Tuesday, January 24, 2017

CONFLICTS? IMPEACHMENT? THAT DID NOT TAKE LONG

TOP OF THE NEWS:

- The Case for Donald Trump’s Impeachability (NY Mag) "Last Friday, the Brookings Institute released a very helpful 23-page paper that serves as a rather forceful rebuttal to Tillman’s interpretation. The authors argue that a common-sense reading of the Constitution and the relevant legal theory and history all lead to the conclusion that Trump is, in fact, subject to the Emoluments Clause, and could therefore be walking into an unusual sort of constitutional danger zone. The paper was written by a bipartisan trio of legal experts who have been active in this discussion: Norman L. Eisen, a Brookings fellow, the chair of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, and a former chief White House ethics lawyer under Obama; Richard Painter, a vice-chair at CREW and former chief White House lawyer under George W. Bush; and Laurence Tribe, a constitutional-law professor at Harvard. Just yesterday, for example, ThinkProgress reported that a few days after Trump’s victory, the Kuwaiti embassy in D.C. canceled an event at the Four Seasons, 'citing political pressure to hold its National Day celebration at the Trump International Hotel instead' — pressure that came from the Trump Organization itself." and Foreign Payments to Trump Firms Violate Constitution, Suit Will Claim (NYT)

BUSINESS:

- Foxconn Considering Building Plant in U.S. (Reuters) "Foxconn’s proposal to build a display plant, which would be planned with its Sharp unit, depends on many factors, such as investment conditions, that would have to be negotiated at the state and federal levels in the United States, Mr. Gou said. Foxconn has existing cooperation and operations in Pennsylvania, which is a state Foxconn would make a priority, depending on land, water, power, infrastructure and other investment conditions, Mr. Gou said."

- Who Will Win in Business Under Trump? (Ozy) "1. Defense and security companies. 2. Apple and other large domestic exporters. 3. Exxon Mobil and other oil and gas producers. 4. The construction sector. 5. Banks, big or small (but not both). 6. The Trump Organization."

- Sprint just bought a third of Jay Z’s music streaming service, Tidal (WaPo)

HEALTH:

- Blame Technology, Not Longer Life Spans, for Health Spending Increases (NYT)

LIVING:

- How Moms Can Raise Math Whizzes (Ozy) "By labeling set sizes, they begin to understand that the last number they say when counting a group of objects represents its quantity — a concept known as cardinality that is crucial for mastering addition and subtraction."

NEWS:

- Trump’s Vainglorious Affront to the C.I.A. (New Yorker) "Trump vowed greater support for America’s sixteen intelligence agencies than they had received from any other President. In his remarks, Trump made passing reference to the 'special wall' behind him but never mentioned the top-secret work or personal sacrifices of intelligence officers... Trump’s unscripted remarks were, instead, largely about himself, even as he praised Mike Pompeo—a West Point and Harvard Law School graduate, Kansas congressman, and Tea Party supporter—as his choice to lead the C.I.A. Trump spoke briefly about eradicating 'radical Islamic extremism,' a cornerstone of his foreign policy. But he devoted more than twice as many words to the dispute over the turnout at his Inauguration." and CIA officers give mixed reviews of Trump’s strange visit (WaPo) "But CIA veterans said his private tour of CIA headquarters went better than his recorded public comments in front of the wall of stars commemorating fallen officers. 'He said some of the right things, but it still had a bizarre quality to it,' said one former top CIA official. Trump’s comments included 'way too much campaign-related things' and 'attacks on the media [that] did not fit and were wrong.'"

Rocky First Weekend for Trump Troubles Even His Top Aides (NYT) "Some of the president’s supporters found the first weekend troubling. L. Lin Wood, a prominent libel lawyer who was a vocal defender of Mr. Trump’s on Twitter during the campaign, said that he considered it a dangerous debut. 'To someone who believed we might have a good opportunity to change, it’s just a terrible start. Because he’s got a long way to go,' Mr. Wood said. 'This is going to go downhill quickly if it’s not changed, and that’s not good for any of us.'"

- Mattis trumps Trump (WaPo) "How Mattis will work with a president as deliberately ignorant as Trump remains to be seen. If he can get Trump to think more like Mattis, he’ll have earned the eternal gratitude of his country — and pulled off a minor miracle."

U.S. Eyes Michael Flynn’s Links to Russia (WSJ) "A key issue in the investigation is a series of telephone calls Mr. Flynn made to Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the U.S., on Dec. 29. That day, the Obama administration announced sanctions and other measures against Russia in retaliation for its alleged use of cyberattacks to interfere with the 2016 U.S. election."

- Vast crowds gather to protest Donald Trump (Economist) "The Americans who voted for Mr Trump will have seen the thronged streets and concluded that there are a lot of sore losers. But the 'Women’s March on Washington', organized by activists, did not feel like a protest against the result. It was more like an amble for civility."

TECHNOLOGY:

- Google Voice Update Makes Google’s Strategy More Confusing (Wired)

- How Snapchat Is Shaping Social Media (NYT)

BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:

- Here’s the real story about the Churchill bust in the Oval Office (WaPo) "So Trump appears to have temporarily moved Bust A to the Oval Office. In the meantime, he seems to have found a way to keep the King bust there, as well."

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