Tag: climatechange

Week 138 in Trump

Posted on September 18, 2019 in Trump

In the 60s and 70s, Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River caught on fire — a lot.

Despite all the distractions, much of Trump’s accomplishments so far are around deregulations, and he caps it off this week by reversing Obama’s Clean Water rules. Even members of the industries that pollute say he’s gone too far. I’m happy to live in California, where although we struggle with pollution and greenhouse gases, we also work on and support solutions for it. I remember pictures from when I was young of smog-filled air and brown lakes and streams that sometimes caught on fire. Those should remind us why there’s a reason and a need for some federal regulation.

Here’s what else happened in politics for the week ending September 15…

Shootings This Week:

  1. The week‘s mass shootings (defined as killing or injuring four or more people). There’s not as much information as usual about most of these shootings:
    • A shooter injures four teenage boys in Chicago.
    • A shooting in Albuquerque, NM, leaves four people dead and two more injured.
    • Another shooting in Albuquerque leaves one person dead and three more injured.
    • A shooting in Lagrange, GA, leaves four people injured.
    • A shooting that started outside a bar in Oakland, CA, leaves two people dead and seven more injured.
    • A shooting in St. Louis, MO, leaves one person dead and three more injured.
  1. 145 CEOs send a letter to members of the Senate urging them to move forward on gun control measures. They say that doing nothing at this point is simply unacceptable. They want universal background checks and red flag laws, among other reforms.
  2. During the Democratic presidential primary debates, Beto O’Rourke says, “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15’s.” In response, Texas legislator Briscoe Cain tweets, “My AR is ready for you Robert Francis.” (Robert Francis is Beto’s legal name.) Twitter sees it as a threat and removes the tweet, and Cain is reported to the FBI.
  3. Trump honors first responders from Dayton, OH, and El Paso, TX, at a White House event, but excludes first responders from the Gilroy Garlic Festival, where a shooting occurred just days before Dayton and El Paso.

Russia:

  1. The DOJ seeks to block House Democrats from getting the requested unredacted Mueller report along with the underlying evidence, including grand jury testimony.
  2. On the other hand, the DOJ does release parts of Mueller’s conflict-of-interest waiver. The portions released show that a top DOJ ethics official determined that Mueller’s background and reputation would make any reasonable person trust his independence. Despite this, Trump and his allies have tried to portray Mueller as running a team of Democrats executing a vendetta against Trump.

Legal Fallout:

  1. In response to claims that he’s profiting off the presidency, Trump says he’ll release an “extremely complete” report about his financial records. He doesn’t say when, though.
  2. It turns out that Air Force crews have used Trump’s Turnberry resort in Scotland at least 40 times since 2015, more than was previously thought.
  3. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals reinstates a lawsuit that accuses Trump of violating the emoluments clause. The suit was brought by businesses that compete with Trump. A separate emoluments clause brought by two state attorneys general was already dismissed, and another one brought by Democrats in Congress is still in court.
  4. The Director of National Intelligence has neglected to turn over required whistleblower documents to Congress. Intelligence employees can report urgent concerns to the Inspector General, who has 14 days to report those concerns to the Director of National Intelligence. The Director then has 7 days to forward the information to the intelligence committees in Congress.
    • Acting DNI Joseph Maguire has not forwarded the information by the deadline, which was September 2.
    • Maguire did, however, bring the information to the DOJ.
    • The IG alerted House Intelligence Committee heads to let them know about it.
    • Committee Chair Adam Schiff sends two letters to Maguire and finally subpoenas the information.
  1. Michael Flynn’s sentencing is set for December 18th. This has been a long time coming—he pleaded guilty on December 1, 2017.
  2. The House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight committees all open investigations into whether Trump, Giuliani and others tried to manipulate the Ukraine justice system and applied pressure to Ukraine’s government in order to help with Trump’s re-election.
  3. The House Judiciary Committee approves a resolution defining an impeachment roadmap and making changes to their operations to make their hearings similar to Watergate.
    • This gives the chairman, Jerry Nadler, powers to convene hearings more quickly.
    • It gets rid of the questioning format where each member gets 5 minutes to question a witness. The new format will allow committee staff counsels to do the questioning.
    • The committee can now collect information in secret sessions.
    • The committee is looking at the hush money payments to mistresses, allegations of emoluments clause violations, and five areas of obstruction of justice outlined in Robert Mueller’s report.
  1. After the DOJ refuses Andrew McCabe’s request to drop their case against him, the grand jury for the case is called back to DC courthouses. But by the end of the week, they still haven’t indicted McCabe on anything. We don’t know if they rejected the indictment, because the DOJ isn’t talking about it.

