After the New Zealand shooting, pundits from around the world have pointed to the Unite States for spreading white supremacist ideology, an ideology that inspired the Christchurch killer. Donald Trump denied that white supremacy is on the rise around the world a a consequence of the United States. But critics say otherwise Karam Dana, a professor of Middle East politics and director of the American Muslim Research Institute at the University of Washington, Bothell, has said that the “United States is the epicenter of the world in terms of how white identity is seen.”

A recent New York Times opinion piece adds some important nuance, though. It’s not necessarily the case that Trump inspires individual violent instances directly (though he has made some veiled threats along those lines), Trump’s rhetoric tends to inspire a general rise in the kinds of ideologies that inspire violence: white nationalism, outsider syndrome, and more. 

Laurence Tribe, a Harvard law professor, has suggested that the danger Trump poses––evidenced by the Christchurch killing––goes beyond the spread of violent ideologies. Tribe believes that Trump has inspired an unprecedented number of constitutional crises in his tenure, and by the time 2020 rolls around he may have stretched the boundaries of appropriate democratic expectations to the breaking point. Tribe worries that Trump may refuse to leave office, and his ridiculous behavior might make that less unacceptable than it would have been under another president. 

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Following a House vote to override Trump’s national emergency proclamation, twelve Senate Republicans broke ranks and also voted against the proclamation in a 59-41 vote. To see which Republicans broke ranks, see this Politico run down. The vote sets Trump up for the first veto of his presidency. Unsurprisingly, Trump took to Twitter almost as soon as the news broke to express his displeasure and his intent: 

Followed by a slightly more articulate tweet, “I look forward to VETOING the just passed Democrat inspired Resolution which would OPEN BORDERS while increasing Crime, Drugs, and Trafficking in our Country. I thank all of the Strong Republicans who voted to support Border Security and our desperately needed WALL!” 

The support of twelve Republicans is a serious rebuke to Trump, who used the national emergency declaration to attempt to avoid congressional budgetary approval for his vaunted border wall. Earlier this week, seven Republicans voted against Trump’s wishes and voted to end US involvement in Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. Trump is also expected to veto that bill. 

Thus we enter a new stage in the Trump presidency. Time will tell if Congress can muster enough votes for a veto override. In the case of the national emergency declaration, they would only need seven more votes. 

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From the beginning of Trump’s presidency, it has been clear––and sometimes painfully clear, thanks to some John Oliver exposés––that Trump watches Fox News very carefully and bases some of his decisions off of what he sees there. It is equally clear that Fox News knows Trump watches and programs accordingly. But the extent to which Fox News actually changes its programming to suit Donald Trump, and to benefit his presidency, is both shocking and worrisome. 

Most notably, it recently broke that, before the election, Fox News learned that Trump paid Stormy Daniels hush-money in order to keep their affair secret and killed the story. When a reporter brought the story to Fox news exec Ken LaCorte, he said,  “Good reporting, kiddo. But Rupert [Murdoch] wants Donald Trump to win. So just let it go.” 

The author of the bombshell New Yorker piece that uncovered this event has called Fox News “state-support, state-sponsored television.”

The Washington Post also published an opinion piece describing how Fox News has been desperately trying to spin all the negative press and political action against Trump. The author indicts Fox News for illogically claiming that any evidence against Trump is false, and then implicating them in the perpetuation of his lies. 

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In December of 2018, Ajit Pai, one of the most hated men in America at that time, admitted that Russia meddled in the net neutrality process. Russians used up to nine million fake or stolen identities to spam the FCC and influence the process. The meddling, coupled with Pai’s blatant and shameless pro-corporate agenda, enabled companies like Comcast to force their customers to put up with ever more absurd fees.

But Nancy Pelosi recently announced plans to reinstate net neutrality laws that were repealed in 2017. What exactly will be in the bill is still unknown.

Pai’s net neutrality coup has been the source of much controversy since it was enacted. California passed its own net neutrality law, but it has agreed not to enforce that law until the U.S. federal appeals court decides on a case brought forth by twenty-two states and the District of Columbia. The group aims to reinstate the Obama-era laws. 

Pelosi hopes to work together with the Republican-controlled Senate to pass the “Save the Internet Act,” which would bring some measure of net neutrality back independently of the U.S. federal appeals court’s decision.

Ajit Pai has not yet responded on behalf the FCC, but he undoubtedly will.

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Hardly a week after declaring himself a candidate for the 2020 presidential election, Bernie Sanders is already making headlines and heading to the front of the Democratic pack in several important areas. 

Let’s start with the most important arena: money. In the week since he announced his candidacy, Bernie Sanders has already raised $10 million, and he raised it from 359,914 donors. What’s even more stunning is that 39 percent donated under an email address that had never before been affiliated with Sanders. That suggests that his already massive donor base is growing. Ari Rabin-Havt, a senior adviser to Mr. Sanders, described the fundraising in this way: “Our second day was bigger than anybody else’s first day.” On that first day, only seventeen people donated the maximum allowable amount of $2,800. That means everyone else can donate more. 

In a very close second in terms of importance, Sanders claims that one million people have already signed up to volunteer for his campaign. This means that, like his 2016 campaign, 2020 will be a massive grassroots movement. 

Sanders campaign agenda is clear. When asked at a town hall how he would fund a Medicare-for-all program, he replied, “Am I going to demand that the wealthy and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes? Damn right I will.”

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Internet denizens have been mounting a campaign against anti-vaxxers (people who, for one reason or another, refuse to vaccinate their children). For awhile, it seemed as though this campaign was all smoke and no fire––this publication even erroneously believed that to be the case. But the hive mind was right: anti-vaxxers are leading to measles outbreaks all over the world, and this situation is very much something we should all be concerned about. 

Recently, there have been four significant outbreaks in four different countries: 

Vancouver, Canada: Unknown number of cases, but 36 children asked to remain home after being exposed.
The Philippines: over one hundred dead, 80,000 infected.
Costa Rica: A French boy reintroduced measles to the islands. If a case occurs, it will be the first in five years.
Madagascar: 69,000 cases. 
You may think, “hey, these cases are all far away from me.” But the problem with unvaccinated people running around can’t be solved with geographic isolation. Planes exist, and unvaccinated people travel. So if unvaccinated Billy travels from Galveston, Texas to, say, the Philippines for a mission trip, gets exposed, and then returns to Galveston, guess what? All the kids in little Billy’s class may be at risk. 

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It’s almost unbelievable that this would happen in 2019, but I assure that what you’re about to read is true. The editor and publisher of an Alabama newspaper recently published an editorial entitled, “Klan Needs to Ride Again.” He urged the Klan to “raid the gated communities” of Democrats who wanted to raise Alabama taxes. This is not the first such article that Goodloe Sutton has written and published. The Alabama Political Reporter dug into old issues and found that Sutton’s views are way beyond non-PC, they’re downright hateful.

After massive backlash from the article, Sutton is stepping down as publisher and editor, though he still owns the paper. Elecia R. Dexter, a “strategic leader with expertise in human resources, operations and change management,” is now the publisher and editor.

In a phone interview, Sutton did not back down from his editorial. But he also does not plan to fight to stay with the paper. “I’m going to drink beer and sex young women,” Sutton said. “I am not going to do anything with it [the paper]. I’m going to be a dead beat — an out-of-work dead beat.”

Democratic Alabama Senator Doug Jones tweeted:

“Good riddance Goodloe. His dangerous views do not represent Alabama or the small-town papers in Alabama that do great work every day. The good people of Linden deserve so much better than these racist rants and I am confident they will get it with new editor, Elecia Dexter.”

This week, at the behest of Pope Francis, bishops from around the world will travel to Rome, where they will discuss how to protect minors from sexual predation by the clergy. This first-of-its-kind meeting marks a significant change for the Church, which has heretofore denied wrongdoing, silenced the abused, and protected abusers. The meeting is meant to teach bishops how to stop abuse, to encourage clergy to hold each other accountable, and how to listen to (instead of ignoring or discrediting) victims. 

As the Church faces this long-needed reckoning, however, other ghosts from its past are surfacing. The New York Times has reported that the Vatican confirmed the existence of an internal document offering guidance for dealing with children fathered by priests. This piece may lead to an outcry by the children of priests and spark yet another sex-related scandal involving the Catholic Church. 

In the United States, a Protestant denomination faces a similar challenge. The Southern Baptist convention, the largest evangelical denomination in the nation, has just announced initial recommendations for dealing with a sex abuse scandal that shook the denomination to its core: nearly 400 church leaders have been accused of assault since 1998. In addition to the initial recommendations for rectifying the problem, the subject will also be a primary topic at the denomination’s annual convention. 

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The public debt of the U.S. government has now hit a record $22 trillion for the first time in its history. The new report from the Treasury Department was released today, as reported by NPR. The news was reported together with data from the Treasury that tax revenue has been dropping and federal spending is …

The acting defense secretary of the United States, Patrick M. Shanahan, arrived in Baghdad yesterday for a ‘surprise visit’ to the Iraqi capital. He met with Iraqi leaders to discuss American troop involvement in the region and future strategies against the Islamic State. One of the topics of conversation was over what remains of the …

Severe weather is coming. This morning, about a third of Americans will wake up to a winter storm that will likely cause significant floods and blistering cold temperatures. Over 100 million people are under some winter alert, stretching from coast to coast, with millions facing a flood threat according to CNN. The Northeast, including Philadelphia, …

Delivering the response to the State of the Union is an excellent way for rising political stars to gain even more national attention. Stacey Abrams hardly needed more national attention, after her narrow defeat in the Georgia gubernatorial election––an election married by allegations of voter fraud or manipulation.

But the response can also be a curse. Marco Rubio’s famous water bottle moment haunted him for months. Last year, Joe Kennedy III put on so much lip balm before his response that he looked like he was drooling.

No one will be making fun of Stacey Abrams’s for her speech. The only memes that will gain traction will be positive ones. That’s because she did a fantastic job.

She began with a story from her childhood. She described her parents teaching them the values of charity and hard work. From there, she pivoted brilliantly to the government shutdown, when she helped hand out food to government workers relying on handouts to survive. She blasted Trump for the shutdown and for using government employees as pawns in a political game. It was by far her strongest moment. 

Coming in a close second for her most powerful topics was voting reform: This is the next battle for our democracy, one where all eligible citizens can have their say about the vision we want for our country. We must reject the cynicism that says allowing every eligible vote to be cast and counted is a ‘power grab.’”

For the remainder of her time, Abrams hit the major Democratic talking points: LGBTQ rights, abortion availability, tax reform, health care reform, and racial justice. Her points were well delivered here, full of passion and compassion. She carried herself with grace and poise. She was, in short, surprisingly presidential. 

Abrams ended her response with a better call to unity than Trump managed. She acknowledged that she disagreed with the president, but she made it clear that she does not want him to fail. She wants him, and our nation, to succeed. She also reminded us all that compromise is the only way we as a nation can win.

In terms of accuracy, Abrams stuck closely to facts in her short, ten-minute response. NPR adds details and sources to some of her claims. NBC’s fact checking similarly supports her claims.

Three State of the Union responders have gone on to become president. Stacey Abrams’s performance may make her the fourth––after all, a 2028 presidential run is already on her spreadsheet life plan.

In choosing Abrams, The Huffington Post opines, the Democratic Party leadership have signaled the direction they want the party to head in the upcoming years. Moreover, her staging––backed by a diverse array of women––signals that the party is leaning heavily towards two key issues: women and minorities. This is perhaps unsurprising, given the midterm election results which swept it more women (and minority women) than ever into offices around the country. In selecting Abrams, the Democrats may be telling voters that the message has been received. 

Watch Stacey Abrams’s response here:  

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