Thursday, March 14, 2019. Happy Pi Day.
THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION
- Vote to release Robert Mueller’s Russia report passes House, but is blocked in Senate
- FBI’s Peter Strzok told Congress election tampering was a ‘far graver threat’ than Clinton email scandal, new transcript says
- Graham blocks resolution calling for Mueller report to be made public
- House tells DOJ to release Mueller’s report in 420-0 vote
- House to vote on resolution calling for public release of Mueller report
- House votes 420-0 to make Mueller’s report public
- House votes for Mueller report to be made public
- In 420-0 vote, House says Mueller report should be public
- In overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, House calls for Mueller report to be made public
Leave it to Lindsey Graham to filibuster a bill from the House that passed unanimously to tell the American people what Robert Mueller found.
- Judge sets Nov. 5 trial date for Trump ally Roger Stone in Mueller case
- Roger Stone faces angry judge over gag order
- Tea Pain: Poor Roger Stone has to go 7 months without discussin’ his case online. That’s like takin’ away a crack addict’s meth lab. Even money says Stone’s back in court within 3 weeks.
3 weeks? That’s pretty generous.
- Russian spies were all over the 2016 race. They were working for one candidate: Donald Trump
- Donald Trump Getting Ivanka, Jared Kushner Security Clearances is Like Parents Bribing College Admissions: Obama Ethics Chief
- The Manafort case is a reminder that we invest too little in catching white-collar criminals
- The Pants on Fire claim that two courts backed Trump’s claim of no collusion with Russia
- There is now concern that Cindy Yang not only sold access to Trump but might’ve steered foreign money into his re-election campaign
- Opinion | Manafort’s lawyers appealed for mercy — but not from the judge
- Pardon me? Manafort and other Trump allies’ pro-Trump legal antics come into focus.
COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS
Summer Zavos
- New York appellate court allows Summer Zervos defamation suit against Trump to proceed
- An Appeals Court Ruled For The First Time That Trump Can Be Sued In State Court
- Donald Trump is “not above the law,” court rules, allowing president to be sued in state court defamation case
- Judge deals Trump a blow in defamation case: Sitting presidents can be sued
Pardon Me, While I Burst Into Flames
- ‘Sleep well tonight’: N.Y. lawyer’s cryptic emails to Michael Cohen requested by federal prosecutors
- Pardon me? Manafort and other Trump allies’ pro-Trump legal antics come into focus.
Fox News
- Fox News May Have Broken the Law by Killing Trump Affair Story
- Bucking NDA, ex-Fox News reporter plans to tell Congress about outlet’s role in Trump hush money story
- House Committee demands docs on Stormy Daniels after Beat report
- Thread by @WendySiegelman: “This Feb 2019 story on Trump’s Inaugural Committee by @CalebMelby highlights the chaos within the committee, the big role Rick Gates had, ho […]”
CONGRESS
- House Committee demands docs on Stormy Daniels after Beat report
- Rogue US Mint: House Oversight Cmte. moves to invalidate the a Fox News non-disclosure agreement. The reporter whose Stormy scoop got suppressed days before the 2016 election likely to hand over requested documents. Womp womp.
- 911corlebra777:💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥Holy Crapola
- Fox News May Have Broken the Law by Killing Trump Affair Story
- Bucking NDA, ex-Fox News reporter plans to tell Congress about outlet’s role in Trump hush money story
SHUTDOWN & IMMIGRATION & EMERGENCIES
- ‘Party’s Over’: GOPers Seem Ready To Deal Trump Defeat On Nat’l Emergency
- 12 Republicans Cross Trump As Senate Votes To Repeal Emergency Declaration
- Congress Overturns Trump’s National Emergency Declaration To Build The Wall
- Romney to vote against Trump’s emergency declaration
- Senate votes 59-41 to block national emergency, setting it up for Trump veto
- Senate votes to reject Trump’s emergency declaration, setting up president’s first veto
- Three senators crash Trump dinner with last-ditch plea as opposition mounts to emergency declaration
- Trump national emergency: Senate Republicans vote to block border wall national emergency – It’s a staggering rebuke to the president.
