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All Eyes On Trump and Kim, But South Korean Leader Deserves Kudos
Monday was the eve of the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. As the two leaders meet Tuesday morning in Singapore, hopefully they will at least agree to a process that can provide a framework for further negotiations.
Trump Is Lousy General for Trade War He's Started
President Trump has triggered what could be "the largest trade war in economic history," the Chinese Commerce Ministry warns. Trump is threatening tariffs on $500 billion in Chinese goods, virtually all of our imports from China. He's also hit Mexico, Canada and our European allies with punitive tariffs.
Trump's Insatiable Appetite for Regime Change
Push is coming to shove in Venezuela. Trump has decided that the government of Nicola Maduro must go. Senior officials -- led by John Bolton, Trump's super-hawk national security adviser, and Elliott Abrams, stained by his cover-up and lies about death squads in El Salvador and contras in Nicaragua in the 1980s -- boast publicly about their plots for regime change. They have recognized an obscure right-wing Venezuelan politician -- Juan Guaido -- as head of state. They've tightened sanctions again and again, adding directly to the dire suffering of the Venezuelan people. They've encouraged the military to revolt. And when the failure of Guaido's latest coup attempt embarrassed them last week, they've threatened direct military intervention.
Wall Street's Addiction to Crime
Last week, as Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) convened a House Financial Services Committee hearing, featuring the CEOs of Wall Street's biggest banks, the financial watchdog group released a stunning report on their criminal records: Wall Street's Six Biggest Bailed-Out Banks: Their RAP Sheets and Their Ongoing Crime Spree.
Texan Taliban Wing of the Republican Party
American papers are filled with pundits speculating about the horrors the Taliban may inflict on the people of Afghanistan, particularly its women. Less attention has been paid to the horrors Texas Republicans - the Taliban wing of the Republican Party - are inflicting on the State of Texas. In total control of the state, Republicans have a free hand that they've used to enforce extremism.
It's Time for Patriots to Stand Up
America's democracy is under assault -- systematic, unrelenting and unhinged. The assault is waged by one party -- the Republican Party. It is largely driven by the lies and racism of Donald Trump, who simply will not accept that he lost the last election. To deny that unacceptable reality, Trump has spread -- and Republican officials across the country have echoed -utterly fraudulent claims of fraud to justify measures to make voting more difficult.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and Ginni Thomas
Last week, two events involving the U.S. Supreme Court occurred. First, four days of hearings surrounding the nomination and possible elevation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the nation's highest court.
The Supreme Court's Right-wing Crusade
This week, the right-wing majority on the Supreme Court ignored precedent, and trampled law and legal procedure to gut the Environmental Protection Agency's primary mission: the ability to curb pollution of harmful substances. It thereby erected a judicial roadblock to dealing with catastrophic climate change even as the alarming threat grows worse.
Will Trump receive a get out of jail free card
The federal indictment of Donald Trump – the first federal indictment of a former president in U.S. history – poses the question. Trump’s enraged reaction – calling it the “greatest witch hunt of all time” and denouncing special counsel Jack Smith, a career prosecutor, as a “deranged lunatic” – makes the question unavoidable. Obviously, Trump deserves a fair trial, his guilt or innocence determined by a jury of his peers. But every candidate for president should be asked if they would pardon Donald Trump if they were president. As Gerald Ford proved when pardoning Richard Nixon, a presidential pardon can be issued before a trial, or even before formal charges are brought, so the question needn’t wait on the trial.
UAW Auto Workers Will Get a Fair Deal Only If They Fight for It
Five days ago, 12,700 United Auto Workers Union (UAW) workers walked out in the first strike wave against the Big Three automakers – GM, Ford, and Stellantis (the company that took over Chrysler). Every worker in America – union and non-union, young and old, female and male, Black, brown and white – has a stake in this strike. At issue is not simply whether autoworkers can gain a living wage, but whether this country can begin to rebuild a middle class and curb the extreme inequality that undermines our economy and our democracy.
Trump’s State of the Stink Address
As he delivers his first State of the Union address tonight, President Donald Trump is looking for approval. He'll brag on the economy, with a likely focus on his Twitter claim that "because of my policies," black unemployment is at its "lowest rate ever recorded."
Decision to Bomb Syria is Dangerous, Deceptive
Fifty-nine cruise missiles. When Donald Trump ordered the attack on Syria, he made an impetuous decision, turning his previous commitment to stay out of the Syrian civil war and focus on ISIS on its head. He ordered the attack on a sovereign nation without seeking sanction from the United Nations or the U.S. Congress. For this, he received lavish praise from the media and bipartisan congressional support. He'll undoubtedly enjoy a boost in the polls.
Sessions Stands for Outmoded, Unjust Law-and-Order Policies
Attorney General Jeff Sessions gets it wrong. On core issue after core issue -- civil rights, voting rights, women's rights, police reform and particularly mass incarceration -- he is a destructive force.
America In the Mirror of Charlottesville
Racism, exposed once more in the terror visited on Charlottesville, Va., still scars America. Hundreds of neo-Nazis, white supremacists, klansmen and other fervid racists gathered -- some armed with assault rifles, wearing camouflage.
New Hope for Pembroke Township
Across America, there are pockets of poverty, communities that have been left behind or deprived of the basics needed to develop, like Pembroke Township, a small community south of Chicago along the Indiana border. In this community, one-third of the families live below the poverty line. It is one of the poorest communities in the country, with a median income that is among the lowest.
It Is Time to Renew the Spirit of the Emancipation Proclamation
January 1 begins the new year. It also marks the anniversary of a new America. On January 1, 1863, as the Civil War, the bloodiest of America's wars, approached the end of its second year, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states, "are and henceforward shall be free."
Democratic Future Lies in Speaking From the Moral Center
The media is now reporting on the debate among Democrats and activists about what the party should stand for, and how it will win elections.
The 1619 Project
On Sunday, the New York Times unveiled "The 1619 Project," a journalistic series in the Sunday magazine that seeks to tell the "unvarnished truth" about slavery and its impact on America's history. In 1619, just 12 years after the founding of the first permanent English settlement in the Americas, the Jamestown colonists bought the first slaves, 20 to 30 enslaved Africans, from English pirates.
Scientific Community Must Reach Out to Ensure African Americans Gain Confidence to Get Vaccinated
On Friday, I received my first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. I was honored to be accompanied by Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, the brilliant African-American viral immunologist who is a rock star in the field of immunology science.
Juneteenth Celebrates the Continuing Struggle for Equality Under the Law
"Great nations don't ignore the most painful moments. ... They embrace them," said President Biden as he signed the Juneteenth National Independent Day Act - passed unanimously in the U.S. Senate - to make Juneteenth - June 19th - a federal holiday.
