There’s a perfect storm brewing. Russia is interfering in our primaries and in our general election this year, and the Senate keeps ejecting any attempts to secure our elections. Even though Attorney General Bill Barr told Trump to stop talking about his investigations, Trump continues to tweet and talk about Roger Stone, Bob Mueller, and Russia (he just can’t help himself), and he continues to remove appointees he thinks aren’t loyal enough to him. Finally, Barr has farmed out investigations into Trump’s perceived opponents to state attorneys. What could go wrong?

Here’s that and what else happened in politics for the week ending February 23…

Shootings This Week:

There were FIVE mass shootings in the U.S. this week (defined as killing and/or injuring 4 or more people). Shooters kill 7 people and injure 17 more.

1. Students from Alcorn State University in Port Gibson, MS, are involved in a shooting that leaves 2 people dead and 2 more injured.
2. A shooter injures 4 people on a busy street in Greensboro, NC.
3. A shooter kills 2 people and injures 3 more in a murder-suicide at a senior living complex in Caldwell, ID.
4. A shooter kills 3 people and injures 1 more at a private home in Clarkton, NC.
5. A shooter injures 7 people at a family-friendly dance in Houston, TX.

Russia:

1. Trump ignores Barr’s public advice to stop saying the quiet parts out loud, urging the judge in Stone’s case to grant him a new trial. Trump also says he’ll intervene if the courts don’t overturn Stone’s conviction.

• • The judge refuses to delay Stone’s sentencing and gives him a prison sentence of three years and four months, less than half of what DOJ prosecutors recommended before Barr stepped in and revoked their recommendation. It’s still commensurate though, and the judge delivers a blistering opinion on Stone’s behavior.

2. Trump tweets that the whole Mueller investigation was illegal and based on phony evidence. He says that everything having to do with the investigation should be thrown out even though eight Trump associates either pleaded guilty or were convicted by a jury. And then he suggests he might sue over it.
3. U.S. officials tell Bernie Sanders that Russia is trying to interfere in the Democratic primaries by assisting his campaign. Sanders’ response is unequivocal: “My message to Putin is clear: Stay out of American elections, and as president I will make sure that you do.”
4. Intelligence officials also briefed the House last week that Russia is meddling again in the 2020 elections to sow discord and promote Trump, which pissed off both Republicans in the House and Trump.

• • Trump thought that only Adam Schiff was briefed about it, and then accuses Schiff of leaking it to the media (with no evidence). Paranoid much?
  • But then, higher-level officials say the briefing was an over-reaction and that there’s no evidence that Russia is helping Trump (though Trump does say they’re helping Sanders).
  • According to news sources, “some intelligence officials viewed the briefing as a tactical error, saying the conclusions could have been delivered in a less pointed manner or left out entirely to avoid angering Republicans.” So we shouldn’t learn the truth if it makes some people mad?

5. A lawyer in Julian Assange’s trial says that in 2017, then-Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) traveled to London to offer Assange a pardon. The pardon was conditioned on Assange agreeing to say that Russia didn’t have anything to do with the leaking of the DNC emails and documents.

• • Dana Rohrabacher corroborates the story. He was following up on his conspiracy theory that Russia didn’t hack the DNC. Dana thinks climate change is caused by dinosaur farts. I doubt he knows better than our intelligence agencies.

• • Trump’s press secretary says Trump barely knows Rohrabacher and that this is probably just a “total lie from the DNC, but here’s what Trump had to say about him in 2018: “Dana Rohrabacher has been a great Congressman for his District and for the people of Cal. He works hard and is respected by all – he produces! Dems are desperate to replace Dana by spending vast sums to elect a super liberal who is weak on Crime and bad for our Military & Vets!”

6. Trump decides not to nominate Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph McGuire to a permanent cabinet post after a member of McGuire’s staff briefed lawmakers about Russian interference in our 2020 elections. Trump blew up at him a few days before the announcement because of the briefing.
7. Trump replaces McGuire with Richard Grenell, who is currently the U.S. Ambassador to Germany. Grenell doesn’t have an intelligence or security background, but this move does two things:

• • It puts a Trump loyalist in the position of overseeing and coordinating our intelligence agencies.
  • It puts the first openly gay man in a Cabinet secretary position.

Legal Fallout:

1. The Trump administration reassigns deputy national security adviser Victoria Coates following rumors that she’s the “Anonymous” author of an op-ed about the administration in the New York Times who later published a book about it.

• • A literary agent involved with the book releases a statement saying Coates is not Anonymous.
  • Peter Navarro, Trump’s top trade advisor has been comparing different people’s writings to see if they match the style of Anonymous.

2. The Department of Defense says its computer systems were hacked and personal information for around 200,000 people got exposed.

Impeachment:

1. Remember Devin Nunes’ former aide Kash Patel who Trump thought was his Ukraine expert when his Ukraine expert was actually Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman? Well, he’s now a senior adviser for the new Acting DNI, Richard Grenell.
2. Former national security adviser Susan Rice tells John Bolton that it’s inconceivable to her that she would withhold testimony if she had firsthand knowledge of abuse of presidential power, with or without a subpoena.
3. Post-impeachment, Trump instructs the White House to find and force out anyone who isn’t deemed to be loyal enough to Trump. Trump says he wants “bad people” out of his government. Most presidents fill their staff with people who both agree and disagree with them because that’s good for governance.

• • Trump asks Under Secretary of Defense John Rood to resign. Rood certified Ukraine’s compliance with our anti-corruption requirements and warned Defense Secretary Mark Esper against withholding Ukraine’s aid. Rood agrees to step down.
  • Trump has a 29-year-old campaign aide working on this project.
  • In a surreal twist, the wife of a Supreme Court Justice has been suggesting who the White House should hire and fire. Ginni Thomas, Clarence Thomas’s wife, has been at it for a year and a half. Other conservative groups, including the Heritage Foundation, have been doing the same.

4. The general counsel for the DNI resigns. He’s the guy who initially blocked the whistleblower’s report from getting to Congress.

Courts/Justice:

1. The Federal Judges Association calls an emergency meeting to discuss interference in politically sensitive cases by the DOJ and by Trump.
2. GOP lawmakers Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, and Kevin McCarthy issue a statement supporting Barr after more than 2,000 former DOJ officials called for Barr to resign.
3. Trump issues pardons and commutes sentencing for a group of white-collar criminals who are guilty of crimes like fraud, corruption, and racketeering. Great job draining the swamp, though!

• • He commutes Rod Blagojevich’s prison sentence. Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in 2011 for an attempted quid pro quo. He wanted to trade an appointment to Obama’s vacant Senate seat in return for campaign contributions. The Illinois GOP asked Trump not to do this because it sends a “damaging message” about efforts to “root out public corruption in our government.”

• • He pardons Edward DeBartolo Jr, owner of the San Francisco 49ers, who was convicted of gambling fraud.
  • He pardons Former NYPD Commissioner Bernie Kerik, who pleaded guilty to tax fraud after accepting a $250,000 “loan” from an Israeli billionaire.
  • He pardons financier Michael Milken, who pleaded guilty to tax evasion and insider trading. He was fined $600 million, if that gives you an idea of the extent of his fraud.

4. Trump also pardons:

• • Paul Pogue, a construction consultant who pleaded guilty to tax fraud.
  • Ariel Friedler, a software CEO who hacked into competing companies’ software systems.
  • David Safavian, who was convicted of perjury in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.
  • Angela Stanton, a teacher who pleaded guilty to charges of inappropriate sexual activities with teenage boys.

5. Trump commutes the sentences for:

• • Tynice Nichole Hall, who was convicted for multiple drug and firearm offenses including selling crack cocaine.
  • Crystal Munoz, who was convicted for her role in helping marijuana distributors get around a drug checkpoint. She got 18 years for drawing them a rough map.
  • Judith Negron, who was found guilty in a $205 million Medicare fraud scheme.

Health/Healthcare:

1. The State Department and a top Trump health official go against the CDC’s advice and fly home 14 passengers infected with the coronavirus along with passengers who were not infected.
2. As the coronavirus spreads globally, Trump’s ability to respond is hampered in part because he fired the entire pandemic response chain of command in 2018. Just another Obama creation that Trump felt compelled to dismantle. He also cut funding to programs designed to fight the spread of these infectious diseases.
3. In response to bills in Alabama that severely restrict abortion access in the state, Democratic Representative Rolanda Hollis introduces a bill to force men to have vasectomies after they have three children or reach the age of 50. Hollis says both men and women should take responsibility for family planning.

• • It turns out that Ted Cruz isn’t a fan of government controlling your body after all. He tweets, “Yikes! A government big enough to give you everything is big enough to take everything…literally!” Sigh. Welcome to the world of being a woman in Alabama and Texas, Mr. Cruz.

4. Florida passes a bill requiring parental consent for women under 18 to obtain an abortion. At least the bill has a waiver process for cases of abuse and incest or when the parent would cause more harm. This still lets other people force a young woman to have a baby.
5. A panel of federal judges strikes down Mississippi’s “fetal heartbeat” bill, which would’ve banned abortions after six weeks of gestation.

