Let’s Talk About South Carolina

Bernie Sanders didn’t lose because of the “black vote,” but winning places like South Carolina is crucial to building a left majority.

Joe Kennedy III Is a Spoiled Rich Kid Who Feels Entitled to the Senate

Joe Kennedy’s campaign for Senate against Ed Markey is utterly pointless, a vacuous bid to leverage his youth and his family crest into another position of power.

A Liberal “Moral Reckoning” Can’t Solve the Problems That Plague Black Americans

If we view the problems of poverty, health care, and criminal justice through a lens that filters out the political-economic underpinnings of these injustices — informed by the language of moral reckoning — we may just end up with modest reforms at best and symbolic gestures at worst, when what we need is fundamental structural change.

Comcast Got $1 Billion in Public Subsidies. Now It’s Charging the Public New Data Fees.

Comcast received $1 billion in government subsidies. But it’s still imposing new data fees on customers reliant on the internet due to COVID. Thanks to a massive lobbying effort and ties to Joe Biden, the telecom giant might very well get away with it.

“I Pretty Much Immediately Discovered How Bad American Health Care Was”

Journalist Libby Watson started a newsletter to document the horrors of the US's profit-driven health system. She spoke to us about the insurance industry’s windfall COVID-19 profits, Joe Biden’s phantom public option proposal, and how growing up with Britain's National Health Service made her experiences with America's grotesque system all the more enraging.

The Centrist Think Tank Third Way Just Can’t Quit Austerity

For a moment, it seemed like the centrist think tank Third Way was abandoning its commitment to austerity. No longer: Third Way is now boosting a campaign to deny $1,400 COVID-19 survival checks to tens of millions of Americans and undermining the push to raise the minimum wage to $15.

The Democratic Party’s Real War in 2020 Was Against Bernie Sanders

In their sequel to 2016’s Shattered, Amie Parnes and Jonathan Allen give a behind-the-scenes look at Joe Biden’s 2020 run — a campaign even more inept than Hillary Clinton’s, driven first and foremost by defeating Bernie Sanders, and saved in the end only by blind luck and historical accident.

Wall Street Takes Workers’ Retirement Money and Uses It Against Them

Workers’ retirement savings aren’t usually thought of as a stimulating topic. But we should pay closer attention, because public pensions are a key way for Wall Street to steal wealth from workers and hoard it for themselves.

Andrew Cuomo’s Team Looked to Joe Biden for Lessons on How to Shut Down Misconduct Allegations

According to investigation records, Andrew Cuomo and his lackeys talked about trying to emulate Joe Biden’s approach to discrediting sexual harassment accusers.

No, America Is Not Sliding Into Civil War

Liberals have made a cottage industry out of breathless warnings about impending apocalypse at the hands of the Right. This rhetoric isn’t just overblown — it’s also politically useless.

Gun Control Alone Won’t Suppress the US’s Death Drive

Mass shootings are only the latest horrific chapter in the US’s long history of gun violence, which stretches from prerevolutionary slave patrols to our ongoing trade in military technology. Confronting this bloodlust will require more than just gun control.

The Supreme Court Has Always Been a Reactionary Body

The Supreme Court’s decision overturning the right to abortion is the latest in a long history of reactionary rulings. We shouldn’t have any illusions: the court is an antidemocratic body that has always been about protecting elites.

Are We at the Dawn of “Insulin Socialism”?

The high cost of insulin is one of the great injustices of the US health care system. But now, states like California are looking at directly manufacturing this essential medicine — a potentially massive win for both patients and left-wing politics.

As Serious Local Journalism Declines, Empty Partisan Hackery Is Taking Its Place

As local newspapers shut down across the country, partisan mudslinging masquerading as news has filled in the vacuum. The Republicans are trailblazers in “pink slime journalism,” but the Democrats are following their lead.

On failing at precalculus, failing at crack, and failing at capitalism

What You Should Have Read in 2022

We published 2,500 original essays in 2022. Here’s a recap in case you missed one or two of them.

Justin Trudeau Loves Outsourcing Government Work to Neoliberal Cutthroats

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has outsourced billions of dollars’ worth of contracts, including $100 million to McKinsey. Instead of shoveling money into the private sector, the Liberals could make the novel choice of investing in state capacity.

Rail-Lobbyist-Turned-Senator John Thune Is Set to Block New Railroad Safety Measures

Sen. John Thune, a former railroad lobbyist, is positioning himself to help kill rail safety legislation meant to prevent disasters like the recent East Palestine derailment. It’s one of many examples of the rail industry’s “revolving door” in Washington, DC.

Marianne Williamson: Democrats Need a “Genuine Economic Alternative” to Beat the GOP in 2024

In an interview, 2024 Democratic presidential contender Marianne Williamson discusses her criticisms of Joe Biden and the Democratic Party establishment.

Cornel West Should Challenge Biden in the Democratic Primaries

Cornel West has a compelling message. Instead of running a third-party campaign most voters won’t notice, he should grab the spotlight by challenging Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination.