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February 2017

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 05, 2017 45 Comments
Have you noticed that the people who claim they're fighting fascism are the ones smashing windows, starting fires, hurling rocks at police, beating people up and denying basic rights to others? They haven't. The irony hasn't escaped others, though. Rex Murphy writes at National Post:
There are fascists on campus. Protesters don’t realize it’s them, not Milo Yiannopoulos

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 04, 2017 34 Comments
The federal government has filed for an emergency stay [full embed at bottom of post] with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to stay a temporary restraining order issued by the District Court for the Western District of Washington (Seattle). For background, see our earlier post, Absurd Fed Ct TRO halts enforcement of entire Executive Order on visas, refugees. In the past day, visa holders from the 7 high risk nations subject to the EO have flooded into the U.S. trying to beat the court clock for an appellate stay.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on February 04, 2017 53 Comments
If you're among the "oceans of white folk" agonizing over centuries of white privilege and the systemic oppression of black people, Michael Eric Dyson has the solution to your anguish.  This sociology professor from Georgetown thinks that white people who find themselves consumed by this anxiety should set up "individual reparations accounts." The New York Times interviewed Dyson last month about this "benediction" section.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 04, 2017 15 Comments
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and State Department have announced officials will suspend "any and all actions" over the executive order President Donald Trump signed to halt immigration from seven countries. Trump signed the order so the government could put together a better vetting process to weed out terrorists. From The Hill:
“At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this order and defend the President’s Executive Order, which is lawful and appropriate,” spokesperson Gillian Christensen said in a statement, as first reported by BuzzFeed News.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 04, 2017 17 Comments
The political sailing has not been smooth for many of President Trump's nominees, and the process of approving Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency is no exception. After being a target of one of the many Democratic Senate committee boycotts, Pruit cleared the log-jam:
Senate Republicans pressed forward on Thursday with the confirmation of President Trump’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, suspending the Environment and Public Works Committee’s rules to approve the cabinet pick despite a Democratic boycott.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on February 04, 2017 44 Comments
The Congressional Black Caucus is facing an existential quandary: to allow a Dominican-American to join or not to allow it?  Is a Dominican-American black?  Hispanic?  Afro-Latino?  Who decides?  And what if that person tried to unseat Charlie Rangel (twice)? We might think, based on the Rachael Dolezal case that one can just identify as whatever race one wants, just as progressives expect people to pick their gender from a long (long) list of choices.  And we might be right.  Or we might be wrong.  Who knows?  Certainly not the CBC.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 04, 2017 92 Comments
A federal court in the Western District of Washington in Seattle last night effectively stripped the Trump administration of its power to determine the parameters of who may enter the country. For my prior analysis of how the EO has been mischaracterized by opponents as a "Muslim Ban" and in other ways, see these prior posts: You can read the Motion for a TRO in the Seattle case, the government's Opposition, and the Court Order at the links. The Court Order also is embedded in at the end of this post.
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