| Russia story going away any time soon? Nyet. | | Quick catch-up: President Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, had conversations with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Flynn lied to Vice President Pence about these convos. Pence repeated that incorrect information to the American public. And Russia knew it. "Logic would tell you that you don't want the national security adviser to be in a position where the Russians have leverage over him," former acting attorney general Sally Yates told senators Monday. She was explaining why she warned the White House about Flynn on Jan. 26 — 18 days before he resigned from the administration. Yates was fired Jan. 30 for defying Trump's initial immigration ban because she believed his executive order was "unconstitutional" — a move senators told her they were "disappointed in" or "proud of" her for, depending on their political party. In addition to "blackmail" and "compromise," "unmasking" was another word heard a lot during the Senate hearing. Here's what that "intel" jargon means. James Clapper, former director of national intelligence, also testified, calling Russia's tampering in the election an "erosion of the fundamental fabric of our democracy." Or, what FBI Director James Comey said. Also Monday, we learned that President Obama had warned Trump against hiring Flynn just two days after the election. Flynn is under investigation by the Pentagon Inspector General. | | He's young, charismatic and French. And you can call him Monsieur President | | The European establishment couldn't be more thrilled that Emmanuel Macron, 39, defeated anti-immigration nationalist Marine Le Pen in France's presidential runoff Sunday. Macron, who never before held elected office, emerged from relative obscurity only a year ago when he launched an independent political movement called En Marche! that promised to rule neither from the left nor right. Macron is described as a centrist businessman. Other important points: | | • | Macron's victory marks a giant NOPE to European backlash against Muslim immigration. | | • | He is France's youngest president, ever. He got a last-minute endorsement from former U.S. president Barack Obama. | | • | Macron is charismatic, confident and married to a former high school teacher who is 24 years older than he is. | | • | In his speech to supporters Sunday, Macron promised to unify the country "with love." | | | Emma Watson won a 'very meaningful,' genderless MTV Award | | As the kids say, the MTV Awards on Sunday celebrated ALL THE THINGS. We're still talking about Emma Watson's moving speech for her win in the gender-neutral category: best actor in a movie. The "Beauty and the Beast" actress received her award from "Billions" actor Asia Kate Dillon, who identifies as gender non-binary. "The first acting award in history that doesn't separate nominees based on their sex says something about how we perceive the human experience," Watson said. "MTV's move to create a genderless award for acting will mean something different to everyone but to me, it indicates that acting is about the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes. And that doesn't need to be separated into two, different categories." Swipe through all the celebs' red carpet looks. | | A mini space shuttle on a 2-year secret mission landed in Florida. So what was it doing? | | As it turns out, details about the purpose of unmanned, military space planes are mostly kept secret. One of them rumbled to the ground Sunday at Florida's Cape Canaveral after nearly two years in space. The Air Force says the vehicles are testing and advancing reusable spacecraft technologies. For example, the just-landed mission was known to have included tests of an upgraded electric thruster used by high-value national security satellites, and a NASA materials science experiment. The Secure World Foundation has shot down speculation that the X-37B could be used to attack targets on the ground, saying that scenario has "near zero feasibility." In totally unrelated news: Mulder, Scully and " The X-Files" will be coming back, again. |  | | 7,000 former mental patients are buried on the University of Mississippi Medical Center campus | | They are former patients of the state's first mental institution, called the Insane Asylum, built in 1855. Underground radar shows their coffins stretch across 20 acres of the campus, where officials have wanted to build. The cost is steep — $3,000 to exhume and rebury each body, as much as $21 million total. Up now: Studying the cheaper alternative of handling those exhumations in-house . There are also plans to create a memorial, visitor center and lab. Before the asylum, those suffering from mental illness were chained in jails and even attics. Even at the asylum, life remained harsh. Of the 1,376 patients admitted between 1855 and 1877, more than one in five died. | | This is a compilation of stories from across USA TODAY. | |
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