Welcome to Overnight News Digest where the usual crew, consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Man Oh Man, side pocket, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir, Bentliberal, Oke, Interceptor7, jlms qkw, and ScottyUrb, guest editors annetteboardman and Doctor RJ, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent, along with anyone else who reads and comments, informs and entertains you with tonight's news. OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00AM Eastern Time.
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From the A.V. Club: Please enjoy Anderson Cooper having enough of this shit
You know who’s had enough of this shit? Anderson Cooper has had enough of this shit. His recent announcement that muting Donald Trump on Twitter is good for your mental health proves that his tolerance for people spouting empty-headed idiocies has dropped dramatically since the days when he was host of dimwitted reality-TV series The Mole. Cooper again demonstrated his lack of patience for said shit last night on his show, when the surprise firing of FBI Director James Comey (just days after he requested more money for the agency’s Russia probe in a meeting with the very attorney general who then recommended he be let go—happy coincidence!) resulted in the White House releasing spokesperson Kellyanne Conway from whatever rock on the moon she sleeps under in order to comment on the move. And by “comment,” we mean “bring up completely irrelevant topics in the latest attempt to twist logic into a pretzel-like morass of incoherence.” In response, Cooper’s eyes roll so hard, they’re now riding higher than the magnificent seven.
From the Washington Post: Inside Trump’s anger and impatience — and his sudden decision to fire Comey
Every time FBI Director James B. Comey appeared in public, an ever-watchful President Trump grew increasingly agitated that the topic was the one that he was most desperate to avoid: Russia.
Trump had long questioned Comey’s loyalty and judgment, and was infuriated by what he viewed as the director’s lack of action in recent weeks on leaks from within the federal government. By last weekend, he had made up his mind: Comey had to go.
At his golf course in Bedminster, N.J., Trump groused over Comey’s latest congressional testimony, which he thought was “strange,” and grew impatient with what he viewed as his sanctimony, according to White House officials. Comey, Trump figured, was using the Russia probe to become a martyr.
Back at work Monday morning in Washington, Trump told Vice President Pence and several senior aides — Reince Priebus, Stephen K. Bannon and Donald McGahn, among others — that he was ready to move on Comey. First, though, he wanted to talk with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, his trusted confidant, and Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, to whom Comey reported directly. Trump summoned the two of them to the White House for a meeting, according to a person close to the White House.
From the New York Times: Days Before Firing, Comey Asked for More Resources for Russia Inquiry
Days before he was fired as F.B.I. director, James B. Comey asked the Justice Department for more prosecutors and other personnel to accelerate the bureau’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the presidential election.
It was the first clear-cut evidence that Mr. Comey believed the bureau needed more resources to handle a sprawling and highly politicized counterintelligence investigation.
His appeal, described on Wednesday by four congressional officials, was made to Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, whose memo was used to justify Mr. Comey’s abrupt dismissal on Tuesday.
It is not yet known what became of Mr. Comey’s request, or what role — if any — it played in his firing. But the future of the F.B.I.’s investigation is now more uncertain than at any point since it began in late July, and any fallout from the dismissal is unlikely to be contained at the bureau.
From Reuters: Comey infuriated Trump with refusal to preview Senate testimony: aides
The anger behind Donald Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday had been building for months, but a turning point came when Comey refused to preview for top Trump aides his planned testimony to a Senate panel, White House officials said.
Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had wanted a heads-up from Comey about what he would say at a May 3 hearing about his handling of an investigation into former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.
When Comey refused, Trump and his aides considered that an act of insubordination and it was one of the catalysts to Trump’s decision this week to fire the FBI director, the officials said.
"It gave the impression that he was no longer capable of carrying out his duties," one official said. Previews of congressional testimony to superiors are generally considered courteous.
From the Wall Street Journal: Comey’s Firing Came as Investigators Stepped Up Russia Probe
In the weeks before President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, a federal investigation into potential collusion between Trump associates and the Russian government was heating up, as Mr. Comey became increasingly occupied with the probe.
Mr. Comey started receiving daily instead of weekly updates on the investigation, beginning at least three weeks ago, according to people with knowledge of the matter and the progress of the Federal Bureau of Investigation probe. Mr. Comey was concerned by information showing potential evidence of collusion, according to these people.
White House officials said Wednesday that Mr. Trump had for months been contemplating the possibility of removing Mr. Comey, and that the dismissal this week wasn’t connected to the Russian probe.
From The Atlantic: Betsy DeVos Booed at Historically Black College
U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos faced an unwelcome reception Wednesday as she delivered the commencement speech at Bethune-Cookman University, a historically black college in Daytona Beach, Florida. As the university’s president, Edison Jackson, began to award DeVos an honorary degree, many students in the crowd started to boo, while faculty applauded. A mere seconds after DeVos began speaking, the room erupted in shouts. A number of students turned their backs on the speaker, who attempted to elevate her voice about the crowd’s for the majority of her time on stage.
Less than three minutes into the speech, Jackson took over the microphone, telling students: “If this behavior continues, your degrees will be mailed to you. Choose which way you want to go.” This seemed to rile the crowd even further, evoking another collective shout.
Students in the crowd were especially angered by DeVos’s mention of the university’s founder, Mary McLeod Bethune, the daughter of slaves and a civil rights activist. As DeVos announced she would be visiting Bethune’s home and gravesite later in the day, a few voices could be heard shouting, “No!” One of the graduates, Donjele Simpson, expressed frustration that DeVos had “the nerve” to bring up Bethune’s legacy. “What does she know about that?” Simpson asked The Washington Post.
From ABC News: Snapchat's growth stalls in Facebook's shadow; stock plunges
Facebook's shadow continues to hang over Snapchat as its parent company reported disappointing numbers.
Snap Inc., best known for disappearing messages even though it has evolved to become much more, had a massive loss and saw user growth continue to slow down in the first three months of the year. Its revenue was below Wall Street's expectations in its first quarterly earnings since its initial public offering of stock.
Snapchat has tried to become more like its bigger rival — at least when it comes to success — by courting new users and with them, advertisers.
Instead, Snapchat reported 166 million daily active users in the latest quarter, an increase of just 36 percent from a year earlier. In its first post-IPO report in 2012, Facebook also disappointed investors when it grew its daily user base by only 32 percent. But by then, Facebook had 552 million, more than three times Snapchat's.