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Common Dreams

News & Views | 4/7/20

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Medical workers take in patients at a special coronavirus intake area at Maimonides Medical Center on April 07, 2020 in the Borough Park neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Hospitals in New York City, which has been especially hard hit by the coronavirus, are facing shortages of beds, ventilators and protective equipment for medical staff. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

by Jon Queally, staff writer
Employer-based health insurance during the current coronavirus outbreak, said one researcher behind the study, "is like an umbrella that melts in the rain."

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An election official checks in a resident at a drive-up polling place set up outside of Roosevelt Elementary School on April 7, 2020 in Racine, Wisconsin.

by Jessica Corbett, staff writer
As footage of Wisconsin's crowded polling stations flooded the internet Tuesday, public health officials and civil rights advocates condemned the state's Supreme Court and Republican legislative leaders for allowing in-person voting during the coronavirus pandemic and thwarting Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' last-minute efforts to address voter safety concerns.



by Jake Johnson, staff writer
"A direct insult to the American taxpayers—of all political stripes—who want to make sure that their tax dollars are not squandered on wasteful boondoggles, incompetence, or political favors."



by Julia Conley, staff writer
Decades of rising air pollution in many parts of the U.S. has made the coronavirus pandemic even more dangerous for people living in heavily polluted areas, according to a new study released by Harvard University on Tuesday.


Activists who stayed mostly in their cars for social distancing, lined Summit Ave, honking horns outside the Governor's Residence in St Paul last month as they called for the release of high risk prisoners and ICE detainees from MN facilities to lower the chances of infection. (Photo: Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via Getty Images)

by Andrea Germanos, staff writer
"We are adrift, about to sink, because if there is one person to be infected, in our unit we would all perish."



by Julia Conley, staff writer
Thousands of Americans have joined government watchdog Public Citizen in calling on Congress to open the Medicare program to anyone who loses health coverage due to job loss amid the coronavirus pandemic, as an estimated 3.5 million workers have so far.



by Jake Johnson, staff writer
"I think the private equity industry can pull itself up from its trillion dollar bootstraps," said Rep. Mark Pocan, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.


Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaking at the Heartland Forum in Storm Lake, Iowa on March 31, 2019.

by Eoin Higgins, staff writer
"We must not allow Republicans to exploit the pandemic to engage in voter suppression."


Coronavirus crisis volunteer Rhiannon Navin greets local residents arriving to a food distribution center at the WestCop community center on March 18, 2020 in New Rochelle, New York

by Andrea Germanos, staff writer
"The affluent political class supports Coronavirus Care For All because they fear getting COVID from poor people, but that same affluent political class opposes Medicare for All because they can't get cancer from poor people."


guard and inmate

by Jessica Corbett, staff writer
Amid growing calls worldwide for governments to urgently pursue efforts to limit the spread of COVID-19 in jails and prisons, a leading law and policy organization is pressuring U.S. governors to release inmates who are at risk for contracting the infectious disease and pose no threat to public safety.



by Jake Johnson, staff writer
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg warned in a scathing dissent that the right-wing majority's ruling "will result in massive disenfranchisement."

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Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

by John Nichols
GOP lawmakers in our state threw tantrums at a point when everyone else was working to save lives, keep people healthy, stabilize the economy and preserve democracy. And the judicial activists on the high court sided with these legislative charlatans.


Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks at a New Year's Eve campaign event on December 31, 2019 in Des Moines, Iowa. The focus of many democratic presidential campaigns will be on Iowa in the coming weeks before the caucus on February 3, 2020. (Photo: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

by Alan Minsky
Progressive Democrats of America calls upon Senator Bernie Sanders to continue his presidential campaign until the end of the 2020 primary season.


A woman leaves the Frank P. Zeidler Municipal Building after not being able to cast her ballot at the already closed drop-off site in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 6, 2020. - National Guard members will man some polling stations and voters in more than 100 municipalities will have nowhere to cast their ballots as the US state of Wisconsin holds elections on April 7, 2020 despite the coronavirus epidemic. Wisconsin, like dozens of other US states, is under a stay-at-home order to prevent the spread of the v

by Jeff Milchen
Those of us who value democracy need to stop solely playing defense against the endless array of vote suppression tactics devised by Republicans.


"The next wave of infrastructure spending cannot be business as usual," Poole writes. "The Green Stimulus plan offers a necessary framework for getting this right."

by Isaiah J. Poole
Even without a Donald Trump in the White House, we know from past experience what an infrastructure bill coming out of Congress would look like absent overwhelming grassroots pressure.


In unsettling ways, the crisis is working for him as previously untenable policy options are becoming essential to curtailing the coronavirus. (Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

by Karen Greenberg
A victory parade in the coronavirus moment.


A "mystery" note from the Vice President of the United States to the author. (Photo: Courtesy of Michael Winship)

by Michael Winship
The pandemic threatens letter carriers, their customers, the US Postal Service itself – and even the November election.

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