in the street)
posted by The Whelk at 10:49 AM on June 21, 2018 [19 favorites]




Now that Trump & co. are on the run politically, Democratic congressional candidates, reporters and anyone else who might be able to get a Republican candidate on the record needs to ask them publicly and record their answers:

- Do you oppose Trump's policy of separating children from their families at the border?

Many candidates have already answered this the wrong way, before Trump reversed himself, and that video needs to be collected and turned into ads. Save it for October and hammer the fuckers with it.
posted by msalt at 11:04 AM on June 21, 2018 [13 favorites]


The politico article is is terrifying for this reason:

ORR has already begun the process of conducting the necessary checks to fulfill its statutory mandate to assure itself that Plaintiff...is capable of providing for the child's physical and mental well-being," the government lawyers said. "ORR expects to be able to release [the boy] to Plaintiffs' custody, once those checks can be completed."


They are taking kids away and searching for justification to not give them back with no evidence of abuse, neglect, exploitation etc.
posted by AlexiaSky at 11:08 AM on June 21, 2018 [19 favorites]


@MichaelAvenatti
We are now representing whistleblowers within ICE, outside contractors, etc. They have reached out to us to provide us with info as to what is really going on. We are going to blow this wide open and take the info to the American people so they can decide what happens next.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:12 AM on June 21, 2018 [60 favorites]


Inspired by Deuteronomy 26 and a sense of humanity.

Evangelicals don't give a shit about the Old Testament.
posted by rhizome at 11:15 AM on June 21, 2018


Re: Michael Avenatti

I keep seeing "is he just doing this for notoriety?" and similar, which

a) if he does good stuff, who cares and
b) what the fuck do people think Donald Trump's 2016 campaign was about

I people knew my name, you're goddamn right I'd use it to do good in the world!
posted by Emmy Rae at 11:17 AM on June 21, 2018 [74 favorites]


FelliniBlank: [Bethany Christian Services] should also earn suspicion because they are connected to the DeVos family, including Brian DeVos, who is (or was) Senior Vice President for Child and Family Services.

And something else I've just learned, but it's hard to get a good source on (Twitter link). After the Haitian earthquake, they fast-tracked lots of kids into adoptions -- like I said, treating them as orphans when they were not.

The organization has an office not far from where I live. I'm trying to decide whether there's anything I could say to them that would help the situation. Like asking if they can commit to reunification, to get that message moving from the ground up. Probably wouldn't help.

A local reporter in Michigan has asked that question and gotten an affirmative answer. I still don't trust it, especially since the spokespeople talk like the possibility is sort of out of their hands rather than something they can actively fight for.

AlexiaSky: They are taking kids away and searching for justification to not give them back with no evidence of abuse, neglect, exploitation etc.

Of course, there's plenty of evidence of abuse now, in the kids' new circumstances. But I legitimately anticipate an assertions that the parents were neglectful because they weren't giving their children the "necessary" multiple psychotropic medications now being administered by camp guards.

Rust Moranis: @MichaelAvenatti: We are going to blow this wide open and take the info to the American people so they can decide what happens next.

This makes me cringe mildly, but selling it like that can be necessary. Get Americans to feel like they're in on a juicy secret. It works for "qanon", and it can also work for the truth.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:19 AM on June 21, 2018 [9 favorites]


In confirmation that satire is truly dead, the First Lady flew to a child detention center in Texas wearing a jacket emblazoned with "I REALLY DON'T CARE, DO U?"
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:20 AM on June 21, 2018 [107 favorites]


Wow, this is so good...

America is a Nation of Immigrant Panics
by Chris Ladd
Immigrants bring change, and the direction of that change is beyond our control. Our distant grandfolk resemble those children in cages far more than they resemble us. Deep down most of us deny that reality and work hard to suppress it.
...
Down through history, the worst consequences of mass immigration have risen from the neurotic panics they inspire among established residents.
...
Evidence tells us that new immigrants are essential to our economic vibrancy. Immigrants make our nation wealthier, more powerful, more inventive, and generally more successful. They are less likely to commit crimes or live off the social safety net , and twice as likely to launch new businesses than previously settled residents. Between the proven benefits of immigration and our own immigrant heritage, you might expect we’d learn to welcome the next boatful of teeming masses. You’d be wrong.

This is the unspoken American Dream, embraced by centuries of immigrants to this country: If I work hard and experience success, one day my grandchildren can blindly persecute people just like me. Key to this American Dream is the central challenge of so-called “assimilation” – becoming white people.
...
The first skill of “assimilation” is learning to place yourself on the white side of this life and death divide, which is more difficult than it sounds. “Whiteness” and “blackness” in our manner of usage, are mysterious, elusive concepts to most new arrivals.
...
Despite TV news reports to the contrary, the world’s supply of teeming masses is thinning while competition for immigration grows stiffer.
...
To appreciate what this new global competition means for us, let’s imagine for a moment that as a nation, it’s time to pick team members. You have a choice between some supremely comfortable current American, their skin soft and pale, bathed in the electric glow of Fox News. They have a college education, a job in their grandfather’s company, three cars and a 3500 square foot home.

Or you could choose a Honduran laborer, who left their tiny cement-block apartment when the gangs promised to murder them, and the police refused to protect them. They scooped up their family and their meagre savings, setting out toward the unknown El Norte. They stand before you speaking only Spanish, uneducated, burned by the sun, character forged by hardship, determined, penniless and hopeful.

Who will do more to build this country? Who will work harder, whine less, take more chances, seize more opportunities? You know the answer, and so does that Fox News viewer. That’s what perhaps scares them most about those brown faces on TV.
posted by OnceUponATime at 11:26 AM on June 21, 2018 [89 favorites]


Evangelicals don't give a shit about the Old Testament.

Well except for the parts they can interpret to be about hating gays, they like those. And the smiting.
posted by emjaybee at 11:27 AM on June 21, 2018 [16 favorites]


In confirmation that satire is truly dead, the First Lady flew to a child detention center in Texas wearing a jacket emblazoned with "I REALLY DON'T CARE, DO U?"

I've said this before, but it bears repeating: Melania is part of the Trump Administration's relentless trolling. Pix here and here to spare clicking through to the article by the Daily Mail (they're not going to let go of their lawsuit settlement with her, are they?).
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:29 AM on June 21, 2018 [22 favorites]


Never forget that Melania Trump helped fuel the racist Birther conspiracy. Her hands are not clean. She’s complicit.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 11:30 AM on June 21, 2018 [42 favorites]


White evangelicals use the bible as cover for white supremacy and cudgel for fascism.
posted by chris24 at 11:31 AM on June 21, 2018 [10 favorites]


In confirmation that satire is truly dead, the First Lady flew to a child detention center in Texas wearing a jacket emblazoned with "I REALLY DON'T CARE, DO U?"

I'm just going to sit here for a minute and imagine the Rs reaction if Michelle Obama had worn that jacket out to get ice-cream, never mind to visit children her husband had put in cages.

Go on, give it a try.
posted by lydhre at 11:31 AM on June 21, 2018 [118 favorites]


Also worth sharing by the same author as that piece on immigrant panics I just excerpted above(Chris Ladd) The Last Jim Crow Generation: "Across roughly half of America, voters born in 1946 would have been adults before they ever saw a black person eat in a restaurant dining room, stay in their hotel, or enter a restroom with them. In the South, these voters spent all of their formative years drinking from the whites’ only fountain."
posted by OnceUponATime at 11:31 AM on June 21, 2018 [20 favorites]




In confirmation that satire is truly dead, the First Lady flew to a child detention center in Texas wearing a jacket emblazoned with "I REALLY DON'T CARE, DO U?"

Let's be clear: that would already be tacky AF at brunch with moneyed friends in the upper reaches of Madison Avenue. Here it's...like, what comes after monstrous? "Atrocious"? "Abhorrent"? The English language is actually failing me.
posted by adamgreenfield at 11:34 AM on June 21, 2018 [36 favorites]


Just to be clear, the Melania jacket report is [real]. It's not a hyperbolic sentiment about her dressing super casually for the visit, her jacket literally had those words written in giant white letters on the back.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:34 AM on June 21, 2018 [85 favorites]


I keep seeing "is he just doing this for notoriety?" and similar, which
a) if he does good stuff, who cares


I am not going to tear him down and I do wish him well in his mission, but I think it is actually important to know what motivates people who seek the spotlight because:

a. if it's money, they can be bought
and
b. if it's fame, then they will bend easily with the changing winds of public opinion

(How many outspoken conservative trump-bashers during the campaign have since had a "conversion on the road to Damascus" moment and how many of them were spurred to do so because they could sense their own individual voices starting to fade out among the growing chorus of anti-trump critics?)
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:35 AM on June 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


Here it's...like, what comes after monstrous? "Atrocious"? "Abhorrent"? The English language is actually failing me.

I believe you're looking for deplorable.
posted by Sophie1 at 11:37 AM on June 21, 2018 [59 favorites]


"Republican."
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:39 AM on June 21, 2018 [23 favorites]


I used to feel bad for the fate of the Princesse de Lamballe.
posted by winna at 11:41 AM on June 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


The finger-wagging op-eds about how the liberals are being too mean to Melania are going to be lit.
posted by zombieflanders at 11:46 AM on June 21, 2018 [32 favorites]




If Bannon were still in the White House, he’d be taking credit for the jacket as Advanced Trolling. As it is, I just think her people fucked this up. No excuses, though.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 11:51 AM on June 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


The jacket: WHAT. THE. FUCK??!
posted by yoga at 11:52 AM on June 21, 2018 [11 favorites]


NEW: @FLOTUS spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham when asked what message the first lady's jacket intends to send: "It's a jacket. There was no hidden message. After today's important visit to Texas, I hope this isn't what the media is going to choose to focus on."

That's really too bad because I hope the media is going to choose to focus on this: the First Lady is either an asshole or stupid, but probably a stupid asshole.
posted by lydhre at 11:52 AM on June 21, 2018 [52 favorites]


Why do we live in this inane cartoon
posted by The Whelk at 11:52 AM on June 21, 2018 [80 favorites]


I have absolutely no idea what sort of bizarre message/cry for help/galaxy brain trolling that jacket is supposed to convey, but there's no fucking way that's unintentional
posted by prize bull octorok at 11:53 AM on June 21, 2018 [41 favorites]


There was no hidden message.

I mean she's right, the message is not hidden.
posted by PenDevil at 11:53 AM on June 21, 2018 [105 favorites]


@cricketcrocker:
So I never thought I'd be logging back into a social media platform

to write a thread best named summarized as

"Against Empathy".

But here we are.

posted by Artw at 11:54 AM on June 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


Do we have many / any other examples of Melania wearing clothing with words on it since she became First Lady? Because I'm pretty sure this isn't something she does very often - certainly not often enough that one can pretend she or her stylist considered it just another clothing item.
posted by Mchelly at 11:54 AM on June 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


From the international creeping Fascism department: Grauniad -- Matteo Salvini threatens to remove Gomorrah author's police protection:
Matteo Salvini, Italy’s far-right interior minister, has threatened to remove the police protection of one of the country’s most famous writers, Roberto Saviano, who has been under threat from organised crime since his breakthrough success about the mafia, Gomorrah, was published in 2006.

Saviano is one of Salvini’s toughest critics and is a constant fixture on Italian media. He is one of hundreds of journalists and writers who are under constant guard in Italy, because of current or previous threats to their safety by the mafia.

Speaking in an interview on Rai Tre on Thursday morning, Salvini suggested it was time to review spending on Saviano’s police escort as part of an evaluation of how “Italians spend their money”. He pointed to the fact that Saviano spends time abroad, and that the seriousness of the threat against him had to be considered.

“Roberto Saviano is the last of my problems. I’ll send him a kiss if he is watching now. He is a person who provokes so much tenderness and affection, but it is right to evaluate how Italians spend their money,” Salvini said.

Earlier this week Saviano wrote a piece for the Guardian in which he said Italy’s war on migrants had made him fear for the future of his country...
I hope we can get ahead of this before it's too late.
posted by notyou at 11:55 AM on June 21, 2018 [10 favorites]


I think that this is Melania's "Let them eat cake" moment. Like, JFCWTF?
posted by skye.dancer at 11:55 AM on June 21, 2018 [17 favorites]


Do we have many / any other examples of Melania wearing clothing with words on it since she became First Lady? Because I'm pretty sure this isn't something she does very often - certainly not often enough that one can pretend she or her stylist considered it just another clothing item.

Doesn't she, like, have staff members that pay attention to these things?
posted by Melismata at 11:57 AM on June 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


I assume the First Lady wore the jacket to signify her being tired of receiving criticism, and to convey the message that she doesn't care about said criticism. It's all about her. I don't think she would be consciously trying to undermine her program to portray herself as a champion for mistreated children everywhere.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:58 AM on June 21, 2018 [9 favorites]


I have absolutely no idea what sort of bizarre message/cry for help/galaxy brain trolling that jacket is supposed to convey, but there's no fucking way that's unintentional

I can see it serving four purposes:
1. distraction
2. troll the libs
3. dog whistle to the base
4. allow them to play the victim card when called on it by the media
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:58 AM on June 21, 2018 [24 favorites]


TBH it’s consistent with her whole Hot Topic goth aesthetic she goes for when decorating.
posted by Artw at 11:59 AM on June 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


Yeah you don't wear a jacket with ginormous letters on the back without thinking what they say.
posted by ian1977 at 12:00 PM on June 21, 2018 [9 favorites]


@katierogers
“Good luck,” the First Lady told detained a group of detained children as she left a shelter in Texas, per pool.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:06 PM on June 21, 2018 [18 favorites]


Has anybody confirmed the jacket via a source other than the Daily Fail? It might not be Melania that's trolling.
posted by flabdablet at 12:07 PM on June 21, 2018


Has anybody confirmed the jacket via a source other than the Daily Fail? It might not be Melania that's trolling.

If it were fake her spokeswoman would have denied she wore the jacket rather than claiming it was NBD.
posted by lydhre at 12:09 PM on June 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


I honestly can't think of any context in which the First Lady could wear that message so visibly on clothing and have it be acceptable. First Ladies, traditionally, champion causes, apathy seems to be antithetical to even the most laconic FL.
posted by OHenryPacey at 12:09 PM on June 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


AP has pictures from a different angle that don't show the lettering dead on, but what you can see matches up with the Daily Mail photo and the catalog image of that jacket.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 12:10 PM on June 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


NY Post, Variety(?!) and various on-line fashion magazines like Marie-Claire (!?!?) are backing up the Mail's report.
posted by Quindar Beep at 12:10 PM on June 21, 2018


Mod note: Folks, the jacket thing is ಠ_ಠ as all hell but there's also probably not a whole lot more to say about it that we haven't covered.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:14 PM on June 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


Just one fabulous Twitter response by former Rep. John Dingell, before we let this go:

Boy did I pick an awkward day to wear my jacket with “Be Best” scribbled on the back.
posted by monopas at 12:21 PM on June 21, 2018 [81 favorites]


GOP Delays Vote On Foundering Immigration Bill As Right-Wing Version Fails - By Cameron Joseph and Alice Ollstein for Talking Points Memo.
House Republican leaders decided to delay a vote on their immigration bill in the face of near-certain defeat, kicking the can down the road one more day as the chamber failed to pass a more conservative alternative to the bill Thursday afternoon.

The conservative bill, authored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), mustered just 193 votes. All Democrats and dozens of Republicans rejected it because of its onerous limits on allowing undocumented immigrants brought here as children to stay in the country.

The other, slightly less conservative version appears destined to a similar fate, with dozens of hardline conservatives and a handful of GOP moderates saying they’ll vote against the bill, thus promising its failure. But House GOP leaders moved to forestall that result, scuttling a planned Thursday afternoon vote as they cast about for another path forward.
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:23 PM on June 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


Interesting meta thing about the jacket. Cortex is right. We should let it go. Not much else to say, and the thread suffers under the best of points.

But would they let it go?

One of the things that keeps us constantly trying to make up ground is that they throw nonsense at us, outrage over perceived slights, that we trip over ourselves to clarify. They make us treat them like equals, and then they treat us as lesser-thans.

This is a situation where they know they fucked up and at best they couldn't even be polite, possibly even actively hostile, depending on how charitable we want to imagine them. And I want this thread to live on as long as it can, so we shouldn't keep having this discussion about the jacket here.

But we have an inch, and they need to know it.
posted by Brainy at 12:32 PM on June 21, 2018 [24 favorites]


But would they let it go?


As much as I long to go low sometimes, we probably don't want forums that resemble theirs. Plus, they would be going out of their own forums and throwing it in the face of other demographics on Twitter and the like.
posted by bootlegpop at 12:42 PM on June 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


Also, fashion history wise, Zara has a history of making “oh what a fluke!” objects like ...handbags with swastikas, concentration camp children’s clothes, “white is the new black” shirts, and other such fun goofs like being repeated caught in racist and discrimatory hiring and profiling policies.
posted by The Whelk at 12:44 PM on June 21, 2018 [54 favorites]


Vanity Fair's overview article “Coincidence Number 395”: The N.R.A. Spent $30 Million To Elect Trump. Was It Russian Money? Congressional Democrats, the F.B.I. and Robert Mueller want to know why Putin-tied oligarchs took such an interest in American gun ownership. doesn't have any scoops—we already knew about the dinner between Torshin and Donald, Jr., for instance—but it's important to keep this in mind when the NRA starts backing candidates in the mid-terms.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:49 PM on June 21, 2018 [22 favorites]


From the international creeping Fascism department: Grauniad -- Matteo Salvini threatens to remove Gomorrah author's police protection:

Saviano’s prompt answer: Matteo Salvini is threatening me mafia-style. But I’m not afraid.
posted by progosk at 12:49 PM on June 21, 2018 [14 favorites]


@thegarance: Stories about why what Melania wore was wrong are better for the WH than stories about why journalists can't get access to the tender age facilities holding children taken from their relatives at the border.

@sarahkendzior: Yes. This is a common tactic; they'll do something disgusting but not illegal to shift the conversation from violations of rights.

Kids were abducted from their parents and injected with drugs. Info on their current condition -- esp the girls -- remains unknown.

Focus on that.

posted by mstokes650 at 12:51 PM on June 21, 2018 [42 favorites]






This is a common tactic; they'll do something disgusting but not illegal to shift the conversation from violations of rights.

I just don't think that is a deliberate tactic by the administration. They attempt to do things to make themselves popular with a certain group of people, either the populace at large or their hateful base. Legal infractions become newsworthy when they go to court, and whether they go to court is not dependent on how newsworthy the infractions are. There is not a Trump administration strategy of intentionally making themselves look bad to disguise their even worse acts.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:58 PM on June 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


@MichaelSocolow:
Border Patrol agents shut down I-95 southbound in Maine. “If you want to continue down the road, then yes ma’am. We need to know what citizen — what country you’re a citizen of,” an agent said. This is insane.
Along with ICE, this 100 mile border zone shit has to go.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:00 PM on June 21, 2018 [103 favorites]


@TheHill: Trump invites just one woman to meeting on family separation policy (photo)

That photo! I haven't seen such a blindingly fish belly white expanse of white male flesh since I took my shirt off at the beach last year. I can't even find Liz Cheney in it.

This is simultaneously ridiculous and completely unsurprising. What is wrong with them?

As a political matter the half-step-back policy Trump has just instituted seems like the worst possible response to me? Because in 20 days when it is ruled illegal, and I expect it will, we'll be right back to the disasterous coverage (for him) of the last few days. Does he think we'll all forget about this?
posted by Justinian at 1:02 PM on June 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


It really is a deliberate strategy that the Tories have employed a lot in the UK (though they've never stooped quite so low): it's called Dead Cat Strategy. The name comes, unsurprisingly, from Boris Johnson.
posted by Grangousier at 1:03 PM on June 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


DOJ filed a slapdash motion to rip up the Flores settlement (your Floresplainer is here for you if you want to know what that means, also I just like saying Floresplainer as much as possible. Floresplainer). They want to hold children with their parents in immigration detention indefinitely, and they'd like to be free from the requirement that the facilities where they're held be state-licensed to house children. Because what we really need right now is less oversight of where children are being held.

GOP Delays Vote On Foundering Immigration Bill As Right-Wing Version Fails

This story has been such a prime example of bad framing. Trump continues to blame Democrats for not doing anything about Dreamers and now children at the border, and that lie is repeated. But Republicans cannot agree on an immigration bill. There is no Republican immigration plan that can pass the House, let alone the Senate. Worse, the leadership bill, the one Paul Ryan and friends can't pass, has somehow been dubbed the "compromise" bill, despite it not being a compromise at all: zero Democrats will support it (because it's terrible), and Ryan can't even get his caucus to back it. They've proposed massive changes that will impact the lives of millions of people in this country, they don't remotely know what's in the bill (that's not an exaggeration: they were supposed to pass it today, and instead they're going to schedule a meeting to tell members what's in it), and they don't have the votes for it. So why the hell does this story keep getting framed as a "both sides" issue? There is no Republican side. There sure as hell is no policy proposal. There's just Trump doing stuff and Republicans who want the entire topic of immigration to go away. So why isn't that the headline?

There's also a group occupying the federal building in New York.
posted by zachlipton at 1:04 PM on June 21, 2018 [37 favorites]


As a political matter the half-step-back policy Trump has just instituted seems like the worst possible response to me? Because in 20 days when it is ruled illegal, and I expect it will, we'll be right back to the disasterous coverage (for him) of the last few days. Does he think we'll all forget about this?

That's too far ahead for Trump to conceive. Supercut: Trump says everything's coming in "two weeks".
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:08 PM on June 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


NY Times reporting Pentagon asked to prepare housing for up to 20,000 children on military bases.
posted by stillmoving at 1:11 PM on June 21, 2018 [22 favorites]


I'm only one page into that Flores motion and it's beautiful in its dumbness. Case in point: It argues that DHS' only options when apprehending a border-crossing family are to keep them in custody (either together or separately), or to "provide the family with a Notice to Appear for removal proceedings, release the family members from custody into the interior of the United States, and accept the now-common reality that families frequently fail to appear at the required proceedings, thus remaining illegally in the United States."

Which directly tees up a response where the plaintiffs point out that DHS had a 95% successful program for ensuring families would appear at those proceedings, and tore it up because they preferred to put people in jail.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:13 PM on June 21, 2018 [29 favorites]


Update to the above. @scottwongDC: Some House conservatives want @realDonaldTrump to clarify whether or not he thinks compromise immigration bill amounts to “amnesty,” as many groups on right are saying. If he tweets it’s NOT amnesty, they may get on board

These goddamn idiots need a tweet from the President with the right magic words to consider voting for a bill impacting millions of peoples lives.
posted by zachlipton at 1:14 PM on June 21, 2018 [28 favorites]


From Politico: The House has passed their Farm Bill, with Paul Ryan's pet project involving work requirements 213-211.

The Senate may vote on their own version without work requirements as early as next week.
posted by monopas at 1:14 PM on June 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


Border Patrol agents shut down I-95 southbound in Maine.

While the fact that the 100-mile "border zone" encompasses most of New England is insane, the roadblock seems to have been place around Howland, about an hour and a half from the border, half an hour's north of Bangor, and 2.5 hours from Portland, the most populous city in the state. I totally oppose it, but it is hours away from where most travelers use 95, and apparently is a common occurrence over the years. ME ACLU has been fighting the checkpoints and bus checks.

Here's the Bangor Daily Herald article who broke the news.
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 1:15 PM on June 21, 2018 [11 favorites]


Supercut: Trump says everything's coming in "two weeks".

This is a running gag in The Money Pit, reversing the classic line: first as farce, then as tragedy. 😭
posted by wemayfreeze at 1:16 PM on June 21, 2018 [8 favorites]




The thread has moved on quite a bit since we were discussing newspaper subscriptions, but I want to note that I can read the digital versions of the NYT and WaPo and a bunch of other world publications at home for free with my San Francisco library card, so I'm sure lots of other libraries are offering similar access.

I log in with my library card number and PIN to the Times and get 72 hours' continuous reading with a code, which I can regenerate over and over; I can do the same at PressReader (direct link to site, not library link), although I haven't found any time limits there. Very useful if you want to see what international media is saying about the current situation, or anything else.

Obviously those newspapers still get revenue out of the readership via their licenses with libraries, but it doesn't feel quite so dirty somehow.
posted by vickyverky at 1:28 PM on June 21, 2018 [20 favorites]


I'm just waiting for the jacket with 14 words on it.
posted by chris24 at 1:38 PM on June 21, 2018 [12 favorites]


I totally oppose it, but it is hours away from where most travelers use 95, and apparently is a common occurrence over the years. ME ACLU has been fighting the checkpoints and bus checks.

FWIW, I live in Portland, and have many friends in Bangor. Nobody on my FB feed can remember the last time there were random checks anywhere in Northern Maine. NH, yes, but not here.

Maine's long delay in making State ID Real ID compliant is particularly relevant at this point. Of course citizens are not required to show ID, but the driver is required to show their licence and registration on request. There's also a pretty big Amish community in Northern Maine, drawn by the very cheap farmland. I've got to wonder how their interactions with ICE will go up there.
posted by anastasiav at 1:39 PM on June 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


Manafort's motion to suppress the evidence from his storage unit was denied.
posted by chris24 at 1:44 PM on June 21, 2018 [61 favorites]


El Paso sheriff bans deputies from work at Tornillo tent city for immigrant children

See all we have to do is put them work and when they’re old enough to have kids, we put their kids to work too! It’s a self correcting problem!
posted by The Whelk at 1:49 PM on June 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


The “I don’t care” photo op was faked anyway, so who knows what weird ass message they were trying to send?
posted by Artw at 1:53 PM on June 21, 2018 [12 favorites]


Holy crap, another great ad from a woman running for Congress. It's a R+10 seat, but PA-18 was R+11 so who knows.

MJ Hegar for Texas
Why am I running for Congress against a Tea Party Republican in Texas? It all started with a door:

VIDEO
posted by chris24 at 1:56 PM on June 21, 2018 [77 favorites]


Manafort's motion to suppress the evidence from his storage unit was denied.

FTFA: "Manafort, who is currently jailed in Virginia,"

Relieved Sigh. All is NOT wrong in the world. Despair is a sin. We will get past this, and emerge stronger.
posted by mikelieman at 2:03 PM on June 21, 2018 [18 favorites]


That MJ Hegar video is BAD ASS ya'll need to watch it. Give you a little oomph for the day.
posted by emjaybee at 2:17 PM on June 21, 2018 [24 favorites]


The Daily Show @TheDailyShow has out-done itself with this supercut: PROPAGAND-OFF! Fox News vs. North Korean State TV
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:21 PM on June 21, 2018 [20 favorites]




Melania landed back in DC, and she's wearing the damn jacket again, in case you somehow didn't think this was deliberate trolling/an effort to provoke a reaction so they can say "look at how mean the liberals are to the First Lady."

I'm informed it's 82 degrees in Washington right now, so it's pretty hard for me to imagine why she'd wear a jacket at all if it wasn't to send a message.
posted by zachlipton at 2:22 PM on June 21, 2018 [55 favorites]


FWIW, Mark Hamill incorporated the jacket in a tweet smacking down misogynist Star Wars fans.
posted by ZeusHumms at 2:26 PM on June 21, 2018 [12 favorites]


Upworthy staff writer Parker Molloy @ParkerMolloy
Since Melania Trump's jacket said "I really don't care"...

I set up http://ireallydocare.com*

Click the link and it'll take you to a site where you can donate to 14 awesome groups helping immigrants all at once. Feel free to RT if that's your jam.
* This URL is a pass-through to https://secure.actblue.com/donate/kidsattheborder
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:29 PM on June 21, 2018 [49 favorites]


As a response, I like "I care. Don't you?"
posted by The Tensor at 2:31 PM on June 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


As a response, I like "I care. Don't you?"

"I care, fuck you" saves an apostrophe.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:34 PM on June 21, 2018 [45 favorites]


@rebeccaballhaus: Officials were told earlier today to prosecute only one adult traveling w/children if two were present. Later in the day, the policy changed again, though it’s unclear to what. Meanwhile, administration officials say there were no policy changes today.

That's the tweet summary for WSJ, Trump’s Order to End Immigrant Family Separation Sows Confusion:
Officials had been told earlier Thursday to prosecute only one adult traveling with children if two were present, and to prioritize prosecution of male adults, a federal law-enforcement official said, with exceptions where adults had a criminal history. The official said Thursday afternoon that policy was changing again but didn’t immediately elaborate.

In federal court in McAllen, Texas, 17 parents were removed from the morning docket of recent border crossers being charged with a misdemeanor for crossing the border illegally, according to another official.

Trump administration officials denied that there were any changes to the policy Thursday, which the president had reaffirmed in an executive order Wednesday.
I realize prosecutors have pretty much unfettered discretion in their charging decisions, but focusing on a protected class sounds like a legal problem to my untrained eye. Another goat rodeo.
posted by zachlipton at 2:42 PM on June 21, 2018 [13 favorites]




I have absolutely no idea what sort of bizarre message/cry for help/galaxy brain trolling that jacket is supposed to convey, but there's no fucking way that's unintentional

Somebody owes someone a black eye and her wardrobe is one of the few things she has control over.

I mean there's only so much base to rile up. Meanwhile the Baptists are "calling off the culture war" and the Methodists are toying with the notion of throwing out a sitting Attorney General. Lump them in with the Catholics and that's 51% or the US population that claims to be religious right there. I think they're pretty riled.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 2:45 PM on June 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


(h/t Elizabeth McLaughlin on the tweet machine)
posted by Dashy at 2:46 PM on June 21, 2018


Manafort also just got put into protective custody. I wonder if there's a connection between the failure to suppress the evidence from the storage unit and the move to isolation.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:47 PM on June 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


In a column for the British magazine Spectator, BBC correspondent Paul Wood revealed that Cambridge Analytica, the now-defunct company which was in charge of microtargeting voters for the Trump campaign, was in possession of Clinton’s emails at least a month before WikiLeaks was known to have them.

That's Paul Wood of "more than one tape", "audio and video", on "more than one date", in "more than one place" - in the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow and also in St Petersburg - and that the material was "of a sexual nature" fame. I know this link is to the BBC, but does anyone more familiar have a sense of how reliable his reporting is?
posted by stopgap at 2:49 PM on June 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


MA AG Maura Healey sues the Trump Administration over illegal family separation policy

(she is so awesome and I love her please run for governor one day).
posted by lydhre at 2:50 PM on June 21, 2018 [35 favorites]


Manafort also just got put into protective custody. I wonder if there's a connection between the failure to suppress the evidence from the storage unit and the move to isolation.

I'm not sure about this one. The report I saw indicated that the judge ordered that he be held, to the extent practicable, "separate...from persons awaiting or serving sentences or being held in custody pending appeal." In other words, he shouldn't be held with people who have been convicted, which is typical. He could still be held with others on remand pending trial.

As I understand it, that's what's generally supposed to happen, people who haven't been convicted yet aren't supposed to be held with people who have. I think we last heard he was in a "VIP unit" anyway, so I'm not sure it makes a practical difference.
posted by zachlipton at 2:51 PM on June 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


A data point regarding NPR: I had been withholding my support for them for some time, on account issues discussed often in these threads, but I still listen when I'm driving, and yesterday evening I heard a segment on All Things Considered that was absolutely savage by NPR's standards. They didn't downplay anything, nor did they give anyone airtime to defend what's been happening, at least not while I was listening. Mara Liasson allowed some open contempt to leak into her commentary, and the Democratic lawmaker they put on after her mentioned "holding children hostage" three times. It was very refreshing.

Based on that, I decided to go ahead and start donating again (on a monthly, rather than annual basis, because I'm not stupid). I also wrote them an email explaining my position. I'm hoping an opinion that comes with money attached will be given more weight.

Was I premature to start giving them money again? Maybe. Time will tell. But I've been working on training my cats lately, and it has reminded me that one of the key principles for training animals is that positive reinforcement works a whole lot better than negative reinforcement. I'm hoping the same principle applies to corporations.
posted by shponglespore at 2:51 PM on June 21, 2018 [22 favorites]


MA AG Maura Healey sues the Trump Administration over illegal family separation policy

From the article:
Joining AG Healey in filing the lawsuit will be the states of Washington, California, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon and Pennsylvania.
posted by Emmy Rae at 2:53 PM on June 21, 2018 [54 favorites]


chris24: "MJ Hegar for Texas
Why am I running for Congress against a Tea Party Republican in Texas? It all started with a door:
"

Wait, is that Gimme Shelter in the background?
posted by Chrysostom at 2:53 PM on June 21, 2018 [11 favorites]


Clearly evocative of Gimme Shelter, yes.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 2:54 PM on June 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


@cricketcrocker:
So I never thought I'd be logging back into a social media platform
to write a thread best named summarized as
"Against Empathy".
But here we are.


Everyone? This right here is fire and you need to read it and make all your respectable liberal friends read it. Highlight:

And you cannot -- I can't believe we are still going over this -- you cannot convert a fascist to a nonfascist by appealing to their empathy.
No atrocity ever was stopped by a victim standing up and saying "please, understand, I'm just a human like you"

posted by Kitty Stardust at 2:54 PM on June 21, 2018 [54 favorites]


Here's the Bangor Daily Herald article who broke the news.

It's Bangor Daily News and they are fabulous because they developed some great plugins/tools for online and print newsrooms that allow for a seamless Google Docs --> WordPress-->InDesign workflow and shared it with the whole world via GitHub and the WP plugins library. (Unfortunately the person who led the project has moved on to the NYT and it doesn't appear that the tools are being promoted much anymore; the blogposts describing them have all disappeared.)
posted by notyou at 2:55 PM on June 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


The President would like to insert himself into this narrative. @realDonaldTrump: “I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?” written on the back of Melania’s jacket, refers to the Fake News Media. Melania has learned how dishonest they are, and she truly no longer cares!

The First Lady's spokeswoman spent the day insisting "It's a jacket. There was no hidden message" and that we all should be focusing on the children, but I guess Trump didn't get the memo and wanted to make this about himself with an extremely hidden message.
posted by zachlipton at 2:56 PM on June 21, 2018 [34 favorites]


Wait, is that Gimme Shelter in the background?

I think it's music meant to sound as close to it as possible without infringing. It's right on the edge tho, innit?
posted by scalefree at 2:57 PM on June 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


Everyone? This right here is fire and you need to read it and make all your respectable liberal friends read it.

it pretty much lost me here with this absolutist wtfery:

My point is, though, if you can empathize your way into understanding fascists?

That makes you a fascist.


And, you know, I'm really, really tired of hearing how liberals (especially liberal women!!) are the enemy we really need to fight
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:01 PM on June 21, 2018 [21 favorites]


Wait, is that Gimme Shelter in the background?

That's probably me. I've had it on endless loop since the election.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:01 PM on June 21, 2018 [19 favorites]


Is a 20,000 child tent city legal through some bizarre DoD loophole? Or is the Trump admin just going for it assuming they can get away with anything since so far they have?
posted by Emmy Rae at 3:02 PM on June 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


Saturday Night Live head writer Michael Che, recent defender of Sarah Huckabee Sanders's lies, has taken it up a notch and is now defending Melania's jacket stunt.
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:04 PM on June 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


prize bull octorok -not entirely sure who you are talking about. Though if they are suggesting empathy for fascisrscthey are probably not liberals. Is this a Bari Weiss thing?
posted by Artw at 3:06 PM on June 21, 2018


I don't know what a Bari Weiss thing is but another thing I am tired of is using the names of female journalists as a synecdoche for whatever journalistic practices we're currently mad about.
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:12 PM on June 21, 2018 [8 favorites]


has taken it up a notch and is now defending Melania's jacket stunt.

That looks more like "accusing her of selling out her humanity" than "defending her".
posted by The Tensor at 3:13 PM on June 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


MA AG Maura Healey sues the Trump Administration over illegal family separation policy.

As we know, a bunch of kids are fostered in Michigan, so I emailed our waste-of-space Attorney General and told him to get his ass on the lawsuit.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:14 PM on June 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


Wait, is that Gimme Shelter in the background?

I think it's music meant to sound as close to it as possible without infringing. It's right on the edge tho, innit?


It's a sound-alike.
posted by The Tensor at 3:16 PM on June 21, 2018 [2 favorites]




With the story about immigrant children being given medications without consent: some in the medical establishment will be colluding with this heinous shit. A nurse might be administering medications. A doctor or psychiatrist might be perscribing them. Find out who the fuck these people are. Report them to their professional bodies. Have their licenses revoked. What they are doing is blatently unethical and a violation of human rights, although they will have convinced themselves otherwise I’m sure. The Nuremberg defense doesn’t work for healthcare workers either. That list of psychotropic drugs is hair raising for an adult, it’s fucking insane for a kid. Look up the side effects of haloperidol if you want to not sleep. It says the kid was forcibly medicated. Jesus wept.
posted by supercrayon at 3:17 PM on June 21, 2018 [55 favorites]


I'll defend the jacket.

1) Free speech.
2) Honesty. She doesn't care.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 3:17 PM on June 21, 2018 [8 favorites]


Clonezepam's side effects are no joke, either.
posted by Chrysostom at 3:18 PM on June 21, 2018 [10 favorites]


If the claim that Cambridge Analytica had the Clinton emails early is true (the source doesn't inspire me with confidence) then it's the best evidence we've seen that Russia was specifically trying to secure Trump's election, rather than simply sow chaos. But the evidence is pretty damn weak: Paul Wood says that a former lawyer for CA told him about it. How did the lawyer know? Did everybody at CA know? This weakness may be why a story leaked to a BBC correspondent was printed in a grubby rag like The Spectator rather than being front page news.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:21 PM on June 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


[West Virginia] Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry was indicted on 22 counts, U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart announced this morning. Stuart said that if Loughry were convicted on each of the counts, the sentence would amount to almost 400 years. [...] The charges include fraud, false statement and witness tampering offenses.
posted by Chrysostom at 3:22 PM on June 21, 2018 [15 favorites]


I know this link is to the BBC, but does anyone more familiar have a sense of how reliable his reporting is?

Paul Wood also broke the story of how Michael Cohen was paid by the Ukrainian government to fix talks between their president and Trump for the BBC. And the BBC stands by all his reporting. In general, his rep is solid: he's an award-winning journalist who's done front-line reporting from Libya, Baghdad, Fallujah, Belgrade, and Syria. He has enough contacts in the intelligence community that he's worth paying attention to.

His article for Spectator—and that publication is more willing to play fast and loose than the Beeb—suggests that the UK IC is very frustrated with the May government's foot-dragging cooperation with Mueller and wants to let the public know a bit of what's gone on behind the scenes: What Does The British Government Know About Trump And Russia?—Many trails in the Mueller inquiry lead straight to the UK
A Labour MP, Ben Bradshaw, thinks that the government has not always done all it can to assist the Mueller inquiry into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia. Bradshaw was the minister in charge of the Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, and has doggedly pursued allegations about Russian meddling in other people’s elections. ‘I’m told that Mueller’s team were over here late last year and they weren’t happy with the level of cooperation they were getting,’ he said. Another source, with links to the ‘intelligence community’, said this was continuing, even after the Skripal poisoning.[...]

[A] US intelligence official told me there were ‘many gathering clouds’ in the summer of 2016. Among them might be GCHQ’s intercepts of Trump’s associates talking to Russians. Some — credible — reports say the head of GCHQ flew to the US to hand-deliver this incendiary material to the CIA director. Later, Steele’s dossier was passed, in its entirety, to Comey, thanks to a former British ambassador to Moscow, Sir Andrew Wood.

[...]An American lawyer I know told me that he was approached by a Cambridge Analytica employee after the election. They had had the Clinton emails more than a month before they were published by WikiLeaks: ‘What should I do?’ Take this to Mueller, the lawyer replied.[...]

After President Trump’s shock election victory, I’m told that Steele briefed his old colleagues in the British intelligence apparatus. His material was taken seriously and then handled at an ‘appropriately senior level’ within the government. But once the dossier was leaked and published in January 2017, he appeared to have been sidelined by the government, his friends say, ‘for political reasons’.
Wood's candid about the level of confirmation he has for these anonymous sources' stories, but they jibe with what we've heard elsewhere.
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:23 PM on June 21, 2018 [10 favorites]




Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry was indicted on 22 counts, U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart announced this morning.

18 U.S.C. § 1001. Where would federal prosecutors be without you?
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 3:34 PM on June 21, 2018 [2 favorites]




[West Virginia] Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry was indicted on 22 counts, U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart announced this morning. Stuart said that if Loughry were convicted on each of the counts, the sentence would amount to almost 400 years. [...] The charges include fraud, false statement and witness tampering offenses

And it is all for the pettiest of shit. Lose a job and a career because you can't keep yourself from stealing what for a state Supreme Court judge must be the equivalent of McDonald's sawdust chocolate chip cookies.
posted by srboisvert at 3:44 PM on June 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


Crisis actor spotted at Texas child migrant detention center, LATimes op by Matthew Fleischer, with accompanying thumbnail pic of FLOTUS and summary of her visit
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 3:44 PM on June 21, 2018 [38 favorites]


Oh FFS. Now the jacket *IS* a message.

Presumably by tomorrow there never will have been a jacket.
posted by Artw at 3:45 PM on June 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


Are there are any financial connections between Trump companies and those running the detention centers? Any other president, the answer would be, "Well, of course not!", but the back beat behind every Trump admin song-and-dance (whatever nightmarish executive order is happening *this* week) is some level of graft.

I had a fantasy of the future where a child, that was separated this week from their family and unable to find them, sues Trump Inc in civil court and takes all their money.

I know that's nowhere near "justice" for the crime of being stolen from your family and unable to reunite with them, but it's not the worst revenge (bankrupting Trump and family). Without their money, they'd have few friends, and without friends (especially rich ones) it gets harder and harder to dodge reality.
posted by ButteryMales at 3:47 PM on June 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


Democratic Party internal poll for the Missouri Senate race shows McCaskill (D) up 47-41 over Hawley (R). In April it was 46-44.

This is an internal poll so take with all needed grains of salt. Plus I would say that any incumbent riding at under 50% is vulnerable--and here McCaskill is at just 47% in the most favorable possible poll and 5 months out from the election. So, definitely not a slam dunk, but also positive. MO statewide elections tend to be won at something like 52/48 or even closer if the Dem is able to pull it out at all. McCaskill pulled off something of a Missouri Miracle in 2012 when she beat "Legitimate Rape" Akin at 55/39. We're unlikely to see such a wide gap this time around.

Also, interestingly, support for former Missouri Governor Greitens has dropped through the bottom of the floor, with favorable/unfavorable going from 39/44 in April to 24/56 now. I guess resigning does no favors to your standing with voters. . .
posted by flug at 3:49 PM on June 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


There's been some speculation that the message on the jacket was meant for Trump rather than for us. Reading between the lines of some talk on CNN I believe there is a source backing this up though I can't really support that with cites. I do find it plausible; Melana clearly isn't very happy lately. She did disappear for a month with no explanation. But if she has something to say she should just come out and say it. No secret messages. As long as she remains publicly silent she is as complicit as she has always been.
posted by Justinian at 3:49 PM on June 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


I can't link it, because I don't have the twitters on this mobile, but in my Twitter feed, there was a doctor with 16 years of ER experience, who was trying to volunteer at any of the Trump Baby Prisons, and she was told she was overqualified. Other pediatricians, nurses, emt and disaster relief volunteers, in fact everyone who is a legally mandated child abuse reporter, has been turned away and not allowed to even volunteer their services.

What are they hiding and where are the girls and babies?
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 3:50 PM on June 21, 2018 [92 favorites]


Me ne frego -- Mussolini slogan, "I don't care."
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 3:51 PM on June 21, 2018 [12 favorites]


srboisvert: "And it is all for the pettiest of shit. Lose a job and a career because you can't keep yourself from stealing what for a state Supreme Court judge must be the equivalent of McDonald's sawdust chocolate chip cookies."

FWIW, a seat on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia appears to pay $136,000/year.
posted by Chrysostom at 3:57 PM on June 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


Oh FFS. Now the jacket *IS* a message.

Presumably by tomorrow there never will have been a jacket.


If this were written into some DeLilloesque political satire the critics would say it was too contrived. We really are living through some kind of buggy hell simulation. I can’t even get a handle on the dozens of intersecting ways in which I have trouble believing that this continues to be real. The simulacra are more believable than the real now
posted by dis_integration at 4:09 PM on June 21, 2018 [22 favorites]


I am not going to tear him down and I do wish him well in his mission, but I think it is actually important to know what motivates people who seek the spotlight because:

a. if it's money, they can be bought
and
b. if it's fame, then they will bend easily with the changing winds of public opinion


Okay, regarding Avenatti and Daniels, here's my optimistic take on it.

We live in a country right now where life mirrors television because that's all the dipshit toddler can understand. Because everyone sucks, the Stormy Daniels scandal captured and held the attention of the masses in a way no "boring" stuff like collusion or leaders being otherwise morally reprehensible could. Avenatti + Cohen is a close second.

Stormy Daniels seems to understand how Trump's mind works (yuck)- and she's an entertainer, too. She knows how to play him AND she knows how to own the spotlight. She's smart, way fucking smarter than Trump. She knows we're living in TV world. That's why she maybe realizes she and Avenatti have to be the ones to save us. Normal tactics like appealing to reason and morals obviously aren't working on people. I think we're living out a movie where a crazy TV presidents gets elected, becomes an even more evil villian, and needs a superhero team to bring them down made of . . . an adult film actress and a dashing lawyer!

I like to think that those two:
1- understand the world is horrible and fucked up right now
2- at least probably possess some degree of morals
3- have noticed that people are paying attention to them
4- see that there's an opportunity to speak out against Trump and co and tear him/them down publicly and a lot people might actually listen to them
5- what's in it for them? they get to be heroes while bringing down the guy they hate which seems way better than winning any lawsuit. THE HEROES THAT SAVED AMERICA. Maybe it won't work, but fuck it, if I were them I might try. Even if all they're looking for IS fame, maybe they've realized that the fame that comes with being on the right side of history and fighting evil is going to be much kinder and more enduring than what the rest of these douchebags are in for.
posted by robotdevil at 4:10 PM on June 21, 2018 [31 favorites]


New Yorker: A Physician in South Texas on an Unnerving Encounter with an Eight-Year-Old Boy in Immigration Detention

“The guardians didn’t step more than two feet away from the kid. One of the four was an armed police officer. I thought, Does it take an army of adult men to take care of one elementary schooler? I walked over to the boy, crouched down, and asked him, in Spanish, ‘How do you feel?’ ‘Sad,’ he said. The boy had been in custody for over a month. One of his guardians told me that he had been ‘acting out’ and threatening to harm himself, by jumping from his bed. This man told me, ‘I’m his clinician,’ but he was definitely not a doctor. [...] He wouldn’t provide basic background. I couldn’t find out any information because he would say, ‘I’m not at liberty to tell you that’ and ‘You don’t need to know that,’ even though a lot of my questions were relevant to taking care of the child. I was asking things like ‘Where are his parents?’ [...] “What bothers me is, if you know where this parent is, why can we not contact them for consent? They aren’t even made aware if their child has an injury, if their child is having a breakdown. These are people who were desperate for a better life and crossed the border. Why are their parental rights being taken away?

“I asked the clinician, ‘When is this child going to be reunited with his parents?’ He was evasive. First it was ‘Oh, well, we don’t know.’ And then it was ‘Well, he won’t be reunited with his parents unless he behaves.’ The lack of compassion was scary, and it didn’t seem like there was really a plan. “This boy seemed devastated—quiet and withdrawn. He barely spoke. I asked if he needed a hug. I kneeled down in front of the recliner, and this kid just threw himself into my arms and didn’t let go. He cried and I cried. And to think he’s been in a facility for a month without a hug, away from his parents, and scared, and not knowing when he’ll see them again or if he’ll see them again. While I held him, I heard the men standing behind me muttering that I was ‘rewarding his bad behavior.’


Full spectacle-of-cruelty Dystopia.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:19 PM on June 21, 2018 [175 favorites]


And now they want to merge Labor and Education into a single agency? Its astonishing I'm almost relieved to hear of this run of the mill theater of the absurd, just to have a break from the devastation of the detention crisis.
posted by stillmoving at 4:22 PM on June 21, 2018 [6 favorites]




Four people were paid with our taxes to intimidate and manipulate an 8 year old self-harming stateless child. It's evil that I cannot wrap my head around.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:25 PM on June 21, 2018 [66 favorites]


WaPo, Sarah Ellison, National Enquirer sent stories about Trump to his attorney Michael Cohen before publication, people familiar with the practice say
During the presidential campaign, National Enquirer executives sent digital copies of the tabloid’s articles and cover images related to Donald Trump and his political opponents to Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen in advance of publication, according to three people with knowledge of the matter — an unusual practice that speaks to the close relationship between Trump and David Pecker, chief executive of American Media Inc., the Enquirer’s parent company.

Although the company strongly denies ever sharing such material before publication, these three individuals say the sharing of material continued after Trump took office.

“Since Trump’s become president and even before, [Pecker] openly just has been willing to turn the magazine and the cover over to the Trump machine,” said one of the people with knowledge of the practice.

During the campaign, “if it was a story specifically about Trump, then it was sent over to Michael, and as long as there were no objections from him, the story could be published,” this person added.
...
Once Enquirer editors sent a story or cover image, sometimes a request for changes came back, according to two of the people with knowledge of the relationship. Stories about Trump were positive in nature, and changes related to the stories were not dramatic, according to one person with knowledge of the matter, who said most of the changes in stories sent to Cohen resulted in more flattering cover photos or changes to cover headlines.

Trump suggested stories to Pecker on a regular basis, one of these people said, and had access to certain pieces — including one about Hillary Clinton’s health — before publication.
Not a huge surprise, but add this to yesterday's buried story about American Media receiving a subpoena, and it's clear this investigation is aiming directly at the Trump campaign.
posted by zachlipton at 4:28 PM on June 21, 2018 [21 favorites]


Anybody who supports Trump should shut the fuck up about other people allegedly rewarding bad behaviour.
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:29 PM on June 21, 2018 [14 favorites]


Republican judge orders the entire Consumer Financial Protection Bureau eliminated
So, if Preska’s RD Legal Funding opinion is reviewed by a higher court, there is very little chance that she will be affirmed (though it’s possible that the Supreme Court will ultimately agree with Kavanaugh’s analysis, Henderson and Preska’s reasoning is way out in right field). There is a danger, however, that the Trump administration will refuse to appeal this case — setting off a chaotic series of events where non-parties to the litigation attempt to intervene in the case after the district judge has already handed down a judgment.

In other words, if no one can be found who is both willing and able to appeal this decision, an entire agency set up to protect consumers will cease to exist due to the whim of a single person.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:29 PM on June 21, 2018 [35 favorites]


According to Forbes contributor Ted Reed (who is not a Forbes reporter, but who sounds like he may be a retired journalist), two American Airlines flight attendants posting on Facebook triggered the ruckus that made that company the first airliner to say it did not want to fly children separated from their parents.

"The Facebook posts began Friday, with a post by a Charlotte-based flight attendant -- whose name has not been publicly disclosed -- concerning a redeye Phoenix-Charlotte-Miami flight that carried 16 children, 'all dressed in black and gray cheap Walmart sweat suits …Thirty-two scared eyes looking straight forward dazed.'

"The flight landed in Miami early Friday morning. American was transporting children for whom MVM Inc., a Virginia-based contractor, had bought tickets, a source said.

"One little girl, with tears in her eyes, looked up at the post’s author as she disembarked, and the author hugged her, the post said. The act resulted in 'scowls and comments' from a harsh adult escort, it said. The post was reposted and viewed tens of thousands of times."
posted by Bella Donna at 4:30 PM on June 21, 2018 [36 favorites]


I got chills from that doctors account. Reminded me of a scene from a Banks book where a Doctor is coerced into tending to a torture victim so the interrogation can continue.
posted by Artw at 4:31 PM on June 21, 2018 [14 favorites]


@sahilkapur: NO immigration vote tomorrow, per House GOP aide. They’re now aiming for next week.

"THERE IS NO REPUBLICAN IMMIGRATION PLAN!," he shouts into the void. "STOP CALLING IT A COMPROMISE WHEN NONE EXISTS!"

@tinyarmoredone:
me: *opens mouth to scream into the void*
the void: sorry man we're full up
me: what?
the void: there's no more room. we're teeming with screams
me: but— t
he void: we👏are👏at👏capacity👏sir. try a pillow.
posted by zachlipton at 4:35 PM on June 21, 2018 [95 favorites]


> In other words, if no one can be found who is both willing and able to appeal this decision, an entire agency set up to protect consumers will cease to exist due to the whim of a single person.

something something judicial activism something something will of the people
posted by tonycpsu at 4:49 PM on June 21, 2018 [8 favorites]


Republican judge orders the entire Consumer Financial Protection Bureau eliminated.

So I've been saying all along that there is no Trump Doctrine, that Trump has no framework or platform or ideology, only urges & grudges. In a way I still believe that but I've come to see it from a deeper perspective. The Trump Doctrine is that there are no rules, no laws, only the Will of Trump. If His Will shines on you today, you win. If it goes against you, you lose. This is something he's propagating out through the government. Those who cling to the Rule of Law, arguing over this point or that point seeking to win the day through logic & reason, are mired in the past & sinking fast under sheer volume of attacks on logic & reason themselves.

America under Trump is to become a Nation of Men, subject to their whims & fancies. If you want to succeed you must curry favor with a powerful sponsor who will grant your freedom to act as long as you maintain that favor. No rules or laws can bind you - as long as you don't interfere with or anger someone more powerful than your sponsor. All decisions are by fiat, all rules & laws are local customs within the domain of a sponsor, or let's make it crystal clear, a Prince. All holdings are subject to the Will of the Head of State, Emperor Trump Himself, may all blessings flow from Him.

This is the path we're on. The Rule of Law itself is under attack.
posted by scalefree at 5:18 PM on June 21, 2018 [35 favorites]


We didn't talk about the Farm Bill, but that's also a thing that happened today. House narrowly passes farm bill that includes stricter work requirements for food stamps, a month after failing on first try
The most divisive element of the legislation passed Thursday are new, stricter work rules for most able-bodied adults in the food stamp program, the federal safety net that provides an average of $125 per month in grocery money to 42.3 million Americans. Under the proposal, adults will have to spend 20 hours per week either working or participating in a state-run training program to receive benefits.

Democrats and anti-hunger advocates say most states do not have the capacity to scale up case management or training programs to this extent. As a result, they argue, hundreds of thousands of low-income adults could end up losing benefits.

But Republicans have defended the plan as a bold way to make low-income adults more self-sufficient, and President Donald Trump tweeted on Thursday that he was "so happy" to see work requirements pass.
It's headed to the Senate next, where they're advancing a version without the SNAP cuts, if you'd like to make your views known.
posted by zachlipton at 5:18 PM on June 21, 2018 [14 favorites]




From Terry Gross's interview of Emily Jane Fox, the author of the new book "Born Trump":

...GROSS: So big question now is about whether Michael Cohen will talk in return for a better deal. Do you have any insights?

FOX: Here's what I know. I know that Michael Cohen feels incredibly frustrated and angry with the president. I think something that really angered him was last week when the president was on the lawn of the White House answering reporters and the president was asked a question about Michael Cohen. And he said I liked him...

GROSS: Past tense.

FOX: ...In the past tense. And the reaction of people around Cohen who are very familiar with his thinking was that was the stupidest thing the president could have ever said. Michael Cohen is essentially on the verge of making this decision about whether or not he will cooperate with the government, if it comes - if the government is willing to offer up that to him. And they have not - as far as I know from my reporting, they have not offered him that option yet. But someone who could be facing that decision very soon - to say something that could potentially set him off like that, these people felt like that is just not the wisest move to be making right now.

And I think that not only has Michael Cohen felt like someone who has been very loyal to the president for a very long time is now being mistreated but he is someone who did a lot for the children as well and worked very closely with the children for years and knows what they were doing and knows what the president was doing. And so to not receive the kind of support that he wants to receive from the president is one thing. But he also hasn't received that kind of support from Ivanka or Eric or Don Jr. And I think that that has been rankling him as well...
posted by growabrain at 5:22 PM on June 21, 2018 [26 favorites]


That MJ Hegar video is BAD ASS ya'll need to watch it. Give you a little oomph for the day.

Oh, yeah. From the video: "Congressman Carter hasn't had a tough race his entire career. So...we'll show him tough. Then we'll show him the door"

Oh, snap!

And now they want to merge Labor and Education into a single agency?

Good luck getting that one thru Congress.
posted by Gelatin at 5:50 PM on June 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


And who exactly are the 11% of Democrats who support separating children from their asylum-seeking parents?

They're up for re-election in the fall and gotta play it cool.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 5:56 PM on June 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


> We didn't talk about the Farm Bill, but that's also a thing that happened today.

Well, we did, but we haven't really talked about something in here until zachlipton has. :)
posted by tonycpsu at 5:56 PM on June 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


Sorry; I searched badly. monopas is very good!
posted by zachlipton at 5:58 PM on June 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


> But he also hasn't received that kind of support from Ivanka or Eric or Don Jr. And I think that that has been rankling him as well...

So the guy who knows Donald Trump better than anyone else -- his personal lawyer and "fixer" (BTW: remember when Presidents didn't have "fixers"?) -- this guy knows Trump so well that he's shocked that loyalty is a one way street when dealing with Trump and his Trumplings?
posted by tonycpsu at 6:02 PM on June 21, 2018 [14 favorites]


...In the past tense. And the reaction of people around Cohen who are very familiar with his thinking was that was the stupidest thing the president could have ever said. Michael Cohen is essentially on the verge of making this decision about whether or not he will cooperate with the government, if it comes - if the government is willing to offer up that to him.

That was Friday, then on Tuesday, Cohen leaks that he's found new legal representation...

CREW Chair Norm Eisen @NormEisen: An overlooked clue to the likely coming Cohen flip: his new lawyer is a former SDNY prosecutor who worked with Comey & for Preet. And every single one of his partners in his firm is an SDNY USAO veteran who either worked for &/or with Comey or Preet. They were hired to do a deal.
PS When Trump processes that Cohen flip is likely, look for him & cronies to launch pre-deal assault on Cohen. Bigly.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:09 PM on June 21, 2018 [41 favorites]


So the guy who knows Donald Trump better than anyone else -- his personal lawyer and "fixer" (BTW: remember when Presidents didn't have "fixers"?) -- this guy knows Trump so well that he's shocked that loyalty is a one way street when dealing with Trump and his Trumplings?

No, he's lying in order to humanize himself after three years of being a Mr. SAYS WHO? skullfucker on national TV.
posted by rhizome at 6:13 PM on June 21, 2018 [12 favorites]


ICE prosecutors were scheduled to have a fun, networking happy hour until they found out the St. Louis DSA, Socialist Alternatve, and Missouri Immigrant & Refugee Advocates would be there too

I don't know why this was the one that made me sign up for a long overdue DSA membership but there it is.
posted by jason_steakums at 6:33 PM on June 21, 2018 [40 favorites]



“I asked the clinician, ‘When is this child going to be reunited with his parents?’ He was evasive. First it was ‘Oh, well, we don’t know.’ And then it was ‘Well, he won’t be reunited with his parents unless he behaves.’ The lack of compassion was scary,


Not suprising.

It's a tedious job, for low pay, and there is a hiring binge to take all these kids in. So the people they hire are Trump-grade.

There will be more stories like thiscoming out.
posted by ocschwar at 6:45 PM on June 21, 2018 [9 favorites]


I think I'm joining DSA now, too. Also, Blueberry Hill? They probably all live in Clarkson Valley and think The Loop is 'gritty'.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 6:50 PM on June 21, 2018 [12 favorites]


It's a tedious job, for low pay, and there is a hiring binge to take all these kids in. So the people they hire are Trump-grade.

There will be more stories like thiscoming out.


I've been thinking a lot lately about all the horrible unethical people I've known in elder care, or in the care of the people with intellectual disability, or the woman in charge of the women's shelter my girlfriend worked at who said she thought her calling was "to get good kids taken away from bad parents" (women dealing with horrible circumstances and trying their best), and I just picture all of them sending their resumes in to these places. There are a lot of shitty, shitty people who gravitate towards jobs taking care of those who need it most, to the horror of all those who try to make a positive difference in those fields, and I'm sure this immigration policy looks like open season to a lot of them.
posted by jason_steakums at 6:55 PM on June 21, 2018 [41 favorites]


It's a tedious job, for low pay, and there is a hiring binge to take all these kids in. So the people they hire are Trump-grade.

There's also a perverse incentive against quality on the job. Management doesn't care about the kids so neither do the workers. What matters is profit: efficiency, cost savings & lack of incidents. It's no wonder workers turn to caging, dehumanizing, conscripting kids & psychotropic drugs. Even if they started out with high quality workers, as the good ones left in disgust they'd quickly self-select for sadists, disaffected & desperates afraid to lose their jobs for a variety of reasons, none good.
posted by scalefree at 6:56 PM on June 21, 2018 [18 favorites]


Just like that one guy is campaigning on his record of having dropped the ball on tracking guns, there's going to be an ICE agent running for elected office who doesn't just have a generic "tough borders" platform, but holds Trump-style rallies where he gleefully recounts how he treated the children in his custody.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:10 PM on June 21, 2018 [9 favorites]


The looting is accelerating. Fast tracking ACA repeal and $2 TRILLION in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

@HouseBudgetDems The Republican majority just voted to pass the House Republican 2019 budget and rejected every amendment offered by Democrats. Ranking Member @RepJohnYarmuth’s statement: Yarmuth Statement on Committee Passage of House GOP’s 2019 Budget
posted by scalefree at 7:34 PM on June 21, 2018 [30 favorites]


While I have no doubt they will do all sorts of bullshit if they can get away with it, remember that it is always the Senate where this stuff lives or dies. So the House passing it is, while obviously troubling, not surprising.

Is this Senate likely to take this up before the Midterms? The window for passing a budget and then a new spending cut / tax cut bill between midterms and the new Congress would be... very tight.
posted by Justinian at 7:57 PM on June 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


If I might make a plea on behalf of blind and low-vision folks like me: Whenever it is possible to report using text rather than an entirely unreadable image of said text, for Grob's sake, why don't you do so
posted by salix at 8:03 PM on June 21, 2018 [39 favorites]


I'm very glad that Homeland Security appears to treat dogs in its custody decently. It would be nice if the traumatized human children DHS has essentially thrown into a hole could also receive clean sheepskin bedding, time outside, and loving care. It would be nice.

As Homeland Security Puts Children In Cages, Dogs Get Resort Treatment

The dogs will sleep indoors in the resort’s 177 separate doggie suites, which feature “frequent maid service and clean bedding every day,” as well as “raised kennel decking,” according to Peninsula Pet Resort’s website. The site also says, “MOST IMPORTANTLY—WE PROVIDE LOVING CARE!”
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:07 PM on June 21, 2018 [24 favorites]


If I might make a plea on behalf of blind and low-vision folks like me: Whenever it is possible to report using text rather than an entirely unreadable image of said text, for Grob's sake, why don't you do so

Was that to me? I did include a link to the actual text of the press release so people could read it.
posted by scalefree at 8:09 PM on June 21, 2018


Was that to me?

No no no no no, just a tiny outcry of frustration from an editor unable to read things.

It would have gone in the latest Fucking Fuck thread, only it occurred to me that I might not be alone.
posted by salix at 8:14 PM on June 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


Activists refuse to leave the loading docks at 201 Varick, the immigration court where ICE processing happens. They say no vans will be allowed in to do such processing.

The NYC activists occupying the loading docks of 201 Varick are asking for the following. Please bring if you are able:

Water
Sunblock
Advil
Eye drops
Cough Drops
Granola Bars
Fruit
Phone Battery Chargers
Cardboard
Tarp
Garbage Bags
Yoga Mats
posted by The Whelk at 8:30 PM on June 21, 2018 [64 favorites]




The looting is accelerating. Fast tracking ACA repeal and $2 TRILLION in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

14-year-old dying of cancer sells bracelets to survive

Since Olivia Stoy's insurance won't pay for her bone marrow transplant, the cost of the procedure is $950,000. The hospital has made a deal with her that if she can pay up front, they'll only charge $350,000. Stoy realizes that if she doesn't get a bone marrow transplant next month, she's unlikely to survive lymphoblastic lymphoma. She was diagnosed in May of 2016.

This is what Paul Ryan is scrambling to make more of while he sees us distracted by child concentration camps. His crimes are no more forgivable than those of the Executive Branch.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:43 PM on June 21, 2018 [82 favorites]


America under Trump is to become a Nation of Men, subject to their whims & fancies. If you want to succeed you must curry favor with a powerful sponsor who will grant your freedom to act as long as you maintain that favor. No rules or laws can bind you - as long as you don't interfere with or anger someone more powerful than your sponsor.

I'm struck by the fact that instead of saying "a nation of men" it might be equally apt (and perhaps more precise) to say it's a society of privilege. That when we talk about a nation of laws, the exact opposite is a society where individual privilege in its various concentrations essentially defines what you can do vs any kind of rules or ethics.

And when I think of it this way, it's obvious that this is what's at the center of the GOP. Devoted worship of mammon has been its most obvious presentation for a long time, but the underlying ideal of maximizing the reach of personal privilege at the expense of universal rights or dignity has manifest itself in a lot of ways too, the description of regulation as an intolerable burden, the complaints against political correctness, the distress at having to treat people who don't look like you or come from somewhere else as humans rather than inferiors to your tribe.

Now, you could hardly ask for a more unalloyed avatar for this than Trump, that's true. Gauche as he is, he's perfect in that way, making it easy to confuse the symbol with the cause.

But as much handwringing as he's caused other Republicans who've carried a self-veneer of caring about loftier values, as almost funny as it's been to watch many of them slump their shoulders a little as they've inevitably gone along and quietly admitted to everyone with their actions that, nope, this is who they really are now too... I'm not sure it's now. Really, this is what movement conservatism and the GOP have been for a decade or few. Trump's just the point where they've had to admit it and realize how committed they are.
posted by wildblueyonder at 9:19 PM on June 21, 2018 [27 favorites]


That when we talk about a nation of laws, the exact opposite is a society where individual privilege in its various concentrations essentially defines what you can do vs any kind of rules or ethics.

So true, not for nothing that 'privelege' comes from latin for private law.
posted by Marticus at 9:25 PM on June 21, 2018 [15 favorites]






That's great, Michael, but the adults are talking now. You'll get your turn.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:50 PM on June 21, 2018 [11 favorites]




Michael Bloomberg's own statement on his radical centrist praxis for the 2018 elections.

Dude is like a living Avatar of centrism. Commits to near nothing but bipartisanship as a virtue in and of itself.
posted by Artw at 9:56 PM on June 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


We'll take his money and ignore him.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:59 PM on June 21, 2018 [28 favorites]


Houston Chronicle, Lomi Kriel, Fate of immigrant children separated from parents is unclear
“It’s chaos,” said Michelle Brané, director of migrant rights at the Women’s Refugee Commission, a national advocacy group. “Everything is just moving really fast … I am not convinced they have a plan for reunifying those they have separated.”
Politico, Trump's herky-jerky immigration moves sow confusion
The chaos followed the hasty development of the executive order in response to a growing public outcry over the separations, which resulted in even babies and toddlers being sent alone to shelters. Two people familiar with the process said Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told only her inner circle about the executive order, keeping top officials at DHS — including those at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection — out of the loop.
...
Frustrated White House aides said the damage created by the herky-jerky policy process is twofold. The president’s sudden decision to sign the executive order threw off a planned House vote that could have set in motion the permanent legislative fix the White House has been seeking.

More importantly, these aides said, the original zero-tolerance policy championed by senior presidential adviser Stephen Miller was not run through the Domestic Policy Council, which Miller oversees. Some in the White House are also unclear whether the executive order is legal, which is something that would have been determined by a regular policy process.
...
By Thursday, Nielsen was saying that there is, in fact, a plan to reunite families — though she did not spell it out. “We have a plan to do that,” she said at an event on Capitol Hill. “It’s a combination of DHS, DOJ, HHS reunited as quickly as we can.”
"It's nice that at least one government official vaguely seems to think it's now policy, somehow, to return the kidnapped children to their parents," is not really a feeling I was prepared to have, yet here we are.

BuzzFeed, Amber Jamieson, The Heartbreaking Case Of The Three-Year-Old Boy In Immigration Court
The two little boys squeezed next to each other on the studded leather chair at the front of the courtroom #4 in the El Paso Immigration Court on Thursday, happily hitting each other with a blow-up toy gavel given to them by the judge.

"What's your name?" asked Judge Robert Hough. An interpreter repeated the question in Spanish to the smallest one.

"Es un avion" — "It's a plane!" the boy replied, pointing at a picture book with an illustration of a plane.

After the question was repeated, the boy told the court his name was Roger. The judge asked his age. Roger didn't answer the question, too distracted by the gavel and the book and the new surroundings.

His lawyer responded that Roger was three years old. The boy next to him in the chair was five.
Politico, Alex Isenstadt, Giuliani’s act of love sets off GOP furor. Rudy is backing an obscure House candidate in Louisiana for Clay Higgins' seat. Rudy's girlfriend is working for the candidate. Republican party officials aren't particularly happy about the primary challenge and are worried Rudy will get Trump involved.

Doug Saudners, There’s no migration crisis - the crisis is political opportunism

LA Times, Rong-Gong Lin II, Trump administration tightens rules for federal scientists talking to reporters, in which USGS is told they have to get approval from Interior before agreeing to interview requests, which employees say "will interfere with scientists' ability to respond to reporters' questions."

James Grimmelmann, Emotional Mobilization, or Old Man Yells at Death of Reason, a twisting little blog post meditating on the death of public reason, the rise of emotional appeals, and the emotional exhaustion of following this news cycle day after day.
Instead, the mechanism of control over government is no longer reasoned persuasion but emotional mobilization. This is partly a function of living in a partisan age: Trump may have revealed that base-activation is the dominant electoral strategy. But I’m becoming convinced that it’s even more a function of living in a social-media age. The way to build mass political power is to get something emotionally powerful and politically activating go viral among people who agree with you.

Again, this may seem like a rant against polarization. But this rant, at least, is not. The important phrase in that sentence is not “among people who agree with you”; it is “emotionally powerful.” Effective political participation requires sustained collective emotional commitment to a cause much more than it requires sustained collective reasoned commitment.

To be sure, my Facebook and Twitter feeds are filled, morning to night, with reasons to oppose the Trump administration’s policies and to mobilize against them. And the reasons are usually excellent ones. But the reasons are just the popsicle sticks: the supporting armatures for the emotional payload that does the real work.

Because the thing about emotional mobilization is that it works. The left wins when it mobilizes on the basis of mass outrage: against the travel ban, against taking away people’s healthcare, or now against tearing children from their parents. These are awful policies and the mobilization against them is effective in blunting them and laying a foundation to win enough votes to fix them for real.

But this new mode of political engagement is profoundly exhausting. Keeping up with the news requires struggling through a firehose of attempts to activate your passions. They’re pretty effective attempts, too, since the people making them share your values, goals, and premises. They know how to hit you where it hurts, and you count on them to. People who you disagree with are activating too. Deliberately or not, they make you mad at their stupidity and immorality – and the people who agree with you are great at digging up and highlighting the things most likely to make you mad.
This is surely rather rose-tinted, assuming that campaigns haven't always been fought and won on emotional appeals, but the extent to which we've abandoned all pretense at reasoned governance to have only emotional appeals is disturbing. The House tried to pass an immigration bill today that would upend millions of lives, and nobody had a clue what was in it, let alone a hearing. We came within one vote of a health care bill that had no premise besides "fuck Obamacare." Policy is dead; it's all just shouting out our emotional feelings on a topic.
posted by zachlipton at 10:14 PM on June 21, 2018 [46 favorites]


Michael Bloomberg's own statement on his radical centrist praxis for the 2018 elections.

