Marie Yovanovitch’s Testimony Showcases Donald Trump’s Obsession With Revenge
Mother Jones illustration; Oliver Contreras/Sipa/AP; Getty The blood drained from her face as Marie Yovanovitch, the career diplomat removed as the US ambassador to Ukraine, read the reconstructed transcript of President Donald Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky the day it was released. There was the president referring directly to her: “The…
“But Laws on the Books Wouldn’t Have Stopped It!”
David Crane/Orange County Register via ZUMA After any mass shooting, the inevitable conservative reply is “Nothing Dems are proposing would have stopped this particular mass shooting anyway.” David Harsanyi goes all in on this tactic: California has already passed a “universal background check” law. California, in fact, already instituted a 10-day waiting period, a limit…
Republicans’ New Trump Defense: It’s All Rudy’s Fault
Charles Krupa/AP As the Ukraine scandal grows, Republican lawmakers continue searching for an effective way to defend the indefensible. They’ve said there was no quid pro quo. They’ve said quid pro quos are fine. They’ve latched onto conspiracy theories. They’ve smeared career public servants. And now they’re blaming Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. During…
It Was Redistricting, Not Prop 187, That Turned California Blue
It’s the 25th anniversay of Prop 187, California’s infamous attempt to cut off public benefits for undocumented immigrants, so it’s getting a suddenly renewed wave of attention. For the record, Prop 187 passed but was then struck down by the courts, so it never took effect. Nonetheless, it inspired a wave of protest from Hispanics…
Can You Solve the Great AFDC Chart?
I have had the following chart sitting around for months and I just noticed it again today. But what does it mean? Why did I make it? What story was I planning to tell? AFDC started out as a program for (white) widows. That was no problem: back in the 30s no one expected (white)…
Americans Overwhelmingly Agree: Big Tech’s Data Collection Just Isn’t Worth the Risk
© Cultura via ZUMA Press If there’s one thing connecting Cambridge Analytica, Equifax, the Office of Personnel Management, Ashley Madison, Facebook, Twitter, and Tik Tok it’s this: We live in an increasingly data-driven world that generates gobs of information about each of us and what we do—and we have little to no power to stop…