“It’s funny, because we all read history and we think, ‘Oh, I would … have risen up, I would have fought, I would have been an abolitionist,' And I tell them, ‘No, you wouldn’t have. If you would have, you’d be doing that right now. You know trafficking exists, you’ve heard of it, but you don’t want to look.” ― Tim Ballard (Operation Underground Railroad)
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| MARIJUANA |
|
M&A hits record highs
|
|
Global and U.S.
M&A activity both hit all-time highs during the first half of 2018,
driven by mega-deals, according to data from Thomson Reuters.
The value
of global M&A rose 64% over
the first half of 2017, but the actual number of deals fell by nearly 10%.
Private
equity-backed deals came in at
$215 billion. That represents a 46% boost over the first half of 2017,
although private equity's piece of overall M&A fell from 9.5% to 8.6%.
Energy and
power was the first half's busiest sector in
terms of deal value, followed by media/entertainment and health care.
Morgan
Stanley took the top spot in
terms of M&A advisory work, flip-flopping with Goldman Sachs.
What to
watch: Many dealmakers fear that an
all-out trade war could severely slow new M&A activity in the second
half. [Axios Pro Rata: Bonus edition, July 6, 2018]
|
 |
| FROM THE PORCH |
 |
| FAMILY |
 |
| HUD |
 |
| READ |
 |
MIKE
PENCE
U.S. Vice President |
— PENCE PHONES THE PRIME MINISTERS OF GREECE
AND MACEDONIA: Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to
participate in separate phone calls with the prime ministers of Greece and
Macedonia this afternoon. Pence has worked to help two countries find a
solution to their name dispute, the main roadblock preventing Macedonia's
accession to NATO and the European Union [POLITICO's Morning Defense, July 5,
2018]
Follow @VP
More
Looking forward to
visiting @ICEgov tomorrow & spending time with
agents on the front lines enforcing our nation’s immigration laws. @POTUS & I are PROUD to stand with the brave men &
women of ICE & are PROUD to support their critical law enforcement mission.
PENCE AT ICE HQ: Vice President Mike Pence will visit ICE headquarters
with DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen this morning, as the administration
continues to mount its defense of the enforcement agency amid some Democratic
calls to abolish it. "Looking forward to visiting @ICEgov tomorrow & spending
time with agents on the front lines enforcing our nation's immigration
laws," Pence tweeted.
"@POTUS & I are PROUD to stand with the brave men & women of ICE
& are PROUD to support their critical law enforcement mission."[
POLITICO's Morning Shift, July 6, 2018]
 |
| TRUMP |
Behind the scenes: Trump's Supreme
Court suspense
President Trump is trolling everyone.
Either that or he's genuinely undecided, right up until the final day before he
announces, in a prime-time address on Monday night, who he's picked to replace Anthony Kennedy on the
Supreme Court.
Sources who've spoken to the president over
the past 24 hours tell me, as of Sunday afternoon, that he still truly hasn't
made up his mind and is still vacillating in phone calls to friends and
advisers between his "final four" judges: Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney
Barrett, Thomas Hardiman and Raymond Kethledge.
What we're
hearing: Kavanaugh has always been the frontrunner —
and is a favorite of White House Counsel Don McGahn — but Trump has been
mentioning Hardiman more frequently over the past few days.
- Politicos
outside the White House, including Trump allies Lou Barletta and Rick
Santorum, have been lobbying hard for Hardiman, touting his political
benefits to White House officials, according to a source with direct
knowledge.
- They've
argued that Hardiman better matches the blue collar, outsider, western
Pennsylvania coalition that helped elect Trump in 2016. (Trump also feels
comfortable with Hardiman, who was one of his two finalists last year.)
- The judge
who's most exciting for the Republican base appears to be Barrett — a
46-year-old judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, a staunch
social conservative and mother of seven children.
White House staff — even at a very senior
level — have been given no guidance on who Trump has chosen and those who've
discussed the decision with him are genuinely of the view that he hasn't made
up his mind.
- The White
House team working on the Supreme Court nomination process had built out
detailed roll-out scenarios for each of these final four judges I
mentioned above. They've crafted messages to sell each potential candidate
and have compiled lists of potential validators to promote each judge in
the media and on Capitol Hill.
- McGahn has
led the process internally, working with his team. From a communications
standpoint, the White House's principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah is
in charge.
But, but,
but: Don't discount the possibility that Trump
has made up his mind — or all but done so — and is simply enjoying keeping
everyone, even those closest to him, guessing. A source who spent a lot of time
talking to Trump during last year's Neil Gorsuch confirmation told me "he
loved the drama and theatrics of the announcement where no one knew before he
revealed Gorsuch in the East Room."
- "My
guess," the source continued, "is that he's pretty much made up
his mind but he's not telling anyone because he wants the surprise effect
like last time. He's capable of keeping a secret when it's in the service
of a PR success."
"Shortly after he took office, Trump
began passing out his personal cellphone number to a handful of foreign
leaders, and in April 2017, White House aides were startled when officials in
Canada issued a standard summary of a conversation between Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau and Trump. In it, Trudeau complained of 'unfair duties' and
'baseless' claims about trade by Trump administration officials.
"No one at the White House was
aware the call had taken place. 'We had no idea what
happened,' a senior U.S. official said. ... After [a typical foreign leader]
call, a transcript is distributed to key aides, who will issue a public
readout. In this instance, U.S. officials had to rely on Trump's memory. A
terse public readout described 'a very amicable call.' After the call, White
House aides urged Trump to route all conversations with foreign leaders through
the Situation Room, as required under federal records law ... [POLITICO Playbook, July 7, 2018]
 |
| WHIMSEY |
 |
| SCREEN |
 |
| MEDICINE |
 |
| ENERGY |
Energy: Adapting to change
A trio of Trump administration agency policies
have energy companies on edge:
- The
growing trade war is impacting energy
companies that depend on steel and aluminum, and Chinese retaliatory
tariffs include energy commodities. This summer may also see more
negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement which could hamper
cross-border energy projects.
- Coal
and nuclear plants will likely
get aid from the Energy Department, which could negatively impact other
electricity provivers, including natural gas, wind and solar. Expect legal
action to be swift, but Trump is invoking national security reasons that courts often give deference to.
- The
EPA is expected to propose rules
replacing three of the biggest Obama-era regulations candidate Trump vowed
to repeal. These rules affect bodies of water, coal-fired power plants and
fuel economy of cars. Industries are hoping for a more moderate rollback,
while environmentalists and liberal state governments are prepping
lawsuits.
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