Barack Obama

Yesterday, the House Ways and Means Committee’s ranking member tried to pull off a well-worn Republican tactic to hide malfeasance and misdeeds. Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) wrapped himself in the skirts of MAGA America, defending the former President of the United States. Brady asserted that all Americans should be on...

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  • December 21, 2022

Congressman James Comer Jr. (R-KY) is the current ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. In January, when the 118th Congress is seated, he is set to become the Chairman of the committee when Republicans take control of the House. The proposed new Chair of the Oversight Committee has already...

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  • November 28, 2022

Democrats court trouble when they use metaphors and comparative thinking. Remember when former President Barack Obama used an old idiom. “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun,” in a June 2008 fundraiser during his run for his first term as President. Republicans like his opponent John...

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  • October 12, 2022

Recently, and not the first or last time, issues involving the black community have been workshopped without input from one of the groups it affects most. On August 4,  University of Virginia historian Allida Black, Princeton University history professor Sean Wilentz, journalist Anne Applebaum, presidential historian Michael Beschloss, Vinay Reddy,...

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  • September 7, 2022

I have been a registered Democrat since 1976. Over the years, I have had many verbal—but respectable—battles with Republicans, Libertarians, and the Green Party. Throughout all those sometimes contentious disagreements, the only group that consistently and derisively refers to me as a socialist has been Republicans. I bring that point...

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  • August 31, 2022

In 2007 when former President Barack Obama announced for the presidency, Republicans immediately labeled him a celebrity candidate. Juxtaposed against shots of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears sauntering through crowds, a 2008 campaign ad for his opponent, John McCain, says of  Barack Obama, “He’s the biggest celebrity in the world,”...

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  • August 22, 2022

Senator(s) Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, and Tom Cotton wasted well over an hour of the public’s time yesterday. Instead of legitimate questions aimed at advancing the conversation about conservative and liberal legal philosophy, they spent more than an hour trying to punch holes into the fabric of judicial integrity. As...

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  • March 23, 2022

Either the political acumen of the voter is in dire need of reeducation, or Democrats need lessons in exploiting a golden opportunity. Republicans publicly pull off political tricks without recrimination. They manipulate the public with chicanery, walk away, and brag about it later. At the beginning of the Biden administration,...

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  • October 6, 2021

Yes, everyone has the right to swing their fist; but no one has the right to swing their fist at my nose. The previous statement is a reworking of the old saw—your rights end at the tip of my nose, but vaccinated Americans need to reiterate their rights to life...

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  • September 29, 2021
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Former President Trump ordered the Pentagon to release all of its information on “unidentified aerial phenomena” (UAP) within 18 days in his last coronavirus relief bill in December 2020. More inexplicable sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) will be released for public scrutiny in June — including a UFO that broke...

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  • May 29, 2021
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It depresses me to acknowledge this, but the Republicans’ commitment to blatant and serial lying, and Orwellian “make believe” governing, pose a real threat by overwhelming the public debate and individual’s efforts to stay grounded.  While a bit well-worn (and of uncertain provenance), this quote is fundamentally true: “A lie can travel halfway around...

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  • May 15, 2021

Pure propaganda with more Big Lies for the Big Liar. The Trumpian alternative universe is touted in Elise Stefanik’s opening speech as the new GOP Conference Chair. LOL about “the far left, radical socialist policies of President Joe Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.” In comparison with Liz Cheney, she’s an...

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  • May 14, 2021

I’m not normally very taken with the “gotcha”” questions to politicians of “how much is a dozen eggs?” or “what is the price of milk?” Or (in the right locale) “what is the current price of soybeans?”  I’m not surprised or upset that HW Bush didn’t know what a supermarket scanner was,...

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  • May 12, 2021

The usual handicapping for a new Fed Chair is happening, but likely it’s too early. Lael Brainard and William Spriggs would be front-runners. Jay Powell's term is up next February, when Biden can choose to extend his appointment. We’ll know so much more then, what with a looming recession. x Biden...

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  • May 11, 2021

For the second time, in approximately sixteen years, President Joe Biden is part of a multicultural team pulling America back from the brink. The last time, in 2009, Mr. Biden was second in command to former President Barack Obama. This time he is in charge, with Kamala Harris as his...

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  • May 10, 2021
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Not surprised by this: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is a rising star in the Republican Party. But many of his former staffers told Politico they felt used and abused by the MAGA politician. A group of former DeSantis staffers have formed a “support group” to regularly discuss their adverse experiences...

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  • May 7, 2021

Normally it’s a given that the party that wins the White House will lose congressional seats in subsequent midterm elections. In 2010, Democrats got clobbered after Barack Obama’s historic 2008 victory. And a blue wave took hold in 2018, almost certainly in response to Donald Trump’s 2016 creepy-twins, blood-elevator Overlook Hotel red...

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  • May 6, 2021

We’re seeing more and more stories that Liz Cheney is about to be tossed under the bus, that the Republican “leadership” is so in thrall to Trump and his base, so dedicated to the service of Trump’s ego and his lies, that they are preparing to cast Cheney into the...

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  • May 4, 2021

Politico constructed an oral history of the bin Laden raid and it’s worth the read to get a sense as one can from on oral history, of the authenticity of the event, as well as some interesting details, the rosary held by Biden, and especially the trashing of previous guy...

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  • May 1, 2021

A little over a year ago, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham postured that helping out hungry Americans would make them lazy. “Very few people would choose work over unemployment benefits that provided moderately more money,” said Graham. Not only was this an attack on those in need but their work ethic...

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  • April 30, 2021

Much like with the election of Barack Obama, after the Derek Chauvin conviction, America was quick to congratulate itself. The fallacy of a post-racial America turned out to be as foolish as the idea of a post-racial justice system. I can still see the self-congratulatory smiles from my white colleagues...

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  • April 26, 2021

Ted Cruz has been accused of a lot of things: being the Zodiac Killer; being from Canada; being a churlish Sea Monkey that grew out of control in a secret Area 51 lab before escaping into the forest with a family-size bag of Bugles and a sixer of Zima; being the son of a...

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  • April 22, 2021
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Anand Giridharadas wrote a piece for The Atlantic asserting that Biden has been moving leftward.  This may only be a short term impression only because the GOP is trying to find its way after the previous guy is gone and before he may be indicted. The real problem lies with...

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  • April 16, 2021

The sponsors of campus speakers like Ann Coulter and Milo Yiannopoulos, Young America’s Foundation took on Pete Buttigieg, thinking that they were delivering trenchant criticism. Instead, they’ve revived the critical history of urban planning and design, now articulated by the Trump-jungend. Anyone who’s encountered urban elevated highways has experienced the social divisions...

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  • April 11, 2021
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By way of a baffling and contradictory threat in explaining his position, Senator Mitch McConnell, in his best southern drawl, warned “Co-cola” to not be “stupid.” Addressing a gaggle of reporters in Kentucky,  McConnell said, “It’s quite stupid to jump in the middle of a highly controversial issue,” he went...

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  • April 7, 2021

A physical Trump library may never come to pass except as some money-laundering real estate scheme. The tweets don’t take up space, and planning for a library would suggest “Trump’s done being president” and that’s not something he’s ready to concede, Anthony Clark went on to predict that Trump’s presidential...

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  • April 5, 2021

Received this e-mail today from U.S. Senator Bob Casey, Jr. (D. PA) in support of U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock’s (D. GA) re-election campaign: Sen. Bob Casey, Jr. (D. PA) Millions of people are paying overdue bills, buying medicine, paying their rent, and feeding their families right now thanks to the...

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  • March 29, 2021

Big news today out Nevada: x Mitch McConnell is determined to exploit the filibuster and fight progress, no matter what. If he wants to block action on voting rights, the American people should get to see his obstruction. We need filibuster reform. https://t.co/o6v8WwmmoU— Senator Cortez Masto (@SenCortezMasto) March 9, 2021...

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  • March 9, 2021

Not sure where to slot this among the growing list of Fox News pseudo-scandals. Is this glaring omission worse than Barack Obama’s tan suit? That hardly seems possible. The tan suit affair nearly ended us. Our enemies saw our commander in chief arrayed in fine raiments of effete ecru and the gates...

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  • March 2, 2021

It is true that white supremecy reigned on Jan 6th and still does but stupid does not actually know any color.  This guy is everything opposite of Eugene Goodman. How this man aligns himself with whites who are using him as a black prop is beyond me.  From Right Wing Watch. http://www.rightwingwatch.org/…...

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  • February 19, 2021

Rush Limbaugh was more of a conservative index and perhaps a reactionary icon. He claimed whenever cornered with a political lie that he was an entertainer rather than any credible media source. “Rush Rooms”  everywhere should be festooned with black crepe. x Trump Plaza in Atlantic City has been demolished,...

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  • February 17, 2021

Rachel Campos-Duffy is a former reality star … and some other things. Her husband, Sean, is a former GOP congressman from Hayward, Wisconsin, which is way, way up north. I’ve been to northern Wisconsin. I know northern Wisconsin pretty well. And I can tell you with some confidence that most northern Wisconsin...

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  • February 8, 2021

Fareed Zakaria pointed out that Republicans like Mitt Romney, who attempted to seem responsible lately, indulged the looneys. Fareed Zakaria exposes Mitt Romney x x YouTube Video See full episodes here. Recently Mitt Romney went on the Senate floor and made a passionate speech. In fact, we wrote a blog post on...

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  • February 8, 2021

While our attention was consumed by the latest Republican shiny object, Vice President Kamala Harris the originator of the pearls and Chucks meme, un-clutched her pearls, laced up her Chucks, and cast her first tie-breaking vote in the Senate. President Joe Biden and his second in command are demonstrating what...

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  • February 5, 2021

Living, working, and surviving as a black man in a national community that sees you as an inferior, from time to time the question is asked, ‘ do you think there will be a second civil war?’ In my lifetime, I remember the question being asked when my great-granny clutched...

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  • February 1, 2021

Donald Trump tried his best to erase Barack Obama’s legacy, but Joe Biden is president now, and it falls to him to scrub the ocher shite stains out of America’s Underoos. One largely symbolic—but nevertheless important—step is to get the Harriet Tubman $20 bill back on track so Frederick Douglass can see...

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  • January 25, 2021

Now everybody knows there’s exceptions to this rule, Now don’t be getting’ mad, when we playin’; it’s cool Rapper and actor Queen Latifah, wrote those words in 1993. Her words seem most appropriate for Republicans who ruled the Senate with an iron fist in a barbed wire glove. The denial...

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  • January 22, 2021

After ignoring or defending Donald Trump’s every shambolic lie and cranial methane blast over the past five years, Fox News has zeroed in on the real crisis of credibility in our currently reeling republic: Whimsical Time magazine cover drawings. TIME's new cover: Day one https://t.co/VazxGDJzZf pic.twitter.com/R6jVrzXXZc — TIME (@TIME) January 21, 2021 Hie...

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  • January 22, 2021

There’s been considerable attention paid to Amanda Gorman’s poem at the Inaugural, and since I had 15 minutes to explain the last story on semiotics as a cultural analysis tool, I decided to try again, this time with twice as much time and with some simple and less-simple examples. From...

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  • January 22, 2021

Donald Trump is gone, but the gaslighting on his behalf continues. Rep. Steve Scalise is trying to plant this little brain parasite in our heads so we all think the Trump administration wasn’t the unending series of surprise late-night taint waxings we all perceived it to be: x Biden wants...

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  • January 21, 2021

Elevating (the science adviser) role to member in the President's Cabinet clearly signals the administration's intent to involve scientific expertise in every policy discussion. Sudip Parikh, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Our next president is a science geek, how cool is that? The dark days of science...

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  • January 16, 2021

Elevating (the science adviser) role to member in the President’s Cabinet clearly signals the administration’s intent to involve scientific expertise in every policy discussion. Sudip Parikh, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Our next president is a science geek, how cool is that? The dark days of science...

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  • January 16, 2021

Have you noticed when you ask a Republican about Trump’s transgressions, they answer in one of three ways, Democrat Party (sic), Pelosi, or The Squad; they cannot defend him. We currently have a member of Congress, [Marjorie Taylor Greene] who posed next to a photo of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib,...

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  • January 15, 2021

Probably the last official deal crafted by Trump will be his pardon, whether of himself or by Mike Pence after Trump’s resignation with hours or minutes to spare. One wonders if Trump will leave the customary letter to his successor in the Oval Office desk, or perhaps just leave a...

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  • January 15, 2021

A few misnomers are floating around about Trump supporters. That they are all either pickup driving Confederate flag-waving morons or Archie Bunker types with a pair of wingtips parked next to their favorite chair, while railing against the ‘Coloreds.’ The seditious attack on the Capitol proved otherwise. Actively participating with...

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  • January 13, 2021

From The New York Times: x YouTube Video The first television advertisements of the 2022 campaign cycle are on the air in Wisconsin. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin on Wednesday morning began a week’s worth of television and digital ads pounding Senator Ron Johnson for his role in fomenting doubts...

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  • January 13, 2021

Our last two Republican presidents were all but tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail. I can’t imagine why anyone would want another one. It’s like buying another Pinto after the first two spontaneously combusted in your face. (That’s a really old reference, I grant you....

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  • January 11, 2021

​Please practice greater situational awareness from January 17 to January 20. We all trust that those whose jobs it is to keep the nation safe are doing that effectively despite the numbers of law enforcement officials participating in violent anti-government demonstrations. x Police departments across the United States are opening probes...

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  • January 10, 2021