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The PROGRESSIVE POPULIST,
the People's Voice in a Corporate World.

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Selections from the Feb. 1, 2024 issue

COVER/Angela Kocherga p. 1
Texas State Police rammed family vehicle, pointed guns in mistaken ‘Operation Lone Star’ border stop, El Paso Latinos say

EDITORIAL p. 2
The year to fight fascism

JIM HIGHTOWER p. 3
Why air travel is so expensive and unpleasant.
Why is my doctor unionizing?
Want environmental progress? Follow the kids.
The rattiest right-wing Congress critter.
A new road to farm, food and climate progress.
My New Year’s resolutions for some powerful people.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR p. 4

DON ROLLINS p. 4
More than a staging area

RURAL ROUTES/Margot McMillen p. 5
Will truth survive in 2024?

DISPATCHES p. 5
Our 30th year (with an asterisk)
House Chaos Caucus outraged government might not shut down after all.
Trump got $7.8M+ from foreign governments while he was in the White House.
Job growth expands in December
Trump’s fake cure for COVID responsible for nearly 17,000 deaths.
$8.5T untaxed assets show why we need a billionaire tax.


ART CULLEN p. 6
A prayer to Toribio

ALAN GUEBERT p. 6
Doubling down on death, taxes, and crop insurance

KAREN DOLAN p. 7
Celebrating the resilience of low-income women

JOHN YOUNG p. 7
Only one poll mattered in 2023

ERIK RICHARDSON p. 8
With pandemic funding expired, child care providers seek solutions to shortages and sticker shock

DICK POLMAN p. 9
Happy New Year! Three big reasons why we can plausibly hope for a sunny ‘24 election.

JOE CONASON p. 9
How the Trumps indict themselves

DAVID McCALL p. 10
Putting money in workers’ pockets

LES LEOPOLD p. 10
It’s 2024. Where’s the party of the working class?


ROBERT KUTTNER p. 11
A guide to the latest efforts to undermine trust in Social Security

FRANK LINGO p. 11
2023 review and 2024 outlook for Earth

THOM HARTMANN p. 12
Why don’t Americans know who’s manipulating our political system and why?

SARAH ANDERSON p. 13
10 working-class victories to celebrate in 2023


HEALTH CARE/Joan Retsinas p. 15
A valentine to immigrants

GRASSROOTS/Hank Kalet p. 15
The real rot in higher ed

JAKE JOHNSON p. 15
Infections and falls more likely at private equity-owned hospitals: study

WAYNE O’LEARY p. 16
The looming Vietnam apology

JOEL D. JOSEPH p. 16
Sandra Day O’Connor was irreplacable

JUAN COLE p. 17
Extreme right Israeli government brands ‘illegal’ Supreme Court’s upholding of judicial review; divisions loom amid Gaza War

SHAILLY GUPTA BARNES p. 17
As we look to 2024, here’s what hope looks like

JAMIE STIEHM p. 18
Five angry men on the Supreme Court

BARRY FRIEDMAN p. 18
We are all in the next building

SETH SANDRONSKY p. 18
A world away?

RALPH NADER p. 19
Biden, Pope Francis, and the matter of faith

HEATHER HANSMAN p. 20
Ski bum culture hits reality

ROB PATTERSON p. 20
It was 60 years ago when the Beatles began to play in the USA

SATIRE/Rosie Sorenson p. 20
Elon’s final solution

ED RAMPELL p. 21
Four films screened at American Film Institute Fest: ‘Memory,’ ‘Menus-Plaisir,’ ‘lo Capitano,’ and ‘Albert Brooks: Defending My Life.’

DOUGLAS BURNS p. 21
What Tom Harkin would do if he were running for office in 2024

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Meet the Cartoonists

Cartoonists and columnists whose work you see in The Progressive Populist are featured in this podcast produced by the Cagle Cartoons Syndicate.

 

More on our features:

Featured in the Essays section are collections of articles and resources on Health Care, Social Security and Voting Security, among other topics. Also see our collection of resources on 9/11 and the aftermath of terror attacks on the United States.

We mainly cover current events, but in an effort to provide historic background, our Populist Reader offers texts such as the Preamble to the People's Party Platform, which formed the rhetorical underpinning for the Populist movement, the People's Party Platform of 1896, which represented the Populist demands at the peak of the agrarian/labor revolt, and more. And Mark Twain's "War Prayer," written in response to the Spanish-American War, is as relevant as ever.

Also featured in the Essays section is "Democratic Money: A Populist Perspective", with Lawrence Goodwyn, William Greider and Tom Schlesinger of the Southern Finance Project discussing the Populism of the 1890s and how those historical lessons relate to the prospects for financial reform today.

Also see reminiscences by two former Alabama journalists about the late George Wallace, the former Alabama governor who transformed American politics with his combination of racism and populism. Claude Duncan remembers the good George Wallace in "George Wallace Joins the Ghost Brigade", while Peggy Roberson reminds us of the bad George Wallace in "Remembering George Wallace"

We also offer Eugene J. McCarthy's remarks on his career in politics on the event of his 80th birthday, as well as his remembrances of Chicago as the Democrats returned to the scene of the crime in 1996 after 28 years. See James McCarty Yeager's remembrance of McCarthy, some notes on McCarthy by Sam Smith and a short film on McCarthy, "Sorry I was Right," at Free Speech TV. Also see a website devoted to McCarthy's legacy.

Another feature that we hope you will check out is Dan Yurman's Samizdat: Militia News from Idaho; Blood Oaths and Fish Stories Swim in Political Waters. This collects a series of dispatches, analysis and commentary by Yurman on militias, wise-use and white-supremacist movements in Idaho and the Rocky Mountain states. Please tell us what you think.

 

See previous postings in our weblog archives:

 


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By the way, the name is Progressive Populist, not populous, populace, papalist or populisp. And Donald Trump is not a populist.

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The Progressive Populist is an independent newspaper that reports from the Heartland of America on issues of interest to workers, small business people and family farmers and ranchers.

We produce our newsprint edition and PDF versions twice monthly with updates and resources online.

We also produce a daily supplement, delivered by email, with additional columns by our writers, such as Joe Conason, Amy Goodman, Alan Guebert, Froma Harrop, Jim Hightower, Jesse Jackson, Robert Kuttner, Gene Lyons, Ralph Nader, Robert Reich, Mary Sanchez, Jamie Stiehm, John Young and others, as well as features such as OtherWords.com and other news and commentary. The daily service is available to regular subscribers who want more of their favorite writers.

We hope you enjoy our website, which includes the blog below as well as other resources, including samples of articles from our current newsprint issue, recent editorials, online essays and resources you might find useful and a summary of what we're all about.

We also hope you'll try a subscription to our twice-monthly tabloid newspaper or email version of the paper under our special discount introductory rate of $24 for six months (11 issues). That rate is good for addresses in the US as well as our email version. And if you're not satisfied with the first three issues we'll refund the entire $24.

 

Do your gift shopping with us:

See our Progressive Populist Gift Shop with items for men, women and children.

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If you can't find the book you're looking for at your local independent bookstore, Powell's Books is an indy bookseller in Portland, Ore., with whom we have partnered. Get your book there and help support our website. See our book page for more suggested titles.

