Legalectric

A couple of past lives ago, I was part of KFAI, Community Radio in South Minneapolis, as programmer, live tech, and on the Board of Directors.  I got into it with zero experience, and no idea what to expect, and between that “on the job” training and seat-of-pants learning, and some journalism and production courses, and the ongoing four or five years of more than “full time” work in radio, I got a good feel for the role of the press, and the importance of broad coverage of events.  More importantly, I learned how much important info was not reported on, was not covered, utterly ignored by “mainstream media,” and I saw what an important role Community and Public radio played, TV too, particularly public and public access TV, is coverage of this neglected news (though I’m biased against TV, don’t own one, haven’t for decades, due to onslaught of commercialism and cost of cable, obscene!).  That’s one of the reasons Reagan cut federal public media funding, that was during my time at KFAI.  This public radio and TV coverae is why tRump is planning to slash budgets and eliminate Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities, devasting impacts for a teensy .016% of the federal budget:

Report: Trump Administration Plans to Privatize CPB, Cut NEA

tRump’s attack on corporate mainstream media and public media is shamefully transparent because his targets are the ones exposing truth, fact checking him and reporting on his constant lies, challenging his delusional rants.  He’s branding mainstream media, trying them in the court of public opinion using the “if you say it often enough, people will believe it” theory, because he can’t prevail legally because he’d have to prove that what they’re reporting is wrong, and he’d have to prove it was reported with “actual malice.”  He can’t prove it’s false because it’s true — they’re reporting his lies, exposing his incompetence, his tantrums, which all the world can see him displaying with wild abandon and arrogance in videos across the internet.  What’s so odd about tRump’s “enemy of the people” framing is that these are mainstream media, by tRump’s own admission,.  These are not leftist propaganda organs in any sense. Fake news?  CNN?  New York Times?  ABC?  CBS?  NBC?  LA Times?  WTF?

Look at tRump’s “survey” about “mainstream media” to see his agenda:

Trump “questionnaire” bizarre and revealing

This morning I listened to much of tRump’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) speech, it was packed full of lies, twisted logic (lack of logic) and projection of his actions and agenda outward on others — that’s in addition to his usual narcissistic rants.  Observers were quick to point that out, with specifics.

Here’s the CPAC speech, listen in bits and pieces, because it’s too much to stand all at once:

Full Speech: President Trump at CPAC – Video – NYTimes.com

And here are a couple fact checks of tRump’s CPAC speech:

Fact-checking President Trump’s CPAC speech – The Washington Post

Fact-checking Donald Trump at CPAC | PolitiFact

Fact-checking Donald Trump’s CPAC speech | Miami Herald

Fact-Check: Trump Blasts ‘Fake News’ and Repeats Inaccurate Claims

CPAC: Donald Trump Hits Media in Speech | Time.com

This particular one was hilarious, because he claimed the lines to get in went back six blocks, but no, they didn’t, and the venue’s city isn’t even six blocks long!

Trump falsely claims lines ‘go back 6 blocks’ for CPACspeech

Not much later, Spicer chose to specifically prohibit attendance at his “gaggle” today:

AP, Time boycott WH briefing after other news outlets excluded

White House Blocks Major News Outlets From Press Briefing | KTLA

CNN, New York Times, Other Outlets Excluded From White House

The White House just blocked The New York Times, Politico, and CNN

White House blocks news organizations from press briefing

White House Excludes Selected Outlets From Press Gaggle

Despite this prior pledge not to ban news outlets from White House — but of course, the White House mouthpieces are documented liars, particularly, or should I say spectacularly, Spicer:

Spicer: Trump admin won’t ban any news outlets from White House

tRump, get a grip, and have someone read the Constitution to you and explain it.

Stop shutting out the press, stop trying to shut down the press.

