The Biden administration on Monday announced that it will raise the refugee cap to 62,500 this fiscal year, following backlash the President faced last month for keeping the historically low Trump-era refugee cap of 15,000 intact. Continue reading “Biden Raises Refugee Cap To 62,500 After Backlash For Keeping Trump Era Limit”
The Census Privacy Fight With Huge Voting Rights Implications Hits Major Inflection Point
The 2020 census passed a major milestone last week with the release of the count’s apportionment data, which determines how many seats each state gets. The bureau remains in the throes of a consequential, but under-the-radar fight about the privacy protections it plans to use to protect respondents’ identity.
Five Points On The Recall Effort Dogging Gov. Gavin Newsom In California
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is staring down a recall effort that will likely lead to an election for his political survival sometime before the end of the year.
Continue reading “Five Points On The Recall Effort Dogging Gov. Gavin Newsom In California”
Biden Admin To Begin Reuniting Families Separated Under Trump’s Border Policy This Week
Families that had been split under the Trump administration’s child separation policy at the U.S.-Mexico border will begin reuniting this week, according to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Cheney Takes More Swipes At Trump As GOPers Push For Her Ouster
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) isn’t backing down.
As some House Republicans suggest that the third-ranking Republican could be ousted from GOP leadership for her vehement refusal to elevate former President Trump, Cheney took her feud with Trump up a notch in a tweet hitting back at the election fraud falsehoods that he continues to espouse. Continue reading “Cheney Takes More Swipes At Trump As GOPers Push For Her Ouster”
Kansas Lawmaker Charged After Allegedly Grabbing Student, Ranting About God And Sex
A state lawmaker in Kansas was charged with misdemeanor battery violation and briefly detained after reportedly ranting to students about God, sex and suicide while substitute teaching.
COVID and the Roots of Reform
When I was 19 I got assigned to a work study job as a research assistant for Daniel Rodgers, a history professor who, fortuitously, turned out to be one of two or three people who taught me how to think. The research I was going to do was for a project that was eventually published a decade later as Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age. The book is about the trans-Atlantic connections, borrowings, rivalries between reformers and states during the period in which virtually all North Atlantic states devised some version of what we call welfare states. There were rich well-springs of home grown reformism in the US. But looking to models in Europe was a constant focus. A recurrent theme is that the US so often seemed to be a late arriver to these reforms or resisted them because of beliefs in American exceptionalism or a more general resistance to state action.
Where Things Stand: Flynn Has Been Busy Post-Pardon
In the waning days of his presidency, former President Trump pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, ending a years-long, messy legal battle in which Flynn pleaded guilty twice to lying to the FBI only to reverse course, hire Sidney Powell as his lawyer, and seek to reverse his plea.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Flynn Has Been Busy Post-Pardon”
McConnell Decries ‘Disturbing’ Decline In COVID-19 Vaccinations In Home State
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Monday expressed his dismay over the “disturbing” trend of declining vaccination rates in his home state. Continue reading “McConnell Decries ‘Disturbing’ Decline In COVID-19 Vaccinations In Home State”
OR Lawmaker Faces Charges After Video Showed Him Opening Capitol Door To Protesters
An Oregon lawmaker now faces criminal charges after opening the doors of the Oregon statehouse to far-right protesters in December.