Trump

[akiva]

[Mike]

And his daughter Tiffany.

[Cazmonster]

Does this mean we can suppress the voting rights of rich white people? We've mentioned three of them so far, that's plenty for me.

[Phoebe]

The rule of thumb we learned during the election was that whenever Trump and his team complain vigorously about something that doesn't seem like such a big deal, it's because they themselves are guilty as sin of that very thing, and they're projecting a fabricated version of their crime onto the opposition so as to make any eventual exposure of their own crime look merely "balanced" in comparison. Ergo when you hear a brand new note played in the daily bugling out of Ms. Conway, you realize that's what they've done, and she knows it, and thus it bubbles up to the surface. Everyone she talks to over there in the inner sanctum is registered to vote in two states? That's why they're bitching about the other side doing it, much like a cheater jealously accuses the partner of flirting with others.

This is an essential component of the Narcissist playbook and the whole team seems to have absorbed this methodology from their leader. I'm speculating it's what people in public verbal combat - like lawyers or negotiators or publicists or whoever - learn to do: any weakness or fault detected on their side of the line needs to be minimized by finding a parallel weakness or fault on the other side. Are you accusing US of malfeasance? Well, we accuse you of the same, times three! Never mind that we're actually guilty of it and you aren't! There are people who could literally take a dump in the middle of the floor and find a way to blame you for it by suggesting the toilet isn't clean enough and you've done the same thing before once in the woods, so what's your problem?

[Phoebe]

I guess it's fitting that Trump decided to honor the day when the Space Shuttle exploded by pulling families off of airplanes and turning away refugees. I will never forget this for the rest of my (functioning mental) life. Most of my ancestors came here to escape one of the following: starvation, war, religious persecution, political persecution.

[FlameBlade]

And so close to Holocaust Remembrance Day as well.

[Phoebe]

Well, this is it. Either federal employees and law enforcement follow the law now or they follow the President. And either Congress accepts this or not. Enough GOP Senators have spoken out that we may see a real response. We are about to find out whether we still live in a democracy or whether it's a dictatorship, for real. This is the most terrified I have been about our government in my life. I am terrified for co-workers or their families who will be affected. I think of friends who wouldn't be here today. They calculated this on purpose to cause chaos and maximum publicity. They wanted confusion and a big splash because they are sure most people will take the President's side and support the anti-democratic power seizure that now can be expected to follow. If he can overturn judges on this one, we are done. And yes as God is my witness every single person who voted for him knew or should have known he would do this and this is why they are all, to a person, in their deepest hearts, bigots.

Edited to add: Preibus is now walking back the green card thing. WTF does that even mean? They're lying outright about the numbers detained in airports - lawyers on the ground are reporting on flights coming in and have better figures.
I am serious: if people who voted for Trump do not denounce this, I personally think they are personally bigots, straight up, moral evil. I mean that is my aunt, cousins, brother and sister in law, all of them. Inhuman, indecent, insupportable behavior. I'd like to see how they personally feel when someone detains them and separates them from their own homes, spouses, and children.

[Mike]

[Phoebe]

The plan is to cause chaos so nobody knows what is happening. It is difficult to organize opposition when there is total confusion and misinformation and inconsistency. This is 100% planned to go down this way and the proof is that they didn't show it to any lawyers, didn't issue guidance for interpretation, have different people saying different things, and Bannon himself told DHS to apply it to green card holders knowing the scenes that would unfold in airports and the media. This is a public battle he thinks he will win, and once he does it will be so much easier to roll out the rest of the agenda, defying judges as needed, once all the thousands of extra law enforcement agents they're hiring are in place. This is a day, if you are not an outright bigot, to prove it. It is going to get so much worse from here. This is week 1. Where do we expect it to be at week 200?

[Cazmonster]

Don't these people realize I'm the fucking President?

We do realize you hold the office Donny. That's why we protest.

[Mike]

[Ronster]

[FlameBlade]

Well, bleep. While Muslim ban is swirling around, this had a little notice. I'm talking about executive order that rearranged National Security Council, based on who can attend such meetings. Bannon basically got in while DNI director and Joint Services Chief are cut out. So in short, NSC now all owned by Nazis and Intel community are cut out.

This is going to have a hell of consequences.

[Ronster]

[Cazmonster]

The people responsible for our security are not going to stand for this long, I hope.

[Phoebe]

The Republican Congress is not going to stand for this long, I hope. Let's be clear, if you favor this order, it means you are against LEGAL immigration. You want to block people who are legally authorized to be in the U.S., not just new people who might want to come here someday. In many cases the U.S. is the only home such people have. In my office are three people who have the same LEGAL immigration status as many of those currently being excluded; they own houses here, pay taxes here, have children here, and everything is here. My town is home to many legal refugees, who already are obviously making this community a better place. Their kids are going to college at higher than average rates, they're improving the test scores and climates of the elementary schools they attend, and in general we should be so lucky to have enhanced our world with such people. Now we are saying that we do not want any more of these people. We, almost all of whom are descended from immigrants and refugees, who do not have enough cheap labor to fuel our economy without ILLEGAL immigrants, are saying NO to more wonderful and LEGAL immigrants. We are barring the re-entry door to people who have been here and are supposed to be here now. We detained grandmothers in wheelchairs and orphaned teenagers who already had been approved to come here. There is no reason we could not have implemented this order in a manner that was not intentionally designed to cause the maximum chaos, fear, and difficulty. I am not morally okay with this and I would like to know how anyone can be morally okay with this.

[Phoebe]

Okay, I had enough bad news this weekend, and more is coming now that the work week is revved up again, so here are some lunchtime good newses:

Many who were unlawfully detained have been released.

The response from fellow citizens and people with real expertise who can help has been tremendous and encouraging.

24 million has been raised in this weekend by the ACLU, which is about a normal 5 years' worth of funding for them.

At least twenty GOP lawmakers came out fairly quickly with statements opposed, at least in part.

Heads of major corporations and universities and such have come out quickly in opposition.

The Koch brothers and other influential right-libertarian oriented groups came out publicly opposed, and in general they don't seem to favor the Nazi takeover represented by Bannon et al. I'm seeing a lot more pushback in the media focused on Bannon himself than I expected. I gotta tell you, I continue to feel pretty warmly toward the libertarians. I don't agree with them on everything, but the smart ones also know they're not anywhere near implementing the most extreme policy desires they might have, and in some cases their support of private property rights means they come out on the right side of fights like these pipeline issues. Why the hell should eminent domain be used to damage and threaten individual property owners on behalf of foreign companies that aren't even investing in access to a needed utility or jobs or taxes or other public benefits that would offset this affront to the foundation of our country? As I get older I guess I have a better appreciation of the way freedoms associated with private property are intimately and essentially linked to bill of rights freedoms.

[Cazmonster]

This terrifies me. Private intelligence and private security around a deeply disturbed man is what gets people, lots of people, killed.

[Phoebe]

[TheMaster]

President Trump has done nothing that is unconstitutional. That is all, carry on.