Author: KJ McElrath

SCOTUS Strikes Down Racist Gerrymandering in North Carolina

SCOTUS Strikes Down Racist Gerrymandering in North Carolina

Posted by | May 24, 2017 | |

Just when you thought you had seen it all, the now-stacked, right-wing, corporatist U.S. Supreme Court actually made a progressive ruling on a case that is likely to have far-reaching effects on similar litigation going on in courts across the nation. The case, Cooper v. Harris, involved two electoral districts in the State of North Carolina that had been heavily gerrymandered. In a 4-3 decision (neophyte Gorsuch abstained as he had not heard the arguments, which were presented in December), the Court ruled that the Tarheel State’s 1st and 12th legislative districts had been gerrymandered on a racial basis,...

Read More
Trumpcare May Fail Before It Even Gets to the Senate: The Byrd Rule

Trumpcare May Fail Before It Even Gets to the Senate: The Byrd Rule

Posted by | May 23, 2017 | , , |

A few weeks ago, we brought you a story about an obscure, 40-year-old provision known as the Byrd Rule. This budget rule, part of an amendment to the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, enables any Senator to block legislation when the Reconciliation Process is employed. Now that the fate of the Affordable Care Act is going to be in the hands of the GOP-controlled Senate, the Byrd Rule could blow up any chances of repeal. Like so many of the issues the GOP now faces, this is a situation of their own making. It began the moment Republicans vowed...

Read More
Syrian Refugee Camp Goes 100% Solar – Why Are We Not Doing This, Again?

Syrian Refugee Camp Goes 100% Solar – Why Are We Not Doing This, Again?

Posted by | May 22, 2017 | , |

In April 2014, the Jordanian government, working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), opened a camp for refugees fleeing the Syrian Civil War near the city of Azraq. For two and a half years, those refugees lived in the kind of primitive conditions one would expect in a refugee camp. Today, the camp’s 54,000 residents have access to electricity, enabling them to run lights, televisions, fans and refrigerators – undreamed-of luxuries only a few months ago. Thanks to the IKEA Foundation, the Azraq Refugee Camp is now 100% solar powered. The initial cost of the project...

Read More
Despite Trump’s Best Efforts to Shred Environmental Regulations, King Coal is Going the Way of the Dinosaurs

Despite Trump’s Best Efforts to Shred Environmental Regulations, King Coal is Going the Way of the Dinosaurs

Posted by | May 19, 2017 | , |

Since he was installed into the Executive office, Donald Trump has been doing his level best to abolish any and all Obama-era environmental regulations – particularly those aimed at curtailing the mining of coal. But despite all his “promises” (and we know what those are worth) to save coal industry jobs, coal is rapidly becoming as extinct as the ancient plants and animals whose fossil remains underwent those geologic pressures over hundreds of millions of years to create the stuff. There are a number of dynamics in play leading to Old King Coal’s demise. Part of it is the...

Read More
A New Census Director To Gerrymander Like Never Before: 2020 Census Horrors

A New Census Director To Gerrymander Like Never Before: 2020 Census Horrors

Posted by | May 18, 2017 | |

This week, John Thomson, U.S. Census Director since 2013 and forty-two year veteran of the bureau, announced that he will be resigning from his job in June. While term limits for that office would have forced him to step down next year in any event, the timing is particularly worrisome, considering who will be appointing his successor – and what that successor is likely to do. The New York Times reports that Thompson’s announcement comes just as the Census Bureau is experiencing a budget shortfall, resulting in delayed field testing of new methods next year – and raising serious...

Read More