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Week 61 in Trump

Posted on March 26, 2018 in Politics, Trump

March For Our Lives, DC - Time Magazine

#DeleteFacebook is trending! I get the concerns, but let’s all slow down a bit. Every time you sign in to an app or site using your Facebook login and every time you take a Facebook quiz, they tell you right there what information they’re going to scrape. So here are a few things you can do instead of deleting your account:

Cambridge Analytica:

The Cambridge Analytica/Facebook thing is big enough to earn its own heading this week. I’ll try to break it down, but it’s unclear how much, if any, effect the company had on the 2016 elections.

  1. Cambridge Analytica is an offshoot of the SCL Group, a behavioral research and strategic communications company.
  2. Robert Mercer is part-owner of Cambridge Analytica and Steve Bannon headed it at the time the activity in question occurred.
  3. They hired Aleksandr Kogan, a professor at Cambridge, to write an app to scrape user data from Facebook for “academic purposes.” The app scraped not only participants’ data but also their friends’ data. Kogan also used Amazon Turk to collect data, ending up with data from an estimated 50 million users without their permission.
  4. A sting video shows the CEO of Cambridge Analytica (Alexander Nix) and other officials saying that:
    • The company has used honey pots, fake news, disinformation campaigns, blackmail, sting operations, and ex-spies to affect elections around the globe.
    • Cambridge Analytica ran the digital and TV campaigns for Trump and the Trump campaign used Cambridge Analytica‘s data to direct their strategy.
    • They were the brains behind the “defeat crooked Hillary” ad campaign.
    • Cambridge Analytica helped bring Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon on board the Trump campaign.
    • Cambridge Analytica worked to influence the UK campaign for Brexit.
    • They stay under cover by using a shifting network of operatives and front groups.
    • PACs and outside groups can work around federal election laws, implying possible illegal coordination.
    • They use fake academic projects as cover, as they did with Facebook, in possible violation of federal law. This supports what their staff has claimed previously.
  1. Cambridge Analytica suspends Nix after the video surfaces.
  2. The data they scraped includes personally identifying information, a rating on how important each issue is, and which party a user leans toward. They combined all that with our voting history.
  3. And then randomly, we learn that John Bolton’s PAC was one of Cambridge Analytica‘s first customers. They used the company for polling and micro-targeting voters on national security issues.
  4. Despite Cambridge Analytica‘s denials that they ever worked with Russians, it turns out they met with Russian oil company Lukoil multiple times over how to target American voters.
  5. The FTC is investigating whether Facebook violated a 2011 consent decree around sharing personal information.
  6. The previous week, Facebook suspended Cambridge Analytica from the social network for its improper use of data. Cambridge Analytica officials, including Nix, dispute that they had ever received Facebook data.
  7. In 2015, Facebook already knew their privacy had issues and announced tightened security. Too late, because Cambridge Analytica had already scraped the data they needed.
  8. In late 2015, Facebook learned of the relationship between Cambridge Analytica and Kogan. Facebook says Kogan and Cambridge Analytica violated Facebook’s terms of service.
  9. Mark Zuckerberg says he welcomes federal regulation over Facebook’s data privacy procedures, but then we learn that Facebook lobbyists have actively lobbied against the disclosure rules for online ads.
  10. Facebook stock drops.
  11. Mueller is looking into coordination between Russian influence, Cambridge Analytica, and the Trump campaign.
  12. The British government has opened its own investigation into Cambridge Analytica, and they’ve already missed one deadline to comply with the investigation.
  13. At the end of the week, UK law enforcement officers raid Cambridge Analytica headquarters.
  14. Note that there is no proof of legal wrongdoing by Cambridge Analytica yet. They were aware of election and campaign rules and it’s possible they walked the very fine (albeit sleazy) line to keep things just on the right side of legal.

Russia:

  1. Trump’s lawyers turn documents over to Mueller that include information about key moments, like when Trump fired Flynn and Comey. They hope this will limit Trump’s exposure to the special counsel.
  2. At the start of the week, Trump hires lawyer and Fox contributor Joe diGenova. He’s out by the end of the week (along with his wife, Victoria Toensing) due to unspecified conflicts.
  3. Currently, only Trump’s personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow, represents Trump full-time in the Russia investigation. He’s assisted by White House attorney Ty Cobb.
  4. Both Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan say that legislation isn’t needed to protect Mueller, and Ryan says he’s received assurances that Mueller won’t be fired.
  5. Even though Trump’s security briefing said in capital letters not to congratulate Putin on his election, he congratulates Putin anyway, and then tells the press about four times that he’ll be meeting with Putin soon. Note: Obama also congratulated Putin on winning the last election, so I’m not clear the difference here unless it’s the timing. (Russia poisoning ex-pats on UK soil, meddling in our elections, and how quickly Trump congratulated him.)
  6. It’s a BFD that someone leaked any contents of the president’s security briefing, no matter how innocuous it seems.
  7. Trump blasts past presidents for not having the smarts, energy, or chemistry to work with Russia.
  8. Though Trump hasn’t directed our intelligence communities to protect our elections from foreign interference, the Senate Intelligence Committee:
    • Recommends an auditable paper trail for all U.S. voting machines.
    • Requests funds for securing databases, cyber security, auditing vote, and updating voting systems.
    • States that we need to declare that Russia’s meddling in our 2016 election was a hostile act.
  1. Senators from both parties criticize Trump for not doing anything to protect the 2018 midterms and they question Obama for not doing more to protect the 2016 elections.
  2. Both Democrat and Republican politicians call for hearings into Andrew McCabe’s firing.
  3. Mueller wants more information from Trump about four main issues:
    • Trump’s role, if any, in coming up with the public statement about Don Jr.’s June 2016 meeting with Russians.
    • The circumstances around that meeting.
    • The firing of James Comey and of Michael Flynn.
    • Any connections between the Trump campaign and Cambridge Analytica.
  1. John Dowd resigns as the lead lawyer for Trump in the Mueller investigation, seemingly over disagreements on whether Trump should be interviewed by Mueller.
  2. Guccifer 2.0, the hacker responsible for the DNC document and email dump, appears to be a Russian intelligence officer of the GRU (Russian military intelligence). At one point, he failed to disguise his IP address and left a real, Moscow-based IP address in a social media company’s logs. Mueller‘s looking into this.

Courts/Justice:

  1. Jeff Sessions tells law enforcement officers he wants to see fuller jails.
  2. Sessions also calls for prosecutors to seek the death penalty in drug cases whenever appropriate (Trump called for the same thing last week).

Healthcare:

  1. Mississippi passes the most strict anti-abortion law in the nation, forbidding abortions after 15 weeks even in the case of rape or incest. The governor says he wants Mississippi to be the safest place in the world for an unborn child. Maybe Mississippi should focus on fixing things for the already-born children instead, which might help prevent unwanted pregnancies. Mississippi ranks:
    • 50th in infant mortality rate and in healthcare
    • 46th in education
    • 48th in economy and 49th in opportunity
    • 4th in gun shootings per capita
    • 42nd in gender wage gap, meaning that those women who are forced to carry unintended pregnancies are less able to afford them
  1. A federal judge temporarily blocks Mississippi’s bill.
  2. A group of Republican legislators in Ohio introduce a bill to ban all abortions in the state. Period. All of them. This despite the fact that federal courts have blocked their previous, and less extreme, attempts at abortion regulation.
  3. Roger Severino, who directs the Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services, defends people’s right to refuse health services based on religious beliefs. Meanwhile, members of the LGBTQ community (especially transgender people) are denied treatment or have to struggle to get the appropriate care every day.
  4. Internal notes and emails show that Trump abruptly canceled a program to prevent teen pregnancy over the objection of experts in the department. He based his decision on the opinions of three of his appointees who think that abstinence teaching works best. Many medical professionals credit this program with bringing the teen pregnancy rate down to an all-time low.

International:

  1. Forty-four countries still don’t have an ambassador from the U.S.
  2. Trump freaks out Twitter users by tweeting about an arms race none of us knew existed.
  3. After a week of speculation (and after Trump and Sarah Huckabee Sanders refuted it), National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster announces his resignation. Trump announces former UN ambassador and Fox News analyst John Bolton to replace him.
  4. It surfaces that Bolton was appointed to the NRA’s international affairs subcommittee, and did a short video promoting gun ownership in Russia as part of an effort to get Russia to loosen their gun regulations.
  5. Bolton’s hawkish stances have some people concerned about potential wars with North Korea and Iran.
  6. A gunman kills two people in a French grocery store and holds another hostage, claiming allegiance to ISIS. A police officer convinces the shooter to take him as a hostage instead, and the gunman shoots and kills him. #RealHeros
  7. The UK and the EU come to an agreement to the terms of the Brexit transition.
  8. Boko Haram releases 104 girls they kidnapped last month in Nigeria, but with a warning. Don’t let your girls go to school.
  9. Officials drop charges against 11 of the 15 Turkish guards who attacked protestors last year and sent several people to the hospital.
  10. A contingent of House Democrats travels to the Mid East with a focus on security and cooperation in the region.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. Representative Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) considers stepping down early to avoid an Ethics Committee investigation.
  2. Alibaba joins the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a coalition of businesses that writes boilerplate legislation for U.S. states and for the federal government. ALEC has a very large influence in our laws.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. Negotiations between the White House and Democrats to come to a DACA and border wall agreement fall apart before the vote on the spending bill.
  2. Trump bans transgender people who have surgical or other medical needs from serving in the military, despite previous protestations from the military. One in five transgender people serve in our military.
  3. Protests shut down a freeway in Sacramento following the police shooting of a black man in his grandparents‘ backyard who was armed with a cell phone. Police shot at Stephon Clark—who was 22 and had two young children—20 times.
  4. The Department of Health and Human Services removes the pages from its website that provided resources for lesbian and bisexual women.
  5. The Department of the Interior joins other government agencies in removing diversity from its mission.
  6. Trump blames the opioid epidemic on immigrants and sanctuary cities.

Climate/EPA:

  1. The spending bill passed by the House includes this about Trump’s border wall.

“None of the funds provided in this or any other Act shall be obligated for construction of a border barrier in the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.”

  1. The Interior Department auctions off all its available parcels of public land in Utah for oil and gas development, but doesn’t include any of the land recently removed from Bears Ears. Still, environmentalists are worried.

Budget/Economy:

  1. The Fed raises interest rates again to mitigate inflationary pressures.
  2. Trump announces $60 billion in tariffs against China on top of the steel and aluminum tariffs that went into effect last week. The new tariffs include some on intellectual property, partly as a way to punish China for its blatant trademark and patent infringements. China owns most of our debt, so we need to play our cards carefully.
  3. Threats of trade wars + rising interest rates + Facebook woes = major stock market volatility this week.
  4. Betsy DeVos testifies to the House Appropriations Committee to justify her budget, which includes a $1 billion voucher program. Members of her staff say she tried to withhold information about overhauling the department in her budget request.
  5. Three months after passing a GOP tax reform bill that cuts taxes by $1.5 trillion, Congress signs a bipartisan spending bill that increases spending by $1.3 trillion.
  6. Trump threatens to veto the spending bill hours before the government would shut down. Trump tries to blame the Democrats for not fixing DACA. (Can we just put the onus of this issue where it belongs? Trump broke DACA last fall, and the only reason it’s still alive right now is because it’s stuck in the court system.)
  7. Trump finally signs the spending bill, calling it ridiculous. Here are a few highlights. It:
    • Increases defense funding by $61 billion.
    • Increases funding to fight the opioid epidemic from $3 billion to $5 billion.
    • Includes $1.6 billion of the $25 billion requested for the border wall, which can actually only be used to repair existing fencing, for secondary barriers, and for 33 miles of non-concrete barrier.
    • Denies Betsy Devos’ budget requests, and denies defunding EPA projects.
    • Provides extra money to shore up infrastructure, but far short of the $250 billion Trump has talked about.
    • Includes legislation to improve the background check system for gun buyers.
    • Includes wording to allow the CDC to use public funds to study gun violence (previously prohibited).
    • Includes fixes to the recent tax plan, along with tax credits for low-income housing.
    • Bars employers from taking employees’ tips.
    • Includes funding to fight Russian interference in the 2018 elections and for the FBI to fight future Russian cyber attacks.
    • Denies funding for additional immigration detention beds and ICE.
    • Doesn’t include fixes to help DACA qualifiers.
    • Doesn’t include fixes to the healthcare system.
  1. China’s new economic czar says Trump violated international trade rules with his tariffs, and issues a vague threat of a trade war. China plans to raise tariffs on $3 billion in American goods.
  2. America’s oldest gun manufacturer, Remington, files for bankruptcy. They’ve long been having business problems, and last year, sales plummeted (likely because people stopped fearing gun control legislation and didn’t stockpile as much).

Elections:

  1. Eight months after the elections, no election official had yet received their security clearance. Currently, only 20 out of 150 elections officials have obtained clearance.
  2. Though the Illinois Republican Party campaigned against him, Arthur Jones, a Holocaust denier accused of being a Nazi, wins the Republican primary for U.S. Congress. The party failed to run a candidate against him, and even with his known prejudices, Jones got over 20,000 votes.
  3. This is not what I expected Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) to get investigated for. The FEC opens an investigation into Nunes for alleged violations of campaign finance laws. The allegations seem pretty trivial, but could spell trouble for Nunes.
  4. A Wisconsin judge orders Governor Scott Walker (R) to call specials elections for two districts that have been vacant for months.
  5. And then GOP legislators in Wisconsin indicate that they’ll hold a special session to change the election law instead of running two special elections. It’s a brazen move, but they’ve postponed the special elections so long that they’d run into the regular elections.
  6. Pennsylvania State Rep. Cris Dush (R) introduces a resolution to impeach the state Supreme Court justices with whom he disagrees about the gerrymandered district lines. This happens just days after the Supreme Court refuses to hear the Republican-led house’s appeal.
  7. Washington becomes the 11th state since 2015 to adopt automatic voter registration. This year, legislators have introduced at least 206 laws in 30 states to expand voter access.

Miscellaneous:

  1. There’s yet another high school shooting, this time in Maryland. One student is injured, and another dies of her injuries. The shooter shoots himself and is simultaneously shot by a school security guard.
  2. Over a million people protest gun violence in our schools in Saturday’s March For Our Lives. There are over 700 marches in the U.S. and around the world.
  3. Hundreds of thousands march on Washington, but Trump heads to Mar-a-Lago, with the motorcade taking the long way there to avoid marchers. At least the White House issues the following statement of support:

“We applaud the many courageous young Americans exercising their First Amendment rights today.”

  1. Instead of labelling the man who terrorized Austin with a series of package bombs as a terrorist, police called him a challenged young man. The bomber killed himself in a car explosion, and though he left a taped confession, we don’t know the motive yet.
  2. In one week, TSA found 71 guns in carry-on bags around the U.S. Of those, 66 were loaded and 29 had a round in the chamber. TSA threatens penalties of over $13,000 per violation.
  3. We learn that Jared Kushner’s old real estate venture falsified information on their permit applications so they could push out rent-controlled tenants.
  4. Former Playboy model Karen McDougal sues to be released from an agreement not to talk about her affair with Trump. She goes on to give a salacious interview about their affair. She’s suing the company that owns The National Enquirer, which bought her story and then quashed it. The owner of the company is a friend of Trump’s.
  5. In 2011, Stormy Daniels took a polygraph which showed she was telling the truth when she said she and Trump had unprotected sex. Also, polygraphs are not 100% accurate.
  6. Stormy also gives an interview to Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes. I’m not going to go into any detail, because affairs are none of my business, IMO. I’m more concerned about the payoffs.
  7. Trump lawyer Michael Cohen sends Stormy a cease and desist letter following the interview.
  8. A New York judge rules that the defamation suit against Trump brought by an Apprentice contestant can go forward.
  9. Trump receives a summons in the emoluments case brought by Maryland and DC. The case was brought because of Trump’s refusal to fully divest himself of the family business.
  10. Trump praises Adapt Pharma for a program that provides public institutions with life-saving drugs to combat opioid overdoses. The program was created in partnership with the Clinton Foundation.
  11. Despite the fact that White House employees work for the public, Trump makes them all sign non-disclosure agreements.

Polls:

  1. For the first time since 2000, the NRA’s disapproval rating is higher than its approval rating.
  2. 69% of voters are in favor of stronger gun laws.
  3. 70% of millennial women identify as Democrats.
  4. 67% of voters don’t think Trump is a good role model for children, and 55% say he doesn’t have a good sense of decency.
  5. 57% of voters say Trump has damaged our global reputation instead of improved it.
  6. 59% of voters say Trump doesn’t share their values.

Quotes of the Week:

“How about kids instead of looking to someone else to solve their problem, do something about maybe taking CPR classes or trying to deal with situations that when there is a violent shooter that you can actually respond to that.”

~ Rick Santorum, who has apparently never seen the damage to a human body from an AR-15 shooting.