Courts/Justice:

  1. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor writes a blistering dissent to the ruling that Trump can carry out his “third-country” ban on asylum seekers while the lawsuit is going through the courts. The ban requires refugees who pass through a third country to apply for asylum there before applying in the U.S.
    • The Supreme Court acknowledges that Trump will likely lose the case on legal merits because we don’t have a safe third-country agreement with Mexico.
  1. Two New York Times reporters release an excerpt of a new book about their investigation into the allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh from his high school and college days. They uncover another allegation, but the victim doesn’t remember it happening. A witness says he saw it happen. And now everyone’s talking about impeaching Kavanaugh again.
  2. And what timing. The DOJ gives the lawyers who worked to push through Kavanaugh’s confirmation the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service. It’s the second highest honor in the DOJ.
  3. Trump says “his” DOJ should rescue Kavanaugh. 1) They’re not his DOJ and 2) they don’t represent SCOTUS.

Healthcare:

  1. After six people die and 450 get sick with a vaping-related lung disease, Health and Human Services announces they’ll pull flavored e-cigarettes off the market leaving only tobacco-flavored ones.
  2. The number of uninsured children in the U.S. went up by almost half a million in 2018 from 2017. This is the second year the number increased. One reason is that they’re being dropped from Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
  3. The number of uninsured Americans increases for the first time since the ACA passed in 2010. 27.5 million people now lack health insurance.
  4. A federal court blocks North Dakota’s law that would’ve required doctors to lie to their patients about being able to reverse a medical abortion.
  5. Purdue Pharma reaches a tentative agreement for a $3 billion settlement. But then we find out that the Sackler family, which owns Purdue, is trying to hide a significant amount of wealth in companies, trusts, and offshore accounts.
    • The New York State Attorney General says they found at least $1 billion in wire transfers.
    • Some states reject the proposed agreement and instead want something closer to $12 billion.
  1. An anti-vaccination activist throws a menstrual cup filled with blood at state senators in California as they’re wrapping up their legislative session. They had earlier passed a bill tightening vaccination rules and a bill allowing abortion pills on California college campuses. It’s not clear which one she was protesting.
  2. The House of Representatives passes a bill requiring carbon monoxide detectors in public housing.

International:

  1. Iran acknowledges that they’re breaking their part of the Iran Deal, just like they promised they would when the U.S. made it impossible for all involved parties to keep their parts of the deal.
  2. The Senate confirms Kelly Kraft as UN Ambassador. Kraft was previously the Ambassador to Canada, but didn’t spend much time there. She also thinks there are “good scientists on both sides” of the climate debate.
  3. Trump considers easing up on the pressure on Iran, and gets pushback from John Bolton (who probably would like nothing more than to invade Iran). That might’ve led to his ouster.
  4. In the run-up to the Israeli elections, Prime Minister Netanyahu promises to annex all Israeli settlements (a third of the West Bank) if voters elect him again.
    • Wait. Didn’t Israel just have elections? Yes, but Netanyahu failed to build a coalition government and now they’re having redo.
  1. A court in Scotland rules that Prime Minister Boris Johnson lied to the queen in order to obtain approval to suspend Parliament.
  2. The Wall Street Journal reports that at the G-7 Summit in France last month, Trump loudly asked, “Where’s my favorite dictator?” He was looking for Egyptian President (and real life dictator) Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
  3. Saudi Arabia’s oil industry suffers major losses in a series of drone attacks. Yemeni Houthi rebels take credit, but Mike Pompeo says Iran is behind the attacks. Half of Saudi Arabia’s crude production shuts down for the day, and oil prices spikes.
    • Trump tweets that we’re “locked and loaded” and waiting for further information from Saudi Arabia to determine a plan of action.
    • After the attacks, Trump says he never said he’d meet with Iranian President Rouhani without conditions. It was Trump’s own cabinet who made those claims in the first place (Pompeo and Mnuchin).
  1. A counterterrorism operation results in the death of Osama bin Laden’s son, Hamza Bin Laden.
  2. It turns out that Trump is skeptical of using foreign intelligence from covert sources (aka spies). He says they aren’t credible and undermine his relationships with foreign leaders. This comes out after the kerfuffle about extracting our mole in the Kremlin, where news agencies have all but outed his identity.
  3. Federal agencies, including the FBI, accuse Israel of trying to spy on Trump by putting cell phone surveillance devices called StingRays near the White House. Trump defends Israel, saying he finds it hard to believe the devices were placed by Israeli agents.
  4. The U.S. prepares to send 150 additional troops to Syria despite Trump’s previous announcement of a troop withdrawal.
  5. After demonstrators march in Hong Kong again, violence breaks out between protestors and police and between different protest groups. Protestors throw gasoline bombs toward the Legislative Council Building, while police respond with tear gas and water canons.
    • Protestors also ask Britain and the U.S. to liberate them from China.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. North Carolina politics are our worst example of democracy, and this week is no different. Republicans in the State House have been waiting for the chance to override the governor’s veto of a budget bill passed by both state chambers. Both chambers are held by Republicans, and the governor is a Democrat. They get their chance on 9/11 when Democrats are told they don’t need to be in chambers for a vote and Republicans are told they do need to be in chambers for a vote. Now the State Senate needs to vote to override the veto.
    • Conflicting reports emerge after the public outcry over this, with Republicans saying Democrats knew about this. So we’re stuck in a he-said/she-said moment.

