PBC News & Comment: Trump Brands US as Rogue Nation

Trump makes good on threat to scuttle Iran nuclear agreement, making US an unreliable rogue nation; risk of war increases substantially….--more details surface on secret efforts by Israel’s Black Cube to undermine Obama officials who weren’t directly involved in negotiations with Iran
--Bloomberg News exposes the role of Palantir—collaboration of CIA’s InQTel and Peter Thiel—in Big Data op that’s been monitoring Iranian compliance
--emboldened by Trump’s promotion of Israeli policies, cabinet minister threatens Syria and Assad
--big gains for Hezbollah in Lebanese elections
--corporate media stoke support for CIA nominee Gina Haspel, touting her experience and downplaying her role in torture and rendition
--VIPS issued two memos today, one supporting Iran agreement, the other opposing confirmation of “Bloody Gina”
--at Buzzfeed, Jason Leopold uncovers CIA documents about rendition and torture, with admissions that torture doesn’t produce useful intel
--Greenwald predicts Dems will use “villain rotation” to help confirm Haspel while posing as Resistance
--Super-ish Tuesday as 4 Midwest states hold primaries
--Pelosi urges conserva-Dems to run against her, “Just win, baby”
--in Omaha House primary, Dem leaders back former Republican and ignore pro-choice woman
--WhoWhatWhy asks if GOP voter suppression is a bigger problem than Russian meddling
--within hours of damning New Yorker expose, NY state AG Eric Schneiderman resigns
--executives of giant drug distribution companies are sorry about the opioid crisis, but it’s not their fault, they claim
--Iran Contra schemer and Fox News idiot Ollie North named NRA president
--Melanie Trump spoke stiffly to Teleprompter as she launched a PR campaign exploiting our children as TrumpCo lowered the boom on American and immigrant kids
--Scott Pruitt’s EPA “security concerns” related to “friendly” and “unfriendly” crowds
--EPA was apparently unable to block release of study that shows Roundup is more dangerous than its active ingredient, glyphosate
--Kim Jong-un flew to Chinese coastal city for meeting with Xi Jinping