A compendium of the best reporting and commentary surrounding the pivotal 2024 elections in the United States. You won't find much horse race coverage here, or the standard "both sides" BS that passes so often for political journalism. What you will find are links, with brief commentary, to work that I believe advances the conversation we should be having about America's – and the world's – future. Remember: Everything is at stake this year. (Unfortunately, some of the work I point to is behind paywalls.)
Donald Trump repeatedly spread falsehoods Monday about the federal response to Hurricane Helene despite claiming not to be politicizing the disaster as he toured hard-hit areas in south Georgia.
I'm highlighting this story for two reasons. It's the latest example of Trump's pathological deceit. It's also the latest example of Big Journalism's timidity (a kind word) in the face of the never-ending lies from the most dishonest major politician in American history. Calling what Trump did "false claims" is just ridiculous, and the story makes that completely clear, with the governor of Georgia refuting the BS. This one isn't even a close call. But sad to say, the AP's unwillingness to call things what they are was the norm in big newsrooms today.
Get ready for blockade of Harris top court nominees
If Republicans regain control of the Senate, a President Harris would have to rely on the next GOP leader to schedule a vote on a Supreme Court nominee. And in interviews with CNN last week, the two leading candidates to replace Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell would not commit to putting a Harris Supreme Court nominee on the floor for a confirmation vote.
Recall that in the last year of the Obama administration, the McConnell and his fellow Republicans blocked all consideration of the nominee. Now realize that they – McConnell's replacement and certainly the rest of the party – will do this for the entire time Harris is in office, should she win and the Republicans take back the Senate, as now seems likely. So as vacancies occur, but aren't filled due to obstruction, the court will shrink. Maybe nothing much else will change, but don't bet on it.
If the American people choose to make a gangster president, then the American government will be run like a criminal organization. And no amount of lawmaking will be sufficient to prevent it. Which is ultimately the problem with the Trump Watch. You can’t legislate morality for a society of nihilists. If voters don’t care that Trump has built a system that—at least in theory—allows him to collect millions of dollars from foreign governments, then no amount of law will be able to stop this sort of influence peddling.
I keep saying this, so apologies if it sounds familiar: Trump led by far the most corrupt administration in American history, which is natural for him since he's been a crook his entire adult life. Despite a criminal conviction for just one, relatively small example his sleaze, he is relentlessly pulling even more sleaze out of the hat – brazenly and, this is scary, maybe even legally with the latest schemes. And if he gets back into the White House, what we saw last time will be multiplied by orders of magnitude. Remember, the Supreme Court has legalized bribery, and immunized presidents from criminal charges (the "official acts" qualifier is a joke, and would obviously not apply to Trump, though it might apply to a Democrat).
These institutional investors have flocked to VRS, because they can fleece a taxpayer slush fund with few repercussions for degrading product quality for deaf people and squeezing workers. Despite receiving an increase in government subsidies last year, those funds haven’t trickled down to workers in wages and benefits. In fact, at call centers around the country, interpreters say their working conditions have declined rapidly under private equity ownership and consolidation, leading to layoffs and chronic understaffing.
The Biden administration has made several important moves to counteract the poisonous effect of the monopoly and cartel control that has overtaken so many sectors of the economy. But not nearly enough: This is just one more example of how our legal system has invited corporate looting of industries and communities – with terrible effects on human beings – at an unprecedented scale. It would certainly get even worse under Trump, and while Harris has indicated her support for Biden's economic populism, she would do her campaign a favor – with the voters if not her big-money backers – if she made it clear this kind of abuse won't be permitted to continue. Not holding my breath.
Voting is just part of democracy, but it's the essential place to start. Make sure you're registered. Doublecheck in the fall, well before Election Day, because in some states Republican officials are removing people, mostly those who tend to vote for Democrats, from voting rolls.
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Julia Chan
JEFF AMY
Manu Raju
Jonathan V. Last
Luke Goldstein
