Well, folks, we’re officially past the halfway point of Trump’s first term (assuming he serves a whole one, though I suspect everybody reading this hopes he does not). And true to the last two years, this past week was a wild roller coaster ride; I think more than a few of us were a little green by the time it ended. But at least we got some good news as we cruised to a stop.

Events to Know

Shutdown Roller Coaster Ends (For Now).  Mitch McConnell finally allowed a vote on legislation to reopen government this past week, after the House had passed ten different bills on the subject. Since he’s Mitch McConnell, and therefore terrible, he scheduled two votes: One for House legislation that had already passed, and one for Trump’s bonkers bad-faith bill from last week. Unsurprisingly, neither bill passed; what was surprising was the minor mutiny McConnell found on his hands between the six GOP Senators that voted for the Dem bill and the GOP lunchroom fight the same day (to say nothing of all the protests that happened outside his offices). Eventually, and improbably, Trump agreed to the House version the next day, so a continuing resolution that lasts until February 15th was signed into law by the end of the evening, and federal employees ostensibly are receiving back pay by the end of the week.

Key Links:

1. Slate – Both Senate Bills to End the Shutdown Failed—but That’s Progress
2. Washington Post – ‘This is Your fault’: GOP Senators Clash Over Shutdown Inside Private Luncheon
3. Associated Press – Police Called to Shutdown Protest at McConnell Office
4. New York Times – Trump Signs Bill Reopening Government for 3 Weeks in Surprise Retreat From Wall
5. The Hill – Mulvaney: Federal Employees Should Receive Back Pay by the End of the Week

Stone Cold Indictment.  Roger Stone was arrested and taken into custody before dawn on Friday morning, charged with several counts of lying, witness tampering and obstruction of justice. Though the actual charges are fairly mild, the facts of the indictments are anything but; they essentially connect Stone directly to both Wikileaks and the Trump campaign ahead of the 2016 DNC Russian hack. By the time that I write t his on Monday, Stone is already out on a personal bond and giving interviews. Needless to say, the connections between Trump, his associates, and Russia are getting so convoluted and numerous that many of us need a road map.

Key Links:

1. Washington Post – Longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone Indicted by Special Counsel in Russia Investigation
2. New York Times – Indicting Roger Stone, Mueller Shows Link Between Trump Campaign and WikiLeaks
3. ABC – Roger Stone, Ahead of Arraignment, Won’t Categorically Rule Out Cooperation Agreement With Special Counsel
4. New York Times – Trump and His Associates Had More Than 100 Contacts With Russians Before the Inauguration

State of the Union Showdown. This week also continued the surreal back-and-forth between the Speaker of the House and the “Dealmaker”-In-Chief that began last week with Pelosi’s strongly-worded letter. Although it initially looked like 45 would content himself with petty airplane power moves, he announced by letter midweek that he planned to come to the House to give his State of the Union despite being uninvited. Without Pelosi’s invitation, however, he doesn’t have the legal right to take the podium, and she made it clear that no invitation was forthcoming while the shutdown was ongoing. By midweek, Trump was the one to blink first, which probably impacted some of the shutdown news above. Since the shutdown is now over, Pelosi has issued another invitation for February 5. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has also invited Stacey Abrams to give the official response. So this will be an interesting State of the Union, to say the least.

Key Links:

1. New York Times – Nancy Pelosi Presses Case to Delay State of the Union Address
2. Time – President Trump Tells Nancy Pelosi He Will Deliver State of the Union Address to Congress Next Week Despite Delay Request
3. CBS – Pelosi Tells Trump She Won’t Let Him Deliver State of the Union from House Chamber
4. The Hill – Trump to Delay State of the Union Until After Shutdown
5. Washington Post – Democrats Tap Georgia’s Stacey Abrams to Deliver the Response to Trump’s State of the Union Address

Recent Resilience

LA Teachers’ Strike Successfully Concludes.  The LA teacher’s union strike successfully concluded this week, winning terms such as classroom size caps and nurses at every school. The superintendent noted that though “40 years of under-investment [can’t be fixed] in a week,” the strike settlement represented a good start. Between this and the air traffic controllers’ impact on the government shutdown, this week had some powerful messages about the value of organizing.

Key Links:

1. New York Times – Los Angeles Teachers’ Strike to End as Deal Is Reached
2. ABC – LA teachers’ Deal to End Strike Offers Higher Salaries, Smaller Class Sizes                                                         

Things to Watch

Immigration Update.  On the same day the shutdown ended, the Trump administration started sending asylum seekers back to Mexico per the agreement they negotiated with the Mexican government.  Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen called the move “unprecedented,” and she’s probably right about that, because it’s also illegal as well as ill-advised.  Mexico is only grudgingly on board, calling the new policy “a unilateral move by the United States that we have to respond to,” so we might see pushback on that front.   And on top of everything else, as Vox notes, the whole thing is basically on countdown to a lawsuit.  I’ll definitely keep folks posted on developments as they happen.

Key Links:

1. Reuters – U.S. to Start Returning Asylum Seekers to Mexico on Friday
2. NPR – Trump Administration Will Send Asylum-Seekers To Mexico While Claims Are Processed
3. New York Times – U.S. Will Send Migrants Back to Mexico as They Wait on Asylum Claims
4. Vox – The US is Sending Some Legal Asylum Seekers Back to Mexico

Attorney General Vote Postponed.  Democrats have raised concerns about whether Attorney General nominee William Barr would allow the Mueller investigation to continue unimpeded, which has ultimately resulted in a one-week delay in his confirmation vote.  The delay has given two senators, Chuck Grassley and Richard Blumenthal, an opportunity to introduce bipartisan legislation that would compel Robert Mueller to release a summary of his report to Congress and the public–which would obviate concern that Barr might bury any findings.  But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has blocked this type of legislation before, so we’ll need to see if it reaches the Senate floor (and call regularly if it doesn’t).

