Something I've been watching that flies under the radar with the Russia talk is the evaporation of our diplomatic capability. Highlights:
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Mar 8: Reuters reports that Mexico has cancelled export permits for sugar, saying no one home in US to negotiate.http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-mexico-sugar-idUSKBN16E0OZ?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social …
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Mar 1: The Atlantic reports that folks in the State Department are bored. "No one's doing anything."https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/517965/ …
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Mar 8: Pro Publica publishes a list of quiet Trump admin hirees. The list includes 21 State Dept hirees. https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/beachhead …
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As of March 9, the administration has named only 8 of the 119 State Department roles requiring Senate confirmation.
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Why embed 21 people into the state department while leaving sub-cabinet roles, which can be filled for 300 days w/o confirmation, unfilled?
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The Acting Under Secretary of International Trade, in the Commerce Dept., was appointed to the position by Obama in June 2016.
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This means he has 1-2 months before the 300 day window closes.
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Feb 28: AP reports that State may face a 37% budget cut to fund the military.http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-budget-cuts-state-department-usaid-235505 …
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Mar 9: Tillerson ditches press on crucial Asia trip as tensions with North Korea esacalate.http://www.poynter.org/2017/bureau-chiefs-deeply-concerned-that-rex-tillerson-is-ditching-the-press-on-asia-trip/451812/ …
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We are becoming increasingly isolated from the rest of the world, and the Trump admin is making it deliberately difficult to do diplomacy.
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Courtesy of
@justinhendrix, this bit from@maddow:https://twitter.com/MaddowBlog/status/840028645297074176 …0:50 -
More, this from tonight. Remember, Mexico has already had to cancel some export permits.https://twitter.com/nktpnd/status/839994036417093633 …
End of conversation
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