Middleboro Review and so on

  September 23, 2022 Heather Cox Richardson Sep 24   Today, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who took over as the chair of the House Republican Conference after the party rejected Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) for her refusal to back the January 6 insurrection, released the House Republicans’ plan for the country. Covering just a single page, it presents vague aspirations—many of which Biden has already put in place—but focuses on the radical extremes of the MAGA party while trying to make those extremes sound mild. The so-called “Commitment to America” calls for a strong economy, a safe nation, a free future, and an accountable government. So far, so good. But the first topic—making the economy strong—is a paraphrase of what the Biden administration has been doing. The Republicans call for fighting inflation and lowering the cost of living, making America energy independent, bringing down gas prices, strengthening the su...

  Hang on, Republicans: Who are the real "elites," anyway? Kirk Swearingen Support journalism Ted Cruz; Josh Hawley Ted Cruz; Josh Hawley © Provided by Salon Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas (R) and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., are seen outside the Senate chamber on Tuesday, May 3, 2022. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images Bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell recently posted some thoughts on the subject of high school sports, of all things. High schools do a good job at elevating elite athletes, he wrote, to the detriment of students of more average ability, or who lack parents who could afford to pay for soccer or baseball camps starting at age six. Gladwell, who is a lifelong, serious runner — and can run a mile at age 55 nearly as fast as I did when I was 15 and winning races on the track team — came up with a law he named after himself: In any sporting endeavor, elite achievement comes at the cost of mass participation. We can easily expand Gladwell's Law to the whole of soc...

  September 1, 2022 Heather Cox Richardson Sep 2 This morning, former president Trump told a  Newsmax  host that he was “financially supporting” some of the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Calling it “disgraceful” that they are being prosecuted, he said that If reelected, he would look “very favorably at full pardons” for them and would apologize to them.  At a time when his supporters are increasingly calling for violence after the FBI executed a search warrant on the Trump Organization’s Mar-a-Lago property in order to recover classified documents, Trump is normalizing violence and suggesting that if he regains the presidency, he will protect those who fight on his behalf.  Today the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol wrote to former House speaker Newt Gingrich , asking him to appear before the committee voluntarily....

    02 September 22 Live on the homepage now! Reader Supported News   Barbara McQuade | Are Trump's Passports the FBI's Smoking Gun? Barbara McQuade, The Daily Beast McQuade writes: "When the FBI searched former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence earlier this month, they didn't find a smoking gun, but they did find some smoldering passports." DOJ’s latest filing suggests the proximity of Trump’s personal identification to top secret government documents could prove the former president is personally culpable. W hen the  FBI  searched  former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence  earlier this month, they didn’t find a smoking gun, but they did find some smoldering passports. On August 8, agents removed from Trump’s home  33 boxes  of  sensitive government documents , including more than 100 records classified at the highest levels. In a  36-page brief  responding to  Trump’s motion to appoint a special m...