One of the most aggravating aspects of the recent deluge of sexual abuse and harassment allegations has been that the country’s abuser-in-chief Donald Trump seems to be getting away with it simply by denying, denying, denying, and having his loyal army of surrogates back him up. So I was glad to see that three of his accusers, Jessica Leeds, Samantha Holvey, and Rachel Crooks, are upping the ante and coming forward and today demanded a full congressional inquiry into their allegations.
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Given the veneration that Americans seem to have for the military, it is not surprising that some people try to appropriate some of that by lying about having served in the military or even having received military honors. This practice had become so common that Congress even passed the Stolen Valor Act of 2013 that makes it a crime “for a person to fraudulently claim having received a valor award specified in the Act, with the intention of obtaining money, property, or other tangible benefit by convincing another that he or she received the award.”
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In a welcome move, by a unanimous vote, the party’s Unity Reform Commission, made up of 21 members selected by Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and DNC Chair Tom Perez, reduced the number of so-called super-delegates to the party’s presidential nominating convention from 715 to 315 and also required them to vote according to the wishes of their respective states.
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When people talk of making American great again, the obvious question to ask them would be when they thought it was great in the past, but few reporters do. One audience member at a rally did ask this to Alabama pervert Republican candidate for senate Roy Moore at a rally back in September. Moore spoke about his longing for a return to the days when slavery still existed.

At Moore’s Florence rally, the former judge outlined all the wrongs he sees in Washington and “spiritual wickedness in high places.” He warned of “the awful calamity of abortion and sodomy and perverse behavior and murders and shootings and road rage” as “a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins.”

In response to a question from one of the only African Americans in the audience — who asked when Moore thought America was last “great” — Moore acknowledged the nation’s history of racial divisions, but said: “I think it was great at the time when families were united — even though we had slavery — they cared for one another…. Our families were strong, our country had a direction.

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In an interview, the fiery academic activist West defends his harsh criticism of Barack Obama and the neoliberal establishment that he and Hillary Clinton represented. He says he has no regrets because he spoke the truth. He also makes some pointed remarks about the state of elite black political leadership and media figures.
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The UK political scene has been in turmoil ever since the vote to leave the European Union as to how the separation would be carried out and the costs of it. Yesterday, prime minister Theresa May, after meeting with EU leaders, announced the results of negotiations on the framework and it has stunned pretty much everyone and infuriated those who campaigned hard for the UK to leave.
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The Australian parliament voted overwhelmingly yesterday to legalize same-sex marriages, becoming the 25th country to do so. This reverses an atrocious decision in 2004, at the same time as the height of anti-gay sentiment in the US, to specifically say that marriage was only between a man and a woman.
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I get angry at the routine lionization of former British prime minister Winston Churchill in the west. Among US politicians he is treated almost as a god-like figure. There is now a new film about him and I fully expect it to continue that hagiographic trend. But his image in other parts of the world, especially in the former British colonies, is far less complimentary. Hence I was glad to see this article by Ishaan Tharoor that strives to provide some balance.
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