There is always a reluctance in the United States to sentence ex-presidents to prison after having been convicted of crimes. However, the nation is rarely faced with that dilemma. President Gerald Ford’s pardon of his predecessor, Richard Nixon, came with a “get out of jail free” card. In retrospect, Donald Trump’s multiple crimes against the Constitution and people of the United States vastly exceed the impeachable offenses of Nixon. Ford may have been correct in deciding that it would set a bad precedent for the nation if Nixon went to prison. Nixon did redeem himself during his post-presidency and even served as Bill Clinton’s special envoy to Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Trump, on the other hand, has moved the goalpost of presidential crimes against the nation so far, it will set a bad precedent if Trump is not sentenced to prison after his conviction on counts of fraud, criminal conspiracy, communicating the threat of assassination to the vice president, misprision of justice, and a host of other charges under the U.S. criminal code. Continue reading →
The federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour has not been raised since 2009. That’s the longest period without an increase since the minimum wage was enacted, meaning today’s minimum wage is actually worth far less than it was in 2009. Continue reading →
The effects of the war in Ukraine have brought much of the world’s attention to energy prices. But food insecurity is also rising and will likely get worse.
With some of the world’s most fertile land, Ukraine’s nickname as the breadbasket of Europe is an understatement of its agricultural potential. Together with Russia, the two countries account for roughly 14 percent of global corn exports, 22 percent of rapeseed/canola exports, 27 percent of wheat exports, and 30 percent of barley exports, as well as almost 70 percent of the world’s sunflower oil exports. Russia is also the world’s top exporter of fertilizer, and so the global food system faces the simultaneous challenges of Western sanctions on Russia and steeper costs of both growing and importing food. Continue reading →
"The immediate issue is the limits of the EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gases," said one scientist. "The broader issue is the ability of federal agencies to regulate anything at all."
Amid widespread outrage over recent rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue another decision this week that legal experts and activists warn could imperil the Biden administration’s climate goals and thus, the planet itself. Continue reading →
“Have you noticed that people are getting meaner?” the villain asks in a Paramount+ promo for their new show Evil.
“What does it mean?” asks the “nice” character.
“It means,” says the evil character with a note of triumph in her voice, “that your side is losing.” Continue reading →
After decades of affirming that prayers led by school officials are unconstitutional, said Justice Sonia Sotomayor, "the court now charts a different path."
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Monday offered “another example” of the court’s “conservative supermajority continuing its politicized agenda,” said the head of one of the nation’s largest teachers unions as the decision overturned decades of precedent which prohibited educators from leading students in religious displays. Continue reading →
The great progressive Harvard economist and prolific best-selling author, John Kenneth Galbraith, wrote that “Ideas may be superior to vested interest. They are also very often the children of vested interest.” I wished he had written that assertion before I took Economic 101 at Princeton. One of the vested ideas taught as dogma then was the comparative advantage theory developed by the early 19th-century British economist, David Ricardo. He gave the example of trading Portuguese wine for British textiles with both countries coming out winners due to their superior efficiencies in producing their native products. Continue reading →
For the first time ever, the high court has killed a constitutionally-guaranteed right.
As expected, the Supreme Court of the United States has voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that legalized abortion across the nation nearly 50 years ago. The decision was already revealed in an unprecedented leak reported by Politico in early May, but now the nation has the final version of the majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito and circulated among the other justices in February. Continue reading →
"This is not just about boycotts," said one critic. "This is opening the door to strip away First Amendment rights of all Americans."
A federal court ruling allowing Arkansas to penalize government contractors that support boycotts of the Israeli government was decried as “dangerous” and a threat to First Amendment rights on Wednesday, as civil liberties defenders vowed to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. Continue reading →
"Title IX protects all students," asserted one advocacy group. "We expect that the next rule specific to school athletics will be equally affirming and inclusive of trans and nonbinary students, as would be expected under the law."
LGBTQ+ advocates on Thursday praised the Biden administration for proposing new rules prohibiting educational institutions from discriminating against transgender students while restoring Title IX protections gutted during the tenure of former President Donald Trump. Continue reading →
The world’s biggest spam email operation currently in operation is that of the Trump political campaign and all of its offshoots and affiliates. Not a day goes by when two dozen or more campaign solicitation emails from a host of the vilest people to ever run for office or be involved in politics inundate mailboxes with messages that begin with the salutation of “Patriot.” This term, which has been hijacked by the Republicans, is no different than the ubiquitous use of “comrade” in the old Communist bloc. For Trump World, greeting one another with the term “patriot” is the new “Heil Hitler.” Continue reading →
Let's not be naïve about the symbolic importance of the US putting Assange on trial. It would be an alibi for cracking down on journalism for every repressive, authoritarian government in the world.
The announcement by UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel, that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would be extradited to the US to face espionage charges may be news that many consider to be of lesser importance. We are, after all, in the midst of both a war inside of European borders and an economic crisis. The seemingly endless Assange saga has been going on for 12 years, and there is undoubtedly fatigue on the part of news consumers who have lost interest in the story. Continue reading →
Assange will battle on now with an appeal against the UK decision to extradite him to the U.S. It’s time now for his own team to play the same dirty game which they have fallen victim to and forget about the foibles of journalists and the media
Is Julian Assange a journalist or a publisher? It’s a divisive question which usually draws the wrath of an entire legion of on-line haters, mainly in Australia, who assume the author is attacking the founder of WikiLeaks and so rationale is lost to nationalistic vitriol and score settling. The so-called supporters usually fail to see how if that energy was put into campaigning rather than just letting off steam on Twitter against total strangers, then Assange might have a chance of attaining something akin to justice. Continue reading →
"This goes so, so far beyond concealed carry," wrote one court reporter. "The Supreme Court has effectively rendered gun restrictions presumptively unconstitutional."
In a decision with sweeping and grave implications for gun control laws across the country, the right-wing U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday struck down New York state’s restrictions on the concealed carry of firearms in public. Continue reading →
In the Brazilian Amazon, as deforestation reaches record levels and rivers are increasingly polluted, the illegal gold mining contributing to these problems continues largely unabated. The response of the government has been to increase military action to curb environmental crimes in Brazil. Far from achieving this purpose, however, the military intervention has only led to tragedies in the region, directly or indirectly. Continue reading →
As the ongoing January 6 congressional hearings further confirm the threat posed by former President Donald Trump’s coup attempt last year, watchdog groups emphasized following Tuesday’s testimony that the GOP’s election subversion efforts across the United States are continuing—and intensifying—in the present. Continue reading →
Trump-directed mobs threaten officials who wouldn’t cheat for him.
The scope of Donald Trump’s effort to subvert the 2020 election widened in the congressional testimony on June 21 as Republican state legislators, state election officials and local election workers described Trump’s pressure campaigns and bullying that targeted them and led to them facing severe harassment for doing their jobs. Continue reading →
When you give everyone a chunk of change, does it really change their lives and their communities?
In the remote rural village of Dauphin, in the Canadian province of Manitoba, economists tried out an unusual experiment. In the 1970s, they persuaded the provincial government to give cash payments to poorer families to see if a guaranteed basic income could improve their outcomes. During the years of this “Mincome” experiment, families received a basic income of 16,000 Canadian dollars (or a top up to that amount). With 10,000 inhabitants, Dauphin was just big enough to be a good data set but not too big as to bankrupt the government. Continue reading →
"Trump and the alt-right already showed us that 'trolling' can incite violence," wrote one critic. "So what the hell is up with this ad?"
A Republican candidate for the United States Senate was roundly rebuked Monday after releasing a violent campaign ad showing him “hunting” so-called “Republicans in name only” and inviting supporters to purchase their own “RINO-hunting permits.” Continue reading →
"We are witnessing one of the most extreme Supreme Courts in modern history rewrite the most basic social commitments of our society," said the head of one of the nation's largest teachers’ unions.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Tuesday warned that the court’s right-wing majority had further eroded the nation’s bedrock laws separating church and government when it ruled that Maine must include religious schools in a state-run tuition program. Continue reading →
Europe’s future looks bleak. It is now pressed by its own imposition of sanctions, and the resultant spike in commodity prices. The EU is lumbering around in a daze.
Western self-destruction—a puzzle defying any unique causal explanation—continues. The examples where policy is pursued in apparent indifference to anything resembling rigorous reflection, has become so extreme as to provoke a former British military chief (and former head of NATO forces in Afghanistan), Lord Richards, to huff that the relationship between strategy and any synchronisation of ends has become hopelessly broken in the West. Continue reading →
"The U.K.'s decision to extradite Julian Assange to the nation that plotted to assassinate him—the nation that wants to imprison him for 175 years for publishing truthful information in the public interest—is an abomination."
As supporters of Julian Assange held a news conference Friday at the United Kingdom’s consulate in New York to demand freedom for the jailed WikiLeaks founder, a trio of leading leftist figures decried the British government’s approval of the ailing Australian’s extradition to the United States. Continue reading →
The fact that a handful of companies produce the majority of our food means that small disruptions will have big impacts. This time the impacts are borne by American babies.
It’s a tough time to be the parent of a newborn in the United States today. Not only is child care prohibitively expensive, but the cost of all things including baby products is rising, COVID-19 poses a threat to children too young to be vaccinated—and there has been a months-long shortage of baby formula. Continue reading →
With the world "marching towards starvation," said David Beasley, "the best thing we can do right now is end that damn war in Russia and Ukraine and get the port open" in Odessa.
As food prices and hunger surge worldwide, hundreds of millions of people around the globe are “marching towards starvation”—increasing the likelihood of preventable deaths, civil unrest, and political violence in the months ahead—the United Nations food chief warned Thursday. Continue reading →
NEW YORK—Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who has caught flak ever since former Republican Oval Office occupant Donald Trump forced the U.S. Postal Service to accept the GOP big giver into its top job, has put his foot in it again. Continue reading →
Who’s murdering immigrants? It’s no mystery.
Posted on June 29, 2022 by Thomas L. Knapp
It’s a grisly affair: Dozens of immigrants locked in a semi-trailer in San Antonio, Texas, apparently abandoned by those attempting to smuggle them into the United States. After their cries for help were heard and rescuers arrived, 48 were found dead at the scene, four more died shortly thereafter, and 16 were hospitalized. Continue reading →