| By Derek Caney
It was one of the biggest acts of defiance from within the government against a sitting president since the Saturday Night Massacre during the Nixon administration in 1973. Sally Yates, a holdover from the Obama administration, had agreed to stay on as acting attorney general until President Donald Trump's choice, Senator Jeff Sessions, could be confirmed. In that role, she ordered the Justice Department not to defend Trump's executive order temporarily banning travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries. She believed the order was not lawful, a point that will make its way through the courts over the coming months and possibly years. She was summarily fired and replaced with Dana Boente, a U.S. Attorney in Virginia who is expected to enforce Trump's order. It's not quite the Saturday Night Massacre. At that time Attorney General, Elliot Richardson, a Nixon appointee, was ordered to fire Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal. Nixon fired both Richardson and his deputy for not carrying out his order. The Saturday Night Massacre played a big role in turning public opinion against Nixon, and led to his resignation less than a year later. Yates was an Obama appointee who was asked by Trump to stay on. The White House called her act a betrayal and Trump supporters called her act political grandstanding.
But Yates' wasn't the only act of defiance from within the administration. State Department officials circulated a draft memo criticizing Trump's order. More than 100 diplomats have signed it, the Washington Post reported. "The end result of this ban will not be a drop in terror attacks in the United States; rather it will be a drop in international good will towards Americans and a threat towards our economy." – Draft memo from the State Department "dissent channel" "These career bureaucrats have a problem with it? I think that they should either get with the program or they can go." – Sean Spicer, White House press secretary
Digits of the day: 872 The U.S. government granted waivers to let 872 refugees into the country this week, despite Trump's order, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security document seen by Reuters. The refugees were considered "in transit" and had already been cleared for resettlement before the ban took effect.
Are you sure that's safe? 
Children play on a swing in a damaged neighborhood in Aleppo, Syria January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho
Around Wall Street - The U.S. dollar headed for its worst start to a year since 2008, while world stock losses, already the biggest in six weeks, grew after widespread protests against President Donald Trump's stringent curbs on travel to the United States. But the usual caveats apply: When the market rallies, you can expect to see the action attributed to optimism about the Trump administration.
- Executives from the pharmaceutical industry will be the next to rotate through the White House for a meeting with President Trump. You'll recall that Trump said drug companies were "getting away with murder" on prices the government pays. Drugs stocks took a beating shortly thereafter.
- Snoopy may get a new owner. Iconix Brand Group is putting its majority stake in Peanuts Worldwide on the block. Iconix took a big hit when MetLife dropped the Peanuts characters it had been using as mascots for more than 30 years.
Around the world Abdi hit the floor, arms over his head and ears. But he could still hear the men around him praying for their lives until gunfire cut them short. He felt a trio of bullets whisk over his head. - A French-Canadian university student, Alexandre Bissonnette, was the sole suspect in a shooting at a Quebec City mosque and was charged with the premeditated murder of six people
- The U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State has supplied its Syrian allies with armored vehicles for the first time, expanding support since Trump came to office, a spokesman for the Syrian groups said.
- "You started it!" "No, you started it!" Ukraine and Russia are blaming one another for a surge in fighting that has led to the highest death toll in weeks. The fighting also cut off power and water to thousands of civilians on the front line in Eastern Ukraine.
Around the country - Trump announces his Supreme Court pick tonight to replace Antonin Scalia, who died nearly a year ago. The Republicans refused to take up Obama's pick, saying they would wait until after the election. So you can expect a fresh round of rancor. Trump's short list includes three conservative stalwarts.
- The Boy Scouts of America said will begin accepting transgender boys, bucking its more than a century-old practice of using the gender stated on a birth certificate to determine eligibility.
- An airline maintenance worker in Oklahoma found 31 pounds of cocaine in the nose cone of an American Airlines jet after it arrived from Colombia.
Today's reason to live Pixies – Tony's Theme |
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