- Trump’s delivers emphatic, one-word response to Senate vote to terminate the border wall national emergency: ‘VETO!’
- Why Trump didn’t stop a GOP revolt on his border emergency
- Forget Trump’s Border Wall. Let’s Build F.D.R.’s International Park
- ICE is tapping into a huge license-plate database, ACLU says, raising new privacy concerns about surveillance
- Joe Giudice Released from Prison, Sitting in ICE Custody
TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET A.K.A INDIVIDUAL-1
Thuggery
- Trump issues warning to opponents: ‘It would be very bad’ if his military, police and biker supporters got ‘tough’ | The Star
- Trump Again Threatens Violence If Democrats Don’t Support Him
- Trump Warns: It Would Be ‘Very Bad’ if My Police, Biker Gang Fans Decided to Get ‘Tough’ on My Opponents
- MSNBC host suggests Donald Trump is threatening ‘fascist violence’ against the left in Breitbart interview
- Trump again nods toward violence by his supporters — and maybe something bigger
- Trump Raises Specter Of Supporters Turning Violent If They Don’t Get Their Way
- Trump Suggests His Supporters Could Turn to Political Violence If His Opponents ‘Go to a Certain Point’ | The slide into authoritarian rhetoric continues with talk of the military and Bikers for Trump.
- Daniel Dale: Story: The president of the United States warns his opponents of the possibility of armed pushback, saying it would be “very bad” if his supporters in the military, police and a biker group were provoked into getting “tough”:
- Rick Wilson: 1/ So Donald Trump is threatening to unleash state violence (cops, military) and extrajudicial violence (bikers) against his political opponents. Cool Republic we had. Shame about the new ownership.
- Thread by @TheRickWilson: “1/ So Donald Trump is threatening to unleash state violence (cops, military) and extrajudicial violence (bikers) against his political oppon […]”
- Joe Walsh: We’re being tested. We have a President who believes he’s above the law. We have a President who behaves like he’s above the wall. This can’t be allowed. By any of us. Standing up against this is more important than our own personal politics.
Boeing
- Boeing’s 737 Max Problems Put $600 Billion in Orders at Risk
- Trump disparages Boeing 737s in private before grounding the plane after deadly crash
- At tense meeting with Boeing executives, pilots fumed about being left in dark on plane software
- FAA’s emergency order grounding Boeing jets came after the agency identified similarities between crashes in Ethiopia, Indonesia
- Trump wanted his personal pilot to head the FAA. The critical job is still vacant amid Boeing fallout.
- Watchdog group urges Pentagon probe into Shanahan’s Boeing ties
- ‘My child! My brother!’: As mourners gather at Ethiopian Airlines crash site, an agonizing search for remains
TRAITOR TOTS
- Whitaker ‘did not deny’ talking to Trump about Cohen, top Democrat says
- Acosta Knew Epstein Prosecutor Withheld Info: Report | Law & Crime
- Treasury’s Mnuchin says he will try to shield Trump tax returns from Congress
- Ivanka Trump gets trolled for wearing an orange dress: ‘You’ll get used to it in prison’
- Opinion | The invisible CEO of Fox News
FIGHTING BACK
- Marcus Kolga: Don’t be intimidated by our enemies or friends into silence – because if you do, well soon lose the right to speak up, says @Kasparov63 at Renewing Democracy Initiative conference at Johns Hopkins University
- Is America’s warped justice system too broken to handle Trump’s massive corruption?
- Opinion | Don’t focus on impeachment. Focus on Trump’s vile budget.
- Trump has a new favorite “slush fund”
RACISM, RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM
- Gunman opens fire at mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand
- Alleged New Zealand Mosque Mass Shooter’s Manifesto Praises Donald Trump As ‘Symbol Of Renewed White Identity’
- Australian Prime Minister confirms a perpetrator of the New Zealand mosque attack was Australian, and called them an extremist, right-wing, violent terrorist.