International:

1. Protests continue in Canada against the development of a natural gas pipeline.
2. As Trump prepares for his visit to India, protests there continue against discriminatory changes to India’s citizenship laws.
3. A hoax email about the coronavirus in Ukraine sparks violent protests and police standoffs, and protestors block the arrival of evacuees from China.
4. Police use water cannons and tear gas against protestors in Chile.
5. An Iraqi cleric works to quash the ongoing protests in Iraq by sending in counter-protestors.
6. Sudanese security forces use tear gas against demonstrators protesting the dismissal of officers and soldiers who supported the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir last year.
7. Gunfire breaks out when police officers in Haiti protest for fair pay.
8. Protests continue in Algeria (for a year now) and Lebanon ( for five months so far)

Border Wall/Shutdown/National Emergency:

1. The Department of Homeland Security wavies 10 contracting laws to speed up approvals for Trump’s border wall.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

1. Following up on Trump’s decision to send Customs and Border Protection’s SWAT team to sanctuary cities, ICE starts arresting people in safe havens, like courthouses and churches, in California. These communities have worked to make sure immigrants feel safe reporting and testifying about crimes. If they’re afraid to go to courthouses, they’ll let the crimes go unpunished.
2. New Jersey raises its threat level for white supremacist violence higher than the level for ISIS and Al Qaeda.
3. The Republican attorneys general of five states—Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Nebraska, and South Dakota—file a motion to block the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Democratic AGs, on the other hand, sue to have it ratified.
4. South Dakota is looking at a slew of discriminatory bills that would ban certain medical treatment for transgender youth, stop enforcing policies on same-sex marriage, and allow medical personnel to refuse to provide care based on religious or moral grounds.
5. In 2018, Trump ordered that the environmental impact studies that were blocking water diversion plans be re-evaluated.

Climate:

1. While California has been working on solutions for distributing its water supply between urban and rural areas, Trump signs an order to re-engineer the state’s water plans.

• • Trump also says California doesn’t have a drought and has tremendous amounts of water. Except that we don’t. This has been a very dry year.

2. The (Republican-run) USDA lays out goals to cut agriculture’s carbon footprint in half by 2050 while still increasing production.

Budget/Economy:

1. The U.S. has seen a record 10 straight years of growth, seven years under Obama and three years under Trump.
2. Mick Mulvaney of all people criticizes the GOP for being “a lot less interested” in deficits under Trump than they were under Obama. He says neither party cares about the deficit anymore and that the GOP is “evolving” on the issue.
3. Mulvaney also says the U.S. is desperate for more people to fill jobs because of the tight job market and the administration’s clamping down on legal immigration.
4. Trump promises more bailouts for farmers if the promised foreign purchases don’t kick in. He also says that it’ll be paid for out of the “massive tariff money coming into” the U.S., showing once again that he doesn’t understand how tariffs work. We consumers pay for them.

Elections:

1. An appeals court in Florida upholds a lower court decision that the state can’t deny ex-felons the right to vote because of outstanding court fines, fees, and restitution.
2. Elections are coming up and Russians are still meddling in them. Just thought you should know, in case you didn’t know.
3. A Democratic Super PAC has filed several lawsuits against states the PAC claims are suppressing voter turnout. Trump’s re-election campaign and the RNC plan to spend over $10 million defending those states.

Miscellaneous:

1. The Boy Scouts of America files bankruptcy, likely to protect their assets from an onslaught of sexual abuse allegations.

>This was a big week. Andrew McCabe’s case is resolved, a Senate committee issues a new report on Russian interference, the DOJ (and maybe Trump) interferes in Roger Stone’s sentencing and in other cases, John Kelly spills some tea, the firings continue, Trump rolls out his budget, the House paves the way for the ERA to move ahead, and voting begins in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries. All that, and so much more.

>Here’s what happened in politics for the week ending February 10…

Shootings This Week:

1. There are SIX mass shootings this week (defined as killing or injuring 4 or more people). Shooters kill 3 people and injure 30 more.

• • A shooting in Dover, DE, leaves 1 person dead and 4 people injured.
  • A shooting at a gathering in an apartment in Chicago, IL, leaves 6 people injured.
  • A shooter in New Orleans, LA, injures 4 people during Mardi Gras celebrations.
  • Shooters in Memphis, TN, injure 7 people during a fight that broke out during a street race.
  • A shooter (or shooters) in Hartford, CT, kill 1 person and injures 5 more at a bar and lounge.
  • A drive-by shooting in Pensacola, FL, leaves 1 person dead and 4 people injured.

2. Teachers unions and activist groups call for an end to active-shooter lockdown drills, saying they’re too traumatic for students.

Russia:

1. Federal prosecutors decline to charge Andrew McCabe and officially close the investigation into whether he lied about leaking information to a journalist.
2. The Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee releases a report on the government’s response to Russian interference in the 2016 elections.

• • The report says the Obama administration delayed their response, but also says the politicized environment prevented a more forceful response.
  • The report also places some of the blame on Mitch McConnell for being too skeptical and for resisting the administration’s request for a bipartisan statement.
  • Congressional leaders finally released a bipartisan statement in late September 2016, after much of the damage was done.
  • Obama’s administration directly warned Russia about the consequences of meddling five times, but the warnings weren’t effective.

3. Federal prosecutors issue a sentencing recommendation of seven to nine years for Roger Stone. He was convicted of lying, witness tampering, and obstruction, and the recommendation is within the sentencing guidelines.

• • Trump tweets that this is horrible, unfair, and a miscarriage of justice.
  • But then, in an extremely rare move, the DOJ overrules the prosecutors‘ recommendation and asks for a more lenient sentence. The DOJ calls their own prosecutors’ recommendation grossly disproportionate.
  • So then, all four federal prosecutors working the case withdraw from the case and two of them resign from the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C.
  • The DOJ claims to have decided to overrule the sentencing recommendation before Trump tweeted about it.
  • But then, Trump congratulates Barr on Twitter for “taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not have even been brought.”
  • The top prosecutor who signed off on the original recommendation is Timothy Shea, who was handpicked by Barr to replace outgoing U.S. attorney Jessie Liu, who is supposed to move to the Treasury Department. But the same day as the DOJ overrules the sentencing recommendation, Trump withdraws Liu’s nomination to a top Treasury position. Liu oversaw the investigation into Andrew McCabe, where they were unable to obtain criminal charges. Liu ends up resigning from the administration.

• • Anyhoo, this sets off a shit storm in the media and in the minds of thinking people who love their democratic institutions.

4. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) asks the DOJ’s inspector general to investigate the decision to change Stone’s sentencing recommendations. The Senate Judiciary Committee won’t call Barr in to testify about the situation, but the House Judiciary Committee does. Barr will testify at the end of March.

• • The House wants to hear about the decision to overrule prosecutors in Stone’s case, the removal of Jessie Liu as U.S. attorney, and what Barr calls an “intake process” for processing information from Rudy Giuliani about Ukraine.

5. Trump criticizes the judge in Stone’s case for revoking Paul Manafort’s bail and for not treating Hillary Clinton harshly enough. AFAIK, Hillary has never appeared in this judge’s court.
6. 
In an interview with ABC News, Barr says Trump’s tweets make it impossible to do his job and that Trump shouldn’t tweet about DOJ investigations. IMO, Trump’s just saying the quiet part out loud.
7. Barr also says that Trump never asked him to do anything in a criminal case. So Trump tweets that he does have the legal right to influence the attorney general in a case.
8. After Trump tweets that the foreperson in Stone’s trial had significant bias, Stone’s lawyers request a new trial, which the judge denies. This happens after the foreperson speaks out in defense of the prosecutors who quit.

• • Stone also says that a person in the jury was biased against him because they work for the IRS on criminal tax cases and that the court should’ve removed that juror. FWIW, the lawyers from both sides determine the jury, not the court. Plus, a D.C. jury is likely to have a higher than normal number of government employees.
  • The blowback from the right against the jury spurs one of them to write an op-ed defending their decision. The juror says the evidence was substantial and uncontested.

9. Trump says that Mueller lied to Congress but doesn’t give any evidence to back it up.
10. The New York City bar association sends a letter about Barr to the DOJ’s inspector general and the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. They call for investigations into the DOJ’s actions around Stone’s sentencing, and they say recent events give the appearance of Trump and Barr acting together to prevent Stone from being punished.
11. It comes out that this isn’t the first time Barr has interfered in investigations into Trump’s associates.

• • DOJ officials intervened in Michael Flynn’s case to change his sentencing recommendations. And now Barr has appointed an outside prosecutor to review the Flynn case.
  • Barr appointed outside attorneys to review other politically sensitive cases, and they’ve already been interviewing prosecutors about them.

12. More than 2,000 former DOJ lawyers and employees sign an open letter condemning the actions of Trump and Barr in the Stone case and pushing for Barr to step down. The lawyers come from across the political spectrum.
13. Facebook removes the “Being Patriotic” page after finding out that it’s run by a group from Ukraine that spreads content used by Russia’s Internet Research Agency (the troll farm responsible for the social media disinformation campaign in 2016).

Legal Fallout:

1. A conservative federal judge rebukes Barr for saying that a court’s decision in an immigration case was incorrect. The Board of Immigration Appeals used Barr’s statements as justification to deport someone against the court’s ruling.
2. Amazon wants Trump and Defense Secretary Mike Esper to be deposed in a lawsuit over whether there were corruption and presidential interference in awarding a contract for cloud computing to Microsoft instead of Amazon. Amazon claims that Trump’s desire to punish founder Jeff Bezos influenced the contract,
3. Stormy Daniels’ former lawyer, Michael Avenatti, is convicted on charges that he tried to extort up to $25 million from Nike. He has two more trials coming up on charges of financial malfeasance.

Impeachment:

1. Trump suggests the military should look into disciplining Lt. Col. Vindman. The Pentagon says no, they won’t be doing that.
2. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) says he tried to stop Trump from firing Gordon Sondland.
3. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) says she regrets saying that she thought Trump had learned a lesson from the impeachment trial.
4. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) says there are no signs that Trump learned anything from being impeached.
5. Contradicting his previous denials, Trump says he did send Giuliani to Ukraine to find damaging information about political opponents.
6. Continuing on last week’s firings of witnesses, Trump withdraws Elaine McCusker’s nomination to be the Pentagon’s comptroller and CFO. McCusker advised Office of Management and Budget Officials on the legalities of withholding aid to Ukraine, and her advice tried to help the White House set policy while staying within the law. It’s not her fault it was outside the law.
7. Chuck Schumer asks all 74 inspectors general to investigate retaliation against whistleblowers who report misconduct.
8. Former chief of staff John Kelly speaks freely about his misgivings about Trump. Kelly says:

• • Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman is blameless and was just following his training.
  • Trump’s actions with Ukraine upended long-standing U.S. policy, and Trump did condition the aid upon investigations into the Bidens, which was “tantamount to an illegal order.”
  • Trump’s efforts with North Korea, including his two summits with Kim Jong Un, are futile.
  • The press isn’t the enemy of the people.
  • Migrants are overwhelmingly good people.
  • Trump shouldn’t have interfered in the case of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, who was convicted of war crimes.

Courts/Justice:

1. White-collar crime prosecutions are at their lowest level since 1998 when researchers began tracking them. And it’s not because fewer white-collar crimes are being committed, they’re just getting away with it more often.

Health/Healthcare:

1. There was a rumor a while back that Trump told his aides that gutting medicare would be a fun second-term project. I didn’t report it then because it seemed like just a rumor, but his latest budget cuts spending for Medicaid and ACA subsidies by $1 trillion over ten years.
2. China has confirmed nearly 60,000 cases of coronavirus infection.
3. Trump says the coronavirus will miraculously go away when it gets a little warmer. While heat and humidity usually help crush the flu season, scientists don’t know if it will have the same effect on this virus.
4. Mitch McConnell schedules two votes on anti-abortion bills, both of which will likely fail. This is seen as a move to rally the base. Democrats say the “Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act” is redundant because infanticide is already a crime everywhere in the U.S.
5. Corteva, the largest manufacturer of chlorpyrifos, announces it’ll stop producing the pesticide by the end of the year despite the Trump administration loosening regulations. Chlorpyrifos is known to cause health issues and brain damage, especially in children.
6. Utah’s public insurer sends patients to Mexico to buy medications. Even with the cost of the flight, it’s cheaper than getting those drugs in the U.S.

International:

1. The Senate finally passes its resolution to limit Trump’s power to order military strikes against Iran without congressional approval. The House is likely to pass it (they’ve already passed a version) and Trump is likely to veto it.
2. The number of troops with concussive and traumatic brain injuries following Iran’s retaliatory strikes on bases housing U.S. troops increases to 109. Trump says he won’t be changing his mind that these injuries are “not very serious.”
3. The White House sends a memo to Congress that implicitly confirms there was no imminent threat involved in the decision to strike Iranian General Soleimani, contradicting Trump’s earlier assertions about the attack.
4. Iowa isn’t the only place having trouble with their election app. A glitch in a voter outreach app used by Israel’s far-right Likud party leaks the personal information of around 6.5 million Israelis—every eligible voter in Israel. Israel’s third election in less than a year is on March 2.
5. The U.S. and the Taliban reach a tentative agreement on ending the 18-year war in Afghanistan.
6. Trump doesn’t want to hold another summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un until after our November election. In the meantime, though, North Korea resumes its tests of ballistic missiles.
7. Mike Pompeo meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Munich, though the State Department hasn’t mentioned the meeting and has offered no readout.
8. Protestors in Ontario, Canada block a railroad track, disrupting service between Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa. They’re protesting pipeline construction in British Columbia.
9. Students continue their anti-government sit-in in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square. The protests forced out the Iraqi prime minister in December.
10. Iraqi feminists march for women’s rights in nationwide rallies. Opponents criticize them, saying it’s unethical and immoral for women to protest.
11. Hundreds of women protest in Mexico City over the brutal murder of a young woman by her boyfriend. Pictures of her mutilated corpse were leaked and posted by local media.
12. Protests against social inequality in Chile continue.
13. Hong Kong protests subside over worries about the coronavirus until the end of the week when people protest the quarantine locations.

Legislation/Congress:

1. In a TV interview, Mitch McConnell says that, why yes, there are 395 bills awaiting passage in the Senate that are never going to be passed, including several bipartisan bills. So rather than working on amending bills on things like infrastructure, the Senate will be voting on anti-abortion bills.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

1. Customs and Border Protection admits that “overzealous” agents detained hundreds of Iranians and Iranian-Americans for up to 10 hours at the Canadian border following the attack on Iranian General Soleimani.

• • They say it was an isolated incident at one location, but students from the Mideast have been detained and deported all cross the U.S.
  • CBP isn’t supposed to select travelers for further questioning based on their national origin.
  • Last month, CBP denied that Iran was the reason for the detentions, but an internal memo directed officers in that office to target travelers with links to Iran or Lebanon for “specialized vetting procedures.”

2. Jared Kushner is trying to re-open discussions to reform our immigration system. I’m sure he’ll be just as fair as he was with the Mideast peace plan.
3. The Trump administration has been rejecting valid asylum and U-visa applications if there are any missing fields on the application (U-visas protect victims of crimes who cooperate with law enforcement). For example, if you don’t have a middle name and you leave that field blank, they’ll deny it. The policy was announced last fall and originally affected only asylum applicants.
4. A judge blocks Trump’s new policy that would change how immigration officials calculate visa overstays. The judge says it conflicts with immigration law.
5. New York sues Trump over what they call a punitive ban on approving people for traveler programs.
6. Border Patrol plans to deploy tactical agents to so-called sanctuary cities. The agents come from teams that normally fight smuggling at the border.

• • This includes members of BORTAC, the SWAT team of Border Patrol. They use things like stun grenades and snipers, and typically target violent criminals. But in sanctuary cities, they’ll be helping with run-of-the-mill immigration arrests. What could go wrong?

7. The House votes to remove a 1982 deadline for states to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. Virginia just became the 38th state to ratify the ERA, finally reaching the requirement to ratify. On the other hand, five states have tried to rescind their ratification, but it doesn’t seem like they can.

• • Republican lawmakers argue that passing the ERA would mean abortion could not be restricted. Not the best argument, IMO, because it shows they know that restricting abortion treats women unequally.
  • The ERA was first proposed in Congress in 1923 and was reintroduced every single year until 1972, when it passed.
  • It’s tied up in a few court battles already.
  • Enshrining the ERA in the constitution would mean that the rights of all genders would no longer be subject to the political whims of Congress or the president. Here’s the full text of the amendment:

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

Climate:

1. A new study finds that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 was much worse than previously thought. The oil spread out over an area 30% greater than the original estimate of 92,500 miles, and it was more toxic to marine life than estimated as well. The Trump administration has pushed to expand permits for deep-sea drilling (it’s stalled in the courts right now) and has rolled back safety regulations for oil platforms.
2. A court rules that the EPA can’t exclude scientists from EPA advisory panels just because they’ve received EPA research grants and are associated with universities. The case comes from changes made by former EPA head Scott Pruitt, who tried to exclude scientists with university ties but not those with ties to chemical or fossil fuel companies.
3. House Republicans release a bill to address climate change, including things like reforestation and carbon capture technologies, but it doesn’t address the issue of curbing carbon emissions. However, it’s a start that they’re acknowledging we need to act.

Budget/Economy:

1. With the current administration curbing the power of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, California’s governor proposes a new statewide Department of Financial Protection and Innovation to solidify consumer protections for the state.
2. Trump brags a lot about the state of the U.S. economy, but he recently cut a scheduled pay raise for federal employees because of “serious economic conditions.”
3. The Trump administration rolls out its new $4.8 trillion budget. It includes cuts to social safety programs and boosts defense spending.

