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riversedge's JournalBrian Stelter Reports CNN Staff 'Up in Arms' Over Hiring of Ex-Trump Official as Editor
Source: mediaite.com
by Tommy Christopher | Feb 20th, 2019, 1:16 am 353
Many media figures were instantly horrified by CNN’s hiring of former Trump Department of Justice official Sarah Isgur Flores as a political editor, and according to CNN’s Brian Stelter, so are many of CNN’s other staffers.
Stelter spent much of Tuesday night tweeting updates about the hiring, then published a detailed story on the controversy that included extremely dissatisfied comments from several unnamed CNN staffers:
“We hired a former Trump administration official to help ‘guide’ our coverage of his re-election,” a baffled editor said. “Reporters are up in arms about this.”
“This just feels like a disaster,” one of those reporters said. “I’m really, really worried about this, and concerned about the ethical implications of taking direction on stories from someone I covered when she was an operative in 2016 and who pledged loyalty to one of the candidates in the 2020 race. This seems different and much more problematic to me than your typical political-media revolving door hire.”
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Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/tv/brian-stelter-reports-cnn-staff-up-in-arms-over-hiring-of-ex-trump-official-as-editor/
CNN’s baffling, self-sabotaging hire of Sarah Isgur
The network’s new political editor is a former Trump official who has never worked in journalism
https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/02/19/cnn-s-baffling-self-sabotaging-hire-sarah-isgur/222913
Blog ››› February 19, 2019 3:24 PM EST ››› SIMON MALOY
Melissa Joskow / Media Matters
Early on in the Trump administration, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions ran into a staffing problem as he took over the Department of Justice. According to The Washington Post, Sessions very much wanted to hire longtime Republican political operative Sarah Isgur as his chief spokeswoman, but she had “criticized [President Donald] Trump, repeatedly, during the 2016 Republican primaries,” and thus her “prospects for a Justice Department job stalled.” To break the logjam, the Post reported, Isgur paid Trump “a cordial visit during which she told the president she was on board with his agenda and would be honored to serve him.”
The incident was noteworthy when the Post reported it last April because it demonstrated both the president’s overriding need for loyalty and the willingness of Republican operatives to kiss Trump’s ring as a means of career advancement. The story has taken on new relevance now that the same Sarah Isgur who personally expressed her loyalty to the sitting president has reportedly been hired as a political editor at CNN.
In certain respects, this is a baffling move by CNN. According to Politico, which first broke the news, Isgur will assume her editorial role at the network in March and “will coordinate political coverage for the 2020 campaign.” Isgur is a career political operative -- she’s worked for Sessions, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the Republican National Committee, and Carly Fiorina’s failed 2016 presidential campaign -- but there is no indication that she has ever worked in any capacity as a journalist (unless you count appearing as a pundit on cable news, which you should not). CNN has hired a person with zero experience producing news to oversee the production of news.
Not only that, but the network has turned over its 2020 political coverage to a person who is more or less a walking conflict of interest. Politico notes that Isgur, because of her employment history, “will not play a role in covering the Department of Justice.” How on earth can a cable news channel have a political editor who can’t cover DOJ? The workings of the Justice Department are at the heart of some of the most critically important political stories of the Trump era. The Russia investigation and the special counsel’s office are going to be hugely important topics for the 2020 campaign, and Democratic candidates are likely going to spend considerable energy attacking DOJ policies that Isgur defended, such as Sessions’ legal assault on sanctuary laws for undocumented immigrants.
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Fake milk is real news, as synthetic alternatives threaten traditional dairy farms
I hope this catches on fast. Mother Earth will be happier
Fake milk is real news, as synthetic alternatives threaten traditional dairy farms
To prevent consumers from becoming confused between regular milk and plant-based milk, dairy farmers are asking the FDA to enforce the definition of milk as “lacteal secretion from milking one or more healthy cows."
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/fake-milk-real-news-synthetic-alternatives-threaten-traditional-dairy-farms-n973236
Image: Cows at the Skyline Dairy farm near Grunthal, Canada, on March 16, 2018.
