Monday April 8 to Wednesday April 10 2019

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Mueller Report and Barr

• Nadler Doubles Down On No Redactions: We’re ‘Entitled To See All’ Of Mueller Report 
• Nancy Pelosi: “I don’t trust Barr. I trust Mueller.” 
• Everyone is asking for the Mueller report, and you can too: The Justice Department has been flooded with public records requests since the Russia probe wrapped.
• Attorney general says he believes ‘spying did occur’ in campaign probe of Trump associates
• Attorney General William Barr says Mueller report’s release likely ‘within a week’
• Barr Dances Around Question When Asked If WH Has Seen Mueller Report 
• ‘All Part of the White House’s Cover-Up’: Fmr Watergate Prosecutor Says AG Barr Gave Trump Intel from Mueller Report
• Barr says he thinks the government spied on the Trump campaign
• Barr to Assemble Team to Look at DOJ, FBI Actions in Trump Probe: ‘the move means the AG is looking into allegations that the DOJ and the FBI were operating with an “anti-Trump bias” while examining Trump and potential collusion with Russia
• Barr: No Evidence That Trump Investigation Was Improper 
• Bill Barr: I’m Not Giving Congress Unredacted Mueller Report. The AG said a redacted version could come within a week. But he’s not giving in to congressional demands for the full copy.
• William Barr Gives Trump What He Wants, Forms Team to Investigate the F.B.I 
• William Barr Goes Full Trump 
• William Barr Is Shooting Squid Ink for Republicans to Hide Behind 
• William Barr’s Mueller cover-up reveals America’s delusional dreamland about democracy 
• Kyle Griffin: A.G. Bill Barr says that he does not intend to release the full, unredacted report to the Judiciary Committee.
• Kaitlan Collins: Barr says Mueller was given the opportunity to review the four-page summary he released, but Mueller declined.
• Julia Davis: Is it because Mueller’s team prepared their own summaries and he didn’t want to give the appearance of endorsing the Barr letter by reviewing it?
• Caroline Orr: Biggest takeaway from AG Barr’s testimony thus far: He won’t say if anyone at the White House has been briefed on the Mueller report, but did say that he doesn’t believe the public or even Congress should see the unredated report.
• Asha Rangappa: Hmmm. I’m old enough to remember when Bill Clinton talking with AG Lynch about grandkids on the tarmac tainted the entire investigation on HRC. But now we don’t need to know if AG discussed an investigation *with the subject himself*??? OK. 👌🏽
• MSW Podcast: Barr is refusing to say whether the White House has seen the Mueller report, telling Dems to just “read his letters.” Why can’t he just answer that question? Seems very odd as it would be simple to say “the White House hasn’t seen the report”.
• Natasha Bertrand: Barr says he has “no plan” to exert executive privilege over aspects of Mueller’s report. (This is the second time he’s used the words “no plan” to characterize the exec privilege deliberations.)
• Tea Pain: FANTASY: “I tried to use as much of the special counsel’s language as I could.” – William Barr FACT: Not a single complete sentence from Mueller’s Report appears in Barr’s March 24th summary.
• Angry White House Staffer: I can’t wait for the whole report to come out, mostly because it’s going to put a stop to — or at least seriously slow down — this bullshit. FWIW, the ‘oranges’ of the investigation were solid. You can’t just walk down and get a warrant from FISC on a whim. Also, here’s Barr admitting that this is nothing but a political stunt, because he hasn’t seen any evidence of wrongdoing by the FBI in regards to handling the Trump investigation
• Why Donald Trump wants the Mueller report, and his taxes, kept secret: Unsealed court documents reveal more of Trump’s long, shady history with mobster and informant Felix Sater 
• William Barr Accidentally Concedes His Reason for Withholding the Mueller Report Is Baloney 
• Wait, What? Attorney General Claims Spying Occurred on Trump’s Campaign Then Provides No Evidence 

 

• FBI brass discussed possibility Trump fired Comey ‘at the behest of’ Russia
• FBI confirms Comey was a witness in Mueller investigation
• Rod Rosenstein allegedly said 2 members of Trump’s cabinet were open to invoking the 25th Amendment after Comey’s firing
• Newly released testimony: Top FBI lawyer says agency concerned Trump obstructed justice 
• Mueller witnesses worry about release of testimony
• Julia Davis: Current and former Trump admin officials who cooperated w/ the #MuellerInvestigation worry about release of testimony: “Very high,” is how one Republican source described the tension. “They cooperated and had to tell the truth. He is going to go bonkers.”
• Natasha Bertrand: Sam Patten’s attorneys say he concealed a payment from a Ukrainian oligarch to Trump’s inaugural because he was “blinded by a desire to accommodate his client.” His lawyers also say that he “erred” in deleting 200k emails following his interview with the Senate Intel Committee.

 

• DHS, FBI say election systems in 50 states were targeted in 2016 

 

CONGRESS

Mueller

• House Judiciary Committee calls on Robert Mueller to testify
• The Forgotten Reason Congress Needs to See the Mueller Report: Legislators have a responsibility to police obstruction of justice, according to the Constitution.
• The full Mueller report could be released — if the House opens impeachment hearings 
• Nadler Doubles Down On No Redactions: We’re ‘Entitled To See All’ Of Mueller Report 
• Nancy Pelosi: “I don’t trust Barr. I trust Mueller.” 

 

Barr’s Testimony

• Pelosi says Barr comments undermine his role: Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she doesn’t trust Attorney General William Barr and suggested his congressional testimony Wednesday undermined his independence as the nation’s top law enforcement officer 
• Pelosi: Barr is ‘going off the rails’ 
• Adam Schiff just issued a stark warning about William Barr 
• Attorney General Barr Testifies on President’s 2020 Justice Department Budget Request
• Attorney General Barr says he would favor making marijuana illegal across the United States 
• Thread by @TomJChicago: “(1) Today’s William Barr show bothered many people. Besides listening to shameless GOP Reps attempt to protect Trump & Putin, I’m OK wit […]”
• Adam Schiff: Today we learned: Barr still won’t commit to giving Congress the full unredacted Mueller report, Barr won’t request court approval to give us grand jury material, and Barr won’t even say if the White House has seen, or been briefed on, the report. Trump got his Roy Cohn.
• Adam Schiff: In two years, post-Watergate rules have been obliterated. After Trump, a president under investigation can: Fire the FBI Director leading the probe, Fire the Attorney General not protecting him, and appoint one who will. It’s the most profound attack on rule of law in decades.
• Caroline Orr: Attorney General Barr was just given a chance to clarify himself re the FBI “spying” on the Trump campaign. He said he wants to make sure there wasn’t any “unauthorized surveillance” — even though there’s no evidence to suggest that there was.
• Adrienne Cobb: Wow. Barr just said intelligence agencies spied on the Trump campaign, saying he doesn’t know if it was proper. That’s why he’s reviewing how Mueller’s investigation began. Literally spreading Trump’s bullshit. When aides to a presidential nominee brag about their connections to Russia and tell people Russia has dirt on the nominee’s opponent, our intelligence agencies better investigate the nominee or they wouldn’t be doing their job.
• Natasha Bertrand: Barr when asked whether he has evidence of wrongdoing by FBI or Mueller during 2016 probe and special counsel probe: “I have no specific evidence that I would cite right now, I do have questions about it.” Also says he’s “not putting together a panel” to look into it.

 

Taxes

• Treasury denies Democrats’ request to hand over Trump’s tax returns by the end of Wednesday, says it will confer with Justice
• They Say It’s Bad Now But Republicans Disclosed Private Tax Returns In 2014 — They used the very same law to attack Obama officials that Democrats are hoping will shed light on Trump’s finances.
• Grassley unintentionally contradicts White House claims that Congress can’t see Trump tax returns – The senior GOP senator and finance committee chair acknowledged the law gives Congress the power to get anyone’s tax returns. 
• The IRS chief must release Trump’s tax returns — and Mnuchin must not stop him
• IRS commissioner: No rule against releasing Trump’s tax returns while under audit 
• Lawmakers Just Confronted the IRS Over Tax Audits That Target the Poor — Following up on ProPublica stories about the IRS, lawmakers pressed the commissioner on the agency’s disproportionate focus on auditing the working poor while examinations of the rich plummeted. 
• Mick Mulvaney rewrites history, claims Trump never promised to release his tax returns | The White House wants you to forget that candidate Trump repeatedly promised to release his tax returns.
• Mitt Romney Is Now Running Interference on Trump’s Tax Returns, Because Of Course He Is — One of the few Republicans alive who could credibly challenge this president* will instead do nothing.
• Trump campaign spokeswoman complains Congress is not asking for other presidents’ tax returns — Every other modern president has voluntarily released their tax returns.
• Trump says ‘people don’t care’ about his tax returns, but polls show otherwise 
• White House starts to sound desperate on secrecy of Trump’s tax returns 
• Mnuchin reveals White House lawyers consulted Treasury on Trump tax returns, despite law meant to limit political involvement
• Natasha Bertrand: Treasury lawyers consulted with the White House general counsel’s office about the potential release of Trump’s tax returns before Democrats formally requested them, even though the process is designed to be walled off from White House interference.
• Angry White House Staffer: This is a really stupid hill for Mnuchin to die on. He could end up in jail over Trump’s taxes.
• Adam Schiff: You seem confused, Mr. Mulvaney. When the law says the IRS “shall” provide tax returns upon the request of the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, it doesn’t mean: Unless the President fears it, Tweets about it, Or his lawyer complains about it. Shall means shall.
• Tea Pain: Barr won’t comment if White House has seen the full report, which means it has and explains why Trump is attackin’ Mueller’s team again.

 

Drug Investigation

• Republicans Are Warning Drug Companies Not To Cooperate With A Congressional Investigation
• Republicans Warn Drug Companies Not To Cooperate With A Congressional Investigation: The House Oversight Committee is attempting to study how drug companies set prescription drug prices, but Republicans have warned the industry that it may be better for them not to cooperate.
• Jon Swaine: Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows have written to drug companies to warn them against cooperating with a congressional investigation
• Lincoln’s Bible: In two short years, every single falsehood of @GOP is revealed. Fake patriots. Fake family values. Fake fiscal conservatives. Fake hawks for National security. Fake freedom lovers. Fake oath takers of the Constitution. Fake, fakeity FRAUDS. They’re brilliant as oligarchs, though.

