Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of fifty. Sunrise is 5:45 AM and sunset 7:57 PM, for 14h 11m 33s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 43.8% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}one hundred seventy-fifth day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}

Whitewater’s Fire Department has a scheduled business meeting at 6:30 AM, and Common Council will be in session tonight at 6:30 PM.

Common Council is scheduled to hear an update on a waste receiving station (item C-5), and to consider (on a first reading with a second reading to be waived) a proposed ordinance to end term limits for appointees to city commissions and boards, so that members might be appointed perpetually.

There was a brief discussion of an end to term limits, as Councilmember Allen proposed it, at the last session of Common Council, although it was not reported along with other events that evening. (The Daily Union‘s Welch predictably reported on everything except this discussion.) One can find Allen’s remarks from the 4.18.17 session at approximately 47:47 on this video link.

Both topics, in their own way, are reflections not of where Whitewater’s going, as much as where she has been (and where she is): these dies have already been cast. The considerations on a change in term limits (most likely to affect long-time members of the CDA and PFC) are, however, interesting, and I’ll write more after the meeting.

Recommended for reading in full —

Erik Wemple describes the results of an interview in ‘I don’t stand by anything’: Trump withers under heat from CBS News’s John Dickerson:

JOHN DICKERSON: Did President Obama give you any advice that was helpful? That you think, wow, he really was–

DONALD TRUMP: — Well, he was very nice to me. But after that, we’ve had some difficulties. So it doesn’t matter. You know, words are less important to me than deeds. And you– you saw what happened with surveillance. And everybody saw what happened with surveillance–

JOHN DICKERSON: Difficulties how?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — and I thought that — well, you saw what happened with surveillance. And I think that was inappropriate, but that’s the way–

JOHN DICKERSON: What does that mean, sir?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You can figure that out yourself.

JOHN DICKERSON: Well, I– the reason I ask is you said he was– you called him “sick and bad”.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Look, you can figure it out yourself. He was very nice to me with words, but– and when I was with him — but after that, there has been no relationship.

JOHN DICKERSON: But you stand by that claim about him?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don’t stand by anything. I just– you can take it the way you want. I think our side’s been proven very strongly. And everybody’s talking about it. And frankly it should be discussed. I think that is a very big surveillance of our citizens. I think it’s a very big topic. And it’s a topic that should be number one. And we should find out what the hell is going on.

JOHN DICKERSON: I just wanted to find out, though. You’re– you’re the president of the United States. You said he was “sick and bad” because he had tapped you– I’m just–

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You can take– any way. You can take it any way you want.

JOHN DICKERSON: But I’m asking you. Because you don’t want it to be–

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You don’t–

JOHN DICKERSON: –fake news. I want to hear it from–

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You don’t have to–

JOHN DICKERSON: –President Trump.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: –ask me. You don’t have to ask me.

JOHN DICKERSON: Why not?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Because I have my own opinions. You can have your own opinions.

JOHN DICKERSON: But I want to know your opinions. You’re the president of the United States.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Okay, it’s enough. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Will Bunch contends that The problem with NY Times and climate change isn’t what you think: “Simply put, the Times decision to hire and promote Stephens trashed its own brand, the brand that it’s spent years and millions of dollars building up. From a business standpoint — and yes, the New York Times is very much a business, now struggling to find new strategies to save itself — the move almost makes the 1985 debut of New Coke look good. And that the people who run the New York Times didn’t see this — and still don’t seem to understand the problem — should make people very afraid about the future of American journalism, especially at the moment when the media is also under assault from a wannabe strongman at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The Times’ editors who hired Stephens were following a tired playbook that’s over a century old — even as the nature of both journalism and how readers relate to the news has changed radically in the last decade. Simply put, mainstream news orgs have an almost mystical, quasi-religious faith in the notion that to be moral and ethical they must have some approximate balance between liberal and conservative opinion writers. But it wasn’t always that way, and there’s no logical reason for this in 2017.”

Laura Reston explains Where Trump Gets His Fuzzy Border Math: “Trump repeatedly cited CIS [Center for Immigration Studies] studies in his TV ads and speeches, tweeted links to the group’s research, and used its data to argue that immigrants are “bringing drugs” and “bringing crime” into the United States. After he implemented his controversial Muslim ban, CIS provided Trump with much-needed political cover: Media outlets from NPR to The Washington Post quoted the center’s experts defending the policy. Most, in fact, portrayed CIS as a respectable research institute—after all, the group boasts that its board of directors includes a mix of “active and retired university professors” and “civil rights leaders.” CIS, however, is far from a reputable scholarly organization. It’s a far-right fringe group that was founded on disturbing and discredited ideas about racial inferiority. Today, CIS churns out doctored “studies” that portray an America under siege from immigrants pouring over our borders, destroying our environment, and draining our coffers.”

Amanda Diaz describes the views of a federal former budget director in David Stockman: Trump’s tax plan is ‘dead on arrival’ and Wall St. is ‘delusional’ for believing it: “David Stockman has a stern message for investors: They’re living in a fantasy land about Trump. In a recent interview on CNBC’s “Futures Now,” the former director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Reagan said that “Wall Street is totally misreading Washington,” and President Trump’s promises of tax reform will be “dead before arrival.” The president is “essentially a 70-year old kid in a candy store who wants one of everything: More for defense, veterans, border walls, law enforcement, infrastructure and ‘phenomenal’ tax cuts, too—without the inconvenience of paying for any of it,” said Stockman. Of the proposed tax bill announced this week, he said, “It’s a wonderful fantasy…but there’s no way to pay for the $7.5 trillion cost of the main features.”

SpaceX successfully landed its 10th rocket (this time to place an intelligence satellite in orbit):

Good morning.

A new month begins in Whitewater with rain tapering off as the day unfolds, with a high of fifty-four. Sunrise is 5:47 AM and sunset 7:56 PM, for 14h 09m 05s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 32.7% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}one hundred seventy-fourth day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}

On this day in 1931, Pres. Hoover officially opens the Empire State Building when he turns on the buildings lights with the push a button in Washington, D.C. On this day in in 1954, Milton House (“”an architectural wonder when it was built in the Wisconsin wilderness” one hundred ten years earlier) becomes a museum.

Recommended for reading in full —

Mark Landler reports that Trump’s ‘Very Friendly’ Talk With Duterte Stuns Aides and Critics Alike: “During their “very friendly conversation,” the administration said in a late-night statement, Mr. Trump invited Mr. Duterte, an authoritarian leader accused of ordering extrajudicial killings of drug suspects in the Philippines, to visit him at the White House. Now, the administration is bracing for an avalanche of criticism from human rights groups. Two senior officials said they expected the State Department and the National Security Council, both of which were caught off guard by the invitation, to raise objections internally. The White House disclosed the news on a day when Mr. Trump fired up his supporters at a campaign-style rally in Harrisburg, Pa. The timing of the announcement — after a speech that was a grievance-filled jeremiad — encapsulated this president after 100 days in office: still ready to say and do things that leave people, even on his staff, slack-jawed.”

Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger report How the Republican right found allies in Russia: “On issues including gun rights, terrorism and same-sex marriage, many leading advocates on the right who grew frustrated with their country’s leftward tilt under President Barack Obama have forged ties with well-connected Russians and come to see that country’s authoritarian leader, Vladimir Putin, as a potential ally. The attitude adjustment among many conservative activists helps explain one of the most curious aspects of the 2016 presidential race: a softening among many conservatives of their historically hard-line views of Russia. To the alarm of some in the GOP’s national security establishment, support in the party base for then-candidate Donald Trump did not wane even after he rejected the tough tone of 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, who called Russia America’s No. 1 foe, and repeatedly praised Putin.”