There are just over 40,000 dairy farms in the U.S., down from 650,000 in 1970.Trevor Hagan / Bloomberg via Getty Images file
Feb. 19, 2019, 1:40 PM CST
By Cassie Slane
The old question “Got milk?” has a complicated answer these days, because it all depends on what you mean by “milk.”
Consumers could soon be faced with confusion in the dairy aisle as they wonder if the milk they’re drinking came from a cow — or was made in a lab.
Perfect Day Foods is one company creating a synthetic milk alternative. It's similar to milk in that it consists of casein and whey, the proteins found in milk. However, a cow was never used to produce their product. Instead, the animal-free dairy product is made in a lab using genetically engineered yeast programmed with DNA to produce the same proteins found in cow’s milk.
Silicon Valley-based Perfect Day Foods says its animal-free milk is better for the environment and healthier than cow’s milk because it’s lactose-free, hormone-free, antibiotic-free, gluten-free and cholesterol-free. The company also claims the product tastes more like milk than other plant-based milk alternatives. Plus, its overall environmental impact is substantially lower than that of conventionally produced milk, according to a preliminary report by The University of the West of England..................................
Smaller tax refunds put GOP on defensive
Smaller tax refunds put GOP on defensive
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/430305-smaller-tax-refunds-put-gop-on-defensive
By Naomi Jagoda - 02/18/19 02:20 PM EST
The Trump administration and key GOP lawmakers are playing defense after early data showed Americans are getting smaller tax refunds in the first filing season under the GOP tax law.
The average refund size through Feb. 8 was 8.7 percent smaller than the same period last year, according to IRS figures. Democrats have seized on the numbers, arguing they prove that the 2017 tax-code overhaul by Republicans was a “scam” designed to help the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.
Republicans have pushed back, emphasizing that most people are seeing a reduction in their total tax liability and that smaller refunds are preferable because they mean taxpayers were paying a more accurate amount throughout the year via their paychecks.
“Critics of the tax cuts are squealing that lower refunds means that taxpayers are paying more in taxes. That argument is pure hogwash,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a statement Friday, as part of a Q&A document published by his office. .............................
McCabe will be on @Lawrence at 9 pm CT--coming up (10 ET)
McCabe told Congress 'Gang of 8' leaders about FBI probe into Trump. They had no objection.
Source: nbc
The former acting director said on NBC's "Today" show that the president's "threats" against him have been "horrific" for him and his family.
Feb. 19, 2019, 7:07 AM CST / Updated Feb. 19, 2019, 10:07 AM CST
Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe told NBC's "Today" show on Tuesday that he briefed congressional leaders about the counterintelligence investigation he had opened into President Donald Trump and that "no one objected."
"That's the important part here," McCabe told Savannah Guthrie, who had asked if he had informed the "Gang of Eight" bipartisan group of leaders on the Hill. "No one objected. Not on legal grounds, not on constitutional grounds and not based on the facts."
The purpose of the briefing in 2017 was to let the congressional leadership, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, then-House Speaker Paul Ryan and their Democratic counterparts, know what the FBI was doing in the probe into Russian election interference and possible collusion by the Trump campaign, McCabe said.
"Opening a case of this nature (is) not something that an FBI director, not something that an acting FBI director would do by yourself, right?" he said. "This was a recommendation that came to me from my team. I reviewed it with our lawyers. I discussed it at length with the deputy attorney general, and I told Congress what we had done."
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Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/ex-fbi-official-mccabe-responds-lying-trump-attacks-calls-them-n972981
So, high ranking Repubs knew but did not go running to fox news like they did when Comey sent a letter informing them they were looking into more Hillary emails a few weeks before the election!! damn
Andrew McCabe: Congressional leaders did not object to Russia probe
Feb. 19, 201900:51
Oh boy. Judge Amy Berman Jackson doesn't seem happy with Roger Stone.
Glad the judge did not let this pass.
Natasha Bertrand
?Verified account @NatashaBertrand
Oh boy. Judge Amy Berman Jackson doesn't seem happy with Roger Stone.
https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/1097880949935800320
Puesto Loco™
? @PuestoLoco
17m17 minutes ago
Wake up America!! It's not about Judge Jackson. It's about the Trump Crime Family NOT being allowed to mock & tear down the rule of law. Every one of these thugs will emulate Stone & he knows it. Mueller has many more to go & this must STOP NOW! Watch Trump join in now.
