Opinion

Mark Robinson ‘doesn’t recall’ past statements on abortion. Here’s a reminder.

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson has said he’d like abortion to be banned in all circumstances, including rape and incest.

He has frequently likened abortion to murder and said that once a woman is pregnant, her body is no longer her own.

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Dry January allows us to reboot our lives and reassess our relationship with alcohol

Dry January is an exercise of abstaining from alcohol for the entirety of the first month of the year.

For many, drinking alcohol during the holidays and the weeks leading up to the festive season is commonplace.

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Why we must support Ukraine

America’s support for Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion is in our critical national interest.

It mirrors the challenge that our nation confronted in 1940 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt sought to support Great Britain with arms needed to fight Nazi Germany forces that were attacking Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and France.

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They say they want to build public trust — but they’re bankrolling election deniers

Senior executives of America’s largest corporations have spent this week in Davos, Switzerland, at the annual World Economic Forum, whose 2024 theme is “Rebuilding Trust.”

Hello?

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Cities have long been a target of anger from the disaffected. History tells us to beware

Cities are hubs for growth and innovation, but stereotypes of urban decay and depravity have long been red meat for Republicans. Right-wing populism in the United States is rooted in the antagonism of rural voters to cities, which they almost uniformly view as liberal havens for unhoused people, criminals and deviants. In 2020, 65% of rural voters voted for Donald Trump, according to the Pew Research Center. The directing of anger and fear toward cities dates to President Ronald Reagan’s conjuring of an image of “welfare queens” who own Cadillacs. Trump has disparaged cities as “disgusting” pl...

The GOP's latest 'Big Lie' might be their most dangerous and clever one yet

Sadly, it’s becoming more and more likely that the traitor, Donald Trump, will avoid jail and represent the disgraceful Republican Party in the most important election in American history this November.

There’s actually some good news in this, which I’ll get to shortly, but not before loading up and taking another shot at our pathetic Justice Department, which has failed mightily to protect us from fascism, and punish the disgusting madman and his associates who tried to end our Democracy for good on January 6, 2021.

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How Trump is exploiting our scarcest resource — and making Biden disappear

Donald Trump is a master of exploiting our scarcest resource, with significant consequence for the 2024 election.

What’s that scarcest resource — the one thing you cannot get more of even if you had all the money in the world, which is rapidly becoming your most valuable asset?

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Six reasons why Iowa will freeze Ron DeSantis right out of the 2024 presidential campaign

WINDSOR HEIGHTS, Iowa — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis checked all the Iowa boxes. He shook countless hands. He attended coffee klatches and county festivals. He lavished local legislators with campaign cash. He pandered like a pro.

On paper, DeSantis had a lot going for his campaign. For a brief moment last year, he even seemed in striking distance of Trump.

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Why today’s Iowa Republican caucuses won’t represent America

What? You’re not mesmerized by today’s Iowa Republican caucuses? You’re not planning to spend MLK Day glued to your mobile phone for the play-by-play? You’re not excited to find out whether Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis comes in second to Trump?

Nor, to tell you the truth, am I. Iowa is solidly Trump territory.

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Missouri's lifetime food-stamp ban for drug felons is cruel and counterproductive

As Missouri lawmakers embark on yet another legislative session sure to be defined by right-wing extremism and entrenched partisanship, positive exception has arisen regarding, of all things, public assistance: A bipartisan proposal would finally end a cruel and counterproductive lifetime ban on food stamp eligibility for people with felony drug convictions in their past. Technically, the state modified that ban a decade ago, but under such onerous restrictions that it effectively still prevents almost anyone with a felony drug record from accessing the federal-state Supplemental Nutrition Foo...

Few Trumpers who embrace political violence understand its endgame

The vast majority of people alive today don’t live in liberal democracies where fundamental human rights are respected, elections are real, and the rule of law, at least theoretically, applies to everyone.

Freedom House, in its annual Freedom in the World survey, estimates that only 20% of the world’s population lives in freedom, and even among free nations, democracy is still a baby. Out of 195 UN-recognized countries in the world, only eight — including the United States — have existed as electoral democracies for a century or more. This means that worldwide, most people have suffered under authoritarian rule, or lacked basic political or human rights, for part if not all of their lives.

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Why Biden doesn’t need to become Obama to defeat Trump

In 2008, Barack Obama defeated the late Sen. John McCain by waging a campaign of “hope and change.” He presented a positive vision for the future. He inspired millions of Americans and won the election by a large margin.

Here in 2024, President Joe Biden, arguably, isn’t seen as the most inspiring figure. He’s likable enough, but people don’t typically get too excited about him. That might seem like a problem for him this year as his approval rating remains quite low and he tries to secure a second term. Even Obama himself wants Biden to be more like Obama, with the Washington Post reporting that the former and current president engaged in an “animated” discussion about the state of Biden’s re-election campaign.

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A handy guide for translating Republican-speak into plain English

Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley had a spitting match Wednesday night on CNN as they fought for, well, something. Vice president? Unlikely. Beating Trump? Probably not. Book deal? Who knows?

Anyhow, during the “debate,” they both threw out numerous Reagan-era GOP talking points that most people probably poorly understand, so here’s a handy guide to translate Republican-speak into plain English.

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