By Doug Jones – U.S. Senator – This is a difficult day for all of us. New unemployment numbers released this morning, some of the worst in our nation’s history, paint a grim picture of the economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The official U.S. unemployment rate hit 14.7 percent, and the Labor Department…
By Robert Reich – Both our economy and the environment are in crisis. Wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few while the majority of Americans struggle to get by. The climate crisis is worsening inequality, as those who are most economically vulnerable bear the brunt of flooding, fires, and disruptions of supplies of…
By Trace Thompson – I grew up in a small conservative town in northwest Alabama. In high school, I played football, drove a truck, and wore my favorite pair of blue jeans day after day. Most importantly I attended church my entire life. I read and studied the Bible and, to this day, live by…
Editor’s Note: Back in January 2019, I put out the call for writers to help us cover the Democratic Party’s 2020 primary, since I didn’t think I could do it with so many friends on Facebook on all sides. Julie Slama answered the call, and got things started by profiling the amazingly large and diverse…
Will my colleagues in the Senate uphold that? – Editor’s Note: U.S. Senator Doug Jones lost his father on Saturday, Dec. 28, as he reported on Twitter: “Yesterday we lost the Jones family patriarch. My dad, Gordon Jones, died as my mom, his wife of 70 years, held his hand. He was of impeccable character,…
By Phil Rockstroh – The U.S. is less of a nation than a collective, psychotic episode. Within day to day life in the nation, a cultural aura exists that shifts, mingles, and merges between a sense of nervous agitation and displaced rage, in combination with a sense of weightlessness. The fragmented quality of daily life…
By David Underhill – “Equal pay! Equal pay!” the crowd chanted at the rally for the women’s soccer team after the ticker tape World Cup victory parade in New York. They were loud and insistent — and they didn’t mean it. Team captain Megan Rapinoe confirmed this in her speech during the rally. She didn’t…
By David Underhill – Bread and circuses pacified the Roman masses while the emperors with their legions patrolled far borders to pacify barbarians who resisted joining the empire. Joe Biden updated this governing method at his presidential campaign launch rally in Philadelphia. He offered a buffet of appetizing items to improve America’s education, infrastructure, health…
Guest Column – By Deanna Kell – In case you’ve been living in a news bubble and didn’t hear about it already, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed into law the most restrictive abortion bill in the country on Wednesday, a near-total ban on all abortions, after the so-called the State of the Human Life Protection…
The Threat of Political Climate Change – Countering the Bannon Archipelago – By John Feffer – In the Americas, the Trump tsunami has swept across both continents and the “pink tide” of progressivism has all but disappeared from the southern half of the hemisphere. In Europe, with the recent exception of Spain, the left has…
By Robert Reich – “We renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country,” Donald Trump said recently. Someone should alert him that America is now a hotbed of socialism. But it’s socialism for the rich. Everyone else is treated to harsh capitalism. In the conservative mind, socialism means getting something for doing…
By Robert Reich – Most Americans still cling to the meritocratic notion that people are rewarded according to their efforts and abilities. But meritocracy is becoming a cruel joke. The Justice Department recently announced indictments of dozens of wealthy parents for using bribery and fraud to get their children into prestigious colleges. But the real…
By Robert Reich – What does a megalomaniacal president of the United States do when he’s cornered? We’ll soon find out. House Democrats are beginning a series of investigations and hearings into Donald Trump. Senate Republicans have begun to desert him: Twelve defected on the wall; seven refused to back Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen.…
Guest Column – By Senator Doug Jones – As Americans, we all appreciate and support our troops and their families. Right? Of course we do. We fly the flag, hold parades in their honor, and praise these brave Americans – and their spouses and children – for their sacrifices on our behalf. We commit to…
America Has Already Fired Trump – By Robert Reich – Special counsel Robert Mueller’s soon-to-be-delivered report will trigger months of congressional investigations, subpoenas, court challenges, partisan slugfests, media revelations and more desperate conspiracy claims by Donald Trump, all against the backdrop of the burning questions: Will he be impeached by the House? Will he be…
An emergency is defined as “a serious, unexpected, and often dangerous situation requiring immediate action.” By Julie Slama – After agreeing to sign bipartisan legislation passed by both houses of Congress to keep the government open and provide $1.375 billion for border fencing, not the wall Trump wanted and far less than the $5.7 billion…
By Robert Reich – The only redeeming aspect to Trump’s presidency is he brings us back to basics. And what could be more basic than the difference between democracy and dictatorship? Democracy is about means, not ends. If we all agreed on the ends (such as whether to build a wall along the Mexican border)…
Science can help us make sense of the president’s seeming political invincibility – Mind In The Machine – Bobby Azarian Ph.D. – Whether we want to or not, we must try to understand the Donald Trump phenomenon, as it has completely swept the nation and also fiercely divided it. What is most baffling about it…
By David Underhill — MOBILE, Ala. — Unlike the thousands who marched in San Francisco’s Rise for Climate, Jobs & Justice last Saturday, it was a minor triumph for Mobile to have a rally at all in a downtown square. Ten feet above ground blue ribbons circled pillars of the bandstand where speakers stood. I…
Following the Vietnam war hero and Senator John McCain’s death, Rick Davis, Senator McCain’s former presidential campaign manager and a family spokesman, read the following farewell statement at a news conference at the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix on Monday. “My fellow Americans, whom I have gratefully served for sixty years, and especially my fellow…
