1. Update on the hiring of Russian guards for our embassy in Moscow. (Wed, 11/15 #6) NYT explains that Putin's retaliatory order that we reduce our embassy staff by 755 explains the need to hire local guards. Also a spokesperson for the State Department said that they would would be used primarily for things like registration of visitors and would not be allowed into sensitive areas. And the "no-bid" contract: Several U.S. companies had turned down contract offers. Am I completely reassured? No.
2. In a referendum on same-sex marriage, the Australian people voted 62% to 38% in favor. Almost 80% of voting age Australians took part in the survey. This referendum is non-binding and was initiated by Prime Minister Turnbull, who wanted to put pressure on conservatives in Parliament to change the law. Liberals believe they have enough votes in the Senate to pass it, and then it will be up to Parliament.
3. Two cheers for Jeff Sessions. There's so much negative to say about the Attorney General, his selectively faulty memory and his draconian retreat to the ugly past; but here's one hope that he will stand up for Justice's independence. In his Monday hearing, he held firm against Republicans' pressure to commit to appointing a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton. Ticking off the Republican talking points (mostly false or distorted), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) said, "It sure looks like" collusion between Clinton and the FBI. Sessions shot back: "'Looks like' is not enough," and then explained that career Justice Department officers will examine the charges, the evidence, and make a determination whether there is "probable cause" to open an investigation. Pressed on the issue, Sessions said: "I will commit to follow the law and to carry out my duties as Attorney General." His tone suggested that he does not expect there will be probable cause.
4. Jared Kushner made an unannounced trip to Saudi Arabia in late October and reportedly stayed up until 4 AM talking with the Crown Prince at his ranch. The two are close to the same age and seem to have formed a bond during two prior visits. Only days later, the Crown Prince, who seems more and more to be taking over the reins of government from his aging father, began a crack-down on "corruption." In all, 11 other princes and some 200 business elites were arrested and are still being held in captivity in the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riyadh (some hardship!). Many questions remain. Is this legitimate "cleaning house" or a bold consolidation of power in anticipation of his soon becoming the King? White House sources said that the Prince gave Kushner no "heads up" about the coming crack down. Nevertheless, President Trump was quick to praise, tweeting: "I have great confidence in King Salman and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia; they know exactly what they're doing. . . . Some of those they are harshly treating have been 'milking' their country for years." The Saudis are long-standing allies of the U.S., but they are also destabilizing the region with their war on Yemen and leading the blockade of Qatar. But they are bitter enemies of our enemy, Iran, which backs the rebels in Yemen. And there are some who fear that the Crown Prince may be ramping up for a war with Iran. Let's hope that Jared Kushner didn't promise that we would help -- or was it perhaps his mission to bring a message from Trump encouraging a war?
5. A merger between Time-Warner and AT-T is in the works, and it is raising concerns over whether a merger of the two communications giants would constitute an unacceptable monopoly through reduction in competition. The decision whether to block it will go through the Justice Department's Antitrust Division. But questions are being raised about whether Trump's Justice Department can be impartial, given his repeated attacks on the media and, in particular on CNN, which is owned by Time-Warner. Reportedly the Antitrust Division has asked them to sell CNN as a condition for approval of the merger. It's a good question. I'm personally very opposed to the consolidation of our news sources under control of a few powerful corporations. So I would oppose the merger on those grounds without knowing the particulars. But I also oppose meddling in such decisions for political purposes. And there's plenty of reason to suspect this cannot be non-politically motivated in a Trump administration.
6. The House passed it's tax bill. I haven't been getting into details about this, because this won't be the final version. The Senate is working on its own bill -- and they may not be able to pass it anyway. So I'll just say that everything we hear about both versions is bad, really bad. It so clearly is a transfer of wealth upward, from the middle class to the superwealthy; and they are doing it at the bidding of their few, very wealthy, top donors who are demanding the tax cuts. At the same time, they're piously proclaiming that it helps the working class families. One estimate has the Trump family saving about $1 billion over 10 years, while anyone making less than $75,000/year will pay increased taxes by the end of the decade. And for good measure, at the very last minute, the Senate threw in eliminating the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act, which will raise premiums on others, while 19 million will lose insurance. Another outrage: graduate students will now be taxed on the value of tuition grants they receive -- all in order to give tax cuts to billionaires.
7. Sexual assault charges continue to expand: I believe the count of women accusing Roy Moore is now up to nine. And now Sen. Al Franken has been named as having inappropriate sexual behavior with a fellow comedian during a USO tour back in 2006 before he entered politics. The accusations are of an inappropriate tongue kiss during rehearsal for a skit that actually involved a kiss (but which Franken had apparently written into the script himself) and later taking a photo of her while she was asleep on the plane, with Franken's hands covering her breasts (thought maybe not actually touching them), which was later circulated among those on the trip. Franken had treated it all as a joke at the time. Following the accuser's coming forward, he issued a sincere apology, which included an acknowledgement and an indication that he realizes now the seriousness of his acts and that it was not funny. She has accepted his apology and says it was not her intent to have him resign from the Senate. However, others, including several women senators and journalists, have called on him to resign.
Without wanting to minimize the inappropriateness of Franken's act or the suffering and humiliation experienced by his accuser -- I am concerned that, by putting all acts together under one rubric of "sexual assault," we muddy the distinction between heinous crimes like rape and child abuse, on the one hand; a pattern of persistent sexual harassment and dominating behavior, on another hand; and inappropriate pranks and overly aggressive sexual advances, on the other. Don't misunderstand. They are all wrong, all abuses of power; but perhaps we need some way of distinguishing the degree of offense. A New York Times article, just out, makes a distinction between a pattern of sexual abuse and a mistake.
Al Franken and Roy Moore both have done bad things to women (although so far only one has accused Franken); but Franken and Moore are not the same kind of men, their offenses are not the same, and their consequences do not deserve the same level of severity. In his written apology, Franken has called for the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate himself. Moore is still denying all and accusing the accusers of lying and faking his signature.
And then there's Donald Trump.
Ralph
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