 

Tax Prep

• Congress Is About to Ban the Government From Offering Free Online Tax Filing. Thank TurboTax. 
• Congress just passed a bill prohibiting the IRS from creating a free tax filing system
• Why are Democrats helping Republicans do the bidding of the tax-prep industry?
• Democrats Better Wise Up and Serve Taxpayers, Not TurboTax 

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

Iran

• In unprecedented move for the U.S., Trump administration declares elite Iranian military unit a terrorist organization
• Trump blasted any company doing business with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as “bankrolling terrorism.” But Trump’s own business partners were suspected of helping launder money for the guard through his Trump Tower Baku project in Azerbaijan
• Trump Designates Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a Foreign Terrorist Group
• Trump Did Business With an Oligarch Linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard
• Trump Had No Problem With Iran’s Revolutionary Guard When He Was Doing Business With Its Associates: According to an exhaustive report, the group the president just labeled a terrorist organization reportedly had financial ties to the Trump family business.
• Lincoln’s Bible: Good for @maddow, and everyone who works on that show. Keeping Trump Org’s ADMITTED money-laundering for IRG terror regime at the top of the news cycle is pretty important. Shame on every other news outlet that fails to report.

 

Mar-A-Lago

• This Whole China-Mar-a-Lago Story Is Sketchy as Hell 
• Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Scandal Just Got Bigger
• Schumer Wants Ousted Secret Service Chief To Testify On Mar-A-Lago ‘Vulnerabilities’

 

• The Congolese ruling family allegedly laundered millions through a Trump condo in NY 
• Trump hotels exempted from ban on foreign payments under new stance: Department of Justice
• Donald Trump ‘named co-conspirator in a crime by prosecutors’ 

 

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

DHS Purge

• A ‘near-systematic purge’ is happening at the Department of Homeland Security as Secret Service director is reportedly ousted
• No, 13,506 Marines have not volunteered for White House duty since Trump’s inauguration
• Secret Service chief is leaving Trump administration, White House says
• The President of the United States Told Law Enforcement to Break the Law
• Trump called Secret Service director ‘Dumbo’ because of his ears: NY Times
• Trump is removing US Secret Service director 
• Trump Just Purged DHS Because Its Leaders Weren’t Breaking the Law Enough
• Trump removes Secret Service director as purge of DHS leadership widens
• Kevin McAleenan is taking over DHS. Will he be ‘tough’ enough for Trump?
• Trump Purge Set to Force Out More Top Homeland Security Officials
• Kyle Griffin: Trump mocked the man, a retired Marine major general, who he just ousted as head of the Secret Service. NYT reports Trump made fun of Randolph Alles’s looks, calling him Dumbo because of his ears, two officials said.
• Greg Olear: You know how the 1st rule of eating in restaurants is, “You don’t mess w/people who prepare & serve your food?” Trump trolling the head of the Secret Service is like that, seems to me, only waaaaay dumber. This may be the stupidest thing he’s done yet—& that’s saying something.
• Rick Wilson: Fun legal question: Do cabinet members need to be confirmed to take action on a 25th Amendment question over the President’s competence to serve?
• Adam Schiff: A quick update on our national security leadership: Defense Secretary: Vacant. DHS Secretary: Vacant. UN Ambassador: Vacant. FEMA Director: Vacant. Secret Service Director: Vacant. ICE Director: Vacant. DHS Deputy: Vacant. President: Present, but unaccounted for.

 

• ‘I’ve been battling Nadler for years’: Feud between Trump, Democrat rooted in decades-old New York real estate project
• Trump Federal Reserve Nominee Admitted ‘I’m Not an Expert on Monetary Policy’
• Trump seeks to campaign on problems he promised to fix

 

SAUDI ARABIA

• “It Looks Bad. It Smells Bad. It Is Bad”: Democrats Are Digging into Kushner’s Cozy Relationship with M.B.S. 
• Federal Watchdog Probes Trump Admin Push for Saudi Nuke Deal
• Exclusive: Jeff Bezos to meet with federal prosecutors on extortion and hacking claims
• National Enquirer expected to be sold imminently as parent company faces pressure

 

TRAITOR TOTS

The Streisand-Nunez Effect

• Devin Nunes Sues McClatchy Newspaper Chain, Alleging ‘Character Assassination’
• #YachtCocaineProstitutes Is What Happens When You File a Meritless Lawsuit
• Devin Nunes doesn’t want you to see #YachtCocaineProstitutes trending
• Devin Nunes Is The Dumbest Person On Twitter 
• Rick Wilson: Absolutely not. No one should use #YachtCocaineProstitutes in reference to Devon “Boldface” Mooooones.
• Rick Wilson: I love the fact that Devin Nunez went on national television and stuck his dick in the toaster again.

 

FIGHTING BACK

• Warner Bros. files copyright claim after Trump shares video with music from ‘Dark Knight’
• Warner Bros. Is Filing A Copyright Claim Against Trump’s 2020 Video For Using The “Dark Knight Rises” Score
• PostimusMaximus: So the President telling people to break the law is just universally an impeachable offense right? Regardless of what Law? Can we hurry this up?
• Tea Pain: We are witnessin’ an orchestrated cover-up at every level of government to protect Donald Trump from his criminal, corrupt and un-American behavior. #ReleaseTheFullMuellerReport #ReleaseTrumpsTaxes
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Justifying the Psychopathy of Narcissistic, Dishonest Billionaires Is Very 2019
• End Constitutional Catch-22 and impeach President Trump
• George Conway Adds ‘Windmill Cancer Survivor’ To His Twitter Profile, Mocking Donald Trump’s Claim 
• Lawmakers announce bill to grant Puerto Rico statehood 

 

EMERGENCIES, SHUTDOWN, & IMMIGRATION

• Federal Judge Issues a Timely Reminder to Trump That the Rule of Law Still Applies at the Border
• Trump pushed to close El Paso border, told agents not to admit migrants and to resume family separations
• President Told Border Agents to Break the Law
• Jake Tapper: Trump Coached Border Agents To Turn Away All Immigrants — And Lie To Judges | Border Patrol bosses in California later told agents to ignore the president and follow the law, the CNN host said, citing sources.
• Twelve days of chaos: Inside the Trump White House’s growing panic to contain the border crisis
• Fox News’s Shep Smith corrects Trump for saying Obama first separated children from family at the border
• U.S. asylum process is at the center of Trump’s immigration ire
• Federal judge blocks Trump administration program forcing asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while awaiting court hearings
• Trump is booting out anyone who tells him his immigration ideas are illegal. Experts are worried about what will happen next.
• Trump Told Stephen Miller He’s ‘in Charge’ of Immigration Policy
• Trump tries to falsely blame Obama for his own family separation policy
• Trump denies plan to separate migrant families, blames Obama for ‘cages’
• Trump’s claim that ‘our country is full’ echo far-right parties dating to the Nazis 
• Trump’s Incompetence Is Creating a Stephen Miller Presidency 
• Trump’s support of renewed child separation policy led to collision with Nielsen
• Melissa Kester: Trump is a sadistic SOB. All malignant narcissists are.
• Rick Wilson: This morning as Stephen Miller anointed himself in the tears of immigrant children, he stared into the mirror, smiled, and whispered, “You’re next, Jared. Mark my words…you’re next.” The camera pulls back and we see a room in which every wall is covered in pictures of Ivanka.
• Asha Rangappa: Stephen “Tool” Miller is the genius who reportedly drafted Travel Ban 1.0 after looking things up on the Google. He might want to Google “qualified immunity” because if he is given more authority over immigration policies he’s going to need a legal defense. 🛠️
• Jake Tapper: Trump administration officials also say WH adviser Stephen Miller wants the president to get rid of the Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Lee Cissna and DHS general counsel John Mitnick.
• Cancel Kirstjen Nielsen – Her role in terrorizing children should make her a permanent pariah.
• Dem Chairman Says Trump Violating Law Of Succession With Nielsen Replacement
• Kirstjen Nielsen Will Have a Book Deal and a Think-Tank Job Before You Can Say ‘Kids in Cages’ | We should know by now that crimes against humanity never kept anyone out of a cable news Green Room. 
• Trump administration cancels deal allowing Major League Baseball to sign Cuban players 
• Trump administration cancels MLB deal with Cuba
• Trump administration considers revised version of family separation tactic

 

RACISM, RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

• Trump’s claim that ‘our country is full’ echo far-right parties dating to the Nazis 
• Tea Pain: If you think because you’re a Christian you’re safe under the Trump regime, think again. Fascists abhor a vacuum and are always lookin’ for a new enemy, even within the fold. Nobody is safe under Trump’s reign of terror.
• Formal and casual White House photos show distance between Trump and increasingly diverse nation
• The Republican Party Will Do Anything to Camouflage That White Supremacy Is a Critical Part of Its Base
• America isn’t full – America is growing more slowly than at any time since the Great Depression.
• Candace Owens Fumes as Her Own Words on Hitler, Nationalism Are Played in Congress
• Ex-ICE head: Trump had ‘single dumbest idea I’ve ever heard’ – CNN Video
• Hillary Clinton: ‘White nationalists certainly think MAGA is a white nationalist slogan’ 
• Ilhan Omar straight-up called Stephen Miller a white nationalist 
• Judge demands white supremacist appear in person for deposition. He refuses, saying he is afraid to come to US.
• New Zealand’s parliament has voted to ban all types of semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles following the Christchurch attacks
• No, gun control regulation in Nazi Germany did not help advance the Holocaust
• Omar: ‘Stephen Miller is a white nationalist’
• Ted Lieu plays a clip of Candace Owens’ comments on Hitler to ridicule Republicans for inviting her to a hearing on white nationalism 
• Facebook Tells Congress New Zealand Shooting Video Wasn’t ‘Gruesome’ Enough to Flag
• The Stephen Miller Presidency: The more politically frustrated Trump becomes, the more he embraces his most extreme adviser. Brace yourself, America.
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: ‘Sec. Nielsen Oversaw One of the Largest-scale Human Rights Violations in Recent History’

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

• Federal Judge Issues a Timely Reminder to Trump That the Rule of Law Still Applies at the Border
• ‘Kick Kavanaugh off campus’: Students decry George Mason’s decision to hire Supreme Court justice

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

• Allison Mack of ‘Smallville’ Pleads Guilty in Case of Nxivm ‘Sex Cult’ Where Women Were Branded
• I was criticized for taking my baby to work in 1985. Are things better for parents today?
• Patriots owner Robert Kraft ramps up fight to keep massage parlor videos in prostitution case secret
• She was vilified for accusing Herman Cain of sexual harassment. Eight years later, she has no regrets.
• Texas lawmakers consider the death penalty for abortion – WTTG

