Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of seventy-five. Sunrise is 5:18 AM and sunset 8:27 PM, for 15h 08m 35s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 91.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1864, the Battle of Cold Harbor begins its second day, of thirteen in full:
From May 31-June 12, 1864, more than 160,000 men clashed at Cold Harbor, Virginia, during the Wilderness Campaign. The 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th and 36th Wisconsin Infantry regiments took part. On June 1, the 5th Wisconsin Infantry arrived after a long march, barefoot and exhausted. Nevertheless, they charged enemy lines and captured a number of prisoners. By the afternoon, the 36th Wisconsin Infantry lost 140 of the 142 men who tried to take an enemy position.
Recommended for reading in full —
General Michael Hayden, Rob Reiner, Clint Watts, and John Sipher discuss the dangers and impact of Russian propaganda and how the White House seems to be using the same tactics:
The Committee to investigate Russia writes Trump Lies Again About Comey Firing:
resident Trump tweeted Thursday that the Russia investigation had nothing to do with why he fired FBI Director James Comey even though the president told the Russians and Lester Holt the exact opposite in the days following Comey’s dismissal on May 9, 2017.
Today:
CNN:
… May 10 — Trump meets with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Lavrov and then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. In that Oval Office huddle, Trump tells the two Russians this, according to The New York Times: “I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job,I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”
May 11, 2017: (Russia explanation at 1:01)
In addition, Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said on television on May 2, 2018 that the president fired Comey because the FBI Director would not say the president was not a target of the Russia investigation.
Donald Trump’s Russia claim contradicts, um, Donald Trump’s Russia claim (CNN)
Heather Long writes Trump has officially put more tariffs on U.S. allies than on China:
President Trump campaigned on going hard after China for ripping off the United States on trade. Yet a year and a half into his presidency, Trump has put more tariffs on longtime U.S. allies than he has on China, his supposed “bad guy” on trade. The Trump administration announced new tariffs Thursday on the European Union, Canada and Mexico.
Almost all of the reaction has been negative. Many are calling it a political and economic mistake.
America’s allies are stunned, stocks slid on Wall Street as trade-war fears returned, and economists are warning that Americans will soon face higher prices on a wide variety of products. A slew of Republican lawmakers immediately trashed the move as bad for the economy and foreign relations.
“Europe, Canada & Mexico aren’t China. You don’t treat allies the same way you treat opponents. Blanket protectionism is a big part of why we had a Great Depression. ‘Make America Great Again’ shouldn’t mean ‘Make America 1929 Again.’ ” tweeted Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), joining an opposition that included many Republican officials and business groups.
The New York Times editorial board observes America Declares War on Its Friends:
If the president’s intent is to establish a reputation as a champion of industry and workers, he is making a hash of it. His decision to impose tariffs on American allies will only weaken American leadership while doing nothing to address the underlying problems in the steel and aluminum industries.
Why is Humpty Dumpty Always Depicted as an Egg?