THIS IS BIG

Michael Flynn's got a deal with Mueller

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/01/muellers-office-announces-flynn-will-plead-guilty-274349  

[NB: Mueller would only offer him this deal if Flynn was able and willing to provide crucial testimony implicating higher ups. Who might that be? Read on]

What Flynn's plea deal tells us

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1720168

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/key-issue-in-flynn-plea-deal

What legal experts say: https://www.vox.com/2017/12/1/16723752/flynn-charged-fbi-mueller-trump-deal
“I’m confident Flynn is singing like a bird to Mueller.”

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/01/what-michael-flynns-plea-deal-means-215995
‘As big as a day as this was for Mueller’s investigation, expect more and bigger ones’

More details start to leak out

https://crooksandliars.com/2017/12/whoa-flynn-prepared-testify-against-trump
The general told confidants about his decision to plead guilty in the last 24 hours, according to people close to Flynn, who say the former adviser feels President Trump has abandoned him and has agreed to answer questions about the president or anyone else. . .

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/12/1/1720216/-Michael-Flynn-asked-the-Russian-ambassador-to-block-a-UN-vote-on-orders-from-Jared-Kushner
Flynn was directed to make contact with Sergei Kislyak to urge the Russian ambassador to oppose a vote on a UN resolution condemning expanded Israeli settlements. The goal was to stop any vote on the resolution until Trump could get into office, where he would oppose it. This affair, where the Trump team directly interfered in the foreign policy of the Obama administration during the transition period, was one of the things that Flynn lied about when describing his actions to the FBI. . . . Flynn’s instructions on that occasion came from a “very senior” campaign official, according to his plea deal.  Bloomberg has put a name to that description. . .  Jared Kushner

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/01/swamp-diary-jack-shafer-flynn-plea-deal-215999
“It puts Jared Kushner in the line of coordination or plotting with the Russians about diplomacy goals at the U.N. and raises the question about how high these orders came,” said MSNBC’s Ari Melber, who speculated that the contacts might present criminal exposure for Kushner.  Today’s findings push other members of the White House inner circle into legal jeopardy, perhaps even Donald Trump. Federal prosecutors told the court today that on December 29, 2016, Flynn called an unnamed “senior official” working in the Trump transition “who was with other senior members of the Presidential Transition Team” at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort “to discuss what, if anything, to communicate to the Russian ambassador about the U.S. Sanctions.” Who might that senior official be? Transition official KT McFarland, according to CNN. On December 30, the day after the consultation call, Trump—senior to everybody in Mar-a-Lago—tweeted his approval of Putin’s decision not to retaliate against the Obama administration’s December 28 sanctions. “Great move on delay (by V. Putin) - I always knew he was very smart!” he wrote. It’s easy to make a case that Trump’s tweet is praising Putin for following the Russia instructions his camp gave them via Flynn. . .

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/1/16724714/jared-kushner-flynn-russia
Why Michael Flynn’s plea deal could be really bad news for Jared Kushner

http://www.businessinsider.com/flynn-told-trump-transition-officials-about-his-calls-with-russian-ambassador-kislyak-2017-12
Federal prosecutors said in court on Friday that the former national security adviser Michael Flynn called senior transition officials at President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on December 29. The purpose of the call, the prosecutors say, was to discuss what Flynn would say to Russia's ambassador to the US at the time, Sergey Kislyak, about sanctions imposed by President Barack Obama on Russia that day. As part of a plea deal, Flynn has told the federal government that a senior member of the transition team directed him to contact Russian officials last December. . . .

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/12/01/mike-pences-credibility-could-be-totally-shot
Mike Pence went on national television and stated that Flynn had not discussed sanctions with Kislyak. Then, when that was exposed as a lie, Pence said that he had asked Flynn directly about it and that Flynn had lied to his face. This was then used, belatedly, to rationalize firing Michael Flynn. . . .

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/12/why-the-flynn-indictment-is-bad-news-for-pence-and-other-senior-trump-officials/
Why the Flynn Guilty Plea Is Bad News for Pence—and Other Senior Trump Officials

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mike-pence-michael-flynn-russia_us_5a219b12e4b03c44072d61f1
Michael Flynn’s Guilty Plea Pulls Vice President Pence Closer To Russia Spotlight

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/12/1/1720264/-Flynn-s-flip-moves-Mueller-s-Russia-investigation-straight-inside-the-White-House

• Jan. 24: Flynn lies to the FBI about at least two contacts he had with Russia
• Jan. 25: Acting Attorney General Sally Yates is briefed by FBI agents about Flynn
• Jan. 26: Yates warns White House counsel Don McGahn that Flynn is in danger of being compromised; McGahn briefs Trump immediately after
• Jan. 27: Yates and McGahn meet again about Flynn; Trump asks former FBI director James Comey for his loyalty
• Feb. 13: Flynn resigns after reports emerged that he lied to Mike Pence and Yates had warned the White House about him 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/us/politics/james-comey-trump-flynn-russia-investigation.html
[Feb 14] President Trump asked the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, to shut down the federal investigation into Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn

https://www.politico.com/trump-russia-ties-scandal-guide/timeline-of-events
The definitive Trump-Russia timeline of events
 
More: https://thinkprogress.org/mike-flynn-guilty-plea-e5fb7c38a229 
This is why Flynn’s guilty plea should terrify Trump

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/12/flynn-charge-shows-mueller-is-still-only-getting-started.html
Charging Flynn With Lying Shows That Mueller Is Still Only Getting Started

Here is the question: Flynn was an experienced intelligence official. He knew that all communications with the Russians were monitored and recorded. So there was a record that he had contacted Kislyak, repeatedly, as well as what they talked about. So why lie about it? What was so damaging to reveal that it was worth taking that risk?

https://www.thedailybeast.com/michael-flynn-had-to-know-the-fbi-had-heard-his-calls-with-russians-so-why-did-he-lie-about-them
Perhaps there is something telling in the quick willingness of Flynn to do the bidding of the Russians regarding the sanctions and the Russian willingness to comply with Flynn’s request regarding a UN resolution. Perhaps Flynn and others of the Trump inner circle feared the immediate mutual compliance pointed to an established relationship. . . .

Two wrap-up comments. One is that this scandal is becoming more and more about lying to investigators and obstruction of justice. The evidence against Trump and others on this point is already pretty overwhelming. The second is to ask why there was so much lying and coverups about contacts with the Russians. Not, I think, because people were worried about the Logan Act -- but because we are learning more and more about an outreach to Russia to solicit their help and to offer to relieve sanctions in exchange. The pattern is clear, and growing: the Trump gang was determined to hide these overtures. Why? I think we will find that it is because they realized that anything that looked like quid pro quos with Russia reinforced the narrative the Russia helped Trump win and that they were beholden to Russia. Ockham's razor suggests that the simple answer is . . . because that was TRUE

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/12/flynns-plea-raises-new-questions-about-whether-trump-obstructed-justice/547328/?utm_source=feed

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/12/01/michael-flynn-has-flipped-on-trump-and-evidence-that-the-president-may-have-obstructed-justice-is-mounting/?utm_source=rss_plum-line

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/12/if-theres-no-collusion-why-lie-about-these-contacts/

https://www.salon.com/2017/12/02/mueller-has-a-roadmap-and-the-end-game-is-nigh/

More: https://www.politico.com/trump-russia-ties-scandal-guide 

The WH response gives you a preview of their defense: Flynn is a "former Obama administration official" who is a known liar
  
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/cobb-responds-trump-flynn

More: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-usual-trump-world-tactic-wont-work-michael-flynn
Cobb also described Flynn as someone who worked with the president for just “25 days.” Let’s make this plain: there’s no such thing as a low-level White House National Security Advisor. Donald Trump considered Michael Flynn as his running mate. Trump repeatedly and publicly praised Flynn last year. Trump put Flynn in a position to guide the White House’s policy on matters related to national security. . . . 

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-praising-flynn-8bdea50934fb/
17 things Trump said about Michael Flynn that he really regrets right now . . . “I’ll tell you who was really impressed recently in my opinion, Gen. Flynn,” Trump said. “I watched him, I’ve been a fan of his for a long time. So smart, so sharp and all of those things. Just a terrific guy and so many others. [read on]

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/01/what-trump-has-said-about-michael-flynn-274454
5 times Trump defended Flynn

More: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/01/history-michael-flynn-explaining-defending-274792

What Trump really thinks about it 

http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/trump-on-flynn-s-plea-he-turned-on-me-1108010051851  
Trump on Flynn's plea: He “turned on me”

More: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/01/trump-white-house-michael-flynn-response-274518
No one in the White House was prepared.  . . .[read on]

Trump was warned

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/01/swamp-diary-jack-shafer-flynn-plea-deal-215999
Trump returned Flynn’s devotion, appointing him to the national security post over the objections of transition official Chris Christie—”If I were president-elect of the United States, I wouldn’t let General Flynn in the White House, let alone give him a job,” Christie later said. Even after the president, 24 days into his administration, sacked Flynn—allegedly for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak—the president maintained a vigil over Flynn, or at least his reputation, calling him “a wonderful man.” He told his staff to stop “piling on” Flynn in the press, continued to praise Flynn’s briefing style, and all but commanded FBI Director James B. Comey to end his investigation of the former general. . . .

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/08/obama-warn-trump-michael-flynn-238116
Obama warned Trump about Flynn, officials say

How Fox World covered the biggest story of the year: with a lead about Hillary Clinton

https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2017/12/fox-is-featuring-big-breaking-news-of.html

Why pardons won't save Trump

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/12/robert_mueller_s_deal_with_michael_flynn_neutralizes_trump_s_pardon_power.html 

Trump said he welcomed the investigations into Russia ties and would cooperate fully, because he had nothing to hide and they would "totally vindicate" him. Behind the scenes, he fought to get them dropped

https://www.salon.com/2017/12/01/trump-pressured-republicans-to-stop-russia-investigation-more-proof-of-obstruction-of-justice/

In other news, the Senate did it again: wrote a major policy bill in secret, had no hearings, avoided a CBO analysis, rewrote it up until the last moment with provisions no one knew about, and released it, including illegible handwritten modifications, minutes before rushing to a vote. Short analysis: people hate it, they really hate it

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1720309
Senate Republicans pass massive, radical social engineering project they call a tax bill

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/senate-republicans-tax-cuts-passed
How The Senate GOP Got The Votes To Overhaul The Tax Code And Strike A Blow To Obamacare

https://www.salon.com/2017/12/02/the-gop-tax-plan-is-a-middle-finger-to-everyone-but-the-rich_partner/ 
The GOP tax plan is a middle finger to everyone but the rich

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/1/16721394/republican-reject-jct-score-tax-bill
Republicans are rejecting the official analysis of their tax bill’s cost

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/2/16724978/gop-tax-bill-deficit-debt-fraud
“The hypocrisy is astounding”: this tax bill shows the GOP’s debt concerns were pure fraud

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/12/senate-republican-tax-promises/547313/?utm_source=feed
All the Promises Republicans Cannot Keep

More: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-gop-tax-cuts-are-even-more-unpopular-than-past-tax-hikes/
The GOP Tax Cuts Are Even More Unpopular Than Past Tax Hikes  

Fox World helps 

https://crooksandliars.com/2017/11/fox-refuses-air-ad-about-how-gop-tax-plan
Fox Refuses To Air Ad About How GOP Tax Plan Benefits Trump Family 

It's not over yet 

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/2/16724738/senate-tax-vote-house-bill-differences
Republicans still have a lot of differences between the House and Senate tax bills to hash out

Mick Mulvaney on CFPB: my job is to save capitalism 

https://www.salon.com/2017/12/01/mick-mulvaney-my-job-is-to-prevent-cfpb-from-interfering-with-capitalism/
"We're gonna try and limit, as much as we can, what the CFPB does to sort of interfere with capitalism and with financial service markets." 

Theocracy watch: Roy Moore edition 

https://www.salon.com/2017/12/01/exploring-the-radical-roots-of-roy-moores-theocratic-christianity/ 

Listen to Ted Cruz try to explain how Roy Moore is, like, totally different from Al Franken 

https://www.salon.com/2017/12/01/sit-back-and-enjoy-ted-cruzs-double-standard-on-roy-moore-and-al-franken/

The Koch Bros influence on the Trump admin (thanks to RR for the link)

http://corporatepresidency.org/Koch/

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COUNTERFEIT

The more trouble the tax bill is facing, the more bald-faced Trump's lies become

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/if-trumps-tax-plan-had-merit-he-wouldnt-have-lie-about-it
Donald Trump argued via Twitter last night, “The only people who don’t like the Tax Cut Bill are the people that don’t understand it.” The irony, of course, is that the president himself isn’t exactly an expert in the Republican tax plan he’s so eager to sign into law. Trump traveled to Missouri yesterday, ostensibly to help sell his party’s unpopular proposal, and in the process made clear he either has no idea what the plan entails or he’s willing to brazenly lie to the public about its supposed virtues. . . [read on]

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1719781
The Republican tax scam is a Trojan horse filled with disaster, and Trump doesn't want you to know

More: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1719906

https://www.salon.com/2017/11/30/tax-pocalypse-now-gops-denial-of-reality-hits-critical-mass/

GOP officials watched Trump give a speech in Missouri on Wednesday, where the crowd cheered wildly while he claimed that his plan has wealthy people like himself complaining about having their taxes increased so ordinary people can have a big tax cut. Republican senators all know that's a brazen lie. It is literally the opposite of the truth. But they see those Trump voters believing every word he says and they understand that the truth is now irrelevant to the Republican base. All Trump's supporters want is to see their hero win. If he loses yet again because the Republican Congress fails to deliver a bill for him to sign, members of that Congress know there will be hell to pay. . . 

Does anybody know what is actually IN the tax plan?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/republicans-are-building-themselves-a-political-trap-with-tax-reform
Republicans have not held any hearings on this legislation. They do not even have an actual text of the legislation. To keep the process moving forward they’ve disregarded basically all the technical analyses of the legislation. They’ve determinedly put their fingers in their ears when there’s any mention of the bad outcomes we know about pretty clearly in advance . . . They are in the midst of hitching their political fortunes to a bill even they don’t know the contents or the consequences of. A lot of those will be bad for a majority of the population. Even now the bill is quite unpopular, with only about 1/3 of the public supporting it. Most see the bill as an effort to help the wealthy at the expense of everyone else. That’s the prism people will view it through as we learn the details. That’s a very treacherous place to be for the in party going into what looks to be a tough midterm election.  

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/taxes-republicans-are-effectively-legislating-while-blindfolded
On taxes, Republicans are effectively legislating while blindfolded . . . When the Trump administration’s own Office of Tax Policy gets “largely shut out of the process” of scrutinizing the Trump administration’s preferred tax plan, we’re witnessing policy madness.

https://politicalwire.com/2017/11/30/gop-tax-bill-reshape-american-life/
The GOP Tax Bill Could Reshape American Life 

More: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/republicans-pretend-bushs-tax-cuts-never-happened
While making the case for the regressive Republican tax plan, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) argued two weeks ago, “Every time we’ve cut taxes you’ve seen the economy take off.” The GOP leader encouraged Americans to “just look at history.”  To make his case, Scalise conveniently overlooked George W. Bush’s entire presidency. Yesterday, Donald Trump did the same thing, selling his party’s plan at a rally in Missouri. . . [I]t was the most recent Republican president who slashed taxes, disproportionately benefiting the wealthy, in ways the country couldn’t afford. Bush and congressional Republicans were nevertheless certain that their tax breaks would send the economy soaring, making promises that sound eerily similar to the rhetoric we’re hearing from GOP officials now. . . . “Despite promises from proponents of the tax cuts, evidence suggests that they did not improve economic growth or pay for themselves, but instead ballooned deficits and debt and contributed to a rise in income inequality.”  And, of course, Bush left office with an economy in shambles. The good news is, Trump’s tax package has some key differences from Bush’s. The bad news is, Trump’s is vastly worse.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/30/16719238/treasury-tax-analysis
Trump’s Treasury Department is lying about its own analysis of the tax bill

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/tax-committee-gop-bill-will-increase-deficit-by-1-trillion-even-with-growth
Just a few hours before holding a vote on a bill to fundamentally overhaul the American tax code and kill Obamacare’s individual mandate, senators received a bombshell report from the Joint Committee on Taxation finding that the bill would cost the federal government about $1 trillion dollars over a decade, even when taking into account increased revenues from economic growth. The report directly contradicts claims by the Trump administration and Republican leaders that the tax cuts would completely pay for themselves . . . 

More: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/30/16720092/tax-bill-costs-mnuchin-joint-committee-on-taxation

They're still rewriting a bill nobody has seen

https://www.vox.com/2017/11/30/16721816/senate-tax-bill-last-minute-drama
Senate Republicans are frantically rewriting their tax bill

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/11/senate-parliamentarian-complicates-gop-tax-cut.html
Senate Parliamentarian Throws Sand Into the Gears of the GOP Tax Cut Machine

The Dow hits 24,000 and we're going to have to sit through Trump's crowing about it, even though he had nothing to do with it. Here's the trend line

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/11/a-quick-look-at-the-stock-market/

REXIT: Behind the story of Tillerson's rumored departure from the State Dept

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/30/16719494/rex-tillerson-fired-tom-cotton-cia
Administration officials are floating a plan in which Trump would push out Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and replace him with Mike Pompeo, who is currently serving as CIA director. Then, he would fill the CIA job with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR).  Now, this may not have been finalized just yet. Baker and Haberman write that it is “not immediately clear whether Mr. Trump has given final approval to the plan,” but that Chief of Staff John Kelly has drawn it up and widely circulated it. The timeline for implementing it, they write, would be “around the end of the year or shortly afterward.” . . .

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/11/rex-tillerson-exit/547142/?utm_source=feed
The president of the United States and the man he made secretary of state have been at odds almost since the beginning. . . . [read on]

https://www.axios.com/the-rex-situation-is-simple-2513836703.html
Here's why Tillerson is on the way out . . . 

https://www.vox.com/world/2017/9/20/16330028/rex-tillerson-secretary-state-trump-failure
“He took the job and made it smaller”: how Rex Tillerson failed the State Department

The problems with Pompeo: https://www.vox.com/world/2017/11/30/16719690/pompeo-tillerson-cotton-trump-state

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/11/pompeo-trump-tillerson/547217/?utm_source=feed

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/30/diplomats-state-department-rex-tillerson-mike-pompeo-271763

The problems with Cotton: https://www.salon.com/2017/11/30/get-ready-for-the-rearranging-of-the-administrations-deck-chairs/ 

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2017/11/do_not_let_tom_cotton_anywhere_near_the_cia.html

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-cia-pick-tom-cotton-blasted-by-interrogators

Trump's War Council

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/11/30/trumps-national-security-shakeup-will-make-the-world-a-much-more-dangerous-place/
Trump’s national security shake-up will make the world a much more dangerous place

More: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/11/quartet-of-warriors-to-take-over-u-s-foreign-policy.html

Trump just keeps pissing off our allies, and cozying up to our enemies

https://www.salon.com/2017/11/30/trumps-tweets-seem-to-be-damaging-his-relationship-with-u-s-allies/
Trump’s tweets seem to be damaging his relationship with U.S. allies

https://www.politico.eu/article/theresa-may-donald-trump-twitter-condemns-donald-trumps-retweets-of-hateful-organization/
Theresa May condemns Donald Trump’s retweets of ‘hateful organization’ 

https://politicalwire.com/2017/11/30/trump-literally-using-putins-playbook/
“If you want to understand the ways in which Donald Trump’s presidency is systematically corrupting the American mind, I have a book recommendation for you. It’s about Vladimir Putin’s Russia.” . . .

Colonel Sanders is becoming a joke

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/sanders-trump-muslim-hate-videos-elevate-the-conversation 
WH: Trump Retweeted Anti-Muslim Videos To ‘Elevate The Conversation’

More: https://thinkprogress.org/white-house-press-secretary-says-trumps-racist-tweets-elevate-the-conversation-9a9917fdad24/ 

Here's a little clue into how Trump thinks: his tweets, his unscripted comments, his lies, are communications between him and his base. He craves their approval, he knows they "get" him, and he knows how to rev them up. Keeping his popularity up with them, in the bubble world he has created, makes him feel that he is winning. He really doesn't care what others think. He doesn't care whether these comments have bad consequences. He doesn't care whether they are true -- because his folks believe they're true. . .  if he says them. But in all these matters, what he cares about most is their effects on him

https://politicalwire.com/2017/11/30/trump-thinks-government-shutdown-might-good/ 
President Trump “has concluded that a government shutdown might be good for him politically and is focusing on his hard-line immigration stance as a way to win back supporters unhappy with his outreach to Democrats this fall,” the Washington Post reports.

We're all focused on the federal investigations into Trump -- but there are state investigations too (thanks to RR for the link)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/maryland-dc-get-subpoena-power-in-trump-emoluments-suit/2017/11/29/983be4a6-d528-11e7-a986-d0a9770d9a3e_story.html?utm_term=.8b21b8290db7  

Rachel Maddow gives a Trump-Russia primer

https://crooksandliars.com/2017/11/maddow-explains-russian-connections-trump

More: https://politicalwire.com/2017/11/30/stones-link-wikileaks-revealed/ 
Stone’s Link to Wikileaks Revealed

I think we know the answer to this question

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/sessions-wont-comment-trump-influence-russia-probe
The top Democrat on the House intelligence committee says Attorney General Jeff Sessions would not directly answer in a closed-door interview Thursday whether President Donald Trump ever asked him to hinder the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian interference. . . .

Big story from the NY Times. It's not illegal, but it certainly reinforces the obstruction of justice narrative

https://politicalwire.com/2017/11/30/trump-pressed-republicans-end-russia-investigation/
“President Trump over the summer repeatedly urged senior Senate Republicans, including the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to end the panel’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election,” the New York Times reports. “Mr. Trump’s requests were a highly unusual intervention from a president into a legislative inquiry involving his family and close aides.”

More: https://www.vox.com/2017/11/30/16722476/report-trump-pressured-republicans-to-end-russia-probe

This is good news, but it's telling that it gets no rollout by the Trump admin as a major priority. You probably didn't even hear about it

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/wray-foreign-influence-task-force-election-meddling 
FBI Sets Up ‘Foreign Influence’ Task Force To Protect Election System

Let's talk about impeachment

https://www.vox.com/2017/11/30/16517022/impeachment-donald-trump

More: https://www.salon.com/2017/11/30/two-people-now-say-theres-reason-to-worry-about-trumps-mental-state/
Trump’s inner circle is worried about his mental state

Trump declared the opioid crisis a "national emergency," and then did absolutely nothing about it. Appointing Kellyanne Conway as the "opioid czar" is more proof that he doesn't take the issue seriously -- but it does show, as with appointing Mick Mulvaney, budget director, as head of the CFPB, and the national security reshuffling, above, that he is REDUCING the number of people in his inner circle, and recycling loyalists rather than find new people for administration jobs

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/11/the-phantom-czar/547178/?utm_source=feed

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-taps-mendacious-pollster-oversee-response-opioid-crisis 

Congress is entering a phase where the Repubs can't just pass things with 50 votes any more (under the aptly misnamed "reconciliation"). What will the Dems do with their leverage?

https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/11/30/16719410/debt-ceiling-debate-democrats-republicans-daca-aca-schumer

Another senior Republican steps down

https://politicalwire.com/2017/11/30/barton-wont-run/

Trump says he won't go to Alabama to campaign for Roy Moore -- but he will go to the Alabama border

https://politicalwire.com/2017/11/30/trump-will-hold-rally-near-alabama-border/  

Moore is using the oldest trick in the book: when faced with damning accusations, attack the source not the substance of the claims

https://politicalwire.com/2017/11/30/moore-says-gays-socialists-behind-allegations/
“When I say they, who are ‘they?’ They’re liberals. They don’t hold conservative values. They are the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender who want to change our culture. They are socialists who want to change our way of life and put man above God and the government is our God. They’re the Washington establishment…who don’t want to lose their power.”

[NB: Yes that gay and socialist Washington establishment. We know who "they" are!]

Bonus item: There's good Lindsey, and bad Lindsey. And then there's full of shit Lindsey

https://politicalwire.com/2017/11/30/lindsey-graham-now/
“I think he’s a kook. I think he’s crazy… He’s not fit to be president.”  
        — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), about Donald Trump in an interview on Fox News on February 17, 2016.

“What concerns me about the American press is this endless, endless attempt to label the guy some kind of kook not fit to be president.”
        — Graham, interviewed on CNN earlier today.

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