The Commentariat -- March 31, 2018

Justin Fishel of ABC News: "... Donald Trump surprised even the most senior members of his Cabinet when he announced Thursday during a speech in Ohio that the U.S. military would be 'coming out of Syria, like, very soon,' according to a senior administration official and a U.S. official familiar with the matter.... Trump has discussed the idea of withdrawing the 2,000 U.S. troops with Defense Secretary James Mattis, chief of staff John Kelly and the outgoing national security adviser, Gen. H.R. McMaster, but according to these officials, the president favors a faster withdrawal than most who are advising him. 'It's not the substance [of the remark] that surprised them,' the senior administration official told ABC News. 'It's the fact that he said it.' Meanwhile, nearly every other government policy adviser who works on Syria was caught completely off guard by the substance of the president's remarks, including officials within the National Security Council, the Pentagon and the Department of State, according to multiple U.S. officials.... Not only does the president's desire for an imminent withdrawal appear to contradict the conditions-based strategy, but it also flies in the face of his repeated pledge not to forecast the movements of the U.S. military to the enemy." ...

... Matthew Lee & Josh Lederman of the AP: "... Donald Trump's unscripted remark this week about pulling out of Syria 'very soon,' while at odds with his own policy, was not a one-off: For weeks, top advisers have been fretting about an overly hasty withdrawal as the president has increasingly told them privately he wants out, U.S. officials said. Only two months ago, Trump's aides thought they'd persuaded him that the U.S. needed to keep its presence in Syria open-ended -- not only because the Islamic State group has yet to be entirely defeated, but also because the resulting power vacuum could be filled by other extremist groups or by Iran. Trump signed off on major speech in January in which Secretary of State Rex Tillerson laid out the new strategy and declared 'it is vital for the United States to remain engaged in Syria.'... Still, without a clear directive from the president, planning has not started for a withdrawal from Syria, officials said, and Trump has not advocated a specific timetable." Mrs. McC: Toward the end of the piece, the reporters sort of suggest Trump is blowing smoke, or as they put it, "overly optimistic." They do note a pull-out now would be giving Syria to Russia. ...

... Haley Britzky of Axios: "The State Department has put $200 million in recovery effort funds to Syria on hold, after the White House directed it to do so, the Wall Street Journal reports.... Per the Journal, this signals that the administration is re-evaluating U.S. presence in the region. President Trump said on Thursday said that the U.S. would be 'coming out of Syria...very soon,' and that 'other people' should take care of it. But, but, but: Trump's statement conflicted with what the Pentagon said on Thursday, and State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said she knew of no plans to leave Syria.... Two of the biggest powers with a presence in Syria are Iran and Russia, and if the U.S. exits the region it would 'raise concerns about ceding' it to those countries. Per the WSJ, the move 'would unnerve Israel and Saudi Arabia.'" ...

     ... Update: The New York Times story is here. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Sounds as if Trump did a lot more during his recent phone conversation with Putin than congratulate Putin on his fixed re-election. America's great dealmaker seems to have given Syria to Putin as a re-election prize.

Peter Baker, et al., of the New York Times: "The perils of the diplomatic breakdown [between the U.S. & Russia] came into sharper relief on Friday. Russia's ambassador in Washington lamented that no one would meet with him, and his embassy complained that Russian diplomats were being harassed by American intelligence agencies eager to recruit them. The Pentagon, for its part, said that it had no notice of a test of a new intercontinental ballistic missile conducted by Russia and announced on Friday, a lack of communication that experts worry could lead to miscalculation.... Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, whose last official day on the job is Saturday, had come to the conclusion before Mr. Trump fired him this month that a year of attempting to cooperate had not yielded much success, according to people familiar with his thinking. As a result, they said, Mr. Tillerson had begun mapping out a tougher policy toward Russia and found agreement in the White House.... His designated successor, Mike Pompeo, and the incoming national security adviser, John R. Bolton, are both considered even more hawkish on Russia."

Eric Levitz of New York: "The fundamental causes of the Trump administration's personnel woes have long been clear. Donald Trump is not an expert in business management, just a real-estate heir with a gift for media manipulation.... But on Friday, for the first time, we finally got some insight into the proximate cause of the White House's personnel woes: The office in charge of staffing the White House is, itself, run by a historically small staff composed largely of 20-somethings with no relevant experience, a fondness for chugging Smirnoff Ice and vaping tobacco during office hours -- and, in a few cases, forged résumés and criminal histories":

... Trump's PPO Is More of a Frat House. Robert O'Harrow & Shawn Boberg of the Washington Post: The Presidential Personnel Office, an "obscure White House office responsible for recruiting and vetting thousands of political appointees has suffered from inexperience and a shortage of staff, hobbling the Trump administration's efforts to place qualified people in key posts across government, documents and interviews show.... The PPO is ultimately responsible for recruiting and vetting candidates for more than 4,000 jobs, more than 1,200 requiring Senate approval.... At the same time, two office leaders have spotty records themselves: a college dropout with arrests for drunken driving and bad checks and a Marine Corps reservist with arrests for assault, disorderly conduct, fleeing an officer and underage drinking. Under President Trump, the office was launched with far fewer people than in prior administrations. It has served as a refuge for young campaign workers, a stopover for senior officials on their way to other posts and a source of jobs for friends and family, a Washington Post investigation found. One senior staffer has had four relatives receive appointments through the office." Do read on. The PPO is a complete mess, unless you're into keggers.

Scott Pruitt's "Lease" Keeps Looking Worse. ... Emily Atkin of the New Republic: "On Thursday, ABC News revealed that, for the first six months Pruitt was in D.C., he lived in a fancy Capitol Hill condo co-owned by the wife of top energy lobbyist J. Steven Hart. Hart is chairman of a firm that lobbies for the export of liquefied natural gas. This brought up serious ethical questions, since Pruitt is currently under investigation for using taxpayer money to travel to Morocco for the sole purpose of promoting liquefied natural gas. Critics say Pruitt had no business doing this because it was unrelated to his job of protecting public health and the environment." ...

... Brady Dennis & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "Collectively, according to EPA officials, Pruitt paid $6,100 to stay in the condo for roughly six months. Details initially were reported by ABC News and Bloomberg.... In the Capitol Hill neighborhood where Pruitt was, the average is $142 per night [for a private room]. The former also reported that Pruitt's daughter had stayed in the condo.... Vicki Hart [part owner of the condo & wife of energy lobbyist Steven Hart, who allowed Pruitt to stay in the condo in the first place,] said in a statement Friday afternoon that she was not aware that Pruitt's daughter might have been living in one of the condo's rooms. 'The rental agreement was with Scott Pruitt. If other people were using the bedroom or the living quarters, I was never told, and I never gave him permission to do that,' she said, adding that if the ABC account is accurate, Pruitt would owe additional rent.... Pruitt initially approached ... Steven Hart about staying there during his confirmation process in 2017 and then extended the terms of the arrangement through last July." The Harts have donated to Pruitt's political campaigns when he ran for state office in Oklahoma." Pruitt is now renting much more expensive digs. ...

     ... AND There's This: "At one point during his stay, agents in Pruitt's security detail broke an exterior door at the condo after he had gone home sick and was not responding to calls, according to individuals familiar with the March 2017 incident. The EPA ultimately reimbursed the condo association $2,460 for the cost of the wood and glass door." ...

... Eric Levitz of New York: "There's nothing subtle or surreptitious about Pruitt's corruption. The fact that a climate-change denier is in charge of environmental regulation for the world's most powerful country is a scandal far more consequential than Pruitt's habit of flying first class on the taxpayer's dime, or underpaying for his D.C. digs."

Margaret Hartmann makes the case that Trump has set up Dr. Ronny Jackson to fail as head of the VA. And here's a twist: even though Jackson himself has expressed skepticism about his own ability to run, much less fix the problems of, a vast bureacracy & healthcare delivery system, he cannot refuse the nomination because he's an active-duty flag officer. "... and Politico reports that some veterans believe he's being installed as a figurehead so lower-level staffers can move toward privatization." Mrs. McC: Over to you, Mitch. In the name of privatization, are you-all gonna confirm a guy who already knows he can't do the job? Oh, yeah, privatization is the new earmarks. So I guess so.

AND You Thought a Religious Day Would Preclude a Friday Afternoon News Dump. Chris Riotta of Mediaite: "In a move that shockingly did not go over well on Twitter..., Donald Trump announced on Friday he had named April 'National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.' The president, who has been accused of sexual assault or harassment by at least 19 women, said in a statement his administration remains 'steadfast in our efforts to stop crimes of sexual violence, provide care for victims, enforce the law, prosecute offenders, and raise awareness about the many forms of sexual assault.'" Some of the tweeted reactions are pretty good.

Ken Starr Weighs in on Stormy Daniels Allegations. Because He Would. Lydia Wheeler of the Hill: "The independent counsel who investigated Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky said this week the Department of Justice (DOJ) should weigh the credibility of Stormy Daniels' claim that she was paid to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Donald Trump ahead of the 2016 election. In 'an interview with the Yahoo News' podcast 'Skullduggery,['] Kenneth Starr said the DOJ should decide if Daniels' claims warrant an investigation by another independent counsel. 'I do think there are difficult and serious questions that have been raised by what we know or what has been reported,' said Starr said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jonathan O'Connell & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "The carefully maintained secrecy around President Trump's finances is under unprecedented assault a year into his presidency, with three different legal teams with different agendas trying to pry open the Trump Organization's books. On one side is special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who has subpoenaed Trump Organization documents as part of his wide-ranging investigation into the 2016 campaign. On another is Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress seeking internal correspondence as part of her effort to be freed from a nondisclosure agreement centering on an alleged affair with Trump. And in the most direct assault, the District and Maryland have sued Trump, alleging that he is improperly accepting gifts, or 'emoluments,' from foreign or state governments through his businesses, including his hotels. A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the case can proceed, opening the way for the plaintiffs to seek at least a portion of Trump's tax returns, which the president has refused to release."

