In a striking—but ultimately symbolic—rebuke of Donald’s circumventing of Congress to appropriate funds for his compensatory border wall, the Senate voted 59-41 to reject the “national emergency” Don John trumped up, with 12 Republicans joining Dems in voting against the executive order (here’s how every senator voted—and please note Cornyn and Cruz continued their enabling of this corrupt administration’s breaches of democratic norms by voting to uphold Donald’s attempted runaround of Congress and democratic procedures). The adult baby in chief immediately vetoed the legislation to get his own way despite both houses of Congress voting against it, and Congress likely lacks the two-thirds votes to overturn the veto.
The Senate also voted 54-46 to order the U.S. to end it support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, in a direct rebuke of Donald’s cozying up and ongoing defense of the Saudi crown prince despite U.S. intelligence agreement that Mohammed bin Salman was directly responsible for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The House voted unanimously to make Mueller’s report public.
Republicans Against the Law
The New York attorney general subpoenaed financial records relating to the Trump Organization from two major financial institutions, including Deutsche Bank, regarding four Trump projects and a failed bid to buy the NFL Buffalo Bills in 2014.
A federal judge struck down a law in Kentucky that disallowed abortions at six weeks.
A federal judge ruled that Betsy DeVos’s delaying for two years of a special education rule that compelled states to address racial disparities in special ed programs was “arbitrary and capricious,” and ordered immediate enforcement of the Obama-era rule.
The FEC found a Chinese-owned corporation and a pro-Jeb Bush super PAC broke federal laws guarding American elections form foreign interference and fined them nearly $1 million, the third-highest fine in the history of the Federal Election Committee.
The New York appellate court ruled that Summer Zervos’s defamation lawsuit against the adulterer in chief can proceed, rejecting Donald’s attempt to dismiss it.
The Connecticut supreme court ruled that Sandy Hook parents can sue Remington gun manufacturer for its marketing of the Bushmaster rifle, the weapon used to kill 20 students and 6 teachers in 2012, overturning a lower-court ruling
Two members of the white nationalist, pro-Trump hate group the Proud Boys (the group behind the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally that resulted in the deal of Heather Heyer) were charged with felony assault for their attack on a Portland man in 2018.
Remember the right wing losing its mind over the entirely false “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory? Republicans have been oddly silent about the actual prostitution ring scandal involving New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft at a massage parlor that’s part of a chain founded by a donor of the Republican Party and the Trump campaign who offered to sell Chinese clients access to Donald at Mar-A-Lago. This in-depth profile in the NY Times of her and her ties to the reprobate in chief is worth a read.
Social and Civil Rights Advances
Hundreds of thousands of students around the world in nearly 100 countries, including the U.S., skipped school one day this past week to draw attention to the pressing need for governments to take action to combat rapid global warming.
Even Dick Cheney is criticizing Donald for his foreign policy—or complete lack of one—and his unwillingness to read intelligence reports or even heed warnings of his own intelligence experts, pointedly confronting Mike Pence at a closed-door retreat.
Advertisers are dropping Tucker Carlson and Jeanne Pirro’s shows after both FOX News telebrities made (more than usually) bigoted comments.
Advertisers are dropping Tucker Carlson and Jeanne Pirro’s shows after both FOX News telebrities made (more than usually) bigoted comments, and FOX subsequently dropped Pirro’s show from its prime-time lineup.
Feel-good Stories of the Week
The toddler in chief took more tirades to Twitter, which swatted him down like a whack-a-mole: First when Donald offered ludicrous justifications for his misstatement of Apple head Tim Cook’s name as “Tim Apple,” and then when he mocked Beto O’Rourke for his hand gestures. (O’Rourke had the best comeback, though, refusing to engage and reminding Donald that “people want us to rise above the pettiness, the smallness.” The smallness, y’all…get it? LIKE DONALD’S TINY HANDS.)
On the heels of last week’s “Hot Pence” gay lookalike dressing as Mike Pence from the waist up (and Lieutenant Dangle from the waist down) while collecting money for LGBTQ causes, and Nancy Pelosi revoking the office space Paul Ryan had awarded to Pence in the Capitol building, it hasn’t been the best couple of weeks for Mike Pence. The notoriously homophobic, anti-LGBTQ Pence received into his Washington, D.C., home the prime minister of Ireland—who brought his same-sex partner with him.
Despairing of the seemingly insurmountable polarity in politics and the world? Wouldn’t it be nice if we could listen to the Dalai Lama and do more of this.