A Racist, Sexist Lying Con Man Sits Atop The Party Of Lincoln

Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee for president. Let that sink in.

One year ago, in May 2015, the nation’s political attention was focused on former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), who was making the case for immigration reform, including a path to legal status for undocumented residents. At the time, Bush’s message seemed in tune with a new direction for his party. In 2012, the Republican National Committee published a report on how to win the White House in 2016. Key to the plan was expanding the GOP’s appeal to minorities, women and young people.

That’s not exactly what happened.

Let this sink in: The Republican Party has chosen a birther as its presidential candidate

This is happening, people. This is really happening. Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee for president of these United States. Let that sink in.

The hot takes will abound in the days and weeks ahead. Pundits will conduct the autopsy on Ted Cruz’s campaign. We’ll ask why John Kasich is still running. We’ll question if there’s still any hope of a contested convention. We’ll express wonderment at how quickly and awkwardly the Republican establishment surrenders to Trump.

This is how Trump becomes more dangerous: Treating him as a normal political candidate obscures everything that makes him so threatening

Ted Cruz has quit the race. John Kasich’s campaign is no more. They were the last stragglers of a field of 16 candidates – among them senators, governors, a brain surgeon, and the precise opposite of a brain surgeon – who all tried and failed to wrest the Republican presidential nomination away from Donald Trump. The Republican Party has been thoroughly usurped by an unlikely political force, and now the media and political worlds are doing their best to come to grips with how this happened.

Uber To Be Legal In Toronto After City Council Vote

TORONTO — Uber is voicing its thanks after Toronto city council gave the ride-hailing service the green light to operate legally in the city.

In a message to those who use its app, Uber said Toronto Mayor John Tory and city council have voted to "embrace ride sharing."

Elizabeth May: Top Level Of Public Service 'Contaminated' From Harper Years

OTTAWA — Green Party Leader Elizabeth May is calling for all the top senior public servants to be removed from their current jobs because, she says, they are tainted from the Harper years and resisting change.

"It's awkward as a person in politics, you don't want to single out public servants," May said. "But it can't escape note that the deputy minister for trade negotiated the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the deputy minister at Environment Canada was Harper's lead negotiator at Copenhagen blocking climate action…

Workers Must Unite to Fight Global Power, Wealth: Leo Gerard

At 69, Leo Gerard's been arrested more times than he can count, on picket lines and in protests.

But his first time in the slammer, at age 13, was especially memorable. He was detained by "company police" in his "company town" near Sudbury, Ont., after getting in a fistfight while leafleting for his dad's union, which was in-fighting with a rival union at the Creighton Mine.

His brief detention, and father's admonition later, remind him of the dangers of workers turning against each other. Today, Gerard is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as the international president of the 1.2 million-member United Steelworkers, and sits on President Barack Obama's trade advisory committee.

Democratic Senator Urges Business Elites to Get More Involved in Politics

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., called on an audience of business and political elites earlier this week to respond to populist anger by lobbying harder for a deficit-reduction package that would reduce corporate tax rates and cut public retirement programs such as Social Security.

Although a dominant populist sentiment is that the system is already rigged in favor of the rich, Warner suggested that the “business community” needs to get more involved in politics or face unpleasant repercussions.

Elizabeth Warren Blasts Donald Trump’s ‘Toxic Stew Of Hatred And Insecurity’

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is calling on Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike to unite against Donald Trump, who on Tuesday became the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee after winning the Indiana primary.

“Trump has built his campaign on racism, sexism and xenophobia,” she wrote on Facebook. “There’s more enthusiasm for him among leaders of the KKK than leaders of the political party he now controls.”

How To Win Friends And Influence People, Paul Ryan Edition

It’s been six months since Paul Ryan took the speaker’s gavel, and House conservatives who helped put the former in front of former Speaker John Boehner’s name say Ryan has dramatically altered the House — even if its legislative outcomes and internal dynamics haven’t really changed.

Unlike Boehner, Ryan does not mislead members to vote for something they ultimately wouldn’t want, Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) told The Huffington Post last week.

Big Banks Just Claimed A Constitutional Right To A Taxpayer Subsidy

WASHINGTON — Big banks get a lot of free money from the federal government. And their lobbyists think they have a constitutional right to it.

Each year, the government pays billions of dollars to banks to thank them for being part of the Federal Reserve system. These payments aren’t structured to influence or encourage any particular business activity — banks just get straight cash, no matter what they do. The subsidy is economically useless. It doesn’t push interest rates lower or boost pay for bank tellers or help more farmers qualify for loans. The money just goes straight to the bottom line, boosting bank profits.