Ocasio-Cortez slams Texas governor’s ‘disgusting’ defense of abortion ban

"It's not just ignorance, it's ignorance that's hurting people across this country."

Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday condemned Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s latest defense of his state’s near-total ban on abortion as “disgusting” and said the Republican leader’s ignorance on matters of basic biology is actively harming people across the nation. Continue reading

Democrats, abortion and phony politics

Democratic party leadership are as uninterested in fighting for abortion rights as they are in addressing anything else their members need and want.

Most leftists in this country still remain loyal to the Democratic Party despite decades of deception, overt collusion with ruling class interests, and support of U.S. imperialism. The Democrats use a variety of means to keep the support of millions of people who yearn for something other than the excuses and double dealing they are constantly offered. Continue reading

Abortion bounty hunters in Texas are not “whistleblowers”—they’re cruel vigilantes

Calling those who exploit this law "whistleblowers" is a way to turn the true meaning of whistleblowing on its head. We might as well have history books referring to enforcers of the Fugitive Slave Act as "good Samaritans," or monitors of Jim Crow compliance as "civic activists."

One of the many preposterous claims coming from supporters of the vicious new Texas law against abortion is that bounty hunters—standing to gain a $10,000 reward from the state—will somehow be “whistleblowers.” The largest anti-abortion group in Texas is trying to attach the virtuous “whistleblower” label to predators who’ll file lawsuits against abortion providers and anyone who “aids or abets” a woman getting an abortion. Continue reading

Protect workers from this heat

As temperatures rise, we need to stop corporate lobbyists from blocking common sense rules to keep workers safe.

Corporate acolytes and right-wing moralists constantly preach to laboring stiffs about the uplifting dignity of work. Continue reading

Disorderly retreat from Afghanistan: The U.S. has become an overextended military empire posing a serious threat to its long-term security

In 1987, British historian Paul Kennedy (1945- ) wrote a geopolitical book about how great powers rise and fall, in which he studied how economic and military factors can accompany or cause previously dominant nations to lose their great power status. His main conclusion is that sooner or later a great hegemonic power will become overextended and its economy will struggle to keep its big military machine going. Indeed, an empire can increase its resources by launching wars abroad, at least for a while. However, sooner or later, a situation of permanent war and the military occupation of foreign lands result in more costs than benefits. Continue reading

‘Four-alarm fire’ for democracy as Texas voter suppression bill becomes law

"Texas already had some of the most restrictive voting laws in the nation, and the passage of this egregious bill just made conditions for voters even worse," said one voting rights advocate.

The voter suppression law signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Tuesday already faces legal challenges that were promptly filed by a number of civil rights groups, which argue the restrictive measure is transparently aimed at keeping people of color from casting ballots and violates federal law. Continue reading

Battle rages to pass $3.5 trillion progressive agenda

With the Labor Day holiday over and Congress returning to Washington, the rush is on to pass the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill which is the vehicle for the bulk of President Joe Biden’s progressive domestic agenda. Standing in the way are so-called “centrist” Democrats like Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who are acting as the main opposition to the plan to shift the economy in a pro-people direction. Continue reading

Everyone deserves clean air and water—no matter their zip code

The right to clean air and water should have nothing to do with luck.

I grew up in a loving family—financially poor, but spiritually rich. My family was blessed with the abundance of having my two strong grandmothers who helped us make it out of poverty. Continue reading

Refugee ancestors

Listen to the news this week, and it’s full of stories of Afghan refugees, and stories about Vietnamese refugees half a century ago, along with refugees from Latin America being beaten back at the Mexican border with Guatemala, and the impending wave of refugees that may soon be flowing from places like Madagascar, where climate chaos has ensured that the crops no longer grow. Continue reading

How Trump’s attempted coup could still succeed

The former president’s attempted coup is not stopping. He still refuses to concede and continues to rile up supporters with his bogus claim that the 2020 election was stolen. Tens of millions of Americans believe him. Continue reading

Texas groups file suit against ‘unconstitutional, anti-democratic’ voter suppression law

"SB1 not only makes voting harder for all Texans, it threatens the most marginalized of us the most," said the ACLU. "We won't stop fighting until it's blocked."

