Foreign Policy – National News Roundup

National News Roundup: Year 2, Week 16 (May 6–12)

May 15, 2018 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Honestly, the theme of this week was “Taking This Horrorshow on the Road.” Between updates on the Russia investigation, increasingly draconian policies at the borders, withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, and the release of North Korean prisoners, it definitely feels like the most noteworthy things to happen this past week occurred outside the country. But there’s still a huge amount of horrible happening domestically, and it’s a good idea to keep on top of that as well.

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 confirmation hearing! — 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 another fairly quiet week regarding Casual Disregard of Governing Norms, but there was one major exception to this general rule:

Haspel Confirmation Hearing. Only a few days after she had threatened to withdraw, Gina Haspel’s confirmation hearing began on Wednesday, with the occasion marked by the arrest of several protesters. Disturbingly, the shouting about torture may have actually helped Haspel’s chances, since she gained the support of a second Democrat and Dick Cheney used the whole thing as an opportunity to condone waterboarding. But even some Republicans appear queasy at Haspel’s refusal to agree with simple, straightforward statements like “Torture is bad,” so what happens from here is kind of anyone’s guess.

There was a fair amount happening this week on the Russia Investigation front too, as several different interrelated issues moved forward. Here’s a summary of the main things to know:

Cohen Circus Continues. There was even more news about Michael Cohen this past week, and it’s hard to sort out what’s mere monkeyshines and what’s genuinely concerning. First we learned that Novartis made payments to him to the tune of $1.2M after Trump became President, which definitely isn’t sketchy at all, and it turns out Cohen wasn’t even able to do what he was paid to do. AT&T hopped on the Pay Cohen to Be Incompetent Train as well, paying him $600,000 to get advice about their merger with Time Warner and getting net neutrality repealed. (They ended up ousting their top lobbyist over it.) But while those two are disturbing in their own right, they were pretty quickly overshadowed by Stormy Daniels’s lawyer announcing that Columbus Nova, an investment firm with ties to a Russian oligarch, also was paying Cohen a cool half-million. Then further news came out that this firm also set up a bunch of alt-right websites during the 2016 election, tying Russia more closely to alt-right causes yet again. The full impact and implications of all of this are still not clear, but I bet there will be more news on it soon.
Mike Pence Continues to be Mike Pence. This week’s jackassery is his statement that it’s “time to . . . wrap up [the Mueller investigation]” in “the interest of the country.” His argument for why it’s time to conclude the investigation was simply that “it’s been about a year since this investigation began.” Also, he has a bridge he would like to sell us.
Senate Intelligence Committee News. The Senate Intelligence Committee released a report on election security this week, and the findings were… not great. The committee found that Russia definitely tried to undermine confidence in the election system, targeting nearly half the states in the country and potentially altering or deleting voter registration data in several of them. Meanwhile, House Democrats also released thousands of Facebook ads that were purchased by Russian troll farms. The ads are surprisingly varied in scope, focusing on racially divisive issues in particular but encouraging political divisions in general. It’s… pretty creepy and sobering to realize they were seeding Black Lives Matter ads alongside MAGA ones, to be honest, and a great excuse to remind yourself how to follow credible news sources.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Melania’s Be Best Campaign. Melania Trump rolled out a ‘Be Best’ campaign this week, which was originally listed as ‘by Melania Trump and the Federal Trade Commission.’ Except that it was first issued by the FTC in 2014, before Melania ever touched the White House, and the words ‘by Melania Trump’ referred to an eight-sentence introduction she added to the existing pamphlet. Given her history of stealing Michelle Obama’s words in 2016, it’s understandable that people are crying ‘plagiarism’ — not your best work, Melania.
Scheiderman Resigns. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman resigned this week amid allegations of romantic partner abuse. The news is particularly upsetting given Schneiderman’s history as an advocate for women’s rights, and given surfacing allegations that Trump blackmailed Schneiderman over it to get the AG to drop the Trump University case. We apparently learned about the blackmail angle from the raid of Michael Cohen’s office, which of course was overseen by the US District Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Schneiderman was widely regarded as Mueller’s backup plan for indicting Manafort and Gates. So it’s… all kind of an incestuous mess, to say the least.
John McCain News. John McCain was one of several senators to speak out against Gina Haspel this week, going so far as to urge the Senate not to confirm her on the grounds that “[h]er refusal to acknowledge torture’s immorality is disqualifying.” The Daily Beast also reported that John McCain was the one who gave the Steele dossier to James Comey. Perhaps these two things were why a White House staffer was quoted as observing that McCain’s opposition “doesn’t matter, [because] he’s dying anyway” and therefore would not hold much sway in the Senate proceedings. The White House, of course, was very upset that the comment was leaked, but have no plans to issue any kind of apology, because their moral compasses are set to Permanent Opposite Day.
North Korean Prisoners Released. North Korea released three American detainees this week in a gesture of goodwill that was positive but vaguely baffling. The released men appeared to be in good health, and the whole thing was likely publicity preparation for proposed peace talks.

