Tuesday, March 19, 2019
THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION
Cohen’s Search Warrant
NEW YORK (AP) — Special counsel Robert Mueller began investigating President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, for fraud in his personal business dealings and for potentially acting as an unregistered foreign agent at least nine months before FBI agents in New York raided his home and office, according to documents released Tuesday.
The series of heavily redacted search warrant applications and other documents revealed new details about the timing and depth of the probe into Cohen, who ultimately pleaded guilty to tax fraud, bank fraud, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress.
The records show the inquiry into Cohen had been going on since July 2017 — far longer than previously known— and that a big part of its focus was Cohen’s taxi businesses and misrepresentations he made to banks as part of a scheme to relieve himself of some $22 million in debt he owed on taxi medallion loans.
Prosecutors were also interested in money that was flowing into Cohen’s bank accounts from consulting contracts he’d signed after Trump won office. Some of those payments were from companies with strong foreign ties, including a Korean aerospace company and Columbus Nova, an investment management firm affiliated with Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg.
Cohen was ultimately not charged with failing to register as a foreign agent.
Many sections of the records dealing with the campaign-finance violations Cohen committed when he paid two women to stay silent about alleged affairs they had with Trump were redacted. A judge ordered those sections to remain secret after prosecutors said they were still investigating campaign finance violations.
Lanny Davis, an attorney for Cohen, said the release of the search warrant “furthers his interest in continuing to cooperate and providing information and the truth about Donald Trump and the Trump organization to law enforcement and Congress.”
- Special counsel began investigating Michael Cohen’s phone and digital data in mid-2017, months before FBI raid, warrants show
- Lincoln’s Bible: Lots of money laundering, wire fraud, & bank fraud in that Cohen search warrant. Reminder: He was doing all that on behalf of Trump Org. Smells mobb-y. Wut you think?
- Angry White House Staffer: This should surprise exactly nobody. You don’t just show up at someone’s — much less the President of the United States personal lawyer’s — house and work like “SURPRISE! we’re here to take all your stuff!” without a really good reason.
- Bradley Moss: Donald Trump should be utterly terrified that there are 19 pages of completely redacted material from the first Cohen search warrant that exclusively concern “the illegal campaign contribution scheme”.
- Application for a Search Warrant
- Local PDF of the Search Warrant
- Emptywheel: Here’s the powerful part of a Google warrant that no one really thinks through.
- Natasha Bertrand: Wondering if the probable cause for this was the payment Cohen received from Columbus Nova. It’s technically an American investment firm, but sanctioned Russian company Renova Group–controlled by Vekselberg–has previously listed it as an affiliate investment manager.
- Dr. Dena Grayson: 🚨BREAKING🚨Newly released search warrant affidavit in Michael Cohen’s case reveals that Mueller had sufficient probable cause *in July 2017* that Cohen was illegally working as an unregistered FOREIGN AGENT, laundering cash through his LLC.
- 19 blacked-out pages of Cohen search warrant suggest legal peril for Trump
- Cohen warrant materials have been released
- Mueller sought Cohen emails in mid-2017, months before FBI raid, warrants show
- National Security Lawyer: ‘Trump Should Be Utterly Terrified’ by Newly Released Cohen Search Warrant Docs
- New report implicates Trump in same crime that’s sending Michael Cohen to jail
- Records show FBI was probing Michael Cohen long before raid
- Michael Cohen’s Emails Were Sought by Special Counsel in July 2017, Records Show
- What’s in the Cohen warrant documents: Live updates
- Erica Orden: As SDNY was trying to obtain Michael Cohen’s emails, President Donald Trump signed a law that enabled prosecutors to get even greater access than they could before.
- Caroline Orr: omg. Federal prosecutors used a new law signed by Trump to gain access to Michael Cohen’s emails, attachments, address book, and files stored on Google Drive.
- Michael Cohen search warrants show federal probe began nearly a year earlier than known
- Countercheckist: Told you. 🙂
Oh boy. I wonder if this is what drove Twitler over the edge this past weekend. (Daily Check-In 03/15/2019)
This won’t be a surprise to many readers here, but we finally received confirmation that Mueller was looking heavily into Michael Cohen’s work immediately after the Special Counselor’s investigation began.
This release shows that Mueller investigation into Cohen initially grabbed onto Cohen’s taxi medallion company that was essentially committing fraud to stay afloat, and that led to the campaign finance violations, FARA violations, and all of the other crimes that he took part in. Taxi medallions are used in major cities to denote “official” career cab drivers, and are a racket. Literally, they are barely legal on the best days. A cab driver would pay tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars for a medallion, then sell that to the next driver. This worked well until a couple years ago when Uber and Lyft entered the picture. Michael Cohen ran companies that owned these medallions, sort of like a broker. The problems came when the value of the individual medallions dropped like a rock, but he owed loans based on the original values. Think of it like being underwater on a car loan, but a lot worse.
The scariest part of this is once again what we don’t see. 19 pages of redacted text going into explicit details about the campaign finance scheme. This is what Cohen’s going to jail for. Why redact it?
As the judge said, it’s part of an ongoing investigation. If Cohen pled guilty, he’s no longer being investigated. The only things left are his co-conspirators and their companies. Per previous reporting, that list is the following people.
Trump, Trump Jr., Allan Weisselberg, David Pecker, Dylan Howard, Keith Davidson, Trump Org, and the Trump Campaign. Allan, the Trump Org CFO, was granted limited immunity for his testimony and evidence against Cohen. The same with David Pecker and Dylan Howard of AMI. Keith Davidson was the lawyer that represented Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, but has said he’s willing to provide all of the information he has on this situation to investigators. That only leaves people and groups with Trump in the name. And keeping a file redacted like this is exactly what a court would do if there were sealed indictments on file.
What makes this brilliantly ironic is that the first attempt to get Cohen’s mails from Google didn’t work. Even though Cohen’s in America, and he’s using Gmail, his account information was stored on servers overseas. Because of that, Google refused to hand over his information. This would have stayed this way until Trump signed one of the bills to prevent a shutdown. Buried in the spending bill was a law that would allow law enforcement to get electronic information on Americans from overseas servers. As soon as that was passed, Mueller’s team applied for a new warrant, and they saw ALLLLLLLLLL of Cohen’s illegal activities.
Trump signed the very piece of legislation which will destroy him. Beautiful, ain’t it?
Rosenstein Sticking Around
- Natasha Bertrand: Breaking: Rod Rosenstein is staying longer at DOJ, per NBC’s Pete Williams.
- Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein to stay longer at Justice Department
- Rosenstein Extending Stay At DOJ Indefinitely
- Clint Watts: I disagree with the framing of “Mueller report delivery” currently being repeated…Why do we believe Barr hasn’t already received a report? How would we know? At a minimum I imagine Barr has been briefed in detail. I see Rosenstein staying as a sign. THREAD
I disagree with the framing of “Mueller report delivery” currently being repeated…Why do we believe Barr hasn’t already received a report? How would we know? At a minimum I imagine Barr has been briefed in detail. I see Rosenstein staying as a sign.
Mueller report delivery is likely a little anti-climatic as to how its being discussed publicly, it won’t be carried on a chariot into the DoJ with a big ceremony. AG Barr took office a month ago, after getting settled, I’d imagine he wanted a FULL update on the SCO investigation
I’d guess by week 3/4, Barr in discussions with SCO types of reports to be delivered, see here for good perspective https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/03/17/why-there-may-be-much-less-much-more-mueller-report-than-people-expect/?utm_term=.4d8b97239298… we’ve already seen key departures SCO in both investigators & prosecutors, signs SCO investigation splintered into multiple jurisdictions
AG Barr if he’s not already received some form of report, I imagine would see it soon, & then he needs and deserves the right to think through what to do about 1 of the most important investigations in our nation’s history. I’d think a month at least to review & think it through
Barr has to make huge decisions affecting institutions & national security, how much to reveal publicly vis-a-vis Russia, what to further investigate, whether a conspiracy charge should be levied or not, and has 3 audiences (POTUS, Congress, Public) all wanting different things
I don’t think anyone right now, to include AG Barr, knows exactly closure of Mueller investigation will be, when report revealed, but a guess might be. Report delivered AG = now or soon, AG decides strategy = April, Congress demands see it = May/June, Public sees “some” = summer
in conclusion, I hope we let our institutions and their leaders take their time, so they can do what’s right. Barr, Rosenstein and Mueller are the only ones that know all the details to make the best decision for the country. Let’s hope, whatever the outcome, they get it right
Regarding Rosenstein staying as a sign, I see it as, Rosenstein offered to leave let Barr pick his own team (normal) & cause he’s seen enough crossfire. Barr arrives, reviews facts 1st time & situation (“wow, this is complicated”) sees need Rosenstein stay help sort things out
Sure Barr criticizes Mueller appointment, Rosenstein said Barr hadn’t seen all the facts, now he has, & unlike our President and Congressmen – Barr, Rosenstein, Mueller are professionals & can disagree at times but still work with each other for the common good
The non-conspiratorial part of me thinks that this is pretty standard. Barr’s DAG nominee hasn’t been confirmed yet, so the job would go to someone to act as DAG until they’re approved by the Senate, so why go through that hassle for a few weeks or a couple months?
The other part of me thinks that Barr wants Rosenstein to stick around until this mess is further along. He knows he’ll need a fall guy when the shit hit the fan, and what better fall guy than Rod, the man that led the investigation from the beginning?
Deutsche Bank
- Trump Lied About Assets, Worth to Get Deutsche Bank Loans: Report
- Trump received more than $2bn in loans from Deutsche Bank despite being ‘deemed untouchable’, report claims
- ‘If you get this done, you’ll all be my guests at Mar-a-Lago’ — The highlights of Trump’s $2 billion in debts to Deutsche Bank
- Deutsche Bank loaned over $2 billion to Trump: report
- Deutsche Bank Loaned Trump Billions After He Lied About Wealth: Report
- All of Trump’s Humiliating Financial Lies Are About to Be Exposed
- All of Trump’s humiliating financial lies are about to be exposed, starting with the whoppers he told to get $2 billion from Deutsche Bank.
Trump is a malignant narcissist who built his entire image around being rich and powerful. Those lies fuel his cult. When his lies are exposed for what they are, and he’s shown to be the charlatan that he is, how many of his cult will stick around?
Daily Check-In 03/18/2019 showed some of the lengths that DB went to to continuously give Trump more and more money.
- Congressman believes Trump colluded with Russia
- Do Americans think Mueller’s probe is a witch hunt? Depends on how you ask.
- Donald Trump Jr. is in legal “jeopardy” with Robert Mueller, ex-U.S. attorney Preet Bharara warns
Mueller’s Team
- Robert Mueller’s team says it will be very busy in the coming days
- From March 14 2019: Andrew Weissmann Stepping Down From Special Counsel Robert
- Zainab Ahmad, senior prosecutor, leaves Robert Mueller’s team, the latest sign Russia investigation is wrapping up
The Justice Department says a senior prosecutor is leaving Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team, the latest sign that Mueller’s probe into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government is winding down. Special Counsel spokesperson Peter Carr confirmed to CBS News that Zainab Ahmad, a top terrorism prosecutor, concluded her detail with the Special Counsel’s office. Ahmad will continue to represent the office on “specific pending matters that were assigned to her during her detail.”
