memeorandum: The First Horseman of the Privacy Apocalypse Has Already Arrived: Verizon Announces Plans … (Electronic Frontier Foundation)

10:45 AM ET, March 31, 2017

Top Items:

Mike Flynn Offers to Testify in Exchange for Immunity — Former national security adviser tells FBI, the House and Senate intelligence committees he's willing to be interviewed in exchange for deal, officials say — WASHINGTON—Mike Flynn, President Donald Trump's former national security adviser …

Mike Allen / Axios:

1 big thing: Trump, baffled and brooding — Trump, during an opioid and drug abuse listening session Wednesday n the Cabinet Room with Chris Christie, Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos / AP's Evan Vucci — President Trump brought his chaos …

Discussion: Political Wire, Raw Story, TheBlaze, USA Today, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo and Deadline

Michael Gerson / Washington Post:

Trump's failing presidency has the GOP in a free fall — In the aftermath of the GOP health-care debacle came a revealing act of candor. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan admitted that his party, which controls the House, Senate and White House, is not yet a “governing party” because it could not …

Alex Whiting / Just Security:

Flynn's Public Offer to Testify for Immunity Suggests He May Have Nothing to Say — The Wall Street Journal is reporting that former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn told the FBI and Congress that he is willing to testify in exchange for immunity. But it's not a serious offer …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Infowars, CNBC, Daily Mail, France 24, Balloon Juice, The Daily Caller, NBC News, The Week and Business Insider

Heather Caygle / Politico:

Democrats in Trump territory in no mood to deal — The 12 Democrats who represent House districts won by Donald Trump were supposed to be easy marks for the deal-making new president. — Instead, they're giving him the stiff-arm. — “I do come from a district that did flip to Trump …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, RedState, Washington Post, The Week, BizPac Review, TheBlaze, Fox News Insider and IJR

Daniel Henninger / Wall Street Journal: The House Un-Freedom Caucus

Adam Kinzinger / New York Times:
How the Freedom Caucus Is Undermining the G.O.P.

Discussion: CleanTechnica, The Hill, Outside the Beltway, The Guardian, Orange County Register and The Gateway Pundit

New York Times:
Michael Flynn Offers to Testify Before Congress in Exchange for Immunity

Discussion: USA Today, The Week, Daily Mail, Politico, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo, CNBC, Politicus USA, Mediaite, Towleroad, Raw Story, Daily Kos, The Guardian, Business Insider and IJR

Barton Gellman / The Century Foundation:

Is the Trump White House Spying on the FBI? — Today's news about Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) and his two White House sources has serious implications for all three of them. The implications may be more serious for the ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign's relationship with Russia.

Discussion: emptywheel and The Week

Eli Lake / Bloomberg:

Devin Nunes and the Tragedy of the Russia Inquiry — Last week, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Devin Nunes, announced dozens of intelligence reports that inappropriately included details on President Donald Trump's transition.

Discussion: The Hill, New York Magazine, New York Times, Taylor Marsh, CBS News, The Daily Caller, The Week, Politico, Axios, Washington Post, ThinkProgress and Washington Monthly

Rick Wilson / The Daily Beast:

Devin Nunes Is Just the Errand Boy in the Trump-Russia Scandal — For a week, Washington has stared slack-jawed at the antics of Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Flopsweat), the clown prince of the Trump-Russia intelligence and influence scandal. — To the bemusement of his colleagues on both side of the aisle …

Greg Miller / Washington Post:

Three White House officials tied to files shared with House intelligence chairman — At least three senior White House officials including the top lawyer for the National Security Council were involved in the handling of intelligence files that were shared with the chairman …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, NBC News, Business Insider, CNN, ThinkProgress and New York Magazine

Tim Mak / The Daily Beast:
Things Go From Bad to Worse for Devin Nunes and Team Trump

Discussion: New York Times, Just Security, NBC News, Politico, RedState, Business Insider, Daily Kos, BuzzFeed, Mother Jones, rubber hose, The Guardian and Shakesville

Max Greenwood / The Hill: Pelosi on Nunes: 'I've never seen behavior this bizarre'

Sarah Posner / Washington Post:
Today's Russia hearings actually revealed something new and important

Discussion: New York Times, The Week, Daily Mail, Vox, The Daily Caller, The Last Refuge and Balloon Juice

Anne Gearan / Washington Post:

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spends his first weeks isolated from an anxious bureaucracy — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson takes a private elevator to his palatial office on the seventh floor of the State Department building, where sightings of him are rare on the floors below.

Discussion: Raw Story, National Review, Daily Kos, Hot Air, Mediaite, Axios, New York Magazine, Business Insider and The Week

Brooke Seipel / The Hill:

Diplomats instructed to ‘avoid eye contact’ with Tillerson: report — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has remained relatively removed from President Trump's administration and his own department, a new report by The Washington Post says, adding that many diplomats have yet to meet him and some have been told to avoid eye contact.

