The Coming Showdown Between the Branches

31 January 19

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31 January 19 AM

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FINAL DAY - WE SURELY NEED A GOOD ONE - Barring a very big donation, we will not make our goal for January. But we have made up a lot of ground in the past few days and we do have a chance to keep it close. Stop for just a moment and throw something in the hat. In peace and solidarity. / Marc Ash, Founder Reader Supported News

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The Coming Showdown Between the Branches 

Margaret Taylor, Lawfare Blog
Taylor writes: "With the new Democratic majority in the House of Representatives sporting an aggressive oversight agenda on national security and foreign policy issues, it's only a matter of time before a raft of congressional subpoenas are fired off from Capitol Hill."
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CIA director Gina Haspel accompanied by FBI director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee. (photo: Jose Luis 

Trump Again Unleashes Assault on the US Intelligence Community for Disputing His False Claims
Shane Harris and John Wagner, The Washington Post
Excerpt: "President Trump lashed out at the government's most senior intelligence leaders Wednesday, his latest assault on the spies and analysts who work for him but sometimes deliver facts that he doesn't want to hear."
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ICE officers. (photo: AP)

ICE Ran Fake College to Target Undocumented Immigrants
Scott Bixby, The Daily Beast
Bixby writes: "For years, the Department of Homeland Security has operated a fake university in the Detroit suburbs as part of an undercover operation that lured undocumented immigrants seeking to obtain fraudulent student visas."
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Sen. Mitch McConnell. (photo: Getty)

Republicans Are Losing It Over a Bill to Make Voting Easier
Rafi Schwartz, Splinter
Schwartz writes: "When Democrats unveiled their first major legislative initiative after retaking control of the House in November, they made clear that front and center in their efforts would be a significant push to expand voting rights, and access."
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A smartphone user shows the Facebook application on his phone. (photo: Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

Facebook Pays Teens to Install VPN That Spies on Them
Josh Constine, Tech Crunch
Constine writes: "Desperate for data on its competitors, Facebook has been secretly paying people to install a 'Facebook Research' VPN that lets the company suck in all of a user's phone and web activity, similar to Facebook's Onavo Protect app that Apple banned in June and that was removed in August."
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Houthi rebels in Sana'a after a reported airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition. (photo: AFP)

US Lawmakers to Reintroduce Bill to End Support for Saudi-Led Forces in Yemen
The Middle East Eye
Excerpt: "US Senators Mike Lee and Bernie Sanders are on opposite sides of the ideological spectrum - the former, a Republican from Utah, is a staunch conservative and the latter is a Democratic socialist from Vermont."
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Joshua Tree National Park. (photo: iStock)

Joshua Tree National Park 'May Take 300 Years to Recover' From Shutdown
Ashley Boucher, Guardian UK
Boucher writes: "The former superintendent of Joshua Tree national park has said it could take hundreds of years to recover from damage caused by visitors during the longest-ever government shutdown."
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POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: MOULTON’S staff switch — THE MORE THINGS CHANGE — The CASE against opioids

MOULTON’S staff switch — THE MORE THINGS CHANGE — The CASE against opioids

Jan 31, 2019 View in browser   BY STEPHANIE MURRAY GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Stay warm out there! MOULTON'S STAFF SWITCH — A few days before he heads to the early voting state of New Hampshire, Rep. Seth Moulton is making a staff change. Moulton's press secretary, Matt Corridoni, told me Wednesday he's moving onto the political side of Moulton's team full-time. Corridoni previously split his duties between the congressman's House office and the political side of his operation. Tim Biba will handle communications for Moulton's House office, Corridoni said. Biba comes from the office of Washington Democrat Rep. Derek Kilmer and has previously worked for the Clinton Foundation and former Rep. Bill Owens, according to his LinkedIn page. The move comes just days before Moulton's scheduled speech at an event hosted by the Bedford Democratic Committee in New Hampshire on Saturday, a move that's sparking speculation as to whether he will run for president in 2020. But for now, Corridoni said his own move isn't indicative of any Moulton presidential ambitions. Instead, Corridoni said it will allow him to manage press for Moulton's Serve America PAC and Moulton's non-official press, which includes traveling for veteran and next generation candidates. Corridoni has worked for Moulton since May 2017. KENNEDY'S STEP UP — Rep. Joe Kennedy III was named vice chairman of the House Energy and Commerce panel's Oversight and Investigations subcommittee yesterday, which places him in a position to challenge many of the Trump administration policies he's been most vocal about as a lawmaker. Investigations into family separations at the southern border, efforts to erode the Affordable Care Act and enforcement of environmental protections will run through the committee, Kennedy's office said. The Massachusetts Democrat has been actively raising money for people seeking asylum at the southern border via his email list, and hit $250,000 in donations earlier this month. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com. TODAY — Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito announce grants and a college housing pilot with Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders and Commissioner of Higher Education Carlos Santiago in Framingham. The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution holds a policy forum. Rep. Richard Neal makes a defense funding announcement at Westover Air Reserve Base. The state Senate considers rules in formal session. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh speaks at a New England Council breakfast. Rep. Katherine Clark is a guest on "Greater Boston." DATELINE BEACON HILL — "Rules debate spirited, but almost nothing changes," by Andy Metzger, CommonWealth Magazine: " AN INFLUX OF NEW MEMBERS is changing the atmosphere of the House chamber, but in the first deliberations of the 2019-2020 session on Wednesday, Speaker Robert DeLeo and his Democratic backers made sure the chamber's rules remained the same. In the debate over a set of rules to govern the chamber, dissenting Democrats and Republicans pitched a range of different proposals with a general theme of extending the opportunities for review and public input on legislation. But the proposals were shot down by the majority Democrats who described those efforts as well-meaning but ill-advised measures that would jam up the legislative process." — "Bio folks cool to Baker drug proposal," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "GOV. CHARLIE BAKER'S proposal to rein in the cost of high-priced drug treatments got a cool reception on Wednesday at a MassBio policy breakfast, but most industry officials didn't appear to have their own ready-made alternative. In his fiscal 2020 budget proposal, Baker sought legislative permission to demand additional rebates from the manufacturers of very high-priced drugs - and if that effort fails to reach a satisfactory result to refer the manufacturers to the Health Policy Commission for hearings and possibly to Attorney General Maura Healey for prosecution under state consumer protection laws ." — "POLITICS CHANGING AROUND IMMIGRATION BILL, SUPPORTERS SAY," by Matt Murphy, State House News Service:"The concerns over immigration enforcement in Massachusetts haven't changed, but advocates and progressive Democrats on Beacon Hill are hoping that the politics may have. Immigrant advocacy groups assembled at the State House on Wednesday to begin to lobby House and Senate lawmakers in support of the newest version of the Safe Communities Act, a controversial piece of legislation that would bar local police and court officials from helping to enforce federal immigration law." DAY LATE CHARLIE!  CHARLIE IS SO BUSY FUNDRAISING AND GLAD HANDING, THERE'S NO OVERSIGHT OF HIS POLITICAL HACKS. UNLESS THE MEDIA REPORTS IT, CHARLIE IGNORES IT.   — "Gov. Baker urges MassHousing to get in line with spending," by Joe Dwinell and Mary Markos, Boston Herald: Gov. Charlie Baker is urging the embattled MassHousing agency to adopt strict administration guidelines to cut down on the cost of lobster dinners and pricey junkets to Las Vegas. The appeal, made by Baker on Wednesday at a State House veterans' association luncheon, follows a series of Herald stories highlighting the lavish travel and dinner habits of the agency tasked with developing affordable housing in the state ." — WHERE'S MY INVITE: "Governor Baker may fly down to Atlanta to watch the Super Bowl in person," by Matt Murphy, State House News Service: "With the New England Patriots set to compete for another Super Bowl championship Sunday, Governor Charlie Baker said Wednesday he's thinking about taking in the big game in person. 