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Author: TriSec    Date: 01/31/2017 12:54:49

Good Morning.

We're another week deeper into Cloud-Cuckoo Land.

Mr. Trump keeps swinging his sledgehammer, and more and more things that used to happen in the United States are falling by the wayside.


We'll go directly to Iraq this morning, and take a look at what kind of impact the latest impeachable offence has had.

As it was reported in this space about two weeks ago, we've been in Iraq for a whopping 26 years. Our presence has ebbed and flowed, but we've always been dependent to some extent on the native population to assist us.

After we left, we recognized that those that helped us might actually be in danger, so we set up a couple of programs to make their pathway to immigration a little bit easier. It's been a dream of many Iraqis to get out and make a better life for their families.

Trump has just torpedoed those hopes.


Iraqis who say their lives are in danger because they worked with the U.S. government in Iraq fear their chances of finding refuge in the United States may vanish under a new order signed on Friday by President Donald Trump.

The order temporarily suspends the United States' main refugee program and halts visas being issued to citizens of several predominantly Muslim countries, including Iraq. It is expected to affect two programs U.S. lawmakers created a few years after the 2003 invasion of Iraq to help the tens of thousands of Iraqis who risked their lives helping Americans.

Trump says the order is necessary to prevent Islamist militants from coming to the United States posing as refugees, but refugee advocacy groups say the lengthy screening of applicants by multiple U.S. agencies makes this fear unfounded.

Iraqis coming to the United States under the Special Immigrant Visa program for Iraqis, which stopped accepting new applications in 2014, or the ongoing Direct Access Program for U.S.-Affiliated Iraqis are losing hope of ever getting out.

"Mr. Trump, the new president, killed our dreams," said one Baghdad man whose wife worked for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as a bookkeeper.

"I don't have any hope to go to the United States," he said in a telephone interview, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution by Iraq's Sunni and Shia militant groups and also of unfavorable treatment by the Trump administration.

More than 7,000 Iraqis, many of them interpreters for the U.S. military, have resettled in the United States under the Special Immigrant Visa program since 2008, while another 500 or so are still being processed, according to State Department figures. Another 58,000 Iraqis were awaiting interviews under the Direct Access program, according to the International Refugee Assistance Project. Tens of thousands have already arrived under the second program, but no recent total was available.

"A lot of translators were trying to get the hell out of there because they had a mark on their head for working with U.S. forces," Allen Vaught, a former U.S. Army captain who went to Fallujah in western Iraq in 2003, said in a telephone interview.

"They're viewed as collaborators."



But it's not just our old allies that are affected. Here in this Commonwealth, there's already been news about college professors headed for Umass/Amherst, a number of doctors that were coming to study at Mass General, and some scientists bound for M.I.T. that all had to shelter in place while enroute. None of these folks strike me as terrorists, and I bet that at least the doctors headed here were probably hoping to do some good for their societies back home based on the things they learned here. Guess that won't be happening now. Actions do have consequences, and real people are being affected by Mr. Trump's xenophobia.


After two years planning, the Suleiman family were turned back to Iraq when they tried to board a flight from Cairo to New York.

"I have prepared for this journey and this immigration for two years," said Fouad Suleiman, a father of three who previously worked as a translator for USAID. "I sold my house, I sold my properties. The most annoying thing that I feel guilty about ... my kids left their school. So one whole year will be, I don't know what to say.''

That job allowed the 52-year-old Suleiman to apply to emigrate to the U.S. via a program known as the Special Immigrant Visa. It was created by U.S. lawmakers to help the thousands of Iraqis who risked their lives helping Americans after the 2003 invasion.

He applied for U.S. visas for himself, his wife, 10-year-old and 17-year-old daughters and a 19-year-old son in September 2014. The paperwork came through on Dec. 6, 2016.



"My home is in America. I'm paying rent for my apartment in New York, but I can't go there right now," said Saira Rafiei, a 32-year-old Iranian who is now stuck in Tehran.

Rafiei has been enjoying what she called the "rigorous atmosphere of American academia" since 2010.

She was initially a student at New York University and she is now doing her Ph.D. in political science at The City University of New York.

Rafiei has an F1 student visa that is valid for multiple entries in and out of the United States for another two years.

She had been in Tehran and was scheduled to fly back to New York via Abu Dhabi on Saturday when she and a group of other Iranian students were blocked from boarding the plane.

Rafiei was told to sign a document or else her visa would be revoked. She described the experience as "humiliating" and said she felt like she was treated like a criminal — despite the fact that she and many of the other Iranian passengers had valid visas and green cards.

"You somehow have this feeling that you can't trust the U.S. government because the U.S. government doesn't even respect its own policies," Rafiei said. "As I said, some of these people had green cards and they thought that they could go there without any problems."



Razan Alghandour, a 26-year-old Syrian, and her two daughters were anxiously awaiting a long-awaited reunion with her husband and the girls' father in the States on Saturday when it was thwarted because of what she was told was "the new executive order."

Alghandour and her girls, Hanan Kassar, 8, and Layan Kassar, 5, had received visas at the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan on Jan. 23, 2017.

They had flown from Amman to Kiev, Ukraine where they were to connect with a flight to New York. But when they tried to board the plane on Saturday, they were turned away and sent back to Amman.

Now her husband, Fadi Kassar, is sitting in Milford, CT. devastated that his wife and children have not been able to join him. He wept as he spoke to NBC News in Connecticut on Saturday.

"It's the reaction of every father. Every father wants to see his kids," Kassar said through a translator.

"Now they are back in Jordan. They don't have luggage. They don't have clothes to wear. They don't have anything," Kassar said.


Most of the folks affected are just like our grandparents and great-grandparents; the United States used to represent the land of opportunity, and they all hoped to come here to make a better life. My own great-grandmother's name is on a brick somewhere on Ellis Island.

But now we simply turn everyone away.
 

55 comments (Latest Comment: 01/31/2017 21:46:28 by TriSec)
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Comment by wickedpam on 01/31/2017 14:13:07
Morning

Ok, so from now on, no one let me read read articles like the Coup one from yesterday. I have been freaked out, depressed and was on the edge of a panic attack last night.


Comment by Mondobubba on 01/31/2017 14:32:05


Comment by TriSec on 01/31/2017 14:42:47
So, another day of judiciously posting an application or two is done. The rest of the day is now mine. On to some Scout business - my annual charter is due by COB today. The latest national policy change once again means little in this Commonwealth, as we've been the National Leader on that front for decades.

I've also got a political friend of mine sniffing around some NGO Veteran's agencies - she is also a Commandant in the local American Legion, and she thinks there might be something out there I could do. Fuck Trump, indeed.

Comment by Mondobubba on 01/31/2017 14:45:33
Quote by TriSec:
So, another day of judiciously posting an application or two is done. The rest of the day is now mine. On to some Scout business - my annual charter is due by COB today. The latest national policy change once again means little in this Commonwealth, as we've been the National Leader on that front for decades.


Speaking of Scouting, BSA is now allowing transgender scouts.

Comment by TriSec on 01/31/2017 15:09:58
I have no transgender scouts that I'm aware of in any of my local units.

But what I am amazed by is the autistic kids and other developmentally delayed potential scouts.

I've had parents sheepishly ask me if their children would be welcome - without naming names, I've heard they have been turned away from other units in town.

I take all comers - I have never turned away a scout in any unit I have been associated with.


Comment by wickedpam on 01/31/2017 15:17:57
I do not see the Democratic party to be the "mess" people proclaim it to be.

Comment by Raine on 01/31/2017 15:25:43


This reads like it came from Vader himself.


In an email in response to a request from The Washington Post, Bannon described Sessions as “the clearinghouse for policy and philosophy” in Trump’s administration, saying he and the senator are at the center of Trump’s “pro-America movement” and the global nationalist phenomenon.

“In America and Europe, working people are reasserting their right to control their own destinies,” Bannon wrote. “Jeff Sessions has been at the forefront of this movement for years, developing populist nation-state policies that are supported by the vast and overwhelming majority of Americans, but are poorly understood by cosmopolitan elites in the media that live in a handful of our larger cities.”

He continued: “Throughout the campaign, Sessions has been the fiercest, most dedicated, and most loyal promoter in Congress of Trump’s agenda, and has played a critical role as the clearinghouse for policy and philosophy to undergird the implementation of that agenda. What we are witnessing now is the birth of a new political order, and the more frantic a handful of media elites become, the more powerful that new political order becomes itself.”




Comment by Scoopster on 01/31/2017 15:27:57
wtf.. did I just hear his solution to lowering our prescrip drug prices here is have companies raise prices unilaterally worldwide?

Comment by Raine on 01/31/2017 15:29:09
Quote by Scoopster:
wtf.. did I just hear his solution to lowering our prescrip drug prices here is have companies raise prices unilaterally worldwide?

That's what I am hearing.

Comment by Scoopster on 01/31/2017 15:30:14
Quote by Raine:
Quote by Scoopster:
wtf.. did I just hear his solution to lowering our prescrip drug prices here is have companies raise prices unilaterally worldwide?

That's what I am hearing.

That. won't. work. It'll just make everyone else in the world buy generics from companies in India and China!

Comment by wickedpam on 01/31/2017 15:30:25
Quote by Raine:
Quote by Scoopster:
wtf.. did I just hear his solution to lowering our prescrip drug prices here is have companies raise prices unilaterally worldwide?

That's what I am hearing.



In other words and like in all things - he really has no plan.

Comment by Raine on 01/31/2017 15:38:37
Comment by Raine on 01/31/2017 15:39:24
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Raine:
Quote by Scoopster:
wtf.. did I just hear his solution to lowering our prescrip drug prices here is have companies raise prices unilaterally worldwide?

That's what I am hearing.



In other words and like in all things - he really has no plan.
He's tearing everything down.


Comment by wickedpam on 01/31/2017 15:40:18
Quote by Raine:
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Raine:
Quote by Scoopster:
wtf.. did I just hear his solution to lowering our prescrip drug prices here is have companies raise prices unilaterally worldwide?

That's what I am hearing.



In other words and like in all things - he really has no plan.
He's tearing everything down.


And I don't see any way to stop it since the GOP will not stand up and the Dems back down.

Comment by Mondobubba on 01/31/2017 15:51:21
Quote by Raine:
Quote by Scoopster:
wtf.. did I just hear his solution to lowering our prescrip drug prices here is have companies raise prices unilaterally worldwide?

That's what I am hearing.


Wut? Doesn't he realize that countries with universal coverage negotiate prices with drug companies? In turn they use the US market to make up lost profits.

Comment by Mondobubba on 01/31/2017 15:52:29
Quote by TriSec:
I have no transgender scouts that I'm aware of in any of my local units.

But what I am amazed by is the autistic kids and other developmentally delayed potential scouts.

I've had parents sheepishly ask me if their children would be welcome - without naming names, I've heard they have been turned away from other units in town.

I take all comers - I have never turned away a scout in any unit I have been associated with.






Comment by Mondobubba on 01/31/2017 15:52:44


Comment by Scoopster on 01/31/2017 16:15:48
Comment by Scoopster on 01/31/2017 16:48:25
Awww poor wittle Paulie!



Comment by Raine on 01/31/2017 16:59:14
Quote by Scoopster:
Awww poor wittle Paulie!


.

Comment by Raine on 01/31/2017 17:00:28

Fingers crossed, Scoop.

Comment by Scoopster on 01/31/2017 17:02:00
https://bucket.bluegartr.com/f937c5e4fe4a657a6ef72f62fef8621e.jpg


Comment by Scoopster on 01/31/2017 17:05:37
Quote by Raine:

Fingers crossed, Scoop.




Comment by wickedpam on 01/31/2017 17:05:42
Scoop - I loved that. Think that big T-Rex is down in Key West.

Comment by Scoopster on 01/31/2017 17:07:44



Comment by Raine on 01/31/2017 17:09:00
Still won;t drink Bud -- props for this commerical:




Comment by trojanrabbit on 01/31/2017 17:12:41
When the inevitable major terror attack comes, it will likely be cheered by the rest of the world.

I daresay the Elephant symbol of the GOP will become even more despised than the Swatstika. If I were an elephant now, I'd be damned scared.

Comment by wickedpam on 01/31/2017 17:14:10
Dammit - I don't even like there dumb beer and their super bowl ads always make me cry

Comment by Mondobubba on 01/31/2017 17:15:16
Quote by Raine:
Still won;t drink Bud -- props for this commerical:





What? It is allergy season here

Comment by TriSec on 01/31/2017 17:16:04
Say Raine, I once tried drawing once. Much of my work looked like contortionist E.T.'s frolicking in Salvador Dali's landscape, but no matter.

I've got a couple of those cheesy kits kicking around from Michael's (my mother was into painting those things in her last few years), so maybe I've got a few hours to see if I can do any better, being unemployed and all.

I'm brewing some fine tea at the moment - something I have missed since I've not had a desk job. 10am like clockwork, until my schedule changed.

Anyway, I digress.



Comment by wickedpam on 01/31/2017 17:26:03
Quote by Scoopster:
Quote by Raine:

Fingers crossed, Scoop.





And she moves on for Senate confirmation *sigh*

Comment by Scoopster on 01/31/2017 17:28:51
Comment by Raine on 01/31/2017 17:31:11
IS this even legal?


Mala, isn't this your Rep?

The Virginia Republican told lawmakers that he approved his staff to work for the Trump transition team. He said his staff gave policy advice but their work for Trump officials ended on Jan. 20, the day of the inauguration.

He also told lawmakers his staff had no input on the timing or the rollout of the immigration order, which bans travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries and halts the refugee program.

POLITICO reported Monday night that Goodlatte staffers helped the administration craft the executive order but did not inform their chairman or GOP leaders on the Hill of their work on the policy. Sources said the staffers signed nondisclosure agreements so they could not talk about what they were working on.

Goodlatte's staff has said he was unaware of the executive action. And his staff has not responded to multiple questions about their signing of nondisclosure agreements, which would bar them from discussing the controversial policy with their boss or republican leadership.


Comment by Raine on 01/31/2017 17:33:09
How is it legal to force legislative branch employees to sign a NDA with the Executive Branch?

Comment by wickedpam on 01/31/2017 17:37:56
Quote by Raine:
IS this even legal?


Mala, isn't this your Rep?

The Virginia Republican told lawmakers that he approved his staff to work for the Trump transition team. He said his staff gave policy advice but their work for Trump officials ended on Jan. 20, the day of the inauguration.

He also told lawmakers his staff had no input on the timing or the rollout of the immigration order, which bans travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries and halts the refugee program.

POLITICO reported Monday night that Goodlatte staffers helped the administration craft the executive order but did not inform their chairman or GOP leaders on the Hill of their work on the policy. Sources said the staffers signed nondisclosure agreements so they could not talk about what they were working on.

Goodlatte's staff has said he was unaware of the executive action. And his staff has not responded to multiple questions about their signing of nondisclosure agreements, which would bar them from discussing the controversial policy with their boss or republican leadership.



Barbara Comstock is mine, think he's from around Roanoke.

Comment by wickedpam on 01/31/2017 17:38:48
Quote by Raine:
How is it legal to force legislative branch employees to sign a NDA with the Executive Branch?



That's what I want to know! These are public servants, paid with tax money.

Comment by Raine on 01/31/2017 17:40:03
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Raine:
IS this even legal?


Mala, isn't this your Rep?

The Virginia Republican told lawmakers that he approved his staff to work for the Trump transition team. He said his staff gave policy advice but their work for Trump officials ended on Jan. 20, the day of the inauguration.

He also told lawmakers his staff had no input on the timing or the rollout of the immigration order, which bans travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries and halts the refugee program.

POLITICO reported Monday night that Goodlatte staffers helped the administration craft the executive order but did not inform their chairman or GOP leaders on the Hill of their work on the policy. Sources said the staffers signed nondisclosure agreements so they could not talk about what they were working on.

Goodlatte's staff has said he was unaware of the executive action. And his staff has not responded to multiple questions about their signing of nondisclosure agreements, which would bar them from discussing the controversial policy with their boss or republican leadership.