Border Wall/Shutdown/National Emergency:

  1. The U.S. Air Force releases a report describing each of the military projects that will lose their funding because of Trump’s wall. The report says that this plan puts our national security at greater risk.
  2. The defunding affects over 50 military projects, in the U.S. and abroad, all to build 175 miles of fence along the 2,000-mile-long border.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. Trump’s xenophobia is on display. He dismisses the idea of letting residents of the hardest hit parts of the Bahamas into the U.S. on humanitarian grounds He thinks they should just go to the “large sections” of their country that weren’t hit, because “bad people” might exploit the refugee process. He then announces that he won’t extend temporary protected status to them either. Despite that, 1,500 Bahamans have come here.
  2. Trump’s African American leaves the GOP. Gregory Cheadle was at a Trump rally when Trump pointed him out and declared him “my African American.” Cheadle’s now running for the House as an Independent. When made aware of this, Trump doesn’t remember who Cheadle is.
  3. Remember how the judge in Brock Turner’s rape case let him off with a six-month sentence because he was a good kid with a promising future? That judge got knocked off the bench but then somehow secured a job as a girls tennis coach. The judge who thinks boys who rape girls don’t need to be punished is coaching… girls. It takes just a day or two of opposition for the school to realize their mistake and fire him.
  4. After John Bolton’s ouster, Trump names Charles M. Kupperman to be acting National Security Director. Kupperman once served on the board of the Center for Security Policy, designated as an anti-Muslim hate group. The center spread unfounded stories about Obama being Muslim, and released a report on how the Muslim Brotherhood is stealthily imposing Sharia law in Western countries.
  5. The Supreme Court ruling that Trump can temporarily enforce his safe third-country asylum rule for refugees who travel through Mexico affects people who started the asylum process earlier this summer who now might not be eligible. They’ll have to start the process all over again.
    • And I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but Mexico has no safe third-country agreement with us, so it’s pretty certain Trump will lose this in court. So all this upending of refugees who are seeking asylum will be a lot of harm for no good reason.
    • Again, Mexico is not a safe country for many people fleeing gangs, because the gangs just follow them there. Refugees waiting to get into the U.S. are routinely kidnapped in Mexico.
  1. We still don’t know the immigration status of people who are getting life-saving medical treatment in the U.S. through special medical visas. They are supposed to self-deport at the end of the week. Administration officials still can’t explain how or why the rules were changed, though we do know that a top official recommends that Citizenship and Immigration Services not be allowed to delay these deportations.
  2. A Muslim mayor in New Jersey says he was stopped by Customs and Border Protection agents at JFK airport, where he was detained for three hours and questioned about his knowledge of terrorists. CPB confiscated his cell phone and held it for 12 days.
  3. Italy loosens its hard stance on taking in refugees, allowing a rescue vessel to bring its 82 refugees ashore. Italy’s new administration is looking to end the previous administration’s hostility toward migrants.
  4. An arsonist destroys a 119-year-old synagogue in Duluth, MN.
  5. California adds Iowa to its travel ban for trips funded by taxpayers. This is the 11th state to be banned by California for perceived violations of civil rights. In Iowa’s case, they removed gender identity protections under Medicaid.
  6. Anti-ICE protestors stage a sit-in at the Microsoft store in New York City, demanding the company end its contracts with ICE. 76 are arrested.
  7. Maybe #MeToo has been more successful than I thought. In 2018 (and for the first time), more CEOs were let go because of ethical lapses than because of financial performance or struggles within the board, and sexual indiscretions were among those ethical lapses.
  8. California upends its private prison industry by banning private prisons, including migrant detention centers.