Discussion: RedState, twitchy.com and The Daily Caller

McKay Coppins / The Atlantic:

The Prince of Oversight — When Donald Trump's now-notorious Access Hollywood tape first leaked in October last year, Utah Representative Jason Chaffetz reacted to the news the way he usually does—he got himself in front of a camera, and fast. — Within hours after the story broke …

Discussion: New York Magazine and The Week

Associated Press:

Michael Flynn in talks with Congress, wary of prosecution — Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn is in discussions with the House and Senate intelligence committees on receiving immunity from “unfair prosecution” in exchange for agreeing to be questioned as part of ongoing probes …

Discussion: Politico

Travis Gettys / Raw Story: Cyber expert drops Senate intel bombshell: Russia targets Trump with fake news because he'll repeat it

Adam Entous / Washington Post:
Flynn offers to cooperate with congressional probe in exchange for immunity

Discussion: The Week

Oliver Willis / Shareblue:
Intel hearing bombshell: Cyber expert says “Commander-in-Chief used Russian ‘active measures’...against his opponents”

Discussion: Raw Story and Washington Monthly

CNN:
Flynn seeks immunity for testimony

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, KFOR-TV, CBS New York and Political Wire

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:

Mistakes, He's Made a Few Too Many — Crisis will inevitably strike, so America needs stability and strength. Will Trump be ready? — Near the end of the campaign I wrote a column called “Imagine a Sane Donald Trump,” lamenting that I believed he was crazy, and too bad.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Electronic Frontier Foundation:

The First Horseman of the Privacy Apocalypse Has Already Arrived: Verizon Announces Plans to Install Spyware on All Its Android Phones — Within days of Congress repealing online privacy protections, Verizon has announced new plans to install software on customers' devices to track what apps customers have downloaded.

Discussion: Engadget, The Verge and Boing Boing

Shannon Dooling / WBUR:

ICE Arrests Green Card Applicants In Lawrence, Signaling Shift In Priorities — Federal immigration officers arrested five people in Lawrence on Wednesday when they showed up for scheduled appointments at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office.

Ashley Feinberg / Gizmodo:

This Is Almost Certainly James Comey's Twitter Account — Digital security and its discontents—from Hillary Clinton's emails to ransomware to Tor hacks—is in many ways one of the chief concerns of the contemporary FBI. So it makes sense that the bureau's director, James Comey …

Discussion: Political Wire, Techdirt, Motherboard, Boing Boing, FiveThirtyEight, Lawyers, Guns & Money, New York Magazine, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, AOL, Mediaite, The Atlantic and Newsweek, more at Mediagazer »

Morgan Winsor / ABC News:

Russia-US relations ‘maybe even worse’ than Cold War: Kremlin spokesman — Russian President Vladimir Putin's right-hand man said in an interview today on ABC's “Good Morning America” that current relations between Russia and the United States are “maybe even worse” than the Cold War.

Discussion: Politico, Business Insider, The Week, twitchy.com and Associated Press

USA Today:

Penn State trustee says he is ‘running out of sympathy’ for ‘so-called’ victims — Penn State trustee Albert L. Lord said he is “running out of sympathy” for the “so-called” victims of former Nittany Lions assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, according to an email sent to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Discussion: Mediaite

Jason Noble / Des Moines Register:

Can Steve King be defeated? History says probably not — For all the indignation ignited by his latest controversial statements, U.S. Rep. Steve King remains virtually unbeatable in his ardently conservative northwest Iowa congressional district. — That's the consensus of Iowa Republicans inside …

Thomas Black / Bloomberg:

American Jobs Are Headed to Mexico Once Again — Twitter blasts can't reverse the pull of global competition — ‘It still makes sense to go forward with their business plans’ — After Donald Trump's election, the flow of manufacturers setting up shop south of the border dwindled to a trickle.

Discussion: New York Times

Sophia Tesfaye / Salon:

Privacy payback: Protesters want to publish browsing histories of Republicans who voted to strip privacy rights — Crowdsourcing efforts have cropped up to purchase lawmakers' browsing history if President Trump signs the bill — Angry internet users have targeted Republican lawmakers …

Discussion: Sputnik International, Washington Post, Snopes.com, The Slot, Techdirt and Mashable

W.J. Hennigan / Los Angeles Times:

Trump administration stops disclosing troop deployments in Iraq and Syria — The head of U.S. Central Command, Army Gen. Joseph Votel, testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee. (Win McNamee / Getty Images) — Even as the U.S. military takes on a greater role in the warfare in Iraq and Syria …

J. David Goodman / New York Times:

Mayor Is Said to Back Plan to Close Rikers and Open Jails Elsewhere — Mayor Bill de Blasio has agreed on the contours of a plan to eventually close New York City's troubled jail complex on Rikers Island, telling those working on the issue that his position had changed, according to four people briefed on the mayor's thinking.

Discussion: Curbed NY - All

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

2 journalists sue Trump over ‘kill list’ — Two journalists who believe they are on the so-called “kill list” of individuals targeted by the U.S. for deadly drone strikes are suing President Donald Trump and other top administration officials. — Former Al Jazeera Islamabad bureau chief Ahmad Zaidan …

Discussion: The Week, more at Mediagazer »

Daniel Gross / Slate:

There's No Such Thing as a Job Americans Won't Do — “These jobs, Americans don't want,” Gene Myers, the CEO of Thrive Home Builders, told CNBC real estate reporter Diana Olick earlier this week, in a well-done piece on a labor shortage that is contributing to a construction and housing shortfall in Denver.

Discussion: Mother Jones and Forbes