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5.Held onto major business conflict of interest holdings after winning the presidency. Jimmy Carter had to sell his peanut farm. Ethics experts urged Trump to liquidate his business holdings, but all Trump would do was place them in a trust controlled by his children where he still holds a long-term interest.

6. Conducted eight congressional inquirieson Benghazi to smear political opponents in order to win elections, with nothing ever found. Estimates for the last investigation alone are between $7to $20 million.

7. Held the debt ceiling hostage causing Standard & Poors to downgrade the countrys creditratingfor the first time ever.

8. Won an election after an assault charge.Republican Greg Gianforte won the Montana seat to the House of Representativesafter assaulting a reporter the night before the election. Perhaps whats even more disgusting is the $50,000resolution of the issue, suggesting that we already have two justice systems in our country:one for the wealthy where you can pay your way outand one for everyone else.

9.Redistricted eightstates to win a 235 to 201 advantage in the House of Representatives in 2012 despite Barack Obama being elected president by nearly 3.5 million more votes. This was a result of a corporate special interest project called the Redistricting Majority Project. By pumping $30 million into state races to win the legislatures, Republicans redrew state maps in states such as Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Texas, Florida, and Ohio to place all of the Democrats into just a few districts. While gerrymandering has been done before by Democrats, it has never been done this badly and on this scale. I have a standing $100 bet that I can pick all 27 of the Ohio and North Carolina races in advance (permanently rigged 21 to 6 in favor of Republicans). No one has taken the money bet yet but I have won a few beers in both 2014 and 2016 from people who didnt think it could possibly be this rigged. It is.

10.Stripped power from a newly elected Democratic governor (because he was a Democrat). Only this year, much of this legislative power grab has been ruled unconstitutional by the North Carolina Supreme Court.

11. Lied us into the Iraq War at a cost of $2 trillion. The oil industry behind the lies? Theyre now in charge of the state department.

12. Created a system so corporate special interestscould bypass state legislatures. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a corporate organization that drafts laws and then passes them on to Republican legislatorsto implement. Need legislation drafted? No need to go through a lobbyist to reach state legislatures any more. Just contact ALEC.

13.Shut down the government because the Democratic Party wouldnt defund the Affordable Care Act.

14. Received an endorsement from Alex Jones, Americas leading conspiracy theorist.

15. Used the Un-American Activities Committee in the House to make accusations of treason and disloyalty with insufficient evidence(Joseph McCarthy).

16.Pushed the birther conspiracy. Before the election, more than two-thirdsof registered Republicans had doubts about whether or not the President was born in the United States.

17. Chose party over politics and declared they would refuse to do anything for eightyears of Barack Obamas presidency for partisan reasons. Basically, Republicans became the party of nogovernance.

18.Prevented a Supreme Court Justice appointee from coming up for a vote for an entire year.

19. Removed a rate decrease that would have helpedfirst-time and low-income homeowners.

20.Increased taxes for 99 percentof Americansby letting Barack Obamas payroll tax cut expire. This increased taxes by $1,000/year for aperson earning $50,000/year. Whenever you hear the phrase tax cuts, remember that they are only for the 1 percent. To offset the lost revenue, they will raise your taxes. Whats really going on is tax shiftingRepublicans shift the burden off those at the top and onto everyone else.

21.Refused to release tax returns. Donald Trump is the first person to run for president in 50 years who didnt release his tax returns. Every candidate since the days of Richard Nixon including Nixon released his tax returns.

22. Bugged Democratic headquarters and tried to cover it up.

At least he never profited from his political machinations in the Watergate scandal.

23. Fired the FBI chiefwho was investigating Russian involvement in their presidential campaign. Remember when conservatives lost their shit because Bill Clinton metLoretta Lynch on an airport tarmac? Imagine if Hillary Clinton had taken Lynch out to dinner, asked for a loyalty vow, and suggested she end the email investigationthen, when she refused, fired her. Because, just to be clear, this is what happened with Trump and James Comey.

24. Banned use of the terms climate change or global warming in Florida. This unwritten policy went into effect at the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) after Republican Governor Rick Scott was elected in 2011. Freedom?

25. Put climate change on a list of terms that the Energy Department shouldnt use. Seeing as how successful threatening peoples jobs provedin Florida, the new Trump Energy Department under Rick Perry, a guy who once argued that the Energy Department should be shut down, also told their staff not to use climate change. This is really nothing though compared to the EPA funding cuts, other various edicts such as telling scientists not to use the social costs of carbon in economic analyses, and proposals to block the EPA from using science to set pollution limits.

