President Trump acquitted on both impeachment charges, avoids removal

Source: USA Today

The Senate acquitted President Donald Trump for his dealings with Ukraine on Wednesday, culminating months of bitter partisan clashes over accusations he tried to cheat in the 2020 election by pressuring the U.S. ally to investigate political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden..

The Republican-led Senate voted to acquit Trump on two articles of impeachment - abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, was the only senator to cross party lines by voting to convict for abuse of power.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/02/05/trump-impeachment-trial-senate-poised-vote-acquittal/4655192002/

Trump: "not guilty"

Claudio Bonadio, Argentina's "Ken Starr," dead at 64

Argentine Federal Judge Claudio Bonadío, known for overseeing many of the cases involving former President Cristina Kirchner or her cabinet, has died of a brain tumor; he was 64.

Bonadío was widely known as former President Mauricio Macri's "napkin" (pocket) judge - a nickname he first earned in 1996 when a top official under then-President Carlos Menem wrote his name on a café napkin as one of nine judges Menem could count on as cronies.

Amid an economic and debt crisis, the right-wing Macri recently became the first president in Argentine history to lose re-election.

Bonadío oversaw 11 of 13 federal cases against Mrs. Kirchner - despite requirements that federal cases be randomly assigned by lot.

His handling of these cases became known for a refusal to allow defendants access to evidence and case files, as well as for admitting unverified evidence (found to be forged in at least one case) and unrecorded "confessions" of witnesses who later alleged being pressured by the judge.

A raid ordered by the judge on Kirchner's home in August 2018 led to the poisoning of her housekeeper and two others by what the attending physician described as a "contact toxin."

Bonadío, on the other hand, routinely dismissed charges against Macri or his officials - notably the "Panama Papers" case, in which Macri's name was found on at least 50 undeclared offshore accounts.

Napkin judge

Appointed Chief Counsel to President Menem in 1992, at the height of the "Yomagate" scandal involving alleged money laundering by Menem's in-laws, Bonadío was named to the federal bench a year later despite having graduated from law school only five years earlier.

He was promoted in 1994 (at 38) as head of the powerful 11th Circuit Criminal Court - and remained in the post despite 75 formal complaints before the Council of Magistrates for malfeasance, abuse of power, illicit enrichment, and other charges.

A finding of "partiality" in favor of defendants led to his 2005 removal as presiding judge in the case involving the cover-up of the 1994 AMIA bombing - which left 85 dead in a Buenos Aires Jewish community center, and remains unsolved.

The AMIA prosecutor at the time, Alberto Nisman, later accused Bonadío of threats against his life and his family. Nisman was found dead in 2015.

Bonadío's own death comes a year after recordings of indicted extortionist Marcelo d'Alessio, an intelligence (AFI) agent, showed d'Alessio boasting of a shakedown scheme that had netted $12 million since August 2018, and that the scheme was run by a close Bonadío collaborator - the now-indicted Federal Prosecutor Carlos Stornelli.

"Stornelli is Macri," d'Alessio said in the recordings. "Claudio (Bonadío) will want a cut too."

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&tab=wT&sl=es&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pagina12.com.ar%2F245613-murio-el-juez-federal-claudio-bonadio

Claudio Bonadío, 1956-2020.

The public face of former President Macri's weaponized judiciary against opponents, Bonadío remained on the federal bench despite - and perhaps because - of his practice of denying defendants access to evidence and case files, while granting others an immediate dismissal of charges.

Evidence emerging a year ago of a large-scale extortion scheme by a close associate - in which Bonadío was named - led to renewed calls for his removal and prosecution.

It's official: Trump's tax cuts were an economic bust

US GDP grew by 2.3% in 2019 - well below President Trump's promise of 3% growth.

The most recent GDP number also proved that the tax cuts championed by Trump and the GOP did nothing to substantially boost the economy.

Anyone who looked at history or has some knowledge about economics knew this would be the case.

