Day 155: Choked

This opening item is a big one.

• "I feel like we sort of choked" - a senior aide to Obama, regarding their response to the unfolding calamity of Russian election hacking. I strongly encourage you to read the whole thing, and find out how the Obama administration stayed mum on the Russian threat so as to appear not to politicize the issue. Might as well have had them rooting for Republicans...
• Cracks are showing in the support of the Republican death bill. Keep up that pressure!
• The Trump administration is being particularly opaque in dealings with the media. Lately, they've been holding "off-camera" press conferences (if holding them at all). CNN's response was to send a sketch artist to the briefing. From the article: "The Trump White House has been cutting back on the frequency and the length of on-camera briefings" and "The White House has also prohibited live audio broadcasts of the briefing
  T. This is he White House has also prohibited live audio broadcasts of the briefing
  ". This is terrible for government transparency.
• What the fuck is the administration doing? "The Trump administration on Friday moved to eliminate the State Department unit responsible for dealing with Afghanistan and Pakistan — transferring its duties to a regional bureau whose leadership ranks have been decimated... The development came with less than a day's notice."
• Wow. I'll let this headline speak for itself: FBI official won't say that President Trump is not a Russian agent.
• Apparently Tillerson is frustrating the White House by caring more about setting the State Department up for solid functioning than appointing Republican political appointees. Huh.
• Trump signed a bill today "making it easier for the Department of Veterans Affairs to fire employees". Despite receiving Democrat support (an oddity), I'm still not sure that it's actually a good thing. 
• The NY Times crawled through Trump's public comments to construct a map of all of his lies during his time in office. It's really disturbing.

Here's an interesting read on our current state of affairs, from a bird's eye view. Good luck. Otherwise, have a great weekend and we'll be back on Monday.

Day 154: A Bill of Death

Today's coverage is dominated by the heinous "health care" bill that was released by Senate Republicans after much secrecy. Here's what I've distilled:

• This bill does away with the employer mandate and the individual mandate.
• It begins the process of dismantling federal support for Medicare.
• It allows states to set the level at which people are eligible for Medicare at 0% of the Federal Poverty Line (ie, Medicare doesn't exist).
• It strips back to completely barebones what is required of an insurance "plan".
• It eliminates the essential health benefits mandated by Obamacare, including maternity care, newborn care, mental health services, and prescription drug coverage.
• It targets abortion providers and abortion coverage.
• It reduces subsidies.
• And it does all of this by giving enormous tax cuts to the rich.
• From the mouth of Obama: "It hands enormous tax cuts to the rich and to the drug and insurance industries, paid for by cutting health care for everybody else."
• No wonder it was crafted in secrecy - this thing is vile, worse than the House bill on some important measures.

 Some sources:

• NY Times - G.O.P. Health Plan Is Really a Rollback of Medicaid
• Washington Post - Senate Republicans’ claim of saving individual health insurance markets could prove hollow

There's plenty more out there, but these two will give you enough of an overview. The whole thing is awful, awful, awful. Apparently a CBO score is expected on Monday; we'll find out just how bad it looks then. I'm predicting terrible. Apparently a conservative block of senators objects to some provisions, while a moderate block also has objections. There currently are insufficient votes to get this passed, but the tweaking has yet to begin. However, no amount of tweaking this bill will make it palatable. Please, keep calling your senators.

In other news:

• Trump says he doesn't have recordings of his discussions with Comey. Yawn. I've said it before: Don't listen to Trump; he only lies. Watch what he does.
• More on the election hacking: hackers got hold of voter registration information, and in at least one case, managed to modify the database. Haven't we been told for 8 months that it would be impossible to modify voter rolls? This should be setting off alarm bells!
• Dozens of disabled protestors were dragged from their wheelchairs by police at a protest against the "health care" bill today. This really makes those police look bad.
• The Directors of National Intelligence and the NSA told Mueller that Trump pressured them to publicly say that there was no collusion with Russia. How's that obstruction charge going?
• The mass arrests on Inauguration Day followed by reports of maltreatment were already bad. Now we have multiple arestees suing the police department with charges of rape. This report is really awful. I don't know what to say. Police are already shielded so strongly from the law in this country that they can murder people without repercussions. I wish the plaintiffs luck.
• Remember how Trump promised to rid Washington of special interests? One of Trump's recent appointees is a lobbyist for Saudi Arabia who has been paid almost half a million dollars to represent their interests. Disgusting.

