Daily Clips

Democrats can win on Social Security—by fighting to increase it A new poll confirms that voters don’t just want their Social Security benefits protected, they want them expanded—in overwhelming numbers, across geographical distances, and crossing all party lines. It’s not just “liberals” who feel that way. Three out of four Republican voters support it. What’s more, voters say they’re…

Cities reject group’s push for ‘right-to-work’ A right-wing group’s attempt to impose anti-union “right-to-work” collective bargaining restrictions on city governments in Washington state suffered a major setback Monday as its propositions were deemed illegal by city officials in both Sequim and Shelton. Dozens of angry citizens crowded into the cities’ council meetings to decry the measures…

GOP’s Obamacare nightmare is coming true: It’s working For Republicans, the Obamacare reckoning has arrived sooner than expected. The politics of the health care law have undergone a sea change since its disastrous rollout last fall, when many conservative operatives were salivating at the prospect of a GOP wave in the midterm elections due to an…

Progressive left’s latest target: EMILY’s List Is the war on women—or on women’s groups, anyway—coming to the Democratic Party, too? With economic issues increasingly roiling the progressive left, a number of bloggers, activists, and liberal groups say EMILY’s List, one of the Democratic Party’s biggest power brokers for nearly 30 years, is increasingly on the wrong…

Prisoner’s beard provides next test for religious liberty When the Supreme Court comes back from its summer break next month, it will pick up where it left off, returning to the subject of religious freedom. But the court’s focus will shift from corporations to prisoners. On the final day of the last term, in June, the…

Union campaign calls city pre-K plan GOP-friendly, male-dominated After a state Court of Appeals ruling yesterday, it’s all but certain that November voters will have to choose between two pre-K measures: one backed by the city and one by two unions. Rather than fight City Hall, the unions wanted the court to allow voters to choose both measures, but…

Establishment GOP candidate for House to get Hastings’ blessing At a “joint announcement” in Richland on Wednesday morning, outgoing Republican U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings is expected to endorse ex-state agriculture director Dan Newhouse to succeed him in the state’s 4th Congressional District. Newhouse is the GOP establishment’s candidate in a Republican-vs.-Republican runoff for the Central Washington…

Meet the former gang girl who wants to run Las Vegas Politicians love to tout their humble beginnings, but Lucy Flores’ beginnings are of a different order altogether—and her commitment to springing people from the trap of urban poverty is that much greater. Flores, the Democratic candidate for Nevada lieutenant governor, is different—different from the lawmakers…

(Daily Clips will publish Tuesday, September 2. Enjoy Labor Day.) The expanding world of poverty capitalism In Orange County CA the probation department’s “supervised electronic confinement program,” which monitors the movements of low-risk offenders, has been outsourced to a private company, Sentinel Offender Services. The company, by its own account, oversees case management, including breath alcohol and…

Will wage theft derail Seattle’s $15 minimum wage law? Seattle may soon find that passing a $15 minimum wage was the easy part. The real challenge will be making sure workers actually get what they deserve under the law. In the past eight years, both the Washington legislature and the Seattle City Council have passed laws…