President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani on Sunday said it's "possible" that president spoke to his former attorney Michael Cohen ahead of his congressional testimony.

"Which would be perfectly normal," Giuliani told CNN's "State of the Union." "So what?"

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/426202-guiliani-says-trump-might-have-talked-to-cohen-about-his-testimony-so

https://imgur.com/a/lR0mU9q

https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/1085619915829108736

Thomas Jefferson: “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter,”

When the Framers enshrined the freedom of press into the Constitution, they understood that journalists are an essential component of democracy. “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter,” Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter in 1787.

The role of the press has not changed since. Journalists remain the “custodians of conscience” in the United States, said Theodore Glasser, professor emeritus of communication at Stanford University, in an interview with the HPR. They “look for violations of the moral order … the norms concerning what’s right and wrong.”

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http://harvardpolitics.com/united-states/the-nations-watchdog/

https://twitter.com/ChatByCC/status/1084077377238511616

Over half a century ago, the researchers Lloyd Free and Hadley Cantril identified a paradox in American public opinion that largely holds true today. Most Americans, they argued, were “ideologically conservative” but “operationally liberal” when it came to their beliefs about government. People liked the idea of limited government in the abstract, believing they could and should be able to get along without government’s help. But when you asked them about the specific things government does, it turned out that they liked just about all of them, and thought government should spend as much or more to keep performing those tasks.

This contradiction, and the persistence of that abstract belief in small government, is in large part what allows Republicans — whose positions on policy issues are mostly unpopular — to stay competitive and hold on to power. But the partial shutdown of the federal government is giving all of us a vivid demonstration of what government actually does. By taking it away.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/01/11/shutdown-is-reminding-everyone-good-things-government-does/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.87d827d37027

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Catherine Shoichet
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From the archives, a transcript of @jaketapper's reporting on @TheLeadCNN on April 5, 2016:

I am surprised this gaping hole in Donald's case hasn't gotten much air play

The pay people take home after accounting for inflation fell 1.3 percent last year, a new analysis shows. The findings come a year after President Donald Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, with his administration promising it would deliver "immediate" wage growth to workers.


Yet many workers' wages aren't keeping pace with the cost of living, compensation-data company PayScale found. That's concerning because it indicates more Americans are falling behind -- despite seeing the lowest U.S. unemployment rate in nearly 50 years -- and could struggle to maintain their standard of living when the next recession inevitably rolls around

.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/feeling-poorer-thats-because-real-wages-fell-last-year/