Once again, the state of Maine is now on the center stage in the American political spotlight. Yesterday, a bombshell report was published with an accusation that Graham Platner -- the Democratic nominee for the Senate race who was going to face Republican Senator Susan Collins in November -- had raped his then-girlfriend only five years ago. Some are calling it "date rape," but at this point quibbling over semantics isn't the important part. The question now is when Platner will bow to the inevitable and drop out of the race, and who will replace him on the ballot?

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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?

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Once again, it is time for my annual remembrance of the actual facts, rather than the myth that everyone in the country celebrates (a myth that was actually created and endorsed by the Founding Fathers, but no matter...). So join me in lifting a glass in honor of John Adams (and his letter to his wife Abigail), and celebrate with me today the real 250th anniversary of America declaring its independence from the British king!

Originally published on July 2nd, 2012

Happy Second of July, everyone! Happy Independence Day!

Now, you may be thinking: "Has Chris gone bonkers? Why is he jumping the gun, two days early?" The answers to these important queries are: No, Chris has not gone any more bonkers than usual; and, in fact, the rest of you are celebrating a fictitious event on a fictitious anniversary date. So there.

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As one of the last decisions the Supreme Court handed down in this year's term, they upheld the concept of "birthright citizenship" enshrined within the Fourteenth Amendment. Barely.

The stunning thing wasn't the ruling, which was expected. The truly stunning thing is that the decision was partly 6-3 and partly 5-4. It should have been at least 7-2, with the only dissenters being Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas (who always vote the way Republicans want them to vote, no matter how clear the legal evidence is on the other side). Honestly, the decision should really have been 9-0, since the case is so cut and dried. Having it only 6-3 (or 5-4) shows that too many conservative judges are complete hypocrites when they swear up and down that they are "originalists" or "textualists" who only take into account what the Constitution (or any amendment) meant by the people who drafted it. Whenever that lofty principle becomes inconvenient in a case, too many of the conservatives just start making stuff up instead of reading the clear and unequivocal language of a law or an amendment.

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It's Tuesday again, which means another round of primaries is happening. Maine's Senate primary will probably be the most-watched of the night, as everyone is waiting to see how Graham Platner does after facing new controversies last week, but there will also be primaries in Nevada, North Dakota, and South Carolina to watch as well.

However, the primary that has been generating the most news for the past week has been California's. After the polling places closed last Tuesday night in the Golden State, the counting began. It's still ongoing. After a full week of counting (as of this writing), only 84 percent of the ballots have been counted. This has left several races still up in the air, and has also resulted in at least one high-profile switch in the standings that were reported on the night of the election.

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There's a political cartoon out there just waiting to be drawn. Picture a coat-check window, with a line of people in front of it. But instead of coats, the sign says "Spinal Check." The person behind the counter is handing the person they're waiting on a full spine, while saying: "Here you go, Senator! Once you get it reinstalled, you'll find it's really liberating to get your spine back!" ...or something along those lines. The people in line would (if the cartoonist was good enough) resemble prominent Republicans who are now increasingly breaking with Donald Trump's agenda, of course.

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Welcome back, to this weeklong edition of "Deal, Or No Deal?" We're all anxiously awaiting word whether a short-term deal will be agreed to by both Donald Trump and the leaders of Iran, while the world's economy hangs in the balance. Will Trump agree? Will his own hawkish Republicans go ballistic when they find out what's in it? What is in it? Are any of the leaked clues as to what it contains accurate? Or will there be some doozies in there that nobody is expecting?

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Next Tuesday, California voters will go to the polls (unless they've already voted early). In the race for governor, two candidates will emerge from the pack and become the only two choices available to voters on the November general election ballot. And I have to admit, I am personally still undecided as to who I am going to vote for.

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This Wednesday, we will hit a political milestone which is rather grim for me to contemplate (please read this as a trigger warning: this is going to be a very dismal column, so please stop reading now if you aren't in the mood for that sort of thing). On May 20th, Donald Trump will have been in office for exactly one-third of his second term. It will mark 16 months from when he was sworn in -- but the grim part is that this means we've still got twice as long as what we've all just been through before his term will finally be over. When you consider what has already happened so far, contemplating another 32 months of it is downright frightening.

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We began writing this column series lo these many years ago to help tongue-tied Democrats formulate snappy lines to use when being interviewed on television and/or to use in their campaign ads. These days, however, we have to wonder whether we should just pack it in and not even bother. We say this because Donald Trump keeps providing the best talking points Democrats could ever hope for, serving them up on a weekly basis. And this week's was an absolute doozy.

When a reporter asked Trump if Americans' financial situation was motivating him to make a deal with Iran as soon as possible, Trump responded: "Not even a little bit... I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody."

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