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Year 3, Week 51 (January 5-11)

January 13, 2020January 14, 2020 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Well, this week was… a little bit calmer? Not for me personally, sadly–but at least the news features less literal and figurative fire. We take progress where we can get it in this household.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a campaign staffer!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

At the time that I type this, Whistleblowing Ukraine Biden Bingo is still paused in a tug-o-war but moving towards some kind of dissatisfactory resolution. Here’s a quick summary of the uncertainty:

Congressional Tug-o-War Slows.* Mitch McConnell made it clear this week that he was moving forward with an impeachment trial pretty much no matter what else was going on, prompting Nancy Pelosi to flinch first and signal that she’ll send the articles along this week. Given the larger mess here, the House won’t have much time to prepare for said trial, which might be why Adam Schiff doesn’t want to call John Bolton despite the latter’s offer to testify if subpoenaed. Then again, it might also be because Trump said he would block Bolton’s testimony. We’ll see whether we end up with any witnesses at all; since the motion for that only requires a simple majority, there may be truth to the rumor that Senate Democrats are pulling together the numbers to force the issue. Needless to say, we can expect an eventful week but none of it has happened yet.

I’ve decided to just file the entirety of Iran updates this week under Disregard of Governing Norms, because that’s more-or-less what we’re seeing here. These are the updates:

Iran Updates (cont).* After Trump threatened to bomb Iranian cultural centers at the top of the week, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper thankfully walked that back. Nonetheless, on Tuesday, Iran fired missiles at two U.S. bases in Iraq from inside Iran’s borders. It was a tense few days, but Trump was surprisingly sanguine in response, likely because he believed there were no U.S. casualties, and indicated by midweek that he would keep his response to economic sanctions. Then we just kept getting news about the bad actions of both parties. Iran was eventually forced to admit that it shot down a Ukrainian plane by mistake, resulting in the deaths of 176 people aboard. Meanwhile, Trump’s claim that he was stopping an ‘imminent attack’ lacked so much credibility that it stayed a moving target for the rest of the week–first he claimed that Iran was was going to attack four embassies. Then when Mark Esper made him walk that one back too, Trump graduated to saying that “it doesn’t really matter” whether there was an imminent threat or not. And to cap off the week, he talked about selling troops on Fox News and tweeted an image of Nancy Pelosi in a hijab.

Your “Normal” Weird:

2020 Election Weirdness. This week saw multiple people drop out of the 2020 Presidential race. First to go was Marianne Williamson, and the only surprise there was that she apparently was still in the race at all. But Cory Booker dropping out made more waves, because he was the third qualified candidate of color to drop out. And Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders were in the news for an apparent rift about the electability of women in 2020, though Warren is treating this like a non-story and I genuinely hope that it is. On the plus side, billionaire candidate Michael Bloomberg did say this week that he would fund whoever wins the primary in the fight against 45, even if it’s not him. So that’s something I guess.

But Her Emails (are Not Noteworthy).* The Justice Department is winding down its investigation into Hillary Clinton, having concluded for the zillionth time that there was no scandal there to prosecute. In other news, water is wet.

The Bad:

Earthquake in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico suffered a severe earthquake on Tuesday–the second in two days–and the island was still suffering from the aftermath of Hurricane Maria when it happened. In the aftermath, over 300,000 homes and businesses are left without water, and frightening aftershocks mean people are still sleeping outside several days later. Folks over there are in a bad way, and know from their previous experiences that their crisis won’t be appropriately handled by this administration. If you want to help, the Hispanic Federation is taking donations, and the Chefs for Puerto Rico team run by World Central Kitchen can use help getting people fed as well.

Bad Immigration News. There are rumors this week that the administration plans to expand its travel ban to include seven more countries, presumably to capture that good old fashioned Islamophobia in the lead-up to November. I’m generally reluctant to share things at the rumor stage, but given our last few weeks with Iran I think this one is more likely to have legs, and I want to keep an eye on it. Meanwhile, Texas also became the first state to refuse refugees under Trump’s fall executive order, which gave states tacit permission to refuse resettlement. Thankfully, 42 states have already given permission for resettlement, so there’s a limit to how many states can follow suit.

The Good:

House Pushback.Given Trump’s obviously cavalier attitude about Iran, it’s comforting to report that the House advanced a war powers resolution this week that limits his official power to attack Iran further unilaterally. Multiple Republican senators, who are disgusted with the way he handled his briefing, are expected to vote for the resolution when it hits the Senate floor as well–so I’m cautiously optimistic on this front for now.

Recent Court Resilience.We did see some good court cases this week. The Second Circuit refused to set aside an injunction on the proposed new public charge rule this week, ensuring that immigrants can continue to safely access benefits without jeopardizing their applications for permanent residency. And another federal judge refused to dismiss E. Jean Caroll’s defamation suit, which Trump tried to dismiss on the grounds that he lives in DC and a lawsuit in New York was annoying–though admittedly, this might have been because they didn’t bother to write a motion on the topic.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I’m sorry about the mess. For making it through, you deserve this story about vultures taking over CBP’s radio tower 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 good health for our household!

Year 3, Week 50 (December 29–January 4)

January 6, 2020January 7, 2020 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

On a scale of one to ten, I give the first week of 2020 a negative three–the news is so awful, in fact, that we’re enacting the NNR Really Bad Week protocol. You get your dessert good news first this week, and we’re closing with things you can do to feel less like you’re screaming into the wind. We will get through this, and I’m here if anyone needs anything.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not an FBI raid!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

The Good:

Cease-Fire in Afghanistan.*The Taliban agreed to a temporary cease-fire in Afghanistan this week, which is a relief against the larger backdrop of this week’s foreign policy news. If it’s finalized, this would be the first step towards a more permanent peace in Afghanistan, and though that’s certainly not my area of expertise it seems pretty good to me.

Christian Rebukes Continue. There was another open letter to Trump from the evangelical community this week, this time from a number of congregations in Florida. It doesn’t seem likely that much will come from it, but it’s still kind of edifying to watch pastors say things like, “As members of the Christian faith, we cannot stand idly by while you attempt to co-opt our religion for your political gain” and “you, sir, do not have the moral fortitude to deserve our support.”

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

At the time that I type this, Whistleblowing Ukraine Biden Bingo is slowly resuming, though of course we have no more settled than the last week’s update. Here’s a quick summary of the uncertainty:

Congressional Tug-o-War. At the time that I write this, we’re still firmly embroiled in Congressional back-and-forth, to the extent anybody is thinking about impeachment anymore at all. Nancy Pelosi isn’t sending along the articles of impeachment, which frankly seems pretty understandable given the week we’ve had, and Mitch McConnell has made it clear that he won’t proceed without them. But he also won’t call witnesses, even as John Bolton offers to testify. Meanwhile, the federal case about, among other things, whether officials can be forced to testify is the one thing that is moving forward, so we’ll want to keep an eye on that for sure.

Ukraine News Still Coming Out.*Rudy Giuliani was in the news yet again this week, this time for back channel talks with Venezuela via telephone (and given his awful performances on the news circuits, the idea of him being trusted with Venezuela is kind of terrifying). New emails also gave more evidence that Trump personally ordered the freeze of Ukrainian aid, adding to the already-considerable pile.

There’s not much in the way of Disregard of Governing Norms stories this week, but we did see one story I think is worth noting:

FBI Raid.* The FBI raided the home of another Trump ally this week, this time lobbyist and all-around sketchy guy Michael Esposito. Naturally Trump is claiming he doesn’t know him, but unlike most times when words come out of Trump’s mouth, this time he might be telling the truth. The whole story is strange, but the fact that we’ve hit raid o’clock makes me think it’s worth tracking.

Your “Normal” Weird:

2020 Election Weirdness.Despite the break, we did see some election news. Julian Castro announced that he’s dropping out of the 2020 race, then announced that he endorsed Elizabeth Warren a few days later–making folks speculate about a Warren/Castro ticket. (I’d vote for that in a hot second, not gonna lie.) Meanwhile, on the malarkey end of the spectrum, Joe Biden hedged that maybe he’d take a GOP running mate if he got the nomination, and he’s still in the running because 2020 is a rich and colorful tapestry.

