Immigration Ban Sends Shockwaves Constitutional Crisis

[seemslikeadream]

President Trump’s travel ban will leave his business partners untouched
Updated by Libby Nelson@libbyanelson Jan 28, 2017, 3:30pm EST

At his New Year’s Eve party at Mar-a-Lago, President Trump made a point of singling out a friend in the crowd: Hussain Sajwani. “Hussain and the whole family, the most beautiful people,” Trump said.

Sajwani is a billionaire who’s partnered with Trump to build two golf courses in Dubai. He’s also a Muslim. And if Sajwani had been born a hundred miles further east — in Iran rather than Dubai — Trump would have just banned his friend and business partner from the United States.

Trump, who promised a total and complete shutdown on Muslims entering the United States on the campaign trail, followed through Saturday with a ban on all refugees and on citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries.

Trump justified the ban as a national security move. But the giant loophole for “religious minorities” — which, in the Middle East, is likely to be persecuted Christians, as Trump said in an interview Saturday — makes his real motivation clear.

Meanwhile, Trump’s unprecedented decision to continue owning the businesses and buildings bearing his name around the world means that he maintains plenty of beneficial ties to the Muslim world. Beneficial to him, that is.

A golf course bearing Trump’s name is set to open in Dubai in the near future, with a second to follow next year. His hotel company hopes to build in Qatar and Saudi Arabia. He rents space in Trump Tower to Qatar Airways. The governments of Bahrain and Kuwait have spent money to celebrate events at his DC hotel.

There’s no evidence that Trump’s decision was driven by business concerns. The seven nations the executive order applies to — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen — were already flagged by the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department as either official sponsors of terrorism or “countries of concern,” and singled out in a law Congress passed in 2015 meant to make it more difficult for people who’d passed through those countries to enter the United States.

But the result is still that the president of the United States, who promised a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslim entry while campaigning, just closed the country to people from poor and war-torn countries seeking a better life, while continuing to profit off his investments in wealthier parts of the Middle East.

Trump’s business dealings enrich the citizens of the wealthiest parts of the region. His policies shut the door on the neediest.
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/ ... -countries

The big money behind Trump's tech deal is from Saudi Arabia

Donald Trump has taken credit for a Japanese tech conglomerate's plan to invest $50 billion in America.
True, Masayoshi Son, the billionaire founder and CEO of SoftBank (SFTBF), pledged Tuesday to invest the huge sum in U.S. startups. But that's only part of the story.
In reality, a big chunk of the cash is likely to come from the Saudi government.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Son said the source of the investment would be a $100 billion fund SoftBank launched in October with Saudi Arabia.

Related: The 'crazy' Japanese billionaire who met Trump has a 300-year plan

That fund, Softbank Vision, is part of Saudi Arabia's plan to become less dependent on oil.
SoftBank declined to comment, and Saudi officials were not available.
Still, the basic structure of SoftBank Vision is clear. SoftBank's head of strategic finance Rajeev Misra will run the London-based fund, but the Japanese company will have a minority stake.
Saudi Arabia has the biggest stake
SoftBank has pledged $25 billion over the next five years. Saudi Arabia is planning to contribute $45 billion over the same period from its Public Investment Fund.
The PIF was established in 1971. Its main purpose is to manage the Saudi government's investments in companies at home and abroad. Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has been leading PIF since March 2015, has revised its investment strategy to support the diversification away from oil.
SoftBank Vision's other backers have yet to be identified. Speaking in India last week, Son said he was talking to investors about the remaining $30 billion. He said the fund was already oversubscribed.
Related: Saudi prince: It's time for women to drive
Saudi Arabia has made a few big tech bets in recent months. In June, it bought a stake in Uber for $3.5 billion -- the company's biggest commitment from a single investor -- and last month poured $500 million into noon.com, a startup based in Riyadh that wants to be the Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) of the Middle East.
Relations between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have been strained recently by a new law allowing U.S. victims of the 9/11 attacks to sue the Kingdom.
Earlier this year, Saudi officials expressed concern that their assets in America could be seized as a result. But that fear appears now to have passed. The governor of the Saudi central bank said last month that Saudi investments would continue to enjoy sovereign immunity.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/12/07/technol ... abia-fund/

