July 12, 2018

Chinese Tariffs on U.S. Energy Would Signal a New Attitude

In placing retaliatory tariffs on certain goods and products, America’s trade partners have signaled how well they understand American politics. By targeting products from areas supportive of President Donald Trump, they clearly hope to generate pressure to lift U.S. tariffs or even create broader political problems for the president. But China is sending much more interesting — and complex — messages with its indication that it may place retaliatory tariffs on U.S. energy exports.

Since the 1990s, China has made it a priority to secure adequate energy imports to fuel its economic growth. Acquiring this energy was, and to some extent still is, a major driver of China’s foreign policy. The fact that China now feels comfortable creating obstacles to the acquisition of some energy from abroad suggests several things.

First, and most obviously, China has assessed that tariffs on this energy trade will cause the U.S. more pain than they will cause China. This is likely an accurate evaluation. In a very short period of time, the U.S. has become a significant exporter of crude oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and refined energy products. Its energy trade with China, originally stymied by a mutual concern over the wisdom of building energy trade between the two countries, has blossomed. In 2017, the value of U.S. energy exports to China was greater than what either Turkmenistan or Qatar sent to the Middle Kingdom. It represented 6 percent of all U.S. energy trade, according to the International Energy Trade Centre.

In imposing tariffs on this trade, China could not only deprive the U.S. of a lucrative trade, but also have lasting effects on the development of American LNG trade — something the Chinese likely correctly assess matters a great deal to Trump. The U.S. is now at a point when new investment decisions must be made to build additional LNG export facilities if U.S. natural gas exports are going to grow in the coming years. Given that China is the fastest-growing market for natural gas imports in the coming years, tariffs that make U.S. LNG uncompetitive in this market could throw an important spanner into the investment decision process, potentially complicating the ability of the U.S. industry to take its expected place as the third-largest exporter of LNG by 2020.


Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-07-10/chinese-tariffs-on-u-s-energy-would-signal-a-shift



China receives a shipment of liquefied natural gas from Australia. Source: VCG, via Getty Images

July 12, 2018

Watergate reporter: we are becoming different because of Trump and it will change American Story

Watergate reporter warns we are becoming different people because of Trump and it will change the American story

During a discussion about President Donald Trump’s NATO meetings this week, veteran newsman Carl Bernstein spoke eloquently about the American story and the impending “cold civil war” that the country faces.

“Donald Trump is sucking is oxygen out of the American story,” Bernstein told CNN’s Don Lemon. “He is taking the American story and saying, ‘We are going to turn our backs not just on the last 75 years at home and abroad, really on the last 250 years. We are becoming a different kind of person because of his conduct of the president, different kind of country because of his conduct of the presidency.”

He explained that it clearly is about changing the narrative about what the U.S. stands for on civil rights and civil liberties, but also on immigration and not celebrating our president as a king.

“The idea in the democratic process, in which no one is above the law, the rule of law, he is sucking the oxygen out of our very history,” he continued. “It might well be what 40, 50 percent of the people in this country want, and we’ll find out in the midterms. But the Democrats have to fight back if they want to succeed and say, ‘This is not the American story Mr. President. The last 250 years in particular, the last 75 years, America leading the world and Democracy, that’s the story.'”

Includes video of the Bernstein interview with Don Lemon: https://www.rawstory.com/2018/07/watergate-reporter-warns-becoming-different-people-trump-will-change-american-story/

July 11, 2018

Stephen Colbert - Monologue and Opening - 7/10/18

Why Donald Trump Likes Brett Kavanaugh So Much



Maybe Trump chose Brett Kavanaugh after reading his argument for "exempting a president-while in office-from criminal investigation.'




Migrant Babies Are Making Appearances In Court



Without reading the stenographer's notes, Stephen imagines what a court appearance by a 1-year-old baby would look like.




The U.S. Threatens Ecuador Over... Breastfeeding?



The United States threatened Ecuador with trade penalties and military aid because Ecuador wanted to make breastfeeding easier.




