Category: National Issues

Sen. Amy Klobuchar faces down GOP barrage on voting rights act

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Republicans decry “false narrative” in push to guarantee ballot access. 

WASHINGTON – The debate over a massive federal voting rights act erupted in tense exchanges Wednesday as Sen. Amy Klobuchar faced withering GOP criticism that the changes would cause chaos and undermine states’ rights.

The Minnesota Democrat, a lead sponsor of the For the People Act, said at a hearing of the Rules Committee she chairs that the measure is essential as GOP legislators in states across the country have drafted more than 250 measures to restrict voting access. She pointed to the chaos of hourslong waits at polling places, new limitations on early voting and new restrictions on who can cast mail-in ballots.

“The bill simply tries to make it easier to vote,” Klobuchar said. “The For the People Act is the best chance to stop the rollback of voting rights.” Continue reading.

Executive resigns from hospital that offered early vaccines to employees at Trump’s Chicago hotel

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The chief operating officer of a small Chicago hospital resigned on Wednesday after reports that he used coronavirus vaccines meant for low-income residents to vaccinate employees at his luxury wristwatch dealer, his regular steakhouse and his condo building — which is former president Donald Trump’s Chicago tower.

The resignation of Anosh Ahmed was announced late Wednesday by Loretto Hospital, a hospital serving a majority-Black neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side.

Ahmed’s actions — reported over the past week by the news site Block Club Chicago — had raised concerns that Loretto executives were putting their friends ahead of their patients. The city of Chicago had already cut off Loretto’s supply of new vaccines while it investigated. Continue reading.

Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: March 26, 2021

All Minnesotans Eligible for Vaccine Starting March 30

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On Friday, Governor Walz announced that all Minnesotans 16 years of age and older will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccination beginning Tuesday, March 30. The final eligibility expansion comes as the federal government has promised an increased supply of vaccine by April. By expanding eligibility to all Minnesotans, providers across the state will have the flexibility they need to fill appointments and support the state’s most critical goal: to get as many Minnesotans vaccinated as quickly as possible to end this pandemic.

“Minnesotans have done a remarkable job helping our most vulnerable get vaccinated and waiting their turn. Now, as we prepare to receive more vaccine heading into April, it’s time for all Minnesotans to get in line,” said Governor Walz. “Minnesota has been leading the nation in getting shots into arms, and we plan to continue that leadership. By expanding eligibility to all Minnesotans, we will give providers the flexibility they need to keep getting shots into arms quickly, efficiently, and equitably.”

Continue reading “Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: March 26, 2021”

Phillips Introduces Bipartisan, BicameralI RECYLE Act to Reduce Waste and Protect Environment from Plastic Pollution

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, Reps. Dean Phillips (D-MN) and David Joyce (R-OH) and Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Rob Portman (R-OH) introduced the RECYLE Act, a bipartisan bill that would lead to vast improvements in community and residential recycling programs.

Recycling is one of the simplest ways to protect the environment, yet consumer confusion often impedes efforts to reduce waste. In fact, according to the EPA, nearly $9 billion worth of recyclable materials are thrown away each year. The RECYCLE Act would fund education and outreach programs meant to increase recycling rates and share best practices across the country. Improved recycling is especially important as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. Demand for PPE and other single-use plastics has increased waste by an estimated 30%, with the majority of that waste ending up in landfills or the natural environment.

“Plastic pollution is one of the worst environmental crises in decades, yet across the country, people remain confused about how to dispose of materials responsibly,” said Rep. Phillips. “That’s why I worked with my colleagues on the RECYCLE Act, a bipartisan, bicameral bill that gives local communities the tools they need to keep our lands, rivers, and lakes pollutant free. Let’s get this bill to the President’s desk and prove once and for all that preserving our environment is an American issue, not a partisan one.”

Continue reading “Phillips Introduces Bipartisan, BicameralI RECYLE Act to Reduce Waste and Protect Environment from Plastic Pollution”

Pandemics and gun violence are real life, not ‘theater’

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And the word is not the insult Rand Paul and Ted Cruz seem to think it is

Perhaps Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky needs a refresher course on the meaning of the word “theater.” His GOP colleague Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas could listen in.

The former recently initiated a verbal brawl with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease specialist who has been providing information and advice to guide Americans dealing, along with the rest of the world, with a deadly pandemic. The latter accused anyone proposing the consideration of gun restrictions, in light of two horrific mass shootings in the space of a week, of “ridiculous theater.”