Climate:

  1. To put a cap on SharpieGate, it turns out that Trump pushed his aides to have NOAA refute weather forecasters about Hurricane Dorian’s path. In response, Mick Mulvaney asked Wilbur Ross to have NOAA spokespeople contradict the forecasters in Alabama who corrected the president on Dorian’s path. NOAA spokespeople did so, even though the forecasters were right.
  2. And then the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology opens an investigation into whether Ross pressured NOAA’s administrator into publicly contradicting their own forecasters. Seems pretty cut and dried.
  3. The Trump administration repeals Obama’s Waters of the US rule that protected drinking water for over 100 million Americans and that extended the federal government’s ability to limit pollution in large bodies of water. The EPA also plans to further restrict what can be defined as protected bodies of water later this year.
  4. In response to all of Trump’s rollbacks of environmental and labor protections, the California legislature passes a bill to reinstate all of those protections in the state. It’s not certain the governor will sign it, though, because some of the water provisions could adversely affect farmers in the Central Valley.
  5. Somalia is in the midst of its worst drought in 8 years.
  6. The House passes a bill to block offshore drilling in Alaska near the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Budget/Economy:

  1. Trump calls on the Fed to reduce interest rates to “ZERO, or less.” Many countries in Europe have done the same to bolster their sluggish economies.
    • If we lower our interest rates too much in an economy that’s still doing well, we won’t be able to lower them again to slow down a recession should one occur.
  1. The Consumer Price Index rose 2.4% in August over the previous year, indicating possible sustained inflation. This could make it harder for the Fed to justify lowering interest rates again.
  2. Trump says the Fed should start refinancing our debt. There’s no precedent for us to do that, but maybe it’s possible? I don’t know.
  3. Trumps postpones his latest tariffs against Chinese imports for two weeks in order to sooth a jumpy stock market. China responds by suspending tariff increases on U.S. pork and soybeans.
  4. Economists say the damage is done, though, and there are clear downturns in fixed investment and capital expenditures, CEO and business confidence, job openings and plans for hiring, consumer spending, and hours worked per week.
    • They blame the trade war for reducing U.S. employment by 300,000 jobs, which is expected to be 450,000 by the end of the year. If nothing changes, it could be 900,000 by the end of 2020.
  1. The deficit passed $1 trillion for the fiscal year, but there’s one month left in the year, and that’s the month that quarterly tax payments come in. So the deficit could narrow.
  2. Corporations paid 7.6% of the total taxes collected by the U.S. government in 2018, nearly a 60-year low.
  3. California passes a statewide rent control bill limiting annual rent increases and tightening rules around evictions. California’s housing costs are soaring, contributing to the problems of homelessness and poverty. Very few states have rent controls, but housing is a problem across the country, so states will be looking to see how rent control succeeds.
  4. At the same time, Trump orders White House officials to address homelessness in California. He’s often attacked California over this problem, placing the blame on Democratic politicians. He calls California’s homelessness problems a “disgrace to our country.”
    • We’ll see what his plans are. It’s a very tough issue to tackle, especially with a weakened social safety net and rising housing costs nationwide.

Elections:

  1. Trump takes time out from presidenting to hold a campaign rally for a Representative seat in North Carolina. The race is super close, but the Republican pulls it out in the end.
  2. A federal judge blocks Tennessee’s latest law restricting paid voter registration drives. The judge says that state officials didn’t offer any basis for the law, which would restrict free speech and intimidate organizers.
  3. Trump posts a “Trump 2024” campaign sign, joking about serving more than two terms. Haha. Ha. Ha. No.
  4. During the Democratic presidential primary debates, ABC airs an ad from the GOP that depicts a fire burning Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s face and then showing dead bodies and skeletons from the Khmer Rouge. Because socialism=Khmer Rouge, right?

Miscellaneous:

  1. John Bolton is out! This makes number 54 gone from Trump’s administration. Trump says he fired him; Bolton says he resigned. Bolton goes so far as to tweet into a live airing of Fox & Friends to correct the record.
  2. I rarely agree with Bolton, but I agree with him when he said meeting the Taliban on U.S. soil so close to 9/11 would be tone deaf. The meeting was Trump’s idea, and Bolton’s objections annoyed him.
  3. Trump calls H.R. McMaster, his second National Security Advisor, to say that he misses him. It turns out that Trump has consulted with McMaster a few times since he fired him by tweet.
  4. Three of Bolton’s aides also resign.

