Mueller’s Tea Appears Cold
Robert Mueller’s final report on the Russia investigation is here and depending on what you were hoping for, it’s not saying much. It's especially not your cup of tea if you’ve been looking for this to be the golden ticket to get Trump TF outta here. Attorney General William Barr, who has the power to determine what in the report gets shared, released a summary of the findings. In the summary, we learned that Trump’s 70+ tweets claiming “No collusion!” were validated as Robert Mueller and team were not able to find a clear coordination between the Russian government and Trump’s campaign. Russian individuals were curiously not mentioned in the summary. When it comes to whether Trump tried to obstruct justice throughout the duration of the investigation, Mueller neither charges him nor exonerates him. He instead lays out all of the evidence for Barr to make the call. Barr unsurprisingly decides that Trump did not commit obstruction. What now? Democrats will push for the full report in the name of transparency and Barr will likely testify about how he took just 2 days to decide what the Special Counsel couldn’t resolve in nearly 2 years. As for Trump, he can go about his presidential business with this particular dark cloud removed…for now.
Déjà Vu: Facebook Doesn’t Care About You
As if the world needed more reasons to see that Facebook ain’t loyal, we now know that the tech giant has been storing users’ passwords in plain text (yes, NOT encrypted) for years. What’s worse is that the information was located in an internal database that’s searchable by thousands of their employees. The issue was discovered in January during what the company is calling a routine security review. Current estimates say that between 200 million and 600 million users could be impacted across both FB and Instagram. If you’re one of those unlucky people, the company will be notifying you. In the meantime, get your social media affairs in order. Change your passwords, clear out any DMs that may get you into trouble, and delete all those old photo albums that you never want to see the light of day.
States Seek to Switch Things Up
Attempting to avoid a repeat of 2016, Colorado has joined New York, California, and roughly 10 other states in the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. This compact allows each member state to give their Electoral College votes to the winner of the national popular vote rather than the candidate who wins the majority vote in their individual state. To put things into context, this pact would have deemed Hillary the winner in 2016 versus Trump. Proponents of the agreement say this change will ensure every vote counts, increase voter turnout and push candidates to focus on more than just the critical swing states. Opponents cite a power grab by Democrats and an increased risk of election fraud as reasons why the compact should be rejected. The pact today has secured 181 electoral votes and legislation is pending in multiple states for an additional 158. The total number of votes required to give this pact legal force in next year’s election is 270.
2020 Happenings
Bernie speaks at a rally for University of California employees. Shonda Rhimes endorses Kamala. Rosario Dawson could be the nation’s First Girlfriend. Also, it looks like Trump is shook by some of the 2020 Democratic candidates, including Kamala. Here are Team Trump’s main concerns.
2020 is popping already and it’s only 2019. Don’t sleep.
Around the Diaspora
Mozambique is suffering massive flooding and other devastating effects after being hit by Cyclone Idai earlier this month. The death toll most recently rose to 450, but estimates warn that number could climb to 1000 or more. Today, the country seeks aid in surviving the aftermath. Want to lend a hand? PBS has put together a list of charities accepting donations to help our brothers and sisters in Mozambique as well as Zimbabwe and Malawi, who were also hit by the storm.
Leaders from Jamaica, Haiti and 3 other Caribbean nations are facing some heat after meeting with Donald Trump on issues related to Venezuela and energy investment.
A Kenyan teacher who donates most of his earnings wins the $1 million Global Teacher Prize in Dubai.
Culture that Pops
Jay-Z’s The Blueprint will be inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. The takeover continues.
Serena Williams joins Bumble Fund as an investor to help early-stage businesses founded by women of color.
The success of an 8 year old chess champion from New York State has led to his family getting an apartment after being homeless for 2 years.