Frances Sellers of the Washington Post: "Gloria Allred, the prominent women's rights attorney who represented former 'Apprentice' contestant Summer Zervos in her high-profile defamation suit against President Trump, is withdrawing from the case. In a statement Friday, Zervos said it was her decision to end the legal relationship. 'I decided to part ways with Gloria Allred purely for personal reasons,' she said, 'having nothing to do with her work as my attorney.' Allred issued a statement Thursday to the Associated Press saying her withdrawal has 'nothing to do with the merits of her case against President Trump.'"

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Ran this late yesterday morning, but can't let it go because I think the artist is so brilliant:

Thursday, Akhilleus & I entered into a fake agreement to set up a fake partnership to sell paint-by-numbers kits of Donald Trump portraits. (The fake contract is in the fake mail.) I was thinking of sending Michael Cohen down to Delaware to set up a fake LLC when we acquired a new, secret super-silent partner who nonetheless has taken a hands-on approach to the business. Pretty good, huh? ...

... Note to Akhilleus: Better double your orange paint order. I'm ordering the printed canvases. We could work out a real business plan with projections & marketing strategies & all, but that would be so un-Trumpian.

Karoun Demirjian & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "The FBI's disciplinary office found that ousted deputy director Andrew McCabe lied to his boss, then-director James B. Comey, in October 2016 about having authorized the disclosure of sensitive information to a reporter, a Republican congressman whose office reviewed the findings alleged Friday. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said in an interview that McCabe lied to Comey when Comey asked him how sensitive information ended up in an October 2016 Wall Street Journal story detailing internal tension at the FBI and Justice Department over an investigation into matters surrounding the Clinton Foundation. Jordan's staffers, along with staffers for Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, were permitted this week to view a report on McCabe from the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility, Jordan said.... According to Jordan, the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility determined that McCabe lied to his superiors and investigators four times: to Comey in October 2016; to FBI investigators in May 2017; and to the Office of the Inspector General twice, beginning in the summer.... In a statement, McCabe's attorney said it was fully appropriate for the bureau's deputy director to authorize media interaction and asserted that Comey knew about it." ...

... Manu Raju, et al., of CNN: "The internal FBI report that served as grounds for the firing of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe includes key testimony from his former boss that shows a discrepancy with McCabe's public statements, according to multiple sources familiar with the report. Former FBI Director James Comey told internal investigators at the Justice Department that he could not recall McCabe telling him about having authorized FBI officials to talk to a reporter about an ongoing investigation, the sources said.Comey's comments to the Justice Department's inspector general's office, which were later included as part of the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility report on McCabe that prompted his firing earlier this month, put him at odds with the statements McCabe has made about authorizing FBI officials to provide information to the Wall Street Journal in an October 2016 story about FBI and Justice Department tensions over an ongoing investigation into the Clinton Foundation. McCabe has publicly maintained that he was in a position to authorize the other FBI officials speaking with the reporter and that Comey was aware McCabe had done it." ...

... Michael Sykes of Axios: "A GoFundMe page that launched Thursday to help cover former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe's legal fees reached $408,859 in 20 hours, according to the fund's page, quickly surpassing its $250,000 goal (which was initially set $150,000). 'The response to this effort has been remarkable and beyond our expectations,' the page says." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Russell Blair, et al., of the Hartford Courant (March 29): "Rep. Elizabeth Esty [D-Conn.] apologized Thursday and said she 'failed to protect' a former female staffer from domestic violence -- at the hand of Esty's since-fired chief of staff, who the Democrat helped get a job at Sandy Hook Promise.The three-term incumbent from Cheshire, who has publicly championed #MeToo legislation for Congress, told The Courant Thursday night that she deeply regrets her handling of misconduct by her former top adviser, Tony Baker. Esty said she should have suspended Baker immediately upon learning of the disturbing allegations against him in May 2016, including him punching the former staffer and threatening to kill her. But the congresswoman allowed him to remain in his $136,000 annual post for nearly three months while her office conducted an internal investigation and then paid Baker a $5,000 severance payment." Read on. I'd say Esty still doesn't get it & she isn't taking responsibility for her action & inaction. ...

... Hartford Courant Editors: "She should resign.... The story is deeply disturbing. The staff member, identified by The Washington Post as Anna Kain, had dated Tony Baker, Ms. Esty's chief of staff. Ms. Kain sought a protective order, claiming that Mr. Baker had threatened to kill her, punched her and harassed her in Ms. Esty's office. 'You better f-----g reply to me or I will f-----g kill you,' Tony Baker said in a recording left for Ms. Kain on May 5, 2016, according to The Post.... She told The Post that 'she was pressured by the Office of House Employment Counsel to sign' a nondisclosure agreement to get rid of Mr. Baker. In the deal, she agreed to help him get another job and pay him $5,000 severance.... 'I should have suspended him right away, but I had no experience with this, and there wasn't a process in place,' she told The Courant. Unacceptable. When one learns that a woman's life is being threatened by one of your own employees, you don't need 'a process in place.'"

Lydia Wheeler of the Hill: "A federal judge on Friday evening temporarily blocked Trump administration officials from stopping pregnant, unaccompanied immigrant teens who are or will be in federal custody from getting an abortion. Judge Tanya Chutkan on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said the Office of Refugee Resettlement is violating the teens' constitutional rights to obtain the procedure.... The administration cannot strip unaccompanied immigrant minor children 'of their right to make their own reproductive choices,' Chutkan wrote in the decision. Chutkan's preliminary injunction stops Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Administration for Children and Families Steve Wagner, Office of Refugee Resettlement Director Scott Lloyd and their associates from interfering or obstructing access to abortion, counseling, medical appointments or other pregnancy-related care."

Marc Santora & Hana de Goeij of the New York Times: "A Russian man accused of hacking the systems of three American technology companies in 2012, possibly compromising the personal information of more than 100 million users, was extradited to the United States from the Czech Republic on Friday.The man, Yevgeniy A. Nikulin, appeared in Federal District Court in San Francisco after arriving in the city around 6 a.m.... Mr. Nikulin had been held in the Czech Republic since the authorities there arrested him in 2016. His case quickly turned into a battle between Washington and Moscow over whether he should be tried in the United States. He was arrested just two days before the Obama administration formally accused the Russian government of stealing and disclosing emails from the Democratic National Committee and other institutions and prominent individuals.... He is accused of hacking into the computer networks at LinkedIn, Dropbox and Formspring; damaging computers used by LinkedIn and Formspring employees; and using their credentials for further intrusions."

Anna Flagg of the Marshall Project: Another comprehensive study shows that "the link between immigration and crime exists in the imaginations of Americans and nowhere else.... The 10 places with the largest increases in immigrants all had lower levels of crime in 2016 than in 1980.... And yet the argument that immigrants bring crime into America has driven many of the policies enacted or proposed by the administration so far: restrictions to entry, travel and visas; heightened border enforcement; plans for a wall along the border with Mexico." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: And I'm sure if somebody tells Trump & Sessions about these studies' results, they will immediately realize they've been wrong all along.

Beyond the Beltway

Frances Robles & Jose del Real of the New York Times: "Stephon Clark, the unarmed black man who was fatally shot last week by Sacramento police officers, was struck eight times, mostly in his back, according to an independent autopsy released Friday, raising significant questions about the police account that he was a threat to officers when he was hit. The autopsy -- commissioned by the family of Mr. Clark, 22, and conducted by Dr. Bennet Omalu, a private medical examiner -- showed that he was shot three times in his lower back, twice near his right shoulder, once in his neck and once under an armpit. He was also shot in the leg. The neck wound was from the side, the doctor found, and he said that while the shot to the leg hit Mr. Clark in the front, it appeared to have been fired after he was already falling."

Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "A police officer who fatally shot a black man in Baton Rouge, La., nearly two years ago was fired on Friday, and a fellow officer involved in the episode was suspended for three days. The disciplinary actions were the first serious consequences for the officers after both state and federal officials declined to bring criminal charges against them. Blane Salamoni, the officer who was dismissed, fired six shots at the man, Alton B. Sterling, after responding to a call at a convenience store parking lot on July 5, 2016. After announcing the disciplinary actions, the department released new raw footage of Mr. Sterling's arrest and his killing moments later. Video taken from a police body camera shows Officer Salamoni repeatedly shouting profanities at Mr. Sterling; slamming him into a car; twice ordering the second officer, Howie Lake II, to use his Taser; and threatening to shoot Mr. Sterling with a gun pointed at his head."

Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "The acquittal by a federal jury of Noor Salman, the widow of the man who gunned down dozens of people at the Pulse nightclub two years ago, handed federal prosecutors on Friday the rarest of defeats: a loss in a terrorism case. The outcome was even more striking because the not-guilty verdict came from jurors in Orlando, Fla., where Omar Mateen's rampage left 49 people dead and 53 others injured, the worst terrorist attack on American soil since Sept. 11, 2001. Jurors unanimously rejected government charges that Ms. Salman had helped her husband plan his violent assault in the name of the Islamic State -- a narrative countered by her family's claims that she was kept in the dark about her husband's secrets and was home sleeping when the attack occurred." ...

     ... After the announcement of the verdict, the jury foreman made a written statement. He said he was speaking only for himself. Here's a portion of the statement, via the Orlando Sentinel: "A verdict of not guilty did NOT mean that we thought Noor Salman was unaware of what Omar Mateen was planning to do. On the contrary we were convinced she did know. She may not have known what day, or what location, but she knew. However, we were not tasked with deciding if she was aware of a potential attack. The charges were aiding and abetting and obstruction of justice. I felt the both the prosecution and the defense did an excellent job presenting their case. I wish that the FBI had recorded their interviews with Ms. Salman as there were several significant inconsistencies with the written summaries of her statements. The bottom line is that, based on the letter of the law, and the detailed instructions provided by the court, we were presented with no option but to return a verdict of not guilty."

A Panty-grabbing Judge on Long Island. ABC7-New York: "A Long Island judge who police say repeatedly broke into his neighbor's home to steal her underwear has confessed to snatching panties on multiple occasions, even though he has pleaded not guilty. Still, Suffolk County District Judge Robert Cicale has been removed from the bench and is facing up to 15 years in prison. Cicale was arrested on burglary charges and appeared in court Friday morning." [Mrs. McC Note: Must mean Thursday; the report is dated March 30 & I'm reading it Thursday, March 30.] He said he had "urges." Okay then.

The Commentariat -- March 30, 2018

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Yesterday, Akhilleus & I entered into a fake agreement to set up a fake partnership to sell paint-by-numbers kits of Donald Trump portraits. (The fake contract is in the fake mail.) I was thinking of sending Michael Cohen down to Delaware to set up a fake LLC when we acquired a new, secret super-silent partner who nonetheless has taken a hands-on approach to the business. Pretty good, huh?

... Note to Akhilleus: Better double your orange paint order. I'm ordering the printed canvases. We could work out a real business plan with projections & marketing strategies & all, but that would be so un-Trumpian.

Late Morning Update:

Mrs. McCrabbie: Just noticed that in his Ohio speech, Trump derided the "Democrat" who was trying to take away your Second Amendment. That "Democrat" would be John Paul Stevens, appointed to the Court of Appeals by Richard Nixon (Rrrrr) & to the Supreme Court by Gerald Ford, a former Republican Speaker of the House. I have no idea how Justice Stevens votes these days, but "Democrat" is not the first word that would come to mind in describing him. And remember, that Ohio speech was a taxpayer-funded road trip that was supposed to include that speech about infrastructure.

Margaret Hartmann makes the case that Trump has set up Dr. Ronny Jackson to fail as head of the VA. And here's a twist: even though Jackson himself has expressed skepticism about his own ability to run, much less fix the problems of, a vast bureacracy & healthcare delivery system, he cannot refuse the nomination because he's an active-duty flag officer. "... and Politico reports that some veterans believe he's being installed as a figurehead so lower-level staffers can move toward privatization." Mrs. McC: Over to you, Mitch. In the name of privatization, are you-all gonna confirm a guy who already knows he can't do the job? Oh, yeah, privatization is the new earmarks. So I guess so.

Michael Sykes of Axios: "A GoFundMe page that launched Thursday to help cover former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe's legal fees reached $408,859 in 20 hours, according to the fund's page, quickly surpassing its $250,000 goal (which was initially set $150,000). 'The response to this effort has been remarkable and beyond our expectations,' the page says."

Ken Starr Weighs in on Stormy Daniels Allegations. Because He Would. Lydia Wheeler of the Hill: "The independent counsel who investigated Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky said this week the Department of Justice (DOJ) should weigh the credibility of Stormy Daniels' claim that she was paid to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Donald Trump> ahead of the 2016 election. In an interview with the Yahoo News' podcast 'Skullduggery,['] Kenneth Starr said the DOJ should decide if Daniels' claims warrant an investigation by another independent counsel. 'I do think there are difficult and serious questions that have been raised by what we know or what has been reported,' said Starr said."

*****

This Russia Thing, Ctd.

Katelyn Polantz & Evan Perez of CNN: "Special counsel Robert Mueller's team last year made clear it wanted former Trump campaign deputy Rick Gates' help, not so much against his former business partner Paul Manafort, but with its central mission: investigating the Trump campaign's contact with the Russians. New information disclosed in court filings and to CNN this week begin to show how they're getting it. In a court filing earlier this week, the public saw the first signs of how the Mueller team plans to use information from Gates to tie Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, directly to a Russian intelligence agency. Mueller's team alleges that Gates was in contact with a close colleague of Manafort's who worked for a Russian intelligence agency -- and that Gates knew of the spy service ties in September and October 2016, while he worked on the Trump campaign. Gates would have to talk about the communication with the man if prosecutors wanted, according to his plea deal."

Mark Hosenball of Reuters: "Investigators probing whether Donald Trump's presidential campaign colluded with Russia have been questioning witnesses about events at the 2016 Republican National Convention, according to two sources familiar with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's inquiries. Mueller's team has been asking about a convention-related event attended by both Russia's U.S. ambassador and Jeff Sessions..., said one source.... Another issue Mueller's team has been asking about is how and why Republican Party platform language hostile to Russia was deleted from a section of the document related to Ukraine, said another source who also requested anonymity. Mueller's interest in what happened at the Republican convention in Cleveland, Ohio in July 2016, is an indication that Trump campaign contacts and actions related to Russia remain central to the special counsel's investigation.... The same source said Mueller's team also has been asking whether Sessions had private discussions with Kislyak on the sidelines of a campaign speech Trump gave at Washington's Mayflower Hotel in April 2016."

Stephanie Kirchgaessner of the Guardian: "A controversial London-based academic with close ties to Nigel Farage has been detained by the FBI upon arrival in the US and issued a subpoena to testify before Robert Mueller.... Ted Malloch, an American touted last year as a possible candidate to serve as US ambassador to the EU [before EU officials expressed alarm & the Financial Times revealed he had grossly inflated his CV], said he was interrogated by the FBI at Boston's Logan airport on Wednesday following a flight from London and questioned about his involvement in the Trump campaign. In a statement sent to the Guardian, Malloch, who described himself as a policy wonk and defender of Trump, said the FBI also asked him about his relationship with Roger Stone, the Republican strategist, and whether he had ever visited the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange

** The FBI Has Been onto Trump-Russia for a While. Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "In 2010, a small group of businessmen including a wealthy Russian supporter of Vladimir Putin began working on plans to build a glitzy hotel and entertainment complex with Donald Trump in Riga, the capital of Latvia. A senior Trump executive visited the city to scout for locations. Trump and his daughter Ivanka spent hours at Trump Tower with the Russian, Igor Krutoy.... Then the Latvian government's anti-corruption bureau began asking questions.... Talks with Trump's company were abandoned after Krutoy and another of the businessmen were questioned by Latvian authorities as part of a major criminal inquiry there -- and that the FBI later looked into Trump's interactions with them at Latvia's request.... This means the FBI looked into Trump's efforts to do business deals in the former Soviet Union earlier than was widely known.... Krutoy, a well-known composer in Russia, has written music for Emin Agalarov, the Russian singer whose father hosted Trump's 2013 Miss Universe contest in Moscow. Krutoy attended the contest, where he was photographed with Trump.... He was born in Ukraine and is also a close friend of Rinat Akhmetov -- a Ukrainian steel tycoon who in 2005 hired Paul Manafort ... as a adviser." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Dozens of uncanny coincidences or COLLUSION? You pick.

Laura Jarrett of CNN: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions is not naming a new special counsel to investigate Republican-driven accusations against the FBI -- at least for now. Instead, Sessions revealed Thursday that Utah's top federal prosecutor, John Huber, is looking into allegations that the FBI abused its powers in surveilling a former Trump campaign adviser, and more should have been done to investigate Hillary Clinton's ties to a Russian nuclear energy agency. Sessions' decision to stop short of formally appointing a special counsel like Robert Mueller, detailed in a lengthy written response to three Republican chairmen on Capitol Hill, will likely anger those in the GOP who have recently ramped up calls to investigate claims of political bias at the nation's top law enforcement agencies." ...

     ... The Washington Post story, by Matt Zapotosky, is here.

Jenna McLaughlin of CNN: There are long-established procedures for shepherding proposed presidential pardons through the Justice Department, but a series of intradepartmental e-mails reveals that "if Trump decided one day to tweet out a presidential pardon, the Department of Justice would probably 'have very little if any involvement.'..." Mrs. McC: This is DOJ officials throwing up their own hands & leaving all the pardoning stuff to Twitterfingers. (Also linked yesterday.)

How the NSA Got Trump to Expel Russian Spies. John Hudson, et al., of the Washington Post: "In conversations with European leaders, Trump said the United States was not interested in expelling spies in response to the poisoning of a Russian spy if other countries were not doing the same. But on Friday, the president's national security team presented him with three options, and Trump's final decision set in motion an exodus of 60 Russian spies -- a surprising rebuke of Moscow that even caught U.S. allies off guard.... The Monday announcement grew out of a push by U.S. allies and the intelligence community for a strong retaliatory response to the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Britain. Shortly after the attack, Fiona Hill, a National Security Council senior director, began leading policy coordination meetings that culminated in a pivotal Friday meeting that included Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, national security adviser H.R. McMaster, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray and Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats, among other top officials." ...

... Putin to Trump: "My Expulsions Are Bigger than Your Expulsions." Andrew Higgins of the New York Times: "Russia on Thursday escalated a confrontation with Europe and the United States over the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain, saying it would expel 60 American diplomats and an unspecified number of envoys from other countries to retaliate for a mass expulsion of Russian diplomats working in the West and beyond that was ordered this week.... The Kremlin exceeded an equivalent response to the United States and ordered the closing of the American Consulate in St. Petersburg.... The consulate is bigger and far more important to relations than the Russian Consulate in Seattle, which the Trump administration ordered closed on Monday as part of its expulsion decree." ...

