The News
April 1, 2018
Welcome to the newsletter, where we’re here to break down the major headlines from the second half of March — a boy, did a lot happen. In top news, President Donald Trump continued his White House staff and cabinet shakeup that began on March 13th with the firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by removing National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs David Shulkin, and by firing of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. Meanwhile, the President faced major pushback in the investigation into his 2016 presidential campaign by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and for the media circus surrounding Trump’s 2006 affair with adult-film star Stormy Daniels.
In other news, the shooting death of Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man in Sacramento, re-ignited protests and conversations on police brutality and the Black Lives Matters movement; millions protested the absence of adequate gun control policies to prevent mass shootings during the March for Our Lives; tensions between the U.S. and Russia hit a new high with the expulsion of dozens of diplomats by the U.S., European nations, and Russia over the assassination of a former Russian spy in living in the United Kingdom; ride-hailing service Uber suspended testing for self-driving cars in Arizona after the death of pedestrian by one of the company’s self-driving vehicles, leading the company to a suspend road tests for self-driving cars at large; social media enthusiasts began a #DeleteFacebook campaign following the revelations that the company disclosed user data to a third-party as part of the 2016 presidential campaign (see below), causing the company’s chief security officer to subsequently resign and the upcoming Congressional testimony of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg; the midterms 2018 continued with contested primaries in Illinois; the U.S. Census will ask for citizenship status in 2020, triggering lawsuits over the possibilities of undercounting populations in Democratic-leaning states; hackers held the city of Atlanta hostage through a ransomware attack; North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un met with Chinese President Xi Jinping after riding a bulletproof train from Pyongyang to Beijing; and upstart Loyola-Chicago made a Cinderella run to the Final Four in this year’s March Madness tournament.
As always, thanks for reading the newsletter and we’ll return later this month with the latest developments from the first week of April.
Have a wonderful Passover and Easter celebration.
Cheers,
The Wonks Team
Politics and Public Policy
- The New York Times investigates the social media profile-harvesting program of Republican consulting firm Cambridge Analytica during the 2016 election, which included illegal scraping of user data from Facebook for creating voter demographic profiles.
- The Washington Post covers the leadership style and ideological leanings of incoming-National Security Advisor John Bolton, assessing how he will guide policy at the National Security Council based on his tenure at the State Department and the U.N.
- NPR assesses the prevalence of mass shootings at schools, contrasting the independent rise in mass shootings in society to the relatively safe conditions for students in American classrooms.
- Peter Beinart of The Atlantic examines the precarious position of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, remarking on her reputation as a proven leader for passing legislation favored by her party and the electoral liability she presents for House Democrats.
- FiveThirtyEight examines how President Trump could invoke executive privilege to avoid answering questions by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the political risks of doing so based on the invocation of executive privilege by previous presidents.
- The Washington Post reports on the scramble to set a coherent agenda between the President Trump and Kim Jong-Un of North Korea ahead of their planned May meeting regarding North Korea’s nuclear program.
- The New York Times reports on the growing number of Native American women running for political office in both political parties, noting the historical policies that marginalized Native communities and discouraged them from participating in the political process.
- Bloomberg News compares the potential longevity of current heads of state — including the U.S., Saudi Arabia, China, Germany, etc. — and lists their obstacles to staying in power as well as their legacies on major policies issues.
- FiveThirtyEight compiles the new gun-control policies enacted by states, cities, and the federal government in light of the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, including bans on bump stocks and improved background checks.
- Claudio Sanchez of NPR reflects on the life and legacy of Linda Brown, better known as the plaintiff in the Brown v. the Board of Topeka, Kansas Supreme Court case establishing the unconstitutional status of segregation in American schools.
Business, Science, and Health
- The Upshot examines the lifetime economic disparities between black boys from affluent backgrounds and boys of other races but from identical socioeconomic backgrounds in the U.S., visualizing their lifetime gap in earnings.
- FiveThirtyEight writes about the implications of undercounting children on the U.S. Census, observing its impact on public health and funding for communities with greater health needs.
- Quartz Obsession writes about how Amazon manages its delivery warehouses, explaining the random sorting of product shelves and automation that the company relies on to narrow the lag-time between product order and arrival.
- The New York Times assesses the editorial role of Wikipedia for big tech companies in light of YouTube’s outreach to the online encyclopedia to fact-check videos on conspiracy theories and other controversial subjects.
- Bloomberg News evaluates the profitability of Tesla, the electric carmaker, describing why the company continues to hemorrhage money despite its high-profile product rollouts and publicity surrounding its CEO Elon Musk.
- The New York Times reports on the rule change limiting Medicare coverage of prescription painkillers as a means to combat the opioid epidemic.
- FiveThirtyEight writes about the psychological and social benefits of being on social media that discourage users from deleting services like Facebook, despite public concerns over user tracking by advertisers and privacy breaches.
- NPR reports that the four major American credit card companies will phase out the collection of signatures for cardholders due to technological improvements in EMV chips that reduced incidents of fraud.
Sports and Culture
- The New York Times examines how the new federal tax law could disrupt the competitive balance of MLB and the NBA by levying a capital gains tax on teams that make franchise-altering trades during and after the regular season.
- Dan McQuade of Deadspin reflects on the gimmickry of tournament brackets, citing how websites use the format to generate content by piggybacking on the popularity of March Madness.
- Bill Barnwell of ESPN calculates the highest paid players at each position in the NFL and determines the players most likely to receive a major salary increase on their next contract.
- Zach Lowe of ESPN covers the surging Portland Trailblazers, profiling their outlook as a potential championship contender heading into the NBA postseason.
- Deadspin’s quick primer on the 2018 MLB season, ranking the most promising outlooks and most fun players from each team.
- The Washington Post lists the 40 most influential American comedies of last 40 years based on the quotable qualities of each movie.
- Quartz Obsession explains Nippon Professional Baseball, better known as Japanese baseball, chronicling the history of the American sport in Japan and the unique aspects that differentiate it from American baseball.
- Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times reviews the stop-motion film “Isle of Dogs” by Wes Anderson and analyzes the racial sensitivity issues plaguing the film and throughout Anderson’s career.
