The following article by Emily Birnbaum was posted on the Hill website July 1, 2018:
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday said it is “fake news” to say that Russia did not meddle in the 2016 presidential election.
“The idea that Russia did not meddle in our election is fake news,” Graham said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“They did meddle in our election and they’re doing it again in 2018,” he added.
The following article by Michael Kranish and Ann E. Marimow was posted on the Washington Post website July 9, 2018:
Brett Kavanaugh accepted President Trump’s nomination to the Supreme Court July 9, after Justice Kennedy announced his retirement in June. (The Washington Post)
U.S. Circuit Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, a former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy who was nominated replace him, has argued that presidents should not be distracted by civil lawsuits, criminal investigations or even questions from a prosecutor or defense attorney while in office.
Kavanaugh had direct personal experience that informed his 2009 article for the Minnesota Law Review: He helped investigate President Bill Clinton as part of independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s team and then served for five years as a close aide to President George W. Bush.
Having observed the weighty issues that can consume a president, Kavanaugh wrote, the nation’s chief executive should be exempt from “time-consuming and distracting” lawsuits and investigations, which “would ill serve the public interest, especially in times of financial or national security crisis.”
The following article by Heather Long was posted on the Washington Post website June 29, 2018:
In a packed arena in Fargo, N.D., this week, President Trump’s most ardent supporters roared with approval when he talked about protecting the U.S. borders, beating the Democrats and “respect for our great, beautiful, wonderful American flag.” When Trump pivoted to the tax bill, his top legislative accomplishment, the crowd clapped — but without the fervor they had shown for many of his other applause lines.
Trump signed the tax cut legislation just before Christmas. Six months later, it is losing popularity. Continue reading “‘Not what we expected’: Trump’s tax bill is losing popularity”
America’s biggest banks reported earning enormous second-quarter profit margins, largely because of the Trump tax law. Meanwhile, workers’ wages have decreased.
Big banks are the biggest beneficiaries of the Trump tax law.
Continue reading “Trump Tax Law Gives Big Banks Enormous Second-Quarter”
The following article by Joseph P. Williams was posted on the U.S. News and World Report website June 29, 2018:
AS USUAL, THIS YEAR’S Supreme Court term had a slow start, with liberals and conservatives reaching consensus on controversial issues, if not avoiding them entirely. But in a dead sprint to the finish line, the high court’s conservative majority triggered a series of unexpected shock waves and gave the nation a glimpse of the future.
The bloc led by Chief Justice John Roberts, and anchored by Justice Neil Gorsuch, the court’s newest, most conservative member, swept aside progressive arguments (and its own precedents) to defang public-sector labor unions, support “pregnancy crisis centers” that steer women from abortions and uphold what opponents call politically-rigged voting districts. Continue reading “The Supreme Court’s Right Turn”
The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website June 27, 2018:
Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, 81, said he is retiring. The Post’s Robert Barnes explains why that will ignite a “real fight” for his replacement. (Video: Monica Akhtar /Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Just a couple of days ago, we all dwelled upon just how “civil” Democrats would be in opposing President Trump.
On Wednesday, the GOP got its most prized reward for glossing over Trump’s incivility and for its own brazen political gamesmanship: a chance to create a clear and consistent conservative Supreme Court majority. Continue reading “How Anthony Kennedy’s retirement could explode our political powder keg”
The following article by Elizabeth Preza was posted on the AlterNet.org website June 26, 2018:
It’s no secret Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is obsessed with judges. He’s called the decision not to fill a Supreme Court vacancy under former President Barack Obama “the most consequential decision I’ve ever made in my entire public career” and declared the judiciary his “top priority” in the Senate. And on Tuesday, following a series of Supreme Court rulings that sided with the Trump administration, he straight-up gloated about his judicial heist.
To review: in March 2016, McConnell cited “principle” as the motivating factor in his refusal to take action on Merrick Garland, whom Obama had nominated to the Supreme Court after the death of Antonin Scalia. The decision was so integral in the appointment of Neil Gorsuch that the president thanked McConnell during Gorsuch’s swearing-in ceremony for “all he did to make this achievement possible” Continue reading “Mitch McConnell’s Official Twitter Account Brazenly Celebrates His Supreme Court Heist After Judges Side with Trump”
The following article by Elizabeth Dias and Sydney Ember was posted on the New York Times website June 26, 2018:
WASHINGTON — The consequences of President Trump’s nomination of Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court — and the Republican blockade of President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick B. Garland in 2016 for that seat — became powerfully clear on Tuesday after the court’s conservative majority handed down major decisions to uphold Mr. Trump’s travel ban and in favor of abortion rights opponents.
Social conservatives cheered the court’s ruling that a California lawrequiring “crisis pregnancy centers” to provide abortion information likely violates the First Amendment. Some conservatives also viewed the ruling — their latest win to advance their anti-abortion cause since Mr. Trump has taken office — as another opportunity to energize their base ahead of the November elections. Continue reading “Abortion and Travel Ban Rulings Are Victory for GOP Tactics on Gorsuch Image”
The following article by Emily Birnbaum was posted on the Hill website June 23, 2018:
An executive for the largest U.S. nail producer who voted for President Trump said he is so dismayed by the president’s trade policies that he is lobbying a Democratic senator for help.
George Skarich, vice president of sales for Missouri-based Mid Continent Nail Corporation, told The New York Times that his nail company could soon go out of business. Continue reading “Nail manufacturing exec who voted for Trump blames him for layoffs, asks Democrat for help”
The following article by Sam Pizzigati was posted on the Inequality.org website July 12, 2018:
The United States ended the 20th century on a roll — for the rich. Between 1973 and 2000, the nation’s most prosperous 1 percent tripled their incomes, after taking inflation into account.
The even more prosperous top tenth of that 1 percent did quite a bit better. Their incomes more than quintupledbetween 1973 and 2000, rising an amazing 414.6 percent.
And what about Americans of less exalted means, those stuck in the nation’s bottom 90 percent? Between 1973 and 2000, their incomes rose all of . . . 2.6 percent. Continue reading “A Sweet New Century for America’s Most Privileged”
