Squiz Today – Monday, 15 January

SQUIZ SAYINGS

“Micro-cheating”

Psychologist Melanie Schilling says that "seemingly small actions” like sending a benign text message to an ex to mark a significant date is micro-cheating because it shows “a person is emotionally or physically focused on someone outside their relationship". And here you were thinking you were just being nice…

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US IMMIGRATION POLICIES IN THE SPOTLIGHT

THE SQUIZ
“Why are we having all these people from sh*thole countries come here?” is what US President Donald Trump is reported to have said in a meeting on immigration last week. He was meeting with Republicans and Democrats when reports say the President became frustrated while discussing protections for immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries. Trump tweeted that “this was not the language used” but admitted he had talked tough.

I’M SHOCKED!
Really? Here are three things to note:

• In November, Trump scrapped deportation protections for Haitians who came to the US after the 2010 earthquake. They need to leave next year.

• Last week, 200,000 El Salvadorans who came to live and work in the US after earthquakes in 2001 were told they would also have to go.

• A deal needs to be struck in coming weeks to provide protections for 700,000 undocumented immigrants who came to the US as kids (known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program or ‘The Dreamers’).

It was the last point that last week’s meeting in question was about. While Trump has said that he would like to do something for this group, reports say efforts to come to a bipartisan agreement are now unlikely to bear fruit.

SO HOW’S IT WORKING OUT?
Great if you’re a Trump supporter, not so well if you’re not. Not surprisingly the world had something to say. A favourite response was from this bookstore. Trump’s lucky he had a health check, reports of a former ‘friendship’, a cancelled trip to the UK and a transcript to clear up to take his mind off it.

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SQUIZ THE REST

ALOHA FALSE ALARM
Anyone on their Hawaiian holiday and looking for a Saturday sleep-in was dudded yesterday when someone pressed a wrong button at a shift change. The text message “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT DRILL” was sent out by the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency at 8.07am local time and although the mistake was picked up three minutes later, a clarifying message didn’t go out until 38 minutes had elapsed. People were terrified and the 911 line was jammed but reports say a guy crashing his golf cart on receipt the message was the only damage recorded.

VIC SAYS CRIME DATABASE WOULD HELP IN GANG FIGHT
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has urged Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton to fund a national criminal intelligence database that would help federal, state and territory police to access information on interstate crims. The comments were made following reports that some young Sudanese-Australian men involved in two recent high profile brawls in suburban Melbourne were in fact from Sydney. Coalition people cried “blame shift!”

MERKEL MAKES COALITION STEPS
What happened to Angela Merkel’s moves to form a government? We knew that question bugged you all weekend. An agreement was hammered out between Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats and Martin Schulz’s Socialist Democrats late last week but it comes with strings attached. Schulz has to get the agreement of his party via a meeting next weekend and then 450,000 party members will have their say via a referendum. Schulz’s SPD was smashed in September’s election over their alignment with Merkel's CDU, so there’s reluctance to partner up again. Progress, but they ain’t there yet…

ONE WOULD NOT BE AMUSED…
Look, we have no idea how an assassination attempt on the Queen, even one more than 35 years ago in New Zealand, could be hushed up. But that’s what a former Kiwi copper Tom Lewis has sensationally claimed. Lewis says 17yo Christopher Lewis (no relation) took a shot at the monarch during a stop in Dunedin in 1981. He missed and no one in the crowd seemed to notice. Lewis was not charged and the government covered it up fearing the Royal family would boycott future visits. Hmmm. And when the Queen returned in 1995 Lewis says Lewis was sent to Australia for a holiday to get him out of the way. Double hmmm. Anyway, it’s all outlined here.

AUSSIE OPEN STARTS TODAY
2018 has been the year of the Aussies (granted we’re only up to week three but let’s go with it…). Ash Barty and Daria Gavrilova have started well. And you’ve got to give it to 18yo Alex De Minaur - his matches in Brisbane and Sydney have been phenomenal, and he’s got a great backstory. But the serious stuff starts today with the opening round of the Australian Open. Rafael Nadal and Simona Halep are the top seeds. And we have seven women and nine men in contention. We're holding our breath for Nick Kyrgios (he plays at 3.30pm today) and Daria Gavrilova (tonight). There’s a lot of other Aussies on today – and then there are those who will be too busy counting their millions.

BAGUETTES – A CRISP-BAKED NATIONAL TREASURE
Anyone who has travelled to France will know one of the great delights is waking each morning and forming an orderly queue at your favourite boulangerie to collect your daily bread – or rather, your daily baguette. Crunchy on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside. If you’re really lucky, it will still be warm as you tuck it under your arm and head back onto the rue. So important are baguettes to the collective French psyche, President Emmanuel Macron has thrown his weight behind a bid by the nation’s bakers to have the baguette heritage listed by UNESCO. Throw a stick of that salted butter (sel de Guerande, if you please) into the bargain and you’ve got our vote.

SQUIZ THE DAY

ABS Data Release - Livestock and Meat, November

Start of the Australian Open Tennis (on until 28 January) - Melbourne

Pope Francis commences South American Tour in Chile

Martin Luther King Day (US)

Anniversary of the launch of Wikipedia (2001)