PBC News & Comment: Moderate Dems Doom Party to Irrelevance

DINO Joe Manchin of West Virginia drags Democrats to the right at wrong time, as cautious, poll-driven corporate leaders miscalculate….--Manchin pressed Schumer to end shutdown over Dreamers, said “this place sucks” and now says he will seek another term in November
--NY Times columnist Frank Bruni dialogues with former MA governor Deval Patrick and centrist consultant Joe Trippi to preach wrong sermon to Dems
--Democratic pollster warns that young voters will sit out midterms unless the party takes on Trump
--as he responded to Manchin, Schumer made a big blunder: offering full funding for The Wall; now, he’s trying to unring the bell, and it will fail
--videos show Border Patrol agents destroying water bottles left for immigrants by humanitarian group, and one of its members is arrested
--in an effort to inoculate the public against Russiagate skepticism, Washington Post runs “explainer” about “anti-FBI conspiracy theories”
--after firing Comey, Trump asked #2 FBI boss Andy McCabe who he voted for for president
--leaks indicate that Mueller’s team has interviewed Comey, Sessions, and CIA Director Mike Pompeo
--New York City filles $500 million lawsuit against corporate drug kingpins who profited from millions addicted to opiods, thousands who have died
--Trump, who was never invited to Davos by fellow CEO’s, descends on forum with most of his wealthy cabinet members….what’s their agenda?
--after 150 victim statements, former gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar gets 40 to 175 years
--Rep. Pat Meehan refuses to resign over sexual harassment settlement, offers public confession about his “soul mate”
--NFL rejects ad in Superbowl program from veterans group, urging crowd to stand for national anthem
--in San Francisco, identity politics loses out in vote for interim mayor
--on its website, NSA changes mission statement, deletes “honesty” and “openness” from core values listing
--doctors who examined Julian Assange report that his confinement has led to “dangerous” impact on physical and mental health
--unnamed American with dual citizenship is still held in Iraq, and ACLU wins restrictions on his transfer to Saudi Arabia
--Chinese civil rights activist Chen Guangchen exposes Apple’s deal which enables massive government surveillance in op-ed