Tag: Republicans

GOP struggles with retirement wave

The Hill logoYet another House Republican is heading for the exits.

Rep. Paul Cook (R-Calif.) announced Tuesday he would leave Congress to run for a seat on the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, making him the latest addition to the GOP’s recent wave of retirements fresh off an annual retreat to chart a path to clawing back the majority next year.

His announcement underscores the challenges facing GOP leaders as they try to persuade rank-and-file members to stay in the House as members of the minority. For some, the prospect of holding office outside Washington has become more appealing.

View the complete September 17 article by Cristina Marcos and Scott Wong on The Hill website here.

‘The Education of Brett Kavanaugh’ Takes a Hard Look at the Supreme Court Justice and His Accusers

New York Times logoTHE EDUCATION OF BRETT KAVANAUGH
An Investigation
By Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly

Nearly a year after the fateful Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh have become martyrs in separate and hostile galaxies — one for #believeallwomen and the other for those who believe Democrats will use any means necessary to take down good and honorable men. So there is a weird satisfaction in rewinding the story more than 30 years, back to the moment when the two lived in suburban Maryland and coexisted as part of a small social circle of teenagers who hung out at country club pools all summer and whose pressing concern was which parents were out of town for the weekend.

“The Education of Brett Kavanaugh,” by Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly, two experienced New York Times reporters who helped cover the confirmation hearings, comes with an expectation of bombshells (the galleys are stamped “EMBARGOED” on every page). And the authors do in fact turn up a few new revelations about the assault accusations against Kavanaugh. But their real work is to smooth out the main story, create a fuller picture of Kavanaugh himself, place him in relation to Blasey Ford and put the minor players in motion, so that the confirmation showdown has a kind of cinematic inevitability. Continue reading “‘The Education of Brett Kavanaugh’ Takes a Hard Look at the Supreme Court Justice and His Accusers”

Republicans pour cold water on Trump’s term limit idea

The Hill logoHouse Republicans are pushing back on President Trump’s suggestion that they extend term limits for committee chairmen and ranking members as a way to stem the tide of retiring veteran lawmakers.

“We have the term limits in place for a reason: to make sure that we continue to turn over the leadership to, I wouldn’t say younger, but fresh ideas among other members, and to keep people interested in staying here” in Congress, Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio), a senior member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, told The Hill.

“Otherwise, if members know they have to stay 20 to 30 years before they get a chance to be chairman, why would they do it?” he asked.

View the complete September 11 article by Scott Wong on The Hill website here.

The Koch brothers’ hellscape utopia is here: A business reporter divulges the ‘secret history’ of the conservative empire

AlterNet logoTraditionally, politics is the study of the affluent and the influential. Charles Koch and his recently deceased brother David are extreme examples of that truism. Each of the Koch brothers had an estimated net worth in excess of $50 billion.Through their various political projects, they wield great power over American politics and society.

On issues ranging from tax policy to the environment as well as labor and trade laws, the Kochs have advanced a far-right libertarian agenda that views the social safety net as something to be destroyed and democracy as the enemy. In their view, every area of human life should be subjected to the destructive whims of  predatory capitalism.

Because so much attention is now focused on the Trump regime, the average American has little if any understanding of how the Koch brothers have shaped their day-to-day lives.

View the complete September 10 post by Chauncey DeVega from Salon on the AlterNet website here.

Minnesota Sun: A Republican mega-donor site masquerading as ‘local news’

The Minnesota Sun—according to the terms that appear when you Google it—promises to be the “most reliable local newspaper across Minnesota,” a provider of “unbiased updates” on investigative reports Minnesotans care about.

“Popular Minnesota Gun Control Group Makes ‘Dubious’ Claim That It Is ‘Nonpartisan’”

“Ilhan Omar Pictured With Anti-Semitic, Sharia Law Apologist Who Partied With Muslim Brotherhood”

View the complete March 8 article by Hannah Jones on the CityPages website here.

Republicans Seek To Weaken Environmental Appeals Board

Republicans are trying to weaken a federal board that helps minority and low-income communities challenge how much pollution can be released in their neighborhoods by power plants and factories.

The Environmental Appeals Board would be stripped of its ability to hear appeals of EPA-issued pollution permits from citizens, states, cities and Native American tribes. Businesses that hold permits could still ask the board to allow them to increase how much pollution is released.

“These changes would allow polluters to better game the system to the detriment of public health and the environment,” said Tim Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

View the complete September 8 article by Sarah Okeson on the National Memo website here.

Lindsey Graham and far-right leader Geert Wilders were photographed smiling together

Washington Post logoSen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) appeared in a photo with Geert Wilders, a controversial Dutch parliamentary leader with anti-Islam and anti-immigrant views, while both attended a European security conference in Italy.

Graham and Wilders, leader of the Party of Freedom in the Netherlands, were seen smiling together Saturday night at the Ambrosetti Forum on Italy’s Lake Como.

Wilders posted the picture to his Twitter account, writing, “Great to meet with US Senator @LindseyGrahamSC.” The post was deleted shortly after it was published.

View the complete September 8 article by Paul Kane on The Washington Post website here.

Americans of both parties overwhelmingly support ‘red flag’ laws, expanded background checks for gun buyers, Washington Post-ABC News poll finds

Washington Post logoAmericans across party and demographic lines overwhelmingly support expanded background checks for gun buyers and allowing law enforcement to temporarily seize weapons from troubled individuals, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, as President Trump and Republicans face fresh pressure to act.

Although the poll finds a continued partisan divide on more far-reaching gun-control proposals, public opinion is firmly behind Democrats’ push for action as Congress returned to Washington on Monday. More Americans say they trust congressional Democrats over Trump to handle the nation’s gun laws, 51 percent to 36 percent, with independents siding with Democrats by a 17-point margin — a divide that could have political ramifications for the 2020 presidential and congressional elections.

Democrats and allied activists have been trying to kick-start a national push for new federal gun restrictions for weeks, since mass shootings last month in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio. Urgency dissipated as a six-week congressional recess wore on, but a deadly rampage in West Texas on Aug. 31 has reignited the issue.

View the complete September 9 article by Mike DeBonis and Emily Guskin on The Washington Post website here.

There is no ‘good guy with a gun’: Inside the gun lobby’s most pernicious myth

AlterNet logoWe don’t have more automobiles than people in the United States of America. We don’t have more televisions than people. We don’t have more radios than people. We don’t have more cell phones than people.

What we do have is more guns than people.

A recent report published by the Small Arms Survey in Geneva, Switzerland, found that there are more than 393 million firearms owned by civilians in this country. We have a population of 326 million. That means there are 120.5 firearms for every 100 American citizens, according to the Washington Post. It’s a fact. If every single person in the United States possessed a gun, including babies, elderly people and the infirm — even including those hospitalized and on their deathbeds — there would still be 67 million guns left over.  Sixty-seven million. 

View the complete September 8 post by Lucian K. Truscott IV from Salon on the AlterNet website here.

Trump represents the GOP’s warped view of masculinity — and what comes next could be even worse

AlterNet logoNumerous Democrats have quoted Ronald Reagan, trying to show how far the Republican Party has fallen under Trump, yet there is much in Reagan’s approach that Trump has taken and elaborated on: specifically, the tough guy presidential persona. It is easy to look at Ronald Reagan and ask what has happened to the Republican Party, but there is a clear line of descent, and it started in 1980, during Reagan’s first election, when the Republicans attempted to rewrite the desirable traits of a president to focus less on policy and more on masculine presentation.

Numerous Democrats have quoted Ronald Reagan, trying to show how far the Republican Party has fallen under Trump, yet there is much in Reagan’s approach that Trump has taken and elaborated on: specifically, the tough guy presidential persona. It is easy to look at Ronald Reagan and ask what has happened to the Republican Party, but there is a clear line of descent, and it started in 1980, during Reagan’s first election, when the Republicans attempted to rewrite the desirable traits of a president to focus less on policy and more on masculine presentation. Continue reading “Trump represents the GOP’s warped view of masculinity — and what comes next could be even worse”