Good day, Good Newsies!
There’s no sugar-coating it: this has been a really tough couple of weeks. The thought of the children separated from their parents at the border has been haunting me for days, as I am sure it has been for you. It seems that the traitorous band of grifters squatting in the White House are ramping up their malicious attacks on our democracy not to mention openly displaying their naked misanthropy and sadistic cruelty. Who knew there could be not just one sociopath in the administration, but a whole group of them? And as for the malignant narcissist occupying the oval office? The mask is well and truly off.
And you know what else? There has been a distinct change in the air. Have you felt it? A shifting of the country on its foundations. The treasonous cabal has tried to destroy those foundations, but they will not succeed because even as they, in their panic and fear of discovery, have ramped up their attacks on our democracy, so patriotic resisters have risen up to meet the challenge. The energy and the momentum is with us, now. The traitors and grifters are on the defensive and they are running scared.
This may get worse before it gets better, and I have confidence that we are ready. Never forget: We are the majority, we are fighting back, we have allies in positions to fight for us and the country, we have allies around the world, too...and we will stop fascism.
❤️ Love is Love ❤️
Over the weekend, many cities in the USA and around the world celebrated LGBTQ pride and it was a ray of sunshine in a world seemingly full of gloom these days.
Celebration, defiance mix at New York City gay pride parade NBCNews, June 25, 2018.
Onlookers and participants in New York noted those origins at Sunday’s event, which was both a celebration of the diversity of LGBTQ culture and a statement against anti-LGBTQ policies promoted by President Donald Trump, such as the Republican president’s attempt to ban all transgender people from serving in the military. They also spoke out against policies aimed at other communities, like immigrants and minorities.
“We’re making a statement that we’re here, everybody. Whether it’s immigrants, whether it’s queer people or people of color, we’re not going to put up with what this administration is doing,” said Diego Molano, of Queens, at his second pride parade. “You can’t just cage everybody up.”
New York City is host to perhaps the most famous and well-attended Pride parade in the country, if not the world, and for good reason. It was in NYC that the original Gay Pride movement had its spark moment at Stonewall. Chicago also hosts a huge Pride parade and here’s a little known fact about my adopted city that warms my heart:
For parade-goers, Pride is a day to enjoy unity, speak up for equality Chicago Tribune, June 25, 2018.
Chicago hosted the first gay pride parade in 1970 — one year after the June 1969 Stonewall riots in New York’s Greenwich Village — when the city’s Gay Liberation Movement staged a rally and procession as part of Gay Pride Week, listening to speakers in Bughouse Square before walking to the Civic Center (now Daley Plaza) and forming a chain around the Picasso statue to shout, “Gay power to gay people,” according to a Tribune story.
There may be a lot more giant balloons, bubbles and confetti explosions, but almost 50 years later, the sense of solidarity and fight for equality remains the same.
Supreme Court Punts on Gerrymandering
Ok, that doesn’t sound like good news at first — especially that Texas decision. But I’m putting this story in the GNR today because it also isn’t all bad news. Many people are concerned about the SCOTUS decision Monday to decline to hear the North Carolina gerrymandering case. They sent it back to the lower courts, with the simple direction for it to be considered there “in light of Gill vs Whitford”, the Wisconsin case which the SCOTUS dismissed for lack of standing and also sent back to the lower courts last week. Although it is understandable that people are disappointed that the Supremes declined to rule on these cases (the underlying hope being that SCOTUS would strike down gerrymandering once and for all, setting a national precedent), I think there is a little bit of good news here and worth pointing out: Both of those cases, WI and NC, were brought to the SCOTUS by Republicans appealing lower court rulings which had struck down their racist, suppressive gerrymandering maps. While, yes, it is not good news that the stays on the lower court rulings against gerrymandering remain in effect, the good news is that these were Republican appeals asking for their blatant gerrymandering to receive the SCOTUS seal of approval — and they failed.
SCOTUS has declined to enshrine Republican gerrymandering into national law. Sure, it would have been far better to have had SCOTUS make it clear once and for all that extreme partisan gerrymandering will not stand in a democratic Republic, but as Michael Li and Yurij Rudensky of the Brennan Center for Justice point out, its OK to accept this punt for now.
The Wisconsin decision ends the notion that all partisan gerrymanders are acceptable. (The Maryland case was decided on more procedural grounds.) For all the sighing in some quarters about the rulings, the Court points the way to not one but at least two potential avenues for attacking partisan gerrymandering.
This fight is not over and it sounds like the good guys, like Common Cause NC, are ready and willing to continue the effort. Meanwhile, as always, the main work of protecting our democracy and fighting for progress remains in our own hands. Gerrymandering only works if a large portion of the citizenry fails to turnout to vote in elections.
Democracy: An Election Agenda for Candidates, Activists, and Legislators, Wendy R. Weiser, Alicia Bannon, May 4, 2018.
In fundamental ways, our democratic systems urgently need repair. Voter turnout in the last midterm was the lowest in 72 years. Gerrymandering, voter suppression, and dark money mar our elections. Now, in the unnerving days of the Trump presidency, we face new challenges to our unwritten democratic norms — the checks on abusive power that keep us free.
This volume sets out a slate of bold policy proposal to move democracy reform to the center of our politics, where it belongs.
Remember: Democracy is of, by and for the people. WE MUST BE OUR OWN HEROES.
Prince is in a Pickle
That would be Erik Prince, of Blackwater infamy and brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Special counsel obtains Trump ally Erik Prince's phones, computer (ABCNews, June 25, 11:12 AM EST)
Prince, America’s most famous private military contractor, acknowledged last week that he “cooperated” with Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election after falling under scrutiny amid questions about an alleged effort to establish a backchannel between the Trump administration and the Kremlin, something Prince has vehemently denied.
ABC News has since learned that Mueller is also reviewing Prince’s communications, a sign that Mueller could try to squeeze Prince, as he has others, probing potential inconsistencies in his sworn testimony in an attempt to pressure him to turn into a witness against other targets of the investigation. In response to questions from ABC News, a spokesperson for Prince released a statement noting that Prince has provided Mueller with “total access to his phone and computer.”...
...In April 2017, the Washington Post reported that Prince, whose sister Betsy DeVos is President Donald Trump’s education secretary, had traveled to the Seychelles in January following Trump’s election for a secret meeting with a Russian official with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Prince testified before the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in November that he hadn’t made the trip "to meet any Russian guy” and described his meeting with Kirill Dmitriev, the Putin-appointed head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, as a chance encounter “over a beer.”
ABC News reported earlier this year that Mueller has obtained evidence that calls that testimony into question. Lebanese-American businessman George Nader, a key witness given limited immunity by Mueller, told investigators that he set up the meeting in the Seychelles between Prince and Dmitriev, sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News. Documents obtained by Mueller also suggest that before and after Prince met Nader in New York a week before the trip, Nader shared information with Prince about Dmitriev.
And that’s not the only potential inconsistency in Prince’s testimony before the House Intelligence Committee that appears to have caught the attention of investigators.
The shady Seychelles assignation is definitely not the only “potential inconsistency in Prince’s testimony” — to say the least. In addition to the cooperating witness George Nader who allegedly facilitated the Seychelle’s meeting, the special counsel has been in touch with two of Prince’s former associates about other attempted deals and at least one disputes Prince’s testimony. These shenanigans appear to span the globe and we only know the very tip of this iceberg — like so much about this enormous conspiracy. Read the story for the latest. Erik Prince is in a real pickle, and that is good news for our country and the world.
Paul Manafort is Up a Creek
Increasingly desperate, Paul Manafort today filed an appeal of the revocation of his bond; that means, he is trying to get out of jail and back on house arrest. Anything is possible, I guess, but considering what the judge said at his hearing last week it seems unlikely the appeal will work:
Defense attorney Richard Westling attempted to get Jackson to immediately stay her ruling at the hearing Thursday pending an appeal, but the judge said Manafort was an even greater flight risk as a result of her ruling.
I doubt another several days in jail would have made Manafort any less of a flight risk.
This appeal follows a motion filed by PM’s lawyers last Friday in Virginia asking that any mention of Manafort’s connection to Donald Trump be barred at his trial there in July. It seems Paul’s lawyers are concerned that if jurors were to link their client with Trump, it could go very badly for their client. What an astonishing admission this was! These lawyers are worried that their client — who is notorious for palling around with ruthless villains all over the world — will be harmed by the mere mention of his association with Donald Trump!
