The bribery trial of New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez ended in a mistrial on Thursday, quelling Democrats’ fears about an open Senate seat being filled by a Republican. If Menendez, a Democrat who was indicted on 18 counts of corruption, had been convicted and subsequently resigned or been expelled before January 16, New Jersey Governor […]
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Posted inEconomic Policy
Medicaid Malpractice
We knew it would happen, but that doesn’t quite reduce the sting. In September, I wrote about a proposed waiver to Kentucky’s Medicaid program, which would foist work requirements on recipients (among other patronizing indignities like premium payments and “health incentives”) and would devastate Kentucky’s large newly insured population. Those work requirements directly conflicted with […]
Posted inEconomic Policy
Robert Rubin Speaks with Forked Tongue
There’s a smart op-ed piece in the Times by Robert Rubin—yes, that Robert Rubin—calling for a massive federal jobs program at decent wages. Rubin correctly points out that most people need good jobs, and that the vogue for a Universal Basic Income doesn’t solve that, and is very expensive. What prevents us from having a […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Immigration Advocates Warn Undocumented Are ‘Fair Game’ After Detention of Texas Child
The arrest of Rosa Maria Hernandez, an undocumented ten-year-old with cerebral palsy, by Customs and Border Protections, after she received emergency gallbladder surgery in a Texas hospital is a heinous example of the dark turn immigration enforcement has taken under Donald Trump. Marissa Montes, an immigration attorney with the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic at the […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Facts Again Go Missing as Trump Declares Opioid Addiction a National Health Emergency
During a speech last week declaring opioid addiction a national public health emergency, President Trump made the extraordinary claim that 64,000 American lives were lost last year due to drug overdoses. “More people are dying from drug overdoses today than from gun homicides and motor vehicles combined,” he said. Trump continued to embellish his case, […]
Posted inCivil Rights in America
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Posted inCivil Rights in America
The Wieseltier Moment — a Tipping Point
With the ouster of Leon Wieseltier for a long, sordid history of hitting on young women who worked in junior positions at The New Republic where he was literary editor for three decades, the women’s movement has achieved a goal that has eluded it for centuries. Powerful men, famous or not, are no longer exempt […]
Posted inEnergy and the Environment
California Wildfires Stoke Need to Concentrate on Climate Change, Public Health
Northern California has been battling wildfires since early October, which have burned almost 250,000 acres, killed 42 people, displaced 100,000 residents, and destroyed thousands of homes. The hardest-hit areas have been Napa and Sonoma counties, the epicenter of the U.S. wine industry, and Santa Rosa, a town of 175,000 50 miles north of San Francisco. […]
Posted inWorking in America
Big Banks Blame Automation as They Offshore American Jobs
When Capital One announced in August that they were laying off 400 call-center workers from a Rolling Meadows, Illinois, location, the company officials claimed that they were moving toward automation. “Call volumes continue to decrease as customers increasingly self-service through a mix of our digital tools and contact center calls,” Sie Soheili, a Capital One […]
Posted inAmerica and the World
Veterans Face Another Round of Threats to Health-Care Networks
In September, The American Prospect reported that budget cuts at the Veterans Health Administration would have eliminated the system’s ten Patient Safety Centers of Inquiry. After protests from leading patient safety experts and members of Congress, the centers were saved. But late last month, brand new threats emerged that could jeopardize the VHA’s ability to […]
