Tiny House Builder

Trump Booed At Davos For Criticizing 'Fake' Media
HP | Marina Fang | 01/26/18

Trump told world political and business leaders at the annual gathering in Switzerland that as a businessman, he received positive media coverage, but once he launched his presidential campaign in 2015, he realized that reporters were "nasty" and "fake," eliciting boos from people in the audience.

"It wasn't until I became a politician that I realized how nasty, how mean, how vicious and how fake the press can be ? as the cameras start going off in the back," Trump said. The president frequently makes the false claim that television cameras don't air his anti-media remarks. ... Read more

With the Mueller bombshell, the GOP's grand conspiracy theory falls apart
Salon | Heather Digby Parton | 01/26/18

This week we finally saw the right's defenses of Donald Trump crystallize into an overarching "theory of everything,"as Salon's Matthew Sheffield wrote on Thursday: A Department of Justice and FBI cabal worked feverishly to help Hillary Clinton escape accountability for her crimes, and was only thwarted by the stable genius of Donald Trump. This "secret society" is now doing everything in its power to overthrow the president. We spent the week following three specific strands of this alleged scandal, all of which have disintegrated by Friday morning.

First we had the so-called secret society which was excitedly flogged by the entire Fox News apparatus and taken up, perhaps a bit gingerly, by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. That turned out to be a joke in a text message from one of the FBI lovers at the center of the Republican conspiracy theory. Literally. So that was that. ... Read more
Republicans Going Full Alex Jones | TYT | 01/25/18 | 1:10

**How Trump is destroying the GOP
Salon | Robert Reich, robertreich.org | 01/26/18

America has never had a president as deeply unpopular at this stage of his presidency, or one who has sucked up more political oxygen. This isn't good news for the Republican Party this November or in the future, because the GOP has sold its soul to Trump.

Three principles once gave the GOP its identity and mission: Shrink the deficit, defend states' rights, and be tough on Russia. Now, after a year with the raving man-child who now occupies the White House, the Republican Party has taken a giant U-turn. Budget deficits are dandy, state's rights are obsolete, and Russian aggression is no big deal. By embracing a man whose only principles are winning and getting even, the Republican Party no longer stands for anything other than Trump. ... Read more

NSA Deletes "Honesty" and "Openness" from Core Values
TheIntercept | Jean Marc Manach | 01/24/18

THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY maintains a page on its website that outlines its mission statement. But earlier this month, the agency made a discreet change: It removed "honesty" as its top priority.

Since at least May 2016, the surveillance agency had featured honesty as the first of four "core values" listed on NSA.gov, alongside "respect for the law," "integrity," and "transparency." The agency vowed on the site to "be truthful with each other."

On January 12, however, the NSA removed the mission statement page -- which can still be viewed through the Internet Archive -- and replaced it with a new version. Now, the parts about honesty and the pledge to be truthful have been deleted. The agency's new top value is "commitment to service," which it says means "excellence in the pursuit of our critical mission." ... Read more
NSA Removes 'Honesty' And 'Openness' From Website | TYT | 01/24/18 | 5:15

Rush Limbaugh: Maybe the liberal "deep state" fabricated Iraq War WMD evidence to embarrass Bush
Salon | Charlie May | 01/24/18

The radio host, who was for invading Iraq, now thinks it's a liberal plot because . . . Trump?

For some reason," conservative talk show radio host Rush Limbaugh "was thinking about the war in Iraq," as he said on the Tuesday edition of his radio show. There, he asserted that the intelligence community -- led by Democratic elements of the "deep state" -- fabricated intelligence to "damage" former President George W. Bush.

"Speaking of the intelligence agencies -- I'm sure some of you have already thought of this, but it just hit me a few days ago," Limbaugh said on his radio show on Tuesday. "You remember what the intelligence agencies were telling us in the war in Iraq? You remember what they were telling us?" ... Read more
Rush Limbaugh: The Deep State Made Me Do It | TYT | 01/24/18 | 8:08

Major evangelical leader says Trump gets a "mulligan" on Stormy Daniels affair
Vox | Tara Isabella Burton | 01/23/18

The leader of the conservative evangelical organization Family Research Council said that evangelicals were happy to give President Donald Trump a "do-over" after a previously unpublished 2011 interview with adult film actress Stormy Daniels revealed that she may have been paid to remain silent about an extramarital affair with Trump in 2006.

Speaking to Politico's Edward-Isaac Dovere about the Daniels incident, Tony Perkins said evangelicals "kind of gave him -- 'All right, you get a mulligan. You get a do-over here,'" using a golfing term that refers to a free stroke given to a player after a poor shot. ... Read more
Evangelicals Bending Over Backwards For Trump | TYT | 01/24/18 | 14:00

Watch: Full Davos panel on Trump’s ‘America First’ foreign policy | WP | 01/24/18 | 1:01:18

**Bernie Sanders - Medicare for All National Town Hall | TRNN | 01/23/18 | 1:52:54

Medicare For All Is The Way Forward | TYT | 01/23/18 | 14:14

Top Republican Warns That Under New Spending Bill "The Intelligence Community Could Expend Funds as it Sees Fit"
TheIntercept | Alex Emmons, Ryan Grim | 01/22/18

IN A DRAMATIC moment on the Senate floor Monday afternoon, as the upper chamber rushed a spending bill through to end the government shutdown, the top Republican and Democrat on the Intelligence Committee warned that the bill contains language that would kneecap Congress's ability to oversee secret covert actions and surveillance programs. Their effort to amend the language was rebuffed.

The intelligence community, in its latest grasp, has gone too far even for Richard Burr. The Republican chair of the Senate Intelligence committee has long been one of the Senate's staunchest advocates for the intelligence agencies, leading the fight to reauthorize surveillance programs and fighting to bury the results of the Senate's five-year investigation into CIA torture. But he took to the Senate floor Monday to warn that it would compromise Congress's ability to oversee secret intelligence programs. ... Read more
Congress Hands Trump His Own Private Army | TYT | 01/23/18 | 5:08

Scoop: FBI director threatened to resign amid Trump, Sessions pressure
Axios | author | date

Attorney General Jeff Sessions -- at the public urging of President Donald Trump -- has been pressuring FBI Director Christopher Wray to fire Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, but Wray threatened to resign if McCabe was removed, according to three sources with direct knowledge.

- Wray's resignation under those circumstances would have created a media firestorm. The White House -- understandably gun-shy after the Comey debacle -- didn't want that scene, so McCabe remains. ...

Trump Still Trying to Fire Everyone Investigating Him | TYT | 01/23/18 | 3:35

Donald Trump Rattled By Explosive FBI Resignation Report | The Beat With Ari Melber | MSNBC | 01/24/18 | 10:46

Graham-Durbin immigration proposal 'completely dishonest,' White House says
Politico | Cristiano Lima | 01/22/18

Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) "were completely dishonest" in their negotiations on immigration with President Donald Trump, White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said Monday.

Gidley criticized a bipartisan deal on immigration brought forth by the lawmakers, along with four other senators, for failing to live up to their assurances to the White House. "Senator Graham and Senator Durbin called the president and told him they had a bipartisan bill," Gidley said on CNN's "The Lead With Jake Tapper." "They'd come together with some meeting of the minds to prepare a piece of legislation that would address everything the president outlined. The president was ecstatic." But he added: "Here's the problem: Senator Graham and Senator Durbin were completely dishonest." ... Read more

Congress votes to end shutdown
Politico | Seung Min Kim | 01/22/18

In a dramatic turnaround, Senate Democrats voted to reopen the government on Monday after receiving a commitment from Republicans to hold a vote on immigration legislation -- paving the way to end the three-day shutdown.

The Senate voted 81-18 to move forward on a bill to fund the government through Feb. 8 after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) agreed to end the shutdown and continue to negotiate on immigration and spending matters. If a broader deal is not reached by Feb. 8, the Senate would take up legislation to protect hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants who are losing legal protections, as long as the government remains open. ... Read more

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Nominee Worked To Make Your Healthcare Prices Higher - The News With Dan Rather | TYT | 01/22/18 | 5:17

Axios Reports First Glimpse Of President Donald Trump's Infrastructure Plan | Velshi & Ruhle | MSNBC | 01/23/18 | 9:05

Donald Trump Has Made America a Laughingstock on the World Stage
AlterNet | Vijay Prashad | 01/23/18

The journalist Michael Wolff's blockbuster Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House (published on January 5) is filled with material about President Donald Trump's character flaws. He is shown to be in equal parts intellectually shallow and arrogant, able to care little for data and yet seized onto any "fact" that he sees as important for his current obsession. Whimsy, it seems, is the main motivation for Trump's policies. He does not choose John Bolton for his Cabinet because he does not like his mustache. He was bored of the conversation about health care reform and tried repeatedly to shift the conversation to golf. The book conveys the opinions of Trump's close advisers, many of whom have choice pejoratives to define him. Trump's National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster calls him a "dope," while Trump's former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus called him an "idiot." ... Read more

Federal Workers Forced To Go Without Pay As Government Shutdown Extends To Day 3
HP | Amanda Terkel | 01/21/18

The government shutdown is about to get a lot more visible. Congress wasn't able to come up with a deal to reopen the government Sunday, meaning the shutdown will extend to the third day on Monday ? the start of the work week.

Tourist spots like the National Zoo and the Smithsonian museums remained open over the weekend, but they will be closed on Monday. Sightseers who haven't been following the news will be left locked out and disappointed.

Thousands of federal workers will also be forced to go without pay. Some ? those who are deemed "non-essential" ? may have to show up for work Monday morning and then be told to go home. Others will have to work without getting paid. ... Read more

Who's To Blame For The Government Shutdown? | The View | 01/22/18 | 7:59

Fractious House Republicans rally behind Ryan on shutdown
Politico | Rachael Bade | 01/22/18

The House speaker is a centrist on the hot-button issue, but he has held the line against a vote to potentially end the government shutdown.

House Republicans have long said the issue of immigration would make or break Paul Ryan's political future. So far, amid a government shutdown spurred by a partisan stand-off over Dreamers, the Wisconsin Republican is passing the test.

Rank-and-file Republicans -- including some of his fiercest critics on the right flank -- are applauding Ryan's unwavering position during the shutdown. His stance, in a nutshell: As long as the government's closed, there will be no immigration negotiations. ... Read more

Many countries feared a Trump presidency. Here's what they think a year later. | WP | 01/19/18 | 7:07

The Numbers Don't Lie: White Far-Right Terrorists Pose a Clear Danger to Us All
TheIntercept | Mehdi Hasan | older

Back in February, the Republican congressman from Wisconsin told CNN's Alysyn Camerota that white terrorists of the far-right variety did not pose the same level of danger to Americans as so-called "Islamist" or "jihadist" terrorists. Why? "I don't know, but I would just tell you there's a difference," proclaimed Duffy, who went on to dismiss as a "one-off" the attack on a mosque in Quebec by a Trump-supporting white nationalist, in which six Muslim worshippers were killed.