A lawsuit against a widely criticized voter suppression law in Texas was filed Friday by a group of civil rights organizations who argue the new restrictions imposed by Republican lawmakers in the state violate core constitutional protections. Continue reading

Australia still favours profit over aboriginal heritage

In May last year, the giant mining company Rio Tinto made headline news after blasting the Aboriginal sacred site Jukaan Gorge in Pilbara, in its expansion of its iron ore mine. The Australian government’s official consent to the destruction was given to Rio Tinto in 2013 and despite historical evidence being uncovered a year later, including artefacts and links to ancestral heritage, no renegotiation was made, because the Aboriginal Heritage Act does not allow for reconsideration. Continue reading

Who’s raking off all your awful office meetings?

This year’s Labor Day found millions of Americans—those who labor in offices—almost bubbling about the prospects for an epic transformation of their workspaces. Within Corporate America, working remotely may soon become a permanent standard operating practice. Continue reading

Microchip, macro impact, micro vision

Let’s say you’re looking to invest some savings in the expanding micro-chip industry and a friend hands you the 2021 Annual Report of the Delaware (chartered) Corporation, Microchip Technology, a firm based in Chandler, Arizona. You’re a studious type and want to know what the company is producing before deciding if becoming a shareholder-owner is for you. Continue reading

Texas abortion law is based on similar measure in Nazi Germany

Texas SB 8, also known as the Texas Heartbeat Act, is based on a law enacted in 1933 in Nazi Germany and signed into effect in May 1933 by Chancellor Adolf Hitler—Gesetz zur Anderung strafrechtlicher Vorschriften vom 26.Mai J933. Like the Texas law, the Nazi measure banned the advertising of abortions by doctors or hospitals. It also prohibited Aryan women from receiving abortions or being administered abortifacients, abortion-inducing substances, including herbal and prescription drugs. Continue reading

The money that never arrives in Cuba

With the money she earns cleaning houses in the morning and an office at night, Virgen Elena Pupo, a 47-year-old Cuban migrant, has managed to raise her family in Washington, D.C., but has not been able to help her parents in Holguín, Cuba. She is separated from her parents by more than 1,246 miles. In Cuba’s eastern region, Holguín has been hit hard by an increase in COVID-19 cases, but Pupo cannot visit or send money to her parents due to the restrictions on flights and remittances from the United States as a result of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies that President Joe Biden has continued. Continue reading

Chip war: Can the U.S. really gain from China’s pain?

With the U.S. imposing technology sanctions on China, the world’s electronics industry is facing turbulent times. After the sanctions, Huawei has slipped from its number one slot as a mobile phone supplier—which the company held during the second quarter of 2020—to number seven currently. Commenting on this slide, Huawei’s rotating chairman Guo Ping has said that the company’s battle is for survival right now. According to Reuters, Guo in a note circulated internally maintained that Huawei “will not give up and plans to eventually return to the industry’s ‘throne.’” On that count, Huawei is not only surviving but doing quite well. It is still the world leader in the telecom equipment market with a hefty 31 percent revenue share, which is twice that of its nearest competitors Nokia and Ericsson, and profits of nearly $50 billion in the first six months of 2021. But will Huawei be able to retain its market position without China catching up with the latest developments in chip manufacturing and design technologies? Continue reading

Is America doomed? Or is this just a huge opportunity for the progressive agenda?

Some Americans feel like we’re living through a “last days” biblical Revelation kind of scenario. Continue reading

Is billionaire philanthropy a sham?

Remember when Jeff Bezos was showered with praise for donating $100 million to food banks last year? Continue reading

Sotomayor rips right-wing justices as Supreme Court effectively overturns Roe v. Wade

In a blistering dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor slammed conservative justices for opting to "bury their heads in the sand" when faced with a "flagrantly unconstitutional law."