Saudi Arabia congratulates Trump, keen on enhancing ties with US
ARAB NEWS | Published — Tuesday 24 January 2017
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1043201/saudi-arabia#

These Countries with Business Links to Trump Aren’t Part of His Immigration Ban
Joseph Hincks
Jan 27, 2017
A little over a year ago, then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States," until the country's leadership could "figure out what is going on."
Along the campaign trail, he modified this blanket ban to a suspension of “immigration from terror-prone regions, where vetting cannot safely occur,” which he promised to enact during his first 100 days in office.
And now, a week into Trump's presidency, he has tried to make good on that promise—or, at least, partly so. A draft proposal of an executive order obtained by Bloomberg News reportedly shows that Trump is poised to suspend all entry to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Notably missing from the blacklist, however, are several Muslim-majority countries where Trump has business dealings, according to Bloomberg.
The news organization has put together a map of the proposed suspensions, with the Muslim-majority countries where Trump has business interests—Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan—rendered in yellow.

While Muslim-majority countries such as Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, and others are not included on the list, the omission of Turkey and Egypt may be argued as being seen at odds with Trump's definition. Both Turkey and Egypt endured high-profile terror attacks in 2016.The President has positions in two companies that may be related to business in Egypt, and has previously praised the country's autocratic leader, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. In Turkey, Trump has a licensing deal to use his name on two luxury towers in Istanbul.
http://fortune.com/2017/01/27/donald-tr ... -conflict/

I smell more lawsuits

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The decision led Mother Jones columnist Kevin Drum to conclude that the chaos caused by Trump’s executive order had been part of the White House plan.

But this looks more like deliberate malice to me. Bannon wanted turmoil and condemnation.

THE RIGHT WING
Steve Bannon Personally Overruled DHS Decision Not to Include Green Card Holders in Travel Ban: CNN
The mayhem could have easily been avoided.
By David Edwards / Raw Story January 29, 2017


Steve Bannon, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump, personally overruled a decision by the Department of Homeland Security not to include green card holders in the president’s temporary ban on travel from Muslim countries.

Protests erupted at airports across the country over the weekend after DHS agents began enforcing an executive order signed by Trump by detaining legal permanent residents who were returning from abroad. On Saturday, a federal judge stayed the detentions and ordered the green card holders to be released, but CNN reported that the mayhem could have been avoided if the White House had listened to the guidance of DHS lawyers in the first place.

Documents obtained by CNN showed that DHS initially determined that “lawful permanent residents are not included and may continue to travel to the USA.”

But Bannon personally intervened to counter the guidance from DHS lawyers.

“The White House overruled that guidance overnight, according to officials familiar with the rollout,” the CNN report said. “That order came from the President’s inner circle, led by Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon. Their decision held that, on a case by case basis, DHS could allow green card holders to enter the US.”

The decision led Mother Jones columnist Kevin Drum to conclude that the chaos caused by Trump’s executive order had been part of the White House plan.

“Whatever else he is, Steve Bannon is a smart guy, and he had to know that this would produce turmoil at airports around the country and widespread condemnation from the press,” Drum wrote. “In cases like this, the smart money is usually on incompetence, not malice. But this looks more like deliberate malice to me. Bannon wanted turmoil and condemnation. He wanted this executive order to get as much publicity as possible. He wanted the ACLU involved. He thinks this will be a PR win.”
http://www.alternet.org/right-wing/stev ... travel-ban

The ACLU says it got $24 million in donations this weekend, six times its yearly average
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/mor ... 2a2bfe847c

uh lost the Koch brothers

Tensions flare as Koch promises to hold Trump accountable
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... d77e8cafa9