One-off? Seriously? Has Duffy been reading the news in recent days? On May 20, Richard Collins III, a black, 23-year-old U.S. Army second lieutenant, was murdered while visiting the University of Maryland by a member of a Facebook group called "Alt-Reich: Nation." According to University of Maryland police chief David Mitchell, the group promotes "despicable" prejudice against minorities "and especially African-Americans." ... Read more

Alt-Right Terrorism Dwarfing Islamic Terrorism | TYT | 01/20/18 | 8:42

Michael Wolff and Jonathan Capehart, "Fire and Fury" | Politics and Prose | 01/19/18 | 1:08:29

House Passes Spending Bill, But Shutdown Threat Remains
HP | Matt Fuller | 01/18/18

The House voted 230-197 for the four-week continuing resolution, with 11 Republicans voting no and six Democrats voting for it. A couple of hours later, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) set up a vote to end debate on the spending bill, and then promptly delayed it.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged Republicans to hold the vote now, so Democrats could demonstrate that Republicans didn't have the votes and lawmakers from both sides could work toward a different solution. But McConnell wasn't having it. Now the Senate appears likely to vote Friday on ending debate, and unless something changes overnight, that vote still looks like it will fail. ... Read more

9 Million Kids Could Lose Their Health Care Because The GOP Wants To Shame Democrats
HP | Jeffrey Young | 01/18/18

Here we go again: Health care for 9 million kids could disappear as soon as Friday because the majority-Republican Congress can't get out of its own way.

Friday also is the day the entire federal government might shut down because infighting among congressional Republicans over immigration, military spending and other issues has left House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) seemingly without the votes they need to pass yet another short-term spending bill. ... Read more

International Approval Of US Leadership Drops To New Low In Gallup Poll | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 01/18/18 | 4:55
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What if H.R. McMaster Is Right About North Korea?
TheAtlantic | James Jeffrey | 01/18/18

In the increasingly urgent, dramatic debate about the North Korean nuclear threat, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster stands out in the Trump administration as the strongest advocate of a hawkish position. But where do H.R. McMaster's views on North Korea really come from?

Why, to pose a question The Atlantic's Uri Friedman recently did, is he so worried about North Korea? Notwithstanding the suggestion, in Friedman's piece and elsewhere, that McMaster's views represent some kind of heresy of nuclear deterrence, his worries must be seen in light of how he views Kim's motives. Indeed, those motives mean the possibility of military action against North Korea could be understood not as a "good thing," but as the "least bad." ... Read more

White House Press Briefing 01/17/18 | White House | 01/17/18 | 35:54

Hawaii missile mess: That was no 'wrong button.' Take a look.
WashingtonPost | Fred Barbash | 01/16/18

Pushing the "wrong button" was the explanation provided in an official timeline for that false warning that scared the devil out of people in Hawaii on Saturday morning alerting them to an incoming ballistic missile that never was. "The wrong button was pushed," declared Vern Miyagi, head of the state's emergency management agency.

But as The Washington Post's Amy Wang reported, the errant employee actually was working with a drop-down menu on a computer program, from which the official chose the wrong item. ... Read more

The Jobs Trump Promised to Save Are Disappearing
TRNN | Michael Sainato | current

... Last week a round of layoffs at the Carrier factory in Indianapolis, Indiana took effect, in which about 215 people lost their jobs. These layoffs are in addition to the 340 jobs cut in July 2017. The factory's 700 remaining production employees are expected to be outsourced to Mexico by the end of 2018. United Technologies, the company that owns Carrier, received over $2 billion in government contracts in 2017 while offshoring jobs to other countries.

"The pace of offshoring is three times greater by federal contractors under Donald Trump," said Joseph Geevarghese, Executive Director of Good Jobs Nation, a labor coalition for low wage federal contract workers, in an interview with the Real News Network. "He campaigned to stop offshoring, yet one year in the office, he's failed to use the power that he has to deliver on that promise."

Trump and Republican leaders claim that the recently passed tax bill, which includes reducing corporate taxes from 35 percent to 21 percent, will lead to higher wages and more jobs, but these promises of trickle down economics have failed to deliver. Wal-Mart, the nation's largest employer, announced on January 11, 2018 it would raise its company minimum wage from $10 an hour to $11 an hour, and provide bonuses of up to $1000 to full-time qualifying employees. Later on the same day, Wal-Mart announced it would abruptly shut down 63 Sam's Club stores, laying off around 11,000 workers. ... Read more

It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America (12/16/18) by David Cay Johnston

Bestselling author and longtime Trump observer David Cay Johnston shines a light on the political termites who have infested our government under the Trump Administration, destroying it from within and compromising our jobs, safety, finances, and more.

No journalist knows Donald Trump better than David Cay Johnston, who has been following him since 1988. It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America goes inside the administration to show how the federal agencies that touch the lives of all Americans are being undermined. Here is just some of what you will learn:

The Wall. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto told President Trump that Mexico will never pay for the border wall. So, Trump is proposing putting a tariff on Mexican imports. But a tariff will simply raise the price of Mexican goods in the US, meaning American consumers will end up paying for the wall--if it ever gets built.

Climate Change. Welcome to the new EPA, run by Scott Pruitt, a lawyer who has spent much of his career trying to destroy the agency he now heads. Secrecy reigns at the new EPA because Pruitt meets with industry executives to find out which clean air and clean water provisions they most want to roll back, and keeps staffers in the dark to make sure these pro-pollution plans don't leak prematurely.

Stocking the Swamp. Contrary to his promise to "drain the swamp" in Washington, DC, Trump has filled his cabinet with millionaires and billionaires, from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a Goldman Sachs and hedge fund veteran who made much of his fortune foreclosing on homeowners to billionaire heiress Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who has already put the interests of bankers ahead of debt-burdened students and their families.

The Kleptocracy. Under Donald Trump conflict of interest is passé. When Trump isn't in Washington, he stays at one of his properties, where the taxpayers pick up the tab for staffers, Secret Service, and so on, all at full price. And back in Washington, everyone now knows that the Trump International Hotel is the only place to stay if you want to do business with the administration. Meanwhile sons Donald Jr. and Eric run an eyes-wide-open blind trust of Trump holdings to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest -- but not the reality.

Sen. Jeff Flake condemns President Trump's attacks on media | C-Span | 01/17/18 | 14:27

How Trump's TV habits raised the risk of a shutdown
Politico | Eliana Johnson | 01/18/18

White House aides say the president woke up spoiling for a fight and focused his attention on the spending deal after it came up on his favorite cable news show.

If the government shuts down on Friday, President Donald Trump's television habits may be partly to blame, according to two White House aides. The president began the day on Thursday by blasting out a tweet that threatened to derail a GOP legislative package designed to keep the government open, arguing that the Children's Health Insurance Program, known by its acronym, CHIP, "should be part of a long-term solution, not a 30-day, or short-term, extension." But that is precisely the package House Speaker Paul Ryan was trying to persuade skeptical Republicans to agree to in order to keep the government open.

The Ryan deal had been discussed at length on "Fox & Friends," the president's favorite morning television program, in the hour before he sent the missive -- and the aides immediately suspected that something on the program had prompted it. They also pointed to Trump's frustration over the comments made by his chief of staff, John Kelly, in a Fox News interview Wednesday evening, to explain his seemingly random eruption. ... Read more

President Trump Contradicts His Chief Of Staff Over Mexico Border Wall | Velshi & Ruhle | MSNBC | 01/18/18 | 4:32

Pentagon Reportedly Weighing Using Nukes In Response To 'Large Cyberattacks'
HP | Dominique Mosbergen | 01/17/18

A draft of the Defense Department's new nuclear strategy says the U.S. could respond to certain "non-nuclear attacks" with nuclear weapons.

The Pentagon is reportedly pushing a new retaliation tactic should the U.S. ever be hit by a devastating cyberattack: America could nuke the culprit. The New York Times reported Tuesday that a pre-decisional draft of the Defense Department's 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, which details U.S. nuclear strategy, includes "large cyberattacks" as an example of a non-nuclear strike on American lives and infrastructure that could be countered with nuclear weapons.

"Three current and former senior government officials said large cyberattacks against the United States and its interests would be included in the kinds of foreign aggression that could justify a nuclear response," the Times wrote of the new strategy. The officials stressed, however, that "other, more conventional options for retaliation" could also be used in response to a cyberattack. ... Read more and
Exclusive: Here Is A Draft Of Trump's Nuclear Review. He Wants A Lot More Nukes.

Mueller Meets Trump | The Simpsons | older | 2:07

Here's Just How Little Confidence Americans Have In Political Institutions
NPR | Domenico Montanaro | 01/17/18

Trust in the institutions that have been the pillars of U.S. politics and capitalism is crumbling. That is one finding from the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, which shows that Americans have limited confidence in its public schools, courts, organized labor and banks -- and even less confidence in big business, the presidency, the political parties and the media.

The only institution that Americans have overwhelming faith in is the military -- 87 percent say they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the military. That is a striking change from the 1970s during and after the Vietnam War. ... Read more
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White House Press Briefing 01/16/18 | WH | 01/16/18 | 1:14:23

Lindsey Graham thought he had Trump tamed -- but got played instead
Salon | Heather Digby Parton | 01/17/18

oor Lindsey Graham. The "maverick" senator from South Carolina had spent the last two years expressing his scorn for Donald Trump, calling him "unfit" and "a kook." Then, sometime in the late summer, Graham apparently reconciled himself to the fact that Trump wasn't capable of growing or "pivoting" into the job, so he took it upon himself to cultivate the mercurial manchild, perhaps in the vainglorious belief he could influence Trump to become a mainstream conservative and stamp out the rapidly burning fuse that was going to blow up the presidency and likely the entire Republican Party.

Graham played golf with his president, he complimented him on his swing, he flattered his intelligence and he even agreed to throw some red meat at the base on Trump's behalf by taking up the ridiculous crusade to jail Hillary Clinton. He cajoled and he petted and he whispered the sweet nothings that the president needs to hear to make him feel powerful. Graham thought Trump trusted him and looked to him for guidance. He thought he could speak for the president in negotiations. ... Read more

Military Quietly Prepares for a Last Resort: War With North Korea
NYT | Helene Cooper | 01/14/18

Across the military, officers and troops are quietly preparing for a war they hope will not come. At Fort Bragg in North Carolina last month, a mix of 48 Apache gunships and Chinook cargo helicopters took off in an exercise that practiced moving troops and equipment under live artillery fire to assault targets. Two days later, in the skies above Nevada, 119 soldiers from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division parachuted out of C-17 military cargo planes under cover of darkness in an exercise that simulated a foreign invasion.

Next month, at Army posts across the United States, more than 1,000 reserve soldiers will practice how to set up so-called mobilization centers that move military forces overseas in a hurry. And beginning next month with the Winter Olympics in the South Korean town of Pyeongchang, the Pentagon plans to send more Special Operations troops to the Korean Peninsula, an initial step toward what some officials said ultimately could be the formation of a Korea-based task force similar to the types that are fighting in Iraq and Syria. Others said the plan was strictly related to counterterrorism efforts. ... Read more

Hawaii missile snafu: That was no 'wrong button.' Take a look.
WashintonPost | Fred Barbash | 01/16/19

Pushing the "wrong button" was the explanation provided in an official timeline for that false warning that scared the devil out of people in Hawaii on Saturday morning alerting them to an incoming ballistic missile that never was. "The wrong button was pushed," declared Vern Miyagi, head of the state's emergency management agency.

But as The Washington Post's Amy Wang reported, the errant employee actually was working with a drop-down menu on a computer program, from which the official chose the wrong item. On Monday, state officials released an image of that menu, provided to The Post by Hawaii News Now, and it shed some light on why it might be confusing. ... Read more

Trump spends Martin Luther King Jr. Day at golf course
Politico | Matthew Nussbaum | 01/15/18

President Donald Trump returned to his Florida golf course on Monday, appearing to disregard his own advice that people spend Martin Luther King Jr. Day performing acts of service for others. Trump arrived at his golf course shortly after 9 a.m., and the White House did not respond to a request for comment about his activity. His public schedule is empty and he is scheduled to return to the White House Monday night.

