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June 2017

Trump's Twitter activity sucks the oxygen out of almost all other news. So much so that nemesis Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill getting caught in another lie about never meeting the Russian Ambassador flew mostly under the media radar. Back in March 2017, when Russia-mania was in full fury, Claire McCaskill attacked Jeff Sessions for allegedly (but not in reality) answering a confirmation hearing question inaccurately concerning meetings with the Russian Ambassador. The confusing compound question to Sessions focused on meeting the Ambassador as a campaign surrogate, which Sessions denied doing.

Now former Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Jason Chaffetz shocked many when he abruptly announced he'd be quitting Congress before the end of his term. In a recent interview, Chaffetz insisted his decision was personal, that he was disappointed by the state of politics, and that he and his wife made the decision together for personal reasons. Chaffetz alluded to living on a tight budget, but only this week did he confirm money played a role in the decision-making process.

Democrats have been struggling to find something positive to say, something to stand for and to campaign on.  Elizabeth Warren thinks that something should be single-payer health care. The idea of single-payer is nothing new for Democrats.  Back in 2003, then-Illinois state senator Obama said:
I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer, universal health care program. I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent of its gross national product on health care, cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody. ... A single-payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. That's what I'd like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we've got to take back the White House, we've got to take back the Senate, and we've got to take back the House.

James O'Keefe's Project Veritas released part three of its explosive investigation into CNN and its obsession with the Russia-President Donald Trump narrative. This video contains two parts surrounding New Day associate producer Jimmy Carr. He speaks to two investigators and tells them that Trump "is a clown," thinks voters are "stupid as sh*t," and guarantees that Trump has paid for abortions. O'Keefe then shows how Carr's New Day program edited a segment with Trump voters that made one man appear to be a conspiracy theorist.

Congressional Republicans cannot agree on health care reform, which has caused frustration and anger among the American public. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) sent a letter to President Donald Trump with a suggestion in the event members cannot reach an agreement when they return from Independence Day break: Repeal Obamacare now. Work on the replacement later.

When the Supreme Court reinstated substantially all of Trump's Travel Order No. 2, the Supreme Court carved out an exception for people who have a "bona fide" relationship to the U.S. Such persons could not be subjected to a blanket, country-wide prohibition from entering the U.S. (emphasis added):
We accordingly grant the Government’s stay applications in part and narrow the scope of the injunctions as to §2(c). The injunctions remain in place only with respect to parties similarly situated to Doe, Dr. Elshikh, and Hawaii. In practical terms, this means that §2(c) may not be enforced against foreign nationals who have a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States. All other foreign nationals are subject to the provisions of EO–2….

On today's Morning Joe, Willie Geist was making the point—in the context of the controversy over President Trump's tweets about Mika and Joe—that presidents need to have a thick skin. To illustrate, Geist recounted the story of President George W. Bush being informed by a communications aide that Keith Olbermann had made a nasty attack on him that was being picked up in the press. Responded W: "Keith Olbermann? Why is he talking about me? He does Sports Center: I love that guy!"

I just finished reading Mark Levin's new book, Rediscovering Americanism and The Tyranny of Progressivism. The book debuted at No 1 on the NY Times bestseller list. This is the third of Levin's books I've read and reviewed. There definitely is a theme: The necessity of stopping the march of progressivism in order to preserve individual liberty. From my review of The Liberty Amendments – Mark Levin’s Constitutional Sequester (2013):

The House passed two bills today: One is known as Kate's Law that increases penalties for illegal immigrants who keep trying to re-enter the United States, especially those who have criminal records. The second denies federal grants to sanctuary cities. From Fox News:
Kate's Law is named for Kate Steinle, a San Francisco woman killed by an illegal immigrant who was in the U.S. despite multiple deportations. The two-year anniversary of her death is on Saturday. President Trump called the bill's passage "good news" in a tweet, adding "House just passed #KatesLaw. Hopefully Senate will follow."

Thursday, Trump used his personal Twitter account to tweet less than kind things about MSNBC Morning Joe hostess, Mika Brzezinski. As is now customary for the weekly Trump Twitter tirade, the entire political media set quickly condemned Trump's tweets and members of Congress rushed to release official statements expressing their disgust with the President's behavior (because there's not more pressing business), and the daily White House press briefing was overrun with questions about Trump's tweets.

On Wednesday afternoon, MLB umpire John Tumpane witnessed a woman climb off the side of the Roberto Clemente Bridge in Pittsburgh, PA, and knew something just wasn't right. He explained to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that others around him couldn't tell him what was going on and that's when he decided to do something. He confronted the woman and asked her "what was going on" She told him she "just wanted to get a better look of the city from this side." Tumpane knew that wasn't the case. He continued to the Post-Gazette: