Thursday, January 19, 2017

the news mid January 2017

By tomorrow, Donald J Trump will be inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States. Nobody seems ready for it. The 44th President Barack H Obama, had his last meeting with the press yesterday in an old tradition that seemed sweet and endearing in contrast to most of the news the last few months.You can watch it here, courtesy of youtube and the PBS News Hour.
Regular meetings with the press is a practice that goes back many decades here. This is generally understood as an opportunity for the executive branch of government to remain open and to answer questions from the 'Fourth Estate' - that last bastion of critical and public scrutiny: the adversarial press. This basic scrutiny (still demanded by citizens at large), still remains necessary if only for the country to be able to cultivate an informed democracy.

This is how it has been. The press still remains that chief non-governmental actor in western society that can hold governmental actors accountable to what they promise to do. Or the press can at least try. There have been many instances in the last few months where even these basic traditional actions or attributes of the press seem in question. Or perhaps they are merely disregarded by the whims of Mr Trump, or even supplanted by the misinformation that he is occasionally informed with. A recent example of this was where Trump got into an argument with all of the US Intelligence Offices. And denied any wrong-doing on his part. And this shows the mood in the country about it.

So, Donald Trump is having problems with the media, and the CIA and the other US Intelligence Agencies. I won't mention the problem with the FBI since the election is over. But maybe also he's having problems with the Russians. It's hard to tell at this time. And he's provoked China unnecessarily. Irony and irons in the fire seem to be all over the place.

Also, just as central to Mr Trump's legitimacy is his unwillingness to resolve his business conflicts of interest. He seems to owe billions to sovereign nations, contractors and individuals all over the world. The US Government's Office of Government Ethics has made it clear that Trump's announced plans to divest and place his assets in a 'blind trust' with his sons is woefully inadequate. Unfortunately there are partisan members of Congress who are doing their best to get that same office to complete reviews of Trump's picks for his cabinet done in a brief matter of days. Or, to stop talking about the longstanding rules.
The last few weeks have seen a rush in Congress of hearings for Trump's picks to fill his cabinet, for all positions that require Congressional approval. Only one or two have very wide appeal.

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Last year was hottest on record. Third year in a row, but last year was another el Niño. Scientists expect averages to not exceed last year's highpoints this coming year. But we're still in a warming trend.

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