In a government where one party is claiming compromise with itself to avoid dealing with the other party, what possible place is there for even honest centrism (which this isn't as we all know)?
posted by scalefree at 10:29 PM on June 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


POLITICS HOT TAKE: "Centrism" is the American euphemism for "what Republican voters believe and want, before they go and vote for candidates who enact extreme-right policies anyway"
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:32 PM on June 21, 2018 [16 favorites]


It's a tedious job, for low pay, and there is a hiring binge to take all these kids in. So the people they hire are Trump-grade.

Someone here posted a part of an interview with a worker who said he'd received a week's training and had no previous related experience.

Because I read the whole thing:

.... the jacket reminded me of when Britney Spears started wearing those shirts with messages on them shortly before having a nervous breakdown.

.... I am happy Avenatti is defending illegal immigrants, but where is the congressperson or senator that's going to be the point person on this? Someone needs to own this like Elizabeth Warren is the go to for consumer protection questions.

.... There's a great movie based on the minutes of the meeting that finalized the Nazi Final Solution starring Kenneth Branagh and Stanley Tucci. It's all very bureaucratic, about meeting Hitler's quotas, and so on. There's very little dramatic theatricality, but it's gripping nonetheless to watch these men simply try to fulfill their lawful obligations.

.... Trump is backtracking on immigration for what seems like the first time, if not in reality, than at least in his rhetoric. He's been constantly testing the waters to see how far he can push the line of what's acceptable. Pushing back does make a difference. Thanks to everyone who's protesting.
posted by xammerboy at 10:47 PM on June 21, 2018 [11 favorites]


There's a great movie based on the minutes of the meeting that finalized the Nazi Final Solution starring Kenneth Branagh and Stanley Tucci. It's all very bureaucratic, about meeting Hitler's quotas, and so on. There's very little dramatic theatricality, but it's gripping nonetheless to watch these men simply try to fulfill their lawful obligations.

It's called Conspiracy and it's excellent.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:53 PM on June 21, 2018 [21 favorites]


In a column for the British magazine Spectator, BBC correspondent Paul Wood revealed that Cambridge Analytica, the now-defunct company which was in charge of microtargeting voters for the Trump campaign, was in possession of Clinton’s emails at least a month before WikiLeaks was known to have them.

This is bullshit on the face of it. No one has ever come up with Clinton's emails. In fact, her infamous server is -- as far as we know -- the only email server of a major Washington figure not hacked by Russia.
posted by msalt at 11:14 PM on June 21, 2018 [18 favorites]


Can report that around 300 people turned up to a demonstration at the US Embassy in Wellington (New Zealand) just now. A bit hard to tell in the dark. Considering it was organised in a few days seemingly by people with no activist background, I'm pretty impressed, it's hard to get people to turn out at 5pm on a Friday when it's really cold.

This has tremendous international profile as a news story. I don't know how much that will help but it seems to be outraging people in a way previous Trump outrages have not.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 11:32 PM on June 21, 2018 [28 favorites]


The Illuminations of Hannah Arendt

Short NyTimes piece:
In her 1951 work, “The Origins of Totalitarianism,” Arendt wrote of refugees: “The calamity of the rightless is not that they are deprived of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, or of equality before the law and freedom of opinion, but that they no longer belonged to any community whatsoever.” The loss of community has the consequence of expelling a people from humanity itself. Appeals to abstract human rights are meaningless unless there are effective institutions to guarantee these rights. The most fundamental right is the “right to have rights.”
posted by xammerboy at 11:52 PM on June 21, 2018 [23 favorites]


Corey’s obituary
posted by growabrain at 12:27 AM on June 22, 2018 [4 favorites]


Even if they started out with high quality workers, as the good ones left in disgust they'd quickly self-select for sadists, disaffected & desperates afraid to lose their jobs for a variety of reasons, none good.

Have no doubt whatsoever that unchecked, this is where we're going. (CW: highly distressing image.) And where was the justice for the perpetrators of that atrocity, at any level? I'd like to think we've learned something since then, but worry that the sadists have only seen that they can revel in their cruelty even more overtly, and be rewarded for it.
posted by adamgreenfield at 12:48 AM on June 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


Have no doubt whatsoever that unchecked, this is where we're going.

For the older teens mostly misclassified as MS-13 members it sounds like we're already there.

Immigrant teens were allegedly abused and denied medical care at Virginia prison. Teens as young as 14 allege they were beaten regularly, denied adequate medical treatment, and had bones broken by prison guards.
Immigrant children being housed in a Virginia detention facility were subjected to brutally abusive conditions, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

The claims were made public in a series of court filings against the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center in Staunton, Virginia, which holds 58 secure beds for youths 12 to 17 years old, and has allegedly imprisoned a number of Latinx teens for anywhere from a few months to several years.

The teens, some of whom are as young as 14, say they were sent to the prison after being accused by U.S. immigration officials of belonging to gangs like MS-13, a favorite topic of discussion for President Trump. Their allegations detail horrific acts of violence, including broken bones, regular beatings, and psychological abuse.
Hell. We're in Hell.
posted by scalefree at 1:21 AM on June 22, 2018 [45 favorites]




No one has ever come up with Clinton's emails

This is true, but the wording in Paul Wood's piece is...

"An American lawyer I know told me that he was approached by a Cambridge Analytica employee after the election. They had had the Clinton emails more than a month before they were published by WikiLeaks."

I took "the Clinton emails" to refer to the DNC emails about Clinton (and Sanders, erc.) Since those are the ones that were published by WikiLeaks.(Could also mean the Podesta emails, but those wetter published several mints after the DNC's,)

Anyway this is tossed off casually with no further details.

I hope Paul Wood and his American lawyer friend are prepared to answer a whole lot of questions from the American media about this. Hopefully they have already answered those questions for Mueller.
posted by OnceUponATime at 2:23 AM on June 22, 2018 [6 favorites]


Marc Pitzke (Spiegel Online) interviews human rights lawyer Michael Garcia Bochenek, senior counsel to the children's rights division of Human Rights Watch. Bochenek recently visited incarceration centres in Texas.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: You have researched child abuse all over the world. Have you ever seen anything like this?

Bochenek: No. I don't know any other country that has used family separation on this scale. Everything about this is unique.
[CW: traumatic torture and abuse]

Also from Spiegel Online, a German journalist calls Trump what he is: an enemy of Europe.
No, this U.S. president was never a partner. He is a hostile opponent. We should finally start to treat him as such and act accordingly. [...] We have long known that we could no longer rely on the United States under Donald Trump. Now, though, it has become clear that we have to protect ourselves from him.
posted by runcifex at 2:30 AM on June 22, 2018 [19 favorites]


So, errr, about that Melania thing:
She didn't even visit an actual detention center.

Couldn't they have just let her parade around on the White House lawn carrying a placard with "fuck you libs, we'll keep on torturing children" on it?

Oh, and if you want to get into the mindset of a Trump voter: take a gander at this.
posted by PontifexPrimus at 2:31 AM on June 22, 2018 [34 favorites]


Random note: Apparently the Utah Arts Festival let people pay $75 this year for the privilege of naming one of the Port-a-potties at the festival. So a friend of mine did so, and one of the portable restrooms there now has a sign reading:

Future Trump Presidential Library
posted by mmoncur at 3:51 AM on June 22, 2018 [112 favorites]


Protest of police shooting closes Interstate 376 outside Pittsburgh
For the second consecutive night, several hundred people converged to protest the East Pittsburgh police shooting death of Antwon Rose II.

Hundreds of protesters marched onto Interstate-376 and closed it in both directions for more than five hours. Police in riot gear appeared in the early morning hours and repeatedly threatened to arrest protesters if they didn’t disperse. They didn’t until nearly 2:30 a.m. when the roadway cleared peacefully. Police made just one arrest.
posted by octothorpe at 4:06 AM on June 22, 2018 [55 favorites]


I’m so proud of those protestors. I was unable to join them so instead spent my evening on social media squabbling with locals who just feel so inconvenienced by the shutdown, and wish the protestors could be nicer about their grief and rage and express it in ways that don’t bother nice white people trying to get home for dinner. Fuck all of that.
posted by Stacey at 4:37 AM on June 22, 2018 [41 favorites]


The most divisive element of the legislation passed Thursday are new, stricter work rules for most able-bodied adults in the food stamp program, the federal safety net that provides an average of $125 per month in grocery money to 42.3 million Americans. Under the proposal, adults will have to spend 20 hours per week either working or participating in a state-run training program to receive benefits.

20 hours a week for $125/month. That's about $1.25/hour for a highly restricted faux currency.

They are restoring slavery to America.
posted by srboisvert at 4:38 AM on June 22, 2018 [45 favorites]




Politico: . . . the herky-jerky policy process . . .

Trumps assault on Language continues! Very unfair! Must defeet!
posted by petebest at 5:33 AM on June 22, 2018 [1 favorite]


Trump tells Republicans to 'stop wasting their time' on immigration (Mallory Shelbourne, TheHill, via Politicalwire)

"Republicans should stop wasting their time on Immigration until after we elect more Senators and Congressmen/women in November," the president wrote on Twitter. "Dems are just playing games, have no intention of doing anything to solves this decades old problem. We can pass great legislation after the Red Wave!"

Fred Christ Trump, man, it's going to get better but fuck. What an asshole.

137 days til the gunfight at the Not-OK corral.
posted by petebest at 5:41 AM on June 22, 2018 [7 favorites]




Trump tells Republicans to 'stop wasting their time' on immigration (Mallory Shelbourne, TheHill, via Politicalwire)

Trump was telling them on Wednesday that they needed to pass immigration law right now.
posted by PenDevil at 5:48 AM on June 22, 2018 [9 favorites]


We can pass great legislation after the Red Wave!

Speaking of optics, I don't know about you, but a Blue Wave conjures up images of a clean, sparkling ocean whereas a Red Wave implies blood, decay, and pollution in the water.
posted by Servo5678 at 5:51 AM on June 22, 2018 [65 favorites]


I honestly don't understand why republicans in congress would still be looking to Trump for their legislative priorities.
posted by runcibleshaw at 5:53 AM on June 22, 2018 [1 favorite]


whereas a Red Wave implies blood, decay, and pollution in the water.

The elevator in The Shining was unavailable for comment.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:54 AM on June 22, 2018 [59 favorites]


From the show that is proud to know that they are speaking to Trump every time they look at the camera:
"Like it or not, these are not our kids. Show them compassion, but it's not like he's doing this to the people of Idaho or Texas. These are people from another country."
posted by zombieflanders at 5:55 AM on June 22, 2018 [19 favorites]




We can pass great legislation after the Red Wave!

You have majorities in both houses of Congress, including a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, you dull-normal gibbering snake. The only thing stopping you from passing legislation as fast as you can arrange signing ceremonies is your own titanic incompetence at getting your own goddamn party to line up behind your genocidal intent.
posted by Mayor West at 5:56 AM on June 22, 2018 [38 favorites]


There's now an "I really do care. Don't U?" shirt with all profits going to United We Dream.
posted by jgirl at 5:59 AM on June 22, 2018 [18 favorites]


@ The Whelk is there a safe local distributor group we can send the protester supplies to so they can get what they need safely/reliably?

Please advise / MeMail
posted by yoga at 6:00 AM on June 22, 2018 [6 favorites]


We can pass great legislation after the Red Wave!

There's a nonzero chance we can get them to start cheering for a "Crimson Wave" before November.
posted by melissasaurus at 6:03 AM on June 22, 2018 [15 favorites]


"Like it or not, these are not our kids. Show them compassion, but it's not like he's doing this to the people of Idaho or Texas. These are people from another country."

If the rest of the world decided to invade us I'll greet them as liberators.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 6:05 AM on June 22, 2018 [64 favorites]


Show them compassion, but it's not like he's doing this to the people of Idaho or Texas. These are people from another country."

True Christian spirit from the family values party.
posted by chris24 at 6:11 AM on June 22, 2018 [28 favorites]


... but it's not like he's doing this to the people of Idaho or Texas. These are people from another country."

I think some of these folks take the “neighbor” in “love thy neighbor” a touch too literally.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 6:17 AM on June 22, 2018 [18 favorites]


I honestly don't understand why republicans in congress would still be looking to Trump for their legislative priorities.

They don't have any legislative priorities though. They really only had tax cuts, and they got that. They failed to repeal Obamacare, mostly due to it being too cruel for even Susan Collins (although she could flip back at anytime). They can't do anything on immigration for the same reasons. They can't pass their most extreme budget cuts for the same reasons. The only things they have left are using the congressional review act to repeal some Obama inititives here and there. That's it.

There is no real "Republican agenda" left. They won. Utterly and completely. They already did every horrible rightwing fantasy that was ever within the realm of reasonably possible to achieve within the normal landscape of American politics. Now they're looking for more and more extreme right wing cruelties because they've literally run out of anything else they ever wanted.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:21 AM on June 22, 2018 [21 favorites]


wildblueyonder I'm struck by the fact that instead of saying "a nation of men" it might be equally apt (and perhaps more precise) to say it's a society of privilege.

It's from John Adams who wrote that the objective was to establish "a government of laws and not of men." In his case he meant literal aristocrats and kings.
posted by sotonohito at 6:25 AM on June 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


I think some of these folks take the “neighbor” in “love thy neighbor” a touch too literally.

They mostly don't mean actual neighborhood-neighbors either. Perhaps just the person adjacent to them on the F&F couch.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:26 AM on June 22, 2018 [2 favorites]


@AP_Politics:
BREAKING: A new AP-NORC poll finds that regardless of political party, Americans widely reject the idea that presidents should be able to pardon themselves, and they agree Congress should impeach those that do.

"If the president tries to pardon himself, should steps be taken to remove him from office?"

Democrats: 93% yes
Independents: 75% yes
Republicans: 56% yes
posted by chris24 at 6:27 AM on June 22, 2018 [56 favorites]


just imagine all the awful legislation they will pass as a final "fuck you" between november and january (assuming (a) there is an election in november, (b) they don't ratfuck the election, and (c) the democrats don't blow it with another ill-advised attempt at centrism)
posted by entropicamericana at 6:28 AM on June 22, 2018 [4 favorites]


Tom Arnold says he's teaming up with Michael Cohen and 'taking Trump down' [Real, apparently]

Can someone explain what the fuck is going on?
posted by holmesian at 6:29 AM on June 22, 2018 [20 favorites]


I took "the Clinton emails" to refer to the DNC emails about Clinton (and Sanders, erc.) Since those are the ones that were published by WikiLeaks.(Could also mean the Podesta emails, but those wetter published several mints after the DNC's,)

Right. But we were already talking about how Paul Wood was a sketchy source, and this confirms that IMHO. Especially since it’s a Trumpist talking point to keep acting like Butter Emails are a real thing that people found, don’t you “remember?”

It’s all part of the gaslighting, and tempting-to-believe conspiracy tidbits from the likes of Wood and Louise Mensch have been part of it all along.
posted by msalt at 6:30 AM on June 22, 2018 [4 favorites]


They mostly don't mean actual neighborhood-neighbors either.

It means other white americans. It only means other white americans. It has never and will never mean anything to fox news viewers other than white americans who speak english and use a hateful "christian" god as a bludgeon against minorities, even when those minorities themselves are christian.
posted by poffin boffin at 6:31 AM on June 22, 2018 [31 favorites]


They really missed a chance there. "Crimson Tide" sounded better and would have given them a Denzel Washington-esque veneer of respectability but they decided to go for the Carrie vibe instead.

Pig blood it is, then.
posted by lydhre at 6:32 AM on June 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


RE: Tom Arnold teaming up with Michael Cohen. I guess that makes sense because Avenatti is really busy with immigrant kids right now.

Maybe we’ll get a crossover episode.
posted by notyou at 6:34 AM on June 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


On the other hand, Crimson Tide is all about having the courage of your convictions and standing up to defy insane orders to start WWIII, so not applicable to Republicans in the least.
posted by lydhre at 6:34 AM on June 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


> Tom Arnold says he's teaming up with Michael Cohen and 'taking Trump down' [Real, apparently]
Can someone explain what the fuck is going on?


I dunno, from 6x10^23 Scaramucci's ago: Tom Arnold says he has the rumored racist Trump tape from "The Apprentice"
posted by klarck at 6:37 AM on June 22, 2018 [16 favorites]


@Phil_Lewis_: Protestors are outside of DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen’s Alexandria townhouse, playing audio of the detained children. She appears to be still be home.

As you enjoy this, please be sure not to miss the very diverting discussion on Stephen Miller and the features of his residence that starts with "This is awesome, and should also be brought to the steps of Stephen Miller and Jeff Sessions' homes."
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:39 AM on June 22, 2018 [18 favorites]


But we were already talking about how Paul Wood was a sketchy source

No, 'we' weren't. Paul Wood is not 'sketchy'. He has won quite a few awards and is a well-regarded professional journalist who reports reliably and bravely for the BBC and quite a few other outlets. That doesn't mean he can't ever be wrong, or report something that later proves inaccurate, but he's certainly not 'sketchy.' Comparing him to Louise Mensch is downright offensive and absolutely wrong.
posted by halation at 6:40 AM on June 22, 2018 [14 favorites]


If i were a betting man I’d wager that mark Burnett will be involved in whatever tom Arnold and Michael Cohen are planning.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 6:43 AM on June 22, 2018


I wouldn't. He's sat on thousands of hours of incriminating tapes this whole time.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:48 AM on June 22, 2018 [15 favorites]


At least they're together. Now let's get them out.

@DavidBegnaud:
BREAKING UPDATE: The mother and daughter seen in that now viral image — being detained at the border in Texas — are together, in custody, housed a family facility in Texas, according to @ICEgov

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/border-patrol-agent-involved-dramatic-photo-girl-crying-at-border-speaks-out/
posted by chris24 at 6:48 AM on June 22, 2018 [15 favorites]


And I'd wager that it does not matter what tirade of expletives and racial slurs he's on tape uttering. His 30% will love it, another 20% will dismiss it as locker room talk, and the next day there will be some new awful crisis happening.
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:49 AM on June 22, 2018 [20 favorites]


Younger Trump Staff having a bad time - everyone is mean to them because they are nazis who rip babies from their mothers arms.
posted by Artw at 6:50 AM on June 22, 2018 [63 favorites]


They mostly don't mean actual neighborhood-neighbors either.

It means other white americans.

It's worse than that. I think the choices of mentioning "Texas" and "Idaho" are intentional: they are referring to True Americans™, i.e. anyone who still identifies as Republican. Sure, maybe white Californians or Bay Staters are considered to be a cut above Latinx, but they're not True Americans™ and are therefore worthy of persecution, too. (Clearly what they deserve unless True Americans™ deign to "show them compassion".)

It's amazing to me how quickly the mainstream rhetoric is being stepped up from "religious minorities are the enemy" to "racial minorities are the enemy" to "everyone I don't like, updated daily, is the enemy".
posted by ragtag at 6:51 AM on June 22, 2018 [14 favorites]


Releasing some old Apprentice tape of Trump saying the N word or whatever seems pretty pointless now. He's putting babies in cages and kids and teens in abusive detention centers. I don't know what would be accomplished by releasing a tape, except to change the conversation from people's real lives right now. We know he's racist.
posted by Emmy Rae at 6:51 AM on June 22, 2018 [30 favorites]


Tom Arnold says he's teaming up with Michael Cohen and 'taking Trump down'

NBC, the source of The Hill's article: Tom Arnold Tweets Picture With Michael Cohen, Says He 'Has All The Tapes'—Arnold is hunting for 'incriminating' tapes of Trump as part of a show for Vice.
Arnold told NBC News early Friday that Cohen ― who is under investigation by federal prosecutors ― talked to him for the show, which is expected to air later this year.

"We’ve been on the other side of the table and now we’re on the same side," said Arnold, an outspoken Trump critic. "It’s on! I hope he [Trump] sees the picture of me and Michael Cohen and it haunts his dreams."[...]

Arnold would not say whether Cohen was planning to give him any tapes he might have of conversations with Trump.

But he added: "This dude has all the tapes -- this dude has everything."

"I say to Michael, 'Guess what? We’re taking Trump down together, and he’s so tired he’s like, 'OK,' and his wife is like, 'OK, f*** Trump,'" Arnold said, laughing.
Is this Cohen's attempt to troll Trump into banking his legal defense or his first big "fuck you" to his former boss? Tune in again when Tom Arnold reveals all!

Pony request: In future, could we please link to the original articles instead of news-regurgitator sites like The Hill? (Especially in fast-moving threads like these in which the signal:noise ratio becomes hard enough to manage.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:52 AM on June 22, 2018 [12 favorites]


I can't think of anything that trump could be caught doing on tape that would make any difference to his base or to the majority of elected republicans.
posted by poffin boffin at 6:53 AM on June 22, 2018 [15 favorites]


From the link that chris24 posted above:
"They're using it to symbolize a policy and that was not the case in this picture," Ruiz said. "It took less than two minutes. As soon as the search was finished, she immediately picked the girl up, and the girl immediately stopped crying."
IF SHE WAS CRYING LIKE THAT WHEN HER MOTHER WAS THREE FEET AWAY

HOW DO YOU THINK SHE RESPONDED

WHEN YOU SUBSEQUENTLY RIPPED HER AWAY FOR DAYS AND DAYS

YOU SACK OF SHIT
posted by joyceanmachine at 6:53 AM on June 22, 2018 [69 favorites]


Not sure I buy Tom Arnold's story - if half the crew of The Apprentice received that video as a "Christmas card" (wtf), absolutely someone would have leaked it by now.

And yeah, even if it were true, releasing it at this point would almost be counterproductive. I half expect he'd just shrug his shoulders and start saying the N-word in his rally speeches. A few Republican lawmakers would express "concerns" and nothing would change.
posted by Roommate at 6:54 AM on June 22, 2018 [2 favorites]


I'm gonna go ahead and make a request that we not fuel the Tom Arnold story until such time as it is confirmed to be an Actual Thing
posted by saturday_morning at 6:55 AM on June 22, 2018 [21 favorites]


The stories are all lies, don't you know.

@realDonaldTrump:
We must maintain a Strong Southern Border. We cannot allow our Country to be overrun by illegal immigrants as the Democrats tell their phony stories of sadness and grief, hoping it will help them in the elections. Obama and others had the same pictures, and did nothing about it!
posted by chris24 at 6:56 AM on June 22, 2018 [3 favorites]


OK, I stand corrected on Paul Wood; he’s no Louise Mensch. He is, at the least, an experienced and brave war correspondent with apparently solid sources in UK intelligence.

I stand by my point that “Cambridge Analytica had the Clinton emails a month early” is at best deeply ignorant in a way that serves Trumpist talking points. Maybe he’s getting played by a source; maybe he’s out of his depth on Trump/Russia. But tempting and twisted “revelations” have been part of this Russian playbook since 2015, especially around these hacked emails.
posted by msalt at 6:59 AM on June 22, 2018 [1 favorite]


Trump discussing paying for (and encouraging/forcing) abortions for his various mistresses? Not excited for the eventual “abortion is fine for our adulterous president but no one else” talking points.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 7:03 AM on June 22, 2018 [1 favorite]


Under the proposal, adults will have to spend 20 hours per week either working or participating in a state-run training program to receive benefits.

The Australian fascist code for this kind of cruel and pointless hoop-jumping is "mutual obligation". Since we appear to be exporting every other horrible bloody thing we've done in the last thirty years, keep an eye out for that phrase turning up in the NYT some time soon.

Next move from our playbook: creation of a "migration zone" from which the Democrats subsequently excise the entire country.
posted by flabdablet at 7:04 AM on June 22, 2018 [7 favorites]


"They're using it to symbolize a policy and that was not the case in this picture," Ruiz said.

If you read the original story it is clear that the photographer doesn't know if they were separated or not. Ruiz is fact checking something no one was claiming. Plus he says it right in his statement: it's to symbolize!

Some dude from Border Patrol (maybe he is the head of Border Patrol?) was on NPR [I swear I mainly listen for the Minnesota news] the other evening. His whole deal was to repeatedly explain that BORDER PATROL doesn't split up families. Just delivers them to ICE and then ICE does all the dirty work. Mary Louise Kelley kept trying to get him to answer a question about "do you think this is ok?" and he would just repeat "Again, we aren't separating families. We just process people blah blah blah".

It was so bizarre. I don't know if he is trying to sanitize the reputation of Border Patrol or what. Guess what buddy, I have no room in my heart for the train conductors in Nazi Germany either. They facilitated what happened next.
posted by Emmy Rae at 7:10 AM on June 22, 2018 [38 favorites]


btw, demo in Berlin in front of the US embassy at 4.30 NOW, in case any Berlin mefites haven't seen it. Also on the 30th same as intermationally
posted by runincircles at 7:14 AM on June 22, 2018 [15 favorites]


Now they're looking for more and more extreme right wing cruelties because they've literally run out of anything else they ever wanted.

What they wanted..still want...is a fantasy. A white America of their dreams, based on mis-remembering all of American history, from the first Europeans onward, and not achievable because it did not and could not exist. And every time they run up against that fact, they lash out by blaming and hurting the others that they decide are keeping their fantasy from being true.

That's why hardcore right-wing types can never be appeased or reasoned with. They can only be opposed and shut down.
posted by emjaybee at 7:17 AM on June 22, 2018 [35 favorites]


Arnold would not say whether Cohen was planning to give him any tapes he might have of conversations with Trump.

But he added: "This dude has all the tapes -- this dude has everything."


This would seem to be of interest to Bob Mueller
posted by schadenfrau at 7:17 AM on June 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


Daily Beast: 5-Year Old in Family Detention Camp Tells Mom: This Is Hell

“I had a mom the other day, crying, saying she didn’t know what to do because she thought her kid had lost over ten pounds, and that she used to be too heavy for her to carry, now she carries her around everywhere,” said Katy Murdza, who Advocacy Coordinator at the Dilley Pro Bono Project. Murdza added that the child was 4. [...] “We’ve had people in family detention who have cancer scares and they were being told to take Ibuprofen and drink water,” she said.

dvocates said many children experience behavioral regression, when their development seems to reverse—wetting the bed, biting other children, and otherwise acting out.

Kline said her clients also complain that they don’t get adequate medical care. “Everything is, ‘Oh, just drink more water,’ no matter what the issue is,” she said. “We had a child who was throwing up blood and was not taken to the hospital,” Kline added. “She was throwing up blood for days.”

Murdza said in November, a 4-year-old girl was having diarrhea and wasn’t eating. “The doctor wasn’t taking it seriously, according to the mom, wasn’t providing treatment,” Murdza said. “And eventually the doctor said that she had bulimia—which did not sound right, especially considering that she was 4. And she lost 8 pounds.” “You could see her ribs,” Murdza said the mother told her. “Her eyes looked sunken.”


If "family detention" is vastly expanded on military bases, people are going to die and the military will be complicit. The Pentagon needs to put a stop to this, or Mattis will be as guilty as any others of crimes against humanity.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:19 AM on June 22, 2018 [83 favorites]


The Guardian: Nikki Haley attacks damning UN report on US poverty under Trump :

Haley, the former Republican governor of South Carolina, said she was “deeply disappointed” that the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, had “categorically misstated the progress the United States has made in addressing poverty … in [his] biased reporting”. She added that in her view that “it is patently ridiculous for the United Nations to examine poverty in America” – which prompted puzzlement as Alston carried out his investigation at the formal invitation of the Trump administration.

Instead, Haley suggested, the UN monitor should have used his voice “to shine a light” on countries where governments were causing pain and suffering on their own people, such as Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. “The special rapporteur wasted the UN’s time and resources, deflecting attention from the world’s worst human rights abusers and focusing instead on the wealthiest and freest country in the world.”[...]

[Bernie] Sanders said it was appropriate for the UN to focus on America, given that 40 million people in the US still live in poverty, more than 30 million have no health insurance, and 40% of Americans cannot afford $400 in an emergency.

“I hope you will agree that in a nation in which the top three people own more wealth than the bottom half, we can and must do much better than that,” Sanders said. [...]

The rapporteur carried out a 10-day tour in December of poverty hotspots in the US, from California, though Alabama and West Virginia, to Puerto Rico. He concluded that though levels of hardship had been high for decades within America, Trump was taking it to another level by steering the country towards a “dramatic change of direction” that was rewarding wealthy Americans while stripping vulnerable Americans of welfare protections.
posted by Emmy Rae at 7:20 AM on June 22, 2018 [30 favorites]


The stories are all lies, don't you know.

@realDonaldTrump:
We must maintain a Strong Southern Border. We cannot allow our Country to be overrun by illegal immigrants as the Democrats tell their phony stories of sadness and grief, hoping it will help them in the elections. Obama and others had the same pictures, and did nothing about it!


So it reads like Trump has fully bought into the crisis-actor consipracy theories then, right? He's listening to 4chan and Ann Coulter?
posted by lazaruslong at 7:30 AM on June 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


Obama and others had the same pictures, and did nothing about it!

Note that he didn't say "Obama and the others also abused children." The crime is "having pictures." Spectacle and the control of information, for ever and ever amen.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:33 AM on June 22, 2018 [24 favorites]


Welp, I may be about to lose my niece, my last family member on FB that I still talked to; she posted a "Democrats made up the separated kids story!" by "CNS News," a Mercer and Exxon-funded "news source." I let her know that's what it was, but it depends on how hard she wants to believe the lie.

(If you want to look it up, it's called "Reality Check." I'm not linking to it.)

Was planning to go to my family's 4th, on the principle of "white people need to keep talking to their racist relatives" but I'm starting to freak out a little.
posted by emjaybee at 7:34 AM on June 22, 2018 [16 favorites]


[...] tell their phony stories of sadness and grief[...]

I honestly think he thinks they are phony because he literally cannot imagine feeling attachment to another human being. He never experienced the love of a mother to her child, and he doesn't love anyone besides himself, so they must be pretending just like he has to every time the cameras are rolling.

Edit: This isn't meant to sound snarky. I honestly think he has a mental disorder that destroyed his empathy.
posted by PontifexPrimus at 7:36 AM on June 22, 2018 [32 favorites]


Two kids who'd spent the last five weeks in a detention center in Michigan were reunited with their father at Logan Airport in Boston yesterday. Mother is still locked up somewhere.
posted by adamg at 7:36 AM on June 22, 2018 [14 favorites]


Was planning to go to my family's 4th, on the principle of "white people need to keep talking to their racist relatives" but I'm starting to freak out a little.

You gotta draw a line somewhere. I've struck "humans who defend child concentration camps but also have similar DNA" from my definition of "relatives."
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:39 AM on June 22, 2018 [62 favorites]


The company that made Melania's "I don't care" jacket also made: a Holocaust prison uniform and a purse with Nazi swastikas on it. We went from Michelle Obama to this.
posted by dirigibleman at 7:50 AM on June 22, 2018 [42 favorites]


The company that made Melania's "I don't care" jacket also made: a Holocaust prison uniform and a purse with Nazi swastikas on it. We went from Michelle Obama to this.

Hey, at least Melania's not trying to get the children dying in her concentration camps to eat vegetables.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:53 AM on June 22, 2018 [23 favorites]


It's interesting to me that the Evangelical Christians and Republicans, both groups ostensibly quite devoted to Christianity, are now vocally espousing an ideology that is literally anti-Christian.

I'm not even Christian and even I know who your neighbor is by the Christian definition. There's literally an entire segment of the Bible devoted explicitly to addressing that question.

Jesus said that the whole of the law was to love your neighbor as yourself. And some proto-Republican smart ass asks him if by "neighbor" he just meant other Jews or what. Jesus responded with the Parable of the Samaritan answering that "neighbor" meant everyone.

And here's Trump and his supporters saying "well, as long as the kids being abused and traumatized aren't white Americans it's ok!" It's as close to a literally, explicitly, anti-Christian message as its possible to get without actually saying "Jesus sucks".

There's the vaunted "Christian morality" of the right.

Worth noting: The American Family Association, a group that has "family" right in their name, issued a statement that abortion was worse than Trump's ripping apart of families so really there's no reason to complain about the latter.

I shouldn't be surprised, I've been watching right wing American Christians go against Jesus for my entire life, but they seem to be getting a lot more aggressive and explicit about it lately.
posted by sotonohito at 7:58 AM on June 22, 2018 [66 favorites]


Rust Moranis: If "family detention" is vastly expanded on military bases, people are going to die and the military will be complicit.

And the "sacredness" of the military is exactly what they'll hide behind. I have no idea if this was some kind of long-term strategy on the part of the people who concocted a military-centric attack on anyone who kneels to the flag... but they're going to connect that rhetoric to the next horrors. "If you say children are being mistreated, you are Attacking the Troops."

lazaruslong: So it reads like Trump has fully bought into the crisis-actor consipracy theories then, right? He's listening to 4chan and Ann Coulter?

That's basically what other people would mean by calling something "phony". But Trump's relationship with factuality is more complicated than it is for your ideological Nazis like Coulter or Steve King. (But not much more. Those folks are lying to themselves.) In one sense, he does believe kids are suffering. Part of him dislikes that they are suffering. Part of him enjoys it. And yes, part of him thinks it's an act on their part, that kids are pretending to cry specifically as a ploy against him, Donald Trump. Because that's how he uses strong negative emotions -- as tools to get what he wants (and usually what he wants most is targeted revenge).

But regardless, he thinks it's "phony" to regard children suffering as A Thing. He has no distinction between something being untrue and just generally disliking the whole narrative around that thing. Like how, if you don't like to eat celery, you might jokingly say "celery is bullshit!"... but at a deeper and more serious level.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:09 AM on June 22, 2018 [19 favorites]


It's interesting to me that the Evangelical Christians and Republicans, both groups ostensibly quite devoted to Christianity, are now vocally espousing an ideology that is literally anti-Christian.

For a very long time now, Christianity for these groups has primarily been just a way of saying "traditional patriarchy and heterosexuality". Even more recently, the closer alignment of these groups with the GOP has added the twin principles of whiteness and capitalism to that list. Nothing about any of this has much to do with the New Testament.
posted by dis_integration at 8:11 AM on June 22, 2018 [13 favorites]


It's been a Trumpist belief since the get-go that the families crossing the border aren't real families, they are all 100% child traffickers and they're just pretending to be sad. No shit. This has been a thing for weeks/months/years with them. They don't like to state it so bluntly because I think even the more self-aware and image-conscious among them are aware of how batshit Pizzagate banananuts that sounds, but that's what they think.
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:14 AM on June 22, 2018 [13 favorites]


It's interesting to me that the Evangelical Christians and Republicans, both groups ostensibly quite devoted to Christianity, are now vocally espousing an ideology that is literally anti-Christian.

Evangelicals are particularly emphatic about the importance of repentance for salvation.

And they are lined behind a man who has repeatedly stated he feels he has nothing to repent.

A man who is quite old and thus already dawdling by the gate of Hell, according to teh tenets of Christianity.

You can't get more anti-Christian than that.
posted by ocschwar at 8:14 AM on June 22, 2018 [7 favorites]


Which, btw, is going to be their justification when Bethany Christian Services starts selling these children to good white Christian families.
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:14 AM on June 22, 2018 [21 favorites]


It's interesting to me that the Evangelical Christians and Republicans, both groups ostensibly quite devoted to Christianity, are now vocally espousing an ideology that is literally anti-Christian.


For a bunch of people who've spent the last thirty years fantasizing about how they were going to oppose the Antichrist during his inevitable rise, they sure were quick to bend the knee the moment that fucker actually showed up in the Republican primaries.
posted by Mayor West at 8:17 AM on June 22, 2018 [67 favorites]


It's been a Trumpist belief since the get-go that the families crossing the border aren't real families, they are all 100% child traffickers and they're just pretending to be sad.

If they honestly believed these children were victims of child trafficking then they would want them OUT of the camps and back home with their families. They don't. They think the kids deserve whatever happens to them, because they're brown.
posted by poffin boffin at 8:18 AM on June 22, 2018 [36 favorites]


Jesus responded with the Parable of the Samaritan

A Trump voter writes*: "You'll note that in this case, the person who's required to be good is part of the socially designated outgroup, so clearly Jesus didn't mean for us to treat other people well."

