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Republican Party’s culture of bigotry, xenophobia, and racism extends from top to bottom

Republican Party’s culture of bigotry, xenophobia, and racism extends from top to bottom

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Donald Trump, grandson of a draft-dodging tax-evading immigrant, foments anti-immigrant hatred this weekend at CPAC 2019: Trump at #CPAC makes a racist comment targeting immigrant lawmakers. "We have people in Congress right now that hate our country… how did they do in their country? …Not so good. This is the POTUS speaking about US Reps. This IS their country. pic.twitter.com/TrVCD5eZ0K — Rantt Media (@RanttMedia) March 2, 2019 The Washington Post reports: Friday was a day meant to celebrate the Republican…

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The nightmare of sexual violence on the border in the shadows of the #MeToo movement

The nightmare of sexual violence on the border in the shadows of the #MeToo movement

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The New York Times reports: It was dark in the stash house where they kept her, the windows covered so no one could see inside. At first, the smugglers had her cook for the other migrants who had recently crossed illegally into the United States. Then they took her to a room upstairs, locked the door and began taking turns with her. It was the summer of 2014, and Melvin, a 36-year-old mother of three, had just completed the journey…

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The forgotten campaigns of racist terror targeting Latinos in the American West

The forgotten campaigns of racist terror targeting Latinos in the American West

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The New York Times reports: Arlinda Valencia was at a funeral when an uncle told her a bewildering family secret: An Anglo lynch mob had killed her great-grandfather. “A mixture of grief and shock overwhelmed me since this was the first I heard of this,” said Ms. Valencia, 66, the leader of a teachers’ union in El Paso. “The more I looked into it, the more stunned I was at how many Mexicans were lynched in this country.” Ms. Valencia…

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Trump administration remains silent about torture of U.S. citizen imprisoned in Saudi Arabia

Trump administration remains silent about torture of U.S. citizen imprisoned in Saudi Arabia

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The New York Times reports: A dual citizen of Saudi Arabia and the United States had been imprisoned in the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh for about a week when he heard a knock on his door. Guards dragged Walid Fitaihi, a Harvard-trained physician, to another room, according to a friend who took down the prisoner’s detailed account of his treatment. Dr. Fitaihi told the friend he was slapped, blindfolded, stripped to his underwear and bound to a chair. He was…

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Experts predict more neo-Nazi violence while Trump remains in office

Experts predict more neo-Nazi violence while Trump remains in office

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The Guardian reports: In the early summer of 2017, US coast guard lieutenant Christopher Hasson had an idea. He had been trying to figure out an effective way of killing billions of people – “almost every last person on Earth” – but found himself coming up against the daunting logistics of such a task. He suspected “a plague would be most successful”, but didn’t know how to get his hands on enough Spanish flu, botulism or anthrax. His idea, he…

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John Dean: My appearance before Congress helped take down Nixon. Will the same thing happen to Trump?

John Dean: My appearance before Congress helped take down Nixon. Will the same thing happen to Trump?

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John Dean writes: There is one overarching similarity that Mr. Cohen and I share. He came to understand and reject Mr. Trump as I did Mr. Nixon. Mr. Nixon first called on me regarding Watergate some eight months after the arrests of his re-election committee operatives at the Watergate. We had 37 conversations, and when I felt I had his confidence, I tried but failed to get him to end the cover-up. The day I told Mr. Nixon there was…

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Two days in July: As Republicans convened in Cleveland, did Trump receive a heads-up about WikiLeaks?

Two days in July: As Republicans convened in Cleveland, did Trump receive a heads-up about WikiLeaks?

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The Washington Post reports: At 1:25 p.m. on July 17, 2016, an Alitalia jet carrying Donald Trump’s longtime fixer and attorney Michael Cohen landed in New York, bringing him home after eight days celebrating his 50th birthday in Capri and Rome. About 2 p.m. on July 20, a helicopter carrying Trump thumped down in a field in downtown Cleveland, delivering the presidential candidate in dramatic style to the Republican National Convention, already underway. Between those two days — while Trump…

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Michael Cohen’s road map for Democrats

Michael Cohen’s road map for Democrats

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Natasha Bertrand writes: The frenzy over the reportedly imminent release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s final report—a rumor shot down within days by the Justice Department—had barely subsided when House Democrats announced that they’d snagged the witness of the year to testify in public: President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen. His appearance on Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee was a day-long spectacle that didn’t disappoint—Cohen testified that Trump had foreknowledge of WikiLeaks’ plans to release embarrassing Democratic…

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With climate science on the march, an isolated Trump hunkers down

With climate science on the march, an isolated Trump hunkers down

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The New York Times reports: New efforts by President Trump and his staff to question or undermine the established science of climate change have created a widening rift between the White House on one side, and scientific facts, government agencies, and some leading figures in the president’s own party on the other. The president’s senior advisers are exploring the idea of creating a panel aimed at questioning the National Climate Assessment. According to a White House memo, the group would…

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Trump’s nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize was apparently forged. Twice

Trump’s nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize was apparently forged. Twice

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The New York Times reports: The protocol for nominating and choosing recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize is one of the world’s most scrutinized and secretive. A total of 329 candidates — 217 individuals and 112 organizations — are being considered for this year’s prize, which will be announced in October. The identities of the candidates are kept secret, and indeed, the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the prizes, is forbidden from divulging any information about its deliberations for 50…

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The 2020 election now has a climate-action candidate

The 2020 election now has a climate-action candidate

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  In January, The Atlantic reported: If there is a new Democratic president come 2021, he or she will get pulled in all sorts of policy directions. [Washington State Governor, Jay] Inslee [who announced his presidential candidacy today] says he has one priority: global warming. It’s not theoretical, or a cause just for tree huggers anymore. Putting off dealing with it for a year or two or kicking it to some new bipartisan commission won’t work, he says. He plans…

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Alan Dershowitz suggests curbing press access to hearing on Jeffrey Epstein sex abuse

Alan Dershowitz suggests curbing press access to hearing on Jeffrey Epstein sex abuse

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  The Miami Herald reports: A court hearing on whether to unseal sensitive documents involving the alleged sex trafficking of underage girls by Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein — and the possible involvement of his influential friends — will play out in a New York City courtroom next week. But it may happen behind closed doors, with the news media and public barred — at least in part. An attorney for lawyer Alan Dershowitz wrote a letter to the U.S….

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House investigators demand ‘immediate’ compliance from White House on documents related to Kushner clearance

House investigators demand ‘immediate’ compliance from White House on documents related to Kushner clearance

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The Washington Post reports: House investigators are demanding that the White House turn over documents related to the security clearances of top officials by Monday, an escalation of a fight between congressional Democrats and the Trump administration that could lead to subpoenas in the coming days. The move follows the revelation that President Trump interceded to give his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a top-secret security clearance despite concerns from intelligence and White House officials about Kushner’s contacts with foreign individuals and…

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Worse than Mubarak. Sisi is bringing a new form of totalitarianism to Egypt

Worse than Mubarak. Sisi is bringing a new form of totalitarianism to Egypt

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Amy Hawthorne and Andrew Miller write: Consumed by domestic politics, exhausted by the Middle East, and complacent about the stability of Arab allies, Washington has stopped paying close attention to Egypt. But something alarming is happening in the most populous Arab country and a key U.S. security partner: President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is moving Egypt closer toward totalitarianism than strongman Hosni Mubarak ever did and, in the process, laying the groundwork for more instability in a region that has already…

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The image of the body politic reminds us that we are all one

The image of the body politic reminds us that we are all one

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Nick Romeo and Ian Tewksbury write: After escaping an assassination attempt earlier that morning, Cicero entered the senate under armed guard. It was 7 November 63 BCE, and the Roman Republic hovered on the brink of revolution. Catiline, the aristocrat behind the assassination plot, stood opposite. Faced with the man who had tried to kill him, Cicero gave one of the most powerful orations in all of antiquity: ‘O tempora, o mores!’(‘Oh these times! Oh the ways of men.’) Central…

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Against objections, Trump ordered officials to give Jared Kushner a security clearance and then lied about doing so

Against objections, Trump ordered officials to give Jared Kushner a security clearance and then lied about doing so

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The New York Times reports: President Trump ordered his chief of staff to grant his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, a top-secret security clearance last year, overruling concerns flagged by intelligence officials and the White House’s top lawyer, four people briefed on the matter said. Mr. Trump’s decision in May so troubled senior administration officials that at least one, the White House chief of staff at the time, John F. Kelly, wrote a contemporaneous internal memo about how he…

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