How to even keep up? The White House is in chaos and the news comes at you like flaming arrows in a 3-D movie. So I took off my 3-D glasses and put on safety goggles to bring you today’s Good News Roundup.
Warning: my asides may contain snark.
Kellyanne Conway violates Hatch Act; White House says, I’m rubber, you’re glue:
The US Office of Special Counsel determined that White House counselor Kellyanne Conway violated federal ethics laws twice when she advocated for and against Senate candidates during television interviews last year — violations that ethics experts say warrant Conway's firing.
Special counsel Henry Kerner, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, argued that Conway repeatedly violated the 1939 Hatch Act, which prevents government employees from using their position to advance or promote any political party or candidate, even after receiving "significant training" on the law.
[...]
"Only in a world of alternative facts could Conway's televised words amount to anything other than advocacy against Jones," [Walter Shaub, the former head of the Office of Government Ethics under Presidents Barack Obama and Trump] wrote in a November Washington Post op-ed. "The case against Conway is airtight."
Dear Mr. Mueller, your attention please? Could we see some indictments?
Trump likes conflict, denies conflict, says everybody wants to work at White House, but . . . :
“It’s tough, I like conflict, I like having two people with different points of view – and I certainly have that – and then I make a decision,” he said at a joint press conference with visiting Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven. “But I like watching it, I like seeing it, and I think it’s the best way to go.”
[...]
Earlier in the day, Trump had denied that his West Wing was in “chaos,” but cryptically added “I still have some people that I want to change.” That poured fuel on speculation that he could part ways with troubled Cabinet officials, like Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin or Attorney General Jeff Sessions, or senior aides like national security advisor H.R. McMaster and chief of staff John Kelly.
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“The White House has tremendous energy, it has tremendous spirit. It is a great place to be working. Many, many people want every single job,” he said.
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In fact, however, the administration has approached Republicans in Congress, at trade associations and think tanks, and in the private sector for various executive branch jobs, only to be rebuffed, according to people who have turned down White House overtures.
Mexico discussed how to manipulate Kushner. Now guess what?
Senior adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, will visit Mexico on Wednesday and meet President Enrique Pena Nieto, amid strained relations over trade and Trump’s demands that Mexico pay for a border wall.
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The Mexican foreign ministry announced Kushner’s trip in a statement late on Tuesday. A senior U.S. administration official confirmed the visit, adding that meetings will focus on security, immigration and trade, among other issues.
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“I see it as one of the few things of consequence that he can do that don’t require security clearance,” said Agustin Barrios Gomez, a former federal congressman and head of the working group on the future of U.S.-Mexico relations at the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations.
That’s gotta hurt:
Donald Trump has tumbled more than 200 places in the world ranking of billionaires as a result of his fortune shrinking by more than $400m (£287m) to $3.1bn over the past year.
According to Forbes magazine’s annual ranking of the world’s wealthiest people, the US President slipped from 544th richest last year to 766th this year. It is the second year running that Trump’s fortune has dwindled.
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Losses at his golf courses, including Turnberry in Ayrshire, have increased forcing the President to inject cash to keep them afloat. Losses at Trump Turnberry, his biggest investment outside of the US, more than doubled to £17.6m in 2016. Trump Turnberry owes Trump £112m, nearly double the £63m it owed him the previous year.
Another cooperating witness:
George Nader, a Middle East expert connected to several associates of President Donald Trump, is now cooperating with the special counsel Robert Mueller and has testified before a grand jury in the Russia investigation, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
FBI investigators approached Nader when he landed at Washington Dulles International Airport in January and served him with search warrants and a grand jury subpoena, the report said. At the time, Nader was en route to Mar-a-Lago to meet with President Donald Trump and his associates to celebrate the anniversary of Trump's first year in office.
Nader's inclusion in the Russia probe stems from his involvement in two meetings he attended as an adviser to and representative of the United Arab Emirates' Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. The first meeting took place in New York in December 2016, and the second in the Seychelles islands in January 2017.
Daniels sues, uncovers Trump alias:
A former porn star filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump Tuesday to nullify a legal agreement that requires her be silent about an affair they allegedly had several years ago.
Stephanie Clifford, who worked as a pornographic performer under the name "Stormy Daniels," said the agreement is not valid because Trump never signed it himself.Instead, the agreement between Clifford and "David Dennison," which Clifford says is a pseudonym for Trump. Dennison is signed for under "EC" for EC, LLC, a private company Clifford says is supposed to represent Trump via Dennison.
Now, Mr. Mueller, please have your team search legal filings for “David Dennison” and “EC LLC.” It might be enlightening. Also, you could ask President Trump’s lawyers about any other aliases he may have used . . . .
The Woman tempted me:
A senior administrator at the Department of Housing and Urban Development accused department officials on Tuesday of conducting a “witch hunt” against whistle-blowers and demanded that Ben Carson, the HUD secretary, acknowledge that his wife had pressured officials to approve an expensive renovation of his office.
