Why House Republicans alienate Hispanics: They don’t need them Political analysts keep urging the Republican Party to do more to appeal to Hispanic voters. Yet the party’s congressional leaders show little sign of doing so, blocking an immigration overhaul and harshly criticizing President Obama for his plan to defer deportation for undocumented migrants. There’s a simple…
Bush’s revenge—appeals court goes on a rampage When George W. Bush departed the White House, he left behind a giant deficit and expanded government spending for Medicare drug benefits that caused conservatives to grumble. But he did make a mark that right-wingers can cheer—by shaping the federal courts for years, perhaps decades. As Bush has retreated…
Warren says she’s not running. At this rate, she may have to The Massachusetts Democrat has become the brightest ideological and rhetorical light in a party whose prospects are dimmed by—to use a word Jimmy Carter never uttered—malaise. Her weekend swing through Colorado, Minnesota, and Iowa to rally the faithful displayed something no other potential…
Office Politics Inside the PAC teaching corporate America how to make its employees vote for the ‘right’ candidates and causes On the morning of Jan. 29, construction workers were building a seawater pipe at Oliktok Point, part of a sprawling network of oil fields owned by ConocoPhillips on Alaska’s arctic North Slope, when they received…
GOP schooled on education politics Republicans thought this would be the year to make education their winning issue. The plan was simple: Talk up the GOP’s support for school choice—including vouchers to help parents pay for private school—and win the hearts of moms everywhere. It hasn’t worked out like that. Instead, in Florida, Kansas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, Republicans…
Softball player warms up for hardball council race Michael Maddux is both a softball player and umpire but spent much of last summer indoors, campaigning for creation of a Seattle Parks District, with resources to do such jobs as fixing baseball diamonds in city parks. The Seattle paralegal is about to enter a game of political…
Suzan DelBene vs. Pedro Celis: Minimum wage, maximum disagreement The minimum wage was one area of maximum disagreement as U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-1) faced off Wednesday against Republican challenger Pedro Celis in the contest for Washington’s sprawling, diverse 1st Congressional District. “I support raising the (federal) minimum wage to $10.10 an hour,” said DelBene, saying…
Supreme Court case shows how Amazon legally cheats workers No other company embodies the mantra “Time is money” quite like Amazon, with its seamless mastery of “just in time” logistics and round-the-clock online retail hours. But inside the cavernous warehouses that ship its goods, there are real people, and their time is not so preciously…
Grooming students for a lifetime of surveillance Since 2011, billions of dollars of venture capital investment have poured into public education through private, for-profit technologies that promise to revolutionize education. Designed for the “21st century” classroom, these tools promise to remedy the many, many societal ills facing public education with artificial intelligence, machine learning, data…
Widescale corruption scandal rocks South Carolina’s GOP statehouse Just over a month ago, South Carolina’s Republican Speaker of the House, Bobby Harrell, was indicted on multiple criminal charges, including misconduct in office, misuse of power, using campaign donations for personal gain, and falsifying financial reports. The nine-count criminal indictment against Harrell appears to be just the…