Today is the five year anniversary of Trayvon Martin’s murder. Please consider reading the book his parents have written: Rest in Power.

Fight Back

• “Why had a man spent two days on a mission to tell the entire world that I was a journalism-destroying fascist? Because I deleted his comment on my personal Facebook page.
  If this shocks you, you are likely not a semi-prominent woman on the internet, because this happens, to greater or lesser severity, about once a week.” When A Woman Deletes A Man’s Comment Online (by Ijeoma Oluo for The Establishment)
• “Speaking out in support of the trans, non-binary, and genderqueer community is comedian Rhea Butcher, who currently co-stars with her real-life wife Cameron Esposito in the Seeso series Take My Wife. Last night, Butcher took to Twitter to share some of her experiences, as a genderqueer-butch lesbian whose gender expression may not read as traditionally feminine.” In Support Of Trans Youth, Rhea Butcher Shares Story Of Her Bathroom Assault (by Kristy Puchko for Pajiba)
• “When his comments about pedophilia/pederasty came to light, Simon & Schuster realized it would cost them more money to do business with Milo than he could earn for them. They did not finally “do the right thing” and now we know where their threshold, pun intended, lies. They were fine with his racist and xenophobic and sexist ideologies. They were fine with his transphobia, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. They were fine with how he encourages his followers to harass women and people of color and transgender people online.” All I really need to say (by Roxane Gay)

Horrific Executive and Legislative Actions

• “As the State Senate fact sheet on the bill states, the RICO statutes allow prosecutors to take options like forfeitures when people are convicted. The bill stipulates that an “overt act is not required as proof of a riot offense.” That means the planners of the protest could be charged because someone else committed an “overt act” that caused a riot. The bill also expands the definition of riot to include people causing damage to someone else’s property.” Plan a Protest, Lose Your House: Arizona Senate Passes SB 1142 Charging ‘Provocateurs’ With Racketeering (by Ray Stern for Phoenix New Times)
• “Alcohol and tobacco, both legal drugs, have high annual death tolls. Pot has zero. Pot being a “gateway drug” is a catchphrase, not a fact. “Most people who try marijuana, don’t even continue smoking marijuana.” The reason the government made pot illegal had nothing to do with health risks. Instead, it was because of a budget-hungry bureaucrat, Federal Bureau of Narcotics commissioner Harry Anslinger, who ruthlessly created anti-weed propaganda that exploited a growing anti-Mexican sentiment.” Trump Has Found A New/Old Way To Target Minorities (by Kristy Puchko for Pajiba)
• “Trump doesn’t have a clue about what goes on in Black communities. In his view, we are all utterly jobless; going to schools that are ill-equipped to educate us; and walking down so-called inner-city streets dodging bullets, risking a gunshot to the chest with every step that we take. As the self-announced “least racist person,” Donald Trump finds this state of affairs unacceptable. But Trump doesn’t appear to understand what an “inner city” even constitutes, aside from a place where all Black Americans live in abject poverty. He has no idea of the terror overpolicing can inflict in Black communities—yet he continuously propagates myths about crime to justify that overpolicing.” There is Much for Black People to Fear from Trump’s ‘Law and Order’ Presidency (by Imani Gandi for Rewire)
• “But even before the memos were revealed, Trump’s orders began to take shape when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out a series of nationwide sweeps, detaining nearly 700 undocumented immigrants. Fact sheets prepared by ICE characterized all who were detained as “criminal aliens,” “illegal re-entrants,” and “immigration fugitives.” Daniel Ramirez Medina doesn’t meet any of these criteria, yet he has been in a prison-like detention center since February 10.” Trump’s ‘Smart and Strategic’ Immigration Approach: Everyone Is Deportable (by Tina Vasquez for Rewire)
• “The White House budget office has drafted a “hit list” of programs, according to The New York Times, all of which cost under $500 million a year to run. In fact, they total approximately $2.5 billion – just 0.0625% of the projected $4 trillion budget. “It’s sad in a way because those programs aren’t causing the deficit,” Steve Bell of the Bipartisan Policy Center told the Times. “These programs don’t amount to a hill of beans.”” Eliminating arts funding programs will save Donald Trump just 0.0625% of budget (by Christopher Hooton for The Independent)

