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From Republicans to Democrats: America is deeply divided

Feb 10, 2020
5 min

From Republicans to Democrats: America is deeply divided

The past week of news has shown just how entrenched the state of polarization is in the United States today By Geoffrey Kabaservice | The Guardian | February 10, 2020 The early 20th-century American entertainer and social commentator Will Rogers once observed: “I’m not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.” Rarely has that aphorism seemed as appropriate as in the wake of this week’s botched Iowa Democratic caucuses. I stayed up half the night waiting for

The Man Who Broke Politics

Oct 16, 2018
28 min

The Man Who Broke Politics

Newt Gingrich turned partisan battles into bloodsport, wrecked Congress, and paved the way for Trump’s rise. Now he’s reveling in his achievements. By McKay Coppins | The Atlantic | October 16, 2018 Newt Gingrich is an important man, a man of refined tastes, accustomed to a certain lifestyle, and so when he visits the zoo, he does not merely stand with all the other patrons to look at the tortoises—he goes inside the tank. On this particular afternoon in late March, the forme

John McCain opened Pandora’s box – Sarah Palin came out, but Trump was hiding behind her

Aug 26, 2018
5 min

John McCain opened Pandora’s box – Sarah Palin came out, but Trump was hiding behind her

The senator regretted his choice of running mate. In 2008, no one could have imagined what it would mean By David Smith in Washington | The Guardian | August 26, 2018 Much has been said about the contrast between the late John McCain – war veteran, bipartisan statesman, noble truth-teller – and a man who seemed way less likely to become president, Donald Trump. John McCain, influential US senator and presidential candidate, dies at age 81 | READ MORE But as the Arizona senato

Christian political leadership fails massivley

May 29, 2018
3 min

Christian political leadership fails massivley

Trump exposes the hypocrisy of Christian Republicans By Michael Gerson | The Washington Post | May 29, 2018 Three recent news items: ● At the Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said: “We see moral relativism becoming more and more pervasive in our culture. Identity politics and tribalism have grown on top of this.” Ryan went on to talk about Catholic social doctrine, with its emphasis on “solidarity” with the poor and weak, as “a perfect antid

Fire and Fury confirms our worst fears – about the Republicans

Jan 8, 2018
5 min

Fire and Fury confirms our worst fears – about the Republicans

Donald Trump’s utter unfitness for the presidency has been laid bare in Michael Wolff’s new book. What will it take for his party to remove him from office? By Jonathan Freedland | The Guardian | January 5, 2018 What did you think would be the Republican reaction to the latest revelations about Donald Trump? Did you expect the party’s luminaries to drop their collective head into their hands, or to crumple into a heap in despair at the state of the man they anointed as presid

The Republicans are now the party of identity politics

Jan 8, 2018
3 min

The Republicans are now the party of identity politics

Donald Trump’s presidency has been dominated by a huge effort to protect the narrow interests of one particular demographic group: wealthy white men By Lucia Graves | The Guardian | January 6, 2018 Identity politics used to be for Democrats – now it’s for Republicans and they’re using it perniciously. Identity politics have long been central to the message of the Democratic party, viewed as a constituency of African American people, Hispanic people, educated white progressive

What Trump’s Putin love reveals about conservatives

Jul 22, 2017
6 min

What Trump’s Putin love reveals about conservatives

Some American conservatives are attracted to authoritarianism and distrust modern Western culture By Neal Gabler | BILLMOYERS.COM | July 22, 2017 One of the most astonishing turnabouts in the history of American politics is the big bear hug with which so many conservatives and Republicans are embracing former KGB operative and current Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. This, after 50 years of lacerating the former Soviet Union as what Ronald Reagan called the “evil empire.” Not

Obamacare v the revised Republican healthcare bill: the key differences

May 5, 2017
3 min

Obamacare v the revised Republican healthcare bill: the key differences

House Republicans voted on Thursday to repeal and replace Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Here is what sets them apart By Joanna Walters in New York / For the Guardian / Thursday 4 May 2017 11.25 EDT Number of people left uninsured The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare: The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted that if the ACA continued, the number of uninsured Americans – currently 28 million – would remain stable for the next decade. T

One nation, two Trumps: America as divided as ever after first 100 days

Apr 28, 2017
8 min

One nation, two Trumps: America as divided as ever after first 100 days

We asked two neighboring communities in Ohio what they make of the president’s first 100 days in office. Their answers paint a disparate picture By Ed Pilkington in Warrensville Heights and Chardon, Ohio / The Guardian / April 27, 2017 How did Donald Trump do in his first 100 days as US president? The moment you step out into the beating heart of America, you realize that’s the wrong question. How did the Donald Trumps – plural – do in their first 100 days? That’s the better