*Obviously not, but it's depressingly plausible.
posted by ambrosen at 8:18 AM on June 22, 2018 [6 favorites]


The same way that racist doctors believe that black people physically feel less pain than white people, these disgusting shitheads believe that brown kids crying aren't actually feeling pain and loss from family separation and institutional abuses. They pretend that they think the kids are "actors" to cover up the fact that they believe minorities can't feel pain, because we're not human to them. To them we're just dumb savage animals to be used and discarded for white profit, or abused for their entertainment, or, ideally to them, both simultaneously.
posted by poffin boffin at 8:27 AM on June 22, 2018 [47 favorites]


It could not be more clear that the government is losing these children on purpose: WaPo: The chaotic effort to reunite immigrant parents with their separated kids

One legal aid organization, the Texas Civil Rights Project, is representing more than 300 parents and has been able to track down only two children.[...] Government officials say they have given detained parents a flier with a toll-free number for the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the U.S. agency that is usually in charge of providing shelter for unaccompanied immigrant children. But not a single one of Goodwin’s clients had received one, she said. Lawyers maintain that when they have called the number, often no one answered. In some cases, when someone did pick up, that person refused to offer details of where children had been taken, the lawyers said. [...]

The U.S. government spent months developing the family-separation system, but authorities were struggling on Thursday to figure out how to reunite detained parents with children. There was no system for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which handled the parents’ cases, to work on the issue with the refu­gee resettlement office, which is responsible for the children.[...]

The Office of Refugee Resettlement typically tries to find family members, foster parents or sponsors to take in children in its care. But it can take weeks before such people are approved to receive the children. That process normally applies to children who arrived in the United States without a relative.
Plus, I would guess those children come here prepared to seek out their family to some extent - they probably have the name of someone they are supposed to try to find and stay with. And they are old enough to explain that.

I have no more words to describe how heinous and unconscionable this is.
posted by Emmy Rae at 8:28 AM on June 22, 2018 [48 favorites]


Re: selling migrant babies to white folks;

I was talking to my husband yesterday about becoming foster parents for separated kids, and his take on it was that it was just enabling the government's activity if they can point at families like ours and say "See how well little Maria's life is going, now that she's safe in a white suburbia?" He pointed out that he is the only fluent Spanish speaker in the house, and also, given my activist record, large dog, chronic pain meds and pool, we were unlikely to be accepted, which is absolutely true for the regular state foster system.

For now, I'm volunteering to help set up information architecture for databases and interfaces to try and reunite families, and I'm going to try to become fluent in Spanish so I can be more helpful on the ground. Any recommendations y'all have for learning conversational languages are welcome in memail.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 8:28 AM on June 22, 2018 [25 favorites]


I can't think of anything that trump could be caught doing on tape that would make any difference to his base or to the majority of elected republicans.

One clip Arnold has been seeking is reportedly of Trump hitting Melania in an elevator. He's made a lot of noise about it but no clip so far.
posted by scalefree at 8:33 AM on June 22, 2018 [7 favorites]


*Obviously not, but it's depressingly plausible.

I was searching for the lyrics to a hymn they'd taught us in Catholic school that's based on Matthew 25:35-40 ("For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in...") and came across this interpretation, which sums up:
Matthew 25:34­–46 was never written as a blueprint for salvation through social work nor should it be employed as such. It’s not an argument for preaching the gospel through our actions alone, but rather that our actions authenticate the gospel we preach. And those actions must be prioritized towards our suffering fellow believers. So please, care for other believers because Jesus commanded us to. Realize that a lack of care may point to a lack of saving faith. And preach the gospel with words because they’re always necessary.
Why 'fellow believers' over everyone else?
Finally, the beneficiaries of these good works are not the disenfranchised people of the world, as Campolo suggests. The word “brothers” (Matthew 25:40) is vital to understanding where our benevolence is to be directed. Jesus is saying that the fruit of genuine faith is evidenced in the way we care for fellow believers who are suffering (cf. John 13:35; 1 John 3:10–11). MacArthur brings this point home:
The King’s addressing these people as brothers of Mine gives still further evidence that they are already children of God. . . . Because of their identity with Christ, they will often be hungry, thirsty, without decent shelter or clothing, sick, imprisoned, and alienated from the mainstream of society.
tl,dr: Fuck the poor.
posted by hangashore at 8:34 AM on June 22, 2018 [21 favorites]


Gov. Cuomo: 'HHS won’t tell us' location of migrant children

700 migrant children were brought to New York State, but HHS won’t even tell the state’s governor where they are being kept, or when they were even coming.

These are forced disappearances and some children have probably disappeared forever.

scalefree: One clip Arnold has been seeking is reportedly of Trump hitting Melania in an elevator. He's made a lot of noise about it but no clip so far.

This would not lose him a single member of his base.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:37 AM on June 22, 2018 [37 favorites]


Spousal abuse would absolutely not be a problem for his base or the majority of repubs; the rest of them would just dismiss the video as fake. At least one person would unironically run for office on the R ticket with a pro-abuse platform.
posted by poffin boffin at 8:39 AM on June 22, 2018 [14 favorites]


The only Surely This moment for the base would be if he openly embraced morality, anti-racism and/or socialism.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:39 AM on June 22, 2018 [15 favorites]


Here, have a pissed off letter I sent to my Congress Peeps.
I demand that Congress act NOW to abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. ICE's main mission is fivefold. First, to employ racial profiling to imprison people with brown skin. Second, break up families fleeing violence to find a better life in the United States. Third, target the most vulnerable people possible to inflate their numbers. Fourth, waste as much public money as possible on addressing a 'problem' that does not actually exist. Finally, engage in performative cruelty to intimidate vulnerable people and satisfy the animalistic bloodlust of Trump's deplorable supporters. Teen Vogue, a magazine geared towards young people, has pointed out these facts. Why haven't the [Democratic/Republican] Cacuses in Congress?

I expect all [Democratic/Republican] legislators sponsor legislation to abolish ICE, but most especially you.
Was out for a while tending to mental health issues, but I'm baaaaaaack. Will try and post more letters.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 8:42 AM on June 22, 2018 [42 favorites]


If people need scripts for calling Congressfolk, I wrote this to my political action email list (the rest of my email was a bunch of stuff y'all already know from these threads):

Please call your elected folks - (202) 224-3121 - and tell them we need to end prosecution of border crossers and reunite families. Potential script:

Hello, my name is X and I am a constituent in Zip. Can you tell me what Elected's position is on prosecuting people for the misdemeanor of crossing the border?

[In my experience, at this point they probably have a script ready about family separations. They are less likely to have a prepared comment about ending border crossing prosecutions. You can tailor this next section based on the staffer's response.]

Okay. Please tell Elected that I am opposed to prosecuting border crossers. It is harmful to families and it doesn't make us safer. The government must come up with a plan to reunite these families and leave all future border crossing family groups intact. Thank you.
posted by Emmy Rae at 8:49 AM on June 22, 2018 [15 favorites]




We don't need to link to every horrible thing Andrew Sullivan says.
posted by schmod at 8:52 AM on June 22, 2018 [79 favorites]


What do we do... just let all these people who want to work hard in our country in?

YES!
posted by runcibleshaw at 8:53 AM on June 22, 2018 [18 favorites]


I will generously fund any wall that bricks him up in someone's wine cellar.
posted by poffin boffin at 8:53 AM on June 22, 2018 [66 favorites]


Andrew Sullivan who tweeted this 4 days ago to Charles Murray about the Bell Curve? Yeah fuck him.


Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish)
They haven’t read it. Won’t read it. Most prescient book of the last quarter century.
posted by chris24 at 8:55 AM on June 22, 2018 [30 favorites]


To quote Vicente Fox for Mr. Sullivan: “I am not going to pay for that fucking wall”.

When you compromise with fascists, you just move closer to them. We've seen this phenomenon for years with the Republican party--even if there is funding for that goddamned wall, the bullshit at the border will continue because that is what Trump, the institutional Republican party, and the deplorable Republican base want.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 8:57 AM on June 22, 2018 [19 favorites]


Guys, I blanked on who Andrew Sullivan is 'cause it's early for me and I thought that piece might be sarcasm or satire or something, but no. That article is a whole lot of "okay this was bad, but..." Fuck everything about this guy and his noise.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:58 AM on June 22, 2018 [9 favorites]


I will generously fund any wall that bricks him up in someone's wine cellar.

TRUMP: For the love of god, poffin boffin!!!!

POFFIN BOFFIN: Yes...for the love of god.

[Clunking sounds]
posted by Frowner at 8:58 AM on June 22, 2018 [88 favorites]


FFS Andrew Sullivan is, himself, an immigrant. Triple fuck this guy and his hypocrisy.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 9:02 AM on June 22, 2018 [36 favorites]


Sullivan is one those NeverTrumper writers that has, as the awfulness gets ratcheted up, has reverted more and more to their natural state of bigotry and idiocy. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he accused anyone opposing a war with Iran of being fifth-column America-hating saboteurs. After all, he'd just have to polish off his previous work and change all the "q"s to "n"s and call it a day. And all his race-baiting bullshit wouldn't even need that.
posted by zombieflanders at 9:02 AM on June 22, 2018 [12 favorites]


The problem with The Bell Curve is that even if the book is 110% truth from god’s mouth to your ears (it’s not but that’s a massive long post for another time) it doesn’t matter because a bell curve is going to be a distribution. If you’re for a meritocracy, even if you believe in absolutist meritocracy, and the “supremacy of the white race” (I put that in quotes because it’s so utterly fucking stupid) it’s contradictory. The smartest black person is still a million times smarter than the dumbest white person and that’s exactly why it proves white supremacy is both a false narrative and a stupid idea.

Sure it may attempt to prove it in aggregate but individual actions in everyday life and work come down to individuals not aggregates.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 9:03 AM on June 22, 2018 [11 favorites]


Interesting Morning Joe and Mika clip here. Despite my antipathy and disgust for them both--they're as complicit as anyone in the media of getting this asshole elected--I think Mika says something worth picking up and running with here.

“He will be forever remembered as the president who traumatized little children — that’s his brand now,” she said. “He’s the president who purposefully traumatized babies and children, and he traumatized them for his political gain or to look strong or to look like Kim Jong-un.”

I think this is the sort of thing he needs to be hammered with forever. Make it a Twitter hashtag or prod people in Congress to say it or whatever. "Brand" is a word that Trump clings to. He and his White House and his supporters need to hear it over and over: That's your brand now. Because it is.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:11 AM on June 22, 2018 [87 favorites]


chiming in to ratify xammerboy's & Rust Moranis' earlier recommendation of 2001 branagh/tucci film Conspiracy, depicting the Wannsee Conference, a 1942 meeting among nazi executives to hammer out the final solution.

(anyone else chilled by Paul Ryan yesterday anticipating an "ultimate solution" in an immigration reform bill context?)

had seen earlier Wannsee Conference film in highschool holocaust class, but reviewed Conspiracy as recently as february. at that time i tweeted (self link) about some highlights. notable are the nazi leaders' evidently sincere concern with doing everything legally & their discomfort & confusion at the deliberately-misleading degradation of language:
Rudolph Lange: “I have the real feeling I ‘evacuated’ 30,000 Jews already, by shooting them at Riga. Is what I did ‘evacuation’? When they fell, were they ‘evacuated’?...I just think it is helpful to know what words mean.” Eichmann suggests not being too explicit as to this point on the record when Heydrich cuts him off: “Yes. In my personal opinion they are evacuated.” (Later, Heydrich will direct Eichmann to make sure any record will be rendered obscure in bureaucratese.)
Wilhelm Stuckart (a co-writer of the Nuremberg Laws): “Any legal code worthy of the name restricts the enforcers of the law as well as its subjects. There are some things you cannot do.”
overall, it is terrible to watch, and good to be aware of.
posted by 20 year lurk at 9:20 AM on June 22, 2018 [10 favorites]


New poll from CNN: Americans Think Russia Investigation Is Serious and Should Continue
The number of Americans who approve of how Mueller is handling the investigation has dropped from 48% in March to 44% in May to just 41% now, the lowest it has been in CNN's polling. Mueller has a lot of company; no one connected with this matter is coming out of it in a positive light. Mueller's favorable rating is just 32%; former FBI director James Comey's favorability is just 28%; Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump's lawyers in the Russia investigation, is viewed favorably by only 31% of Americans.[...]

Negative views of Mueller don't mean that the public is taking Trump's side. Just 29% approve of how Trump is handling the Russia investigation. Only 35% say it is an attempt to discredit Trump's presidency. Nearly 7-in-10 think Trump should testify under oath if Mueller requests it. Another 70% would disapprove if Trump issues himself a presidential pardon, with no majority in any demographic group. Trump has said he absolutely has the power to pardon himself but doesn't need to.[...]

And what about the idea of impeachment? It hasn't yet caught on with Democratic leaders, who have not pushed it. Forty-two percent of Americans currently say that Trump should be impeached and removed from office, including 77% of Democrats (not surprising) and only 9% of Republicans (even less surprising).
Historical footnote: Support for impeaching Richard Nixon reached 43% in March of 1974—and that was after the grand jury indictments of the "Watergate Seven". The Trump-Russia scandal hasn't reached such Nixonian heights…yet.

Speaking of grand juries, CNN's Marshall Cohen @MarshallCohen reports: "JUST IN: Another day, another pre-trial loss for Paul Manafort. His lawyers argued that Mueller could not charge him with money laundering conspiracy. The federal judge ruled against that and upheld the charge. Ultimately, a jury will decide his guilt." (For those keeping score, Manafort has lost all of his legal challenges.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:21 AM on June 22, 2018 [12 favorites]


I don't know how much this would help, but it might move the needle: white people (mostly men) who emigrate to take professional jobs in other countries need to start calling themselves immigrants, not "expats." You live and work in a country not of your birth? Congratulations, you're an immigrant. It's like the tourist vs. traveler thing - I'm not one of THOSE icky people, I'm an expat!

I'm fine with people who just want to take an overseas job for a few years and then come home "expats" - but if you plan to settle permanently, that makes you an immigrant.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 9:23 AM on June 22, 2018 [25 favorites]


WaPo: Trump administration plans to use Coast Guard money to pay for border enforcement

Most of the funding would go to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which also is part of Homeland Security. The department has the authority to move money around between its components, and may also shift other funding to pay for ICE operations.

The Coast Guard message stated that $77 million could be shifted and that several courses of action have been presented to Adm. Karl Schultz, the Coast Guard commandant. The Coast Guard Reserve also “may be required to provide a contribution,” the message said.

posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:28 AM on June 22, 2018 [10 favorites]


I don't know how much this would help, but it might move the needle: white people (mostly men) who emigrate to take professional jobs in other countries need to start calling themselves immigrants, not "expats." You live and work in a country not of your birth? Congratulations, you're an immigrant. It's like the tourist vs. traveler thing - I'm not one of THOSE icky people, I'm an expat!

I'm fine with people who just want to take an overseas job for a few years and then come home "expats" - but if you plan to settle permanently, that makes you an immigrant.


100% - I live in Hong Kong and am a white man and whenever I refer to myself as an immigrant (or, better, as a 'migrant worker') you can see the eyebrows arch from the other side of the harbour. No one refers to the 300,000+ Indonesian and Filipino domestic workers here as expats, I'll tell you that. Cantonese is hard but I'm learning slowly, and I'm about to start year six here - I definitely feel local even if I don't feel like a local just yet.

posted by mdonley at 9:32 AM on June 22, 2018 [31 favorites]


Well, that should make the New England fishing fleet happy, as if the Bay isn't dangerous enough to work in as it is.
posted by ocschwar at 9:32 AM on June 22, 2018 [2 favorites]


But I thought Trump loved the Coast Guard.
posted by notyou at 9:34 AM on June 22, 2018 [3 favorites]


The 10 Stages of Genocide.

We're definitely at stage 7. With babies being stolen from mothers and thousands effectively orphaned, you can make a good case for 8.
posted by chris24 at 9:37 AM on June 22, 2018 [40 favorites]


Mark Joseph Stern, Slate: Elena Kagan Is Up to Something
Is the liberal justice drifting to the right, or is she playing the long game with her conservative colleagues?

What is Justice Elena Kagan doing? So far this term, the liberal justice has crossed ideological lines at least three times to join the Supreme Court’s conservatives. Most recently, on Thursday, Kagan authored the majority opinion in Lucia v. SEC, a huge case that threatens to erode the political independence of multiple federal agencies. Tearing down the “administrative state” is supposed to be Justice Neil Gorsuch’s pet project. In Lucia, though, it was Kagan who took the lead in undermining the civil service, authoring an opinion that prompted a sharp dissent by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who accused her colleague of making legal and factual errors.

Why is Kagan playing nice with the conservatives this term? What, put bluntly, is in it for her? Given her overall voting pattern, which remains progressive, it seems unlikely she’s ideologically drifting. It’s possible, though, that these defections are tactical maneuvers—efforts to build a moderate coalition to keep the court from veering rapidly to the right. Kagan isn’t losing the battle to win the war. She’s wrestling the court’s far-right justices to a draw in order to forestall disaster. And so far, she’s been surprisingly successful—to the occasional annoyance of her usual allies.
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:43 AM on June 22, 2018 [8 favorites]




Jeremy Stahl, Slate: Senator [Chris Van Hollen, D-MD] May Have Found Way To Force Release of Secret Trump Travel Ban Numbers
The Democratic senator from Maryland has successfully pushed passage of an amendment to the 2019 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act that requires the secretary of state and relevant federal agencies to release the total number of applicants who have been denied waivers under the president’s travel ban. That act, which easily made it through committee on a bipartisan basis, will now head to the Senate floor for a final vote before eventually going to a House-Senate conference committee. If the language on waivers stays in this mandatory appropriations measure, it could force the State Department to be more transparent about its travel ban waiver process.

In an interview on Thursday, Van Hollen said he believes the State Department has been hiding the relevant data because it will embarrass the administration and reveal the travel ban to be what it is—another Muslim ban.

“The purpose of the amendment is to provide some long overdue transparency about the waiver process,” Van Hollen told me.

“Our impression is that they’re trying to hide this information because they know if it comes to light it will expose the program as a sham.”
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:53 AM on June 22, 2018 [23 favorites]


> ZeusHumms:
"Mark Joseph Stern, Slate: Elena Kagan Is Up to Something"

You can always count on Slate to present such an impressive string of question-begging and Kremlinology as that. Just sprinkle some question marks throughout, it would be irresponsible not to speculate (an ironic link if ever twas ere).
posted by rhizome at 9:54 AM on June 22, 2018 [6 favorites]


(For those keeping score, Manafort has lost all of his legal challenges.)

It’s difficult to score when every play you make is a Hail Mary. Every move his team makes is because he’s determined not to flip.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 9:59 AM on June 22, 2018 [11 favorites]


Well, when Kagan was dean of Harvard Law she was the undisputed queen of Administrative Law, so she definitely knows it cold and she is not "confused" or anything. Frankly I'm almost inclined to approve of the decision solely because she wrote it and it's so in her wheelhouse.

Honestly the issue in Lucia is extremely technical - it's basically whether sub-commission staff can appoint ALJs or if the staff must merely recommend them for formal appointment by the commission itself. Apparently approaches to ALJ appointment vary among the executive departments and it seems like a pretty simple matter to make them all Lucia-compliant going forward.

I feel like this is the kind of thing that could easily be decided without any particularly strong biases along party lines, but for the fact that these specific ALJs will have to be re-appointed now during the crazy-nutso Trump administration. Ex ante I don't think either approach strongly favors conservatives or liberals. And I reject that the Sotomayor dissent was "sharp," at least to the extent this suggests any comparison to the Ginsburg dissents in conservative holdings - it was very polite and just suggested a different standard for the second prong of the analysis.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 10:03 AM on June 22, 2018 [14 favorites]


Edit: This isn't meant to sound snarky. I honestly think he has a mental disorder that destroyed his empathy.

Agreed. Sociopathy, malignant narcissism, pick one or both. As undeleted comments in threads going back years now (Trump's escalator was April 6, 2016 *sigh*) will show, it's mind-bendingly obvious from the start of this tragic farce. We-must-be-in-a-simulation obvious. The-shot-clearly-came-from-the-front-*gasp*-OMG obvious.

The next year will continue the slowest trainwreck ever with more details of the incompetent collusion, corruption, and still-unbelievable dysfunction of the last two years. Watergate in the Information Age. History, villainy, and exposition merged into one triple-layer toothpaste, smooshing through realtime.

Things are speeding up, sure, but they're also stretching out. We'll see the pee tape 1000 times before it goes away.
posted by petebest at 10:04 AM on June 22, 2018 [6 favorites]


Some interesting comings and goings in D.C.…

CNN: Senior Justice Officials Meeting With Special Counsel Team Biweekly, Source Says
Two senior Justice Department officials from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's office were seen by CNN entering the special counsel's office in DC on Thursday afternoon, and a Justice official tells CNN their meetings are more frequent occurrences than previously known.

The two men, Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Ed O'Callaghan and Associate Deputy Attorney General Scott Schools, entered the building just before 5 pm ET.

In the powerful post commonly known as the "Padag" within the department, O'Callaghan advises Rosenstein on all major investigations and policy matters and is known as Rosenstein's right-hand man, while Schools serves as the most senior career attorney in the Justice Department.

When asked about their presence Thursday, a Justice official said it was a regularly scheduled meeting and emphasized that the two men meet with the special counsel team every other week. But it was the first time journalists who regularly watch the comings and goings at the special counsel office have seen the two going in.
And CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju @mkraju reports:
Ryan met this morning with three top Republicans - Trey Gowdy, Devin Nunes and Bob Goodlatte - about their demands for Justice Department documents about the Clinton and Russia probes amid their threats to hold Rod Rosenstein in contempt.

No one would comment leaving the meeting
His colleague Jeremy Herb @jeremyherb adds: "Nunes, Gowdy and Goodlatte all won't comment leaving a meeting in the Speaker's office. They set a deadline of today for DOJ to comply with their subpoenas"
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:08 AM on June 22, 2018 [3 favorites]


Politico. Steve King singles out Somali Muslims over pork: the Iowa congressman says they shouldn’t work in his district’s meat-packing plants because they won’t eat pig products.

In a Breitbart News radio interview, the eighth-term congressman known for his inflammatory anti-immigrant rhetoric, said his views were informed by a conversation with Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), who he called “the lead Muslim in Congress.”

King said Ellison informed him that Muslims would require “a special dispensation” from an imam in order to be able to handle pork in one of his district’s meat-packing plants. “The rationale is that if infidels are eating this pork, [the Muslims] are not eating it,” King said. “So as long as they’re preparing this pork for infidels, it helps send them to hell and it must make Allah happy.”

I don’t want people doing my pork that won’t eat it, let alone hope I go to hell for eating pork chops,” he concluded.


I don't want anybody to do Steve King's pork, and that's not why I hope he goes to Hell.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:12 AM on June 22, 2018 [36 favorites]


With any luck Steve King will spend the rest of eternity having to slaughter animals never able to escape the smell. That iron tainted smell of warm blood that will never leave his nostrils and remind him how much of a giant bigoted prick he was.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:18 AM on June 22, 2018 [7 favorites]


@waynejacker
Charles Krauthammer was a seminal conservative thinker, which means he was really good at molding an intellectual facade around being a gigantic piece of shit. There will never be another like him, because people are openly gigantic pieces of shit now. Literally a dying breed.
posted by Artw at 10:19 AM on June 22, 2018 [83 favorites]


I came in to comment about the jacket. It's one of the most surreal things a 1st Lady could do. It could be a weird wrong-footed thing, an actual comment, a subconscious cry for help, or ??. I'm stunned by how bizarre and inappropriate it is, even for this fucked up administration.

And also to ask, not insincerely, Does the jacket have a Twitter account yet?

They keep moving the needle, as the bar is already underground.
posted by theora55 at 10:26 AM on June 22, 2018 [8 favorites]


Steve King singles out Somali Muslims over pork: the Iowa congressman says they shouldn’t work in his district’s meat-packing plants because they won’t eat pig products.

I know these plants, they're having trouble filling shifts and Somali immigrants are a huge part of the workforce. I'd say it's a good time to send messages to Seaboard Triumph telling them you won't purchase their products if they don't stand up for their workers, with more than just a pushback against King's words, but also refusing to donate to his campaign and backing J.D. Scholten.
posted by jason_steakums at 10:28 AM on June 22, 2018 [24 favorites]


Dear Europe, if you want to stop Trump, sanction his companies - Rep Keith Ellison (D-MN), OpEd for The Guardian
Trump can easily weather broad sanctions on the US economy. But sanctions targeting his own companies will sting in a way that he cannot ignore.
...
Targeting Trump’s companies is a more moral strategy. Broad sanctions and tariffs have high cost to the US and the EU, but little cost to Trump. Targeting Trump’s companies has little cost to the EU and US economies, but a high cost to Trump. Moreover, it will deprive Trump of any rally-round-the-flag-effect that broad sanctions tend to generate. In fact, if he tries to escalate, Americans would see that Trump is risking the broader US economy just to protect his own wealth.

Many in Congress will welcome this move, as it will shine a light on how Trump’s failure to put his companies in a blind trust has put the United States in a vulnerable position. And if it helps save the Iran nuclear deal or the Paris Climate Accord, the next administration and future generation of Americans will be grateful to European leaders for their courage.
Emphasis mine.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:28 AM on June 22, 2018 [101 favorites]


Wait! Leopards can eat MY face?
"This isn't just numbers on a sheet or percentage of trade or dollar value," said Michael Petefish, a 33-year old Trump supporter and fifth generation farmer in southern Minnesota.

Standing on the farm he will likely run for the next 40 years, he added, "This is multi-generational American families, your base, that you are now squarely putting into financial peril."
You think you know a guy and then BAM he fucks your livelihood for a trade war that he’s overcompensating for. It’s a good thing we didn’t elect that volatile, emotional WOMAN to lead us, right?
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:29 AM on June 22, 2018 [63 favorites]


In fact, if he tries to escalate, Americans would see that Trump is risking the broader US economy just to protect his own wealth

Look over there....Is that Ron Howard?
posted by Quindar Beep at 10:30 AM on June 22, 2018 [9 favorites]


TPM. Sessions: Church Complaint Is ‘Painful,’ But I Have ‘A Lot’ Of ‘Critics’

“It is painful,” he said. “I have critics from a lot of different areas. I think our church people are really concerned about children – that’s what I’m hearing. I feel it. I think there’s a legitimate concern there and I’m pleased to work with the President to address those concerns.”

Sessions for eternity: "this cauldron of molten sulfur and the pitchfork-prods of cackling demons are painful, but I have a lot of critics"
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:32 AM on June 22, 2018 [27 favorites]


Like I just can’t comprehend how people look at someone pledging at every opportunity to be a complete fuckwit towards your biggest customer and think “I want him to be our leader”.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:33 AM on June 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


Releasing some old Apprentice tape of Trump saying the N word or whatever seems pretty pointless now. He's putting babies in cages and kids and teens in abusive detention centers. I don't know what would be accomplished by releasing a tape, except to change the conversation from people's real lives right now. We know he's racist.

It'd reinforce the (correct and true) argument that Trump's policy is driven by racism, not a (nonexistent) immigration crisis.
posted by Gelatin at 10:33 AM on June 22, 2018 [3 favorites]


It'd reinforce the (correct and true) argument that Trump's policy is driven by racism, not a (nonexistent) immigration crisis.

Because if there’s anything the right wing media machine is known for it’s internal consistency, intellectual honesty, and good faith.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:36 AM on June 22, 2018 [6 favorites]




How many people does it take to start a revolution?

That is a much smaller and more attainable number than I would have guessed!
posted by jason_steakums at 10:40 AM on June 22, 2018 [4 favorites]


> "This is multi-generational American families, your base, that you are now squarely putting into financial peril."

Trump tariffs to shut down nail factory in rural Missouri, currently producing 50% of the domestic nails manufactured in the U.S.

In short, this is going well for everyone . . .
posted by flug at 10:41 AM on June 22, 2018 [47 favorites]


How many people does it take to start a revolution?

25% is a surprising figure. Looking forward to reading more about this behavioral research.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:42 AM on June 22, 2018 [2 favorites]


How many people does it take to start a revolution?

Good News: Only 25% of people need to take a stand before large-scale social change occurs.

Bad News: The Crazification Factor is 27%.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:43 AM on June 22, 2018 [24 favorites]


That is a much smaller and more attainable number than I would have guessed!

There's a little web game about this, if you want to expose the idea to people that aren't likely to read an article in Science.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 10:44 AM on June 22, 2018 [9 favorites]


for your Friday levity: A Bad Lip Reading of the Trump-Kim summit
posted by numaner at 10:46 AM on June 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


As to The Jacket, I cannot believe yes, I can that no staffer took her aside to advise a better and more optics-friendly choice.

It's an unbelievably stupid and wholly avoidable political mistake that shows not so much how uncaring they are but how pathetically inept they are.
posted by jgirl at 10:48 AM on June 22, 2018 [6 favorites]


I'm not convinced that it was a mistake. It may very well have been done to distract from the fact that she didn't actually go where she said she would be going.
posted by Too-Ticky at 10:52 AM on June 22, 2018 [23 favorites]


Deep inside my hope of hopes, no staffer took her aside over the jacket because they all loathe her to the point of not caring if she looked like Marie Antoinette.
posted by Quindar Beep at 10:52 AM on June 22, 2018 [15 favorites]


Don't be mislead, they're true believers just as much as Stephen Miller. Donald requires it.
posted by rhizome at 10:53 AM on June 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


Kyle Griffin (MSNBC)
Ted Lieu plays the ProPublica audio of crying children in detention centers on the House floor.

Karen Handel, who was presiding over the floor, repeatedly tries to stop Lieu.

Lieu responds: "Why are we hiding this from the American people?" (via CSPAN)

VIDEO
posted by chris24 at 10:54 AM on June 22, 2018 [88 favorites]


Good News: Only 25% of people need to take a stand before large-scale social change occurs.

Bad News: The Crazification Factor is 27%.


Yeah I hoped the study would look into what happens when 25% takes a stand against A and 25% takes a stand for A and the other 50% just want to be left alone and not “inconvenienced”
posted by schadenfrau at 10:54 AM on June 22, 2018 [12 favorites]


I'm not sure why people think the jacket was a mistake or unintentional. Or directed at Trump. She's a birther. Who married Trump. Maybe just believe she believes the shitty things she repeatedly demonstrates she does.
posted by chris24 at 10:55 AM on June 22, 2018 [40 favorites]


With maybe higher stakes than money

Like you know

Pro-genocide and anti-genocide
posted by schadenfrau at 10:55 AM on June 22, 2018 [3 favorites]


A Trump voter writes*: "You'll note that in this case, the person who's required to be good is part of the socially designated outgroup, so clearly Jesus didn't mean for us to treat other people well."

They were all required to be good; the two who in the eyes of their audience would seem "righteous" are explicitly chided for failing to do so, while the member of the out group shamed them by being the better person. One doesn't have to have been educated by Jesuits (as I was) for that to be obvious; it's in the text.

For all the fundamentalists (and have you noticed how that term seems to have gone out of fashion in favor of "evangelical"?) claim the Bible is the literal word of God, they sometimes seem to not know what it says.
posted by Gelatin at 10:59 AM on June 22, 2018 [8 favorites]


David Gelles (CNN)
HHS says as of today, there are 2,458 children under 13 in HHS care.

482 aged 5 years and younger
1,976 aged 6 years through 12 yrs.

HHS didn't say which were separated vs those that came unaccompanied.

Total # of children in HHS care is over 11,600
posted by chris24 at 11:02 AM on June 22, 2018 [21 favorites]


I'm not sure why people think the jacket was a mistake or unintentional. Or directed at Trump.

I'm reasonably certain it's because people are desperate to see her as an unwitting pawn pressed into doing terrible things to avoid being abused. That's a much prettier story to tell oneself than the obvious truth, which is that this attractive white lady is a hateful bigot just like her husband, her feckless stepchildren, and the people that they all associate with. She is made of the same poison they are.

As a society we seem have a real hard time wrapping our heads around the notion that pretty white ladies can do terrible things. And now I will await the customary shaming for not leaving poor Melania alone.
posted by palomar at 11:04 AM on June 22, 2018 [75 favorites]


Could not find anything in Rule 17 of the House that would justify gavelling on Ted Lieu.
posted by ocschwar at 11:11 AM on June 22, 2018 [1 favorite]


482 aged 5 years and younger
1,976 aged 6 years through 12 yrs.

HHS didn't say which were separated vs those that came unaccompanied.


Well, I can tell you that no children under 5 years old came to this country unaccompanied.
posted by Sophie1 at 11:11 AM on June 22, 2018 [33 favorites]


I'm reasonably certain it's because people are desperate to see her as an unwitting pawn pressed into doing terrible things to avoid being abused. That's a much prettier story to tell oneself than the obvious truth, which is that this attractive white lady is a hateful bigot just like her husband, her feckless stepchildren, and the people that they all associate with. She is made of the same poison they are.

As a society we seem have a real hard time wrapping our heads around the notion that pretty white ladies can do terrible things. And now I will await the customary shaming for not leaving poor Melania alone.


Nope, not going to shame you, Palomar, just going to agree. Bed, made, lie. I think it's probable (though not proven), that Melania is unhappy in her marriage, and also probable (though again not proven) that she's a victim of her husband's abuse. But that doesn't make her a good person or poor innocent victim. Somebody can be abused and still be an awful person. We can say that "abuse is a terrible thing and must stop" without adding on "and all abuse victims are saints." Melania can simultaneously be a victim and a jerk or a deplorable.

And yes, attractive, white or white-presenting, cis, middle-class and up white women can play the Victim Card in a way that other women often cannot.

That jacket had to be on purpose because I don't believe her staff didn't notice and let her go out dressed like that. First Ladies have staff. That is what their staff is for, among other things. Maybe her staff hates her, who knows?

Tiffany is more and more looking like the brains of the adult Trump kids for her low profile.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 11:13 AM on June 22, 2018 [26 favorites]


She is made of the same poison they are.

Otherwise he wouldn't have married her.
posted by jgirl at 11:14 AM on June 22, 2018 [3 favorites]


WaPo: Trump administration plans to use Coast Guard money to pay for border enforcement

Most of the funding would go to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which also is part of Homeland Security. The department has the authority to move money around between its components, and may also shift other funding to pay for ICE operations.


I've said before that it's vanishingly unlikely (though not impossible) that the Republican Congress appropriated money for child concentration camps. Trump has to be paying for them via budgetary shenanigans inside the vast Homeland Security budget, and that's fully Congress' prerogative to stop.

Of course the Republicans won't, but that makes it all the more important to flip the House come November. Trump won't get another dime for "tender age" prisons.
posted by Gelatin at 11:15 AM on June 22, 2018 [6 favorites]


The jacket cost $30. I'm willing to bet there's not a single garment in her entire wardrobe that isn't more expensive than that, socks included. This was intentional.
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:16 AM on June 22, 2018 [45 favorites]


Could not find anything in Rule 17 of the House that would justify gavelling on Ted Lieu.

If you squint really hard you could use Section 5 of Rule 17 "Comportment" - "A person on the floor of the House may not smoke or use a mobile electronic device that impairs decorum." Playing the sounds of kids crying is impairing decorum, and he's using a mobile electronic device to do so. House Rules here
posted by Arbac at 11:17 AM on June 22, 2018 [3 favorites]


Y'all we had to end the jacket convo once already. Points made all around, let's leave it.
posted by Emmy Rae at 11:18 AM on June 22, 2018 [11 favorites]


she "loves" that Melania wore that jacket. Loves it.

Did she say why?
posted by jgirl at 11:19 AM on June 22, 2018



If you squint really hard you could use Section 5 of Rule 17 "Comportment" - "A person on the floor of the House may not smoke or use a mobile electronic device that impairs decorum." Playing the sounds of kids crying is impairing decorum, and he's using a mobile electronic devise to do so. House Rules here


Yeah, that takes more squinting than I can do.
posted by ocschwar at 11:21 AM on June 22, 2018 [6 favorites]


How many people does it take to start a revolution?

That is a much smaller and more attainable number than I would have guessed!


It's probably even less than the 25% they found; they were working with groups of 20 who were all intensely aware that there was A PROCESS and DECISIONS going on. They didn't have a large body of people whose attitude was "eh, whatever," who don't need to be convinced of anything other than "someone really really cares about this so I guess that's what we're doing now."

I believe the real turnpoint is closer to 10-15%. (See Tea Party dynamics, sigh.) That's much, much more attainable.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 11:25 AM on June 22, 2018 [4 favorites]


@girlsreallyrule:
1. Melania Trump plagerized Michele Obama and didn't care.
2. She wore a pussy bow blouse the day after Trump bragged about grabbing pussy and didn't care.
3. She wore a coat to the border that actually said she didn't care.

When someone shows you who they are, believe them.


As for the shock of her staff "letting" her do this? They have to be awful enough to work for the Trump regime in the first place. How is this a surprise? How is this even worth a question? It's shocking, it's disgusting, but it's in no way a surprise.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:29 AM on June 22, 2018 [61 favorites]


So the thing about the Coast Guard budget is that the Coast Guard takes the mission really fucking seriously. So the mission: i.e., search and rescue, border protection, drug interdiction, etc -- that isn't going to suffer. CGHQ will continue to fund that work as much as they can.

CG capital investment is budgeted by line-item in the federal budget, so the new air station in Ventura County will continue to be funded, and the new facilities for the new cutters as they come on line.

What's going to get hurt by this is the operations and maintenance budget for vessels and shore infrastructure, including piers, offices, repair facilities, and housing. Taking cash away from the discretionary funding lines, which is what that article is discussing, means that only the very worst situations will get addressed. And the priority will be on the mission: waterfront facilities and operational vessels in desperate need of repair, rather than long-term planning for sustainable use of the inventory. The entire CG infrastructure will continue to degrade so long as the agency is underfunded.

This decision won't surprise me in the least: Trump has no fucking idea who the Coast Guard is, he thinks it's part of the Navy or some such thing. Remember last year he promised the Coast Guard cadets aircraft carriers?
posted by suelac at 11:49 AM on June 22, 2018 [20 favorites]


Millennial Trump Staffers Complain Yet Again About Being Unfuckable Losers
According to the article, Trump staffers have gravitated to living in the Waterfront area, an extremely sterile, mostly newly-developed area, which is interestingly kind of reminiscent of National Harbor, where CPAC is held. It’s full of Nice Restaurants and Nice Coffee Shops and all the other completely soulless but superficially pleasant stuff that characterizes so much of gentrified Washington—and it’s “devoid of true locals,” the Politico notes.

According to one administration staffer the magazine interviewed, Rebellion, “a Southern-themed establishment” near the U Street area (the apotheosis of DC gentrification, where horrible condo buildings and new yoga studios pop up every few months), is “one of the few closet Trump bars” in town. It also happens to be the place where the anti-Initiative 77 campaign, which sought to defeat a minimum wage increase for servers, held its deeply embarrassing pop-up bar intended to demonstrate how awful restaurants would be if servers were paid a living wage.
The pop-up bar included a drink called Uncle Tom Collins.

Ceterum autem censeo Trumpem esse delendam
posted by kirkaracha at 11:50 AM on June 22, 2018 [35 favorites]


Trump is holding another event with ICE agents and families of people killed by immigrants. He made a bunch of false claims about crime statistics and then attacked the wrong mayor.

@ddale8: Trump blasts "the mayor of San Diego" for warning illegal immigrants of an ICE operation, says she should be investigated. He's talking about the mayor of Oakland. The mayor of San Diego is a Republican man.
posted by zachlipton at 11:50 AM on June 22, 2018 [41 favorites]


There’s no migration crisis - the crisis is political opportunism:

To be clear: There is no immigration crisis in 2018. Not in the United States, not in Europe, not in Canada.

“It is not a migration emergency – it’s a political emergency,” William Lacy Swing, the American director-general of the International Organization for Migration, said this week. The IOM’s 8,400 staff monitor the movement of people around the world, and while they’ve identified plenty of challenges, there aren’t any overwhelming or unmanageable movements of people this year. “The overwhelming majority of migration is taking place in a regular, safe and orderly fashion,” he said.

“There is a very serious problem of communication, but what we’re seeing is that the numbers are pretty modest,” said Angel Gurria, secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The OECD, which advises 34 countries (including the United States and Canada) on immigration policy, this week released its annual report on migration levels in OECD countries. It showed a fall in numbers to ordinary, non-crisis levels.

The United States has always had movement, some of it undocumented, across its southern border. The 2018 numbers are somewhat higher than the 2017 numbers – but they’re a small fraction, less than a third, of the rate experienced in the 2000s under George W. Bush, or in the 1990s under Bill Clinton, or in the 1980s under Ronald Reagan. Since 2008, illegal crossings have fallen to lows not seen since the early 1970s.

posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:55 AM on June 22, 2018 [32 favorites]


Fuck Decorum
On Tuesday, five members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus protested the Trump administration’s family separation policy by shouting at Donald Trump as he entered the Capitol for a meeting with House Republicans. The protest was remarkably mild, considering both who it was directed at and why it was happening in the first place. Here’s a video of it. [...]

On Thursday, Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the second-highest ranking Democrat in the House, was asked about this protest on CNN. This is what he said (via CNN):
[...] “As I said in my interview today, the President’s vile comments and reprehensible behavior and inhumane policies engender strong condemnation and rightfully result in deep frustration,” he said. “I do believe that the institution of Congress must uphold a level of decorum, even though the President does not.
This is a stupid, shitty fucking answer. [...]

Hoyer’s response to this is emblematic of why so many progressives have believed from the beginning that congressional Democrats—particularly those who were elected during the first year of the Reagan administration—are woefully unprepared to deal with the Republican Party under Trump. Trump has moved the political center on this issue so far to the right that Democrats were at one point willing to curb legal immigration, a position that was considered untenable in the Republican Party just three years ago.

Now, however, Republicans are studying the immigration proposals of the European fascist parties like they’ll be on the SAT, and Hoyer’s preferred response would seemingly be for all of his fellow Democrats to politely disagree with their good friends from the great state of Iowa and New York. He apparently would rather them try to win over hearts and minds in the House with the argument that immigrants aren’t insects or rats, or maybe just fire off some tweets about it and not do shit at all. [...]

Hoyer is wrong. The five CHC members understood that their position as elected members of the federal government automatically affords them the attention and a microphone that the people they’re fighting for do not typically get. These times call for direct action and for confronting the miserable sacks of shit who are responsible for all of this suffering.

They do not call for business as usual. Fuck decorum—always, but now more than ever.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:55 AM on June 22, 2018 [58 favorites]


Millennial Trump Staffers Complain Yet Again About Being Unfuckable Losers

Weird. You'd think they would start hooking up with each other, but apparently trumpists are so loathsome they repulse even their fellow trumpists.
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:56 AM on June 22, 2018 [27 favorites]


The Navy is already "working toward the Fuerher": Navy plans detainment centers in Alabama and California.

I'm amused by the suggestion that NWS Concord is a potential site: it's a 40 minute drive from San Francisco, and absolutely there will be massive protests there if they try to use it.
posted by suelac at 12:03 PM on June 22, 2018 [15 favorites]


Decorum in Congress? This is the body where one legislator beat another with their cane, right?
posted by mikelieman at 12:03 PM on June 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


CBC, Jon Hernandez, Jogger accidentally crosses U.S. border from B.C., gets detained for 2 weeks by authorities.

Abolish this entire apparatus.
posted by zachlipton at 12:05 PM on June 22, 2018 [36 favorites]


Stupid and evil, Trump is a heel, and most of his supporters believe politics is 100% kayfabe, which insulates them from any crisis of conscience.

How many of your Trumpist friends specifically use "pro wrestling" terminology, World Famous? I've been saying for a long time that Trump's political instincts were honed in the contemptible spectacle of the WWE (even though he might not be able to distinguish its fakery), but I haven't really considered what percentage of his supporters are WWE fans. I'm now wondering if it's a significant amount, particularly since "pro wrestling" is popular in the South

I hate "pro wrestling" so very fucking much.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:06 PM on June 22, 2018 [7 favorites]


Navy plans detainment centers in Alabama and California.

Now that it's actually happening, where are all the whack-job conspiracy theorists who were blubbering about this sort of thing 30 years ago?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 12:08 PM on June 22, 2018 [16 favorites]


"FEMA Camps" is from 2005.
posted by rhizome at 12:12 PM on June 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


FEMA camps and UN camps hysteria dates back at least to the 1990's.
posted by 20 year lurk at 12:20 PM on June 22, 2018 [12 favorites]


Jogger accidentally crosses U.S. border from B.C., gets detained for 2 weeks by authorities

We're learning so quickly from our new buddies North Korea!
posted by J.K. Seazer at 12:23 PM on June 22, 2018 [14 favorites]


I have been completely open about this with everyone with whom I've discussed politics in the Trump era: I have yet to read or hear any defense of Trump or any reason to fail to openly oppose him that is not stupid, undeniably evil, or both.

Republicans abandoned arguing in good faith a long, long time ago. The embrace of stupid arguments ("if you get convicted of a crime your children are taken away too why aren't you libs upset about that herp derp") serves two purposes: It's a mark of contempt for those who believe in rational -- dare I say civil -- discourse -- and a tribal marker that they can't be persuaded by rational, factual argument.

The only solution is to render them politically irrelevant, because they are in the minority. Nearly three million more people voted against Trump, and only Comey and Russia putting their thumbs on the scale won him the day. These people and their agenda are not popular.
posted by Gelatin at 12:27 PM on June 22, 2018 [25 favorites]


Nancy LeTourneau, Washington Monthly:

It’s Not Just How Many Women Are Running for Office, It’s How They’re Running

It has been noted that a record number of Democratic women are running for office this year and the message coming out of the primaries is that they are winning. But it’s not just the numbers that define the kind of change we’re seeing. It’s also how they’re running.
posted by overhauser at 12:36 PM on June 22, 2018 [25 favorites]



CBC, Jon Hernandez, Jogger accidentally crosses U.S. border from B.C., gets detained for 2 weeks by authorities.

Abolish this entire apparatus.


Aside from the mendacity this is just fiscally stupid behavior. There would never have been any doubt that she would be returned. So you have incurred transport costs, two weeks of holding costs, and case handling costs. In total they probably just blew the annual median salary of an American for no purpose other than being a Jobsworth.
posted by srboisvert at 12:46 PM on June 22, 2018 [12 favorites]


The entire right wing conspiracy theory mindset (FEMA camps, etc.) has been a constant projection of what they want to do to their perceived enemies thus far.
posted by gucci mane at 12:48 PM on June 22, 2018 [51 favorites]


FEMA camps and UN camps hysteria dates back at least to the 1990's.

Says wh...

posted by 20 year lurk 28 minutes ago [1 favorite +] [!]

Oh.
posted by notyou at 12:51 PM on June 22, 2018 [19 favorites]


From the Washington Monthly article:

The fact that a man who put his misogyny on display for everyone to see was elected president in a race against the first woman to run for that office has stirred up something deep all across this country that didn’t just manifest itself in the marches that took place on the weekend of his inauguration. I get the sense that women all over this country said, “That’s enough!” and put their heads down to do whatever it takes to join the struggle against everything Trump represents.
posted by Emmy Rae at 12:51 PM on June 22, 2018 [22 favorites]


Also, the whole Agenda 21 conspiracy theory pushed by people like the John Birch Society goes back to 1992, and I’m certain there are “U.N. occupation” tracts dating back before then.
posted by gucci mane at 12:52 PM on June 22, 2018 [4 favorites]


Each time a new outrage emerges in the saga of Stephen Miller... I think of the year I spent with him. This was long before Miller had earned a reputation as perhaps the cruelest and most ruthless member of the Trump administration.
posted by growabrain at 12:54 PM on June 22, 2018 [19 favorites]




Stop whatever you're doing and read the @WhiteHouse plan for complete reorganization of the entire federal government. I have tweeted some highlights, but honestly can't begin to capture the horror. Overall, it privatizes a lot, cuts, & consolidates power.

Uh, can they do that by fiat? This reminds me a lot of the "budget" that Mulvaney was flogging around last year, not a scrap of which appeared in the annual appropriations bills.
posted by murphy slaw at 12:59 PM on June 22, 2018 [7 favorites]


That's more in the "be wary but don't sweat it" pile. Unless they remove the normal legislative filibuster, the only elements of that will be things that don't require congressional action (not much) and things that can receive 60 votes in the Senate (even less).
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 12:59 PM on June 22, 2018 [7 favorites]


If nothing else, I think the US constitution gives Congress control over the post office which kind of puts a nail in the WH's goal of privatizing it. Tell 'em you'll trade it, repeal for repeal, with the Second Amendment, maybe?
posted by Quindar Beep at 1:02 PM on June 22, 2018 [2 favorites]


Wow, this is the first I've heard of this terrifying development...
“All agencies that regulate food safety should be under one department, preferably under the Dept. of Agriculture.” ― Kenneth, Washington State
Well I mean if Kenneth from Washington is saying it, who are we to argue? Can we get Judy from Iowa's policy advice on the regulation of Nuclear Power Plants ?
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 1:02 PM on June 22, 2018 [16 favorites]


Uh, can they do that by fiat? This reminds me a lot of the "budget" that Mulvaney was flogging around last year, not a scrap of which appeared in the annual appropriations bills.

No. The Departments are all statutory, which means they were formed by law -- Congress. Congress would have to pass more laws to eliminate/recombine them.
posted by notyou at 1:05 PM on June 22, 2018 [3 favorites]


Stop whatever you're doing and read the @WhiteHouse plan for complete reorganization of the entire federal government.

Yay, more chaos to keep everyone confused while the administration continues to line their own pockets.
posted by ZeusHumms at 1:07 PM on June 22, 2018 [8 favorites]


From what I just quoted: the first woman to run for that office

I should note for the record, other women have run for the office, notably Shirley Chisholm, just not as nominees of a major party.
posted by Emmy Rae at 1:07 PM on June 22, 2018 [8 favorites]


Stop whatever you're doing and read

Every time I see this, I don't bother.
posted by Melismata at 1:09 PM on June 22, 2018 [26 favorites]


The United States has always had movement, some of it undocumented, across its southern border. The 2018 numbers are somewhat higher than the 2017 numbers – but they’re a small fraction, less than a third, of the rate experienced in the 2000s under George W. Bush, or in the 1990s under Bill Clinton, or in the 1980s under Ronald Reagan. Since 2008, illegal crossings have fallen to lows not seen since the early 1970s.

This is because people in Mexico are having far smaller families and the educational attainment is rising. This goes, in fact, for just about any country that has traditionally supplied abundant, cheap labor for wealthier ones. Smaller, better-educated families are a worldwide phenomenon.

Republicans are whipping themselves into a froth over immigration because white Americans are having few or no children as well. The youth glut of the Baby Boom has turned into a youth desert, and they are panicking because it's across the board.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 1:09 PM on June 22, 2018 [22 favorites]


If the government is to be reorganized like a successful business (a dubious goal at best), they should recruit successful business people to plan and execute the reorg.
posted by ZeusHumms at 1:09 PM on June 22, 2018 [3 favorites]


Overall, it privatizes a lot, cuts, & consolidates power.

So uh... basically, Putin's Russia?
posted by Behemoth at 1:11 PM on June 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


Exclusive: Navy Document Shows Plan to Erect 'Austere' Detention Camps

The Navy memo outlines plans to build “temporary and austere” tent cities to house 25,000 migrants at abandoned airfields just outside the Florida panhandle near Mobile, Alabama, at Navy Outlying Field Wolf in Orange Beach, Alabama, and nearby Navy Outlying Field Silverhill.

The memo also proposes a camp for as many as 47,000 people at former Naval Weapons Station Concord, near San Francisco; and another facility that could house as many as 47,000 people at Camp Pendleton, the Marines’ largest training facility located along the Southern California coast. The planning memo proposes further study of housing an undetermined number of migrants at the Marine Corps Air Station near Yuma, Arizona.


This memo outlines the military imprisonment of over 120,000 civilians. The upper-end estimate for the total number of people of Japanese descent imprisoned in America during World War 2 is 120,000.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:14 PM on June 22, 2018 [64 favorites]


P.S.: If the Economist paywalls you, here is another article on the smaller family phenomenon.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 1:14 PM on June 22, 2018


Soooo... the hell is this thing, then? Basically a pitch the WH plans to make to Congress? A thinly-disguised campaign ad to bait the "run the government like a business" crowd ahead of November? Not ever being a regular on whitehouse.gov, I can't put this into context vis-à-vis what previous administrations have published on the site.
posted by Rykey at 1:15 PM on June 22, 2018 [3 favorites]


Boy, it's sure not hard to spot young Stephen Miller in the class photo of that Politico article. As for the content of the article, evidently dude is just a straight up sociopath, fundamentally broken from the moment of his creation. How do we get him out of power?
posted by palomar at 1:15 PM on June 22, 2018 [8 favorites]


I'm amused by the suggestion that NWS Concord is a potential site: it's a 40 minute drive from San Francisco, and absolutely there will be massive protests there if they try to use it.

The Naval Weapons Station in Concord is 7 miles from the nearest BART station - by roads. Overland, it's closer, but it's probably not comfortable hike. It's too far to walk, but it's in easy range of ferrying people by car to protest.

Info for non-locals: Concord skews richer, whiter, and more conservative than most of the SF bay area. (Alameda county, with Oakland and Berkeley: 56% D, 14% R. Contra Costa, with Concord and Walnut Creek: 50% D, 25% R. San Francisco: 56% D, 9% R - SF gets more Greens and Peace and Freedom.)
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:16 PM on June 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


This memo outlines the military imprisonment of over 120,000 civilians. The upper-end estimate for the total number of people of Japanese descent imprisoned in America during World War 2 is 120,000.

Jade Helm was yet another case of projection.
posted by ocschwar at 1:22 PM on June 22, 2018 [9 favorites]


Jesus Chris, how do we stop this?
posted by runcibleshaw at 1:23 PM on June 22, 2018 [4 favorites]


Jesus Christ, how do we stop this?

Commandeered bulldozers and liberation armies. Not joking.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:25 PM on June 22, 2018 [34 favorites]


Trump autographed photos of deceased crime victims for White House 'Angel Families' event. It's unclear when or why this happened, but it's really really weird.

@atrupar: Trump holds up an autographed photo of a murder victim, quips that the man is "Tom Selleck, except better looking."
posted by zachlipton at 1:30 PM on June 22, 2018 [24 favorites]


Trump autographed photos of deceased crime victims for White House 'Angel Families' event.

These fucking ghouls are turning the bloody shirt lie into actual merch
posted by schadenfrau at 1:41 PM on June 22, 2018 [30 favorites]


More on the UN poverty report and the link to our recent decision to pull out of the Human Rights Council. WaPo, Jeff Stein, “I think I was being sent a message”: U.S. warned U.N. official about report on poverty in America
Philip G. Alston arrived in Washington last fall on a mission from the United Nations Human Rights Council to document poverty in America. At his first meeting, Alston said he was told by a senior State Department official that his findings may influence the United States' membership in the human rights body.

“A senior official said to me my report could be a factor in whether the U.S. decided or not to stay in the council,” said Alston, U.N. special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, who declined to name the official. “I think I was being sent a message.”

Two other people at the meeting, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed Alston's account. State Department spokesman Noel C. Clay declined to comment on the meeting, which was held Dec. 1 at State.
...
The 20-page Alston report found that the United States has among the most chronic rates of poverty among all nations in the developed world and that President Trump's policies are likely to exacerbate them. Liberal critics seized on Alston's findings to say the Trump administration was failing to help the nation's poorest citizens.
..
The report said the United States has the highest rates of youth poverty, infant mortality, incarceration, income inequality and obesity among all countries in the developed world, as well as 40 million people living in poverty. Most of the statistics cited in the report date from 2016, before Trump was elected.
These ghouls fight every day to exacerbate poverty in one of the wealthiest countries on earth, and then they fight the people who try to point that out.
posted by zachlipton at 1:46 PM on June 22, 2018 [56 favorites]


i'm tired, when can we storm the bastille
posted by poffin boffin at 1:47 PM on June 22, 2018 [80 favorites]


Aside from the mendacity this is just fiscally stupid behavior. There would never have been any doubt that she would be returned. So you have incurred transport costs, two weeks of holding costs, and case handling costs. In total they probably just blew the annual median salary of an American for no purpose other than being a Jobsworth.

Perverse incentives again. As Trumpists permeate the system rewards for merit get flipped upside down. Instead of rewarding activity that prevents a predictable PR disaster & saves significant money in the process, a signal is sent to Canada not to mess with us.
posted by scalefree at 1:48 PM on June 22, 2018 [1 favorite]


The Navy memo outlines plans to build “temporary and austere” tent cities to house 25,000 migrants at abandoned airfields just outside the Florida panhandle near Mobile, Alabama, at Navy Outlying Field Wolf in Orange Beach, Alabama, and nearby Navy Outlying Field Silverhill.

Holy shit, that's like less than a mile away from some property my grandfather used to own. They still live about 4 miles away, probably less.

Obviously, I mean REALLY FUCKING OBVIOUSLY, it's going to be hotter and more humid than the devil's ass crack there. Tent cities? Austere? Holy fuck. Texas heat is bad. Throw in some Alabama humidity and no shade trees and... holy fuck.
posted by RolandOfEld at 1:55 PM on June 22, 2018 [13 favorites]


Wow, this is the first I've heard of this terrifying development... from Laurie Garrett:

Stop whatever you're doing and read the @WhiteHouse plan for complete reorganization of the entire federal government. I have tweeted some highlights, but honestly can't begin to capture the horror. Overall, it privatizes a lot, cuts, & consolidates power.


I just called my senators on this proposal because it's the worst kind of fuckery to dump on a Friday. More from Garrett:
Under the Plan, the govt sells off the US Postal Service, FAA, eliminates more than a 1/3rd of the US Public Health Corps, restructures all foreign aid & development programs, and places every single domestic program for poor families & children under a single welfare authority.
The Plan also offers a real estate bonanza for developers, selling off federal properties en masse. And it cuts or restructures all the fedl progs that are meant to educate people about their financial rights & protect them from bank & mortgage fraud.
The #Trump plan cuts R&D @NASA and all forms of alternative energy development are consolidated under a single DOE agency. A Dept of Welfare is created, and all forms of support for health of America's poor leave @HHS & go to new Welfare authority.
The Plan facilitates "streamlined" privatization of federal assets via a Customer Experience (CX) Improvement Capability.
It transfers all background/conflicts checks on fedl appointees and employees AWAY from @FBI and into the Dept. of Defense.
Net impact of the #Trump govt reorg scheme is taking everything across govt that is for poor & needy people and consolidate it under single budgetary authority, cut science all over the place, eliminate the Census Bureau, reduce regulation &, as this closing shot shows, #MAGA .
This is a no-holes-barred wish list for the Koch Brothers agenda to fundamentally reshape America.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:01 PM on June 22, 2018 [23 favorites]


This is effectively a no-holes-barred wish list for the Koch Brothers agenda to fundamentally reshape America.

Guess it's Unfortunately-Accurate-Typo Friday
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:04 PM on June 22, 2018 [47 favorites]


That Government Reform and Reorg plan looks EXACTLY like the documents I've seen for every company acquisition I've been a part of where the acquired company is immediately raided for their customer base, the assets are sold off, and all staff is laid off.
posted by MysticMCJ at 2:07 PM on June 22, 2018 [37 favorites]


i'm tired, when can we storm the bastille

That's 18th century thinking. Don't you have a maidan?
posted by rocket88 at 2:08 PM on June 22, 2018 [4 favorites]


Stop whatever you're doing and read the @WhiteHouse plan for complete reorganization of the entire federal government.

As much as there can be said to be a Trump strategy, this is it: flood the system with radical proposals to overwhelm the opposition with them so no coordinated effort can be launched against your real ones, which can change from day to day.

Think of it as chaff, little pieces of reflective material thrown into the air to confuse enemy RADAR. It's a denial of service attack on the media & the rule of law. Whether it's intentional or arises strictly from Trump's bullying malignant narcissism is irrelevant, the effect is the same.

It's a thing he's done all his life, overwhelming legal opponents with bullshit counter-lawsuits & moving the goalposts whenever they capitulate. So much chaff is floating around that nobody can sort it all out & make a winning response. In the end he gets to do whatever the hell he wants at any given moment without playing by anybody's rules but his own.

All Hail Emperor Trump!
posted by scalefree at 2:08 PM on June 22, 2018 [15 favorites]


Contract on America, Part II?
posted by ZeusHumms at 2:10 PM on June 22, 2018 [4 favorites]


Releasing some old Apprentice tape of Trump saying the N word or whatever seems pretty pointless now. He's putting babies in cages and kids and teens in abusive detention centers. I don't know what would be accomplished by releasing a tape

I think it would make a difference. Trump's strategy has always been built on dog whistles and plausible deniability. It seems obvious to us that he's all about racism but he picks his words carefully. Melania's jacket is an extreme example - Trump was clearly ready to answer critics with his line about "she's talking about the media."

There's no deniability in an N-word tape. He can't pass it off that he was singing rap lyrics or something. Of course it won't alienate his base, and would likely strengthen their support. But that is no more than 35%, and he needs the center-right independents to win anything, and they would scatter like roaches when the light comes on.
posted by msalt at 2:13 PM on June 22, 2018 [8 favorites]




zachlipton: "CBC, Jon Hernandez, Jogger accidentally crosses U.S. border from B.C., gets detained for 2 weeks by authorities.

Abolish this entire apparatus.
"

The terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail is just barely in Canada (Manning Park on the BC southern border). It's legal for people travelling North to cross the border there on foot and then self report to Canadian customs via telephone at the park lodge facilities (no cell service). It isn't legal to cross the border south however, even temporarily, and the Americans completely lose their shit if you even stray over the border to meet a hiker heading north.
posted by Mitheral at 2:15 PM on June 22, 2018 [23 favorites]


The Navy memo about building internment camps (with an emphasis on "austere," gosh, how thoughtful) is alarming as fuck. I'm also still chewing on the bit about stealing funds from the Coast Guard to fund ICE, too. Like apart from my general sense of personal disgust as an ex-Coastie, the demonstration here of funding this without Congressional oversight is alarming and gross.

But that leads me to another thought: even if we get a blue wave, even if and when we get rid of this fucker in the White House, we'll need to fund a huge program to reunite parents and kids. And Republicans will fight the funding of that effort every step of the way.

It's too far in the future and too dependent on hope and voter turnout and the rest to really chew on for long. But that thought kept nagging me all morning. Even if and when we stop this shit, even if and when Republicans are shamed into ending all this, they'll still fight every effort to fix the damage.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 2:24 PM on June 22, 2018 [33 favorites]


In this time of manufactured crisis & dark deeds done in darkness I feel I just have to call out an ally from a completely unexpected quarter: His Majesty Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand, King of the Netherlands. He's taken up a truly regal trolling campaign on Twitter, from taunting Trump about seeing him in the Hague to pointing out an awkward change in Ivanka's profile to a side-by-side comparison of comments by First Ladies about the baby stealing crisis & claiming credit (in a way) for the idea of the Space Force. I take my hat off to you, Your Majesty. You truly are the best King ever.
posted by scalefree at 2:36 PM on June 22, 2018 [29 favorites]


^That's a parody account, not the real king.
posted by sukeban at 2:40 PM on June 22, 2018 [17 favorites]


NYT, In Tense Meeting, Trump Officials Debate How to Process Migrant Families
The whiplash-inducing move caught several people by surprise. Just a day earlier, one person close to the president said, Mr. Trump told advisers that separating families at the border was the best deterrent to illegal immigration and said that “my people love it.”

On Wednesday, Mr. Trump repeatedly changed his mind about precisely what he wanted to do, and how, according to people familiar with the discussions. The president vacillated about whether to do it until a short time before he signed the order, one person said.

Thursday night’s meeting was held in the White House Situation Room and lasted at least 90 minutes, according to three people briefed on the discussion who described it on the condition of anonymity.

They said Customs and Border Protection officials argued forcefully that agents who are apprehending migrant families at the border cannot refer all of the adults for prosecution because the Justice Department does not have the resources to accept all of the cases.

As a result, the officials from Customs and Border Protection told White House and Justice Department officials that they have had to issue fewer prosecution referrals of adults with children despite the president’s zero-tolerance policy.

Justice officials shot back, maintaining that the department has made no changes to its hard-line stance on illegal border crossings as it continues to receive referrals for prosecutions from Customs and Border Protection agents.
It's hard to overstate how galling Trump's "stop wasting their time" tweet is. He's been destroying lives and saying it's up to Congress to fix it, and now he's trying to kill any chance of that actually happening. And now the government is just agencies yelling at each other about what to do with immigrants, none of which seems to involve returning stolen children to their parents.

WSJ, Pentagon Had Spurned U.S. Space Force, Prompting Trump’s Decree, in which the Pentagon doesn't want a Space Force, so Trump just announced it anyway.

@nycsouthpaw:
Judge Wood provides more detail in adopting the Special Master's report. Of the 161 items found privileged/personal (out of tens of thousands), ONLY EIGHT (8) involve Cohen providing legal services. The rest are communications w lawyers representing Cohen.

I understated it. Per the first footnote, "292,226" items were part of this batch. Accordingly, so far:

- 0.055% of items seized from Cohen in the raid are being treated as privileged or highly personal in any way

- 0.0027% of those items show him acting as a lawyer
Whatever this man was up to, it doesn't appear to have had much to do with lawyering.

CNN, EPA commissions a challenge coin for 2017 disaster responders. How about you knock it off with the damn coins, Scott? It's particularly galling since the responses they're celebrating include Puerto Rico.

George Will (yes, that one), Vote against the GOP this November
The Trump whisperer regarding immigration is Stephen Miller, 32, whose ascent to eminence began when he became the Savonarola of Santa Monica High School . Corey Lewandowski, a Trump campaign official who fell from the king’s grace but is crawling back (he works for Mike Pence’s political action committee), recently responded on Fox News to the story of a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome taken from her parents at the border. Lewandowski replied: “Wah, wah.” Meaningless noise is this administration’s appropriate libretto because, just as a magnet attracts iron filings, Trump attracts, and is attracted to, louts.

In today’s GOP, which is the president’s plaything, he is the mainstream. So, to vote against his party’s cowering congressional caucuses is to affirm the nation’s honor while quarantining him. A Democratic-controlled Congress would be a basket of deplorables, but there would be enough Republicans to gum up the Senate’s machinery, keeping the institution as peripheral as it has been under their control and asphyxiating mischief from a Democratic House. And to those who say, “But the judges, the judges!” the answer is: Article III institutions are not more important than those of Articles I and II combined.
posted by zachlipton at 2:41 PM on June 22, 2018 [28 favorites]


I am astounded and happy for the Netherlands. Parody account or not.
posted by Namlit at 2:44 PM on June 22, 2018 [7 favorites]


But that is no more than 35%, and he needs the center-right independents to win anything, and they would scatter like roaches when the light comes on.

children are in concentration camps. nothing trump could say or do on a years-old tape would make anyone care about anything. please. this delusion pains me.
posted by poffin boffin at 2:47 PM on June 22, 2018 [38 favorites]


^That's a parody account, not the real king.

Maybe? It's not blue-checked & they are outrageous comments but I haven't seen anything definitively calling it out yet. In the meantime it makes me happy to believe it's real.
posted by scalefree at 2:49 PM on June 22, 2018 [2 favorites]


George Will is still alive?? I'd assumed he had committed seppuku in 1997 after the MLB introduced interleague play.
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:50 PM on June 22, 2018 [18 favorites]


Definitely a parody account.
posted by Justinian at 2:53 PM on June 22, 2018 [2 favorites]


this delusion pains me.

It's reflective of the politics of eternal spectacle that's riddled every single one of our brains. Ours isn't as strong or as corrosive as theirs, but I think the last 30 years have given everybody well-worn neural ruts telling us that if we see the right representation on the right screen, it'll be OK and things can be the same again. It's a generational sickness that we're going to have to learn to manage and doing so will have to involve rediscovering actual human communities.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:53 PM on June 22, 2018 [3 favorites]




A site the Trump administration is considering for housing children separated from their parents at the border is a former Japanese American internment camp (Rohwer, Arkansas). That article says the site is a 5-minute drive from Rohwer, but the person who posted it in the Tule Lake Pilgrimage group claims that there are actually 160 acres of overlap. Either way, a bit on the nose, no?
posted by sunset in snow country at 3:07 PM on June 22, 2018 [30 favorites]


NPR: Crying Toddler On Widely Shared 'Time' Cover Was Not Separated From Mother

So the Navy's plans to put hundreds of thousands in concentration camps came out today, but this is what NPR chooses to cover.

Over half of the body of the article describes Border Patrol's response and Trump's response and Sarah Sanders' response and ICE's response.

NPR is insultingly transparent controlled opposition.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:08 PM on June 22, 2018 [22 favorites]


NPR: Crying Toddler On Widely Shared 'Time' Cover Was Not Separated From Mother

No, the child was not incarcerated separate from her mother. She was separated - I see no mother in the picture, and I'm pretty sure that's not by either her choice or her mother's.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 3:16 PM on June 22, 2018 [10 favorites]


What makes me extra angry...
Crime victim is not inaccurate (vehicular manslaughter is a crime but not always a felony) but the phrase implies intentional crime. The list of deaths that Daniel Dale tweeted is comprised of a majority of people who died in vehicular accidents caused by undocumented people.
posted by spamandkimchi at 3:18 PM on June 22, 2018 [9 favorites]


the child in the photo and her mother could have been driven straight to an all-expenses-paid trip to goddamn Disneyland together immediately after the photo was taken and it doesn't change one thing about this entire fucked up situation
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:22 PM on June 22, 2018 [70 favorites]


Now that it's actually happening, where are all the whack-job conspiracy theorists who were blubbering about this sort of thing 30 years ago?

Well, the ones who take the time, and are so inclined, to post something about it seem to believe that Trump has a super-seekrit plan that's streets ahead of The Cabal™ to finally capture and try - possibly extra-judiciously which is now okie doke - all the black nobility satanist banking family sex cult paedophile matrix reptilian moon-dwellers so that the Truth about our ancient past and current space programs can come out. This is what the qanon thing is arguably about, and it's all coming to a head any day now. Probably during [insert random day here], because [popular figure / astronomical event] will [do something] then.

Others, don't think Trump has a plan for that.
posted by petebest at 3:23 PM on June 22, 2018 [4 favorites]


@DavidBegnaud: BREAKING: As of Sunday, June 24, US Border Patrol expects that “all unaccompanied children in their custody who were separated from adults who were being prosecuted will have been reunited with their families,” according to a US administration official.

I'd feel considerably more comfortable with that statement if someone was willing to sign their name to it.
posted by zachlipton at 3:28 PM on June 22, 2018 [30 favorites]



NPR: Crying Toddler On Widely Shared 'Time' Cover Was Not Separated From Mother

So the Navy's plans to put hundreds of thousands in concentration camps came out today, but this is what NPR chooses to cover.

Over half of the body of the article describes Border Patrol's response and Trump's response and Sarah Sanders' response and ICE's response.

NPR is insultingly transparent controlled opposition.


I sent a very long note to the NPR ombudsman taking them to task for their credulous coverage of this administration. I pointed out that their job is not to repeat the talking points of politicians and if they don't have the resources to fact check the endless torrent of bullshit coming at them every day they should err on the side of not repeating the words of people who have proven themselves to be liars over and over again.
posted by runcibleshaw at 3:28 PM on June 22, 2018 [51 favorites]


VICE: There’s a pattern to the ICE-issued ID numbers that can help parents find their kids

2018: the process of tracking down your disappeared stateless child has been gamified
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:31 PM on June 22, 2018 [26 favorites]


US Border Patrol expects that...in their custody...

I thought the Border Patrol was turning these kids over to some other agency?
posted by Slothrup at 3:31 PM on June 22, 2018 [6 favorites]


"all unaccompanied children in their custody who were separated from adults who were being prosecuted will have been reunited with their families"

...but they'll still be detained, many in terrible conditions, after having undergone weeks of traumatic separation.

And that's assuming that it even happens, which I strongly, strongly doubt it will, especially within the next 2 days (!).
posted by jedicus at 3:32 PM on June 22, 2018 [8 favorites]


Whatever plans you made for the June 30th Families Belong Together protests, keep 'em.

