Alison R. Parker

Cancer survivor rips GOP for health care repeal bill “with zero input from women like me”

Donald Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and most of their Republican colleagues are still enthusiastically championing their plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, despite the fact that it has proven to be an utter mess from the very beginning. And the updated review of the plan by the Congressional Budget Office does nothing whatsoever […]

By Alison R. Parker - May 25, 2017

This is why Hillary Clinton earned every one of her nearly 66 million votes

Hillary Clinton is an inspiration to anyone who has felt knocked down by life. After a long and grueling campaign, and a shock result on election night, her character and self-confidence has never faltered. From a moving concession speech, to her brave appearance at the inauguration, to her passionate support of “the great unfinished business […]

By Alison R. Parker - April 08, 2017

Trump’s Supreme Court pick shouts out his law clerks — only men stand up

Judge Neil Gorsuch is already facing an uphill battle in the confirmation hearings on his Supreme Court nomination. Democrats have long been on record that they will oppose Gorsuch, noting that the open SCOTUS seat was stolen from President Obama. And Gorsuch himself has provided ample reason to be gravely concerned about a lifetime appointment […]

By Alison R. Parker - March 20, 2017

Survivors react to GOP health repeal: “I’m almost as upset as the day that I was told I have cancer.”

House Republicans may have been too busy laughing it up in the Rose Garden with Donald Trump and Mike Pence, or knocking back beers in celebration, to have spent much time thinking about the untold harm they are attempting to deliver to millions of Americans. But with the GOP’s bill to repeal and ostensibly replace […]

By Alison R. Parker - May 06, 2017

Trump budget blocks Planned Parenthood from all federal programs for the first time ever

Donald Trump has done vanishingly little actual work thus far in his presidency, but his administration made sure to find time to attack reproductive rights and women’s health care between the renaming of buildings and the many, many rounds of golf. And now they have taken that antagonism to reproductive care even further. Not just […]

By Alison R. Parker - May 23, 2017

Sen. Dianne Feinstein on getting Trump out of office: “He’s gonna get himself out”

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) was at a fundraiser in Los Angeles for a potential 2018 reelection campaign, where various groups of protesters had gathered, calling for a town hall with the senator to seek answers on a number of issues centered around Donald Trump and the possibility of his removal from office. As Shareblue recently […]

By Alison R. Parker - March 17, 2017

NYPD Commissioner: Trump budget will hobble “entire counterterrorism apparatus in nation’s top terror target”

Thus far into his time in office, Donald Trump’s record on supposedly fighting terrorism is largely made up of his multiple-failure Muslim ban and his insistence, against the advice of his own team, on using the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism.” None of that has made the country any safer, and in fact, may only have […]

By Alison R. Parker - March 16, 2017

Reporter hammers Spicer for GOP plan to bring back pre-existing conditions

Despite Donald Trump’s oft-repeated campaign promise that he would repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, possibly on “day one” of his presidency, the law is still on the books, and the efforts to dismantle it have gone nowhere. To give Trump something substantive to point to as an accomplishment — so to speak — […]

By Alison R. Parker - May 03, 2017

GOP lawmaker: “People who lead good lives” deserve to pay less for health care

Conservatives in America never fail to outdo themselves when it comes to heartless arguments against the very notion of giving all citizens affordable and accessible health care. The latest iteration comes from Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), who seemed indignant at the very notion of how insurance works — namely, that everyone pays into the pool […]

By Alison R. Parker - May 01, 2017

Sen. Gillibrand makes it plain: “If we’re not helping people, we should go the f*** home”

New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has spent years fighting relentlessly for progressive causes, such as gun safety and combating sexual assault in the military. And in the Donald Trump era, Gillibrand is proving to be one of his loudest and staunchest opponents in Congress. In a lengthy profile by Rebecca Traister for New York Magazine — […]

By Alison R. Parker - April 04, 2017

Dems should stand by their vow to filibuster — “This seat was Barack Obama’s to fill”

The adamant refusal by Republicans in Congress to give Merrick Garland a hearing, and to leave late Justice Antonin Scalia’s Supreme Court seat open indefinitely — or at least until Donald Trump was elected — was an unprecedented dereliction of duty. As Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) both bluntly noted, by their inaction, the Republicans stole […]

By Alison R. Parker - January 31, 2017

Rachel Maddow on Pence’s 5 biggest lies: His troubles are just beginning

Befitting his reality TV resume, Donald Trump is certainly the star of the ever-deepening drama his scandal-ridden young administration has brought to D.C. But as Rachel Maddow concisely and devastatingly laid out on her show, Vice President Mike Pence deserves just as much time in the media spotlight. Pence’s reputation has perhaps benefitted from comparison […]

By Alison R. Parker - May 19, 2017

Democrats stack audience for Trump’s address with immigrants and refugees who make this country great

Despite initial insistence that he would unite the nation as president, Donald Trump’s callous immigration policies are already tearing families apart, causing harm and disruption to people’s lives and to the country as a whole. Now he plans to use his first address to Congress as an opportunity for a transparent political move, designed to impugn undocumented immigrants […]

By Alison R. Parker - February 28, 2017

Coast to coast, protests against Trump are already gaining momentum

President-elect Donald Trump is mere days away from officially assuming office, and the nationwide resistance is already building to bring the fight to the White House and the Republican Party. Alongside these resistance groups, there are rallies of various stripes coast to coast, where citizens are voicing their very real concerns about what this new […]

By Alison R. Parker - January 16, 2017

Rep. Maxine Waters: Investigate Trump and the only man he won’t disparage — Vladimir Putin

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence previously announced that they will be conducting a full investigation into Russian interference in our presidential election, including cyberattacks and leaks of classified material. Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) does not want the inquiry to stop there, though. She is calling for the investigation to include a specific examination […]

By Alison R. Parker - January 31, 2017

Dan Rather says Trump may be worse than Watergate, public agrees

As of this writing, Dan Rather’s viral Facebook post on the rapidly unfolding crisis surrounding the Trump administration’s ties to Russia, alongside that country’s interference in our election, has over 235,000 “likes,” as well as over 10,000 comments, and has been shared by readers over 110,000 times. https://www.facebook.com/theDanRather/posts/10158205383810716 Donald Trump is already reaching unprecedented lows […]

By Alison R. Parker - February 16, 2017

24,000 Americans pledge to show up in person to stop deportations

Weeks into his time in office, Donald Trump has already begun to put his anti-immigrant agenda into action, from ordering up the wall on the Mexican border paid for by American taxpayers, to his unconstitutional Muslim ban, to a ramped-up deportation force conducting raids across the country. While agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) […]

By Alison R. Parker - February 16, 2017

Trump’s lament over “wonderful” Flynn undercuts White House line that Trump fired him

Following the resignation of former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, which came after new reporting showed that Flynn had lied about his discussions with a Russian ambassador during the presidential campaign, the Trump team has been struggling to keep their stories on the subject straight. As my Shareblue colleague Tommy Christopher reported, the accounts coming […]

By Alison R. Parker - February 15, 2017

Trump not sure where anti-Semitism is coming from — as WH fails again to mention Jews

While the resurgence of anti-Semitism during Donald Trump’s presidential campaign may have come as an appalling surprise to some, to many Jews in this country, it was a distressing but familiar public emerging of the hatred we have always known lurked beneath the surface. Since their candidate captured the White House — though not by […]

By Alison R. Parker - February 21, 2017

Elijah Cummings: ‘We are in a fight for the soul of our democracy.’

