Today’s edition of quick hits:
* The Tornillo facility: “The Trump administration said Wednesday it will keep open through early 2019 a tent city in Texas that now holds more than 2,000 migrant teenagers, and also will increase the number of beds at another temporary detention center for children in Florida.”
* Wild day-to-day swings are not necessarily encouraging: “Wall Street reversed course on Thursday — twice — with the Dow Jones Industrial Average shedding 611 points, only to erase those losses in a dramatic final hour of trading that saw the blue-chip index soar into positive territory.”
* I was a little surprised by the volume of chatter yesterday: “President Trump on Wednesday visited U.S. troops in Iraq, in his first trip to a conflict zone since assuming office. The trip, which came the day after Christmas, was not previously announced by the White House. But it was marked by several clues suggesting that Trump was headed overseas, prompting alarm from some quarters over the apparent lack of operational security.”
* The new Syria policy has more than a few critics: “President Trump managed to do something remarkable with his abrupt order last week to withdraw all American troops from Syria and half from Afghanistan: unite the left and right against a plan to extract the United States from two long, costly and increasingly futile conflicts.”
* A big vote in Ohio: “Statehouse Republicans in Ohio came up a single vote shy Thursday of reversing a same-party governor’s veto and imposing one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.”
* FEMA: “Lawmakers are pressuring FEMA to undo a surprise decision that could prevent thousands of home buyers from acquiring flood insurance during the government shutdown. Capitol Hill was caught off guard by the agency’s sudden announcement — made the day after Christmas — that the National Flood Insurance Program could no longer issue new flood insurance policies during the funding lapse.”
* Can anyone say with confidence what the policy is? “A week after President Trump directed the military to draw up plans to withdraw about half the U.S. troops deployed in Afghanistan, military officials are walking a fine line detailing the future of the longest U.S. war in history.” * This effort will be renewed in the new year: “In one of his final acts before leaving office next week, Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) blocked a bill intended to improve the federal government’s response to violence against Native American women.” * This is an extremely impressive report, which is well worth your time: “In just two years, President Trump has unleashed a regulatory rollback, lobbied for and cheered on by industry, with little parallel in the past half-century. Mr. Trump enthusiastically promotes the changes as creating jobs, freeing business from the shackles of government and helping the economy grow. The trade-offs, while often out of public view, are real — frighteningly so, for some people — imperiling progress in cleaning up the air we breathe and the water we drink, and in some cases upending the very relationship with the environment around us.” Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
