All Views Articles

Friday, September 4, 2020
"We cannot be hopeful about the future unless we commit ourselves to the hard work of deterritorializing democracy, demilitarizing the state, pacifying geopolitics, empowering people, and strengthening the United Nations and international law," writes Falk. (Photo: Erik (HASH) Hersman/flickr/cc) Richard Falk
Can U.S. Democracy Be Fixed?
Even in the unlikely event that the presidential election goes well procedurally, it is no time to gloat about the vindication of the American version of constitutional democracy.
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Logan, Taaffe, BSA District Executive in Washington, D.C, recites the Scout Oath before EPA Administrator Wheeler and National Capital Area Council, BSA Scout Executive Craig Poland sign a Memorandum of Understanding at the Boy Scouts Memorial in Washington, D.C. on August 17, 2020 (Photo: US EPA/YouTube screengrab) Derrick Z. Jackson
The Boy Scouts Can Do Better Than Teaming up With Trump’s EPA
A bond between the BSA and this EPA rips apart the Scout Oath.
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Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) testifies on the tainted water scandal in the city of Flint, Michigan, during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, March 17, 2016. (Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images) Lee DeVito
Democrats Much Too Excited About Rick Snyder Endorsing Joe Biden
Maybe it would be better for the former vice president to focus on actual Democrats—who feel like he is doing little to court them.
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"Assange’s US extradition case is a testimony to the deepening crisis of Western liberal democracy.," writes Hayase. (Photo: Claire Doherty/In Pictures via Getty Images) Nozomi Hayase
Assange’s US Extradition Hearing Resumes Monday; Public Needs to Step up to Fight this War on Journalism
Only through our courage to truly confront injustice and act in solidarity with truthtellers, can we end this illegal prosecution of free press and reclaim our own democracy.
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This battle scene was painted in 1919 by artist Frank Schoonover of the Battle of Belleau Wood Juan Cole
What Was the Battle of Belleau Wood, the Slain Marines at Which Trump Called "Losers" and "Suckers"?
Trump again proves he cannot imagine self-sacrifice for a cause greater than oneself.
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“The vast majority of all plastic made up to now, will likely not be recycled,” Zoë Schlanger writes at Quartz. “And it will exist virtually forever, crumbling into microplastics that show up most everywhere scientists look for them.”(Photo: vaidehi shah/Flickr/cc) Robert C. Koehler
Is There Life Beyond Plastic?
Our long-term future seems to matter far less than...short-term profit for some.
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Earth Challenge participants can take action to address bee declines in the mobile app, such as "petition their governments to ban certain pesticides, address agricultural practices that are decimating bee populations, or create habitats for bees and other pollinators," write the authors. (Photo: Brian/flickr/cc) Kathleen Rogers, Dr. Anne Bowser
World Honey Bee Day–Another Reminder that 40% of Insect Species Now Threatened With Extinction
Researchers need our help to advocate for policies that will protect insect populations.
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Thursday, September 3, 2020
"Kassem continues her work building support for Medicare for All, especially in communities of color that make up 59% of the nation’s uninsured," writes Quigley. (Photo: Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters) Fran Quigley
Medicare for All Advocate Finds Universal Healthcare Mandates in Islam
"We were always taught...that the foundation of Islam is an obligation to ensure that everyone’s basic needs are met.”
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"Obama, in what he called a '51-49' decision, ultimately sided with the bombers," writes Kinzer. (Photo: WhiteHouse.gov) Stephen Kinzer
Obama’s ‘Biggest Mistake’ Is Still Wreaking Havoc
The bombing of Libya scattered weapons across Africa and worsened instability in the region.
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A US military unit crosses the flooded area of interstate 10 eastside New Orleans, Lousiana on September 8, 2005. (Photo: Omar Torres/AFP via Getty Images) Lorah Steichen
15 Years After Hurricane Katrina, It’s Time to Demilitarize Disaster Relief
Instead of funneling hundreds of billions of dollars each year into militarism, we can invest in the infrastructure of care we need to keep each other safe.
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"Most people on UI are now are forced to get by on the meager benefits that are in place without the extra payment, benefits which are typically around 40% of their pre-virus earnings," writes Shierholz. (Photo: Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images) Heidi Shierholz
Total Initial UI Claims Have Risen in Each of the Last Four Weeks
Congress must act.
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"All indications are that Assange will be extradited to the US to face a rigged grand jury trial meant to ensure he sees out his days in a maximum-security prison, serving a sentence of up to 175 years," writes Cook. (Photo: Hollie Adams/Getty Images) Jonathan Cook
For Years, Journalists Cheered Assange’s Abuse. Now They’ve Paved His Path To a US Gulag
Journalists had a chance to join Assange in his struggle to rebuild journalism. Instead, they fled the battlefield, leaving him as a sacrificial offering to their corporate masters.
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Casey Camp-Horinek, Ponca Councilwoman, Ponca Nation of Oklahoma, speaking outside the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit in California. (Photo: Christopher D. Cook) Tom Goldtooth
A Message to Senate Democrats: Tribal Lands Are Not Carbon Dumping Grounds
Targeting Native nations with carbon pricing projects that would disproportionately increase wealth and accumulation for the largest petroleum and mineral polluters at the expense of Native lives is unforgivable and horrifying.
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"The reality is that neither candidate nor their respective parties support a ban on fracking, even though that position happens to be supported by rank and file Democrats," writes Jones. (Photo: Food & Water Watch/Flickr/cc) Mitch Jones
What 2020 Politicians and Pundits Get Wrong About Fracking
Too many Democrats continue to fundamentally misunderstand the politics of fracking as much as they misunderstand the necessity of banning fracking to stop the worsening effects of climate chaos.
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"Close observers of foreign policy do make the case that Biden is preferable to Trump on the overall warfare state question, but that won’t count for much if it doesn’t get past that circle," writes Gallagher. (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Tom Gallagher
Joe Biden, Don’t Let Donald Trump Run as the Antiwar Candidate!
As it is with so many issues, Trump has not really walked the walk on ending wars or bringing our troops home, but, he continues to talk the talk. And so must Joe Biden.
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"Trump has already ordered the Treasury Department to stop collecting Social Security's dedicated payroll contributions for the next four months pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code, which permits deferrals of taxes when a disaster is declared," writes Altman. (Photo: AFGE) Nancy J. Altman
Social Security Could Come To a Screeching Halt
Donald Trump may kill Social Security through the deferral of payroll taxes, the backbone of the program.
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Wednesday, September 2, 2020
"In undermining its work, the Trump administration claims to protect American security," writes Akram. "But if the U.S. won’t cooperate with the ICC in international criminal investigations of its own citizens, other countries are less likely to help when the U.S. wants terrorists and war criminals brought to justice." (Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images) Susan M. Akram
US Punishes International Criminal Court for Investigating Potential War Crimes in Afghanistan
The Trump administration is taking aim at yet another international agency.
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A protester scuffles with a Trump supporter (R) in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on September 1, 2020, amid ongoing demonstrations after the shooting by police of Jacob Blake. President Donald Trump on September 1 took his so-called "tough law and order" message to Kenosha, the latest US city roiled by the police shooting of a black man, as he branded recent anti-racism protests acts of "domestic terror" by violent mobs. (Photo:Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images) Carl Gibson
Trump’s Fascist Signaling Is Going to Create More Kyle Rittenhouses
The president's re-election depends on fence-sitting Americans in swing states excusing fascist-inspired violence in order to feel safe. That's a strategy straight out of the fascist playbook.
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The THRIVE Resolution "will help communities impacted by natural disasters and climate change rebuild with millions of green, sustainable jobs to replace our dependence on fossil fuels," writes Tidwell. (Photo: Linh Do/flickr/cc) Warren Alan Tidwell
We Need More Than Disaster Recovery—We Need Green Jobs
Across the South, many workers rely on industries whose pollution causes devastating storms. Let’s rebuild with sustainable jobs.
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"Congress long ago created a 'Break Glass in Case of Emergency' box," explains Quigley. "It passed laws giving the federal government 'compulsory licensing' power. That means we can bypass the barriers of privately-held patents and allow the government to either directly manufacture the patented drugs or license someone else to manufacture them, usually with a limited fee paid to the patent-holder. That would guarantee we have the medicines we need at prices we can afford." (Image: Jon Sham/flickr/cc) Fran Quigley
"Break Glass in Case of Emergency": We Must Break Pharma Monopolies to Lower Drug Prices
Existing law is crystal clear that the government can step in to lower drug prices in order to serve the public interest.
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A view of the damage around the site aftermath of the Hurricane Laura in Lake Charles, Louisiana, United States on August 30, 2020. (Photo: Dave Creaney/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Andrew McCormick
The Sitting President Has No Climate Plan. Why Isn’t That Headline News?
The climate crisis is not some far-away threat. It’s here now, and it demands a swift and comprehensive political response, no matter your political allegiances.
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There is a "need to seek proactive and public assurances from responsible local authorities that our constitutionally-protected rights to vote and to peacefully assemble will be protected by local law enforcement agencies," writes Isaac. (Photo: Scout Tufankjian / Polaris) Jeffrey C. Isaac
We Need to Prepare for an Election Crisis By Proactively Seeking Assurances from Responsible Local Authorities That They Will Protect Our Constitutional Rights
The time for analysis has passed, and in the next few months what is needed is relentless action, and careful preparation for the crisis to come.
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"Do not underestimate the significance of this moment," writes Rowell, "Exxon is the oldest member of the influential Index, having joined in 1928." (Photo: Thomas Hawk/flickr/cc) Andy Rowell
“Humiliation”: Exxon Dumped Out Dow Jones Industrial Index After Nearly 100 Years
Make no mistake, it really is yet another significant milestone in the demise of Big Oil.
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"The big money takeover of our democracy prevents us from advancing all of the policies we need to overhaul our racist, oppressive system and create a society that works for the many, not the few," writes Reich. (Image: Shutterstock) Robert Reich
How Big Money Corrupts Our Politics (And How to Fix It)
It’s difficult to do anything when big money controls our politics and dictates what policies are and aren’t enacted.
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Tuesday, September 1, 2020
"During the COVID-19 emergency, closing this digital divide has gotten even harder," writes Floberg, "Recent research shows that more than half of all low-income broadband users in the United States are worried about paying their internet bills." (Photo: Graciolli Dotcom/flickr/cc) Dana Floberg
On September 1, Struggling Families Face Evictions Both Online and Off
To survive this pandemic, struggling families must be able to stay in their homes and connect to affordable internet, without evictions or shutoffs.
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"Republican officials are aggressively hostile to democracy generally and to voting rights specifically," writes Hightower, "while much of the Democratic establishment passively refuses to prioritize and vigorously fight to make voting easy and even joyful for all." (Photo: Steve Cup) Jim Hightower
Six Ways the Right Is Shredding the Vote
In more and more races, the GOP doesn’t have broad enough appeal to fairly produce an election majority, so it has resorted to rigging the system so a minority prevails.
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Trump supporters hold flags in front of Kenosha Courthouse on September 01, 2020 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. - US President Donald Trump is headed September 1, 2020 to Kenosha, the Wisconsin city at the center of a raging national debate over racism and public safety, despite pleas from local leaders to stay away and accusations that he is fanning tensions to boost his re-election. (Photo: Kerem Yucel / AFP via Getty Images) Thom Hartmann
Why Are So Many Americans Willing to Support Hate and Division?
Is this the kind of country the majority of U.S. voters actually want to live in?
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"I believe those on the activist and antiracist left must unite with all who are willing to fight Trump—whether they’re liberals, moderates, or even anti-Trump conservatives—to defeat Trump in November," writes Mogulescu. (Photo: Ira L. Black/Corbis via Getty Images) Miles Mogulescu
A United Front Is the Right Strategy to Defeat Authoritarianism
Americans from the center to the left, and even sane conservatives cannot afford to make the same mistakes as their German counterparts in the early ‘30s.
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"Few progressive economists seem especially troubled by CEOs getting paid many millions above the market wage because of a corrupt corporate governance structure," writes Baker. (Photo: Alex Proimos/cc/flickr) Dean Baker
Are Corporate CEOs Worth $20 Million?
Does the typical CEO of a major company add $20 million of value to the company that employs them or could they hire someone at one-tenth of this price who would do just as much for the company’s bottom line?
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Members of the Los Angeles Lakers kneel during the national anthem before the start of Game Five of the Western Conference First Round against the Portland Trail Blazers during the 2020 NBA Playoffs on August 29, 2020. (Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) Jesse Jackson
America’s Greatest Athletes Are Standing Up, Calling This Country To Change
Despite unprecedented, multiracial demonstrations across the country protesting police violence against African Americans, the horrors keep on coming.
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President Donald J. Trump speaks to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House before departing on Marine One on Saturday, June 20, 2020 in Washington DC. (Photo: Sarah Silbiger for The Washington Post via Getty Images) Jeff Cohen, Norman Solomon
Four Years Ago, We Warned That Trump Could Win. Now, We’re Warning Again.
Trump really could win again—and progressives must do everything in our power to stop that from happening.
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"Democrats’ failure to confront corporate power and interests was a dominant theme throughout the convention," writes Cook. (Photo: Movement for a People's Party/ YouTube Screengrab of The Peoples Convention - August 30, 2020) Christopher D. Cook
New People’s Party Rises Amid Grim Election Options
Facing an election between a centrist Democrat and a fascist, the new Movement for a People’s Party aims to prevent such sparse electoral choices in the future.
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Monday, August 31, 2020
"Covid-19 has also made it clear that we need to rethink our overreliance on institutionalized long-term care," writes Klosinski, "and expand home-based healthcare, daytime care centers, and financial compensation for family caregivers."(Photo: Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) Ann Klosinski
In the Age of Covid, Elder Care Should Be an Election Issue
The pandemic has made it clearer than ever that we need better care that honors everyone's humanity.
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Demonstrators gather outside the Uptown post office in Chicago, IL to demand a fully funded United States Postal Service and an end to cuts by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on August 25, 2020. (Photo: Max Herman/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Sarah Anderson
All the Latest on Trump’s War on Our Public Postal Service
The House passed legislation to defend the Postal Service, but unless the Senate takes action, the Postmaster General will be free to continue policies that have slowed the mail and raised concerns about mail-in voting.
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People pass by The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on August 3, 2020 at Wall Street in New York City. (Photo: Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images) Yanis Varoufakis
The Post-Capitalist Hit of the Summer
Ever since COVID-19 collided with the enormous bubble governments have been using to re-float the financial sector since 2008, booming equity markets became compatible with wholesale economic implosion. That became clear on August 12 in London and New York.
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"If we added up the anti-democracy maneuvers of the prior 10 presidents over the past 60 years, they wouldn’t equal Trump alone in under four years," write the authors. (Photo: Brian Snyder/Reuters) Mark Green, Ralph Nader
The F-Word: No Other Way to Describe Trump’s Fascism 2.0
If Trump’s lengthy rap sheet of lies, threats, obstruction, and incitement doesn’t add up to fascism, then what would?
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"Today, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is the nation's leading opponent of Biden's public financing goal—and of just about every other campaign finance reform," writes Wertheimer. (Photo: Pete Marovich/Getty Images/adjusted with filter) Fred Wertheimer
How a Biden Win Can Sink One of Mcconnell's Top Priorities
A President Biden could make public financing of elections happen early next year—and end the quest he began almost five decades ago.
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"If today's companies were truly offering a fair return to the taxpayers who built their businesses, they'd be doing a lot more to ensure that all Americans have the means to support their families, writes Buchheit (Photo: a.mina/flickr/cc) Paul Buchheit
How Big Corporations are Draining the Life out of a Sick America
Our richest corporations are much to blame for the free-market "winner take all" philosophy that has caused over half of our nation to try to survive without adequate health care and life savings.
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A protester holds a Black Lives Matter sign during a demonstration against the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin on August 26, 2020. (Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images) Hana Kiros
A Tale of Two Teens: When White Killers Are Treated Better Than Black Victims
Trayvon Martin, a Black teenager, was killed for walking home at night—Kyle Rittenhouse, a white teenager, is being defended by Republicans after murdering two BLM protesters.
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"Out of 194 countries in the world, only 10 have had a worst per capita death rate than the United States," writes Cole. (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Juan Cole
6 Million Stricken With COVID-19: Trump Has Turned the US Into a Sh*thole Country
It is hard to explain just how bad the US death rate under Trump from the novel coronavirus is.
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Sunday, August 30, 2020
Juan Cole
Chadwick Boseman’s Wakanda: Afro-Futurism Is in the Present
"Of all the world regions, Africa and the Middle East most suffer from stereotypes in the U.S. media."
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Jamon Jordan
Rebellions Work
We all stand on the shoulders of those who came before us.
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Raúl Carrillo
Postal Banking: Brought to You by JPMorgan Chase?
The largest Wall Street bank is reportedly in discussions with the U.S. Postal Service for the exclusive right to solicit postal banking customers.
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Eva Galanes-Rosenbaum
Progressive Foreign Policy and Ending Endless War: What Democrats Want
"The center of gravity in the Democratic Party has shifted considerably to the left on foreign policy and national security in a short span of time."
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Michael Winship
For Trump and GOP, No Hope, Just the Audacity of Lies
They have nothing to sell but fear itself.
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Saturday, August 29, 2020
Miles Kampf-Lassin
The RNC’s Puzzling Obsession with Socialism
With a pandemic ravaging the country, a historically unpopular president and no platform to run on, the Republican Party has set its sights on attacking socialism. It doesn’t seem to be working.
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Janine Jackson
Press Normalizes Trump's Lawlessness as Use of 'Tools of Presidency' to 'Broaden Appeal'
"Elite journalists are no doubt clearing their shelves for the awards they expect to win for the fearless and high-minded excoriations of the Trump presidency they will write…when it's over."
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Sue Sturgis
Saving the U.S. Postal Service is a Civil Rights Issue
President Donald Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy have undermined the USPS by removing mailboxes and mail sorting machines the months before an election in which many Americans will vote by mail.
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Tim Koechlin
Keep Your Filthy Hands Off of Leonard Cohen
"Trump and his posse of sycophants and enablers think that everything belongs to them."
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Ralph Nader
Democrats Must Demolish Trump’s Delusional Law-Breaking Dystopia
"The Democrats are not matching Trump’s own or his party's propaganda."
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Friday, August 28, 2020
"It’s not just domestic animals that are a point of contention within the climate movement," writes Martindale. (Photo: Michael Setboun/Getty Images) Dayton Martindale
The Strategic Case for Animal Liberation
Ecosocialists view animal rights as the third rail of climate politics. The opposite is true.
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Palestinian demonstrators burn pictures of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a protest against a US-brokered deal between Israel and the UAE to normalize relations, in the northern Gaza Strip refugee camp of Jabalia, on August 15, 2020. (Photo: Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images) Phyllis Bennis
The Israel-UAE Deal Isn’t About Peace at All
The U.S.-brokered pact makes no pretense of peace for Palestinians. Instead, it sharpens a regional coalition against Iran.
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A SWAT police officer watches as demonstrators protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake outside the Kenosha County Courthouse on Tuesday, August 25, 2020 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. (Photo: Joshua Lott for The Washington Post via Getty Images) Peter Gowan
Small Towns Don’t Need Military Helicopters
A little-known federal program dumps military equipment on local police forces. We need to end it.
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"Biden’s record on foreign policy is checkered," writes Erlich. "As a leading member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for many years, he supported the US occupations of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003." (Photo: Ron Adar / Echoes Wire / Barcroft Media via Getty Images) Reese Erlich
Biden’s Troubling Foreign Policy
An important behind-the-scenes battle is being fought over the Democratic nominee’s conservative positions.
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A home burns as the Camp Fire moves through the area on November 9, 2018 in Magalia, California. Fueled by high winds and low humidity, the rapidly spreading Camp Fire ripped through the town of Paradise and has quickly charred 70,000 acres and has destroyed numerous homes and businesses in a matter of hours. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Hank Edson
"Business as Usual! Business as Usual!" Chants the Oligarchy as the World Burns
On this fire season, the last one, and the fire seasons to come.
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"The normalization of rhetoric from an increasingly emboldened radical right in the past decade risks poisoning public discourse, damaging community relations, and weakening liberal democracy itself," concludes the CARR report. (Photo: Getty) Archie Henderson
The Many Faces of the Radical Right and How To Counter Their Threat
We should not assume that the radical right will collapse under the weight of its many internal conflicts and contradictions.
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A polling worker carries 2020 presidential primary ballots that were dropped off at a post office and brought to a government center to be processed and counted at the Stamford Government Center on August 11, 2020 in Hartford, Connecticut. (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Jennifer Selin
Mail-In Voting’s Potential Problems Only Begin at the Post Office—an Underfunded, Underprepared Decentralized System Could Be Trouble
The November election is a little over two months away. Will states be able to bear the burden?
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"America’s philanthropic system is centered on the needs of the rich, not the needy, by design," writes Jenkins. (Photo: Shutterstock) Alexi Jenkins
Patronizing Evil: The Nonprofit Sector Perpetuates the Worst Legacies of Capitalism
The nonprofit and for-profit sectors operate in tandem in the furtherance of the brutal concentration of wealth in the hands of the few, at the expense of the many.
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Thursday, August 27, 2020
"Those who believe Canada should support a rules-based international order rather than the US empire, must continue to press Ottawa," writes Mugyenyi. (Photo: Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto via Getty Images) Bianca Mugyenyi
Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Slams Canadian Actions
In his thorough critique, Jorge Arreaza detailed the Trudeau government’s support for Donald Trump’s aggression against Venezuela.
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US President Donald Trump arrives for a campaign rally at the BOK Center on June 20, 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Photo: Nicholas Kamm / AFP via Getty Images) Thom Hartmann
Is the Trump Death Cult Growing or Shrinking?
Will Americans who have fallen sway to this cult begin to wake up, or will the Trump cultists be able, using Facebook and lies on Fox News and the media, to get even more Americans into their cult?
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) conducts a news conference after the Senate Republican Policy luncheon in the Hart Building on Tuesday, July 21, 2020. (Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images) Heidi Shierholz
UI Claims Remain Historically High and the President’s Executive Memorandum Is Doing More Harm Than Good
Congress must reinstate the extra $600.
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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden appears with his running mate, Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) at Alexis I. DuPont High School in Wilmington, Del., on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020. (Photo: Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post via Getty Images) Stuart Schuffman
I’m a Lifelong Progressive Voting for Joe Biden—Here’s Why
A Trump win threatens democracy not just in the U.S., but across the world.
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A man on the ground was shot during the third day of protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin on August 25, 2020. (Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Joe Lowndes
Murdering Democracy in Kenosha
No other president or presidential candidate than Donald Trump has so openly courted far-right violence.
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Anti-death penalty activists Art Laffin (L) of Journey of Hope and Judy Coode of Pax Christi International demonstrate in front of the U.S. Justice Department's Robert F. Kennedy Building July 13, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Cassandra Stubbs
Not Even a Global Pandemic Could Stop the Federal Government from Pursuing a String of Back-to-Back Executions This Summer
The Justice Department's eagerness to rush through federal executions is grotesque—as is its willingness to expose hundreds of individuals to COVID-19 in the process.
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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden speaks on the fourth night of the Democratic National Convention from the Chase Center on August 20, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images) Norman Solomon
Twin Imperatives: Defeat President Trump This Fall, Challenge President Biden from Day One
This is our political crossroads.
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Policy walk, as tear gas fills the air, near the Kenosha County Courthouse during a third night of unrest on August 25, 2020 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images) Robert C. Koehler
This Looks Like the Beginning of a Civil War
Some of the participants are police and some are vigilantes. They are armed and desperate for enemies.
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Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Opposition supporters march to protest against disputed presidential elections results in Minsk on August 23, 2020. (Photo: Sergei Gapon / AFP via Getty Images) John Feffer
COVID-19 and the End of Autocrats
The outbreak of COVID-19 initially looked like a gift to autocrats around the world—until they botched it.
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"Congress must approve crisis relief for USPS," writes Varner, "and reverse DeJoy’s disastrous service cuts altogether." (Photo: Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images) James E. Varner
Trump’s Postmaster General Should Be Returned To Sender
I’ve been a postal driver for over 20 years. I’ve never seen an attack on the service like this one.
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An explosion goes off during an airstrike carried out by Israeli warplanes. (Photo: Mohammed Talatene/picture alliance via Getty Images) Ramzy Baroud
Netanyahu vs Gantz: Gaza Escalation as Reflection of Israel’s Political Rivalry
For as long as Israeli leaders continue to see a war on Gaza as a political opportunity and a platform for their own electoral games, the siege will carry on, relentlessly.
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"Several weeks ago, he announced that he would like to host Putin in the United States before the November election," writes Gerson, "Was that just one more of our political clown’s outrageous statements? Or, might it have been a negotiating signal?" (Photo: Mikhail Klimentyev/Getty Images) Joseph Gerson
Nightmare of an October Surprise
The preservation of constitutional democracy in the United States could depend on our preparing for a possible—if very unlikely—October Surprise.
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A protestor interrupts Democratic presidential candidate, former vice President Joe Biden during a town hall on November 21, 2019 in Greenwood, South Carolina. (Photo: Sean Rayford/Getty Images) Ira Allen
Voting for Biden Without Lying to Yourself
Voting for Biden is worthwhile because it's a vote against somebody who's actively trying to destroy all the good or even semi-okay parts of the government. Including voting itself. And we'll need those bits to still exist, including voting, if we ever hope to have a real democracy. That's it. That...
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Oil sludge from one of the hundreds of waste pits that Chevron left in the Ecuadorean Amazon. (Photo: via Indian Country News) Chris Hedges
How Corporate Tyranny Works
Those, like environmental lawyer Steven Donziger, who fight the corporate control of our society on behalf of the vulnerable find the institutions of power unite to crucify them.
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People gather to stage a protest called "Normalization is betrayal" against the agreement between United Arab Emirates' (UAE) and Israel to deal normalization of relations after a call of Palestinian groups, at Turmus Ayya town in Ramallah, West Bank on August 15, 2020. (Photo: Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Mel Gurtov
The Israel-UAE Agreement: Good for a Few, Bad for Most
Goodbye peace plan and any prospect of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations over a two-state solution.
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"While we benefit from a highly sophisticated, technically advanced pharmaceutical industry," writes Brown, "that same industry systematically—and often catastrophically—fails to meet the needs of our society, our health, and our economy." (Photo: Floris Van Cauwelaert/flickr/cc) Dana Brown
It's Time to Take on Big Pharma and Reclaim Medicines for Public Health: We Need A Public Option in Pharmaceuticals
Now is the time to support and expand the public production of pharmaceuticals and ensure that medicines are available to all who need them.
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President Donald Trump speaking with supporters at a 2016 campaign rally at Fountain Park in Fountain Hills, Arizona. (Photo: Gage Skidmore/flickr/cc) Michael Winship
Don’t Let This Mad, Manic President Wear You Down
The GOP convention reminds us that this freakshow of mayhem can exhaust and distract from the mission at hand.
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Tuesday, August 25, 2020
"If Biden wins the presidency, we will need to pursue an 'inside' and an 'outside' strategy, mobilizing the grassroots to organize and push the Democratic establishment leftwards," writes Remer. (Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Scott Remer
The Only Real Leftist Argument for Voting for Joe Biden in November
If we get another four years of Trump, genuine leftism on a federal level is dead in the water until 2024.
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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris confer on stage outside the Chase Center after Biden delivered his acceptance speech on the fourth night of the Democratic National Convention from the Chase Center on August 20, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images) Morris Pearl
Why the DNC's Platform Will Guarantee a Loss If Democrats Don't Do More
Democrats are simply not going to win votes if they see a crisis of this scale and respond with laughably small, do-nothing policy ideas.
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President Donald Trump greets BlackRock CEO Larry Fink at the beginning of a policy forum in the State Dining Room at the White House February 3, 2017 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Carl Rhodes
Don't Be Fooled by a Wolf in Woke Clothing: How the World's Billionaires Are Cashing in on Covid-19
Woke capitalists are not socialists in disguise, they represent a very real and dangerous side of contemporary capitalism.
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"The Pentagon is seeking to take this process to an entirely new level—by replacing not just ordinary soldiers and their weapons, but potentially admirals and generals with robotic systems," writes Klare. ((Photo: US Air Force) Michael T. Klare
Robot Generals
Will They Make Better Decisions Than Humans—Or Worse?
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Ahmed Amarne's wife sits on a couch with their daughter inside their cave house in Jenin, West Bank on August 12, 2020. (Photo: Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Ramzy Baroud
‘People of the Cave’: Palestinians Take Their Fight for Justice to the Mountains
The war for Palestinian survival rages on.
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"Coverage of Biden’s patriotism tends to center on non-issues," writes Paul, "Saying someone loves their country doesn’t outline a real policy proposal or provide a plan to improve conditions for the average voter." (Photo: Matt Rourke / AP) Ari Paul
Media Praise Biden’s ‘Centrist Coalition’ for Steering Clear of ‘Progressive Demands’
Media have to redirect the discussion back to the genuine calamities facing the nation.
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The LNU Lightning Complex fire continues to burn in the ridges near Chemise Road in Healdsburg, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 21, 2020. (Photo: Ray Chavez/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images) Juan Cole
As Party of Climate Denial Meets, Wildfires Rage and Hurricanes Target Gulf Coast
Their insistence on making a bonfire of the environment means their convention has to compete with disaster scenarios in California and the Gulf of Mexico.
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"Biden and Harris must be aggressive in putting forth their agenda, explaining its import and defending its elements," writes Jackson. "Trump has already made it clear that his campaign will be based on lies and libels about the Democratic agenda." (Photo: Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images) Jesse Jackson
Democrats Must Ace the Agenda Test
They need to argue the case for the bold agenda that this country desperately needs, and challenge Donald Trump for his policy failures.
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Members of Congress, writes Reich, "must step in and do four things to protect the Postal Service and the integrity of mail-in voting before it’s too late." (Photo: via Change.org) Robert Reich
Four Things We Must Do to Save the Post Office From Trump-GOP Attack
The stakes could not be higher.
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Monday, August 24, 2020
"Republicans are forcing voters to choose between being safe and exercising their fundamental right to vote in November," writes Venetis. (Photo: George Frey/Getty Images) Penny M. Venetis
Mail-In Voting Does Not Cause Fraud, but Judges Are Buying the GOP’s Argument That It Does
Faulty legal decisions have tremendous power to impact how Americans vote this November, regardless of the strength of the COVID-19 virus.