Week 60 in Trump

Posted on March 20, 2018 in Politics, Trump

This week, students at over 3,000 schools across the country protest gun violence and honor the Parkland victims in staged walkouts. Each walkout starts at 10 AM local time, and students stay out for 17 minutes in tribute to the 17 lost lives in Parkland. Students also march on Washington and the walkouts extend across the globe. Here’s what they want. It’s pretty simple, so accusing them of not knowing what they’re doing is pretty disingenuous:

  • Ban assault weapons
  • Universal background checks for all gun sales
  • Pass a gun violence restraining order law (so courts can disarm people who display warning signs)

Some schools punish students by giving them unexcused absences or suspensions—some even suspend students for five days (I’m looking at you Cobb County, Georgia). Others put their schools on lockdown so students can’t go out; students take a knee instead. Social media is awash with “grownups” saying students don’t know what they’re protesting, that students are forced into this, and that they couldn’t organize this movement on their own. It’s the 60s all over again.

And also, 7,000 pairs of shoes are laid out on the grounds in front of the U.S. Capitol, representing every child killed by a gun since Sandy Hook in 2012.


Here’s what else happened last week…

Russia:

  1. Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee effectively close their Russia case, just as Robert Mueller is expanding his investigation into Trump associates, Trump Organization, and a secret meeting between Erik Prince, George Nader, and a UAE official. They release a report saying they’ve seen no evidence that there was collusion or that Russia was trying to tip the scales toward Trump. Investigations continue in other congressional committees.
  2. And who’s been feeding this guy truth serum? Republican Trey Goody, who actually read the underlying legal documents, disputes some of the report’s findings. Our intelligence community disputes even more of them.
  3. Representative Mike Conaway (R-Texas) says that it wasn’t part of the House Intelligence Committee’s mission to investigate collusion between Russia and Trump associates. So basically they said they didn’t find the collusion that they weren’t even looking for.
  4. Another Representative on the House Intelligence Committee, Tom Rooney (R-Fla.), also contradicts the report, saying that there is evidence Russia was trying to help Trump in the elections.
  5. Democrats release a rebuttal to the report, outlining the areas where they think the investigation is incomplete, including key witnesses that were never called, subpoenas that were never issued, organizations that were never questioned (like social media giants), and broad issues that were never investigated. For example, the committee hasn’t interviewed key players like Papadopoulos, Manafort, Gates, and Flynn.
  6. A former Russian spy and his daughter are found poisoned in a park and are currently in critical condition. Investigators confirm that the poison is definitely of Russian origin.
  7. And then Russian exile Nikolai Glushkov is found dead in London. Police are treating it as a murder.
  8. Prime Minister Therese May pretty much accuses Russia of an act of war and gives them 48 hours to answer for the poisonings.
  9. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson calls the act egregious and says there will be consequences. But Russia probably isn’t too worried about Tillerson anymore for obvious reasons.
  10. Theresa May’s first act of reprisal is to expel 23 Russian diplomats thought to be spies. She also cancels meetings with Russian officials.
  11. The U.S., France, and Germany join the United Kingdom in saying Russia is responsible for the poisonings.
  12. Two witnesses come forward to say Roger Stone spoke with Julian Assange in early 2016, and that he knew about the hacked emails before they were publicized.
  13. We learn that Qatari officials didn’t share information about the UAE having illicit influence over Kushner with Robert Mueller’s team because they were afraid it would hurt their relationship with the Trump administration.
  14. Trump finally imposes sanctions against Russia for meddling in our elections, one month after the deadline set by Congress. He doesn’t include all the recommended sanctions.
  15. Mueller subpoenas Trump Organization records, a sign that he’s expanding his investigation and that he’s not close to the end despite rumors to the contrary.
  16. Federal regulators say that a 2017 Russian hack into our energy grid didn’t compromise any of our power plants, including nuclear power plants. The hacks did, however, trigger a scramble to secure our networks, particularly those managing our infrastructure.
  17. Facebook suspends Cambridge Analytica for using an academic research cover to scrape data about hundreds of thousands of users. Cambridge Analytica also met with Russian businessmen to talk about how Cambridge Analytica used their data to target U.S. voters.
  18. The Massachusetts attorney general launches an investigation over claims that Cambridge Analytica scraped data from over 50 million Facebook users to develop social media techniques to help Trump’s campaign.
  19. Sessions fires Andy McCabe just over 24 hours before he was to retire, meaning be could lose his pension. McCabe will likely appeal this, other members of government extend offers to hire him short-term, and it is also possible that his pension won’t be that deeply affected.
  20. McCabe learned of his firing from a press release, though he likely saw it coming.
  21. Following Andrew McCabe’s firing, Trump’s lawyers says Mueller’s investigation should be halted and implied to Rod Rosenstein that he should end it.
  22. Andrew McCabe has contemporaneous memos of his interactions with Trump and of Comey’s descriptions of his interactions with Trump. He’s already met with Mueller and turned over copies.
  23. Trump says the Mueller investigation is partisan, even though there are charges and guilty pleas. And even though Mueller and many he works with are Republican.
  24. Senator Marco Rubio criticizes the McCabe firing. Representative Trey Gowdy criticizes the handling of the firing, saying Trump’s acting like he’s guilty. Senator Lindsey Graham says that if Trump tries to fire Mueller, it will be the end of his presidency. All Republicans.
  25. The FEC opens an investigation into whether the NRA received illegal contributions from Russian groups to support Trump’s campaign.
  26. A federal judge warns that Paul Manafort could spend the rest of his life in prison. Manafort is on 24-hour lockdown in his home.
  27. Seth Rich’s family files a lawsuit against Fox News over them promoting a rumor that Rich was the leaker of the DNC emails during the 2016 campaign and that he was killed because of that. If you remember, Seth Rich was a DNC staffer who was killed in an apparent random attack.
  28. Three sources say Jeff Sessions didn’t actually push back when George Papadopoulos suggested the Trump campaign meet with Russians, leading some to wonder whether he committed perjury in his congressional testimony.
  29. Russians elect Putin for another six years in a landslide victory.

Courts/Justice:

  1. Trump’s administration wants to permanently take away federal judges’ ability to issue nationwide injunctions, which stop policies from taking effect until the court can make a final ruling.

International:

  1. Trump fires Rex Tillerson, reportedly via Twitter but with a warning from John Kelly. Trump picks Mike Pompeo, currently CIA director, to replace him as Secretary of State.
  2. Pompeo has a background of voting against women’s and LGBTQ rights, as well as making anti-Muslim comments. He has also supports torture. So there’s that.
  3. Trump then fires Tillerson’s top aide, Undersecretary of State Steve Goldstein, for giving an account of the firing that differed from the official White House story.
  4. Trump picks Gina Haspel to replace Mike Pompeo. She’d be the first woman to hold the top position at the CIA, and seems widely respected at the CIA. Her confirmation could be tough though, because of issues around her role the torture of al-Qaeda prisoners.
  5. Prosecutors in Germany are reviewing a request from the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) to issue an arrest warrant on Haspel for her involvement in extreme torture measures after 9/11. NOTE: A report on her role in waterboarding suspected terrorists was later retracted. She was not involved in the waterboarding of a suspect who was later found to be innocent.
  6. Steve Bannon addresses France’s far right party, spreading his own brand of white nationalism and telling them to wear labels like racist, xenophobic, and nativist proudly.
  7. Trump brags that he just made up trade deficit “facts” in a meeting with Justin Trudeau, saying the U.S. had a trade deficit with Canada. According to Trump, Trudeau disputed that, saying there is no deficit. And Trudeau’s right. You can read the actual facts at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
  8. And then, to make it even weirder, Justin Trudeau says they had no such conversation. So it seems Trump lied about making up facts at a meeting he made up.
  9. And then Trump doubles down, tweeting that we do have a trade deficit with Canada. Again, we do not.
  10. In a fundraising speech, Trump:
    • Accuses the European Union, China, Japan, and South Korea of ripping us off and pillaging our work force.
    • Calls NAFTA a disaster and then criticizes the World Trade Organization.
    • Threatens Seoul if they give us a better trade deal.
  1. The White House plans to have Ivanka Trump meet with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha when she visits the U.S. Normally the minister would meet with the Secretary of State, but Tillerson was fired. Among other things, Tillerson and Kang planned to discuss talks with North Korea.
  2. Philippine President Duterte says he’ll pull the Philippines out of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC is investigating Duterte for crimes against humanity for his handling of the drug problem.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. Kentucky takes a page from Florida and bans child marriages.
  2. The House passes a school safety bill. It provides training for both school employees and law enforcement to manage mental health issues and provides money to put systems in place for reporting threats.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. Homeland Security spokesman James Schwab resigns, saying that he can’t continue to “perpetuate misleading facts” for the administration. In other words, he’s tired of lying for Trump.
  2. Trump says it’s Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf’s fault that ICE didn’t pick up more undocumented immigrants in a sweep last week after she issued a warning before the raid took place. ICE typically picks up about a third of their targets in these sweeps, and here they picked up 232 out of 1,000. Trump said they were all violent criminals, but just under half of those picked up had criminal records of any kind.
  3. Trump blames Obama-era rules for mass shootings. The rules in question were an effort to rein in the harsher disciplines brought down on minority students, like suspensions and expulsions. IKYDK, no black student has been the perpetrator of a mass school shooting and minority schools aren’t the targets of these shootings.
  4. Attorney General Jeff Sessions re-opens a court decision that protects domestic violence victims seeking asylum in the U.S. This indicates he’s contemplating removing or weakening these protections.
  5. Trump visits the wall prototypes south of San Diego, only to find protests on both sides of the border.
  6. The ACLU sues ICE for detaining hundreds of asylum seekers with no due process.
  7. A court clears DeAndre Harris of assault charges stemming from the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville last year where he was severely beaten. Yes, they charged the man who himself was severely beaten. The men who beat him haven’t been tried yet.
  8. Trump wants to trade a short-term DACA deal for funding for his border wall.

Climate/EPA:

  1. Why are we suddenly hearing so much about bomb cyclones? Because abnormally warm temperatures in the Arctic can bring them on, according to a recent study. And since four of the past five years have had an Arctic thaw, we’re seeing rougher weather on the upper east coast.
  2. 2017 was the costliest year yet for weather and climate disasters in the U.S., and yet FEMA just removed any reference to climate change from its strategic planning document. Because if we don’t talk about global warming, it doesn’t exist, right? It’ll just go away?

Budget/Economy:

  1. Trump blocks the $117 billion bid from Broadcom to buy Qualcomm citing security concerns. Broadcom drop its bid.
  2. Trump names TV personality Larry Kudlow to Gary Cohn’s old position as top economic advisor. Kudlow has gotten some things very, very wrong, including predicting these things wouldn’t occur: the positive effects of Bill Clinton’s tax plan, the negative effects of Bush Jr.’s tax plan, the housing bubble in 2007, and the great recession.
  3. The Senate passes a bill to weaken the financial protections in Dodd-Frank, increasing the size of banks that do not need to follow the regulations. They say that this will help small community banks get out from under regulatory red tape, but most community banks have less than $10 billion in assets and this bill only helps banks that have $50 billion to $250 billion in assets. So I guess if you consider that a small bank… What the bill changes is that these banks no longer need to have an emergency plan for in case they fail.
  4. The House passes a bill requiring federal financial regulatory agencies to limit burdens on institutions. In other words, the bill favors institutions over consumer rights and once again would allow them to engage in the risky behavior that led to the great recession. And just to make sure they erase Obama’s and Elizabeth Warren’s fingerprints on any regulations, they make it retroactive to any regulations passed in the last seven years.
  5. A federal court tosses out the fiduciary rule, an Obama-era rule that required your financial advisor to act in your best interest instead of pushing you into investments that would put money in your advisor’s pockets.
  6. According to Puerto Rico’s governor, the Treasury reduced their $4.7 billion disaster relief loan to just $2 billion.

Elections:

  1. A court blocks Kris Kobach, Kansas Secretary of State, from enforcing his law requiring a voter ID to register to vote. The 10th circuit court calls it a denial of a fundamental constitutional right. If you’ll remember, Kobach believes there are thousands of undocumented immigrants who are registered to vote, even though decades of commissions and studies (both conservative and liberal) conclude that this isn’t the case.
  2. Democrat Conor Lamb defeats Republican Rick Saccone in Pennsylvania’s district 18 special election for House of Representatives. The race was to replace Republican Representative Tim Murphy, who was staunchly anti-abortion, except, it turns out, when it’s his mistress who is pregnant.
  3. This is the 42nd seat to flip from Republican to Democrat since Trump’s election. Four have flipped the other way.

Miscellaneous:

  1. Three packages left outside homes explode in Austin, killing two people and injuring another.
  2. Betsy DeVos can barely answer basic questions about our education system in an interview on 60 Minutes. She also says that she doesn’t intentionally visit troubled schools.
  3. Trump considers firing David Shelkin from the VA and moving Rick Perry from the Department of Energy to the VA. Though by the end of the week, he’s looking at different replacements
  4. The White House fires Trump’s personal assistant, John McEntee, because of financial crimes being investigated by DHS. The crimes must’ve been bad, because they didn’t even give him a chance to get his coat before walking him out. But then Trump gives him a job as senior advisor for his campaign operations.
  5. Data scientists at MIT publish a study concluding that fake news is shared much, much more than real news on social media and in one test, fake news reached 1,500 people 6 times faster than real news. Even when controlling for verified accounts, fake news is 70% more likely to be shared.
  6. Well, that was brief. At the beginning of the week, Trump reverses his stance on the NRA and drops his promises on gun control efforts, like raising the purchase age and expanding background checks. Here’s what he offers instead:
    • Rigorous firearm training to school employees who want it
    • Modest fixes to the background check process
    • A new Federal Commission on School Safety, chaired by Betsy DeVos.
  1. A bill in the Senate to improve the background check database has 62 co-sponsors (so by definition, it’s bipartisan). But it’s being held up by the remaining Republicans.
  2. Another teacher accidentally discharges a weapon in class, injuring three students.
  3. Leaked emails imply that the purging of career officials at the State Department was politically motivated and targeted people who weren’t loyal to Trump.
  4. Donald Trump Jr.’s wife of twelve years files for divorce.
  5. A UPenn study concludes that when a Trump rally comes to a town, there’s a rise in violence on that day. There was an average of 2.3 more assaults on the days of the rallies in the data and cities they studied.
  6. Trump’s lawyers say Stormy Daniels violated her non-disclosure 20 times and wants $20 million in damages ($1 million per violation).
  7. Trump lays down an epic tweetstorm following McCabe’s firing. Here’s some of what he said:
    • Mueller’s team has 13 Democrats and no Republicans, so it must be partisan. (Except Mueller himself is a Republican, so already we know that’s false.)
    • Andy McCabe and James Comey are both liars, and Comey even lied under oath. (His source was Fox & Friends.)
    • The following all came from one tweet: No collusion, no crime, fake dossier, crooked Hillary, FISA court, WITCH HUNT!
    • He brings up the donations made from the DNC to McCabe’s wife’s campaign. (This isn’t even being investigated.)
    • The House Intelligence Committee found no collusion. (In fairness, that wasn’t part of their investigation and Republicans on the committee disagree.)
    • And my favorite:

Quote of the Week:

Or maybe this is just the understatement of the week…

“I anticipated that this would be a lower-profile job.”

~Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein:

Week 59 in Trump

Posted on March 12, 2018 in Politics, Trump

As always, it was a busy week. But this piece of news jumped out at me. A report from Trump’s own Office of Management and Budget (OMB) concludes that regulations aren’t job killers after all and that their benefits outweigh their costs. The study looked at the decade from 2006 to 2016, and here are a few findings:

  • Benefits were estimated at $219 – $695 billion; costs were estimated at $59 – $88 billion. Even the most conservative benefit estimate is much higher than the most generous cost estimate.
  • Environmental regulations have both the highest costs and the highest benefits.
  • Air quality regulations redistribute wealth downward (because polluters could otherwise get away with polluting in poorer neighborhoods).
  • Regulations don’t have a noticeable effect on job gains or losses.

And here’s what else happened this week in politics…

Russia:

  1. Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg refuses to comply with Mueller’s subpoena. And then Nunberg goes on a talk-show blitz, becoming so erratic that one interviewer asks him if he’s drunk. At the end of the day he says he’ll probably comply with Mueller.
    • He says that, based on his conversation with Mueller, he thinks Trump probably did something wrong.
    • He also thinks Trump had prior knowledge of Don Jr.’s meeting with a Russian lawyer.
  1. By the end of the week, Nunberg testifies to the grand jury.
  2. An escort from Belarus who’s in jail in Bangkok says she has over 16 hours of recordings of a Russian oligarch discussing meddling in our elections. She’s ready to hand them over to the U.S. if we’ll give her asylum.
  3. Mueller’s grand jury issues subpoenas for all communications involving Trump associates from November 2015 to the present. Among others, it covers Carter Page, Steve Bannon, Hope Hicks, Corey Lewandowski, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Sam Nunberg, Keith Schiller, Roger Stone, and Michael Cohen.
  4. After the 2016 elections, Russian trolls targeted Mitt Romney in an effort to make sure he didn’t become Secretary of State. The trolls called him a globalist puppet and even organized rallies and spread petitions against him. Christopher Steele also says Russia asked Trump not to nominate him because they wanted someone less likely to implement sanctions.
  5. Denis McDonough, Obama’s former chief of staff, says that Mitch McConnell insisted on watering down a bipartisan effort to get states to increase election security. The effort was to help states guard specifically against Russian attacks.
  6. Trump agrees to speak with Mueller as long as Mueller promises to end his investigation within two months of the interview.
  7. Senate investigators bring social media sites Tumblr and Reddit into their investigation after they find documents showing that Tumblr accounts had ties to a Russian troll farm. Reddit had already shut down accounts suspected of being Russian trolls.
  8. Mueller meets with George Nader, an advisor to the United Arab Emirates. In January 2017, Nader met with Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater, and an investor linked to Putin in the Seychelles. Nader was representing the UAE crown prince at the meeting, and he’s now cooperating with Mueller. The UAE believed that Erik Prince represented Trump and that the Russian represented Putin.
  9. Erik Prince claims the meeting was a chance encounter.
  10. Mueller requests documents and speaks to witnesses about Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. Mueller’s interested in negotiations in 2015 to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, and in a Russian-friendly peace proposal for the Ukraine given to Cohen by a pro-Russian Ukrainian politician a week after Trump took office.
  11. U.S. intelligence will announce sanctions against the 13 Russians charged by Mueller.
  12. Trump says that Russia did meddle in the elections and that we need to be vigilant to prevent foreign agents from interfering in the future.
  13. Trump has asked at least two witnesses in the Mueller probe what they talked to Mueller about.
  14. Paul Manafort pleaded not guilty to the 18 latest charges against him.
  15. I’m not sure if this is Russia related, but the day after Hope Hicks resigns, she tells the House Intelligence Committee that her emails were hacked.
  16. Russia claims to have completed a successful test launch of a hypersonic missile that can travel at 10 times the speed of sound.
  17. Corey Lewandowski meets with the House Intelligence Committee.

Courts/Justice:

  1. The Department of Justice sues California over its sanctuary laws.

Healthcare:

  1. Doctors in Canada ask that their salary increases instead go to other medical workers, like nurses and technicians. Crazy socialists.
  2. Federal regulators tell Idaho that they can’t go ahead with their plans to offer health insurance plans that don’t meet ACA guidelines. But Trump offers them a workaround by expanding the allowed duration of short-term policies. Idaho’s original plans violated at least eight ACA guidelines.

International:

  1. Kim Jong-un tells South Korean officials that he’s willing to negotiate with the U.S. on nuclear issues. He even says he’s willing to meet with Trump. Background: North Korea leaders have wanted to meet with a sitting president for decades, but because it’s so important to North Korea, the U.S. holds back on accepting the offer in order to use it as a bargaining chip.
  2. Trump says he accepts Kim Jong-un’s offer to meet, effectively taking that bargaining chip off the table.
  3. Then the White House walks this back, saying the two won’t meet unless we get some concessions from North Korea first.
  4. Once again, Trump is looking at ways to retaliate against Syria after recent chemical attacks by their government.
  5. The European Union rejects Theresa May’s trade proposal for after the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU is complete. The EU sees no reason for the UK to get all the benefits of EU membership without any of the cost.
  6. Jared Kushner meets with Mexico’s President Pena Nieto without the presence of the Mexican ambassador. Kushner has no experience in U.S. – Mexico relations.
  7. China eliminates term limits, effectively giving Xi Jinping the opportunity to be in power indefinitely.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. House Republicans vote down a bill that would have forced Trump to release his tax returns.
  2. Florida legislators pass gun control measures. The bill:
    • Allows teachers to be armed if they’ve had at least 144 hours of training.
    • Raises the legal age to buy a gun to 21.
    • Adds a three-day waiting period for gun purchases.
    • Increases funding for mental health services in schools.
    • Increases funding for school security.
    • Bans bump stocks.
    • Allows law enforcement to petition courts to prevent people from owning guns if they are seen to pose a threat.
    • Allows officers to confiscate someone’s guns in certain situations.
    • Prevents people who have been institutionalized from owning a gun until they’re cleared.
  1. The Maryland Senate approves a bill requiring presidential candidates to release their taxes in order to be on the ballot. The constitutionality of this bill is not clear.
  2. The Illinois House has passed gun bills that would ban bump stocks, raise the legal age to buy a gun, and increase the waiting period when purchasing a gun. These bills are now in Senate committee.
  3. Washington state bans bump stocks.
  4. Florida passes a law banning marriage to those under 17. A surprising number of states allow young teens to marry, some with the permission of parents. This is how you end up with girls as young as 13 married to much older men (aka statutory rape).
  5. Legislators in West Virginia vote to eliminate the Department of Education and the Arts in order to pay for the 5% increase in teacher wages. This is largely seen as a revenge move.
  6. At the same time, West Virginia legislators vote to put work requirements on SNAP recipients.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. A court orders Bank of America to pay over $2 million in back wages to 1,147 African American job applicants. The judge finds that BofA’s Charlotte office was guilty of racial discrimination, routinely showing preference for white applicants.
  2. The Department of Housing and Urban Development removes language from their mission statement that promised to create inclusive communities free of discrimination.
  3. The deadline for DACA comes and goes, and we’re no closer to an agreement on immigration. However, the courts have blocked Trump’s order rescinding DACA, so they’re safe for now (but still wake up every day uncertain about their futures and their families’).
  4. The ACLU sues the Trump administration to stop them from separating parents and young children arriving at our borders.
  5. 22 GOP senators reintroduce a bill that would let people who are against same-sex marriage ignore federal anti-discrimination laws.

Climate/EPA:

  1. Ryan Zinke withdraws 26 parcels of land in Montana from a gas and oil auction, but leaves in 83 parcels. The withdrawal is the result of threats of lawsuits from environmental groups concerned about the Yellowstone River.
  2. Ryan Zinke says the Department of the Interior should partner with oil and gas companies who want to drill on public land. He also says that long regulatory reviews with uncertain outcomes are un-American. If reviews had certain outcomes, then reviews wouldn’t be necessary, right?
  3. The Republican-backed spending bills going through Congress include more than 80 anti-environmental riders. Last year, Democrats stripped out 160 anti-environmental riders from the spending bill.
  4. Trump reverses a previous stance by allowing sports hunters to import elephant trophies. He’s reversed direction here a few times.
  5. A federal appeals court rejects the Trump administration’s request to dismiss a climate change lawsuit against the government. The lawsuit was brought by a group of kids in an effort to force the government into greater action on climate change. This suit was originally brought against the Obama administration. The Trump administration argument is that the process of discovery would be too burdensome for them.
  6. Despite criticisms of Obama for not being friendly enough to oil, U.S. oil output rose from 5.6 million barrels per day in 2011 to 9.8 million in 2017.
  7. John Kelly kills Scott Pruitt’s idea of a public global warming debate between scientists. Pruitt really, really wants this, but Kelly thinks it could be a politically damaging spectacle. I wonder if that’s because he thinks global warming is real.
  8. A FOIA request reveals internal emails from the Department of the Interior showing department infighting over climate change. A press release announcing a U.S. Geological Survey study says that climate change has “dramatically reduced” the size of glaciers in Montana. The dispute is over the use of the word “dramatically” and one email accuses the climate scientists of being out of their wheelhouse. Except for this is their wheelhouse.
  9. The Keystone Pipeline springs its largest leak so far, spilling 210,00 gallons of oil in South Dakota.

Budget/Economy:

  1. Both versions of the Republican-backed spending bills in Congress would open campaigns and politics to more dark money. The Senate version would make it easier for mega-donors to give even more, and the House version would allow churches to make political donations.
  2. After Trump insists that Gary Cohn support his steel and aluminum tariff plan and Cohn refuses, Cohn resigns. Ironically he quits right after Trump says that everyone wants to work for him. Trump thinks Cohn will come back. Except a little market volatility from this.
  3. Trump announces the new tariffs will go into effect on March 23, but Canada and Mexico, which account for 25% of our steel imports, are exempt. All countries can negotiate their own exemptions.
  4. Republican Senator Jeff Flake says he’ll introduce a bill that would nullify the tariffs.
  5. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warn trade officials that the tariffs could weaken our security relationships with our allies.
  6. Economists say that despite job gains in steel and aluminum manufacturing, the tariffs will cause enough job losses in other industries to cancel the gains out.
  7. Members of Congress from both sides try to talk Trump out of implementing the tariffs, or at the very least into targeting them specifically to China. Even members of the House Freedom Caucus are split from Trump on this one.
  8. Charles Koch, whose companies manufacture steel, is opposed to this, according to his op-ed in the Washington Post.
  9. The Treasury estimates the government will borrow almost $1 trillion this fiscal year, which is the highest amount in six years. Last year, the government borrowed just over half a trillion.
  10. Here are just a handful of things Trump has done to roll back consumer financial protections:
    • Weakened the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects consumers from abuses by banks.
    • Delayed implementation of a rule that would force financial advisors and brokers to act in their client’s best interest instead of pushing investments that would enrich their own pockets.
    • Withdrawn regulations that helped protect student borrowers.
    • Dropped lawsuits and investigations into payday lenders that were charging as much as 950% interest.
    • Eased up on penalties against lenders who charge minorities higher interest rates than whites.
    • And now possibly weakening Dodd-Frank. It’s like we forgot how the recession happened.
  1. Seventeen Democrats join with Republicans to support a bill to weaken Dodd-Frank. Essentially the bill says that banks with $50 billion to $250 billion in assets are small community banks and shouldn’t be held to the same oversight as larger banks. Note that there are only 10 larger banks. This bill would allow those banks to hold riskier assets.
  2. A CBO report warns that the bill would increase the possibility of another economic collapse like we saw in 2008. Note that the probability is small under the current law and would be only slightly greater under the new one.
  3. Oh, but the bill would also increase the federal deficit by $671 million.
  4. Elaine Chao confirmed to Congress that Trump personally intervened to kill an essential tunnel project between New York and New Jersey.
  5. A group of eleven nations sign a trade pact that the U.S. originally proposed but that Trump pulled us out of. What used to be the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was originally intended to counter China’s power in the region, but the new pact fails to do that without U.S. influence.
  6. Senate Democrats announce a $1 trillion infrastructure plan that would be paid for by rolling back some of the tax cuts given to the richest Americans and largest companies in last year’s tax plan.
  7. January’s monthly U.S. trade deficit rose to its highest level since 2008. It was up 5% to $56.5 billion.
  8. The economy added a whopping 331,000 jobs in February. That’s the highest number since July of 2016. Wage gains fell, though, and the unemployment rate didn’t change from 4.1%.
  9. The tax reform bill passed last year has small errors and inconsistencies. Companies and trade groups want the Treasury and Congress to fix the bill and clarify provisions. Even the U.S. Chamber of Congress sent a letter requesting clarification. How are individual CPAs supposed to be able to work this out when even major corporations and lobbying groups can’t?
  10. Betsy DeVos tells state officials to back off from trying to rein in student loan collectors.
  11. Trump Twitter-shames former presidents Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr., and Obama He says they are at fault for trade deficits and lost 6 million manufacturing jobs. I guess that means they’re also be responsible for the other 53 million jobs added. Trump left out the 1.6 million manufacturing jobs lost in the decade before Bush Sr.

Elections:

  1. Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi resigns, citing health concerns. Mississippi’s governor will appoint a temporary senator who will serve until the midterm elections in November.
  2. Trump stumps for Republican Rich Saccone in Pennsylvania’s special election. In his 70-minute, free-wheeling speech, Trump calls Chuck Todd a son of a bitch, floats the idea of executing drug dealers, says steel mills are already open after he signed the tariffs the day before, rails against the media, calls a sitting representative a low-IQ individual, says Democrats want to stop DACA (though Trump signed an EO stopping it), criticizes the same blue ribbon committees he was bragging about earlier, and my personal favorite, claims to be as handsome as Conor Lamb (fact check).
  3. Here are more stump statements, if you’re interested.
  4. Midterm season starts, with the first primaries being held in Texas this week.

Miscellaneous:

  1. Trump lawyer Michael Cohen says his hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels was late because he couldn’t get hold of Trump. Even though Cohen stresses that he, and not Trump, paid her off. The payment was flagged as suspicious when he paid it and again 11 months later. Cohen complained to friends at the time that Trump never reimbursed him.
  2. And then Stormy Daniels sues Trump, saying the non-disclosure agreement is void because he never signed it. The lawsuit does include some details of their alleged affair in the early year of his marriage to Melania, and alleges that Trump was involved in the hush money. She also alleges that she was coerced into signing a statement stating that there was no affair. Finally, she alludes to texts and images she has between her and Trump. Ew.
  3. We also learn Cohen obtained a restraining order the previous week to keep her quiet about the affair.
  4. Cohen used his Trump Organization email account to arrange the transfer, a potential violation of election law.
  5. Fun fact: Michael Cohen is the Deputy National Finance Chairman of the Republican National Committee.
  6. Trump hires yet another lawyer to handle the Stormy issue.
  7. Two members of Colorado’s state congress start wearing bulletproof vests due to fears of retaliation by a fellow legislator. Colorado is a concealed carry state, and state legislators can carry weapons. The two members helped force a fellow legislator out of office for sexual misconduct.
  8. Washington’s governor signs a net neutrality bill into law, the first state net neutrality law so far. Expect more to follow.
  9. The Office of the Special Counsel finds that Kellyanne Conway violated the Hatch Act when, as a White House representative, she criticized Doug Jones on TV multiple times during his campaign for Senate. Conway was thoroughly trained on the Hatch Act.
  10. Last week we found out that Trump Organization uses the presidential seal on golf course markers. Now we learn that the organization also sells swag at Trump Tower bearing the presidential seal.
  11. A court throws out a conviction against an inmate in Texas because the judge in the original case had the bailiff shock the defendant three times for refusing to answer questions to the judges satisfaction. The use of a stun belt is typically reserved for when a defendant becomes violent. The defendant was unable to attend the rest of his trial.
  12. Lawmakers joke about “Tuesday Trump” vs. “Thursday Trump.” Tuesday Trump is pretty agreeable. Thursday Trump revises everything he said Tuesday based on the reaction of his base and special interests.
  13. Sinclair Broadcasting forces anchors on local stations to read one-sided promos blasting the “fake news.” Anchors have been expressing discomfort with this (and hopefully they’ll refuse to comply).
  14. The Parkland shooter is indicted on 24 counts, possibly facing the death penalty.
  15. There have been more the 600 copycat threats at schools around the U.S.
  16. Interesting fact: Guns are now the third highest cause of death for children.
  17. By the end of the week, Trump has reversed himself again on gun legislation, calling for teachers to be armed and saying he won’t raise age limits. The White House does issue a list of recommendations though.
  18. David Shulkin, the head of the VA, trusts no one. He has an armed guard outside his office, has stopped meeting with senior management, and only meets with aides he trusts.
  19. Don McGahn has issued ethics waivers to 24 ex-lobbyists and lawyers to allow them to work in government and oversee the industries from which they came. Drain that swamp, baby!

Week 58 in Trump

Posted on March 5, 2018 in Politics, Trump

Jared was in the spotlight this week for a range of problems from his security clearance to his business dealings. I almost felt sorry for him. And also, John Kelly jokes that his current position (chief of staff) is punishment from God. Jared probably feels the same.

Here’s that and whatever else happened this week in politics…

Russia:

  1. Paul Manafort pleads not guilty to the slew of new charges against him. His trial date is September 17.
  2. As part of Rick Gates’ plea deal, Mueller moves to dismiss 22 counts of bank and tax fraud against him.
  3. We learn that during the 2016 campaigns and elections, Russian hackers compromised the state websites or voter regulations systems in at least seven states.
  4. Hope Hicks testifies to Congress, telling them she sometimes had to tell white lies for Trump. And then she resigns.
  5. U.S. Cyber Command chief Mike Rogers testifies to Congress. He says that in order to stop Russian cyber threats, he needs to be granted authority by the president. As of now, Trump hasn’t directed or authorized him to do that.
  6. The Atlantic obtains transcripts of private messages between Roger Stone and Wikileaks from 2016, showing that both parties lied when they claimed they never contacted each other.
  7. The Republican led Senate Intelligence Committee says that the House Intelligence Committee (specifically Devin Nunes) is behind the leak of Senator Mark Warner’s private text messages with a Russian contact about Christopher Steele. A little background—the Senate committee was having trouble contacting Steele, and according to both Republicans and Democrats, the texts were part of the effort to obtain more info. Nunes tried to make it look like Warner was colluding, but it’s just not the case.
  8. Subpoenas issued by Mueller indicate he’s focusing on political influence from the United Arab Emirates.
  9. Mueller’s investigating whether Trump knew about the hacked DNC emails before they were publicly released, and he’s looking into Trump’s business dealings before and around the time he decided to run.
  10. Mueller is also investigating Trump’s threats to fire Jeff Sessions last year, specifically over whether Trump wanted to install a new, more loyal attorney general who could control the Russia investigation better.
  11. Christopher Steele says that Russia advised Trump not to bring on Mitt Romney as Secretary of State. They tried to guide Trump toward someone more amenable to easing sanctions.
  12. Putin announces new nuclear weapons that he says can breach U.S. defenses. Hopefully not starting another arms race.
  13. Putin ally Alexander Torshin worked for six years to gain leverage and influence with the NRA in order to insert himself into U.S. politics. Mueller is investigating him to find out if he illegally funneled money through to NRA in order to help Trump’s campaign.
  14. The State Department has $120 million to secure our elections and guard against breaches from foreign agents. They haven’t spent any of it yet. As of now:
    • There are no Russian speakers in the department responsible for stopping Russia’s disinformation campaigns.
    • The hiring freeze means they haven’t been able to hire the needed computer experts to track Russian campaigns.
    • SoS Rex Tillerson doesn’t think we can do anything to counter Russia’s disinformation campaigns.

Courts/Justice:

  1. The Supreme Court hears a case about whether unions can collect fees from employees they represent but who haven’t actually joined the union. Unions use the fees to cover collective bargaining costs, which benefit all employees. This affects public unions that represent teachers, firefighters, nurses and other government employees.
  2. The Supreme Court refuses to hear a case over DACA, which means that the government must continue allowing and approving applications and renewals. This doesn’t mean that the issues around DACA are solved though.
  3. A Justice Department review criticizes Andy McCabe for leaking information about an ongoing investigation. This could bolster Trump’s theory that McCabe is at the center of a ‘deep state’ government trying to oust him… except that the leaked information led to a negative story about Clinton and Obama.
  4. Trump publicly criticizes Jeff Sessions‘ handling of the investigation into alleged FISA abuses.

Healthcare:

  1. ‪The Urban Institute estimates that recent GOP policy changes around the ACA—including getting rid of the mandate and extending short-term policy periods—will increase the number uninsured by over 6 million and the number of underinsured by 2.5 million. All this while costing the federal government an additional 9% compared to current healthcare costs. Oh, and premiums are expected to go up by 18%.‬ So good job?
  2. ‬Trump wants to penalize opioid manufacturers and distributors that allow or neglect to report drugs being funneled into the black market. Penalties could be in the form of fines or criminal charges.
  3. I don’t know… does this fall under “Healthcare”? Trumps takes a page from Philippine President and strongman Rodrigo Duterte, saying maybe we should execute drug dealers to manage the opioid crisis.
  4. Twenty Republican led states file a lawsuit against the Trump administration claiming that the entire ACA is invalid now that the mandate has been repealed.

International:

  1. The UN links the chemical weapons used by Syria to North Korea.
  2. The European Union announces new rules for tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter that give them one hour to remove terror content once it’s been identified.
  3. Chinese President receives approval to ignore the term limits put in place to avoid another Mao-like regime. Trump says it’s great that President Xi is now president for life, and maybe that’s something the U.S. should look into. Dear. God. No.
  4. The Chinese government takes over Anbang Insurance Group Co., which owns the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City (among its many other holdings).
  5. Italy’s elections don’t give any group a clear majority, but the biggest winners are populists and the far right. With gains by the League party, xenophobia raises its ugly head in yet another country.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. After Trump’s televised conference on gun violence, Mitch McConnell decides to prioritize deregulation of banks instead of looking seriously into changes to our gun laws.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a ruling that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects members of the LGBTQ community. This case was specifically around protecting them from discrimination in the workplace.
  2. The Supreme Court rules that the government can detain immigrants facing possible deportation for years without a court or bail hearing. The decision was strongly divided, and strikes down a previous requirement that detainees be given a bail hearing every six months. The ruling even applies to legal immigrants and asylum seekers.
  3. A federal judge rules in favor of DACA recipients who have had their status unlawfully revoked. The ruling says that the government can’t revoke someone’s DACA status if they haven’t been convicted of a serious crime and haven’t been given the opportunity to defend themselves.
  4. After counties in Alabama refuse to issue marriage licenses because same-sex marriage is now legal, Alabama is thinking about not issuing marriage licenses at all anymore. It turns out that then-chief justice Roy Moore told agencies in the state they don’t have to issue marriage licenses. Several other states are considering the same. It’s pretty amazing the lengths people will go to prevent gay marriage.
  5. Judge Gonzalo Curiel (the guy Trump once said couldn’t be partial because he’s Mexican) rules that Trump isn’t breaking any laws by waiving environmental reviews before building the wall, even though it crosses wildlife reserves and would block migration routes. Dammit. I hate this wall. It’s medieval.
  6. And then Trump somehow gets the idea that Californians want the wall built NOW (we don’t) and so decides to hold off on building any part of the wall until the whole thing is approved. I think he thinks he’s punishing us.
  7. Indiana implements a new law that allows the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency to refuse to give professional licenses to people with DACA status, effectively preventing them from working in a wide range of professions from medicine to cosmetology to architecture to general contractor. Those who already have their licenses can be refused renewal.
  8. Again in Indiana, a federal court rules against an order by then-governor Mike Pence that withheld payments from a refugee resettling agency in order to prevent Syrian refugees from settling in the state. Pence used terrorism as an excuse to stoke fear of the refugees in the state. The ruling permanently bars Indiana from stopping Syrian refugees from settling there.
  9. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf warns immigrants in advance of an upcoming ICE raid. According to ICE they still detained 115 people who had committed violent crimes or multiple low-level crimes.

Climate/EPA:

  1. The North Pole experiences a thaw in what is normally its coldest time, and the sun still has weeks before it shows up there. This happened four times between 1980 and 2010, but it’s happened four times in the last five winters.
  2. Internal documents from the Department of the Interior show that the primary reason for shrinking the size of Bears Ears National Monument is to increase drilling and mining in the area. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
  3. Another bomb cyclone on the east coast leaves eight people dead.

Budget/Economy:

  1. As a result of the recent tax reform, companies announce planned stock buybacks of around $180 billion (stock buybacks increase the price of stocks by reducing the number of stocks on the market).
  2. Trump shocks his aides and GOP lawmakers by announcing steep tariffs on steel and aluminum. Apparently it shocked investors too, because the Dow drops nearly 500 points after the announcement.
  3. Let the trade wars begin! The president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, threatens to put tariffs on U.S. goods in retaliation for Trump’s announced tariffs on steel and aluminum. EU tariffs would include iconic American exports like Levi’s, Harley Davidsons, and bourbon.
  4. Trump says that trade wars are good and easy to win.
  5. Steel manufacturers on the west coast express concerns that the tariffs will drive up the prices of their raw materials and will hurt their bottom line.
  6. Paul Ryan pleads with Trump not to enact the tariffs, which could hurt Ryan’s constituents.
  7. Trump tries to use the tariffs as a bribe to Canada and Mexico saying he might waive tariffs for them if they sign a new NAFTA deal. Canada and Mexico don’t take the bait.
  8. GOP lawmakers in Georgia punish Delta when Delta announces it will end a once-a-year discount for NRA convention attendees (which has been used all of 13 times). First Lt. Governor Cagle threatens to block a provision in a bill passed by the state House to stop taxing airlines on jet fuel, and then the Senate passes the House bill after removing the jet fuel tax break. Georgia’s governor objects, but signs the tax bill anyway to give Georgians a tax break.
  9. In the weeks before Trump announced steel tariffs, Carl Icahn (who once worked in the Trump White House until he left with a hint of scandal) dumped $31.3 million dollars of stock in a company dependent on steel.
  10. West Virginia teachers go on strike to improve the conditions of their contract. The strike almost ends when the governor offers a 5% raise, but they continue to strike over the rising costs of their healthcare plan.
  11. On a tour of government housing Ben Carson warns that we shouldn’t make housing for the poor too comfortable. Based on the conditions he was talking about, he doesn’t even want to give them basic comforts other than a roof over their head and a platform to sleep on.
  12. More than a dozen Democrats are on board with a GOP bill in the Senate that would weaken some of the Dodd-Frank regulations that were implemented to keep financial agencies on the up and up. Their argument is that financial institutions with assets of $50 billion to $250 billion don’t qualify as big banks.
  13. Trump’s budget includes increases in military and Homeland Security funding, but also includes steep cuts to House and Urban Development core housing programs and to block grants for community development. Ben Carson says he might not be able to stay in his position with these cuts because he sees these programs as crucial.
  14. Trump asks Paul Ryan to cut funding for a tunnel between New York and New Jersey. His reasons aren’t clear, and the suspicion is that he’s targeting Democratic rivals.

Elections:

  1. Democrats flip their 39th congressional seat at state and federal levels since the 2016 election. Republicans have flipped four.
  2. Senator Bob Corker confirms that he will not be running for re-election after rumors start up that he’s thinking about running again.

Parkland:

  1. The father of one of the survivors of the Parkland shooting admitted that he doctored an email to make it look like CNN was scripting questions and remarks for students to use at a town hall meeting.
  2. Legislators in Florida reject a ban on assault weapons while advancing legislation to arm teachers. The bill also addresses mental health issues, gun safety, school safety, and communication.
  3. And then a teacher in Georgia fires off a gun in a classroom and then barricades himself in a room. No one is harmed.
  4. The list of companies adjusting their relationships with the NRA continues to grow and is now at 19. The list includes Dick’s Sporting Goods, REI, Walmart, Delta, MEC, and more. They’re either cutting ties, limiting weapons sales, or getting rid of perks for NRA members.
  5. Students from a neighboring school walk 16 miles to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to support students who survived the shooting in their fight to stop gun violence.
  6. After researching gun violence and gun laws for two years, RAND Corporation finds that we need way more research on this. They ask Congress to lift the funding freeze currently in place preventing the CDC from studying this themselves. You can read the full report here.

Miscellaneous:

  1. Jared Kushner has a super bad week.
    • John Kelly downgrades Kushner’s security clearance. He no longer has access to top-secret information.
    • We learn that foreign officials discussed how to leverage Kushner’s financial transactions to manipulate him. The UAE described him as particularly manipulable because of his business dealings.
    • His point man in the White House, Josh Raffel, steps down.
    • We also learn that Kushner’s family received nearly $509 million in loans from two companies shortly after taking part in White House meetings.
    • Mueller is investigating whether any of Kushner’s foreign ties influenced White House policies.
    • Fun fact: The White House chief calligrapher has higher clearance than Kushner.
  1. The White House downgrades the security clearance for 30 White House aides after it’s revealed that 130 staffers don’t have permanent security clearance yet.
  2. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel expresses concern about the current state of the FCC, saying that everything they’ve done under Trump has been geared to support conservative media company Sinclair Broadcasting.
  3. Trump announces his re-election campaign, and names Brad Parscale, the Trump campaign‘s digital manager, as the new campaign manager (because he can’t use the old one obviously).
  4. A week after praising the NRA and saying we should arm teachers, Trump holds a televised meeting with congressional leaders, where he:
    • Pushes for raising the age limits for purchasing guns.
    • Calls for expanded universal background checks.
    • Tosses out the idea of confiscating guns now and worrying about due process later.
    • Condemns concealed carry reciprocity.
    • Chides legislators for being under the NRA’s thumb and says he’s willing the fight the NRA is necessary.
  1. And then Trump meets with NRA officials and backs down on universal background checks. Republicans go back to their offices not knowing what direction to take so once again nothing is being done about gun violence.
  2. The House Administration Committee votes to allow members of the House to use taxpayer dollars to buy bulletproof vests.
  3. Another Trump cabinet member is under scrutiny for lavish spending. Ben Carson is under investigation for whether they exceeded spending limits in refurnishing the HUD offices.
  4. Several local governments are considering laws that get rid of bail bonds for low level offenses, and some have already passed such laws.
  5. A man shoots himself in front of the White House in an apparent suicide.
  6. A bill to make 18 the legal age to marry in Kentucky stalls over concerns about parental rights to allow their children to marry. These marriages often involve young girls who are sexually exploited by the men they then marry.
  7. The Trump Organization orders presidential seal replicas to use on golf course markers, a surprising violation of federal law.
  8. The FBI is investigating Ivanka Trump over her role in negotiating and financing a deal around the Trump Hotel and Tower in Vancouver.
  9. Trump’s latest pick to sit on the U.S. Sentencing Commission thinks the commission should be abolished and has a history of making racial comments about crime.
  10. Trump’s personal pilot is his pick to head the FAA. Really fun side note: Journalists who rode along with Trump during his campaign joked that each flight could be their last because the pilot had so many near misses and bad landings.
  11. Anthony Scaramucci is on a list of people who can’t enter the White House without special permission. He says John Kelly should resign.
  12. Democrats in both the Senate and House introduce bills using the Congressional Review Act that would keep net neutrality rules. The Senate version is one vote short, but the House faces an uphill battle. Seriously voters, unless you want everything on the internet to start getting packaged up like cable channels, call your elected officials and ask them to back this bill. Getting rid of net neutrality is going to cost everyone more $$ and it’s going to be a real pain in the ass to have to figure out which sites you’re willing to pay for.

Polls:

  1. Trump’s approval rating is pretty dependent on age. His approval rating is 46% among the silent generation; 44% among boomers; 36% among Gen Xers; and only 27% among millennials.
  2. 58% of Americans want to elect a Congress that will stand up to Trump.
  3. 70% of Americans support stricter gun laws. Not surprising, since only 30% of households own guns.
  4. 83% of Americans are in favor of continuing or fixing DACA. Why is this so hard for Congress to get done? Oh yeah… Trump shot down all their bipartisan agreements.
  5. 49% of Americans agree with Nancy Pelosi that the tax plan gives crumbs to everyday people. Count me among them. I know people getting thousands (and even tens of thousands) each year in tax breaks and I know people getting less than a thousand each year. And the money isn’t going to the people who really need it.
  6. The global approval rating of the U.S. is 30%, a low in the lifetime of this poll.

Week 57 in Trump

Posted on February 27, 2018 in Politics, Trump

Last week’s shooting lit up the gun control debate once more, but this time sounds different and this time the polls are moving in favor of some moderate restrictions. I, for one, am hoping we can make some reasonable changes without taking away everyone’s guns (which I’m pretty sure will never happen anyway). Anyway, here’s what else happened in politics this week…

Russia:

  1. Robert Mueller charges Alex Van Der Zwaan with making false statements to the FBI about Rick Gates and with deleting documents requested by prosecutors. Van Der Zwaan pleads guilty, but he’s not cooperating.
  2. Rick Gate pleads guilty to charges of conspiracy and making false statements. He’s cooperating with the Mueller investigation. This is the fifth guilty plea in the Russia probe.
  3. Mueller brings nearly three dozen additional charges against Paul Manafort and Rick Gates.
  4. The Democrats release their redacted memo, which says:
    • The FBI and DOJ didn’t abuse the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), didn’t omit relevant information from the FISA request, and didn’t use FISA to spy on Trump or his campaign.
    • The FBI opened their investigation months before they knew of the Steele dossier.
    • The Steele dossier was a very small part of the FISA request.
    • The FBI didn’t pay Steele for this information.
    • If the FISA warrant wasn’t paying off, the courts wouldn’t have continued to reauthorize it.

The memo includes excerpts directly from the FISA warrant application that prove the Nunes memo was incorrect. NPR has the full text with annotations.

  1. Trump wants Jeff Sessions to launch an investigation into whether the Obama administration did enough to stop Russia from interfering in our 2016 elections.
  2. A federal judge who was appointed by Trump, worked on Trump’s transition team, and donated to Trump’s campaign refuses to recuse himself from a case involving Fusion GPS (the firm that commissioned Christopher Steele’s dossier).
  3. Mike Flynn refuses to accept money from Trump’s legal fund, Trump, or Trump Organization to help out with his legal fees in the Russia case.
  4. One reason Jared Kushner hasn’t received full security clearance yet is the ongoing Russia investigation.
  5. Russian hackers attack hundreds of Olympic computers and then plant fake evidence to make investigators think that North Korea was behind it.

Courts/Justice:

  1. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals rules that Maryland’s ban on assault weapons and their magazine size restrictions aren’t in violation of the constitution. The court says the Second Amendment doesn’t apply to weapons of war.
  2. The Supreme Court rejects a case against California’s 10-day waiting period for purchasing assault weapons.
  3. Maryland and DC attorneys general expand their lawsuit against Trump for accepting gifts from foreign and state governments.

