Tag: Immigration

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As is fitting for late October, we’re starting to see the specter of elections really shift the news, especially on Capitol Hill. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but at least for this week, it sure is insufferable. Here’s hoping things get a bit less dysfunctional in DC in coming weeks.

Standard standing reminders still 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 debt ceiling!–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!     

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Cleanup in Aisle 45:

We’re seeing an exponential increase of nonsense on the Election Rejection front, and it does feel like this will get worse before it gets better.  Here’s what happened this week:

• Election Rejection Eruption. January 6 news is exploding, particularly regarding the House panel subpoena fight.  The panel is moving to subpoena former Trump official Jeffrey Clark because they believe Clark has information about how Trump attempted to misuse the Justice department to claim election fraud.  Meanwhile, former Trump aide and overall garbage human Steve Bannon pissed off so many people with his flagrant refusal to testify last week that the panel is moving to hold him in criminal contempt.  Notably, President Biden has already given his blessing on that tactic, saying that his Justice Department should go after anyone who ignores the committee’s subpoena.  And Trump is suing the panel because they’ve subpoenaed his records, as well as apparently threatening to get voters to stay home if GOP candidates don’t adopt his election fraud narrative.

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We also saw some Biden Rebuilding news, particularly regarding immigration.  Here’s what I have for you:

• Immigration Updates. A thing I’ve noticed about this administration is that they tend to wait until they’ve done something very unpopular, immigration-wise, and then they pull a Trump-era policy reversal out of their pocket like Ron Swanson producing a permit. This week’s policy decision curtailing workplace ICE raids is no exception; it coincides with preparations to reinstate the Remain in Mexico asylum policy created under the Trump administration.  In the administration’s vague defense, the latter is by court order, and I could fill an entire roundup with what I think of that august opinion.  But since Mexico appears to have its own legal challenge going, we might not see the Remain in Mexico program reinstated by mid-November anyway.

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Your New Normal:

• Current Senate Dysfunction.  The House did vote to pass the temporary debt relief bill from last week, so that’s over with until December, although notably no Republicans voted to pass the damn thing.  But now we’re just back to Democrats fighting with Joe Manchin again, as he refuses to back key climate change and child care provisions of the Build Back Better legislation.  Though progressives are downplaying it, it’s looking very likely that the party will have to cave to Manchin’s singular demands, which is galling when those demands come from an obvious conflict of interest.

• Broken Supply Chain.*  Several outlets have run stories this week on our country’s ongoing supply chain issues, which are causing shortages in various places around the country and the world.  President Biden announced that he would dramatically expand work hours at the Port of Los Angeles to facilitate processing of goods; the Port of Long Beach’s hours were dramatically expanded a few weeks ago as well.  But the shipping crisis is only part of a much larger problem, because price jumps from shortages and rent increases are also fueling inflation issues.  It’s likely we can expect this to continue into 2022, because the pandemic created all kinds of issues that won’t resolve overnight.

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The Bad:

• State of the COVID-19. COVID news was pretty focused on boosters again this week, with the FDA recommending booster shots for some Moderna recipients who are over 65 and immunocompromised and for all adults who got the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.  There’s some question about how the J&J recommendation will be implemented, though, because experts don’t agree about whether the second shot should be a different vaccine or the same one.  And speaking of shots, the White House is also urging states to prepare for the release of pediatric vaccination, which might come as soon as next month.  With so much of the international population potentially vaccinated, the U.S. is also opening its borders to vaccinated international travelers.

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The Good:

• Can We Use Cannabis (DOJ Edition). There was scant good news this week, but we did get a small gem in the Senate: Senators Booker and Warren are requesting that the Department of Justice remove cannabis from the federal schedule of controlled substances. The senators are hoping that this move will encourage more states to legalize its use, but it seems like they’re hoping to pass federal legislation as well.

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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 how-to cat sushi video as well as a more consistently improved government.  I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved 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 things to put under the Good section!

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We have a number of unpleasant stories swirling around this week, and it feels like we’re somehow getting worse but staying stagnant at the same time. It’s a bit of a neat trick, and I would find it impressive, if I weren’t so busy being frustrated.

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 post office!–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!   

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Constitutional Crisis Corner:

On the Disregard of Governing Norms front, we have yet another week of Operation Terrible and overall administrative mishandling. Here are the things to know:

• Portland Pressure Persists. After an unnecessary amount of back-and-forth about it, Trump did withdraw federal troops from Portland towards the end of the past week. But after they left, news broke that DHS was compiling “intelligence reports” on journalists who reported on the conflict, and analyzed protester communications as well. The official in charge of that has since been reassigned–but, notably, not fired–and Trump was already threatening to send in the National Guard on the first day of the phase-out, so this may be a brief respite. Meanwhile, protests in Portland continue, but have refocused on local police activity.

