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BY BRIAN BEUTLER, PRIYANKA ARIBINDI & CROOKED MEDIA Friday, May 17, 2019 |
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| —New York Attorney General Letitia James with the question about Bill de Blasio that’s on everyone’s mind |
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| DON'T SAY YOU WEREN'T WARNED |
| Attorney General William Barr, in an interview with Fox News, seemed to prejudge his investigation into Donald Trump’s political enemies. Barr suggested that Obama-era Department of Justice and intelligence community officials “abused their power and put their thumb on the scale” to harm Trump’s candidacy. Trump himself called this “TREASON” and said these officials should serve “long jail sentences.”
Barr also asserted that House Democrats have accused him of lying to Congress and threatened to hold him in contempt because “they may be concerned about the outcome of a review of what happened during the election.”
In reality, we know what happened during the election: FBI officials launched an investigation because they observed Russian intelligence interfering on behalf of Donald Trump. Multiple Trump campaign officials knew about, sought out, and welcomed that interference, and said nothing about it until after Trump was inaugurated.
The mismatch between these abuses of power and the pace of House oversight remains alarming:
Democrats are losing narrative control over a simple damning story about a corrupt president who committed crimes and seeks to place himself above the law. And the longer this goes on the harder it will be for them to regain it. |
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| Missouri’s House has passed legislation to ban abortions after eight weeks, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Gov. Mike Parson (R-MO) has said he will sign it into law, continuing a wave of abortion bans and restrictions in GOP-controlled states nationwide. Missouri’s lawmakers intend for this soon-to-be law to serve as a “trigger mechanism,” which would automatically ban abortion in the state if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
If you live in Missouri, call Parson and tell him to veto HB126 → 573-751-3222
You can also:
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| The Trump administration has reached a deal to remove steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico within 48 hours, without limits or quotas on imports.
President Trump’s disgraced national security adviser Michael Flynn told Special Counsel Robert Mueller that he was asked to obstruct the Russia investigation by multiple people connected to the Trump administration and Congress. And thanks to the judge who will sentence Flynn, we’re likely to learn a lot more about the Mueller report than Attorney General William Barr wants us to.
Kirsten Gillibrand and Elizabeth Warren have both called on Congress to pass federal legislation guaranteeing abortion rights nationwide in response to the passage of fetal heartbeat bills and Alabama’s newly-signed abortion ban. Though their proposals stand little chance of becoming law without a Democratic Senate and president, they are the only two Democratic presidential candidates who have explained how they would defend women’s reproductive rights if elected.
Presidential candidate Cory Booker wrote an open letter to men asking them to speak up in the fight over reproductive and human rights: “Men, it’s on us to listen, to speak out, and to take action. Not because women are our mothers, sisters, wives or friends—but because women are people. And all people deserve to control their own bodies.”
Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) has signed a bipartisan bill to develop a public coverage option for health insurance to provide an alternative to unaffordable health plans in areas of the state with little competition between insurance providers.
Self-help “guru” Tony Robbins’s former staffers and followers have accused him of sexual harassment and misconduct, and leaked records show that he used his power to create a “highly sexualized environment” and to berate people who suffered from rape and sexual abuse.
Taiwan has become the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage.
Chelsea Manning will return to jail after once again defying a grand jury subpoena for testimony about WikiLeaks.
The therapy dogs for survivors of the school shooting at Parkland got their own page in the school’s yearbook. They are very good, and it is very sweet.
RIP Grumpy Cat—the Internet sensation died at age seven. You will be very missed :( |
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| The company that administers the SAT will soon include measures of students’ socioeconomic backgrounds in their test results to help universities place their applicants’ scores in context. The measure will range from 1 to 100, with higher figures indicating greater disadvantage, and will incorporate 15 factors, including information about the students’ high schools and neighborhood crime rates and poverty levels. The effectiveness of standardized testing as a measure of merit has come under increased scrutiny in the aftermath of the Varsity Blues scandal, which underscored all the ways, legal and illegal, people of privilege can increase their likelihood of admission. |
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| The House of Representatives has passed the Equality Act—a bill that aims to expand civil rights protections to LGBTQ people by banning discrimination in housing, the workplace, and public settings on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Federal law has never explicitly banned this kind of discrimination before, and though this bill was first introduced in 2015, it never would have received a vote if Democrats hadn’t taken control of the House.
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