Wednesday, March 6, 2019

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Cohen’s Evidence

• Cohen’s 4th day of testimony could touch on Russia, finances
• The Latest: Cohen hands over documents about Moscow project 
• Michael Cohen reportedly gives Congress documents showing Trump’s lawyers edited his false statement 

I’ll cover this more in the Cohen section.  The next part, too.

Pardon me, while I burst into flames

• Michael Cohen alleges pardon was dangled. Others say his lawyer broached the idea.
• Giuliani says lawyers have approached him seeking Trump’s pardon
• Lawyers claiming ties to Rudy Giuliani approached Michael Cohen after FBI raids; investigators looking at contacts 

 

Security Clearances

• President pressured staff to grant security clearance to Ivanka Trump
• Trump reportedly pressured his staff to grant Ivanka and Jared Kushner their security clearances
• Trump Reportedly Granted Ivanka’s Security Clearance, Bypassing Kelly And McGahn | Rantt
• Walter Shaub: Ethics Crisis Reminder: Trump tried to help Chinese state-controlled telecomm giant ZTE after China lent money to a project in Indonesia that may benefit the Trump Organization and granted his daughter trademarks.
• Anderson Cooper Rips Ivanka Trump: ‘What Does She Actually Do?’

 

• The Troika Laundromat – OCCRP
• Trump plans to nominate D.C.’s U.S. attorney, Jessie Liu, for Justice Dept.’s No. 3 job
• Opinion | The completion of the Mueller report almost guarantees division
• Judge warns Roger Stone of ‘costs and consequences’ for his new book release amid gag order
• Congress to receive memo detailing each time Mueller was told “no”

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

• Investigators looking into lawyers’ contacts with Cohen after FBI raids
• 911corlebra777: This is a bad movie of Goodfellas, doing a bad movie of Casino, doing a bad movie of The Godfather #PlasticMafia
• Dr. Dena Grayson: Looks like Michael Cohen brought MANY more receipts than a couple of cancelled hush-money checks to his closed-door testimony before @HouseIntel.😎
• Manu Raju: NEW: Michael Cohen gives House Intel new docs showing edits by Trump attorneys to false written statement he delivered to Congress in 2017 about the Trump Organization’s pursuit of the Trump Tower Moscow project into the 2016 campaign season w/@jeremyherb. It’s unclear what the edits say but they are intended to explain Cohen’s statements last week about Sekulow and Lowell role in the prep of the 2017 statement.
• Jed Shugerman: Potentially a big deal for suborning perjury/false statement/obstruction: 1. Did Sekulow or Abbe Lowell knowingly add falsehoods to Cohen’s statement? 2. Did Trump, Ivanka, Jared or others tell Sekulow and Lowell to add lies? Atty-client privilege does not apply to crimes/frauds.
• Shimon Prokupecz: Michael Cohen has provided the House Intelligence Committee with new documents showing edits to the false written statement he delivered to Congress in 2017 about the Trump Organization’s pursuit of the Trump Tower Moscow project. @mkraju
• Pesach ‘Pace’ Lattin: Michael Cohen has provided hand written edits from Trumpco showing that he was ordered to lie to Congress. Boom. Fuckaboom.
• Eric Garland: AKA 18 U.S. Code § 1622 – SUBORNATION OF PERJURY. “Whoever procures another to commit any perjury is guilty of subornation of perjury, and shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.”
• Emptywheel: So basically Trump is being investigated for witness tampering in two different USAO District, involve two separate personal lawyers, with up to four Joint Defense Agreement buddies, even ignoring Jerome Corsi and Julian Assange? Sounds corrupt. I mean, maybe if just ONE of his personal lawyers was floating pardons again, ignoring Julian Assange). But two (or, with Corsi, maybe three)? That’s … a pattern.
• Kyle Griffin: Michael Cohen just now to reporters: “The hearings went very, very well. I believe that all of the members were satisfied with the statements and responses that I gave to them.” He says he will continue to cooperate “to the fullest extent of my capabilities.”
• Tea Pain: Looks like Colludy Rudy is involved in witness tamperin’. Has Mueller got an indictment with his name on it?
• Brad Heath: After a fourth day of testimony before Congress, Michael Cohen says he “will continue to cooperate to the fullest extent of my capabilities.” Today was supposed to be the day Cohen reported to federal prison. Instead, he spent it giving Congress documents and testimony about his former boss, President Trump. Rep. Adam Schiff, the intelligence committee’s chairman, says Cohen “provided important testimony and materials relevant to the core of our probe and that will allow us to advance our investigation substantially.” He didn’t elaborate.
• Natasha Bertrand: Schiff says Michael Cohen “provided important testimony and materials relevant to the core of our probe” today during his testimony before House Intel
• Pesach ‘Pace’ Lattin: BREAKING: I have been told SDNY Federal investigators have asked @RudyGiuliani to turn over all records of his contact with Cohen, and are looking why he contacted Cohen on “behalf of Trump” to ordered him to do illegal things AFTER Cohen’s office was raided. They are also considering a Grand Jury into Rudy on this matter, I am told. if they get evidence, which they believe, may show he did in fact, try to illegally influence Cohen to not work with Feds.

Well, this got interesting.

First, the hearing.  Cohen visited the House Intel Committee to drop off documents.  Him and his legal team walked in with 3 suitcases.  3.  2 carryons and a bag large enough to be checked at the airport.  That’s more luggage than my family took on our last vacation.  According to reports, one of the things he handed over was the hand written edits to his statement to Congress.  You know, the statement that got his ass thrown in jail.  The edits were made by Trump’s lawyers, Jay Sekulow and Abbe Lowell.

Speaking of shady lawyers, we’re getting more on the dangling of pardons.  At some point, a conversation took place between Cohen’s early legal team that wasn’t his legal team and Trump’s legal team with Colludy Rudy.  The reason for the confusion is which liar do you want to believe?

According to Trump’s team, two lawyers that represented Cohen approached them and asked about Trump issuing a pardon for Cohen after his shit got raided.  Two of the three said no, but Rudy said “Ask again later.”

According to Cohen’s team, two lawyers that were not representing him approached Trump’s lawyers before the raid and asked about a pardon.  Two of the three said no, but Rudy said “Ask again later.”

The things the two stories have in common are that the two lawyers asked about a pardon, and Rudy said “Ask again later” while the others said no.  This is where the hair will be split.  And makes perfect sense.  Technically, they weren’t Cohen’s lawyers, so he wasn’t committing perjury when he testified that he didn’t ask for a pardon.  That would be like my wife asking my boss for the day off.

 

• N.Y. regulators subpoena Trump’s insurance broker as probes of his campaign, White House and businesses multiply
• Mere Days After AOC Got Cohen to Implicate Trump in Fraud, Regulators Subpoena Trump Org Insurance Broker

 

Undocumented Workers

• Washington Post: Trump sons employed undocumented immigrant at hunting retreat
• Second undocumented worker says he worked directly for Eric Trump: report 

 

CONGRESS

• From /r/KeepTrack: Organized by area of inquiry: the 81 People and Organizations Targeted By the House Judiciary
• Cohen’s 4th day of testimony could touch on Russia, finances
• Hakeem Jeffries Defends House Dems: ‘We’re Not Going to Be Lectured By Mitch McConnell on Anything’
• House Democrats erupt in protests over indirect sanction of Rep. Omar for alleged anti-Semitism
• Democratic lawmaker announces plans to file impeachment resolution 
• Former Trump adviser says he does not plan to cooperate with House Judiciary inquiry
• Michael Cohen is back on the Hill today for his return appearance before the House Intel Committee. Note what appear to be a good number of records he is wheeling in
• New Sheriffs in Town – This American Life
• Payments to corporation owned by Ocasio-Cortez aide come under scrutiny
• Rep Lieu Amendment to Stop Taxpayer-Funded Private Jet Travel is Adopted, Will be Included in Final HR 1 Vote
• Trump officials already stonewalling House Democratic requests
• Will House Democrats Subpoena Ivanka Trump? Judiciary Committee Member Suggests She Could Soon Face Documents Request

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET A.K.A. INDIVIDUAL-1

• Donald Trump Is an Utter Failure as President
• Donald Trump is laying the groundwork to de-legitimize the 2020 election 
• Trump reportedly wants to win re-election to avoid indictments
• 60 false claims in 2 hours: Trump’s CPAC speech was by far his most-dishonest single event as president | The Star
• Most Americans think Trump committed crimes, believe him less than admitted liar Michael Cohen
• Poll: 64% think Trump committed crimes before presidency
• Something is seriously wrong with Donald Trump: Let’s stop kidding ourselves about that
• President Trump just referred to Apple’s CEO as ‘Tim Apple’
• Opinion | If Trump really attempted to ruin CNN, he deserves to be impeached
• Opinion | Otto Warmbier will haunt Trump forever
• The president just called the CEO of Apple ‘Tim Apple’ 
• Trump lashes out at ‘Weirdo’ Democratic donor Tom Steyer in late-night Twitter barrage
• Trump news live – President launches late-night Twitter storm as poll shows most Americans think he is a criminal
• Andrew Feinberg: BREAKING: @realDonaldTrump has signed an executive order to revoke a previous order requiring the DNI to report the number of civilians killed in US military strikes each year.
• Opinion | Trump has given North Korea a valuable bargaining chip for free
• Opinion | Trump’s proposal to enforce campus free speech will only hurt conservatives
• Josh Campbell: The President has claimed he committed no crimes, but as he sat down on multiple occasions to sign off on checks to Michael Cohen in furtherance of an apparent campaign finance violation, he HAD to have known he was breaking the law. What other new violations will we learn about?
• ‘I think you mean that, too’: Trump’s aides struggle to defend, explain his foreign policy statements

 

Grades

• ‘Grab that record’: How Trump’s high school transcript was hidden
• Kelly Meno: No, @realDonaldTrump. You were not “first in your class at Penn.” This is what happens when you spend years falsely accusing other people to make you feel better about your own ineptitude. I am a lifelong republican who has jumped ship for good. Disgraceful, sir. #SummaCumLiar

 

TRAITOR TOTS

Epstein

• Adam Klasfeld: Jeffrey Epstein Thread

Proceedings begin in about 5 minutes.

julie k. brownVerified account @jkbjournalist

The Miami Herald, supported by 32 news organizations, including the NYT and Washington Post, will argue in federal court in NY on Wednesday to unseal Epstein documents. #PerversionofJusticehttps://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article226922729.html …

Service advisory: No live tweet, but I’ll give an update later.

Hearing’s over. The 2nd Circuit panel seemed quite inclined, without ruling, to unseal much of the record. “You can’t possibly be serious,” Judge Cabranes told an attorney for Maxwell, who wanted the entire record to remain sealed. Plus claims against Alan Dershowitz. More TK

Note: Those claims were the ones by Virginia Roberts Giuffre (previously reported). Dershowitz and Giuffre now want the records unsealed; only Maxwell opposes.

Another party in the mix: Mike @Cernovich, whom Giuffre’s attorney Paul Cassell described as a professional “slut-shamer” and Dershowitz “proxy” who acts as his “cat’s paw.” Cernovich also wants the documents released.

Story TK. Long story short: No ruling yet, nor probably much mystery about what the ruling will be. #Sunlight

One more thing for now: At an impromptu post-hearing press scrum, Dershowitz vehemently denied allegations that Epstein, via Maxwell, trafficked Giuffre to him.

The Miami Herald’s attorney summarized Dershowitz’s position, favoring unsealing, this way: “If you put the whole record out, his name is cleared. If you don’t, he’s smeared.” (Guiffre’s attorney Cassell denies this, but all now want docs out.)

“There is a presumption of openness with virtually every document.” – @MiamiHerald and @JKBJournalist‘s attorney, on Epstein trove. Without ruling, a three-judge panel seemed to agree. Some 167 files may see (redacted) sunlight. My story @CourthouseNews:

Note: The Second Circuit releases audio of all oral arguments on its website. Today’s hearing is not yet available, and my quick write-up gives just a flavor of the proceedings. Much more on this to come, after the ruling and sound file go live.

• Panel Signals Epstein Files Likely to See Sunlight The Second Circuit appeared inclined Wednesday to unseal an enormous tranche of documents that would shed light on the case of wealthy sex … courthousenews.com       
• Thread by @KlasfeldReports: “Proceedings begin in about 5 minutes. Service advisory: No live tweet, but I’ll give an update later. Hearing’s over. The 2nd Circuit panel […]” #Sunlight
• Open the Jeffrey Epstein files. All of them. 
• Appeals court appears likely to unseal potentially explosive records in Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case
• Jeffrey Epstein, Alan Dershowitz and Pals Accused of Sex Trafficking Ring
• Lincoln’s Bible: Always important to remember that Ghislaine Maxwell is the daughter of Semion Mogilevich’s former business partner, Robert Maxwell (rip). And, aside from one client, no one knows whose billions upon billions Epstein was “managing.”

 

• Jon Cooper: GOP Rep @MattGaetz Driving Record 6/11/00 Speeding 11/27/00 Speeding 7/13/01 Ran stop sign 7/13/01 Speeding 9/26/01 Not wearing seatbelt 11/24/01 Speeding 7/12/08 Driving unsafe car 10/30/08 DUI 10/30/08 Speeding 10/7/13 Speeding 5/8/14 Careless driving 7/7/15 No proof insurance
• Mitch McConnell Could Be Out in 2020. Good Riddance.

 

FIGHTING BACK

• It’s Upsetting to Me That the President Wouldn’t Care if I Got Kidnapped and Murdered by a Foreign Death Squad
• Obama warns that if the world isn’t careful, democracy could be in danger: ‘Democracy is a garden that has to be tended’
• Obama: I Based My Presidency On ‘Facts And Reason And Logic’
• Joyce Alene: It’s increasingly clear that if Trump was not the President he would have already been indicted. Either Congress does its job or it makes a mockery of the rule of law. A lot of folks want DOJ to change it’s policy & indict. We’re only having that conversation because the GOP-led Congress abdicated its oversight role for 2 years. Voters shouldn’t forget or reward that failure in 2020. Congress shouldn’t get off by passing the buck to DOJ.
• Joe Walsh: Democrats wouldn’t be investigating so much if Republicans had done their job these past two years. Democrats wouldn’t be investigating so much if Trump hadn’t given them so damn much to investigate.
• ‘The silence is deafening’: Major brands avoid Trump even as he promotes them from the White House
• Walter Shaub: After two years of Congress abdicating its constitutional oversight responsibility for overtly partisan reasons, we’ve had two months of oversight of the most corrupt POTUS in history and some pundits who breathlessly covered Benghazi ask if it’s too much. The answer is no. Next.
• Walter Shaub: From October 1996 — March 1998, Clinton White House staff spent over 55,000 hours responding to hundreds of congressional requests, producing hundreds of thousands of pages of documents and hundreds of video or audio recordings. Call me when this White House ties that record.