'I may be in Atlanta. I've been talking to some of my friends about whether we can get down there or not,' Baker told reporters." FROM THE HUB — "Somerville is suing opioid makers and distributors, alleging negligence and fraud," by Danny McDonald, Boston Globe:"Somerville has become the latest Massachusetts community to turn to the courts in its fight against the state's opioid crisis. The city filed a lawsuit in Middlesex Superior Court on Wednesday against 19 opioid manufacturers and distributors, alleging negligence and fraud, according to a statement from Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone's office." — "On a frigid night, volunteers canvas Boston for the annual homeless census," by Danny McDonald and Andrew Stanton, Boston Globe: "With temperatures in the single digits, more than 300 volunteers fanned out across Boston Wednesday night for the city's annual homeless census. The census records information about all homeless people in Boston, including those who are living on the street, in emergency shelters, domestic violence programs transitional housing, and in specialized programs serving homeless youth and veterans, according to a statement from Mayor Martin J. Walsh's office." — "JFK Library reopens after 'stressful' government shutdown," by Daniel Sheehan, Dorchester Reporter: "The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum reopened Tuesday after being closed since December 22 due to the government shutdown. With federal funding cut off, the the Columbia Point facility saw its programming and activities suspended for over a month, while the building remained vacant and its staff went furloughed without pay. Library Director Alan Price said he was excited to be back open, but acknowledged the hardships enacted upon his employees by the shutdown." DAY IN COURT — "SJC to hear Globe request for court criminal records in secretive hearings," by Todd Wallack, Boston Globe: "The Boston Globe's lawsuit to open up the records of thousands of closed-door criminal court hearings is expected to be heard by the Massachusetts high court this spring. Justice David A. Lowy, who heard initial arguments in the case in late December, decided to refer the Globe's lawsuit to the full panel of Supreme Judicial Court judges in a written ruling this week. Lowy said oral arguments should be scheduled for sometime in April." WARREN REPORT — "Top Democrats introduce bill to prevent U.S. from striking first with nuclear weapons," by Paul Sonne, Washington Post:"Legislation introduced by Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate on Wednesday would bar the United States from using a nuclear weapon unless attacked with one first, demonstrating growing momentum for anti-nuclear sentiments on the left in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a 2020 presidential contender, and Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, introduced the No First Use Act in their respective chambers to codify in law what they said 'most Americans already believe — that the United States should never initiate a nuclear war.'" — "Warren Faults 'Capitalism Without Rules' in Pushing Wealth Tax," by Sahil Kapur and Joe Weisenthal, Bloomberg: "Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren said 'capitalism without rules is theft' and defended her wealth-tax proposal as a way to raise revenue and bolster opportunity for ordinary Americans. 'I believe in capitalism. I see the wealth that can be produced, but let's be really clear,' the Massachusetts senator said Wednesday in an interview with Bloomberg TV. 'Encouraging companies to build their business models on cheating people — that's not capitalism.'" — "Warren in the cross-hairs — where she wants to be," by Michael Jonas, CommonWealth Magazine: "FIRST HOWARD SCHULTZ called her tax-the-rich plan 'ridiculous' in an NPR interview Tuesday morning. Michael Bloomberg piled on later in the day in New Hampshire, saying it would set the country on the road toward the chaos of Venezuela. For Elizabeth Warren, who famously claimed to have laid the intellectual foundation for the Occupy Wall Street movement, sweeter words could not have been spoken. The Massachusetts senator has made her bones by positioning herself as the watchdog ready to take on the millionaires and billionaires who write all the rules. Having two billionaire would-be competitors for the White House come after her, then, is just the sort of attention Warren wants." DATELINE D.C. — "Romney to speak before closed-door meeting of drug industry CEOs," by Nicholas Florko, STAT: "Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) plans to deliver an address to a closed meeting of the drug industry's powerful lobbying group on Thursday, a clear sign of the industry's interest in courting the newly minted lawmaker. Romney's plans to speak at the upcoming board meeting of PhRMA — to be attended by CEOs from major drug makers like Merck, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson — were described to STAT by three drug lobbyists. He is scheduled to appear for 30 minutes." — "K Street women seek closer ties to female lawmakers," by Kate Ackley, Roll Call: "The 131 female lawmakers on Capitol Hill have inspired a new collaboration on K Street that swaps in girl power for the ol' boys club. A collection of female lobbyists and organizations is launching a new bipartisan effort, called 131 & Counting, to fete the unprecedented number of women serving in the House and Senate (including four nonvoting delegates), to build connections with them, and to encourage more women to run for office." 