Happy Sunday, everyone!
Obviously, I’m behind on getting up this issue, and we’re entering another week. Like I’ve said before, my actual job is heating up (I’m in a pretty seasonal industry, and things have gotten very busy), so I’m going to try to take a slightly different tactic here, again.
My point in doing this has always been to keep a document of the things that we’re taking for granted in light of all of the massive threats to our democracy, our health, and our country as we’ve known it. For me the most important part of that has been to pay attention not just to the big stories (Russian interference in the election, whatever embarrassing thing DT has done this week that everyone’s writing about) but to the things that aren’t grabbing headlines. I never thought this would be as huge an endeavor as it has been— I thought DT was going to be a disaster for the US and the world, but I never imagined it would be so broad and so fast.
In order to keep up, I’m going to have to do a giant article dump just to get back up to speed, so today’s list is going to require more reading than usual, but after that, I’m going to my best to keep up with the stories that are getting less coverage rather than absolutely everything.
Thanks again to all of you who have pledged support so far— I will do my best to keep on keeping on as much as I can.
Stay strong and stay sane,
Suzan
RUSSIA
- Devin Nunes plot thickens as his spokesman concedes he met source for surveillance claim at White House
- Devin Nunes is making it very hard for Republicans to claim they can run an impartial investigation on Russia
- Chairman and partisan: The dual roles of Devin Nunes raise questions about House investigation
- 2 White House Officials Helped Give Nunes Intelligence Reports
- Trump administration sought to block Sally Yates from testifying to Congress on Russia
- Russians used ‘Bernie Bros’ as ‘unwitting agents’ in disinformation campaign: Senate Intel witness
- Sanctioned Russian Bank Confirms Executives Met with Trump Son-in-law Jared Kushner
- Three White House officials tied to files shared with House intelligence chairman
- Trump's approach to intel agencies shows anxiety, distrust
- FBI probing whether Trump aides helped Russian intel in early 2016
- Trump Russia dossier key claim 'verified'
- Trump campaign’s Russia ties: Who’s involved
ENVIRONMENT
- Record-breaking climate change pushes world into ‘uncharted territory’
- The entire coal industry employs fewer people than Arby’s
- Flint residents were poisoned. Now, they're being billed for it
- Cheney's first bill passes Congress (NOT that Cheney— and it rolls back environmental regulations)
- E.P.A. Chief, Rejecting Agency’s Science, Chooses Not to Ban Insecticide
- Trump dramatically changes US approach to climate change
IMMIGRATION
- The Denationalization of American Muslims
- 36 Cambodian refugees could soon be deported. This man's story will break your heart.
- Africa Trade Meeting Has No Africans After US Visa Denials
- Rather Than Face Deportation, Women Are Dropping Domestic Abuse Cases
- Trump Administration Orders Tougher Screening of Visa Applicants - “Diplomatic cables sent last week from Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson to all American embassies instructed consular officials to broadly increase scrutiny.”
- 2,000 terrified children skip school following an ICE raid in New Mexico - Non-paywall, but heavily liberal biased, version here
- Trump supporter thought president would only deport ‘bad hombres.’ Instead, her husband is being deported. - Non-paywall version here
- Survey Finds Foreign Students Aren’t Applying to American Colleges
- ICE Arrests Green Card Applicants In Lawrence, Signaling Shift In Priorities
- ICE Agents 'Pointed Pistols In Our Faces ... Shot My Dad,' Daughter Says
- Unarmed legal resident in critical condition after ICE agents raided Chicago home and shot him: family
- Trump’s ‘big, beautiful wall’ will require him to take big swaths of other people’s land
- Who’d gain from a Trump border wall? Hint: Not Mexico
- Texas ranchers, landowners join against Trump’s border wall
- Federal judge in Hawaii extends injunction halting travel ban
EDUCATION
- In Early Moves, Education Department Erodes Some Student Protections
- Trump strikes down teacher, school regulations
- Congress Passes District School Voucher Bill
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, LAWSUITS, AND NEPOTISM
- A judge rules Trump may have incited violence … and Trump again has his own mouth to blame
- Ivanka Trump, Shifting Plans, Will Become a Federal Employee
- Report: Ivanka Trump, Kushner to remain beneficiaries of real estate business
- Trump administration decides Trump isn’t violating his government lease. They’re wrong. (Source has liberal bias, but is heavily cited.)
