- 'He got tired of him' (Politico) "He [Trump] found the testimony last week infuriating and griped about it extensively for at least two days, several associates and advisers said. The firing...came days after Comey asked Congress for more resources to pursue the investigation, which had stalled, according to officials briefed on the matter. But senior aides and other associates who know the president say the firing was triggered not by any one event but rather by the president’s growing frustration with the Russia investigation, negative media coverage and the growing feeling that he couldn’t control Comey, who was a near-constant presence on television in recent days. ...one White House official described the past 24 hours inside the Trump White House like this: 'Total chaos — even by our standards.'"
- Will the Law Answer to the President, or the President to the Law? (Atlantic) "The question has to be asked of all the rest of us: Perhaps the worst fears for the integrity of the U.S. government and U.S. institutions are be being fulfilled. If this firing stands—and if Trump dares to announce a pliable replacement—the rule of law begins to shake and break. The law will answer to the president, not the president to the law."
- Donald Trump’s Firing of James Comey (NYT) "Of course, if Mr. Trump truly believed, as he said in his letter of dismissal, that Mr. Comey had undermined 'public trust and confidence' in the agency, he could just as well have fired him on his first day in office. Mr. Comey was fired because he was leading an active investigation that could bring down a president. Though compromised by his own poor judgment, Mr. Comey’s agency has been pursuing ties between the Russian government and Mr. Trump and his associates, with potentially ruinous consequences for the administration."
- Firing FBI director Comey is already backfiring on Trump. It’s only going to get worse (WaPo) "In one of the hastily-arranged damage-control interviews, deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders made an especially revealing statement that underscored why so many people are worried. Asked by Tucker Carlson on Fox News how Comey’s termination will impact the Russia investigation, she replied: 'I think the bigger point on that is, ‘My gosh, Tucker, when are they gonna let that go?’ It’s been going on for nearly a year. Frankly, it’s kinda getting absurd. There’s nothing there.' 'It’s time to move on,' she added. 'Frankly, it’s time to focus on the things the American people care about.'"
- The Comey Ouster (National Review) "Of course, Donald Trump has often been less than forthright in his public statements, and the reasons that President Trump should have fired Comey — for example, those outlined by Rosenstein — appear not to be the reasons he did. Press reports suggests that Trump was angry about the Russian probe, Comey’s ubiquity in the media, and the FBI’s director’s refusal to make a statement exonerating him. If true, none of this speaks well of Trump. Politically, the firing obviously isn’t going to tamp down the Russian controversy, but intensify it. As will the White House’s typically shambolic handling of the dismissal."
- Donald Trump Was Wrong to Fire James Comey (National Review) "Amidst all the outrage and fury, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that we still don’t have a single credible report of collusion between Trump-campaign officials and Russian intelligence. At the same time, we still don’t know the full story of Russian efforts to disrupt our presidential election. The crisis we face isn’t 'constitutional,' it’s a crisis of confidence in our public institutions. In an atmosphere of mistrust, conspiracy theories proliferate. By firing James Comey, Trump made the decisive case for a truly independent investigation. May it commence with all deliberate speed."
- Comey firing roils Washington, prompts calls for independent investigation and divides Republicans (WaPo) "But Democratic aides said Tuesday night they were 'heartened' to see several senior Republicans cast doubt Tuesday on Trump’s decision to fire Comey. They especially cited Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who is up for reelection next year in a contest that Democrats believe could become competitive if anti-Trump sentiments sweep the nation."
- The Curious Case for Firing Comey (Weekly Standard) "The official reason the administration offered...[was] a public statement [from Comey] back in July recommending against prosecuting former secretary of state Hillary Clinton was inappropriate. All of this information was known to Trump when he decided to keep Comey in his job at the beginning of the president's term—making his decision to fire Comey in May all the more confusing."
BUSINESS/ECONOMY:
- Jimmy Carter: Trump is right. Canada’s lumber trade practices are unfair (WaPo) "Canada enjoys an inherent advantage in that the vast majority of its standing timber is owned by provincial governments, which are free to dump their timber at practically no cost in order to stimulate their forest industry. At the same time, most of America’s timber is privately owned, and market forces impose a minimum price at which farm owners can continue in business."
- The meaning of life in a world without work (The Guardian) "The crucial problem isn’t creating new jobs. The crucial problem is creating new jobs that humans perform better than algorithms. Consequently, by 2050 a new class of people might emerge – the useless class. People who are not just unemployed, but unemployable. So what will the useless class do all day?"
