Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of seventy-two. Sunrise is 5:44 AM and sunset 7:58 PM, for 14h 13m 24s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous, with 87.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission meets at 6 PM, and her Fire Department has a business meeting at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1978, Gary Thuerk sends the first spam email:

The earliest documented spam (although the term had not yet been coined^[15]) was a message advertising the availability of a new model of Digital Equipment Corporation computers sent by Gary Thuerk to 393 recipients on ARPANET in 1978.^[11] Rather than send a separate message to each person, which was the standard practice at the time, he had an assistant, Carl Gartley, write a single mass email. Reaction from the net community was fiercely negative, but the spam did generate some sales.^[16][17] 

Recommended for reading in full —

➤ Michael D. Shear and Maggie Haberman report Giuliani Says Trump Repaid Cohen for Stormy Daniels Hush Money:

WASHINGTON — President Trump reimbursed Michael D. Cohen, his longtime personal lawyer, for a $130,000 payment that Mr. Cohen has said he made to keep a pornographic film actress from going public before the 2016 election with her story about an affair with Mr. Trump, according to Rudolph W. Giuliani, one of the president’s lawyers.

That statement, which Mr. Giuliani made Wednesday night on Fox News, contradicted the president, who has said he had no knowledge about any payment to the actress, Stephanie Clifford, to keep quiet before the election.

[Read what Mr. Giuliani said here.]

Asked specifically last month by reporters aboard Air Force Onewhether he knew about the payment, Mr. Trump said, “No,” and referred questions to Mr. Cohen. He was then asked, “Do you know where he got the money to make that payment?”

“No,” Mr. Trump responded. “I don’t know.”

In an interview with The New York Times shortly after his Fox News appearance, Mr. Giuliani, the former New York mayor and longtime Trump confidant who recently joined the president’s legal team, said that he had documentation showing that Mr. Trump had personally made the payment. Mr. Giuliani indicated that the goal was to conclusively demonstrate that there was no campaign finance violation involved.

➤ In April, President Trump denied knowledge of a $130,000 payment to Stephanie Clifford, a pornographic film actress known as Stormy Daniels. It was the first time he commented publicly on the scandal:

➤ Jennifer Rubin writes Republican lawmakers must decide: Can Trump snub a subpoena?:

an equally pressing concern should be the president’s possible refusal to provide an interview to the special counsel or to respond to a subpoena to testify to the grand jury in the Russia investigation. The White House is clearly laying the predicate for such action with White House spokesman Raj Shah falsely suggesting that the special counsel’s mandate is limited to collusion. In fact, the grant of authority explicitly states: “The Special Counsel is authorized to conduct the investigation confirmed by then-FBI Director James Comey in testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on March 20, 2017, including: (i) any links and/or coordination bet ween the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and (ii) any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.”

The Supreme Court precedent is clear on whether Trump’s testimony can be compelled. Both in U.S. v. Nixon (telling Richard Nixon to turn over the tapes pursuant to a subpoena) and in the Paula Jones case (rejecting the argument that participation in a civil matter including a deposition “may impose an unacceptable burden on the President’s time and energy, and thereby impair the effective performance of his office”) the court held that the president is not beyond the reach of the normal discovery process in either criminal or civil matters. In Clinton v. Jones, the court found that “it is also settled that the President is subject to judicial process in appropriate circumstances. Although Thomas Jefferson apparently thought otherwise, Chief Justice Marshall, when presiding in the treason trial of Aaron Burr, ruled that a subpoena duces tecum could be directed to the President.”

➤ Jake Kanter reports Investigators warn Cambridge Analytica bosses that they can run, but they can’t hide:

Investigators have warned that they will continue to pursue Cambridge Analytica despite the controversial data firm shutting down on Wednesday.

Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said it will keep investigating accusations that Cambridge Analytica scraped data from 87 million Facebook accounts and weaponised it during political campaigns, including the 2016 US election.

The ICO said it would press on even if it means going after the executives individually. In a statement, the organisation said:

“The ICO has been investigating the SCL Group and Cambridge Analytica as part of a wider investigation into the use of personal data and analytics by political campaigns, social media companies and others.

“The ICO will continue its civil and criminal investigations and will seek to pursue individuals and directors as appropriate and necessary even where companies may no longer be operating.”

The ICO added that it will “closely monitor any successor companies,” countering the possibility of Cambridge Analytica could simply continue under a different name to avoid scrutiny. Business Insider has previously reported that executives behind the firm, including former CEO Alexander Nix, have already established a mysterious new data company named Emerdata.

➤ How ’bout an LED snowboard?

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will see afternoon thunderstorms with a high of seventy-seven. Sunrise is 5:46 AM and sunset 7:57 PM, for 14h 10m 57s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous, with 93.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1936, Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf debuts at a children’s concert in the main hall of the Moscow Conservatory with the Moscow Philharmonic on 2 May 1936.

➤ Ian Talley reports Treasury Sanctions Amendment Sets Stage for Rusal Exemption:

The Trump administration on Tuesday amended its Russia sanctions program, paving the way for aluminum giant United Co. Rusal to escape from the blacklist and granting the metals market a reprieve from a supply scare that rocked markets over the past month.

Facing delisting from the London Stock Exchange this week, Rusal’s owner, EN+ Group, sought the 11th-hour amnesty from the U.S. Treasury late last week by pledging that its majority shareholder and a primary target of the U.S. sanctions, Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, would reduce his holdings and relinquish his board seat.

On Tuesday evening, the Treasury granted EN+ Group and several other companies an extension for compliance with the sanctions, buying Rusal’s owner time to implement the company’s proposed divestment plan.

(A friendly break from the Trump Administration for a well-connected Russian company.)

➤ Laura Sullivan reports How FEMA Failed To Help Victims Of Hurricanes in Puerto Rico Recover:

➤ FRONTLINE also broadcast last night a documentary on Puerto Rico’s continuing struggles (about which is embedded a clip below):

(Puerto Ricans are by law American citizens (as so as much Americans as anyone of French or English heritage, for example), but they’ve not been treated here as Americans should have been treated.)

➤ Jennifer Rubin tackles Six takeaways from the Mueller questions:

First, it’s impossible to imagine Trump getting through an interview without contradicting himself or others’ whose testimony Mueller already has. Just as Trump’s public blather has given Mueller plenty of ammunition, he is bound to make incriminating statements. The questions are too numerous and detailed, and Trump’s self-control and attention span so limited, that one can expect him to melt down somewhere between “What did you know about phone calls that Mr. Flynn made with the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak, in late December 2016?” and “What did you mean when you told Russian diplomats on May 10, 2017, that firing Mr. [James B.] Comey had taken the pressure off?”

Second, the questions, contrary to Trump’s assertions, suggest that collusion is very much on the table. Questions such as “When did you become aware of the Trump Tower meeting?” and “What knowledge did you have of any outreach by your campaign, including by Paul Manafort, to Russia about potential assistance to the campaign?” are designed to probe Trump’s awareness of the dozens of interactions between members of the Trump team and Russians during the campaign and transition. Mueller very well might have information from other witnesses that would contradict Trump if he decides to deny knowledge of Russian collaboration. A question such as “What communication did you have with Michael D. Cohen, Felix Sater and others, including foreign nationals, about Russian real estate developments during the campaign?” doesn’t come out of nowhere. The prosecutors have documents and a slew of other witness interviews that might give them a picture of Trump’s communications. Denying his involvement with others involved in plotting with Russians, in that case, will only serve to put Trump at risk of being charged with lying to the FBI.

Third, reporters, mimicking the White House spin, act as though Trump’s testimony is entirely optional. Given how specific the questions are and their obvious relevance to identifiable crimes (obstruction, witness tampering, illegal solicitation of foreign campaign assistance), Mueller would in all likelihood get a subpoena and find a judge to enforce it if Trump refused to testify. Trump would then find himself either in the entirely untenable legal position of refusing to abide by a court order or in the entirely untenable political position of taking the Fifth Amendment. The latter is his constitutional right, but as the chief of the executive branch who took an oath to take care that the laws are faithfully executed, Trump’s invoking the Fifth would be an acknowledgment that his personal interests conflict with his oath of office [three additional points follow in Rubin’s full post].

➤ Here’s What’s Up for May 2018:

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of eighty-three. Sunrise is 5:47 AM and sunset 7:56 PM, for 14h 08m 30s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous, with 97.6% of its visible disk illuminated.

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

On this day in 1898, during the Spanish-American War, Commodore George Dewey utters the now-famous words ” ‘You may fire when you are ready, [Captain] Gridley.’ Within six hours, on May 1, he had sunk or captured the entire Spanish Pacific fleet under Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón and silenced the shore batteries at Manila, with the loss of only one life on the American side.”

On this day in 1954, Milton House opens as museum: “the 110-year-old hexagonal Milton House, ‘an architectural wonder when it was built in the Wisconsin wilderness,’ opened as a museum. The Milton Historical Society restored the old inn and filled it with antiques. Part of the restoration included reconstruction of the building’s circular staircase. The Milton Historical Society hosted more than 5,400 visitors in the restored Milton House’s first season as a museum, but the official opening was not held until the following year.”

Recommended for reading in full —

➤ Michael S. Schmidt reports Mueller Has Dozens of Inquiries for Trump in Broad Quest on Russia Ties and Obstruction:

WASHINGTON — Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russia’s election interference, has at least four dozen questions on an exhaustive array of subjects he wants to ask President Trump to learn more about his ties to Russia and determine whether he obstructed the inquiry itself, according to a list of the questions obtained by The New York Times.

[Read the questions here.]

The open-ended queries appear to be an attempt to penetrate the president’s thinking, to get at the motivation behind some of his most combative Twitter posts and to examine his relationships with his family and his closest advisers. They deal chiefly with the president’s high-profile firings of the F.B.I. director and his first national security adviser, his treatment of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and a 2016 Trump Tower meeting between campaign officials and Russians offering dirt on Hillary Clinton.

But they also touch on the president’s businesses; any discussions with his longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, about a Moscow real estate deal; whether the president knew of any attempt by Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to set up a back channel to Russia during the transition; any contacts he had with Roger J. Stone Jr., a longtime adviser who claimed to have inside information about Democratic email hackings; and what happened during Mr. Trump’s 2013 trip to Moscowfor the Miss Universe pageant.

President Trump said on Twitter on Tuesday that it was “disgraceful”that questions the special counsel would like to ask him were publicly disclosed, and he incorrectly noted that there were no questions about collusion. The president also said collusion was a “phony” crime.

(If Trump thinks release of these questions disgraceful, then he should look to his own team for those leaking:

Concerned about putting the president in legal jeopardy, his lead lawyer, John Dowd, was trying to convince Mr. Mueller he did not need to interview Mr. Trump, according to people briefed on the matter.

