‘The American form of government is uniquely structured to exacerbate the urban-rural divide — and to translate it into enduring bias against the Democratic voters…’

via 3 Quarks Daily

Republican Reps. Justin Amash (MI), Jim Jordan (OH), and Chair Mark Meadows (NC) participate in an interview on April 6, 2017.

‘…Mark Sanford was shocked to learn that his former colleague Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), who last weekend became the sole Republican to call for President Donald Trump’s impeachment, had been formally censured by the House Freedom Caucus.

The Freedom Caucus unanimously voted to condemn Amash, a founding member, on Monday evening for speaking out against Trump, escalating the treatment that Trump critics — like former Sens. Bob Corker and Jeff Flake and even Sanford — have received in the past.

..To outside observers like Sanford, it was a telling moment. The Freedom Caucus was once a group designed to fight against a certain Republican Party groupthink, to promote small-government and constitutionally conservative ideals, but it is increasingly indistinguishable from Trump…’

via  Vox

Earlier this week, Judd Legum’s Popular Information newsletter reported that, in recent years, six corporations contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the lawmakers behind six-week abortion bans in Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, and Ohio. In an attempt to fight back, consumers across the country have started organizing boycotts.

For a full list of who took money from whom, you should read the entire Popular Information post, but here’s a quick rundown of the corporations involved and which candidates accepted the largest donations:

• AT&T: $196,600 total, including $113,000 to Alabama Governor Kay Ivey and $15,000 to Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant
• Eli Lilly: $66,250 total, including $30,000 to Alabama Governor Kay Ivey and $7,000 to Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn
• Walmart: $57,700 total, including $7,000 to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and $10,000 to Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof
• Pfizer: $53,650 total, including $6,600 to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and $12,700 to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine
• Coca-Cola: $40,800 total, including $10,000 to Alabama Governor Kay Ivey and $6,600 to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp
• Aetna: $26,600 total, including $6,600 to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and $5,250 to Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof

via Lifehacker