Wiretap: Apparently lying to the veep about talking to Russians can get you fired. Who knew?

Now we know what it takes to get fired from the Trump White House. All it takes is lying to the vice-president, the justice department saying you’re a security risk and having Kellyanne Conway go on the air to assure the nation that the president has “full confidence” in you. And so, in just three weeks, National Security Adviser Mike Flynn is the first Trump administration casualty. Via The New York Times.

Remember Sally Yates, the acting attorney general who was fired because she wouldn’t defend Trump’s executive order? The Washington Post is reporting that she told the White House last month that Flynn was compromised by the Russians and could be subject to blackmail.

So what’s it like to have dinner at the Mar-a-Lago while watching Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe discuss the North Korea missile launch in a very-much disclosed — and exposed — location, the resort’s open-air dining room? Via The Washington Post.

Paul Krugman: Ignorance is strength. Just ask Prime Minister Shinzo. Via The New York Times.

How Trump could get a deal with North Korea, if the renowned deal maker is ready to use the leverage the United States already has. Via The Atlantic.

We’ll see how the Trump administration fares in the battle with terrorists acting in the name of Islam,  but we’ve already seen the anti-Muslim fringe conquer the White House. Via Vox.

The federal government denies that the weekend’s raids were a Trumpian expansion of immigration enforcement. But not everyone buys it. Via The Los Angeles Times.

Trump’s behavior over the last three weeks is no more erratic than it ever was. It’s just that before the last three weeks, he wasn’t president. Via The New Yorker.

The case for Borking Gorsuch: It may make more sense than you think. Via Daily Beast.

From The National Review: Could the Democrats’ version of the Tea Party actually work? A leftist insurgency could work, but it might be a tougher sell than they think.

Photo credit: DonkeyHotey, Creative Commons, Flickr