Ahmad, until recently an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, has prosecuted more than a dozen international terrorist suspects, traveling all over the world to find witnesses and gather evidence. She has yet to lose a single case she has pursued against an international terrorist suspect.
Zainab Ahmad is returning to the Eastern District of New York. Remember what I said about the Justice Hydra? (Daily Check-In 04/03/2018) This is what it looks like. US Attorneys going to different jurisdictions with their knowledge and likely with their case loads.
COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS
- Trump hotel emoluments case is at federal appeals court as president asks for it to be thrown out
- David Farenthold: Weird trend at @realdonaldtrump’s company: for 2nd yr in row, they paid their Fla. property taxes weeks later than usual, missed early-bird discounts, and paid more. Cost themselves about $24,500. Not big money. But it’s an own-goal that they never did before ’18.
- Tim O’Brien: Taxpayers have footed the bill for about $91,000,000 in expenses related to President Trump’s golf outings at his own clubs in Florida and NJ on at least 161 occasions since his inauguration. https://trumpgolfcount.com/
- Trump Lied About Assets, Worth to Get Deutsche Bank Loans: Report
- Trump received more than $2bn in loans from Deutsche Bank despite being ‘deemed untouchable’, report claims
- All of Trump’s humiliating financial lies are about to be exposed, starting with the whoppers he told to get $2 billion from Deutsche Bank.
CONGRESS
- White House misses Democrats’ deadline to turn over docs
- Judiciary Committee chairman says he has received tens of thousands of documents in Trump investigation
- GOP: Few targets met House deadline on Trump corruption probe docs
- Elijah Cummings Says Donald Trump Involved in ‘Unprecedented Level of Stonewalling, Delay and Obstruction’ in House Investigations
- Elijah Cummings: The White House hasn’t turned over a single piece of paper to my committee
- House Democrat says Trump appeared to influence Whitaker in Cohen case
- ‘McConnell Is Afraid of Democracy’: Progressives Push Senate Majority Leader to Stop Blocking Vote on HR1
- Lawmaker: Bill would extend the statute of limitations if a president is charged with a crime. “I don’t think any person should be above the law,” Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell said.
- Donald Trump impeachment more likely if Republicans have a secret ballot, Democrat congressman says
- Civil liberties groups urge Judiciary Committee to press NSA on surveillance programs
TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET A.K.A. INDIVIDUAL-1
- The political ‘twins’: Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump
- Trump tells fake story about US general slaughtering 49 Muslims using bullets dipped in pig’s blood, in resurfaced video
- The Donald Trump Bible — Do you really want your Bible signed by the guy who separates mothers from babies, had an affair while his wife was home with a baby and is currently doing his best to take food and healthcare away from poor people?
- It must be Tuesday: Trump complains about, shares fake news
TRAITOR TOTS
“Dipshit Cowpoke” Devin Nunes
- Devin Nunes parody accounts spike in Twitter followers after Congressman’s lawsuit
- Devin Nunes sued a parody account with about 1,000 followers. Guess how many it has now
- Devin Nunes Sues Twitter for Allowing Accounts to Insult Him
- The ridiculousness of Devin Nunes suing ‘Devin Nunes’ cow’ — and what it really signals
- Devin Nunes’ lawsuit backfires as parody cow account racks up followers
- Devin Nunes’s Ridiculous Lawsuit Is a Masterpiece of Republican Grievance
- Julia Davis: It’s no easy feat to be the most thin-skinned man in American politics these days, especially given that the country is run by a short-fingered vulgarian who compulsively tweets about every real & perceived slight. But Devin Nunes has done the impossible.
Not only is parody an accepted and protected form of speech, but Devin Nunes is, unfortunately, a public person. That makes the bar for defamation so ridiculously high that this will get laughed out of court.
As far as the ‘shadowban conspiracy’ goes, Twitter has cracked down repeatedly on bots. They do a bot purge every so often. When they do, there is a direct correlation between accounts that were supported by those bots seeing a drop in their retweets and likes. This is because the bots that were retweeting them were deleted.