Mr. Mueller was apparently unsatisfied. He told Mr. Dowd in early March that he needed to question the president directly to determine whether he had criminal intent when he fired Mr. Comey, the people said.

But Mr. Dowd held firm, and investigators for Mr. Mueller agreed days later to share during a meeting with Mr. Dowd the questions they wanted to ask Mr. Trump.

When Mr. Mueller’s team relayed the questions, their tone and detailed nature cemented Mr. Dowd’s view that the president should not sit for an interview.)

➤ Aliza Worthington contends Velshi And Ruhle Doth Protest Too Much: Sarah Kendzior On WHCD [White House Correspondents’ Dinner]:

➤ Helaine Olen describes  Trump’s creepy, autocratic obsession with loyalty:

The Post has published a devastating article on President Trump’s No. 1 criteria for serving in his administration. It’s not competence or experience or expertise in a subject. It’s loyalty — to him.

There is no way to sugarcoat the meaning of this, so here goes: This is how autocracies function.

As The Post reports:

Credentialed candidates have had to prove loyalty to the president, with many still being blocked for previous anti-Trump statements. Hundreds of national security officials, for example, were nixed from consideration because they spoke out against Trump during the campaign. But for longtime Trump loyalists, their fidelity to the president is often sufficient, obscuring what in a more traditional administration would be red flags.

There is one thing that gets checked thoroughly:

Since the early days of the presidential transition, however, the Trump team has been especially thorough in vetting job applicants for their loyalty to the president and his policies, with their social-media profiles and writings scoured for anti-Trump posts.

Even tepid comments in opposition could torpedo nominees, current and former officials said. Trump himself would sometimes ask if candidates were “Never Trump” or if they supported him during the general election, officials said. Having posted on social media with the hashtag “#NeverTrump” or having signed a public letter in opposition to his candidacy made the nomination a non-starter.

Any casual look at the literature studying autocracies demonstrates the degree to which this sort of behavior is one of their hallmarks. Autocratic leaders prioritize loyalty over competence, rewarding subordinates and others who demonstrate fealty with plum positions, access and multiple opportunities to profit, while turning a blind eye to blatant corruption. Those who are deemed disloyal are not just banished but jettisoned in humiliating rituals.

➤ Pat Ralph reports Steve Mnuchin suggested he was too cool to watch the eclipse — but a new photo shows him eating it up:

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was caught watching the 2017 eclipse in a photo the Treasury Department took.

ThinkProgress obtained the photo through a Freedom of Information Act request, and also got a hold of documents showing the US Mint procured viewing glasses for “VIPs and their staff” to watch the eclipse safely.

Mnuchin was at an event with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in Fort Knox, Kentucky on August 21 — just 142 miles from the path of totality that made for perfect eclipse viewing.

The former Goldman Sachs executive previously said the accusation that he took the trip solely to see the eclipse was absurd — because as a “New Yorker,” he was not interested in the event at all.

BREAKING: FOIA reveals Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin did, in fact, enjoy watching the solar eclipse from Fort Knox @thinkprogress https://t.co/jZvAjx0VI9

— Danielle McLean (@DanielleBMcLean) April 25, 2018

(Not just a taxpayer-funded excursion, but a taxpayer-funded excursion Mnuchin lied about.)

➤ Saving Hellbender Salamanders:

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of seventy-five. Sunrise is 5:48 AM and sunset 7:54 PM, for 14h 06m 00s of daytime. The moon is full, with 99.8% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1803, American representatives sign the Louisiana Purchase Treaty.

On this day in 1864, Joseph Bailey saves a Union fleet: “Joseph Bailey began to direct the men of six regiments, including the 23rd Wisconsin, in a dramatic attempt to save the heart of the Union fleet during the Civil War. Bailey, who was from Wisconsin Dells and an experienced lumberjack, served as an engineer in the 4th Wisconsin Cavalry. In a doomed campaign against the Confederates on the Red River in Louisiana, Union warships found themselves trapped by low water and the rocky river bed. As Confederate soldiers approached, Bailey employed water control techniques used by loggers to construct a series of dams that successfully narrowed the river, raised the water level by six feet, and provided enough surge to free the trapped fleet of gunboats. For his role in this rescue, Bailey was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. He also received a Tiffany punch bowl from his fellow officers. [Wisconsin Lore and Legend, pg. 18.]”

Recommended for reading in full —

➤ Gretchen Brown reports 8 Wisconsin Counties Rated ‘F’ For Air Quality:

When it comes to air quality, Wisconsin is a mixed bag.

A new “State of the Air” report from the American Lung Association gives eight Wisconsin counties an “F” for ozone air quality.

Door, Kenosha, Manitowoc, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Rock, Sheboygan and Walworth counties received failing grades. In addition, Sheboygan made a list of 24 smaller cities with an ozone problem.

➤ Molly Beck reports Department of Corrections not investigating alleged sexual assault at DOC event:

Officials at the state Department of Corrections did not investigate when an employee reported she was sexually assaulted by a co-worker at a staff golf outing and asked the department to address it.

Instead, DOC officials told the Oakhill Correctional Institution employee to contact police on her own, recently released state records show. And when she filed a complaint with the state alleging she was the target of discrimination and harassment because of the 2016 incident, DOC denied responsibility — in part because she waited more than a month to report the alleged assault to her supervisors.

The records were released to the Wisconsin State Journal in response to a request by the newspaper in November under the state’s open records law amid increased scrutiny on how government institutions address complaints of sexual harassment and assault.

The former employee stopped working at Oakhill, in part, because of what she described as a hostile work environment after the alleged assault. Her husband, who also worked at the prison, resigned because prison administrators did not look into his wife’s allegations.

➤ Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Michael Scherer write Meet the little-known ‘big fish’ megadonor setting the tone for GOP primary races:

Behind just about every divisive Senate Republican primary this year, an amiable Midwestern businessman is bankrolling the candidate who claims to be the most hard-charging, anti-establishment conservative in the race.

Richard Uihlein, a wealthy shipping-supplies magnate from Illinois who shuns the spotlight, has risen to become one of the most powerful — and disruptive — GOP donors in the country.

For years, Uihlein has given money to isolated races in the service of his anti-union, free-market and small-government views. But he has dramatically increased his giving this cycle, pouring $21 million into races from Montana to West Virginia to ensure more conservative victories in the upcoming midterm elections, Federal Election Commission records show.

The beneficiaries of Uihlein’s largesse include upstart candidates such as Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who has made preserving the Confederate symbol in the state flag a centerpiece of his campaign for U.S. Senate. Uihlein gave tens of thousands of dollars to support failed Senate hopeful Roy Moore (R) in Alabama, doubling down even after multiple women accused Moore of unwanted sexual advances toward them when they were in their teens, FEC records show.

(Wisconsinites know Uihlein well. Let him waste his money on the neo-Confederate dregs.)

➤ Jennifer Rubin contends Trump has already been ‘played’:

President Trump looks with disdain on those who get snookered, which is odd since he’s the easiest of marks for anyone with a red carpet and a batch of insincere compliments.

His defensiveness about being “played” was evident when asked about the upcoming meeting with North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Un. “We’re not going to be played, okay? We’re going to hopefully make a deal, if not that’s fine,” he said on Friday at the White House during a press availability. He claims he is different from all previous presidents. Sadly, that is true — he is more ignorant and susceptible to flattery than any of his predecessors.

Trump shows every sign he is already being suckered. He blessed talks between South and North Korea on formally ending the Korean War and tweeted gleefully the war might be over. Does he know they cannot end it on their own without other parties to the armistice, including China? Chances are he doesn’t know this is part of a stage show designed to lure in an American president blinded by his own need for personal affirmation.

➤ NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory describes Bringing Mars Back To Earth:

Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of sixty-two. Sunrise is 5:50 AM and sunset 7:53 PM, for 14h 03m 28s of daytime. The moon is full, with 99.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1429, following the lifting of the Siege of Orléans, Joan of Arc enters the city in triumph.

Recommended for reading in full —

➤ Keegan Kyle reports Hundreds of rape kits untested despite Wisconsin law that required DNA analysis:

Wisconsin lawmakers took a break from their fierce fight over union bargaining rights in 2011 to craft a law with bipartisan support: They ordered police to swiftly submit rape kits for DNA tests if the evidence could help identify a suspect.

Republicans and Democrats were alarmed by reports that investigators in other states had ignored such rape kits — which contain skin, saliva and other samples collected from assault victims.

“We don’t want (untested kits) sitting at the police station or office forever,” former state Rep. Tamara Grigsby, D-Milwaukee, said at the time. “It’s a public safety measure.”

But a USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin investigation has found that for years after that law took effect in 2011, police agencies all over the state shelved hundreds of untested rape kits with no known suspect. The law didn’t require police to send in DNA samples when they already had a suspect, because legislators were most concerned about rapists who were unknown and on the loose.

Testing rape kits can help investigators find or exonerate suspects by matching DNA with national offender databases. It can also help link together cases from different places, revealing serial offenders.

➤ Alan Borsuk writes Wisconsin’s achievement gap is our tragic claim to fame. Where’s the outrage?:

In 2004, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a series of stories marking the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that found racial segregation of schools to be unconstitutional. One of the pieces I worked on focused on the gaps between white and black children in academic success. I looked at results from a long-standing program called the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP).

I found a chart with the percentage of black and white fourth- and eighth-graders in each state who were rated proficient in reading and math. I saw that the gap was very large in Wisconsin. I went over the chart and was pretty shocked to see that the Wisconsin gap was the largest of any state.

Furthermore, this was true of NAEP results going back years. And the average test scores for African-American children in Wisconsin were either the lowest or just above the lowest in the country, depending on the year and category.

I thought this was enormously important. For one thing, it carried ominous signals about the economic future of Wisconsin.

I wrote a story giving these facts. To my knowledge, it was the first substantial public piece describing Wisconsin’s ignominious standing on these fronts. It appeared prominently in the newspaper. I thought there would be a big reaction — look at how urgent this is, what are we going to do about it?

There was not much reaction and certainly no surge of commitment and effort.

Jump ahead to now. Everything that was true in 2004 remains true.

➤ The Committee to Investigate Russia relates Treasury Eases Sanctions on Deripaska Company:

Last Monday, President Trump rejected new Syria-related sanctions on Russia.

Today, the Treasury Department is easing up on sanctions issued earlier this month.

Oleg Deripaska, the billionaire oligarch connected to both Vladimir Putin and Paul Manafort, is a major shareholder in Rusal, one of Russia’s largest aluminum companies. The Trump administration sanctioned Deripaska and Rusal on April 6th. But workers for the company now are threatening revolt should Rusal close facilities to compensate for sanctions-related loss of revenue, and the administration is backtracking.

