Good morning.

Good Friday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of fifty-eight.  Sunrise is 6:05 AM and sunset 7:42 PM, for 13h 36m 32s of daytime.  The moon is full with 100% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1775, the American Revolution begins at the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

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Scott R. Anderson, Victoria Clark, Mikhaila Fogel, Sarah Grant, Susan Hennessey, Matthew Kahn, Quinta Jurecic, Lev Sugarman, Margaret Taylor, and Benjamin Wittes write What Mueller Found on Russia and on Obstruction: A First Analysis:

The report identifies and analyzes ten episodes of concern in the obstruction investigation.

1. conduct involving then-FBI Director Comey and Michael Flynn;
2. the president’s reaction to the continuing Russia investigation;
3. the president’s termination of Comey;
4. the appointment of a special counsel and efforts to remove him;
5. efforts to curtail the special counsel’s investigation;
6. efforts to prevent public disclosure of evidence;
7. further efforts to have the attorney general take control of the investigation;
8. efforts to have White House Counsel Don McGahn deny that the president had ordered him to have the special counsel removed;
9. conduct toward Flynn, Manafort, and a redacted individual (likely Roger Stone); and
10. conduct involving Michael Cohen.

Each episode includes a detailed set of factual findings and then analyzes how the evidence maps onto the criminal charge of obstruction, which requires (1) an obstructive act; (2) a nexus with an official proceeding; and (3) a corrupt intent. We have summarized all of the episodes and Mueller’s analysis of them under the obstruction statutes here.

For present purposes, the critical point is that in six of these episodes, the special counsel’s office suggests that all of the elements of obstruction are satisfied: Trump’s conduct regarding the investigation into Michael Flynn, his firing of Comey, his efforts to remove Mueller and then to curtail Mueller’s investigation, his campaign to have Sessions take back control over the investigation and an order he gave to White House Counsel Don McGahn to both lie to the press about Trump’s past attempt to fire Mueller and create a false record “for our files.” In the cases of Comey’s firing, Trump’s effort to fire Mueller and then push McGahn to lie about it, and Trump’s effort to curtail the scope of the investigation, Mueller describes “substantial” evidence that Trump intended to obstruct justice. Only in one instance—concerning Trump’s effort to prevent the release of emails regarding the Trump Tower meeting—does the special counsel seem to feel that none of the three elements of the obstruction offense were met. It is not entirely clear how Mueller would apply his overarching factual considerations, discussed above, to the specific cases, but he does seem to be saying that the evidence of obstruction in a number of these incidents is strong.

Do Fish Sleep?:

Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of fifty-one.  Sunrise is 6:07 AM and sunset 7:40 PM, for 13h 33m 48s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1906, the 1906 Great San Francisco Earthquake shakes that city, killing thousands and causing significant property damage.

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Natasha Bertrand and Anna Nemtsova describe The Trump-Putin Relationship, As Dictated by the Kremlin (“Why does the White House cede control of the narrative to the Russians?”):

It would have once been unthinkable to accuse a sitting president of putting the interests of a hostile foreign power above those of the United States. But Trump’s continual praise of Putin on the campaign trail, his pursuit of a multimillion-dollar real-estate deal in Moscow throughout the election—while Russia was waging a massive hacking and disinformation campaign to undermine his opponent, Hillary Clinton—and the secrecy that still surrounds his conversations with Putin gave many, including the FBI, pause.“All this would be unusual enough for any president,” The Atlantic’s David Frum notedin January. “It is more than suspicious for a president being formally investigated by the FBI as a possible Russian-intelligence asset.” ….

Trump took the extraordinary step of confiscating his interpreter’s notes after his first private meeting with Putin in Hamburg, Germany, in 2017, according to the Post, and demanded that the interpreter refrain from discussing the meeting with members of his own administration. (The White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway told reporters earlier this month that Trump was concerned about leaks when he confiscated the notes.) Then–Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters after that meeting that Trump and Putin had discussed Russia’s election interference in 2016. But he wouldn’t say whether Trump accepted Putin’s denial of any such interference at face value—providing Russia with another golden opportunity to shape the narrative.

Bess Levin writes Trump’s Lawyers Prefer His Exceptionally Shady Financial  Documents Not See the Light of Day: 

As we learned from Michael Cohen’s congressional testimony in February, a New York Times exposé last month, and documents obtained from The Washington Post shortly after that, Donald Trump’s long history of lying about his wealth has not been confined to bragging about it on TV, but also allegedly made its way into financial statements sent to banks and insurance companies, in which the ex-real-estate developer inflated his assets to obtain certain loans. For example, in a 2011 document, Trump purported to own 55 home lots ready to sell for at least $3 million apiece at his Southern California golf course; in reality, he’d only been zoned for 31, thus overstating his future revenue by roughly $72 million. A year later, in another “Statement of Financial Condition,” he tacked an extra 800 acres on to the size of his 1,200-odd-acre Virginia vineyard. At one point, he claimed Trump Tower had 68 stories, despite the fact that anyone with eyes could tell you there are 58.

The effects of climate change on the Galápagos Islands:

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with thunderstorms and a high of sixty-one.  Sunrise is 6:08 AM and sunset 7:39 PM, for 13h 31m 05s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 94.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1970, the crew of Apollo 13 successfully returns to Earth despite an oxygen tank explosion during their mission.

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Shawn Regan writes 5 Ways The Government Keeps Native Americans In Poverty:

Imagine if the government were responsible for looking after your best interests. All of your assets must be managed by bureaucrats on your behalf. A special bureau is even set up to oversee your affairs. Every important decision you make requires approval, and every approval comes with a mountain of regulations.

How well would this work? Just ask Native Americans.

The federal government is responsible for managing Indian affairs for the benefit of all Indians. But by all accounts the government has failed to live up to this responsibility. As a result, Native American reservations are among the poorest communities in the United States. Here’s how the government keeps Native Americans in poverty.

Indian lands are owned and managed by the federal government.

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Nearly every aspect of economic development is controlled by federal agencies.

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Reservations have a complex legal framework that hinders economic growth.

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Energy regulations make it difficult for tribes to develop their resources.

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The federal government has repeatedly mismanaged Indian assets.

Michael Kranish reports Inside the Russian effort to target Sanders supporters — and help elect Trump:

After Bernie Sanders lost his presidential primary race against Hillary Clinton in 2016, a Twitter account called Red Louisiana News reached out to his supporters to help sway the general election. “Conscious Bernie Sanders supporters already moving towards the best candidate Trump! #Feel the Bern #Vote Trump 2016,” the account tweeted.

The tweet was not actually from Louisiana, according to an analysis by Clemson University researchers. Instead, it was one of thousands of accounts identified as based in Russia, part of a cloaked effort to persuade supporters of the senator from Vermont to elect Trump. “Bernie Sanders says his message resonates with Republicans,” said another Russian tweet.

While much attention has focused on the question of whether the Trump campaign encouraged or conspired with Russia, the effort to target Sanders supporters has been a lesser-noted part of the story. Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, in a case filed last year against 13 Russians accused of interfering in the U.S. presidential campaign, said workers at a St. Petersburg facility called the Internet Research Agency were instructed to write social media posts in opposition to Clinton but “to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump.”

Trump threatened to close the border. Here’s what could happen if he did:

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of sixty-four.  Sunrise is 6:10 AM and sunset 7:38 PM, for 13h 28m 20s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 88% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Common Council meets tonight at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1917, Lenin returns from exile to Petrograd.

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Conservative Evangelical Michael Gerson writes The real threat to religious freedom is Trump:

So another norm of public decency falls, like a historical building demolished to make way for one of Donald Trump’s tasteless towers.

When the president of the United States goes after an American Muslim — in this case Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who came to the United States as a Somali refugee — using images of the 9/11 attacks, it is cruel, frightening and dangerous in new ways.

It is cruel because Trump essentially delivered his political rant while standing on desecrated graves. The images he employed not only included burning buildings but burning human beings, drafted into a sad and sordid political ploy. Is nothing sacred to Trump? When said aloud, the question sounds like an absurdity. Trump has never given the slightest indication of propriety, respect or reverence. His narcissism leaves no room to honor other people or to honor other gods. Both the living and the dead matter only as servants to the cause of Trump himself.

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Could this have been a slip of the tongue? No, it wasn’t. Trump has a long history of animus — raw animus — against one of the Abrahamic faiths. He has said, “We’re having problems with the Muslims.” And: “There is a Muslim problem in the world.” And: “The United Kingdom is trying hard to disguise their massive Muslim problem.” And: “Islam hates us.”

The Koran, in Trump’s scholarly opinion, “teaches some very negative vibe.” He has claimed: “You have people coming out of mosques with hatred and death in their eyes.” He once called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” He has variously and publicly considered the closing of mosques, warrantless searches and the creation of a national database to track Muslims. In Trump’s view, “We’re going to have to do things that we never did before.”

….

None of this requires us to believe that Omar is a wise or thoughtful public figure. She isn’t. She traffics in the worst anti-Semitic tropes. But Trump’s perception of religious liberty as freedom only for the faiths he prefers is a potential threat to every religious group. What if some future leader views Mormonism as incompatible with American democracy, or evangelical Protestantism? By what principle would Trump supporters be able to criticize discrimination against such groups?

Religious freedom is either rigorously equal, or it becomes an instrument of those in power to favor or disfavor religions of their choice. And those believers who are currently in favor may someday discover what disfavor is like.

