Shakesville: Michael Cohen

Showing posts with label Michael Cohen. Show all posts

We Resist: Day 837

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Nancy Pelosi's “coldblooded” plan for defeating President Trump, who she worries would challenge a slim Democratic victory in 2020, focuses on moderate voters and avoiding a protracted impeachment bid https://t.co/0ZdhgAc80Z
— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) May 6, 2019

DISAGREE.

At this point, you can safely assume that I strongly disagree with any approach that is not impeachment. And, yes, I am aware that there are political risks to that strategy, and, yes, I am aware that impeachment hearings would not result in Donald Trump's removal from office, so long as the Republican majority in the Senate refuses to do the goddamn job they were elected to do as defined by the Constitution.

I am not persuaded to demur from advocating doing the right thing by these arguments. It is ethical and necessary to hold impeachment hearings for Donald Trump and Bill Barr. That's all that matter to me at this point.

Speaking of Barr... House Judiciary Dems at Medium: Wednesday: House Judiciary to Markup Contempt Report for AG Barr.

Today, the House Judiciary Committee noticed a markup of a contempt report for Attorney General William Barr's failure to comply with a duly issued subpoena to provide Congress with the full, unredacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report along with underlying evidence. The contempt markup is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, May 8, 2019 at 10 a.m.

..."The Attorney General's failure to comply with our subpoena, after extensive accommodation efforts, leaves us no choice but to initiate contempt proceedings in order to enforce the subpoena and access the full, unredacted report. If the Department presents us with a good faith offer for access to the full report and the underlying evidence, I reserve the right to postpone these proceedings," [wrote House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler in a statement].

Don't make any deals. Set the deadline. If the Department of Justice fails to deliver exactly what's been demanded by that date, hold Barr in contempt. And then move forward with impeachment hearings. DO YOUR JOBS.

Meanwhile... Trump is losing his shit on Twitter at the news that Special Counsel Bob Mueller made preliminary, tentative plans to appear before a House Committee:

....to testify. Are they looking for a redo because they hated seeing the strong NO COLLUSION conclusion? There was no crime, except on the other side (incredibly not covered in the Report), and NO OBSTRUCTION. Bob Mueller should not testify. No redos for the Dems!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2019

"Bob Mueller should not testify." This president and his Attorney General are publicly obstructing justice. That is why we need impeachment hearings. Does the rule of law matter in this country or doesn't it?!

And of course Trump didn't stop there.

Isaac Stanley-Becker at the Washington Post: Claiming Two Years of His Presidency Were 'Stolen,' Trump Suggests He's Owed Overtime. Not overtime pay, mind you. More time in office.

[Trump] retweeted a proposal offered by Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University, that he be granted another two years in office as recompense for time lost to the Russia investigation. Half of his first term, Trump wrote in a Twitter dispatch of his own, had been "stolen."

[Falwell tweeted:] "After the best week ever for @realDonaldTrump — no obstruction, no collusion, NYT admits @BarackObama did spy on his campaign, & the economy is soaring. I now support reparations — Trump should have 2 yrs added to his 1st term as pay back for time stolen by this corrupt failed coup."

Everything about this is disgusting, from making a mockery of the idea of slave reparations to asserting that Trump should grab two more years as president regardless of the will of the voters.

[Content Note: Video may autoplay at link] Erica Orden at CNN: Former Trump Fixer Michael Cohen Reports to Prison for Three-Year Term. "[Cohen] reported Monday to a federal prison in Otisville, New York, where he will begin serving a three-year sentence. 'I hope that when I rejoin my family and friends that the country will be in a place without xenophobia, injustice, and lies at the helm of our country,' Cohen told a throng of reporters gathered outside his apartment in Manhattan on Monday morning, before ducking into a black Escalade SUV. 'There still remains much to be told,' he added. 'And I look forward to the day that I can share the truth.'"

If Cohen actually gave two shits about "xenophobia, injustice, and lies at the helm of our country," he would tell the truth now.

Saleha Mohsin at Politico: Mnuchin Juggles Day Job Alongside Shielding Trump's Tax Returns. "On Monday, Mnuchin is expected to hold off on House Democrats' request to release Trump's returns. It's the first time a Treasury chief has had to juggle concerns about releasing a president's personal information with other parts of the job: overseeing the $16 trillion Treasuries market, maintaining economic pressure on global threats, such as North Korea, and leading economic diplomacy with international counterparts. Monday's response will be Mnuchin's third attempt to stave off House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal's request for six years of Trump's personal returns, as well as those of the Trump Organization."

This entire fucking administration. Goddammit.

* * *

[CN: Anti-choice terrorism] Amanda Michelle Gomez at ThinkProgress: Arson Attempt, Trespassing, and Harassment: The Consequences of Extreme Anti-Abortion Rhetoric.

No one has ever tried to burn Whole Woman's Health of McAllen down until now, notably during a time when Republican lawmakers have repeatedly accused people who have abortions and their doctors of infanticide, and [Donald] Trump has used his bully pulpit to elevate this lie.

While the president has never explicitly asked his supporters to incite violence, he has graphically accused providers who perform abortion later in pregnancy of murder.

During his 2019 State of the Union address, which had 46.8 million viewers, Trump lied and said a New York law codifying Roe v. Wade would "allow a baby to be ripped from the mother's womb moments before birth." Last weekend at a rally, Trump lied again, saying providers and patients weigh whether or not to "execute the baby" after birth.

"This kind of language is an invitation to that radical fringe," said [Amy Hagstrom Miller, the founder and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health]. "It pitches women as murderers and providers as murderers and so, I mean, I would think that all of us are against murder, right? And so it's like this call to action," she added.

This is stochastic terrorism.

* * *

Brad Plumer at the New York Times: Humans Are Speeding Extinction and Altering the Natural World at an 'Unprecedented' Pace.

In most major land habitats, from the savannas of Africa to the rain forests of South America, the average abundance of native plant and animal life has fallen by 20 percent or more, mainly over the past century.

With the human population passing 7 billion, activities like farming, logging, poaching, fishing, and mining are altering the natural world at a rate "unprecedented in human history."

At the same time, a new threat has emerged: Global warming has become a major driver of wildlife decline, the assessment found, by shifting or shrinking the local climates that many mammals, birds, insects, fish, and plants evolved to survive in.

As a result, biodiversity loss is projected to accelerate through 2050, particularly in the tropics, unless countries drastically step up their conservation efforts.

This is terrifying. Especially because the likelihood of enough major countries "stepping up their conservation efforts" to make a meaningful difference in short order is vanishingly small.

* * *

[CN: War; death] Elham Khatami at ThinkProgress: Israeli Strikes in Gaza Kill 25, Including Pregnant Women and Children, Before Ceasefire.

Attacks by Israel in the Gaza Strip killed at least 25 people, including children and two pregnant women, over the weekend, ahead of a tentative ceasefire reached between Israel and Hamas and the Islamic Jihad on Monday morning.

