As much as I support the ACLU’s efforts, and victory over the weekend to convince federal judges to temporarily stay parts of President Trump’s executive order banning immigration from some Muslim countries, I don’t think it will stand.
For starters, these decisions simply postponed a ruling on the merits of the ACLU’s argument that, among other things, Trump’s order violated the First Amendment’s religious establishment clause.
Precedent is not on the ACLU’s side in this case, which is probably headed to the Supreme Court.
With slavery, Japanese detainment camps, Chinese exclusion acts, and the like, our federal courts tend to defer, not rebuke or repeal the decisions of the other branches. Exceptions are rare, and I don’t see this case becoming one of those.
Stopping Trump’s excesses will be the job of Congress, and ultimately the American people who disapprove of his actions and pressure their elected officials.
In other words, phone calls to your members of Congress can do more for change than relying on the courts: Call My Congress
boss, ‘fraid you’re right, but if somehow during the process they can manage a deposition with the despot on his “ban muslim” intent in which he will under oath undoubtedly lie about something…. then maybe we’ll hear the appealing bells of impeachment in critterville.
an im-peachy thing to consider. the gopers’ and our only salvation lie in his lies
back in November, we were warned about our world of woes to come.
an old article in slate: Steve Bannon Compares Himself Favorably to “Dick Cheney, Darth Vader, Satan”
“Darkness is good … Dick Cheney. Darth Vader. Satan. That’s power. It only helps us when they get it wrong. When they’re blind to who we are and what we’re doing.”
wapo: Questions multiply over Bannon’s role in Trump administration
When the top cop, comey, didn’t stop trump? It was over. fbi friend and instigator, guiliani, provided the language for the exec order banning Muslims. Cleverly disguised for the gullible. I am sure putie is proud and after his call with trump? He sees how ill the man is — perfect for his takeover. The putin puppet and the police state behind trump? Building.
hate spreads….trouble in Canada…be very afraid of the alt-right! And it is sleeping in our WH…eating our food…flushing the toilets. I do owe the trumptrolls and hillary haters in many ways, but we will protect the fools anyway…it is what decent Americans do.
Google Aims to Raise $4M for ACLU, Other Groups
https://youtu.be/1boY9S-ePPI
The ACLU says it got $24 million in donations this weekend, six times its yearly average
patd — bannon quote
“Darkness is good … Dick Cheney. Darth Vader. Satan. That’s power. It only helps us when they get it wrong. When they’re blind to who we are and what we’re doing.”
It was the rise of trump that convinced me to become a sun worshiper (without the bloody sacrifice). Live on the sunny side of the street and respect the sun and science and cycles of life on the blue planet. I run my life with humor and attempt a sunny disposition. trolls and haters live under the bridge, in hell and love the dark. They are ripe for takeover by this light sucking force. trump may give us nuclear winter and it is time to impeach. I am sure pence, who has had his fingers crossed behind his back since his VP selection in a Christian attempt to lie (with fingers crossed) without consequence, now has them crossed to be the 46th.
So, it would be “UnPresidented” if the ALCU won this battle against Trump? I read this morning on someone’s Twitter bio that: True patriots love their country, not their government. Can someone explain this to me? I was also wondering this morning if these statements are correct:
“I hate Obama, because I love America.”
“I hate Trump, so I hate America.”
the guardian: Anti-Donald Trump petition to stop UK state visit passes 1m signatures
The petition, which falls short of calling for Trump to be banned from the UK, argues that he should not receive a full state visit, including audiences with the royal family, “because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen”.
The petition’s creators said: “Donald Trump’s well-documented misogyny and vulgarity disqualifies him from being received by the Queen or the Prince of Wales. Therefore during the term of his presidency Donald Trump should not be invited to the United Kingdom for an official state visit.”
didn’t Scotland also proclaim such a ban last year?
A great play on words, Corey. It gives us insight into the twisted mind of trump supporters and mouthpieces like kellyann. The double speak. There is a difference between a true patriot and a truthful patriot.
Theresa May has been reported to be obsessively washing her hands since holding them with trump. Now safe on the british isle? She wants to wash her hands of him! Not enough soap, TM!
also in guardian:
As the chaos and protests at airports around the US gathered steam on Sunday after President Donald Trump’s startling travel ban on people coming to America from seven majority-Muslim countries, the White House had a lighter listing on its official schedule: a screening of Finding Dory at the White House family theater from 3pm.
As the film’s co-star Albert Brooks pointed out, the choice of the film – believed to be the president’s first official screening since his inauguration – comes with layers of irony. After Trump’s executive order, green card holders, visa holders and pre-approved refugees from countries in the Middle East and north Africa were detained at airports or pulled off airplanes around the world.
“Odd that Trump is watching Finding Dory today, a movie about reuniting with family when he’s preventing it in real life,” Brooks tweeted.
Lets get this down to basics, Trump is violating the law, he can’t pick and choose which laws he will follow and those he won’t.
Our current immigration law doesn’t allow you to discriminate based on country. If you want to reach natural conservatives push this not the ethnic/ religious stuff that gets liberals stirred up. BTW Craig all the examples you listed were written into law and would have represented an over turning current law, something the court is always reluctant to do.
Jack
bbronc and other tour d’francophiles, 60 minutes had quite a story last night on hidden motors in pro bikes. you might want to look at it if you missed it.
Meanwhile, $$$trump is racking-up big expenses and we the American people are paying the bill…even his dud inauguration was the most expensive. Damage and its costs? corporate welfare billionaire now gets free security while leaving us vulnerable and insecure. As for lawsuits and court? A way of life for trump.
The loser of the popular vote does not have the mandate from the American people to abuse us in this way and our cops are afraid of us, not trump?? No one is stopping him and that is a failure of our police power. It is being used in the wrong direction.
AI techies warn Musk. Everyday, a new shoe to drop in WH locker room formerly known as the Oval Office. Next on the chopping block for the AI techies? Bezos. Taxing Amazon is next on the takedown agenda of prez bannon. The rapid movement is part of the process…by Tuesday? Anti-abortion humans will rejoice…their issue of the unborn resolved, but if only they cared about the born, the living humans of today. One issue humans…never could see the forest for the trees in this junta takeover.
craig, looks like lizzie disagrees with you on the lawsuits’ success….but what does she know, she’s just a Harvard law prof. Read Warren’s full speech, as transcribed by the Globe: Little girls who flee murderers are not a threat to the United States. Elderly grandparents in airports are not a threat to the United States. Students, teachers, and people who work right here in Massachusetts, are not a threat to the United States. Iraqi translators who laid down their lives to help us are not a threat to the United States. This order is not about terrorist threats. This order is about religious tests, and the United States does not impose religious tests, period. It is illegal. It is against the Constitution. And it is against the very foundations of our democracy. Lawyers across this country have dropped everything and are doing God’s work fighting for justice. And right here in Boston, we have already got a stay on the president’s order. Can we hear it for the Massachusetts ACLU? But we will not stop fighting until this executive order is tossed in the dust bin of history where it belongs. We will not stop fighting for our Constitution, and for our constitutional principles. We will not let Donald Trump chip away at the very heart of our democracy. So from right here in Boston, let’s say it to people all across Massachusetts, all across this country, and all around this world: we will not turn our backs on refugees and immigrants. We will not give ISIS more material for recruiting based on religious hate. We will stand for Massachusetts values, we will stand for American values, we will stand for human values. We will not be divided by Donald Trump’s hateful divisions. We will not. Today, we will stand together with our Muslim brothers and sisters and we will say an attack on one of us, is an attack on all of us. We will fight back. We will fight back in the courts, we will fight back in Congress, and we will fight back across America. It is an… Read more »
A couple of more groups that should be considered for contributions are the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center. I have vetted both of them and put my money where my mouth/keyboard is.
Flatus
btw, a nice little fyi from an npr station knau piece titled “Executive Order Or Memorandum? Let’s Call The Whole Thing An ‘Action’ “:
The authority to issue executive orders and memorandums doesn’t appear in the Constitution, and that’s partly why the definitions are a little hazy, according to the Congressional Research Service. Nevertheless, the authority to issue both is considered an inherent aspect of presidential power.
An order is a call for the executive branch to take a specific action or to change an existing practice, explains Phillip J. Cooper, a professor of public administration in the Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University in Portland, Ore.
If the president has the authority to issue that directive, whether from the Constitution or statute, then it becomes legally binding. However, Cooper says, “if there’s a clear piece of legislation that says, ‘No you can’t do this,’ a president can’t pick up a pen and get around it.” In essence, a president can’t sign an executive order that violates existing law.
Once a president signs an executive order, it’s sent to the Federal Register for an identifying number, and then published.
That’s a key step that isn’t legally required with executive memorandums.
“There are no legal processes required for issuing a memorandum,” Cooper says. “A president doesn’t have to do anything, doesn’t even have to publish it if he or she doesn’t want to. With an executive order, presidents must publish.”
