(image by Dan Sinker)
Well, I picked a hell of a time to take a day off. This is going to be a long one as a result.
Trump
Today, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, Trump signed an executive order banning immigration and refugees from predominantly Muslim countries in which he does not do business, from which zero 9/11 attackers originated. In an interview, he said that the US will prioritize Christian refugees.
The order prevents anyone from the seven countries from entering the US, including legal residents returning from trips abroad.
Dick Cheney–Dick Cheney!–says Trump’s order is “against everything we stand for”
It is illegal to discriminate against immigrants based on country of origin. The Council on American-Islamic Relations is filing a lawsuit to challenge the order.
Steve Bannon says, “The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while.” Kellyanne Conway says reporters should stop calling out Trump’s lies because it’s “dangerous to the democracy.” Carl Bernstein, in response:
We have now had, in the first week of the presidency, a series of untruths, falsehoods, as so many anchorpeople, as so many real reporters, have said, and the enemy here is not the opposition media, as Steve Bannon would have it, the enemy here is the truth. That the opposition is not the media; the opposition is becoming the truth. That is a very dangerous culture fact.
“Our president is a pathological liar. Say it. Write it. Never become inured to it.”
Slate: The First Week in Donald Trump’s Kleptocracy Was Very, Very Kleptocratic. Some new items in this list I had overlooked. Mother Jones’s roundup of Trump’s first week is kind of amazing.
President Donald Trump’s team made little effort to consult with federal agency lawyers or lawmakers as they churned out executive actions this week, stoking fears the White House is creating the appearance of real momentum with flawed orders that might be unworkable, unenforceable or even illegal.
The Trump administration has ordered federal employees not to communicate with Congress.
Trump now says the wall with Mexico will be paid for with a 20% tax on imports. Which means we will pay for it, because that is how import taxes work. Mexico is America’s biggest supplier of many fresh fruits and vegetables.
Trump claimed that Philadelphia’s murder rate has been “terribly increasing.” Philadelphia’s mayor says that’s false and insulting.
Trump is still using his old, insecure Android phone. Sean Spicer has twice tweeted his Twitter password by accident, and the recovery address is a Gmail account.
The leaks coming out of the Trump White House cast the president as a clueless child. “No shit,” says everyone who’s watched or read one of his interviews, ever.
Trump’s ban on public communications prevented Health and Human Services from publicizing the ACA enrollment deadline next week, including TV ads that were already paid for, but a day later, the restrictions have been lifted.
Russia
Mikhail Gorbachev says ‘it looks like the world is preparing for war’
Two FSB agents who worked in election hacking have been arrested for treason.
One of Christopher Steele’s suspected sources was found dead in his car in December
Part of Steele’s dossier alleged that Trump had been promised a 19% stake in Rosneft, the Russian state oil company. On December 7, Rosneft announced a 19.5% sale to unnamed parties.
Congress
A recording of a closed-door GOP meeting reveals that Republicans have no idea how to replace the Affordable Care Act, probably because that act was based on their own strategies from the mid-’80s.
Donald Trump is the sole reliable source of truth, says chair of House Science Committee
Cabinet & Federal Appointees
Gregg Phillips, Trump’s voting fraud “expert,” owes more than $100,000 in unpaid taxes, has lied on government job applications, and appears to have used his government positions for financial gain.
Voting
Pence vows ‘full evaluation of voting rolls’ over claims of fraud.
The Virginia state House has passed a bill that would change its electoral votes from winner-take-all to a congressional district system… based on gerrymandered districts.
Protests
Felony charges have been dropped against one of the six reporters arrested at the inauguration.
After a anti-fascist protester was shot at Milo Yiannopoulos’s speech at the University of Washington last week, the College Republicans posted this message:
If you keep prodding the right you may be unpleasantly surprised what the outcome will be. Youve obviously learned nothing after Trump’s election.
Malia Obama joined a Dakota Access Pipeline protest at Sundance.
What You Can Do
Everybody seems to like 5calls.org. Give it a try!
Thank you so much for doing this.