... Michael Wolgelenter & Iliania Magra of the New York Times: "Yulia Skripal, who was found poisoned on a park bench in a small English city this month along with her father, the former Russian spy Sergei V. Skripal, is showing improvement and is no longer in critical condition, the hospital that is treating her said on Thursday. The British authorities have blamed Russia for the poisoning, which they say was carried out with a deadly nerve agent developed by Soviet scientists and known as a Novichok." ...

... Richard Engel & Kennett Werner of NBC News: "The former Russian double agent [Boris Karpichkov] got a terrifying message on his birthday: He was on a Kremlin hit list along with Sergei Skripal, another ex-spy who weeks later was poisoned with a nerve agent in a case Britain blames on Vladimir Putin's government.... Also on the Kremlin's list, he says, were several other ex-KGB agents, as well as Christopher Steele, author of a 35-page dossier alleging collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Bill Browder, the driving force behind a set of U.S. sanctions against Russian individuals known as the Magnitsky Act, was there as well, he adds.... Karpichkov believes that the attack, if not directly approved by Putin, was at least authorized at the highest levels of the FSB. It was a 'very planned, organized and performed operation,' he said." ...

... Carol Lee, et al., of NBC News: "... Donald Trump's national security advisers spent months trying to convince him to sign off on a plan to supply new U.S. weapons to Ukraine to aid in the country's fight against Russian-backed separatists, according to multiple senior administration officials. Yet when the president finally authorized the major policy shift, he told his aides not to publicly tout his decision, officials said. Doing so, Trump argued, might agitate Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the officials.... Behind the scenes, however, Trump has recently taken a sharper tone on Putin, administration officials said, but the shift seems more a reaction to the Russian leader challenging the president's strength than a new belief that he's an adversary. Putin's claim earlier this month that Russia has new nuclear-capable weapons that could hit the U.S., a threat he underscored with video simulating an attack, 'really got under the president's skin,' one official said." Read on.

Governing by Whims & Lies

Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "President Trump flew [to Richfield, Ohio,] Thursday to promote his infrastructure plan, but after a week of seclusion as he has been besieged by an adult-film star's allegations of an affair and by news on the Russia probe, he delivered his thoughts on a variety of topics, from the midterm elections to his North Korea talks.... Trump's speech seemed at times like a stream-of-consciousness commentary reminiscent of his signature campaign rallies from 2016, as he zigzagged from his prepared text on infrastructure policy to his thoughts on issues of the day, such as this week's debut of the remake of 'Roseanne.'... Trump used his official, taxpayer-funded visit to warn his political supporters against complacency in the fall midterm elections." ...

... Louisa Loveluck of the Washington Post: "The U.S.-led coalition said Friday that two of its personnel had been killed and another five wounded in Syria by an improvised explosive device. Col. Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the coalition, declined to identify the nationalities of the servicemen, or to specify where in Syria the attack took place Thursday night.... In a surprise announcement Thursday, President Trump appeared to signal that U.S. troops would be withdrawing from Syria in the near future. 'By the way, we're knocking the hell out of ISIS,' Trump said midway through an infrastructure speech in Ohio. 'We're coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now. Very soon -- very soon we're coming out.'" Emphasis added. ...

... Katie Rogers & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Trump heralded a new trade agreement with South Korea at his first public appearance in nearly a week on Thursday, but then immediately suggested that he might delay finalizing it while negotiating with North Korea over its nuclear program." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: As you may recall, the other day, after a "briefing" on the subject, Trump announced in a tweet that construction of his border wall had commenced. To "prove" it, he tweeted pictures of work on a repair project start began in 2009. Charles Pierce: "Trump's strategy is to lie. He knows that, because of the echo chamber that is Fox News and talk radio and conservative digital outlets, many of his supporters will never even know his tweet was false. And even if they do, they probably won't care -- he said he was building a wall, and here are pictures of a wall being built." Pierce cites a "Fox & Friends" retweet to make his point. But it's worse than that. After BuzzFeed caught him in the lie, Trump repeated it in his Ohio speech yesterday. He boasted construction had begun: "You saw the pictures," he told the crowd. Both the WashPo & New York Times reports on the Ohio speech note that Trump spoke about the wall. Neither of the reports mentions this absurd lie about it. You & I and a few BuzzFeed readers know about it, but we're alone out here.

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: We were all joking here Wednesday when we suggested a Go Fund Me-type campaign to pay for Trump's useless border WALL. Well, President* Dimwit's friends didn't get the joke:

... AP: "Some people close to the president have also suggested creating a GoFundMe campaign that Trump could use to raise money from the public to fund construction [of the Wall]. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the idea, and it's unclear whether it has gained any serious traction." (Also linked yesterday.)

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The White House and Michael Cohen have spent weeks declining to answer a basic question: Was President Trump involved in the $130,000 hush-money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels? Well, we finally have a denial. But while it might insulate Trump from the scandal, experts say it could also undermine the nondisclosure agreement that Daniels signed preventing her from disclosing the alleged affair.... On CNN Wednesday night, [David] Schwartz [-- Cohen's attorney --] seemed to categorically deny that Trump was involved -- or at least that he had knowledge of the payment on the front end.... Schwartz extended the denial further Thursday morning on NBC News, adding that Trump '100 percent' did not reimburse Cohen." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Daniels' attorney Michael Avenatti takes his cues from his client's adversary:

... It Pays to Squelch Trump's Lady Friends. Jim Rutenberg, et al., of the New York Times: "In July, David J. Pecker, the chairman of the company that owns The National Enquirer, visited his old friend President Trump at the White House. The tabloid publisher took along a special guest, Kacy Grine, a French businessman who advises one of Saudi Arabia's richest men and sometimes acts as an intermediary between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Western businesses. The two men and other Pecker associates chatted with the president in the Oval Office and briefly met with Mr. Trump's son-in-law and Middle East envoy, Jared Kushner. Before moving on to dinner with the group, the president had a photographer snap pictures of the guests standing with him behind his desk. Mr. Pecker has long used his media empire to protect Mr. Trump's image. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Mr. Pecker's company, American Media Inc., suppressed the story of a former Playboy model who claimed to have had an affair with Mr. Trump. The night of the dinner, Mr. Pecker got something from Mr. Trump: an unofficial seal of approval from the White House. It was an opportune moment for Mr. Pecker to showcase his White House connections. He was considering expanding his media and events businesses into Saudi Arabia and also was hunting for moneyed partners in acquisitions." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump has turned the entire White House into a corrupt enterprise. ...

... Maya Salam & Matthew Haag of the New York Times: "Here are five times that [David] Pecker and his company, American Media Inc., protected, defended or championed Mr. Trump."

Federal Judge Calls out Trump's Racist Language. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Citing President Trump's 'racially charged language,' a federal judge in Brooklyn ruled on Thursday that a lawsuit seeking to preserve a program that protects hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants from deportation could continue. The order, by Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of Federal District Court in Brooklyn, was the strongest sign so far of judicial support for the program known as DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which has for months been the subject of a heated debate in Congress. In October, lawyers for the Justice Department filed a motion to dismiss the Brooklyn lawsuit, claiming that the plaintiffs in the case -- a coalition of immigration lawyers and a group of Democratic state attorneys general -- had failed to make a persuasive case that DACA was rolled back in September because of a racial animus toward Latinos."

Dan Merica of CNN: "Six House Democrats are calling on FBI Director Christopher Wray to investigate whether ... Jared Kushner leaked classified information to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, according to a letter obtained by CNN. The call comes after The Intercept, citing three sources, reported that the Saudi prince -- known casually by his initials, MBS -- told confidantes after their meeting last year that Kushner had discussed Saudi leaders who are disloyal to the crown prince." (Also linked yesterday.)

Governing by Twitter

** Lisa Rein, et al., of the Washington Post: "The White House was thrown on the defensive Thursday over President Trump's choice to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, forcing officials to fend off mounting skepticism that Ronny L. Jackson has the experience to run the government's second-largest agency.... Jackson is a career naval officer who was an emergency trauma doctor in Iraq before spending the past 12 years as a White House physician. But his résumé lacks the type of management experience usually expected from the leader of an agency that employs 360,000 people, has a $186 billion annual budget and is dedicated to serving the complex needs of the country's veterans.... Jackson was taken aback by his nomination, said senior White House officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.... A senior White House official described an informal interview process, without the extensive vetting that typically accompanies a Cabinet selection.... The White House planned to announce Wednesday that Shulkin would leave the administration and be replaced on an interim basis by Robert Wilkie, undersecretary for defense personnel and readiness at the Defense Department, until a nominee was found. But Trump preempted the plan when he tweeted that he intended to nominate Jackson, administration officials said." ...

... Wimpiest President Ever. Mrs. McCrabbie: Donald Trump telephoned VA Secretary David Shulkin Wednesday, & they chatted about policy going forward. Trump never mentioned he would be firing Shulkin, by tweet, within a few hours. Just shortly before Trump sent out his tweet, John Kelly gave Shulkin a heads-up. Shulkin made this revelation on Chris Hayes' MSNBC show. Later Hayes theorized that Kelly set up the Trump-Shulkin call, but Trump didn't have the guts to fire Shulkin. I'd say Hayes is right. ...

     ... Update: Here's an actual news report, by Rebecca Morin of Politico, on Hayes' interview of Shulkin.

