Gorgeous rain-respite this early-evening Wednesday on California’s north coast, with some really-good sunlight earlier and warmth. Although most of shine was more of the faded-yellow variety, all shine counts.
Rain again tomorrow afternoon, and apparently on into early next week.
Meanwhile, back east in the nut-camp of DC, this morning the T-Rump revealed the prick. As he took his seat, late for an appearance at a “Women in Healthcare” meeting in the White House, he trumped his world (TPM): ‘“Some big news having to do with London just happened,” he said in front of White House pool reporters.’
‘Big news‘ to the orange-tinted shit, and he looked happy. Ironic a bit for the event, too, hinged to one cruel, mean-spirited and ignorant healthcare proposal, which could be going to tube city.
(Illustration: ‘President Trump,’ by Jonathan Bass, found here).
Along with that ‘big news’ of the attack on Britain’s Parliament compound — four dead last count, many seriously injured — back in DC the cluster-fuck of the T-Rump continues, this time from T-Rump toady Devin Nunes, and the obvious play on intelligence (Politico):
House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes declared Wednesday that members of Donald Trump’s transition team, possibly including Trump himself, were under inadvertent surveillance following November’s presidential election.
The White House and Trump’s allies immediately seized on the statement as vindication of the president’s much-maligned claim that former President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower phones — even though Nunes himself said that’s not what his new information shows.
Democrats, meanwhile, cried foul.
…
“The chairman will need to decide whether he is the chairman of an independent investigation into conduct which includes allegations of potential coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians, or he is going to act as a surrogate of the White House, because he cannot do both,” Schiff said at a news conference Wednesday.
“And unfortunately,” he added, “I think the actions of today throw great doubt into the ability of both the chairman and the committee to conduct the investigation the way it ought to be conducted.”
Schiff also chewed Nunes for ‘not first sharing the information with him or other committee members‘ before he sprinted to the White House and into the arms of the T-Rump.
Also this toward the end of the Politico piece: ‘At the White House, press secretary Sean Spicer read from Nunes’ statement during a press briefing, showing how eager Trump’s team was to amplify the remarks.’
If you’ve been keeping up with the ‘Russian connection‘ in Trumpland, today’s bullshit continues to reveal ‘how eager‘ they are in masking the widening connection — Paul Manafort, T-Rump’s campaign manager last year, and the Russkies (US News & World Report):
The White House was tight-lipped Wednesday morning, declining to comment on the report by The Associated Press that Manafort had signed a $10 million-a-year deal in 2006 with Deripaska, a Putin ally, to positively influence U.S. politics, news coverage and business dealings on Putin’s behalf.
A really-good detailed account of Manafort’s dealings by veteran observer David Corn at Mother Jones this afternoon.
And in the wake of Nunes idiocy — ‘…Schiff told The Daily Beast’s Tim Mak that he has seen “more than circumstantial evidence” of collusion between Russian officials and the Trump campaign.
“I don’t to want go into specifics, but I will say that there is evidence that is not circumstantial, and it very much worthy of investigation,” he further told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd, while simultaneously lamenting how “I think we have been dealt a serious body blow to the credibility of our ability to get answer by today’s events, and to me it underscores the importance of having an independent commission look at this as a supplement to anything that Congress does.”‘
How long the shit…