Trump will declare state of the union is “fantastic” as partisans jockey to bring him down, or neutralize Deep State…..--Melania is predicted to emerge from seclusion to attend, and Trump campaign will live-stream with on-screen credit to donors
--Republican majority on House Intel committee votes to release Nunes report, sounding alarms from both sides of the Trump/Russia squabble
--Speaker Ryan supports release of memo, says it shouldn’t be tied to Mueller
--WashPo timeline of Russiagate shows that McCabe wasn’t promoted at FBI until after his wife lost the election, and a few other interesting items
--the Guardian reports there is a second Trump dossier, written by Cody Shearer and first seen in October 2016
--as he explained in our interview yesterday, Ray McGovern thinks the Deep State will likely prevail
--CIA boss Pompeo expects Russia to interfere in midterms, but “it won’t be great”
--State Dept. complies with Congressional sanctions on Russia for “election meddling” by reporting on Russian oligarchs and declining to use sanctions
--ISIS and Taliban are spilling blood in Afghanistan, causing Trump to repudiate Trump’s Afghan policy
--Gareth Porter explains how the Pentagon converted Trump from opposing regime change wars to open-ended support for them
--Trump has also acquiesced on Syria, as Turkey turns up the heat on Kurds, who have the only real democracy in the zone
--that uber-liberal Ninth Circuit appeals court refuses to provide lawyers for undocumented children in immigration courts
--as vultures circle over hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, residents flee, only 60% have electricity, and utility will be privatized
--Robert Parry’s death is noted in a range of obituaries, from Norman Solomon, Jefferson Morley, NY Times and WashPost
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