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I spent several hours on last week’s list, and I’m even more overwhelmed by the sheer volume of news this week than I was last week. I’m trying to highlight some lesser publicized news this week because it seems like there is so much going on that less covered stories – that would likely be headlines in a normal week – are being missed.
Flynn resigns
Obviously, the big news of the week is that Trump’s National Security Advisor resigned after leaks indicated that he was engaging in diplomacy with Russia’s ambassador to the US prior to the inauguration (which is probably illegal under the never-prosecuted Logan Act). The recap from The Daily and this Bloomberg piece were the most helpful summaries of the situation for me.
Here are some additional questions in light of the Flynn situation, the National Review makes a compelling case to release the tapes, and Linker makes a compelling case about the leaks, arguing, “Those cheering the deep state torpedoing of Flynn are saying, in effect, that a police state is perfectly fine so long as it helps to bring down Trump.”
Republican Senator Howard Baker famously asked, “what did the president know, and when did he know it?” at the beginning of the Watergate investigation, and Kristof says that the same questions are necessary now. Yet intelligence officials say that the transcripts “don’t suggest Flynn was acting under orders in his conversations”
Not as publicized stories
Why President Trump’s Twitter habit is so troublesome.
Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works committee proposed legislation that limits the Endangered Species Act because it ” impedes oil drilling, mining, and farming, and infringes on the rights of states and private landowners”
The Pentagon is studying a proposal to send US ground troops into Syria.
Russia deploys a missile and has a spy ship “loitering” off of the coast of Connecticut.
Recap of Trump’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and what that could mean for US/Israeli relations
Miscellaneous goodies
Political hypocrisy is normal and isn’t the thing we should be talking about.
The free press in action: the same reporter who broke the story about Trump’s aides’ contact with Russia during the campaign also broke the story about Hillary Clinton’s email servers.
American household debt is “just 0.8 percent below an all-time peak of $12.68 trillion in the third quarter of 2008, before the worst of the financial crisis and deep recession.”
Parker Palmer with the five habits to heal the heart of democracy.
Some reeeeeally helpful responses to questions about the immigration ban/refugees in general from We Welcome Refugees.
Just one thing
Megan McArdle in Bloomberg on outrage.
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