5: Resist or Resign: Facing Grassroots Pressure, Democratic Lawmakers Intensify Fight Against Trump
During a chaotic day on Capitol Hill, the Senate confirmed Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson by a vote of 56 to 43. Reuters reports it was the closest vote—by a wide margin—for a secretary of state nominee in at least a half-century. The Senate Judiciary Committee also approved the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions to be attorney general in a straight party-line vote. Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee boycotted committee votes on two of Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks: Steven Mnuchin for treasury secretary and Tom Price for health and human services secretary. The committee rules require at least one Democrat present to vote. Republicans on the committee then suspended the rules and voted to send the two nominations to the Senate floor. Democrats on the Environment and Public Works Committee also boycotted a vote on Scott Pruitt to become head of the Environmental Protection Agency. For more, we speak with Ryan Grim, Washington bureau chief for The Huffington Post. His most recent piece is titled “After Trying Everything Else, Democrats Have Decided to Listen to Their Voters.”
Democracy Now
4: What the Left Can Learn from the Alt Right
I hate to say it, but Steve Bannon was right.
Trump’s right-hand man – the former head of the far-right Breitbart News, and the man who reportedly masterminded Trump’s travel ban – was actually right. Speaking to the New York Times last week, Bannon was criticised for telling the media to “keep its mouth shut” – a demand that caused a fair amount of outrage. However, it was the second part of his sentence that was actually more interesting: “They [the media] still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States.”
Vice News
3: Iran slams ‘provocative’ US warning over missile test
Iran has rejected a warning from US President Donald Trump’s administration over its latest missile test as unfounded.
Bahram Ghasemi, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, was quoted as saying on Thursday by state news agency IRNA that the claims were “baseless, repetitive and provocative”.
Aljazeera
2: Press Secretary Sean Spicer Falsely Accuses Iran of Attacking U.S. Navy Vessel, an Act of War
WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY Sean Spicer asserted at Thursday’s press briefing that Iran had attacked a U.S. naval vessel, as part of his argument defending the administration’s bellicose announcement that Iran is “on notice.”
National Security Adviser Michael Flynn on Wednesday said he was “officially putting Iran on notice” following the country’s ballistic missile test and an attack on a Saudi naval vessel by Houthi rebels in Yemen (the Houthis are tenuously aligned with Iran’s government but are distinct from it).
The White House press corps wanted to know what being put “on notice” entailed, and Spicer responded by claiming that Iran’s government took actions against a U.S. naval vessel, which would be an act of war. “I think General Flynn was really clear yesterday that Iran has violated the Joint Resolution, that Iran’s additional hostile actions that it took against our Navy vessel are ones that we are very clear are not going to sit by and take,” he said. “I think that we will have further updates for you on those additional actions.”
The Intercept
1: UC Berkeley cancels ‘alt-right’ speaker Milo Yiannopoulos as thousands protest
The University of California Berkeley has cancelled a speech by rightwing internet troll Milo Yiannopoulos after thousands of students gathered in protest and a group of black-clad anti-fascist activists shot fireworks at the speech venue.
The Martin Luther King Jr student union was heavily fortified behind several layers of police barricades when protesters began gathering outside at 5pm on Wednesday, three hours before the event was scheduled to start.
The gathering was boisterous but peaceful until about 6pm, when several dozen protesters wearing black face masks and carrying glittering flags arrived. The group quickly attacked the police barricades, then began shooting firecrackers at the building. Some used barricades to smash windows.
The Guardian