The Bad:

Congress and SCOTUS. Two different Congressional groups approached the Supreme Court this week, and frankly I’m not excited about either of them. A group of Democrats have decided to cut to the chase and ask for a quicker ruling on the Affordable Care Act, creating a more certain scenario by the close of the term. This actually makes total sense in context–it would be worse to leave the insurance market uncertain indefinitely, and SCOTUS would weigh in eventually either way–but I’m pretty anxious about it anyway. Meanwhile, a GOP group filed an amicus brief on the case to overturn Roe v Wade, which will be heard in March; it’s a move both unnecessary and frankly terrifying, because they know as much about reproductive health as potatoes know about yoyos.

The Very Bad:

Fire in Australia.* Australia is currently fighting a totally unprecedented set of bush fires, which have already claimed 24 lives and set over 63 thousand square miles ablaze. Experts agree that the disturbing conditions are worsening because of climate change, particularly because the fires happen as a new study concludes that climate change is changing weather patterns everywhere. This type of devastation is hard to watch, and it has global implications.

Aggression Against Iran.* Bear with me, because this one isn’t remotely my area, but it’s important so I’m going to try to unpack it. In the day or two leading up to New Year’s, unrest grew around the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, with pro-Iran protesters setting fire to the reception building on the compound and trying to overtake it. Trump blamed Iran for the whole thing, and by Thursday evening had ordered an air strike on the Baghdad airport, intentionally causing the death of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and at least 25 others. This attack was a really big deal, because attacking a sitting general can be considered an act of war, and Nancy Pelosi says that Trump didn’t give any notice to Congress ahead of time. (He did provide a notification after, for whatever that is worth.)

Iran “Diplomacy” To Date.* The subsequent attempts at deescalation have been going about as well as you might expect from an administration that pretty much hates diplomacy, has half a State department, and thinks Twitter counts as a form of Congressional notice. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo immediately tried to claim that Soleimani was about to attack, while Mike Pence claimed that Soleimani was involved in 9/11 (spoiler: no he wasn’t). Iraq has threatened to expel all US troops, which we’re ignoring in favor of deploying 3,500 more troops in the Middle East. Meanwhile, Iran announced it would end its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal (which we had already walked away from, but renewing the threat of Iranian nuclear weapons maybe wasn’t our best move ever). And Trump has threatened to bomb 52 Iranian sites, including cultural centers, which would be a violation of international law and a war crime. The House, unsurprisingly, is handling all of this by introducing a war powers resolution that would limit Trump’s authorization to do anything of the kind.

What We Can Do:

Iran Action. Given the current activity in the House, this is a time when it really is helpful to call your representatives. As always, Celeste Pewter has helpful insights as well as scripts, and Indivisible has a page that helps connect you to your rep if you need it. You can also check out the work of groups like Win Without War and the Indivisible National Day of Action on Thursday, January 9.

Australia Action. If you live outside the outback, donations really help, though please note that donating cash is more helpful than donating supplies at this time.CNet has a good list of places you can donate if you live outside of the outback, with lots of in-depth information about who is doing what and why. Several other outlets have lists as well. If you live in Australia, WIRES also has good information about wildlife rescue on the ground in the area, and the NSW Office of Emergency Management has information about community recovery assistance opportunities.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no refunds. For making it through, you deserve this parrot love storyandthis hair salon version of a Knives Out clip, as well as 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 better immune system!

Year 3, Week 49 (December 22-28)

December 30, 2019December 31, 2019 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

It’s a quieter news week this time, especially compared to last week’s impeachment news. Frankly, I think we all needed a quiet moment, so I’m not sad about the calm–hopefully it’s not heralding a bigger storm.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a windmill!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

Even with the relative peace and quiet we did see some Whistleblowing Ukraine Biden Bingo chaos, which I have separated out into wacky Dem proposals, GOP uneasiness, and Trump’s real-time witness tampering. Here’s what I have for you:

Democrat Planning Sessions.* As the cold war between Pelosi and McConnell stretches out another week, Democrats are coming up with contingency plans, and some of them are more out there than others. On the more traditional side, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer took one look at the giant pile of incriminating emails released last weekend and announced that he wants more of the House records released–and given how much obstruction we’ve seen already, it’s reasonable to assume he might not get witnesses. Meanwhile, counsel for the House in the Don McGahn case is raising the specter of a second impeachment if they end up with more incriminating evidence of obstruction of justice. Presumably this is also a general Plan B if Mitch McConnell successfully kills the Senate trial, but honestly we’re so far off the rails already that it’s hard to even know.

GOP Uneasiness.* As the week went on, we saw some interesting murmurings from the GOP side side of the aisle. GOP senator Lisa Murkowski went on the record as “disturbed” by Mitch McConnell’s cavalier coordination with the White House on the White House’s own impeachment, and some pundits and at least one Senate Democrat seem to think that where there’s disgruntled smoke, there’s concealed dumpster fires. And even Lindsey Graham appeared to walk back some of his deep-throated support of the White House in the past week, looking at recent articles about Rudy Giuliani’s sketchy back channels and publicly worrying that his information might be “Russian propaganda.” But it’s a giant jump to go from that to the idea that some GOP Senators would defect if they were allowed to vote in secret, particularly when Trump still wields so much power in the GOP itself. The GOP are like jockeys racing a rabid horse because the rabies makes it go faster–in the stable they may say, “This horse has a contagious disease and keeps trying to eat the stone floor,” but on the racetrack all we get is “Excuse me, how dare you inquire about Mouth Foam.”

Trump Witness Tampering. If the House Democrats were hoping for more obstruction of justice evidence, Christmas came more-on-less on time for them in the form of Trump’s twitter account. Over the week, his account featured everything from asking why the House was ‘allowed’ to impeach him to insulting Nancy Pelosi to retweeting a bot account sharing a December 3 Washington Examiner article claiming to out the whistleblower’s identity. (I will not be sharing any publications that include the article, by the way, because outing a whistleblower is not the NNR way.)

Your “Normal” Weird:

Trump Doesn’t Understand Wind.*This one technically happened at the very beginning of the week, when we were still being inundated by actual news, but it was too strange not to share today. In the middle of a rant about windmills delivered to conservative students, Trump informed the crowd, “I never understood wind.” (The Washington Post published an interesting article trying to analyze the bizarre speech, but even that author notes, “I was honestly a bit baffled despite priding myself on my ability to translate Trump’s energy-related rhetoric.”) I’m sure this will become a more streamlined soundbite eventually. But for now, it’s comforting to assume that much like the rest of us, wind never understood Donald Trump, either.

California Privacy Law Tango.* You may have seen several websites email you about new privacy policies this week and wondered what was up–when I got the same email from Groupon, Spotify, Patreon, Paypal, and Mailchimp, I certainly did. It turns out that there’s a new privacy law in California that goes into effect January 1, which ostensibly will let consumers see what data is collected and stop companies from selling it. But since it’s basically the first law of its type and also has been amended several times, nobody’s quite sure what it requires. So we may see some growing pains in nation-wide companies on this issue.

The Bad:

More Immigration Updates. Despite being a relatively slow news week, we still saw immigration news, because of course we did. News broke that ICE is already reopening Dreamer deportation cases, despite the fact that the Supreme Court only heard the DACA case last month and probably won’t issue a decision for another six months. This is horrifying, because DACA is still in effect while the opinion is pending, and literally the entire point of DACA is a promise of no deportation for its recipients. CNN also reports that a record number of immigration judges are quitting because the administration keeps trying to shove bad policy down their throats. Given the rate this administration is going, those judges probably can’t expect a new approach anytime soon.

Antisemitic Violence. Five people were stabbed in a rabbi’s home on Saturday in what appears to be a hate crime, the latest in a really rough time in the area for antisemitic violence. It has been a difficult year for antisemitic sentiment in general, in fact, with national incidents rising at an alarming rate since the Tree of Life shooting in late 2018. That said, I would be remiss if I did not address a statement issued by a Department of Homeland Security official, who complained that the perpetrator is “the U.S. citizen son of an illegal alien.” While violence generally has absolutely nothing to do with immigration status, and immigrants in fact commit crimes at lower rates than citizens, this type of statement connecting antisemitism to people of color and especially high-profile immigrants of color has seen a lot of use from the far right in the past few months-even in instances where the speaker is absolutely right and simply stating facts. It is compounded by recent high-profile antisemitic crimes involving perpetrators of color, which emboldens unfair targeting of other populations. The threat of violence against Jewish people is real, but using it to target immigrants of color is not acceptable, and we need to condemn it.

