The Guardian
Pelosi says Barr committed a crime by lying about Mueller report
The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said on Thursday that the US attorney general, William Barr, committed a “crime” when he told lawmakers during a congressional hearing last month that he was unaware that special counsel Robert Mueller was unhappy with his portrayal of the findings from his investigation into Russian meddling.
“What’s deadly serious about it is the attorney general of the United States of America was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States,” Pelosi said on Thursday morning during her weekly press conference with reporters. “And that’s a crime.”
Pelosi’s comments came amid an escalating battle between the executive and congressional branches of the US government, as Democrats threatened to hold Barr in contempt of Congress after he failed to appear before the House judiciary committee earlier on Thursday morning.
AP: Trump eases regulations adopted after BP Deepwater Horizon disaster
The Trump administration on Thursday moved to ease safety regulations adopted after the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon blowout, the worst offshore oil disaster in US history that killed nearly a dozen people and caused massive pollution.
David Bernhardt, the interior secretary, said in a statement the administration was acting to eliminate “unnecessary regulatory burdens while maintaining safety and environmental protection offshore”.
The oil industry has been challenging the Obama-era rules, which govern the operation of offshore wells.
The Washington Post
Barr’s no-show triggers contempt threats, Nixon comparison and more impeachment talk
Attorney General William P. Barr’s snub of House Democrats on Thursday has triggered an all-out war between the White House and Congress, pushing the House closer to holding the nation’s top law enforcement official in contempt of Congress and prompting Speaker Nancy Pelosi to liken President Trump to President Richard M. Nixon.
The almost daily confrontations between the two branches of government increase the pressure on Pelosi (D-Calif.) to initiate impeachment proceedings against Trump, a politically fraught move that she has resisted in the absence of strong public sentiment and bipartisan support. Many Democrats argue that the 2020 election is the best means to oust the president.
But Democrats are infuriated with Barr, who refused to testify Thursday at the House Judiciary Committee’s scheduled hearing on his handling of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report, and Trump’s defiance in the face of multiple congressional requests for documents and witnesses. Democrats cast the administration’s unwillingness to cooperate as a threat to democracy with far-reaching implications.
Senate Democrats ask NRA execs, PR firm for documents related to alleged self-dealing
Three Senate Democrats have asked current and former National Rifle Association executives and the organization’s public relations firm to turn over letters, third-party audits, memos and other materials as they look into allegations of self-dealing and examine the NRA’s nonprofit status.
Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), members of the Senate Committee on Finance, sent letters Thursday to NRA Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre, former NRA president Oliver North and Ackerman McQueen, the group’s longtime public relations firm. It has asked the men and the firm to hand over all requested documents by May 16.
Bloomberg
Someone Did Get to Look at Trump's Tax Returns: Deutsche Bankers
Donald Trump doesn’t want anyone to see his tax returns. Not the public. Not Congress. But at least one group has peered into the carefully guarded trove and could provide some insight -- a team from Deutsche Bank AG.
The bankers got a look before agreeing to lend to the Trump Organization in 2012 -- access that was described by two people familiar with the interaction. It was all part of a fresh start on a banking relationship that had soured after the financial crisis, descending into litigation over a Chicago project.
After a recent subpoena, Deutsche Bank was prepared to begin on May 6 turning over details to Congress about that relationship and its loans to Trump family businesses. Now, Trump and his family have sued to stop the flow of information. That follows an earlier lawsuit against Democrats and Trump’s outside accounting firm to prevent similar subpoena responses. Meanwhile, the Treasury Department has balked at supplying Trump’s tax filings from the Internal Revenue Service, a standoff that could fuel protracted court battles over the extent of congressional oversight.
Sinclair to Buy Fox Sports Networks From Disney
Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. agreed to buy the Fox regional sportsnetworks from Walt Disney Co., turning the local-TV company into a cable-sports powerhouse, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The deal is valued at more than $10 billion, the Journal said, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. An agreement could be announced as early as Friday, the newspaper said.
Los Angeles Times
What is contempt of Congress, and where do we go from here?
A contempt finding is how Congress may respond when someone refuses to testify or provide information as part of a House or Senate investigation. The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld that Congress has a right to compel people to comply with its oversight efforts.
Such demands are more complicated when they involve other branches of the government. Presidents always have information they don’t want to give Congress. In the past, the mere threat of being held in contempt — not to mention Congress’ power over funding the government — was usually enough to convince an administration to comply with a request, or at least negotiate a compromise.
Unlike impeachment proceedings, either chamber of Congress — the House or the Senate — can pursue contempt charges without needing the participation or approval of the other chamber. […]
Congress has a few options. The most common is that it can send a criminal contempt referral to a U.S. attorney. If prosecuted and convicted, the punishment is up to a $10,000 fine and a year in jail.
Des Moines Register
Mississippi River in Davenport now higher than historic 1993 flood levels — and rising
During the historic flooding in July 1993, the Mississippi River near Davenport rose to its highest level ever: 22.63 feet.
That record is no more.
The river hit 22.64 feet shortly before noon Thursday, the National Weather Service reported, and the water continues to rise.
The river is expected to reach 22.7 feet by Friday, the weather service said. Even with a dry weekend, it's not projected to fall below 22 feet until late Sunday.
Vox
Bored and lonely? Blame your phone.
Most people assume social media is making us more narcissistic, more compulsive, and lonelier. But is that really true?
A new book titled Bored Lonely Angry Stupid tries to answer this question by looking at the past. The authors examined diaries, letters, and memoirs of a broad cross-section of Americans from the 19th and 20th centuries, trying to capture their inner lives as closely as possible. Then they conducted interviews with modern-day Americans in order to understand how their emotions are being transformed by technological change.
The idea was to see how our views of boredom, loneliness, selfhood, and community have evolved over time, and how technologies have sparked those evolutions. And what they found was striking: We don’t merely develop new devices for expressing our emotions — our devices actually alter what emotions we express.
The House just passed its first climate bill in a decade
The House passed the Climate Action Now Act in a 231-190 vote on Thursday, making it the first climate bill to pass the House in a decade. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the bill would “go nowhere,” so it’s unlikely to come up for a vote in the Senate.
Ars Technica
After a decade, NASA finally reveals root cause of two failed rocket launches
A little more than a decade ago, on February 24, 2009, a Taurus XL rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California carrying a NASA satellite designed to measure carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. However, the payload never properly separated from the rocket, and due to the extra mass, the combined spacecraft and rocket failed to reach orbit.
Two years after this, on March 4, 2011, another Taurus XL rocket launched from Vandenberg, again carrying a science payload for NASA. This Glory satellite would have measured the properties of sulfate and other aerosols in the atmosphere. Again, the payload failed to properly separate from the rocket, and it was a total loss.
Combined, the loss of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory and Glory satellites cost the space agency $700 million. In the years since, the space agency's Launch Services Program and the rocket's manufacturer, Orbital Sciences—which has since been acquired by Northrop Grumman—have been conducting investigations into what happened.
Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew is dead at 74
Peter Mayhew, who portrayed Chewbacca in all the character's live-action scenes until 2015's The Force Awakens, has died at his home in Texas. The British-born actor was 74 years old.
Mayhew was an aspiring actor working as a hospital orderly in 1976 when George Lucas tapped him to play the part. Mayhew's primary qualification for the job was his height: he stood 7 feet 3 inches tall (220 cm). That was tall enough to tower over Darth Vader, played by the six-foot-six (200 cm) David Prowse. Mayhew didn't utter Chewbacca's famous grunts and growls—those were voiced by sound-effects legend Ben Burtt.