Whenever an extremist in the Muslim world does something crazy, people demand that moderate Muslims step forward to condemn the extremism. So let’s take our own advice: We Americans should now condemn our own extremist.
In that spirit, I hereby apologize to Muslims. The mindlessness and heartlessness of the travel ban should humiliate us, not you. Understand this: President Trump is not America!
In the next four to eight years, American children will be born in a country led by a vainglorious man who wishes to fit facts—and their future—into the convenient shape of his ego. But democracy, freedom of expression, and, above all, the right to truth are not antiquated pieties. They belong to citizens who can still make their voices heard, before resignation metastasizes into complacency, exhaustion into self-doubt. The struggle will be to maintain openness and tolerance as the norm, the values that our children absorb into their identities naturally—to be defended rather than be defensive about.
Empowering voice.
Kanye West, “Jesus Walks”:
We’re at war
We’re at war with terrorism, racism
But most of all We’re at war with ourselves
These words are more relevant now than ever.
Unlike the two gutless cowards, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, the acting Attorney General Sally Yates defies the incompetent president. In a letter to Justice Department, she writes:
My responsibility is to ensure that the position of the Department of Justice is not only legally defensible, but is informed by our best view of what the law is after consideration of all the facts.…
Consequently, for as long as I am the Acting Attorney General, the Department of Justice will not present arguments in defense of the Executive Order, unless and until I become convinced that it is appropriate to do so.
Although she understood the result of her action, she has made a powerful statement. It takes courage, and even career, to stand up for justice and the people—something many men (including the two spineless GOP leaders) could not do.
In just two weeks, we have witnessed how the people had stood up to the incompetent president. The Women’s March trumped the inauguration. Do we need to see the photos again? The beautiful, hand-crafted pussyhats trumped the “Make America Great Again” red caps, which made in China.
While he was boasting that his Muslim ban was “working out very nicely—you see it in the airports,” the video of the airports showed chaotic scenes with protesters and lawyers.
Thanks to social media, organizing protests against the incompetent-in-chief is fast and effective. More crowds are to be expected in the nomination of the Supreme Court Justice, marches for science, protests for Tax Day, and fights for healthcare.
With the $20 million dollars raised in two days the ACLU, the people have demonstrated that no one, not even the president, is above the law.
Let’s keep the momentum going because the size of the crowd matters. The protesters get under his skin because they have stolen the limelight from him.
This is not even satirical. Andy Borowitz:
Calling it a “medical mystery of the first order,” scientists are baffled by the ability of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan to stand upright without the benefit of spines.
These two spineless cowards are an embarrassment for America.
How ironic is it that a malignant narcissistic who claimed to make America great again had brought out the greatness in America? His executive action was meant to divide us, but it united us instead. I am grateful to witness the support, particularly the lawyers working on the ground, for our Muslim families. One of the characteristics that makes America great is its diversity; therefore, an attack on one particular community is an attack on all of us. We must fight against bigotry. America is great when we are together. Not a damn demagogue can tear us apart.
George Mason President Ángel Cabrera:
At George Mason, hundreds of faculty, staff and students were born outside of the United States, including our Provost, our Vice President of Research, our Dean of Science, some of our most distinguished professors, and yours truly. Many of the most talented leaders, academics, humanitarians, and entrepreneurs to come out of Mason are immigrants.…
It is now more important than ever that we continue to be an example of civility and inclusion, a place where we can all thrive together regardless of where we come from. This is not only the defining characteristic of our university; it is the hallmark of American higher education.
The major news organizations are still reckoning with how to report on the President’s lies. Many newspapers and networks now forthrightly point out false statements by Trump and his spokespeople. Such fact checking is essential, but it is also a task of the President’s making, one full of traps. Trump and his aides provoke conflict with the media to fire up supporters and renew the narrative of a people’s champion at war with the bicoastal establishment.
One might wish that the solemn responsibility of leading a nuclear-armed world power would steer a successful seventy-year-old man away from routinely telling whoppers, yet it is hardly surprising that Trump has not changed since taking the oath of office. He has a long record as salesman, provocateur, self-promoter, and self-worshipper. His eruptions on Twitter and on live TV damage American democracy and credibility, but there are even more worrying aspects of the disinformation emanating from and around the Administration.
I still have faith in the media, The New Yorker in particular.
Let’s face it. We have a fucked-up president. What even more fucked up is the cowardice from the GOP leaders who take party orgies over their own conscience. The immigration ban is disgraceful, unconstitutional, and un-American. The Republicans in Congress who stayed silent on this issue will go down in history as a bunch of wimps. Fortunately, we still have the ACLU fighting to protect the rights of the people. In time like this, we need to support this organization.