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Republicans denounce Putin’s war on facts, but are silent on the one at home | John L. Micek
There’s a lot that’s terrible about Russian strongman Vladimir Putin’s brutal attempt to erase Ukraine from the map of Europe. From the incalculable humanitarian disaster that has seen millions of Ukrainians flee their home country, to the appalling carnage on the streets of Mariupol that was devastatingly humanized with the death of a pregnant woman and her unborn […]
Bullies understand one language. The U.S. and West must speak with one voice
There are days when big news events just swallow up your entire schedule. Thursday was one of those days. As was the case at the onset of the pandemic, and again with the 2020 election and its aftermath, and the violence of Jan. 6, it felt like the only thing we could do as a […]
3 poll numbers that should scare Democrats. And 3 that should give some hope
If the central argument for President Joe Biden’s election in 2020 was his competence and decades of experience in Washington, three numbers in a new nationwide Quinnipiac University poll are a warning shot for the White House and Democrats as they look to hold their majorities in the U.S. House and Senate. Here they are: 56, 61, and 62. And […]
Report: Justice Dept. to investigate Republicans who sent fake Trump electors to Congress
The U.S. Dept. of Justice has launched an investigation into an apparent attempt by Republicans in seven battleground states won by President Joe Biden in 2020, including Pennsylvania, to allegedly subvert the election results by sending falsified slates of electors for ex-President Donald Trump to Congress, according to a published report. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told CNN that […]
In Year Two, no more Mr. Nice Biden, please
About halfway through his marathon news conference last week, President Joe Biden finally asked the only question in Washington that’s worth asking. With congressional Republicans standing in the way of the Democrats’ every initiative, including voting rights (which should be as bipartisan as it gets), what do they actually support? “What are Republicans for? What […]
About the GOP’s historical amnesia on voting rights
If you get into an argument with a Republican about the GOP’s lamentable support for voting rights and its fractured relationship with Black Americans, it won’t be long before your rhetorical sparring partner bellows “Robert Byrd” at you and declares the argument over. The logic here, if it even can be called that, is that […]
What should happen if abortion returns to the states? An expert explains
To say there’s a lot riding on the U.S. Supreme Court’s eventual ruling in a case challenging Mississippi’s restrictive abortion ban is a galactic understatement. If, as currently appears the case, the court effectively topples Roe v. Wade, the 1973 precedent that declared a constitutional right to abortion, and without a uniform federal statute making abortion the law of […]
Four more children dead, and a nation shrugs. Is enough finally enough now? | John L. Micek
(*This column was updated at 3:10 p.m. on Friday 12/3/21, to reflect that the accused shooter’s parents have been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the deaths of four teenagers) Families in Michigan will set an empty place at the table this holiday season in the wake of the mass shooting at Oxford High […]
Biden’s agenda: Dems need to decide if they want to win a battle, or lose the war | John L. Micek
(*This column was updated at 8:11 a.m. on Saturday, 10/30/21 to correctly reflect the priorities of the Progressive Caucus) Democrats on Capitol Hill may not be directly taking their cues from the legendary Carthaginian military leader Hannibal, but as moderates and progressives fell on each other this week over President Joe Biden’s watered-down domestic spending […]
My 9/11 prayer: The lessons we can learn from the great silence
Two decades ago, my sister was teaching English at the Hosaka English Academy, in Numazu, Japan, about two hours southwest of Tokyo. Sometime in the dark hours after the attack, as the entire world was struggling to make sense of a tragedy that was nearly incomprehensible in its scale, the mother of one of my sister’s students came […]
Everything we know about work is wrong. The pandemic proved it
So what can the plight of a little cafe tell you about the state of the American economy and the changing face of work? A lot, as it turns out. The other week, the bistro where my family and I have been grabbing brunch every Sunday since the start of the pandemic announced that it […]
In our mad, polarized, COVID surge summer, the only way out is through | John L. Micek
It all kind of piled up this week: COVID hospitalizations and deaths are up. We’re still trying to convince the unvaccinated to get vaccinated, even as intensive care units fill beyond capacity. As the Delta variant of the implacable virus attacks our children. Florida’s governor threatens the withhold the wages of educators who want to protect the lives of young people in their charge. […]