National News Roundup

Year 3, Week 34 (September 8-14)

September 16, 2019June 7, 2020 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

It has been another long week, and increasingly it’s easy to forget there was ever any other kind. Here’s hoping that next week is better than this one, because I’m here to tell you I prefer fewer constitutional crises with my breakfast cereal.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m only summarizing the news within my area of expertise. This week’s news contains some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise — I’m a lawyer, not a Judicial Committee member! — but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

We’re starting to see more movement on the Russia Investigation, though as with all things we see pushback whenever we see progress. Here’s what I have right now:

Impeachment Investigation Update.* As predicted at the top of the week, the House Judiciary panel did pass a resolution to officially start its impeachment investigation on Thursday. Needless to say, Nancy Pelosi was not impressed, but the committee is already negotiating Jeff Sessions’ testimony, so that train is pretty clearly leaving the station whether she’s on it or not.

McCabe is the New Comey. Apparently not satisfied with the Inspector General’s report on James Comey, the Justice Department announced this week that they are authorizing an indictment of Andrew McCabe, because Reasons. Given the overt political connotations of this move, as well as the larger history, we should definitely keep an eye on it.

There was also a fair amount of Disregard of Governing Norms, and some of it is pretty extreme. Here’s what I have for you:

Kavanaugh Hell Comeback.* After the New York Times released a new piece on Brett Kavanaugh’s history of sexual assault at Yale, his sketchy past regained the public eye — and more to the point, the gaps in the FBI investigation from last summer did too. In light of the new allegations, Trump is saying the DOJ should ‘rescue’ him and Democrats are saying that Kavanaugh should be impeached. It’s honestly kind of an open question what happens next, especially with a Democrat-controlled House.

This Week’s Trump Malfeasance. In a shocking turn of events, Trump was horrifying again this week. First there was more news about his behavior at the G-7 Summit, where he called the Egyptian President “my favorite dictator.” And he also called homeless populations in California “a disgrace to our country,” apparently while considering just razing tent cities as a solution to the problem. For the icing on the rotted cake, he’s also considering monitoring people with mental health issues because something something NRA funding. (And this is where I remind the audience that folks living with mental health issues are far more likely to be victims of violent crime than to perpetrate it — the most reliable marker for gun violence is a history of domestic violence, not mental health issues.)

Yet More White House Staff Shuffle. One of this week’s weirder stories is Trump tweet-firing national security adviser John Bolton, which Bolton claims happened just after he tried to resign — and neither side is backing down about whose idea it was. At any rate, outlets are also reporting that Trump has been calling former adviser H.R. McMaster and telling him he misses him, so I guess we’ll see if he’s offered the job again.

North Carolina Remembers 9/11.* The North Carolina GOP was in the news yet again for sketchy practices, only a week or two after the latest judicial order to fix their incredibly gerrymandered maps. This time, the charming practice in question was holding a vote during a 9/11 memorial service so that they could override the governor’s budget veto while all the Dems were elsewhere. (Before you ask, yes, that is the same governor they tried to legislatively hamstring before he even took office.) Since North Carolina’s government has often been a bellwether for what kind of chaos we can expect on the national level, we should pay attention to this kind of cheap tactic.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Purdue Declares Bankruptcy.* Purdue Pharma — the major pharmaceutical company widely regarded as responsible for sparking the opiate crisis — filed for bankruptcy this week. This may be an attempt to get out of the $1.2B settlement they agreed to a week or two ago, but it also might simply be true that their many lawsuits have bankrupted them. Either way, it almost certainly marks the end of the company, which brings grim satisfaction to many people touched by the opiate epidemic.

The Bad:

Your Weekly Immigration Hell. The Supreme Court issued a ruling this week on an asylum-related injunction, and Elena Kagan and I are fighting now. In a 7–2 decision, they gave the Trump administration authority to resume denying asylum applications to people who traveled through Mexico without applying there while the case makes its way through the court system. This new rule violates existing federal legislation, and it’s going to get people killed, and I’m honestly really upset about it.

Synagogue Fire. A historic 119-year-old synagogue burned down this week in Minnesota, marking the destruction of the last historic prayer center of its kind in the region. Reports differ on whether it was arson or an accident, but the main suspect is not being charged with a hate crime. Even so, the fire is a painful loss felt more keenly because of the political atmosphere of 2019.

The Good:

Stores Take a Stand (continued). Modern businesses again expressed opinions about gun law reform this week, this time with a letter to Congress signed by CEOs of 145 different companies. The letter called the Senate’s current inaction “simply unacceptable,” urging them to enact existing House bills requiring expanded background checks and stronger red flag laws. We’ll see if anything comes of this, but even if it doesn’t, the sheer number of companies indicates that public sentiment is not in McConnell’s court here.

Recent Court Resilience. This was a good week for New York court cases, I tell you what. Another emoluments suit survived a standing challenge this week, with the Second Circuit appeals court reinstated a case the district court had dismissed. Meanwhile, the Manhattan District Attorney has subpoenaed Trump’s tax documents from the past eight years pursuant to a criminal investigation of the Stormy Daniels payment. This is a big deal, because the Congressional subpoenas are tied up with lawsuits and the Manhattan case potentially has a lot more jurisdiction to obtain them. I’m excited to see what happens on this!

So that’s what I have for this week, and I think we can all agree that it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this excited pup going down a slide and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) news, and I hope you will be back as well — but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more ice cream, cause we’re gonna need it!

Year 3, Week 33 (September 1-7)

September 9, 2019October 20, 2019 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

This week was a day shorter than normal, and yet somehow still managed to nonetheless squeeze in two weeks’ worth of burning garbage. It’s kind of a neat magic trick, except for the part where, y’know, it sucks.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m only summarizing the news within my area of expertise. This week’s news contains some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise — I’m a lawyer, not an energy-efficient light bulb manufacturer! — but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

We’re starting to see more movement on the Russia Investigation, and I’m excited to see what the House does now that it’s returning! Here’s what I have right now:

Impeachment Investigation Update.* With the House resuming this week, the Judiciary Committee plans to vote on formalizing the whole impeachment inquiry thing sometime this week — it’s a necessary initial step for real impeachment proceedings, and has only been done twice before in our history. With a majority of House Democrats now favoring impeachment, it will be very interesting to see what is done with this vote.

There was also a fair amount of Disregard of Governing Norms, and some of it is pretty extreme. Here’s what I have for you:

Trump and the Taliban.* Trump announced via Twitter this week that he invited the Taliban to come talk at Camp David this week, only a few days before the eighteenth anniversary of 9/11. In true Trump form, he also wanted praise for refusing to let the Taliban in after they took credit for killing 12 Americans, ignoring the fact that he never should have been offering them entry in the first place. Then Pompeo tried to convince us that this is super normal and every President invites terrorists over for tea — and I think this Twitter user speaks for us all when she says, “I am really thankful that Obama eliminated Bin Laden before Trump became best friends with him.”

Primary Blues. Despite the fact that more Republican candidates have announced they plan to run in 2020, Republicans in four states are canceling their presidential primaries ahead of the election season. Needless to say, challengers aren’t exactly thrilled with this, and though I’m loathe to agree with Joe Walsh on absolutely anything I do agree with his observation that this is something a mob boss would do.

Emoluments Again.* We appear to have once again reached that magical time when people suddenly start remembering the Emoluments Clause is a thing, and again start looking into the money that Trump is making off of our government hand over fist. The latest this week is a new investigation into Trump’s previously-failing resort in Scotland, which has prompted a disproportionate number of stopovers at the nearest airport — including multiple military flights, even though it’s standard procedure to refuel at air bases. So the Air Force and the House are now looking into that, and we can add them to the pile of multiple other emoluments actions.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Further EPA Deregulation Adventures.* In apparent response to resistance from automakers on proposed deregulation of emissions rules, the Justice Department is now investigating those automakers for antitrust violations. Apparently confident in the persuasive power of petty abuses, they then went ahead and relaxed light bulb efficiency rules too. The new rules create more costs for literally everyone, and on the heels of the automotive stuff I can’t overstate how wild this all is. It’s like if an amusement park decided it was too much work to use seat belts on roller coasters, and then when park-goers stopped riding them, the park responded by threatening to slash coaster enthusiasts’ tires and taking the seat belts off of Ferris wheels.

