The Judicial Branch Grabs Back

In 2005, Donald J. Trump told Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush, “I’m automatically attracted to beautiful [women]—I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything. … Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything."

via Slate Articles http://j.mp/2k6sbNk

The very long list of Republicans in Congress who have taken no position on Trump’s refugee ban

A very small number have expressed any kind of support for it.

Note: We are updating this story as more legislators put out statements.

Trump’s executive order, which bans entry into the US if you’re from one of seven Muslim-majority countries, was signed on Friday afternoon. Almost every Democratic member of Congress publicly opposed the order, either on Twitter, Facebook, or a statement.

But the list of every Republican legislator who did the same is very short as of Sunday morning:

Even fewer Republican legislators expressed any kind of support for the executive action, though one was a voice that carries particular weight: House Speaker Paul Ryan, whose spokeswoman AshLee Strong insisted Saturday that it was “not a religious test and it is not a ban on people of any religion.”

Few others backed it, though:

That leaves the large majority of legislators in this final column: those who said nothing or issued a statement that took no real position. (Note: We’ll update this list as we go.) Some legislators posted on social media about it, but took no stance, like Rep. Dave Trott and Rep. Dave Brat.

We visited every single legislator’s website and social media feeds, and it was eerie to see legislator after legislator posting on Facebook about Holocaust Remembrance Day — about how we can’t forget the atrocities, and how we can’t let it happen again.

via Vox – All http://j.mp/2k6oYNQ

bannon is the reason

the face of hate behind the face of hate.

http://www.vox.com/2017/1/27/14370854/trump-refugee-ban-order-muslim

When the ban came out, the fallout was everywhere, but this article

The exchange (which begins around the 17 minute mark here) starts Trump riffing about how top foreign-born Ivy league graduates should be allowed to stay in America where they can be “job creators.” But then Bannon spoke up to disagree, and he did so in a very revealing way:

TRUMP: We have to keep our talented people in this country.

BANNON: Um—

TRUMP: I think you agree with that. Do you agree with that?

BANNON: Well I got a tougher — you know, when two thirds or three quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia, I think — on, my point is, a country’s more like, [inaudible], a country’s more than an economy. We’re a civic society.

Bannon’s “statistic” that over two-thirds of Silicon Valley CEOs are Asian-born isn’t even close to being true, since only a small minority are. But the bigger takeaway is that Bannon was clearly disturbed enough by this mistaken idea to bring it up. He was clearly trying to choose his words carefully, but he made it crystal clear that he was disturbed by the (fictional) idea of all these Asian-born CEOs running around in America.

Once you keep those views in mind, the method behind the “madness” of the Trump administration’s treatment of green card holders becomes clear. Most Republicans generally profess to love legal immigration. They say they are only concerned with the illegal variety (and Trump himself has said the same).

But some of the people around Trump, like Bannon, top White House policy aide Stephen Miller, and attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions, go much further. They want to privilege native-born Americans over even the most entrepreneurial and industrious (and legal) immigrants.

Missouri school fight felony

If we allow children to be charged with felonies for fighting at school, we are opening up the floodgates for hundreds of thousands more incarcerated individuals. Disproportionate numbers will continue to include: girls/women and boys/men of color.
http://allblackmedia.com/2016/12/missouri-law-makes-grade-school-fight-felony/