INTERVIEW — CAL THOMAS – syndicated columnist

TOPICS:

• DACA: Trump administration announces end of immigration protection program for ‘dreamers’ President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that his administration will end an Obama-era program that offers some protection to thousands of young undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. But he will give lawmakers six months to act first, effectively punting the fate of so-called Dreamers into the hands of Congress.

• NORTH KOREA: North Korea: We’ve Got More “Gift Packages” For The Us. (Hot Air) — The US and its allies demanded more forceful action from the United Nations Security Council after North Korea claimed success in testing a miniaturized hydrogen bomb and the capability of delivering it via ICBM to the US. In response, North Korea’s top diplomat promised that Pyongyang had prepared “more gift packages from my country” for the US: “The recent self-defense measures by my country DPRK are gift package addressed to none other than the U.S.,” North Korea’s Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva Han Tae Song said today. … “The U.S. will receive more gift packages from my country as long as it relies on reckless provocations and futile attempts to put pressure on the DPRK,” Han said today, addressing the U.N. Conference on Disarmament today in Geneva.

• HARVEY AID: Congress back: Cornyn says Senate will add debt hike to Harvey aid. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) vowed Tuesday to attach legislation raising the debt limit to a Hurricane Harvey relief bill the House is expected to approve on Wednesday, setting up a confrontation among Republicans in Congress. Cornyn said Congress has no choice but to raise the debt ceiling now given the need for help in his home state, the escalating costs and the government’s diminishing coffers. “It’s imperative that we get that supplemental passed,” Cornyn told reporters. He said Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had made the decision to tie the debt limit hike to the Harvey bill. “And the leader has made the decision to attach the debt limit to that, and I support that,” Cornyn said.

• Menendez trial starts Wednesday. Media Won’t Talk About Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez’s Corruption Trial. (The Federalist) — Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez’s upcoming corruption trial has gotten very little attention from members of the media. When they do talk about it, they like to leave out the fact he’s a Democrat. On Sunday, The New York Times published a 1,288-word article about the trial, which begins Wednesday, without once mentioning Menendez’s political party affiliation. The newspaper of record then stealth-edited the piece hours later. The updated version identifies the New Jersey senator once in the fourth paragraph as a Democrat.