See also U.S. eases sanctions on aluminum firm tied to Russian oligarch (Politico).

➤ Daniel A. Effron considers Why Trump Supporters Don’t Mind His Lies:

In his first 400 days in office, President Trump made more than 2,400 false or misleading claims, according to The Washington Post. Yet a recent Gallup poll shows his approval ratings among Republicans at 82 percent. How do we square these two facts?

Some supporters no doubt believe many of the falsehoods. Others may recognize the claims as falsehoods but tolerate them as a side effect of an off-the-cuff rhetorical style they admire. Or perhaps they have become desensitized to the dishonesty by the sheer volume of it.

I suspect that there is an additional, underappreciated explanation for why Mr. Trump’s falsehoods have not generated more outrage among his supporters. Wittingly or not, Mr. Trump’s representatives have used a subtle psychological strategy to defend his falsehoods: They encourage people to reflect on how the falsehoods could have been true.

New research of mine suggests that this strategy can convince supporters that it’s not all that unethical for a political leader to tell a falsehood — even though the supporters are fully aware the claim is false.

…

These results reveal a subtle hypocrisy in how we maintain our political views. We use different standards of honesty to judge falsehoods we find politically appealing versus unappealing. When judging a falsehood that maligns a favored politician, we ask, “Was it true?” and then condemn it if the answer is no.

In contrast, when judging a falsehood that makes a favored politician look good, we are willing to ask, “Could it have been true?” and then weaken our condemnation if we can imagine the answer is yes. By using a lower ethical standard for lies we like, we leave ourselves vulnerable to influence by pundits and spin doctors.

➤ Consider The Rise and Fall of Jai Alai:

For much of the 20th century, jai alai dominated the Miami sports scene, attracting crowds as large as 15,000. Today, the sport is barely hanging on in America. So what happened? Well, it’s a wild story, one involving gangs, organized crime and murder. We caught up with decorated jai alai athletes Benny Bueno and Leon Shepard to get the scoop on the meteoric rise and subsequent fall of America’s forgotten sport.

Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of fifty-three. Sunrise is 5:51 AM and sunset 7:52 PM, for 14h 00m 56s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 97.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1862, the 5th Wisconsin Infantry takes part in a reconnaissance at Lee’s Mill, Virginia.

Recommended for reading in full —

➤ Andrew E. Kramer and Sharon LaFraniere report Lawyer Who Was Said to Have Dirt on Clinton Had Closer Ties to Kremlin Than She Let On:

MOSCOW — The Russian lawyer who met with Trump campaign officials in Trump Tower in June 2016 on the premise that she would deliver damaging information about Hillary Clinton has long insisted she is a private attorney, not a Kremlin operative trying to meddle in the presidential election.

But newly released emails show that in at least one instance two years earlier, the lawyer, Natalia V. Veselnitskaya, worked hand in glove with Russia’s chief legal office to thwart a Justice Department civil fraud case against a well-connected Russian firm.

Ms. Veselnitskaya also appears to have recanted her earlier denials of Russian government ties. During an interview to be broadcast Friday by NBC News, she acknowledged that she was not merely a private lawyer but a source of information for a top Kremlin official, Yuri Y. Chaika, the prosecutor general.

“I am a lawyer, and I am an informant,” she said. “Since 2013, I have been actively communicating with the office of the Russian prosecutor general.”

(Of course she had closer ties: this Russian lawyer would only be meeting with Trump officials if she did have Kremlin ties; it’s not as though the Trump people were, after all, interested in meeting with human rights activists.)

➤ John N. Tye and Mark S. Zaid consider Robert Mueller’s Last Resort:

➤ Jon Swaine reports Michael Cohen case shines light on Sean Hannity’s property empire (“Fox News host who said Trump’s fixer ‘knows real estate’ has a portfolio that includes support from Department of Housing, a fact he did not mention when interviewing Ben Carson last year”):

Hannity’s chosen investment strategy is confirmed by thousands of pages of public records reviewed by the Guardian, which detail a real estate portfolio of remarkable scale that has not previously been reported.

The records link Hannity to a group of shell companies that spent at least $90m on more than 870 homes in seven states over the past decade. The properties range from luxurious mansions to rentals for low-income families. Hannity is the hidden owner behind some of the shell companies and his attorney did not dispute that he owns all of them.

Dozens of the properties were bought at a discount in 2013, after banks foreclosed on their previous owners for defaulting on mortgages. Before and after then, Hannity sharply criticised Barack Obama for the US foreclosure rate. In January 2016, Hannity said there were “millions more Americans suffering under this president” partly because of foreclosures.

Hannity, 56, also amassed part of his property collection with support from the US Department for Housing and Urban Development (Hud), a fact he did not disclose when praising Ben Carson, the Hud secretary, on his television show last year.

(Supposedly private businessmen of this ilk are merely undeserving leeches of public funds.)

➤ Jon Swaine follows up with Sean Hannity’s real estate venture linked to fraudulent property dealer:

Sean Hannity’s real estate venture bought houses through a property dealer who was involved in a criminal conspiracy to fraudulently obtain foreclosed homes, according to records reviewed by the Guardian.

In 2012, a shell company linked to the Fox News host bought 11 homes in Georgia that had been purchased by the dealer, Jeff Brock, following foreclosures. Brock transferred the properties to corporate vehicles that sold them on to the Hannity-linked company at a profit.

Brock pleaded guilty in 2016 to federal charges of bank fraud and conspiracy for his role in an operation to rig foreclosure auctions between 2007 and 2012. He was sentenced to six months in prison and had to pay more than $166,000 in fines and restitution.