 

EMERGENCIES, SHUTDOWN & IMMIGRATION

•  Democrats Plan to Grill Kirstjen Nielsen on Perjury Allegations
• Family migration, already at record levels, rocketed to new high in February
• Nielsen: I had no idea ripping kids from their parents would traumatize them
• One detained baby remains in ICE custody in Dilley, Texas
• Eric Swalwell: No child should be separated from their parents. But if you’re going to take tired, hungry children from their mothers’ arms, you better know how many you took and where they are. @DHSgov Sec. Nielsen doesn’t seem to care to know. Nothing less than her resignation would be just.
• Caroline Orr: Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen is testifying before Congress this morning, and she just twice refused to answer Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s question about whether she has independence from the White House to make decisions and policies for the nation.
• Countercheckist: To curb migrant flows, we have to assist Latin American countries in creating economic prosperity at home. Part of this is helping them stomp out govt corruption/indifference by taking the fight aggressively to the cartels/criminal gangs. Free trade helps here.
• Ricky Davila: I won’t bother speaking about Kirstjen Nielsen’s testimony because there’s no point. The crimes against humanity that the blonde Nazi oversees and smiles about should be met with nothing short of world condemnation and her behind bars. Her lies aren’t worth repeating.
• Trump administration seeks GOP support on border wall as senators confront hard choices
• Wilbur Ross broke law, violated Constitution in census decision, judge rules
• ICE Agents Have Been Tracking Protests Opposed to Trump, Deportation and the NRA
• ICE has kept tabs on ‘Anti-Trump’ protestors in New York City
• Source: Leaked Documents Show the U.S. Government Tracking Journalists and Immigration Advocates Through a Secret Database 

 

RACISM, RIGHT WING TERRORISM, & WHITE NATIONALISM

• White Supremacist Propaganda At ‘Record-Setting’ Levels, ADL Report Finds
• White Supremacist Propaganda Efforts in U.S. Rose by 182 Percent in 2018
• Want to combat hate? Stop the hazing of Ilhan Omar and start listening.
• Warren defends Omar from threats of violence over comments on Israel
• Sanders defends Omar: Can’t equate anti-Semitism with ‘legitimate criticism’ of Israel 
• Pelosi left with no good options for how to address Rep. Ilhan Omar’s controversial Israel comments
• I’m Jewish, and I Find the Hypocrisy of Republican Islamophobes Hounding Ilhan Omar Breathtaking
• Opinion | The dishonest smearing of Ilhan Omar
• Democrats clash over anti-Semitism resolution in response to Omar comments
• Democrats’ criticism of Ilhan Omar suggests little room for diversity on Israel
• Guy Who Dubbed Neo-Nazis “Very Fine People” Suddenly Concerned About Anti-Semitism
• Virginia GOP offers $1,000 reward for photo of Herring in blackface
• Figuring out what’s behind the use of blackface could depend on who you ask
• Leaked Chats Reveal White Nationalist Plot To Keep Steve King In Office 
• Students at Ole Miss vote to remove Confederate statue from center of campus
• Commission says Dallas Confederate War Memorial isn’t a landmark, clearing way for removal
• Lincoln’s Bible: Exposing-The-Nazis days are hard days. As a national shame, we will never remove the stain of the violent physical and emotional trauma we’re inflicting on innocent child refugees. Innocents are caged. They are abused. They are intentionally orphaned. They are gone. #TrumpLegacy
• Scott Stedman: Criticizing the Saudi Arabian government isn’t Islamophobic. Criticizing the Israeli government isn’t anti-Semitic. We can’t stifle discussion like this. Do I have to tweet the obligatory I’m Jewish thing or will that not stop people from calling me an antisemite?

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

• The Senate just confirmed a judge who interned at an anti-LGBTQ group. She’ll serve for life
• McConnell preps new nuclear option to speed Trump judges

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

• GOP senator says she was raped by superior officer while serving in military
• Sen. McSally says she was raped in the Air Force
• Long overlooked by science, pregnancy is finally getting attention it deserves
• Planned Parenthood, American Medical Association sue Trump administration over abortion ‘gag rule’
• Opinion | The 11-year-old Argentine girl is not alone. Latin America’s abortion laws are a form of torture.
• Meet the teenagers who started a feminist club at their all-boys prep school
• Michael Avenatti: Key things we learned from the R. Kelly interview: 1. R Kelly is a much better singer than he is an actor; 2. He is desperate and distraught because he knows he has been caught. 3. He thinks sexual assault of young girls in the “way way past” cannot be charged. 4. He is guilty.
• ‘I didn’t do this stuff! This is not me!’: R. Kelly explodes during first interview after his arrest
• R. Kelly blames parents for ‘selling’ daughters to him
• Renato Mariotti: Does R. Kelly really think this exonerates him?
• R. Kelly Is Back In Jail After Failing To Pay $161,663 In Child Support
• Briana Sacks: R. Kelly is back in custody for failing to pay $161,663 in child support to his ex-wife, Cooks County Sheriff’s Office confirmed. He was detained after a hearing this afternoon and will remain in jail until he pays the full delinquent amount owed, sheriff spox Sophia Ansari says. Kelly’s publicist, Darrell Johnson, told the Associated Press that the rapper came to the hearing with a promise to pay $50,000 to $60,000, but the judge refused that negotiation and ordered him to pay the full $161,633. His next court date is March 13. R. Kelly’s mugshot from Cook County Jail. To be released, he has to pay $161,663.00—the full amount he owes in child support.
• Michelle Bhasin: The photo of R. Kelly yelling at Gayle King should remind everyone that rape isn’t about sex. It is an act of violence, about power and control.
• After ‘Leaving Neverland,’ We Need to Reassess Michael Jackson
• The question everyone’s asking about the parents in ‘Leaving Neverland’
• Michael Jackson’s songs pulled from radio stations across world after doc claims

 

COLD WAR 2.0

• Bill Browder: Totally disingenuous. You hosted the screening of your boyfriend, Andrei Nekrasov’s anti Magnitsky film at the European Parliament in 2016 where Natalia Veselnitskaya and Magnitsky sanctioned Pavel Karpov and Andrei Pavlov attended. You can’t worm your way out of this one
• DOJ appoints ex-Mueller prosecutor Brandon Van Grack to run foreign influence unit
• North Korea rebuilds rocket launch site, in ominous signal about attitude to talks
• NSA has halted a counterterrorism program relying on phone records amid doubts about its utility
• Thailand’s star princess opens questions about the palace and its place in politics
• Opinion | China believes Canada’s Huawei case is political. Trump does nothing but confirm it.
• Huawei says it would never hand data to China’s government. Experts say it wouldn’t have a choice
• Opinion | It’s been four years since the murder of Boris Nemtsov. Russians haven’t forgotten.

 

#NEVERAGAIN

• Fatal shooting began with an accidental bump in city club, victim’s boyfriend says
• Shannon Watts: Article under today’s Union Leader story about male lawmakers wearing pearls to mock @MomsDemand volunteers and gun violence survivors at a legislative hearing: A woman was fatally shot by an armed stranger with a history of domestic violence. #NHpolitics
• NH GOPer On Pearl-Wearing: ‘The Anti-Gun Folks Need To Get Over Themselves’
• Shannon Watts: New Hampshire lawmaker who wore pearls while gun violence survivors tearfully testified about personal tragedies says ⁦@MomsDemand volunteers⁩ – his constituents – need to “get over themselves.” #NHPolitics
• Kaz Weida: Dear Salem, Kingston and Rockingham New Hampshire I found your representatives. They appear to have been bullying and mocking survivors of gun violence. Please collect them and take them home. Thanks.
• Postcards 4 USA: .@shannonrwatts 1st – I think I might also start wearing pearls with my @MomsDemand t-shirt 2nd – here’s contact details to shine a light on those New Hampshire elected officials (#VoteThemOut) who thought it was clever to mock #GunViolence survivors by wearing pearls #NHPolitics
• GOP Lawmakers Spark Controversy By Wearing Pearls To Gun Control Hearing
• Shannon Watts: Rep. John Burt, one of the New Hampshire lawmakers who wore a pearl necklace during testimony about gun violence yesterday: “Who does not want to protect their children? Oh yeah, some anti-gun folks do not.” #NHPolitics
• Florida school board votes to keep controversial superintendent — although Parkland parent voted against him

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

• Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg says he’ll reorient the company toward encryption and privacy
• Chief Covfefe: Zuck is just trying to distract from the fact he’s committed some serious crimes regarding people’s data. His “sorry” and “AI” schtick ain’t cutting it anymore. And he knows it. Don’t buy the PR crap
• Chris Vickery: Don’t fall for the myth that end-to-end encryption means a company providing the messaging service (e.g. Facebook) cannot read or store messages. Ask yourself this: How does the end user read the message? What could possibly stop the endpoint message from being captured? Nothing.
• Teen who defied anti-vax mom says she got false information from one source: Facebook
• Nancy Pelosi joins House and Senate Democrats launching new push to restore net neutrality

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

• FBI director: Foreign influence campaigns continue ‘virtually unabated’
• Caroline Orr: FBI Dir. Christopher Wray said Tues. that foreign influence campaigns pitting Americans against each other on social media are continuing “virtually unabated.” He also noted an uptick in “blended” attacks (nation-states partnering w/ cyber criminal gangs)
• Russia mocks Trump as a ‘clown’ for failure in North Korea
• Caroline Orr: Russian state TV is mercilessly mocking Trump for his failed North Korea summit. The saddest part is that Russia’s take on the summit is more accurate than the take offered by the White House and its propaganda arm over at Fox News.
• Russia passes law to jail people for 15 days for ‘disrespecting’ government
• Julia Davis: #Russia’s parliament has approved a controversial law that allows courts to jail people for online “disrespect” of government or state officials, including the president, Vladimir Putin.
• Caroline Orr: NEW: Russia’s parliament has approved a controversial new law that allows courts to jail people for online “disrespect” of government or state officials, including president Vladimir Putin, as well as Russia’s official state symbols and constitution.
• Democratic National Committee rejects Fox News for debates, citing New Yorker article
• Democrats won’t let Fox News host primary debates, citing ‘inappropriate’ relationship with Trump 
• DNC Says It Will Exclude Fox News From Televising 2020 Debates 
• Republicans launch propaganda sites designed to look like local news outlets
• Former Fox News Analyst Says Network Forbid Conservatives From Criticizing Trump, Sarah Palin

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

• Melania Trump defends her husband by lecturing the media on their ‘trivial stories’

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, AND ECONOMY

• Bill Raising Federal Minimum Wage To $15 Heads To U.S. House Floor
• Billionaire dies during Paris penis enlargement operation
• From $22 an hour to $11: GM job cuts in Ohio show a hot economy is still leaving parts of America behind
• How Kylie Jenner became the youngest billionaire in the world
• Opinion | Trump’s economic hoaxes just collided with reality
• So Far, Donald Trump’s Trade War Is an Utter Failure
• There’s Only One Surviving Blockbuster Left on Planet Earth
• Trump promised to shrink the trade deficit. Instead it exploded.
• Trump Sets Record with Highest Trade Deficit Ever
• US Trade Gap Surges by $100 Billion Under Trump Trade Policies

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

• Opinion | Senate Republicans: Cheap dates and small men

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

• DOJ appoints ex-Mueller prosecutor Brandon Van Grack to run foreign influence unit
• ‘Something is drastically wrong’: After 21 horses die, storied California track shuts down racing
• JPMorgan to stop financing private prisons and detention centers
• LAPD hosts NFL players for externship program, hopes to recruit more to police force
• Six people were convicted of a murder they didn’t even remember. Now a county owes them $28 million.
• Two sisters committed ‘the perfect murder,’ police say. A bizarre love triangle exposed the truth.
• Former Rep. Aaron Schock Has Made A Deal With Federal Prosecutors

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

• ‘Archaic’ blasphemous libel law repealed in Parliament
• Texas judge disciplined after claiming God told him defendant was innocent
• The latest Lent challenge for churches: Give up plastic
• Opinion | This Lent, don’t give Catholic bishops a dime

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

• ‘Everyone here is family’: School mourns three young children killed in Alabama tornadoes
• ‘It was everything we had. But all of it is replaceable’: Alabama tornado survivors reckon with ‘Armageddon’
• If America can find $716bn for the military, it can fund the Green New Deal
• In biggest advance for depression in years, FDA approves novel treatment for hardest cases
• Long overlooked by science, pregnancy is finally getting attention it deserves
• Spiders in South America cause ‘surprising amount of death,’ study says
• The 20th atmospheric river of the season is set to drench California, again
• Teen who defied anti-vax mom says she got false information from one source: Facebook
• New York poised to raise purchase age for tobacco products, e-cigarettes to 21
• Volvo’s plan to keep drivers safe: Limiting the top speed of its cars.

 

ELECTIONS

• Total Of Four North Carolina Workers In Election Fraud Scheme Now Arrested
• Hillary Clinton’s claims about voter suppression in Georgia and Wisconsin
• McConnell won’t allow vote on election reform bill 

 

THINKING AHEAD

• Donald Trump is laying the groundwork to de-legitimize the 2020 election
• Democratic National Committee rejects Fox News for debates, citing New Yorker article
• Democrats won’t let Fox News host primary debates, citing ‘inappropriate’ relationship with Trump 
• DNC Says It Will Exclude Fox News From Televising 2020 Debates 
• Will Mark Cuban run for president? ‘We’ll see what happens,’ he says.
• 2020 Dems back legal marijuana in political sea change
• Biden nabs big-name Latino operative in latest sign he’s running
• How Little Known Andrew Yang May End Up on the 2020 Debate Stage by Gaming the System
• Opinion | More candidates should have Jay Inslee’s problem
• Opinion | The 2020 race is off to a bleak start
• The Trailer: Democrats aren’t worried about ‘electability.’ Why not?
• Caroline Orr: Tulsi Gabbard voted down a measure to protect Muslims in India, voted for a bill to stop Syrian & Iraqi refugees from coming to the US, and blames extremism in Syria on Islamic theology — while discounting years of brutal civil war, displacement, & dire socioeconomic conditions.
• Caroline Orr: Tulsi Gabbard is using footage of Assad’s bombing of Syria and claiming that it actually shows the US engaged in a “regime change war” in Syria. She’s literally trying to turn Assad into the victim of his own war crimes. This is beyond reprehensible.

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

• A brief, 90-year history of Republicans calling Democrats ‘socialists’

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

• ‘Jeopardy’ host Alex Trebek has stage 4 pancreatic cancer, but vows, ‘I’m going to fight this’
• Alex Trebek diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer

What is some shitty fucking news?  I’ll take “Thing to Ruin Your Day” for $400, Alex.

 

• ‘Humanity is doomed’: People keep throwing cheese on babies’ faces for social media likes
• Starbucks’s Cloud Macchiato is like a cozy, coffee-flavored bubble bath
• The first full trailer for ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 8 just dropped. We have some questions.

 

RUMOR MILL

• Scott Stedman: John Brennan on MSNBC: I believe Mueller will drop final indictments the same day he hands in his report.
• Ming: Ming sense panic. PS it was Volodin that transferred RUS secrets to #MingCo. He no longer useful to us. #basementtime
• Louise Mensch: There is too much focus on Donald corruptly granting @JaredKushner @ivankaKushner security clearances, and not nearly enough why Gen. Kelly removed their temporary clearances. Ask the right question. *Why* couldn’t Beijing Barbie get her clearance?
• 911corlebra777: Could it be they appeared in incidental SIGINT collection, I wonder 🙂

 

That’s it for Wednesday.  I’m not sure how much I’ll get done this weekend.  We’ve got plans to do things, so I might take a couple days off.  Or at least take it easy.

Paul Manafort gets sentenced on Thursday.  I look forward to him dying in prison of old age.  I’d prefer he died a little quicker, maybe with a chemical shot in the arm at 12:01 AM, but old age will do.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Schiff Hires a Mob Prosecutor

• Adam Schiff Hires a Former Prosecutor to Lead the Trump Investigation
• Kaz Weida: They’ve hired the deputy chief of organized-crime from Manhattan’s U.S. Attorney’s office. Goldman’s convictions focus on Russian organized crime & he’s prosecuted 30 defendants for money laundering, racketeering & murder, including the Genovese crime family. Buckle up, Donny.

Representative Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, has hired a veteran prosecutor with experience fighting Russian organized crime to lead his investigation of the Trump Administration. Last month, according to a committee source, Daniel Goldman, who served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York from 2007 to 2017, joined the committee’s staff as a senior adviser and the director of investigations.

Dan Goodman has extensive experience taking down the mob, and Adam Schiff thinks he’s the perfect man to investigate Donald Trump.

Think about that, for just a second.

The head of the House Intelligence Committee, who has access to tons of classified info and was forced to sit on the sideline for two years, hired a prosecutor who has experience in investigating and attacking organized crime from SDNY.  He didn’t go with a national security expert or an expert on tax law, he went with a mob buster.