Now, I realize the term “theatrical” can be used as an insult hurled at someone accused of exaggeration, but what is happening in America is a fact. So let me offer my own definition: “Theater” is the thrill of escaping from it all in a darkened hall with a group of strangers, to see and hear professionals act or sing or dance, and to be uplifted by the experience, if only for an hour or two. Continue reading.

The gun implicated in Boulder uses the same ammunition as an AR-15. It’s legally a pistol.

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In a promotional video for the Ruger AR-556, a company product manager gushed that the weapon, legally designated as a pistol but closer to an AR-15 rifle in design, offered much more than a typical handgun.

The compact body features the same rail system as wildly popular AR-15-style rifles, he noted, allowing owners to attach accessories like optics and flashlights, and its short barrel makes for easy transport.

“It’s still great for all the applications of a pistol — or a rifle,” the Ruger staffer said in the 2019 video. Continue reading.

Secret until now, records reveal clash over the Trump DOJ’s demand for NC voter data

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Federal prosecutors have announced an end to a sweeping, four-year-long investigation into voter fraud in North Carolina, peeling back a veil of secrecy from a probe that pitted state and federal officials against each other over a massive demand for data on every one of the state’s registered voters.

The effort initiated by the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District resulted in a range of charges related to immigration, registration and election rules against about 70 people — more than 40 of whom were accused of casting ballots illegally. Dates of those charges, which involved activity during the 2016 election and prior, range from July 2018 to mid-February 2021.

Many of the latest indictments were announced for the first time Friday, but the totals fall far short of early suggestions by the federal government of “pervasive” or “systemic” fraud, suspicions the U.S. Attorney’s Office put before a federal judge in an effort to keep details of its inquiry secret for years. Continue reading.

The militarization of society is trapping us in a paralyzed republic

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The Republicans in the US Congress insist it’s a constitutional Second Amendment issue. The Democrats insist it’s a commonsense safety issue. The press corps, which prefers binaries as a matter of professional convenience, frames the question just like that, as a tension between the right to bear arms and the right to peace. As long as that framing holds steady, there’s no way for the conflict to be resolved (which is, as I mentioned Monday in an unrelated context, exactly how the press corps likes it).

This framing is useless. How is a free republic supposed to react in good faith to bloody massacres like the one last week in Atlanta and the one this week in Boulder, Colorado,1 if the conflict between diametric rights is forever deadlocked? Well, the answer is obvious. It does not. It is paralyzed. It has been for going on two decades now. A problem of democracy cannot be solved democratically even as the problem continues killing wholesale. It’s no wonder many Americans have turned to military solutions to democratic problems, which, of course, make nearly everything worse.

We must concede this free republic of ours is not free. To be sure, some within it believethey are free—white men, for the most part, who make a fetish of stockpiling as many weapons of destruction as they can. But these people are not free. They are not only trapped by their own delusions, paranoia and fear, they are trapped in the same paralyzed republic the rest of us are trapped in. They are subject to the same risk of carnage, injury and death. The difference? They choose to make-believe they are free. Continue reading.

Senate panel dukes it out over voting rights

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Lawmakers on the Senate Rules Committee clashed Wednesday over sweeping Democratic legislation on voting rights and campaign finance and redistricting reform.

“This bill is essential to protecting every American’s right to vote, getting dark money out of our elections, as well as some very important anti-corruption reforms,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the panel’s chairwoman, said in her opening statement on the For the People Act. “It is about strengthening our democracy by returning it to the hands of its rightful owners: the American people.”

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), the ranking member on the panel, argued against the legislation, saying it would “force a single, partisan view of elections on more than 10,000 jurisdictions across the country.” Continue reading.

Biden puts Harris in charge of border crisis

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President Biden is putting Vice President Harris in charge of addressing the migrant surge at the U.S.-Mexico border, senior administration officials announced on Wednesday.

Why it matters: Just as President Obama tasked Biden with fixing the U.S. economy after he assumed office in 2009, Biden is putting his own vice president in charge of a problem threatening to overshadow the new administration’s successful launch.

  • Harris will lead efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador) to manage the flow of unaccompanied children and migrant families arriving at the border in numbers not seen since a surge in 2019.