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A surprise announcement shook up the Democratic primary for an open Senate seat in Michigan over the holiday weekend, as Mallory McMorrow announced she was suspending her campaign. This leaves the race as a two-person contest, which will pit a favorite of the Democratic Party establishment against an upstart progressive.
Tomorrow, America will celebrate 250 years of independence. That sounds like a long time, to Americans at least. It is a laughably short period to those who live in places with much longer histories, however. Travel around Europe or other foreign lands and you will see ruins and remains that sometimes date in the thousands of years. So while a quarter-millennium is impressive to us, to people who live near (for instance) Roman aqueducts that date to the time of Christ aren't quite as impressed.
Nevertheless, 250 years of one form of government that has endured throughout (well, except for the Articles of Confederation period, which is always conveniently forgotten) is something definitely worth celebrating. The question many are asking at this moment in time is how much longer the same form of government will endure in the future -- will the United States of America still be recognizable in another 100 years? Or 50? Or even five years?
A paroxysm of hand-wringing and pearl-clutching was set off yesterday, as another Democratic Socialist candidate beat a long-standing Democratic incumbent in a Colorado primary. This likely means there will be at least three new members of the House of Representatives who call themselves Democratic Socialists, which is causing certain political commentators to absolutely freak out.
If anyone needed any further proof that everything that Donald Trump touches turns to schlock (or worse), this week's opening of the Great American State Fair certainly provided some. The initial idea wasn't too bad a concept -- have all 50 states send an exhibit to the National Mall, and it would capture the spirit of state fairs held every year across America. Sounds kind of fun, actually.
But, of course, with Trump in charge of it, things didn't turn out as well as they could have. And that's putting it mildly. The whole thing was supposed to kick off with a big concert, but when the musical artists realized it was a pro-Trump event (rather than a nonpartisan celebration of patriotism), almost all of them immediately pulled out. So Trump, in a hissy fit, said that he'd give a speech instead, with the handful of the few musical artists still willing to perform for him also featured.
At times, I almost feel sorry for John Thune. This is not a normal thing for me to feel, since he is the Republican Senate majority leader. But watching Donald Trump callously make Thune's job a lot harder than it needs to be almost makes me feel sorry for him.
Almost.
It's that time of year again. "SCOTUS season" has begun. The end of June is traditionally when the weightiest Supreme Court decisions are handed down, as the high court ends its judicial year and begins a summer break that will last for months. The weightiest of the decisions still yet to be announced will answer the question of whether the Fourteenth Amendment means what it clearly says it means or not, on the subject of birthright citizenship. Other high-profile cases will deal with Donald Trump's expansive view of executive power (including the power to fire anyone he wants for any reason he feels like). But the biggest news from the court this year may come right after their term ends.
It's pretty easy to see who won Donald Trump's war of choice with Iran -- and who lost. All you have to do is look at the deal both sides just signed, which is obviously heavily tilted in Iran's favor. In fact, it is pretty much impossible to claim otherwise -- to claim that somehow the U.S. won a resounding victory and forced a defeated foe to the bargaining table, where the U.S. would dictate terms of the surrender. In fact, it looks a lot more like exactly the opposite happened.
The reviews are starting to come in, and they're... not good. Not good at all. Donald Trump's "Memorandum Of Understanding" with Iran is not exactly a big hit with anyone, it seems. The emerging consensus is that Trump pretty much threw away any advantage we had gained over the course of his war of choice, while giving the Iranians pretty much everything they had been asking for.
The text of the "Memorandum Of Understanding" between the U.S. and Iran was finally made public today, and it's pretty easy to see why Donald Trump wanted to keep the whole thing under wraps for as long as possible. The deal is incredibly tilted towards Iran's objectives, while America's objectives are barely mentioned in passing. The inescapable conclusion is that Trump got played. Trump was the one who wound up crying "Uncle," not the other way around.
Donald Trump has just been caught in another lie. This is news, but it's hardly shocking, since he's been caught in so many lies it's tough to even keep count of them all. In fact, it'd be a lot easier to tally up the promises Trump has made that didn't turn out to be lies. If there are any, that is.
Today the Washington Post revealed that Trump's grandiose new ballroom has been planned all along to cost the taxpayers a huge amount of money. Trump promised -- over and over again -- that "not one thin dime" of taxpayer money would be used for the project, but now it appears that a whopping three billion dimes will be required from the public treasury.