- Vandals deface Ruth Bader Ginsburg posters in NYC with Nazi symbols
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg poster vandalized with anti-Semitic profanity, swastika in Brooklyn
SCOTUS & COURTS
- Court: Middle Finger Protected by the Constitution
- Flipping Off Cops Is Free Speech, Sixth Circuit Rules
- Vandals deface Ruth Bader Ginsburg posters in NYC with Nazi symbols
#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS
- Acosta Knew Epstein Prosecutor Withheld Info: Report | Law & Crime
- Judge Was at ‘Total Loss’ as to Why Alex Acosta ‘Found it Appropriate’ to Withhold Info in Underage Sex Crime Case
- ‘The Simpsons’ Boss Al Jean: Michael Jackson Used the Show to “Groom Boys”
- Johnny Depp Files New Legal Docs Claiming Proof He Never Struck Amber Heard
- Sen. Martha McSally, a rape survivor, asks Air Force for expedited summit on military sexual assault
- She escaped an abusive marriage. Now she faces eviction from her home.
- She wore a crop top on her flight to the islands. The airline told her cover up or get off.
- Kaz Weida: I’m gonna say this REAL slowly because some pundits are having lots of trouble catching on. THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS AFTER BIRTH ABORTION. Stop using the term. It doesn’t exist. And yes, a majority of Americans want to legalize weed. Next.
- K-Pop stars named in growing South Korea sex scandal
- Kentucky Just Banned Abortion
- Michael Jackson on Security Cam Buying Jewelry for James Safechuck in 1989
- Judge refuses to lower R. Kelly’s child support payments
- Family claiming R. Kelly victimized their daughter say they have evidence he is coercing her
- R. Kelly’s sex videos have circulated nationwide for years
- Red Sonja: Bryan Singer Reportedly Dropped from Reboot
COLD WAR 2.0
- Brexit: Parliament to vote on delay and a second referendum
- Brexit: Parliament votes to delay, rejects a second referendum for now
- Trump makes last-minute Brexit intervention ‘after being lobbied by Nigel Farage’
- Bill Browder: BREAKING: European Parliament passes resolution calling for an EU Magnitsky Act with Sergei Magnitsky’s name on it. The vote was 447 in favor and 70 against. Big victory for truth and justice. Big defeat for Putin and his sympathisers
- Aaron Rupar: Wow — after Irish PM Varadkar politely tells Trump he disagrees w/his view about Brexit being good, Trump threatens to “do something severe economically” to the EU. Trump then claims “we will have hundreds of miles of wall up fairly soon.” Congress has given him $0 for that.
- Interpol issues red notices for 20 suspects in Khashoggi killing
- Ireland’s Gay Prime Minister and His Boyfriend Had Breakfast at Mike Pence’s House
- Opinion | A sham trial exposes Saudi Arabia’s continued disrespect for its citizens
- Senate rebukes Trump with vote ordering U.S. military to end support for Saudi-led war in Yemen
#NEVERAGAIN
- Court rules families of Sandy Hook shooting victims can sue gunmaker Remington over 2012 attack
- Families of Sandy Hook shooting victims can sue gunmaker Remington over 2012 attack, court says
- Opinion | Prosecutors need to treat police shootings like a threat to public safety
- A young student called home to report being bullied by a teacher. Then dad appeared with a loaded gun.
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Calls Out NRA After New Zealand Shootings: ‘What Good Are Your Thoughts and Prayers?’