When signing a proclamation to honor King on Friday, Trump called on all Americans to honor the the late civil rights leader's birthday "with acts of civic work and community service." ... Read more

Trump Administration Waives Punishment For Convicted Banks, Including Deutsche -- Which Trump Owes Millions
ibtimes.com | David Sirota | 01/09/18

The Trump administration has waived part of the punishment for five megabanks whose affiliates were convicted and fined for manipulating global interest rates. One of the Trump administration waivers was granted to Deutsche Bank -- which is owed at least $130 million by President Donald Trump and his business empire, and has also been fined for its role in a Russian money laundering scheme.

The waivers were issued in a little-noticed announcement published in the Federal Register during the Christmas holiday week. They come less than two years after then-candidate Trump promised "I'm not going to let Wall Street get away with murder." ... Read more

The moral roots of liberals and conservatives - Jonathan Haidt | TEDTalk | older | 18:39

Empire Files: What the Russian Revolution Proved Possible | TRNN | 11/25/17 | 27:16

Storming the Gates: How the Russian Revolution Changed the World (2017) by Brian Becker

The Russian Revolution 'shook the world' in 1917. It was the first time a socialist revolution had taken hold, putting the workers in power, seizing private property and society's productive capacity. This was the basis for a rational, cooperative society. That revolution became the nemesis of the United States and other imperialist countries, which would not rest until its gains were undone. The Bolshevik Revolution inspired anti-colonial revolutions and national liberation movements around the world, lending solidarity and material assistance to them. As it emerged to be the second-largest economy in the world, the first to put a satellite and human into space, it became a valid counterweight to claims of capitalism's superiority. Storming the Gates looks inside the revolution, from the early years to the last -- not as a neutral observer, but a partisan for revolutionary change. Recounting the vast accomplishments, global impact, loyal followers, challenges and shortcomings, this book remembers 'the Soviet Union not as the end of communism but as its first grand, real-life experiment.' Looking to the future, Storming the Gates examines what role a Bolshevik-type party can have in the 21st Century, and how it can once again shape history. "The single biggest event that shaped global politics in the 20th century was the Russian Revolution of 1917, which gave birth to the Soviet Union. The first socialist government's existence was the pivot for world events in history's most turbulent and dynamic century. The destruction of the Soviet Union 74 years later in 1991 has been the dominant factor shaping global politics ever since."

Meet the rural Americans who fear they're being forgotten | WashingtonPost | 07/22/17 | 11:07

Here's What The FBI Lovers' Secret Texts Actually Say About Trump, Clinton And Leaks
HP | Ryan J. Reilly | 01/14/18

Last week, a story by The Hill's John Solomon set off another firestorm in the conservative media about the ongoing special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The article, which was linked to by The Drudge Report and aggregated by sites across the right-wing internet before being prominently featured on Sean Hannity's Fox show, fit nicely into a theory about the FBI that some members of Congress and President Donald Trump have been pushing to undermine Robert Mueller's Russia probe.

Stay with us, because this gets a bit bizarre. The theory Trump and others have been pushing insinuates that Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, two current FBI employees who were having an affair, were at the heart of an FBI conspiracy against Trump during the 2016 election campaign. Adherents of this theory believe that the couple's 2016 texts criticizing Trump ? which were recovered from their government cellphones, provided to Congress and shared with some reporters ? prove they were out to get the then-candidate. ... Read more

Echo Show brings you everything you love about Alexa, and now she can show you things. | Amazon | $179.99 | 11/19/17 | 4:33

Trump says he has 'very good relationship' with Kim Jong Un
Politico | Cristiano Lima | 01/11/18

President Donald Trump said he "probably" has "a very good relationship" with Kim Jong Un but would not say whether he has spoken to the North Korean leader during an interview with The Wall Street Journal Thursday.

"I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, " Trump told the Journal in a 45-minute sit-down at the White House. "I have relationships with people. I think you people are surprised."

"I don't want to comment on it. I'm not saying I have or haven't. I just don't want to comment," Trump said. ... Read more

White House Press Briefing 1/11/18 | WH | 01/11/18 | 44:12

Trump rebuffs Dreamers deal reached by senators
Politico | Seung Min Kim | 01/11/18

A bipartisan group of six senators has reached a deal that would shield Dreamers from deportation and make other changes to immigration laws and border security -- but the framework has yet to win over the White House and other key players on Capitol Hill.

The package negotiated by the senators includes $2.7 billion for border security, which includes Trump's $1.6 billion request for wall planning and construction, as well as $1.1 billion for security infrastructure and technology, three sources directly familiar with the negotiations confirmed to POLITICO. ... Read more

Sen. Sanders: Trump's 'shithole' comment appalling | CNN | 01/11/18 | 11:05

Trump's 2,000 Lies -- A Documentary | Jimmy Kimmel | 01/11/18 | 5:22

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Trump's "Shithole Countries" Remark | The View | 01/12/18 | 8:24

Which news providers make it in among the top 25 for total U.S. traffic?
journalism.org | Kenneth Olmstead | older, 05/09/11

Trump Administration Paves Way For States To Force Medicaid Recipients To Work
Reuters & HP | Yasmeen Abutaleb | 01/11/18

The Trump administration said on Thursday it would allow states to test requiring some Medicaid recipients to work or participate in community activities such as volunteering or jobs training as a condition of eligibility for the government health insurance program for the poor.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued guidance making it easier for states to design and propose test programs that implement such requirements. States must propose such changes through waivers and receive federal approval.

Seema Verma, the agency's administrator, said the policy guidance came in response to requests from at least 10 states that have proposed requiring some Medicaid recipients to work or participate in activities that may include skills training, education, job search, volunteering or caregiving. Those states include Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, Arizona, Indiana and Utah. ... Read more

Kellyanne Conway: Nobody here talks about Clinton | 01/11/18 | 14:30

"Executive time" and white privilege: Our laziest president and an ugly stereotype
Salon | Chauncey Devega | date

Of course, Obama's ascent did not heal the centuries of harm done to black Americans by white racism. But that next chapter in America's history -- where one more "first" for a black person was demolished -- was still symbolically intoxicating because it validated a belief in this country's ability to change for the better. ...

... Unlike Obama, Trump actually is extremely lazy. While he and the right-wing media slurred Obama for supposedly taking too many days off to vacation or play golf, Trump has spent at least 25 percent of his time as president engaging in those activities. It has been reported that Trump also spends at least three hours a day on "executive time," during which he watches Fox News endlessly, sends out streams of tweets and eats McDonald's fast food while lying in bed.

Some people in Trump's inner circle -- at least according to the account in Michael Wolff's "Fire and Fury," which has not been contradicted in any essential way -- have described him as intellectually vapid and incurious, uninterested in the details of his office, possessing little or no attention span and preoccupied with having his egomania and malignant narcissism fed by his coterie. ... Read more

Amazing DIY European Style Tiny House With Pizza Oven | 01/11/18 | 15:11

Independent Woman Lives Simply in a Tiny House Community | 05/01/15 | 12:53

Open Concept Modern Tiny House with Elevator Bed | 01/30/17 | 16:28

Steve Bannon Out At Breitbart
HP | Sebastian Murdock | 01/09/18

Bannon's exit comes after his quotes in a new tell-all sparked a feud with President Donald Trump.

"I'm proud of what the Breitbart team has accomplished in so short a period of time in building out a world-class news platform," he said in a statement. Bannon was a founding member of the board and took over as executive chairman of Breitbart News following founder Andrew Breitbart's death in 2012. ...

... Rumors of Bannon's ouster from the conservative news outlet began Thursday, when The Wall Street Journal reported that the owners of the publication were debating Bannon's future. During a press briefing Thursday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Breitbart should consider firing Bannon. ... Read more

Why so many Americans in the middle class have no savings | PBS | older, 06/01/16 | 11:59

Mark has an amazing story! He was a banker now living in a park homeless. | Invisible People | older, 11/26/08 | 10:00

Homeless Couple's Love Keeps Them Warm in Ithaca's Cold Weather. | Invisible People | 01/08/18 | 11:00

This LA Musician Built $1,200 Tiny Houses for the Homeless. Then the City Seized Them. | ReasonTV | 12/09/16 | 14:03

Tiny Home Rebel | SBS Dateline | 06/27/17 | 29:32

White House Press Briefing 01/09/18 | WH | 01/09/18 | 22:38

President Trump Meets with Bipartisan Members of the Senate on Immigration | WH | 01/09/18 | 54:40

Dianne Feinstein Releases Transcript Of Fusion GPS Co-Founder's Testimony On Russia
HP | Paige Lavender | 01/09/18

Sen. Dianne Feinstein's office released a transcript Tuesday of Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson's testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The committee questioned Simpson in August about Russian interference in the 2016 election. A dossier compiled by Fusion GPS with the help of former British spy Christopher Steele alleged collusion between the Donald Trump campaign and the Russian government. ... Read more
Fushion GPS, Glenn Simpson Testimony to Senate.pdf
or
Fusion GPS, Glenn Simpson Testimony to the Senate website

Billionaire Tom Steyer and the Wealthy Trump Resistance Grifters
TRNN | Michael Sainato | 01/09/18

vHedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer has launched himself into the Trump Resistance, pouring millions of dollars into advertisements and a website urging the impeachment of Donald Trump. He's spent over $20 million so far on a nationwide ad campaign, starring himself, as the DNC and several grassroots organizations struggle to compete in fundraising against the billionaires backing Trump and the Republican Party. ... Read more

*"Fire And Fury" by Michael Wolff - FULL AudioBook | 01/06/18 | 11:56:18

With extraordinary access to the Trump White House, Michael Wolff tells the inside story of the most controversial presidency of our time

The first nine months of Donald Trump's term were stormy, outrageous?and absolutely mesmerizing. Now, thanks to his deep access to the West Wing, bestselling author Michael Wolff tells the riveting story of how Trump launched a tenure as volatile and fiery as the man himself.

In this explosive book, Wolff provides a wealth of new details about the chaos in the Oval Office. Among the revelations:

1. What President Trump's staff really thinks of him
2. What inspired Trump to claim he was wire-tapped by President Obama
3. Why FBI director James Comey was really fired
4. Why chief strategist Steve Bannon and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner couldn't be in the same room
5. Who is really directing the Trump administration's strategy in the wake of Bannon's firing
6. What the secret to communicating with Trump is
7. What the Trump administration has in common with the movie The Producers

Never before has a presidency so divided the American people. Brilliantly reported and astoundingly fresh, Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury shows us how and why Donald Trump has become the king of discord and disunion.

"Fire And Fury" by Michael Wolff - FULL AudioBook | 01/06/18 | 11:56:18

The Children's Health Insurance Program, CHIP, Is In Peril Again. But There's Good News.
HP | Jeffrey Young | 01/08/18

On its way out the door for the holiday break in December, Congress passed a bill that was supposed to keep the Children's Health Insurance Program afloat until the end of March. Now, the federal government is saying it can't even guarantee continued coverage for 9 million low-income kids for the full month of January.

Before Congress passed legislation last month to inject close to $3 billion into CHIP, several states were on the verge of shutting down the program for lack of funds. A few even began notifying parents that their kids were about to lose health insurance. That could all be about to happen again. ... Read more

Sean Spicer Dismisses Oprah Winfrey Presidential Run Because Of Inexperience
HP | David Moye | 01/08/18

ean Spicer either has a short memory or a very long nose, based on comments he made Monday morning regarding Oprah Winfrey.

