The past few weeks have been especially deadly for civilians in Syria, with Russian-backed regime forces pummeling the rebel-held enclave of eastern Ghouta. On Tuesday, a five-hour ceasefire ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin — after a 30-day one ordered by the U.N. Security Council over the weekend failed — was marked by shelling from […]
Less than two weeks after special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 individuals and a trio of Russian companies for “interference operations targeting the United States,” NSA Director Mike Rogers told members of Congress that the Trump administration hasn’t even authorized him to take measures to prevent election meddling going forward. In response to a question from […]
Rep. Don Young (R-AK) seriously thinks that the Holocaust happened because Jewish people were unarmed. At an Alaska Municipal League (AML) meeting in Juneau last Thursday, Young was asked what should be done to prevent school shootings. “What can municipalities do? What can the federal government do to stop the massacre of children in our […]
Hate crimes and incidents of discrimination against U.S. Jews rose a staggering 57 percent last year, producing the second-highest number of such events in 40 years and the highest in 20 years according to an annual report from the Anti-Defamation League released on Tuesday. The civil rights organization, which has monitored anti-Semitic hate crimes since […]
Millennials overwhelmingly support action to fight human-caused climate change, according to a new poll sponsored by the conservative non-profit Alliance for Market Solutions (AMS). More than 3 out of 4 (77 percent) young voters think we should try to stop or slow climate change, including 89 percent of Democrats, 77 percent of independents, and 57 percent of Republicans. […]
U.S. school districts serving a large body of students of color and students from low-income families receive significantly less funding than those serving mostly white students and students from wealthier families, a new report released Tuesday found. The Education Trust analysis reported that the highest poverty school districts receive about $1,000, or 7 percent, less […]
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to eliminate its National Center for Environmental Research (NCER), a department that funds research into environmental impacts on communities. The center, tasked with distributing “grants to test the effects of chemical exposure on adults and children,” will be shuttered amid a reorganization at the agency as part of EPA Administrator […]
One of the most basic principles of American constitutional law is that a person cannot be detained without adequate access to a court or a similar body that can determine whether their detention is justified. Indeed, the Supreme Court has even held that incorrigible sex offenders enjoy this right. Tuesday’s Supreme Court’s decision in Jennings v. […]
The Florida House of Representatives rejected a ban on assault rifles Tuesday morning, voting 19-11 along party lines to quash the legislation. The move followed a similar vote in the Florida Senate, where state lawmakers struck down a ban on assault rifles Monday evening in front of hundreds of protesters and gun control activists gathered […]
Vinesse Wines, the company that runs the NRA Wine Club, suspended the sales of NRA-branded collections on its website. On Tuesday morning, Vinesse’s “NRA Collector’s Series” of Chardonnay and Merlot were no longer available on the company’s website. A customer service representative told ThinkProgress that Vinesse removed the NRA-branded products because of customer feedback. “Many […]
Indiana is no longer issuing professional licenses to young immigrants known as “Dreamers” — even as the state faces a critical health care provider shortage. The Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (PLA) recently added questions about citizenship status to all of its professional license applications, according to reporting from Indianapolis Star reporter Tony Cook, which allows […]
Republicans have spent months trying to discredit Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation by claiming it was all based on an unverified opposition research document — and that the FBI withheld the source of the information from a federal court. The argument never really held up, as the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign didn’t begin […]
Lockton Affinity, an insurance company that underwrites the NRA Carry Guard program for gun owners, said Monday night it will discontinue the terms of its contract with the National Rifle Association. The NRA describes Carry Guard as a “state-of-the-art” policy to help gun owners when they use their firearm for self-defense and end up in […]
The Trump Organization said Monday it has donated profits earned from foreign government spending at the company’s hotels last year to the U.S. Treasury Department, but both the company and the federal agency have refused to disclose details about the transactions, according to the Associated Press. The Trump Organization, the real estate empire that President […]
FedEx, the national courier delivery service, declined to cut ties with the National Rifle Association (NRA) Monday in the wake of the Parkland, Florida shooting two weeks ago, which left 17 people dead. FedEx has been one of a number of companies around the U.S. facing criticism for supporting the NRA, though nearly two dozen […]
A group of 17 senior faculty members at the University of North Carolina (UNC) are threatening to take down a Confederate statue on campus, saying in a letter to the school’s chancellor that if the university doesn’t remove the statue — known as Silent Sam — they will take matters into their own hands. The […]
The former Broward County sheriff’s deputy responsible for guarding Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida claims he was following his training when responding to a mass shooting on February 14 that left 17 people dead. Scot Peterson’s lawyer said in a statement Monday that any claims his client — who was armed and on […]
In a National Rifle Association of America ad broadcast last year, the organization’s spokesperson Dana Loesch made a frightening message directed at Democrats, the media, and left-wing protesters. “The only way we stop this, the only way we save our country and our freedom is to fight this violence of lies with the clenched fist of […]
Since the Parkland shooting, corporations with financial ties to the NRA have been subjected to intense scrutiny. In less than two weeks, consumers have convinced more than 20 companies to end relationships with a gun lobby that has encouraged the proliferation of assault weapons and aggressively blocked virtually all legislation to curb gun violence. Less […]
U.S. taxpayers are being left on the hook for the costs of cleaning up after oil and gas companies that fail to properly shut down their operations on federal lands. These companies often make big money for their owners during boom times but force the public to pay for clean-up costs when oil and gas […]
During the White House news briefing on Monday, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked if former Trump campaign official Rick Gates’ guilty plea for conspiring against the United States and making false statements to the FBI says “anything about the president’s judgment that three people linked to his campaign have now turned out to be […]
The man who’s been the national face of overt white supremacist politics for a generation doesn’t want to disclose his communications with the new vanguard of his movement, who are now being sued over a street fight that ended with an innocent woman dead. David Duke, the prominent KKK official, radio host, and recurring political candidate, is […]