Darron Simon reports that Controversial Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke faces protests Monday: “Thousands are expected to take to the streets of Wisconsin on Monday to demand that the governor remove controversial Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, a tough-talking firebrand who wants to use his deputies and correction officers to enforce federal immigration laws. Among other concerns, organizers of the march in Milwaukee are critical of Clarke’s desire to join the Department of Homeland Security’s 287(g) program, which essentially deputizes local law enforcement agencies to operate as federal immigration agents. The Department of Homeland Security wants to expand the government’s ability to empower state and local law enforcement to perform the functions of immigration officers. “Sheriff Clarke, right off the bat, really waved the flag to say we’re going to bring it to Milwaukee County,” Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera, the immigrant rights group organizing the statewide march, said Sunday of the 287(g) program. “It basically legalizes racial profiling because you can be stopped and questioned and put in detention based on how you look,” she said.”

Rosie Gray describes norm-disregarding Trump in The Entertainment Presidency: “Whether Trump’s challenges to convention permanently change Washington’s culture, though, or become a cautionary tale for future politicians, may largely be less determined by his success in reshaping debates than by his ability to deliver substantive results. “If you are viewed as successful, yeah, you may have altered the presidency,” said Tim Naftali, a clinical associate professor of history and public service at New York University. “But if you’re viewed as a failure, no.” “The long-term effects of his allergy to existing norms will depend on how well he does as president,” Naftali said. And, at the moment, views of Trump are starkly polarized. His approval ratings are historically low for a president at this point in his tenure. A Gallup poll this week put Trump’s approval at 43 percent.”

Nature is full of curiosities. Meet the giant salamander known as the ‘snot otter’:

Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be rainy, with an occasional thunderstorm, and a high of forty-eight. Sunrise is 5:48 AM and sunset 7:55 PM, for 14h 06m 36s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 21.9% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}one hundred seventy-third day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}

Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, aged 73, of Wisconsin’s Fifth Congressional District plans a town hall at Whitewater’s municipal building at 1 PM. Sensenbrenner has been in the national news most recently for his observation that “nobody’s got to use the internet” and for losing his cool at a February town hall (“The congressman, who prides himself on his prolific schedule of town-hall-style meetings, banged his gavel and insisted that his rules for civility be obeyed.“).

Sensenbrenner’s rules for civility are singular. Readers may recall that Sensenbrenner commented negatively (at a church fundraiser, of all places) on Michelle Obama’s weight, for which he later apologized:

” ‘He then talked about how different first ladies have had different projects – Laura Bush and literacy – and he named two or three others,’ Marsh-Meigs said in an interview last week. ‘And then he said, ‘And Michelle Obama, her project is obesity. And look at her big butt.’ ‘

” ‘That’s basically what he said,” she continued. “It was a combination of her work on obesity and her shape.’

“The remark stunned the five congregants, according to Marsh-Meigs, who was the only woman at the table where the conversation occurred. She said she believes Sensenbrenner might have thought she wasn’t paying attention because she was busy knitting.”

(Perhaps a staffer has supplied the congressman with a helpful Post-it^® note for today’s town hall: (1) stay calm (2) don’t say anything foolish.)

On this day in 1803, the Louisiana Purchase Treaty was signed on 30 April by Robert Livingston, James Monroe, and Barbé Marbois in Paris. On this day in 1864, Joseph Bailey directs Union soldiers, including the 23rd Wisconsin, to support six Union warships: “Bailey, who was from Wisconsin Dells and an experienced lumberjack, served as an engineer in the 4th Wisconsin Cavalry. In a doomed campaign against the Confederates on the Red River in Louisiana, Union warships found themselves trapped by low water and the rocky river bed. As Confederate soldiers approached, Bailey employed water control techniques used by loggers to construct a series of dams that successfully narrowed the river, raised the water level by six feet, and provided enough surge to free the trapped fleet of gunboats. For his role in this rescue, Bailey was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. He also received a Tiffany punch bowl from his fellow officers.”

