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John L. Micek: Dominion over the Earth? Who were we kidding? What the wildfires teach us
WASHINGTON — On a clear day, the view from the top-floor terrace of the Kennedy Center is one of the best in the nation’s capital. Turn one way, and the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials, along with the iconic pointed top of the Washington Monument, frame the sky above the National Mall. Glance uptown, and there’s […]
‘Abortion absolutely is health care’: U.S. House panel told as GOP pursues nationwide ban
A nationwide abortion ban would widen disparities in health care and drive up the maternal mortality rate, particularly among Black women, physicians and advocates told a U.S. House panel on Thursday. “Women’s progress has always been inextricably linked with the ability to control our own bodies,” Jocelyn Frye, the president of the National Partnership for […]
Column: Republicans and allies have blitzed the courts with voting and election lawsuits
With the 2022 midterms roughly six weeks away, Republicans and their allies have blitzed the nation’s courts with election-related lawsuits, with more than half the legal actions attacking mail-in balloting. Republican-affiliated groups filed 41 lawsuits through Sept. 16, compared to seven last year, and 13 by the same point in 2020, according to a new report by Democracy […]
Report: Online trolls are spreading offline hate against LGBTQ Americans
Baseless attacks against LGBTQ Americans by online trolls — whether anonymous or by well-known politicians and public figures — have created a “cascade of … hate, underpinned by dangerous misinformation and outright lies against the LGBTQ+ community,” according to recently released research. That’s the top-line finding of a new report, jointly released by the Center for Countering […]
John L. Micek: With Roe headed to the states, every vote this fall matters
Ever since she was old enough for me to tell her anything, I’ve been telling my daughter that she could grow up to be whatever she wants to be, that no obstacle, big or small, would ever stand in her way. I’ve told her that she’ll set her own destiny — that she’ll write the […]
Column: Does the GOP want to repeal Obamacare? Take them literally and seriously.
Victoria Schiano’s son, Cole, is 5 1/2. And he’s enduring what no kid his age should ever be asked to endure. He has mitochondrial disease, lives with a a central line to his heart, and has a feeding tube connected to his stomach and his intestines. He also needs constant monitoring for his seizure disorder. He […]
Column: Republicans are the clowns in the debt ceiling circus. The act isn’t funny anymore.
It’s way past political cliche, but that old “Popeye” comic strip where J. Wellington Wimpy promises to pay a short-order cook tomorrow for a hamburger he plans to eat today, is still the best way to describe Republican intransigence this week over a vote to extend the nation’s debt ceiling that’s soared past cartoonish farce. In […]
Column: Biden threw down the gauntlet in the battle over voting rights. It’s a fight we can’t shirk.
It was hard to miss the challenge that President Joe Biden posed to Americans as he burned through a fiery speech at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Tuesday afternoon. Led by “bullies and peddlers of lies,” Republicans in Congress and state legislatures around the country are engaged in an historical assault on the right to vote that poses […]
John L. Micek: A 9/11’s worth of Americans died in a single day from COVID-19. Trump abandoned the field.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump released a video of himself standing behind a podium in the White House’s Diplomatic Room, where he delivered what he claimed was the “most important speech” of his presidency. The video, released on a day when the United States lost 2,798 people to the COVID-19 pandemic, did not show Trump […]
Actor/activist Alyssa Milano launches fundraising push to flip Michigan in 2020
Actor and activist Alyssa Milano took to social media this week to announce that she’s launched a fund-raising effort to support grassroots organizing efforts in three states that delivered the White House to President Donald Trump in 2016. Milano’s “2020 Fund” will aid groups in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, which are already the focus of […]
Column: Trump’s Iran attack is a reminder Congress has to reclaim its war-making authority
It didn’t take long for “World War III” to become a trending topic on Twitter in the hours after news broke that a drone strike by U.S. forces resulted in the death of a top Iranian military commander. Almost simultaneously, Twitterati who’d never heard of the now-late Qasem Soleimani until cable news and social media blared his […]
Pentagon announces it will study PFAS at military bases
Amid heightened public awareness and increased legislative pressure, the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General says it’s going to study its use of the water contaminants known as PFAS chemicals at military bases around the country, including the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda. That news comes via U.S. Reps. Dan Kildee (D-Flint) and Brian […]