PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Special Interests Pour Millions in Dark Money Into Local Elections

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By Lauren McCauley – While the outsized influence that Big Money is having on federal elections is well-documented, the local impact of the Supreme Court’s 2011 Citizens United vs. FEC ruling has not been fully realized — until now. The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law on Sunday published a…

The Trump Story You’re Not Hearing About: His Close Ties to Organized Crime

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By Todd Gitlin – To readers who follow taxes and finance — subjects often introduced with the adjective “arcane” — David Cay Johnston is one of America’s best-known reporters. Johnston has worked on the staffs of Reuters, the Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and from 1995 to 2008, The New York Times, where his…

Bernie Sanders Calls on Progressives to Run for State and Local Office

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In a speech webcast Thursday night from Burlington, Vt., Sen. Bernie Sanders, who won more than 10 million votes in the 2016 Democratic primary, urged supporters to begin the work of organizing politically “at the local and state level in an unprecedented way.” “Election days come and go, but political and social revolutions that attempt…

Why Alabama Governor Robert Bentley Should Be Impeached

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The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – Did your momma ever get on to you for some mischief and say something like this? “Wipe that smile off your face … I’m going to wash your mouth out with soap.” Well, I’m sorry to play your momma today. But if you are a Democrat or…

Is the U.S. Republican Party a Threat to Human Survival?

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Nuclear weapons, climate change, and the prospects for survival. – By Noam Chomsky – In January 2015, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists advanced its famous Doomsday Clock to three minutes before midnight, a threat level that had not been reached for 30 years. The Bulletin’s statement explaining this advance toward catastrophe invoked the two…

More Science Plus Less Religion Equals Less War

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The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – I had to turn off NPR news again this morning. I can’t listen to the same old, same old pretense of two-sidedness that helped get us into this mess in the first place. I had to turn off the TV news on Sunday. Same thing. Less facts.…

Winning by Destroying: Trump and Gingrich

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By Robert Reich – When I was a boy and lost just about every sporting event I tried, my father told me, “What counts isn’t whether you win or lose but how you play the game.” Most parents told their kids this. It was part of the American creed. But I doubt Fred Trump passed…

Hard to Believe: It’s Come Down to Hillary or Trump

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Raging Moderate – By Will Durst – Every four years our nation’s electoral eccentricities escalate exponentially and people throw up their hands and shout, “you know, every election cycle is wacky, but especially this one.” But especially this one! With this one, the narrative changes faster than the score of a Wiffle Ball game played…

Donald Trump May Be More Like King Henry VIII Than Hitler

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Get ready to bow and kiss his ring. He may very well be the next president of the United States. – The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – Let’s say for the sake of fun and argument that Donald Trump is more like King Henry VIII than Adolph Hitler. Google Trump and Hitler, Nazi,…

Has Alabama Governor Robert Bentley Gone Mad?

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Guest Column – By Stephen Cooper – The last time Alabama Governor Bentley penned a column for al.com, I wrote in The Alabama Political Reporter that his op-ed proved he was delusional. But this time, as it concerns his May 29 open letter to all Alabamians (Governor Bentley wants to hear from you), I can’t…

Trump Hits New Low With Attack on ‘Mexican’ Judge

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By Dick Polman – Predictably, America’s Troll is still attacking the federal judge who’s handling the lawsuit against Trump University. On Memorial Day, Donald Trump twice tweeted that the judge he derided last week as “Mexican” (Gonzalo Curiel was born, raised, and educated in Indiana) is “totally biased” against the inherent greatness of Der Leader.…

Gorilla Politics and the Grand Old Party

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Raging Moderate – By Will Durst – A hearty congratulations to conservatives for a seamless transition from party-wide disgust to near unanimous endorsement of a gorilla as their presidential nominee. Considering the tortuous undulations required, this metamorphosis seems to have occurred with shockingly few chiropractic adjustments. Having indulged in the kind of convoluted contortions that…