The Bad:

Your Weekly Immigration Hell. This week was a little bit lighter than previous weeks on the immigration front, but that really isn’t saying much. The military has started defunding over a hundred Pentagon projects to divert moneys to the border wall, with most of the projects being quality-of-life supports such as daycares and schools. (Secretary of Defense Mark Esper is trying to talk European allies we’ve alienated into footing the bill for said projects.) Meanwhile, the Trump administration is considering severely cutting our refugee program for a third year in a row, and one of the plans on the table is admitting no refugees at all in FY20. So that’s fun and definitely legal.

Dorian Aftermath. Throughout the tail end of the week, Hurricane Dorian (and the administration’s reaction to it) remained very concerning. As I mentioned on Tuesday, it passed through the Caribbean as a Category 5 storm that took at least 43 lives and left 70,000 people in need of aid. (The hurricane also hit Florida, the Carolinas, and Canada, though nowhere near as hard). Though we’ve historically permitted open travel for Bahamans with a passport and clean criminal record, people started reporting that Bahamans were being ordered off of Florida-bound boats, because an overnight policy change means trips now require a visa. Meanwhile, news sites are still covering the ongoing saga of Trump’s weird lies about Dorian hitting Alabama — though, to be fair, there’s plenty there that’s very concerning. In particular, NOAA being told to lie to back 45 up isn’t great, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross threatening to fire people if they didn’t comply is even worse.

Straight Pride Parade Brutality (continued). As the aftermath of the Straight Pride Parade unfolds, we continue to see distortion of proper due process that is very concerning. As I mentioned last week, the judge hearing criminal charges issued bail conditions barring people from the city, and followed that up by rejecting the District Attorney’s motion to dismiss charges against the majority of protesters. For an encore, the same judge held a prominent immigration attorney in contempt when she read precedent about case dismissals into the record while defending one of the protesters in court. District Attorney Rollins has moved for interlocutory appeal of the motion to dismiss, and the appeals justice found the BMC judge in error today. Folks, especially as an attorney who practices in the Boston area, I really can’t overstress how bizarre and bad I find this entire story — none of this should be considered normal, and I’m not surprised that the decision was immediately overturned.

The Good:

Success in Hong Kong. The extradition bill in Hong Kong, which sparked many months of dedicated protest, was finally taken off the table this week by leader Carrie Lam. The protesters are nonetheless holding strong, calling for more bedrock political reform that would allow the region to retain its autonomy and curtail police brutality. Both the withdrawal of the bill and the protesters’ convictions are really powerful reminders of how civil unrest can protect important liberties.

Stores Take a Stand. This week, Walmart announced that it is going to stop selling handguns and their associated ammunition in its stores, and also will ask customers to stop carrying guns in the stores entirely. The change comes on the heels of several mass shootings over the past few months, including two recent shootings that occurred within Walmart’s stores. Shortly after Walmart made its announcement, Kroger announced that they were following suit on the whole “don’t carry guns here please” thing. Both companies are also asking Congress to enact better gun reform laws, though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell keeps passing the buck on voting. And the NRA is already trying to froth up gun owners about this, because the Second Amendment definitely protects your right to bear arms in a Walmart.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I think we can all agree that it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this American woodcock rocking out and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) news, and I hope you will be back as well — but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more ice cream, cause we’re already out!

Year 3, Week 32 (August 25–31)

September 4, 2019October 20, 2019 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Another week, another giant pile of “why are we trapped in this timeline.” As always, ice cream and I are there for you, but frankly, I won’t judge you if you go with something harder this week — the week went pretty hard on us, so it’s only fair.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m only summarizing the news within my area of expertise. This week’s news contains some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise — I’m a lawyer, not a tax return! — but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

We’re starting to see more movement on the Russia Investigation than we’ve seen in some time, but that doesn’t mean it’s exciting news. Here’s what I have right now:

Comey Commotion.* The Justice Department’s inspector general announced this week that former FBI head James Comey violated FBI protocol when he documented conversations with Trump in private memoranda and retained copies after he was fired. Unsurprisingly, Trump was tweeting about the findings pretty much immediately, but no official censure has been forthcoming — that will be the role of the Office of Professional Responsibility.

There was considerably more Disregard of Governing Norms, and none of it was especially fun viewing. Here’s what I have for you:

This Week’s 45 Malfeasance.* There was a lot of overtly sketchy Trump behavior this week, although I say that so often I should just start outsourcing to a wind-up doll. The bit where he authorized a new Space Command was pretty funny, and other than being a waste of money it was probably fairly benign. But he also told staff to illegally seize land for a border wall, because he’d just pardon anybody who was prosecuted. (He later said he didn’t say that.) He also complained on Twitter that Fox News “isn’t working for us anymore,” which was a sentiment that Fox News apparently did not appreciate. He had Mike Pence stay in his golf resort in Ireland, which was literally across the country from his actual location of diplomatic business, because it would benefit him financially. And just to top it all off, news broke that Trump made up some of his phone calls with China to try to assuage concern about the trade war.
Federal Election Commission Vacancy. Vice Chairman of the Federal Election Commission Matthew Peterson stepped down last week. Peterson’s chair is the fourth to expire under Trump’s watch, and none of them have been replaced — which means the FEC now lacks quorum required to function. Surprisingly, this one isn’t Trump’s fault, because he did nominate somebody several times — but the Senate hasn’t held a vote to confirm (hmm, where have I heard that one before?). Good thing we don’t have reason to expect foreign interference with free elections in 2020, amirite? Thanks Moscow Mitch!
Deutsche Tax Situation.* Deutsche Bank confirmed this week that it does have some of the Trump family tax documents that were subpoenaed by Congress (though Capital One said that they do not). Deutsche also said, however, that it wouldn’t turn over the records or even say who they concerned until there was a court order, so it will be some time before we see further action on this.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Hurricane Dorian’s Bitter Fruit. Hurricane Dorian came onto the scene this week and is proving as nasty as its namesake. Over the weekend, it passed through the Caribbean as a Category 5 storm and left 62,000 people without drinking water in the Bahamas. Now it’s headed towards Florida, where it is expected to hang out as a Category 2 storm for a couple of days. It’s likely due to the Florida part that Trump canceled his trip to Poland, though he also took the time to insult Puerto Rico while he was making preparations.
Brexit Mess. It turns out Brexit is the sleeper schadenfreude of the week, and given the rest of the news I think we all deserve to read about it. First Prime Minister Boris Johnson successfully appealed to the Queen to suspend Parliament for several weeks before leading a single vote — which many members rightfully saw as an excuse not to debate Brexit that was prompting a constitutional crisis. (Brexit was supposed to go off on October 31, and Johnson has been pushing for an exit whether there was a plan or not.) But since Parliament had until September 12th for the suspension to go into effect, it was still in session today when conservative MP Phillip Lee defected to the Lib Dems, leaving Johnson without a working majority before anybody voted on anything. He responded by telling his party that anyone who voted against him once the first vote was, y’know, held would be forced out of the party. So twenty more members of his own party gave him the bird and voted themselves off the island, and now Johnson is trying to get a snap election on October 14. Meanwhile, the head of the opposing party is saying maybe he’ll consider an election, but only if no-deal Brexit’s already off the table. Folks, I’m gonna go ahead and conclude that when your second ever plan involves trying to convince people to put your job in jeopardy, you are maybe not super great at planning.
EPA Deregulation Adventures.* The EPA is trying to roll back rules on methane emissions, which isn’t especially strange in 2019 (though that is its own tragedy). What is unusual, however, is the resistance they’re encountering from the people they’re trying to deregulate — apparently the relaxed rules may have policy consequences for automotive companies and energy companies further down the pike, and some far-thinking companies are organizing against the initiative. Since there’s a sixty-day comment window before they can do anything, and the industry appears mixed at best on these relaxed rules, we may not see this finalized before the 2020 election.