The administration's bullish forecast was based on the belief that the tax cut passed by Trump and the Republicans at the end of 2017 would increase the economy's trend growth rate.

Trump and his economic team have long argued that the tax cuts — especially the big drop in the corporate rate from 35% to 21% would kick off a virtuous cycle delivering lasting growth above the roughly 2% that has prevailed for the past two decades.

GDP growth has instead averaged 2.6% since Trump took office. While slightly above the 2.3% average during President Obama's second term, real GDP growth reached 3% only in the middle two quarters of last year.

Thus far, moreover, none of the links on the supply-side chain are anywhere to be seen. To the contrary, real business investment has declined for three quarters in a row - the worst such stretch since the last recession.

The federal budget deficit meanwhile reached $984 billion - 26% higher than the 2018 deficit and 48% above 2017 levels.

At: https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-gop-tax-cuts-no-boost-us-economy-gdp-2020-1

First Look At Bloomberg's Super Bowl Ad - Morning Joe

Sunday's date is a rare, extra-special palindrome

How’s this for a calendrical trifecta: Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday. And it’s Groundhog Day. And it’s a rare eight-digit palindrome when written as 02/02/2020 — the only one of its kind this century.

A palindrome, as you might know, is a sequence that reads the same forward as it does backward. Aziz Inan, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Portland, collects dates that are palindromes the way other people might collect coins or chase solar eclipses.

Inan’s website chronicles 500 years’ worth of palindromes, from the 19th century to the 23rd. He’s been waiting for this Sunday since at least Nov. 2, 2011, he said, which was an eight-digit palindrome, too (11/02/2011).

The previous eight-digit palindrome like this was 11/11/1111, 909 years ago. We’ll only have to wait another 101 years for 12/12/2121, but the next one after that comes on March 3, 3030.

At: https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2020/01/31/sundays-date-is-rare-extra-special-palindrome/

Period depiction of Henry I - who was king of England the last time a date fell on an eight-digit palindrome like this Sunday's.

Pope Francis, a son of Argentina, welcomes its new president to the Vatican

A smiling Pope Francis welcomed the new president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, to the Vatican Friday morning and then spoke with him in a private audience for 45 minutes.

“Holy Father, what a pleasure to see you again,” the Argentine president said as they shook hands. Their private conversation lasted twice as long as that of Mr. Fernández’s predecessor, Mauricio Macri, with Francis in 2016.

It was clear from the beginning that their discussion would focus on the dire economic situation in Argentina today, where the president has had to take immediate action to deal with the problem of widespread hunger.

Fernández, 60, inherited twin economic and debt crises from Macri.

His six-week old administration faces a $195 billion public foreign debt - much of which has been in default since September - 54% inflation, 41% income poverty, and a 7% fall in GDP since the current “Macrisis” began in April 2018.

Fernández said the debt owed by Argentina to the IMF (some $44 billion) was one of the main topics he discussed with Pope Francis and that they “also spoke much about poverty.”

“I asked that he do what he could to help us, and he will do that.”

At: https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/01/31/pope-francis-son-argentina-welcomes-its-new-president-vatican

Pope Francis reads from a book of poetry he presented to Argentine President Alberto Fernández as a gift during their meeting on Friday, as First Lady Fabiola Yáñez looks on.

Francis, who is Argentine, is largely supportive of the center-left Fernández as the latter struggles with socio-economic and debt crises inherited from his right-wing predecessor.

Author Mary Higgins Clark, 'Queen of Suspense,' Dies at 92

Mary Higgins Clark, the tireless and long-reigning “Queen of Suspense” whose tales of women beating the odds made her one of the world’s most popular writers, died Friday at age 92.

Her publisher, Simon & Schuster, announced that she died of natural causes in Naples, Florida.

“Nobody ever bonded more completely with her readers than Mary did,” her longtime editor Michael Korda said in statement. “She understood them as if they were members of her own family.