- President Trump’s company pursues second Washington hotel - Non-paywall version here
- Republicans vote to block resolutions on Trump's tax returns
- Icahn Raises Ethics Flags With Dual Roles as Investor and Trump Adviser
- Trump taps Kushner to lead a SWAT team to fix government with business ideas (Or is that “tapps”?)
- I worked for Jared Kushner. He’s the wrong businessman to reinvent government.
- Nearly 1 out of every 3 days he has been president, Trump has visited a Trump property
- Trump’s lawyers say the Constitution protects him from sexual harassment charges
ATTACKS ON WOMEN’S AND LGBT RIGHTS
- Ky's last abortion clinic sues to stay open
- Future of 'abortion reversal' bill in doubt Indiana - “The proposal by Republican Rep. Ron Bacon would mandate that abortion providers give women considering a drug-induced abortion a form containing information on potentially stopping their procedure after taking the first of two drugs, including a disclaimer that no medical studies confirm it is possible.”
- Abortion restrictions, including 20-week abortion ban, getting push from Missouri lawmakers
- More than 100 at City Council protest idea of no-parking signs at abortion clinic Charlotte - “More than one hundred anti-abortion protesters packed the Government Center Monday night, accusing the city of unfairly targeting them with possible no-parking signs outside an abortion clinic on Latrobe Drive. The clinic, A Preferred Women’s Health Center of Charlotte, has been the target of anti-abortion protesters for years. In recent months, the protests have grown larger, especially on Saturday mornings. The city said it’s studying whether no-parking signs are needed on Latrobe Drive to keep traffic flowing and to ensure people can access the clinic.”
- Texas Senate Bans Some Insurance Coverage Of Abortion
- LGBT seniors marked for removal from survey on elder care services
- North Carolina governor signs bill repealing and replacing transgender bathroom law amid criticism
- Don’t Be Fooled by North Carolina, There Is No Repeal of The Anti-Trans HB2, Only More Discrimination.
- Two activists who filmed undercover videos of Planned Parenthood charged with 15 felonies (FINALLY some good news)
- Trump Guts Obama Order Protecting LGBT Federal Contractors
RURAL AREAS, AGRICULTURE
- President’s Budget Shuns Rural America with Deep Cuts to Agriculture, Programs Serving Rural America
- Reuters: Ag Leaders Slam Trump’s USDA Budget Cut Proposal
- In Trump Country, Shock at Trump Budget Cuts, but Still Loyalty (Bless their hearts…)
- In Ohio County That Backed Trump, Word of Housing Cuts Stirs Fear
- Disabled or just desperate? Rural Americans turn to disability as jobs dry up
DT VS. CONGRESS, GOP, HIS OWN STAFF
- Breitbart Has Been Denied Permanent Congressional Press Passes — For Now
- Tea Party leader ‘disgusted’ by Trump’s attack on Freedom Caucus
- In Trump's White House drama, Priebus is favorite target
- Hill Republicans say they're growing frustrated with Mattis
- White House installs political aides at Cabinet agencies to be Trump’s eyes and ears
- Conservative Split Over Import Tax Imperils Trump’s Overhaul
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND EMBARRASSMENTS
- Americans’ right to protest is in grave danger under Trump, United Nations warns
- China Learns How to Get Trump’s Ear: Through Jared Kushner
- Germany slams ‘intimidating’ £300bn White House bill
- Rex Tillerson: 'I didn't want this job … my wife told me I'm supposed to do this'
- Trump’s Diplomat - How Rex Tillerson is Translating “America First” Into Foreign Policy
DT LIES, THREATENS, AND MISUNDERSTANDS HOW GOVERNMENT WORKS
- Can Trump Change Libel Laws? (short answer, “No.”)
- Fox News said Trump spent the weekend ‘working at the White House.’ He was at his golf club.
- Trump Force One Is Ready for Takeoff
THE CLOWN CAR (ASSOCIATES OF DT)
- Roger Stone calls on Trump to back legal marijuana, hits Sessions for 'outmoded thinking'
- Tight budgets could complicate Sessions’ vow to fight crime
- Robert Mercer: the big data billionaire waging war on mainstream media
- The Reclusive Hedge-Fund Tycoon Behind the Trump Presidency
- Trump’s Team Said It Didn’t Ask For Military Vehicles At Inauguration. Emails Show It Did.