Iraqi Lawmakers Urge Ban on U.S. Citizens, Threatening ISIS Fight
Rebecca Collard / Beirut
Updated: 6:09 AM CST | Originally published: Jan 29, 2017
Iraqi lawmakers voted Monday to approve a "reciprocity measure" that might see U.S. nationals banned from entering the country in retaliation against U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order on Iraqis in the U.S., a move that could hinder the fight against ISIS.
The Iraqi parliament’s foreign committee earlier issued a statement calling on the Iraqi government to act after President Trump controversially ordered that citizens from Iraq and six other Muslim-majority countries be refused entry to the U.S. for at least 90 days. “Iraq is on the front line of the war on terrorism,” said the statement, released Sunday. “It is unfair that the Iraqis are treated in this way.”
On Monday, the parliament voted to ask the government to retaliate, Reuters reports. It's not clear yet whether a ban on U.S. nationals is a realistic possibility; Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has not yet issued a public reaction to the order.
If a retaliatory ban were to be enacted it could impact thousands of American aid workers, contractors and journalists currently working in Iraq, as well as more than 5,000 U.S. military personnel there to aid Iraqi forces in their effort to oust ISIS from Mosul and the country.

On the Ground with the Elite Iraqi Troops Fighting to Free Mosul from ISIS
“This decision by the U.S. is arbitrary,” said Intisar Al-Jabbouri, a Sunni MP from the Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq. “The Iraqi government has the right to reciprocate.”
The U.S. withdrew troops from Iraq in 2011, but since ISIS captured swaths of Iraqi territory in 2014, it has slowly sent advisers, trainers and special forces back to the country. Their guidance — as well as weapons and funding – has been key to the fight against ISIS.
Iraqi forces are battling the militants of the so-called Islamic State in the neighborhoods of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city and the largest urban center still under ISIS control. American military advisers are nearby, helping to direct the fight.
“If Iraq were to ban U.S. citizens from traveling to Iraq it would have devastating consequences for our fight against ISIS, al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations,” said Chris Harmer, a senior analyst with the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War. “That’s just in the short term."
Nevertheless the idea has caught on in certain, influential circles. Moqtada al-Sadr, a powerful Shi‘ite cleric who led a violent insurgency in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion, quickly issued a statement saying Americans should leave. “It would be arrogant for you to enter freely to Iraq and other countries while barring them the entrance to your country,” Sadr said on his website, addressing the U.S. “And therefore you should get your nationals out.”
Other Iraqi leaders may be keen to see the Americans leave in the hope that Iran may fill the void left behind, rather than that simple reciprocity for President Trump’s ban on Iraqi nationals. “Those that are closely aligned with Iran might think this is a good idea — an opportunity to remove American influence from Iraq once and for all,” said Renad Mansour, an Academy Fellow for the Middle East and North Africa at Chatham House.
Mansour says Sadr, as well as Iranian-backed leaders, may use Trump's ban for their own political gains and take the opportunity to stoke anti-American sentiment. "Now they can say, 'I told you so.'"
It's possible Trump's order could exacerbate cracks in the already fragile coalition in Iraq, in which groups who receive support from the U.S. fight in concert with those who are backed by Iran. Iranian generals have been spotted on the front lines in key battles against ISIS, both in Iraq and Syria. Shi‘ite militias, many funded by Tehran, are ruthless fighters but have been accused of abuses against civilian populations, fueling sectarian tensions.
The Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of mostly Shi‘ite militias, also issued a statement on Sunday urging al-Abadi to kick out U.S. nationals. “It’s going to be tricky for al-Abadi to deal with,” said Mansour.
Despite the strong rhetoric and anti-American sentiment in response to Trump’s decision, lawmaker Jabbouri says it would be difficult for Iraq to approve and implement such a ban given the essential role the U.S. plays in both its military and humanitarian efforts. “There is a strategic need to keep American experts to ensure the sustainability of the coalition fight against ISIS,” she says.But if the Iraqi parliament gets its way, it could provide an opening for Iran to extend its influence on the country. The U.S. scaling-back of operations has already left room for an increasing Iranian presence, Harmer says. “Long term, it would complete the decline of U.S. strategic influence in Iraq and pave the way for Iran to increase their already significant influence over the Iraqi government." The effect, he says, would be "catastrophic."Iraqi Lawmakers Urge Ban on U.S. Citizens,

[MacCruiskeen]

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Prevent Donald Trump from making a State Visit to the United Kingdom.

