The Suspected Quebec City Mosque Attacker Was a Right-Wing Troll for Trump

But Fox News and the White House quickly pointed toward Islamic terrorism....
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/01/fox-news-quebec-city-mosque-attack-right-wing-shooter

FACT CHECK: Spin Aside, Donald Trump's National Security Council Has A Very Big Change

Holding up papers with highlighted text, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said little has changed as it relates to the National Security Council between the Trump, Obama and Bush administrations. He thundered of "identical language" between (parts of the) 2017 and 2009 memos organizing the NSC. And he went further when it came to George W. Bush's administration.

"The makeup of the Principals Committee from 2017 is exactly as it was in both 2017 as it was in 2001," Spicer boasted, brandishing the texts in both hands. "100 percent identical, except we add the word also."

But that's not true....
http://www.npr.org/2017/01/30/512489785/fact-check-spin-aside-trumps-national-security-council-has-a-very-big-change?ft=nprml&f=1001

Vox: Republican senators are criticizing Trump’s immigration order but not doing anything about it

They have maximum leverage now ...
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/30/14440490/republicans-criticize-refugee-ban

Business Insider: Schumer: Democrats will seek to delay votes on Trump Cabinet nominees in response to executive order

Sen. Chuck Schumer on NBC. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on Monday that Democrats were hoping to delay votes on President Donald Trump's Cabinet picks in protest of his Friday executive order barring people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US. The New York Democrat said on the "Today" show that what he described as Trump's "appalling" order would encourage lone-wolf-style attacks in America, and he pledged that Democrats would introduce legislation later to repeal the ban. ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/schumer-democrats-delay-votes-on-trump-cabinet-nominees-executive-order-immigration-2017-1

FORTUNE: African Union Blasts U.S. for Taking Its People 'As Slaves' But Not Accepting Refugees

Three of the union's members states are included in Trump's immigrant ban. ...
http://fortune.com/2017/01/30/trump-ban-africa-nkosazana-dlamini-zuma/

Was Trump’s executive order an impeachable offense?

My co-bloggers Ilya Somin, Jon Adler, Orin Kerr and Will Baude — not to mention Ben Wittes’s withering critique over at Lawfare — have already dissected President Trump’s executive order (misleadingly titled “Protecting the Nation from Terrorist Attacks by Foreign Nationals”) (full text here) and addressed many of its more appalling features, including its cruelty, ineffectiveness and the truly staggering incompetence with which it was drafted. But there’s more. Wittes correctly points to the absence of any “rational relationship” between the countries targeted by the ban and “any expected counterterrorism goods.”...

...But there could be, it turns out, an explanation for why some countries are inside, and others outside, the ban. It has nothing to do with counterterrorism....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/01/30/was-trumps-executive-order-an-impeachable-offense/?utm_term=.1318df523cd8

FORTUNE: Billionaire Koch Brothers Launch Effort to Kill Republican Border Tax Plan

The head of a Koch advocacy group called the measure "a massive tax increase" on U.S. consumers. ...
http://fortune.com/2017/01/30/billionaire-koch-brothers-launch-effort-to-kill-republican-border-tax-plan/

Trump’s facile claim that his refugee policy is similar to Obama’s in 2011

In justifying his controversial executive order halting travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries, President Trump claimed that President Barack Obama did the same thing in 2011. But the comparison is a bit facile. Here’s what happened in 2011....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/01/29/trumps-facile-claim-that-his-refugee-policy-is-similar-to-obama-in-2011/?utm_term=.b2fc0969b818

Vox: It looks like Trump’s HHS pick didn’t tell Congress the truth about a sweetheart stock deal

This kind of thing used to matter. ...
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/30/14442046/tom-price-innate-immunotherapeutics

This Is Why People Are Sharing Dr. Seuss Cartoons In Response To The Refugee Ban

“This could have been drawn yesterday,”...
https://www.buzzfeed.com/krishrach/people-are-sharing-dr-seuss-cartoons-in-response-to-trumps-r?utm_term=.qg8a34ww3#.lpg7ygOOy

The Huffington Post: Obama Weighs In On President Trump For The First Time

Former President Barack Obama released a statement on Monday expressing solidarity with those protesting his successor's ban on travelers and refugees entering the United States from certain Muslim-majority countries. ...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/barack-obama-donald-trump-immigration-ban_us_588f8f70e4b0c90efeff0ed0?

Starbucks’ epic response to Trump’s executive order

The coffee giant ups the ante....
https://thinkprogress.org/starbucks-epic-response-to-trumps-executive-order-a9d2cd8f9786#.thyg7vrv1

The Independent: Republicans are worried about the consequences of Donald Trump repealing Obamacare

Republican lawmakers are worried about the consequences of repealing the Affordable Care Act and leaving 20 million people in the United States without health insurance, according to leaked audio from a party retreat. ...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/republicans-are-worried-about-the-consequences-of-donald-trump-repealing-obamacare-a7552201.html

TPM: Schumer Tears Up At Presser Denouncing Trump's Travel Ban (VIDEO)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) condemned President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from the U.S. at a Sunday press conference, where the senator choked up as he discussed the order.

"This executive order was mean-spirited and un-American," Schumer said with tears welling in his eyes. "It was implemented in a way that created chaos and confusion across the country, and it will only serve to embolden and inspire those around the globe who will do us harm.” ..
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/scumer-tears-trump-immigration-ban

Trump punks media, fools them into reporting he kept a promise he actually just broke

Dig deeper....
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-punks-media-fools-them-into-reporting-he-kept-a-promise-he-actually-just-broke-abba92991b33#.vco9wg4kc

Quartz: Trump’s executive order to revoke two regulations for every new one made is “not a legitimate use of presidential authority,” according to a Columbia politics professor

US president Donald Trump’s latest executive order, signed Monday, bars federal agencies—like the US Environmental Protection Agency, or the Food and Drug Administration, for example—from issuing any new regulation without simultaneously repealing two others. In that case, agencies will reportedly be able to submit which regulations they would choose to drop, and the White House would review them, according to CNBC News....
https://qz.com/898223/trumps-latest-executive-order-forces-government-agencies-to-revoke-two-regulations-for-every-new-one-made/

The New Yorker: A Welcome Setback for Donald Trump

"Americans severely misjudged the authoritarians," Umair Haque, a consultant and social-media maven, commented on Twitter on Saturday night. "But the authoritarians, it seems, also severely misjudged Americans."

Yes they did, and this weekend's events offered a bit of hope to everybody alarmed by Donald Trump. Saving America from the most unhinged and least qualified figure ever to occupy the Oval Office may well require a long and bitter fight. But a couple of early markers have been put down. ...
http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/a-welcome-setback-for-donald-trump?mbid=rss

The Huffington Post: Senate Democrats Call For Investigation Into Trump Officials' Failure To Obey Court Orders

Illinois Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin want an investigation into the Department of Homeland Security's response to a federal court order that temporarily halted parts of President Donald Trump's recent immigration-related executive order. ...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/senate-democrats-donald-trump-department-homeland-security_us_588e26cae4b0b065cbbca5d6?

"I had always hoped that this land might become a safe & agreeable Asylum to the virtuous & persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong." -George Washington (1788) [455 x 556] - QuotesPorn

https://www.reddit.com/r/QuotesPorn/comments/5qt7xp/i_had_always_hoped_that_this_land_might_become_a/

Seven Social Sins - Wikipedia

Seven Social Sins is a list that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi published in his weekly newspaper Young India on October 22, 1925...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Social_Sins

Republicans want the FCC to shut down potential set-top box overhaul (The Verge)

Republicans want to make sure the Federal Communications Commission doesn't continue with plans to shake up the set-top box market. ...
http://www.theverge.com/2017/1/25/14388950/republicans-want-fcc-set-top-box-proceeding-killed

Trump wants to build a wall between us and Mexico, but the border voted heavily against him

Donald Trump is haphazardly plowing ahead with his proposal to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, but among the many obstacles he faces is this one: the areas of Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas that actually abut our southern neighbor strongly opposed the president in 2016. Daily Kos Elections has calculated the results of last year’s presidential election for the nation’s congressional districts, and now The Washington Post’s Philip Bump has smartly put that data to use to show that eight of the nine districts along the border voted against Trump. ...
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/1625993

Don’t Spend Spring Break With 'Christian Nation' Propagandist David Barton | Americans United

Religious Right “Christian nation” advocate and pseudo-historian David Barton has a special offer for teachers: From March 15-17, he’ll be offering a conference at his home base in Aledo, Texas, “designed to equip teachers from both public and private schools with the principles and techniques that were used in early American education and thereafter for decades.”

Warren Throckmorton, a Barton critic and professor of psychology at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, has an amusing list of things Barton could teach (but probably won’t) at the conference....
https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/don-t-spend-spring-break-with-christian-nation-propagandist-david-barton

Lawrence Krauss — Intelligent Design & Science Education

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF5-o1E4M8Q&feature=youtu.be

How to Protect Your Digital Privacy in the Era of Public Shaming - ProPublica

Americans face unprecedented threats to the digital safety of their personal information. We offer nine tips to foil hackers, ransomware, online trackers, data brokers and other menaces....
https://www.propublica.org/article/how-to-protect-your-digital-privacy-in-the-era-of-public-shaming

Solving the energy crisis - pics

https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/5q9q9s/solving_the_energy_crisis/

South Dakota Senate Panel Approves Science Instruction Bill

A Senate panel has approved a bill that says teachers can't be prohibited from discussing the strengths and weaknesses of scientific information on issues such as climate change and evolution during classes. The Senate Education Committee on Tuesday voted 4-3 to send the measure to the chamber's floor. Republican Sen. Jeff Monroe, the bill's prime sponsor, says teachers should be able to talk about weaknesses in scientific theories....
http://www.keloland.com/news/article/politics/south-dakota-senate-panel-approves-science-instruction-bill

Spotlight on green news & views: Trump regime gags us all when it gags scientists and agencies

Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue) appears twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Here is the January 11 Green Spotlight. More than 26,325 environmentally oriented stories have been rescued to appear in this series since 2006. Inclusion of a story in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it....
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/1624583

A New Report Finds America Is No Longer a "Full Democracy" | Mother Jones

For the first time, the United States has been downgraded from a "full democracy" to a "flawed democracy" by the Economic Intelligence Unit, a group that annually measures the strength of democracies across the world. According to the EIU, the country's decline as a liberal democracy can be attributed to the "further erosion of trust in government and elected officials"—the same factors that led to the election of President Donald Trump....
http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2017/01/new-report-finds-america-no-longer-full-democracy

Those Affected By Travel Ban Were Just 'Inconvenienced A Little,' Spicer Says

White House press secretary Sean Spicer dismissed criticism of President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily barring visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries on Monday, saying that those affected were just "inconvenienced a little."

"I think it's a shame that people were inconvenienced, obviously. But at the end of the day, we're talking about a couple hours," Spicer told reporters in his daily briefing. "I'm sorry that some folks may have had to wait a little while."...
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/sean-spicer-detained-travelers-were-just-inconvenienced-a-little

Watch Democratic Congressmen Try To Enforce A Federal Court Order At A D.C. Airport

Nearly 24 hours after a federal judge ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Washington Dulles International Airport to grant attorneys access to green card holders detained as a result of President Donald Trump's executive order, customs officials continued to deny them access. ...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/democratic-congressmen-try-to-enforce-court-order_us_588e72aee4b01763779526c7?

What’s Ahead For US-Israeli Relations (Diane Rehm Show )

Earlier this week Israel announced plans to build more that 2,500 new housing units in the West Bank, a move that the United Nations considers illegal under international law. Diane and her guests discuss how U.S. – Israeli relations may shift during the Trump administration and what these changes may mean for ongoing tensions in the Middle East.
Interview:
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2017-01-27/whats-ahead-for-us-israeli-relations

Summary of the Muslim ban

https://www.reddit.com/r/DunderMifflin/comments/5quekr/summary_of_the_muslim_ban/

Petition calling on UK to cancel Trump state visit reaches 100,000 signature in less than 5 hours.

Matter will now go to debate in Parliament...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/petition-calling-for-ban-on-donald-trump-hits-100000-signatures-in-less-than-5-hours-a7551756.html

Trump supporters right now:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalHumor/comments/5qw5s0/trump_supporters_right_now/

No longer welcome in my country. So why was I sent to hers? - pics

https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/5qvltv/no_longer_welcome_in_my_country_so_why_was_i_sent/

Vox: Steve Bannon's longtime suspicion of successful immigrants is the key to this weekend's chaos

Trump's targeting green card holders makes more sense when you know Bannon's views. ...
http://www.vox.com/2017/1/29/14429984/trump-immigration-order-steve-bannon

Iran will ban Americans from entering the country in response to Trump’s “insulting” order restricting arrivals from Iran and six other Muslim states

Iran will ban Americans from entering the country in response to Trump's "insulting" order restricting arrivals from Iran and six other Muslim states
http://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-vows-to-respond-in-kind-to-trumps-insulting-ban/

Actor Kal Penn raises $160k in few hours for Syrian refugees after being told he 'doesn't belong in America'

The Harold and Kumar star's crowdfunding page is 'donating to Syrian refugees in the name of the dude who said I don’t belong in America'...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/kal-penn-actor-vile-comment-instagram-crowdfunding-syrian-refugees-goal-a7551691.html

See 9 education-related financial interests Betsy DeVos intends to divest from

If West Michigan native Betsy DeVos makes it through the confirmation process for the position of U.S. Secretary of Education, she'll have a lot of divesting to do...
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/01/heres_where_betsy_devos_is_div.html

Court rulings couldn’t protect everyone detained because of Trump’s immigration order.