• Barr Testimony. Attorney General William Barr testified before Congress on Tuesday, and it went about as well as you might expect. He defended administrative actions in Portland, calling the protests “an assault on government of the United States” and claiming Operation Legend had nothing to do with Portland but was rather just a completely normal mobilization of federal forces “to solve crimes and keep their communities safe.” He also covered the 2016 election, refusing to condemn solicitation of foreign assistance and calling the House investigation a “bogus ‘Russiagate’ scandal” that involved “grave abuses.” And finally, he covered the Stone case, claiming that his own prosecutors were “not [following] the rule of law” when recommending seven to nine years–which, I feel the need to note, was literally the federal sentencing guideline recommendation. I’m certainly not the biggest fan of federal sentencing guidelines, but Barr’s willingness to commit brazen perjury when literally discussing prosecution for perjury is pretty stunning. If nothing else, it definitely showcases an incredible disregard for governing norms.

• Trump’s Election Idea. There was a lot of election-related news this week, and much of it belongs in the “normal” weird below. But I would be remiss if I didn’t include a paragraph here about Trump’s incredible tweet on Tuesday, which appeared to sincerely float the idea of postponing the November election. Needless to say, he lacks legal authority to do this, as that date is set by Congress (a fact which Mike Pompeo appears confused about as well). Needless to say, nobody in Congress wanted to touch that suggestion, and ordinary citizens weren’t too happy either. After doubling down on the idea once, the administration did walk this one back. I’ve heard a lot of people speculate that the entire thing may have been intended to distract from economic news which broke the same day, but we should definitely keep an eye on this either way.

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Your “Normal” Weird:

• Election Oddities (Again).  In addition to the nonsense chronicled above, we had a lot of weird election news this week about mail-in voting–in fact, Trump’s arguments about election fraud caused by mail-in voting have Republicans worried about voter turnout.  People are also worried about the recent Postal Service changes, which I documented last week, causing backlogs for ballot delivery.  Meanwhile, Trump did plenty of other weird and obnoxious things this week, such as promising suburban voters on Twitter that they “will no longer be bothered by . . . low-income housing”, threatening to sue Nevada for sending everybody mail-in ballots, and pulling television ads from Michigan with three months left in his campaign.  (Before we get too excited about that last one, the New York Times points out that he has plenty of pathways to victory that don’t involve the state, and he’s also still doing door-to-door and digital advertising.)

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The Bad:

• State of the COVID-19.*   COVID news continues to spiral further and further down the toilet for another week.  Kodak–yes, the camera company–saw a jump in trade activity ahead of an announcement that they were receiving a giant government loan to make COVID treatments like hydroxychloroquine.  (For those of you playing the home game, yes, that’s the same drug Trump loves that is widely discredited as causing heart problems.)  NPR also reported irregularities in the contract awarded to track COVID data.  Meanwhile, the body of data itself shows a devastating second wave, with experts noting more dissemination than in March and April, seven-day averages staying high at about 65,000 new cases, and multiple runs of over 1,000 deaths per day.  Additionally, new research suggests that children can be carriers of COVID-19, and one of the first school districts to reopen had to quarantine someone within hours of opening.  

• Economic News.*  Adding to frustration, reopening the country too quickly didn’t even stabilize our economy, which was ostensibly the whole reason to risk it.  Unemployment is still rising, and it doesn’t help anything that Congress couldn’t reach a deal before supplemental COVID unemployment supports expired on Friday.  But the real story is that our economy had its worst second-quarter GDP ever, dropping 32.9% on an annualized basis.  It’s not clear what will happen in the third quarter, but this news is very bad–so bad, in fact, that some people theorized Trump tweeted about election postponement to distract from it.

• Immigration Updates.  We also had a weird, bad week on immigration news.  The White House announced they will not be accepting DACA applications, despite the recent SCOTUS decision finding the program wasn’t legally terminated, so we’re all sort of waiting to see what happens on that one.  Meanwhile ICE is complaining about their Netflix series, which launched today and accurately depicts, y’know, how bad they are. And rounding out the bad news, a new immigration application fee schedule goes into effect this week which dramatically increases the cost of many applications and imposes asylum fees for the first time ever.

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The Good:

• Recent Twitter Decency. After many years of frustratingly tepid response, Twitter continues to take off the kid gloves when it comes to irresponsible or hate-based communications. First they penalized Trump Jr for spreading COVID misinformation, creating twelve hours of “limited functionality.” Then they permanently banned white supremacist David Duke, which they honestly should have done eleven years ago, but it’s at least a step in the right direction to take away the KKK guy’s platform.

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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 talking seal breakthrough and an eventual better government.  I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully more tolerable) 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 favorite animal videos!