Recommended for reading in full — 

Sarah Kendzior offers Want to survive another 100 days of Trump? Don’t get complacent: “For over a year, citizens refused to accept that the unthinkable was not only thinkable, but probable. His win was a lesson in the dangers of complacency. The 100 days have shown Mr. Trump’s failures to be not a natural result of incompetence, but of vigilance that citizens and officials must continue to apply if they want to keep their republic. A new translation of Dante’s The Inferno bears the lines: “Forget your hopes. They were what brought you here.” This is good advice for those living in Mr. Trump’s special hell. The era of hope and change is over. The era of resistance and resolve is now.”

Pope Francis recently gave a surprise TED talk on why the only future worth building includes everyone:

Andrew Kramer reports on an aspect of Putin’s Russia in Despite the ‘Yuck Factor,’ Leeches Are Big in Russian Medicine: “Leeches — yes, leeches — are still widely prescribed in Russian medicine, about 10 million of them every year, in many cases as a low-cost substitute for blood thinners like warfarin. “When you do it the first time, you think, ‘My God, leeches!’” Mrs. Kalinicheva said. “But after you go through it, you understand there is nothing to worry about.” In Russia, a medicinal leech costs less than $1, and a typical application requires three to seven of the ravenous little creatures. Leech treatments, available throughout the country, take 30 to 40 minutes, though the resulting wounds ooze blood for an additional six hours or so until the natural anticoagulant in leech venom wears off. Though Russia under President Vladimir V. Putin is muscling its way back onto the world stage militarily, economic development has lagged woefully, and that includes the medical system.”

Alicia Parlipiano and Larry Buchanan have been Cataloging Every Tweet by the President Since He Took Office: “As Mr. Trump approaches 100 days in office, we’ve taken stock of how he has used the medium, cataloging his Twitter posts into 10 themes: Undermining Obama (15 tweets), Raising Alarm (40), Pressuring Congress (24), Discrediting the Media (41), Bullying Foreign Leaders (25), Singling Out Companies (12), Serving as Spin (101), Creating Drama and Excitement (38), Promoting the Administration (31), Making America Great Again (169)”

From above, a drone shows the landscape of Norway’s Lofoten Islands, shot using a DJI Mavic Pro:

Good morning.

Saturday in this rural college town will be mostly cloudy, with afternoon showers, and a high of forty-nine. Sunrise is 5:49 AM and sunset 7:54 PM, for 14h 04m 05s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 13.4% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}one hundred seventy-second day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}

On this day in 1899, composer & pianist Duke Ellington is born. On this day in 1862, the Siege of Corinth, Mississippi begins: “Following their victory at Shiloh, 110,000 Union soldiers marched to Corinth, Mississippi. The city sat at the junction of rail lines that stretched south to Alabama and Florida, and north to Kentucky and Virginia. It would take three weeks to drive Confederate troops from the city.”

Recommended for reading in full — 

Andrew Restuccia, Josh Dawsey, and Daniel Lippman report on the White House eyeing [Milwaukee Sheriff David] Clarke for Homeland Security post: “Clarke is in line to be appointed as assistant secretary at DHS’ Office of Partnership and Engagement, which coordinates outreach to state, local and tribal officials and law enforcement. The position does not require Senate confirmation. A senior administration official cautioned it’s “not a done deal yet.” Clarke, a longtime supporter of President Donald Trump, has long been rumored as a possible candidate for a job in the administration and met with Trump in November at Trump Tower. He also spoke at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last year. He has come under fire in recent days amid revelations about the case of Terrill Thomas, who died of dehydration last year at the Milwaukee County Jail after guards turned off the water in his cell.”

Audrey Carlsen, Jesse Drucker, Stuart A. Thompson, and Nadja Popovich report that Trump Could Save Tens of Millions of Dollars in One Year Under His Proposed Tax Plan: “Mr. Trump could save as much as $10.4 million on business income and $16.6 million on income from real estate and other kinds of partnerships under this plan, compared with his tax burden under current law. (In 2005, much of this taxable income was offset by a $103.2 million write-down in business losses.)”

Maria Sacchetti and Ed O’Keefe report that ICE data shows half of immigrants arrested in raids had traffic convictions or no record: “The two-month total represents a 32 percent increase in deportation arrests over the same period last year. Most are criminals, administration officials have said. But 5,441 were not criminals, double the number of undocumented immigrants arrested for deportation a year earlier. The administration has released a detailed breakdown of the criminal records only of the raids in early February. Trump has said that public safety threats are his top priority. Shortly after he was elected, he vowed to first deport serious criminals from the United States. But critics say immigration agents instead have also targeted students, parents of U.S. citizens who do not have serious criminal records and minor offenders.”

Felicia Schwartz reports that Sec. of State Tillerson Proposes 2,300 Job Cuts From State Department: “WASHINGTON—U.S. chief diplomat Rex Tillerson is floating a plan to slash 2,300 jobs and 26% of the budget from the State Department, affirming the Trump administration’s intention to favor military over diplomatic spending, people familiar with the proposal said. Mr. Tillerson’s proposal follows the Office of Management and Budget’s plan that included President Donald Trump’s call to cut funding for the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development by 31%. Officials cautioned that the budget discussions continue and the administration’s final funding request to Congress won’t be released until the second week of May.”

How would one Make The World’s Tiniest Cup Of Coffee Out Of A Single Bean? Here’s how:

Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy, with a likelihood of afternoon rain, and a high of sixty-one. Sunrise is 5:51 AM and sunset 7:52 PM, for 14h 01m 33s. The moon is a waxing crescent with 5.7% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}one hundred seventy-first day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}

The Downtown Whitewater board of directors is scheduled to meet at 8 AM.

A mutiny on the HMS Bounty takes place on this day in 1789, as “Acting Lieutenant Fletcher Christian [and] disaffected crewmen seize control of the ship from their captain, Lieutenant William Bligh, and set him and 18 loyalists adrift in the ship’s open launch.” On this day in 1862, the 5th Wisconsin Infantry takes part in a reconnaissance at Lee’s Mill, Virginia.

Recommended for reading in full —

Jacob Carpenter and Dave Umhoefer report that 3 Milwaukee County Jail staffers point fingers at others in dehydration death: “Three Milwaukee County Jail staffers blamed each other Thursday for failing to document the shutoff of an inmate’s water seven days before he died of dehydration. A corrections lieutenant and two officers all said they believed a co-worker had noted in jail logs that staff cut off the water in inmate Terrill Thomas’ solitary confinement cell. Without the notation, other corrections officers and supervisors had no way of knowing Thomas was deprived of water. The testimony came on the fourth day of the inquest into the death of Thomas, 38, whose untreated bipolar disorder rendered him incapable of asking for help. An inquest is a rarely used legal procedure that allows prosecutors to question witnesses under oath in public before they decide whether to criminally charge anybody over a death. A jury hears the testimony and issues an advisory verdict on whether there’s probable cause to file charges.”

Thomas Kaplan and Robert Pear report that Health Bill Vote Scrapped for Now as G.O.P. Support Wanes: “The lost opportunity was perhaps the biggest blow to the future prospects of Reince Priebus, Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, who has a long relationship with Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin. Mr. Priebus had pushed aggressively for the House to schedule a vote this week, according to several people who spoke with him within the West Wing and on Capitol Hill. Earlier on Thursday, Mr. Ryan appeared to shy away from pushing for a fast vote. “We’re going to go when we have the votes,” he said, adding that Republicans would not be constrained by “some artificial deadline.” House Democrats, sensing an advantage, pressured Republicans to once again back away from the bill, just as they did a month ago in an embarrassing defeat for Mr. Trump and Mr. Ryan. Democratic leaders threatened to withhold votes from a stopgap spending measure to keep the government open past Friday if Republicans insisted on trying to jam the health care bill through the House on Friday or Saturday, which is Mr. Trump’s 100th day as president.”