26. Banned federal funding for research on gun violence at the urging of the corporate special interest National Rifle Association (NRA). After the Center for Disease Control (CDC) released research demonstrating that having firearms in the home sharply increased the risk of homicide, Congress passed legislation forbidding the CDC from spending any money to advocate or promote gun control.Lets get thisstraight:advocating or promoting gun ownership is fine, but any research that might indicate it causes social problems such as homicides or increased gun violence is forbidden? And this is called freedom?

27. Outed a CIA agent as political retribution. While still a covert agent, officials in the Bush administration leaked Valerie Plames name to journalist Robert Novak after her husband criticized the Bush Administration. President George Bush later commutedScooter Libbys prison sentence.

28.Sold arms to the Iranians in exchange for the release of hostages, despite campaign promises to never negotiate with terrorists. This would become know as the Iran-Contra affair when it was discovered that government officials had diverted $18 million secretly to insurgents in Nicaragua known as the Contras.

29. Were describedas a real opportunity for people like white nationalists by the leader of the American Nazi Party.

30. Cited a bible verse calling for President Obama to be killed, his wife widowed, and his children orphaned. Kansas House Speaker Mike ONeal forwardedthe following bible verse in an email referring to Barack Obama:

Let his days be few; and let another take his office

May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.

May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes.

May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.

May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children.

ONeal added his own message:At last I can honestly voice a Biblical prayer for our president! Look it up it is word for word! Let us all bow our heads and pray. Brothers and Sisters, can I get an AMEN? AMEN!!!!!!

31. Attempted to gut the House Ethics Committee. One of the first actions of the Republican Congress under President Trump was trying to gut the House Ethics Committee. There was no advance notice or debate. The move received so much public backlash that they backed down twodays later.

32. Blew a hole so big in the budget deficit that a subsequent Republican president approved tax increases. Ronald Reagans tax cuts failed to increase revenue and added to the deficit. In 1990, twoyears into his term, President George H.W. Bush faced a $200 billion budget deficit. In response, he worked with a Democratic Congress on a budget that raised taxes to reduce the deficit.

33. Racially gerrymandered a state (North Carolina) for political gain. When your racist voter suppression law is even too racist for a Republican Supreme Court, you know its racist.

Coda

I could go on, but you get the idea: Republicans are the tip of the spear when it comes to corruption.

The next time you hear someone sayB-b-b-b-but Democrats ... dont let them get away with this idea that somehow both parties are the same. Share with them how Republicans lead on corruption.

David Akadjian is the author of The Little Book of Revolution: A Distributive Strategy for Democracy(now available as an ebook).

Follow this link:
33 things Republicans (and only Republicans) have done to blaze new trails of corruption - Daily Kos

Moments before masking her face with a bandana, a woman shouts at Denver Republicans preparing to take part in Denver's annual PrideFest Parade in a still from a video recorded by a volunteer at the parade on Sunday, June 18, 2017, in Cheesman Park in Denver. (Photo courtesy Denver Republican Party)

A masked protester accosted Denver Republicans preparing to take part in Sundays annual PrideFest Parade, yelling obscenities while attempting to remove a banner featuring a Donald Trump quotation from the county partys parade entry, the partys chairman told Colorado Politics.

We were prepared for a lot of hateful rhetoric, Denver County Republican Chairman Jake Viano said after the incident, which took place Sunday morning in the parade staging area at Cheesman Park. But Viano said he was stunned when a young woman approached the county partys float, an Audi convertible bedecked with a Trump quotation about protect[ing] LGBTQ citizens printed on a rainbow flag background.

We had just started rolling with the parade and were handing out literature, when all of a sudden this young lady rolls up, all dressed in black and throws her face mask on and starts yelling, Viano said, quoting a near-constant stream of obscenities, as three others dressed just like her stood on the periphery. Then she grabbed our lit out of the vehicle, along with a black bag and a glass bottle of juice she grabbed that and threw it on the ground, breaking the glass.

Viano said bystanders helped retrieve the county partys fliers, which reproduced the same Trump quotation depicted on the banners: As president, I will do everything in my power to protect LGBTQ citizens from attacks from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology. Donald Trump, July 21, 2016, at the RNC.

The woman tried to rip one of the banners from the side of the car but was unsuccessful, he said.

People accompanying a neighboring parade float pulled aside a couple of the women, Viano said, and toldthem to stop this nonsense.

Soon the women your typical Antifas, Viano said, describing them as white women in their early 20s with short-cropped hair, clad all in blank with bandanas covering their faces started heading south, away from the parade route.Viano said he had a 911 dispatcher on the phone for roughly 15 minutes as he followed the women while attempting to describe his location but later returned to the parade when the police never showed up.

We appreciate the police and the job that they do, but we really would have appreciated a response, Viano said. We didnt see anyone on foot or on bicycle, and they never called me back.

Viano said he plans to file a police report.

They were trying their best to quash our First Amendment rights, while we were using our First Amendment rights to show that we do not hate them, Viano said.

The Denver Police Departments on-call public information officer didnt immediately respond to an inquiry from Colorado Politics on Sunday afternoon.

Viano said the Denver Republicans float was received well on the parade route, which traveled along East Colfax Avenue to the state Capitol.

We had a warm welcome, he said. There were a couple sneers and jeers, but overall there were a lot of dropped jaws Wow, the Republicans dont hate gays!

Colorado Republican Party Chairman Jeff Hays was quick to condemn the incident.

This thug represents what we oppose: those who would resort to physical violence to take away our God-given freedoms, stifle our expression and rob us of our rights without having the moral courage to show who they really are, Hays said in a statement.

Viano said he the altercation saddened him as much as anything.

Its sad the degree of polarization weve reached in this country politically, he told Colorado Politics. Ultimately, Democrats and Republicans equally love their country just as much. We just have different philosophies. I would like to see the American people come together to work in conjunction to move this country forward in a positive way.

He added that the Denver Republicans will continue participating in future parades.

Theyre not scaring me off, he said, noting that he was handing out fliers along the parade route and at the PrideFest for hours.

Read more:
Masked protester accosts Denver Republicans displaying Trump quote at Colorado LGBT pride parade - Colorado Springs Gazette

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Amid calls for accepting pro-life liberals, the Democratic Party faces a summer of soul-searching that will determine what room the party has, if any, for progressives who value unborn human life and set the table for the 2018 midterms.

Beginning shortly after President Trumps surprise victory, pro-life progressives began calling on the party to moderate its tone on social issues, in particular abortion. This spring, pro-choice progressives drew swords to demand ideological conformity on abortion, arguing that abortion is necessary so women can escape poverty. In response, Democratic leaders have at least stated publicly there was room in the party for pro-lifers.

Time will tell if Democrats in Congress will provide anything more than lip service to pro-lifers. But initial results are not promising, as anything that hints of a pro-life perspective is labeled as anti-choice and vilified.

Consider my colleague, Lori Szala, who recently wrote about her experience growing up in a working-class, single-parent family and finding herself pregnant in high school. Szala scheduled an abortion, but cancelled the appointment at the last minute. Despite leaving college, she ultimately succeeded without an abortion, and holds that society should engage in the difficult but critical task of supporting women like her rather than leaving them to feel they must abort.

Despite its moderate tone and focus on the needs of serving women in crisis, Szalas piece generated outrage on the political Left. Her crime? She works for Human Coalition, a pro-life organization. The New York Observer complains the organization is far from impartial when it comes to abortion. Media Matters dismisses Szalas arguments as denouncing abortion access and Human Coalitions work as misleading people.

One of the most substantive responses, and representative of the prevailing critique of pro-life work, comes from the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU agrees that support should exist for women who want to keep their children, but it dismissively states it would be easier to take her argument seriously if Ms. Szala didnt work for an organization whose mission is to outlaw abortion.

To belittle Szalas argument because she is pro-life completely misses the point. Cataloging a parade of horribles that might result from an unplanned pregnancy, the ACLU fails to consider the unborn child who will be aborted. Central to the ACLUs position is the belief that a pregnant woman has an absolute right to end the life of her preborn child if thats what she wants to do.

This is a position for which there can be no common political ground, because a worldview that values the life of the unborn cannot subordinate that childs right to life to the mothers economic interest, no matter how important. The argument treats other humans distinct, living persons, just like us as an economic commodity whose life depends on a cost-benefit analysis. Many Americans agree that childrens lives cannot and should not be measured in dollars and cents though perhaps not the ACLU.

The argument also places an unreasonable and unjustified degree of hope in abortion as a benefit to humanity. At Human Coalition, where we work with hundreds of abortion-seeking women every month, we find that nearly four out of five of the clients we have seen this year state they would prefer to keep their children if their circumstances would allow it. But abortion clinics make no pretense of addressing these underlying issues.

The ACLUs argument reinforces the false narrative that a woman facing a crisis pregnancy must choose between poverty and childbearing. Even beyond choosing adoption, economic challenges amplified by pregnancy can be mitigated albeit with great effort. Conversely, every abortion takes a life that will never return.

It is unsurprising that efforts like Human Coalitions, to provide women with material help and the practical ability to choose life, are met with scorn by the pro-abortion political class. The abortion movement has to trivialize abortion and ensure that abortion is both legal and common in its attempt to silence opposition to the practice.

This mindset is fundamentally at odds with helping women find solutions other than abortion. Because of the abortion lobbys intimate ties with the Democratic Party, progressive support for life-affirming policies is virtually nonexistent. That is why Hillary Clinton notably dropped rare from her slogan that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. Acknowledging that abortion should be rare admits that abortion is not a good thing and raises unsettling questions that suggest progressive politicians should try to reduce abortion.

The tragic irony of the abortion movement is that free abortion access facilitates rather than limits systemic injustice. By proposing a quick and cheap solution to unplanned pregnancy, abortion implicitly pressures women to bear the entire burden themselves and allows partners, families, and communities to sidestep their obligations to these mothers.

The data counterintuitively suggest abortion may limit economic mobility. It has long been noted that the rise in abortion produced a rise in out-of-wedlock births and single-parent families. The changing mores surrounding childbirth and marriage mean that women who refuse to abort are left to go it alone. But as University of Virginia sociologist Bradford Wilcox explains, children are more likely to escape poverty if they live with two married parents, and theyre even more likely to escape poverty if they live in a community with a higher percentage of married parents.

How to best help women with unplanned pregnancies overcome the economic challenges they face is a complex issue with no easy answers. Because unborn children are innately valuable, pro-lifers cannot overlook the need to rescue children. But programs explicitly designed to help women avoid abortions they do not want is an effort on which progressives and conservatives can and should find some common ground. Abortion is usually the last resort of women who believe that they have no choice. We must work together to give them better options.

Colin LeCroy is associate general counsel at Human Coalition, one of the nations largest pro-life nonprofits, which utilizes a metrics-focused, technology-driven method to serve families and save children from abortion.

More:
Pro-life progressives? Why not | The American Conservative - The American Conservative

President Trump hadnt even had a chance to officially release his new list of judicial nominees this month before a progressive advocacy group issued a statement blasting one of the picks for having ties to The Federalist Society.

A national network of conservative and libertarian-leaning lawyers and scholars, the society has become the new bogeyman for the left, which sees it as the main source of shock troops in a Republican strategy to deploy an army of Antonin Scalia-like judges to invade the federal courts and the Justice Department.

Democrats already tried to derail the nominations of Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch and Judge Amul Thapar in part because they were on the list of 21 potential nominees released during the campaign by Mr. Trump a list The Federalist Society helped to craft.

Judge Thapar had to overcome universal Democratic opposition to win his seat on a federal appeals court, while Democratic antipathy to Justice Gorsuch forced Republicans to alter the Senates rules by curtailing the power of the filibuster to get him installed.

We probably cant support any nominee vetted by The Heritage Foundation and The Federalist Society, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said during the debate over Justice Gorsuch.

For liberals, the society has replaced the billionaire Koch brothers as the dark force operating behind the scenes, working to foil Democrats agenda. But that dark portrait is laughable to Leonard A. Leo, executive vice president of The Federalist Society, who says its goals are no secret.

The institution is not embarrassed by the fact that we want a judiciary that will say what the law is and not what it should be, so this idea that somehow we are in the dark shadows of Washington trying to pack the courts is really utter nonsense, Mr. Leo said. Some senators just dont really understand who we are and what we do.

Mr. Leo took a leave of absence from the society to help Mr. Trump fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Justice Scalia last year. He rejoined the society after Justice Gorsuchs confirmation.

So far Mr. Trump has selected three of the 21 names on his list for advancement: Justice Gorsuch, Judge Thapar and Colorado Supreme Court Justice Allison Eid, whom the president tapped June 7 to fill the seat Justice Gorsuch vacated on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. She was the nominee who immediately faced pushback from the Alliance for Justice, which said she must have passed The Federalist Societys litmus test regarding opposition to gun safety and abortion rights.

Yet another of Mr. Trumps June 7 picks, Stephanos Bibas, has been a regular panelist at Federalist Society conferences. Others with society ties include Noel Francisco, Mr. Trumps pick for solicitor general; Rachel Brand, the newly confirmed associate attorney general; and Steven Engel, Mr. Trumps pick to be head of the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel.

Democrats tried to filibuster Ms. Brand, and appear ready to attempt to block Mr. Francisco and Mr. Engel when their nominations reach the floor.

Mr. Leo said his organization is a natural pipeline for talent, so its not surprising for Mr. Trump to select from its members, who are committed to an originalist, textualist form of judicial interpretation.

Open debate group

Founded more than three decades ago to counter the liberal orthodoxy that flows through law schools and the American Bar Association, The Federalist Society has included Scalia, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

The society operates chapters at major law schools and hosts gatherings where legal issues both hot topics and arcane points of law are debated. Liberal legal stars often appear at the conferences as part of the debate.

The Federalist Society also analyzes high-profile court cases, making its experts available for reporters.

But Democrats say the organizations troubling activity comes in the judicial selection process, where the society has been influential in shaping the picks for Republican presidents.

During Justice Gorsuchs confirmation hearing, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy told him its a problem that the president outsourced your selection for the far-right, big money, special interest groups.

They have an agenda. Theyre confident you share their agenda. In fact, the first person who interviewed you for this nomination said they sought a nominee who understands things like we do, said Mr. Leahy, Vermont Democrat.

Mr. Leahy similarly criticized Judge Thapar, who during his confirmation hearing described the organization as an open debate society.

Sen. Richard J. Durbin said its more nefarious than that.

Aside from the three or four families or groups that are major contributors to the Republican Party, theres a whole group of dark money contributors who are not disclosed, so this argument that this is just a debating society, which is what Judge Thapar called it, I think really doesnt pass the laugh test, the Illinois Democrat told The Washington Times.

Mr. Leo says theres nothing private or secretive about his group, who is a member and what it stands for: Our statement of purpose is right there for everybody to see. Its basic constitutional law and civics from high school. Our funders are disclosed in the annual report.

Because The Federalist Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group, its donors can remain anonymous. But it does publish its financial reports on its website each year.

From 2013 to 2015 the Koch brothers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce were among the most notable names that routinely donated more than $100,000 to the organization. Kellyanne Conway, Mr. Trumps senior adviser, and her husband routinely donated more than $50,000 during each of those three years, as did the Anschutz Family Foundation, headed by Philip Anschutz, a billionaire Justice Gorsuch represented as a lawyer in the early 2000s.

Chevron Corp., Delta Air Lines, BP America Inc., Google, Pfizer Inc. and Microsoft were among several corporations that have donated to the society since 2013.

During those same years, more than 30 donors giving more than $100,000 chose to remain anonymous.

Society of influence

Josh Blackman, a law professor at South Texas College of Law who often speaks at Federalist Society events, said the network of the groups lawyers is so large that some inside the Trump administration are even members.

If you are a prominent respective lawyer who is on the conservative side of the spectrum, the odds are you will be a member of the society, Mr. Blackman said. This is not some sort of vast right-wing conspiracy, as some are trying to paint it.

Elizabeth B. Wydra, president of the left-of-center Constitutional Accountability Center, said shes enjoyed appearing on panels at Federalist Society events. But she questioned the value of the organizations judicial recommendations such as society member Damien M. Schiff, a May 8 pick to serve on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

On one hand, the confirmation of Justice Gorsuch is strong evidence of The Federalist Societys influence on the judicial nomination process, but on the other hand, some Trump judicial nominees for example, Damien Schiff, who called Justice Anthony M. Kennedy a judicial prostitute indicate a real lack of judgment on the part of this president and the people advising him, Ms. Wydra said.

Marge Baker, vice president at People For the American Way, said The Federalist Society has long had influence in shaping Republican judicial picks, but said that influence has grown under Mr. Trump.

This administration more so than [any] I [have] ever seen is outsourcing that almost sacred responsibility, she said.

Curt Levey, president of the Committee for Justice and an attorney for FreedomWorks, equated the influence that the ABA has had on the courts to that of The Federalist Society.

Most Democratic judicial nominees belong to the ABA, and the ABA rates judicial nominees something The Federalist Society does not do yet it would be inaccurate to say that the ABA selects nominees, said Mr. Levey. Instead, the ABA and Federalist Society are one source of information for an administration trying to fill many dozens of judicial vacancies across the country.

Liberals have their own legal organization, the American Constitution Society, which held its national conference in Washington last week and attracted Democratic senators and Justice Stephen G. Breyer.

But it has not gained the sort of influence or the stigma among political opponents as that of The Federalist Society.

Whats really unusual is to outsource the process, said Caroline Fredrickson, president of the American Constitution Society. Certainly we were consulted by the Obama administration as to people who would be good choices, but they consulted many different sources, and they didnt give outside organizations the role.

Federalist Society member Steven R. Klein said Democrats attacks dont discredit the organization.

It was stupid when they tried to do this during Justice Roberts and Justice Alito during those confirmation hearings. Its twice as stupid now, said Mr. Klein.

Link:
Federalist Society becomes progressives' new bogeyman - Washington Times