...The fighting — the worst of its kind between Israel and Gaza since 2014 — appears to have begun on Friday, when two Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers during weekly protests along the Israel-Gaza fence, the Palestinian health ministry said. During those same protests, a Gaza sniper injured two Israeli soldiers. Israel retaliated by killing two Palestinians, identified as Hamas militants. Beginning on Saturday, militants in Gaza launched rockets into Israel, killing four Israelis over the course of the weekend.

According to news reports, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad fired more than 200 rockets toward southern Israel. In return, the Israeli military said it struck 350 militant targets and has denied accounts of the death of a pregnant woman and her infant niece, blaming the killings on attacks by Hamas.

Awful.

What have you been reading that we need to resist today?

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We Resist: Day 798

One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures (plus the occasional non-Republican who obliges us to resist their nonsense, too, like we don't have enough to worry about) is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.

So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.

Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.

* * *

Earlier today by me: Release the Report and Primarily Speaking.

I've got a doctor's appointment, so today's thread will be shorter than usual. Here are a few things I've read today to which I want to direct your attention:

Kate Riga at TPM: Pelosi: 'Arrogant' of Barr to Expect That Dems Would Blindly Accept His Summary. "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) did not mince words Wednesday while reacting to Attorney General William Barr's summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report. '[W]e just haven't even seen the Mueller Report, and we don't expect to accept just the attorney general's interpretation of it,' Pelosi said on SiriusXM show Make It Plain. 'A little bit arrogant of him to think that that would be the case.' 'We have to get the report,' she added. 'They — to their peril — will keep that report.'"

Emily Jane Fox at Vanity Fair: "She Was Not Involved": Emails Show Ivanka's Lawyer Asked for Changes to Michael Cohen's Congressional Testimony. "Sekulow issued a statement protesting Cohen's assertions: 'Today's testimony by Michael Cohen that attorneys for the president edited or changed his statement to Congress to alter the duration of the Trump Tower Moscow negotiations is completely false.' But Cohen had communications detailing these alleged edits, some of which lawmakers requested in a closed-door hearing with the House Intelligence Committee the following week. One document, which I have reviewed, was an e-mail exchange between Cohen and his then attorney, Stephen Ryan, outlining changes that Ryan said Lowell had asked them to make in order to distance Ivanka from the Moscow deal. Attached to the e-mail were drafts he said were Lowell's suggested edits."

Andrew Roth at the Guardian: Russia Acknowledges Presence of Troops in Venezuela. "Russia has troops on the ground in Venezuela, officials from both countries have confirmed publicly for the first time, saying the deployment was provided for military consultations and was not linked to the 'possibility of military operations.' 'Military experts are there; they are tasked with the practical implementation of provisions of military-technical cooperation agreements,' a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said in a televised briefing. ...Asked to clarify the nature of the cooperation, Dmitri Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said 'military contracts, military equipment, military hardware.' He said that Russia had contracts to deliver 'special equipment' to Venezuela. He did not give further detail during a telephone briefing with journalists. Maria Zakharova, Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman, said: 'Russia is not changing the balance of forces in the region and is not threatening anyone.'"

Erin Banco at the Daily Beast: Trump Admin Gives Okay to Sell Nuclear Tech to Saudis. "The U.S. Department of Energy has approved six authorizations for U.S. companies seeking to conduct nuclear related work in Saudi Arabia, according to two sources with knowledge of those approvals. ...It's been unclear to what extent the U.S. government, and U.S. companies, have communicated with Riyadh about nuclear energy, especially in the wake of the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and amid claims by Democrats on the Hill that individuals in the national security community attempted to discuss a nuclear deal with Riyadh without going through the proper regulatory approval process. The DOE authorizations, previously unreported, indicate that U.S. companies are indeed moving ahead in their plans to engage with Saudi Arabia on nuclear technology and nuclear energy development."

Shane Harris at the Washington Post: Palantir Wins Competition to Build Army Intelligence System. "The Army has chosen Palantir Technologies [which was co-founded by Peter Thiel, the billionaire investor and sometimes adviser to Donald Trump] to deploy a complex battlefield intelligence system for soldiers, according to Army documents, a significant boost for a company that has attracted a devoted following in national security circles but had struggled to win a major defense contract. Industry experts said it marked the first time that the government had tapped a Silicon Valley software company, as opposed to a traditional military contractor, to lead a defense program of record, which has a dedicated line of funding from Congress. The contract is potentially worth more than $800 million."

Lachlan Markay at the Daily Beast: Trump Ally Jerry Falwell's Liberty University Landed Pentagon Contract Months After Trump's Election. "Just months after [Donald] Trump took office, the federal government signed a contract to buy hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jet fuel from a university run by one of the president's top political supporters. The Pentagon's energy-procurement arm inked the contract, valued at nearly $900,000, with a company called Freedom Aviation on May 9, 2017, and has purchased more than $400,000 in turbine fuel from the company since then. Freedom Aviation is wholly owned by Liberty University, a conservative school in Lynchburg, Virginia, led by high-profile Trump supporter Jerry Falwell Jr."

And in good news... Andy Towle and Towleroad: Puerto Rico Governor Signs Executive Order Banning Gay Conversion Therapy for Minors. "Puerto Rico's Governor Ricardo Rossello has issued an executive order banning gay conversion therapy for minors. Said Rossello in a statement: 'As a father, as a scientist, and as the Governor for everyone in Puerto Rico, I firmly believe that the idea that there are people in our society who need treatment because of their gender identity or whom they love is not only absurd, it is harmful to so many children and young adults who deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. ...Conversion therapy in no way benefits anybody; it only causes unimaginable pain and suffering.'"

Head to comments to let us know what you've been reading to which we need to be paying attention!

Open Wide...

We Resist: Day 789

"The High Court in London heard on Monday that Cambridge Analytica was up to its old tricks from beyond the grave — by surreptitiously trying to halt investigations that could expose allegedly nefarious tactics before the company was shut down for good." https://t.co/Cobx4BDPgL
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 19, 2019

This election is going to be so ugly. Unregulated social media is the authoritarian's dream and the democrat's nightmare.

* * *

Kenneth P. Vogel and Katie Benner at the New York Times: Lobbying Case Against Democrat with Ties to Manafort Reaches Key Stage. "A decision about whether to prosecute Mr. Craig, who was White House counsel for President Barack Obama during his first year in office, is expected in the coming weeks, people familiar with the case said. The investigation centers on whether Mr. Craig should have disclosed work he did in 2012 — while he was a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom — on behalf of the Russia-aligned government of Viktor F. Yanukovych, then the president of Ukraine. The work was steered to Mr. Craig by Paul Manafort, who was then a political consultant collecting millions of dollars from clients in former Soviet states."

