Ditching Donald Trump: Wave of Republican retirements points to big GOP trouble in 2018

“Republican members of Congress returned from an August recess in which they avoided terrible headlines by doing their darnedest to avoid their constituents only to face an even bleaker political landscape awaiting them in Washington. With few legislative results to tout, several congressional Republicans have opted to head into 2018 by taking the road of least resistance: retirement. ”  More …

Sputnik, the Russian news agency, is under investigation by the FBI

“The FBI recently questioned a former White House correspondent for Sputnik, the Russian-government-funded news agency, as part of an investigation into whether it is acting as an undeclared propaganda arm of the Kremlin in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). As part of the probe, Yahoo News has learned, the bureau has obtained a thumb drive containing thousands of internal Sputnik emails and documents — material that could potentially help prosecutors build a case that the news agency played a role in the Russian government “influence campaign” that was waged during last year’s presidential election and, in the view of U.S. intelligence officials, is still ongoing.”  More …