2020 WATCH — "Former Mass. Gov. William Weld to announce possible run for president," WCVB: "William Weld, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts who was the Libertarian Party's nominee for vice president in 2016, is mulling a run for president and could make an announcement about a possible presidential run as soon as Thursday. Sources tell NewsCenter 5 he has taken a leave of absence from his law firm and it is unclear whether he is announcing the run or announcing the formation of an exploratory committee." ABOVE THE FOLD — Herald: "SUPER BOWL SPECIAL INSIDE!" "JAILHOUSE JUSTICE," — Globe: "To some, a less-than-super Bowl buildup," "Trump blasts top intelligence officials," "HISTORIC COLD ACROSS MIDWEST." ALL ABOARD — "Violent crime on MBTA dropped 5 percent in 2018, remains at 'historic lows,'" Travis Andersen, Boston Globe: "Violent crime in 2018 on the MBTA declined from the previous year, and such crimes have remained at 'historic lows' over the last three years, thanks to the 'dedication of the men and women' on the Transit Police force, Superintendent Richard Sullivan said Wednesday. In a phone interview, Sullivan said the T has seen a 22 percent decline in part one crimes from 2016 to 2018. Part one crimes include homicide, rape, assault to rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, auto theft, and arson." FROM THE 413 — "Smith College adopts new policies after authorities were called on a black student," by Deirdre Fernandes, Boston Globe:"Smith College has adopted new campus policing guidelines aimed at reducing clashes between school officials and minority students after an employee called authorities on a black sophomore who was relaxing in a common area last summer. The revised policies require dispatchers to gather more information about the caller and the allegedly suspicious person to determine that a police response is warranted and to reduce racial profiling." THE LOCAL ANGLE — "Cape schools stand to take hit in education funding," by Cynthia McCormick, Cape Cod Times: "Preliminary estimates from the state Department of Revenue show charter school tuition reimbursement declining in every school district on the Cape except Mashpee. Projections show Sandwich would stand to lose the most. Charter tuition reimbursement would decline from $491,884 this fiscal year to $235,925 next year, according to Gov. Charlie Baker's $42.7B budget proposal." — "Settlement reached in sexual harassment case against Fall River seafood plant," by Jeremy C. Fox, Boston Globe: "More than five years after the alleged workplace misconduct against Fuentes Herrera and several co-workers began, a federal judge on Wednesday approved a $675,000 settlement in a federal lawsuit against Atlantic Capes and BJ's Service Co., a New Bedford staffing firm. Each will each provide half that sum." — MEANWHILE IN VERMONT: "Higher education struggles are hitting Vermont hard," by Laura Krantz, Boston Globe: "Green Mountain College and the other higher education institutions sprinkled across Vermont have felt as permanent as the mountains and valleys they stand on, but that ground is shifting quickly. Higher education is the third- largest industry in Vermont, yet the state faces a particularly acute version of the challenges that threaten the industry nationwide. It has the most colleges per capita yet one of the fastest-declining high school populations in the country — offering a sobering look at what might be in store for the rest of the nation." — REMEMBERING JACQUELINE STEINER - per her obit: "When Jacqueline Steiner wrote most of the lyrics in 1949 for what is popularly known as 'Charlie on the MTA,' she considered it a 'toss-off, an occasional song that would soon be forgotten' — a fate much like what befell poor Charlie, who was trapped forever on the subway. Instead, it became one of the best-known Boston songs — rivaled only by such anthems as 'Dirty Water' — and the namesake of the modern-day MBTA's CharlieCard. Ms. Steiner was 94 when she died of pneumonia Friday in Norwalk, Conn., where she had lived since 1980." Link. TRANSITIONS — Eleanor Anaclerio is now senior account manager for ThinkArgus, a creative agency in Boston. She previously was senior account manager at POLITICO Pro. — Lauren Young is digital campaign manager of Freedom For All Americans, an LGBTQ advocacy group. Young was deputy campaign manager for MA3 candidate Alexandra Chandler. — Robert W. Iuliano, a senior vice president at Harvard, has been named president of Gettysburg College. SPOTTED: At WBUR's ribbon cutting for CitySpace at the Lavine Broadcast Center last night ... Charlie Kravetz, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine, Paul and Patty Gannon, Gary Nicksa, Timothy Mansfield, Jon and Margot Davis, Bill Collatos, Fredi and Howard Stevenson, Corey and Anya Thomas, Liz and Phil Gross. SPOTTED: Barney Frank at LGA. pic. HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to Kathi Reinstein, director of policy & legislative affairs for Treasurer Deb Goldberg; Eleanor Anaclerio and Bob Norris. DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? Yes! The Celtics beat the Hornets 126-94. Want to make an impact? POLITICO Massachusetts has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Bay State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you're promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness among this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com.   Follow us on Twitter Stephanie Murray @StephMurr_Jour   Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook  |  Playbook PM  |  California Playbook  |  Florida Playbook  |  Illinois Playbook  |  Massachusetts Playbook  |  New Jersey Playbook  |  New York Playbook  |  Brussels Playbook  |  London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters

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FOCUS: Roe v. Wade Is Under Immediate Threat

30 January 19

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APPEAL FOR IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE ON CONTRIBUTIONS: While we have made some progress on the April funding drive in the past 48 hours we are still well short of our goal. If everyone pulls together we can finish quickly. If you have not donated recently please throw something in the hat. In Peace and Solidarity. / Marc Ash, Founder Reader Supported News

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FOCUS: Roe v. Wade Is Under Immediate Threat 

Mark Joseph Stern, Slate
Stern writes: "If the Supreme Court doesn’t stay a Louisiana law next week, states will have a clear path to nullify the constitutional right to choose."
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RSN: Mort Rosenblum | On Zapata, Bogey and Circling Vultures

30 January 19 PM

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TOOTH PULLING PROGRESS ON DONATIONS - We are pulling teeth here for donations and by gosh it’s starting to work a little. Little by little we are starting gain a little momentum on the November funding drive. A lot of people are contributing what they can now. Please lend your support. Sincere thanks to all. / Marc Ash, Founder Reader Supported News

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RSN: Mort Rosenblum | On Zapata, Bogey and Circling Vultures 

Mort Rosenblum, Reader Supported News
Rosenblum writes: "A growing number of outraged Americans are ready for rebellion." 

UCSON, Arizona – Two movie scenes, both by serendipitous circumstance from 1952, have always powered me through dark nights of the soul when it seemed as if humanity’s better side was losing it. They may no longer be enough.

In “Viva Zapata,” peasants stop troops taking Marlon Brando – Zapata – to jail for resisting a corrupt president. One aims a machete at the telegraph line to prevent a call for backup. If you cut that, an officer shouts, it’s rebellion. Brando growls, “Cut it!”