• • The budget reduces access to SNAP, imposes new work requirements on Medicaid benefits, and makes it harder to access federal disability benefits. It caps increases on Medicaid spending at 3% (this ties in with his plan to implement Medicaid block grants).
  • Under the new budget, federal employees would have to pay more for retirement benefits, but those benefits would also be reduced.
  • The budget cuts spending on foreign aid by 21%, which could hurt our diplomatic efforts around the world.
  • It cuts the EPA’s budget by 26% and cuts research and development spending by nearly 50%.
  • The budget adds $3.4 trillion to the debt over the next four years. What kind of genius can’t figure out how to save more money during an economic boom? Even Obama managed to bring the annual deficit down to less than half of this budget’s projected deficit.
  • It targets a balanced budget by 2035, but that doesn’t match federal projections. The annual deficit has nearly doubled under Trump, even though he said he’d get rid of it.
  • The budget recommends eliminating subsidized federal student loans and ending the loan program completely.
  • Trump’s budget completely cuts funds for the Stevens Initiative, an organization dedicated to cultivating international exchange as a way to honor Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who was killed in the Benghazi attacks. Trump has removed it three years in a row, but Congress restores it each year.

4. 2019 lost the largest number of work days in the U.S. to labor strikes in more than 15 years. There were 25 labor disputes, and 425,500 workers joined in work stoppages.
5. OPEC reduces its projected growth in global oil demand by about 20%, largely due to the coronavirus outbreak.
6. At a rally, Trump brags about his economy but neglects to mention that 1.5 million fewer jobs were created under him from 2017-2020 than were created under Obama in the three years prior (2014-2017).

• • That’s a decline of 19%, but it’s understandable given that the unemployment rate was already pretty low when Trump took office.
  • The Labor Department reports the lowest number of job openings in two years, with November and December seeing the largest two-month decrease on record. 2019 was the first calendar year that job openings declined since the recession in 2009.

Elections:

1. Three more Democratic presidential candidates drop out of the race after the New Hampshire polls close—Andrew Yang, Senator Michael Bennet, and former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.
2. Bernie Sanders wins the New Hampshire primary with 25.7% of the vote, Pete Buttigieg comes in second with 24.4%, and Amy Klobuchar has a surprise surge to end in third with 19.8%. Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, and Tom Steyer trail with single-digit support.
3. Senate Republicans block three bills related to election security. The bills would require campaigns to alert the FBI and FEC about foreign offers of assistance, increase election funding, and prevent voting machines from being connected to the internet. Ten bills related to election security are currently stalled in the Republican Senate.
4. Virginia is on track to get rid of a holiday celebrating confederate generals and replace it by giving people a day off to vote.
5. Sheldon Adelson plans to donate $100 million to Trump’s re-election and GOP congressional races. Meanwhile, the Koch network of political organizations is now as large as the RNC.

Miscellaneous:

1. Former Trump aide Hope Hicks is returning to the White House, this time to work for Jared Kushner.
2. The administration also brings back Sean Spicer and Reince Priebus. They’ll be part of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships.
3. A Tennessee Republican lawmaker introduces an amendment to recognize CNN and the Washington Post as fake news, saying they’re “part of the media wing of the Democratic party.” The irony is rich.
4. The Pentagon cuts all federal funding for the military publication Stars and Stripes, which is distributed to troops deployed around the world.

Polls:

1. It’s way too early to trust the polling, but here are the results of Quinnipiac’s recent polls of head-to-head competitions between Trump and Democratic presidential candidates:

• • Bloomberg beats Trump 51 – 42%
  • Sanders beats Trump 51 – 43%
  • Biden beats Trump 50 – 43%
  • Klobuchar beats Trump 49 – 43%
  • Warren beats Trump 48 – 44%
  • Buttigieg beats Trump 47 – 43%

What a tense week with the State of the Union address falling right in the middle of impeachment hearings. But we all knew the Senate wouldn’t remove him, so there was no real suspense over that. But then the firings start, and that gets a little tense. Both Lt. Col. Vindmand and his brother are removed, and Gordon Sondland is fired. So far, that’s it, but I’m pretty sure there will be more.

Here’s that and what else happened in politics for the week ending February 9…

Shootings This Week:

1. There were SEVEN mass shootings in the U.S. this week (defined as killing and/or injuring 4 or more people). This week, mass shooters kill 13 people and injure 14 more.

• • A shooter in Machias, ME, kills 3 people and injures 1 other. He knew all the people though he killed them in separate homes.
  • A shooter opens fire in a Greyhound bus in Lebec, CA, killing 1 person and injuring 5. The bus pulls over and lets the shooter out on his request. He leaves the gun behind.
  • A shooter in Indianapolis, IN, kills 4 young adults, aged just 19, 20, and 21.
  • A shooter in Waco, TX, kills 1 person and injures 3 more. Police think it’s a drug deal gone wrong.
  • A shooter in Houston, TX, kills 1 person and injures 3 others. Police think it might be gang-related.
  • A shooter in Youngstown, OH, kills 3 people and injures 2 more.

Russia:

1. FBI Director Chris Wray tells the House Judiciary Committee that Russia is already engaged in information warfare for the 2020 elections, just like they were in 2016.

Legal Fallout:

1. A federal appeals court throws out the weakest of the three emoluments lawsuits against Trump. The lawsuit was brought by Democratic members of Congress, and the court didn’t rule that they were wrong; just that they didn’t have enough plaintiffs to represent either chamber of Congress.

Impeachment:

Including all this info just makes this too long, so I moved it out into its own post. You can skip right over to it if that’s your focus.

Courts/Justice:

1. Attorney General William Barr issues new rules for politically sensitive investigations. He himself must approve any inquiry into a presidential candidate or campaign. He also must approve investigations into illegal contributions and donations by foreign nationals to presidential and congressional campaigns.
2. Barr confirms that the DOJ created a special process for evaluating information that Rudy Giuliani obtained from Ukraine sources about the Bidens.

Healthcare:

1. Trump claims that he saved coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions, even though this was required coverage under the very ACA that Trump is trying to gut. In fact, Trump’s DOJ is in court right now trying to end the ACA.

International:

1. Boris Johnson and Trump have a contentious phone call that ends with Trump slamming the phone down.

• • Trump has been threatening to withdraw from certain agreements if Johnson doesn’t do as Trump wants.
  • Johnson and other U.K politicians have been criticizing Trump lately, with Johnson saying that Trump is “failing to lead” and that he’s “letting the air out of the tires of the world economy.”
  • Johnson pushes his planned trip to Washington back to March.

2. Trump lifts Obama’s ban on our military‘s use of land mines in places other than the Korean Peninsula. More than 160 countries prohibit land mines, and several condemn Trump’s decision. Land mines kill and injure thousands each year, mostly civilians.
3. A shooter wearing an Afghan uniform and carrying a machine gun kills two U.S. troops in Afghanistan during a joint operation between U.S. and Afghan forces. The shooter injures six others.
4. Protests in Hong Kong quiet down after a series of arrests and injuries (and possibly due to fears of the spreading coronavirus).
5. How’d I miss this? Protests have been going on in Algeria for just shy of a year. They want the president, who was just elected to a fifth term, to resign.
6. A U.S. airstrike killed al-Qaeda leader Qassim al-Rimi last week in Yemen.

Legislation/Congress:

1. The Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice scores the Senate and House each year on legislation passed that advances social or economic justice. This year is the first time in 47 years that the group is unable to create its annual scorecard for the Senate because Mitch McConnell has obstructed every single vote. There were no voting records to compile.

Border Wall/Shutdown/National Emergency:

1. Construction crews in Arizona bulldoze and blast hills at the border in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in preparation for new border wall sections. The monument is a UN-designated International Biosphere Reserve and is part of our national parks system.

• • Most of the work is being done in the Roosevelt Reservation, an area designated by Teddy Roosevelt to remain free of obstruction.
  • Some of the work is disturbing Native American burial grounds.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

1. Human Rights Watch releases a report on what happens to El Salvadorans to whom we deny asylum. At least 138 were killed and at least 70 disappeared or suffered sexual violence or torture after their return. The study includes asylum seekers who were deported under Trump and under Obama.
2. The FBI finally raises racially motivated violent extremism (for example, white nationalists and neo-Nazis) to the same threat level as ISIS. These groups are a threat here and abroad.

• • Two weeks ago, the FBI arrested eight members of the neo-Nazi group The Base. FBI Director Chris Wray says there are more arrests in the pipeline.

