Новости за 20.12.2018

The way Americans celebrate Christmas today is not the way people celebrated this season just a few generations ago.

In many ways, 2018 was a political garbage fire of a year. From the confirmation of conservative justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court to the imposition of fascist border policies to President Trump’s continued attacks on everything from workers’ rights to the very planet itself, the year saw plenty of reasons for dismay.

I used to have a recurring argument with a friend, who told me he stopped paying attention to the news. “Don’t you think you should know what’s going on in Syria? Or Yemen? Or about the failing public school system in Chicago?” “Why?” he would reply. What would he be able to do about it? How does knowing about these issues help?

Conservatives are generally understood to have won the courts. The U.S. Supreme Court has a far-right conservative majority, which is poised to further weaken federal regulatory agencies, civil rights and unions. The Court has moved so far to the right that Chief Justice John Roberts—who has presided over the most pro-corporate Court in recent history—may now be the Court’s new “swing vote.” Similarly, Republican appointees now occupy the majority of seats on the federal courts of appeal, and... Читать дальше...