Still up to my eyeballs in alligators.
"Tornadoes strike the Plains with more severe weather expected." When will some courage lawman stop these tornado outbreaks! Seriously, people, it's the fucking weather, not sports. It's not like tornadoes have intent.
"Stanford University's Annelise Baron has developed a synthetic version of something called lung surfactant." If this proves out, this is big.
"Nearly 4,000 ill-gotten artifacts will be returned to Iraq on Wednesday, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says. The ancient objects were bought by Hobby Lobby, a national chain of arts and crafts stores, then smuggled into the United States in violation of federal law." And while they want to be all, "We didn't know…" Yeah. You were warned, several times, even by the experts you hired. So much for being all religious and stuff.
Say, did you know we're still at war in Afghanistan? "NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with John Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, about the latest report on Afghanistan reconstruction. Despite the record amount of coalition munitions dropped, the security situation continues to deteriorate and civilian deaths from coalition munitions are at a record high." This thing is taking forever.
"The Sunday before Scott Pruitt's confirmation hearing to run the Environmental Protection Agency, Pruitt stood on the stage of his hometown church, bowed his head, and prayed… 'I stand on a platform today with a man of God who's been tapped to serve our nation,' said Nick Garland, the senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Broken Arrow, Okla." Yes, among other things Scott Pruitt is a whackaloon who believes the God gave us the world to use up. Another "We'll be Raptured before we all die from climatic destruction" tin-foil hat Republican.
"Texas and six other states have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration seeking to force it to end the Obama-era program protecting about 700 young immigrants from deportation." Ah Texas. Why do you have to be the racist crazy Uncle of the US? Mostly this is an attempt to get a contrary ruling to other courts which have upheld DACA (and stopped the administration from ending the program). That would strengthen a case to bring it before SCOTUS.
"Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russia’s election interference, has at least four dozen questions on an exhaustive array of subjects he wants to ask President Trump to learn more about his ties to Russia and determine whether he obstructed the inquiry itself, according to a list of the questions obtained by The New York Times." The questions aren't all of that much of a revelation, IMHO. And the breathiness surrounding the whole, "if Trump doesn't submit to an 'interview' Mueller may subpoena him" is a load of crap. We knew this was a possibility, it's completely within his powers to do so, and the president can't claim executive privilege to get out of it (see the Clinton Whitewater investigation). What's more interesting is who leaked it and why. Smart money is on Giuliani as it fits his MO. So the question is, why leak the questions? Is this an attempt to discredit the investigation (playing on the ignorance of the president's supporters), to frame what they this is acceptable to ask, or is this a part of a longer game (doubtful, these people aren't smart enough) or "just what we do." And then there's the part, "The president also said collusion was a 'phony' crime." No, Mr. President, it's not.
"Donald Trump’s current team of lawyers lacks the security clearances needed to discuss sensitive issues related to a possible presidential interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, according to two people familiar with the matter." That's one way to stall, but not a problem if Mueller subpoena's Trump.
"Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein dismissed threats from antagonists in Congress on Thursday following months of tension between the Justice Department and conservative supporters of President Trump… Rosenstein appeared at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. to celebrate Law Day and was asked about threats from members of Congress, including the putative 'articles of impeachment' about him drafted by allies of Trump." All those who sign on to that bill have thrown their lot in with being traitors. The GOP should never be able to claim to the the Rule of Law Party again without people laughing in their faces (although, the GOP has used the cry, "Rule of Law" as a racist dogwhistle since the Nixon administration).
"When Dr. Harold Bornstein described in hyperbolic prose then-candidate Donald Trump's health in 2015, the language he used was eerily similar to the style preferred by his patient… It turns out the patient himself wrote it, according to Bornstein." This is my resting shock face. Yeah, we all kinda knew that, didn't we? So now the question becomes "did he lie then or is he lying now" (Narrator, he lied then). Unfortunately, while IANAL, while what he did was borderline ethical, it wasn't criminal or probably rising to the level of putting his license at risk. And then there's this, "Now, as Bornstein re-enters the spotlight claiming Trump's ex-bodyguard Keith Schiller robbed his office when Schiller retrieved Trump's medical records, the story behind the letter is becoming clearer." (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
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