3. White nationalist members of the Patriot Front march through the National Mall in Washington D.C. wearing white masks. They get a police escort.
4. California Governor Gavin Newsom issues a posthumous pardon for Bayard Rustin, a civil rights leader who was imprisoned and forced to register as a sex offender for having sex with another man. Rustin was one of the organizers of the historic March on Washington in 1963. Newsom plans to pardon others who were convicted for similar reasons.
5. The Department of Health and Human Services issues a waiver to allow religious foster care agencies in South Caroline to deny services to LGBTQ and non-Christian couples. These agencies are federally funded, which means they are supposed to adhere to the federal government’s non-discrimination policies.
6. Witnesses testify to the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship that political interference in immigration courts has eroded due process. The Executive Office for Immigration Review has also been hiring judges with no immigration law background; it’s not even in the job description.
7. In retaliation for New York State’s law that limits ICE agents’ access to drivers license information, the Department of Homeland Security temporarily blocks all residents of the state from enrolling in Trusted Traveler Programs. The administration threatens to kick 175,000 New York residents out of the program by the end of the year and threatens to retaliate similarly against other states.

Climate:

1. January 2020 is the warmest January on record, and Antarctica hit a record high temperature of 65 degrees. Not just its warmest January temperature, but its warmest temperature ever recorded.
2. Swarms of young locusts in southern Somalia lead experts to predict one of the worst “plagues of locusts” in recent history.
3. The Interior Department completes its plan to open up areas of southern Utah to drilling, mining, and grazing. These areas were once protected as national monuments. I wonder if this would be happening if the monuments were designated by Republican presidents.
4. Extreme temperatures are causing a decline in the bumblebee population in North and Central America and in Europe.
5. The Department of Energy had $823 billion to spend on clean and renewable energy development last year, but it hasn’t spent any of it yet. The DOE canceled another $46 million designated for solar research and development.
6. Britain is phasing out cars running on fossil fuels, and by 2035, will only allow sales of electric and hydrogen cars.

Budget/Economy:

1. China takes a page out of our playbook and injects 1.2 trillion yuan into its markets to ensure liquidity. That’s about $174 billion. Similar actions by our own Fed have bolstered the stock market for several months now.
2. The number of farms going bankrupt increased by 20% in 2019. It’s the fifth consecutive year of increasing bankruptcies.
3. 1.5 million public school students experienced homelessness during the 2017-2018 school year. That’s the highest number since they started recording it in 2004. This doesn’t mean they’re living on the streets—some are in shelters, some are staying with friends or relatives, and some are waiting for foster care.
4. Trump threatens to veto a $4.7 billion emergency aid package for Puerto Rico passed by the House. Puerto Rico experienced a series of damaging earthquakes in December with aftershocks continuing even now.
5. The U.S. added 225,000 jobs in January, bringing the unemployment rate up a tick to 3.6%.

Elections:

1. The Democratic presidential primaries begin with a slow-moving car crash. The Iowa Democratic Party contracted to use a new app to tally vote totals but failed to train volunteers on it and apparently failed to test it.

• • The app crashes, so precinct captains use the backup plan and phone in the results. Apparently one of the issues is that the app is unable to report a three-way tie, which some precincts had.
  • But the phone lines are jammed for hours at a time, so we don’t have any results until a few days after the caucus.
  • But it turns out the backup on the phone lines wasn’t all their fault. A far-right group trolled the phone lines to deliberately disrupt the caucus counts. Good job and well done for Democracy, you morons.
  • In the end, Bernie Sanders has a slight popular vote lead and Pete Buttigieg has a slight delegate lead. Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden follow in third and fourth place, respectively.
  • The Nevada caucuses were contracted to use the same app, but they scrap those plans.
  • Trump and his grown sons suggest that the system is rigged. Same old 2016 tricks.

2. Republican Joe Walsh drops out of his race to challenge Trump and asks fellow Republicans to support Democrats. Walsh says he was “booed off the stage by primary voters when I said we should expect decency and honesty from our President.”
3. A federal judge rules against Georgia Governor Brian Kemp in a voter restrictions lawsuit. The judge rules that Georgia’s voting procedures in the 2018 election, specifically the restrictive “exact match” law for voter names, violate voting rights for a large group of people who are predominantly minorities.

• • If you remember, Kemp was the Secretary of State who oversaw voting procedures for his own race for governor.

Miscellaneous:

1. The Trump administration fires Veterans Affairs deputy secretary James Byrne because VA Secretary Robert Wilkie had lost confidence in his ability to carry out his duties. The VA has been in a bit of disarray since a staff member said she was sexually assaulted at a VA hospital.
2. The former welfare director for Mississippi, four of his colleagues, and a former pro wrestler are all charged with fraud and embezzlement in a scheme that siphoned millions of dollars of public money from needy families.
3. After Trump’s acquittal, thousands of people take to the streets at more than 200 ”Reject the Cover-Up” protests across the country.
4. Trump complains that Hillary Clinton was never prosecuted, and he then refers to former members of the FBI as scum.

State of the Union:

1. I’m not sure where to start here. As is usual for most of Trump’s appearances, his State of the Union address is part campaign rally, with Republican members of Congress chanting “Four more years!” Here’s an in-depth annotated version of the speech, if you’re interested.
2. The night gets off to a rocky start when Trump ignores Pelosi’s outstretched hand to shake it. He doesn’t shake Mike Pence’s hand either.

• • Trump and Pelosi haven’t been face-to-face since their altercation at a White House meeting in October.

3. The speech includes quite a few falsehoods, half-truths, and exaggerations. I won’t go into all of them here.
4. Trump says he turned the economy around. Here’s the actual GDP chart for the past 12 years. I’m not denying that the economy is doing well under this administration, but no one should deny the growth that occurred under the previous administration.
   
   
5. He touts the low unemployment rate and says if he hadn’t reversed the failed economic policies of Obama, we wouldn’t be seeing this success. Here’s the actual unemployment trend for the past 12 years.
   
   
6. Interestingly, even though he’s right that the participation rate in the workforce increased under him (by 1 percentage point), we still have a lower rate than we did in the 1990s and lower than most other developed nations.
7. He takes credit for rising wages for lower-income workers, but that’s partly attributable to states raising their minimum wages dramatically.
8. Trump speaks about a young girl in Philadelphia who’s trapped in a failing public school and awards her an opportunity scholarship on the spot. Except that she actually attends a highly competitive charter school that does not charge tuition.

• • This is what Trump said, “For too long, countless American children have been trapped in failing government schools.” It sounds like he doesn’t want us to have any public schools.

11. In the middle of the speech, Trump awards the Medal of Freedom to Rush Limbaugh, who does a terrific job of acting surprised. Limbaugh has been fighting lung cancer. If you’re wondering why people are appalled by this, here’s a taste of the bigotry Rush has let fly over the past 30 years.
12. Trump says he’s working to end our wars in the Middle East and bring home troops, but in reality, he’s been sending thousands of troops there in recent months. However, he does bring home one U.S. soldier and orchestrates a reunion with his family in the middle of the speech.
13. Trump invites Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as his guest. Guaidó has bipartisan support from Congress. So after a unifying and bipartisan standing ovation for Guaidó, Trump calls out Socialism, something he continually accuses Democrats of embracing.
14. Trump says he’s increased the border wall by 100 miles. He’s increased it by 1 mile and replaced 99 miles.
15. Trump points out that he released a groundbreaking Mideast peace plan last week, but Palestinians weren’t involved at all and they’ve rejected the plan outright.
16. Trump repeats his laundry list of violent crimes allegedly committed by immigrants. It would take him much longer to list the crimes committed by native-born Americans.
17. To his credit, Trump doesn’t mention the impeachment proceedings.
18. When Trump speaks about protecting the Second Amendment, the father of a Parkland shooting victim yells, “What about my daughter?” Security removes him from the chambers. I wonder why Joe Walsh didn’t get removed for yelling “You lie!” during Obama’s SOTU?
19. And then at the end of the speech, Nancy Pelosi deliberately rips up her copy of the speech, and later calls it a manifesto of mistruths.

• • House GOP members introduce a resolution to condemn Pelosi’s actions.
  • And after the speech, more people are talking about Pelosi than about Trump. That’s a first.

Before the U.S. attack on Iran’s General Soleimani, Saudi Arabia and Iran were working on diplomatic solutions to ease Middle East tensions. They took a step back after the attack. For years Trump has called the JCPOA (Iran deal) the worst deal ever made. Conservatives criticized the deal because it didn’t address state-sponsored terrorism, just nuclear weapons. But now, Trump is following Obama’s playbook exactly—imposing harsh sanctions to pressure Iran into a new nuclear deal (again, without addressing state-sponsored terrorism). It’s dangerous when someone who doesn’t understand policy rips up policies and agreements just because he doesn’t like the person who approved them. It puts our international relationships in peril, our national security in peril, and our global climate in peril.

That’s my rant for the week, and here’s what happened in politics for the week ending February 2…

Shootings This Week:

1. There were SIX mass shootings in the U.S. this week (defined as killing and/or injuring 4 or more people). Shooters kill 2 people and injure 23 more.

• • A drive-by shooting near a Bridgeport, CN, courthouse leaves 4 people injured.
  • A shooter in Merced, CA, injures 4 people.
  • A shooter in Shreveport, LA, injures 4 teenagers who were walking down the street.
  • A shooter in Boynton Beach, FL, kills 1 person and injures 3 others.
  • A shooter in Delano, CA, kills 1 person and injures 4 others.
  • A shooter in Philadelphia, MS, injures 4 people.

