Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and one of his senior advisers, has come under FBI scrutiny in the Russia investigation, multiple U.S. officials told NBC News.
Investigators believe Kushner has significant information relevant to their inquiry, officials said. That does not mean they suspect him of a crime or intend to charge him.
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Say Goodnight, Jared
Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch.
To Dream The Impossible Dream
If I were writing this stupid political novel, this would be the next plot twist.
Westminster voting intention:
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) May 25, 2017
CON: 43% (-1)
LAB: 38% (+3)
LDEM: 10% (+1)
UKIP: 4% (+1)
(via @YouGov / 24 - 25 May)
Our Friend
Echidne of the Snakes is having her yearly fundraiser. She says she still feels embarrassed asking for funds. I say we should all go over there and reassure her that the work she does is very much appreciated and then back that up with a donation. Echidne is our go to person for interpreting data, expecially medical studies. We need her voice, now more than ever. Thank you all. As ever, not everyone is in a position to donate, but if you can, now is a good time to do so.
Blabbermouths
Watching the news about Manchester after the bombing, one would see a lot of journalists (in the newspaper live blogs and on twitter) saying things like "according to reports from US sources in US newspapers, this is happening, but we have had no confirmation from UK sources." Several times. I have no idea why people would feel the need to leak this stuff, but they were.
British police stopped sharing information about the Manchester suicide bombing with the United States on Thursday after leaks to U.S. media that police said had risked compromising their investigations.
Prime Minister Theresa May said she would tell U.S. President Donald Trump that intelligence shared between their two countries had to remain secure, in a rare public show of dissatisfaction with Britain's closest security ally.
And In Other News
Montana congressional candidate (you can guess which party) choke-slams and punches reporter, breaks glasses, in front of witnesses. Campaign lies about it despite audio recording and witnesses which contradict it. Candidate (Gianforte) is charged. Oh, and it's election day! He'll still probably win, and Ryan will still seat him.
Still Growing
It's just a tiny increase, but the Census estimates that Philly's population has increased by THREE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED since last year.
That's obviously not a lot - and population growth isn't intrinsically good or bad - but it's 10 straight years of growth (if small) for a city which had decades of massive population declines. So that it's not shrinking anymore is a big deal.
That's obviously not a lot - and population growth isn't intrinsically good or bad - but it's 10 straight years of growth (if small) for a city which had decades of massive population declines. So that it's not shrinking anymore is a big deal.
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
CBOCBOCBOCBO
For $119B in deficit reduction over 10 years (not that I think this is a good measure, but it is one the Very Serious People Care About) 23 million people will be freed from the tyranny of health insurance, many more which will have insurance that doesn't cover anything, and people with pre-existing conditions will be shit out of luck.
Not Bothsidesing
Obviously "lie" is more accurate than "error," but kudos to NBC for not going with "critics call it an error..."
"We stand by the numbers," Trump budget director says of $2,000,000,000,000 error that uses same money twice. https://t.co/iSU10e0wy3 pic.twitter.com/jeIdJlFumX
— NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) May 24, 2017
Poor Spicey
Your regular reminder to everyone in the White House: lawyer up and quit.
Hinted at but not quite stated: people would have let Spicey go in their place, but Trump decided not to let him.
ROME – President Donald Trump’s entourage at the Vatican on Wednesday included his wife, his daughter, and an array of staffers—but not White House press secretary Sean Spicer, a devout Catholic who told reporters earlier this year that he gave up alcohol for Lent.
Both sides, according to a White House official, agreed to limit the number of staffers who attended. Two other senior communications aides from the White House were included: Hope Hicks, who like Melania and Ivanka Trump wore a black veil over her hair, and Dan Scavino, the White House director of social media and a longtime Trump loyalist.
...
Other members of the traveling Trump team who are not practicing Catholics said they gave up their spots to accommodate Catholic White House aides. But Spicer – a regular churchgoer who was mocked last year for appearing on CNN with ashes on his forehead in honor of Ash Wednesday – was notably absent.
Hinted at but not quite stated: people would have let Spicey go in their place, but Trump decided not to let him.
Droopy Dog Face
Sad!
President Trump is no longer considering former senator Joe Lieberman as his next FBI director, CNN reported Wednesday.
Trump, who had said as recently as last week that Lieberman was his top choice, will in fact "hit the restart button" on the search for a new FBI chief, the network reported.
Uber Death Watch
They don't have any kind of intellectual property or even network effect that can get them to a monopoply, they lose money on every ride, robot cars aren't going to save them because they won't work, and, oh, they break the law and in reality lose much more on every ride.
Back when Uber first appeared and it was the Coolest Thing Ever and everyone would brag about their cheap and luxurious cab rides I tried to tell people: whatever (real!) problems there are with local cab regulation, there are very good reasons why there are supply-restricting medallion systems for local cab companies. One of them is that without some sort of monopoly or mandated supply restriction, this type of of business is unlikely to be profitable (thinking of profit broadly, including for drivers). The regulations exist to ensure the market exists. All of Uber's clever (and sometimes illegal) ways to try to beat this fact aren't going to work.
But Uber’s handling of passenger payments raises questions about a larger legal issue, potentially far more substantial: not the pocket-change difference in the commission but whether that entire $2 in taxes is improperly coming out of the drivers’ wallets.
Back when Uber first appeared and it was the Coolest Thing Ever and everyone would brag about their cheap and luxurious cab rides I tried to tell people: whatever (real!) problems there are with local cab regulation, there are very good reasons why there are supply-restricting medallion systems for local cab companies. One of them is that without some sort of monopoly or mandated supply restriction, this type of of business is unlikely to be profitable (thinking of profit broadly, including for drivers). The regulations exist to ensure the market exists. All of Uber's clever (and sometimes illegal) ways to try to beat this fact aren't going to work.
And Speaking Of Blogger Ethics Panels
It's probably a bit more important that members of Congress vote their book.
Forty Republican representatives who voted for the American Health Care Act held shares in health care companies valued at $23 million and earned more than $2 million off those investments, a Daily Beast review of the most-recent financial records found.
Time For Another Blogger Ethics Panel
This is one of my pet peeves, based on the early round of "bloggers are scary" fearmongering. You see, some of us might have undisclosed financial backing!!! Even then I was smart enough to know this was hilarious, because all of those people writing opinion pieces for our major newspapers were hardly disclosing all of their financial ties to readers.
I mean, sure, disclosure is good, but it was an example of trying to apply "rules" to bloggers based on journalism "rules" which didn't even exist at our elite newspapers. And still don't.
I mean, sure, disclosure is good, but it was an example of trying to apply "rules" to bloggers based on journalism "rules" which didn't even exist at our elite newspapers. And still don't.
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Cambrian Explosion
They're rich so I'm the stupid one, but I'm glad everyone is having fun lighting money on fire.
Please invest in my self-driving blog!!!
“There is such a crazy thing going on in the market right now around autonomous vehicles,” he says as he hops into his self-driving go-kart. “It is kind of like if you can spell ‘self-driving’ you can sell it for a billion dollars.”
Yet it is not just Silicon Valley money pouring in. The world’s top automakers such as Ford and General Motors have joined Google’s parent Alphabet, Uber and other tech companies in funding research for self-driving technology.
Please invest in my self-driving blog!!!
The Charter Grift
It isn't that there are no good charter schools or that it is impossible to conceive of some form of school choice system which might (might!) be good in general, but the well-funded charter school movement has been a giant grift, diverting education dollars away from teachers and students and helping to destroy a base of Democratic support. And Democrats played a big role in that.
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