Author: Common Dreams

The conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that expanded access to abortion nationwide. This is on top of decisions deeply wounding state’s rights to make gun regulations, to hold police civilly accountable for reading suspects their Miranda rights, and even the separation of Church and State in regard to public funding of parochial schools. Let me be very clear — this is not about consistency based on legal precedent or interpretation of the law. It is ideology — pure and simple. In the case of abortion, these four men and one woman did it because...

Proceeds from an auction of an unusual edition of Margaret Atwood’s classic dystopian novel The “Handmaid’s Tale” will go to the free expression advocacy group PEN America, as the group stands up to right-wing attempts to ban books in the United States. The single copy of the novel is made entirely of flame-resistant material, as evidenced in a video released on May 24 in which Atwood herself attempted to light the book on fire. Atwood and the publishing company Penguin Random House announced Monday that the book will be auctioned off at Sotheby’s New York, both to help PEN...

Since the January 6 insurrection, six of the biggest fossil fuel companies in America have given nearly $700,000 to the campaign and leadership PACs of the Sedition Caucus, according to CREW’s ongoing tracking. They have also given more than $350,000 to the NRSC and NRCC which work to reelect congressional Republicans, a majority of whom voted against certifying the 2020 election, for a total of over $1 million to be potentially spent on keeping the Sedition Caucus in Congress. Valero Energy and Marathon Petroleum top the list at $400,000 and $264,500, respectively. Both companies pledged to stop donating indefinitely,...

As with climate change, inequality, and our other collective problems, solutions will entail confronting and reining in power, whether the power of wealth, of outsized political representation, or of social media companies. The United States is tumbling toward socio-political crisis. Here are just a few of the distress signals recently visible: The insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building (January 6, 2021). Rapidly increasing numbers of death threats against politicians—including threats from fellow politicians. A majority of followers of one of the two main political parties telling pollsters that they would approve of violence as a means to political power...