 

COLD WAR 2.0

• European leaders offer a long Brexit delay, avoiding chaotic exit on Friday
• Theresa May pleads for Brexit delay at emergency E.U. summit
• This is a pivotal week for Brexit. Here are four ways it could end.
• An 11-year-old boy was killed by a speeding car in Kabul. He was also a casualty of war.
• British military called on to strip the Sultan of Brunei of honorary appointments awarded to him by the Queen, as backlash against new anti-LGBT laws grows
• China Considers Ban On Cryptocurrency Mining Because It’s A Stupid Waste Of Energy
• Russia asks Interpol to arrest Kremlin critic Bill Browder again – letter
• Bill Browder: Putin just never gives up. Russia asks Interpol to arrest me for the 7th time on the same set of illegitimate and politically motivated charges (which were rejected 6 time before by Interpol)
• Bill Browder: Shocking development. On April 15-19 Interpol’s Commision for the Control of Files will consider Russia’s 7th attempt to use Interpol channels to have me arrested after Interpol rejected Russia’s previous 6 attempts as politically motivated.
• Interpol is being manipulated by Russia, says anti-Putin campaigner as he faces 7th arrest attempt
• Bill Browder: Russia is going to Interpol for the 7th time to have me arrested (the first 6 were rejected as politically motivated). Something needs to be fixed at Interpol if dictators can go back unlimited times to chase their enemies with bogus warrants
• 4Corners: “In Australia, it is clear that the Chinese Communist Party is working to covertly interfere with our media and universities and also to influence our political processes and public debates.” ‘Interference’ is coming up tonight on #4Corners. #auspol
• Last Stop for Some of Danske Bank’s Dirty Money: Spanish Real Estate
• Bill Browder: BREAKING: Spanish anti corruption prosecutor Jose Grinda files application to the court in Spain alleging €35 million from the crime that Sergei Magnitsky exposed and was killed over ended up in Spain to make real estate and other purchases. I was in Madrid last May for this case to give evidence to Spanish prosecutor Grinda when I was arrested coming out of my hotel room on a Russian Interpol warrant. This is exactly what Putin is trying to prevent me from doing, which is why the Russians chase me around the world. 
• In tightly fought election, Netanyahu appears set to clinch fifth term in office
• Israel’s high-stakes elections: What you need to know as Netanyahu faces his toughest test
• Netanyahu’s rival party is conceding defeat in Israeli election, clearing path for prime minister to retain power for fifth term

 

#NEVERAGAIN

• Kara Oko: Our @cbschicago crew on the ground at #Batavia High School is seeing police officers blocking all entrances to the school, and waving off cars trying to get in. Police have not yet confirmed reports of man with rifle entering school.
• Shannon Watts: Reminder that right now, @NRA lobbyists are working across the country in states like Tennessee, Florida, Texas, Indiana, Oklahoma, Missouri and others to arm teachers, or to allow civilians to bring guns into schools or school parking lots.
• Suit filed over gun controls inspired by synagogue shooting
• Shannon Watts: THEY DID IT!!! Alabama @MomsDemand volunteers showed up at the statehouse today and helped stop a vote on the @NRA’s priority, a permitless carry bill. Showing up is half the battle – and our volunteers show up every time. 💪💪💪#ALpolitics. How many showed up? Over 100 Alabama @MomsDemand volunteers – up from 20 last year. Some of the most energized and fastest growing #MomsDemandAction chapters are in red states. See what happens when you mess with moms? #alpolitics. 
• New Zealand’s parliament has voted to ban all types of semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles following the Christchurch attacks
• No, gun control regulation in Nazi Germany did not help advance the Holocaust
• Waffle House good Samaritan shot to death paying for meals, handing out $20 bills

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

• House votes to reinstate Obama-era net neutrality rules 
• House approves Save the Internet Act that would reinstate net neutrality
• 190 House Republicans vote against bill to reinstate popular ‘net neutrality’ internet protections 
• Netflix isn’t killing movie theaters: Viewers who stream more also go to cinemas more
• Facebook Tells Congress New Zealand Shooting Video Wasn’t ‘Gruesome’ Enough to Flag

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

• Sanders Says He Agreed to Fox News Town Hall to Send Simple Message to Trump Voters: ‘He Lied to You’
• Bernie Sanders Says Fox News Is A Propaganda Arm Of Trump Administration 
• National Enquirer expected to be sold imminently as parent company faces pressure

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

• Formal and casual White House photos show distance between Trump and increasingly diverse nation

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, & ECONOMY

• Congress Is About to Ban the Government From Offering Free Online Tax Filing. Thank TurboTax. 
• Congress just passed a bill prohibiting the IRS from creating a free tax filing system
• Why are Democrats helping Republicans do the bidding of the tax-prep industry?
• Democrats Better Wise Up and Serve Taxpayers, Not TurboTax 
• Amazon in Seattle: Economic godsend or self-centered behemoth?
• Burger King’s chopsticks ad is just the latest example of branding gone wrong
• Alabama 5th most federally dependent state 
• Republicans Warn Drug Companies Not To Cooperate With A Congressional Investigation: The House Oversight Committee is attempting to study how drug companies set prescription drug prices, but Republicans have warned the industry that it may be better for them not to cooperate.
• US has regressed to developing nation status, MIT economist warns
• The case for grown-up slumber parties – The Lily
• ‘Retail apocalypse’ now: Analysts say 75,000 more U.S. stores could be doomed.
• Millennials being squeezed out of middle class, says OECD

 

STUDENT ISSUES

Operation Varsity Blues

• Actress Lori Loughlin, 15 other parents indicted in college admissions scandal with conspiring to commit fraud and money laundering
• Caroline Orr: #BREAKING: Actress Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli, along with 14 other parents, were just indicted on *new* charges (conspiracy to commit money laundering) related to the college admissions scandal.
• Lori Loughlin indicted by federal grand jury, charged with money laundering
• Felicity Huffman, 12 other parents to plead guilty in college admissions scandal
• Louise Mensch: Felicity Huffman’s guilty plea and apology isn’t going to make her crime go away. However, it is the best possible statement she could have made under the circumstances. She makes no excuses and gives herself no wiggle room. It’s a complete acceptance of guilt and responsibility. I’m sure it was a crisis PR person who crafted the statement, but if so, they are good at their job, and Huffman was sensible to take that advice.
• The college-admissions scandal rattled rich parents. But will it change them?

 

• 2 students accused of jamming school’s Wi-Fi network to avoid tests
• Texas Tech agrees to stop using race in medical school admissions

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

• The Republican Party Will Do Anything to Camouflage That White Supremacy Is a Critical Part of Its Base
• A QAnon Believer Is Running for Congress and Is Currently Unopposed in His Republican Primary

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

• Allison Mack of ‘Smallville’ Pleads Guilty in Case of Nxivm ‘Sex Cult’ Where Women Were Branded
• He found a body at his childhood home’s backyard during renovations. It was his mom
• Man arrested in 1973 cold case murder of 2 young women who were slain on vacation in Virginia Beach
• Police officers who fined stalking victim before she was murdered face disciplinary action
• The Lyon sisters vanished four decades ago. Here’s how the case was finally solved.

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

• Evangelicals Side With Trump Over Jesus on Immigration
• Conservatives Don’t Hate Socialism, They Hate Equality
• Our Rapidly Blossoming Authoritarian State Is Headed to Another Level

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

• See a black hole for the first time in a historic image from the Event Horizon Telescope

That’s the super massive black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy, about 53 million light years away.  It’s so big that the entire solar system could fit inside.

• Bones discovered in an island cave may be a new human species
• The secret weapon of the sports gambler who just broke the single-game ‘Jeopardy!’ record? Children’s books.
• ‘Potentially historic’ central U.S. storm to deliver blizzard conditions and strong winds through Thursday
• Aegean Sea sees “very unusual” spike in dolphin deaths
• As White House questions climate change, U.S. military is planning for it
• Brain zaps boost memory in people over 60, study finds
• Denver weather: Shifting from 80 degrees to 22 degrees and up to 7 inches of snow in one day
• ‘Extraordinary’ 500-year-old library catalogue reveals books lost to time
• From moms to medical doctors, burnout is everywhere these days
• Good-bye glaciers: 390 billion tons of snow and ice melts each year as globe warms | “Over 30 years, suddenly almost all regions started losing mass at the same time,” said study lead author. “That’s clearly climate change if you look at the global picture.”
• Monkeys With Superpower Eyes Could Help Cure Color Blindness
• New York orders measles vaccinations in Brooklyn amid outbreak, mayor says
• Review | Museums wants 2 show u memez now. They shud be careful.
• Saturated fat, good or evil? How to decipher contradictory nutritional research.
• Washington state raises smoking age to 21
• John Kerry: Ocasio-Cortez offered ‘more leadership in one day’ than Trump on climate

 

THINKING AHEAD

• Ricky Davila: Pete Buttigieg about his sexuality: “That’s the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand: That if you have a problem with who I am, your quarrel is not with me. Your quarrel is with my creator.” Can I get an AMEN this morning! 🔥👏
• Sanders Says He Agreed to Fox News Town Hall to Send Simple Message to Trump Voters: ‘He Lied to You’
• Bernie Sanders Says Fox News Is A Propaganda Arm Of Trump Administration 
• Sanders says he’s a millionaire, will release tax returns by Monday
• Bernie Sanders Calls for Ban on Anti-Union Laws
• Bernie Sanders video mocks Trump for being the “only person in the world” who believes wind turbines cause cancer
• Beto O’Rourke: “I don’t think that wind turbines cause cancer. In fact, I think they cause jobs”

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

• Massachusetts becomes 16th state to ban ‘gay conversion therapy’

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

• Virginia wins its first NCAA basketball championship, defeating Texas Tech, 85-77
• How extraordinary was Virginia’s title run? Just count up the miracles.
• The vigilante shaming influencers for bad behavior in national parks
• Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama hospitalized with chest infection
• A legend passes: Dick Cole, last of the Doolittle Raiders, dies at 103

 

RUMOR MILL

• Andrew Laufer, ESQ: So we have @RepMarkMeadows & @Jim_Jordan writing letters to pharmaceutical cos advising them not to comply w Congressional investigations & @DevinNunes filing frivolous lawsuits against critics. What could possibly have these & others so nervous & in need of distractions?
• Countercheckist: It seems ppl are starting to come around to the idea that tRUmp & Co’s legal troubles are not over despite what he and his band of d-squad flunkies have to say on the matter. Hang in there, patriots. The truth will come out. 🙂
• Claude Taylor: This is the IRS Commissioner on turning over Trump’s tax returns as required by law. Check out his hands. He’s petrified.
• Countercheckist: When MD’s & drug makers push opioids on patients, they damage the trust ppl have in our medical practitioners. When politicians engage in corruption, they damage the trust ppl have in our govt. Our system(s) don’t work if ppl have lost faith in them. Ppl need to remember that.
• Sara Danner Dukic: Aunt Becky and Lynette’s money laundering charges stem from using a charity to hide what they were actually doing with the added bonus of skimping out on their taxes. #foreshadowing *cough* Trump Foundation *cough* Inaugural Fund
• Countercheckist: The question people should be asking: Who’s funding Devin Nunes’ frivolous lawsuits? B/c based on his stated finances, I doubt he could afford 2 separate, expensive lawsuits that he’s likely to lose.
• Greg Olear: Barr is a traitor. RIP, Barr As White Hat. Methinks the leaks will now begin in earnest.

A conversation between Greg Olear and Louise Mensch that spawned from this tweet.

• Louise Mensch

  No he is not

• Greg

  I hope you’re right. But: If he’s acting undercover, he crossed a line today. It’s like in Reservoir Dogs where Mr. Orange shoots the woman in the car. There is no reason, none, why MOCs w/security clearance should not see the unredacted report.

• Louise

  Nunes had his clearance restored. You want him to see Grand Jury material on his own prosecution? No you don’t, homie 🙂

• Greg

  Then they need to indict him and then release the report to the MOCs. The lack of arrests is disturbing to me.

• Louise

  the sealed indictments will remain sealed, my sources estimated, until about two weeks after Congress gets a version of this report. They have not changed that view since I received it.

• Greg

  Good. I will happily eat crow on this. I’d prefer the report not be leaked illegally. I want the process to play itself out.

• Louise

  Sources said the thinking was lawmakers would need time to absorb the bombshell, and releasing all the indictments on the same day / period as the bombshell would make the cases look political. Hence the lag, these sources estimated.

  Greg

  Thanks.

  Louise

  If I’m wrong I too will eat crow. Time will tell

 

That’s it for the last few days.  A lot has happened, but I don’t have the energy to break it all down right now.  I’m getting my ass kicked with taking care of someone who doesn’t care about the work being done on their behalf.  Every day there’s a new development, and it’s almost always a bad one.  Except for his health, that seems to be improving.

I’m writing down all of the crap that I can.  There’s too much here for a post or two.  This is probably a book or two worth of content.

The part that really hurts is how I’m supposed to handle all of his crap without being toxic around my own kids.  There is no love lost between him and I.  That would imply there was love to begin with.

As for the fight, a spoiler for the next post.  Julian Assange was arrested by the British at the request of the Americans.  That happened early Thursday morning.  I don’t know when the next post will be.  I’d like to get one for just Thursday, but it will probably be Monday, covering Thursday through the weekend.  I’m already quadruple booked this weekend, and any more stuff will push me to the ‘crawl under a desk and cry’ point.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Monday, April 1, 2019

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Clearance Reversals

• White House whistleblower says 25 security clearance denials were reversed during Trump administration
• GOP Downplays Whistleblower’s Clearance Concerns: She Said ‘Only 4-5’ People Posed ‘Very Serious’ Problems 
• John Bolton may have been denied a White House security clearance
• Republicans: Relax, Trump Only Endangered National Security 4–5 Times, Tops
• Trump White House security clearance crisis: “Kushner problem” getting worse fast
• Whistleblower says Ivanka, Jared got security clearance over experts’ advice
• Whistle-Blower Tells Congress of Irregularities in White House Security Clearances 
• White House Insists That Trump Really Is Dumb Enough to Close the Border 
• White House Whistle-Blower Did the Unexpected: She Returned to Work 
• Angry White House Staffer: I’ve gone over this pretty extensively, but this is outrageous. 25 security clearance denials have been overridden by the Trump administration. Security experts denied these 25 clearances due to fear of blackmail, foreign influence, financial entanglements, etc. They were approved anyway because nepotism is very legal and very cool. Reminder: Tricia Newbold also suffers from a rare form of dwarfism. As retaliation for her disclosure, her boss, Carl Kline, suspended her without pay, and moved her files to a shelf she couldn’t reach. Because that’s where we’re at now.
• Whistle-Blower Tells Congress of Irregularities in White House Security Clearances
• Natasha Bertrand: A whistle-blower working inside the White House told the House Oversight Committee that senior Trump administration officials granted security clearances to at least 25 individuals whose applications had been denied by career employees…
• Asha Rangappa: This is insane. The background check process is a safeguard to prevent against undue foreign influence (like the electoral college, congressional oversight, and counterintelligence investigations) — this is like the Titanic when every compartment in the hull got breached
• Tim Mak: The whistleblower who raised concerns about White House security clearances, Tricia Newbold, was suspended w/o pay for 2 weeks. The stated reason? Failure to follow a new policy to scan documents in separate pdf files instead of a single pdf file
• ThreadReader from Tim Mak about Newbold’s abuse
• The Trump People Didn’t Even Craft a Decent Lie About the Security Clearances

We talked about the clearance overrides before on Daily Check-In 01/31/2019, but the scope of the problem is finally coming into view.  At least 25 security clearances that were denied for various reasons were overridden.  The whistleblower who raised this issue and told the press about it also told Congress about it, too.  This included several senior White House officials

These people shouldn’t be anywhere near secret information, let alone the most sensitive secrets this country has.

 

Mueller Report

• “This Is Spy-Hunting”: Inside the Dark Heart of the Mueller Report
• Democrats to authorize subpoena for full Mueller report 
• Don’t Wait For a Redacted Mueller Report | The law is clear: The House Judiciary Committee is entitled to the full 400 pages. 
• Here Come The Subpoenas: Welcome To The Rest Of The Trump Administration.
• House Democrats could subpoena for full Mueller report this week 
• House Democrats Will Subpoena Mueller Report 
• We can’t trust William Barr to decide how much of Mueller’s findings we see

I’m going to say this everyday until we see the report, but let’s wait before we see the full report before we hit the “Everything is terrible” button. (Daily Check-In 03/22/2019)

One thing I’ve gotten pretty good at over the last two years is reading legal documents.  It doesn’t take 400 pages to say “We ain’t find shit.”  Plus, Barr’s Summary was a prime example of lawyerball. (The Last Few Days – 03/27/2019).   He’s been described as a “Lawyer’s Lawyer.”  In other words, the lawyer that a lawyer calls when they’re in such deep shit they need a lawyer.

 

• Chris Vickery: If Cambridge Analytica (and its co-conspirators) ran 100s of thousands of iterations of the same advertisement and recorded reactions for each down to the individual level in order to cause behavior change, how’s that different from no-consent medical experimentation? It’s not. THREAD
• Thread by @VickerySec: “If Cambridge Analytica (and its co-conspirators) ran 100s of thousands of iterations of the same advertisement and recorded reactions for ea […]”

 

CONGRESS

• House Judiciary plans to authorize subpoenas for Mueller’s full report
• Kyle Cheney: BREAKING: House Judiciary Committee planning to authorize subpoenas Wednesday for the full MUELLER report. Will also vote on subpoenas for MCGAHN, BANNON, HICKS and REINCE. Vote would give Nadler authority to issue subpoenas at any time. Story TK w/ @dsamuelsohn
• Angry White House Staffer: Big boom. Turns out Nadler wasn’t playing around when he gave Barr an April 2 deadline.
• Here Come The Subpoenas: Welcome To The Rest Of The Trump Administration.
• Congress must find out how reckless the White House has been with security clearances

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

• Friendly reminder: We still haven’t seen Trump’s tax returns
• Davis says evidence shows Trump Jr. could be indicted

 

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

• Trump Got No Bump From Mueller. He Should Worry. 
• The Trump People Didn’t Even Craft a Decent Lie About the Security Clearances
• The president is now making 22 false claims a day. Media coverage has got to reflect that.

 

SAUDI ARABIA

• Energy Secretary Rick Perry Approves Deal to Sell Nuclear Technology to Saudi Arabia
• It’s been six months since Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, and Trump has done nothing
• Khashoggi children have received houses in Saudi Arabia and monthly payments as compensation for killing of father
• Walter Shaub: I don’t know what to make of Bezos’ claim SA hacked his phone. *If* true, ties to Trump would be stunning: SA funnels cash to T via hotel T covers for SA murder of WaPo writer WaPo criticizes T & SA T bashes WaPo owner B SA & Trump fixer AMI attack B T pushes nuclear tech for SA. Again I don’t know if it’s true that SA hacked his phone. What I do know is that FBI needs to investigate this claim. But this highlights why Trump’s congressional allies attacking FBI for investigating Trump is so dangerous. Their message is “back off Trump, he’s above the law.” Correction: The claim comes from the Gavin de Becker, the security expert Bezos hired to investigate this matter.

 

TRAITOR TOTS

• After Years Of Blocking Obama’s Nominees, McConnell Slams Dems’ ‘Historic Obstruction’ 
• Trump’s Choice of Rick Scott to Build a Republican Healthcare Plan Shows the Henhouse Is Full of Foxes 

 

CULT 45

• Most Republicans don’t accept a basic Mueller finding: That Russia tried to interfere in the 2016 election 

 

FIGHTING BACK

• Dan Rather: Sort of curious to see how President Trump handles April Fools Day on Twitter… Does he tell the truth?
• Ocasio-Cortez fires back at Liz Cheney: ‘You get your news from Facebook memes’

 

EMERGENCIES, SHUTDOWN, & IMMIGRATION

• AP sources: Trump considers adding ‘immigration czar’
• Adrienne Cobb: Trump considering adding ‘immigration czar’ He has 2 potential candidates: Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli — both far-right conservatives with strong views on immigration

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

• Bernie Sanders floats modified term limits for Supreme Court justices 
• The Supreme Court’s Conservatives Just Legalized Torture

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

• Rick Wilson: If you don’t smell a gigantic rat with this Lucy Flores interview I can’t help you. as somebody who’s done a hell of a lot of media training I can tell when somebody’s been prepped for an interview to within an inch of their life. And she was prepped af for that interview.
• Joe Walsh: So if Biden now has women problems, then what does Trump have?

