S1P12 - Politics & News

A recap of politics and news since about 01/28/2019

National & International

• 01/28 - Speaker Pelosi invites Trump to deliver the SOTU on February 5th.
• 01/28 - US and Afghanistan Taliban agree in principle to a peace framework.
• 01/28 - The US announces sanctions on Venezuela.
• 01/28 - The Justice Department charges Chinese technology company Huawei and CFO with fraud.
• 01/28 - The CBO estimates that the #TrumpShutdown cost the US economy $11 billion.
• 01/29 - Now that they have been caught again, Eric Trump says the Trump Organization will use E-Verify to check new employees at all their properties. 
• 01/30 - US Intelligence chiefs disagree with Trump's assessment of global threats. 
• 01/31 - The Senate rebukes Trump's plan to withdraw US troops from Syria and Afghanistan by a vote of 68-23.
• 02/01 - US to suspend INF missile treaty with Russia.
• 02/01 - Senator Cory Booker (D, NJ) announces that he is running for president.
• 02/01 - The US economy added 304,000 jobs in January.
• 02/04 - Federal prosecutors in Manhattan subpoena documents from the Trump inauguration committee about donors, finances, and activities.
• 02/04 - Trump will nominate David Bernhardt to be Interior Secretary. He is currently the acting secretary and is a former oil lobbyist with numerous conflicts of interest. Another example of Trump appointing someone to gut the department they lead. 
• Leaks of Trump's schedule shows that he has about 60% "executive" time daily. Unscheduled time mostly for watching TV. His workday rarely starts before 11:00 am and usually ends by 5:00 pm. Such a hardworking guy. 
• The Trump Organization releases undocumented workers at five NY and NJ golf properties. That's not a mistake, but a company policy to hire cheap illegal help. 
• 02/04 - Trump will nominate David Malpass to lead the World Bank. Again, Trump appoints an organization's critic to lead it. 
• 02/05 - Trump delivers the State of the Union (SOTU) address to Congress. The usual over the top theatrics full of falsehoods. WP fact-checking.       
• Trump announces during SOTU that he will meet with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un on February 27 & 28 in Vietnam.   
• 02/07 - AG nominee William Barr clears the Judiciary Committee. Will now be voted on by the full Senate.
• 02/07 - Jeff Bezos accuses the owner of the National Enquirer, David Pecker, of extortion and blackmail. 
• 02/07 - The Supreme Court votes 5-4 to block Lousiana's abortion law. 
• The CFPB proposes delaying restrictions on payday lenders, the Shylocks of the world. Another perk for the fat cats and screw the poor.    
• 02/08 - Elizabeth Warren officially enters the presidential race. 
• 02/10 - Amy Klobuchar enters the presidential race.  
• 02/12 - The Senate passes a sweeping conservation bill 92-8.  
• 02/12 - Maybe a compromise agreement on the government funding and border security has been reached in Congress. It's up to Trump now.             

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