Guest Column – By House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer – Originally written for Roll Call – In 2018, House Democrats won the majority on a promise that we would refocus the chamber on delivering “For the People.” The centerpiece of that effort was HR 1, the For the People Act, comprehensive legislation to root…
Editor’s Note: This news comes with no personal regrets, since I didn’t know either of the deceased. But I knew Jack Neely some when writing for Metro Pulse myself, one of the most interesting alternative weeklies in the country in print and online in the late 20th century. It’s a sad day when anyone dies,…
Guest Column – By James Rhodes – It is evident that some news readers are confused and baffled by the actions of many Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate, as their policy positions do not line-up with long standing Republican principles. I resided in Alabama when being a Republican was not only rare, but…
By Robert Reich – Joe Biden has decisively won the presidency. There is no way for Trump to overturn the results of the election, and his campaign’s post-election lawsuits have gotten dismissed left and right. That hasn’t stopped him from launching an “Official Election Defense Fund” and bombarding his supporters with fundraising appeals to supposedly…
CAMP DAVID, Md. — Editor’s Note – A few inspirational thoughts on Election Day while we hold our breaths and wait for the results to start coming in Tuesday night. Today I will fly my American flag proudly in my campsite in the same mountain woods as Camp David, because I will not concede the…
By Robert Reich – This November, we have an opportunity to harness your energy and momentum into political power and not just defeat Trump, but also flip the Senate. Here are six key races you should be paying attention to. 1. The first is North Carolina Republican senator Thom Tillis, notable for his “olympic gold”…
By Robert Reich – People in public life tend to fall into one of two broad categories – those who are motivated by principle, and those motivated by power. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday night at the age of 87, exemplified the first. When he nominated her in 1993, Bill Clinton called her…
By Robert Reich – The air outside my window is yellow today. It was orange yesterday. The Air Quality Index is over 200. The Environmental Protection Agency defines this as a “health alert” in which “everyone may experience more serious health effects if they are exposed for 24 hours.” Unfortunately, the index has been over…
By Robert Reich – My wife and I have been warned that we may need to evacuate because of fires ravaging the Bay Area. The climate crisis is to blame for these fires, which are growing in number and intensity every year. It’s also to blame for the increasing number and virulence of hurricanes now…
By Robert Reich – Trump education secretary Betsy DeVos is heading the administration’s effort to force schools to reopen in the fall for in-person instruction. What’s her plan to reopen safely? She doesn’t have one. Rather than seeking additional federal funds, she’s using this pandemic to further her ploy to privatize education — threatening to…
By Robert Reich – Senate Republicans’ shameful priorities are on full display as the nation continues to grapple with an unprecedented health and economic crisis. Mitch McConnell and the GOP refuse to take up the HEROES Act, passed by the House in early May to help Americans survive the pandemic and fortify the upcoming election.…
By Robert Reich – Some societies center on social control, others on social investment. Social-control societies put substantial resources into police, prisons, surveillance, immigration enforcement, and the military. Their purpose is to utilize fear, punishment, and violence to divide people and keep the status quo in place — perpetuating the systemic oppression of Black and…
By Robert Reich – Donald Trump said last Thursday’s jobs report, which showed an uptick in June, proves the economy is “roaring backâ€. Rubbish. The Labor Department gathered the data during the week of June 12, when America was reporting 25,000 new cases of Covid-19 per day. By the time the report was issued last…
By Steny H. Hoyer – U.S. House Majority Leader – Problems encountered by voters in recent primary elections continue to present a warning to all Americans ahead of our general election in November. Many voters — particularly minority voters — have waited hours at their polling locations or were turned away outright. Thousands who requested…
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…
