Critical Part Of Mueller's Report That AG Barr Didn't Mention - The Atlantic

Barr’s summary does not describe how Mueller investigated or came to explain the many interactions the campaign had with various Russians during the election.

Mueller’s mandate, given to him by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, empowered him to investigate not only any “coordination” between the campaign and Russia, but any “links” between them as well. Barr’s summary does not describe how Mueller investigated or came to explain the many interactions the campaign had with various Russians during the election.

Mueller was empowered to probe the campaign's links to Russia as well as any coordination - which is why his counterintelligence findings are so key. If all we do is apply criminal standards to investigative findings, we are missing the point.

National-security and intelligence experts have said that Mueller’s decision not to charge Trump or his campaign team with a conspiracy is far from dispositive, and that the underlying evidence the special counsel amassed over two years could prove as useful as a conspiracy charge to understanding the full scope of Russia’s election interference in 2016.

A counterintelligence probe would ask more than whether the evidence collected is sufficient to obtain a criminal conviction - it could provide necessary information to the public about why the president is making certain policy decisions.

Trump’s consistent praise of Putin, his pursuit of a massive real-estate deal in Moscow while Russia was waging a hacking and disinformation campaign against the United States in 2016, and the secrecy that continues to surround his conversations with his Russian counterpart have given some in the national-security community pause.

The full article is available here

The William Barr Summary Of The Mueller Report and "Did Not Establish" - The Atlantic

When prosecutors say that an investigation "did not establish" something, that doesn’t mean that they concluded it didn’t happen, or even that they don’t believe it happened.

It means that the investigation didn’t produce enough information to prove that it happened.

Without seeing Mueller’s full report, we don’t know whether this is a firm conclusion about lack of coordination or a frank admission of insufficient evidence.  The difference is meaningful.

The full article is available here

Think We Should Do Away With The Electoral College? Think Again - Red Jahncke

The Constitution provides for a federal republic because if the U.S. were a direct democracy, a few large states could elect a president by themselves. That would be a disservice to the remainder of the nation.

The Electoral College doesn’t reflect one-man-one-vote because it wasn’t designed to. It's a blend of the pure democracy of the U.S. House (with one elector per U.S. representative, each of whom represents about 750,000 Americans today) and our federal system.

As a nation, we are both a democracy and a federation of states. The Electoral College was designed specifically to prevent the tyranny of big states over small states, as was the U.S. Senate, which affords all states, large and small, equal representation.

If we did away with the Electoral College in favor of the national popular vote, the election would still be decided in a handful of states — populous states such as California and New York. Voters in small states would be completely disenfranchised. Candidates would never have to campaign in small states.

The 2000 and 2016 presidential elections are only the fourth and fifth where the winner lost the popular vote, out of 58 contests, with the other three being elections in the 19th century. That means the Electoral College is batting 53 for 58.

The full article is available here

Trump Admits Wall Isn't A National Emergency - USA Today

In his Rose Garden press conference, Trump admitted that he didn't need to declare a national emergency to fund his border wall, but that he did it so he could "get it done faster."

30 minutes into an off-the-cuff defense of his decision to declare a national emergency to help build his border wall, President Donald Trump made an admission that may have handed ammunition to legal opponents of the move.

Trump admitted that he didn't need to declare a national emergency to fund his border wall, but that he did it so he could "get it done faster."

U.S. government data from the southern border indicates the vast majority of narcotics captured at the border is coming in through ports of entry, not the wide swaths of border in between where additional barriers could be erected.

And the number of migrants apprehended for trying to enter the U.S. illegally is significantly less than it was a decade ago.

The full article is available here

The MAGA Hat Boys Aren’t Totally Innocent, But I Feel Empathy Towards Them - Jeff Wiersma

I unfortunately recognize the smug arrogance, the dehumanization and bullying of all that was other, the toxic masculinity and Eurocentric Christendom all too well, because it was my adolescent worldview. 

Despite rejecting the claims of one investigation that found no fault in the Covington Catholic boys’ actions at the National Mall last month (while acknowledging that the so-called "Black Israelite" group were the instigators), and despite my ardent opposition to the Trumpism the boys are caught up in ... I still feel empathy for them.

Why?

Because they’re just like who I was at that age. As a teen, I was a full-fledged, enthusiastic foot soldier for the Religious Right. I was fully convinced that what I learned from those sources was true - that I needed to be fought for in order to save our country from God’s judgment. Obviously I was 100% wrong, but I was naive and took what I was told by those sources at face value.

I unfortunately recognize the smug arrogance, the dehumanization and bullying of all that was other, the toxic masculinity and Eurocentric Christendom all too well, because it was my adolescent worldview.

The only things that rescued my from continuing to be that person were (1) being held accountable for my actions (2) converting from Fundagelicalism to Christianity (3) realigning my political and philosophical beliefs to align with Jesus, not Movement Conservatism.

Given who my parents are - how they’ve always questioned the powers that be and stood up for the least of these - it may have been inevitable that I reformed. It also coincided with maturing from an adolescent to an adult.

BUT it still took being held accountable for the harmful beliefs I took on as truth.

Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats Dispute Claims That Russia Probe Found No Collusion - Mother Jones

"The intelligence committee hasn’t discussed the matter, let alone released a committee report.”
- Senator Angus King (I), Maine

Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee are pushing back on a claim by the panel’s chair, Richard Burr (R-N.C.), that the committee’s two-year investigation has not found “anything that would suggest there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.”

And they dispute an NBC News report saying that Democrats agreed with Burr that they have yet to see clear evidence of a conspiracy between President Donald Trump and Moscow.

“That’s not true,” Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, told Mother Jones. “I think it’s misleading. The intelligence committee hasn’t discussed the matter, let alone released a committee report.”

The full article is available here

In Early 70’s, Republicans Favored Abortion & Liked Roe v. Wade. What Changed? - Heather Cox Richardson

The recent disinformation campaign against New York's new abortion law reflects the takeover of the Republican Party by radical Movement Conservatives in the 1970s. It's a story not about principle, but about the pursuit of political power.

In 1971, the evangelical Southern Baptist Convention agreed that abortion should be legal in some cases, and vowed to work for modernization. 

By 1972, Gallup pollsters reported that 64% of Americans agreed that abortion was between a woman and her doctor. 68% of Republicans agreed.

In 1973, the Supreme Court, under Republican Chief Justice Warren Burger, in a decision written by Republican Lewis Blackmun, decided Roe v. Wade, legalizing first-trimester abortion. 

So in the early 70’s, Republicans favored abortion and liked Roe v. Wade. What changed? 

In 1972, Nixon was up for reelection, and he and his people were paranoid that he would lose. Nixon's handler Pat Buchanan was a Goldwater man who wanted to destroy the popular New Deal state that regulated the economy and protected social welfare and civil rights. To that end, he believed Ds and traditional Rs needed to be kept from power and Nixon had to win reelection.

Catholics, who opposed abortion and believed that "the right of innocent human beings to life is sacred," tended to vote for Democratic candidates. Buchanan (himself Catholic), urged Nixon to woo Catholic Democrats before the 1972 election over the issue of abortion. 

Nixon/Buchanan Movement Conservatism wanted to dismantle the active federal government that regulated business, enforced civil rights law, and promoted social welfare. They attacked anyone who supported such a government as immoral. And with the issue of abortion, Movement Conservatives re-framed the entire scope of women's rights around a single use, and as murder, in a cynical power play.

The full article is available here

My Abortion Debate Wishlist - Jeff Wiersma

Both sides: Stubbornly refuse to dehumanize those who you ultimately may not find common ground with.

Here is my wishlist for what I’d like to see from both sides in the often-vitriolic abortion debate.

Pro-lifers: I'd like to see an acknowledgement that,  if it ultimately comes down to the life of the mother or the life of her unborn child, the mother is the one who has the right to make the penultimate unenviable choice.

In that vain, I’d really like to see an end to ascribing wantonly homicidal intent to people caught in unthinkably traumatic medical crises; horrific tragedies where a wanted pregnancy isn’t going to come to completion as dreamed of by the parents.

Pro-choicers: I’d like to see a increase in the willingness to acknowledge that - even though a fetus isn’t viable and is still dependent on its mother to survive - it is growing and taking nourishment, and therefore alive and equally deserving of a chance to thrive as its mother.

Pro-lifers: I’d like to see you become more consistent/systematic in arguing for life; specifically in areas such as war, gun violence, capital punishment, pollution, environmental regulation, climate change, and healthcare being a human right, et al

Pro-choicers: As a progressive liberal, I’d like to see a less libertarian/absolutist individualism view of the issue. I feel that there is a progressive societal interest in defending the right of all living things being afforded a chance at a good life - with the disclaimer that I fully understand that a lot of the pro-life camp are defenders of patriarchy - and seem to have maintaining that as a top priority in many policy areas (birth control immediately comes to mind).

Pro-lifers: I’d like to see the prioritization of reducing the overall number of abortions vs serving as conveniently-mobilized foot soldiers of a partisan agenda that, in my assessment, is by and large not pro-life on many other issues. Also, I feel that those who genuinely want to reduce the overall number of abortions should support sex education, contraception, universal health care, and a living wage.

Both sides: I’d love to see a posture of inquiry towards those don’t share your position.

Ask questions and then follow up/clarifying questions. Don’t assume intent or motivation.

And finally, stubbornly refuse to dehumanize those who you ultimately may not find common ground with.

Trump Uses Texas Election Investigation to Falsely Claim 58,000 People Voted Illegally - Todd Niekirk

Trump Tweeted this morning that, “58,000 non-citizens voted in Texas.” This is categorically FALSE!

Texas found that over 22 years, 58,000 who eventually voted MAY not have been, at some time in their lives, citizens. These people may have become citizens or their data was incomplete.

The full article is available here

Context Of MLK's Seminal "Letters From Birmingham Jail" - Broderick Greer

The white Alabama clergymen who wrote the letter, to which MLK was responding when he penned Letters from Birmingham, urged black protesters to "observe the principles of law order."

MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail was written in response to "A Call for Unity", an open letter published by white Alabama clergymen, who called the civil rights efforts of 1963 "unwise and untimely."

The clergy called on black protesters to leave the streets and take their struggle to the courts (as if they couldn't and weren't doing both).   They urged black protesters to "observe the principles of law order."

This should serve as a reminder that "calls for unity" and appeals for respectability can silence calls for reparations, justice, and actual peace.

History never occurs in a vacuum. Dig a bit and you’ll see.

The full article is available here

President Trump Directed His Attorney Michael Cohen To Lie To Congress About The Moscow Tower Project

“President Trump personally directed his longtime attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow in order to obscure his involvement.

Trump supported a plan to visit Russia during the presidential campaign in order to personally meet President Vladimir Putin and jumpstart the tower negotiations.

‘Make it happen,’ two law enforcement sources say Trump told Cohen.”

The full article is available here

Michael Cohen Doesn't Dispute Report He Paid Liberty University Official's Tech Firm To Rig Polls For Trump - Washington Post

“Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, did not dispute a new Wall Street Journal report that he hired a technology company - run by the chief information officer at Jerry Falwell Jr’s Liberty University - to help rig online polls in his boss’s favor ahead of the 2016 presidential campaign.

Cohen said that he carried out these actions at Trump’s direction.”

The full article is available here

Trump Has Concealed Details Of Face-to-face Encounters With Putin - Washington Post

“Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to hide details of talks with Putin, such as confiscating the interpreter’s notes, U.S. officials say.”

That doesn't like the way that an innocent person would act.

The full article is available here

FBI Investigated Possibility That Donald Trump Is A Russian Agent - Think Progress

The concern by the FBI coalesced around two equally jarring possibilities: (1) that Donald Trump was acting on behalf of Russia, either willingly or as a result of blackmail ... and that (2) Trump posed a national security risk to the United States by trying to end the agency’s probe into Russian interference.

That there was enough suspicion for the FBI to launch a counterintelligence operation on a sitting US president ... is as astonishing as it is unsettling.

The full article is available here

Libertarian Cato Institute = "Why Trump's Wall Won't Work"

"For those who are not nationalists, the wall is a problem. The direct harms are easy to document: the spending, the taxes, the eminent domain abuse, and the decrease in immigrants’ freedom of movement.

In one sense, the wall represents the Trump administration’s worst instincts and desires.

But wall is also much more than just a symbol. It will harm the lives of thousands of border residents and immigrants while wasting billions of tax dollars.”

The full article is available here

No, Mexico Isn't Paying For Trump Wall Thanks To Trade Deal - Politifact

Trump claimed, "Mexico is paying for the Wall through the new USMCA Trade Deal."

USMCA is the name for the renegotiated NAFTA. USMCA is not in effect yet. Even then, there is no provision in the free trade agreement about Mexico directly paying for the wall.

The new USMCA deal does not add new tariffs on goods coming from Mexico to the United States, an expert told us. It’s unclear how the deal will impact U.S. businesses revenues. If U.S. tax revenue increases in response to increased revenues of U.S. firms, then Congress would still have to allocate that money for the wall. That’s questionable.

The full article is available here

Trump's Cracked Afghan History - Wall Street Journal

“Mr. Trump ridiculed other nations’ commitment of troops to fight alongside America’s in Afghanistan. He said, ‘They tell me a hundred times, Oh, we sent you soldiers. We sent you soldiers.’

This mockery is a slander against every ally that has supported the U.S. effort in Afghanistan with troops who fought and often died. The United Kingdom has had more than 450 killed fighting in Afghanistan.

As reprehensible was Mr. Trump’s utterly false narrative of the Soviet Union’s involvement there in the 1980s. He said: ‘The reason Russia was in Afghanistan was because terrorists were going into Russia. They were right to be there.’

Right to be there? We cannot recall a more absurd misstatement of history by an American President. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan with three divisions in December 1979 to prop up a fellow communist government.”

The full article is available here

The Steele Dossier: A Raw Intelligence Document That Has Held Up Over Time - Lawfare

"As a raw intelligence document, the Steele dossier holds up well over time. While much that is in it remains uncorroborated, none of it, to our knowledge, has been disproven.

The Mueller investigation has produced public records that confirm pieces of the dossier. And even where the details are not exact, the general thrust of Steele’s reporting seems credible in light of what we now know about extensive contacts between numerous individuals associated with the Trump campaign and Russian government officials."

The full article is available here

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigns, scolding Trump over his military judgment - NBC News

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis announced his resignation Thursday afternoon, sending President Donald Trump a letter that implicitly criticized the president's military judgment.

In the letter, Mattis suggested Trump was not treating allies with respect and had not been "clear-eyed" about U.S. enemies.

The full article is available here

Mueller Investigation Has Earned Estimated Tens Of Millions For U.S. - Fortune

Mueller Probe Cost $25 Million So Far, Report Says. It’s Pulled in $48 Million From Tax Cheats

Though the Mueller investigation comes with a hefty price tag, it may have actually paid for its own investigation, with its probe leading to monetary estimated gains of up to $48 million for the government through the tax evasion the investigation has revealed.

Throughout the investigation, Trump has blasted the special counsel for its growing cost, but has never mentioned the evaded tax payments recouped or the asset forfeitures of Paul Manafort it has brought in.

The full article is available here

What Can We Learn From Russian spy Maria Butina's Plea Deal? A Lot - Renato Mariotti

Now that Butina will testify against him, Erickson faces what appears to be overwhelming evidence of his guilt. What did Erickson tell GOP leaders, NRA leaders, GOP operatives and others when he was connecting them with a Russian spy?

Russian spy Maria Butina pleaded guilty to conspiring to secretly work as a Russian agent within the United States. As part of her plea, Butina and federal prosecutors agreed on the facts that proved her guilt, and they are shocking.

Butina admitted that she - along with her former paramour and partner - longtime Republican operative Paul Erickson - drafted a proposal in Russian called "Description of the Diplomacy Project" that suggested Russia could use "unofficial channels of communication" to build relations with the Republican Party.

In the proposal, Butina claimed that she had been introduced to Republican Party leaders as "an unofficial representative" of Russian official Alexander Torshin, who sat at a dinner table with . Donald Trump Jr. at the 2016 NRA convention. Butina also famously met now-President Donald Trump at the 2015 NRA Convention.

Now that Butina will testify against him, Erickson faces what appears to be overwhelming evidence of his guilt. Indeed, Erickson received a target letter. That means that federal prosecutors intend to indict him.

What did Erickson tell GOP leaders, NRA leaders, GOP operatives and others when he was connecting them with a Russian spy? Those conversations will be of very great interest to federal prosecutors because they might reveal others who also acted as Russian agents.

The full article is available here

Trump Would Be "Proud" To Shutdown Government If Wall Isn't Funded - New York Times

Even as both Schumer and Pelosi kept warning him that the conversation needed to be in private, Trump got himself so worked up that by the end of the meeting he was boasting of his willingness to shut down the government if his wall isn't funded by Congress.

During a televised sit down with Democratic congressional leaders, Nancy Pelosi’s insistence that President Trump doesn’t have the votes in the House for a border wall seemed to set him off.  He proceeded to interrupt the likely House Speaker 15 times.

Even as both Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi kept warning him that the conversation needed to be in private, Trump got himself so worked up over the need for his conception of border security that by the end of the meeting he was boasting of his willingness to shut down the government.

Trump wants Congress to fund the construction of his border wall project.  

In the event during which he launched his presidential campaign in June of 2015, Trump famously stated:

"I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great great wall on our southern border and I’ll have Mexico pay for that wall."

The full article is available here

U.S. Conservative Movement Closely Mirrors Putin's Modus Operandi - Jared Yates Sexton

The reason Russia invested in and manipulated the U.S. Right is because they followed the same game-plan; nostalgic, populist rhetoric that concealed an agenda to further enrich the wealthy.

The United States' conservative movement closely mirrors the Russian movement that empowered Putin and the style of politics and manipulation Trump employs closely mirrors Putin's. The conservative Right in this country is flooded with Russian money and influence.

Regardless of whether you believe in collusion or not, this is what's going on. Either modern Republicans are following the same trend as Putin's ascent in Russia ... or else Russia has actively cultivated and exported their political movement to the U.S.

So, if you believe the former - that U.S. Republicans have just mirrored their culture from Russia - then you have to believe it's just a giant coincidence that Russia obviously invested in and manipulated them and then ALSO believe they failed to have an influence.

The reason Russia invested in and manipulated the U.S. Right is because they followed the same game-plan; nostalgic, populist rhetoric that concealed an agenda to further enrich the wealthy.

The full article is available here

Maria Butina, Accused Russian Agent Who Infiltrated NRA/National Prayer Breakfast, Reaches Plea Deal - ABC News

Butina's friend Aleksander Torshin - the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank, met with Donald Trump Jr in May 2016. Her partner Conservative operative Paul Erickson set up the meeting, suggesting that the convention could serve as a point of “first contact” between Trump and Russia and that “Putin is deadly serious about building a good relationship with Mr. Trump.”

The government has alleged Butina was introduced to having influence U.S. politics, including high-ranking members of the National Rifle Association and organizers of the National Prayer Breakfast, that would ultimately give her a surprising level of access to conservative politicians, including — in one memorable interaction captured on video — to then-candidate Donald Trump.

Butina has acknowledged that, with conservative operative Paul Erickson, she drafted a proposal called “Description of the Diplomacy Project” in March of 2015 which was later sent to the Russian Official, in which she said that she had already “laid the groundwork for an unofficial channel of communication with the next U.S. administration.”  The Russian Official, the agreement said, confirmed that her proposal would be at least partially supported.

Butina's friend Aleksander Torshin - the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank, met with Donald Trump Jr in May 2016.

Butina's partner Conservative operative Paul Erickson set up the meeting, suggesting that the convention could serve as a point of “first contact” between Trump and Russia and that “Putin is deadly serious about building a good relationship with Mr. Trump.”

The full article is available here 

It Seems There’s Nothing Terrible Trump Can Do That Will Change Some Supporters’ Minds - Jeff Wiersma

It seems that there are a significant amount of Trump supporters who will never make an ethical and moral stand and stop supporting Trump, regardless of what he does. 

A lot of ink has been used up by people attempting to assess and analyze why Donald Trump, despite plainly being an incompetent and malevolent disaster as POTUS, holds a certain sway over his ardent supporters.

But that doesn't mean I won't chime in.

In March 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump bragged that he could “stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody” and “not lose any voters.”

Besides the fact that bragging about something that terrible is the domain of a sociopath, I took this statement to be simply more of Trump’s trademark narcissistic, bellicose exaggeration.

But some 33 months later, with his approval rating among his base of support remaining steady despite Trump ...

• bragging about committing sexual assault 
• using white nationalist anti-Semitic rhetoric 
• making abhorrent misogynistic remarks 
• committing treason for Putin 
• mocking gold star families 
• mocking sexual assault victims 
• denying his part in fomenting right wing domestic terrorism 
• showing sympathy to neo-Nazi’s 
• supporting pedophile Roy Moore’s senate campaign 
• name-calling and seeking to undermine our closest allies 
• repeatedly expressing admiration for murderous dictators 
• paying off several adult film stars for adultery committed on his 3rd wife 
• separating children from their parents at the U.S./Mexico border 
• colluding with a hostile foreign dictator 
• and countless other acts that would have been nearly fatal for any other POTUS ... 

... I’m afraid that rather than just bellicose exaggeration, his March 2016 assertion was prescient.

It seems that there are a significant amount of Trump supporters who will never make an ethical and moral stand and stop supporting Trump, regardless of what he does.

It’s as stupefying as it is disconcerting.

How Michael Cohen's plea deal fits into Mueller's probe - Politico

Cohen kept discussing the Moscow project for longer than he’d admitted and asked Trump about the possibility of traveling to Russia in connection with the "Moscow Project."

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, pleaded guilty on Thursday to lying to Congress about his role in negotiating a failed deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign.

This directly contradicts Donald Trump Jr.'s September 2017 testimony to Congress that his family's real estate negotiations with Russians concluded without result "at the end" of 2014.

Here’s how Cohen’s guilty plea fits into special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Cohen, who’s cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller, kept discussing the Moscow project for longer than he’d admitted and asked Trump about the possibility of traveling to Russia “in connection with the Moscow Project.” And Cohen spoke at least once with the personal assistant to Dmitri Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, according to Mueller.

Contrary to Cohen’s claim that the Trump Organization had abandoned the potential deal by January 2016, Cohen and Felix Sater - a Russian immigrant and a former broker for the Trump Organization - were still talking about getting Russian government approval for the project “as late as approximately June 2016.”

Cohen discussed the project with Trump more than the three times he’d claimed and also briefed Trump family members on the project.

Trump has said repeatedly that he has no business ties to Russia. “I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA - NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!” he tweeted days before his inauguration.

The full article is available here

U.S. Federal Law About Seeking Asylum - Politifact

https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-asylum

Asylum seekers must be within the United States to apply for the protection.

Asylum may be granted to individuals who have been persecuted or fear they will be persecuted on account of race, religion, nationality, and/or membership in a particular social group or political opinion, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

U.S. law says that in general, "any alien who is physically present in the United States, or who arrives in the United States (whether or not at a designated port of arrival and including an alien who is brought to the United States after having been interdicted in international or United States waters), irrespective of such alien’s status, may apply for asylum."

The key takeaway from the preceding paragraph is the phrase "physically present in the United States, or who arrives in the United States ..."  Therefore, asylum claims must be made within the United States.

A U.S. consulate or embassy is clearly outside the U.S., so you can’t apply for asylum at a U.S. consulate or embassy," said Stephen H. Legomsky, an emeritus professor at the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis who served as chief counsel of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services from 2011 to 2013.

The full article is available here

2018 Midterms: Slide Into Oligarchy Stopped, For Now - Historian Heather Cox Richardson

It seems we have woken up just in time to make the next few years a full-out contest for the survival of our democracy.

Until Tuesday, many of us have seen the signs of rising oligarchy in the U.S. and worried that that our fellow citizens would ignore it until it was too late to stop. Now, it seems, we have woken up just in time to make the next few years a full-out contest for the survival of our democracy.

The midterm election is only a stay. It is not the triumph of U.S. democracy it could have been.

Unfortunately, because of gerrymandering, by which Republicans have cut extreme districts that favor themselves, Democrats will pick up only 27 seats despite their popular strength. A majority of voters – by a large margin – rejects the Republican party, but the party has rigged the system to retain power.

Republican leaders are acting precisely as Democratic slave owners did in the 1850's, when they saw a growing majority turn against them.

As then, leaders are packing the courts as fast as they possibly can to try to rig the laws in their favor. They are trying to retain power by tearing the citizenry in two and setting them at each other’s throats.

Taking away their control of the House of Representatives was a victory for democracy.

The full article is available here

White Nationalist Leader Just Posted Pics From White House Visit - Daily Beast

The leader of the white nationalist group Identity Evropa - whose members marched in the August 2017 Charlottesville white supremacist rally - visited the Trump White House, according to pics he posted online.

The group’s motto, "You will not replace us," refers to the racist conspiracy theory that non-white groups are intent on eliminating white Americans.

Sources tell The Daily Beast he could not have reached the location by himself or on a tour.

This triumphant social media posting underscores the degree to which the president has become a magnet for white nationalists, even as he seeks to downplay his ties to them.

The pictures from Casey’s White House visit were tweeted on the same day that President Donald Trump held a press conference in which he bristled when a reporter questioned whether his embrace of “nationalism” encouraged white nationalists.

Trump responded by claiming that the question itself was “racist.”

The reporter who asked the question, PBS’ Yamiche Alcindor, is African American.

The full article is available here

Sarah Huckabee Sanders Shares Doctored InfoWars Video Of Jim Acosta Incident

Trump Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted out a doctored video, originating from an editor at InfoWars, of a testy interchange between President Trump and CNN reporter Jim Acosta during a post-election press conference.

Sanders shared the video in an attempt to justify the White House's decision to revoke CNN reporter Jim Acosta's press credentials.

The video quite obviously appears to have been altered. Some frames look to be sped up and others slowed down to make Acosta's physical actions seem more aggressive than they were in reality - as evidenced when viewing numerous videos captured by multiple news outlets in the room.

The full article is available here

Deceased Republican Brothel Owner Wins Nevada State Assembly Seat - Reuters

A brothel-owning, Pro-Trump, evangelical Christian-backed Republican candidate - who died last month - won his race for the Nevada state legislature late on Tuesday, according to state election officials.

Dennis Hof defeated Democratic candidate and educator Lesia Romanov in the race for Nevada’s 36th Assembly District, earning about 68% of the vote. County officials said they would appoint a replacement candidate from the same party for his seat.

The full article is available here

Thoughts on 2018 Midterms - Jeff Wiersma

I had hoped for (1) a more significant repudiation of white nationalism and (2) Democratic control of the Senate, but Trump now being subject to some kind of oversight is a big deal.

Democrats elected a diverse variety of candidates. Republicans re-elected a neo-Nazi groupie (Steve King, IA) and a race-baiter indicted for misusing campaign funds (Duncan Hunter, CA).

Far-Right Internet Groups Listen for Trump’s Approval, and Often Hear It - NY Times

As President Trump and his allies have waged a fear-based campaign to drive Republican voters to the polls, far-right internet communities have been buoyed in recent weeks as their once-fringe views have been given oxygen.

Right-wing extremists — a catchall category for a messy constellation of neo-Nazis, white nationalists, crypto-fascists, nihilists and attention-seeking trolls — vary widely in style and ideology.

What they have in common is a feeling of empowerment — a sense that the boundaries of acceptable speech are widening in the Trump era, and a suspicion that when they talk, Mr. Trump, or those with access to him, may be listening.

The full article is available here

When Trump Phones Friends, the Chinese and the Russians Listen and Learn

“When President Trump calls old friends on one of his unsecured iPhones, U.S. intelligence reports indicate that Chinese spies are often listening.

Mr. Trump’s aides have repeatedly warned him that his cellphone calls are not secure, and they have told him that Russian spies are routinely eavesdropping on the calls, as well. But aides say the president has still refused to give up his iPhones."

The full article is available here

Trump: "I'm A Nationalist, Not A Globalist" = Not Good For Democracy

President Trump openly identifies himself as a nationalist, calls for the jailing of his political opponents, puts children in cages, mocks the disabled and rape victims, attacks the free press and cozies up to dictators, while the Republicans who control Congress stand idly by.

Nationalism is NOT patriotism. Real patriotism involves strengthening our democracy, defending the ideals we share in common, and protecting the rights of all. Nationalism is rooted in fear and division. We must reject it.

Citation: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/412649-trump-you-know-what-i-am-im-a-nationalist

Global “War on Drugs” Terrible at Eradicating Drugs, But Great at Upending Societies: Report

International group calls for a major rethink of global policy on narcotics and an end to the failed efforts that governments refuse to relinquish.

Another major study designed to assess how national governments wage their so-called "war on drugs" shows that the last tens years of such policies have not only failed to put a dent in the illegal drug trade, the tactics have had serious negative impacts for global health, human rights, public safety and economic progress.

Moreover, current drug policies are a serious obstacle to other social and economical objectives. The “war on drugs” has resulted in millions of people murdered, disappeared, or internally displaced.

The full article is available here

Melania Caught In Lie About " I Really Don't Care" Jacket

1. At the time, her office vehemently denied she wore it intentionally. She just proved that they weren’t telling the truth.
2. Wearing it while going to visit children separated from their parents isn’t just naive or tone deaf; it’s downright insulting and inhumane.
3. It’s not just “left wing” media that criticizes her. Plenty of mainstream media does too, as well as some principled conservative journalists.

The full article is available here

Trump cites Saudi arms deal with U.S. to downplay apparent murder of journalist

"Trump’s financial relationship with Saudi Arabia goes beyond arms sales. As the Washington Post reported in August, the Saudi regime has been pumping money directly into Trump’s pockets through his hotels.”

Trump admits he doesn't want to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for dissident journalist's (who was a permanent U.S. resident) apparent murder by Saudi Arabia’s regime ... because the U.S. makes too much money from arms sales to the Saudi’s (including weapons being used to committee atrocities and exacerbate a humanitarian in Yemen).

It ALMOST like he’s ok with journalists being attacked and harmed 🤔

The full article is available here

EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler Engaged With Racist, Conspiratorial Posts On Social Media

“Trump’s EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler engaged with racist and conspiratorial right wing posts on social media. He has brushed off his interactions with a Pizzagater and said he doesn’t remember liking a racist picture of the Obamas.”

This kind of nonsense seems to be a feature of the Trump administration, not a bug.

The full article is available here

Kremlin created a fake ‘manspreading’ video — and conservative media in the US helped it go viral

“Conservative media in the U.S. - including The Blaze (founded by Glenn Beck), The Daily Wire (founded by Ben Shapiro) - helped spread a Russian-created fake video against ‘manspreading’ that resulted in a misogynistic backlash against women.”

U.S. conservative media continues to be an easy mark for Russian psy ops.

The full article is available here

The Truth About False Rape Accusations - BBC News

Over the past 20 years, only 2-10% of rape accusations are proven to be fake, argue the authors of a 2010 US study.

Official figures suggest the number of rapes and sexual assaults which are never even reported or prosecuted far outweighs the number of men convicted of rape because of fake accusations.

We should be skeptical of the notion that it is common for women to say they've been sexually abused when they haven't.

It's not.

The full article is available here

“We Need to Destroy the Republican Party”: A Conservative Luminary Calls for a Clean Start

Best-selling author and conservative columnist Max Boot discusses his realizations that ‬the GOP has been using racism as campaigning technique since Nixon, that the Iraq War was wrong and he was wrong about it, and how Trumpism is a cancer that needs to be defeated by straight-ticket voting for Democrats.

The full article is available here

Poland’s right-wing government is rewriting history — with itself as hero - Washington Post

In his recent speech at the United Nations, President Donald Trump said, “In Poland the great people are standing up for their independence, their security, and their sovereignty."

You read that correctly. The President of the United States was cheering a far right regime that is systematically attacking democracy in Poland.

The full article is available here 

Kavanaugh Thinks It’s Okay to Perform Elective Surgery on People Without Their Consent - Talk Poverty

As a Judge in D.C. Circuit Court, [SCOTUS nominee] Kavanaugh argued that people with disabilities could be forced to undergo elective surgeries, INCLUDING ABORTION, without their consent.

The full article is available here

U.S. is denying passports to Americans along the border, throwing their citizenship into question - Washington Post

“In some cases, passport applicants WITH OFFICIAL U.S. BIRTH CERTIFICATES are being jailed in immigration detention centers and entered into deportation proceedings.”

The full article is available here

Our Modern Minds Are Coarsened, Yet There Is Reason For Hope - Kirk J Schneider

Too many of us have become calculative and consumerist giants but emotional and imaginative dwarfs, steely and impenetrable, but bereft of nuance, attunement, and depth;  and this is precisely our dilemma.

Lots of caring, thoughtful people are looking at the current state of the world, wringing their hands asking “how in the world we got here?”

Perhaps the more accurate question is “Why, given our mercantile-materialist past, shouldn’t we have gotten here?” 

In his 1978 book The Illusion of Technique, public philosopher William Barrett forewarned of the damage being done through our reliance on devices - rather than people - to solve our moral predicaments; and we should have paid more attention.

Today we are stained with the legacy of our civilization falling under the spell of a “machine model for living.”  This model emphasized efficiency (or what many called efficiency): speed, instant results, appearance and packaging; and it lured millions to the marketplace–or killing fields.

The result however was anything but “efficient” in the larger sense.

We created ease and convenience, to be sure.  But the advances were largely external - relegated to how fast we drove, how quickly we ate, how many gadgets we owned or people we manipulated; but our interior life, our capacity to feel and reflect and communicate was left bereft.

The result is that, today, too many of us have become calculative and consumerist giants but emotional and imaginative dwarfs, steely and impenetrable, but bereft of nuance, attunement, and depth; and this is precisely our dilemma.
                                                                                                                      ...

From my standpoint as a psychologist, there are two likely outcomes issuing from this dilemma: 

1. our citizenry will devolve into drone-like functionaries, programmed for elemental self-interest, or ...
   
2. we will confront the moral crisis of our time - the quick fix/instant results society - and engage our abilities to be more fully present, both to ourselves and those about us. 

The type of engagement in the latter will take time–more like what we see consistently in psychotherapeutic settings, but it will help us see each other as complex human beings; persons both unique and yet alike.

The full article is available here

What's Driving The Migration Crisis At Our Southern Border? WBUR

“As long as the root causes - including the major role the U.S. has and continues to play in the region’s pervasive violence, terror and systemic poverty - are not addressed, Central Americans will continue to flee and make the perilous trek north.”

Relatively little reporting has focused on the reasons why thousands of Central Americans are fleeing their homes in the first place.

As long as the root causes - including the major role the U.S. has and continues to play in the region’s pervasive violence, terror and systemic poverty - are not addressed, Central Americans will continue to flee and make the perilous trek north.

Legacy of U.S. intervention
The factors causing this migration are both historical and recent, but a persistent thread is the legacy of U.S. intervention. The U.S. was heavily involved in supporting the military, right-wing government and death squads in the civil wars in Guatemala and El Salvador during the 1980’s and 1990’s, which killed 200,000 and 75,000 respectively.

The Rise of Gangs
The legacy of the civil conflicts in Central America and the massive displacement they caused have contributed to the rise of criminal gangs.  Today, high murder rates in the Northern Triangle are blamed on a war between two rival gangs, MS-13 and Barrio 18, both of which have their roots in the U.S. Because of government corruption, severe poverty and lack of opportunities, conditions were ripe for this exported gang culture to proliferate.

Political, social, and economic volatility
While home invasions, sexual assault, kidnapping, drug trafficking and petty crime levels are high, police forces are inadequately funded, trained and equipped. Government corruption and collusion means that the vast majority of crimes are not prosecuted.

Damaging trade agreements

Another factor driving the high rates of migration is the presence of transnational corporations and the trade agreements that facilitate their activities, include sweatshop economies which deny living wages to their workers.

To make matters worse, U.S. immigration policies continue to exacerbate all the factors driving people to leave the region.  As U.S. citizens, we need to be better informed about our own country's contribution to this ongoing exodus and demand that their elected officials end the U.S. role in unfair trade practices, repressive regimes and border policies.

The full article is available here

Reporting on "Medicare for All" Makes Media Forget How Math Works - Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting

Missing from neagtive headlines about the "Medicare For All" plan was the fact that it's projected to cost $2.1 trillion less than projections of spending under the current US healthcare system.

“Medicare for All,” a federally funded universal healthcare plan championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vermont–Ind.), has quickly become a key issue for progressive voters evaluating Democratic Party candidates for the 2018 midterm elections and the 2020 presidential race.

A study projected that Sanders’ Medicare for All system, assuming it was enacted in 2022, would cost the federal government a whopping $32.6 trillion in excess spending over the course of 10 years.

Missing from the negative headlines about this plan was an important point in Blahous’ study: In terms of total (federal, state and private) spending on healthcare, Sanders’ Medicare for All plan is actually projected to cost $2.1 trillion less than projections of spending under the current US healthcare system.

And, of course, the media chorus complaining about how much a program like Medicare for All adds to the federal debt fades to a whimper when it comes to enacting trillion-dollar tax cuts for the rich, providing billions in corporate welfare, or for continuing to fight endless and fruitless overseas wars with America’s $700 billion–a–year military budget.

The full article is available here

Dinesh D’Souza’s Fraudulent 'Death Of A Nation' - AV Club Review

To thoroughly unpack the falsehoods, rhetorical sleights of hand, goalpost shifting, and general bad-faith arguments would require a monograph. 

Fresh off his presidential pardon from Trump for a campaign-finance violation, D’Souza is angrier than ever - but still up to his usual practice of rearranging standard right-wing talking points into startlingly illogical new configurations in his film Death Of A Nation.

To thoroughly unpack the falsehoods, rhetorical sleights of hand, goalpost shifting, and general bad-faith arguments would require a monograph.

One example will suffice: To prove that Hitler wasn’t a “right-winger” but truly belongs to the left, D’Souza notes that the dictator is often deemed right-wing because he’s perceived as homophobic. (Well, yes.)

But in fact, that’s incorrect, because Hitler tolerated homosexuals in the brownshirts as long as they were good fighters; ergo, he wasn’t homophobic, and by extension he’s not right-wing.

Beyond the ridiculousness of the claim, D’Souza either missed the logical conclusion of his own argument—that to be right-wing is to be homophobic—or hopes the audience doesn’t clock the trap he’s set for himself.

That’s typical of D’Souza’s whirlwind barrage of assertions: One minute we’re learning that FDR thought of Mussolini as a kindred spirit, the next that the Nazi party program sounds like it was jointly written by Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders because it has a healthcare plank.

The full article is available here

Trump & Sessions Ignored Warning Of Psychological Harm To Children With Zero Tolerance Policy - PBS News Hour

“Jonathan White of Health & Human Services warned President Trump & AG Jeff Sessions about ‘significant risk of harm’ & ‘psychological injury’ to children affected by their new zero tolerance border policy ... and was ignored.”

The full article is available here