So, after working for Obama, this guy went on to do work for Putin's pal Yanukovych, which means that every major opponent of Hillary Clinton's in both the 2016 and 2008 elections have ties to someone who worked for Yanukovych, including Bernie Sanders (Tad Devine) and Donald Trump (Paul Manafort). And so did Obama's 2008 Republican opponent, John McCain (Manafort and Rick Gates).

The question I now need answered is whether Gregory Craig had anything to do with establishing the back channel communication between the Kremlin and the Obama administration treasury officials during the 2016 election.

* * *

WHAT NOW https://t.co/MXNxeYyhS7
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 18, 2019

Now: The State Department won't release any transcript of Pompeo's briefing with "faith-based media only," nor a list of who was invited, who attended, and whether a range of faiths was included.
— Michelle Kosinski (@MichLKosinski) March 19, 2019

I don't even know what to say about that, other than: WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

Well, I'll also note that this shit sounds a lot more like Mike Pence than it does like Donald Trump.

* * *

Brian Stelter at CNN Business: Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan Joins Board of Fox Corporation. "Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is joining the board of the newly slimmed-down Fox Corporation, the parent company of Fox News." Yeah, that sounds about right. "Ryan and Rupert Murdoch have been friendly for many years. In 2014, he named Ryan as a presidential contender he had 'particular admiration for.' Some observers said Ryan's appointment reflected the cozy relationship between Fox and the modern-day Republican Party." Haha ya think?!

[Content Note: Homophobia; misogynoir] Andy Towle at Towleroad: Anti-Gay Flyers Target Lesbian Chicago Mayoral Candidate Lori Lightfoot with Lies and Hate. "Lori Lightfoot would make history as Chicago's first black female mayor and the city's first openly gay mayor should she be elected in the April 2 run-off election. This week, anti-gay flyers targeted Lightfoot outside black churches in the city, the Sun-Times reports. The flyers feature photos of Lightfoot and her wife Amy Eshelman with the words, 'The Gay Equality Act!!! It's Our Turn' with another line that reads 'The Feminist and Gay Movement Have Come Full Circle.'" For fuck's sake.

And last but certainly not least... [CN: Flooding; displacement] E.A. Crunden at ThinkProgress: The Midwest's Flooding Crisis Is a Terrifying Preview of Climate Impacts to Come.

Deadly and historic flooding is plaguing states across the Midwest, isolating entire towns and upending the region in what experts worry is an ominous preview of future climate change impacts.

National media has been slow to cover the tragedy, which has left several states, including Nebraska, Missouri, and Iowa, all reeling from turbulent weather conditions. As of Sunday, nine million people across 14 states were under a flood advisory.

...In a statement Friday, Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) said, "Nebraska has experienced historic flooding and extreme weather in nearly every region of the state."

Nebraska is experiencing its worst flooding in half a century. At least three people are dead after several major rivers in the state rose to record levels. The Missouri, Platte, and Elkhorn rivers all crested over the weekend to record-shattering levels in the aftermath of last week's "bomb cyclone" — a massive weather event that brought high-speed winds, snow, and heavy rain to the region.

The historic flooding is the result of rain coupled with a considerable amount of pre-existing water on the ground. February brought a record-setting 30 inches of snow to the state, which locked in several inches of water. With eastern Nebraska's rivers already higher than usual following the state's fifth-wettest season in 124 years, the bomb cyclone unleashed a mountain of water, submerging parts of the region.

...Other states are preparing for flooding impacts. In Iowa, nearly 2,000 people at eight different locations have been evacuated in the past seven days. Minnesota, Wisconsin, and South Dakota are also bracing themselves for flooding, along with Missouri and Kansas.

Goddamn.

What have you been reading that we need to resist today?

Open Wide...

We Resist: Day 784

One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures (plus the occasional non-Republican who obliges us to resist their nonsense, too, like we don't have enough to worry about) is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.

So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.

Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.

* * *

Earlier today by me: Beto O'Rourke Announces He's Running for President and Russia Threatens to Arm Submarine with Nuclear Doomsday Devices and Quote of the Day.

Here are some more things in the news today...

Karoun Demirjian at the Washington Post: In Overwhelmingly Bipartisan Vote, House Calls for Mueller Report to Be Made Public. "The House voted overwhelmingly and in bipartisan fashion to urge the Justice Department to publicly release the entirety of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's report into Russian interference in the 2016 election, once completed. The move is an attempt to 'send a clear signal both to the American people and the Department of Justice' that lawmakers expect to see the full account of Mueller's work, according to the House Judiciary Committee's chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.). The final vote count was 420 in favor, with no one voting no. Four lawmakers voted 'present.'"

Interesting. So, this is either confirmation that the Mueller investigation is truly a joke and the GOP knows it, or a signal that the GOP is ready for Trump to get to fuck so they can install Pence. Possibly a little from column A and a little from column B.

The resolution is non-binding, so some people have suggested that they voted for it knowing it wouldn't matter. Except the Republicans are the masters of the symbolic bullshit vote! They don't do anything without thinking about it, no less with zero dissenters.

And if their constituent base pays attention to that sort of vote at all, I'd think they'd have wanted their reps to vote no, because they want them to protect the president from this travesty of justice. For the Fox News set, Trump is a mighty victim of Mueller, after all!

Like I said: Interesting.

* * *

Kathryn Krawczyk at the Week: Matthew Whitaker Just Changed His Story on Michael Cohen's Case, House Judiciary Chair Says. "Matthew Whitaker previously declined to address whether he spoke with [Donald] Trump about Michael Cohen's campaign finance crimes. He apparently gave lawmakers a clearer picture of such a possibility on Wednesday. In February, the former acting attorney general appeared before the House Judiciary Committee for an open-door congressional testimony and wouldn't say whether he talked with Trump about Cohen. But since then, a report from The New York Times showed that the president asked Whitaker to put a Trump supporter in charge of an investigation into his former lawyer." Oopsy!

Veronica Stracqualursi at CNN: Top Judiciary Democrat Says 'Sleep Well' Email to Michael Cohen Suggested Pardon. "CNN obtained two emails from April 2018 between Michael Cohen and Robert Costello, an attorney who said he had spoken with the president's lawyer in the Russia investigation, Rudy Giuliani. Although Costello's email did not specifically mention a pardon, he wrote to Cohen, 'Sleep well tonight, you have friends in high places.' 'I take it as the president or people on his behalf may have been dangling the possibility of a pardon in front of Mr. Cohen to say to him, don't tell the truth, don't implicate the president. Play the game right and you have friends in high places, and you'll be okay, we'll give you a pardon,' New York Rep. Jerry Nadler told CNN's John Berman on New Day on Thursday. Nadler said that, if true, backchannel involvement from Trump in Cohen's case would be a 'terrible' obstruction of justice and abuse of power." Indeed it would!

