This week we have seen some excellent examples of how our fight progresses inexorably towards victory. The best example is Trump’s executive order in response to the widespread bipartisan outcry over the separation of immigrant families at the border. As many people have pointed out, the order is a small step disguised as a great leap. It is not final victory in the struggle against racist immigration practices, or even in the struggle against the kidnapping and caging of children. But as I will explain, it is a significant step in the right direction, and will have far-reaching positive effects on immigration policy and on our overall effort to throw the Trump Crime Ring out of Washington.
The resistance to the GOP’s attempt to transform America has almost exclusively resulted in a series of small victories that add up to large victories. But even those small victories are very large to individuals directly affected, and they all prove that when we fight, we can win.
Today I would like to share some of those victories, including yesterday’s Trump EO . I am also going to devote a bunch of space to things you and I can do about the government’s theft of people’s children, and especially what we can do to help the children currently held by the government. I ask everyone reading this to contribute their own ideas and suggestions of concrete, direct things we can do for las niñas y los niños en cautiverio.
And, since we can’t let ourselves forget how wide-ranging our resistance has to be, there will also be good news about Tuesday night special elections, the continuing Mueller investigation of the GOP organized crime mob, and even good news about the Texas GOP’s party platform (really!)
Here’s a little music for you, a couple of tunes about the seasons as we enter summer. Just a little something for you to play as you read today’s good news.
Your Weekly Good Election News
The happy election results come from Florida this week. The Miami-Dade County Commission now has a Democratic majority. While the race for county commissioner was officially non-partisan, one candidate got a lot of GOTV assistance from the local Democratic party for other offices and the other used robo-calls from Marco Rubio, so the lines were pretty obvious. And when the returns were in, Eileen Higgins had pulled off an upset win over Trump fangirl Zoraida Barreiro . It also defied the conventional wisdom about who can win elections in a heavily Cuban-American area.
The race is significant because traditionally Republican turnout is better than Democratic in these types of lesser-known special elections. Clearly Florida’s Dems are fired up, and GOP voters don’t have much to motivate them. As a Democratic party official said, no GOP in Florida is safe.
Orrin Hatch Issues “Call To Action” On LGTBQ Youth Suicides
Last week on the Senate floor, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch called for steps to be taken to combat what he called (correctly) a suicide crisis among LGTBQ youth. Now there’s nothing unusual about a Republican advocating that something be done without actually saying what that something should be, but Hatch’s speech is significant because of the language he used in discussing this important topic.
The conservative GOP legislator, who is retiring after this year, said he was devoting much of his speech to "my young friends in the LGBT community.” But he also went broader in light of the spiking suicide rates around the country.
“Regardless of where you stand on the cultural issues of today, whether you are a religious conservative, a secular liberal or somewhere in between, we all have the special duty to each other. That duty is to treat one another with dignity and respect. It is not simply to tolerate, but to love.”
These are remarkable words from a Republican, and clearly indicate how much into the mainstream LGBTQ people have moved.
NRA Deletes Its Past Ratings Of Lawmakers
Apparently realizing that approval from the NRA is the kiss of death in the current political climate, the NRA has scrubbed its website of past ratings of legislators.
And, as is usually the case with right-wing extremists, they are hesitant to take responsibility for their actions.
Washington Post reporter Philip Bump flagged the change on Tuesday. NRA members can still view current grades, but the drop-down menu no longer lists previous years.
NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker told the Post that he was likely just experiencing an “IT glitch,” but an unnamed NRA employee confirmed that the past grades had been removed.
“I think our enemies were using that,” he told the Post.
Of course we were. And we wouldn’t be doing it if a high NRA rating wasn’t as politically helpful as an endorsement from ISIS. Now that the NRA has been exposed as a Russian money laundering outfit as well as a domestic terrorist organization, its approval doesn’t carry the luster it once did.
Before we get to today’s Texas-centric news, how about a little Texas music for the start of summer.
An fitting person to provide the soundtrack for this next item.
