2/14/17: With the nonstop whirligig of outrage, you may have missed a few things happening. In no particular order, and assuming you heard about Flynn:
(1) White House comments line re-opened: 202-456-1111 [NYT]
(2) Confirming my sense that this administration is either not hiring administrative staff or not allowing them to do their jobs (a basic competency test that goes beyond partisan issues), the White House has been posting the wrong versions of many of the president’s executive orders to its website. That is, the version we see online doesn’t match the official version sent to the Federal Register. [USA Today]
(3) Trump handled the news of North Korea’s latest missile launch in front of many uncleared civilians at dinner at Mar-a-Lago. House Oversight Committee Chair Jason Chaffetz has asked the White House for an explanation. [WaPo, House.gov]
(4) Republican Sen. Roy Blunt, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and notably a Republican who was just re-elected and doesn’t have to worry about being primaried from the right for six years, has called for a thorough investigation into Trump-Russia and Flynn-Russia connections, but the House (under House Oversight Committee Chair Jason Chaffetz and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, both currently keeping their fingers in their ears) is responsible for investigations, so who knows if this will come to anything. Sens. Cornyn and Graham now joining Blunt. [CNN (1, 2)]
(5) Divisions are brewing in the Catholic church between Pope Francis and American Cardinal Burke, who is basically a member of the alt-right. [Guardian, NYT, WaPo]
(6) The Secret Service director will step down, giving Trump a chance to select his own security chief. [WaPo]
(7) The NSA may be withholding information from the President because they don’t trust him. Which is simultaneously comforting, and setting a terrifying precedent. [Observer]
(8) By a vote of 23-15, Republicans voted not to request President Trump’s tax returns from the Treasury Department. [WaysMeans]
(9) Russian spy ship apparently patrolling off the East coast of Delaware. [Fox]
(10) North Korea leader’s brother, Kim Jong Nam, killed at airport in Malaysia. Current NK regime had previously tried to have him killed, and it seems likely that they are behind his death. [AP, BBC]
(11) White House staff so fearful of being accused of talking to the media that some are using chat app Confide to erase messages as soon as they’re read, violating the Federal Records Act. [WaPo]
(12) The very first piece of legislation passed by Republicans and signed by Trump? Weakening Dodd Frank by repealing anti-corruption rule that requires oil, gas, and mining companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments in exchange for access to natural resources. That was their top priority. I wonder if Russia wants to sell us some gas or something. [USA Today]
[Note from the future: NYMHM grew out of these public posts from Joanne Merriam’s Facebook account. We retain them here in archives to provide a record going back to the beginning of Trump’s presidency.]