How Astronomers Took The First Ever Image Of A Black Hole:

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of fifty-two.  Sunrise is 6:11 AM and sunset 7:37 PM, for 13h 25m 34s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 78.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Library Board meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1947, Jackie Robinson breaks baseball’s color barrier when he starts at first base with the Brooklyn Dodgers. (The Dodgers won the game, 5–3, over the Boston Braves).

Recommended for reading in full:

Glenn Kessler writes A guide to Democratic talking points not far off the mark:

(There are two keys to policy: to be right about conditions, and to offer effective solutions. Trump fails at both; that these Democratic candidates are mostly right on conditions makes them, by that alone, an order of magnitude superior to Trump’s end-to-end ignorance.)

  Dan Bice writes Ex-Gov. Scott Walker dumped from GOP event after clashing with Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner:

Former Gov. Scott Walker might be regretting his decision to stay so politically active after his November defeat.

Unlike other ex-governors, Walker is keeping a high profile, tweeting regularly, giving speeches and even filling in on conservative talk radio.

But his comments during one of those talk-radio gigs resulted in his being unceremoniously dumped as a speaker at a recent Republican Party function after he hacked off the often-combustible U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner.

Reached at a Sussex town hall last week, Sensenbrenner said the chairwoman of the GOP’s 5th District Congressional Caucus made the call to remove Walker from the list of speakers at its annual meeting on March 31. But Sensenbrenner said he had her back.

“I supported her disinviting him,” said Sensenbrenner, who was first elected to Congress in 1978.

(These two have a disagreement because Sensenbrenner is famously thin-skinned.  They’re both long-time politicians backing Trump, which is a softer way of saying neither man is worth a damn.)

On Twitter, Timothy Snyder, Levin Professor of History at Yale, writes Why we do think that Mr. Trump owes a debt to Mr. Putin? Here are fifty reasons. All of the facts are a matter of public record, and all of the sources can be found in my book The Road to Unfreedom”:

1/50 In 1984, Russian gangsters began to launder money by buying and selling apartment units in Trump Tower (#RoadToUnfreedom, p. 220)

2/50 In 1986, Mr. Trump was courted by Soviet diplomats, who suggested that a bright future awaited him in Moscow (#RoadToUnfreedom, p. 220).

3/50 In 1987, the Soviet state paid for Mr. Trump to visit Moscow, putting him up in a suite that was certainly bugged (#RoadToUnfreedom, p. 220).

4/50 In 2006, Russians and other citizens of the former Soviet Union financed Trump SoHo, granting Mr. Trump 18% of the profits — although he put up no money himself (#RoadToUnfreedom, p. 221).

(See the link for 46 more, and even worse, obligations Trump has to Russian interests.)

Why are Barns Traditionally Painted Red?:

Good morning.

Palm Sunday in Whitewater will see occasional snow showers with a high of thirty-eight.  Sunrise is 6:13 AM and sunset 7:36 PM, for 13h 22m 47s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 68.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1865, Pres. Lincoln is shot while attending a play in Washington.  Lincoln passed away the next day.

Recommended for reading in full:

Michael Brice-Saddler reports Company led by Trump nominee was rife with harassment, including groping and kissing, report says:

A federal workplace investigation found rampant sexual harassment and retaliation at AccuWeather, a federal contractor, including groping, touching and kissing of subordinates without consent. AccuWeather’s chief executive at the time of the allegations and investigation, Barry Myers, was tapped by President Trump to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The detailed results of the investigation, not previously reported, were compiled last year by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and obtained by The Washington Post. It determined that AccuWeather, under Myers, fostered a culture ripe for sexual harassment, turned a blind eye to allegations of egregious conduct and retaliated against those who complained.

According to the report, the investigation was prompted by a complaint filed Sept. 6, 2016, alleging a “hostile work environment and termination based on sexual orientation and sex.” Many other complaints from AccuWeather employees followed.

“Over two dozen witnesses spanning many different departments and in positions ranging from administrative support to senior management described unlawful sexual harassment that occurred at the company,” the report says. “This sexual harassment was so severe and pervasive, that some female employees resigned.”

The investigation, which began in March 2017, also found that AccuWeather was “aware” of the sexual harassment but took no action to correct it, despite the company’s claims that it was not privy to any harassing activity.

Quinta Jurecic writes Trump’s Unpardonable Challenge to the Constitution:

Now both CNN and The New York Timeshave reported that Trump also personally instructed then–Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan to block asylum seekers, saying that if McAleenan faced jail time as a result of those actions, Trump would pardon him. The Times adds that Trump told McAleenan to go around then–Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, who had refused to implement a ban on asylum on the grounds that it was illegal. Two days later, Nielsen was forced out; McAleenan was then appointed acting secretary in her place.

….

He swore an oath to “faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States,” and to the best of his ability, “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” It is hard to see how asking an official to violate the law, and promising a pardon to mitigate the risk of doing so, is consistent with a defense of the Constitution—not to mention the similar obligation the Constitution places on the president to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”

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