Author: Data and Research Manager

Embarrassing Trump video re-emerges after he insists the world ‘didn’t laugh’ at us when he was president

Raw Story Logo

On Thursday, former President Donald Trump released an angry statement attacking Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker’s upcoming book “I Alone Can Fix It.” In particular, he took aim at the book’s coverage of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) expressing fear he would use nuclear weapons after the election, calling her a “known nut job.”

“I was the one that got us out of wars, not into wars,” wrote Trump. “And I was the one who got respect for our Country again, not like now when the leaders of the entire World are laughing at us. They didn’t laugh when I was there!”

Trump’s comments prompted the recirculation of an old video of the former president giving a speech at the United Nations, where global dignitaries literally laughed at him after he said, “In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.” Continue reading.

Canada could open to vaccinated U.S. tourists as soon as August, Trudeau says

Washington Post logo

NOTE: This article is provided free to read by The Washington Post.

Canada could reopen its borders to vaccinated travelers from all countries by early September, and possibly welcome immunized Americans as soon as mid-August, the office of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said late Thursday.

Canada closed its land border with the United States in March 2020 as the pandemic first accelerated, and it has since restricted entry for other foreign visitors to help stem the spread of the virus.

But now, as vaccination rates climb and transmission slows, those controls could be lifted in the coming weeks, Trudeau said in a call with Canadian provincial leaders Thursday.

Judge loses patience with MAGA rioter: ‘I can no longer give the defendant the benefit of the doubt’

Raw Story Logo

A federal judge on Thursday lost patience with an accused Capitol rioter who expressed “no regrets” about his involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Brandon Fellows, a former grocery store worker from Schenectady, New York, was ordered back to jail while awaiting trial after a federal judge ruled he had violatedthe terms of his pretrial release by calling his probation officer’s mother.

“I can no longer give the defendant the benefit of the doubt,” said District Court Judge Trevor McFadden. “I’ve tried, but we are where we are.” Continue reading.

Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: July 16, 2021

Walz-Flanagan Update Banner

Governor Walz Signed Historic Executive Order Protecting LGBTQ+ Youth from the Harmful Practice of Conversion Therapy

Gov. Walz Signs Executive Order


On Thursday, Governor Tim Walz signed an Executive Order, protecting Minnesotans from conversion therapy. Conversion therapy, also known as “reparative therapy,” refers to a counseling practice that seeks to change a patient’s gender or sexual orientation. Every leading medical and scientific association including the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and National Education Association have strongly and uniformly rejected conversion therapy for minors, citing its harmful effects on the long-term mental health of LGBTQ+ youth.

“Our kids deserve to grow up in a state that values them for who they are – not one that tries to change them,” said Governor Walz. “This Executive Order aims to protect young and vulnerable Minnesotans from the cruel and discredited practice of conversion therapy and affirms that the LGBTQ+ community is an integral part of One Minnesota. This is not the end of our work to see this practice become a thing of the past. We will continue to fight for love over hate every single day.”

Continue reading “Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: July 16, 2021”

Trump used Melania’s phone to circumvent John Kelly’s demand to listen to his calls: new book

Raw Story Logo

Among the bizarre factoids in Michael Bender’s new book, “Frankly, We Did Win This Election,” was the ways in which new President Donald Trump worked to circumvent all of the traditional rules and security barriers put in place.

One such rule was that then-chief of staff John Kelly listen in on all of Trump’s calls. Traditionally, calls are made through the White House system, but Trump apparently wasn’t about to do that. 

“When John Kelly, a retired, four-star Marine general whom Trump had recruited into his administration, invoked his chief of staff authority to listen in on any call that was patched through to the president from the West Wing switchboard, Trump gave friends the number to Melania’s phone to circumvent this official channel,” Bender wrote. Continue reading.

Moon ‘wobble’ and climate change could mean ‘double whammy’ of flooding in 2030s, NASA warns

Washington Post logo

In the coming decades, higher tides coupled with sea-level rise will cause U.S. coastlines to experience a “dramatic” uptick in flooding, a new NASA study finds.

By the mid-2030s, scientists project that there could be a “rapid” increase in the frequency of high-tide flooding in several parts of the country, according to the report published last month in the Nature Climate Change journal by the NASA Sea Level Change Team at the University of Hawaii.

“We’re going to have sort of a double-whammy,” William Sweet, an oceanographer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and author of the study, said Wednesday. “It means that coastal communities — unless they adapt and fortify — are likely to expect even greater flooding than they might otherwise.” Continue reading.

GOP fumes over Schumer hardball strategy

The Hill logo

Republicans are bristling over Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) hardball strategy to try to force them to finalize a bipartisan infrastructure deal in a matter of days.

Republican negotiators and members of leadership believe Schumer is trying to jam them and warn that they won’t vote to start debate Wednesday even on a shell bill that the Democratic leader is intending to use as a vehicle for the bipartisan deal once it’s finalized.

“It’s a bad idea if the bill’s not ready. … Our guys aren’t going to vote for a bill they haven’t seen,” said Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican. Continue reading.

Biden administration proposes sweeping protections for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest

Washington Post logo

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will end large old-growth sales and bar road construction on 9.3 million acres of forest in a move that would reverse one of Donald Trump’s biggest public land decisions

The Biden administration announced sweeping protections for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest on Thursday, including an end to large-scale old-growth logging and a proposal to bar road development on more than 9 million acres.

The changes mark a major shift for a region that has relied on felling massive trees for more than a century, reversing one of former president Donald Trump’s biggest public land decisions and halting a significant source of future carbon emissions. The Tongass, part of one of the world’s last relatively intact temperate rainforests, is the only national forest where old-growth logging still takes place on an industrial scale.

The 16.7 million-acre forest — which once boasted major pulp mills but is now targeted for its fine-grain, centuries-old trees that are coveted for pricey musical instruments, expansive outdoor decks and elegant shingles — has been a political flash point for two decades. While Democrats have sought to scale back logging in the forest over time, the administration’s moves go further than any previous president’s efforts. Continue reading.

Why some younger evangelicals are leaving the faith

The Conversation Logo

The extent to which the number of white evangelicals have declined in the United States has been laid bare in a new report by the Public Religion Research Institute’s  2020 Census on American Religion.

The institute’s study found that only 14% of Americans identify as white evangelical today. This is a drastic decline since 2006, when America’s religious landscape was composed of 23% white evangelicals, as the report notes.

Along with a decline in white evangelicalism, the data indicates a stabilized increase in the number of those who no longer identify as religious at all. Scholars of religion refer to this group as “nones,” and they make up about a quarter of the American population. These statistics are even more drastic when considering age. In short, older Americans are much more religious than younger Americans, while millennials are likely to not practice or identify with religion. Continue reading.

GOP vaccine resistance poses growing challenge in pandemic fight

The Hill logo

Growing GOP resistance to COVID-19 vaccines is raising alarms among public health experts and creating a major challenge as the U.S. tries to move past a pandemic that has lasted almost a year and a half.

Attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference cheered talk of a lower-than-expected vaccination rate over the weekend. Tennessee is ending outreach to adolescents on vaccines, including for COVID-19, amid pressure from state GOP lawmakers. And a range of conservative media hosts and lawmakers have expressed concerns over the vaccine and the Biden administration’s outreach efforts.

The resistance helps explain why more than 30 percent of U.S. adults remain unvaccinated, with even higher percentages in Republican-leaning states, leaving places with lower vaccination rates at risk of localized surges of the virus. Continue reading.