SCOTUS Agrees to Hear Trump’s Presidential Immunity Claim

Prepare. The Supreme Court docket has agreed to listen to former President Donald Trump’s presidential immunity declare that he’s protected against prosecution for his function in plotting to overturn the 2020 election outcomes, and has set oral arguments for April. The Court docket’s time period ends in June, so listening to arguments in April means it is rather seemingly a call shall be launched earlier than the justices go away.

“The justices scheduled arguments for the week of April 22 and mentioned proceedings within the trial courtroom would stay frozen, handing no less than an interim victory to Mr. Trump,” reported The New York Instances. “His litigation technique in all the prison prosecutions in opposition to him has consisted, largely, of making an attempt to gradual issues down.”

If he doesn’t have immunity, a prison trial will observe, most likely over the summer time—through the top of election season.

Earlier this month, the Court docket additionally heard a case on whether or not states comparable to Colorado are inside their rights to take away Trump from ballots—the 14th Amendment argument. It’s anticipated to situation a ruling quickly.

Certainly this time shall be totally different: If Congress cannot cross appropriations payments to fund the federal government by midnight Friday, the federal authorities will enter a partial shutdown. Home Speaker Mike Johnson (R–La.) goes for yet another stopgap bill to try to maintain the federal government open, which “would prolong funding for some authorities businesses for every week, by way of March 8, and the remainder for an additional two weeks, till March 22,” per The New York Instances.

The caveat is that Congress could be anticipated to approve six of the 12 spending payments to fund the federal government for the subsequent yr, whereas shopping for a bit extra time for legislators to barter and cross the remainder of the spending payments. Considerably surprisingly, information broke final evening that Johnson has managed to get a good variety of colleagues on board with the plan.

Nonetheless, it is a piecemeal answer that pleases virtually no person. The far-right flank of Republicans within the Home continues to pursue deep spending cuts that neither Johnson nor Kevin McCarthy earlier than him has managed to prioritize, in addition to weaning Ukraine off U.S. authorities assist. Persevering with resolutions—a.okay.a. patchwork options that briefly stave off authorities shutdowns however don’t set any form of long-term funds—had been handed in September, November, and January. And Republicans have solely a two-seat majority within the Home, with fairly a number of of them riled up concerning the disaster on the southern border—which they maintain saying should be secured, to ensure that different points to be tackled—so there are few indicators that Congress will get its act collectively anytime quickly.

Are South Koreans having sufficient intercourse? Statistics Korea just lately launched information showing that the fertility fee declined by 8 % in 2023 in comparison with 2022. Usually, such a drop wouldn’t be greeted as catastrophic, besides that this comes at a time when many developed nations have fertility charges in free-fall and South Korea already had the bottom fertility fee on this planet. If present charges maintain, the nation’s inhabitants (51 million at current) is predicted to halve by 2100.

“The typical variety of infants a South Korean girl is anticipated to provide delivery to throughout her life fell to 0.72 from 0.78 in 2022, and former projections estimate that it will fall even additional, to 0.68 in 2024,” reported Al Jazeera. The alternative fee is 2.1 youngsters. For comparability, the U.S. fertility fee has been hovering round 1.7, with a bit dip in 2020 that has since recovered.

These new information, coupled with a BBC article that featured ladies throughout South Korea and their frustrations with their predicaments, has led to a strong debate among the many punditry as as to if South Korea’s aggressive pro-natalist insurance policies had been all for naught. (“Professional-natalist insurance policies have a weak monitor file in each nation the place they have been tried,” wrote Purpose‘s Elizabeth Nolan Brown again in June 2023. “South Korea spent greater than $200 billion subsidizing baby care and parental go away over the previous 16 years, President Yoon Suk Yeol mentioned final fall. But the fertility fee fell from 1.1 in 2006 to 0.81 in 2021.”)

Demographer Lyman Stone, in the meantime, called the BBC article “a demography reporting crime” and mentioned that “South Korea spends much less in authorities cash per baby than the OECD common” and that “a lot of the spending Korea claims it does by no means will get to households, however is definitely a morass of native authorities subsidies, grants, and different intermediated types of spending.” When it does really get to households, the fertility fee is positively affected, Stone argued.

However there are different components, too: South Korea’s graying inhabitants, for one—and the way coughing up funds for retirees impacts youthful taxpayers’ skill to save lots of—in addition to cultural influences, like the truth that one among Korea’s greatest exports, Ok-pop stars, are usually forced by their agencies to abstain from relationship (would not need to destroy the fantasy, I suppose). There are large cultural expectation points, too, like the truth that most South Koreans—nearly 80 percent!—ship their children to costly personal colleges, so the price of having a baby is perceived to be additional excessive.

For extra on this, watch Simply Asking Questions with the Washington Examiner‘s Tim Carney (who has a new book out quickly on exactly this topic): “Why aren’t individuals having extra children?”

Scenes from New York:

This girl used OMNY to pay for the bus. When you hit 12 fares paid inside a 7-day interval, you get free rides. Cops boarded bus & compelled riders to show they’d paid did not know easy methods to deal with this, threw her off, & hit her w a $100 ticket. Is that this metropolis a joke or what? pic.twitter.com/tD1fAvSnwL

— Liz Wolfe (@LizWolfeReason) February 28, 2024

Full article here, courtesy of Hell Gate.

QUICK HITS

“Google CEO Sundar Pichai addressed the corporate’s Gemini controversy Tuesday night, calling the AI app’s problematic responses round race unacceptable and vowing to make structural adjustments to repair the issue,” reported Semafor. The picture generator Gemini appeared to have a recurring situation giving unrealistic and ahistorical interpretations of occasions—black Vikings, a woman pope, and nonwhite Founding Fathers, to call a number of.
California is so screwed:

California politics in a nutshell ???? pic.twitter.com/XE1XRzj7eh

— Alec Stapp (@AlecStapp) February 28, 2024

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Tirana, Albania, appealing to the Balkan nations for protection help.
“Bitcoin rallied above $60,000 on Wednesday, riding its bullish momentum to its highest ranges since November 2021, as extra indicators emerge that cryptocurrency’s ‘winter’ has ended,” reported Axios. For extra on crypto winter, take a look at this joint from me and Zach Weissmueller:

“Individuals’ satisfaction with private life close to file low,” reported Gallup.
The household of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny is having a hard time finding funeral homes and gravediggers to provide Navalny a good burial. Since his loss of life two weeks in the past, greater than 400 individuals have reportedly been arrested for laying flowers in his reminiscence, reported the BBC.
On one hand, sure, that is an attention-grabbing and probably good take. On the opposite, I do not suppose we must always interact in any extra elder abuse—working in authorities strikes me because the worst type of torture—and this man is 82. Let him spend the remainder of his days consuming ice cream cones!

Enormous loss. If Democrats hated Mitch McConnell as GOP chief, wait til they see those who come subsequent.

As for Republicans, effectively, that is excellent news provided that you want how the GOP Home features & need extra of that. McConnell has been GOPs simplest Congress chief in a long time. https://t.co/JpqPy8brjN

— Brian Riedl ???? ???????? (@Brian_Riedl) February 28, 2024