VOICES

WORK FORCE - On September 14, a young woman in Louisiana named Beth McGrath posted a selfie Facebook video of herself working at Walmart.

LABOR WATCH - Labor advocates are calling it “Striketober.”

SPYWARE IN THE CLASSROOM - Since spring 2020, Minneapolis schools have been using an online surveillance application called Gaggle to spy on students’ online activity.

COURTING CHANGE - Progressive lawmakers and advocacy groups on Friday urged President Joe Biden to disregard the advice of a bipartisan panel he convened earlier this year and embrace Democratic legislation that would add four justices to the U.S. Supreme Court,

POLITICS & HATE - In the weeks since the 20th anniversary of 9/11, sensory memories of that disastrous day -- things I haven’t thought about in years – came flooding back.

KINDNESS FACTOR - I have been young, and now am old, but one thing has not changed: I am an American. 

THE SECURITY STATE - Of the estimated 1.4 million top security clearance U.S. personnel employed by one or another of the government’s 18 braches of its $81 billion annually budgeted “U.S. Intelligence Community,” perhaps one or two individuals each year are designated as “whistleblowers” and persecuted to the high heavens.

LANDMARK LEGISLATION - In Washington, the big debate over President Biden's Building Back Better program is coming to a head. It will soon be settled—one way or another.

DIVIDED NATION - We have a two-party political system, one that evolves with time, people, and circumstance.

COMMENTARY - The Southwest strike has given me renewed hope that Americans have not become complete doormats. In recent times as a society, we seem to be more concerned about tiptoeing around China, whether it’s bad to call it “China virus”, instead of actually solving the problem of a worldwide pandemic.

CHILD POVERTY - American families have struggled for decades to make ends meet with stagnant wages and a decimated social safety net. The U.S. now spends less on children than nearly any other wealthy nation.

CLIMATE WATCH - It's taken too long, but the mainstream media—finally and haltingly—seems to be realizing that the climate crisis is a story that can no longer be ignored.

LGBTQ NATION - Over a hundred students held a walk out at a high school in Missouri in support of a gay student who has faced constant bullying and violence this year at school.

WH PRESS CORP - White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had to tell a far-right reporter to stop yelling about a conspiracy theory during the press briefing yesterday.

DEMOCRACY & JUSTICE - On Tuesday, Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

PEACE VOICE - Conventional wisdom tells schoolchildren that the US was the first modern democracy, modeled to some degree after the Greek experiment from a couple thousand years ago. 

 LGBTQ NATION - A heartwarming video has gone viral for showing a father embracing his son after he discovers his son putting on makeup. The video has gotten over 10.4 million views on TikTok so far.

ECONOMY WATCH - Right now, corporations and the ultra-rich are spending millions to derail President Biden’s Build Back Better plan.

PEACE VOICE-In the first few weeks of class I usually ask students: can you think of any part of your daily life that is not regulated? 

COMMENTARY-Big garbage is big money, and for decades the City of Glendale has been profiting from a dump that overlooks the community of Eagle Rock in northeast Los Angeles. 

COMMENTARY-Reports of generals testifying before Congress that Biden withdrew the military from Afghanistan faster than they had recommended seems to smell a lot like after-the-fact CYA and self-serving in the extreme.