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Pa. Gov. Shapiro signs disaster declaration for I-95 collapse in Philadelphia
A day after a fiery truck explosion brought down a section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia, Gov. Josh Shapiro has signed a “disaster emergency” proclamation clearing the way for state aid and assistance to start flowing to the site. “To expedite the rebuilding of I-95 and cut through the red tape, this morning, I issued […]
Dominion over the Earth? Who were we kidding? What the wildfires teach us
WASHINGTON — On a clear day, the view from the top-floor terrace of the Kennedy Center is one of the best in the nation’s capital. Turn one way, and the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials, along with the iconic pointed top of the Washington Monument, frame the sky above the National Mall. Glance uptown, and there’s the U.S. Capitol dome. […]
The AR-15 is ‘America’s Rifle.’ Ban it
How many dead children does it take to finally move to restrict access to high-powered weapons of war? Lawmakers in Texas provided us with an answer this week, as a bipartisan panel of state lawmakers voted to advance a bill raising the minimum age to purchase assault weapons, The New York Times reported. “It was the […]
PA’s Barletta dumps Trump; calls on DeSantis to run for prez in ’24
Back in 2016, you would have been hard pressed to find a more stalwart supporter of then-candidate Donald Trump than Lou Barletta. Barletta, the former mayor of Hazleton, and then a Republican member of Congress from Pennsylvania, was one of Trump’s earliest Keystone State backers, and went to bat for him in the race against Democrat Hillary Clinton. No more. On Friday, Barletta took to […]
Whose House? Biden’s House
Normally, when you’re a guest in someone’s house, it’s good manners to roll with the punches, and take whatever comes your way. Bed too hard? It’s only one night. You’ll live. Don’t like the soup they served for dinner? Maybe you packed snacks in your duffle bag. And if someone says something off-color or hostile […]
‘Abortion absolutely is healthcare’: U.S. House panel told as GOP pursues nationwide ban
A nationwide abortion ban would widen disparities in healthcare and drive up the maternal mortality rate, particularly among Black women, physicians and advocates told a U.S. House panel on Thursday. “Women’s progress has always been inextricably linked with the ability to control our own bodies,” Jocelyn Frye, the president of the National Partnership for Women […]
Report: Online trolls are spreading offline hate against LGBTQ Americans
Baseless attacks against LGBTQ Americans by online trolls — whether anonymous or by well-known politicians and public figures — have created a “cascade of … hate, underpinned by dangerous misinformation and outright lies against the LGBTQ+ community,” according to recently released research. That’s the top-line finding of a new report, jointly released by the Center for Countering […]
Biden’s Philly speech was a challenge to all of us. We have to step up
Returning to the state where he launched his candidacy — and the one that handed him the White House in 2020 — President Joe Biden on Thursday called on Americans to join him in a fight to preserve democracy and to beat back the forces of extremism. The 30-minute address was equal parts tribute to the nation’s […]
Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards reminds us what heroism looks like
Every Republican who’s ever denied, or tried to minimize, the hideously destructive reality of the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, should be required to sit and listen to the testimony of Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards. And if it takes strapping them into a chair, and propping their eyelids open, “A […]
The GOP’s anti-abortion crusade is not pro-family at all
In the hours after the bombshell leak of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion toppling Roe v. Wade, I awaited the torrent of Republican-authored press releases vowing to provide every resource the federal government could muster to support the millions of new families they were going to usher into existence. Of course, that didn’t happen. […]
What are book bans really about? Fear
More years ago than I really care to count, the children’s librarian in my little town in rural northwestern Connecticut, apparently tired of my endlessly renewing the same book over and over again, pressed a copy of “The White Mountains” by John Christopher into my eight-year-old hands. Mrs. Bullock was her name. She was the mother of one of my […]
Public defenders are the bedrock of our legal system. Tom Cotton damaged that
Since it seems to have become something of a thing of late, here’s what the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says about the right to an attorney and the right to a fair and speedy trial: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an […]