She was always absolutely sure of what they wanted to read — and, perhaps more important, what they didn’t want to read — and yet she managed to surprise them with every book.”

Widowed in her late 30s with five children, she became a perennial bestseller over the second half of her life, writing or co-writing “A Stranger Is Watching,” “Daddy’s Little Girl” and more than 50 other favorites.

Sales topped 100 million copies and honors came from all over, including a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters from France or a Grand Master statuette back home from the Mystery Writers of America.

At: https://time.com/5775950/mary-higgins-clark-obituary/

Mary Higgins Clark, 1927-2020.

U.S. farm bankruptcies hit an eight-year high

U.S. farm bankruptcy rates jumped 20% in 2019 - to an eight-year high - as financial woes in the U.S. agricultural economy continued in spite of massive federal bail-out funding, according to federal court data.

According to data released this week by the United States Courts, family farmers filed 595 Chapter 12 bankruptcies in 2019, up from 498 filings a year earlier.

The data also shows that such filings - known as “family farmer” bankruptcies - have steadily increased every year for the past five years.

Even billions of dollars spent over the past two years in government agricultural assistance has not stemmed the bleeding.

Nearly one-third of projected U.S. net farm income in 2019 came from government aid and taxpayer-subsidized commodity insurance payments, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

At: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-farms-bankruptcy-idUSKBN1ZT2YE

A barn sits empty in a Maryland farm under pre-foreclosure short sale.

A recent wave of farm foreclosures has come on the heels of Trump's trade war with China, during which exports to the Asian giant have fallen by nearly 20%.

Fourth quarter GDP rose only 2.1%, and full-year 2019 posts slowest growth in three years at 2.3%

The U.S. economy grew 2.1% in the fourth quarter, closing out a year in which gross domestic product decelerated to its slowest pace in three years amid a continuing drag in business investment.

For all of 2019 the economy grew 2.3%, below the 2.9% increase from 2018 and the 2.4% gain in 2017 - the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency, according to the initial estimate released Thursday by the Commerce Department.

Growth was well below the White House’s projections following the 2017 tax bill that cut corporate and individual rates. The administration has said the stimulus would lead to GDP increases of at least 3%, but that hasn’t happened yet.

Consumer spending grew at a 1.8% rate in the 4th quarter, and 2.6% for the entire year. Private consumption accounts for 68% of a U.S. economy that in 2019 reached $21.429 trillion, or $65,285 per person.

Gross private domestic investment fell 6.1% in the quarter - the third straight quarterly decline - and rose just 1.8% in all of 2019. Non-residential construction fell at a 10.1% rate, and by 4.4% for the year.

The decline in structures investment came primarily due to less mining exploration, shafts and wells.

Federal defense purchases grew by 4.9% in 2019, the highest figure since 2007.

At: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/30/us-gdp-q4-2019-first-reading.html

New cars await customers amid slow sales in a Ford dealership this year.

U.S. auto and truck sales were down 5.8% in December, and 1.3% for all of 2019 amid a gradual slowdown across most sectors - except defense spending.

Wisconsin governor signs order for redistricting commission

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed an executive order Monday creating what he promised would be a nonpartisan commission to draw new legislative maps next year for the Legislature to consider, a move Republicans have rejected as a sham.

Even though the Legislature won't be forced to vote on the maps the commission creates, the Democratic Evers said he hopes it will push them to consider less partisan maps.

At the very least, it will create a more public process than in 2011 when Republicans met in secret to draw the maps that were released with little time for public review or input before they were passed.

“People should be able to choose their elected officials, not the other way around," Evers said at a news conference in his Capitol office where he was surrounded by Democrats, including Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and Attorney General Josh Kaul.

“Certainly I would hope that they see the light and adopt our maps."

At: https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Evers-signs-order-creating-new-redistricting-15007128.php

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signs today's executive order creating a nonpartisan redistricting commission.