Schumer: Bring in Mulvaney and Bolton

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Monday, December 16

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SCHUMER: BRING IN MULVANEY AND BOLTON Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote in a letter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell how Democrats would like the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump to proceed. “The trial must be one that not only hears all of the evidence and adjudicates the case fairly; it must also pass the fairness test with the American people,” Schumer wrote. Democrats, he said, would like to subpoena acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, former national security adviser John Bolton and other Trump officials who refused to testify in the House. [HuffPost]

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PROBE: WHITE POWER SIGNS AT ARMY-NAVY GAME? Military officials have launched an investigation after the “OK” hand symbol that has become known as a symbol for white power was flashed amid a crowd of cadets before the Army-Navy game in Philadelphia over the weekend. The gestures were captured on national TV during a pregame broadcast in a crowd that included black cadets. [HuffPost]

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GRAHAM'S MADE HIS MIND UP ALREADY Trump flatterer Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he's already made up his mind about the president's culpability in the impeachment inquiry, even though the House has yet to vote on the charges and the Senate has not yet begun a trial. [HuffPost]

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WHEN REPORTING DOMESTIC ABUSE COSTS EVERYTHING Military spouses are regularly stationed on remote bases, far from friends and family. When they experience domestic violence, there is often nowhere for them to go. Fear of losing financial security looms large ― when service members are dishonorably discharged, they lose benefits, and so do their families. [HuffPost]

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CHINESE TV PULLS UK SOCCER MATCH OVER CALLOUT Chinese television pulled coverage of Arsenal’s Premier League match against Manchester City after Mesut Ozil, a forward for the London club, criticized Beijing’s brutal mass crackdown on ethnic Muslims in the country. [AP]

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VIOLENCE ERUPTS AT DELHI PROTESTS Police fired tear gas and struck demonstrators with batons in India’s capital city, where thousands, including students at the Jamia Millia Islamia University, protested against a new law that will give citizenship to non-Muslims fleeing religious persecution from several neighboring countries. [AP]

WHAT'S BREWING

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LEBANESE BURN RULING PARTIES' OFFICES Attackers in northern Lebanon set fire to the offices of two major political parties. The assaults came just hours after the capital Beirut was rocked by the most violent government crackdown on protesters since nationwide demonstrations began two months ago. [AP]

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HOW NEW JERSEY'S HASIDIC JEWS BECAME TARGETS “There’s been a rise in anti-Semitism all over, and it’s not directed particularly at Hasidim," says sociologist Samuel Heilman. "But Hasidim are much easier to pick out than more assimilated Jews. When people oppose Jews and they want to make sure they are doing that in a very iconic way, Hasidim are easy targets.” [HuffPost]

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KRUGMAN: TRUMP HAS ALREADY LOST HIS CHINA TRADE WAR Trump has declared that the U.S. is close to reaching a “Phase One” agreement with China. But, “however Trump may try to spin this, he lost,” Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman wrote. China learned, as did North Korea, that “Trump talks loudly but carries a small stick, and can be rolled," he said. [HuffPost]

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BLOOMBERG HAS A TOXIC LEGACY ON LEAD When Harlem mother Cordell Cleare appealed to first-term New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg about the lead paint dust causing an epidemic of brain damage among mostly Black and Latino children, he said: "Yeah, well, I just don’t understand certain behaviors in certain populations."[HuffPost]

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WHAT HAPPENS NEXT WITH FOOD BENEFIT CUTS The first of the Trump administration’s three major cutbacks to federal food benefits will go into effect next April, unless a judge blocks it. Democrats in Congress and in state governments, as well as advocates for poor people, have all vowed to take legal action against the cuts. [HuffPost]

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THE WATER CRISIS IS WORSENING TERRIBLE INEQUALITY As with many aspects of the climate crisis, the impacts of water shortages are not unequal. While wealthier people are able to buy private supplies, drill boreholes and fill their swimming pools, poorer people, who already use less water and pay more for it, have few options. [HuffPost]

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