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It has been three weeks since the death knell of impeachment articles, and the news cycle is settling into new routines. Unfortunately, the routines kind of stink. But nevertheless we persist, yes?

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 acting Director of National Intelligence!–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!   

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Constitutional Crisis Corners:

We saw yet another active week for Attorney General Overreach, and Trump’s insinuation that he’s actually in charge of law enforcement was a whole new form of looking glass logic.  Here’s what I have for you this week:    

• No Holds Barred.   The week started off with more dog-and-pony show between 45 and Attorney General William Barr, with Barr claiming he was thinking of resigning and then walking it back.  Meanwhile, Trump claimed “total confidence” in him and continued to tweet about retaliatory firings.  Then he pardoned eleven people, which we’ll talk about more below, and declared himself “the chief law enforcement officer” of the entire country.  And then his buddy and election manager Roger Stone’s sentencing hearing happened, and he started yelling about that too.

• Roger Stone Spectacle. Roger Stone’s sentencing hearing went about as well as you might expect, given that all the trial prosecutors walked out instead of offering the sentence Trump wanted. Stone ended up with about forty months to serve and two years of probation for his repeated lying to Congress and witness tampering, and Judge Jackson is still considering a motion for a retrial. Stone also filed a motion demanding that Jackson recuse herself because she said the jurors had acted with integrity during the sentencing hearing, a move which has all the legal merit of a week-old tuna sandwich. Unsurprisingly, Jackson has already denied the request.

• Pardonpalooza. As mentioned above, Trump issued eleven grants of clemency this week, almost all of whom were convicted of white-collar and corruption-based crimes and many of whom are pretty famously terrible human beings. (One wonders why he bothered to pardon Crystal Munoz, the sole recipient with no connections and an actual meritorious clemency claim.) Then at the end of the week, Trump started insinuating that Stone would just get pardoned too if he wasn’t acquitted in a new trial–a move that is technically legal, but definitely very corrupt, and probably designed to inch us closer to accepting a self-pardon if necessary.

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We also saw some interrelated Disregard of Governing Norms, which will likely continue to ramp up in the coming weeks.  Here’s what has happened so far:

• Wikileaks Witness Lines. Wikileaks founder and real piece of work Julian Assange claimed this week that a Trump representative offered him a pardon back in 2017–all he had to do was say that Russia wasn’t involved in the hack job that leaked countless DNC emails. Naturally, 45’s spokeswoman denied this allegation and claimed that Trump hardly knows the person who allegedly made the offer, Representative Dana Rohrabacher. I’m gonna level with you, both Assange and Trump are sufficiently sketchy that it’s pretty hard to say who is more credible, but we may see more about this in the coming weeks.

• Administrative Ousters (Again).  We’re back on the firing staffers bandwagon in the White House this week, though it’s unclear if any of the firings are based on impeachment. Most noteworthy is Trump’s decision to replace his acting Director of National Intelligence, Joseph MacGuire, with current ambassador to Germany and complete intelligence novice Richard Grenell.  Several outlets say this came about because MacGuire briefed Congress on Putin’s apparent desire to see Trump reelected, but others are reporting it’s simply because of the time limit for acting officials.  Pentagon policy chief Jon Rood was forced out as well, for reasons that may or may not be impeachment-related.  Their replacements seem selected more for perceived loyalty than any credentials, which is definitely normal and a good way to run a complex government.

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Your “Normal” Weird:

• Feats of Loathing in Las Vegas.  On Wednesday, Nevada hosted the most recent 2020 Democratic Candidate debate, and it marked the first time that former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg participated in a debate.  Given all of the negative things about him in the news this week, it’s no surprise that the debate was also a giant Bloomberg dogpile, with several candidates taking well-crafted potshots.  Elizabeth Warren was particularly on fire, enjoying heavy coverage on a media platform that recently erased her and a massive uptick in campaign donations.  But Bernie Sanders had a good night too, especially because the Bloomberg boxing makes it easier for him to preserve his Nevada lead.  All told, it was an interesting lead-in to the caucus on Saturday, which Sanders did indeed carry by a wide margin (though Buttigieg and Biden both picked up delegates too).  The next primary will be in South Carolina on Saturday, and we have the next debate tomorrow.  

• Other Election Oddities.*  There has been plenty of other election noise this week, and a lot of it is pretty weird.  As mentioned above, the acting head of intelligence reported that Russia favors Trump in the 2020 election, which set 45 off something fierce if his resulting outburst is any indication.  Officials said Bernie Sanders is favored by Putin for the Dem nomination as well, though I’m not sure I believe that with Tulsi Gabbard still running around.  Meanwhile, Buttigieg clapped back when Limbaugh dissed his marriage, Bloomberg offered to release some women from their NDAs about him (but not all), and Chris Matthews came under fire because he compared Bernie Sanders, whose parents were Holocaust survivors, to Adolf Hitler.