The Bad:

Even More Hellish Immigration News. This week brought yet more bad immigration news. First 45’s administration ended automatic citizenship for children born on military bases by a convoluted memo that apparently confused a lot of people, but is concerning even in its more limited form. The administration also ended a program that allowed medically fragile people to stay here while they receive life-saving medical care. The CDC reported that there have been mumps outbreaks in fifteen different camps, making last week’s push to hold kids in camps indefinitely even more upsetting. Last but not least, the administration announced it plans to relax rules about language interpretation services in healthcare.
Amazon Still Burning. At the top of the week, Bolsonaro refused aid pledged during the G-7 summit, saying that he would only take the money if French president Emmanuel Macron apologizes to him for calling him a liar. (He did accept British aid, but given what’s going on in Britain right now I’m not sure what that’s worth.) Trump praised Bolsonaro for rejecting aid, saying he was “in all respects doing a great job” because theirs is a special narcissistic relationship. As I mentioned last week, Amazonian damage is likely to have devastating effects on our global ecosystem long-term, because it’s an important player in delaying climate change — so, y’know, totally worth refusing relief over some insults.
Straight Pride Parade Brutality. The city of Boston hosted a “straight pride parade” this weekend, which was really more of a pro-fascism pride event, and ended in nine people being taken to hospitals and at least one concussion. Countless eyewitness accounts and some on-the-ground footage documented police using pepper spray on counterprotesters with very little provocation, apparently mostly at the direction of one specific captain. I was not present at any of the violent altercations, but I do personally know people who were pepper sprayed, as well as people who shot video footage, and I cannot overstate how credible I find these reports. (Also, a simple search of said captain’s name pulls up his involvement in at least one previous police misconduct case.) Like so many Boston residents, I am disturbed and angered by this escalation, as well as bail conditions barring people from the city, and I urge everyone reading this to call their state reps.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. There were some promising court cases this week. On the health side of things, we have a $572M damage award against Johnson & Johnson for their role in the opiate epidemic, which in turn prompted a settlement from Purdue Pharma. In civic news, the Third Circuit permitted a lawsuit against the TSA to go forward, and a North Carolina state court found their legislative districts to be unconstitutionally gerrymandered under the state constitution — creating a new line of precedent to address unlawful districting in other states. All of these are positive developments, though it was a rough week in general.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I think we can all agree that it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this compilation of lounging Jacob Rees-Mogg memes and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) news, and I hope you will be back as well — but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more ice cream, cause we’re gonna need it!

Year 3, Week 31 (August 18–24)

August 27, 2019October 20, 2019 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

This week has basically been ten pounds of chaos in a five-pound can — it’s a rough ride featuring everything from rainforest arson to Trump deciding he’s The Chosen One. I’m sorry, this is in fact reality, but your ice cream is here for you and so am I.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m only summarizing the news within my area of expertise. This week’s news contains some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise — I’m a lawyer, not a Twitter tantrum! — but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

With the Mueller investigation over and the Senate and House both on a break, the Russia Investigation has been pretty quiet. But here’s what I have right now:

Subpoenas Ahoy.* The House Judiciary Committee plans to subpoena former Trump aide Rob Porter, who was apparently present for several obstruction of justice exploits mentioned in the Mueller Report. Porter makes the third person to be subpoenaed to testify, after the same committee subpoenaed former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and former deputy chief of staff Rick Dearborn. All three are slated to appear on September 17, so that’s the date to watch here.

The name of the game this week was Disregard of Governing Norms, and oh, what a week it was. Here’s what I have for you:

Delusions of Grandeur.* Kicking off the chaos, we have all the news about Trump’s high opinion of himself. First he retweeted the esteemed opinion of a conspiracy theorist that Israeli Jews “love him like he is the second coming of God.” Then, riffing on that theme some more, he informed reporters that he is “the chosen one” to deal with looming trade wars. And for an encore, he told a room full of veterans that he thought about giving himself a medal of honor. (Apparently, nothing says “deserving of our highest award of valor” to him quite like “I dodged the draft and compare myself to Christ.”) These quotes are nauseating, but they also reflect an intentional disruption of our governing norms that shouldn’t be ignored.
Nukeicane Donald. Somehow, 45 literally calling himself the messiah isn’t the most bizarrely disturbing thing I’m writing about him this week, because Axios reports that he proposed flinging nuclear bombs into hurricanes as a means of dealing with them. (The writers really jumped the shark this week; it must be sweeps season.) Trump is calling this story fake news, which means odds are good that he actually did suggest it. Needless to say, this plan would cause radioactive tradewinds, so it’s not an awesome idea either way — although people have been suggesting it since Eisenhower’s day.
Recession Rodeo.* As a threat of recession continues to loom, 45’s behavior gets more and more extreme — and that, in turn, speaks to tossing more norms out the window. The nadir this week was calling the head of the Federal Reserve a “bigger enemy” than the President of China. But that said, we should probably be most concerned about him “hereby ordering” American companies to withdraw from China via Twitter amid rising tariffs. The market definitely reacted to that last one, dropping more than 600 points in one day, and though 45 doesn’t have the ability to legally enforce the order it sounds like he might try anyway.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Policy One-Eighty Patrol. There were some stunningly quick about-faces on some important issues this week which seem worth noting. The most extreme was 45’s amazing Appearing Disappearing Regret About Trade Wars with China — it’s not unheard of for politicians to change their stances on things, but a complete one-eighty in the span of a few hours is a bit much. He also reversed course on the subject of background checks for gun purchase, now seeming more reluctant to move forward on legislative changes. It’s been that kind of week, I guess.
Electoral College Dropouts.* New precedent out of the 10th Circuit this week found that the electoral college doesn’t have to listen to the popular vote it represents, or at least can’t be penalized for breaking faith in this case’s instance. Though I haven’t yet read all 125 pages of this case, I find the ruling baffling; the constitution is pretty silent on this topic but pledge laws have been protected by the Supreme Court for half a century. And no matter what the Supreme Court finds if they hear the appeal on this case, there’s a Washington Supreme Court case that compels electors — and they’re the ultimate authority on the Washington constitution, so that can’t be overturned by the federal case.
Joe Walsh What Now. Former Republican congressman and all-around tea partier Joe Walsh announced this week that he’ll be running for President as a Republican primary candidate, which I find baffling on a lot of levels. This isn’t so much the GOP rejecting Trumpism as a Trumpist rejecting Trump, so I’m not even certain his presence will split the GOP vote much. I guess it will be interesting, if nothing else?

The Bad:

Even More Hellish Immigration News. As has become the norm, there are a bunch more horrifying immigration updates this week. The administration announced that it wouldn’t provide flu shots to migrants in custody, which is a really serious problem given the appalling hygiene conditions in the camps. They then followed this up by moving to hold kids in camps indefinitely instead of placing them in sponsor homes as they’re required by law, and twenty states are suing over it. Meanwhile, Trump has started threatening to take away birthright citizenship yet again, which is just as flagrantly unconstitutional as it was the last seven times he brought it up. And news broke that the Justice Department sent white nationalist content to sitting immigration judges, and apparently has been doing this for months. (Relatedly, I learned a new antisemitic term from my government today, so that’s a thing that happened.)
Amazon is Burning. The Amazon rainforest is suffering massive wildfires as I type this, which have actually been going on for weeks but gained the world’s attention this week due to the mass circulation of photos of the damage. The problem has significantly worsened since the election of President Bolsonaro, who ran on a platform of allowing rampant deforestation (no, seriously), and the fires this year are the worst on record. This is likely to have devastating effects on our global ecosystem long-term, because the Amazon is an important player in delaying climate change.
G7 Summary.* Many of the topics of this weekend’s G7 summit have already been covered elsewhere in this roundup, but it was a veritable merry-go-round of messy topics and adult politicians behaving badly. Among the remaining lowlights: Trump trying to get Russia back in and insulting France again; UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisting that Britain shouldn’t have to pay for Brexit; and a sudden gate-crashing minister from Iran who turned out to be France’s party guest. There was also some apparent progress, such as a new trade deal with Japan, but those moments appeared few ad far between. And since the United States hosts the next G-7 summit, Trump’s already threatening to hold it at a property he owns in Florida, because of course he is.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. We did get some pretty awesome court news this week: The Ninth Circuit ruled that denying sexual reassignment surgery to prisoners with severe dysphoria violates the Eight Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. This is a major win for trans rights, because it means courts are viewing trans healthcare as medically necessary. I’m really happy to get to write about it.

So that’s what I have for this week, and good gravy, what even is the news right now. For making it through, you deserve this monkey reunion video and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) news, and I hope you will be back as well — but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more ice cream, cause we’re gonna need it!

Year 3, Week 30 (August 11–17)

August 20, 2019October 20, 2019 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Well, I got back from vacation and the nation was somehow even more on fire than I left it. (I swear I didn’t leave the stove on.) We’ll get through this and out the other side; it’s just going to take all of us pitching in to support each other.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m only summarizing the news within my area of expertise. This week’s news contains some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise — I’m a lawyer, not a trip to Israel! — but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

With the Mueller investigation over and the Senate and House both on a break, the Russia Investigation has been pretty quiet. But here’s what I have right now:

Impeachment Investigation (Non-)Update.* Now that Democrats’ support for an impeachment investigation has reached a party majority, and chairman Jerry Nadler has clearly stated that he is conducting a formal inquiry into impeachment, the topic is again an open question. At the time that I type this, Nancy Pelosi is still reluctant to move in that direction. But that could change if pressure keeps up in the future, so it’s anybody’s guess what will happen when Congress comes back from the break.

This week’s Disregard of Governing Norms news, on the other hand, sure had attributes. Here’s what happened:

“Moscow Mitch” Meme Gains Steam. The Democratic Party is definitely running with the “Moscow Mitch” moniker that started surfacing in the past few weeks, at least if Nancy Pelosi’s use of the term is any indication. Unsurprisingly, McConnell hates the term, because it draws attention to his recent reindeer games regarding election protections. So let’s make it the new 30–50 feral hogs, y’all.
Israel Intervenes. Trump pushed on Twitter for Israel to ban two House representatives who planned to visit this week, arguing that it would “show great weakness” if they were allowed to visit because they “hate Israel and all Jewish people” — which, by the way, is news to this Jewish author. Showcasing the special, special bond that Trump has with Bibi, Israel went ahead and banned them, using boycotting as a cover. Eventually they walked back the ban on Representative Tlaib at her request, on the grounds that her grandmother is a life-long West Bank resident and thus she could probably sic the UN on them for this nonsense. But Omar remained banned, and ultimately Tlaib said “thanks but no thanks” to a visit under their required conditions. (Though Trump and others have tried to claim she set them up, it’s more likely that she received political pressure not to repudiate boycotting in this context.)
Social Media Executive Order. The Trump administration announced that it plans to draft an executive order that would give broad authority to the FTC and the FCC to monitor and police online speech on social media platforms. You know all those times that someone told you that Freedom of Speech doesn’t apply to something, and a private actor’s removal of speech isn’t censorship, because the First Amendment only applies to government actors? That’s exactly what this executive order is designed to mess up, and we should all have something to say about it — as proposed it would be very, very bad for freedom of speech. We absolutely need to keep an eye on it.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Epstein Death. Shortly after reams of discovery were made public on his criminal case, Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his jail cell on Sunday. The death was originally declared a suicide, but Trump started accusing the Clintons of murdering Epstein to keep him silent (which would probably be a libel suit if we weren’t living in Bizarroland). Soon William Barr picked up the thread, and now there are ongoing DoJ and FBI investigations. And an early autopsy report revealed that his death is consistent with murder by strangulation, though the final report ruled that his death was a suicide by hanging.
Greedy for Greenland. This week’s “why am I typing this” award definitely goes to a news story that Trump asked aides about buying Greenland, apparently because he wants to mine it for materials. Greenland, quite understandably, has made it clear that it’s not for sale — although they did leave the door open to sell him resources. In all seriousness, folks, this story is super weird but I also think it’s very telling that Trump is asking about buying and selling entire autonomous territories like it’s a real estate deal; he clearly views people’s lives as commodities in a way that we definitely don’t want a President to view them.
Reproductive Rights Weirdness. Steve King was in the news this week for claiming that humanity might not exist without rape and incest, which was a terrifying view into his worldview that absolutely nobody asked for. (He also claimed the media owed him an apology because… reasons?) And King’s comment is a timely reminder of the nightmarescape currently looming over reproductive rights, between Planned Parenthood’s likely withdrawal from Title X funding as a result of the gag rule and Trump proposing more rules that let businesses discriminate on anything from reproductive rights to existing while trans.

The Bad:

Even More Hellish Immigration News. Immigration news has been truly awful over the past couple of weeks, and somehow it just keeps getting worse. The long-awaited new rules on public charge were officially published this week, and as expected they disproportionately punish indigent immigrants for existing. In the process, they also force many lawfully present immigrants to choose between necessities such as health care and food and permanent immigration status. (The administration defended this practice by saying Emma Lazarus’s famous poem on the Statue of Liberty should only include those tired and poor who “can stand on their own two feet” and were “people coming from Europe.”) Additionally, the shooter in El Paso disclosed that his attack was motivated by anti-immigration sentiment, not that this was really in doubt, and an ICE employee drove his truck into a crowd of protesters in Rhode Island. There were also massive immigration raids at a food plant in Mississippi, apparently in response to a successful lawsuit about work conditions, which resulted in 680 arrests on the first day of school. The Ninth Circuit partially reinstated the (illegal) proposed restrictions on asylum entry, which came down around the same time the Washington Post reported on unsafe conditions for asylum seekers forced to wait in Mexico. And for an encore, the administration is trying to decertify an immigration judges’ union, because of course they freaking are.
Mass Shooting Aftermath. In the aftermath of mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, we have no closure but lots of mess. Trump visited both sites for photo ops, of course making the trips all about him. Then he expressed half-hearted support for gun control while Congress considered five different bills on the subject and several Democratic candidates released comprehensive plans. Meanwhile, there were further arrests in both El Paso and Ohio due to concern about copycat crimes.
Recession Threat.* A threat of recession looms large in the news cycle this week, with reports of sluggish growth early in the week forecasting a massive market drop on Wednesday. Though this wasn’t the first bad day the Dow has had in the past few years, it is the first time since 2007 we’ve seen an inverted yield curve, which many people view as a serious warning sign — apparently including Trump, if his Twitter tirade is any indication. It’s a predictable outcome of irresponsible economic policy, but it can be hard to predict when it will hit or how bad it will be, which is making a lot of people nervous. Needless to say, the Trump administration is insisting it won’t happen, but we should all be keeping an eye on this.
Endangered Species Further Endangered.* The Trump administration weakened foundational wildlife protection rules this week, presumably just in case anybody’s wife really needed that grizzly skin coat. (I’m lying, it’s about oil, because of course it is.) The changes are particularly frustrating because they come shortly after a UN global assessment report stresses the importance of preserving biodiversity. Some days, it really does feel like we’re being governed by Captain Planet villains.

The Good:

Cyntoia Brown Released. After spending literally half her life behind bars, Cyntoia Brown was released from custody this past week when her sentence was commuted. Brown was originally sentenced at age 16 for killing a man who paid to have sex with her; she maintained the act was self-defense and prosecutors claimed it was a robbery gone south. Brown’s case had become a symbol for better protections for sex-trafficked minors in general, and her commuted sentence is a major win on that front.
Recent Court Resilience. There were several promising court cases in the past week or so, which is only a partial balm to everything else but it’s at least a start. In DC, a judge awarded $700,000 to a college student heavily doxxed by neo-Nazis, creating valuable new precedent about the actual harm created by serious Internet harassment. And in lawsuit news, 13 states are suing the Trump administration over their rollback of the Clean Air Act while another 18 other states and several advocacy groups are suing over the new public charge rules.
2020 Primary Colors. Presidential hopeful John Hickenlooper announced he is officially dropping out of the 2020 race, though apparently he may run for the Senate instead (and more power to him, we need people to do that anyway). Between that and five candidates emerging as fundraising frontrunners for the September debates, we may be finally seeing an actual primary begin to take shape. We should continue to watch this, obviously, but it’s exciting to see order start to form from chaos.

So that’s what I have for this week, and good gravy, what even is the news right now. For making it through, you deserve this primer on zero-proof beverages and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) news, and I hope you will be back as well — but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me a kudos for surviving a nine-hour Ikea trip!

National News Roundup: Year 3, Week 27 (July 21–27)

July 30, 2019June 7, 2020 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

This week has a lot happening, and much of it can feel like a shell game designed to hide the ball from view — because it is. I’ll try to keep folks posted on everything going on, though some days it’s hard for me to keep my eye on the ball as well — those cups move really fast! (But we all do our best.)

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m only summarizing the news within my area of expertise. This week’s news contains some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise — I’m a lawyer, not a policy change! — but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

It’s another week of heavy movement on the Russia Investigation front, and some of the news has major implications. Here’s what’s going on right now:

Mueller Testifies. Robert Mueller testified before Congress for seven straight hours on Wednesday, in back-to-back hearings with the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees. Though his testimony largely stuck to the bounds of the report, he made it clear that Trump was not exonerated by said report — even going so far as to confirm that he believed he could not charge a sitting president, but that Trump potentially could be charged upon leaving office. He also made it very clear that he was deeply concerned about foreign meddling in the 2020 election cycle, and had many things to say about Wikileaks. And it’s clear that at least one committee was listening, if the news below is any indication.
Impeachment Investigation.* The House Judiciary Committee opened an impeachment investigation on Friday, and despite Nancy Pelosi’s continual reticence, committee head Jerry Nadler has suggested that he wants this to be the opening act to impeachment itself. The investigation includes a petition requesting information from Mueller’s grand jury proceedings, suggesting that the move relates in part to Mueller’s testimony. And it’s not really that surprising, because more and more House Democrats started to seriously consider impeachment after Mueller testified — at the time that I type this, we’re nearing a party majority.
Election Protection Escapades.* Despite Mueller’s testimony on Wednesday, and the movement on impeachment, we have not seen the same success with attempts to protect our 2020 election cycle from Russian influence — mostly because Mitch McConnell keeps blocking his colleagues’ attempts to do something proactive. And that’s bad news bears, because even without Mueller’s testimony we would probably want to respond to news that Russia targeted election systems in all 50 states during the 2016 election. (Trump is technically responding to this news, in that he’s replacing the head of intelligence, but that’s not even the same postal code as what I meant.)

This week’s Disregard of Governing Norms news is just repeated installments of the Trump Is Horrible Show, but we have to pay attention to it anyway because it has implications. Here’s what happened:

Executive Hacks. Trump made a lot of scary statements about his own executive powers this week. First he said he could wipe Afghanistan off the face of the earth as a proposed end to the ongoing war, which left Afghanistan quite reasonably asking “excuse me, you could what now?” Then he followed that one up by announcing that Article II of the Constitution gives him “the right to do whatever I want,” presumably because somebody told him that actually, no, he can’t just bomb Afghanistan cause it’s Tuesday. And to punctuate that point, he vetoed a resolution intended to stop him from selling arms to Saudi Arabia and then sued Congress about his taxes.
Executive Attacks. There was also a lot of Twitter sleight-of-hand this week, which seems like it should get its own section. The most obvious example is his extended fight with Elijah Cummings, who got permission to subpoena White House officials this week and also got repeated rounds of 45 racism in response. Then Al Sharpton spoke up and got a face full of racism also, which Mick Mulvaney defended by saying Trump was just “fighting back” against “lies.” But Trump also threatened to ‘declare antifa a terrorist organization,’ which is confusing on at least three different levels; the antifa movement isn’t a specific organization and also it only exists as a counter to fascism, which means no antifa action is targeting a general civilian population. This is a particularly concerning move for its implications under the Patriot Act — which permits forfeiture and life imprisonment of designated terrorists, and probably was designed to detract from Barr’s decision about capital punishment — but more on that below.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Seal of Disapproval. The other other weird Trump news of the week is that he spent 80 seconds in front of a doctored Presidential seal designed to mock him — specifically containing the double-headed Russian imperial eagle and a set of golf clubs as well as the Spanish phrase “Trump is a puppet.” The guy who created the seal apparently has no idea how Trump ended up in front of it, because he has no official affiliation with the campaign at all (and is a former Republican himself). I… got nothin’, y’all.

The Bad:

Even More Hellish Immigration News. Immigration news remained really awful for yet another week. The latest is a new regulation that dramatically expands the practice of fast-tracked deportations that skip immigration court entirely — a particularly concerning development given the growing number of horror stories about ICE detaining U.S. citizens, because the practice makes it much, much harder to observe and correct agency abuses. Meanwhile, Trump threatened another travel ban and more tariffs to force Guatamala to agree to an asylum deal that will be a bad scene for everybody involved, including the United States. And the Supreme Court cleared the path for this administration to divert military funds for the border wall, though only while the appeal is pending.
SNAP Cold Snap. The Trump administration proposed several cuts to SNAP benefits, commonly known as “food stamps,” in the past week — most of which are cruel or unnecessary, though they will apparently save the administration about $2.5 billion by increasing food insecurity. The proposed changes including lowering income eligibility to 130% of the federal poverty level and ending automatic eligibility through means-testing, and suffice to say my professional opinion of these changes as a person who works towards health equity is that they are butts.
Barr Reinstating Capital Punishment. Attorney General William Barr reinstated federal capital punishment this week, ordering dates set for the first federal executions in almost two decades. All five of the inmates scheduled for execution have been convicted of heinous crimes, and one of them is a white supremacist, but the move is very concerning for its racial implications nonetheless — there are a lot of studies that show that wrongful conviction is a serious concern. Frankly, I wouldn’t trust this administration to apply a stamp, let alone apply rules of law to the correct people. And that’s before we throw in Trump threatening to classify the antifa movement as terrorists.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. A judge in California has already blocked the severe restrictions on asylum put in place by the Trump administration last week, stating that it is Congress’s job to decide who is categorically eligible for asylum under our existing law and the proposal didn’t honor current law. And that kid from Covington Catholic who was suing the Washington Post hit a brick wall this week when his case was dismissed because it completely lacked merit and also because he lied in his complaint.
Protest Progress in Puerto Rico. After many days of protest to force the corrupt governor to resign, Puerto Rico saw victory on Wednesday night, when the governor announced that he is resigning effective August 2. This is a big deal, because it shows the real change that organized protest can bring.

So that’s what I have for this week, and it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this excellent cover of Old Town Road and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) news, and I hope you will be back as well — but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me a full night’s sleep so I can feel all fancy!

National News Roundup: Year 3, Week 26 (July 14–20)

July 23, 2019June 7, 2020 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

You know, occasionally people will remark on how I’m able to stare into the news void so much without getting jaded, and I don’t know what they mean — but then I look at a dog and pony show like this past week’s media circus and I’m somehow still amazed by how Extra it is. So I guess y’all have a point. (That said, I’m not sure if that’s a comment on my resilience, on 45’s smoke and mirrors, or both. It’s probably both.)

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m only summarizing the news within my area of expertise. This week’s news contains some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise — I’m a lawyer, not a Twitter tantrum! — but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

After a few weeks of quiet, we saw some significant movement on the Russia Investigation this week. Here’s what I have for you:

Investigation News Redux.* The House decided this week to hold William Barr and Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt of Congress. It’s a move full of sound and fury but likely signifying nothing, since there likely won’t be any real-world consequences for it. Meanwhile, Roger Stone was banned from social media entirely because his judge was so annoyed that he kept refusing to comply with his gag rule. And more evidence surfaced that Trump was directly involved in all stages of the Stormy Daniels payments, suggesting that Hope Hicks lied to Congress on the subject — but no new charges will apparently be forthcoming.
Al Green Goes Rogue. Rep. Al Green filed articles of impeachment this week due to Trump’s recent racist statements about the House Squad (which I’ll cover in more depth below). Given Pelosi’s objection, it’s not surprising that the House ended up tabling the articles — but some congress critters who support impeachment took Pelosi’s side because they want to hear Mueller’s testimony on Wednesday first and fold that information in. So we may see a return to this topic after that happens.

There was mostly just one gigantic story on the Disregard of Governing Norms front, but it’s quite a saga. Here’s what happened:

Trump Racism Rodeo Continues. After last week’s aggressively racist twitter rant against ‘The Squad,’ Trump and some of his fellow Republicans doubled down multiple times in an ongoing ball-and-shell game where, as far as I can tell, the ball was either his ties to Epstein or the Squad’s actual point about the camps. First Kellyanne Conway asked a journalist to define his ethnicity before she would answer his question. Then the House eventually censured Trump over his statements by a party line vote, but not before holding a vote about whether Pelosi was allowed to call Trump’s racist comments ‘racist’ on the House floor. Trump responded by making (planned) further racist statements about Omar at a rally, which led to a crowd chanting, “Send her back!” for a full thirteen seconds. Trump defended the crowd’s chanting while a whole bunch of Republicans decried Democrats as antisemitic or launched into overtly racist and violent remarks. Meanwhile, Mike Pence and Mitch McConnell refused to directly answer questions about racism (in McConnell’s case, regarding his own wife, who is an immigrant of color). Then Trump put a bunch more antisemitic words in the Squad’s collective mouths and we all got Racism Bingo.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Epstein Horrorshow Continues. Jeffrey Epstein continued to be in the news this week, despite Trump’s best efforts otherwise, for everything from his relationship with Trump to the weirdly permissive (and sometimes gross) practices of jail staff the last time he was held. By the end of the week, he was asking for bail to be set, presumably on the assumption that his judge hadn’t yet heard the seven different ways the man’s an obvious flight risk. (It turned out the judge had, though, because his request for bail was denied.)
Rand Paul Refuses. Rand Paul was in the news this week because he more-or-less single-handedly blocked a bill to fund workers’ compensation for 9/11 first responders — which, disturbingly enough, is not the most abjectly callous thing I’m gonna type this week. The block is temporary, but the latest in a long line of delays for survivors of the 9/11 attacks, some of whom passed away from hazard-induced cancer before the first vote. It’s a sad low from a government full of sad lows, even though it’s only a temporary setback, and I hope the remaining survivors are given compensation soon.

The Bad:

Even More Hellish Immigration News. Just like literally every other week, immigration news this week has established new lows. The latest is that Trump is considering refusing all refugee applications for FY20; is changing questions on the U.S. citizenship exam; and plans to dramatically expand the practice of fast-tracked deportations that skip immigration court entirely. Meanwhile, CBP was in the news for literally telling a three-year-old girl with a heart condition to pick which parent gets to stay in the U.S. while her family’s asylum claim is pending. But in more positive news, the ACLU has already filed a lawsuit on the proposed rule that would effectively end asylum at the Southern border and has announced they’ll sue over the expedited removal proposal as well. And organized protests have been occurring all over the country, both outside ICE detention facilities and otherwise.
Title X Gag Rule Goes Into Effect. The Trump administration announced abruptly on Monday that starting now, clinics receiving federal dollars cannot refer women for abortions at all — a proposed rule that is the subject of still-ongoing litigation, but which has been permitted to proceed by a recent appeals court decision. Several states have decided to just stop receiving federal dollars instead of enforcing the gag rule, which means reproductive care will continue as normal in many places. But it’s still frustrating to see this rule go into effect.
DOJ Fails Eric Gardner. The DOJ was in the news this week for refusing to prosecute the New York officer who negligently killed Eric Gardner in 2014. This news would be frustrating enough on its own, but reporting makes it clear that Attorney General William Barr made the call against the recommendation of his own civil rights division. Needless to say, black lives matter regardless of what Barr has decided about it, but this is a blow to the movement nonetheless.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. In the wake of national attention after a judge concluded that a defendant in an alleged rape case was “from a good family” and therefore shouldn’t be sentenced, the New Jersey Supreme Court has ordered mandatory training for every judge on the bench. The judge in question has also resigned, and the court similarly recommended the removal of a judge who inappropriately asked a complaining witness in a rape case if she ‘could have closed her legs.’ It’s definitely not the end of the conversation, but it’s promising to see judicial authorities acknowledge that official action is needed to change judicial culture.
Protests in Puerto Rico. Protests have been going strong in Puerto Rico for multiple days now, as people take to the streets by the thousands to push for their corrupt governor’s resignation after his extremely damning chat messages were leaked last week. Denizens also organized an impeachment committee on Saturday, and yesterday he announced that he won’t run in 2020. But Puerto Ricans want him to resign, and frankly I don’t blame them.

So that’s what I have for this week, and it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve these videos of Broadway performers singing in the streets during last week’s blackout and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) news, and I hope you will be back as well — but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me your completed bingo card to win a prize!

National News Roundup: Year 3, Week 25 (July 7–13)

July 16, 2019January 12, 2021 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

My sense this week is that much like my car, we’re all out of gas right now. It’s okay to rest and refuel, folks — in fact, it’s important, because this dystopia is an ultra-marathon and we all get tired sometimes. Take the time you need and come back ready to fight. (In the meantime, sloth party at my place!)

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m only summarizing the news within my area of expertise. This week’s news contains some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise — I’m a lawyer, not a Twitter tantrum! — but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

It was actually a pretty quiet week for the Russia Investigation, all things considered, but we did see a couple of things. Here’s what happened:

Criminal Contempt News.* The House will vote this week on whether to hold William Barr and Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt of Congress. It’s a move full of sound and fury but likely signifying nothing, since there aren’t any real-world consequences for it. Still, I’ll keep you posted.
Waiting for Mueller. We’ve all spent a lot of time waiting for Muellertime like we live in a Beckett play, and the House Democrats have apparently decided to lean into it. After subpoenaing him for an emoluments case, the House announced an additional week delay to allow for a longer and more thorough information-gathering process. So we’ll see where we are in a week, I guess. (We always find something, eh Didi?)

We did see a couple of bizarre actions on the Disregard of Governing Norms front, in contrast. Here’s what happened:

Racist Trump Tantrums. Sunday morning, the president went on an aggressively racist twitter rant against ‘The Squad’ of congressional freshmen, who just so happen to all be women of color. The first rant suggested they “go back” to the “crime-infested” countries they were “originally from” (and never mind that three out of four were born here in the U.S.). This prompted a rare moment of solidarity in the Democratic party, along with another round of Twitter refusing to enforce their own policies. Trump, meanwhile, ratcheted up the stochastic terrorism by insisting that the House freshmen “hate our country,” the mainstream media struggled with using the word ‘racist,’ and the GOP shuffled their collective feet and mumbled excuses.
Census Fight Continues. We’re in a second week of weird census news. After two judges rejected the administration’s attempt to sub in new attorneys on the case, Trump looked like he was conceding the point a second time, saying he’ll just get the data from existing records. But some experts (including me) think he’ll try for a Round 3, especially because he’s considering throwing over his buddy Wilbur Ross — so I’ll keep folks posted.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Epstein/Acosta Mess. After Jeffrey Epstein was arrested for his involvement in sex trafficking of minors, people began to question the sweetheart deal that was put in place for him a decade prior under Alexander Acosta — who went on to become our Secretary of Labor. Continuing the sketch parade, Trump had publicly supported Epstein’s behavior in the past, was accused of raping a teen at one of his parties, and publicly praised Acosta in response to growing calls for the secretary to resign. Nancy Pelosi refused to consider impeaching Acosta (big shock there), saying that Trump will handle it if he wants to, and Attorney General Barr also refused to recuse from the inevitable investigation. Around the same time that allegations of witness tampering started coming out in the Epstein case, Acosta finally just resigned. (Personally, I think he was probably scapegoated to keep everyone from looking too closely at Trump’s role in the whole thing.)
Weird Health Law News. This was a weird, bad week for healthcare news, I tell you what. First a federal judge blocked a Trump order that would have required pharmaceutical companies to disclose how much their drugs cost in their advertisements — no, I don’t know what the catch was, either, so I regretfully report that we may have to be sad about the administration’s loss here. Meanwhile, a federal appeals court also heard arguments on the court case challenging the Affordable Care Act, which would potentially create all kinds of chaos if the lower court decision is affirmed. So there’s a lot of uncertainty and I’ll keep an eye on this.
2020 Candidate Exchange Program. Only a day after Eric Swalwell dropped out of the Democratic primary and pledged to run for Congressional re-election, random billionaire Tom Steyer announced his own candidacy on a climate action platform. Thank goodness he was here — otherwise, we might have had a primary field with fewer than two dozen candidates…

The Bad:

Even More Hellish Immigration News. After threatening that more ICE raids would occur this weekend, the administration left everybody to stew in their own anxiety, arresting a few people in a handful of cities but mostly just using a culture of fear to keep people on edge. Meanwhile, the camps remained in the news, as Mike Pence visited and said how great CBP staff were while more reports of officers sexually assaulting kids trickled in. Then to cap off the week, Trump announced he wants to effectively end asylum at the southern border, which is definitely very illegal and likely to be successfully challenged in our court systems. That said, the back-and-forth created by decrees followed by legal challenges can create a lot of difficulties for asylum seekers, who need to apply within one year of arriving and will be stuck in limbo until it’s overturned — this is likely to mess up a lot of people’s claims in the short term, which is probably the point.
Emoluments Loss. An appeals court blocked one of the emoluments cases from going forward this week, claiming that Maryland and DC had no standing to sue on this issue. (Incredibly, one of the three judges on the panel was appointed by Trump, which explains why I can’t follow the legal logic here at all.) Thankfully, there’s still at least one emoluments case that has been allowed to proceed, so this isn’t the last we’ll see of this issue.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. A federal appeals court ruled this week that Trump cannot legally block people he disagrees with on Twitter, because it violates the First Amendment. (Of course, two dudes immediately turned around and sued AOC under the same legal theory, but that’s a cost of doing business in 2019.)
Champion Celebrants. When the US Women’s soccer team won the World Cup, beating the Dutch team 2–0 to secure America’s second consecutive World Cup and the team’s fourth win ever. Members of the team used their platform to raise awareness of the class-action lawsuit they filed in March against the U.S. Soccer Federation, citing gender discrimination in pay and support. The parties allegedly reached an agreement last month, but the USWNT players brought the lawsuit back to the spotlight by using copies of the suit as victory confetti. Because they are soccer baller.

So that’s what I have for this week, and it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve these calves with knitted earmuffs and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) news, and I hope you will be back as well — but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me better news from our interior!

National News Roundup: Year 3, Week 24 (June 30 — July 6)

July 9, 2019January 12, 2021 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

The immigration news section remains on fire, but the rest of this week was nowhere near the horrorshow of the previous few weeks. Of course, this is rather like walking into a house and saying, “well, only one of these rooms is ablaze” — we can’t just sit and enjoy the mesquite flavor in the next room; we still have to act.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m only summarizing the news within my area of expertise. This week’s news contains some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise — I’m a lawyer, not a subpoena! — but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

It was actually a pretty quiet week for the Russia Investigation, with the closest news technically being about Trump’s finances. Here’s what happened:

Trump Tax Return Attempts.* House Democrats officially began a lawsuit for Trump’s tax returns this week, hoping to get enforcement for the subpoenas that the administration ignored earlier in the year. In the meantime, New York’s governor has officially signed the bill that allows Congress to access his state tax returns, which are expected to be nearly identical to the federal ones. So either way, we may have more movement on this soon.
Subpoena Party. In apparent response to last week’s decision allowing the emoluments case to proceed, Congress went a little subpoena-happy. It’s a subpoena party, and three dozen of Trump’s closest business friends are invited! (I’ll definitely keep folks posted on this news as it develops.)

In contrast, there was a lot of Disregard of Governing Norms stories this week, and they cover a fair amount of ground. Here’s what happened:

Trump Visits North Korea.* As he left the G20 summit in Osaka, Trump became the first U.S. President to set foot in North Korea — though in true Trump fashion, it was a lot of high drama for only a few minutes before they crossed back into South Korean territory. That said, the whole thing did result in resuming nuclear talks, which created a more positive gloss on an otherwise not very illustrative trip (but more on that below).
Census Fight Cluster. This story has become so weird as the week went on that I honestly wasn’t sure where to put it, but it’s certainly a deviation from government norms. After the administration missed its own printing deadline for the 2020 Census forms, the Department of Justice started out conceding that they couldn’t put a citizenship question on the 2020 census due to the time crunch. However, after Trump tweeted that he wanted to postpone the census to add the question, the judge dragged the DoJ attorneys onto a conference call and told them to explain themselves — prompting the team to say they found a way forward despite the logistical issues. Then Trump started talking about passing an executive order to get the question out, because he apparently failed Civics 101, and the whole legal team was swapped out en masse without a stated reason. So now the DOJ has Consumer Protection staffers as the new set of attorneys, and who even knows where we go from here.
Fourth of July Fervor. The biggest single kleptocracy story this week is definitely Trump’s Fourth of July celebration, which was a bizarre power grab from beginning to end. We began the week with Trump announcing that he wanted tanks for a military Fourth of July parade this year, diverting millions from park funds to pay for it despite still owing millions for his inauguration. Just for added insult, he also set up VIP passes for Republican donors (and only Republican donors), turning the entire thing into a partisan event that likely violated the Hatch Act. Eventually the Pentagon got him to back off of the tank plan, before he could do any damage to either the public safety or the roads. But the event was still very odd, from the torrential rain to Trump’s inexplicable statement that Revolutionary War troops “took over the airports.” Although on the plus side, the latter resulted in some truly great Internet memes.

Your “Normal” Weird:

G20 Lowlights.* I touched on a lot of the Russia investigation implications of Trump’s G20 trip last week, but wanted to spend a few minutes on the other noteworthy happenings today as well. Though the U.S. and China did resume trade talks, Trump also heaped praise on Saudi Arabia, insulted the host country, brought Ivanka along, and refused to back another climate change deal. So not what I’d call a successful summit, all things considered, even if it did have some positive notes.
Amash Announcement. Libertarian representative Justin Amash announced via op ed that he’s leaving the Republican party this week, proclaiming the GOP is “in a partisan death spiral” in the process. (You may recall Amash as that guy from the GOP who was calling to impeach Trump, though he also left the Freedom Caucus over it.) Folks started speculating immediately that he likely planned to run in the 2020 election, which is easier to do if he’s not a member of Trump’s party-and sure enough, he indicated he hasn’t ruled it out.

The Bad:

Even More Hellish Immigration News. Immigration news continues to be the horror nobody wants that just keeps on giving. The day after House reps described horrifying CBP station conditions, the DHS Inspector General issued a detailed report that corroborated many of their statements — and is the second report of this type in three months. (Against that backdrop, it’s not surprising that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has issued a statement of disgust.) News also broke that CBP has known about the secret CBP agent facebook group for years, and that the administration is levying half-million dollar fines against people who evaded deportation by seeking sanctuary — and might also go after people who gave them shelter. To cap off a real banner week, Trump issued more statements that he plans to have additional ICE raids soon, and ICE was in the news for using facial recognition software to mine state drivers’ license databases for data. Because yeah, nothing says “you can trust us to do this responsibly without a warrant” like detaining citizens and another round of papers-please raids.
Iran Tension Update.* Iran continues to violate the 2015 nuclear deal, racking up yet another violation on the heels of last week’s breach. Analysts with far more expertise than me are saying that Iran’s statements are political pressure rather than a true attempt to create a nuclear bomb — it’s an attempt to get the U.S. to back off or to get Europe to step up. Nonetheless, we need to keep watching this carefully.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. There were several great developments on court-related fronts this week, most of which were really encouraging. The charges against Marshae Jones, the woman in Alabama who was indicted for manslaughter when she was shot in the stomach, have officially been dropped as I type this. We also learned that several states are suing the EPA for stricter asbestos regulations. In court order news, a federal judge has blocked indefinite detention for asylum seekers, saying they must have a bond hearing while their case is pending because they have a constitutional right to due process. And the ‘conscientious objection’ medical rule was delayed until at least November due to a pending legal challenge in California. Hooray progress!
Culling the Dem Herd. Democrat Presidential hopeful Eric Swalwell announced he is dropping out of the U.S. 2020 race but will seek re-election to the House, marking the first cull of our 24-person herd. Though he’s the first, he definitely won’t be the last, and it’s encouraging to see candidates returning their attention to other 2020 elections.

So that’s what I have for this week, and it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this close-up view of sand and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) news, and I hope you will be back as well — but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me better news from the border!

National News Roundup: Year 3, Week 23 (June 23–29)

July 2, 2019January 12, 2021 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Despite the conclusion of Pride, this week’s news isn’t exactly rainbows and sunshine — the thunderstorms yesterday felt like appropriate ambiance. Things are pretty grim but we’ll get through this, if we take action and just keep swimming. I’m here if anybody needs anything.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m only summarizing the news within my area of expertise. This week’s news contains some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise — I’m a lawyer, not a subpoena! — but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

We have a bit more than average Russia Investigation news, and most of it is fascinating in one way or another. Here’s what I have for you:

Mueller and Conway Subpoenas.* Both Robert Mueller and Kellyanne Conway were in the news for subpoenas in the past week, with apparently mixed results. Mueller will testify in an open session with several House committees on July 17, having clearly decided to comply once a subpoena was at play — and immediately following this announcement, Trump started accusing him of crimes. Meanwhile, Kellyanne Conway no-showed for a hearing on Wednesday as part of a much larger tug-of-war between the administration and the House, so the House responded by voting to subpoena her. We can expect this to be much messier than the process with Mueller, though Conway has not yet issued a public statement as I write this.
Trump and the Russian Investigation (Again).* Trump brought up all kinds of things relating back to the Russia investigation when he met with Putin at G20, from joking about Putin’s election interference to comments about “getting rid” of journalists. But while he was in Japan joking about it, Jimmy Carter was saying that he thinks Trump didn’t actually win the 2016 election. (For those of you playing the home game, Carter saying this is no joke; the Carter Center has been doing election work for thirty years and he can be considered an expert on this topic.)

We saw a couple of Disregard of Governing Norms stories this week, and they’re about what we’ve come to expect — which is its own problem. Here’s what happened:

Trump Transition Team “Red Flags.” It’s been almost an afterthought, but leaked documents about the Trump transition team were in the news this week. Apparently Pence outsourced vetting to the RNC, who had all kinds of things to say about members of the Trump team — many of whom went on to join the cabinet and were eventually forced out due to scandal. It’s yet another reminder of how many different ways the Trump administration is pushing our boundaries on what is acceptable government behavior.
Trump Assault Conversation Continues. As we mentioned last week, the prominent writer who accused 45 sexually assaulting her noted in the piece that he had already been accused of such acts sixteen times to no effect. After Trump resorted to saying she ‘wasn’t his type’ in an attempt to discredit her as well, friends of Carroll’s came forward with more information about their recollections from the time of the event, and Carroll reiterated her observation that “nothing happens” when people report. And she’s pretty much right; as RollingStone reminds us, none of these women have seen any formal inquiries result from sharing their stories — even though the first allegations happened before he was President. That’s probably why Trump feels comfortable using defenses like “she’s not my type” (as opposed to “I don’t assault people”), and when you stop and think about that, it’s pretty disturbing.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Iran Tensions Simmer on Low Heat.* Tensions with Iran were reduced to a simmer after Trump drew back from the brink of attack, satisfying himself by issuing sanctions instead. That said, the relative calm is not for lack of yelling on Trump’s part, because he sure did post blustering tweets about how he would “obliterate” Iran if they stepped a toe out of line. It’s more likely things have quieted because Europe and China are backing away slowly, ignoring Trump’s sanctions in an effort to encourage deescalation from Iran — which seems to be working, for now at least.
Dem Debates Take 1.* The first two Dem debates happened in the past week, and, well…they happened. Takes on who performed how are all over the map, but early polling suggests that Warren and Harris did particularly well, with Harris’s decision to challenge Biden on busing paying off for her. (A few others performed well in initial polling as well.) Conversely, Biden suffered for his lack of preparedness on the busing issue, or at least for his mention of states’ rights and self-censorship. You can (and should) read fact-checking reports on both debates online, though I’d steer clear of most of the op-eds, and we’ll all know more when we learn who qualifies for the next round at the end of July.
Twitter Gets Upstaged. Twitter announced this week that they’re going to start putting a warning label on Trump tweets (okay, they said ‘tweets in the public interest,’ but we all know what they meant). They also said that tweets so labeled will be downrated so that they circulate less. And all this would be noteworthy, or at least moderately exciting, if they didn’t announce this in the same week that the popular knitting social media site Ravelry announced a straight-up ban of all support of Donald Trump from their platform, saying that supporting him is an open expression of white supremacy and that they cannot truly have an all-inclusive space if they permit said speech. So, y’know, you might want to up your game, Twitter.

The Bad:

Even More Hellish Immigration News. Immigration news remains awful, and this week comes with its own content warning. Members of the House visited a CBP facility in El Paso and observed unsafe living conditions, saying that one woman was told by CBP to drink out of a toilet. Frankly this is kind of easy to believe, because on the same day ProPublica reported excerpts from a secret CBP facebook group so dehumanizing that it’s honestly nauseating, and the Inspector General reported that CBP agents are arming themselves at border stations because they fear riots. News did break that the interim head of CBP is stepping down, but it’s not clear whether anything will actually be done to improve things — Congress passed the worst possible version of a humanitarian aid bill this week, which puts virtually no conditions on the $4.6B they’re handing over to CBP, the Department of Defense, and ICE. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the DACA case next year, and that’s vaguely terrifying given how they handled the past week’s cases (but I’ll get to that below). And ICE arrested a student in apparent retaliation for reading a poem about them in public. About the best thing I can say on this front is that federal judges are still giving the administration hell, with one judge blocking construction on the wall and another ordering CBP to allow medical providers into the camps. There are so many things that we can and should be doing to address all this news, and in particular I want to draw folks’ attention to national #ClosetheCamps protests happening tomorrow. As always, I’m happy to remain a resource on this.
Horrifying Alabama Case.* In addition to the SCOTUS cases mentioned above, Alabama was in the news for indicting a pregnant woman shot in the stomach and charging her with manslaughter. Notably, the actual shooter was not indicted for anything, with prosecutors claiming that “the only true victim in this was the unborn baby.” Reproductive rights advocates are saying that this is an early example of pregnancy criminalization, and they are absolutely right — we knew to predict this type of thing, but that doesn’t make it any easier.
SCOTUS Nightmares. The Supreme Court issued the last decisions of the term this week, and they range from “unfortunate” to “truly horrorshow.” The most coverage has gone to the court punting on issues of gerrymandering, saying it’s a political question and therefore ‘beyond the reach of the federal courts.’ This will leave several states with severe gerrymandering in place (although some have separate challenges at the state level) so it has very real political implications, and it’s understandable that it is receiving this level of attention. And the citizenship question is staying off of the 2020 census (at least for now), which is moderately good news even though the decision is a chaotic mess. But I want to spend a few minutes on a case that got very little attention, but I genuinely think is indicative of serious issues with our system: With very little fanfare, the court shot from the hip to overturn a basic search and seizure protection that was only established in 2013. The decision is legal gibberish that completely abandons several basic principles of law, including the principle that judges don’t rule on things that were waived as arguments — the government in this case literally conceded that the warrant exception created didn’t apply and the court created it anyway. This is a big deal, even though it impacts such a marginalized population — arguably because it impacts such a marginalized population — when it’s a clear sign that the institution’s fidelity to itself is breaking down.

The Good:

Scoring Goals Under Pressure. Soccer midfielder and all-around rockstar Megan Rapinoe announced this week that she would definitely not be going to the White House when her team won their upcoming World Cup quarterfinal match, except her version maybe contained more expletives. She then proceeded to score two amazing goals in the quarterfinals and pose like a purple-haired god at the jeering French crowd, which is the kind of self-possessed big energy I’m here for in 2019. After the game, Rapinoe reiterated that she wouldn’t retract anything she said about Trump — except the expletive, because it made her mom sad. Then just for extra excellence, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez invited Rapinoe to tour the House on Twitter, which Rapinoe accepted. With a party emoji.
Recent Court Resilience. Despite the SCOTUS news above, there were some good federal cases this week as well. In addition to the immigration cases listed, a federal judge allowed the emoluments case against Trump to go forward again, thwarting yet another attempt by this administration to make the unjust enrichment suits go away. I’m sure they’ll try again, but it’s still good to see the courts remain firm on this.

So that’s what I have for this week, and it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this cat in a sailor suit and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) news, and I hope you will be back as well — but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me better news from the border!