I'm reading the news but not finding much to write about. I'm beyond sick of Donald Trump.

Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

Trump attorney Michael Cohen has asked the judge presiding over Stormy Daniels civil lawsuit to stay proceedings in the case because he is the subject of a criminal investigation by the FBI and Southern District of New York, as he would invoke his 5th Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. His Declaration is here.

The Bill Cosby case has gone to the jury.

Time for a new open thread, all topics welcome.

Bernie Sanders has come up with a new plan for the government to hire every worker who wants a job at the rate of at least $15 an hour, plus health and retirement benefits.

Sanders's jobs guarantee would fund hundreds of projects throughout the United States aimed at addressing priorities such as infrastructure, care giving, the environment, education and other goals. Under the job guarantee, every American would be entitled to a job under one of these projects or receive job training to be able to do so, according to an early draft of the proposal.

... the projects would hire workers at a minimum salary of $15 an hour with paid family and medical leave, and offer the same retirement, health, and sick and annual leave benefits as other federal employees.

Can such an idea work? It makes me think of the Netflix series Lillyhammer with Steve Van Zandt, about Norway. [More...]

McClatchy is reporting through unnamed sources that Mueller has evidence Michael Cohen went to Prague. Cohen famously denied the allegation at the time.

Read through the McClatchy article and see what it says the import would be for Trump and Cohen if it turns out that Cohen was untruthful when he denied he went to Prague.

Also, today, Cohen dropped his defamation lawsuit against Buzzfeed.

Tomorrow will be a remembrance day for the media. The second half of April is one of the worst in history.

April 19th is the anniversary of the WACO siege and the Oklahoma City bombing. On April 15, the Boston Marathon bombing occurred. April 20 is the anniversary of the Columbine shootings.

In other news, thee entire island of Puerto Rico is without power after a blast at its power station.

Then there is this news: 'It smells like death:' Alabama endures New York 'poop train' [More...]

Raul Castro is resigning as President of Cuba. His replacement (the sole nominee) will be First Vice President Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez.

Wednesday’s announcement confirms the long-held expectation that Diaz-Canel would take over from Castro in a transition meant to ensure that the country’s single-party system outlasts the aging revolutionaries who created it.

The nomination must be now approved by the 604 delegates attending the National Assembly, which always approves nominations with total or near-total unanimity.

Raul Castro will remain head of the Communist party. Diaz-Canel is expected to ensure that Cuba remains a one party system. He's no reformer.

Former first lady Barbara Bush has died at the age of 92.

The Washington Post obituary is here.

I don't have anything to add to the news. If you do, here's a space to comment in. Please keep in mind that TalkLeft has a policy of not speaking ill of the dead on the occasion of their death.

Starbucks announced today it will close all of its 8,000 stores and its affilaiate stores for an afternoon next month during which more than 175,000 employees will undergo racial bias training.

The curriculum to be designed by nationally recognized experts and will be available for other companies to use:

The curriculum will be developed with guidance from several national and local experts confronting racial bias, including Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative; Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund; Heather McGhee, president of Demos; former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder; and Jonathan Greenblatt, ceo of the Anti-Defamation League. Starbucks will involve these experts in monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of the measures we undertake.

I've met Bryan Stevenson and have listened to him speak several times. He is beyond top notch. Good for Starbucks, not only for recognizing the problem, but engaging in meaningful dialogue on how to correct it. And for offering to share the training with other companies. [More...]

I'm actually watching Sean Hannity tonight. He says he is going to address his relationship with Michael Cohen. Alan Dershowitz, who was Hannity's guest along with Joe DiGenova, in a segment trashing James Comey, answered a question about Comey with a light rasp on Hannity's knuckles by volunteering that Hannity should have disclosed his relationship with Cohen when he had Cohen on the show. Hannity responded that his and Cohen's relationship was so minimal -- it was about real estate.

As for diGenova, he had nothing to say other than Comey should be charged with crimes and Hillary should have been made to have pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor before the election over the emails. What planet do these people live on? [more...]

Trump continues his mismanagement of national and international affairs. Turnover continues, as does his war of words with James Comey.

I'm back to writing about El Chapo -- as soon as I finish the Government's 107 page outline of evidence it intends to introduce at his trial.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Here's the latest on the searches of Michael Cohen's law office, hotel room and electronic devices.

Everybody will be back in court Monday. A lawyer for Donald Trump showed up in court today seeking to intervene in the case and the request was granted.

The key takeaway is that Cohen has been under investigation by the US Attorneys office in the Southern District of New York for months for "offenses "which sound in fraud and evidence a lack of truthfulness." (Govt. Brief, Case 18-mj-03161-KMW Document 1, filed today.) The Government believes Trump is Cohen's only client.

[More....]