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April 22 marks the 47th anniversary of Earth Day! The eco-holiday was inaugurated in 1970, and the organizers chose the third week in April because it was conveniently between the booze-filled festivities of Spring Break and the caffeine-fueled horror of final exams. Inspired by the anti-war movement, Earth Day was suppose to be an annual "teach in" about environmental protection. Here are some of the doom-filled climate predictions that long-ago era.

Amidst all the discussion of the new book Shattered, describing the failed Hillary Clinton campaign, Rolling Stone author Matt Taibbi has written an article emphasizing Hillary's failure to even know why she was running, and the inability of her campaign to convey any reason to the public:
"...a root problem that confounded everyone on the campaign and outside it," they wrote..."[was that] Hillary had been running for president for almost a decade and still didn't really have a rationale." Allen and Parnes here quoted a Clinton aide who jokingly summed up Clinton's real motivation:

The Treasury Department has rejected a request from ExxonMobil to waive Russian sanctions in order for the oil company to drill with PAO Rosneft. The department received sanctions years ago after Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea. ExxonMobil, which Secretary of State Rex Tillerson headed, had made plans with Rosneft to drill in the Black Sea and the Arctic Circle for oil and natural gas.

Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN), deputy chair of the DNC, has rattled the left with his unflinching grasp of the obvious:  Obama, Ellison claims, deserves blame for Democrat losses during his presidency. While Obama himself somehow managed to win election twice, his party suffered the loss of over a thousand Congressional, state, and governor seats.  The party, even the left grudgingly admits, was decimated; what the left is less willing to admit is that Obama's policies—policies Americans consistently said put America on the wrong track—played a role in these stunning losses. Ellison, however, admits that the historic nature of Democrat losses under Obama are not only part of Obama's legacy but are also directly related to and reflective of Obama's poor leadership of the party.

The House Intelligence Committee has invited some former President Barack Obama's administration officials to testify in a closed hearing over the panel's investigation into possible Russian interference in our presidential election. The committee included former acting Attorney General Sally Yates who President Donald Trump fired when she instructed Department of Justice "lawyers not to make legal arguments defending" Trump's executive order on immigration back in January.

President Donald Trump will sign an executive order for Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to target financial regulations from former President Barack Obama that have caused companies trouble to conduct business. Mnuchin has said that the orders from Trump "are meant to emphasize the administration's economic priorities to the American people." This includes parts of the Dodd-Frank Act and tax regulations handed out in 2016.

I've chronicled China's opposition to the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), the U.S. missile-defense system in South Korea. The Chinese government has denied retaliating against the system, but one American cybersecurity firm told The Wall Street Journal that it found evidence that Beijing has used hackers to target THAAD. The firm FireEye discovered that "two cyberespionage groups that the firm linked to Beijing’s military and intelligence agencies have launched a variety of attacks against South Korea’s government, military, defense companies and a big conglomerate."

The one sure thing about politics that this Insurrectionist has learned can be summed up in two words: "things change." So just like James Carville, who was wrong when in 2009 he wrote a book predicting that Dems would rule for 40 more years, it would be a bad mistake for Republicans to gloat, rest on their laurels, or assume they'll control both houses of congress for the foreseeable future. That said, the current sorry state of the Democrat party was put into sharp focus by Elijah Cummings on today's Morning Joe. Asked by Donny Deutsch to mention three "up-and-coming stars in our party," Dem Congressman Cummings named Adam Schiff, Barbara Lee, and Tim Kaine. Really?

Sources have disclosed to the media that federal prosecutors have started to consider pressing changes against Julian Assange and other members of WikiLeaks. The case against the whistleblowing organization spans all the way back to 2010 when it published "diplomatic cables and military documents" to present day when it published the CIA's hacking operations in March. The other day, officials told CBS News that the FBI and CIA have started an investigation into those leaks in March.

You'll be shocked to learn that Millennials are having a tough time growing up. They're struggling with the economy and putting off major life decisions. Mind you, this is the same generation which helped put Obama in the White House. Twice. NBC News reports:
Most Millennials Are Finding It Hard to Transition Into Adulthood: Report By his twenties, Kyle Kaylor imagined he would be living on his own, nearing a college degree, and on his way to a job that fulfilled him. Instead, at 21, he found himself out of school, living with his parents, and "stuck" working as a manager at a fast food restaurant scraping to make hand-to-mouth. Launching into adulthood has been tricky, he said.

General Motors has closed down its Venezuela plant after the socialist country seized the plant on Wednesday. Officials swiped the company's "production facilities and car stock," which forced GM to lay off 2,700 workers. The closure comes only a day after Venezuela erupted in more protests that have left at least three dead. President Nicolas Maduro's policies have left people jobless and without food. Bloomberg reported:
GM’s factory was “unexpectedly taken by the public authorities, preventing normal operations,” according to an emailed statement. The Detroit-based automaker said it “strongly rejects the arbitrary measures taken by the authorities and will vigorously take all legal actions, within and outside of Venezuela, to defend its rights.”

A gunman opened fire on the famous Champs-Élysées in Paris and killed one police officer before being killed himself. The attack left two other people seriously injured. ISIS immediately claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack. The Wall Street Journal reported:
The assault began around 9 p.m., an Interior Ministry spokesman said, when a car pulled alongside a police patrol and the gunman jumped out wielding an automatic rifle. Police returned fire, killing the gunman, according to authorities.

California's Governor Jerry Brown's touts green energy and the local air pollution control regulators rule-make to excess. Despite all of this business-crushing environmental protection, the Golden State is covered in shame and smog. It turns out six of the ten most polluted American cities are in California!
California's smoggy reputation appears to be deserved: Six of the USA's 10 cities with the worst air pollution are in the Golden State, according to a new report.

Wednesday, House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) make public plans to forgo reelection in 2018, an announcement that shocked most Hill watchers. Now, Rep. Chaffetz says he might not even finish his current term. "I will continue to weigh the options, but I might depart early," Chaffetz said Thursday during a radio interview.

CBS News has reported that the FBI and CIA have started an investigation to find the person who provided WikiLeaks with secret documents. The investigation is linked to the WikiLeaks publication of almost 9,000 pages that detailed the CIA'S hacking operations. According to the documents, the CIA uses its own malware to hack into anyone's electronics and spy on them. The agency even has malware from Russia, and other countries, which means agents can make an attack look like it came from that country.

With the change of administration in Washington, the U.S. and India are strengthening their defense and strategic ties. National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior members of his government in New Delhi this week to talk bilateral cooperation in the defense sector and combatting global terrorism. “The United States and India reaffirmed a strategic partnership that involves not only a growing defense relationship but also shared perspectives of the region.” Indian newspaper Economic Times reported. Last month, India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was in Washington to meet the U.S. Secretary of Defence James Mattis. These high level visits are expected to lay the groundwork for Prime Minister Modi's visit to the Washington later this summer. New Delhi-based Economic Times writes:
The United States and India reaffirmed a strategic partnership that involves not only a growing defence relationship but also shared perspectives of the region.