What we ended up with, from Bill Clinton onward, is a status quo party and an “undo the system” party, where the Democrats became the
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Washington state ranks nearly last in new tax-transparency index
“Ranked second from the bottom in a new report, the state’s tax system makes it tough for taxpayers to find out just how much they’re coughing up to the government. Oregon’s system ranks as the most transparent of all,” writes The Seattle Times’ Gene Balk.
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Wild west: How B.C. lobbyists are breaking one of the province’s few political donation rules
Via The Globe and Mail: “With no limits on political donations in B.C., the provincial Liberals [who are actually conservatives] raised an astonishing $12-million last year. One alarming source: Lobbyists are giving tens of thousands of dollars in their own name – and some power brokers are breaking one of the few rules the province has in place. Kathy Tomlinson reports.
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Well, well, well: Mike Pence used private email for state business — and was hacked
Breaking news from the Indianapolis Star: “Mike Pence routinely used a private email account to conduct public business as governor of Indiana, at times discussing sensitive matters and homeland security issues.”
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Now it’s the FBI’s turn to be investigated: Justice Department inspector general will probe Bureau’s handling of Clinton email case
Via The Washington Post: “The Justice Department inspector general will review broad allegations of misconduct involving FBI Director James B. Comey and how he handled the probe of Hillary Clinton’s email practices, the inspector general announced Thursday.”
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Watch Meryl Streep’s incredible Cecil D. DeMille Award acceptance speech at the Golden Globes
Without mentioning him, Meryl Streep eviscerated Donald Trump’s bigotry and his despicable campaign for the presidency. “Violence incites violence,” she noted.
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House Republicans gut their own oversight
“In one of their first moves of the new Congress, House Republicans have voted to gut their own independent ethics watchdog — a huge blow to cheerleaders of congressional oversight and one that dismantles major reforms adopted after the Jack Abramoff scandal,” Politico reports.
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Paul Krugman: How republics end
[T]he sickness of American politics didn’t begin with Donald Trump, any more than the sickness of the Roman Republic began with Caesar. The erosion of
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Massive, blatant, un-American power grab under way in North Carolina by Republicans
Republican legislators are rushing through legislation to strip away incoming Democratic governor Roy Cooper’s appointment power in midnight votes that the public is not being allowed to observe.
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Republicans are now vowing Total War. And the consequences could be immense.
You may not like what Democrats stand for, but they aren’t engaging in widespread official vote suppression, chanting that should their candidate win her opponent
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Warren Buffett just released his own tax data to hammer Trump
Billionaire and Hillary Clinton supporter Warren Buffet today released data from his own federal income tax returns to put pressure on Trump to release his. “I have been audited by the IRS multiple times and am currently being audited. I have no problem in releasing my tax information while under audit. Neither would Mr. Trump — at least he would have no legal problem,” Buffet said, in a dig at Trump. Trump’s campaign declined to respond to Buffet’s statement for obvious reasons.
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Trump’s organization did business with Iranian bank later linked to terrorism
“Donald Trump’s real estate organization rented New York office space from 1998 to 2003 to an Iranian bank that U.S. authorities have linked to terrorist groups and Iran’s nuclear program,” the Center for Public Integrity reports.
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It figures: Trump tax records obtained by NYT reveal he could have avoided paying taxes for nearly two decades
“Donald J. Trump declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns, a tax deduction so substantial it could have allowed him to legally avoid paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years, records obtained by The New York Times show.”
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Unwinding a lie: Donald Trump and ‘birtherism’
The New York Times’ Michael Barbaro: “The essential question — why promote a lie? — may be unanswerable. Was it sport? Was it his lifelong quest to court media attention? Was it racism? Was it the cynical start of his eventual campaign for president?”
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Hillary Clinton’s twenty questions that Donald Trump needs to answer — now
Earlier today, Hillary Clinton’s campaign tweetstormed a host of questions that Donald Trump should be compelled to answer after Newsweek published a piece by Kurt
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Trump’s history of corruption is mind-boggling. So why is Clinton supposedly the corrupt one?
“[T]he truth is that you’d have to work incredibly hard to find a politician who has the kind of history of corruption, double-dealing, and fraud that Donald Trump has,” writes Paul Waldman. “The number of stories which could potentially deserve hundreds and hundreds of articles is absolutely staggering.”
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Maine’s Republican Governor Paul LePage asked to resign after threatening Democratic legislator in voicemail
Extremist right wing governor Paul LePage of Maine is facing calls for his resignation after he left a threatening voicemail for a Democratic legislator that he told the legislator to make public.
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Meet the new Librarian of Congress: Patriot Act opponent Carla Hayden
This is a big win: The longtime leader of Baltimore’s public library system was confirmed by the [United States] Senate on Wednesday to head the
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FBI reportedly investigating Tim Eyman’s idol Pam Roach
“Controversial Republican state Sen. Pam Roach has drawn scrutiny from the FBI, and some new allegations have surfaced from a former aide,” The Seattle Times’ Jim Brunner reports.
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USA TODAY investigation unearths hundreds of people who say Donald Trump doesn’t pay his bills
Unsurprise! Steve Reilly, USA Today: “Donald Trump casts himself as a protector of workers and jobs, but a USA TODAY NETWORK investigation found hundreds of people – carpenters, dishwashers, painters, even his own lawyers – who say he didn’t pay them for their work.”
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Elizabeth Warren slams Ted Cruz’s ‘whining’ about 2016 race
Senator Cruz — you chose to run for President. Working people don’t get a choice. Maybe you should spend less time complaining about your ‘significant
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