Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Doctor RJ, Magnifico, annetteboardman and Man Oh Man. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) wader, planter, JML9999, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Interceptor7, BentLiberal, Oke and jlms qkw.
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 12:00 AM Eastern Time.
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From Bloomberg: Americans Are Officially Freaking Out
Almost two-thirds of Americans, or 63 percent, report being stressed about the future of the nation, according to the American Psychological Association’s Eleventh Stress in America survey, conducted in August and released on Wednesday. This worry about the fate of the union tops longstanding stressors such as money (62 percent) and work (61 percent) and also cuts across political proclivities. However, a significantly larger proportion of Democrats (73 percent) reported feeling stress than independents (59 percent) and Republicans (56 percent).
The “current social divisiveness” in America was reported by 59 percent of those surveyed as a cause of their own malaise. When the APA surveyed Americans a year ago, 52 percent said they were stressed by the presidential campaign. Since then, anxieties have only grown.
A majority of the more than 3,400 Americans polled, 59 percent, said “they consider this to to be the lowest point in our nation’s history that they can remember.” That sentiment spanned generations, including those that lived through World War II, the Vietnam War, and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. (Some 30 percent of people polled cited terrorism as a source of concern, a number that’s likely to rise given the alleged terrorist attack in New York City on Tuesday.)
From Vanity Fair: “YOU CAN’T GO ANY LOWER”: INSIDE THE WEST WING, TRUMP IS APOPLECTIC AS ALLIES FEAR IMPEACHMENT
As Mueller moves to interview West Wing aides in the coming days, advisers are lobbying for Trump to consider a range of stratagems to neutralize Mueller, from conciliation to a declaration of all-out war. One Republican explained Trump’s best chance for survival is to get his poll numbers up. Trump’s lawyer Ty Cobb has been advocating the view that playing ball will lead to a quick resolution (Cobb did not respond to a request for comment). But these soft-power approaches are being criticized by Trump allies including Steve Bannon and Roger Stone, who both believe establishment Republicans are waiting for a chance to impeach Trump. “The establishment has proven time and time again they will fuck Trump over,” a Bannon ally told me.
In a series of phone calls with Trump on Monday and Tuesday, Bannon told the president to shake up the legal team by installing an aggressive lawyer above Cobb, according to two sources briefed on the call. Bannon has also discussed ways to pressure Congress to defund Mueller’s investigation or limit its scope. “Mueller shouldn’t be allowed to be a clean shot on goal,” a Bannon confidant told me. “He must be contested and checked. Right now he has unchecked power.”
Bannon’s sense of urgency is being fueled by his belief that Trump’s hold on power is slipping. The collapse of Obamacare repeal, and the dimming chances that tax reform will pass soon—many Trump allies are deeply pessimistic about its prospects—have created the political climate for establishment Republicans to turn on Trump. Two weeks ago, according to a source, Bannon did a spitball analysis of the Cabinet to see which members would remain loyal to Trump in the event the 25th Amendment were invoked, thereby triggering a vote to remove the president from office. Bannon recently told people he’s not sure if Trump would survive such a vote. “One thing Steve wants Trump to do is take this more seriously,” the Bannon confidant told me. “Stop joking around. Stop tweeting.”
From the New York Times: In Call With Times Reporter, Trump Projects Air of Calm Over Charges
“I’m not under investigation, as you know,” Mr. Trump said in a brief telephone call late Wednesday afternoon. Pointing to the indictment of his former campaign chief, Paul Manafort, the president said, “And even if you look at that, there’s not even a mention of Trump in there.”
“It has nothing to do with us,” Mr. Trump said.
He also pushed back against a report published Monday night by The Washington Post, which the president said described him as “angry at everybody.”
“I’m actually not angry at anybody,” Mr. Trump told The Times …
In the interview, Mr. Trump added that he was buoyed by fresh polling he said he had seen from swing states, supplied to him by the Republican National Committee chairwoman, Ronna Romney McDaniel, earlier on Wednesday.
