For 9 days I sat in living rooms, walked streets and rode in taxis made in 1951. I climbed hills and reveled over the brilliance of organic farms. I learned about AfroCuban religion and culture, trekked through the Zapata Swamp, waded and meditated in the waters of the Playa Girón (Bay of Pigs), spoke with Cuban economists, nurses, doctors, students, farmers, revolutionaries, […]

It was just a few weeks ago that I was thinking, “Well, since Republicans control EVERY aspect of our state government now, at least lame duck should be quieter than usual.” That, of course, was delusional thinking and Republicans are making that very clear as we begin the 2016 lame duck – or, as I like to call it, “inflamed […]

Praising ‘Daddy’ just comes more naturally to the right The Huffington Post’s Sam Stein has a post up about Trump’s rushing to Indiana to take credit for Carrier only sending most of the jobs in its Indianapolis plant to Mexico. The headline reads: President Obama’s approval rating is still 10 percent higher than Trump’s but Stein does make a point. […]

For these two women, access to health insurance under the Affordable Care Act gives them the freedom to pursue their career goals. Phoebe Agena had a dream: to become a massage therapist. She graduated from massage school in 2009, but wasn’t able to find a job with benefits. So she began working part-time as a massage therapist while pulling enough […]

As the inimitable Ari Berman talked about in detail in our podcast a few weeks ago, one of the chief ways of disenfranchising poor people – particularly minorities – is to make it hard for them to vote. And one of the ways they do that is by passing laws that require a photo ID to vote on Election Day. […]

He and his friends care about protecting the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — and their health. Alex King knows that without the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, he wouldn’t have any health insurance. Because he just turned 25, he can stay on his parents’ insurance plan until he turns 26, one of the provisions of the ACA. After his […]

A few weeks ago, I wrote a column entreating Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to stand up to Donald Trump, given his status as a businessman-turned-Rust Belt governor who preaches the virtues of civility. While Democrats and liberal activists can be expected to do the heavy lifting when it comes to opposing the authoritarian elements of Trump’s presidency, it’s vital to […]

The people who’ve been conned aren’t the enemy. The con man is. Let’s say there’s a fair and open election in four years, which is actually a real question. But say it happens. Here’s a handy theme that will work as part of larger campaign full-throated progressive campaign: Trump betrayed you. The campaign we just witnessed centered on a theme […]

Before I get started, I’ll say what I have said during our weekly podcast: I do not think Green Party candidate Jill Stein is the reason that Hillary Clinton lost in Michigan. Despite the fact that if only a quarter of Stein voters hadn’t thrown their vote away on a candidate they KNEW would never come close to winning, the […]

We can’t give up our identity politics because the right won’t give up on theirs Abandoning everything you believe about politics, culture and America based on about 100,000 voters in three states is probably a bit hasty. But there is a slight yet loud call the left urging give Democrats to give up on “identity politics” to focus on economic […]

Incoming Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos doesn’t just want to expand school choice, provide (unconstitutional) school vouchers so parents can use state tax dollars to send their children to private and religious schools, and privatize our public schools. She’d rather not pay school taxes at all, and was nabbed in a tax dragnet by the state of Michigan for trying to avoid paying […]