2. Following Virginia’s pro-gun rally and Virginia’s State legislature passing gun reform bills, armed gun owners rally at the Kentucky Capitol. Protestors can’t enter the capitol with umbrellas or sticks to hold protest signs, but they can bring in guns and rifles.

Russia:

1. Former Trump campaign aide Carter Page files a lawsuit against the DNC for allegedly bankrolling the Steele dossier, which he claims led to the FISA warrant on him.

• • We now know that the FISA warrant wasn’t based on the dossier.
  • Republican groups first commissioned Fusion GPS to do opposition research on Trump. It was later picked up by Democratic groups after the Republican convention.
  • Weirdly, the same lawyer who represents Page also represents Tulsi Gabbard in her lawsuit against Hillary Clinton.
  • Page recently had a defamation lawsuit against media outlets thrown out by the courts. He also sued the DOJ to be allowed to review the inspector general’s report on the FISA warrants before it was made public. And then when he didn’t get that, he sued the DOJ for overreach. Then he says he’ll file a lawsuit against the FBI.
  • He also claims to have been a CIA asset.

Impeachment:

Including all this info just makes this too long, so I moved it out into its own post. You can skip right over to it if that’s your focus.

Healthcare:

1. Trump pushes forward with a plan to let states convert some of their Medicaid funds to block grants. The plan is intended to curb spending and it places caps on spending.
2. The day before rolling out the plan, Seema Verma says that the administration isn’t trying to undermine the ACA, even though Trump supports a lawsuit that could end the ACA.
3. Around 200 Americans who evacuated from Wuhan, China, land at March Air Reserve Base in California. They’ll stay there until health officials can screen and clear them all.
4. The World Health Organization declares a global emergency over the coronavirus, and the State Department issues travel warnings for China.
5. The virus has infected around 10,000 people and killed at least 213. The most at risk are infants, seniors, and folks with impaired immune systems.
6. The State Department authorizes diplomatic staff in China to evacuate.
7. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross says that the coronavirus will help speed up the return of jobs to the U.S. from China. When life hands you lemons… amiright?
8. The CDC confirms the first person-to-person transmission of the virus.
9. Four years ago, the CDC was committed to fighting infectious diseases like Ebola. This year, they’re cutting their programs for preventing epidemics in 39 of 49 countries because funds are drying up.
10. Insurance companies are taking advantage of Trump’s changes to the ACA that allows them to sell cheap insurance policies that offer insufficient coverage. Already people are being caught off-guard with unexpected healthcare bills.

International:

1. Israel’s attorney general formally indicts Benjamin Netanyahu in three separate corruption cases. He’s charged with bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. The charges come just hours before Netanyahu’s meeting with Trump for the announcement of Jared Kushner’s peace plan. The impeached president and the indicted prime minister.
2. Netanyahu and Benny Gantz meet with Trump together.
3. Jared reveals his long-awaited plan. Here are the highlights:

• • Israel has to give up some land in a land swap to make the size of the Palestinian state comparable to what it was before Israel seized the West Bank and Gaza. The map shows patchwork, noncontiguous enclaves that Kushner says will be connected by bridges and tunnels. Several Palestinian sections are completely surrounded by Israeli sections.
  • Jerusalem stays under Israeli control, and Palestine can establish a capital outside the city border.
  • Israel can immediately annex its West Bank settlements.
  • Palestine must be fully demilitarized and Israel will take care of security for both Israel and Palestine. Palestine can have its own internal security forces, but Hamas and other militant groups must disarm.
  • Israel will control all borders and monitor all crossings.
  • Palestinian refugees who were forced out in 1948 want the right of return, but Israel has always said no to that because it would destroy Israel’s Jewish character. The peace plan says Palestinian refugees cannot return.
  • The plan places extensive conditions on the Palestinians getting a state, and then limits how much they’ll be able to govern themselves if they do get a state.
  • Foreign governments’ response has mostly been muted, but I’m reading a lot of false claims of support.
  • U.S. officials in charge of negotiating the peace plan have actively supported Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory, and they don’t believe the West Bank is occupied.
  • Kushner doesn’t want anyone talking about a two-state solution, but Trump lauds the agreement as a “historic opportunity for the Palestinians to finally achieve an independent state of their very own.”
  • No Palestinian representatives were consulted in the process. They reject the plan outright, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says he’s cutting all ties with Israel and the U.S.
  • In an interview, Jared says this (emphasis mine): “If they screw up this opportunity—which, again, they have a perfect track record of missing opportunities—if they screw this up, I think that they will have a very hard time looking the international community in the face, saying they are victims, saying they have rights.”
  • He also says this: “The Palestinian leadership have to ask themselves a question: Do they want to have a state? Do they want to have a better life? If they do, we have created a framework for them to have it, and we’re going to treat them in a very respectful manner. If they don’t, then they’re going to screw up another opportunity like they’ve screwed up every other opportunity that they’ve ever had in their existence.”
  • Trump warns Palestinians that this might be the last chance they ever have.
  • Trump has also proposed a new $50 billion economic investment plan as part of the peace plan, which he says will create one million new jobs over a decade.

4. Following his meeting with Trump, Netanyahu travels to Russia to update Putin on the peace plan.
5. Brexit becomes official. The U.K. is no longer part of the European Union and the 11-month transition period begins.

• • For now, Britain stays in the UE’s customs union and single market and must follow the same trade and travel rules.
  • Britain no longer has a voice in how decisions are made in the EU.
  • Immigration and trade rules will change at the beginning of next year. There are currently 3.5 million EU nationals in Britain and 1.3 million U.K. citizens in Europe. They’ll all likely have to adjust their status by the end of the year.
  • Britain owes the EU just over $50 million.
  • It’s been 3 1/2 years since British voters passed the Brexit referendum.

6. After an aide to Boris Johnson banned certain reporters from a briefing, all the remaining journalists walked out with them. I wish all journalists would make overt stands like this.
7. The Trump administration wants to let the U.S. military use landmines, which have been banned by more than 160 countries. Trump wants to allow self-destructing landmines.

Iran:

1. Last week, the number of troops diagnosed with brain injuries in Iran’s retaliatory strikes against U.S. troops was at 34. This week it bumped up to 50 and then 64 by the end of the week.
2. The Veterans of Foreign Wars group demands an apology from Trump for saying that these brain injuries aren’t anything serious.
3. The State Department briefs senators on Iran in a closed-door session. Senators say afterward that there was nothing classified, so there was no reason to do it in private. It’s the second contentious briefing, and both the House and Senate are looking at resolutions to limit Trump’s war powers with regard to Iran. While the Senate has yet to pass anything, the House passes two measures this week, including a repeal of a 2002 military authorization passed after the 9/11 terror attacks.

Border Wall/Shutdown/National Emergency:

1. Strong winds blow over newly installed panels at the border fence near Calexico, CA. The panels land on the Mexican side of the border. This is part of an improvement project and not new construction.
2. The current border fence has floodgates that Border Patrol agents manually raise each year to avoid flash floods. The gates stay open during flood season. Due to the design of Trump’s planned wall, it would likely need to include such floodgates as well. Its current design would catch all the detritus from the flood water and wouldn’t be able to withstand the force of the water.
3. Federal agents discover the longest known drug-smuggling tunnel along the southern border. It stretches 4,309 feet, starting in Tijuana, MX, and running to San Diego County, CA. The tunnel has ventilation, electricity, a rail and cart system, and elevators. It’s 70 feet under the ground.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

1. From October 2014 to July 2018, migrant children reported 4,556 complaints of sexual abuse while in U.S. custody. The reports were made to and documented by to the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
2. Republican legislators in Iowa introduce a bill to remove civil rights protections from transgender people.
3. The Supreme Court lets the Trump administration proceed with its “public charge” migration rule, which is basically a wealth test for immigrants. This temporarily lifts a nationwide injunction put in place by a lower court while legal challenges play out in the lower courts.
4. HUD Secretary Ben Carson plans to get rid of a policy that withholds funds from cities that don’t address segregation. On top of that, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposes reducing the data collected on home lending discrimination (black Americans are denied loans at a much higher rate than white Americans, and minorities are charged higher interest rates in general).
5. Trump acts on his threat to add these countries to his Muslim ban: Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Eritrea, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania. The original ban includes Iran, Syria, Libya, Venezuela, North Korea, Yemen, and Somalia. At least those are the countries the administration included in the ban after the Supreme Court told Trump how he could implement the ban without violating the law.
6. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rules that you can refuse to hire someone because they have dreadlocks.
7. Three venues in Britain cancel Franklin Graham’s appearances there because of what they perceive as hate speech, specifically against the LGBTQ community.
8. Colin Kaepernick still doesn’t have a job with the NFL, but they just aired an ad to bring attention to his social justice message. Anquan Boldin’s cousin was shot and killed by an undercover police officer in 2015. His car broke down and he was unarmed. The ad highlights his story.
9. Virginia’s House of Delegates repeals a ban on same-sex marriage.
10. Florida’s private school voucher program was found to discriminate against LGBTQ students, so two of the largest banks in the U.S.—Wells Fargo and Fifth Third Bank—say they’ll stop donating millions to the program.

Climate:

1. A group of U.S. institutional investors urges timber, energy, and mining companies not to take advantage of Trump’s environmental regulation rollbacks. They argue that abusing those rollbacks could put investors at risk of “stranded assets” should the changes be overturned by the courts.
2. The Trump administration plans to drop punishments against gas and oil companies that kill birds “incidentally.” If you support this, I don’t want to hear any more arguments about how wind turbines kill birds.
3. For the second year in a row, teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg gets nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
4. The Department of Energy announces nearly $300 million in research and development funds to go toward sustainable transportation, like electric, hydrogen fuel, and biofuel.
5. Scientists in Antarctica record a glacier melting from the bottom. The water under the glacier is unusually warm. It’s part of a system of glaciers that holds back the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which, if melted, would raise the oceans by about four feet.
6. The Pacific Ocean has become so acidic it’s dissolving the shells of some species of crab.
7. There are only 29,000 western monarch butterflies remaining in California, down from millions. But please, let’s build that wall right through a butterfly sanctuary.

Budget/Economy:

1. Trump signs the updated NAFTA deal, which he calls the USMCA.
2. The economy misses Trump’s projected 3% growth target for a second straight year. 2019 posted the slowest annual growth during his term. Yay for tax reform?
3. Despite the $28 billion aid program for farmers, bankruptcies rose 20% in 2019, hitting an eight-year high.
4. The Trump administration proposes cutting Social Security disability benefits by $2.6 billion over the next decade. Millions of recipients would need to file the paperwork to prove their disabilities all over again.
5. Economists predict the U.S. budget deficit will be well over $1 trillion in 2020.

Elections:

1. John Delaney drops out of the Democratic presidential race. He was the first candidate to announce. Now there are 11 left.

Miscellaneous:

1. After last week’s spat between Mike Pompeo and NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly, the State Department drops NPR from Pompeo’s upcoming trip to Britain, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. Ironically, the journalist they dropped was Michele Kelemen, not Kelly.

• • In response, NPR requests clarification from the State Department on whether they actually did ban Keleman from Pompeo’s trip and if so, why.
  • Also, NPR saw a dramatic increase in donations following the spat.

2. The Navy SEAL whom Trump pardoned against Navy officials‘ advice takes his revenge on his SEAL teammates who testified against him. In a video, he includes their names and pictures, duty status, and current units (for those on active duty). He calls them cowards. As a matter of policy, the Navy doesn’t identify active-duty SEALs.
3. Trump hires Eric Trump’s brother-in-law as chief of staff in the Office of Energy Policy and Systems Analysis. This office used to oversee efforts to fight climate change.
4. E. Jean Carroll, the writer who accused Trump of raping her in the 1990s requests DNA sampling on the dress she was wearing during the alleged assault.

Polls:

1. The University of Cambridge’s Centre for the Future of Democracy runs an annual poll on global attitudes toward democracy, interviewing four million people across the world. They find that dissatisfaction with democracy in developed countries is at its highest level in 25 years, with the U.S. and Britain specifically showing high levels of dissatisfaction.

• • The trend of the annual study suggests that possible causes might be the economic shock of the recession and the global refugee crisis.

2. Impeachment seems to be giving Trump a little popularity boost. It hit an aggregate of 43.4% this week.

I don’t know which category this goes in, but it’s so symbolic of this administration, I’m opening with it. NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly interviews Mike Pompeo. When questions turn to Ukraine, Kelly asks Pompeo if he owes Marie Yovanovitch an apology. Pompeo says he didn’t come on the show to talk about Ukraine. Kelly says she confirmed with his staff that Ukraine was on the table. Pompeo gets super testy on air.

• After the interview, a staff member brings Kelly to Pompeo’s sitting room so he can yell profanities at her. He says Americans don’t care about Ukraine and couldn’t find it on a map (he dropped a few f-bombs in there). He then has a staff member bring in a blank map and tells Kelly to point to Ukraine, which she does (it’s a big county—not that hard to find).
• After the incident goes public, Pompeo puts out an official State Department statement blasting Kelly’s journalistic integrity and accusing her of lying. His statement also implies that she pointed to Bangladesh instead of Ukraine, which is laughable. I invite you to look at a map to see how far apart these countries are. Kelly’s been to Ukraine, graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, and has a master’s in European studies; so it’s doubtful she pointed to a country in Asia.
• Kelly also the emails to back up her assertion that Pompeo’s staff was clear that Kelly was going to ask about Ukraine.
• Pompeo refuses to say whether he owes Yovanovitch an apology even after text messages arise indicating she may have been under surveillance by associates of Lev Parnas, and it’s doubtful he’ll ever own up and apologize to Kelly either. Of course, Trump congratulates Pompeo, saying he “did a good job on her.”

Here’s what happened in politics for the week ending July 26…

Shootings This Week:

1. There were SIX mass shootings in the U.S. this week (defined as killing and/or injuring 4 or more people). Shooters kill 12 people and injure 22 more.

• • A shooting in Seattle leaves 1 person dead and 7 people injured. There were multiple shooters involved when a fight broke out near Pike Place Market.
  • A man in Vanceboro, NC, shoots and kills his wife and 3 children before killing himself.
  • A shooter in Hartsville, SC, kills 3 people and injures 3 more at a nightclub.
  • A shooter in Salisbury, NC, injures 6 people at an after-hours party at a restaurant. One of the injured is currently paralyzed.
  • A shooter at an event hall in Cape Girardeau, MO, injures 5 people.
  • A shooter at a residence in Newburgh, NY, kills 3 people and injures a three-year-old.

2. About 22,000 protestors show up for a gun-rights rally in Richmond, VA. Despite concerns of violence from hate groups and militia groups, the gun-toting crowd is peaceful.

• • While gun-rights activists were outside protesting, student activists from March For Our Lives were inside meeting with state legislators.
  • The Virginia Senate passes a red-flag gun law despite the protest. The law allows law enforcement officials to obtain court approval to remove weapons from someone deemed to be a danger to themselves or to others.

Russia:

1. Despite findings from previous investigations into the Russia investigations that the FISA warrants for Carter Page were valid, the DOJ reports that two of those warrants were not. The two in question were renewals, both approved in 2017. Andrew McCabe and Rod Rosenstein approved one, and James Comey approved the other.

• • A previous IG investigation did find missteps, some egregious, by the people requesting the warrants, causing the FBI to conduct a review of their procedures.
  • The FBI has until the last week in January to respond.

Legal Fallout:

1. The D.C. Attorney General sues Trump’s inaugural committee and business over the committee spending over $1 million for a Trump Hotel ballroom.
2. In the ongoing saga of Michael Flynn, he requests that he be sentenced with probation instead of prison time if he can’t withdraw his guilty plea.

Impeachment:

Including all this info just makes this too long, so I moved it out into its own post. You can skip right over to it if that’s your focus.

Healthcare:

1. Major cities in China cancel their New Year festivals to try to contain the Wuhan virus outbreak. The government restricts travel, especially around Wuhan. Travelers to the U.S. from China are being routed to five airports for screening upon entry into the U.S. WHO says it’s too early to declare a state of emergency.
2. Teachers at the elementary school on which a Delta flight dumped fuel file a lawsuit against Delta.
3. The Trump administration threatens to cut healthcare funding to California over the state’s requirement that insurance policies cover abortion. They timed the announcement with Trump’s appearance at the March For Life.

• • California’s law requires insurance providers to cover both medically necessary and elective abortions.
  • The administration indicates that they’ll target other states with similar coverage requirements.

4. Trump is the first president to speak in person at the March For Life. He singled out pro-life enemy number one, Ralph Northam, for his support of a late-term abortion bill. Northam’s words have been widely misinterpreted to back claims that doctors and parents are killing infants after they’re born. Northam was actually talking about what happens when what should be start-of-life decisions tragically turn to end-of-life decisions because the infant is born with a terminal disease.

• • The march organizers expected around 100,000 attendees, but some people say they were more people in attendance.

5. According to the U.S. Department of labor, women incur healthcare costs 80% higher than men, even though doctors treat women’s medical issues less aggressively and less quickly. Women wait longer in waiting rooms, and they’re still told that their pain is due to emotional stress.
6. Executives at pharmaceutical company Insys are finally heading to jail for their role in the opioid epidemic and their irresponsible marketing activities.
7. The Supreme Court refuses to expedite a lawsuit that could end the ACA, so now it won’t be decided until after the presidential election.

