The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Please forgive me, sensational news readers, for taking a Spring Break from all the clickbait over the past few days to sit outside and drink in the clean air and sunshine after months of being cooped up inside hiding from the winter cold, the…
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Biden Administration Releases Stronger Clean Air Rules for Chemical Plants and New Standards for Regulating Chemicals in Drinking Water
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — For 25 years since I was first hired by newspapers to cover the environment as a news beat activists have begged, pleaded and prodded the federal government to pass and enforce laws and regulations to force polluting industries to do more to protect public health. Progress had been…
Biden Administration Announces Tough Auto-Emissions Standards to Combat Climate Change and Promote Electric Vehicles
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The stakes could not be higher for the future of the United States and humanity. There is a consensus based on an overwhelming amount of scientific evidence that continuing to burn fossil fuels for energy and transportation will doom the next generation of humans to living through a…
Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is: President Biden Follows State of the Union With Budget Proposal
Federal agencies react positively to proposed federal budget even though it’s dead on arrival in the Republican House – Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Not wasting any time and showing what federal leadership looks like, President Joe Biden released a $7.3 trillion budget proposal on Monday for fiscal year 2025 that is packed with…
President Joe Biden Delivers Super Hero State of the Union Address
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The moment could not have been more critical for American democracy and the future of the planet. President Joe Biden rose to the occasion, seeming to summon a Super Hero power in standing up to the anti-democracy forces sitting in the United States Capitol building sneering, and jeering…
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Trump’s Immunity Appeal
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The god damn United States Supreme Court announced its agreement on Wednesday to take up the case of whether former President Donald Trump has immunity from prosecution on charges of engaging in a seditious conspiracy and inciting a violent insurrection in a corrupt plot to overturn the results…
Federal Appeals Court Rejects Trump’s Claim of Absolute Immunity
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal appeals court has rejected former President Donald Trump’s claim that he was immune to charges of engaging in a seditious conspiracy to subvert the results of the 2020 election, ruling that he must go to trial on a criminal indictment accusing him of seeking to overturn…
How to Save American Democracy from Fascism and Authoritarian Dictatorship
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — If you take an in-depth look at any of the right-wing fascist dictators who rose to power in their countries or states over the past century — from the most widely known instances of Adolph Hitler in Germany to Benito Mussolini in Italy, Francisco…
U.S. Elections in 2024 Are Secure from Foreign Interference, FBI Director Wray Says
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — FBI Director Chris Wray began the new year with a public appearance to assure the American public and the academic community that, in spite of a growing number of foreign actors and nation-states seeking to disrupt the democratic process in the U.S., the Bureau is well-positioned to defend against…
On the Eve of Jan. 6, President Biden Condemns Trump as a Dire Threat to Democracy
Video and full text below… By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The sting of Trump’s violent insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021 that nearly brought down a shroud and a pall over American democracy is still fresh like an open, bleeding, infected wound that refuses to heal after three years of Covid and political strife.…
Tuberville Filibuster Ends as Senate Confirms Biden’s Military Appointments
By Ashley Murray – Maryland Matters – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville’s one man filibuster of President Joe Biden’s top military appointments effectively came to an ignominious end Tuesday night when the U.S. Senate voted to confirm the remainder of the senior generals and admirals on hold for the past year in a…
Liz Cheney: The U.S. is ‘Sleepwalking into Dictatorship’ by Supporting Trump
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney says that voters have become increasingly numb to politicians warning of looming dangers to democracy, so in her new book, “Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning,” she lays out the case for the threats to the Constitution posed by Donald Trump should…
Congress Passes Stopgap Spending Bill, Averting Government Shutdown
By Jennifer Shutt – Maryland Matters – WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. senators voted 87-11 to approve legislation Wednesday that would fund the government into next year, clearing the measure for President Joe Biden’s signature. The stopgap spending bill, sometimes called a continuing resolution or CR, would fund part of the government until mid-January and the…
The Times Buried the Lede: A Criminal Conviction Would End Trump’s Chances of Being Elected President Again
Public Opinion – National Politics – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Wait just a doggone minute. Did The New York Times just bury the lede? In the Sunday Times, a banner headline promoting a public opinion story about the 2024 presidential election proclaimed that President Joe Biden was trailing former President Donald Trump…
Budget Gridlock in Congress Could Carry Over Into 2024 Election Year
By Jennifer Shutt – Maryland Matters – ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Congress will need to pass a second stopgap funding measure before Thanksgiving if lawmakers want to avoid a government shutdown, though pushing off final decisions on full-year spending bills until next year would put lawmakers smack dab in the middle of what’s expected to be…
House Speaker Mike Johnson Says He’s ‘A Steadfast Christian’ but ‘I Refuse to Put People Over Politics’
House Votes to Approve Aid for Israel With No Money for Ukraine
Louisiana Conservative Elected Speaker of the House
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Little known Louisiana arch-conservative Mike Johnson managed to do what others could not. He managed to get 220 votes and was elected Speaker of the House on Wednesday, bringing an end to three weeks of chaos that left the chamber without a leader and put Republican divisions on display…
Jordon Fails on Third Speaker Vote: Democrats Nominate Hakeem Jeffries
Jim Jordon Fails to Get the Votes to Become Speaker of the House
By Glynn Wilson — WASHINGTON, D.C. — A behind the scenes scorched earth political pressure campaign over the weekend failed to generate enough votes for right-wing flame thrower Jim Jordon of Ohio to be approved as Speaker of the House in a floor vote on Tuesday. In the final analysis, he only got 200 votes.…