Iran Cracks Down on Oil Smuggling Out of Iran
For all you know, this file photo could be an oil tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz. It’s not. It’s actually sailing in Venezuelan waters. But how would you know if I hadn’t told you?Juan Carlos Hernandez/ZUMA Here’s the latest from the Persian Gulf: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has seized a foreign tanker and…
House Votes to Hold Top Trump Officials in Criminal Contempt for Withholding Census Documents
President Donald Trump, joined by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, left, and Attorney General William Barr, speaks about the census in the Rose Garden at the White House on July 11. Carolyn Kaster/AP The House of Representatives voted 230 to 198 Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt of…
Congress Warns of Economic Chaos as Facebook Details Plans for Its Own Currency
Andrew Harnik/AP On Wednesday, representatives on the House Financial Services Committee peppered a Facebook executive with questions about Libra, the social media giant’s proposed cryptocurrency. Democrats and several Republicans raised repeated concerns about whether Facebook’s plans mark a dangerous corporate overreach that would impede government’s ability to oversee monetary policy. They asked David Marcus, the…
Trump’s Defenders Say He’s an American Exceptionalist. Not Long Ago, He Claimed the Opposite.
Alex Wong/Getty As just about everyone knows by now, President Trump tweeted on Sunday that four “progressive” Democratic congresswomen should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” Following this tweet and his subsequent doubling-down on it, many have condemned his statements as racist. But many also…
Background Briefings Are a Scourge
Technology journalist Brian Merchant says he’s tired of PR flacks from tech companies refusing to talk unless it’s off-the-record: After my experience with Amazon, I decided that on all matters of importance, I am no longer going to listen to a public relations representative try to change my mind on background with unquotable statements attributable…
Pence Staffer Says Elaine Chao Is a Better Immigrant Than Ilhan Omar
Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via ZUMA There’s a key difference between Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), according to Darin Miller, the deputy press secretary for Vice President Mike Pence: Chao is a good immigrant who “worked hard and assimilated,” but Omar “seems content to criticize America at every turn.” That’s the gist of…