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US President Donald Trump tours a Honeywell International Inc. factory producing N95 masks during his first trip since widespread COVID-19 related lockdowns went into effect May 5, 2020, in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images) Joel Blei­fuss
Stop Blaming Individuals for the Spread of Covid and Start Blaming the Government Response
By presenting collective, structural crises as separate, individual problems with separate, individualized solutions, the government abdicates its responsibility to meaningfully intervene.
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"Trump has been laying the groundwork to fix the 2020 election results ever since deceit and treachery helped produce victory for him in 2016," writes Ripton. (Photo: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images) John Ripton
Politicizing a Pandemic and Rigging an Election—Trump's 2020 Re-election Campaign
Trump is leveraging the pandemic to destroy any semblance of democracy left in presidential elections.
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People participate in a "March on Billionaires" event on July 17, 2020 in New York City. (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Chuck Collins, Frank Clemente
It Is Time for a One-Time Pandemic Wealth Tax on Billionaires’ Windfall Gains
Will we enable billionaires to further concentrate wealth and power during a pandemic, or will we tax their gains to improve the health and welfare of our country?
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"Monopoly power and concentrated wealth do immense harm to the bottom third of the wealth spectrum," writes Buell. (Cartoon: Khalil Bendib/OtherWords) John Buell
The Triumph of Monopoly Capitalism is Hurting American Workers’ Life Expectancy
We have returned to Franklin Roosevelt’s one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.
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Demonstrators chant during the 2020 Women's March on January 18, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Zach Gibson/Getty Images) Erin L. Thompson
The Banality of Evocation
How to Remember a Feminist Movement That Hasn’t Ended
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Residents of the Somerville and Medford communities protest outside of Tufts University President Anthony Monaco's house in Medford, MA on Aug. 18, 2020. (Photo: David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) Michael Kelly
University Administrations Should Take Responsibility for Potential Campus Outbreaks
Focusing on individual students deflects blame from the context, policy, and institutional priorities that allow student gatherings to occur.
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Sunday, August 23, 2020
Jill Richardson
Colleges are Still in Uncharted Territority
We’ve had the summer to prepare, but there are just no easy answers for teaching during a global pandemic.
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Wisconsin's rightwing US Senator Ron Johnson John Nichols
Ron Johnson's Ready to Wreck the Postal Service
Johnson is playing the fool on Trump’s behalf.
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Fire season isn’t new to the West, but it’s getting worse. And scientists are clearly pointing the finger at climate change and our ongoing use of fossil fuels. Jamie Henn
Stop Adding (Fossil) Fuels to the Fire
This November, we need to vote as if our house is on fire.
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Mark and Patricia McCloskey drawing their firearms on the crowd marching toward St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson's house Sunday, June 28, 2020, in the Central West End of St. Louis. Max Elbaum
Trump 2020: 'Get Your Guns, The Blacks Are Coming'
Political messaging doesn't get any clearer than this.
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Harris and Biden at the end of the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware on August 19, 2020 Robert Freeman
Two Cheers for Biden/Harris
But they are not the long-term solution the country needs.
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Saturday, August 22, 2020
The Warren Commission presents its Report to U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, White House, Washington, D.C. on September 24, 1964. Mike Lofgren
A Commission to Investigate Presidential Crimes is a Terrible Idea
History shows Rep. Swalwell’s proposal would hinder justice rather than render it.
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President Donald Trump walks with Attorney General William Barr, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, and others from the White House to visit St. John's Church on June 1, 2020, in Washington, D.C. Jeffrey C. Isaac
We Must Be Prepared to Nonviolently Defend a Democratic Election in the Streets
Trump must go. And then the real work of democratic politics can continue.
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Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) is arrested by U.S. Capitol Police after blocking First Street NW in front of the U.S. Capitol with fellow supporters of immigration reform, on October 8, 2013 in Washington, DC. Jack Payden-Travers
Respecting the Dignity of Every Human Being: Reflections on John Lewis
"Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble."
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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, his wife Dr. Jill Biden, Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff raise their arms on stage outside the Chase Center after Biden delivered his acceptance speech on the fourth night of the Democratic National Convention from the Chase Center on August 20, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware Ralph Nader
Democratic Convention: New Faces, Similar Policies but Sharp Contrast with Trumpism
The Democratic Party avoided the issue of what to do about the gross maldistribution of power between the tiny few and the rest of the people in America.
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