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January 2018

We’re now on day 36 without a 4th Circuit decision on Trump's third travel order. Unveiled as a presidential proclamation on September 24, 2017, the third travel order (we'll call it EO-3) restricts entry by most nationals of Chad, Iran, Libya, Syria, and Yemen, as well as some nationals of North Korea and Venezuela.

President Donald Trump may receive some competition for most tweet-happy politician! Apparently emoji-filled tweets aren't enough for Chelsea Manning because she has filed papers to run for the Senate in Maryland. From The Washington Post:
Chelsea Manning, the transgender former Army private who was convicted of passing sensitive government documents to Wikileaks, has filed to run for the U.S. Senate in Maryland, according to federal election filings.

The Trump Administration continues its #CounterResistance to California's illegal immigration promoting polices with a move targeting the state's "birth tourism" industry.
Federal Homeland Security agents raided 20 alleged “maternity hotels” in Southern California where pregnant Chinese women pay tens of thousands of dollars to live to ensure a “made in America” baby, reports said.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to arrive in New Delhi on Sunday on a week-long visit, making him the second Israeli head of the government to visit India since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's 2003 visit. He will be leading a large business delegation and sign a series of bilateral agreements ranging from agriculture to cyber security. The visiting Israeli leader will spend a day in Prime Minister Modi's home state of Gujarat. This is being regarded as a rare distinction. So far, Prime Minister Modi accompanied Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to his state, where he served as the Chief Minister between 2001 and 2014. Prime Minister Netanyahu is "going to get a grand welcome," Gujarat state's present Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said.

The latest furor is over certain remarks that Trump is alleged to have uttered during a meeting about immigration with Dick Durbin, Lindsay Graham, and "other government officials." His alleged remarks (some of which he has disputed) were criticized variously for both form and content: that the words were vulgar, and that they were bigoted. The most salient thing on which accounts seem to agree is that Trump referred to some countries—perhaps in Africa, perhaps also Haiti—as "shitholes" or "shithole countries." Let's go with that, anyway, as a good possibility.

The Republican field for Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake's Senate continues to grow as Rep. Martha McSally has officially joined the race. She joins former controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former Arizona State Senator Kelli Ward.

What the heck was wrong with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Thursday? I planned to write up one set of comments, but I'm glad I didn't because another set of comments came up today that received criticism from her #2 in the House. These comments included slamming the companies that have used their savings from the tax reform bill to give raises and bonuses to their employees. Then she criticized the fact that five white guys have started to work on a DACA bill and asked if they wanted to open a hamburger stand, which Minority Steny Hoyer (D-MD) called offensive.

Politico has reported that President Donald Trump has decided to extend the Iran nuclear deal. He stated, though, this will be his last waiver "unless the deal is strengthened by Congress and European allies." Politico continued:
Trump faced a Friday deadline to decide whether to reimpose economic sanctions on Iran the U.S suspended as part of a 2015 nuclear agreement negotiated with Tehran by the Obama administration and five other nations.