This Red Hen Won’t Be Going It Alone
This story has been done to death, forgive me. I only want to add that the calls for “civility” from the right have been ably revealed by WaPo political columnist Philip Bump for the hypocritical bully tactics that they are.
The irony of Washington’s ‘civility’ debate: Trump already proved that incivility works, Philip Bump, Washington Post, June 25, 2018.
In civil society, you don’t say that Mexicans are rapists or hint that immigrants are terrorists or drug dealers. Trump doesn’t adhere to that rule — and leverages that rule as a way to demonstrably stand apart from civil society. It was only when “the establishment” — in the form of senior Republican officials and several major corporations — took a public position against his campaign-announcement comments about immigrants from Mexico that Trump vaulted into the lead in the Republican field in 2015. Trump wouldn’t follow traditional rules about how to be generous and accepting of people from other countries or the minority, and a large group of white Americans exhaled with relief.
It’s this that is the hollowness at the core of the revived debate over civility. Civility worked in politics because people adhered to it, often because they thought that failing to adhere to it would cost them votes. Trump ran toward incivility, embraced it as “Trump being Trump” — and is now president. He is the gigantic asterisk that hangs over Washington’s insistence on the need for political civility.
Even some Democrats are making half-hearted appeals for “civility” and most people are simply not having it.
The owner of the Red Hen stood up for a moral principle and the good news is that it appears she will not (unlike the little red hen from the children’s story) have to go it alone.
“But a man of tender sensitivities finds disruption unpleasant; he finds it unpleasant to break in on a well-constructed train of thought with his own logical or historical objections culled from memory, and even in the anti-intellectual he will honor and respect the intellect. Today we can see clearly enough that it was the mistake of our civilization to have been all too generous in exercising such forbearance and respect—since on the opposing side we were indeed dealing with naked insolence and the most determined intolerance.”
― Thomas Mann, Doctor Faustus
Commercial Break
Richard Painter standing in front of a literal dumpster fire, lol. Check out more trolling Democratic ads here in this Time story.
Democrats Have a Deep Bench
There are so many Democrats providing leadership in Congress (while the Republicans cower in servile submission to their mango Mussolini), it is almost an embarrassment of riches. Ah, who am I kidding, there’s nothing embarrassing about having so many capable and staunch defenders of decency and progress within the ranks of the Democratic party. It’s awesome!
Here are a few examples from the past week:
Last week, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) issued a Resolution of Inquiry regarding DT’s (ab)use of the presidential pardon power. Today, that resolution will be considered by the House Judiciary Committee. Dems confronting abuse of power!
The Lieu/Pascrell Resolution of Inquiry requests the White House and directs the Attorney General Jeff Sessions to provide to the House of Representatives any documents, recordings, memos, records, or other communications relating to any pardon Donald Trump has issued or has considered issuing, including those potentially involving Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, Mike Flynn, George Papadopoulos, and anyone else including Trump’s family and himself.
Resolutions of Inquiry are one of the methods used by the House to obtain information from the executive branch. The House traditionally ‘‘requests’’ the President and ‘‘directs’’ the heads of executive departments to furnish information. The House Judiciary Committee will have 14 legislative days from its introduction to consider the resolution. If the committee has not acted on it within that frame, either favorably or unfavorably, it is sent to the House floor for consideration.
Ted Lieu is also a masterful tweeter — precisely on point with a dash of sass and a dollop of snark. If you are on Twitter, he is one to follow.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), providing support for the DOJ’s resistance to GOP obstruction:
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD):
Cummings Announces New Effort by Oversight Dems: Trump Administration Officials Must Account for Every Immigrant Child They Separated From Parents
Washington, D.C. (June 22, 2018)—Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, led all Democratic Committee Members in sending a letter demanding that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen M. Nielsen, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions produce basic, but key information by next week on every child separated under President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy, as well as an interagency plan to reunite them with their parents.