If you haven't made such plans yet and you have the wherewithal, make plans. And tell everyone you know who showed up for the Women's March that it's time to show up again.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 3:35 PM on June 22, 2018 [33 favorites]


Crime victim is not inaccurate (vehicular manslaughter is a crime but not always a felony) but the phrase implies intentional crime. The list of deaths that Daniel Dale tweeted is comprised of a majority of people who died in vehicular accidents caused by undocumented people.

And also, it bears repeating, from this piece:

In the United States, crime statistics repeatedly show that immigrants – including illegal immigrants and refugees from Latin America – have considerably lower rates of criminality, including violent crime, than Americans do.

So even if there were a migration emergency, those waves of illegals would be making Americans safer by lowering their crime rates. But there’s no emergency, and the only danger in 2018 is coming from within.


Opening the borders to a greater flow of people would actually keep you safer.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:38 PM on June 22, 2018 [12 favorites]


Stop whatever you're doing and read

Every time I see this, I don't bother.


I get stuck on trying to figure out what I was doing so I can stop it.
posted by srboisvert at 3:39 PM on June 22, 2018 [14 favorites]


Continuing on the part about detention camps coming to a neighborhood near you, I mean near some of the family members I have that range from quietly Trump Supporting to Rally Attending Trump Supporter... I'm having to refrain from posting something, publically or privately, to the effect of "Well, well, chickens coming home to roost indeed."

I think that's taking the high road....

But I'd totally post something if it was witty and cutting enough. Taking suggestions...
posted by RolandOfEld at 3:45 PM on June 22, 2018


The "immigrants commit fewer crimes per capita, therefore letting in more immigrants makes you safer" kind of makes me dizzy to ponder. I think that's only true if those immigrants replace a person already here so that there are fewer crimes overall, rather than the immigrant joining the people already here. Or maybe not since the number of crimes gets distributed among more people with immigration, so you're less likely to be a victim even if there are more crimes in absolute numbers? But the proposition seems to be taking as a given that you can either have more immigrants or more non-immigrants in a zero-sum way.... Ennnh, dizzy.

This isn't an argument for or against more immigration (though I'm for it), just pointing out that "more immigrants makes you safer" makes my head hurt from a logical proposition standpoint.
posted by Justinian at 3:47 PM on June 22, 2018 [2 favorites]


Info for non-locals: Concord skews richer, whiter, and more conservative than most of the SF bay area. (Alameda county, with Oakland and Berkeley: 56% D, 14% R. Contra Costa, with Concord and Walnut Creek: 50% D, 25% R. San Francisco: 56% D, 9% R - SF gets more Greens and Peace and Freedom.)

At a more local level, though: Contra Costa County has a broad range of demographics and Concord specifically is more towards the poorer and browner ends of the axes. (The sortable tables in the Wikipedia Contra Costa County article are useful here.)

As noted: yes, the Naval Weapons Station does feel like a weird choice as it's very far from remote. People locally absolutely will mobilize against this.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 3:47 PM on June 22, 2018 [2 favorites]


“An Open Letter From a Counselor at the Office of Refugee Resettlement: Is This Really What the US Stands For?” Anonymous, Latino Rebels, 20 June 2018
Right now, ORR is working with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE) in a way that will very likely lead to an increase in deportations and more children being stuck in government programs. ORR signed an agreement with DHS to provide them with the personal information of potential sponsors for the children with whom I work. These sponsors are often undocumented themselves. The children they hope to sponsor are often their biological children, nieces, nephews or family friends.

Now our case managers are obligated to inform the sponsors that by sponsoring a child, they have to give their personal information and location to DHS, and therefore, to ICE as well. If they surrender their personal information to ICE, they could potentially get deported.
posted by ob1quixote at 3:47 PM on June 22, 2018 [21 favorites]


NPR: Crying Toddler On Widely Shared 'Time' Cover Was Not Separated From Mother

Snopes: Did Media Falsely Report That Border Agents Separated a Girl From Her Mother? (TLDR: "Mostly False", the idea that it was fake news is in fact fake news).

--

UN says Trump separation of migrant children with parents 'may amount to torture', in damning condemnation

--

When trying to obscure your fascism it helps to not have a literal fasces as a backdrop


--

In the United States, crime statistics repeatedly show that immigrants – including illegal immigrants and refugees from Latin America – have considerably lower rates of criminality, including violent crime, than Americans do.

Case in point, MS-13. They are a U.S. gang, born and raised in L.A., then exported to Latin America via deportations, where they took over because their street version 'School of the Americas' training meant they were a whole 'nother level than the pre-existing gangs.

The criminality surplus/deficit trade has been a lot more southbound than northbound, even if the refugees from U.S. gangs now operating there has been the reverse.
posted by Buntix at 4:01 PM on June 22, 2018 [22 favorites]


Lurker delurking to say that I've just joined the DSA as well - thank you The Whelk for all that you do for Metafilter, the DSA, and for making me aware of this good group of people doing the right thing.
posted by Jaclyn at 4:01 PM on June 22, 2018 [55 favorites]


A nice surprise in an otherwise crappy week: Michelle Alexander Joins the New York Times Opinion Pages as Full-Time Columnist

Michelle Alexander, author of the best-selling book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, will become a columnist for the New York Times Opinion pages, the Times announced Thursday.

“Michelle is the author of ‘The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,’ the book that changed the way many of us think about criminal justice and about the persistence and adaptation of forms of racial control in the United States. She is a powerful writer, a fierce advocate for a more just world and a deep believer in open-minded, searching debate over how to achieve it,” James Bennet, the New York Times’ editorial page editor, said in a press release.

posted by sapere aude at 4:09 PM on June 22, 2018 [41 favorites]


Not sure if this is helpful, but the Portland clothing company Wild Fang is donating 100% of the proceeds of their ”I Really Care” clothes to RAICES.

***100% OF PROCEEDS GO DIRECTLY TO RAICES.***
Hey Melania. WE REALLY DO CARE! That's why we made this jacket. To say we stand with immigrants. To say WE CARE. By Wildfang.


Wild Fang is a women-started clothing store as well, so this isn’t just a bunch of bros doing this.
posted by gucci mane at 4:19 PM on June 22, 2018 [20 favorites]


Concord has a sizable (30%) Latinx population - in fact, as you can see from the data in the link, it's a very diverse city in general. (Neighboring Walnut Creek and Lafayette are lots whiter and richer.)

The Central Contra Costa Indivisible FB group is keeping me posted, local elected officials have been contacted, and our House representative is not at all happy about it and notes that the facility, which has been closed for 15 years, is not fit to house anyone right now.

I'm sure Concord was chosen to be a thumb in the eye of the bluest part of a blue state - and believe me, if it happens there will be lots of protests.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 4:21 PM on June 22, 2018 [7 favorites]


I expect Concord was chosen because it has a decommissioned facility large enough to potentially use for housing; the fact that it's in a less-blue-than-average spot is probably why that facility was there in the first place, not why it's being considered now.

And yeah... "less blue than some nearby areas" is still "screamin' activist liberal zone" compared to most of the country.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 4:30 PM on June 22, 2018 [2 favorites]


Walnut Creek, though, eesh, yeah, pile on.
posted by notyou at 4:35 PM on June 22, 2018


Walnut Creek, though, eesh, yeah, pile on.

*cough* I live there, and I like it - it's not at all a conservative hellhole. Maybe by comparison to San Francisco.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 4:39 PM on June 22, 2018 [7 favorites]


Just looking at maps, if you had never been there it might look like a good place to put a detention facility. Kind of out of the way, with a fair amount of fairly empty buffer zone around it, close to a small airport.

As a former resident of Concord/Pleasant Hill/Walnut Creek with friends and family who still live there, I find it to be an exceptionally ridiculous idea to even attempt.
posted by monopas at 4:40 PM on June 22, 2018 [2 favorites]


I'm having a hard time getting fired up about these Garrett tweets, the same way I have a hard time getting fired up over whatever nutty thing the House Freedom Caucus is proposing. Same for all iterations of Trump's ideas for the national budget.

The problem with these extremist proposals in negotiations is that the opposition finds itself obliged to compromise with them when their position is weaker: Only a few of them have to get through for them to do lasting damage. It's also precisely the negotiating position Trump prefers, especially if he can threaten something mutually destructive if he doesn't get his way (like shutting down the federal government in September). There's also infuriating chutzpah with the Trump administration titling this "Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century" when it's done everything it can to undermine virtually every department, leave important positions unfilled, and force out veteran civil servants.

But behind Trump's recommendations is an unprecedented power-grab. This would reshape the federal government on a scale beyond the dreams of Reagan and Goldwater, like an anti-Johnson or a reverse-Roosevelt. There is no over-reach for Trump, only what we let him get away with.
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:42 PM on June 22, 2018 [9 favorites]


Migrant teen held in ICE detention center: 'You could hear them crying all the time'

Edmilson was one of about 30 young men and boys – some as young as 5 – squeezed into an office-sized, windowless room in a U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement processing center in Phoenix, Edmilson said. “I saw boys, women, pregnant women, women with children, children by themselves, and men," he said through an interpreter. "They put us in a room, and this room was rounded-up young men. And they brought the kids in.”

A single toilet sat in the center of the open room. "The smell was very bad. It wasn't even separated by a wall," Edmilson said. "They said we had air conditioning, (but) it was very hot in the room."

When guards brought in the youngest boy, he started to cry and scream for his mother. "And we asked him, `What is your problem? How can we help?' " Edmilson said. "He said, `They took my mom away from here.' We called an immigration officer, and we asked her about this child's mom. And they told him, `Your mom is there. She will come later.' "And the 11-year-old boy said, `No, his mom is not coming back because she was deported to Guatemala.' And they left this child there by himself.

Truth and reconciliation commissions aren't going to cut it.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:48 PM on June 22, 2018 [63 favorites]




I saw boys, women, pregnant women, women with children, children by themselves, and men," he said through an interpreter. "

WHERE ARE THE GIRLS!
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 5:15 PM on June 22, 2018 [42 favorites]


Former Chinese official/diplomat met with today said, "Every country thinks America has gone crazy. We benefit by doing nothing, other than appearing sane."
posted by infini at 5:32 PM on June 22, 2018 [43 favorites]


US Border Patrol expects that...in their custody...

I thought the Border Patrol was turning these kids over to some other agency?


That's it exactly. CBP has turned the vast majority of the children over to HHS. So they can blithely say, "Hey, we've given back all the ones we had," and pass the buck.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:32 PM on June 22, 2018 [14 favorites]






"I also want to thank the incredible ICE Officers, Border Patrol agents, and law enforcement officials who join us here today. If you could stand up, please. These people are also special people. (Applause.) And they’re good-looking people. Aren’t they? Huh? (Laughter.) Good-looking people. Thank you very much for being here and for the bravery. What you do and what you endure is incredible.

I always hear that, 'Oh, no, the population is safer than the people that live in the country.' You’ve heard that, fellas. Right? You’ve heard that. I hear it so much. And I say, 'Is that possible?' The answer is it’s not true. You hear it’s like they’re better people than what we have — than our citizens. It’s not true.

This is Tom Selleck. (Laughter.) Except better looking. Right? Better looking."
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:49 PM on June 22, 2018




The memo also proposes a camp for as many as 47,000 people at former Naval Weapons Station Concord

Bring it. I already go to Concord weekly to help a refugee family acclimate to America. I can just swing by there after for a protest!
posted by greermahoney at 5:57 PM on June 22, 2018 [17 favorites]


GEORGE WILL?!?!

Holy fucking shit. My fondest Libertarian "watch the GOP die in a fire and then supplant them" dreams might actually becoming true!
posted by Jacqueline at 6:02 PM on June 22, 2018 [8 favorites]




But George Will waited to release that commentary until after Charles Krauthammer died. Because if Krauthammer died soon after, they'd blame Will.
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:05 PM on June 22, 2018 [11 favorites]




Check out the opulent, high-end digs available at www.trumphotels.org
posted by porn in the woods at 6:24 PM on June 22, 2018 [31 favorites]




@jrehling
In Mein Kampf, Hitler focused on "bad Jews" whose criminality and depravity were undeniable, so that he could soon portray the whole race as guilty.

This is what Trump is doing with "Angel Families" and MS-13. Someone on Trump's team has studied Hitler carefully.

posted by Artw at 6:32 PM on June 22, 2018 [33 favorites]


Wow! porn in the woods' trumphotels.org link above had this March 2016 quote from Cheeto.

"When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength. Our country is right now perceived as weak".

I never saw this quote before. Wow, just fuckin' wow. WTF
posted by duoshao at 6:32 PM on June 22, 2018 [37 favorites]


Someone on Trump's team has studied Hitler carefully.

Bannon and Miller.
posted by jgirl at 6:38 PM on June 22, 2018 [17 favorites]


The "no-holes-barred wish list for the Koch Brothers* agenda" is missing two of their top priorities, where they are solidly in opposition to Trump. They're fighting his tariffs (big on free-trade and 'a tax is a tax') and his immigration policy (probably no compassion involved, they just like the sources of cheap labor),

*with David Koch doing a 'slow retirement', it'll soon be The Koch Brother or just Charles Koch
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:44 PM on June 22, 2018 [1 favorite]


Well, Trump did keep Hitler's speeches on his nightstand, so he probably didn't need help from those guys, but he I'm sure he got it anyway.
posted by Mental Wimp at 6:45 PM on June 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


Considering Trump's praise for China's handling of the Tiananmen Square protests, he's probably also read some thoughts from Chairman Mao.
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:49 PM on June 22, 2018 [3 favorites]


This video of Puerto Rican governor Ricky Rosselló basically petitioning Trump for statehood is incredible. Despite Rosselló trying to be as much of a toady as he can, and both praising the administration's relief efforts in PR and implying that the time is ripe to exploit it with his "open for business" and applauding the privitization of the island's electric utility, Trump shuts him down with this bit of unfiltered honesty about the political situation:
ROSSELLÓ: Using your words sir, you want to make America great again. I think we could make it greater, and expand it to include Puerto Rico as a fifty-first state.
TRUMP: Thank you Ricardo very much. And Ricardo is going to guarantee us two Republican senators. Is that correct? Would that process make it very quick? That might be a very quick process!
posted by mubba at 6:58 PM on June 22, 2018 [18 favorites]


Dennis Hof owns a strip club and five brothels. He has been accused of sexually abusing, choking, and raping sex workers. And he’s running for the Nevada state legislature with the support of conservative evangelicals.
posted by EarBucket at 6:59 PM on June 22, 2018 [35 favorites]


*with David Koch doing a 'slow retirement', it'll soon be The Koch Brother or just Charles Koch

A pity that shitty-person money is immortal and cannot retire.
posted by Artw at 6:59 PM on June 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


Third night of Antwon Rose protests shutting the streets down here in Pittsburgh. Tomorrow's the annual Juneteenth parade downtown, so I assume that at some point this is just going to all meld into round-the-clock marching.
posted by Stacey at 7:00 PM on June 22, 2018 [31 favorites]


What are people's thoughts on Brianna Wu (MA - 8)?

I don't know much about her but saw one interview and she seems impressive.
posted by duoshao at 7:07 PM on June 22, 2018 [1 favorite]


Having looked into the history of the Concord NWS, I suspect that listing it might have been a symbolic middle finger to a lot of people. What with it being the site of the Port Chicago disaster and mutiny. There's a National Memorial. (Quick explanation: a lot of sailors died in an explosion. Most of them were black. This caused the largest mutiny in the history of the US Navy. That and the ensuing trial were signifigant events among many that caused the desegregation of the US Navy.)

Also, it is a Superfund site that isn't fully mitigated, or cleaned, or whatever the technical term is that means it is usable for human occupation.
posted by monopas at 7:15 PM on June 22, 2018 [12 favorites]


Trans March just came by to kick off SF Pride weekend, with massive chants of "Fuck ICE." It was glorious.
posted by zachlipton at 7:21 PM on June 22, 2018 [31 favorites]


What are people's thoughts on Brianna Wu (MA - 8)?

There's nothing obliquely wrong with her or her candidacy but she's running against a popular and pretty reliably Democratic incumbent in a safe seat of MA who is loaded with cash. Her candidacy really is an answer in need of a question. If she was stepping up to run against a red incumbent in some purple seat in a purpler state then yeah, let's go whole hog on her. But running in MA-8? She may as well be a political Don Quixote.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:27 PM on June 22, 2018 [8 favorites]


When news broke that Hof had won the nominating contest for a state Assembly seat on June 12, evangelical pastor Victor Fuentes said he closed his eyes and prayed.

He did not ask God to deliver Nevada and the Republican Party from Hof, the thrice-divorced author of “The Art of the Pimp” who campaigned as the “Trump of Pahrump.” Although Christian groups have long rallied against the state’s legal brothel industry, Fuentes was willing to overlook Hof’s history as a champion of the flesh trade and gave thanks for his victory.

“People want to know how an evangelical can support a self-proclaimed pimp,” Fuentes said in an interview at his home in Pahrump, an unincorporated town of 36,000 people that is the largest community in the sprawling, rural district where Hof is favored to win in November’s general election.

He said the reason was simple. “We have politicians, they might speak good words, not sleep with prostitutes, be a good neighbor. But by their decisions, they have evil in their heart. Dennis Hof is not like that.”

[...] Trump has not weighed in on the race. But Hof held a rally with former Trump adviser Roger Stone and said he would not be in a position to win the district without the president’s transformation of the party.


Wow. Republicans have eaten the brown acid.
posted by petebest at 7:33 PM on June 22, 2018 [27 favorites]


Her candidacy really is an answer in need of a question.

She’s running because she FOIA’d FBI records regarding the targeted harassment / terror campaign of g*mergate and discovered that even though those little shits confessed to actual crimes no one at the FBI cared because lol bitches be crazy

And now here we are
posted by schadenfrau at 7:36 PM on June 22, 2018 [42 favorites]


She’s running because she FOIA’d FBI records regarding the targeted harassment / terror campaign of g*mergate and discovered that even though those little shits confessed to actual crimes no one at the FBI cared because lol bitches be crazy

No no I get that. I'm just saying that replacing Steven Lynch with her won't actually change much in the grand scheme of things so I'm not sure how she'd convince a plurality of the primary voters to go along with her. Hell, even she won't be able to do much about her own personal cause as an individual congresswoman especially if she's not on the right committees and the like.

It's her decision and all that and good luck to her, it's just, well, going up against a well funded, well liked opponent is less a major uphill battle and more a sheer cliff. But then again, Brat outsted Cantor so who knows.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:47 PM on June 22, 2018 [3 favorites]


There's nothing obliquely wrong with her or her candidacy but she's running against a popular and pretty reliably Democratic incumbent in a safe seat of MA who is loaded with cash.

Lynch is without doubt the most conservative member of the MA delegation (he initially opposed Obamacare) and there's no reason a progressive shouldn't challenge him, since whichever Democrat wins will be the next representative.

I don't live in the district, but do live like a few blocks away (in fact, I was in Lynch's district until redistricting after the 2010 census), and if I didn't know any better, I'd swear he's running unopposed. Compare to Ayanna Pressley's campaign in the neighboring district against Mike Capuano.
posted by adamg at 7:49 PM on June 22, 2018 [7 favorites]


USA Today, Brad Heath, DOJ: Trump's immigration crackdown 'diverting' resources from drug cases
Federal prosecutors warned they were diverting resources from drug-smuggling cases in southern California to handle the flood of immigration charges brought on by the Trump administration’s border crackdown, records obtained by USA TODAY show.

Days after Attorney General Jeff Sessions instructed prosecutors to bring charges against anyone who enters the United States illegally, a Justice Department supervisor in San Diego sent an email to border authorities warning that immigration cases “will occupy substantially more of our resources.” He wrote that the U.S. Attorney’s Office there was “diverting staff, both support and attorneys, accordingly.”

The email, sent by the lawyer who runs the office’s major crimes unit, said prosecutors needed to streamline their work on smuggling cases. He said that would mean tight deadlines – sometimes just a few hours to produce reports and recordings – for those that would land in federal court. Going forward, the lawyer, Fred Sheppard, warned, if agents can’t meet that high bar, “the case will be declined.”
We do not have the resources to actually prosecute everyone. What Trump continues to do is go from prioritizing prosecution based on an actual system of enforcement priorities to prosecuting basically randomly. They're pulling people from drug smuggling cases to prosecute misdemeanors that result in time served and a $10 fine. And the result, as we see here, is the exact opposite of all Trump's shouting about public safety.

And end the war on drugs too...
posted by zachlipton at 7:52 PM on June 22, 2018 [24 favorites]


I don't live in the district, but do live like a few blocks away (in fact, I was in Lynch's district until redistricting after the 2010 census), and if I didn't know any better, I'd swear he's running unopposed. Compare to Ayanna Pressley's campaign in the neighboring district against Mike Capuano.

MA-7 is ridiculously multicultural compared to MA-8. MA-7 is a white minority but still plurality seat. There's a far larger voting base that's sympathetic to more progressive causes and values in aggregate. I think your complaints against Lynch are valid but nobody has really challenged him on it and the blank ballots are pretty low.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:58 PM on June 22, 2018


We do not have the resources to actually prosecute everyone. What Trump continues to do is go from prioritizing prosecution based on an actual system of enforcement priorities to prosecuting basically randomly.

It's not random. Trump's priority is preserving the white majority. The "zero-tolerance" immigration policy is actually about reducing the legal immigration of non-white asylum seekers. When he shouts about "public safety", he means reducing the number of brown people in the US. Prosecuting less drug smugglers in favor of intimidating anyone who would want to legally immigrate to the US is absolutely in line with their priorities.
posted by heathkit at 8:00 PM on June 22, 2018 [17 favorites]


I'm kind of excited to support Rufus Gifford in MA-3. He and his husband are such a gorgeous couple with their golden retriever.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:00 PM on June 22, 2018 [1 favorite]


Brianna Wu was a Republican for years. She also makes enemies of people on her own side on the regular. Terrible choice.
posted by Yowser at 8:17 PM on June 22, 2018 [8 favorites]


23andme donating DNA kits to help reunite migrant families

The CEO of the popular DNA-testing company 23andMe has agreed to provide DNA kits to help reunite the hundreds of migrant families separated at the border in recent weeks, after Congresswoman Jackie Speier approached the Mountain View-based company with the idea.

“They have committed to providing all the tests necessary to test the parents and the children,” Speier told this news organization.

posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:21 PM on June 22, 2018 [37 favorites]


WaPo, Devlin Barrett, Josh Dawsey and Nick Miroff, Arguments, confusion, second-guessing: Inside Trump’s reversal on separating migrant families
Amid continuing fallout from the Trump administration’s family separation policy, and a disjointed retreat earlier this week, senior officials met Friday to craft a plan for reuniting immigrant children with their parents or guardians, though it remained unclear how long that work will take.

The midday meeting was designed for officials to hash out exactly how they would reunite the more than 2,500 migrant children who have been separated from their parents since the practice went into effect in early May, according to officials involved in the discussions, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer candid insights into internal deliberations. Roughly 500 children have already been reunited with a parent or guardian, officials have said.
...
In private conversations with aides, Trump said he wanted to sign a full immigration bill as part of an executive order, which one administration official described as “a pretty insane idea.” The president was told by government lawyers that he could not change immigration law by fiat, said a person familiar with the discussions.

Trump then demanded that an executive order be written that would end child detentions in cages, and said he wanted it on his desk for signing by that afternoon, according to people involved in the discussions.

Given hours to produce a complex legal document, government lawyers crafted one that met the moment’s political demands but only added to confusion within the agencies tasked with implementing it.
...
On Thursday evening, officials from Homeland Security and the Justice Department gathered at the White House to discuss the issues, and over the course of the 90-minute meeting it became clear that CBP and Justice had wildly different understandings of what they were supposed to be doing, according to people familiar with the talks.

Senior White House adviser Stephen Miller, an outspoken proponent of tougher immigration policy, was unhappy that CBP had decided to halt referrals for prosecution of parents illegally crossing the border with children, according to people familiar with the meeting. Homeland Security officials complained they had been given no guidance and had done the best they could with vague language.

Trump, for his part, has ruminated to aides that he should not have signed the order in the first place, according to people familiar with the conversations. The president seemed to be fed up with the topic Friday, as he publicly discouraged Republican lawmakers from trying to pass any new immigration laws before the midterm elections in November.
Love to have a President who has lacks even a high school level knowledge of how the government works as he signs stuff and various agencies try to decide what it could mean before he regrets it the next day.
posted by zachlipton at 8:27 PM on June 22, 2018 [58 favorites]


Gelatin: "Republicans abandoned arguing in good faith a long, long time ago. The embrace of stupid arguments ("if you get convicted of a crime your children are taken away too why aren't you libs upset about that herp derp") serves two purposes: It's a mark of contempt for those who believe in rational -- dare I say civil -- discourse -- and a tribal marker that they can't be persuaded by rational, factual argument."

To repurpose a recent tweetstorm from Tom Nichols:
It's not that I disagree about policy with Trump supporters. It's that I know they don't give a shit about policy. There's no way to have a policy argument with people whose eyes are always looking up to the television for a cue from Dear Leader about what to say next. As @JVLast once said, Trumpism is non-falsifiable. Whatever Trump does is right. There are no principled arguments to be had, because if Trump changes his mind or tweets something off the wall, Trumpers change their position immediately.

This would basically be a cult except for one thing: most Trumpers do not believe their own bullshit. Yes, some of them really are stupid enough to think Trump is a good man and all that crap, but most of them are only interested in Trump as a vehicle of social disruption. Trump's smarter enablers see him as an equalizer, a way to put them on an equal footing with "elites" - oh, that word - who they think look down on them.

Thing is, the elites *do* look down on them. For good reason. Most of Trump's sycophants are second raters, at best. For them, Trump is their shot. They know he's, um, emotionally disordered, to use @Peter_Wehner's term, but they don't care: this is their one chance to grab the car keys and throw a kegger before Mom and Dad get back home. That makes talking with them about policy impossible.

So if it seems like I don't engage Trump's enablers on the merits of this or that Trump policy, it's because I can't take Trump's "policies" any more seriously than Trump or his minions do. It's either pure stupidity or pure careerism, and either way, it's a waste of time. Yes, there are people in government trying to hold everything together. I salute them and hope they can keep the ship afloat. But they can't make policy either. They can issue directives and hope for the best, mostly hoping Trump doesn't notice and overrule them via tweet.

I think we'd all be less exhausted if the Trumpers would just admit that what they value from Trump is the social leveling effect he has, forcing intelligent people to respond endlessly to stupid comments and bad ideas, than continue pretending they care about "policy." For myself, I am resigned that Trump will be president for as long as he's president. How it ends is up to the voters. But I don't see the need to engage in the cynical bullshittery of arguing policy with people who will change their minds on anything in nanoseconds.
posted by Rhaomi at 8:56 PM on June 22, 2018 [103 favorites]


Reuters: Prison shares rise as U.S. eyes more migrant family detention space

Since it's immune to the trade war, the domestic evil-manufacturing industry is probably a good bet.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:46 PM on June 22, 2018 [3 favorites]


Huh. Something that slipped by me, and I think hasn't been noted here (via @jimacosta): For the fourth straight day there was no WH briefing. No officials to explain how the admin plans to return the separated kids to their parents. This is how the briefing room looks.. a few reporters waiting for answers that aren’t coming yet.

No daily press briefing for four days straight.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:32 PM on June 22, 2018 [25 favorites]


Sometimes I feel like it'd be better off if they stopped giving the press briefing permanently. It might make the press write about what's happening instead of what's being said.
posted by Arbac at 11:47 PM on June 22, 2018 [48 favorites]


Speaking of press briefings or lack thereof, @brennanmgilmore: .@PressSec got kicked out of the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Va tonight. Apparently the owner didn’t want to serve her and her party out of moral conviction.
posted by zachlipton at 11:49 PM on June 22, 2018 [112 favorites]


I'm wondering if SHS is calling in sick these days.
posted by rhizome at 11:49 PM on June 22, 2018 [1 favorite]


I am astounded and happy for the Netherlands. Parody account or not.

When a malignant narcissistic sociopathic orange baboon appointed a stubborn lying fake-news regurgitating shithead as the US Ambassador to these Lowlands, we had some journalists point out the fake-news regurgitating in a TV interview with said shithead.

And whatever your thoughts are on monarchies (ours is mostly ceremonial anyway), we could do worse than with W-A.
posted by Stoneshop at 12:11 AM on June 23, 2018 [8 favorites]


No daily press briefing for four days straight.

That's Trump's time distortion for you; if it says 'daily press briefing' it's a daily press briefing even if you perceive it as not having happened for half a week. Remember how much longer a Scaramucchi appears than it actually is?
posted by Stoneshop at 3:09 AM on June 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


Britain Has a Russia Collusion Scandal Now. It Looks Exactly Like Trump’s.

I’d guess that all countries dumb enough to let the Russia-backed far right win an election have one that looks exactly the same too, and all ones that narrowly overted it have a dormant version of the same that never really came to the surface.
posted by Artw at 5:25 AM on June 23, 2018 [43 favorites]


Sometimes I feel like it'd be better off if they stopped giving the press briefing permanently. It might make the press write about what's happening instead of what's being said.

Nope, they'd just take everything "on background" and reprint it, even more than they already do.

Since we're stuck with the quisling press we have, and will never get a real 4th estate up to standing up for democracy in the Trump era, the best we're going to get is to have the lies on video rather than whispered to Johnathan Swan and Maggie Haberman.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:48 AM on June 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


As a friend of mine said waaay back in the Spicer Era: The press briefings aren’t about the answers anymore; they’re just to get the questions on the record.
posted by Etrigan at 6:03 AM on June 23, 2018 [28 favorites]


I know nothing about shopping, but maybe someone can explain to me: how does Melania even get a $30 jacket? She's a former model who presumably can have high end couturiers supply whatever she needs in private sessions, but buying something from a chain store sounds like it would be a big operation. I mean, she can't go anywhere without a Secret Service motorcade. Unless she buys stuff online? It's still hard to imagine her browsing a mid-range chain store's catalogue.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:14 AM on June 23, 2018 [6 favorites]




It’s part of their attempts to appear accessible and non-elite. Ivanka’s been photographed wearing some Zara stuff at least a few times this year and it’s always reported in a “look, they’re just like us” sort of way.
posted by palomar at 6:34 AM on June 23, 2018


The entire Trump family is practically synonymous with tacky, chintzy cheap crap. They cheat, lie, and buy gold-plated garbage. I would sooner believe Melania in Zara before Melania in Prada. Not to mention that a lot of couture designers refused to contribute for the inauguration and I can’t imagine that situation hasn’t improved.
posted by Autumnheart at 6:35 AM on June 23, 2018 [11 favorites]


And it’s not at all hard to lay one’s fancy hands on cheap goods when one has staff that can be sent out to shop on your behalf, darlings.
posted by palomar at 6:35 AM on June 23, 2018 [7 favorites]


Especially when you’re in New York and not in the White House.
posted by Autumnheart at 6:39 AM on June 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


I know nothing about shopping, but maybe someone can explain to me: how does Melania even get a $30 jacket? She's a former model who presumably can have high end couturiers supply whatever she needs in private sessions, but buying something from a chain store sounds like it would be a big operation. I mean, she can't go anywhere without a Secret Service motorcade. Unless she buys stuff online? It's still hard to imagine her browsing a mid-range chain store's catalogue.

And it’s not at all hard to lay one’s fancy hands on cheap goods when one has staff that can be sent out to shop on your behalf, darlings.

Here's How Melania Trump Actually Gets Her Clothes
The fact the clothes are bought off the rack with neither the store nor designer knowing who the purchaser is pretty much checks out with stories we've heard about Mrs. Trump's wardrobe before.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 6:45 AM on June 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


They probably just send her boxes of their crap and every so often an item speaks to her.
posted by Artw at 6:45 AM on June 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


George Will (yes, that one), Vote against the GOP this November
...Meaningless noise is this administration’s appropriate libretto because, just as a magnet attracts iron filings, Trump attracts, and is attracted to, louts.


One might even say...deplorables.

Always remember that Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" comment clearly referred to the likes of Stephen Miller and Corey Lewandowski. The so-called "liberal media" took its cue in spinning the statement from conservatives with a long history of arguing in bad faith.

Were I in charge of a newsroom, reading The Drudge Report would be a firing offense.
posted by Gelatin at 6:54 AM on June 23, 2018 [23 favorites]


Yet again I wish she’d just flat out names names and called them nazis. And not mentioned baskets, a basket is what you put kittens in for an adorable photoshoot.
posted by Artw at 6:58 AM on June 23, 2018 [7 favorites]


Always remember that Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" comment clearly referred to the likes of Stephen Miller and Corey Lewandowski. The so-called "liberal media" took its cue in spinning the statement from conservatives with a long history of arguing in bad faith.

Like George Will.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:00 AM on June 23, 2018 [8 favorites]


Yeah, HRC was clearly talking about the kinds of people who show up in Virginia with tiki torches and well there you go.
posted by notyou at 7:02 AM on June 23, 2018 [7 favorites]




Analysis Finds Geographic Overlap In Opioid Use And Trump Support In 2016 [NPR]
Goodwin's team examined how a variety of factors could have influenced each county's rate of chronic opioid prescriptions. After correcting for demographic variables such as age and race, Goodwin found that support for Trump in the 2016 election closely tracked opioid prescriptions.

In counties with higher-than-average rates of chronic opioid prescriptions, 60 percent of the voters went for Trump. In the counties with lower-than-average rates, only 39 percent voted for Trump.

A lot of this disparity could be chalked up to social factors and economic woes. Rural, economically-depressed counties went strongly for Trump in the 2016 election. These are the same places where opioid use is prevalent. As a result, opioid use and support for Trump might not be directly related, but rather two symptoms of the same problem – a lack of economic opportunity.

To test this theory, Goodwin included other county-level factors in the analysis. These included factors such as unemployment rate, median income, how rural they are, education level, and religious service attendance, among others.

These socioeconomic variables accounted for about two-thirds of the link between voter support for Trump and opioid rates, the paper's authors write. However, socioeconomic factors didn't explain all of the correlation seen in the study.

"It very well may be that if you're in a county that is dissolving because of opioids, you're looking around and you're seeing ruin. That can lead to a sense of despair," Goodwin says. "You want something different. You want radical change."
So, Trump's not doing anything that could make the noted socioeconomic factors and opioid crisis worse... Um, right?
posted by Buntix at 7:19 AM on June 23, 2018 [17 favorites]



I know nothing about shopping, but maybe someone can explain to me: how does Melania even get a $30 jacket? She's a former model who presumably can have high end couturiers supply whatever she needs in private sessions, but buying something from a chain store sounds like it would be a big operation. I mean, she can't go anywhere without a Secret Service motorcade. Unless she buys stuff online? It's still hard to imagine her browsing a mid-range chain store's catalogue.


Staff picks up stuff for them, and mail orders are sent to non-obvious addresses.
posted by jgirl at 7:37 AM on June 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


Mod note: A few deleted; meh on Jimmy Fallon, let's not have a big derail about him and his feelings.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:42 AM on June 23, 2018 [7 favorites]


A little roundup from the pages of the WaPo:

The Ethics Office Shrugged, Trump business dealings raise ‘serious concerns,’ ethics office says:
More than 60 Democrats, led by Rep. David N. Cicilline of Rhode Island, had written to the Office of Government Ethics in May asking that the agency investigate reported Chinese government support of an Indonesian real estate development that will include several Trump-brand properties.

David J. Apol, acting director and general counsel at the ethics office, responded this week that he thought concern was warranted. But because the president is not bound by the same conflict-of-interest laws as most federal employees, he said Congress — and ultimately voters — are responsible for holding the president in check.
Republican congress can’t remember details of the meeting, but they believe the emperor was probably wearing clothes, Trump’s false portrayal of his Sanford insult goes largely unchallenged by House Republicans: ‘It wasn’t a big deal’:
The next day, Trump tweeted, “Had a great meeting with the House GOP last night at the Capitol. They applauded and laughed loudly when I mentioned my experience with Mark Sanford. I have never been a fan of his!”