The Good:

Recent School Resilience. A district in Virginia became the first school district in the nation to give students one day off per year for civic engagement, which given our current political environment is likely very appreciated. The process involves filling out a form two days ahead of time, to discourage random skiving, and was inspired by student action after the Parkland shooting and the international climate change walkout. If done responsibly, it’s an excellent learning opportunity, and I hope more districts consider adopting it!

So that’s what I have for this week, even though it’s more bite-sized than normal. For reading during the holidays, you deserve this list of interesting (positive!) 2019 firsts and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with what will almost certainly be more 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 resolutions for 2020!

Year 3, Week 48 (December 15-21)

December 23, 2019December 24, 2019 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

At the time that I type this, Trump has officially been impeached by the House. A lot of people have asked me what I think of that news, but the truth of the matter is that I don’t know what to think, because nobody knows what will happen next–we’re all off the rails here, folks. We’ve never had a situation like this before.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a Christian magazine!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

At the time that I type this, Whistleblowing Ukraine Biden Bingo has officially resulted in impeachment of President Trump, but it’s still chaos as usual and Congress has gone on break for the holiday. Here’s a quick summary of the uncertainty:

House Floor Vote.* On Wednesday evening, the House voted to impeach Trump on the basis of both abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The vote was almost entirely along party lines, but there were a few exceptions to the general voting trends–notably, Democratic 2020 Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard voted ‘present,’ former GOP rep Justin Amash voted ‘yea,’ and two Democrats (Collin Peterson and Jeff Van Drew) voted ‘nay.’ Jeff Van Drew has since announced that he’s joining the Republican party.

Ukraine News Still Coming Out.* Somehow, we’re still getting fresh news about the original Ukraine-related malfeasance despite the fact that the investigation stage of the impeachment is ostensibly over. This week, Rudy Giuliani told multiple news outlets about how he ousted former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch because she would block an illegal Ukraine deal. Then newly-released documents revealed that the administration first froze aid to Ukraine only about 90 minutes after the infamous July phone call–drawing a clear line back to Trump and bribery. Needless to say, this has made next steps even more complicated, as I’ll talk about below.

So What Now? Even though Trump has officially been impeached, we have no idea when we’ll see a Senate trial, if we even do at all. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are already getting embroiled in a Senate clash of wills–McConnell is promising “total coordination” with the guy they’re supposed to be have on trial, in direct contradiction to the pledge of impartiality he’s supposed to make when upon starting the trial. This quite understandably has Democrats pretty uneasy; Nancy Pelosi has strongly implied that she’s holding onto the impeachment articles until the Senate has set up something resembling an actual trial. Meanwhile, Trump has sent Pelosi six pages of personally-addressed vitriol and claimed that he’s not impeached because she hasn’t sent the articles, McConnell is lashing out at Pelosi too, and Democrats are pushing for witnesses again now that we’ve seen the new documents and Rudy Giuliani mess above. So what happens next is pretty much anybody’s guess.

We also saw a handful of miscellaneous Disregard of Governing Norms stories this week, though impeachment really had center stage. Here’s what I have for you:

Trump Christ Comparisons Abound. As part of the impeachment circus above, Republicans who were displeased with the proceedings compared Trump’s treatment to, among other things, the attack on Pearl Harbor and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. That last one apparently riled up some people over at Christianity Today, who wrote in an article shortly after: “The impeachment hearings have illuminated the president’s moral deficiencies for all to see. . . . None of the president’s positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character.” Naturally, Trump’s camp responded by discrediting Christianity Today as “a far left magazine” and comparing Trump to Jesus again. (I’ve tried turning reality off and back on again, but it didn’t seem to help here.)

GOP Lowlights Reel.* Even without comparing Trump to Jesus repeatedly and refusing to impeach him, this was a real banner week for the GOP. A Trump advisor was caught on tape this week saying that the GOP “traditionally” uses voter suppression to win swing states and should try a “more aggressive approach” in 2020, which is honestly kind of scary to contemplate given what suppression tactics look like already. Then Trump insinuated that a recently deceased statesman who served for 59 years was watching impeachment proceedings from hell. (No, Trump, you’re thinking of the rest of us.) And on his way out the door, former Kentucky governor and apparent sociopath Matt Bevin pardoned over 400 people, including several people convicted of serious, violent crimes such as murder and child rape. One of the pardoned people convicted of homicide, by the way, was the brother of a major donor to Bevin’s campaign.

Your “Normal” Weird:

2020 Election Weirdness.Another Democratic primary debate happened this week, which the New York Times (correctly) called “the smallest and whitest debate yet”–seven candidates took the stage, and only one of them was a candidate of color. Biden, Sanders, and Warren continue to be front runner candidates, though Buttigieg isn’t far behind, and Warren got a good soundbite about gender in. All told, right now the race is remarkable for how unremarkable it is–at the close of the year, we still don’t seem to have made much progress.

Spending Bill Updates.The spending bill I mentioned last week did pass in the Senate, and Trump signed it on Friday, avoiding another government shutdown. But he was also in the news that day because he apparently leaned on the House to remove language requiring Ukrainian aid from an earlier draft–you know, the Ukrainian aid that was literally the subject of an impeachment investigation at the time, that Ukrainian aid?–and threatened to cause another shutdown with a Presidential veto if the clause wasn’t removed. I literally cannot make this stuff up, folks.

The Bad:

Painful Immigration Updates. This was another painful week for immigration. The DHS inspector general found no CBP misconduct in the recent deaths of two Guatemalan migrant children in custody, even as news also broke that one of the children was on the floor for many hours after passing away before anyone found him. Guatemala is expected to finalize an asylum deal with the U.S. in the near future, which will require people coming up from the northern triangle to first seek asylum there before they will be eligible for U.S. asylum. (To remind folks who are less familiar with the topic, this is a very dangerous proposition for folks seeking asylum from the northern triangle, and will likely result in a lot of deaths.) And in slightly gentler news, several states informed the administration that they would continue to accept refugees despite no longer being legally required, but it’s disturbing that they’re able to make that call in the first place.

ACA Uncertainty (Again). This remains a confusing and uncertain time for the Affordable Care Act, which weathered several swipes in the past week between tax repeals in the spending package and the Fifth Circuit finding the insurance mandate unconstitutional. The court stopped short of repealing the entire thing, and the California AG, who is leading the charge to defend the Act, has indicated he plans to appeal to the Supreme Court. Needless to say, we’ll need to keep an eye on this.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. The Supreme Court decided not to review a lower court decision this week that invalidated a law issuing criminal charges for sleeping in public places, finding it to be cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Since they aren’t hearing the case, the opinion remains good law, and it has some good language about the cruelty of punishing people for having no place to live. It’s a modest step for housing stability, but a step in the right direction nonetheless.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I think it was more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this mom yelling at her pundit sons on C-SPAN 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 photos of your pets!

Year 3, Week 47 (December 8-14)

December 16, 2019December 17, 2019 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Welp, another week of bonkers impeachment stuff, with some bonus other bizarre news while we’re at it. I would say the news is getting repetitive, but to be honest it remains so larger-than-life bizarre that it’s still kind of fascinating to watch. (Here’s hoping next week is quieter.)

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a House floor vote!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

We made it out the other side of the Judiciary Committee, which means Whistleblowing Ukraine Biden Bingo is headed to the main House floor. Here’s a quick summary of its pathway:

Tail End of Judiciary Committee.*After two articles of impeachment were issued on Tuesday, the Judiciary Committee began an extraordinary multi-day feud that showcased a staggering amount of GOP bad faith, some nasty ad hominem diversions on both sides, and more instances of the word ‘sham’ than I ever needed in my life. By 11:00PM on Thursday, at which point it became apparent that the GOP was trying to force a middle-of-the-night vote, the chairman adjourned the chamber and told everybody to try again Friday morning. Then on Friday morning the chairman immediately called a vote, and the committee passed both articles of impeachment along party lines. By Monday morning, apparently spurred by the repeated GOP arguments that Trump had committed no crimes and therefore couldn’t be impeached, the Judiciary Committee heads released a 658-page impeachment report for House review.

