Day 101: Deal with a devil

Ugh. This first one has me furious.

• Birds of a feather flock together. And so Trump has invited the President of the Philippines to visit. For those out of the loop, this is the guy who's been encouraging extrajudicial killings in his own country. America is truly forfeiting its stance on human rights abuses with this President. Of course Trump and this guy get along so well, they freaking egg each other on the whole time.
• A deal has apparently been struck to keep the government lights on through September. I'm not entirely sure what the details of the bargain are, but I'll take this as a positive thing, particularly so given that Trump's wall was not funded.
• Trump continues trying to undermine Obamacare. Apparently the federal government supplies a slush fund to states to help cover hospital charges for the uninsured poor. Obama argued that this was stupid, and we would do much better to expand medicaid to cover those people who would then get better healthcare and wouldn't end up in the hospital with expensive conditions. Trump argues the opposite - that poor people don't deserve health insurance, and should just stiff the hospital when they get sick. This is so stupid.

Day 100: 100 days worse off

Today marks 100 days with Trump in charge. The White House Correspondent's dinner is currently happening, which Trump is not attending (a break in over 30 years of tradition). Instead, he's had another of his campaign-style rallies to make him feel good, where he primarily railed against the media.

In 100 days analyses:

• Trump had published a detailed plan for his accomplishments in his first 100 days. A thorough analysis suggests he has partially accomplished just three of the 30 concrete promises.
• Trump wrote himself a glowing op-ed to mark the occasion. I could refute just about every statement, but let me just attack the first paragraph: Trump has done NOTHING to hand power back to "the people". He has done a lot to rescind regulations to hand power back to large corporations who will use that freedom to exploit "the people".
• The White House published a list of "accomplishments". Most of these "accomplishments" were the House and Senate using procedural tactics to roll back Obama regulations, nothing more. The raw number of signatures belies the fact that most of those signatures were not worth the paper they were printed on.

Essentially, the guy has accomplished nothing other than to take advantage of situations that the House and Senate leaders have set up for him (eg, Supreme Court nomination). This is a failed administration.

Otherwise, there were climate change rallies across the country, with tens of thousands marching against the administration's policies. It was even a nice day for it. Of course, the night before this march, the EPA website was scrubbed of all offending climate data.

Day 99: Another week down

Go get yourself a drink. You've earned it.

• There has been an official delay on the Obamacare repeal vote. House moderates are rightly concerned that people with pre-existing conditions will get screwed.
• The government will not shut down tomorrow. But it might at the end of next week! The can is thus kicked, but not very far.
• Trump has a new executive order aimed at easing restrictions on offshore drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic. This is really a double-whammy against the environment: first we drill (and spill), and then we burn. There is nothing good about this.
• Trump gave a speech to the NRA (National Rifle Association) today, promising to come through for them on relaxing gun regulations. Consider it a "return on investment" for the NRA, who poured money into his election campaign.
• "President Trump on Friday installed virulent anti-choice activist Charmaine Yoest as assistant secretary for public affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)." Because anti-choice extremism is so appropriate at the HHS. This is identity politics 101, and an unfortunate reminder that we are still stuck in this game.

Day 98: A whole lot of not much

• More war-mongering regarding North Korea. I don't know what to say anymore.
• Flynn is back in the spotlight for not declaring payments from foreign governments, after reportedly being warned about doing so. The administration who nominated him for the position of Defense Secretary is now blaming the Obama administration for their woes, likely because they're run out of any other ideas and this is the backup idea they keep for situations like this.
• Alexander Acosta was confirmed to the position of Labor Secretary by the Senate today. The Department of Labor basically exists to ensure that labor laws are being follows. Acosta is basically being a yes-man for Trump, who wants to undo as many labor laws as possible.
• This article is a deep dive into how Trump is treating the presidency. It's rather horrifying. The worst part is that his aides influence him by telling him how actions will play out in the press, rather than the effect they will have on people. Trump doesn't care about the people at all.
• ICE launched their "VOICE" hotline, as described yesterday, as a means to vilify, shame, and dehumanize the already incredibly marginalized group of people known as "illegal aliens". The hotline has since been overwhelmed with people reporting sights of UFOs and movie aliens. ICE is apparently unimpressed.
• The GOP is trying to keep the lights on with a short-term extension bill (just one week).
• They're also trying to push through their terrible health care bill, whose primary goal is to strip as many people of health care as possible. A vote isn't expected until next week. Moderate Republicans seem to be the hold up here. If you have such a representative, please let them know your mind (repeatedly).
• Trump is a compulsive liar. This is incredibly well-documented. However, his voters are lapping it up so strongly it's disturbing.

Day 97: Tax Plans

Today's coverage was dominated by the administrations tax "plan". It was not so much a "plan" as a wish-list of tax cuts. To avoid linking to lots of articles:

• Here's an overview of the "plan". It primarily consists of huge gifts to most businesses, and hefty tax cuts for the very rich. Lower income people would benefit slightly from an increased standard deduction. This is an incredibly anti-progressive shift in taxation (progressive being the opposite of regressive for tax codes).
• There is no proposal to close tax loopholes whatsoever, but does do away with a number of taxes that only impact the wealthy, including the alternative minimum.
• The entire thing will blow a huge hole in the federal budget, as no new revenue streams are proposed.
• When anybody tells you that tax cuts will pay for themselves in increased activity in the entire economy, they're lying through their teeth (case in point: Administration). The rule of thumb is that a third of a tax cut is recouped in increased activity.

So, in summary: gift to the rich, hole in federal budget. This thing looks terrible.

In other news:

• The US plans to "bring Kim Jong-un to his senses". I am becoming really scared that these idiots are going to catapult the world into another pointless war.
• Also in North Korea news - the US ratchets up sanctions.
• The White house has backed down on the threat of withholding insurance payments, in order to ensure that a budget is passed.
• Trump has a new executive order directing the department of the interior to review all national monuments larger than 100,000 acres created since 1996. Basically, he wants to undo the equivalent of national parks in order to mine them. It's not obvious that he even has the power to do so, and you can bet there will be a fight.
• The FCC Chairman continues to be a dick, and has proposed rolling back net neutrality. This was hard-fought for, and we're not giving it up without a fight either.
• Trump's crappy plan to highlight the crimes of undocumented people has launched. A lawyer put it best why this scheme is so terrible: "This isn't about helping victims. It’s really about trying to vilify the immigrant population in this country and using that to their political advantage."
• Rod Rosenstein was confirmed by the senate as Deputy Attorney General. He's now in charge of the Russia probe at the DoJ.
• Another executive order, this time telling the education department to investigate overreaching federal regulations. Not much teeth in this order, but it's a first step towards dismantling the common core objectives.
• Tillerson and the State Department have royally fucked up diplomacy with basically the whole of Africa this past week, leaving the chief of the African Union in the lurch. To bungle something like this so badly requires special talent. I'm disgusted.
• Here's the whitehouse statement regarding their sanctuary city funding withdrawal being put on ice by a judge. It's essentially a temper tantrum: "This case is yet one more example of egregious overreach by a single, unelected district judge.  Today’s ruling undermines faith in our legal system..." My personal belief is that judges should be unelected - they should be appointed in a nonpartisan manner based on merit. The judicial system in this country is so highly politicized. Regardless, this judge was confirmed by the Senate, so it's all in the constitution anyway. Also, a legal ruling undermining faith in the legal system because that ruling went against their unconstitutional attempts? Wow. Who are these people again?

Day 96: A String of Defeats

Well, Trump did not have a good day.

• The executive order to block funding to "sanctuary cities" has been placed on ice nationwide. The administration's response is precious: the ruling is "bananas".
• Trump, in his capacity as the world's greatest negotiator, has been forced to back down from demands that his wall gets funded in the funding bill due at the end of this week.
• Desperate to do something, he slapped an import tariff on Canadian lumber. It seems a bit rude to make it apply retroactively for 90 days, however. (I will grant that this has been a perennial thorn between the US and Canada.) Of course, as imports, the costs are passed on to consumers - in this case, mostly the US home-building industry. Great job, Trump!
• I guess Trump might be pleased that his nominee for the Secretary of Agriculture was confirmed by the Senate.

A couple of Executive actions:

• This one slipped by me a few days ago, primarily because it only says "Make me a report". It ostensibly aims to identify complicated parts of the tax code with an eye to simplifying them.
• This one, signed today, has a little more meat to it. It creates a task force to look at improving conditions in rural America. Or, more precisely, to "identify legislative, regulatory, and policy changes to promote in rural America agriculture, economic development, job growth, infrastructure improvements, technological innovation, energy security, and quality of life". Some are pointing out that the administration is really only paying lip service to rural America, given their proposal to decimate the USDA budget.

Otherwise, we're expecting a much-anticipated tax reform proposal tomorrow. I expect it to be utter garbage. How about you?

Day 95: T minus 5

As Trump's ego looks to be seriously bruised by not accomplishing anything in his first 100 days as President, we have the following from our administration:

• Things in North Korea seem to be heating up further, with reports of a US submarine in Korean waters, and the entire senate to be briefed by top commanders at the White house. I'm worried.
• The Senate inquiry into Russian interference in the election is floundering and going nowhere. The house one was already a circus. We need an independent inquiry NOW.
• State department and embassy websites are now promoting Mar-a-Lago. How the fuck is this not a conflict of interest?

Seems like not much. Apparently the budget showdown and a healthcare bill are dominating behind-the-scenes work. I look forward to some more concrete announcements.

Day 94: French election

The big news today was from the French election, where Macron and Marine Le Pen will face off in a runoff election. Essentially everybody not with Le Pen has galvanized around Macron, and with good reason - Le Pen is France's equivalent of Trump.

In more local news:

• Trump had a statement for Earth Day. It was incredibly hypocritical, as one might expect.
• There is a looming threat of a government shutdown. Trump is making things worse by demanding that funding for his fucking wall be put into the budget. Pure childishness for the purpose of stroking his own ego, made even more grotesque by his promises that America wouldn't pay for it at all. How about those billions be put somewhere useful, like the NIH or the EPA?
• Trump has been pushing for tax reform. Unfortunately, he has no idea what that even means, beyond "Cut taxes!". The chances of him closing any of the myriad of loopholes for the real estate sector are negative, but we've been promised something big on Wednesday. I expect it to be awful, like every other proposal he's had.
• Amazingly, Trump thinks that he's getting a vote on a health care bill this week. Given that nobody has even seen the text of this aforementioned bill, chances of this are essentially nil. Rumours have that pre-existing conditions coverage is on the chopping block, so this thing is going to be completely garbage.
• Do you ever listen to Trump speak and think "What the hell is he talking about? This is utter garbage!" Then you're not alone! Even for an interview under optimum conditions, professionals at the Associated Press couldn't even transcribe his mutterings.

Day 93: March for Science

Not a whole lot of news today. Some talk regarding tax reform and the upcoming budget showdown, but not much in the way of concrete actions. Here's what I found.

• Today was Earth Day, marked by international Marches for Science, with hundreds of thousands of people participating across the globe.
• Apparently Pence agreed to honor the deal to take in asylum seekers to Australia.
• Trump has fired the Surgeon General, for no particular reason other than Obama appointed him. The position of Surgeon General has a four-year term, and is a non-partisan role. This is petty at best.

Day 92: Another week gone

Here's the scoop today:

• Trump had two executive orders today. Both were aimed at making life easier for big banks to essentially gamble with people's money. Although Trump touted it as "[taking] unprecedented action to bring back our jobs and return power to our citizens", it is really nothing of the sort - it's returning power to big corporations.
• We have reports (and confirmation) of a secret meeting between Trump and Colombian ex-presidents. Something shady is going on here, particularly with Spicer denying the event took place.
• Trump, who knows absolutely nothing, is claiming that Iran isn't living up to the "spirit" of the nuclear deal, contradicting his own State department. Petulant children should not be in charge of international diplomacy.
• Something about an investigation into Chinese steel-dumping. This seems to be a precursor to steel tariffs, themselves a precursor to a trade war...
• Crackdowns on sanctuary cities are ratcheting up a notch. Sessions has sent an ultimatum to a number of sanctuary cities, threatening to withhold federal funding. This statement from the DoJ is incredibly insulting: "Many of these jurisdictions are also crumbling under the weight of illegal immigration and violent crime". The cities are, of course, shooting back with a loud cry of "BULLSHIT!"
• The waiver Exxon-Mobil was seeking was denied, in an unexpected turn of events. 

See you all at the science march tomorrow!

Day 91: Pacific Islands

Nothing ground-shaking today, but that zombie bill I warned you about yesterday is apparently shambling about in the house.

• The GOP reportedly has a new health care bill. Everything about it sounds disgusting.
• Trump, who is notoriously behind on nominations for just about everything, has nominated somebody to be secretary for the army. Only problem is that he's nominated a lunatic who believes that opposing transgender equality is God's plan for him. The temerity of those with privilege to justify the repression of marginalized people in the name of religion is disgusting in this country.
• More details of Russian involvement in the election, highlighting specific Russian goals and programs to undermine the democratic process. I wish somebody would find some evidence linking Trump to Russia once and for all and be done with it.
• You know how Trump promised to have a bunch of things done in his first 90 or 100 days? We're starting to see reporting of his promises falling through. Here's the first: cyber security. Not only has he blown his promise, he hasn't even started working on this one.
• Sessions, meanwhile, is annoyed that a "judge on a Pacific island" can overturn Trump's executive order. That island being a bona fide state, complete with all of the rights and responsibilities that entails. Feeling a little bit racist today, Sessions?

Day 90: T minus 10 days

A slower news day today. Something about Fox News deciding that 21 years of sexual harassment was a good time to stop dominated local headlines, while the administration stayed largely out of the way.

