Thom's blog

Red State vs. Blue State

In almost every category, Americans are better off living in a Blue state. On Friday, Politico Magazine released a list of state rankings, using respected sources like the Census Bureau, the FBI, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What they found was stunning.

Oversight Board Takes Aim at the NSA

A government oversight panel says that NSA spying programs are illegal. On Thursday, a report by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board was released, and it took serious aim at government surveillance. The 238-page report concluded that the bulk collection of phone data breaks the law, violates our civil rights, and does not make our nation any safer.

Republicans Want to Save the Tax Havens!

Republicans want to protect tax havens for billionaires. They don't want the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act to go into effect later this year. The FATCA is an agreement with banking officials in Switzerland, the U.S., and the Cayman Islands aimed at fighting international tax evasion.

Economic Inequality Threatens Human Progress.

Economic inequality is a major threat to human progress. According to a new report from Oxfam, 85 people control the same amount of wealth as half the population of the entire world, and the top one percent has 65 times the wealth of the bottom half. This concentration of money gives a few people way too much power over our economic and political systems.

It's time to change the pattern of cuts in Congress.

Congress can't find the willpower to raise taxes on the rich, but that hasn't stopped them from chipping away at our retirement and slashing our social safety net. For decades, we've seen billions cut from vital programs like food stamps, unemployment insurance, and cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security – but closing corporate tax loopholes or making Wall Street pay more to gamble is simply off the table.

"Dr. King's Nightmare"

The richest 400 people in our nation have as much wealth as the entire African-American population in the United States. According to a new analysis by Bob Lord of the Institute for Policy Studies, the so-called “Forbes 400” has as much wealth as 41 million people. Mr. Lord called this stunning statistic, “Dr.

Americans Want More Than Rhetoric And Reports on The NSA.

On the 53rd anniversary of President Eisenhower's warning about the military-industrial complex, President Obama spoke in defense of massive government spying programs. During the much-anticipated speech, the President claimed that he will reign in our government's wide net of surveillance, and give the public “more confidence” in the National Security Agency's spying programs.

The TPP - The More We Know, The Worse It Gets.

We already knew that the Trans Pacific Partnership is a threat to our jobs, our civil rights, and our national sovereignty, and now we know it's also a danger to our environment. On Wednesday, Wikileaks published a leaked version of the environmental chapter of the TPP, and it's just another example of putting corporate power ahead of public interest.

We Can Restore Net Neutrality!

On the one-year anniversary of the death of internet-activist Aaron Swartz, three judges in D.C. killed the internet. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the FCC's net neutrality rule, and opened the door to corporate control of the information we can access online.

The Disturbing List of The Latest Republican Demands.

On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had to delay a crucial vote on unemployment benefits so that Republican lawmakers could finalize their list of demands. Although Democrats want to extend long-term unemployment benefits for 11 months with no strings attached, Conservative senators only want a three month extension, and they want the cost of the program off-set with more austerity measures.

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