GESTAPO TACTICS IN REAL TIME ... AND THE BIRTH OF 'DIANE'S STRIP'

While I've posted Lalo Alcaraz' work several times, this one is particularly satisfying. One of Trump's Trolls is upset with Lalo's work (and, it would appear, with the legality of his "papers"), and let him know about it in her own special Gestapo-esque way, which he captures in the strip below ...

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Lalo wrote on his FB page: "The real 'Diane' has threatened me with legal action for riffing on her racist hate letter(s)."

All I have to say is, I hope this strip goes viral.

- Mark

IGNORANCE AND HATE ARE NOT AMERICAN VALUES

If your program reinforces ignorance and hate, and makes the rich even richer, I think I'll pass on trying to "work together" ...

- Mark

THE GOP'S HEALTH CARE PLAN ... IT'S TOOTHLESS, IT'S USELESS, AND IT'S WORTHLESS

We waited 7 years for this?

Here's the long-awaited Republican health care plan, in a nutshell: 

1. IT'S TOOTHLESS: A perverse one-time penalty fee, that few will abide by once they figure it out. This means the "mandate" is effectively toothless. 

2. IT'S USELESS: The tax credits are inadequate, and won't keep up with industry price hikes, which makes them useless.

3. IT'S WORTHLESS: Massive tax cuts will add billions to the national debt, and don't help the middle-class because they go disproportionately to the rich ... because, you know, they aren't rich enough already. So, yeah, if you're not already making a gazillion dollars, the tax cuts are worthless.

A quasi trifecta in health and legislative incompetence. 

It's almost as if the GOP want their deeply flawed health care plan to be implemented because they know it will fail miserably, so they can say, "See, we tried ... what can more can we do?" (wink, wink). 

Seriously, what the hell is wrong with these people? 

- Mark

THE MOVIE EVERY AMERICAN WANTS TO SEE (sort of)

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With the Republican Party more concerned about power than the welfare of the nation, this SNL clip brings out what every American, and most of the world, sees and thinks when it comes to the GOP and their fawning acquiescence to the daily dishonor Donald Trump brings to America ...

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- Mark

MID-WEEK READING (March 7, 2017)

Father died 'after downing a whole bottle of Tequila for a bet' (Yahoo!).

Creationist Ken Ham: Dinosaurs fought gladiator battles against humans and giants (Raw Story).

U.S. judge finds that Aetna deceived the public about its reasons for quitting Obamacare (LA Times).

Bernie Sanders takes another swing at big pharma with bill to allow drug imports (Washington Post).

YEAH, TRUMP'S NUTS ... THE WIRETAP CLAIM
While you were sleeping, Trump pushed a wiretap conspiracy into the Red Zone (Esquire).

President Trump accuses Obama of 'wire tapping,' provides no evidence (NPR).

Trump wire-tapping claims 'simply false' - Obama spokesman (BBC).

'You're in deep sh*t': Lawmaker alerts Trump if phones were 'tapped' a judge found 'probable cause of crime' (Raw Story).

Republican Senator: Trump causing a 'civilization-warping crisis' for U.S. with wild wiretapping charge (Raw Story).


THE GOP'S HEALTHCARE PROPOSAL (and you thought Trump was a joke)
The American Healthcare Act: The Republicans' bill to replace Obamacare explained (Vox).

Republicans release long-awaited plan to replace Obamacare (Washington Post).

[Late Add] Conservative groups blast GOP healthcare plan (The Hill).


THE MAKING OF A POLICE STATE
Across the country, a Republican push to rein in protesters (NY Times).

Trump administration sought to enlist intelligence officials, key lawmakers to counter Russia stories (Washington Post).

White House briefing bar: Media groups condemn exclusion (BBC).

Plan a protest, lose your house: Arizona Senate passes SB 1142 charging 'provocateurs' with racketeering (Phoenix News Times).

Donald Trump is going to publish a list of crimes committed by immigrants. Hitler did the same (Independent).

Gold Star father Khizer Khan's travel privileges 'under review' (McClatchy).


IT'S NOT ABOUT SECURITY, IT NEVER WAS (Trump's just a punk and a coward)
The president's silence after an attack in Kansas speaks volumes about his priorities (Upworthy).

Yes, mass deportations are coming. And we know why (Bloomberg).

Leaked DHS doc says Trump's seven countries aren't very dangerous (Mother Jones).

Trump-backing town angry after ICE detains beloved local Mexican restaurant owner (Raw Story).

Voices: How violent are udocumented immigrants (USA Today)?

