Tag: trump

Stephanie Murphy files bill that would remove Stephen Bannon from National Security Council

sashayed:

gallifreyburning:

gallifreyburning:

“Our men and women in uniform, our intelligence and homeland security professionals, and our citizens should feel secure in their knowledge that the critical decisions made by the NSC are free from political considerations. The American people deserve a national security policymaking process that inspires confidence, not cynicism,” said Murphy in a House floor speech.

CALL THIS WOMAN’S OFFICE AND SAY THANK YOU. ENCOURAGE HER TO PUSH HARD FOR THIS BILL. CALL YOUR LOCAL CONGRESSPEOPLE AND ASK THEM TO SPONSOR/SUPPORT IT!

Find your representative
Find your senator

ftr this bill is officially called “Protect The National Security Council From Political Interference Act” (link to official congressional info re: the bill and where it stands)

I called Representative Murphy’s office today and talked with a staffer – I’m not from Florida, and I told them so upfront, and asked how I could support this bill in my home state. The staffer said to definitely call my own state Representative and Senators, both – if we can find a Senator to support the bill, they can introduce it into the Senate and it can be voted on in both houses of Congress at the same time. IF YOU HAVE A DEMOCRATIC SENATOR, PLEASE CALL THEM AND ALERT THEM TO THE EXISTENCE OF THIS MEASURE, AND ASK THEM TO INTRODUCE IT TO THE SENATE.

He also said that calls to Representative Murphy’s office definitely help, in terms of tallying support for the measure in general. 

PLEASE CALL. 

ACTION ITEM: call your senators and ask them to support Rep. Murphy’s movement to remove Steve Bannon from the National Security Council. Emphasize Bannon’s white supremacist ideology and his stated intention to destroy the state, and – especially with Republicans – MAKE IT PERSONAL. i have like 6 messages in my inbox about how nice it feels to say politely, “Please tell the Senator that if she does not stand against Steve Bannon’s poisonous and destructive agenda, my community and I will ensure that someone else wins her seat in the next election. Thank you.” (it really feels so good, guys.)

2/2/17

Stephanie Murphy files bill that would remove Stephen Bannon from National Security Council

It may only take 3.5% of the population to topple a dictator – with civil resistance | Erica Chenoweth

catbirdseat4u:

Nonviolent resistance does not happen overnight or automatically. It
requires an informed and prepared public, keen to the strategy and
dynamics of its political power. Although nonviolent campaigns often
begin with a committed and experienced core, successful ones enlarge the
diversity of participants, maintain nonviolent discipline and expand
the types of nonviolent actions they use.

They constantly increase their base of supporters, build coalitions,
leverage social networks, and generate connections with those in the
opponent’s network who may be ambivalent about cooperating with
oppressive policies.

Crucially, nonviolent resistance works not by melting the heart of
the opponent but by constraining their options. A leader and his inner
circle cannot pass and implement policies alone. They require
cooperation and obedience from many people to carry out plans and
policies.

This is an EXCELLENT read!

2/2/17

It may only take 3.5% of the population to topple a dictator – with civil resistance | Erica Chenoweth

theonion:

WASHINGTON—Praising the federal appellate judge’s commitment to upholding the Constitution, President Trump hailed his Supreme Court justice nominee Neil Gorsuch as a fierce protector of the future amendment that will allow the president to temporarily suspend the right to assemble. “I am confident that Judge Gorsuch will do everything in his power to see that every line of the Constitution, including the forthcoming amendment to grant the executive branch the power to halt all public protests, will be safeguarded as the law of the land,” said Trump, adding that Gorsuch’s strict adherence to the country’s supreme law, both in its present and very near future iterations, was what drew him to the 49-year-old judge in the first place. “If his track record is any indication, Judge Gorsuch will act as a stalwart defender of our nation’s founding legal document, which will soon contain a 28th amendment granting the president sole authority to restrict the public’s ability to collectively air grievances. He has my full vote of confidence in these matters.” Trump went on to say, however, that Gorsuch was also practical enough to know when certain parts of the Constitution didn’t need to be taken quite so seriously.

Mark Hamill Records More of Trump’s Tweets as The Joker: “Having Done Villains for So Long, You Do Recognize Rich Dialogue”

themarysue:

Mark Hamill is back with more Trump tweets in the voice of The Joker! This is what we all need right now. 

http://www.themarysue.com/mark-hamill-trump-as-joker/

Mark Hamill Records More of Trump’s Tweets as The Joker: “Having Done Villains for So Long, You Do Recognize Rich Dialogue”

imperatorkhaleesi:

shinelikethunder:

pdxjenni:

biglawbear:

Lawblr side of Tumblr, here. I don’t think anybody even understands how terrifying this is. If the Executive can ignore the Judiciary, then we have a full-on Constitutional Crisis on our hands. Our country immediately falls apart. The only options for enforcement of judicial orders are 1) U.S. Marshals (which are ordered around by the Judiciary but ultimately still a part of the Executive as part of the Department of Justice), in which case we have an ACTUAL ARMED CONFLICT BETWEEN TWO BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT, or if the Marshals refuse to comply, 2) the Governor of the state, say Virginia, sends in the National Guard of the state, which leads to AN ARMED CONFLICT BETWEEN A STATE MILITIA AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

In case you weren’t getting the picture, let me be blunt and dramatic: this is literally Civil War-level shit right here.

And Trump has been in office a week.

This is fucking terrifying.

I spent the day at SeaTac (Seattle-Tacoma International Airport). We got very little done because CBP refused to talk to us at all. When one of the attorneys with us annoyed them so much that they finally answered their office door (she literally knocked on it for 10 minutes straight), they directed her to the press release on their website (side note: I don’t know if there even is a press release on the CBP website). They told her they don’t care how many attorneys show up, they don’t take orders from attorneys or judges. Senator Patty Murray showed up just after 4:00 & CBP refused to talk to her, too. I will repeat that: Customs and Border Patrol refused to talk to a sitting United States Senator. They refused other senators at other airports, too, according to a WaPo article I read earlier.