Erica Werner, Seung Min Kim, and John Wagner at the Washington Post: Three Senators Crash Trump Dinner with Last-Ditch Plea as Opposition Mounts to Emergency Declaration. "Drama mounted in the Senate Thursday ahead of a showdown vote over [Donald] Trump's border emergency declaration, as a GOP senator described crashing the White House residence with two of his colleagues to plead with Trump for a deal. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he showed up at the White House Wednesday night with Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Ben Sasse (Neb.), interrupting Trump as he dined with First Lady Melania Trump. They discussed how to satisfy GOP concerns on the emergency declaration but reached no agreement, and Trump renewed his veto threat Thursday morning."

Nothing about that sounds real, including the part where Donald and Melania were having dinner together. This is theater. And the fact that prominent Republicans want to appear as though they are trying to stop Trump — without, let us carefully note, actually doing anything to actually stop him with their Senate majority — makes me feel even more strongly that Trump may have reached the end of his usefulness to the GOP. They still want him to enact his horrific agenda, but they're now at a point where they want to look like they disagree with it. That's worth noting.

* * *

[Content Note: Human rights violations; violence; death; stochastic terrorism. Covers whole section.]

These next two items are related, signaling how far we have already descended into an authoritarian regime with total abandonment of human rights:

I’m not sure why, but it feels shocking to see, written down, an official statement that the US doesn’t give a damn about a country’s human rights record as long as we get what we want. And what we want is apparently not protection of human rights. /2
— Lisa Borden (@lisawborden) March 14, 2019

Ashley Turner at CBNC: State Department Report Calls Jamal Khashoggi's Death a Human Rights Violation But Doesn't Implicate the Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman. "The State Department acknowledges Saudi Arabia's killing of U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi in its annual human rights report but makes no mention of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the section on his death. That's despite reports that the CIA determined the Saudi leader ordered Khashoggi's assassination."

"Human rights" has become a punchline as the Trump Regime embraces murderous dictators around the world.

And at home, Trump continues to wage his campaign of stochastic terrorism, conveying a thinly veiled message to his supporters that they should "get tough" on dissidents:

This, too, must be read as part of Trump's campaign of stochastic terrorism. He is inviting average people to commit violence on his behalf, but distancing himself from it with the pretense that he's just stating a "truth" about "the way it is." https://t.co/0vyV9gIg90
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 14, 2019

Trump is propped up by a transnational crime syndicate dominated by billionaires. Folks will emphasize the threat here -- but it's also an attempt to make himself seem rooted in all-American, blue-collar protection. In reality Trump's big backers are corrupt elites just like him. https://t.co/I0lRghCrXd
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) March 14, 2019

Shiver.

Important related reading today from Adam Serwer at the Atlantic: White Nationalism's Deep American Roots.

* * *

Michael LaForgia, Matthew Rosenberg, and Gabriel J.X. Dance at the New York Times: Facebook's Data Deals Are Under Criminal Investigation. "Federal prosecutors are conducting a criminal investigation into data deals Facebook struck with some of the world's largest technology companies, intensifying scrutiny of the social media giant's business practices as it seeks to rebound from a year of scandal and setbacks. A grand jury in New York has subpoenaed records from at least two prominent makers of smartphones and other devices, according to two people who were familiar with the requests and who insisted on anonymity to discuss confidential legal matters. Both companies had entered into partnerships with Facebook, gaining broad access to the personal information of hundreds of millions of its users."

Kyla Mandel at ThinkProgress: Republican Congressman Says Green New Deal Is 'Tantamount to Genocide'. "House Republicans are ramping up their opposition to the Green New Deal, invoking increasingly dire rhetoric as the proposal gains prominence. In a press conference on Thursday, several top Republicans called for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to direct all House committees to hold hearings to discuss the details of the ambitious climate action proposal. Calling the Green New Deal resolution a 'fantasy-land proposal' and 'tantamount to genocide,' House Republicans said they want to have a public debate on the plan in order to 'pull the curtain back.'"

IN OTHER NEWS... Kalhan Rosenblatt and Phil Helsel at NBC News: Millions in Path of Potential Bomb Cyclone as Winter Storm Slams Central U.S.

As many as 74 million people were expected to face some type of severe weather ranging from blizzard conditions to heavy rain and flooding through Friday.

...Authorities said 1,100 motorists were "stuck and stranded" in "treacherous conditions" on roads in Colorado's El Paso County. Sheriff Bill Elder added that search and rescue operations would continue through the night. His advice was to "STAY HOME."

Around 86,000 customers in Colorado were without electricity early Thursday, according to Xcel Energy. Another 47,000 had no power in New Mexico and northern Texas.

...Denver International Airport's runways were shut down Wednesday, and almost 1,400 flights were canceled amid the whiteout, the Denver Post reported. The newspaper noted that it was only the fourth time in the airport's history that runways had been closed.

More than 5 inches of snow was recorded at the airport as of 5 p.m. Wednesday, while parts of Colorado Springs and Aurora reported 10 inches, according to the weather service.

...Blizzard warnings stretched on a large swath of the central U.S., from eastern Colorado and Wyoming, portions of Nebraska, and large parts of the Dakotas and into western Minnesota as of Wednesday night, while eastern Nebraska, southeastern South Dakota, and parts of Iowa were under flood warnings.

Between 6 to 12 inches of snow is likely for the central and northern plains through Thursday, particularly in the central portions of the Dakotas, the weather service said in a forecast discussion.

...Severe thunderstorm warnings also stretched from southwestern Texas to parts of Kansas, according to the weather service. Parts of Wisconsin and Michigan were among the areas under a flash flood watch.

...In Texas, Dallas-Fort Worth recorded gusts of wind between 75 mph and 78 mph early Wednesday. ...In Tennessee and parts of Mississippi, as much as 4 inches of rain could fall through Friday.

So, you know, good thing Republicans are spending their time complaining about climate change legislation and making up fairy stories about how Democrats don't want you to be able to eat cheeseburgers anymore or whatthefuckever.

What have you been reading that we need to resist today?

Open Wide...

We Resist: Day 775

.@RepDonBeyer & I have made a criminal referral of Jared Kushner to @TheJusticeDept.

Making false statements or omitting material info on SF-86 security form is punishable by up to 5 years in prison. More info at @politico huddle. Here's the letter: https://t.co/yq4H1zbhux.
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) March 5, 2019

Andy Towle at Towleroad: Michael Cohen's Lawyers Discussed Pardon with Trump Lawyers After FBI Raid. "Michael Cohen's lawyers spoke with Trump's lawyers to discuss the possibility of a pardon shortly after the FBI raided Cohen's office last year. 'Cohen has said publicly he never asked for — and would not accept — a pardon from Trump,' the Washington Post reported last week. 'But people familiar with the matter said his knowledge on the topic seems to extend beyond that statement.' The WSJ reports: 'Mr. Cohen's attorney at the time, Stephen Ryan, discussed the possibility of a pardon with lawyers for Mr. Trump in the weeks after the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided Mr. Cohen's home, office, and hotel room, the people said. The pardon discussions occurred while Mr. Ryan was working alongside lawyers for Mr. Trump to review files seized from Mr. Cohen's premises by the FBI to determine whether they were protected by attorney-client privilege.'" Sure. Sounds about right.