Reproductive Rights

• “The AP reports that Judge Sam Sparks was particularly pointed in his decision against the state, noting that they had failed to provide “any evidence” to support their claims that Planned Parenthood was doing anything other than providing desperately-needed healthcare resources for the estimated 11,000 people who would’ve been affected by the decision.” Judge Blocks Texas from Cutting Planned Parenthood Funding from Medicaid (by Megan Reynols for Jezebel)

Ableism

• ““For me, being able to use Comic Sans is similar to a mobility aid, or a visual aid, or a hearing aid,” she tells me while we’re both visiting our family in Maryland. “I have other ways of writing and reading, but they’re not like they are for someone who’s not dyslexic.”” Hating Comic Sans Is Ableist (by Lauren Hudgins for The Establishment)

Representation

• “Watson has taken popular paintings from Vincent van Gogh, Leonardo da Vinci, and Picasso’s Blue Period, and wiped them clean of the white figures so often portrayed. In their place, she’s added black faces, lots of them. She put a black woman with short curly hair into her take on Picasso’s paintings, and a dark-skinned black woman into her spin on Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.”” The Power Of Centering Blackness In Iconic Art (by Brittany King for The Establishment)
• “The researchers found that suicide attempts by high school students decreased by 7 percent in states after they passed laws to legalize same-sex marriage, before the Supreme Court legalized it nationwide in 2015. Among LGB high school students, the decrease was especially concentrated, with suicide attempts falling by 14 percent. But in states that did not legalize same-sex marriage, there was no change.” Same-sex marriage laws linked to fewer youth suicide attempts, new study says (by Corinne Segal for PBS)

Anti-Semitism

• “It’s at least the fourth wave of bomb threats targeting American JCCs since January. Prior to Monday, roughly 48 Jewish centers in 26 states reported received unsettling phone calls this year—allegedly from a caller using a voice disguiser—in what is being described as “telephone terrorism.” Although none of the incidents have uncovered actual bombs or resulted in physical harm to the patrons of the centers, the fear-based attacks are rattling Jewish groups.” Fourth round of bomb threats hits Jewish Community Centers across the country (by Jack Jenkins for Think Progress)

Xenophobia

• “The hunters told police they suspected the shooters were undocumented immigrants they had seen on the ranch earlier in their trip. Their story soon jumped into online right-wing circles, thanks in part to Texas Commissioner of Agriculture and Donald Trump ally Sid Miller. But it was a lie, according to police and, now, a grand jury. Investigators determined that guides Walker Daughetry and Michael Bryant in fact shot at one another by accident, striking Daughetry and hunter Edwin Roberts in the process. Daughetry and Bryant were indicted for third-degree felonies last Wednesday.” Texas hunters who blamed immigrants actually shot each other, cops say (by Alan Pike for Think Progress)
• “Theresa May introduced the rule change in 2012 as home secretary. It means British citizens must earn at least £18,600 a year to bring in a non-EU spouse. The Home Office has suspended applications from couples who do not meet the minimum income threshold while they consider the issues raised by the case. The Supreme Court acknowledged the impact of the policy on couples but said: “The fact that [the income rule] may cause hardship to many does not render it unlawful.”” The Supreme Court Has Ruled It’s Legal For The Government To Keep Couples Apart Because Of Their Income (by Emily Dugan for Buzzfeed News)
• ““We’ve read many times in newspapers of some kind of shooting happening,” she said at a news conference at the headquarters of Garmin, where Kuchibhotla worked as an aviation systems engineer. “And we always wondered, how safe?” Of the two of them, she said, she was most concerned, asking her reassuring husband: “Are we doing the right thing of staying in the United States of America?” Dumala is returning to India for Kuchibhotla’s funeral. She said she wanted to come back to their home in south Olathe, fulfilling her husband’s wishes for an American life and “me being successful in any field I choose.”” Widow of Olathe shooting victim: ‘I need an answer’ on how U.S. stops hate crimes (by Rick Montgomery and Glenn E. Rice for The Kansas City Star)