... Adam Raymond of New York: David "Shulkin's ouster [as VA Secretary] ... appeared inevitable a few weeks back when an inspector general's report dinged him for blowing taxpayer money on a European vacation with his wife. Shulkin told NPR Thursday that the incident, which also includes an allegation of doctored emails and a lie about a nonexistent award, was 'completely mischaracterized.' He said he wanted to respond to the IG&'s report, but the White House muzzled him...." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... "A Coup at Veterans Affairs." New York Times Editors: "David Shulkin, whom Mr. Trump fired on Wednesday, was the highest-ranking holdover from the Obama administration and among the few Trump cabinet members with demonstrated ability at their jobs.... It seems that as secretary of veterans affairs, Dr. [Ronny] Jackson [-- who served as the White House physician & whom Trump has nominated to replace Shulkin --] would not be tending to Mr. Trump so much as to the right-wing billionaires Charles and David Koch and others who support privatization of veterans' health care and other services.... Mr. Trump gave no reason for firing Dr. Shulkin, but it's all too believable that powerful political donors lay behind it. Each administration is entitled to pursue its own goals. But once again, this one has chosen a policy that is opposed by the people it would affect and that would chiefly benefit an entitled sliver of Americans." ...

... Gene Robinson: "President Trump has announced he will nominate a medical doctor who has no discernible management experience to run the second-largest agency in the federal government.... The man Trump has named to become secretary of veterans affairs, Ronny L. Jackson, happens to be the president's personal doctor. More to the point, given Trump's perpetual hunger for sycophancy, is the fact that Jackson showered the president with hyperbolic Dear-Leader-style praise during a widely viewed television appearance in January.... I can't say I'm surprised. Trump put neurosurgeon Ben Carson in charge of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, despite Carson having zero experience in housing policy. He put Betsy DeVos in charge of the Department of Education, despite her apparent unfamiliarity with actual schools. He put politician Rick Perry in charge of the Department of Energy, which Perry wanted to eliminate until he learned what the agency does. Perry actually said that during his confirmation hearing. One doesn't know whether to laugh or cry."

USA Today Editors: "This year already, 263 people have been fatally shot by police nationally. That's about three per day and on track to repeat the death toll -- nearly 1,000 annually -- in recent years, according to a Washington Post database, which does not attempt to distinguish between justified and unjustified shootings. Even for those viewed as unjustified, few police officers are ever held accountable. Since 2005, just 85 officers have been charged with a crime. Less than 40% have been convicted, some on lesser charges.... Despite community and national outrage, President Trump's spokeswoman made his stance clear Wednesday: Such shootings are a 'local matter.' They are anything but. Such shootings taint all honorable, hard-working police officers and put them in more danger. More broadly, civil rights -- including the right to live -- are a national matter. If minorities are being killed disproportionately, the federal government has a duty to help hold those responsible to account and to end this scourge."

Paul Krugman: "Once you start looking at the Trump administration as an exercise in publicity, not policy, you see signs of it everywhere."

Coral Davenport & Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "The Trump administration is expected to launch an effort in coming days to weaken greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy standards for automobiles, handing a victory to car manufacturers and giving them ammunition to potentially roll back industry standards worldwide. The move -- which undercuts one of President Barack Obama's signature efforts to fight climate change -- would also propel the Trump administration toward a courtroom clash with California, which has vowed to stick with the stricter rules even if Washington rolls back federal standards.... Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, is expected to frame the initiative as eliminating a regulatory burden on automakers that will result in more affordable trucks, vans and sport utility vehicles for buyers, according to people familiar with the plan." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: No surprise there. Turns out Scott Pruitt is even sleeping with Earth's enemy. Really:

... ** Most Corrupt Corporate Shill Award. ABC News: "For much of his first year in Washington, President Trump's EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt occupied prime real estate in a townhouse near the U.S. Capitol that is co-owned by the wife of a top energy lobbyist.... Neither the EPA nor the lobbyist, J. Steven Hart, would say how much Pruitt paid to live at the prime Capitol Hill address.... The price tag on Pruitt's rental arrangement is one key question when determining if it constitutes an improper gift, ethics experts told ABC News.... In 2010, the newspaper Roll Call referred to the Harts as a 'lobbyist power couple.'... Hart's firm specifically lobbied on 'issues related to the export of liquefied natural gas.'... Liquid natural gas exports was on the agenda for discussion during Pruitt's December 2017 trip to Morocco.... [T]he jurisdiction over natural gas exports typically falls to the Department of Energy - not the EPA." --safari ...

     ... Jennifer Dlouhy & Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg: "Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt's lease at a Washington apartment owned by a lobbyist friend allowed him to pay $50 a night for a single bedroom -- but only on the nights when he actually slept there. White House officials are growing dismayed about the questions surrounding Pruitt's living arrangement, including his initial inability to produce any documentation about his lease or his actual payments, according to three officials.... After ABC News reported the living arrangement on Thursday, EPA aides had to seek documentation from the building's owners to prove he had paid rent, raising concerns at the White House.... The owner is a health care lobbyist, Vicki Hart. Her husband J. Steven Hart, is also a lobbyist and his firm represents clients in industries regulated by the EPA."

... Natasha Geiling of ThinkProgress: "On Thursday, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) officially began soliciting comments from the oil and gas industry for areas of the Beaufort Sea that might be open to lease late next year, following the release of the administration's finalized offshore plan. But environmental and conservation groups warn that the call for potential lease areas is premature, since the administration hasn't even released its final five-year proposal. Soliciting industry advice on what areas are of interest, they contend, proves that the administration has a pre-determined outcome for the Arctic Ocean, something that could open up the administration to legal challenges should they offer these areas for lease sale down the road." --safari ...

... Joe Romm of ThinkProgress: "Prices for solar, wind, and battery storage are dropping so rapidly that renewables are increasingly squeezing out all forms of fossil fuel power, including natural gas. The cost of new solar plants dropped 20 percent over the past 12 months, while onshore wind prices dropped 12 percent, according to the latest Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) report. Since 2010, the prices for lithium-ion batteries -- crucial to energy storage -- have plummeted a stunning 79 percent. 'The economic case for building new coal and gas capacity is crumbling,' as BNEF's chief of energy economics, Elena Giannakopoulou, told Bloomberg." --safari

Ice-Cold "Heart". Matt Shuham of TPM: "Immigration and Customs Enforcement has acknowledged a new policy, implemented late last year, that allows for the increased detainment of pregnant women.... It reverses ICE's previous policy of releasing of pregnant women from custody 'absent extraordinary circumstances.'... 'To better align with the President's Executive Order, ICE has ended the presumption of release for all pregnant detainees,' ICE spokesperson Danielle Bennet told TPM.... In 2016, Thomas Homan, now the director of ICE and then the executive associate director, issued in a memo for agency staff that said 'absent extraordinary circumstances or the requirement of mandatory detention, pregnant women will generally not be detained by ICE.'" --safari

Fox, Meet Hen. Luke Barnes of ThinkProgress: "The Trump administration announced Thursday that it was appointing a former corporate executive to lead the Department of Health and Human Service's efforts to lower the price of prescription drugs. Daniel M. Best, who spent 12 years working at Phizer Pharmaceuticals and also recently helped fashion CVSHealt's prescription drug plans, will be a senior adviser to the secretary for drug pricing reform." --safari

Judy Kurtz of the Hill: "Hillary Clinton is striking back at critics telling her to 'shut up' following her 2016 loss, saying, 'They never said that to any man who was not elected.'... 'And I had one of the young people who works for me go back and do a bit of research. They never said that to any man who was not elected. I was kind of struck by that,' Clinton said." Mrs. McC: Clinton goes on to cite numerous male nominees who didn't "shut up." But if you look at her examples, I'll bet you can figure out the difference between what these fellows were saying & doing & what Clinton has been saying & writing -- and it has nothing to do with gender. There is so much real sex discrimination -- subtle & not -- that I hate it when women falsely play the gender card.

** Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Even if People Die. Ryan Mac, et al., of BuzzFeed: "On June 18, 2016, one of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's most trusted lieutenants circulated an extraordinary memo weighing the costs of the company's relentless quest for growth. 'We connect people. Period. That'';s why all the work we do in growth is justified. All the questionable contact importing practices. All the subtle language that helps people stay searchable by friends...,' VP Andrew 'Boz' Bosworth wrote. 'So we connect more people,' he wrote.... 'That can be bad if they make it negative. Maybe it costs someone a life by exposing someone to bullies. Maybe someone dies in a terrorist attack coordinated on our tools.' The explosive internal memo is titled 'The Ugly,' and has not been previously circulated outside [Facebook].... The Bosworth memo reveals the extent to which Facebook's leadership understood the physical and social risks the platform's products carried -- even as the company downplayed those risks in public. It suggests that senior executives had deep qualms about conduct that they are now seeking to defend." Zuckerberg wrote in response that he didn't believe the ends justified the means. But since Boz wrote that memo, Zuck has promoted him.

Ingraham So Sorry ... She's Losing Ad Revenue. Daniel Victor of the New York Times: "Laura Ingraham, a Fox News host, apologized under pressure on Thursday for taunting a survivor of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., as at least seven companies confirmed they would pull advertising from her show. The dispute began Wednesday when Ms. Ingraham shared an article about the student, David Hogg, 17, getting rejected from colleges and accused him of whining about it.... In response, Mr. Hogg, who has rapidly become a prominent advocate for gun-control policies, called on Ms. Ingraham's advertisers to boycott her show. Seven of the companies, TripAdvisor, Wayfair, Hulu, Nutrish, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle and Stitch Fix, said they were removing their ads. An eighth, Expedia, said it had recently pulled its advertising but declined to say when.... 'The decision of an adult to personally criticize a high school student who has lost his classmates in an unspeakable tragedy is not consistent with our values,' [Wayfair] said."

