Episode 275: Testing Russia's Nerves

Russia has launched a diplomatic counter-offensive, demanding that its scientists be involved in investigating the reported poisoning of former spies. Trump plans to send the Coast Guard to the border, and that’s just the highlights.

We also talk about PBS’s “exclusive” look at the US’s “Cyber Defense”, discuss the latest in the Muller investigation, and end it all on a great high-note.

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• We examined Julian Assange, and he badly needs care – but he can’t get it | Sondra S Crosby, Brock Chisholm and Sean Love | Opinion | The Guardian — The WikiLeaks founder has a human right to healthcare. It will not be met while he remains confined in the Ecuadorian embassy
• Mick Mulvaney, Consumer Bureau’s Chief, Urges Congress to Cripple Agency - The New York Times — Mr. Mulvaney, a longtime and unapologetic critic of the financial crisis-era bureau, has spent the last several months freezing its enforcement activities, dropping cases on payday lenders and shutting out career staff from major decisions. He has called for the bureau to be more “humble” and less aggressive in its efforts to protect consumers and to consider the impact on businesses when making decisions.
• Mueller Probe Into U.A.E. Influence Broadens - WSJ — Special counsel’s latest inquiry into the activities of a U.S. ally suggests he is looking more closely at foreign influence in Washington
• Mueller's Dishonest Attempt to Defeat Transparency | Law & Crime
• Mueller has broad authority to investigate Trump's former campaign boss — Robert Mueller, the U.S. Justice Department’s special counsel, is specifically authorized to investigate allegations that Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, colluded with Russia to interfere with the 2016 presidential election, a court filing showed late on Monday.
• Trump jabs Amazon for a fourth time this week on post office costs — The president reinforces his assessment that Amazon's business is costing taxpayers "many billions of dollars" through subsidized rates at the United States Post Office.
• Pain In The Pump: Gas Prices On The Rise « CBS Baltimore
• PDF Outlining Muller Authority
• Dutch lawyer is first person to be sentenced in Mueller probe, gets 30 days in prison
• Turmoil inside KOMO News as conservative owner Sinclair mandates talking points | The Seattle Times
• A hacked Twitter account spread fake news during YouTube shooting - The Verge — The account hijacking seems to have taken place while Lavrusik and his colleagues were still near the scene of the attack: Lavrusik reported himself safe at 2:36pm PT, and the hoax tweets began posting just 20 minutes later.
• This Is What We Know About YouTube Shooter Nasim Aghdam — The woman, who posted frequently on the video-sharing platform about animal rights and veganism, said she believed YouTube had discriminated against her.
• Police talked with YouTube shooter hours before attack -- and say didn't notice anything disturbing - CNN — Eleven hours before she shot up YouTube headquarters and then killed herself, Nasim Najafi Aghdam chatted with police.
• What We Know About YouTube Shooter Nasim Aghdam — Yesterday, at approximately 12:46pm local time, multiple 911 calls were made from 901 Cherry Ave in San Bruno, California, the headquarters of YouTube. Police arrived, responding to an active shooter who we now know to be Nasim Najafi Aghdam, a 39-year-old from San Diego.
• YouTube Policies Led Woman to Target Its Offices in Shooting, Police Say - The New York Times
• Who Is Nasim Najafi Aghdam? Suspect In Shooting At YouTube Headquarters Identified By Police — According to NBC affiliate KNTV, Aghdam controlled multiple YouTube channels, one of which featured videos of her speaking Farsi. Video topics include hand art and animal rights.
• Porton Down chief Comment — Porton Down chief Gary Aitkenhead announced that he cannot confirm that the nerve agent used to poison Sergey Skripal and his daughter was produced in Russia
• Russia to convene UN Security Council emergency meeting — Russia to convene UN Security Council emergency meeting on 5 April on the Salisbury poisoning
• Media Propaganda Doesn't Start or End With Sinclair — However, this parroting of news material is not new, and is not exclusive to Trump or Sinclair. For years, smaller media outlets have pointed out the peculiarity of local news stories sounding awfully familiar across the U.S. Among the most popular illustrations of this practice is a segment called “Media Reacts” from Late Night With Conan O’Brien, in which O’Brien pokes fun at the identical media messaging from local news stations.
• Roger Stone email about Assange dinner leaks — Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone talked of meeting with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in an email obtained by One America News Network's Trey Yingst.
• nasimesabz iranian vegan yesil nasim persian activist artist ARCHIVE
• Foreign Office forced to admit it DELETED tweet falsely claiming Porton Down confirmed nerve agent was 'produced in Russia' - Mirror Online — Both Boris Johnson and the Foreign Office are now accused of wrongly saying Porton Down confirmed the Novichok used on Sergei Skripal was from Russia
• Leaked Texts Suggest Coordination Between Obama White House, CIA, FBI And Dems To Launch Trump-Russia Probe | Zero Hedge — A series of text messages between FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and DOJ lawyer Lisa Page have revealed the involvement of Denis McDonough, Obama's chief of staff, John Brennan, Obama's CIA director, and former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in helping create an atmosphere of paranoia that gave them the political cover to launch the Russia probe back in the summer of 2016.
• Poisoned Door Handle Hints at High-Level Plot to Kill Spy, U.K. Officials Say — This theory suggests that an assassin, who Britain believes was working on behalf of the Russian government, walked up to the door of Mr. Skripal’s brick home on a quiet street in Salisbury on March 4, the day that he and his daughter, Yulia, were sickened.