The significance of the revelations cannot be overstated Impeachment hearings are hitting the airwaves today, but a story that came out yesterday upstaged all of that for a moment — even if, as Christopher Mathias says, “Yes many of us already knew Stephen Miller is a white nationalist, but the significance of the revelations in this article cannot be overstated. We have a White House senior advisor whose worldview is shaped by explicit white supremacist literature.” 
That article, by Michael Edison Hayden of the Southern Poverty Law Center, shows how Stephen Miller’s affinity for white nationalism has been revealed in more than 900 leaked emails reviewed by Hatewatch (261,000+ shares). Miller sent the emails to Breitbart News in 2015 and 2016 during the run-up to the 2016 election. “2015-2016 e-mails show Stephen Miller a racist piece of trash, also still using a Hotmail address,” adds Rob Pegoraro. Philip Bump tweets, “There is a LOT in this, which I’m just getting to. But this alone is telling: ‘this is a good chance to expose that ridiculous statue of liberty myth.” As Kara Swisher says, “Well this is no surprise, but so so so freshly heinous anyway.” At The Washington Post, Kim Bellware writes about the SPLC’s report and the reactions, including White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham’s email response calling the SPLC “an utterly-discredited, long-debunked far-left smear organization,” adding that it’s “beneath public discussion, even in The Washington Post.” The emails described in the report, by the way, were provided to the SPLC by Katie McHugh, the former Breitbart writer and editor that Miller sent them to. “If personnel is policy, this is one of the most disconcerting and unacceptable things I’ve seen in politics. Trafficking in a milieu of hate and conspiracy platforms should have no place in government,” says Andrew T. Walker. Everything is a wild lie Speaking of personnel, elsewhere in the administration...Senior Trump official embellished resume, had face on fake TIME cover (201,000+ shares). That NBC News investigation by Dan De Luce, Laura Strickler and Ari Sen found that Mina Chang, the deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stability Operations, inflated her educational achievements and exaggerated the scope of her nonprofit’s work. Tom Gara thinks, “The photoshopped Time cover is funny, but it really seems like the Trump admin almost put a straight-up Instagram grifter in charge of a $1 billion budget. Everything she says about her background is a wild lie.” 
For starters, she claimed to be a Harvard Business School “alumna.” According to the university, she attended a seven-week course in 2016, and does not hold a degree from the institution. But to be fair, “who among us hasn’t totally falsified a resume to become a deputy assistant secretary of state,” asks Sal Rizzo. Plus, says Adiel Kaplan, “This is such a wild read from the fantastic @dandeluce and @strickdc. Read to the end for the ‘holiday album.’” Meanwhile, Joe Scarborough says, “This is so preposterously corrupt that I laughed out loud at the headline. Could he really be that stupid? Why yes, he could.” The hilarious headline: Trump Has Considered Firing Intelligence Community Inspector General. That report is by Maggie Haberman and Michael Schmidt of The New York Times. Private speeches and donor dinners Carol Lee and Stephanie Ruhle of NBC News have the scoop that, according to six people who attended a private speech in Miami last week, John Bolton suggested some of Trump’s foreign policy decisions are guided by personal interest. He also took the opportunity to take a few swipes at Jared and Ivanka. 
New reporting from Rosalind Helderman, Matt Zapotosky, Tom Hamburger and Josh Dawsey of The Washington Post reveals, at a donor dinner in April of 2018, Giuliani associate Lev Parnas said he discussed Ukraine with Trump, according to people familiar with his account. But wait. Didn’t Trump say he didn’t know them? It sure is confusing, especially when you consider what the digging by CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski, Nathan McDermott and Em Steck has turned up: Inauguration galas, an intimate dinner, and a White House party: 10 interactions between Trump and the indicted Giuliani associates. This is insane Before we move on, as Mark MacKinnon says, “This appears to be significant. Ihor Kolomoiskiy - the oligarch who aided President Zelensky’s rise to power - says it’s time for Ukraine to turn back towards Russia. ‘They’re stronger anyway.’” He links to Anton Troianovski’s interview with Kolomoiskiy for The New York Times, A Ukrainian Billionaire Fought Russia. Now He’s Ready to Embrace It. On Twitter, Troianovski shares this highlight: “Kolomoisky, who met with Parnas and Fruman in April, says Ukraine should launch the investigations sought by Trump. And if Democrats take over in DC? ‘If they get smart with us, we’ll go to Russia…Your NATO will be soiling its pants and buying Pampers.’” As Matthew Kupfer says, “This interview with oligarch Igor Kolomoisky is insane. In it, he has likely damaged President Zelensky’s reputation, made a veiled threat to kill the former president and ex-national bank chief and called for restoring ties with Moscow. #Ukraine.” Checking in on journalism 