“I just got fantastic poll numbers,” the president said, listing what he saw as his biggest accomplishments, including a focus on deregulation and low unemployment rates.
He did not cite any specific polls or reveal any numbers from Ms. McDaniel. An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released on Sunday put Mr. Trump’s approval rating at 38 percent — the lowest for the survey since February, when he was a month into his presidency.
From Rolling Stone: What Will Congress Do If Trump Tries to Fire Mueller?
Republicans say no legislation is needed to protect Mueller because they think Trump wouldn't be foolish enough to fire the special counsel.
"The reaction would be just phenomenal. Most Americans would not agree with such a thing any more than they agreed with Richard Nixon firing that group," Republican Sen. John McCain told reporters at the Capitol. "The American people want a complete and thorough investigation. That's one thing I know."
But the Democrats who are at the center of this push to protect Mueller say their GOP colleagues tell them when they speak with them in private that they're open to supporting their proposals – the announcements Monday really shook many in the party.
From NBC News: New York Terrorist Attack: Suspect Hit With Federal Charges
The Uzbek immigrant accused of renting a pickup truck and turning it into a killing machine was hit with federal charges Wednesday in connection with the deadliest terrorist attack in New York City since Sept. 11, 2001.
Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, 29, who police say was inspired by the Islamic State terrorist group, or ISIS, was charged by the U.S. attorney's office with one count of material support to a terrorist organization and one count of violence and destruction of a motor vehicle. He said almost nothing at his initial court appearance Wednesday night, which he entered in a wheelchair.
After Tuesday's bloody attack in lower Manhattan, which killed eight people and injured a dozen more, Saipov told the FBI that he "felt good about what he did" and that he wanted to kill as many people as possible, the criminal complaint alleged.
From Reuters: Fed keeps rates unchanged, remains on road to December hike
The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and pointed to solid U.S. economic growth and a strengthening labor market while playing down the impact of recent hurricanes, a sign it is on track to lift borrowing costs again in December.
Investors had all but ruled out a rate hike at the central bank’s policy meeting this week and attention has largely been focused on who will be in charge of monetary policy at the end of Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s first term in February 2018.
President Donald Trump is set to announce his nomination on Thursday afternoon with Fed Governor Jerome Powell, a soft-spoken centrist who has supported Yellen’s gradual approach to raising rates, seen as having a lock on the job.
“The labor market has continued to strengthen and ... economic activity has been rising at a solid rate despite hurricane-related disruptions,” the Fed’s rate-setting committee said in a statement after its unanimous policy decision.
From the Washington Post: Student charged after bragging about putting roommate’s toothbrush ‘where the sun doesn’t shine’
A former student at the University of Hartford has been charged with criminal mischief and breach of peace after bragging online about contaminating her roommate’s belongings with bodily fluids, including rubbing dirty tampons on her backpack and putting her toothbrush “places where the sun doesn’t shine.”
Eighteen-year-old Brianna Brochu appeared in court Wednesday. A judge banned her from the campus in central Connecticut and ordered her not to have any contact with her former dormitory roommate, Chennel Rowe, pending the conclusion of the case, according to the Hartford Courant.
Authorities told the Courant that Brochu, who is white, also faces a hate-crime charge stemming from the alleged actions against her roommate, who is black.
Last month, Brochu allegedly wrote on Instagram that she finally “got rid of her roommate,” whom she referred to as “Jamaican Barbie.”
From USA Today: Airplane sex case lands in FBI's lap; couple likely to avoid charges
A couple of strangers who were caught in a sex act while in their seats aboard a Delta flight likely won't face criminal charges but could pay fines of $800 each, a former federal prosecutor said.
A 48-year-old woman on her way to Nashville via Detroit was performing oral sex on a 28-year-old man on his way to Miami via Detroit, leading to complaints from nearby passengers, WDIV-TV, Detroit, reported.
Delta Air Lines (DAL) declined comment.
"It’s going to be very hard to find that this is criminal conduct under the federal code because it’s not a threat to the safety of the airline or other passengers," said Peter Henning, now a Wayne State University law professor.