— Park City, UT

Tell It to the Judge: A hearing is scheduled today in the Trump Administration’s appeal to reinstate the president’s ban on travel and immigration from seven Muslim countries. Justice Department lawyers are expected to argue that a lower court’s  decision to block the ban endangers national security and violates the constitutional separation of powers.

Uber, Apple, and 125 other tech companies have backed a court filing that argues Trump’s refugee ban is unconstitutional. Their “friend of the court” brief says immigration feeds the economy and American culture in general. “People who choose to leave everything that is familiar and journey to an unknown land to make a new life necessarily are endowed with drive, creativity, determination—and just plain guts.”

Citing legal precedent, the government’s brief says, the exclusion of aliens is also “a fundamental act of sovereignty inherent in the executive power to control the foreign affairs of the nation.”

The US Court of Appeals for the 9th  Circuit has scheduled the hearing for 3 pm, Pacific Time.

World: Amnesty International reports that as many as 13,000 people have been hanged by the military police at a prison north of Damascus since the 2011 start of Syria’s civil war. The prison is known as “the slaughterhouse.” Amnesty says 20-50 people were hanged each week at Saydnaya Prison in a “calculated campaign of extrajudicial execution.” Amnesty has also reported the massive use of torture.

News to Him: President Trump told troops at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida yesterday that the “dishonest press” fails to cover terrorist attacks. “It’s gotten to a point where it’s not even reported, and in many cases the very, very dishonest press doesn’t even want to report it,” Trump said. He said the media “have their reasons, and you understand that.”

On CBS News last night anchor Scott Pelley said, “It has been a busy day for presidential statements divorced from reality.”

The White House later issued a list of 78 attacks they say didn’t receive adequate coverage, including the Orlando night club shooting last June and 2015 attacks in San Bernardino, Calif., and Paris that got wall to wall coverage.

We Don’t Want No Edjikashun: Democrats are planning a last-ditch effort to block the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. The vote is expected today. Two Republicans say they will vote against her so the Democrats need just one more Republican to cross the line to defeat DeVos. “I know for a fact there are other Republicans who are feeling the heat and could come around,” Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, said Monday afternoon on the Senate floor.

DeVos has no experience in public education and has shown in Senate hearings that she is ignorant of some of the issues of education policy.

Papers, Please: Trump’s pick for Secretary of Labor admits that for years he employed an illegal immigrant. “My wife and I employed a housekeeper for a few years, during which I was unaware that she was not legally permitted to work in the US,” Andrew Puzder said in a statement. “When I learned of her status, we immediately ended her employment and offered her assistance in getting legal status.” In some previous cabinet nominations an illegal nanny has been a fatal flaw.

Ice Age: A crack in Antarctica’s fourth largest ice shelf has grown 17 miles in the last two months, giving scientists concerns  that is about to break off entirely. The crack in the Larsen C shelf is now 100 miles long, and two miles wide at some points. The break is likely to happen within the next two months, creating some of the biggest icebergs ever recorded.

Presidential Pout: The always-aggrieved president of the United States tweeted this morning about criticism of his admiration for Russia’s Vladimir Putin. “I don’t know Putin, have no deals in Russia, and the haters are going crazy – yet Obama can make a deal with Iran, #1 in terror, no problem!”

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