 

COLD WAR 2.0

• Turkey’s Erdogan says his party may have lost Istanbul mayorship
• Russia Ordered a Killing That Made No Sense. Then the Assassin Started Talking.

 

#NEVERAGAIN

• NRA Rallies to Preserve the Gun Rights of Convicted Stalkers, Abusive Boyfriends

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

• The president is now making 22 false claims a day. Media coverage has got to reflect that.

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

• The White House doesn’t care expected Fed pick owes $75,000 in taxes, didn’t pay child support, was found in contempt of court

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, & ECONOMY

• America would run out of avocados in three weeks if Trump shuts down the U.S.-Mexico border | Nearly half of all imported U.S. vegetables and 40 percent of imported fruit are grown in Mexico. 
• Average Americans can’t afford a home in 70 percent of the country 
• Buffalo airport drops planned Chick-fil-A
• California accounted for nearly three-quarters of US jobs added in February

 

STUDENT ISSUES

• Dem lawmaker calls for DeVos to resign, cites use of ‘racist research’ 

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

• Private Prisons Are a Failed Experiment
• Rapper Nipsey Hussle killed in shooting outside his L.A. store

 

ELECTIONS

• Ohioans might vote on issue to give presidency to national popular vote winner 
• Sen. Ted Cruz Is Suing To Get Rid Of Limits On How Much Money He Can Raise To Repay Himself For Campaign Loans

 

THINKING AHEAD

• Rick Wilson: If you don’t smell a gigantic rat with this Lucy Flores interview I can’t help you. as somebody who’s done a hell of a lot of media training I can tell when somebody’s been prepped for an interview to within an inch of their life. And she was prepped af for that interview.
• Joe Walsh: So if Biden now has women problems, then what does Trump have?
• Beto O’Rourke Pledges Executive Order Requiring Monthly Town Halls for Cabinet Members 

 

RUMOR MILL

• Lincoln’s Bible: The White House & @GOP enablers are getting set to push an INSANE position thru the MSM hellscape. As w/ the Barr memo swallowers, pay attn to who entertains the following INSANE argument: “Any foreign influence over Trump or Kushner disappeared when they took the White House.”
• Countercheckist: NYC has successfully integrated generations of immigrants into our social fabric. It’s a city built on the American dream. That dream sent skyscrapers towards the heavens, and later sent astronauts beyond them to the moon. We’re capable of great things when we dream big.
• Eric Garland: No, it’s the partnership with Russian organized crime and spy agencies to attack American democracy that won’t be tolerated. Oh, and partnership with the Chinese Communist Party and the Triads. That’s out, too. BTW, such good luck your father-in-law was so generous to you just before the crash of 2008.
• Lincoln’s Bible: THREAD. We’re heading into the most highly-weaponized, information landscape in political history. Very sophisticated techniques/tools are now in the hands of everyday campaign operatives. These operatives & their “ops” share a singular aim: DIVIDE & CONQUER. Some thoughts…/1
• Thread by @LincolnsBible: “THREAD. We’re heading into the most highly-weaponized, information landscape in political history. Very sophisticated techniques/tools are n […]”
• Thread by @saradannerdukic: “We’re at a very critical point right now. Alongside the attempt to degrade our trust in what we’ve seen with our very own eyes, they also wa […]”

 

That’s it for Monday.  At least, this is all I grabbed.  I’m still trying to get things under control around everything else.  I’d like to get back in the swing of things, but I’m tired.  I don’t know if I’ll do a Daily post each day this week, just because of how much I have to deal with.

Like I said yesterday (Daily Check-In 03/29/2019), I’m in the middle of a whole bunch of stuff.  I don’t like feeling this tired all of the time.  The hardest part is trying to keep up appearances.  I’ll spare the long story for now, but I didn’t have the greatest childhood.  Dealing with him is bringing a lot of those old problems back to the forefront.  I need to decompress after dealing with him. Which, of course, is right when the rest of the family asks questions about how he’s doing today.  I’m glad they text, because that gives me a chance to vent and say what I really want to say before I type a polite response.

Here’s a tip: set up your will and power of attorney before you get sick.  It’s a lot less of a pain in the dick for whomever has to clean up your mess.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Friday, March 29, 2019 and the weekend.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

• Grand jury investigation started by Mueller ‘continuing robustly,’ prosecutor says 
• After the Mueller gaslighting, we know the adults won’t save us. But the kids might 
• Attorney general: DOJ to release Mueller report ‘by mid-April, if not sooner’ 
• Barr Says Mueller Report Will Be Made Public by mid-April 
• Barr Says Report Out By “Mid-April, If Not Sooner.” 
• Barr says the Mueller report is almost 400 pages long and will be released to Congress and the public by mid-April
• CNN Poll: Majority says Trump not exonerated of collusion after Barr’s summary 
• Democrats intensify demand for Robert Mueller’s full report 
• Democrats say they may subpoena Mueller report if it’s not delivered by Tuesday deadline 
• How the Mueller report can still threaten Trump’s legitimacy | The special counsel likely wrote it as a facts-only road map for congressional investigators. 
• Justice Dept. expects to release Mueller report to Congress by ‘mid-April, if not sooner’ 
• Lawyers went to ‘extraordinary lengths’ to block Trump-Mueller talk 
• Mark Hamill: Can the media PLEASE stop citing the “conclusions” of the Mueller Report when, in fact, we only have a three-and-a-half page interpretation by the biased Mr. Barr, who argued it’s impossible for a President to obstruct justice? #ReleaseTheFullMuellerReport
• Media owe no apology to Trump or anyone else for covering Mueller investigation 
• Most Americans don’t think Trump is in the clear yet on Russia, new poll finds 
• Mueller report on Trump and Russia to released to public by mid-April 
• Mueller Report To Be Given To Congress By Mid-April, Attorney General Barr Says 
• Mueller report will be delivered by ‘mid-April, if not sooner,’ attorney general tells Congress
• Nadler says Mueller report should be released to Congress without redactions 
• New Barr letter: Mueller report will be sent to Congress by mid-April 
• Only 29% of Americans Believe Mueller Cleared Trump of Wrongdoing 
• Poll: After Barr Letter, Overwhelming Majority Wants Full Mueller Report Released 
• Republicans are obstructing attempts to get the full Mueller report 
• The Criminal Investigations That Sprouted From Mueller 
• The Mueller investigation is over, but other legal probes of Trump’s world continue
• The Mueller report is more than 300 pages long. We’ve seen 101 words 
• William Barr Can’t Hide the Mueller Report
• Attorney General Barr’s new Letter lays out his latest Coverup Scheme – Byline Times
• Caroline Orr: During Barr’s tenure as AG in the early 90’s, he earned the nickname “Coverup General” for his role in suppressing evidence of then-POTUS George HW Bush’s involvement in Iraqgate & Iran-Contra. Now, he’s poised for round 2. My latest, for @BylineTimes: The first time Barr covered up for a Republican president, he got away with it. Whether the “Coverup General” gets away with it a second time is now up to Congress, and the American people, to decide. Barr indicated in his letter that no one, incl Congress, will get to see the unredacted Mueller report. If that stands, there’s no way for anyone to verify whether his redactions were reasonable & necessary for nat sec reasons or whether they were only necessary to protect Trump. 

 

• 30-year-old spy Maria Butina will be sentenced in April for conspiring to infiltrate the NRA on behalf of Russia 
• Maria Butina Seeks Speedy Deportation Back to Russia 

 

• Rafienkian & Alpeteki EDVA March 29/30 Update
• Eric Garland: How much of traitor is Flynn, and how screwed is Team Trump? Turkish agents actually owned part of Flynn Intel Group when he was picked for APNSA. Here’s Flynn’s FARA filing, WHICH WAS PARTIALLY FINANCED BY FOREIGN AGENTS. LIKE THEY DIDN’T KNOW WHAT FARA STOOD FOR. https://docs.voanews.eu/en-US/2017/03/13/a0407cba-6dc0-4ea7-a4de-4793c1c651b5.pdf PS. This, among many other reasons, is why the Transition Team is in QUITE A BIT OF TROUBLE. Thus, don’t sweat President Pence.
• Michael Flynn’s FARA Filing

 

CONGRESS

• House Dem: Mueller report will show ‘plenty of reason to be concerned’ about Trump campaign contacts with Russia 
• House Judiciary chair still wants Mueller’s report by April 2 
• Adam Schiff delivers massive smackdown: Trump is “immoral,” “unpatriotic” and “corrupt” 
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Has the GOP Rattled 
• AOC and Elizabeth Warren lunch together on Capitol Hill. Bernie Sanders not invited 
• As Pelosi Unveils ACA Fix, Medicare for All Backers Say ‘Now Is Not the Time for Watered-Down, Incremental Measures’. “Democrats have an opportunity to show real leadership with the transformative change that will most protect all Americans.”
• It’s official: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the new Republican bogeyman 
• Senate re-introduces bill to help advanced nuclear technology
• Trump’s North American trade deal at risk of stalling in Congress

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

• Enough collusion talk. It’s time to focus on Trump’s corruption 
• New York attorney general announces sweeping lawsuit against opioid manufacturers, Sackler family 
• Trump Has Allegedly Been Committing Financial Fraud For Years 
• Trump said investigating his finances would be a ‘red line.’ New York prosecutors are about to cross it. 
• Trump Tower Chicago Could Be Engaged in ‘Vacancy Fraud,’ a Chicago Politician Alleges 
• Trump’s businesses are full of dirty Russian money. The scandal is that it’s legal. 

 

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

• The White House, Not DeVos, Wanted to Slash Special Olympics Budget But The President Was More Than Happy To Look Like The Hero Who Saved The Day By Restoring The Event’s Funding 
• Trump’s Treachery Goes Way Beyond Russia: He’s not working for Putin. He’s working for any dictator who flatters him. 
• Donald Trump’s ‘party of health care’ has spent a decade failing to repeal and replace Obamacare 
• Donald Trump “Poisons Our Political Dialogue,” Says Congressman In Response to President Naming Adam Schiff “Pencil-Neck”
• Donald Trump Supporters Are Failing To Accept Reality Over Mueller’s Report, John Brennan’s Spokesman Says 
• Obamacare didn’t implode, so now Trump is trying to blow it up 
• Trump Absurdly Claims He Has ‘Taken Better Care Of Puerto Rico Than Any Man Ever’ 
• Trump says Great Lakes have ‘record deepness’ 

 

SAUDI ARABIA

• Bezos Investigation Finds the Saudis Obtained His Private Data 
• Saudis gained access to Amazon CEO Bezos’ phone: Bezos’ security chief
• Caroline Orr: wow. Jeff Bezos’ investigator Gavin de Becker has concluded that the Saudis obtained access to Jeff Bezos’ private information via his cell phone — and they may be the initial source for the National Enquirer’s coverage of Bezos’ extramarital affair.
• Thread by @RVAwonk: “wow. Jeff Bezos’ investigator Gavin de Becker has concluded that the Saudis obtained access to Jeff Bezos’ private information via his cell […]”
• Trump administration authorized nuclear energy companies to share technological information with Saudi Arabia
• If You Cannot Trust Saudis With Bone Saw, Says US Lawmaker, ‘You Should Not Trust Them With Nuclear Weapons’ 
• Opinion | How the mysteries of Khashoggi’s murder have rocked the U.S.-Saudi partnership
• Some of Khashoggi’s killers received training in US: WaPo report 

 

CULT 45

• ‘Sickening’: Trump Mocks Asylum-Seekers Fleeing Violence at Michigan Rally 
• At Trump rallies, the new ‘lock her up’ is ‘AOC sucks’. The freshman congresswoman’s response: “I’ll fight for their right to health care anyway.” 
• I’ll Never ‘Understand’ the People Who Cheer for This Maniac 
• Ocasio-Cortez responds to ‘AOC sucks’ chant: Trump just wants another woman to ‘vilify’ 
• The pro-Trump conspiracy theory known as ‘QAnon’ has moved from the fringes of the internet to feature prominently at Trump rallies 

 

FIGHTING BACK

• NY Times Reacts to Trump Demanding Their Pulitzer Should Be Yanked: Every Article ‘Has Proven Accurate’
• Swamp Monsters Emerge On Camera During Trump Nominee’s Confirmation Hearing | HuffPost
• We asked more than 1,800 young people what they think is the biggest issue facing America, and the most popular answer was Trump 
• Joe Walsh: I don’t want a President who uses the power of his office to tell us what private businesses we should avoid, who should be fired, and what media outlets should have their Pulitzer Prizes taken away. I don’t want a King.
• Josh Jordan: NBC News/WSJ Poll: Trump approval dips to 43-53 following the Mueller report, down from 46-52 in February. 29% say the Mueller report clears Donald Trump while 40% say it does not. Polling is pretty clear that the Mueller report is not changing people’s beliefs on Trump/Russia. NBC/WSJ poll: 50% of voters are “very uncomfortable” with Trump as a 2020 candidate, including 50% of independents, 56% of suburban women, and 57% of moderates. The flip-side is that many Dem candidates have more voters uncomfortable than comfortable with them as candidates.

 

EMERGENCIES, SHUTDOWN, & IMMIGRATION

• U.S. cuts off federal aid to Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras
• Julia Davis: The world according to #FoxandFriends: ‘Trump Cuts U.S. Aid To 3 Mexican Countries’
• AOC: “3 Mexican Countries.” Just a reminder that these are the same folks who assert their superiority by belittling the intelligence and good faith of others.
• Trump Just Threatened to Close the Southern Border Next Week, Which Is What Fox News Called on Him to Do Last Night 
• Trump threatens to completely close southern border as early as next week if Mexico doesn’t stop ‘illegal immigration’ 
• Americans’ Donated Airline Miles Have Helped Reunite Hundreds Of Families Separated At The Border By Trump Administration
• Obama’s DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson: ‘We are truly in a crisis’ at southern border 
• The US Is Holding Hundreds Of Shivering Immigrants In A Pen Underneath A Texas Bridge 
• Former Trump Family Driver Has Been in ICE Custody for 8 Months 
• Trump twists circumstances of a migrant girl’s death: AP fact check 
• Autopsy For 7-Year-Old Migrant Who Died In U.S. Custody Shows She Died Of Sepsis 
• Migrant Girl’s Autopsy Shows She Would Have Been Visibly Sick for Hours, Doctors Say 

 

RACISM, RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

• The U.S. government’s counterterrorism center doesn’t track white supremacists. Some think it should. 

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

• Mitch McConnell moving toward “nuclear option” to approve Trump’s judges even faster 
• Mitch McConnell Plans To Change The Rules Again To Confirm Trump Judges | The GOP leader, who blocked lots of Obama’s court picks, is ready to make it easier to confirm district judges now. 
• Supreme Court stops execution because of religious concerns, a contrast to last month

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

• Georgia Anti-Abortion ‘Heartbeat Bill’ Could Have a $9.52 Billion Negative Economic Impact, Passes House 

 

COLD WAR 2.0

• Article 50 petition to cancel Brexit passes 6m signatures
• Brexit live updates: Parliament again rejects Theresa May’s Brexit deal on day Britain was supposed to ‘take back control’
• Brexit: Parliament again rejects Theresa May’s deal, on the day Britain was supposed to ‘take back control’
• Reaction as Brexit vote defeated
• The unexpected spaces inside Ukrainian prisons
• Gazans have paid in blood for a year of protests. Now many wonder what it was for.
• One of Russia’s Richest Women Killed in German Plane Crash

 

#NEVERAGAIN

• Alex Jones says ‘form of psychosis’ made him believe events like Sandy Hook massacre were staged
• Alex Jones, Under Oath, Testifies ‘Psychosis’ Made Him a Sandy Hook Hoaxer 
• How Alex Jones and Infowars Helped a Florida Man Stalk Sandy Hook Families 
• Alex Jones claims ‘psychosis’ made him question Sandy Hook massacre
• 911corlebra777: I hope they take him for every. last. dollar
• Lincoln’s Bible: Is his Russian passport real? Seriously asking.
• Sandy Hook Families Just Proved Congress Lied to Pass One of the NRA’s Favorite Bills 
• NRA Official Contacted Sandy Hook Hoaxer to Spread Doubt About Parkland the Day After the Shooting 
• Shannon Watts: .@KimsMom3 – whose daughter was fatally shot inside her Santa Fe, Texas, high school – asked her Congressman @TXRandy14 at a town hall today why he votes against gun safety laws. He told her the Second Amendment is God-given right. He has an @NRA A-rating.
• US school shootings: Have drills gone too far?
• Shannon Watts: Yes. Because our mostly male lawmakers and school leaders would rather pretend they’re Rambo than do their actual jobs: Pass evidence-based laws that keep guns away from dangerous people.
• Columbine students start campaign to share images of their death if they’re killed in gun violence 

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

• Ajit Pai wants to cap spending on broadband for poor people and rural areas 
• Will Russia Disconnect From the Internet on April 1? 

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

• Fox News’ Chris Wallace Sets Record Straight: Russia Investigation Did Not Start With Trump Dossier 
• Julia Davis: My fave part of this livestream was when Skabeeva told Popov: “We’re not on TV right now — we don’t have to lie.”
• News outlet that covered ‘lizard people’ and called Obama a demon just interviewed Trump Jr. 
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Calls Out ‘Far-right Propaganda…Dedicated to Maligning Me,’ Before Trump Rally Crowd Chants ‘AOC Sucks’ 

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

• Trump Fed Pick Was Held In Contempt for Failing to Pay Ex-Wife Over $300,000 
• Stephen Moore Shows the Three Simple Steps to a Trump Nomination: Suck Up, Bullshit, Repeat
• Stephen Moore, who once ran a political group fined $350,000, wants to take the Fed in a direction Trump supports
• The White House, Not DeVos, Wanted to Slash Special Olympics Budget But The President Was More Than Happy To Look Like The Hero Who Saved The Day By Restoring The Event’s Funding 
• ‘It’ll happen fast’: Trump creates problems and then rushes in to solve them 
• WH Chief Of Staff Mulvaney Dodges Questions About Pre-Existing Conditions 

 

737

• Boeing Crashes Highlight the High Costs of Cheap Government 

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, & ECONOMY

• ‘Clearly an end-run’: Federal judge rejects Trump’s health-care plan to go around Obamacare
• As IPO soars, can Uber and Lyft survive long enough to replace their drivers with machines?
• As Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan Reaches for Golden Parachute, Warren Says ‘If He Broke the Law, He Should Go to Jail Like Anyone Else’ 
• Nikki Haley is wrong: Finland takes care of new moms way better than the US 

 

STUDENT ISSUES

• Abuse of ‘extended time’ on SAT and ACT outrages learning disability community
• The most consequential, and least informed, decision that college students make
• The share of Americans not having sex has reached a record high

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

• Conservatives Can’t Distinguish Between Democratic Reform and Authoritarianism 
• GOP cruelty is a pre-existing condition 
• They Never Have Enough Money – Why is Trump going after Obamacare yet again? Because the modern Republican Party has one guiding purpose: to shovel as much money as possible to the rich. 

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

• Rick and Ann Scott’s financial trail leads to Cayman Islands tax haven
• Arizona Republican Allegedly Paid Two Boys $10 for Sex on Numerous Occasions
• Chris Rock Throws Shade at Jussie Smollett at NAACP Image Awards
• Jussie Smollett case prompts criticism from prosecutors and Trump amid questions about dropped charges

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

• U.S. Methodist leaders lay plans to resist vote against same-sex marriage
• Ryan Burge: The 2018 GSS was just released and there’s some big news. Those of “no religion” (23.1%) are statistically the same size as evangelicals (22.8%). There was also a small resurgence of mainline Protestants, while Catholics are down 3% in the last four years.

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

• PostimusMaximus: We have to act quickly on Climate no matter how impossible it seems. The US is ultimately going to shape global response. If we pull off something dramatic, we can help poorer countries do the same. If we don’t lead, the entire world will act too slowly. Is pulling it off by 2030 crazy? Sure. It will take unbelievable effort I’m not sure we can hit. But what would be crazier to me is continuing to pretend like its not the emergency that it is, and pushing it back to a point where it’s too late to fix it.
• ‘Huge Victory for Our Oceans’: Trump Effort to Open Arctic to Oil and Gas Drilling Ruled Illegal
• Amphibian apocalypse is twice as bad as scientists thought
• Judge restores Obama-era drilling ban in Arctic 
• North Dakota fossil ‘mother lode’ records Earth-shaking asteroid’s impact: study | The Japan Times
• Paywalls block scientific progress. Research should be open to everyone | Jason Schmitt
• The Trump administration planned a road cutting through an Alaska wildlife refuge. A federal judge says that violates federal law
• U.S. judge scraps Trump order opening Arctic, Atlantic areas to oil leasing 
• Federal judge declares Trump’s push to open up Arctic and Atlantic Ocean to oil and gas drilling illegal 

 

ELECTIONS

• Ocasio-Cortez Tells Small Donors to Cut Off DCCC Donations, Give Directly to Candidates Instead 
• Merkley Introduces Legislation to Ensure Equal Representation for Every American: Would End Electoral College, Embrace Full Representation for D.C., Puerto Rico & Territories 
• Dem senator introduces bill to abolish Electoral College 
• First of its kind study shows CEO political donations favor GOP 
• GOP Gears Up For Battle As Dems Aim To Eradicate Partisan Gerrymandering 

 

THINKING AHEAD

• Trump aides fear ‘tired’ president is wearing down and may not have the energy for 2020 campaign: report
• Rick Wilson: We could have had Jeb, but no. Y’all wanted an obese old wattle-jowl.
• Cheri Jacobus: Joe Biden is tacky and inappropriate in that he is often “grandpa” affectionate with women and girls, but he is NOT a sexual harasser. That said, this is a great teachable moment for him and all men in his generation to understand what is welcome and appropriate, and what is not
• Shannon Watts: .@BetoORourke called out @MomsDemand at every stop today during his presidential campaign kickoff tour across Texas, and at every stop, Moms Demand Action volunteers were there to make sure gun sense was on the agenda. Expect us at all candidates’ events between now and 2020.
• Claude Taylor: Vent. Joe ain’t perfect. He’s Joe. Mayor Pete needs better college friends and to back off Hilary. Beto shouldn’t skateboard. Does Cory have a not perfect enough gf? Is Amy mean? C’mon people. We have a great field. Let’s celebrate it and ixnay the circular firing squad. Thanks
• 2020 presidential election: Jay Inslee releases 12 years of tax returns, asks Trump to match
• All About Pete: Only accept politicians who have proved they actually care about people other than themselves… 
• Bernie Sanders hires former reporter who secretly advised campaign, deleted 20K tweets: report 
• Bernie Sanders vows to cut prescription drug prices by half if he’s elected 
• Bill Weld Is Taking On The Trump Monster Because Some Republican Has To 
• Break ’em up, say Dems: Why the 2020 field is taking aim at monopolies. From meatpacking to big tech, presidential contenders say market concentration is harming the economy. 
• Buttigieg slams Trump’s ‘MAGA’ slogan as ‘false promise’ to workers affected by automation 
• Flake says he’d rather see a Democrat win if Trump is GOP’s 2020 nominee 
• Midwestern mayor Buttigieg wows progressive Dems in San Francisco 
• Pete Buttigieg is the poster child for a changing America 
• Pete Buttigieg, suddenly a hot Democratic ticket, draws a crowd in SF 
• Sanders: ‘Thousands of people will literally die’ if Trump ‘gets his way’ on health care 
• Trump isn’t too worried about losing Pennsylvania. A new poll suggests he should be. 
• Tulsi Gabbard’s Financial Disclosures Leave Out Ties To Koch-Funded Think Tank 
• Poll: Trump Trails Every Top 2020 Dem In Pennsylvania 

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

• Bonnie and Clyde were Depression-era Kardashians: A source of public fascination
• Does Netflix have a killer problem?
• For decades, Garfield telephones kept washing ashore in France. Now the mystery has been solved.

 

RUMOR MILL

• MSW Podcast: Trolls have regrouped and are back today. Wonder what’s brewing…
• Angry White House Staffer: I’ve said it before: Imagine how dangerous this administration would be if it wasn’t utterly incompetent
• PostimusMaximus: There’s maybe a handful of retracted or uncorroborated Trump-Russia stories out of several hundred. I would know, I literally have a collection of all of them from the past 2 years. Glenn of course doesn’t want to admit that though.
• 911corlebra777: Nice thread full of receipts. State & Federal attorneys need to be all over this like a rash. Plenty of evidence the rules are being broken. Fix the dark money in politics, and you’ve solved half your problems right there
• Milo M. :Mitch McConnell has one of these, too. Note Senate Leadership Fund’s treasurer, Caleb Crosby, and it’s address: 45 North Hill Drive Suite 100, Warrenton, VA. The treasurer and address are the same as those for One Nation, a (501)(c)(4).
• Thread by @Ex67T20: “@nickconfessore Mitch McConnell has one of these, too. Note Senate Leadership Fund’s treasurer, Caleb Crosby, and it’s address: 45 North Hil […]”

 

That’s it for the last few days.  And I’m having to skip from doing this daily for the next few weeks at least.  I haven’t devoted as much time as I’d like to fighting the fight.  Instead, I’m dealing with insurance companies, lawyers, and other bureaucracies.  Like Warren Zevon said “Send lawyers, guns, and money, the shit has hit the fan.”

As I stated last week, I’m going through some stuff involving my father.  He had a massive stroke about two weeks ago, and he’s currently in rehab.  Unfortunately, the rehab stay is probably only going to be a couple weeks, unless they recommend him for an off-site rehab.  If they don’t, he’ll need a place to go to since his house is not an option.  Even if he could take care of himself, his house is beyond disgusting.  And of course, everything is fucking expensive.  I’m half tempted to find the shady nursing homes they show on 60 Minutes.  They looked like they weren’t too expensive.

So, between raising two young kids including an infant, a full time and then some job, researching for this site and writing every day, I now get to juggle all of that with taking care of a stroke victim that is too stubborn to die.  In his life he has survived a Widow Maker heart attack, diabetes, another heart attack that ended in a quadruple bypass, hypertension, a likely case of COPD, flirted with kidney failure, and multiple injuries and accidents that each carry their own death toll.  He has or had 7 of the top 10 causes of death in the U.S.  The only things missing are cancer, Alzheimers (which there is a family history), and suicide.

When all this shit is resolved, I’m taking a couple days off.  From everything.  I’m exhausted.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Thursday, March 28, 2019

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Barr Summary and Mueller Report

• ‘There’s nothing routine about this’: Barr’s move to send Mueller’s report to the White House before the public sets off alarm bells
• A Mueller mystery: How Trump dodged a special counsel interview — and a subpoena fight
• Attorney General Barr agrees to testify before House committee 
• Barr Won’t Commit to Turning Over Full Mueller Report: Source 
• Comey: ‘It doesn’t make sense’ that Mueller didn’t rule on obstruction of justice
• Mueller Report Exceeds 300 Pages, Raising Questions About Four-Page Summary 
• Mueller’s report is more than 300 pages, attorney general tells top Democrat
• Lincoln’s Bible: The panic resumes. Wonder why… Maybe a 3 page memo with a cover page and oddly plucked excerpts did not exonerate? Wut you think?
• Angry White House Staffer: For a report that supposedly exonerates POTUS, there sure are a lot of republicans who don’t want it to be public 🤔

At least 300 pages.  The Barr Summary was 3 pages and a cover, yet didn’t contain a complete quoted sentence.  Plus, he’s sending it over to the White House first for them to redact and edit before it gets to Congress?

The Fix is in.  If there’s one thing I’m confident of in this mess, someone from the White House will leak the report almost immediately. They’ll do so with Whistleblower protections, too.

 

• Adam Schiff Blasts Republicans: They ‘Think It’s OK’ Russia Meddled in Our Election 
• Adam Schiff Presents His ‘Evidence of Collusion’ | The House Intelligence Committee chairman and foe of President Trump delivered a fiery speech on Thursday morning 
• Adam Schiff’s Clapback at Republicans Lays Out the Case for Releasing the Mueller Report 
• Trump-Russia collusion evidence detailed by Schiff in damning address in Congress: ‘You might think it’s ok’ 

 

Butina

• Maria Butina, Russian who conspired to infiltrate NRA, to be sentenced April 26
• Special counsel briefly interviewed Maria Butina, sources say
• Natasha Bertrand: Can confirm…and if there is an NRA money laundering angle here, it wasn’t part of Butina’s case, I’m told. She was asked by Mueller’s team about JD Gordon and other contacts w/Trump’s campaign.

 

Kushner

• Jared Kushner interviewed by Senate Intelligence Committee 
• Jared Kushner seen leaving secret Senate Intelligence Committee hearing room, days after Mueller report submitted 

 

The Beat Goes On…

• Mueller grand jury continuing ‘robustly,’ as U.S. prosecutors take over subpoena fight with foreign state-owned company
• No, the FBI did not say Michael Flynn did not lie, as Donald Trump said 
• Former CIA leaders give ‘briefing book’ to 2020 candidates to counteract ‘fake news’ and ‘foreign election interference’
• Ex-Trump aide details president’s alleged effort to cover up the Trump Tower meeting
• Prison ‘street cred’ and a standing ovation: George Papadopoulos on doing time ‘in Trump Country’
• Want to know what’s next in Russian election interference? Pay attention to Ukraine’s elections

 

Saudi Arabia

• Trump Admin Weirdly Eager to Hand the Saudis Nuclear Secrets 
• Trump administration authorized nuclear energy companies to share technological information with Saudi Arabia
• U.S. approved secret nuclear power work for Saudi Arabia

 

CONGRESS

• Adam Schiff Blasts Republicans: They ‘Think It’s OK’ Russia Meddled in Our Election 
• Adam Schiff Presents His ‘Evidence of Collusion’ | The House Intelligence Committee chairman and foe of President Trump delivered a fiery speech on Thursday morning 
• Adam Schiff’s Clapback at Republicans Lays Out the Case for Releasing the Mueller Report 
• Schiff on Trump: ‘I think it’s immoral. I think it’s unethical. I think it’s unpatriotic’ 
• Schiff recites long list of Trump’s Russia contacts after Republicans call for his resignation 
• Trump-Russia collusion evidence detailed by Schiff in damning address in Congress: ‘You might think it’s ok’ 
• Under partisan fire, Adam Schiff presents his case without apology 
• Schiff shames grandstanding GOP with litany of Trump corruption 
• Napolitano: Schiff is ‘Correct’ to Conclude Mueller Report Will Have Evidence of Conspiracy
• Watch: Adam Schiff lists all the ways he says Trump campaign colluded with Russia, shuts off Republican’s Mic 
• Adam Schiff: I say this to the President, and his defenders in Congress: You may think it’s okay how Trump and his associates interacted with Russians during the campaign. I don’t. I think it’s immoral. I think it’s unethical. I think it’s unpatriotic. And yes, I think it’s corrupt.
• Rick Wilson: Stiffen your spines, folks. Fight is still on.
• PostimusMaximus: Journalists : If you fall into this “journalists messed up” meme of the alt-right bunch you actually are idiots. The reporting is all correct. Everything that was reported to have happened still happened. (Its the entire reason I started doing this stuff to begin with) Thanks @RepAdamSchifffor making this as clear as possible. Everything that happened with Russia still happened. None of it was ok.
• Answering the liberal clamor, Pelosi rolls out limited proposals on health care and environment
• Pelosi to Mika: I intend to use ‘full force’ to have report released 
• Pelosi: ‘Arrogant’ Of Barr To Expect That Dems Would Blindly Accept His Summary 
• House votes to condemn Trump ban on transgender military service

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

• Trump’s Financial Statements Are so Full of Lies That His Accountants Put a Warning Label on Them: Newly Obtained Documents Show the Brazen Methods with Which the President Inflated and Deflated His Assets to Banks and Insurance Companies.
• Trump’s odd financial statements: Omitted debts, overvalued assets and broken accounting rules
• Trump said investigating his finances would be a ‘red line.’ New York prosecutors are about to cross it. 

 

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

• Trump may not be a Russian agent. He’s just a Russian stooge. 
• Trump says he is rescinding his proposed cut to Special Olympics budget amid a bipartisan outcry
• Trump told Hannity he won’t rule out pardoning Michael Flynn and others in first interview since Mueller probe ended
• Trump pressures wary Republicans to produce replacement for health-care law
• Trump: If Barr Had Always Been AG, Mueller Probe ‘Would Not Have Happened’ 
• Trump’s spin on the Mueller report not sticking with Americans 
• Trump’s Treachery Goes Way Beyond Russia: He’s not working for Putin. He’s working for any dictator who flatters him. 

 

TRAITOR TOTS

• Trump Ally Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University Landed Pentagon Contract Months After Trump’s Election
• Bernhardt’s past lobbying casts shadow in interior secretary confirmation hearing
• Rand Paul blocks resolution calling for Mueller report release 
• This Lindsey Graham quote perfectly explains the GOP’s codependent relationship with Trump

 

CULT 45

• As Grand Rapids awaits Trump, both sides of the political divide find their anger stoked by the Mueller report
• It took Trump 90 seconds to lie about the “Mueller report” during Michigan speech 

 

FIGHTING BACK

• Dem accuses McConnell of ‘collusion’ for blocking Mueller report release 
• Dems demand Mueller’s full 300 pages, mock ‘scaredy-cat’ GOP 
• Poll: After Barr Letter, Overwhelming Majority Wants Full Mueller Report Released 

 

PUERTO RICO

• Statehood bill could make Puerto Rico a state before 2020 
• U.S. lawmakers unveil bill to make Puerto Rico 51st state, as Trump escalates feud with island officials

 

EMERGENCIES, SHUTDOWN, & IMMIGRATION

• ‘We Are Running Concentration Camps’: Images From El Paso Stir Outrage Over Migrant Treatment 
• Man stopped by ICE uses ‘know your rights’ training, prevents immigrants’ arrest
• Trump renews threat to close the southern border, blasts Mexico on immigration

 

RACISM, RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

• Booker: Trump is ‘complicit’ in white supremacist violence
• Buttigieg: ‘Americans are being radicalized’ by Trump administration 
• Nathan Bernard: . @benshapiro is threatening to sue @TheEconomist for exercising free speech. Prosecutors recently found the alt-right terrorist who shot up a mosque in Quebec City was a Shapiro superfan, studying Ben’s content closely before killing. Extremists heed Ben’s words, he’s their sage.

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

• In veteran’s disability case, Supreme Court considers junking longtime deference to federal agencies
• Supreme Court declines to stop Trump administration’s ban on bump stocks

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

• NRA Opposes Expansion of the Violence Against Women Act
• College student accuses former Virginia governor L. Douglas Wilder of sexual harassment

 

COLD WAR 2.0

• How to Sell a Massacre
• EU states unanimously announce: We do not recognize Israeli sovereignty over Golan Heights

 

#NEVERAGAIN

Australia

• How to Sell a Massacre
• Al Jazeera English: THREAD Days after the Christchurch massacre, New Zealand banned assault rifles. But in Australia, the right-wing @OneNationAus party wants to weaken gun laws with the help of the NRA. Our 3 year undercover investigation reveals #HowToSellAMassacre http://aljazeera.com/howtosellamassacre …
• 911corlebra777: Part 2 is currently airing in Australia right now. For American peeps, the NRA offered to ghost write articles for Australia’s One Nation Party. Not sure if the NRA has broken US FARA laws here
• Al Jazeera English: In part 2 of #HowToSellAMassacre the NRA set up a meeting for One Nation at US energy giant Koch industries. In return, One Nation offered them extraordinary influence on Australian politics. Watch now: https://aje.io/dq2f3

 

NRA Attacking Parkland Students

• NRA officer enlisted a Sandy Hook truther to sow doubt about Parkland shooting, emails show 
• NRA safety officer enlisted a Sandy Hook truther to sow doubt about Parkland shooting, emails show
• Exclusive: NRA Official Sought Sandy Hook Hoaxer To Question Parkland Shooting, Emails Show | HuffPost
• Sebastian Murdoc: NEW: An @NRA official emailed a Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist who has harassed the parents of dead children to question the school shooting in Parkland, Florida last year. “Just like [Sandy Hook], there is so much more to this story,” The NRA’s Mark Richardson said in an email obtained by HuffPost. “[The Parkland shooter] was not alone.” The man he emailed, Wolf Halbig, has gone on Infowars and discussed the sick theory that 6-year-old Avielle Richman didn’t die. The child’s father, Jeremy, died Monday in a suspected suicide.
• Sara Danner Dukic: This is what the NRA is doing with Cambridge Analytica and our metadata.

 

• NRA Opposes Expansion of the Violence Against Women Act
• Supreme Court declines to stop Trump administration’s ban on bump stocks

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

• U.S. Must Put a Ban on Google Helping China Develop a Global Digital Dictatorship
• Vermont House overwhelmingly approves community broadband
• FCC “fined” robocallers $208 million since 2015 but collected only $6,790
• HUD charges Facebook with housing discrimination over its targeted advertising platform

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

• Republican Party says it will personally target reporters critical of Trump 
• Fox’s Napolitano predicts Mueller report will prove Schiff ‘correct’ on some collusion 
• Fox’s Judge Napolitano: Schiff ‘Is Correct’ That Mueller Report Will Show Evidence of Trump-Russia Collusion 

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

• Mulvaney pushes the health-care fight Trump wants despite GOP’s misgivings

 

737

• Boeing, initially defensive, now ‘humbled’ by 737 Max crisis

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, & ECONOMY

• A $768.4 million Powerball ticket was sold in Wisconsin. Here’s why huge jackpots are the new normal.
• Alaska’s governor wants to give more cash to residents — and cut public services
• Homeless, living in a tent blocks from the U.S. Capitol — and working full-time
• If the GOP built their ideal health-care system . . . it’d be Obamacare 
• Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan to step down immediately

 

STUDENT ISSUES

• ‘Think of the mothers of sons’: Notre Dame mom begs female students to stop wearing leggings, sparking protests
• Their parents dragged them into the college bribery scandal. Can a PR expert pull these kids out?

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

• Rick Wilson: Senate leadership staffer: “We’re putting the special olympics $ back in. They had to go and fuck up a good day.” My reply: “Are you new here?”
• Republican Party says it will personally target reporters critical of Trump 

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

• ‘Bye, Jayme,’ man who kidnapped girl and murdered her parents says as he leaves court
• A fifth-grader was injured in a classroom fight with another student. Days later, she died.
• K-Pop Crime Cartel Revealed as Korea’s Burning Sun Scandal Expands
• U.S. jury says Bayer must pay $80 million to man in Roundup cancer…
• Trump says FBI and Justice Department will review the Jussie Smollett case

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

• John Gray asks Relentless Church members to give $250K to help pay for church roof
• Mike Huckabee Thinks Chick-fil-A Has a Legal Right to Be in Every Airport

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

• Christopher Titus: I would like clean air and water. It would be nice to use renewable energy and create a new economy that made us a leader in new technologies, I’d like to let the coal miners out of the mines and let them install solar panels in the fresh air. I that makes me ELITE okay.
• ‘Sleep is critical to human existence’: Judge orders county jail to stop constantly waking up female inmates
• ‘Weather’s going to be turnt, right?’: A news team’s experiment in teen slang left viewers ‘cringing’
• After Cyclone Idai, bodies litter Mozambique’s fields, and the true death toll may never be known
• American scientists to climb Mount Everest to study pollution
• As vast swaths of Australia dry out, a mental health crisis takes shape
• California’s water infrastructure could be tested this spring as massive winter snowpack melts away
• First living HIV-positive donor provides kidney for transplant in medical breakthrough
• The Doomsday Vault’s home is already altered by climate change. A report says it could get worse.
• Want to rescue a dog from overseas? It might carry a new strain of disease, researchers say.

 

ELECTIONS

• New Mexico’s open Senate seat gives Hispanics a chance to break through

 

THINKING AHEAD

• Americans evenly divided on whether Trump or a Democrat will prevail next year, poll finds
• Booker: Trump is ‘complicit’ in white supremacist violence
• Buttigieg: ‘Americans are being radicalized’ by Trump administration 
• Joe Biden’s treatment of Anita Hill poses new problems as he ponders a presidential campaign
• Wayne Messam, mayor of Miramar, Fla., joins the Democratic presidential field
• Former CIA leaders give ‘briefing book’ to 2020 candidates to counteract ‘fake news’ and ‘foreign election interference’

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

• Europe bans single-use plastics. And glitter could be next.

 

RUMOR MILL

• MSW Podcast: Well, it appears as though we won’t find out who the mystery company from country A is for a while because it’s part of a “robust” open and ongoing grand jury investigation. YOU DON’T SAY.
• Tea Pain: Trump to Hannity: “I was the most innocent human being.” …to ever be implicated in multiple felonies. #Individual1
• Scott Stedman: Really weird, why are Fox News hosts claiming to know the page count of the Mueller report?

 

That’s it for Thursday.  This update is pretty short and light on extra content.  I’m still trying to get back in the swing of things.  This past week has left me exhausted and dejected.  I need some time off from everything, but I can’t get it.  Every time I go to relax or unwind for a few minutes, another person has questions that only I can answer.  I’m ready to take a nap right here at the keyboard, but that would be a bad idea.

I’ll try to rest a little this weekend.  Highly unlikely, but I’ll try.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur