Tag: nuclear weapons

Week 106 in Trump

Posted on February 5, 2019 in Politics, Trump

Trump gave two interviews this week, one seemingly spur of the moment to the New York Times and one on Face The Nation the day of the Super Bowl. I’m not going to talk about them here, because I feel we didn’t hear much that was new. Here are links to each, in case you’re interested: New York Times and Face The Nation.

Here’s what happened in politics last week…

Border Wall/Shutdown:

  1. Nancy Pelosi invites Trump to give his State of the Union address on the House floor on Tuesday, February 5, on the floor of the House.
  2. Trump continues to push the wall in public, but is staying out of the congressional negotiations on a border security plan.
  3. Trump says there must be funding for a wall, Pelosi says there won’t be funding for a wall, and the White House is still preparing a declaration of national emergency.
  4. Despite all the work to make the wall sound like a physical barrier or a fence and not a wall, Trump keeps reiterating that a WALL is a WALL.
  5. If you remember, last year the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could bypass environmental and impact studies for the border wall. Now, bulldozers are lined up outside the National Butterfly Center in Texas, waiting to destroy the protected habitat.
    • The habitat is home to 240 varieties of butterflies and 300 species of birds, and most of the areas people come to see will be behind the wall.
    • The wall here is envisioned to be 30 feet tall and made of concrete and steel, with a 150 foot enforcement zone in which all vegetation will be cleared.
    • CBP maps show that the construction would cut through the National Butterfly Center, a state park, and a 100-year-old Catholic church.
    • Legal action is still pending on all this.
  1. Last year, the Republican-held Congress required that CBP not build fencing in the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, but didn’t do the same for the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. So it’s expected that the wall will also cut through there.
  2. You know why the government can override environmental regulations here? Because of laws created after 9/11. The terrorists are winning.

Russia:

  1. Even though Trump canceled a planned meeting with Putin at the G20 in Buenos Aires last year after Russia opened fire on Ukraine naval ships, it turns out they did have a brief meeting with only Melania and Putin’s interpreter in attendance. Regardless of the innocence of this meeting, the lack of White House staff allowed the Russian press to spin it in Russia’s favor.
  2. Roger Stone pleads not guilty to all seven counts on which he’s charged—witness tampering, obstruction, and making false statements.
  3. After sanctions are lifted against Oleg Deripaska’s businesses, one of Deripaska’s companies appoints Christopher Burnham, a member of Trump’s transition team in the State Department, to their board of directors.
  4. A Kremlin-backed scheme to spread disinformation about the Mueller investigation fails because it was too farfetched. They claimed to have obtained all of Mueller’s database regarding the Russia investigation, but had only obtained what was revealed in court through a request for discovery by Russian company Concord. The trove also included fake documents to make it look like Mueller’s team is doing sloppy work.
  5. A district judge considers implementing a gag order on Roger Stone like she did with Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. Her reason: “This is a criminal proceeding and not a public relations campaign.”
  6. The Trump administration announces they’re pulling the U.S. out of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia because Russia isn’t holding up their end of the deal. (Funny. I just realized that’s always the case when Trump pulls out of an agreement. He thinks everyone is using the U.S.)
    • The treaty is regarded as a crucial moment for arms control during the Cold War. It got rid of over 2,600 missiles, and is key to Europe’s security strategy.
    • Putin says that’s fine, and pulls Russia out of the treaty in response. So now Russia can design new previously banned weapons. He also says Russia won’t start any more talks on nuclear arms control.
    • China criticizes the moves saying they’re bad for global security. China also says they wouldn’t join an expanded version of the treaty themselves, so there you are.
  1. Senate investigators conclude that the phone calls Donald Trump, Jr. made to a blocked number before and after the 2016 Trump Tower meeting were not to his father, but instead were to long-time business associates.
  2. The NRA denies they played an official role in a 2015 trip to Moscow to meet with Russian nationals. Emails and photos say otherwise. Maria Butina helped them with their travel arrangements and organized meetings with Kremlin officials.

Legal Fallout:

  1. Mike Pence has said he was unaware of Michael Flynn’s ties to Turkey and working as a foreign lobbyist. Now we learn that Elijah Cummings sent a letter to Pence about Mike Flynn during the transition in November of 2016. Cummings says he received a receipt confirming the transition team received the letter, so either Pence knew about Flynn, or his transition team kept it from him.
  2. Facebook says they’ve removed as many as 2.8 billion fake accounts over the past year.

Courts/Justice:

  1. The Senate Judiciary Committee postpones the hearing for Trump’s nominee for Attorney General, William Barr, because of Democrats’ concerns over how he’ll handle Mueller’s investigation.
  2. A recent poll shows Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the most popular Supreme Court justice currently seated on the bench. Surprisingly—22% of respondents couldn’t name one justice sitting on the court.

Healthcare:

  1. A new VA policy allows veterans to choose a private physician if they have to drive more than a half hour to get to a VA facility. Previously, the rule was 40 miles.

International:

  1. The Trump administration places sanctions against Venezuela to pressure Maduro to step down.
  2. We learn from John Bolton inadvertently exposing notes on a legal pad ON LIVE TV that the administration is thinking about sending 5,000 troops to Colombia (which neighbors Venezuela). Colombia’s government says they don’t know what the note means.
  3. The U.S. government sends humanitarian assistance to Venezuela through USAID.
  4. The U.S. indicts major Chinese tech company Huawei on charges of lying to government officials and to business partners in an alleged scheme to pay employees to steal trade secrets. The indictment claims that:
    • Huawei’s founder and his daughter (the company’s CFO) lied to the FBI about dealing with Iran (to work around sanctions).
    • Employees received bonuses for stealing trade secrets.
  1. The UK’s House of Commons narrowly votes to have Theresa May renegotiate the Irish border issue with the EU as part of the Brexit agreement.
  2. The EU says there’s no more negotiating. Take it or leave it. No pun intended.
  3. Nissan cancels their plans to start production of a new car model in Britain, citing uncertainties around Brexit as a reason.
  4. The Senate passes an amendment to state opposition to Trump’s decision to remove U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan. It passes with bipartisan approval (68 to 23)
  5. U.S. Intelligence officials testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee in their annual worldwide threats hearing. Their testimony contradicts almost everything Trump says about national security. Here’s how:
    • Trump says North Korea isn’t a nuclear threat anymore.
      Intelligence officials say North Korea likely won’t give up their nuclear weapons.
    • Trump says Russia might not have meddled in our 2016 elections.
      Intelligence officials say Russia was so successful at it that they continued it in 2018 and will continue it into 2020.       They say this is our second most pressing challenge right behind cybersecurity.
    • Trump says a wall on our southern border is the most pressing security need (a national emergency even).
      Intelligence officials didn’t even mention that.
    • Trump says ISIS has been defeated.
      Intelligence officials say the group is weakened, but       it’s also returned to its “guerrilla warfare roots.”
    • Trump says Iran is continuing to build nuclear weapons.
      Intelligence officials say Iran is still in compliance with the JPOA, so is not building nuclear weapons.
    • Trump mocks climate change and calls it a hoax.
      Intelligence officials say it’s one of our greatest national and global security threats.
  1. In response, Trump trashes his intelligence leaders in a series of tweets, suggesting they should go back to school. But after they all meet, Trump says they’re more in agreement than it seems.
  2. One area of agreement between Trump and his intelligence officers is China, which both think is a major threat. But Trump thinks the threat is economic (trade) while intelligence officials think the threat is military and corporate espionage. They also say China is using cyber attacks to influence U.S. elections. (Dammit China and Russia! Stay out of our business.)
  3. Senior intelligence briefers say Trump is a danger to American security with his stubborn disregard for their security assessments. Two briefers say they’ve been warned not to give Trump information that contradicts his public stances because it makes him angry.
  4. Trump says that he’s free to ignore his intelligence officials and instead rely on his own beliefs. Which is technically true, but maybe not the most informed path. Trump also says he doesn’t want intelligence officials sharing their views with Congress.
  5. One major thing from the hearings that potentially got lost in all the conflict is the assessment that China and Russia are more closely aligned than at any time since the 1950s.
  6. The UK, France, and Germany form a new company to help them get around Trump’s Iran sanctions. The new company would avoid the U.S. banking system and thus would not be subject to the sanctions.

Family Separation:

  1. In a lawsuit launched by ACLU against ICE over family separations at the border, ICE files documents that not don’t deny that there are probably thousands more separated kids than initially reported. The filings also show that the administration thinks it would take too long to find all the people separated from their families because there was never any tracking system.
    • Of note, I see lawsuit filings over family separations in March of 2018, so family separations were happening long before Jeff Sessions announced it as policy.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. Decades ago, Muslims settled in an area they called Holy Islamberg in upstate New York to get away from the dangers and temptations of the city. Now, conspiracy theorists and anti-Muslim groups smear the town as dangerous extremists, a jihadist training camp, a terrorist sleeper cell. Why is this news now? Because this week, police arrest four young men who were plotting an attack on the town. They confiscate 23 guns. This is the second recent threat against the town that police have thwarted in recent years.
  2. While Trump keeps pounding on the need for better border security, CPB and ICE haven’t really hired many new agents. Trump signed an order two years ago calling for 5,000 new CPB agents and 10,000 new ICE officers, but there hasn’t been an increase in numbers (for several reasons—the vetting and training processes, an inability to justify the hiring surge, high attrition rates, and so on).
  3. A Maryland State’s Attorney says her office will stop prosecuting marijuana possession regardless of quantity or prior crimes. If you’re wondering why this falls under “Discrimination,” check out the second paragraph here to see the real reason more African Americans than Caucasians are in jail for marijuana possession when both groups use pot at roughly the same rate.
  4. We’re not the only country arguing over asylum policies. In the Netherlands, police aren’t allowed to enter a church during an ongoing service to carry out police business. So a church there held a 24/7 prayer service for 97 days to protect one family from being deported. The service ends this week when the government agrees to a rule change that gives asylum seekers another chance.
  5. The U.S. flags the passports of at least two activists and two journalists working with the asylum seekers at the border. All four are detained by Mexican authorities and denied entry into the country. One resides in Tijuana, but is a U.S. citizen. She was denied access to her 10-month-old son, who was in Tijuana at the time. Another was separated from her husband and daughter while she was questioned. Her daughter sobbed so hard they let them stay in the interrogation room together.
  6. A day after Virginia Governor Ralph Northam ignites pro-life anger by describing in medical and practical terms what happens with a non-viable birth, his college yearbook page surfaces showing a picture of a man in blackface and a man in a KKK costume.
    • Northam take responsibility and apologizes, and that’s not enough—Democrats call for him to resign. Then he says doesn’t think it’s him and says he won’t resign. He does admit to using shoe polish on his face in a Michael Jackson imitation contest.
    • Should he resign, Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax, who is African American, would become governor. But the same site that published Northam’s yearbook also published information about claims of sexual assault against Fairfax. Fairfax says the sexual encounter in 2004 was consensual.
  1. The Department of Health and Human Services changes its rules so that religious foster-care and adoption agencies can discriminate against people they feel don’t agree with their religious teachings.
    • South Carolina’s governor previously signed an executive order that would allow Miracle Hill Ministries to discriminate, but the HHS rule overrode the governor’s EO. So HHS changed their rules.
    • Miracle Hill has previously refused to work with Jewish people and same-sex couples. This all goes back to the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision that supports exemptions to equality guidelines when they go against an organizations closely held religious beliefs.
  1. The Pentagon plans to send 3,500 additional troops to the southern border to help build and reinforce 160 miles of concertina wire fencing.
  2. Undercover Homeland Security agents end a sting operation where they created a fake university to snare foreign nationals who then enrolled in order to get or maintain student visas. DHS hired people to recruit the foreign citizens to enroll in the university. The sting results in the arrest of eight recruiters and could result in the deportation of dozens of “students.”

Climate/EPA:

  1. Another polar vortex hits the Midwest, and Trump wonders where that global warming is when you need it. Some researchers say global warming causes the polar vortex, but not all are convinced. The important thing to remember here is that weather is not the same thing as climate.
  2. The EPA says they won’t set limits on the amounts of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) allowed in our drinking water. Both are linked to cancer, thyroid disease, and immune issues.
  3. Compared to last year, there are 30 fewer lawmakers who are skeptical of any part of climate change than last year. That includes whether climate change is happening, whether it’s a danger, and whether it’s manmade. Deniers make up nearly 30% of Congress, and between them they’ve averaged around a half million in donations from the fossil fuel industry.
  4. France announces a new goal to double their renewable energy capacity within 10 years.
  5. The Bureau of Land Managements moves forward with their sales of oil and gas leases near sacred Native American sites, including the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Processing those energy leases is one thing that didn’t slow down during the shutdown.

Budget/Economy:

  1. The government won’t guarantee that over 1,000,000 federal contractors will receive any back pay from the shutdown, and these are already some of the lowest paid government workers (like janitors, guards, cooks, and so on).
  2. The Senate introduces a plan to repeal the estate tax entirely. Currently, no estate tax is paid for the first $22 million of an inherited estate.
  3. Foxconn announces changes to the Wisconsin campus that Paul Ryan worked so hard to secure. They’re moving away from manufacturing and instead will be a research center.
  4. The House passes a 2.6% pay raise for federal civilian workers. In December, Trump froze any raises for non-military federal workers.
  5. Rutger Bregman, who’s written about history, philosophy, and economics, speaks at Davos and lambasts the wealthy audience for not being willing to talk about taxes, which he says is the only way we know to fight the growing inequality. He says “It feels like I’m at a firefighters conference and no one’s allowed to speak about water.”
    • Ken Goldman, former CFO of Yahoo, denounces the speakers on the forum saying it was one-sided and demanding answers besides higher taxes (and sort of proving the point).
    • Winnie Byanyima, the executive director of Oxfam International, counters Goldman by talking about the lack of dignity in certain jobs and the powerlessness of workers, including those in the U.S. that have brought our unemployment so low.
  1. The economy added 304,000 new jobs last month, but the unemployment rate bumped up to 4%. This could be because people who were furloughed at the time might have reported (mistakenly) that they were unemployed.
  2. Government data shows that new orders for U.S. goods dropped in October and November last year, which suggests a slowdown in manufacturing. A new survey indicates things might’ve picked up again a bit in January.

Elections:

  1. Another state lawmaker switches party from Republican to Democrat. This time it’s New Jersey State Senator Dawn Addiego, who says “the party which once echoed the vision of Ronald Reagan no longer exists.”
  2. In recent weeks Texas flagged 95,000 registered voters for citizenship reviews. Now they’re saying that a substantial number of those flagged shouldn’t have been, and they’re working to remove those names. Apparently the Secretary of State neglected to check how many of these people had become citizens since last applying for a driver license as a non-citizen.
    • The list went back to drivers licenses issued in 1996.
    • Most of those flagged are Latino (shocking, I know).
    • The governor of Texas hasn’t stopped the operation from moving forward despite the errors.
    • The media spread headlines supporting Trump’s accusations of massive voter fraud, which has now turned out to not be the case.
  1. Mitch McConnell criticizes the House Democrats’ bills to make Election Day a federal holiday. He calls it a power grab. And he’s right. When everyone can vote, it’s a power grab by the people 😉

Miscellaneous:

  1. The first tornado in 80 years hits Havana, Cuba.
  2. The Pentagon drafts plans to create a space force under the Air Force rather than as a fully independent military branch as initially envisioned.
  3. A jury awards Rand Paul nearly $8,000 in medical costs, $200,000 for pain and suffering, and another $375,000 in punitive damages from when his neighbor attacked him at his home in 2017.
  4. Trump appoints Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson to be his chief medical adviser. Jackson was once Trump’s nominee for VA secretary, but couldn’t get through the confirmation process due to misconduct allegations. Trump also pushes for Jackson to receive his second star, but the previous allegations against him are still under investigation.
  5. There are three more mass shootings this week in Chicago, San Diego, and Houston. In total, they leave four dead and 13 injured.
  6. A White House staffer leaks three months worth of Trump’s schedules, which show an inordinate amount of time for “Executive Time.” I’m not going to report too much here because who knows what Executive Time actually is.
  7. Like another powerful woman before her (who I won’t name), Nikki Haley charges $200,000 to give speeches.

Polls:

  1. The U.S. falls from 16th to 22nd in the Corruption Perceptions Index (meaning we’re perceived as being more corrupt this year than last year).

Things Politicians Say:

“I think God calls all of us to fill different roles at different times and I think that he wanted Donald Trump to become president, and that’s why he’s there.”

~Sarah Huckabee Sanders to CBN’s David Brody and Jennifer Wishon

Week 70 in Trump

Posted on May 30, 2018 in Politics, Trump

Here’s an interesting fact from last week. Natural disasters in the U.S. target a small group. A recent analysis finds that around 90% of the costs associated with national disasters in the U.S. come from areas where less than 20% of the U.S. population lives.

But I digress… here’s what happened last week in politics.

Russia:

  1. During Trump’s transition, his trade adviser recommended Stefan Halper to ambassador roles in Asia. Halper is thought to be the covert FBI intelligence source who met with Trump officials during the campaign to learn about improper Russia advances.
  2. In yet another concession, Rod Rosenstein and other intelligence agency heads meet with congressional leaders to go over highly classified information in the Mueller investigation that Republicans in the House had been requesting. Though it could be a maneuver to avoid showing all documents and to buy time.
  3. At first, the agreement is to let Republican congressional leaders be briefed. This doesn’t sit with Democrats too well, though; so they arrange a second meeting with the bipartisan Gang of 8 congressional leaders.
  4. If you’ll remember, Devin Nunes has been pushing for this release of information, and most suspect it’s so he can let Trump know where Mueller’s investigation stands.
  5. Paul Ryan supports this review of the FBI and DOJ procedures.
  6. This meeting highlights how Trump is chipping away at DOJ norms bit by bit with each demand that the DOJ compromises on. Legal scholars and former LEOs think these things weaken the DOJ and that the president uses the department as a weapon against its political enemies. FBI agents might think twice about acting on intelligence for fear of retribution from the White House. Here’s what Rosenstein has done:
    • Drafted the memo used to justify Comey’s firing, which led to the special investigation.
    • Released private text messages between two FBI officials.
    • Shared the document that started the Russia investigation.
    • Allowed Representatives to see the classified FISA applications to monitor Carter Page.
    • Opened an investigation at Trump’s [Twitter] command.
  1. John Kelly and Emmet Flood attend at least part of both DOJ briefings, which is a little like putting the fox in the henhouse. The briefings center around possible crimes involving the Trump campaign and associates. Kelly is a Trump associate and Flood is the defense lawyer in the case.
  2. Steve Bannon, Corey Lewandowski, Dave Bossie, and Steve Cortes are a few outside advisors who are pushing Trump to go after the DOJ and FBI, and to paint himself as a victim in the Russia investigation. This explains Trump’s ramp-up last weekend that forced Rod Rosenstein to expand the investigation into FBI and DOJ practices and to show Nunes and Gowdy the information they want.
  3. George Nader, who is a subject of Mueller’s investigation for his role in back-channel international meetings during the 2016 campaign, and Elliot Broidy, who used Michael Cohen to pay off a playboy model he allegedly got pregnant, worked together on an anti-Qatar campaign in Washington D.C. last year for personal profit.
    • They wanted to isolate Qatar and diminish the Pentagon’s relationship with Qatar (where we have a military base), likely at the behest of UAE and Saudi princes for whom they were working.
    • They never registered under FARA.
    • Broidy wrote summaries of their meetings that indicate he spoke to Trump about them.
    • In a filing with the courts, Broidy alleges that hackers hired by Qatar targeted him, and that Qatar was helped by a former CIA operative and a former British spy as part of a larger conspiracy to make him stop criticizing Qatar.
  1. Paul Manafort requests an investigation into whether a lawyer on Mueller’s team, Andrew Weissman, leaked information to the AP last year though he doesn’t say what was leaked. Manafort’s filing relies heavily on reporting by a Fox News contributor.
  2. Sentencing begins for George Papadopolous, indicating he’s given Muelller all the information he has.
  3. Michael Cohen’s taxi business partner, Russian Evgeny Freidman, pleads guilty and is cooperating with both state and federal investigators.
  4. Michael Cohen met with American businessman Andrew Intrater and Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg a few days before Trump’s inauguration to talk about Russian-American relations. A few days after the inauguration, Intrater’s company Columbia Nova gave Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.
  5. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen says she’s not aware of any U.S. intelligence conclusion that Putin sought to help Trump win the election. You would think she’d be aware of the 2017 intelligence assessment that said Putin did just that.
  6. Her spokesperson later walks that back and says that of course Nielsen supports the conclusions of the intelligence community.
  7. Michael Cohen arranged a meeting between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Trump for a mere $400,000. Also, Cohen “forgot” to register as a representative of the Ukraine.
  8. Not long after the meeting, the Ukraine ended its corruption investigation into Paul Manafort.
  9. On his tour of the talk shows to sell his book, James Clapper says he is certain that Russia tilted the election toward Trump.
  10. And then Pompeo reluctantly agrees with him during testimony to Congress, saying he backs the 2017 U.S. intelligence assessment that Russia meddled to help Trump and hurt Clinton.
  11. A team of investigators led by the Dutch conclude that the missile that shot down the Malaysian Airlines jet in Ukraine in 2014 was Russian military (as most people thought at the time anyway).
  12. Email threads show that Roger Stone did, in fact, try to get damaging information on Hillary Clinton from Wikileaks’ Julian Assange during the 2016 campaign through an intermediary. This contradicts testimony he gave to Congress last year.
  13. A special prosecutor in Spain says that Donald Trump Jr. should be very concerned knowing that Spanish intelligence gave the FBI wiretaps of Russian oligarch Alexander Torshin.
  14. Rudy Giuliani says that Trump’s “Spygate” accusations are just a tactic to influence public opinion so Trump won’t be impeached. And just an FYI, the real Spygate is the outing of Valerie Plame’s identity as a covert operative under Bush.
  15. The FBI gets control of a Russian server involved in the hacking of routers and that is also linked to the hacking of DNC documents in 2016.

Courts/Justice:

  1. A judge rules that Trump is violating the First Amendment by blocking his Twitter followers.

  2. The Supreme Court rules that workers can’t band together to challenge violations of federal labor laws. I’m not sure what this means for unions. The majority decision was based on an arbitration law that is superseded by more modern labor laws.

Healthcare:

  1. This is so not good. Three patients who were in the end stages of Ebola escape their isolation ward in an urban area in the Congo.
  2. California’s assisted suicide is still on hold after an appeals court upholds a ruling that it was improperly passed during a special legislative session.
  3. Health workers in countries affected by Trump’s international gag rule say that they’ve seen a rise in unwanted pregnancies and in back-alley abortions. By cutting funding to these agencies, Trump cut funding to contraceptives and programs to prevent unwanted pregnancy. And also, Trump is working on doing the same in the U.S.
  4. Rudy Giuliani represented pharmaceutical firm Purdue Pharma to stop a federal investigation into the firm’s marketing of Oxycontin.

International:

  1. Mike Pompeo says we’ll crush Iran with sanctions and military pressure if it doesn’t change its ways. Pompeo also gives 12 preconditions to negotiating with Iran, which most experts say are non-starters. He didn’t give specifics.
  2. Iranian Prime Minister Rouhani rejects this, saying countries have their own sovereignty and the U.S. doesn’t have the right to push them around. Israel’s Netanyahu supports the U.S. in this. In fact, Netanyahu gave Trump an excuse to attack with his public presentation on Iranian nuclear development.
  3. Many experts see this as intended to result in regime change, which (if successful) would result in U.S. investment in nation building in Iran.
  4. Tensions between Israel and Iran are heating up. So much so that Netanyahu moves his security cabinet meetings to an underground bunker.
  5. In a show that our representatives are worried about the direction our relations with Iran have turned, the House passes an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act clarifying that neither Trump nor Pompeo has the authority to start a war with Iran.
  6. Let’s compare this week’s statements from the White House on recent elections in Russia and Venezuela:
    • On Russia: “We’re focused on our elections. We don’t get to dictate how other countries operate… What we do know is Putin has been elected in their country… We can only focus on the freeness and the fairness of our elections.”
    • On Venezuela: “Venezuela’s election was a sham—neither free nor fair. The illegitimate result of this fake process is a further blow to the proud democratic tradition of Venezuela. … America stands against dictatorship and with the people of Venezuela.”
  1. Trump meets with South Korean President Moon Jae-in to discuss the upcoming summit with South Korea. And then Trump says that the summit might not happen on June 12 as planned.
  2. North Korea makes a show of destroying the site where they conducted their nuclear weapons testing, and while they’re doing that...
  3. …Trump cancels the June 12 meeting with North Korea because of what he calls open hostility and tremendous anger on their side. This was just days after South Korean leader Moon was at the White House meeting with Trump and thinking everything was A-OK. Trump has been dampening expectations for days so the news wouldn’t seem so shocking.
  4. Trump didn’t appreciate North Korea’s criticism of Mike Pence. After Pence compared North Korea to Libya, North Korean officials called him a political dummy. They also said they wouldn’t beg for a meeting and threatened a nuclear showdown, and were reconsidering the planned summit themselves.
    • So basically here’s how it went down: Bolton mentioned the Libya model, Trump said that’s not how it would go down, and then Pence brought up the Libya model again. Voila. No summit.
  1. The military says they’re ready to respond to North Korea if necessary, and Trump holds open the door to future talks.
  2. South Korean officials say they were blindsided, confused, and disappointed by the news. They convened an emergency meeting at midnight to discuss this new development, and to try to figure out Trump.
  3. The new ambassador to South Korea is taking his position at a time of high drama, and will have his work cut out for him in answering to the South Korean government. Luckily both Ambassador Harry Harris and his wife are experts on Asia.
  4. The leaders of North and South Korea hold a surprise meeting to try to keep their talks on track, and to possibly keep the summit between Kim Jong Un and Trump in play.
  5. A group of U.S. officials go to North Korea to continue talks in preparation for a possible summit.
  6. The New York Times reports a senior White House official as saying that if the summit is back on, it would have to be delayed. And then Trump accuses the New York Times of making up the source… even though said source made the statement in a press briefing to a group of around 250 reporters.
  7. Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) turns down Trump’s offer to become the U.S. ambassador to Australia. Corker plans to retire at the end of this year.
  8. The Senate Banking Committee overwhelmingly approves an amendment preventing Trump from aiding Chinese company ZTE without first proving that ZTE is in compliance with U.S. law.
  9. A U.S. embassy worker in China reports a strange noise and then suffers a brain injury. This is comparable to the experience of embassy workers in Cuba.
  10. The Pentagon rescinds an invitation to China to participate in naval exercises over China expanding their military into certain areas of the South China Sea. Over two dozen nations are participating.
  11. Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) goes into effect (this is why you’ve been getting so many privacy policy notifications). The GDPR sets a high standard for how our personal data is collated through the web. The U.S. went the other way last year when Trump not only overturned Obama‘s privacy rules, but also specified that no similar rule could be made in the future without an act of Congress.
  12. Two men set off an explosion in an Indian restaurant in Mississauga, Ontario. Fifteen people are injured. Police have suspects, but no arrests and no motive.
  13. Ireland votes overwhelmingly to legalize abortion.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. Trump signs a financial reform bill that will weaken Dodd-Frank by exempting “smaller” and “community” banks from the rules. It raises the threshold at which the rules apply from banks bigger than $50 billion to banks bigger than $250 billion.
  2. Trumps signs the Right To Try legislation, which allows terminally ill patients to try experimental and unapproved treatments.
  3. Trump signs a major Veterans Administration reform bill that, among other things, gives vets better access to private doctors.
  4. Trump signs the SECRET Act into law, which aims to expedite clearing the backlog of security clearances. Trump reserves the right to not comply saying that it encroaches on his constitutional authority. It seems he objects to the reporting requirements.
  5. Trump signs three executive orders this week that will make it easier to fire federal workers and to dampen the role of unions for federal workers.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. Trump signs a resolution rolling back protections for minorities getting auto loans. The rule was put in place because auto lenders regularly charge minorities and women more for auto loans or make them harder to get.
  2. In a crackdown on free speech, the NFL says they’ll fine any team whose members kneel for the national anthem. The Jets owner says he’ll pay those fines, even though he voted for them.
  3. Trump approves of the NFL decision, of course, and says that maybe people who don’t stand for the anthem shouldn’t even be in this country (the country with the most free speech in the world).
  4. Betsy DeVos proves she doesn’t know the law when she says schools should decide whether to report undocumented students to ICE. She says Congress needs to clarify the law, but the Supreme Court already clarified it, deciding that schools can’t report these kids.
  5. According to the head of the nation Border Patrol union, deploying the National Guard to the border has so far been a huge waste of resources.
  6. DHS says they lost track of 1,500 migrant children they had placed with sponsors last year. This raised concern of them being lost to traffickers, but could simply be people who don’t want to be found. Once kids are released to sponsors (who are mostly family members), DHS is no longer responsible.
  7. A Border Patrol agent shot a young woman crossing the border in Texas, killing her. After initially saying a group of immigrants attacked him with blunt objects, the security guard changes his story to say that they rushed him.
  8. Gavin Grimm wins a lawsuit against a school in Virginia for discriminating against him by not letting him use the restroom for the gender he identifies with.
  9. Pilots at the IASCO Flight Training School take it upon themselves to kidnap and attempt to deport a Chinese student who they say doesn’t speak English well enough to fly a plane.
  10. Trump calls for major changes to immigration laws, even suggesting immigrants don’t deserve hearings. He says he won’t sign any immigration reform that doesn’t build his wall.
  11. Trump nominates Ronald Mortenson to be assistant secretary of state at the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. Mortenson says undocumented immigrants commit felonies to get jobs, that they’re thieves, and that they target children.

Climate/EPA:

  1. The EPA bars the Associated Press, CNN, and E&E (an environmental news organization) from a summit about toxic contaminants in water. Scott Pruitt had previously attempted to block a recent scientific report highlighting the dangers of this contamination.
  2. A wildlife commission in Wyoming unanimously approves the first grizzly bear hunt in Wyoming in over 40 years. Up to 22 bears could be killed, and this is just one year after these bears were taken off the endangered species list.
  3. Internal memos show that White House officials are weighing their options on climate change. Should they have a red-team/blue-team exercise to make people question the science? Just ignore climate change and hope it’ll go away? Give the science a more formal review? They’ve worked to eliminate policies that protect us from global warming, while their own researchers continue prove that global warming is a thing, it’s manmade, and it’s a threat to the U.S.
  4. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers publishes a letter they sent to Trump last month urging him to keep the fuel efficiency requirements that were set under Obama because “climate change is real.”

Budget/Economy:

  1. Goldman Sachs predicts that, after the Republican tax reform last year, our economic outlook isn’t good. The tax reform gave major tax cuts to business and the wealthy, increasing the deficit to over $1 trillion. The expanding deficit and higher debt level could cause interest rates to spike, which would expand the deficit further.
  2. The Congressional Budget Office says that the tax reform will likely stimulate job growth but that it will also cause us to have a deficit that matches our GDP by 2028.
  3. China triples its purchase of soy from Russia and cancels orders from the U.S. amid trade disputes with the U.S.
  4. Mixed messages. Steven Mnuchin says the U.S. will put the trade war with China on hold. A few hours later, the U.S. trade representative tells Beijing that we might still impose tariffs.
  5. China says it’ll cut tariffs on imported cars and automotive parts, as promised.
  6. Federal regulators plan to weaken the Volcker Rule, which was put in place to prevent another financial crisis by preventing financial institutions from making risky bets with our money. Banks have long complained that these rules are too hard in them, apparently forgetting how hard the recession they largely caused was on every American, and many people never fully recovered from it.
  7. As part of their Better Deal economic plan, Democrats announce a $50 billion plan to increase spending on schools, education, and teacher salaries. The money would come from rescinding the tax cuts on the most wealthy.
  8. The GAO approves Trump’s request to freeze $15 billion in funds while waiting for Congress to approve the removal of those funds from budget spending.
  9. As a way to force Canada’s and Mexico’s hands in NAFTA negotiations, Trump says he’s considering a 25% tax on imported cars.
  10. The average price of gas is up 31 cents over the past year.
  11. The House passes a bill that includes approval of Trump’s military parade.
  12. Four months after getting a tax cut from the GOP tax reform plan, Harley-Davidson lays off 800 workers, closes a factory, and increases shareholder profits in a stock buy-back.

Elections:

  1. A new economic study from the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that Twitter bots could have been effective enough to influence the 2016 presidential elections by 3.23 percentage points and the Brexit vote by 1.76 percentage points. This only matters because the margins in both races were so narrow.
  2. Stacy Abrams wins the Democratic primary in Georgia, becoming the first African-American woman to be on a major party ticket for governor of Georgia.
  3. And another first, former Sheriff Lupe Valdez won her Democratic primary, becoming the first gay Latina to be on a major party ticket for governor in Texas.
  4. Students at Florida colleges sue Governor Rick Scott for not allowing early voting at their schools.

Miscellaneous:

  1. The DOJ’s inspector general wraps up his investigation into the Hillary Clinton email investigation (yes, the investigation was being investigated, not Hillary herself). He releases a draft to Congress but doesn’t give a date for the official release.
  2. Trump’s cellphone doesn’t have the required security features because it’s too inconvenient. Obama turned over his devices every 30 days for a security review. But hey. Lock HER up! Right?
  3. Journalist Lesley Stahl says that before an interview last year, Trump told her that he bashes the press in order to “discredit you all and demean you all, so when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.” So there you have it.
  4. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump finally both get permanent top secret security clearance.
  5. Six families of children killed at Sandy Hook file a defamation lawsuit against Alex Jones, who calls the attack a “false flag” and the mourning families “crisis actors.” Too bad they can’t sue him for being a vile human being.
  6. Jeff Flake flames Trump in a college commencement speech, saying we might have hit rock bottom.
  7. Trump is known to tell a lie or two, but his rate of lying has escalated from about 4.9 lies a day in his first 100 days in office to 9 lies a day as of March.
  8. A turf war between Jeff Sessions and Jared Kushner over prison reforms leads to the resignation of the federal prisons director, just nine months after Trump appointed him.
  9. Police in Chicago protest Rahm Emanuel over the status of Officer Robert Rialmo’s suspension, possibly without pay. Rialmo shot a teen carrying a baseball bat and an innocent bystander.
  10. Parents of Santa Fe shooting victims sue the parents of the shooter for failing to secure their guns.
  11. The firm of Stormy Daniel’s lawyer, Michael Avanatti, gets fined in bankruptcy court and needs to cough up $10 million.
  12. Another school shooting, in Indiana this time.

Polls:

  1. I’m pretty surprised by this Pew study… Just 25% of white evangelicals think the U.S. has a responsibility to take in refugees. 51% of Americans overall think we do, and 65% of the religiously unaffiliated think we do.
  2. The numbers for Democrats and Republicans are inverse, with 26% of Republicans saying it’s our responsibility compared to 74% of Democrats.
  3. 59% of Americans don’t think Mueller’s uncovered any crimes, even though there are 17 criminal indictments, five guilty pleas, one person involved is serving jail time, and another is about to be sentenced.