The Bad:

Immigration Updates. Despite news the previous week of DHHS losing almost 1,500 migrant children, the Trump administration announced a new policy this week to charge every single adult apprehended at the border and separate all adults and children as a matter of course. When questioned on the wisdom of this course of action, Trump’s chief of staff John Kelly apparently replied the children will be “put into foster care or whatever.” (Yes, the same foster care system that apparently loses one fifth of all its wards.) Meanwhile, this new policy appears linked to Trump’s anger at the current Secretary of Homeland Security, given reports that he blames her for rising apprehension rates at the border and recently berated her for thirty minutes straight in a Cabinet meeting. It also appears to be intended to dissuade people from exercising their right to seek asylum. Folks, nearly everything I just typed is busted on so many levels that I don’t even know where to start, so suffice to say, this is not good or humane policy.
Iran Nuclear Deal. Trump announced this week that the U.S. was withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, calling it “a horrible one-sided deal that should never have been made.” France, Germany, and Britain have already signaled that they plan to stay in the deal, releasing a joint statement noting their “concern and regret” that the United States is withdrawing. Iran is continuing to negotiate with them as well as Russia and China to see if a deal can be reached without us, even as thousands protest the U.S. withdrawal and Iran warns that it will not renegotiate. We should continue to watch this, and it wouldn’t be the worst idea to call reps about it.

The Good:

Ben Carson Suit. Civil rights groups are bringing a suit against Ben Carson for his failure to enforce a fair housing rule that forced communities to address systemic segregation if they wanted to receive HUD funding. They’re arguing that his actions violate the 1968 Fair Housing Act, and frankly, they’re probably right. I’m excited to see where this lawsuit goes.

And that’s the news this week! I’m afraid next week looks like it’s gearing up to be an awful news week, if today is any indication, and I’m sure we’ll be crying in our comfort foods by this time next week. But I’ll be back, and I’m hoping so will you, and if you need anything before then, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me hope for tomorrow!

National News Roundup: Truncated Holiday Special! (Part 1)

December 26, 2017 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

I promised myself I would still do the news over the break, because I want y’all to stay informed. But it’s the holidays, and we all want to take a little time to dream about a world that’s less of a trash fire than this one — and besides, loved ones have convinced me that Perhaps It is Good Activism to Take Some Time Off. So we’re doing a Holiday Special this week as a compromise: Brief bullets with the best, the worst, and the weirdest. I promise it’ll be better than Star Wars!*

Standard standing reminders still apply, though: 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 ambassador! — but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the Special!

The Weirdest:

Voting by Fish Bowl.* A Virginia election initially went to a Democrat by literally one vote early last week, which would have given them a seat in the lower chamber of their House and eleven additional votes. But then the Republican incumbent convinced three judges that a random uncounted vote should go to him, we were back to a tie. Then they were planning to decide who wins by drawing names out of a hat, but the Democratic candidate announced that she is filing a motion to reconsider the uncounted ballot decision. I would be too, frankly, and I hope she’s successful.
I Guess We’re Fighting with the United Nations Again?* The United Nations collectively and overwhelmingly told Trump where to stuff his Jerusalem resolution this past week, voting 128–9 on a nonbinding resolution of their own to overrule it. Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, handled this by telling the United Nations — a group we founded in 1942 — that she and Trump would be “taking names.” (Oh, and she said it on Twitter, because that’s the platform of choice for issuing international threats nowadays.) But 128 nations is a lot of names, so I’m not convinced the administration plans to follow up on that.
Congress Punts on (Almost) Everything. After the tax bill happened (and there’s more on that below) Congress basically agreed to punt everything else until next year, putting a stopgap in place that funds the government until mid-January. That said, though, the stopgap bill also provides emergency funding for CHIP and community health centers until March, and they did “lay groundwork” for a DREAM Act bill sometime in the new year. So a few things got done, though not very much, before Congress began a ten-day break.

