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McConnell is surely preparing a minefield of procedural moves to save Trump’s skin

The impeachment trial shouldn’t come down to which tricks and maneuvers work best – for any side. For perhaps one day, senators ought to be able to set aside the proscribed role as defenders of their partisan parties to consider whether Donald Trump’s repeatedly brusque treatment of the Constitution is beyond the pale set for […]

It looks like the Donald Trump-Boris Johnson honeymoon is finally over — thanks to China

They could co-star in “Dumb and Dumber—The OK Boomer Special Edition,” but Donald Trump and Boris Johnson reached a critical point in their sometimes rocky bromance this week. Yes, it’s true, the British Prime Minister sent his alleged ally across the Atlantic what every couple in a long-distance relationship dreads: Mixed messages. At first blush, […]

Federal prosecutors target foreign corporations for illegal activities US companies commit all the time

Federal prosecutors recently announced that telecommunications giant Ericsson will pay more than $1 billion to resolve allegations that it conspired to make illegal payments to win contracts in five countries. The settlement included a $520 million criminal penalty imposed by the Justice Department and a $540 million civil payment to the Securities and Exchange Commission. This was […]

Trump just started the new year with a dangerous new push

The new year for White House anti-immigration efforts has run into an early obstacle—a federal appeals court has temporarily blocked the newly announced Trump administration policy easing the way to deny legal status to immigrants who use any publicly funded benefit, like health or food stamps. In a brief order last week, the U.S. Circuit […]

Exploiting fissures on the left is like shooting fish in a barrel — and that’s a big problem for Democrats

On Saturday, Politico came up with a big scoop: Bernie Sanders’ campaign is trying to convince Democratic voters to support their candidate in the primaries. It wasn’t phrased that way, of course. “The nonaggression pact between Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren is seriously fraying,” wrote Alex Thompson. “Sanders’ campaign has begun stealthily attacking Warren as a candidate of […]

Yale psychiatrist explains how Trump’s psychosis has spread to his rank-and-file supporters — and much of the GOP

The president’s personal lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani wrote an opinion piece by the title, “The Supreme Court Should Step In to Rule this Impeachment Unconstitutional,” where the Washington Post reports him as donning the “constitutional scholar” cap in “very colorful terms.” Just over a week ago, Giuliani had made the dramatic statement that he was prepared […]

Wall Street superpower Goldman Sachs just set up a new Cayman Island company — and they have a plan

Goldman Sachs, the behemoth Wall Street investment bank whose former president was Trump’s top economic adviser, claims it isn’t connected to a company that bears its name. The two businesses also share the same offices, the same phone number and some of the same employees. Goldman Sachs Renewable Power Marketing LLC is seeking federal approval […]

The newest Trump administration effort to support the failing coal industry could result in another catastrophe

Utilities soon could get federal approval for the riskiest way to get rid of coal ash. The latest Trump EPA proposal to prop up the financially struggling coal industry would make water supplies more vulnerable to the ash, the toxic remnants of burning coal. A report from the Environmental Integrity Project warns that the enduring […]

Trump leaves us with more questions than answers on Iran

Days after the assassination of Qassim Suleimani and a would-be Iranian retribution, Donald Trump took to the White House lectern and ducked saying whether we were going to war or standing down. Indeed, he gave us a bigger bunch of questions, not answers. Other than insisting that Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear […]

More confusion bursts from the White House as Trump delivers a muddled speech about Iran

Days after assassination of Qassim Suleimani and a would-be Iranian retribution, Donald Trump took to the White House lectern and ducked saying whether we were going to war or standing down. Indeed, he gave us a bigger bunch of questions, not answers. Other than insisting that Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, […]

Trump stumbles as smartphone-obsessed America falls far behind in the race to roll out 5G networks

“Should I get a Huawei phone?” That’s what friends in New York City, where ads heralding 5G are popping up all over, have asked me more than once. Apple, biding its time, has yet to release an iPhone with 5G. If the customers are tech heads with money to burn for a new toy, you […]

Trump’s Iran war will blow a much bigger hole in the Federal budget — and your grandchildren will pay the price: David Cay Johnston

How much is Trump’s unnecessary new war with Iran going to cost us? Hardly anyone ever asks that about wars, unlike the costs of social programs. So let’s look at how much money our government needs to fight an unnecessary and likely counterproductive, war with Iran. Let’s look into first the likely costs and then where […]

Democrats face this critical challenge in 2020 — and here’s what they must do to inspire their voters

The biggest tension among Democrats this year has been over the choice between competing 2020 election strategies: motivating their base to increase turnout and avoid third-party defections, or moderating their pitch to capture swing voters. But in reality, even if Democrats repeat their relatively strong swing voter performance of 2018, they will still have to motivate their […]

Trump’s ‘narcissistic rage’ led him to assassinate Suleimani — now he could be taking the country to war: Yale psychiatrist

“You nailed him!” is the typical response I received on Twitter, the forum I have been using to reach out to the public, after the assassination of Iran’s top general, Qassim Suleimani. My audience was referring to the concerns I had regarding Donald Trump leading up to the act of aggression, which is precisely the psychological danger I warned […]

Trump won’t get a boost by wagging the dog — and that’s not just because of partisanship

It’s become a cliché to point out that there’s an old “tweet for every occasion” by Donald Trump. But that doesn’t capture the degree to which he was obsessed with the idea that Barack Obama would launch a war of choice against Iran in order to bolster his chances of being re-elected in 2012, or […]

Trump may have already sparked a wildfire in the Middle East

It’s much more than a massive escalation of war tensions in the Middle East that Donald Trump achieved in ordering the single rocket attack that killed Qassim Suleimani. By killing the top Iranian military commander and hated foe, intentionally or not, Trump managed in his single swath of a sword to set an already uneasy […]

Anonymous ex-intel officer explains how the Suleimani assassination may impede US intelligence gathering

Trump’s hit on Iran’s powerful military mastermind Qassim Suleimani may have just closed the door on future U.S. monitoring of other high-level Iranians and their efforts to build nuclear weapons. “The first thing me and a bunch of guys thought was, Trump’s in Florida without the people around him who would try to stop this,” […]

Donald Trump: From a foreign policy with no direction to a new war without a goal

It’s official now, the sabers are out and swinging. A U.S. attack on the Baghdad airport in Iraq overnight that killed the powerful commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps is a major escalation of violence with Iran that now threatens expected retaliation—in the Middle East and wherever Iranian’s terrorist partners can […]

America braces for violence from Trump-loving lunatics as it lurches into a dangerous new decade

A new year, a new decade: Is the clear societal message that we need to arm ourselves against hate crimes because as a society, we can’t stop hate or hating lunatics? It feels like quite a conclusion that we cannot be assured of safety in schools, movie theaters, churches, restaurants or our own homes. It suggests that it is […]

How Republicans have a coordinated attack to assure an electoral victory in 2020

Set aside the would-be political boomerang effects of impeachment or even of having a presidential reelection candidate who seems to draw sustenance from public insults and personal boasts. If you’re the Republican Party, apparently it is not enough to use the power of incumbency for reelection, or the argument that you cut taxes or that […]

Here’s why Congress wants to look inside the bank that fronted Donald Trump $2 billion

Just try phoning Trump’s private banker Rosemary T. Vrablic at Deutsche Bank’s U.S. headquarters in Manhattan. Back in 2017, before too many bankers involved with Deutsche Bank started turning up dead, Trump once dared reporters to call her, saying she was the “the head” of the bank and “the boss.” The good news is that […]

Trump practically gives away energy rights near Utah monument

Trump’s Bureau of Land Management is leasing land to oil and gas companies in parts of Utah rich with archaeological sites at fire-sale prices that haven’t been adjusted for inflation since 1987. Anthropology professor Ruth Van Dyke, whose work was cited in protests of the Utah leases, visited sites in New Mexico on the Great […]

David Cay Johnston explains how Democrats saved Trump’s North America trade deal

Trump is enjoying a burst of applause from the new trade agreement between our nation, Canada and Mexico. But he owes that applause in part to Democrats who were looking out for American interests, and he should hope Americans don’t come to understand the deep, long-term damage Team Trump is doing to our economy. Overall […]

Trump runs the country just like he ran his bankrupted businesses: The national debt is skyrocketing while economic growth is lagging

“How do you impeach a president who has created the greatest Economy in the history of our Country?” Donald Trump tweeted in September. Trump has repeatedly claimed big economic benefits from his presidency. And this claim undergirds a lot of Trump’s popular support. But the truth is that Trump is a failure economically, both in […]

How Team Trump is now threatening the destitute

Team Trump is sharpening its teeth on a new, nationwide crackdown on homelessness. Though the details are not known, we do know a bit about Robert Marbut, who has been named essentially czar for homelessness for the White House. Marbut built a reputation for making the homeless earn admittance to shelters while clearing the streets […]

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