Day 652 of NO EVIDENCE produced by Trump that his phones were tapped by Obama.
The FISA warrant Trump referenced targeted Carter Page. #TrumpLies
Day 442 since the deadliest mass shooting on U.S soil in Las Vegas that killed 58, injuring 546 and Congress has taken NO action to prevent future mass shootings. #NeverForget #NeverAgain #EnoughIsEnough
Real-time U.S. gun violence numbers for 2018, with 14 days left:
•13,942 gun deaths
•26,931 gun injuries
•643 children shot
•2,721 teenagers shot
•1,950 armed home invasions
•1,709 incidents of defensive gun use
•1,524 unintentional shootings
•334 mass shootings
What does gun violence look like in your neighborhood?
Explore @teamtrace's interactive map of U.S. gun violence built by our data and find out. thetrace.org/features/gun-v…
House Democrats are planning to move several high-profile bills to combat gun violence soon after they take power in January, including one that will require federal background checks on all gun sales.
politico.com/story/2018/12/…
U.S. Airstrikes in Somalia:
•2018: 45
•2017: 35
•2016: 15
•2015: 11
•2014: 3
Source: U.S military/BIJ
Remember when Republicans criticized Obama for drone strikes? Somalia strikes have tripled under Trump.
FYI: The Trump admin has quietly resumed separating immigrant families at the border.
At one agency, the children were put into temporary foster care and shelters with little or no indication that they arrived at the border with their parents: propub.li/2QcsPvY
Reminder: The Trump administration is systematically locking up thousands of children at unheard of rates - now almost 15,000 are in U.S. custody.
The government classifies these children as "unaccompanied"
n.pr/2BdhcL8
Rep. Joaquin Castro says that CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan knew about a 7-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin's death while in its custody before his Judiciary Committee testimony last week and he didn't tell them. thehill.com/homenews/house…
DHS has told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus they won't be allowed to speak with CBP agents involved in the apprehension and detention of Jakelin Caal, the 7 year old Guatemalan asylum seeker who died in CBP custody.
buzzfeednews.com/article/johnst…
"I voted for Trump. Now his wall may destroy my butterfly paradise."
wapo.st/2EngnCu via @PostEverything
North Korea is sending increasingly strong warnings via state media that continued U.S. sanctions pressure could not only derail denuclearization talks -- it could also bring about a return to missile launches and nuclear tests.
North Korea is warning that recent US sanctions could take relations back to the bristling tension of last year and endanger efforts to remove nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula cnn.it/2Evymaf
There are *17* distinct investigations into Donald Trump's world, as prosecutors probe almost every aspect of how money flowed in and out of his orgs.
wired.com/story/mueller-…
17 known Trump probes
Election attack
WikiLeaks
Mid East influence
Manafort
TT Moscow
Other contacts w/Russia
Obstruction
Campaign conspiracy, Trump Org
Inaugural $
PAC $
Foreign lobbying
Butina
Khusyaynova
Turkish influence
Tax case
Fdn
Emoluments
wired.com/story/mueller-…
Rudy Giuliani says that Trump knew Michael Cohen was working on the Trump Tower Moscow deal "all the way up to ... November of 2016." thebea.st/2ElR97H
The breadth of investigations is so sweeping that they may hang over the president and his entourage long after Robert Mueller’s probe is finished. bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…
Daily Beast reports the actual witch community is requesting that Trump stop calling the Mueller investigation a ‘witch hunt’ because they find it “deeply problematic and, frankly, a bit hurtful.” thedailybeast.com/witches-to-tru…
Giuliani contends the hush money payments weren’t illegal because they served a personal purpose “in addition to the campaign purpose.”
Admitting there was a “campaign purpose” is what makes them illegal. washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/…
Our CIA & a unanimous Senate have concluded Saudi Crown Prince MbS is guilty of Khashoggi’s torture-murder. Trump’s & Kushner’s corruptly motivated efforts to cover for MbS, however lame, make them accessories-after-the-fact to that crime.
washingtonpost.com/opinions/globa…
The 2016 Russian influence operation targeted African-Americans and tried to limit Democratic voting, according to a report for the Senate
nyti.ms/2Eo87lU
NYT: "The voter suppression effort was focused particularly on Sanders supporters and African-Americans, urging them to shun Mrs. Clinton in the general election and either vote for Ms. Stein or stay home."
nytimes.com/2018/12/17/us/…
In light of NYT piece on Russian work to suppress African American vote, re-upping this piece w/ Trump campaign bragging about their suppression efforts. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
"Let’s stop beating around the bush. The Russian government tried to get Trump elected, and Trump, his campaign, his close associates, and members of his family tried to help them."
Good look at latest reports on extent of Russian sabotage: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2018/…
Russian disinformation teams targeted Mueller, according to the disinformation reports prepared for the Senate.
