Tag: Politics

National News Roundup: Year 2, Week 8 (March 10–17)

Kara HurvitzLeave a comment


This week’s theme is “What Is Even Happening at the White House Anymore,” which looks like the What Even Matters Anymore Game except it’s several orders of magnitude more confusing. I’ll try to break it down for y’all as best I can, but it’s a trip through the tea leaves for yours truly too. We’ll muddle through together! (Like what I did there?)

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 trade surplus! — 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 White House played a lot of shell games with the Russia Investigation this week, using it to obfuscate an impressive week of Casual Disregard of Legal Process. We’re going to start with what was hidden under the cups, because there was a lot happening on this front. I’ll do my best to boil it down, but bear with me folks, because a lot of this stuff is straight from Russia with love.

So now that you know what’s under the cups, let’s talk a bit about the Russia Investigation this week, which was being largely used as lovely decoration but still does merit its own summary:

Your “Normal” Weird:

The Bad:

  • Are You Tired of Gun News Yet (Because I Sure Am). There was yet another accidental teacher-created shooting this week, this time in California, and unfortunately with one student sustaining minor injuries as a result. Meanwhile, students all around the nation walked out of school for seventeen minutes this past Tuesday in a nationally-organized walk out to protest gun violence in schools. Lest people think this was simply about cutting class, hundreds of students here in Boston braved a Nor’Easter when they didn’t even have school to participate, and students in Arkansas accepted corporeal punishment for the protest when told to choose between the option and simple suspension. (I wanna be cool like Generation Z when I grow up, because these kids are not messing around.) Meanwhile, a Parkland father urged students to ‘Walk Up Not Out,’ which the Internet wasted no time chronicling as both a bad plan and an inappropriate response to nonviolent protest. I’m choosing to view it as a grief-induced attempt to exert control over an uncaring universe, although I don’t know what the rest of the right wing’s excuse is.
  • Tragedies in Texas and Florida.* This week saw significant social tragedies in both Florida and Texas, with no obvious solutions for either. In Florida, a pedestrian bridge collapsed at a state university with no obvious known cause, killing at least six people (with numbers expected to rise as they search the remaining rubble). And in Austin, Texas, a serial bomber has killed multiple people in four different explosions, three of which appeared to target Hispanic and black residents specifically. (The fourth bomb used a tripwire, suggesting that the bomber no longer had specific targets in mind, which might explain why the victims of the fourth bombing happened to be white.) As I write this, police don’t appear to have any leads on who is causing these explosions, although they appear confident that the bomber is expanding both the radius of affected area in the city and the sophistication of explosion methods.
  • Immigration Updates. Trump visited a border wall prototype in California this week, where he wasted no opportunity to criticize the California government and its governor Jerry Brown personally on immigration policies. (If I were Jerry Brown, I would take Trump saying I “do a terrible job” as a sign I’m doing something right, but that’s just me.) You can see photos of each uninspiring prototype — some of which really do have see-through panels for when cartels “throw large stacks of drugs” over the top, because apparently ignorance is catching — but honestly, it’s a bunch of walls. None of them are likely to be funded, and none of them would be visually worth writing home about even if they were.

The Good:

And that’s what I have for you; I think we can all agree that it’s more than enough! Hopefully next week will be fewer than ten gallons in a two-gallon roundup. But either way, presumably you and I will be horrified together — and that’s the Magic of MAGA America.


National News Roundup: Year 2, Week 7 (March 4–10)

Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

FOTO:FORTEPAN / Saly Noémi, via Wikimedia Commons

It’s getting harder and harder to even tell what’s weird anymore, y’all, because it’s all becoming a blur of inane and terrible oddity. One reader recently suggested I just create a Cartesian Plane of Weird and Bad, and chart out a little graph every week. Frankly, I’m starting to consider it.

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 golf course! — 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:

Mueller appears to be gaining the upper hand again in the Russia Investigation, though it’s perhaps a bit early to tell. Here’s the quick summary:

Meanwhile, as Mueller charges further ahead in his investigation, the Trump administration is mired in several Conflict of Interest and Emolument Clause scandals at once. Here’s what’s going on:

Your “Normal” Weird:

The Bad:

The Good:

And that’s all the news that’s fit to print, and frankly several pieces that aren’t. I’m still holding out hope that next week will be a better news week, because you never know, water might not be wet next week. But either way, I’ll be here, letting you know what’s up.