Donald Trump should be allowed to enter the UK in his capacity as head of the US Government, but he should not be invited to make an official State Visit because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen.

Sign this petition


1,001,489 signatures

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"because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen."

27th January 2017
BREAKING NEWS: The Queen invites Donald Trump to the UK for a State Visit

Donald Trump has accepted an invitation from Her Majesty The Queen to visit the UK later this year for a State Visit. [...]

Out of the 12 presidents in Her Majesty’s reign, only five were ever invited for a State Visit. Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. President Trump will now become number six.

http://royalcentral.co.uk/uk/thequeen/b ... isit-75677

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[semper occultus]

....they need to earn their post-Brexit corn like the rest of us down the bloody salt-mines- if that involves some embarrasment then so be it quite frankly...

[seemslikeadream]

Petition
Prevent Donald Trump from making a State Visit to the United Kingdom.

Donald Trump should be allowed to enter the UK in his capacity as head of the US Government, but he should not be invited to make an official State Visit because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen.

Sign this petition


1,001,489 signatures

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/171928

"because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen."

27th January 2017
BREAKING NEWS: The Queen invites Donald Trump to the UK for a State Visit

Donald Trump has accepted an invitation from Her Majesty The Queen to visit the UK later this year for a State Visit. [...]

Out of the 12 presidents in Her Majesty’s reign, only five were ever invited for a State Visit. Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. President Trump will now become number six.

http://royalcentral.co.uk/uk/thequeen/b ... isit-75677

Keep Calm
and
Tug Your
Forelock

#HerMajestyTheResistance

Petition
Prevent Donald Trump from making a State Visit to the United Kingdom.

Donald Trump should be allowed to enter the UK in his capacity as head of the US Government, but he should not be invited to make an official State Visit because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen.

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[seemslikeadream]

Google Doodle Honors Fred Korematsu, Activist Who Fought U.S. Internment of Japanese Americans
Tara John
8:31 AM CST
Civil rights activist Fred Korematsu, an Oakland native who fought the government's internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, was honored by Google Doodle on Monday on what would have been his 98th birthday.
Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the infamous Executive Order 9066, which forced about 115,000 American citizens of Japanese descent to live in designated military zones. The internment is now seen as an ugly moment in American history, in which fear outweighed tolerance.
Korematsu, the son of Japanese immigrants, refused to go into the government's internment camps and was arrested and convicted of breaking military law. With the help of the ACLU, Korematsu appealed in the landmark Supreme Court case of Korematsu v. United States, but in 1944 the court ruled against him. He and his family were then sent to the Central Utah War Relocation Center until the end of the war in 1945.
Korematsu's conviction was overturned in 1983 when evidence came to light that showed the FBI knew there was no serious evidence that America's Japanese population was helping the enemy. TIME wrote:
The Supreme Court precedent would still stand, but the judge who cleared Korematsu's conviction declared in her ruling that, in the words of the report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation, "Korematsu lies overruled in the court of history."
Korematsu remained an activist throughout his life, becoming a member of the National Coalition for Redress and Reparations, where he lobbied for a bill that would grant an official apology from the government and compensation of $20,000 for the Japanese Americans who were held in internment camps. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the reparations legislation and redress into law.President Bill Clinton awarded Korematsu the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998. The medal is seen in the Google Doodle drawn by Sophie Diao, who is also a child of Asian immigrants. Korematsu's birthday, Jan. 30, is now officially recognized as Fred Korematsu Day in Hawaii, Virginia, California and Florida.
http://time.com/4653228/google-doodle-f ... -activist/

[seemslikeadream]

Immigrant Ban, 1921, 1924, 1939 Through 1943 — A Family History
01/30/2017 06:35 am ET | Updated 1 hour ago

Alan Singer
Social studies educator, Hofstra University, my opinions, of course, are my own
Dear President Trump and members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives,

I strongly oppose the executive order banning refugees from war zones and immigrants and visitors from largely Muslim countries. As an American Jew, I want to share some of my family history.

My grandfather Solomon had two brothers, Avram and David. They were Jews from a small village, Burshtyn or an even smaller nearby village that’s name is lost, in Galicia, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Records are confusing but we think he arrived in the United States in 1909. Avram, the oldest of the brothers, was already here. My grandmother Fanny joined Solomon in 1913, just before the outbreak of World War I. My father, Mandel, was born in the United States in 1920, the third of their four children.

In 1921 the United States passed a quota law sharply restricting immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe. Technically the quota was by region, but a major purpose was to keep out Jews who many in Congress considered incapable of assimilation. The restrictions were tightened in 1924 further cutting off Jewish immigration to this country.

Unable to immigrate to the United States, David and his wife moved to Berlin in Germany where they had two sons, my father’s first cousins, and eventually prospered in the garment trade. Toward the end of the 1930s, with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in power in Germany, David and his wife decided they had to leave Germany. Unable to get permission to come to the United States because of the quota system and the refusal of this country to accept refugees, they eventually escaped to Palestine which was a British mandate.

The family struggled in Palestine and decided that they had to make another attempt to join David’s brothers in the United States. Somehow they made it to Marseilles, France where David could secure only one entry permit. They decided his wife and two children would return to Burshtyn, now part of Poland, and stay with David’s father, my great-grandfather, until David could arrange for them to join him in the United States.

In September 1941 Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west and the Soviet Army invaded from the east. My father’s aunt, cousins, and grandfather, along with the other Burshtyners, were trapped in the Soviet zone but remained safe. However in June 1941 Germany declared war on the Soviet Union and in August took control over Jewish regions in Galicia. At this point the family in the United States lost contact with family in Poland. The rest of the story is more general history.

The Nazi occupiers ordered Polish Jews to relocate into ghettos and wear Star-of-David armbands. In December 1941 Germans confiscated fur coats from Jews. In March 1942 the Gestapo allies in the Ukrainian militia started rounding up Jews and shooting them. Thousands died. In October 1942 the Jews of Burshytn were driven into a ghetto in the larger town of Rohatyn, about ten miles north. We assume our family was part of that forced migration. In December 1942 all Jews in the local hospital, about two hundred, along with over a thousand other Jews were sent to the Belzec concentration camp where they died in the gas chamber. We do not know if family members were among this group. In June 1943 the last Jews left in Rohatyn were forced to dig their own graves and then shot to death.

In the United States, families knew their relatives were dead, but the extent of the European Holocaust was so great, and with a war going on, it was impossible to learn any details. After the war that region of Poland became part of the Ukraine and records were unavailable. American survivors placed an obelisk in honor of their dead in the Burshtyner Society plot in a cemetery in Queens, New York.

When talking of the European Holocaust, American Jews swear to “Never Forget.” The Trump administration has either forgotten or is choosing to ignore the consequences of United States actions during that period and is pursuing a similar immigration and refugee policy. This is inhumane and unacceptable. I pledge to do all in my power to help reverse this Trumpian human tragedy.

Sincerely,
Alan Singer

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-sing ... 91076.html

[seemslikeadream]

No, Trump, Not on Our Watch
Charles M. Blow
Charles M. Blow JAN. 30, 2017

Protesters outside the White House on Sunday. Credit Jim Lo Scalzo/European Pressphoto Agency
When Barack Obama was in office — remember the good old days, just over a week ago, when we didn’t wake up every morning and wonder what new atrocity was emanating from the White House — Republicans were apoplectic about his use of executive orders. They called them “unilateral edicts” and “power grabs.” As Iowa Senator Charles Grassley once said in a floor speech: “The president looks more and more like a king that the Constitution was designed to replace.”

