JUST SAY NO

Trump hints that he could block the release of the Mueller report entirely. I would love to see him try 

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1846414

“Maybe we should just take our victory and say NO, we’ve got a Country to run!”

Barr makes some conciliatory moves toward Congress on releasing the report -- but it still might not be enough to avoid a showdown

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1846401

Barr is redacting things he has no legal basis for redacting

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/03/30/william-barr-mueller-report-226340

Trump's "America First" approach is foundering: first on immigration policy, then on building the Wall™, and now on trade

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1846209

More: https://thinkprogress.org/trump-administration-cut-aid-honduras-nicaragua-el-salvador-immigration-border-5799c55aae3a/
Trump administration to cut aid for Central American countries over immigration

Trump blames the father of an immigrant girl who died in U.S. custody

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-twists-facts-migrant-girl-death

A Navy SEAL is charged with murdering a captured ISIS fighter. OF COURSE Trump can't resist getting involved -- though he hasn't pardoned him (yet)

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/30/trump-intervene-navy-seal-1244374

In other investigation news . . .

Now Republicans want to open a NEW investigation into Obama and his officials

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/436547-gop-shifts-focus-to-investigating-obama-officials

More: https://thinkprogress.org/gop-senators-sharpen-knives-mueller-report-other-side-4a3ee3274be8

In other news . . . 

It's the little things that tell you who a person truly is: Trump cheats at golf

https://politicalwire.com/2019/03/30/quote-of-the-day-2216/

https://nypost.com/2019/03/30/trump-is-the-worlds-worst-cheat-at-golf-players-and-celebs-say/

Does Trump's rhetoric encourage violence? It's an empirical question, right?

https://www.salon.com/2019/03/30/donald-trump-and-racist-violence-research-points-to-a-clear-connection/
Research points to a clear connection

Trump roils the GOP with a demand that they take up health care -- something that serves his electoral interests, but not theirs

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/gop-scrambles-deal-trump-decision-healthcare
 
Stephen Moore, Trump's unqualified nominee for the Fed, is the gift that keeps on giving

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/stephen-moore-found-contempt-failing-pay-child-support
Trump Fed Pick Once Found In Contempt For Failing To Pay Child Support

Can the Dems retake the Senate?

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2020-democrats-more-targets-uphill-slog-senate

Another trendy stance for Dem candidates is "small donations only." That's stupid

https://politicalwire.com/2019/03/30/democrats-cant-quit-their-big-donors/

The man's sheer pettiness is hard to believe sometimes

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1846182
Democrats demand answers after State Department yanked award from journalist critical of Trump

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/29/trump-pulitzer-prizes-nyt-washington-post-1244373
Trump calls for revoking New York Times, Washington Post Pulitzers for Mueller coverage

Bonus item: No exoneration! No exoneration!

https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2019/03/exonerated.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sharing its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com) with others via email or social media. Thanks for helping to spread the word!

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DIRTY HANDS

There is a lot that is still murky about Trump-Russia. But the public record already tells us two things. One, Trump was warned by the FBI that Russia was trying to interfere in the election. But at no point did he or anyone in his orbit tell the FBI about continued efforts by the Russians to reach out to them with dirt on Clinton. On the contrary, they lied about it. Second, they actively promoted and weaponized the Clinton email content, even though they knew it was stolen -- and Trump openly asked Russia to steal even more. Don't tell me they didn't know what they were doing

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2019/03/29/how-trump-exploited-the-material-he-knew-the-russians-had-stolen/ 

Trump threatens to CLOSE the U.S./Mexico border

https://www.vox.com/2019/3/29/18287101/trump-close-border-us-mexico-tweets

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-threatens-close-border-mexico-doesnt-halt-all-illegal-immigration

Why? https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/03/trump-closing-southern-border-fox-news.html
Trump Just Threatened to Close the Southern Border Next Week, Which Is What Fox News Called on Him to Do Last Night

More: https://www.vox.com/2019/3/29/18287491/trump-closing-border-mexico-trade-not-how-it-works
Trump’s latest comments about the border indicate he doesn’t understand how trade works

Trump keeps losing in court in his never-ending effort to kill Obamacare

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/29/18286779/trump-health-care-federal-judge-obamacare-medicaid

Trump reverses the Special Olympics cuts, which is good -- and hangs Betsy DeVos out to dry, which is even better

https://www.axios.com/donald-trump-unilateral-management-cabinet-members-0bb22d7e-95f9-44ac-bd41-216f7d151b8b.html
After 24 hours of brutal coverage of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' defense of scrapping funding for the Special Olympics, President Trump stepped in to claim he was saving a program his own budget had threatened . . . "I heard about it this morning," Trump told reporters as he left the White House. "I have overridden my people. We're funding the Special Olympics." It was a bad look for DeVos, but standard operating procedure for Trump. It's a reminder of why his team can never feel safe: He loves to put aides in their place. . . .

More: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/03/trump-devos-special-olympics-fund-defund-budget.html

Trump Now Wants to Fund the Special Olympics After Submitting Three Budget Proposals Defunding It

DeVos does NOT want to talk about it: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1846177
A reporter asking Betsy DeVos about Special Olympics budget cuts is 2 minutes of straight cringe

Trump attacks the Fed, tries to bully them into lowering interest rates

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/436534-trump-rips-fed-for-mistakenly-raising-interest-rates

[NB: Of course he wants an artificially overheated economy going into the 2020 campaign, no matter what the long-term consequences might be. This is why we have an independent Fed, and this is why he doesn't want one.]

In other investigation news. . . .

Redacted Mueller report by "mid-April"

https://politicalwire.com/2019/03/29/mueller-report-will-come-by-mid-april/

https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/03/29/pressure-works-after-four-days-william-barr-capitulates-and-gives-an-estimated-page-count/

How much is being "redacted"? https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/barr-is-still-holding-out

[NB: I assume there is someone with a pdf of the complete file sitting on their laptop, waiting to see how much of the substantive evidence against Trump Barr manages to hide. I certainly hope that they have their finger resting on the "Send" button.]

Why did Barr put one of the most important lines in his "summary" in a footnote?

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/03/barr-letter-mueller-report-footnote-russia-coordination.html

One of the biggest questions: why didn't Mueller force the issue of Trump's testimony, especially on obstruction?

https://crooksandliars.com/2019/03/chuck-rosenberg-floats-possible-reason

Roger Stone keeps violating the judge's order to stop talking about the investigation

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/stone-walks-line-breaching-gag-order-instagram-post

In other news . . . 

Trump is terrible under any circumstances, but he is intolerable when he feels emboldened and vindicated. His crudeness and need to attack his enemies will be on constant display during this campaign

https://www.vox.com/2019/3/29/18287003/trump-schiff-grand-rapids-michigan-speech

More: https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2019/03/yes-he-really-said-this.html
Trump actually said this: "In this country, we cannot criminalize political differences. We do not abuse the law enforcement and intelligence power to target our political opponents."

[NB: R-i-i-i-g-h-t. What about "Lock her up! Lock her up!"]  

Trump ends the tradition of the president throwing out the first pitch of the baseball season -- and there is only one reason: he knew he would be booed terribly

https://crooksandliars.com/2019/03/trump-ends-109-year-old-presidential

The growing Boeing 737 MAX scandal looks very, very bad

https://www.vox.com/business-and-finance/2019/3/29/18281270/737-max-faa-scandal-explained

Renewables are financially viable now: time to start phasing out coal

https://thinkprogress.org/renewable-energy-coal-natural-gas-a3828fd843cb/

Another Cabinet official has had enough

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/linda-mcmahon-resign-small-business-chief

More from Betsy DeVos. Educational research is mostly pretty lame -- but there is one finding that everyone confirms: small class sizes are better for learning (duh)

https://thinkprogress.org/betsy-devos-claims-larger-class-sizes-are-actually-good-for-students-2020-white-house-budget-defense-cd356857fb19/
Betsy DeVos claims larger class sizes are actually good for students

Trump hires another staffer from Fox World

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-taps-yet-another-fox-news-contributor-his-team

Fox & Friends: reliably loyal, reliably stupid. THANKS GOODNESS we have Barr's 4-page summary -- now we don't have to read all 300+ pages of the Mueller report

https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-and-friends-good-thing-we-dont-have-to-read-300-pages-of-mueller-report

Bonus item: Trump on the very great Great Lakes

https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2019/03/the-great-lakes-are-indeed-very-great/

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/29/18286781/trump-michigan-rally-great-lakes

[NB: He knows nothing and cares nothing about the Great Lakes, except they're close to Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sharing its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com) with others via email or social media. Thanks for helping to spread the word!

I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***