Dear Progressive Reader,
This week’s news has been dominated by the second Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Mark Fiore offers a clever illustration of the limited defense that Trump’s lawyers have so far offered. As leader of “Nuns on the Bus,” Sister Simone Campbell writes this week, “Now our only hope is that more Republicans will be swayed by the evidence presented at the Senate impeachment trial and by the words of fellow Republicans and Democrats who want to protect democracy. . . . It is only in the process of truth telling that you will find the healing that we all need.”
In the meantime, the country continues to deal with the damage wrought by four years of a Trump presidency. Shaan Sachdev chronicles the damage done to international relations and the prospects for peace by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Jeff Bryant, lead fellow of our Public School Shakedown Project, reports on the legacy of former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, noting, “DeVos may be out of office, but her pro-charter policies are gaining ground in state legislatures.” And award-winning reporter James Goodman describes the effects of Trump’s rhetoric and actions on breaking our immigration system.
The incoming administration has many hurdles to jump, but progressive forces must nevertheless hold them to the promises of the platform and agenda that got them elected. Roger Bybee writes about how Joe Biden can bring back manufacturing jobs to the United States. Sarah Lahm discusses concerns over getting vaccines delivered, especially to teachers and school staff being asked to return to in-person learning. And, in two op-eds for our Progressive Media Project, Mary Gatta and Molly Vollman Makris address ways that Biden can “rescue our cities and towns,” and Virginia He points out that young people “have been waiting for decades for bold climate legislation that puts our future first.” The new issue of The Progressive is out now, and addresses many of these issues in depth. Several articles are now available on our website; please take a look.
Also this weekend, The Progressive, together with independent bookstore A Room of One’s Own, will present a virtual book talk with author Frank Smyth about his book The NRA: An Unauthorized History. The event will take place on Facebook and YouTube Live at 7:00pm Central Time on Sunday evening, which is also the third anniversary of the tragic shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School in Parkland, Florida. Please join us. If you would like a copy of the book mailed to you, you can receive one for a donation to The Progressive of $50 or more.
Keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.
Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher
P.S. – Our new February/March issue is off the presses and out in the mail. If you don’t already subscribe to The Progressive in print or digital form, please consider doing so today. Also, if you have a friend or relative that you feel should hear from the many voices for progressive change within our pages, please consider giving a gift subscription.
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