In “Deadline U.S.A.,” a mobster phones Humphrey Bogart, editor of “The New York Day” to warn him not to run an exposé, or else. “What’s that noise?” he asks. Bogey replies: “That’s the presses, baby. And there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”

A growing number of outraged Americans are ready for rebellion. Presses roll at a big New York daily and another in Washington. In too many other cities, however, bad guys simply buy out newspapers, gut the staff, and dictate “content” that suits them.

Whether acquisitions are driven by politics or greed, the result is the same. As conflict, climate collapse, and economic perils steadily worsen, Americans are fast losing touch with global reality.

Some are isolated cases. Sheldon Adelson, the casino mogul who essentially dictates U.S. policy toward Israel, bought the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2015. He tried to hide his ownership until the paper’s own reporters outed him.

But consider Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund that a Washington Post piece called “one of the most ruthless of the corporate strip-miners seemingly intent on destroying local journalism.” A lawsuit alleges it drained its newspaper division to buy into a Canadian pharmacy chain and purchase Greek debt, among other things.

Last year, Alden added the Denver Post to its 170 papers and laid off a third of the staff. Top editors quit in disgust. Now the vulture hedge fund is circling the distressed Gannett chain of 220 papers, including its flagship, USA Today.

When Gannett launched USA Today in 1982, we joked that the Pulitzers needed a new category: Best Investigative Paragraph. It soon began to expand, and I nearly left AP to be its roving foreign correspondent. Then it refocused on America.

In its heyday, Gannett lavished profits on its Freedom Forum foundation to promote free-press values around the world. In 2008, its Newseum in Virginia morphed into a seven-story, $450 million temple of journalism on Pennsylvania Avenue.

The Newseum displayed daily front pages of 80 papers from around the world. It amassed relics of the trade, even the red dress Helen Thomas wore to White House briefings. It is closing as I write, on January 29. Johns Hopkins University just bought the building for $375.2 million.

Now remnants of an imperiled calling are scattered to the winds. What will happen, for instance, to a memorial urn to Larry Burrows, Henri Huet, Kent Potter, and Keisaburo Shimamoto, revered photographers killed in a 1971 helicopter crash in Laos?

But it’s much more than that. If Alden hamstrings the Gannett empire, with such old stalwarts as the Detroit Free Press, Louisville Courier-Journal, Indianapolis Star, Cincinnati Enquirer, and Arizona Republic, global coverage will shrink along with local news.

As America obsesses on itself and polarizes, ideology permeates mass media. The Sinclair Broadcast Group, for instance, aids Donald Trump’s war on truth, feeding scripts to 193 TV stations covering 40 percent of the United States. Fox “News” thrives.

I’ve made much of a quote by H.R. Knickerbocker, who covered Nazi Germany and kept at it until 1949, when he died with a planeload of journalists that went down in India. In those postwar days, reporters went out to cover news where it happened.

“Whenever you find hundreds of thousands of sane people trying to get out of a place and a little bunch of madmen struggling to get in,” Knickerbocker wrote, “you know the latter are newspapermen.”

Madmen, increasingly also women, are still out there. But along with state-backed assassins, murderous terrorists, and kidnappers seeking ransom, many face cold-blooded executives who ignore principle and public service to maximize profit.

Too many people back home, who they risk their lives to inform, attach no value to their hard-won words and images, considering it free for the taking along with so much distant guesswork that flows in torrents to anyone with an Internet connection.

No need to dwell on this point. The debate is limitless and endless, and new models across multimedia platforms evolve almost by the hour. But delivery systems, abbreviated compilations, and uninformed opinion do not equate to actual reporting.

The Associated Press I left in 2004 occupied 50 Rockefeller Plaza, by a statue of Atlas holding up a globe. A tradition-bound nonprofit, it shunned “paid content” and steeped a seasoned staff in ethics and basic skills. It has since moved – and changed.

Five newspapers formed AP as a cooperative in 1846 – as it happens, to cover a war with Mexico. It grew into the world’s principal news source. Gandhi once joked that when he reached the hereafter, he’d find a waiting AP reporter. Not so likely today.

