An App For That 

Reproductive Freedom:  Sadly, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey went ahead and signed her state’s abortion ban bill into law.  While doing so she said that she knew that it was “unenforceable as a result of Roe v Wade,” or at the very least currently unenforceable but heck, having a law like this is a good thing for Alabama because who knows what the future holds and besides it’s not like providing health care to anyone especially women is all that high on the state’s agenda anyway.  She then went on to thank the bill’s sponsors for their “strong leadership in this subject.”  Notably, even televangelist Pat Robertson, who is himself opposed to abortion, believes that the law as extreme.  He said that he thinks “Alabama has gone too far” by excluding an exception for rape or incest and with those 99-year maximum sentences for doctors who perform abortions, prison terms that would actually exceed sentences for rape.  He went on to say that he doesn’t think the bill will be upheld by the Supreme Court.  He’s probably right about that, not because this Supreme Court isn’t likely to continue to whittle away at reproductive rights, but because the Alabama example may be too extreme for them, or at least for Chief Justice Roberts and even newest Justice Kavanaugh who’d both probably prefer a more gradual approach to burying Roe, one that imposes more restrictions on women, doctors and facilities.  In any case although the Alabama law isn’t due to go into effect for six months and will probably end up on hold as it winds its way through the courts, abortion rights advocates have already started to prepare for the worst.  To that end, yesterday’s New York Times editorial about the Alabama law contains a list of organizations that are already providing services to women to help them get around restrictive local laws.  Listed are: the Kentucky Health Justice Network; Access Reproductive Care-Southeast, which works in states including Mississippi and Alabama; the Yellowhammer Fund in Alabama; NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio; and Women Have Options, also in Ohio.” The editorial also directs those in need or those interested in contributing  to the web companion to “Handbook for a Post-Roe America,” that contains up-to-date information about groups working in all parts of the country.  

Above the Law:  White House Counsel Pat Cipollone wants Congress, or at least those troublesome Democrats in Congress, to know that they have no right to what he is calling a “do-over” of the Mueller investigation or any of the other investigations undertaken by the Justice Department.  We know that because he sent House Judiciary Committee Chairman Nadler a rather lengthy letter saying so.  Essentially Cipollone’s view is that Congressional investigations not supposed to “harass political opponents” and he views any effort to look into Trump’s actions or to engage in oversight as harassment of an opponent.  Suffice it to say, neither Nadler nor the rest of the Democrat contingent is on board with Cipollone’s position.  Nadler responded by telling CNN that the White House is "claiming that the president is a king. No president, no person in the United States is above the law. This is preposterous." Adding "They are saying we should end the investigation. We are not ending the investigation. If we were to agree to that, then no president would ever be subject to any kind of investigation for misconduct of any type."  As to Attorney General Barr, he appears to relish pushing back at all of the efforts by the Democrats to try to engage in investigatory and oversight stuff.  Last week he joked that being held in contempt so soon in his tenure was a badge of honor and yesterday he approached Nancy Pelosi at a National Peace Officers' Memorial Day event, shook her hand and said loudly, "Madam Speaker, did you bring your handcuffs?" Pelosi, who will be scheduling the contempt vote against Barr before the full House, smiled, and then indicated that the House sergeant-at-arms was present at the ceremony should an arrest be necessary.  It’s reported that  Barr “chuckled” as he walked away.  And why not, as far as he is concerned he works only for Trump and Trump appreciates a good joke and certainly isn’t one to abide by laws or norms.  Providing further indication of that norm part, yesterday Trump issued a few more pardons.  He offered clemency to Patrick Nolan, a former Republican legislator who allied with Jared Kushner on prison reform last year and to Lord Conrad Black of Crossharbour, a Canadian-born former newspaper publisher and long term friend who authored a book titled, what else, "Donald J. Trump: A President Like No Other."

The Wizard of Finance:  Although the Trump International Hotel appears to be the spot of choice for  foreign dignitaries and US politicians trying to curry favor with Trump and dues are way up at Mar a Lago, Trump’s other properties don’t seem to be weathering the storm of his presidency all that well.  Bloomberg reports that sales and property values are way down at Trump Tower in New York and now the Washington Post reports that at the Doral resort in Florida, which Trump had previously listed in federal disclosures as his biggest moneymaker hotel, room rates, banquets, golf and overall revenue are all down. In two years, the resort’s net operating has fallen by 69 percent.  While arguing for a lower tax bill, a Trump tax consultant told local officials that the Doral is “severely underperforming” other resorts in the area, as a result of “some negative connotation that is associated with the brand.”  For the record, son Eric insists that the properties are the best, are doing great and only suffered some minor dips due to the Zika virus and some local hurricanes.  No comment from him as to why other resorts in the are don’t appear to have been similarly impacted.  The Washington Post’s David Farenthold, the paper’s go to reporter on all things related to Trump’s finances, reports that by the end of 2018, the Trump hotel chain had lost three locations as building owners cut ties with the Trump company. The company’s plans for dozens of new low-cost hotels, the ones that were supposed to turn Trump voters into Trump customers have “fizzled.”  Additionally, although some properties in California that don’t display the Trump name are doing well, revenue has fallen at other Trump hotels in Chicago and New York.  In a statement about its Chicago hotel, the Trumps organization asserts that the name was not the reason. “It’s sad to say, but the perceived threat of gun violence has harmed visitation to the destination.” Apparently, only for the Trump hotels, others in the area are doing fine.  Anyway, at least for now we have to rely on  the limited information included in the annual financial disclosure information that Trump does provide, not to be confused with his tax returns which he still does not provide and reporters at Bloomberg, the New York Times and the Washington Post for any of the more interesting tidbits that they manage to dig up on the Trump businesses for a view of how Trump and his businesses are really doing.  For his part Trump loyalist Treasury Secretary Mnuchin “hinted” yesterday that his department would not comply with that subpoena for Trump's tax returns, a sign that Democrats will likely have to go to court if they want to continue in their fight for the tax records.  Since handling money isn’t one of Trump’s strong points, it shouldn’t be all that surprising that he’s now planning to hand an additional $20 billion over to US farmers, that’s above and beyond the $12 billion that he gave them last year, to cover the losses that they’re incurring due to the tariff war with China.  That’s money from our tax dollars to cover the cost of the tariffs that he insists that China is paying.  Another artful deal?

Other News:  Trump plans to release his new immigration plan today during a Rose Garden news conference, the one that son in law Kushner discussed only with Republicans.  It’s not expected to deal with the DACA kids but is likely to include some form of merit system to attract the “best and the brightest” as in no more migrant workers except those needed to work Trump properties.  It’s also likely to include more WALL funding.  In other news, it looks like Trump’s recent meeting with Twitter CEO  Jack Dorsey didn’t prove all that satisfactory for the twitterer in chief.  Trump is now calling for all conservatives and other like minded people who think that they’ve been unfairly treated by any of the social media companies to contact the White House with their complaints,  He’s even had an app set up to handle the volume he expects from an assortment of neo-Nazis and people such as Alex Jones and Milo Yiannopoulos.  Keeping with that theme, yesterday the US broke with 18 governments and five top American tech firms by declining to endorse a New Zealand led effort to curb extremism online.  White House officials said free-speech concerns prevented them from formally signing onto targeting extremism online.