See also: Rep. Maxine Waters, Rep. Adam Schiff, Rep. John Lewis
DOJ Pushes Back Against Nunes
In an increasingly frantic attempt to obstruct justice — and get his hands on evidence — Rep. Devin Nunes demanded the DOJ hand over documents related to the 2016 Trump campaign by 5 PM, Monday.
Let’s take a moment to marvel at the sheer, incredible surreality of this situation. A Republican member of Congress has issued an ultimatum to the DOJ — backed up by threats to DAG Rod Rosenstein personally — unless the Justice department gives up evidence in an ongoing investigation which might implicate the Republican president, or even Nunes himself. It’s unbelievable!
But the story gets better!
It appears that someone in the DOJ (Rosenstein?) made the decision to allow the deadline to pass (seems like there may have been a message there) and then tasked Asst Attorney General Stephen Boyd with the official response to Nunes’ demands.
The Justice Department on Monday told the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee that it had complied with his requests to the extent legally permissible, pushing back against his Monday evening deadline for more documents related to the FBI’s investigation of President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
In a letter to Rep. Devin Nunes, a California Republican, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote that the department’s efforts to accommodate the committee’s demands while protecting ongoing investigations were “consistent with the law.”
“Your letter asks whether the Department and the FBI ‘intend to obey’ the law,” he wrote. “We believe that is exactly what the Department and the FBI have been doing.”
Maybe I am just a cockeyed optimist, but something about this story seems to me to signal a sea change in the DOJ and by extension in the entire investigation. It seems like Rod Rosenstein, by not responding himself but delegating the task to someone else AND letting the response be “No.” basically sent a big ol’ Eff You to Devin Nunes. And that suggests to me that the DOJ — and Rosenstein — are feeling confident. It feels like the power has shifted subtly.
Great news, if true!
Two Minutes of History
Alexander Hamilton had a few things to say about the sort of situation we find ourselves in as a country right now. It just goes to show that as shocking and unsettling as these dark days are, it has been seen before, anticipated by our founding fathers, and — given the fact that centers of power attract psychopaths — we will likely see it again in the future. The founders overcame it then, subsequent generations beat it back repeatedly and we will vanquish it now.
People With Platforms Are Speaking Out
Here is Seth Meyers on “Late Night” Monday night:
ALA Tears Down Literary Monument to Racism
The Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, voted Saturday to change the name of a prestigious children’s literature award. The change removes Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name from the prize which recognizes authors or illustrators who have made “significant and lasting contribution to children’s literature”. The award, known as the The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award since 1954, will now be known as The Children’s Literature Legacy Award.
This is a tough one, because these books are widely loved and for many good reasons. Yet, I think the reasons behind the change are sound and necessary. The series has long been romanticized as a paeon to family values, sturdy pioneer spirit and incredible resourcefulness. Those things are all in the books, along with casual racism and stereotyping of native Americans and black Americans.
Laura Ingalls Wilder was on the brink of having an award named in her honor, from the Association for Library Service to Children, when in 1952 a reader complained to the publisher of “Little House on the Prairie” about what the reader found to be a deeply offensive statement about Native Americans.
The reader pointed specifically to the book’s opening chapter, “Going West.” The 1935 tale of a pioneering family seeking unvarnished, unoccupied land opens with a character named Pa, modeled after Wilder’s own father, who tells of his desire to go “where the wild animals lived without being afraid.” Where “the land was level, and there were no trees.”
And where “there were no people. Only Indians lived there.”…
...Yet Harper’s decision in 1953 to change “people” to “settlers” in the offending sentence did little to quell the critics in later decades, who began describing Wilder’s depictions of Native Americans and some African Americans — and her story lines evoking white settlers’ Manifest Destiny beliefs — as racist.
Now, after years of complaints, the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, says it voted Saturday to strip Wilder’s name from the award.
The decision makes Wilder the latest target of efforts to purge from the cultural landscape symbols that honor historical figures who owned slaves, espoused racist views or engaged in racist practices…
...“This decision was made in consideration of the fact that Wilder’s legacy, as represented by her body of work, includes expressions of stereotypical attitudes inconsistent with ALSC’s core values of inclusiveness, integrity and respect, and responsiveness,” the association said in a statement on its website…
...The book includes multiple statements from characters saying, “The only good Indian is a dead Indian.”...Elsewhere in the book, Osage tribe members are sometimes depicted as animalistic, notes the critic Philip Heldrich: In one scene, Wilder describes them as wearing a “leather thong” with “the furry skin of a small animal” hanging down in front, making “harsh sounds” and having “bold and fierce” faces with “black eyes.” Although Laura’s father espouses a more tolerant view of Native Americans, his description of a “good Indian” is one who is “no common trash.”
