Although the United States hails itself as a bastion of representative democracy, voting regulations suppress the vote even in a normal year—and even more so during the pandemic. Continue reading
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Voter suppression in a pandemic election
Voting is more difficult than it should be in the best of times. In the pandemic, many states are adding barriers, not removing them.
Still another chilling moment for democracy in Florida
In response to vote suppression measures filed by the Trump re-election campaign, state Republican parties and the national GOP, an attorney who represented the Bush-Cheney campaign during the 2000 Florida recount, delivered a candid and damning statement: “You’re seeing a broad-based, generalized strategy to suppress the vote by the Republican Party,” attorney Barry Richards declared. Continue reading
Pro-Trump militants plot against two governors places the U.S. into banana republic status
A plot by pro-Trump militants to kidnap the Democratic Governors of Michigan and Virginia, Gretchen Whitmer and Ralph Northam, respectively, points out the degree to which the United States has fallen into Latin American “banana republic” status. The assassination of state governors and other local leaders in Latin America have become so commonplace, the actions receive barely a mention in the U.S. media. Continue reading
Corporatist Judge Barrett—two more Senate abstentions needed to reject Trump’s SCOTUS pick
It's time for the rising movement of elected and grassroots progressive to take over.
In a 1995 book review published in the University of Chicago Law Review, Elena Kagan (now Justice Kagan) wrote about judicial nominees avoiding disclosing their views on legal issues. She said, “[T]he safest and surest route to the prize lay in alternating platitudinous statement and judicious silence. Who would have done anything different, in the absence of pressure from members of Congress?” Continue reading
The Biden tax plan: The more progressives look, the more progressives like
This package of serious tax-the-rich proposals will have no easy road through Congress.
Want to know where the 2020 presidential election is heading? Don’t obsess about the polls. Pay attention to the tax lawyers and accountants who cater to America’s most wealthy. Continue reading
Zionist war on Palestinian festival in Rome is ominous sign of things to come
A Zionist-led war on a Palestinian cultural festival in Rome has exposed the fragility of the Italian political system when it comes to the conversation on Palestine and Israel. The sad truth is that, although Italy is not often associated with a ‘powerful’ pro-Israel lobby as is the case in Washington, the pro-Israel influence in Italy is just as dangerous. Continue reading
Vote NO on California Prop 22: Reject this corporate power grab
Here’s what you need to know about Proposition 22 on the California ballot, and why I’m urging you to vote NO on this corporate power grab. Continue reading
IMF seizes on pandemic to pave way for privatization in 81 countries
76 of the 91 loans the IMF has negotiated since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic come attached with demands for deep cuts to public services and policies that benefit corporations over people.
The enormous economic dislocation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique opportunity to fundamentally alter the structure of society, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) if using the crisis to implement near-permanent austerity measures across the world. Continue reading
No need to pack the Supreme Court, just unpack it
Democrats who are fretting over Amy Coney Barrett—the creepy Aunt Lydia clone from “The Handmaid’s Tale”—becoming the sixth right-wing justice on the U.S. Supreme Court are suggesting that a Joe Biden administration use its constitutional prerogative and add additional members to the court in an effort to restore jurisprudential equilibrium to the court. There is another solution to returning balance to the nation’s highest court that does not entail “packing.” Continue reading
The 2020 election bamboozle: We are all victims of the Deep State’s con game
This is not an election. Continue reading
America’s new policy of demoting democracy
Trump has put a stop to democracy promotion. Will democracy put a stop to Trump?
In November 2000, the battle between George W. Bush and Al Gore for the U.S. presidency was deadlocked over the status of a few thousand votes in Florida. Gore had won the popular vote, but the margin of victory in the Electoral College depended on Florida. In that state, Bush held a very slim lead of only 537 ballots. Continue reading
Dying alone: When we stopped caring about Palestinian prisoners
“No one cares about the prisoners.” Over the past few years, I have heard this phrase—or some variation of it—uttered many times by freed Palestinian prisoners and their families. Whenever I conduct an interview regarding this crucial and highly sensitive topic, I am told, repeatedly, that ‘no one cares.’ Continue reading
From scientist-politicians to an anti-science demagogue: America’s tragic descent into madness
Several of the founders of the United States were gifted scientists and scholars of the Age of Enlightenment. Benjamin Franklin was not only a statesman, but he was known as one of the leading scientists of the world in his own right. Franklin, who had to deal with his age’s numerous religious extremists, medical quackery, and various misanthropes, would have little time for the anti-science foolishness of the Donald Trump administration. In fact, taking the political appointee sector of the Trump administration as a whole, the United States enjoyed more scientific expertise in government during its early days than it does today. Continue reading
A modest proposal to prevent sabotage by the Trump regime
Biden must call on federal workers to ignore illegal orders and faithfully serve the Constitution.
For complex historical reasons, federal employees don’t get much love. Continue reading
Freedom Rider: Left out of the debate
If the needs of the people aren’t being addressed, what is the purpose of putting Biden and Harris into office? Continue reading
Republicans unleash their inner Jim Crow
Endangered GOP incumbents are launching increasingly racialized attacks against their challengers.
If you’re a rich Republican who’s done nothing in the House of Representatives for so long that you’re essentially seen as a piece of furniture, what do you do when faced with a popular, well-organized, grassroots opponent who’s about to overtake you? Continue reading
How to beat Republicans at their own game
I keep hearing from progressives who lament that even if Biden wins, Trump and McConnell have tilted the playing field forever. Continue reading
Trump’s endless wars
The pretend peacemaker has repeatedly endangered the nation and world.
In the aftermath of the attacks on 9/11, the Bush administration invaded Iraq and tortured prisoners of war and terrorism suspects, in flagrant violation of the U.N. Charter and the Geneva Conventions. As a result, the United States lost standing among many of its traditional allies around the world. Continue reading
Donald Trump makes the swamp bigger
Donald Trump brought a whole new world of corruption to Washington.
Donald Trump promised to “drain the swamp” of corruption in Washington, DC. Instead, he not only brought his own corruption and that of his family to the nation’s capital. He also opened the door of his administration to a whole slew of influence-peddlers, scam artists, and sleazy lobbyists. Continue reading
Trump, in effect, is standing in middle of 5th Avenue and killing Americans
“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters,” Trump boasted in 2016. Continue reading
The rebellious emirate of the UAE: Ras al Khaimah
Israel may view the United Arab Emirates as one of its few allies in the Arab World. However, the UAE’s embrace of Israel does not enjoy universal support in the seven emirates that make up the oil-rich federation. One of the constituent emirates, Ras al Khaimah—sometimes referred to merely as “RAK”—has had a stormy relationship with the chief emirate in the unequal federation, Abu Dhabi. Israel and the Donald Trump administration may believe that the UAE is part and parcel of the Washington-Jerusalem security bulwark against Iran, but Ras al Khaimah has always marched to its own beat from the very inception of the UAE in 1971. Ras al Khaimah initially balked at becoming a member of the UAE and was technically independent between December 2, 1971, the date that Britain gave independence to the UAE—what was formerly known as the Trucial States—and RAK’s rather reluctant incorporation into the UAE on January 10, 1972. Continue reading
The flaws in US-style democracy are surfacing
There has been method in Trump’s madness. His priority has been preservation of the economy
The United States is experiencing what is arguably its most chaotic year in living history. The administration has to contend with a pandemic that has robbed the lives of more than 212,000 of its citizens and is spreading uncontrolled. Continue reading
The exploitation of Turkish nationalism in the Armenian-‘Azerbaijani’ war
As the signal-to-noise ratio decreases in the reporting of events surrounding the September 27 Azerbaijani assault on the Armenian-inhabited region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a much more surreptitious current has received virtually no reporting: Iran. Influential think tanks generate their well-crafted equivocation and prevarication, never really following the evidence and keeping readers cleverly occupied and furious at claims such as “there have been some reports of jihadists being recruited by and transported to the region by Turkey,” when it is not only clear they have been recruited, with videos of scores being slaughtered by Armenian forces and transcripts of radio transmissions in Arabic suspiciously ignored. Continue reading
‘Be afraid—be very afraid’: Methane ruling seen as ominous sign with Barrett poised to join Supreme Court
The judge delivered a "puzzling and unsupported conclusion that the Bureau of Land Management can't limit methane waste because that would reduce greenhouse gas pollution."
A federal court’s decision Thursday to strike down an Obama-era rule aimed at reducing methane leaks from fossil fuel operations on public and tribal lands is being seen as a “grave threat to the climate” and possible precursor to the type of corporate-friendly rulings the U.S. Supreme Court will more frequently issue should the GOP-controlled Senate confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Continue reading
Take pity on Britain because it is approaching catastrophe
Countless millions in Britain are suffering economically and/or medically from the effects of the government’s erratic whack-a-mole approach to the Covid-19 crisis. On the other hand, criminal gangs and some very rich citizens have prospered greatly from the effects of the pandemic, and morally it is difficult to draw a line between these elements of the community. Continue reading
Trump now starting to starve Iranians into submission
As the great anonymous investigative journalist who writes the “Moon Over Alabama” blog documented on October 9, U.S. President Donald Trump signed, on October 8, Executive Order 13902, which will apply crushing penalties to any entity which trades with Iran, and this will finally close off the entry of food and medicine into Iran, so as to complete the destruction of Iran that has already been done previously by Trump and the U.S. Congress (the sanctions resolutions), and by the global coronavirus epidemic. Continue reading
Despite ambiguity in international law, Palestinians are winning the ‘legitimacy war’
‘International law’ remains one of the most discussed terms in the context of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. It is almost always present, whether the discussion pertains to the Israeli wars and siege on Gaza, the expansion of illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank or the encroaching apartheid throughout Israel and the Occupied Territories. Continue reading
When Donald Trump’s mini-me met a rational grown up
At their debate, Kamala Harris shows Mike Pence what sanity looks like.
On that day in July 2016 when Donald Trump chose him as his vice-presidential running mate, Mike Pence must have felt like the luckiest man alive, or at least the luckiest Republican—whatever species that is these days. Continue reading
How can Americans support peace in Nagorno-Karabakh?
Americans are dealing with an upcoming general election, a pandemic that has killed over 200,000 of us, and corporate news media whose business model has degenerated to selling different versions of “The Trump Show” to their advertisers. So who has time to pay attention to a new war half way round the world? But with so much of the world afflicted by 20 years of U.S.-led wars and the resulting political, humanitarian and refugee crises, we can’t afford not to pay attention to the dangerous new outbreak of war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. Continue reading
‘Shameless stunt’: Trump reportedly attempting to raid Medicare Trust Fund to pay for drug discount cards with his name on them
‘There it is: Trump wants to steal billions from Medicare to pay for an illegal voter bribery scheme weeks before the election.’
Less than a month away from the November election, Trump administration officials are reportedly rushing to implement the president’s recent proposal to send $200 prescription drug discount cards to nearly 40 million Medicare recipients—an $8 billion plan that would be financed by dipping into the Medicare trust fund. Continue reading
Another 1.3 million Americans file for UI benefits
The US economy faces unprecedented economic collapse conditions. Continue reading
The public, the personal, and the utter hypocrisy of the GOP
Posted on October 20, 2020 by Robert Reich
Trump and many Republicans insist that the decisions whether to wear a mask, go to a bar or gym, or work or attend school during a pandemic should be personal. Government should play no role. Continue reading →