Russian operatives unloaded on Mueller through fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter and beyond, falsely claiming that Mueller was corrupt.
washingtonpost.com/business/techn…
Ex-Asst. A.G. John Carlin says the U.S. should build more "dead man's switches" into counter-foreign-influence work that would put in place new sanctions and boost spending on democracy-building efforts that counter Russian influence campaigns. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
Doug Schoen and Mark Penn regularly go on Fox to defend Trump, and are inevitably billed as a Democratic operatives.
But what they neglect to mention is: Penn and Schoen spent years and years advising Trump on politics, and taking his money.
thedailybeast.com/mark-penn-trum…
Former Michael Flynn Business Associates Indicted in Turkey Lobbying Case via @NYTimes
nyti.ms/2GoQ2qx?smid=n…
“A business partner of Michael Flynn is being charged with acting as an agent of a foreign government and conspiracy for attempting to get Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen extradited from the United States.” washingtonpost.com/local/legal-is…
Mike Flynn's Turkish business partner Ekim Alptekin was indicted today for breaking lobbying laws and lying to the FBI.
Here's a piece on his defiant defense of his lobbying at a business conference he hosted at, where else, the Trump hotel
huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-…
Following a judge's order, prosecutors have now released a redacted 302, a document which contains FBI agents' notes, of the FBI's initial interview with Michael Flynn, the one in which he eventually admitted he lied in.
Here's the link:
bit.ly/2GqJCqO
Comey presser: He goes after Trump and GOP for staying quiet: "We have to stop being numb to it, whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, stand on your feet, overcome your shame and say something"
“This while [Trump] is lying about the FBI, attacking the FBI and attacking the rule of law in this country. How does that make any sense at all?” apnews.com/1ac774b5230d46…
Rep. Lacy Clay, a Democratic member of the House Oversight Committee, emerging from closed-door interview with James Comey, said it’s been a waste of time so far and amounts to the “last gasp” for the Republican majority.
"Many European leaders have [said] that they are convinced that Trump is determined to destroy the EU": The war between Trump and Merkel with the future of the transatlantic alliance at stake. @sbg1 goes deep.
newyorker.com/magazine/2018/…
Trump awarded "Golden Idiot" prize by German TV show, as much of the world laughs at him
bit.ly/2CjhGkE
Jared Kushner lecturing the Palestinian negotiator about not understanding changes in the Arab world is pretty perfect.
buzzfeednews.com/article/tomgar…
More signs that Pompeo is running a monstrous State Department: a two-year old Yemeni girl on life support, with an American father; his Yemeni mother wants to come to the US to hold her daughter before she is taken off the support. Pompeo's State Dept won't let her come
Steve Mnuchin and Mitch McConnell posing with gold at Fort Knox.
Via #FOIA docs obtained by Government Attic
NBC/WSJ poll: 2/3 Americans say we need action to curb climate change
Includes big majorities of men and women, residents of all regions, people from all ages, races, education and income levels
Just one exception opposing action: Republicans
cnbc.com/id/105632061
Outstanding student loan debt in the U.S. reached a record $1.465 trillion last month bloom.bg/2ErgOfh
The amount of U.S. student loan debt has more than doubled since the recession to a record $1.47 trillion
After seven years of declines, the small rises in homelessness over the past two years are a troubling reversal:
“There is a critical shortage of affordable rental housing in every jurisdiction across the country.” wsj.com/articles/u-s-h…
People think "give poor people money" is an absurd solution to poverty but for some reason think "give rich people money" works better, despite the notion being absurd and decades of evidence to the contrary
apnews.com/94b1dc5da1134a…
The Obama administration estimated that ending family homelessness would cost $11 billion over 10 years. That's less than 1/100th the cost of the Trump tax cuts.
apnews.com/94b1dc5da1134a…
Since Trump’s stunning 2016 win there, Pennsylvania Republicans have gotten almost exclusively bad news in a state that’s critical to the president’s reelection; @hollyotterbein reports politi.co/2Epyw2E
The Trump administration announced a second and "final" round of trade aid for farmers and ranchers burned by retaliatory tariffs
politico.com/story/2018/12/…
Once again borrowing money from China to pay farmers hurt by the trade war with China
But the economy is great, believe me!
Donald Trump hates Christmas parties nymag.com/intelligencer/…
White House Nightmare: Trump Golfs While His Secret Service Agents Work Without Pay usa.rapida.co/2018/12/18/whi…
A partial government shutdown begins Friday night and there’s no plan, no urgency. #TrumpShutdown
In case you missed yesterday's thread:
Bijan Kian, now charged with crimes related to acting as an unregistered agent of the Turkish government, served on Trump’s transition team, in the division related to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. cnbc.com/2018/12/17/ex-…
Isn't it illegal to use a government account as if it were an InfoWars account?
“We’ve seen horrible things over the years,” says actor Robert De Niro to CNN's @HalaGorani, but the Trump presidency is “one of the worst that I have ever seen and that I ... ever thought I would see."
Here's the story: A 2-year-old on life support may never be able to see his mother again, due to travel ban.
“My wife’s calling me every day, wanting to kiss and hold our son for one last time.” lat.ms/2LmZBF8