The former White House press secretary appeared on the British TV show "Good Morning Britain" to discuss, among other things, Winfrey's potential presidential run, which many were discussing after the media mogul received the Cecil B. DeMille Award at Sunday's Golden Globes. ... Read more

How Stephen Miller Got What He Wanted From CNN
TheAtlatic | David A. Graham | 01/08/18

... The segment began with Tapper asking a question, which Miller happily ignored in favor of a meandering, long riff. Tapper let Miller go for a minute and a half, and Miller happily took it, running through a series of talking points that sounded carefully workshopped.

"It's tragic and unfortunate that Steve would make these grotesque comments so out of touch with reality and obviously so vindictive," Miller said. "The whole White House staff is disappointed with his comments, which were so grotesque." (There was a lot of "grotesque" and "tragic" in the interview.) Miller went on that "the book is best understood as a work of very poorly written fiction," a line which might have landed better if he hadn't followed it with a poorly written, juvenile jab: "I also will say that the author is a garbage author of a garbage book." ... Read more

Trump tweets that he's a genius and "a very stable genius at that!"
Vox | Emily Stewart | 01/06/18

On Saturday morning, President Donald Trump characterized himself as a "very stable genius" who is "like, really smart" in a series of tweets fired off from the Camp David presidential countryside retreat, where he was supposed to be meeting with lawmakers about 2018 priorities such as infrastructure, the budget, and health care.

Apparently reacting to a new round of questions surrounding his mental health, the president used Twitter to defend himself in the weekend's early morning hours. The tweets seemed to be spurred by a Fox News segment. ... Read more

Tapper cuts off Trump adviser interview: I've wasted enough of my viewers' time | CNN | 01/07/18 | 12:34

Sean Spicer: I 'screwed up' as press secretary | CNN | 01/04/18 | 18:29

Psychiatrist spoke with Congress on Trump's mental fitness | CNN | 01/05/18 | 6:22

Trump: I'm a very stable genius | CNN | 01/06/18 | 6:32

Michael Wolff's Bombshell Book On Trump White House | The View | 01/04/18 | 8:19

Bannon finds his regrets aren't good enough for Trump
Politico | Annie Karni | 01/07/18

Steve Bannon, like his onetime brother-in-arms President Donald Trump, is known as someone whose instinct is to double down, not kiss up.

That made his belated attempt on Sunday to de-escalate mounting tension with the commander in chief -- who had been publicly and privately raging about his former chief strategist all week -- notable to many of his allies, one of whom called it a "huge step for Steve, one of the most stubborn people on earth."

But inside the White House, Bannon's 297-word statement of contrition about comments he made in Michael Wolff's book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" was seen as too little, too late for an operative unaware of the self-inflicted damage his hubris could cause.

It did nothing to quell Trump's rage at his former chief strategist or the anger of Bannon's former West Wing colleagues, according to multiple administration officials, who said the vibe in the president's circle was that people were unmoved by the statement. Asked whether there is anything Bannon can do at this point to get back in the president's good graces, one White House official said curtly, "Unlikely." ... Read more

Robert Reich: Just How Stupid Is Trump?
AlterNet | Robert Reich / RobertReich.org | 01/08/18

His cabinet thinks he's an imbecile, but it would be dangerous to underestimate him.

For more than a year now, I've been hearing from people in the inner circles of official Washington -- GOP lobbyists, Republican pundits, even a few Republican members of Congress -- that Donald Trump is remarkably stupid.

I figured they couldn't be right because really stupid people don't become presidents of the United States. Even George W. Bush was smart enough to hire smart people to run his campaign and then his White House.

Several months back when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Trump a "f--king moron," I discounted it. I know firsthand how frustrating it can be to serve in a president's cabinet, and I've heard members of other president's cabinets describe their bosses in similar terms. ... Read more

The Definitive Guide to Understanding the Sinister Tactics Behind Trump's Tweets
AlterNet | Liz Posner | 01/08/18

Over the past two years, Trump's Twitter habits have been honed and polished into an art form. And really, he is a master at it. Maybe after Mueller takes him down, he can write "The Art of the Tweet." Until then, Americans will continue to reel from unfiltered posts like his most recent threats to North Korea and play the absurd game of trying to tell if our lives are immediately under threat or not.

But one scholar of linguistics and philosophy has masterfully deciphered the strategy behind Trump's tweets, and it's just the tool we need going into 2018. ... Read more
Click to zoom in

'Fire And Fury' Author Defends Book After Trump Slams It As 'Phony' And 'Full Of Lies'
HP | Marina Fang | 01/05/18

Journalist Michael Wolff said it was "extraordinary" that the president tried to stop the publication.

Journalist Michael Wolff on Friday said he stands by "Fire and Fury," his new book about President Donald Trump's administration that has drawn Trump's ire and rocked the political world. "My credibility is being questioned by a man who has less credibility than perhaps anyone who has ever walked on earth at this point," Wolff said of Trump.

On NBC's "Today" show on Friday, in his first interview since the book went on sale at midnight, Wolff defended his reporting, and his descriptions of Trump aides and confidants openly questioning the president's mental health and stability. ... Read more

'Fire And Fury' Author Michael Wolff: 'I Absolutely' Spoke To President Donald Trump | TODAY | 01/05/18 | 8:25

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff

With extraordinary access to the Trump White House, Michael Wolff tells the inside story of the most controversial presidency of our time

The first nine months of Donald Trump's term were stormy, outrageous?and absolutely mesmerizing. Now, thanks to his deep access to the West Wing, bestselling author Michael Wolff tells the riveting story of how Trump launched a tenure as volatile and fiery as the man himself.

In this explosive book, Wolff provides a wealth of new details about the chaos in the Oval Office. Among the revelations:

1. What President Trump's staff really thinks of him
2. What inspired Trump to claim he was wire-tapped by President Obama
3. Why FBI director James Comey was really fired
4. Why chief strategist Steve Bannon and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner couldn't be in the same room
5. Who is really directing the Trump administration's strategy in the wake of Bannon's firing
6. What the secret to communicating with Trump is
7. What the Trump administration has in common with the movie The Producers

Never before has a presidency so divided the American people. Brilliantly reported and astoundingly fresh, Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury shows us how and why Donald Trump has become the king of discord and disunion.

King Cuck Bannon Bows Before Daddy Trump | TYT | 01/04/18 | 14:23

Trump Threatens Lawsuit Over DEVASTATING New Book | TYT | 01/04/18 | 5:05

What Fox News Owner REALLY Thinks About Trump | TYT | 01/04/18 | 6:55

Brutal Winter Storm Leaves East Coast Blanketed In Snow As Airports Slowly Reopen
HP | Nina Golgowski and Nick Visser | 01/04/18

'Bomb Cyclone' Leaves East Coast Buried In Snow As Airports Slowly Reopen

A polar vortex of ice and howling wind left up to a foot of snow over parts of the Northeast on Thursday as the first major winter storm of 2018 barreled up the coast. Authorities throughout the region declared states of emergencies and canceled thousands of flights meant to ferry post-holiday travelers home.

Almost no part of the Eastern Seaboard was spared from frigid temperatures that plunged well below freezing, and snow fell from New England all the way down to Georgia and the Carolinas. ... Read more

Beware, fellow plutocrats, the pitchforks are coming | Nick Hanauer | TED | older 08/12/14 | 20:26

Two Dozen Members of Congress Can't Wait to Leave D.C. Here's Why.
Politico | Edward-Isaac Dovere | 02/2018

... Dent, a moderate Republican who's become the go-to source for reporters looking for searing criticism of the GOP in the Trump era, is one of a couple dozen members of Congress who have announced their retirements last year (not counting the ones who have gone down in sexual harassment scandals), with more likely coming amid an expected Democratic wave in the 2018 midterm elections. People retire every cycle. But this year's group is a bumper crop of members wondering whether Congress is broken forever--even as they insist they love their own jobs.

The ferocity of the Gingrich Revolution, President Bill Clinton's impeachment--even the Tea Party shutdown wars of 2011 and 2013 seem like the good old days to them now. Capitol Hill is an angry, scattered mess; each party is storing up grudges to get revenge for the next time it gets the chance; and the victories are always fleeting. When pressed, the departees will confess to deep concerns that flow from Trump, the reaction to Trump, and the politics that created and elected Trump. ... Read more

Fire And Fury In The White House | The 11th Hour | MSNBC | 01/04/18 | 13:39

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff

With extraordinary access to the Trump White House, Michael Wolff tells the inside story of the most controversial presidency of our time

The first nine months of Donald Trump's term were stormy, outrageous?and absolutely mesmerizing. Now, thanks to his deep access to the West Wing, bestselling author Michael Wolff tells the riveting story of how Trump launched a tenure as volatile and fiery as the man himself.

In this explosive book, Wolff provides a wealth of new details about the chaos in the Oval Office. Among the revelations:

1. What President Trump's staff really thinks of him
2. What inspired Trump to claim he was wire-tapped by President Obama
3. Why FBI director James Comey was really fired
4. Why chief strategist Steve Bannon and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner couldn't be in the same room
5. Who is really directing the Trump administration's strategy in the wake of Bannon's firing
6. What the secret to communicating with Trump is
7. What the Trump administration has in common with the movie The Producers

Never before has a presidency so divided the American people. Brilliantly reported and astoundingly fresh, Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury shows us how and why Donald Trump has become the king of discord and disunion.

Sanders Struggles To Explain Trump Bannon Sh*tstorm | TYT | 01/03/18 | 6:03

*How Trump makes extreme things look normal | Vox | 12/21/17 | 7:24

BOMBSHELL: Bannon Blasts 'Treasonous' Trump | TYT | 01/03/18 | 11:40

Trump Fires Back At Steve Bannon | TYT | 01/03/18 | 6:52

*Tweet new year: Trump launches barrage of taunts and threats
Politico | Cristiano Lima | 01/02/18

President Donald Trump used his first full work day in 2018 to rekindle one of his favorite political pastimes from 2017: throwing haymakers on Twitter.

The president returned to his full combative form Tuesday after arriving in Washington the day prior from a holiday stay in Mar-a-Lago, taunting news outlets with the prospect of awarding them for their "dishonest & corrupt" coverage, threatening on social media to curb U.S. aid to Palestinians, calling for the jailing of former Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, and publicly competing with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over the size of their nuclear buttons.

Even as he shifted gears from topic to topic, the day's tweets covered a number of his regular punching bags, both foreign and domestic. The tweets and the ensuing scrutiny over them extended a streak of the president dominating news cycles by his fingertips that lasted for much of 2017 and carried into the latest holiday break. Read more

*Trump Administration Bricked on at Least Half of its Executive Orders in 2017
TheIntercept | author | 01/02/18

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION has either failed to complete or is keeping from the public more than half of the reports that President Donald Trump assigned to the administration through his early and prolific use of the executive order. Of the reports it did complete, many were turned in well past the assigned due date and only "complete" in the sense that they consist of words on paper.

In his first year in office, Trump ordered 95 separate reports, performance reviews, instructions, or other activities to be carried out by executive branch agencies. The Intercept has been reviewing these orders for the last year. We found that 48 of the 95 actions were completed, in many cases after the due date stipulated in the order. Federal agencies have yet to complete another 20. In 27 cases, the agency was unresponsive to our requests for information. ... Read more
TRUMP DEADLINES, Where His Executive Orders Stand

Trump is still involved in his business ventures all over the world. Is that constitutional?
Salon | Heather Digby Parton | 01/03/18

Over the holidays, a little Daily Beast story by Betsy Woodruff passed under the radar. She reported that Donald Trump is still personally involved in running his businesses. The media didn't pay much attention, but perhaps that's not surprising, considering that nobody in a million years actually believed Trump was going to leave his company solely in the hands of his two scions, Donald Jr. and Eric. After all, he's spent a third of his first term making personal promotional appearances at Trump properties. He's not exactly keeping it on the down-low that he's still got his hand in the business.

