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Thursday, July 27, 2017

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National

Why Kenneth Starr Deserved Censure -- And Robert Mueller Deserves Respect

By Joe Conason
The Medicaid Threat That Isn’t Getting Much Attention

By Charles Ornstein
Experts See Big Flaws In Trump's Plan To Detect Voter Fraud

By Jessica Huseman
He 'Didn't Get Any Sun' But We Got Burned Again By NJ's Liar In Chief

By Tom Moran
You Should Know, The Flag Is Not A Rag

By Froma Harrop

Top National News

Why Kenneth Starr Deserved Censure -- And Robert Mueller Deserves Respect
By Joe Conason
The Medicaid Threat That Isn’t Getting Much Attention
No corner of the health care system would be harder hit than Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for the poor, if Republican leaders in Congress round up the votes to repeal major portions of the Affordable Care Act. GOP lawmakers have proposed winding down the Medicaid expansion that added 17 million people in 31 states and the District of Columbia under the ACA, and eventually capping the program’s spending per capita.
By Charles Ornstein
Experts See Big Flaws In Trump's Plan To Detect Voter Fraud
Vice President Mike Pence’s office has confirmed the White House commission on voter fraud intends to run the state voter rolls it has requested against federal databases to check for potential fraudulent registration. Experts say the plan is certain to produce thousands of false positives that could distort the understanding of the potential for fraud, especially given the limited data states have agreed to turn over.
By Jessica Huseman
He 'Didn't Get Any Sun' But We Got Burned Again By NJ's Liar In Chief
There he is, Gov. Chris Christie, chilling with his family on a beautiful stretch of deserted beach on a holiday weekend, something that no living mortal has ever seen in New Jersey, a treasure that for the common man and woman is the stuff of dreams. "Run for governor, and you can have a residence there," Christie said when he was asked if it's fair. The huddled masses were crammed together at local beaches nearby, held back by the governor's patrols. Little people. Let them eat cake.
By Tom Moran
You Should Know, The Flag Is Not A Rag
The United States Flag Code, written in 1923, more than frowns on these infractions. Penalties for mutilating or stomping on the flag include a fine and up to a year in prison. That the law is pretty much forgotten these days must be a great relief to law enforcement.
By Froma Harrop
Senate Republicans Struggling To Salvage "Healthcare" Bill
By Susan Cornwell and Yasmeen Abutaleb
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Trump Administration Puts Yellowstone Grizzlies In The Crosshairs
Despite having received more than half a million citizen comments opposing the action, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced on June 22 that it is removing federal Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and effectively transferring management authority over these bears to Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
By Wayne Pacelle
GOP's Cruel 'Health Care' Bill Goes After Children, The Poor And Veterans
“The ACA is not repealed,” tweeted Andy Slavitt, who ran Medicaid and Medicare for the Obama administration. “Health care for poor people, kids, the disability community and seniors is. The ACA income based tax credits stay—due to Senate rules. They just get bulldozed. More accurately, the people receiving the help do.”
By Steven Rosenfeld
Obscene: Bill Cosby Planning To Tour Country Teaching About Sexual Assault
According to two of his spokespeople, Bill Cosby is planning to tour the country holding seminars on sexual assault, and more specifically, how to avoid going to court on charges. Cosby flacks Andrew Wyatt and Ebonee Benson appeared on "Good Morning Alabama" on Tuesday to announce that Cosby is “ready to get back to work” following a mistrial in his sexual assault case.
By Kali Holloway
Castile Killing Jury Was Stacked For Defense
Dashcam footage of the exact moment Philando Castile was murdered by Minnesota police officer Jeronimo Yanez was released late Tuesday. The video proves two things: Castile could not have been more compliant, while Yanez responded with violence and seven rounds of gunfire.
By Kali Holloway
A Gunman Shoots, And We Become A Family
This has been increasingly true since Jan. 8, 2011, when a gunman shot then-Rep. Gabby Giffords in the head and killed six others in a supermarket parking lot. All congressional spouses, as we're often called, can tell you where they were when they first heard about that tragedy.
By Connie Schultz
Report: Special Counsel Is Investigating Trump For Obstruction Of Justice
President Donald Trump is being investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller for possible obstruction of justice, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified officials. Mueller is investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.
By Reuters
Dems Revisit Hate Crimes Bill Amid Shooting Anniversary
Under current federal law, a violent or threatening misdemeanor hate crime conviction doesn’t prohibit a citizen from buying or having a gun. Hate crime laws vary by state. In most, citizens convicted of misdemeanor hate crimes can still legally purchase guns.
By Michele Gorman
Trump Brings Out The Bible For Faith And Freedom
As Washington sat transfixed before the image of former FBI Director James Comey spilling some beans on the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump went to work. An expert in creating crises, Trump is not the kind to let his handiwork go to waste.
By Adele M. Stan
Will Comey's Testimony Take Trump Down?
“They did it with purpose. They did it with sophistication. They did it with overwhelming technical efforts. And it was an active measures campaign driven from the top of that government.…It's not a close call. That happened. That's about as unfake as you can possibly get. It is very, very serious.”
By Jefferson Morley
Comey's Testimony Stumps Fuming And Fumbling Trump Defenders
By Joe Conason
The 6 Most Remarkable Quotes In Comey's Prepared Statement For Senate
By Jefferson Morley
Contractor Charged With Leaking Classified Data On Russian Election Hacking
Federal charges were announced less than an hour after The Intercept published a top-secret document from the National Security Agency that described Russian efforts to launch cyber attacks on at least one U.S. voting software supplier and send "spear-phishing" emails, or targeted emails that try to trick a recipient into clicking on a malicious link to steal data, to more than 100 local election officials days before the presidential election last November.
By Dustin Volz and Mark Hosenball
Trump Pulls Out Of Paris Agreement, Endangering Future Generations And The Planet
President Trump announced Thursday that he is withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate agreement, signed by nearly 200 nations to limit the global average temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
By Reynard Loki
For Climate Cause, Trump’s Withdrawal From Paris Accord Just One Hurdle Among Many
In much of the debate surrounding President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change, some critical points have been lost. One reality is that the agreement was always going to reflect, more than determine, whether the world develops a sustainable relationship with the climate system.
By Andrew Revkin
How Many States Will Legalize Marijuana This Year? It's Not A Pretty Number
In the euphoric aftermath of marijuana legalization victories in California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada last November, the marijuana blogosphere was alive with predictions about which states would be next to free the weed.
By Phillip Smith
Sunday Shows Ignore Angela Merkel Saying Europe Can No Longer Rely On The United States
Before today’s cable and broadcast network Sunday political talk shows aired, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced in a speech that President Donald Trump’s visit to the NATO and G7 summits showed that Europe no longer sees the United States as a reliable ally.
By Zachary Pleat
The Enduring Legacy Of John F. Kennedy
Kennedy is widely regarded as one of the country’s best presidents... Although historians may feel differently, the public consistently ranks him at or near the top among American leaders.
By Newsweek
I Don't Care Who Killed JFK
Next week, as Americans celebrate the 100th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s birth (May 29, 1917), much of the public conversation will be about his death. The controversy over who killed JFK in 1963 has now raged for over half a century. It is a diversion and a waste of time.
By Peter Dreier
Memorial Day: Remembering 70 U.S. Wars, Big And Small
It’s the saddest of the military holidays, invented after the Civil War, supposed to help us honor, or at least pause to remember, all the American dead from all our wars. That’s a lot of men and some women to remember going back, well, how far?
By Alternet
Two People Stabbed To Death In Portland While Standing Up To White Supremacist's Hate Speech
One of the stabbing victims died on the train and the second died in the hospital, while the third is expected to survive, but remained hospitalized through Saturday morning.
By April M. Short
In Trump's Budget, Both Epic Betrayal And Mathematical Fraud
Aside from defense spending, the Trump budget violates nearly every programmatic promise he made to voters last year. And adding insult to real injuries, he pretends to fulfill his promise to balance the budget with fake numbers. Not only are the numbers phony, but they represent the most audacious mathematical con game in a federal budget that anyone in Washington can remember. It is phonier than the phony budgets cooked up during the Reagan era, when the president’s own budget director eventually confessed, “None of us really understands what’s going on with all these numbers.”
By Joe Conason
The President Who Never Combed Gray Hair Turns 100
he president who tragically died at 46 never combed gray hair, as the Irish say about dying young. His 100th birthday is upon us Monday, May 29. Yo-Yo Ma, the great cellist, played at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to honor his memory.
By Jamie Stiehm
Republican Gianforte Wins Montana Congressional Seat After Assault Citation
Republican Greg Gianforte defeated a political novice to win Montana's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, barely 24 hours after he was charged with assaulting a reporter who asked him about the Republican healthcare bill. A race that was expected to be a test of President Donald Trump's political influence ahead of next year's U.S. congressional elections was jolted by the charge against Gianforte, a wealthy technology executive who had urged voters to send him to Congress to help Trump
By Justin Mitchell
Trump's Standing In Polls Has Dropped: How Significant Is The Slide?
President Donald Trump's standing in national polls has consistently declined since the end of last month. His approval rating now sits at the lowest point of his presidency. Here are some questions and answers about what the polls do — and don't — tell us.
By David Lauter
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