Year: 2017

John McCain Tells It Like It Is

Buck Banks

“To fear the world we have organized and led for three-quarters of a century, to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain ‘the last best hope of earth’ for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history.”

— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), in a speech at the 2017 Liberty Medal ceremony.

Republicans Want More Cooperation Between GOP Congress and Trump

Buck Banks

39%

“A CBS News Tracker survey published Sunday showed that majorities want more cooperation between Congress and Trump, especially the president’s strongest backers and most Republicans. The most fascinating nugget from the poll: 39% of Republicans feel that their party’s congressional representatives ‘don’t like’ the president and are actively trying to undermine him, while another 37% think congressional Republicans don’t like Trump ‘but pretend to’ in order to try passing their own agenda.”

Accuser Subpoenas Donald for Evidence Related to His Alleged Sexual Harassment of Other Women

Jon Ponder
Attorney Gloria Allred, left, and Summer Zervos, at a news conference in November 2016
Attorney Gloria Allred, left, and Summer Zervos, at a news conference in November 2016

Buzzfeed.com has the scoop. Summer Zervos, a former “Apprentice” candidate who is one of a dozen or so women who have accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct, has subpoenaed his 2016 presidential campaign for all documents pertaining to “any woman alleging that Donald J. Trump touched her inappropriately.”

[…]

Larry Flynt Offers $10 Million for Evidence That Will Support Donald’s Impeachment

Jon Ponder

“Call it Larry Flynt vs. Donald Trump,” NBC News reports. “The porn tycoon and publisher of ‘Hustler’ magazine on Sunday offered a $10 million bounty for dirt on the president — so long as it leads to his ‘impeachment and removal from office.'”

Salon: It’s Time to Start Calling Donald What He Is – a Fascist

Jon Ponder

photo-trump-rant

At Salon.com, Chauncey DeVega says it’s time to start labeling Donald Trump what he really is — a fascist. “Trump has revealed his core values to the world at almost every opportunity,” DeVega writes. “Yet somehow, too many Americans appear stuck on a treadmill of daily shock at his behavior. It is sad to watch. Why is any of this a surprise? Trump is a crude man. He has never been subtle in terms of sharing his values and beliefs.”

The first step toward any solution is correctly identifying the problem. DeVega points to 20 instances of Trump’s fascistic behavior:

[…]

White House Pharmacist Knows Scary Details About Congressional Leaders

Buck Banks

“At first it’s cool, and then you realize, I’m filling some drugs that are for some pretty serious health problems as well. And these are the people that are running the country,” Kim said, listing treatments for conditions like diabetes and Alzheimer’s. “It makes you kind of sit back and say, ‘Wow, they’re making the highest laws of the land and they might not even remember what happened yesterday.’”

— Mike Kim, who runs the pharmacy that most members of Congress use, told Stat that he knows the most sensitive details about some of the most powerful people in Washington.

Shafer: Discount Trump’s Tweets

Buck Banks

“Trump loves watching the press and its allies scramble their jets in defense of the First Amendment when he makes threats because that puts his name in lights. As long as we continue to over-react to his tweets, as long as we keep reading too much into them, he’ll keep doing it. So am I advocating that we ignore Trump’s tweets? Never. Instead, I suggest that we discount their value in the political marketplace down to the junk level, perhaps placing them in the bundle that includes campaign speeches, advertisements and slogans. … Watch more of what Trump does and a little less of what he tweets. And go ahead and sleep in.”

— Jack Shafer

Majority: Federal Government Not Doing Enough for Puerto Rico

Buck Banks

62%

A new Kaiser Family Foundation poll finds that 62% of Americans think that people in Puerto Rico are not yet getting the help they need in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. In terms of the federal government’s response, 52% feel the federal government is not doing enough to restore electricity and access to food and water and 52% think the response has been too slow.