Making Me Smile

Fight Back

• “As a first step, we propose to help build an international strike against male violence and in defense of reproductive rights on March 8th. In this, we join with feminist groups from around thirty countries who have called for such a strike. The idea is to mobilize women, including trans-women, and all who support them in an international day of struggle–a day of striking, marching, blocking roads, bridges, and squares, abstaining from domestic, care and sex work, boycotting, calling out misogynistic politicians and companies, striking in educational institutions.” Beyond Lean-In: For a Feminism of the 99% and a Militant International Strike on March 8 (via Viewpoint Magazine)
• ““In pretty much all cases,” Jennings says, CBP officers have searched travelers’ devices in tandem, or asked them “to divulge their passwords, or log into their accounts, and show what’s on there,” he says. “It’s quite invasive.” Although the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects U.S. citizens against “unreasonable searches and seizures” without a warrant, the country’s points of entry historically have been places where such searches are considered reasonable.” How to protect your data when traveling internationally (by Seth Rosenblatt, via The Parallax)
• “”I’m not going to the White House,” the Patriots’ Devin McCourty told Time in a text message Monday. “Basic reason for me is I don’t feel accepted in the White House. With the president having so many strong opinions and prejudices I believe certain people might feel accepted there while others won’t.”” One by one, black New England Patriots players are refusing to visit Donald Trump’s White House (by Zak Cheney Rice via Mic)

Horrific Executive Orders and Legislation

• “Trump has been vetting candidates to run the agency, which regulates the safety of everything from drugs and medical devices to food and cosmetics. Among them is Jim O’Neill, a former Health and Human Services official who is an associate of the Silicon Valley billionaire and Trump supporter Peter Thiel. O’Neill has argued that companies should not have to prove their drugs work in clinical trials before selling them.” Trump’s FDA pick could undo decades of drug safeguards (Katie Thomas via Boston Globe)
• “The men and women who reportedly handcuffed small children and the elderly, separated a child from his mother and held others without food for 20 hours, are undoubtedly “ordinary” people. What I mean by that, is that these are, in normal circumstances, people who likely treat their neighbors and co-workers with kindness and do not intentionally seek to harm others. That is chilling, as it is a reminder that authoritarians have no trouble finding the people they need to carry out their acts of cruelty. They do not need special monsters; they can issue orders to otherwise unexceptional people who will carry them out dutifully.” Ordinary Americans carried out inhumane acts for Trump (by Chris Edelson, via Baltimore Sun)
• “The agent pressed. Did my meetings and talks abroad focus on U.S. law or the law of other countries? Not understanding what any of this had to do with my ability to return home, I found myself explaining that in addition to the Constitution, the United States is bound by international treaties. I explained that there are fundamental human rights that belong to everyone and apply in all countries in the world, including the United States, and that my work covers both.” Flying Home From Abroad, a Border Agent Stopped and Questioned Me … About My Work for the ACLU (by Hini Shamsi via ACLU)
• “Lupita is thought to be one of the first undocumented immigrants to be deported under Trump’s executive action, and may even be the first since Trump became president to be arrested while meeting with immigration officials. Her case has garnered national attention because her community rallied around her. They did the same thing several years ago, the first time Lupita was detained.” Jackie Rayos-Garcia Tells About the Deportation of Her Mother, Guadalupe García de Rayos (by Aura Bogado via Teen Vogue)
• “A group of protesters, including her two teenage children, chanted “liberation, not deportation” as they surrounded a van for nearly three hours to keep it from leaving an Arizona immigration center with Rayos inside, an organizer, who asked not to be named, told Fusion. One protester, Manuel Saldana, bound himself to the van’s tire.” This mom of two has lived in the U.S. for 21 years. Last night she was hauled off in a deportation van. (by Wilfred Chan via Fusion)

Reproductive Rights

• “As Rewire reported in May, 77 percent of all those sterilized in North Carolina were women; about 2,000 were people 18 and younger. Before the 1960s—when Black people became the majority of those sterilized—poor, rural white girls were the primary targets of authorities and women reformers.” Segregation had “shielded some Black women from the eugenicist’s scalpel,” explains Rebecca Kluchin, a health-care historian, in the film because they were excluded from white health-care institutions. After the racial segregation era of Jim Crow, North Carolina’s Black population became eligible to receive public assistance, which also meant it became a target population for sterilization.” ‘State of Eugenics’ Film Sheds Light on North Carolina’s Sterilization Abuse Program (by Tina Vasquez, via Rewire)

