Op-Ed

This fall, in the lead-up to the midterm elections, a group of Catholic nuns, Protestant ministers, and other faith leaders caravanned around South Dakota on what they called a “Love Your Neighbor Tour.” They stopped in grocery stores, diners, senior centers, libraries, and other community gathering spots to engage people in conversation about health insurance. […]

The September 30 suicide attack on ethnic Hazara students at Kaaj Educational Center in Kabul has sparked protests by women and girls in provinces across Afghanistan. The attack, which took place as female students sat for a practice university entrance exam, claimed 53 lives, most of them girls and young women, and injured 110. The […]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. September 28, 2022— Susan Corke, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) Intelligence Project, released the following statement ahead of the start of U.S. v. Rhodes, the trial of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes along with group members Caldwell, Harrelson, Meggs and Watkins, accused of seditious conspiracy.  Our democracy suffered a terrible, deadly attack on Jan. 6, 2021, […]

September 22, 2022 – West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin’s proposal to reform the federal permitting process, which Senate leadership has indicated will be included in a stop-gap government funding bill, would undercut protections for communities near new pipelines and other energy projects—communities that are often Black, Brown and Indigenous and already facing disproportionate and cumulative […]

September 13, 2022 – Americans United for Separation of Church and State President and CEO Rachel Laser issued the following statement in response to the restrictive national abortion ban bill introduced today by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.):   Religious freedom demands the right to an abortion so people can make their own reproductive decisions according […]

September 12, 2022 – A month from now, the Supreme Court will hear a case about an animal cruelty law. It’s not an environmental law case, but the ruling could impact the authority of states to address climate change. Odds are that its impact will be limited, but you can never be sure of what […]

Washington, D.C. August 24, 2022– United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released the following statement after President Biden cancelled student loan debt: Today is a day of joy and relief because President Biden has canceled a big chunk of student debt for as many as 43 million Americans. The President has taken a powerful step […]

I am announcing today that I will be stepping down from the positions of Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and Chief of the NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation, as well as the position of Chief Medical Advisor to President Joe Biden. I will be leaving these positions in December of […]

Cheney lost yesterday’s primary to Trump-endorsed Harriet Hageman, who received 65.8 percent of the vote to Cheney’s 29.5 percent. The Trump Republican Party continues its purge of honest Republican lawmakers who refuse to go along with Trump’s Big Lie — the most dangerous lie in American history in terms of its consequences for Americans’ confidence […]

WASHINGTON (August 16, 2022)—President Joe Biden today signed into law the largest climate bill in U.S. history. This bill will go a long way toward reducing emissions and building the clean energy economy of the future, advancing the ongoing work of fighting climate change and lingering harms from fossil fuel extraction and use, according to […]

Walter G. Moss is a professor emeritus of history at Eastern Michigan University, a Contributing Editor of HNN, and author of A History of Russia (2 vols).  For a list of his recent books and online publications click here. Moral Imagination? What’s that? Among other things it’s the title of a book and the main essay in that […]

President Ronald Reagan, shown here speaking in Moscow in 1980, was an early adopter of neoliberalism in the U.S. Dirck Halstead/Liaison Anthony Kammas, University of Southern California Neoliberalism is a complex concept that many people use – and overuse – in different and often conflicting ways. So, what is it, really? When discussing neoliberalism with […]

August 2, 2022 – As senators gear up to vote on a long-anticipated climate, tax and energy bill as soon as this week, electric vehicles are poised for a boost. One of the landmark provisions in the package is an extension and expansion of a consumer tax credit for electric vehicle purchases, setting the stage […]

WASHINGTON, July 28, 2022 — On Thursday, Sens. Ed Markey (Massachusetts) and Ron Wyden (Oregon) and Rep. Doris Matsui (California) introduced the Net Neutrality and Broadband Justice Act, which would confirm the legal classification of broadband internet-access service as a telecommunications service under the Communications Act. Clarifying the legal treatment of broadband in this way […]

I just read this NYT column by Bryan Stryker, on how Democrats can win back the working class. I have no idea how its proposals poll, but as an economic matter, they will do little to help the working class. The big problem with Stryker’s argument is that it assumes that the working class will somehow benefit […]

July 19, 2022 – Based on press reports, it now seems likely that Biden will soon declare climate change to be a national emergency.  Would this be legal? Would it unlock important powers that could be used to fight climate change?  My answers are: It would probably be legal, and it would unlock some significant […]

July 15, 2022 – The anti-abortion zealots and their shills in public office and the media have shown their true colors over a tragic case involving a fourth-grader impregnated by rape. The attorney general of Ohio publicly derided reports that an Ohio child had to cross the state border in order to obtain abortion care […]

July 13, 2022 – The Federal Reserve has been under intense pressure in recent months to sharply raise interest rates in the name of taming inflation. The voices calling for these rate increases often explicitly say that they are worth doing even if they greatly increase the risk of recession. At their last open market committee meeting, the Fed […]

WASHINGTON, July 11, 2022 — In advance of the US president’s official visit to Jeddah, where he will attend a summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council and meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Freedom House issued the following statement: “The Saudi regime is one of the most repressive in the world, and its efforts […]

What rights will be stripped away next? Contraception. Same-sex marriage. Consensual same-sex sexual activity. Clarence Thomas said it himself: the Supreme Court is coming for your right to privacy. www.robertreich.org