Score one for Elizabeth Warren—after calling out Michael Bloomberg during Wednesday night’s debate for his use of nondisclosure agreements to settle sexual harassment lawsuits brought against him and his company and continuing to press him during her CNN town hall on Thursday night, Bloomberg has announced that he is now willing to release three women from the NDAs they signed.
He had this to say, per the New York Times:
“If any of them want to be released from their N.D.A. so that they can talk about those allegations, they should contact the company and they’ll be given a release,” Mr. Bloomberg said in the statement. “I’ve done a lot of reflecting on this issue over the past few days and I’ve decided that for as long as I’m running the company, we won’t offer confidentiality agreements to resolve claims of sexual harassment or misconduct going forward.”
I’m sure he did do a lot of “reflecting,” possibly for the first time, on how much he truly sucks:
What about the NDAs signed by women in the dozens of other lawsuits, though?
Please read this chilling, incredibly terrifying New Yorker profile of Stephen Miller that lays out in stark detail how he’s been able to push his extremist, far-right nativist agenda in the White House.
Here are just a few snippets:
One participant in the November meeting pointed out that El Salvador didn’t have a functioning asylum system. “They don’t need a system,” Miller interrupted. He began speaking over people, asking questions, then cutting off the answers.
As the meeting ended, Miller held up his hand to make a final comment. “I didn’t mean to come across as harsh,” he said. His voice dropped. “It’s just that this is all I care about. I don’t have a family. I don’t have anything else. This is my life.”
And, emphasis my own:
With the border virtually sealed, Miller is turning his attention inward. D.H.S. has begun sending armed agents from Border Patrol swat teams to New York, Chicago, and other so-called sanctuary cities, where local law enforcement has limited its coöperation with ICE. “There’s no one left at D.H.S. to say ‘No’ to Miller anymore,” a senior department official told me. Another official was present at a meeting in which Miller advocated allowing ICE officers to pull children out of school.
- Noted cinephile and racist Donald Trump is very upset that Parasite won at the Oscars and would have preferred Birth of a Nation, excuse me, Gone With the Wind.
- After acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire told the truth—that Vladimir Putin would like to see Donald Trump reelected—Trump naturally threw a hissy fit and replaced Maguire with a lapdog, Richard Grenell. [Washington Post]
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is using her new PAC to endorse and support a slate of progressive women—and largely Latinx women—running for Congress. [New York Times]
- Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and (to a lesser extent, after her huge fundraising numbers after the debate) Elizabeth Warren are running out of cash. If they need any fundraising ideas, I for one would pay good money to see the Klob destroy Mayor Pete with a well-thrown binder in some sort of cage match! [Politico]
- U.S. officials have apparently told Bernie Sanders that “Russia is attempting to help his presidential campaign as part of an effort to interfere with the Democratic contest.” Bernie’s response is exactly what he should say: “I don’t care, frankly, who Putin wants to be president. My message to Putin is clear: stay out of American elections, and as president I will make sure that you do.” As for what the assistance actually looks like, the details are sparse as of now. But it’s good to remember that as one observer put it, “If true, just like in 2016, the goal is not about a specific candidate. The goal is to sow divisions through exposing the cracks in our discourse.”
- Republican legislators in Florida continue to want to make it extremely difficult for people, especially those under the age of 18, to get abortions. [NBC News]