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The Bad:

• Immigration Updates.  Another week, another set of bad immigration news.  The Public Charge rule went into effect across the country today, with the final injunction in Illinois removed by Supreme Court decision on Friday.  Ironically, Mick Mulvaney was also in the news for saying the U.S. needs more legal immigrants–you know, the very status this administration just made harder for most applicants to obtain because they created draconian public charge rules.  The New York Times also reported unsafe health conditions for asylees under the M.P.P. program, which forces applicants to wait in Mexico instead of accessing healthcare in America while their application is pending.  And ICE was in the news for using therapy notes to try to deport migrant children–a practice which is not new, but definitely deserves attention.

• Corona Virus Creep (continued).*  Corona virus continues to be in the news for another week.  We’re seeing a rapid uptick in cases again in South Korea, Iran, and Italy, and the stock market is plummeting accordingly.  Trump appears rattled as well, worried that a major outbreak might impact his 2020 campaign.  (Heaven forfend he actually care about the people getting sick and dying.)  Needless to say, this can have a lot of other political implications as well, and I will continue to track it.

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The Good:

• Greyhound Protection.  Greyhound announced this week that it will no longer allow immigration checks on its buses, after a leaked CBP memo confirmed that they had no legal obligation to do so without a warrant.  Needless to say, the ACLU is pretty happy about this development, and so am I–the new policy is in pretty much everyone’s interests except CBP’s.

• Re-enfranchisement and Felony Re-entry.  A panel of 11th Circuit judges upheld an injunction this week that prevents Florida from enforcing a new law that would make people to pay all legal fees before they are allowed to vote.  More specifically, they found that the contested law, which responded to a referendum from 2018 that re-enfranchised people upon reentry, was counter to the spirit of the referendum and violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution.  This is a pretty major victory, even though it’s not a decision on the merits, because it recognizes the role that economic class plays in enforcement of the rule.  I’m hoping we’re able to keep the injunction in place until the November election, but we’ll have to see what happens.

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So that’s what I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve bumblebees falling asleep face-first in flowers and an eventual better government.  I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments.  Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me a better Attorney General!

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This week, ho boy–we saw the end of impeachment, a mess in Iowa, and a whole bunch of other stressful, inconclusive stories. Somehow the week doesn’t feel as dire as some of the weeks immediately preceding it despite all of this, but that might just be the exhaustion talking.

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 primary!–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!  

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Constitutional Crisis Corners:

As the paragraph above suggests, it’s only a few days after the impeachment vote and we’re already seeing a smorgasbord of Disregard of Governing Norms.  Here’s what has been happening:  

• Frustrating Finale. In the few days leading up to the final vote, Trump’s State of the Union address made it clear that he knew he’d already won; he awarded bigoted blowhard Rush Limbaugh the Medal of Freedom and started calling sitting Congresspeople ‘socialists’ halfway through his speech.  He wasn’t wrong, sadly; the first article of impeachment, abuse of power, failed by 48-52 vote. (That said, that exact number was apparently a surprise, as the team didn’t expect Republican senator and improbable support guy Mitt Romney to vote to convict.)  The second article of impeachment, obstruction of justice, failed entirely along party lines by 47-53 vote.  This sets a very concerning precedent about checks and balances, and barely a day passed before Trump celebrated with an hour-long speech full of bananas rhetoric and personalized attacks.  He also immediately started abusing more powers, which are outlined below, despite the fact that the Supreme Court has another case about his abuse of power on the docket this season.  Oh, and by the way, Ukraine still doesn’t have its full aid as I type this. 

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As the paragraph above suggests, it’s only a few days after the impeachment vote and we’re already seeing a smorgasbord of Disregard of Governing Norms.  Here’s what has been happening:  

• Friday Night Massacre.  The single biggest (and most obvious) abuse of power since impeachment ended has been Trump’s version of the Saturday Night Massacre, which happened this Friday.  In one day, he removed both Lt Col Alexander and Lt Col Yevgeny Vindman from the National Security Council and recalled Gordon Sondland from his role as EU Ambassador.  Then he immediately tweeted about Vindman’s testimony, in case we were all confused about why the man was fired–though to be fair, the other Lt Col Vindman hadn’t testified at all, so some confusion would be understandable.  Needless to say, this type of retaliation is super illegal, and Chuck Schumer is already trying to get inspectors general involved.  But Kellyanne Conway has signaled nonetheless signaled that there may be more retaliatory firings to come.