The Even More Disgraceful Trump Balloon



If you thought the UK's balloon depicting Trump as a giant orange baby was offensive, wait until you see Belgium's.

July 11, 2018

CBS Announces Premiere Dates for Its Murphy Brown Revival and Magnum P.I. Reboot

The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon move to Monday for one night to launch latter

CBS is often the first broadcaster to lock in its fall premiere dates, but the network took a month longer than usual to finalize its plans for the new season.

Now the network, which was No. 1 in total viewers for the 10th straight year, has announced its plans for the fall, with much of its lineup rolling out the week of Sept. 24, as the 2018-19 season begins.

For the first time in five years, CBS’ fall schedule won’t be disrupted by Thursday Night Football, which would temporarily relocate The Big Bang Theory to Monday nights and delay the rest of its Thursday lineup until November. But with Fox outbidding NBC and CBS to nab the Thursday package for the next five years, CBS will no longer have to reshuffle its schedule midway through the fall.

However, the network is still deploying The Big Bang Theory and its prequel, Young Sheldon, on Sept. 24 to launch its reboot of Magnum P.I. that night, followed by relocated drama Bull.

Its new Monday sitcoms, The Neighborhood and Happy Together, will premiere a week later, on Oct. 1.


More (And complete fall schedule): https://www.adweek.com/tv-video/cbs-announces-premiere-dates-for-its-murphy-brown-revival-and-magnum-p-i-reboot/

July 11, 2018

Buy a New Car Since 1995? You Could Get Part of a $1 Billion Settlement

If you bought a new car in the past 23 years, you could be compensated for price fixing as part of the largest criminal antitrust investigation in U.S. history.

Americans who bought a new car or truck in the last 23 years could be eligible for compensation, thanks to the largest criminal antitrust investigation in U.S. history. An ongoing settlement, with dozens of auto suppliers that have been accused of price fixing and bid rigging, so far has resulted in more than $1 billion set aside for consumers. In addition, if you leased a vehicle or bought certain replacement parts at any time between 1995 and 2018, you could be eligible.

How much money claimants will actually get will not be known until after the settlement period has run its course. A deadline for filing claims has not yet been set, although consumers have until July 13 to opt out of the settlement if they want to separately sue any of the defendants.

In the meantime, anyone wishing to see if they’re eligible for a claim can head to http://www.autopartsclass.com/ where they’ll find a drop-down menu to put the year, make, and model of the new vehicle they purchased or leased. The website will say whether the customer is eligible and list the affected part, such as starters, bearings, or power windows, to name just a few of the automotive components affected by the vast price-fixing scheme. Consumers can can also call 877­–940–5043 for more information.

The U.S. Department of Justice revealed the investigation in 2010 after the FBI raided the offices of wire-harness suppliers Denso, Yazaki, and Tokai Rika. Eventually, more suppliers were added to the investigation as the web of antitrust violations was untangled. Several executives were sentenced to prison terms earlier in this decade. As of February 2018, the subsequent civil case spans 41 coordinated class-action cases against more than 160 defendants.


More: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/buy-a-new-car-since-1995-you-could-get-part-of-a-dollar1-billion-settlement

July 10, 2018

Stephen Colbert - Monologue and Opening - 7/9/18

Trump Makes His SCOTUS Pick With Help From Hannity



The way to get the president's ear is by spending a couple years kissing his buttocks.




Trump's Brain Instrument Is On The Fritz Again



Unable to properly respond to Trump's loopy Montana speech, Stephen introduces a new segment: The Late Show's Counterpoint From a Man Who Just Got Hit on the Head with a Sack of Bricks.




The Hungry To Leave Power Games: Scott Pruitt



Julius Flickerman is back to pay homage (but not with taxpayers' dollars) to Trump's disgraced EPA director Scott Pruitt.




Kim Jong Un Found Out About Trump's Other Dictator



Maybe next time he'll think before he meets.

July 10, 2018

AP FACT CHECK: Trump off base on energy, court case, more

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump gloated about a court case that didn’t offer him the vindication he implied in his triumphant tweet. That capped a week of distortions, half-truths and swerves in his declarations on the economy, North Korea and other issues of the time.