Still, they like to keep up the pretense that Trump isn't paying attention to Trump Organization details because he's so busy running the country. Woodruff published an email from the director of revenue management at the Trump Hotel in Washington, Jeng Chi Hung, written to an acquaintance on Sept. 12, 2017, which suggests that simply isn't true. ... Read more

2018 Is Already Off To A Violent Start
HP | David Lohr | 01/01/18

By no means do the below incidents make a comprehensive list of violent events that occurred Monday in the U.S. However, they provide a sobering snapshot of lives cut short around the country in the first hours of the new year. ... Read more

White House aides already anxious about 2018
Politico | Eliana Johnson | 01/01/18

Senior staff are looking down the pike of a difficult year, from the looming West Wing brain drain and ongoing Russia inquiries to the threat of a Democratic wave in the midterms.

After ending their first year on a high, signing a sweeping tax reform bill into law, Trump's advisers are divided about how to capitalize on that victory and maintain momentum going forward with Hill Republicans again at odds over their legislative agenda.

They're facing a brain drain on a White House that already had trouble recruiting top talent. Many senior West Wing aides are expected to depart in the coming year, with no replacements lined up. White House chief of staff John Kelly -- who has already fired several presidential aides-- wants to push out more but has struggled to find suitable alternatives. ... Read more

In 347 days, Trump has made 1,950 false and misleading claims
WP | Glenn Kessler | 01/02/18

The Fact Checker's ongoing database of the false and misleading claims made by President Trump during his first 365 days in office. ... Read more

Making China Great Again
New Yorker | Evan Osnos | 01/__/18

As Donald Trump surrenders America's global commitments, Xi Jinping is learning to pick up the pieces.

When the Chinese action movie "Wolf Warrior II" arrived in theatres, in July, it looked like a standard shoot-'em-up, with a lonesome hero and frequent explosions. Within two weeks, however, "Wolf Warrior II" had become the highest-grossing Chinese movie of all time. Some crowds gave it standing ovations; others sang the national anthem. In October, China selected it as its official entry in the foreign-language category of the Academy Awards. ... Read more

North Korea's Overture Could Divide South Korea and U.S.
NYT | Choe Sang-Hun | 01/02/18

Kim Jong-un's surprising call for direct talks with the South may undercut the Trump administration's tough approach, driving a wedge into the decades-old alliance.

The allies' strained relationship has been playing out for months, as the South Korean president argued for economic and diplomatic openings with the North. ... Read more

Was 2017 the Craziest Year in U.S. Political History?
Politico | author | 12/29/17

Imagine how future historians might try to summarize 2017: A U.S. president, his family and his political aides came under investigation by a special counsel for possibly helping a foreign government meddle in the election. Talk of impeachment swirled through Congress, where the fracturing Republican Party was in the midst of an identity crisis--and the Democrats were, too. Twitter became a source of official U.S. policy. A wave of sexual harassment allegations took down U.S. senators and congressmen, top judges and reporters, and high-profile political candidates--but not the president, who had been caught on tape admitting to grabbing women "by the pussy." We learned that the Pentagon has secretly been studying UFOs. All while the leaders of North Korea and the United States exchanged threats to rain down nuclear "fire and fury like the world has never seen."

But as unbelievable and unprecedented as this year seemed, how wild was it really? Does it come in No. 1 in the pantheon of American political chaos? Or, alongside the Civil Wars, assassinations, race riots and Watergates, does it not even rank? We asked some of the nation's smartest historians to tell us whether 2017 was indeed the craziest year in U.S. political history, and, if not, what year's got it beat. Here's what they had to say. --Elizabeth F. Ralph ... Read more

Trump Boasts He's Signed More Laws Than Any President Since Truman. He's Actually Signed the Fewest.
Slate | Elliot Hannon | 12/27/17

You know if Donald Trump is pushing some sort of record or achievement or a Time cover, you should probably run the numbers again, you know, just to double-check. On Wednesday, while totally not golfing at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, Trump reflected on his first year in office in a way only Trump could. That is, he basically made it up. Ruminating on what he considered his achievements, Trump explained at an event with firefighters in West Palm Beach that he had set a record for the most legislation passed in a year. At least that's what it appears he was trying to say:

Donald Trump said: We got a lot of legislation passed ... I believe--and you would have to ask those folks who will know the real answer--we have more legislation passed, including the record ... was Harry Truman, a long time ago. And we broke that record, so we got a lot done."

That is, predictably, not the case. In fact, Trump's version of history is the exact opposite of reality. Trump has signed fewer bills into law than any other president in his first year in office since Dwight Eisenhower in 1953, according to GovTrack.
Read more
Click to zoom in Trump Breaking Records? | TYT | 12/28/17 | 8:29

Trump Veers Away From 70 Years of U.S. Foreign Policy
NYT | Mark Landler | 12/29/17

President Trump has transformed the world's view of the United States from an anchor of the international order into something more inward-looking and unpredictable.

That is a seminal change from the role the nation played for 70 years, and it has lasting implications for how other nations chart their futures. ... Read more

26 Photos That Show The Natural Disasters Humanity Faced In 2017
HP | Chris McGonigal and Damon Dahlen | 12/27/17

For those in the United States, 2017 will probably always be associated with the record hurricanes that caused widespread damage in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. In California, raging wildfires destroyed thousands of structures.

But around the world, millions faced other natural disasters as well, including volcanic eruptions in Indonesia and massive flooding in Peru.

Read more
Click to zoom in

*The Laura Flanders Show: Immigrants Dream of Sanctuary | Laura Flanders Show | 12/28/17 | 26:22

13 Days in July: The Trump White House's crucible
AP & wisconsingazette.com | Jonathan Lemire and Zeke Miller | 12/28/17

They were 13 days that transformed the White House. Even for an administration that spent most of 2017 throwing off headlines at a dizzying pace, events in the second half of July unfolded at breakneck speed. And they yielded aftershocks that reverberate within the White House even as the calendar turns to 2018.

The two-week span laid bare the splintering of Donald Trump's relationships with two influential Cabinet members; foreshadowed the reach of the Russia probe into the interior of his orbit; saw the dramatic, last-minute defeat of one of the president's signature campaign promises; and featured a senior staff shakeup that reset the rhythms of this presidency. ... Read more
*How Two Weeks In July Transformed The White House | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 12/28/13 | 14:28

*32 Tweets That Encapsulate President Donald Trump's First Year | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 12/28/13 | 6:49

*'Terrible Numbers' For Donald Trump In New Poll | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 12/28/13 | 8:44

*How Will The Tax Bill Impact Americans Next Year? | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 12/28/13 | 4:27

*Rex Tillerson Takes Aim At China, Russia In New Op-Ed | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 12/28/13 | 5:13

Steve Bannon Blasts 'Javanka' As Everything Wrong With The White House
HP | Mary Papenfuss | 12/23/17

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has attacked President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner as the "railhead of all bad decisions" in the White House.

Bannon picked apart the problems of the White House and derided the couple as "Javanka" in a wide-ranging interview with Vanity Fair published Thursday. He said Ivanka was a "fount of bad advice during the campaign," and claimed he once called her to her face "the queen of leaks." Vanity Fair also reported Bannon considers Kushner an elitist with no political experience who is in over his head and is out of touch with Trump's constituency. ... Read more

Amb. Nikki Haley Negotiates Cuts To US Contributions To United Nations | Velshi & Ruhle | MSNBC | 12/26/17 | 2:41

**This Should Freak Everyone Out: The Arctic Will Never Be Frozen Again
MotherJones | Eric Holthaus | 12/26/17

This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

Last week, at a New Orleans conference center that once doubled as a storm shelter for thousands during Hurricane Katrina, a group of polar scientists made a startling declaration: The Arctic as we once knew it is no more.

The region is now definitively trending toward an ice-free state, the scientists said, with wide-ranging ramifications for ecosystems, national security, and the stability of the global climate system. It was a fitting venue for an eye-opening reminder that, on its current path, civilization is engaged in an existential gamble with the planet's life-support system. ... Read more
Click to zoom in

The Arctic Report Card 2017

The Arctic as we once knew it is no more. The region is now definitively trending toward an ice-free state, the scientists said, with wide-ranging ramifications for ecosystems, national security, and the stability of the global climate system. It was a fitting venue for an eye-opening reminder that, on its current path, civilization is engaged in an existential gamble with the planet's life-support system.

Trump visited his properties over 100 times this year
CNN | Dan Merica | 12/22/17

West Palm Beach, Florida (CNN)President Donald Trump, fresh off of signing his signature tax legislation, arrived in Florida on Friday for a prolonged visit at Mar-A-Lago, his private club that sits on this tony spit of land in Southern Florida. With him comes a host of White House aides, an abundance of Secret Service agents and the ongoing controversy around the President boosting his private businesses by making frequent visits to properties that bear the Trump name.

Trump's Friday arrival to Mar-A-Lago will mark the 106th day Trump has visited one of his properties as President, a fact that critics argue helps the businessman-turned-politician boost the bottom line at The Trump Organization. Trump transferred his business holdings to a trust run by his sons before taking office earlier this year, but stopped short of selling off his holdings. ... Read more

Trump Visited Properties More Than 100 Times | TYT | 12/25/17 | 5:05

Report: Hundreds of EPA employees leave under Trump
CNN | Sophie Tatum | 12/22/17/span>

Hundreds of Environmental Protection Agency employees have exited their posts at the agency over the course of President Donald Trump's first year in office, a report by the New York Times and ProPublica said Friday. The Trump administration has touted efforts to roll back regulations at the agency, and an internal memo obtained by CNN in April revealed a buyout program that was aimed at curbing employment.

... In April, CNN reported that John O'Grady, president of AFGE Council 238, the union that represents EPA employees, said the Trump administration's goal was to cut "at least 3,100 full-time employees." ... Read more
Hundreds Fleeing Trump's EPA | TYT | 12/25/17 | 6:28

Where is Trump's Cabinet? It's anybody's guess.
Politico | Emily Holden | 12/26/17

Agency heads are carrying out the Trump administration's agenda largely in secret, in many cases shielding their schedules from public view.

The Cabinet members carrying out President Donald Trump's orders to shake up the federal government are doing so under an unusual layer of secrecy -- often shielding their schedules from public view, keeping their travels under wraps and refusing to identify the people and groups they're meeting.

A POLITICO review of the practices of 17 Cabinet heads found that at least seven routinely decline to release information on their planned schedules or travels -- information that was more widely available during the Obama and George W. Bush administrations. Four other departments -- Agriculture, Labor, Homeland Security and Education -- provide the secretaries' schedules only sporadically or with few details. The Treasury Department began releasing weekly schedules for Secretary Steven Mnuchin only in November.

In addition, at least seven Cabinet departments don't release appointment calendars that would show, after the fact, who their leaders had met with, what they discussed and where they traveled -- a potential violation of the Freedom of Information Act, which says agencies must make their records "promptly available to any person." At least two departments -- Education and the Environmental Protection Agency -- have released some of those details after activist groups sued them. ... Read more

Trump taunts Democrats as he touts tax reform win
Politico | Louis Nelson | 12/21/17

President Donald Trump predicted Thursday that the package of tax cuts passed Wednesday by Congress "will soon be kicking in and will speak for themselves," proving wrong Democrats who he said "hate these big cuts" and the media, who he said "is desperate to write badly" about the White House-backed legislation.

"The Massive Tax Cuts, which the Fake News Media is desperate to write badly about so as to please their Democrat bosses, will soon be kicking in and will speak for themselves," Trump wrote on Twitter. "Companies are already making big payments to workers. Dems want to raise taxes, hate these big Cuts!"

The bill, which the president is expected to sign, is the first major legislative victory for Trump and the culmination of a career-long goal for House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), long a tax policy wonk who once served as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Wrapped up in the legislation were other GOP priorities, including a repeal of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate and opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Reserve for oil drilling. ... Read more

Ryan: 'Nobody Knows' If Massive Tax Cuts Will Pay For Themselves
TPM | Matt Shuham | 12/20/17

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said Wednesday that "nobody knows" if Republicans' tax bill, which would overwhelmingly benefit corporations and the wealthy while adding more than $1.4 trillion to the deficit, would pay for itself.

"Are you saying that the growth you're going to get from this tax cut will equal the amount it would cost on the deficit side, so that it's a wash?" Savannah Guthrie asked Ryan in an interview Wednesday.

"Nobody knows the answer to that question, because that's in the future," Ryan said. "But what we do know is that this will increase economic growth." Read more

*How Trump makes extreme things look normal | Vox | 12/21/17 | 7:24

*How tax breaks help the rich | Vox | 10/09/17 | 8:46

Paul Ryan gets a big win with a massively unpopular bill: Now it gets worse
Salon | Sophia Tesfaye | 12/20/17

As promised, only days before Christmas, Republicans are poised to fulfill the first major overhaul of the U.S. tax code in 30 years. But instead of running a slow victory lap into the 2018 midterm elections, Republican ideologues in Congress -- led by House Speaker Paul Ryan -- appear determined to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the name of discredited supply-side dogma.

Even though the postcard-size tax return that President Trump promised every American won't be coming anytime soon, Republicans are delivering on three major orthodoxies with a singular bill. In addition to a dramatic slashing of the corporate tax rate, the Republican tax bill does away with the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate and opens the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration. Short of stacking the Supreme Court with eight other justices in the mold of Clarence Thomas, no single act of Congress could succinctly meet such a wide-array of long-term Republican goals. ... Read more

Democrats Express Outrage As GOP Tax Cuts Inch Closer To Completion
HP | Rebecca Shapiro | 12/20/17

Democrats were quick to react after the Senate voted along party lines to pass a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. tax code. The unpopular piece of legislation overwhelmingly favors big business and the wealthiest of Americans and adds a whopping $1.4 trillion to the national debt.

Ahead of the vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the Tax Cut and Reform Bill "a disgrace" on the Senate floor. He then blasted the GOP in a tweet and accused Republicans of favoring the wealthy.

"The bill that the Republicans jammed through the Senate tonight isn't tax reform," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said. "It's a heist. Let's call this out for what it is: Government for sale." ... Read more

Here's animatronic Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women on the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape | HP | 12/18/17 | 0:23

The "backlash" against Star Wars: The Last Jedi, explained
Vox | Todd VanDerWerff | 12/19/17/span>

A divide between movie audiences and critics happens all the time -- especially with blockbusters.

Consider the recent case of Justice League, which brought together a bunch of big-name superheroes, to the delight of 79 percent of those who saw it and bothered to register their opinion on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics, however, only liked the film to the tune of a 40 percent score -- a 39-point gap. There's also 2016's Suicide Squad, with a 26 percent score from critics and a 61 percent score from audiences, for a 35-point gap.

These gaps are normal. If you've bought a ticket for a movie -- as opposed to having seen it at a free critics screening -- you're far more likely to have self-selected as a fan already, and thus, you're far more likely to be into the movie. (If you were to make the argument that Rotten Tomatoes is a deeply flawed system at best and actively harmful to the future of criticism at worst, well, I wouldn't stop you.) ... Read more

Jeff Sessions Reportedly Revives Probe Of Uranium One Deal
HP | Alana Horowitz Satlin | 12/21/17

The Justice Department is reviving an inquiry into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the government's controversial approval of the Uranium One deal, NBC News reported on Thursday.

A now-dormant FBI investigation into whether Clinton had ties to the deal has not found evidence of wrongdoing. But NBC, citing "multiple law enforcement officials," reported that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has in recent weeks directed Justice Department prosecutors to ask FBI agents to explain evidence uncovered in the probe.

Uranium One, a Canadian mining company with major U.S. holdings, was sold in 2010 to a Russian firm. Before the sale could go through, it needed approval from nine U.S. agencies, including the State Department. Because some of the people who stood to benefit from the sale were Clinton Foundation donors, conservative media and other critics of the 2016 presidential nominee have alleged a quid-pro-quo, even though the State Department said it didn't have the power to green-light or veto the deal and Clinton herself was not involved in the approval process. Read more

The real reason Trump allies are attacking Mueller
Politico | Darren Samuelsohn | 12/19/17

Sowing public doubt about the special counsel's Russia investigation can give the president cover for pardons, even if the investigation is allowed to proceed.

In the last week, investigators on Mueller's team have been publicly accused of being biased against Trump and of violating criminal procedure to get documents related to his transition. The purpose of the onslaught, according to people close to the White House, isn't to encourage the president to oust the special counsel, a move that could precipitate a crisis in the Justice Department and potentially a move to impeach Trump.

Rather, these people said, the goal is to sow public doubt about Mueller and his prosecutors in advance of upcoming criminal trials -- and to give the president political cover if he wants to start issuing pardons to any current or former aides swept up in the Russia scandal. ... Read more

Demoralized I.R.S. Faces Monumental Task With New Bill
NYT | Patricia Cohen | 12/19/17

The agency, upbraided for years by the Republicans, must now interpret the new bill. It has been struggling with a budget cut of nearly $1 billion since 2010, and a 23-percent reduction in personnel. ... Read more

Trump, upset about Gorsuch's criticism of his attacks on judges, talked of rescinding nomination
WashingtonPost | Ashley Parker | 12/19/17

President Trump has boasted that appointing Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court ranks high among his signature achievements. But he vented angrily to advisers earlier this year when Gorsuch called Trump's repeated attacks on the federal judiciary "disheartening" and "demoralizing," according to people with knowledge of the discussions. ... Read more

How much of a threat are Russia and China to the US?l | Aljazeera: Inside Story | 12/19/17 | 25:10

Author Brian Klaas: Is Trump an "aspiring despot" or a "bumbling showman"? Yes!
Salon | Chauncey Devega | 12/19/17

Author of "The Despot's Apprentice" on the "long-term corrosion of democracy" that won't end when Trump is gone

The presidency of Donald Trump has forced the American people to confront questions most of us had never before considered possible. What happens when a president has no respect for the Constitution and the country's democratic institutions and traditions? When a president and his allies consider themselves above the law, what is to be done? If a president creates his own version of reality by behaving like a political cult leader, what forms of resistance are effective -- or even possible? Is the president of the United States a fascist and demagogue who may be under the influence of the country's enemies?

Too many Americans believed their country to be exceptional and unique. This blinded them to the threat to democracy embodied by Donald Trump -- as well as other members of the extreme right-wing -- until it was too late to stop him from stealing control. Moreover, the rise of Trump's authoritarian movement (dishonestly operating under the mask of "populism") has both empowered and revealed the tens of millions of Americans who have authoritarian or fascist leanings. The threat to American democracy is deep; it will take a long time to purge this civic sickness and political disease from the body politic.

In an effort to understand the true dimensions of Trump's rise to power as a direct threat to American democracy, I recently spoke with Brian Klaas. He is a fellow in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics. In addition to writing columns and essays that have appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Guardian, Foreign Affairs and numerous other publications, Klaas is the author of several books. His latest, published in November, is "The Despot's Apprentice: Donald Trump's Attack on Democracy." ... Read more

The Republican Tax Bill Provides Huge Benefits to People Who Don't Work. But Only if They're Rich.
MotherJones | Noah Lanard | date

After passing their tax bill, Republicans plan to impose work requirements on safety net programs.

The Senate tax bill gives business owners nearly three times more benefits than workers with wages and salaries, according to a new analysis from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. Adam Looney, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told The New York Times that if the bill becomes law it would be the first time that "wage earners were substantially penalized" by the tax code.

The diverging treatment comes from how the tax bill treats the 95 percent of businesses that are structured so that profits are taxed as individual income. Republicans portray these businesses, which are known as "pass-throughs," as "ma and pa bakeries and family-owned salons." In reality, most pass-through income goes to people in the top 1 percent -- including the Trump family.

The House tax bill cuts the top income tax rate for pass-throughs from 39.6 percent to 25 percent, which would cost taxpayers nearly $600 billion over 10 years. About 86 percent of small business owners would not benefit because all of their income is already in the 25 percent tax bracket or lower. Republicans' much-touted ma and pa shops usually don't earn make enough to be in the top tax brackets, which kick in at $153,000 of taxable income for couples. ... Read more

'He Would Probably Be a Dictator by Now'
Politico | Susan B. Glasser | 12/18/17

Last year, Eliot Cohen rallied dozens of fellow veterans of Republican administrations, people like him who had served in the upper reaches of the Pentagon, State Department and National Security Council, to warn against Donald Trump winning the White House. He would become, the group open letter Cohen organized said, "the most reckless president in American history."

A year later, Cohen, a top official in President George W. Bush's administration, and another charter #NeverTrump proselytizer, his fellow conservative Max Boot, hardly back down when asked whether their predictions of global gloom and doom had been proven right in the first year of the Trump presidency. Both men, lifelong Republicans and historically minded policy intellectuals, offered unequivocal yeses in a joint interview for this week's Global Politico podcast -- and castigated former friends inside the party they've both now renounced as "Vichy Republicans" for collaborating with a president they believe is not fit to hold office. ... Read more

Friction Rises Between Trump Lawyers and Mueller's Team
NYT | author | date

President Trump repeated on Sunday that he was not considering firing Robert S. Mueller III, even as tension escalated between the special counsel and the White House.

A lawyer for Mr. Trump said investigators improperly acquired emails, prompting a rare statement of defense from the special counsel. ... Read more

Donald Trump is convinced Robert Mueller will exonerate him personally: report
Salon | Matthew Rozsa | 12/18/17

There is a disconnect between reports of how President Donald Trump is privately feeling about Robert Mueller's probe and how his political allies are publicly attempting to discredit that investigation.

Trump has privately expressed confidence that Mueller will soon exonerate him completely from accusations that he colluded with Russian government officials in order to win the 2016 presidential election, according to CNN. Even though the president's cheery attitude could change after his private lawyers meet with Mueller later this week, for the time, being Trump seems convinced that his legal woes involving Russia will soon be over. ... Read more

Washington Sheriff: 'Multiple Fatalities' Reported, Exact Number Unknown | MSNBC | 12/18/17 | 1:57

How the loss of net neutrality could change the internet
Politico | Margaret Harding Mcgill | 12/14/17

Supporters of the repeal say it will free up internet providers to innovate, while opponents fear the online world will become more like cable TV.

The Federal Communications Commission's party-line vote Thursday to dump the Obama-era rules, which required internet service providers to treat all web traffic equally, opens the door for companies like Verizon and AT&T to experiment with new business models free from government regulation.

