Episode 274: The Bolton Bomb

Fox pundit, world renowned war-hawk, and now Trump’s National Security Advisor. We take a look at John Bolton, and the bomb first ask questions second kind of policy he advocates.

Plus Stormy Daniels goes on 60 Minutes, we’ve got the highlights, some discussion, and questions about the bigger picture.

Then it’s a celebrity high-note, and a packed Overtime.

Sponsored By:

• Patreon: You are the sponsor, help support the show at patreon.com/unfilter

Support Unfilter

Links:

• He Gambles. He Tips Staff. He Eats Alone. All the While, He’s Stocking His Vegas Suite With Guns. - The New York Times
• Leaked: Cambridge Analytica's blueprint for Trump victory | UK news | The Guardian — The document contains very little information about how the campaign used Facebook data. One page, however, suggests Cambridge Analytica was able to constantly monitor the effectiveness of its messaging on different types of voters, giving the company and the campaign constant feedback about levels of engagement on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat.
• Stormy Daniels, in '60 Minutes' interview, says she had sex with Donald Trump once
• Stormy Daniels interview with 60 Minutes' Anderson Cooper discusses Daniels' alleged affair with Donald Trump - full interview transcript - CBS News
• Stormy Daniels Tells ‘60 Minutes’ That Fear of Trump Kept Her Silent - The New York Times — The pornographic film star Stephanie Clifford told “60 Minutes” that she struck a $130,000 deal for her silence about an alleged affair with Donald J. Trump in the final days of the 2016 campaign because she was worried about her safety and that of her young daughter.
• Why the Stormy Daniels story matters - CBS News
• Stormy Daniels' 'Super' Dilated Pupils Spark Accusations She Was High On Meds For ‘60 Minutes' Interview — “Health reporter tweet here. Why are Stormy Daniels’ pupils so dilated in that bright room? AC’s aren’t. Ok carry on,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch health and science reporter Blythe Bernhard asked.
• White House: Trump thinks Stormy Daniels lied about threat — White House spokesman Raj Shah declined to say whether the president had actually watched the Sunday broadcast. But he nonetheless said Trump does not believe "any of the claims that Ms. Daniels made last night in the interview are accurate."
• Do voters care about Trump's sexual history? Ask Bill Clinton | TheHill — By compartmentalizing the infidelity matter as a personal issue, Clinton diffused it as a political one — at least until the current "Me Too" movement cast his behavior, which included grave and credible allegations of rape, sexual assault, harassment and other misconduct, in a far different light, sparking broad censure and the end of his once-towering political influence.
• Ratings for Stormy Daniels' '60 Minutes' Sitdown Top 22 Million Viewers | Hollywood Reporter — Anderson Cooper's interview nabbed close to 22.1 million viewers, a 5.3 rating among adults 25-54 and a 4.0 among adults 18-49 during the 37-minute-delayed broadcast.
• Hagar: Rumor is that Paul Ryan may resign as U.S. House speaker, Scalise will replace him, Amodei says — "The rumor mill is that Paul Ryan is getting ready to resign in the next 30 to 60 days and that Steve Scalise will be the new Speaker," Amodei said.
• Kim Jong Un Is Making a Surprise China Visit, Sources Say - Bloomberg — Kim Jong Un made a surprise visit to Beijing on his first known trip outside North Korea since taking power in 2011, three people with knowledge of the visit said.
• Exclusive: Cambridge Analytica accused of violating US election laws in new legal action - ABC News — The Trump campaign paid Cambridge Analytica nearly $6 million for services during the 2016 election cycle, according to data from the FEC.
• New Zealand says it would expel Russian spies ... but it can't find any | World news | The Guardian — As countries around the world deport diplomats in solidarity with UK, Jacinda Ardern says ‘there are no individuals in New Zealand who fit profile’ of a spy
• Trump is gearing America up for war — Bolton, who will be the last one in the room to whisper in Trump's ear and the first one in the morning (along with "Fox & Friends") to frame the news, proudly made his name as a warmonger, never seeing a war that he wouldn't promote (nor one that he would fight in). Under Bush, he cooked intelligence to fit the case for the Iraq War. He still defends what was the greatest foreign policy debacle since Vietnam. He has advocated "preventive war" — a euphemism for an illegal war of aggression — against both Iran and North Korea. He has also urged ramping up the pressure on Russia in Ukraine and China in the South China Sea. He believes U.S. military might entitles the United States to dictate terms in every corner of the world.
• Obama's Data Team | TIME - YouTube
• Obama's win: data mining - YouTube — Brian Todd reports on the Obama campaign's successful data-mining efforts to target potential voters.
• Obama's secret microtargeting operation - YouTube — Michael Scherer describes how the Obama campaign used data and analytics to successfully target voters and raise money.
• Ted Cruz Campaign Takes Voter Micro-Targeting To Next Level : NPR — Ted Cruz's campaign is taking micro-targeting one step further by investing significant resources and money into learning about voters' personality traits and behavior.
• Ecuador cuts off WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's internet | Daily Mail Online — Officials announced on Wednesday they were taking the measure in response to Mr Assange's recent activity on social media.
• Trump hates Amazon, not Facebook - Axios — Trump has talked about changing Amazon’s tax treatment because he’s worried about mom-and-pop retailers being put out of business.
• CNN to host town hall with Comey next month | TheHill — Former FBI Director James Comey will sit down for a CNN town hall on April 25, the network announced on Wednesday
• Trump’s Lawyer Raised Prospect of Pardons for Flynn and Manafort as Special Counsel Closed In - The New York Times — Mr. Dowd’s conversation with Mr. Flynn’s lawyer, Robert K. Kelner, occurred sometime after Mr. Dowd took over last summer as the president’s personal lawyer, at a time when a grand jury was hearing evidence against Mr. Flynn on a range of potential crimes.
• DOJ Opens Investigation Into FISA Abuse | The Daily Caller — Department of Justice inspector general Michael Horowitz opened an investigation Wednesday into possible FISA abuses by the Justice Department and FBI officials and the nature of contacts between the FBI and a confidential source.