‘Drugs. Hell yeah.’ Forget about impeachment for a moment as we take a look at the latest developments in the war on drugs. Lisa Kaczke of the Argus Leader directs our attention to a new ad campaign that just launched in South Dakota: ‘Meth. We’re On It.’ South Dakota taxpayers paid a Minnesota ad agency around $449K for that anti-meth ad campaign (at least we think it’s anti-meth? Be sure to note the url.). And to be clear, “Yes this is real and yes the state spent nearly half a million dollars on it,” as Dianna E. Anderson tweets. 
The upside? Comedy. “Crack: Let’s Smoke It,” tweets Sam Baker. Jamelle Bouie offers, “For half the cost of this campaign I will develop an even better slogan: ‘Drugs. Hell yeah.’” And as Drew Magary points out, “A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? METH.” Speaking of drugs and inexplicable things, Bob Van Voris of Bloomberg reports that a Miami professor who wrote a book on drug trafficking and organized crime has been accused of money laundering. As Joe Weisenthal points out, “he literally wrote the textbook on it.” “Doesn’t sound like much of an expert to me,” says Anthony De Rosa. Meanwhile, Timothy Carney notes, “I’ve written two books in crony capitalism.” Sock-puppet army pulls wool over SEC’s eyes 
One more before we get into the rest of it today: Also at Bloomberg, Zachary Mider and Ben Elgin report that the SEC chairman cited an outpouring of support from regular Americans for a new policy. But his letters of support smell fishy. Weisenthal weighs in again: “Oh man. The Chairman of the SEC, Jay Clayton, appears to have been duped by fake letters, that ostensibly came from normal people, but were actually part of a corporate PR campaign. great read from @zachmider and @ben_elgin.” Adds Paul Davies, “Amazing: sock-puppet army pulls wool over SEC’s eyes.” “America: wake up,” tweets Stefania Spezzati. So you’re saying this is all a dream? Because that would explain a lot. Impeachment hearings OK back to impeachment. As Rebecca Ballhaus, Brody Mullins and Gordon Lubold report at The Wall Street Journal, two national-security officials began testifying publicly today about their alarm at the July 25 call in which President Trump pressed his Ukrainian counterpart to undertake investigations that could benefit him politically. Ben Pershing highlights the fact that “The U.S. Army is monitoring Vindman’s security and is prepared to move him and his family to a local military base if necessary following his impeachment testimony.” Jim Roberts reminds us, “Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman is a Purple Heart-wearing Iraq War veteran who was a first-hand witness to Trump’s fateful call with the #Ukraine president. He and his family worry that their safety is endangered for his speaking the truth.” Meanwhile, Alison Kodjak says, “Here’s something people can ask Pompeo about at his briefing today.” In an AP News exclusive, Desmond Butler and Michael Biesecker report that US officials knew of Ukraine’s Trump anxiety. Greg Sargent calls this one an “Important scoop from AP: Zelensky *did* feel pressure to carry out Trump's corrupt scheme -- and US officials knew it. That debunks GOP’s ‘no pressure’ nonsense. But it also delivers another big blow to idea that failure to consummate is exonerating.” Hayes Brown agrees, tweeting, “This is big from the AP: Zelensky not only felt pressured by Giuliani's campaign to get investigations announced early on but the State Department knew about it.” The conspiratorial bent 
And then there’s this. Jimmy Finkelstein, the owner of The Hill, has flown under the radar. But he’s played a key role in the Ukraine scandal, according to new reporting by CNN’s Oliver Darcy and Brian Stelter. Darcy and Stelter spoke with more than a dozen current and former employees of The Hill and others for this story, which Erik Wemple says is “Excellent by @oliverdarcy and @brianstelter on centrality of The Hill owner Jimmy Finkelstein to the John Solomon saga.” Adds Daniel Froomkin, “Now it all makes sense: The rot at the core of @thehill is its owner, Jimmy Finkelstein, who ‘resides at the nexus of President Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and John Solomon,’ write @oliverdarcy and @brianstelter.” Adam Serwer points out, “You can’t understand the conspiratorial bent of much of conservative media without understanding that much of it works exactly how they incorrectly believe the mainstream press works.” On Twitter, Darcy shares, “Internally at The Hill, staff are very frustrated. ‘In revolt,’ as one source told me. Staff has mulled publicly disavowing Solomon as newsroom in open letter. The note from the editor-in-chief announcing review of Solomon’s work hasn’t quelled the anger.” OK bye 
Remember Mina Chang? The resumé inflation. The fake Time cover...Well, Adiel Kaplan observes that “The story of #MinaChang, who resigned today after questions from @dandeluce and @strickdc, just keeps getting wilder.” NBC News’ Laura Strickler, Ari Sen and Dan De Luce have that story, Senior Trump admin official Mina Chang resigns after NBC News report (236,000+ shares). M. Alex Johnson highlights the fact that “Chang resigned 2½ hours after @NBCNews asked her about newly discovered false claims about her charity work.” And Mike Hixenbaugh thinks it’s “Quite a resignation letter from an official who was caught lying about her resume: ‘It is essential that my resignation be seen as a protest and not as surrender.’” Heartbreaking stories A New York Times project by Eliza Shapiro, with photographs by Brittainy Newman, shines a light on homeless among New York City schoolchildren: 114,000 Students in N.Y.C. Are Homeless. These Two Let Us Into Their Lives. Tweets Nick Lucchesi, “NYC schools need double the number of social workers...another incredibly moving story about living in poverty in New York.” As Cecilia Kang notes, “There are enough homeless children in NYC to populate a small city. As everyone knows, stability is vital for children. Darnell and Sandivel’s little faces show their grit and hardship and it breaks my heart.” Meanwhile, “In schools across IL, children are being locked away, sometimes for hours at a time, for reasons that are against the law. Our latest investigation, in partnership with @chicagotribune.” Louise Kiernan links to that ProPublica Illinois/Chicago Tribune feature, The Quiet Rooms (on the Tribune’s site here), by Jennifer Richards, Jodi S. Cohen and Lakeidra Chavis, with photography by Zbigniew Bzdak. “Schools across Illinois have ‘quiet rooms,’ where they lock up kids for hours. Screaming. Begging. Peeing on themselves. Teachers take notes, but don't let them out. A heartbreaking investigation,” Kristen Schorsch tweets. As Allison Manning points out, “Illinois requires schools document, minute by minute, what kids do while they're kept in these rooms, away from classrooms. But nobody was reading those documents until reporters started asking for them.” “God Bless @propublica. This is a helluva story. What a disgrace,” tweets Michael B. Dougherty. And in the UK, an exclusive by Shaun Lintern of The Independent reveals dozens of mothers and babies died ‘avoidably’ in the largest maternity scandal in NHS history, according to a leaked report, which shows clinical failings with catastrophic consequences were repeated over a period of nearly 40 years, resulting in avoidable deaths, serious injuries and then further trauma subsequently inflicted on grieving families. As Christian Broughton says, it’s “Impossible not to be moved by this story. Shocking is a word overused in this business. This article speaks for itself: so many mothers and babies lost their lives.” More local journalism Jason Tuohey offers “Some reading for your morning commute.” In part one of a three-part series by the Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team, Andrew Ryan reports on the epic traffic paralyzing the city, noting that Boston commuting is intolerable, but political leaders still drive. As Nicole Dungca tweets, “The indefatigable @GlobeAndrewRyan traveled to London, which has long used congestion pricing to fight traffic. A former London mayor challenged the Baker administration's dismissal of congestion pricing: ‘They’re just lying. They’re just ignoring facts.’” “So much to dig into in this @GlobeSpotlight project, starting with this: A Globe survey of 134 state and municipal lawmakers and officials found that 85 percent take a car to work,” tweets Christina Prignano. Tim Logan sums it up: “We are the traffic and the traffic is us. So what are we doing about? Not much.” In Philadelphia, “Today’s @PhillyInquirer must-read comes from @jasmlaughlin and @dylancpurcell.” Helen Ubinas is referring to the new piece by Jason Laughlin and Dylan Purcell of The Philadelphia Inquirer, For train drivers, death on the tracks can leave scars for a lifetime. “Imagine the dread you’d feel if every day you went to work there was a reasonable chance you might inadvertently kill someone. That’s the experience of subway operators and train engineers. These are the stories of some who have lived with those deaths,” tweets Laughlin. Joseph N. DiStefano praises the “Terrific story by @jasmlaughlin on how Septa train operators deal with jumpers and trauma.” International news Two Western teachers held hostage by the Taliban have been freed in a deal that officials hoped could pave the way for Afghan peace talks with the Taliban. But, as David Zucchino and Adam Goldman report at The New York Times, some Afghans worry it won’t help renew peace talks. In a shift, the U..S. says Israeli settlements in the West Bank do not violate international law, reports Lara Jakes of The New York Times, who notes that the reversal of decades of American policy may doom any peace efforts. Michelle Celarier sees “Typical Trump Orwellion doublespeak. What’s up is down, black is white, lies are truth, etc.,” while Daniel Froomkin calls it “Another NYT report from an alternate universe.” “In a rare public display of disagreement in the alliance, US negotiators abruptly walked out of today’s talks with South Korea after the 66-year ally balked at President Trump’s price tag for funding 28,500 American troops in the country.” Min Kim of The Washington Post has the details as the U.S. breaks off talks with South Korea over costs of military alliance. Tuesday round-up - In an op-ed for The Guardian, Peter Oborne says it’s not just Boris Johnson’s lying. It’s that the media let him get away with it (69,000+ shares). He writes, “The British media is not holding him to account for his repeated falsehoods. It’s time we journalists did our job, and started to regain our self-respect.” “THIS - and how great to see @OborneTweets in the @guardian,” tweets Alice Woolley. Adds Jon Henley, “Bravo @OborneTweets, bravo bravo bravo.”
- As Katelyn Polantz and Jeremy Herb report at CNN, the House is investigating whether Trump lied to Robert Mueller (294,000+ shares). Polantz and Herb write that the House’s arguments “draw new focus to whether Trump lied to Mueller, following public revelations at Roger Stone’s trial this month.”
- A breaking story this morning to fuel your meme-making: William K. Rashbaum, Danielle Ivory and Michael Gold of The New York Times are reporting that two jail workers who were on duty the night Jeffrey Epstein killed himself are expected to be charged today in connection with their alleged failure to check on him every half-hour, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
- More breaking news today as BBC News reports that prosecutors in Sweden have dropped an investigation into a rape allegation made against Julian Assange in 2010.
- Read Heidi Blake at BuzzFeed News to learn How Kremlin Assassins Sowed Terror Through The Streets Of London While British Police Scrambled To Stop Them. That article is an excerpt from Blake’s new book, “From Russia with Blood: The Kremlin’s Ruthless Assassination Program and Vladimir Putin’s Secret War on the West.”
- Dylan Byers of NBC News reports that Politico and the DNC are at odds over proposed Democratic debate moderator Tim Alberta, the chief political correspondent for Politico Magazine. Tweets David Martosko, “PBS objects to @TimAlberta as a debate co-moderator because he used to write for @NRO ... but stay with me here ... Wouldn’t it be a good thing for Democratic voters to see how their primary candidates respond to well-informed yet *challenging* questions?”
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