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POLITICS: A lot is going on in Washington, DC. Today, Prez Trump’s nominee for attorney general - William Barr - will testify before the Senate. Expect to hear lawmakers ask him about his stance on the Russia investigation - and about how he’ll enforce federal civil rights laws. Stay tuned. In other news, special counsel Robert Mueller is not happy. As in the Prez reportedly turned down his request for an in-person interview. This comes as Mueller’s apparently getting ready to release the results of the Russia investigation. Suspense, thick. Meanwhile, yesterday, Trump shook his head to a suggestion to let the gov reopen while negotiations continue. Unclear if there’s an end to the shutdown in sight.
USA: The other day, the CEO of Pacific Gas & Electric (as in California’s biggest utility biz) said ‘see you later, losers’ and quit. Reminder: California hasn’t exactly had the best luck when it comes to wildfires. Over the past couple years, hundreds of thousands of acres have been burned - and dozens of people have been killed. Then, recently, investigators pointed fingers at PG&E for starting the fires after one of their power lines knocked into a tree. Now, the biz is filing for bankruptcy as it faces tens of billions of dollars in total liabilities. Speaking of which, the odds of dying from an accidental opioid overdose are now greater than the odds of dying in a car wreck. This comes as the opioid epidemic in the US continues to worsen.
WORLD: Yesterday, a Chinese court sentenced a Canadian man to death for allegedly smuggling drugs. Reminder: weeks ago, Canada arrested the CFO of Huawei (a Chinese telecom biz). Something China was not happy about. Since then, the country’s detained two Canadians in what much of the world is calling politically motivated arrests. Now, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing China of using the death penalty “arbitrarily.” Meanwhile, all eyes are on Chechnya, a region of Russia. There, authorities have reportedly launched a “crackdown on gays” that’s led to the death of 2 people and the arrest of dozens. This comes after the region arrested and tortured over 100 gay men in 2017.
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