Trump Budget Based on $2 Trillion Math Error

“One of the ways Donald Trump’s budget claims to balance the budget over a decade, without cutting defense or retirement spending, is to assume a $2 trillion increase in revenue through economic growth. This is the magic of the still-to-be-designed Trump tax cuts. But wait — if you recall, the magic of the Trump tax cuts is also supposed to pay for the Trump tax cuts. So the $2 trillion is a double-counting error.” More …

Gingrich an Odd Vatican Ambassador for an Odd President

“… It is astonishing that a party that celebrates family values at every turn has a president who is on his third wife and who has bragged about his extramarital affairs and who is appointing an ambassador to the Vatican who had a six-year affair with her future husband while he was still married to his second wife. That is not a rumor: Mrs. Gingrich testified to that fact under oath during her husband’s divorce proceedings.” More …

Trump Called Philippines Dictator to Congratulate Him on His Murderous Drug War

“In a phone call from the White House late last month, U.S. President Donald Trump heaped praise on Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, one of the world’s most murderous heads of state, for doing what Trump called an “unbelievable job” in his war on drugs. Trump offered an unqualified endorsement of Duterte’s bloody extermination campaign against suspected drug dealers and users, which has included open calls for extrajudicial murders and promises of pardons and immunity for the killers.” More …

Klaxon: Open-source Reporting Tool Enables Reporters to Monitor Websites for Breaking News

“The Marshall Project has launched a new open-source reporting tool, Klaxon. This web-based program enables reporters and editors to monitor scores of websites, including data-heavy governmental or corporate sites, for newsworthy changes. When Klaxon finds a new update on one of the pages it is watching, the reporter receives an alert via email, or through a designated Slack channel.” More …