ISPs point to an array of possible pro-consumer outcomes like "family friendly" broadband packages that block content not suitable for children, or guaranteed fast speeds for health-related mobile applications. But net neutrality advocates paint an array of troubling scenarios -- from smaller websites like the crafts marketplace Etsy and streaming service Vimeo forced to pay tolls to reach consumers, to cable giants like Comcast blocking or slowing disfavored sites while giving priority to their own content. ... Read more
and/or theverge.com
Net Neutrality Officially Dead | TYT | 12/14/17 | 11:50
Try to Watch This Video And Not Cringe | TYT | 12/14/17 | 4:46

It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America by David Cay Johnston

Bestselling author and longtime Trump observer David Cay Johnston shines a light on the political termites who have infested our government under the Trump Administration, destroying it from within and compromising our jobs, safety, finances, and more.

No journalist knows Donald Trump better than David Cay Johnston, who has been following him since 1988. It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America goes inside the administration to show how the federal agencies that touch the lives of all Americans are being undermined. Here is just some of what you will learn:

The Wall. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto told President Trump that Mexico will never pay for the border wall. So, Trump is proposing putting a tariff on Mexican imports. But a tariff will simply raise the price of Mexican goods in the US, meaning American consumers will end up paying for the wall -- if it ever gets built.

Climate Change. Welcome to the new EPA, run by Scott Pruitt, a lawyer who has spent much of his career trying to destroy the agency he now heads. Secrecy reigns at the new EPA because Pruitt meets with industry executives to find out which clean air and clean water provisions they most want to roll back, and keeps staffers in the dark to make sure these pro-pollution plans don't leak prematurely.

Stocking the Swamp. Contrary to his promise to "drain the swamp" in Washington, DC, Trump has filled his cabinet with millionaires and billionaires, from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a Goldman Sachs and hedge fund veteran who made much of his fortune foreclosing on homeowners to billionaire heiress Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who has already put the interests of bankers ahead of debt-burdened students and their families.

The Kleptocracy. Under Donald Trump conflict of interest is passé. When Trump isn't in Washington, he stays at one of his properties, where the taxpayers pick up the tab for staffers, Secret Service, and so on, all at full price. And back in Washington, everyone now knows that the Trump International Hotel is the only place to stay if you want to do business with the administration. Meanwhile sons Donald Jr. and Eric run an eyes-wide-open blind trust of Trump holdings to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest -- but not the reality.

Trump's Lies vs. Obama's
NYT | David Leonhardt | 12/14/17

After we published a list of President Trump's lies this summer, we heard a common response from his supporters. They said, in effect: Yes, but if you made a similar list for previous presidents, it would be just as bad.

We've set out to make that list. Here, you will find our attempt at a comprehensive catalog of the falsehoods that Barack Obama told while he was president. (We also discuss George W. Bush below, although the lack of real-time fact-checking during his presidency made a comprehensive list impossible.)

We applied the same conservative standard to Obama and Trump, counting only demonstrably and substantially false statements. The result: Trump is unlike any other modern president. He seems virtually indifferent to reality, often saying whatever helps him make the case he's trying to make. ... Read more
Click to zoom in

I talked to people signing up for Obamacare. Here's what I learned
Salon | Myles Ma | 12/15/17

For the past few weeks, health care has been a regular interruption in my life as I've interviewed strangers about their health insurance for a series focused on people shopping the state and federal exchanges. I wanted to know how former President Barack Obama's polarizing health care law affects the people it's meant to insure in a year when the law's existence is more precarious than ever.

I looked online and in person for people to profile. Most exchange shoppers who were willing to go on the record were in favor of "Obamacare," though some ultimately couldn't find affordable coverage on its exchanges this year. Only one person is totally against the law. These profiles aren't a scientific cross-section of America. They're meant to be an up-close look. But some clear patterns emerge when you look at the law in action. ... Read more

Democrats cool to Trump's infrastructure pitch
Politico | Lauren Gardner | 12/14/17

Officials likely have their work cut out for them in wooing Democrats after a year of partisan bickering over nominations, health care and taxes.

The White House is preparing to unveil its long-awaited $1 trillion infrastructure plan soon after President Donald Trump signs the GOP tax overhaul, hoping to begin 2018 with another big legislative win -- but its approach is already drawing resistance from Democrats who are in no mood to cooperate.

The plan set for release in January is expected to call for as much as $200 billion in federal spending over the next decade, with the rest coming from private investment, state or local funding and cuts to other federal programs. An administration official added new details this week, telling POLITICO that a wide variety of projects -- from bridges to broadband -- would have to compete for federal assistance, while showing they're prepared to put their own money on the table. ... Read more

Will Trump's lows ever hit rock bottom?
USA Today | author | 12/13/17

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday dismissed the president's smear as a misunderstanding because he used similar language about men. Of course, words used about men and women are different. When candidate Trump said a journalist was bleeding from her "wherever," he didn't mean her nose.

And as is the case with all of Trump's digital provocations, the president's words were deliberate. He pours the gasoline of sexist language and lights the match gleefully knowing how it will burst into flame in a country reeling from the #MeToo moment. ... Read more
USA Today's Epic Takedown Of Donald Trump | TYT | 12/13/17 | 9:31

When Will Paul Ryan Step Down?
HP | Matt Fuller | 12/13/17

As Republicans finish their long-sought rewrite of the tax code, some lawmakers are beginning to wonder just how much longer Rep. Paul Ryan intends to remain speaker.

The Wisconsin Republican has made no indication he's quitting any time soon, but the possibility that Ryan finishes the tax bill and decides he no longer wants to continue in Congress has begun to loom over internal Republican conversations. Read more

Legionnaires' Disease Is Rising At An Alarming Rate In The U.S.
HP | Lauren Weber | 12/14/17

While the waterborne bacterial disease is relatively rare -- with 6,238 cases nationwide so far this year -- there has been a 13.6 percent increase in cases since this time last year. That's nearly double the increase of 7.8 percent from 2015 to 2016 in the same time period. The disease is not contagious. It's contracted when people breathe in water droplets contaminated with Legionella pneumophilia bacteria.

"A person acquires Legionnaires' disease from mist,"Julien Martinez, assistant press secretary at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, told HuffPost in October. "Most cases of Legionnaires' disease can be traced to plumbing systems where conditions are favorable for Legionella growth, such as cooling towers, whirlpool spas, hot tubs, humidifiers, hot water tanks and evaporative condensers of large air-conditioning systems." ... Read more

Following molestation allegations, Kentucky lawmaker dies in apparent suicide
Politico | Akela Lacy | 12/13/17

... "There's a whole lot of rumors and speculation that the speaker may step aside," one GOP member told HuffPost this week, a sentiment that was expressed by a number of Republicans who, perhaps tellingly, wouldn't go on the record to speak about Ryan's future.

The Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting on Monday released a seven-months-long investigation outlining claims by Maranda Richmond that Johnson assaulted her in the basement of his home. ... Read more

Alabama Elects Doug Jones, The State's First Democratic Senator In 25 Years
HP | Amanda Terkel | 12/12/17

This time, Donald Trump's playbook didn't work. Republican Roy Moore faced serious accusations of sexual misconduct in his bid to become Alabama's next senator. But instead of bowing down and backing out, he stayed in the race and went on the attack ? just like Trump did in last year's presidential race. He accused the media and the establishment of orchestrating a conspiracy against him, and cast the race as pitting good against evil, Christians versus everyone else. ... Read more

PICTURES: On The Road Of Destruction To The Thomas Fire
HP | Matt Ferner | 12/12/127

HuffPost's reporter headed up the SoCal coast, encountering a trail of haze, smoke and burned-out devastation along the way.

It's Monday morning at 10 a.m., and I'm driving north up California's famously stunning coastline toward the Thomas fire, the largest and most uncontrolled of five massive wildfires that have brought devastation to Southern California for the past week. I can see the enormous gloom ahead from 50 miles away ? brown smoke hovering over the southern edge of a fire that had consumed a staggering 230,000 acres so far. ... Read more

Trump Administration Halting Student Loan Forgiveness | TYT | 12/12/17 | 6:57

Democrats call for halt to GOP tax bill until Jones is seated in the Senate
WashingtonPost | Mike DeBonis | 12/13/17

Senior Republican aides said that they did not expect the election of Democrat Doug Jones in Alabama to slow down the tax push. ... Read more

Newtown to Mark Five Years After Sandy Hook Shooting Quietly. No Media, Please
WSJ | author | 12/13/17

Five years after the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, how the community marks the grim occasion hasn't changed: privately, quietly and with a request for the media to stay away. ... Read more

Will Trump's lows ever hit rock bottom?
USA Today | author | 12/13/17

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday dismissed the president's smear as a misunderstanding because he used similar language about men. Of course, words used about men and women are different. When candidate Trump said a journalist was bleeding from her "wherever," he didn't mean her nose.

And as is the case with all of Trump's digital provocations, the president's words were deliberate. He pours the gasoline of sexist language and lights the match gleefully knowing how it will burst into flame in a country reeling from the #MeToo moment. ... Read more
Will Trump's lows ever hit rock bottom? | USA Today | 12/13/17 |

50 World Leaders Gather In Paris For Climate Summit. Trump Was Not Invited.
HP | Dominique Mosbergen | 12/12/17

On Tuesday, the two-year anniversary of the adoption of the historic Paris Agreement, 50 world leaders planned to gather in the French capital to attend an invite-only climate change conference hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, the World Bank and the United Nations. In attendance will be British Prime Minister Theresa May, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, among other global leaders and heads of state. There, however, will be one conspicuous absence: Donald Trump.

Macron had said pointedly in November that he had not extended an invitation to Trump, who in June announced plans to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accord. Macron said that he could be persuaded to change his mind about the invitation if Trump showed a willingness to "join the club" to fight global warming. ... Read more

Trump Lawyers Want A Second Special Counsel
HP | Willa Frej | 12/12/17

One of Trump's lawyers said the president's legal team wants a second special counsel -- one to investigate the investigators -- after a Fox News report unearthed what the lawyer called a conflict of interest in the Department of Justice.

Fox News reported late Monday that Nellie H. Ohr, the wife of a senior Justice Department official who was demoted last week for not being forthcoming about meetings with Fusion GPS, the firm behind the anti-Trump dossier, worked for Fusion for a part of last year. The dossier reportedly contains salacious but unverified allegations against Trump. ... Read more

16 Women and Donald Trump | Brave New Films | 11/15/17 | 3:33

Trump's proposed federal budget will slash climate change--related NASA missions
Salon | Nicole Karlis | 12/11/17

The administration wants to NASA to reprioritize the moon and Mars, and forget "Earth-centric research" -- One small step for Trump, one giant leap towards Earth's catastrophic demise.

President Donald Trump announced on Monday that America will once again "reach for the moon." According to a White House press release, Trump signed a space policy directive enabling NASA to "pursue extraterrestrial exploration," meaning Mars and moon missions. This newfound focus doesn't come without a sacrifice though, one that wasn't clearly noted in the administration's press release. ... Read more

Kirsten Gillibrand fires back after Donald Trump's sexist Twitter attack
Salon | Charlie May | 12/12/17

After being attacked in a tweet by President Donald Trump, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand fired back by letting him know that she, as well as other women, will not be silenced.

In a tweet on Tuesday morning, which was described by many as a form of sexual harassment, Trump whined about Gillibrand and said that in the past begged him for campaign donations and added that she "would do anything for them." ... Read more

Suspect Captured After Explosion Near New York's Port Authority Bus Terminal
HP | Willa Frej | 12/11/17

... The bomber's device appears to have detonated prematurely, according to media reports. The Fire Department said a total of four people were being treated for "non-life-threatening" injuries.

