“I never did give them hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.”

― Harry Truman

The buck stops here

?

In late 1940, Truman traveled to various military bases. The waste and profiteering he saw led him to use his subcommittee chairmanship in the Committee on Military Affairs to start investigations into abuses while the nation prepared for war. A new special committee was set up under Truman to conduct a formal investigation; the Roosevelt administration supported this plan

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2014/07/02/the-surge-in-unaccompanied-children-from-central-america-a-humanitarian-crisis-at-our-border/

The difference lies in the number of children making their way from Central America to cross the Rio Grande Valley into South Texas. According to the Border Patrol, apprehension of unaccompanied children increased from 16,067 in FY 2011 to 24,481 in FY 2012 and 38,833 in FY 2013. During the first eight months of FY 2014, 47,017 children were apprehended, most of them from Honduras.

The reality is that insufficient space exists to house the large number of apprehended children and the Immigration Courts are seriously overwhelmed by the number of removal proceedings. Consequently children wait on average 578 days before a Hearing. During that time, the child is placed with a parent or family member who must vouch that the child will appear in Court. The Migration Policy Institute anticipates that approximately 85-90 percent of children are placed with a parent or close relative.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/hhs-official-says-agency-lost-track-of-nearly-1500-unaccompanied-minors/

Between October 2016 and December 2017, he said, the agency was unable to locate almost 1,500 out of the 7,635 minors that it attempted to reach — or about 19 percent. Over two dozen had run away, according to Wagner, who said the agency did not have the capacity to track them down.

. . .

Sponsors are meant to ensure that minors show up at their immigration hearings. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) pressed Wagner on why more than half of unaccompanied minors in 2017 did not show up to their immigration hearings.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44013763

The Trump administration has announced the end of temporary protections for thousands of Honduran immigrants.

Up to 57,000 people could be forced to leave the US by 5 January 2020, when their temporary protected status (TPS) will be revoked.

Hondurans were granted this status after Hurricane Mitch hit the Central American country in 1998.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/08/us/salvadorans-tps-end.html

LOS ANGELES — Nearly 200,000 people from El Salvador who have been allowed to live in the United States for more than a decade must leave the country, government officials announced Monday. It is the Trump administration’s latest reversal of years of immigration policies and one of the most consequential to date.

Homeland security officials said that they were ending a humanitarian program, known as Temporary Protected Status, for Salvadorans who have been allowed to live and work legally in the United States since a pair of devastating earthquakes struck their country in 2001.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/20/us/haitians-temporary-status.html

The Trump administration is ending a humanitarian program that has allowed some 59,000 Haitians to live and work in the United States since an earthquake ravaged their country in 2010, Homeland Security officials said on Monday.

Haitians with what is known as Temporary Protected Status will be expected to leave the United States by July 2019 or face deportation.

The decision set off immediate dismay among Haitian communities in South Florida, New York and beyond, and was a signal to other foreigners with temporary protections that they, too, could soon be asked to leave.

UMNO’s race-based politics and patronage system has been slammed by its critics and blamed for the bulging civil service and weak institutions like the judiciary. “Probably he seems to be the right man...I am a bit more moderate and have a softer image,” Anwar said.

“Because of how I suffered, I always think how any decision would cause sufferings to those affected. So I’m a bit more considerate...and that may not be good in these times when we have to make sure the elements of the old regime do not resurface.”

. . .

“I have given that message. We don’t want UMNO 2.0.”

UMNO’s race-based politics and patronage system has been slammed by its critics and blamed for the bulging civil service and weak institutions like the judiciary. “Probably he seems to be the right man...I am a bit more moderate and have a softer image,” Anwar said.

“Because of how I suffered, I always think how any decision would cause sufferings to those affected. So I’m a bit more considerate...and that may not be good in these times when we have to make sure the elements of the old regime do not resurface.”

. . .

“I have given that message. We don’t want UMNO 2.0.”

https://rideapart.com/articles/harleys-thailand-factory-result-pulling-tpp

Of course, selling American bikes in the APAC market—more specifically in Southeast Asia—comes with what Levatich has described as “unbelievable trade and tariff barriers". Because of the fee tacked on for importing a motorcycle from the US, it is cheaper for Harley to setup a factory in Thailand and build bikes there rather than build them here and send them there.

“We would rather not make the investment in that facility (Thailand), but that’s what’s necessary to access a very important market,” says Levatich. “It is a direct example of how trade policies could help this company, but we have to get on with our work to grow the business by any means possible, and that’s what we’re doing.”

https://piie.com/publications/working-papers/economic-effects-trans-pacific-partnership-new-estimates

The new estimates suggest that the TPP will increase annual real incomes in the United States by $131 billion, or 0.5 percent of GDP, and annual exports by $357 billion, or 9.1 percent of exports, over baseline projections by 2030, when the agreement is nearly fully implemented. Annual income gains by 2030 will be $492 billion for the world. While the United States will be the largest beneficiary of the TPP in absolute terms, the agreement will generate substantial gains for Japan, Malaysia, and Vietnam as well, and solid benefits for other members. The agreement will raise US wages but is not projected to change US employment levels; it will slightly increase "job churn" (movements of jobs between firms) and impose adjustment costs on some workers.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-canada-trump-tariffs-20180303-story.html

Canadians reacted with a mixture of anger, confusion and resignation this week to President Trump's promise to hit U.S. imports of steel and aluminum with hefty tariffs, upending decades of economic cooperation and integration.