[Content Note: Misogyny; sexual abuse.]

"Not a single women’s championship team has made a solo visit to the White House under Trump." That is: 1. Infuriating; 2. Unsurprising, since he's a rank chauvinist; 3. Probably safer for female athletes, since he is a confessed serial sex abuser. https://t.co/9JzXvVilcN
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 5, 2019

[CN: Nativism] Nick Miroff at the Washington Post: Record Number of Families, Cold Reality at Border. "For U.S. border agents, the strain has grown more acute, as they struggle to care for children using an enforcement infrastructure made in an era when the vast majority of migrants were Mexican adults who could be quickly booked and deported. The Central American families — called 'give-ups' because they surrender instead of trying to sneak in — have left frustrated U.S. agents viewing their own role as little more than the facilitators for the last stage of the migrants' journey. They are rescuing families with small children from river currents, irrigation canals, medical emergencies, and freezing winter temperatures. 'We're so cold,' said Marlen Moya, who had left Guatemala with her sons six weeks earlier and crossed the Rio Grande with the group of 64." Sob.

[CN: War on agency] Ally Boguhn at Rewire.News: Domestic 'Gag Rule' to Begin in 60 Days as Democrats Question Policy's Legality. "The Trump administration on Monday published its finalized restrictions on the Title X family planning program, known as the domestic 'gag rule,' kicking off a 60-day period before the anti-choice policy will go into effect. ...Democrats on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over HHS, sent a letter Thursday to HHS Secretary Alex Azar questioning the legality of the administration's rule. The letter's signatories — Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), and Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA) — wrote that they 'have questions about the Department's expansive claim of authority under this rule, HHS's failure to account for the significant costs created as a result of the final rule, and the internal regulatory process used by the Department to review and finalize this rule.'"

[CN: White privilege]

Bernie again mentions white communities in an answer to a question about reparations. This isn't a "gaffe," folks. This is the answer he wants to give. This is the message he wants to communicate. https://t.co/IrTq5FAUZv
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 4, 2019

He did the same thing just three days earlier. This isn't a "misstatement." It's his position.

[CN: White supremacy] Staff at AP/TPM: Report: 182% Increase in Off-Campus White Supremacist Propaganda Cases. "White supremacist groups in the U.S. tried to spread their propaganda at a record-setting rate last year, increasingly picking targets beyond college campuses, a Jewish civil rights group said Tuesday. The Anti-Defamation League counted a 182 percent increase in propaganda incidents by white supremacists, from 421 such cases in 2017 to 1,187 in 2018. College campuses remained a primary target for hateful flyers, but the New York-based ADL said the number of off-campus propaganda incidents soared from 129 in 2017 to 868 last year." Fucking hell.

Yessenia Funes at Earther: Nearly All U.S. Coal Plants Are Contaminating Groundwater, Report Finds. "When Hurricane Florence slammed into North Carolina last year, concerns grew over whether the flood waters would breach a coal ash pond and contaminate drinking water. Turns out that the state has a much more widespread groundwater contamination issue than that event presented, according to a report out Monday. In fact, all of the United States does: More than 90 percent of coal power plants with monitoring data are contaminating groundwater due to poor regulation of their coal ash waste ponds." Goddammit.

David A. Fahrenthold and Jonathan O'Connell at the Washington Post: T-Mobile Acknowledges Its Patronage of Trump's Washington hotel Increased Sharply After Announcement of Merger with Sprint.

T-Mobile's patronage of [Donald] Trump's Washington hotel increased sharply after the announcement of its merger with its Sprint last April, with executives spending about $195,000 at the property since then, the company told congressional Democrats in a letter last month.

Before news of the megadeal between rival companies broke on April 29, 2018, the company said, only two top officials from T-Mobile had ever stayed at Trump's hotel, with one overnight stay each in August 2017.

But the day after the merger's announcement, nine of T-Mobile's top executives were schedule to check in, The Washington Post reported in January. The Post, relying on internal Trump hotel documents, found that T-Mobile executives had reserved at least 52 nights at the hotel since the announcement.

In a Feb. 21 letter responding to questions from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the company for the first time disclosed its total spending at the Trump hotel during that period.

The roughly $195,000 paid for "meeting space, catering, business center services, audio/visual equipment rental, [and] lodging" at Trump's hotel near the White House, according to the letter from Anthony Russo, T-Mobile USA's vice president of federal legislative affairs.

Russo said the Trump hotel received about 14 percent of T-Mobile's $1.4 million in total corporate spending on D.C.-area hotels during the 10-month period.

Holy fuck! Just rampant corruption. And there's so much of it that it's almost impossible to keep track of, no less put a stop to it. Just get this guy out of office already, for crying out loud!

What have you been reading that we need to resist today?

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The Second Day of Cohen's Congressional Testimony Reminds Us That Republicans Are Truly Terrible

[Previously: The First Day of Cohen's Congressional Testimony Reminds Us He Is a Liar and a Terrible Person.]

Not that any of us needed a reminder that Republicans are truly terrible, but Michael Cohen's second day of three days of testimony offered that pointed reminder all the same.

It was public testimony, unlike Tuesday's and today's testimony, so we got to watch both the Democrats and the Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee question Cohen, and the difference was stark.

The Democrats questioned Cohen rigorously and used their time to try to extract information from him that could open up new areas of investigation into Donald Trump, his collusion, and his corrupt finances.

The Republicans scolded Cohen for being a liar and a criminal, and, as I noted yesterday, pretended they don't understand how criminal investigations even work and working themselves into a HIGH DUDGEON over Cohen being a liar, despite the fact that the entire display was to protect Donald Trump, an even bigger liar whose lies have even more serious consequences.

Once again, we didn't really learn anything new about Trump's criminality — which was by design, as Cohen continues to protect Trump. His testimony ended with the grim warning that Trump wouldn't go easy from office if he loses in 2020: "Given my experience working for Mr. Trump, I fear that if he loses the election in 2020 that there will never be a peaceful transition of power, and this is why I agreed to appear before you today."

I believe that, not because Cohen said it, but because of every single thing I know about Donald Trump.

The irony in Cohen's statement is, of course, that if Trump refuses a peaceful transfer of power in the event of an electoral defeat, he's vanishingly unlikely to step aside quietly if Congress tries to forcibly remove him from office.

That is not to suggest it shouldn't be done. It is merely to observe we had better be ready for it, in any case.

