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'Normal' is killing us.

Donald Trump is out of the White House. COVID-19 is fading, at least in wealthier nations. The world, they say, is returning to “normal.” That’s the narrative that the corporate media is selling. But there’s a problem: “normal” is destroying our planet, threatening our democracies, concentrating massive wealth in a tiny elite, and leaving billions of people without access to life-saving vaccines amid a deadly pandemic. Here at Common Dreams, we refuse to accept any of this as “normal.” Common Dreams just launched our Mid-Year Campaign to make sure we have the funding we need to keep the progressive, independent journalism of Common Dreams alive. Whatever you can afford—no amount is too large or too small—please donate today to support our nonprofit, people-powered journalism and help us meet our goal.

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Coronavirus

If Arch-Conservative Ebrahim Raisi Wins Iran's Presidential Election, He Has Trump to Thank

Trump's legacy will be not that he overthrew the clerical government or made it beg him for a new treaty, but that he put the previously unpopular hard liners in the catbird seat.
Juan Cole ·
Ebrahim Raisi
unemployment-benefits

Generous Unemployment Benefits Are Not the Problem—Poverty Wages are

John Buell ·

careworkers

The US Is Failing to Protect Care Workers

Rebekah Entralgo ·

Biden Rescue Plan

Those Peddling Inflation Fears Should Not Be Heeded

Joseph Stiglitz ·

Waiting in line for food in Cuba. (Photo: UPI.com)

Biden Should Make Normalizing Relations With Cuba "A Priority"

Medea Benjamin ·

coral reefs

As Tourism Returns, We Can't Allow Cruise Companies to Destroy Coral Reefs for Profit

The Covid-19 pandemic put much of the tourism industry on hold. Once restrictions are lifted, we need to be wary of what comes next.

Kelly Heber Dunning ·

A person files an application for unemployment benefits on April 16, 2020 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo: Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

There Is Zero Justification for GOP Ending $300 Federal Unemployment Boost

The latest state jobs data show the economy has not fully recovered.

David Cooper ·

Bottles of a trial Covid-19 vaccine on a table in a lab in Brussels on June 18, 2020. (Photo: Vincent Kalut/Photonews via Getty Images)

Making Vaccines More Accessible in an Unequal Society

Many essential workers still aren't vaccinated. It’s not because they don't want to be—it's because they can’t get time off work.

Jill Richardson ·

It is the norm to cram farmed animals together so tightly that they cannot spread a wing, take a step, or breathe air untainted by ammonia fumes from their own built-up excrement? (Photo: Tim Geers/Flickr/cc)

Your Free License to Kill Animals

The cycle of animal abuse is not only bad for animals, it's bad for us.

Zoe Weil ·

People wear face masks near Madison Square Park on September 29, 2020 in New York City. (Photo: Noam Galai/Getty Images)

This Older Americans Month, Let's Recommit to America's Seniors

Older Americans cannot fill their vital role in society without basic security—the peace of mind of knowing that they can pay their bills and have access to affordable health care and prescription drugs.

Max Richtman ·

The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act would force employers to the bargaining table if the union has the support of a majority of employees and the employer interferes with the union election. (Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Government Can Be the Solution: Eight Lessons From the Pandemic

Lesson 1: Essential workers deserve far better.

Robert Reich ·

By the end of July nursing home work had become the most dangerous job in the country, with more than double the fatality rate of the next most dangerous occupation—logging. (Photo: Karen Ducey/Getty Images)

Now Comes the Reckoning: Black Lives Matter Hits the Labor Movement

Dispatch from the front lines of the war on caregivers.

Oliver Broudy ·

Gaza Health Officials Fear Covid-19 Surge as Tens of Thousands Emerge From Crowded Bomb Shelters

"People stopped [social] distancing" during the bombing campaign, said a doctor at al-Shifa hospital. "They had no choice."

Julia Conley, staff writer ·

Stephane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, speaks to the media on May 12, 2021 in Norwood, Massachusetts.

As Covid Ravages Poor Nations, Pharma Vaccine Profiteering Has Created 9 New Billionaires

"These billionaires are the human face of the huge profits many pharmaceutical corporations are making from the monopoly they hold on these vaccines."

Jake Johnson, staff writer ·

Activists hold a protest near the Manhattan apartment of billionaire and Republican financier David Koch on June 5, 2014 in New York City. (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Koch's Americans for Prosperity Continues Its Assault on Medicaid During Covid

In the states that have not expanded Medicaid, residents have to weigh the costs of health insurance and medical care against other essential needs, such as housing, food, and transportation to work.

Don Wiener ·