Новости за 20.12.2017

With the passage of a sweeping tax bill on Wednesday, Donald Trump gets the first major legislative achievement of his presidency and deepens the debt the Republican Party owes to him. Despite a rocky first year, Trump has also delivered on a promise to fill the courts with conservative nominees, and Republicans are repaying him by more vociferously defending him against special consul Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Trumpism and Republicanism once seemed an uneasy fit, but now they are increasingly fused. Читать дальше...

Brian Schatz didn’t think Republicans had thought this through. The Hawaii Democrat must have understood on some level why his GOP colleagues in the Senate were about to pass their massive tax giveaway to corporations and the uber-rich in the wee hours of Wednesday morning: President Donald Trump needed an eleventh-hour victory after a year of legislative failure, and Republican donors were explicitly threatening to halt financial contributions if lawmakers didn’t get something done. Still, hours before the vote... Читать дальше...

In the first years of Barack Obama’s presidency, it often seemed as if he would never escape the shadow of his predecessor. Toiling under the weight of a world-historical recession, and saddled with two overseas wars, the Obama administration was torn between cleaning up the last administration’s mess and making its own mark. Obama was criticized constantly for forging ahead with health care reform and a plan to fight climate change while the country was still struggling to slough off the migrainous effects of the recession. Читать дальше...

As the Democratic Party attempts to chart a way forward in the wake of the 2016 election, it has found itself embroiled in an internecine battle over one of the most divisive issues in American politics: abortion. At its national convention last year, the party adopted the most pro-choice platform in its history, calling for an end to the ban on federal funding for abortion. That’s somewhat at odds with recent statements from Democratic leaders, who argue that the party must embrace a more diverse... Читать дальше...

There’s a vast conspiracy afoot to decimate American manufacturing. Wealthy environmentalists and greedy attorneys are trying to stuff their already-fat pockets by suing defenseless companies over their contributions to global warming. They allege that energy manufacturers create a “public nuisance” by emitting greenhouse gases and are liable for the damages this causes. Worse, they disguise themselves as do-gooders: They represent plaintiffs like Alaska Native American tribes who are losing their frozen land to warming temperatures... Читать дальше...