Just Last Week, GOP House Inserted Loophole To Weaken Russian Sanctions

On this morning's "Morning Joe", Eddie Glaude, Jr., noticed that Republicans are going right back to saying nothing against Trump, and so soon. : EDDIE GLAUDE, JR: ...I think it's important to understand that Republicans -- after Charlottesville, they didn't want to be marked with racism, didn't want to be seen as racist.

Helsinki: How About a Fresh START?

As US President Donald Trump heads to Helsinki for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump's critics continue to inveigh against what they consider an illicitly close relationship between the two, a perspective stemming from the "Russiagate" scandal drummed up by supporters of Hillary Clinton to explain her defeat in the 2016 presidential election. Russiagate or not, this summit may represent the two countries' last, best opportunity to halt or even reverse a decade of backsliding toward frigid Cold War relations.

All Hail The Mighty Whistlepig

House Speaker Paul Ryan explained Thursday that a family of woodchucks moved into his Chevy Suburban recently, eating the wiring, and rendering the car useless. "My car was eaten by animals," Ryan said, to laughs from an audience at an event hosted by the Economic Club of Washington D.C. "It's just dead."

USDA Approves Three New Poultry Plants on Assurances of Chinese Government Alone

Today, advocacy group Food & Water Watch sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue questioning the agency's controversial decision to approve three new poultry slaughter facilities in China as "equivalent" to facilities operating under the USDA's food safety system. The letter cites the "irregular" process in approving these facilities and asks for clarification on how the decision was made.

NORMS

The obsession with norms-over-substance is truly baffling. It isn't that the norms don't matter at all, but they are a means, a process, not a result. It's just Washington as dinner party, not as a place where important decisions are made that affect everybody.

New EPA chief Andrew Wheeler has a fondness for right-wing media and climate-denier blogs

Scott Pruitt, ousted administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency , had cozy relationships with right-wing media outlets and combative relationships with the mainstream press. Andrew Wheeler, who's stepped in as acting administrator, has also shown a fondness for right-wing media and signs of disdain toward some mainstream media.