- Alleged New Zealand Mosque Mass Shooter’s Manifesto Praises Donald Trump As ‘Symbol Of Renewed White Identity’
FIXING THE INTERNET
THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE
TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, & ECONOMY
- KY lawmakers cut taxes by $105 million for banks, others as debt piles up
- Larry Kudlow’s claim that ‘we have virtually paid for’ Trump’s tax cut
- Trump pledges support for health programs but his budget takes ‘legs out from underneath the system’
STUDENT ISSUES
Admissions Scandal
- ‘Disgraceful’: Betsy DeVos says Education Department will investigate college admissions scandal
- Ann Coulter Says Jared Kushner Could Be Taken Down for ‘Buying His Harvard Admission’ Before Mueller Indicts Him
- Opinion | What the admissions scandal parents got wrong about college
- Universities race to quell outrage over bribery and cheating scandal in admissions
- Why Trump Jr. mocked the parents caught up in the college admissions scandal
- Lori Loughlin Fired From All Hallmark Projects Over College Cheating Scandal
- Lori Loughlin to Be Released on $1 Million Bail in College Admissions Bribe Case
- Lori Loughlin’s college scam achieved every parent’s dream: Getting their child an Amazon partnership
- Lori Loughlin’s daughter Olivia Jade loses Sephora partnership in wake of college admission scandal
- Lori Loughlin’s daughters drop out of USC after admissions scandal
- Now that we see what stealing a college slot really looks like, can we stop making students of color feel like frauds?
- Richard Painter: Clueless goes to college. After that, if mom and dad kick in enough money, a job in the White House. Then cones the ambassadorship. No wonder other countries are laughing at us. What Lori Loughlin’s daughter said before attending USC @CNN
- What Lori Loughlin’s daughter Olivia Jade said before attending USC – CNN Video
- Louise Mensch: You know something, @RWPUSA, if Olivia Jade is an “influencer” with “2m followers” here is her chance to lead. She is an adult. She should resign her place at USC in public, condemn cheating, say she loves her parents but will now work to get into a college on her own merit.
- Felicity Huffman says “Ruh roh” in an email after finding out her daughter’s school was to provide their own proctor for the exam.
- Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin Indicted in Alleged Ivy League Bribery Scheme
- Hallmark drops Loughlin, Sephora drops her daughter in college scam fallout
- Opinion | The college bribery scandal is all about a myth
- Black Teen Accused of Cheating on Her SATs While White Students Got Away With College Bribery Scandal
- Bishop Talbert Swan: While rich wypipo bribe their kids into college, 18-yr-old Black FL student Kamila Campbell had her SAT scores invalidated by the Educational Testing agency TWICE because they were “TOO HIGH.“ ETA won’t release her results because there’s no way a Black girl is that smart.
- Bishop Talbert Swan: My college freshman son Lezine is home for spring break. He got accepted at 13 schools on his own merit. Lori Loughlin’s daughter was spending spring break in the Bahamas on the yacht of the billionaire chair of USC’s trustee board.
#ThursdayThoughts#CollegeCheatingScandal
GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD
- Opinion | After Republicans prostrate themselves before Trump, he humiliates them further
- Opinion | It’s time to retire the ‘neocon’ label
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
- Jussie Smollett pleads not guilty on 16 counts of disorderly conduct stemming from alleged hate crime hoax.
- Jussie Smollett pleads not guilty to 16 felony counts after allegedly lying about a hate-crime attack
- A woman faked a pregnancy and deceived the adoptive parents. The motive remains a mystery.
- Florida woman threatens hair salon with machete, poops in patrol car, deputies say
- Frank Cali, Gambino crime boss, killed in front of Staten Island home
- GBI arrests former North Georgia detention officer on rape charges
- Johnson & Johnson shares slip after jury orders it to pay $29 million in latest talcum cancer trial
- Obama officials failed to focus as fentanyl burned its way across America
- Opinion | Prosecutors need to treat police shootings like a threat to public safety
PRIESTS & RELIGION
ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE
- ‘Our future is what we are fighting for’: Meet the schoolkids going on strike over climate change
- April the Giraffe is expecting again, and tens of thousands are watching
- Journey to Antarctica: What Scientists Think of Trump’s Latest Climate Tweet — “You like carbon dioxide so much?” one researcher mused. “Try putting a plastic bag over your head and see how that works out.”
