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Liberté, égalité & fraternité on the march
Although the Bastille and Versailles are safe for now, NATO tyrants and their flunkeys are once again becoming fair game.
The spirit of La Marseillaise, that greatest of all national anthems, is again infusing citizens in countries as diverse as Ukraine, Canada, England, Sri Lanka and the Netherlands, where the banners for liberté, liberté chérie are again unfurled against NATO’s “horde of slaves, traitors, plotting kings.” Continue reading
What really drives anti-abortion beliefs? Research suggests it’s a matter of sexual strategies
Many people have strong opinions about abortion—especially in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, revoking a constitutional right previously held by more than 165 million Americans. Continue reading
‘We need to fight’: Cori Bush, Tina Smith unveil bill to bolster access to medication abortion
"Abortion care is healthcare and, therefore, a human right—period," said Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.).
Rep. Cori Bush and Sen. Tina Smith introduced bicameral legislation Monday aimed at bolstering access to medication abortion as Republican-led states across the U.S. attempt to restrict distribution of the pills in their drive to ban abortion entirely. Continue reading
99% of House GOP just showed they support forcing children to birth ‘their rapist’s child’: Pascrell
Despite Republican opposition, Democrats passed a bill to affirm the right to cross state lines for abortion care in response to attempts by anti-choice lawmakers to ban such travel.
While reproductive rights advocates and many Democrats on Friday welcomed the U.S. House of Representatives’ passage of a bill protecting the right to travel for abortion care, Congressman Bill Pascrell Jr. called out GOP lawmakers who opposed the legislation. Continue reading
The selfish politics of anti-abortionists
Those claiming to be against abortion often rely on being able to access the procedure when they need it—a common conservative approach to social needs.
The Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was predictable even as it was shocking. Right-wing forces have spent years working painstakingly on multiple fronts in plain sight to ensure that the right to an abortion would no longer be guaranteed, and they have won. Two of the three Supreme Court Justices, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, who were appointed by former President Donald Trump, stand accused of lying about their positions on abortion. A third, Justice Clarence Thomas, invited challenges to same-sex marriage and the right to contraception as part of his undoing of Roe, hinting at the right-wing’s future targets. Continue reading
Students, campuses and dominant corporate power
When it comes to corporate power and control over their lives, now and into the future, today’s college students are perilously dormant. When it comes to putting pressure on Congress to counter the various dictates of corporatism, there is little activity other than some stalwarts contacting their lawmakers on climate violence. Continue reading
Public university patents are a racket
If I gave you a million dollars to invent a better mousetrap, and told you that if you succeeded you could keep any and all profits associated with the invention, you’d probably consider that a pretty good deal. Continue reading
Dismantling the Constitution: Police no longer have to honor the right to remain silent
We are witnessing the gradual dismantling of every constitutional principle that serves as a bulwark against government tyranny, overreach and abuse. Continue reading
Oz candidacy in Pennsylvania is part of an Erdogan global influence operation
As yet another example of the American political system falling under the influence of foreign actors it appears that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has borrowed a page from his friend Vladimir Putin’s playbook. Western intelligence agencies have identified a network of “non-governmental organizations” (NGOs) tied to Erdogan’s government that are establishing pro-Turkish political parties fielding candidates for local and national legislative seats in Europe and the United States. In the case of the U.S., Erdogan’s scheme also involves the U.S. Senate candidacy in Pennsylvania of Dr. Mehmet Oz, a dual Turkish-U.S. citizen who actually lives in New Jersey. Continue reading
How to prevent an American theocracy
Six judges shouldn’t get to overturn the will of voters and destroy our rights. Expand the Supreme Court.
Barely a month ago we lived in a world where all Americans had the right to decide for themselves whether to continue a pregnancy. For much of the country, that’s now history. Continue reading
FBI still targets black people for entrapment
The COINTELPRO era never ended, as Black people bear the brunt of FBI surveillance. The war on terror gave a new rationale for using paid informants to entrap Black people. Romeo Langhorne is the latest victim of a government created crime.
Romeo Langhorne is the latest victim of an FBI phony terror entrapment scheme. On July 7, 2022, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for uploading a bomb making video. Langhorne didn’t make a bomb. He uploaded a video while under the direction of an FBI informant. The video had in fact been produced by the government. Continue reading
Even Goldwater would be too left for today’s Republicans
The GOP is harnessing the fanatical horsepower of neo-confederates and Q-anon extremists to entrench corporate elites.
Perhaps you remember Senator Barry Goldwater, the GOP’s fringy, far-right-wing 1964 presidential nominee who famously said, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.” Continue reading
A bird flu depopulation method so cruel, veterinarians yell foul
More than 77 million poultry birds have been killed in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America to contain the spread of bird flu, a pandemic that few are even aware of thanks to light news coverage. There are few photos of dumpsters and landfills brimming with dead birds nor is there mention of how the mass killing is often done. It is accomplished with “ventilation shutdown” (VSD) and “ventilation shutdown plus heat” (VSD+) in which steam heat and CO2 are added to the oxygen deprivation/suffocation to facilitate heatstroke. Continue reading
The fascists are coming after our history. Will we let them take it?
Pro-democracy Americans, who continue to represent some 70 percent of the total voting age population of the country, can no longer delude themselves that what occurred in Germany in the early 1930s cannot happen here. What has and is happening here is that a violent movement of Nazis, fascists, and racist Confederates have not only seized control of the Republican Party through their cult leader Donald Trump, but elected Republicans and candidates for office are moving to repaint American history. The intentions of these dreadful products of the Trump movement are clear. They seek to justify the Holocaust of World War II as a necessary, African slavery as necessary for the development of the American economy, and the genocide of the Native Americans as an acceptable manifestation of European colonial expansion. Continue reading
Judge blocks Arizona ‘personhood’ law aimed at criminalizing abortion
"Arizona's personhood provision was crafted recklessly by extremist lawmakers in their harmful quest to eradicate abortion access in the state," said the ACLU of Arizona.
A federal judge on Monday barred enforcement of a so-called “personhood” law in Arizona that advocacy groups warned would be used to criminalize abortion across the state. Continue reading
US abortion restrictions are unlikely to influence international trends, which are largely becoming more liberal
The Supreme Court’s June 24, 2022, ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade is already having profound effects across the United States, from Florida to Wisconsin. And the ruling also bucks a clear worldwide trend. In countries from Iceland to Zambia, abortion restrictions have been lifted over the last two decades, not tightened. Continue reading
Humanity is learning that the rules are all made up and can be rewritten at any time
The human species is at an adapt-or-perish juncture in its history on this planet; we will either drastically change the way we operate, or we will wipe ourselves out by nuclear war or environmental cataclysm. Because we’ve been brought to this point by our unhealthy relationship with mental narrative, the adaptation we’re being challenged to make would be a collective movement into a healthy relationship with mental narrative. Continue reading
All human rights are at stake when abortions are banned
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overrule Roe v. Wade hurdles our society back into a dark age that disrespects the sovereignty of women, and all people.
A shared ache radiates this summer across the collective of those of us born with breasts, wombs, and pussies. It is the ache of a too-familiar grief held in subjugated bodies. It is the ache that comes from tearing open the sutures we’ve sown, and resown, over an unhealed trauma that stretches back millennia. It’s the ache for freedom from the ancient, decaying cycle of oppression called patriarchy. The ache of hard-won freedoms pilfered once again by a group of old men, appointed by other old men, to positions of inordinate power. It’s the ache for bodily autonomy that is our inherent birthright. It’s an ache for respect and a basic sense of safety in our own bodies; the ache for human rights. Continue reading
Achieving self-funding local sovereignty as global food systems collapse
The solution to the current food crisis is small and local, including growing food locally. But how to fund local food co-ops without pricey loans from big banks?
“Deglobalizing” and “dedollarizing” have been much in the news. Reducing dependence on the global supply chain and the U.S. dollar are trends that are happening not just internationally but locally. In the United States, we have seen movements both for local food independence and to divest from Wall Street banks. The burgeoning cryptocurrency movement is another push to “dedollarize” and escape the international bankers’ control grid. Continue reading
Can community schools rescue a ‘troubled’ district?
A contentious contract negotiation between teachers and a district in the Washington D.C. suburbs could foretell whether a transformative strategy for school improvement can dislodge entrenched leadership practices.
“Why are we still fighting for basic needs?” asked Karen Guzman, a parent and community organizer for the local teachers’ union in Prince George’s County, Maryland, a suburban sprawl of communities that lie just to the east of Washington D.C., Guzman’s union, the Prince George’s County Educators Association (PGCEA), is currently embroiled in contract negotiations with the district administration, and the negotiations are not going particularly well, according to her assessment. “Almost everything we’re asking for is being rejected,” she said. Continue reading
The secret to the GOP’s assault on your rights
Democracy is not just under attack in America. In some states, it’s being lost. Continue reading
Rogue cops: The Supreme Court is turning America into a constitution-free zone
The Supreme Court has spoken: there will be no consequences for cops who brutalize the citizenry and no justice for the victims of police brutality. Continue reading
Under ‘draconian abortion ban,’ woman in El Salvador sentenced to 50 years for pregnancy loss
Laws like El Salvador's are "now being replicated in states across the U.S.," noted one observer.
Reproductive freedom advocates are condemning a 50-year prison sentence given to a woman in El Salvador this week, after she was convicted of homicide following what rights groups say was a stillbirth. Continue reading
Teachers: We will defend nation’s schools against right-wing authoritarianism
CHICAGO —Becky Pringle and Kim Anderson have sharp messages for the nation’s right-wingers who despise public school teachers, their students and everyone who doesn’t genuflect to the rightists’ mantras: We, the teachers, will defend our students and our schools against your threats and authoritarianism—and come after you at the ballot box. Continue reading
15 years of failed experiments: Myths and facts about the Israeli siege on Gaza
Fifteen years have passed since Israel imposed a total siege on the Gaza Strip, subjecting nearly two million Palestinians to one of the longest and most cruel politically-motivated blockades in history. Continue reading
Jayapal warns GOP will enact federal abortion ban if it retakes Congress
"We can't give them that chance," said the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "We must elect a REAL pro-choice majority in the Senate."
With Republicans clamoring to impose a federal abortion ban if they gain control of Congress in November, Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington stressed Monday that more lawmakers committed to protecting reproductive freedom must be elected in the upcoming midterms to prevent such a deadly outcome. Continue reading
Buying into conspiracy theories can be exciting—that’s what makes them dangerous
Conspiracy theories have been around for centuries, from witch trials and antisemitic campaigns to beliefs that Freemasons were trying to topple European monarchies. In the mid-20th century, historian Richard Hofstadter described a “paranoid style” that he observed in right-wing U.S. politics and culture: a blend of “heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy.” Continue reading
Protesting for Jayland Walker
The number of bullets used to kill Jayland Walker have sparked an outcry, but police kill one Black person every day in this country. If systemic change is not the demand all protest is for naught.
Jayland Walker was killed by police in Akron, Ohio when he was shot more than 60 times. The nature of his death, and the brutality of his killing, made headlines. But lest anyone forget, the police kill an average of three people every day in this country and one of those victims will be Black. Continue reading
Senate urged to block Biden’s pro-privatization nominee for Social Security Advisory Board
"The Senate can, and must, block this terrible nomination," Social Security Works said of the administration's choice of Andrew Biggs.
Defenders of Social Security on Tuesday urged the U.S. Senate to block President Joe Biden’s little-noticed nomination of Andrew Biggs—an American Enterprise Institute senior fellow with a history of supporting Social Security privatization—to serve on the independent and bipartisan Social Security Advisory Board. Continue reading
Police respond with violence against abortion rights protesters across the country
Abortion rights activists, journalists, and legal observers in recent days have been attacked and detained by police at demonstrations against the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade. Continue reading
‘Impeach Justice Clarence Thomas’ petition nears 1 million signatures
"He has shown he cannot be an impartial justice and is more concerned with covering up his wife's coup attempts than the health of the Supreme Court," reads the petition.
A petition calling on the Democratic-controlled House to launch impeachment proceedings against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is on the verge of reaching one million signatures, an indication of growing public outrage over the right-wing judge’s proximity to efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his role in the ongoing attack on constitutional freedoms. Continue reading
Celebrating revolution in Nicaragua
Genuine people’s holidays are hard to come by in the U.S. But in Nicaragua the ongoing revolutionary process is widely celebrated.
Posted on July 21, 2022 by Margaret Kimberley
Holidays in the United States celebrate awful events such as the settler colonists declaring independence from Britain so that they might take indigenous lands and protect slavery. There is also Thanksgiving, the commemoration of genocide turned into a day when Americans should think grateful thoughts before spending more than they can afford in order to celebrate Christmas. Christmas is ostensibly a religious holiday but is rarely treated as such. Labor Day was created to prevent acknowledgement of May 1, May Day, which commemorates just one example of U.S. state repression which took place in Chicago in 1886. Continue reading →