I used to have a small notebook with an embossed cover that read “Memos to Me.” I seldom used it. In any case, that formed my understanding of memos and memorandums.
Out of curiosity I went to the online Merriam-Webster and looked at their words related to Memorandum:
Related Words
announcement, bulletin, declaration, notification, posting, proclamation, pronouncement, release; dispatch, report; edict, pronunciamento, rescript; charge, command, dictate; directions, instructions, orders, word; encyclical, epistle, jotting, letter, mail, message, missive, note, post [chiefly British]
wapo: Democrats will attempt to rescind Trump’s travel ban
Criticizing Trump’s order on Monday morning, Schumer told NBC’s “Today” show, “It was done in such a sloppy and careless way. . . . It almost seems like back of the envelope.”
Asked what Democrats planned to do in response, Schumer said he would call later Monday for the immediate consideration of a bill by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to rescind the order.
But that request is likely to be fruitless, given that Republicans would object to immediately consider such a measure and because there doesn’t appear to be sufficient GOP support to outright reverse Trump’s ban.
While a handful of Republican senators have expressed concerns, just seven — John McCain (Ariz.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), Ben Sasse (Neb.), Susan Collins (Maine), Cory Gardner (Colo.) and Dean Heller (Nev.) — have said they’re opposed to the ban. If those Republicans joined the chamber’s 48 Democrats in supporting the bill, that’s still not enough to clear various procedural hurdles that require 60 votes to overcome.
Even if Democrats fail to make their point on the Senate floor, they hope to galvanize growing public concern by holding a rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday night. Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have organized a rally for 6 p.m., an event that aides say was hatched over the weekend in a series of conversations between House and Senate aides and some lawmakers.
[….]
Schumer said he would also seek to delay a scheduled vote to confirm Rex Tillerson as Trump’s secretary of state. He told NBC that senators deserve to hear Tillerson’s views on the travel ban before holding a vote. The Senate is set to hold a procedural vote on the confirmation on Monday night before holding a final up-or-down vote on Tuesday.
Murphy told The Washington Post on Sunday that Democrats must slow the consideration of all of Trump’s remaining Cabinet nominees in light of Trump’s travel ban.
I took pleasure, yesterday, in emailing each of my critters: Joe ‘You Lie’ Wilson, Tim Scott, and Lindsey Graham. I invited each of them in joining this aged, disabled military retiree in marching against President Trump’s incredible overstep of Executive power. I suppose I should write again making it a standing invitation.
Pretender Pussy Grabber idea of reforming regulations is to say – for every new reg you have to eliminate two
The administration is made up of idiots
Even Dick Cheeeny thinks Trumpco is wrong
Sheesh, he’s proving that anybody can run the ‘Free’ World from the dining alcove of a Holiday Rambler. What a creep
by golly, there is a resemblance!
it’s the eyes.
Published on Jan 26, 2017
Scientists have created a human-pig ‘chimera’, raising the possibility of one day growing organs for transplant inside another animal
sooo how will this impact the pro-life folk?
Travel ban is the clearest sign yet of Trump advisors’ intent to reshape the country
Steve Bannon always looks like he just came off a falling down drunk three day bender while Stephen Miller makes you think of a bad Twilight Zone episode shown in the Twin Peaks coffee shop.
Both seem to think there is only one branch of government and they are in charge of it.
ap at msn: Washington state sues Trump over immigration order
Washington state’s attorney general says he is suing President Donald Trump over an executive order that suspended immigration from seven countries with majority-Muslim populations and sparked nationwide protests.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced his lawsuit Monday, becoming the first state attorney general to announce a legal action against the Trump administration over one of its policies.Trump signed an executive order Friday that suspends all immigration for citizens of the seven countries for 90 days.
Ferguson was one of 16 state attorneys general who released a statement Sunday calling Trump’s immigration action “un-American and unlawful.”
I’ve thought it all along: Bannon wants to go the “Solyent Green is people” route. Health care would just get in the way of that.
It’s the combination of arrogance/incompetence that is going to do this heinous bunch in.
Now Obama has weighed in on the immigration not-a-ban, a reminder of what a sane leader we had, and the small crowd at Trump’s Inaugural.
