Day 12: A Supreme Court Nominee

Trump needed his ego stroked today, so he called for a dog-and-pony show during primetime TV in order to announce his pick for the supreme court: Neil Gorusch.

•  Overview of Gorusch from BBC, SCOTUSBlog, Huffington Post, Fox News, NY Times

In other news:

• Administration will retain Obama's protections for LGBTQ federal workers. While I'm pleased with this, it's only because the administration has set themselves a very, very low bar. Better would be to expand those protections.
• Not only did the acting Attorney General get fired yesterday, so did the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The administration has furthermore given an explicit message: step in line or get out. This is completely typical of totalitarian regimes.
• Administration accuses Germany of currency manipulation. This is bizarre. Picking a fight with the EU over trade is bound to leave us with a poor outcome.
• NOAA is set to be led by leading climate change denier. If there was any hope that this administration would value the environment, it's rapidly melting, just like the Arctic/Antarctic.
• Clandestine raid goes wrong in every way. Including the execution of children and their teacher. This does not bode well.
• Trump met with pharmacy lobbyists, and completely changed his tune. "Deregulation" instead of bringing pharmacy companies to heel like every other country in the world.
• Customs and Border Patrol are still refusing to obey federal court orders. The words "constitutional crisis" are beginning to be discussed more seriously in news reports. I expect further deterioration on this tomorrow.
• Army engineers ordered to give go-ahead to Dakota Access Pipeline. Well fuck.
• State Department "provisionally" revokes visas of people from countries targeted by Muslim ban. The best source I found for this is politico, which has a link to the paper version of the order. It was apparently presented in a legal filing in a Boston federal court. Should this order be enforced, it just made life miserable for any non-permanent residents already in the US. In particular: students at US universities from those countries. I expect further news on this in the coming days.

Unfortunately, this is what qualifies as a "quiet day".

I also found a brief overview of every executive order so far, in case you want to catch up.

Day 11: You're Fired!

The immigration order continues to dominate the news cycle today. Behind the scenes, some darker things are lurking though.

On the immigration order:

• The Acting Attorney General was not convinced of the constitutionality of the ban, so she directed the Justice Department to stop defending it. She was immediately sacked by the administration. The same article reports that at least 5 states are challenging the ban in court.
• Trump, of course, called today a "very good day" for national security. This guy gets excited about making people's lives as difficult as possible for no good reason.
• After obviously not thinking at all about permanent residents, the administration has decided to allow them in.
• CNN has coverage of the timeline of the order. Notable was that DHS objected vehemently but was overridden, and that people who should have been informed were left out of the loop.
• Trump asked for a Muslim ban done "legally"
• In response to the executive action, the ACLU has received more in donations this past weekend than it did all last year. 

Other news:

• New executive order to reduce regulations on businesses. Experts have commented that it appears to be a redundant order given previous directives, but I expect things like worker protections and safety regulations to face the axe. Of course, Trump lies through his teeth in justifying the order. (Original text)
• A Texas Mosque was torched shortly after the Muslim ban was announced. It's almost as if somebody is stoking xenophobic tensions!
• Trump orders list of crimes committed by immigrants to be published. I missed this in an earlier executive order. I want a list of all crimes committed by white men to be published too. This is unacceptable scapegoating and fearmongering.
• The "resignations" at the State Department were a purge, not voluntary. Essentially no leadership at the department now.
• On Bannon consolidating power and leaving no paper trail. Appropriate agencies left in the dark, no paper trail, consolidation of power... this is getting really scary.
• Here is an excellent analysis of recent events. I encourage you to read it all, but especially point #6, which discusses the fact that 19.5% of the Russian oil giant was recently privatized through Cayman Islands shell companies, similar to the 19% allegedly offered to Trump to become President and lift sanctions on Russia...

The following excellent quote is from Shakesville.

"It's not just the ban or the wall or the threat of martial law in diverse cities. It's that he is justifying them with assertions of danger. The tactic is designed to: 1. Other. 2. Erode empathy for the Other. 3. Create fear of the Other. 4. Engender hatred of the Other. The ban is AWFUL on its own. But it is only the foundation for a strategy of division that will lead to things worse than we have conjured. And it's critical to view all of these things as part of that complex strategy."

Day 10: The World Is On Fire

Does the administration care about climate change? No. Does it care about ruining people's lives? Yes.

(Image from Huffington Post.)

In the news today:

• Continued chaos from the immigration executive order. Note that despite having orders from federal judges, Border Control in some airports is not complying. A Homeland Security press release stated that they are simultaneously complying with the executive order and the judge's orders, which is just not possible. Members of Congress were at airports in angry confrontations with police and Border Control. The executive branch seems to be openly defying the judiciary. Border Control is apparently pressuring people to relinquish their visas so that they can be deported. Here is a very good analysis of the legalities and incompetence at play in the White House. A conclusion of this article (emphasis original): "It will cause hardship and misery for tens or hundreds of thousands of people because that is precisely what it is intended to do." This is only going to get worse.
• Federal employees are being encouraged to defy orders that break the law. A number of lawyers are listed in this article as offering to provide pro bono legal advice and support.
• California is suing Trump over the executive order.
• It is now illegal to help an undocumented immigrant. I missed this in a previous executive order. This was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2012 as being preempted by Federal law. They might need a stronger argument now, if the executive branch is even going to pay attention.
• Trump files as a candidate for 2020 elections. Seems to be trying to take advantage of rules for campaigning to silence opposition and leverage PAC contributions? This is very strange. (Counterpoint for charitable organizations)
• White House doubles down on terrible statement excluding Jews from Remembrance Day statement. If only this was the worst thing that happened today.

Day 9: Chaos and a small victory

Big new today on the executive order yesterday regarding immigration restrictions. If you want just one overview story of this news item, the Washington Post has a good overview of the day's events.

• Lots of stories today about people being stranded, such as those who were on flights when the order was signed, as well as people with dual citizenship and permanent residents (green card holders) being turned away from airports. A handful of people are in detention at airports, despite having legal documents for their entry. A lot of the stories are devastating. Lots of protests, especially at airports.
• I've just heard that a national stay against the immigration order has been granted from a federal court in NY, pending briefing of the case. Nobody who has been detained will be sent back, but unknown if people will be left in detention or not. Unclear if people with legal status in the US with the disputed nationalities will be permitted to board airplanes (but ACLU is hopeful).
• Update: Reuters reports that green card holders will be allowed back in after "additional routine screening". That is, more expense, more delays, and much, much more frustration.

This whole executive order is absolutely disgusting, and is creating chaos for no good reason. I work at MIT, and MIT students are being affected by this. The international office is sending emails to international students marked URGENT. This is completely chaotic, and affects businesses, universities, and many other entities in the US. This is incredibly unfair, especially to people who have legally obtained their documents (often at great personal cost). The whole thing is terrible. A number of people I talked to today wanted to burn their US passports. The anger is really palpable.

This stuff overshadowed basically all other news today. A few things I found:

• Putin and Trump had a chat.
• Three executive orders. The reshuffling of the national security council is cause for concern. Bannon has no business being on that council.

Day 8: It's not getting better

There are so many rumors and vague proposals going around in the media. Today I've tried to boil things down to "What changed?" and major events.

First up: Two new executive orders. The first is a doozy.

• Limiting refugees and banning people from Muslim countries. This is disgusting in so many ways. For a country as rich as America, to shirk international responsibilities like this is awful. Furthermore, targeting Muslim countries is downright awful. In addition, many have noticed that countries with Trump businesses in them didn't get hit. I read the following somewhere, and it resonated strongly with me: "... officially sanctioned religious persecution dressed up to look like an effort to make the United States safer". I have an Iranian physicist friend who lives in the USA. If she leaves at this stage to visit home, she will have great troubles getting back in. This is an awful bind to be in. (Full text) (Important response: the entire thing is illegal. I await the lawsuits.)
• Building up the military. For a country that already spends more on military than the next 7 or so combined, this is over the top. Fiscal responsibilities be damned, I guess?

And some other things that happened:

• UN Envoy: Back us or else. This sounds awfully like "You're either with us or you're against us", and is a very harsh message to put out in a foreign relations context, especially over unspecified actions. Also, the attitude towards the United Nations from this administration is very concerning.
• First head of state Meeting: Theresa May of UK. At least this one seemed to go over ok. (Here's a critical look at all the SNAFUs)
• Ads for enrollment in Obamacare pulled. This is an insurance scheme. If not enough (young, healthy) people sign up, then the system falters. This action is designed to encourage that, so they can later say "But it wasn't working!"
• Chinese warn that war is becoming inevitable. Really bad news.

The BBC gave an overview of the week in Trumpland, in case you want to relive it (I don't).

I also found a resource where somebody is classifying events as they happen under various causes for concern. If you're not scared by spreadsheets, you should take a look at it: Autocracy USA

Day 7: The Quiet Before the Storm

So it's lunchtime on day 7, and it's been an eerily quiet day for news. I've only really found one story worth highlighting so far.

• Senior management at the State Department resign en mass. Taking their institutional knowledge with them.

Picking up for the rest of the day (still a very quiet day, news-wise)...

The only real story from today was the administration's first international relations blunder, in a dispute with Mexico over Trump's "wall" (aka ego). After some diplomacy via twitter, Mexico cancelled a scheduled meeting, and the administration decided to retaliate by proposing a 20% import tariff on Mexican goods. This of course led to an outcry and some backpedalling. The NY Times has a good overview of the events. Note the gaslighting (get used to this word, it's going to come up a lot!) that the administration is continuously up to: Trump said “Unless Mexico is going to treat us fairly and with respect, such a meeting would be fruitless, we have to go a different route.”

What would a 20% tariff do? It would increase the price of Mexican goods for American consumers. So, who would pay for that wall? Americans. To quote Wikipedia: "Typical analyses find that tariffs tend to benefit domestic producers and government at the expense of consumers, and that the net welfare effects of a tariff on the importing country are negative."

• I missed this in the executive order from yesterday (day before?): Trump wants to enroll local law enforcement agencies into immigration enforcement. This is a very short step away from "Papers, please" (in your best German accent).
• Top Whitehouse strategist Bannon told media: "The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for awhile. I want you to quote this. The media here is the opposition party. They don't understand this country." Because first amendment rights are here to be trampled on. Also, framing journalists as the enemy... hmm. Now where have we seen that before?
• US downgraded from "Full Democracy" to "Flawed Democracy". The world is paying attention!
• Jezebel: Welcome to Chaos. A holistic overview of the past week.

Day 6: I cannot believe the things I am writing here

So much to unpack today. Slate has a good overview of the day, including deconstructions of the heinous language used by the administration. I'll try to keep these brief...

• House Science Committee Chairman: Get your news from Trump, not media. Trump is a demonstrably sociopathic liar and narcissist. I'll throw my lot in with the media every time, thanks.
• USDA and EPA forbidden from communicating with public. Because taxpayer-funded science is apparently dangerous and shouldn't be discussed with the taxpayer. Because warnings about climate change and food safety are not for public consumption, of course. This is horrific. Some followup here on making sure that the work of these agencies is consistent with the viewpoints of the administration. I just want to throw it out there that censoring science is WRONG. More: they want political appointees to censor data and studies. EDIT: It appears to be even worse than this. All EPA grants, new and old, are apparently suspended. Multiple agencies are under this gag order (with no confirmation/statement/anything from the administration), and resistance from various National Parks twitter accounts is being squashed. DNC statement: this is NOT business as usual.
• Trump believes in torture. The use of torture in the Bush years was a blight on this country. And now he wants to go back there???! Also: Trump poised to reinstate CIA "black site" prisons. These were utterly, utterly vile a decade ago. And yet here we are.
• Trump calls for investigation into voter fraud. Told you it was coming. Fomented by Trump's own lies, this is the first steps along the path to voter suppression. Also, this is a massive waste of money.
• More on police brutality in DC. Meanwhile, nationwide, individual states are clamping down on protestor's rights...
• Global gag rule got a massive expansion. It used to apply only to family planning funding ($600 million). Now it applies to ALL health funding ($9.5 billion). This is devastating!

There were two executive actions from today, insofar as I can tell. Most articles lump them together, so I've linked the raw texts below.

• Build that wall. Ugh. Also calls for 5,000 additional border patrolmen, and construction of new detention facilities (because the ones that we presently have won't deal with the onslaught, apparently?)
• Declare war on sanctuary cities. These are cities who do not actively seek out a person's immigration status, helping to shield them from deportation. I actively support cities standing up to Trump over this! (The order also calls for another 10,000 immigration officers to be hired, so that illegal immigrants can be ferreted out or something heinous like that.)

Remember that Obama was already the deporter-in-Chief. This sounds like it's going to get ugly.

There's also plenty of coverage discussing a proposed ban on muslims, suspension of refugee programs, shuttering visa programs for certain countries, and other horrific things. I guess we'll find out exact details tomorrow.

Some state news:

• Indiana wants to allow police to shut down protests by any means necessary, including taking lives.
• Arkansas wants to limit access to abortion, with the house passing legislation that courts have already struck down. Sound like a waste of taxpayer money? You bet it is. But - also a waste of Planned Parenthood's money. And that's the point.

A lot of the crap that's happened or been proposed in the past couple of days would typically be enough to get a country that implemented it sanctioned by the US. I honestly hope that other countries are contemplating sanctions against the US for some of this vile shit.

Are you ready to laugh? Senior Trump administration figures using private email server. The double standards are mind-boggling.

I've added links to a couple of other blogs/sites trying to perform the same purpose as I am here. You can find those links over to the right. I thank these sites wholeheartedly for their work, as they are finding a lot of stuff that doesn't hit my daily reading list.

Day 5: This administration is the worst

So, a bunch of shit from today...

• House passes permanent version of the Hyde amendment (also here). Two days after the biggest protest in American history, centering on women... The gall. Note that restricting access to abortion disproportionately impacts the poor. The rich can always pay, but the poor get shackled with another child, perpetuating the cycle of poverty. I sincerely hope that the democrats can filibuster this in the senate.
• Journalists covering protests slapped with felony charges. The treatment of journalists says a lot about a society. Pay attention to this! The police version of events here is disturbing, particularly when compared to the recollection of those they arrested.
• Trump declares his inauguration day a public holiday. Because he needs his ego to be stroked a little bit more. No, seriously - he even called it a "National Day of Patriotic Devotion".
• Declared war on net neutrality. This is a fundamental principle of access and freedom.
• Top advisor Kellyanne Conway celebrated inauguration by punching somebody in the face repeatedly. Do I need to say anything to this
• Trump declares environmental protection regulations are "out of control". Given the severity of the threat of global warming, I strongly dissent.
• Executive order supporting massive oil pipelines. These were all blocked under Obama after lengthy protests. Note: the claim that Trump makes in saying that jobs will be created is a dirty lie. Sure, jobs will be created to build the pipeline, but they're not permanent jobs. The number of permanent jobs created by these pipelines will likely be under 100, which is really pathetic for the environmental problems that they will create (can't remember where I read that statistic, sorry).
• Trump doubles down on voter fraud allegations. This is a serious campaign of disinformation. The punchline will be coming soon, I promise.
• EPA hit with gag order, grants frozen. This is the first step in dismantling the agency set up to enforce pollution controls. Note that last year, the EPA awarded around $10 billion in grants. Withholding that will make monitoring pollution much, much more difficult. I guess this is part of easing regulations on businesses, right? Ugh. Some more.
• There were apparently five executive orders from today. I don't know what they all contained.
• This stupid bill was introduced to the house: a person's life begins at fertilization. You all know where this is going...
• South Dakota apparently didn't like an ethics law passed by voter referendum. So they declared an emergency to undo it. A government of the people, indeed.
• Minnesota decided that health insurance shouldn't have to cover a very long list of common issues. Somebody really didn't like the fact that Obamacare made coverage of all of these mandatory. This is a terrifying preview of what to expect from the Republican "replacement" of Obamacare.

Day 4: Resistance is mandatory

So much shit going on today. Where to start? Three executive orders seem to be the important pieces.

• Withdraw from TPP. The largest trade agreement in the world, and the US is dumping it. China must be soooo happy - they're going to pick up the pieces that the US just dropped. Yes, the TPP wasn't necessarily the best agreement, but really, this is giving a huge gift to China. Some noise about wanting to renegotiate NAFTA. Doing so would likely hurt specific US companies that rely on it, without much benefit.
• Reinstate the Global Gag Rule on abortions. This one is vile. Trump doesn't care one way or the other, but Pence sure as hell does. "We know that when family planning services and contraceptives are easily accessible, there are fewer unplanned pregnancies, maternal deaths, and abortions." Sounds like a terrific reason to NOT do this.
• Instituted a federal hiring freeze. Which always ends up costing more because contractors are expensive. Oh, federal wages got frozen too.
• Met with Republicans to insist that he only lost the popular vote because 3-5 million illegals voted. There is no evidence for this, and the only people promoting the theory are writing on conspiracy theory websites. He has even been rebuked by his own party over this! The guy is a sore, sore narcissistic loser. The only real reason to push this completely debunked theory is to shore up support for voter suppression laws. Keep an eye on this!

Last week, Republicans revived an obscure old rule to allow budget measures to terminate individual federal programs, rather than just changing the budget of an agency. Combined with the federal hiring freeze and cabinet members deadset on destroying their portfolio, this is terrible news for the public service. Oh, did I mention Gingrich wants to fire federal employees who voted for Clinton?

Day 3: A Quiet Sunday

Only two real headlines today:

• Administration doubles down on lies, calling them "alternative facts". Thank you Kelly Anne Conway. You've just proven that we can't trust a word out of the administration.
• Call to Israeli PM. This is the one that worries me more. The administration is playing with fire on the international stage, and has no idea what it's doing. In particular, I wholly expect the unconditional support of Israeli settlement building to set back the prospect of peace in the Middle East by years.

 Beyond that, I also came across this gem of a bill that has been introduced in congress. The summary of the bill says it all: "To end membership of the United States in the United Nations". This would be a monumental abdication of America's international world, and would cause irreparable harm to its international standing. I fully expect this to die in committee. However, the fact that despite the sheer stupidity of this bill was even introduced to begin with can likely be attributed to the brazen isolationism promoted by Trump, and I expect other less extreme isolationist bills to actually find purchase.

Day 2: Woman's March

So, today was a much better day than yesterday. The Woman's Marches around the world were staggeringly more popular than the inauguration, and definitely made me feel better about this place. My favorite sign: "IKEA has more qualified cabinets!"

Here's a comparison of the crowds in DC at the inauguration and at the women's march. (Spoiler: There is no comparison. Today was better!)

So what did our executive branch get up to today? (Overview article)

• Trump met with the CIA. Gave them a pretty speech, and didn't talk about the fact that he's been talking crap about them for weeks.
• Trump's spokesman came out and berated the media for "underreporting numbers at the inauguration". The whole press conference was an amazing bunch of lies. "Unmitigated propaganda" was one journalist's take on it. Wow. It seems like the woman's march really got to the administration! Another quote: "This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period … These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm for the inauguration are shameful and wrong." Uh... Obama's inauguration beat yours by about tenfold. Lies are also shameful and wrong.

I talked with somebody today about the way in which the Trump administration routinely dismisses the truthfulness of the media. The continued manner in which they dismiss the media as lies and false news is a concerted propaganda effort to stop people from paying attention to the part of society that is trying to promote the truth. The more that people stop respecting the 4th estate, the more the propaganda machine of the administration can function. This is truly disconcerting, and I hope the media really strongly fight back.

There are so many good photos and videos of marches today! It's inspiring! Keep it up, folks!

In other news, I've decided I need to knit some hats.

Day 1: Inauguration

So, today was inauguration. Actually, it was yesterday. But I'm starting this blog a day late, so I have to catch up!

The inauguration speech was terrible, painting a very dark picture of the state of the country. Of course, only strongman Trump can fix things. You know you've screwed up when you have to plagiarise Bane from The Dark Knight Riases...

Despite promises to do 100's of things on day 1, insofar as I can tell, only 6 things really happened. (Overview article)

• ACA began being dismantled in a very nebulous executive order. I haven't found the full text of the order, but it sounds very vague, and is likely to lead to turmoil in the individual insurance market this year. As much as the ACA wasn't perfect, it's lunacy to dismantle it without a better replacement. Make no mistake: people are going to die as a result of this. Update: here is the full text, courtesy of CNN.
• Signed a waiver to allow a military person to serve as the head of the Pentagon. There's a good reason why military people aren't allowed to serve on a cabinet. What's the point of having these regulations if you can just waive them anyway? At least this one required congress to pass the waiver.
• Suspended reduced rates on FHA mortgages. This new rule, which cut FHA mortgage rates by 0.25%, was suspended. As I understand it, FHA mortgages are there for the people in this country who are struggling the most. I've read estimates that this rate cut would save people on average somewhere between $500-$1000 per annum. Because the people at the bottom really didn't need that extra boost to their discretionary income, did they? This rate boost completely undercuts the idea that cutting taxes on the rich is a way to boost the economy (because they make jobs for everybody else and inject money into the society! *cough*), because this would have directly injected money into the society.
• Interfered with the judiciary. A big case in Texas on voting rights suppression was delayed so that instead of moving forwards with Obama appointed lawyers in a hearing this coming week, the new attorney general Sessions can tell everybody that it's much ado about nothing. I thought this sort of thing wasn't supposed to happen.
• Proclamation for a national day of patriotism. Ugh. Can you hear my eyes rolling? We don't need more thinly disguised white nationalism. Also, this is pretty typical of a dictatorship. Perhaps Trump is already missing his campaign rallies?
• Updated the white house website. No more policies on climate change and LBTQ issues, to name a couple of pages that were cut. There are numerous reports of a purge of government data too, because we can't have pesky facts that undercut our politics!

Whitehouse.gov now says "President Donald J. Trump" at the top. When I saw that, I wanted to scream.

We start!

So, this is going to be a long four years. I'm going to need to gripe. And this is going to give me an outlet. Good luck, America.