What a difference a week makes.

Now many of those Republicans are as quiet as church mice as Donald Trump pumps out executive orders at a fevered pitch, doing exactly what he said he’d do during the campaign, for all of those who were paying attention: advancing a white nationalist agenda and vision of America, whether that be by demonizing blacks in the “inner city,” Mexicans at the border or Muslims from the Middle East.

Trump’s America is not America: not today’s or tomorrow’s, but yesterday’s.

Trump’s America is brutal, perverse, regressive, insular and afraid. There is no hope in it; there is no light in it. It is a vast expanse of darkness and desolation.

And that is a vision of America that most of the people in this country cannot and will not abide. That is a vision of America that has galvanized ordinary American citizens in opposition in a way that is almost without precedent. We are inching toward anarchy as both the people and the president refuse to back down.

Not only is Trump a literacy-lite, conspiracy-chasing, compulsively lying bigot, he is also a narcissistic workaholic who now wields the power of the presidency. You could not have conceived of a more dangerous combination of characteristics. He is the paragon of the clueless and an idol of the Ku Kluxers. Already, people feel deluged by a never-ending flood of national damage and despair. But Americans are not prone to suffering in silence. America’s period of mourning has ended; the time of anger and active opposition has dawned. The greatest two motivators of electoral activism in this country are a desire for change and durable fear: In Trump, those two are wed.

The most recent move to excite and outrage the opposition was Trump’s move to “indefinitely suspend the resettlement of Syrian refugees and temporarily ban people from seven predominantly Muslim nations from entering the United States,” according to a New York Times editorial.

The ban is nonsensical and likely unconstitutional, as well as chaotic and damaging to our national security interests.

As The Times noted Saturday: “Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, no one has been killed in the United States in a terrorist attack by anyone who emigrated from or whose parents emigrated from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, the seven countries targeted in the order’s 120-day visa ban, according to Charles Kurzman, a sociology professor at the University of North Carolina.”

The report continued: “There was a random quality to the list of countries: It excluded Saudi Arabia and Egypt, where the founders of Al Qaeda and many other jihadist groups have originated. Also excluded are Pakistan and Afghanistan, where persistent extremism and decades of war have produced militants who have occasionally reached the United States. Notably, perhaps, the list avoided Muslim countries where Mr. Trump has major business ventures.”

Furthermore, as CNN reported on Sunday, on Friday night the Department of Homeland Security decided that the restrictions “did not apply to people with lawful permanent residence, generally referred to as green card holders.”

The report continued, however: “The White House overruled that guidance overnight, according to officials familiar with the rollout. That order came from the President’s inner circle, led by Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon.”

Yes, that Steve Bannon, the one who was recruited to the Trump campaign from his job as executive chairman of Breitbart News and is now Trump’s chief strategist, the one who said of Breitbart to Mother Jones in July: “We’re the platform for the alt-right.” Alt-right is just a slick, euphemistic repackaging and relabeling of white nationalists, whether they be white separatists, white supremacists or actual Nazis.

Also, as The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, Trump added Bannon to the National Security Council while removing the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This is outrageous. What does Bannon know about national security? It is becoming worrisome that in this reign of bigotry, Bannon may be the brain and Trump the brawn; Bannon the spiritual president and Trump the spurious packaging.

America will not stand for this, so if obsequious conservative politicians or lily-livered liberal ones won’t sufficiently stand up to this demagogic dictator, then the American people will do the job themselves.

Over the weekend, protesters spontaneously popped up at airports across the country to send an unambiguous message: Not in our name; not on our watch. It is my great hope that this will be a permanent motif of Trump’s term. If no one else is going to fight for American values, it falls to the American people themselves to do so.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/30/opin ... .html?_r=0

Trump Advisor's Son Deletes Twitter After Calling Executive Order A 'Muslim Ban'

ByESME CRIBB

PublishedJANUARY 29, 2017, 2:59 PM EDT

Michael G. Flynn, the son of President Donald Trump's national security adviser, apparently deleted his Twitter account on Sunday after referring to the executive order Trump signed Friday night as a "Muslim ban."

