This month is the 50th anniversary of National Public Radio (NPR). Knowing about my work back then with other advocates, to persuade Congress to pass legislation creating NPR and PBS, (which was opposed by most of the commercial radio/TV industry), a friend asked what I think of NPR now. Continue reading
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lamented Friday that Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia is “deeply unwell” following the emergence of a 2019 video showing Greene—then a private citizen—telling the New York Democrat through the mail slot of her locked office door that she is “bringing God’s judgement on our country” by supporting women’s reproductive freedom. Continue reading
The coronavirus pandemic hasn’t exited yet. But it’s ebbing. With our greed pandemic, on the other hand, no such luck. Avarice is still spreading at levels seldom ever seen. Continue reading
The sudden shift from “we love our essential workers” to “they’re living off the government dole” seemingly happened overnight. Continue reading
There are two separate Sheikh Jarrah stories—one read and watched in the news and another that receives little media coverage or due analysis. Continue reading
A controversial oil refinery on St. Croix, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands, is in the government’s crosshairs after a third incident in just three months has sickened people. On May 5, after gaseous fumes were released from one of the oil refining units of Limetree Bay Refining, residents of the unincorporated Caribbean territory reported a range of symptoms, including burning eyes, nausea and headaches, with at least three people seeking medical attention at the local hospital. At its peak in 1974, the facility, which opened in 1966, was the largest refinery in the Americas, producing some 650,000 barrels of crude oil a day. It restarted operations in February after being shuttered for the past decade. Continue reading
On April 20, President Joe Biden remarked that the police murder of George Floyd “ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see the systemic racism” in American policing, and he called for action at all levels of government “to ensure that Black and brown people or anyone… [doesn’t] fear the interactions with law enforcement.” Continue reading
On April 22, more than 300 American lawmakers publicly pledged their unconditional loyalty to a foreign power. Continue reading
There’s no ambiguity about life in Occupied Palestine. Continue reading
The combination of unemployment and additional stimulus support has made staying home a better economic decision than working for peanuts under stressful conditions. Continue reading
Is the ransomware takedown of Colonial Pipeline’s “largest refined products pipeline” in the United States by a cyber-criminal gang called “DarkSide” a political hit by Donald Trump’s allies in the transnational criminal underworld? Considering that things were going pretty well for President Biden on the Covid-19 front, the steady restoration of the U.S. economy, and job favorability (63 percent) and taking into account that Trump is stewing in his own misery over Biden’s success, the steep rise in the price of fuel and reports of motorist gas station lines in certain parts of the country has thrown a spanner into Biden’s “Build Back Better” program. Continue reading
We’ve got the Academy Awards, the Emmys, and Grammys. But what should we call the award for the most extraordinary performance by a corporate profiteer? Continue reading
The political window of opportunity for Joe Biden and Democrats to deliver on their promises to the American people and pass the legislation the country needs, could close at any time. Continue reading
A few years ago, after the 2007-2008 financial crisis, some clever people, whose identity is hidden behind the appellation of ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’, devised a decentralized electronic system of payments, which is independent of the existing traditional banking system. It is based on a new form of digital ‘currencies’ or ‘electronic currencies’, the ‘cryptocurrencies’. Some observers have called the cryptocurrency innovation a sort of a new 21st Century digital gold rush. Continue reading
As the Senate Rules Committee convened Tuesday to mark up a sweeping legislative proposal aimed at protecting and expanding voting rights, progressive activists ramped up pressure on the chamber’s Democrats to eliminate an archaic procedural rule that poses a critical threat to the bill’s chances of becoming law. Continue reading
As Indians continue to scramble for survival through a deadly second COVID-19 wave and deal with an inadequate health care system that has failed them at every step, for a majority of the country living in rural areas and in slums in urban centers, food insecurity is proving to be a bigger struggle than protecting themselves against the deadly virus. Continue reading
If you’ve chosen to read this, it’s a fair bet you’re been aware for quite some time that the Republican Party has gone completely insane—especially if you agree with that classic definition of insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Continue reading
The Republican-controlled Missouri House of Representatives made its own contribution to the Trump Party’s cancel culture and racist acceptance doctrine by voting to make January 12 “Rush Limbaugh Day” in the state. Limbaugh was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri and died in February from cancer. The Trump Party has elevated Limbaugh to political sainthood. Trump added to Limbaugh’s right-wing deification by awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2020 and giving him a seat of honor at the 2020 State of the Union address. Continue reading
CHICAGO—The Chicago News Guild plans a mass rally for May 15 to publicize its campaign to save the Chicago Tribune and allied papers from the predatory private venture fund, Alden Global Capital. The rally will be at Freedom Center, 560 West Grand Ave. Continue reading
At a recent press conference, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez described a common scene at the check-cashing places that dot her Bronx neighborhood. Continue reading
The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 was criminal. It was criminal because of the immense force used to demolish Afghanistan’s physical infrastructure and to break open its social bonds. Continue reading
Among the many reasons behind the recent failure of Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, to form a union was their employer’s intimidation tactics about what a union would mean for workers. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) in its response to the disappointing vote against unionization released a statement saying, “Amazon interfered with the right of its Bessemer, Alabama, employees to vote in a free and fair election.” RWDSU Union head Stuart Appelbaum claimed that the retail giant “required all their employees to attend lecture after lecture, filled with mistruths and lies, where workers had to listen to the company demand they oppose the union.” Continue reading
America prefers to look forward rather than back. We’re a land of second acts. We move on. Continue reading
Anti-war activism met corporate gaslighting Wednesday as General Dynamics CEO Phebe Novakovic refused to acknowledge the deadly consequences of her firm’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other nations after CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin interrupted a company shareholder meeting. Continue reading
Pushing back on the right-wing narrative about the reason for real or perceived labor shortages in some markets nationwide, progressives on Friday told corporations that if they want to hire more people, they’ll need to start paying better wages. Continue reading
The Chamber of Commerce and the Republicans are seizing on what they say is a poor April jobs report to call for ending unemployment benefits they say are too generous. Their idea is that by heaping more pain and suffering on U.S. workers they will be forced to go back to work even if only to jobs that pay sub-human wages. The logical conclusion that this would be a good time for corporations and businesses to finally increase pay to living wage levels is one they want to avoid coming to at all costs. Continue reading
Arizona’s Republican-led Senate is looking to expand its post-election audit of 2.1 million ballots in the state’s most populous county while Arizona’s Democratic secretary of state and the U.S. Department of Justice appeared headed to federal court to shut down the post-election exercise. Continue reading
The Republican Party is trying to rebrand itself as the party of the working class. Continue reading
In the 2020 presidential election, 66 million Americans voted with a mailed-out ballot after most states loosened restrictions on qualifications to vote by mail to make voting safer in the pandemic. Another 36 million people voted in person at an early voting site before Election Day after many states expanded this option. Continue reading
The U.S. government, in its pursuit of so-called monsters, has itself become a monster. Continue reading
The New York Attorney General’s Office released a report Thursday showing that major U.S. telecom companies pumped millions of dollars into a “secret campaign” that flooded the FCC with millions of fake comments in an attempt to influence the agency’s 2017 repeal of net neutrality protections. Continue reading
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The age of fear: A graduation message for terrifying times
Posted on May 17, 2021 by John W. Whitehead and Nisha Whitehead
With all that is crashing down upon us, from government-manipulated crises to the blowback arising from a society that has repeatedly prized technological expedience and mass-marketed values over self-ownership and individual sovereignty, those coming of age today are facing some of the greatest threats to freedom the world has ever witnessed. Continue reading →