The Worst:

Tax Reform Remix.* After some intrepid Democrat staffer found several Byrd Rule violations in the House bill after the House voted on it on Tuesday, it became clear that last-minute changes would need to be made to the bill. The Senate passed the cleaned-up version on Tuesday night, and the House vote went through a second time on Wednesday. Trump signed the bill on Friday, so this is now a done deal, and my header isn’t lying; it’s the actual worst. We’ll get it repealed in the new year.
Mueller Mutterings.* Conservative criticism of special counsel Robert Mueller is reaching something of a fever pitch, prompting the top Democrat in the Senate Intelligence Committee to make a Senate speech warning against firing him. (I’m still holding out hope that Trump wouldn’t be foolish enough to try that, because it won’t be great for him either if he does, but that doesn’t always stop this administration.) On the plus side, the House Judiciary Committee Democrats voted in experienced NY Rep Jerry Nadler to replace the resigning John Conyer; Nadler has served on the committee for twenty-five years, and is an extremely solid choice for handling anything that comes up.

The Best:

A Very Mnuchin Christmas (and Other Petty Slights). Here at Schadenfreude Central, you can enjoy the fact that a guy sent Steve Mnuchin a gift-wrapped box of horse manure for Christmas this year, along with a note observing that he was returning the favor for the tax reform bill. Meanwhile, the UK government is trying to talk Prince Harry out of inviting the Obamas to his wedding, for the simple reason that he’s most emphatically not inviting the Trumps and they don’t want to deal with an orange-hued Twitter tirade. But since Prince Harry bonded with the Obamas at the Invictis Games this past year and appears to be actually friends with them — and his wedding is not an official state event — I hope he gets his way on this. The Trumps, by the way, are definitely not getting an invite, and nobody is acting like that option is even on the table.
Some Actual Good News. The six J20 protesters charged with felonies for protesting on Inauguration Day were found not guilty this week, ending a four-week trial and a nearly year-long process. Incredibly, the prosecutor conceded in its trial arguments that there was no evidence that these six people committed any of the violent actions charged — two were street medics, and one was a photojournalist covering the protests — but argued that they participated in a protest where other people did, so they should be held accountable. (Quick editorial note from your resident attorney author: While it’s true in many jurisdictions that people who conspire to commit a felony can be charged for anything that happens during the commission of that felony — including murder if it goes horrible awry — it’s pretty disturbing both philosophically and legally to argue that a plan to protest is a conspiracy to commit a felony.) With all sincerity, these verdicts are an important bastion against the criminalization of ordinary protest, for the simple reason that there was no evidence any of defendants had done literally any rioting. If any of these convictions had stuck, they could be used to convict people simply pinned in the wrong spot when a protest goes south — an experience that happens to many, many peaceable protesters if someone in the crowd starts a riot.

And that’s the Holiday Special, folks! We’ll do A Very News New Year next week, probably on the ordinary release date, and then we’ll be back to our regular routine by 1/9. Until then, keep on keepin’ on!

*The Christmas Special, that is. No promises about Last Jedi; I still haven’t even seen it.

National News Roundup: Week 37 (October 1–7)

October 10, 2017 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

FORTEPAN / Saly Noémi, via Wikimedia Commons

This week started out really rough and ended up really strange — we had a lot of very traumatic and troubling events in the earlier half of the week, but by the end of the weekend Trump was taking credit for inventing the word “fake.” It’s sort of like being stuck in a horror movie where the killer stabs someone on Monday and then comes back on Friday to ask the survivors “What’s the deal with soap?” (Also, I know the news cycle has practically become minute-by-minute these days, but this is ridiculous.)

