Day 134: More fallout

At least it's Friday?

• The rest of the world continued their condemnation of the US today, rallying around the Paris accords.
• Remember how Congress is supposed to act as a check on the Executive branch? Part of that process occurs by Congress placing requests for information from various parts of the Executive, and the Executive responding. Now, it appears that the administration has issued a blanket policy for departments: only respond to Congressional committee chairpersons. Because all committees are chaired by Republicans, this amounts to a policy saying "Ignore all requests from Democrats". The autocracy solidifies itself. This is not normal and not OK.
• The congressional report on extraordinary rendition and torture, written through congressional committees in the Obama years, has been locked in the senate vault, away from FOIA requests. Transparency, who needs it? It's not like the administration is going to bring back torture? Oh, that's right, that was a campaign promise from Trump...
• The incoming Trump administration was working furiously to unilaterally relax sanctions against Russia. The plans were apparently ready to go right after inauguration. Somebody almost certainly worked with Russian officials on this.
• In addition to this, we have reports of evidence of an early secret high-level meeting between Trump and his inner circle with Russian officials. The article is careful to say that the evidence is not proof, but still. This is all incredibly fishy, or as some put it, a "5-alarm f*cking fire".
• ICE continues to be out of control.

Finally, there are a bunch of protest marches occurring tomorrow. Find one near you and join in!