The 7:30 a.m. blast, in the subway near Eighth Avenue and 42nd Street, was of "unknown origin," police said in a statement, and immediately gripped the commuter hub with chaos. The A, C and E subway lines were being evacuated, Sgt. Brendan Ryan told HuffPost, and the busy Port Authority bus terminal was temporarily shut down. Other trains were bypassing Times Square and Port Authority stations. ... Read more

The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President by Bandy X. Lee

Since the start of Donald Trump's presidential run, one question has quietly but urgently permeated the observations of concerned citizens: What is wrong with him? Constrained by the American Psychiatric Association's "Goldwater rule," which inhibits mental health professionals from diagnosing public figures they have not personally examined, many of those qualified to answer this question have shied away from discussing the issue at all. The public has thus been left to wonder whether he is mad, bad, or both.

In THE DANGEROUS CASE OF DONALD TRUMP, twenty-seven psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health experts argue that, in Mr. Trump's case, their moral and civic "duty to warn" America supersedes professional neutrality. They then explore Trump's symptoms and potentially relevant diagnoses to find a complex, if also dangerously mad, man.

Philip Zimbardo and Rosemary Sword, for instance, explain Trump's impulsivity in terms of "unbridled and extreme present hedonism." Craig Malkin writes on pathological narcissism and politics as a lethal mix. Gail Sheehy, on a lack of trust that exceeds paranoia. Lance Dodes, on sociopathy. Robert Jay Lifton, on the "malignant normality" that can set in everyday life if psychiatrists do not speak up.

His madness is catching, too. From the trauma people have experienced under the Trump administration to the cult-like characteristics of his followers, he has created unprecedented mental health consequences across our nation and beyond.

What Alabama People Think of Roy Moore
Why These Alabama Voters Are Sticking By Roy Moore (HBO) | 12/08/17 | 7:31

Phil Robertson
Duck Dynasty Star's Advice: Marry 15-Year-Old Girls | TYT | older, 2015 | 6:13

Duck Dynasty Star's Bizarre Rape & Murder Speech Against Atheism | TYT | older, 2015 | 6:29

Duck Dynasty Sex Tip: Have 'Biblically Correct Sex' To Avoid STDs | TYT | older, 2015 | 8:12

Video Shows Daniel Shaver Pleading for His Life Before Being Shot by Officer
NYT | Vivian Wang | 12/09/17

The graphic video, which was released after a jury on Thursday acquitted the officer of murder and manslaughter charges, stoked outrage on social media and renewed calls for reforms in law enforcement.

"This, to me, is the most horrific shooting I've ever seen," Mark Geragos, a lawyer for the widow and the 5- and 8-year-old daughters of the man, Daniel Shaver, 26, said in an interview on Saturday. Mr. Geragos, who said he had seen thousands of body camera videos, said the footage was evidence of "the criminal justice system at its worst." ... Read more
Cop Murders Man Begging For His Life | TYT | 12/08/17 | 12:31

Behind Trump's plan to target the federal safety net
Politico | Andrew Restuccia | 12/11/17

Under the banner of welfare reform, the administration is eyeing changes to health care, food stamps, housing and veterans programs.

The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are hoping to make the most sweeping changes to federal safety net programs in a generation, using legislation and executive actions to target recipients of food stamps, Medicaid and housing benefits.

The White House is quietly preparing a sweeping executive order that would mandate a top-to-bottom review of the federal programs on which millions of poor Americans rely. And GOP lawmakers are in the early stages of crafting legislation that could make it more difficult to qualify for those programs. ... Read more

Trump's 'fake news' mantra a hit with despots
Politico | Jason Schwartz | 12/08/17

Leaders or state media in at least 15 countries use the president's favorite denunciation to quell dissent, question human rights violations.

Authoritarian rulers across the globe are adopting President Donald Trump's favorite phrase to limit free speech, with prominent leaders or state media in at least 15 countries using his "fake news" line to denounce their critics, according to a POLITICO review.

By aligning themselves with Trump's words, despots have been able to use the U.S. president as a shield for their attacks on press freedom and human rights, said Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

"I'm seeing it more and more," he said. Trump, he added, "is providing a context and framework for all sorts of authoritarian leaders--or democratic leaders and others who are dissatisfied or upset by critical media coverage--to undermine and discredit reporting." ... Read more

Time Square CAM | | 12/08/17 | Live

Trump Lights the Middle East on Fire
TYT | author | 12/07/17

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers clashed Thursday in Jerusalem, Ramallah and other places in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with some demonstrators burning American flags and posters of President Trump a day after he sided with Israel by announcing U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as its capital. But at nightfall, after the skirmishes died down, the region was bracing for worse.

More than 100 people were injured Thursday, according to the Palestine Red Crescent, despite the deployment of several extra battalions of Israeli troops. The critical test comes Friday, when larger demonstrations are expected as crowds leave mosques after the weekly noon prayers.

In Gaza, the Islamist movement Hamas urged its followers to ignite a third intifada, or uprising, against Israel. The Palestinian Authority called for a general strike. Shops were shuttered in Jerusalem's Old City.

*The Devil's Chessboard by David Talbot Discusses -> The Dark Side of Allen Dulles: The Greatest Untold Story of American Power - U.S. History (2015) | CSpan Book TV | 2015 | 1:10:35

*The Dulles Brothers by Stephen Kinzert Discusses -> The U.S. Has Overthrown Governments for 100 Years: A Compelling and Provocative History (2006) | CSpan Book TV | 2006 | 38:47

Allen Dulles: The Powerful, Moneyed World of International Finance & Politics (2002) | CSpan Book TV | 2002 | 1:00:22

*The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government by David Talbot (2016)

An explosive, headline-making portrait of Allen Dulles, the man who transformed the CIA into the most powerful--and secretive--colossus in Washington, from the founder of Salon.com and author of the New York Times bestseller Brothers.

America's greatest untold story: the United States' rise to world dominance under the guile of Allen Welsh Dulles, the longest-serving director of the CIA. Drawing on revelatory new materials--including newly discovered U.S. government documents, U.S. and European intelligence sources, the personal correspondence and journals of Allen Dulles's wife and mistress, and exclusive interviews with the children of prominent CIA officials--Talbot reveals the underside of one of America's most powerful and influential figures.

Dulles's decade as the director of the CIA--which he used to further his public and private agendas--were dark times in American politics. Calling himself "the secretary of state of unfriendly countries," Dulles saw himself as above the elected law, manipulating and subverting American presidents in the pursuit of his personal interests and those of the wealthy elite he counted as his friends and clients--colluding with Nazi-controlled cartels, German war criminals, and Mafiosi in the process. Targeting foreign leaders for assassination and overthrowing nationalist governments not in line with his political aims, Dulles employed those same tactics to further his goals at home, Talbot charges, offering shocking new evidence in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

An exposé of American power that is as disturbing as it is timely, The Devil's Chessboard is a provocative and gripping story of the rise of the national security state--and the battle for America's soul.

*The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War by Stephen Kinzer (2014)

Anyone wanting to know why the United States is hated across much of the world need look no farther than this book. "The Brothers" is a riveting chronicle of government-sanctioned murder, casual elimination of "inconvenient" regimes, relentless prioritization of American corporate interests and cynical arrogance on the part of two men who were once among the most powerful in the world.

John Foster Dulles and his brother, Allen, were scions of the American establishment. Their grandfather John Watson Foster served as secretary of state, as had their uncle Robert Lansing. Both brothers were lawyers, partners in the immensely powerful firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, whose New York offices were for decades an important link between big business and American policy making.

John Foster Dulles served as secretary of state from 1953 to 1959; his brother ran the C.I.A. from 1953 to 1961. But their influence was felt long before these official appointments. In his detailed, well-­constructed and highly readable book, Stephen Kinzer, formerly a foreign correspondent for The New York Times and now a columnist for The Guardian, shows how the brothers drove America's interventionist foreign policy.

Trump White House Weighing Plans For Private Spies To Counter "Deep State" Enemies
TheIntercept | Jeremy Scahill | 12/04/17

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION is considering a set of proposals developed by Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a retired CIA officer -- with assistance from Oliver North, a key figure in the Iran-Contra scandal -- to provide CIA Director Mike Pompeo and the White House with a global, private spy network that would circumvent official U.S. intelligence agencies, according to several current and former U.S. intelligence officials and others familiar with the proposals. The sources say the plans have been pitched to the White House as a means of countering "deep state" enemies in the intelligence community seeking to undermine Donald Trump's presidency.

The creation of such a program raises the possibility that the effort would be used to create an intelligence apparatus to justify the Trump administration's political agenda. "Pompeo can't trust the CIA bureaucracy, so we need to create this thing that reports just directly to him," said a former senior U.S. intelligence official with firsthand knowledge of the proposals, in describing White House discussions. "It is a direct-action arm, totally off the books," this person said, meaning the intelligence collected would not be shared with the rest of the CIA or the larger intelligence community. "The whole point is this is supposed to report to the president and Pompeo directly." ... Read more
*REPORT: Trump Wants His Own Private CIA | TYT | 12/06/17 | 14:12

White House Press Secretary Issues Bizarre Non-denial of Private Spy Network Plans, While White House Official Confirms It
TheIntercept | Lee Fang | 12/05/17

THE WHITE HOUSE press secretary did not directly dispute the revelation that Blackwater founder Erik Prince and former Iran-Contra figure Oliver North pitched a plan to develop a private spy network to members of the Trump administration.

The plan, detailed in a story broken by The Intercept on Monday, is to develop a private intelligence network to counter perceived "deep state" enemies within government ranks. Prince denied the report, and North did not respond to The Intercept's request for comment. ... Read more

The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner Hardcover - December 5, 2017 by Daniel Ellsberg

Here, for the first time, former high level defense analyst Daniel Ellsberg reveals his shocking first-hand account of America's nuclear program in the 1960s. From the remotest air bases in the Pacific Command, where he discovered that the authority to initiate use of nuclear weapons was widely delegated, to the secret plans for general nuclear war under Eisenhower, which, if executed, would cause the near-extinction of humanity, Ellsberg shows that the legacy of this most dangerous arms buildup in the history of civilization--and its proposed renewal under the Trump administration--threatens our very survival. No other insider with high level access has written so candidly of the nuclear strategy of the late Eisenhower and early Kennedy years, and nothing has fundamentally changed since that era.

Framed as a memoir--a chronicle of madness in which Ellsberg acknowledges participating--this gripping expose reads like a thriller and offers feasible steps we can take to dismantle the existing "doomsday machine" and avoid nuclear catastrophe, returning Ellsberg to his role as whistleblower. The Doomsday Machine is thus a real-life Dr. Strangelove story and an ultimately hopeful--and powerfully important--book about not just our country, but the future of the world.

Destroying Yemen: What Chaos in Arabia Tells Us about the World by Isa Blumi

Since March 2015, a Saudi-led international coalition of forces -- supported by Britain and the United States -- has waged devastating war in Yemen. Largely ignored by the world's media, the resulting humanitarian disaster and full-scale famine threatens millions. Destroying Yemen offers the first in-depth historical account of the transnational origins of this war, placing it in the illuminating context of Yemen's relationship with major powers since the Cold War. Bringing new sources and a deep understanding to bear on Yemen's profound, unwitting implication in international affairs, this explosive book ultimately tells an even larger story of today's political economy of global capitalism, development, and the war on terror as disparate actors intersect in Arabia.

Empire Files: Abby Martin Exposes What Hillary Clinton Really Represents | TRNN | older, 04/17/16 | 27:07