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 a lot of detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise — I’m a lawyer, not a football player! — 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:

The Russia Collusion Investigation saw a lot of movement this week:

But Her Emails (Take 2).* More information came to light on last week’s White House Aide Private Server story, and none of it is great. There was apparently a third email address on a private server that both Jared and Ivanka used (and failed to report using) while working as aides. This is understandably not thrilling Democrats — House rep Elijah Cummings is asking for a formal FBI review, and fellow reps Ted Lieu and Don Beyer wrote to White House counsel Don McGahn to request their clearance be revoked. Then, just for extra cake icing, the story broke that Ivanka Trump narrowly avoided a criminal indictment in 2012 when a Trump attorney convinced the New York District Attorney to drop the case. So that all happened.
Senate Findings.* The Senate Intelligence Committee announced its findings this past week, which is probably the biggest non-story to happen since the last update. Though mostly the committee simply announced that the investigation was ongoing, they did emphasize that they trust the conclusions of interference announced by the CIA and that Russian interference in American elections is likely to be ongoing as well.
Facebook, Google, and Mueller (Oh My).* A grab bag of other random stuff also happened this week! We learned a bit more about the role of social media in the election, more specifically that Google also aired the ads and that Russia targeted specific states with its social media misinformation campaign (though Facebook won’t release specifics because of the Mueller investigation). And speaking of Mueller, he’s been very busy; his team is investigating the reach of the Presidential pardon, hoping to preempt any kind of preemptive shenanigans, and met with the author of the infamous “pee tape” dossier (not that official news outlets are willing to call it that). Meanwhile, experts connecting dots are starting to see a pretty sketchy picture.

We also are still in a stalemate on the Threat to Free Speech front:

Trump Still Hates Sports. The bizarre battle between our President and the NFL continues for yet another week, with Mike Pence walking out of a game he conveniently decided to attend because players on the other team protested during the anthem (or, more accurately, because Trump told him to). By the way, as Slate notes, the political stunt cost taxpayers over $200,000, and that kind of publicly-funded race-baiting by a Presidential administration is completely unprecedented as well as a gross misuse of taxpayer funds. Basically, it’s an intentional and ongoing Presidential move to chill free expression that I’m tired of talking about even though it remains incredibly important that we pay attention to it.

Your “Normal” Weird:

House is Bad at Balancing Budgets.* The House narrowly passed a budget resolution this past week, and it’s exactly as terrible as you might expect. Major priorities appear to be cuts to entitlement programs, increased spending for the military, and an overhaul of the tax system to benefit wealthy taxpayers. That said, this resolution is far from codified law, particularly because the Senate’s drafting process is looking very different than the House’s, and the two legislative bodies ultimately have to agree on the same bill. The tax cuts are likely to raise the deficit significantly, which makes them unpopular with both some fiscal conservatives and most Democrats. We’ll need to keep watching and see what comes out of the Senate in the near future.
The Trump Show Continues. The Trump Administration Reality Show was particularly strange this week, especially towards the end of the week. The brightest gem in the collection was definitely Trump claiming he made up the word ‘fake,’ which I can’t even begin to guess about (though you have to admit, he does kind of redefine the term). But that bizarre behavior had lots of friends — there was also Trump’s absurd decision to pick a fight with Republican Senator Bob Corker, which is going to hurt him in at least three different ways politically (in addition to Corker’s incredible tea-sipping commentary and impromptu tell-all interview). And just to cap out an already deeply weird week, there’s now a three-way fight happening about who is the true First Lady of this administration, leaving Andy Cohen — the producer of ‘Real Housewives’ fame — to tweet that “Even I AM SPEECHLESS.”
Rex Tillerson Holds a Press Conference About Saying What We’re All Thinking. After news broke that Rex Tillerson called Trump a ‘moron’ at a Pentagon meeting and considered resigning over the summer, Tillerson and Friends ended up holding a press conference — and merely addressed the idea that he was about to resign, leaving whether he actually disparaged Trump’s intelligence as an exercise for the reader. Though some of the press were speculating that he might be another Friday Firing faux-resignation, Tillerson appears content to stay in his post until Trump literally fires him.
Tim Murphy Scandal Unfolds Like It’s 1998. Pennsylvania rep and All Around Slimeball Tim Murphy landed in hot water this week, when news broke that he was pressuring his mistress to have an abortion after she became pregnant with his child. Though he initially claimed he would simply not seek re-election, eventually he folded to mounting pressure and agreed to resign more promptly. Between someone actually being forced to resign over immoral choices and the whole thing taking weeks (rather than hours) to unfold, it was a very nostalgic sort of scandal!