Healthcare:

  1. Trump proposes a regulation to allow short-term health insurance policies that aren’t required to meet ACA-defined protections and to let them last up to a year. They don’t even have to offer a comprehensive package.‪‬

International:

  1. U.S. intelligence agencies believe that the person who is in charge of Russian mercenaries in Syria was in touch with both the Kremlin and Syrian officials before the mercenary attack on U.S. held assets last week.
  2. Trump announces new sanctions against North Korea. These sanctions focus on shipping companies and ships, which are thought to be used to help North Korea get around the sanctions that are already in place.
  3. The UN Security Council passes a 30-day cease fire in Syria after a barrage of bombings on civilians.
  4. Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto cancels his first planned trip to the Trump White House after a tense phone call about the border wall.
  5. The international group Financial Action Task Force places Pakistan on it’s terrorist-funded watch list. This comes at the urging of the U.S.
  6. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption scandal grows as more accusations are brought against him and as friends and colleagues are charged and arrested.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. After the Parkland shooting and in front of students, the Florida state House voted against a move to merely allow the House to consider a bill banning assault rifles and high-capacity magazines.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. A couple ways Trump has moved the Republican party on immigration:
    • GOP leaders in Congress are now insisting that any immigration reform include reducing legal immigration. Up until 2016, this was considered extreme by the vast majority of Republicans in office.
    • The first time Trump brought up a Muslim ban in his campaign, Republicans roundly criticized the idea. When he actually rolled it out, Republicans praised him for it. When Republican-appointed judges blocked the ban (saying it was unconstitutional), Republicans criticized those judges.
  1. A lesbian couple in Texas sues the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for not allowing them to be foster parents to a refugee child. Apparently they were told that they don’t “mirror the Holy Family.” Also, there’s a shortage of foster parents…
  2. Melania Trump’s parents are permanent residents of the U.S., triggering speculation that they were allowed here through family-based migration programs (or chain-migration, if you’re looking for the more racially charged term for it).
  3. Trump threatens to pull ICE agents from California as punishment for sanctuary policies.
  4. A civil rights group sues the Trump administration to prevent him from deporting certain immigrant groups here under temporary protected status.
  5. ICE has increasingly been using a little-known law to conduct searches on private property and in areas up to 100 miles from the border. They’re also using it to search trains and buses.

Climate/EPA:

  1. One of Trump’s biggest successes last year seemed to be efforts to reverse environmental, health, and other protections, but many got caught up in legal challenges. Here are a few regulations the courts upheld:
    • Dentists must prevent their mercury waste from getting into waterways.
    • Methane emission limits on oil and gas wells.
    • Ground-level ozone standards to reduce smog-causing air pollutants.
    • Limits on levels of lead in paint and dust.
    • Listing the rusty patched bumblebee on the endangered species list.
    • New energy efficiency regulations for certain appliances.
    • Restrictions on mining in Bristol Bay, AL (home of a major salmon fishery).

Many others are in legal limbo right now or facing new legal challenges.

Budget/Economy:

  1. Missouri’s governor is indicted for invasion of privacy. He took nude photos of his mistress, and then allegedly used them to blackmail her to keep quiet about their affair. Fun side note: This guy actually reduced Missouri’s minimum wage.
  2. Trump’s infrastructure plan drops his promised requirement that oil and gas pipelines use steel manufactured in the U.S.
  3. After announcing bonuses for employees because of last year’s tax reform, Walt Disney says it will withhold bonuses for union members (who are in the midst of negotiations) until they sign on to a contract favored by Disney. I think there’s a word for that. Like extortion.
  4. Glitches in the new tax law have been popping up. Some are drafting errors and some rules just weren’t thought all the way through. Here are just a few:
    • Legislators intended for businesses to be able to take advantage of deductions for certain building improvements, but the new law denies this to restaurants and retailers, among others.
    • Wealthy money managers can avoid losing a lucrative tax break around carried interest, which will let them pay a lower rate on some income.
    • Farmers who sell grain to co-ops could avoid taxes all together.
    • The law contains conflicting dates about when certain rules kick in.

Elections:

  1. Because Pennsylvania’s governor rejected the GOP’s court-ordered redrawing of their gerrymandered districts, an independent analyst redraws the map. The state supreme court approves the map, which is even more favorable to Democrats than the map the Democrats themselves submitted. Analysts say this map represents the state much more fairly.
  2. Trump supports the GOP fight against the new districts and says that they must fight it all the way to the Supreme Court. Fun fact: The Supreme Court has already refused to hear this case… just a few weeks ago.
  3. In the middle of an election year during which we are woefully unprepared to prevent further meddling by Russia, Paul Ryan decides to replace the chair of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. They’re still looking for a potential nominee to the position, which oversees election security.
  4. State election officials across the county are returning to paper ballots for better security and to prevent foreign interference.

Parkland:

And the gun debate goes on…

  1. #NeverAgain. Students across the country stage walkouts to protest gun violence.
  2. Schools threaten to discipline students who participate in walkouts in protest of gun violence. Universities assure students that walking out won’t count against them when they apply for colleges.
  3. Conspiracy theories abound on social media, and Donald Trump Jr. liked several conspiracy theories on Twitter.
  4. Russian bots and far right trolls make up stories about students who survived the shooting and are now speaking out. Many of their families are now receiving death threats. Seriously. Gun rights advocates need to DIAL IT BACK.
  5. As a result of the publicity and backlash against the NRA, major corporations begin to cut ties with the NRA.
  6. Opinion alert: NRA speakers and listeners at CPAC this week behave horribly in the wake of this tragedy. There’s just no excuse for this no matter how much you love your guns.
  7. Wayne LaPierre, CEO and VP of the NRA, blames the shooting on the failure of the family and a failure of school security. LaPierre also warns of a wave of socialism that will take away your guns.
  8. NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch says that the media loves mass shootings. She also blames the Broward County Sheriffs and the FBI.
  9. This is rich. LaPierre says, “The elites care not one whit about America’s school system and schoolchildren.” LaPierre makes $5,000,000 per year. How is that not elite?
  10. Florida Governor Rick Scott at first pushes back against any changes to gun laws, but with the continued student protests, he begins to soften on things like age limits and addressing mental health.
  11. Students and parents attend town halls with elected officials, including Marco Rubio, and a listening session with Donald Trump.
  12. Trump promotes arming teachers, rejects active shooter drills, repeats things Wayne LaPierre said at CPAC the previous day, and is open to banning bump stocks. But he balks at restrictions on assault rifles.
  13. Attendees heckle Rubio when he refuses to back a full ban on assault weapons. Rubio supports raising the legal age to 21 and creating gun violence restraining orders, opposes arming teachers, and is reconsidering a ban on high-capacity magazines. Students didn’t let him off easy; they pressed him hard on key questions.
  14. Trump appears unsure of next steps on gun violence. He surveys guests at Mar-a-Lago for their opinions. He seems to agree with gun controls a few times but then comes back around to a more hardline stance. At one point he agrees that we should tighten background checks, and wants to ban bump stocks.
  15. The security guard at the school is suspended and then resigns after it comes out that he hid instead of going in the school to confront the shooter.
  16. Both Trump and the NRA endorse arming teachers. However, in May 2016, Trump tweeted: “Crooked Hillary said that I want guns brought into the school classroom…Wrong!” After the Columbine shooting, the NRA also endorsed gun-free schools. At the time, LaPierre said, “First, we believe in absolutely gun free, zero tolerance, totally safe schools. That means no guns in America’s schools, period, with the rare exception of law enforcement officers or trained security personnel.”

Miscellaneous:

  1. Twitter continues a purge of suspected Russian bots, resulting in conservative Twitter users losing thousands of followers in one day.
  2. CPAC continues its march to the far right this year. Speakers include French politician Marion Marechal-Le Pen, Breitbart London Editor Raheem Kassam, and Brexit leader Nigel Farage. Former White House staffer Sebastian Gorka participate on a panel. Both Trump and Mike Pence addressed the conference.
  3. The Department of Health and Human Services puts Jon Cordova, a top official at the agency, on leave while they investigate his social media activity. Cordova posts baseless claims, smear campaigns, and conspiracy theories. How did our government fill up with people like this?
  4. Jared Kushner will continue in his role, which includes access to highly classified material, despite his inability to obtain permanent government security clearance.
  5. But then John F. Kelly says no one whose clearance hasn’t been finalized will be able to look at top-secret information. So they could stop letting Kushner see top-secret documents by next week.
  6. The FCC officially files their order to repeal net neutrality, which will go into effect April 23.
  7. After a backlash against the RNC using campaign funds to pay for Trump’s legal bills in the Russia investigation, the RNC now pays over $37,000 per month in rent at Trump Tower. They also pay a monthly salary to Mike Pence’s nephew John.
  8. There’s a dating site for Trump supporters. It features a man convicted of having sex with a minor on its homepage. I guess the real news here is… there’s a dating site for Trump supporters?
  9. The head of the VA, David Shulkin, has permission from the White House to get rid of any subversion in his agency. He says anyone who defies his authority will be fired. This comes after the inspector general found that Shulkin pressured his chief of staff to doctor an email so the VA would cover his wife’s European airfare. The inspector also found Shulkin improperly accepted Wimbledon tickets on the same trip.
  10. Trump wants his military parade to be on Veterans Day, and to start at the White House and end at the Capitol.
  11. The majority owner of the Trump-branded hotel in Panama orders all Trump employees out of the building in an attempt to take over the hotel. He says that the Trump name is bringing down revenue and keeping rooms empty.
  12. Elaine Duke, deputy secretary of Homeland Security, says she’ll step down. Her role has been minimized since Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen took over last year.

Polls:

  1. 62% of Americans blame Trump and Congress for not doing enough about mass shootings.
  2. 77% of Americans think better mental health screening and treatment could’ve prevented the shooting last week.
  3. 66% of Americans support stronger gun laws, including 50% of gun owners.
  4. The Presidential Greatness Survey (a survey of presidential scholars) ranks Trump as the worst president so far. Among just Republican scholars surveyed, he’s the fourth worst. They ranked him most polarizing.
  5. 51% of voters say they haven’t seen an increase in take-home pay since the new tax law passed. 25% say they have.
  6. After a brief boost, Trump’s approval rating is back down to 37% with 58% disapproving.

Week 56 in Trump

Posted on February 27, 2018 in Politics, Trump

I couldn’t get to this week’s recap on time for personal reasons, so here’s a late and rushed recap of Trump’s week 56.

Russia:

  1. All four directors of our intelligence agencies—Christopher Wray, Mike Pompeo, Mike Rogers, and Dan Coats—say the White House hasn’t asked any of them to do anything about Russian interference in our 2018 midterm elections.
  2. The directors also say Russia “will continue to use propaganda and social media as a means of deepening divisions and sowing discord.” They’ll continue to hack into our computer systems, and they’ll continue to pose as Americans.
  3. Trump and the intelligence directors aren’t publicly on the same page about Russia, and there isn’t an agency in charge of creating and implementing a plan to fight Russia’s future meddling. All agencies are worried that we won’t be able to fight it effectively.
  4. Buzzfeed sues the DNC over the Steele dossier as a way to force evidence into the open that would help Buzzfeed fight a libel lawsuit filed by Aleksej Gubarev. Gubarev is a Russian businessman tied to the DNC hacking in the dossier. The DNC says giving this info away would expose digital signatures and leave them more vulnerable to future attacks.
  5. Rick Gates is in the final stages of negotiating a plea deal.
  6. Mueller’s staff interviews Steve Bannon over multiple days (about 20 hours).
  7. But then Bannon tells the House Intelligence Committee that the White House told him to invoke executive privilege and not answer questions about Russia. He wouldn’t answer questions about his time in the White House or the Trump transition.
  8. Mueller’s grand jury indicts 13 Russian individuals and three Russian entities. Charges include conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit bank fraud, among others.
  9. One of the entities, the Internet Research Agency, is a Russian troll farm that used social media and fake accounts to misinform U.S. voters. Their posts and ads were designed to boost Trump and smear Hillary.
  10. The indictment describes a three-year plan to sow political discord in the U.S., to hurt Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and then later to bolster the campaigns of Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and Jill Stein.
  11. The precise details in the indictment imply that the FBI had either intercepted communications or found an insider willing to cooperate.
  12. And just a side note here. The New York Times Magazine was reporting this as early as June of 2015. Why wasn’t this a bigger deal?
  13. Rod Rosenstein, Deputy AG, says the indictments don’t offer proof that the Russian disinformation campaign affected the outcome of the election.
  14. Trump seems to think the Russian indictments exonerate him.
  15. People who worked on the troll farms start to open up about their work there. Many call their time there Orwellian.
  16. Mueller charges Richard Pinedo with identity theft in relation to the Russia investigation. Pinedo is cooperating with Mueller and has pled guilty.
  17. After the Parkland shooting, Russian trolls and bots promote both pro-gun and gun control messaging to further deepen our divide. IGNORE THE TROLLS!
  18. And even though Trump thinks the indictments cleared him, he went on a 9-hour twitter rant attacking McMaster, Hillary Clinton, the FBI, the DOJ, CNN, Adam Schiff, Obama, the Democrats, John Podesta, and more. Everyone but the Russians who waged the misinformation war.
  19. Why did he attack McMaster? Because McMaster says that the evidence is incontrovertible that Russia meddled in our political system.
  20. Russians made a big effort in Florida to sow discord in our elections. They organized “Florida Goes Trump” rallies in more than 20 cities, and they generated some of the most commonly shared anti-Hillary displays, including getting people to dress up like her in prison garb or cages.

Healthcare:

  1. Trump’s new budget proposes to cut about half of the benefits of people who receive $90 or more per month in SNAP assistance. The difference would be made up by government food boxes (that is, government rations). The boxes would not include fresh fruits or vegetables, and local grocery stores will lose business. The current system is more free market.
  2. Blue Cross of Idaho announces they’ll offer a health insurance policy that ignores the ACA’s rules by charging more for pre-existing conditions. The company can do this because Idaho’s GOP governor signed an executive order allowing it.

International:

  1. Israeli police announce that there’s sufficient evidence to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They are currently looking into two corruption cases against him. The attorney general will decide whether to bring charges.
  2. Russian mercenaries attack a base and refinery in Syria held by the U.S. Over 200 of them are killed. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis says they don’t know if the attack was ordered by Russia.
  3. At a meeting of European foreign policy leaders, top U.S. officials—both Republican and Democrat—tell them not to pay any attention to Trump’s tweets.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. Trey Gowdy says he’s leaving Congress because facts don’t matter there and he wants to work somewhere where facts do matter. Good to know.
  2. The Senate Judiciary Committee votes in favor of the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, which eases federal sentencing rules around non-violent crimes (some retroactively) and increases sentences for domestic violence. Jeff Sessions says this will increase violent crime and make it harder to enforce federal laws.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. Speaking at the National Sheriffs Association, Jeff Sessions praises our “Anglo-American heritage of law enforcement.” Whatever that means.
  2. A second federal judge blocks Trump’s attempt to end DACA, and says the government must start processing both renewals and new applications.
  3. Another federal court of appeals blocks the latest Muslim ban.
  4. The State Department advises that refugee resettlement agencies close 20 U.S. offices because the Trump administration capped refugee admissions at 45,000. Under Obama, the cap was 110,000.
  5. Trump’s repeated desire to severely restrict family-based migration brings up questions about how Melania’s parents came to be in the U.S. and whether they’ll rush to get green cards before the law changes (if it does). At any rate, many other legal immigrants are rushing to bring family members into the U.S.
  6. The Senate debates DACA and immigration policy. Several bipartisan versions have been proposed. Here’s an example of a compromise: it’s more strict than Democrats want, but it doesn’t end family-based immigration. See? Compromise.
    • Path to citizenship for 1.8 million Dreamers.
    • $25 billion for border security.
    • The visa lottery system would become merit based.
  1. Trump shuts down all bipartisan immigration plans. Instead he tells GOP legislators to oppose bipartisan efforts to solve these issues and to support a GOP bill that would reduce legal immigration far more than even most hardliners are comfortable with.
  2. And then the Senate votes down a bipartisan agreement that would’ve saved DACA and added funding to the border. Then they vote down Trump’s plan too. Looks like a stalemate. Great negotiator my ass.
  3. Want to know how Trump really feels about immigrants workers? Across three of his properties, there were 144 seasonal job openings and only ONE went to a U.S. worker. He himself benefits from immigration.
  4. The House passes a bill limiting the power of the American with Disabilities Act, removing years of progress on rights for people with disabilities.
  5. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals rules 9-4 that Trump’s latest travel ban,which targets largely Muslim countries, is unlawful because it discriminates based on religion.

Climate/EPA:

  1. A federal court rules that the Trump administration must implement the energy efficiency guidelines created in 2016 under Obama. A coalition of state attorneys general had sued the Department of Energy for refusing to implement the guidelines.
  2. Apparently Scott Pruitt flies first class on the recommendation of his security team because people in coach are abusive. One person yelled at him, “You’re fucking up the environment.”

Puerto Rico:

  1. It’s been five months since Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico and still nearly a half million people are without power. Some people are working to restore power lines themselves.

Budget/Economy:

  1. Trump proposes a budget that pretty much concedes that they’ve dropped the goal of reducing the deficit. Between the recent tax cuts and the spending increases included in the budget, reducing the deficit would not be possible.
  2. Trump’s budget calls for major cuts to programs and agencies. People are making a big deal about it, but I don’t see it coming to fruition since Congress already signed a spending bill.
  3. Trump’s budget would make cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. On the campaign trail, Trump tweeted this:

“I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid. Huckabee copied me.”