 

A Few Good Weblogs
to keep you from getting your work done:

The American Prospect
Center for American Progress
Juan Cole's Informed Comment on Middle East politics, history and religion.
Common Dreams
Crooks and Liars
Daily Kos (Democratic politics)
Democratic Strategist journal of public opinion and political strategy by William Galston, Stan Greenberg and Ruy Teixeira.
Digby's Hullabaloo.
Eschaton by Atrios (politics)
Media Matters for America
Mother Jones
Charles P. Pierce's Politics blog at Esquire.
Progressive Review Undernews
Political Wire by Taegon Goddard
Raw Story
Poynter Media News (journalism scuttlebutt)
Salon
Greg Sargent's Plum Line at WashingtonPost.com.
Talking Points Memo by Josh Marshall
Talk Left, the politics of crime.
This Modern World, by Tom Tomorrow
Campaign for America's Future, progressive insights
Washington Monthly Political Animal
Washington Spectator
Economic Policy at WashingtonPost.com.

For international news which the US media such as the Chicago Tredibune, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and the Washington Post might not see fit to print:

From Canada
Globe and Mail of Toronto, for Canadian news and perspectives on its southern neighbor.
Toronto Star, a liberal Canadian newspaper.

From Britain
The Guardian, a liberal newspaper in London (formerly the Manchester Guardian). See also its US-oriented website, Guardian America.
The Independent, a liberal newspaper in London
Daily Mirror, liberal tabloid in London.
New Statesman, British Socialist weekly.
• BBC World News

From Elsewhere:
Al Ahram, English-language weekly based in Cairo, for Arab perspective on Mid-East
Dawn, of Karachi, centrist English-language Pakistan daily.
The Frontier Post of Peshawar, Pakistan, for news from the front lines of the war on terrorism in Afghanistan.
Haaretz, Israeli liberal daily with English language edition
International Herald Tribune, Paris-based daily operated by the New York Times.
Le Monde Diplomatique, English language monthly digest of the French daily newspaper.
Mail and Guardian, daily web edition of South African liberal weekly.
Mexico City News, the English language daily in our neighbor to the south.
South China Morning Post, independent Hong Kong and Pacific news (registration required).
Spiegel, English version of
German newsweekly.
Sydney Morning Herald, for news from Down Under.
Watching America, links to articles in foreign press about the USA, with translations of articles originally written for foreigners about the US. Updated daily.
World Press Review, a monthly magazine with analyses and English translations of articles in the international press, as well as an excellent directory of publications by nation, with ideological leanings.

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They say a picture is worth a thousand words; well, here are some good cartoon sites:

Jules Feiffer

Jeff Danziger

Mark Fiore

Forever Dada, an animated political cartoon created by California artists Louis Dunn & Steve Campbell.

This Modern World, by Tom Tomorrow. (And he has a pretty good links page.)

Ted Rall, our cartoonist/columnist.

Tom the Dancing Bug, by Ruben Bolling

Matt Wuerker

Also see our Links to Independent Media

See links to health care reform

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See our recent editorials at The Progressive Populist Today blog, and older editorials at our editorial archives page. And like us on Facebook.

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This World Wide Web site not only features selections from the newsprint edition of the Progressive Populist, to which we hope you will subscribe. It also gives you another crack at selected articles from back issues as well as texts of populist speeches and essays on populism that we could not otherwise fit into our printed edition.
Watch our Global Trade site for information on the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and citizen efforts to check the globalization of corporate power. And after you have bookmarked our site, go to the Links for pointers to other web sites that you might find of interest.


The Progressive Populist started in November 1995 as a monthly newspaper with editorial offices in Austin, Texas, and business and production offices in Storm Lake, Iowa. In October 1999, after four years, The Progressive Populist switched to twice-monthly publication. Our editorial offices moved to Manchaca, Texas, just south of Austin, in 2005.

We aim to make the Progressive Populist the antidote to the monopoly daily news, throw a lifeline to progressives who feel like they are stranded in a sea of conservatives, and maybe play a role in reviving political and economic debate. We hope this web site is useful to you.


If you would like to hear more about our project, or if you would like to comment on our web site or receive a sample copy of the Progressive Populist, drop me a line by email or regular post.

Also, register below to receive email updates on news and features or to donate to our enterprise.

-- Jim Cullen, Editor

E-mail populist@usa.net
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