July 6, 2018

The Rhetoric Tricks, Traps, and Tactics of White Nationalism

I rushed this right over -- haven't even read it yet. It's long (but lots of pictures )




LOL -- But I probably ought to include the link:

https://medium.com/@DeoTasDevil/the-rhetoric-tricks-traps-and-tactics-of-white-nationalism-b0bca3caeb84

July 4, 2018

Found on Facebook -- a warning from Trump's cousin

From Jan 2016 --

July 2, 2018

OMG - This is what we're up against

Watch it all.

June 27, 2018

Lessons from the WWII Norwegian Resistance

I found this via a couple of tweets posted on a different thread but thought it deserved OP treatment.

ThreadReader https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1011002957406588928.html

My dad was tortured by the Gestapo for 4 days and thrown in a concentration camp for being in the Norwegian Resistance. Growing up, he would tell me things he learned in the Resistance. I thought, I'm never going to need this stuff. Here's some things of those things #Thread

First, you're never going to win a head on battle with an adversary that's got you outgunned. That's not the point of the Resistance. The point is to create friction, make it hard for your adversary to operate, to increase transaction costs.

Second, resistance doesn't have to be a dramatic act. It can be a small act, like losing a sheet of paper, taking your time processing something, not serving someone in a restaurant. Small acts taken by thousands have big effects.

Third, use your privilege and access if you've got it. He and his buddies stole weapons from the Nazis by driving up with a truck to the weapons depot, speaking German, acting like it was a routine pick up, and driving away.

Fourth, and this is part of the third point really, sometimes the best way to do things is right out in the open. Because no one will believe something like what you're doing would be happening so blatantly. All good Social Engineers know this.

Five, bide your time. But be ready for opportunity when it strikes. Again, your action need not be dramatic. Just a little sand in the gears helps.

Six, and this is a no brainer, operate in cells to limit damage to the resistance should they take you out. Limit the circulation of info to your cell, avoid writing things down and . . .

Seven, be very careful with whom you trust. Snitches and compromised individuals are everywhere. My Dad was arrested because of a snitch. His friends weren't so lucky, the Gestapo machine gunned the cabin they were in without bothering to try and arrest them.

Eight, use the skills you have to contribute. Dad was an electrical engineer. When the Nazis imposed the death penalty for owning a radio (the British sent coded messages to the Resistance after BBC shows) he said he became the most popular guy in town.

But everything's cool and we're not going to need to engage in any of this. We don't have a President who openly admires and coddles dictators while trashing our democratic allies. Our President has read the Constitution he's taken an oath to uphold, and so have his followers.

original Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/TorEkelandPC/status/1011002957406588928

ETA: This is the thread where I found a link that led me to this: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210792625

June 26, 2018

Oh dear: Trump Administration Now Has Fair Housing In Its Sights

HUD’s Carson Wants to Make It Easier for Banks, Insurers and Landlords to Redline Minorities
https://www.dcreport.org/2018/06/26/trump-administration-now-has-fair-housing-in-its-sights/

Please read it.

June 25, 2018

Move Over, Pruitt . . . Zinke Is This Week's King of Corruption

Week 74: Move Over, Pruitt . . . Zinke Is This Week’s King of Corruption
Also, Trump sells off our oceans.

https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/week-74-move-over-pruitt-zinke-weeks-king-corruption-0
Politico reported this week on a dizzying web of shady land deals and ethical improprieties involving Zinke, Halliburton head David Lesar, BNSF Railway, and some foundations and companies linked to the Zinke family. Grab yourself a coffee, rub your temples, and hunker down, because this is going to take a minute

June 23, 2018

Huckabee Sanders was kicked out of a VA restaurant --

.@PressSec got kicked out of the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Va tonight. Apparently the owner didn’t want to serve her and her party out of moral conviction.


https://twitter.com/brennanmgilmore/status/1010406219243311105

June 23, 2018

Alternatives to Detaining Immigrant Families

The Tried-And-True Alternatives to Detaining Immigrant Families

https://www.aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/immigrants-rights-and-detention/tried-and-true-alternatives-detaining

June 22, 2018

"Shockingly difficult" to locate separated children

@ksieff
It is shockingly difficult for immigration attorneys to locate children separated from their parents at the border. Today I spoke to lawyers who represent more than 400 parents. They've located two children.

Some of the bureaucratic failures are remarkable: Border Patrol agents who forgot to note that a child crossed the border with a parent. Mothers who were never given the toll-free phone number where they can ask about their kids.

US officials often don't answer that toll-free number. When attorneys get through, officials respond that their client's child is "in the United States."

In other cases, children are transferred from one shelter to another, and the new facilities don't make note that the child was separated from a parent. Meaning they could be mistakenly considered an unaccompanied minor.

Much of the government's information about the child's parent -- necessary for reunification -- comes directly from the child. What kind of information can a toddler provide? And what if that toddler speaks an obscure indigenous language?

So what do attorneys tell their clients? One lawyer at @TRLA says this: “We have to say we don’t know where your child is. The government is responsible for keeping your child safe. No parent would be satisfied with that.”

Here's the story we just published. It's clear to me that there is no plan to reunify these families.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/the-chaotic-effort-to-reunite-immigrant-parents-with-their-separated-kids/2018/06/21/325cceb2-7563-11e8-bda1-18e53a448a14_story.html

https://twitter.com/ksieff/status/1009949212614774784

June 22, 2018

Trump's Family Separations Are Unconstitutional - details

Trump’s Family Separations Are Unconstitutional
The courts must award damages to families torn apart by the policy.

First of all, the 14th Amendment applies to every “person,” not just citizens: “No state shall … deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” The Supreme Court made that clear in 2001’s Zadvydas v. Davis, when it ruled that an alien’s detention would be considered illegal if it violated the Constitution.

Removing children from parents without due process is a constitutional violation under two Supreme Court cases: 1971’s Stanley v. Illinois and 1982’s Santosky v. Kramer. In both cases, the court held that parents have a constitutional right to the care and custody of their children under the 14th Amendment. This includes the right to due process if children are removed from their care.

... Parents thus do not lose their rights to due process under the 14th Amendment because they have been jailed or arrested. Unless she is declared unfit in a fair hearing, a parent who is arrested has the right to designate a caretaker or appoint a guardian. Federal laws governing funding for adoptions provide that if a child is in foster care for 15 of the past 22 months because of parental incarceration, the state can petition for parental rights to be terminated so the child can be freed for adoption. This is done in a court of law, following the law and procedures for fundamental fairness. The Trump administration did not follow these processes in rolling out its child-separation policy.

There is a fundamental problem with the Trump administration labeling people “criminals” before any sort of adjudication. Separation of powers forbids law enforcement from making determinations of guilt. Therefore, any attempt to punish people for a crime prior to adjudication violates the separation-of-powers doctrine and due process.

But even if parents and children are guilty of misdemeanors, the Eighth Amendment prohibits the infliction of “cruel and unusual punishment,” and it too applies to all “persons.” Trump administration officials have emphasized that the policy of family separation is a punishment designed as a deterrent. But the “crime” of illegal entry is a nonviolent misdemeanor. The administration decided that mere arrest for that misdemeanor was cause for family separation with a significant chance of no reunification.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/06/trumps-family-separation-policy-is-unconstitutional-its-time-for-the-courts-to-award-damages.html