- Opinion | Tesla’s new SUV model shows just how silly the Green New Deal really is
- Samuel L. Jackson Keeps It Real: Trump Is ‘Ruining the Planet’ and If You’re Silent About it, ‘You’re Complicit’
- Skipping School To Protest Climate Change
- The parents of more than three dozen unvaccinated kids want them back in school. A judge said no.
- Historic ‘bomb cyclone’ sets off severe storms, flooding, and a ‘dangerous’ blizzard in Plains and Midwest
- Donald Trump’s climate change denial gets more ridiculous by the day
- NIH and top scientists call for moratorium on gene-edited babies
ELECTIONS
- FBI investigators scrutinized N.C. political operative in May, but took no public action to stop alleged election fraud
- ‘We got our clocks cleaned’: GOP quietly works to expand ballot harvesting in California while criticizing Democrats for the practice
- Both Parties Are Addicted to Dark Money. Only One Is Trying to Quit. – After House Democrats passed a major overhaul of campaign finance, Mitch McConnell is blocking the bill in the Senate.
- On Capitol Hill, Republicans resist new voting protections
- Pelosi says she backs lowering voting age to 16
THINKING AHEAD
- ‘Just one more, one more, one more gets in the race’: Sherrod Brown reacts to Beto O’Rourke’s White House bid
- Amy Klobuchar welcomes O’Rourke into 2020 race: ‘I think that competition is good in our party’
- Beto O’Rourke joins the 2020 Democratic presidential contest
- Beto O’Rourke landed on Vanity Fair’s cover. The picture recalls an infamous failed candidate.
- Beto: Ending federal prohibition of Marijuana could help mental health problems, opioid crisis
- Buttigieg says he is very close to meeting requirements for first DNC debate this year
- Howard Schultz says he grew up in a poor, rough place. Those who lived there called it the ‘country club of projects.’
- Opinion | The questions a Joe Biden presidential candidacy will answer
PROGRESS IS PROGRESS
- 147-8: Mass. House Overwhelmingly Votes To Ban Conversion Therapy For Minors
- Bring Back Eisenhower Socialism – Conservatives want you to believe that not having to choose between paying for rent or medicine is Soviet-style tyranny
- Democratic Representatives to Announce Plan to Legalize Recreational Marijuana
- Hijab-wearing Muslim Americans get haircuts in basements, closets and restrooms. One salon wants to change that.
- Maryland may become the first state to ban foam food containers and cups
- It’s Not Socialism; It’s What the People Want — Far from socialism, this is democratic populism, reversing decades of government policies that take from the many to give to the wealthy few
IN OTHER NEWS…
- Birch Bayh, Indiana senator who championed Title IX, dies at 91
- Harry Hughes, Maryland governor and low-key steward over two terms, dies at 92
- Queen Elizabeth gives Meghan and Harry an office at Buckingham Palace
RUMOR MILL
- Lincoln’s Bible: What if Barr already has the report and has been sitting on it – panicked about what to do with being so colossally out of his depth? Just a thought.
- Tea Pain: Poor Roger Stone has to go 7 months without discussin’ his case online. That’s like takin’ away a crack addict’s meth lab. Even money says Stone’s back in court within 3 weeks.
- Wilbur Ross in the hot seat (6PM UPDATE)
- Thread by @WendySiegelman: “This Feb 2019 story on Trump’s Inaugural Committee by @CalebMelby highlights the chaos within the committee, the big role Rick Gates had, ho […]”
That’s it for Thursday. I’m running behind schedule, so this is pretty light today. Funny how days off are busier than a normal day.
I hope to spend some time on the various articles I’ve got sitting in the draft queue this weekend. That’s hoping that life doesn’t throw a wrench in those plans. A relative of a relative is very sick, and might not make it through the next few days. Cancer, a heart attack, diabetes, and a possible stroke don’t add up to a good prognosis.
Thank you, and have a good one.
“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”
– Katy Tur
None of this is Normal 