Trump loses at court, the latest on Russia's worldwide election hacking, and President Obama

A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected the Trump administration’s limited view of who is allowed into the United States under the president’s travel ban, saying grandparents, cousins and similarly close relations of people in the U.S. should not be prevented from coming to the country.

Russia has meddled in the affairs of at least 27 European and North American countries since 2004 with interference that ranges from cyberattacks to disinformation campaigns, according to an analysis by a surveillance organization.

But maybe it’s not Russia, just a 400-pound guy in his bed, like Trump said, right? Wrong:

The pattern of Russian government-linked behavior in the United States is similar to that seen in other countries, said Laura Rosenberger, director of the [Alliance for Securing Democracy of the German Marshall Fund].

“These are all the tools they use to undermine democratic institutions in different places,” Rosenberger said. “For a lot of Americans, the question of Russian interference in U.S. elections came out of nowhere. It sounds crazy to most people that this has been part of the Russian playbook for more than a decade.”

“I would tell them that I respect very much that Secretary Clinton was running for president, and it showed that in this country, anybody can do anything if they set their mind to it,” recalled Conway, who has four young children — three daughters and a son — with her husband, New York lawyer George T. Conway III. “At the same time, I tried to explain to them that you could be excited for someone with whom you disagree, and share in that moment in history as a proud American.”

That’s funny because it seems like only weeks ago, Conway was insisting on Fox News that Clinton had failed to make history.

“She failed to make history,” Conway said.

Perhaps Conway simply forgot for a moment, while she was complaining about Clinton, that she was actually so very proud of Clinton’s historic runafter all.

Businesses and other places that are considered “public accommodations” are barred by law from discriminating against people on the basis of factors like race and religion. The DOJ brief suggests that such laws should not be able to compel artists to create “inherently communicative” goods, like wedding cakes.

In other words, Trump’s DOJ is asking the Supreme Court to rule that cakes are “free speech” so that discriminating against gay couples is a somehow a First Amendment right. Lower courts have routinely rejected this idea in recent years, but who knows what will happen in Trump’s America.

Queens Assemblywoman Nily Rozic on Wednesday proposed renaming the 436 acres in Putnam and Westchester counties after Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old killed in a car attack while protesting a white nationalist rally.

Rozic’s bill would remove the park’s current name: the Donald J. Trump State Park, which its been known as since Trump donated the land in 2006.

“In New York, we continue standing by one another and calling out those who seek to divide us,” Rozic, a Democrat, said in a statement. “This activism is not new — it is embedded in our state’s history and re-naming Donald J. Trump State Park would serve as a reminder of the transformative power it holds to carry us forward.”

#DREAMers are #HereToStay. Demand #Congress pass #CleanDreamAct: https://t.co/EoZTjwnwy6 #DefendDACA pic.twitter.com/bPfk9xYOOc

— MoveOn.org (@MoveOn) September 8, 2017