Trump Apologies for America Ahead of Helsinki Summit With Putin: Reason Roundup
Plus: Judge censors story about crooked cop, cities get tough on home-based businesses.
Presidential summit between Trump and Putin today. Displaying an interesting diplomatic tack ahead of his Monday morning meeting with Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump opined that America's relationship with Russia "has NEVER been worse"—cold war, schmold war, amirite?—and that this situation is all our fault. These historically strained U.S.-Russia relations come "thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity, and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!" Trump tweeted at 2:05 a.m.
Reactions from folks across the political spectrum were full of disbelief and scorn for Trump's statement, which comes on the heel of a new indictment of Russian intelligence officials for alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Here is The Guardian's Moscow correspondent, for example:
Daring negotiating position from Trump before today's big meeting with Putin: It's our fault relations are bad and we're now too dysfunctional to fix them. https://t.co/aHfdWzRrjj
— Andrew Roth (@Andrew__Roth) July 16, 2018
And Cato Institute policy analyst Julian Sanchez:
This is profoundly embarassing. What could be more servile than blaming "U.S. foolishness" on the heels of an indictment meticulously detailing a Russian attack on us? https://t.co/hDG1aPlwPg
— Julian Sanchez (@normative) July 16, 2018
But at least some stakeholders—like, uh, Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs—seemed satisfied with Trump's assessment:
We agree https://t.co/7l087Qwmj3
— MFA Russia (@mfa_russia) July 16, 2018
Pushkov, leading Russian legislator/commentator on Russian affairs, says #Russia is back as a leading power with #Helskinisummit deciding the fate of the world https://t.co/u8eMbHHGat
— Neil MacFarquhar (@NeilMacFarquhar) July 16, 2018
The Trump-Putin summit takes place in Hesinki, Finland, where residents weren't exactly rolling out the welcome mat:
#TrumpPutinSummit protesters in #Helsinki pic.twitter.com/mLIl9XzH6z
— panu raatikainen (@panuraatikainen) July 15, 2018
Helsinki Central railwaytstation. Never seen people stop to photograph ads before #TrumPutinHelsinki #HelsinkiCalling #TrumpPutinSummit #HelsinkiForHumanRights pic.twitter.com/ZsmEuVShYu
— Frank Johansson (@FrankAmnesty) July 15, 2018
Scenes from Helsinki: #TrumpPutinSummit #HelsinkiSummit pic.twitter.com/UtIuij2uYL
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) July 16, 2018
Sign in a #Helsinki department store window ahead of #TrumpPutinSummit for @realdonaldtrump "We are slightly worried. The goal of politics is to make the world as good as possible. For everyone. Please, make good decisions." pic.twitter.com/DIUSKj5m1V
— Whitney Hurst (@whitney_hurst) July 14, 2018
Putin made Trump wait for him, arriving in the country around the time their meeting was supposed to start.
A classic Putin power move, showing he is the one who's time is most important. https://t.co/93nLrKAhXq
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) July 16, 2018
The very fact of the meeting taking place has raised suggestions of impropriety, though this has more to do with everyone's feels than the meeting per se taking place.
Every president in modern history has held formal meetings with Russian/Soviet leaders. It would be surprising for it *not* to happen. Yet because the US political climate is so crazed, this meeting tomorrow will be portrayed as deeply unusual—when it's utterly ordinary
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) July 16, 2018
Trump told reporters at the start of the meeting: "I really think the world wants to see us get along. I think we have great opportunities together as two countries that frankly we have not been getting along very well for the last number of years."
Newspaper must pull details about mob-linked cop's plea agreement. After failing to file plea-deal documents under seal, prosecutors found details about detective John Sara Balian's alleged ties to the Mexican mafia now running in the Los Angeles Times. On Saturday, a judge granted Balian's motion for a temporary restraining order, which means the Times must remove any details from the article that were gleaned from the published plea agreement. "To the extent any article is published prior to issuance of this order, it shall be deleted and removed forthwith," ruled U.S. District Judge John F. Walter.
This is unusual. "Typically, courts take into account if information was already published," Times attorney Kelli Sager said in a statement. "Where it is no longer secret, the point of the restraining order is mooted. To order a publication to claw it back doesn't even serve the interest that may be intended."
Overzealous regulators quashing entrepreneurship. What happens "when the city comes for your home-based business?" An increasing number of people are finding out, note the R Street Institute's C. Jarrett Dieterle and Shoshana Weissmann in a new Wall Street Journal op-ed.
As more people work from home in fields that traditionally required office space, U.S. municipalities are increasingly turning their attention toward these home-based business owners. Without seeing clients at home, putting up advertisements, etc., freelancers and small-time entrepreneurs seldom see themselves as people in need of special licenses just to do the work they do from desks tucked inside their primary residences. But officials often see things differently.
"In 1992 there were about 16 million home businesses in the U.S., according to census data," report Dieterle and Weissmann. "By 2012 that number grew to 27 million. Today about half of all American businesses are home-based, according to the Small Business Administration. At the same time, local governments have become more aggressive in cracking down on home-based businesses."
QUICK HITS
- Trump told Piers Morgan at the Daily Mail that he understands fears about Roe v. Wade being overturned but that "It could be a long time before a case ever gets up there."
- The U.S. Air Force paid $10,000 apiece for cargo-plane toilet covers.
- Stop panicking about teenagers and cellphones.
.@librarycongress plan to publish CRS reports falls short of the law, is unduly expensive https://t.co/EdYbaLyXov @danielschuman @kevinrkosar @JoshData @legbranch @demandprogress @govtrack #opengov pic.twitter.com/Tj1cpKgo9q
— R Street Institute (@RSI) July 16, 2018