In the short term, at least some of the plaintiffs detained at airports across the country this past weekend have seen some judicial relief since Saturday night. The two named plaintiffs in the suit filed in New York, Hameed Khalid Darweesh and Haider Sameer Abdulkaleq Alshawi, had been released by Saturday night. The two named plaintiffs in a Massachusetts lawsuit, Mazdak Pourabdollah Tootkaboni and Arghavan Louhghalam, both associate professors at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, were also allowed to leave Boston’s Logan Airport Saturday night....
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/01/court_rulings_couldn_t_protect_everyone_detained_because_of_trump_s_immigration.html

Trump gives Bannon NSC role

In one of three executive actions Saturday, President Trump reshuffled the National Security Council to include his chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, and limited the roles of the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff....
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-gives-bannon-nsc-role/ar-AAmmAGL?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout

Hours after Trump signs Muslim ban, Texas mosque goes up in flames

This is just tragic....
https://thinkprogress.org/islamic-center-of-victoria-fire-8a683f632a7a#.anto02a4p

The Huffington Post: U.S. Commanders Deeply Concerned About Trump's Refugee And Travel Ban

President Donald Trump's executive order on refugees and travelers from predominantly Muslim nations has caused a firestorm in the United States, with mass protests erupting at airports nationwide Saturday. Lawyers mobilized to represent visitors who were detained, and organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union quickly filed suit to challenge the constitutionality of the order.

But far from U.S. soil, there were others worried about the new policy: U.S. commanders who are trying to fight terrorism on the ground....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/troops-donald-trump-immigration_us_588e114be4b0b065cbbc9573?

Trump Elevates Bannon, Sabotages Himself - The Daily Beast

The new president really needs a strong National Security Council. It looks like he doesn't want one—not after putting his alt-right campaign CEO Steve Bannon on it....
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/29/trump-elevates-bannon-sabotages-himself.html

BuzzFeed News: This Is How World Leaders Have Reacted To Trump's Refugee Ban

"The necessary, decisive battle against terrorism does not justify a general suspicion against people of a certain origin or a certain religion," a spokesperson for Angela Merkel said. ...
https://www.buzzfeed.com/rosebuchanan/world-leaders-react?utm_term=.qyQDa1AAa#.rtynlNZZl

BuzzFeed News: Here's What Republicans Once Said About Trump's Muslim Ban

Mike Pence, Paul Ryan, Reince Priebus, and Mitch McConnell all rejected the proposal. ...
https://www.buzzfeed.com/davidmack/heres-what-republicans-once-said-about-trumps-muslim-ban?utm_term=.vtddDWNND#.nqBG0lMM0

Trump's Ban Could Kneecap the ISIS War - The Daily Beast

President Trump’s ban targeting certain Muslim-majority countries is supposed to make the U.S. safer, but in doing so he may have guaranteed defeating ISIS will get harder....
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/29/trump-s-ban-could-kneecap-the-isis-war.html

The New York Times: Silicon Valley’s Ambivalence Toward Trump Turns to Anger

Tech companies, which have embraced globalization, reacted more forcefully to the president's immigration order than counterparts in other industries....
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/29/technology/silicon-valleys-ambivalence-toward-trump-turns-to-anger.html

FORTUNE: Border Agents Reportedly Using Facebook to Screen Travelers Blocked By Trump Order

Political views subject to scrutiny, even for legal U.S. residents....
http://fortune.com/2017/01/28/trump-ban-facebook-screening/

Vox: Trump’s “Muslim ban” is a huge gift to ISIS

ISIS says the US is at war with Islam. Trump just helped them make their case. ...
http://www.vox.com/world/2017/1/29/14426892/trump-muslim-immigration-refugee-ban-isis-terrorism

Vox: Trump says his ban will protect Christian refugees. He just sent 6 back to the Middle East.

"They're all Christian citizens and the executive order was supposed to protect Christians fleeing persecution." ...
http://www.vox.com/2017/1/29/14429844/trump-christians-refugee-ban

Daily Mail: Trump accuses McCain and Graham of trying 'to start World War III'

Donald Trump accused senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for trying 'to start World War III' after they released a joint statement criticizing his ban on immigration. ...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4169998/Trump-accuses-McCain-Graham-trying-start-WWIII.html?ITO=applenews

China will likely withstand the shock of a trade war better than the US will (CNBC)

The Communist government in Beijing has "plenty of financial resources to step in" if the Trump administration launches a trade war, one analyst says....
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/27/china-will-likely-withstand-the-shock-of-a-trade-war-better-than-the-us-will.html

Trump administration removes apology for historic mass government discrimination against LGBTI employees (The Telegraph)

The Trump administration sparked fury from gay activists after it removed from its state department's website an apology for past discrimination towards the LGBTI community. ...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/25/trump-administration-removes-apology-historic-mass-government/