Hear the Whistle Blow:Washington is an uproar over a report in The Washington Postthat a US intelligence official was so disturbed by a promise President Trump made to a foreign leader over the telephone that he filed a whistleblower complaint with the inspector general for intelligence agencies.

  Subsequent reports from news outlets say several exchanges were involved. 

  Reports this morning say the incident involves Ukraine and a request to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. What Trump said, and who he said it to, has not been revealed and the administration has already moved to block information about the complaint from being shared with congressional overseers.

  Trump’s lawyer, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, suggested on CNNlast night that there had been some exchange of value in the works. He said, “The reality is the president of the United States has every right to say to another leader of a foreign country, ‘you got to straighten up before we give you a lot of money.’” He said,“It is perfectly appropriate for [Trump] to ask a foreign government to investigate this massive crime that was made by a former vice president.”

  Admitting that he asked a foreign government for political help, Giuliani said, “I did, and I’m proud of it.”

  Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson decided that the complaint about Trump was credible enough to be a matter of “urgent concern,” a legal threshold that requires notification of congressional oversight committees.

  Trump tweeted, “Another Fake News story out there – It never ends! Virtually anytime I speak on the phone to a foreign leader, I understand that there may be many people listening from various U.S. agencies, not to mention those from the other country itself. No problem!”

  It’s true, multiple officials from both countries are on the line during such conversations. But it’s not a “fake news” story as Trump claims. The intelligence agencies, their inspector general, and the director of national intelligence all acknowledge the existence of the whistleblower complaint. The refusal by Joseph McGuire, the acting director of national intelligence, to share the information with Congress might set off a legal battle. By law he’s required to report such an incident to congress within seven days, but he received the complaint three weeks ago.

  It appears that the complaint is a hot potato few people in the intelligence agencies want to handle because they say it’s not in their jurisdiction. They’re dodging. Maguire says his lawyers tell him the whistleblower complaint did not constitute an urgent concern that was “within the responsibility and authority” of his office.

  If the President of the United States made a shady agreement with a foreign leader, it has to be within someone’s jurisdiction.

Face Time: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in deepening political trouble.

 After the discovery of two photos of Trudeau in blackface makeup, now a video has been released of Trudeau also in dark makeup. Trudeau admitted during a re-election campaign event in Winnipeg that he can’t rule out that there might be more embarrassing photos. “I am wary of, of being definitive about this because the recent pictures that came out I had not remembered,” Trudeau said.

  Hard to believe. Trudeau has posed himself as a stalwart liberal standing up to President Trump, standing for women’s and Indigenous rights, welcoming immigrants, and fighting climate change and racism.

Wingless:Over the past 50 years North America has lost three billion birds, about a quarter of its entire bird population, according to a new report in the journal Science. Researchers relied on information that has been collected on 529 bird species since 1970.

  The data suggest that more than 90% of the losses can be attributed to just a dozen bird families, including sparrows, warblers, blackbirds, and finches.Common birds with decreasing populations include meadowlarks, dark-eyed juncos, horned larks, and red-winged blackbirds. Researchers attribute the causes to habitat destruction, the growth of cities, and toxic pesticides.

A Lot of Beans: The Trump administration has been balancing the losses of his trade war by subsidizing farmers. At $28 billion so far, the farm rescue is more than twice as expensive as the losses from the 2009 bailout of Detroit’s Big Three automakers, which cost taxpayers $12 billion. The car makers were given $80 billion and paid back all but $12 billion. Don’t expect the farmers to pay anything back.

Dropout:New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who’s gotten no traction with voters, has dropped out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. President Trump viciously tweeted, “Part time Mayor of New York City, @BilldeBlasio, who was polling at a solid ZERO but had tremendous room for growth, has shocking dropped out of the Presidential race. NYC is devastated, he’s coming home!”

Bulletins: Elizabeth Warren is now the #2 contender for the Democratic nomination for president, according to the Real Clear Politicsaverage of national polls.Joe Biden is at28.8 percent; Warren, 18.3; Bernie Sanders, 16.5. — Reported cases of vaping-related illness in the US have risen to 530. At least eight people have died of unexplained lung illness attributed to vaping. — Citing a flooded market for assault rifles, the famous gun maker Colt says it will stop making AR-15s for the civilian market. Of course, Colt refers to them as “modern sporting rifles.”

Liar, Liar:Get this. Speaking to reporters Wednesday en route to Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo advised reporters that when reporting on people who regularly lie, they should be identified as liars. Speaking specifically about the Yemeni rebels, the Houthis, Pompeo said, “Whenever you report about them, and you say, ‘The Houthis said,’ you should say ‘The well-known frequently lying Houthis have said the following.’ This is important because you ought not report them as if these truth-tellers.” Pompeo concluded, “And that’d be good reporting and I know you care deeply about that good reporting.”

  The reporters laughed, but probably not at what Pompeo thought they were laughing about.

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