• Super Legit Biden Hunter.* On the tails of the retaliation mess above, the Justice Department also announced that they’ll go ahead and review sketchy malpractice man Rudy Giuliani’s intel on the Bidens. For bonus authoritarianism, Attorney General Barr also announced this week that nobody in the FBI is allowed to conduct investigations on 2020 Presidential election candidates now unless they get his permission, even though he’s literally conducting a backdoor investigation on a Presidential candidate while he announces that. This also happened in the same week that Rand Paul read a whistleblower’s name on the Senate floor with GOP support, which tells you how much integrity we can expect here all around.

• Emoluments Nightmare State.We saw some emoluments news this week too, and none of it was good. The Washington Post ran a story about the exorbitant rates the secret service is charged every time he travels to Mar-A-Lago and other Trump properties, which is pretty much literally just pouring taxpayer money into the Trump empire. They likely ran this story in response to an appeals court decision this week to reject the emoluments case brought by Congressional Democrats on the theory that they lack standing. This decision, and I cannot stress this enough, does not touch the merits of the case; it was made on a procedural technicality and is not a comment on whether Trump is violating the Emoluments clause of the Constitution (which, in my opinion, he super is).

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Your “Normal” Weird:

• Iowant My Money Back.*  All eyes were on the Iowa caucus on Monday–which has an imperfect record, but nonetheless usually represents the first real primary results we see in election season.  But apparently not this year!  The process is always a bit complicated, but it was confounded by an issue with a new app used to tally votes which caused voter inconsistencies.  Of course, this didn’t stop Pete Buttigieg from declaring himself the winner even before we had official results–and now that 100% of precincts have reported in and the final results backing him up, several officials and news outlets are refusing to call it.  So it’s not clear what we’ll do from here or what even happened (other than Biden’s underperformance).  And now everybody’s kind of a hot mess as we move into New Hampshire’s primary tomorrow. 

• New Hampshire Watch.  After a relatively uneventful but nicely parodied Democratic primary debate on Friday night, everybody’s kind of a hot mess as we move into New Hampshire’s primary tomorrow.  So far the lead-up appears to be mostly white guys taking swipes at each other and local polled voters saying they’d take a meteor crash over four more years of Trump, but at least New Hampshire is supposed to be an ordinary primary lacking the vulunerabilities unique to the caucus format, so we have that going for us.  (And on the caucus front, Nevada has said it won’t use the infamous app in its own primary.)  

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The Bad:

• Coronavirus Creep.*   The coronavirus situation is still worsening, with the death toll now over a thousand people, surpassing the SARS mortality rate in the early 2000s.  We’ve also seen the first death of a U.S. citizen (though that person died in Wuhan), and the whistleblowing doctor who first tried to report the new coronavirus passed away this week as well.  This epidemic remains primarily centered in China, and it’s still true that the flu is a much more serious virus in the U.S. at this time–and we should be thinking carefully about whether our responses are borne of racism rather than true public health concern.  But we still might see transmission in the U.S. increase, and I will continue to track this epidemic.  

• Immigration Updates.  Unsurprisingly, we saw bad immigration news start to ramp up again as soon as the impeachment inquiry was over.  CBP was in the news, first because a new policy will shield them from FOIA requests moving forward.  Then they were in the news again because a 32-year-old who was a U.S. citizen has died in their custody this week, and there are so many different things wrong with that sentence that I don’t even know where to start.  Similarly, ICE was in the news for shooting a man in the face as he tried to intervene in an arrest.  And the Trump administration announced they are blocking New York residents from the Global Entry airport program because they are mad about a new policy called the Green Light Law which precludes sharing license databases with ICE.  Unsurprisingly, New York is already suing over the policy.

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The Good:

• Recent Court Resilience. A federal judge found this week that the criminal conviction of four humanitarian workers in Arizona with the humanitarian group No More Deaths should be overturned. The decision was made pursuant to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, with the court finding that it was an expression of their sincerely-held religious beliefs to help prevent deaths in the desert despite the administration’s “deterrence by death” policy. The decision cites the Hobby Lobby case of 2017 while articulating its reasoning, which is legally noteworthy but also just extremely edifying.  

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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 Beluga whale returning a lady’s iPhone 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 impeachment articles!

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Another week, another set of messed-up impeachment proceedings. On the plus side, the rest of this week’s news looks a bit less dire, so that’s something–but I recommend comfort food nonetheless.

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 caucus!–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!   

