By Robert Edwards | August 13, 2020 | Justice
In January 2018, I spoke with the Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Peter Nicks about The Force, his feature documentary about Oakland’s deeply troubled police department and its history of violence. This is a new interview with Pete, discussing those issues in the post-George Floyd world. Read More
By Heather Cox Richardson | August 13, 2020 | Letters From an American
As the Democratic Joe Biden-Kamala Harris team began to campaign together to win the 2020 election, the contours of the upcoming political contest became clearer. Read More
By Steven Harper | August 12, 2020 | Pandemic Timeline
As the pandemic rages throughout the country, voting by mail has become a particularly appealing option. But a big turnout is Donald Trump’s electoral enemy, so his administration has launched an attack on the US Postal Service — making it a central player in the preservation of American democracy. Read More
By Heather Cox Richardson | August 12, 2020
Kamala Harris is perceived as solidly in the moderate wing of the Democratic Party. A former DA, she can battle the GOP on issues of law and order. Harris is the first Democratic nominee for the top of the ticket who has ever hailed from California, and one of the first from the far West. The right took aim at her selection immediately. In other news, Russia and Ukraine are back on the top of the president's topic list. Read More
By Heather Cox Richardson | August 11, 2020
The most striking news of the day was not that Trump has suggested he wants his image on Mt. Rushmore but rather that such an outrageous statement has garnered so little attention. That says something about his presidency. Read More
By Rachel Glickhouse | August 10, 2020 | Democracy & Government
This article is part of Electionland, ProPublica’s collaborative reporting project covering problems that prevent eligible voters from casting their ballots during the 2020 elections. Read More
By Andrew McCormick | August 10, 2020
Climate change is political insofar as strong policies are necessary to answer its challenges. That’s a plain fact of governance, not partisan opinion. Yet, for too long, journalism has tended to view climate policy through the lens of horse race politics: One candidate favors action. The other doesn’t. Who will prevail? This tendency has to go. Read More
By Heather Cox Richardson | August 9, 2020 | Letters From an American
Trump has framed himself as a hero, saving Americans when Congress would not. And Republicans can frame the inevitable legal pushback on his relief bill as Democratic hostility to ordinary people. Read More
By Jon Queally | August 8, 2020 | Democracy & Government
"America is in a dead sprint to authoritarianism. The man is pulling out all the stops to prevent the citizens of this country from holding a legitimate election in which he might face removal from office." byJon Queally, staff writer 41 Comments Postmaster General Louis DeJoy (R) arrives for a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on August 5, 2020. (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images) Postmaster General Louis DeJoy (R) arrives for a meeting with House ... Read More
By Heather Cox Richardson | August 8, 2020 | Letters From an American
America’s top news continues to touch on the upcoming election. The Friday night news dump was about the United States Postal Service. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Trump loyalist, has recently created new rules for the agency that have dramatically slowed the delivery of mail just as mail-in voting for 2020 has begun. Today, DeJoy overhauled the USPS, releasing a new organizational chart that displaces postal executives with decades of experience and concentrates power in DeJoy himself. Twenty-three executives have been reassigned or fired; five have been moved in from other roles. The seven regions of the nation will become four, ... Read More
By James D. Zirin | August 7, 2020 | Democracy & Government
Trump has no legal right to delay the federal elections without the consent of Congress, but his lack of legal authority has rarely stopped him. We know he will do almost anything to work the system and stay in power, and he thinks he can rely on the conservative majority in the Supreme Court to back him up. Read More
