More good news

1.  Reported by the New York Times:  "A panel of federal judges struck down North Carolina's congressional map Tuesday, condemning it as unconstitutional because Republicans had drawn the map seeking  political advantage."   An earlier court had also struck down the N.C. map for state legislative districts.   The decision will likely be appealed to a higher court;  but this is very significant because it is the first federal court decision on district line-drawing based on political advantage, as opposed to racial or other discriminatory bases.

Two similar cases (from Wisconsin and Maryland) are pending before the U.S. Supreme Court;  and the North Carolina case might very well be joined with them to give SCOTUS the opportunity "to develop a legal standard for determining when a partisan gerrymander crosses constitutional lines."

2.  The Senate Judiciary Committee is one of three congressional committees investigating Russia's interference in our 2016 presidential election,   Last August, it held 11 hours of testimony from Glenn Simpson, head of the Fusion GPS investigative group that commissioned Christopher Steele to produce the now infamous "dossier" about Donald Trump's connections with Russia.    Bits and pieces of the transcript of Mr., Simpson's testimony have been selectively leaded by Republicans on the committee in such a way that they have produced a distorted narrative of what actually happened.    Mr. Simpson has requested that the entire transcript be released to the public, so as to clear up these distortions.

Republican chair Chuck Grassley has refused to do so;   instead he and Sen. Lindsey Graham, a member of the committee, had sent a letter to the Justice Department asking for a criminal investigation into Mr. Steele, who compiled the material.     This is outrageous.   Steele is perhaps the most respected, former Russia expert on the British MI-6 spy agency.  He is now working as an independent investigator.   As a British citizen, he took it upon himself to alert our FBI of his discovery that alarmed him about Russian influence on our democratic process.

Leave it to a woman to ride to the rescue.    Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), who is the ranking Democratic member of the Committee, simply took it upon herself yesterday afternoon to release the entire transcript to the press and thus to the public.   Now it's out there -- and all these Republican distortions can be cleared up.   There's also some material that helps explain why the Republicans didn't want to release the transcript.  For one thing, it shoots down their narrative that the whole thing is a witch hunt, a hoax.  Second, it raises lots of questions about Trump and his financial ties to shady figures.

3.  One of the revelations in the Simpson transcript is the fact that the Steele dossier is not what started the FBI's investigation of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.   In fact, when Christopher Steele felt he had to tell the FBI what he was finding that led him to suspect that Trump was either being blackmailed or had been compromised by the Russians, the FBI believed him -- because they already had evidence that someone inside the Trump organization had information that led to this same conclusion.   That is, the Steele tip did not start the FBI's investigation;  it merely confirmed what they already knew.

4.  Steve Bannon is now out at Breitbart.    He is no longer the editorial head nor does he have his radio show -- all made possible by the billionaire father-daughter Mercer family pair who were heavily invested in the Breitbart organization.   But they are siding with Donald Trump in the spat with Bannon over comments in the Wolff book.  Steven Bannan's meteoric rise to White House strategist has been followed by a fall of Humpty-Dumpty proportions.    In the words of his former boss as to what happens to him now:   "We'll see."

5.  Several senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee have told reporters that there is nothing in the Steele dossier, other than some minor mistakes, that has been disproved.   Not everything has been proved, but nothing significant has been disproved.   And that includes statements including Trump's history of financial involvements in the past with Russian mobsters and oligarchs.

6.   One more Republican announces retirement.   Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who was at one time the chair of the House Government Oversight Committee has said he will not run for re-election.   Two years ago, he won by only 1600 votes in a district that Hillary Clinton won.   Is it the office or the man?   Every one of the Republicans who have chaired that committee during my time of interest -- Issa, Jason Chavitz, and now Trey Gowdy -- have behaved in a way that I have come to hate with a passion for being egregiously mean, totally lacking in empathy, and dedicated to partisan advantage for their party.   Good riddance.   Chafitz is already gone.  Gowdy probably has more integrity than the others, but he can be pretty obnoxious in power.

There's actually some more good news.   But let's not overdo it.   Enough for now.

Ralph