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Constitutional Crisis Corner:

At the time that I type this, Whistleblowing Ukraine Biden Bingo is winding down in the Senate, which is not to anybody’s benefit except maybe Trump’s.  Here’s what has happened since last week:

• Q&A Quagmire.   After two short days of opening statements from the President’s team, we moved into a question-and-answer phase on Wednesday–and it was, to use a technical term, a hot mess.  Alan Dershowitz created new nightmare fuel by claiming that if Trump “does something he believes will get him elected in the public’s interest,” then “that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.”  His colleague whom he cited, unsurprisingly, did not agree with his analysis.   But many GOP Senators found it exactly the kind of cover they needed; by the end of the week they were arguing that Trump’s actions were bad but not impeachable. This in turn prompted the New York Times to run a thinkpiece entitled “L’Etat, C’est Trump,” and also prompted Democratic senator Joe Manchin to begin calling for a censure, since the GOP did concede the overall not-awesomeness of Trump’s actions.

• Witnesses Fall Through.  By far, the most disappointing point of this past week’s proceedings was the witness vote on Friday.  The week started out with Mitch McConnell indicating that he didn’t have the votes to block Bolton’s testimony, and at least one Republican senator also asked for the manuscript of John Bolton’s book.  But then more moderate GOP Senator Lamar Alexander indicated that he would not vote for witnesses, possibly in response to public pressure from Trump, and Lisa Murkowski followed suit.  And that was all she wrote–we needed four Republicans, and we only got two.  The final vote was 49-51, which means no witnesses will be called in this trial despite the high likely value of John Bolton’s testimony–in fact, all four of the Democrat’s amendments failed along party lines.  This, in turn, makes acquittal likely when the Senate votes on Wednesday, which is extra disturbing given the information outlined below.

• Bonkers Impeachment Updates.* A lot of completely bananas impeachment stuff happened this past week, and I would be remiss if I didn’t list it here: 1) More Lev Parnas evidence turned up as he sent McConnell an entire laundry list for testimony consideration; 2) The Administration admitted that it’s blocking release of twenty-four different emails that document Trump’s role in withholding aid to Ukraine; 3)McConnell openly coordinated the date of the final vote with Trump; and 4) Rand Paul outed an alleged whistleblower in a press conference because John Roberts wouldn’t let him do it in open impeachment proceedings.

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Your “Normal” Weird:

• 2020 Election Weirdness.* Since it’s Monday, all eyes are on the Iowa caucus as I write this–which has an imperfect record, but nonetheless represents the first real primary results we’ll see this season.  Since the process is a bit complicated, and I am by no means an expert on Iowan process,  I decided to wait for final results to dive into how it went down–but rest assured, I will give a full summary next week!

• Confounding Policy Updates.We saw a number of odd policy changes this week, some of which are standard issue Trumpian poor policy and one of which is odd simply because I’m suspicious of how non-terrible it appears. First up, Trump undid Obama’s restrictions on land mine use, presumably because he believes killing civilians is a selling point. And in enraging policy news, we have the Medicaid funding overhaul proposed this week, which takes a major step towards a block grant structure for the entitlement program. It’s a move that experts and even Congress pretty uniformly regard to be demonstrably bad policy–the weird thing here is that we’re still stuck in this Groundhog Day ACA repeal hell after literally years of failed attempts.  Finally, there’s a new process for public loan forgiveness that is designed to make it simpler to apply–and on its face, appears to actually do the thing it sets out to do!  Nobody check whether Betsy DeVos is now a pod person, please, because we could all use a break this week.

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The Bad:

• Coronavirus Creep.*  The coronavirus situation continues to get worse, with the death toll in China now up to 425 and approximately 20,000 people diagnosed globally.  We’ve also seen the first death outside of China and the first person-to-person transmission in the U.S.  The World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency, and airlines all around the country are suspending flights to China.  Experts note that the flu is a much more serious virus in the U.S. at this time, and that’s definitely true–and we should be thinking carefully about whether our responses are borne of racism rather than true public health concern.  That said, we are underprepared for any pandemic in this country, and this is worth tracking.

• Immigration Update.  In addition to the public charge changes outlined last week–which we now know go into effect on February 24, by the way–the administration added six new countries to their travel ban list this week.  Folks from Nigeria, Eritrea, Sudan, Tanzania, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar now have restricted travel as well, particularly when it comes to getting visas issued for temporary travel.  Though I’ve seen at least one think piece calling this change a win for China, we’re also now restricting banning the return of foreign nationals who have set foot in China in the past fortnight due to the coronavirus’s origins in Wuhan.  When this is added to the proposed visa restrictions based on health insurance and the proposed visa restrictions based on pregnancy, a picture emerges of pretty restricted temporary travel. 

• Prison Condition Fatalities.  Mississippi made the news this week due to its high number of inmate deaths since 2020 began, with thirteen total people passing away in a five-week period.  The Southern Poverty Law Center has requested a federal investigation, and several rappers are suing.  In separate but related news, a video taken in an Oklahoma jail showing an inmate begging for medical care while the staff mocked him made an appearance in the federal lawsuit over that inmate’s death.  This is a major systemic issue in our penal system that definitely deserves our attention.