Some of the houses sold on to the Hannity-linked firm in 2012 had been acquired by Brock from banks later named by prosecutors among his victims. But the justice department declined to identify specific properties sold in the rigged auctions. Hannity has not been accused of any wrongdoing and there is no evidence he was aware that Brock was involved in fraud.

➤ That’s one relaxed pup:

How adorable is this?!?
?: snanothegolden pic.twitter.com/dWdodqZqqq

— Cute Emergency (@CuteEmergency) April 27, 2018

Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will see afternoon showers with a high of sixty-one. Sunrise is 5:53 AM and sunset 7:51 PM, for 13h 58m 23s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 93.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

Ulysses S. Grant is born on this day in 1822.

Recommended for reading in full —

➤ Catherine Rampell observes Trump is running America just like his businesses — right into the ground:

Throughout the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly pledged that if elected, he’d run government like a business.

“If we could run our country the way I’ve run my company, we would have a country that you would be so proud of,” he promisedduring one debate.

Well, he was half right. Trump has definitely run the country the way he ran his company. But, no, this is nothing anyone can be especially proud of.

That’s because the president is running the executive branch less like a “Six Sigma” efficiency machine and more like a crappy family business that went bankrupt six times.

Consider Trump’s personnel choices. In both private and public enterprise, he has loaded up the payroll with incompetents, self-dealers and family members — categories that are not mutually exclusive — whose top qualifications are ethical pliability and unwavering devotion to the boss.

(Yes.)

➤ Greg Sergeant describes How to end the Trump presidency:

Put simply: If Democrats can somehow win both the House and Senate, the Trump presidency as we know it — that is, the Trump presidency in its current incarnation as a rampaging, unchecked kakistocracy facing no meaningful oversight or accountability — will be over. The peculiarities of this particular presidency suggest that this would constitute a more debilitating event to the president — and, crucially, a more meaningful event for the country — than it was when the party opposed to the president captured one or both chambers during the past three presidencies.

The New York Times reports that Republicans are growing more nervous about losing the Senate to Democrats, for a specific and telling reason: It would mean that Democrats will act as a much greater check on Trump’s executive branch and judicial nominees. As the Times delicately puts it, a Democratic-led Senate would be “very deliberate” about bringing Trump’s picks for top federal agency jobs to the floor.

(Whether near or far, there’ll be no relent until Trump, and his ilk, meet their political ruin.)

➤ Jason Zengerle describes How Devin Nunes Turned the House Intelligence Committee Inside Out:

In Late August 2016, Donald Trump paid a visit to Tulare, Calif., a small city in the agricultural Central Valley and an unlikely stop for a Republican presidential campaign. California is a solidly blue state, and although Trump was in Tulare to speak at a fund-raiser, the $2,700 that most guests ponied up to attend hardly seemed substantial enough to justify the presence of a busy candidate. (At a fund-raiser Trump attended in Silicon Valley the day before, guests paid $25,000 a head.) At least one senior Trump campaign official argued against the trip, deeming it a colossal waste of time.

But Trump had one very good reason for visiting Tulare: It is the hometown of Representative Devin Nunes. While many Republican elected officials had maintained a wary distance from their party’s presidential nominee, Nunes, the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, was one of the few, not to mention one of the most prominent, to offer Trump his unequivocal support — which included holding the fund-raiser. Better still, Trump liked Nunes. Although the 44-year-old congressman seems to wear a permanent grimace in public, as if trying to lend his boyish face some gravitas, in private he is a bit of a bon vivant. “He’s a pretty easy guy to like,” says Johnny Amaral, Nunes’s longtime political consigliere and friend. “And he’s fiercely loyal. I think Trump recognized that.”

The day before the Tulare event, Nunes drove up to the Bay Area to meet Trump and brief him on his district. Nunes expected to drive back to Tulare that evening, but Trump invited Nunes to fly with him to Los Angeles instead and then on to Tulare the next morning. It is unclear just what they discussed over those 24 hours, but by all accounts they seem to have strengthened their bond, and Nunes soon entered Trump’s inner circle — cementing a political alliance that would become one of the most consequential of the Trump era.

(Nunes will find his foul place among the self-degraded American lapdogs.)

➤ Niraj Chokshi reports Trump Voters Driven by Fear of Losing Status, Not Economic Anxiety, Study Finds:

Ever since Donald J. Trump began his improbable political rise, many pundits have credited his appeal among white, Christian and male voters to “economic anxiety.” Hobbled by unemployment and locked out of the recovery, those voters turned out in force to send Mr. Trump, and a message, to Washington.

Or so that narrative goes.

A study published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences questions that explanation, the latest to suggest that Trump voters weren’t driven by anger over the past, but rather fear of what may come. White, Christian and male voters, the study suggests, turned to Mr. Trump because they felt their status was at risk.

“It’s much more of a symbolic threat that people feel,’’ said Diana C. Mutz, the author of the study and a political science and communications professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where she directs the Institute for the Study of Citizens and Politics. “It’s not a threat to their own economic well-being; it’s a threat to their group’s dominance in our country over all.”

The study is not the first to cast doubt on the prevailing economic anxiety theory. Last year, a Public Religion Research Institute survey of more than 3,000 people also found that Mr. Trump’s appeal could better be explained by a fear of cultural displacement.

