Author Archives: Subir Grewal

Warren says Democrats should campaign on Single-Payer healthcare.

Posted on by June 27, 2017

Elizabeth Warren has been on a campaign footing to push back against Republican efforts to bestow enormous tax breaks on millionaires and billionaires by decimating health-care coverage for ordinary Americans. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is traveling to Trump-friendly areas of her state hoping to connect with his backers and provide a road map for her party to win back working-class voters. […] Democrats, she said, would do better if they campaigned on that progressive platform rather than blurring the lines between themselves and Republicans. — WSJ Warren highlighted the lengths to which President Obama and Democrats had gone in 2009-2010 to garner Republican support … Continue reading →

Most “Conservatives” will protect Trump. No Matter What.

Posted on by June 26, 2017

This week, Hannity and Hume rushed to tell us that colluding with Putin to subvert the results of an American election is entirely legal. The National Review thinks evidence of collusion would be “an enormous calamity” for Trump and lead to impeachment if Democrats win Congress. But, they don’t think there’s anything wrong about collusion, they just think it’s a “dead-end” argument to talk about legality. Let’s set aside, for a moment, all the state, federal or campaign finance laws that might have been broken. Or even the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Let’s set aside the fact that Trump asked for help from “Russia, if … Continue reading →

Yes, Neil Gorsuch is as terrible as you feared.

Posted on by June 26, 2017

The Supreme Court announced today that they would hear Trump v. International Refugee Assistance Project. This is the Muslim ban, Travel ban case. In it’s decision to hear the case, the court also lifted the temporary injunctions granted by the circuit courts against Trump’s Muslim ban: We grant the Government’s applications to stay the injunctions, to the extent the injunctions prevent enforcement of §2(c) with respect to foreign nationals who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States. This means students, employees, spouses, parents, children etc. returning to the US should not be affected by … Continue reading →

Democrats fail to pick up any seats in special elections for Congress

Posted on by June 22, 2017

We’ve had four House special elections this year. Democrats have lost all four. All four were tough races to replace Republicans from very safe districts who were appointed to posts within the Trump administration. In 2016, the Republicans were all incumbents, and their Democratic challengers were: Mike Pompeo (60.7%) won against Daniel Giroux (29.6%) in KS-4 Ryan Zinke (56.2%) won against Denise Juneau (40.5%) in MT-AL Tom Price (61.7%) won against Rodney Stooksbury (38.3%) in GA-06 Mick Mulvaney (59.2%) won against Fran Person (38.7%) in SC-05 In KS-04, an Independent and a Libertarian won almost 10% of the vote in 2016. First for the good news, … Continue reading →

A stark contrast as Corbyn and May visit site of London fire

Posted on by June 16, 2017

A fire at the Grenfell Tower in London on Wednesday may have killed a hundred people: As the confirmed death toll rose to 30, there were reportedly as many as 70 people unaccounted for since the blaze, which police fear was so devastating that some victims may never be identified. The official number of deaths has sparked anger and confusion within the local community, where people believe the true number is considerably higher.  — Guardian Labour Party leader James Corbyn visited the complex on Thursday, meeting with survivors. He comforted those searching for loved ones. ​Corbyn comforting a woman holding … Continue reading →

ISIS has captured Tora-Bora as Trump ignores US commanders in Iraq/Afghanistan.

Posted on by June 15, 2017

  We have been at war in Afghanistan for almost 16 years now, and for much of that time, it’s been two steps forward and three steps back. This week, we went three steps back as ISIS captured the mountain fortress of Tora Bora. The ISIS forces in Afghanistan include the remnants of Al-Qaeda. Tora Bora is where Bin-Laden went immediately after 9/11. It’s a large complex with miles of tunnels, roads and caves dug into granite mountains. If you think this is only two steps back, recall that Tora Bora was originally built with funding from the CIA. The CIA helped build this … Continue reading →

Bernie Sanders: How Democrats Can Stop Losing Elections

Posted on by June 13, 2017

The NY Times has an Op-Ed by Bernie Sanders up, advocating the Democratic party adopt a more progressive agenda. Bernie Sanders: How Democrats Can Stop Losing Elections In 2016, the Democratic Party lost the presidency to possibly the least popular candidate in American history. In recent years, Democrats have also lost the Senate and House to right-wing Republicans whose extremist agenda is far removed from where most Americans are politically. Republicans now control almost two-thirds of governor’s offices and have gained about 1,000 seats in state legislatures in the past nine years. In 24 states, Democrats have almost no political influence … Continue reading →