A few Republicans disputed Trump’s characterization, calling it false. But though not a single lawmaker of the two dozen questioned by The Washington Post backed up Trump’s claim that they “applauded and laughed loudly” as he dissed Sanford, very few were willing to call out the president for creating an alternate reality.
Fahrenthold on the IRS angle of the suit against the Donald J. Trump Foundation, The four times Trump signed tax returns for his foundation that contained incorrect information. Bottom line: "It is a felony to knowingly file a false tax return, with potential penalties of up to $100,000 in fines and up to three years in prison." Of course, that’s if the IRS decides to pursue charges.

Michael Grimm, former congressman from Staten Island known for threatening to break a reporter in half before pleading guilty to felony tax evasion, is running for his old seat, Should a felon serve in the House? That’s the question for Staten Island Republicans. He is, of course, on the Trump train.
posted by peeedro at 7:46 AM on June 23, 2018 [15 favorites]


We came within one vote of a health care bill that had no premise besides "fuck Obamacare." Policy is dead; it's all just shouting out our emotional feelings on a topic.

You can't just have your politicians announce how they feel! THAT MAKES ME FEEL ANGRY!
posted by robotdevil at 7:46 AM on June 23, 2018 [6 favorites]


From yesterday.

JoyceWhiteVance (MSNBC legal analyst)
Mueller has added 4 new lawyers from DOJ’s Criminal & National Security Divisions to the Russian troll farm case today. Typically, you staff up when a case is expanding either in complexity or number of defendants. 4 is a lot of prosecutors.
FILINGS
posted by chris24 at 7:47 AM on June 23, 2018 [38 favorites]


Every day I’m glad I live in a country too small, irrelevant, and far away for Russia to bother fucking with.
posted by um at 7:51 AM on June 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


Every day I’m glad I live in a country too small, irrelevant, and far away for Russia to bother fucking with.

It would not surprise me one iota if Cory Bernardi turned out to be a under Putin's wing.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:53 AM on June 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


3 years ago.

Rupert Murdoch:
Mexican immigrants, as with all immigrants, have much lower crime rates than native born. Eg El Paso safest city in U.S. Trump wrong.
posted by chris24 at 7:55 AM on June 23, 2018 [19 favorites]


Every day I’m glad I live in a country too small, irrelevant, and far away for Russia to bother fucking with.

Smaller and more irrelevant than Montenegro, one hopes.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:56 AM on June 23, 2018


I am very proud of the small Island where I lived for 30 years.
Mallorca declarará persona ´non grata´ a Donald Trump
posted by adamvasco at 7:57 AM on June 23, 2018 [17 favorites]


Ha'aretz: With 'Stop Soros' Bill, Hungary Just Passed a Law Stephen Miller Can Only Dream Of

Soros is 87, they're eventually going to have to find a new synonym for "jews".
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:57 AM on June 23, 2018 [30 favorites]


From the article linked upthread ("How Many People Does it Take to Start a Revolution?"), regarding research about the tipping point for social change. It's worth reading, basically it describes how the number (roughly 25%) of activists needed to induce social change seems to stay about the same, regardless of how strong the group's incentives not to change are. This in particular is worth highlighting:

“When a community is close to a tipping point to cause large-scale social change, there’s no way they would know this,” says Centola, who directs the Network Dynamics Group at the Annenberg School. “And if they’re just below a tipping point, their efforts will fail. But, remarkably, just by adding one more person, and getting above the 25% tipping point, their efforts can have rapid success in changing the entire population’s opinion.”

This basically gets at why I'm uncomfortable every time someone on here makes the defeatist claim of "that won't change anyone's mind" in response to some potentially damning thing, for example, the hypothetical clip of Trump punching Melania in an elevator. Maybe 99% of his base WON'T care. But I believe for every damning thing, there must be a tiny sliver of the base chipping away as someone decides, "okay, this is too much." i know at least one person who has renounced their republican support recently. Do you? I am in favor at hammering away at these people with every scandal and horrible thing. Maybe we're at that 24.9 % and we're right below the tipping point. I want to keep throwing everything we can at them to keep creeping up toward that point. Because it's only not enough until one day, it is enough. And as that article points out, we won't know when we're at that point. Maybe we're very close right now. I want to keep pushing and not say this or that doesn't matter; every little bit matters. Every angle, every story, every effort. maybe it won't work. but allowing people to just continue thinking horrible things are okay without them having to listen to someone tell them they're wrong doesn't sit right with me either.
posted by robotdevil at 8:03 AM on June 23, 2018 [58 favorites]


The president was told by government lawyers that he could not change immigration law by fiat, said a person familiar with the discussions.

This is a real thing that the Washington Post wrote about the President of these United States today.

My personal JCPL on the eventuality of massive demonstrations and destruction to rid us of these ignorant, crooked bastards just kicked up a notch. "Uh, mister president, you can't just walk into the mint and take money away with you." *gasp* O shit he hasn't thought of that one yet.
posted by petebest at 8:04 AM on June 23, 2018 [17 favorites]


i don’t know about you friend, but i don’t like what i’m seeing
down along the southern border near Mexico
they’re taking little children from their mothers and fathers
can you even imagine
ah but what’s that you say?

you saying you already know?
but what kinda nation would do such a thing
what kinda nation i say
what about what they wrote on that Statue of Liberty
is this the American way?
posted by growabrain at 8:08 AM on June 23, 2018 [7 favorites]


[Illustration (Facebook) of the Statue of Liberty walking away from the viewer. She wears a long green jacket, with "We Should All Care" written in thick white letters on the back. She holds a torch high in her right hand, and in her left, she's leading a child by the hand.]
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:14 AM on June 23, 2018 [11 favorites]


David Gelles (CNN)
Trump tweets about the “witch hunt”

May 2017: 3 times
June 2017: 5 times
July 2017: 6 times
Oct 2017: 1 time
Dec 2017: 2 times
Jan 2018: 1 time
Feb 2018: 3 times
March 2018: 2 times
April 2018: 9 times
May 2018: 20 times
June 2018: 22 times
posted by chris24 at 8:23 AM on June 23, 2018 [65 favorites]


He's surrounded himself, by choice, with die-hards who also seem obsessed with it. I've really come around to thinking it's his mono-mania.

posted by xammerboy at 7:12 AM on June 21 [44 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]


It seems to me the "illegal" immigrant concern was one in a series of deliberate wedge issues that the right-wing constantly seeks out to attract another slice of the electorate. Racism, abortion, gay marriage, voter ID, Muslim terrorists, and "illegal" immigration were all meant to attract and fire up voters on the right so they would support rolling back taxes, spending on the military, and oppressing labor. The idea is to pump up the issue into problems that seem to affect the average person in some way, by using lies, mischaracterizations, and exaggerations. It depends on the targets being both ignorant and not especially bright and it takes narrowing their sources of information, which is why it's always been coupled with anti-intellectual and -academic propaganda (guess where they got that bright idea?).

The problem is that sometimes those wedges divide the right-wing, and that's what happened here. Trump is a victim, in a sense, of that very wedging, because he thinks it's real. He's as sure as his Trumpette supporters that illegal immigrants are killing us all off and stealing our jobs and staffing our gangs. No amount of data or fact-checking will change his or their minds. And because they see it as a real, physical threat, they shrug at the human cost of the solution. Not to Godwin, but you see the parallels.
posted by Mental Wimp at 8:28 AM on June 23, 2018 [9 favorites]


more immigrants makes you safer" kind of makes me dizzy to ponder. I think that's only true if those immigrants replace a person already here...

Not necessarily. Adding more law abiding, hard-working people into a population has an inhibiting effect on crime too, just as general lawlessness leads to more crime.
posted by msalt at 8:37 AM on June 23, 2018 [17 favorites]


Who is profiting from incarcerating immigrants?
And the banks that finance them
Among the incarcerators
Comprehensive Health Services - Leadership team
MVM Inc - who we are
Dynamic Educational Systems subsidiary of Exodyne Inc
and Southwest Key Programs
posted by adamvasco at 8:46 AM on June 23, 2018 [29 favorites]


Not necessarily. Adding more law abiding, hard-working people into a population has an inhibiting effect on crime too, just as general lawlessness leads to more crime.

Yes, this. Most immigrants who come to the US are here because they work hard and they want to continue doing so after they arrive. "So that my family and my kids will have it better than I did" is a powerful reason to immigrate - and the people who say this are, frankly, too busy to commit crimes.

And, as the saying goes, crime is a young man's game - a young, single man's, at that. Most people age out of crime pretty quickly. Many, if not most, immigrants come here with families (parents, kids, etc.) and are not in the "young, single, footloose man" category which is most prone to crime.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 8:53 AM on June 23, 2018 [24 favorites]


There are two reasons people turn to crime: desperation and laziness. As a nation, we have the power to reduce the levels of desperation, and lazy people don't migrate.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:06 AM on June 23, 2018 [12 favorites]


I’m not a journalist, but I would love to interview Soros and ask him questions like “so how did you fund all those protestors?” and “where do you find the time to singlehandedly enact these devious plots?”
posted by gucci mane at 9:23 AM on June 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


If you don't already follow Beto O'Rourke's live streams on facebook they have been especially intense lately. He is crossing the border right now with people from Annunciation House in El Paso who have been helping vulnerable people at the boarder for decades. Here's an earlier video which is impossibly sad, talking with people experiencing being separated from their families directly. Please know I and many folks in Texas are doing everything - EVERYTHING - we can to get this man elected.
posted by dog food sugar at 9:32 AM on June 23, 2018 [66 favorites]


Holy crap, another great ad from a woman running for Congress. It's a R+10 seat, but PA-18 was R+11 so who knows.

MJ Hegar for Texas


Finally got around to watching this awesome ad, found myself realizing her story sounded familiar, though I hadn't recognized her name: I heard her telling her story last year on a great episode of Fresh Air. She had written a book about those experiences, called Shoot Like a Girl. I never got around to reading it but had planned to, it sounded fascinating.

. . . And apparently Angelina Jolie may end up playing her in a movie.
posted by robotdevil at 9:42 AM on June 23, 2018 [17 favorites]


I started typing this last night, so sorry if it points upthread, but:

Remember the airport protests following the Muslim ban, roughly a zillion years ago? There was some discussion here of how the ban was a trial balloon for future action by the administration, a way to stress test the system to see how it held up when given a good jolt. Revisiting that idea in light of the last couple of weeks has... not been reassuring.

A manufactured crisis at the southern border causes a predictable uproar among Trump's critics, revealing the size, scope, and tactics (and identities, in many cases) of the resistance movement—not to mention the kinks in the enforcement and judicial systems that need to be worked out for things to run more efficiently. In the northeast, border agents carry out what amounts to a trial run of a large-scale checkpoint system. Naturalized citizens are targeted for deportation. With the help of complicit (FOX) and impotent (MSM) media outlets, Trump attempts to normalize his anti-democratic agenda by alienating our G7 allies and cozying up to Kim. The US withdraws from the UN Human Rights Council. The Navy is revealed to be making plans to construct internment facilities. An escalating trade war guarantees more economic instability across the board, which will translate into increased scapegoating and polarization among the population. And just for good measure, Trump checks in with his base at his latest rally, where he feeds their taste for authoritarianism, reminding them that their own security is tied up with whether they'll tolerate internal and external enemies.

I'd love to be dismissed at this point for speculating too wildly, or giving the administration too much credit, or accused of buying into a paranoid conspiracy theory. Because this is all really starting to freak me out. I think these fuckers are gearing up for a major wave of repression and violence, against American citizens, to subvert the midterm and/or 2020 elections.
posted by Rykey at 9:59 AM on June 23, 2018 [29 favorites]


I know it's a Republican district and that's kinda how conventional wisdom says you have to play it, but it's really striking how little Hegar is saying about her actual policy positions, both in that ad and on her campaign website.
posted by contraption at 10:01 AM on June 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


I think people are underestimating this administration's restrictions, as with the proposal upthread that outlines plans to re-shape the current governmental agencies; this admin is not going to wait for permission, they're just going to do things.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:03 AM on June 23, 2018 [9 favorites]


(Whoops - I meant 'overestimating', not underestimating.)
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:04 AM on June 23, 2018




I'd love to be dismissed at this point for speculating too wildly, or giving the administration too much credit

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
posted by weed donkey at 10:15 AM on June 23, 2018 [8 favorites]


Every single day, a NYT times editor wakes up and wonders, "do Trump voters still support Trump?" and assigns a story to find out. Spoiler: they still do. Just like they did three days ago.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:16 AM on June 23, 2018 [39 favorites]


I'd love to be dismissed at this point for speculating too wildly, or giving the administration too much credit

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.


What if it's both?
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:18 AM on June 23, 2018 [9 favorites]


Then be thankful for their sheer incompetence.
posted by weed donkey at 10:20 AM on June 23, 2018 [8 favorites]


Remember the airport protests following the Muslim ban, roughly a zillion years ago? There was some discussion here of how the ban was a trial balloon for future action by the administration, a way to stress test the system to see how it held up when given a good jolt

I do think they're testing the boundaries of what citizens/voters will accept, but I think that's just what they do according to their nature. It's the Leopards Eating Peoples' Faces party, after all.

That is, I really think it's just Ask Culture more than an engineered chain of initiatives and counter-reactions. They only know "more" and "you're grounded," and the only way people "fall into their trap" (or whatever perceived-Svengalian plan) is by not resisting.
posted by rhizome at 10:20 AM on June 23, 2018 [5 favorites]


Reuters: Prison shares rise as U.S. eyes more migrant family detention space

The next Democratic government is going to be massively busy undoing Trump's damage and accordingly will have relatively less time for its own priorities. But one law Democrats must pass at their next opportunity is this:

No private organization, for-profit or otherwise, may house prisoners, detainees, or anyone else against their will.

No more for-profit prisons; no more private prisons or "detention facilities" of any kind. The government has the power to imprison people and only the government should be able to do so.
posted by Gelatin at 10:21 AM on June 23, 2018 [78 favorites]


What if it's both?

Nerds have you covered:

Heinlein's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but don't rule out malice."
posted by rhizome at 10:23 AM on June 23, 2018 [19 favorites]


These are not chess players, whether eleventh-dimensional or otherwise. These are tic-tac-toe players. I remember Masha Gessen's first rule for living under tyranny was "Believe what he says." Trump and his minions hate brown people, they hate immigrants who aren't white, and they are playing to a base which also does, and wants to Make America White And Christian Again.

They are leopards. They eat faces. It's what they do. And, if nothing else, Trump has shown that he is not a planner. He's a total govern-by-whim, seat-of-the-pants guy.

I say this not to blow sunshine up people's < redacted > but to point out that this is not a juggernaut, and that resistance is not futile.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 10:25 AM on June 23, 2018 [35 favorites]


Mod note: Folks, the thread is plenty long, let's not fill it with more general riffing, predictions, etc. Let's keep the space for actual updates.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:27 AM on June 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


Minnesota GOP Leader: Party Officials and Trump Supporters Called Me 'Dragon Lady, Ch**k'

“Some (sadly) Republican Party leaders/executive committee members around this state have made racist comments about me, and to me — calling me ‘dragon lady, a ch**k, a stupid Asian not even born in America’ and other awful racial slurs,” said Carnahan, who was born in South Korea and raised by adopted parents in Minnesota. She claimed that at a rally for President Donald Trump a man approached her and called her “disgusting,” and she frequently received abusive emails and social media messages. Carnahan, who is the party’s first Asian-American leader, wrote that the attacks are “starting to get to me.”


but

At a rally for Trump Friday near Duluth, she called on the state to back Trump's agenda. "My friends, we are the last Midwestern state still dominated by Democrats whose sole purpose is to resist, block and obstruct President Trump's agenda," Carnahan told rally-goers. "Our neighbors in Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota have all turned red and now it's our turn. Let's show the world that there is no blue wave coming in Minnesota."

She won't leave the party, because the GOP is now a deathcult from which there is no escape. If they haven't jumped ship yet, they never ever ever will. Even if that means being the target of their own party's racism. They could be forcing her into a windowless wal-mart and she'd be thinking "I hope this gets me a tax cut."
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:28 AM on June 23, 2018 [51 favorites]


Sonam Sheth, Business Insider: The DOJ has turned over additional FISA records to Republicans, and former intelligence officials say the implications could be 'catastrophic'
The immediate concern, said former CIA operative Glenn Carle, is that turning over information related to FISA records [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] could compromise sources and methods.

"Congressional oversight is not operational control, it's policy control," Carle said. "So it's not really appropriate for an oversight body and its members to have detailed knowledge of sources and methods, because they are not trained in how to handle that."

Republicans said Friday that the DOJ still has not complied with all their requests and indicated that they would be open to using all tools at their disposal to compel document production.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:36 AM on June 23, 2018 [9 favorites]


Local officials are saying no way to proposed Concord concentration camp (from East County Today). I laughed at DeSaulnier saying that the administration "needs a time out." Go to your room, Donnie! I'm proud of my elected officials and Congressman for making fascists' jobs harder.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 10:43 AM on June 23, 2018 [24 favorites]


Did you even see this? The Trump administration wants to stop tracking hospitals' rates of MRSA, sepsis deaths, etc. Presumably because it interferes with their corporate cronies making money.

There's a linked letter to sign about it in the article.

There's just absolutely no measure of decent society that they don't want to destroy, right down to the least little thing.
posted by Frowner at 10:45 AM on June 23, 2018 [80 favorites]


Trump Heads to Vegas With Corey Lewandowski in Tow

President Trump took campaign manager Corey Lewandowski along with him for a trip to Nevada this weekend, despite a growing backlash over the latter mocking reports of a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome being separated from her family at the U.S. border.

That's how you get back into his good graces.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:52 AM on June 23, 2018 [29 favorites]


Fashion Tips For Visiting A Detention Center Filled With Children Who Were Ripped From Their Parents’ Arms (Alexandra Petri and Jessica M. Goldstein, McSweeney's)
I see many Americans have questions about my outfit from my trip to South Texas. In the interest of transparency and because I always aspire to Be Best, I want to explain the thought process that went into my attire.

As the First Lady of the United States — much like you, I did not expect to find myself here! But here we are, together, what a joy it is — I know my outfits will be seen and scrutinized by the public. The pressure is on for any outfit, anywhere I go, for instance as I visit a detention center filled with children who have been ripped from their parents for literally no reason at all, as there is no law requiring this.

When I get dressed, I have to ask myself many questions. How will this look on camera? Should I wear costly, faux-distressed jeans when going to meet children who are being real-distressed at facilities costing more than $700 a day, or would that be too matchy-matchy?

Ultimately I decided to wear white jeans to convey to these children what they need to be in order to be the kind of immigrant we will welcome into the country. (White. They need to be white.)
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:54 AM on June 23, 2018 [22 favorites]


(if we could consider making a new thread soonish, all my internet connected devices would be grateful, thank u)
posted by poffin boffin at 11:01 AM on June 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


Sarah Sanders reportedly thrown out of Virginia restaurant, then the Yelp review battle began (Christina Zhao, Newsweek)
On Friday night, Jaike Foley-Schultz, allegedly a waiter at The Red Hen, a restaurant in Virginia, took to Facebook to announce that Sanders was prevented from eating at their establishment.

“I just served Sarah huckabee sanders for a total of 2 minutes before my owner kicked her out along with 7 of her other family members…” he wrote.

Sanders confirmed the incident in a Saturday morning tweet saying, "Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left," she wrote. "Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so."
posted by christopherious at 11:09 AM on June 23, 2018 [15 favorites]


Sanders confirmed the incident in a Saturday morning tweet saying, "Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left," she wrote.

From her official twitter account, not her personal one, if the administration-sanctioned intention to bring down the harassment chudhammer on the Red Hen wasn't clear enough. The Red Hen's Facebook reviews page is getting a "i went there last week and there was rat poo everywhere and the cooks are covered in ms-13 tattoos and the waiters wouldn't pull their pants up" review about once every 5 seconds.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:14 AM on June 23, 2018 [8 favorites]


The Red Hen's owners' photo has been posted on Twitter by the right, one of whom writes "Make them popular."

Let's say that all of us who can go to Lexington, patronize the Red Hen, and show support!
posted by jgirl at 11:17 AM on June 23, 2018 [14 favorites]


She's handling it better than the base is.

Not at all. She knows exactly what she's doing in directing her fanbase to harass them.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:19 AM on June 23, 2018 [56 favorites]


Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so.

I hate these lying liars so much.
posted by joyceanmachine at 11:20 AM on June 23, 2018 [51 favorites]


The White House Press Secretary just used her government twitter account to greenlight the trolling (SWATting?) of a private citizen and their family and their business. Cry me a river, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

And she had the gall to do it in a tweet boasting about her super gracious nature. Fuck that.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 11:25 AM on June 23, 2018 [81 favorites]


We can pass great legislation after the Red Wave

In case you weren't convinced already, the November elections are going to be about one thing and one thing only: Turn out.
posted by gwint at 11:36 AM on June 23, 2018 [9 favorites]


Seems that basketball hall of famer Kevin McHale attended the Trump rally in Minnesota on Wednesday.

One hopes that this makes working for a league where 74 percent of the players are black extremely unpleasant for him.
posted by Lyme Drop at 11:50 AM on June 23, 2018 [14 favorites]


MJ Hegar for Texas

Everyone should be watching her video once per day to counter the negative effects of ( gesticulates wildly ) ALL THIS!!!

Seriously... Every time I watch it, I cry from HOPE for a change. It's really cathartic, and we all need a little venting now...
posted by mikelieman at 12:07 PM on June 23, 2018 [7 favorites]


“When a community is close to a tipping point to cause large-scale social change, there’s no way they would know this,” says Centola, who directs the Network Dynamics Group at the Annenberg School. “And if they’re just below a tipping point, their efforts will fail. But, remarkably, just by adding one more person, and getting above the 25% tipping point, their efforts can have rapid success in changing the entire population’s opinion.”

This is really important stuff. Thermodynamics, phase shifts, self-organized criticality. And of course it's the Network Dynamics Group bringing this research forward. One model for it is a sandpile, where you add sand to a pile & it builds & builds until suddenly there's an avalanche of sand. And the difference comes down to a single grain of sand. This is why we must never despair. We never know which of us is that final grain that changes everything.
posted by scalefree at 12:10 PM on June 23, 2018 [25 favorites]


Maybe we're at that 24.9 % and we're right below the tipping point. I want to keep throwing everything we can at them to keep creeping up toward that point.

And when it tips (I have to believe it will tip), we'll need to remember that whatever made that happen, was not the "Surely This" moment. We've had thousands of "Surely This" events; each one gains a little support, a few switches to blue, even as the deplorable base seizes on each atrocity as their new behavior standard.

Whether it's the pee tape, or Trump's nonprofit being dissolved, or Cohen's confessions, or Europe adding tariffs to Trump businesses, or some PR disaster like a stage collapsing and Trump pushes small children out of the way to get himself to safety, or the Blue Wave in November starting impeachment proceedings (which would lose him some support, because if he's not immune to the law, he must be a loser) - whatever causes the flip, that wasn't "it."

Throwing him and his cronies out is a matter of thousands of explanations, tweets, blog posts, government reports, talk-show discussions, postcards, and personal conversations; even if we can identify the tipping point, we need to remember that all of the activism was needed. That we can't look to the fix and say, "we'll just do that, the next time someone like this tries to get elected." We need all of it.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 12:11 PM on June 23, 2018 [41 favorites]


I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so.

I have to give credit where due. Sarah Huckabee-Sanders is like Queen of All Trolls, considering the transcripts of her "Press Briefings". This isn't incompetence or tone-deafness. This is 100% "Fuck You" Malice.
posted by mikelieman at 12:12 PM on June 23, 2018 [43 favorites]




It’s just garden variety passive aggressive nastiness, only at scale. I’ve noticed conservative women tend to be really good at it. Dunno if that’s regional or cultural, but it sure as hell looks like they’ve become experts in the only type of aggression they’re allowed to wield: the insidious kind that wraps itself in victimhood and weaponizes the anger of people who are allowed to get directly aggressive.

It’s so much more manipulative and more difficult to fight than direct aggression. You end up burning so much of your energy on convincing people that she even did anything wrong that there’s nothing left to right the wrong itself.

I swear to God white supremacist patriarchy is a fucking cancer and we have got to rid ourselves of it before shit (climate change!) really hits the fan.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:18 PM on June 23, 2018 [52 favorites]




Power wrapped in victimhood defines the whole deplorable group.
posted by Glibpaxman at 12:22 PM on June 23, 2018 [26 favorites]


I mean. I think at some point we’re going to have to get right with the idea that these are, on balance, bad people.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:30 PM on June 23, 2018 [50 favorites]


Pam Bondi got run out of the Mr Rogers documentary.
posted by PenDevil at 12:46 PM on June 23, 2018 [49 favorites]


Trump Reaffirms North Korean Nuclear Threat After Saying It Was Gone

President Donald Trump told Congress in a letter on Friday that North Korea’s “provocative, destabilizing, and repressive actions...continue to constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat” to the United States. The letter, which notes the country’s “pursuit of nuclear and missile programs,” comes just over a week after Trump boasted on Twitter that there “is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.”

“Everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office,” he said. Trump told Congress in the letter that he plans to extend the national emergency with respect to North Korea and the restrictions it imposes—which were put in place under George W. Bush in 2008 and amended multiple times since—for at least one additional year.


This just in, the Predisent is really bad at his job. Also, Hillary Clinton couldn't get the TV to show the DVD player, so it's the same everywhere, really.
posted by petebest at 1:15 PM on June 23, 2018 [16 favorites]


NYT journalists are special snowflakes on twitter, a never ending series:

Brian Beutler catches the NYT’s Jermey Peters passing off quotes from local Republican activists without disclosure, again. Peters responds by blocking him.

If only the NYT had a public editor.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:00 PM on June 23, 2018 [30 favorites]


Michael Avenatti representing 5 immigrant children held in Phoenix

"There's 128 children presently inside gates with the vast majority of them being separated from their parents," he said, gesturing at the facility behind him. "It’s inexcusable that these children have been transported around the nation, shipped like cargo. This is a disgrace. It has no place in the world, let alone in the United States of America.”

posted by Rust Moranis at 2:46 PM on June 23, 2018 [30 favorites]


I’ve noticed conservative women tend to be really good at it. Dunno if that’s regional or cultural, but it sure as hell looks like they’ve become experts in the only type of aggression they’re allowed to wield

Not all of them. Most of them, like most women in the US, are careful to never be aggressive or hostile to anyone. But some who have figured out how to aim their "uppity woman" energy at acceptable targets, get a great deal of joy at lashing out at people who can't fight back. The more verbally talented learn how to do so in a way that gives them sealioning deniability: I wasn't being hateful; I was just relaying facts (or, "stating my opinion; everyone has the right to an opinion"); I'm just pointing out what's likely to happen; you can't blame me for carrying a message.

They rely on some real or mythical authority who gives them the right to be vicious to people, and as long as that authority figure stands, they take on some of his power (it's pretty much always a him). That could be their husband, their president, the local sherrif, their university dean, or the Christian deity - it doesn't matter whether the authority figure is accountable or can even be proven to exist; the point is, they're not speaking "for themselves," so common courtesy says you can't blame them.

This runs the range from "My husband thinks that's an ugly car" to "God says being gay is a sin and we need to drive out the sinners." And they get to add all the vitriol that they're not allowed to aim at the people who are actually forcing them into a limited role with no way to succeed on their own merits.

It's possible the way to crack SHS's shell is to push her to give *her* opinions, force a conversation about what she believes and wants. But as long as she's leaning on, "this is what the president says, and I'm patriotic so I support him," there's no way to hold her accountable for her malice.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 2:46 PM on June 23, 2018 [20 favorites]


Re: Papa Huck's racist tweet. Funny how this happens.

@RVAwonk (Shareblue):
Mike Huckabee appears to have gotten his picture from the website of Richard Spencer's Nazi think-tank (National Policy Institute).
PIX
posted by chris24 at 2:54 PM on June 23, 2018 [29 favorites]


Pam Bondi got run out of the Mr Rogers documentary.

Excellent. Sic semper assholes.

Seriously. This is something everybody can and should be doing. Familiarize yourself with the people in your community who represent and promote hatred and bigotry and oppression. Chase them out of restaurants. Hound them out of theaters. No one associated with these policies should feel comfortable showing their face in public. They're doing all they can to tear apart our society, so they don't deserve to participate in our society.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 3:09 PM on June 23, 2018 [35 favorites]


And the Shande goes to... [opens envelope]...

Why Stephen Miller Is The Most Hated Jew In America — By Fellow Jews
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:12 PM on June 23, 2018 [16 favorites]


Pam Bondi got run out of the Mr Rogers documentary.

I know it feels good to deny a heartless and corrupt politician from social engagement but given the subject matter she might have felt a twinge if empathy had she stayed.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 3:24 PM on June 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


I doubt it. She's probably part of the backlash to Rogers that blamed him for a generation of "entitled" kids. Fuck her.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 3:28 PM on June 23, 2018 [19 favorites]


but given the subject matter she might have felt a twinge if empathy had she stayed.

Did Hamilton work for Pence?
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:28 PM on June 23, 2018 [27 favorites]



Seems that basketball hall of famer Kevin McHale attended the Trump rally in Minnesota on Wednesday.

One hopes that this makes working for a league where 74 percent of the players are black extremely unpleasant for him.


I'm surprised he is still in the hall of fame after getting busted for cheating as the Timberwolves' GM.
posted by srboisvert at 3:42 PM on June 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


Given the political leanings of the Florida panhandle and South Alabama, I don't have huge hopes for demonstrations big enough to make much of a difference to the proposed camps the Navy wants to build here. Of course I have called my Representative (though I expect Gaetz to ignore anything I have to say) and my Senators. (Nelson might listen. Rubio won't give a shit). But these calls aren't proposed to actually be in my district or state, but just over into Alabama, anyhow.

These areas do rely heavily on tourism, though, so I was thinking about trying to scare the local Chambers of Commerce about lost business during the critical summer season if they don't take a stand against hosting concentration camps. Often NIMBY sentiments get weaponized against the poor and people of color - maybe we can use it for good for a change?

I am worried about the law of unintended consequences, though, so I figured I would run the idea past the hive mind. What do y'all think?
posted by Vigilant at 4:15 PM on June 23, 2018 [6 favorites]


I look at the bottom of this page at the Related Posts and it hits me every time. "Bush, by a technicality." from Dec 12, 2000 is always there. I was just an elementary school kid at the time but damn, reality hits me that that's when things started going downhill fast. Actually, probably during the Reagan years. But GW and his senseless wars helped set the stage for the far right as we know it today, and the ridiculous geopolitical friction in foreign policy and immigration. Discourse about The Other really went off the rails, only growing with Obama's election and the rise of the Internet.

That damn thread always gets the gears in my head going about how we got here.
posted by hexaflexagon at 4:17 PM on June 23, 2018 [21 favorites]


Detroit, now
posted by The Whelk at 5:16 PM on June 23, 2018 [16 favorites]


ICE OUT OF NYC

I was canvassing for ICE Out Of the Courts at Harlem Pride and it was the easiest time I ever spent canvassing - I legit ran out of sign up forms - and more people then I would’ve thought ID’ed my rose pin.

Tides are turning.
posted by The Whelk at 5:26 PM on June 23, 2018 [62 favorites]


Walter Shaub (fmr Director Government Ethics)
Sarah, I know you don’t care even a tiny little bit about the ethics rules, but using your official account for this is a clear violation of 5 CFR 2635.702(a). It’s the same as if an ATF agent pulled out his badge when a restaurant tried to throw him/her out.
posted by chris24 at 5:48 PM on June 23, 2018 [96 favorites]


"Bush, by a technicality." from Dec 12, 2000 is always there. I was just an elementary school kid at the time but damn, reality hits me that that's when things started going downhill fast


That horrible moment, in Nov 2016, when I recognized the same feeling I had in 2000: "we are not winning this election"
posted by thelonius at 5:57 PM on June 23, 2018 [6 favorites]




I was looking at the DC Metro DSA site, but they didn't seem to have any info about protests or direct action just several local happy hours where it says organizing and work will not be discussed. I can understand not wanting to widely broadcast. Don't know if I need to get on a mailing list or what.
posted by runcibleshaw at 6:04 PM on June 23, 2018


You need to get on mailing list first, these actions mostly happen quickly and via social media. Go to a happy hour and add your email address to a list.
posted by The Whelk at 6:07 PM on June 23, 2018 [2 favorites]




People out of the Lexington, Va., area are buying Red Hen gift cards and donating them.
posted by jgirl at 6:18 PM on June 23, 2018 [37 favorites]


Wow, professional troll Jack Posobiec sure seems proud of his hammer and sickle Red Hen photoshop, like it’s some clever original thing.

No shit, Jack. The pinkos beat you to the punch by just a wee bit.
posted by Sys Rq at 6:40 PM on June 23, 2018 [5 favorites]


I hope the Red Hen restaurant is fully insured. Sanders all but told the MAGAhats to burn the place down.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:48 PM on June 23, 2018 [13 favorites]


Why Trump Lost Control of the Child-Detention Narrative

tl;dr - pictures.

Think of the handful of moments when Trump has been subjected to a sustained drubbing that’s lasted more than just a day or two: the Access Hollywood tape. Sean Spicer’s lie about the size of the inauguration crowd. The massive airport protests around the travel ban. Trump’s “very fine people” comment about neo-Nazi marchers in Charlottesville. The Rob Porter domestic-abuse allegations fiasco. (Porter has denied the allegations.) And now the gross panorama of migrant children being separated from their desperate parents. All of these stories were accompanied by images—pictures or video—that either tilted public opinion against the president or blatantly contradicted the dubious claims of Trump and his allies

It's a fair point. Trumpers don't read. OR, what's written is so softball it can't/doesn't make an impact.
posted by petebest at 7:16 PM on June 23, 2018 [10 favorites]


Which is one of the reasons they want the internment camps on military bases, where we and our cameras cannot go.

They still haven't told us where the girls are.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 7:18 PM on June 23, 2018 [61 favorites]


[Thread's getting a bit creaky... anyone working on a new one? If not I can put something together.]
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 7:29 PM on June 23, 2018 [5 favorites]


Democratic lawmaker on detained children: ‘Where are the girls?’

The Fix: When did you first get involved in this issue?

(Rep. Frederica) Wilson (D-FL): When I heard about what they have going on at the border with separating children from their mothers and families, I flew to Brownsville, Tex. I went specifically looking for the girls to find out where they have them housed, if there were people there with them insuring that the specific needs of young girls were being met.

They took me into a facility, and the first thing I saw were lots of boys. I saw little girls, like, up to 10 years old, but I wanted to see the adolescent girls who were in the process of going through puberty.

So what will you do next? Are you visiting any other facilities?

Wilson: After coming back to Miami, I found out that there are girls in Miami, so I will be going to visit them on Saturday. So I plan to take them some balloons to lift their spirits and plan to talk with them and give them my phone number and if they have any concerns and if they want to reach out to Congress to call my office. They told me and showed me in Brownsville they have phones on the wall. If the children feel threatened in any way, that they have the ability to call someone to let them know that their rights are being abridged.

[...] Are you optimistic about things going forward given recent changes to the policy?

Wilson: I am deeply concerned. I want to find out the different facilities where girls are. I need to know, in what other cities do they have adolescent girls. I might have to take a trip to those facilities also. It's troubling to me personally.

This is truly a very serious issue. This is heartbreaking, and it's devastating. And I'm upset, and I am totally angry that this is happening right there in America under our noses. This is not good for us as a people.


posted by petebest at 7:33 PM on June 23, 2018 [49 favorites]


#Restaurants4Sarah is trending.
posted by porn in the woods at 7:42 PM on June 23, 2018 [11 favorites]


Sanders all but told the MAGAhats to burn the place down.

Compare to the reaction to the pseudo-doxxing of ICE employees and then tell me we have to "go high when they go low".
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:44 PM on June 23, 2018 [21 favorites]


We go high because they go low. We go high because we must.

We go high because if we don't then DO U?
posted by carsonb at 8:26 PM on June 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


"Going high" doesn't exclude letting people know who's allied with Nazis, especially when they've publicly declared that affiliation on a profile they made in order to be searched.

