Posted on Categories News & Comment

PBC News & Comment: On His Way to Davos, Trump Starts Trade War

Headed to annual confab of global elite .01%, Trump announces tariffs on solar panels and washing machines, launching trade war…..–solar panel tariff will cost 23,000 American jobs, set back renewables, and benefit American firms owned by Germans and Chinese

–tariffs support fair trade over free trade, but Trump is using them in an arbitrary manner

–Democrats buckled on shutdown, got 6-year CHIP deal but left Dreamers as hostages despite their posturing, relying on weak pledges from McConnell

–report says new FBI director Chris Wray threatened to quit after pressure from Sessions and Trump to clean house

–AG Sessions was interviewed by special counsel Mueller last week about the firing of FBI Direcotr Comey and his lies about Russian contacts before inauguration

NY Times reports on SF billionaire Tom Steyer’s impeachment campaign and how it makes Democratic leaders very nervous

–channeling Trump, Michigan man is arrested for threatening to kill CNN anchors over “fake news”

NY Times prepublishes magazine report on Israel’s failed attempts to assassinate Yasser Arafat, the PLO leaders

–long overdue, leaders of USA Gymnastics resign after victim statements at sentencing of former team doctor, Larry Nassar

Guardian reveals key drone operations support from obscure base in Kansas

–Hawaii’s governor was delayed in cancelling false alarm missile alert because he couldn’t remember his Twitter password

Bloomberg exposes another Apple assembly sweatshop, run by Catcher Technology in Suqian, China

–Pope Francis apologized for insulting victims of predatory priests in Chile

–in Orange County, California, about 1,000 homeless people will be rousted from tent encampments and directed to 250 shelter beds

–Delta imposes new rules on companion dogs, after 150% increase in past 2 years

–trumpet whiz Hugh Masekela dies in South Africa at age 78; check out my favorite Masekela tune, Stimela, here