Morning Briefing: It Ain't Easy Being Green and Much, Much More

Good Friday morning. TGIF!

Here is what’s on the president’s agenda today:

The president arrives at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
President Trump receives his annual physical exam

Crazy AOC drops her Green New Deal

These progressives are absolutely bonkers. Kim Strassel has a nice breakdown.

1) By the end of the Green New Deal resolution (and accompanying fact sheet) I was laughing so hard I nearly cried. If a bunch of GOPers plotted to forge a fake Democratic bill showing how bonkers the party is, they could not have done a better job. It is beautiful. #GreenNewDeal

— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) February 7, 2019

This “deal” includes rebuilding every building in America, getting rid of farting cows and airplanes, and will also require government-run healthcare and paid leave.

So who is down with this mishmash? There are 60 co-sponsors!

Declared candidates Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) are all co-sponsoring the resolution, as are likely contenders Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), according to their offices. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is also on board, saying in a tweet that she is “proud to join” the “fight for our planet and our kids’ futures.”

What’s not to love about this green manifesto?

“[A] new national, social, industrial, and economic mobilization on a scale not seen since World War II and the New Deal era is a historic opportunity … to create millions of good, high-wage jobs in the United States; to provide unprecedented levels of prosperity and economic security for all people of the United States; and to counteract systemic injustices,” the resolution states.

Narrator voice: It’s not going to do any of that.

Explains AOC: “I think one way that the right does try to mischaracterize what we’re doing as though it’s like some kind of massive government takeover,” Ocasio-Cortez said on MSNBC’s “MTP Daily.” “Obviously it’s not that because what we’re trying to do is release the investments from the federal government to mobilize those resources across the country.”

Of course it’s a government takeover. If it weren’t, why did she run for Congress and introduce her resolution? She could do her green deal as a private citizen. No, the point is precisely that we use the force of government to blow up our economic system and turn it into a crippled eco-fascist regime.

A bit of whiplash from AOC, who doesn’t seem clear herself, who earlier had no problem “saying that.”

.@nprinskeep asked Rep. @AOC, D-N.Y., if she is prepared to say combating climate change requires massive government intervention:

"It does. It does. Yeah, I have no problem saying that. Why? Because we have tried their approach for 40 years." https://t.co/FaPY7vOd4v pic.twitter.com/HnxbmRyOgc

— Morning Edition (@MorningEdition) February 7, 2019

Related:

How Much Will the Green New Deal Cost?

Ocasio-Cortez: Green New Deal Not a ‘Massive Government Takeover’

Kamala Harris Signs On as Cosponsor of Radical Green New Deal

Ocasio-Cortez Tells NPR One Thing, Tells Chuck Todd The Opposite — Just Hours Later

‘Green New Deal’ lands in the Capitol

OH LORDY Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doc bought by Netflix for $10M

Mr. Amazon WaPo sez the National Enquirer was trying to extort him

Jeff Bezos wrote a little story over on Medium describing the blackmail of the National Enquirer. “Rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail, I’ve decided to publish exactly what [American Media Inc. (AMI)] sent me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threaten,” Bezos wrote.

The exchange came not long after the Enquirer had published text messages shared between Bezos and his mistress, which led Bezos to commission an investigation into how the tabloid acquired them.

According to Bezos, news of the investigation infuriated AMI chief David Pecker, whose close ties to President Trump have led to scrutiny over his role in the payments between Trump’s team and multiple women who say they had affairs with Trump. Bezos also suggested in his blog post that The Washington Post’s coverage of the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has upset Pecker.

Bezos said he and his lawyer “were approached, verbally at first, with an offer. They said they had more of my text messages and photos that they would publish if we didn’t stop our investigation.”

The Amazon CEO said the company threatened to publish the new photos and text messages if he did not stop his investigation into AMI.

The Amazon CEO included in his Medium post multiple emails allegedly sent by AMI representatives with descriptions of the photos they had obtained, including a “below the belt selfie — otherwise colloquially known as a ‘d*ck pick.'”

Ain’t nobody want to see your parts. That’s just a good rule to follow in life. Don’t take pictures or film your junk. Women do not want to see pictures of your package. Remember that.

Senate Intel: Na bro, no RUSSIA collusion

Well, golly.

Chair of Senate Intel (SSCI, pronounced “sissy”) Richard Burr (R-N.C.) sat down for an interview with CBS.

For more than an hour, Burr detailed the committee’s work and findings to date, explained why its investigation will stretch beyond its second year, and addressed the potential of a partisan breakdown at its conclusion. He described the committee’s coordination with the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, its plans for delivering a final report, and hinted at what kinds of questions it may, at least for now, have to leave unanswered.

“Many of the connections that we’ve made are the direct result of intelligence products,” he said. “I think it’s safe to say we’ve interviewed people that I don’t even know if the special counsel knows about them — but you’ve got to remember that we’re on a totally separate path than what they are.”

But here’s the money shot:

For now, Burr appears to have arrived at his answer. “If we write a report based upon the facts that we have, then we don’t have anything that would suggest there was collusion by the Trump campaign and Russia,” he said.

The finality of Burr’s assertion was jarring — but he had said a version of it before. He told Fox News in September that the committee had found no “hard evidence” of collusion, though new information could still come to light.

He now doubled down, adding it was “accurate with everything we’ve accumulated since then.”

Read or watch the whole thing.

‘Sup wit dis? Adam Schiff, Glenn Simpson and their Forrest Gump-like encounter in Aspen

Your daily WTF:

Clown-masked robbers armed with machete get beaten down by scooter-wielding grandma: cops

Historical picture of the day:

The Beatles are shown on the set of the “Ed Sullivan Show” in New York, Feb. 8, 1964. In back is John Lennon; the others, from left to right, are: George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney. (AP Photo)

Other morsels:

Former Rep. John Dingell, longest-serving member of Congress in US history, has died

UNHINGED Billionaire liberal threatens to unload on Dems if they don’t impeach Trump

Strip clubs and Big Tech find common cause in California labor fight

Idiot. Omar: Refugees at U.S. Border Are ‘Detained and Tortured’

Muslim man executed after U.S. Supreme Court denies request for imam’s presence

Scalise: House Judiciary Dems preventing testimony helped amplify my gun message

Jerome Corsi Files $25 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against Roger Stone

FDA blocks Walgreens and Circle K tobacco sales

Gotta get some of these! USPS unveils 2019 stamps honoring military dogs

Lorena Bobbitt opens up about the night she cut off John Wayne Bobbitt’s penis

‘da hell? Caregiver arrested after disabled woman in his care gave birth