So What Now? At the time that I write this, a report has just been issued and the House floor vote is expected on Wednesday. (Given the current makeup of the House, it seems very likely to pass along party lines from there.) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are already getting embroiled in a Senate clash of wills, despite the fact that impeachment hasn’t landed there yet. McConnell is promising “total coordination” with the guy they’re supposed to be have on trial, which quite understandably has Democrats pretty uneasy; meanwhile, Schumer is creating a witness wish list. And Trump is apparently warming to the idea of a long trial, probably because he knows McConnell and the rest of the Senate GOP will allow him a full dog-and-pony show.

Giuliani Life Choice Coda. With everything in the mix above, you’d think that people under scrutiny would not, y’know, do more crime things in public. But common sense has apparently never met Rudy Giuliani, who did in fact continue to do the crime things in plain sight. After he returned from last week’s trip to Ukraine, Giuliani headed straight to the White House, presumably offering some more of his free legal advice to Trump (which was also in the news this past week). But he also apparently is making a documentary of his own crime times, which according to Trump he plans to give to Congress, so the visit could have been about that as well. You know, occasionally I think about the fact that Giuliani used to be a criminal prosecutor, and then my brain tries to eat itself.

We also saw a handful of miscellaneous Disregard of Governing Norms stories this week, though impeachment really had center stage. Here’s what I have for you:

To Russia with Love. Trump may not have met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky yet, but he sure met with top Russian diplomat Sergei Lavrov this week–and refused to let anybody else into the room for it. This is extra awesome, by the way, because the last time he met with Lavrov behind closed doors in 2017 he disclosed classified information. So that’s definitely not concerning as we gear up for an election Russia is trying to sabotage–although Lavrov says elections didn’t come up at all when they met.

Be Best, Greta Thunberg. Trump was also in the news this week for attacking sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg again, presumably because she was named TIME’s 2019 Person of the Year and he is uncomfortable when we are not about him. Thunberg, illustrating why we stan royalty, immediately used his Twitter attack to clap back at him. Meanwhile, Melania Trump, who literally has a campaign about cyberbullying, publicly differentiated between Thunberg and her own child, noting that Thunberg “travels the globe giving speeches” like that somehow voids basic rules of Internet etiquette. As many outlets have noted, this is particularly annoying given her tweet about the Barron Trump non-controversy last week. But more to the point, the President of the United States is using a public platform to launch unprovoked attacks at international activists, and if we weren’t all living in the Trump Org Sponsored Bad Place that would be a major diplomatic misstep–especially with the recent United Nations climate change summit going as poorly as it did.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Disturbing Court Cases. There were several court cases that gained news attention this week for being, well, legally weird and disturbing (to use a technical term). The ACLU is trying to get the Supreme Court to hear a case involving a police officer in Louisiana who successfully sued the head of the Black Lives Matter movement–not for incitement or direct violence, but because the 5th Circuit decided merely being in charge of the movement meant he should be held liable for somebody else throwing a rock. This is pretty bizzonkers from a legal perspective, and I doubt it’s a coincidence that one of the three judges was a Trump appointee. Meanwhile, Wisconsin was in the news because a judge ordered the purge of over 200,000 voters because they didn’t respond to unsolicited and targeted mail asking them to reverify their address. (I’m not a voting rights expert, but that strikes me as pretty egregious.) And the Supreme Court made a lot of people nervous, including me, by agreeing to hear arguments on Donald Trump’s taxes in the upcoming year.

Boris Johnson Borealis.* The UK had an upset (and upsetting) election this past week, with Boris Johnson’s conservative Tory party celebrating a clear majority while Jeremy Corbyn’s more progressive Labour party suffered major losses. This is disturbing, particularly given Johnson’s recent incompetency and uncertain Brexit plans–but it can be partially contextualized by a first-past-the-post election structure, gains within the Scottish National Party and Green party, and growing dissent about Corbyn’s leadership. Unsurprisingly, Jeremy Corbyn is stepping down, and we may be looking at another bid for Scottish independence. Since the original Brexit vote was viewed as a bellwether for U.S. politics, it’s a disturbing and noteworthy development.

The Bad:

Painful Immigration Updates. We haven’t covered immigration issues in the roundup for a while, and there’s a fair amount to track, so I think it’s a good time to remind folks of some ongoing stories. The administration’s latest attack on indigent immigration, which attempts to price lawful permanent residents out of citizenship among other other major problems, is still pending–and the comment period has been extended to December 30th. If you believe this is unjust, I really encourage you to tell the government about it; there are some great click-to-comment resources out there that you can use if you’re unsure where to start! Border Patrol was also in the news for refusing to let doctors in to administer flu vaccines after several children died of flu in custody, which resulted in a three-day mass protest and four doctors’ arrests. And Buzzfeed ran an article about rampant medical negligence in ICE custody.

Americans Lack Running Water.* The Washington Post ran a story this week on the two million Americans who still don’t have running water, basing its reporting on a data analysis issued last month by the U.S. Water Alliance. It’s a civic planning issue that disproportionately impacts Native American people, who are nineteen times more likely to lack access than the general population, though Puerto Rico still has major infrastructure problems also. Though the report was issued last month, it’s encouraging to see it making its way to large outlets like the Washington Post, as it’s an issue that really should receive more attention.

The Good:

Recent Legislative Resilience. There was some decent legislative news this week. Kentucky reinstated voting rights to people who have completed nonviolent felony sentences, leaving us with only one remaining state in the country that enforces lifetime disenfranchisement for this issue. And Congress appears to have finalized an actual spending deal, four whole days before a shutdown would commence–and the bill includes $25M in gun research, which is an issue that hasn’t seen funding in over 20 years. Nothing is final until the signed version is on Trump’s desk, so there’s still plenty of time for this to go awry, but we look to be in much better shape than we were this time last year.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I think it was more than enough. For making it through, you deserve Sesame Street characters’ impressions of each other 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 hours in the day!

Year 3, Week 46 (December 1-7)

December 10, 2019December 11, 2019 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

As predicted, this week was ten pounds of misinformation in a five-pound bag–the NNR will be a bit longer than normal to unpack it all. There’s a fair amount outside impeachment, though impeachment is definitely moving forward as well, and a lot of it is no fun at all to read. On the plus side, there’s room in my desk fort for everybody.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not an impeachment article!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

This past week featured the entire trajectory of the Judiciary Committee, with every step from the report to the articles themselves–which means yet another full card of Whistleblowing Ukraine Biden Bingo. Here’s what I have for you:

Timeline of the Launch.* So much happened so quickly this week that it can be helpful just to have a timeline! Kicking off the week, the Intelligence Committee released their official report on Tuesday afternoon (as well as a completely bananas and unofficial Republican version, but I’m giving that one the consideration it deserves). The report focused on both the Ukraine scandal itself and the administration’s attempts to stall the impeachment investigation. This was quickly followed by the first Judicial Committee hearing on Wednesday, an official instruction by Nancy Pelosi on Thursday to draft impeachment articles, and a final Judicial Committee hearing on Monday. At the time that I type this on Tuesday evening, the Judiciary Committee has officially released their articles of impeachment–nine pages on ‘abuse of power‘ and ‘obstruction of Congress’ that follow the same basic format as the House Intelligence Committee report.

Judiciary Kangaroo Court.* The Wednesday and Monday hearings were, simply put, pretty nuts–so it’s not surprising that Judiciary Committee head Jerry Nadler only put up with two sessions before he stuck a fork in his own arm and called the whole thing done. The important big picture highlights: a) Three out of four legal experts (and later by letter, another 500 more) agreed that Trump had committed impeachable offenses; and b) Democrats provided a large bevy of evidence to support this conclusion. Among the GOP’s bad faith parade: a) Insisting nobody let Trump launch a defense, despite the administration’s refusal to do exactly that–twice; b) A completely made-up controversy that accused one of the legal experts of attacking Barron Trump because she said that Trump was allowed to name his son ‘Barron’ but not make him nobility under the Constitution; c) Repeated statements that there was no evidence despite the giant pile of evidence presented on Monday; and d) some of said evidence involving Devin Nunes, who was among those conducting the investigation on the House Intelligence Committee. It’s not a coincidence, by the way, that the nonsense in this paragraph is way longer than the actual hearing summary–the committees have a very clear-cut case and this laundry list of distraction is how the GOP is choosing to counter that.

