Commentary Tidbits

The Guardian: Mike Pence, finding God, and the shifting agenda of Christian music festivals

The Atlantic: Steve Bannon's Would-Be Coalition of Christian Traditionalists

Ashley Easter: Why Patriarchy Is Abuse

The Advocate: Trump Gives Haters a Prominent Spot at the United Nations

Today's Orange Horrors, and Glimmers of Hope

Native Americans erect a tipi camp beside the Washington Monument as part of protest against Dakota Access pipeline. https://t.co/cX6mYLxEDK pic.twitter.com/dRZcuE2RTI

— ABC News (@ABC) March 7, 2017

Reuters: Trump backs House Republican healthcare plan, aims to cut drug prices

New York Times: Trump Tells Planned Parenthood Its Funding Can Stay if Abortion Goes

Washington Post: To fund border wall, Trump administration weighs cuts to Coast Guard, airport security

ABC News: What Unearthed Radio Recordings Tell Us About Steve Bannon's Worldview

ABC News: New travel ban drops Iraq but keeps six other majority-Muslim countries

The Guardian: UN says Trump's revised travel ban will worsen plight of refugees

CNN: Hawaii plans to file first lawsuit against new travel ban 

PBS News Hour: Congress to investigate Trump’s wiretapping claim

Politico: State Dept. staffers have one question: Where’s Rex?



Take heart! Americans are still standing against Trump.

PBS News Hour: American Indians gather in D.C. for four-day protest against Trump, Dakota Access pipeline

The Independent: 'A Day Without a Woman': Anti-Donald Trump protest forces two US districts to cancel school

2017 CPAC Will Take Place February 22-25

The 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering of right-wing politicians and activists, will take place on February 22-25 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Oxon Hill, MD. Sponsored by Heritage Foundation, Liberty Health Share, and the National Rifle Association, this year's CPAC will feature multiple members of the Trump administration as speakers, including President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Stephen Bannon, and Reince Priebus. To everyone's relief, the gathering will not feature Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos.

I always find amusement in the workshop listings of right-wing conferences, which blatantly give away a conference's agenda. This year's CPAC will feature the following workshops and panel discussions:

• If Heaven Has a Gate, a Wall, and Extreme Vetting, Why Can't America?


• Trigger Warnings & Safe Spaces: Campus Activism in a PC Age


• Facts, Not Feelings: Snowflakes, Safe Spaces and Trigger Warnings


• When Did WWIII Begin? Threats At Home


• Is BDS BS? The Left's Attack on Israel


• Implications of the Energy Renaissance Given to Us by Hydraulic Fracturing in America


• Hush: Abortion's Effects on Women the Pro-Choice Lobby Doesn't Want You To Know


• How Did the Left Capture Education and How Do We Get It Back?

Let's not ignore the book signings! The titles alone are good for a snicker.

• Book Signing: Burgess Owens, Liberalism or How to Turn Good Men Into Whiners, Weenies and Wimps


• Book Signing: Michael Medved, The American Miracle: Divine Providence in the Rise of the Republic


• Book Signing: Ashley McGuire, Sex Scandal: The Drive to Abolish Male and Female


• Book Signing: Matt Margolis, The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama

I was surprised to see a workshop on the agenda entitled "The Alt Right Ain't Right at All", hosted by Dan Schneider of the American Conservative Union. Given that the former chairman of Breitbart News is scheduled to speak at CPAC, and the conference agenda features multiple Breitbart contributors, isn't such a workshop incongruent with the rest of the conference's content? Does the presence of this workshop indicate internal division among right-wing leaders over the increased visibility of the alt-right in their movement? Is it an attempt by some conservatives to distance themselves from the alt-right? Until we know more about its content, it's difficult to say.

On one hand, the content of 2017 CPAC matches that of previous CPACs, in that its workshops and books reflect the usual anti-liberal, anti-choice, anti-LGBTQ themes. With Trump and company headlining the conference, and with deep political divisions growing deeper in America, what fresh ugliness can we expect from this week's event?

Commentary Tidbits

The Conversation: Trump’s vow to ‘destroy’ Johnson Amendment could wreak havoc on charitable world

The Atlantic: These Conservative Christians Are Opposed to Trump—and Suffering the Consequences

Washington Post: A blueprint for resistance to Trump has emerged. Here’s what it looks like.

New York Times: Taboo Italian Thinker Is Enigma to Many, but Not to Bannon

HIV Plus: How Long Before the Muslim Ban Becomes a Brown Ban?

Huffington Post: Betsy DeVos Poses Immediate Danger To LGBT Students

Huffington Post: Frank Worthen, the ‘Father’ of Ex-gay Ministry Love in Action, Dies at Age 87

Santa Fe New Mexican: Conversion therapy created self-hatred, self-destruction

Today's Orange Horrors, and Glimmers of Hope

Hundreds gather to protest against latest federal immigration operations https://t.co/PUQmxSNHWm pic.twitter.com/aBgxf597UQ

— KXAN News (@KXAN_News) February 11, 2017

New York Times: Court Refuses to Reinstate Travel Ban, Dealing Trump Another Legal Loss

BBC News: Trump travel ban: Policy adviser attacks US federal appeals court

Washington Post: National security adviser Flynn discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador, despite denials, officials say

The Guardian: Democrats call for Michael Flynn's dismissal after reported Russia talks

Christian Science Monitor: Is the FBI taking the Russian dossier about Trump more seriously?

Politico: Senate confirms Obamacare opponent Price to lead health department

Politico: CIA Freezes Out Top Flynn Aide

USA Today: Bannon, Flynn and Sessions: How Trump's top advisers view Muslims, in their own words

Human Rights Watch: Arizona Mother’s Arrest May Signal Start of Trump’s Deportation Machine

NPR: EPA Halves Staff Attending Environmental Conference In Alaska



Here are a few headlines to hearten you!

Chicago Tribune: 'We fight back!': Protesters in DC rally outside DeVos's first public school visit

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Eight countries sign up to counter Trump's global anti-abortion move

Newsday: Hundreds rally in NYC to protest against immigration raids

CBS New York: Protest Held Outside ICE Headquarters Over Trump’s Immigration Policies

Commentary Tidbits

Media Matters for America: One Type Of Terrorism Really Is Underreported: Right-Wing Terrorism

Huffington Post: Steve Bannon Believes The Apocalypse Is Coming And War Is Inevitable

Religion News Service: Politicize our charities and churches? No thanks. 

Right Wing Watch: David Barton Is Organizing A WallBuilders ‘Teachers Conference’

Gizmodo: Science Teachers on Why Betsy DeVos Is a 'Monstrous Mistake'

Think Progress: The racist history of incarceration that Donald Trump is threatening to repeat

Salon: Most Americans don’t want “religious freedom” laws that allow anti-LGBT discrimination

Commentary Tidbits

Religion Dispatches: Trump May Be the End of the World As We Know It—But For Some Evangelicals, That’s Just Fine

Wisconsin Gazette: Trump’s Supreme Court pick blasted by LGBT and choice advocates

The Atlantic: Donald Trump Declares a Vision of Religious Nationalism

Right Wing Watch: Steve Bannon’s Dystopian View Of Refugees