Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/category/national/page/11/)
The Senate was right to change the filibuster rule for presidential judicial nominees. Yet it was too little change, too late. What really needed to be done was to abolish the entire filibuster rule for all Senate business. Senate Democrats will soon find that unless they do that nothing will get done in the Senate and there will be more Ted Cruz’s reading Dr. Seuss. Continue Reading
It’s no secret the energy fueling our nation comes at a heavy cost to the environment and human health. What we don’t talk about is that a good portion of our domestic energy and other vital resource procurement occurs on publicly owned land. Continue Reading
Access to safe food is something that many of us take for granted. It is assumed that the jam we pick up from the farmers market or the chicken purchased from the grocery store will have been grown and processed in a way that will nourish, not harm, our health or the health of our family. Behind these and all food purchases is a long line of farmers and processors with the responsibility to ensure that we can be afforded this assumption of safety. Continue Reading
A night or two ago CBS Evening News did what news reports always seem to do: in order to capsulize the latest crisis, they had short interviews with two women in Virginia after Tuesdays election. The unsuccessful candidate for Governor had made Obamacare the prime issue, and while he lost, the margin was less than predicted. Continue Reading
Hundreds of protesters rallied outside the Metrodome on November 7. denouncing the nickname of Washington’s NFL franchise, the Redskins.Organized by the American Indian Movement, protesters carried signs, beat drums and danced their way from the Ancient Traders Market on East Franklin Avenue down Chicago Avenue, and arrived at the Metrodome around 5:30 p.m. to listen to speeches by the movement’s leaders and political supporters.The mascot issue has been a source of contention for years, with Minneapolis witnessing a similar protest back in 1992 when the Metrodome hosted the Washington team in Super Bowl XXVI.U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, Minneapolis Mayor-elect Betsy Hodges, City Council members from Minneapolis and St. Paul, as well as professional Native American athletes including Vikings Pro Bowler Joey Browner and Olympic gold medalist Billy Mills, all voiced their condemnation of the mascot.”We’re finally getting there,” said AIM’s national leader, Clyde Bellecourt, who expects the mascot name will be out in the next year. Momentum is building, as more and more public figures have begun speaking out against Washington, not just in Minnesota but nationally as well. Many high school and collegiate teams having retired their Native American mascots over the last few years.Even President Obama stated publicly he would really “consider changing the name” if he was Snyder, the owner of Washington’s team.AIM is considering its legal options to prevent Washington’s name and logo from being displayed.AIM’s legal counsel, Larry Leventhal, announced in a press conference on November 6 that they filed a petition with the Minnesota Department of Management and Budget to evaluate whether the new Viking stadium will be consistent with human rights standards.Leventhal said the appropriation of public funds for a new stadium which hosts a racist mascot would violate state and federal human rights laws which prohibit discrimination in public accommodations. Continue Reading
By now everyone knows that federal roll out of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) health care exchanges has been a disaster. But Obamacare is also a tragedy and a farce. A tragedy because it is a horrible policy, a farce because it is now forcing Democrats to defend what was essentially a Republican idea. Continue Reading
In a lurch toward sweet bipartisanship, the U.S. House of Representatives, AKA Shutdown Central, last week approved the long-delayed Water Resources Reform and Development Act by an astounding vote of 417 to 3.
With the second round of sequestration cuts approaching in January, federal financial aid for students remains at risk.
With the big fight behind them, it’s time for the leaders in Washington to sit down and get to work in order to prevent another confrontation in January. Haha! I know, it’s always best to open with a joke, so I hope you liked that one. Continue Reading
All indications are that the Supreme Court will soon declare yet another campaign finance reform measure unconstitutional, chipping away yet another piece of the Post-Watergate reforms that sought to limit the corrupting influence of money in politics. At least this is the indication based on the oral arguments in the recently argued McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission case. The Roberts Court will do this by arguing that the First Amendment protects the right of individual donors to expend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections. The basis of the reasoning will be that aggregate spending limits by individuals does not corrupt or lend to the appearance of corruption of the political process. Continue Reading