Nicholas Grossman/Arc Digital:
Unlike the mandates for the independent counsels that investigated Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton, Mueller’s did not allow an impeachment referral to Congress, and he did not make one. But he implied that he believes an impeachment inquiry for obstruction of justice would be appropriate, noting that “if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so” but “the Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing.”
In other words, the evidence suggests Trump isn’t innocent, but it’s not the special counsel’s job to determine if he’s guilty. The Constitution gives that authority to Congress, which can take up the matter if it wants to (or not).
All of this is in Mueller’s report, and comes through clearly in the redacted version released to the public. But most Americans haven’t read it, and some prominent officials and media figures misrepresent it.
Colin McEnroe/Danbury News Times with a Dr Seuss look at Robert Mueller:
Oh, the cases Mueller found!
I’m off and away.
I’ve made my report
And I’ve said what I said.
I am not coming back.
Just consider me dead.
I assembled a lot
Of the facts that you need.
What I plainly forgot
Is how few of you read.
Jonathan Allen/NBC:
Trump turns the full force of the government on perceived political enemies
Analysis: The president is wielding power in ways not seen in the United States in generations — if ever.
"This is really a feature of petty dictators, where you see the power of investigation abilities being used as a political tool against enemies," Claire Finkelstein, the director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law at the University of Pennsylvania's law school, said in a telephone interview.
"In this case I believe it is a deliberate attempt to confuse the public, to spin a certain narrative about our intelligence community, to throw pixie dust over the facts surrounding the 2016 election," she said. "And it’s remarkable in my mind that he’s been successful with these tactics" in terms of convincing a significant share of the American public that he is the victim of a "deep state" conspiracy.
On Thursday, Trump gave the names of four people — James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Stzrok and Lisa Page — when he was asked about his past formulation that former federal officials who were involved in investigations dealing with his campaign and that of rival Hillary Clinton were guilty of treason, and reminded that the crime is punishable by death.
Lisa Miller/The Cut:
Measles for the One Percent
Vaccines, Waldorf schools, and the problem with liberal Luddites.
If you live among or near certain quarters of the progressive left, among the art and fashion and tech elites who shop at farmers’ markets and worry about toxins in the air and water and believe that hiring a doula may gentle today’s medical-industrial approach to giving birth, then you have probably heard of Waldorf schools. Perhaps you have friends whose children go to one, or perhaps you’ve yearned for such a community for your own, knowing that Waldorf signals a countercultural wholesomeness, a respite from the onslaught of modern forces you’re pretty sure aren’t good for kids: the wide-open access to violence, snark, and pornography available with every Wi-Fi connection; the birthday-party goody bags stuffed with plastic crap; the stress and anxiety you see on very young children already worried about how they’ll do on the test. If you are the kind of person who sees self-interested, app-driven American capitalism as a threat to the preciousness of childhood and to a durable, intimate family life, then you are, at least conceptually, in Waldorf’s prospective audience. Waldorf parents, many of whom are themselves deluged by busyness and stress, agree that they will expose their children to no technology — none, including television, movies, and recorded music, even on long car rides — until middle school. The parents who work at Apple, Google, and Hewlett-Packard and send their kids to the Waldorf School of the Peninsula, in Menlo Park, California, endorse these limits with psychic relief — they know too well what their kids need protection from.
It’s early but there’s no sign of the blue wave receding, nor is it building further. Stasis is bad for Trump, but we still have impeachment and his tariff taxes to consider. More on this from G Elliott Morris/crosstabs:
The political mood still favors Democrats, but noisy signals abound
The data indicate that the Democrats are retaining much of the momentum they had heading into last year’s mid-term elections, but anecdotes suggest that may not be painting the full picture. Though it is not currently an election season (though it is in my heart of hearts!) mobilization efforts seem to be wavering, or at best holding constant. This is especially true when compared to 2017. Let’s review the evidence and discuss.
Reid Epstein/NY Times:
Gun Issues, Long at the Fringe, Now Loom Large for Democratic Candidates
“If you look at past cycles, at best they were dipping their toe in the waters and now they’re diving in head first,” said John Feinblatt, the president of Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun control group funded by Mr. Bloomberg. “It shows the changed political calculus.”
At the same time, the N.R.A. is mired in bitter internal battles over its finances that could imperil the organization. After spending $60 million to back President Trump in the 2016 election, the N.R.A. spent just $20 million on the 2018 midterm contests. N.R.A. officials have stayed out of the Democratic candidates’ gun-control debate, concluding that weighing in on competing proposals would only help Democratic candidates’ fund-raising.
WaPo:
In January, Virginia GOP killed bill to ban sales of large-capacity magazines
Each year, Democrats propose multiple gun-control measures, such as strengthening background checks, limiting handgun purchases to one per month and allowing localities to regulate guns in public buildings. They call these “common-sense” measures to save lives.
Each year, Republican majorities in one or both chambers of the legislature vote them down, usually in committee. GOP legislators say their goal is never to infringe on people’s Second Amendment rights.
See Joe Biden.
Blue is better than red.