Geography

• “Let’s first take a look at Greenland. A very large country, right? Almost as big as the entire continent of South America. But when its position is shifted to the same latitude of the USA, it’s clear that Greenland is nowhere near as big as we thought. And when moved still further to the equator, we can see that it’s nothing special compared to other islands.” After You’ve Seen These Maps, Your Image of the World Will Never Be the Same Again! (via Bright Side)

Fight Back

• The Stranger is compiling ways to fight back. Check it out! Resist Trump
  • And, if you’re located in Seattle, here is a calendar of events: Resistance and Solidarity Calendar
• “That message of affirmation continues to resonate far beyond Garza’s words — and it’s what makes the movement she co-founded (along with Cullors and Opal Tometi) so different from the fights for civil rights that came before. From Gandhi to Martin Luther King Jr. to Nelson Mandela, social justice movements have always been about more than their courageous and inspirational leaders. It’s the multitude of diverse individuals who unified behind a common cause that propelled movements forward.” These Black Activists Are Mobilizing A More Inclusive Movement (by Kathleen Wong, via @Mic)
• “So Gregoire jumped in her car and headed to the airport, figuring that she might pry some information out of the agency if she could meet someone in person. Along the way, she called former U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan and asked her to meet at the airport. If she was racing toward direct negotiation with a federal agency, she thought, it would be helpful to have someone who knew the territory.” Stop that plane: The frantic race to halt a deportation (by David Kroman, via Crosscut)
• Faxing is a thing again! Fax your representatives: Fax Senators
• “We stand at the edge of one of the most important periods of our lives. We cannot become immune to the suffering of others simply because they are not in front of us. One of literature’s greatest powers is the ability to illustrate our shared humanity and evoke empathy within the reader. To that end, here are some recommended books from the countries on Trump’s list:” Book Recommendations from Countries Targeted by Trump’s Ban (via Bookriot)
• ““Not all white people!” and “Not ME!” isn’t going to cut it. We all saw the stats and the racial breakdown of votes. White voters overwhelmingly voted for that monster and helped elect him. Yes, you may not have done it, but your friends did. Your family did. It’s time to face that. It’s time to be ashamed. It’s time to be enraged at your friends and family who are currently brushing aside what’s happening.” White People, Here’s Some Tough Love (by Clare Maceira, via @Pajiba)

Horrifying Legislation and Executive Action

• ““The very country to which many of our people were taken as slaves during the transatlantic slave trade has now decided to ban refugees from some of our countries,” said Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.” African Union criticises US for ‘taking many of our people as slaves’ and not taking refugees (by Adam Withnall, via @Independent)
• “It’s extremely rare for administration officials to circumvent Republican leadership and work directly with congressional committee aides. But the House Judiciary Committee has some of the most experienced staffers when it comes to immigration policy.” Hill staffers secretly worked on Trump’s immigration order (by Rachel Bade, Jake Sherman, and Josh Dawsey, via Politico)
• “Restrictions on abortion are already in themselves the most outright attacks on women’s autonomy and sovereignty possible in the 21st century, sending the message that fertilized eggs have human rights while incontrovertibly living women don’t. But on top of this, the new Arkansas law throws us back a century by regarding women as mere objects at their husbands’ disposal. Perhaps it’s one thing to say abortion is a decision families and their doctors rather than lawmakers should be making is one thing, but to assert that a woman’s bodily autonomy comes second to the wishes of her husband is entirely another.” Arkansas Law Allows Men to Block Their Wives’ Abortions, Since It’s 2017 and Women Are Still Property Apparently (via @Pajiba)
• “So, now we have a former executive of Breitbart and a white nationalist calling the shots when it comes to foreign diplomacy. Meanwhile, he’s completely cutting other voices out of the process: General Mattis, the Secretary of Defense, was not consulted. We found out today that neither was Rex Tillerson, the probable Secretary of State. The Homeland Security Secretary, John Kelly, was not consulted or even briefed on it until it was signed. The Office of Management and Budget was told not to put it through the normal channels, including the DOJ.” This Steve Bannon Guy? He’s Pure Evil. (via @Pajiba)

Righting Past Wrongs

• “Today the Government posthumously pardoned all gay and bi men who were convicted under pernicious laws in the last century that enabled the police to criminalise people for being who they are, and crucially that pardon was accompanied by a clear apology to everyone, both living and now dead, persecuted under these laws in the past.” Turing Law receives Royal Assent (via Stonewall)