By Zachary Cohen @ CNN.com, Sept. 19

President Donald Trump's pick for US ambassador to Russia, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, told lawmakers Tuesday that there is "no question Russia interfered in the US election last summer."

Appearing in his nomination hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations committee, Huntsman said the interference in the election has directly led to the low level of trust between Moscow and Washington [....]

@ Politico.com, Updated 09/19 07:34 PM EDT

‘I think they want to do a middle-class tax cut — at least that is what most everybody has said,’ Sen. Orrin Hatch said.

By Renato Mariottt @ Politico.com, Sept. 18

Based on what we know so far, here’s a former federal prosecutor’s expert read on where the Russian investigation is heading.

By Peter Sullivan @ TheHill.com, Sept. 18

A last-ditch effort by Senate Republicans to repeal and replace ObamaCare is gaining steam, suggesting lawmakers could face another vote on ending the former president’s signature law later this month.

Supporters do not have the 50 votes necessary to pass the bill yet, but pressure is growing on Republicans to back the measure, which could replace much of ObamaCare with block grants for states.

In a crucial boost for its chances on Monday, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) offered his support [....]

By Peter Baker and Kenneth P. Vogel @ NYTimes.com, Sept. 17

The debate, which led to an angry confrontation between two members of the legal team, could shape the course of the special counsel’s investigation.

[....] The friction escalated in recent days after Mr. Cobb was overheard by a reporter for The New York Times discussing the dispute during a lunchtime conversation at a popular Washington steakhouse. Mr. Cobb was heard talking about a White House lawyer he deemed “a McGahn spy” and saying Mr. McGahn had “a couple documents locked in a safe” that he seemed to suggest he wanted access to. He also mentioned a colleague whom he blamed for “some of these earlier leaks,” and who he said “tried to push Jared out,” meaning Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, who has been a previous source of dispute for the legal team [....]

"I worry that we might not be able to recover from this because all our greatest cities are on the oceans and water's edges, historically for commerce, transportation. And as storms kick in, as water levels rise, they are the first to go," he said. "And we don't have a civilization with the capacity to pick up a city and move it inland 20 miles. That's -- this is happening faster than our ability to respond. That could have huge economic consequences."

By Andrew Gumbel in Long Beach, CA, for TheGuardian.com, 15 Sept. 09.17 EDT

Retired Lt Col Hal Kempfer and his group, Knowledge and Intelligence Program Professionals, see Long Beach as a prime target for an attack from North Korea

Hal Kempfer, a noted international security expert, is getting a roomful of California public health officials and emergency responders to think about the unthinkable – a nuclear bomb exploding at the port of Long Beach, about four miles away [....]

By Aaron Blake @ WashingtonPost.com, Sept. 14, 4:52 pm

President Trump just pivoted back to being President Trump.

While headed back from an empathetic visit to Hurricane Irma-stricken Florida and on the heels of more bipartisan dealmaking in Washington, the president reverted to his unapologetic, combative, dubious-claim-peddling self. In a 15-minute chat with reporters, he claimed vindication for his hugely controversial comments about Charlottesville, alluded to the Obama administration allegedly spying on his campaign, and — after repeatedly pointing to the unprecedented nature of the latest hurricanes in recent weeks — played down their size when asked whether climate change was to blame.

It was a performance that recalled Trump's wild news conferences [....]

By Eric Tucker @ Associated Press (via Bloomberg), Sept. 13

[....] The Justice Department says it will not permit two FBI officials close to fired director James Comey to appear privately before a congressional committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The Senate Judiciary Committee had asked in July to interview the two officials, Jim Rybicki and Carl Ghattas, and then agreed to narrow the scope of questioning after the Justice Department initially declined to make the men available. But in a letter this week obtained by The Associated Press, the Justice Department said it would still not permit the officials to be questioned in order to "protect the integrity" of the investigation being done by special counsel Robert Mueller [....]

A German company has a completely solar motor home.  It is covered with panels, the floors are heated, it is sleek, and even has stars twinkling above the bed.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that here in "the bestest country in the world?!?!?" we are so far behind it's not funny.

At least we have Elon Musk and a few others.  I even put some money into a solar start-up last month.  I hope it pans out, and not just for selfish reasons.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t make the numbers work.”

By Dylan Matthews @ Vox.com, Sept. 12

In perhaps the single most astounding passage of her campaign memoir What Happened, Hillary Clinton reveals a campaign proposal she formulated with staffers but never actually released: a universal basic income for Americans, funded by carbon and financial transaction taxes.

"I wanted very much to convey a commitment to trying to figure ways to raise incomes," she said in an interview with Vox's Ezra Klein. "The Alaska model where they write a check to every single Alaskan every year based on a formula about the oil and gas revenues was really intriguing to me.”

Here’s the relevant passage of the book, on page 239 [....]

Some outlets are clutching their pearls at the purported over the topism in demanding polygraphs as part of a leak investigation. WTF??  Malcolm Nance pointed out a while ago that the leaks were more likely to come from White House personnel than intelligence people because the latter are routinely polygraphed.

So, if anything we should be shocked that Sessions doesn't know this already, not that he wants to put people "on the box"