The Bad:

Trump Went to Puerto Rico and it was the Actual Worst. Trump did end up taking a trip to Puerto Rico on Tuesday, which ended up being an odyssey of blatant mischaracterizations, surreal t-shirt-cannon style paper-towel launching, and countless offensive and tactless comments — but not very much actual help. After it was over, FEMA removed statistics about how much of the region has power and water (which, according to an official Puerto Rican website, is about 15% power and 55% water respectively, in case anyone was curious). Meanwhile, it’s unclear whether Congress will provide more aid to the island, which is still sorely needed post-visit. Though government responses have been sluggish, several nonprofit entities have been working tirelessly; I’ll write more about that below.
Trans Rights Should be Civil Rights. Sessions reversed course on another Obama-era protection this week, this time on a directive clarifying that gender expression is covered under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The directive gave protection against workplace discrimination for transgender Americans, which has effectively been removed; it’s realistic for trans Americans to expect that workplace discrimination based on their gender expression has effectively become legal again. The Sessions memo made it clear that this would be the Department position on all legal issues related to sex moving forward. Ordinarily I would put a pithy statement here, but I’m still really mad about it, so I’ll content myself with saying that it is not ideal.
Trump’s Alarming Non-Diplomacy with North Korea.* Trump continued his disturbing gambit with North Korea this week, saying that Tillerson was “wasting his time” on diplomacy. Meanwhile, Russia is apparently claiming North Korea has missiles that can reach the west coast of the US, and Trump referred to this week as “the calm before the storm” but wouldn’t say more about what that meant (though it was probably in reference to either North Korea or abandoning the Iran nuclear deal, which he’s expected to do next week). Though Ted Lieu opined publicly (and probably accurately) this week that Trump has “no strategy on North Korea,” Trump did tell military leaders this week that “our goal is denuclearization.” Hopefully he doesn’t intend to achieve that by goading Kim Jong-un into chucking his entire arsenal at us.
Continuing UN Embarrassment. The United States joined twelve other UN countries this week in refusing to condemn the death penalty for certain kinds of conduct — namely, apostasy, blasphemy, adultery and consensual same-sex relations — when the penalty is applied in a discriminatory manner. The resolution passed anyway, by a sound majority of 27 to 12. What we did support was a failed amendment by Russia asserting that the death penalty was “not necessarily a human rights violation.” ‘Murrica.
What Is Even Happening in the EPA.* News broke this week (well, for some definitions of ‘broke’) that Pruitt does many things that hurt the credibility and functionality of the EPA, such as spending lots of time with industry executives and spending agency funds on questionable things such as frequent travel to his home state and a $25,000 phone booth (yes, really). But Trump managed to one-up himself with his pick for deputy director, who is a literal coal lobbyist. As in, “he was registered as a lobbyist two months ago.” What’s particularly noteworthy about this pick is that Bannon is no longer advising Trump and yet his nominations look identical to when he was — either Bannon actually does still have Trump’s ear, or Trump hates the EPA so much that he doesn’t need to have any kind of deconstructionist agenda to actively try to destroy it.

The Good:

NRA-Approved Gun Control Reform.* In the wake of the Vegas tragedy, Senator Feinstein introduced a bill this week that would ban bump stocks, which are a form of gun modification that allows a semi-automatic weapon to function as a rapid-fire automatic firearm. A similar bill is anticipated in the House this week as well. Though this is far from a complete guarantee of public safety, it has the rare distinction of being a restriction favored by the NRA — my cynical guess is that the association has its own reasons for not favoring weapon modifications, but at the moment I’m just grateful that the restriction is likely to go forward.
Outpouring for Puerto Rico. Though Puerto Rico is still in rough shape, and it’s unclear whether Congress will act further to help, the call is being answered by a lot of different entities. As Lin-Manuel Miranda notes, the Hispanic Federation is doing a lot of excellent work getting first responders on the ground in affected areas. The Royal Caribbean cruise line has been sending supplies and evacuating people. Florida has opened three disaster aid centers for displaced Puerto Ricans. Feeding Children Everywhere is sending 4.4 million meals in the next few weeks. The governor of Illinois has offered assistance from the Illinois Coast Guard. The USNS Comfort arrived on Tuesday, bringing thousands of beds and medical supplies. MoveOn.org has a national fundraising effort, and Pat Rothfuss’s nonprofit, Worldbuilders, teamed up with Mercy Corps to fundraise and coordinate relief as well. Though none of these things can take the place of more comprehensive federal government action, they all reflect the efforts and sentiment of a nation that stands with its fellow citizens. I continue to encourage folks to do what they can to help, either with one of the above efforts or through other means.