International:

1. Trump invites Benny Gantz, a political opponent of Netanyahu’s, to Washington (at the same time, Trump invites Netanyahu to the White House). Gantz considers declining, but in the end, agrees to come. Gantz is worried it’s a political trap set by Netanyahu. They’ll meet about the U.S. Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. Pence says both are invited to the White House.
2. The UN International Court of Justice rules that Myanmar must take emergency steps to protect Rohingya Muslims from violence. The country must also preserve any evidence of potential genocide. Myanmar has committed atrocities against its Rohingya Muslim citizens for decades. There are around 700,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees in camps in Bangladesh.
3. Greece appoints its first female president.
4. The Director of National Intelligence fails to send a report on Jamal Khashoggi’s killing to Congress, as required by the National Defense Authorization Act signed into law in December. The report identifies those responsible for Khashoggi’s murder.
5. The protests in Iraq, which started in October, escalate this week. Demonstrators block highways and force government offices to close. They want a new prime minister. Iraqi forces launch a major crackdown at Tahrir Square. At least one protestor is killed and dozens more are wounded.
6. Protests start up again in Bogota, Colombia, against the right-wing government.
7. Protests continue in Lebanon, India, and Hong Kong.
8. 
Chilean students protest their version of the SAT.
9. Recent protests in the U.S. include the Women’s March, the March For Life, and the pro-gun rally in Virginia.

Iran:

1. After Iran retaliated with airstrikes for the U.S. killing of General Soleimani, Trump initially said there were no injuries. Then we learned there were about a dozen troops with concussive injuries. Now the total of troops diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries is at 34.

• • Some have already been cleared for active duty.
  • Trump said they just had some headaches, but the effects of brain injuries are wide-ranging.

2. Trump says Obama designated General Soleimani as a terrorist but didn’t do anything about it. This is mostly true, though the designation restricted Soleimani’s ability to travel and complete financial transactions. The designation wasn’t intended to be used as an excuse to kill a general of a foreign government.
3. A bipartisan effort in the Senate to follow the House’s lead and limit Trump’s war powers with Iran stalls during the impeachment trial.
4. Seemingly as a result of tensions with Iran, CBP is illegally deporting Iranian students who have legal permission to be here.
5. Following Trump’s attack on Soleimani, our European allies start talking about cutting some ties. Britain considers cutting back its defense ties with us. Germany says the U.S. alliance with the EU isn’t that important anymore.
6. Three rockets hit the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad, injuring one person.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

1. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol is ruffling some feathers in a small town on a Canadian island on the border with Maine. The community has enjoyed an easy back-and-forth relationship with the U.S., but now CBP is intercepting and opening their mail and refusing to give a reason.
2. In case you were thinking the Muslim Ban and Trump’s actions against Iran don’t affect real, everyday people, at least 16 students with permission and all the necessary approved paperwork to attend college in the U.S. have been deported with no reason given.

• • One was removed despite a court order commanding he be allowed to stay, and he was removed to France before his lawyers could stop it. The judge says he can’t do much about it since the student is now outside of the U.S.
  • This leaves colleges and universities holding the bag trying to figure out how to continue their students’ education while also getting them back to the U.S.
  • The process students go through to get their paperwork in order can take a year or longer.
  • The ACLU is seeing an uptick of Iranian students getting stopped at Logan Airport in Boston.

3. And now Trump wants to expand the Muslim ban to include these countries: Belarus, Myanmar, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania. Remember when they said it would be a temporary 90-day ban while they worked out a better vetting process? It’s been a year and a half since the Supreme Court upheld the travel ban.
4. Texas still officially recognizes Confederate Heroes Day the Friday before Martin Luther King Day. Wow.
5. Utah bans LGBTQ conversion therapy, the 19th state to do so. The practice is widely discredited.
6. New Jersey becomes just the ninth state to ban gay and transgender “panic” defenses, which the Governor says are rooted in homophobia.
7. Britain’s House of Commons votes against legislation that would ensure refugee children can reunite with their families in Britain. The House of Lords previously passed protections for refugee children in their Brexit legislation.

• • The House of Commons also stripped rules protecting the rights of EU citizens in Britain.
  • The House of Commons can override the House of Lords, so it looks like hyper-nationalism and racism will win out in this battle.

8. Trump names Rodney Scott to Border Patrol Chief. The previous chief admitted to being a member of a private Facebook group for CBP agents that turned out to be racist, anti-immigrant, and misogynistic (and the previous chief was a woman!). Scott is reported to be a member of the same group.
9. The Trump administration gives visa officers more leeway to stop pregnant women from visiting the U.S. because they might be having anchor babies. Add pregnant women to the growing list of unwelcome immigrants. We already limit Muslims, the poor, refugees, asylum seekers, Middle Easterners, Central Americans, and Africans.

Climate:

1. Trump has been complaining at his rallies about low-flow showerheads and toilets, as well as energy-efficient dishwashers. And voila. The Energy Department announces changes that will limit the government’s ability to place new efficiency standards on appliances.

• • Increasingly efficient standards are currently saving U.S. households around $500 per year. The new rules make it harder to keep increasing those savings.

2. The UN rules that countries cannot send climate refugees back to life-threatening conditions created by climate change.
3. The Trump administration finalizes a rule that removes environmental protections from streams, wetlands, and groundwater. Landowners can now dump pesticides into wetlands and build over them, among other things.
   1. The protections being removed were implemented based on 1,200 scientific studies.
   2. The new rule is already being challenged.
   3. This is just the latest in Trump’s efforts to repeal nearly 100 environmental protections.
4. The Interior Department approves a right-of way for Keystone XL development in Montana.
5. At Davos, Steve Mnuchin says youth climate activist Greta Thunberg should go take some economics classes so she can explain calls for investors to pull their money out of fossil fuels. He also sarcastically pretends not to know who she is.

• • How does the head of our Treasury not know that money managers are already doing just that? From BlackRock’s CEO: “The evidence on climate risk is compelling investors to reassess core assumptions about modern finance.”
  • There are two reasons to divest:

1. 1. 1. The theory of Economics of Welfare looks at the difference between private costs and societal costs. For example, we know that unchecked emissions of greenhouse gases that are going to cost us in the form of having the rebuild and replace infrastructure.
      2. With alternate and better sources of electricity becoming more available, fossil fuels will naturally fall out of favor.

• • Mnuchin’s wife tweets her support for Greta Thunberg.

6. China plans to ban plastic bags in major cities by the end of this year.

Budget/Economy:

1. Yet again, Trump threatens European countries with tariffs, this time at the World Economic Forum in Davos. This time it’s over European countries’ plans to tax major tech companies like Google and Facebook.
2. In a shift from his 2016 promise to protect Medicare and Social Security, Trump says he’s willing to consider cuts to the programs. His last budget proposed nearly $2 trillion in cuts for programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
3. Fair Isaac is changing the way it calculates your FICO score due, in part, to the record level of consumer debt. Those with high credit scores are likely to see it go higher. Those who are struggling with debt already are likely to receive lower scores.
4. The European Union reportedly does not plan to offer Britain a trade deal on par with their other trading partners, like Canada and Japan. The EU fears that Britain will try to get the best of both worlds by maintaining access to the EU single market while not following the same rules around trade that EU countries must follow.
5. Wells Fargo’s ex-CIO is banned from banking for life and must pay a $17.5 million fine over the bank opening fake accounts and unnecessary lines of credit for vulnerable clients.
6. The Fed’s injections into the repo market, which have been bolstering the stock market for four months, have caused the largest decline yet in the Fed’s balance sheet. And even with that influx of cash, Trump blames the Fed for the U.S. not having 4% GDP growth.
7. One side effect of Trump’s tariffs is a large increase in the price of aluminum to U.S. consumers and businesses. The sanctions against Russia-owned Rusal also increased prices. Nonetheless, Trump expands the tariffs by adding aluminum products like nails, staples, wires, vehicle parts, and so on.

Elections:

1. A 2019 voter roll purge in Ohio in 2019 removed thousands of active voters in error. Ohio’s Secretary of State calls for a reform of the process for cleaning out the voter rolls.
2. Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard sues Hillary Clinton for defamation for Hillary’s comments about a candidate being a Russian asset. Clinton did not mention Tulsi by name in her comments.
3. The impeachment trial pulls four presidential candidates —Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar, and Michael Bennet—off the campaign trail at a crucial time for the Iowa caucuses.
4. At this point in the Democratic presidential race, 16 candidates have dropped out and these 12 remain in the race: Senator Michael Bennet, former Vice President Joe Biden, former New York City Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Representative John Delaney, Representative Tulsi Gabbard, Senator Amy Klobuchar, former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Senator Bernie Sanders, billionaire Tom Steyer, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.
5. There are three candidates on the Republican side: Donald Trump, former Representative Joe Walsh, and former Massachusetts Governor William Weld.

Miscellaneous:

1. An explosion at a Houston manufacturing plant kills two people and pushes nearby homes off their foundations. The explosion damages 214 homes and destroys 50. By the end of the week, the number of structures damaged increases to 450.

Polls:

1. A Pew Research poll finds that Democrats trust more news sources than Republicans. All U.S. adults overall trust more than Republicans as well. Looking at news sources that are trusted by 33% or more, all U.S. adults trust nine news source, Democrats trust thirteen, and Republicans trust two. Even though media consensus isn’t really a measure of news accuracy, I think the more sources you get your news from, the more accurate your view of the news is.