From the Left
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Ultraprocessed Foods Are Everywhere, and the Corporate Manufacturers Do Not Care About Your Health
In my quest to eat healthier as an adult, I've encountered a lot of meat and dairy alternatives along with low-fat and sugar-free treat options that claim to be better choices. Many of these products are also marketed as organic. Like the almond milk I buy. I choose not to eat mass-produced animal products because of the unethical and inhumane ...Read more
How Are Things in the Old Country?
Thirty years ago, I was in a garment factory, covering the visit of a Portuguese dignitary who was in the factory because it employed a large number of Portuguese immigrants.
The dignitary approached a short, muscular man who worked in the plant and greeted him smilingly in Portuguese.
The man spat out a single sentence in Portuguese and ...Read more
Robert C. Koehler: The ‘accepted insanity’ of World War III
“Mr. Netanyahu faces a delicate calculation — how to respond to Iran in order not to look weak, while trying to avoid alienating the Biden administration and other allies already impatient with Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza.”
Yeah, this is virtually nothing: a random, utterly forgettable quote pulled from the New York Times—...Read more
The People Have a Right to Enjoy Their Parks
Public parks belong to the public, right? A billionaire can't cordon off an acre of Golden Gate Park for his private party. But can a poor person -- or anyone who claims they can't afford a home -- take over public spaces where children play and families experience nature?
That is the question now before the Supreme Court case, Grants Pass v....Read more
The Shrinking of Donald Trump
The one thing you could always say about Donald Trump was that he was "big." He commanded the stage. His vigor -- or the appearance of vigor -- made him appear younger than Joe Biden, even though they are only a few years apart. He was able to roll over scandals and missteps that would have derailed a smaller candidate.
The civil trials didn'...Read more
A Light in the House: Farewell to a Senate Friend
"Every single member (will) vote their conscience."
Conscience, did you say? House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) words cut cleanly through the House of Representatives noise. Seldom are they told to rise above the partisan rabble.
After months of darkness and delay, Johnson did the right thing for the nation and world. He opened the gate ...Read more
The Big Apple's Mayor Takes a Big Bite Out of Democracy
And now: A special report from the Department of Really Bad Ideas. And this one is a doozie.
It comes from Hizzoner Eric Adams, the present mayor of New York City. Like mayors everywhere, Adams is routinely expected to respond to city council members, state reps, members of Congress and other elected officials who ask for help on city issues ...Read more
A Small Step Toward Reversing the Decades-Long Community Harm of Chicago’s Expressways
When President Joe Biden’s administration last week announced the award of $2 million to help “reconnect” Chicago neighborhoods torn apart by massive expressway construction since the 1950s and ’60s, my first reaction was, “It’s about time.”
That was followed by a question: How are they going to do it?
Two million dollars doesn�...Read more
The Government Denies People Access to Asylum Because of Language Barriers
Every year, thousands of asylum seekers from diverse corners of the world seek refuge in the United States. Many -- such as Indigenous people from Latin America and Africa -- are fleeing persecution based on the languages they speak and their cultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds. Their ability to access the asylum system has life-or-death ...Read more
The Stunning Rebirth of the American Labor Movement
On Friday, Volkswagen employees in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted overwhelmingly to join the United Auto Workers union.
This is a truly big deal. The mainstream media — most of whom no longer have labor reporters — have barely mentioned it, but I believe it marks a major turning point for organized labor.
The victory in Chattanooga is the ...Read more
O.J.'s Legacy
Thirty years ago, O.J. Simpson got away with murder. Politics was to blame, in the form of racism and sexism. His lawyers put the LAPD on trial for racism, even though Simpson himself was not a victim of the police department's racism. That was Rodney King, who was brutally beaten by LAPD officers who were acquitted by a white jury in Simi ...Read more
What's Left 10: Police Who Help People
It may come as a surprise, especially to conservatives, that the Left believes in law and order. Of course we do. Without it, you can't have much else.
In November 2001, I went to Afghanistan as a reporter. It felt like the 14th century, if the late Middle Ages took place in an Islamist dystopia and everyone carried an AK-47. To call it a ...Read more
Loss of Support From Republican Evangelicals Suits MAGA Crowd Just Fine
Black voters have traditionally been pivotal to the fortunes of the Democratic Party, but some recent polls have suggested that they are proving less bankable for President Joe Biden than in the past. Whether or not as many as 20% of Black voters have in fact deserted the Democrats, as some recent polls suggest, is a contested matter. But it’s...Read more
Happiness Is a Home To Tinker With
My husband and I have never bought a home we didn't tinker with. And by "tinker," I don't mean a coat of fresh paint and new shelving. I mean the knock out a wall, rip up the flooring and till the backyard for a new garden kind of tinkering. Real do-it-yourselfers. This is why when the kitchen cabinet recently fell off the wall -- literally ...Read more
The Last Sin We Have
Joe Biden. Donald Trump. Bill Clinton. According to always-reliable social media, these men are pedophiles.
It doesn't stop with them, either. According to even foamier-at-the-mouth sources, nearly every world leader and celebrity took trips to "Epstein's Island" to have sex with children.
Do you want to know why pedophilia is an accusation ...Read more
Suffer the Children
Today's guest column is writter by Jesse Jackson.
In January, the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill (that in itself is something of a miracle) that would provide tax credits to help 16 million poor children. It would lift an estimated 400,000 children out of poverty in its first year.
To get support from Republicans, ...Read more
Did Legalized Abortion Lead to Lower Crime Rates?
Growing restrictions on the right to an abortion have revived talk of what many still regard as a highly controversial theory. It holds that the legalization of abortion in 1973 reduced the number of unwanted children, who might have been at higher risk of committing serious crimes. And that explained the sharp drop in the crime rate that ...Read more
Sex on Trial
Paying "hush money" to keep an extramarital affair quiet is not a crime. And falsifying business records to cover it up is not a felony. What makes it one - or 34, the number of felony counts Trump has been charged with -- is an "intent to defraud" that includes an intent to "commit another crime or to aid or conceal" another crime. It's the ...Read more
Trump's Luck and Mojo Run Low
At last, former President Donald Trump is on trial, a criminal defendant for election interference, in silencing a sordid brush with Stormy Daniels. The judge, Juan Merchan, made clear he's in charge here.
A harbinger of spring light in the American soul after a long winter occupation? Let it be so.
April is turning out as the cruelest month...Read more
Where's George Orwell Today? Texas!
If you think the GOP's Congress of Clowns represents the fringiest, freakiest pack of politicos that MAGA-world can hurl at us -- you haven't been to Texas.
It's widely known, of course, that Sen. Ted Cruz, Gov. Greg Abbott and most other top Republican officials here are obsequious Trump acolytes. Thus, Texas is infamously racing against ...Read more