Key Links:

1. Washington Post – Senate Panel Postpones William Barr’s Confirmation Vote Amid Democrats’ Concerns
2. Politico – Senate Judiciary Committee Delays Vote on Barr
3. CNN – Republican, Democrat Introduce Senate Bill to Aid Public Release of Mueller Report

Actions for Everyone

Many of us will be hit hard this week with a polar vortex storm that will drop down the temperatures to -30 with a wind chill effect that goes down to -50. Stay safe, stay inside, go outside only in cases of emergencies. It’s crazy out there. Yet Donald Trump keeps being in the wrong side of history, claiming climate change and global warming are not real. It’s like a very long sequel to Idiocracy… I’m over it.

Global Warming is real (duh!) –  Last Monday, President Trump tweeted “What the hell is going on with Global Warming? Please come back fast, we need you!” when talking about the crazy cold weather the Midwest is seeing this week.

There are no doubts Global Warming is happening and it isn’t stopping. Scientists have proven time and time again that it is not a natural phenomenon but a very real consequence of human activity that promotes greenhouse gases. So, what can we do?

I feel the current discourse on climate change is centered on the individual and what each of us can do to help promote a healthier environment. And yes, using reusable things, stopping plastic use, cutting down on meat or factory farmed animal products are all good decisions but in the bigger picture, we’re not the culprits of large greenhouse gas emissions. It’s corporations (led on by government policy); and we need to hold them accountable.

Check out the Union of Concerned Scientists. They have different campaigns you can join and help out with that tackle corporations (specifically fossil fuel ones), lobbying against science and our government’s constant anti-science stance.

Shutdown over; lets keep it that way – Well the shutdown is over but it may start all over again come February 15th. We have 2 weeks to call them repeatedly and enforce that we will not leave thousands of federal workers without pay as our government keeps being used as blackmail for a madman’s (our president) wishes.

We don’t want a wall. We want to keep the government open. We want all workers to get backpay for the days they were furloughed.

Call your reps.

And now for Things That Made Me Smile–

This story of a thicc dog who got adopted and found a forever home.

Shoebill storks, cause they look like Jim Henson puppets and I love them.

This was a really weird week even by our ordinary standards, but it was also rage inducing; no one has a good time when the shutdown has hit the one-month mark.  (I don’t mind admitting that I may have yelled things several times while drafting.  I regret nothing, although my dog may feel otherwise.)

Events to Know

Russia Investigation Updates.   In true all-star lawyer fashion, Rudy Giuliani toured a couple of press circuits this week and now Trump looks even more guilty of collusion.  The latest is that Giuliani admitted Trump worked on the Moscow Tower project until October or November 2016–far, far later than anybody had previously admitted.  He also acknowledged that Trump talked to Cohen about his testimony on the subject beforehand, calling it “perfectly normal” for them to discuss what Cohen was going to say to Congress ahead of time.  There was also some back-and-forth about whether aides had been guilty of collusion, which he contextualized by saying “I never said there was no collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia.  (Yikes.)  Meanwhile, we still don’t know what Trump said to Putin in their five meetings and the Senate couldn’t stop the administration from lifting sanctions against one of Putin’s buddies.  So there’s a lot going on right now.

Key links:

1. Politico – Giuliani: Trump Tower Moscow Talks May Have Lasted ‘As Far As’ October or November 2016
2. The Guardian – Trump May Have Spoken to Cohen Before False Testimony to Congress – Giuliani
3. CNN – Rudy Giuliani says Trump Didn’t Collude with Russia but Can’t Say If Campaign Aides Did
4. New York Times – Trump and Putin Have Met Five Times. What Was Said Is a Mystery.
5. Bloomberg – GOP-Run Senate Backs End to Sanctions on Firms Tied to Putin Ally
6. Washington Post – McConnell Courting Pompeo to Run for an Open Senate Seat in Kansas

Immigration Updates.  This was another bad, bad week in immigration news, y’all. An inspector general report issued this week in an attempt to fix the zero-tolerance policy mess admitted that the number of children separated from their parents under the policy may be thousands higher than initially believed, because the administration began the practice almost a year before they publicly acknowledged it.  The report also acknowledged that we don’t have exact numbers, only rough estimates, because the administration didn’t bother to track the families they separated at all.  Investigators also found that, under the Trump administration, percentages of separated children in custody increased more than tenfold over the past two years.  And though DACA recipients got a bit of good news when the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal on the subject, four volunteers from No More Deaths were not so lucky–a federal judge convicted them of misdemeanors for leaving food and water for migrants crossing an Arizona wildlife refuge.  The women could face up to six months in federal prison for their relief work, and there’s some speculation that the arrests were retaliatory, because they occurred shortly after No More Deaths filmed CBP agents dumping water.  For those of you less familiar with that stretch of the border, I cannot stress enough that it is notorious for killing many, many people who attempt to cross through it–Humane Borders estimates over 3,200 people have died in the region while attempting to cross it over the past twenty years.  These are the first convictions for this type of humanitarian work in more than a decade.

Key links:

1. Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General – Separated Children Placed in Office of Refugee Resettlement Care
2. Washington Post – IG: Trump Administration Took Thousands More Children from Parents
3. Associated Press – Supreme Court Inaction Suggests DACA Safe for Another Year
4. The Hill – Four Women Found Guilty after Leaving Food and Water for Migrants in Arizona Desert
5. The Guardian – Arizona: Four women Convicted after Leaving Food and Water in Desert for Migrants

Vexing Viral Video News.  Footage went viral of a teen from Covington Catholic High School blocking the path of Nathan Phillips, a Vietnam vet, and Omaha elder, as the latter tries to lead a small group through during the Indigenous People’s March.  The teen eventually issued a statement that he was ‘trying to diffuse the situation’ and that he was ‘provoked’.  A longer video does show that the students were being taunted by a group of four or five adults, but shows Phillips lead a small group forward to de-escalate, much as he originally described in his Saturday CNN interview.  Some short videos also illustrate that the students completely surrounded the group of indigenous people, yelling and gesturing in what may fairly be read as a threatening manner.  And the next day, videos began circulating of some students from Covington Catholic harassing female passers-by shortly before the much more viral video began (one of which captured a cringe-worthy and clearly audible “It’s not rape if you enjoy it!”).  Needless to say, the narrative is kind of a muddled mess at this point.

Key links:

1. CNN – Native American Elder Nathan Phillips, in His Own Words
2. Cincinnati Enquirer – Covington Catholic Student from Incident at the Indigenous Peoples March Issues Statement With His Side of the Story
3. Washington Post – Viral Standoff Between a Tribal Elder and a High Schooler is More Complicated Than it First Seemed

Recent Resilience

Trans Rights Twitch Stream.   This weekend, UK Youtuber Hbomberguy began a spontaneous twitch stream of Donkey Kong 64 to support Mermaids, a trans rights organization that under funding threat due to moral panic caused by ‘faulty’ reporting.  Incredibly, the stream went on for 57 straight hours, during which time it raised over $340,000 and drew cameo calls from everybody from Lindsay Ellis to Chelsea Manning to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  As Hbomberguy himself noted on the twitch stream, the sheer success of the event highlights how many people believe trans rights are human rights–which is particularly welcome timing given the news below.

Key links:

1. PinkNews –  MailOnline Apologises for ‘Incorrectly’ Reporting on Mermaids’ Hormones Stance
2. Newsweek – Twitch Stream Pulls in $250,000 for Mermaids Charity, Featuring Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Owen Jones and More
3. I news – Gamer live-streams 57-hour Donkey Kong marathon to raise £250,000 for trans children charity after National Lottery funding gets reviewed

Things to Watch

Consequences of Shutdown (Redux).  Another week of shutdown means more mess to untangle–although in this case, it sure feels like more than a week’s worth.  The most obvious and immediate effect is that airport checkpoints are becoming dicey, because more and more TSA employees are (understandably) unable to come in and it’s forcing security lanes to close.  But we’re also seeing trickle-down effects in our domestic violence shelter system, and our firefighting and cybersecurity systems are suffering as well.  If this continues, we can expect our federal court system and diplomacy structures to start malfunctioning too, because they will run out of money soon.  And it’s looking likely to continue, because Trump is recalling over 50,000 furloughed workers without pay, and signaled he might be recalling even more workers in the near future.  Meanwhile, his latest ‘offer’ for the wall money he’s demanding was protection for Dreamers that he’s legally obligated to give anyway because the Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the matter (which means injunctions preventing him from ending the program are still in effect).  Against this backdrop, it’s little wonder even Cardi B had things to say on the subject.

Key links:

1. Fortune – Shutdown Pushes TSA to Start Closing Some Airport Security Lanes
2. Washington Post – Government Shutdown: Drawn to the Brink, Domestic Violence Shelters Worry Life-or-Death Services to Women Could Be Imperiled
3. New York Times – Federal Courts, Running Out of Money, Brace for Shutdown’s Pain
4. ABC – Shutdown Hits US Diplomats Overseas, Even as State Department Calls Employees Back for Next Two Weeks
5. Bloomberg – Trump Orders Thousands Back to Work Without Pay to Blunt Shutdown Disruption
6. Nation – Trump’s Big Offer to End the Government Shutdown Is Just Another Scam

2020 Candidates Emerge.  As we move forward into 2019, it’s unsurprising that Democrat candidates are beginning to throw their hats into the ring for 2020.  In addition to Senator Elizabeth Warren and Hawaii rep Tulsi Gabbard, who declared their intent to run last week, we’ve now also got Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris and San Antonio mayor Julián Castro stepping forward.  They join candidates who announced prior to 2019, of course, and several major outlets are keeping track of all the current contenders (as well as those likely to add their names).  All told, it’s going to be a pretty crowded ring, but there will be an unprecedented four women running this election.  (Hilariously, the Hill reports that Trump is already trailing several of them in polls.)

Key links:

1. Washington Post – Warren’s Jump into the Presidential Campaign Kicks the 2020 Race into High Gear
2. CNN – Tulsi Gabbard Announces 2020 Run
3. New York Times – Kamala Harris Declares Candidacy, Evoking King and Joining Diverse Field
4. CNN – Julián Castro Officially Announces 2020 Presidential Bid
5. Rolling Stone – The RS Politics 2020 Democratic Primary Leaderboard
6. New York Times – Kamala Harris Has Entered the 2020 Democratic Race. Here’s Who Else is Running

Trans Ban in the Military Resumes. The Supreme Court issued a 5-4 holding today agreeing to reinstate Trump’s ban on trans military service while review of the case is pending.  They simultaneously declined to let the administration fast-track the case, which means lower appeals courts will hear the case first.  Incredibly, the administration’s winning argument was that preliminary injunctions were a ‘growing trend’ that denied them “the ability to implement significant policy measures.”  (This view, I feel the need to note, blithely ignores the fact that preliminary injunctions are only issued if there’s a high likelihood of prevailing on the merits of the larger case–in other words, the administration isn’t being discriminated against; they just keep trying to do things that are illegal.)

Key links:

1. ABC – Supreme Court Allows Enforcement of Trump Military Transgender Ban While Appeals Continue
2. Washington Post – Supreme Court Allows Trump Restrictions on Transgender Troops in Military to Go Into Effect as Legal Battle Continues

Actions for Everyone 

TW: Heads up, this week I’m talking about R. Kelly, Cyntoia Brown, and other potentially triggering topics related to sexual assault.