Day 153: Mixed Bag

Today is an odd mixed-bag of headlines. Nothing particularly major, but bits and pieces from all walks.

• Trump wants solar panels on his wall. Of course, he's claiming it's his own idea (it isn't). Of course, a stupendously better idea would be to invest the money earmarked for the wall in solar panels.
• A DHS official in a senate hearing reported she knew of evidence of Russian electoral hacking in 21 states. Not quite as many as had been previously leaked, but still definitely worth paying attention to.
• Now Sessions has retained counsel too. His lawyer sounds like a terrible person.
• The DHS never ran any audits to determine if the election results were hacked. This seems monumentally stupid to me. They should be required to run risk-limiting audits by default.
• Under likely pressure from the White House, the House has accused the Senate's sanctions bill of violating the constitution. This appears to be a delaying tactic; the House could easily remedy the supposed situation.
• The EPA plans to make 8% of their workforce redundant. Remember that the EPA is still in a hiring freeze. Yup, hard to do your job at the EPA in this climate. Disgusting.
• Trump wants sharp cuts to subsidized housing in every program except the one that makes him a profit. Why am I no longer surprised...
• Having essentially forced out the previous government loan chief, DeVos has picked a new candidate for the job who is a relative nobody, has limited experience, and an extremely dodgy-sounding PhD. This is going to end in tears. There is no other way.
• Yikes - Senate Republicans seem to be setting up to rewrite the senate rules again in order to get their crappy healthcare bill through. This is an incredibly dangerous precedent to set. Shifting the goalposts every time you don't get your way is no way to govern.

Day 152: A Promise

So, we've been promised a health care bill on Thursday. Pigs may fly. Here's an update on what's been leaked about it so far. There appears to be troubled among Republican senators regarding how to treat opioid addiction, too.

In other news:

• Republicans held the day in special elections in South Carolina and Georgia. The special election in Georgia had huge sums of money thrown at it, but John Ossoff fell short 5% in a very high turnout election. The South Carolina election had a much lower turnout, and had the democrat trailing by only 3%.
• Despite strong concerns that the national security apparatus had regarding Flynn, the new CIA director was happy to tell him CIA secrets... This all looks shady for Pompeo.
• Fresh from shooting down a Syrian plane, the US has now shot down a Syrian drone. This seems to be escalating.
• Tillerson has decided he wants to work with Russia on... wait for it... cyberwarfare and cybersecurity. I don't understand, and I think he's got some strong articulating to do.
• And finally, Pruitt is still cleaning up at the EPA, dismantling as much of it as he possibly can. They're not going to be able to do their jobs at all, soon. "This says to me that they do not want objective science."

Day 151: Save our health care

Another day down...

• Republicans are trying to push their crappy health care bill through the senate before the July 4th recess. Presently, the entire thing is a secret. They are refusing to allow Democrats ten hours to review the bill before less than 20 hours of debate before a vote, in what can only be described as a brazenly undemocratic sham. A reminder that the Obamacare vote in the senate had 25 days of debate, with numerous Republican amendments being discussed and adopted. Democrats have responded by withholding consent in all senate operations. Please contact your Senators. (I'm sorry for being a broken record.)
• In what is going to be a diplomatic nightmare, US coalition forces shot down a Syrian plane. Russia responded sharply, warning that aircraft in certain airspaces will be treated as targets.
• In a patronizing display of bullshit, Trump met with the President of Panama, and made public remarks that the US did a good job building the Panama Canal.
• Essentially everybody just resigned from the President's Advisory Council on HIV/Aids. Basically, the administration wasn't listening to them and was actively undermining them. None of this is normal or good.
• Rick Perry, Secretary for Energy, has gone on the record disputing human involvement with climate change. Apparently CO2 is harmless, folks. Further evidence that this administration is dangerously incompetent.
• The State Department just fucked over students in its fellowship program. Just read the first few paragraphs of this article. This is absolutely pathetic, particularly when you have the creme de la creme wanting to work with you.
• The White House is suppressing the release of information by declining to hold any press briefings. This is completely unacceptable from the government, who only govern because of We the People.
• The White House is pushing House Republicans to defang the Russian sanctions bill that the Senate passed last week.
• Remember Manafort? Apparently he had even more meetings that we should be worried about...
• ICE continues to be terrible.

Day 150: Another quiet weekend

Once again, nothing new to report this Sunday. I've decided that I won't update over weekends henceforth, unless there's something really worth reporting on. Things have quietened down a lot since since passing the first hundred days.

Day 149: Summertime

Not much on the radar today. I found a single article of interest from the NY Times, who took a look at how Trump is picking his friends in the international arena. They suggest that he's far more likely to side with people who he's done business with, often in disagreement with his own State Department.

Otherwise, I hope you're enjoying a quiet weekend.

Day 148: Breaking up with Cuba

Today was oddly quiet for a weekday. Perhaps people realized that the rest of the week has already been so horrible that they've given us a reprieve? I doubt it.

• Trump has backtracked on relations with Cuba, undoing (but not completely rolling back) progress made by Obama. This was one aspect of Obama's presidency that I was really proud of, and I'm disgusted that Trump has put his grubby fingers on it again. Of course, Trump referred to it as a "one-sided deal", because anything Trump doesn't like is reflexively called a "one-sided deal". This wasn't a deal at all; it was an important thawing of relations, and Trump has zero understanding of it.
• Today, the Department of Homeland Security said that it would not be dropping support for the DACA program (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). DACA immigrants are sometimes referred to as "Dreamers". While ostensibly good news, it's not like being a Dreamer was ever any protection against ICE agents who want to kick you out. The deferred action for parents part of the program, which was suspended and ultimately led to a tied supreme court, was completely dropped, however.
• In what seems absurd, Trump's personal lawyer has lawyered up, indicating that he may be a person of interest in Mueller's probe.
• The war in Afghanistan is being escalated by increasing the number of troops there by 4,000, almost a 50% increase. This war has been going since 2001ish, and seems to be the neverending war.

This has nothing to do with the administration, but is bound to become political: Amazon has launched a takeover bid for WholeFoods. Here is an opinion piece that cautions about the political power that the monopoly that is Amazon wields that I think is worth reading. 

Day 147: Shady Business

I'm just going to dive straight into this one.

• Senators from both sides of the aisle are complaining about the secretive drafting of the health care bill in the Senate.
• Trump also tried to get the NSA Chief to absolve him of any Russian collusion. Wow, he tried everybody, didn't he?
• Remember how Sessions refused to answers questions, based on the possibility of a claim of executive privilege? Here's an analysis of that tactic, which has now been employed three times in the span of a week. This is well worth reading.
• Pence is apparently lawyering up in response to the Russian investigations. He's bound to be as neck-deep as everybody else, so this is probably a good move for him.
• Sessions appears to have been caught in a lie. A lobbyist working for Russian interests met with him a few times and even helped write part of a foreign policy speech by Trump.
• After a white male attacks members of congress in broad daylight, who do you think they might be concerned about? Why, Muslims of course! This report is disgusting.
• The Department of Energy is shutting down their office working on the effects of climate change abroad. The administration's response to climate change is so utterly, utterly depressing.
• Manafort continues being an incredibly shady shit, doing international deals promising Chinese access to Trump, despite being the subject of an FBI investigation.
• Standing Rock protestors have had a victory in court. A judge ruled that "the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to perform an adequate study of the pipeline’s environmental consequences when it first approved its construction". However, he did not shut down the pipeline, instead ordering further environmental review and further hearings on whether it should be shut down.
• Here's a great article about the obstruction of justice charge and what appears to be a subsequent investigation into financial dealings. A somewhat speculative but very enjoyable read.

Day 146: Shooting

Another day, another slew of bad news. I long for the days when I could trust the administration to do something reasonable.

• A lone gunman with an axe to grind against Republicans started shooting at a congressional baseball team practice, hitting a Republican congressman among others, before dying in a shootout with police. Of course, Republicans are now crying out for laxer gun control laws. It's been repeatedly noted that almost all gun violence occurs from people with a history of domestic violence, including this one. Is there a reason people refuse to listen? The obvious answer is terrifying.
• In addition to this shooting, which made national news, there were at least two other shootings in the US today. Why the fuck can't we do something about this, like every other civilized country in the world?
• Trump reassured the mayor of a Virginia island that is vanishing from climate change and rising sea levels that the island isn't going anywhere, and that we just need to deal with erosion. These people have their heads so far in the sand they're going to hit water soon.
• In an attempt to mitigate the argument at the Supreme Court that his travel ban has already expired and so their hearing is moot anyway, Trump amended his executive order to start it over for another 90 days. Well, the original 90 days weren't important (we've had almost 146!), why would the next 90 be? This is ridiculous.
• Trump's picks for federal courts sound like great people. All have been so far drawn from the rolls of the ultra-conservative Federalist Society. This is what stacking the judiciary looks like. At least one of them had a trainwreck of a confirmation hearing though. Maybe select better candidates for judges?
• The Senate passed that bill hitting Russia with sanctions. Tillerson is still batting for Russia.
• Mueller is now investigating Trump for obstruction of justice. Good.
• Almost 200 democrats in Congress are suing Trump for his foreign business dealings. This one is well worth reading. I particularly like this paragraph: “It puts the government in the position of saying that nobody can address this — not hotel competitors, not states, not members of Congress. And you cannot get away with that in a rule-of-law system.”
• A reminder to please keep calling about the Republican's healthcare bill. 
• Betsy De Vos is planning to rework Obama-era rules restraining predatory for-profit schools. Because of course she is. The Obama regulations were long overdue, and relaxing them is not a satisfactory option. I remain disgusted with everything that De Vos does.
• And finally, because Sessions has flatly denied it, here is a photograph from Getty Images of Sessions with the Russian ambassador at the Mayflower Hotel last year. (Original)

Day 145: Sessions Testimony

Today we had Sessions' testimony, where he essentially turned up and said "I'm not talking to you!"

• He strongly denied a third meeting with the Russian ambassador in a hotel room.
• Despite Trump not invoking executive privilege, Sessions was happy to do so for him. Furthermore, he was often spectacularly evasive and particularly forgetful.
• Kamala Harris was the only senator to call bullshit, pressing Sessions in a beautiful manner. She was shut down by a number of male senators, coming to the defense of the poor old forgetful white man.
• At least one journalist is sick of the bullshit, too.

As predicted, Sessions essentially ran interference for the President, without providing any information. His testimony highlights that Republicans are deeply uninterested in what Russia did to the US election in 2016. We should all be worried about that (both Republicans and Russia).

In (so much) other news:

• Big news today in the Russian hacking scandal: the attack was far broader than previously imagined, hitting multiple systems across 39 states. Read this, and demand action.
• A bipartisan agreement in the Senate to impose sanctions against Russia while also keeping the White House's grubby mitts off any sanctions has been reached. While Trump can try to veto it, it would put him in an incredibly awkward situation. However, fear not - not all is lost in the administration! Tillerson has gone out to bat for the Russians.
• In addition to the House trying to water down Dodd-Frank, the White House is also doing their darndest to do the same. This is primarily about loosening restrictions on the risky behavior of rich people, and I object!
• I'll let this headline speak for itself: Trump Administration Tosses Rule Protecting Endangered Whales and Sea Turtles
• Most Trump properties being sold are now sold to LLCs, which hide the true owners from the public record (compared to 4% before the election). There is a very real possibility of foreign governments at work, here.
• Because prisoners are meant to be exploited for monetary gain, the FCC dropped a rule capping phone call rates for prisoners to their family. Evidence that such calls reduce recidivism be damned.
• The Senate Rules Committee briefly tried to stop journalists from accessing Senators almost completely, before an uproar had them reverse course.
• In further anti-climate action, the US refused to sign the G7 document on climate change. Instead, the EPA released a completely fucked up statement claiming that they were moving on from carbon to worrying about marine litter and resource efficiency.
• ICE is up to its old tricks, this time trying to deport Iraqi Christians, in what is effectively a death sentence. Insofar as I can tell, this is the first move by the administration against its Christian support base.
• The FDA has undone more of Michelle Obama's legacy, this time rolling back regulations on clearer food labeling. I really don't have words.
• Sessions wants to go after providers of marijuana in states that have legalized medical marijuana, asking Congress to undo a 2014 rule that prohibits the DoJ doing so. Experts warn that doing so would greatly exacerbate the opioid crisis, but Sessions just wants his war on drugs.

I just want to reiterate that this administration does not represent me.

Day 144: A Gross!

Twelve twelves, as they say, form a gross. And what could be more gross than this first item?

