Cartoon

Misspoken

Written by SK Ashby

(Cartoonist - Joel Pett)

In other news, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents General Motors, Volkswagen and Toyota, told the Commerce Department that Trump's upcoming tariffs on cars and parts will cost American consumers $83 billion per year.

Meanwhile, Ohio State University says 100 former students have provided firsthand accounts of sexual abuse by former school physician Richard Strauss. Freedom Caucus Rep. Jim Jordan (R) continues to deny that he knew anything about it while he was an assistant coach at Ohio State, but former wrestlers say he knew all about it.

Finally, Buzzfeed has a big story on the Americans who secretly directed the teams of Macedonian fake news writers first reported on by Buzzfeed back in 2016. This story is far too big and wild to adequately summarize here so I recommended reading it for yourself.

Authorities in Macedonia are reportedly cooperating with law enforcement in Europe and possibly special prosecutor Robert Mueller's office because one of the Russian indicted by Mueller may have been behind the fake news websites.

The investigation also reveals that at least one member of Russia’s “troll factory,” who has been indicted by US special counsel Robert Mueller for alleged interference in the election, was in Macedonia just three months before the web domain for the country’s first US-focused politics site was registered.

Reporters did not find any evidence connecting the Russian, Anna Bogacheva, to the Veles sites. Arsov denies any links to Russia.

But now Macedonian security agencies are cooperating with law enforcement in the United States and at least two Western European countries to probe possible links between Russians, US citizens, and the pro-Trump “fake news” websites, two senior Macedonian officials said.