There’s a lot to be worried about in the draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade—and with it, half a century of constitutional precedent. Continue reading
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Author Archives: Peter Certo
An ugly new era of “states’ rights”
The Supreme Court is giving extreme new powers to increasingly autocratic state governments. That’s not democracy.
Media, take note: The GOP is now openly aligned against democracy
The media has a responsibility to tell Americans that a major party now openly endorses using violence to overturn elections.
If you’re the sort of person who follows the news, you’ve probably heard a good bit lately about podcaster Joe Rogan, Neil Young’s fight with Spotify, and maybe a little about Russia and Ukraine. Continue reading
Greed is prolonging the pandemic
The longer it takes the world to get vaccinated, the more variants we’ll see.
Stop me if this sounds familiar. Continue reading
We can have the filibuster or democracy, but not both
The warning from democracy advocates is clear: Kill the filibuster and pass the For the People Act, or our democracy won’t survive.
The American political system is complicated, but fixing it doesn’t have to be. Continue reading
Who’s afraid of ‘socialism’?
Americans were taught to associate ‘socialism’ with dictatorship and ‘capitalism’ with democracy. Are those days over?
For decades, Republicans have painted anyone left of Barry Goldwater as a “socialist.” Why? Because for a generation raised on the Cold War, “socialist” just seemed like a damaging label. Continue reading
End the wars, win the antiwar vote
Hard data shows ending our wars would be smart politics—and the first step toward repairing a moral calamity.
Like anyone else who was around that day, I can tell you exactly where I was on 9/11. Continue reading
The case for impeachment goes way beyond Ukraine
Democrats need to take Trump’s crimes against people and the planet as seriously as those against Joe Biden.
“Has Trump finally gone too far?” There’s a headline you’ve seen a thousand times. Continue reading
Washington vs. the Squad
Trump’s not the only one terrified of these four congresswomen—leading Democrats apparently are, too.
You’ve heard the cliche: If you’re taking heat from “both sides,” you must be doing something right. It’s dubious advice, but it fits pretty well for “the Squad”—the progressive first-year Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar. Continue reading
A Father’s Day gift for myself: Activism
My 2-year old will barely be the age I am now when the climate catastrophe comes, and that realization is taking a toll.
News about climate change has been so spooky for so long that it can feel like background noise. We find a way to carry on like normal, even when the news is disquieting. Continue reading
Russia was never the real scandal
Collusion with corporations has always been hiding in plain sight. It takes real people to fight that—not an elite prosecutor.
Robert Mueller won’t be filing any more indictments related to the “Russiagate” investigation. Continue reading
People who care about democracy don’t plot coups abroad
Do we think people who armed death squads and started wars really want to 'bring democracy' to Venezuela?
For some months now, Venezuela’s socialist government has lurched through a series of escalating crises—hyperinflation, mass protests, political violence—while both the government and its opposition have flirted with authoritarianism. Continue reading
Not one network should have aired Trump’s immigration speech
The president is going to demonize the media no matter what they do. So why not do the right thing?
Way back in 2014—a century ago, it feels like—President Barack Obama requested time on major networks for an Oval Office address on immigration reform. Continue reading
Midterm takeaway: We need a lot more democracy
Republicans banked this election on lies, fear-mongering, and rule-rigging. It almost worked.
I can’t be the only one who spent the night of the midterms tossing and turning. Though I managed to shut off the coverage and try to sleep, spasms of anxiety woke me repeatedly throughout the dreary hours. Continue reading
Nobody in the White House is part of ‘The Resistance’
They admit Trump’s dangerous, but they’ll stick with him as long as he cuts billionaires’ taxes, deregulates corporations, and feeds the military-industrial complex.
This week, the White House continues its furious hunt for the anonymous official who proclaimed themselves part of “The Resistance” in a New York Times op-ed. Unsurprisingly, the president is “obsessed” with it, CNN reports. Continue reading
Trump snubbed McCain; the media snubbed the rest of us
The media treated Trump's petty snub of John McCain as a bigger controversy than the $717 billion Pentagon bill named for the Arizona senator.
On an otherwise sleepy August day, President Trump signed the John McCain National Defense Authorization Act. Named for the dying Arizona senator who’s championed military budgets for his entire career, the bill increases U.S. military spending to an astonishing $717 billion. Continue reading
Nevermind the wall, they’re building warehouses
The newest plank of immigration enforcement? Kidnapping children and piling them into detention centers.
Most mornings lately, I’ve woken up to two things. First I hear my toddler, sounding off that it’s time to get up. Then I see the news stories about other toddlers our immigration authorities ripped away from their parents. Continue reading
Get ready for Bush 2.0
The president once distanced himself from the Bush legacy. Now he's brought back the architects of its darkest moments.
Political reporters have a saying: There’s always a tweet. Continue reading
What Trump wants on immigration is ethnic cleansing
The president's ‘open hand’ to Democrats is full of poison pills.
I’ll be honest: I didn’t watch Trump’s State of the Union address when it aired. Continue reading
Republicans admit their tax plan is all about rich donors
It’s unpopular. It’s expensive. But the donors want it.
Sometimes I have to remind myself that people in “real America” with “real jobs” don’t while away their mortal hours reading about politics. But God help me, if you’ve suffered through any coverage of the Republican tax plan, you’ve probably heard three things. Continue reading
Trump’s worst collusion isn’t with Russia—it’s with corporations
The billionaires who backed Trump are making out a lot better than Putin.
I’ve always been a little skeptical that there’d be a smoking gun about the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia. The latest news about Donald Trump Jr., however, is tantalizingly close. Continue reading
A bipartisan vote to put the brakes on war
One of the few things I recall fondly about the Trump campaign—a short list, I’ll admit—was the candidate’s apparent glee in ridiculing the war-mongering of his rivals and predecessors. Continue reading
The hidden bombshell in the Comey-Trump story
The president didn’t just want the FBI to stop investigating his friend Mike Flynn. He wanted it to arrest journalists.
How can you tell an authoritarian when you see one? We know the 20th century hallmarks—brown shirts, street rallies, and the like. But there’s an autocratic attitude, some historians suggest, that can easily be traced across the centuries. Continue reading
Foreign meddling in our vote? Remember how this feels.
During the Cold War, the CIA did everything it’s accusing Russia of doing today—and more.
Even in an election year as shot through with conspiracy theories as this one, it would have been hard to imagine a bigger bombshell than Russia intervening to help Donald Trump. But that’s exactly what the CIA believes happened, or so unnamed “officials brief on the matter” told the Washington Post. Continue reading
Republican ‘solutions’ will make inflation worse
If cutting corporate tax rates and making billionaires wealthier actually fixed inflation, it would have been fixed ages ago.
Posted on October 21, 2022 by Peter Certo
My wife and I recently had the tremendous misfortune of needing to buy a car. Car prices, you may know, reached an all-time high between this year and last. Continue reading →