• Trump has ordered a review of the Iran nuclear deal, although the administration concedes that Iran is meeting it's responsibilities. Tillerson, meanwhile, has accused Iran of attempting to destabilize the Middle East. I don't know what's up with regards to the sudden turn on Iran, to be honest.
• Determined not to let North Korea stay out of the news, Pence did his own sabre rattling today.
• A month after firing all the US Attorneys, Sessions still hasn't nominated anybody to the positions, and they all remain unfilled (all 93 of them).
• Oh look! A zombie healthcare bill!
• I'll let the title for this one speak for itself: "Exxon Seeks U.S. Waiver to Resume Russia Oil Venture". The correct response from the administration is "Over my dead body".

Day 89: Special Election #2

The big news tonight is that Jon Ossof captured 48.3% of the vote in Georgia's 6th district special election today. Unfortunately, not quite enough to win the district outright, so a runoff election will be held in June. Fingers crossed.

• Embarrassing news for the administration today. That armada they were sending to Korean waters? It was in the freaking Indian ocean, traveling in the *opposite direction* for three days. Apparently it's now headed to Korean waters, but it'll take another week to get there! Makes you wonder what the purported Chinese and Russian "shadow" armadas were doing, too.
• On the subject of North Korea, Trump doesn't actually know who's in charge...
• In incredibly shady work by ICE, a DACA (aka "dreamer") was deported in February. He's now suing the government.
• Trump signed a new Executive Order today, the so-called "Buy America, Hire America" order. It's a first attempt at culling the H1-B visa category for skilled foreign workers. This goes hand-in-hand with his xenophobic isolationist agenda. (Full text)
• Dangerous news from Turkey, where a program of consolidating power in the authoritarian leader is underway. A hotly-contested "referendum" has given the president vast new powers, and Trump called him to offer congratulations. Because Trump has no idea what is going on, and isn't listening to his advisors who actually know. Oh wait, no, he fired them back in January...
• Ivanka Trump's brand is doing really well this year. She was awarded a bunch of Chinese trademarks after having dinner with the Chinese President (that doesn't sound shifty at all), and you know how Kellyanne Conway said to go buy her stuff? Sales rocketed that week. I'm disgusted.
• Some good news: Most industries and Trump aides are pushing to stay in the Paris climate agreement.
• Holy shit. Spicer is arguing that more transparency is unnecessary, even harmful? How can you argue that politicians should be less transparent with a straight face?
• At the Easter Egg Roll yesterday, Trump bullied a child who wanted his autograph, then laughed about it. This is absolutely disgusting.

Day 88: Egg rolls, anybody?

So, the White house held it's annual Easter Egg Roll today. Trump was ostensibly hosting, but I believe that to be far too generous a word. About the best I'll give him is that he was "present" for part of it.

• As part of a regulatory rollback executive order back in January, Trump requested industry point out what regulations were stifling them. Well, the results are in. No prizes for guessing who the prime target is. The list of rollback requests is disgusting. Many of these will lead to harming people by putting profits first.
• Trump isn't the only one wanting to roll back regulations: Jeff Sessions is on that gravy train too, writing an Op Ed today to push his dystopia where police can once again be "tough on crime", aka, undertake the mass incarceration of minorities.

The rest of the news today was dominated by North Korea once again.

• Russia and China are shadowing the US armada with their own ships.
• North Korea had some sharp words to the US, promising missile launches "weekly", and threatening nuclear war.
• Of course, the administration couldn't let that stand, so Pence declared that the era of "strategic peace" was over, and "North Korea would do well not to test [Trump's] resolve — or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region."

The ante seems to be ratcheting up every day. I'm worried that North Korea is going to call the USA's bluff, and then who knows how Trump will respond.

Day 87: Easter

I wish we could stop talking about Trump. I guess North Korea has given us a break by jumping into the news recently? For all the wrong reasons, though...

• The war of words continues to escalate with North Korea. Today the administration stated it "will take action" against any North Korean threat. This has been described as the Cuban Missile Crisis in slow motion.
• Trump is already fundraising for the 2020 elections, and reports say he's taken in over $13 million already. Worse, he's spent half a million of that on his own businesses. How is this not a conflict of interest?
• Trump's lawyers claim that as President, he is immune to civil lawsuits. Basically, he's claiming that as President, he's above the law. I await a judicial smackdown of this absurdity.
• Trump is still wondering why anybody cares about his taxes... Three words: Conflict. Of. Interest.

Day 86: North Korea Fizzles

A reasonably quiet Saturday. The fireworks out of North Korea fizzled out.

• North Korea had their usual military procession, and everything seemed to be ok. And then it decided to launch a missile, which was a dismal failure and exploded almost immediately. I've read that the model of the missile is literally "No Dong". Kind of appropriate. (Another analysis)
• Trump demands a gold carriage procession for his visit to the UK. This is downright disgusting for anybody to demand something like that.
• Trump's appointees have a raft of conflicts of interest, and no transparency. Furthermore, he's already repeatedly breaking his own (relaxed) ethics rules, with secretive waivers. This fucking administration...
• Today was the "Trump tax march". There are amazing pictures of Trump chickens in this article. That is all.

Day 85: Simmering Tension

Despite grave concerns, nothing has blown up in North Korea yet. China appears to be the voice of moderation. It almost seemed like a quiet news day...

• Trump, of course, is going to Florida for the weekend again. Will this guy ever stop spending our taxpayer money, and do his fucking job?
• The White House has decided that it's visitor logs will remained confidential until well after Trump leaves office. Just what we need - less transparency.
• Pruitt, the head of the EPA, yesterday said that we should exit the Paris climate agreement, the first such call, based on erroneous statements. I've got a better idea. How can we exit this administration? We'll all be better off for it.
• Miller, the white house advisor who opposes equal pay, parental leave, and everything else that we are striving for, has been appointed to address "women's issues". Are you kidding me?
• If you've got some time in the next three weekends, there are major anti-Trump protests occurring around the country each weekend.

Also, for something completely different, this is amazing!

Day 84: A game of chicken

Tensions with North Korea are worse than I've ever seen them. North Korea is apparently preparing to have a nuclear weapon test, and the US has threatened to launch a preemptive strike if it looks like this will happen. Reports estimate that the nuclear weapon test is scheduled for Saturday morning, if not sooner. The rhetoric has become quite inflamed, and I hope that the weekend remains uneventful.

In other news:

• Trump had a very flippety-floppety day yesterday, including reversing positions on the Import-Export Bank, and the chairwoman of the federal reserve (beyond what I reported yesterday).
• Trump has threatened to sabotage Obamacare by stopping cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments to insurance companies. These are essentially subsidies to insurance companies to help keep insurance premiums down. I read an estimate that stopping the payments would force premiums to increase by 20-25%. So, Trump is basically threatening to hold people's health insurance hostage.
• The head of the CIA has claimed that Wikileaks is a hostile intelligence agency, abetted by Russia. Of course, 6 months ago, he was praising them for releasing hacked emails from the DNC...
• Trump signed the bill to allow states to restrict funding to Planned Parenthood. This is really bad news for people who rely on Planned Parenthood, and not just for abortion services, but for the entire gamut of services that PP offers.
• A damning report from the Guardian about intelligence regarding collusion between Trump's inner circle and Russia stretching back to 2015, with evidence gathered by at least 5 other countries. The article quotes: “They now have specific concrete and corroborative evidence of collusion.” Well, share it already, so we can have a do-over of the election, thanks!
• And finally, the US has dropped their largest non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan. There has been a lot of dick-comparing from the administration regarding this ordnance. As a scientist, the fact that such a bomb even exists sickens me, as scientists were responsible for building it in the first place. Note that the blast radius of this particular bomb is about a mile, making it an incredibly indiscriminate killer.

This last item in particular highlights that we should be spending money on education and aid, rather than bombs that just recruit more terrorists.

Day 83: You say flip, I say flop!

Trump can't have had a good day today, performing at least two 180-degree policy turns. I swear, this guy is phenomenal - he can hold multiple contradictory thoughts in his head at the same time, and spout both of them as policy on the same day.

• "China is not a currency manipulator." At least the statement is true? It used to be true, but became false a few years ago.
• "NATO is not obsolete." Well, duh.
• Tillerson's meeting with Russia seemed to go just swell. That is, if you define "swell" to mean that they couldn't find any common ground.
• Apparently the hiring freeze is over too. If you read nothing else from this article, read the last three paragraphs. They underscore just how uninformed this administration is.
• In a rare confession from the White House, Sean Spicer has apologized for his comments regarding Hitler and the Holocaust.
• Two alleged payments to Manafort that appeared in a black handwritten ledger associated with money laundering have been verified as wire transfers to his US firm. He previously claimed these were fabrications. Now he's claiming they were legal. I claim bullshit.
• Remember how Nunes made explosive claims regarding secret intelligence reports? Well, both Democrats and Republicans are now contradicting his claims, having viewed the reports. Why am I not surprised.
• DeVos is focusing on cutting costs, rather than treating student loan borrowers fairly, revoking Obama administration regulations on federal loan servicing companies. More evidence that the administration doesn't care about the people it supposedly represents. (Similar analysis in plain language)
• Budget director Mulvaney has said very bluntly what the Republican party has been doing for years, but always shades in polite language: encouraging economic inequality in America. Having a low deficit is just the cherry on top. This type of policy is obviously awful, and now they're even being upfront about it.

Day 82: Kansas Special Election

The war of words over Syria and North Korea continued apace today. None of it was comforting.

• US accuses Russia of chemical weapons coverup
• North Korea says it's ready for war

In other news:

• Spicer made a mockery of himself today, claiming that even Hitler wasn't as bad as Assad, because he only sent Jews to "Holocaust centers". He has been rightly pilloried.
• The Government Accountability Office is looking into Trump's transition into power. Good. About time somebody looked into his conflicts of interest.
• On the administration's Russian collusion front, Carter Page had a FISA warrant taken out against him to monitor his communications. No word of anything of interest from it yet, however.
• The Kansas special election for the House seat made vacant by Pompeo's appointment to head the CIA is being counted now. It's going to be really close, which is impressive for deep red Kansas. Here are the NY Times live updates. As I push this out, some organizations are calling the race for the Republicans. Update: This now looks like a lock for the Republican candidate, taking the seat by about 5%. Final analysis.

Day 81: A New Justice

We had a strangely quiet Monday today. Here's what I found.

• Gorsuch was sworn in to the Supreme Court today. It should have been Merrick Garland, who was already an olive branch to the Republicans. There is nothing more to say.
• Sessions is ending the forensic science review commission, because it's more important to have people in jail than it is to trust the science that their convictions relied upon. Disgusted, but not surprised.
• Speaking of Sessions, remember how he pulled the DoJ out of the Texas voting rights case? Despite the lack of DoJ input, the federal judge in Texas has again ruled that the Texas laws were enacted to intentionally discriminate against minorities.

Day 80: Palm Sunday

Today was Palm Sunday. This Christian celebration was rocked by two bomb blasts in Coptic churches in Egypt. US officials have been on top of the international news for a change, strongly condemning the attacks.

Otherwise, news from the administration continues to swirl around Syria.

• Tillerson appears to have taken a reasonably hard line against Russia, accusing them of incompetence at overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons.
• He also called for Russia to stop supporting Assad (the mostly illegitimate leader of Syria).

Tillerson has his first diplomatic visit to Russia coming up this week, which I think will set the stage for the next four years. I wonder if he's going to take a press corps with him this time?

Day 79: Unconvinced

News continues to be dominated by Trump's actions in Syria. While this is appropriate, it is also (predictably) removing discussion from things like Russian collusion with the Trump administration.

As usual, the recent military action has been taken under the premise of "humanitarian" goals. This is absolutely bullshit. Military action is always taken for political goals. If the US really cared about humanitarian goals, they would invest in the clean-up after their military action. The effect of such lack of support in such situations has been recently highlighted in countries like Libya and Iraq, where the countries have essentially devolved into anarchy following the removal of their respective dictators.

• The uselessness of a single military strike by the US was on display for all to see today: the airbase that was bombed is back in commission, with planes bombing the same city that suffered the chemical attack. The fact that the Trump administration has no long term plan is clearly evident, and reveals the folly of the initial strike.
• Many have noticed that the media loves a show of military might, and the strike in Syria is bound to lead to an uptick in Trump's ratings. Don't fall for it. (Similar analysis)
• In addition to Syria, things are heating up with North Korea, with naval forces being sent to the region. Just what we need - a new front for skirmishes.
• And because your weekend needed an infusion of pep, Sessions wants to bring back the war on drugs. Ugh. This policy has almost single-handedly been responsible for minority incarceration rates significantly outstripping that of white people, and Obama's steps to rescind it were long overdue.

Day 78: Aftermath

I've had today to reflect on the missile strike on Syria. There are plenty of articles discussing it. Here's my thoughts (and a few other people's too):

• Trump has just demonstrated how willing he is to act emotionally and impulsively, discard all previous policies, and start a war. He is a loose cannon in an incredibly dangerous position of power. I cannot stress this enough: he cannot be trusted with that power.
• What was the purpose of blowing up an airfield with 59 cruise missiles? This accomplished nothing, other than wasting a significant amount of money (and we almost certainly wasted more money than we blew up). This has done nothing to hamper Syria's capabilities. This is a presidential temper tantrum with no purpose.
• What the fuck does Trump think is going to happen next? That the world will fall in line due to his "display of might"? This has no benefit other than turning the spotlight from Assad to Trump (and that's NOT a benefit).
• Do not think for a second that Trump cares about the "Syrian children". This is from the man who has been strongly pushing to bar entry to the US to all Syrian refugees.

The diplomatic fallout is starting, with Russia claiming that the US action was an "illegitimate act", and legal scholars are proposing that the US violated the UN charter. Of course, the US is promising "more". Regardless, back at home, basically everybody agrees that if the President wants to wage war, that requires authorization from congress.

In other news:

• Trump met with the President of China today. I can't find much of substance from the meeting, other than that they still disagree on North Korea, and everything else is a banality. 
• The administration today delayed the implementation of an Obama-era safety rule regarding silica dust, which causes cancer, particularly among construction workers. This is disgusting.
• As expected, today the Senate confirmed Gorsuch for the Supreme Court, voting 54-45, working only because the Senate took the nuclear option this week. Given that he's 49, we can expect 30 years of his vile "conservatism".
• Twitter's suit against the government has forced the government to rescind their request for critic's details. Good.
• Research has come out showing that racism was a far more potent effect in last year's election than economic issues.

Day 77: Making war with Syria

After a devastating chemical attack on Tuesday, Syria is dominating the news today, and events have unfolded quickly. In mostly chronological order:

• Trump has no idea what he's doing, and is dangerously ignorant of the situation in Syria.
• Trump's policy on Syria is in a perpetual state of flux, and the Pentagon doesn't know how to respond.
• Tillerson started making statements about the US facilitating regime change in Syria.
• Then, tonight, news hit that the US had launched a military strike against a Syrian airbase, spending around $50 million on Tomahawk cruise missiles. Another article.
• Paul Ryan, of course, called the response "appropriate and just".
• Apparently, Russia was warned of the imminent airstrikes.

So, this is basically an act that Syria will construe as an act of war, and may well be the beginning of a proxy war against Russia, who have been backing Assad's regime in Syria. We are once again seeing that the President's role as Commander in Chief is quite significant in foreign affairs. Except that this time, we have a fucking moron in charge, and his team is woefully unprepared to advise him. I have zero faith in our administration's ability to not escalate this and draw the US into yet another war.

I am seriously worried that we'll wake up tomorrow and discover that the world is literally falling apart. Add Syria to escalations in North Korea... About the only thing I'm certain of is that Trump is going to make a mess of it, and lead to a huge and expensive loss of lives, with no objectives, and little to show for it in a few year's time.

I also worry that this is all an expensive attempt to divert from the continuing Russian investigations.

In other news:

• Kushner failed to report dozens of meetings with foreign officials when applying for his security clearance. Sounds about right.
• Nunes steps aside from the Russian congressional investigation temporarily, after ethics complaints were filed against him. He's being replaced by Mike Conway, who isn't exactly any better.
• One of those alt-government twitter accounts is apparently grating on the administration, and they're demanding the authors get unmasked. Twitter is now suing the federal government in court to uphold first amendment rights.
• Republicans have used the nuclear option and changed the senate rules in order to confirm Gorsuch. The confirmation vote will come tomorrow. Seriously disappointed in the Republican leadership, who have ultimately displayed ultimate hypocrisy and absolutely no morals.
• China is about to completely fuck over the Trump administration, who are completely unprepared for the negotiations that are about to occur.

Day 76: Missiles from North Korea

Today was a good day! I only found enough articles to fill seven bullet points! Of course, there's concentrated horseshit in all of these bullet points. Fair warning.

• North Korea has escalated things by firing a missile ahead of Trump's meeting with the President of China. The official US response from Secretary of State? "North Korea launched yet another intermediate range ballistic missile. The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment." That this is a wildly inappropriate response should be obvious to everybody, especially given the rhetoric towards North Korea coming out of the administration recently. This is not leadership. This is an administration chomping at the bit to have a war. Conveniently, war would be such a good distraction from all those Russian investigations, right?
• Trump met with King Abdullah II of Jordan today. They gave a press conference, in which Trump made a grand fool of himself, essentially insulting everyone.
• Trump also reacted to the Syrian chemical attack today, threatening a forceful unilateral US response. However, like always, his bluster was not backed up by any details, in the name of "not ruining the element of surprise", aka "I don't know what I'm doing, but I need to look strong on this". Trump is simply demonstrating that his administration can't deal with multiple international crises at the same time. One might even posit that one is two too many for him.
• Bannon was removed from the National Security Council today. This appears to have been at the behest of McMaster, who appears to be the only cool head in the White House nowadays. Now the administration's tack is to say that Bannon was put on there to keep eyes on Michael Flynn, which a patently absurd thing to claim, unless you didn't think Flynn should have been there in the first place. But then, who has ever accused this administration of competence?
• Senators basically universally agree that invoking the nuclear option is a terrible idea. But they're going to do it anyway. Why are Republicans so dead set on Gorsuch, anyway? Here's a terrible nomination, and not worth doing this over.
• Speaking of Gorsuch, his 2006 book is rife with plagiarism. Not a good look for a Supreme Court nominee.
• The latest version of the Republican healthcare plan is dead, and it hadn't even been drafted yet. Good grief, these guys need to get their act together.

Day 75: Chemical Attack

Still no good news, folks. If I find it, you'll see it here, I promise!

• A devastating chemical attack in Syria has hit hundreds, with a death toll likely to exceed 100. This is very likely the Assad regime, under the continuing protection of Russia. The US officially blames Assad and Obama. Because Trump would rather blame Obama instead of Putin.
• As forewarned, the zombie of a Republican healthcare bill has emerged. It looks like they're planning on gutting protections for existing conditions to help out with their conservative hardliners. I'm sure that will be popular with the people.
• More Congressional Review Act fuckery. This is getting such a workout. This time, Republicans have undone legislation that required workplaces to keep track of workplace injuries, reducing their paperwork requirements to just 6 months.
• The Senate has formally taken up Gorsuch's nomination vote. Fireworks expected soon. Mitch McConnell looks likely to use the nuclear option, which is really devastating for this place. McConnell has both no memory and no morals, and McCain continues to be a dick, saying he'll vote to change the rules, but warns that it's the end of the senate. Shakesville does him justice: "[McCain] pretend[s] to be a man of integrity, only to put party above country every time that it counts".
•  The US has withdrawn funding from the UN Population Fund (which provides maternity services globally), based on the State Department presently not functioning (and a pretty shitty argument about China). This is somewhat devastating for those who are served by it. Once again, the administration demonstrates that it thinks it can achieve world peace by military might, rather than by building community. This is completely backwards.
• Sessions has begun the process of undoing all police reform movements. Let me quote for you: "This raises the question of whether, under the current attorney general, the Department of Justice is going to walk away from its obligation to ensure that law enforcement across the country is following the Constitution." This is fucking terrifying.
• Speaking of the State Department, the agency is still completely understaffed. Because it was so important to get Obama's people out of there pronto.

Day 74: I smell a scandal!

Well, today felt like it was just one long list of scandal-worthy material. Warning: reading all of the following will give you a serious case of depression.

• Holy shit, Trump is trying to start a war with North Korea. Today he claimed that the US will deal with North Korea with or without China's assistance. Where are the State Department experts whose duty is to temper these rash statements? Oh, right. He fired them all. Trump is just adding kindling to an already (literally) explosive situation.
• Big news from the Washington Post: Betsy DeVos' brother Eric Prince met with high-ranking Russian counterparts to initiate a backdoor communication channel between Putin and Trump in January. This is getting ridiculous.
• Trump also signed the bill repealing internet privacy laws that most of the country was urging him to veto. The vast majority of the country (including Trump voters) were united against this bill. For the record, Ajit Pai is still a complete dick.
• After previous reports revealed that Trump had not been donating his salary, Trump made a grandiose spectacle of donating around $78K to the National Parks Service today. People were quick to point out that he wants to decrease the NPS's funding by about $2 billion, and that that amount covers less than half a day of security at Trump Tower (when he's not present).
• Democrats claim to have the numbers to uphold a filibuster in the Senate over the Supreme Court nominee. Gorusch's views are so extreme, masquerading behind a gentle face, that they are will justified in doing so. I seriously doubt that Republicans are well-justified in going nuclear.
• Trump met with President el-Sisi of Egypt today, and was lavish in his praise for a state that has previously received the cold shoulder because of human rights abuse and dictatorial rule. Trump said "We agree on so many things"; evidently, autocratic rule being one of them. Once again: THIS IS NOT NORMAL. Quick history recap: el-Sisi is the "leader of the military takeover that removed an elected president, oversaw a vicious security operation in which hundreds of protesters were gunned down in the streets of Cairo and has cemented his authority by filling prisons with his opponents while strangling the free press." And Trump is legitimizing him.
• More back-channel diplomacy: Business associates of Trump's met with the National Security Council to discuss lifting sanctions on Venezuela. What the hell are business-people doing petitioning the security council for??? This is all incredibly shady.
• Senators are looking into Jeff Session's decision to re-establish the use of private prisons by the DoJ, claiming it looks a lot like a reward to campaign donors. Keep digging, senators. I wish you luck!
• Finally, Trump changed his "Trust" clauses in Februrary - to allow him to take control of any assets at any time (assets range from profits to the entire business). He is, in all but name, still running his businesses.

Day 73: Gearing up for a Showdown

Another quiet weekend. This week, however, we're gearing up for a showdown at the Senate over the confirmation of Gorsuch. Will the filibuster work? Will the Senate go nuclear?

• Democrats are urging Trump to veto the bill blocking privacy online. I think the chances are slim, but it's worth a try.
• This takedown of Trump by the LA Times is a beautiful polemic. It'll make you feel better, I promise.

Day 72: Is Spring here?

Not a whole lot happened today.

• A report on the wealth of all White House staffers was released late yesterday. Apparently they own a ridiculous amount of assets. How can Kushner have positions on ~270 organizations? He can't do more than a day's work a year at most of them, and is obviously paid too much for what he does (or rather, doesn't) do.
• Concrete proof that the Obama administration wanted to preserve reports on Russian interference: they gave a list of CIA report numbers to various members of the senate!
• Having trouble keeping up with Trump's executive actions? Here's a rundown of the 45 he's taken so far.