For a long ass time, I’ve posted stories and tweets from Twitter personalities like Lincoln’s Bible and Greg Olear where they hammer home Trump’s long time mob connections, going back to Fred Trump and Fred’s daddy.  They were tied to the Genovese crime family since before Donald was born.  When the feds broke the backs of La Cosa Nostra back in the 90’s, the remnants of the five major families were sucked up by the Vor, or Russian Mafia.  That’s who has owned Trump for the better part of two decades.

Here’s an example that’s slid under the radar for a long time.  Roy Cohn.  Imagine if a gay Alan Dershowitz had the moral compass of Michael Cohen circa 2016 and the likability of pancreatic cancer.  That was Roy Cohn.  The only reason I bring up the gay part was that he spent the 50’s working with Joe McCarthy hunting down and persecuting gays by accusing them of being Communists during the Red Scare, yet he was a ‘confirmed bachelor’ who died of AIDS in the early 80’s when the vast majority of early AIDS patients were gay men.  I’m not religious, but if I were I’d rest easy with the knowledge that this scumbag was burning in Hell.

He was the shadiest of shady lawyers in the 1970’s, representing every major gangster in New York.  John Gotti, Carlos Gambino, Tony Salerno, Carmine Galante.  And Fred and Donald Trump.  Roy represented actual mob bosses, and Trump.  Hell, Trump viewed Roy as a mentor until his AIDS became better known.

Roy was eventually disbarred after being caught perjuring himself multiple times, tampering with evidence and threatening and/or bribing witnesses.  He eventually was disbarred.

He was the definition of a mob lawyer, and he worked for Trump.  And that’s why Goldman’s experience in going after the mob is needed for going after Trump.

 

Roger Stone

• Judge slams Roger Stone over book criticizing Robert Mueller, demands he comply with gag order 
• Two Roger Stone web sites deleted as Robert Mueller notifies judge of possible gag order violation 
• Caroline Orr: NEW: Judge Amy Berman Jackson has ordered Roger Stone to return to court to explain how his new book does *not* violate his gag order. If Stone’s explanation is not satisfactory, he could end up having his bail revoked and being sent to jail.
• Brad Heath: Judge Amy Berman Jackson is basically accusing Roger Stone of using court filings to promote his forthcoming book, and she’s not pleased. THREAD
• 911corlebra777: Hahahahahahahahahha hahahahahahahahahha 11 days it took, just 11 days to break his gag order. #GaggingForIt

 

Manafort

• Robert Mueller Completely Dismantles Paul Manafort’s Best Arguments for a Reduced Sentence
• Brad Heath: Mueller’s office says in a new court filing that ex-Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort has no one to blame for his predicament but himself: Mueller’s office also wants to make it *very* clear that Manafort didn’t cooperate with investigators. His “lies to the government and grand jury” should count against him when he is sentenced in Virginia on Thursday.

 

Ty Cobb

• TRANSCRIPT: Former Trump White House attorney Ty Cobb on ‘The Investigation’
• Former Trump lawyer calls Mueller an ‘American hero’
• Former Trump White House lawyer calls Mueller ‘American hero,’ says probe is no witch hunt
• Former White House lawyer Ty Cobb calls Mueller an ‘American hero’ and ‘class act’

 

Digital Ops

• Trump’s Digital Operation Comes Under Scrutiny By House Judiciary Committee: THE FACTS
• Caroline Orr: In my latest piece for @BylineTimes, I took a deep dive into the House Judiciary Committee’s expanded inquiry, which puts Cambridge Analytica, WikiLeaks, & the Trump campaign’s digital operation squarely in the cross-hairs of congressional investigators.

 

Kushner Criminal Referral

• Reps Lieu and Beyer call for criminal investigation into Jared Kushner’s security clearance
• Letter to William Barr RE: Jared Kushner’s a bloody criminal with bad taste.
• Ted Lieu: .@RepDonBeyer & I have made a criminal referral of Jared Kushner to @TheJusticeDept. Making false statements or omitting material info on SF-86 security form is punishable by up to 5 years in prison. More info at @politico huddle. Here’s the letter: https://politi.co/2C7nzAM .

 

Security Clearances

• Chairman Cummings Issues Statement on White House Refusal to Produce Documents and Witnesses on Security Clearance Abuses 
• White House Refuses To Hand Over Documents On Security Clearance
• White House rejects request for documents on security clearance abuses
• White House tells Dems it won’t hand over Kushner security clearance docs
• Jared Kushner got a clearance, I was denied for blog post about hacking
• Trump refuses to hand over ‘Kushner clearance’ documents to Congress: ‘It’s a disgrace’
• President pressured Kelly, McGahn to give Ivanka Trump security clearance: report
• President pressured staff to grant security clearance to Ivanka Trump

The following is from a comment I made on Reddit:

A POTUS can recommend an exception to the normal security process be granted for an individual, but it also depends on the level of access.

There are three main security access levels at play.  Secret, Top Secret, and Sensitive/Compartmentalized or SCI.  I’ll go with SCIF for the last, since that’s the physical location where the information can be read.  Anyone going for a security access of any level has to submit to a background check.

Normally, anyone who can’t get past that, or thinks it’s too hard or too much of a hassle wouldn’t proceed.  If they pass the eval for Secret access, then they can go through the FBI check for Top Secret access and CIA for SCIF access.

A POTUS has the authority to grant a temporary access on a need-to-know basis to any level, and they can also declassify intelligence.  However, that temporary access usually only lasts for a short time.  For example, let’s say a diplomat had conversations with an espionage target.  They might be read in on this case to provide insight on the target, or become an asset to flip the spy.  They wouldn’t know anything about other projects, but they would have access for this mission.

The difference in the Kushner case is that Trump wants to give Kushner and Ivanka a SCIF access without a time limit.  The FBI said no way before their guy Kline pushed through the Top Secret access.  The CIA won’t approve the SCIF access because they know they’re dirtier than Pig Pen.

 

Fox News

• Incestuous Relationship Between Fox News and Trump Has Been Exposed 
• Chris Cuomo Calls Out ‘State TV’ Fox News For Being ‘Pawns Of The President’ 
  Democrats launch wave of inquiries after GOP oversight abdication
• Fox News Is Essentially Donald Trump’s Own ‘Propaganda Organization,’ Says Writer Of New Yorker Expose’ 
• Fox News spins desperately to shield lawless president from accountability
• The Trump-Fox News Relationship Is A Threat To Our Democracy | Rantt
• Report on Fox News’s editorial decisions about Trump administration may give insight into GOP’s approval of president
• 8 Must-Read Revelations From The New Yorker’s Exposé on Fox News and Trump

 

• Qatar admits it unwittingly helped bail out Jared Kushner’s skyscraper
• An explosive exposé on a $9 billion Russian money laundering operation entangles Citigroup, Raiffeisen, and Deutsche Bank
• Chelsea Manning fights subpoena in Wikileaks probe
• Jerome Corsi retracts and apologizes for 2018 story promoting Seth Rich conspiracy theory

 

CONGRESS

Judicial Committee

• The 81 people and organizations just looped into the Trump probe — and why they were included

I said yesterday Daily Check-In 03/04/2019 that I’d have this list.  Okay, here we go…

1. Rinat Akhmetshin, present at the June 9 meeting.
2. American Media Inc., parent company of National Enquirer.
3. Julian Assange, head of Wikileaks.
4. Christopher Bancroft Burnham, member of Trump Transition Team. Named to a board position in a company owned by Oleg Deripaska the day after sanctions were lifted.
5. Steve Bannon, former advisor to Trump and Campaign head.
6. Tom Barrack, head of Trump Transition Team.
7. Tom Bossert, KT McFarland’s former boss and first point of contact after talking to Mike Flynn.
8. Matthew Calamari, long time Trump Org member.
9. Cambridge Analytica, Big Data company that microtargeted political ads.
10. Michael Caputo, Trump confidant and advisor.
11. Michael Cohen, former RNC Deputy Fincance Chairman and long time personal attorney to Trump.
12. Columbus Nova, A U.S. investment firm linked to a Russian company called Renova Group, which is owned by the oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.
13. Concord Management and Consulting, Russian company paying for the Internet Research Agency (Troll farm).
14. Mark Corallo, former Trump spokesman.
15. Jerome Corsi, involved in the Roger Stone/Wikileaks/GRU debacle.
16. Randy Credico, involved in the Roger Stone/Wikileaks/GRU debacle.
17. Keith Davidson, original lawyer for Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal, and Shera Bechard.
18. Sherri Dillon, former Trump attorney accused of making false statements to the Office of Government Ethics.
19. Annie Donaldson, former Chief of Staff to White House counsel Don McGahn.
20. Paul Erickson, boyfriend of Maria Butina and GOP operative.
21. Tony Fabrizio, pollster who worked for Paul Manafort.
22. FBI.
23. Michael Flynn, former National Security Advisor.
24. Michael Flynn, Jr., member of Trump Campaign, Transition team, and Flynn Intel Group.
25. Flynn Intel Group, company owned by Michael Flynn that worked with Turkish officials as unregistered foreign agents.
26. Frontier Services Group, a company created and led by Blackwater founder Erik Prince.
27. Alan Garten, Chief Legal Officer for Trump Organization.
28. Rick Gates, Paul Manafort’s right hand man, Deputy Campaign Chairman, and Chief of Staff of Trump Inaugural Committee.  The longest serving of the Cooperating Witnesses.
29. General Services Administration, the government entity that maintains all emails and similar stuff.
30. Rob Goldstone, present at the June 9 meeting.
31. J.D. Gordon, member of the Trump Foreign Policy Team.
32. Rhona Graff, Trump’s secretary.
33. Hope Hicks, former White House Communications Director and member of campaign.  Suggested the false statement to cover up the June 9 meeting.
34. Dylan Howard, editor for the National Enquirer.
35. Trump Inaugural Committee.
36. Andrew Intrater, founder of Columbus Nova.
37. Department of Justice.
38. Brittany Kaiser, member of Cambridge Analytica’s team that worked for Trump.
39. Irakly Kavelade, the U.S. representative of the Crocus Group, the company owned by Aras Agalarov.
40. Jared Kushner.
41. Kushner Companies.
42. Corey Lewandowski, former Trump Campaign Chairman.
43. Ronald Leiberman, Vice president of management and development at the Trump Organization.
44. Ted Malloch, conservative writer in Britain who was used as a go-between for Stone/Trump and Wikileaks.  Also has unusual ties to Russia and Brexit.
45. Jason Maloni, Manafort’s spokesman.
46. Paul Manafort.
47. K.T. McFarland, Michael Flynn’s right hand woman on the Transition Team.  Nominated for Ambassador to Singapore.
48. Don McGahn, former Trump lawyer and White House Counsel.
49. George Nader, former Trump advisor, worked closely with Erik Prince, and has myriad connections in the Middle East.
50. National Rifle Assocation, lobbying organization and launderer of Russian money.
51. Alexander Nix, former CEO of Cambridge Analytica.
52. Sam Nunberg, involved in the Roger Stone/Wikileaks/GRU debacle.
53. Carter Page, member of the Trump Foreign Policy Team.
54. George Papadopoulos, member of the Trump Foreign Policy Team.
55. Brad Parscale, head of Trump’s digital work in 2016.
56. Stefan Passantino, former deputy White House counsel in charge of ethics.
57. David Pecker, head of the National Enquirer.
58. Reince Preibus, former head of Republican National Committee and White House Chief of Staff.
59. Erik Prince, head of Xi (formerly Blackwater), backchannel between Trump and Russia, brother of Betsy DeVos, involved with health insurance company involved with the Alfa Bank/Trump Server situation.
60. Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
61. Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, the ‘blind trust’ that should be running the Trump businesses.
62. Anatoli Samochornov, translator that was present at the June 9 meeting.
63. Felix Sater, owner of Bayrock, worked on Trump Tower Moscow project.
64. SCL Limited Group, parent group of Cambridge Analytica.
65. Jay Sekulow, Trump attorney.
66. Jeff Sessions, former Attorney General.
67. Estate of Peter Smith, the man who attempted to get Hilary Clinton’s emails from Russians on the dark web.
68. Sean Spicer, former White House Press Secretary.
69. Roger Stone, Ratfucker.
70. John Szoboscan, partner of Peter Smith.
71. Matt Tait, a former British spy who was among the first to connect Russia to material stolen from the DNC.
72. Eric Trump, son of Donald Trump.
73. The Trump Campaign.
74. Donald Trump, Jr., son of Donald Trump, and the dumbest mother fucker in the history of dumb mother fuckers.
75. Trump Foundation, their charity.
76. Trump Organization, their businesses.
77. Trump Transition Team.
78. Viktor Vekselberg, Russian oligarch who owned Columbus Nova.
79. Allen Weisselberg, Trump Org Chief Financial Officer.
80. Julian David Whetland, Cambridge Analytica’s CEO until its dissolution and the chairman of SCL Group, the predecessor to Cambridge.
81. White House.
82. Wikileaks, front for Russian Intelligence.

Somehow I ended up with 82 names, but I’m not sure why.  For those of you that have followed this site for a long time, I’ve talked about almost every name on this list repeatedly.  It’s been a while for some of them, and a few of them confused me or didn’t jog my memory.

 

• House Democrats demand documents from more than 80 people and institutions affiliated with Trump
• 7 intriguing names on the list of Democrats’ Trump-world documents requests
• Dems opened an impeachment inquiry against Trump in all but name
• Former Trump adviser says he does not plan to cooperate with House Judiciary inquiry Former campaign aide Michael Caputo says he plans to resist testifying in probe. washingtonpost.com       
• Spicer says he’ll cooperate with House investigation
• Trump lashes out after House committee launches vast probe into president’s tax and financial affair 

 

Oversight

• Chairman Cummings Issues Statement on White House Refusal to Produce Documents and Witnesses on Security Clearance Abuses 
• White House Refuses To Hand Over Documents On Security Clearance

 

• House Democrats likely to seek 10 years of Trump’s tax returns in coming weeks
• Rep Says No Need to Have Hannity Testify Because Congress Has Better Info: ‘We Have a Tape Recording of the President’
• House to vote on D.C. statehood for first time in 25 years

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

• T-Mobile acknowledges its patronage of Trump’s Washington hotel increased sharply after announcement of merger with Sprint
• Thread by @Fahrenthold: “Earlier this yr, we reported that — the day after @TMobile announced a huge merger that requires Trump admin approval — 9 top T-Mobile exe […]”
• ‘It’s Almost Like They’re…Bribing Him’: T-Mobile Increased Trump Hotel Spending While Waiting on Merger Approval
• More voters believe convicted felon Michael Cohen than President Trump, poll says 
• Donald Trump Is A Criminal, Say Nearly Two-Thirds Of Voters In New Poll
• Trump Organization’s Insurance Policies Under Scrutiny in New York Aon, one of the world’s largest insurance brokerages, was served a subpoena late Monday, the first step in an investigation of policies involving President Trump’s f… nytimes.com       
• Kyle Griffin: New: New York State regulators have issued an expansive subpoena to the Trump Organization’s longtime insurance broker, the first step in an investigation of insurance policies and claims involving Trump’s family business, NYT reports.
• Deadline White House: “A legal theory that has long been whispered about by legal experts and veteran prosecutors has spilled out into the open… the possibility that Donald Trump and the Trump Organization are being investigated as a criminal enterprise…”

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET A.K.A. INDIVIDUAL-1

• Trump says he joked about wanting Russian help in 2016. The facts tell a different story.
• Trump lashes out after House committee launches vast probe into president’s tax and financial affair 
• Trump says Democrats investigating him have ‘gone stone cold CRAZY’
• Donald Trump Sounded Like A ‘Mental Patient’ In CPAC Speech, MSNBC Contributor Says 
• Trump doubles down with Sean Hannity tweet amid new scrutiny of his ties to Fox News
• Opinion | Trump boldly asserts that he has learned nothing these past two years
• Opinion | Trump has his own Axis of Evil
• Opinion | Trump’s unhinged CPAC speech should concern us all

 

Grades

• Trump wanted Obama to show his transcript. Someone tried to bury Trump’s just days later.
• Trump has gone to ridiculous lengths to keep his high school grades from getting out

 

Saudi Arabia

• Khashoggi’s body was reportedly burned in a tandoori oven. And still the White House refuses to investigate.
• First phase of US missile system sale to Saudi Arabia moves forward

 

• Opinion | The Alabama tornadoes are another opportunity for Trump to reward supporters and punish opponents

 

TRAITOR TOTS

• 15 times former clients of the acting Interior secretary got favorable decisions
• HUD Secretary Ben Carson says he intends to leave his post at the end of Trump’s term
• John Bolton puts his singular stamp on Trump’s National Security Council
• Steve Mnuchin Prepared to Swallow 10 Years of Tax Returns to Protect Trump

 

FIGHTING BACK

• Trump impeachment a matter of when, not if
• Maxine Waters Launches Late Night Twitter Tirade on Donald Trump: ‘Don the Con Man Got Conned!’
• Maxine Waters: Lying Trump, so you said you did nothing to force security clearance for Kushner, huh? Who do you think will believe that lie? Must give you credit. You are the boldest, most daring liar I’ve ever heard of. A pox on all your houses.

