Trump Administration – Page 8 – National News Roundup

Year 6, Week 6 (February 20-26)

March 1, 2022 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

The news is, quite understandably, very focused on the situation in Ukraine for another cycle, and that’s some grade-A nightmare fuel right there. Sadly, drinking the nightmare fuel is still important for many reasons, even though it’s awful. I’m going to do my best to help break it down, and if all else fails, remember that small sips help.

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 panel!–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!

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

There was a whole flood of Election Rejection stories this week, and we saw some related bits and bobs that might as well go in this section as well. Here’s what I have for you:

Insurrection Updates. After the invasion of Ukraine last week, Trump was in the limelight an awful lot–emphasis on “awful.” First he went on the radio to call Putin a “genius” who was “pretty savvy,” though his spokesperson’s feed opted not to include those quotes for some mysterious reason. While I generally try to ignore the inane grindings of the orange noise machine, these soundbites proved the building blocks for his campaigning for 2024 at CPAC on Saturday night, and I think we have to take that seriously. The signals about 2024 feel particularly noteworthy when stories are also hitting about the new Manhattan DA abandoning the Trump indictment groundwork laid by his successor. There were some positive scraps of news this week too, though; apparently Ivanka Trump is in talks with the House January 6 panel, and so is Rudy Giuliani.

As I mentioned above, the big news on the Biden Rebuilding front is aggression with Russia. Here’s what has happened:

Land War Landmine.* A lot has happened since Putin “recognized Donetsk and Luhansk’s independence” and began ordering Russian troops into both regions on Monday. Very early on Thursday morning, Putin declared a “special military operation” was occurring, and Russia launched a multi-front invasion of Ukraine. By Friday, Russia had reached the capital city of Kyiv and captured the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl. In response, President Biden and several other countries ordered prompt and escalating retaliatory sanctions. Then on Sunday, Putin put nuclear forces on high alert. The invasion has created over half a million refugees, though many Ukranians are also choosing to stay behind to fight. Incredibly, there have been massive anti-invasion protests in Russia, where protest is currently a very dangerous thing to do. Needless to say, this is a volatile situation with a lot of implications, and it’s a very dangerous and stressful time for a lot of people.

Your New Normal:

LGBTQ+ Kids’ Concerns. A number of hateful pieces of legislation have moved forward this week against queer kids. In Florida, a bill known as the “Don’t Say Gay Bill”, which prohibits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity, has now passed in the House and moves to the Senate. In Texas, the governor has ordered mandated reporters such as teachers, doctors, and school officials to report gender-affirming care for transgender kids as “child abuse.”This apparently was done in response to an opinion from the state Attorney General, which some Texas district attorneys are already refusing to follow. I would be remiss if I did not stress that there is absolutely no scientific evidence to suggest that gender-affirming care is a form of abuse, though many credible medical organizations have put out statements indicating that withholding gender-affirming care can hurt transgender children.

The Bad:

State of the COVID-19. The biggest COVID news this week is new CDC guidance that relaxes mask requirements, which according to the current CDC director was done “to give people a break from things like masking” for a while until there’s another surge. (If you find yourself wishing I made that quote up, I assure you, I wish that too.) That same CDC apparently also thinks people should wait longer before getting a second COVID shot if they haven’t already, because spacing them out can reduce risk of heart inflammation. In more amusing news, an attempt to organize an American version of Canada’s “Freedom Convoy” fell very flat when only five rigs showed up.

The Good:

Biden’s SCOTUS Pick. Biden announced his selection for Supreme Court nomination this week, which turned out to be current appellate judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. This would be at least moderately exciting no matter what was going on, because it means he fulfilled one of his campaign promises, but Judge Jackson is an incredibly solid pick for many reasons. First of all, she was approved by the sitting Senate within the past year for her current seat on the D.C. Circuit, which creates less political cover for GOP obstruction in general. Second, her actual credentials are impeccable: She’s been a sitting judge for nearly a decade; she clerked for Justice Breyer at the beginning of her career; and she was an editor on the law review at Harvard Law School during her educational years. But I am particularly excited about Judge Jackson as a nomination because she also served as a public defender for two years, and if appointed she would be the first SCOTUS judge with public defense experience in modern history.

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 booped danger kittens 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 hours in the day!

Year 6, Week 5 (February 13-19)

February 22, 2022 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

For most of the week, the news felt like it was holding its breath, which is never a comfortable feeling. Then this evening, one of the things we were waiting for happened when Putin invaded Ukraine via Donetsk and Luhansk. I can’t really say it’s better to have the shoe drop, but I’ll definitely keep everybody updated from here.

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 text message!–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!

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

There was a whole flood of Election Rejection stories this week, and we saw some related bits and bobs that might as well go in this section as well. Here’s what I have for you:

Insurrection Updates. On the January 6 front, the head of the Oathkeepers was denied bail by a second judge this week, meaning he’ll continue to be held in jail pending his July trial. Additionally, the Washington Post published a cache of text messages to then Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that were subpoenaed by the panel, and though they’re hardly a smoking gun, they’re definitely worth reading. An attempt by Trump to claim immunity against civil lawsuits regarding January 6 was rejected by a district court judge on Friday. Meanwhile, a Trump appointee district court judge issued an absolutely bananas opinion holding that only the Department of Justice can sue under the Voting Rights Act–which will probably get overturned on appeal, but good gravy. And speaking of Trump news, a judge in New York also ordered Trump and his children to testify in the NY AG’s civil suit–which technically is about his business practices, not election fraud, but you know what, same difference at this point.

As I mentioned above, the big news on the Biden Rebuilding front is aggression with Russia. Here’s what has happened:

Land War Landmine.* As we entered the week, despite the stalemate over the weekend, the Biden administration cautioned that threat of Russia invading Ukraine remained very high. Media began running more stories on Donetsk and Luhansk, regions of Ukraine where Russian-backed separatists had strongholds. Then yesterday, the U.S. told the U.N. that Russia had a list of Ukranians to put in camps, and continued urging diplomats and affiliates to move to safer locations. Just this evening, Russia “recognized Donetsk and Luhansk’s independence” and began ordering Russian troops into both regions. Needless to say, this is a volatile situation with a lot of implications, and it looks seriously likely that we’re seeing the beginning of a land war in Ukraine.

Your New Normal:

The Great Avocado Embargo. It feels kind of fitting that I honestly don’t have any normal news for you this week, but I do have one throwback to the Weird section. After a U.S. inspector who oversees the import of Mexican avocados received a death threat, we canceled avocado imports last Saturday, and the ban lasted for the whole week. But avocados are back on by the time I’m typing this, because the ban was lifted on Friday. So uh, welcome back to your new normal I guess?

The Bad:

State of the COVID-19. State of the COVID-19. For another week, COVID news is startling in its disconnect. We’re still learning about the BA.2 subvariant, and we’ve reached a million excess deaths total during the pandemic (though not all are directly from COVID). Experts are concerned that people are losing the thread about practices. And with California officially transitioning to “endemic” status and most states removing mask mandates, while high-risk people are… well, still high-risk, it’s easy to see why experts are saying that. Meanwhile, the “Freedom Convoy” in Canada is also ending, mostly with arrests and towed vehicles, and as Canadian truckers try to distance themselves, U.S. Congress reps are looking into who started it.

The Good:

Recent Medical Resilience. Recent Medical Resilience. This week, a third person was cured of HIV using a novel medical procedure called a haplo-cord transplant. Notably, this patient was the first woman cured using this method, and she’s also the first mixed-race patient. It’s an awesome advancement during a very strange time.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve stories about Hank the Tank 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 hours in the day!

Year 6, Week 4 (February 6-12)

February 15, 2022 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

It’s Valentine’s Day as I type this, but I’m not really loving the news this week. We’re more on the “Bees!” side of St. Valentine’s legacy, all things considered, but that’s 2022 for you. Maybe next week we’ll get honey.

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 convoy!–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!

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

As a follow-up, this week we learned from Maggie Haberman’s new book that he also liked flushing document shreds down the toilet and/or eating them after he ripped them up (hopefully not at the same time).

Insurrection Updates. You may recall that last week, Trump was in the news regarding his habit of ripping up official documents that he was legally required to preserve in office and hoarding classified information documents at Mar-A-Lago. As a follow-up, this week we learned from Maggie Haberman’s new book that he also liked flushing document shreds down the toilet and/or eating them after he ripped them up (hopefully not at the same time). We also learned that some White House call logs from January 6 are missing. The National Archives have asked the Justice Department to investigate all of this mishandling of records, because said behaviors are in fact flagrantly illegal. Meanwhile, all of this is a very disturbing backdrop to the Supreme Court’s decision this week to restore gerrymandered districting maps in Alabama.

There were also some not-awesome developments on the Biden Rebuilding front. Here’s what has happened:

Blinking Biden. Biden announced a decision this week to award $3.5 billion in frozen Afghan funds to people suing the Taliban about 9/11, leaving only half of all available funds to actual Afghan people who are fleeing said Taliban. This came on the heels of his top science advisor, Eric Lander, stepping down due to systemic mistreatment of subordinates. Between that and the continued increase of inflation, it hasn’t been a particularly great week for the Biden administration. But on the plus side, a talk with Putin on Saturday left both countries in a stalemate; though the U.S. is still evacuating diplomats, Russia has signaled that it might be open to more negotiation.

Your New Normal:

Congressional Updates. This was a weirdly functional week for Congress, all things considered. A bill to ban stock trading in Congress has been gaining traction in both the House and the Senate. Meanwhile, both houses also passed a workplace sexual misconduct bill that banned a corporate practice of forcing arbitration for workplace harassment claims. Both of these bills are particularly unique for their bipartisan support, although in fairness, it did take four years for a #MeToo bill to actually pass.

The Bad:

State of the COVID-19. Over the last week, there were more and more stories about states removing their mask mandates as the omicron surge starts to subside. In the case of school mask mandates, there is some science to support the call, particularly for very young children who need to see faces in order to develop communication skills. However, in the wake of Pfizer stepping back its timeline for vaccination of young children, this is a tough pill for some parents to swallow, and the CDC isn’t supporting it either. And certainly for more general indoor mask mandates, which are also expiring or being removed in most states, there’s no real science to support the plan–particularly when we’re still coming back from the highest COVID death rates in a year. But speaking of mandates and poor decisions, the “Freedom Convoy” in Ottawa has continued on for another full week, blocking off more and more border crossing routes as the week went on. Earlier today, Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time ever, which means he’s essentially calling in the military to deal with it.

The Good:

Recent Constitutional Resilience. In anticipation of the upcoming Supreme Court decisions on reproductive rights, Vermont is preparing to guarantee reproductive rights in their state constitution. They’re the first state to consider this kind of protection, but I’m hoping they won’t be the last.

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 otter snoot 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 goofy memes for Palentine’s Day!

Year 5, Week 24 (June 27–July 3)

July 6, 2021 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

In light of attacks on our democracy, as well as federal recognition of Juneteenth as a holiday, I think a lot of us are trying to decide what July 4th means to us this year. I’m no exception, though I can’t say I’ve reached any firm conclusions–all I know is that we have a lot of work left to do.

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 tax crime!–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!

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

We have another Groundhog Day week of Election Rejection news, though there were a few new stories. Here’s what I have for you this week:

Insurrection Redux. As I mentioned last week, in apparent response to Senate Republicans, Nancy Pelosi announced that the House will form a select committee to investigate the January 6 attacks, which the House is uniquely situated to do. True to her word, the measure passed more-or-less along party lines on Wednesday. Though House minority leader Kevin McCarthy has threatened to strip committee assignments of any Republicans who accept appointment to Pelosi’s committee, Pelosi has already appointed Liz Cheney–one of only two Republicans who supported the committee–to serve on it.

Elections on a Theme (Again). The Supreme Court messed up free election processes pretty significantly this week, and the timing is particularly inauspicious. Just last week, the Department of Justice announced that they are suing the state of Georgia over its brazen voter suppression law, alleging that the new law violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. But this case was immediately handed a major setback on Thursday, when the Supreme Court issued a decision effectively gutting that same legal provision. The Supreme Court also decided this week that conservative think-tanks do not have to disclose who donates to them, opening the door for more dark money in politics. (Given the Trump corp news below, the timing on this one is pretty obnoxious also.) Taken in tandem, these two decisions effectively raise the stakes on passing new voting protections, and I really hope we see renewed pressure moving forward.

This was also a bit of a groundhog week for Biden Rebuilding. Here’s what has happened:

Administration Updates. Infrastructure remained a bit of a mess, with Democrats struggling to get their own party in line , but the House did pass a version of the infrastructure bill and it’s looking increasingly likely that more will get passed via reconciliation. Meanwhile, Biden announced support for removing the military’s internal authority on sexual assault cases, which was one of many recommended changes in a comprehensive review of military sexual assault. And 130 countries support Biden’s proposed 15% global minimum tax, which is a valuable first step for international financial reform.

Trump Corporate Corruption. This one is definitely Cleanup in Aisle 45, and it was made possible by Biden stepping up, so let’s give Joe a win here. The Trump Organization and CFO Allan Weisselburg have been charged with numerous tax-fraud-related crimes by a grand jury in New York. These are expected to be preliminary rather than comprehensive charges, but we’ll have to see where they take us. In the meantime, Trump himself is already using the charges to campaign, because of course he is.

Your New Normal:

Black Athletes Matter. This was a particularly painful week for intersectionality and institutional racism; I guess the universe wanted us to ponder the words “all men are created equal.” Several Black American Olympic contenders suffered racially disparate setbacks: 1) A swim cap made to accommodate Black hair was rejected from Olympic certification only days after the first-ever qualifying British Black swimmer qualified, despite the cap providing no detectable advantage, on the grounds that it “didn’t fit the natural form of the head”; 2) A Black American competitor was benched because she legally ingested marijuana–again, a substance that provides no detectable competitive advantage–upon learning that her mother died from a reporter during a sports interview; and 3) Two cisgender Namibian runners were disqualified from competing because their bodies naturally produce testosterone over a particular level, which apparently makes them not allowed to compete as women.

The Bad:

State of the COVID-19. COVID news is mostly the same this week, though we did get both positive and negative news. Moderna and Johnson and Johnson both released data confirming their vaccines protect against the Delta variant, and might provide protection for multiple years. Nonetheless, the WHO suggests that even vaccinated people should keep wearing masks in public, and COVID cases are up 10% in the U.S. because of the Delta variant’s high transmission rate. That second bit of news is at least in part because so many eligible Americans still haven’t gotten vaccinated.

Condo Collapse Updates. We have some updates on the Surfside condo collapse from last week, but none of them are what I’d call good. Search and rescue is still ongoing as I type this, but at least twenty-eight people are confirmed dead and 117 people are still missing, and a tropical storm is expected this week. Several other nearby condo units were ordered evacuated due to unsafe conditions as well in the wake of the tragedy, making rehousing of the displaced Champlain Towers residents even more of a challenge. News also came out that the safety concerns were known for years prior to the building collapse.

The Good:

Closing out Pride Month. With Pride Month wrapping up, now seems like a fine time to mention some positive LGBT changes that have happened in the last few days. Wisconsin birth certificates now use gender-neutral language to identify parents, rather than requiring a “mother” and “father” specifically. For the first time ever, this year’s Miss Nevada is a trans woman. New York now permits people to mark ‘X’ on drivers’ licenses instead of specifying gender. The State Department has made several inclusive changes to passport processes, including a third gender option and option to choose one’s own gender without requiring medical certification. And the Supreme Court declined to touch another same-sex wedding case, which given the current constellation is the best possible thing they could do.

Execution Moratorium. Attorney General Garland announced this week that he is imposing a moratorium on federal executions to permit review of all existing policy on the subject. The move is not a permanent end to the practice, likely because Garland wants to push for execution in the Boston Marathon case. But his memorandum does show insight into the racial disparities and high number of exonerations that highlight serious issues with the practice.

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 relaxing doggo and 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 a note telling me who sent me popsicles!

Year 3, Week 30 (August 11–17)

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

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

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

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

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

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

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

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

Your “Normal” Weird:

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

The Bad:

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

The Good:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

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

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

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

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

Your “Normal” Weird:

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

The Bad:

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

The Good:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

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

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

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

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

Your “Normal” Weird:

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

The Bad:

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

The Good:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

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

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

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

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

Your “Normal” Weird:

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

The Bad:

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

The Good:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

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

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

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

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

Your “Normal” Weird:

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

The Bad:

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

The Good:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

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

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

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

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

Your “Normal” Weird:

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

The Bad:

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

The Good:

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

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