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The political transformation of Kyrsten Sinema, the new senator from Arizona: She’s one of the two most conservative Democrats in the Senate—but Aida Chavez explains that she started out to the left of the Party.
Also: Should Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer retire? He’s 82, and apparently healthy and competent—but his retirement would give Biden a chance to nominate a younger person—he’s promised a Black woman—while the Democrats control the Senate. Joan Walsh comments.  3-31-21

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The arrival of multiple vaccines against Covid-19 in less than a year after the virus’s emergence is sort of a miracle—but there’s nothing miraculous about the failure of donor nations, along with pharmaceutical and biotech companies, to prepare for, and mount, a global vaccination campaign. Gregg Gonsalves comments.
Also: now that Trump is gone, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson has become the leading Republican voice of conspiracy theories and the leading defender of the attack on the capitol on January 6. But will he run for reelection next year? John Nichols explains.  3-24-21

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One of the senate seats being abandoned by a Republican incumbent is in Ohio.  Can Democrats win that seat?  It’s going to be hard  For the last decade Ohio has elected only one Democrat to statewide office–one of our heroes, Senator Sherrod Brown.  Steve Phillips thinks they can send a second Democrat to the Senate from Ohio next year—by following the Georgia playbook and focusing on turning out voters of color.
Also: Black Lives Matter versus the LAPD: a new official report in Los Angeles says the police in LA violated the law by attacking and arresting BLM marchers in last summer’s protests. Civil rights attorney Carol Sobel explains.  3-18-21

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It’s been almost exactly a year since the covid lockdown began – 220 million Americans have died of Covid-19, and now 90 million Americans have gotten at least one shot of the covid vaccine.  We could have herd immunity in July. But Mike Davis points to the proliferation of variants of the virus and says “beware the light at the end of the covid tunnel.”
Also:  Michelle Obama’s memoir is out now in paperback – It’s called “Becoming,” and it has sold more than 14 million copies worldwide in hardcover, and was named one of the best books of the year by the New York Times, NPR, and a dozen other places.  But the book avoids politics—which seems strange for the person the New York Times called “the most outspoken first lady in modern history.”  Amy Wilentz comments.  (originally broadcast in November 2018)   3-10-21

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Chesa Boudin, the recently elected district attorney of San Francisco, talks about prisoners as parents—he grew up with parents in prison (David Gilbert and Kathy Boudin), and wrote about it for The Nation.
Also: Amy Wilentz reports on the huge protests in Port-au-Prince last Sunday, the biggest in decades, and asks: Why is the Biden administration following Trump when it comes to US policies in Haiti?  3-5-21

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What are we going to do about the 74 million people who voted for Trump? Katha Pollitt has been thinking about that—and about proposals that we should try to find common ground with the 75 percent who have told pollsters they think Trump “definitely” or “probably” won the election.
Also: Historian Eric Foner talks about Will Smith’s 6-part series on Netflix on the 14th Amendment, ratified after the Civil War, which established birthright citizenship and guaranteed equal protection to all “persons”—the series, with a stellar cast, is called Amend. 2-24-2021

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The Republicans after the second impeachment: As Mitch McConnell takes the lead in trying to purge Trump from the party, how divided are they? And how much weaker as a result? Rick Perlstein comments—he’s the author of the new book Reaganland: America’s Right Turn, 1976-1980—widely regarded as the best political book of last year.
Also: Biden and the Democrats still have to succeed at changing things enough to win new supporters—and now that impeachment is finished, his $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill takes the center of the political stage, including the $15 minimum wage. Alan Minsky comments on that, and on the longer term problem of restoring American manufacturing—he’s Executive Director of Progressive Democrats of America.  2-18-21

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John Nichols considers the arguments made by Trump’s lawyers, and by Republican Senators, that Trump is not guilty of inciting the insurrection of January 6, that he did not incite his followers to storm the capitol and attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden as the winner of the electoral college. Also: the implications of finding Trump not guilty.
Plus: we take a step back from this week’s politics and look forward to 2022 and future elections—the Democrats’ victories in Georgia were a decade in the making can we do it again in another Republican state? Steve Phillips says “Texas is next.”   2-10-21

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Eight hundred people stormed the Capitol building on January 6, but fewer than 200 have been charged with crimes. Why so few? Elie Mystal, The Nation’s Justice correspondent, says every one of the 800 committed crimes that day and should be prosecuted.
Also: For Black History Month, Gary Younge talks about Barack Obama and his memoir A Promised Land—and the refusal of many liberals to critique his policies and decisions.
Finally: we remember Rennie Davis–he died on Feb. 2.
2-3-2020

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The national death toll from covid-19 will reach half a million next month, and new strains of the virus are threatening.  Joe Biden has called for what he calls “full-scale wartime effort,” including $350 million in direct funding, and now he’s aiming for 150 million vaccine doses in is first 100 days.  Gregg Gonsalves comments on what Biden and Congress need to do now.
Also: Faced by the pandemic and economic collapse, Biden knows he has to work harder and faster than any president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt – he doesn’t have a hundred days to launch his initiatives – he’s got to set the tone in ten.  John Nichols comments on what Biden has accomplished in his first week – and what his next priorities ought to be. 1-28-2021