Author Archives: Lauren McCauley

‘Destructive fossil fuel puppet’ Trump ditches climate deal with fact-free speech

‘Generations from now, Americans will look back at Donald Trump's decision to leave the Paris Agreement as one of the most ignorant and dangerous actions ever taken by any president’

President Donald Trump took what critics are saying is “one of the most ignorant and dangerous actions ever taken by any president” Thursday afternoon and pulled the United States out of the Paris climate agreement. Continue reading

‘You can’t make this up’: Comcast threatens legal action against net neutrality proponents

If FCC chairman Ajit Pai's plan "is enacted, there would be nothing preventing Comcast from simply blocking sites like Comcastroturf.com that are critical of their corporate policies"

Open Internet proponents who have been fighting the Trump administration’s rollback of net neutrality protections, which has been enacted at the bidding of the telecom industry, said Tuesday that Comcast is now threatening legal action, saying the website Comcastroturf.com is infringing on its trademark. Continue reading

‘More crazy than Nixon’: Critics shocked by Trump admission on Comey

While it’s hard to keep up with the shifting reports of how the decision to fire FBI Director James Comey came about, President Donald Trump on Thursday admitted to directly asking the former head of law enforcement if he was under investigation—a move many said presented a shocking conflict of interest. Continue reading

Cutting off ‘fly-over’ states, Trump to axe Amtrak for 220 cities

President's so-called "skinny budget" will eliminate all federal funding for Amtrak's national train network

In addition to slashing funding for the arts, education programs, climate change research, and worker protections (among many other things), another lesser known casualty of President Donald Trump’s “morally obscene” budget proposal: Amtrak. Continue reading

Trump’s new plan: Govt as company, citizens as customers, Kushner as CEO

Presidential son-in-law to head new innovation office tasked with reforming and privatizing federal government

Bringing President Donald Trump’s notion of government as corporate enterprise to fruition, the White House on Monday announced that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will be leading a sweeping government overhaul, leaning on business leaders to solve pressing national issues while looking to privatize key government functions. Continue reading

GOP further eviscerate oversight by changing little known records rule

Some documents are no longer the property of the U.S. government, giving lawmakers the ability to hide critical information from an investigation

Amid the uproar over the Republican Party’s attempt to cripple the Office of Congressional Ethics, a little-noticed rule change was passed that guts an essential element of government oversight. Continue reading

GOP doesn’t want public to know how much Obamacare repeal will cost. Study shows it could be trillions.

Many are hoping that the same organized outrage that lead to the Republicans' backtrack on the ethics rule change can also pressure lawmakers to rethink other unpopular—and outlandish—policies

Republican leaders racing to tear down as many as 20 million (pdf) individuals’ healthcare without providing a replacement, it turns out, also don’t want the American people to know how much the repeal will cost. Continue reading

Waivers and pardons? Mounting ethics concerns for Trump’s ultra-wealthy cabinet

One hundred million dollar waivers? Presidential pardons? With yet another billionaire appointed to a key position within the Donald Trump administration this week, speculations abound about what the president-elect intends to do about his cabinet’s unprecedented wealth—and their unprecedented conflicts. Continue reading

Faux populist Trump wages all-out war on American workers

President-elect Donald Trump, a supposedly populist candidate who rose to power on promises made to frustrated American workers, has now seemingly launched what Politico is describing as an outright “war on unions.” Continue reading

Journalists denounce WaPo fake news blacklist as red scare redux

The Washington Post’s promotion of a new, “McCarthyistic” so-called black list has journalists aghast over what appears to be a red scare redux, as independent news outlets critical of U.S. foreign policy are being smeared as “Russian propaganda.” Continue reading

Fracking industry’s new plan? Prosecute those who push drilling bans

As communities seek to protect themselves from toxic drilling, Pennsylvania industry group mulls statute to deter such ordinances

“Drained” from taking local municipalities to court over fracking bans, a fossil fuel industry group is now considering charging local officials who suggest such prohibitions with criminal prosecution, new reporting by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette revealed last Tuesday. Continue reading

Aetna’s greed proves that Medicare-for-All is the best solution

Sen. Elizabeth Warren skewers insurance giant for Obamacare withdrawal, saying: 'The health of the American people should not be used as bargaining chips'

Insurance behemoth Aetna announced late Monday that it is pulling out of Obamacare public exchanges in 11 states, citing projected financial losses because of the high number of people who—it turns out—need expensive medical care. Continue reading

The GOP platform draft: The stuff nightmares are made of

Draft platform includes language that disavows the rights of women, same-sex couples, trans people, Palestinians, immigrants, and more.

While negotiations over the Democratic platform were riddled with controversy over how far the party would go in its support of progressive climate and economic issues, the Republican platform, by contrast, takes a sharp rightward tack, particularly on social issues such as LGBTQ equality and reproductive rights. Continue reading

‘Embarrassing’ holes as US govt rests case against Bradley Manning

Defense team now expected to motion for dismissal of charges for 'lack of evidence'

After 14 days and 80 witnesses, the United States government prosecuting Pfc. Bradley Manning in the long-awaited trial against the military whistleblower has rested their case. Continue reading