Week 135 in Trump

Posted on August 27, 2019 in Politics, Trump

Even though the stock market did well under Obama, I would still argue that the president doesn’t have that much control over the markets. But in this new world where everything’s upside down, you can see by the image above that yes, the president does have some control over the markets. I’ve lost count of how many times the market has dumped because of Trump’s careless speech and tweets, and then perked back up because he announced something that didn’t come to fruition. Maybe he has more power over the markets because he’s the chosen one, the King of Israel, and the second coming. And yes, he did say he was all that…

Here’s what happened in politics for the week ending August 25…

Missing From Last Week:

  1. In July, Trump expanded his policy of making asylum seekers wait in Mexico to two additional cities, more than doubling the number of refugees ordered to wait out their time in Mexico.
  2. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue cracks jokes about whiny farmers two days after China says they’ll stop buying all U.S. agricultural products. Farmers are already hurting because of the trade wars, and the bailout isn’t paying them anything close to what they’d make if they could actually sell their products.

Shootings This Week:

  1. The week‘s mass shootings (defined as killing or injuring four or more people):
    • A shooter injures four people at a block party near the campus of Clark Atlanta University.
    • A shooter injures four people, including a social worker and a security guard, near Skid Row in Los Angeles.
    • A shooter kills two people and injures two more outside a bar in Columbia, South Carolina.
    • A shooter kills an eight-year-old and injures three people after a football jamboree in St. Louis.
    • A shooter kills three people and injures two more in Houston. Police think it’s gang-related.
    • A shooter injures seven people at a toddler’s birthday party in Maryland.
    • A shooter kills one person and injures three more at a playground in Massachusetts. That asshole also kills the dog of one of the victims.
    • A teenager in New Mexico kills three people and injures four more.
    • Someone fires shots into a crowd in Chicago killing one and injuring three.
  1. After Trump lays the blame for mass shootings on mental illness, DHHS warned federal health officials not to post anything on social media about it, fearing the experts would contradict Trump.
    • What were they afraid they’d say? They’d say that mental illness is not a predictor in mass shootings and the vast majority of mass shooters have no diagnosed mental illness.
  1. The Parkland students release an ambitious gun control plan that includes expanding background checks, increasing wait periods, raising the minimum purchase age, instituting red flag laws, creating a national licensing and gun registry, banning assault weapons (which still need to be defined) and high capacity magazines, and creating a new director role to coordinate the federal response.
  2. Trump says he’s in favor of expanding background checks, and then after a call with NRA head Wayne LaPierre he says he’s not for it. And then later he says he might be for it.
  3. Dick’s Sporting Goods has a strong quarter despite their decision to reduce gun sales.
  4. The day before the El Paso shooting, Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent out a fundraising mailer calling on Republicans to “DEFEND TEXAS NOW” and to take matters into their own hands. The mailer referenced the number of immigrants caught crossing the border illegally the previous month.

Russia:

  1. Since the explosion of the nuclear-propelled missile Russia was testing, four of the nearby nuclear monitoring stations have gone silent. The monitoring stations are part of a global network created to verify everyone is complying with the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
  2. Like Russia, China gets into the disinformation game. Twitter removes nearly 1,000 accounts and suspends around 200,000 because a state-backed disinformation campaign has been targeting the pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong.
  3. Trump says he’ll invite Putin to next year’s G-7 Summit, which will likely be hosted at a Trump property. He just can’t let this one go.

Legal Fallout:

  1. An IRS whistle blower reports to the House Ways and Means Committee that there has been potentially inappropriate interference with the process of auditing Trump’s tax returns.
  2. Trump’s financial disclosure statements conflict with his filings with the United Kingdom regarding the value and income of his golf courses in Scotland. This is a violation of the Ethics in Government Act.
  3. Rudy Giuliani confirms that the State Department helped him push Ukraine to open investigations into former Vice President Biden and into the Democratic National Committee, which Ukraine is now doing. Giuliani thinks possible crimes might include “bribery, extortion, fraud, money laundering and illegal interference in 2016 election.”
    • The current Ukrainian prosecutor general says they’ve already looked into Biden and there’s nothing there.

