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It Is Time for Congress to Act to Defend Free Elections
Jan. 6, 2022 marks one year since the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol, incited by a president voted out of office by the vast majority of the American people. What is now clear is that Donald Trump and his tong of zealous aides and complicitous right-wing legislators were deadly serious about overturning the results of that vote and keeping Trump in office. They failed but have since launched a systematic campaign in states across the country to make it possible to succeed the next time.
Time for Biden to invoke the 14th amendment
So it has come to this. House Republicans are about to force the U.S. government to default on paying its debts – obligations that the Congress voted to make. They bluster that they will blow up the economy, tank the dollar, and destroy America’s good faith and credit unless they get their way – even as they are bitterly divided about what “their way” means. The stakes are unfathomable – and so it is worth being clear about what is happening.
More Than Obama's Legacy at Stake in ACA Repeal
President Obama returns to sweet home Chicago Tuesday night to say farewell to the nation. It will be an evening of joy, tears and pride in a job well done, despite the harsh headwinds of resistance he faced every day for eight years.
The Myths and Lies About Poverty
"The poor will always be with us," say the cynics. No doubt, some will always be wealthier than others. We wouldn't want to live in a society that forced all to be equal. But poverty isn't inevitable. The 30 million people in America who lived in poverty even before the pandemic when unemployment was at record lows needn't exist in that state.
Remembering Brown v. Board of Education
Last Sunday marked the 66th anniversary of the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision, Brown vs. the Board of Education. The Brown decision addressed consolidated issues from four different cases involving racial segregation. The issues emanated from Kansas, South Carolina, Delaware, and Virginia. The unanimous opinion of the court was written by Earl Warren, Republican President Dwight Eisenhower's newly appointed chief justice. The Court declared that forced segregation of public-school children violated the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and was therefore unconstitutional.
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.
'America is not a racist country'
“America is not a racist country.” This is quickly becoming a Republican mantra. Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, used it in his rebuttal to President Biden’s address to the Congress. Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Republican weather vane, echoed him, as did Republicans across the country. Scott went on to accuse Democrats of dividing the country by using race as a “political weapon.”
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.
Trump and His Big Lie Pose A Clear and Present Danger to Our Democracy
The Jan. 6th committee hearings have shown how Donald Trump sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost. But Trump’s efforts are far from the most serious threat to our democracy. Across the country, Republicans have spread Trump’s Big Lie that the election was stolen, and used it as a weapon to justify a range of restrictive legislation that makes registration and voting more difficult, and gives partisan officials greater scope to overturn the results of elections where they don’t like the result. Worse, these efforts have been bolstered by a series of Supreme Court decisions – written by activist right-wing judges – dating back long before Trump that undermine free and fair elections in the United States.
Now Is the Time When People of Conscience Must Stand Up
GuiYing Ma was assaulted as she swept up the sidewalk in front of her Queens home, her head beaten with a rock so that she ended up in a coma for weeks. Christina Yuna Lee was fatally stabbed more than 40 times by a stalker who followed her to her apartment in Chinatown. Michelle Alyssa Go was pushed to her death at a Times Square subway station. In Atlanta last March, eight people were killed at mass shootings at three Asian spas.
Biden's Trillion-dollar Plan
After much drama last week, President Biden made it clear that his core legislative package - the American Jobs Plan, which would begin rebuilding our decrepit infrastructure and the American Family Plan, which would address essential needs - will pass together or not at all. Now Democrats are moving to negotiate the scope of the Family Plan so they can unify behind it.
It Is Time to Act
If things don’t add up, it makes sense to see if something has been left out of the equation. That’s the case today. The experts tell us that the economy is as good as it has been in decades – unemployment at record lows, inflation under control, wages finally rising faster than prices.
Those Who Do Nothing On Gun Control Fail Our Children
The United States is failing in what surely is the first duty of government -- protecting our children from threats that they cannot deal with themselves. Voters and politicians are failing our children.
Trump Complicit in Whitmer Kidnap Plot
Political rhetoric can incite. Incendiary posturing can trigger those who carry matches. We've now seen this play out dramatically in Michigan. Last week, six men, members of a right-wing militia group calling themselves the Wolverine Watchmen, were arrested and charged with plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan before the November elections. Seven others were charged under Michigan's anti-terrorism law for allegedly seeking to recruit an army of 200 to storm the Michigan Capitol and ignite a "civil war."
How Trump and Company Are Gutting Protections
Trump's serial scandals -- Stormy Daniels, the Russian investigation, the Paul Manafort verdict, the Cohen guilty plea, the juvenile tweets -- fill the headlines. Beneath the noise, however, Trump's appointees and the Republican Congress are relentlessly pursuing a radical right-wing agenda that is gutting basic protections for workers, consumers and the environment.
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.
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.
Republicans Posture As The Party Of Working People
The debate over Joe Biden’s $2 tril- lion American Infrastructure Plan is heating up – and getting more and more unhinged. Republicans are railing against the president for asking for too much. They promise a filibuster against the bill unless there is a bipartisan agree- ment – on their terms.
Voting Rights Now!
For African Americans, freedom, citizenship and the right to vote are inextricably linked. With the victory of the Union in the Civil War, the Civil Rights Amendments to the Constitution -- the 13th, 14th and 15th --were passed, freeing the slaves, requiring equal justice for all, and protecting the right to vote against discrimination. Those rights were trampled by segregation, an apartheid regime shamefully ratified by a reactionary Supreme Court. It took 100 years and the civil rights movement to end segregation and pass the Voting Rights Act once more enforcing the right to vote.
What's Needed Now Is a Push for Peace
“When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers,” an old African proverb teaches. Sadly, we now witness its truth in the horrors visited upon Ukraine by Russia’s invasion. The elephants – Russia and the U.S. with its NATO allies – fought over Ukraine, and now Ukrainians are paying a horrible price. As in any modern war, civilians suffer the worst casualties. Nearly 400,000 Ukrainians have already been forced from their country, refugees fleeing the violence. While sanctions may hit the Russian elites in their pocketbooks, it is young, often befuddled Russian soldiers whose lives are at risk in the face of the inspired and fierce Ukrainian resistance.