Brian Stelter reports an Exclusive: Federal probe of Fox News expands: “The U.S. Justice Department’s investigation of Fox News has widened to include a second law enforcement agency. Financial crimes experts from the United States Postal Inspection Service are now involved, according to four sources connected to the investigation. Mail fraud and wire fraud cases are part of the USPIS purview. Investigators from both the USPIS and the Justice Department have been conducting interviews in recent weeks — including with some former Fox staffers — to obtain more information about the network’s managers and business practices, the sources said….In February the investigation was reported to be focusing on settlements made with women who alleged sexual harassment by former Fox News boss Roger Ailes, and questions about whether Fox had a duty to inform shareholders about the settlement payments. The investigators have been asking “how the shareholder money was spent; who knew; and who should have known,” one of the sources said.”

The Times considers President Trump’s Laughable Plan to Cut His Own Taxes: “the skimpy one-page tax proposal his administration released on Wednesday is, by any historical standard, a laughable stunt by a gang of plutocrats looking to enrich themselves at the expense of the country’s future. Two of Mr. Trump’s top lieutenants — Steven Mnuchin and Gary Cohn, both multimillionaires and former Goldman Sachs bankers — trotted out a plan that would slash taxes for businesses and wealthy families, including Mr. Trump’s, in the vague hope of propelling economic growth. So as to not seem completely venal, they served up a few goodies for the average wage-earning family, among them fewer and lower tax brackets and a higher standard deduction. The proposal was so empty of illustrative detail that few people could even begin to calculate its impact on their pocketbooks. Further, depending on where they live, some middle-class families might not benefit much or at all, because the plan does away with important deductions like those for state and local taxes.”

Chicago Bears fans – and the rest of humanity, really – had trouble understanding why their team would go for a quarterback when a defensive player would be so useful. They expressed their surprise:

Bears fans are absolutely devastated pic.twitter.com/hrVG7VaRvF

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) April 28, 2017

Good morning.

Whitewater’s Thursday will be rainy with a high of forty-eight. Sunrise is 5:52 AM and sunset 7:51 PM, for 13h 58m 59s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 1.3% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}one hundred seventieth day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}

Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets today at 5:30 PM.

Ulysses S. Grant is born this day in 1822. On this day in 1963, Dave Brubeck performs at Beloit College.

Recommended for reading in full —

Jacob Carpenter reports that a Milwaukee County Inmate’s dehydration death came after litany of errors, policy violations, ex-2nd-in-command says: “A litany of egregious errors and policy violations preceded the dehydration death of Milwaukee County Jail inmate Terrill Thomas, the jail’s former second-in-command testified Wednesday…. [Former deputy inspector Kevin] Nyklewicz, who has since retired from the sheriff’s office, said jail staff failed on numerous fronts. A lieutenant violated policy by ordering the shutoff of Thomas’ water and failing to document it. Officers never contacted a psychiatric social worker after Thomas stripped off his clothes and shouted incoherently for days. Shift supervisors never intervened after daily required checks of inmates like Thomas in solitary confinement. “I can’t believe that someone would walk through there and not see or not question anything,” Nyklewicz said. Nyklewicz’s testimony followed questioning of other witnesses about another problem in the case: the failure to preserve surveillance video. Jail staff only recovered video showing the second half of Thomas’ weeklong stint on the solitary confinement wing. The missing portion would have shown who shut off Thomas’ water — though other jail staff members have identified who they believe gave the order and who carried it out.”

