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The Bitter Biden Story Could Be Baloney
Joe Biden's decision to leave the Democratic National Convention right after opening night makes sense. Being president is a full-time job, and he has to get back to the office.
But the more sexy story is that Biden's decision to not stick around reflects bitterness over how party officials pressured him to withdraw from the race. That he ...Read more
Why a Harris Presidency Promises Hope for LGBTQ Rights
For the past four years, the Biden-Harris administration has made LGBTQ rights a cornerstone of its policy agenda. Among other efforts, the Biden-Harris administration has consistently sued states to block anti-trans laws and policies, including asking the Supreme Court to lift bans on medically necessary health care for trans adolescents.
...Read more
We Thank You, Joe
Tonight’s opening of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago will be an opportunity for the Democratic Party and the nation to take stock of Joe Biden’s term of office and thank him for his service.
He still has five months to go as president, of course, but the baton has been passed.
Biden’s singular achievement has been to change...Read more
Beyond Boring
Donald Trump, with his familiar rants and raves, is definitely boring. But it's beyond that.
He is a man who is out of control. He often sounds demented and divorced from reality, raising the question of whether he really is suffering from progressive dementia. It certainly sounds like it.
For weeks now, his aides and allies have been urging...Read more
The Trump Crack-Up
As the Harris-Walz team soars (polls are already showing Kamala taking the lead), Trump is cracking up.
His ego can’t take it. He is freaking out that his opponent — a Black woman — has more energy and momentum behind her than he has.
Last Thursday, after 10 days of Kamala in the limelight, Trump was so desperate for attention that he ...Read more
How Kamala Harris Can Secure Federal Abortion Protection Once and For All
The Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade set off a wave of new attacks on abortion, causing a catastrophic public health crisis and rapidly eroding our civil liberties and reproductive freedom. So far, 14 states have banned abortion completely, and others have severely limited access to abortion by criminalizing it after the ...Read more
Why ‘Stolen Valor’ Political Fights Are So Intense -- and Misplaced in the Cases of Walz and Vance
While the saying may be true that candidates for vice president usually don’t make much of a difference in the ultimate success of presidential candidates, they do give us plenty to argue about.
That’s particularly true of the current contenders.
Vice President Kamala Harris seemed to barely have gotten the name of her chosen running mate,...Read more
If Kamala Harris is a DEI Vice President, is Usha Vance a DEI Bride?
The Indian-American duo of Usha Vance and Kamala Harris will challenge stereotypes. Welcome to the new, improved 2024 presidential campaign.
No matter how this plays out, a woman of Indian-American descent will be moving her influence into the White House.
She’ll either be the President of the United States Kamala Harris, or the wife of the ...Read more
Trump's Attacks on DEI Reveal Administration's Agenda for Second Term
This piece was written before Kamala Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee. No significant facts have been changed.
When Donald Trump's administration ended in 2020, two-thirds of Americans believed that Trump had increased racial tensions in the U.S. The Trump administration's sustained assault on political, civic and ...Read more
Why We Need Nauseous Optimism
For the first time in years, I’ve been walking around with a smile on my face. Maybe you have, too.
The positive energy unleashed by Kamala Harris over the last two weeks is in such stark contrast to the negative energy unleashed by Trump for the last nine years that it feels as if America has had a new beginning.
Complete strangers come up ...Read more
The Torch is Passed: from MAGA Throwbacks to America’s Future
Joe Biden didn’t just pass the torch to another generation. He passed it from white MAGA men to America’s future.
Consider that women now compose remarkably almost 60% of college undergraduates. And that ...Read more
How Donald Trump's Election Lies and Other Anti-Voter Policies Will Continue To Impact Our Democracy
Donald Trump's claim that the 2020 election was "stolen" from him is not only a lie (no widespread voter fraud was detected in that election); it's a lie that breeds public mistrust in our electoral system. Today, he is already casting doubt on the 2024 election, saying he will accept the results "if everything is honest." The implication is ...Read more
The Oklahoma Supreme Court Just Rejected the Nation's First Religious Public Charter School
In a win for the separation of church and state, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that Oklahoma's approval of the nation's first religious public charter school violates the state constitution and charter school statute, as well as the U.S. Constitution. The decision affirms what we already knew: A religious school can't be a public school, ...Read more
Welcome to the World of MAGA Machismo, Where Muscles Trump Brains
Ladies and gentleman, here is your United States Senate, then and now:
Sen. Daniel Webster on March 7, 1850: “It is fortunate that there is a Senate of the United States (with) a just sense of its own dignity, and its own high responsibilities, and a body to which the country looks with confidence for wise, moderate, patriotic, and healing ...Read more
A totally fixable budget impasse involving a potential presidential candidate
For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, Pennsylvania’s three-week-old budget impasse is the ultimate, binge-worthy summer drama.
There are great storylines, with real-world implications with fascinating characters in leading roles. And, like any addictive warm-weather series, the chances are pretty good that politics-watchers ...Read more
Trump and his lawyers think he can get away with anything. It's outlandish.
WASHINGTON -- "The king can do no wrong." That is the ancient legal maxim used to explain why a sovereign should not be held to account for misdeeds. President Trump and his lawyers are now making arguments that make this legal doctrine look wimpy. Their vision boils down to: The king can do whatever wrong he damn pleases, and there's nothing ...Read more