AP still has lots of good reporters, but skeleton bureaus with slashed travel budgets rely heavily on untested stringers. Because its members can’t, or won’t, cover operating costs as before, it hustles other income. One page on its dot-org website is emblazoned: “ADVERTISE WITH US.”

Next door at 30 Rock, NBC kept bureaus across the world to do its own up-close reporting. A handful of them remain. William Arkin, a 30-year veteran, just quit with a scathing 2,228-word memo condemning its role in the “Trump circus.” He is no outlier.

CBS, at nearby Black Rock, has come a long way from Ed Murrow to Les Moonves. ABC, not far away, suffers similar problems in a quest for ratings.

The midtown Time-Life tower is an empty echo of what Henry Luce began building in 1929. An American software billionaire bought Time for about $190 million. A Thai businessman snapped up Fortune for a little less. And so on, across a deeply troubled industry that amounts to our eyes and ears beyond those two wide oceans.

There are bright spots, as new energy in Washington inspires enlightenment and increased philanthropy supports fresh ideas. Young professionals with new skills often cover reality more effectively than us old crocodiles with a lifetime on the job.

But at the core, unless reporters collect news firsthand, adding context and analysis, they inevitably mislead. Plenty of them are ready to accept the workload and the risks. Few can pay their own expenses or leave their families without income.

Too many media executives believe trusted, trained journalists are a needless expense when so many alternatives come at so little cost. But if they’re not out there, neither are we. Democracy can’t survive, let alone prosper, on long-distance guesswork.

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Kim Jung Un. (photo: Getty)

Trump Just Admitted North Korea Might Keep Its Nuclear Weapons
Alex Ward, Vox
Ward writes: "For months, President Donald Trump and top administration officials have maintained that they struck an agreement with North Korea to end its nuclear program. But after US intelligence officials on Tuesday openly contradicted that, Trump seems to be walking that back just a bit."
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Nearly every leading Democrat running for president has endorsed Medicare for All. (photo: Bill Clack/Roll Call)

Here's What Single-Payer Advocates Want to Hear From 2020 Democratic Primary Contenders
Addy Baird, ThinkProgress
Baird writes: "As the Democratic primary gets underway, advocates want clear answers from contenders about what they really mean when they talk about Medicare for All and confirmation that their vision for single-payer in the United States includes the complete elimination of private health insurance."
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Isiah Kinloch was a victim civil asset forfeiture. (photo: Josh Morgan/Greenville Post)

TAKEN: How Police Departments Make Millions by Seizing Property
Anna Lee, Nathaniel Cary and Mike Ellis, The Greenville News
Excerpt: "Police are systematically seizing cash and property - many times from people who aren't guilty of a crime - netting millions of dollars each year."
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Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou and Gov. Scott Walker. (photo: Getty)

Foxconn May Not Build $10 Billion Wisconsin Plant Trump Touted
Reuters
Excerpt: "Foxconn is reconsidering plans to make advanced liquid crystal display panels at a $10 billion Wisconsin campus, and said it intends to hire mostly engineers and researchers rather than the manufacturing workforce the project originally promised."
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Venezuelan National Assembly head Juan Guaidó. (photo: Getty)

ALSO SEE: As US Moves to Oust Maduro, Is Invading Venezuela Next?
Allan Nairn on Trump's Attempted Coup

The US Should Stay Out of Venezuela
Ronan Burtenshaw, Jacobin
Excerpt: "Unfortunately, underlying all of this is a return to a kind of Cold War politics in Latin America."
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Polar vortex descends on the Midwest. (photo: Getty)

Extreme Cold Gripping Midwest Does Not Debunk Global Warming, Experts Say
James Rainey, NBC News
Rainey writes: "Climate authorities, including those inside Trump's government, said the record-setting cold does nothing to contradict the consensus on climate change."
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