CLIMATE CHANGE:
- Senate unexpectedly rejects bid to repeal a key Obama-era environmental regulation (WaPo) "The U.S. Senate narrowly voted down a resolution...to repeal an Obama-era rule to regulate methane emissions from drilling on public lands...as three Republicans joined every Democrat in voting 51 to 49 to preserve the regulation. It was the first time since Trump’s election that an attempt to use the Congressional Review Act, a 1996 law that allows lawmakers to overturn rules within 60 days of their adoption if the president signs the bill into law, has failed."
- Is the Paris Climate Agreement Built on Dodgy Math? (Ozy) "...instead of looking at emissions within national territories, some researchers suggest it might be more useful to measure the environmental effects of consumption. According to this 'consumption-based accounting,' Americans are responsible for 10 times as many emissions as the Chinese. The overall trend isn’t rocket science: The richer a country, the more it consumes, and the larger its environmental footprint. So if you want to reduce your environmental footprint, changing what you buy could make a far bigger difference than turning down your house’s thermostat by a degree or two."
- The Business Case for the Paris Climate Accord (NYT) "Global statecraft relies on trust, reputation and credibility, which can be all too easily squandered. The United States is far better off maintaining a seat at the head of the table rather than standing outside. If America fails to honor a global agreement that it helped forge, the repercussions will undercut our diplomatic priorities across the globe, not to mention the country’s global standing and the market access of our firms."
NEWS:
- Trump’s Uncontrolled Foreign Policy (National Review) "The confusion and chaos is a reflection of the man himself. America’s prosperity and power depends on its having a self-governing people. But now it doesn’t even have a self-governing president. Trump veers from one policy stance to another, seemingly when the mood strikes him. He hires personnel based not on policy affinity or competence, but on whether they look the part."
- Jason Chaffetz Rolls Toward Infamy (New Yorker) "Then, in April, following months of complaints from his constituents—including a contentious and widely YouTubed town hall, after which he whined that the voters had come to 'bully and intimidate' him—he announced that he wouldn’t seek reëlection in 2018, and might even quit Congress before his term ends. Perhaps he’s preparing for Utah’s 2020 gubernatorial race, or even a bid for the Presidency later on. More likely, he senses the danger—reputational, at least—in continuing to stand between Trump and the scrutiny he deserves."
READ THIS:
- Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) (Tom Vanderbilt) "Why does the other lane always seem to be moving faster? What does the way you drive say about you? Is the road a microcosm of society or an autonomous republic that functions according to its own set of rules? Does traffic work the same all over the world? Traffic answers these and many other questions, plunging head-on into traffic, viewing it not simply as a social ill or as a design problem, but as a leading cultural indicator and a living, organic model of what physicists call 'emergent collective behavior', of things which often happen for no discernible reason..."
SOCIALIZED MEDICINE:
- GOP Doublespeak on ‘Free Market’ Health Care (National Review) "Republicans are afraid of actually standing for conservative principle when it comes to policy. Here is the conservative policy take on health insurance: A free market guarantees the highest-quality, lowest-price service in any market. Skewing that market with government-backed incentive schemes reduces efficiency, destroys competition, and undercuts quality. If we all truly want better health care, the only way to provide it is through measures that incentivize a higher supply of health care, not a rationing of the available care through redistributionist schemes. That means the first priority for Republicans should be removing damaging regulations on preexisting conditions and essential health benefits."
- The Obscure Senate Rule That Will Dictate Tax and Health Care Policy (Ozy) "The Byrd Rule...dictates that each aspect of a reconciliation bill must affect spending or revenue and must not increase the deficit outside of the budget outline’s 10-year span. It also cannot touch Social Security. Any senator may raise a point of order against a bill he or she believes violates the Byrd Rule, and the question goes to the Senate’s parliamentarian. Loathed in the House — as the Senate often is, as a whole — the rule’s application can be difficult to predict. For example, the requirement that fiscal effects not be 'merely incidental' to a provision’s nonbudgetary effects leaves plenty of wiggle room."
SPORTS:
- A devastating tragedy: Wife of ESPN's Chris Berman killed in two-car crash in Connecticut (WaPo) "Police were investigating whether Bertulis had suffered a medical emergency just before Berman’s car crashed into the back of his car on Route 64 near Tuttle Road, a state police source told the Courant."
TECHNOLOGY:
- Facebook Is Using AI To Make Language Translation Much Faster (Fast Company) "It’s a vital development for the social network—after all, there are thousands of languages, and the company doesn’t want its users to have to worry that something they post will be ignored by others because they don’t understand the content."
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- McDonald's invents a Frork made of French fries (NBC News) "McDonald's wants to get the word out that sandwiches in its new Signature Crafted Recipes line-up are so packed with toppings that you'll need a special utensil to deal with it — the Frork."
TODAY'S SONG:
- Bones (RadioHead)
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