How the GOP Gutted Voting Rights

Apr 11, 2017
4 min

How the GOP Gutted Voting Rights

In the wake of Barack Obama’s election to the presidency in 2008, a panicked GOP, citing illusory ‘voter fraud,’ did what it could wherever it could to restrict voting rights for minorities. CAROL ANDERSON / 06.24.16 1:00 AM ET / Cross post from the Daily Beast President Obama’s 2008 election, with an unprecedented turnout and 69 percent of the 15 million new voters casting their ballot for him, rattled the Republicans. Even more unsettling was the demographic make-up of thes

53% of Republicans don’t know repealing Obamacare repeals the Medicaid expansion

Feb 12, 2017
2 min

53% of Republicans don’t know repealing Obamacare repeals the Medicaid expansion

What happens when they find out? Updated by Ezra Klein / The VOX / @ezraklein Feb 8, 2017, 8:40am EST Over at the Upshot, Kyle Dropp and Brendan Nyhan look at a new Morning Consult poll exploring Americans’ confusion regarding the terms “Affordable Care Act” and “Obamacare.” Thirty-five percent either think Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act are different policies or aren’t sure whether they’re different policies. The confusion is worst among young people and those making

The GOP’s Obamacare repeal plan could hurt Republican areas. This map shows how.

Feb 5, 2017
3 min

The GOP’s Obamacare repeal plan could hurt Republican areas. This map shows how.

By Greg Sargent / The Washington Post / February 3 For weeks now, Republicans have employed a range of tortured talking pointsdesigned to push one idea: The GOP repeal-and-delay plan will not leave anyone without health coverage, and is merely designed as a transition that will ultimately move us seamlessly to the new, improved health care system Republicans envision, with the details to be worked out later. But here’s the problem. If Republicans repeal the Affordable Care Ac

On December 28th Unemployment Benefits End for 1.3 Million Families — Merry Christmas from the

Dec 25, 2013
5 min

On December 28th Unemployment Benefits End for 1.3 Million Families — Merry Christmas from the

Three days after Christmas, unemployment benefits end for 1.3 million people who have exhausted their state unemployment benefits, but still can’t find a job. To be eligible for unemployment benefits, you have to be actively looking for a job. Virtually all of these people would rather work, but can’t find a job in today’s economy where there are three applicants for every job available. But when the budget deal was negotiated in Congress over the last several weeks, Republic

How the Kochs and their Friends Engineered the Federal Shutdown, Part Two

Oct 9, 2013
25 min

How the Kochs and their Friends Engineered the Federal Shutdown, Part Two

Eric Zuess; Investigative Historian – Posted 10/07/2013 This blog is the second part of a story chronicling the Koch brothers’ influence on the shutdown. Read the first part here. On Thursday, 25 March 2010, the Toronto Globe and Mail bannered “David Frum Fired After Lamenting Republican Failure,” and reported that, “David Frum, the Canadian-born conservative pundit [and George W. Bush’s speechwriter from 2000 to 2003] who has been harshly critical of the Republican battle pl

How the Kochs and their Friends Engineered the Federal Shutdown, Part One

Oct 9, 2013
18 min

How the Kochs and their Friends Engineered the Federal Shutdown, Part One

Starting in 2002, the Koch brothers, David and Charles, re-directed their foundations’ money away from the libertarian Cato Institute, which they had founded in 1976 and still controlled, and they favored instead the extremist rightwing Heritage Foundation. Heritage had been set up by Joseph Coors and Richard Mellon Scaife also in the mid-1970s, but specifically to turn the Republican Party away from the too-liberal Richard Nixon, and toward the more hard-rightwing political

Stop the Anti-Obamacare Hypocrisy

Sep 27, 2013
4 min

Stop the Anti-Obamacare Hypocrisy

Rep Chris Van Hollen Congressman representing Maryland’s 8th District – posted 09/26/13 There are two questions Republicans in Congress don’t want you to ask about Obamacare. First, if Obamcare is so bad, why does the Republican budget rely on major parts of Obamacare in order to balance? Second, if Obamacare will ruin us, why is the Republican plan for Medicare based on virtually the same model as Obamacare? Let’s look at each of these in turn. The Republican budget, authore

The Food Stamp Fight: Partisan Politics vs. People’s Right to Survive