Here’s my plug for the week:

We all hate money in politics. We all think it’s corrupt. Maybe we can come together to force Congress to do something about it. The Citizens United decision makes sure that elected officials spend more time fundraising than they do legislating. A recent poll shows we agree:

• 81% of Democrats and 79% of Republicans think Congress needs to get money out of politics.
• 78% think we need “sweeping new laws to reduce the influence of money in politics.”
• 80% think that money in politics is a bigger problem now than ever before.
• 93% think their elected officials listen to donors more than to voters.

I recently used OpenSecrets.org to look into the founder of a company I do business with. He gives millions every year to candidates and causes I oppose. Millions. I can’t match that. Not even close. The bottom 95% of us can’t match the top 5%. So let’s put a stop to it. Here are some (mostly bipartisan) places to start if you want to help get this done:

• Move to Amend
• Public Citizen
• Represent Us
• Corporate Reform Coalition

Thanks for indulging me. Here’s what happened this week in politics…

Russia:

Update: I learned belatedly that Russian Lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya told NBC this week that she got some of the information she brought to the Trump Tower meeting with Don Jr. from Glenn Simpson. She received this information part of a case alleging money laundering against Russian company Prevezon in which Fusion GPS had been hired to do research.

1. Here’s a recap of the Trump associates that we know had contacts with Russian officials during the campaign or transition: Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Cohen, Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, George Papadopoulos, Carter Page, J.D. Gordon, Michael Flynn (and his son), Wilbur Ross, and Jeff Sessions. There were 21 known meetings and at least 30 reported meetings. Additional associates knew about the meetings, including Corey Lewandowski and Trump himself. Might not have been such a big deal if they just ‘fessed up in the first place.
2. Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya says that Trump Jr. asked for evidence that donations were made to Clinton’s campaign using money that had evaded U.S. taxes. She didn’t have any such evidence.
3. Veselnitskaya also says that Trump Jr. said they’d look into rescinding the Magnitsky Act if Trump won the election.
4. Robert Mueller interviews Stephen Miller, who attended the meeting in March of 2016 where Papadopoulos said he could arrange a meeting between Trump and Putin.
5. Mueller questions witnesses about a meeting in September 2016 between Flynn and Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-Cal), bringing a member of Congress into the probe for the first time. We don’t know what was discussed yet, but Kevin McCarthy (R-Cal), once said, “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump.”
6. Corey Lewandowski, who previously had no recollection of conversations about Russia, now says Carter Page’s testimony has refreshed his memory and that he knew of Page’s trip to Russia in 2016 in which Page talked about the campaign with Russian officials.
7. Trump’s bodyguard testifies that while Trump was in Russia, Trump’s hosts offered to send 5 women to his hotel room but Trump declined.
8. Mueller requests documents relevant to the proposed Trump Tower in Moscow.
9. Mueller has enough evidence on Flynn and his son to charge them both. Charges include money laundering, lying to federal agents, and what sounds like conspiracy to kidnap. Flynn allegedly agreed to forcibly remove a Turkish cleric from the U.S. to Turkey for $15 million.
10. Jared Kushner didn’t disclose on his financial disclosure that a company he cofounded was partially funded by a Russian tech leader (Yuri Milner). Kushner said he never relied on Russian funding for his business ventures.
11. Unrelated to Russia specifically, the DOJ seeks a plea agreement with Manafort’s son-in-law, Jeffrey Yohai, related to financial crimes involved with Manafort’s crimes.
12. A federal judge places a gag order on the Manafort and Gates cases, forbidding them from making any public statements that could be prejudicial.
13. Russian trolls made a final propaganda push as soon as our polls opened on Nov. 8, 2016. They used accounts that they had started years ago to build large followings on social media. These “sleeper” accounts issued very targeted and metered tweets with praise for Trump and contempt for Clinton. This lasted from the time the first polls opened to the time the last ones closed.
14. Several of the Russian troll Twitter accounts that posted about our election also posted about Brexit, with a big push on voting day in Great Britain.
15. On his Asia trip, Trump reiterates that he takes Putin at his word when he says Russia didn’t meddle in our elections, contradicting the findings of our intelligence agencies. He says again that there was no collusion.
16. Trump then flip-flops and says that he believes Putin believes he didn’t meddle in the election, but that Trump himself is with our own intelligence agencies.
17. Previous intelligence officials say they think Trump is being played by Putin.
18. A group of House and Senate Republicans are working to discredit Mueller in order to force him out of the investigation. They say we’re in danger of a coup d’etat. They’re trying to tie Mueller to the 2010 Uranium One sale, Bill Clinton’s speeches in Russia, and the Steele dossier. The main players here are Representatives Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Louie Gohmert (R-TX).
19. It’s reported that Trump asked CIA Director Pompeo to meet with a conspiracy theorist who claims that the DNC leaked their own emails instead of the Russians hacking and releasing them. Even Pompeo says that’s wrong, though he once testified that Russia was unsuccessful in its attempts to meddle in our elections. The CIA later walked that back.

