Common Dreams

The Media Has a Critical Role in Safeguarding Our Democracy This Election Season | "The confusion is the point," says @allvotingislocal.bsky.social's Hannah Fried. "Clarity is the cure."

"Trump’s DOJ has been trying to figure out how to rob Americans of their votes in the midterms since February... These freaks aren’t just going to let Americans vote their way out of this if they think they can do something about it."

“The ultra-rich are setting the planet on fire and then charging the rest of us for the extinguishers."

"Medicare is wildly popular, so you can see what the appeal of Medicare for All is... Why shouldn't everybody have Medicare?"

"It would almost be funny if it weren't such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice—one that we cannot become numb to," said James Comey of the latest charges against him.

"This weaponization of law enforcement to harass a sitting member of Congress 22 days before an election is unprecedented and unacceptable," 175 House Democrats wrote to Trump's attorney general and DHS chief about the raid on Rep. Ilhan Omar's home.

The UN-mandated commission of inquiry found that Israel's genocidal acts are ultimately aimed at "blocking any viable attempts to realize Palestinians’ right to self-determination."

"Israel is trying to erase Palestinian life in the West Bank and Gaza with minimum fuss and attention," said one activist barred from entering the territory to observe the olive harvest amid a wave of Israeli settler violence.

"Democrats should firmly oppose it regardless of how many former AIPAC employees the Trump administration sends up to the Hill to sell it."

Lula's Win a Rebuke of Trump and a Triumph for Latin America

Sen. Chris Van Hollen says Democrats must pursue a "Medicare for All" type solution if they retake the Senate: "The reality is people are facing huge increases in premiums and copays... This is the kind of debate we need to have."

“The world cannot stand by as Israel continues its assault on Palestinians, waiting for yet more neighborhoods to be emptied and erased before intervening,” said the Israeli rights group B'Tselem.

"Trump's Iran War has forced Americans to pay much more at the pump while Big Oil rakes in profits and the president's own stock wealth in the oil and gas industry continues to balloon."

"Feeling so much hope from the results out of Serbia and Brazil," said one US lawmaker. "Now it’s time to turn our country around, too."

The Most Important Midterm Race Is El-Sayed vs. Rogers in Michigan

Abdul El-Sayed continued to hit back against Trump's Islamophobic attacks at a rally Sunday night: "I'll be Senator Mohamed to you, bro."

‘Permitting Reform’ Is a Giveaway to Data Centers and Fossil Fuels | Making it easier to build data centers and fossil fuel infrastructure benefits no one except Big Tech and Big Oil. A bipartisan group of Senators wants to do it anyway.

DOJ 'Appears to Be Covering Up' Trump-Epstein Connections, Dems Say in New Report

The Simplicity of Medicare for All: Better, Cheaper, and Less Cruel | The current for-profit insurance system is designed to keep people from getting care. The failure of that is twofold. It's cruel on the one hand and on the other hand, it's inefficient and extremely expensive.

"It’s likely that Flávio Bolsonaro will, like his father in late 2022, encourage his supporters to mobilize in order to try to overturn the election results, which could trigger a new wave of political violence."

"These elections have represented a historic victory for the majority of the Brazilian people, who mobilized to defend democracy against the threat of fascism," one analyst said.

"When Trump says 'we' are making money he doesn’t mean you, me, or the United States. He means Exxon, Chevron, and his other Big Oil donors," @jamiehenn.bsky.social said.

"Mike Rogers is a weak, feckless coward who has nothing to offer Michiganders except outrageously racist lies about @AbdulElSayed, and the good people of Michigan know it," one commenter said.

Trump's remarks were an "amazing closing argument—for the Democrats. They just need to run this clip," one writer said.

Our small town reflects communities across the country. According to a recent Gallup poll, over 70% of Americans oppose data centers in their local areas.

"We call for an immediate independent investigation into this tragic death and for accountability. Folkston must be shut down immediately," one advocate said.

The alternative? Don't grow, at least not by building more things we don't really need. Grow socially, instead. With everyone in on it, from the kids in Congo to New England prep schoolers. That's what the degrowth movement is all about.

This continuous caging is one of the worst forms of animal cruelty, yet by enriching itself through corporate buybacks, Unilever is choosing to profit from caged hens.

The US desperately needs more housing, and those programs must include specific plans and sufficient funding for affordable housing to keep low-income people securely housed.

“We are all talking about the need for investments in education, in the universities, in youth in general. But we are also talking about the cost of living, about housing,” one French student leader said.

"Trump vetoing bills to make healthcare cheaper is a good political outcome for Dems," writes @lindsayowens.bsky.social.

If killing four civilians outside territorial waters is murder, what is executing 236 people with missiles?

With two years left in Trump’s term, there is plenty of time for his administration to follow through on its scorched-earth campaign against environmental safeguards.

Executioner-in-Chief Donald Trump is also now in retreat on almost every front imaginable, from global politics to the American version of the same.

Tehran is still willing to negotiate, but it is far less prepared to give up its leverage based on American assurances that it has little reason to trust, writes @sinatoossi.bsky.social of @CIPolicy.bsky.social.

Public universities owe Big Tech no duty of adaptation. Their obligation is to students, workers, and the public.

"What we saw today was an attempt to copy the illegal practices used in Gaza, in the heart of the West Bank,” said one Israeli lawyer. “They want to wipe out entire areas exactly as they did in Gaza."

Ilhan Omar hit back at Trump after he claimed she has been living under a "fake name" and called for her to resign: "Whenever the news turns bad, this creep reaches for one name: mine. So let’s make it crystal clear. My name has always been Ilhan Omar."

Shortly after claiming to not know about the US potentially conducting a weekend strike on Iran, Trump told a Florida crowd, "We may do another little Epic Fury."

At the apparent direction of Trump himself, the DOJ has filed a lawsuit aimed at blocking Alaska from certifying its Senate election if Democrat Mary Peltola wins.

"Here we are, watching the SSA join a list of politicized agencies being used as partisan tools in the White House’s political toolbox."

Trump is "doing his damnedest to make this truly vile ad the closing argument of this midterm," said one observer.

“SNAP participation is falling because the Trump administration has intentionally kicked people off of the program—leaving Americans hungry and still struggling to afford food,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

With the midterms approaching, one expert called the University of Michigan's new consumer sentiment numbers "another sign that the affordability crisis is getting worse, not better."

An election expert at the Brennan Center clarified that there is "no role" for the DOJ or other parts of the federal government to block the certification of states' election results after Todd Blanche refused to rule it out.

"It is unacceptable for any social media platform to favor one political candidate or party over another, whether deliberately or inadvertently," over a dozen US lawmakers, led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Sen. Bernie Sanders, wrote to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about Brazil.

"Meta is interfering in Brazil’s elections in plain sight—boosting Bolsonaro and suppressing Lula content."

US Billionaires Compete for 'Most Awful Human Being' Award | If these horrible billionaires control everything we see and hear in the media and on social media, they won’t have to spend a penny on elections to keep their candidates in power.

'Act of Collective Punishment': Netanyahu Condemned Over 'Full Lockdown' of Occupied West Bank

The death penalty is so normalized in the United States that we don’t even recognize how depraved “normal” executions are by the rest of the world’s standards.