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We Resist: Day 769

The Republicans keep saying they want a witness who isn't a liar and fraudster and criminal, but the only people who Donald Trump allows in his orbit are liars and fraudsters and criminals!
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 27, 2019

It's really rich for these Republicans to act OUTRAGED!!1! about Michael Cohen being a liar when their president lies on a constant basis and they manifestly refuse to hold him accountable for that.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 27, 2019

Someone should ask the GOP why, given Cohen's long history of criminal ties and behavior -- which was in the public domain before 2016 -- they made him the deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee in 2017 #CohenTestimony
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) February 27, 2019

They're just shameless. Pretending like they don't understand how criminal investigations even work, i.e. witnesses for the prosecution who have turned are always liars and criminals. And getting a case of the vapors over the fact that Cohen is a liar, when Donald Trump lies like his life depends on it. They're calling Cohen a liar to protect an even bigger liar.

The whole thing is a depressing spectacle. And we still have no new information that will get us any closer to removing Trump and his entire corrupt administration from power.

Here are some other things in the news today...

Heidi Przybyla at NBC News: House Poised to Pass First Major Gun Bill in a Generation.

Democratic leaders say they have the votes to pass a bill requiring background checks on all commercial gun sales, including those at gun shows and over the internet. The bill also has five Republican co-sponsors, led by New York Rep. Peter King, who had tried — and failed — for several years to advance the bill while his party controlled the chamber.

Democrats taking control of the House has "really given it momentum. Hate to admit that, but that's the reality," King said in an interview with NBC News.

...Since the bill faces an uphill fight in the Republican-run Senate, the House leadership arranged a separate vote — a day later on Thursday — on a more modest measure that may be able to attract greater bipartisan support.

That bill would close the so-called "Charleston loophole," which allows the sale of a firearm to proceed if a background check is not completed within three days.

In the Senate, Democrats are hoping to pressure Republicans, including Tim Scott of South Carolina and Cory Gardner of Colorado — another state rocked by mass shootings — to align themselves with the measure and lean on McConnell to bring it for a vote.

[Donald] Trump has vowed to veto the current legislation, and many advocates remain skeptical that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will bring it up for a vote.

Two of the worst men on the fucking planet, standing in the way of even the most modest legislation to try to stem the tide of gun violence across the nation.

Philip Rucker and Josh Dawsey at the Washington Post: White House Bans Four Journalists from Covering Trump-Kim Dinner Because of Shouted Questions. "The White House abruptly banned four U.S. journalists [from the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, the Los Angeles Times, and Reuters] from covering [Donald] Trump's dinner here Wednesday with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un after some of them shouted questions at the leaders during their earlier meetings. ...Among the questions asked of Trump was one about the congressional testimony of his former lawyer Michael Cohen. The White House's move to restrict press access was an extraordinary act of retaliation by the U.S. government, which historically has upheld the rights of journalists while a president travels overseas. It was especially remarkable because it came during Trump's meeting with the leader of a totalitarian state that does not have a free press."

Rowena Mason, Jessica Elgot, and Heather Stewart at the Guardian: Theresa May Says Britain Can Still Leave EU on 29 March. "Theresa May has insisted it is still possible for the UK to leave the European Union on 29 March if enough MPs back a revised withdrawal deal, amid signs hardline Eurosceptics may be softening their demands. In an article in the Daily Mail, the prime minister pleaded with MPs to get behind her deal, after she was forced to give them votes on extending article 50 and ruling out no deal if her withdrawal agreement does not pass. ...In her statement to the Commons on Tuesday, May said she planned to hold the next meaningful vote on her Brexit deal by 12 March. If it was defeated again, it would be followed by a vote on 13 March on leaving with no deal and, if this was rejected, a vote on 14 March for an extension to article 50."

Pamela Constable and Joanna Slater at the Washington Post: Pakistan Shoots Down Two Indian Aircraft in Its Airspace, Captures Pilot. "Pakistan shot down two Indian aircraft over its territory Wednesday and launched strikes inside Indian-controlled Kashmir, a day after Indian jets bombed targets in Pakistan for the first time since 1971 in retaliation for a terrorist attack. The tit-for-tat airstrikes and accompanying aerial dogfight marked the most serious military escalation between the two nuclear-armed rivals in two decades."

Peter Beaumont at the Guardian: Infant Mortality in Venezuela Has Doubled During Crisis, UN Says. "Infant mortality in Venezuela has soared by roughly 50% during the prolonged political crisis in the country. Briefing the UN security council, the UN’s political and peace building chief, Rosemary DiCarlo, depicted a devastating collapse in Venezuela's health system. She warned that 40% of medical staff had left the country and said hospital stocks of medicine had dwindled to 20% of the required level. DiCarlo said the 'protracted crisis' in the country had led in recent weeks to an 'alarming escalation of tensions.' Four people died and hundreds were injured in clashes last weekend at the country's borders."

* * *

[Content Note: Homophobia] Emma Green at the Atlantic: Conservative Christians Just Retook the United Methodist Church. "The United Methodist Church has fractured over the role of LGBTQ people in the denomination. At a special conference in St. Louis this week, convened specifically to address divisions over LGBTQ issues, members voted to toughen prohibitions on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy. This was a surprise: The denomination's bishops, its top clergy, pushed hard for a resolution that would have allowed local congregations, conferences, and clergy to make their own choices about conducting same-sex marriages and ordaining LGBTQ pastors. This proposal, called the 'One Church Plan,' was designed to keep the denomination together. Methodist delegates rejected its recommendations, instead choosing the so-called Traditional Plan, which affirmed the denomination's teachings against homosexuality."

[CN: Homophobia; HIV/AIDS stigma] Lachlan Markay and Sam Stein at the Daily Beast: Pence's Incoming Chief of Staff, Marc Short, Disparaged People Living with AIDS for 'Repugnant' Gay Sex in College Column. "Vice President Mike Pence's incoming chief of staff Marc Short disparaged people living with HIV and AIDS and claimed that the transmission of the disease was largely the result of 'repugnant' homosexual intercourse in an early '90s column for his college newspaper [at Washington & Lee University]. ...The column was published in The Spectator, a conservative student newspaper that Short co-founded as an undergraduate in 1989. Short served as an editor for the publication until he graduated in 1992."

[CN: Homophobia; white supremacy] Alys Brooks at Rewire.News: Funding Hate: GOP License Plate Programs Pour Funds into Fringe Groups. "Specialty license plates that fund nonprofits aren't unusual — many states have dozens supporting causes like organ donation and wildlife conservation. But some license plates fund groups that promote hate and misinformation, as the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has done since the 1990s. And now state-level Democratic lawmakers are hitting back against license plate programs that fund these causes. Since 2011, ADF has received over $1 million through Arizona's license plate program, according to data compiled by the office of state Sen. Juan Mendez (D-Tempe). The license plates fund only a small portion of ADF's $50 million annual budget."

