Dear Progressive Reader,

New revelations continue in Senate investigations into the questionable ethics of members of the highest judicial body in the United States. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and his rightwing activist spouse Ginni Thomas were further exposed in a new documentary, aired last week by Frontline on PBS television, titled “Politics, Power, and the Supreme Court.” As Bill Blum writes this week, “Counting on John Roberts to fix what’s wrong with the Supreme Court is a fool’s errand. This was true before the latest round of scandals involving Clarence Thomas, and it remains true in their aftermath.” Rather, Blum argues, it is the job of Congress to “serve notice that its oversight of the court’s operations is just getting started.” Meanwhile, cartoonist Mark Fiore offers another “tongue-in-cheek” solution: SCOTUS gift cards for lobbyists and attorneys wishing to influence precedent-setting decisions.

The cruel application of the Title 42 “public health law” to turn back those seeking asylum ended at midnight on May 11—but new rules are already in place that continue to make it difficult and dangerous for these refugees to come to the United States. As Jeff Abbott reports this week from Guatemala, “The Biden Administration has replaced the draconian Trump-era COVID policy with even tougher requirements for asylum seekers.” He continues, “For migrants, the lack of clarity surrounding the regional processing centers and U.S. policy has made their journey even more difficult.” Meanwhile, another less-reported crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border is the threats of mining to the environment and wildlife. As Miriam Davidson explains, a new bipartisan bill in Congress “seeks to update and clarify the archaic 1872 Mining Law . . . . But rather than rein in mining interests, it gives them even more power.” Activists are pushing back, but the bill’s future is uncertain.

Most eyes in Washington are focused right now on the battle over the debt limit, but many worry about the trade-offs that might be offered to keep the country out of “default.” As Mike Ervin notes this week, “Republicans . . . know attempting to do away with Medicaid would be so wildly unpopular that it could mean political suicide. So they’re enamored with any sneaky scheme that moves closer to that goal.” Meanwhile, many states are looking to weaken federal regulations on child labor. As Glenn Daigon reports this week for our Public Schools Advocate project, “It’s no coincidence that advocates for loosening child labor restrictions also push for expanding charter schools and voucher programs.” However, in one legislative bright spot, Eleanor Bader writes about two recently passed federal laws that provide accommodations and protect the rights of pregnant and nursing workers.

In the world of culture, our circulation and readership coordinator Sheriffer Chisanga looks at the newly released novel Yellowface by R.F. Kuang that “sets out to hold publishers accountable for their treatment of authors of color and to expose the dark side of the publishing industry.” And, Joe George reviews the new film BlackBerry about the device that everyone once wanted, and no one now has. But, George says, what the film really does is “dismantles the central myth of the corporate biopic, reminding moviegoers that stagnation and exploitation are the only fruit of individual effort. True creativity and innovation come only from the community.”

Finally, a little-noted anniversary passed last Wednesday. It was the fiftieth anniversary of the start of the Watergate hearings. On May 17, 1973, the U.S. Congress began holding public hearings to investigate then-President Richard Nixon’s illegal activities. The hearings were recorded live and broadcast on national television by the still-young Public Television network. It was momentous for those of us too young to have watched the 1954 national broadcast of the Army-McCarthy hearings. Fourteen years later, the Watergate broadcasts were followed by another shocking round of revelations in the 1987 Iran-Contra hearings. (I chronicled some of that story in an article about CIA contractor Eugene Hasenfus for Costa Rica’s TicoTimes in 2014.) Later, in 1991, Pacifica Radio (and subsequently NPR as well) would air the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings live on national radio. Today listeners and viewers seem jaded by the national broadcasts. The two live impeachment hearings for Donald Trump, and the ten highly-produced televised hearings of the January 6 committee seem to have had less impact on viewers than the earlier revelations of Nixon and Ronald Reagan’s crimes in office. But while polls continued to indicate little change of opinion due to the broadcasts, there is no question that the November 2022 midterms showed a resounding defeat of candidates representing the ideas that fueled the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. So maybe the old adage “knowledge is power” held up after all. A vote, I think, for continuing to report on and broadcast these hearings and investigations.

Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.

Sincerely,

Norman Stockwell
Publisher

P.S. - The new 2023 Hidden History of the United States calendar is still available. You can order one online.

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