Many of the biggest issues affecting our day-to-day lives are determined by state and local officials who are running for office down here—as well as ballot measures. Continue reading
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Progressives have but one option on Election Day: Vote to defeat the neofascist GOP
Claiming that there are no significant differences between the two parties is a form of super-ideological gaslighting on automatic pilot.
Six months ago, people on the left in France faced a crucial choice. None of their candidates had gotten enough votes to make it into the presidential runoff election. On the upcoming ballot were the neoliberal president Emmanuel Macron and the neofascist challenger Marine Le Pen, who had trailed the incumbent in the first round by less than five percentage points. What to do? Continue reading
Patriarchy in India is beginning to crumble
In the Vedic tradition of India the feminine side of creation is given equal importance to the masculine. The Divine Mother, Mahashakti, is revered as the primal creative energy who manifests the deities and the physical universe and then sustains all dynamic activity. When portrayed together, the deity pairs—Brahma and Sarasvati, Vishnu and Lakshmi, Shiva and Durga-Parvati—are often androgynous and almost identical to show they are fundamentally beyond gender. Continue reading
Election 2022: Workers battle hordes of corporate campaign cash
WASHINGTON—Even as workers and their allies hit the political hustings, campaigning door-to-door, explaining issues, phone banking and more, they face one big problem on the campaign trail: Hordes of corporate campaign cash fueling the drives of anti-worker—and anti-democracy—politicians. Continue reading
Dictatorship in disguise: Authoritarian monsters wreak havoc on our freedoms
We’re living in two worlds. Continue reading
Thirty progressive Democrats break rank, calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine
In a dramatic break with the Biden administration on the eve of the midterm elections, 30 House Democrats sent a letter to President Biden urging him to engage in direct talks with Russian President Vladmir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. In addition to bilateral talks, signatories to the letter, initiated by Progressive Caucus Chair Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, urge the White House to support a mutual ceasefire and diplomatic efforts to avoid a protracted war that threatens more human suffering and spiraling global inflation, as well as nuclear war through intention or miscalculation. Continue reading
How Europe has navigated its energy crises
A multifaceted response from Europe has so far prevented its energy woes from creating widespread social and economic destabilization. But with winter approaching, the crisis is far from over and risks are getting worse.
While European energy prices have eased slightly in recent months, stress continues to build across a continent that has long been dependent on access to cheap Russian energy. Continue reading
Difficult months ahead: Why Israel is afraid of the Lions’ Den
This headline in the Israeli newspaper, the Jerusalem Post, only tells part of the story: “The Lions’ Den, Other Palestinian Groups are Endless Headache for Israel, PA.” Continue reading
A third of 2022 midterm voters may use mailed out ballots
Growing numbers of voters will mark their ballots at home, latest data finds.
Despite both a torrent of lawsuits attacking every aspect of voting with mailed-out ballots in the 2020 presidential election as well as post-election efforts in GOP-led states to pass laws limiting their use, a record-setting 42 million or more Americans are likely to vote using mailed-out ballots in the 2022 general election—a 40 percent increase from the last midterm election in 2018. Continue reading
America’s death squads: When police become judge, jury and executioner
When I say that warrior cops—hyped up on their own authority and the power of the badge—have not made America any safer or freer, I am not disrespecting any of the fine, decent, lawful police officers who take seriously their oath of office to serve and protect their fellow citizens, uphold the Constitution, and maintain the peace. Continue reading
Progressives warn of federal ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law if GOP wins midterms
"The stakes in this election couldn't be clearer," said one rights advocate.
In addition to a nationwide abortion ban, the extension of tax cuts benefiting the wealthy, and the shredding of the social safety net through cuts to Medicare and Social Security, progressives this week are warning of another consequence of a potential takeover of Congress by the Republican Party: the passage of a federal bill censoring discussions of LGBTQ+ issues in schools, libraries, and other facilities. Continue reading
What could Donald Trump be thinking about the Democratic Party?
Imagine Donald Trump dining with two of his supposed political advisers. Being an advisor to Donald means you soak up Donald’s political comments and feed them back to him. At this dinner, Donald was spouting off about the Democratic Party. Continue reading
The shadowy network of right-wing money and influence behind Moms for Liberty
The group, which claims to be about “parent rights,” has ties to the January 6 insurrection and is expected to provide “foot soldiers” for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Continue reading
Texas woman’s near-death experience is what GOP ‘hopes to see nationwide’
"It's this simple: If anti-choice Republicans win control of Congress, they will pass a national ban on abortion," said one advocate.
Progressives on Wednesday warned that one Texas woman’s harrowing near-death experience after she had a complication when she was 18 weeks pregnant encompasses the Republican Party’s vision for women across the U.S., as the party pledges to pass a 15-week nationwide abortion ban if they win control of Congress in November. Continue reading
My newspaper died
More than half of all daily papers in America are in the grip of just 10 syndicates, most of which don’t care about journalism.
My newspaper died. Continue reading
Republican ‘solutions’ will make inflation worse
If cutting corporate tax rates and making billionaires wealthier actually fixed inflation, it would have been fixed ages ago.
My wife and I recently had the tremendous misfortune of needing to buy a car. Car prices, you may know, reached an all-time high between this year and last. Continue reading
Key Senate committee passes bill to prevent Trump-like Electoral College coups
An 1887 law would be reformed to prevent radicals in state government and Congress from subverting the popular vote for president.
Efforts to reform the Electoral Count Act, an 1887 law whose quirks and ambiguities became a roadmap for Donald Trump and his allies to try to subvert congressional certification of 2020’s Electoral College vote, moved a step closer in the Senate Rules Committee on Tuesday. Continue reading
‘Imminent danger’: Millions set to lose Medicaid, food benefits once public health emergency ends
"When the public health emergency ends, many individuals and families will experience the cumulative impact of losing access to both Medicaid and SNAP," advocates warned.
In less than three months, millions of people across the U.S. could be kicked off Medicaid and see their food benefits slashed if the Biden administration declines to further extend the federal public health emergency that was first declared at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading
What threatens Florida more, hurricanes or the rich?
Last month’s Hurricane Ian has already faded from the headlines, but local officials and insurers are still tallying up the total damage. The storm may well end up America’s second-costliest hurricane ever. Continue reading
Europe under control of the U.S. mafia
Who benefits from the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines which connect Germany to natural gas in Russia? The U.S. has the means, motive, and opportunity and was publicly opposed to the project for many years. Yet the crime victims are strangely silent about identifying the probable perpetrator. Continue reading
Tech billionaires are actually dumber than you think
It turns out that many of today’s billionaires are selfish, lonely men fantasizing about how they will survive the end times they have played a part in creating.
In mid-September, for just a few days, Indian industrialist Gautam Adani entered the ranks of the top three richest people on earth as per Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. It was the first time an Indian, or, for that matter, an Asian, had enjoyed such a distinction. South Asians in my circle of family and friends felt excited at the prospect that a man who looked like us had entered such rarefied ranks. Continue reading
Why the GOP is no longer a legitimate political party
US News and World Report has a story about how the fringe has become the mainstream in the Republican Party. The headline of their story says it all: “Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Rises From GOP Fringe to Front.” Continue reading
Fascism: The F word for capitalism
Even if corporatism didn’t mean quite the same thing back when Benito popularized the now over-used label of fascism it still, then and now, referred to capitalism. Currently being used by neo-liberals the way neo-conservatives use socialism, to ignorantly describe what they don’t like or understand, the stupidity and animosity being provoked is exactly what we don’t need in a time that calls for Americans to come together and actually create a democratic nation but just as much for the dominated world to do the same before not only America but the world itself suffers damage beyond what is survivable. Continue reading
The collapse of local newspapers helps hacks spread lies
“Critical race theory” panic owes its rise to thousands of fake websites filling the gaps left by real, independent newspapers.
One noisy piece of the GOP’s culture war bunkum is Critical Race Theory, or CRT — a previously little-known field of academic study examining racism’s central role in shaping our society. Continue reading
Brazil’s Lula remerges—in a very different political world
If Lula wins reelection, he must not only rebuild the social investments that Bolsonaro destroyed, but also restore trust in a nation damaged by fascism’s sophisticated propaganda machine.
Brazil’s first round of elections, held on October 2, yielded a major victory for the man who held the presidency from 2003 to 2010, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Winning 48 percent of the vote in a multicandidate race, Lula now heads to a runoff against incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro, who won 43 percent. It’s the first chapter of a dramatic comeback for a leader who was once hailed as the epitome of Latin America’s resurgent left, who was then imprisoned on corruption charges by a politicized judiciary, eventually was released, and has now emerged onto the political scene in a very different nation than the one he once led. Continue reading
Strangers behind the trees: On the death of Rayan Suliman and his fear of monsters
Children of my Gaza refugee camp were rarely afraid of monsters but of Israeli soldiers. This is all that we talked about before going to bed. Unlike imaginary monsters in the closet or under the bed, Israeli soldiers are real, and they could show up any minute—at the door, on the roof or, as was often the case, right in the middle of the house. Continue reading
If arming Ukraine is our only war strategy we are headed for global, thermonuclear war
When the Russians invaded Ukraine, the Western establishment and its obedient press opined that it would be a short-duration incursion, a quick defeat, and Russia would control the entire country in short shrift. Continue reading
Election deniers and defenders poised for next phase in voting wars
Unprecedented efforts by pro-Trump Republicans and election officials are targeting 2022’s general election.
Unprecedented efforts by pro-Trump Republicans and election officials are targeting 2022’s general election. Continue reading
Ron DeSantis: Stolen valor, stolen taxpayers’ money, stolen lives
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is a lot of things, none of them good and one quite unforgivable. Just as he did in his 2018 race for governor, DeSantis has rolled out a television ad highlighting his “pumped up” Navy service. That service continues in the U.S. Naval Reserve, where DeSantis – who routinely questions the authority of his Commander-in-Chief, President Biden – wears the uniform of a Lieutenant Commander in the Judge Advocate General Corps. DeSantis’s political ad features him wearing various uniforms, including dress whites on which he displays a row of medals along with the Fleet Marine Force insignia. DeSantis, whose collateral duty during active service included that of “Awards Officer,” has made it a point of having his political ad, titled “Honor, Courage, Commitment,” focus on his chest of medals while having praise heaped upon him by his former JAG Corps commanding officer, retired Navy Captain Daniel Bean, now a Jacksonville, Florida attorney. Bean formerly served as a managing partner of the Republican-tilting Holland & Knight law firm. Continue reading
Big campaign 2022 issue: GOP’s cruelty to children
Republican Party leaders didn’t have a platform in 2020. Continue reading
Why the window to prosecute Trump is closing
Posted on October 24, 2022 by Robert Reich
Donald Trump is not above the law. He must be prosecuted—to preserve what’s left of our democracy. Continue reading →