So What Now? Now that we have existing articles of impeachment, the Judiciary Committee will vote whether to release them to the House for a final floor vote–which may happen before Christmas. We also may or may not see them make adjustments, such as folding in official response to Giuliani’s trip to Ukraine, which inexplicably happened this week while all of this was going on. Either way, next week is likely to be another whirlwind of activity, as Congress scrambles to get this locked down before the break. After that, the articles go to the Senate, where Mitch McConnell wants a rocket-fast trial but Trump wants a full dog-and-pony show. It’s kind of anybody’s guess what happens from there.

Moreso than any other week in recent memory, we had some really major Disregard of Governing Norms outside of the impeachment circus–most notably, there were some really serious developments around the FBI. Here’s what I have for you:

Fake Spying Claims Aftermath. As predicted, a Department of Justice inspector general report was issued this week finding that the FBI properly opened an investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia without evidence of political bias. (That said, the report also found a lot of procedural missteps that were apolitical in nature, resulting in a call for more FISA oversight.) A lot of people, myself included, were prepared to declare this report the new “water is wet” and call it a day. But the report has spawned an ongoing misinformation campaign that is truly staggering. First William Barr discredited his own IG before the report even dropped, and doubled down on that criticism once we finally had a report. White House lawyers started literally claiming the report said the opposite of what it actually said. And then Barr graduated to accusing the FBI of ‘bad faith’ and ‘gross abuses’ (again, despite a lengthy report saying the exact opposite) around the same time that Trump started started attacking the head of the FBI, going so far as to call him ‘the current Director’ (which is not exactly a great sign for Wray’s political health). This type of attacking people for accurately reporting obvious facts is disconcerting, and it appears to be the current GOP strategy for just about everything.

NATO Nonsense. While everything else above was going on, we also had some inane excitement at NATO–first President Macron used reverse psychology to keep Trump in line, calling NATO ‘brain-dead’ so that the other man would double down on preserving it. Then Trump called Trudeau ‘two-faced‘ and canceled a press conference on his way out because the Canadian Prime Minister had laughed at him on a hot mic. Apparently the summit otherwise went well, which is something I guess.

Recent Trump Antisemitism. Despite Trump’s bizarre alliance with Bibi, his overt antisemitism spiked dramatically this week, and I doubt it’s a coincidence that it happened on the same week as impeachment hearings led by a guy named Nadler. Early in the week, he drew some headlines for horrifying comments to the Israeli American Council in Hollywood Florida, which were sort of a stunning tour-de-force of classic antisemitism. (Among the lowlights: telling a room full of Jewish people that “you are not nice people at all” and “you have no choice, you have to vote for me” because “you’re not gonna vote for the wealth tax” while asserting that other American Jewish people “don’t love Israel enough.”) The latter appears to have been laying groundwork for an executive order he is preparing to sign this week, which will combat the BDS movement on college campuses by, among other things, redefining Judaism as a national origin instead of a religion. (Needless to say, this is making a lot of Jewish observers very nervous, because it echoes early Nuremberg laws from the 1930s.)

Your “Normal” Weird

2020 Campaign Weirdness. Election news is trending weird/bad this week, but there’s still a lot of it: 1)Kamala Harris dropped out of the 2020 race, leaving no candidates of color qualifying for the December debates; 2)Joe Biden called a member of the crowd a “damn liar” and challenged the man to an IQ test on his own campaign trail in Iowa; 3) Mike Bloomberg had to apologize for calling fellow 2020 candidate Cory Booker “well-spoken”; 4)Pete Buttigieg turned out to have worked for three years for the McKinsey group, a conservative consulting firm recently in the news for helping engineer current deportation policy; and 5) Joe Biden telling Republican voters to ‘stay a Republican,” because “no party should have too much power,” which is a truly startling thing for a member of the Democratic Senate minority to say in 2019.

The Bad:

Painful Policy Updates. The Trump administration announced this week that it is finalizing changes to our national food security benefits, properly called ‘SNAP benefits’ but commonly known as ‘food stamps,’ to eliminate access for about 700,000 current recipients. The proposed change, which will go into effect on April 1, would require able-bodied adult recipients to work 20 hours per week in any state that has lower than 6% unemployment, rather than allowing states to seek waivers (as is the current rule). Then, as if to punctuate the point, the Supreme Court followed up by declining to hear arguments on a Kentucky law that requires women to get an ultrasound and listen to their fetus’s heartbeat before permitting an abortion. So… not a great week for health-related policy updates.

Multiple Gun-Related Tragedies.* This was a devastating week regarding gun violence. At the top of the week, a shooter at our Pearl Harbor Navy base killed two civilian State employees before fatally shooting himself. Later in the week there was another Navy base shooting, this time in Pensacola and ending in three people dead and eight more wounded. There was also an incident in Southern Florida that involved a hijacked UPS truck and the death of two civilians when police engaged the hijackers in a public shootout. And just today, there was a similar incident in Jersey City, when a police shootout resulted in three civilian deaths.

The Good:

Orange You Glad To Know? The Washington Post released a story based on the personal accounts of 48 undocumented former employees of the Trump Organization, which were as bleak as you might expect but reflect incredibly bravery on the part of the employees. The news also brought to light an unexpected ridiculous detail: the article names 45’s preferred shade of makeup, which turns out to be a color-correcting concealer he’s smearing all over his face. The manufacturer struggled to keep up with their new popularity after the article’s release but rolled with it enough to market said color as, amusingly, “orange.”

Recent Congressional Resilience. We had some significant Congressional resilience in both the House and the Senate this week, and they were developments entirely separate from the impeachment circus. The Democratic-controlled House passed a bill that would restore several components of the Voting Rights Act and preserve racial integrity in voting. And on the Senate side, we passed a bill to fund historically black colleges and universities.

The Theys Have It. Once again at the forefront of the institutional resistance, Merriam-Webster announced that 2019’s Word of the Year is ‘They‘, noting that the word’s usage has increased and formally changed considerably in the past year. This resulted in a great deal of very polarized buzz, but also some decidedly nonbinary-pronoun-friendly articles from the mainstream media. Progress!

So that’s what I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this cat saying hi 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 antibiotics!

Year 3, Week 45 (November 24-30)

December 2, 2019December 3, 2019 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

This week had unusually little active news, comparatively speaking, and it makes me nervous–I know we had a holiday, but that doesn’t always slow things down these days. Given the upcoming impeachment schedule, it seems safe to conclude this is the calm before the storm. Let’s enjoy it while we can, before we’re all back in the desk fort.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain 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. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

Most of this week’s Whistleblowing Ukraine Biden Bingo was about anticipated deadlines, which are just not as exciting as live testimony. That said, there are still several things to know:

Existing Impeachment Updates.* Despite the slow week, there were a few updates worth noting. Notably, the New York Times reminded us that Trump knew about the whistleblower complaint before his administration released aid to Ukraine. This is important because it implies that he already knew what he was being accused of when he had his “no quid pro quo” phone call, which was his main defense to the allegations. (Of course, Trump denies this fact, but since he literally lies twelve times per day, that isn’t exactly persuasive.) There were also deposition transcripts released that point a major finger at the Office of Management and Budget, where two officials apparently resigned because the office was withholding aid to Ukraine and there were all kinds of structural shenanigans in play.

Administrative Anger Synopsis.* Speaking of Trump lies, he’s spent a lot of time this week apparently forgetting every order he ever gave Guiliani as more damning Ukraine information comes to light, going so far as to point-blank answer questions with “You know, Rudy has other clients, other than me…” This, of course, makes perfect sense read alongside the Republican report issued this week, which asserts that Trump did order an investigation but it was legal because Ukraine is sketchy. Meanwhile, our current Secretary of State is spreading the debunked theory that Ukraine hacked our 2016 election, so that’s encouraging.

