In the news today: Former U.S. senator and presidential candidate Mike Gravel, most known for his courage in exposing the Pentagon Papers that detailed the truth of the U.S. war in Vietnam, has died at 91. William Barr begins his redemption tour with a self-serving version of why he left Trump’s orbit—too late to stop Trump from goading a violent insurrection.
In the news today: Trump fixer Rudy Giuliani’s license to practice law in New York is suspended after a pattern of flagrant lying about supposed election “fraud” in and outside courtrooms. The White House and a group of 10 senators announced an agreement on “bipartisan” infrastructure funding—but both the details and the supposed bipartisanship that will allow it to pass remain sketchy.
In the news today: A new poll suggests that American voters are far more concerned about the future of American democracy than their senators are. The Biden administration isn’t just ending the Trump Team’s white nationalism-premised “Remain in Mexico” immigration rules, they’re taking steps to help remedy the wrongs done.
In the news today: In the wake of a violent insurrection, the Senate continues to be a cesspit of self-important dithering that treats each of the nation’s most urgent crises as little more than background scenery for their latest monologues. The nation’s top immigration agency continues to prove itself little more than an employment agency for sociopaths.
The Justice Department has released a few more videos from the Jan. 6 insurrection, and once again the clips support prosecutor allegations that at least among certain sets of Capitol attackers, the violence was indeed planned and intended to be an insurrection against the government.
In the news today: The Senate continues to plod its way towards a recognition that Republicans won’t be contributing to a “bipartisan” infrastructure plan or anything else. A new straw poll ranks Florida Man and Trump impersonator Ron DeSantis over Trump himself in Republican 2024 presidential preferences, so get ready for some truly blistering Trump attacks. In the meantime, Texas Gov.
In the news today: A new report (again) shows that granting citizenship to undocumented immigrants would both raise wages and boost the nation’s economy. Making this nation’s educational system more equitable is going to take more than just public statements. Mean author Myriam Gurba talks about #MeToo, racism, and pandemic America.
In the news today: President Biden had his first meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and it went … pretty much as expected. Senate Democrats are preparing to use reconciliation rules to push forward infrastructure spending in the face of unified Republican stonewalling. A new Republican conspiracy theory is ramping up, this one claiming that Actually, it wasn’t Trump supporters who staged the Jan. 6 insurrection, and it wasn’t antifa either.
In the news today: Newly released emails show that Trump and his staff leaned hard on his Justice Department to provide justification for overturning the election Trump had just lost. As Texas prepares for a big summer heat wave, Texas electricity prices for consumers are again skyrocketing—and blackouts may follow.
In the news today: The G7 nations agree to steep cuts in carbon emissions, but offer few details on how to reach that goal. The Senate continues to vigorously and self-importantly do nothing. And the Biden administration scraps both a white nationalism-themed Trump propaganda project and the redirection of $2 billion in military construction funds towards Trump’s Big Border Erection.
While many hoped the return of United States competence would swiftly translate into bold international climate action, the results of the G7 summit are mixed. On one hand, the G7 nations made a new promise to cut carbon emissions in half before the end of this decade—an aggressive move towards cleaner energy sources. On the other hand, an international climate pledge and two dollars will get you a cup of coffee, and not much else.
In the news today: Revelations of Department of Justice data collection not just against Congress, but Trump’s own White House lawyer. A Michigan man who shot a 6 year old child on his lawn had his bail rescinded only after public outcry.
In the news today: A Trump-appointed inspector general’s claims that the gassing of peaceful protesters had nothing to do with a planned Trump publicity stunt is at odds with known facts. Investigations into the Jan. 6 insurrection continue, despite Republican attempts at stonewalling. The Arizona “audit” gets challenged by real experts who say they can produce a more accurate count without ever leaving their homes.
In the news today: The Keystone XL pipeline project is dead, for now. As the Senate releases a report on the Jan. 6 insurrection so focused on avoiding Republican ire as to be useless, a Trump-appointed inspector general announces that a violent push to clear Lafayette Park in the very moments before Trump announced he’d be taking a walk there was actually just a huuuuuuuuge coincidence.
In the news today: A new leak reveals the tax bills of American billionaires, and surprise—they’re effectively nothing. The Biden White House is distancing itself from a widely blasted Justice Department decision to continue representing Donald Trump as he attempts to dodge a lawsuit stemming from his alleged rape of a woman during the 1990s.
