A win for the First Amendment. “Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, said President Trump’s Twitter account is a public forum and blocking people who reply to his tweets with differing opinions constitutes viewpoint discrimination, which violates the First Amendment. The court’s ruling is a major win for the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which brought the lawsuit on behalf of seven people who were blocked from the @realDonaldTrump account because of opinions they expressed in reply tweets.”
However, the First Amendment is not winning at the Environment Protection Agency. “The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday barred journalists for the second consecutive day from attending a national summit focused on water contaminants, telling reporters from CNN and other news organizations that they would not be permitted inside the venue.”
Russia is winning. “U.S. President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran has added fresh impetus to a European outreach to Russia—although European officials say existing tensions make it far from a thaw. French President Emmanuel Macron heads to St. Petersburg on Thursday seeking to leverage his candid relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin to get Moscow’s help for European efforts to preserve the deal and stabilize war-torn Syria.”
Sanity is winning at the State Department. “Pompeo: ‘I Don’t Believe There’s a Deep State at the State Department.'”
Republicans think they can win by blaming trench coats, doors and backpacks for school shootings. Former RNC chief Michael Steele: “Simply put, the response to Santa Fe, like Parkland, has been defensive and tone deaf. Our arrogance and tribalism has drowned out the voices of the innocent to the point that it is easier to make excuses for the status quo than it is to protect our children.”
A win for Trump was a win for foreign governments and influence peddling. “Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, received a secret payment of at least $400,000 (£300,000) to fix talks between the Ukrainian president and President Trump, according to sources in Kiev close to those involved. The payment was arranged by intermediaries acting for Ukraine’s leader, Petro Poroshenko, the sources said, though Mr Cohen was not registered as a representative of Ukraine as required by US law.” Cohen denies this.
A win for Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, a rare Trump official who knows what he’s doing. “The Pentagon disinvited China from participating in a major naval exercise on Wednesday, signaling mounting U.S. anger over Beijing’s expanded military footprint in disputed areas of the South China Sea. Lt. Col. Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman, said the Defense Department had withdrawn an earlier invitation to the Chinese Navy to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) drill, a biennial naval exercise that involves more than two dozen nations, over Beijing’s decision to place anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missiles and electronic jammers on the Spratly Islands. Those islands, which China has enlarged and occupied in recent years, are subject to competing claims from several countries, including Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.” Bravo.