The News
December 9, 2017
It’s Saturday. Welcome back to the newsletter, which we’ll hopefully maintain as a weekly occurrence from now through the end of the year. It was a jam-packed week in developments so we’ll just quickly run through the week’s top headlines.
At the onset of the week, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration’s ban on travel from Muslim-majority countries would remain in place while under review in lawsuits in the lower courts; the Interior Department declared it would trim protections to Bear Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national parks in Utah by as much as 85 percent; wildfires erupted in Southern California, burning over 132,000 acres in Los Angeles, Ventura, and San Diego counties as of this writing; President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel instead of Tel Aviv, the location of the U.S. and European embassies; Congress agreed on a stopgap measure to keep the government funded through December 22nd; three members of Congress resigned from their seats over sexual harassment accusations; and the Justice Department launched an investigation targeting Planned Parenthood.
As always, have a great weekend and we’ll return next week with our next recap in the week’s headlines and interesting analyses from around the web.
Cheers,
The Wonks Team
Politics and Public Policy
- The New York Times graphs out major winners and losers of the reduction of the state and local tax deduction (SALT) under the Republican tax reform bill, finding that it mainly impacts voters in large metro areas in states that favor Democrats.
- The Washington Post tracks the steep decline in arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border under the Trump administration due to rising fears among immigrants of being caught and deported if discovered as undocumented in the U.S.
- FiveThirtyEight assesses the legal strategy and arguments of evangelical Christian conservatives to undermine laws recognizing the rights of the LGBT community under the guise of religious freedom and the First Amendment.
- The New York Times chronicles a century of conflict in Jerusalem between Israelis and Palestinians from the establishment of the British mandate in 1917 through the present.
- The San Francisco Chronicle reports on the passage of legislation in the House of Representatives that allows gun owners to carry concealed guns across state lines in defiance of state laws limiting concealed carry of firearms.
Business, Science, and Health
- Christie Aschwanden of FiveThirtyEight analyzes the “sound science” arguments made against scientific research by businesses to undermine environmental regulations and workplace safety measures, as well as the broader transparency issues in disclosing methodology and results of studies by researchers.
- Gizmodo examines the privacy concerns of owning of an Amazon Echo or other smart home speaker devices, noting how they listen in on conversations and without transparently notifying consumers on how companies intend to use that information.
- The Atlantic assesses the causes behind the December wildfires in L.A. and Ventura counties as well as the impact of climate change on the increasing intensity of California’s fires.
- NPR writes about the hunting habits of peregrine falcons, comparing their flying trajectories and speeds with missiles in their abilities to track down and hunt prey.
- The Upshot evaluates the benefits of the proposed merger between CVS and health insurer Aeta, citing the growing number of walk-in health clinics at CVS pharmacies and greater access to pharmaceutical companies for insurers to negotiate drug prices.
- FiveThirtyEight critiques the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s monthly job report, explaining the inexact measurement tools for calculating employment growth and why the press and elected officials overstate its importance.
Sports and Culture
- Grant Brisbee of SB Nation ranks the top teams for Japanese two-way baseball player Shohei Ohtani based on the list of seven MLB teams that he’s considered signing with for the 2018 baseball season.
- Bill Barnwell of ESPN evaluates the AFC playoff picture, providing potential seedings for division-leading teams as well as his thoughts on the team most likely to break through the three-way tie in the AFC West.
- Vinson Cunningham of The New Yorker reflects on the playmaking abilities of the NBA unicorns, tracing their origins to previous big men with guard skills like Kevin Garnett and the early career of Kevin Durant.
- Zach Lowe of ESPN how the Golden State Warriors’ identity revolves around Steph Curry’s shot-creating abilities and examines how the team will function without him in the lineup as the centerpiece of their offense.
- K. Austin Collins of The Ringer reflects on the year in film, examining the urgency and political motivations behind the use the headline “[movie] is the movie we need right now” used by critics and audiences.