4 replies 26 retweets 67 likes
DaleWillResist
📣
? @awelab1956
Replying to @PuestoLoco @NatashaBertrand
I think Trump will stay silent. This has been brewing 24 hrs.
The number of companies quitting Britain or slashing jobs can't be attributed to bad luck any more.
The day ‘Project Fear’ got real
Number of companies saying it’s time to move out of UK is picking up.
https://www.politico.eu/article/the-day-project-fear-got-real/
Updated 2/19/19, 10:48 AM CET
Britain must now contend with an unprecedented number of companies saying that they are packing their bags or warning that they will do so | Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
The number of companies quitting Britain or slashing jobs can’t be attributed to bad luck any more. There are just too many.
Japanese carmaker Honda made a major announcement on Tuesday: It will close its plant in Swindon by 2022. That means cutting 3,500 jobs and a calamitous knock-on effect on all the smaller companies that supply and service Honda in southern England.
This is only the latest instalment of a snowballing disinvestment, which was never in the Brexiteers’ script. From the beginning of the Brexit battle, leading Conservatives always insisted that Remainers were stoking “Project Fear” by arguing that major companies would quit Britain if the U.K. left the single market.
But a trickle of departing businesses is now becoming a stream. Prime Minister Theresa May is gambling that she can win a game of high-stakes political brinkmanship with the EU, but the U.K.'s reputation as a safe destination for foreign direct investment has already taken a heavy knock.
The Dutch government this month gloated that it had helped 42 companies make the switch from the U.K. to the Netherlands in 2018 because of Brexit and is in talks with more than 250 others about making a move.......................
@JillWineBanks 🗽 This should become the most popular hashtag ever. #WhyAllTheLies.
Jill Wine-Banks
?Verified account @JillWineBanks
6h6 hours ago
Jill Wine-Banks Retweeted Patty Smith
😺😺🇺🇸
🗽
This should become the most popular hashtag ever. #WhyAllTheLies.
https://twitter.com/JillWineBanks/status/1097595708545339392
McCabe: 'I was fired because I opened a case against the president'
McCabe: 'I was fired because I opened a case against the president'
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/17/mccabe-fired-trump-fbi-1173596
Updated 02/17/2019 09:25 PM EST
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said he was ousted from the bureau in March 2018 because he opened two investigations into President Donald Trump 10 months earlier.
“I believe I was fired because I opened a case against the president of the United States,” McCabe told host Scott Pelley during an interview on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday.
Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions dismissed McCabe — a little more than a day before he was set to formally retire — at, Sessions said, the recommendation of the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which cited findings from a report by the Justice Department’s inspector general.
The department watchdog concluded that McCabe inappropriately authorized the disclosure of information to a Wall Street Journal reporter about an ongoing investigation into the Clinton Foundation, and lied about the leak to officials at DOJ.
Trump tweeted at the time that McCabe’s firing marked “a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI — A great day for Democracy.”
Reflecting on that pronouncement during his “60 Minutes” appearance, McCabe said: “The idea that this president would know what a great day for the FBI or a great day for democracy was is preposterous.”.....................
Trump says U.S. has the world's "hottest" economy -- he's way off
Lots of good graphs in this article.
Trump says U.S. has the world's "hottest" economy -- he's way off
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-economy-is-less-hot-than-president-trump-claimed-in-his-state-of-the-union-address/
By Irina Ivanova
Updated on: February 11, 2019 / 5:33 PM / MoneyWatch
In his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump made a big claim about recent economic growth, extolling the U.S. for having "far and away the hottest economy anywhere in the world."
True, America's economy is strong. But not only is it not the world's hottest -- China, India and a host of other developing nations are growing faster -- it's already significantly cooler than it was just six months ago.
That doesn't mean the country is about to plunge into recession. Most private economists and the Federal Reserve expect the economy to grow at a rate above 2 percent this year. But increasingly, signs are telling workers and investors they shouldn't wait for the expansion to move any faster. Here are the indicators that it has already slowed down.
Unemployment is off record lows..............
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