A week in review:

TRUMP: “Just won lawsuit filed by the DNC and a bunch of Democrat crazies trying to claim the Trump Campaign (and others), colluded with Russia. They haven’t figured out that this was an excuse for them losing the election!” — tweet Friday.

THE FACTS: Trump is wrong in saying the Democratic National Committee filed the lawsuit. If he’s suggesting that the outcome of the case exonerates his campaign on allegations that Trump associates colluded with Russia, that’s off-base, too.

In the suit, two Democratic donors and a former chief of staff of the DNC’s finance office alleged that the Trump campaign and Trump associate Roger Stone conspired with Russian agents and WikiLeaks to publish hacked Democratic emails.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle dismissed the suit, saying it was filed in the wrong jurisdiction and was faulty for other technical reasons. But she did not weigh in on the merits of the complaint.

In fact, she wrote that “it bears emphasizing that this Court’s ruling is not based on a finding that there was no collusion between defendants and Russia during the 2016 presidential election.”


Several more: https://wtop.com/white-house/2018/07/ap-fact-check-trump-off-base-on-energy-court-case-more/

July 10, 2018

Record heat put thousands of Californians in the dark Friday. Scientists predicted this from climate

Record heat put thousands of Californians in the dark Friday. Scientists predicted this from climate change.

Temperatures shot up over 110 degrees in Southern California on Friday, obliterating all kinds of long-standing heat records, and the lights went out for tens of thousands of customers. Californians were powerless, without air conditioning, in the hottest weather many had ever experienced.

Climate scientists have known this was coming, and it may only be the beginning.

“We studied this a long time ago . . . now our projections are becoming reality,” tweeted Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University.

In 2006, Hayhoe and colleagues published the study “Climate, Extreme Heat, and Electricity Demand in California” in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology.

“Over the twenty-first century, the frequency of extreme-heat events for major cities in heavily air-conditioned California is projected to increase rapidly,” the study said. It warned that as temperatures soared, electricity demand would exceed supply.

Friday’s weather and the resulting blackouts illustrated their point.


Much more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/07/09/record-heat-put-thousands-of-californians-in-the-dark-friday-scientists-predicted-this-from-climate-change/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.d54eefe21d85

July 10, 2018

Trump SCOTUS Nominee's Record On Presidential Investigations And Abortion - The Last Word - MSNBC

Ron Klain says the Senate Judiciary Committee must ask Brett Kavanaugh if he gave the Trump White House any “assurances” about the Mueller investigation. Cecile Richards and Neera Tanden discuss what the nominee would mean to Roe v. Wade.



Sen. Warren: President Donald Trump SCOTUS Nominee Is 'A Political Animal' | The Last Word | MSNBC



In her first reaction to Trump Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Sen. Elizabeth Warren tells Lawrence he is the “trifecta” for Trump: "someone who will be committed to overturning Roe v. Wade, someone who will be committed to rolling back health care for millions of Americans, and someone who, it looks pretty likely, will help Donald Trump if he gets into serious criminal trouble.”

July 9, 2018

Democrats ask Justice, FBI for criminal corruption probe into EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt

WASHINGTON — Several House Democrats are asking the FBI and the Justice Department to investigate EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt for potentially criminal behavior, including reportedly having an aide contact Chick-fil-A to see whether his wife could become a franchisee for the fast food restaurant.

A letter from the lawmakers sent Friday asks FBI Director Christopher Wray and Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan to look into whether Pruitt, the former attorney general for Oklahoma, broke federal anti-corruption laws.

"We write you with grave concerns that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Pruitt has used his public office and official, taxpayer-funded resources for the personal gain of himself and his family, in violation of federal law," the letter states.

The letter was led by Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., who serves on the Natural Resources Committee that oversees the EPA. Other signers include Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., both members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., both of whom serve on the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who serves on Natural Resources.


More (Includes videos): https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/06/08/democrats-seek-criminal-corruption-probe-into-epa-administrator-pruitt/6847110