Courts/Justice:

1. A year after his election, Trump has filled eight appellate judges, more than any other president at this point in their term since Nixon. A ninth is in the midst of approval right now.
2. Just before Trump took office, lawyers joining his administration came up with a plan to fill federal appeals courts with young and conservative judges in order to take advantage of this chance to reshape our judiciary. They started by filling open seats where Democrats in Trump-supporting states are up for re-election next year so they’d feel pressure to approve his nominees.
3. The Senate Judiciary committee approves Brett Talley, nominated by Trump for a lifetime judgeship. Talley is a lawyer and far-right blogger who has never tried a case.

Healthcare:

1. The White House prepares an executive order that would loosen the requirement that all Americans have health insurance.
2. The attempts at discouraging people from signing up for the ACA aren’t working. A record number of people signed up in the first week, with 600,000 signing up in just the first four days. Enrollment this year lasts half as long as last year, though some states will allow signups into January.
3. The Department of Health and Human Services says states can require Medicaid recipients to work in order to receive benefits even though over 70% of recipients are disabled and many of them can’t work.
4. In a referendum, Maine voters vote to expand Medicaid under the ACA. Maine’s governor, Paul LePage, has refused the expansion ever since the ACA passed, and now says he’ll refuse to implement the voters’ referendum.
5. Even though Notre Dame fought the ACA requirement to cover birth control in its insurance plans, the school announces they’ll continue coverage through a third party, just like they have ever since the ACA passed.
6. Five states file a preliminary injunction against the rollback of the birth control mandate of the ACA, calling it unconstitutional and discriminatory.

International:

1. Trumps spends the week in Asia, meeting with his counterparts in Japan, China, South Korea, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
2. Trump asks Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe if Japan could start making cars in the United States. Which they‘ve been doing for decades.
3. Trump says Japan could shoot down North Korea’s missiles if they bought American military equipment.
4. Trump says he doesn’t blame China for what he perceives as one-sided trade deals; he blames previous administrations pretty much for being spineless.
5. Trump meets with the Philippines’ Duterte on the last days of his trip, ending his trip the way it started—amid protests.
6. Last week, I missed reporting that the Prime Minister of Lebanon resigned, citing an inability to unify the different religious factions of his government. Now rumors abound that Saudi Arabia is behind this and that the prime minister is a prisoner there. There’s speculation that Saudi Arabia is making a bolder move against Iran.
7. The Trump administration imposes new travel sanctions on Cuba, rolling back Obama’s opening up of travel to the country. Americans are once again restricted on why they can travel there, and on where they can stay and spend their money in Cuba.
8. The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) leader says Trump is hurting diplomacy by cutting senior diplomats and officials in the State Department. The expertise and experience of the exiting officials will be hard (if not impossible) to replace.
9. Interest in joining the Foreign Service has declined steeply this year.
10. On top of all that, Tillerson announces plans to offer more buyouts to staff.
11. A 7.3 earthquake shocks the Iraq/Iran border, killing more than 450.
12. After spending 10 months learning about the Middle East, Trump’s team begins drafting their peace plan.