Texas GOP Calls For Decriminalizing Marijuana
It looks like Texas may be ready to move toward joining most of the rest of the country when it comes to pot policy. The state GOP adopted its official party platform at its recently concluded convention, and most of it is as batshit crazy as you might expect. However, among the platform’s 330 (!) planks, four put the party on record as advocating radical changes to the state’s marijuana laws and attitude towards federal law.
assembled delegates lent their overwhelming support to adding four cannabis-related planks to the party platform, including the repeal of criminal penalties for marijuana possession, the expansion of the state's incredibly limited medical marijuana law, a call for the rescheduling of marijuana at the federal level, and the legalization of industrial hemp production. All measures passed with 80 percent of the vote or more....
Most people are unaware that Texas has a medical marijuana law, but it is the most restrictive in the nation, allowing only for the prescribing of CBD only for atreatment of a certain form of epilepsy. As far all other forms of marijuana, state law establishes uo to a 6 month jail sentence and a $2000 fine for possession of less than four ounces.
The Republican Party of Texas' official position now is that these penalties should be abolished and replaced with civil fines of $100 or less.
The change complements efforts being made on the local level in Texas. In December 2017, the city of Dallas dispensed with arresting people on misdemeanor marijuana charges. Kim Ogg, district attorney for Harris County (which includes the city of Houston) has gone even further. As of March 2017, her office is declining to prosecute most marijuana offenses and instead diverting people into "cognitive decision-making classes."
So the Texas GOP is officially calling for more rational marijuana legislation in the same party platform that endorses gay conversion therapy and advocates the state violate federal abortion laws. What a time to be alive.
Texas Republican Agree On Trump’s Awesomeness, But Not Much Else
You know how the media likes to spin their fairy tale of a Democratic party embroiled in a political civil war? In Texas, that is actually happening--among Republicans.
Texas Republicans may love Donald Trump, but they are still working out their differences with one another.
That was evident here at the state GOP’s convention, a three-day marathon of presidential bear-hugging and flashes of intraparty resentments ahead of a November election where nearly every statewide official —as well as U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz — is on the ballot again. The biennial gathering, which brought close to 10,000 delegates to the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, was headlined by a race for chairman that culminated in a long, bitter battle on the floor Friday afternoon.
It was not just the chair race where lingering intraparty resentments were on display. In at least a couple of appearances at the convention, Patrick declared victory on the “bathroom bill” that he championed last year. He argued that while the measure didn't pass through the Legislature, an overwhelming majority of GOP primary voters voted for a ballot item asking if they supported protecting the privacy of women and children when they go to the bathroom.
That drew a rebuke from the legislation’s biggest opponent: retiring Texas House Speaker Joe Straus.
“If ‘victory’ on the bathroom bill means that it’s not coming back and there will be more focus on fixing school finance and promoting private-sector growth, that’s great news,” the San Antonio Republican said in a statement.
The article goes on to describe more causes of friction in the party, as the crazy caucus does battle with the batshit crazy caucus. This discord weakens the party as it engages in an increasingly tight battle for the US Senate seat held by Ted Cruz and is trying to mount a desperate defense of several House seats.
Nor is Texas the only place where relatively moderate Republicans are trying to avoid self-destruction of the party at the hands of extremists.
National GOP Abandons The Party’s Nominee For Senate In Virginia
The National Republican Senatorial Committee apparently has just enough sense to realize that Cory Stewart is not going to beat Tim Kaine. In a rebuke to Republican primary voters in Virginia, the national organization has given up on Virginia, which they at one time thought was a pickup opportunity in November.
The Senate GOP's campaign arm hasn't endorsed Stewart, who has made defending Confederate monuments a central plank of his political career. And its chairman said that the committee has "no plans" to spend any money on Stewart in his race against Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.).
"At the senatorial committee we're focusing on Missouri, Indiana, North Dakota, Montana, West Virginia and Florida. There are great races around the country. [Virginia] is not the map," said National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Cory Gardner (R-Colo.). "We have a big map this year, and what I've laid out in races that I've talked about, Virginia's not on it
Sitting Republican Senators don’t want anything to do with Stewart, either, and some are denying that they’ve ever heard of him.
(Sen. John) Thune, like other Republicans expressed ignorance of Stewart despite his affinity for earning press with stunts like protesting outside the RNC in 2016, which got him ousted from Trump's official campaign apparatus. Stewart also drew criticism for refusing to condemn white nationalists after last year’s violent rally in Charlottesville.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), said he has "no idea who he is. Not at all."
And Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas, a two-time NRSC chair, couldn’t say whether he will endorse Stewart because he doesn’t know him.
“I’ve just heard a few things about him,” Cornyn said. “I just don’t know anything about him.”
All this puts the party at odds with its Dear Leader.
But the president has something else in mind.
"Congratulations to Corey Stewart for his great victory for Senator from Virginia. Now he runs against a total stiff, Tim Kaine, who is weak on crime and borders, and wants to raise your taxes through the roof. Don’t underestimate Corey, a major chance of winning!" Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.
In Virginia, of course, an endorsement by Trump is about as desirable as ham sandwiches at a bar mitzvah. It’s good news that we only need to put in minimal effort to defend Virginia’s Senate seat.
Giuliani’s Love Life May Sabotage A GOP Incumbent In Louisiana
Standard disclaimer—this in not from The Onion.
Just when you thought the Giuliani saga couldn’t get more bizarre, it appears that Trump’s personal lawyer has thrown his support to a fringe Louisiana House candidate in order to impress his girlfriend.
In a move that blindsided the West Wing and sent Hill Republicans into a tizzy, the president’s personal attorney is throwing his support behind an obscure House candidate in Louisiana trying to take out incumbent GOP Rep. Clay Higgins. But the bizarre tale of Giuliani’s interest in an off-the-radar congressional race only begins there.
It turns out the ex-New York mayor’s new girlfriend, GOP fundraiser Jennifer LeBlanc, is working for the Republican challenger in the race, Josh Guillory. LeBlanc had been on Higgins’ payroll until late last year when she abruptly parted ways with the congressman.
"We have a National Enquirer-type situation going on down in Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District," said state Attorney General Jeff Landry, a Higgins backer who hails from the area.
Giuliani’s involvement, Landry added, is “ridiculous.”
“Giuliani’s involvement is ridiculous” is an evergreen quote if I ever heard one.
The Louisiana state GOP is devoting a lot of time and money in its effort to re-elect its incumbent, and they fear that Giuliani’s endorsement may give voters the idea that Trump is also endorsing the challenger. And we’re the ones who are supposed to be in disarray.
State Department Holds Facebook Q&A About Family Travel: It Does Not Go Well
As a clear sign of the widespread resistance to Trump’s policy of kidnapping asylum-seekers children as they enter the US, take a look at this.
It might be a while before they do another one of those.
Which brings us to our next musical break, on a more serious note about a more serious situation. Woody Guthrie wrote this song 70 years ago, but it is unfortunately still relevant. Here is a beautiful and sad version of “Deportee.”
Opposition To Theft And Imprisonment Of Children Is Incredibly Widespread
Child abuse as an official policy appears to be what we’ve long hoped for—the line that Trump could not cross without angering almost everybody. The level of resistance to official child abuse has been on a level not seen in recent times, across a broad spectrum of society. Here’s a rundown of some of the statements and actions which have occurred—I couldn’t possibly name them all.
- A conference of over 300 American Catholic bishops has strongly condemned the tearing apart of families, with one Arizona bishop saying that any Catholic who takes part should be excommunicated.
- Over 600 Methodist clergy and laity have brought church law charges against fellow Methodist Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III for, among other things, child abuse
- Several US governors, including some Republicans, are refusing to let their National Guards be used in border enforcement as long as child abduction is part of that enforcement.
- American, United, Frontier, Spirit, Alaska and Southwest airlines are refusing to transport kidnapped children after American was busted by one of its flight attendants.
- Microsoft is under fire for the work it has been doing to assist ICE.
- Activists in Portland, OR have succeeded in shutting down an ICE facility.
- In Texas, where mainstream churches normally avoid political issues, thousands of faith leaders are giving sermons against the practice and taking other actions.
- Texas Republican lawmakers and party leaders are condemning the “zero-tolerance” policy and directing some of their ire at Gov Greg Abbott, with one state representative calling on the governor to withhold state funds used to support the policy and another calling Abbott a “timid squirrel” who is afraid of Trump
In possibly the worst blowback to a Trump policy initiative to date, even some congressional Republicans spoke out against their President, with a growing possibility that a few might even actually do something about their objections. Faced with overwhelming repugnance and resistance, yesterday Trump felt compelled to sign an executive order that he claimed would end official kidnappings at the border.
This is good news, but not because the order actually does much of anything. It states that families would be kept together so long as there were sufficient facilities for that and undefined other circumstances did not preclude it, which is a loophole you could drive a prison transport bus through. And the order says nothing about reuniting previously abducted children with their families. The order also rolls back protections for children in federal custody and mandates the violation of a 1997 consent decree signed by the government that prohibits the detention of immigrant families for more than 20 days. The ACLU is not happy.
“This executive order would replace one crisis for another,” said Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. “Children don’t belong in jail at all, even with their parents, under any set of circumstances. If the president thinks placing families in jail indefinitely is what people have been asking for, he is grossly mistaken.”
But it is good news nonetheless, and here’s why.
The order has little substance, but it was issued as an attempt by Trump to look as if he is taking action to keep families together. After weeks of alternating claims by his administration that the policy was the right thing to do, that he was forced to do it, that it didn’t exist, that God was cool with it, etc., Trump has been for the first time plainly and obviously defeated. Despite some clumsy attempts to do so, it is impossible for him to put a positive spin on this. In the argot of his thuggish supporters, he’s a cuck who was owned by the libtards. This Aaron Blake column for Wapo nicely explains the nature of this humiliating defeat for Trump and his gang.
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.
Even some Republicans were admitting the White House surrendered.
I believe this will have implications for Trump’s already terrible poll numbers and, more importantly, for the midterms, where polling already indicates that Republicans are in deep trouble. Part of Trump’s appeal has been the illusion of strength, the image of an authoritarian man on a white horse who was going to protect persecuted white Christians by putting liberals and minorities in their place. It is obvious now that a concerted pushback by the “liberal snowflakes” will result in Trump cringing and waving the white flag. Conservative white men, terrified of a perceived threat from everyone who isn’t them, can now see that Trump is not their savior, but is rather as weak and scared as they are.
Of course, there will always be a hard-core base of Trumpanzees who will worship Trump even if he resigns in favor of a Putin presidency. But this is going to cause his support to crumble at the edges, especially among those few independents who still stand with him. In American politics, there is no greater sin than to be a loser.
And, I hope, it will alleviate the fears of those on our side who had a sneaking feeling that there was nothing Trump couldn’t get away with. He can be beaten in a way that completely humiliates him, that is seen and acknowledged by even the corporate media, and that demoralizes his supporters.
So, the Trump Executive Order, while it gives us reason to be optimistic, is a sham, as you might expect from Baron von Bankruptcy. The crisis is not over. So what can we do? What can you do?
(I am indebted to Claudia Cox for this section. She has been pleading for information on what she can do, and has even expressed a willingness to come to Texas in the summer if that’s what it takes. The following is the result of her inspiration and the desire to help a dear friend avoid the Lone Star State in July.)
What You Can Do To Help The Children And Their Families
Here’s how you can go out and make some good news of your own.
Volunteer
- If you live near an ICE detention center (see map here) you can volunteer for the Freedom for Immigrants Visitation program. You would visit detained persons and interact with them directly. The organization also has other volunteer opportunities.
- If you live in a border area and have some legal training, The Texas Civil Rights Project and the Immigration Justice Campaign are looking for volunteers. TCRP is especially interested in people with paralegal or legal assistant training who speak Spanish, Mam, Q’eqchi’ or K’iche.
- The Northwest Immigrant Rights Organization works with those confined in the large detention facility near Sea-Tac. They need translators and interpreters.
- The Florence Project and Refugee Rights Project is seeking pro bono attorneys in Arizona.
- Catholic Charities of Fort Worth is housing some of the children taken from their families. If you live in that area, they could use volunteers.
- The Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights needs child advocates for unaccompanied minors in Chicago, Houston, San Antonio, Harlingen, Phoenix, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C.
- American Gateways is providing legal services for separated parents. They can use volunteer attorneys and non-attorneys.
- There are undoubtedly countless volunteer opportunities available in this effort. If you know of any, please supply them in the comments.
