Robert Reich, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center. - Raw Story
Stephan:
Robert Reich is right on the money. The Republicans have no real policy plans, what they are focusing on instead is misinformation and misdirection so people don’t pay attention to the fact that the House of Representatives has become almost completely dysfunctional, and they don’t want to talk about the fact that their leading candidate for the 2024 Presidential elections has over three dozen felonious charges against him that are awaiting trials.
Three of the leading House MAGAts (L-R) Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) Credit: Michael Reynolds / Getty
Although Republicans struggle to define what “woke” even means, they’re constantly using it as a weapon to combat anything that seeks to foster tolerance and acceptance.
Fortunately, most Americans think being informed and aware of social injustice…which is what being “woke” really means… is a good thing.
Fake crisis #2: The panic over trans people.
Trans people just want the right to exist safely as their true selves, like everyone else. And despite the lies spewed by some Republicans, there’s not a shred of […]
When I was a younger man, back in the late 1950s and early 60s, I travelled deeper into the South with a Black friend. He had something called, if my memory serves, The Green Book. It listed things like hotels where Blacks could get a room, towns and cities to avoid, particularly at night, restaurants where a Black person could get a decent meal. Being a prep school educated affluent White boy I had never seen such a thing before and was appalled. After the Civil Rights Act I thought I would never see such racism again, and yet here we are in the second decade of the 21st century, and the NAACP is warning Blacks about travelling to Florida, and the largest Black fraternity in the country is pulling its conference out of Florida because the state has become unwelcoming to Blacks. Christofascist racist Ron DeSantis and the legislature he controls are destroying Florida’s wellbeing in many ways, this being but the latest.
Hundreds participated in the National Action Network demonstration in response to Gov. Ron DeSantis’s efforts to minimize diverse education. Credit: Tallahassee Democrat
The oldest intercollegiate Black fraternity in the country is moving its 2025 conference from Florida, calling the state “hostile” to the Black community.
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. will relocate the fraternity’s 99th General Convention and 119th Anniversary Convention from Orlando “due to Governor Ron DeSantis’ harmful, racist, and insensitive policies against the Black community,” according to a press release from the organization.
The event was expected to generate $4.6 million, according to Alpha Phi Alpha.
“Although we are moving our convention from Florida, Alpha Phi Alpha will continue to support the strong advocacy of Alpha Brothers and other advocates fighting against the continued assault on our communities in Florida by Governor Ron DeSantis,” said General President Dr. Willis L. Lonzer, III.
Alpha Phi Alpha, whose membership has included historical figures like civil rights leaders Martin Luther King, Jr., Adam Clayton Powell and Thurgood Marshall, joins other national Black organizations that have either pulled their conventions out of Florida or denounced […]
Joanna Pocock, Contributing Writer - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan:
Published in the Guardian, the leading British paper read worldwide, this is a sad tale of the impressions of America recorded by someone traveling across the country by Greyhound bus.
Gone are the small, clean, cheap motels and public spaces where anyone can find a place to nurse a cup of coffee. Yet the camaraderie of the Greyhound is hanging on.
I recently completed the road trip of a lifetime. I struck out from Napanee, Ontario, to Los Angeles, California – a 2,800-mile trip that I had been planning since before Covid times. I wanted to take this time to think deeply about our overreliance on cars and our love affair with the open road.
There was a catch: as a non-driver, I would be crossing the country by Greyhound bus. It would have the advantage of getting me closer to the people I wanted to talk to, and the issues I knew I’d witness.
When I headed from Detroit towards Los Angeles, I knew I would encounter ecological catastrophe. I expected the poisoning of rivers, the desecration of desert ecosystems and feedlots heaving with antibiotic-infused cattle.
What I found was more complex, nuanced and intimate.
Historically, chroniclers of the road have travelled by car – intrepid individuals in charge of their destinies. They also tend to be male. The only book I could find […]
The christofascist majority cabal on the Supreme Court via Associate Justice Samuel Alito, a proven grifter, have made their position clear. No one has any power to establish any ethics standards to which we must adhere. We can do as we wish, take gifts and graft from anyone we wish, and the six of us have the power to tell the 334,233,854 million of you exactly how you will run your lives, and what rights you have. Does that sound like nonsense? It certainly does to me.
Christofascist Associate Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Credit: Politico
“I know this is a controversial view, but I’m willing to say it,” Alito told the Journal. “No provision in the Constitution gives them the authority to regulate the Supreme Court — period.”
Although the Constitution enables Congress to structure the lower federal courts, it explicitly vests judicial power within a singular Supreme Court.
Alito and some legal observers argue that means Congress can’t prescribe certain regulations for the high court without running afoul of separation of powers issues.
Chief Justice John Roberts has also questioned Congress’s ability to act, but not as definitive as Alito’s new remarks. Many court watchers who disagree with the premise believe that Roberts’ questioning has given fodder to Republican objections.
“I don’t know that any of my colleagues have spoken about it publicly, so I don’t think I should say,” Alito told the paper. “But I think it is something we have all thought about.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) was among the Democrats who rejected Alito’s reasoning, writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, “What a surprise, guy who is supposed to enforce checks […]
This is major good news about our leaving the carbon power era, and the internal combustion engine. Even better the important new trend is being mirrored in many other countries. This is the gas station network model. Next stage, I think will come powering the roads to charge EVs that drive over them. Maybe a combination of both. Anyway excellent news.
Seven of the world’s largest automakers are forming a new company to build a vast network of electric vehicle (EV) chargers across America, they announced Wednesday.
Why it matters: Their goal is to help potential EV buyers get over their “range anxiety” by tapping billions of dollars in federal subsidies to accelerate the rollout of fast-charging infrastructure.
The unusual effort by industry giants is also seen as a bid to quell Tesla’s growing influence over the EV ecosystem after it said it would open its own Supercharger network to other brands.
Driving the news: The group includes General Motors, Stellantis, Hyundai, Kia, Honda, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
The joint venture aims to become “the leading network of reliable high-powered charging stations in North America,” according to a statement from the companies.
It will compete not only with Tesla, but also with other charging networks like Electrify America, EVgo and ChargePoint — many of which have separate partnerships with the carmakers backing their new competitor.
Details: The participants plan to collectively invest at least $1 billion in the new company, the Wall Street Journal reported, […]