➤ So, Did People Ever Really Put Crocodiles in Moats?:

Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of sixty-six. Sunrise is 5:54 AM and sunset 7:50 PM, for 13h 55m 47s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 86.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Involvement and Cable TV Commission meets at 5 PM, and the Community Development Authority at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1777, Sybil Ludington proves herself a heroine of the Revolution: “On the night of April 26, 1777, at the age of 16, she rode to alert militia forces in villages of Putnam County, New York and Danbury, Connecticut, to the approach of the British regular forces. The ride was similar to those performed by William Dawes and Paul Revere (Massachusetts, April 1775), and Jack Jouett (Virginia, 1781). Ludington rode more than twice the distance of Revere and was much younger than the men.”

Recommended for reading in full —

➤ Alan Auerbach, William G. Gale, and Aaron Krupkin reviews The federal budget outlook: Even crazier after all these years:

On balance, the medium-term (10-year) outlook has worsened over the past year.  The 2017 tax cut, the 2018 spending deals, and higher projected interest rates raise projected deficits and debt, while expectations of a stronger economy (in large part attributable to the fiscal stimulus from policy changes) and lower health care spending work in the opposite direction. The net effect is that CBO now projects a debt-GDP ratio of 94.5 percent in 2027 under current law, compared to a similar projection of 91.2 percent last June.^[1] Nevertheless, the fiscal situation, already very problematic, has become more so. In “The federal budget outlook: Even crazier after all these years” (PDF), Alan Auerbach, William Gale, and Aaron Krupkin examines the budget outlook, given new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projections that incorporate the 2017 tax act and the 2018 spending deals.^[2]

First, in an odd twist, the strong projected economy makes the projections of large deficits more worrisome. CBO projects that cumulative actual and potential GDP will be equal, on average, over the 2018-2028 period. The strong economic performance is due in significant part to the implementation of the tax legislation. But it also means that the higher projected deficits and debt are essentially full-employment deficits. If (when?) the economy falls into recession, the medium-term fiscal outlook is likely to look significantly worse.

Second, under a “current policy” scenario, the problem is considerably worse, as CBO acknowledges. Whereas current-law projections examine the impact of Congress essentially making no further changes over the projection period, “current policy” projections estimate the impact of what might be termed “business-as-usual” assumptions regarding tax and spending choices—in particular, that policy makers routinely extend temporary provisions.^[3] Under current law, CBO projects a debt-GDP ratio of 96.2 percent by 2028. Under current policy, the authors project a debt-GDP ratio of 106.5 percent in that year, which would be the highest ratio in U.S. history.

➤ Stephen Collinson reports After the hugs and kisses, Macron rips Trumpism:

On Wednesday, before a joint session of of Congress, the charismatic French leader turned around and repudiated the US President’s political philosophy and worldview.

The startling contrast between Macron palling around with Trump on a state visit and his velvet hammer speech — effectively defending the world order from “America First” nationalism — encapsulated his intricate US strategy.

Macron wants to bind the Trump administration into the existing Western international system, to convince it to dive back into multilateral efforts to shut down Iran’s nuclear program, to battle climate change and to safeguard globalization and free trade.

➤ Erin Kelly reports Cambridge Analytica whistleblower: Steve Bannon used data to discourage Democratic turnout:

Democrats from the House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee asked Wylie in a closed-door session on Tuesday whether Bannon had specifically talked about voter disenfranchisement or disengagement.

“Yes,” Wylie responded, according to the transcript released by the Democrats. “If by that term you mean discouraging particular types of voters who are more prone to voting for Democratic or liberal candidates, if that’s what you mean by that term, then yes.”

…

Wylie testified that Bannon directed Cambridge Analytica in 2014 to test images and concepts for an American audience relating to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian expansion in Eastern Europe. He said Putin was the only foreign leader used in the testing.

➤ Honest to goodness, Trump is a vulgar new man, as Daniel Dale recounts:

Trump explains that he got Melania flowers but not another gift because he’s very busy being president.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) April 26, 2018

➤ Just in case, here’s How To Survive An Alligator Attack:

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of sixty-one. Sunrise is 5:56 AM and sunset 7:49 PM, for 13h 53m 12s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 78.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s University Tech Park Board meets at 8 AM, the Parks and Rec Board at 5:30 PM, and the Fire Department has a business meeting in closed session at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1898, Congress declares that a state of war between the U.S. and Spain had de facto existed since April 21, the day the blockade of Cuba had begun.

Recommended for reading in full —

➤ Glenn Thrush reports Mulvaney, Watchdog Bureau’s Leader, Advises Bankers on Ways to Curtail Agency:

WASHINGTON — Mick Mulvaney, the interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told banking industry executives on Tuesday that they should press lawmakers hard to pursue their agenda, and revealed that, as a congressman, he would meet only with lobbyists if they had contributed to his campaign.

“We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress,” Mr. Mulvaney, a former Republican lawmaker from South Carolina, told 1,300 bankers and lending industry officials at an American Bankers Association conference in Washington. “If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you.”

➤ Greg Sergeant writes Trump’s historic unpopularity is a big, important story:

What’s more, as Gallup reminds us today, if you look at Trump’s approval ratings, as opposed to the reelect numbers, those have steadily been worse than those of his recent predecessors — by sizable margins, in fact. So not only is Trump on track to face large midterm losses — he is also substantially less popular than those predecessors.