At this point in the Activism Newsletter, it feels like y’all have been in my living room for the past two years having one, lengthy, treatise on democracy – what’s working, but mostly what’s threatening our beautiful United States of America. I’m not sure if we’ve reached any conclusions yet, but I’m gonna brew another pot of coffee and let’s keep at it.

Believe Women & Do Something About It: Since we live in a rape culture, one that normalizes sexual violence specifically to woman, the fact that that “Surviving R. Kelly,” the three-part docuseries A. exists and B. exposes the fact that a lot of people knew Robert Kelly was sexual assaulting women and girls, and C. is divisive in the minds of some, is not surprising. Nor is it surprising that Cyntoia Brown was incarcerated for 15 years for killing a man that bought her for sex when she was 16 years old. In lighter news, Ms. Brown was granted clemency earlier this month, which I guess is an example of the Justice System working…?

One step in the right direction toward putting an end to rape culture is to believe a person when they tell you about something that happened to them. If it involves their body, specifically if it involves sexual violence, you simply believe them.

Men, talk to other men about what consent means, and if you know a person who has sexually assaulted someone, talk with a trained professional about how you can help them and/or intervene. To people of all genders, if you know there are sexual aggressors within your community, family, neighborhood, please speak up – we believe you.

Here’s a list of resources we all should know about:

• RAINN
• Planned Parenthood 
• National Domestic Violence Hotline
• NOW

End Hate: It’s a big order, but let’s try, shall we? After Covington Catholic High School Students departed from an anti-abortion training they’d traveled from Kentucky to D.C. to attend, they were confronted by Hebrew Israelites at the Lincoln Memorial. It was there that Nathan Phillips, who was attending the Indigenous Peoples’ March, attempted to diffuse the intense cultural collision, but was instead surrounded by CCHS students and seemingly harassed by the students, including one Nick Sannman. This video breaks everything down step-by-step. 

I’m at a loss for how to encourage everyone to be better, except to say if you see people being racists, sexists, bigots, or other violent and oppressive “ists,” please contact the Southern Poverty Law Center.  

Support those held back by the Shutdown: The partial Government Shutdown turns one-month old and has affected about 800,000 employees within 9 Government departments: Homeland Security, Justice, State and Treasury, and several agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and NASA, according to the New York Times. About 400,000 of those employees are being forced to work without getting paid, due to the National Labor Relations Act.

So, for starters, if anyone knows of a group of organizing a General Strike of Federal employees, I’d be very interested to know about it. Please email info to activism@patrothfuss.com

For secondsies, the shutdown affects more than just the employees who have been laid off, it also affects people enrolled in government programs like SNAP, whose grocery budgets get cut if the shutdown continues. If that happens, there will be millions of Americans in need of food, and so this week, I’m asking you to donate your food and time to a food shelter near you. Feeding America is a place to start.

Improbably, the news was almost… quiet since the new year?  Although there was another week of government shutdown, a new Congress, and a lot of Trump yelling, so it might be more accurate to call the news ‘stabilized.’  There’s certainly still a lot for us to do, as you’ll see below!

Events to Know

Government Shutdown Sure Is (Still) Happening.  We’re currently in one of the longest shutdowns of the past forty years as it enters its third week.  Though the House passed a bill to reopen government on its first day in session, Mitch McConnell refused to let the Senate vote on it, and meetings with the White House proved less than fruitful.  So Trump resorted to flavor-of-the-day wheedling to try to get some semblance of a wall funded, leading to gems like these: “[You] don’t like concrete, so we’ll give [you] steel.”  “I’ll keep the government closed for months or even years!”  “The Shutdown is only because of the 2020 Presidential Election.”  And on Tuesday, he took to prime time airwaves to explain again how we need a wall that nobody wants because it’s “humanitarian”.  And 800,000 government workers remain along for the ride.

Key links:

1. Washington Post – This Shutdown is Already one of the Longest Ever. Here’s How Others Ended.
2. CNBC – House Passes Bill to End US Government Shutdown Without Border Wall Money
3. NPR – No Deal Out Of ‘Contentious’ Shutdown Meeting At The White House
4. New York Times – Trump Offers a ‘Steel Barrier,’ but Democrats Are Unmoved
5. Business Insider – Here’s What Happens to Social Security and Disability Benefits During a Government Shutdown

Russia Investigation Updates. A U.S. citizen, Paul Whelan, was arrested on espionage charges in Russia at the end of 2018.  Though his family says he was only there for a vacation, he apparently had passports from three other countries and a checkered past with the Marines, so by this point it’s anybody’s guess what is going on.  And in other improbable American agent news, Paul Manafort’s attorneys accidentally revealed by improper redaction that he shared Trump campaign polling data with a Russian associate during the 2016 campaign.  So there is a lot to unpack there despite the relative quiet from Mueller this week.

Key links:

1. CNN – Lawyer for American Charged with Espionage in Russia Appeals Detention and Applies for Bail
2. New York Times – American Detained in Moscow Also Has British, Irish and Canadian Passports
3. Washington Post – Paul Manafort Shared 2016 Polling Data with Russian Associate, According to Court Filing

Immigration Updates. No matter what else is going on, the 45 immigration engine just keeps churning.  Among the lowlights since the new year: Another CBP use of tear gas against migrants at the border in Tijuana, some of whom have probably been camped waiting there since the last incident in November. But there was also a surreal moment when Trump blamed Democrats for the death of two migrant children in custody over the past few weeks–deaths which, I cannot stress enough, were entirely under executive branch control at every stage; this one really isn’t a “blame on both sides” kind of situation at all.  And then, of course, there was Tuesday’s strange prime time pep talk, but on the plus side that didn’t come with any actual news attached.