 

EMERGENCIES, SHUTDOWN & IMMIGRATION

• After a cold, busy month at the border, illegal crossings expected to surge again
• Senate to reject Trump’s national emergency declaration
• White House works to limit GOP defections, criticism ahead of vote to nullify Trump’s emergency declaration

 

RACISM, RIGHT WING TERRORISM, & WHITE NATIONALISM

•  ‘Everyone’ isn’t saying the n-word — or at least admitting to it
• Nazi-Saluting Teens Provoke Outrage In California After Photos Flood Internet
• Opinion | Ilhan Omar is using President Trump’s playbook
• Ocasio-Cortez questions criticism of Omar: ‘No one seeks this level of reprimand’ for statements about other groups
• Republicans and Democrats Say Their Criticism of Ilhan Omar Is About Anti-Semitism. They’re Gaslighting You. 
• Pace: Not wrong here. I know the mccain family very well. I went to school with Cari McCain and the late senator visited my house many times. While Cindy McCain is moderate and amazing, the family has become Christian Supremacists. The highschool we went to was all White.
• Geraldo Rivera: I’m a proud Jewish Zionist who is critical of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Isn’t there space for secular criticism & why is this Rep. getting so much grief? And #AIPAC is not a lobby? Give me a break.

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

• 21 states to file suit to block Trump administration’s abortion ‘gag rule’ in family planning program
• Woman cyclist forced to stop race after catching up with men
• ‘Where are the women’s teams?’: Trump ignores women’s champions in White House sports ceremonies
• Former UFC Champion: Jim Jordan Knew About The Sexual Assaults At OSU – The Intellectualist Mark Coleman said Rep. Jim Jordan must have “dementia or something” if he is unable to recall the sexual abuse. mavenroundtable.io          
• Robert Kraft is in the news. But the conversation should be about how to help victims of trafficking. – The Lily
• Surveillance cameras, suitcases and billionaires: How an investigation into massage parlors unfolded in Florida
• How ‘Leaving Neverland’ puts Michael Jackson’s cultural legacy and $2 billion empire in jeopardy
• Oprah Winfrey aired a powerful interview after ‘Leaving Neverland’ and is ready for the backlash

 

COLD WAR 2.0

• Austrian banks dragged into Russian money-laundering scandal Kremlin critic alleges hundreds of millions of euros flowed through country’s lenders ft.com       
• Bill Browder: Austrian banks dragged into Russian money-laundering scandal connected to the Magnitsky case
• Top Green EU Lawmaker Accused of Being ‘On the Kremlin’s Leash’ For Blocking Anti-Putin Sanctions… In a leaked email, Heidi Hautala, a vice president of the European Parliament, lashed out at Europe’s “obsession with “targeting” Putin. thedailybeast.com
• Bill Browder: Green Party MEP ⁦@HeidiHautala⁩ is outed as the driving force behind the effort to take Sergei Magnitsky’s name off the EU Magnitsky Act. She was the girlfriend of Andrei Nekrasov, who produced the scandalous anti Magnitsky movie
• Julia Davis: The truth is penalized in Putin’s Russia: here’s what happens to anyone who dares to throw a flower at the bust of Stalin, saying: “Burn in hell, executioner of the people, murderer of women & children.”
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren Pledge Together to End U.S. ‘Forever War’
• At Germany’s last nuclear base, fears of a new arms race as U.S.-Russia treaty collapses
• North Korean hackers targeted US ‘critical infrastructure’ while Trump kissed up to Kim in Hanoi: NYT cybersecurity reporter

 

#NEVERAGAIN

• GOP lawmakers wore pearls while gun violence victims testified. Activists were outraged.
• Shannon Watts: Male New Hampshire lawmakers on the hearing committee wearing pearls to mock @MomsDemand volunteers and gun safety advocates. #NHPolitics
• Opinion | Gun reform doesn’t happen because Americans don’t want it enough
• Trump’s Pick to Lead the Office of Violence Against Women Believes Guns Can Reduce Domestic Violence
• Mom’s Demand: When a gun is present in an incident of domestic violence, the woman is five times more likely to be killed.
• Mollie Davis: It’s been almost a full year since the shooting at Great Mills and the video falsely claiming every innocent kid was saved is STILL up. Was it pre-filmed? Of course. But it was published after it was announced Jaelynn wasn’t going to live. Jaelynn was innocent.
• Trump signs bill reversing Obama rule to ban gun purchases by mentally ill

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

• Should Twitter, Facebook, and Others Delete Provably Wrong Material?

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

• Incestuous Relationship Between Fox News and Trump Has Been Exposed 
• Chris Cuomo Calls Out ‘State TV’ Fox News For Being ‘Pawns Of The President’ 
  Democrats launch wave of inquiries after GOP oversight abdication
• Fox News Is Essentially Donald Trump’s Own ‘Propaganda Organization,’ Says Writer Of New Yorker Expose’ 
• Fox News spins desperately to shield lawless president from accountability
• The Trump-Fox News Relationship Is A Threat To Our Democracy | Rantt
• Questions abound after Trump threatens to strip funding from colleges that don’t support free speech
• Alex Jones claims he was interviewed for an upcoming episode of This American Life
• CNN Is Silent on Why It Gave Airtime to a Conspiracy Theorist 
• McKay Coppins: “A landscape in which a handful of online critics can hound an author into retracting her own work is something much more foreboding—and hardly one in which new and genuinely interesting new voices are likely to thrive.”
• A YA “Sensitivity Reader” Had to Pull His Own Book After Twitter Turned on It

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, AND ECONOMY

• ACA premiums rising beyond reach of older, middle-class consumers
• Basic Income is a Basic Human Right – Katy Preen – Medium
• Google reviewed pay equity and learned it was underpaying men
• Opinion | Republicans’ deregulation is hurting consumers. A new bill from Democrats could help.
• Opinion | Who brought us this long boom?

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

• Doug Jones: The Republican Party is Losing Its Soul and Trump Administration is Giving ‘Green Light’ to Hate Crimes
• Opinion | Republican spines still in short supply

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

• Kellen Winslow Jr. Back In Jail, Lewd Conduct with 77-Year-Old
• Former Adidas Executive, Former Adidas Consultant, And Aspiring Manager All Sentenced To Prison Terms For Their Roles In Defrauding Adidas-Sponsored NCAA Division I Universities
• Sacramento police arrest reporter, 84 protesters at march against Stephon Clark shooting
• Juan Corona, ‘machete murderer’ convicted of killing 25 migrant workers, dies at 85
• Brussels Nemmouche trial: Suspect claims he was ‘tricked’
• A school bet its future on paintings worth $2.8 million — then learned their real value
• A grandfather died playing Pokémon Go. Now the security guard who shot him is headed to prison.

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

• Spy vs. spy: How Scientology and the CIA battled 40 years ago

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

• A decade after the first person was cured of HIV, a second patient is in long-term remission
• A great forecast but a deadly tornado tragedy in Alabama. What went wrong?
• At least 23 dead in Alabama after tornadoes ravage the Deep South, causing ‘catastrophic’ damage
• FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who raised national alarms about teenage vaping, is resigning
• Inside the Southeast tornado swarm that devastated Alabama on Sunday
• Measles vaccine doesn’t cause autism, says a decade-long study of half a million people
• Opinion | The Alabama tornadoes are another opportunity for Trump to reward supporters and punish opponents
• Scientists have finally discovered what makes celebrity cat Lil Bub so ‘magical’
• Senate panel warns of dangers of anti-vaccine movement
• Their only son died unexpectedly. But a court order to retrieve his sperm means his legacy could live on.
• Why icing a sprain doesn’t help, and could slow recovery
• White House’s plans to counter climate science reports ‘will erode our national security,’ 58 former officials warn
• Caroline Orr: Fun fact of the day: People who believe in conspiracy theories are more likely than nonbelievers to judge nonsensical statements as profound – a tendency referred to as “bullshit receptivity.”
• Who falls for fake news? The roles of bullshit receptivity, overclaiming, familiarity, and analytic thinking by Gordon Pennycook, David G. Rand :: SSRN

 

ELECTIONS

• We need ranked-choice voting in the presidential primaries
• The Movement To Skip The Electoral College Just Passed A Major Milestone
• The Oppression of the Supermajority The defining political fact of our time is not polarization. It’s the thwarting of a largely unified public.

 

THINKING AHEAD

• Awkward: How Trump’s past donations could haunt 2020 Dems
• Marijuana legalization is winning the 2020 Democratic primaries
• Hillary Clinton puts to rest lingering speculation about a White House bid but says she’ll keep speaking out
• Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, in Iowa and not running for president — yet
• Opinion | The smartest presidential candidate you’ve never heard of
• Sen. Jeff Merkley opts out of Democratic presidential contest and will run for reelection to Oregon seat
• Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg bows out of 2020 Democratic presidential contest
• We need ranked-choice voting in the presidential primaries

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

• Those “Far Left” Democratic Socialists Are Actually The New Mainstream
• What is socialism?

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

• WWE legend King Kong Bundy dies at 61
• Two young sisters were lost in the woods. They used their wilderness training to survive.
• Dressed up, ready for fun: New Orleans celebrates Mardi Gras
• After 28 years together, this couple married in a hospital chapel when he was told he was dying of cancer

 

RUMOR MILL

• Evan McMullin: The reason President Trump covers for Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin, and Mohammad bin Salman’s brutal human rights violations is because he dreams of creating a world in which he is just as unaccountable.
• PostimusMaximus: The currently line of GOP attacks is something like : – They are Socialists who still use gas-powered cars but care about “Climate Change” – They want to Murder babies after they are born – They want to take your cows away What the hell kind of lineup of attacks is this?
• Julius Goat: If Donald Trump received the same skepticism and scrutiny that a freshman congresswomen of color faces, he’d scream cry until he melted into a puddle of day-old peach Slurpee
• Riotwomenn: Sherman reports that Rupert Murdoch asked Donald Trump if he could find out from the US Intelligence Agencies whether his ex-wife Wendi Deng was a Chinese spy. THREAD

 

That’s it for Tuesday.  Damn, that’s a long list.  And it’s not even a complete list.  Ivanka’s not on it, Matthew Whitaker’s not on it, Sam Clovis isn’t on it, and several more.  Nadler says that this is the first wave, so they’ll probably get letters around the time the first wave of subpoenas come out for those refusing to cooperate.

Wednesday brings Cohen back to testify behind closed doors to the House Intel Committee.  His team brought three suitcases with them.  Could be interesting.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Monday, March 4, 2019.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

House Judiciary Wants All The Things…

• House Democrats demand documents from more than 80 people and institutions affiliated with Trump
• House Democrats Launch Sweeping Probe Into President Trump
• House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler says it’s ‘clear’ Trump obstructed justice, plans ‘abuse of power’ probe
• House Judiciary Hits Who’s Who of Trumpland With Document Requests, Including Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and NRA
• House Judiciary Launches Probe Of Allegations Of Obstruction By President Trump
• House Probes Cambridge Analytica on Russia and WikiLeaks
• The House’s Latest Move Could be a Big Threat to Trump’s Presidency
• Natasha Bertrand: NEW: The 81 people/entities House Judiciary sent document requests to this morning is “just the first wave,” a committee source told me. Another source described it as just the “first steps.” “The committee will continue to make news as the weeks go on.” In other words, don’t read too much into the fact that certain names–like Ivanka and Tillerson–aren’t on this particular list.
• Trump Sons, Bannon, Assange, McGahn on House Dems List
• Ted Lieu: Unlike last term, the House Judiciary Committee will actually conduct oversight. We intend to honor our oath of office. We do not work for @realDonaldTrump. We are part of a separate and coequal Branch of Government. And we have arrived. #MondayMotivation
• Congress kicks off massive new probe into Trump’s potential crimes
• Caroline Orr: NEW: The House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight Committees just requested documents and testimony from the White House and State Department related to Trump’s communications (in-person & phone calls) with Putin.
• Caroline Orr: The request states: “President Trump, on multiple occasions, appears to have taken steps to conceal the details of his communications with President Putin… The White House failed to provide any response to our inquiry. As a result, we are now expanding our investigation.”
• Document Request for Rhona Graff
• Kaz Weida: Rhona Graff is Trump’s executive assistant (VP of the Trump organization) and it’s long been said if you want to talk to the President, you call Rhona. She’s flown under the radar for a long, long time but she’s definitely someone that knows where the bodies are buried.
• Alana Abramson: Asked why Ivanka was not on list of recipients rom letters, but Eric/DJT Jr. were, cmte says more letters are coming “soon”
• Tim Mak: NEW: Chairman of the House intelligence, foreign affairs and oversight committees are requesting docs related to Trump’s in-person encounters and phone calls with Putin. Chairmen Schiff, Smith & Cummings: “President Trump, on multiple occasions, appears to have taken steps to conceal the details of his communications with President Putin… The White House failed to provide any response to our inquiry… we are now expanding our investigation.”
• Natasha Bertrand: .@RepAdamSchiff on @FaceTheNation: The Trump Tower Moscow deal “where he was pursuing help from the Kremlin—from Putin himself—at a time when Putin was seeking relief from sanctions…that is the most compromising circumstance that I can imagine.”

The House Judiciary Committee sent requests out for information to 81 people and entities tied to Trump, Russia, the GOP, and the rest of the giant spiderweb of fuckery.  This is a bit more than the 60 that was rumored on Friday (Daily Check-In 03/01/2019), and isn’t a comprehensive list.  I hope to have a full list tomorrow.

I don’t want to jump on a right wing talking point, but this is what an Impeachment procedure looks like in its infancy.

 

Fox News

• The Making of the Fox News White House

When Shine assumed command at Fox, the 2016 campaign was nearing its end, and Trump and Clinton were all but tied. That fall, a FoxNews.com reporter had a story that put the network’s journalistic integrity to the test. Diana Falzone, who often covered the entertainment industry, hadobtained proof that Trump had engaged in a sexual relationship in 2006 with a pornographic film actress calling herself Stormy Daniels. Falzone had worked on the story since March, and by October she had confirmed it with Daniels through her manager at the time, Gina Rodriguez, and with Daniels’s former husband, Mike Moz, who described multiple calls from Trump. Falzone had also amassed e-mails between Daniels’s attorney and Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen, detailing a proposed cash settlement, accompanied by a nondisclosure agreement. Falzone had even seen the contract.

But Falzone’s story didn’t run—it kept being passed off from one editor to the next. After getting one noncommittal answer after another from her editors, Falzone at last heard from LaCorte, who was then the head of FoxNews.com. Falzone told colleagues that LaCorte said to her, “Good reporting, kiddo. But Rupert wants Donald Trump to win. So just let it go.” LaCorte denies telling Falzone this, but one of Falzone’s colleagues confirms having heard her account at the time.

