I start almost every day by reading the Washington Post, New York Times, and stories from other news outlets. This morning, I decided to, when possible, begin posting quick thoughts on the news of the day. Below are a few thoughts on some of the stories making news today.
Donald Trump claims the caravan of migrants contains Middle Easterners. Asked for comment, a spokesperson for the State Department referenced people detained from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Somalia. None of those countries is in the Middle East.
During fiscal year 2017, which ended in September, the government’s records demonstrate that 61 of the roughly 300,000 people detained at the US Mexico border were from actual Middle Eastern countries. In its recent report on terrorism threats, the Trump administration made no mention of the possibility of Middle Eastern terrorists crossing our southern border.
The Supreme Court issued a stay preventing Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross from being deposed in a lawsuit filed by several states and civil rights groups around the Trump administration’s efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The Trump administration, in arguing that Ross shouldn’t be deposed, said Ross had explained his actions and that it improper for the Court to authorize a “fishing expedition” involving high-ranking government officials.
Since Justices Gorsuch and Thomas issued a statement in favor of blocking any deposition of Ross, we can assume the five conservatives on the Court will make sure Ross never has to come clean about his false testimony before Congress and the political motivations behind the citizenship question.
Isn’t it nice to know that our Supreme Court seems poised to accept the argument that our government officials should be protected from litigation involving their work on the half of us?