Last weekend, we introduced a new weekly “Staff Picks” series, where your fearless Daily Kos staffers chose their favorite diary written during the week. Folks around here seemed to like it well enough, but commenters durrati and Krotor made the very, very smart suggestion that we should expand the series to feature Community writers, too!
(actual footage from Thursday’s Daily Kos staff meeting)
Ask and you shall receive, dear readers.
In no particular order, we lovingly present some of the Community diaries that really stuck with us this week. We know we’ve got some of the best writers on the web in the Daily Kos Community, and it’s a joy to show off some of them here.
Grab a snack and check them out … and be sure to come back next week for more.
Trump Suffers Brutal Senate Rebuke for Attacking the Free Press as ‘The Enemy of the People’
by News Corpse
“The fact that a resolution like this even needs to be brought up is a sad statement on the status of the United States government, and particularly the White House under Donald Trump. Moreover, having been passed without any objections in a body controlled by Republicans is an indication that the GOP may finally be sick and tired of some of Trump's overtly un-American tendencies.
Now if only they would see fit to challenge the President on matters like...”
House Republicans KNEW Trump got illegal help from Putin, they're on tape laughing about it.
by subir
“Powerful people who have abused their power must go to jail for the crimes they have committed. We cannot bear another round of the collegial amnesty that was bestowed on Bush administration torturers and senior bankers who knowingly abetted fraud.
If we are to recover from the current epidemic of corruption, there must be a reckoning...”
New Ad: “If You Love It So Much...”
by Crashing Vor
“As a young man, when I would question the actions of the United States, I was often told, if I didn’t like it here, I could always ‘move to Russia.’
I’ve been thinking about that advice a lot lately...”
Another civil rights lawyer "randomly selected" for additional screening at the airport
by Alonso del Arte
A week ago, Rashid, a civil rights lawyer who is a Muslim pacifist, was was ‘randomly selected for additional screening.’ Not a pleasant experience, but nothing he hadn’t experienced before.
The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent looked over his passport, then took him to an interrogation room to ask him silly questions, like whether or not he had handled livestock or smuggled produce.
After scanning his luggage, the agent let Rashid go. But that wasn’t the end of it...”
When Aretha Franklin visited the USO
by CyberLady1
“In February 1971, anti-war sentiment in San Francisco, California was running high, and the USO on Market Street, where I worked as a secretary, almost felt like a besieged fortress. Then one day, a whisper went through the office—‘Aretha Franklin just came in!’ Then, ‘Aretha Franklin is down in the basement—she’s giving a concert...’”
LOL! Devin Nunes Calls The Cops To Protect Him From His Constituents
by ursulafaw
“Devin Nunes doesn’t do Taco Tuesday at his district office anymore, because for the past year, protesters have been gathering every Tuesday, demanding that the congressman make an appearance and discuss Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
Nunes and his associates are apparently feeling the heat, because this week, somebody called the cops...”
The rotten core of the US economy
by Anne Elk
“A few years ago, I was chatting with a neighbor on my front stoop, and as we talked, he absent-mindedly poked the painted lintel. His finger went right through the glossy paint into the rotten wood underneath. I would never have guessed that the front of my house was so rotten. The paint had done a great job of concealing the decay.
That's kind of how I am thinking about the US economy today. The surface gloss provided by cheap money can hide the dry rot within for only so long...”
Teaching the Holocaust in the South after Charlottesville
by FK Clementi
“Until a year ago, I could enter my Holocaust Studies class trusting that at least on one point my students and I unanimously and indisputably agreed: Genocides are bad. Then came Donald Trump, and then came the Neo-Nazis.
In 2017, just before the start of a new semester, the nation witnessed aghast the violent white supremacy marches through Charlottesville. My class enrollment for Understanding the Holocaust through Literature and Film went from 60 to 150. A good sign, I thought. When I entered the lecture hall, however, I was confronted with something I had neither foreseen nor experienced before: a hostile audience...”
Legal Experts: White House NDAs Constitute Felony Bribery For Both Trump And The Signers
by MediaFreeze
“Much has been written about how the White House staff NDAs are unprecedented and unenforceable. However, these NDAs are not just unenforceable. First, they are a clear violations of the Whistleblower Protection Act. These NDAs also constitute bribery of public officials.
And it gets worse, much, much worse...”
'I don't understand why the Democrats are not pounding on this chart every single day'
by Aldous J Pennyfarthing
“Donald Trump says a lot of things. Hardly any of them are true.
And here’s the stark proof that, when it comes to the Republican tax scam, Trump’s critics were right, while Trump was just wanking off...”
Former commander of U.S. Joint Special Ops Command: 'Revoke my security clearance, too'
by Laurence Lewis
This is not normal. This is not okay. Russian asset Donald Trump serves two masters: His unhinged narcissism, and a Russian despot.
This is not normal. This is not okay...
Reagan Ruined America
by Camillus
The GOP is a party of nihilists, members of the government, actively working to dismantle that very government. Republicans want us to become so disenchanted with government that we let them tear the whole structure down.
To understand how a major political party became obsessed with destroying government, consider their demigod, Ronald Reagan. No man has done more to erode American faith in government, collective action, and national community.
Thirty years later, we are still paying the price...
That’s it for this week! Be sure to look out for new Community picks, every Saturday, and don’t be afraid to share YOUR favorites in the comments!