Lucky Man. Wonkagenda For Fri., July, 13, 2018

Trump craps on the UK, Jill Stein is stealing your money, and FCC tells you to call someone who cares. Your morning news brief!

Morning Wonketariat, and happy Friday the 13th! ! Here's some of the things wemaybe talking about today.

 Trump's visit to the UK is a disaster   after he decided to rant and ramble to a British tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch that he feels "unwelcome" in the UK due to the thousands of protesters. Trump then took a giant shit all over Theresa May's Brexit deal and US trade relations, and gave a reach-around to child-punching buffoon Boris Johnson. Now there's a real fear that Trump just poured gasoline over the raging tire fire   that is Theresa May's fledgling government. 

Lawyers for Lisa Page tell Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte that Page will sit down for a private grilling by Republicans in the House Judiciary Committee later today.

New details about the Russian influence campaign are raising questions on the extent of Russian aggression as many of the Internet Research Agency's faux news outlets pushed real headlines to gain the trust of readers, and never actually published "fake news."

One of the Russian creepos at that infamous Trump Tower meeting is suing Putin critic Bill Browder for libel after being called a Russian spy. Well, if the shoe fits, throw it at someone.

 Michael Cohen recently bought a posh million dollar apartment in a brand new building in Manhattan, but there's a lot of questions about how he could afford a lavish new penthouse owned by two of Trump's close friends. [ Archive ]

Senate Democrats have a multitude of reasons to oppose SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but they're worried that only talk about Roe and Obamacare will break through to voters. 

 Jared Kushner's security clearance has been neutered (again!) after the CIA objected to his ability to see sensitive compartmented information. NO COLLUSION!

White House legislative affairs director Marc Short will GTFO from Trump's White House later this month after getting a much better gig at a consulting firm, and a spot teaching Trumponomics at UVA. After helping steamroll through the Trump tax cuts (for the super rich), White House economic advisor Shahira Knight will replace Short. 

Terrified of causing another government shutdown and pissing off fiscal hawks, Senate Republicans suddenly canceled a budget hearing to consider privatizing portions of the VA healthcare system that would obliterate budget caps and dramatically increase government spending. Oops?

The GOP isn't sure if the Good Cop/Bad Cop routine being used by Trump and Pence to sell Trump's trade war in flyover country is working, and some congressional Republicans are worried it'll erase the "gains" they made with their super rich tax cuts.

Now that he's been slapped by the ethics officials for possible self-dealing while "negotiating" Trump's trade war, Wilbur Ross SAYS he's selling off all his stocks . Again.

 Steve Mnuchin says we're not in a trade war, and tells Congress, "We're in a situation of trade disputes."

James Morhard, the Senate's deputy sergeant-at-arms, has been tapped to be the deputy administrator at NASA. Aside from being a former aide to late Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens (the "series of tubes" guy), Morhard has zero experience in science and/or engineering. #SpaceForce

 House Freedom crazies want to bring a bill to abolish ICE to the floor as soon as possible in an effort to humiliate Democrats, but Democrats plan to kill their own bill and force Republicans to go on the record supporting baby jails and family separations ahead of the midterms.

 Thirteen interns at the DCCC sent a letter to Rep. Ray Luján asking to be paid, and called out the other "white and wealthy" interns who refused to sign on to the letter. SOLIDARITY! 

The American Independent, a non-profit supporting investigative journalism, reports that Republican Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan bought himself a multi-million dollar yacht the day after voting for Trump tax cuts (for the super-rich). Hey, Paul Ryan did give the poors an extra $1.50.

Politico has a fascinating deep drive into the super-secret arm of the NRA that dumps millions into gun humping politicians up and down the ballot.

Jill Stein is now using money people gave her to pay for a recount on her mounting Trump-Russia legal bills. HA!

 A massive geek squad has started a campaign to get Democrats elected this fall with the hope of guiding tech policy in the right direction.

The Republican candidate for attorney general in Nevada, Adam Laxalt, is being warned not to bring up recanted accusations of pedophilia from an ex-girlfriend of Democratic candidate Steve Sisolak from 2012. The Republican candidate just set up a website highlighting the allegations, which were described as a million dollar "shakedown" at the time.

A new NPR analysis shows how Chicago Public Schools shower cash all over the wealthy, white North side schools while starving out the over-crowded and decaying schools on the poor South and West sides. Thanks, Rahm.

 The Trump administration is appealing the AT&T-Time Warner merger, arguing that it will raise consumer rates and kill competition ... after AT&T signaled it was about to jack up prices and crap all over TV markets.

 One of the actors in the Roe v. Wade movie tells the Daily Beast that the the crew hates the film due all the right wing fuckery, and scenes of gross bullshit, like Milo Yian-whatever's abortion buckets. Barf.

As Twitter executes a great purging of bots and old accounts, politicians are the biggest victims, with Trump losing hundreds of thousands of followers. SAD!

Telemarketers want to reach out and touch your cellphone, so they're lobbying the Trump administration to lift restrictions on robocalls. #MAGA

 The guy who created Pepe, the co-opted alt-right mascot, has been curb stomping neo-Nazis in his quest to kill his own creation and sending takedown notices to anyone who uses the image to promote "alt-right"/pro-Trump garbage. 

 The FCC will now charge consumers $225 to complain about billing problems, privacy concerns and other ISP/telecom problems because all you poor nerdy fucks won't shut up about about net neutrality.

And here's your morning Nice Time! SEA OTTERS!

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