Become A Foster Parent
- If you’re really ready to go big, this may be a way you could help. It’s likely that many children will be separated from their families for some time, and, as horrifying as it is, record keeping has been so sloppy that it may be impossible to reunite some families. If you think you could provide a temporary home to one of these children, contact the US Conference of Catholic Bishops or Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services. This will require extensive training and licensing, but as a former foster parent I can tell you that it is a richly rewarding endeavor if you are able to do it.
Donate
Financial assistance is still one of the best ways to help, and the good news is that there are dozens of organizations working to assist children and adults with immediate needs including legal care, as well as fighting to end the horrific caging of children. Here is a partial list of worthy organizations.
- Donate to the effort by RAICES to raise bond money for detained adults and provide legal services to adults and children. (This is a Facebook page). They have already raised over $15 million.
- Together Rising is currently providing legal assistance in Arizona for 60 children who were taken from their families and are in detention. You can donate here.
- The Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights supplies child advocates for young immigrants and is currently working on separation issues.
- Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is providing "immediate shelter and beds, medical services, counseling and therapy to help (children) deal with the trauma of family separation."
- Comfort Cases needs donations to provide backpacks to separated children. Each backpack contains items like blankets, toiletries, a book, a stuffed animal, etc.
- The Fronterizo Fianza Fund raises bond money for detained immigrants, and to provide small commissary and phone fund deposits for those in detention.
- Kids In Need Of Defense provides pro bono attorneys to immigrant children.
- The National Immigrant Justice Center also provides legal representation for separated immigrants and advises federal public defenders.
- If you would like your donation to be distributed among several organizations, including some on this list, go to ActBlue’s Support Kids At The Border page.
- Don’t forget the ACLU.
Keep Calling Your Senators And Representative
This probably goes without saying around here, but a little reminder never hurts. Congressional staffers have said that they are being flooded with more calls than they have received since the health care debate. We need to let them know that we’re not fooled by Trump’s phony Executive Order, and that we’re still watching them.
If you haven’t made a call before, or would like to help someone else with their first call, here's a handy guide to how it’s done.
Plan On Hitting The Streets On June 30
It looks like we’re marching again. The Families Belong Together march will take place on the last day of this month in Washington and in cities and towns in all 50 states. You can find information and a map of rallies nationwide right here. It would be great if we could make this as big as the 2017 Women’s March, wouldn’t it?
The problem is so horrific and the immediate need is so great that it’s hard to know what to do. One wants to do more than donate money or call a congressman. One wants to find a child who’s been taken from her mother, wrap one’s arms around her, and say, “Te ayudaré. Todo estará bien.” And be able to back it up.
One looks at a list of ICE field offices and thinks about what was done in Portland, OR.
I have in my possession a list of ICE employees with their hometowns (from public sources). I look at that and think it’s probably good that I’m no longer young and reckless.
But doing mundane things like volunteering and sending money, as well as less mundane things like marching, is how we win this fight, if we do it alongside thousands of our friends and neighbors. Together we are strong!
“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”--Edmund Burke
We can keep ourselves strong and steady by celebrating our victories, even as we lament the necessity for the struggle. And how fortunate we are that there are so many victories to celebrate!
Hell, we just gave Trump such an humiliating ass-whuppin’ that he's too embarrassed to show his face at the Congressional picnic.
“I was just walking over to the Oval Office and I said, you know, it doesn't feel right to have a picnic for Congress when we're working on doing something very important,” he said in a meeting with lawmakers at the White House. “It didn't feel exactly right to me.”
The president — who last night attended a high-dollar fundraiser at his Washington hotel — did not specify when the congressional picnic would be rescheduled. “We'll make it another time when things are going extremely well,” he said.
And how lucky I am to be in this fight with all of you.
Although since this took a ridiculously long time to put together, I won’t be with you when it goes live. Y’all please hold down the fort until I arrive.
Yesterday GNR posted a diary about Trump’s Executive order. In the comments section some gloomy guse chided us for letting our “victory dance” distract us from the work that still needs to be done. But, as I said then, we are capable of dancing while we make phone calls, write postcards, and send donations. Multi-tasking is a necessary talent for successful resistance.
And after all, summer’s here and the time is right…