And that’s what I have, in all its terrible and deeply strange glory. Daily news summaries like WTFJHT remain a very good idea for the foreseeable future. Here’s hoping that next week brings better tidings!

National News Roundup: Week 8 (March 12–18)

March 21, 2017 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

We were due for a good news week in the cycle, and this was a pretty good week — as long as Trump’s budget gets kicked to the curb and we don’t go to war with North Korea. So, you know, your mileage may vary.

Standard disclaimers still 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. I may touch on news I think folks should know that is outside my area as a legal generalist, but if we undertake any offroad adventures I’ll do my best to signal that for you upfront by giving that headline an asterisk. Disclaimers over, let’s look at the poisoned apple pie served up this past week.

The Weird

Standard Microwaves Cannot Be Used As Spy Cameras. This appears to be news to Kellyanne Conway, who asserted otherwise in an interview on Sunday (which she said to support Trump’s assertions that Obama monitored Trump Tower, because of course she did). She claimed afterward that her words were taken out of context (and, somewhat incredibly, that she’s “not in the job of having evidence,” though that’s another story), but looking at the context makes it clear that they weren’t.
Remember Trump’s Taxes? Apparently investigative reporter David Cay Johnston had a copy of Trump’s tax return from 2005, but in the 90 minutes before Rachel Maddow could present it on her show, the White House released the 2005 tax return. This has been generally treated as great ado about nothing, as Trump’s taxes for this year were squeaky clean, but it demonstrates just how easily Trump could release this information if he wanted to. Also, how salty various news outlets collectively can be about cable news. Oh, we all learned the phrase ‘over-the-transom,’ so that’s a fun silver lining.
The Call Came From Inside (Russia’s) House. The Justice Department has issued criminal cyber charges against two Russian intelligence agents relating to the heist of 500 million Yahoo user accounts in 2014. The indicted FSB officers — Dmitry Dukuchaev and Igor Sushchin — are part of the cyber investigative arm of the FSB, which is officially responsible for investigating computer intrusions in Russia.
No, Really, Our Muslim Ban Is Not Anti-Muslim! The Trump administration’s revised travel ban has been blocked on two fronts (more about this in The Good) and the Justice Department has filed an appeal in an effort to salvage the ban. Sadly, no one yelled “SEE YOU IN COURT!” on twitter this time.
Hey Angela, Check Your Microwave. Trump tried to involve German Chancellor Angela Merkel in conversation about his wiretapping accusations against the Obama administration, referring to reports that the NSA had tapped Merkel’s phone in 2010. Wisely, Merkel ignored him.
But He Tapped My Wires! Really, I think this New York Times article says it best: “No matter how many officials, even in [Trump’s] own party, dismiss his unsubstantiated claim that President Barack Obama secretly tapped his phones last year, the White House made clear on Thursday that it would stand by the assertion.” Good luck with that.

The Bad

Steve King (R-Iowa) Hates Diversity. Okay, admittedly, by this point that’s not really news. But he laid it out for us in a particularly indefensible quote on Monday — “You cannot rebuild your civilization with someone else’s babies.” Which he then proceeded to defend, at length, while lawmakers on both sides called it reprehensible. So, in case you were curious whether the general atmosphere was emboldening people in Congress: Yes, yes it is.
Consider Vacationing Without Your Phone. Okay, not really. But reports are trickling in that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents are searching the phones of US citizens. They’ve also been detaining citizens and demanding their passwords as a condition of release, and there has been at least one report of force used. Oh, and 23 of the 25 instances of this involved Muslim citizens. Which I’m sure is just a coincidence.
Trump’s Budget Is Here, And It’s Worse Than Expected. Trump’s proposed budget would build the wall and strengthen the military. It would also remove or cut funding to countless programs that prevent homelessness, investigate disasters, feed children, train teachers, fund scientific research, fund medical research, maintain national parks, provide legal services, help low-income families manage their energy bills, research climate control, maintain clean drinking water, and provide economic support to struggling communities in Appalachia. It proposes dramatic disruption to our national scientific and medical research systems, which has rattled a lot of people. And it would defund PBS, so apparently Trump is still sore about this episode of Sesame Street. The good news is that it’s also in the early stages, and Congress hates it — more about that below.
Tillerson and Trump vs. North Korea. Rex Tillerson has been an unusually quiet Secretary of State, but Tillerson announced Thursday that he will be visiting Asia “to exchange views on a new approach” to North Korea’s nuclear program, which signals the end to diplomatic talks about nuclear deescalation. The North Korean Embassy in Beijing responded by announcing that any escalation is the United States’ fault and that “the situation is already on the brink of nuclear war”.

The Good

Congressional Budget Office Condemns the Trump-Ryan Healthcare Plan. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Republican healthcare plan would add 24 million uninsured people by 2026. The White House maintains that the CBO’s assessment is wrong, but the unfavorable analysis has alarmed people and it barely squeaked through the Budget Committee (with three conservatives voting against it). So it continues to be an uphill road for everyone’s least favorite healthcare bill.
No Darkest Dutch Timeline. Unlike us, the Netherlands had the sense to avoid electing its dangerously fascist frontline candidates this past week, though some conservative candidates did win seats. So no darkest timeline over there, but maybe a vaguely dim one. Still, were I Dutch, I would consider it a win to avoid my own national Brexit or Trumpaganza.
Honolulu Judge Blocks Revised Travel Ban. The new Trump travel ban is just the old Trump travel ban with fancy shoes, so it presents more-or-less the same Constitutional violations. Hawaii sued accordingly, and a judge issued a restraining order to stay the travel ban nationwide. You can read the full ruling online, and particularly enjoy the part where the judge spanks this administration repeatedly with the Establishment Clause starting at page 30.
Republicans vs. Trump’s Budget. Nobody likes the discretionary spending budget the Trump administration drafted, and I pretty much mean nobody. In addition to uniform Democrat opposition, Congressional hawks want more spending at the Pentagon, while other conservatives hate the rural support programs getting cut. And nobody wants to pay for the freaking wall. Even Trump’s closest allies say this isn’t going to fly. Trump, meanwhile, called the budget “sensible and rational,” showing that he doesn’t know what either of those words mean and cannot work with his own party (but we knew that already). Obviously we need to keep tracking, but it’s ultimately appearing very unlikely that this will pass in its current form.
McDonald’s Hates Trump’s Tiny Hands. Well, probably it’s actually hackers who hate Trump’s tiny hands, given the aggressively neutral tweets usually put out by the account. But for twenty-five glorious minutes, this distinctly anti-Trump tweet was proudly pinned at the top of the McDonald’s twitter feed. Which probably annoyed the heck out of him, considering his long love affair with fast food.
About That Wiretapping… According to the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, there’s no evidence that the US government ever had Trump Tower under surveillance. (Comey also repeated this today in his hearing, so it will be interesting to see what the administration does with that.)
Maryland Judge Also Blocks Revised Travel Ban. Per a judge in Maryland, when you go on record as saying your travel ban is anti-Muslim, it’s very hard to sound believable when you say your travel ban isn’t anti-Muslim. (The judge in Hawai’i noted this also.) The ruling supports the Honolulu decision, ultimately making it harder to enforce the travel ban without a SCOTUS decision. That said, as noted above, the first decision is being appealed, so we’ll see what ultimately happens with this round of Trump vs the Judiciary.

And one last bit of news I saw fit to print: I’m going to be out of town next weekend at a memorial service, so I won’t have a standard news summary for you. But I will send you some key headlines, and then we can get back to normal (for some definition of normal!) the following week. Take care until then, and don’t burn down the Internet in my absence, please!