Despite the discouragement, Falzone kept investigating, and discovered that the National Enquirer, in partnership with Trump, had made a “catch and kill” deal with Daniels—buying the exclusive rights to her story in order to bury it. Falzone pitched this story to Fox, too, but it went nowhere. News of Trump’s payoffs to silence Daniels, and Cohen’s criminal attempts to conceal them as legal fees, remained unknown to the public until the Wall Street Journal broke the story, a year after Trump became President.

In January, 2017, Fox demoted Falzone without explanation. That May, she sued the network. Her attorney, Nancy Erika Smith, declined to comment but acknowledged that a settlement has been reached; it includes a nondisclosure agreement that bars Falzone from talking about her work at Fox.

After the Journal story broke, Oliver Darcy, a senior media reporter for CNN, published a piece revealing that Fox had killed a Stormy Daniels story. LaCorte, who by then had left Fox but was still being paid by the company, told Mediaite that he’d made the call without talking to superiors. The story simply hadn’t “passed muster,” he claimed, adding, “I didn’t do it to protect Donald Trump.” Nik Richie, a blogger who had broken the first story about Daniels, tweeted, “This is complete bullshit. Ken you are such a LIAR. This story got killed by @FoxNews at the highest level. I know, because I was one of your sources.”

Richie told me, “Fox News was culpable. I voted for Trump, and I like Fox, but they did their own ‘catch and kill’ on the story to protect him.” He said that he’d worked closely with Falzone on the article, and that “she did her homework—she had it.” He says he warned her that Fox would never run it, but “when they killed it she was devastated.” Richie believes that the story “would have swayed the election.”

• Jane Meyer: New from me: Fox News HAD the story of Trump’s hush money payoffs to Stormy Daniels BEFORE the election but killed it because the reporter said she was told, “Good reporting Kiddo, but Rupert Murdoch wants Donald Trump to win. So set it aside.” Reporter sued, is bound by an NDA.
• Three Revelations From the New Yorker’s Explosive Fox News Story
• Trump tried to block the AT&T-Time Warner merger to spite CNN: Report –
• Fox News killed Stormy Daniels hush money report before election: New Yorker
• Fox News may have given the Trump campaign 2016 debate questions in advance
• Asha Rangappa: So far, Trump got help winning the election in the form of information distortion from Russia, The National Enquirer, and Fox News. Anyone else? (Also, is he capable of doing anything without cheating???)

Fox News played a major role in getting Trump elected, but the fact that they spiked the Stormy Daniels story just days before the election now implicates the individuals and the company in Campaign Finance violations.  Spiking the Stormy Daniels story just before the election could be considered an in-kind campaign donation.  Wonder how that’s a crime?  Ask Michael Cohen.

That’s not even the most screwed up thing from this report.  We’ve got Rupert Murdoch and his cronies pulling the strings on our democracy by controlling the media that a third of the country watches.

Plus, because Tangering Tojo didn’t like something that CNN said, he tried to get the Department of Justice to break up a proposed merger between Time Warner and AT&T.  Granted, there’s a hundred reasons why they shouldn’t merge, but that is the stupidest one.

Kusher

• Aaron Blake: Chris Christie on Kushner’s clearance: “If the New York Times story is true … then why not tell the truth about it. Why not just say, ‘I did it’?”
• Jared Kushner talks to Fox News chairman Rupert Murdoch “every day,” asks him for advice: Report
• Jared Kushner joins the Russians in the DNC Lawsuit
• 911corlebra777: Thump Thump Thump 💥Jared Kushner just jumped into the middle of the DNC vs Russian Federation case enjoining a motion to dismiss the case as it pertains to himself. Bloody traitor

 

Manafort

• Zoe Tillman: Paul Manafort, who already lost his law license in Connecticut, is on the path to disbarment in DC — the Board on Professional Responsibility just released its recommendation. Ultimately the DC Court of Appeals decides whether to disbar an attorney. Manafort has been suspended in DC since the disciplinary counsel’s office reported his guilty plea — Manafort hasn’t responded to the bar proceedings in DC.
• REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF THE BOARD ON PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY – Paul Manafort

Manafort asking for a reduced sentence is like a kid asking for less time in time out because they were already in time out yesterday.  Fucker, you get more until you learn your lesson.

Roger Stone

• Renato Mariotti: Roger Stone’s lawyer’s argue that his book was written before the gag order, but it is being released after the gag order. I doubt Judge Jackson will find their distinction very compelling.
• REDACTED ROGER J. STONE’S MOTION AND MEMORANDUM TO CLARIFY FEBRUARY 21, 2019 MINUTE ORDER AS APPLIED TO PORTION OF BOOK
• Stone’s Lawyers: ‘It Did Not Occur’ To Us To Mention His Book At Gag Order Hearing
• Darren Samuelsohn: NEW: Roger Stone’s lawyers respond to Judge Jackson’s demand for an explanation for the upcoming re-release of his book, ‘The Myth of Russian Collusion.’ They say “not a single word in the book was created” since she imposed the gag order. Link here: http://ow.ly/dID230nV5jZ 
• Special counsel Robert Mueller notifies judge that Trump friend Roger Stone posted Instagram image that could violate gag order
• Lincoln’s Bible: Nothing is more perfect than Roger “The Dork” Stone going to prison for an Instagram post.
• Natasha Bertrand: 🚨OH boy. The government has notified Judge Amy Berman Jackson of Roger Stone’s Instagram story from yesterday, where he shared an image that claimed he was framed.

Roger Stone might not even last two whole weeks out in the world with his gag order before going to prison.  How hard is it to not post something on Instagram?  Seriously, the only people that should have that problem are teen girls and food writers.

 

Corsi

• Jerome Corsi, InfoWars Retract and Apologize for Spreading Seth Rich DNC Murder Conspiracy Theory
• John Schindler: Corsi seems terrified. As he should be. “Sorry” won’t cut it here. What these kooky asshats did to the Rich family was disgusting and premeditated. And it was all based on an insidious SVR-scripted lie. The “Hillary’s death squad murdered Seth Rich, who was the real source of the leaked DNC emails” absurdity was cooked up by the Kremlin, as I told you ages ago. You have to be Hannity-level stupid to buy this nonsense. Speaking of which, I can’t wait for Gorka’s #hottake on Hannity about today’s HJC subpoena wave against pretty much everybody on Team Trump. Anybody know when Seb’s gonna be on @foxnews next?

So, let’s rewind a moment…

Jerome Corsi and Alex Jones helped spread the ‘Seth Rich was killed by the DNC’ story pushed by Roger Stone.  Roger got this from Russia and Wikileaks.  This story then made its way over to Fox News where several of their anchors, including Sean Hannity, repeated it ad nausuem.

Now, after Roger Stone was indicted and evidence that the plot originated with Russia, we get Jerome Corsi trying to walk this back.  It’s almost like he knows that he committed a crime.

What’s the crime that a person commits when they push propaganda from a hostile state?  It rhymes with Breason.

 

• Opinion | James Comey: Republicans are wrong. Transparency is possible in the Mueller investigation.
• Attorney general won’t recuse from overseeing Mueller probe
• Mueller report to be printed ‘instantly’, say publishers
• Opinion | How Giuliani Might Take Down Trump

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

• Lawyer for Cohen Approached Trump Attorneys About Pardon.

WSJ reports that a lawyer for Michael Cohen reached out to President Trump’s attorneys to inquire about the possibility of a pardon after his home and office were raided by the FBI. But in testimony before Congress last week, Cohen said he had never asked for a pardon from Trump.

An attorney for Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, raised the possibility of a pardon with attorneys for the president after federal agents raided Mr. Cohen’s properties in April, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Conversations among those parties are now being probed by congressional investigators, according to document requests issued Monday by the House Judiciary Committee to dozens of Trump associates, including one of the president’s current lawyers and Mr. Cohen.

This story came in pretty late Monday night.  Right when I was thinking “Damn, there’s a ton of shit here, I don’t think that anything else could possibly drop between now and midnight.”  Then the Wall Street Journal throws this story up behind their paywall.  I’m waiting for more information on details and sourcing.  Until we get more, take this story with a grain of salt.  It sounds and smells like a possible hit piece

• Michael Cohen’s lawyer asked about pardon with Trump’s legal team last year

Cohen’s attorney at the time, Stephen Ryan, discussed the possibility of a pardon with lawyers for Trump in the weeks after the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided Cohen’s home, office and hotel room, the people said. The pardon discussions occurred while Ryan was working alongside lawyers for Trump to review files seized from Cohen’s premises by the FBI to determine whether they were protected by attorney-client privilege.

The president’s lawyers, including Jay Sekulow, Rudy Giuliani and Joanna Hendon, dismissed the idea of a pardon at the time, these people said. But at least one of them, Giuliani, left open the possibility that the president could grant Cohen one in the future, they said. Ryan left the impression that if Cohen couldn’t rely on a pardon, he might cooperate with prosecutors from the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office investigating Cohen, the people said.

I’m still waiting for more information, but it sounds like a couple things are going on here.  Either this was a hit piece meant to destroy Cohen’s character, paint him as a liar, or show that pardon discussions did take place.  The likely twist from RWM will be that Cohen must have directed the lawyers to talk about pardons to Sekulow, Hendon, and Giuliani, so therefore Cohen is a liar.  My guess is that the conversations did take place, but were more low-key, like asking someone to pass the salt.  The fact that Rudy leaves the door open for talks about it in the future sounds fishy.

Like I said, until I hear otherwise, this sounds like it might be a hit piece.  Rupert Murdoch now owns the Wall Street Journal

• Kurt Eichenwald: I remember when supposedly @DonaldJTrumpJr was going to be running Trump Org during his dad’s presidency, but he seems to do nothing but tweet and appear on Fox. I’m now accepting the whispers that @EricTrump is the smart one – running things, keeping head down, while Jr. rants.
• Michael Cohen testifies that Trump paid for portrait with Trump Foundation funds
• After Cohen’s testimony, how much longer can Ivanka Trump play dumb?
• Cohen lawyer reveals new Trump hush money check on live TV

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET A.K.A. INDIVIDUAL-1

• Trump vowed ‘A Plus’ relief for Alabama. That’s not what California and Puerto Rico heard.
• Stu Cameron: Alabama has an emergency – Trump wants to give them the “A Plus treatment”. California had an emergency – Trump tells them to rake their leaves. Puerto Rico had an emergency – Trump wonders where it is. It’s almost like he really doesn’t care unless they voted for him…
• Trump blames Cohen testimony in part for failed deal with North Korea
• Donald Trump Says Democrats Interviewing Michael Cohen ‘May Have’ Contributed To His Decision To ‘Walk’ On North Korea Summit
• Trump Told Cohen to Lie to Congress About “Collusion” in General—Not just the Moscow Tower deal
• President Trump has made 9,014 false or misleading claims over 773 days
• Trump directed Gary Cohn to pressure DOJ to block AT&T-Time Warner deal: report
• Trump’s alleged meddling with CNN could be an impeachable offense
• Trump’s CPAC Rant Wasn’t a Speech—It Was a Breakdown

 

TRAITOR TOTS

Whitaker Quits

• Former acting attorney general Matt Whitaker quits
• Reports: Matt Whitaker Has Left The Justice Department
• Matthew Whitaker, former acting attorney general, leaves Justice Department
• Countercheckist: Bye Felicia. Get yourself an attorney, Matt. You’ll be needing one.

Maybe he can go back to screwing over inventors in Iowa.

 

Gaetz

• Ale: Gaetz’s lawyers laid down the law and told him he better apologize to Cohen STAT. Except his apology doesn’t justify his extra threatening and very public tweet to Cohen BEFORE his testimony. It’s still witness tampering.
• Gaetz sent apology text to Cohen after House testimony: report

 

FIGHTING BACK

• Conway’s husband: ‘Grounds for impeachment’ if Trump directed Cohn to block AT&T-Time Warner merger
• Donald Trump knows the walls are closing in as Mueller report looms, ex-presidential advisor says

 

CONGRESS

• Rep. Nadler: Congress has been shielding Trump
• House Judiciary Committee launches investigation into potential Trump abuses
• Trey Gowdy, Who Led 11-Hour Benghazi Hearing, Declares Public Congressional Hearings ‘Utterly Useless’
• Grassley: Treasury didn’t provide some bank records related to Russia
• McCarthy says hush payments aren’t impeachable offenses

 

EMERGENCIES, SHUTDOWN & IMMIGRATION

• McConnell: Senate will pass resolution blocking Trump’s emergency declaration
• Rand Paul gives Senate Democrats the last vote they need to block Trump’s national emergency
• Rand Paul says ‘at least’ 10 GOP senators are ready to vote against Trump’s emergency declaration
• Kurt Eichenwald: If the GOP senate votes to support bogus “national emergency,” thus surrendering Congressional constitutional power, of it conservative court upholds it, what should be the Democratic president’s national emergencies? 1. Climate 2. Health Insurance 3. Guns 4. Poverty Others?
• Joe Walsh: A President who believes, “Hey, if Congress won’t do anything about it, I will,” doesn’t understand how our system of separation of powers works. And we can’t allow it.
• Why Are Separated Families Told They Must Use a Tiny Georgia Travel Agency to Reunite?

 

RACISM, RIGHT WING TERRORISM, & WHITE NATIONALISM

• At CPAC, Extremists On Stage And Off—The annual conference served as yet another reminder of how the conservative movement in America is joined at the hip with the white nationalist movement.
• Charlottesville mystery: Who are the last two attackers of a black man in a parking garage?
• House to vote on anti-Semitism resolution in wake of Ilhan Omar controversy
• Ilhan Omar’s Criticism Raises the Question: Is Aipac Too Powerful?
• Republican congressman tweets anti-Semitic attack on leading Democrat investigating Trump
• Jerry Nadler Accuses Jim Jordan Of Anti-Semitism Over ‘$teyer’ Tweet
• Steve King Promotes White Nationalist On Twitter … For The Third Time | HuffPost

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

• Brett Kavanaugh Is Ready to Demolish the Wall Between Church and State
• Brett Kavanaugh Shows How Eager He Is to Tear Down the Wall Between Church and State
• Supreme Court Denies Religious Building Preservation Funds Case

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

• California files suit to block Trump administration’s abortion ‘gag rule’ in family planning program
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Reacts to Conservative Criticism: ‘I Am as Powerful as a Man and It Drives Them Crazy’

 

COLD WAR 2.0

• Venezuela to move state oil firm PDVSA office from Lisbon to Moscow
• Countercheckist: Maduro, Putin, and Xi can have fun without PDVSA’s bank accounts, refineries, and soon oil wells. I say let the Russians and Chinese keep worthless PDVSA. VZ starts over with a new oil company and clean slate.
• Bill Browder: This slipped totally under the radar. The EU banking regulator has begun a formal investigation into the Danish & Estonian financial regulators for their failure of not spotting and stopping the $234 Billion Danske Bank money laundering scandal connected to the Magnitsky case
• Juan Guaidó returns to Venezuela, risking arrest
• Opinion | Saudi Arabia is torturing a U.S. citizen. When will Trump act?
• Jamal Khashoggi’s body likely burned in large oven at Saudi home
• GOP senators vent frustration after Khashoggi briefing

 

#NEVERAGAIN

• Shannon Watts: BREAKING: The House Judiciary Committee requested docs from the @NRA to investigate “actions that threaten our nation’s longstanding commitment to the rule of law, including allegations of obstruction of justice, public corruption and abuses of power.” The requests are for information on 1) the GOP 2016 platform and Russia/Ukraine; 2) attempts to provide/receive election information or data to/from foreign entities; 3) discussions of US sanctions against Russia; and 4) any contacts between Russia and the Trump campaign.
• Request Letter sent to the NRA
• Document Request for the NRA
• Marine vet turned police officer gets probation after shooting his son for drinking his vodka
• Shannon Watts: A former Indian Head Park, Illinois, police sergeant was sentenced to two years’ probation earlier this week after prosecutors said he shot his 22-year-old son for drinking his vodka. #twill