Happy 135th, FDR!
yahoo news: Anonymous has joined the chorus of discontent at President Donald Trump’s reign by announcing its #OpResistance campaign – something that promises to stir civil disorder and unrest unless Trump and his administration resign. The hacktivists shot out a warning to the newly-appointed leader of the free world with a press release and video published on YouTube that saw the faceless group demand a resignation by 28 February, claiming that since Trump has taken up office in the White House they “have witnessed an unprecedented attack on basic human decency and civil rights”. A website with a countdown timer to ‘uninstalling the regime’ has also been setup. The opening footage of the video message shows mobs of protesters clashing with authorities, a nod to the organised mass uprising they claim will be unleashed if their demands are not met. “We will protest, resist and continue to practice civil disobedience until we can clearly state that this regime is at an end. You have exactly 35 days or we will take to the streets in a day of resistance,” claimed the group. Anonymous calls Trump a “hateful and intolerant tyrant” and attack his regime and “unconstitutional executive orders have threatened the rights of nearly every single demographic in this country”. [….] Their call-to-action comes in the form of a warning of resistance and organised opposition in a mass march for radical change. They compare the situation to the Egyptian revolution saying “dissent is hard but vital”. Anonymous’ then issued the following demands: 1. That Donald Trump resign from the office of President of the United States by 28 February, 2017 2. That the current administration submits its resignation by 28 February 2017 3. That the interim administration be made of senior elected officials of the Independent Party, thus removing any bias or unwanted opposition misappropriation 4. That early free and fair elections are called on as soon as possible “We will not rest until these demands are met. If these demands are not met we will not let you sleep without hearing our voices ring across this great nation.… Read more »
obviously they don’t know beans about what happens when a prez resigns. they’d spend their time better just hacking his tweeter.
Remember when Paula Jones sued Bill Clinton while a sitting president…. remember how the Republicans crowed there was nothing wrong with that. I wonder what they’ll say about frump being sued as a sitting president and if any of them will get the irony…
new Yorker: Trump’s Information Wars The White House senior counsellor wants the press to shut up. Will the Administration try the same tactic on federal agencies? By Steve Coll [….] The particular anxiety in Washington last week was that the White House might ally with climate-change deniers and hard-line ideologues in the Republican-led Congress to suppress federal science and medical research, stir up hate campaigns against immigrants and minorities, or sideline intelligence analysts who report inconvenient facts. These fears may prove overblown, but Trump’s first week has offered scant reassurance. On Inauguration Day, the Environmental Protection Agency suspended all activity on its Twitter account, which had been posting about the Clean Air Act, water quality, and how to keep one’s home safe from radon and carbon monoxide. The next day, after the National Park Service retweeted an accurate post about the size of the Inaugural crowd, the President called the director of the service to ask why its staff had shared the item—surely the most gratuitous case of Presidential intimidation of the career bureaucracy since the Nixon Administration. When the White House changes hands from one party to another, it is routine for the new team to adjust what information government agencies and Web sites put out about public policy. In the months ahead, it will be necessary to distinguish between cases where Trump’s appointees are merely reframing policy communication, as their predecessors have done, and cases of improper interference with career employees, scientists, and whistle-blowers. The Supreme Court has upheld the right of federal employees to speak out on public issues as private individuals, and there are robust laws protecting whistle-blowers in the government workforce. Last week, the Office of Special Counsel, an independent agency empowered by Congress, issued a statement reminding the new Administration of the “statutory right to blow the whistle”—a right that can override other government policies. [….] It may be a weak basis for hope, but the prospects for transparent government and sound taxpayer-funded science could depend in part on Trump’s volatility. The President has not worked for long with his most important Cabinet members… Read more »
The Senate is 3 votes short of blocking Betsy DeVos. If you live in ME, TN, AK, GA, UT, NC, WY, LA, KS, SC, or KY, call your Senators!
Tomorrow it will be 80 degrees here. Trees are already getting leaves. The tree by my garage has sticky leaves and it was humming with bees this afternoon. Good to hear the bees, although too early.
Let’s hope anonymous makes April’s science march unnecessary.
On NBC news tonight, I was surprised to hear an interview of a couple in Allentown, PA who were originally from Syria and had voted for Trump.
Is the severity of Trump’s edicts due to Bannon?
I just couldn’t face any of it today. I just didn’t have the energy to spare. So I focused on my work and some other things I needed to take care of; just trying to have a normal day without negativity.
It felt so good that I think I’ll try it again tomorrow. Then maybe I’ll have a recharged battery to jump back into the fray.
Cheers gang!
I’ve been busy but wanted to share this because it almost made me cry!
So Trump just fired the acting Attorney General?
Hello!!!!!
Here’s a happy – Gonzaga is 22-0, the only undefeated team remaining in D1, and is now #1 in the AP top 25. Go Zags!
Granny – Thanks for KO’s video.