In rambling 50-minute phone call to friends at Fox, Trump attacks impeachment and claims call from Sondland “never took place”...--at one point, Trump says he won’t be impeached, at another he says he wants a trial in the Senate
--Trump’s aggressive behavior collides with the tactics of his cult of GOP defenders
--building on Fiona Hill’s testimony, NY Times offers details of Russian scheme to blame Ukraine
--journalist Yasha Levine flatly says: meddling in 2016 by Ukrainian politicians and government agencies happened
--Rush Limbaugh and other Trump loyalists are salivating over Inspector General Horowitz report and Durham investigation
--Ukraine-born Harvard Prof. Serii Plokhy defends the official narrative of US-Ukraine relations in new in-depth interview
--Plokhy also talks about his new book on the brief episode in 1944 when US flyers used Soviet airbases in Ukraine, and it ended in ways that led to the Cold War
--and in part 2 of the podcast, photojournalist Rich Cahan talks about a powerful photo book of WW2 and its anti-war theme
--Fiona Hill’s testimony centered on Russian meddling, but NY Times shows how former Fox exec runs dual disinfo websites, one for left, one for right
--violent protests and ensuing crackdowns are so numerous we can’t track them all
--David Brooks captures the moment fairly well, considering who he is
--in Bay Area visit with megadonors, Obama offers more bad advice
--Bernie Sanders, the target of Obama’s comments, is rising in the national polls
--and former Hillary supporter Melissa Batchelor Warnke explains her transition to “the Bernaissance”
--Kevin Gosztola responds to the smears of Tulsi Gabbard
--Google’s new political ad policy is criticized for ending microtargeting without addressing disinformation
--Portland, OR jury deals potentially fatal setback to Longshoreman’s union
--thousands of American workers had paychecks cancelled after huge fraud by exec at electronic payroll firm
--despite no evidence he gave secrets to China, former CIA officer gets 19-year prison term
--US judge orders Iran to pay reporter Jason Rezian $180 million for 18 months incarceration of him and his wife
--Indiana Supreme Court hears case of suspect who took GPS tracker off his car
--in arrogant, petty and tone-deaf move, SF Mayor and City Attorney make an endorsement in LA DA race
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