Good Morning, News: #MuslimBan Protests, Bannon's New Job, Mosque Attack—Just Another Weekend in Hell

GOOD MORNING, BLOGTOWN! I ran my credit card bill up, thought a new dress would make it better. I tried to work it away, but that just made me even sadder. LET'S GO TO PRESS.

ICYMI, the Mercury was at the Portland International Airport practically all weekend covering the #MuslimBan demonstrations after President Trump (who lost the popular vote by 2,864,974 votes) decided on Friday to ban all refugees and anyone flying in from seven Middle-Eastern countries. To the shock of no one, this bright idea was dreamed up by white supremacist sympathizer and top aide to Trump, Steve Bannon. Both protests at the airport were largely peaceful, except for a short burst of violence when an altercation broke out between a few Trump supporting conservative Christians and the demonstrators. (According to witnesses, the Christians got physical first—they reportedly choked/punched demonstrators and one of them got knocked out for his trouble. Without doing any further investigation, KGW automatically took the word of cops and reported the counter protester was "assaulted." TV news needs to start doing better.) Riot police appeared on the scene briefly, fired some rubber bullets—because that's how they do—and the protest went back to being peaceful again. A couple hundred protesters showed up practically at a moment's notice on Saturday, and hundreds more showed up yesterday... BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE, TRUMP. You're going to be seeing a lot more of it.

Today in protests:

The No Ban, No Wall protests – part III, led tomorrow at noon by @UniteOregonhttps://t.co/sHScBFLAUmpic.twitter.com/1SPxo9Yx0Q
— #PDXResistance ✊ (@Pdx_resistance) January 30, 2017

Mayor Ted Wheeler wrote an op-ed for the Oregonian vowing that Portland will remain a sanctuary city.

Meanwhile tens of thousands were marching across the nation to defy Trump's Muslim ban, which has stranded travelers across the globe. And while federal courts ordered a stop to the practice, Homeland Security seems to be continuing the racist practice, though they may allow legal residents with green cards to return home on a case by case basis—which I'm pretty sure is still a violation of our Constitution. (The ACLU has been a freaking hero all weekend long, btw.) Senate Democrats are pushing a proposal that would reverse Trump's travel ban, and while it may not work, it will at least reveal cowardly Republicans' or Democrats' stance on the subject.

Trump says his Muslim banning plan is going over smashingly, and any problems that it may have caused to airport travel are NBD. He is lying. We know this because he is a liar, and because it is a sentence that came out of his mouth.

But there is one group that is firmly behind his decision: the Islamic State and other jihadists who claim that this proves that America is at war with Islam.

In very alarming news, Trump has given white supremacy sympathizer (and author of the Muslim ban) Steve Bannona seat on the National Security Council, while demoting the joint chiefs of staff and the director of national intelligence. This is really not good, and a lot of current and former officials think so too.

The man responsible for publishing these headlines is now on our National Security Council writing foreign policy: https://t.co/wK5Nvuyoz6pic.twitter.com/csciCCR3hi
— Media Matters (@mmfa) January 30, 2017

Two suspects have been arrested in connection to a mass shooting in a Quebec mosque on Sunday which killed six and wounded eight. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called it a "terrorist attack on Muslims," and while police have not revealed any motives, let's all give a harsh side-eye to Trump, shall we?

Some quick hits:
Trump talked to his literal partner in crime, Russian president Vladimir Putin, for an hour this weekend, probably planning future crimes.

Meanwhile top GOP members are warning Trump against lifting sanctions on Russia—but will probably go along with him at the end, since he's doing so much of their dirty work for them.

This morning Trump signed a new executive order that would force legislators to cut two regulations for every one they enact.

In response to the Muslim ban, Starbucks vows to hire 10,000 refugees.

Uber got dragged on the internet and lost a LOT of customers for siding with Trump and trying to break a NYC cabbie strike during this weekend's protest.

Here are other companiesfighting against Trump's ban. Support 'em!

Trump says he will announce his choice for the vacant Supreme Court seat on Tuesday. Can't wait.

At last night's Screen Actors Guild awards, the big winners were Hidden Figures, Fences, Stranger Things, and Mahershala Ali from Moonlight. The big loser was Trump, according to many acceptance speeches.

Now let's take a look at the WEATHER: Cloudy with a high of 48 today, and is that a bit of snow I see coming on Thursday? EEESH.

And finally, here's another great reason to adore Julia Louis-Dreyfus: Check out her SAG award speech in which she gives the what-for to Trump's immigration ban.

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