Devin Nunes is the perfect cross between an old person who can’t tech, someone who bought into their own manufactured press hype, and a precious right-wing snowflake who got his feelings hurt. Twitter will show that Devin’s account was supported by Russian bot farms that were deleted, and once they were deleted, no real people were sharing his tweets.
CONWAY
- ‘A total loser!’: Trump lashes out at George Conway, who has been questioning his mental health
- George Conway: Congratulations! You just guaranteed that millions of more people are going to learn about narcissistic personality disorder and malignant narcissism! Great job!
- Trump’s letter to George Conway
- Iron Stowe: #BREAKING @washingtonpost obtained a letter #Trump sent to George Conway in 2006, praising his skills as a lawyer and thanking him for his assistance in a condo board dispute. Read the full letter here:
- Cheri Jacobus: do not ever doubt me. I told you the Conways are pulling a con. After decades in the shadows, George steps into the spotlight as NeverTrump to get NT support for Kavanaugh (his longtime pal and fellow Federalist Society) and other Trump judicial picks. Be careful w/the Conways. The reason NeverTrump high profile establishment types RT George & build him up is they’ve known him for years. It’s hard to give up that final link to their former “insider” status. They know the Conways are pulling a con but they just want to belong & not be left out post-Trump
- Amanda Carpenter: Trump makes Republicans choose him or their principles. Makes Lindsay Graham choose him over his dear friend John McCain. Makes Kellyanne Conway choose him or her husband. The loyalty tests never, ever end. And the choice shouldn’t even be hard.
- Cheri Jacobus: Kellyanne obviously knows it looked suspicious that Trump never attacks George, so she choreographed this. It’s barely a scratch. George got NeverTrump support for fellow Federalist Society member Kavanaugh. Trump is very grateful to George. Good boy, George! (pat on head)
The Conway’s are trying to play both sides against the middle. They’re trying to keep both their MAGA and NeverTrump street cred. I don’t buy it.
FIGHTING BACK
- Angry White House Staffer: It’s true that sometimes Trump tweets out crazy things to try and change the news cycle, but not always. Sometimes, when he tweets like a crazy, deranged, guilty, narcissistic criminal, it’s just because he’s a crazy, deranged, guilty, narcissistic criminal.
- Thread by @EvanMcMullin: “A few excerpts from George Washington’s farewell address in 1796 are as though he wrote them specifically for us: “The disorders and miserie […]”
- Kurt Eichenwald: It is easy to figure out how delusional a group is by listing those they think are in a conspiracy against them. Here is the list for conservatives: 1. Twitter 2. Google 3, Facebook 4. The Media 5. Universities 6. Scientists 7. Hollywood… …List more. Put ’em all here…. …I have to include in this list… 8. The FBI 9. The CIA 10. The NSA 11. The Justice Department …keep going, folks. the list is massive….
- Andrew Gregor: In a first, Germany is requesting the removal of the Trump appointed ambassador to Germany, #RichardGrenell. They consider him to stoke racism and fascism on the country. That’s where we’re at, folks. The Germans want the American gone, because he’s a Nazi.
- Cheri Jacobus: Trump & Don McGahn Tried To Get Me To Sign NDA To Silence Me
- A Judge Has Ruled That Trump’s Transgender Military Ban Can’t Take Effect Yet After All
- Opinion | I pushed to repeal ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’ The transgender ban defies our values.
- Saying Impeaching Trump Isn’t Worth It Is Like Saying He is Above the Law
- ‘The View’ co-host Joy Behar says Lindsey Graham ‘needs to find his testicularity’
- Obama’s presidency will be hailed as transformative. Trump’s will be viewed with scorn.
- Opinion | Trump is right. This is a witch hunt!