Key links:

1. New York Times – The Price of Trump’s Migrant Deterrence Strategy: New Chaos on the Border
2. Reuters – U.S. Agents Fire Tear Gas into Mexico at ‘Violent Mob’ Near Border
3. ABC – Trump Blames Democrats for 2 Child Deaths at Border, Says Children were Already ‘Very Sick’
4. Washington Post – Trump’s prime-time address on the border wall shutdown, annotated

Recent Resilience

Recent Court Resilience.  We received judicial clarity this week that the ACA ruling out of Texas from a few weeks ago–which I’m still mad about, by the way–definitely won’t impact the law while an appeal is pending.  It’s nice to have this clarified, because it will definitely help a lot of people keep coverage while this is sorted.  And in lawsuit news, a federal employee union is suing Trump over the shutdown, alleging (probably correctly) that it’s illegal to force400,000 workers to continue performing duties indefinitely without compensation.  Needless to say, it will be very interesting to see what happens with this suit, particularly as we watch the shutdown drag on.  

Key links:

1. NPR – Affordable Care Act Can Stay In Effect While Under Appeal, Judge Says
2. The Hill – Workers Union Director says Shutdown Lawsuit will Prove Trump Administration Not ‘Above the Law’

Clemency for Cyntoia Brown.  This week, some belated clemency reached Cyntoia Brown, an inmate in Tennessee serving a life sentence for shooting her sex trafficker as a juvenile.  As he stepped down, her state governor commuted her life sentence, which will make her eligible for parole in August. You can read Brown’s extraordinarily gracious statement online.

Key links:

1. CNN – Cyntoia Brown is Granted Clemency after Serving 15 Years in Prison for Killing Man who Bought Her for Sex
2. Tennessean – Read Cyntoia Brown’s Full Statement on her Clemency

Things to Watch

New House Matters.  The House resumed on Thursday, and there’s already a lot to watch!  To start with, the Dems are refusing to seat a Republican from North Carolina–yup, you guessed it, the guy with a giant pile of ballot fraud allegations–because he’s still under investigation for said giant pile of allegations.  But this is an unprecedented Congress even without the extra bonus fraud, because the breadth of representation is a new national record.  And continuing the “new but improved” theme, the Dems in the House immediately kicked off the new session by introducing an anti-corruption billthat would limit gerrymandering and create automatic voter registration, among other changes.  And, of course, both the House and the Senate may need to act further to end the shutdown.  We’ll continue to update as things develop!

Key links:

1. Charlotte Observer – Fight Over NC 9th District Election Could Drag on for Months, with No One Seated
2. Guardian – New Members Sworn in to Most Diverse Congress Ever – in Pictures
3. NPR – House Democrats Introduce Anti-Corruption Bill As Symbolic 1st Act
4. Washington Post – The Democratic House Wants to Reform Democracy. It’s Not a Panacea — But it’s a Start

Remaining Mueller Miscellany.  There are a lot of dangling ends on the Mueller investigation, so there’s a lot to track! Michael Flynn’s delayed sentenceis still on the radar, and it remains to be seen what Mueller will do with his copy of Roger Stone’s testimony before the House Intelligence Committee.  Then, of course, there’s still all of the ongoing shenanigans with acting AG Matthew Whittaker, not to mention the admission Paul Manafort just made… it’s starting to feel like we all need a scorecard, but we’ll continue to keep you posted as new developments occur!

Key links:

1. NPR – Federal Judge Delays Michael Flynn Sentencing After Plea Of Lying To Feds
2. The Hill – House Intel Votes to Release Roger Stone Transcript to Mueller
3. Politico – DOJ Delaying Whitaker Testimony Before House

Actions for Everyone

Happy new year everyone! I’m so glad we are here and we got through 2018 together. I think we should visualize this new year as the Year of Impeachment! Here’s to us and justice and all that is good!

A Green New Deal & the Sunrise Movement: Ralph Nader uses the phrase Climate Destruction instead of Climate Change to describe the extreme weather patterns caused by human influence on earth, which feels accurate because Climate Change is a seemingly ineffective term these days. My personal favorite newest member of Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is urgently calling for a Green New Deal and has written a proposal that spells out a 10-year-plan which seems to have fallen flat with moderates such as Nancy Pelosi (although she also calls climate destruction “the existential threat of our time.”)

There’s a group of young folks called Sunrise Movement, a movement to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process. They’re on board with Ocasio-Cortez’ Green New Deal and are urging YOU to call your Reps. Additionally, they have an Action Center where you can find a chapter near you, volunteer, and stay involved.
We still have no government – The government shutdown is still in full swing and we will probably not see any moves till Pelosi is officially leader on January 3rd. We need to keep an eye on what is to come. How this shutdown may affect agencies and specially government workers who will be financially in jeopardy because of the president’s tantrum for his “steel slats”.

We can still let our voices be heard about the matter by calling our representatives to let them know we demand an end to this nonsense shutdown but that the people will not budge on the approval for any budget that considers a border wall. We say no to racism and xenophobia and welcome a world without borders, frontier-less.

Call your reps here.

We also should raise our voices in favor of the workers who will be affected by this shutdown by asking that the House pass a bill introduced by democrat senator Van Hollen that ensures federal employees will be paid back in case of a Shutdown. Senate already passed it so now we’re waiting for a “yes” from the House.

Investigate the DHS – After the tragic death of two immigrant children in the hands of the Department of Homeland Security, Sen. Dianne Feinstein from California has asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing and investigate on the matter.

Call on your senators, specially if they are part of the Judiciary Committee to show you support this hearing.

Self care is also direct action – You guys know I’m big on self care. I believe it’s an integrative part of our movement. If we don’t take care of ourselves we can’t take care of the rest of the world! I’m corny and I don’t care. Being constantly informed and aware of all that goes on in this here world is hard. So my 2019 “resolution” is to start a list of things I’m grateful for. And yeah, it sounds very “live, laugh, love” of me but then again, who doesn’t like living, laughing and loving? Let yourself be basic. Make thinking about how you can improve your mental health one of your actions this week. We need us to be healthy so we can keep on being strong.
And here are the Things That Made Me Smile this week:

This article full of environmental good news!

This video of beautiful human-animal hugs

With the comparative quiet on the border, I’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop for a couple of weeks now, and, well… a child-sized shoe definitely has.  The border news is a sobering reminder that while things sometimes make Trump’s administration seem comically ineffectual, they are capable of a great deal of damage–which is why we have the Activism Newsletter, and suggestions on what to do to help!

Events to Know

Russian Attempts at Influence.  Russian professional Maria Butina pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as a foreign agent for Russia–and sure enough, the plea admitted that the NRA was a primary target for infiltration.  Butina agreed to cooperate with prosecutors as part of her plea deal, which may have interesting implications in the near future.  Meanwhile, and relatedly, a conservative anti-kleptocracy organization run by the Hudson Institute was in the news for accepting a major donation from Russian oligarch Leonard Blavanik.  And a new report prepared for the Senate shows that we grossly underestimated the scope of Russia’s media campaign, which spanned Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube.  So it’s been a pretty busy week for news about Russian influence on the U.S.

Key links:

1. NPR – Maria Butina Pleads Guilty In Foreign Agent Case, Admits Clandestine Influence Scheme
2. NBC – Russian Operative Maria Butina Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy
3. Nonprofit Quarterly – Kleptocracy and Philanthropy: Viral Tainting among the Elite
4. Washington Post – New Report on Russian Disinformation, Prepared for the Senate, Shows the Operation’s Scale and Sweep

Noted Recent Trump Scandals. Info started trickling in this week about Trump’s presence in the room when American Media Inc decided to pay Karen McDougal hush money, which was a transfer of money the company confirmed did occur in light of the Cohen plea in the past week.  News that Trump was present for the discussions definitely supports Cohen’s claim that Trump knew about the deal ahead of time, and does nothing to make Trump look more credible.  Meanwhile, the Trump inaugural committee and a related super PACare also now under investigation for misspending donations and accepting pay-to-play bribes.   And the Trump Foundation was ordered disbanded, with all remaining assets being donated to actual charities, as part of the ongoing New York investigation into its many, many willful misdeeds–an investigation that will continue past when the organization disbands, which should be really interesting.  All told, this makes at least six separate investigations into Trump-related misconduct–as the Washington Post gleefully notes, nearly every organization Trump has led in the past decade is currently being scrutinized.

Key links:

1. Variety – National Enquirer Parent Admits to Making Karen McDougal Payments to Help Trump in 2016 Election
2. NBC – Trump was in the Room During Hush Money Discussions with Tabloid Publisher
3. New York Times – Trump Inaugural Fund and Super PAC Said to be Scrutinized for Illegal Foreign Donations
4. Bloomberg – Trump Faces Threat in New York Lawsuit Even After Charity Closes
5. NBC – First Read: All the President’s Investigations
6. Washington Post – “Over My Dead Body”: Giuliani Dismisses Prospect of Trump Interview with Mueller 

Immigration Updates. After a couple of weeks of relative quiet, there was a lot of immigration news this past week, and some of it is really upsetting.  At the beginning of the week, a third protest regarding the backlog of people waiting for entry in Tijuana, Mexico, this time on the U.S. side in San Diego, resulted in 31 arrests for trespassing.  Shortly after, Trump announced that he wants to deport Vietnam War refugees despite a 2008 treaty protecting them, which has House members immediately pushing back.  News also broke that the tent city shelter in Tornillo is doubling its capacity to 3,000 beds–a particularly upsetting fact because kids housed there apparently don’t have access to education or counseling and the administration has been waiving background checks for staff there since the shelter was opened.  But the most horrifying news came in at the end of the week, when the Washington Post first reported that a seven-year-old Guatemalan girl died at a CBP checkpoint a full week ago without any acknowledgement or investigation from the administration.  Eventually DHS released a statement that blamed the dangerous trip up, the girl’s father countered that she was healthy before arriving and that she waited over 90 minutes for any medical care, and the DHS inspector general began an investigation.

Key links:

1. NBC12 – The Latest: US Arrests 32 at San Diego Border Protest
2. Atlantic – Democrats Challenge Trump Over Vietnam Deportations
3. Texas Tribune – No one on the Inside can Talk about What’s Happening at the Tent City for Migrant Kids
4. Washington Post – Hours Before Her Collapse in U.S. Custody, a Dying Migrant Child’s Condition Went Unnoticed
5. CBS – DHS watchdog investigating death of 7-year-old migrant girl

Recent Resilience

Happier Environmental News.  This week brought good news about carbon emissions, which is a welcome change from previous weeks’ news about carbon emissions!  Though the U.S. were conspicuously absent from the table, the rest of the climate change diplomats from 200 countries met in Poland and negotiated a deal to keep the Paris Treaty moving forward this week.  And in similarly positive and literally lukewarm environmental news, scientists have begun to notice that coral reefs that survive warm periods remain resilient in subsequent warm periods, suggesting that coral bleaching may be slowly addressed by natural selection.  Good job, Mother Nature!

Key links:

1. NPR – Nations Agree On Rules To Put Paris Climate Agreement Into Action
2. New York Times – Scientists Find Some Hope for Coral Reefs: The Strong May Survive

Things to Watch

Staff Shuffle Circus.  Despite announcing last week that Chief of Staff John Kelly will be out by the end of the year, Trump seems to be having a tough timefinding a replacement–when even Chris Christie turns you down, you know things are looking pretty dire.  Eventually he ended up making his current budget director, Mick Mulvaney, start doing the job until he can get somebody else to do it—and in case anyone is curious, no, it’s not normal to make a budget director start taking on chief of staff duties a week before a government shutdown.  Meanwhile, Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke resigned this week–by tweet, because 2018–to spend more time with his remaining scandals.  And Ben Carson’s deputy at HUD resigned as well.  Needless to say, this kind of turnover remains unprecedented, and I can only imagine how hellish conditions must be inside the White House.

Key links:

1. The Hill – Chris Christie declines White House chief of staff role
2. Washington Post – Donald Trump Names Budget Director Mick Mulvaney as Acting White House Chief of Staff
3. New York Times – Ryan Zinke, Face of Trump Environmental Rollbacks, is Leaving Interior Department
4. NBC – Pam Patenaude Resigns from HUD, Top Deputy to Ben Carson
5. New York Times – You’re Hired! You’re Fired! Yes, the Turnover at the Top of the Trump Administration is … “Unprecedented.”

Government Showdown Shade.  In other ridiculous government news, Trump’s repeated insistence on a border wall has been leading to inevitable fights with Pelosi and Schumer all week as they attempt to negotiate to avoid shutdown.  Eventually, Trump stormed out of a meeting, prompting Pelosi to comment that it’s “like a manhood thing for him–as if manhood could ever be associated with him.”  (Since most adult men don’t throw temper tantrums, I’m not inclined to say she’s wrong.)  At the time that I write this, both sides expect a shutdown, in part because the rest of the GOP doesn’t have room to maneuver and in part because some of the lame duck legislators aren’t bothering to show up to vote.  Needless to say, it’s gonna be an interesting end of the week.

Key links:

1. CNN – Trump Defends Shutdown Threat after Clashing with Pelosi, Schumer
2. Newsweek- Donald Trump “Stormed Out” of Oval Office after Heated Meeting with Democratic Leaders, MSNBC Guest Claims
3. Washington Post – White House, Democrats Dig in As Fears of Partial Shutdown Intensify
4. New York Times – A Shutdown Looms. Can the GOP Get Lawmakers to Show Up to Vote?

ACA Attacks. A federal judge in Texas concluded this week that the entire Affordable Care Act should be thrown out because it found the individual mandate to be unconstitutional after Congress reduced the penalty to $0 in 2017.  On the plus side, there is no injunction attached, which means the ACA stays in effect while this is inevitably appealed, and the ruling does not affect 2019 enrollment coverage.  But nonetheless, these Groundhog Day attempts at undoing popular and necessary legislation purely because Obama engineered it are beyond frustrating, and potentially can have very real consequences if appeals aren’t favorable to the ACA.  We’ll need to keep a very careful eye on this, but for now we’re all ambling forward.

Key links:

1. CNN – Federal Judge in Texas Strikes Down Affordable Care Act
2. NPR – What You Need To Know About The Affordable Care Act After Texas Ruling

This past week… what can I say, this week had a lot of turkeys.  (It’s a fraught time for most of us under the best of circumstances, and much like the leftovers we’re all wrangling, the news this week was a bit much.)  But we’re here to keep you posted and help you figure out how to take next steps!

Events to Know

Election Endings.  Most of the residual election news is resolved by now, with Mississippi’s runoff resulting in one more GOP senator but a closer race than expected.  Meanwhile, the Dems duke it out over who will lead the House, but increasingly Nancy Pelosi is looking likely–a fact only underscored by the op-ed she wrote in the Washington Post.  It’s been an unusually long window for figuring out what happened on November 6, but things are settling, and we’re looking at a divided Congress.  And after the last two years, that’s a step towards equilibrium.

Key links:

1. New York Times – Mississippi Senate Election Results: Cindy Hyde-Smith vs. Mike Epsy
   
2. CNN – Nine Democrats Vow to Oppose Pelosi for Speaker Unless House Rule Changes are Adopted
   
3. Washington Post – The Democratic Majority’s First Order of Business: Restore Democracy
   

Climate Change Calamities. All right y’all, this one is way out of my lane, so bear with me.  A Climate Science Special Report was issued at the end of last week pursuant to the Fourth National Climate Assessment, and its conclusions about climate change were… well, not great, let’s just put it that way.  Specifically, the report concluded that climate change would cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars by the end of the century due to severe disruption of American exports and supply chains.  It also concluded that climate change was making the fires in California worse and that changing temperatures would prematurely kill thousands each year by the end of the century.  So of course Trump’s response was that he “doesn’t believe” the report.  I’d pity the fool, but since he’s taking the whole planet with him it’s kind of hard.  (Sorry, y’all, there’s really nothing I can say that makes this better so I’ll be relying on President T jokes for the duration.)

Key links:

1. Fourth National Climate Assessment Volume II: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States
   
2. Reuters – Clashing with Trump, U.S. Government Report Says Climate Change Will Batter Economy
   
3. CNN – Climate Change Will Shrink US Economy and Kill Thousands, Government Report Warns
   
4. Wall Street Journal – Trump Says He Doesn’t Believe Climate-Change Report’s Economic Predictions

   
   

But Her Emails. Ivanka Trump was in the news this week for using her personal email account for government business throughout 2017, which you may recall is exactly what Hillary Clinton did that led Trump to lead chants to “lock her up.”  It’s ironic that this story is resurfacing at the same time news breaks that Trump tried to order the Justice Department to prosecute Clinton.  But in true White House fashion, they are refusing to comment while Republicans are subpoenaing James Comey and Loretta Lynch on their handling of the same exact topic–because somehow there’s still a House investigation into FBI’s actions in mid-2016, despite it currently being November 2018.  On the plus side, that will probably slow to a crawl come January once the House changes hands.  And if you need a score card just to keep all of this straight, I feel you friends; I can barely track it and I write the Events to Know section!

Key links:

1. CNN – Ivanka Trump Used Personal Account for Emails About Government Business
   
2. New York Times – Trump Wanted to Order Justice Dept. to Prosecute Comey and Clinton
   
3. ABC – No White House Comment on NYT Report Trump Wanted Clinton, Comey Prosecuted
   
4. New York Times – Republicans Subpoena James Comey and Loretta Lynch Over Clinton Email Case
   

Recent Resilience

Recent Court Resilience. When Trump threw a wobbly about last week’s stay on his asylum rule, we saw another form of court resilience–more specifically, Chief Justice Roberts stepped up to the plate to tell him to knock it off already.  That’s a big deal, because it means the courts are protecting their own agency, and Roberts–a Dubbya appointee, belying Trump’s point about “Obama judges”–was the one to say something.  Naturally, Trump handled this by doubling down despite conservatives backing the Chief.  Then, after Trump had made it real clear that he didn’t care what Roberts had to say, he asked the Chief for a favor the next day.  It’s gonna be some sweet schadenfreude when they tell him no on that last point.

Key links:

1. The Hill – Trump rails against Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals after asylum ruling
   
2. Washington Post – Roberts, Trump spar in extraordinary scrap over judges
   
3. Slate – Trump Doubles Down on Fight Against Chief Justice by Continuing Tirade Against Judges
   
4. NPR – White House Asks Supreme Court To Fast-Track Ruling On Transgender Military Ban
   

Things to Watch

Border Updates.  This is a rough story that I can’t candy-coat, and it’s still developing.  Before the holiday, Trump approved use of force by troops (which, incidentally, probably violates the Posse Comitatus Act) and threatened to close the Mexican border, and by Sunday he had struck a deal with Mexico to make asylee seekers wait there instead of entering the U.S.  Between artificially long waits during normal processing and Trump’s constant threats not to take asylees at all, unrest caused about 500 people to protest at the San Ysidro port (at the U.S. southern border between Tijuana and San Diego) on Sunday.  The protest started out peaceful, but when people started to evade a police blockade and run towards the border, U.S. border officials began firing tear gas at the crowd of women and children and the border was shut down entirely.  Eventually it was reopened later in the day, but Mexico has begun deporting the people at the demonstration.  Trump is now calling for Mexico to deport everyone at the border and is back to threatening to close the border permanently.  Happy Thanksgiving, pilgrims.

Key links:

1. Military Times – White House Approves Use of Force, Some Law Enforcement Roles for Border Troops
   
2. Washington Post – Deal with Mexico Paves Way for Asylum Overhaul at U.S. Border
   
3. CNN – They’re Steps Away from the US Border. But Crossing it Legally Could Take Weeks
   
4. New York Times – Migrants in Tijuana Run to U.S. Border, but Fall Back in Face of Tear Gas
   
5. BBC – Migrant Caravan: Mexico Deports Group that Stormed US Border
   
6. New York Post – Trump Threatens to Permanently Close Mexico Border After Clashes
   

Mueller vs. Manafort. Mueller announced this week that Manafort lied to federal officials about a broad range of topics after pleading guilty in September, which is a pretty serious breach of the plea agreement–and Mueller’s likely right that it renders the whole deal forfeit.  The special counsel is recommending that Manafort be sentenced immediately, and he may face a decade or more in jail.  Meanwhile, the Guardian is reporting that Manafort met with Julian Assange several times before the 2016 election, which a few other outlets believe is related to the Mueller status report.

Key links:

1. New York Times – Manafort Breached Plea Deal by Repeatedly Lying, Mueller Says
   
2. CNN – Manafort Lied After Pleading Guilty, Mueller’s Team Says
   
3. Guardian – Manafort Held Secret Talks with Assange in Ecuadorian Embassy, Sources Say

   
   

Slow Government Shutdown Showdown. Congress and Trump are edging towards a shutdown showdown yet again this week as we near December 7, which is the next stopgap funding deadline to track–and just like every other time, Trump is threatening to let a government shutdown happen if he doesn’t get his border wall funded.  Meanwhile, Flake is edging towards getting that Mueller bill on the floor by continuing to refuse to vote on judges unless there’s a vote on bipartisan special counsel protection legislation instead.  That said, his group is running out of time (both due to the shutdown date and because Flake himself is retiring at the end of the term), so it will need to happen soon if it happens at all.

Key links:

1. New York Times – Trump Tells Republicans He Won’t Budge on Wall, Raising Odds of Shutdown
   
2. Roll Call – Cornyn Says Flake Might Get Mueller Protection Vote to Get More Judges Confirmed
3. The Hill – Senate GOP Discussing Vote on Mueller Protection Bill

Actions for Everyone

Women in Puerto RIco are rising up! –  A group of women in Puerto Rico have been protesting in front of the governor’s house asking him to sign an executive order that establishes a National Emergency Plan that against gender-based violence. The demonstration has been going since last friday; the women are sleeping in tents in front of the government building. There have been violent encounters with the police, some resulting in pepper and tear gas being sprayed on the demonstrators. I believe it is important we support these women by making their demands be heard and virilizing this story. Here is an article to learn more.

Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act –  The H.R. 6545: Violence Against Women Act which “establishes funding and grants towards criminal investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women” is expiring on December 7th. We need to call our representatives in the House and the Senate to make sure it goes through. Call your reps to demand they vote in favor.

Care for our National Park –  The Guardian wrote a wonderful article that focuses on how crowds, motivated by social media, are putting our National Parks and natural areas in danger. I highly suggest a reading! I looked into it and the organization Leave No Trace is doing some really cool things to protect the outdoors and educating the public. Go learn about their work and join their efforts!

As always check on Resistance Calendar  to see what actions are going on in your community.

This were the Things That Make Me Smile for this week:

This singing Pika

These coffee sorters in ethiopia singing while they choose beans (they are the real heroes)