Source: New York Times

President Trump’s executive order closing the nation’s borders to refugees was put into immediate effect Friday night. Refugees who were in the air on the way to the United States when the order was signed were stopped and detained at airports.

The detentions prompted legal challenges as lawyers representing two Iraqi refugees held at Kennedy Airport filed a writ of habeas corpus early Saturday in the Eastern District of New York seeking to have their clients released. At the same time, they filed a motion for class certification, in an effort to represent all refugees and immigrants who they said were being unlawfully detained at ports of entry.

Mr. Trump’s order, which suspends entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days, created a legal limbo for individuals on the way to the United States and panic for families who were awaiting their arrival.

Mr. Trump’s order also stops the admission of refugees from Syria indefinitely, and it bars entry into the United States for 90 days from seven predominantly Muslim countries linked to concerns about terrorism. Those countries are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/28/us/refugees-detained-at-us-airports-prompting-legal-challenges-to-trumps-immigration-order.html?emc=edit_na_20170128&nl=breaking-news&nlid=50533710&ref=cta

According to The New York Times Donald Trump has made himself at home in the White House by hanging up a portrait of notorious ethnic cleanser and fellow “populist” Andrew Jackson in the Oval Office. The move represents a shocking admiration in Trump for a man who was personally responsible for the deaths of thousands upon thousands of innocent Native Americans in the final stages of the Native American genocide.

President from 1829 to 1837, Jackson oversaw one of the worst episodes of ethnic cleansing in American history. Under his reign tens of millions of acres of land were confiscated from Native American tribes in the Southeast for white settlement, a process that culminated in the notorious Trail of Tears in which some 50,000 Cherokee were forcibly evicted from their land and sent on a forced march to Oklahoma in which some 5,000 died. Perhaps more than any other president in history, Jackson symbolizes the brutality of the centuries-long genocidal policy euphemistically known as “indian removal” – backed by populist rhetoric like Trump’s – that led to the final triumph of white America over this land’s native inhabitants.

The blood of tens of thousands of Native Americans, murdered because of the color of their skin and the language they spoke, is on the hands of Andrew Jackson. Now, it is tainting the walls of the highest office in the land, and Trump and his white nationalist supporters couldn’t be happier to have a genocidal maniac in the Oval Office. Just last week Trump called Jackson “an amazing figure in American history – very unique in so many ways.”

http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/01/26/trump-just-hung-portrait-genocidal-racist-oval-office/

The protectionist policies of President Donald Trump will be bad for technology companies, Roger McNamee, co-founder of venture capital firm Elevation Partners, told CNBC's "Fast Money" on Wednesday.

The new administration's America-first message may damage domestic tech companies' access to foreign markets and resources, particularly in China, he said.

"Our relationship with China is going to change radically and it doesn't look like it's going to get better," McNamee said.

Most unsettling to the investor is the potential destruction of global partnerships that have been built up over the past 70 years. Trump is trying to dismantle the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an agreement between the U.S. and 11 other countries, among other trade partnerships.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/25/tech-investor-says.html

Source: Tampa Bay Times

The first legal cargo from Cuba -- artisanal charcoal -- in more than half a century arrived in Fort Lauderdale's Port Everglades on Tuesday, ahead of a visit later this week from Cuban government representatives to several Florida seaports where they hope to do business.

On Wednesday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott warned those ports, which include the Port of Palm Beach and Port Tampa Bay, that he will push to cut state funding to their operations if they engage in business with Cuba.

Read more: http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/gov-rick-scott-not-happy-about-florida-ports-getting-legal-cargo-from-cuba/2310810

While it shouldn't normally be a goal to make the president do his job badly, when you have someone committed to rolling back women's rights, dismantling environmental protection, lying through his teeth and trampling all over the constitution, it is more than a noble goal -- it is a civic duty.

http://thedailybanter.com/2017/01/humiliate-trump-because-it-works/

By constantly antagonizing Trump with protests, press reports and Twitter trolling, it's possible that he could descend further into madness. In doing so, leadership of both parties might have no choice but to ask him to step aside for the good of the nation -- and to seek some help.

http://thedailybanter.com/2017/01/trump-is-disintegrating-further-into-madness/

Will his advice be as valuable? Goldman Sachs will pay former CEO Gary Cohn, who's heading to Washington, D.C., to become Donald Trump's top economic adviser, more than $100 million in severance. Most of that derives from a "conflicted employment" clause triggered by his public-sector move that speeds payout of future bonuses upon leaving his $20 million-a-year job. The government will also help with the transition, providing a capital gains tax break on stocks he sells to avoid a conflict of interest.

1. Pres. Donald Fucking Trump reportedly is complaining that he can't enjoy the White House because his negative coverage has made him realize we're not trapped in here with him; he's trapped in here with us.

2. On Wednesday, Pres. Fucking Trump plans to sign executive orders restricting immigration by refugees and from six Middle Eastern countries, explaining that he is a coward and some people scare him.

3. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the federal budget deficit will skyrocket over the next decade, as Pres. Fucking Trump adds $10 trillion to the national debt by adding $10 trillion to the offshore accounts of the one percent .

Bill seeks to turn 'stand your ground' around, shift initial burden of proof

TALLAHASSEE — An effort by conservative Republican lawmakers to revise Florida's "stand your ground" law is back under consideration with a plausible chance of passing this year, even as opponents again warn that enacting such changes would "water down" the state's gun laws and make it easier for people to kill without consequence.

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/proposed-changes-to-floridas-stand-your-ground-law-again-divide/2310724

One image from President Donald Trump‘s inauguration late last week that’s getting a big reaction on Twitter is this photo of the President walking to meet Barack and Michelle Obama while Melania Trump lags significantly behind. Eventually, the Obamas greet her. Entertainment Weekly‘s Marc Snetiker Tweeted the photos:

https://twitter.com/MarcSnetiker/status/823397030240190464/photo/1

In less than 24 hours, the image has been retweeted 13,000 times and liked 26,000 times. It even got a retweet from NBC’s Katy Tur, though her tweet has since been deleted.