By Erin Dooley @ ABC News, March 19

President Trump's approval rating has fallen to 37 percent -- the lowest of his fledgling presidency, according to Gallup. His disapproval rating rose correspondingly, hitting 58 percent.

At this point in his first term, President Obama's approval rating was hovering in the low 60s, while President George W. Bush's was in the mid-50s. (Obama's approval rating would later sink to a low of 40 percent, while Bush bottomed out at 25 percent.)

In fact, Trump's current approval rating is lower than any other commander-in-chief at this point in his first term since Gallup started tracking the issue in 1945, the year Harry Truman took office [....]

To quote Dire Straits, "That's the way you do it..."

BTW, Macron's wife is 24 years older - she was his teacher when he was 15, and they stuck together after. Sounds like the French movie I saw last night, but the boy was only 11 or 12.

Kinda like how Mexico is going to pay for "the wall", there's magic money everywhere if someone would just get tough?

By Lauren Gambino @ The Guardian, March 18

[....] Trump’s tweets on Saturday suggested a misunderstanding of the way Nato is funded. According to Nato’s official guidelines, member nations are expected to spend at least 2% of their country’s gross domestic product (GDP) on defense. However, only a handful of the 28 members actually meet that target.

At a 2014 summit in Wales, members pledged to increase their military spending to 2% of GDP by 2024, a goal some have said is unachievable and unrealistic for several member states.

Ultimately, members’ contributions are based on each nation’s capability. Therefore, Nato member nations do not “owe” or have to compensate any other country.

On Saturday Ivo Daalder, who was permanent representative to Nato from 2009 to 2013, respond to Trump in a series of tweets.

“Sorry, Mr President, that’s not how Nato works,” he wrote. “The US decides for itself how much it contributes to defending Nato. This is not a financial transaction, where Nato countries pay the US to defend them. It is part of our treaty commitment [....]

Well, that was easy - was that all it took?

CBS News & A.P., March 16

PARIS -- A 16-year-old student who had problematic relations with his peers opened fire at a high school in southern France on Thursday, wounding at least two other students and the principal who tried to intervene, officials said.

Police moved into the Alexis de Tocqueville school in the town of Grasse -- the country’s picturesque perfume capital -- and quickly arrested the still-armed suspect, identified by the Interior Ministry spokesman as Killian Barbey.

The Grasse prosecutor said there were a total of 10 victims, three of them suffering from “emotional shock.” None of the injuries was considered life threatening.

Prosecutor Fabienne Atzori said the young man -- armed with a rifle, several pistols and a small grenade -- entered a classroom then left, “not finding the person or people he was searching for.” [.....]

By Andrew Revkin @ ProPublica,.org, March 14

Secretary of Defense James Mattis has asserted that climate change is real, and a threat to American interests abroad and the Pentagon’s assets everywhere, a position that appears at odds with the views of the president who appointed him and many in the administration in which he serves.

In unpublished written testimony provided to the Senate Armed Services Committee after his confirmation hearing in January, Mattis said it was incumbent on the U.S. military to consider how changes like open-water routes in the thawing Arctic and drought in global trouble spots can pose challenges for troops and defense planners. He also stressed this is a real-time issue, not some distant what-if.

“Climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today,” Mattis said in written answers to questions posed after the public hearing by Democratic members of the committee. “It is appropriate for the Combatant Commands to incorporate drivers of instability that impact the security environment in their areas into their planning.” [.....]

By Alex Isenstadt & Kenneth P. Vogel @ Politico.com, March 15

A culture of paranoia is consuming the Trump administration, with staffers increasingly preoccupied with perceived enemies—inside their own government.

In interviews, nearly a dozen White House aides and federal agency staffers described a litany of suspicions: that rival factions in the administration are trying to embarrass them, that civil servants opposed to President Donald Trump are trying to undermine him, and even that a “deep state” of career military and intelligence officials is out to destroy them.

Aides are going to great lengths to protect themselves. They’re turning off work-issued smartphones and putting them in drawers when they arrive home from work out of fear that they could be used to eavesdrop. They’re staying mum in meetings out of concern that their comments could be leaked to the press by foes. [....]

Associated Press in Mexico City via Guardian.com, March 14

• Secret burial pits in Veracruz contain drug cartel victims, state prosecutor said
• Advocacy groups push for excavation to find people missing for years

By Manu Raju & Tom LoBianco @ CNN, March 14, 8:57 pm

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said Tuesday that FBI Director James Comey promised to tell him Wednesday whether the FBI is investigating ties between Russia and the campaign of President Donald Trump.

The Rhode Island Democrat said that Comey made the promise in a March 2 meeting with him and Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina.

According to Whitehouse, Comey assured them he would confirm if an investigation exists "and the scope of their Russia/Trump investigation because he had not been able to at that point say that there was one." [....]

Just came down.  Looks to be worth a watch tonight, no?

By William D. Cohan @ The Hive @ VanityFair.com, March 14

If you’re going to sell your soul to the people who make money from money, you better follow through on your promises—and stop tweeting!

This story, while not unexpected is just breaking. Not entirely sure what "being placed under formal investigation means" except that it clearly is another step forward to a charge and/or conviction:

French presidential candidate Francois Fillon was put under formal investigation on Tuesday morning over allegations of diversion of public funds and misappropriation of funds, Le Canard Enchaine weekly wrote on its Twitter page.