Friday 8/25/17 - Day 218: Hurricane Harvey

As I write, Hurricane Harvey has just made landfall in Texas. If you're in that region, stay safe. The administration is largely unprepared for a natural disaster like this, of course. While it's likely to be the first disaster not of their own making, it will be a disaster for many people nonetheless. Fueled by warmer waters and temperatures from climate change, this is going to be a bad hurricane.

• Of course, the administration is seeking to capitalize on the hurricane: all border patrol checkpoints will remain operational during the hurricane. So, undocumented people find themselves in a tough position: try to evacuate, as advised, and risk deportation, or stay in place, and risk death. Note that undocumented people are typically the least capable of preparing themselves for a natural disaster. Note also that this is a break from previous policy.
• News sites are reporting that Gorka has been terminated from the administration. The self-styled expert on anything that buzzed into his head, I'll be glad never to hear from this idiot again. Of course, as a close friend of Bannon's, he's probably going straight to Breitbart.
• This evening, Trump issued a formal pardon for former sheriff Joe Arpaio. Arpaio, a despicable racist who was found guilty of criminal contempt for defying a judge’s order against prolonging traffic patrols targeting immigrants. This is actually terrifying - Trump has basically broadcast that a court's injunction against his policies has no teeth to back it up. As the ACLU put it, this is essentially an endorsement of racism.
• The first cracks from inside the administration emerge over Trump's Charlottesville response: National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn had harsh words for the administration. Now the rest of the administration should follow suit!
• Saturday is Women's Equality Day! Yup, it's official. Trump declared it late this evening. WTF? Like this was given any thought whatsoever.
• You may be unaware of what's going on in Venezuela, but it's not pretty down there at the moment. The administration has decided to implement a new round of sanctions against the country, in an effort to get them to reform. However, the state oil company Citgo is immune. Why? They donated half a million dollars for Trump's inauguration. I believe this satisfies the definition of corruption.
• Because people discovered that whatever gets Trump's attention last is what he literally forms policy based upon, Kelly is now trying to completely restrict the flow of unvetted information to Lord Turnip. This is a sad, sad state of affairs.
• Trump is rolling back regulations too fast even for oil and gas companies. Ugh.