Upcoming Schedule Notes.* This past week may have been a bit quiet, but there’s a lot to watch in the upcoming week as we enter a more public phase of investigation. The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold its first impeachment hearing on Wednesday, after the Intelligence Committee report circulates internally today and votes on the report’s release tomorrow. The Judiciary Committee is giving the administration until December 6 to decide whether they want to present defending evidence. Since an appeals court has agreed to stay enforcement of the executive immunity case, there’s nothing forcing them to participate–so it’s not surprising that the administration has already declined in the most obnoxious way possible by the time I write this, a full six days before the deadline.

This week’s Disregard of Governing Norms were not impeachment-flavored for the first time in months, but they were still deeply annoying. Here’s what I have for you:

Fake Spying Claims. It’s not due out for another week, but news outlets are reporting that a forthcoming Department of Justice inspector general report is expected to find that the FBI never spied on Trump during his campaign. This, of course, does raise the question of why current Attorney General William Barr testified otherwise to Congress, if it never happened. Needless to say, this doesn’t inspire confidence in Barr, as last time I checked it is in fact against the rules of professional conduct to straight-up lie to tribunals.

Trump Oddities. We had a lot of off-the-wall behavior from Trump and Co this week that wasn’t quite constitutional crisis territory, but was plenty obnoxious. First there were Trump Jr’s instructions to the GOP base that they should pick fights with liberals at the Thanksgiving table, which wasn’t a thing in our house but my condolences if it showed up in yours. Then there was Trump’s strange trip to Afghanistan over Thanksgiving, where he claimed to be reopening talks with the Taliban and posed for selfies with stationed troops. Finally, more Stephen Miller emails got leaked, reminding people that we should maybe not have a white supremacist setting immigration policy.

Your “Normal” Weird:

2020 Campaign Weirdness. There was a lot of campaign strangeness this week, but for once, it was mostly Republican candidates in the news: 1)The Texas GOP accidentally sent the Democrats their talking points (which, embarrassingly, is not even the first time this year this has happened); 2) Trump intimated he wants his pardoned war criminals to campaign with him, apparently seeking that “I’m not just the President, I’m also a client” vibe; 3)Ilhan Omar’s GOP opponent got banned from Twitter for suggesting that Omar should be hanged; and 4) Trump has announced he won’t let Bloomberg News into his events because Mike Bloomberg announced he’s running in 2020.

The Bad:

Tax Return Stall. Shortly before the holiday, the Supreme Court issued a very short opinion that stayed implementation of a recent appeals court order regarding Trump’s tax returns. The decision effectively maintains the status quo while the Trump administration prepares a brief due Thursday, which will either convince SCOTUS to hear the case or make them toss it out the door. The interim decision isn’t designed to be any kind of final decision, and is just a pause while SCOTUS decides next steps–it ends immediately if they skip over the case, or ends when the judgment issues if they do decide to hear it. That said, the pause might be an early indication that SCOTUS wants to hear this case.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. Despite the iffy news above, we did have at least one good case this week. The House Oversight and Reform Committee is suing William Barr and Wilbur Ross over their 2020 census shenanigans, trying to get the subpoenas for information enforced. If this seems delayed to you, that’s because it is–the committee is using the lack of absolute immunity determined by the recent case brought by Don McGahn as a new basis for suit.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I swear I double-checked that there wasn’t more. For making it through, you deserve this video of a man and his raven 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 leftover pie!

Year 3, Week 44 (November 17-23)

November 25, 2019November 26, 2019 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

This week’s public hearings were absolutely bonkers, and the fallout created was no better. The next few weeks are likely to be a wild ride that requires our careful attention–I’ll keep folks posted to the extent that I’m able. And for readers who want to go over the news with a fine-toothed comb, the Impeachment Inquiry page on the WTFJHT forum remains a great resource.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not an ethics probe!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

Somehow, Whistleblowing Ukraine Biden Bingo news was even more bombastic than last week, with a similarly full hearing schedule and some truly game-changing testimony. It’s a lot, so bear with me:

Tuesday: Fourteen Hours Thus.* Tuesday was a very full day, with Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, Vice Presidential adviser Jennifer Williams, former U.S. envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, and former NSC official Tim Morrison all on the roster. There were some important moments of testimony–in particular, Volker changed his testimony to say there was quid pro quo and he now sees that the Burisma Holdings investigations were really looking into Hunter Biden, which feels like foreshadowing for the rest of the week. Similarly, Vindman provided important information despite some pretty personalized antagonism.

Wednesday: Thrown Under the Bus.* Early testimony was quickly overshadowed on Wednesday when U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland shoved half the Trump administration into the path of the oncoming Impeach Express. Most notably, Sondland added Vice President Mike Pence to the list of public officials that were “in the loop” about an intentional quid pro quo campaign–and that will likely have lasting inquiry implications. Wednesday afternoon also saw testimony from Defense Department official Laura Cooper and State Department official David Hale; though less sensational, the testimony confirmed more about the timing of Ukraine receiving the quid pro quo request.

Thursday: Ukraine’s Not After Us.* On Thursday, NSC member Fiona Hill and State Department official David Holmes testified. Hill in particular took no prisoners, taking the GOP to task for advancing Russian narratives and portraying Ukraine as an enemy. Additionally, both witnesses further clarified the timeline of events and provided more evidence that Trump was in on the entire thing. Less urgently, Thursday also featured an amusing live C-SPAN call that isn’t breaking news but is worth watching anyway.

It’s Friday, Drafting Slog.* At the end of the week, the impeachment inquiry had crystallized into an extremely strong case for several impeachable offenses, and the Intelligence panel has chosen to move forward with drafting the final report despite stonewalling from several would-be witnesses. Once the Intelligence Committee findings have been summarized, the resulting report will go to the House Judiciary Committee, which will begin drafting articles of impeachment. (Intelligence Committee head Adam Schiff has indicated he expects this to happen shortly after Thanksgiving.) Meanwhile, chaos abounds as everybody tries to prep for the inevitable articles–in the Senate, both sides of the aisle are thinking about how to plan the trial, which has the White House weirdly jazzed because they hope to turn it into a kangaroo court and make Joe Biden testify.

Unsurprisingly, this week’s Disregard of Governing Norms has a lot of ties to the impeachment circus itself, but there was at least one big, unrelated story that should really be getting more press. Here’s what I have for you:

Administrative Anger Response. There were a number of eye-raising activities from the Trump camp as the week wore on, but some particular lowlights stood out: 1) Lindsey Graham appears to have launched a probe into the Bidens, presumably at Team Trump’s request; 2) Trump entertained the two moderate Republicans most likely to waver at the White House (though at least it wasn’t Camp David); 3) Trump held a scattered press conference with his new bestest bud Magic Marker Notes, prompting this Internet Ramones video and a lot of raised eyebrows; and 4) News trickled out about Pompeo’s plan to run for the Senate, which is particularly wild given the news below.

Nunes News and Pompeo Press. Giuliani associate and all-around sketchball Lev Parnas flipped to the side of impeachment this week. In the process, he disclosed that ranking Intelligence Committee member Devin Nunes was apparently involved in the Ukraine scandal his committee’s been investigating–so that was a quick trip to an ethics investigation. As one Twitter user put it, “So through weeks of hearings, while Rep Nunes sat there getting increasingly sullen and cranky and sad sack in his public statements he in fact was part of the effort the committee was investigating.” Meanwhile, an ethics group released documents further implicating Mike Pompeo, who apparently had repeated direct contact with Rudy Giuliani during the whole affair.

War Crime Pardon Party (cont). Trump’s sketchy war crimes pardon party from last week continues to pay miserable dividends, with Trump insisting that the Navy cannot remove SEAL qualification from one of the men who was pardoned. Since the Navy isn’t especially noted for being chill about pictures with corpses, and they’re also supposed to be in charge of their own qualification system, they did not take kindly to this interference. Eventually this standoff culminated in Secretary of Defense Mark Esper firing his own Navy Secretary because the man wouldn’t cede the call to Trump.

Your “Normal” Weird:

2020 Election Chaos. Well, 2020 election news remains chaotic and strange, but at least it makes good SNL fodder. Wednesday’s debate came and went, with no obvious upsets afterwards (though of course that could change at any time). In other predictable news, Mike Bloomberg finally announced his candidacy, giving people from New York yet another embarrassing politician on the national stage.

Stopgap Shuffle. Congress passed another stopgap bill via CR this week, funding our federal systems and staving off a government shutdown for now. Since Trump signed the bill on Friday, that’s November sorted. Unfortunately, the bill only lasts until 12/20, so we’ll be back here again this time next month. If this year goes anything like last year, we’re not out of the woods just yet; I’ll keep folks posted on what happens when the next deadline rolls around.

The Bad:

Corruption in the Middle East.Current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement this week saying that Israeli settlements in the West Bank somehow don’t violate international law, which reverses over four decades of official U.S. policy. Several outlets are referring to this statement as “a gift to Netanyahu,” which is both accurate and particularly galling when Netanyahu became the first sitting Prime Minister to be indicted for corruption in the same week. So essentially, we have a guy under investigation for corruption reversing four decades of established policy to give another guy under investigation for corruption the green light to continue violating an international peace treaty. Regardless of your opinion of Palestinian occupation, this type of lawlessness erodes our institutions on a very fundamental level, and it’s not okay.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. We had some awesome court cases this week, I’m happy to report. The retrial of Scott Warren, who faced criminal charges for giving food and water to migrants at the southern border, ended in another not guilty verdict–gosh, can’t imagine why juries keep refusing to convict this guy for his humanitarian aid. And just today, a federal judge issued an emphatic opinion that White House attorney Don McGahn must be compelled to testify, noting that “absolute immunity . . . simply does not exist” and “Presidents are not Kings.” (She also compared the administration’s logic to that in the George Orwell book Animal Farm, which tells you how Extremely Done this district court judge was.) And on the subpoena end, Rudy Giuliani’s firm is being investigated as part of a much broader corruption probe in Manhattan.

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 these foxes chillaxin‘ 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 reprieve from the cruelty of linear time!

Year 3, Week 43 (November 10-16)

November 18, 2019November 26, 2019 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Impeachment public hearings began this week, and I could easily write ten pages of analysis just on those two hearings alone–increasingly, it looks like Democrats are playing Battleship while Republicans are playing Deuces Wild. We’re due for a lot more of the same this upcoming week, so we’ll have to see what kind of impact the hearings have over time. In the meantime, there’s already a lot to puzzle over.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a women’s soccer team!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

Another week, another very full card of Whistleblowing Ukraine Biden Bingo, which continues to dominate the news cycle. Since we had three days of testimony and six witnesses, it’s getting a bit crowded down there, so this week’s news is separated out by day:

Wednesday: Witness Back-to-Back.* The first open impeachment hearings took off at a full gallop; Ambassador William Taylor and deputy assistant to the State Department George Kent definitely did not disappoint. Taylor disclosed new information–a second phone call overheard by his aide that directly tied Trump to the push to politically pressure Ukraine–apparently brought to us by Sondland continuing the Team Trump tradition of making sensitive phone calls in crowded restaurants. (Though Taylor’s info was second-hand, a second staffer came forward and corroborated with a firsthand account the next day.) Taylor also confirmed that Trump prioritized a Biden investigation over aiding Ukraine. Meanwhile, Kent confirmed that Giuliani led a smear campaign against ousted ambassador Marie Yovanovitch as part of a larger effort to ‘gin up’ investigations. The testimony was so credible and damning that Nancy Pelosi started referring to the Ukraine push as ‘bribery’ by the next day.

Friday: Sudden Tweet Attack.* Yovanovitch testified directly in Friday’s public hearing while the aide Taylor identified, David Holmes, was in a closed door deposition doing the same. Holmes apparently gave credible enough testimony behind closed doors that he may be added to the public hearing roster, so we should keep an eye on that. In the public hot seat, Yovanovitch described experiencing a smear campaign as Trump smeared her on Twitter in real time–highlighting the difficulties faced by career staffers under Trump and making Schiff mutter about witness intimidation. All told, it was a day so bizarre and grueling for Yovanovitch that it ended with Congress applauding her when she stepped down.

Saturday: Deposition Track.* Saturday was another closed deposition, but it featured the first budget official who actually showed up to testify, and he agreed that withholding aid from Ukraine sure seemed sketchy to him. The House also released transcripts of several more depositions ahead of next week’s public hearings, which will be another packed schedule–but the whistleblower remains excused for now, despite significant GOP efforts to the contrary.

As in previous weeks, Disregard of Governing Norms somehow continues on despite the impeachment circus also happening. Here’s what I have for you:

Like a Lying Stone (cont). Professional sleazeball Roger Stone was found guilty of all seven counts at the end of his trial this week, with charges ranging from witness tampering to lying to Congress to obstruction of justice. Stone makes the sixth Trump associate convicted of actions related to the Mueller investigation, and he faces up to 50 years in prison if the sentences are consecutive–let me tell you, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer oligarch. Now that the Stone trial has rolled on by, the tea leaves are suggesting that the next Trump associate to be prosecuted will be Rudy Giuliani, and I’ll keep folks posted on that.

Stephen Miller vs SPLC. The Southern Poverty Law Center issued a report this week that analyzed emails from Stephen Miller to discuss his ties to white nationalism. The White House countered by claiming that it’s antisemitic to say that Miller is a white nationalist because he’s Jewish. It is this Jewish author’s considered opinion that it is more antisemitic to be a white nationalist, and Stephen Miller’s own emails suggest he quite clearly qualifies. So, y’know, takes one to know one.

War Crime Pardon Party. Despite everything else going on this week, Trump still found time to pardon two service men who were charged with murdering unarmed people and a third convicted of posing with a corpse. The pardons went against the advice of the Pentagon, which wanted to maintain accountability and preserve chain of command–for some reason, they thought it was important to have ‘functional military tribunals’ with ‘predictable outcomes’ that ‘prevent rampant war crimes.’ All three of the men pardoned, incidentally, were white men originally charged with murdering people of color, and in other breaking news water is wet.

Your “Normal” Weird:

2020 Election Chaos. 2020 election news continues, and continues to be weird. Bloomberg still hasn’t officially entered the race as I type this, but he sure did just so happen to apologize for his extremely unpopular stop-and-frisk policies as mayor of New York in the early 2000s. Meanwhile, Deval Patrick did formally announce he plans to run, and speaking as an MA resident who lived through the Patrick era, I cannot overstress how much this is the solution nobody needed. Completing the bland candidate trifecta, and illustrating why neither of these rich dudes’ services are required, a poll in Iowa suggests Pete Buttigieg is now leading in the primary.

Your Semi-Annual Trump Physical Nonsense. Trump visited the Walter Reed Medical Center this week, which he is passing off as part of his yearly physical–but the trip didn’t follow protocol and was several months ahead of schedule. (Good luck getting your insurance company to cover two annual physicals in a nine-month period if you’re as healthy as Trump claims to be.) Some outlets have begun opining that we need a second opinion on his health–which is probably true for a lot of reasons, honestly–but with this administration, his head could be falling off and we’d still just get an announcement that “the President is in perfect health.” So we’re unlikely to see more on the matter.

The Bad:

Immigration Updates. This wasn’t exactly a great week for immigration. ICE was in the news for holding a record number of unaccompanied minors in detention–almost 70,000, to be precise. (I don’t even know where to begin on how horrifying that is; kids aren’t supposed to be in custody long-term at all, which means ICE basically failed to do its job nearly 70,000 times in 2019.) The administration also proposed dramatic fee hikes for immigration paperwork, including the country’s first-ever asylum fees. Though the proposed asylum fee is deplorable–freedom from persecution should not have a price tag–the naturalization fee increase of 83% is also particularly noteworthy, because it would force residents to pay over a thousand dollars to experience full safety from deportation. And speaking of deportation, the DACA case went before the Supreme Court, where conservative justices appeared to signal they plan to end the program (though we’ll know more when the order issues).