Authorities arrest 22-year-old dreamer after she speaks to media (Huffpost).

"Decade of Betrayal": How the U.S. expelled over a half million U.S. citizens to Mexico in 1930s (Democracy Now!).

Despite Trump's speech, immigrants commit far fewer crimes than native-born Americans (Business Insider).


MAKE AMERICA HATE AGAIN
Sikh community asks for hate-crime probe after man is told 'go back to your own country' and shot (Washington Post).

NRI businessman Harnish Patel from Vadodara shot dead in South Carolina (The Indian Express).

Rick Santorum: 'millions of Americans' with preexisting conditions are scammers stealing health care (Raw Story).

It's time to start calling evangelicals what they are: The American Taliban (Medium).

Hate in the age of Trump (New Republic).


REPUBLICANS WHO GET IT ...
Paul Wolfowitz: 'The American people need to know the truth' (Spiegel Online).

Bush talks Trump, describes 'pretty ugly' political climate in pair of interviews (NPR).

Former President Bush says SNL impressions never bothered him a bit (NPR).

Trump national security adviser wants to avoid term 'radical Islamic terrorism', sources say ["because the terrorists are, quote, 'un-Islamic'."] (The Guardian).

John Kasich admits protesters are affecting Obamacare debate (Huffpost).


... AND REPUBLICANS WHO DON'T
Republicans vote to give police powers to arrest people planning peaceful protests: 'Wouldn't you rather stop a riot before it starts?' asks senator (Independent).

McCarthy's call for Sessions' recusal was too sane to be true (Bakersfield Californian).

Kevin McCarthy displays his clout, for good and ill (Sacramento Bee).

DeVos called HBCUs 'pioneers' of 'school choice.' It didn't go over well (Washington Post).


MISCELLANEOUS
When ICE comes for SF immigrants, new hot line team fights back (SF Examiner).

'The sickness of this man': Michael Moore blasts Trump for 'record applause' boast as grieving widow wept (Raw Story).

America's 'complacent class': how self-segregation is leading to stagnation (KUOW).

Jeff Sessions needs to go (NY Times).

- Mark

PRESIDENT TRUMP'S MOST RECENT IMMIGRATION ORDERS & DEVELOPMENTS (March 6, 2017)

It looks like this is going to become a regular feature on my blog ... 

Win Eaton is one of the top immigration attorneys on the west coast, with offices in Salem, Oregon, and here in Fresno and Bakersfield, the breadbasket of California's San Joaquin Valley. He is also currently participating in our Immigration Justice Collaborative series, which disseminates legal information to our undocumented populations throughout Kern County.

The following is another immigration update from the law offices of Win Eaton & Associates ...

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A few minutes ago, President Trump signed a new travel ban imposing a 90-day ban on the issuance of new visas for citizens of six majority-Muslim nations. In addition, the nation’s refu­gee program will be suspended for 120 days, and the USA will not accept more than 50,000 refugees per year, down from the 110,000 cap set by the Obama administration.

Trump signed the new ban in private, out of public view, according to White House officials.

The order will apparently not take effect until March 16, 2017. The new executive order names six of the seven countries included in the first executive order but excludes Iraq. Iraq will apparently be increasing cooperation with the United States on additional security vetting under separate negotiations and Iraqi citizens are not subject to the new order, according to a fact sheet provided by the administration.

In other immigration news ...

A Bosnian refugee has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court’s ruling that held naturalized U.S. citizens may be stripped of their citizenship in criminal proceedings based on immaterial false statements they made when applying for naturalization. 

President Donald Trump has claimed that his promised southern border wall will cost around $12 billion. However, recently leaked government estimates are suggesting the project is likely to cost twice as much, and will be slower to start than the president claims, potentially turning off already-lukewarm lawmakers.

The Supreme Court ruled this morning that a Colorado man convicted of unlawful sexual contact is entitled to a new trial after learning that a juror made a racist comment, holding that courts may penetrate the secrecy of the jury deliberation room when there is reason to believe that racial bias has cheated a defendant of the right to an impartial jury.

On Friday, A Florida federal judge stopped a new Miami-Dade County policy involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer requests for undocumented immigrants. The ruling finds that it violates the Tenth Amendment.

According to a resolution passed by the European Parliament on Thursday, American travelers will be forced to apply for visas before entering Europe.  The measure is intended to pressure the U.S. to rescind a policy of requiring visas from five member nations.

On Thursday, Maryland’s attorney general asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to designate the state’s courts, hospital emergency rooms and schools as “safe harbors” for unauthorized immigrants, citing concerns that the Trump administration’s new enforcement policies will undermine public safety, instead of promoting it.

On Wednesday, dozens of law enforcement leaders sent a letter to Congress expressing their concerns about the Trump administration’s threats to eliminate funds from cities that fail to enforce federal immigration law. Law enforcement leaders claim doing so would be “extremely problematic” and would not make communities safer or fix the “broken immigration system.”

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- Mark

THE CASE AGAINST VOUCHERS, IN REAL SIMPLE TERMS

You can apply the same argument to private libraries, private security, private universities, etc. Taking public money to subsidize private preferences and tastes is not about choice. It's public theft.

- Mark

Hat tip to Paul for the meme.

"YOUR PAPERS, PLEASE ..." NOW A REALITY IN AMERICA (and if you think it's just about Mexicans, think again)

Muhammad Ali Jr. detained by immigration officials at Florida airport (USA Today).

Australian children's author Mem Fox detained by U.S. border control: 'I sobbed like a baby' (The Guardian).

Trump order drops [deportation] protection for families of deployed military (San Diego Union-Tribune).

Trump administration considering separating women, children at Mexico border (Reuters).

Border patrol agents stop domestic travelers at New York airport (Rolling Stone).

Deportation nightmare: Eduardo Caraballo, U.S. citizen born in Puerto Rico, detained as illegal immigrant (Huffpost).

Italian teen detained on way to Iowa, returned to home country (Iowa City Press-Citizen).

Santa Cruz police accuse Homeland Security of lying to cover up immigrant sweep (Huffpost).

More than 50 detained in immigration raids at Asian restaurants in Mississippi (LA Times).

- Mark

TRUMP AND RUSSIA: BE CONCERNED ... VERY CONCERNED

The Washington Post's Dana Milbank has a piercing opinion piece on "Everything you need to know about Trump and Russia."  It outlines - and makes sense of - the incredibly confused and contradictory statements made by Donald Trump about his very real Russian connections. Enjoy, and be concerned ... very concerned.

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Having trouble following the fast-moving developments about the Trump team’s ties to Russia? Here’s a primer to get you up to speed:

President Trump got to know Russian President Vladimir Putin “very well,” but he doesn’t “know Putin.”

Putin sent Trump “a present” and they spoke, but Trump has “no relationship with him.”

Trump has “nothing to do with Russia,” but his son has said “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets” and “we see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”

Russia definitely hacked the Democratic National Committee, unless it was a 400-pound man in his bedroom or a guy in a van down by the river.U.S. intelligence agencies allege that Putin meddled in the election to try to get Trump elected, but this was all a “ruse” and a “fake news fabricated deal to try and make up for the loss of the Democrats.”

There was “no communication” between Trump’s team and Russia during the campaign and transition, except for communication with Russia by Trump’s future national security adviser, his future attorney general and his son-in-law and two others.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions “did not have communications with the Russians,” except for the two meetings with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak he neglected to mention under oath.

Sessions then said he never discussed the campaign with Russians, which is not what was alleged.

Sessions had “no idea what this allegation is about” regarding his Russian contacts but had enough of an idea what it was about to declare “it is false.”

Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation, but this decision is unrelated to the discovery that he spoke twice with the Russian ambassador despite his claims that he had no such meetings.

Sessions cannot confirm the investigation he recused himself from exists or will exist in the future.

Sessions believes that perjury is one of the constitutional “high crimes and misdemeanors” and “goes to the heart of the judicial system,” except his false testimony under oath to Congress was not a false statement but a case of speaking too quickly.

Sessions met with the Russian ambassador during the time Sessions was serving as a surrogate for the Trump campaign, but not in his capacity as a surrogate for the Trump campaign.

Sessions remembers nothing of his meetings with the Russian ambassador, except that he remembers clearly talking about terrorism and religion and Ukraine and he’s sure they didn’t talk about the campaign.

It was a total coincidence that around the same time Sessions was meeting with the Russian ambassador, Trump gave an interview that ended up on Russian state-owned TV saying he didn’t believe reports of Russian influence in the U.S. election ... 

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You can read the rest of the piece by clicking here.

- Mark

DONALD TRUMP'S PUPPET MASTERS

This is embarrassing. It's especially embarrassing because the whole world sees it.

We used to worry about our presidents doing the bidding of specific industries, like Wall Street or Big Oil. Today, when our thin-skinned Narcissist-in-Chief makes decisions almost everyone on the planet pretty much understands that Steve Bannon and Vladimir Putin are pulling Trump's strings ...

- Mark