From the looks of it, this guy has more than one regrettable tattoo. But one in particular (guess which) led to an intense standoff with police in Maine this week. (Photo courtesy of The Waterville Morning Sentinel.)
Today What Unions No Longer Do author Jake Rosenfeld looks back at the power that unions used to have. He points to President Nixon’s appointment of union organizer W. J. Usery Jr. to be an assistant Secretary of Labor — something Rosenfeld says would be “unthinkable” today.
Sarah Jaffe responds, pointing out that today “attacks on labor are not just a small facet of today’s conservative ideology, but central to it.”
We’ll be hosting a live chat (sub. req.) with Rosenfeld and Jaffe as well as with MSNBC’s Ned Resnikoff and labor intellectual Rich Yeselson on Friday at noon.
Today is the 11th anniversary of the commencement of U.S. combat operations in Iraq. Seth D. Michaels looks back, what have we learned? And what haven’t we?
OK, seriously, so what gives with CNN anchor Don Lemon? His coverage of the missing Malaysian jet this week would be comical if it wasn’t about such a tragic event.
It’s looking more likely this morning that the plane crashed in the ocean when it disappeared almost two weeks ago. Yet Lemon has spent the last several days exploring every crazy conspiracy theory on the internet, like something out of InfoWars or an Art Bell broadcast.
Dylan Scott looks at legislation passed in Georgia that bans health insurance for state employees and insurance plans sold through the state-based Obamacare exchange from offering coverage from abortion care. It turns out, this is actually part of the design of Obamacare — states are sort of encouraged to make their own rules about abortion coverage.
Here are the details on that voting rights decision that was just handed down by a federal judge in Kansas. Republican state officials are having a hard time containing their glee, but this quote from Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne stands out:
“I feel there’s been a media cover up of the extent to which voter fraud is a significant problem in Arizona,” he told TPM’s Eric Lach in an interview this afternoon. “[The ruling is] a significant victory for the people of Arizona over the Obama administration to assure that only citizens and not illegals vote in Arizona.”
A federal judge in Kansas today just sided with Republicans and dealt a blow to voting rights advocates. More to come shortly.
It turns out 22 states, most of them with legislatures controlled by Republicans, have used a provision of Obamacare to place restrictions on abortion coverage.
Charlie Rangel really, really doesn’t care for the tea party — in an interview with NY1 he said the tea party dominates in “those red states, they’re the same slave-holding states.”
It’s really too bad ex-Louisianan David Kurtz isn’t here today to write about Edwin Edwards’ bid for Congress. The famed ex-con governor and failed reality TV star did an interview with MSNBC’s Chuck Todd in which he claimed he totally would have voted for Obama in 2012 — if he hadn’t been convicted.