Russiagate

• The political center made the Russiagate conspiracy theory the acceptable narrative. [Link]
• Michael Treacy argues Hillary Clinton played an important role in promoting the Russiagate narrative. [Link]

Criminal Justice

• The FCC has issued over $200 million in fines for ‘robocalling’ but has only collected $6,790. Since 2004, the FCC has issued over a billion in fines for calls that violate ‘Do Not Call Lists’ and has only collected about 8% of the fines. [Link]
• The DEA secretly – and without a warrant – collected bulk information on Americans who purchased money counting machines. The DEA attempted to keep this spying program from defendants at trial. [Link]
• Tyler Barriss receives a 20-year sentence for calling in a false report of a hostage situation – known as a SWATting prank – that resulted in police killing an unarmed man. [Link]
• Two men have been free in Florida after spending 43 years in prison for a murder they did not commit. The men had an alibi for the time of the murder. [Link]
• Police release the video of the Willie McCoy shooting. McCoy was shot several dozen times by police. [Link]

Federal Courts

• A federal judge blocks Kentucky and Arkansas from placing work requirements on welfare programs. [Link]
• A federal judge blocks California’s ban on high-capacity magazines. [Link]

Immigration

• Trump threatens to close the border with Mexico because Mexico is not doing enough to prevent migrants from traveling through Mexico to the US. Mexico’s president says he will not respond to the threat.  [Link]
• Trump cuts aid to Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. He believes these countries are assisting migrants coming to the US. [Link]

Saudi Arabia

• An investigation funded by Jeff Bezos concludes that Saudi Arabia accessed his private communications and alerted AMI to his affair. [Link]
• Secretary of Energy Rick Perry has signed at least six secret agreements with Saudi Arabia. The agreements allow US companies to sell Saudi Arabia nuclear technology. [Link]

Venezuela

• Trump demands that Russian troops leave Venezuela, and says all options are available to get the troops to leave. [Link]
• The US threatens to place secondary sanctions of foreign companies who continue to do business with the Venezuelan state oil company. In the first month of US sanctions against Venezuelan oil, the country’s oil output dropped from 1.5 million bpd to 920,000 bpd. [Link]