National News Roundup: Year 2, Week 6 (February 25-March 3)

Kara HurvitzLeave a comment


Y’all, I gotta be straight with you; this is one of the worst weeks we’ve ever had. This is a good moment to remind yourself of your self-care routines and spend some quality time in your desk fort. Or come hang in mine! It has cookies.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m only summarizing the news within my area of expertise. This week’s news contains some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise — I’m a lawyer, not an office chair! — 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:

Hey, remember when Captain America: Winter Soldier came out and a bunch of people hidden in the U.S. Government on the screen were yelling “If you cut off one head, two more will take its place,” because they served a shadowy Russian cabal instead of American interests? And then at the end it was over and we all got to go home happy because it was a freaking movie? I miss those days, because this week was full of Russian recapitation after recent strides in the Russia Investigation, and I tried going home but it didn’t make the news stop happening. Here’s the quick summary:

Against this backdrop, it’s particularly harrowing that Trump has shown so much Casual Disregard of Legal Process this week, on everything from guns to advisers to the Presidential election process itself. It’s frankly pretty disturbing, but I’ll do my best to walk you through with minimal carnage:

  • Due Process First, Thanks. Trump stunned his Republican allies mid-meeting on Wednesday when he suddenly loved gun restrictions and noted, “I like taking the guns early. Take the guns first, go through due process second.” You might feel a temptation to do a little happy dance about hearing him say this, or perhaps just give in the urge to yell about the stink it would cause if Obama had said it, but this isn’t cause for celebration. First of all, Trump walked back the statement a day later after meeting with the NRA, illustrating the by-now-established phenomenon of He Just Agrees with the Last Thing Somebody Said, so it’s not like it stuck anyway. But that’s also not a phrase we should ever be excited about hearing, regardless of opinions on responsible gun laws, because he is literally talking about taking due process away. That’s a founding principle of our democracy on everything from criminal procedure to civil forfeiture to law creation to… well, basically everything, and it’s not a good thing to cede to Coolranch Mussolini even if his opinion on the first thing he’d take away kind of makes sense.
  • Please God Don’t Give That A Shot. When expressing praise for Chinese premier Xi Jinping’s attempt to abolish ruling term limits at Mar-A-Lago this week, Trump was quoted as saying, “Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot someday.” There’s a whole lot I could say about the chilling implications of him using the word ‘we’ at a resort he uses to charge people for access to him, but let’s put that aside for a moment because there’s an even more pressing elephant in this room: Terms limits are an essential element of healthy democracy. Saying something like that, even as a joke (and I don’t personally believe it was a joke, but more on that below) is deeply disturbing because the punchline of the humor is that we shouldn’t want to be a democracy, which is an idea Trump espouses over and over. He’s basically a dude who applied for a job, got mad when he was hired, and now complains about how his company should be in a totally different business literally every day.
  • Chaos Demoning For Fun and Profit. Another comment that Trump made at a press dinner this week was that he “likes chaos,” which he then evidenced by attacking his own staff repeatedly. And while the Gridiron dinner is known for roasting, the comments reflect sentiments he expresses privately (and, in Sessions’s case, publicly!) in full seriousness. Trump’s apparently distrust and dislike of his own staff (and, in Kushner’s case, his own family) are strange, but they reflect a larger, stranger picture of profound corruption and dysfunction marked by disregard for rules on everything from security clearance to foreign diplomacy to emoluments. It’s no surprise that Right Turn columnist Jennifer Rubin calls the current White House “not so much as an administration as a weird fusion of the court of Louis XIV and the Mafia” and Chief of Staff John Kelly joked this week that he has his current job because “God punished me.” The current Chief of White House staff is saying his job is a divine punishment. That’s… not normal, y’all. Though on the plus side, at least we know the current chief of staff probably likes Presidential term limits.

Your “Normal” Weird:

  • Abandon All Hope Hicks, Ye Who Enter Here. Given the abusive dysfunction I described above, perhaps it’s no surprise that Hope Hicks is leaving the White House ‘family.’ But perhaps more importantly, she testified for nine hours the day before she announced her resignation, and admitted that she tells “white lies” for the administration somewhere in the process. So this could easily be the first step to a nice relaxing trip somewhere without extradition, for all we know.
  • The Kushner Chronicles.* In a surprising development, Jared Kushner’s security clearance was indeed yanked this week, though that might have been in part because of breaking news that several countries were likely manipulating him through his business interests while he served as a foreign diplomat. As a few outlets have noted, the lack of clearance might have literally no meaning anyway because Trump doesn’t listen to pesky things like who has clearance when he shares information. But the word on Pennsylvania Avenue is that Trump is turning on Kushner, so maybe he is bound for New York after all.
  • Ben Carson’s Big Budget Adventures. Honestly any other week, this would probably be in the ‘bad’ column, but as you’ll see below it’s all relative. In case you were wondering what Ben Carson has been up to while his department changes absolutely nothing about its policies, here’s a quick summary: He apparently requested budget money for redecorating his own office. Then when a government official reminded him that the budgetary cap for that was $5,000, he complained that that amount “won’t even buy a decent chair.” Then he demoted the worker who refused his illegal request. Then he dropped $31,000 — literally double the annual income of many of program recipients — on office furniture. And when news broke about all of this earlier this week, he tried to cancel the order and complained that running HUD was harder than brain surgery. (Uh, I don’t think following budgets is exactly brain surgery, dude. Maybe you’d be more comfortable in the elevator.)

The Bad:

The Good:

  • Net Neutrality Bills. After a successful Day of Action organized by Battle for the Net this week, there are now bills attempting to undo the repeal by Congressional review before both the Senate and the House. Senator Markey’s bill has 50 supporters (all 49 Democrats plus Susan Collins), which is still short one vote of the numbers needed to pass; the House bill has 150 Democrats in support but needs 218 votes to pass. We should definitely be calling our reps on this!
  • West Virginia Teachers’ Strike. A state-wide teachers’ strike has been going on in West Virginia for an incredible eight days straight, sparked by the West Virginia Senate’s refusal to raise wages to comply with the agreement created by teachers, the governor, and the House. (Note, by the way, that WV teachers’ salaries are among the lowest in the country.) The strike is incredibly brave, because this is a very tough time for unions and West Virginia doesn’t recognize a legal right to strike. Even more incredibly, many teachers are making sure their students still receive hot meals while they are on strike, since reliance on the free lunch program is very high in the state. Public sentiment seems to be with the teachers locally, particularly given how important education is for revitalizing communities.
  • Pharma Bro’s Pharma Forfeitures. In vaguely amusing schadenfreude news, a federal judge has decided what the asset forfeiture will be in Martin Shkrelli’s criminal case, since he no longer has any actual money, and the whole thing is just as incredible as you’re imagining. The list includes — and I quote — “Shkreli’s $5 million E-Trade account, stake in the pharmaceutical company Vyera Pharmaceuticals (formerly Turing Pharmaceuticals), the Wu-Tang Clan album Shkreli purchased in 2015, a Lil Wayne album, an enigma machine, and a Picasso painting.” The dude is his own episode of Leverage.

And that’s what I have for you today! Hopefully no desk fort needed, but no shame if you need to take a minute. Here’s hoping next week is less terrible.

National News Roundup: Year 2, Week 5 (February 18–24)

Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Ernest Blaikley, via Wikimedia Commons

Folks, you seriously don’t even wanna know how many articles I have combed through on the topic of Parkland and/or gun control this week. I’m afraid most of it is a flaming trash heap — I particularly loathe the part where we apparently dox and threaten teen shooting survivors now — but I’ll try to give you the ten cent tour anyway. Bear with me and bare your teeth, because we have a long road ahead of us.

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 Simpsons writer! — 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:

So much positive change happened on the Russia Investigation in one week that I’m tempted to wonder whether Trump’s gun control antics are an attempt to distract us — although Occam’s razor suggests that he just really is that terrible. At any rate, here are the Russia-hued highlights:

  • The Nunes Memo: Somehow Still Topical. The House Democrats released a version of their counter to the Nunes memo this week, after substantial redaction at Trump’s direction. The report, at minimum, confirms that the Steele dossier wasn’t the basis for the Russia investigation; it does not, however, clear up the arguments over McCabe statements very much. All told, it’s minor support for the idea that Nunes is an jackass with a selective memory, but we basically knew that already.
  • Skadden Lawyer Pleads Guilty. On Tuesday, Mueller finalized a guilty plea and cooperation from Alex van der Zwaan, an attorney who spoke regularly with Manafort and Gates in fall 2016. Though this is far from the most interesting or important thing to happen in the past week, it probably did serve as a stepping stone to some of the later activity in the week, particularly when the Gates plea did not finalize as early as expected.
  • The Increasingly Elaborate Manafort-Gates Saga. The real meat and potatoes of this week’s Russia Investigation news is all of the news on Robert Manafort and Rick Gates, two sketchy dudes who worked on and headed the Trump campaign (respectively). Despite expectations, Gates had not yet plead guilty by the beginning of the week (though, as I noted above, van der Zwaan did). But then Mueller released new, additional indictments for both Gates and Manafort mid-week, significantly broadening the risk of exposure if they don’t cooperate. Having read the indictments, I can personally confirm the new indictments are wild, y’all — it’s a zany tour of how many different ways two people can commit tax and bank fraud to the tune of millions upon millions of dollars. The indictments also have a surprisingly complete account of wrong-doing for the incredible reason that Manafort made Gates convert all his Word documents to PDF, resulting in a paper trail for every fraudulent record created. Against that backdrop, it’s not surprising that Gates did ultimately plead guilty in exchange for cooperation and a reduced sentence by the end of the week. I hope his defection flips Manafort like a day-old pancake.

Your “Normal” Weird:

  • Ted Cruz vs the Simpsons. Ted Cruz won the undying animosity of Simpsons showrunner Al Jean this week by announcing that “the Democrats are the party of Lisa Simpson, and Republicans are happily the party of Homer and Bart and Maggie and Marge.” How Maggie has a political party as a canonical infant was not explored in the statement, though Al Jean had a lot to say about it. Meanwhile, liberals are proud to align with Lisa Simpson, who I’m not ashamed to admit was a role model for me when I was her age. (I was six when The Simpsons premiered, and now that I’ve pointed this out you get to feel as old as I do. You’re welcome.)
  • Thank Goodness Trump Created the Rating System. This week’s subtheme of Incredibly Weird Comments about Pop Culture continues with some statements Trump made proposing a rating system for movies and video games as a solution for mass shootings. Which, in Trumpland, we apparently don’t already have, and apparently didn’t first adopt in 1968. Seriously, the movie rating system is so old that it has been in place Trump’s entire adult life, and even the video game rating system has been in place for twenty-four years. And, of course, this doesn’t even consider the fact that there’s no documented evidence for the link between movie violence and real-life violence. So, in basic summary: Yeesh.
  • White House Shenanigans. There was a fair amount of ridiculous White House shenanigans this week, which basically makes it like any other week since January 2017 but here we are. First in the queue, Trump pressured Sessions to do his first sanctioned investigation relating to Russian election interference — but not on Russia; that would make way too much sense. Instead, Trump is badgering Sessions to investigate Obama. (Fun fact: The reason Obama couldn’t do more about Russian interference is well-documented, and it rhymes with ‘SchmcConnell.’) As though to punctuate the White House dysfunction, while all this is going on there has also been an epic standoff between chief of staff John Kelly and local son-in-law Jared Kushner about Kushner’s security clearance, which still hasn’t been finalized after a year of investigation. My bet is that this will keep happening in the background of everything else this administration does right up until Trump is impeached or Kelly is fired. Whee, nepotism!

The Bad:

The Good:

  • Recent Court Wins. The Supreme Court declined to subvert ordinary judicial process today, refusing to hear the DACA injunction case before the 9th Circuit did. This was the expected outcome, but it’s still very relieving to hear; the court would not have been signaling anything good if it had met the Trump Administration’s demands and heard arguments. And in other good legal news, the Second Circuit held that federal discrimination laws also prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, making them the second circuit in the United States to do so. As a bonus, this court ignored a Trump memorandum stating the direct opposite in order to reach its conclusion — and it’s not even one of the two circuits that are known for thwarting him. Between the two decisions, it’s a happy day in Legal Schadenfreude Land.
  • Kentucky Special Election Results. A deeply red district elected a Democrat to the Kentucky House in a special election by a landslide 49 points this week, though the House itself will still be GOP-controlled. This is exciting because it’s such a huge change from the area’s traditional voting patterns, potentially forecasting the extreme landscape change we might see later this year in midterm elections and beyond. (Admittedly nothing is set in stone, but I’m daring to dream here.)
  • Parkland Organizing Continues Too. The flip side to the horrorshow outlined above is that some good advocacy and organizing have happened in the past week, too. Many, many companies have cut ties with the NRA in the past week, particularly after the NRA started expressing nasty sentiments about Parkland teens. And the teens themselves have continued to advocate in town hall meetings, interviews, and sessions with legislators, and a town hall hosted by CNN resulted in some deeply satisfying (and completely deserved) Marco Rubio savagery. My favorite, incidentally, is the teen who observed that we should call AR-15s ‘Marco Rubios’ because they’re both “so easy to buy.” Yikes.

And that’s all the news that’s fit to print this week, though much of it barely merits that kind of dignity. If you made it all the way through, my ice cream and I salute you. Here’s hoping next week is less terrible.

National News Roundup: Year 2, Week 4 (February 11–17)

Kara HurvitzLeave a comment


Last week, the news was so overwhelming and demoralizing that I kicked a few stories from Monday out to the following roundup, hoping that things would be calmer then. I of course should have realized that by doing this, I virtually guaranteed that this week would be even more Chaotic Terrible than the last one. Sorry for jinxing all of us, folks!

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 EPA security detail! — 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:

This week started out a quiet time for the Russia Investigation, but it definitely ended with a bang! Here’s what I have for you:

Your “Normal” Weird:

  • What Rules of Professional Ethics? The White House attorney stable (and top DoJ staff, who clearly think they have a stall in that barn) have managed to lower my professional opinion of them further this week — which is kind of a neat trick, because I didn’t even know that was possible by this point. First prize in appalling practice goes to long-time Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who announced this week that he personally paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 to shut her up in 2016. For those attorneys reading this and thinking “Wait, did he just admit to a blatant violation of the Rules of Professional Ethics while violating client confidentiality and breaching a nondisclosure contract at the same time?” — why yes, yes he did. Stormy Daniels, bless her, has already announced that she is now free to talk about the whole thing, because Cohen breached the NDA agreement.
  • DOJ Deserting and Dog Whistles. Though my best antipathy goes to Cohen this week, there’s still plenty left over for the Department of Justice. Rachel Brand, third in command after Rod Rosenstein and Jeff Sessions, announced that she’s stepping down after just nine months at her current post. Though she’s ostensibly leaving because the legal department at Walmart was just so attractive, several sources note that she was very frustrated by all the vacancies in her department and afraid she might have to supervise Mueller (with all that would entail) if Rosenstein was fired. Against that backdrop, it kind of underscored the point to watch Jeff Sessions discuss “the Anglo-American heritage of law enforcement” this week. Though the department defended his statements as a simple reference to common law, you cannot convince me that was anything other than an intentional dog whistle — a normal human being would have simply said “common law,” which is a much more common phrase, and the use of the word ‘heritage’ is kind of a glaring neon sign. To be fair to Rachel Brand, I wouldn’t want to work for Donald “I Fire You Cause It’s Tuesday” Trump and the Racist Brigade anymore, either.
  • Weird White House Odds and Ends. Disturbingly, the previous two headers are not the end of the wacky news coming out of the White House this week, because we haven’t even gotten to the non-lawyer shenanigans yet. Despite all probability, somehow the White House is still tossing out Porter-related prevarications, with the never-ending string of lies making it look more and more likely that the White House knew about his domestic violence the entire time and he was affirmatively not cleared for his position because of the blackmail potential his abuse history created. And, as if to punctuate that point, Reince Priebus soundbites have started coming out about his time as White House Chief of Staff as a book about the position gets ready to launch. News outlets are already having a field day with one choice quote, “Take everything you’ve heard and multiply it by 50” — probably because this administration is such a goat rodeo that we don’t need more words than that before we believe it. But Vanity Fair gladly gives us a panoply of choice excerpts from the book anyway, and they’re all pretty much exactly as horrorshow as you might expect.

The Bad:

The Good:

  • Recent Court Case Wins. A second district court enjoined the Department of Homeland Security from enforcing the DACA repeal on March 5 this past week, putting more pressure on the administration to avoid deporting people who participated in the DACA program. (You’d think the first case would be its own deterrent, but let’s face it, this bunch isn’t noted for listening to courts.) And just today, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a new districting map, making good on its threat to turn this judicial car around if Democrats and Republicans couldn’t draw new voting districts on their own. So now that task is definitely done before November elections, which is a really important development in a swing state that just barely broke for Trump in 2016.
  • Parkland Kids Owning Politicians Left and Right.* The kids most directly impacted by Wednesday’s shooting are acting more mature and decisively than the rest of us put together, organizing marches and calling out politicians as well as the NRA. Their candor is as exemplary as it is horrifying; I hope the rest of us step up to the plate soon, because traumatized high schoolers should not be forced to be the adults here.

And that’s all the news I have for you this week, in its technicolor and vaguely nauseating glory. Hopefully next week will be better, and you’ll hear from me either way. In the meantime, I’m off to spend some quality time with my freezer’s ice cream selection.

National News Roundup: Year 2, Week 3 (February 4–10)

Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Ernest Blaikley [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The news this week is an exercise in information overload, and most of it is utterly inane and/or terrible. There’s so much information, in fact, that I’m bending my rules slightly and kicking some of the more minor stories out a week in an effort to make this a more manageable maze. I’ll do my best to guide you through it, but bear with me folks; this will be a long one.

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 color guard! — 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:

This was another week with a metric ton of news on All Things Russia, and most of it is absolutely wild in one way or another. Here’s a nuts-and-bolts summary:

Your “Normal” Weird:

The Bad:

The Good:

  • Nancy Pelosi Podium Adventures.* House minority leader Nancy Pelosi spoke for over eight hours on the House floor this week, using her position to create a makeshift filibuster over the lack of DACA progress. In the end, she ran out of things to say, but she did apparently set a new record for time on the House floor — and more importantly, she signaled to all of us that she was keeping Dreamers on her radar. Here’s hoping that translates to some kind of action in the next few weeks.
  • New Obama Portraits.* Continuing a contemporary tradition, the National Portrait Gallery unveiled portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama this week. Both of the Obamas picked their own artist for their respective works, resulting in striking and complementary but distinct styles for each portrait. Kehinde Wiley, who created Barack Obama’s portrait, set him in a garden scene full of flowers symbolizing his birthplace, his ancestry, and his political home. Amy Sherald, who created Michelle Obama’s portrait, painted her in abstracted form on linen instead of canvas. Both portraits are beautiful examples of African-American artistry.
  • Teamster Sanctuary. About 120,000 Teamsters in New York are organizing to become a “sanctuary union,” giving its members complex training designed to make them certified immigration badasses who know both their rights and everybody else’s. The decision follows an earlier resolution not to assist ICE in rounding up their members, but reflects a decision to escalate after one of their members was deported with no criminal history and green card applications pending.

For once, that isn’t all the news I have for now, but there was just too much of it for me to dump over your heads, Dear Readers. Here’s hoping next week is better, or at least quieter, though with this administration it’s anybody’s guess. At any rate, I’ll see you all soon!

National News Roundup: Year 2, Week 2 (January 28-February 3)

Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

By Erikamthompson (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

You know, when I watched Captain Planet as a small person, I had a reasonable expectation that I would not grow up and become governed by cartoonishly inept and morally bankrupt Saturday Morning villains like Hoggish Greedly, Looten Plunder, and Zarm. And yet I read the news this week and think, well, here we are.

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 Planeteer! — 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:

This was another week with a metric ton of news on the Russia Collusion Investigation front this week, and most of it is absolutely wild in one way or another. Here’s a nuts-and-bolts summary:

Your “Normal” Weird:

The Bad:

The Good:

And that’s all the news that I have for now; I think we all agree that it’s more than enough! I’m still holding out hope for a good news cycle, which we most emphatically did not experience this week. But either way, I’ll be back next week with more news, lovingly seasoned with snarky sardony.

National News Roundup: Year 2, Week 1 (January 21–27)

Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

By gabriellah money (becca’s boots), via Wikimedia Commons

I described the news this week to someone as “chaotic petty” earlier today, which seems as good a descriptor as any — it’s shades of dirty surreality nearly all the way down, my friends. Still, that’s better than last week, so I suppose I’ll take it.

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 Medusa, unless you ask Courtland Sykes! — 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:

There was a metric ton of news on the Russia Collusion Investigation front this week, and some of it was pretty wild. Most of it can be boiled down to updates on the Mueller investigation, one way or another:

In addition to all of those gems, this week there was also some rare movement in both directions on the Emoluments Clause issue:

Your “Normal” Weird:

The Bad:

The Good:

  • Net Neutrality Executive Orders.* Governors of Montana and New York both signed executive orders this week enforcing net neutrality in their states. Because the FCC’s decision preempts direct regulation of ISPs, both of the executive orders require state agencies to only do business with ISPs that offer neutral services. I’m genuinely really curious to see what happens to these orders legally, and I’m also excited to see states taking proactive steps to try to preserve an important process. So, thanks Montana and New York! We forgive you for Greg Gianforte and Donald Trump. For now.
  • Cleveland Indians Come Clean. The Cleveland Indians announced today that they are retiring their beloved racist caricature of a mascot from team uniforms, opting for a new depiction beginning in 2019. While it would be cool for them to stop calling themselves ‘the Cleveland Indians’ while they are at it, or possibly just fully retire the merchandise instead of continuing to sell it, I’ll take baby steps where I find them.
  • Nassar Nightmares End. Speaking of sports, this past week also concluded a notorious sentencing hearing of Larry Nassar, the doctor convicted of sexually assaulting ten adolescent athletes who presented to him for medical care from 1995 through 2018. The sentencing hearing drew more and more accounts of abuse into the open, ultimately culminating in over 150 people disclosing sexual abuse in the guise of medical care (including multiple Olympic gymnasts). He was sentenced to 40 to 175 years of incarceration for the underlying ten sexual assault on a minor convictions; this is in addition to a 60 year sentence for child pornography already handed down and a separate sentencing hearing for Michigan charges that begins on January 31. There is also a separate lawsuit pending, with over 140 plaintiffs, alleging institutional complicity on the part of Nassar’s affiliates USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University. All told, it’s truly staggering that this pattern continued for twenty years as uninterrupted as it did, and the closing of that chapter of sports practice can only be a good thing.

