Counter Punch: Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee released their redacted memo countering the one issued by the Republicans claiming wrongdoing by the FBI in obtaining a foreign intelligence warrant against Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

Rep. Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the committee, said in a statement that, “Our extensive review of the initial FISA application and three subsequent renewals failed to uncover any evidence of illegal, unethical or unprofessional behavior by law enforcement and instead revealed that both the FBI and DOJ made extensive showings to justify all four requests.”

President Trump tweeted, “The Democrat memo response on government surveillance abuses is a total political and legal BUST. Just confirms all of the terrible things that were done. SO ILLEGAL!”

What this is about is that the Russia investigation has devolved into a partisan fight about the credibility and ethics of the FBI as it investigates Russian election influencing and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. The committee Republicans are backing President Trump’s attacks undermining the FBI.

The memo is redacted with black bars obliterating what appear to be names and sensitive information sources, like a letter from the front in World War II. The redactions cover the exact number of people in the Trump campaign subject to FBI inquiries.

The Democrats dismiss the assertion that the FBI relied heavily on a document written by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele, originally paid for by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign. They say the FISA court was aware of the political origins of the Steele report when it granted the first warrant for Carter Page. The warrant was subsequently renewed based on new information, the Democrats say.

The Democratic memo says, “DOJ’s warrant request was based on compelling evidence and probable cause to believe Page was knowingly assisting Russian intelligence activities in the US.”

The Gun Beat: Major companies continue to drop their cooperative relationships with the National Rifle Association as a movement builds against the powerful gun lobby.

United Airlines and Delta say they will no longer offer discounts to NRA members. North American and Allied Van Lines cancelled their relationship, as did Federal Express.

The NRA described the corporate separations as a “display of political and civic cowardice.”

President Trump continues his campaign to arm teachers as a deterrent to school shootings. He tweeted, “Armed Educators (and trusted people who work within a school) love our students and will protect them. Very smart people. Must be firearms adept & have annual training. Should get yearly bonus. Shootings will not happen again – a big & very inexpensive deterrent. Up to States.”

Let’s do the math on this. There are about $3.2 million public school teachers in the US and Trump would arm 20 percent of them. A Glock 9mm pistol costs about $550. That’s $352 million just for the guns before ammunition and training. But maybe like pencils and paper, schools can hold bake sales for bullets.

And last, Sarah Chadwick, a junior at Stoneman Douglas High School tweeted about guns and her state’s Republican US senator saying, “We should change the names of AR-15s to ‘Marco Rubio’ because they are so easy to buy.”

The Wall: Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto postponed plans for his first visit to the White House following a telephone dispute with President Trump about paying for his promised border wall.

The Washington Post reports that Trump lost his temper because Pena Nieto insisted that he back off his campaign promise to force Mexico to pay for the wall. Pena Nieto is up for re-election and can’t allow himself to be perceived as bullied by Trump.

Hermit Kingdom: North Korea is ready to talk to the US, South Korean President Moon Jae-In said in a statement today. The breakthrough, if that’s what it turns out to be, came after representatives of the North and South met at the Olympics.

Five Rings: The International Olympic Committee denied a request by the 168 athletes competing as “Olympic Athletes from Russia” to march in tonight’s closing ceremony under their country’s flag. The official Russian team was banned for doping, and it didn’t help that a Russian curler was caught using a banned drug.

The Russians haven’t done too badly. They won the gold in ice hockey, then broke out singing their national anthem at the medal ceremony.

The big surprise of the Olympics has not been the appearance of Kim Jong-un’s sister, the gold medal US curling team ,or the half-pipe skier who couldn’t do a trick. It’s Esther Ledecka the 22-year-old Czech who won two gold medals. That by itself is not so unusual, but Ledecka is a snowboarder who won her first gold skiing in the Super-G, beating Lindsey Vonn and some of the best skiers in the world. In a feat like Bo Jackson playing professional baseball and football in the same year, Ledecker then returned to her actual sport and won gold again in the women’s parallel snowboard slalom. Now that’s an Olympic athlete.

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