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The Squad Could Use Some Quality Control
Jamaal Bowman's loss was the Democrats' gain. A member of the left-fringe Squad, his primary defeat removes at least one irritant to the Democrats' quest to take control of the House. And if his replacement with a moderate marks the beginning of the end for the Squad, well, bravo for the victor, Westchester County executive George Latimer.
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Should Masks be Banned at Gaza Protests?
Things got violent outside a Los Angeles orthodox synagogue on Sunday, leading the mayor at a Monday press conference to say that a ban on wearing masks to such protests should be considered. A number of the pro-Palestinian protestors Sunday, who blocked entrance to the synagogue and ended up in fistfights and spraying Bear spray at those ...Read more
The Roberts Court: A Grave Insult to the People
Chief Justice John Roberts, meet Roger Taney, your history big brother.
Abraham Lincoln despised Taney as the legal upholder of white supremacy but had to suffer being sworn in by the old Maryland scarecrow in 1861. In that fraught March moment, the dark past and bright future of America came face to face.
Lincoln defied Taney's trying to ...Read more
Should Congress Honor Donald Trump with a Medal, a Statue ... or What?
Here's a member of Congress with too much time on his hands ... and way too little of anything on his mind.
Rep. Greg Steube of Florida is a run-of-the-mill, extremist Republican specializing in such partisan slapstick as trying to nullify Joe Biden's election and install GOP loser, Donald Trump, as president.
But Steube went full-tilt ...Read more
This Young GI Met Donald Sutherland in a Bygone Era. RIP to an Original
News of Donald Sutherland’s death at age 88 took me back to a day in 1971 when he was protesting the Vietnam War onstage with Jane Fonda and I was one of about 1,000 off-duty soldiers in their audience.
I hoped, in the spirit of John Lennon’s anthem, to give peace a chance.
We were outside Fort Lewis, Washington, now known as Joint Base ...Read more
The Supreme Court Rejected an Attack on Medication Abortion, But the Fight Is Far From Over
The Supreme Court refused to consider a request by anti-abortion groups to impose nationwide restrictions on mifepristone, a safe medication used in most U.S. abortions and for miscarriage care. Without addressing whether mifepristone should be further restricted, the court found that these anti-abortion plaintiffs lack "legal standing" -- ...Read more
State of Disbelief: Journalism Takes a Hit, and So Do We
A publisher, Adlai Stevenson quipped, is someone who separates the wheat from the chaff -- and then publishes the chaff. Significant segments of America believe just that: that the media are in the business of selling "product," no differently than plastic goods manufacturers or car dealerships.
Indeed, an increasingly media-savvy citizenry ...Read more
Older Voters May Rescue the Democracy
The mystery of why older voters are polling strongly for Joe Biden is not a mystery at all. True, they tend to be conservative and have traditionally preferred Republican presidential candidates. White voters over 65 voted for Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020.
The reason these conservative voters appear to be for Biden this time is simple. ...Read more
Trump on LGBTQ Rights: Rolling Back Protections and Criminalizing Gender Nonconformity
Donald Trump's administration initiated a sustained, years-long effort to erase protections for LGBTQ people. This included an effort to "define 'transgender' out of existence," erode protections for transgender students and workers and weaken access to gender-affirming health care that most transgender people already struggled to access.
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Talk of Mandated National Service Percolates Among Former Trump Advisers
Don’t get nervous, young folks, but talk about a national service mandate has been bubbling up again in Washington.
Such talk has been particularly vigorous among key advisers to Donald Trump as he begins what he hopes will be his transition back to the White House. Of course, talk of mandated national service is one step away from that ...Read more
Wait, so Jim Crow Was a Good Period for Blacks in America? Could Have Fooled Me
’Tis the season for Donald Trump to audition potential running mates while the rest of us speculate on who the lucky winner will be.
The trial by political fire was on full display last week as the entire Democratic Party establishment seemed to rise up and pile on Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, whom multiple news outlets have put on Trump’...Read more
Trump on Immigration: Tearing Apart Immigrant Families, Communities and the Fabric of Our Nation
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump has promised to pursue even more extreme anti-immigrant policies if he wins a second term. These policies would disregard fundamental principles of democracy and the rule of law to devastate immigrant communities and erode freedoms for all Americans.
The ACLU is prepared to hold our executive branch to ...Read more
Dr. Anthony Fauci’s Hearing Gave Us Politics at its Most Paranoid
As American politics have become more polarized in the era of former President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, we also hear it sound more paranoid.
The dueling scandals of Trump’s hush-money trial in New York, where he was found guilty on all 34 felony counts, and the beginning of Hunter Biden’s trial on three felony gun charges in Delaware...Read more
The Long History of Discrimination in Job Hiring Assessments
Applying for jobs can be a difficult and frustrating experience: You're putting forward your qualifications to be judged by a prospective employer. We all want to be treated fairly. We want our qualifications to speak for themselves. But for job seekers who have been historically excluded or discriminated against because of their race, gender ...Read more
The Credibility Crisis at the Supreme Court Hits a Fever Pitch
As if suspicions, partisan and otherwise, have not dealt enough blows to our criminal justice system in recent years, along comes Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s flag flap.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, who has continuously called for tighter ethics legislation regarding the high court, decried ...Read more
5 Things To Know About the Supreme Court Case Threatening Doctors Providing Emergency Abortion Care
The Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in Idaho v. United States and Moyle v. United States, which will determine whether politicians can put doctors in jail for treating pregnant patients experiencing medical emergencies. The ultimate decision in the case -- which is expected by the summer -- could have severe consequences on the ...Read more
Welcome to the World of MAGA Machismo, Where Muscles Trump Brains
Ladies and gentleman, here is your United States Senate, then and now:
Sen. Daniel Webster on March 7, 1850: “It is fortunate that there is a Senate of the United States (with) a just sense of its own dignity, and its own high responsibilities, and a body to which the country looks with confidence for wise, moderate, patriotic, and healing ...Read more
A totally fixable budget impasse involving a potential presidential candidate
For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, Pennsylvania’s three-week-old budget impasse is the ultimate, binge-worthy summer drama.
There are great storylines, with real-world implications with fascinating characters in leading roles. And, like any addictive warm-weather series, the chances are pretty good that politics-watchers ...Read more
Trump and his lawyers think he can get away with anything. It's outlandish.
WASHINGTON -- "The king can do no wrong." That is the ancient legal maxim used to explain why a sovereign should not be held to account for misdeeds. President Trump and his lawyers are now making arguments that make this legal doctrine look wimpy. Their vision boils down to: The king can do whatever wrong he damn pleases, and there's nothing ...Read more