Friends,
I apologize that you have not heard from me yet this week. Unfortunately, I had actual work to do, the type of work that my roommate says “I actually get paid to do”. Yes… and no. My employer, does, in fact, pay me in dollars and cents. But you all, pay me in something much more valuable – feigned appreciation and strained admiration. And thus, I’m back drinking Heineken and writing about politics.
Shutdown
To make this easier to understand for **business** folk, let’s go by the numbers:
33 days of the government shutdown
800,000 furloughed or unpaid workers
2 votes on the Senate floor today
0 bills passed on the Senate floor today
1 tweet from a Congressman who forgot about slavery
1 comment from Offset who certainly did not forget about slavery
Peter Welch, Democratic congressman from Vermont tweeted this on Tuesday:
Now, of course, the Congressman walked back his comments offering his “sincere apologies” for his statement which blatantly ignored slavery.
Offset, rapper, and former hubby of noted shutdown critic Cardi B, did not fall into a similar trap, instead stating that “Seeing people talk about how they can’t pay their bills but they have to work. That’s some slave s—”
Now, what has been done to address Offset’s eloquent concerns over federal workers continuing on at work without pay?
- This weekend President Trump released a “compromise” plan offering
- to extend temporary protections for young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children (DACA) and those fleeing disaster zones for three years
- in exchange for $5.7 billion for his border wall.
- Plus, he threw in $12.7 billion in disaster relief funding to sweeten the deal.
- The Senate held two mostly symbolic votes today:
- One on the Trump plan, which failed 50-47 (60 votes needed)
- And one on a Democratically endorsed plan to open the government without any funding for the wall with failed 52-44 even with 6 Republican votes
And… that’s about it. However, there are mumblings, set off by Senator Graham that the President would sign a three-week continuing resolution (CR) to open the government in exchange for a “down payment” on the wall.
How big of a down payment? Unclear.
Trump is now signaling he’d support such a bill if McConnell and Schumer can come to an agreement.
A CR would ensure federal workers get paychecks while buying Congress more time to come to an agreement. Let’s hope something gets done soon. Federal workers are set to miss a second paycheck tomorrow.
Reminder: this is not about policy. This is about winning. Trump wants a picture in front of a wall and Democrats want Trump, the self-described king of winning, to take a fat L. A physical barrier is necessary at some points along the border and unnecessary at others. Everyone knows that… and this is why people hate politics.
Covington Catholic
The scene captured above of Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann standing in front of a Native American man beating a drum. Sandmann is surrounded by a group of fellow high school students chanting.
Before I go any further, let’s be clear, this is not news. This is a reflection, a reflection of our media, politics, and society.
Within minutes of the incident, a video was posted of the students, donning MAGA hats, seemingly yelling at the elderly Native American man. A few days later, more videos were posted and it came to light the Native American man, Nathan Phillips, approached the students, to, supposedly sing a song of “peace” and deescalate a confrontation between the students and a group of Black Hebrew Isrealites, an extremist group that was heckling the Covington Catholic group.
That’s where I’ll stop with the narrative. If you want to read more you can do so here, here or here.
The real question is: why is this a story and what does it mean?
First: once the original video was posted, liberals jumped on board. “Yes! It’s everything I knew to be true about Trumpers, they are racist, aggressive and bad people.”
Then, when it came out the media was operating on a set of facts that did not tell the whole story, conservatives saw their opening: “I knew it! The liberal Media is out to get us! They will do anything to slander Trump supporters!”
This set off a series of apologies and self-reflections from American media.
What this is, in part, is a case study on how our personal experience determines how we process news. We want to see stories that reinforce our own beliefs.
And yet, this is still not the important aspect. The real question is: who has access to sympathy?
White Americans see a young white male being dragged through the mud, plastered with lies they immediately raise hell. How could you say such awful things about Nick? He’s just a child. White Americans think: “that could be my son”
It’s the same reason so many in this country came to the defense of Justice Cavanaugh, “that could be my husband”
But what about when a Latino child is forcibly separated from his parents? Or a black teenager is shot in the back after buying a candy bar? That produces a much less visceral reaction from people in this country. They do not look like me… therefore, they are not worth my anger.
Fundamentally, white boys have the privilege of being a children in this country. The privilege to make mistakes or present himself as arrogant. That, does not apply to children of color.
The story here is not whether or not these students are racists. Rather, the story is, why, when white men face potentially undeserving accusations we go to such great lengths to clear their name but when black or latino children endure real physical pain or death, we brush it off as a fact of life, or worse, we assume they must be guilty.
This is about the media yes, but more importantly it is about the presumption of innocence. Who does it apply to?
Food for thought.
Back to the news…
Venezuela
The United States government has formally recognized opposition leader, Juan Guaido as the President of Venezuela, not socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro.
This comes after months of civil turmoil after Maduro was reelected in what the majority of the world deemed a sham election.
Maduro has cut ties with the American government and has given American diplomats 72 hours to leave the country. The Trump Administration is ignoring that request, because it does not recognize Maduro’s authority.
Marco Rubio, Senator from Florida, took to the airwaves to assert there would be grave consequences if any US citizens are harmed in any way. Russia and China which are each deeply invested in Maduro’s rule have taken his side and warned the US not to intervene.
Kamala Harris
Harris, Senator from California, is running for President. The former Attorney General of California is seen by many as a front runner for the Democratic nomination, however, her past Career as a prosecutor may make her vulnerable among the Democratic party’s more liberal wing.
She came out firing, raising $1.5 million in the first 24 hours of her campaign.
Bite Sized Politics
- Elizabeth Warren, presidential Candidate and current Senator from Massachusetts is set to announce a proposal for a 2 percent additional tax on fortunes worth more than $50 million, and a 3 percent additional tax on fortunes worth more than $1 billion.
- Civil penalties for polluters declined to the lowest average since 1995. A decrease of about 85% according to an analysis by Cynthia Giles who led EPA enforcement under President Obama.
- Michael Cohen has postponed his public congressional testimony scheduled for February 7 citing threats against his family from President and his attorney Rudy Giulani.
- Robert Mueller’s team issued a rare public statement that disputed the BuzzFeed story reporting that President Trump had directed Cohen to lie to Congress.
- “BuzzFeed’s description of specific statements to the Special Counsel’s Office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen’s Congressional testimony are not accurate,” said Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller’s office, in a statement.
- New York State passed a bill affirming a woman’s right to receive an abortion prior to 24 weeks. The bill also allows for abortions after 24 weeks if the woman’s life or health is at risk.
- The House of Representatives passed a bill with bipartisan support (357-22) that prohibits federal funds from being used to withdraw from the NATO alliance.
- Los Angeles public school teachers reached a deal with City officials to end a weeklong strike.
Thanks,
Crawford
The Lens 