Trump Briefings? Always News. Biden Briefings? Not News.
Nowadays, corporate media would have you believe they are appalled by Donald Trump: He’s a liar and a cheat who distorted our democracy and was rotten to the press. I mean, they had to cover him because he was president, but they held their nose the whole time, and now they can’t wait to get […]
Backlash Over the Equality Act Is Fueling State-Level Attacks on Trans Youth
The Equality Act — the landmark piece of LGBTQ legislation passed for a second time by the House of Representatives this week — faces near insurmountable odds to pass and become law as currently written. Support for it in the Senate is currently nowhere near the 60-vote threshold that would be needed to pass the bill with […]
Republicans Are Trying to Kill What’s Left of the Voting Rights Act
In 2013, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion gutting Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which required that states with a long history of discrimination had to approve their voting changes with the federal government. That ruling led to a wave of new voter suppression laws in states including Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas. Roberts […]
$15 Minimum Wage Is Dead for Now, Thanks to Democrats Manchin and Sinema
The push for a $15 federal minimum wage in President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus is dead as the proposal’s last hope has been abandoned by its main proponents. The last best hope for the inclusion of the $15 minimum wage was a proposal by Senate Budget Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). After the budget parliamentarian […]
What’s On Interior’s To-Do List? A Full Plate of Public Lands Issues—and Trump Rollbacks—for Deb Haaland
Public lands are set to play a pivotal role in the Biden administration’s ambitious climate change agenda. The national parks, wildlife refuges and national recreation areas overseen by the U.S. Department of the Interior have been little-appreciated as climate solutions, even though they’re crucial sinks for greenhouse gas emissions. But Interior lands are also part of the […]
Demands Grow for Texas to ‘Forgive All Utility Bills’ as Price Gouging by Energy Companies Sparks Outrage
$3,000. $6,500. $7,000. $17,000. Those are just some of the sky-high electricity bills that Texans have reported receiving from their private utility providers in the aftermath of Winter Storm Uri, which overwhelmed the state’s deregulated and fossil fuel-dependent energy grid and caused widespread power outages amid frigid temperatures. Millions of Texas households lost power altogether—some […]
Fossil Fuel Shock Doctrine: Naomi Klein on Deadly Deregulation & Why Texas Needs the Green New Deal
Millions of Texans are still suffering after severe winter weather devastated the state’s energy and water systems. About 8 million Texans remain under orders to boil water, and 30,000 homes still have no power. Around 70 deaths have now been linked to the winter storms, including at least 12 people who died inside their homes […]
Pandemic May Have Left 265 Million People With Acute Food Shortages in 2020
Beyond the questions surrounding the availability, effectiveness and safety of a vaccine, the COVID-19 pandemic has led us to question where our food is coming from and whether we will have enough. According to a United Nations World Food Program (WFP) report, COVID-19 might have left up to 265 million people with acute food shortages in 2020. […]
Why We Can’t Make Vaccine Doses Any Faster
President Joe Biden has ordered enough vaccines to immunize every American against COVID-19, and his administration says it’s using the full force of the federal government to get the doses by July. There’s a reason he can’t promise them sooner. Vaccine supply chains are extremely specialized and sensitive, relying on expensive machinery, highly trained staff and finicky ingredients. […]
Crediting Xenophobia—Rather Than Organizing—With Raising Workers’ Wages
The Economist (2/15/20) ran a brief article last year with a startling headline: “Immigration to America Is Down. Wages Are Up. Are the Two Related?” Maybe, the article’s anonymous author answered, at least for the short term. A few on the right were quick to cite this conclusion as support for former President Trump’s efforts to deter […]