EMERGENCIES, SHUTDOWN & IMMIGRATION
- The U.S. government has reportedly been using off-the-book shelters to detain unaccompanied immigrant children
- US government uses several black-site shelters to detain immigrant children
- Kaz Weida: These detained youth being held at clandestine sites have behavioral and mental health issues. At least 5 sites AR, FL, OK, PA and VA are holding at least 16 boys & girls, some as young as 9 years old. Blacksites for children. Dear God this is madness.
- The Supreme Court’s liberals are very worried about indefinite detention of immigrants
- The Supreme Court’s 5-4 Ruling on Indefinite Detention of Noncitizens Is Appalling
- Pentagon sends Congress list of military construction projects that could be delayed to free up money for wall
I included the list in yesterday’s post. (Daily Check-In 03/18/2019) Under Wall Project PDF.
- Trump’s border wall may strip money from a $65 million water treatment plant at a Marine Corps base with a history of contaminated water
- Opinion | Trump’s travel ban couldn’t stop their love. Others may not be as lucky.
RACISM, RIGHT WING TERRORISM, & WHITE NATIONALISM
- Fox Host: ‘No Question’ That White Supremacists See Trump ‘On Their Side’
- New Zealand response to massacre puts us to shame
- New Zealand’s Prime Minister Says Social Media Can’t Be ‘All Profit, No Responsibility’
- ‘You will never hear me mention his name’: New Zealand’s Ardern vows to deny shooter notoriety
- Accused gunman in Christchurch terror attacks denied newspaper, television and radio access
- Their fellow congregants died in Pittsburgh. Now Jews are supporting Muslims in New Zealand.
- U.S. lawmaker says tech companies must quickly remove violent content after New Zealand
- Steve King posts meme warning that red states have ‘8 trillion bullets’ in event of civil war
- Opinion | French Islamophobia goes global
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Donald Trump is signaling to white supremacists that he’ll ignore their violence
- Elizabeth Warren calls to remove Confederate monuments ‘and put them in museums where they belong’
- How Trump talks about attacks targeting Muslims vs. attacks by Muslims
SCOTUS & COURTS
- The Supreme Court’s liberals are very worried about indefinite detention of immigrants
- The Supreme Court’s 5-4 Ruling on Indefinite Detention of Noncitizens Is Appalling
- The Trump administration has lost in court at least 63 times. Here’s why.
- Judge’s ruling allows protesters’ suit against Turkey over D.C. attack to proceed
#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS
- Prosecutors will drop charges if Kraft admits he’d be proven guilty
- Black female Democrats responded to abortion legislation with a bill requiring men 55 and older to report to local police whenever they “release sperm from their testicles”
- Married Pennsylvania State Republican Rep Resigns After Being Accused of Sexual Assault
COLD WAR 2.0
- The political ‘twins’: Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump
- ACLU: The U.S. Is Acting Like an Authoritarian Regime by Barring ICC Officials Probing War Crimes
- German politicians call Trump’s ambassador a “brat,” “total diplomatic failure” and demand immediate expulsion
#NEVERAGAIN
- New Zealand response to massacre puts us to shame | Editorial
- Shannon Watts: “Congress’ support for protecting the @NRA and gun advocates who value an interpretation of the Constitution above human life is shameful.”
- A man was shot at a Lake Wylie restaurant. Here’s why the gun owner won’t be charged
- Shannon Watts: A permitted gun owner was eating breakfast at a South Carolina restaurant last weekend when his loaded pistol fell out of his sweatpants pocket and shot another customer. He won’t be charged because being an idiot isn’t a crime, apparently. #scpol
FIXING THE INTERNET
- U.S. lawmaker says tech companies must quickly remove violent content after New Zealand
- What the huge loss of old Myspace music means for Internet culture
- Facebook agrees to dismantle targeted advertising system for job, housing and loan ads after discrimination complaints
- Nate Silver: Facebook’s audience evolved from being pretty left-leaning in 2012 to more or less down the middle in 2016. Not unreasonable to assume it will be right-leaning by 2020, especially for news, as right-leaning content has been overperforming there since last algorithm tweaks. Something related to think about: the sum total of all *curated* news content on the Internet (i.e. anything that goes through human editors) likely leans center-left, since that reflects the median proclivities of the editors at major publications as well as their readers. Facebook picks up on the shadow/residual of whatever content there’s latent demand for, but which isn’t promoted by curators/editors. That means some on the left, but more on the right—especially the far right. Also, lots of sensational content that editors would tamp down.
THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE
- Fox Corporation Emerges as Standalone Entity, Paul Ryan Joins Board
- Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan joins board of Fox Corporation
- Fox Corp. Adds Paul Ryan to Board
- Murdoch family launches a new Fox; former House Speaker Paul Ryan joins company’s board
- Fox Host: ‘No Question’ That White Supremacists See Trump ‘On Their Side’
- Fox News’ Sean Hannity wing is apparently worried the Murdochs are dumping Trump
- C-SPAN Turns 40 – Starting on March 19, 1979, the cable television industry started C-SPAN as a public service providing unfiltered, unbiased coverage of Congress and the nation’s politics. Forty years later we continue to be your unfiltered view of government.
WHITE HOUSE CHAOS
TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, AND ECONOMY
- Historian who confronted Davos elite says higher taxes for super-rich is ‘just common sense’
- Trump Promised 3 Percent Growth. His Economists Quietly Admitted It Won’t Happen.
- Wells Fargo CEO gets raise to $18.4 million the day after being scolded by Congress
- Yes, Americans spend a ton on health care, and the outcomes aren’t so good
STUDENT ISSUES
Operation Varsity Blues
- Accused fraudster Rick Singer wrote college guide books. Here’s a peek inside ‘Getting In.’
- Is it finally time to get rid of the SAT and ACT college admissions tests?
Stupid Ideas About Student Loans
- Hotel Heiress Ivanka Trump Proposes Cutting Student Debt By Making Student Loans Harder to Get
- White House proposal to cap student loans would mean only rich people can afford elite schooling
- ‘Why Educate the Public When You Can Give Billionaires Tax Cuts’: Trump Budget Would Slash All Federal Funding for Media, Arts, Libraries, Museums
GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
- A Grateful Dead fan was crushed by a bulldozer during a police chase over 10 pot plants. Now his family is suing.
- Former Mississippi Gulf Coast officer says she had sex while child was dying in hot car
- Guest Post: The end of the death penalty in America as we know it
- Massachusetts state troopers reported to have set ticket quotas
- NYPD said it captured a cop killer who fled justice 20 years ago. Turns out, the cop is still alive.
PRIESTS & RELIGION
- Catholic diocese and former bishop in W.Va. knowingly employed pedophiles, according to suit filed by state attorney general
- West Virginia accuses Catholic diocese and former bishops of sex abuse cover-up in unusual consumer protection lawsuit
ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE
- ‘It was a little surreal’: Forecasters flee as tornado and flood target National Weather Service offices
- ‘Maybe it’s a sign from God.’ Midwest floods devastate Nebraska farmers.
- Fears of massive toll as Mozambique, Zimbabwe survey damage of Cyclone Idai
- Federal investigators looking into Boeing 737 Max following 2 crashes in less than five months
- Hundreds die after cyclone in southern Africa; fears grow that final toll could be higher
- Most of Nebraska under state of emergency as ‘historic’ floodwaters ravage Midwest
- No, CBD-infused jelly beans definitely won’t get you high. Here’s why.
- Politician who opposes mandatory chickenpox vaccinations contracts chickenpox
- Sunscreen bans aimed at protecting coral reefs spark debate — among scientists
- The disconnect between the Trump administration and reality on climate change keeps growing
- These images reveal the historic and horrific flooding in Nebraska and nearby states
- Whales keep eating plastic and dying. This one’s stomach had 88 pounds of calcifying trash.
