https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/30/trump-national-security-1136433
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trumps-national-security-team-rejects-his-climate-stance-too
More: https://politicalwire.com/2019/01/30/trump-singled-out-dan-coats-in-morning-rant/
“President Trump seethed Wednesday morning . . . The President didn’t see Coats’ full testimony in front of lawmakers that took place on Tuesday, but he was furious Wednesday as he watched television chyrons blare that the officials had contradicted him.”
Wow: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1090608298343190528
"The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive . . .They are wrong! … Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!"
Trump's intel chiefs conspicuously fail to identify a "crisis" at the border -- expect the Dems to raise this if he tries to declare a "national emergency"
https://politicalwire.com/2019/01/30/intelligence-officials-dont-mention-crisis-at-border/
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/schiff-teases-using-intel-chief-hearing-to-shoot-down-national-emergency
https://politicalwire.com/2019/01/30/intelligence-officials-dont-mention-crisis-at-border/
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/schiff-teases-using-intel-chief-hearing-to-shoot-down-national-emergency
Go Chuck, go
https://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/427781-schumer-past-time-for-intel-leaders-to-stage-an-intervention-with
Schumer: Past time for Intel leaders to 'stage an intervention' with Trump
After all this, can you believe it?
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1830718
Despite Trump's border wall obsession, Americans trust Democrats more on border security
[NB: I would replace "despite" with "because"]
More: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-nations-key-issues-americans-trust-pelosi-over-trump
Trump is already getting ready to reject a border security bill he hasn't even seen yet
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/30/trump-border-national-emergency-immigration-1138308
The Dems invite one of the undocumented workers working at a Trump property who got fired to the SOTU
https://politicalwire.com/2019/01/30/undocumented-worker-fired-by-trump-invited-to-speech/
In Russia news. . .
Wow -- this is either gross negligence or a deeper conspiracy
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/robert-mueller-russia-troll-discovery-altered-posted-online
Mueller Alleges His Probe Was Targeted By Russia-Based Disinformation Effort
More: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/30/mueller-special-counsel-russia-twitter-1138293
According to the Mueller filing, the Twitter handle @HackingRedstone posted a message in late October 2018 claiming access to the special counsel investigation’s database “as we hacked Russian server with info from the Russian troll case Concord LLC v. Mueller. You can view all the files Mueller had about the IRA [Internet Research Agency] and Russian collusion. Enjoy the reading!” . . . Mueller’s office said that with the help of the FBI, it determined that more than 1,000 of the 300,000 files on the website linked from the @HackingRedstone tweet included markings unique to materials that it had shared with Concord Management and Consulting during earlier rounds of discovery. . . Mueller’s office suggested that the hack and subsequent dissemination of its sensitive materials came with an ulterior motive: “to discredit the investigation” by the special counsel. . . . Last June, a federal judge in Washington issued an order telling Concord’s lawyers they were the only ones allowed to access, share or discuss the “sensitive” materials unless they got court approval. The order also mandated that the discovery materials could be stored only in an offline location at Reed Smith’s U.S. offices and couldn’t be “disclosed, transported or transmitted outside the United States.” Concord in December took issue with those restrictions on “sensitive” materials and filed a motion seeking to share the materials in Russia with Concord’s officers and employees “for purpose of preparing for trial.” [read on]
https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/01/30/the-disinformation-campaign-targeting-mueller-and-the-delayed-briefing-to-ssci-on-russian-election-interference/
The Disinformation Campaign Targeting Mueller
More on the NRA-Russia link
https://www.thedailybeast.com/nra-heavyweight-wanted-access-to-putin-leaked-email
Roger Stone won't stop talking in public about his case
https://politicalwire.com/2019/01/30/roger-stone-will-resist-any-gag-order/
Shut up, Lindsey (this may become a new department)
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/graham-demands-explanation-from-the-fbi-about-how-roger-stone-was-arrested
Graham Demands Explanation From The FBI About How Roger Stone Was Arrested
More: https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2019/01/newly-minted-civil-libertarians.html
STONE: The whole purpose of this over-the-top raid on my house, in which they sent in more men then were used to protect our compound in Benghazi, was to paint a picture of me coming to poison a jury pool --
INGRAHAM: It was so ridiculous.
STONE: -- as public enemy number one.
INGRAHAM: I -- it was one of the more ridiculous things. And it was offensive. It’s offensive to me. . . [read on]
In other news . . .
The Dow was close to 27,000, then crashed under Trump -- now he is bragging about it breaking 25,000
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1090729920760893441
"Dow just broke 25,000. Tremendous news!"
[NB: And, again, the stock market is still not the measure of a healthy economy.]
Once again, a new manufacturing plant that Trump bragged about and took personal credit for turns out to be a figment of his imagination
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-foxconn-wisconsin-exclusive-idUSKCN1PO0FV
Okay, now, get to work
https://politicalwire.com/2019/01/30/house-gop-finally-names-intelligence-committee-members/
House GOP Finally Names Intelligence Committee Members
I expect to see more and more of this as House Dem investigations heat up: Trumpians simply refusing to testify
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1830911
House Dems introduce a new bill to restore democracy, and Mitch McConnell instantly starts lying about it
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/congress-begins-worthwhile-debate-over-bill-improve-our-democracy
McConnell: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/mcconnell-ridicules-election-day-holiday
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1830926
[NB: Of course, it is true that increasing voter turnout and removing irrelevant barriers to voting tends to help Dems -- and of course, that's why they're pushing it. But you might think that increasing voter turnout and removing irrelevant barriers to voting are intrinsically good things for democracy, regardless of who they help. But then, you probably aren't a Republican.]
More: https://www.vox.com/2019/1/30/18203936/mitch-mcconnell-election-day-federal-holiday
Democrats are trying to get Republicans to admit to voter suppression
More to come
https://crooksandliars.com/2019/01/house-dems-unveil-social-security-2100-act
House Dems Unveil Bill To Fix, Expand Social Security
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/30/18203613/house-pay-raise-federal-workers
Trump blocked pay raises for 2 million workers. The House just voted to restore them.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/01/democrats-have-introduced-bold-gun-control-legislation/581191
Democrats Are Newly Emboldened on Gun Control
At one time, people were talking about 30 possible candidates for the Dem primary -- looks like there will be much fewer than that
https://politicalwire.com/2019/01/30/will-the-democratic-field-be-smaller-than-we-thought/
Tulsi, we barely knew ya
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/tulsi-gabbard-campaign-loses-campaign-manager-consultant
Tulsi Gabbard’s Campaign Already Loses Campaign Manager, Consultants
Issues the Dem candidates need to deal with
https://thinkprogress.org/single-payer-democratic-primary-2020-183bb8cfb957
What single-payer advocates want to hear from 2020 Democratic primary contenders
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/1/30/18183769/democrat-poverty-plans-2020-presidential-kamala-harris-booker-gillibrand
5 anti-poverty plans from 2020 Democratic presidential contenders, explained
The Dems' all-out push to keep Howard Schultz out of the 2020 race
https://politicalwire.com/2019/01/30/democrats-try-to-push-shultz-out-of-race/
[NB: The issue of Schultz as third-party spoiler is well-rehearsed here. The best analysis I heard was, if he wants to reform the Democratic party and create a moderate alternative to more leftist candidates, then run in the Dem primary and try to beat them -- as, for example, Michael Bloomberg might. Don't run a third-party campaign that can't possibly win and can only help Trump.]
A jerk move: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trumpian-move-schultz-volunteered-story-rejecting-warren-funding-request
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/howard-schultz-says-he-s-not-democrat-surprised-party-backlash-n964476
Howard Schultz says he's not a Democrat, surprised by backlash
https://crooksandliars.com/2019/01/franklin-graham-lies-about-lying-trump
Rev. Franklin Graham insisted on Wednesday that he had never heard a lie from President Donald Trump. . . . Craig Melvin pointed out to Graham that The Washington Post counted 8,158 false or misleading claims made by the president during his first two years in office. “Well, I don’t know how to reconcile that, because I don’t know,” Graham replied. “You have a fact checker for the president but I don’t know if you have a fact checker for the media at the same time.”
“Pastor Graham, you and I both know this president has said things over and over that aren’t true,” the MSNBC host pressed. “No, I don’t know that,” Graham insisted. “I don’t sit around and try to find every fault in the president every day, looking for everything that he might have misspoken or mis-said. I don’t do that.”
“But you can acknowledge that the president has said things that aren’t true,” Melvin asked. “I don’t think the president is sitting there behind the desk trying to make up lies,” Graham said. “I don’t believe that for a second. Has he misspoken on something? Sure, all of us do that, you do it, I do it.”
I hate this. I can't tell you how much I hate this
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/30/sarah-huckabee-sanders-trump-god-1137547
Sarah Sanders: God wanted Trump to become president
Conservatives and white evangelicals are sticking with Trump only because he is a vehicle for getting their judges in place
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/30/trump-judges-conservative-deal-1137702
Trump could lose TEXAS in 2020
https://politicalwire.com/2019/01/30/trumps-texas-troubles-are-rooted-in-the-suburbs/
[NB: Wait til he starts trying to seize people's property in that state. Don't mess with Texas!]
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1830626
As Trump's poll numbers drop, so do the Republicans
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1830931
GOPers are leaving the party all across the country
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/dems-make-gains-in-state-houses-as-gopers-defect
The first cracks?
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/collins-not-prepared-endorse-trump-2020
Collins: ‘Not Prepared’ To Endorse Trump For 2020
The problem with NDAs
https://www.thedailybeast.com/these-white-house-ndas-are-crapthese-people-work-for-us-not-trump
Pssst! Chris Christie and Jared Kushner do not like each other
https://politicalwire.com/2019/01/30/christie-slams-kushners-father/
Teen vaping -- I am concerned
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/1/30/18203743/vape-juul-e-cigarette-study
More: https://www.thedailybeast.com/study-finds-links-between-e-cigs-and-strokes
Bonus item: Most of Clemson's football team boycotted Trump' garbage-food buffet at the White House
https://crooksandliars.com/2019/01/sleeper-story-alert-majority-black-clemson
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/1/15/18183617/trump-clemson-mcdonalds-burger-king-wendys-dominos
https://crooksandliars.com/2019/01/sleeper-story-alert-majority-black-clemson
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/1/15/18183617/trump-clemson-mcdonalds-burger-king-wendys-dominos
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