• Trump had the most bizarre cabinet meeting today, where his cabinet members took turns trying to one-up each other in flattering him. He also claimed to be the most successful President ever, using an obviously-flawed metric that showed nothing of the sort. During the adulating praise, Trump just sat there and grinned. His cabinet has obviously figured out what makes him happy, and it spineless enough to grovel before him in such a disgusting display.
• Trump's travel ban has faced another setback in the 9th Circuit of Appeals, which essentially held up the ban on the ban. The Department of Justice has appealed to the Supreme Court, based on the results of a similar case in the 4th Circuit of Appeals.
• The Attorney-Generals of Maryland and DC have sued Trump in court over his conflicts of interest, alleging a breach of his constitutional oath. It's a bit of a long shot, but as they said, "We're getting in here to be the check and balance that it appears Congress is unwilling to be." I wish them luck.
• Sessions will be testifying in an open hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee tomorrow. Ostensibly, this is in response to Comey's accusations from last week. Realistically, it's an attempt to run interference for Trump.
• 13 Republican Male Senators are meeting in secret to push through their healthcare bill, and they think they're getting closer. They refuse to release a draft of their bill, and plan to bring it to a vote before anybody has a chance to digest it. Please call your senators and let them know your mind.
• We have the COVFEFE bill, which aims to put Trump's personal twitter account on the same status as the POTUS account, for the purpose of the Presidential Records Act. Enough said.
• Interior Secretary Zinke has recommended scaling back "Bear's Ears" National Monument in his interim report on National Monuments. Of course he has, because that's what Trump told him to do.
• This article on how Russia is targeting the US military through online channels is incredibly disturbing. So is this one on Russian efforts on industrial sabotage. Does the administration care? Of course not - it's trying to remove sanctions on Russia, because wouldn't it be good to be friends with Russia again?

Day 143: LGBTQ March

In the election campaign, Trump often claimed he was a great friend of the LGBTQ community. I don't know how anybody fell for that. Regardless, a very large group of people showed up in Washington DC today to remind him of his promises.

Otherwise, it's Sunday. Go and enjoy the warm weather!

UPDATE: Puerto Rico had their referendum on statehood today. They overwhelmingly voted in favor of becoming the 51st state of the union (97% in favor). I wish them well in trying their luck with this Congress.

Days 141 and 142: Fallout from Comey

Today's (and yesterday's) coverage was mostly dominated by repercussions of Comey's testimony on Thursday. Diving straight into it:

• Trump's response to Comey's testimony: "He's lying!" Who do we trust more? Trump or Comey? The question is rhetorical.
• Trump has offered to speak under oath in response to Comey's testimony. Not sure where this will go. Nobody trusts a word he says anyway.
• Sessions will also speak under oath in response to Comey's testimony. Also not sure what Sessions plans to achieve with this. Also don't trust a word he says.
• Add to this that Congress is asking the White House if any taped recordings of conversations exists (like Trump suggested). That could be a gold mine, if they do.
• In a piece of amazing mental gymnastics, Paul Ryan has insisted that Republicans would be AOK with a Democrat president trying to do what Trump has been doing.
• On the growing diplomatic crisis in Qatar, Trump and his State Department have issued completely opposite statements within hours of each other. No wonder the rest of the world has stopped trusting the US!
• Under obvious pressure from his advisors, Trump made a statement committing the US to their responsibilities under NATO. That said, nobody trusts Trump anyway, so it's not clear that that statement actually provides any allies any sense of relief.
• This week was supposedly "infrastructure week" (it was really overshadowed, wasn't it?). Apart from the air control tower privatization scheme, there really hasn't been much else announced. There was a bit on Friday about "permit reform", but given that the past three presidents also focused on this, I'll be surprised if much will be done (other than relaxing standards). There was the announcement of a couple of councils that were originally introduced under Obama. Let's not forget that Trump's entire infrastructure plan is a scam.
• The White House Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) has claimed that Trump isn't violating the emoluments clause, because George Washington made money on a side business too. Honestly, the OLC is really stretching a lot of their work recently. I'm rather disappointed that their lawyers aren't taking a principled stand.
• Despite previous claims that they would write their bill properly, Mitch McConnell has invoked a procedural step to fast-track the senate Obamacare repeal bill, without any committee hearings or discussions. This continues to be incredibly shady, and this news is getting lost under all of the other smoke. Please call your senators and ask them to oppose the secret monstrosity!

Not strictly regarding the administration, but related to the rising autocracy:

• A journalist is facing up to 75 years in prison for doing their job, covering protests against Trump.
• ICE has detained a high school student who was due to graduate next week for deportation.

Both of these stories lead one to worry about the abuse of power for no benefit other than to quell opposition and dissent that this administration seems to pride itself upon.

Day 140: Comey's Testimony

Today's coverage was overwhelmingly dominated by Comey's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. There is so much coverage of the event out there; I've tried to cull down to a reasonable amount of reading.

• Here's a good overview of what happened. Long story short: Comey called Trump a liar at least five times, and otherwise held up under immense pressure. Plenty of mud was slung at Trump.
• Trump didn't tweet about the testimony, but the RNC and Trump's lawyer put out plenty of statements attempting to undercut the testimony. The best defense that Republicans could muster was that Trump is incompetent/"new at this". This is disingenuous; Trump knew exactly what he was doing. He was trying to live above the rules, like he has his entire life.
• The case has been made for obstruction of justice. Special Counsel Mueller will have to make that call, however.

As usual, Republicans have been covering for Trump like he can do no wrong. It was never Comey's job to hold Trump accountable; it is presently Republican's job to do exactly that. But, like climate leadership, they've abdicated that responsibility too.

In other news:

• The House passed a bill to unwind Dodd-Frank. Just what we need - to go back to the situation that created the 2008 global financial crisis. This one will make Wall St very, very happy, and is incredibly dangerous.
• Senate Republicans were quietly working to repeal Obamacare while Comey was testifying, using closed-doors meetings to pursue their agenda. It looks increasingly like they're going to try to make this slip through quickly, quietly and secretively. Be prepared to resist!
• So there was an election in the UK... It looks likely that they'll still be stuck with Theresa May (of "Let's loosen human rights laws to make policing easier" fame), but a hung parliament is all but guaranteed to stymie her somewhat.

Day 139: Preparing for Comey

Most of the buzz today comes from Comey's prepared statements for tomorrow's hearing, which were released in advance. Tomorrow may well get interesting. It's somewhat amazing that a lot of daytime TV is cancelling their regularly scheduled viewing to show what's happening in a senate hearing...

• Comey's prepared statements for tomorrow's testimony have been released. They contain just statements of fact, not opinion. Here is the document, along with a full analysis of the statements. While the statement doesn't particularly show any illegal behavior from Trump, it certainly displays that he has engaged in behavior completely unbefiting of his office. Yes, coercion from the President is not illegal, but...
• In addition to Comey's statement, Dan Coats, Director of National Intelligence, was also asked by Trump to try to get Comey to back off.
• In an attempt to divert attention from Comey, Trump nominated Chris Wray to head the FBI (by Twitter, no less). I don't know much about Wray, but some people seem to think this was a reasonable choice. Others are somewhat more concerned, for what appear to be good reasons.
• There was a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing today with a number of big actors in the national intelligence apparatus (McCabe, Coats, Rogers, Rosenstein). Insofar as I've read, most of the interviewees punted on their questions, saying that Comey would have the desired answers tomorrow. It appears that Democrats were furious at the evasion.
• Those who should know suggest that Comey's evidence is enough for an obstruction of justice charge.
• It appears that the Qatar diplomatic crisis was initiated by Russian hackers, who planted fake documents. This article has an excellent overview of what's going on, which appears to really be quite serious.
• Even Fox News has had a go at Trump over his Twitter tirades.
• North Korea has claimed the moral high ground over their participation in the Paris accords. Way to go, Trump.

Did sexism play a role in the 2016 election? Almost certainly. Warning: depressing reading, but also good statistics.

Day 138: Continued Scandals

Every day, we have multiple new revelations about how completely autocratic and corrupt this administration is. I'm just going to dive right into this..

• Even after Flynn was fired, the administration was still trying to unilaterally remove sanctions against Russia. Holy fuck, will these guys stop at nothing?!
• On the back of yesterday's news that Russians targeted voting systems in the US, somebody with further information said that that report was only the tip of the iceberg. This is terrifying, and should present a strong wake-up call to those planning to run free and fair elections next year. Oh wait, that's not the Republicans, is it?
• That $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia that Trump was touting? Completely fake. It was negotiated by the Obama administration. Furthermore, it's not a deal, just some letters of interest. We literally can't trust Trump on anything. This administration lies about absolutely everything. Not a word they utter can be trusted.
• Trump's hotels have received at least a quarter of a million dollars from Saudi Arabia in emoluments as part of a lobbying campaign. There is a reason why we have the emoluments clause, and this is exactly it. Where are the Republicans who cling to their precious constitution now?
• Trump is foolishly wading into a diplomatic row in the Middle East that he has no business being a part of, by attempting to claim responsibility for any benefits that arise out of it. I'm not entirely sure what's going on here, but it seems that Trump would do well to keep his big mouth shut.
• Back in 2007, Eric Trump founded the aptly-named Eric Trump Foundation to raise money for kids cancer research. It was even legitimate until 2011, at which point it was repurposed to line the Trumps' pockets. Are you surprised?
• Betsy DeVos claimed today that it isn't her department's job to protect LGBTQ students from discrimination in schools. Taking a cue from her boss, this is an appalling abdication of responsibility.
• An update on the Senate's version of the healthcare bill. Why can't this zombie just die?

In good news: the US Climate Alliance now boasts 12 states and Puerto Rico as members. In not so good news, they're all solidly blue states... Why are no red states joining???

In incredibly disturbing news, Theresa May, Prime Minister of the UK, has called for human rights laws to be changed in order to make it easier to pursue terrorists. This is absolutely fucking terrifying. You do NOT mess with human rights.

Day 137: Russian Election Attacks

Our scoop of the day (mmm, strawberry!) comes from a top secret NSA report.

• Days before the 2016 election, Russia was involved in both spear-phishing and hacking attempts against US voting software and electoral officials. Given this, any collusion with Russia at this stage should be accompanied by a charge of treason.
• This week has been dubbed "infrastructure week" by the administration, as it rolls out a series of plans. Better would be to describe it as "privatization week", because that's about all that they're offering. I fully support investing in infrastructure, which has historically been associated with economic stimulus along with improved safety and services. Today's idea: privatize air traffic control. I think Nancy Pelosi's response is pretty accurate: this is a tired and rejected idea that will likely compromise safety.
• As you may have noticed, I try very hard not to comment on Trump's twitter habits. However, a few articles deserve attention. The non-partisan-to-a-fault Associated Press has condemned Trump's tweeting during crises, saying that he cannot be counted upon to deliver accurate information. Furthermore, his words are designed to incite fear, essentially giving terrorists what they want. He is quick to jump to conclusions and aggressively attacks suspected Islamist attacks. At best, he should be ignored.
• Remember how they said it would all be ok because Trump would have adults in the room to advise him? Well, they're around, but Trump isn't in that room. Remember his recent speech where he specifically refused to pledge US commitment to the NATO treaty? Before giving that speech, all of those adults had made sure that that commitment was present in it. He essentially blindsided his foreign policy team. I've said it before: Trump is all sorts of dangerous. This is exhibit A.
• Trump has doubled down on his travel ban, going so far as to call it a "TRAVEL BAN". The DoJ lawyers who have repeatedly claimed that it's not a ban are likely to be supremely unimpressed, given that they've just filed to the Supreme Court to try and have it reinstated.
• In a continued abdication of global responsibility, the US is continuing to threaten to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council.
• Career diplomats at the very highest levels are quietly revolting against Trump, with the latest being an ambassadorial resignation over the withdrawal from the Paris agreement.

How on earth has a diet of daily scandals become the new normal? It's exhausting!

Day 136: Sunday

I haven't seen a whole lot today. Weekends tend to be thankfully quiet, now that the initial burst of activity from the new administration is over.

• The NY Times has a good rundown on Vnesheconombank (VEB), the "bank" that Kushner has come under fire for meeting executives of. More properly classified, this is a Russian government agency. Worth understanding to appreciate how some other news is unfolding.
• A nice analysis of how the "party of no" is still just the "party of no", without any ideas for themselves.

Day 135: Terrorist attack in London

For the second time this year, we have a terrorist attack in London. The country was still reeling from the Manchester bombing last week. I am so sorry.

I am also disgusted that instead of adopting policies to reduce othering and minimize the propagation of extremism, our administration is hell-bent on recruiting violent extremists through the deplorable treatment of anybody who isn't a straight white Christian male.

• The "March for Truth" protests drew modest crowd sizes across the country today.
• At the UN, Ambassador Haley made some remarks where she gave an incredibly weak statement that Trump thinks humans might have some small influence on the climate. Pruitt had some terrible words too: "The world applauded when we joined Paris. And you know why? I think they applauded because they knew it would put this country at a disadvantage." No, the world applauded because it seemed like there was a chance that something might actually get done with the US onboard, unlike the Kyoto Protocol.

Otherwise, I'm hoping for a quiet weekend.

Day 134: More fallout

At least it's Friday?

