giving lawmakers more time to question the former special counsel

By Rachel Bade, Ellen Nakishima and Karoun Demirjian @ WashingtonPost.com, July 12, 8:42 pm

Former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and two House panels struck a deal Friday to reschedule his congressional testimony for July 24 and agreed to give lawmakers more time to question him about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible obstruction of justice by President Trump. 

Mueller had been scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees on July 17 in a much-anticipated public appearance since he gave a short statement following the conclusion of his nearly two-year investigation. The former FBI director is perhaps the one person lawmakers and the nation have been wanting to hear from most [....]

Amazon likes to think of its marketplace as a merchant meritocracy where the best products get the best reviews by virtue of quality and honest consumer feedback, But the vast size of the platform, coupled with a ferocious competition among sellers to get higher product rankings, has spawned a problem: A proliferation of fake reviews.

 On this score, Warren may be a bigger economic nationalist than even Trump himself. She promises that her new federal department will be responsible for drawing up a “national jobs strategy,” with an eye towards revitalizing regions that have been struggling to compete within the global economy. This national strategy will “establish clear goals for American jobs and American industry that will guide how the Department of Economic Development prioritizes its investments and direct its programs.” 

The idea that the federal government ought to help “guide” the economy has not been a popular one amongst post-Reagan conservatives, but it appears to be catching on with a growing contingent of right-wing economic nationalists. Matthew J. Peterson of the Claremont Institute, for example, recently argued that conservatives have historically favored not only protectionism, but large-scale government investments. He enthusiastically reminded his readers that President Abraham Lincoln “signed the ‘Western New Deal,’ using the powers of the national government to promote westward expansion: passing The Homestead Act to give away public lands, the Pacific Railway Act for national infrastructure, creating the land grant college system, and the Department of Agriculture.” 

The programs praised by Peterson are not substantially different from those proposed by Warren. If suggested by Trump, many of Warren’s policies would undoubtedly be endorsed by populist conservatives. The spirit of central planning beats just as strongly within the breast of the nationalist conservative as it does within the nationalist progressive.