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PBC News & Comment: Dark Partisan Struggle Overshadows ‘State of the Union’

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