National security adviser Michael Flynn finally resigned in disgrace amid the deepening questions about his contact with Russian officials, both prior to and since the November election. But his resignation does not bring an end to this debacle; in fact, it only makes investigating it more urgent, as answers are still needed as to what […]

By Alison R. Parker - February 14, 2017

U.S. mayors will defend their sanctuary cities from Trump

Donald Trump wasted little time getting around to the nationalist anti-immigration agenda that was a pillar of his campaign rhetoric. Less than a week after his inauguration, he issued executive orders, accompanied by a speech filled with his typical bluster and fearmongering, on building a wall along the Mexican border, and on “Enhancing Public Safety […]

By Alison R. Parker - January 26, 2017

“Mr. President…that’s racist.” Al Franken unloads on Trump for ‘Pocahontas’ slur

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump took juvenile joy in dubbing his opponents with insulting nicknames. But the crudest example of this was his preferred moniker for Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, to whom he repeatedly referred as “Pocahontas,” based on her past statements about having Native American ancestry. Trump’s use of that term is […]

By Alison R. Parker - February 12, 2017

In emotional ceremony, Obama awards Biden Presidential Medal of Freedom

On Thursday afternoon, in what was billed as a brief, informal ceremony to honor Vice President Joe Biden, President Barack Obama once again showed the kindness and warmth that have remained hallmarks of his character throughout his time in office. During extended remarks, in which he made sure to include humorous references to their “bromance,” […]

By Alison R. Parker - January 13, 2017

#DressLikeAWoman takes off on Twitter, puts Trump in his place

It is 2017. That is an apparently necessary reminder for our new president, who was born in 1946 and who may still be mentally residing there. According to a report at Axios, Donald Trump has carried over to the White House his superficial reality TV worldview when it comes to outward appearances. One of his […]

By Alison R. Parker - February 03, 2017

Hey, ladies — Kellyanne Conway thinks you deserve a boss like Trump

Donald Trump can be described in many, many ways, but being a friend to women is surely not the first thing (or second, or third, or thousandth) that would come to mind for most people. This is a man who bragged and joked about committing sexual assault; who used his position as a beauty pageant […]

By Alison R. Parker - February 10, 2017

Secretary of State nominee’s position on China could cause international crisis

Through two days of tough questions during his confirmation hearings as President-elect Donald Trump’s Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson was challenged on his ties to Russia and views on climate change, as well as his opinion of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his human rights record. Many of his responses were concerning to those who […]

By Alison R. Parker - January 12, 2017

Support for Women’s March trounces Tea Party at its height

A new public opinion poll by the Washington Post has some very positive news regarding support for women’s rights under the Donald Trump administration. One key question in particular makes it clear: Pollsters asked respondents about their awareness of and support for the Women’s March, the massive displays of protest held nationwide after Trump’s inauguration, […]

By Alison R. Parker - February 02, 2017

Listen closely: Priebus appears to confirm contact between Trump campaign and Russia

Following the resignation of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who was caught in a lie regarding his contact with a Russian ambassador, Trump, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, and Press Secretary Sean Spicer have all offered varied and at times contradictory statements regarding Flynn — particularly, what exactly occurred regarding Russia during the 2016 campaign, who […]

By Alison R. Parker - February 19, 2017

Maxine Waters: Trump’s “not going to be there for four years.”

Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) has been vocal and vehement in her condemnation of Donald Trump, and unyielding in her dedication to fighting back against his administration’s abuses of power. She has searingly noted that she is not yet explicitly calling for impeachment yet, because “he’s doing it himself.” Now she is reiterating her conviction that Trump […]

By Alison R. Parker - February 09, 2017

Senator Al Franken lets loose on Trump’s Education nominee at confirmation hearing

Betsy DeVos, the billionaire school “reformer” whom President-elect Donald Trump has named to undermine public education as head of the Education Department, had her turn in front of the Senate today for her confirmation hearings. Many of DeVos’ views and much of her history make her, as with nearly all of Trump’s cabinet nominees, an extremely […]

By Alison R. Parker - January 17, 2017