Senate and School Shootings. In a stunning display of poor governing and worse timing, Senate Republicans stalled out a responsible gun law on Thursday as yet another school shooting in California killed two people and wounded four more. The proposed legislation would have required universal background checks for private gun sales, and passed in the House earlier this year. Needless to say, this remains an excellent time to call your reps and tell them to ask the Wizard for a heart and/or a brain.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. There were a fair number of good court cases again this week. A federal district court found that the U.S. violated the Fourth Amendment by searching people’s phones for no reason at U.S. ports of entry. The DC appeals court reiterated that Trump has to turn over his financial records to Congress, refusing to rehear the case, though Trump is appealing to SCOTUS on that one. Speaking of SCOTUS, they refused to dismiss a case brought by Sandy Hook parents against gun manufacturers. And in the sports world, the U.S. women’s national soccer team was also granted class status in their gender discrimination lawsuit this week, which will significantly broaden the scope of the suit. So that’s pretty exciting as well!

2019 Election Aftermath (cont). In the final gubernatorial election of the season, Louisiana’s election went to the Democratic incumbent, who threw traditional Southern shade at Trump in his victory speech (saying “As for the President, God bless his heart”). Louisiana is the second red state this month to ignore Trump’s strong endorsement and elect a blue governor–officially, even, since Kentucky’s GOP candidate conceded this week. Some analysts are supposing that these victories will cause Republicans to stop mindlessly backing him during impeachment proceedings, and we can only hope.

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 these beautiful portraits of fruit 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 reprieve from the cruelty of linear time!

Year 3, Week 42 (November 3-9)

November 11, 2019November 13, 2019 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Somehow, it simultaneously feels like the impeachment inquiry has been going for ten years and five minutes–and so far we’ve only been climbing to the top of that first roller coaster drop. This week marks a turning point in the investigation nonetheless, as we transition from closed-door testimony to public hearings and start that wild freefall chaos. I’ll do my best to keep us all hanging on, though I make no promises about how stomach-turning it’s about to become. If you want to drink from the info fire hose, I also strongly recommend the impeachment archive run by the WTFJHT community!

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a public hearing–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

Another week, another full card of Whistleblowing Ukraine Biden Bingo–but this week both sides are beginning to take things public, which does change some dynamics. Here are the latest updates:

Impeachment Inquiry Updates.* A number of transcripts of Congressional hearings became available this week, and they are about as damning as you might expect: 1) Former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch‘s testimony outlined efforts to oust her with more specificity than her opening statement; 2)Former AmbassadorKurt Volker‘s testimony indicated that the prosecutor Biden pushed to remove never even investigated Hunter Biden; 3) Former EU Ambassador Gordan Sondham‘s initial testimony was joined by a “supplemental declaration” that reversed his earlier claim and admitted to quid pro quo, claiming prior testimony had “refreshed his recollection”; 4) National Security Council member Alexander Vindman‘s testimony further implicated Mick Mulvaney when read in full; and 5) Former John Bolton aide Fiona Hill‘s 400-page testimony revisited Bolton’s wariness of quid-pro-quo and featured a blow-by-blow of the GOP gatecrashers. The next step of the official inquiry is open Congressional hearings, which are scheduled to begin on November 13–and if the last few weeks are any indication, they will prove fascinating viewing.

Administrative Anger Synopsis.* As the House investigation pushes for more transparency, the GOP has mostly responded with varying levels of “you can’t make me.” First there’s Lindsey Graham, who has decided to deal with the transcripts above by refusing to read them. We also saw John Bolton semi-politely decline to show up for a deposition, reiterating that he’ll need a court to say it’s legal (or at least a subpoena). Meanwhile, current chief of staff Mick Mulvaney chose to hide behind the lawsuit as well, dodging a subpoena and ticking off Bolton in the process. Trump failed to talk his attorney general into holding a press conference to announce he broke no laws. And Senate Republicans want to use the impeachment inquiry to investigate the Biden family and the whistleblower, because clearly that’s the real scandal here.

As in previous weeks, Disregard of Governing Norms somehow continues on despite the impeachment circus also happening. Here’s what I have for you:

Like a Lying Stone. Roger Stone’s trial on whether he lied to Congress kicked off this week, marking the last legal moments of the Mueller era. Though it has been flying somewhat under the radar amid all the impeachment hoopla, it doesn’t appear off to a great start for Stone–he got food poisoning during jury selection and asked to be excused. Then Steve Bannon and beleaguered radio host Randy Credico testified, and Stone probably started missing the food poisoning. Oh, and poor Judge Jackson, who has already had to deal with quite a lot on this case, had to order the jury not to watch the Godfather because Credico referenced it too many times.

Trump Court Cases. Speaking of court cases, 45 currently has enough lawsuits going on for 45 people, and we saw news on a bunch of them this week. He announced his plan to appeal last week’s 2nd Circuit decision that requires him to cough up tax returns, because a case described by the ruling judge as “repugnant to the nation’s fundamental structure and constitutional values” is definitely worth the Supreme Court’s time and attention. Of course, even as he announced this, a DC federal judge dismissed his lawsuit about how he didn’t wanna cough up said tax returns and told him to go file it in New York. Meanwhile, he was personally fined $2.8M after admitting that he used Trump Foundation donations–which were supposed to go to veterans, I might add–to fund his 2016 political campaign. And E Jean Caroll, who alleges that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room, is now suing him for defamation due to the insults he lobbed while denying her allegations.

Trump Bad Book Tour. There also has been a lot of wild news this week about how the people working directly with Trump think he’s 25th Amendment bonkers. A new book by “Anonymous,” apparently the same Anonymous who wrote an op-ed about resisting inside the Trump administration, details cabinet members desperately trying to sew the Emperor some clothes. Anonymous even claims they contemplated a mass protest resignation (though, as the news cycle would suggest, this didn’t happen). At the same time, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N Nikki Hadley promoted her own book by noting senior cabinet officials asked her to “undermine” the President for the country’s own good. Though it’s not exactly news that Trump is volatile and makes bad decisions, it does seem noteworthy that multiple people are literally on book tours about it the year before an election cycle.

Your “Normal” Weird:

2020 Election Chaos. Presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke dropped out of the 2020 election this week, conceding that he lacked momentum (and hopefully redirecting his energies towards another Senate bid). Apparently former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg decided this meant there was a vacancy, because he’s now rumored to be planning to run. Meanwhile, former Alabama senator Jeff Sessions is making a bid for his old seat, airing a Trump-friendly political ad that some pundits found painful after Sessions’s years of mistreatment as Attorney General. (I would be remiss if I did not note that Jeff Sessions, who penned some extremely appalling policy during his tenure as AG, gets very little sympathy from me personally.)

The Bad:

Climate Policy Polarization.* Trump began the process this week of formally leaving the Paris climate accords, a move which is deeply frustrating even though the withdrawal won’t be finalized for at least a year (and a subsequent President could undo it fairly quickly). The move feels particularly aggravating given a warning issued by over 11,000 scientists that our planet is facing a growing climate emergency. The scientists cautioned that policy must reflect our changing global needs in order to stave off catastrophic results, suggesting positive changes to carbon emission, population stabilization, and ecosystem disruption. So, basically, all the changes that this administration hates.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. A lot of this week’s federal court news somehow involved Trump, and thus has already been covered, but we did a few other highlights. Most notably, a federal judge blocked a ‘conscience rule’ that would have permitted medical discrimination for religious reasons–a significant victory for those of us who just want to get medical treatment in peace. In the sports world, the U.S. women’s national soccer team was also granted class status in their gender discrimination lawsuit this week, which will significantly broaden the scope of the suit. So that’s pretty exciting as well!

2019 Election Aftermath. Tuesday brought elections many places on the local and state level, and we saw some pretty interesting results! One of the biggest changes happened in Virginia, where Democrats now control all three state branches of government for the first time in over twenty years. In state elections in general, suburbs went much more blue than is traditional in many parts of the country. We also had two gubernatorial elections: Kentucky elected a Democrat governor, though the current governor is refusing to concede, and Mississippi stuck with a Republican ticketfor their own gubernatorial race. The influx of blue makes some speculate that the Equal Rights Amendment may be back on the table, since we were previously only one state shy and Virginia just painted itself blue. Needless to say, this is worth watching.

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 beluga playing fetch 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 impeachment ice cream!