ASK Musings

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)