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Archives for 2017

Trump’s travel ban temporarily blocked nationwide by federal judge in Seattle

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And so far looks like the CBP and airlines are obeying (re-instating visas, reaching out to customers whose plans were interrupted, etc.)… at least that’s the breaking news from CNN.

A federal judge in Seattle ordered a temporary halt on Donald Trump’s travel ban for refugees and people from seven predominantly Muslim nations, opening the path for states to sue the White House over his order.

District judge James Robart granted a temporary restraining order on Friday after hearing arguments from Washington state and Minnesota that the president’s order had unlawfully discriminated against Muslims and caused unreasonable harm.

Source: Trump’s travel ban temporarily blocked nationwide by federal judge in Seattle | US news | The Guardian

Situational Assessment 2017: Trump Edition – Deep Code

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I can’t vouch for Jordan Greenhall – I am unfamiliar with his work – but this piece is definitely worth a read (and a few re-reads). It’s a very detailed theoretical investigation into what’s going on at the moment from a writer that seemed very well-versed in system theory.

While many things have changed in the world in the past two years, 2016 saw what looks like a phase transition in the political domain. While the overall phenomenon is global in scale and includes Brexit and other movements throughout Europe, I want to focus specifically on the victory of the “Trump Insurgency” and drill down into detail on how this state change will play out.

Source: Jordan Greenhall: Situational Assessment 2017: Trump Edition – Deep Code

The Jacksonian Revolt

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This article laying out the Trump outlook on the world and approach to foreign policy could prove to be an important explanation and contextualization of just what’s going on at the moment.

At the moment, Jacksonians are skeptical about the United States’ policy of global engagement and liberal order building—but more from a lack of trust in the people shaping foreign policy than from a desire for a specific alternative vision. They oppose recent trade agreements not because they understand the details and consequences of those extremely complex agreements’ terms but because they have come to believe that the negotiators of those agreements did not necessarily have the United States’ interests at heart. Most Jacksonians are not foreign policy experts and do not ever expect to become experts. For them, leadership is necessarily a matter of trust. If they believe in a leader or a political movement, they are prepared to accept policies that seem counter-intuitive and difficult.

Source: The Jacksonian Revolt: American Populism and the Liberal Order by Walter Russell Mead in Foreign Affairs

Lessig in Medium: Rules for a constitutional crisis

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Lawrence Lessig will always be a hero to digital natives young and old, and even when he has moved to other things (the pervasive corruption of money in politics, among others), he can be counted on for wise words.

Today in Medium he wrote the following:

He has no understanding of his place in the constitutional order. His White House has run amuck, issuing diktats without advice from either the State Department or the Department of Justice. He has no discipline. He has no understanding. And he feels himself constrained by nothing—save the pathologically thin skin that controls him as meth controls an addict. He is constitutionally compromised, and unqualified to be President.

Source: Rules for a constitutional crisis – Medium

The whole piece is worth a read.

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