In multiple tweets posted on Saturday and Sunday, the younger Flynn referred to Trump's executive order banning refugees and immigrants from certain countries from entering the United States with the hashtag "#MuslimBan."

"Its (sic) called using a trending hashtag," he replied to CNN host Jake Tapper, apparently attempting to walk back the implication of his tweets that the President signed an executive order to specifically block Muslim immigration (as Trump repeatedly promised to do on the campaign trail).







The younger Flynn's Twitter feed was littered with links to fake news articles, including "Pizzagate"-related tweets, and retweets from members of the white nationalist alt-right before its disappearance.

His account was unavailable Sunday afternoon, but remains accessible via the Internet Archive, which saves copies of webpages.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/m ... muslim-ban

[seemslikeadream]

State Dept. Officials Draft Dissent Memo After Trump’s Ban
Hundreds of career foreign service officers are likely to sign onto an official dissent memo opposing President Donald Trump’s executive order, which instituted a ban on refugees and other travel from seven Muslim-majority countries, according to Lawfare. The blog also obtained a draft of the memo, which signals a significant policy disagreement and must be responded to by senior-level State Department officials within 30 to 60 days. After green-card holders and other individuals who have valid visas were detained at U.S. airports and, in some cases, blocked from boarding flights to the U.S., Republican senators including John McCain and Lindsey Graham came out against the executive order, saying it could harm our national security and the fight against terrorism.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/201 ... rce=copyur

BREAKING NEWS: Full Text of Draft Dissent Channel Memo on Trump Refugee and Visa Order

By Benjamin Wittes, Susan Hennessey, Quinta Jurecic Monday, January 30, 2017, 9:25 A
Omphalos: Middle East Conflict in Perspective


Consider this a major bureaucratic uprising on the part of career foreign service officers against the President on his executive order on refugees.

Numerous Foreign Service officers and other diplomats have drafted a dissent memo expressing opposition to President Donald Trump’s executive order banning refugees and immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the United States. ABC reported this morning on the draft, which is likely to be submitted today.

Here’s a copy of the actual draft. We are hearing that literally hundreds of foreign service officers are planning to be party to the dissent memo; it’s still unclear exactly how many. We have redacted all names and personally identifiable information from this document.


The State Department’s Dissent Channel is a mechanism for employees to confidentially express policy disagreement, created in 1971 as a response to concerns within the Department over the government’s handling of the Vietnam War. Authors of a memo submitted through the Channel, which is open to all regular employees of the State Department and USAID, may not be subject to any penalty or disciplinary action in response. Once a memo is submitted, the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff must acknowledge its receipt within two working days and will usually distribute it to the Secretary of State, the Deputy Secretary of State, the Under Secretary for Political Affairs, the Chairperson of the Open Forum, and, if the memo’s author is employed by USAID, by the head of that agency as well. Taking into account the wishes of the author, the memo may also be distributed more broadly within the State Department and may be done so anonymously.

The ultimate significance of the channel is that memos must receive a substantive response within 30-60 working days.
https://lawfareblog.com/breaking-news-f ... visa-order

[seemslikeadream]

Petition
Prevent Donald Trump from making a State Visit to the United Kingdom.

Donald Trump should be allowed to enter the UK in his capacity as head of the US Government, but he should not be invited to make an official State Visit because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen.

Sign this petition


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https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/171928

"because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen."

27th January 2017
BREAKING NEWS: The Queen invites Donald Trump to the UK for a State Visit

Donald Trump has accepted an invitation from Her Majesty The Queen to visit the UK later this year for a State Visit. [...]