  1. Trump endorses a 25-cent per gallon gas tax, but his party isn’t going for it so far. Seeing how the gas tax is playing out in California, I can’t say I blame them.
  2. Analysts estimate that the 25-cent gas tax would erase 60% of the tax cuts for individuals.
  3. Trump proposes an infrastructure plan that would provide up to $200 billion to encourage private and state investment in building projects and shoring up roads and bridges. He thinks this will incentivize $1.5 trillion in infrastructure spending.
  4. His plan also reduces the time allowed for environmental reviews by shortening the permit period.
  5. The total U.S. household debt is at a record high of $13.15 trillion.

Elections:

  1. Pennsylvania’s governor, Tom Wolf, rejects the redrawn district lines provided to him (under court order) by the Republican state legislature after an independent analysis found the lines to be just as partisan as the current lines. The analysis found that the chances of a random map being drawn as favorably to the GOP as the redrawn map is .1%.
  2. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a lawsuit by Citizen’s United. The lawsuit was against a New York law requiring disclosure of the largest donors to non-profits.

Parkland:

The news was so full of the school shooting this week, I had to put it in a separate category.

  1. There’s another school shooting, this time in Florida. There’s been a school shooting about every other day this year. There are seventeen dead, and this time, the students aren’t taking any excuses for Congress’s lack of action around gun violence.
  2. Trump tweets that the students and neighbors should’ve reported the shooter for his behavior prior to the shooting, which they actually did. Multiple times. Way to blame the victim.
  3. The FBI says it failed to act on a tip about Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz. Apparently some protocols were not followed.
  4. Trump later says that if the FBI wasn’t so busy with the Russia investigation, they would’ve been able to take care of the shooter before this happened. Yes, the FBI was at fault here, but they can walk and chew gum at the same time. They have thousands of ongoing investigations that don’t interfere with each other.
  5. Florida Governor Rick Scott calls on FBI Director Wray to resign over the missed signals on the shooter. For real.
  6. Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin calls on Congress to look into gun violence issues. He’s the first senior member of the administration to do so.
  7. Once again, people argue that it’s too soon to talk about gun control. But with a school shooting nearly every other day, when will it ever NOT be too soon?
  8. Interesting fact: The CDC is prevented from researching guns and gun violence due to a law passed in 1996. Records on gun violence are non-standard and haphazard because there are few requirements.
  9. Interesting side note: Trump’s proposed budget cuts millions from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
  10. This time students are vocal and passionate and well-spoken, and they take to the media and social media to push for change. Finally a group is more organized on social media than Russia—though they still can’t drown out the bots. Students stage walk-outs and plan a March 24th march (March For Our Lives).
  11. Lawmakers seem to agree across the aisle on some basic gun purchasing reforms, like universal background checks, but the GOP-led Congress has refused to bring any debate to the floor.
  12. Some people think the answer is to have concealed carry in schools. There was an armed guard on site.
  13. Trump says the gunman is mentally disturbed and says he’ll tackle mental health issues. He says he won’t move on gun reform though.
  14. Oh. Also, Trump’s proposed budget cuts $100s of millions from mental health program funding. Destroying the ACA, as he’s been trying to do, would also cut mental health treatment.
  15. Oh. And one more thing. Last year, Trump reversed a rule limiting gun ownership for people with certain mental disabilities. The White house refuses to release the photo of him signing it. This wouldn’t have changed the Parkland shooting, but you can’t say this is a mental health problem and not a gun problem, and then loosen mental health restrictions on gun ownership.

Miscellaneous

  1. The White House claimed last week that the FBI hadn’t completed Rob Porter’s background check and that’s why they weren’t aware of the abuse allegations. Which is why Porter was still around…reading all that classified information.
  2. But then FBI director Christopher Wray testifies to Congress that they finished checking Porter last July and provided requested updates to the White House. Wray didn’t say what their background check found, but Porter’s ex-wives say they gave all the abuse information to the FBI.
  3. Sarah Huckabee Sanders later says that the White House meant that the White House personnel security office hadn’t finished their process yet. Seven months after the FBI finished theirs.
  4. It turns out that Rob Porter was up for a promotion, even though John Kelly knew about the allegations of spousal abuse.
  5. It took a week after Rob Porter’s resignation for Trump to say he opposes domestic violence (after originally saying that baseless accusations are ruining careers).
  6. The House Oversight Committee begins investigating the handling of the Rob Porter situation.
  7. Last fall, the White House banned any new employees with interim security clearances.
  8. National Intelligence Director Dan Coats says anyone with interim security clearance should be limited in what sensitive information they can see. There are about 130 White House officials without permanent clearance.
  9. John Kelly approves changes to the vetting process that puts more onus on the FBI and Justice Department, though they are the agencies that actually did their jobs in the Porter matter.
  10. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump report $31-$155 million in debt.
  11. Ajit Pai is being investigated for corruption. The FCC is looking into whether he “Improperly coordinated” with Sinclair Broadcasting by changing the rules to facilitate Sinclair’s purchase of Tribune Media.
  12. Thomas Brunell withdraws from consideration to run the 2020 census after receiving pushback over his stance on redistricting. He thinks gerrymandering is A-OK and that elections don’t need to be competitive.
  13. Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, says that he paid off adult film star Stormy Daniels with his own money.
  14. Apparently Cohen’s admission that he paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 for her to sign a non-disclosure agreement invalidates the NDA.
  15. David Shulkin, the Veterans Affairs secretary, had his chief of staff lie for him so the government would cover his wife’s travel expenses on a 10-day European trip.
  16. The IRS and DOJ issue new subpoenas to Jared Kushner’s family over their financial dealings.
  17. The Department of Defense is seriously looking into Trump’s military parade, with costs ranging from $3 million to $50 million. I don’t know if that covers fixing the streets of D.C. afterward.
  18. Trump has now gone the longest of any president in the last 50 years without holding an official press conference.
  19. The RNC refuses to return donations from their former finance chair Steve Wynn until formal investigations are complete. Wynn is accused of multiple instances of sexual assault occurring over several decades. This is notable only because of the outcry from the RNC that Democrats immediately return donations from Harvey Weinstein, whose investigation is also ongoing.

Polls:

  1. Trump’s approval rating is up to 44%, with 53% disapproving. This might be a high for him.

Week 55 in Trump

Posted on February 12, 2018 in Politics, Trump

In the midst of the dueling memos, we did manage to pass a budget. But I’m starting with my favorite recap of the Nunes memo. It came from Jon Zal.

“Yes, we did some treason, but one of the guys who caught us doing the treason was biased against us because he doesn’t like people who commit treason, and the people who paid the people who paid him to investigate us didn’t like us either, so the evidence of our treason must be ignored.”

Russia:

  1. Now Trump’s lawyers want him to refuse any requests to be questioned by Mueller. Trump’s lawyers don’t even want him talking to Mueller, but Trump wants to do it anyway… but then he doesn’t. He’s keeping us guessing.
  2. The House Intelligence Committee votes to release the Democratic memo regarding the issues in the Nunes memo, which Trump released earlier. Trump refuses to release the Democratic memo.
  3. The New York Times makes a FISA request to publicize documents about Carter Page’s surveillance. The Times argues that since Trump decided to declassify the Nunes memo, public interest outweighs confidentiality.
  4. Devin Nunes acknowledges that, contrary to what his memo says, the FBI did disclose the political backing of the Steele dossier when requesting the FISA warrant on Carter Page.
  5. Nunes wants to build a physical wall to separate Republican and Democratic staffers working for the House Intelligence Committee members. Typically, these staffers work together.
  6. Republican Representative Thomas Rooney says that the Office of Congressional Ethics has ethics investigations into every single Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, including their staff. The investigations are further eroding trust in the committee.
  7. Rex Tillerson says that Russia has a lot of tools to influence our elections and that they’re already working on our midterms later this year. He says we’re no better prepared than we were in 2016, basically implying that there’s nothing we can do because the Russians will adapt.
  8. At an economic summit, former President George W. Bush says that there is “pretty clear evidence that the Russians meddled” in our 2016 elections. He also says that “it’s problematic that a foreign nation is involved in our election system. Our democracy is only as good as people trust the results.”
  9. The DOJ’s number 3 attorney resigns, in part because she thought she’d have to take over the Russia investigation if Trump fires Rod Rosenstein. Also, 25% of the divisions she oversaw are still unfilled, making her job that much more difficult.

Healthcare:

  1. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health says they’ve found the largest cluster of advanced black lung disease we’ve ever seen. This disease was once nearly eradicated, but now it strikes and kills miners at a younger age than before, and it progresses more quickly than before. The cluster is located in Virginia, Kentucky, and West Virginia. One possible explanation is new mining techniques.
  2. Though the Trump administration says they won’t reverse Obama’s regulations to protect miners against black lung, the rule is marked for evaluation and as “deregulatory,” indicating it could be on the chopping block like so many other protections.
  3. Kellyanne Conway leads Trump’s efforts to deal with the opioid epidemic, but she doesn’t rely on drug policy professionals and instead leans on political staff. There’s no permanent director for the drug policy office, and the acting director hasn’t been invited to any meetings.
  4. Conway’s plans so far are to build the wall to stop the influx of drugs (it won’t—so many addictions begin with prescribed drugs) and to start a “just say no” campaign (because that obviously worked the last time, right?).
  5. The most senior official in the drug policy office is a 24-year-old appointee with no relevant experience. He just stepped down.
  6. Trump indicates he’ll focus on legal crackdowns on opioids instead of treatment options.
  7. As a result of lawsuits, Perdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, says they’ll stop marketing the drug to physicians. There are at least 200 lawsuits by local governments, and now 14 states are suing Perdue as well.

International:

  1. The UN investigates several reports of the Syrian military using chemical weapons against the rebels this week.
  2. The Syrian military shoots down Israeli fighter plane. Syrian rebels shoot down a Russian fighter plane.
  3. The U.S-led coalition in Syria ramps up air and artillery strikes against Syria’s forces. This is unusual in that we most often target ISIS forces, but the military says they were acting out of self defense.
  4. The UN wants a month-long cease fire so they can get aid in to areas trapped by the fighting.
  5. Olympics and politics don’t mix Part I: Mike Pence and his wife don’t stand for their host country’s athletes in the opening ceremonies.
  6. South Korea and the U.S. agree to negotiating terms with North Korea.
  7. Support grows in Great Britain for a second vote on Brexit after the government seems to not be making much progress on the exit agreement with the European Union. The most likely way this would happen is if the Brexit negotiations fall apart, causing Theresa May’s coalition to crumble and triggering a new general election.
  8. We learn that the Trump administration secretly reached out to Iran to negotiate a prisoner release last December. Iran refused the request.


Legislation/Congress:

  1. Nancy Pelosi takes up the House floor, speaking for eight hours in defense of Dreamers and telling their stories as a protest against not including a clean Dreamer bill as part of the budget negotiations. She wants Paul Ryan to make the same commitment that Mitch McConnell made to getting a clean bill.
  2. The House passes a bill that would require lawmakers to use their own funds to pay for sexual harassment and abuse settlements instead of using taxpayer dollars. I can’t believe we even have to have a law like this. I just can’t.
  3. Devin Nunes doesn’t like real news, so his PAC created its own alternative news site named “The California Republican.” It’s listed as a Media/News Company on Facebook, claiming to deliver “the best of US, California, and Central Valley news, sports, and analysis.” The site resembles a news site, but is designed to shine up Nunes’ image.
  4. The California Republican site gets knocked down by a denial of service report.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. John Kelly says that Trump is not likely to extend DACA if Congress can’t agree on a solution by the March deadline. But then he says Dreamers won’t be a priority for deportation. We’ve heard that before. Ask the Iraqi Christians who got sent home, or the doctor who just got sent back to Jordan, or the science teacher who just got sent back to Mexico, or any activist who’s been making noise about DACA protections. Ask them what it means to not be a priority.
  2. Trump says that we might need a shutdown—he would even love a shutdown—if Democrats won’t agree to his immigration policies.
  3. Senators John McCain and Chris Coons are set to propose a bipartisan immigration bill, but Trump shoots it down before it even comes out.
  4. The Austin, TX, city council votes 10-1 to boycott any contractors who work on building the wall. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao doesn’t think this should be tolerated.
  5. You might remember a story last November (which Trump repeated) that two border agents were attacked and brutally beaten near the border by undocumented immigrants. One agent was killed and the other was in serious condition. Fox News reported that an agent was “brutally murdered.” The surviving agent doesn’t remember what happened. The FBI investigation found nothing consistent with an assault or scuffle, and thinks it looks more like there was an accident. They haven’t reached a conclusion yet.
  6. A former leader of the American Nazi Party (and current anti-Semite and white nationalist) is likely to be the Republican candidate for an Illinois state congressional seat. Come on, Republicans. You have to do better than this.
  7. The DHS drafts rules that could target undocumented immigrants who use certain benefits, making it harder for them to gain permanent residency even if those benefits are used for their children who are U.S. citizens.
  8. Olympics and politics don’t mix Part II. Skater Adam Rippon says he wouldn’t visit the White House. An openly gay athlete, Rippon has come out strongly against Mike Pence’s support of gay conversion therapy.
  9. Trump orders the creation of a National Vetting Center to focus on immigrants, refugees, and other visitors to the U.S. The purpose is to identify people who present a security threat. It will be part of the DHS.

Climate/EPA:

  1. Employment is down in the US solar industry for the first time since 2010.
  2. Nineteen governors of western states protest Ryan Zinke’s plans to reorganize the Interior Department, saying that he promised he would consult with them and he hasn’t done so. The governors represent Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. That’s a diverse and bipartisan group.
  3. And under the heading of Read A Damn Book Already: Despite scientific evidence pointing to serious health, agricultural, and economic impacts of climate change, not to mention climate-related natural disasters and droughts, Scott Pruitt says that maybe climate change will be good for us. Because who knows what the ideal temperature will be in 2100? Scientists know, Scott. That’s who knows.
  4. At least Pruitt also says climate change is real and that humans contribute to it “to an extent.”
  5. The White House sends out a draft memo to federal agencies that would speed up permitting for infrastructure projects by shortcutting environment reviews.

Budget/Economy:

  1. The Dow makes its largest one-day point drop (not its largest percentage drop), going down by 1,175. Overall, the Dow drops around 2,700 points in a long-expected market correction.
  2. TV stations airing a Trump rally show side-by-side panels of Trump touting the economy and the market on one side and the Dow Jones dropping precipitously on the other side.
  3. Trump gets mad at the stock market for taking a 2-day nosedive, saying it made a big mistake!
  4. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) drops its investigation into the Equifax breach, where the person information of 143 million Americans was hacked. State attorney generals are picking up the slack, evaluating over 240 class action law suits.
  5. On top of ending protections and lawsuits against payday lenders that have been charging up to 900% interest on loans, Mick Mulvaney requests a review of all current CFPB cases and policies to see which he wants to drop. This is what happens when the man in charge of a protection agency also thinks we should shut that agency down.
  6. The deadline for funding the government is already up this week. It has to be passed by Friday to avoid a shutdown.
  7. The Senate reaches a deal on Wednesday… but then when it comes time to vote, Rand Paul takes the floor for several hours pushing the vote past the deadline and briefly shutting down the government. And keeping lawmakers up all night.
  8. The Senate passes a two-year spending bill that really is the result of compromise, but that increases spending for pretty much everyone. The House also passes the bill and Trump signs it. Here’s some of what it does:
    • Raises caps on spending that were imposed in 2011 and that were once seen as a key Republican victory.
    • Increases defense spending by $165 billion over two years.
    • Increases domestic spending by $131 billion over two years.
    • Increases disaster aid for hurricane and fire victims by $90 billion.
    • Extends CHIP for 10 years (when added to the previous six-year extension).
    • Refutes many of the cuts Trump requested in his budget.
    • Combined with the tax bill, ends any semblance of fiscal conservatism.
  1. Republicans concede that with the recent tax cuts and spending bill, eliminating the federal deficit is not possible.
  2. Trump proposes a $4.4 trillion budget that cuts social programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP, while increasing military spending and the immigration enforcement budget. It also asks for $200 billion for infrastructure. It cuts the State Department by 27% and the EPA by 34%.

  3. Since Congress just passed their own two-year spending bill, and Trump signed it, his proposed budget will likely be ignored.
  4. The Defense Logistics Agency of the Pentagon can’t account for $800 million in construction spending. Apparently they don’t keep very good records.
  5. Even after the bad publicity around cabinet members like Tom Price overspending taxpayer dollars on travel, Scott Pruitt still flies first class and stays in luxury hotels. His excuse is security concerns.

Elections:

  1. The Supreme Court refuses a request from the Pennsylvania GOP leadership to delay a state Supreme Court ruling requiring them to redraw their gerrymandered district lines.
  2. A Republican state representative wants to impeach those state Supreme Court judges for forcing them to redraw district lines, saying they usurped the state constitution.
  3. Pennsylvania Republicans submit their redrawn district lines, which no longer have the obvious physical shape of gerrymandered districts, but which the plaintiffs in the original case say are still as demographically gerrymandered.
  4. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf must approve the new district lines. If he rejects the plan, an independent redistricting expert will redraw the lines.
  5. The Supreme Court is looking at gerrymandering cases in Maryland and Wisconsin as well.
  6. Fun Fact: In 1812, Elbridge Gerry became the first person to draw partisan district lines, and his district looked like a salamander. Thus, the Gerry-mander.
  7. Six teenagers are running for governor in Kansas. The state doesn’t have any age requirements for the governor, but now they’re trying to make the age 18 or over (still seems young!).
  8. Since the 2016 elections, Democrats have flipped 35 Republican seats and Republicans have flipped four. Democrats are targeting 101 House districts in November.

Miscellaneous:

  1. At what was supposed to be a rally to support his tax plan, Trump hypes the memo instead, and talks about how it clears him and proves how bad the DOJ and FBI are.
  2. Trump accuses Democrats of treason for not clapping for him at the State of the Union. Photos abound of Paul Ryan not clapping for Obama. Get over it.
  3. Trump wants a military parade. No, seriously. Members of both parties in Congress say this is a waste of money. Our last military parade was in 1991 to commemorate the Gulf War victory.
  4. A 6.4 earthquake in Taiwan causes buildings to shift on their foundations. Seventeen are dead and 280 injured.
  5. Chief of Staff Kelly defends Staff Secretary Rob Porter, who left his job this week due to allegations of abuse from two ex-wives. Kelly later clarifies his statement, saying he wasn’t aware of the photos. He was, however, aware of the allegations because Porter STILL doesn’t have security clearance because of them.
  6. In a staff meeting, some staffers feel that Kelly is telling them to lie about the actions he took after the abuse allegations surfaced.
  7. Trump tells the press that Porter will have a great career ahead of him and that it’s a tough time for Porter. I’m sure living with Porter was tough on his wives too. Trump wishes him well.
  8. Kelly says he’s willing to resign over the handling of the Porter issue.
  9. A second White House staffer, speechwriter David Sorensen, resigns over allegations of spousal abuse.
  10. Trump defends both staffers on Twitter, saying “lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation.” Just an FYI, lives are also being shattered and destroyed by abuse.
  11. While Trump defends those accused of domestic violence, two police officers are killed responding to a report of domestic violence. Officers are killed every year responding to domestic disputes, deaths that could be prevented if we would stop ignoring the problem of domestic violence.
  12. Trump calls former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (who Trump pushed out) to complain about John Kelly (who replaced Priebus).
  13. Sinclair Broadcast Group solicits its news directors for contributions to its political action committee, which could cross the boundaries of ethics in journalism.
  14. A CNN employee finds DHS documents outlining a terrorism drill for the Super Bowl in the seat-back pocket of a passenger plane.
  15. After finding that a mass shooter in Texas last year should’ve been on the gun ban list, the military adds more than 4,000 people who they had previously neglected to add to the list.
  16. The Trump administration wants to stop funding the International Space Station by 2025 and turn it over to the private sector.

Stupid Things Politicians Say:

When Obama first extended the offer of DACA, many people who were eligible didn’t trust the government would have their backs or their families’ backs, so they didn’t sign up. And now, people who did sign up for DACA are now in danger of being deported, along with their families.

But here’s White House chief of staff John Kelly‘s take on that (emphasis mine):

“The difference between [690,000] and 1.8 million were the people that some would say were too afraid to sign up, others would say were too lazy to get off their asses, but they didn’t sign up.”

Week 54 in Trump

Posted on February 5, 2018 in Politics, Trump

No love lost here...

This was a huge week in Russia news, dwarfing most everything else. So I’ll skip the introduction and get right into it. Here’s what happened last week in politics…

Russia:

  1. FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe steps down from his job, but he’ll take leave until mid-March when he can retire with full benefits. It’s been rumored for a few weeks that he’d retire, but sources say he was forced out.
  2. McCabe is being investigated for whether he sat on the emails on Anthony Weiner’s laptop for three weeks. An inspector general’s report is forthcoming on this and his handling of the Russia investigation. There’s also a question of whether McCabe should’ve recused himself from Clinton investigations because his wife received campaign donations from one of Clinton’s friend’s political organizations.
  3. Donald Trump Jr. questions whether McCabe should receive his pension. McCabe is a 20+ year veteran of the FBI and DOJ. Spoken like someone who never had to work to earn a pension nor pay into one. Junior also tweets that it was the Nunes memo that got McCabe fired.
  4. A Russian jet flew within five feet of a Navy surveillance plane over the Black Sea, forcing the Navy plane to stop its mission.
  5. Though the House and Senate voted overwhelmingly to impose sanctions on Russia (only five members in total voted against it), Trump says he won’t impose the sanctions because the threat of sanctions has been enough of a deterrent.
  6. The House Intelligence Committee votes along party lines to release Nunes’ memo about classified FBI and DOJ information. They then vote to NOT release the memo written by the Democrats on the committee, which provides contextual and rebuttal information.
  7. The ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, sends a letter to Nunes accusing him of making material changes to the memo after the committee voted on the release but before he gave it to the White House. Technically, the changes would require a second vote to release.
  8. The Republican majority in the House Intelligence Committee opens an investigation into the FBI and DOJ without consulting the Democratic minority.
  9. Caught on a hot mike, Trump says he’ll 100% release the memo. Sarah Huckabee Sanders later says he hasn’t read it yet. John Kelly says it will be released pretty quick. And then Trump authorizes the release of the memo (in its unredacted form) within days.
  10. Here’s a hint of what the memo alleges, along with information we know:
    • Christopher Steele passed bad information to the FBI in the dossier. (There is no evidence of this.)
    • The FBI based its warrant application for Carter Page on the dossier. (They didn’t. The application contains years worth of investigations.)
    • This was biased since the dossier hadn’t been proven. (Much of the dossier was independently corroborated by the time of the application.)
    • Steele was desperate to make sure Trump didn’t become president. (Maybe (it’s hearsay), but he allegedly said it after he wrote the dossier and learned what was going on.)
    • The FBI and DOJ are partisan and anti-Trump. (These agencies tend to lean Republican, but there’s a mix of political thought, of course.)
  1. A little background here. The FBI first started looking into Carter Page in 2013, so there was much more to the FISA application than just the dossier. The courts found reason to extend the surveillance warrant on Page three times. This means that each warrant delivered enough new information to legally justify extending the surveillance.
  2. FBI Director Christopher Wray says the FBI has grave concerns about releasing the memo because the memo omits certain facts that affect the accuracy of the information. Coming out against Trump on this could put Wray on rocky ground. This doesn’t tend to end well.
  3. There was concern that the memo would give away our intelligence gathering methods and sources, but this doesn’t seem to be the case.
  4. It’ll be difficult for people who know the full story to correct the information because so much of the information is classified. So it really would require the disclosure of sensitive information about intelligence sources and their methods.
  5. Note that FISA warrant applications are typically around 50 pages long, so if Nunes condensed that to 4 pages, you can be sure it’s not the full story. Also, it turns out that Nunes never read the warrant application.
  6. Trump tells friends that he thinks the memo might discredit the Russia investigation and make it easier for him to make a case that the people running the Russia investigations are prejudiced against him.
  7. Trump also thinks releasing the memo could pave the way for him being able to make changes at the DOJ. Rod Rosenstein better watch his back.
  8. The FBI Agents Association reacts to the memo by reiterating that they never have and never will let partisan politics distract them from their mission.
  9. Trump accused Obama of wiretapping him in March of 2016, which means he’s known about the FISA warrant at least since then. Note that this doesn’t mean Obama wiretapped him, something Obama couldn’t do (I’m not sure he could even order it, but it definitely can’t be done without cause).
  10. In an interview in October of 2017, Carter Page gives an indication that he knew Paul Ryan was going to release details about the “dodgy dossier.” So it seems to have been the plan since last fall that some kind of memo would be released.
  11. Paul Ryan says that the memo isn’t an indictment of the FBI or DOJ, and he supports the release of the Democrats’ memo as well.
  12. But then Paul Ryan also calls for a cleanse of the FBI and DOJ.
  13. Trump says the memo completely exonerates him (it doesn’t) and that the investigation is a disgrace.
  14. There are many analyses of the memo, but this one from NPR is one of the better ones.
  15. And here’s a good explainer of why the memo could have the opposite of its intended effect.
  16. Rick Gates adds a new defense attorney to his team and his three existing attorneys withdraw from his case, sparking rumors that Gates is looking to strike a deal.
  17. The FBI is investigating a second dossier on Trump, this one written by a political activist and ex-journalist. It corroborates some of the Steele dossier, but the author doesn’t have an intelligence background and is an associate of the Clintons (though they didn’t know about it). Even Steele said he couldn’t vouch for all the info in the second dossier, though he did hand it over to the FBI.
  18. CIA Director Mike Pompeo (Trump appointee) says he has “every expectation” that Russia will continue their attempts to meddle in our elections, including the 2018 midterms. So please people, ignore the social media bots and fake stories.
  19. In December, Rod Rosenstein went to Trump to ask for help in stopping Nunes from getting the classified documents he requested, but instead Trump wanted to find out where the Russia investigation was going. He asked Rosenstein if he was “on my team” (his fourth loyalty request of a DOJ official). Rosenstein’s response? ”Of course. We’re all on your team, Mr. President.”
  20. We learn from Russian news sources that CIA officials met with Russian officials, including Sergey Naryshkin, head of Russia’s SVR. Naryshkin is barred from entering the U.S. under 2014 sanctions, so his arrival raises some questions.
  21. The DOJ files a motion to dismiss Paul Manafort’s civil suit against Mueller. Manafort’s suit claims Mueller exceeded his authority by prosecuting the crimes Manafort was indicted for, but Rosenstein says he gave Mueller broad authority.
  22. The former spokesperson for the White House legal team, Mark Corallo, warned that the statement drafted on Air Force One about Don Jr.’s Russia meeting could backfire if the underlying documents ever surfaced. Hope Hicks allegedly responded that the documents would never get out because only a few people had access to them. This is just before Don Jr. dropped all his emails to the public.
  23. One of the agents the GOP and Trump are seeking to discredit, Peter Strzok, is also the author of the letter announcing that Hillary’s email case was re-opened just before 2016’s election. That kind of pokes a hole in Strzok being biased toward her.
  24. Even though Trump has discussed firing and discrediting Mueller, Mitch McConnell says he doesn’t think Mueller needs protecting because there’s no indication anyone wants him fired or discredited. Republicans in the House and Senate refuse to advance bills protecting Mueller.
  25. Julian Assange accidentally sends a direct message to a fake Sean Hannity account, thinking he was offering the real Sean Hannity dirt on Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee that has its own Russia investigation.

Healthcare:

  1. The Trump-appointed head of the CDC resigns over her investments in multiple tobacco stocks, saying it would be too difficult to divest.
  2. An investigation by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce shows that two pharmacies in a small town of 3,000 in West Virginia received 20,800,000 prescription opioid painkillers from 2008 to 2015. That’s over 2,500,000 per year.
  3. A Texas judge temporarily blocks a state law requiring healthcare workers to bury or cremate fetal tissue after each abortion.
  4. The Senate votes down a bill passed in the House that would’ve put a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of gestation. Trump backs the House bill.
  5. The CDC plans to cut their efforts to prevent global outbreaks of disease by 80% because funding is running out.
  6. Indiana adds a work requirement to Medicaid, and will block coverage if paperwork showing eligibility is turned in late.

International:

  1. Trump signs an executive order to keep Gitmo open. This formally reverses Obama’s eight-year effort to close down the military prison. Interesting side note: There are 41 prisoners currently in Gitmo at an annual cost of $440 million.
  2. As one of the world’s largest financial centers, London is working on a free trade deal for financial services with the European Commission. This week, the EC rejects the deal, so London will probably have less favorable trading terms with the EU. EU considers moving their operations out of London and into EU countries, causing another drop in sterling.
  3. The White House drops their nominee for Ambassador to South Korea, Victor Cha, over disagreements on trade and military action in the region.
  4. Poland’s government tries to rewrite history by passing a bill that makes it illegal to accuse Poles of complicity in the Holocaust. It also outlaws the use of the phrase “Polish death camps.”
  5. After an increase in violence in Afghanistan, Trump says the U.S. isn’t interested in talking with the Taliban anymore. Except that’s what our military strategy in Afghanistan is—to force the Taliban to the negotiating table.
  6. The State Department’s inspector general opens an investigation into whether career workers in the department under Rex Tillerson have been unfairly and politically targeted.
  7. North Korea gets around sanctions by entering into joint ventures in fishing and other areas with Mozambique, using these businesses as a front.
  8. The Trump administration wants to develop smaller, lower-yield nuclear weapons.
  9. Trump wants more options for a military strike against North Korea, and he’s frustrated that his military leaders aren’t providing them.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. Another sitting chair, Rodney Frelinghuysen of the House Appropriations Committee, announces he won’t seek re-election, bringing that number to nine.
  2. Trey Gowdy announces he won’t seek reelection. Gowdy is known for having lead the Benghazi hearings, and at the time said it wasn’t about politics. But now he has this to say about committee investigations.

“Congressional investigations unfortunately are usually overtly political investigations, where it is to one side’s advantage to drag things out.… This is politics.”

  1. The DOJ moves to dismiss corruption charges against Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, citing a previous court decision to acquit him on several of the charges.
  2. A chartered train carrying Republican leaders to a retreat in West Virginia collides with a truck, killing one person in the truck and injuring two others. No one on the train is seriously injured.
  3. The number of members of Congress members resigning this year is the highest it’s been in 117 years.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. Homeland Security extends temporary protected status (TPS) for Syrian refugees here since late 2016 for an additional 18 months. This affects about 7,000 Syrians.
  2. Here’s a paradox. The places in the U.S. where people are overall most against immigration and would like to see it limited are also the places least affected by immigration. The places where people are most supportive of immigration are the places most affected by immigration.
  3. Members of Congress from both parties want Trump to drop his request to slash legal immigration. Trump’s plan would cut it by half at a time when economists say we need more immigrants, not fewer, in order to keep inflationary pressures down.

Climate/EPA:

  1. Trump’s reduction of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments goes into effect. Individuals and companies can now stake claims for hard rock mining (gold, silver, copper, uranium, and the like) under the General Mining law. You can stake a claim for a mere $212 filing fee and a $150 annual fee.
  2. In response, Congressman John Curtis (R-Utah) proposes a bill to withdraw all of the Bears Ears region from any future mining claims. Previous claims would still be honored.
  3. Trump’s proposed 2019 budget cuts clean energy research by 72%. This, along with the 30% tariffs on imported solar panels, would kill our solar industry, which currently employs more people than coal, oil, and natural gas power plants combined. It would also cut funding into electric vehicle research, ensuring that foreign automakers stay far ahead of us in that technology. Congress will likely not approve the cut.
  4. A Montana oil field explosion kills one worker.
  5. Trump formally suspends the Waters of the US rule, which was designed to expand the types of waterways that are protected from pollution by industry and farming.
  6. Here’s an interesting find on Scott Pruitt, who has been the most successful of Trump’s cabinet members in reversing things done under Obama. In a 2016 interview, Pruitt said that if Trump was elected he would most certainly act unconstitutionally.
  7. Scott Pruitt has either rescinded or is refusing to enforce over 66 environmental protections.
  8. California state legislators put forth a bill to protect their coastlines from offshore drilling so they can have the same protections that Ryan Zinke arbitrarily gave to Florida.
  9. The White House drops Kathleen Hartnett White’s nomination to head the Council on Environmental Quality. Her stances on the environment and fossil fuels are so controversial that not even Republicans can get behind her.

Budget/Economy:

  1. Due to revenue loss in federal withholding taxes from the changes to the tax law, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports that Congress will need to re-up the debt limit sooner than expected because we’ll run out of money sooner than expected.
  2. Mick Mulvaney takes away enforcement power of the Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity, an office in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) responsible for pursuing discrimination in financial dealings. The office will no longer be responsible for oversight, but will instead be involved in outreach and education, allowing businesses to restart their discriminatory lending practices.
  3. We could see a rise in vegetable prices. Farmers in California say they’re having a hard time staffing up for their harvests, leaving some crops on the ground. Losses in two counties alone are at $13 million. Many farm workers are foreign born (largely from Mexico), and with more Mexicans leaving the US for Mexico than coming in, workers are hard to find.
  4. The Dow Jones drops 1,000 points in 5 days. I’m not panicked (yet) since it previously went up about the same amount in about the same amount of time.
  5. The government is set to borrow nearly a trillion dollars this fiscal year, the highest about in six years. This is almost double the amount borrowed in 2017.
  6. Betsy DeVos wants to issue federal student loans using debit cards so they can track how and where students spend the money.
  7. Paul Ryan tweets about how a teacher got an extra $1.50 in her paycheck because of tax reform, and that will cover her Costco membership. Twitter does not respond kindly, given the tens of thousands of dollars the tax plan gives back to the wealthy and corporations. Ryan deletes the tweet.

Elections:

  1. A federal judge says the system by which Florida reinstates voting rights for felons is arbitrary and unfair. The ruling doesn’t say that felon disenfranchisement is illegal, but the way Florida handles it is. This could help the measure on Florida’s November ballot that would automatically reinstate felons’ voting rights after they serve time except in the case of murder or felony sexual assault.
  2. The Pennsylvania GOP wants the Supreme Court to take a look at a lower court’s ruling that they must redraw their district lines due to overt gerrymandering.

Miscellaneous:

  1. Based on a recommendation from the National Security Council, Trump wants to centralize and nationalize a secure 5G network as a way to prevent cyber attacks. The FCC opposes this move. It’s an interesting deviation from the standard Republican view of a free market.
  2. Trump says he had the biggest audience ever for a State of the Union address with 45.6 million viewers. Actually, Bill Clinton’s 1993 SOTU address was the largest by a long shot, with 66.9 million watching. Bush and Obama each had SOTU dresses with higher viewership too.
  3. Fact-checking the State of the Union is too much for me, so I’m relying on the experts here. Below are a few takes on it:
  1. FEMA reaches an agreement with Puerto Rico to continue distributing aid one day after they said aid would stop. FEMA says it never intended to stop aid; it was just a re-evaluation of needs.
  2. We haven’t heard much about Ben Carson, Secretary of HUD, but now he’s run into some questions by ethics investigators. Turns out Carson let his son organize some events for him despite warnings that it could be a violation of ethics rules.
  3. Another school shooting turns out to be an accidental discharge. A 12-year-old student at Belmont School in Los Angeles brought a gun to school in her backpack.
  4. It turns out that pretty much with each new presidential administration, NASA’s mission changes. Trump wants to go back to George Bush’s plan to go back to the moon, though the reasons and purpose aren’t yet clear.
  5. Stormy Daniels signs a statement denying she had an affair with Trump (that she outlined in detail for In Touch magazine), but then walks back the denial. Sort of. She’s being coy and it’s a little weird.
  6. Trump declines the traditional presidential Super Bowl interview.
  7. Josh Hawley, Republican candidate for Senate, says human trafficking is the result of the sexual revolution of the 60s. This isn’t really news but it stuck out to me because a friend has been saying the sexual revolution is the root of liberal evil. It makes me wonder if it’s a new talking point from the right?
  8. K.T. McFarland asks to be dropped from consideration for the ambassadorship to Singapore after her hearing stalls over alleged communications with Russia.
  9. I couldn’t care less that Melania Trump took 21 trips on Air Force One before moving to the White House at a cost of over $650,000. I just put it out there for anyone who criticized Michelle Obama for the same kind of thing.

Polls:

  1. 71% of Americans think Trump should speak with Mueller, and 82% of those think he should do it under oath.

Week 53 in Trump

Posted on January 29, 2018 in Politics, Trump

This week, Trump takes credit for an all-time low in African-American unemployment. And African-American unemployment is down under him; but it’s also a continuation of the trend started under Obama. And the far right will never give Obama the credit he deserves for helping our economy recover so much faster than the rest of the world. Look at the graph above, and you can see Trump inherited an economy already trending in his favor. I remember hearing all through Obama’s presidency that economic indicators were faked, and that the Bureau of Labor and Statistics uses misleading data. I give credit to Trump for keeping the economy going; but conservatives need to give Obama some credit for jump-starting it. Take a look at these graphs to see the trends.

Russia:

  1. According to Joe Biden, Obama didn’t speak out about the Russian interference in our elections because Mitch McConnell refused to sign on to a bipartisan statement of condemnation.
  2. Paul Manafort’s attorneys accidentally file a memo in their court filings that indicates that federal investigators had a mole in Manafort’s company. The mole is the source of the information about his financial transactions.
  3. Mueller wants to talk with Trump about the firing of both James Comey and Michael Flynn.
  4. Flynn spoke with the Mueller investigation a year ago this week, and never told the White House about it.
  5. After seesawing over whether he was willing to speak with Mueller, Trump says he will. Then his lawyer says Trump spoke too fast. Then Trump again says he will. Then his lawyer walks it back again. He wants his testimony to be part oral and part written statements.
  6. Mueller gives Trump a list of topics he wants to talk about.
  7. Mueller questions CIA Director Mike Pompeo, National Intelligence Director Dan Coats, and NSA Director Mike Rogers.
  8. The Justice Department confirms that Mueller questioned Jeff Sessions last week. He’s the first member of Trump’s cabinet to be questioned.
  9. We learn that Christopher Wray, Director of the FBI, threatened to quit after being pressured by Trump and Sessions to fire Deputy Director Andy McCabe. White House counsel Don McGahee told Sessions it wasn’t worth losing the director over this.
  10. The New York Time reports that in June, Trump tried to fire Mueller, but his White House Counsel threatened to quit if he did. Trump and his team denied this at least eight times since June of last year.
  11. Wray is replacing two senior positions that were appointed by James Comey.
  12. Mueller questions at least one Facebook employee who was embedded in the Trump campaign.
  13. Rick Gates hires a new attorney, indicating he’s in the middle of negotiations with Mueller.
  14. The Senate Judiciary Committee says they’ll release the transcripts of Donald Trump Jr.’s closed-door testimony.
  15. Congressional Republicans spread a conspiracy theory about a secret society within the FBI to take down Trump. Their proof is a text between two FBI staffers who were having an affair where they talked about a “secret society.” Because if the FBI had a secret society, that’s exactly what they’d call it, right?
  16. Sessions orders an investigation into months of missing text messages between the two above FBI staffers. Because of a Samsung 5 update problem, the texts weren’t properly archived. The texts are located by the end of the week.
  17. With all the hype about the memo commissioned by Devin Nunes on the FBI and DOJ, it’s hard to separate fact from fiction. Axios has a pretty decent time line of the whole thing.
  18. Trump makes it clear that he wants the memo released, and says if the House Intelligence Committee wants to release the memo, he’ll approve it.
  19. The DOJ says it would be irresponsible and reckless to release the memo.
  20. It’s easy to see what side Russians are on. After Russian bots on social media make #releasethememo the top trending hashtag, they surpass it with #SchumerShutdown.
  21. White House sources say that last June, Trump pressed staff to carry out a campaign to discredit three members of the FBI who would likely be witnesses in the Russia probe: FBI Deputy Director Andy McCabe, Comey’s chief of staff Jim Rybicki, and former general counsel James Baker.
  22. It turns out that Dutch intelligence was also monitoring Cozy Bear, the Russia group behind the DNC email hacks. They’ve been providing U.S. intelligence with information.
  23. People across Russia rally in protest of the upcoming presidential election. They say the election is rigged for Putin after Putin’s opponent, Alexei Navalny, is once again arrested.

Courts/Justice:

Nothing major this week.

Healthcare:

  1. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, once a strong opponent of Obamacare, proposes funding the state ACA market with an additional $200.
  2. The first legal challenges are filed against Trump’s changes to Medicaid waivers for states.
  3. Over 1,000 community health centers, which help over 27 million Americans, remain without funding four months after Congress fails to renew funds. While Congress renewed CHIP funding, they failed to renew it for community health centers.
  4. The Senate will likely have a procedural vote on a 20-week abortion ban. Proponents of the bill say fetuses can feel pain at 20-weeks. Scientists say fetuses can feel pain at 27-30 weeks.
  5. In one of the worst flu seasons in years, hospitals run short on the saline drip bags used to treat severe flu cases because most of the bags come from Puerto Rico, which is still recovering from hurricane.

International:

  1. Members of the Taliban drive an ambulance loaded with explosives into a crowd in Kabul, killing at least 95 and injuring at least 158.
  2. State Department employees accuse the administration of punishing them for their work under the Obama administration by reassigning them to positions for which they are either over-qualified or don’t have any experience with. Not only do many retain lawyers, fearing retaliation for their past work, but congressional Democrats call for an investigation by the State Department’s inspector general.
  3. The doomsday clock takes a 30-second jump closer to midnight due to the state of geopolitical affairs, specifically our inability to deal with nuclear threats.
  4. Here’s a note of interest with the deadline for implementing Russian sanctions coming up. The drain of expertise from the State Department extends to experts on sanctions, and the number of people who know how to implement them is dwindling.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. For the eighth time, Vice President Mike Pence casts a vote to break a tie in the Senate. This time was to confirm Kansas Governor Sam Brownback as ambassador at large for international religious freedom.
  2. It turns out that Patrick Meehan, who was investigating sexual harassment claims against four congressmen, used taxpayer dollars to pay off a sexual harassment claim against him.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. Because of Trump’s actions during the funding negotiations, Schumer withdraws a deal to include funding for the wall in their DACA negotiations. Schumer also shoots down Trump’s immigration reform proposal, which would create a pathway to citizenship for up to 1.8 million immigrants brought here as children, fund $25 billion for the wall, restrict family-based immigration, and get rid of the visa lottery system.
  2. The DOJ threatens 23 “sanctuary cities” with subpoenas to prove they’re cooperating with federal ICE authorities. As a result, mayors from across the country boycott a planned meeting with Trump.
  3. Trump says the mayors put the needs of “criminal illegal immigrants over law-abiding Americans.”
  4. After Trump rejects a bipartisan plan that includes a path to citizenship for Dreamers, Trump says he supports such a path. He continues to go back and forth on this. I don’t think he really knows what he wants here, except for funding for the wall.
  5. Trump says he’d be willing to apologize for retweeting anti-Muslim videos from a known British hate group whose leader is in jail for hate crimes. He then goes on to NOT apologize.
  6. A judge blocks ICE from deporting a group of Somalis held in custody. In a separate case, a judge rules that ICE can’t simply deport 92 Cambodians, many of whom came here to escape the Khmer Rouge.
  7. ICE targets activists who stand up for immigration rights.
  8. ICE arrests a Polish doctor who came to the U.S. when he was 5. He’s now a doctor at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo.

Climate/EPA:

  1. NOAA says the Arctic’s permafrost is melting and shows no signs of going back to it’s previously frozen condition. Scientists fear that melting of the permafrost could unleash massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
  2. Scientists sue the EPA over the removal of many scientists from EPA advisory boards and committees. They were removed because of new EPA guidelines about receiving federal grants, but the lawsuit claims the removals violate the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
  3. The Department of the Interior prepares to roll back protections for migratory birds under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The act previously applied to both intentional and unintentional killings, but now will apply only to intentional killings, letting certain industries off the hook.
  4. Solar company Sun Power suspends its plans to invest $20 million into a U.S. factory expansion after Trump announces tariffs on imported solar panels. They’re asking for an exception from the tariff so they can continue to grow in California and Texas. 
  5. The EPA withdraws a policy of the Clean Air Act that categorized high-polluting facilities as major sources of pollutants even if they lower their emissions. The policy focuses on toxic pollutants like mercury and lead.
  6. California develops its own rules to protect waterways to mitigate the effects of the Trump administration’s repeals of federal water protections, specifically the Clean Water Act.

Budget/Economy:

  1. Enough Senate Democrats vote with Republicans to pass another short-term funding bill to reopen the government. The bill also reauthorizes CHIP for six years and rolls back some healthcare taxes. In exchange, Chuck Schumer got promises from Mitch McConnell that there would be a vote on DACA. Sure there will…
  2. The U.S. loses it’s standing as the second-most popular travel destination by foreigners, costing the tourism industry $4.6 billion and 40,000 jobs.
  3. Trump imposes 30% tariffs on imported solar panel technology. We currently get around 80% of our solar panel equipment from China, and they have undercut companies across the globe with their low prices. Still, this will hurt domestic solar companies at least in the short term, resulting 23,000 fewer jobs in the industry.
  4. However, Al Gore defends the idea of tariffs, but not the way Trump implemented them. He says solar technology needs to be more competitive globally. Analysts don’t think tariffs are enough to bring back our solar manufacturing industry.
  5. On the anniversary of Trump withdrawing from TPP, Justin Trudeau announces the signing of the TPP between the remaining countries. Trump pulled us out of the TPP last year, and assumed the deal would be dead without us.
  6. The next day, Trump says he’d be open to rejoining the TPP if he could negotiate a better deal. Interest from the TPP partners is… nonexistent.
  7. Trump’s threats to withdraw from NAFTA make some sectors in the U.S. nervous. Farmers stand to lose trading partners, and a new economic analysis says 1.8 million U.S. jobs would likely be lost in the first year.
  8. The world moves on without us when it comes to trade. There are 35 new bilateral and regional trade agreements currently being negotiated, with the U.S. being part of just one of them (with the European Union and negotiations are stalled). A spokesperson for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says pulling out of the TPP marks “a missed opportunity for the United States to gain greater access to some of the world’s most vibrant and growing markets.”
  9. Trump pushes his America first message to mixed review at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
  10. At the same forum, Trudeau tells CEOs Canada won’t be cutting taxes like the U.S. He also tells them they need to change the way they do business by putting workers before profits and supporting women’s rights. In his words, “Too many corporations have put the pursuit of profit before the well-being of their workers … but that approach won’t cut it any more.”
  11. At Davos, Trump markets America to business leaders, saying the new tax plan makes us a better place to do business. He doesn’t mention the contentious geopolitical atmosphere.
  12. GDP growth slowed down slightly in the last quarter of 2017, ending economists hopes of having three straight months of 3% or better growth.
  13. The U.S. International Trade Commission rules in favor of Canada’s Bombardier in a trade dispute brought by Boeing against Bombardier over planes sold to Delta Airlines.

Elections:

  1. Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court rules that the GOP-drawn congressional district lines violate the state constitution and that they must redraw all district lines by February 9.
  2. Released documents from Trump’s disbanded voter fraud commission show that when they requested voter information from Texas, they specifically asked for information about voters with Hispanic surnames. Even so, Kris Kobach says that “at no time did the commission request any state to flag surnames by ethnicity or race.”

Miscellaneous:

  1. An explosion on a gas rig in Oklahoma kills five workers.
  2. A shooter in a Kentucky school kills two and injures 18.
  3. Jared Kushner still doesn’t have his security clearance, yet he still gets the president’s daily briefing.
  4. The Senate confirms Alex Azar to replace Tom Price as Secretary of Health and Human Services. While the administration praises Azar for being a proponent of better healthcare and lower drug prices, Azar has been criticized for raising drug prices while CEO of Eli Lilly USA. The company was fined for colluding on drug prices under Azar.
  5. About the World Economic Forum, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao says, “Davos should feel very flattered that he [Trump] has chosen this as a forum. Those who don’t want to listen to him can leave.”
  6. The NSA removes honesty and transparency from their stated mission, and adds commitment to service, respect for people, and accountability.
  7. A draft of Trump’s 2019 budget proposal calls for an end to funding of the International Space Station by 2025. Support for the station currently costs NASA between $3 and $4 billion each year.
  8. All in one show, Sean Hannity says that there’s no confirmation of the story about Trump wanting to fire Mueller (and that the New York Times always gets stories wrong) and then says the story is confirmed.
  9. Steve Wynn resigns as finance chairman for the Republican National Committee after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. What we don’t hear are cries for Republican officials to return his donations like there were for Democrats to return Harvey Weinstein’s.
  10. The entire USA Gymnastics board resigns amid the sexual harassment scandal with Dr. Nassar.
  11. The FBI arrests a Michigan man who threatened to shoot and kill CNN employees because of their fake news.
  12. Montana becomes the first state to pass laws protecting net neutrality.
  13. Trump complains to aides that he doesn’t understand why he can’t just give orders to his guys at the DOJ.

Polls:

  1. 74% of Americans favor granting legal status to children brought here illegally.
  2. 60% of Americans oppose the wall.
  3. Trump’s approval rating among Evangelicals is down to 61%.
  4. 60% of Americans don’t trust Trump with the power to launch a nuclear war.

Stupid Things Politicians Say:

“I found out for the first time last night that the person who technically shuts the government down is me, which is kind of cool”.

~ Mick Mulvaney WH Budget Director

No, that’s not cool, Mick. Not cool at all.

Economic Trends, 1990-Present

Posted on January 29, 2018 in Economy

For those of you who love numbers and charts, I created a few charts to see how the economy has trended under recent administrations. Why did I do this? Because for eight years under Obama, I heard how these numbers were all misleading or wrong, and for some reason I’m not hearing that under the new administration.

If you want to create your own graphs, FRED has seemingly unlimited economic data to chart and it’s really easy. Here’s the link: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/

In the graphs below, the gray lines indicate a recession.

Dow Jones Industrial Average

 

Real Disposable Personal Income

 

 

Unemployment Rate: 20 years and older 

 

Unemployment Rate: Black or African American

 

Number of Employees in Coal Mining

 

Gross Domestic Product

 

 

Housing Starts: New Privately Owned Units Started

 

Corporate Profits After Tax