Author: Syndicated

A mass of polar air has descended over the Midwestern United States, with historic low temperatures predicted to hit Milwaukee. The forecast is not, however, evidence against climate change. Yet the president of the United States, who has consistently expressed skepticism over climate change, and whose administration has deliberately made backward progress on the issue, could not help himself (complete with “Waming” typo): “In the beautiful Midwest, windchill temperatures are reaching minus 60 degrees, the coldest ever recorded. In coming days, expected to get even colder. People can’t last outside even for minutes. What the hell is going on...

The media industry’s current round of cuts and consolidation has accelerated, with sizable layoffs at Buzzfeed, Gannett, and Verizon Media – home of AOL, Yahoo, HuffPost, and others – that were announced on January 23, totaling over 1,000 jobs cut. The BuzzFeed layoffs are the most concerning situation for digital publishers. With monthly readership of 690 million, BuzzFeed is one of the most successful digital media startups and its struggles are worrisome as a result. By reducing costs, BuzzFeed hopes to ease its dependency on external funding to become self-sufficient and profitable. However, if the company is making operational...

The public should pay no attention to news stories about prisoners feasting during the shutdown. The reality is that the shutdown only makes prison conditions worse. USA Today recently ran a hit piece on federal prisoners with the tabloid headline, “Government shutdown: Federal inmates feast on Cornish hens, steak as prison guards labor without pay.” Not to be outdone, the Washington Post followed this up with their own shameful story under the headline, “I been eatin like a boss: Federal prisoners served steak by unpaid guards during shutdown.” The problem here is twofold. First, the shutdown has nothing to...

Years of frustration over class sizes, salaries, and a shortage of school counselors have boiled over for more than 30,000 members of United Teachers Los Angeles – the union for the country’s second-largest school district. LA teachers could go on strike for the first time in 30 years. A prelude to the situation came last year in West Virginia. Public school teachers there had endured years of low pay, inadequate insurance, giant class sizes, and increasingly unlivable conditions—including attempts to force them to record private details of their health daily on a wellness app. Their governor, billionaire coal baron...

As a 26-year-veteran of the National Parks Service, this is not the first time Lora Williams has been furloughed during a government shutdown and had to make ends meet without a paycheck. But this one, she said, is the worst ever. “I don’t have cash reserves and I’m barely staying above water,” said Williams. “The uncertainty is driving me crazy.” And as the shutdown over Donald Trump’s border wall barrels into its third week, when it would become the longest in US history, the weight of that uncertainty is being disproportionately shouldered by black Americans like Williams. Black people...

Scott Walker is manufacturing the slowest possible ride into the sunset after being beaten for governor of Wisconsin in 2018. Since his defeat he supported and then signed lame-duck legislation limiting his successor’s powers, making his post-holiday presence felt. Now as he hits the road Jan. 7 he has announced his availability through a speakers’ bureau to champion Trump and his policies. The speakers bureau is amusing. Wags are suggesting such titles for his speeches as “How to Destroy a State’s Economy and Progressive Reputation in Eight Years” or “How to Give a Taiwanese Company (Foxconn), the Most Taxpayer...