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BY BRIAN BEUTLER, PRIYANKA ARIBINDI & CROOKED MEDIA Wednesday, August 14, 2019 |
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| —Rod “Be Best” Rosenstein, who apparently had one last shred of dignity left to lose |
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| YIELD CURVEBALL |
| The country awoke this morning to the strongest indication yet that President Trump has harmed the decade-long recovery and may plunge the economy into recession. Good thing he is so level-headed and capable!
Follow along for an explanation.
What happened? The jargon-y term for what happened is that the bond yield-curve inverted.
Come again? This is an indication of coming economic instability, because it means investors expect long-term bonds to be a safe investment relative to other investments, including shorter-term bonds. What kinds of conditions might make investors think they’re better off parking their money in government bonds rather than in other investments? Well, a recession for one.
I’m listening now, how worried should I be? Every time what happened this morning has happened in the past 50 years, a recession followed within several months.
Are you predicting a recession? No. Crooked Media is out of the prediction business. And there are reasons to think history might not repeat itself. But it’s not a great sign.
Surely, Donald J. Trump had a cool headed response? No, in fact. The Dow dropped over 800 points, and Trump blamed the Federal Reserve, as well as pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. (Presumably for driving the Chinese government to take a harder line in Trump’s trade war? Honestly, who knows.)
Does he have a point? No again! The Fed does have tools it can and should use to stave off recession if it detects economic weakness, but it has little if any control over the course of global events or the Very Stable Genius in the White House.
Bottom line: Typically presidents are hostage to the economic climates they happen to serve through, and get blamed or credited for swings that are out of their control. Trump has thus benefited enormously from inheriting a steady-as-she-goes recovery from President Obama, and also faced a high-ish built in risk of an overdue recession. But he is also uniquely reckless and destructive, and there’s little doubt that if recession comes, his idiotic trade war will have helped trigger it. |
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| The Trump administration’s Department of Labor has proposed a new rule that would allow businesses with federal contracts to cite religious beliefs as justification to discriminate against workers on the basis of LGBTQ status, race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, and other characteristics. How on brand.
The rule would apply to a range of “religious organizations”—including schools and corporations—so long as they claim a “religious purpose,” even if their principal purposes aren’t religious. |
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| The second episode in this month’s Crooked Minis series, Rigging North Carolina, is here! In this episode, Crooked Media’s Political Director Shaniqua McClendon discusses the Republicans’ blatant voter suppression efforts with State Representative Pricey Harrison, who’s been trying to find common ground with Republicans, and Marc Elias, a Democratic lawyer who’s spent much of his career fighting for voting rights in North Carolina. Together, they search for the root cause of the Republican Party’s chokehold on North Carolina.
Listen → |
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| Satellite imagery shows more than 500 Chinese military vehicles and personnel carriers hidden along the Hong Kong border as protests continue. China’s People’s Armed Police Force is a paramilitary force of 1.5 million people that the Chinese government regularly deploys against protesters.
Twenty-nine states and cities have sued the Trump administration to prevent it from easing restrictions on coal-burning power plants. The lawsuit claims the EPA has neglected its duty to regulate greenhouse gases, which directly affect people’s well-being.
Former Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) spoke with fellow presidential candidate and Coloradoan Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) about ending his campaign and entering the race to challenge Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO). Hickenlooper is unlikely to qualify for the third round of Democratic debates in September. Gardner’s seat is one of the most likely to flip in 2020, and 11 candidates have already entered the state’s Democratic Senate primary.
The two guards in Jeffrey Epstein’s jail unit failed to check on him for nearly three hours because they fell asleep, and then falsified records to cover it up.
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) defended his opposition to rape and incest exceptions to abortion restrictions by asking, If not for rape and incest, “would there be any population left?” Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and the entire Crooked Media staff have all called on King to resign. Now seems like a great time to throw his Democratic challenger, J.D. Scholten, a few bucks →
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to cancel a $1.7 billion contract to replace Men’s Central Jail in Downtown LA after hearing from dozens of county residents and criminal-justice reform advocates who opposed the plan.
A Swedish court found A$AP Rocky guilty of assault, but he will not face additional jail time. At last, the global crisis Trump cares about more than any other has been resolved.
Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM) has joined the push for an impeachment inquiry, becoming the 122nd House Democrat to do so.
Over 70,000 people have added their names to a petition to rename the stretch of Fifth Avenue outside Trump Tower in New York after President Obama, which would change the address of Trump Tower to “725 President Barack H. Obama Avenue.” Lol, where do we sign? |
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| Donald Trump has been cited as an inspiration for violent acts, threats of violence, or assault allegations in at least 36 criminal cases nationwide, according to a review by ABC News. FYI, during their presidencies, Barack Obama and George W. Bush were cited similarly in a combined zero—0—lawsuits. |
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| Is your pet ready for the summer? Need a little more energy to keep up with playtime?
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| 21 Democratic presidential campaign state directors in New Hampshire issued a joint statement against Trump’s broken promises and hateful rhetoric ahead of his upcoming rally there: “No matter who the Democratic nominee is, we are in this together.” |
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