The conservative U.S. Supreme Court issued an unsigned order in the dead of night Wednesday leaving Texas’ draconian abortion ban in place, a move that effectively overturns Roe v. Wade and imperils reproductive rights across much of the United States. Continue reading

Texas actions make it a prime candidate for international sanctions

Texas has now become a real-life version of the dystopian Republic of Gilead, the christofascist dictatorship depicted in Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and in the eponymous Netflix series. On the heels of Texas restricting suffrage to Hispanics, African-Americans, disabled, and others by instituting a voting law that unfairly targets minorities and permits violent neo-Nazi thugs to harass voters, it has now instituted a Gestapo-like informant system that rewards private citizens for suing women and others believed to be involved in having and enabling abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Many women are not even aware they are pregnant at four to six weeks. Continue reading

Inequality in the U.S. is much more than a moral disgrace

What happens economically when wealth tilts to the top? Most of us see immoral ugliness wherever wealth concentrates. Much more lurks that we need to see. Continue reading

On propaganda and failed narratives: New understanding of Afghanistan is a must

For twenty years, two dominant narratives have shaped our view of the illegal US invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, and neither one of these narratives would readily accept the use of such terms as ‘illegal’, ‘invasion’ and ‘occupation.’ Continue reading

Bring all the troops home: Stop policing the globe and put an end to endless wars

It’s time to bring all our troops home. Continue reading

Roe v. Wade in grave danger as Supreme Court lets Texas abortion ban take effect

"Access to almost all abortion has just been cut off for millions of people. The impact will be immediate and devastating."

A draconian Texas law banning abortions beyond around six weeks of pregnancy took effect at midnight after the conservative U.S. Supreme Court did not act to block it on Tuesday, a decision that could have major implications for reproductive rights across the country. Continue reading

Why the discovery of natural gas in Mozambique has produced tragedies, not economic promise

On February 18, 2010, Anadarko Moçambique—a subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum (bought by Occidental Petroleum in 2019)—discovered a massive natural gas field in the Rovuma Basin off the coast of northern Mozambique. Over the next few years, some of the world’s largest energy corporations flocked to the Cabo Delgado province, where the basin is located. These included corporations like France’s TotalEnergies SE (which bought Anadarko’s project), the United States’ ExxonMobil, and Italy’s ENI, which collaborated with the China National Petroleum Corporation for “oil and gas exploration and production.” Continue reading

Why the U.S. still suffers from COVID

The COVID-19 crisis cannot be separated from the failed state.

Donald Trump was the convenient scapegoat for the first year of the COVID-19 crisis. Austerity, low wage work, housing insecurity, and the profit driven health care system were problematic issues before anyone heard the word COVID-19 or indeed before Trump’s presidency. Every failing of the United States already in existence came into sharp relief when the pandemic struck. Continue reading

Workers are quitting their jobs—and that’s good

Workers are quitting jobs where they don’t feel respected. That’s a welcome sea change.

Corporate bosses across America have been sputtering in outrage at you working stiffs this summer, spewing expletives about the fact that while the U.S. economy has been coming back, you haven’t! Continue reading

The QAnon crowd has a familiar face: How right-wing cults have plagued our politics

The latest white guy going on a rage-bender before being “respectfully” taken into custody for “mental health evaluation” was at the Miami airport, an incident that broke the internet last week. Continue reading

Afghan crisis must end America’s empire of war, corruption and poverty

Americans have been shocked by videos of thousands of Afghans risking their lives to flee the Taliban’s return to power in their country—and then by an Islamic State suicide bombing and ensuing massacre by U.S. forces that together killed at least 170 people, including 13 U.S. troops. Continue reading

Afghanistan still the graveyard of empires

Some “opposed ideas” about a twenty-year war.

Sunday, October 7, 2001: Less than a month after 9/11, President George W. Bush announces to the world, “On my orders the United States military has begun strikes against al Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Continue reading

To avoid ‘spoiling’ hungry children, Wisconsin school district opts out of free meal program

"No matter their family income, it’s unacceptable for any student to go hungry at school," said the Wisconsin Democratic Party.

Hundreds of families and educators in Waukesha, Wisconsin, are calling on the city’s school board to reverse a decision it made earlier this year to opt out of a federal meal program that was introduced at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, offering free food to students regardless of income. Continue reading