Reading Time: 4 minutes Everyone in American politics thinks their side is losing. How is this possible, and how can we counteract the zero-sum message of all against all?
Politics
Posted inLaw
New Brunswick legislature rejects Hindu invocation request, citing tradition
Reading Time: 2 minutes The legislature of New Brunswick, in Canada, rejected an invocation request from a Hindu activist because lawmakers insisted the prayer could only come from a fellow Christian. It’s a startling admission of how legislators supposedly committed to religious neutrality have no problem letting Christianity be the default religion of the government. The request, made this […]
Posted inPolitics
Two days of infamy
Reading Time: 2 minutes President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared December 7, 1941 to be “a day of infamy.” That was two weeks before my fifth birthday. January 6, 2021 was also a day of infamy. That was shortly after my 84th birthday, almost 80 years after the earlier one, which has long been known as Pearl Harbor Day. On December […]
Posted inPolitics
Far right attacks in Brazil highlight world’s ongoing anti-democratic wave
Reading Time: 3 minutes On January 8, thousands of supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, the far right past president of Brazil who flew to Florida days before the end of his term in office, stormed Congress, the Supreme Court, and the presidential palace in the capital, Brasilia. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Lula) condemned these attacks as the work […]
Posted inPolitics
Did anti-vaxxer deaths from COVID swing elections?
Reading Time: 6 minutes Anti-vaccine conservatives suffered a disproportionate death toll during the COVID pandemic, compared to liberals who got vaccinated in huge numbers. Could this dynamic have affected the outcome of any elections in 2022, and if so, which ones?
Posted inPolitics
Congress, Oklahoma, and Jan 6: A difficult start for US politics in 2023
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s called the “Millstone Act of 2023”, which should tell US citizens everything they need to know about the ongoing struggle with far right Christian extremism. Named after Luke 17:1-2, a passage in which Christ advocates that it’s better for a person to have a millstone tied around their neck and be drowned, than that […]
Posted inPolitics
‘Freethinker’ Mark Rozzi just became the new speaker of the Pennsylvania House
Reading Time: 4 minutes Pennsylvania State Representative Mark Rozzi, a self-identified “freethinker,” is now the speaker of the State House after Republicans couldn’t use their slim (temporary) majority to elect a leader from their own party. If you’ve been following the drama in that state, you know how chaotic things have been. After years of Republican dominance in the […]
Posted inNews
Donald Trump Jr. selling the ‘We The People Bible’
Reading Time: 3 minutes Donald Trump Jr is selling the MAGA holy book, The We The People Bible. And you may think is some sort of satirical story, but it is not. The Huffington Post’s story Donald Trump Jr. Gets Holy Hell Over Bible Fundraiser Video tells the tale of a new grift by our old friend enemy of […]
Posted inPolitics
NY Gov. Kathy Hochul’s veto of a secular addiction treatment bill makes no sense
Reading Time: 5 minutes On December 23, New York Governor Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill (Senate Bill S7313A / Assembly Bill A8163) that would have expanded treatment options for secular people struggling with substance abuse and addiction. Hochul has now—finally—explained her veto of the addiction treatment bill, but it makes no sense whatsoever. The purpose of the bill was […]
Posted inLaw
New year, new laws: The US poverty and precarity crisis in 2023
Reading Time: 4 minutes As of January 1, 2023, the state of Missouri requires cities and counties to enforce a ban on sleeping on public property: under bridges, in parks, and of course along public walkways. Offenders face up to 15 days in jail, or a $750 fine. The same law also redirects state and federal funding away from […]