Huffpost Rise: What You Need To Know On February 9

Anderson Cooper asked Ronan Farrow how important he thinks Karen McDougal's story is to Trump's Manhattan trial. "So the larger picture it's pivotal and it's a pivotal moment in this case that Judge Merchan is saying, look, this is essential material to establishing the narrative. the narrative being that there was indeed a scheme between donald trump and the national enquirer, and that these payments had an electoral intent," Farrow said. "And the evidence of a series of payments, not just a Stormy Daniels, which is the central transaction at issue, but also to Karen McDougal, who you mentioned, potentially to the doorman at Trump Tower, who has paid off for exclusive rights to a rumor he'd heard about that Trump had an affair and fathered a child with an employee. "We don't know whether that rumor is accurate, but we do know that there was a payment from the National Enquirer in order to lock up that doorman and silence all of that has figured in legal documents around this case and the fact that it's now going to figure in front of jurors is significant.

After months of inaction, MAGA Mike Johnson last night unveiled an outline of his plan to address the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, defying Republicans who threatened to oust him from the speakership if he moved forward with funding for Ukraine. Via the Washington Post: But Johnson (R-La.) risks angering many of his members with a convoluted plan aiming to placate his critics on the right, while also giving national security hawks a chance to advance billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Johnson plans to put four different bills on the floor, essentially decoupling aid for Israel — which faced a barrage of missiles and drone threats from Iran over the weekend in retaliation for a deadly airstrike on its consulate in Syria — from help for Ukraine, which is more controversial inside his conference.

You know the origin of the term "God's Misfits"? Evangelical pastors love to talk about how God uses His "misfits" to do his will. You can see why that idea would appeal to these violent knuckledraggers. Via the Associated Press: OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Two Kansas women who vanished as they tried to pick up children for a birthday party two weeks ago were killed over a custody dispute involving a group of anti-government Oklahomans calling themselves “God’s Misfits,” authorities said Monday. Their vehicle was found March 30 along a rural Oklahoma highway with ample evidence of a bloody confrontation, setting off a multi-agency effort to secure the children’s safety while searching for the women and avoiding more violence. Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, of Hugoton, Kansas, had arranged with the grandmother of Butler’s two children to meet at a highway intersection on the morning of March 30 and pick up the 6- and 8-year-old. I am always astounded at the sheer number of crazy people who can't seem to find a non-violent solution to custody disputes.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani complained on Sunday about how Hunter Biden's hard drive contributed to his financial problems. "[FBI Director] Christopher Wray is another traitor to the United States to withhold the hard drive in the 2020 election, basically effectively killed a couple hundred thousand Ukrainians," Giuliani griped on his WABC radio program.

Diane Ravitch's Blog - CREW asks who Trump media's biggest investors are; Mock Paper Scissors - Happy Criminal Trial Day for those who celebrate! P. M. Carpenter's Commentary - to be stupid or not to be stupid? (Israel edition) The Rectification of Names - All my Trials: covering up the coverup; The Rude Pundit - GOP ignores Trump's crimes, makes shit up. Send tips to MBRU (AT) crooksandliars (DOT) com read more

The Republican House was all set to devote a week of floor time to a bunch of pointless messaging bills like the “Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act, “Liberty in Laundry Act,” and “Refrigerator Freedom Act.” Following Iran’s missile attack on Israel over the weekend, though, leadership decided that liberating our refrigerators has to take a back seat to pretending to do something meaningful. On Saturday, Majority Leader Steve Scalise announced that “the House will move from its previously announced legislative schedule next week to instead consider legislation that supports our ally Israel and holds Iran and its terrorist proxies accountable.” So far, that means a flurry of messaging bills including non-binding resolutions like “Condemning Iran’s unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel.” In other words, bills that sound serious but don’t actually do anything.read more