1. Michael Flynn
2. Michael Cohen
3. George Papadopoulos
4. Paul Manafort

HEADS UP:  These are just the ones who have been adjudicated specifically about the Russians.

That right there is a list of Trump aids and campaign surrogates who have lied about contacts with Russians.

Anybody wanna guess #5?  Roger Stone, Don Jr.? Brett Kavanaugh (no, wait, that’s the who lied about beer list)

I dunno about you, but this is looking kinda suspicious. You know, like (1) they are all lying about the same damn thing, (2) they all must have felt pretty confident in getting a presidential pardon, and (3) they are all members of the white males crime syndicate mixed up with Russians.

And then just to add a little fun to the mix, Andrew McCabe, former FBI director, “took copious notes.”

Former FBI assistant director Greg Brower told MSNBC on Thursday that he worked “closely” with former acting FBI Director Andre McCabe, saying the author of the latest inside look at President Donald Trump’s administration took “copious notes” about everything he did, and that he fully expected more bombshell revelations to come.

You know for a dead certain guaranteed fact that somebody went in there with a wire.  You know it happened.  Thelma’s already warming up her hearing aid for that.

For about a week now, I have had reason to believe that Beto O’Rourke is not running for president, but he’s interested in running for Senate against John Cornyn.  He really, really wants to be a senator.

Politico picked up on it today.  There’s all kinda of political chess going on, with Texas Democrats feeling relief that we no longer have to beg candidates to run, but the new feeling of being tangled in primary fights kind of scares us.

Julián Castro lost a lot of goodwill when he decided to sit 2018 out. His presence in a statewide race might have carried the weight to have thrown the senate race to Beto and lifted other statewide candidates and judicial candidates.  There’s still some heavy resentment about that.

MJ Hagar, a female war hero and excellent candidate, came awfully close to beating a well financed incumbent Republican congressman in 2018.  She is also thinking about running against Cornyn. If not, she ought to take on the congressman again.

And there’s even talk of Wendy Davis running.  She has been conspicuously absent since losing the Governor race four years ago. Conspicuously.

I’m sure there will be lots of squirreling around through the summer so I haven’t even polished up the crystal ball yet.  Texas is getting to be fun.  Finally.

Manafort is going to jail for the rest of his life.  That was one tough federal judge.

More tomorrow.

Staying three or four feet ahead of the sheriff and his posse, another Trump appointee is packing up and leaving town.

Brock Long, who investigators determined misused government vehicles during 400-mile commutes to his home in North Carolina, is stepping down as the head of FEMA, the agency chief revealed.

The unauthorized trips cost the taxpayers $151,000.  He has also been politely asked refund the cost of a family vacation to Hawaii. Funding the lavish lifestyles of Trump’s friends is eating its way through the my wallet.

This is the dude who was FEMA chief during the Puerto Rico hurricane. I guess the paper towels were his idea.

Get this: before he left he sent an email to staff thanking them for this “incredible journey.” He ignored thanking them for every damn thing he could steal.

Thanks to SGray for the heads up. 

Okay, okay, don’t get too excited because he did pay for it himself.  However, you can bet he didn’t. You can bet that somebody paid for it for him. You know, like a gift from Sheldon Adelson or something.

But, here’s the deal.  Trump bought himself a new toy for $50,000.  It’s a super duper deluxe fancypants golf simulator.  And he needed it because he was running out of things to do during his Executive Time.

They pretty much figure that this is the one he bought.  They say it takes about an hour and half to play a round of golf on your own using this toy.

He had it installed in their private living quarters so nobody would know how much he’s playing golf or kissing the teevee screen when Sean Hannity comes on.

Thanks to Jaime for the heads up.

The New York Times.

President Trump declared that he was “not happy” about the bipartisan compromise on border security, but said he did not think the government would shut down on Friday. The deal includes just $1.375 billion for new fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border, much less than in the proposal he rejected in December.

So he’s getting less than he would have gotten if he’d approved the first deal?

He’s getting 55 miles of fencing, which is just a tad shy of the 1,000 miles of a wall that he proposed.

And who is Trump blaming?  Even I couldn’t have come up with this one.

A few weeks ago, in a meeting with restrictionist immigration group leaders, Mr. Trump faulted former Speaker Paul D. Ryan, a fellow Republican, for repeatedly deferring action on the wall, with promises of doing it down the road. “Now he’s out fishing!” Mr. Trump declared, according to an attendee.

Paul Ryan? You mean the guy that had Nancy Pelosi’s job?  Remember that guy?  Yeah, blame him.