The Week USA - August 17, 2019

16 NEWS Talking points

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QDespite negotiations

with the Trump adminis-

tration, security analysts

say, North Korea has not

halted its nuclear weapons

and ICBM programs, with

satellite images showing

increased activity at key

weapons facilities. The

regime is now estimated

to have between 20 and 60

nuclear bombs.

The Wall Street Journal

QSixteen-year-old Kyle

Giersdorf of Pennsylvania

took home $3 million in

prize money for winning

the first-ever Fortnite

World Cup over 99 other

top-ranked players of the

popular shooter-survival

video game. The tourna-

ment was held live in the

packed Arthur Ashe tennis

stadium in New York City,

with more than 1 million

people watching online.

CNN.com

QThe Internal

Revenue Service

turned over

four years of

President

Richard

Nixon’s tax

returns to a congressional

committee the same day

they were requested in

1973, according to letters

released by House Dem-

ocrats. President Trump

claims that demands

for his tax returns are

“unprecedented.”

The Washington Post

QThe FBI has arrested

about 100 people on do-

mestic terrorism charges

so far this fiscal year. FBI

Director Christopher Wray

says most of the arrests

were related to “white

supremacist” activity.

Axios.com

QImmigration agents

arrested just 35 people in

immigration raids in July,

despite targeting more

than 2,000 migrants. Presi-

dent Trump announced

the raids ahead of time,

giving immigrants and

activists time to prepare.

The New York Times

Food stamps: Cutting 3 million recipients

“The Trump administration is kicking 3.1 million

people off food stamps,” said Dylan Matthews

in Vox.com. Since House Democrats wouldn’t

approve of cuts, the White House is altering a

rule that helps needy people receive benefits from

the program “more easily and quickly.” Cur-

rently, those who apply for other forms of public

assistance can be automatically enrolled in the

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or

SNAP. This policy has enabled states to provide

food stamps to people who have more than the

federal limits of $2,250 to $3,500 in savings.

Advocates say many of the working poor suffer

from “food insecurity” despite having jobs and

some savings; not knowing if they’ll be able to eat

breakfast or dinner results in chronic stress and

illness that winds up costing taxpayers more in the

end than SNAP would.

This rule change is “common sense,” not “cru-

elty,” said The Wall Street Journal in an editorial.

In theory, the practice of cross-eligibility was a

good idea intended to “trim administrative hassle

and avoid repeating eligibility tests” for welfare

applicants. In practice, it has allowed states greedy

for federal dollars to do end runs around the rules

and “keep as many people as possible on the

dole regardless of need.” In some cases, officials

counted passing out a brochure, or calling a toll-

free hotline number for child care or transporta-

tion assistance, as tantamount to the applicants

receiving benefits, thus cross-qualifying them for

food stamps as well. The closure of this loophole

will prevent “a blatant abuse of public resources”

and save taxpayers $9.4 billion over five years.

The charge of widespread abuse is a lie, said

Michael Hiltzik in the Los Angeles Times. The

Congressional Research Service has found that

SNAP’s fraud rate is only 0.57 percent. The

Republican myth about undeserving food-stamp

freeloaders is largely based on a stunt by Minne-

sota millionaire Rob Undersander, who collected

about $5,300 over 19 months in SNAP benefits

to make a point. But the only thing Undersander

proved is that “a determined individual can

commit fraud on the U.S. government. That’s

not news.” There is a perverse irony in Trump’s

SNAP cuts, said David Super in The New York

Times. The money saved will help offset a nearly

$2 trillion tax cut for corporations and the rich.

Once again, the burden of paying for the profli-

gacy of our elected leaders falls “on those least

able to afford it.”

Noted

House Republicans grilled

Robert Mueller last week

in a “Fox Newspeak” that

was “inscrutable” to most

Americans, said Nicole Hem-

mer in WashingtonPost.com.

Ignoring the former special

counsel’s findings, GOP

lawmakers focused almost

exclusively on a conspiracy

theory that has migrated from

the Trumpist, far-right fringes

to the mainstream GOP: The FBI and CIA—

otherwise known as “the Deep State”—conspired

with Vladimir Putin’s government and the Hillary

Clinton campaign to entrap Trump campaign

aides into their many meetings and conversations

with Russians. As Republicans on the Judiciary

Committee tried to interrogate a puzzled Mueller

about the various “bogeymen” in their theory—

Glenn Simpson, Joseph Mifsud, Peter Strzok,

Christopher Steele—only Trump supporters “on

a steady diet of right-wing media” could follow

along. “There is collusion in plain sight,” said

Rep. Devin Nunes, the House Intelligence Com-

mittee’s ranking Republican. “Collusion between

Russia and the Democratic Party.”

Mueller’s “bafflement” proves his entire inves-

tigation “was a sham,” said Margot Cleveland

in TheFederalist.com. Asked about Fusion GPS,

the opposition research firm Simpson founded,

Mueller said, “I’m not famil-

iar.” Yet Fusion GPS helped

pay for Steele’s dossier on

Russia and Trump, which

became part of the FBI appli-

cation to spy on the Trump

campaign. Nine times Muel-

ler insisted that questions

about the probe’s origin were

outside his “purview,” said

The Wall Street Journal in

an editorial. Fortunately,

Attorney General William Barr has launched an

investigation into whether FBI, CIA, and Obama

administration officials “abused their power.” He

“will never have a more important assignment.”

There’s a “glaring hole at the core” of the Repub-

licans’ conspiracy theory, said Aaron Rupar in

Vox.com. If Deep State operatives did hope to

sabotage Trump, “why did they wait until after

the election” to let Americans know his campaign

was under investigation for colluding with Rus-

sia? A leak could have sunk Trump’s campaign.

Instead, then–FBI Director James Comey repeat-

edly publicized the bureau’s investigation into

Clinton’s emails, which was “highly damaging”

to her campaign. Republicans are no longer inter-

ested in evidence, facts, or logic, said John Cas-

sidy in NewYorker.com. This is “perhaps the most

alarming testament yet to Trump’s total conquest

of the party.”

Russian int erference: An alternative reality

Nunes: It was a Deep State conspiracy.