Whew, what a long train ride.  This was not exactly relaxing, and was an example of the extreme weather of climate change.  There were two avalanches in Montana that shut down the rails, one, then tracks closed and reopened, then another, and tracks reopened the day before our train left (panic, looking at flights just in case), and then a mudslide that took out Amtrak service between Portland and Seattle and it’s still out, that affected both Coastal Starlight and Empire Builder, though they did get Empire Builder back in service in time for us to get to Portland.  Then the Oroville dam, OMFG, 180,000+ people evacuated  (and late yesterday, order just lifted for some).  Horses evacuated too, people taking over county fair grounds, how on earth do you evacuate 180,000 people?!?!?  And that meant that the Amtrak Coast Starlight couldn’t go through northern California past Redding, and had to go around the evacuation area, so it was to be a bus from 2:30 a.m. in Redding to 6:30 a.m. Sacramento, but that was delayed too as we sat on sometimes napping on a siding in the train until the busses of passengers arrived from the delayed northbound train at 6:30 a.m.  We were lucky and got to go on the nearly vacant crew bus down to Sacramento, and from there back on the train to Paso Robles.  ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.  More on that later…

On the train, over dinner, it’s luck of the draw for dining companions.  One dinner on the Empire Builder, we were in the mountains where the avalanche was (dark, couldn’t see a thing). They seated us with a guy our age, and then a younger woman came in and joined us. Near the end of the meal (whew, good timing!) she said she’d seen this huge building in Chicago, and snapped a photo, and looked at it later and saw it was TRUMP! She said she was surprised and aghast!  Wanted to do some photoshopping.  Well, that opened the door, and the guy next to her, a recently retired intelligence service staff, boasted he was a Trump supporter and there was no excuse for all the violence (who’s being violent, 1 million women, NOT!) and he started going off on refugees, particularly Syrian, that the camps are ISIS infiltrated, and then how the courts were all wrong about the EO13769 because tRump’s Executive Order was about “national security” (doubt he’s even read the Executive Order or the Court Orders). The latter, he knows nothing about.

Blatant misstatements like that, despite our captive situation in the booth, AAARGH, I just can’t let slide.  I brought up the challenged language of the EO pretty much verbatim, the sections challenged which gives priority on those who are minority religions in those seven predominately Muslim countries, so on its face is discriminatory and unconstitutional.

… to prioritize refugee claims made by individuals on the basis of religious-based persecution, provided that the religion of the individual is a minority religion in the individual’s country of nationality.

And of course there’s tRump’s repeated anti-Muslim campaign promises, and pledge to end Muslim immigration, which he leaves up on his website (I-N-T-E-N-T anyone?):

And then there’s the court order, held up by the Federal appellate panel that upholds the District Court Order granting the Restraining Order, where it was noted that even though specifically asked, the gov’t had provided no proof of any security basis, nothing, no evidence at all, and WA/MN had provided much evidence that it was religion based. The diner advocated for it to work its way through the legal system, but didn’t even acknowledge that 5 of 5 judges taking this on ruled against it, and this case is the general constitutional challenge, not plaintiff specific, and it IS in the legal system, losing at every turn.  He of course did not acknowledge tRump’s vocal public dissing of the judge and the Order, and now the 3 judge appellate panel and their order — HELLO — we’re looking at a constitutional crisis (tRump’s choice to hang a portrait of “Pres. constitutional crisis” Andrew Jackson should be evidence too!).

But our dining companion is not a lawyer, and not a reader or curator of the facts or law of EO13769,  just an “intelligence” worker if he’s going to raise it should be conversant of the Executive and Court Orders, who should know the backgrounds of those who have been terrorists in the U.S. (clue: not those 7 countries), and who should be well aware of the white U.S. citizen terrorists in our midst that tRump is removing from scrutiny by focusing only on those 7 countries and Muslims generally.  This tRump devotee is one of so many who don’t care about facts.  Expect that you will be challenged!

Then Flynn’s ejection happened, and I looked for our “intelligence” retiree yesterday to get his take (SNORT!) as I’ve been seeing rumblings of intelligence community revolt.  One would think that as a former member of this “intelligence community” that Flynn’s (and others) Russian involvement would trigger significant concerns about his leader tRump.  But as my ex would say, “Goes to show you don’t think.”