Labour under Corbyn posts biggest gain in popular vote since 1945

Posted on by June 9, 2017

Under Corbyn’s leadership, Labour won a bigger portion of the popular vote than it has in the past 15 years. Turnout was the highest it’s been over the past 20 years. The improvement over the prior result is the best for Labour since the post-war 1945 election. YEAR LABOUR TORIES LIB (DEM) * Turnout LAB DELTA UNEMP 1964 48.0% 41.9% 8.5% 75.8% + 3.9% 2.3% 1970 43.1% 46.4% 7.5% 72% – 4.9% 2.8% 1974 37.2% 37.9% 19.3% 78.8% – 5.9% 2.7% 1974 39.2% 35.8% 18.3% 72.8% + 2.0% 2.7% 1979 36.9% 43.9% 13.8% 76% – 2.3% 6.0% 1983 27.6% 42.4% … Continue reading →

As military occupation enters 51st year, Trump administration wants UN to stop “bullying” Israel

Posted on by June 9, 2017

Palestinians have lived for 50 years under a military occupation by a foreign government and there are no signs this will end anytime soon. The Israeli government has been busily dispossessing Palestinians as individuals and as a nation of land and resources. Three generations of Palestinians have lived the bulk of their lives (five decades) with their human and civil rights curtailed by the Israeli government. The Trump administration believes the UN is “bullying” Israel by condemning these policies: [US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki] Haley arrived in Israel to a hero’s welcome one day after warning that the United States might pull out of … Continue reading →

UK general election polls close at 5PM EDT. Where to follow results…

Posted on by June 8, 2017

I know we’re all focused on the Comey hearing, but there is another major political event underway. The UK snap general election is today! It’ll determine the composition of the 650 member House of Commons. Since Theresa May called the election on April 19, she has seen the Conservative party’s lead over Labour collapse by 10-15%, with a small rebound last week. ​ As always, final result will depend on turnout. Exit polls have been historically accurate in the UK, so we should have a good idea right after polls close, as to whether or not Labour has been able to make up … Continue reading →

Third official explanation for US airstrike that killed 140 civilians in Mosul is also disputed

Posted on by June 8, 2017

Back in March, a bomb dropped from a US aircraft hit a building in Mosul and caused it to collapse. The strike was called in because Iraqi force on the ground saw two snipers in the building. Once the smoke had cleared, neighbors began pulling bodies out of the wreckage and there were reports that 200+ people had perished, including many children. This was the only building in the area with a basement and over a hundred people were sheltering there. The day the news broke, Iraqi forces told journalists that the building collapse was caused by a car bomb. This … Continue reading →

NY Senate is one senate vote away from passing Single Payer Health Care.

Posted on by June 3, 2017

The New York Health Act passed the NY assembly this year, just as it has the past two years. The NYHA would establish a single-payer universal health-care system in New York, covering all New York residents. Every New York resident would be eligible to enroll, regardless of immigration status, age, income, wealth, employment, or other status. Coverage would include all services currently required by the state’s insurance laws and offered in the health-care plans offered to state public employees. The plan would be funded through a progressive payroll tax/deduction that would replace health-insurance premiums for most employees. The tax would be graduated with … Continue reading →

Israel’s occupation has lasted 50 years, it’s on track to run for 50 more.

Posted on by June 2, 2017

As the 50th anniversary of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza approaches, there will be several lengthy retrospectives. One of the better ones was, surprisingly, published by the NY Times today. Nathan Thrall is a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group. He’s also the author of “The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine.” he makes a persuasive case that the Israeli occupation is on track to run another 50 years, aided and abetted by the US. The widely held misconception that the occupation is unsustainable and prone to collapse any minute now, under the weight … Continue reading →

Bernie Sanders says Jeremy Corbyn is “doing exactly what I am trying to do”

Posted on by June 1, 2017

James Corbyn’s proved himself to be a tenacious leader. He was chosen by rank and file members to be the Labour party’s leader after their disastrous showing in the 2015 general election. Though Labour’s centrist MPs mounted a no-confidence campaign against Corbyn after the EU referendum, he won the leadership position again, with an even larger portion of the vote. Now, Corbyn faces his first general election contest. When Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May first called the snap election (reversing her own public statements), Labour was down over 23 points to the Tories. It looked like the Labour party was heading … Continue reading →

DNC lawyers say it can pick candidates in smoke-filled back-room

Posted on by May 31, 2017

For the DNC, the fallout from the presidential primary is not yet over. In the conduct and management of the affairs and procedures of the Democratic National Committee, particularly as they apply to the preparation and conduct of the Presidential nomination process, the Chairperson shall exercise impartiality and even handedness as between the Presidential candidates and campaigns. The Chairperson shall be responsible for ensuring that the national officers and staff of the Democratic National Committee maintain impartiality and even-handedness during the Democratic Party Presidential nominating process. — Democratic party charter/by-laws That section of the charter is the subject of a class-action … Continue reading →