Legislation/Congress:

1. Paul Ryan sets a new record for the most closed rules in a session with a total of 49. A closed rule process prevents legislators from proposing amendments to a bill, and Ryan hasn’t let one bill go through the amendment process. He’s the only speaker in modern history to completely forego the open process. So enough already with the “Democrats are obstructing” complaint.
2. Senate Democrats introduce the Assault Weapons Ban of 2017, a bill to “ban the sale, transfer, manufacture and importation of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.”
3. Senators plan to draft a bill that would force all military branches to report domestic violence instances to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The system failed at many points to prevent the Sutherland Springs shooter from obtaining a weapon. The Air Force didn’t report the shooter’s domestic violence background, and the Pentagon says that military branches have failed to report the outcomes of criminal cases to the background check system for decades.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

1. The DHS ends Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Nicaraguans who were allowed into the U.S. in 1998 after Nicaragua was hit by a hurricane. Their status has been routinely renewed for the 19 years they’ve been here, but now they either need to leave or apply for permanent status.
2. Under the same review, the DHS allows Hondurans here under the same program to stay, with their status to be evaluated at a later time. There are also a number of Haitians and Salvadorans here under TPS.
3. Trump’s Chief of Staff, John Kelly, puts pressure on Elaine Duke of the DHS to expel the Hondurans who are in the U.S. under TPS, but she declines.
4. There are around 300,000 immigrants here under TPS who could be deported if their status isn’t renewed. They’ve been here long enough to build lives, careers, and families, including around 275,000 children born in the U.S.
5. Dozens of DACA applications were delayed by the Postal Service and arrived a day late, even though they were sent weeks in advance. So far, those applications have been rejected, but lawyers are suing to get them accepted.
6. Under Trump, an estimated 1,400 veterans have been deported.
7. Illustrating the growing white nationalist sentiment in Europe and the U.S., 60,000 white nationalists march on Poland’s independence day. They want to cleanse Poland of Jews, Muslims, and gay people.

Climate/EPA:

1. Syria announces they’ll join the Paris climate agreement, leaving the U.S. as the sole climate change denier.
2. Trump wasn’t invited to the climate change summit later this year in France.
3. A proposal from the Trump administration would force markets to guarantee profits to coal-fired and nuclear power plants that aren’t doing well in competitive electricity markets. This is most interesting because the GOP has long complained about subsidies for renewable energies while at the same time fossil fuel subsidies have been through the roof.
4. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) proposes legislation to open part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling. Because it’s part of the Budget Resolution, it only requires 51 votes to pass in the Senate.
5. Senate Democrats call for an investigation into the EPA for their plan to remove independent scientists from advisory boards and replace them instead with scientists from the industries they’re supposed to oversee (fossil fuels and chemicals, mostly).
6. Documents show that Duke Energy edited reports from professors they hired to study the impact of coal ash ponds on groundwater safety. The professors were supposed to work independently of the company, but emails show they coordinated their work.
7. Despite last week’s report that manmade climate change is the real deal, the EPA’s Scott Pruitt continues to dismantle the Clean Power Plan. Pruitt says the report is part of the ongoing climate debate.
8. Filling the void at the federal level, a group of U.S. businessmen and state and local government officials attend the Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, where they showcase their coalition’s plans to meet our commitments to mitigate climate change.

Budget/Economy:

1. According to the Tax Policy Center’s corrected analysis of the tax plan:

In 2018, 76% of taxpayers would see a tax cut of $1,900 on average, and 7% would see an increase of around $2,100. The top 1% of earners would see the biggest increase. In 2027, 59% of taxpayers would see a tax cut of about $2,300, and 25% would see an increase of about $2,100. The lowest earning 25% would have the greatest percent decrease, while those earning in the 90-95th income percentile would see the greatest increase (largely due to the loss of deductions like state and local taxes). The number of people using itemized deductions would fall by 75% in 2018 and by 65% in 2027.

2. The CBO says the tax plan will add $1.7 trillion to the debt over the next decade.
3. The tax plan would discourage post-grad work for college students by taxing them on their tuition waivers.
4. The Senate releases their tax package, which differs from the House version on some key issues:

• • Delays cutting the corporate tax from 35% to 20% until 2019.
  • Keeps seven brackets instead of reducing them to four.
  • Keeps the estate tax but also doubles the exemption amount.
  • Keeps the mortgage interest deduction.
  • Eliminates the state and local tax deduction.

5. Trump says that the new tax plan would kill him.
6. Over 400 of America’s wealthiest sign on to a letter to Congress urging them not to cut their taxes.
7. In revealing the ways the wealthy save their money, the Paradise Papers also show that U.S. Universities send money overseas to avoid taxes, using offshore accounts to invest in things like oil, gas, and coal.
8. After months of putting up with Trump’s efforts to renegotiate NAFTA, agricultural groups start fighting to save the agreement. NAFTA has been beneficial to the U.S. ag business, just as TPP would have been. According to one association leader, “The importance of trade to economic growth in the food and ag sector is so fundamental that there tends to be an assumption that everyone understands that.” Obviously, not everybody does.
9. Hours after Trump says (on his Pacific Rim tour) that we won’t be “taken advantage of anymore” by poor trade agreements, 11 Pacific Rim nations announce key agreements on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement without us.
10. China also moves ahead on a potential deal with 16 other Asian countries, and the European Union and Japan are working on trade deals with a group of South American countries that includes Brazil and Argentina.
11. The Department of Education plans to offer buyouts to 255 employees after already cutting about 8% of its staff this year. Betsy DeVos’s budget cuts $9.2 billion from the education budget and gets rid of teacher training and college prep programs. Of course it invests in charter schools and vouchers. Congress will likely restore any cuts she makes.
12. The DOJ tells AT&T and Time Warner that if they want their merger to go through, they have to sell off CNN.

Elections:

1. Democrats make gains in state and local elections across the country, winning the top offices in New Jersey and Virginia, several mayoral elections, and turning one (possibly two) state houses Democrat (there are some recounts in VA). People of color, especially women of color, and openly LGBT people make big gains in elected office.
2. Four women accuse Republican candidate for Alabama Senate, Roy Moore, of sexual misconduct that allegedly occurred when they were teenagers and Moore was in his 30s.
3. Trump and Republicans continue to support Moore, using a variety of justifications: They call the accusations unproven; they cast doubt on the women’s reliability (though Moore’s colleagues also say he dated teenagers while in his 30s); and my favorite, a pastor says that Joseph and Mary had the same age difference.
4. Republicans consider alternatives to Moore, like fielding a write-in candidate or pushing back the election date. They did stop fundraising for Moore, and Mitch McConnell says Moore needs to step down if the allegations are true.
5. Remember Trump’s voter fraud commission? Committee member Matt Dunlap files a federal suit against the commission saying that Democrats on the committee aren’t being kept apprised of what’s going on.

Miscellaneous:

1. It’s amazing how quickly rumors sped around that Rand Paul’s attacker was a deranged Democrat. Turns out they just had neighbor issues. But Paul is hurt pretty badly and won’t be back to work for a bit.
2. The U.S. is one of only three countries that protects the right to bear arms in its constitution.
3. Trump says the Texas shooting is a mental health issue. Of note, in February the GOP Congress and Trump rescinded a rule that would prevent some mentally disabled people from getting guns.
4. Representative Ted Lieu (R-Cal) walks out of a moment of silence in the House for the victims of the Texas shooting. Lieu says he can no longer stay silent about gun violence and it’s time for Congress to take action. His short time in office has seen three of the worst mass shootings in the U.S.
5. After a cooling off period, talks stall in Congress over banning bump stocks like the one used in the Las Vegas shootings. Bump stocks are also being sold again after a brief pause.
6. Remember when Carl Icahn quietly left his role as Trump’s special advisor on regulatory reform? Well, this week New York state attorneys issue his company several subpoenas around his actions in the market during the time he was advising Trump.
7. Trump ends the Warrior Canine Connection program, which trains service dogs for wounded veterans and their families. They’ve been partnering with military facilities since 2009. Trainers and puppy raisers at Fort Belvoir and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center were given less than a day to vacate their offices with no reason given.
8. Mental health professional send a “duty to warn” letter to Congress about Trump’s fitness for office.
9. The FBI database of gun buyers is missing millions of criminal and mental health records that would prevent some people from getting guns. Agencies responsible for sending the information simply haven’t been doing it.
10. And now for a little good news, the DOJ is liquidating Bernie Madoff’s companies and distributing recovered funds to his victims. They’ll likely get back about 75% of their losses. It’s still a loss, but at least not a complete loss.

Polls:

1. 8% of Trump voters say they’d vote for a generic Democrat in 2020.
2. After Virginia’s elections, 51% of voters say their vote was partially because of Trump. 34% voted in opposition Trump; 17% voted in support of Trump.
3. Only 32% of voters in counties that Trump won think the country is better off now; 41% say it’s worse off; and 53% don’t think Trump has a clear agenda.
4. 65% of Americans don’t think Trump has accomplished much as president.
5. The percentage of Americans who are very concerned about Trump-Russia contacts rises from 27% in July to 44% today.