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With the nonstop coverage of the (relatively) underwhelming Irma finally receding from airwaves and homepages, it's becoming more and more apparent just how daunting the jeopardous autumn landscape sprawled before us (and lawmakers) looks to be.
Godspeed America...
The Hurricane Named Irma:
Despite not living up to meteorologists' apocalyptical hype, Hurricane Irma has nevertheless earned her place as one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record, having prompted the largest evacuation in modern U.S. history and leaving over 7.4 million homes and businesses across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama without electricity.
Local authorities are allowing some 90,000 Florida residents to return to their since-hammered homes as of this morning, though FEMA administrator Brock Long is warning Floridians that "this is going to be a frustrating event. It’s going to take some time to let people back into their homes particularly in the Florida Keys."
* Something worth knowing: "Food shortages and looting on Caribbean islands hammered by Hurricane Irma sparked growing criticism of the government response ... Jenn Manes, who writes a blog on U.S. Virgin Island St. John, detailed a list of robberies and break-ins on the island after Irma struck, saying she had to install a bar on the inside of her door to keep out would-be burglars. 'This is not St. John anymore. I‘m not sure what it is. What I do know is that I am scared. My friends are scared. And we don’t know what to do,' she wrote."
The Future of Tax Reform:
The current lack of a budget plan for the 2018 fiscal year (starting October 1st) remains an insurmountable legislative roadblock for those in Washington itching to overhaul the tax system. However, that is apparently not stopping the White House and Republican leadership from doing all they can to move that ball forward, as tonight will see the president host a bipartisan group of senators (which just so happens to include vulnerable Sens. Donnelly of Indiana, Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Manchin of West Virginia) for a working dinner, while the next seven weeks will see him visit as many 13 states to sell his administration's still-in-the-works tax plan.
* Something worth emphasizing, courtesy of Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA): "This time around there is no room for error. This has got to be a home run."
The Russia Investigation:
Two days after former White House senior adviser Steve Bannon told Charlie Rose that he considered President Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey 'the worst mistake in modern political history,' and just one day after Russian politician Vyacheslav Nikonov said on live television that U.S. "intelligence missed it when Russian intelligence stole the president of the United States," the Wall Street Journal published a story reporting that some of President Trump's lawyers had concluded earlier this summer "that Jared Kushner should step down as senior White House adviser because of possible legal complications" and that they had actually "aired [those] concerns about him to the president."
* Something worth realizing: "Russian operatives hiding behind false identities used Facebook’s event management tool to remotely organize and promote political protests in the U.S., including an August 2016 anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rally in Idaho, The Daily Beast has learned. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Beast that the social-media giant 'shut down several promoted events as part of the takedown we described last week.' The company declined to elaborate, except to confirm that the events were promoted with paid ads."
The North Korea Quandary:
Yesterday, in response to the rogue nation's sixth and most powerful nuclear test on September 3rd, the U.N. Security Council unanimously agreed to stricter sanctions against North Korea. While not as severe as the package proposed in an initial draft pushed by the United States, these new sanctions do impose a crippling ban on North Korea's textile exports and cap its imports of crude oil, which could "shave as much as $1.3 billion from North Korea’s revenue."
* Something worth accepting, courtesy of the sharp-tongued Nikki Haley: "We all know these steps only work if all nations implement them completely and aggressively."
Oh, and:
- "President Donald Trump is weighing a strategy that could allow more aggressive U.S. responses to Iran’s forces, its Shi‘ite Muslim proxies in Iraq and Syria, and its support for militant groups, according to six current and former U.S. officials. The proposal was prepared by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, national security adviser H.R. McMaster and other top officials, and presented to Trump at a National Security Council meeting on Friday, the sources said. It could be agreed and made public before the end of September, two of the sources said."
- "A small wave of Republican lawmakers have announced that they will not seek reelection next year, and more are actively considering it, threatening to make what many within the GOP already viewed as a difficult election cycle even harder. In the House, the early spate of GOP retirements means the party won’t enjoy the advantage of incumbency in several closely divided districts — and raises the possibility that many more lawmakers will choose to retire rather than face tough reelection campaigns. No Republican senators have announced retirement plans yet, but several are considering it amid threats by outside groups backing President Trump to challenge establishment-wing senators in next year’s GOP primaries."
- "Early Tuesday morning, for reasons that will no doubt become clear sometime soon, Ted Cruz’s Twitter account faved an extremely explicit porn video from the account @SexuallPosts ... The two-minute video features a woman who comes home to find a couple has broken into her house and is having sex on her couch. Rather than reacting in any number of ways a person who discovers naked home invaders might react, she proceeds to masturbate while watching the couple."
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