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Right-wing SCOTUS justices are not acting alone
The right-wing gang of six justices on the Supreme Court just ruled that affirmative action in university admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina violates the Constitution. Do not be fooled. This ruling is not limited to the elite universities that seek to ensure diversity in their student bodies. It is not limited to education. The right-wing majority on the Court is escalating war on the reconstruction that was launched by the civil rights movement.
An Unconscionable Republican Health Care Bill
How devastating would the Republican health care legislation be if enacted? Leighton Ku, a leading health care expert and director of director of the Center for Health Policy Research at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, told NBC that, based on the Republican House bill, cuts in funding for Medicaid and health subsidies would trigger "sharp job losses and a broad disruption of state economies."
Civil Rights Will Suffer Under Sessions
Donald Trump's first three weeks in office have left Americans reeling from what Republican speechwriter Peggy Noonan called his "cloud of crazy." His cabinet nominees seem intentionally perverse: an education secretary who has no clue about public schools; an energy secretary who wanted to eliminate the department; a treasury secretary from Goldman Sachs who ran a home foreclosure factory.
Sessions Opens the Door Again to Privatized Prisons
Next week, March 7, will mark the 52nd anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the historic march and shocking police riot in Selma, Ala., that helped build public support for passage of the Voting Rights Act.
Kaepernick May Finally See Justice in Collusion Grievance
Colin Kaepernick may yet get his day in court. Kaepernick is the talented former NFL quarterback who in 2016 began a protest against police brutality and institutionalized racial discrimination by kneeling during the playing of the national anthem. Other players joined the protests.
The Right to Vote Needs Constitutional Protection
Democracy is based on the power of the people choosing their leaders in a secret ballot. The right to vote is central to the legitimacy of any democratic system. Yet in the United States Constitution there is no federal right to vote. Voting rights are determined by the states. And in the states we witness a fierce struggle between those who seek to suppress the vote and those who seek to protect and extend it.
Trump Is Distorting NFL Players' Messages
As teams gear up for the NFL season, President Trump is reviving his destructive and diversionary attacks aimed at turning fans against players.
Gov. Northam Would Be Wise to Step Down
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has admitted that he blackened his face as part of a Michael Jackson costume for a dance party. He also initially admitted that he was one of the participants in a racist photo -- of one person dressed in full Klan regalia and another in blackface --that appeared on his 1984 yearbook page.
GOP, Not Russia, the Greater Threat to Free Elections
We all have heard about WikiLeaks and Russian interference in the 2016 election. The report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller has once more put that on the front pages. Too often lost in the furor, however, is the far more damaging TrikiLeaks -- the tricks and laws used to suppress the vote by partisans, largely Republicans here at home.
'Equal Pay, Equal Pay, Equal Pay'
As the exhausted and thrilled U.S. women's soccer team celebrated its victory in the finals of the 2019 Women's World Cup, the cheers of the crowd in the Stade of Lyon soon turned into a chant: "Equal Pay, Equal Pay, Equal Pay." Even as they fought their way to the fourth U.S. Women World Cup championship, the U.S. team were waging a battle -- in the court of public opinion and the courts of law -- for equal treatment in wages, working conditions and investment in the women's game. And if there is any justice or common sense in their employer, U.S. Soccer, they will be as victorious in the quest for equal pay as they were in their quest for the World Cup.
The Burden of College Loan Debt
The reaction -- shock, joy, disbelief, euphoria -- revealed the importance of Robert F. Smith's stunning gift, when he announced, unexpectedly, that he would pay off all the college debts of Morehouse College students graduating this year. His gift literally changed the prospects and the lives of the vast majority of those 396 graduates.
Time to Strike a Blow Against Hate
Now Americans get to decide. Our democracy is corrupted by big money, scarred by efforts to suppress the vote or to gerrymander districts and stained by scurrilous campaigning, led in this instance from the president himself.
Trump's Flailing Indicates a Man In Serious Trouble
Since the striking victories of Democrats up and down the ballot in 2018, President Trump has been flailing more and more wildly.
Trump Doesn't Understand What Makes America Truly Great
"I am not a racist," Donald Trump found it necessary to reassure Americans. It was a revealing echo of when Richard Nixon told us, "I'm not a crook."
The New Jim Crow
In Georgia, Donald Trump's big lie that the election was stolen has now been turned into bad law -- an election law designed to make it harder for minorities and the young to vote. This is, as President Joe Biden stated, the new Jim Crow a blatant attempt by Republicans to suppress votes so they can hold onto power.
Georgia's Long History of Voter Suppression
Now that Donald Trump's baseless lies about voter fraud have been summarily dismissed by the courts, perhaps some attention can be paid to the true threat to free and fair elections: not voter fraud but systemic and massive voter suppression. Voter suppression, not voter fraud, could have critically important effects in Senate runoff elections in Georgia that will determine which party controls the majority in the U.S. Senate.
Water crisis in Jackson reflects vicious neglect
In sweltering heat, 150,000 residents of Jackson, Mississippi, the state's capital and its largest city, now have no running water, after suffering under a "boil only" order for weeks. The last catastrophe came after extreme rainfall in Jackson swelled the Pearl River and swamped the city's outmoded water treatment plant.
The Passing of the British Empire
Queen Elizabeth II's death at 96 has occasioned an outpouring of tributes and grieving across the world. Heads of state, including Joe Biden, mourn her passing. Common citizens have built mountains of flowers at her gate. The British football league even postponed its games for a weekend in her honor.
Democracy is on the ballot
Tuesday, Nov. 8, is Election Day. Television and social media are plastered wall to wall with political attack ads that offer voters far more heat than light. We hear more about blame than about solutions. The noise distracts from the reality: real issues are at stake in the election.
Dr. King's Work Is Not Yet Done
Yesterday, we celebrated the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King. It is an extraordinary national tribute to a leader who did not amass a fortune, nor command an army, nor hold elective office, and yet transformed America. In the U.S., we too often love martyrs and not marches. We honor those who sacrifice - after they are dead. Yet, Dr. King's example when he was alive holds lessons for us today.
