Journalist Daniel Lazare lays out a credible alternative narrative for Russiagate, which can be boiled down to “Game of Spooks”--read Lazare’s article at ConsortiumNews here
--Trump contradicts, again, on his reasons for firing Comey
--former acting FBI Director McCabe wrote secret memo about Comey’s firing, which has been leaked from the no-leaks Mueller investigation
--Trevor Aaronson, an expert on FBI informants and their abuse, believes the Bureau followed the rules with Stefan Halper
--also at The Intercept, James Risen makes the case for obstruction charges against Trump
--Yulia Skripal read a statement to cameras last week, but the Novichok claims and other key evidence remain undisclosed; read The Independent report here and Craig Murray’s blog here
--with no notice, Trump administration imposes tariffs on steel and aluminum effective at midnight
--Pompeo meeting with top North Korean ends early with no clear outcome, Trump meets with Kim Yong Chol tomorrow
--as Israel-Palestine cease-fire holds, Mondoweiss recaps the sequence of events, and slams the NY Times
--former US Ambassador Chas W. Freeman comments on Trump/Bolton Mideast policies that are isolating US and reducing influence
--Trump pardons right wing propagandist Dinesh D’Souza and hints at clemency for Martha Stewart and Rod Blagojevich, sending messages to his loyalists
--trying to rationalize Rosanne’s racist tweets, right wingers hammer Samantha Bee for crude attack on Ivanka Trump
--transgender Honduran who arrived with “caravan” dies in “ice box” in ICE custody
--outrage over video of brutal beach arrest in New Jersey grows
--not enough outrage over the conviction of Carol Shuler for contact with the sheriff deputy who brutally broke her arm in Missouri eviction
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