Earlier this month, Facebook unveiled something of a watershed moment when it came to social media interference operations. As Facebook revealed, hundreds of fake accounts — including those pushing Scottish secession — had been traced back to Iran, including some tying directly to Iran’s main propaganda organ, Press TV. With the revelation, it was clear […]
Three members of the Supreme Court announced on Thursday that they would literally force orphan children to live in a group home or similar setting, rather than allow those children to be placed in foster care with a same-sex couple. Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch did not explain their reasoning in […]
What started off as a student-led movement to get one California college to offer medication abortion on campus turned into state legislation mandating all public universities provide students’ access to the pill — and it’s poised to become law. The bill, SB 320 or the “College Student Right to Access Act,” was sent to Democratic Gov. Jerry […]
Harvey Weinstein was powerful. Yes, that’s past-tense. Was powerful. Now he is a sad pariah awaiting his rape trial. But not too long ago, he was among the most important producers in Hollywood — a status he seemed to relish, and a reputation about which he relentlessly bragged. Now, for the first time in his public life, Weinstein […]
Colorado voters will get the chance to decide on new restrictions on oil and gas drilling in the state this November, sparking what’s expected to be a tense battle between industry and environmentalists. The controversial Initiative 97 successfully garnered enough signatures on Wednesday to qualify for the ballot. The initiative seeks to increase the distance […]
President Trump on Thursday falsely suggested NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt had manipulated his comments about former FBI Director James Comey during an interview in May this year, shortly after Comey’s dismissal. “What’s going on at @CNN is happening, to different degrees, at other networks – with @NBCNews being the worst,” Trump tweeted, citing a tweet […]
One in eight Americans will be freed from the scourge of criminalized poverty starting next year, after Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a law to end the cash bail system in California this week. The new law, which is set to take effect in October 2019, will make California the first state to abandon a […]
ORLANDO, FLORIDA — On a sweltering Sunday — the last day of early voting before Florida’s primary — a group of volunteers sat beneath a tent outside a public library in Orlando, waiting for Spanish-speaking voters to approach them with questions about the election. Latinos make up almost a quarter of Florida’s population and roughly […]
Amid all the news coming out of Afghanistan — the Taliban’s hold on power, the death of the leader of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) there, and constant attacks around the country — a troubling bit of info has been lost: U.S. airstrikes are the highest they’ve been in a decade. The Military Times on […]
Amid all the news coming out of Afghanistan — the Taliban’s hold on power, the death of the leader of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) there, and constant attacks around the country — a troubling bit of info has been lost in the shuffle: U.S. airstrikes are the highest they’ve been in a decade. The […]
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to reconsider the Obama-era Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), a rule that restricts some of the most toxic air emissions from power plants. The EPA, under the leadership of Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, has issued a draft proposal that questions whether it was “appropriate […]
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to reconsider the Obama-era Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), a rule that restricts some of the most toxic air emissions from power plants. The EPA, under the leadership of Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, has issued a draft proposal that questions whether it was “appropriate […]
There was a very odd, and in many ways disturbing moment at Wednesday evening’s debate between New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and his Democratic primary challenger, Cynthia Nixon. “Considering that you embrace what’s known as ‘democratic socialism,'” moderator Maurice DuBois asked Nixon, “will you forgo the governor’s salary of $179,000 and turn it back […]
A wave of progressive candidates has taken 2018 by storm, surging to victory in primaries around the country. In addition to issues like affordable health care, labor rights, and immigration, many among the new crop of would-be lawmakers have emphasized environmental issues, speaking to the intersections of pressing problems like pollution and climate change with […]
More than 4.5 million Floridians received Social Security benefits in 2017 — over 21 percent of its population. Had they taken part in their senator’s proposed “paid parental leave” scheme, they would be receiving quite a bit less. For a while, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has been touting his idea to cut Social Security and use […]
Rudy Giuliani is President Trump’s personal attorney, but Trump isn’t his only client. The former mayor of New York City now is trying to undermine anti-corruption initiatives in another client, the country of Romania. Romania has a history of rampant corruption, with many prominent lawmakers using their power for personal gain. In recent years, the Eastern […]
A 68-year-old California man has been arrested by the FBI for making repeated threatening phone calls against staff of the Boston Globe in which he said he would kill them and labeled them “the enemy of the people.” Robert Chain, from Encino, California, began calling the Globe’s office on August 10th, after the newspaper announced […]
The Education Department is considering policies that would narrow the definition of sexual harassment, require a higher standard for establishing whether or not the accused is responsible for sexual assault, and make it harder for survivors to hold schools accountable for sexual assault. On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that it has seen the […]
President Trump and his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, discussed a plan to prevent the National Enquirer’s parent company from publishing a trove of negative news items about Trump spanning decades, according to a new report from the New York Times. Just ahead of the 2016 presidential election, Trump and Cohen discussed buying the rights to […]
Florida’s Republican nominee for governor, Rep. Ron DeSantis, quit his role as an administrator for a racist, Islamophobic, and conspiratorial Facebook group Wednesday, shortly after media outlets reported his affiliation with the group. DeSantis was one of 52 administrators and moderators of the “Tea Party” group (which is not affiliated with the official Tea Party […]
Two weeks ago, USA Gymnastics president Kerry Perry finally gave a press conference — her first in her eight months on the job — and filibustered questions with empty platitudes about progress, change, and accountability in the wake of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal. Then, this week, USA Women’s Gymnastics appointed Mary Lee Tracy, the […]
There are more than a dozen doctors in Congress and none support Medicare for All. Rob Davidson, an emergency physician running for Michigan’s 2nd congressional district, could change that. Davidson’s full-throated support of a national government-run health care system not only deeply contrasts his opponent’s position — Republican incumbent Rep. Bill Huizenga doesn’t believe health care […]
With a new school year less than a week away and teachers back on the job as of Monday of this week, schools throughout the Detroit Public Schools Community District will be without drinking water after tests detected elevated levels of lead and copper. As Annalise Frank of Crain’s Detroit reported, Nikolai Vitti, the superintendent […]
Government officials in Ohio and New Jersey invested hundreds of millions of pension dollars in a high-risk hedge fund that controls the National Enquirer’s parent company, American Media Inc. (AMI), which offered to run interference for the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, burying stories that might negatively impact then-candidate Trump. A new report by Capital […]
During a press gaggle Wednesday, President Trump bragged that the federal government had done a “fantastic job” with recovery efforts in Puerto Rico after the devastation of Hurricanes Irma and Maria last year. On Tuesday, Puerto Rico’s government had revised the death toll from 64 to 2,975 following a study from George Washington University. In […]
