Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
When I read about the incredibly active first week of the Trump administration, I struggle with two competing narratives about what’s really going on. The first story is simple: the administration is just doing what it said it would do, literally keeping its campaign promises. Lots of people won’t agree, but it’s playing to its base. They’re also not…
Now that Republicans have quietly drawn a path to give away much of Americans’ public land, US representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah has introduced what the Wilderness Society is calling “step two” in the GOP’s plan to offload federal property. The new piece of legislation would direct the interior secretary to immediately sell off an…
60-year-old Jiansheng Chen was shot and killed by neighborhood security guard while sitting in his minivan. You’ve got to be kidding me. Last week in southeast Virginia, a 60-year-old grandfather was apparently playing Pokemon Go when he was shot and killed during a fatal altercation with a neighborhood security guard. Chesapeake man shot, killed by…
“Elections have ramifications, and here is a living, breathing example of it,” Pelosi said Tuesday night during a CNN town hall moderated by Jake Tapper. Pelosi cited Gorsuch’s rulings on health care, gun safety and environmental issues to explain her concerns. She said Senate Democrats — who only have 48 seats and have not yet…
White supremacists and other domestic extremists maintain an active presence in U.S. police departments and other law enforcement agencies. A striking reference to that conclusion, notable for its confidence and the policy prescriptions that accompany it, appears in a classified FBI Counterterrorism Policy Guide from April 2015, obtained by The Intercept. The guide, which details the process by which the FBI enters individuals on…
The signs of popular dissent from President Trump’s opening volley of actions have been plain to see on the nation’s streets, at airports in the aftermath of his refugee and visa ban, and in the blizzard of outrage on social media. But there’s another level of resistance to the new president that is less visible…
The White House has said a five-year-old boy was detained for more than four hours and reportedly handcuffed at an airport because he posed a “security risk”. The boy, reportedly a US citizen with an Iranian mother, was one of more than 100 people detained following President Donald Trump’s immigration order. In a press briefing, Mr…
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) on Tuesday morning approved Betsy DeVos’s nomination to lead the Department of Education. DeVos was confirmed 12-11 along party lines. Her nomination will now go to the Senate floor, where she’ll need only need a simple majority to be confirmed. The billionaire GOP donor…
After acting attorney general Sally Yates issued a memo on Jan. 30, for Justice Department lawyers not to defend President Trump’s immigration order, he “relieved Ms. Yates of her duties,” according to a White House statement. Dana Boente, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Va., was sworn in to replace her. (Jenny Starrs/The…
Senior staffers on the House Judiciary Committee helped Donald Trump’s top aides draft the executive order curbing immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations, but the Republican committee chairman and party leadership were not informed, according to multiple sources involved in the process. The news of their involvement helps unlock the mystery of whether the White House…