News Burst: July 11, 2017 (Patreon)

Hi!

I hope you’re all doing fantastic. I was going to actually wait and do a News Burst tomorrow, but since there’s an especially interesting and tantalizing story currently brewing, I figured now would be a better time to strike.

There’s little else to report on my end, other than to gently remind y’all that, as announced a month or so ago, I will be going on vacation in a week. I’ll be in New York and Pennsylvania from July 19th through July 26th, and there will be no new episodes of CLS on July 24th and July 28th. I will, however, endeavor to still get an update or two live for my beloved Patrons. =)

That’s all! Let’s jump in.

Donald Trump Jr. and a Possible Smoking Gun?: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/341443-trump-jr-releases-email-chain-on-conversations-with-russian-sources

My Take: Now this, my friends, is an interesting lead. After so much lack of substance, after a ton of hyperbole, dead end leads, and shredded hypotheses, a smoking gun might have actually emerged that connects those in President Trump’s personal orbit to the Russian government. And, unexpectedly, the person being implicated is none other than Trump’s namesake (and favorite) son. This is based on reporting starting with a New York Times article (linked below) that ultimately led to Trump Jr. himself all but confirming that a seemingly clandestine meeting took place between him and a possible Russian operative.

Now, I use the term “smoking gun” lightly, because ultimately, we have no fucking clue what actually happened. But what apparently occurred (and what seems to be confirmed by the actual e-mail chain that started this whole thing) is that a music publicist with a connection to both the Trump campaign and the Russian government facilitated a meeting in New York City between Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer who apparently had dirt on Clinton and/or her campaign, a lawyer who has a least tenuous ties to the Kremlin. Interestingly, the meeting seems to have had nothing to actually do with Clinton, and was more of a bait-and-switch designed to attempt a furthering of an unrelated policy matter (having to do with the adoption of Russian children).

The bad news for Trump Jr. is that, on the e-mail chain (which also included Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner), it seems to be clearly relayed that this woman has a connection to the Russian government, and has dirt on Hillary Clinton. In return, Trump Jr. seems to be eager to take the meeting. Regardless of if anything came of it (it doesn’t seem anything did), or if the woman had anything to share at all (she vociferously denies she ever had information, or would even be in a position to have information), both Trump Jr’s response and intentions are questionable, at best. Robert Mueller is apparently going to be adding all of this to the investigation, so now shit has gotten even further down the rabbit hole.

(Related Story | Original New York Times Report: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/10/us/politics/donald-trump-jr-russia-email-candidacy.html?_r=0)

(Related Story | Does Trump Jr. Connect the Investigation’s Dots?: https://www.apnews.com/c072624b02a345a3a2372b6939401172/Analysis:-Trump's-son-connects-the-dots-on-Russia-probe)

(Related Story | Eric Trump Comes to Brother’s Defense: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news-other/341553-eric-trump-my-brothers-being-attacked-for-publicly)

(Related Story | Russian Lawyer Denies Accusations: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russian-lawyer-who-met-trump-jr-i-didn-t-have-n781631)

(Related Story | Did Donald Trump Jr. Commit Treason?: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/11/donald-trump-jr-treason-buzzword-240406?lo=ap_b1)

(Related Story | Did Donald Trump Jr. Not Know What He Was Doing?: http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/341461-opinion-don-jrs-russia-meeting-wasnt-collusion-just)

The Republicans Chase Trump’s Southern Wall: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/11/gop-fund-trump-border-wall-240418

My Take: We’re all very distracted, and have been for the better part of a year. The distractions seem to be deepening, however, and while we’re paying attention to the never-ending conspiracy (true or false) surrounding President Trump and his administration (and campaign), things are happening elsewhere in the government apparatus. Like over in the House of Representatives, where the GOP majority seems primed to fund Trump’s long-sought border wall with Mexico.

Word comes by way of the House Appropriation Committee’s Homeland Security funding package, which gives the Trump administration exactly what it asked for in regard to its wall: $1.6 billion for the fiscal year. That’s only a fraction of the wall’s total projected cost, but the money is enough to get the project moving in the meantime, from an idea on the drawing board to implemented on the porous southern border. (FWIW, I have no problem with a wall being built, as long as there’s evidence that it’d be necessary and effective from a neutral, non-partisan point of view. Otherwise, I don’t really see the point.)

At the end of the day, this is a political play, and one that’s unlikely to go anywhere. Not only has Congress previously agreed not to include funding for the wall, but it’s something that could backfire on the GOP if the funding results in even the threat of a government shutdown, not to mention an actual shutdown itself, which could be (and usually is) incredibly damaging to the powers-that-be. This is more of a play to get something -- anything -- they want, after the failure of health care reform, and the appearance that tax reform, which was intimately tethered to health care reform, may also be DOA.

Cheapening the Olympic Games: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-idUSKBN19W10P

My Take: I thought this was an interesting way to end today’s News Burst. As you probably know, the location of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games is in play, and it’s between Los Angeles (the county in which I currently live) and Paris, France. There are theories that 2024 and 2028 will be awarded to cities at the same time, indicating that perhaps LA and Paris could both be winners, but then again, that’s not why I wanted to point this story out.

Instead, I wanted to bubble this story to the surface because, finally, countries and Olympic committees seem to understand that they have to gain control of the Olympics’ out of control cost, and how that cost buckles (and potentially destroys) the economies of cities and countries who work hard and leave it all on the field to facilitate a few weeks of highly competitive sport, only to be left footing a bill for titanic sporting and personnel infrastructures it doesn’t really need. Keep in mind that a sizable portion of Greece’s economic downfall can be intimately tied to the cost of the Athens Games more than a decade ago.

Los Angeles’ proposal is apparently bold because of its “low-cost, low-risk model” that only big, established cities in wealthy first world countries could really provide. Los Angeles (and many other American and European cities) are tailor-made for the Olympic Games, with minimal need to dump money into infrastructural developments that already exist and are in heavy use. Interestingly, the cost of hosting the games caused four other front-runners -- Rome, Budapest, Hamburg, and Boston -- to drop out. It seems like LA and Paris will ultimately both be rewarded, with the latter being the apparent favorite for 2024.