Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) this morning wrote to the office of the Trump EPA nominee, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, to renew his demand for information about Pruitt’s communications with fossil fuel companies — and to suggest that Pruitt may be deliberately concealing information from senators weighing his confirmation. In response to a written question from
Continue Reading >>>

There were plenty of hints in the past few weeks, but now it seems clear as day: The Trump Administration plans, with the leadership of designated Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, to trash the work of the Obama Administration to protect students from the abuses for predatory for-profit colleges. Billionaire DeVos, whose nomination is scheduled
Continue Reading >>>

As the Donald Trump-Steve Bannon shock and awe campaign moves through its second week, it’s clear that it will take the determined efforts of millions of Americans to resist and repel the ugly new regime. Fortunately, a strong new anti-Trump resistance is growing, and even some Trump voters are already regretting their support. But one American
Continue Reading >>>

Senate HELP committee chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and the Trump transition conspired to hold Betsy DeVos’s confirmation hearing to be Secretary of Education at the bizarre early bird special time of 5 pm. Faced with a billionaire nominee who has financial investments in education companies, has favored privatization over public education, has failed to finalize
Continue Reading >>>

Former Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) tonight introduced Donald Trump’s controversial nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, to the Senate HELP Committee. Lieberman lavishly praised DeVos, but failed to inform the American people that his law firm, Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP, “have represented Trump in all manner of matters since at least 2001.
Continue Reading >>>

Among the most disturbing aspects of Rex Tillerson’s confirmation hearing — he failed to disavow the idea of “a national registry for American Muslims”; he declined to offer an opinion on whether Vladimir Putin (pictured above with Tillerson) had committed war crimes; he said he didn’t view climate change “as the imminent national security threat
Continue Reading >>>

There are several possible explanations for Donald Trump’s frequently professed deep admiration for Russian president Vladimir Putin: his esteem for authoritarian dictators as men who get things done; his desire to embarrass President Obama by claiming Putin is a better leader; his pandering to alt-right voters who admire Putin as they pine for global white
Continue Reading >>>

  The U.S. Department of Education this hour has released the first round of measures under its new contested gainful employment rule, which tests which career college programs, though a combination of high prices and low quality, leave too many of their graduates with overwhelming student loan debt. The requirements of the final gainful employment rule are
Continue Reading >>>