Explaining the Right is a weekly series that looks at what the right wing is currently obsessing over, how it influences politics—and why you need to know. It’s been a tumultuous 6 months with Donald Trump inhabiting the presidency, with a weakened federal government now incapable of addressing monumental problems like climate change, pandemics, education, basic security and safety, and even forecasting the weather. As … Continue reading How the hell did we get here?

Election officials worry about the cost of new rules — and the impact on public faith. By Carrie Levine for Votebeat Several provisions of President Donald Trump’s executive order on elections have run into obstacles in court. But others are quietly moving ahead, at least for now, with big potential implications for state and local election officials and the voting systems they rely on. In Montgomery … Continue reading Work on new voting system guidelines already in motion after Trump executive order

Injustice for All is a weekly series about how the Trump administration is trying to weaponize the justice system—and the people who are fighting back. Sure, the Trump administration is zero for four in every case where a Big Law firm sued rather than knuckle under to one of President Donald Trump’s flagrantly illegal executive orders, but that’s no reason for them to stop trying.  … Continue reading More Supreme Court bad news, plus Trump nominates more ‘stellar’ people

A North Texas man charged with capital murder after slipping mifepristone into his girlfriend’s food signals another attempt to rein in abortion pills. By Jessica Shuran Yu and Hayden Bett for The Texas Tribune A North Texas man charged with capital murder this month after he allegedly slipped his girlfriend abortion-inducing medication and caused a miscarriage marks the first time a murder charge has been brought in an abortion-related … Continue reading Texas capital murder case aims to severely punish abortion pill use by treating a fetus as a person

Two ​​Alaskan lawmakers—including one Republican and one independent—just published a hand-wringing op-ed in The New York Times warning that the GOP’s latest budget reconciliation bill will throw their state into chaos. The headline? “Alaska cannot survive this bill.” The list of horrors is long: Nearly 40,000 Alaskans will lose their health coverage, tens of thousands will go hungry as SNAP benefits are slashed, rural clinics … Continue reading You voted for budget cuts. Why are you crying now, Alaska?

 Caribbean Matters is a weekly series from Daily Kos. Hope you’ll join us here every Saturday. If you are unfamiliar with the region, check out Caribbean Matters: Getting to know the countries of the Caribbean. The Caribbean region is a rich and fascinating melange of cultures, ethnicities, racial ancestries, and religions. We recently covered the arrival of a large migration of people from India/South Asia … Continue reading Caribbean Matters: The celebration of Hosay in Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica