by Dave Johnson | Mar 20, 2016 | Blog, Election 2016, Trade
For some time now most of the people in this country have been under economic pressure. Pay is not going up very much or at all, while living costs keep rising. One recent statistic stands out – 63 percent of Americans would have difficulty raising $500 to cover an...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 18, 2016 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
Once again proving the bigger bully, Donald Trump may have caused the wingnut media site Breitbart News to self-destruct, after his campaign manager assaulted one of the site's reporters. It all started at a Trump press conference in Jupiter, Florida, when Breitbart...
by Bill Scher | Mar 18, 2016 | Blog, Conservatism, Election 2016
The good people of Politico Magazine asked me to sketch out how Donald Trump could beat Hillary Clinton (and asked a conservative to show how Clinton could beat Trump.) I gave it my level best but the thought experiment shows the steep climb Trump faces. Here's the...
by People's Action | Mar 18, 2016 | Breakfast
Sanders Makes Case To Stay In Obama tries to nudge Sanders out. NYT: "President Obama privately told a group of Democratic donors last Friday that ... the party must soon come together to back her ... Mr. Obama chose his words carefully, and did not explicitly call on...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 17, 2016 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
With trade as a major issue in this election season (voters are against it), the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is clearly in trouble. All but one (John Kasich) of the remaining presidential candidates oppose it, with both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders actively...
by Jeff Bryant | Mar 17, 2016 | Blog, Education
When Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders fielded a question about charter schools at a Democratic Party presidential primary town hall recently, his answer left a lot of folks scratching their heads. Specifically, when an audience member asked, "Are charter schools a viable...
by Bill Moyers | Mar 17, 2016 | Blog
by Bill Moyers and Michael Winship From their “Dark Money” bagman Karl Rove to their philosophical guru David Brooks, the GOP elites are in a tizzy over saving the Republican Party from Donald Trump and the other intruders, extremists and crackpots who have fallen in...
by People's Action | Mar 17, 2016 | Breakfast
“LISTEN LIBERAL”: Join Thomas Frank Friday in Washington as he discusses his new book, “Listen Liberal: Whatever Happened to the Party of the People?” Sign up here for the event, to be held at noon at the AFL-CIO headquarters. To learn more about the book and for tour...
by Burning Issues Video | Mar 17, 2016 | Blog, Burning Issues, Defense/Foreign Policy, Election 2016
[fve]https://youtu.be/KRllAa55_OM[/fve] Melvin A. Goodman, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, discusses the lessons of the Libya crisis to be learned from Hillary Clinton's actions as secretary of state, and how Bernie Sanders has approached the...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 17, 2016 | Conservatism, Jobs and Growth, People's Budget, Progressive Vision
[fve]https://youtu.be/hPrUKRNCptQ[/fve] The decision by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday to not increase interest rates right now beyond their current 0.25 to 0.5 percent range is a testament to the fragility of the slow economic recovery the United States is now...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 16, 2016 | Blog, Climate, Conservatism, Progressive Vision, This Is The GOP
The 24-hour closure of the number one transit system in the nation sent Washington into panic, and underscored the importance of investing in transportation infrastructure. Yes, you read that right. In February, the financial analytics firm SmartAsset dove into Census...
by Jeff Bryant | Mar 16, 2016 | Blog, Education
Walmart's recent decision to close 269 stores was a blip on the national media radar, but it was big news in small towns and suburban neighborhoods across America. “Now we have to figure out how to do our shopping," a Walmart customer in Baldwin Hills,...
by People's Action | Mar 16, 2016 | Breakfast
“LISTEN LIBERAL”: Join Thomas Frank Friday in Washington as he discusses his new book, “Listen Liberal: Whatever Happened to the Party of the People?” Sign up here for the event, to be held at noon at the AFL-CIO headquarters. To learn more about the book and for tour...
by Burning Issues Video | Mar 16, 2016 | Burning Issues, Trade
[fve]https://youtu.be/YPHwifSa2R0[/fve] Robert Scott, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, explains in a video released Tuesday and produced by the Campaign for America's Future the sharp difference between Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and...
by Robert Borosage | Mar 16, 2016 | Blog, Election 2016, Progressive Vision
As expected, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton won big in the “Mini Super Tuesday” primaries Tuesday. On the Republican side, the outsiders – Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz – will brawl all the way into what still may be a contested convention. On the Democratic side,...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 15, 2016 | Blog, Election 2016, Progressive Vision
Here's what remains true after Tuesday's primary results: Sen. Bernie Sanders will arrive at the 2016 Democratic Convention in Philadelphia July 25-28 with a large support base, serious money, and the ability to ask for even more money for progressive groups. This is...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 15, 2016 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
In using the anger of his supporters to justify the escalating violence at his campaign rallies, Donald Trump is cynically exploiting a racial privilege as old, even older, than America itself. At a rally in North Carolina, Trump supporter John McGraw, 78, sucker...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 15, 2016 | Conservatism, People's Budget, Progressive Vision
The fiscal 2017 People's Budget was formally unveiled Tuesday by leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus on the same day that House Republicans released their own dystopian spending plan – and found that conservatives were criticizing it for not being austere...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 15, 2016 | Blog
[fve]https://youtu.be/zqiV0qjgXVg[/fve] We've been hearing a lot recently about a "New American Majority" of black and brown Democratic voters. Progressive whites, together with progressive people of color, reportedly make up 51 percent of all eligible voters today....
by Jeff Bryant | Mar 15, 2016 | Blog, Education
Folks are disgusted with Donald Trump's "University" that lured students – "with tantalizing promises of riches," according to the New York Times – into taking on huge amounts of debt to earn real estate degrees that were "basically worthless," according to an...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 15, 2016 | Blog, Trade
[fve]https://youtu.be/Sadt-sWxNDo[/fve] The U.S.-South Korea (KORUS) free trade agreement is now four years old. How's it doing? Out trade deficit with that country has doubled, costing tens and hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs. The Office of the U.S. Trade...
by People's Action | Mar 15, 2016 | Breakfast
Bernie Targets Midwest In Today's Primaries Today's primaries are "Bernie's big chance to rattle the race." Politico: "Even if Tuesday doesn’t significantly alter the delegate math that makes Clinton the prohibitive front-runner, a strong Sanders performance in the...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 15, 2016 | Blog, Democracy, Election 2016, Jobs and Growth
Polls are open Tuesday in four cities that are listed among the 10 "worst cities for black Americans" and two of "America's most segregated cities," according to reports published last year by 24/7 Wall St. The four worst cities for black people are all in Illinois....
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 14, 2016 | Climate, People's Budget
Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus will formally unveil their fiscal 2017 People's Budget on Tuesday, and when they do one of the key features they will tout is an aggressive plan to shift the country to a green energy future. "Climate change is no longer...
by Digby | Mar 14, 2016 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
I wrote this for Salon this morning: This past week we saw an escalation in the building of Donald Trump's authoritarian campaign for president. After a tumultuous week in before in which he won big after having refused to disavow the KKK, he appeared on the debate...
by Bill Scher | Mar 14, 2016 | Blog, Climate
Perhaps the most baffling aspect of the Republican presidential race is the obsession with immigration, led by Donald Trump, despite the fact that undocumented immigrant levels are at a 13-year low. But since the Republican Party is increasingly detached from the real...
by People's Action | Mar 14, 2016 | Breakfast
Dems Battle For Midwest Democrats lay out their Trump strategies in CNN town hall: "[Clinton] said she's the best bet to stand up to Trump in the general election because the Republicans who have 'been after me for 25 years' have already thrown the entire book at her...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 13, 2016 | Blog, Trade
Our country's "free trade" agreements have followed a framework of trading away our democracy and middle-class prosperity in exchange for letting the biggest corporations dominate. There are those who say any increase in trade is good. But if you close a factory here...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 11, 2016 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
Having failed to stop Donald Trump, and facing the really possibility of a contested convention, or even a Trump nomination, Republicans are looking for someone to blame. So, who are they blaming? Barack Obama, of course. National Journal’s Josh Kraushaar wrote that...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 11, 2016 | Blog, Retirement Security
During Thursday's Republican presidential debate, here's how CNN's Dana Bash falsely framed a question about Social Security: Mr. Trump, you don't want to raise the retirement age, and you also don't want to cut benefits even for wealthier Americans. But according to...
by Bill Scher | Mar 11, 2016 | Blog, Retirement Security
Donald Trump has attracted attention for being the rare Republican who doesn't promise to cut Social Security. But that doesn't mean you should trust him on Social Security. As a general rule, you should not trust Donald Trump on anything, as he offers a constant...
by People's Action | Mar 11, 2016 | Breakfast
Violence Erupts In Trump Campaign Attendee of Trump rally punches black man in the face. Politico: "'Yes, he deserved it. The next time we see him, we might have to kill him,' said John McGraw, 78, in an interview with 'Inside Edition' ... 'We don’t know who he is. He...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 11, 2016 | Blog, Trade
"Free trade": The elites are selling it but the public is longer buying it. Look at the support for Democrat Bernie Sanders and Republican Donald Trump, especially in light of Sanders' surprise 20-point comeback in this week's Michigan primary. With primaries coming...
by Jeff Bryant | Mar 10, 2016 | Blog, Education
Numerous observers have noticed K-12 education has finally gotten some meaningful attention in the presidential primary debate – at least in the Democratic Party. The subject had been virtually a no-show in the contest until the Democratic presidential debate in...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 10, 2016 | Blog, Conservatism, Election 2016
[fve]https://youtu.be/r9QZTAU3AhQ[/fve] The rise of Donald Trump in the Republican Party has been fertilized by the failed promises of 50 years of conservative ideology, according to E.J. Dionne, syndicated columnist and author of a new book, "Why the Right Went...
by People's Action | Mar 10, 2016 | Breakfast
Dems Debate in Miami Sanders and Clinton joust in Miami debate. NYT: "...Mrs. Clinton threw his past support for Fidel Castro and President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua in Mr. Sanders’s face and repeatedly criticized him for opposing a 2007 [immigration reform] bill ......
by Richard Eskow | Mar 10, 2016 | Blog
The Brookings Institution recently issued a report showing that poor Americans die at a much earlier age than rich Americans, and that this life expectancy gap between rich and poor is growing rapidly. A professor of public health at Yale University told the New York...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 10, 2016 | Blog, Jobs and Growth, People's Budget
Set aside for a moment concerns about political gridlock on Capitol Hill. Think about the actual gridlock that could await lawmakers and citizens on their way to Capitol Hill. Earlier in March, Washington area residents learned that one of the major bridges in the...
by Bill Scher | Mar 9, 2016 | Blog
Over at The New Republic, I make "The Case for Shutting Down the Republican Party." The Republican coalition is simply too reliant on bigots to survive in an increasingly multicultural America. That bigotry is fueling the rise of Donald Trump, who gets clobbered in...
by Emily Schwartz Greco | Mar 9, 2016 | Blog, Climate
Aubrey McClendon’s 2013 Chevy Tahoe ignited after he slammed into an Oklahoma City overpass at high speed. Flames charred the brazen oil and gas executive’s body so badly that medical experts relied on dental records to verify that he’d died. One day before McClendon...