Barbara Comstock is mine, think he's from around Roanoke.

Ahh, ok.

Comment by TriSec on 01/31/2017 17:41:15
Quote by Raine:
How is it legal to force legislative branch employees to sign a NDA with the Executive Branch?


Well, they touch the Blutfane at the same time as Trumpler, and recite a personal oath of fealty to him, thus superseding the Constitution. It's all in Rise and Fall...



Comment by Scoopster on 01/31/2017 17:49:58
ITS SNOWING!!!! AAAAAAH GRAB YO BREAD AND YO MILK!!!

Comment by Mondobubba on 01/31/2017 17:50:22
Quote by Raine:
How is it legal to force legislative branch employees to sign a NDA with the Executive Branch?


Unless you are in a classified position, I think it is totally illegal.

Comment by Raine on 01/31/2017 17:57:10
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by Raine:
How is it legal to force legislative branch employees to sign a NDA with the Executive Branch?


Unless you are in a classified position, I think it is totally illegal.
Thanks, it seems like it should be illegal.



I am agog about this. I have tweeted to Eichenwald, Millhauser, and Boehlert seeking an answer. Please retweet it to whomever you think might have an answer.




Comment by Raine on 01/31/2017 17:58:18
Quote by TriSec:
Quote by Raine:
How is it legal to force legislative branch employees to sign a NDA with the Executive Branch?


Well, they touch the Blutfane at the same time as Trumpler, and recite a personal oath of fealty to him, thus superseding the Constitution. It's all in Rise and Fall...

That scares me.

IT scares me that politico seems to be the only one reporting it and as a asterisk at best.


Comment by Scoopster on 01/31/2017 18:12:29






Comment by wickedpam on 01/31/2017 18:19:58
Quote by Scoopster:







Part of me still thinks he's going with Pryor

Comment by Mondobubba on 01/31/2017 19:09:21
Quote by Raine:
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by Raine:
How is it legal to force legislative branch employees to sign a NDA with the Executive Branch?


Unless you are in a classified position, I think it is totally illegal.
Thanks, it seems like it should be illegal.



I am agog about this. I have tweeted to Eichenwald, Millhauser, and Boehlert seeking an answer. Please retweet it to whomever you think might have an answer.




Do you know anybody who works for the gummit? You live there, you should know at least one

Comment by Raine on 01/31/2017 19:15:18
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by Raine:
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by Raine:
How is it legal to force legislative branch employees to sign a NDA with the Executive Branch?


Unless you are in a classified position, I think it is totally illegal.
Thanks, it seems like it should be illegal.



I am agog about this. I have tweeted to Eichenwald, Millhauser, and Boehlert seeking an answer. Please retweet it to whomever you think might have an answer.




Do you know anybody who works for the gummit? You live there, you should know at least one
I know civil service employess. Not hill or Exec lawyers.


Comment by Raine on 01/31/2017 19:19:09
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Scoopster:







Part of me still thinks he's going with Pryor
I hope it's Hardiman.


Comment by wickedpam on 01/31/2017 19:25:09
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by Raine:
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by Raine:
How is it legal to force legislative branch employees to sign a NDA with the Executive Branch?


Unless you are in a classified position, I think it is totally illegal.
Thanks, it seems like it should be illegal.



I am agog about this. I have tweeted to Eichenwald, Millhauser, and Boehlert seeking an answer. Please retweet it to whomever you think might have an answer.




Do you know anybody who works for the gummit? You live there, you should know at least one



I do but he's CIA so he won't talk plus awkward to ask the hubby of a friend questions out of the blue.

Comment by Scoopster on 01/31/2017 19:38:29
BREAKING NEWS: Top Supreme Court candidates to do battle in The Eliminator obstacle course tonight.

FKYEA!

Comment by BobR on 01/31/2017 19:57:38
The law firm I work for held a summit with other big DC (and national) law firms to organize pro-bono representation for immigrants having problems with the new muslim ban immigration EO. Lawyers from various offices have already been to the airports in their area to help.

Sometimes it feels pretty good to go to work in the morning...

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