Up Against the Wall: President Trump yesterday threatened to shut down the government if Congress doesn’t give him the money to build his border wall.

Trump wrote on Twitter, “I would be willing to “shut down” government if the Democrats do not give us the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall!”

Heading in to the midterm elections, Trump’s threat to mix spending and immigration with a potentially rough Supreme Court confirmation gives Republicans the jitters. Oklahoma Republican Rep. Tom Cole told The NY Times, “We’re going to have a challenging midterm anyway, and I don’t see how putting the attention on shutting down the government when you control the government is going to help you.”

Russian Roulette: President Trump’s former lawyer  Michael Cohen claims that Trump knew in advance about the Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer offering dirt on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign, CNN reports. The network says Cohen is prepared to testify to that for Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the Russian election-influencing investigation.

If Cohen follows through, it would be powerful corroborating evidence that the Trumps collaborated with Russian operators, however lame they were, to win the election.

CNN reports according to sources that Cohen was present along with others when Trump was told about the Russians’ offer by Donald Trump Jr. Trump senior, according to the CNN report, approved going ahead with the meeting.

Enemy of the People: In a tweet storm yesterday morning, President Trump revealed that he’d had a meeting with NY Times Publisher A.G. Sulzberger in which they talked about “fake news.”

Trump wrote, “Had a very good and interesting meeting at the White House with A.G. Sulzberger, Publisher of the New York Times. Spent much time talking about the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, ‘Enemy of the People.’ Sad!”

The President phrased that in such a way as to suggest that Sulzberger admitted The NY Times publishes fake news and that the phrase “Enemy of the People” somehow came out of the mist rather than Trump’s mouth.

The meeting took place earlier this month and Sulzberger had made no public mention of it until Trump’s tweet. Then the publisher issued a statement in which he said, “I told him that although the phrase ‘fake news’ is untrue and harmful, I am far more concerned about his labeling journalists ‘the enemy of the people.’ I warned that this inflammatory language is contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence.”

Sulzberger said he could live with attacks on the Times, but not on all of journalism. “I repeatedly stressed that this is particularly true abroad, where the president’s rhetoric is being used by some regimes to justify sweeping crackdowns on journalists. I warned that it was putting lives at risk, that it was undermining the democratic ideals of our nation, and that it was eroding one of our country’s greatest exports: a commitment to free speech and a free press.”

Despite Trump repeatedly describing the Times as  “failing,” it’s having a resurgence and profits were up by two-thirds in the first quarter of 2018.

The meeting seems to have had no impact on Trump. Yesterday he tweeted, “I will not allow our great country to be sold out by anti-Trump haters in the dying newspaper industry.”

Wildfire: Firefighters in California found the body of another victim who died in their home as ferocious fires burn on in Lake, Shasta, and Mendocino counties. At least  657 homes have been destroyed and another 145 damaged in fires that have burned 149 square miles of ground. Even the home of the police chief in Redding burned as he was out on the job managing evacuations.

Quiet Skies: Federal air marshals since 2010 have been quietly tracking travelers deemed suspicious for a variety of reasons even though they have no obvious links to terrorism, The Boston Globe reported. The TSA might tail someone because of their travel history, profuse sweating, or going to the rest room too often. The secret program is called “Quiet Skies.”

The Obit Page: Alene B. Duerk, who in 1972 became the Navy’s first woman rear admiral, has died at age 98. Duerk answered the call during World War II and enlisted in the Navy Nurse Corps in 1943. She later said, “I didn’t go into the Navy for a lifetime, I went in for six months.”

The News Roundup: Fans of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg are rejoicing after she said she has no plans to retire soon. Ginsberg said, “My senior colleague, Justice John Paul Stevens, he stepped down when he was 90, so think I have about at least five more years.” — Animal rights activists are up in arms after a cruise line employee scouting an island for safety shot and killed an attacking polar bear in the Svalbard islands, more than 1,200 miles north of Norway.

Purpose Driven: The people at the Chipotle Mexican fast-food chain announced that, “Our ultimate marketing mission is to make Chipotle not just a food brand but a purpose-driven lifestyle brand,” whatever that means. Executive Christopher Brandt said, “Chipotle will become a brand that people want to know about, want to be a part of and want to wear as a badge.” They already do. It’s salsa on their shirts.

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