President Biden condemned China on June 24 for exerting pressure on Hong Kong to close down the special region’s only remaining pro-democracy newspaper, Apple Daily. Biden said, “It is a sad day for media freedom in Hong Kong and around the world,”adding, “through arrests, threats, and forcing through a National Security Law that penalizes free speech, Beijing has insisted on wielding its power to suppress independent media and silence dissenting views.” Continue reading →
Even as openly socialist candidates are winning political power, the right is working hard to equate socialist governance with repressive regimes.
New York’s second-largest city, Buffalo, has essentially elected a socialist mayor. India Walton, who calls herself “very proud” to be a democratic socialist, swept past incumbent Mayor Byron Brown in Buffalo’s Democratic mayoral primary race on June 22. Walton’s victory is reminiscent of recent shocking election upsets where self-proclaimed socialists, particularly in the state of New York, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman, have beaten establishment favorites. Because Buffalo residents have reliably chosen Democratic mayors for decades, Republicans didn’t even bother putting up a candidate, and Walton is expected to prevail against any write-in opponents in November’s general election. Continue reading →
Both parties are vying to change who votes and how ballots are cast.
For now, the U.S. Senate Republicans have blocked sweeping election reform. They argued that America’s elections are not in crisis and are best run by rules set by states. Meanwhile, in capitals across battleground states, numerous Republican legislators have been claiming elections face numerous threats and have passed dozens of laws, the most aggressive of which curtail voting options, newly police the process, and empower party loyalists at post-Election Day counting stages. Continue reading →
The US is again illegally bombing nations on the other side of the planet which it has invaded and occupied and branded this murderous aggression as “defensive”. Continue reading →
The UN wants Cuba’s freedom to occur only on U.S. terms—through foreign intervention and against the will of the Cuban people. Continue reading →
Policymakers and the media are paying too much attention to how quickly the U.S. economy will emerge from the pandemic-induced recession, and not nearly enough to the nation’s deeper structural problem—the increasing imbalance of wealth that could enfeeble the economy for years. Continue reading →
Counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism analysts make a dangerous mistake when they lump all of the present-day fascist movements—of which there are several—under one monolithic description. The manifestation of fascism within American politics, with the Republican Party now clearly espousing fascist and anti-democratic principles, has resulted in various fascist factions vying for political control of both the party and national, state, and local government. Continue reading →
The Icelandic newspaper Stundin reports that a key witness in the US prosecution of Julian Assange has admitted in an interview with the outlet that he fabricated critical accusations in the indictment against the WikiLeaks founder. Continue reading →
On a cold winter day in February 2019, activists gathered in downtown Northampton, Massachusetts, to denounce the attempted U.S.-backed coup in Venezuela. More than two years later, in the wake of ongoing rallies and discussions with Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, activists gained some ground as the congressman tweeted an open letter to President Joe Biden on June 14 in which he called on the president to end “all secondary and sectoral sanctions” against Venezuela. Continue reading →
"We're saying across this country, it's time for people... to march on these Senate offices," declared Rev. William Barber.
Activists with the national Poor People’s Campaign were arrested Wednesday after blocking a street in front of the Hart Senate building in Washington, D.C. to demand passage of the For the People Act, a popular voting rights expansion bill that Republicans successfully filibustered just 24 hours earlier. Continue reading →
The corporate media claim that President Biden went easy on Vladimir Putin outside the G7 meeting, but that’s only because Biden preferred to sic the imperial press hounds on the Russian president. Continue reading →
We love to hate class reunions and hate to love them. First of all, they are not a true cross section of the class because only people who did well in life show up–a concept called “survivorship bias” in science. Where are the people who failed economically, professionally, socially, romantically and bodily? They don’t show up! And that’s not counting the people who really can’t show up because they are listed in the In Memoriam section of class handbook. “Those no longer with us” are a wakeup call to how old we are that no one wants to think about. Continue reading →
"With the current Medicare platform, those three things are just left out, like it's no big deal," said the Democratic leader. "But it is a big deal and we should fix it."
Following calls from progressives to include an expansion of Medicare in the infrastructure bill being negotiated in Congress, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced late Sunday his support for covering dental, vision, and hearing care under the popular 56-year-old program, backing a proposal long pushed by Sen. Bernie Sanders. Continue reading →
The story you’ve heard about immigration, from politicians and the mainstream media alike, isn’t close to the full picture. Here’s the truth about how we got here and what we must do to fix it. Continue reading →
Collapsed Florida condo sends a giant nuke warning
Posted on June 30, 2021 by Harvey Wasserman
The horrifying collapse of a south Florida condo should alarm us all about the next reactor catastrophe. Continue reading →