…

Because Trump has blown through so many norms, the question of whether the American public is rejecting him is a momentous one. Trump has embraced overt racism, xenophobia and authoritarianism, in the form of regular racial provocations, assaults on our institutions and the rule of law, and an unprecedented level of self-dealing that basically constitutes a big middle finger to the country. He has married all this to orthodox GOP economic priorities — indeed, as Brian Beutler says, the three pillars of Trump-era conservatism are self-enriching plutocracy, racism and authoritarianism.

If that is so, then it is notable that majorities are rejecting all of those things. Obamacare repeal crashed and burned. The tax law passed, but it remains deeply unpopular. Majorities disapproved of Trump’s response to white supremacist violence in Charlottesville. Majorities sided with the “dreamers” against Trump and majorities reject Trump’s border wall and many of his demagogic arguments about immigration (though in fairness the polling is mixed on the thinly veiled Muslim ban). Big majorities still want Trump to release his tax returns. Large majorities support special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of both potential collusion with Russia, dismissing Trump’s claims of a “witch hunt,” and of Trump’s finances. The public has sided with the investigation and the rule of law, and against Trump.

(Sergeant accurately sees that for those in resistance and opposition “we face a long, hard slog” – there’s much difficult work to be done, and on the other side of Trumpism’s defeat is likely to come – will need to come – a Third Reconstruction.

One of the characteristics of Trumpists is their cult-like reliance on a few, mediocre but insistent publications, to sustain their false belief that Trump is doing well, is popular, is a great leader, etc.)

➤ Steve Eder and Hiroko Tabuchi report Scott Pruitt Before the E.P.A.: Fancy Homes, a Shell Company and Friends With Money:

OKLAHOMA CITY — Early in Scott Pruitt’s political career, as a state senator from Tulsa, he attended a gathering at the Oklahoma City home of an influential telecommunications lobbyist who was nearing retirement and about to move away.

The lobbyist said that after the 2003 gathering, Mr. Pruitt — who had a modest legal practice and a state salary of $38,400 — reached out to her. He wanted to buy her showplace home as a second residence for when he was in the state capital.

“For those ego-minded politicians, it would be pretty cool to have this house close to the capitol,” said the lobbyist, Marsha Lindsey. “It was stunning.”

Soon Mr. Pruitt was staying there, and so was at least one other lawmaker, according to interviews. Mr. Pruitt even bought Ms. Lindsey’s dining room set, art and antique rugs, she said.

A review of real estate and other public records shows that Mr. Pruitt was not the sole owner: The property was held by a shell company registered to a business partner and law school friend, Kenneth Wagner. Mr. Wagner now holds a top political job at the Environmental Protection Agency, where Mr. Pruitt, 49, is the administrator.

(Grifter from the get-go.)

➤ Quinta Jurecic and Benjamin Wittes find more Bad News for President Trump
(“The Comey memos are more revealing than they seem”):

One feature of the truth is that it doesn’t change much. A lie is hard to sustain. The details may change in each retelling because the liar is not actually remembering the events, but instead remembering the telling of the events. The truth, by contrast, is sticky. Consistency is not the only hallmark of truth—some people’s memories are better than other people’s memories, to be sure—but there’s a reason that inconsistency tends to discredit a witness.

…

The broader point about the memos is the degree to which they corroborate even minor details of the other accounts Comey has given. The consistency is the most striking when the details are shared between the book and the original memos only and are omitted from Comey’s testimony: Comey would have had access to the testimony while writing the book, so it makes sense that those accounts share details and corroborate one another. Even were he Lyin’ Comey, after all, he’d make sure to get his public story straight between two high-profile written statements. But by his own account, he had no access to the memos—which had by that point been handed over to the FBI—during the drafting of his book. So all the details shared between the memos and the book were carried over from memory. This makes it all the more notable when the memos and book share information down to the word—like when Comey describes Trump as commenting that the FBI director had had “a hell of a year” or declaring his respect for Putin as “the leader of a major country.”

Comey even uses the same image in both his memos and his book to characterize Trump’s conversational style. “It was conversation-as-jigsaw-puzzle, with pieces picked up, then discarded, then returned to,” he writes in his memo recording his January 28, 2017, dinner with Trump. In his book, he describes the president as speaking “like an oral jigsaw puzzle contest, with a shot clock … He would, in rapid-fire sequence, pick up a piece, put it down, pick up an unrelated piece, put it down, return to the original piece, on and on.” (Comey takes this opportunity in his memo to muse about the difficulty of accurately remembering a conversation with a person who speaks this way.)

➤ Amy Nicholson remembers The Paraplegic Possum, the Cross-Eyed Cat, and the Fish That Can’t Swim:

Growing up, Amy Nicholson would never have described her father as “one of those kooky pet people,” even though the family owned dogs, cats, ponies, rabbits, sheep, and chickens. “But they didn’t sleep in the house or go under the blow dryer,” Nicholson told The Atlantic.

Years later, Nicholson’s father remarried, and the couple decided to rescue animals. But not just any animals — a menagerie of variously sick, deformed, or otherwise abnormal creatures, which would become pampered house pets. “When I visited my father over the years,” Nicholson said, “there was always some chicken being nursed back to health, or a cat had been hauled away since my last visit, or some other creature had been eaten.”

Nicholson’s enormously entertaining short film Pickle surveys the quirky animals her father and step-mother accrued, such as obese chickens, a paraplegic possum, a cross-eyed cat, and a body-less fish. The film shows how the couple goes to great lengths to keep their pets comfortable; in many cases, despite their unusual medical conditions, the creatures have lived well beyond their expected lifespans.