It’s looking to be a near-certainty that Oregon state Rep. Mike Nearman will be expelled from the state’s House of Representatives now that a new video has surfaced of Nearman helping plan an invasion of the state Capitol by pandemic anti-lockdown protesters and coaching them on where to be so that he could open a door allowing them into the closed building.
In the news today: Joe Manchin, still. As Republicans nationwide continue to tighten voting restrictions and grant themselves new powers to reject vote totals, the Senate remains seemingly incapable of mounting a response—any response. Pants or no pants, new Donald Trump appearances seem to support the fears of his closest (anonymous) supporters: The man is both in the throes of delusion and a singular threat to this nation’s democracy.
In the news today: Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin released a pomp-rich but substance-thin editorial announcing his opposition to a Democratic voting rights bill because … Republicans don’t like it.
There is only one reason Republican lawmakers are blocking any investigations into the January 6 insurrection they can block: because it was a Republican insurrection to begin with. It was premised on hoaxes spread by the lawmakers themselves. The “march” to the Capitol was orchestrated, and in advance, by Donald Trump himself and by top allies.
In the news today: Postmaster General Louise DeJoy joins the ranks of Trump-allied officials known to be under federal investigation. Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, already being investigated for the alleged sex trafficking of a minor, is now being probed over a potential cover-up scheme. Donald Trump will soon be reinitiating public rallies—but, according to allies, he’s now so delusional that he believes he could be returned to office by August, toppling Joe Biden.
In the news today: A Senate parliamentarian ruling appears to sharply limit new reconciliation options, giving Republicans a boost in their efforts to block new infrastructure spending. 100 scholars issue a public warning that Republican actions are putting the nation’s democracy at dire risk. And Joe Biden singles out two Democratic senators who continue to protect a Senate tradition long used to sabotage civil and voting rights.
If I were to tell you that Donald Trump’s proposed “Garden of Heroes” was being resurrected by the Biden administration to form the basis of a new national theme park, one with blackjack and bumper cars, would you believe me? You might, because it is an objectively spectacular idea and it’d be a damn shame if nobody followed up on that.
In the news today: Texas Democrats were able to stall a racist bill again targeting voting rights in the state, but without federal action such victories will be short lived. After Senate Republicans refused, as “favor” to Sen. Mitch McConnell, to allow a special prove of the January 6 insurrection, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi intends to push a probe forward by other means.
In the news today: Republican-held states like Texas and Alabama continue their attacks on democracy with new restrictions intended to make voting more difficult, more time consuming, and (during a pandemic) more dangerous. And an anti-vaccine shop owner in Nashville has gotten a blistering national response for comparing pandemic vaccination programs to … the Holocaust. Really.
In the news today: As of this writing, the Senate had not yet voted on the creation of an independent probe into the January 6 insurrection—a probe that Republicans are promising to filibuster, and one that several of the voting Republican senators would likely be asked to testify in. “Bipartisan” infrastructure plans continue to go nowhere.
In the news today: A newly seated grand jury begins to hear evidence of criminal behavior inside the Trump Organization. Patience for Republican “negotiations” over infrastructure spending is wearing thin. As Senate Republicans continue efforts to kill a proposed independent probe of the Jan. 6 insurrection, a fallen officer’s mother is asking to meet with the Republicans trying to block the probe from going forward.
In the news today: New revelations suggest an even broader scope for the investigation into Rudy Giuliani and other Trump allies. William Barr’s manipulation of the Mueller report’s release looks, if possible, even sketchier. And the nation is awash, yet again, with Republican elected officials behaving badly. Really badly.
In the news today: Senate Republicans have no intention of allowing a full probe of the Jan. 6 insurrection. In the meantime, some of the party’s biggest promotors of election conspiracy theories and democracy-damaging hoaxes are plotting how best to overturn future election results.
Remember when it was conclusively proven that Donald Trump did a crime? No, not that one, the other one. No, between those two.
Today in the news: More condemnation for Republican seditionist Marjorie Taylor Greene. CNN responds to contributor Rick Santorum’s latest racist comments—two weeks late. And the history of U.S. nuclear testing continues to reverberate today.