I've been having one of those weeks where the idea of a Kefka-esque bad guy swooping in and doing his whole "rebirth through destruction" bit might just be an appropriate response to the way people have been handling this whole "humanity" thing.
On Friday, January 27, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order banning nationals travelling from Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia from entering the United States for at least 90 days. Refugees fleeing war-torn Syria have been banned indefinitely
I'm assuming by now a lot of you are going, "Sooooooo...why are these countries being targeted?" Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to this. But, there has been a lot of conjecture! YAY!?
For starters, the pretty obvious questions of conflicts of interest between the travel ban and places where the Trump Organization does business are hard to ignore. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE all have definite ties to terrorism, but are also places where, according to Trump's presidential financial disclosure forms, the Trump Organization has business ties.
As cut and dry as that seems, it's not quite that simple. This whole conflict of interest things takes a really weird turn if you look at the law Obama signed in December 2015 placing restrictions on certain travelers who had visited Iran, Iraq, Sudan, and Syria, and adding Libya, Somalia, and Sudan to that list a few months later. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer is claiming that Trump is just following Obama's lead in these matters. However, Trump's executive order is much broader in scope, banning all citizens from these countries from travelling to the US, even as the humanitarian crisis in Syria is threatening the lives of millions of people, which leads us down the road of conjecture even further. There is plenty of speculation that this whole "Muslim-ban" thing is just a smoke screen to distract the masses from an even greater evil.
If you're playing along at home, now's the time to ask, "What could possibly be worse than throwing millions of innocent refugees, including children, under the proverbial bus, thus undermining one of our founding principles as a nation, the separation of church and state, as a distraction technique?"
Apparently, you are not familiar with the "alt-right" (aka neo-nazi) superstar, and who some consider to be Trump's final form, Steve Bannon.
Over the weekend, while the nation was out being awesome and doing the whole #nobannowall thing at airports across the country, Bannon was being promoted from mere henchman to full on raid boss. That's right, in an unprecedented move, chief strategist Steve Bannon was elevated to the National Security Council's principals committee, while the director of National Intelligence and the chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff got a demotion. So what does all this mean? In short, Bannon will get to sit in on White House meetings alongside members of the State Department and Pentagon in order to advise the president on matters of national security.
This all doesn't sound like such a big deal if you know absolutely nothing about Steve Bannon. Just in case you are unfamiliar with Bannon's, let's say, "interesting" rise to fame, and you want to keep following me down this rabbit hole of nightmares, he became executive chairman of Breitbart news in 2012 following the death of its founder, Andrew Breitbart. If you have a racist uncle that you just can't seem to bring yourself to unfollow on Facebook, then you are probably familiar this publication. If you are not, here are some highlights:
- Would you Rather Your Child had Feminism or Cancer?
- Data: Young Muslims in the West are a Ticking Timebomb...
- How Donald Trump Made it Cool to be Gay Again
- NAACP Joins Soros Army Plotting DC Disruptions, Civil Disobedience,...
So, this is basically how this weekend played out - while the good people of the world were out practicing political triage, back in Washington, DC (aka. Mordor) Trump was rearranging the National Security council so that a man who refers to the media as "the opposition party" and thinks that it should "just keep its mouth shut" can have more influence over matters of national security. Swell.
As depressing as this all seems, there has been a tiny spec of light at the end of the tunnel. Our briefcase-toting heroes over at the ACLU have managed to successfully secure a temporary injunction that will block those stranded at airports from being deported under Trump's Musim-ban. Lawsuits are ongoing trying to determine the legality of the executive order, questioning whether or not it constitutes religious discrimination, and thus a direct violation of the constitution.
Now, with all the back and forth going on about immigration and our identity as a nation, I couldn't help but to think of one of my favorite songs. "No One's Leaving" by Jane's Addiction is three minutes and one second of completely sound advice for these crazy times. If we have any hope of this crazy experiment in anti-tribalism we call America succeeding, ain't nobody leavin'. And that's the way it should be!
If you want to get involved and help fund the legal fights that are sure to be coming the next few months and years, consider donating to the ACLU. A number of celebrities and business owners have pledged to match donations if share your donation receipts with them.
If you're more inclined to get out and protest, Peace for Iran is hosting a rally in front of the White House on Saturday, February 4th. If you can't make it to D.C., but still want to participate consider looking for (or even organizing) a sister rally in your area.
If shoptavism is more your thing, Starbucks has committed to hiring 10,000 refugees over the next five years. Help offset the boycott that has resulted from a pledge to hire refugees (why. is. this. even. a. thing?) by treating yo'self to an orange mocha frappucino*.
*may not be an actual drink
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