"We're pretty consistently flabbergasted that Canada is at the top of the hit parade of trade villains" in Trump's eyes, said Douglas Porter, chief economist at the Bank of Montreal.

Under the Trump policies announced Thursday, steel imported into the United States would be slapped with a 25% tariff and aluminum with a 10% tariff. The announcement sent shudders through world markets and prompted a global outcry, with European allies and others threatening retaliation.

Trump often has accused China of forcing U.S. steel and aluminum companies to fold by inundating the market with cheaper materials. But Canada is the largest exporter of steel and aluminum to the United States, supplying $7.2 billion of aluminum and $4.3 billion of steel to the United States last year.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vietjet-boeing/vietnams-vietjet-to-buy-100-boeing-planes-for-11-3-billion-idUSKCN0YE0C1
The deal, signed during U.S. president Barack Obama’s visit to Vietnam, represents a coup for Boeing, as VietJet has only operated its European rival Airbus’ A320 airplanes since it began operations in December 2011.

The airline also signed a $3.04-billion deal for engines made by Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies, for the 63 Airbus planes of the 99 it ordered and 7 hired since 2013.

(CNN)Malaysia's new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Friday that the country's head of state had agreed to pardon jailed politician Anwar Ibrahim, whose case has dominated Malaysian politics for years.

Anwar, once a leading light in the party that ruled Malaysia for decades, was jailed on sodomy charges in 2015, after a trial he says was politically motivated. Mahathir had promised, if elected, to free Anwar and eventually hand power over to him.At a news conference Friday, Mahathir said King Muhammad V had given his consent to a pardon.

"It is going to be a full pardon, which of course means that he should not only be pardoned, he should be released immediately when he is pardoned," Mahathir told reporters, a day after being sworn in as Prime Minister. "After that he will be free to participate fully in politics." Anwar remains imprisoned since the 2015 sodomy trial -- the second time he'd been jailed for the offense. He has long said the charges were an attempt to curb his political ascent.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/malaysia-election-latest-mahathir-mohamad-anwar-ibrahim-royal-pardon-a8346741.html

The 92-year-old comeback kid of Malaysian politics, Mahathir Mohamad, had been in power for less than 24 hours when he made an announcement that effectively heralded his own downfall.

On Friday, Mr Mahathir said he had successfully secured a royal pardon for the opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim, a man who had joined him in coalition from the confines of a prison cell.

It marked the latest extraordinary twist in a heady few days for politics in the southeast Asian nation. Mr Mahathir, the former authoritarian leader who stepped down after 22 years in power in 2003, has vowed to hand over the reins once again if Mr Anwar is released from jail.

Malaysia PM admits historic election defeat as ‘verdict of the people’ Mr Anwar, a former protegee of Mr Mahathir until the pair fell out in 1998, retains huge popularity among a generation of Malaysians who see him as the wrongly imprisoned reform candidate of the turn of the millennium.

The victorious opposition coalition, Pakatan Harapan, which collectively won 122 seats of the 222-member parliament in this week’s general election, only backed Mr Mahathir as leader on the condition that he eventually make way for Mr Anwar, and that he take Mr Anwar’s wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, as his deputy. She is now the first female deputy premier in Malaysia’s history.

Analysts say Mr Anwar’s cross-ethnic support was critical to Pakatan Harapan’s success, and it is now a matter of when, not if, Mr Mahathir steps aside.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/11/politics/rudy-giuliani-florida-court-case/index.html
The former New York City mayor, who recently joined Trump's legal team, appeared for a morning hearing for a criminal defendant. According to court documents, the defendant was in a car crash on May 18, 2016, in Broward County. She is accused of fraudulently purchasing auto insurance online just 10 minutes after the crash and providing false and misleading information to the insurance company.


The defendant, Vanessa Ryan, could not be reached for comment. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges. The affidavit states that after Ryan bought her insurance based on false information, she then filed a fraudulent insurance claim the next day.

In requesting permission to work on the case, Giuliani listed the Manhattan address of his law firm, Greenberg Traurig, as the location of his office.


Giuliani announced Thursday that he had offered a "permanent resignation" from Greenberg Traurig, following what was initially a temporary leave of absence from the firm.

"In light of the pressing demands of the Mueller investigation, I believe it is in everyone's best interest that I make it a permanent resignation," Giuliani said in a statement, referring to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into possible Russian collusion in the 2016 election. "This way, my sole concentration can be on this critically important matter for our country."

https://politicalwire.com/2018/05/07/nunes-threatens-to-hold-sessions-in-contempt/

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) warned that he plans to urge lawmakers “this week” to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt of Congress for failing to hand over classified materials related to the Russia investigation, CNN reports.

But the Justice Department informed Nunes three days ago — on the deadline for responding to a subpoena from Nunes’ committee — that providing the information on a “specific individual” could pose grave implications for national security.

It was not immediately clear why Nunes has targeted Sessions.