ELECTIONS
- Elizabeth Warren calls for ‘right to vote’ constitutional amendment, abolishing electoral college
- Elizabeth Warren Calls for Ending Electoral College
- To Ensure Every Vote Counts, Elizabeth Warren Says Amend the Constitution and ‘Get Rid of the Electoral College’
THINKING AHEAD
- 2020 Democratic candidates to participate in debate focused on LGBT issues
- A video of Beto O’Rourke’s wild hand gestures went viral. Does distinctive body language help or hurt a candidate?
- Beto O’Rourke’s early campaign: Upbeat sentiments absent many specifics
- Cory Booker blasts ‘senators bragging about their pot use’
- Elizabeth Warren calls for ‘right to vote’ constitutional amendment, abolishing electoral college
- Elizabeth Warren Calls for Ending Electoral College
- To Ensure Every Vote Counts, Elizabeth Warren Says Amend the Constitution and ‘Get Rid of the Electoral College’
- How Andrew Yang Could Win The 2020 Democratic Primary
- The politics of Amy and Beto O’Rourke’s marriage
Bernie Sanders
- Briahna Joy Gray from September 2016: @realDonaldTrump is right. The dems pushed the “Russia did the hacking” angle b/c it was politically advantageous for them. #debatenight
- Scott Stedman: This is Bernie’s new press secretary? Really? As a fervent Bernie supporter last time around this is extremely disappointing. Russia hacked the DNC and Podesta and leaked their emails to help elect Trump. It’s not a difficult equation.
- Molly McKew: Bernie’s new press sec is a person who promoted Kremlin propaganda by calling for votes for Kremlin-shill Jill Stein; she also doesn’t believe Russia hacked the DNC. Any more questions about what Bernie is or do we need to keep pretending?
PROGRESS IS PROGRESS
IN OTHER NEWS…
- China’s goths protest after woman told to remove ‘distressing’ make-up on subway
- It’s not enough for J.K. Rowling to say her characters are queer. Show it to us.
- Mike Trout, Angels finalizing a record 12-year, roughly $430 million extension
RUMOR MILL
- Pace: Trump supporters are trying to sign their kids up for the non-existent space force via recruiting stations according to DoD. You can’t make this up.
- Ming: “conservatives are being silenced” TRANSLATION: The feds have uncovered the vast criminal GOP internet-enabled cybercrime enterprise.
- MSW Podcast: Beans: the open and ongoing investigation is Cohen funneling foreign money into the GOP. That’s what he helped Mueller with. And that’s why Mueller didn’t give him any jail time. It was redacted in his sentencing memo. It’s redacted in these warrants.
- Nick Pappas: The main reason Trump went on a Twitter tirade this weekend was that the Deutsche Bank story states he lied about his net worth. They concluded he’s worth $788 million, not much more than what he inherited. His entire life is based on a lie.
That’s it for Tuesday. Damn, another crazy day. Remember when 2 big stories breaking in a day was a cause for freakout? Pepperidge Farms Remembers.
I want to address something real quick about editing tweets. Ever since I decided to copy the content of the tweet into the links I post, I’ve always been at odds with how to address edits and changes to them. Typically, what I’ll do is leave the original as is, but there is the occasional edit I’ll make, but only for typos that the original poster pointed out themselves. For example, the tweet from Kaz listing the states where the immigrant blacksites are located originally said AK (Alaska) instead of AR (Arkansas). She corrected herself in a reply, but I edited the tweet itself. Going forward, I think I’ll notate where and when I make corrections.
For the record, I think I’ve done that less than a dozen times in the past two years, but it still bothers me when I do that. I feel like I’m changing their words without their permission, even though they admitted it. I’ll mark the tweet somehow going forward.
Thank you, and have a good one.
“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”
– Katy Tur
None of this is Normal 
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