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The Good:

• Recent State Resilience.We have an odd array of good news on the state level this week, but I’m certainly not complaining! Virginia has repealed a law requiring mandatory ultrasounds for abortions which has been on the books for several years, and along with two other states also brought a lawsuit demanding the Equal Rights Act be added to the constitution. (It’s a good week to be Virginian, apparently!) And in New York, a state park in Brooklyn is being named after famous trans activist Marsha Johnson, which is an exciting milestone for LGBTQ representation in New York and elsewhere.

• Border Wall Bluster. In schadenfreude news, parts of the border wall keep getting blown over by wind, requiring large storm gates to be kept open indefinitely.  Needless to say, this somewhat limits the effectiveness of said barrier, since it will have giant gaping holes in it for the foreseeable future.  Gosh, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer wall.

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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 day in the life of a baby bat 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!

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This week was mostly taken up by Senate trial proceedings, but there was some other pretty painful news as well. At this point, honestly, I’m starting to think we’d be better off being governed by the group of monkeys that accidentally wrote Hamlet. At least there would be less feces thrown everywhere.

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 book promotion!–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!  

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Constitutional Crisis Corners:

At the time that I type this, Whistleblowing Ukraine Biden Bingo has had a whole bombastic week of proceedings, and we’re nowhere near finished.  It’s going to be a long summary this week, because it’s hard to boil down this many hours, but here’s my best stab at it:

• The Process for Process.  Since Senate Democrats were justifiably unimpressed with Senate Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed kangaroo court rules, the week started with intense fighting about trial process.  In the end, Dems gained some significant concessions: Opening arguments would be more spread out, and the full record from the House would be admitted.  But on the most important topics, the GOP held firm: They refused to subpoena the White House for documents, and the entire question of witnesses got punted to sometime much later in the proceedings.  So basically, the final ground rules will likely result in a weeks-long process that leaves nobody happy–but on the plus side, that includes Mitch McConnell.

• The House’s Opening Arguments.  Adam Schiff’s opening arguments on behalf of the House started out along tried-and-true lines, pointing to highlights in the existing body of evidence to argue that Trump was trying to cheat in the 2020 election.  But as the House’s three days of opening argument progressed, they got increasingly colorful and creative, folding in video clips to bring in ‘testimony’ and eventually referencing apparent threats to GOP Senators who strayed from the party line.  Unsurprisingly, Republicans grew increasingly contemptuous–with more than a third leaving the room at some points, and fidget spinners apparently distributed for use during the remarks.  (The closest thing the Senate has to moderate Republicans, incidentally, criticized Schiff for referencing apparent threat to them, but it remains to be seen whether their votes will reflect their displeasure.)

• The President’s Opening Arguments.  The President’s opening statements began in earnest today after a brief preview on Saturday, and they’re as full of credibility and integrity as you might expect.  Among the highlights:  1)Kennith Starr, who was instrumental in advancing the Clinton impeachment, complaining that ‘we live in the age of impeachment’ without a trace of apparent irony; 2)Lengthy diversions into the Bidens and Burisma to distract from the actual trial; 3) Calling Giuliani a ‘colorful distraction’; and 4) Scrambling to handle the Bolton bombshell that we’ll talk more about below.

• Bonkers Parnas Evidence (Again).* While all of the above was going on, even more damning news about the Ukraine affair managed to come out through unrelated means, which is kind of a neat trick by this point. More specifically, video surfaced of Donald Trump at a state dinner with Lev Parnas–you know, the Lev Parnas he doesn’t know, that Lev Parnas?–telling staff to ‘get rid’ of then-ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. Outlets are assuming he was ordering underlings to fire her, which would be bad enough, but, uh… he concludes by saying “Take her out. Okay? Do it.” Having seen the text messages from last week, which more-or-less document stalking her, I’m… not convinced they stuck to the firing part.

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The lines are pretty blurry between Ukraine and Disregard of Governing Norms this week, because so many stories are both.  That said, these are the stories that I thought really highlighted our step back from recognizing norms on the Ukraine front:

• Mike Pompeo Erupts.* After NPR interviewer Mary Louise Kelly aired an interview with Mike Pompeo that asked him about Ukraine, she disclosed that he launched into a profanity-laced tirade immediately after taping, at one point demanding that she point to Ukraine on a map. Secretary Pompeo responded by calling Kelly ‘unhinged,’ and Trump asked why NPR exists–which in our current atmosphere, can definitely be read as a threat, even before the administration started predictably limiting NPR journalists’ access to State Department affairs. The entire thing prompted NPR CEO John Lansing to come onto All Things Considered to defend Kelly, noting on-record: “We will not be intimidated.”