Texas votes:
Women running for Congress surged to big wins and Democrats smashed recent turnout levels in Texas’ first-in-the-nation 2018 primary elections, giving Republicans a potential glimpse of what’s ahead in the first midterms under President Donald Trump.
Energized and angry Democrats in Texas, where the GOP has dominated for decades, came out in force to surpass 1 million voters Tuesday — the first time the party has eclipsed that benchmark in a midterm primary since 2002, just months after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Equally striking was the showing by women on the ballot: Of the nearly 50 women running for Congress in Texas, more than half won their primaries outright or advanced to runoffs. What’s more, at least three of those runoffs in May will feature women going head-to-head, including a key race for Democrats in their bid to take control of the U.S. House this fall.
Nazis made him uncomfortable, but tariffs are crossing a line:
President Donald Trump's chief economic adviser, Gary Cohn, has resigned after losing a high-profile battle over tariffs the president wants to impose on steel and aluminum imports.
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Cohn was on the cusp of quitting last summer after Trump's infamous "very fine people on both sides" comment likening white supremacists to counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Va.
And here’s another who was okay with Nazis, but tariffs are too harsh:
This week, though, we learned that there are, in fact, limits to what Ryan will put up with, and they involve imperiling the legacy of his tax bill and upsetting his corporate sugar daddies. In the wake of the president’s decision to announce that he plans to effectively start a trade war, Ryan’s spokeswoman, AshLee Strong, said in a statement on Monday: “We are extremely worried about the consequences of a trade war and are urging the White House to not advance with this plan. The new tax-reform law has boosted the economy and we certainly don't want to jeopardize those gains.” To be clear, most people outside of the G.O.P. already expect the long-term effects of the tax bill to be a deficit-busting mess. But with Trump’s call to slap steel and aluminum imports with 25% and 10% tariffs, more or less out of spite, the havoc wreaked on the economy could be even worse, with experts estimating 146,000 job losses, among other consequences. Presumably, Ryan was also inspired to find his voice on the issue—and to fire off at least one passive-aggressive tweet—on account of the fact that the Koch brothers, who donated half a million dollars to his fundraising committee after the bill passed, harshly condemned the tariffs. And as they teach lawmakers on their first day on Capitol Hill, one mustn’t upset one’s benefactors.
Sorry for this next formatting SNAFU, I can’t get it to work properly. Evidently my safety goggles are not quite to my prescription.
Student sues:
A victim hailed as a hero during the Valentine's Day shooting massacre allegedly committed by a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is planning to sue the Florida school district.
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Now, a lawyer for the 15-year-old survivor has alerted Broward County officials that it will file a "notice of intent to file a claim" against the school district for alleged lapses in preventing the school shooting and protecting the students from harm.
Bumble bans gun photos:
If you're trying to offer tickets to the "gun show" on Bumble, it's going to have to be of the muscle tee variety only. The dating app is banning photos with guns from its platform.
Bumble is a dating app designed for women to make the first move. The app includes a "Bumble BFF" mode to meet friends and a "Bumble Bizz" mode to network and make career connections.
"As mass shootings continue to devastate communities across the country, it's time to state unequivocally that gun violence is not in line with our values, nor do these weapons belong on Bumble," the company said in a
blog post on Monday.
WV teachers win, kind of: (because, after all, legislators are state employees, right?)
West Virginia teachers and students could head back to class as early as Wednesday after the governor signed a bill which gives the educators a 5 percent pay hike and ends their nine-day strike.
Gov. Jim Justice signed the bill at an afternoon news conference Tuesday, announcing the agreement also grants a 5 percent pay raise to all state employees.
Washington state legalizes Net Neutrality:
Washington became the first state Monday to set up its own net-neutrality requirements after U.S. regulators repealed Obama-era rules that banned internet providers from blocking content or interfering with online traffic.
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Because the FCC prohibited state laws from contradicting its decision, opponents of the Washington law have said it would lead to lawsuits.
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But executive director Ron Main said last month that its member companies “have made legally enforceable public pledges that we do not take any action to block legal content; that we do not engage in throttling; that we do not discriminate; and that we will insure that our practices are transparent to all of our customers.”
First for women in Japan:
Japan’s navy on Tuesday appointed the first woman to command a warship squadron, including the flagship Izumo helicopter carrier, as it tries to lure more females to make up for a dearth of male recruits in graying Japan.
France to set legal sexual consent age:
France plans to fix the legal age of sexual consent at 15, meaning sex with someone younger than that would be considered rape.
Equality Minister Marlène Schiappa welcomed the move, which follows advice from doctors and legal experts.
I included these because they are good news for gender equality, and the more other countries move towards civil rights, the more pressure gets put on the US to do the same.
Okay, I’ve removed my goggles, wiped my brow, and hung up my goggles on their hook until next week. Have a great Wednesday and remember that we are all in this together!
Action item: remember, the Net Neutrality repeal is subject to the Congressional Review Act. We need only 51 votes to overturn and we have 50 pledged. Call your Senators!