There’s more in the article, but the gist is this: The literary award is more appropriately named now. Wilder’s beloved books have something important to offer the literary canon, like other classic works with similar problematic aspects, and will no doubt continue to be widely read. As Caroline Fraser (Wilder’s biographer) said in a March op-ed, “no 8-year-old Dakota child should have to listen to an uncritical reading of “Little House on the Prairie.” But no white American should be able to avoid the history it has to tell.” I couldn’t agree more.
⚡️ Lightning Roundup ⚡️
Hope this guy lasts, we need him there: Commander of Texas tent city blasts "dumb, stupid" zero tolerance immigration policy, Mireya Villarreal, CBS News, June 25, 2018.
Republican pundit let’s ‘em have it with both barrels: What is wrong with Republicans? Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post, June 25, 2018.
US Ambassador to Germany, Ric Grenell dialing back his provocative behavior? ‘He Does Not Understand What the Role of an Ambassador Should Be’, Emily Schultheis, PoliticoMagazine, June 25, 2018.
Also from PoliticoMagazine ICYMI: Trump Loses His Superpower, Jack Shafer, PoliticoMagazine, June 22, 2018.
Linked also above, NYT opinion piece on “civility”: We Have a Crisis of Democracy, Not Manners, Michelle Goldberg, New York Times, June 25, 2018.
Today’s another primary day, y’all: Progressives Have Won The Narrative. Will They Start Winning Some Primaries Tuesday? Ben Smith, BuzzFeed, June 25, 2018.
Yesss! Five More Congressional Districts Move Needle Left (From Virginia to Texas, the GOP is Feeling the Pressure), Jillian S. Ambroz, DC Report, June 25, 2018
That took awhile: Dana Rohrabacher Finally Has an Official Democratic Challenger (Spoiler: It’s Harley Rouda!), Matt Tinoco, MotherJones, June 25, 2018.
Democrats up by 6 points in generic ballot: Are Democrats Winning the Race for Congress? 538 blog, June 25, 2018.
That’s more like it! Gallup: Trump approval 41%, Disapproval 55%; approval gap 14 pts. Lots of polls, realclearpolitics, June 25, 2018.
It’s a start: FDA Green Lights Marijuana-Based Pharmaceutical Drug, Allison Aubrey, NPR, June 25, 2018.
SC tightening the lasso around Stone and the whole grifting gang: Mueller Seeks Interview With Disputed 'Link' Between Trump Camp, WikiLeaks, Tim Mak, NPR Politics, June 25, 2018.
This f*cking guy: Trump says he’s ‘surprised’ Harley-Davidson is moving work overseas after tariffs take effect, David J. Lynch and Heather Long, Washington Post, June 25, 2018.
Kudos to American EEs! The U.S. once again has the world’s fastest supercomputer. Keep up the hustle. Jack Dongarra, Washington Post Opinion, June 25, 2018.
Action Roundup
Borrowed directly from other GNRs (thanks, team!):
Donate to ActBlue
Donate to Swing Left
Send postcards to voters in other districts
Sign up to go door to door in your district
Sign up to drive people to the polls
Find your local Democratic Party and volunteer!
Plus! Check out Yosef 52’s diary, posted daily, chockerblock full of ideas and information.
And FreewayBlogger
Round Up Wind Down
These are trying times, my fellow travelers. I’m thankful to be in such good company as we make our way through this tunnel of fog . We are going to make it out the other side together and we will restore our democratic republic. Count on it.
Remember that none of us can continue the fight without respite. We will all be better able to resist if we remember to build mental and emotional breaks into our days, so that we can return to the effort with renewed vigor. With that in mind — and in the spirit of the parades that were held last weekend, I encourage you to take a moment to simply enjoy this final musical interlude.
Rest, recharge, and let the gentle spirit of Brother Iz waft soothingly over you ❤️