And that’s all the news that I have for now. If we’re following old patterns, next week will be a good news cycle. And I think we can all use some good news, so I’m gonna go ahead and hope for it. But either way, catch you next time!

National News Roundup: Week 52 (We’ve Come Full Circle!)

Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

By Polymath38 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The National News Roundup is one year old today! And what a year it’s been, ye gods. Relatedly, it’s also been quite an anniversary week — the only real bright spot is that Trump had to sulk at the White House all weekend because a government shut down forced him to skip his fancy inaugural party at Mar-A-Lago. Go ahead and drink deeply from that schadenfreude spring; we won’t judge.

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

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

We actually did see a bit on the Russia Collusion Investigation front this week, but it was overshadowed by all the other rings of the circus happening simultaneously. Here’s what you may have missed:

There were unfortunately multiple other constitutional crisis moments this week as well, for the first time in a little while, and the remaining topics really get my goat. First we have a Separation of Powers issue:

And last but not least, this week featured another round of First Amendment Attacks, because Trump finally got around to his inane Corrupt Media Awards and also made life harder for marginalized people.

Your “Normal” Weird:

The Bad:

  • Travel Ban v. Seventy Million. The Supreme Court announced it will hear arguments on the Travel Ban 3.0, which has a lot of valid things to legally criticize to put it mildly. But the case won’t be heard until April — which means the ban will remain in effect until at least late June, which is the earliest we’re likely to get a decision. And of course, since the current version has no end date, a junk decision could mean we’re stuck with it indefinitely. (Meanwhile, we’re supposed to hear about the fate of Syrian TPS by the end of the month, and I’m sure that will be a hoot and a half too.)
  • Other Immigration Updates. This was yet another truly awful week for immigration on a lot of other fronts as well. No More Deaths, a humanitarian effort based in Tuscon, published a report alleging that Border Patrol has intentionally destroyed over 3,500 gallons of potable water left for desperate migrants, as well as food and blankets, under a policy known as ‘Prevention by Deterrence.’ (The premise of the policy is simple: If you intentionally kill enough people trying to cross the border to the United States, fewer people will try it.) The report included videos of Border Patrol engaging in this practice as recently as last year. Meanwhile, Salvadorans and Haitians with temporary protected status were informed that they need to reregister within sixty days in order to keep their status, despite the programs winding down within the next eighteen months. And as an encore, Haitians were quietly removed from the list of workers eligible for seasonal visas in agriculture, creating fewer venues of lawful residence in the United States. This was, of course, only days after Trump disparaged the country in bipartisan negotiations. These policy changes, particularly taken in tandem, paint an ugly picture: An administration trying to locate all the lawfully residing Haitians and Salvadorans while systemically removing their lawful status, so that nearly 300,000 people will be easy to round up and deport as soon as they’re eligible in 2019. We need to be watching this, y’all.

The Good:

  • Korean Olympic News.* North and South Korea announced this week that they’ll be appearing under one flag for the opening ceremony of the 2018 Olympics, which is an exciting step. In addition to potentially signaling thawing relations, it’s also likely to be soothing to the South Koreans who have been watching an increasingly bombastic display between Trump and Kim Jong-un — it suggests that their President, Moon Jae-in, has been getting more of a voice in proceedings.
  • Net Neutrality Lawsuits. Attorneys general from twenty-one states filed a lawsuit to block the net neutrality repeal this week, arguing (probably correctly) that the new rule hurts consumers and oversteps their Congressional authority. The suit was only one of many to emerge, as a plethora of entities made their displeasure with the policy known; at minimum, Mozilla and the Open Technology Institute have filed as well. It will be interesting to see whether these suits go anywhere, especially as they occur while Democrats in Congress try to use the Congressional Review Act to undo the move legislatively.
  • Gerrymandering Jettisoned Part Deux. Following on the heels of last week’s news in North Carolina, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held today that Pennsylvania unconstitutionally gerrymandered as well, with the same issue — that the districts were drawn to intentionally favor Republicans. These districts will need to be redone before the 2018 election as well, and unlike the first case, this was based on the Pennsylvania constitution, not the federal one — so the decision is not appealable to the Supreme Court. I’m really excited to see what happens from here as a result! Also, as I noted last week, tossing district divisions based on partisan intent has historically been a very hard thing to get courts to do, so it’s nothing short of amazing that it’s suddenly raining redistricting!

And that’s all the news that I have for now! It’s been a week, but at least it’s just about over, which is probably the best I can say for it. Hang in there until next time!

National News Roundup: Week 51 (January 7–13)

Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

By gabriellah money (becca’s boots), via Wikimedia Commons

The news continues to be Spectacular Spectacular this week, and not necessarily in a positive way. On the plus side, however, that appears to include some spectacularly good news, so at least it’s balanced. I’m hoping next week will be better, because hope springs eternal.

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

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

It’s a bit quieter on the Russia Collusion Investigation front this week, but there’s still a lot happening. Here are the main highlights to know:

  • Fusion GPS Transcript Release.* Diane Feinstein posted the entire transcript of the closed-door testimony of Fusion GPS’s founder, Glenn Simpson, before the Senate Judiciary Committee. (You may recall Fusion GPS and their hired associate, Michael Steele, as heavily involved in the assembly of the Pee Tape dossier — not that official news sources will call it that.) It’s all very confusing, and I say that having read both the transcript and expert analysis of it (particularly recommending Elizabeth McLaughlin’s citation-heavy analysis, though the New York Times analysis has lots of useful info also). So though it’s not precisely my area, here’s my $0.02 summary: Despite a lot of efforts to discredit Fusion GPS as a company and Diane Feinstein for releasing the transcript, I think Fusion GPS and Simpson absolutely know what they are doing, have experience investigating Russian organized crime in particular, and through Steele may have found credible indications of potential blackmail as well as collusion. We don’t have enough information at this stage to know what on Earth has actually happened, but we absolutely should be investigating this more; there’s a very real chance that Russia does indeed have kompromat and semi-consensual cooperation from a sitting President. In other words: BRING ON THE SALACIOUS SUBPOENAS.
  • Steve Bannon Brouhaha.* Steve Bannon stepped down from his position at Breitbart this week, embattled after duking it out with Trump in the social media streets all week. This probably won’t mean much at the Breitbart end, since I’m sure they have an endless supply of snakes over there. But it’s great news for the House Investigation Committee, which is trying to get Bannon to testify right now. He’s hired an attorney to help him prepare, which might mean interesting things in the next few weeks. (Well, more interesting than watching Bannon and Trump sling mud at each other, which was admittedly pretty interesting before it got old.)
  • FISA Fights.* The House reauthorized the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act this week, rejecting reforms that would better preserve civilian privacy. The Senate has voted to begin debate, and is likely to vote in the upcoming week. But weirdly, the biggest point of resistance at the moment appears to be Trump himself, who is now questioning some of the provisions — in part because Fox News is questioning them, and in part because he thinks they were used in part to create the Steele dossier. In other words, disturbingly, Trump actually might object to a sketchy thing remaining law because the sketchy thing happened to him. (It’s a shame this rare exhibit is unlikely to result in him growing some empathy, because that would be a welcome respite and fascinating to watch.)

Your “Normal” Weird:

  • Guess Who’s Running Now. (No really, your guess is probably as good as mine.) This has been a weird and confusing week for discussing people’s plans to run for office. First Oprah Winfrey gave an excellent speech at the Golden Globes last Sunday, which somehow resulted in everybody talking about whether she should run for President (though Oprah herself has indicated no plans to run). In more concrete news, Chelsea Manning filed paperwork to run for the U.S. Senate seat in Maryland this week, but has firmly issued no comment about her plans to run. And never one to be left out, Arizona’s own anti-immigration sadist Joe Arpaio announced he’s running for the Senate now that Jeff Flake’s seat will be up for grabs — but he’s enough of a media hound that he might not have even filed paperwork. So… some famous people might or might not be running for things?
  • Hawaii Nuclear Scare.* A false alarm was raised on Saturday that Hawaii had an incoming missile threat. The statement was walked back within the hour it was released, though that still was more than enough time to scare the daylights out of lots of Americans, particularly given our recent history with North Korea. It’s unclear what exactly caused the false report, but I think it’s fair to say we’re all glad to hear that it wasn’t actually true.

The Bad:

The Good:

And thus continues our Extra Extra edition news — lots of news of pretty much every type, but that’s better than news that’s uniformly bad. I’m hopeful that we’ll get some more good news next week, but I guess we’ll all find out together! Until then, keep on keepin’ on.