Kingfisher Cove

For the Community of Conservatives

"For the community of conservative thinkers and experts, and more importantly, conservative politicians, this is a testing time. Either you stand up for your principles and for what you know is decent behavior, or you go down, if not now, then years from now, as a coward or opportunist. Your reputation will never recover, nor should it.

…The biggest split will be between those who draw a line and the power-sick—whose longing to have access to power, or influence it, or indeed to wield it themselves—causes them to fatally compromise their values. For many more it will be a split between those obsessed with anxiety, hatred, and resentment, and those who can hear Lincoln’s call to the better angels of our nature, whose America is not replete with carnage, but a city on a hill."

-Eliot A. Cohen

Full article

This.

 

The job of the Attorney General is loyalty to the law, not the President.

"It's not just that trump fired the Attorney General. It's that he fired her for refusing to violate the Constitution." - Rep. Keith Ellison:

From the Holocaust Museum

Familiar and current.

I’m With Her

Thanks to Dagmar D. Schmitz Carlton

Week Eleven

Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember. Here's week 11:

1. A revised tally for the Women’s March, came in between 3 and 4 million marchers, making it the largest protest march in US history.
   
2. Hundreds of protestors coming to the Women’s March from Canada, were turned away at the US border.
   
3. Trump defensively responded with outright lies about his inauguration crowd. Spicer said, “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration — period.” When pressed on this lie on NBC, Conway said Spicer’s false claims were, “alternative facts.”
   
4. Numerous reporters were arrested while covering the inauguration protests. NBC reporters were released, while others were charged.
   
5. In true authoritarian form, Drumpf declared his inauguration day to be the National Day Patriotic Devotion.
   
6. On the Monday after he was sworn in, a group of Constitutional scholars, Supreme Court litigators and WH ethics lawyers filed a suit claiming Drumpf violated the Constitution by receiving foreign payments.
   
7. The Boston Globe ran an op-ed titled, “The President’s House Is Empty.” The Week 2 list mentioned Melania and Baron living in NYC, now apparently Drumpf is too, and we have normalized this item.
   
8. The WSJ reported that Flynn — in addition to Page, Manafort and Stone — is under investigation for links to Russia.
   
9. Days after his inauguration, Drumpf called the National Park Security, reportedly upset about a retweet of a side-by-side photo of his inauguration next to Obama.
   
10. As of the Sunday evening after being sworn in, Drumpf still hadn’t severed his ties to his businesses as promised. After the media caught this, documents were filed later that day.
    
11. The WH switchboard no longer has a person answering the phone.
    
12. Breaking decades of precedent, Conway said Drumpf would never release his tax returns, saying the American public is not focused on this, (ABC poll last week showed 74% of Americans want his returns released).
    
13. Despite Drumpf’s proclamation of having a “great meeting” and “long standing ovations” at a meeting with the CIA, it turned out that Drumpf’s paid employees were the ones cheering, and his relations with the intelligence may be getting worse.
    
14. Without explanation, the CDC cancelled a Climate and Health Summit, scheduled to take place in Atlanta.
    
15. Drumpf’s staff continued to tell multiple outright lies, daily, including statements about the size of the federal workforce, crowd size, and voting fraud.
    
16. Massive leaks coming from the WH staff portrayed Drumpf as impulsive and childish, in stories published by the NYT and WAPO.
    
17. The State Department’s statement of apology for past LGBT discrimination was scrubbed from the official website.
    
18. Drumpf signed an executive order, reinstating AND expanding to an unprecedented degree, the Global Gag rule. He signed the order in the company of all white man (see photo below).
    
19. Days after being sworn in, Drumpf told lawmakers that 3–5 million illegal ballots cost him the popular vote. Next day, Spicer repeated the same lie.
    
20. Drumpf froze EPA grants.
    
21. Drumpf banned EPA employees from providing infomation to reporters or on social media, about new contracts or grants.
    
22. Later, Drumpf banned multiple federal agencies from communications with members of Congress and the media.
    
23. Drumpf threatened to send Federal Troops to Chicago, citing false claims about crime rates.
    
24. Republican legislators around the country proposed a series of bills, which would make criminalize peaceful protests.
    
25. There were public stories of multiple arrests, disappearances and deaths of Russian intelligence agency officers for leaks related to Drumpf’s dossier and interference with US election. There was also news of a possible public trial.
    
26. Drumpf’s AG nominee, Sessions, said he would not commit to recusing himself from Drumpf related investigations. This is counter to requirements of DOJ rules.
    
27. Advisors for Germany’s Merkel said they were still struggling to open communications channels with the Drumpf administration days after the inauguration, and that they have “given up” on him acting “presidential.”
    
28. On Wednesday, the WH released an email to the press, titled, “Praise for President Drumpf’s Bold Action.”
    
29. Drumpf ordered billions of funding cuts to UN agencies, and took action towards pulling us out of treaties, including Climate Change.
    
30. Mother Jones reported that some of Drumpf’s foreign business partners attended his inauguration, and were given VIP treatment.
    
31. Drumpf mandated that EPA scientific studies undergo a review by his political staff, before being released publicly.
    
32. Drumpf called for an investigation into voter fraud, then delayed signing the executive order. Media uncovered that several Drumpf insiders are registered to vote in two states.
    
33. Drumpf said torture “absolutely works,” putting him at odds with his staff on a draft torture order. For now, Drumpf said Mattis could override him.
    
34. At his CIA speech, Drumpf said of Iraq, “We should’ve kept the oil. But, okay, maybe we’ll have another chance.” He kept that mantra alive during the week, endangering our troops serving in Iraq.
    
35. Protests continued around the country, including major marches in Philadelphia and NYC.
    
36. In a bizarre interview with ABC, Drumpf continued his false claim about voter fraud, and also fixated on the crowd size of inauguration, showing David Muir a photo, and also saying, “We had the biggest audience in the history of inaugural speeches.”
    
37. The Economist downgraded the US on its democracy scale, to a “flawed democracy.”
    
38. The entire senior staff of the State Department left. It was unclear if they resigned or were fired, ahead of Drumpf’s incoming nominee, Tillerson, who has no diplomatic or government experience, taking office.
    
39. Drumpf signed an executive order to build The Wall. The Mexican President said Mexico would not be paying for The Wall, and canceled a previously scheduled trip to meet with Drumpf in DC.
    
40. The WSJ Editorial Board slammed Drumpf for his treatment of Mexico, and for floating a 20% tariff, calling him a “foreign-affairs neophyte.”
    
41. Bannon said the media should “keep its mouth shut,” and referred to them as “the opposition party.”
    
42. NPR reported that Drumpf signed a record number of executive actions in his first week; but unlike his predecessors, none about ethics.
    
43. Drumpf replaced the leader of a federal agency which overseas the use of Federal land, including the controversial Drumpf hotel in DC.
    
44. Business Insider reported on a memo between Igor Sechin, the CEO of Russia’s state oil company, and Drumpf ally, Carter Page, offering a stake in the Russia’s state oil company, in exchange for lifting of US sanctions.
    
45. Drumpf issued a statement on Holocaust Memorial Day that did not mention Jews, breaking a precedent of past Democrat and Republican presidents.
    
46. Same day, Drumpf signed an executive order banning citizens from 7 Muslim-majority countries from entering the US for the next 90 days. Drumpf also announced plans to increase the number of countries.
    
47. Drumpf said Christian refugees would be given preference, a clear violation of our constitution.
    
48. Drumpf immigration ban did not include countries in which Drumpf has business interests.
    
49. Drumpf hinted at dropping US sanction against Russia in the lead up to his first official call with Putin. In response, McCain said if Drumpf lifts sanction, Congress will restore them.

Past week's lists:
Week 1: https://goo.gl/KWlyOO
Week 2: https://goo.gl/Pn7MFs
Week 3: https://goo.gl/CZwxsX
Week 4: https://goo.gl/JhwuON
Week 5: https://goo.gl/TGM6x8
Week 6: https://goo.gl/uhyjxe
Week 7: https://goo.gl/bMdhTG
Week 8: https://goo.gl/89MW8h
Week 9: https://goo.gl/ekv9wE
Week 10: https://goo.gl/RETyH1

Compiled by Amy Siskind

Except you.

By All Means

Ban Syrian refugees, but welcome neo-Nazi shitheads, trump. You fucking asshole.

No Title Needed

"The Party told you to reject all evidence of your eyes and ears.

It was their final, most essential command."

~from George Orwell’s 1984

A Narcissist’s Prayer

That didn’t happen.

And if it did, it wasn’t that bad.

And if it was, that’s not a big deal.

And if it is, that’s not my fault.

And if it was, I didn’t mean it.

And if I did

You deserved it.

Unprecedented

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.