Out of the 12 presidents in Her Majesty’s reign, only five were ever invited for a State Visit. Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. President Trump will now become number six.

http://royalcentral.co.uk/uk/thequeen/b ... isit-75677

Keep Calm
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Tug Your
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#HerMajestyTheResistance

Petition
Prevent Donald Trump from making a State Visit to the United Kingdom.

Donald Trump should be allowed to enter the UK in his capacity as head of the US Government, but he should not be invited to make an official State Visit because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen.

More details
Donald Trump's well documented misogyny and vulgarity disqualifies him from being received by Her Majesty the Queen or the Prince of Wales. Therefore during the term of his presidency Donald Trump should not be invited to the United Kingdom for an official State Visit.

Sign this petition
1,511,281 signatures

[seemslikeadream]

acting Attorney General tells Justice Dept not to defend Trump order

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/30/politics/ ... f-justice/

Acting attorney general 'tells justice department lawyers not to defend Trump travel ban' – live
Sally Yates ‘not convinced’ order is legal, reports say
Border agents defy court order, congressmen and lawyers say
Opinion: Muslim ban has brought the US close to constitutional crisis
Have you been affected by Trump’s migration ban? Share your experience
Live updates from the US and around the world
Attorney general tells justice department lawyers not to defend travel ban – reports

CNN is reporting that Sally Yates, acting attorney general, has advised justice department lawyers not to defend Trump’s travel ban.

According to CNN, Yates – who is an Obama appointee in the role until Trump’s nominee, Jeff Sessions, is approved – “does not believe the substance of the order is lawful”.

The New York Times also reports from a letter reportedly sent by Yates to justice department lawyers:

I am responsible for ensuring that the positions we take in court remain consistent with this institution’s solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is right.

At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the executive order is consistent with these responsibilities nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/liv ... tests-live

go ahead and fire her trumpty dumbty

[seemslikeadream]

Acting Attorney General has been fired

Trump has fired the acting attorney general who ordered Justice Dept. not to defend president’s restrictions on immigration
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/na ... d823b238e5

Monday night massacre

how independent is the Department of Justice going to be?

we'll see tomorrow

this is historic ...everything is happening faster than the speed of light

Sessions may not get confirmed ..that would be nice

Washington attorney general sues to block Trump immigration ban
http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch ... ration-ban

Microsoft joins Amazon in lawsuit over Trump's immigration ban
http://www.theverge.com/2017/1/30/14447 ... an-lawsuit

Amazon, Expedia and Microsoft to support Washington state lawsuit on Trump immigration order
https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/30/amazo ... ion-order/

Biggest Lawsuit Yet Filed Against Donald Trump’s Immigration Order
CAIR sued the president for what they call a “Muslim Exclusion Order” that allegedly barred a man’s pregnant wife, a doctor, and others.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... order.html

AG Healy to join ACLU suit against Trump immigration ban
Jan 30, 2017, 8:44pm EST
Attorney General Maura Healey is planning to join a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts on behalf of two UMass professors against President Donald Trump's immigration ban, sources say.
http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/ ... trump.html

Nixon lasted 10 months after Cox was fired

5 women judges told trumpty dumbty to go to hell....and he had to listen to them

Constitution stands ...so far

[barracuda]

Acting Attorney General has been fired

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[seemslikeadream]

Jeff Sessions you're gonna have to slow your roll homie

Slow ride, take it easy - Slow ride, take it easy


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcCNcgoyG_0


Woo

I'm in the mood, the rhythm is right,
Move to the music yea, we can roll all night, yea.
Oooh, oooh ...

[seemslikeadream]

trumpty dumbty just fired head of immigration enforcement

West Wing Reports ‏@WestWingReport 55s55 seconds ago
President has fired a second top official: head of ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement's Ragsdale)

West Wing Reports ‏@WestWingReport 53m53 minutes ago
Yates, fired tonight as acting AG spent 20+ years as a prosecutor. Perhaps best known case: domestic terrorist Eric Rudolph (Olympic bomber)

go here and trump donald

http://trumpdonald.org