Several news outlets reported this week that the report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller III into Russian interference in the 2016 election is imminent.
But we might learn more today. CNN reports that “Friday may be the day that special counsel Robert Mueller tells all in the long-running court saga of Paul Manafort’s prosecution.
Mueller’s sentencing memorandum is due to a federal judge in DC District Court before midnight Friday.
There was a brief moment of pause on Presidents Day when we saw that Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, was ranked 44th in the “Presidential Greatness Survey” published Monday by the American Political Science Association.
How could this be? How could he not be 45th? Who could possibly be worse?
Alas, clarity came when we realized that the survey counts President Grover Cleveland’s non-consecutive administrations as a single presidency, meaning Trump came in dead last at 44.
The survey put President Obama 8th, making him the the greatest living president.
Trump has nowhere to go but up. But don’t hold your breath.
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Meanwhile, The New York Times published an article headlined “Intimidation, Pressure and Humiliation: Inside Trump’s Two-Year War on the Investigations Encircling Him.”
The key sentence: “The episode was among the first of multiple ham-handed efforts by the president to carry out a dual strategy: publicly casting the Russia story as an overblown hoax and privately trying to contain the investigation’s reach.”
Tick tock.
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Sobering news this week from Politico, which published a story saying that a wide-ranging disinformation campaign aimed at Democratic 2020 candidates is already underway on social media, with signs that foreign state actors are driving at least some of the activity.
The main targets appear to be Sens. Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke.
“A Politico review of recent data extracted from Twitter and from other platforms … suggests that the goal of the coordinated barrage appears to be undermining the nascent candidacies through the dissemination of memes, hashtags, misinformation and distortions of their positions. But the divisive nature of many of the posts also hints at a broader effort to sow discord and chaos within the Democratic presidential primary.”
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On the good news front, the Omaha World-Herald said Sen. Tony Vargas “received a standing ovation, and hugs, on Tuesday after he announced on the floor of the Legislature the birth of his first child.
“Ava Kay Vargas was born Thursday weighing 5 pounds, 11 ounces. Her arrival was earlier than expected, and she remains in the neonatal intensive care unit. Vargas thanked colleagues for their support of him and his family.”
Always room for another Democrat.
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In a tip-of-the-hat to our hard-working Democratic state lawmakers, the NDP delivered customized cookies bearing their “frosting caricatures” to Sens. Carol Blood, Kate Bolz, Machaela Cavanaugh, Sue Crawford, Wendy DeBoer, Matt Hansen, Sara Howard, Megan Hunt, Rick Kolowski, Steve Lathrop, Mike McDonnell, Adam Morfeld, Patty Pansing Brooks, Dan Quick, Tony Vargas, Lynne Walz, Justin Wayne, Anna Wishart.
We hope they shared!
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The NDP posted a series of videos on our Facebook page that were made for the recent Democratic National Committee Winter meeting.
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The Hill reports House Democrats are wasting no time in their effort to block President Trump’s emergency declaration at the southwest border, scheduling a floor vote Tuesday on the disapproval resolution introduced Friday by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas).
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced the plan Friday on a conference call with reporters, where she framed Trump’s unilateral move as a power grab that defies the constitutionally dictated separation of powers and threatens the working of the country’s democracy.
“[It] does violence to our constitution and therefore to our democracy,” she said. “We do not have a monarchy; we have a separation of powers in our country.”
Hear, hear.
–By Kevin O’Hanlon/NDP Communications Director
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IMPORTANT DATES
March 9: NDP Training: Candidate Interest Training/Voter Registration, Voter Education, Vote By Mail
March 10: NDP Training: Block Captain Training
March 29-31: State Central Committee Meeting, Trainings and Caucus Meetings
April 8: NDP Salute to State Senators
April 9: City of Lincoln Primary Election
May 7: City of Lincoln General Election