Healthcare:

  1. Because of Trump’s changes to the rules, Planned Parenthood withdraws from the Title X family planning program, which provides funding for healthcare services for low-income and underserved communities. Trump’s rule prohibits Title X recipients from providing abortions or referring patients for abortions except in the case of rape, incest, or medical emergency.
    • Planned Parenthood serves about 40% of all Title X recipients, providing preventive care, contraception, and yes, abortions.
    • Maine’s sole Title X provider also withdraws.
    • Title X has had a huge influence in reducing unintended pregnancies and thus reducing abortions. Without it, the number of unintended pregnancies is estimated to double for poor women.
    • IMO, now we’ll have more babies on welfare and we’ll bitch about that too.
  1. At least three children held in migrant detention centers have died, in part from the flu; yet the government won’t be giving any detainees a flu shot. It’s like they’re hoping to cause a pandemic or something.
    • Fun fact: Prior to Trump, no child had died in U.S. immigration custody in nearly a decade.
  1. Five years into the ACA, it’s eliminated 44% of the gap between insured wealthy and insured poor, and 27% of the gap between whites and minorities. Also, Lindsey Graham says Republicans will run on trying to repeal the ACA again in 2020.

International:

  1. The Pentagon’s inspector general reports their findings that ISIS is growing again in Syria and Iraq. The report blames Trump for the instability caused by drawing down troops in Syria too quickly and pulling all diplomatic personnel out of Iraq, which allowed a space for the militants to regroup.
    • Brett McGurk, the Special Envoy who resigned following Trump’s drawdown announcement, says he warned of this repeatedly at the time.
  1. After Trump floats buying Greenland from Denmark, the prime minister of Denmark says that’s absurd. So Trump calls her nasty (all strong women are nasty, right?). And since the world laughs at him, Trump decides to cancel his state visit to Denmark. He had been invited by Queen Margrethe II for a state visit the first week in September.
    • Why does Trump want to buy Greenland? Likely to exploit its fossil fuel reserves and to have a strategic military base location.
  1. Leaders in the European Union reject UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s request to restart Brexit negotiations.
  2. The British government announces they’ll halt all free movement between the UK and EU countries on day one of Brexit, even though there are no systems in place to support this. Experts say there’s no way that can be done because it can’t be enforced.
    • There are 3 million EU citizens in the UK. It’s unknown yet what will happen to the 1.3 million Brits living abroad in EU countries.
    • Immigration to Britain is at a five-year low, but that’s mostly from the EU. Migrants from other countries, which appeared to be what concerned Brexiters the most, is still high.
  1. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells the World Zionist Congress that Hitler only wanted to expel Jews, he didn’t want to exterminate them. He repeats a widely debunked conspiracy theory laying the blame for the holocaust on a Muslim leader named Haj Amin al-Husseini. I did not expect him to be a Hitler apologist.
  2. Trump heads off to the G-7 Summit, which is typically a time when some of the world’s major economies come together to work toward global solutions. But this time, the U.S. is an outlier in terms of trade, climate change, and Iran, and that throws a wrench in the typical agreements made here.
    • Instead of endorsing the standard communique (which reflects the G-7’s shared values), they end by endorsing a one-page document of issues they’ll continue to work on. This is only the second time since 1975 a communique hasn’t been endorsed.
    • Trump says these deals are unfair to the U.S. But of course he does. We’re always the victim in his mind.
    • Trump says Melania has gotten to know Kim Jong Un well. Not sure when they would’ve met? Turns out they have never met.
    • As far as Iran goes, Trump says, “The biggest part of the conclusion, they can’t have nuclear weapons.” Just a little history lesson. The reason conservatives gave for calling the Iran deal the worst deal ever is that it only dealt with nuclear weapons and didn’t deal with state-sponsored violence and terrorism. The deal was by all accounts tremendously successful in curtailing Iran’s nuclear capabilities. And now that Trump has scrapped that deal, all he wants is to curb their nuclear weapons? WTAF?
    • French President Macron invites the Iranian foreign minister to come by the G-7. He’s hoping to get Trump to meet with him eventually.
  1. Protests in Hong Kong escalate after a police officer shoots a live round into the air while police armed with water canons to disperse crowd. Demonstrators barricade streets and try to dismantle monitoring cameras installed around the city.
  2. Russia’s protests also continue. Several students have been arrested, and the opposition leader is finally released from a month-long stay in prison for starting the protests.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. The NYPD fires the officer who killed Eric Garner.
  2. A federal judge allows a lawsuit against Trump’s transgender military ban to move forward because transgender service members’ claim is constitutionally valid. However, only transgender troops who were forced to leave the military can file suit.
  3. A school board in Virginia that recently lost its court battle to defend its transgender bathroom bill says they’ll continue to fight the ruling. Don’t they have anything more productive to throw their energy behind?
  4. Trump accuses Jewish Americans who vote for Democrats of being disloyal, or if not disloyal, ignorant. Maybe I should send him a copy of “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”
    • This is the same Jewish trope that Ilhan Omar got called out for. Omar met with Jewish people, educated herself on why it was wrong, and apologized. I wonder if Trump will do the same?
    • Also, IKYMI, Jewish Americans overwhelmingly vote Democratic (by about 75% to 25%).
  1. The Trump administration issues a rule that allows them to indefinitely detain people who cross the border illegally, including families.
    • The change will also take away state’s licensing authority and give it to ICE.
    • I’m not sure how they’re getting around the Flores agreement, which limits the length of time we can detain minors.
    • Just a reminder, releasing them with papers allowing them to work costs us far, far less than detaining them. Detaining them costs around $750 per day, or nearly $274,000 per year. Given an average of 40,000 detainees, that’s close to $11 billion year. Do we hate them so much we’re willing to pay that price for their pain?
  1. The top aide to Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan resigns, frustrated with how the White House handles major policy rollouts.
    • The White House is mad that McAleenan undersold the rollout of the change in policy allowing indefinite detention.
  1. The Army lowers its recruitment expectations for 2019 after missing its goals in 2018. This is in no small part due to how immigrant and minority soldiers have been treated under this administration. They previously had certain protections, but now have to deal with fears of being deported, fears of their families being deported, and other soldiers who wear MAGA hats and patches. If you don’t know why that sparks fear in minorities, it‘s because white hate groups have embraced those hats and changed what was once just random campaign swag to a symbol of hate.
  2. North Carolina’s governor vetoes a bill that would have required sheriffs to work closely with ICE on immigration enforcement.
  3. Trump wants to end birthright citizenship, granted in the 14th Amendment, for children of immigrants.
  4. Trump also wants to reduce the number of refugees allowed into the U.S. each year. That number is already down to 30,000 from 85,000 in 2016.
  5. The DOJ sends an email to all immigration employees that includes a link to a white nationalist article that attacks immigration judges and uses racial slurs. The DOJ says the email is compiled by a third-party vendor and that they don’t review it before it goes out.
  6. New York, Connecticut, and Vermont sue to block Trump’s rule that could put immigrants’ legal residency or citizenship in jeopardy if they use any social welfare programs.