• John Bolton’s Book Promo Testimony.* As John Bolton began his promotional tour of his new book, “The Room Where It Happened,” a leaked manuscript revealed that it undercuts a major pillar of Trump’s impeachment defense strategy, because the book claims that Trump told Bolton personally not to release funds to Ukraine until the Bidens were investigated. Incredibly, the White House was sent a copy of the book for review in December, which means that the team had notice that Bolton was about to say this publicly when they crafted the defense. For those of y’all playing the home game, intentionally lying to a tribunal is a huge no-no for attorneys, and Trump’s attorneys basically say the opposite in their arguments, which means Dershowitz and others could face some pretty serious censure if they know Bolton to be telling the truth. Naturally, Democrats are clamoring for his testimony again upon learning this, and since we haven’t settled the question of witnesses yet they might still get their wish. And all of this has been placed in the ‘Disregard of Government Norms’ bucket rather than the ‘Ukraine Biden Bingo’ one because nobody got any version of this information from Bolton until he published it in a book, and that’s so broken that I’m still not over it by the end of this paragraph.

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Your “Normal” Weird:

• 2020 Election Weirdness. This was another weird week on the election circuit.  Hillary Clinton made news for ripping into Bernie Sanders, reaffirming her earlier assessment that “nobody likes” him and noting that he “seems to be very much supporting” the toxicity of his followers. (Thanks, Hillary, now there will be no living with Bernie Bros on the Internet).  That said, she did follow up to say that she’d still support him if he becomes the nominee.  In more actual news, the Iowa caucuses are almost upon us, which is probably why the New York Times issued an endorsement this week. That said, that doesn’t explain why they endorsed both Klobuchar and Warren–but it’s a pretty good metaphor for 2020, so I’ll give them that.  

• Star Trek Space Force. This administration news isn’t so dire, but it’s plenty weird, so I figured we might as well touch on it: 45 tweeted a reveal of the proposed logo for his new Space Force this week via Twitter, and it looks suspiciously like that of Starfleet Command from Star Trek. George Takei had a lot to say about it, and certainly has more grounds to complain than I do, so I urge folks to just read his op-ed for more info on the irony here.

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The Bad:

• Immigration Update.  We all got an unpleasant jolt today when the Supreme Court suddenly released an opinion on public charge in the middle of impeachment proceedings.  The decision lifts an injunction put in place by district courts, reaffirmed only a few weeks ago by the Second Circuit, and allows the administration to go forward with a plan to dramatically reshape how they grant permission to immigrate. I’m seeing a lot of outlets call this a ‘wealth test,’ and I cannot overstate how accurate that is; though on its face, the policy is supposed to be about public benefits, it’s really just a back-door way to implement ‘merit-based immigration’ that looks at applicants’ age, wealth, and able-bodiedness (among other things).  It also disproportionately punishes applicants of color, and leaves applicants afraid to access things they need to be healthy such as nutritional supports and health insurance.  As if to punctuate the point, the decision was issued on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, highlighting that most survivors would be systemically blocked from entry under enforcement of this policy.

• Forcible Birth Insult to Injury.  Though the big immigration news is public charge, Trump sure did a lot of gross things involving women and pregnancy this week, and one of them was a new ban on visas for pregnant women if they are suspected of ‘birth tourism.’  Notably, the administration published this as a final rule with no comment period, which is counter to required process–presumably because they wanted to release it while Trump addressed the Pro Life March in a grotesque mockery of actual piety.  And to add to the publicity, he also threatened to withhold funds from California at the same time because they have laws requiring insurance coverage for abortions.  All told, the whole stunt is so malignantly asinine that my brain tried to escape out my ears as I wrote this paragraph.

• Coronavirus Creep.*  Many people, including myself, are watching the advance of a new coronavirus that is spreading from China to other locations. A coronovirus is broad classification and this one isn’t on the far-serious end of the spectrum; it’s generally nonfatal to healthy adults and there are only five documented cases in the U.S..  That said, the virus has claimed over a hundred lives worldwide due to particular risk to children, elderly, and those with weakened immune systems, and any epidemic under this administration would be an nightmare and a half.  Since we’re already seeing a frightening lack of medical care for folks held in detention, I worry about vulnerable populations and am keeping an eye on this.

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The Good:

• Recent Court Resilience. This one is only borderline good, but it’s what I’ve got, so let’s roll with it: The Supreme Court declined to fast-track a challenge to the Affordable Care Act this week, meaning that the challenge will remain in place throughout the upcoming year until a decision is reached next term. This, of course, means that the question will still be unresolved during the 2020 election, but it also means the ACA won’t get immediately gutted by a Supreme Court that’s frankly not making awesome decisions of late, so I’ll take it.

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So that’s what I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve these two golden retrievers’ veggie test trials 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!

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!   

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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.

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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.  

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!