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

• Democrats to push to reinstate repealed ‘net neutrality’ rules
• Pelosi says Democrats to introduce bill to bring back net neutrality this week

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

• The Making of the Fox News White House
• Dr. Dena Grayson: 🚨BREAKING🚨@FoxNews exposed for being the propaganda network that it is. Fox News *killed* the BOMBSHELL story that it had—BEFORE the election—of @realDonaldTrump’s ILLEGAL hush-money payoff of Stormy Daniels. NEVER AGAIN can Fox claim they report “news.”🤬🔥“To the astonishment of colleagues, the Fox co-host @kimguilfoyle often prepared…by relying on information provided to her by an AVID FAN.”🙄A former colleague says, “It was a joke…It was the subject of hilarity.”😳#FoxNewsIsPropaganda
• Greg Olear: This is 100% the fault of the media, particularly on TV. Fox is RT with a different logo, and the others have both-sides’d him into normalcy. When the coverage better reflects what’s actually happening, the number sinks like a (Roger) stone.
• Kyle Griffin: Trump averaged nearly 5.9 false or misleading claims a day in his first year in office. He hit nearly 16.5 a day in his second year. So far in 2019, he’s averaging nearly 22 claims a day, according to WaPo.
• CNN host stunned after GOP senator says it’s ‘perfectly acceptable’ for Trump use DOJ to punish media he doesn’t like
• New study of 381,000 political speeches finds that liberals use more complex language than conservatives
• Fox News Got Stormy Daniels Story Before Trump’s Election, Spiked It: Report
• Fox News had Stormy Daniels story before 2016 election but killed it because Murdoch wanted Trump to win: Report
• Fox News killed a Stormy Daniels story in 2016 to protect Trump
• Fox News’s propaganda isn’t just unethical — research shows it’s enormously influential
• Is it news you can use? An ad? Both? On some morning TV programs, it’s hard to tell.
• 6 in 10 Americans say Trump hasn’t been honest about Russia — unless they watch Fox News or CNN

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

• Margaret Talev: NOW: ⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩ is doubling down on the fast food as he prepares to greet the mighty Bison

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, AND ECONOMY

• Exclusive: OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma exploring bankruptcy -sources
• More than a third of millennials share Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s worry about having kids while the threat of climate change looms
• The ’heartbreaking‘ decrease in black homeownership
• Trump plans to end India’s preferential trade treatment
• Trump’s Dumb Trade War Cost Americans $3 Billion a Month Last Year

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

• Joe Walsh: Heard another talk show host just now say that every Republican in Congress must unite behind Trump & do what Trump says. “That’s their job” the host said. Really? Their job is to do what the President says? If that’s the case, then why even have a separate branch of government?
• After CPAC Multiple Conservative Pundits Admit Republican Party is Dead

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

• A panhandler was accused of killing a woman. But her family staged the attack, police say.
• Oregon man sentenced to 25 years in prison for impregnating 11-year-old

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

• Child marriage bill passes Georgia House with bipartisan support
• Evangelicals are starting to abandon their churches because of Trump
• Pope Francis to open World War II-era Vatican archives to scrutiny

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

• A group of Mark Zuckerberg-funded researchers is testing implantable brain devices as part of a $5 billion quest to end disease
• A massive aquifer lies beneath the Mojave Desert. Could it help solve California’s water problem?
• At least 23 dead in Alabama after tornadoes ravage the Deep South, causing ‘catastrophic’ damage
• Civilization VI: Gathering Storm shows video games can make us think seriously about climate change
• Did the government’s dietary guidelines help make us fat?
• Report finds widespread contamination at nation’s coal ash sites
• U.N. Predicts Disaster if Global Warming Not Checked

 

ELECTIONS

• Jim Sciutto: New: An arrest has been made in NC-09 election fraud allegations case. Caitlyn Croom is charged with conspiracy to commit felony obstruction of justice and possession of absentee ballot – NC State Board of Investigation tells CNN
• Republicans Committed Massive Voter Fraud In North Carolina And Mitch McConnell Is Blaming Democrats

 

THINKING AHEAD

• Ahead of 2020, websites funded by GOP consultants aim to look like local news outlets
• Bernie Sanders: ‘Too many lives are being destroyed’ by pot policy
• Beto O’Rourke calls for federal marijuana legalization ahead of likely 2020 bid
• Eric Holder: I won’t run, but I will fight to elect the right Democratic president
• Hillary Clinton rules out 2020 run, but says ‘I’m not going anywhere’
• John Hickenlooper, former Colorado governor, joins Democrats’ 2020 slate
• Ex-Colorado governor John Hickenlooper runs for president
• Puerto Rico emerges as 2020 campaign hotspot
• Lachlan Markay: Bernie Sanders has officially filed for reelection in 2024 as an independent, meaning he’s currently running for office under two different party IDs
• Bernie Sanders Files fo 2024 Re-Election to Senate He is now running for two different federal positions under two different party labels. thedailybeast.com       
• The generational flaw in Trump’s anti-socialism campaign
• Inslee tops $1M in donations for 2020 presidential campaign

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

• ‘We will only get stronger’: Inside a liberal leader’s balancing act on pushing the House to the left
• The ‘ravenous hysteria’ over Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just reached a new level of crazy
• Five myths about socialism

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

• The Prodigy singer Keith Flint dies aged 49
• LUKE PERRY DEAD AT 52 Never Recovered from ‘Massive’ Stroke
• ‘I’m a prince’: After years of searching for family history, a pastor discovers royal ties to Africa

 

RUMOR MILL

• 911corlebra777: Mehemet Ali Yalcindag the guy Don Jr hung with in Turkey in Nov 2016, is not only Chairman of Yandex, he has the rights to the Alibaba platform as it pertains to Turkey. Yalcindag is close to Erdogan
• 911corlebra777: The link below is an interesting read. Mehemet Ali Yalcindag is described as a personal friend of Donald Trump
• Mehmet Ali Yalçındağ – 37th Annual Conference on U.S.-Turkey Relations
• Louise Mensch: Copy that. cc @brazencapital @MrFelt_ Oceanway Capital is @hostkey who ran @Wikileaks servers. They share a number with @alfabank Turkey. Now look at Peskov in the Steele Dossier. @gchq @nsagov @aivd :)no flies on me
• John Schindler: Corsi seems terrified. As he should be. “Sorry” won’t cut it here. What these kooky asshats did to the Rich family was disgusting and premeditated. And it was all based on an insidious SVR-scripted lie. The “Hillary’s death squad murdered Seth Rich, who was the real source of the leaked DNC emails” absurdity was cooked up by the Kremlin, as I told you ages ago. You have to be Hannity-level stupid to buy this nonsense. Speaking of which, I can’t wait for Gorka’s #hottake on Hannity about today’s HJC subpoena wave against pretty much everybody on Team Trump. Anybody know when Seb’s gonna be on @foxnews next?
• Tea Pain: The only thing worse than a tyrant is the corrupt party that protects and enables him.
• The Kremlin-White House Lie Machine Spins Out of Control
• Ming: Has @LindseyGrahamSC been found floating naked in captiol pool yet?
• Angry White House Staffer: Oversight is fun
• Rick Wilson: If you’re holding your breath for a majority in the GOP to vote against Trump’s emergency power grab, prepare for disappointment. Little bird tells me they’re calibrating it to lose by 1 vote for a … Wait for it… “Moral victory that doesn’t hurt the President.” Ayfkm?
• Ming: Ming suspect Kremlin sweating a lot more than GOP is.
• From 8-12-18: Thread by @LincolnsBible: “It’s time to listen to this again, and not the part that has been played over and over again. Because “both sides” is a distraction. Listen […]”
• PostimusMaximus: Barr followed ethics advice. So you can’t really be mad at him for overseeing Mueller due to conflicts. You can be mad however if he starts doing things that seem corrupt. So the story continues until we see how he acts.

 

That’s it for Monday.  Fuck.

I should have a list of the 81 letter targets on Tuesday.  Also, it looks like some of the targets are already responding.  Also, there’s a possible criminal referral for Kushner’s 8,541 SF-86 edits.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Friday, March 1, 2019 and the weekend.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Taxes

• House Democrats Are Preparing Request To IRS For Trump Tax Returns 
• “It’s Time”: Push Intensifies for Democrats to Use Cohen Testimony to Subpoena Trump Tax Returns 
• Trump’s net worth may be ‘less than zero’ which is why he is hiding his tax returns: Trump biographer
• Tea Pain: Trump Tweet Tsunami Warning!
• Mike Del Moro: NBC NEWS: Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal has asked the committee’s attorneys to prepare a request for President Trump’s tax returns
• House Democrats prepare case to request Trump tax returns
• Preet Bharara: Is anyone in the House planning a simple hearing on the question of whether Trump’s tax returns have been under audit as he’s claimed for years? Just that. Investigate this simple fact. Can be done in 10 minutes with one IRS witness.

The House Ways and Means Committee has begun the process of acquiring the tax returns for Donald Trump and his businesses.  While they were going to originally wait until the Mueller Report was released, everything that disclosed on Wednesday (Daily Check-In 02/27/2019), they decided to start this process.

Get ready for Tangering Tojo to lose his shit on Monday.

 

Roger Stone

• Judge orders Roger Stone to explain imminent release of book that may violate gag order 
• Roger Stone Continues To Find Ways To Piss Off Judge
• Mueller Says It Will Take 5-8 Days To Prove Case Against Stone 
• Natasha Bertrand: Mueller and DC USA say Stone’s trial would likely take 5-8 days.

I’d almost feel bad about Roger facing jail time for not keeping his mouth shut, but he really deserves it.

 

Paul Manafort

• Paul Manafort wants sentence ‘significantly below’ guidelines in Virginia
• Manafort seeks sentence well below guidelines in Virginia case

 

Security Clearances

• Cummings accuses White House of stonewalling security clearance probe 
• Cummings Demands that White House Immediately Comply with Oversight Committee Request for Documents and Witnesses in Security Clearance Investigation
• Trump Aides Keep Writing Memos to Protect Themselves 
• #FireKushner Surges After NYT Reports Trump Ordered Security Clearance for Son-in-Law. “The president probably could not receive a security clearance if he was not the president.”
• Fox News’ Chris Wallace: You Gotta Wonder Why The CIA Was So Worried About Kushner 
• Ivanka Trump’s Denial That Dad Interfered In Security Clearances Doesn’t Age Well. The president had “zero” involvement in my “husband’s clearance,” the first daughter said.
• The president’s and Ivanka Trump’s egregious deception on security clearances
• House investigators urge ‘immediate’ compliance from White House on security clearance documents
• The son-in-law also rises: How Trump rigged Jared Kushner’s clearance, then lied about it 
• NYT catches Trump in apparent lie about Jared Kushner’s security clearance
• Kellyanne Conway Dodges Fox News on Kushner’s Security Clearance 
• Asha Rangappa: The Ivanka interview corroborates Michael Cohen’s account of how things work in Trumpworld: Trump sets the narrative, and those who are loyal to him repeat the message, even if it is based on lies. No overt “direction” required. Period, end of story.
• Ken Dilaniann: New statement from a spokesman for Abbe Lowell: “Mr. Lowell was not aware of nor told of any request for or action by the President to be involved in the security clearance process. Again, officials affirmed at the time that the regular process occurred without any pressure.”
• David Corn: Remarkable statement. Javanka’s lawyer claims he did nothing wrong—not that Jared and Ivanka did nothing wrong. Not a good look.
• Evan McMullin: A good foreign intel officer could own Kushner in months. His financial vulnerabilities, greed, situational ignorance, dubious foreign contacts, ethical disregard, self-importance and dismissal by more seasoned officials make it too easy. That’s why he shouldn’t have a clearance.

In any normal universe, this would be the greatest scandal of any administration.  Here, it’s just Friday.

 

Hannity

• Fox News Host Sean Hannity Should Be Subpoenaed Over Cohen Information Revealed During Trump Interview: Ex-Federal Prosecutor
• Sean Hannity Can Try to Fight a Subpoena, But He Likely Gave Up His Best Defense Already 
• Sean Hannity Has Made Himself A Witness Over Trump/Cohen Comments Says Fmr. Assistant US Attorney 
• Sean Hannity May Have Blabbed Himself Into A Subpoena With Trump Interview Confession

 

• Mueller report and Trump-Russia investigation must push Congress to protect future special counsels 
• Trump Jr. on Mueller report: ‘Don’t redact anything’ 
• Two days in July: As Republicans convened in Cleveland, did Trump receive a heads-up about WikiLeaks?
• Wikileaks Veteran: I ‘Cooperated’ With Feds ‘in Exchange for Immunity’
• Michael Flynn to be star witness in trial of his ex-lobbying partner, documents say

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

Cohen

• Despite guilty pleas, Michael Cohen might still cash in on Trump tell-all
• Donald Trump Jr signed Stormy Daniels check, Michael Cohen tells Congress
• Donald Trump Jr. signed ‘hush money’ cheques in father’s affair with porn star: Cohen 
• Ex-U.S. Attorney: Trump Now Under Investigation By An Office That Can Indict Him
• If Michael Cohen can see the light, so can Trump’s lackeys – even you, Jim Jordan  
• Jim Jordan Attacks Michael Cohen’s Credibility in Opening Statement
• Lawmakers exploring possible pardon talks involving Michael Cohen
• Michael Cohen implicated Trump in at least 11 different felonies 
• Michael Cohen’s attorney responds to allegations that he lied in his testimony
• More than two-thirds of Republican questioning at the Cohen hearing was attacking Cohen
• Nielsen estimates about 16 million watched Michael Cohen 
• Trump allies worry federal investigations in New York could lead to president’s downfall 
• After Cohen, Republicans Are Now Trump’s Fixers
• Boris Epshteyn calls Michael Cohen a “rat” in a Sinclair must-run segment airing across the country 
• Cohen’s Lawyer Says His Closed-Door Testimony Was ‘Game Changing’
• SDNY investigators have all they need to file anti-mob RICO charges against Trump Org: ex-prosecutor
• Laurence Tribe: Think about it: The President of the United States as the boss of a Racketeering Influenced Criminal Organization. POTUS as the Godfather. That it’s even thinkable is appalling.
• Greg Olear: He’s not the boss. That’s the twist.
• Lincoln’s Bible: I think they’re catching on. 😘
• Scott Stedman: Is this a bad time to remind people that Lanny Davis literally represents the Russian mob?
• Legal Expert: ‘SDNY is Going to Be Waiting With Cuffs’ if Trump Loses Re-Election in 2020 
• If Trump doesn’t win in 2020, SDNY will “be waiting with cuffs” when he leaves White House, says MSNBC legal analyst
• The cast of characters from Trump world who could be called before Congress next
• Natasha Bertrand: I’m not sure whether this is the photo Senate investigators showed Liebman, but here’s Trump in Russia in ‘96 with Calamari in the background.

He’s the guy with the thick mustache in the top right corner.

 

Ex VP

• Former Trump Organization VP: ‘Words Like The N-Word Were Used Frequently’
• Ex-Trump Org VP drops bombshell: CFO Weisselberg knows about at least 5 more Trump hush money payoffs

 

UK and Scotland

• Trump Pitches Golf Course Infomercial From White House, Watchdog Snaps Back 
• Trump tweet touting one of his Scotland golf courses as ‘the greatest’ in the world draws criticism
• Donald Trump’s golf promotion tweet is “shameless, corrupt and repugnant,” former ethics chief says 
• Trump used his Twitter account to promote one of his businesses 

Why was the Scotland course on his mind?

