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.