Putin, Shutdown, Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 3 Stories You Should Read 12/21/2018
Confluence Daily is your daily news source for women in the know.
In the category of: Not the Christmas gift we were hoping for…
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has cancerous nodules removed from a lung
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had two cancerous nodules removed from her left lung Friday at a New York hospital, the Supreme Court announced.
In the category of: Buckle-up.
Trump Says A Government Shutdown Would ‘Last For A Very Long Time’
Trump tried to build the case that Democrats would bear responsibility if there’s no deal over his demand for border wall money.
The shutdown crisis could be one of the final acts of the House GOP majority before relinquishing control to Democrats in January.
Congress had been on track to fund the government but lurched when Trump, after a rare lashing from conservative supporters, declared Thursday he would not sign a bill without the funding. Conservatives want to keep fighting. They warn that “caving” on Trump’s repeated wall promises could hurt his 2020 re-election chances, and other Republicans’ as well.
The GOP-led House voted largely along party lines, 217-185, to attach the border wall money to the Senate’s bill. House Republicans also tacked on nearly $8 billion in disaster aid for coastal hurricanes and California wildfires.
In the category of: Where are the skeletons hidden?
Enquiring minds want to know.
We know that Cohen played the fixer in Trump’s dealings with Pecker and that he played a similar role in Trump’s dealings with Putin. Cohen has already confirmed that he was a go-between in Trump’s efforts to secure a deal to build Trump Tower Moscow. Peskov, Putin’s spokesperson, even lied on Cohen’s behalf, in order to back up Cohen’s story (until Cohen’s public confession).
We also know that Cohen worked with Pecker to cover up embarrassing information about Trump. Did he do the same thing in collaboration or parallel effort with Putin, as Steele’s document suggests? “According to [a] Kremlin insider,” Steele wrote in a memo dated October 19, 2016, “Cohen now was heavily engaged in a cover-up and damage limitation operation in the attempt to prevent the full details of Trump’s relationship with Russia being exposed.”
And if so, what favors might Trump have been willing to offer Putin in return for his help? Because like Pecker, you can be sure that Putin, too, keeps a favor bank, including a record of all loans and other disbursements.
What happens when he comes to collect?