• The rest of the world continued their condemnation of the US today, rallying around the Paris accords.
• Remember how Congress is supposed to act as a check on the Executive branch? Part of that process occurs by Congress placing requests for information from various parts of the Executive, and the Executive responding. Now, it appears that the administration has issued a blanket policy for departments: only respond to Congressional committee chairpersons. Because all committees are chaired by Republicans, this amounts to a policy saying "Ignore all requests from Democrats". The autocracy solidifies itself. This is not normal and not OK.
• The congressional report on extraordinary rendition and torture, written through congressional committees in the Obama years, has been locked in the senate vault, away from FOIA requests. Transparency, who needs it? It's not like the administration is going to bring back torture? Oh, that's right, that was a campaign promise from Trump...
• The incoming Trump administration was working furiously to unilaterally relax sanctions against Russia. The plans were apparently ready to go right after inauguration. Somebody almost certainly worked with Russian officials on this.
• In addition to this, we have reports of evidence of an early secret high-level meeting between Trump and his inner circle with Russian officials. The article is careful to say that the evidence is not proof, but still. This is all incredibly fishy, or as some put it, a "5-alarm f*cking fire".
• ICE continues to be out of control.

Finally, there are a bunch of protest marches occurring tomorrow. Find one near you and join in!

Day 133: Fuck the world

Today, Trump has relinquished the title of President. He no longer has any claim to it. Henceforth, he shall be known as the Potato in Chief. I understand that this is insulting to potatoes, and I apologize.

• The Potato in Chief has indicated that the US will begin the process of withdrawing from the Paris Accord. I am gutted. There is no "better deal for America" to save the world. There are no concessions to extract. We only have one planet. If we, collectively, do save this one, then the USA will be mentioned only as an impediment that the rest of the world had to overcome.
• The Potato has no idea what he has just done. He has no idea what the Paris Accord meant, or what the USA's role in it was.
• As I said yesterday, there is no benefit to this action, other than pleasing his base, who have admittedly been gunning for the environment for years.
• Pulling out of the accord has essentially no economic benefit, and is a huge political expenditure on the world stage, so much so that some are writing that the entire point of this is to give a big "fuck you" to the rest of the world in furtherance of his nationalistic ideals.
• The Potato claimed that he wanted to "renegotiate" the treaty for a better position for the US. This is not a crummy real estate deal. The whole point of this was to commit the US to maintaining its position as a world leader. EU leaders have rightfully rebuffed the Potato completely, firmly stating that the treaty cannot be renegotiated.
• Here's an annotation of the Potato's remarks, which were uncharacteristically dark, even by the standard of the inauguration speech.

Unsurprisingly, the Potato has been slammed from all corners for his "grotesque abdication of leadership", as John Kerry put it. Furthermore, I've never seen such international condemnation of the US.

In other depressing news:

• Remember back in December when the Obama administration seized a bunch of Russian properties that were being used for espionage? The Kremlin recently threatened the Potato's administration regarding them, and the administration is capitulating and planning on returning them with what seems to be no strings attached. Once again, the administration appears to be batting for Russia.
• The Potato's travel ban has been appealed by the administration to the Supreme Court.
• The EPA has offered buyouts to its staff in an attempt to trim their workforce down to the Potato's desired size. Even without the Potato's budget in place, the EPA is going to be hobbled.
• That ethics notice yesterday? It turns out that the Potato's entire fucking senior staff have had to be given ethics exemptions. When Obama gave exemptions (49 over the course of 8 years), a detailed letter was written indicating why that exemption was in the public interest. Potatohead has written 17 in just 3 months, with no justifications whatsoever. A number of those exemptions are incredibly sketchy, and some are likely to be illegal.
• The Potato has refused to recognize LGBTQ Pride Month. I wonder why the self-proclaimed ally is silent.
• The administration is planning to enforce federal drug laws in states that have "legalized" marijuana. They have a war on drugs to uphold!
• The administration doesn't like the Congressional Budget Office. Because the CBO has said bad things about Republican bills, Mick Mulvaney (White House Budget Tsar) has claimed the CBO is obsolete. This is an amazing display of wilful ignorance.
• A bunch more relatively minor Russia news. Here's a good overview.
• US visa applicants will now be asked for 15 years of biographical information and for all social media handles within the past 5 years. This will undoubtedly lead to lengthy delays and rejections based on innocent mistakes in the applications because who the hell remembers their address from 15 years ago?

Welp. Good luck, everybody.