Even before he participates in his first public meeting on Thursday, Bernard McNamee, the newest member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), is facing multiple calls for his recusal from cases related to the resilience of the electric power grid. Environmental and public interest groups believe McNamee’s past work on President Donald Trump’s coal […]
Los Angeles teachers will strike on January 10, about half a year after the teachers union declared they were at an impasse with Los Angeles United School District (LAUSD). The teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) made the announcement during a press conference on Wednesday. UTLA said teachers are asking for smaller class sizes, reductions […]
The hits just keep on coming for Facebook. On Tuesday evening, the New York Times published a major new investigation which revealed that a number of large companies and big tech platforms were given access to users’ personal data without their knowledge or consent. The “business partnerships,” which began in 2010 and were all active […]
By Phil Newell In2007, the Supreme Court ruled that if the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that carbon dioxide emissions threaten public health, the EPA would be required to regulate them. In 2009, the EPA completed its assessment, determining that, yes, carbon pollution endangers public health by changing the climate. This conclusion is known as […]
The Trump administration is planning for a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria on Wednesday, defense officials have confirmed. The announcement came just hours after President Donald Trump declared in a tweet that the Islamic State (ISIS) has now been defeated. “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,” […]
The Green New Deal championed by Representative-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is one of the hottest progressive policy ideas around. But virtually no one knows what it is. In fact, many in the media and elsewhere who think they know what it means, likely have it wrong. Or aren’t explaining the full picture. Since the midterms, dozens of […]
After Republicans lost their hold on key political positions in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky in the 2018 Blue Wave, lame duck legislative Republicans have drawn national attention for their efforts to strip power from the newly elected Democrats and to ram through as much legislation as possible while they still can. In Michigan, the […]
Thousands of people currently in federal prison will be able to finish out their sentences at home under a significant, controversial prison reform bill passed overnight by the U.S. Senate. With both House leaders and President Donald Trump signalling they’re eager to move the measure into law, the Senate’s final debate and votes this week […]
Nevada made history on Wednesday as the country’s first woman-majority state legislature, after Las Vegas county officials appointed two women to fill recently-vacated seats in the state Assembly. The appointment of the two women — Democrats Beatrice Duran and Rochelle Nguyen, who is also the first Asian American woman to serve in her district — […]
A leaked 2015 letter shows that Donald Trump signed off on the intent to begin negotiations over building a Trump Tower in Moscow, days after the president’s lawyer claimed on TV that no such signature exists. The letter of intent, obtained by CNN, was signed by the then-presidential candidate on October 28, 2015, around the […]
Kellyanne Conway, the counselor to President Donald Trump, bizarrely claimed during a Fox and Friends appearance on Wednesday that bipartisan support for criminal justice reform obligates Democratic lawmakers to support funding Trump’s unpopular border wall. Conway applauded Tuesday’s 87 to 12 vote in the Senate in favor of a criminal justice reform bill. Thirty-eight Republicans joined all 49 […]
The number of people sleeping on the streets without a habitable roof over their head rose by more than 2 percent over the past year, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual report. The report, published Monday, is based on a count of people on one night in January 2018 who were […]
There is an incredible amount of evidence showing that transgender people who experience stigma and discrimination experience higher rates of depression, substance abuse, and suicide. One researcher is trying to connect the dots by documenting how transgender people respond to each incident of rejection they experience — research inspired by her own transition journey. Bethany […]
Employee morale at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not improved since the departure of former administrator Scott Pruitt in July and, in fact, is worsening as President Donald Trump’s political appointees grow more entrenched inside the agency, EPA employees tell ThinkProgress. In the first year of the Trump administration, rumors swirled about massive […]
Eighteen companies have announced they will no longer be advertising during Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show after he claimed immigrants make America “dirtier” last week. In response to the initial loss of advertisers, Carlson defended his comments on Monday night’s show, claiming that a “relatively tiny number of people” were trying to silence him. This didn’t […]
White supremacist organizations are facing new financial constraints, as payment processors, online stores, and fundraising sites increasingly bow to public pressure and prohibit these groups and individuals from making money off of their racist vitriol. For at least seven organizations, however, a workaround remains: registering as a tax-exempt charity. As these white supremacists have discovered, taking advantage of […]
Two members of Congress, along with 15 asylum seekers and leaders from immigrant activist group Families Belong Together, were caged together overnight at the Otay Mesa port of entry near San Diego. The group intended to observe how detained migrants are treated when attempting to claim asylum. In a statement to ThinkProgress, Families Belong Together said […]
The White House on Tuesday struggled to explain President Trump’s continued support of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty last year to lying to the FBI, and his castigations of longtime attorney Michael Cohen, who was recently sentenced to three years in jail and whom Trump referred to in a recent tweet […]
To President Trump, and Fox News, there’s always room for a conspiracy, no matter what the facts say. Even when a former Trump aide’s lawyer admits in court that he was not entrapped by the FBI, Trump backers on Fox News don’t budge, and neither does the White House. On Tuesday, Trump’s former national security […]
The Washington, D.C. Council voted unanimously in favor of a landmark climate change bill on Tuesday. The bill requires that all electricity in the district be generated by renewable sources by 2032. It also places a surcharge on the use of fossil fuels in order to accelerate the transition to clean energy. “This bill is […]
President Donald Trump’s namesake charity, the Trump Foundation, has signed a stipulation agreement to dissolve the organization, amid an ongoing probe by the New York attorney general’s office into allegations of misconduct and unlawful coordination with the Trump campaign. The move comes as Trump faces increasing pressure on all fronts as a result of several […]