April 20—After months of delay, House Speaker Mike Johnson finally brought the Biden Administration's security legislation, passed by the Senate two months ago, to a vote in the House, where Democrats joined the relatively small number of still sane Republicans in the chamber to prevail over the Marjorie Taylor Greene wing of lunatics. The aid package comes none too soon for Ukraine which, nearly out of ammunition, is in imminent danger of ceding yet more territory to Russia's unprovoked war of aggression against its peaceful neighbor. According to exiled Russian scholar Serguei Medvedev (in a recent article in L'Express magazine), Russia is now on a war footing, spending 7% of its GDP on its unlawful aggression. Ukraine is devoting 25% of its output to defending itself, but the European Union, with a combined economy 25 times that of Russia's, has thus far contributed only .01% of its output to aiding its beleaguered neighbor and ally. Medvedev states that 100 billion dollars would "put an end do an evil that threatens [the EU's] frontiers" ("metter un terme à un mal qui la menace à ses frontières").

April 20—Sleepy Grants Pass, Oregon, has become the poster child for America's homelessness crisis after the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that issuing criminal citations to homeless who camp in the City's parks and other public spaces constitutes an unconstitutionally "cruel and unusal" punishment unless the City can offer accommodations. In TSD's view, the 9th Circuit far extended its brief: there is no constitutional right to camp in public places, nor is their a constitutional right to have a home: the latter comes as a result of working for a living. The TSD advocates for guaranteed work or training at a living wage for all who are willing to work. Those able to but not willing to work or train are not owed anything by society. Those who, due to physical or psychological handicaps, are incapable of work or training must, in the spirit of the humane society we seek to build, be afforded lives of dignity. See the article, on this site: Guaranteed Work or Training at Living Wage

April 16—Readers may be shocked to learn that as many as one in five coal miners in 21st Century America continue to be afflicted by pneumonconiosis, typically referred to as "black lung disease," including miners in their 30s and 40s. A new rule out of the Biden Administration Labor Department will sharply reduce permissable exposure to cyrstalline silica, the dust responsible for the disease. TSD hails social democracy at work. Elections matter.

April 11—With Congress stymied from solving the nation's gun crisis by a gun-happy, Republican controlled House, President Biden is wielding executive powers to do what he can. The new administrative rule, certain to be challenged in court, will require all gun sellers, including private sellers on the Internet or gun show dealers, to conduct background checks.

April 5—The November presidential election will be determined, experts agree, in six battleground states: the "southern tier" of Nevada, Arizona and Georgia and the "northern, or Great Lakes, tier" of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. The president can win if he takes either the southern or the Great Lakes tier. In this CNN piece, Ronald Brownstein shows why Biden's greatest hopes lie with the northern states.

April 5—The Centrist effort calling itself "No Labels" has dropped its campaign to mount a challenge to President Biden in November. TSD says, "good riddance!"

April 5—The Federal Communications Commission has voted to restore net neutrality to the Internet. Under a framework that sees the Internet as a necessary public good in the digital age, net neurtrality requires Internet providers to provide access to all content and applications. The vote reverses a Trump administration decision to rescind net neutrality.

April 5—Contrary to the constant stream of doom and gloom lies pouring from Trump lackeys and the right-wing media, the Biden economy continues to beat expectations and outperform other developed nations. The unemployment rate has remained below 4 percent for the last 26 weeks, a record not seen since the 1960s, with steady wage gains an added bonus.

March 21—Six Mississippi police officers found guilty of the 2023 torture and sexual abuse of two men in their custody have been sentenced to terms from 10 to 40 years in prison. Justice seems to have been served in this instance, but the case, replete with racist slurs, reminds us that the nation's police forces are still home to too many sick and sadistic officers. TSD advocates for community policing boards with standing legal counsel, subpoena power and absolute authority to dismiss officers they do not want working in their neighborhoods (see, on this site, "Terry v. Ohio, Stop and Frisk and the Making of the American Police State").

March 20—Major chip manufacturer Intel has announced plans to invest $100 billion in new plants in the U.S., including a facility near Columbus, Ohio, that Intel CEO says will be the "largest chip manufacturing site in the world." The investments follow on a $19.5 billion commitment from the U.S. government under the Biden-sponsored CHIPS Act, a law designed to spur domestic manufacture of these components vital to both the national economy and national security but now being produced largely in Asia. Other major sites will be in New Mexico, Oregon and Arizona.

March 18—Using new authority stemming from the Frank Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act of 2016, the Environmental Protection Agency has enacted a comprehensive ban on asbestos, extending a 1989 ban that was substantially overruled by a U.S. Court of Appeals in 1991. The new ban covers chrysotile asbestos, the only form of the chemical still widely used in the United States in brake linings, gaskets and in the manufacture of chlorine bleach and caustic soda.

March 11—President Biden's recently announced budget plan seeks to reduce the worrisome federal debt the social democratic way—by raising taxes on the wealthy—as opposed to the Republican way: slash the social safety net. The Biden plan, not likely to be adopted by the current Congress, would add nearly $5 billion in new revenues over the next 10 years.

March 8—President Biden laid out several social democratic policy proposals in last night's State of the Union Address. These include a $400 per month tax credit to help qualifying Americans purchase a home and a solid plan to counter federal debt with substantive new taxes on the super rich and corporations. Get analysis from Reuters, ABC or the Washington Post, or read the full transcript of the speech at AP News.

March 5—An AP News-NORC Center poll brings disturbing news for Democrats: 63% of respondents "lack confidence" in Biden's "mental capability to serve effectively as president."

March 4—The Supreme Court has issued a ruling on Colorado's effort to disqualify Donald Trump from the presidential ballot in their state on the grounds that he participated in an insurrection against the government of the United States. The Court ruled that the relevant clause in the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment can only be invoked by Congress, not states.