Going high means treating them the way we'd want them to treat us. It means setting a standard for public communication and sticking to it, even when the other side doesn't. It doesn't mean being nice, or not doing anything that could cause them to face backlash. It means figuring out where the acceptable lines are between celebrity/newsworthy status, and private information.

For me, that line is somewhere below "government employee" - if my taxes are paying their salaries, I think I have a right to know what organization they work for. Maybe that has some conditions: Maybe only people in the same city have a true right to know details about their city council members. But ICE is a federal agency with international reach; its employees are accountable to all of us.

Going high means not slashing their tires, not TPing their homes, not threatening their children no matter how many other people's children they've threatened. ("...he won’t be reunited with his parents unless he behaves.") But it doesn't mean allowing them to live in comfort and secrecy.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 8:54 PM on June 23, 2018 [35 favorites]


I think the whole "go high" thing is misunderstood. By supporting humane, sensible, beneficial policies, we are going high already. We want the world to be better than it is. We want people to stop being hurt. We want a future that's good for everyone. That's going high, folks.

We don't have to be polite about our goals to the people who want to stop them. If we have to be "rude" by calling them on their shit and pointing out their gross lack of humanity, then we can do that.

There is a line we don't want to cross, specifically violence and/or something that causes pain to innocents. But tossing someone from your business? Heckling them in public? Letting them know you see and do not accept their evil? That's not going low.

I get why people worry about triggering mob justice and why the doxxing thing is upsetting and I'm glad we are talking about that. We want to be aware of what we are doing. But so far, we have merely stuck to our principles.
posted by emjaybee at 8:59 PM on June 23, 2018 [54 favorites]


Some people just consider anything related to "doxxing" as "going low", as do Twitter, Medium and Microsoft-owned Github, but I looked up the names on the ICE employees list to see if any of them were my neighbors - just like I'm glad to know that one of my neighbors is on the state Sex Offenders list for a molestation conviction a dozen years ago.
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:05 PM on June 23, 2018 [9 favorites]


I just go high because cannabis is my coping mechanism
posted by fluttering hellfire at 9:14 PM on June 23, 2018 [64 favorites]


> Twitter thread showing how the NYT is once again "catapulting the propaganda" by astroturfing a member of the executive board of the Kenosha County, Wisconsin GOP into a "well-educated suburban mom" and "small business owner".

It's been less than a week since I linked to this, and the NYT is at it again. The worst part is the reporter desperately trying to explain why they astroturfed a Ron Paul supporting cofounder of a pro-confederate monuments PAC into some random suburban business lady. At least the story prompted this outstanding tweet:
@Dorothy410berry: The electorally significant Trump voter is a union welder whose sister has a pill problem. The average Trump voter is a dentist with a boat.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:45 PM on June 23, 2018 [26 favorites]


I don't think Michelle Obama was offering "go high" as advice, per se. It's one thing to personally adopt it as a policy, but people who recommend it to others are generally just tone-policing.
posted by Joe in Australia at 9:47 PM on June 23, 2018 [5 favorites]


It's probably high time we move past this derail.
posted by reductiondesign at 9:49 PM on June 23, 2018 [20 favorites]


There's a fine line between clever and stupid: Paul Manafort lawyers want mention of Trump banned in Virginia trial

I think they're simultaneously arguing that the prosecution is unwarranted because the matter is too far removed from Mueller's mandate to investigate the election of Donald Trump, but also that it wouldn't be a fair trial because everyone would hate him for having had Trump elected.
posted by Joe in Australia at 10:30 PM on June 23, 2018 [7 favorites]


I think the Nurenberg trials are a good example of going high while they go low.
posted by benzenedream at 10:32 PM on June 23, 2018 [47 favorites]


There's a fine line between clever and stupid: Paul Manafort lawyers want mention of Trump banned in Virginia trial

FTFA: He ( The presiding Judge ) stated: “I don’t see what relationship this indictment has with what the special counsel is investigating.”

Here's a hint. Manafort offered to work for the campaign for free, and ...
At the time, he (Manafort) also owed the wealthy Russian-Ukrainian oligarch Oleg Deripaska close to $20 million, per legal complaints Deripaska's representatives filed in the Cayman Islands in 2014 and in New York in January.

The alleged dispute drew additional scrutiny last year, after The Atlantic published several emails appearing to show Manafort using his elevated role in the Trump campaign to resolve the situation with Deripaska.
posted by mikelieman at 1:33 AM on June 24, 2018 [8 favorites]


Not to abuse the edit window, but Just Because Mueller Isn't Talking About It, Doesn't Mean He's Forgotten About It.

We Will Get By.
We Will Survive.
We Will Survive.
posted by mikelieman at 1:34 AM on June 24, 2018 [6 favorites]


56 out of 250,000 over 6 years. And that's with CBP claiming gang ties if someone even knows of someone who's ever been in a gang.

Fox News Research:
Migrant Children & Gang Membership
—Oct 2011-June 2017—
•5,000+ individuals, mostly adults, arrested at border with gang ties
•Of that total, nearly 159 (3%) were unaccompanied minors
•.02% of all children detained (56 out of 250,000) had ties to MS-13
posted by chris24 at 7:12 AM on June 24, 2018 [19 favorites]


nearly 159 (3%)

Nearly 159?? Maybe they meant nearly 3%?
posted by anastasiav at 7:21 AM on June 24, 2018 [6 favorites]


FFS Andrew Sullivan is, himself, an immigrant. Triple fuck this guy and his hypocrisy.

Even better Andrew Sullivan is an immigrant who by law should have been deported but clouted his way out it so egregiously that a judge called him out on it.

Tu quoque is a logical fallacy and all but his position must require some sociopath dissociation.
posted by srboisvert at 7:27 AM on June 24, 2018 [30 favorites]


Even better Andrew Sullivan is an immigrant who by law should have been deported but clouted his way out it so egregiously that a judge called him out on it.

He's only able to become a LPR and subsequently citizen because Democrats fought to lift the restrictions on HIV+ people entering the United States. Talk about an ungrateful fuck.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:41 AM on June 24, 2018 [23 favorites]


Nearly 159?? Maybe they meant nearly 3%?

Hey, sometimes when ICE gets overexcited about arresting children you can end up with a dismemberment or two.

ICE Scrapped Effective Immigration Program Because It Didn’t ‘Remove’ Enough People

It's not safety or law (or the security in their name) that they're after, it's "removing" people.

Oh wait, maybe it is about safety. Their safety.

DHS employees warned about safety amid backlash over family separations


In the message from Claire M. Grady, the acting deputy secretary of homeland security, on Saturday afternoon, DHS employees were given information about the security resources available to them and were provided with tips for security, like not wearing their badges in public and being on guard for risks in public and online.

"In recent days, DHS has determined there may be a heightened threat against DHS employees in response to U.S. Government actions surrounding immigration," Grady wrote. "This assessment is based on specific and credible threats that have been levied against certain DHS employees and a sharp increase in the overall number of general threats against DHS employees -- although the veracity of each threat varies. In addition, over the last few days, thousands of employees have had their personally identifiable information publically (sic) released on social media."

According to the email, those measures include calling 911 in the event of feeling threatened. Other advice ranged from "Always keep doors and windows locked. Be aware of unexpected changes in and around your home" to "Utilize maximum security setting on social media platforms." At the end of the email, Grady wrote, "Keep your heads held high and focused on the Department's important missions. You are making a difference to secure our country. And in the meantime, let's continue to be security-conscious and look out for each other."


When you're so despised that your boss tells you to hide your badge and barricade yourself in your home when off-duty, you are the bad guys.

Note also the language: it's "protect yourself" and "look out for each other," not to protect and look out for the American people or the untold mass of non-Americans that they mistreat. They're not serving anybody other than themselves, their co-thugs, and (presumably) their families. I suppose it's no surprise that the worst of police culture's us-vs-them siege mentality has fully suffused the department. Self-preservation is their intention, both of themselves individually and of the organization, and they will do and cover up anything to achieve that. Up to and including child abuse and murder.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:48 AM on June 24, 2018 [64 favorites]


So things are going well on the morning shows. And the chyron and topic of the segment? Pundits Call Trump Supporters Nazis, Racists. Thanks for confirming they were right to do so.

Yashar Ali (New York mag):
On Fox News, David Bossie, former Trump Deputy Campaign Manager, telling a black panelist that he's "out of his cotton-picking mind."
VIDEO
posted by chris24 at 7:51 AM on June 24, 2018 [37 favorites]


Guardian. 'All I hear is my daughter, crying': a Salvadoran father's plight after separation at border. Arnovis Guidos Portillo was deported from US but his six-year-old daughter remains in custody.

Though he knows it’s a lie, he tells her that she can’t return to El Salvador because the US government’s plane is broken; the truth is that he has no idea what will become of her.

“They’re going to bring you home soon,” he says. “They haven’t fixed the plane.”


Wherever the girls are, they're crying.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:59 AM on June 24, 2018 [25 favorites]


This assessment is based on specific and credible threats that have been levied against certain DHS employees.

Likely translation: some people said mean things to Nielsen in a restaurant and at her house. Remember how Scott Pruitt decided he had to fly first class and increase his security detail because he was being "threatened" -- any sort of criticism or negative feedback from the general public is labeled as dangerous. Because these terrible people expect to be able to destroy the environment and children and everything decent without experiencing so much as a hurt feeling along the way.
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:00 AM on June 24, 2018 [15 favorites]


They're not serving anybody other than themselves, their co-thugs, and (presumably) their families.... Up to and including child abuse and murder.

I don't need to cite the statistics on police officers and domestic violence, do I? Sadly, you all have them memorized.
posted by mikelieman at 8:02 AM on June 24, 2018 [7 favorites]


Newsweek: Trump Complains Evangelicals Appreciate Jerusalem Embassy Move More than Jews

"And you know who really likes it the most is the evangelicals. I'll tell you what, I get more calls of 'thank you' from evangelicals, and I see it in the audiences and everything else, than I do from Jewish people. And the Jewish people appreciate it, but the evangelicals appreciate it more than the Jews which is incredible."

Hard to think of a two-word phrase I less like to hear from him than "The Jews."
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:09 AM on June 24, 2018 [38 favorites]


Hard to think of a two-word phrase I less like to hear from him than "The Jews."

Trump is garden-variety racism. If there's any benefit, I hope, he doesn't really believe that he's bringing about the *literal* Apocalypse, but playing to his audience. Forget understanding such subtle concepts as "Why are we even returning, since The Messiah hasn't come yet?"

Damnit. Liquor stores in NY don't open to noon, and I'm all out of bourbon and too damn sober to deal with this shit.
posted by mikelieman at 8:14 AM on June 24, 2018 [7 favorites]


I'll tell you what, I get more calls of 'thank you' from evangelicals, and I see it in the audiences and everything else, than I do from Jewish people.

Maybe because Evangelicals are a death cult and you're helping them usher in the End of Days where all Jews must either accept Jesus as saviour or get obliterated?
posted by PenDevil at 8:19 AM on June 24, 2018 [29 favorites]


Trump advocates depriving undocumented immigrants of due-process rights

(It's a story about two tweets sent from the limo on the way to the golf course, but bravo, WaPo, that's how you write a goddamn headline.)
posted by box at 8:45 AM on June 24, 2018 [37 favorites]


I don’t think we can call it “garden-variety racism” in sincerity when it results in children being incarcerated and trafficked all over the country for the criminal equivalent of a speeding ticket. And following that logic, when I deleted “people” to replace it with “children” as if doing it to adults wasn’t bad enough of an example, I have to say that “garden-variety racism” is a horror show when it comes to being practiced by people in any kind of authority. It exposes my white privilege that I didn’t really grok that until now, so shame on me. But I submit we should not call something “garden-variety” as though it is merely petty and insignificant when it is causing massive amounts of suffering and real disenfranchisement.
posted by Autumnheart at 8:47 AM on June 24, 2018 [10 favorites]


Newsweek: Trump Complains Evangelicals Appreciate Jerusalem Embassy Move More than Jews

For the love of Pete's sake...

The address of the embassy is NOT his property. Nobody owes him appreciation for making that move.
posted by ocschwar at 8:53 AM on June 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


It's not safety or law (or the security in their name) that they're after, it's "removing" people.

Republican immigration policy is only* about preserving their electoral power. White people vote Republican. Brown immigrants largely don't, and have kids that largely don't. That's the policy. It's about stopping the flow of future Democratic voters and preserving the *white* Republican majority for forever.

* - the cruelty is the fun part for them, but not the ultimate goal.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:57 AM on June 24, 2018 [11 favorites]


I don’t think we can call it “garden-variety racism” in sincerity when it results in children being incarcerated and trafficked all over the country for the criminal equivalent of a speeding ticket.

It's the antebellum racism that they all hunger for a return to. Sorry if I understated the point. I don't pretend even though the presentation layer is different, the backend is the same.
posted by mikelieman at 9:03 AM on June 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


Trump seeks to deprive undocumented immigrants of due process by deporting them without trial

On the one hand, *screams into void*

On the other hand, on behalf of those of us in the "stop beating around the bush, you headline-writing cowards" camp, I'd like to buy the Washington Post a virtual beer for this one
posted by saturday_morning at 9:04 AM on June 24, 2018 [33 favorites]


Asylum seekers offered their kdis back in exchange for false confession and deportation.

BTW, tomorrow at 8:30 I will be on my morning bicycle commute, on a route that takes me right through the former heart of MS-13's territory in Boston. The sheer cowardice of brutalizing little kids because of MS-13 is nauseating.
posted by ocschwar at 9:26 AM on June 24, 2018 [30 favorites]


Trump seeks to deprive undocumented immigrants of due process by deporting them without trial

These tweets sound like a collaboration between Stephen Miller and Trump's screaming ID—"When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came.", "Our Immigration policy, laughed at all over the world,", "we need people who will help to Make America Great Again!", and, most chillingly, "Don’t RESIST."

(Meanwhile, is there any progress on a new thread?)
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:30 AM on June 24, 2018 [6 favorites]


These tweets sound like a collaboration between Stephen Miller and Trump's screaming ID—"When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came.", "Our Immigration policy, laughed at all over the world,", "we need people who will help to Make America Great Again!", and, most chillingly, "Don’t RESIST."

This is your regular reminder that applying for asylum is a legal process, a right that asylum seekers are entitled to by US law and that the border patrol is denying them. Denying asylum seekers judges and court cases -- which Attorney General Sessions has already done in many cases, by unilaterally excluding domestic abuse as a legitimate cause -- is an explicit bid to exclude the immigration of brown-skinned, likely Spanish-speaking people.

Back in George W. Bush's presidency, the Republican Party made a halfhearted bid to cope with the emerging demographic changes -- specifically, majority-minority -- by courting Latinx voters. Bush himself presented as speaking Spanish. But the party at large rejected that approach and instead allied with their most racist elements to solve their demographic problem by cutting off immigration. And, incidentally, ensuring that the Latinx voter that may once have had some socially conservative motivation to vote Republican never, ever does.
posted by Gelatin at 9:44 AM on June 24, 2018 [30 favorites]


and, most chillingly, "Don’t RESIST."

What is "an expression shared by cops, rapists, and the president," Alex?

edit: the president is also a rapist
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:54 AM on June 24, 2018 [33 favorites]


Gelatin: Back in George W. Bush's presidency, the Republican Party made a halfhearted bid to cope with the emerging demographic changes -- specifically, majority-minority -- by courting Latinx voters. Bush himself presented as speaking Spanish. But the party at large rejected that approach and instead allied with their most racist elements to solve their demographic problem by cutting off immigration.

Jeb! had a Mexican wife and bilingual children, and he himself spoke fluent Spanish. And, Pew reports that Bush got a considerable chunk, about 40%, of the Latinx vote in 2004 (and, before that, Reagan got 37%!). "Latinx" is a broad category and lumps together a very diverse population, but it looks like the R's might have continued to make inroads with Latinx voters if they hadn't well and truly shat the bed with Trump and white nationalism.

Look at what happened in California - we gave the nation Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, and, outside the Bay Area and Los Angeles, the state was purple-to-red. And then - along came Governor Pete Wilson, who catered to the worst racists and bigots in the Republican party - and did such damage to the Republican brand in California that it never recovered, and now the state is indigo-blue outside a few diehard districts - and now those, too, are feeling the blue heat.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 10:01 AM on June 24, 2018 [17 favorites]


"Don’t RESIST"

Resistance is futile. You will not be assimilated.
posted by Daily Alice at 10:10 AM on June 24, 2018 [6 favorites]


Indeed. If memory serves me correctly, part of the Republican hopes for courting Latinx voters hinged on conservative Catholics, via the party's inflexible anti-abortion position, and a considerable slice of Latinx evangelicals. But somewhere along the way -- around W's utter failure to pass immigration reform, probably -- the party made a conscious and deliberate choice that expanding its pool of potential voters by appealing to Latinx populations risked alienating its racist base.

When Civil Rights passed, and Johnson predicted, far short of reality, that the Democrats had lost the Southern vote for a generation, the Republican Party could have stood up and said that they stand together with all loyal Americans in saying that racism has no place in modern America. Instead, tacitly and explicitly, they encouraged it, even cultivated it.

As with Wilson, the Republican Party has sown the wind of explicitly and deliberately appealing to the worst racism in America, and now they are reaping the whirlwind of having all decent people in America being utterly disgusted with them. And even those like Mitt Romney who would prefer to just pretend that the racist support on which his party depends simply does not exist are tarred forever with that racist brush. Shed no tears for them.
posted by Gelatin at 10:16 AM on June 24, 2018 [10 favorites]




When Civil Rights passed, and Johnson predicted, far short of reality, that the Democrats had lost the Southern vote for a generation, the Republican Party could have stood up and said that they stand together with all loyal Americans in saying that racism has no place in modern America. Instead, tacitly and explicitly, they encouraged it, even cultivated it

I think this is really when the modern round of treason started. So: racists choose racism over country, again and again.

These tensions have been there since the beginning, is the thing. And this is not to simplify or claim that non-slave states weren’t also terrible in many, many ways, but the core idea that some humans are not people has been the thing that always had potential to break up the country, since its founding.

White supremacy is our poltergeist. We have got to exercise that motherfucker once and for all.
posted by schadenfrau at 10:28 AM on June 24, 2018 [18 favorites]


Don't confuse trumphotels.org with trumphotels.com.
posted by adamg at 10:37 AM on June 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


Don't confuse trumphotels.org with trumphotels.com.

Good point. trumphotels.org is a legit site, trumphotels.com is run by Russian scammers. Beware.
posted by duoshao at 10:42 AM on June 24, 2018 [50 favorites]


I just read the Andrew Sullivan piece. No, I don't think we should build a wall, and I think it's clear that any negotiations with Republicans simply lead to appeasement like concessions. Republicans have proved they cannot negotiate in good faith.

On the other hand, I think Democrats should create a detailed plan, like we did for healthcare, for making the immigration and asylum seeking process legal, humane, manageable, rules-based, with a path for citizenship and set wages. In fact, just start saying this immediately.

Personally, I don't see immigration as being a pressing problem, but Sullivan is right that for many Americans it's their top priority. I don't want to see Republicans "winning" forever framing this issue as Democrats are for insecure borders and rampant illegality. We need to take that framing away from them, and start asking why Republicans don't want a legal and humane system in place.
posted by xammerboy at 10:52 AM on June 24, 2018 [7 favorites]


Sullivan is right that for many Americans it's their top priority.

White supremacy is many Americans' top priority. Immigration is the barely disguised proxy for that racism. You cannot win those people. For his entire first term Obama was tough on immigration in the hopes that that would satisfy Rs and we'd get comprehensive reform. They took the deportations and increased funding and refused to agree to a bill. We know why they don't want a legal and human system. Because they want Jim Crow.
posted by chris24 at 11:25 AM on June 24, 2018 [39 favorites]


On the other hand, my wife tells me it's only Trump supporters that care about immigration, and that more people, according to recent polls, say immigration is good for the country than ever before.

75 Percent of Americans Say Immigration Is Good for Country:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/23/us/immigration-polls-donald-trump.html
posted by xammerboy at 11:26 AM on June 24, 2018 [15 favorites]




The United States doesn't have any immigration in any known sense of the word in the rest of the world.

They effectively have closed borders and you look for holes and ladders over the wall.

If any person in the United States woke up one morning a citizen of another country and said "I want to get home to the United States" 99% of them wouldn't be allowed back in.'

You have three practical ways of immigrating to the US:
1) Being Elite
2) Marrying a US citizen
3) Winning a lottery (H-1B or otherwise)

Otherwise please come, spend your money, and fuck off back to where you came from.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 11:32 AM on June 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


Sullivan is right that for many Americans it's their top priority.

Immigrant Andrew Sullivan was charged with marijuana possession while his application for US citizenship was pending. He should have been deported under his own arguments. But, he's rich and white and English, not poor and brown and Guatemalan. The charges were dismissed. And today he's arguing for a wall.

I think I know one naturalized citizen the next Democratic administration should take a look at revoking.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:45 AM on June 24, 2018 [51 favorites]


New Emails Suggest Scott Pruitt Discussed Hiring a Friend of Lobbyist Landlord

@NormEisen
Pruitt's relationship with owner & spouse of his $50 a night luxury lobbyist lodgings is looking more & more like not only an ethics violation (5 CFR 2635.502) but also one under 18 USC 201, forbidding quid pro quos. Er, Scott, that's a criminal statute.
posted by Artw at 11:48 AM on June 24, 2018 [18 favorites]


New Emails Suggest Scott Pruitt Discussed Hiring a Friend of Lobbyist Landlord.

EPA was granted to Pruitt by Trump as his fiefdom, to do with as he wished as long as he undid Obama & made liberals cry. This is the reality of Imperial Trump. If you want to get ahead you align yourself with a person above you & curry favor with them. If you're already at the top you define the rules of your territory, subject to your own discretion & whim. Nation of Men not Nation of Laws.
posted by scalefree at 12:05 PM on June 24, 2018 [6 favorites]


I'm not saying it'll ever happen, but if there's ever a change in conditions that the rules of law starts applying to these corrupt motherfuckers and they all go down because they all arrogantly commited crimes in the most obvious and cruel manner possible in order to own the libs, well, that day will be a very happy day. Lock them up, even the bit players.
posted by Artw at 12:09 PM on June 24, 2018 [12 favorites]


I figure something's gotta break, but even so you have people like Miller who will probably never be touched. People nobody wants to hang out with don't have conspirators. No friends, no witnesses.
posted by rhizome at 12:15 PM on June 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


Jeff Flake discovers he's a senator. Of course it's tariffs rather than racism and fascism that led to the discovery.

@mattshuham:
.@JeffFlake: "I think myself and a number of senators, at least a few of us, will stand up and say ‘Let’s not move any more judges until we get a vote, for example, on tariffs.'"
posted by chris24 at 12:26 PM on June 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


Oh will they? Never take predictions seriously.
posted by rhizome at 12:32 PM on June 24, 2018 [7 favorites]


@CNNSotu:
Former Bush Commerce Secretary @carlosgutierrez: "I’m not worried about Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I’m worried about millions of kids that today are seeing a different America." #CNNSOTU
VIDEO
posted by chris24 at 12:36 PM on June 24, 2018 [22 favorites]




I'm not saying it'll ever happen, but if there's ever a change in conditions that the rules of law starts applying to these corrupt motherfuckers and they all go down because they all arrogantly commited crimes in the most obvious and cruel manner possible in order to own the libs, well, that day will be a very happy day. Lock them up, even the bit players.

I think one of the biggest lessons of this whole debacle is that you really need to enforce the law consistently and impartially even on the wealthy. Trump and many rich people like him skate away from any enforcement with a few campaign donations here and a few favors there. Trump and many of his cabinet were repeat criminals before they ever came to power in this administration.

Even once they are out of power you will still need to enforce the law because as we have seen over and over is that criminal actors will return to prominence and power if given passes or pardons (and sometimes even that won't stop them ie Oliver North). So I am hoping that the next administration takes the correct approach rather than the expedient one.
posted by srboisvert at 12:54 PM on June 24, 2018 [26 favorites]


@mattshuham:
.@JeffFlake: "I think myself and a number of senators, at least a few of us, will stand up and say ‘Let’s not move any more judges until we get a vote, for example, on tariffs.'"


Jeff Flake learned from the master the John McCain method of existing at the exact intersection of saying the thing that gets the maximum amount of time on CNN while never once following up on doing that thing.

So, no. He won't.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:29 PM on June 24, 2018 [10 favorites]


srboisvert: I think one of the biggest lessons of this whole debacle is that you really need to enforce the law consistently and impartially even on the wealthy. Trump and many rich people like him skate away from any enforcement with a few campaign donations here and a few favors there. Trump and many of his cabinet were repeat criminals before they ever came to power in this administration.

Even once they are out of power you will still need to enforce the law because as we have seen over and over is that criminal actors will return to prominence and power if given passes or pardons (and sometimes even that won't stop them ie Oliver North). So I am hoping that the next administration takes the correct approach rather than the expedient one.


I flagged this as excellent - I've said it before, the criminal justice system is too hard on the black, brown and poor, and far too easy on the white and well-off. I'm not for expanding the prison system, in fact, I prefer restorative justice in most instances - but I want the boom lowered, hard, on this group of grifters and criminals. Confiscate their ill-gotten gains as well.

I think the fact that so many white-collar criminals, especially in politics, from Oliver North onwards, have not only skated, but profited, bolsters the perception that politics and politicians are "corrupt" and "both sides are the same" and "why bother voting" and of course "Drain the Swamp!"

I want to see President Harris or Gillibrand or Merkley or whoever we wind up with throw the book at these people. No signing stacks of pardons.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 1:33 PM on June 24, 2018 [16 favorites]


SF wriiter NK Jemisin on bigotry and privelege:

@nkjemisin:
Hey! I haven't done a tweetstorm about anything this weekend. I was going to do it about Lowe's "pickup in store" problems, but I'm still dealing with that so will wait 'til it's done. Let's do something else: Why bigots are Bad At Things. I'm pre-coffee, so here we go.
posted by Artw at 1:55 PM on June 24, 2018 [18 favorites]


I mean, going after the Bush war crimes gang would have stalled Obama even more than he already was, but it would’ve been the right thing to do.
posted by rikschell at 1:56 PM on June 24, 2018 [9 favorites]


I mean, going after the Bush war crimes gang would have stalled Obama even more than he already was, but it would’ve been the right thing to do.

Well since Trump has well and truly killed the political norm of not wanting to imprison your political opponents...
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 2:09 PM on June 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


Sure, but Obama could've prosecuted a whole ton of bankers instead and avoided the whole issue of going after the previous political administration. In 2009 the constituency for not prosecuting Wall Street for obvious crimes was...Wall Street. And the Obama DOJ.

Just taking that step would've prevented a litany of later evils, incluing Steve Mnuchin as treasury secretary and possible Trump's election overall - argably muting the feeling that Wall Street got bailed out while the working class (white and otherwise) got fucked. Because that feeling both fed the anger that became Trump, and was an accurate and justifable response to the Obama response. Instead they looked "forward, not backwards" on all of it, war crimes and white collar crimes both.

That can't happen again.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:09 PM on June 24, 2018 [48 favorites]


Speaking of imprisoning political opponents, Erdoğan has declared himself winner of the election.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 2:11 PM on June 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


Worst take of the week. Washington Post editorial board: Let the Trump Team Eat in Peace

"Democracy dies in the darkness of fascists not being served with a smile and allowed to enjoy their fajitas while they disappear thousands of children"
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:34 PM on June 24, 2018 [19 favorites]


Nobody around Wall Street or New York City Politics wanted Trump to ever be held responsible for his crimes - and still don't. He was/is the Poster Boy for Capitalist Success, and his needy attention getting helped take attention away from all the other major white collar criminals... except for a few, who almost always were Jewish.

Obama got his early political experience in Chicago, where more of the political corruption was tied to the Democratic Party, so he knew not to rock the boat too hard.
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:38 PM on June 24, 2018


@brianschatz: I just heard about a restaurant kicking Sarah Sanders out of a restaurant and it’s got me thinking that Democrats have to be talking about health care today and every day till the election.

That doesn't mean restaurants shouldn't kick Sanders out, but we need to fight on the issues we win.
posted by zachlipton at 2:42 PM on June 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


The WaPo editorial is the standard insider hot-take on the current situation. One big question I've not yet seen the folks with that position answer is whether they are saying that no policy justifies an intrusion into policymakers personal lives or whether they are saying that this policy does not justify such an intrusion. They never seem to address that delineation and I think that's deliberate. Because they know that the "no policy" position is untenable and indefensible so they would be left arguing that baby prisons and immigrant concentration camps are bad, sure, but not so bad that they justify ruining someone's dinner.

Which they also know is a tough sell. So they don't try.

But those are their options; never let politics intrude on the personal even in the face of slavery, genocide, etc... or baby prisons and camps isn't serious enough to justify it. And they don't have the courage of their convictions to spell that out.
posted by Justinian at 2:45 PM on June 24, 2018 [22 favorites]


Is it my imagination or did they use "Editorial Board" as the byline so that no individual would have to take any heat for their opinion?
posted by runcibleshaw at 2:48 PM on June 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


I wouldn't say its your imagination but it's a pretty common thing to do for group op-eds.
posted by Justinian at 2:50 PM on June 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


Worst take of the week. Washington Post editorial board: Let the Trump Team Eat in Peace
Down that road lies a world in which only the most zealous sign up for public service. That benefits no one.
Less a slippery slope fallacy and more pushing the argument off a cliff fallacy. I think we could do with a bit more zealotry to the point where we’re not deliberately lying and justifying war crimes with those lies. I dunno. Maybe I’m too much of an idealist thinking we can expect a bare minimum of our administration staff.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 2:51 PM on June 24, 2018 [15 favorites]


Counter-argument: Don't do baby prisons.
posted by Artw at 2:57 PM on June 24, 2018 [57 favorites]


Another poll out today (YouGov) showing Nelson in real trouble in his Senate race against Rick Scott. If I didn't know it from a bunch of polls you'd have had a lot of trouble convincing me that Florida would be a tougher race in this environment than West Virginia or Montana. It doesn't make sense! Except that super old people vote a lot, I guess, and they vote mostly terribly.
posted by Justinian at 2:59 PM on June 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


I think that the pollsters' methodology does more to minimize Democrats' chances in Florida than almost anywhere else, because the "likely voters" formula excludes the people who recently moved from tragic Puerto Rico and maybe haven't even registered in the state... yet. Example one why the Democrats/Progressives must make getting voters registered and their registrations 'bullet-proof' has to be Priority #1.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:07 PM on June 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


Maxine Waters > Washington Post

Maxine Waters calls on supporters to confront Trump officials in public spaces

"For these members of his cabinet who remain and try to defend him: they're not going to be able to go to a restaurant, they're not going to be able to stop at a gas station, they're not going to be able to shop at a department store, the people are going to turn on them, they're going to protest, they're going to absolutely harass them until they decide that they're going to tell the president 'no I can't hang with you, this is wrong this is unconscionable and we can't keep doing this to children.'"
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:43 PM on June 24, 2018 [57 favorites]




Sanders' position on immigration is probably best described as historically complicated. That sort of nuance may not play particularly well in this environment.

That said, calls to abolish ICE are similar to calls to abolish the IRS. You still need an organization to do the job so you're really just renaming it. Similar if the IRS were actually a bunch of jackbooted thugs like the right believes and ICE is, I mean. But yeah, "abolish ICE" is gonna function more as a shibboleth than a realistic policy proposal.
posted by Justinian at 3:53 PM on June 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


One self-serving reason for the WaPo editorial... they probably get a lot of their "leaks" and "insider info" by schmoozing White House officials, taking them out to dinner and picking up the tab - and they just don't want to be collateral damage in an "incident", or even worse, be publicly identified as "hanging out" with them. I'm sure if the WaPo editors/writers were at a Berlin newspaper before Hitler & Co. shut down their free press, they'd have done the same thing.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:55 PM on June 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


You still need an organization to do the job

Citation absolutely goddamned needed. There's no reason not to form a wholly new organization strictly to manage immigration and naturalization, with no paramilitary or law(read: racial hierarchy)-enforcement element. There are already more than enough cops for that.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:58 PM on June 24, 2018 [23 favorites]


You still need an organization to do the job so you're really just renaming it.

Do we? I mean if people get arrested and convicted of a felony in state or federal court do a citizenship check and if they’re not a citizen put them on a plane back summarily after the sentence is completed. Otherwise who really cares?
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 4:00 PM on June 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


We did fine without ICE before 2003, we'll do fine without it now.
posted by Weeping_angel at 4:00 PM on June 24, 2018 [56 favorites]


Yeah, we already have Customs and Border Patrol. ICE can go. The 100 mile border zone can go. Treating immigrants as criminals can go.
posted by runcibleshaw at 4:02 PM on June 24, 2018 [51 favorites]


We did fine without ICE before 2003, we'll do fine without it now.

Right, but thats because other organizations performed their functions. I'm just saying that getting rid of ICE doesn't change anything if you don't change the functions.
posted by Justinian at 4:02 PM on June 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


The actual problem with just saying "abolish ICE" is, ICE isn't just an acronym, it's a bunch of people. You have to do something with them (hopefully involving the justice system).
posted by dilaudid at 4:02 PM on June 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


You have to do something with them (hopefully involving the justice system).

They get transferred to Space Force.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:04 PM on June 24, 2018 [39 favorites]


That camp the navy are building in the desert will need filling up.
posted by Artw at 4:06 PM on June 24, 2018 [7 favorites]


We did fine without ICE before 2003, we'll do fine without it now.

Right, but thats because other organizations performed their functions. I'm just saying that getting rid of ICE doesn't change anything if you don't change the functions.


I don't think you're getting it. I think when people say "abolish ICE" they're saying we don't need the organization or the functions it performs. You can argue against that idea, but what exactly do we need ICE for? I'd say that they are an organization that exists almost exclusively to oppress and terrorize immigrants and people of color. (What we do with the current employees is another question.) Other changes to the immigration system are important but separate.
posted by runcibleshaw at 4:08 PM on June 24, 2018 [13 favorites]


That said, calls to abolish ICE are similar to calls to abolish the IRS. You still need an organization to do the job so you're really just renaming it.

Abolishing ICE and building a new immigration enforcement agency de novo that isn't infested with racist fuckwits is not the same as renaming it.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:09 PM on June 24, 2018 [22 favorites]


Maybe I'm a little slow, but what necessary functions does ICE perform that would be detrimental to the country if it were removed all at once tomorrow?
posted by runcibleshaw at 4:14 PM on June 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


Would anyone care for a new thread? Because I made a new thread.
--> this way to the new thread -->
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 4:16 PM on June 24, 2018 [16 favorites]


If I didn't know it from a bunch of polls you'd have had a lot of trouble convincing me that Florida would be a tougher race in this environment than West Virginia or Montana. It doesn't make sense! Except that super old people vote a lot, I guess, and they vote mostly terribly.

Also Bill Nelson is a fucking miserable stiff of a candidate who thinks he doesnt even need the black vote. Rick Scott is inexplicably popular in Florida, even still. Nelson is committing political malpractice in this race.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:16 PM on June 24, 2018


"Hunting MS-13"*

* A thing that, unless I am very much wrong, they have never ever done, as soft targets are way more to their taste.
posted by Artw at 4:17 PM on June 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


Maybe I'm a little slow, but what necessary functions does ICE perform that would be detrimental to the country if it were removed all at once tomorrow?

I guess the child-cage industry would take a hit.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:20 PM on June 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


Another poll out today (YouGov) showing Nelson in real trouble in his Senate race against Rick Scott. If I didn't know it from a bunch of polls you'd have had a lot of trouble convincing me that Florida would be a tougher race in this environment than West Virginia or Montana. It doesn't make sense! Except that super old people vote a lot, I guess, and they vote mostly terribly.

It's common around here to hear from the elderly that Scott "has done a lot of good things!" but nobody who says that can name even one. It's just one of those universal facts they all seem to know without any evidence.
posted by Servo5678 at 4:43 PM on June 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


I guess the child-cage industry would take a hit.

Call them by their proper name. Fencerooms.
posted by scalefree at 4:57 PM on June 24, 2018 [6 favorites]




🍪🍪🍶
posted by petebest at 7:05 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


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