- Labor nominee Acosta cut deal with billionaire guilty in sex abuse case
- Gorka Hedges, Evades on Vitezi Rend Tie
- The religious reasons Mike Pence won’t eat alone with women don’t add up
- Who is Julia Hahn? The unlikely rise of Steve Bannon’s right-hand woman.
- And Now, the Dreaded Trump Curse
MILITARY ACTIONS AND THREATS
- Trump: US will act unilaterally on North Korea if necessary
- After years of decline, child marriages are skyrocketing in Yemen. (Because, War)
DT AND CONGRESS QUIETLY DESTROYING PROTECTIONS
- Trump administration joins legal challenge to remove CFPB director “The Trump administration officially joined a legal challenge aimed at sharply reducing the authority of a federal consumer watchdog that has drawn praise and criticism for cracking down on mortgage abuses, banking irregularities, and other alleged financial wrongdoing.”
- Congress passes legislation to undo Obama restrictions on drug tests for unemployed
- With VP breaking tie, Congress passes bill to let states block some Planned Parenthood money
- Congress passes bill undoing internet privacy protections
- Sen. Chuck Schumer Calls on Trump to Veto Measure Letting ISPs Sell Data Without Consent
- White House proposes to privatize air traffic control (Yeah, nothing about this is horrifying…)
THE ECONOMY
- Strategist Mark Grant says Trump Fed appointees may lack desire to hike rates
- Trump Wants Faster Growth. The Fed Isn’t So Sure.
- Trump is set to win the battle on interest rates, but US economy will pay the price
- It’s Happening: Wall Street Is Beginning to Turn on Trump
- Dow Suffers Longest Losing Streak Since 2011
- The Trump trade slammed into a wall in March
THE PEOPLE FIGHT BACK
- Massachusetts city council to vote on Trump impeachment resolution
- 1 in 3 voters give President Trump a grade F
- Host a White Supremacist, Risk Chaos From Anarchists
- Democrat Jon Ossoff Is Gaining Ground in Georgia Special Election to Replace Tom Price
DT VS. THE PRESS VS. DT
(Mostly Op-Eds— full disclosure, I don’t usually read these, but you might… enjoy? them.)
- Our Dishonest President
- The science of “blue lies”: There’s a reason Trump supporters embrace his alternative facts
- President Trump has successfully created an alternate reality
- The Trump Presidency Is Already a Joke
- Donald Trump’s deliberate corruption of reality-based governing
HATE CRIMES AND SPEECH
Please note — anything in this list should be considered to contain triggering material related to violence against people based on their race, ethnicity, and religion. Please proceed at your own discretion.
- Hate crime targets Troutdale homeowner
- 'How dare you say these hateful things?' Woman takes on Islamophobia at school board meeting
- Preliminary hearing waived in death of Muslim recruit
- San Francisco man threatened to shoot Muslim woman in alleged hate crime, police say
- Man under investigation for alleged hate crime, setting fire in Riverside
- Swastikas, 'white power,' painted on Pinnacle High School; Phoenix police hate-crime squad investigating
- Junction City gunman charged with hate crimes
- Junction City man says he has "problems with the Hmongs"
- City Of Tucson Expands Hate-Crime Resolution
- Vandalism Involving Bible At Islamic Center Reveals Possible Hate Crime Trend
- Police Arrest Man Suspected Of Vandalizing Islamic Center, Leaving Bible
- Man charged with murder as terrorism in deadly NYC stabbing
- MIDTOWN STABBING SUSPECT'S CHARGES UPGRADED TO ACT OF TERRORISM, HATE CRIME
- Spicer won't acknowledge Timothy Caughman's murder as hate crime
- Lawmakers grapple with hate crimes “The number of ‘hate crimes’ in Connecticut has doubled since last summer according to the Hamden-based Anti Defamation League. State lawmakers are responding with an effort to make penalties of ‘hate crimes’ tougher but some say that ‘blue hate crimes’ should be included in the plan.” (UGH. Police officer is a job, not an ethnicity or religion or any protected group. But otherwise, this is good.)
- Muslim Day celebration features panel discussion on failed hate crime bill “Gov Eric Holcomb will welcome Hoosiers of the Muslim faith this morning to celebrate Muslim Day at the Indiana Statehouse. ...The highlight of the event is a panel discussion of Indiana's failed attempts to enact a hate crime law.” (Yes, that would be the Indiana where Mike Pence was Governor until quite recently.)