By Lance Williams for Politico Magazine, March 23
The tape of a private meeting was made shortly after the lawyer for an influential industry group was tapped for a high-level post at the Department of the Interior.
The move drew immediate criticism from progressive groups.
By Daniel Marans @ HuffPost.com, March 22
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced Friday that it will not hire any private political vendors that provide services to Democratic primary challengers, and it will discourage individual House Democrats from doing so as well.
The announcement, first reported by The Intercept and National Journal, is a shot across the bow to insurgent candidates and the firms that work with them. It applies broadly to firms that do polling, advertising, digital consulting, fundraising and field organizing.
The DCCC’s new policy, which it sent to over 100 political firms on Friday, also laid out new diversity requirements aimed at ensuring the party employs firms that reflect its voters’ diversity along racial, gender and other lines [....]
Trump Reverses North Korea Sanctions, Breaking With Treasury Dept.
By Alan Rappeport @ NYTimes.com, March 22
By Tony Lin @ CJR.org, March 21
IN THE WAKE OF LAST FRIDAY’S SHOOTINGS at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, a wave of celebration hit Chinese social media.
On Weibo—China’s Twitter equivalent, with 446 million monthly active users, 120 million more than Twitter—mainstream coverage of the attacks was barraged with comments that expressed anti-Muslim rhetoric and support for the shooter. The top comment under a video clip posted by People’s Daily likens Muslims to “cancer cells” and asks the Chinese government to avoid making the same mistakes as New Zealand. People’s Daily is China’s largest news outlet and the official state paper, and its comments section is heavily censored. Yet at the time of writing this comment is in the highest position of visibility and has been liked by more than 400 people.
Such comments aren’t representative of the Chinese population. Many Weibo users posted emphatic rebuttals [....]
By Alex Ward @ Vox.com, March 21
Forces loyal to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro may have just committed one of their most brazen acts — one that threatens to plunge the country into even greater chaos. On Thursday, Venezuela’s intelligence forces detained the chief of staff for Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader who claims to be the country’s legitimate president and who is backed by the United States. In an overnight raid, they seized Roberto Marrero from his home shortly after also nabbing dozens of journalists and two state utility workers.
This is potentially a massive escalation by Maduro and could signal a new phase in his bid to maintain power despite America’s efforts [....]
In a rebuke of the Trump administration’s ‘energy-first’ agenda, a judge rules greenhouse gas emissions must be considered
By Cassidy Randall in Missoula, MT @ TheGuardian.com, March 20
In the first significant check on the Trump administration’s “energy-first” agenda, a US judge has temporarily halted hundreds of drilling projects for failing to take climate change into account.
Drilling had been stalled on more than 300,000 acres of public land in Wyoming after it was ruled the Trump administration violated environmental laws by failing to consider greenhouse gas emissions. The federal judge has ordered the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which manages US public lands and issues leases to the energy industry, to redo its analysis.The decision stems from an environmental lawsuit [....]
By Isaac Chotiner @ NewYorker.com, March 20
[....] On Monday, Brazile announced that she would be joining Fox News as a contributor, writing, in a piece on the network’s Web site, that she is “excited to join the honest and passionate debate at Fox News about our future.” She described the decision as “rooted in the belief that you cannot make progress, let alone reach compromise, without first listening to, and understanding those who disagree with you on critical issues.” The news came during a particularly fraught time for the network [....]
On Tuesday, I spoke by phone with Brazile. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed her hopes for her work on Fox News, the network’s role in fomenting hate, and why she is so frustrated with partisanship in the media [....]
By Rashaan Ayash @ Axios.com, March 20
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Wednesday asked his first question on the bench since 2016, reported the New York Times. [....] Prior to 2016, Thomas hadn't said anything on the bench for a decade.
