Thursday, September 12, 2019 With your support, Truthout can expose the powerful forces threatening the country and the planet.
Donate Now →
Another Crowded Democratic Debate, Another Chance to Gloss Over the Issues William Rivers Pitt, Truthout Thursday night's Democratic presidential debate in Houston will once more feature 10 candidates vying for crumbs of time in the cacophony of another crowded format. The signal issues of the day will likely get short shrift again, but the dynamics between the candidates themselves -- many of whom are struggling for relevance -- will be worth watching.
Read the Article →
More People Are Voting -- But 1,688 Polling Places Have Closed in 6 Years Mike Ludwig, Truthout After the record voter turnout for the 2018 midterms, analysts are predicting an unprecedented turnout for the 2020 election. However, civil rights groups are warning that the mass shuttering of polling places in 13 states, including states with deep histories of racial voter suppression, could make it harder for people of color as well as rural voters, voters with disabilities and lower-income voters to access the ballot.
Read the Article →
Right-Wing Supreme Court Allows Trump Asylum Ban to Take Effect Lisa Needham, The American Independent Institute On Wednesday, the Supreme Court allowed Trump's "third-country" asylum rule to go into effect. The policy bars migrants that have traveled through Mexico to the U.S. from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador from seeking asylum. A lower court recently blocked the rule, but the Trump administration has successfully pressed the Supreme Court to issue an order bypassing the decision and letting the policy take effect anyway.
Read the Article →
Unjust, Coercive Police Interviews Are Traumatizing Children of Color Amanda Anger, Truthout Thirty years have passed since the innocent youth in the Central Park Five case were unjustly targeted and punished, but the police practice of conducting coercive interviews with children without consent or legal counsel continues. Organizations established to protect children from abuse regularly end up functioning as law enforcement agencies, plagued by the biases of our legal and foster care systems against people of color.
Read the Article →
Trump Condemned for Refusing to Grant Protected Status to Dorian Victims Jake Johnson, Common Dreams Reports that the Trump administration will not offer Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Bahamians displaced by Hurricane Dorian drew outrage from lawmakers and rights advocates this week. Granting TPS, which the Trump administration has attempted to end for other disaster victims, would allow Bahamians to live and work in the United States until it is safe for them to return home.
Read the Article →
Will the U.S. and Iran Resume Talks After John Bolton Is Ousted? Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh, Democracy Now! John Bolton has become the third national security adviser to be ousted by Trump so far. Bolton had strongly pushed for Trump to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal. Trump is expected to announce a replacement next week. Peace activist Phyllis Bennis discusses what Bolton's exit means for U.S. foreign policy moving forward.
Watch the Video and Read the Transcript →
Equity Firms and Venture Capitalists Lobby to Save Surprise Medical Bills Rachel Bluth and Emmarie Huetteman, Kaiser Health News Investors have bought up many large physician-staffing companies and driven up profits by staying out of insurance networks so that they can charge patients surprise out-of-network bills. As proposed bans on surprise medical bills move through Congress and state legislatures with bipartisan support, it has become increasingly clear that these firms are actively watering down any legislation that would protect patients but affect their bottom line.
Read the Article →
The Pompeo Doctrine Is a Formula for Catastrophe in the Arctic Michael T. Klare, TomDispatch As new trade and drilling opportunities arise in the Arctic, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo affirmed the United States intends to be out front in capitalizing on them. In addition, the U.S. will broaden its military presence in the Arctic to better protect U.S. interests, while countering Chinese and Russian inroads in the region.
Read the Article →
Trump Administration Labor Board Appointees Are Anti-Labor Extremists Janine Jackson, FAIR The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has recently ruled that employers misclassifying employees as independent contractors doesn't violate the National Labor Relations Act. Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, discusses what the NLRB is up to and what this rule means for employee collective bargaining and other rights.
Read the Interview and Listen to the Audio →
In Chicago, Survivors of Police Violence Heal Through Song Jonita Davis, YES! Magazine In 2015, the Chicago City Council passed a historic reparations ordinance to address the trauma of violence against Black boys and men who were victims of torture at the hands of the Chicago Police Department decades earlier. Since then, the Chicago Torture Justice Center has become a host to the Freedom Songbook workshop, a forum that uses protest songs to bring communal healing to survivors and to prevent isolation and other PTSD-related issues permeating Black communities.
Read the Article →
In Case You Missed It
To Confront Climate Change, We Need an Ecological Democracy C.J. Polychroniou, Truthout Climate change has resulted from the deliberate exploitation and marginalization of those with a weaker voice and confronting it at the structural level calls for a shift in whose voices are heard, says Marit Hammond, a lecturer in environmental politics at Keele University in the U.K. An ecological democracy is a society that's both ecologically sustainable and democratically legitimate because neither is possible without the other.
Read the Interview →
Much "Foreign Aid" Is Taxpayer-Funded Plundering of the Global South Barbara G. Ellis, Truthout Since 1961 when USAID was established, so-called U.S. foreign aid has exploited the empathy and gullibility of Americans for the less fortunate abroad while functioning as a taxpayer-supported program for neocolonial exploiters of Global South countries' resources. From overseas development projects to military bases, foreign aid has enabled successive administrations to conceal how U.S. tax dollars have been used to earn billions, often in tax-free profits, for U.S. corporations.
Read the Article →
Like what you're reading? Support Truthout's independent news and analysis by making an automatic monthly donation.
Donate Now → | 
