Cartoon

Ten Lies

Written by SK Ashby

(Cartoonist - Rob Rogers)

In other news, Trump regime sources say they believe he will overrule virtually all of his cabinet and start imposing taxes on imports of basic items like steel. They also expect industries that depend on imports, like American carmakers, will file lawsuits against it. No shit?

Meanwhile, NSA Director Mike Rogers reportedly told members of Congress during private sessions that the White House and Trump specifically are not taking threats from Russia seriously. Again, no shit?

Finally, an Associated Press analysis of partisan gerrymandering found that House Republicans would either have a very slim majority or no majority at all without it.

The AP analysis also found that Republicans won as many as 22 additional U.S. House seats over what would have been expected based on the average vote share in congressional districts across the country. That helped provide the GOP with a comfortable majority over Democrats instead of a narrow one.

Programming note: I am taking a break next week. Next Tuesday (the 4th) is my birthday and I haven't really taken a serious break since Christmas. My brother will also be on vacation so I'm going to take one as well. Unless something earth-shattering happens next week while Congress is on recess, I'll be back in action here on the 10th. I plan to run the quarterly summer fundraiser when I return.

Now, here are some other stories I missed this week.

An investigation by the inspector general for the Department of the Interior, which Trump demanded, turned up no evidence that park service staff altered photos of Trump's tiny inauguration crowd.

The coal industry is apparently looking for recruits with PlayStation skills because jobs that haven't already been automated probably will be soon.

A growing list of states (currently over 20 states including CA, CT, IN, KY, MA, MN, NC, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, RI, TN, UT, VA, VT, WA, PA, SD, WI) are refusing to transmit sensitive data to Kris Kobach's sham "voter fraud" commission including a member who sits on the commission and... apparently Kobach himself.

French National Front leader Marine Le Pen has been charged for misusing parliamentary election funds to fund National Front party work instead of her own campaign.

The House Armed Services Committee approved an amendment for the next National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would finally begin the process of revoking or rewriting the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). As important as it is to revoke some of Trump's unilateral warmongering power, this will probably be stripped out by House leadership. President Obama asked Congress to pass a new AUMF over two years ago.

There's also a thing going on with Trump and Morning Joke that involves Trump mostly owning himself, but whatever.

Have a good weekend, a good holiday, and I'll see you all in a week.