Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of March 16

Everyone but Trump Understands What He’s Done - The Atlantic
Allied leaders know that any positive gesture they make will count for nothing.

This article is a brutal takedown of Trump's terrible leadership, ruination of of relationships with allies, and unfitness for office. And it has no hyperbole or exaggeration.

Donald Trump does not think strategically. Nor does he think historically, geographically, or even rationally. He does not connect actions he takes on one day to events that occur weeks later. He does not think about how his behavior in one place will change the behavior of other people in other places.

He does not consider the wider implications of his decisions. He does not take responsibility when these decisions go wrong. Instead, he acts on whim and impulse, and when he changes his mind—when he feels new whims and new impulses—he simply lies about whatever he said or did before.

For the past 14 months, few foreign leaders have been able to acknowledge that someone without any strategy can actually be president of the United States. Surely, the foreign-policy analysts murmured, Trump thinks beyond the current moment. Surely, foreign statesmen whispered, he adheres to some ideology, some pattern, some plan. Words were thrown around—isolationism, imperialism—in an attempt to place Trump’s actions into a historical context. Solemn articles were written about the supposed significance of Greenland, for example, as if Trump’s interest in the Arctic island were not entirely derived from the fact that it looks very large on a Mercator projection.

This week, something broke. Maybe Trump does not understand the link between the past and the present, but other people do. They can see that, as a result of decisions that Trump made but cannot explain, the Strait of Hormuz is blocked by Iranian mines and drones. They can see oil prices rising around the world and they understand that it is difficult and dangerous for the U.S. Navy to solve this problem. They can also hear the president lashing out, as he has done so many times before, trying to get other people to take responsibility, threatening them if they don’t.

Trump makes a Pearl Harbor joke while meeting with Japanese prime minister - NBC News

When asked by a reporter about why the U.S. didn't share their Iran war plans with Japan, President Donald Trump said it was necessary for the element of surprise. The president followed this with a joke, saying, "Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Ok, why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?"

Trump draws parallel between Pearl Harbor and US strikes on Iran in meeting with Japanese PM - Reuters

BTW, besides this showing that Trump is a classless idiot, it should also be noted that he recently attacked Iran from the air without a declaration of war and during diplomatic negotiations. Like what happened at Pearl Harbor.

Judge Orders Prosecutors to Testify

This headline does not adequately convey the absolute thrashing this judge gave the US Attorney's office. For proceeding with a plea agreement for a CSAM case without charging for additional material found, for having a random other attorney from the office try to speak without the proper paperwork, for the office itself being ran "at its own risk" under the stay of an order finding the current leadership invalid. And so he subpoenas the 3 current leaders of the office to be questioned individually about who is actually running things and making decisions there.

The transcript is very interesting.

Top US Fema official claims to have teleported to a Waffle House before (The Guardian)

A far-right conspiracy theorist turned high-ranking official at the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) claims to have once teleported to a Waffle House.

Tennessee: GOP lawmakers want to create a statewide list of trans people based on medical information

Unlike the Texas and Utah laws, however, H.B. 754 also mandates that healthcare providers “report statistics regarding all gender transition procedures” to the Tennessee Department of Health and for that data to be made available in a “comprehensive annual statistical report” on the department’s website.

Gender-affirming care providers would have to report the date on which patients received a “transition procedure,” their age and “biological sex,” their state and county of residence, their doctor’s name and contact information, information on neurological, behavioral, or mental health conditions with which they’ve been diagnosed, and information about the specific prescription or procedure they received.

…

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, under HIPAA, “individually identifiable health information” includes a patient’s county of residence and the exact dates they were admitted and discharged. But as Vaca notes, HIPAA also includes exceptions when disclosing protected health information is required by state law.

Under H.B. 754, providers who do not report trans people’s private medical information could have their medical licenses suspended for a minimum of six months, and their employers could be fined up to $150,000.

Vaca warns that bad actors could potentially identify trans people by the information required in the publicly available “comprehensive annual statistical report.”

TSA officers are quitting rather than working without pay during another shutdown as eviction notices, car repos, and empty fridges weigh (Fortune)

Eviction notices. Vehicle repossessions. Empty refrigerators and overdrawn bank accounts.

Union leaders and federal officials say these are just some of the financial pressures Transportation Security Administration agents are facing during an ongoing government funding lapse — the third shutdown in less than six months that has forced the officers who screen airport passengers and luggage to keep working without pay.