The tRump Regime is slowly coming apart, each day there’s something new.  Access to ability to challenge these things in the courts takes immense resources that most of us don’t have.  But each of us does have the ability to spend a little time every day to make more phone calls (202-456-1414, they answer now, but won’t take a message, forward to staff person, or open Comment line), send more emails, fill out more contact page forms, attend more Town Hall Meetings, and spread the word.  Figure out your focus, what issues you know best, and get to it.  It is having an impact.

Now, where is it that we apply to be “paid protesters?”

Here it is, the Court Order:

17-35105_Upholds Restraining Order

Tell the White House what you think of tRump’s Executive Order 13769 Muslim Ban:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

FRIDAY UPDATE:  Court Order Halting tRump Immigration Action — Washington A.G.

From Geekwire – Press Conference on courthouse steps

Written ruling “soon.”  Looking forward to that Order — covers the parts they challenged, the Constitutionally of parts 3 and 5, per AG’s Office.

On Monday, Washington State’s Attorney General, Bob Ferguson, filed a Complaint in federal court challenging the constitutionality of tRump’s Executive Order 13769, and a Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order to stop enforcement of this Order.  Several jurisdictions have filed for, and received, restraining orders regarding particulars of that Executive Order, but this Washington State filing was the first generally challenging the Constitutionality of the Executive Order.

Thank you, Washington State, for posting these pleadings:

Motion for Temporary Restraining Order as Filed

Complaint as Filed

And  just a bit ago, Minnesota’s Attorney General Lori Swanson joined our state with Washington State in suing Trump.

Read the Complaint, it’s a delight, particularly because it quotes from tRump’s campaign page where he lays out his intent to stop Muslim immigration — and it’s still posted on his site as of earlier today — what an idiot:

AG Lori Swanson (with Taffy, above) had this statement today:

Attorney General Lori Swanson Joins Lawsuit Over Federal Executive Order

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson has joined a lawsuit against the federal government that alleges that the January 27, 2017 Executive Order that imposes blanket entry restrictions to the United States for people from certain countries is unconstitutional.

Attorney General Swanson said: “It does not pass constitutional muster, is inconsistent with our history as a nation, and undermines our national security.” She added: “America can keep its people safe without sacrificing bedrock constitutional principles.”

The Attorney General joined the lawsuit filed earlier this week by Washington State, which is supported by major corporations concerned about the impact of the travel ban on the economy and their employees. The lawsuit alleges that the Executive Order violates the equal protection, establishment, and due process clauses of the United States Constitution and the federal Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which prohibits discrimination in the issuance of visas on the basis of nationality, race, or place of birth or residence.

The lawsuit alleges that the Order is overbroad in imposing a blanket travel ban on people from certain countries “and sweeps within its ambit infant children, the disabled, long-time U.S residents, those fleeing terrorism, and those who assisted in the United States in conflicts overseas” who do not pose a security risk.

The lawsuit describes the impact of the travel ban on people with a lawful right to be in the United States, such as parents and their children, students with valid student visas, and scientists and other employees with valid work visas, who either cannot leave or return to the United States under the Order and some who have been separated from family. The lawsuit also describes the chilling effect of the Order on recruitment for employers and academic institutions.

Four different federal judges have temporarily halted certain detentions under the Executive Order.

There’s at least one, and I believe 2, federal court hearings today on tRump’s Executive Order 13769, the one banning refugees and immigrants from 7 countries, the one that has left people detained at airports, prohibited to get on plans, people who have been thoroughly vetted over 2+ years, people who have green cards, people who are LEGAL immigrants to this country.  One would think that with the scrutiny surrounding this Executive Order, they’d be cautious.  Nope.  They’re not.

Norway’s former Prime Minister, Kjell Magne Bondevik, was detained!  His passport noted the 2014 visit, he was a speaker at a human rights conference.  His passport was a diplomatic passport, and said that he was a former Prime Minister of Norway.

Former Norway PM held at Washington airport over 2014 visit to Iran

Former PM Bondevik’s detention should be sufficient to get even the most reticent Norwegians sanding stoically in the streets!

Meanwhile, the long slow process of taking this administration down piece by piece has begun.  May this be the beginning of the end of the tRump administration.  So much damage and it’s only been two weeks.