In case you haven’t seen the Google Doc yet, Mathew Ingram explains at Columbia Journalism Review, everyone is admitting what they get paid to work in journalism, aka “The Shitty Media Salaries List,” as Joshua Benton puts it. Jenna Schnuer calls it “One of many reasons I’ve remained a freelancer…” but Jessica Lessin is a little annoyed: “Guys, this is ridiculous and not even close to fact. Why are you publishing it @CJR? I know you said it isn’t verified but don’t you have a responsibility to try to verify what you publish?” Adds Cecilia Kang “‘everyone’ is a wee stretch, no?” Either way, “It's an interesting day in journalism, through and through,” says Lindsay Deutsch. She might also be thinking about that editorial. You know, the one by The Daily Northwestern that got everyone up in arms. In response, Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism Dean Charles Whitaker has issued a statement, writing, “I understand why The Daily editors felt the need to issue their mea culpa. They were beat into submission by the vitriol and relentless public shaming they have been subjected to since the Sessions stories appeared...I might offer, however, that their well-intentioned gesture sends a chilling message about journalism and its role in society.” Tweets Garance Franke-Ruta, “This is very well said.” Or as Daniel Rubin offers, “This one gets a Medill A.” Piped directly to the ad machines Well this is totally fine and not alarming at all. A Financial Times investigation by Madhumita Murgia and Max Harlow has found that popular health websites in the UK are trading people’s most sensitive health data, including their medical symptoms, diagnoses and period and fertility information, with dozens of companies around the world, including Google, Amazon and Facebook. As Dan McCrum tweets, “Popular medical websites pipe the intimate details of your lives direct to Google and Facebook's ad machines, without consent. Terrific FT investigation from @madhumita29 and @maxharlow.” What’s in your wallet (Google *really* wants to know) 
So apparently it’s not just Google’s Project Nightingale then. Well, while we’re at it, it’s not just your personal healthcare information that Google is interested in, either. Another Wall Street Journal exclusive, this time from Peter Rudegeair and Liz Hoffman, reveals what’s Next in Google’s Quest for Consumer Dominance—Banking. As Penelope Wang explains it, “Google is getting into the banking business to access more personal data.” Meanwhile, Nathaniel Popper, Vindu Goel and Arjun Harindranath of The New York Times write about The SoftBank Effect: How $100 Billion Left Workers in a Hole. Tweets Popper, “Over the last decade, SoftBank has played a central role in the rise of startups that rely on armies of contractors. We spoke with workers around the world about what that growth has meant and the picture that emerged is not a pretty one.” US residents are hanging in the balance Robert Barnes of The Washington Post has been covering the DACA hearings and reports that the Trump administration defended ending DACA, and the Supreme Court’s conservatives seemed receptive yesterday. Maria Sacchetti points out that “The decision could take months, so any DACA deal would come in the middle of election season.” “Some stories drag on so long that they start to seem like old hat, no big deal, old news. Like DACA. Except ... it’s not. And there are 700,000 working, studying, nearly lifelong US residents hanging in the balance,” Debbi Wilgoren reminds us. In an op-ed for USA Today, Josue De Luna Navarro, the New Mexico Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, notes, For undocumented immigrants, our enforcement policies drive a public mental health crisis. “Imagine running away from a lion all your life — that’s how 11 million undocumented immigrants feel today, and it takes a toll on their mental health,” he writes. The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board, meanwhile, writes that, regardless of what the Supreme Court does, Congress should make DACA stronger, and permanent. Global news Take a moment out to read Zeynep Tufekcit’s latest dispatch for The Atlantic on the Hong Kong Protests: The Violence Is Escalating. While the protesters aren’t sure they’ll win, “we cannot give up,” one insisted, “because if we do, there will be no future for us anyway. We might as well go down fighting.” New from Steve Fowler at Auto Express, Elon Musk says Tesla Gigafactory Europe will be built in Germany, not the UK, with Musk blaming Brexit uncertainty. The exclusive from Anne Davies of The Guardian, New South Wales public servants at climate conference were told not to discuss climate link with ongoing bushfires happening this week in Australia. As Katharine Murphy puts it, “Er, wut.” And then there’s “Depth in Venice.” Blame John Schwartz for that one. He links to the report by Elisabetta Povoledo of The New York Times that Venice is flooding because of the highest tide in 50 years. The mayor has called for a state of emergency and the closing of all schools, and “tourists were forced to clamber through the windows of high-end hotels as the water rose to about six feet before 11 p.m. on Tuesday.” A few more Scoop from Nick Miroff of The Washington Post, White House to use webcams to create live feed of border wall construction. On Twitter, he notes, “Jared Kushner’s plan to live-steam border wall construction is opposed by CBP and the Army Corps, whose contractors don’t want govt filming their work (and showing crews straying into Mexico). Kushner doesn’t believe the claims about proprietary techniques.” Meanwhile, in a major victory for privacy rights at the border, a federal court in Boston ruled today that suspicionless searches of travelers’ electronic devices by federal agents at airports and other U.S. ports of entry are unconstitutional. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has the details. At The Athletic Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich share “a broad story about this era of baseball that has yet to be told”: The Astros stole signs electronically in 2017 — part of a much broader issue for Major League Baseball. Weepy on the subway (but in a good way!) 
OK, here you go. This Tom Hanks Story Will Help You Feel Less Bad. Taffy Brodesser-Akner talked with Tom Hanks for The New York Times, and she leads it off with a spoiler: “Hanks is playing Mister Rogers in a new movie and is just as nice as you think he is. Please read this article anyway.” “Dammit. Tom Hanks talked to @taffyakner about parents and kids and now I’m weepy on the subway,” tweets Sam Dolnick. Aileen Gallagher also points to the revelation that it “Turns out Mr. Rogers had good ideas about journalism, too.” We’ll close out today with Michele Norris, who tells us she “Saw the film ‘A Beautiful Day in The Neighborhood’ and it felt like a much needed hug. This @nytimes profile of @tomhanks evokes the same feeling. Extraordinary man. Decent. Genuine. Kind. Generous Heart. Lord we need all that right now.” | 
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