• Trump ordered to pay legal fees after losing court battle over his Scottish golf course
• Scottish government wins Donald Trump wind power legal costs
• David Frum: So this explains Trump’s golf course tweet yesterday. He was threatening the UK government with harm to the US-UK relationship if he is forced to pay the Scottish government’s legal costs in litigation Trump started & lost

 

CONGRESS

• Dr. Dena Grayson: ⁉️WHAT⁉️ @GOPLeader Kevin McCarthy on the check signed by Trump: “The attorney has a responsibility to tell me what’s wrong and what’s right…if it’s finance campaign, those are fines. Those aren’t impeachable.”🙄 WRONG. It’s a #felony‼️ #ImpeachTrump
• ‘This is not a day at the beach’: Pelosi tells moderate Dems to stop voting with GOP
• Ocasio-Cortez ‏calls out Democrats who helped Republicans add anti-immigrant provision to gun bill 
• Pelosi, AOC Warn Moderate Democrats to Stop Voting With the GOP 
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stands up for Ilhan Omar, calls on leaders to denounce “blatant” Islamophobic attacks on Ilhan Omar
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Arrival ‘Was a Really Important Moment’ for America, Democratic 2020 Candidate Says 
• Donald Trump has a new fixer: House Republicans
• House Democrats struggle to break through when it’s all Trump, all the time
• Mitch McConnell can’t protect Trump from vetoes anymore 
• Republicans who held 33 hearings on Benghazi complain that Cohen’s testimony was a waste of time
• Truthdigger Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New Face of the Democratic Party 
• House to vote on sweeping anti-corruption package

 

The following are a list of House and Senate committees that made significant traction in their investigations against Trump.

Oversight

• Elijah Cummings: House Oversight Cmte. To Seek Interviews With Ivanka, Trump Jr. – The Intellectualist
• Cummings Demands that White House Immediately Comply with Oversight Committee Request for Documents and Witnesses in Security Clearance Investigation

 

Ways and Means

• Mike Del Moro: NBC NEWS: Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal has asked the committee’s attorneys to prepare a request for President Trump’s tax returns
• House Democrats prepare case to request Trump tax returns
• Rep. Maxine Waters tell Chris Hayes that Deutsche Bank is cooperating with her committee.

 

Finance

• Democrats investigating Trump’s alleged money laundering may soon have his Deutsche Bank financial records
• Maxine Waters Wants to Probe Donald Trump’s Non-profit Foundation After Cohen Testimony: ‘An Area That Should Be Looked at’

 

Judiciary

• Chairman Jerrold Nadler says over 60 entities and individuals close to White House are getting document requests from House Judiciary Committee Monday 
• House to query 60 Trump officials in obstruction probe
• House Judiciary chairman says he will launch probe of Trump’s ‘abuse of power’
• Kyle Griffin: House Judiciary chair Jerry Nadler: “Tomorrow we will be issuing document requests to over 60 different people and individuals from the White House, to the Department of Justice, Donald Trump Jr. … to begin investigations.” Via ABC
• REP LIEU STATEMENT ON ANNOUNCEMENT OF JUDICIARY COMMITTEE’S MASSIVE INVESTIGATION
• House Judiciary chair: “It’s very clear” Trump obstructed justice 
• House Judiciary chairman says he will launch probe of Trump’s ‘abuse of power’
• Jerrold Nadler says ‘very clear’ Trump obstructed justice, sending 60 document requests Monday 

 

House Intelligence

• Swalwell confirms Cohen ‘game changing’ closed-door testimony 
• Schiff claims there’s already ‘direct evidence’ of collusion by Trump campaign
• Face The Nation: House Intel Committee Chairman @RepAdamSchiff says his committee is looking into @realDonaldTrump’s personal businesses, including allegations that “Russians have been laundering money through the Trump Organization.”
• 911corlebra777: Schiff already knows the answer. Russian money laundering through the President of the United States businesses. If everyone remembers, Putin convened an emergency cabinet meeting in 2016 when the Panama Papers came out

 

Senate Intelligence

• Warner: ‘Lots of evidence’ of collaboration with Russia  – CNN Video
• Senate Intel Committee Now Investigating Trump’s Various Trips to Russia 
• Scott Stedman: Simona Papadopoulos announces that shes testifying to the Senate March 11.
• Scott Stedman: Now ask yourself: Would the Senate waste their time on someone like Simona in the midst of the massive Russia probe if they didn’t think she was important? Question that must be asked: -Who are you currently receiving money from? -Who paid for your expenses in 2016? Did you receive any payments from non-employers? For clarity, the Democrats in the Senate are the ones who pushed for her testimony.

That’s 6 investigations all making moves on one day.  Damn.

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET A.K.A. INDIVIDUAL-1

North Korea

• John Bolton: North Korea summit was not a failure
• Kim — Not Trump — Was Right About Summit Snag, Says State Department | HuffPost
• One More Thing: Warmbier family responds to Trump-Kim summit
• After U.S.-North Korea nuclear summit fails, all sides scramble to salvage the talks despite major differences
• U.S. and South Korea end military exercises that riled North Korea in favor of something smaller
• Trump Faces Fury After Saying He Believes North Korean Leader on Student’s Death 
• North Korean leader Kim Jong Un leaves Vietnam with a grin and a wave, but empty hands
• Iran mocks Donald Trump after North Korea summit, says he will “never get a better deal” with Tehran either 
• Joe Walsh: The most despicable thing that happened this week? The President of the United States, in front of the world, let an evil dictator off the hook for the brutal killing a 22 year old American citizen.
• Asha Rangappa: Here’s a different way of looking at Trump’s view of Kim Jong Un: If it has been HIS son (or son-in-law) who was treated the way Otto Warmbiere was, would he be saying the same thing right now? If not, why are other Americans disposable?
• As Trump and Kim Met, North Korean Hackers Hit Over 100 Targets in U.S. and Ally Nations
• Schumer Demands Trump Apologize To Otto Warmbier’s Parents 
• Otto Warmbier’s family responds to Trump’s defense of Kim Jong Un, saying Kim’s ‘evil regime’ is responsible for their son’s death
• Trump whipped up public emotion over Otto Warmbier’s death. Now it’s boomeranging back on him.

 

• Trump lambastes Cohen, pointing to reportedly favorable book proposed by his former lawyer
• Trump May Want to Be President Forever. Take the Threat Seriously.
• Trump mocks glasses worn by Chinese officials in rambling speech riddled with false claims
• Trump neglects and demeans U.S. territories. It’s an American tradition.
• Trump derides Mueller probe, mocks Democrats and his former attorney general
• Donald Trump’s Talk Of ‘Preserving Our Heritage Is ‘Sick’ And Reminiscent Of Hitler, Says Former Obama Official 
• The Nobel Committee just revealed that Trump’s nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize was forged
• Trump claims Michael Cohen wrote him a ‘love letter’ in bizarre tweet claiming his former lawyer went ‘rogue’

 

TRAITOR TOTS

Epstein

• Wasserman Schultz, Frankel, Speier Call on Attorney General Barr to Re-open Epstein Case and Publicly Release Acosta Misconduct Investigation and Documents 
• House Democrats want Jeffrey Epstein sex case reopened 
• Alan Dershowitz suggests curbing press access to hearing on Jeffrey Epstein sex abuse
• Julie K. Brown: The Miami Herald, supported by 32 news organizations, including the NYT and Washington Post, will argue in federal court in NY on Wednesday to unseal Epstein documents. #PerversionofJustice
• Renato Mariotti: The presumption is that the Jeffrey Epstein hearing will be public, and it will be difficult for Alan Dershowitz to overcome that default rule, which is grounded in the Constitution.
• Dr. Dena Grayson: Alan ”Mr. First Amendment” Dershowitz wants to BAN THE PRESS from a hearing about unsealing “sensitive” evidence in the case against Dersh’s #pedophile pal, Jeffrey Epstein.🙄Dersh is nervous that details of his alleged sex acts will be revealed.🤢🤮
• Michael Avenatti: Absolutely nothing should remain sealed from this case involving Epstein. Sunlight is the ultimate disinfectant. It should ALL be publicly disclosed. @AlanDersh, his client Epstein and others will simply have to deal with the fallout. Just like the girls have for yrs. #Justice

 

Gaetz

• Matt Gaetz: I Am Against Re-Investigating The Jeffrey Epstein Case
• From December 2017: Matt Gaetz defends lone no vote on anti-human trafficking bill
• Matt Gaetz, who is Florida Man personified in Congress, is in big trouble now.
• Rick Scott calls actions by Matt Gaetz ‘disgusting’

 

Pence

• After criticism from the LGBT community, Joe Biden walked back his praise of Mike Pence
• Cynthia Nixon: Boys’ Club Prevents Biden From Grasping Pence’s Hate — “It’s easy to say nice things about Pence when you’re not personally threatened by his agenda,” the out activist writes in a Washington Post op-ed.
• Mike Pence isn’t ‘decent.’ He’s insidious. 
• Mike Pence Says ‘Freedom, Not Socialism, Ended Slavery,’ Doesn’t Mention What Started Slavery 
• Opinion | Mike Pence isn’t ‘decent.’ He’s insidious.
• Opinion | Mike Pence: It’s time for Congress to establish the Space Force

 

• At Gridiron dinner, Ivanka tries laughs: ‘As if being Donald Trump’s daughter isn’t the hardest job in the world’

 

FIGHTING BACK

• Sitting Presidents Must Be Indictable To Avert A Constitutional Crisis 
• Pete Souza on throwing shade at Trump: ‘I couldn’t just sit by and not do anything’
• Polls show Trump approval rating slipping in Midwest 
• Rep Lieu Questions FBI Dismantling of War Crimes Unit 
• George Conway blasts Lindsey Graham’s latest defense of Trump: “People commit crimes using checks all the time”
• George Conway Says Donald Trump’s Supporters Know He’s A ‘Liar’ But ‘They Just Don’t Care’ 
• Go Back to Normal After Trump? No Thanks 
• How a black man ‘outsmarted’ a neo-Nazi group — and became their new leader
• Hillary Clinton: ‘We are living through a full-fledged crisis in our democracy’
• MSW Podcast: When we seize Trump’s assets, we should make him pay value of the properties he reported to Deutsche Bank. @maddow
• Thread by @gregolear: “As I wrote in , Trump/Russia is a multiplicity of Watergates. The scope of criminality boggles the mind. Let’s break it down. [T […]” #DirtyRubles
• Dpetagrew: This is Trump trying to outspeak Cohen’s testimomy and Hanoi loss with Kim. He is EGO BRUISED and needs to set things straight in his mind. He is a deranged narcissist that has experienced serious EGO DAMAGE and exposure as a crook, con artist, a cheater, a liar, and a racist.
• PostimusMaximus: Just a reminder that Mueller’s team very specifically indicated this moment in the GRU indictments because the Russians did in fact attempt a hack later that same day.

 

EMERGENCIES, SHUTDOWN & IMMIGRATION

• ‘Where are we going to go if they take everything?’: Why Texas landowners are fighting Trump’s border wall 
• 29 parents separated from their children and deported last year cross U.S. border to request asylum
• Opinion | Even senators who back the wall should reject Trump’s emergency — for the good of the country
• Senate Democrats have enough Republican support to terminate Trump’s national emergency
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Slams ‘Splinter’ Democrats Who Voted To Expand ICE’s Powers
• More than 1,000 TSA employees still owed back pay from shutdown 
• Inspection finds ICE jail’s conditions endanger detainees’ health, safety
• Trump said he wanted more ‘highly skilled’ immigrants to come to the US. But skilled, educated foreign workers are leaving the US dejected, saying Trump doomed their American dreams — leaving businesses in the lurch. 

 

RACISM, RIGHT WING TERRORISM, & WHITE NATIONALISM

• David Hogg: I’m not saying Trump is a white nationalist. I’m saying that white nationalists think he is a white nationalist.
• A congressman plays the ‘black friend’ card, showing that age-old racist attitudes persist
• ‘They killed a white woman’: Fifty-four years later, Leroy Moton looks back at the killing that changed the civil rights movement
• ‘A word that has blood dripping off it’: How a white lawmaker’s slur reverberated in Maryland
• Wisconsin Man Sentenced for Threatening Jewish Community Center
• Woman sentenced to 15 years for brutal brick beating of 92-year-old in Willowbrook
• Video shows Portland officers made deal with far-right group leader
• Ilhan Omar Slams GOP After Posters Linking Her To Sept.11 Sparks Maelstrom In West Virginia Legislature 
• Mark Meadows Lynne Patton Moment Was Like Slave Auction, Say MSNBC Panelists: It Was ‘the Epitome of Racism’
• In America, talk turns to something unspoken for 150 years: Civil war
• Opinion | Some Democrats won’t hedge: Trump is a racist
• Poster linking Rep. Ilhan Omar to 9/11 sparks outrage, injuries in W.Va. state Capitol
• The neo-Nazi plot against America is much bigger than we realize 
• Tlaib and Meadows accused each other of ‘racist’ stunts. Later, they hugged on the House floor.
• Top Democrat demands another apology from Rep. Ilhan Omar, accusing her of ‘a vile anti-Semitic slur’

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

• Thomas And Gorsuch Issue Dissent That Calls Into Question The Right To Counsel

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

• Jennifer Deon: Rape culture is a huge problem here. In the last year BYUI has had more rapes reported than BYU, UVU, and UofU COMBINED!
• Only 6 countries give women the same work rights as men. The U.S. isn’t one of them.
• 10 Undeniable Facts About the Michael Jackson Sexual-Abuse Allegations

 

COLD WAR 2.0

• Bill Browder: BREAKING: Russian State Investigative Committee formally accuses me of murdering Russian whistleblower Alexander Perepilichnyy in Surrey in 2012. Their accusation closely follows the announcement of an EU Magnitsky Act proposal late last year
• Bill Browder faces ‘trumped up’ charges in Russia over ‘poisoning’ of Putin whistleblower in Surrey
• Majority of Americans Now Consider Russia a Critical Threat
• Ming: Russia in its current form can never be a winner. Thus they try and muck things up and spoil things for rest of world.
• Omar al-Bashir has ruled Sudan for 30 years. His latest crackdown could be his last.
• China banned millions of people with poor social credit from transportation in 2018
• China’s expanding war on Islam: Now they’re coming for the Kazakhs.
• Opinion | Russia’s persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses is reviving dark practices of the past
• Saudi Arabia Is Said to Have Tortured an American Citizen 
• Google declines to pull controversial Saudi government app

 

#NEVERAGAIN

• Shannon Watts: Just a reminder as gun extremists and @NRA lobbyists speak at #CPAC, it’s a gun-free zone. Armed strangers around thee, but not around me. #CPAC2019
• Shannon Watts: Wayne LaPierre talking about elitism and the “ruling class” from a gun-free zone while collecting $5,000,000 in salary from the @NRA. #cpac #cpac2019
• Gun slips from waistband, shoots man in genitals

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

• The ‘Momo challenge’ isn’t a viral danger to children online. But it sure is viral.
• America’s Cities Are Running on Software From the ’80s

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

• Trump promises executive order that could strip colleges of funding if they don’t ‘support free speech’
• Caroline Orr: This is chilling, given what “free speech” means to the right-wing crowd. As I wrote about recently, the right-wing “free speech” movement is being bankrolled by conservative billionaires who want to indoctrinate young people & force their views where they aren’t wanted. The “free speech” legislation being pushed on college campuses is based on a model bill developed by the right-wing Goldwater Institute. It not only forces colleges to let unwanted speakers onto campus, but actually prohibits peaceful protests when such speakers are talking.
• AOC replaces Clinton and Pelosi as conservatives’ greatest foe 
• He Took Down the Elite at Davos. Then He Came for Fox News. 
• No, Democrats Don’t Want to ‘Murder’ or ‘Execute’ Babies 
• During Unhinged Rant, Fox News Guest Jokes Green New Deal Could Lead to Cannibalism 

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

• Melania’s spokeswoman: Donald Trump’s bullying has nothing to do with ‘Be Best’. But critics ask, shouldn’t “being best” begin at home? 

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, AND ECONOMY

• ‘One of the Best Cases For Single Payer I’ve Ever Seen’: Watch Dr. Adam Gaffney Take on Skeptics at Fox 
• 11 Million Taxpayers Losing $323 Billion In Deductions In Trump Tax Hit 
• After seven days, striking Oakland teachers reach deal with school district
• An American got sick in Taiwan. He came back with a tale of the ‘horrors of socialized medicine.’
• As dollar stores move into cities, residents see a steep downside
• Baby Boomers upend the workforce one last time
• Entire staffs at 3 Sonic locations quit after wages cut to ‘$4/hour plus tips’
• Gap, Victoria’s Secret and even Tesla: 4,300 store closures already announced this year
• Is ultra-wealth a problem? More and more, the answer is ‘yes’ 
• Medicare for All is the obvious solution to a health care system that still drives people to financial ruin. My daughter’s recent ICU stay cemented my belief that our children’s health cannot be a commodity subject to market forces 
• MLB players love our caps. The people who make them for us deserve fair wages.
• New data reveals the flaw in the Trump economy
• Republicans who increased debt with tax cuts now say it’s a “threat to national security”
• Taxing the rich, an idea gaining ground in the United States 
• The 10-year anniversary of the bull market is coming
• Top Trump officials meddled with IRS to make sure you wouldn’t get a full property tax break, inspector general says 
• Trump keeps claiming the trade deficit is going down. It’s not.
• U.S. personal income falls, following drop in consumer spending 
• U.S. Personal Income falls; spending Weakest Since 2009
• Working parents are an endangered species. That’s why Democrats are talking child care.
• From /r/BasicIncome: Quantitative easing was the father of millennial socialism
• From the article above:

Full article for anyone who can’t get past the pay wall.

Is Ben Bernanke the father of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? Not in the literal sense, obviously, but in the philosophical and political sense. As we mark the 10th anniversary of the bull market, it is worth considering whether the efforts of the US Federal Reserve, under Mr Bernanke’s leadership, to avoid 1930s-style debt deflation ended up spawning a new generation of socialists, such as the freshman Congresswoman Ms Ocasio-Cortez, in the home of global capitalism. Mr Bernanke’s unorthodox “cash for trash” scheme, otherwise known as quantitative easing, drove up asset prices and bailed out baby boomers at the profound political cost of pricing out millennials from that most divisive of asset markets, property. This has left the former comfortable, but the latter with a fragile stake in the society they are supposed to build. As we look towards the 2020 US presidential election, could Ms Ocasio-Cortez’s leftwing politics become the anthem of choice for America’s millennials? But before we look forward, it is worth going back a bit. The 2008 crash itself didn’t destroy wealth, but rather revealed how much wealth had already been destroyed by poor decisions taken in the boom. This underscored the truism that the worst of investments are often taken in the best of times.

Mr Bernanke, a keen student of the 1930s, understood that a “balance sheet recession” must be combated by reflating assets. By exchanging old bad loans on the banks’ balance sheets with good new money, underpinned by negative interest rates, the Fed drove asset prices skywards. Higher valuations fixed balance sheets and ultimately coaxed more spending and investment. However, such “hyper-trickle-down” economics also meant that wealth inequality was not the unintended consequence, but the objective, of policy. Soaring asset prices, particularly property prices, drive a wedge between those who depend on wages for their income and those who depend on rents and dividends. This wages versus rents-and-dividends game plays out generationally, because the young tend to be asset-poor and the old and the middle-aged tend to be asset-rich. Unorthodox monetary policy, therefore, penalises the young and subsidises the old. When asset prices rise much faster than wages, the average person falls further behind. Their stake in society weakens. The faster this new asset-fuelled economy grows, the greater the gap between the insiders with a stake and outsiders without. This threatens a social contract based on the notion that the faster the economy grows, the better off everyone becomes. What then? Well, politics shifts.

Notwithstanding Winston Churchill’s observation about a 20-year-old who isn’t a socialist not having a heart, and a 40-year-old who isn’t a capitalist having no head, polling indicates a significant shift in attitudes compared with prior generations. According to the Pew Research Center, American millennials (defined as those born between 1981 and 1996) are the only generation in which a majority (57 per cent) hold “mostly/consistently liberal” political views, with a mere 12 per cent holding more conservative beliefs. Fifty-eight per cent of millennials express a clear preference for big government. Seventy-nine per cent of millennials believe immigrants strengthen the US, compared to just 56 per cent of baby boomers. On foreign policy, millennials (77 per cent) are far more likely than boomers (52 per cent) to believe that peace is best ensured by good diplomacy rather than military strength. Sixty-seven per cent want the state to provide universal healthcare, and 57 per cent want higher public spending and the provision of more public services, compared with 43 per cent of baby boomers. Sixty-six per cent of millennials believe that the system unfairly favours powerful interests.

One battle ground for the new politics is the urban property market. While average hourly earnings have risen in the US by just 22 per cent over the past 9 years, property prices have surged across US metropolitan areas. Prices have risen by 34 per cent in Boston, 55 per cent in Houston, 67 per cent in Los Angeles and a whopping 96 per cent in San Francisco. The young are locked out. Similar developments in the UK have produced comparable political generational divides. If only the votes of the under-25s were counted in the last UK general election, not a single Conservative would have won a seat. Ten years ago, faced with the real prospect of another Great Depression, Mr Bernanke launched QE to avoid mass default. Implicitly, he was underwriting the wealth of his own generation, the baby boomers.

Now the division of that wealth has become a key battleground for the next election with people such as Ms Ocasio-Cortez arguing that very high incomes should be taxed at 70 per cent. For the purist, capitalism without default is a bit like Catholicism without hell. But we have confession for a reason. Everyone needs absolution. QE was capitalism’s confessional. But what if the day of reckoning was only postponed? What if a policy designed to protect the balance sheets of the wealthy has unleashed forces that may lead to the mass appropriation of those assets in the years ahead?

 

STUDENT ISSUES

• Guess which state spends the most public funds on private and religious school education. Hint: Betsy DeVos has a house there.
• Koch Brothers Pushing Garbage Libertarian “Textbook” On Poor Schools 
• This elementary school principal reads books on Facebook to ensure her students have a bedtime story
• Rather than wrestle a girl in the state championship, this high schooler forfeited

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

CPAC

• Trump derides Mueller probe, mocks Democrats and his former attorney general
• Trump calls Russia probe ‘bull****’, hugs American flag and predicts wind will ‘stop blowing’ in off-script CPAC speech 
• The Trailer: At CPAC, it’s their way or the socialist way
• CPAC used to be about conservative ideas — now it’s just a circus 
• Democratic oversight is ‘bullshit’: Trump goes off-script at CPAC 
• Kurt Eichenwald: I wonder what @LindseyGrahamSC thinks about his new comrades in arms – the Trumpers – condemning the “ghost of John McCain” at CPAC. Can he now see the evil that has infused the Trump-GOP? Or will he continue to sell his soul for a job?
• Ricky Davila: When a person of color like MAGA Loon Michelle Malkin is cheered on at CPAC for attacking other brown people, you know she’s their pass for being a racist. But when she gets a standing ovation for attacking a deceased war hero, you know they don’t give a shit about patriotism.
• Shannon Watts: Wayne LaPierre talking about elitism and the “ruling class” from a gun-free zone while collecting $5,000,000 in salary from the @NRA. #cpac #cpac2019
• Walter Shaub: Donald Trump just told CPAC, “Matt Schlapp is loving this. He’s saying this is a lot more than we paid for.” Let’s hope the statement that CPAC paid the President for an official speech is a figure of speech. The anti-bribery statute, 18 USC 201, applies to the President. He also used this event as yet another opportunity to attack Jeff Sessions for recusing. He says, I don’t know how you recuse. This is probably one of the few true statements he’ll make today. The man hates government ethics.
• Anti-Muslim Activist Laura Loomer Banned From CPAC After Harassing Reporters
• George Takei: Trump, speaking to adoring goons at CPAC, criticized clean energy, saying, “When the wind stops blowing, that’s the end of your electric.” Sometimes I think, “No one can actually be that stupid.” But then Trump proves me wrong, over and over.
• Shannon Watts: Just a reminder as gun extremists and @NRA lobbyists speak at #CPAC, it’s a gun-free zone. Armed strangers around thee, but not around me. #CPAC2019
• Ahmed Baba: These lies are dangerous. The planned parenthood shooting is still seared in my memory. Stfu @DonaldJTrumpJr. I don’t usually resort to profanity but I’ve had it up to here with these gaslighting, privileged liars recklessly throwing around rhetoric that has gotten people killed. The @GOP is a depraved fear-mongering apparatus that seeks to obtain and maintain power at all costs.
• GOP Strategist Disappointed By Reception to Trump’s ‘Unhinged’ CPAC Address: Republican Party is Dead 
• Pence likens Democratic health-care and energy agenda to socialism
• Aaron Rupar: Don Jr makes a #MeToo joke. @JerryFalwellJr then seems to threaten to shoot AOC if she shows up at his house and tries to “take my cows”
• Inside Raheem Kassam’s ‘Transatlantic Right Wing Spring Fling’ | Spectator USA

 

• ‘We’re not going to turn on our own’: Republicans rally around Trump as threats mount
• Opinion | On the critically endangered list: The Principled Republican
• Trump is a national security risk – and still Republicans back him 
• Judge Julie Lynch leaving Republican party, will run as Democrat in future

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

• A man faked his own kidnapping to get out of a Super Bowl bet. The plan backfired.
• Sacramento police officers who fatally shot Stephon Clark will not be charged, prosecutor says
• Texas executed an inmate — then arrested his son and grandson for disorderly conduct
• The feds spent a decade trying to seize the Mongol club’s notorious patch. A judge ruled they can’t have it.
• These journalists have a list of criminal cops. California is trying to keep it secret.

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

• This bill would have ended child marriage under age 16 in Idaho. The House voted it down
• ‘Sad day for democracy’: Mayor vetoes Alaska city’s newly passed LGBTQ protections 
• Religious rights debate reignited with bill introduced in Georgia Senate 
• Portland Bans Discrimination Against Atheists And Agnostics | HuffPost

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

• At least 14 dead as storms, possible tornados hit Deep South
• ‘Something is in those vaccines’: Lawmaker says mandatory measles shots are ‘Communist’
• A brutal Arctic air mass is about to take over the United States
• Anti-vaccine movies disappear from Amazon after CNN Business report
• Black women and HIV: Oral history reveals their pain, disenfranchisement and endurance
• Coral grows and dies daily in exhibit that puts visitors in our endangered oceans
• I’m a scientist studying brain illnesses. Now I’m a lock-in, living with one of them: Lou Gehrig’s disease.
• Inside the grand and sometimes slimy plan to turn octopuses into lab animals
• Loggers cut down ash trees in a race with a killer beetle
• Los Angeles failed to hit 70 degrees in February for the first time in recorded history
• Man lost in snow for five days survived on Taco Bell sauce packets
• NASA needs SpaceX to prove it can fly astronauts safely. Saturday’s test flight a ‘critical first step.’
• Physical punishment of kids tied to antisocial behavior in adulthood, study says
• SpaceX successfully launches spacecraft designed for astronauts
• Spring put on hold as storm rolls across U.S. and polar air arrives
• The latest right-wing attack on Democrats: ‘They want to take away your hamburgers’
• This grandma posed for a photo on an iceberg — then had to be rescued when she floated out to sea
• ‘He gets to decide’: Trump escalates his fight against climate science ahead of 2020
• ‘It’s as if my mind just doesn’t know how to relax’: This is how I experience anxiety – The Lily
• Why children have such powerful moral authority

 

ELECTIONS

• Where does America find such sad excuses for elected leaders? 
• Why doesn’t the ‘voter fraud’ crowd care about what happened in North Carolina? 
• Mitch McConnell finds a novel villain after North Carolina’s fraud-riddled election: Democrats.
• State election officials opt for 2020 voting machines vulnerable to hacking
• Sheldon Adelson, casino mogul and major GOP donor, in dire health, lawyer says

 

THINKING AHEAD

• Bernie Sanders calls Trump the ‘most dangerous’ U.S. president in modern history 
• Bernie Sanders draws in huge, young, diverse crowd for first 2020 rally on a snowy day in Brooklyn 
• Bernie Sanders kicks off his campaign for ‘government which works for all of us, not just the 1 percent’ 
• Biden is leaning in on a run for the White House. There are reasons.
• Candidates press to connect with black voters
• Democratic presidential candidates marking Selma anniversary
• Koch brothers to intervene in 2020 GOP primaries to unseat Trump 
• Opinion | Kamala Harris brought sex work into the 2020 spotlight. Here’s what she should do next.
• Sanders could face more scrutiny for socialist leanings
• Sanders: 2020 Dems will rally around nominee to ‘defeat Donald Trump’
• Warren vows no pardons for those caught up in Trump scandals
• Warren: ‘No,’ Mike Pence Isn’t A Decent Man 
• Washington Gov. Jay Inslee joins 2020 Democratic presidential field
• Nikki Haley’s next act: A policy group, a book — but no word on 2024
• Over a quarter of Americans are represented by a Democrat who’s running for president

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

• ‘Right to repair’ regulation necessary, say small businesses and environmentalists – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
• The buzz is true: Martha Stewart partners with Canadian cannabis company

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

• Does Asheville, N.C., live up to its ‘Dog City, USA’ claim?
• Fierce, feared and female: The WWII pilots known as the ‘Night Witches’
• He has 1.9 percent body fat, runs the 40 in 4.3 seconds and is taking over the NFL combine
• Kyler Murray is short, polarizing and a perfect No. 1 pick for a new-look NFL
• The 10 books to read in March
• The rise and fall of the most European state in the Union

 

RUMOR MILL

• WTFINGF March 1, 2019 -SpicyFiles T
• Tea Pain: Comedy writers will miss Donald Trump most of all. They will have to go back to writin’ jokes instead of just repeatin’ what he says word for word.
• Dr. Dena Grayson: 🔥KUSH🔥 Before the inauguration, Jared Kushner and Misha🇷🇺Flynn tried to arrange a secret backchannel with #Russia🇷🇺. After joining the WH, Kush routinely requested classified intel that “mysteriously” got into the hands of Middle East princes.🤬 #Espionage @thespybrief
• Chris “Cal” Carnahan: Regarding Mr. Kushner and his clearance debacle @20Committee flagged this last year. It’s worth a reread. Pay attention to this paragraph. https://spectator.us/why-did-jared-kushner-lose-his-security-clearance/ … in context of all of the info dropping now. Also for those really into the spy stuff Schindler also does @thespybrief

• Lincoln’s Bible: Good Morning! 🍸This is your official mob-translation thread for Cohen’s hearing. We’ll have some old tweets & articles for context, some bouncing around to other accounts – bringing you solid & funny takes, & some mafia ghosts as special commentators. THREAD
• Thread by @LincolnsBible: “Good Morning! This is your official mob-translation thread for Cohen’s hearing. We’ll have some old tweets & articles for context, some […]” #TearDownTheGaetzOfHellAndReleaseTheCohen
• Louise Mensch: Just putting my respectful (and surprised) disagreement on the record. Mueller will demonstrate collusion, and that will be the least of it. His report will be damning. Nobody but Team Treason will be disappointed. Laying my marker down now.
• Scott Vickery: Senator Ted Cruz- I find the attached examples of truth to be self evident. That is the tip of the iceberg. Explanations are in order.
• ArsonCrafts: Hola @tedcruz – explain yourself. Why did your campaign give US voter data to Russian Yaroslav “Yarek” Leontenko? Yarek “from rus mafia,” that is, as his sister joked… or perhaps didn’t joke?
• Quinn Cummings: I keep thinking about Melania’s zed card. If you aren’t near the modeling business, a zed card or a comp card is the modeling equivalent of a headshot. It’s slightly different, because their stats will be on it and headshots are mostly of the actor’s, well, head.  THREAD
• Thread by @quinncy: “I keep thinking about Melania’s zed card. If you aren’t near the modeling business, a zed card or a comp card is the modeling equivalent of […]”

 

That’s it for the last few days.  It’s been crazy, and it’s gonna get crazier from here on out.  Monday will bring new action from the Judiciary committee, and some amazing reporting about Fox News knowing about the Stormy Daniels affair before the election.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur