Rashida Tlaib censure vote sets precedent for criminalizing opposition to Gaza genocide
By Patrick Martin The vote by the US House of Representatives to censure Representative Rashida Tlaib (Democrat-Michigan) for her opposition to the Israeli genocide in Gaza is an unprecedented attack on democratic rights. Tlaib, the lone Palestinian-American in the House, is the first representative since the Civil War to be censured
The bond market turmoil: The social implications
By Nick Beams The headline financial news this week, announced on Wednesday afternoon, was the US Federal Reserve decision to maintain interest rates on hold for the second meeting in a row. But a more significant decision came that morning with the move by the US Treasury to slow the pace
Impunity reigns: prosecution dropped in Flint Water Crisis case following SC ruling
By Staff Writer Michigan prosecutors have ended the case against former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and eight others accused of wrongdoing in the Flint water crisis. This comes after Michigan Supreme Court Tuesday (October 31) reaffirmed its December last year decision that a one-man grand jury, which the prosecutors had used
US Fed pauses interest rate hikes amid rising bond yields
By Nick Beams Interest rate payments on US debt will grow as yields rise and budget deficit increases. The US Federal Reserve has paused its interest rate hikes for the second meeting in a row and sent out some mixed signals about whether it will lift rates at its last meeting for
We Can’t Depend on Elections and Legal Battles Alone to Defend Democracy
By Igor Shoikhedbrod |TRUTHOUT Karl Marx warned how easily democratic representation and rights can be lost to the forces of authoritarian reaction. By all accounts, liberalism is in a state of crisis globally. Liberalism finds itself especially under threat in its contemporary “homeland” — the U.S of the post-2016 Trump era, prompting
Another Trump lawyer pleads guilty in Georgia election interference case
By Megan Butler Trump campaign attorney Kenneth Chesebro entered a plea agreement while potential jurors began filling out questionnaires. Kenneth Chesebro, one of the defendants in the racketeering case against former President Donald Trump and 17 others accused of conspiring to overturn his 2020 election defeat in Georgia, accepted a plea deal
Princeton University report: US class-based life expectancy gap widened to more than 8 years
BY Benjamin Mateus The recent report by leading Princeton University economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton (winner of the Nobel Prize in 2015), submitted last month to the fall 2023 edition of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, makes a conscientious account of the widening mortality gap that exists between Americans with and
Get the US out of the Middle East
By Ryan McMaken The ongoing conflict between the state of Israel and Hamas escalated considerably on Saturday. A group of armed fighters—presumably of Hamas—broke through the Gaza-Israel border barrier and launched what is sure to be a short-lived invasion of southwestern Israel. At least 700 Israeli citizens—most of them apparently civilians—were killed,
Bond market “rout” a result of major structural shifts
By Nick Beams. There is a growing realisation in financial and media circles that the selloff in the US bond market, which has seen a rapid rise in interest rates, is the product of far-reaching shifts in global financial markets. The initial hope was that the turbulence was simply the product of
The citizens’ Right to Lie: why (most) lies are protected speech?
By Angel Eduardo. Even with our current climate of fake news, misinformation, disinformation, and election lies, we shouldn’t use government power to try enforcing the truth. Lies are a problem. In fact, one can persuasively argue that lies are the problem. Few behaviors are as corrosive to our social fabric or as foundational to our societal