Trump's Deadly Cornavirus Bungle

Submitted by Ben Bache on

"Nobody ever expected a thing like this,” Trump said in a Fox News interview on Tuesday, March 23. To the contrary, starting in 2016, in the aftermath of the Ebola crisis of 2014-2015, the National Security Council had initiated a project to develop a "Playbook for Early Response to High-Consequence Emerging Infectious Disease Threats and Biological Incidents," aka "the pandemic playbook."  The playbook outlines hundreds of tactics and decisions to be considered when confronting a pandemic including consideration of availability of personal-protective-equipment (PPE) for healthcare providers,  recommendation that the federal government work to detect potential outbreaks, and consider invoking the Defense Production Act.

The Trump administration was made aware of the document's existence in 2017, but -- whether by choice or ineptitude -- it was "thrown onto a shelf" according to a government official interviewed by Politico, who worked in the Obama and Trump administrations.

Among its many recommendations, the playbook contains a set of key questions and decisions to be addressed as soon as there is a "credible threat" of a pandemic, which in the case of COVID19 would have been in early to mid January when the virus was spreading in China....

Information

Submitted by Ben Bache on

Democratic Party action page. Volunteer opportunities relating to a range of issues and communities.

Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions

Democracy 2025 | The united legal frontline in the fight for our democracy

Vaccine Information Statements (VISs) Overview 

Health-data analyst Charles Gaba has posted links to copies of CDC data archived most recently prior to the Trump admin at his site acasignups.net

American Medical Association (AMA) YouTube page.
Some of the information previously available from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Find a Mutual Aid Group.

Lamda Legal's Helpdesk: information and resources relating to discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.

Opportunities

Submitted by Ben Bache on

Indivisible.org is coordinating action with several unions and other community groups.

See also:

MoveOn.org

Public Citizen

Americans of Conscience

Simon Rosenberg's Hopium Chronicles (hope and optimism)

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

American Civil Liberties Union

People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch

Anti-Defamation League - You may also wish to read the Forward's recent article on the ADL and its critics.

Impeachment

Submitted by Ben Bache on

On December 18, 2019 History.com's "day in history" feature recorded the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Trump was only the third US president to be impeached. While Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller's report had provided substantial evidence of misdeeds, its narrow focus, and constrained application by the Justice Department helped prevent any direct consequences to Trump. On August 12, 2019, however, a government staffer registered a formal "whistleblower complaint" concerning Trump's month-long effort to pressure the government of Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. A central focus of the complaint was a phone call on July 25 between Trump and Ukrainian Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as White House attempts to cover up the call and other events. The complaint led eventually to impeachment in the US House of Representatives by a vote of 230-197-1 on the abuse of power charge, and 229-198-1 on the obstruction of Congress charge. Trump was later acquitted in the US Senate by votes of 52-48 on the first count and 51-49 on the second, with Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, becoming the only senator from an impeached president's party in US history to vote for conviction.  

Associated Press impeachment coverage.

C-SPAN's impeachment coverage.

Mueller Report

Submitted by Ben Bache on

Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller's Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election was released on the Internet, April 18, 2019. The report identified "sweeping and systemic" Russian interference in the 2016 US elections, including a social media "information warfare" campaign favoring the Trump campaign, hacking of databases and release of stolen materials. Russia also targeted election-related databases in several states, and gained access to millions of voter registration records. 

The report produced more than three dozen indictments and seven guilty pleas or convictions. Fourteen other criminal matters were referred to elements of the Justice Department....

T Is For Toddler, T Is For Trump

Submitted by Ben Bache on

"It has never existed," the New York Times' Maggie Haberman wrote in June about the hope being expressed in Washington for an imaginary person who could keep Trump in line. "... [P]eople keep cycling through, looking for ways, in the campaign and now." In June some were hoping the kindergarten-teacher-in-chief would be the First Lady; this month the talk was of retired Marine general John F. Kelly, Trump's new chief of staff. John Kelly Quickly Moves to Impose Military Discipline on White House, the New York Times proclaimed on August 3, only to be answered barely two week later by the Washington Post headline Trump's lack of discipline leaves new chief of staff frustrated and dismayed.

All In the Family

Submitted by Ben Bache on

In the aftermath of the violent Nazi demonstrations in Charlottesville, VA, Trump's noncommittal statement has come under criticism from across the political spectrum, with the exception, of course, of white supremacists. As noted on our home page, the Weekly Standard's Kelly Jane Torrance, appearing on Fox News, condemned Trump's refusal to identify white nationalists as the perpetrators of the Charlottesville violence, or label it domestic terrorism. Also on Fox News, former George W. Bush adviser, Karl Rove, derided Trump's statement as defensive and inadequate.

The neo-Nazi web site the Daily Stormer praised Trump's comments on Charlottesville. "No condemnation at all," the Stormer wrote.

Voting Rights and Voter Suppression in the Age of Trump

Submitted by Ben Bache on

Last week's news was dominated by Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, which Trump admitted to NBC News was related to what he called "this Russia thing with Trump." Pushed somewhat into the background, but with as much or greater potential to affect national politics was the executive order establishing the so-called "Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity." Heading the commission with Vice President Mike Pence will be Kansas Secretary of State Kurt Kobach, who gained national attention for his hysterical allegations of widespread voter fraud, despite there having been only four documented cases in the entire 2016 election.

Join Together

Submitted by Ben Bache on

Trump is the first convicted felon president. Although he won, his raw vote total was less than 50%, "the fifth smallest margin of victory in the thirty-two presidential races held since 1900." 

Much of Theda Skocpol's 2017 "A guide to rebuilding the Democratic Party, from the ground up" in Vox, is still apt. Skocpol, a Harvard sociologist and political scientist urges progressives to avoid the traps of endless "election replays," squabbles over "message," failing to coordinate interests and causes, or giving procedural fixes too much importance. Instead she advocates strengthening Democratic party organizations at the national and state level, identifying groups that can replace the role formerly played by unions, organizing locally to oppose Trump, improving political intelligence, and focusing on near-term state contests. As consensus emerges for countering the Republican takeover we will update this section.

University of Sheffield's James Weinberg (UK) has a reading list on authoritarianism.

See The New Republic's Citizen' Guide to Resistance.

"So You Want to Be a Dissident?" from The New Yorker.

"A Practical Program for Resisting a Trump Second Term" from Liberal Currents

Resources for creating local ICE watch groups: defendandrecruit.org.

American Civil Liberties Union

People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch 

If you're concerned about public safety consider contacting a mutual aid group in your area.