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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