News and Issues

Jo Freeman writes: Reclaiming the court is not a task for one demonstration, or even a lot of them. There is a process by which federal judges are chosen, based more on convention than law. The right-wing learned long ago how to game the system. It looks for those with conservative views it can groom for appointment to the federal bench and raises them through the system. The Federalist Society in particular identifies and lobbies for conservative judges and justices. Kavanaugh is just one of five current Justices who rose with its support. Until the Left understands the long game, it will do more ranting than winning. more »

State and federal lawmakers and 2020 presidential candidates have put forward a range of plans aimed at reducing college costs to curb student debt and encourage more Americans to pursue degrees. Most programs and proposals focus on eliminating tuition at community colleges and state universities. But some also aim to cover educational costs such as mandatory student fees, which schools charge to help pay for student events, health services and other campus offerings. These initiatives often are referred to as "free college" — even when they only cover tuition — and as "tuition-free" programs. A number of cities, counties and states have introduced “college promise” programs, which also pay students’ tuition and, sometimes, other expenses at two- and four-year institutions. more »

In the 1980s and 1990s, when I read women’s history on my own, I realized that there were important and prominent women in every decade, but they disappeared when the history books were written. Women were like sand castles; men were like rocks. The waters of time washed over both and wiped out the women. The Clintons — mother and daughter — are helping to remedy that. By telling the stories of 103 Gutsy women, they want to raise the sand from the beaches and fuse the particles into solid quartz. more »

After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, National Geographic provided President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill with special wall-mounted map cabinets hidden by enlarged photographs. Inside the cabinets were maps on rollers organized by hemisphere, region, and theater of operation. Cartographers from National Geographic routinely updated these maps, bringing the new maps to the White House and personally installing them in the President’s cabinet, which hung in his private Oval Study. By simply turning in his chair and opening the cabinet, FDR could quickly check battle locations around the world. more »