Beyond the Beltway

Unhinged Wingers. Paul Specht of the News & Observer [N.C.]: State "Rep. Beverly Boswell [R- Low I.Q.] boasted on Facebook Friday that she called the leader of a charter school north of Durham about what the school did on March 14, when [they held an assembly in the gym to avoid a walk-out] to protest gun violence.... Boswell, upon hearing the explanation, said she then asked ... 'So the students that were eating tide pods last week run your school this week?'... Boswell ... criticiz[ed] the school on Facebook. 'The students ARE in harge of this school,' she posted. 'This school will not support conservative values.'" --safari ...

... Melanie Schmitz of ThinkProgress: "[Rep. Beverly Boswell [R-N.C.] claimed this week that speakers at the March For Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C. on March 24 -- many of them shooting Parkland shooting survivors -- wanted to 'murder' gun owners. She provided no evidence to support her outlandish accusation. 'They're out to take your guns, and our freedoms,' [she] wrote in a Facebook post on Monday.... Responding to a follower in the comments below, who called Boswell's post a 'scare tactic,' the 6th District representative added, 'Actually many of the speakers at these rallies were calling for gun registration, confiscation, Second Amendment repeal and even the murder of those who would not turn over their guns to the government." --safari ...

... Sarah Burris of RawStory: "Less than two years ago, Cooper Caffrey was sitting in his [Madison Township, Ohio,] school's cafeteria eating chicken nuggets. Then he was shot. So, it seems fitting he would want to participate in the protests demanding school safety and a stop to school shootings.... His principal made an announcement that morning that many were wearing the colors of MSD in solidarity, however, he warned all students that if they walked out, they'd be sent to detention. Caffrey was furious. When the time came, Caffrey, along with 42 other students, walked past the cafeteria in which he was shot, and out their school's doors. They were all given detention." --safari

News Lede

Washington Post: "Frank C. Gaylord, a Vermont sculptor who created the 19 statues in a column tableau of battle-tested soldiers for the Korean War Veterans Memorial on the Mall in Washington, died March 21 at the home of a daughter in Northfield, Vt. He was 93.... Mr. Gaylord, a World War II Army paratrooper who received the Bronze Star Medal for valor during the Battle of the Bulge, said he intended his sculptures to 'confront visitors with the reality of actual war' while complying with the design committee's instructions not to glorify it. His memory of the faces of the men he served with became models for many of the soldiers in the memorial."

The Commentariat -- March 29, 2018

Late Morning Update:

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: We were all joking here yesterday when we suggested a Go Fund Me-type campaign to pay for Trump's useless border WALL. Well, President* Dimwit's friends didn't get the joke:

... AP: "Some people close to the president have also suggested creating a GoFundMe campaign that Trump could use to raise money from the public to fund construction [of the Wall]. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the idea, and it's unclear whether it has gained any serious traction."

Jenna McLaughlin of CNN: There are long-established procedures for shepherding proposed presidential pardons through the Justice Department, but a series of intradepartmental e-mails reveals that "if Trump decided one day to tweet out a presidential pardon, the Department of Justice would probably 'have very little if any involvement.'..." Mrs. McC: This is DOJ officials throwing up their own hands & leaving all the pardoning stuff to Twitterfingers.

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The White House and Michael Cohen have spent weeks declining to answer a basic question: Was President Trump involved in the $130,000 hush-money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels? Well, we& finally have a denial. But while it might insulate Trump from the scandal, experts say it could also undermine the nondisclosure agreement that Daniels signed preventing her from disclosing the alleged affair.... On CNN Wednesday night, [David] Schwartz [-- Cohen's attorney --] seemed to categorically deny that Trump was involved -- or at least that he had knowledge of the payment on the front end.... Schwartz extended the denial further Thursday morning on NBC News, adding that Trump '100 percent' did not reimburse Cohen."

Daniels' attorney Michael Avenatti takes his cues from his client's adversary:

** The FBI Has Been onto Trump-Russia Since at Least 2010. Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "In 2010, a small group of businessmen including a wealthy Russian supporter of Vladimir Putin began working on plans to build a glitzy hotel and entertainment complex with Donald Trump in Riga, the capital of Latvia. A senior Trump executive visited the city to scout for locations. Trump and his daughter Ivanka spent hours at Trump Tower with the Russian, Igor Krutoy.... Then the Latvian government's anti-corruption bureau began asking questions.... Talks with Trump's company were abandoned after Krutoy and another of the businessmen were questioned by Latvian authorities as part of a major criminal inquiry there -- and that the FBI later looked into Trump's interactions with them at Latvia's request.... This means the FBI looked into Trump's efforts to do business deals in the former Soviet Union earlier than was widely known.... Krutoy, a well-known composer in Russia, has written music for Emin Agalarov, the Russian singer whose father hosted Trump's 2013 Miss Universe contest in Moscow. Krutoy attended the contest, where he was photographed with Trump.... He was born in Ukraine and is also a close friend of Rinat Akhmetov -- a Ukrainian steel tycoon who in 2005 hired Paul Manafort ... as a adviser." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Dozens of uncanny coincidences or COLLUSION? You pick.

Adam Raymond of New York: David "Shulkin's ouster [as VA Secretary] ... appeared inevitable a few weeks back when an inspector general's report dinged him for blowing taxpayer money on a European vacation with his wife. Shulkin told NPR Thursday that the incident, which also includes an allegation of doctored emails and a lie about a nonexistent award, was 'completely mischaracterized.' He said he wanted to respond to the IG's report, but the White House muzzled him...."

Dan Merica of CNN: "Six House Democrats are calling on FBI Director Christopher Wray to investigate whether ... Jared Kushner leaked classified information to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, according to a letter obtained by CNN. The call comes after The Intercept, citing three sources, reported that the Saudi prince -- known casually by his initials, MBS -- told confidantes after their meeting last year that Kushner had discussed Saudi leaders who are disloyal to the crown prince."

*****

Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "After weeks of uncertainty atop the Department of Veterans Affairs, President Trump said on Wednesday he plans to replace its secretary, David J. Shulkin, with Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, the White House physician and a rear admiral in the Navy. The announcement punctuated what has been a sharp fall from favor for Dr. Shulkin, a politically moderate former hospital executive, who delivered Mr. Trump a string of bipartisan legislative victories at a time when he was struggling to find them. And it adds to a significant shake-up of Mr. Trump's senior staff, which has already included the secretary of state, director of the C.I.A. and the president’s national security adviser. Mr. Trump called Dr. Jackson 'highly respected' and thanked Dr. Shulkin for 'service to our country and to our great veterans.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Jackson's main qualification is that he can look at a fair-to-poor battery of test results & tell you you're in fabulous health. Running a huge federal agency? Not so much. ...

... Begins about 1:05 min. in:

... Rebecca Kheel of the Hill: "President Trump is removing Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin from his post after a rocky couple of months that started with a scathing report accusing him of misusing taxpayer dollars.... 'I am pleased to announce that I intend to nominate highly respected Admiral Ronny L. Jackson, MD, as the new Secretary of Veterans Affairs....'... '....In the interim, Hon. Robert Wilkie of DOD will serve as Acting Secretary. I am thankful for Dr. David Shulkin’s service to our country and to our GREAT VETERANS!' [Trump tweeted]." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... MEANWHILE, David Shulkin was ready with a response, which magically got posted right after Trump's You're Fired tweet on the New York Times' op-ed page. After touting the VA's successes under his administration, Shulkin writes, "It seems that these successes within the department have intensified the ambitions of people who want to put V.A. health care in the hands of the private sector.... The advocates within the administration for privatizing V.A. health services ... saw me as an obstacle to privatization who had to be removed. That is because I am convinced that privatization is a political issue aimed at rewarding select people and companies with profits, even if it undermines care for veterans.... Unfortunately, the department has become entangled in a brutal power struggle, with some political appointees choosing to promote their agendas instead of what's best for veterans."

... Anyhow, bad news for Fox "News" host Pete Hegseth.

This Russia Thing, Ctd.

Michael Schmidt, et al., of the New York Times: "A lawyer for President Trump broached the idea of Mr. Trump pardoning two of his former top advisers, Michael T. Flynn and Paul Manafort, with their lawyers last year, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions. The discussions came as the special counsel was building cases against both men, and they raise questions about whether the lawyer, John Dowd, was offering pardons to influence their decisions about whether to plead guilty and cooperate in the investigation.... [Robert] Mueller' team could investigate the prospect that Mr. Dowd made pardon offers to thwart the inquiry, although legal experts are divided about whether such offers might constitute obstruction of justice.... It is unclear whether Mr. Dowd, who resigned last week as the head of the president's legal team, discussed the pardons with Mr. Trump before bringing them up with the other lawyers." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Perhaps you were thinking, as I was, that Dowd quit his day job either because he could not take another minute of Trump and/or because he was flabbergasted Trump had hired more nutty teevee lawyers. Well, it looks more as if Dowd quit -- or got pushed out -- because he himself could be indicted on obstruction-of-justice charges. The Trump White House is where a person goes to ruin his reputation, career and/or life, & that's even if s/he's a successful lawyer or a flag officer or a young woman who runs errands for Ivanka.

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post wonders how these little chats came about: "Here are a few options: 1. Trump knew of the pardon discussions and was trying to prevent Flynn's and Manafort's cooperation. This is perhaps the most troubling scenario for Trump, in terms of appearance, but it's also the most logical one. After all, would Dowd really float pardons for Flynn and Manafort if he didn't think Trump would follow through?... 2. Trump knew about the discussions, but truly just thinks Manafort and Flynn are innocent and/or good people.... 3. Dowd was freelancing[.]" ...

... Sean Illing of Vox: "I reached out to 10 legal experts and asked ... what it would mean for the investigation if Trump pardoned key players in the scandal like Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, or Jared Kushner before any of them could be convicted.... Nearly all the experts I spoke to agree on one thing: If Trump does use his pardoning powers to thwart the Russia investigation, it's very likely to backfire.... If someone has been pardoned, they no longer face the threat of prosecution, and so they can't use [the Fifth Amendment] as an excuse not to answer a question.... [The attorneys'] full responses, edited for clarity and style, are below." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Would you do anything based on a promise -- delivered second-hand, no less -- that if you did it, Trump at some time in the future would help you out? I didn't think so. The only reason Manafort hasn't flipped, IMO, is that Mueller has such a wide-ranging, air-tight case against him that a full pardon is his only hope of avoiding serious jail time.

Aaron Blake: "Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation just drew what appears to be its most direct line to date between President Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia. That line is drawn in a new court filing related to the upcoming sentencing of London attorney Alex van der Zwaan. Van der Zwaan has pleaded guilty to lying about his contacts with deputy Trump campaign manager Rick Gates and a person identified in the document only as 'Person A.' Person A appears to be a former Ukraine-based aide to Gates and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort named Konstantin Kilimnik.... [From the filing:] '... Gates and Person A were directly communicating in September and October 2016.... Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agents assisting the Special Counsel's Office assess that Person A has ties to Russian intelligence service and had such ties in 2016.... Van der Zwaan admitted that he knew of that connection, stating that Gates told him Person A was a former Russian Intelligence Officer with GRU....'"

Karen Freifeld of Reuters: "A little-known former prosecutor with a doctorate in medieval history will play a central role on ... Donald Trump's legal team, as many top-tier lawyers shy away from representing him in a probe into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election. Andrew Ekonomou, 69, is one of a handful of lawyers assisting Jay Sekulow, the main attorney representing Trump in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Sekulow told Reuters on Tuesday that after the departure of Washington attorney John Dowd from Trump's personal legal team last week, Ekonomou will assume a more prominent role. Ekonomou said he has been working with Sekulow on the Mueller probe since June." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This will go very well for Trump when Mueller brings up all those questions about Byzantine Greek popes, because that Ekonomou's area of expertise.

... AND Karen Pence spends afternoons in the attic at Number One Observatory Circle hooking a large oval rug to be rimmed with the text of the Ten Commandments. ...

... MEANWHILE, Before Karen Gets to the First "Thou Shalt"... Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "When ... Donald Trump lashed out against Robert Mueller by name earlier this month, the president's supporters sprang into action -- treating the chief Russia investigator to political campaign-style opposition research. Within hours, the Drudge Report featured a story blaming Mueller, the special counsel leading the Justice Department's Russia probe, for the FBI's clumsy investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks when Mueller ran the bureau. The independent pro-Trump journalist Sara Carter posted a story charging that Mueller, as a federal prosecutor in Boston in the mid-1980s, had covered up the FBI's dealings with the Mafia informant Whitey Bulger. Carter was soon discussing her findings in prime time with Fox News host Sean Hannity.... 'It looks like the beginnings of a campaign,' a source familiar with Trump's legal strategy said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Nicholas Fandos & Katie Benner of the New York Times: "The Justice Department's inspector general, facing increasing political pressure from Republicans in Congress and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, said on Wednesday that his office would investigate the surveillance of a former Trump campaign official. The announcement came amid a stream of attacks in recent months from the White House and Republican lawmakers seeking to undermine the special counsel's investigation into Russian interference in the presidential election. The inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, said he would examine whether law enforcement officials complied with the law and departmental policies in seeking permission from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to wiretap the former campaign adviser, Carter Page. Law enforcement officials had long had concerns that Mr. Page, a former investment banker based in Moscow, was acting as a Russian agent." But Congressional Republicans aren't satisfied; they say Horowitz's investigation is no substitute for a special counsel.

Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "A lawsuit accusing President Trump of violating the Constitution by refusing to divorce himself from his businesses cleared a critical hurdle Wednesday when a federal judge in Maryland refused the Justice Department's plea to dismiss it. In a 47-page opinion, Judge Peter J. Messitte rejected the federal government's claims that the plaintiffs had not shown that they had suffered injuries that a court could address. The suit, filed by Washington, D.C., and the State of Maryland, accuses Mr. Trump of violating constitutional anticorruption clauses intended to limit his receipt of government-bestowed benefits, or emoluments."

Aubree Weaver of Politico: "After more than a year in limbo, the Eliminating Government-funded Oil-painting Act was signed into law by ... Donald Trump on Tuesday. The law bars the use of federal funds to pay for federal officers and employees' official oil portraits.... The legislation specifically targets those heading up executive agencies and legislative offices, as well as the president, vice president and members of Congress. The official portraits of the president and first lady, along with key lawmakers, are typically commissioned with private funding -- but the House has, in the past, allowed federal funds to be used for portraits of House speakers." Mrs. McC: BUT the feds are sure to pay for Trump's mug shot. He's such a winner. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

... The Fake Wall of Trump, Ctd. Salvador Hernandez of BuzzFeed: "President Trump on Wednesday tweeted that he had been briefed about 'the start of our Southern Border WALL' and included pictures depicting construction for the project.... The images tweeted by the president were not of his long-promised wall, but a months-long project to replace existing portions of a wall along Calexico, California.... The project, which started in 2009, will replace a 2.25-mile section in the California-Mexico border wall, according to a statement last month from US Customs and Border Protection. The original wall in that section, built in the 1990s, had been built from recycled metal scraps and old landing mat materials, the agency said." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump didn't just pull this photo array off a Fox "News" screenshot. No, he tweeted these photos of a nearly-decade-old project after a briefing, or so he claims. Are his handlers trying to mitigate a Trumpertantrum by distracting him with pretty pictures, or is he making up this stuff on his own? Either way, thanks, Roseanne & all you other Trumpbots!

Jonathan Swan of Axios: "... the tech behemoth Trump wants to go after is Amazon, according to five sources who've discussed it with him. 'He's obsessed with Amazon,' a source said. 'Obsessed.'... Trump's wealthy friends tell him Amazon is destroying their businesses. His real estate buddies tell him -- and he agrees -- that Amazon is killing shopping malls and brick-and-mortar retailers. Trump tells people Amazon has gotten a free ride from taxpayers and cushy treatment from the U.S. Postal Service. 'The whole post office thing, that's very much a perception he has,' another source said. 'It's been explained to him in multiple meetings that his perception is inaccurate and that the post office actually makes a ton of money from Amazon.'... Trump also pays close attention to the Amazon founder's ownership of The Washington Post, which the president views as [Jeff] Bezos' political weapon. ... Trump never talks about Mark Zuckerberg or Facebook: He isn't tuned in to the debate over how they handle people's data, and thinks the Russia story is a hoax...." ...

... SO THEN, the day after Swan's report... Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump spoke out against Amazon on Thursday, saying that the online behemoth does not pay enough taxes and uses the United States postal system 'as their Delivery Boy.' The president's commentary, made in a Twitter post, comes amid reports that Mr. Trump has expressed an interest in reining in the e-commerce business."

Trump Gets Another Day in Court. And Loses. David Adams of Univision: "An international arbitration court ruled late Tuesday against the Trump Organization's effort to win back control of a landmark luxury hotel in Panama after it was evicted by the owners earlier this month over allegations of 'horrific' mismanagement. The arbitrator's decision effectively upheld the firing of Trump's hotel staff, the takeover of its bank accounts and physical removal of the Trump name from the hotel, which made headlines on March 5. It appears to leave the Trump Organization with no other legal recourse except to seek damages for loss of income over the 12 years left on its management contract in Panama, according to the 32-page ruling, details of which were viewed by Univision. Trump's hotel management company was seeking an emergency court order to restore the status quo at the former Trump International Tower & Hotel in Panama, allowing it to return to running the 70-story mixed use condo hotel...."

Gail Collins figures "the best explanation" for Trump's erratic behavior "is that our president is occasionally taken over by a benevolent alien entity who changes his entire personality." Collins, begin so fact-obsessive, backs up her theory.

Margaret Hartmann: "Michael Cohen's Attorney [David Schwartz] May Be an Even Worse Lawyer Than He Is." Hartmann, with the help of multiple lawyers, explains. One attorney, Susan Simpson, explains one of Schwartz's arguments like so: "There are just so many problems with this that it feels a bit silly to single any one of them out. Like arguing that someone's imaginary friend can't be elected president because he's not 35 years old yet, and also a Canadian." Mrs. McC: But, hey, if he's sinking Cohen, at least Schwartz is helping out Trump & Stormy Daniels.

Future Inmates Square off on Prison Reform. Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "In the final months of the Obama administration, the Justice Department ... created a prison school system, pledged money for technology training and promised to help prevent former inmates from returning to prison. Almost immediately after taking office, Trump administration officials began undoing their work. Budgets were slashed, the school system was scrapped and studies were shelved as Attorney General Jeff Sessions brought to bear his tough-on-crime philosophy and deep skepticism of Obama-era crime-fighting policies. Now, nearly a year and a half later, the White House has declared that reducing recidivism and improving prisoner education is a top priority -- echoing some of the very policies it helped dismantle. This whiplash approach to federal prison policy reflects the tension between Jared Kushner ... and Mr. Sessions, a hard-liner whose views on criminal justice were forged at the height of the drug war. It has left both Democratic and Republican lawmakers confused and has contributed to skepticism that the Trump administration is serious about its own proposals." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie BTW: Let's see if the prison system can come up with a way to retrain Kushner & Sessions.

MEANWHILE, Some Departments Keep on Truckin'

Brady Dennis & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "Environmental Protection Agency staffers received a list of 'talking points' this week instructing them to underscore the uncertainties about how human activity contributes to climate change.... Employees crafted the email, first disclosed Wednesday by HuffPost, based on controversial -- and scientifically unsound -- statements that ... Scott Pruitt has made about the current state of climate research.... The list echoes pronouncements by [EPA Administrator Scott] Pruitt..., along with other Trump administration officials...."

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The Trump administration is attempting to scale back federal efforts to enforce fair housing laws, freezing enforcement actions against local governments and businesses, including Facebook, while sidelining officials who have aggressively pursued civil rights cases. The policy shift, detailed in interviews with 20 current and former Department of Housing and Urban Development officials and in internal agency emails, is meant to roll back the Obama administration's attempts to reverse decades of racial, ethnic and income segregation in federally subsidized housing and development projects. The move coincides with the decision this month by Ben Carson, the secretary of housing and urban development, to strike the words 'inclusive' and 'free from discrimination' from HUD's mission statement. But Mr. Carson dismissed the idea he was abandoning the agency's fair housing mission as 'nonsense' in a memo to the department's staff earlier this year...."

Steve Benen: "The Trump administration touched off another ugly and avoidable fight this week, announcing that for the first time in 70 years, the decennial census will include a question about citizenship status. It didn't take long before opponents of the policy filed lawsuits. But it also didn't take long for the White House to start lying about the move.... Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters [Tuesday], for example, 'This is a question that's been included in every census since 1965.' An NPR fact-check soon followed, and not surprisingly, Sanders' claim isn't even close to being true. (The first hint something was amiss: there was no decennial census in 1965.) Perhaps the press secretary would've been better able to answer questions about the administration's approach to the census if she'd consulted with experts -- though in this case, Team Trump clearly doesn't have any use for expertise. [Commerce Secretary] Wilbur Ross could've listened to the career officials and former directors from both parties [who explained to him why they oppose addition of the question], but knowledge and institutional history stood in the way of Donald Trump's political plans -- and so the experts' guidance was ignored." ...

... A Disaster Waiting to Happen. Ari Berman of Mother Jones: "Of all the ways democracy is threatened under ... Donald Trump -- a blind eye to Russian meddling in elections, a rollback of voting rights, a disregard for checks and balances -- an unfair and inaccurate census could have the most dramatic long-term impact.... A 'perfect storm' is threatening the 2020 census, says Terri Ann Lowenthal, a former staff director for the House Subcommittee on Census and Population. Budget cuts enacted by the Trump administration and the Republican Congress forced the bureau to cancel crucial field tests in 2017 and 2018. The bureau's director resigned last June, and the administration has yet to name a full-time director or deputy director. The next census will also be the first to rely on the internet.... The Census Bureau has half as many regional centers and field offices today as it did in 2010."

Jeffrey Lewis, in a Daily Beast opinion piece, provides a fine example of John Bolton's SOP for international "diplomacy."

MEANWHILE, House Republicans Thought They too Should Make Some Risible News. Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "House Republicans are considering a vote on a 'balanced-budget amendment,' a move that would proclaim their desire to eliminate the federal deficit even as they control a Congress that has added more than $1 trillion to it. The plan is expected to have virtually no chance of passing, as it would require votes from Democrats in the Senate and ratification by three-fourths of the states. Republican lawmakers have pushed for the vote as a way to signal to constituents ahead of the midterm elections that they have tried to reduce the nation's deficit."

** Mark Sherman of the AP: "Dealing with an issue that could affect elections across the country, Supreme Court justices wrestled Wednesday with how far states may go to craft electoral districts that give the majority party a huge political advantage. But even as they heard their second case on partisan redistricting in six months, the justices expressed uncertainty about the best way to deal with a problem that several said would get worse without the court's intervention. The arguments the court heard Wednesday were over an appeal by Republican voters in Maryland who object to a congressional district that Democrats drew to elect a candidate of their own. The Maryland case is a companion to one from Wisconsin in which Democrats complain about a Republican-drawn map of legislative districts. That case was argued in October and remains undecided." ...

... Jeff Toobin of the New Yorker: "At the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning, in a strangely desultory argument, the Justices, for the second time in a year, took up the subject [of gerrymandering] -- this time, in Maryland -- but they appeared further from a consensus, or even a majority, than they did during the argument of the Wisconsin case. It's always dangerous to infer too much from Justices' statements and questions during oral arguments, but the hints in today's proceedings suggested that the Court, as a whole, may not be ready to put an end to gerrymandering.... And, as the Justices dawdle, the problem is growing worse. With the advent of ever more powerful computer technology, politicians can draw legislative districts with chilling precision; they can guarantee victory or defeat before a single vote is cast. The 2020 census is drawing near, and the district lines for every legislative seat in the country will soon be redrawn. The time for the Supreme Court to address the problem is now."

Laurence Tribe in a Washington Post op-ed: "... retired Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens handed the gun lobby a rhetorical howitzer.... The kids have been savvy enough to know better.... Repealing the Second Amendment would eliminate that source of reassurance -- without even achieving the Parkland, Fla., students' aims. It would not take the most lethal, military-grade weapons out of dangerous hands. Indeed, it wouldn't eliminate a single gun or enact a single gun regulation."

Mukhtar M. Ibrahim of Minnesota Public Radio: "A Minneapolis FBI agent [-- Terry James Albury --] who started his career with the agency as an intern in 2000 has been charged with leaking classified information to the news website The Intercept.... [Albury is] the only African-American FBI field agent in Minnesota.... In January 2017, The Intercept published a series titled 'The FBI's Secret Rules,' based on Albury's leaked documents, which show the depth and broad powers of the FBI expansion since 9/11 and its recruitment efforts.... Albury is the second person charged with leaking secret documents to The Intercept. In June 2017, an intelligence contractor was charged with leaking a classified report about Russia's interference in the 2016 election to The Intercept, the first criminal leak under President Trump." ...

     ... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Maybe the Intercept should quit outting sources with their FOIA requests & clue-riddled reports. Leading the feds to your sources is a pretty good way to shut up anyone thinking of blowing some whistles. Just saying.

Alex Hern of the Guardian: "Facebook is shutting down a feature that allowed 'data brokers' such as Experian and Oracle to use their own reams of consumer information to target social network users, the company has announced. The feature, known as 'Partner Categories', will be 'winding down over the next six months', Facebook announced in a terse blogpost. The company says the move 'will help improve people's privacy on Facebook.'... Facebook is also closing down a data flow in the opposite direction, preventing the same data brokers from receiving anonymised information about how their ad campaigns have been received.... Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research Group, described the move as 'an attempt to generate positive press on the privacy front without directly causing a meaningful negative revenue impact.'" ...

... Alex Hern: "Facebook is launching a range of new tools in an effort to 'put people in more control over their privacy' in the buildup to new EU regulations that tighten up data protection.... On mobile devices, Facebook users will now be able to find all their settings in a single place, rather than spread across 'nearly 20 different screens' as they were before. They will also be able to find separate item, the 'privacy shortcuts' menu, which provides a clearing house for options about data protection, ad personalisation and on-platform privacy. The site is also complying with [EU] rules about access to stored personal data with a new 'access your information' tool, that allows people to find, download and delete Facebook data. But Facebook is not committing to making it any easier for users to delete their accounts wholesale. The option to permanently delete an account is currently buried in a help menu...." ...

... Matt Novak of Gizmodo: "Playboy has become the latest brand to delete its Facebook pages, claiming that Facebook is both 'sexually repressive' and contradicts Playboy's values. Playboy's decision follows other companies that have recently left the social media platform like Tesla and SpaceX, and even mentioned Facebook's 'recent meddling' in the American electoral process. 'There are more than 25 million fans who engage with Playboy via our various Facebook pages, and we do not want to be complicit in exposing them to the reported practices,' Playboy said in a statement issued overnight." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ben Westcott & Yoonjung Seo of CNN: "The leaders of North and South Korea will meet on April 27 for the first time since 2007, the two countries announced Thursday after high-level talks. The landmark meeting between President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un will be held a Freedom House on the southern side of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), according to the joint statement issued after the talks." ...

... Jane Perlez of the New York Times: "With a dose of mystery and the flair of a showman, North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong-un, used his debut as an international statesman on Wednesday to present himself as confident, reasonable -- and willing to bargain. Mr. Kim's surprise two-day visit to Beijing, his first known trip abroad since taking power, was effectively a reminder of how much he has set the agenda in the crisis over his nation's nuclear arsenal -- and of what a strong hand he has going into talks, first with President Moon Jae-in of South Korea next month and later with President Trump. Mr. Kim has yet to say what concessions he is willing to make, or what he may demand from the United States in return. But he continued to dominate the diplomatic process, reaffirming his willingness to meet with Mr. Trump and repeating his vague commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in talks with President Xi Jinping of China, according to Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency." ...

... Evan Osnos of the New Yorker: "Whatever the precise parameters of Kim’s motivation, his China play has made it more difficult for Trump, who would have preferred that Beijing remain at odds with Pyongyang. Kim and Xi have re-scrambled the perceived loyalties and suspicions that will shape any potential encounter between North Korea and the United States -- at the negotiating table or on the battlefield."

The Houseguest from Hell. William Booth & Karla Adam of the Washington Post: "Julian Assange, the controversial founder of WikiLeaks, has been barred from using the Internet at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London, where he has been holed up for nearly six years, the Ecuadoran government announced Wednesday. In a statement, Ecuador said it has suspended Assange's ability to communicate with the outside world because he violated an agreement he signed with his hosts at the end of 2017 not to use his communiques to interfere in the affairs of other states. It was not immediately clear whether visitors would also be stopped."