Politics

OKLAHOMA: GOP Governor Mocks Striking Teachers, Compares Them To “Teenagers Wanting A Better Car”

CBS News reports: For the third day, thousands of Oklahoma teachers marched at the state capitol. Inside the rotunda, educators, and hundreds of their students demanded an increase in school funding. On Tuesday, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed a bill giving teacher-support staff, like teachers’ aides and janitors, a $1,250 raise. Last week, she signed a measure that gave teachers …

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WISCONSIN: Walker Warns Of November “Blue Wave” After Liberal Easily Wins State Supreme Court Election

Talking Points Memo reports: After the Democratic-backed Wisconsin state Supreme Court candidate pulled off a double-digit defeat of her GOP rival on Tuesday evening, Gov. Scott Walker warned his state that a “blue wave” of the “Far Left” was imminent in November and encouraged Republicans to “counter it with optimism and organization.” In Tuesday’s election, liberal candidate Rebecca Dallet easily …

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China Hits Back With New Tariffs On 100+ US Products

CNBC reports: China announced additional tariffs on 106 U.S. products on Wednesday, in a move likely to heighten global concerns of a tit-for-tat trade war between the world’s biggest economies. The effective start date for the new charges was not announced, though China’s Ministry of Commerce said the tariffs are designed to target up to $50 billion of U.S. products …

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Mueller: Trump Not Currently A “Criminal Target”

The Washington Post reports: Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III informed President Trump’s attorneys last month that he is continuing to investigate the president but does not consider him a criminal target at this point, according to three people familiar with the discussions. In private negotiations in early March about a possible presidential interview, Mueller described Trump as a subject …

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Trump Vows “Strong Action Today” On Immigration

Reuters reports: U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration would “be taking strong action” on immigration later on Wednesday but gave no other details about any planned steps. Trump’s statement, made in an early morning post on Twitter, comes one day after the president said he would utilize the U.S. military to protect the nation’s southern border with Mexico. The …

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LIVE VIDEO: Trump Holds Presser With Baltic Leaders

NPR reports: President Trump meets at the White House on Tuesday with leaders of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. The “U.S.-Baltic Summit” celebrates the 100th anniversary of independence for the three countries. Throughout the Second World War and the Cold War, the Baltic countries were dominated by the Soviet Union. They regained their independence in the early 1990s and joined NATO …

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First Sentence Handed Down In Mueller Probe

Newsweek reports: A lawyer who once did work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine was sentenced to 30 days in prison Tuesday, the first punishment announced in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling. Alex Van der Zwaan lied to the FBI about his contacts with Rick Gates, who was an official on President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, …

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Chinese Billionaire Sues Roger Stone For $100M

The Miami New Times reports: Roger Stone, South Florida’s infamous political hit man, is not capable of keeping his mouth shut. He has spent decades on the attack, getting called in when, say, politicians want someone to stage a fake riot or smear the parents of a dead American soldier. But Stone has now pissed off someone with deep pockets …

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Preet Bharara To Bezos: Buy Twitter And Delete Trump

Raw Story reports: Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara made what must have been a tempting suggestion to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos: Buy Twitter and shut down President Donald Trump’s account. Amazon lost $53 billion in market capital recently after Axios reported that the president wanted to “go after” the company. Trump has had a long-running beef with Bezos, who also …

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TEXAS: Cruz Challenger Reports Huge Donations

The Texas Tribune reports: U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, raised over $6.7 million for his U.S. Senate bid in the first quarter of 2018, according to his campaign, a staggering number that poses a new category of threat to Republican incumbent Ted Cruz. The haul is easily O’Rourke’s biggest fundraising quarter yet, more than double his next-closest total for …

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Trump Lawyer Seeks To Force Stormy Into Arbitration

Reuters reports: President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer asked a federal judge on Monday to force adult film star Stormy Daniels to use arbitration to settle a dispute over an agreement to keep quiet about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump. In Monday’s court filing in Los Angeles, Brent Blakely, Cohen’s attorney, argued the agreement included a provision …

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OF COURSE: Russian Bots Rally Behind Laura Ingraham

The Chicago Tribune reports: Embattled Fox News host Laura Ingraham has found some unlikely allies: Russian bots. Russian-linked Twitter accounts have rallied around the conservative talk-show host, who has come under fire for attacking the young survivors of the Parkland school shooting. According to the website Hamilton 68, which tracks the spread of Russian propaganda on Twitter, the hashtag #IstandwithLaura …

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Dem House Rep To Retire Over Staffer Scandal

CNN reports: In the immediate aftermath of revelations that Rep. Elizabeth Esty kept her chief of staff on the payroll for three months after another former aide made allegations of harassment against him, the Connecticut Democrat insisted she would not resign. “For those who have asked, I want to be clear that I am not resigning,” Esty said in the …

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KENTUCKY: Dem US House Candidate Pulls Ads From Sinclair Station Over Mandated Pro-Trump Propaganda

Posted this afternoon to the Facebook page for Democratic US House candidate Amy McGrath, who is challenging GOP Kentucky incumbent Rep. Andy Barr: Today, I have instructed my campaign team to cease and pull all campaign advertising on WDKY-TV (Channel 56), the Sinclair-owned television station in our congressional district, as soon as possible. Sinclair’s corporate-mandated “must-read” right-wing script on its …

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SOUTH AFRICA: Winnie Mandela Dies At Age 81

The BBC reports: South African anti-apartheid campaigner Winnie Mandela has died aged 81, her personal assistant says. Winnie Madikizela Mandela was the former wife of South Africa’s first black president, Nelson Mandela. The couple – famously pictured hand-in-hand as Mr Mandela walked free from prison after 27 years – were a symbol of the anti-apartheid struggle for nearly three decades. …

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Kremlin: Trump Pitched Putin On White House Summit

The Daily Beast reports: President Trump has reportedly invited Vladimir Putin to the White House for a visit, according to a statement from the Kremlin. According to an Agence France-Presse reporter, a senior U.S. official did “not deny” that Trump “floated the idea of a White House summit,” noting that “no planning has begun as yet.” This comes after Trump …

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Gowdy: My Benghazi Probe Wasn’t “Hyper Focused” On Hillary, She Was Just One Of A Hundred Witnesses

“The reality is, with respect to Benghazi, I did everything I could to handle that like a normal investigation. I was not hyper focused on Secretary Clinton. Lots of other people were, including people in your — with respect — in your line of work. It’s not interesting enough to simply find out how our folks were rescued from the …

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Christie: Trump’s Big Mouth Might Land Him In Jail

The Hill reports: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Sunday warned that President Trump’s “hyperbolic” style could have consequences if he testifies for special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. “One of the things that makes the president who he is is that he’s a salesman, and salesmen at times tend to be hyperbolic,” Christie said during a panel …

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Bernie Sanders: Amazon Has Gotten Too Big [VIDEO]

Via Mediaite: Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union today, Sen. Bernie Sanders seemed to endorse some of what the president has said of the massive company. Asked by anchor Jake Tapper if he believed Amazon had gotten too big, the independent senator answered in the affirmative. “Yeah, I do. I do,” Sanders declared. “I think this is — look, …

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FLORIDA: Trump Golf Course Entrance Vandalized

ABC News reports: The entrance to Trump International Golf Club, the president’s course du jour while at the so-called Winter White House in Mar-a-Lago, had new decoration on Saturday evening in the form of red paint splattered all over one of the entrance signs. The red paint was tossed haphazardly on the left entrance with a can of paint visible …

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