I had to return to Portland tonight because I have work tomorrow. ACLU & International Refugee Assistance Project attorneys will be back at SeaTac tomorrow at 5:30 a.m. (including my law school bestie, I am so proud). 

There were 13 people detained at SeaTac yesterday who were secretly transferred to a detention facility in Tacoma, so the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project is working with attorneys to straighten that right out. 

Basically: Shit is going down, y’all. The women I went up with today? Both were Arabs. One was from Pakistan, the other was from Lebanon (a Christian, a Muslim and a Jew walk into an airport…). When I asked them if I was overreacting by feeling like this was a coup-in-progress, they said no. That’s precisely what this is.

I thought we had a coup-proof system. I was mistaken.

Keep fighting the good fight, lawyers. And if you’re in Portland, I’ll see you at Perkins-Coie tomorrow at 5:30 for the L4GG meeting.

At Dulles, CBP has been stonewalling four members of the US House of Representatives, the governer and attorney general of Virginia, and Senators Cory Booker (NJ) and Mark Warner (VA)–the latter of whom chewed out the head of CBP in person. No dice. Not even with a federal court order telling CBP at Dulles, only them, and them in particular to give detainees access to lawyers.

And they’re pulling an old trick from the national-security handbook that’s been used to evade the courts on issues like domestic surveillance: “Lawyers and advocates still didn’t know how many people were being held in the secondary inspection area at Dulles or what their immigration status was, which led to a catch-22: Attorneys couldn’t file for contempt of court without having proof that legal residents were being detained and not being given access to lawyers, but they couldn’t get proof without getting access.” (x)

At least two VA reps have found out (via friends and family) about constituents being detained at Dulles, at which point CBP released them in order to dodge the access-to-lawyers issue. The representative for my district is on the warpath–and also on the House Oversight Committee. Here’s hoping these fuckers get slapped with contempt of court so hard their ears ring, then get hauled in front of a committee hearing to see if they want to try their chances with contempt of Congress.

All of which doesn’t even get into the Monday Night Massacre clusterfuck inside the executive branch, when the acting attorney general of the United States refused to make the DoJ defend the lawfulness of the immigration order in court. And was summarily fired and replaced with someone more compliant. So here’s also hoping the Senate puts Jeff Sessions through absolute hell on his role in all this before they vote to confirm him as AG.

It’s like the civics lesson from hell.

Yeah, I need a break, y’all.

Source: berniesrevolution

A leaked Trump order suggests he’s planning to deport more legal immigrants for using social services

shitrichcollegekidssay:

One order deals with work visas; the other addresses social services for legal immigrants who are already in the United States. It’s an indication that the many immigration restrictions Trump has signed are not the full scope of what key advisers have discussed. The draft dealing with legal immigrants’ use of social services could have further-reaching implications for legal immigrants currently in the US than anything the president’s already signed.

Legal immigrants currently get access to some public benefits in some circumstances. But the federal government — already, under existing law — can bar someone from coming to the US, or from becoming a permanent resident, if there’s any evidence he or she will become a “public charge.”

Currently, the federal government looks at use of cash benefits (like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) when it’s making “public charge” decisions, but not in-kind benefits like Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

This executive action, though — according to the draft obtained by Vox, which seems consistent with the Post’s reporting — would ask the Department of Homeland Security to issue a rule saying that an immigrant can’t be admitted to the US if he’s likely to get any benefit “determined in any way on the basis of income, resources, or financial need.”

People who use any of those benefits and are in the US on visas would be subject to deportation. And the order would even require the person who sponsored an immigrant into the US to reimburse the federal government for any benefits the immigrant used (something that the government can theoretically ask for in individual cases now, but rarely does).

This is draconian. It seeks to punish not only legal immigrants in the US and their families, but their US-citizen relatives. It’s a reflection of a worldview in which any benefit that an immigrant gets from the government is, in some way, a theft of American tax money — and punishes immigrants as thieves accordingly.

The draft order (or at least the draft obtained by Vox last week) would also seek to show this to the public, by using government reports to make the case against immigrants’ use of public services.

It would direct the government to publish regular reports on the benefits used by immigrants in the US — and how that money could be “reinvested” in the inner cities, something Trump proposed as a candidate.

One of the reports requested in the order would be a report on the cost of the entire Refugee Assistance Program — the program by which the US helps refugees get settled, obtain jobs, and learn English. Refugees are responsible for much of immigrant welfare use in the US because they’re not selected for their high earning potential — they’re selected because of their humanitarian need. But consistent with the forthcoming order restricting refugee admissions entirely, this memo sees refugees as a drain on the public coffers.

Unauthorized immigrants aren’t spared by the order: It would prevent families from getting the child tax credit if the parents are unauthorized (even if the children are US citizens), and it would prevent an unauthorized immigrant from being eligible for Social Security during the time he was unauthorized (even if he was paying into the system, as many do, using a fake Social Security number). But for the most part, this order doesn’t crack down on unauthorized immigrants to protect legal immigrants; it cracks down on immigrants, and their US citizen children, for the sake of the native-born citizens.

Trump’s immigration brain trust, including Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller, and Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions, have long been animated by the belief that immigrants are a drain on America — and their use of social services is one way to demonstrate that. Whether or not this particular executive order is signed, “walling off the welfare state” from immigrants in the US may well remain in the White House’s sights.

So, in effect, would this prohibit immigration of people with disabilities?  Or families with people with disabilities? 

A leaked Trump order suggests he’s planning to deport more legal immigrants for using social services