Charles Lane observes that Trump has set out to protect lumber workers. Instead, he’s helping lobbyists: “Thus did the president renew a trade dispute that has raged intermittently ever since 1982, when the U.S. softwood-lumber industry complained to the Reagan administration about increasing Canadian imports of this key home-building input. Whatever else this struggle has achieved, it has kept a small army of trade associations and law firms fully employed in the nation’s capital. Fighting Canadian lumber “dumping” is the raison d’être of the U.S. Lumber Coalition, founded in 1985 and headquartered — where else? — on K Street. Meanwhile, Canada’s wood products industry has its own Washington legal representatives, retained to draft contentious memorandums for the bureaucrats who adjudicate such matters at the Commerce Department. The average American’s stake in all of this — or the average Canadian’s, for that matter — is considerably less clear than the Trump administration’s rhetoric would imply.”

Jesse Drucker describes Bribe Cases, a Jared Kushner Partner and Potential Conflicts: “For much of the roughly $50 million in down payments [to purchase New York apartment buildings], Mr. Kushner turned to an undisclosed overseas partner. Public records and shell companies shield the investor’s identity. But, it turns out, the money came from a member of Israel’s Steinmetz family, which built a fortune as one of the world’s leading diamond traders. A Kushner Companies spokeswoman and several Steinmetz representatives say Raz Steinmetz, 53, was behind the deals. His uncle, and the family’s most prominent figure, is the billionaire Beny Steinmetz, who is under scrutiny by law enforcement authorities in four countries. In the United States, federal prosecutors are investigating whether representatives of his firm bribed government officials in Guinea to secure a multibillion dollar mining concession. In Israel, Mr. Steinmetz was detained in December and questioned in a bribery and money laundering investigation. In Switzerland and Guinea, prosecutors have conducted similar inquiries.”

Professor Andrew Reynolds, Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, describes Trump’s self-proclaimed terrorism expert’s likely fraudulent credentials:

“[Sebastian Gorka’s] dissertation is online and includes the ‘evaluations’ of three referees who each presented a page of generalized comments – completely at odds with the detailed substantive and methodological evaluations that I’ve seen at every Ph.D defence I’ve been on over the last twenty years.

Two of the three referees did not even have a Ph.D. One was the US Defense Attaché at the American Embassy in Budapest at the time, while the other was employed at the UK’s Defence Academy and just had a BA from Manchester University awarded in 1969. This ‘neutral’ examiner had published a book in Hungary with Gorka three years previously. While graduate students sometimes collaborate with their advisors the independent external examiners must have no nepotistic ties with the candidate. More important, a basic principle of assessing educational achievement is that your examiners have at least the degree level of the degree they are awarding. Undergraduates do not award Ph.Ds. In Gorka’s case the only examiner who lists a doctorate was György Schöpflin – an extreme right wing Hungarian Member of the European Parliament who recently advocated putting pigs heads on a fence on the Hungarian border to keep out Muslims. I have been told that Schöpflin was a family friend. Both Schöpflin and Gorka’s father[s] fled from Budapest to London in the 1950s and both moved in exile right-wing nationalist circles.

If that is true, we are left in sum with a degree that was awarded in absence – on the basis of a dissertation without basic political science methodological underpinnings – and apparently from an examining committee of two of Gorka’s diplomat friends, with only BA degrees; along with an old family friend, Schöpflin.

In sum, Gorka’s Ph.D is about as legitimate as if he had been awarded it by Trump University. Facts matter, but so does the gathering, synthesizing and creation of knowledge that is what we call ‘education.’ If you fake a Ph.D you are faking your credentials. He delivers provable untruths to the American public but is believed by many because he presents himself as an esteemed scholar of Islam. Gorka would never have got away with such hutzpah in the UK. Experience and scholarship work in harness to produce answers to questions. When you have neither experience nor training you are likely to not merely get the answers wrong, but not even have an inkling of which questions to ask.”

Sometimes a lion’s had enough: