More than three years after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, a conservative group is still arguing in Texas state court that the state’s ban on recognizing same-sex couples’ marriages is enforceable. And they’re willing to throw different-sex couples under the bus to win. The Conservative Republicans of Texas (CRT), which the Southern Poverty […]
Having already declared that the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) has been defeated in Syria and Iraq, President Donald Trump might have been surprised to learn that according to two new reports, there are roughly 30,000 ISIS fighters remaining in Iraq and Syria — on par with the group’s presence at its peak. The Pentagon just […]
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders declined to answer questions about the number of black staffers working in the White House on Wednesday, saying only that the administration “value[d] diversity.” The comments follow a heated back and forth between President Trump and former public liaison director Omarosa Manigault Newman, who was fired from the administration in […]
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders announced on Wednesday that President Donald Trump has revoked the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan, a persistent critic of the president. Trump’s action almost certainly violates the Constitution. Brennan, who led the CIA during President Obama’s second term, frequently criticizes Trump in the printed press and during […]
In a strikingly authoritarian move, President Trump announced on Wednesday that he has stripped former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance, and is considering taking the same action against a group of current and former officials who have nothing in common beyond being some of his most vocal critics. In addition to Brennan, the list […]
Six months after 17 students were killed in a school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, state lawmakers are still puzzled over what measures should be taken in order to prevent another tragedy. Apart from raising the minimum age to purchase a gun from 18 to 21 and implementing a ban […]
While the anniversary of last year’s violent “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia has attracted most of the attention over the past few weeks, a smaller white supremacist development took place with even stranger implications. Earlier this month, the white supremacist League of the South organization formally launched a series of Russian language pages, […]
While the anniversary of last year’s violent “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia has attracted most of the attention over the past few weeks, a smaller white supremacist development took place with even stranger implications. Earlier this month, the white supremacist League of the South organization formally launched a series of Russian language pages, […]
On the heels of former Trump campaign and White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman saying she’s heard tape of President Trump using the N-word, Trump’s allies have taken to the cable news networks to defend his reputation. But there’s one big problem — because they’ve signed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), even if they have heard Trump using […]
On August 14, 1912, a New Zealand newspaper’s “science notes and news” section ran a blurb headlined, “Coal consumption affecting climate.” An Australian paper ran the same headline and blurb the previous month. As the full clipping read (emphasis added), “The furnaces of the world are now burning about 2,000,000,000 tons of coal a year. When this is burned, uniting […]
The family separation story that dominated headlines in June and July has now seemed to have fallen from public consciousness, at least in the communities not directly affected. But the crisis is far from resolved as the government failed to reunite hundreds of families it separated as part of its “zero tolerance” immigration policy. And one critical […]
Happy Birthday to Justice Stephen Breyer, who turned 80 on Wednesday. He joins Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is 85, as one of the Court’s two octogenarians. Ginsburg and Breyer are both left-leaning Clinton appointees. That means that there is a very real chance that a member of the Court’s liberal bloc could be forced […]
Workers at Thrillist, a website that covers travel, culture, and food, went on the first known work stoppage at a digital media publication this week. Thrillist’s unionized staff voted to authorize a strike “should we not make sufficient progress at the table.” On Monday, workers overwhelmingly voted in favor of going on strike, at 91 […]
Seven months after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke made a surprise offshore drilling exemption for Florida following bipartisan outcry, the issue has roared its head again, just in time for the state’s midterm primary elections. Oil and gas companies are pushing Florida lawmakers to reconsider their opposition to drilling off of the state’s coast, Politico reported […]
As he’s in the habit of doing, on Wednesday morning President Trump tweeted out a quote from a friendly conservative commentator — his goal this time being to justify the controversial firing of FBI agent Peter Strzok. Trump shared a quote from former FBI official Chris Swecker, who wrote in a Fox News column that […]
Environmental and public health groups are convinced that it’s almost impossible to overstate how bad Brett Kavanaugh would be for the environment if he gets confirmed to the Supreme Court. Among the many judges who sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Kavanaugh has, over the past 12 years, become […]
During Tuesday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, in rather forceful fashion, used very false numbers to argue that President Donald Trump, in his brief tenure, had already created more jobs for African Americans than President Barack Obama had. Specifically, she said President Trump had created 700,000 jobs for African Americans since he […]
On August 15, 2012, the Obama administration began accepting applications from young immigrants for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA. DACA recipients were provided work authorization in addition to temporary relief from deportation — a huge reassurance for the immigrants who were brought to the United States as children by their parents. Approximately 822,000 […]
The No. 2 official at the Department of the Interior wants to ease provisions of the Endangered Species Act that the Trump administration sees as obstacles to its goal of expanding resource extraction and making land management policies more industry friendly. In an op-ed published Friday in the Washington Post, David Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for energy […]
Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) released a new ad this week accusing his opponent Amy McGrath of the cardinal sin of having traveled to other states to raise money for her campaign. What’s more, he notes, she traveled to the same places where Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) live. There […]
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN — Twenty-two thousand seven hundred and forty-eight people. That was Donald Trump’s margin of victory in Wisconsin in 2016 – barely enough to sell out a Milwaukee Bucks home game. When professional Democratic operatives’ shock turned to curiosity in the weeks after Trump’s win, the Wisconsin number quickly became a lightning rod. Where […]
Randy Bryce has won the Democratic primary in Wisconsin’s first district, beating public school teacher Cathy Myers. The district is currently represented by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), who announced his retirement earlier this year. Bryce shot to national prominence last June, when his announcement video challenging Ryan to switch jobs with him went viral. […]
LENEXA, KANSAS — Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer conceded to Secretary of State Kris Kobach Tuesday, a week after their tightly contested primary. Now, Kobach will become Kansas’ next governor — giving him a more prominent platform to spread his anti-immigrant, anti-voter agenda — unless Democrat Laura Kelly can stop him. Last Monday, ahead of the […]
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), who is running for Minnesota attorney general, won his primary Tuesday night, just days after his former girlfriend’s son alleged in a Facebook post that Ellison had abused his mother. Ellison, who is also the current vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, ousted four other Democrats Tuesday: former Ramsey County […]
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), who is running for Minnesota attorney general, won his primary Tuesday night, just days after his former girlfriend’s son alleged in a Facebook post that Ellison had abused his mother. Ellison, who is also the current vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, ousted four other Democrats Tuesday: former Ramsey County […]
