#progressives

#progressives

(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Barbara Boxer was once among the most liberal members of the U.S. Senate, a favorite of progressives, who much preferred her over California's other Democratic senator, the more staid and centrist Dianne Feinstein.So it's noteworthy to hear Boxer's advice for those most fervently wishing that Feinstein, who's dealing with well-chronicled maladies, would immediately join her in post-Senate retirement.

(House Television via Associated Press)

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) announced Sunday that he will co-chair Rep. Barbara Lee's campaign for U.S. Senate.Khanna, who has been urged by allies of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to consider a run at the presidency, had spent months considering a potential bid to succeed retiring California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, signaling shortly after Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) launched her campaign in January that he would make a decision over the next few months.

Progressive groups fanned across the western San Fernando Valley to knock on doors and sway voters during the last competitive Los Angeles City Council race in this pocket of L.A.
Their candidate, a climate change activist, ultimately lost.Still, the 2019 race showed that groups such as Ground Game Los Angeles and Sunrise Movement LA could be a potent force in Valley elections.

Millions of borrowers may learn soon whether they could receive up to $20,000 in debt relief under President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness program.The fate of the unprecedented debt cancellation program lies with the Supreme Court, which is expected to decide to either uphold or strike down the proposal in late June or early July.

"The courts have been used as a vehicle to advance a dangerous agenda," the organization's president said.The United States Supreme Court Building in the evening, with lights on in the interior.Rudy Sulgan / Getty Images Reproductive rights organization Planned Parenthood has issued a press release calling for major reforms to the federal judiciary - including the U.S. Supreme Court - almost a year after the Court upended federal abortion rights established in Roe v. Wade.

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, abortion access has fared very well when it has appeared on the ballot.Voters in California, Michigan and Vermont approved abortion-rights amendments to their state constitutions last year.In Kansas and Kentucky both red states voters rejected measures that could have led to bans.

At the Supreme Court, some Republican-dominated states seemed on the verge of invalidating Biden's student loan forgiveness plan.A majority of the court's conservatives looked skeptical of the plan.ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: At the Supreme Court today, an effort led by a handful of Republican-dominated states seemed on the verge of invalidating President Biden's federal student loan forgiveness plan.

The idea that we have biological boys playing in girls' sports it is the women's issue of our time, Haley said.Nikki Haley, the 2024 Republican presidential contender, linked the presence of transgender girls in sports to suicidal ideation among teenage girls in a CNN town hall Sunday night in Iowa.

Fred Siegel, a passionate urban historian whose rejection of the liberal establishment's response to crime, poverty and public civility transformed him from a spokesman for the Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern in 1972 to a voter for Donald J. Trump in 2020, died on Sunday at his home in Brooklyn.

The most unpredictable Senate race on the 2024 map is unfolding in Arizona, where a high-profile Democrat is targeting Democratic-turned-independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Republicans are hoping to seize on those tensions in a state trending away from them.It's grab your popcorn and watch, said GOP state Rep. Justin Wilmeth, who described the race as the Wild, Wild West.

Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee filed paperwork Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission to run for US Senate in California, setting up her entrance into a primary that's shaping up to be competitive and crowded.Lee hasn't made an official announcement yet, and a spokeswoman told The Associated Press that Lee is filing preparatory paperwork and her announcement will come before the end of the month.

House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Ken Buck criticized the bipartisan debt ceiling deal reached between House Republicans and the White House as a Democratic bill, and said his hard-line, conservative group had failed in its efforts to influence legislation more to its liking.The caucus still retains a lot of influence in the House, the Colorado Republican told CNN's Dana Bash on State of the Union on Sunday.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal conducts a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center on April 7, 2022.Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images Progressive lawmakers on Thursday voiced dismay that President Joe Biden is requesting a nearly $30 billion increase in U.S. military spending just months after the Pentagon failed its fifth consecutive audit, admitting it could not properly account for more than half of its trillions of dollars in assets.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein announced on Tuesday that she will not run for reelection in 2024, a major moment for a historic political career as the fight to succeed her is already under way.I am announcing today I will not run for reelection in 2024 but intend to accomplish as much for California as I can through the end of next year when my term ends, Feinstein said in a statement.

Jeff Zients built a fortune investing in health care companies accused of fraud.Jeff Zients arrives at a COVID-19 Response Team meeting in the South Court Auditorium at the White House on January 13, 2022.Demetrius Freeman / The Washington Post via Getty Images Reports Sunday that President Joe Biden has chosen Jeff Zients to replace outgoing White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain were met with alarm among progressive watchdogs, who pointed to Zients' disastrous tenure as the administration's coronavirus czar as well as his history in the corporate world - where he built a fortune investing in healthcare companies accused of fraud.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday delivered a farewell address that sought to define her embattled, one-term reign as a defiant stand against the political establishment - an impassioned final message from the leader of the nation's third-largest city following a divisive term and stunning reelection loss.

The new rules will model the policy used for Venezuelan asylum seekers, which advocates have denounced as inhumane.U.S. Border Patrol agents process asylum-seekers in San Luis, Arizona, on December 25, 2022.Rebecca Noble / AFP via Getty Images Even as Biden administration lawyers fight to end a cruel anti-immigrant policy that has been used millions of times to expel asylum seekers, administration officials are seeking to once again expand the policy, this time to ramp up expulsions of asylum seekers from Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti.

What Succession' Tells Us About America A.I., in Perspective Image Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times To the Editor: Re Agreement Is Reached to Increase Debt Limit, With Cuts in Spending (front page, May 28): The Republicans have done it again.They're putting the onus on the needy, the poor, but giving the wealthy a free ride.

If Democrats were uniformly in opposition, the vote would fail with the number of Republicans against the package.The U.S. Capitol building is seen from the base of the Washington Monument as the sun rises in Washington, D.C., on May 28, 2023.Samuel Corum / AFP via Getty Images As House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) scrambles to win the support of far right members of the Republican caucus for his debt ceiling deal, it is becoming increasingly clear that McCarthy may have to rely on support of Democrats to pass the package.

Reps.Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas), both hard-line conservatives from the House Freedom Caucus, have already pledged to vote against the bill, while Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a libertarian and far from a leadership ally on the Rules Committee, has yet to say how he'll vote.If those three are in agreement, they can functionally block legislation from getting to the floor on a party-line vote - potentially forcing McCarthy to rely on Democrats on the committee to move the bill along.

So the minor signs of progress that are visible in the Capitol are leaving some lawmakers to wonder whether they're meaningful or more of a mirage as the deadline to avoid a full-blown economic crisis draws nearer."[Democrats] are negotiating right now," said Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.),one of the GOP's most vulnerable incumbents this cycle.

At the same time, party leadership will have to ensure steep domestic cuts won't hurt moderates back home, bruising members in vulnerable districts and threatening an already slim House majority.And in the center of what seems like a near-impossible effort - to draft a budget plan with broad GOP support - sits newly installed House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas).

Tennessee colleges and universities will no longer be able to force faculty, students or applicants to prove their commitment to "diversity, equity and inclusion."Getty Images
Wokeness has infected higher education.My home state of Tennessee is no exception.That's why we just passed some of the strongest reforms in the nation - including a historic first.

A US Education Department report suggests that around one in 10 public school students will experience sexual misconduct by an educator before graduation.Ben Birchall/PA Images/Alamy Images/Sipa USA
Last year saw the arrest of nearly 350 public-school educators for alleged sex crimes against children, with a hideous 75% (at least!) crimes against students.

Companies are increasingly asking job candidates to delete the names of the colleges and universities they attended from their CVs.While school-blind hiring may appear to boost racial equity, it also erases the hard-won academic gains of others.NY Post photo composite
Today, at least  two-thirds of higher education institutions, including Harvard and Stanford, don't require the SAT for admission.

The Mercury provides news and fun every single day-but your help is essential.If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us.Thanks for your support!GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND!Good news, folks!

Kristin Richardson Jordan, a democratic socialist who is among the most left-leaning elected officials in New York City, announced on Tuesday that she was abruptly withdrawing from next month's Democratic primary and would not seek re-election to the City Council.Her upset victory in a Harlem Council race by 100 votes just two years ago was seen by some as a watershed moment for the city's ascendant progressive movement, a sign that voters could accept a politician whose views included abolishing the Police Department.

Woke pols up and down New York have have leaned into race to make their argument for progressives policies.Getty Images
Woke New York Democratic pols from Buffalo to Brooklyn have made racist rhetoric about white people a central pillar of their message to voters.At the local, statewide and national level, left-wing, mostly socialist, elected officials have decried without repercussion that white people live in their neighborhoods, argued they should not be eligible for certain jobs, and issued broad demonizing statements.

State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins engineered a historic takedown of Gov. Hochul's pick to be New York's top judge in a surprise power play Wednesday that thrust Albany dysfunction back into the spotlight.The hastily called 39-20 vote against Justice Hector LaSalle, a respected centrist Democrat, took the legs out from under Hochul politically, just weeks into her first full term - and as she prepares for crucial budget negotiations with Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-The Bronx).

Representative George Santos has had a hard time making new friends or winning support in his first few months in Congress an understandable outcome, perhaps, given the post-election revelations that he lied about much of his background.On Tuesday, Mr. Santos tried a new tactic: He introduced his first bill, seeking to partially undo President Donald J. Trump's tax plan that limited how much homeowners could deduct in state and local property taxes.

The battle lines in Toronto's upcoming mayoral race may feel familiar to some: A conservative has left office and a wide open race to replace him has taken shape.Candidates lament a city in disrepair and spar over the future of the waterfront.It all resembles 2003, city hall watchers say, when Toronto elected its first and only centre-left mayor since amalgamation in 1998.

CNN gifted Trump over an hour to tell lies to the American public on Wednesday night.Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (R) speaks to members of the press during a break of a hearing before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee at Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on February 8, 2023 in Washington, D.C.Alex Wong / Getty Images Following a CNN town hall with Donald Trump on Wednesday night during which the former president peddled dangerous lies on nationally-broadcasted TV for over an hour, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) condemned the network for giving a platform to Trump at all, calling the debacle a "profoundly irresponsible" move from one of the largest news networks in the U.S.
Ocasio-Cortez denounced CNN and Trump in an appearance on MSNBC after the town hall ended, emphasizing the danger that the network's decision poses to victims of sexual abuse like E. Jean Carroll and to the country itself.

The family implores Mayor Eric Adams to give them a call rather than continuing to criticize Neely.NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 5: People attend a rally to protest the death of Jordan Neely, a homeless man who was choked to death on the subway, May 5, 2023, in Washington Square Park, New York City, New York.

This is an opinion editorial by Jason Maier, a teacher and author of "A Progressive's Case For Bitcoin." Disclaimer: This book was published by Bitcoin Magazine.Does Bitcoin need progressives?The simple answer to this question is no, Bitcoin doesn't need progressives.We can all quote the memes by heart: Bitcoin doesn't care.

As Bitcoiners, we often repeat the mantra "Bitcoin fixes this" and truly, it does solve many problems.The issue with this phrase is not whether Bitcoin fixes things, but asking, "for whom?"If we find ourselves in an echo chamber, then we're gatekeeping the benefits of Bitcoin and what it can do for everyone.

The sight of people standing with their hand over their heart for the National Anthem at a Southern California restaurant appeared to shock and horrify TikTok users.In a viral video posted to the social media platform last week, about a dozen people are shown standing for the Star-Spangled Banner as it plays on a television screen in the bar area of Rainbow Oaks Restaurant in Fallbrook, California.

Chaya Raichik, the Twitter user behind the Libs of TikTok account, has decided to drop her anonymity after getting doxed by the Washington Post.Fox News
For the last two years, I have been widely known by my Twitter handle, Libs of TikTok.My anonymity afforded me the opportunity to expose the radical-leftist agenda without fearing for my personal safety, but it also created a vacuum for rumors to fester about my true identity.

Campaigners calling for tactical voting in the upcoming local elections have revealed the blue wall councils in the south of England where the move could overturn a Conservative majority.Rishi Sunak's party is braced to lose around 1,000 council seats at England's May elections but experts think tactical voting could make the results even worse.

The Scottish National party leadership hopeful Kate Forbes has said she will continue with her campaign to replace Nicola Sturgeon at the moment, after her personal faith-based views on equal marriage and having children outside marriage prompted an immediate and furious backlash.Forbes, who has been on maternity leave from her role as finance secretary, told the BBC the public were longing for a politician to answer straight questions with straight answers and later told STV she was committed to seeing the campaign through, at the moment.

On the last day of February, during an unusually mild winter evening for Chicago, hundreds of people jammed into a cavernous, squat brick building in the West Side neighborhood of Garfield Park.If the West Side of Chicago is defined by poverty, violence, and despair, then Garfield Park is its epicenter.

"Unedited" versions of the classic children's novels have reportedly been listed for as much as $7,000 on eBay.Alamy Stock Photo
They're charging a pretty penny for the una-Dahl-terated classics.While undoubtedly maligned by many, the notorious Roald Dahl word purge could prove a boon to one segment of society: the owners of the original books.

Students from the University of Illinois at Chicago protested a Turning Point USA college event Thursday evening at the UIC Forum featuring far-right speakers Charlie Kirk and Candace Owens.The pair spoke as part of the conservative organization's spring 2023 college tour.Andrea Daviera, a graduate student at UIC in the community psychology program, said she was taking part in the protest with about 100 other students because Kirk and Owens are "simply known for inciting and saying really bigoted things."

Voters on Tuesday selected two candidates whose disagreements on the issues could not be sharper.There is potential for a battle of ideas over the next few weeks between Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson that augurs well for a city that needs answers.Mayor Lori Lightfoot had her ideas too.Plus a mayoral record to run on.

Last week, an 18-year-old was charged with fatally shooting a Chicago police officer following an exchange of gunfire in the city's Gage Park neighborhood.On Thursday, funeral services are scheduled at St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel for that fallen officer, 32-year-old Andrés Mauricio Vásquez Lasso.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has lost the financial advantage her campaign had over most opponents as her campaign spent twice as much as she raised during the last three months of 2022 while she launched expensive television ads aimed at rebuilding momentum in her bid for reelection.With a little more than a month to go before the Feb. 28 mayoral election, the first-term mayor remains locked in a tight race against eight rivals looking to unseat her, several of whom now have nearly as much cash - or more - on hand to sell their messages to voters, according to newly filed campaign disclosure records.

On Monday, federal prosecutors, moving at lightning speed, pounced on Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, arranging for the arrest of the disgraced mogul in the Bahamas and charging him with numerous crimes, including stealing his customers' money for personal use and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

The government and the defense team for Douglass Mackey, the Twitter troll accused of conspiring to convince Hillary Clinton voters to throw away their vote in 2016, are fighting over what evidence will come in at trial, which is currently scheduled to start on March 16.As I have laid out, campaigns like the one Mackey is alleged to have conducted with people including Anthime "Baked Alaska" Gionet, are the reason why the FBI sends Twitter lists of accounts lying about the place or means of voting: The FBI is trying to stop systematic attempts to dupe people out of exercising their right to vote.

Cancel culture watchdogs want to Hershey's Kiss the iconic chocolate-maker goodbye.Incensed social media critics are threatening to boycott Hershey's after the brand featured a transgender woman in an ad campaign for International Woman's Day 2023.The chocolate meltdown came to light after the Pennsylvania-based candy company brought back its "She" bar - known as "Her" in Canada - in an effort to "celebrate the women changing the future," according to the candy giant's website.

Just months ago, few Chicagoans would have expected Paul Vallas or Brandon Johnson to best incumbent Lori Lightfoot and survive to the mayoral runoff election.But before voters decide which of the two upstarts will claim City Hall, each candidate faces a steep challenge courting the roughly 45% of the electorate who preferred someone else in Tuesday's first round of balloting.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Sunday declined to criticize President Joe Biden's decision to allow Congress to potentially nix reforms to the criminal code of Washington, DC, even as many in the party are breaking with the White House.A Senate vote to scrap the DC law is expected this week.

Sinema's plan is worth embracing.(Bloomberg)For all the acrimony surrounding immigration politics, a majority of Americans have long supported two goals: giving undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children a pathway to legal status; and securing the country's southern border.With only days remaining in the current Congress, lawmakers have an opportunity to deliver major breakthroughs on both priorities.

Ibraheem Samirah will announce Monday morning that he plans to run for Virginia Senate.Samirah made a national splash in 2019 when he interrupted a speech by Donald Trump, then the US President, during an event in Virginia.His brand of progressivism rankled some in the commonwealth's Democratic establishment, though, which lined up behind his opponent in the primary of 2021, Irene Shin.

The dwindling Blue Dog Coalition includes the remaining Democrats who oppose abortion rights and marriage equality.Blue Dog Coalition members from left, Representatives Henry Cuellar, Mike Thompson, Jim Costa, Stephanie Murphy and Brad Schneider hold a news conference on tax reform on October 4, 2017.Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call The Democratic Party's conservative Blue Dog Coalition has been slashed in half due partially to a disagreement within its ranks over efforts to attract more members, Politico reported on Tuesday, with a number of corporate lawmakers insisting on preserving the Blue Dogs' "longstanding legacy" and name despite its reputation as a "Southern 'boys' club'."

Progressive lawmakers and rights advocates in New York celebrated Wednesday after the state Senate Judiciary Committee voted against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul's nominee to serve as the state's top judge, Justice Hector LaSalle whose rulings regarding abortion rights, labor, and criminal justice made his nomination an absolute disaster, according to one critic.

The news of Lee's decision comes a day after Rep. Katie Porter announced her bid for the coveted seat.Rep. Barbara Lee speaks with reporters after a meeting of the House Democratic Caucus in the Capitol on January 8, 2020.Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee reportedly told fellow Congressional Black Caucus members in a private meeting on Wednesday that she will be running to replace California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein in 2024.

If you're at all like me, you probably associate certain bands with specific moods.In other words, you turn to these bands when they fit your state of mind, match how your day went, or just seem to sound how you feel.R.E.M. has never been one of those bands for me, though.No matter my mood, mindset, or emotion, there's an R.E.M. album or sound that suits me.

However, she would still sap enough support from the Democratic candidate to hand the race to a Republican if she ran.Sen. Kyrsten Sinema departs a signing ceremony for the Respect for Marriage Act on the South Lawn of the White House on December 13, 2022, in Washington, D.C.Drew Angerer / Getty Images A new poll - one of the first conducted after Sen. Kyrsten Sinema announced earlier this month that she would be switching her affiliation from Democratic to independent - shows that the embattled conservative would get blown out in a hypothetical race for her seat in Arizona in 2024, but would still sap enough votes from the leading Democratic candidate to hand a Republican the race.

396139 04: A rally participant displays her demonstration sign while holding her small alarm clock during a nurse's rally in front of Cook County Hospital October 19, 2001 in Chicago.Rally participants set-off numerous alarm clocks as part of a "wake-up call" to urge the hospital industry to address an understaffing crisis.

The union celebrated the funding proposal but said it was the bare minimum to keep the agency afloat.NLRB / Truthout After months of advocacy from pro-labor groups and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) union members, members of Congress have included a modest funding boost for the NLRB in the must-pass omnibus funding bill, which the NLRB union says will help stave off major funding problems in the short term.