Trump cans the acting AG, the Supreme Court reality show debuts tonight, and balls exploding.
Hours after Acting Attorney General Sally Yates refused to defend the new immigration ban, she was fired by the Trump administration. Yates’ firing (coming just days before she would have been leaving) was not much of a surprise, but the tone of the dismissal was pretty amazing (to the extent that anything can still amaze us). The White House statement said Yates (a 27-year veteran of the Justice Department) “betrayed” the department. “Ms. Yates is an Obama Administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration.” The statement went on to explain that Yates has been relieved. (At this point, she might be the only American who is…)
+ The moves by Yates and the White House have added intrigue to the already contentious Jeff Sessions confirmation process. In an amazing twist, Sessions questioned Yates during her own confirmation hearing in 2015, at which time he made it clear that she should defy orders “if the views the president wants to execute are unlawful.”
+ US diplomats defied a White House warning and sent “a memo to the State Department’s leadership that criticizes President Donald Trump’s temporary travel ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries. It is believed to be one of the most popularly supported statements of dissent in the department’s history.” Meanwhile Amazon and Expedia joined a suit brought by the State of Washington.
+ Not everyone is upset with the ban. According to the AP, the immigration order is playing well to Trump’s fans around nation. From the LA Times: For many in Arizona, it doesn’t get any better than this. From the NYT: In Ban on Migrants, Trump Supporters See a Promise Kept. And from WaPo: These Christian Syrians in Pa. back the travel ban. I found all four of these stories on the front pages of mainstream news sites. Don’t buy the cheap attempts to create a false equivalency between these sources and the propaganda sites spreading “alternative facts.”
Robe-i-Tusslin’
The news from the White House is coming at a fast and furious rate, and that pace will continue through Tuesday night when the president will unveil his Supreme Court pick. Trump will make the announcement during a prime time broadcast, and the two top prospects (Neil Gorsuch and Thomas Hardiman) are both going to be in DC to “to build suspense and keep the final selection under wraps.” (It’s gonna be a bummer for the guy that gets voted off the island.)
+ NPR: Here Is What It Takes To Confirm A Supreme Court Nominee.
It’s Personal
“Mezher had converted the master bedroom into a makeshift operations center. I found him sitting on the edge of the bed, casually flipping a hand grenade around his finger. ‘Welcome to Mosul,’ he said.” The New Yorker’s Luke Mogelson provides a riveting look inside the battle for Mosul through the experiences of swat team of Iraqis, all of whom have suffered at the hands of terrorists.
+ “Some of them have had no education at all since IS took over Mosul, once Iraq’s second-largest city, in June 2014. Others have been in IS-run madrassas where, besides studying the Koran, boys trained with weapons and girls did little more than cook and clean.” From The Economist: Schools are reopening in Mosul, after two years of jihadist rule. (If you’re feeling like politics has become too hard and exhausting in America over the past few months, read this for a reality check.)
+ A US commando was killed in Yemen in the first military operation approved by the new administration. “The U.S. military said it killed 14 militants in a raid on a powerful al Qaeda branch that has been a frequent target of U.S. drone strikes. Medics at the scene, however, said around 30 people, including 10 women and children, were killed.” From NBC: “Almost everything went wrong.”
+ “For me, it is easy to take for granted the life that my family and I get to live everyday. Words don’t do justice for the gratitude that I have for people like Ryan that sacrifice their lives fighting against evil, so that we may live with freedom.” Buster Posey of the Giants on Ryan Owens, the Navy Seal (and two-time bronze star recipient) killed in Yemen.
Going in Style
“These are luxury, nuclear-hardened bunkers that are engineered… to accommodate not just your physical protection but your mental well-being as well.” From the BBC: The nuclear bunkers designed for luxury living. All I need is coffee and some decent WiFi, and I’ll be fine. I am the cockroach of news curators.
+ Outside: Everything wrong with Peter Thiel’s doomsday survival plan. (When it hits the fan, the last people I will run to for advice are Internet nerds…)
Putinesque
The Russian election-hacking story has moved to the back-burner during a week of nonstop political news. But we still have a lot to learn about exactly what happened, and it’s getting weird. From Quartz: “The tale has become even more salacious with the reported arrest of three Russian cyber experts, one of whom was perp-walked out of a meeting with a bag over his head, and the suspicious death of a former KGB general.”
Gall the President’s Men
Steve Bannon was already controversial as a strategic advisor. And now with his role on the National Security Council, the former Breitbart editor gets to help decide war and peace.
+ From the excellent Reveal podcast: Steve Bannon had a big weekend in the White House. Get to know him.
+ “Kushner was f*cking furious … I’d never once heard him say he was angry throughout the entire campaign. But he was furious.” From Vanity Fair: Can Jared and Ivanka outrun Donald Trump’s scandals?
+ “Most Americans intuit that their president and his relatives have become vastly wealthier over the past four years. But rumors of graft are easy to dismiss. Because Trump has never released his tax returns, no one really knows.” Former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum imagines the near future in The Atlantic: How to Build an Autocracy.
The Plot Got Shot
“But you know, and I know, that had this shooter been a Muslim, who killed white Christians, tens of millions of people all over the world would’ve changed their profile picture to the Canadian flag. We’d be hearing harrowing tales of the survivors and seeing emotional reflections on those who lost their lives. The coverage would be non-stop.” Shaun King on the initial coverage of the mosque shooting in Quebec, and how it changed, and then pretty much stopped when the facts got involved.
Stud Poker
Consider this a PSA for those who like to play online card games. A Computer Just Clobbered Four Pros At Poker.
+ Everyone is getting beaten or put out of work by machines. Will adult stars be the next victims? (You want a joke about a NextDraft intern program, but I’m not taking the bait…).
+ And for some reason, this feels related: A Japanese smartphone you can wash with soap and water.
Motorin’
You’ve heard about the drugs. You’ve heard about the blood doping. And now professional cycling has a new scandal. Many of the competitors could be using motors. (I’m just gonna throw this out there, but maybe the Tour de France is just too damn hard to do naturally?)
Bottom of the News
The Super Bowl is coming up and you’ll be hearing a lot about Deflategate again. So let’s prepare for that by watching a couple guys inflating sports balls until they violently explode into rubbery shrapnel. (The slow motion of the soccer ball is a pretty close analogue for what happens to my head when I open my first batch of news tabs each morning.)
+ Joe Buck on Howard Stern. It’s an interesting chat on universal topics like social media, family dynamics, and hair plugs. And it’s not politics. Enjoy.
+ “An international team of researchers studied nearly 400 varieties” to answer one key question: Why do modern tomatoes taste like nothing?
