Voting Rights

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The privately owned Afghanistan news service Tolo reports that Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid affirmed that the movement intends to form a new government quickly. On Monday, the Taliban Politburo met with former co-president Abdullah Abdullah, former president Hamid Karzai, and former prime minister Gulbadin Hikmatyar. Abdullah Abdullah described the meeting […]

African-Americans

We Can Have the Filibuster or Democracy, But Not Both

Peter Certo

By Peter Certo | ( Otherwords.org) – The American political system is complicated, but fixing it doesn’t have to be. Voters of all stripes broadly agree on the kinds of changes they’d like to see. We need less money in politics. It should be easier to vote — early, in person, or by mail. And […]

African-Americans

What the Supreme Court ruling on Arizona Law means for your Right to Vote

The Conversation

By Cornell William Clayton and Michael Ritter | – Arizona may keep two voting laws that Republicans say protect election integrity and Democrats believe will make it harder for some residents to cast ballots. That’s the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, one of the decade’s most important voting rights […]

African-Americans

Jim Crow was Never Dead, but the Black Church can Lead the Way in Banishing Voter Suppression

OtherWords

By Rev. Susan K. Smith and Rev. Levon C. Manzie | ( Otherwords.org) – We suspected it for years, and now we know it: Jim Crow was never dead. You might even say he was too mean to die. We know this because in too many places, the forces of racism are raging as laws […]

Voter suppression

Voter Suppression Is an Attack on Democracy — And My Faith

OtherWords

By Robert P. Alvarez | – ( Otherwords.org ) – I believe in God and in the right to vote. Georgia’s recent election bill doesn’t just feel like an attack on democracy — it feels like an attack on my faith. The bill, formally SB 202, infamously makes it illegal to give people food or […]

Republican Party

Dismissing ‘Low Quality Voters,’ Republican officials no longer support democracy — and they aren’t bothering to hide it

Jim Hightower

( Otherwords.org) – Hey, you, get away from those polling places! We don’t want your kind here! Scram! That’s a stupid, shameful, and ultimately self-defeating political message, yet it’s being pushed as the official anti-voter electoral strategy of Republicans. Admitting that they can’t get majorities to vote for their collection of corporate lackeys, conspiracy theorists, […]

African-Americans

Alabama Requires Photo IDs for Voting, Then Shutters DMV Offices in Black Counties

contributors

By Andrea Germanos, staff writer | ( Commondreams.org) | – – “The ‘decision to cut out ID services to almost all counties with a majority black population is discriminatory and wrong,’ says ACLU of Alabama.” Some observers say that Alabama’s move to close dozens of drivers license offices is a discriminatory move that could trigger […]

Climate Change

The Plutocracy Strikes Back: The Pathologies of Rule by a Handful of Billionaires

contributors

By Steve Fraser via Tomdispatch.com George Baer was a railroad and coal mining magnate at the turn of the twentieth century. Amid a violent and protracted strike that shut down much of the country’s anthracite coal industry, Baer defied President Teddy Roosevelt’s appeal to arbitrate the issues at stake, saying, “The rights and interests of […]

Constitution

Should Americans be allowed to Serve in Foreign Armies?

contributors

AJ+ “An American, Douglas McAuthur McCain was killed fighting for the Islamic State group (formerly known as ISIS or ISIL) in Syria. He’s not the only American to have been killed fighting for foreign armies and groups recently. But is any of this legal under US law? The answer might surprise you.” AJ+: “Can Americans […]