* * *

[CN: Misogyny; toxic masculinity] Stephanie McNeal at BuzzFeed: This College Student Shared How Different Her Boyfriend Acts IRL Versus on Social Media and Now Every Straight Man Is Called Out. It's a collection of screenshots of private texts men sent their female partners (which are loving and kind) juxtaposed against screenshots of social media images the men posted of their female partners (which are objectifying and shitty). We're meant to find it funny, of course, but since I am the Most Humorless Feminist in all of Nofunnington, I will point out that this is a sinister example of how toxic masculinity harms women (by encouraging abuse against them) and men (by limiting their range of healthy emotions and encouraging them to be abusive toward the people around them). Fuck the patriarchy forever.

What have you been reading that we need to resist today?

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The First Day of Cohen's Congressional Testimony Reminds Us He Is a Liar and a Terrible Person

Not that any of us needed a reminder that Michael Cohen is both a liar and a terrible person, but his first day of three days of testimony offered that pointed reminder all the same. It was closed-door testimony, but we have a good picture of what he told Congressional investigators based on his prepared opening statement.

Reading his statement, my two primary thoughts were: 1. I don't trust for a moment that this is the whole truth. Cohen has been playing games this whole time, and I don't believe he's stopped. 2. Cohen abetted Donald Trump knowing exactly what kind of vile person he is. He's no hero. Fuck him.

Cohen says in his statement: "The last time I appeared before Congress, I came to protect Mr. Trump. Today, I'm here to tell the truth about Mr. Trump." And he does tell some truth about Trump, especially regarding details about things Trump has said and done that are objectionable but not illegal, but he also leaves out an enormous amount.

For example: As Sarah Kendzior has noted, Cohen "left out the part where he and fellow lifelong Russian mobster Felix Sater emailed each other in Nov 2015 about their plan to 'get Trump elected' with help of the Kremlin."

That's some very selective testimony, excluding the piece(s) that would have firmly established collusion.

And it's a strategy: Cohen is testifying to things that are offensive — and embarrassing and implicating Trump's low character — in order to give the appearance of telling all, while leaving out things that are explicitly criminal.

The possible criminality to which Cohen does testify — hush payments to women with whom Trump had affairs — is what we already knew. It's what got his ass dragged before investigators in the first place.

His credibility is nonexistent. He shouldn't be trusted, especially when it's manifestly apparent he is still working to protect Trump.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Trump referred to murderous dictator Kim Jong Un as his "friend." That's the traitorous wreck Cohen helped become president, and whom Cohen continues to try to insulate from consequences.

I don't know that we'll ever get the whole truth from Michael Cohen. Liars lie.

Day Two of his testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Committee begins at 10am ET today. If you want to watch live, C-SPAN will be streaming it.

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Michael Cohen Testifies to Congress This Week

Headlines! Breathless headlines!

Washington Post: Cohen Plans Scathing Testimony About Trump, Russia, and Stormy Daniels.

New York Times: Planned in Michael Cohen's Testimony: A Litany of Accusations Against Trump.

CNN: Michael Cohen on Capitol Hill Tuesday, Start of 3-Day Congressional Gauntlet.

Wall Street Journal: Cohen to Testify That Trump Engaged in Criminal Conduct While in Office.

CNBC: Michael Cohen Is Expected to Tell Congress That Trump Broke the Law While in Office.

Et cetera!

My question is: Will it matter? I sure hope it matters! It would be real nice if someone testifying under oath that the President of the United States broke the law actually mattered at some point.

Cohen will be testifying behind closed doors today and Thursday. Tomorrow's testimony before the House Oversight Committee will be streamed on C-SPAN 3, if you're looking for a place to watch.

For more information on the basic outlines of Cohen's testimony, Aaron Blake at the Washington Post has a good explainer.

I SURE HOPE THIS MATTERS. By which I mean, of course: I sure hope the Republicans find just a modicum of patriotism and loyalty and do the right thing at long last.

LOL I know. A girl can dream.

Open Wide...

We Resist: Day 762

Michael Cohen hurt his shouldy, so he needs a two-month vacation from the criminal justice system. Okay. https://t.co/tejuVjAbjK
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 20, 2019

I mean! When there is NO ACCOUNTABILITY, there is NO INCENTIVE to stop breaking the law. To the absolute contrary, Trump is empowered every day by the scandalous void of consequences for his criminality.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 20, 2019

Philip Rucker and Matt Zapotosky at the Washington Post: 'Enjoy Your Life': Trump Puts New Attorney General in an Awkward Position from the Start. "On William P. Barr's first full day as attorney general, [Donald] Trump singled him out during remarks in the Rose Garden after signing a national emergency declaration aimed at building his long-promised border wall. 'I want to wish our attorney general great luck and speed, and enjoy your life. Bill, good luck,' Trump told him at Friday's ceremony, drawing light laughter from others in attendance, who surely remembered the many ways the president tormented Barr's predecessor, Jeff Sessions. In the days that followed, Trump sent more than a dozen messages to his 58 million Twitter followers reviving his critiques of the Justice Department, which Barr now helms, or the officials who came before him." He knew what he was signing up for.

[Content Note: Homophobia; racism] Matthew Rodriguez at Out: Trump's Plan to Decriminalize Homosexuality Is an Old Racist Tactic.

The Trump administration is set to launch a global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality in dozens of nations where anti-gay laws are still on the books, NBC News reported Monday. While on its surface, the move looks like an atypically benevolent decision by the Trump administration, the details of the campaign belie a different story. Rather than actually being about helping queer people around the world, the campaign looks more like another instance of the right using queer people as a pawn to amass power and enact its own agenda.

...The most telling detail of NBC News' report is that his plan centers homophobic violence in Iran, who NBC News calls the administration's "top geopolitical foe." The plan has reportedly been spearheaded by the U.S. ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, who is also the administration's top-ranked gay official, in response to news that a young gay man was hanged in Iran recently.

...Grennell's sudden interest in Iran's anti-gay laws is strikingly similar to Trump's rhetoric after the 2016 Pulse massacre in Orlando, Florida. After the deadly shooting, Trump used the 49 deaths as a way to galvanize support for an anti-Muslim agenda rather than find a way to support LGBTQ+ people. In pushing for immigration restrictions and a Muslim ban, Trump argued, he was the true pro-LGBTQ+ candidate. Rather than honor those who died, Trump used the tragedy as a way to stoke fear among the American people, and Grennell is taking similar actions with Iran — trying to reach an economic goal by painting the administration's opponent as anti-gay.

...The truth is, this is part of an old colonialist handbook. In her essay, "Can the Subaltern Speak?" postcolonial theorist Gayatri Spivak coined the term "White men saving brown women from brown men" to describe the racist, paternalistic process by which colonizing powers would decry the way men in power treated oppressed groups, like women, to justify attacking them. Spivak was referencing the British colonial agenda in India. But Grennell's attack might be a case of white men trying to save brown gay men from brown straight men, to the same end.