Climate:

  1. 16 of the past 17 years have been the hottest ever recorded, according to the National Climate Assessment. This heat correlates with an increase in intense and heavy precipitation.
  2. Mercedes-Benz joins VW, Ford, BMW, and Honda in their agreement with California on emissions limitations, which is in opposition to Trump’s recent reversal of Obama’s emissions regulations.
    • Last month, Trump summoned leaders of Toyota, General Motors, Chrysler, and Fiat to pressure them not to join in.
  1. Trump suggests in a meeting that we should drop nuclear bombs into the eyes of hurricanes to weaken them before they hit the U.S. This has been floated before, but it’s been known for decades that it wouldn’t work. There’s the obvious problem of radiation fallout, but also, a nuclear blast wouldn’t be strong enough to significantly affect the storm. My favorite description of the meeting so far? “You could hear a gnat fart in that meeting.”
  2. Trump skips the G-7 meeting on climate change, saying he had to deal with issues with Germany and India, but those leaders are actually in attendance at the meeting on climate change.
  3. At the end of the G-7, Trump says he‘s the greatest environmentalist to be president. Confusing, since most of his changes to regulations open us up to more pollution, worsening climate change, and exploitation by the fossil fuel industry. But then he addresses that by saying he cares more about keeping the U.S. wealthy. Ah… so greed is better than doing what’s right?
  4. At the G-7, leaders approve providing aide to help Brazil combat fires in the Amazon rainforest.
  5. The rainforest has been on fire for three weeks, with the number of fires up 85% from last year to more than 80,000 fires.
    • Brazil declared a state of emergency, but it seems that most of these fires were set by farmers, miners, and loggers who were encouraged by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
    • Bolsonaro says non-governmental organizations (NGOs) started the fires, but shows no evidence. He also fires the scientist who heads the agency that discovered the steep rise in deforestation.
  1. Why is this fire such a big deal?
    • The Amazon rainforest provides about 1/5 of the oxygen on the planet. So one out of every five breaths you take is thanks to the Amazon.
      UPDATE: I have to retract the above statement. Scientists don’t know where that 1/5 number came from and say it’s closer to 6%.
    • The fires release plumes of carbon monoxide, which cause smog and can exacerbate climate change.
    • The Amazon absorbs excess carbon dioxide, helping to stave off climate change.
    • Scientists predict that losing too much of the rainforest will change rainfall patterns around the globe, including in the U.S. Midwest, which would see a decline in rainfall.

