Why Obama’s former ethics czar is highly critical of Hunter
It would be hard for President Joe Biden to not do better on government ethics issues than his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, whose legacy in that area was one of self-dealing and blatant corruption. But Walter Shaub, the head of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) under President Barack Obama and briefly under Trump,…
The Supreme Court finally decides the religious right asked for
The Supreme Court handed down a brief order Friday evening — it is literally just one sentence long — denying relief to a group of Maine health care workers who object to the Covid-19 vaccine on religious grounds. This means that nearly all workers in health care facilities licensed by the state must be vaccinated…
How Gov. Cuomo Holds On to Power in New York
(Office of the NY Governor via AP )On Tuesday, New York State Attorney General Letitia James released a voluminous report that catalogued numerous instances of alleged sexual harassment by the state’s governor, Andrew Cuomo. Currently in his third term, Cuomo is said to have harassed eleven women; the report includes cases that had been widely discussed in the media as well as…
The case for a more radical climate movement
Has the climate movement failed? It’s hard to look at the world at this moment and not conclude that the answer is yes. Despite all the activism, despite all the protests, despite all the warnings, the world is still in many ways hostage to the fossil fuel industry. A new book by Andreas Malm, a…
Democrats say Cuomo must resign
The new report accusing New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, of sexually harassing several women has raised the odds that he’ll be ousted from office — but it hasn’t entirely quieted fears that he’ll be let off the hook. The report from the New York state attorney general’s office documented testimony from 11 women,…
Senate rules could undercut Democrats’ prescription drug plan
A critical part of Democrats’ plan to control prescription drug prices would apply not only to the government’s Medicare program but also to the commercial market that covers most working Americans — unless the Senate’s rules stop it. Democrats have a multi-pronged strategy for addressing drug prices in the Build Back Better Act. First, they…
Democrats are setting up social policies for painful cliffs
Democrats, it seems, are looking to pare down their budget bill by going the route favored by progressives. While they’re weighing some big cuts to the $3.5 trillion package, the general approach — which isn’t yet finalized — skews toward funding more programs for a shorter period of time, rather than fewer programs for longer.…
We’re all famous now
Are we all famous now? I know that’s a strange question. If everyone is famous, then no one is famous, right? Well, it depends on what exactly we mean by “famous.” Last month, I read a New Yorker essay by Chris Hayes, the host of All In on MSNBC, that sharpened the question. He asked,…
Covid-19 cases now fall into 3 distinct categories
Even as the current surge of Covid-19 in the United States surpasses those in the spring and summer of 2020, trailing only the devastating winter wave, it is being driven by a different mix of cases than the prior waves. Back then, the coronavirus was still new and most people had no immunity to it.…
The bipartisan infrastructure bill is both historic and not nearly
Congress passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill on Friday — and it’s simultaneously a massive and somewhat limited investment in everything from roads to bridges to water pipes. Only $550 billion of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is new spending, which will be spread out over five years. About $650 billion of…