Saturday, March 25, 2017

Failed Health Care Bill: Republicans Not Ready To Govern - Vox


Paul Ryan spent the latter 1/2 of Barack Obama’s presidency promising to repair the Republican Party’s relationship with the poor (remember Ryan’s “poverty tour”?). He’s spent every day since the passage of Obamacare saying the Republicans could do better.

This is what he came up with? The GOP put their greatest policy mind in charge of the House of Representatives and they got ... this?

The full article is available here

Friday, March 24, 2017

Republicans Kill Health Care Vote as GOP Members Defect - OPB FM


This is what happens when a major political party is gripped by governmentphobia for 37 years - not only does it have no desire to actually govern, it also has no ability to actually govern.

After 7 years of obstructionism and opposition, the GOP doesn't yet have a bill that it can get passed even though it controls both the House and Senate.

The full article is available here

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Trump Manipulated Religious Right & Returned It To Racist Roots - The New Republic

By openly embracing the racism of the alt-right, Trump effectively played to the religious right’s own roots in white supremacy, despite that history being something that many current Christian Conservatives are probably not aware of. 

Conservative Christians voted for Donald Trump in record numbers. He won 81% of the white evangelical vote.

As a result, the religious right has effectively become a subsidiary of the alt-right, yoked to Trump’s white nationalist agenda.

The overwhelming support for Trump heralds the religious right - a movement founded to maintain the South’s segregationist “way of life" - coming full circle to embrace its roots in racism, a history that many current Christian Conservatives are probably not aware of.

The religious right was actually galvanized in the 1970s and early ’80s, when the IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of Bob Jones University and other conservative Christian colleges that refused to admit bob-whites.

By openly embracing the racism of the alt-right, Trump effectively played to the religious right’s own roots in white supremacy.

The religious right, in its support for a thrice-married, self-confessed sexual predator, finally dispensed with the fiction that it was concerned about family values.

The full article is available here

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Trump's Lack Of Credibility - The Wall Street Journal


President Trump’s falsehoods are eroding public trust, at home and abroad. However, the President clings to his false assertions like a drunk to an empty gin bottle.

2 months into his Presidency, Mr. Trump’s approval rating is 39%. No doubt Mr. Trump considers that fake news, but if he doesn’t show more respect for the truth most Americans may conclude he’s a fake President.

The full article is available here

Monday, March 20, 2017

Trump May Have Committed Impeachable Offense - Politics USA


FBI Director James Comey debunked President Trump's claim that Obama wiretapped him by saying that the FBI has no evidence that Obama wiretapped him, and that presidents can't order surveillance, which raises the question, was Trump's lie an impeachable offense?

The full article is available here

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Trump = I Learned Obama Tapped My Phones From NY Times - Politifact

In an interview with Tucker Carlson, President Trump said learned that Obama tapped his phones from The New York Times. False.

The full article is available here

Trump 'Hard Power' Budget Boosts Military Spending - NPR


President Trump released his budget blueprint, which calls for a boost in military spending, a 28% cut to the State Department, and deep cuts in the Environmental Protection Agency and other programs.

The full article is available here

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Hawaiin Judge Halts Trump's 2nd Attempt At Travel Ban - Politico


"U.S. District Court Judge Derrick K. Watson has issued a nationwide temporary restraining order, preventing President Trump's revised travel ban from taking effect at midnight Wednesday."

The full article is available here

Monday, March 13, 2017

Trump's 'Muslim Ban 2.0': Same Flawed, Un-American Mess - Common Dreams

Trump is not fighting terrorism with this ban. He is feeding it.

Trump and his Muslim ban still have a huge uphill battle waiting for him simply because truth, reality, facts, his own quotes, and a country who yearns to uphold American values, are not on his side.

First and foremost, and incredibly damning, are the reports that intelligence analysts from Trump’s own DHS agency dispute Trump’s notion that these countries that are part of the ban pose a major threat to our national security. They found scant evidence that citizens from these countries are a danger to us.

Second, the arbitrary nature of the list of countries in the ban is underscored by the removal of Iraq from the original list. I am glad they removed Iraq and Trump realized they are our allies, but it lays bare that the Trump administration is simply using the “Obama list” of countries that it designated as needing more vetting, as an excuse and not a real reason based on national security measures.

And last but not least, the new “and improved” Muslim ban, just like the first Muslim ban, will not increase our national security. It will do exactly the opposite.

It puts us more at risk and makes us less safe, by allowing radical terrorist groups like ISIS to point to the Muslim ban as a reason Islam should be at war with the west.

Trump’s insistence on the ban gives these groups a powerful recruiting tool that increases the chances of radicalization that can come from anywhere, including (and most likely) from inside the United States.

The full article is available here

Rise Of The European Far Right: Republican Steven King Is A Fan - Pressman

Many Americans may be unaware the the far-right movement has direct ties to the Russian government, which is openly supportive of far-right anti-EU political parties.

A rallying cry of white nationalists like the KKK and the global neo-Nazi movement is that immigration should be restricted because immigrants will change the demographics and the culture of the US or Western European countries -- and immigrants breed.

Republican Representative Steve King, who has been one of Iowa's congressmen since 2003, echoed one of these talking points in Tweets that praised two far-right, anti-immigrant European politicians who are running for office, Geert Wilders from the Netherlands and from Germany Frauke Petry.

While King has tried to downplay the racial undertones to his statements, David Duke, the former Grand Wizard of the KKKK (Knights of the Ku Klux Klan), tweeted out his own endorsement of King's sentiments.

Interestingly, many Americans may be unaware the the far-right movement has direct ties to the Russian government. In fact, the Russian government is openly supportive of far-right anti-EU political parties.

In particular, one of the fathers of contemporary nationalism, Alexander Dugin, has strong ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Russian war in Eastern Ukraine, and the American racist who coined the term "alt right" -- Richard Spencer.

The full article is available here

Friday, March 3, 2017

Pence used personal email for state business — and was hacked - USA Today


Vice President Mike Pence routinely used a private email account to conduct public business as governor of Indiana, at times discussing sensitive matters and homeland security issues.

The full article is available here

Shell Knew About Climate Change in 1990's, Did Nothing - Bill McKibben


The early shock about global warming soon gave way, at Shell and other powerful institutions, to a more urgent fear: the fear that something might endanger next quarter’s profits.

The full article is available here

Sessions met with Russian envoy twice last year, didn't disclose - Washington Post


Jeff Sessions in 1998: “I have no doubt that perjury qualifies under the Constitution as a high crime. It goes to the heart of the judicial system.”

The full article is available here

Media Fawn Over Trump’s Success at Saying Words in Semi-Coherent Fashion - FAIR.org


According to the media's analysis, so long as Trump wasn’t his petulant, incoherent, race-baiting self, it would be considered a victory for the 45th president.

"The consistent theme in all praise of Trump, it’s worth highlighting, is that it was entirely superficial. Vague notions of 'optimism,' 'kinder' tones and, above all, the DC fetish for being 'presidential' won the day. On substance - as many of the less credulous critics have pointed out - the Trump presidency remains unchanged."

The full article is available here

Betsy Devos Doesn't Seem To Understand Why Historically Black Colleges Exist


What DeVos got wrong about historically black colleges and universities is that they weren't established to give black students a wider range of educational choices — at the time, they were black student's only educational choice due to racism and segregation.

The full article is available here

Anne Frank Center: Trump 'Partly to Blame' for Wave of Antisemitism


"Whether or not your intention," the group said, "your Presidency has given the oxygen of incitement to some of the most viciously hateful elements of our society."

The full article is available here

Trump Cites Non-existent Swedish Terror Attack - The Guardian


At a Florida rally, President Trump referred to an attack in Sweden that did not happen, possibly confusing it with Sehwan in Pakistan.

The full article is available here

Fact-checking Trump's Florida Rally - PolitiFact


Defending his stalled immigration ban, Trump said "there was no way to vet those people. There was no documentation. There was nothing."

Trump has said this before. It’s not true.

A refugee vetting system does exist and has existed since 1980. It involves multiple federal intelligence and security agencies as well as the United Nations. Refugee vetting typically takes one to two years and includes numerous rounds of security checks.

Syrians undergo additional checks.

The full article is available here

Republican Judge Calls For Trump's Impeachment - Independent UK


Retired Republican judge Mark Painter: "We must admit we have elected a president who has immediately proved himself to be a grifter, a pathological liar, a mean-spirited bully and dangerous to American values. This not-ready-for-prime-time show is too dangerous to continue. America is at stake."

The full article is available here

Psychiatrists: Trump Too Unstable To Be President - Open Letter


Psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers have signed an open letter warning Donald Trump’s mental state “makes him incapable of serving safely as president”.

The full article is available here

Stephen Miller’s authoritarian declaration: Trump’s national security actions ‘will not be questioned’


"Our opponents, the media, and the whole world will soon see as we begin to take further actions, that the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned." - Stephen Miller, Senior Trump White House Policy Advisor.

The full article is available here