A Couple of Ads:Heading toward the 2020 election, President Trump and his team are attacking the legitimacy of the Special Counsel investigation and the shade it throws on the President’s administration. They’re claiming to be the victims even though the President says the report exonerates him.

  Trump whined on Twitter yesterday that, “You mean the Stock Market hit an all-time record high today and they’re actually talking impeachment!? Will I ever be given credit for anything by the Fake News Media or Radical Liberal Dems? NO COLLUSION”

  While it’s true that the report found the Trump campaign did not conspire with Russia, there was plenty in there to make to make Trump and his people look bad and the Russian election attack was serious.

   Nonetheless, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner dismissed the importance of Russian election interference during an interview at a Timemagazine event and said the investigation did more damage to the country than anything the Russians did.

  Kushner described the Russian campaign as a “couple of Facebook ads.”   He said, “You look at what Russia did — you know, buying some Facebook ads to try to sow dissent and do it — and it’s a terrible thing” Kushner went on, “But I think the investigations, and all of the speculation that’s happened for the last two years, has had a much harsher impact on our democracy than a couple of Facebook ads.”

  Russia planted an estimated 3,500 ads that were seen by 126 million people. President Trump attempted to end or obstruct the investigation that resulted in the indictments of 34 people, including a handful of Trump associates, and three Russian companies.

  A hostile foreign power attempted to sway a US election and Kushner dismissed it as “a couple of ads.”

Executive Privilege:President Trump intends to try to block former White House counsel Don McGahn and other administration staffers from testifying before House committees, The Washington Post reports.

As the Democrats consider impeachment, they are also conducting their own follow-up investigations to the Special Counsel report. Certainly a large part of the intent is political, to keep the sleazy inner working of the Trump administration in the minds of voters.

  Trump told the Post in an interview, “There is no reason to go any further, and especially in Congress where it’s very partisan — obviously very partisan.”

McGahn provided some of the most damaging information about the President. The White House intends to claim executive privilege to keep its people from testifying, further heating the legal battle brewing between Congress and the administration.

Executive Complaint:President Trump had a meeting with the CEO of Twitter yesterday in which he complained about mysteriously losing some of his 60 million followers.

  Earlier in the day Trump had tweeted that “They don’t treat me well as a Republican. Very discriminatory, hard for people to sign on. Constantly taking people off list.”

  Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey explained to Trump that the company is constantly purging spam accounts. And by the way, Twitter has given Trump a clear path to communicate with 60 million people.

Painful:For the first time in the fight against the opioid addiction crisis, Federal prosecutors have filed criminal charges against a major drug distributor and two of its former executives.

  Rochester Drug Cooperative and its two former executives were charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled narcotics for nonmedical reasons. The two men face a mandatory sentence anywhere from 10 years to life in prison.

  Sending drug executives to jail is a new tactic. Drug companies made and distributed massive amounts of opioids that they had to know were far more than needed for legitimate pain relief.

The Obit Page:Henry Bloch, who with his older brother Richard founded the tax-preparation chain H & R Block, has died at age 96. In 1955 the brothers placed an ad in the local Kansas City, Mo. newspaper that said “Taxes $5” and their offices were flooded with frustrated taxpayers needing help. H & R Block now has 12,000 offices.

Category Buster:A professional sports bettor named James Holzhauer has the eyes of “Jeopardy!” fans riveted to their televisions as he’s become only the second winner to pass the million-dollar mark. Last week, Holzhauer broke the single-day record winning $131,127, surpassing his own record of $110,914 from the previous week.

  The biggest “Jeopardy!” winner ever is Ken Jennings who in 2004 earned more than $2.5 million in a 70-show run.

  Holzhauer says his success is not just knowing the answers but using the aggressive tactics of a professional gambler. One method is the “Forrest Bounce,” jumping from category to category to throw off opponents, as well as just betting big on Daily Doubles. He told NPR, “All good professional gamblers are selectively aggressive. You need to pick your spots and bet big when you identify them.”

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