There are several signs that this decision is denoted in a colonial sense of paternalism rather than any true altruism. According to the report, the decriminalization campaign is set to begin in Berlin where LGBTQ+ activists from across Europe will meet to hatch a plan that is "mostly concentrated in the Middle East, Africa, and the Caribbean."

That sentence alone should set off several alarm bells. First of all, the Middle East, Africa, and the Caribbean are huge geopolitical entities. Attitudes toward gay people differ greatly among countries and regions within those entities and attempting to gather a room of European activists on how to deal with queer issues in those regions is the definition of paternalism.

Fucking hell.

* * *

Natasha Korecki at Politico: 'Sustained and Ongoing' Disinformation Assault Targets Dem Presidential Candidates. "A wide-ranging disinformation campaign aimed at Democratic 2020 candidates is already underway on social media, with signs that foreign state actors are driving at least some of the activity. ...A Politico review of recent data extracted from Twitter and from other platforms, as well as interviews with data scientists and digital campaign strategists, suggests that the goal of the coordinated barrage appears to be undermining the nascent candidacies through the dissemination of memes, hashtags, misinformation, and distortions of their positions. But the divisive nature of many of the posts also hints at a broader effort to sow discord and chaos within the Democratic presidential primary."

Evan Halper at the LA Times: Your Phone and TV Are Tracking You, and Political Campaigns Are Listening In. "Welcome to the new frontier of campaign tech — a loosely regulated world in which simply downloading a weather app or game, connecting to Wi-Fi at a coffee shop, or powering up a home router can allow a data broker to monitor your movements with ease, then compile the location information and sell it to a political candidate who can use it to surround you with messages. ...[I]f you have been to a political rally, a town hall, or just fit a demographic a campaign is after, chances are good your movements are being tracked with unnerving accuracy by data vendors on the payroll of campaigns."

Nick Bastone at Business Insider: Google Says the Built-In Microphone It Never Told Nest Users About Was 'Never Supposed to Be a Secret'. "In early February, Google announced that its home security and alarm system Nest Secure would be getting an update. Users, the company said, could now enable its virtual-assistant technology, Google Assistant. The problem: Nest users didn't know a microphone existed on their security device to begin with. The existence of a microphone on the Nest Guard, which is the alarm, keypad, and motion-sensor component in the Nest Secure offering, was never disclosed in any of the product material for the device. On Tuesday, a Google representative told Business Insider the company had made an 'error.'"

What have you been reading that we need to resist today?

Open Wide...

Trump Committed Obstruction Another Time and Must Be Removed Immediately

A report from Jason Leopold and Anthony Cormier at BuzzFeed published last night details how Donald Trump committed obstruction on yet another occasion: Trump Directed His Attorney Michael Cohen to Lie to Congress About the Moscow Tower Project.

Donald Trump directed his longtime attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, according to two federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation of the matter.

Trump also supported a plan, set up by Cohen, to visit Russia during the presidential campaign, in order to personally meet President Vladimir Putin and jump-start the tower negotiations. "Make it happen," the sources said Trump told Cohen.

And even as Trump told the public he had no business deals with Russia, the sources said Trump and his children Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. received regular, detailed updates about the real estate development from Cohen, whom they put in charge of the project.

Cohen pleaded guilty in November to lying about the deal in testimony and in a two-page statement to the Senate and House intelligence committees. Special counsel Robert Mueller noted that Cohen's false claim that the project ended in January 2016 was an attempt to "minimize links between the Moscow Project and Individual 1" — widely understood to be Trump — "in hopes of limiting the ongoing Russia investigations."

Now the two sources have told BuzzFeed News that Cohen also told the special counsel that after the election, the president personally instructed him to lie — by claiming that negotiations ended months earlier than they actually did — in order to obscure Trump's involvement.

...This revelation is not the first evidence to suggest the president may have attempted to obstruct the FBI and special counsel investigations into Russia's interference in the 2016 election.

But Cohen's testimony marks a significant new frontier: It is the first known example of Trump explicitly telling a subordinate to lie directly about his own dealings with Russia.

So, a couple of important things to note about this: If accurate, not only is Trump instructing Cohen to lie to Congress obstruction of justice, but it is also subornation of perjury, which is itself an illegal act.

Further, the leak about this is not from Trump's team, but from "two federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation of the matter." It's notable that the unleakable special counsel's investigation just leaked this giant piece of damning information about Trump.

No less on the same day that someone passed Trump information about Nancy Pelosi's travel plans that was sure to backfire — and did — and was a deeply unethical if not illegal disclosure. Which reeks of a set-up from inside his inner circle.

Trump is getting battered from all sides. The attacks are coming from new sources, and from closer and closer to him — and let us note that the federal investigators' leak also took a swipe at his kids.

All of this reaffirms my feeling that Trump is about to become a scapegoat for Republicans who want to exploit with surgical precision the authoritarian groundwork that Trump has laid — all under the mendacious auspices of rescuing us from Trump.

And if I am wrong, as I hope, and everything is as it is meant to seem, and Mueller is doing a straightforward investigation, then he clearly has more than enough to start making moves to hold Trump accountable, and many of the people around him, including Mike Pence. So he needs to move forward now, aggressively and urgently. It has already been far too long, and we cannot afford to wait a moment longer.

Trump is using the shutdown to turn federal prosecutors into his own personal attorneys. https://t.co/1houCbK30a
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 17, 2019

Senate Republicans have announced the Senate will be effectively shut down the next 10 days. A total disgrace.

If this doesn’t convince you to go out and find a Democratic candidate or cause to work for, well then...
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) January 17, 2019

SNAP benefits and the shutdown: Millions could face severe cuts to food stamps due to government shutdown and USDA underfunding - CBS News https://t.co/Bdq9diNcoO
— Leana Wen, M.D. (@DrLeanaWen) January 18, 2019

The president is holding the government hostage, in order to try to avoid accountability for breaking the law and subverting our democracy and being a traitor. He is willing to starve his own people, which is something that only the most brutal dictators in history have done.

Mueller has to wrap it up immediately, and, if he won't (and frankly, even if he will), Democrats need to start drawing up impeachment papers. The Trump administration must be removed from power. Now.

Open Wide...

We Resist: Day 837

We Resist: Day 798

We Resist: Day 789

We Resist: Day 784

We Resist: Day 775

The Second Day of Cohen's Congressional Testimony Reminds Us That Republicans Are Truly Terrible

We Resist: Day 769

The First Day of Cohen's Congressional Testimony Reminds Us He Is a Liar and a Terrible Person

Michael Cohen Testifies to Congress This Week

We Resist: Day 762

Trump Committed Obstruction Another Time and Must Be Removed Immediately

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