In other news, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) announced this morning that she will vote against confirming Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but Kavanaugh reached 50 votes after Susan Collins confirmed that she will vote for him, giving him enough support for confirmation. A final vote is expected tomorrow or Sunday.
Meanwhile, Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was convicted today for the murder of Laquan McDonald. Van Dyke shot McDonald 16 times in an incident captured on cellphone video in 2014. This is the first murder conviction of a Chicago police officer in 50 years.
Finally, the Supreme Court has rejected an appeal asking them to block an order forcing Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to testify in the case against adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census. This is a big deal, because Ross is guilty as fuck and that much is clear before the lawyers have even questioned him.
Here are some other stories I didn't get to this week:
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia estimates that 1 in 5 jobs (about 25 million in total) could be replaced by robots and automation over the next 10 years.
Business has never recovered at Trump's hotel properties following his 2016 campaign according to the Washington Post. And in related news, Trump's golf course in Scotland operated at a loss of $4.4 million in 2017.
The head of Interpol has apparently been missing for 2 weeks. That seems bad.
Analysts say global demand for plastics and various chemicals will likely keep the oil industry afloat for many years after the world stops using fossil fuels in cars.
Two sitting senators are applying for Trump's bailout for farmers.
Experts say Trump's largely symbolic revision of NAFTA will either make cars more expensive, or lead to more imports, or both, as automakers decide whether to reconfigure their supply chains to meet higher content thresholds or simply import whole cars instead.
The Trump regime is discriminating against same-sex partners of foreign diplomats, forcing them to either get married or leave the country. This is a problem for many reasons, but most importantly many countries literally do not allow same-sex marriage.
Putin finally tore his sarcastic mask off this week and said former Russian spy Sergei Skripal (the man he tried to kill in Britain) is a scumbag.
“I see that some of your colleagues are pushing the theory that Mr Skripal was almost some kind of human rights activist,” Putin said at an energy forum in Moscow when asked about the case.
“He was simply a spy. A traitor to the motherland. He’s simply a scumbag, that’s all,” Putin added, in remarks that drew applause from parts of the audience.
Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell says our current economy is almost "too good to be true."
Knock on wood.
If you're a regular reader, please consider donating during this week's fundraiser. Thank you very much to everyone who has already donated.
Have a good weekend.