Budget/Economy:

  1. J.P. Morgan predicts that tariffs will cost American families up to $1,000 per year.
  2. U.S. Steel plans to lay off 200 Michigan workers. This comes after their announcement that they’ll idle two blast furnaces due to declining steel prices and lower demand.
  3. Business analysts say the economic boost from the GOP tax cuts have dwindled, and they expect the economy to shrink by the second quarter of next year. Looks like that tax cut was just a quick sugar fix after all…
  4. Trump, along with two senior economic advisers, brush off concerns about an impending recession. Larry Kudlow and Peter Navarro both say the trade war isn’t hurting the economy, contradicting Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s words from the previous week. This is in response to economic indicators flashing recession warnings starting last week.
  5. Trump wants the Fed to cut interest rates by a full percentage point. Interest rates are already relatively low, and cutting them too much right now doesn’t give the Fed much wiggle room in case a slowing economy necessitates further cuts.
  6. The White House floats a temporary payroll tax cut to boost the economy and encourage spending. This could 1) cut into Social Security and Medicare funds and 2) increase the already-ballooning deficit.
  7. But then, Trump takes tax cuts off the table for now, because “we have a strong economy.” Mixed messages.
  8. Trump’s trade wars and tax changes are having a negative effect on the ability of truck drivers to make a living. About 75% of truck drivers supported Trump.
  9. Trump signs an executive order that forgives all student loan debt for permanently disabled veterans.
  10. The mayors of 70 cities send a letter to the SNAP administrator complaining about Trump’s proposed changes to the SNAP program, which would dump millions off the program.
  11. The week ends with Trump calling China’s President Xi Jinping his enemy and announcing that he would increase his planned tariffs by 5% on $550 million worth of goods. China says they’ll increase tariffs on vehicles to 25% plus other retaliatory tariffs. Trump calls China an enemy of the U.S.
  12. The Dow Jones drops over 600 points (around 2.4%), the Nasdaq drops 3%, and the S&P drops 2.6%. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell says it’s because of trade policy uncertainty, so Trump calls him an enemy of the U.S. Ya know, just like China.
  13. And after China announces their retaliatory tariffs, Trump tweets, “Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA.” Pretty sure he can’t do that, even though he’s the chosen one.
  14. He also orders all shipping carriers to search for and refuse any Fentanyl deliveries.
  15. The BLS revises its estimate of total jobs created from March 2018 to March 2019 downward by 501,000. This type of revision isn’t unusual once the actual numbers are reported, though the revisions are usually in 10s of thousands, not 100s of thousands.
  16. At the G-7, Trump says we’re working on trade deals with multiple countries, including Japan. That’s not what Japan says.
  17. Trump also says that we’re back in trade talks with China, and that calls were made over the weekend. That’s not what China says. When he gets called out for making conflicting statements about trade with China, he says it’s just how he negotiates.
  18. Trump expresses regret at the hard line he’s taken on the trade war with China, but his aides are quick to clarify that he meant he should’ve been harsher.
  19. Trump says next year’s G-7 summit will be held at one of his country clubs. No conflict of interest there.
  20. The number of Americans who think current economic conditions are good dropped 5 points from 70% in May to 65% now.

Elections:

  1. Trump tweets that Google gave Hillary anywhere from 2.6 million to 16 million votes in 2016. In fairness, he was taking (and exaggerating) the word of Dr. Robert Epstein, a researcher who testified to Congress; but further inspection of the study doesn’t bear out his conclusions.
    • Epstein himself says that there’s no evidence Google manipulated search results to favor Clinton. Also, the number of voters he alleges were influenced is not much more than a guess.
    • Epstein has tangled with Google since 2012, when they tagged his website for spreading malware. He then spent four years claiming their search results could influence elections. And then amazingly, the conclusions from his research (which included studying a grand total of 95 people) matched his predictions exactly.
  1. I’ve been staying out of the presidential elections because there are so many Democratic candidates, I was waiting until a few of them got weeded out. But now we have a new candidate, Joe Walsh, trying to primary Trump. You might remember him as the member of congress who yelled out “You lie!” during one of the Barack Obama’s state of the union addresses. Or you might remember him as a birther and a conspiracy theorist. But he’s apologized for all that and thinks he should be president.