Trump’s Caravan

In other news, Foreign Policy reports that Trump's national security adviser John Bolton has been waging a whisper campaign against Secretary of Defense James Mattis with the goal of ousting him.

Meanwhile, the Daily Beast reports that the Saudi's fall guy for the killing of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, General Ahmed al-Assiri, met with Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn during the transition where they talked about waging covert operations against Iran.

Finally, Honda and General Motors have both filed briefs opposing the Trump regime's effort to roll back California's fuel efficiency standards, and General Motors has gone even further than that.

In filings due Friday, General Motors Co. plans to propose that instead of opposing California’s so-called zero emission vehicle sales mandate, federal regulators should instead embrace a nationwide electric-car sales program starting in 2021. Honda Motor Co., meanwhile, took exception to Trump’s proposed freeze on mileage standards and called for steadily increasing requirements to continue.

The automakers know that fossil fuels are the past and they don't want to see the Trump regime impede their big plans to move toward all electric vehicles.

Shout out to the original synth master, John Carpenter.

Here are some other stories I didn't get to this week:

The social media accounts of the MAGABomber are just as unhinged as you would expect, or possibly worse.

Moody’s Investors Service is warning that the quality and safety of leveraged loans (the kind of loans that corporations use to make large acquisitions) are at their lowest level since the 2008 financial crisis. Businesses are sitting on $1.4 trillion in debt from such loans.

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP (formerly just TPP), is set to finally take effect after Australia becomes the sixth country to ratify it next week. The agreement will cut tariffs between the trade partners by the end of the year.

The wife of infamous white nationalist Richard Spencer has filed for divorce claiming he's been physically and emotionally abusive. I'm very shocked that a Nazi would beat his wife.

The Air Force apparently got caught spending nearly $1,300 on coffee cups. That's for each individual cup totaling over $328,000 for all of them. I honestly had no idea there are coffee cups that cost that much.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) says most of the federal government was blindsided by Trump's "zero tolerance" border policy because the Department of Justice provided no advance warning before the policy was made official.

Former GOP congressional candidate Jeremy Ryan, who ran in the Republican primary to replace Speaker Paul Ryan (no relation), was arrested for trying to obtain radioactive material so he could use it to kill someone. So there's that.

Rep. Steve King met with some neo-Nazis during a trip that was funded by a Holocaust memorial.

The Guardian reports that Brett Kavanaugh was involved in a club that also counted current solicitor general Noel Francisco as a member. Francisco is currently arguing cases at the Supreme Court on behalf of the Trump regime.

Now, just a quick update on my mother's condition: we spent several hours in the emergency room with her on Wednesday. She's being discharged from the hospital today, but she's far from out of the woods. It's still possible I'll have to step away at some point. We're playing it by ear.

Have a good weekend.